Adul. Nay! first let us sing a song to lighten our hearts.
Avar. Then are ye like, for me, to sing but of three parts.
Can Avarice['s] heart be set on a merry pin,
And see no gain, no profit at all coming in?
Insol. We shall have enough to drive away all sorrow.
Avar. Then sing we On bowne viage! and Saint George thee borrow!
[Cantent: "Bring ye to me and I to ye," etc. et sic exeant.
[ACTUS TERTIA, SCENA PRIMA.]
[Respublica.]
Resp. The good hope, that my masters have put me in,
To recover ruin that in me doth begin,
Hath so recomforted my spirits and mine heart,
That I feel much easement of my great grief and smart,
Now, I do less wonder that lost men, life to save,
Far from land do labour, against the roaring wave;
For hope, I see, hath mighty operation
Against the mortal sting of drooping desperation.
Now, if I might but hear what Policy hath wrought,
Or some one good thing that my friends to pass had brought,
I would put no doubts but all thing should soon be well—
Lo! where cometh Honesty: he will the truth tell.