No:-Men will say I fear'd him, if I kill'd him. Live still, and be a traitor in thy wish,

But never act thy thought, being a coward. That vengeance, which thy soul shall nightly thirst for,

And this disgrace I've done you cry aloud for, Still have the will without the power to execute. So now I leave you,

Feeling a sweet security. No doubt

My secret shall remain a virgin for you !—

(goes out, smiling in scorn.)

For once you are mistaken in your man.

The deed you wot of shall forthwith be done.
A bird let loose, a secret out of hand,
Returns not back. Why, then 'tis baby policy
To menace him who hath it in his keeping.

I will go look for Gray;

Then, northward ho! such tricks as we shall play

Have not been seen, I think, in merry Sherwood, Since the days of Robin Hood, that archer good.

ACT THE FOURTH.

SCENE-An Apartment in Woodvil Hall.

JOHN WOODVIL. (alone.)

A weight of wine lies heavy on my head,
The unconcocted follies of last night.
Now all those jovial fancies, and bright hopes,
Children of wine, go off like dreams.

This sick vertigo here

Preacheth of temperance, no sermon better. These black thoughts, and dull melancholy, That stick like burrs to the brain, will they ne'er leave me?

Some men are full of choler, when they are

Some brawl of matter foreign to themselves;

And some, the most resolved fools of all,
Have told their dearest secrets in their cups.

SCENE-The Forest.

SIR WALTER.

SIMON. LOVEL. GRAY.

LOVEL.

Sir, we are sorry we cannot return your French salutation.

GRAY.

Nor otherwise consider this garb you trust to than as a poor disguise.

LOVEL.

Nor use much ceremony with a traitor.

GRAY.

Therefore, without much induction of superfluous words, I attach you, Sir Walter Woodvil, of High Treason, in the King's name.

LOVEL.

And of taking part in the great Rebellion against our late lawful Sovereign, Charles the First.

SIMON.

John has betrayed us, father.

LOVEL.

Come, Sir, you had best surrender fairly. We know you, Sir.

SIMON.

Hang ye, villains, ye are two better known

than trusted. I have seen those faces before. Are ye not two beggarly retainers, trencherparasites, to John? I think ye rank above his footmen. A sort of bed and board wormslocusts that infest our house; a leprosy that long has hung upon its walls and princely apartments, reaching to fill all the corners of my brother's once noble heart.

We are his friends.

GRAY.

SIMON.

How these rogues

Fie, Sir, do not weep.

will triumph! Shall I whip off their heads, father? (draws.)

LOVEL.

Come, Sir, though this shew handsome in you, being his son, yet the law must have its

course.

SIMON.

And if I tell you the law shall not have its course, cannot ye be content? Courage, father; shall such things as these apprehend a man? Which of ye will venture upon me ?— Will you, Mr. Constable self-elect? or you, Sir, with a pimple on your nose, got at Oxford by hard drinking, your only badge of loyalty?

GRAY.

"Tis a brave youth-I cannot strike at him.

SIMON.

Father, why do you cover your face with your hands? Why do you fetch your breath so hard? See, villains, his heart is burst! O villains, he cannot speak. One of you run for some water: quickly, ye knaves; will ye have your throats cut?

(They both slink off.)

How is it with you, Sir Walter? Look up, Sir, the villains are gone. He hears me not, and this deep disgrace of treachery in his son hath touched him even to the death. O most distuned, and distempered world, where sons talk their aged fathers into their graves! Garrulous and diseased world, and still empty, rotten and hollow talking world, where good men decay, states turn round in an endless mutability, and still for the worse, nothing is at a stay, nothing abides but vanity, chaotic vanity.-Brother, adieu!

There lies the parent stock which gave us life, Which I will see consign'd with tears to earth.