Mes. My prayers, an't like ye? Your worship's dispos'd
To be merry: I have a wife and seven small
Children, an't like ye, to wind and turn as they say,
Simple as your worship sees me here, an't like ye.
Sil. Pox o' wives; I'll not give a gazet for thy wife;
She's tough, and too much powder'd. Fetch me
Thy daughter, thy youngest daughter, sirrah!
If the creature be a virgin, and desirable:
Look ye! there's money to buy her clean linen.
I'll have a bath of rich canary and Venus' milk;
Where we will bathe and swim together, like
So many swans, and then be call'd Signior
Jupiter Sillimano. But is she man's meat?
I have a tender appetite, and can scarcely digest
One in her teens.
Mes. Does your worship think I wou'd be a Judas, an't like ye?
She's as neat a girl, and as tight at her business
As the back of your hand, an't like ye; but heaven
Bless ye, and cry ye mercy, if you be his worship,
Here's a letter from the Lady de Prate, an't like ye.
Sil. The Lady de Prate (mark me, sirrah) is a
Noble lady; we say so—— [Reads a letter.
I never knew what bondage was till now;
I fear the gilded heart you sent me was
Enchanted—(O, O)—I long to see you—
(Hum—hum)—therefore let me have the happiness
To know the place and time—(even so)—as
You love her, that blushes to write this——
Yes, yes, I'll enchant ye! I'll time and place ye!
Surely, there's something more about me, than I can
Perceive. Grant that I may bear my fate
Discreetly! I never knew what bondage was [Reads.
Till now. Well; 'tis heaven's goodness! For what am I,
Silly wretch, to such a lady, as she that writes so
Pitifully unto me? It wou'd overcome e'en a heart
Of flint: Good gentlewoman! [Weeps.
As you love her, that blushes to write this— [Reads.
Hum—yes, yes; she knows I love her: it
Will work—I can't contain my good-nature. [Drinks and weeps.
Enter La Gitterne and De Loome.
De L. Here he is; and stands like a map of
Sundry countries. [Aside.
La G. One wou'd take him for some foreign beast,
And that fellow to show him. How the gander
Ruffles and prunes himself, as if he would
Tread the goose by him!
De L. 'Tis a pure goat!