Scene II
The Kentish Coast opposite the Isle of Sheppy.
Here enters Arden and Franklin.
Arden. Oh, ferryman, where art thou?
Here enters the Ferryman.
Ferryman. Here, here, go before to the boat, and I will
follow you.
Arden. We have great haste; I pray thee, come away.
Ferryman. Fie, what a mist is here!
Arden. This mist, my friend, is mystical,
Like to a good companion’s smoky brain,
That was half drowned with new ale overnight.
Ferryman. ’Twere pity but his skull were opened to
make more chimney room. 10
Franklin. Friend, what’s thy opinion of this mist?
Ferryman. I think ’tis like to a curst wife in a little
house, that never leaves her husband till she have
driven him out at doors with a wet pair of eyes;
then looks he as if his house were a-fire, or some of
his friends dead.
Arden. Speaks thou this of thine own experience?
Ferryman. Perhaps, ay; perhaps, no: For my wife is
as other women are, that is to say, governed by the
moon. 20
Franklin. By the moon? how, I pray thee?
Ferryman. Nay, thereby lies a bargain, and you shall
not have it fresh and fasting.
Arden. Yes, I pray thee, good ferryman.
Ferryman. Then for this once; let it be midsummer
moon, but yet my wife has another moon.
Franklin. Another moon?
Ferryman. Ay, and it hath influences and eclipses.
Arden. Why, then, by this reckoning you sometimes
play the man in the moon? 30
Ferryman. Ay, but you had not best to meddle with
that moon, lest I scratch you by the face with my
bramble-bush.
Arden. I am almost stifled with this fog; come, let’s
away.
Franklin. And, sirrah, as we go, let us have some more
of your bold yeomanry.
Ferryman. Nay, by my troth, sir, but flat knavery.
[Exeunt.
IV. ii. 5. This mist is not in Holinshed. It is our poet’s invention.
IV. ii. 30. Cf. Midsummer Night’s Dream, V. i. 237, etc.