Whilst I was looking from afar at these and a hundred similar things, lo!
there came by us a gaudy, strapping quean of arrogant mien, and after
whom a hundred eyes were turned; some made obeisance, as if in worship of
her, a few put something in her hand. I could not make out what she was,
and so I enquired. "Oh," said my friend, "she is one whose entire dowry
is on show, and yet thou see'st how many fools there are who seek her,
and the meanest is received notwithstanding all the demand there is for
her; whom she will, she cannot have, and whom she can, she will not; she
will only speak to her betters because her mother told her that a young
woman can make no greater mistake than to be humble in courtship."
Thereupon a burly Falstaff, who had been alderman and in many offices,
came out from beneath us, spreading out his wings as if to fly, when he
could scarcely limp along like a pack-horse, on account of his huge
paunch, and the gout, and many other gentlemanly complaints; but for all
that you could not get a single glance from him except as a great favour,
remembering the while to address him by all his title and offices.
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