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but what we have, you're welcome to, if you will but use us civilly.

1st Keep. O yes! very civilly; you deserve to be used civilly, to be sure.

4th Cour. Why, what have we done that we may not be civilly used?

and much good may do ye with your poor supper: I wish it had been better.

King. You need make no apologies. Mar. We are obliged to your goodness in excusing our rudeness.

Mil. Prithee, Margery, don't trouble the gen

1st Keep. Come, come, don't trifle; surren-tleman with compliments. der!

1st Cour. I have but three half-crowns about

me.

2d Cour. Here's three and sixpence for you, gentlemen.

3d Cour. Here's my watch; I have no money at all.

4th Cour. Indeed I have nothing in my pocket but a snuff-box.

4th Keep. What! the dogs want to bribe us, do they? No, rascals; you shall go before the justice to-morrow, depend on't.

4th Cour. Before the justice! what, for being robbed ?

What do you

1st Keep. For being robbed! mean? Who has robbed you? 4th Cour. Why, did not you just now demand our money, gentlemen?

28 Keep. O, the rascals! They will swear a robbery against us, I warraut!

4th Cour. A robbery! Ay; to be sure. 1st Keep. No, no; we did not demaad your money; we demanded the deer killed.

have you 4th Cour. The devil take the deer, I say! he led us a chase of six hours, and got away from us at last.

1st Keep. Zoons! Ye dogs, do you think to banter us? I tell ye, you have this night shot one of the king's deer; did not we hear the gun go off? Did not we hear you say, you was afraid it should be taken from you?

2d Cour. We were afraid our money should be taken from us.

1st Keep. Come, come, no more shuffling: I tell ye, you're all rogues, and we'll have you hanged, you may depend on't. Come, let's take them to old Cockle's; we're not far off; we'll keep them there all night, and to-morrow morning we'll away with them before the justice.

4th Cour. A very pretty adventure!

SCENE II.-The Mill.

[Exeunt.

King, Miller, MARGERY, and DICK, at
supper.

Mil. Come, sir, you must mend a bad supper with a glass of good ale; here's King Harry's health!

King. With all my heart. Come, Richard, here's King Harry's health; I hope you are courtier enough to pledge me, are not you?

Dick. Yes, yes, sir; I'll drink the king's health with all my heart.

Mar, Come, sir, my humble service to you,

Mar. Lord, hushand, if one had no more manners than you, the gentleman would take us all for hogs.

Mil. Now, I think, the more compliments the less manners.

King. I think so, too. Compliments in discourse, I believe, are like ceremonies in religion; the one has destroyed all true piety, and the other all sincerity and plain-dealing.

Mil. Then a fig for all ceremony, and compliments, too: give us thy hand; and let us drink and be merry,

King. Right, honest miller; let us driuk and be merry. Come, have you got e're a good song?

Mil. Ah! my singing days are over; but my man Joe has got an excellent one; and if you have a mind to hear it, I'll call him in. King. With all my heart. Mil. Joe!

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What though he all dusty and whitened docs go,

The more he's be-powdered, the more like a beau;

A clown, in this dress, may be honester far Than a courtier who struts in his garter and star.

Though his hands are so daubed, they're not fit to be seen,

The hands of his betters are not very clean;
A palm more polite may as dirtily deal;
Gold, in handling, will stick to the fingers like
meal.

What if, when a pudding for dinner he lacks, He cribs, without scruple, from other men's sacks ;

In this of right noble examples he brags, Who borrow as freely from other men's bags.

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Mil. What wind blew you hither, pray? You have a good share of impudence, or you would be ashamed to set your foot within my house, methinks.

Peg. Ashamed I am, indeed; but do not call me impudent. [Weeps. Dick. Dear father, suspend your anger for the present; that she is here now, is by my direction, and to do me justice.

Peg. To do that, is all that is now in my power; for, as to myself, I am ruined past redemption; my character, my virtue, my peace, are gone: I am abandoned by my friends, despised by the world, and exposed to misery and

want.

King. Pray, let me know the story of your misfortunes: perhaps it may be in my power to do something towards redressing them.

Peg. That you may learn from him, whom I have wronged; but as for me, shame will not let me speak, or hear it told. [Exit PEGGY.

King. She's very pretty. Dick. O, sir, I once thought her an angel; I loved her dearer than my life, and did believe her passion was the same for me: but a young nobleman of this neighbourhood happening to see her, her youth and blooming beauty presently struck his fancy; a thousand artifices were immediately employed to debauch and ruin her. But all his arts were vain; not even the promise of making her his wife, could prevail upon her. In a little time he found out her love to me, and, imagining this to be the cause of her refusal, he, by forged letters, and feigned stories, contrived to make her believe I was upon the point of marriage with another woman. Possessed with this opinion, she, in a rage, writes me word, never to see her more; and, in revenge, consented to her own undoing. Not contented with this, nor easy while I was so near her, he bribed one of his cast-off mistresses to swear a child to me, which she did; this was the occasion of my leaving my friends, and flying to London. King. And how does she propose to do you justice

Dick. Why, the king being now in this forest a hunting, we design to take some opportunity of throwing ourselves at his majesty's feet, andcomplaining of the injustice done us by this noble villain.

Mil. Ah, Dick! I expect but little redress. from such an application. Things of this nature afraid it will only be made a jest of. are so common among the great, that I am

King. Those, that can make a jest of what ought to be shocking to humanity, surely deserve not the name of great or noble men.

Dick. What do you think of it, sir? If you belong to the court, you, perhaps, may know something of the king's temper.

all, I think he would not suffer the greatest noKing. Why, if I can judge of his temper at bleman in his court, to do an injustice to the meanest subject in his kingdom. But, pray, who is the nobleman that is capable of such actions as these?

Dick. Do you know my Lord Lurewell?
King. Yes,

Dick. That's the man.

King, Well, I would have you put your design in execution. Tis my opinion the king would not only hear your complaint, but redress your injuries.

Mil. I wish it may prove so.

Enter the Keepers, leading in the Courtiers.

1st Keep. Hola! Cockle! Where are ye?— Why, man, we have nabbed a pack of rogues here, just in the fact.

King. Ha, ha, ha! What, turned highwaymen, my lords, or deer-stealers?

1st Cour. I am very glad to find your majesty in health and safety.

2d Cour. We have run through a great many perils and dangers to-night; but the joy of finding your majesty so unexpectedly, will make us forget all we have suffered.

Mil. What! is this the king!

Dick.

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justice to himself, but also with ruining an inno- | he's as great as you. Is it your riches or estate cent virgin, whom he loved, and who was to have The villain that should plunder you of all, would been his wife; which, if true, were base and then be as great as you. No, my lord; he, that treacherous; but I know 'tis false, and, there- acts greatly, is the true great man. I therefore fore leave it to your lordship to say, what think, you ought, in justice, to marry her you punishment I shall inflict upon him, for the in-thus have wronged. jury done to your honour.

Lure. I thank your majesty. I will not be severe; he shall only ask my pardon, and tomorrow morning be obliged to marry the creature he has traduced me with.

King. This is mild. Well, you hear your sen

tence.

Dick. May I not have leave to speak before your majesty?

King. What can'st thou say?

Dick. If I had your majesty's permission, believe I have certain witnesses which will undeniably prove the truth of all I have accused his lordship of.

King. Produce them. Dick. Peggy!

Enter PEGGY.

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Peg. Let my tears thank your majesty. But, alas! I am afraid to marry this young lord: that would only give him power to use me worse, and stil! encrease my misery; I, therefore, beg your majesty will not command him to do it.

King. Rise, then, and hear me. My lord, you see how low the greatest nobleman may be reduced by ungenerous actions. Here is, under your own hand an absolute promise of marIriage to this young woman, which, from a thorough knowledge of your unworthiness, she has prudently declined to make you fulfil. I shall, therefore, not insist upon it: but I command you, upon pain of my displeasure, immediately to settle on her three hundred pounds a year.

Dick. True, my lord; and that is part of your accusation; for, I believe, I have some letters which will prove your lordship once had a more particular acquaintance with her. Here is one of the first his lordship wrote to her, full of the tenderest and most solemn protestations of love and constancy; here is another, which will inform your majesty of the pains he took to ruin her. There is an absolute promise of marriage before he could accomplish it.

King. What say you, my lord? are these your hands?

Lure. I believe, please your majesty, I might have a little affair of gallantry with the girl some time ago.

King. It was a little affair, my lord; a mean affair; and what you call gallantry, I call infamy. Do you think, my lord, that greatness gives a sanction to wickedness? Or that it is the prerogative of lords to be unjust and inhuman? You remember the sentence which yourself pronounced upon this innocent man; you cannot think it hard that it should pass on you who are guilty.

Lure. I hope your majesty will consider my rank, and not oblige me to marry her.

Peg. May Heaven reward your majesty's goodness. Tis too much for me; but if your majesty thinks fit, let it be settled upon this much injured man, to make some satisfaction for the wrongs which have been done him. As to myself, I only sought to clear the innocence of him I loved and wronged, then hide me from the world, and die forgiven.

Dick. This act of generous virtue cancels all past failings; come to my arms, and be as dear

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love?

Dick. Talk no more of it. Here, let us kneel, and thank the goodness which has made us blest.

King. May you be happy!

Mil. [Kneels.] After I have seen so much of your majesty's goodness, I cannot despair of pardon, even for the rough usage your majesty received from me.

[The King draws his sword, the Miller is frighted, and rises up, thinking he was going to kill him.

What have I done, that I should lose my life?

King. Kneel without fear. No, my good host, so far are you from having any thing to pardon, that I am much your debtor. I cannot think but so good and honest a man will make a worthy and honourable knight; so, rise up, Sir John Cockle: And to support your state, and in some sort requite the pleasure you have done us, a thousand marks a year shall be your revenue.

Mil. Your majesty's bounty I receive with King. Your rank, my lord! Greatness, that thankfulness; I have been guilty of no meanness stoops to actions base and low, deserts its rank, to obtain it, and hope I shall not be obliged to and pulls its honours down. What makes your keep it upon base conditions; for though I am lordship great? Is it your gilded equipage and willing to be a faithful subject, I am resolved to dress? Then put it on your meanest slave, and I be a free, and an honest man.

King. I rely upon your being so: And, to| gain the friendship of such a one, I shall always thing an addition to my happiness, though a king.

Worth, in whatever state, is sure a prize,

Which kings, of all men, ought not to despise ;

By selfish sycophants so close besieged, 'Tis by mere chance a worthy man's obliged; But hence, to every courtier be it known, Virtue shall find protection from the throne. [Exeunt omnes.

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Enter SIR JOHN, Tailor, Barber, and JOE. Tai. Tis the fashion, sir, I assure you. Sir John. Fashions are for fools; don't tell me of fashion. Must a man make an ass of himself, because it's the fashion?

Tai. But you would be like other folks, sir, would not you?

Sir John. No, sir, if this is their likeness, I would not be like other folks. Why, a man might as well be cased up in armour; here's buckram and whalebone enough to turn a bullet. Joe. Sir, here's the barber has brought you home a new periwig.

Sir John. Let him come in. Come, friend! let's see if you're as good at fashions as Mr. Buckram here. What the devil's this?

Bar. The bag, sir.

Sir John. The bag,, sir! and what's this bag for, sir? this is not the fashion too, I hope?

Bar. It's what is very much wore, sir, indeed. Sir John. Wore, sir! how is it wore? where is it wore? what is it for?

Bar. Sir, it is only for ornament.

Sir John. O, 'tis an ornament! I beg your pardon! Now, positively, I should not have taken this for an ornament. My poor grey hairs are, in my opinion, much more becoming. But, come, put it on! Thore, now, what do you think I am like?

Joe. Icod, measter, you're not like the same mon, I'm sure.

Bar. Sir, 'tis very genteel, I assure you. Sir John. Genteel! ay, that it may be, for aught I know, but I'm sure 'tis very ugly, G

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