Gammer Gurton's Needle - Faculty & Staff Web Pages

Diccon: Canst thou keep counsel 2 in this case?
Hodge: Else 'Chwould my tongue were out.
Diccon: Do thou but then by my advice, 3 and I will fetch it without doubt.
Gammer Gurton's Needle 18
Hodge: 'Chi'll run, 'Chi'll ride, 'Chi'll dig, 'Chi'll delve, 'Chi'll toil, 'Chi'll drudge, shalt
see;
'Chi'll hold, 'Chi'll draw, 4 'Chi'll pull, 'Chi'll pinch, 'Chi'll kneel on my bare knee;
'Chi'll scrape, 'Chi'll scratch, 'Chi'll sift, 'Chi'll bow, 'Chi'll bend, 'Chi'll sweat,
'Chi'll stoop, 'Chi'll stir, 'Chi'll cap, 'Chi'll kneel, 'Chi'll creep on hands and feet;
'Chi'll be thy bondman, 5 Diccon, Ich swear by sun and moon.
And 'Chave not somewhat to stop this gap, 6 'Cham utterly undone!
[He points unhappily at the big rip in the seat of his
breeches.]
Diccon: Why, is there any special cause thou takes thereat such sorrow?
Hodge: Kirstian Clack, Tom Simpson's maid, by the Mass, comes hither tomorrow!
'Cham not able to say between us what may hap –
She smiled at me the last Sunday when I took off my cap.
Diccon: Well, Hodge, this is a matter of weight and must be kept close;
It might else turn to both our costs, as the world now goes. 7
Shalt swear to be no blab, 8 Hodge!
Hodge: 'Ch will, Diccon!
Diccon: Then go to! 9
Lay thy hand here; say after me as thou shall hear me do.
Hast no book? 10
Hodge: 'Chave no book, I.
1 By m'father's . . . groat: By my father's soul, if I had it, I'd give him a new groat! A groat was a coin worth four pennies.
Here and elsewhere, by the way, Hodge would pronounce the f in father as v.
2 Keep counsel: keep a secret
3 Do thou . . . advice: Then do just what I advise
4
Draw: pull, haul
5
Bondman: a servant bound by contract to work without wages
6
And 'Chave . . . gap: If I don't have something to stop this gap (mend this rip in my breeches)
7
Well, Hodge . . . goes: Well, Hodge, this is a serious matter and must be kept secret. (If people learned about it) it might
otherwise cause us both trouble, as the world is these days.
8
Blab: tattletale, loose talker
9
Go to: shut up (make your mouth go to)
10
Hast thou no book? Don't you have a Bible?