Page:Henry IV Part 1 (1917) Yale.djvu/38

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Ost. [within.] Anon, anon.

First Car. I prithee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle,

put a few flocks in the point: the poor jade is

wrung in the withers out of all cess.

Sec. Car. Peas and beans are as dank here as

a dog, and that is the next way to give poor

jades the bots; this house is turned upside down

since Robin Ostler died.

First Car. Poor fellow! never joyed since the

price of oats rose; it was the death of him.

Sec. Car. I think this be the most villainous

house in all London road for fleas: I am stung

like a tench.

First Car. Like a tench! by the mass, there

is ne'er a king christen could be better bit than

I have been since the first cock.

Sec. Car. Why, they will allow us ne'er a

jordan, and then we leak in the chimney; and

your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach.

First Car. What, ostler! come away and be

hanged, come away.

Sec. Car. I have a gammon of bacon and

two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as

Charing-cross.

First Car. Godsbody! the turkeys in my

pannier are quite starved. What, ostler! A

plague on thee! hast thou never an eye in thy

 6 Cut: slang name for a horse with a docked tail

7 flocks: tufts of wool

point: head of the saddle

8 wrung: galled

withers: neck

out of all cess: beyond all reckoning

9 dank: mouldy

10 next: most direct, surest

11 bots: disease of horses caused by worms

17 tench; cf. n.

19 king christen: Christian king

22 jordan: chamber-pot

23 chamber-lie: urine

loach: a fish that breeds several times a year

27 razes: roots

28 Charing-cross; cf. n. 