Ursus and his troupe are ordered to leave England

Ursus and his troupe are ordered to leave England after the authorities treat their presence as a punishable nuisance and move to clear the performers from Tarrinzeau Field. The expulsion is made concrete through an ultimatum against Ursus and his wolf, a deadline, and instructions for a specific ship; a simultaneous clearance of the fairground shows that the order forms part of a broader removal of the troupe’s public life, not merely a personal reprimand.

The ultimatum against Ursus and his wolf

The justice of the quorum calls the matter a misdemeanour. Ursus tries to excuse the situation by describing the wolf as his servant, but the justice answers with an order: Ursus and the animal must be out of England by the same hour the following day. If they remain, the wolf will be seized and killed, while Ursus will be imprisoned. The threatened punishment leaves little room for negotiation; Ursus can only address the justice respectfully and confirm that he and the wolf are both required to leave.

The justice makes the threat explicit rather than allowing it to remain an implication. The wolf may be killed by strangling or drowning, and Ursus himself faces prison. Ursus thinks of the prospect as another act of murder, but does not say so aloud. His visible response is to tremble. The contrast between his unspoken judgment and his silence conveys the imbalance in the encounter: the justice can impose the terms, while Ursus is reduced to seeking clarification about when and how to obey.

The route and deadline

When Ursus asks whether they must leave that very day, the justice confirms that they must. He then turns the expulsion into an arrangement of transport. Vessels lie at anchor on both sides of London Bridge and sail from England to the Continent. The destinations named include Denmark, Holland, and Spain; France is excluded because of the war. Several ships are due to sail at about one in the morning, the hour of high tide, among them the Vograat of Rotterdam. The justice directs Ursus to take the first ship, naming the Vograat.

This practical detail gives the order its immediate force. Ursus is not merely warned that his presence is unwelcome or told to depart at some indefinite future time: the timetable and vessel are specified for him. Yet the episode records a direction to leave, not the completed voyage itself. The ship is presented as the means by which the order can be carried out, while the threatened penalties make refusal dangerous.

A wider clearance at Tarrinzeau Field

The command against Ursus accompanies a planned clearing of the troupe’s camp. Master Nicless reports that the nearby circus proprietor wishes to buy the caravan and horses. The justice approves the proposed sale, observing that the purchaser will soon have use for them. He also announces that the sheriff has taken measures to ensure that not a single juggler’s booth remains at Tarrinzeau Field that night. The stated reason is a complaint from the parish’s reverend gentlemen about an indecent riot in the field.

The authorities thus address both the people and the material conditions of their livelihood. Ursus and the wolf are ordered out of the country; the booths are to be removed from the field; and the caravan and horses are to pass to another owner. The circus proprietor’s interest in acquiring the troupe’s transport and equipment gives the clearance a practical consequence beyond the loss of a place to perform. The scene presents expulsion as an organized removal, enforced through official measures and accompanied by the transfer of the means that supported the performers’ itinerant life.

Royal authority and the meaning of the order

Barkilphedro is present, having just arrived from Windsor with orders. The justice acknowledges him, and identifies the instruction to clear the field as the Queen’s command. The parish complaint and the sheriff’s measures therefore operate alongside authority from the court: the episode connects local suppression of the performers with a royal directive, rather than presenting the clearance as an isolated decision by the justice.

The episode’s sharpest contrast is between the elaborate practical provision for departure and Ursus’s lack of any meaningful choice. The authorities name a ship and its sailing time, but the arrangements are not assistance freely offered; they are the machinery of an ultimatum backed by the threat of imprisonment and the killing of the wolf. The camp’s removal widens that pressure from Ursus and his companion to the troupe’s place and equipment. The order marks the end of their permitted presence in England and makes departure the only course the authorities leave open.