SCENE III.

HEARSAY, CASTER, SHAPE.

HEAR. Can I lie hid nowhere securely from The throng and press of men? Must every place Become a theatre, where I seek shelter, And solitudes become markets, 'cause I'm there? Good sir, I know your tricks; you would entrap: This is your snare, not your request.

SHAPE. Take heed; He's nois'd about for a deep-searching head. I'll pawn my life 'tis a trick.

HEAR. Leave off these gins, You do not do it handsomely. You think Y' have met with fools, I warrant.

SHAPE. On my life, a spy, a mere informer.

CAS. As I hope For fortunes, my intentions are most fair.

SHAPE. A gamester's oath! he hath some reservation.

HEAR. Yet did I think you true----

CAS. By all that's good, You do me wrong, to think that I'd wrong you.

HEAR. When I lay agent last in New Atlantis, I met with, what you now desire, a strange New way of winning, but yet very sure. Were not the danger great, I'd----

CAS. Do you think I will betray myself or you, whom I Esteem above myself? I have as yet One hundred left, some part of which----

SHAPE. Faith, sir, These times require advice: if it should come Unto the council's ear once, he might be Sent into other kingdoms, to win up Money for the relief o' th' state, and so Be as it were an honest kind of exile.

CAS. If I do e'er discover, may I want Money to pay my ordinary: may I At my last stake (when there is nothing else To lose the game) throw ames-ace[170] thrice together! I'll give you forty pound in hand----

HEAR. I may Show you the virtue of't, though not the thing: I love my country very well. Your high And low men are but trifles;[171] your pois'd dye, That's ballasted with quicksilver or gold, Is gross to this----

SHAPE. Proffer him more, I say. [_Aside._

CAS. Here's fifty----

HEAR. For the bristle dye, it is Not worth that hand that guides it: toys fit only For clerks to win poor costermongers' ware with.

SHAPE. You do not come on well. [_Aside._

CAS. Here's threescore----

HEAR. Then Your hollowed thumb join'd with your wriggled box-- The slur and suchlike are not to be talk'd of; They're open to the eye. For cards, you may Without the help of any secret word Or a false hand, without the cut or shuffle, Or the pack'd trick, have what you will yourself; There's none to contradict you.

CAS. If you please But to instruct me, here is fourscore pound.

HEAR. Do you think 'tis money I esteem? I can Command each term by art as much as will Furnish a navy. Had you but five pound Left you in all the world, I'd undertake Within one fortnight you should see five thousand. Not that I covet any of your dross, But that the power of this art may be More demonstrably evident, leave in My hands all but some smaller sum to set, Something to stake at first.

SHAPE. He'll tell you all, If you but seem to trust him. [_Aside._

CAS. Here I'll lay Down in your hands all but this little portion, Which I reserve for a foundation.

HEAR. Being y' are confident of me, and I Presume your lips are sealed up to silence, Take that, which I did never yet discover: So help you fortune, me philosophy. (I must intreat your absence, Master Shape.) [_Exit_ SHAPE. I do presume you know the strength and power That lies in fancy.

CAS. Strange things are done by it.

HEAR. It works upon that which is not as yet: The little Ethiop infant would have been Black in his cradle,[172] had he not been first White in the mother's strong imagination. 'Tis thought the hairy child, that's shown about, Came by the mother's thinking on the picture Of Saint John Baptist in his camel's coat. See we not beasts conceive, as they do fancy The present colours plac'd before their eyes? We owe pied colts unto the varied horse-cloth, And the white partridge to the neighbouring snow. Fancy can save or kill: it hath clos'd up Wounds,[173] when the balsam could not; and without The aid of salves, to think hath been a cure. For witchcraft then, that's all done by the force Of mere imagination. That which can Alter the course of nature, I presume, You'll grant shall bear more rule in petty hazards.

CAS. It must, it must, good sir. I pray, go on.

HEAR. Now the strongest fancies still are found to dwell In the most simple; they being easiest won To the most firm belief, who understand not Why[174] 'tis they do believe. If they think 'twill Be so, it will be so: they do command And check the course of fortune: they may stop Thunder, and make it stand, as if arrested In its mid-journey. If that such a one Shall think you'll win, you must win: 'tis a due, That nature pays those men in recompense Of her deficiency that, whate'er they think, Shall come to pass. But now the hardest will be To find out one that's capable of thinking.

CAS. I know you can produce an instrument To work this your design by: let me owe you The whole and entire courtesy.

HEAR. I've one

Committed to my custody but lately, The powerfull'st that way I e'er found yet: He will but think he shall be abus'd in such A company, and he's abus'd: he will Imagine only that he shall be cheated, And he is cheated: all still comes to pass. He's but one pin above a natural: but----

CAS. We'll purchase him; I'll take up for't. Old Simon Shall have my farm outright now. What's a piece Of dirty earth to me? a clod! a turf!

HEAR. Because I see your freer nature's such As doth deserve supplies, I'll do my best To win him o'er awhile into your service.

CAS. If I should strive to pay you thanks, I should But undervalue this great courtesy. Sir, give me leave to think and worship. Stay: First, will I beggar all the gentlemen That do keep terms; then build with what I win. Next, I'll undo all gaming citizens, And purchase upon that. The foreman shall Want of his wonted opportunities; Old Thomas shall keep home, I warrant him. I will ascend to the groom-porters next, Fly higher games, and make my mincing knights Walk musing in their knotty freeze abroad; For they shall have no home. There shall not be That pleasure but I'll balk: I'll run o'er Nature; And when I've ransack'd her, I'll weary art: My means, I'm sure, will reach it. Let me see, 'Twill yearly be--by heaven, I know not what----

HEAR. Ne'er think to sum it, 'tis impossible: You shall ne'er know what angels, pieces, pounds, Those names of want and beggary, mean: your tongue Shall utter nought but millions; you shall measure, Not count your moneys; your revenues shall Be proud and insolent, and unruly; They shall increase above your conquer'd spendings, In spite of their excess. Your care shall be Only to tame your riches, and to make them Grow sober and obedient to your use.

CAS. I'll send some forty thousand unto Paul's; Build a cathedral next in Banbury;[175] Give organs to each parish in the kingdom; And so root out th' unmusical elect. I'll pay all soldiers, whom their captains won't; Raise a new hospital for those maim'd people That have been hurt in gaming: then build up All colleges that ruin hath demolish'd, Or interruption left unperfect.

HEAR. 'Twill Never be done, I think, unless you do it. Provide the wealthiest gamesters: there's but one That can do us wrong--discovery. You have no enemy but frailty.

CAS. Night And silence are loud names compar'd with me.

HEAR. I see the tide of fortune rolling in Without resistance. Go, be close and happy. [_Exeunt._