[Exit.
Go. You see, Master Wolf, how inexorable he is. There is no hope to recover him. Pray you commend me to my brother knight, and to my fellow Francis; present ’hem with this small token of my love; tell ’hem, I wish I could do ’hem any worthier office; but in this, ’tis desperate: yet I will not fail to try the uttermost of my power for ’hem. And, sir, as far as I have any credit with you, pray you let ’hem want nothing; though I am not ambitious they should know so much. 87
Wo. Sir, both your actions and words speak you to be a true gentleman. They shall know only what is fit, and no more.
[Exeunt.
[111] The Knight’s Ward, the Twopenny Ward, and the Hole were different divisions of a prison: see Fenner’s Compter’s Commonwealth, 1617. Sir Petronel showed his humility by choosing the inferior accommodation of the Knight’s Ward when it was open to him to lie of the Master’s side. Cf. Westward Ho, iii. 2:—
“Monopoly. Which is the dearest ward in prison, Sergeant? the Knight’s Ward?
Ambush. No, sir, the Master’s side.”
[112] A treatise by Thomas Becon, originally published in 1561. It was very popular, and is frequently mentioned by the dramatists.
SCENE III.
The Compter.
Enter Holdfast and Bramble.
Ho. Who would you speak with, sir?