A TALE OF A TUB.
135
To the young worship of Totten-Court, 'squire Tripoly;
Who hath my heart, as I have his: Your mistress
Is to be made away from you this morning,
St. Valentine's day: there are a knot of clowns,
The council of Finsbury, so they are styled,
Met at her father's; all the wise of the hundred;
Old Rasi' Clench of Hamstead, petty constable,
In-and-In Medlay, cooper of Islington,
And headborough; with loud To-Pan the tinker,
Or metal-man of Belsise, the thirdborough;[1]
And D'ogenes Scriben, the great writer of Chalcot.
Who hath my heart, as I have his: Your mistress
Is to be made away from you this morning,
St. Valentine's day: there are a knot of clowns,
The council of Finsbury, so they are styled,
Met at her father's; all the wise of the hundred;
Old Rasi' Clench of Hamstead, petty constable,
In-and-In Medlay, cooper of Islington,
And headborough; with loud To-Pan the tinker,
Or metal-man of Belsise, the thirdborough;[1]
And D'ogenes Scriben, the great writer of Chalcot.
Tub. And why all these?
Hugh. Sir, to conclude in council,
A husband or a make for mistress Awdrey;
Whom they have named and pricked down, Clay of Kilborn,
A tough young fellow, and a tilemaker.
A husband or a make for mistress Awdrey;
Whom they have named and pricked down, Clay of Kilborn,
A tough young fellow, and a tilemaker.
Tub. And what must he do?
Hugh. Cover her, they say;
And keep her warm, sir: mistress Awdrey Turfe,
Last night did draw him for her Valentine;
Which chance, it hath so taken her father and mother,
(Because themselves drew so on Valentine's eve
Was thirty year,) as they will have her married
To-day by any means; they have sent a messenger
To Kilborn, post, for Clay; which when I knew,
I posted with the like to worshipful Tripoly,
The squire of Totten: and my advice to cross it.
And keep her warm, sir: mistress Awdrey Turfe,
Last night did draw him for her Valentine;
Which chance, it hath so taken her father and mother,
(Because themselves drew so on Valentine's eve
Was thirty year,) as they will have her married
To-day by any means; they have sent a messenger
To Kilborn, post, for Clay; which when I knew,
I posted with the like to worshipful Tripoly,
The squire of Totten: and my advice to cross it.
- ↑ The thirdborough;] I know not how this officer was distinguished from the constable, unless by name. In the old divisions of municipal power, he was the third in rank in the decennary or tithing. In the Dramatis Personæ, Jonson enumerates every civil officer from the justice to the high constable's man. The thirdborough is mentioned by the hostess in Taming the Shrew, to intimidate the refractory Sly: "I know my remedy: I must go fetch the thirdborough."
