SCENE V.-A Room in the House of VANDUnke.

Enter two young Merchants.

1 Mer. Well met, sir; you are for this lusty wedding?

2 Mer. I am so; so are you, I take it.
1 Mer. Yes;

And it much glads me, that to do him service,
Who is the honour of our trade, and lustre,
We meet thus happily.

2 Mer. He's a noble fellow,

And well becomes a bride of such a beauty.

1 Mer. She's passing fair indeed. Long may their loves

Continue like their youths, in spring of sweetness! All the young merchants will be here, no doubt on't;

For he that comes not to attend this wedding,
The curse of a most blind one fall upon him,
A loud wife, and a lazy !—Here's Vanlock.

Enter VANLOCK and FRANCES.

Vanl. Well overtaken, gentlemen: Save you! 1 Mer. The same to you, sir. Save you, fair mistress Frances!

I would this happy night might make you blush too. Vanl. She dreams apace.

Fran. That's but a drowsy fortune.

2 Mer. Nay, take us with ye too; we come to I'm sure ye are for the wedding.

Vanl. Hand and heart, man;

[that end:

And what their feet can do, I could have tript it Before this whoreson gout.

Enter CLAUSE.

Clause. Bless ye, masters!

Vanl. Clause! how now, Clause? thou art come to see thy master

(And a good master he is to all poor people) In all his joy; 'tis honestly done of thee.

Clause. Long may he live, sir! but my business now is

If you would please to do it, and to him too—

Enter GosWIN.

Vanl. He's here himself.

Gos. Stand at the door, my friends?

I pray walk in. Welcome, fair mistress Frances! See what the house affords; there's a young lady Will bid you welcome.

Vanl. We joy your happiness!

[Exeunt all but CLAUSE and GOSWIN Gos. I hope it will be so.-Clause, nobly welcome!

My honest, my best friend, I have been careful
To see thy monies-

Clause. Sir, that brought not me ;

Do you know this ring again?

Gos. Thou hadst it of me.

Clause. And do you well remember yet the boon Upon return of this?

Gos. Yes, and I grant it,

[you gave me,

Be't what it will: Ask what thou canst, I'll do it, Within my power.

Clause. You are not married yet?

Gos. No.

Clause. Well said, master!

And yet it grieves me too: And yet it must be.
Gos. Pr'ythee, distrust me not.
Clause. You must not marry!

That's part o' th' power you gave me; which, to make up,

You must presently depart, and follow me.
Gos. Not marry, Clause?

Clause. Not, if you keep your promise,
And give me power to ask.

Gos. Pr'ythee, think better:

I will obey, by Heaven.

Clause. I've thought the best, sir.

Gos. Give me thy reason; dost thou fear her honesty?

Clause. Chaste as the ice, for any thing I know,

Oh,

Clause, she's such a wonder! Such a mirror, For beauty and fair virtue, Europe has not! Why hast thou made me happy to undo me? But look upon her; then if thy heart relent not, I'll quit her presently.-Who waits there? Serv. [Within.] Sir!

Gos. Bid my fair love come hither, and the company.

Pr'ythee, be good unto me; take a man's heart, And look upon her truly; take a friend's heart, And feel what misery must follow this!

Clause. Take you a noble heart, and keep your I forsook all I had to make you happy. [promise: Can that thing, call'd a woman, stop your goodness?

Enter GERTRUDE, VANDUNKE, and the Merchants.
Gos. Look, there she is; deal with me as thou
Didst ever see a fairer ?
[wilt now;

Clause. She's most goodly.
Gos. Pray you stand still.
Gert. What ails my love?
Gos. Didst thou ever,

By the fair light of Heaven, behold a sweeter?
Oh, that thou knew'st but love, or ever felt him!
Look well, look narrowly upon her beauties.
1 Mer. Sure he has some strange design in hand,
he starts so.

2 Mer. This beggar has a strong power o'er his Gos. View all her body. [pleasure.

Clause. 'Tis exact and excellent. Gos. Is she a thing, then, to be lost thus lightly? Her mind is ten times sweeter, ten times nobler; And but to hear her speak, a paradise; And such a love she bears to me, a chaste love, A virtuous, fair, and fruitful love! 'Tis now too I'm ready to enjoy it; the priest ready, Clause,

SCENE I.-Night.-The Forest.

Enter GERTRUDE, masked, and a Boor, with a torch.

Gert. Lead, if thou think'st we're right. Why dost thou make

These often stands? Thon saidst thou knew'st the way.

Boor. Fear nothing; I do know it. 'Would 'twere homeward!

Gert. Wrought from me by a beggar? at the time

That most should tie him? 'Tis some other love,
That hath a more command on his affections,
And he that fetch'd him a disguised agent,
Not what he personated; for his fashion
Was more familiar with him, and more powerful,
Than one that ask'd an alms: I must find out
One, if not both. Kind darkness, be my shroud,
And cover love's too-curious search in me ;
For yet, Suspicion, I would not name thee!
Boor. Mistress, it grows somewhat pretty and
Gert. What then?

[dark.

Boor. Nay, nothing. Do not think I am afraid, Although perhaps you are.

Gert. I am not. Forward!

Boor. Sure, but you are. Give me your hand; fear nothing.

There's one leg in the wood; do not pull back-
What a sweat one on's are in; you or I! [ward!
Pray God it do not prove the plague; yet sure
It has infected me; for I sweat too;

It runs out at my knees: Feel, feel, I pray you.
Gert. What ails the fellow?

Boor. Hark, hark, I beseech you:

Do you hear nothing?

prayers!

'T hath swallow'd me almost; my breath is stopt; I cannot speak! Do I speak, mistress? tell me. Gert. Why, thou strange timorous sot, canst thou perceive

Any thing i' the bush but a poor glow-worm?
Boor. It may be 'tis but a glow-worm now; but
Grow to a fire-drake presently.
['twill

Gert. Come thou from it!

I have a precious guide of you, and a courteous,
That gives me leave to lead myself the way thus.
Within. Holla!

Boor. It thunders! you hear that now?
Gert. I hear one holla.

Boor. 'Tis thunder, thunder! See, a flash of

Where my fate leads me, I must go.

Boor. God be with you then!

[Exit.

Enter WOLFORT and HEMPSKIRKE, with Soldiers.

Hemp. It was the fellow sure, he that should The huntsman, that did holla us.

Wol. Best make a stand,

And listen to his next.-Ha! Hemp. Who goes there?

Boor. Mistress, I am taken.

[guide me,

Hemp. Mistress? Look forth, soldiers ! Wol. What are you, sirrah?

Boor. Truly, all is left

Of a poor boor, by day-light; by night, nobody. You might have spar'd your drum, and guns, and pikes too,

For I am none that will stand out, sir, I.
You may take me in with a walking-stick,

Ev'n when you please, and hold me with a packthread.

Hemp. What woman was't you call'd to?
Boor. Woman! None, sir.

Wol. None! did you not name mistress?
Boor. Yes, but she's

No woman yet: She should have been this night,
But that a beggar stole away her bridegroom,
Whom we were going to make hue and cry after.
I tell you true, sir; she should ha' been married
to-day,

And was the bride and all; but in came Clause,
The old lame beggar, and whips up Master Goswin
Under his arm, away with him; as a kite,
Or an old fox, would swoop away a gosling.
Hemp. 'Tis she, 'tis she, 'tis she! Niece!

Gert. Ha!

Re-enter GERTRUDE.

Hemp. She, sir:

This was a noble entrance to your fortune,
That, being on the point thus to be married,
Upon her venture here, you should surprise her.
Wol. I begin, Hempskirke, to believe my fate
Works to my ends.

Hemp. Yes, sir; and this adds trust
Unto the fellow our guide, who assur'd me Florez
Liv'd in some merchant's shape, as Gerrard did
In the old beggar's, and that he would use
Him for the train to call the other forth;
All which we find is done.

Within. Holla!

Hemp. That's he again.

Wol. Good we sent out to meet him.
Hemp. Here's the oak.

Gert. Oh I am miserably lost, thus fall'n
Into my uncle's hands from all my hopes !
No matter now, whe'r thou be false or no,
Goswin; whether thou love another better,
Or me alone; or whe'r thou keep thy vow
And word, or that thou come or stay; for I
To thee from henceforth must be ever absent,
And thou to me. No more shall we come near
To tell ourselves how bright each others eyes were,
How soft our language, and how sweet our kisses,
Whilst we made one our food, th' other our feast;
Not mix our souls by sight, or by a letter,
Hereafter, but as small relation have,
As two new gone to inhabiting a grave―.
Can I not think away myself and die?

[Exeunt.

Hig. Let me alone for any farmer's dog, If you have a mind to the cheese-loft; 'tis but thus

And he's a silenc'd mastiff, during pleasure.

Hub. 'Would it would please you to be silent. Hig. Mum.

Re-enter WOLFORT, HEMPSKIRKE, GERTRUDE, Boor, &c.
Wol. Who's there?

Hub. A friend; the huntsman.
Hemp. Oh, 'tis he.

Hub. I have kept touch, sir. Which is th' earl, Will he know a man now?

Hemp. This, my lord, 's the friend Hath undertook the service.

Hub. If it be worth

[of these?

Your force into five squadrons; for there are
So many out-lets, ways thorough the wood,
That issue from the place where they are lodg'd:
Five several ways; of all which passages
We must possess ourselves, to round 'em in;
For by one starting-hole they'll all escape else.
I, and four boors here to me, will be guides:
The squadron where you are myself will lead;
And that they may be more secure, I'll use
My wonted whoops and hollas, as I were
A hunting for 'em; which will make them rest
Careless of any noise, and be a direction
To th' other guides how we approach 'em still.

Wol. 'Tis order'd well, and relisheth the soldier. Make the division, Hempskirke.-You are my Fair one; I'll look to you.

Boor. Shall nobody need

To look to me. I'll look unto myself.

Hub. 'Tis but this, remember. Hig. Say, 'tis done, boy!

[charge,

[Runs off.

[Exeunt.

And fire no more mount upwards, when I suffer
An act in nature so preposterous!

I must o'ercome in this; in all things else
The victory be yours. Could you here read me,
You should perceive how all my faculties
Triumph in my blest fate, to be found yours:
I am your son, your son, sir! And am prouder
To be so, to the father to such goodness,
(Which Heaven be pleased I may inherit from
you!)

Than I shall ever of those specious titles

That plead for my succession in the earldom (Did I possess it now) left by my mother. Ger. I do believe it: But

Flo. Oh, my lov'd father,
Before I knew you were so, by instinct,
Nature had taught me to look on your wants,
Not as a stranger's: And, I know not how,
What you call'd charity, I thought the payment
Of some religious debt Nature stood bound for :
And, last of all, when your magnificent bounty,
In my low ebb of fortune, had brought in

A flood of blessings, tho' my threat'ning wants,
And fear of their effects, still kept me stupid,
I soon found out it was no common pity
That led you to it.

Ger. Think of this hereafter,

When we with joy may call it to remembrance;
There will be a time, more opportune than now,
To end your story, with all circumstances.

I add this only; When we fled from Wolfort,
I sent you into England, and there plac'd you
With a brave Flanders merchant, call'd rich
Goswin,

A man supplied by me unto that purpose,
As bound by oath ne'er to discover you;
Who, dying, left his name and wealth unto you,
As his reputed son, and yet receiv'd so.
But now, as Florez, and a prince, remember,
The country's, and the subject's general good,
Must challenge the first part in your affection;
The fair maid, whom you chose to be your wife,

Are they that are betray'd. Hempskirke!
Gert. My Goswin

Turn'd prince? Oh, I am poorer by this greatness,
Than all my former jealousies or misfortunes.
Flo. Gertrude !

Wol. Stay, sir; you were to-day too near her:
You must no more aim at those easy accesses,
'Less you can do't in air, without a head;
Which shall be suddenly try'd.

Gert. Oh, take my heart first;
And, since I cannot hope now to enjoy him,
Let me but fall a part of his glad ransom.

Wol. You know not your own value that en-
Gert. So proud a fiend as Wolfort! [treat-
Wol. For so lost

A thing as Florez.

Flo. And that would be so,

Rather than she should stoop again to thee! There is no death, but's sweeter than all life, When Wolfort is to give it. Oh, my Gertrude, It is not that, nor princedom, that I go from; It is from thee! that loss includeth all.

Wol. Ay, if my young prince knew his loss,

he'd say so;

Which, that he yet may chew on, I will tell him.
This is no Gertrude, nor no Hempskirke's niece,
Nor Vandunke's daughter: This is Bertha, Bertha !
The heir of Brabant, she that caus'd the war,
Whom I did steal, during my treaty there,
In your minority, to raise myself:

I then foreseeing 'twould beget a quarrel;
That, a necessity of my employment; [strength;
The same employment, make me master of
That strength, the lord of Flanders; so of Brabant,
By marrying her: Which had not been to do, sir,
She come of years, but that the expectation,
First, of her father's death, retarded it;
And since, the standing-out of Bruges; where
Hempskirke had hid her, till she was near lost.
But, sir, we have recover'd her: Your merchant-
ship

May break; for this was one of your best bottoms,
I think.

Ger. Insolent devil!

'WOULD Some man would instruct me what to say;
For this same prologue, usual to a play,
Is tied to such an old form of petition,
Men must say nothing now beyond commission;
The cloaks we wear, the legs we make, the place
We stand in must be one; and one the face.
Nor alter'd, nor exceeded; if it be,
A general hiss hangs on our levity.
We have a play, a new play, to play now,
And thus low in our play's behalf we bow:
We bow to beg your suffrage and kind ear.
If it were naught, or that it might appear

A thing buoy'd up by prayer, gentlemen,
Believe my faith, you should not see me then.
Let them speak then, have power to stop a

storm;

I never loved to feel a house so warm.
But for the play, if you dare credit me,

I think it well; all new things you shall see,
And those disposed to all the mirth that may ;
And short enough we hope; and such a play
You were wont to like. Sit nobly, then, and

see;

If it miscarry, pray look not for me!

SCENE 1.-The CAPITAL.-The AudienceChamber in the Palace.

Enter Two Ushers and Grooms with perjumes.

1 Usher. Round, round, pertume it round! quick! Look ye diligently

The state be right! Are these the richest cushions? Fy, fy! who waits i' the wardrobe?

2 Usher. But, pray tell me,

Do you think for certain these ambassadors
Shall have this morning audience?

1 Usher. They shall have it!

Lord, that you live at court, and understand not!

I tell you they must have it.

2 Usher. Upon what necessity?

1 Usher. Still you are off the trick of court Sell your place,

And sow your grounds; you are not for this tillage, (Make all things perfect :) would you have these ladies,

Enter Lacies and Gentlemen.

They that come here to see the show, these beauties,
That have been labouring to set off their sweetness,
And wash'd and curl'd, perfum'd, and taken glis-
For fear a flaw of wind might overtake 'em, [ters,
Lose these, and all their expectations?
Madams, the best way is the upper lodgings;
There you may see at ease.

Ladies. We thank you, sir.

[Exeunt Ladies and Gentlemen