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Act IIIScene III. The same.
Scene III. The same.
Subtle. [Enter] Face [in his uniform]
How now! good prize?
Face. Good pox! Yond` costive cheater
Never came on.
Sub. How then?
Face. I ha` walk`d the round
Till now, and no such thing.
Sub. And ha` you quit him?
Face. Quit him! An hell would quit him too, he were happy.
`Slight! would you have me stalk like a mill-jade,
All day, for one that will not yield us grains?
I know him of old.
Sub. O, but to ha` gull`d him,
Had been a mastery.
Face. Let him go, black boy!
And turn thee, that some fresh news may possess thee.
A noble count, a don of Spain (my dear
Delicious compeer, and my party^1 - bawd),
Who is come hither private for his conscience
And brought munition with him, six great slops,^2
Bigger than three Dutch hoys,^3 beside round trunks,^4
Furnish`d with pistolets,^5 and pieces of eight,^6
Will straight be here, my rogue, to have thy bath,
(That is the colour,^7) and to make his battery
[Footnote 1: Partner.]
[Footnote 2: Large breeches.]
[Footnote 3: Ships.]
[Footnote 4: Trunk hose.]
[Footnote 5: A Spanish gold coin worth about 16sh. 8d.]
[Footnote 6: A coin worth about 4sh. 6d.]
[Footnote 7: Pretext.]
Upon our Dol, our castle, our cinqueport,
Our Dover pier, our what thou wilt. Where is she?
She must prepare perfumes, delicate linen,
The bath in chief, a banquet, and her wit,
Where is the doxy?
Sub. I`ll send her to thee:
And but despatch my brace of little John Leydens,^8
And come again myself.
[Footnote 8: Puritans, from the name of the Anabaptist leader.]
Face. Are they within then?
Sub. Numbering the sum.
Face. How much?
Sub. A hundred marks, boy.
[Exit.]
Face. Why, this is a lucky day. Ten pounds of Mammon!
Three o` my clerk! A portague o` my grocer!
This o` the brethren! Beside reversions
And states to come, i` the widow, and my count!
My share today will not be bought for forty -
[Enter Dol]
Dol. What?
Face. Pounds, dainty Dorothy! Art thou so near?
Dol. Yes; say, lord general, how fares our camp?
Face. As with the few that had entrench`d themselves
Safe, by their discipline, against a world, Dol,
And laugh`d within those trenches, and grew fat
With thinking on the booties, Dol, brought in
Daily by their small parties. This dear hour,
A doughty don is taken with my Dol;
And thou mayst make his ransom what thou wilt
My Dousabel;^9 he shall be brought here fetter`d
With thy fair looks, before he sees thee; and thrown
In a down-bed, as dark as any dungeon;
Where thou shalt keep him waking with thy drum;
Thy drum, my Dol, thy drum; till he be tame
As the poor blackbirds were i` the great frost,
[Footnote 9: i.e., douce et belle; sweetheart.]
Or bees are with a bason; and so hive him
I` the swan-skin coverlid and cambric sheets,
Till he work honey and wax, my little God`s-gift.^10
[Footnote 10: Referring to the literal meaning of Dorothea.]
Dol. What is he, general?
Face. An adalantado,^11
A grandee, girl. Was not my Dapper here yet?
[Footnote 11: A Spanish governor.]
Dol. No
Face. Nor my Drugger?
Dol. Neither.
Face. A pox on `em,
They are so long a furnishing! such stinkards
Would not be seen upon these festival days. -
[Re-enter Subtle]
How now! ha` you done?
Sub. Done. They are gone: the sum
Is here in bank, my Face. I would we knew
Another chapman who would buy `em outright.
Face. `Slid, Nab shall do`t against he ha` the widow,
To furnish household.
Sub. Excellent, well thought on:
Pray God he come.
Face. I pray he keep away
Till our new business be o`erpast.
Sub. But, Face,
How camst thou by this secret don?
Face. A spirit
Brought me th` intelligence in a paper here,
As I was conjuring yonder in my circle
For Surly; I ha` my flies^12 abroad. Your bath
Is famous, Subtle, by my means. Sweet Dol,
Tickle him with thy mother tongue. His great
Verdugoship^13 has not a jot of language;
So much the easier to be cozen`d, my Dolly.
He will come here in a hir`d coach, obscure,
[Footnote 12: Familiars.]
[Footnote 13: Verdugo is a Spanish name, but the precise allusion is
uncertain.]
And our own coachman, whom I have sent as guide,
No creature else. One knocks. Who`s that?
[Exit Dol.]
Sub. It is not he?
Face. O no, not yet this hour.
Re-enter Dol
Sub. Who is`t?
Dol. Dapper,
Your clerk.
Face. God`s will then, Queen of Fairy,
On with your tire; [Exit Dol.] and, doctor, with your robes.
Let`s despatch him for God`s sake.
Sub. `Twill be long.
Face. I warrant you, take but the cues I give you,
It shall be brief enough. [Goes to the window.] `Slight, here are more!
Abel, and I think the angry boy, the heir,
That fain would quarrel.
Sub. And the widow?
Face. No,
Not that I see. Away!
[Exit Sub.]
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