[As the curtain goes up an attendant is discovered listening at door L. There is a noise to be heard as of persons leaving the theatre: as the door is thrown open the attendant moves aside. The Earl of Southampton, Lord Lacy, Sir John Stanley, Chapman, Dekker, Marston, Fletcher, John Selden and Burbage enter.]
Sir John Stanley:
[Flinging in.] What a foolish play! And what a spendthrift merchant!
Chapman:
Trivial, I found it. Trivial and silly.
Lacy:
[With graceful gesture.] Most excellent in invention, liberal in conceit. The Jew a gem, a gem, I say—a balass ruby of rich Orient blood!
Dekker:
Pretty, perhaps, but tedious! Tedious—as a rival’s praise, eh, Chapman?
Southampton: