A Man pretending to be Alderman of the Hatters' Guild, Petitioners,
Women, Boys, Lackeys, and others.

ACTS I and III

SCENE: Hamburg. A street, showing Herman's house.

ACTS II, IV, and V

A room in Herman's house.



ACT I

SCENE I


(A Street in front of Herman von Bremen's house. Antonius is
standing before the door.)

ANTONIUS. I swear my heart's in my mouth, for I've got to talk to
Master Herman and ask him for his daughter, to whom I've been
engaged for ever so long, but secretly. This is the third start I
have made, but each time I have turned back again. If it were not
for the disgrace of it, and the reproaches I should have to take
from my mother, it would be the same story over again. This
bashfulness of mine is an inborn weakness, and it's not easy to get
the better of it. Each time I go to knock on the door, it is as if
some one were holding back my hand. But courage, Antonius, is half