| |
[The country near LADY ALLWORTH’S house]
[Enter] WELLBORN, and MARRALL [bare-headed]
WELL. I think I am in a good way. | |
| MAR. Good! sir; the best way, | |
| The certain best way. | |
| WELL. There are casualties | 4 |
| That men are subject to. | |
| MAR. You are above ’em; | |
| And as you are already worshipful, | |
| I hope ere long you will increase in worship, | 8 |
| And be right worshipful. | |
| WELL. Prithee do not flout me: | |
| What I shall be, I shall be. Is’t for your ease, | |
| You keep your hat off? | 12 |
| MAR. Ease! an it like your worship! | |
| I hope Jack Marrall shall not live so long, | |
| To prove himself such an unmannerly beast, | |
| Though it hail hazel-nuts, as to be cover’d | 16 |
| When your worship’s present. | |
| WELL. Aside. Is not this a true roque, | |
| That, out of mere hope of a future coz’nage, 1 | |
| Can turn thus suddenly? ’Tis rank already. | 20 |
| MAR. I know your worship’s wise, and needs no counsel, | |
| Yet if, in my desire to do you service, | |
| I humbly offer my advice, (but still | |
| Under correction,) I hope I shall not | 24 |
| Incur your high displeasure. | |
| WELL. No; speak freely. | |
| MAR. Then, in my judgment, sir, my simple judgment, | |
| (Still with your worship’s favour,) I could wish you | 28 |
| A better habit, for this cannot be | |
| But much distasteful to the noble lady | |
| (I say no more) that loves you; for, this morning, | |
| To me, and I am but a swine to her, | 32 |
| Before the assurance of her wealth perfum’d you, | |
| You savour’d not of amber. 2 | |
| WELL. I do now then! | |
| MAR. This your baton hath got a touch of it.— Kisses the end of his cudgel. | 36 |
| Yet, if your please, for change, I have twenty pounds here, | |
| Which, out of my true love, I’ll presently | |
| Lay down at your worship’s feet; ’twill serve to buy you | |
| A riding suit. | 40 |
| WELL. But where’s the horse? | |
| MAR. My gelding | |
| Is at your service; nay, you shall ride me, | |
| Before your worship shall be put to the trouble | 44 |
| To walk afoot. Alas, when you are lord | |
| Of this lady’s manor, as I know you will be, | |
| You may with the lease of glebe land, called Knave’s-acre, | |
| A place I would manure, 3 requite your vassal. | 48 |
| WELL. I thank thy love, but must make no use of it; | |
| What’s twenty pounds? | |
| MAR. ’Tis all that I can make, sir. | |
| WELL. Dost thou think, though I want clothes, I could not have them, | 52 |
| For one word to my lady? | |
| MAR. As I know not that! | |
| WELL. Come, I will tell thee a secret, and so leave thee. | |
| I will not give her the advantage, though she be | 56 |
| A gallant-minded lady, after we are married, | |
| (There being no woman but is sometimes froward,) | |
| To hit me in the teeth, and say, she was forc’d | |
| To buy my wedding-clothes, and took me on | 60 |
| With a plain riding-suit, and an ambling nag. | |
| No, I’ll be furnish’d something like myself, | |
| And so farewell: for thy suit touching Knave’s-acre, | |
| When it is mine, ’tis thine. | 64 |
| MAR. I thank your worship. Exit WELL. | |
| How was I cozen’d 4 in the calculation | |
| Of this man’s fortune! My master cozen’d too, | |
| Whose pupil I am in the art of undoing men; | 68 |
| For that is our profession! Well, well, Master Wellborn, | |
| You are of a sweet nature, and fit again to be cheated: | |
| Which, if the Fates please, when you are possess’d | |
| Of the land and lady, you, sans question, shall be. | 72 |
| I’ll presently think of the means. Walks by, musing. | |
| |
Enter OVERREACH, [speaking to a Servant within]
OVER. Sirrah, take my horse. | |
| I’ll walk to get me an appetite; ’tis but a mile, | |
| And exercise will keep me from being pursy. 5 | 76 |
| Ha! Marrall! Is he conjuring? Perhaps | |
| The knave has wrought the prodigal to do | |
| Some outrage on himself, and now he feels | |
| Compunction in his conscience for’t: no matter, | 80 |
| So it be done. Marrall! | |
| MAR. Sir. | |
| OVER. How succeed we | |
| In our plot on Wellborn? | 84 |
| MAR. Never better, sir. | |
| OVER. Has he hang’d or drown’d himself? | |
| MAR. No, sir, he lives; | |
| Lives once more to be made a prey to you, | 88 |
| A greater prey than ever. | |
| OVER. Art thou in thy wits? | |
| If thou art, reveal this miracle, and briefly. | |
| MAR. A lady, sir, is fall’n in love with him. | 92 |
| OVER. With him? What lady? | |
| MAR. The rich lady Allworth. | |
| OVER. Thou dolt! how dar’st thou speak this? | |
| MAR. I speak truth. | 96 |
| And I do so but once a year, unless | |
| It be to you, sir. We din’d with her ladyship, | |
| I thank his worship. | |
| OVER. His worship! | 100 |
| MAR. As I live, sir, | |
| I din’d with him, at the great lady’s table, | |
| Simple as I stand here; and saw when she kiss’d him, | |
| And would, at his request, have kiss’d me too: | 104 |
| But I was not so audacious as some youths are, | |
| That dare do anything, be it ne’er so absurd, | |
| And sad after performance. | |
| OVER. Why, thou rascal! | 108 |
| To tell me these impossibilities. | |
| Dine at her table! and kiss him! or thee!—— | |
| Impudent varlet, have not I myself, | |
| To whom great countesses’ doors have oft flew open, | 112 |
| Ten times attempted, since her husband’s death, | |
| In vain, to see her, though I came-a suitor? | |
| And yet your good solicitorship, and rogue Wellborn, | |
| Were brought into her presence, feasted with her!—— | 116 |
| But that I know thee a dog that cannot blush, | |
| This most incredible lie would call up one | |
| On thy buttermilk cheeks. | |
| MAR. Shall I not trust my eyes, sir, | 120 |
| Or taste? I feel her good cheer in my belly. | |
| OVER. You shall feel me, if you give not over, sirrah: | |
| Recover your brains again, and be no more gull’d | |
| With a beggar’s plot, assisted by the aids | 124 |
| Of serving-men and chambermaids, for beyond these | |
| Thou never saw’st a woman, or I’ll quit you | |
| From my employments. | |
| MAR. Will you credit this yet? | 128 |
| On my confidence of their marriage, I offer’d Wellborn—— | |
| Aside. I would give a crown now I durst say “his worship”—— | |
| My nag and twenty pounds. | |
| OVER. Did you so, idiot! Strikes him down. | 132 |
| Was this the way to work him to despair, | |
| Or rather to cross me? | |
| MAR. Will your worship kill me? | |
| OVER. No, no; but drive the lying spirit out of you. | 136 |
| MAR. He’s gone. | |
| OVER. I have done then: now, forgetting | |
| Your late imaginary feast and lady, | |
| Know, my Lord Lovell dines with me to-morrow. | 140 |
| Be careful nought be wanting to receive him; | |
| And bid my daughter’s women trim her up, | |
| Though they paint her, so she catch the lord, I’ll thank them. | |
| There’s a piece for my late blows. | 144 |
| MAR. Aside. I must yet suffer: | |
| But there may be a time—— | |
| OVER. Do you grumble? | |
| MAR. No, sir. [Exeunt.] | 148 |
