SCENA II.
Enter Gerrard and Florez.
Ger. By this time Sir I hope you want no reasons
Why I broke off your marriage, for though I
Should as a Subject study you my Prince
In things indifferent, it will not therefore
Discredit you, to acknowledge me your Father,
By harkning to my necessary counsels.
Flo. Acknowledge you my Father? Sir I do,
And may impiety, conspiring with
My other Sins, sink me, and suddenly
When I forget to pay you a Sons duty
In my obedience, and that help'd forth
With all the cheerfulness.
Ger. I pray you rise,
And may those powers that see and love this in you,
Reward you for it: Taught by your example
Having receiv'd the rights due to a Father,
I tender you th' allegeance of a Subject:
Which as my Prince accept of.
Flo. Kneel to me?
May mountains first fall down beneath their valleys,
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 pleas'd, 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. O 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, though my threatning 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 our story, with all circumstances,
I add this only: when we fled from Wolfort
I sent you into England, and there placed you
With a brave Flanders Merchant, call'd rich Goswin,
A man supplyed by me unto that purpose,
As bound by oath never 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 countreys, and the subjects general good
Must challenge the first part in your affection:
The fair maid, whom you chose to be your wife,
Being so far beneath you, that your love
Must grant she's not your equal.
Flo. In descent
Or borrowed glories from dead Ancestors,
But for her beauty, chastity, and all vertues
Ever remembred in the best of women,
A Monarch might receive from her, not give,
Though she were his Crowns purchase; in this only
Be an indulgent Father: in all else,
Use your authority.
Enter Hubert, Hemskirk, Wolfort, Bertha, and Souldiers.
Hub. Sir, here be two of 'em, The Father and the Son, the rest you shall have As fast as I can rouze them.
Ger. Who's this? Wolfort?
Wol. I Criple, your feigned crutches will not help you,
Nor patch'd disguise that hath so long conceal'd you,
It's now no halting: I must here find Gerrard,
And in this Merchants habit, one call'd Florez
Who would be an Earl.
Ger. And is, wert thou a subject.
Flo. Is this that Traitor Wolfort?
Wol. Yes, but you Are they that are betrai'd: Hemskirk.
Ber. My Goswin Turn'd Prince? O I am poorer by this greatness, Than all my former jealousies or misfortunes.
Florez. Gertrude?
Wol. Stay Sir, you were to day too near her,
You must no more aim at those easie accesses,
Less you can do't in air, without a head,
Which shall be suddenly tri'd.
Ber. O 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 entreat.
Ger. So proud a fiend as Wolfort.
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: O my Gertrude,
It is not that, nor Princedom that I goe from,
It is from thee, that loss includeth all.
Wol. I, if my young Prince knew his loss, he would say so,
Which that he yet may chew on, I will tell him
This is no Gertrude, nor no Hemskirks Niece,
Nor Vandunks 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 my self;
I then fore-seeing 'twould beget a quarel,
That, a necessity of my employment,
The same employment, make me master of strength,
That strength, the Lord of Flanders, so of Brabant,
By marrying her: which had not been to doe Sir,
She come of years, but that the expectation
First of her Fathers death, retarded it,
And since the standing out of Bruges, where
Hemskirk had hid her, till she was near lost:
But Sir, we have recover'd her: your Merchantship
May break, for this was one of your best bottoms
I think.
Ger. Insolent Devil!
Enter Hubert, with Jaqueline, Ginks, and Costin.
Wol. Who are these, Hemskirk?
Hem. More, more, Sir.
Flo. How they triumph in their treachery!
Hem. Lord Arnold of Benthusin, this Lord Costin, This Jaqueline the sister unto Florez.
Wol. All found? why here's brave game, this was sport royall,
And puts me in thought of a new kind of death for 'em.
Hunts-man, your horn: first wind me Florez fall,
Next Gerrards, then his Daughter Jaquelins,
Those rascals, they shall dye without their rights:
Hang 'em Hemskirk on these trees; I'le take
The assay of these my self.
Hub. Not here my Lord, Let 'em be broken up upon a scaffold, 'Twill shew the better when their arbour's made.
Ger. Wretch, art thou not content thou hast betrai'd us, But mock us too?
Ginks. False Hubert, this is monstrous.
Wol. Hubert?
Hem. Who, this?
Ger. Yes this is Hubert, Wolfort, I hope he has helpt himself to a tree.
Wol. The first,
The first of any, and most glad I have you Sir,
I let you goe before, but for a train;
Is't you have done this service?
Hub. As your Hunts-man, But now as Hubert; save your selves, I will, The Wolf's afoot, let slip; kill, kill, kill, kill.
Enter with a drum Van-dunk, Merchants, Higgen, Prig, Ferret, Snap.
Wol. Betray'd?
Hub. No, but well catch'd: and I the Huntsman.
Van-d. How do you Wolfort? Rascal, good knave Wolfort,
I speak it now without the Rose, and Hemskirk,
Rogue Hemskirk, you that have no niece, this Lady
Was stoln by you, and ta'ne by you, and now
Resign'd by me, to the right owner here:
Take her my Prince.
Flo. Can this be possible, Welcom my love, my sweet, my worthy love.
Van-d. I ha' giv'n you her twice: now keep her better, and thank
Lord Hubert, that came to me in Gerrards name,
And got me out, with my brave Boyes, to march
Like Caesar, when he bred his Commentaries,
So I, to bread my Chronicle, came forth
Caesar Van-dunk, & veni, vidi, vici,
Give me my Bottle, and set down the drum;
You had your tricks Sir, had you? we ha' tricks too,
You stole the Lady?
Hig. And we led your Squadrons, Where they ha' scratch'd their leggs a little, with brambles, If not their faces.
Prig. Yes, and run their heads Against trees.
Hig. 'Tis Captain Prig, Sir.
Prig. And Coronel Higgen.
Hig. We have fill'd a pit with your people, some with leggs, Some with arms broken, and a neck or two I think be loose.
Prig. The rest too, that escap'd, Are not yet out o'the briars,
Hig. And your horses, Sir,
Are well set up in Bruges all by this time:
You look as you were not well Sir, and would be
Shortly let blood; do you want a scarf?
Van-d. A halter.
Ger. 'Twas like your self, honest, and noble Hubert:
Can'st thou behold these mirrors all together,
Of thy long, false, and bloody usurpation?
Thy tyrrannous proscription, and fresh treason:
And not so see thy self, as to fall down
And sinking, force a grave, with thine own guilt,
As deep as hell, to cover thee and it?
Wol. No, I can stand: and praise the toyles that took me And laughing in them dye, they were brave snares.
Flo. 'Twere truer valour, if thou durst repent The wrongs th' hast done, and live.
Wol. Who, I repent? And say I am sorry? yes, 'tis the fool's language And not for Wolfort.
Van-d. Wolfort, thou art a Devil, And speakst his language, oh that I had my longing Under this row of trees now would I hang him.
Flo. No let him live, until he can repent, But banish'd from our State, that is thy doom.
Van-d. Then hang his worthy Captain here, this Hemskirk For profit of th' example.
Flo. No let him
Enjoy his shame too: with his conscious life,
To shew how much our innocence contemns
All practice from the guiltiest, to molest us.
Van-d. A noble Prince.
Ger. Sir, you must help to join A pair of hands, as they have done their hearts here, And to their loves with joy.
Flo. As to mine own, My gracious Sister, worthiest Brother.
Van. I'le go afore, and have the bon-fire made,
My fire-works, & flap dragons, and good backrack,
With a peck of little fishes, to drink down
In healths to this day.
Hig. 'Slight, here be changes, The Bells ha' not so many, nor a dance, Prig.
Prig. Our Company's grown horrible thin by it, What think you Ferret?
Fer. Marry I do think, That we might all be Lords now, if we could stand for't.
Hig. Not I if they should offer it: I'le dislodge first, Remove the Bush to another climat.
Ger. Sir, you must thank this worthy Burgomaster,
Here be friends ask to be look'd on too,
And thank'd, who though their trade, and course of life
Be not so perfect, but it may be better'd,
Have yet us'd me with courtesy, and been true
Subjects unto me, while I was their King,
A place I know not well how to resign,
Nor unto whom: But this I will entreat
Your grace, command them follow you to Bruges;
Where I will take the care on me, to find
Some manly, and more profitable course
To fit them, as a part of the Republique.
Flo. Do you hear Sirs? do so.
Hig. Thanks to your good grace.
Prig. To your good Lordship.
Fer. May you both live long.
Ger. Attend me at Van-dunks, the Burgomasters.
[Ex. all but Beggars.
Hig. Yes, to beat hemp, and be whipt twice a week,
Or turn the wheel, for Crab the Rope-maker:
Or learn to go along with him, his course;
That's a fine course now, i' the common-wealth, Prig,
What say you to it?
Prig. It is the backwardst course, I know i'the world.
Hig. Then Higgen will scarce thrive by it, You do conclude?
Prig. 'Faith hardly, very hardly.
Hig. Troth I am partly of your mind, Prince Prig; And therefore farewel Flanders, Higgen will seek Some safer shelter, in some other Climat, With this his tatter'd Colony: Let me see Snap, Ferret, Prig, and Higgen, all are left O' the true blood: what? shall we into England?
Prig. Agreed.
Hig. Then bear up bravely with your Brute my lads, Higgen hath prig'd the prancers in his dayes, And sold good penny-worths; we will have a course, The Spirit of Bottom, is grown bottomless.
Prig. I'le mand no more, nor cant.
Hig. Yes, your sixpenny worth In private, Brother, sixpence is a sum I'le steal you any mans Dogg for.
Prig. For sixpence more You'l tell the owner where he is.
Hig. 'Tis right,
Higgen must practise, so must Prig to eat;
And write the Letter: and gi' the word. But now
No more, as either of these.
Prig. But as true Beggars, As e're we were.
Hig. We stand here, for an Epilogue;
Ladies, your bounties first; the rest will follow;
For womens favours are a leading alms,
If you be pleas'd look cheerly, throw your eyes
Out at your masks.
Prig. And let your beauties sparkle.
Hig. So may you ne'er want dressings, Jewels, gowns Still i' the fashion.
Prig. Nor the men you love, Wealth nor discourse to please you.
Hig. May you Gentlemen, Never want good fresh suits nor liberty.
Prig. May every Merchant here see safe his ventures.
Hig. And every honest Citizen his debts in.
Prig. The Lawyers again good Clyents.
Hig. And the Clyents good Counsel.
Prig. All the Gamesters here good fortune.
Hig. The Drunkards too good wine.
Prig. The eaters meat Fit for their tastes and palats.
Hig. The good wives kind Husbands.
Prig. The young maids choyce of Sutors.
Hig. The Midwives merry hearts.
Prig. And all good cheer.
Hig. As you are kind unto us and our Bush,
We are the Beggars and your daily Beadsmen,
And have your mony, but the Alms we ask
And live by, is your Grace, give that, and then
We'l boldly say our word is, Come again.