10.19Honorable mistress, in the wane of 0.20my little wit I am forced to desire your 0.21protection, else every ballad singer 0.22will proclaim me bankrupt of honesty. 0.23A sort of mad fellows, seeing 0.24me merrily disposed in a morris, have so bepainted 0.25me in print since my gambols began 0.26from London to Norwich, that -- having but an ill 0.27face before -- I shall appear to the world without 0.28a face, if your fair hand wipe not away their 0.29foul colors. One hath written "Kemp's Farewell," to 0.30the tune of "Kerry, Merry, Buff"; another his "Desperate 0.31Dangers in his Late Travel"; the third his "Entertainment 0.32to Newmarket," which town I 0.33came never near by the length of half the heath. 0.34Some swear in a trenchmore I have trod a 0.35good way to win the world; others that guess 0.36righter affirm I have without good help danced 0.37myself out of the world. Many say many things 0.38that were never thought. But in a word, your 0.39poor servant offers the truth of his progress and 0.40profit to your honorable view. Receive it, I beseech 0.41you, such as it is, rude and plain, for I know your 0.42pure judgment, looks as soon to see beauty in a 0.43Blackamoor or hear smooth speech from a 0.44stammerer as to find anything but blunt mirth 0.45in a morris dancer, especially such a one as Will 0.46Kemp, that hath spent his life in mad jigs and 0.47merry jests. Three reasons moue me to make 0.48public this journey: one, to reprove lying fools I 0.49never knew; the other, to commend loving friends, 0.50which by the way I daily found; the third, to show 0.51my duty to your honorable self, whose favors, 0.52among other bountiful friends, makes me despite 0.53of this sad world, judge my hart cork and 0.54my heels feathers, so that methinks I could fly 0.55to Rome -- at least hop to Rome, as the old proverb 0.56is -- with a mortar on my head. In which light 0.57conceit I lowly beg pardon and leave, for my 0.58taborer strikes his hunt's-up; I must to Norwich. Imagine, 0.59noble mistress, I am now setting from my 0.60lord mayor's, the hour about seven, the morning 0.61gloomy, the company many, my hart merry.

20.62Your worthy ladyship's most 0.63unworthy servant, 0.64William Kemp.