SCENE II.[4053

[_Enter_] ALLWORTH, Waiting Woman, Chambermaid, ORDER, AMBLE, FURNACE, _and_ WATCHALL.

_Woman._ Could you not command your leisure one hour longer?

_Cham._ Or half an hour?

_All._ I have told you what my haste is: Besides, being now another’s, not mine own, Howe’er I much desire to enjoy you longer, My duty suffers, if, to please myself, 5 I should neglect my lord.

_Woman._ Pray you do me the favour To put these few quince-cakes into your pocket; They are of mine own preserving.

_Cham._ And this marmalade; ’T is comfortable for your stomach.

_Woman._ And, at parting, Excuse me if I beg a farewell from you. 10

_Cham._ You are still before me. I move the same suit, sir. [ALLWORTH] _kisses them severally._

_Furn._ How greedy these chamberers are of a beardless chin! I think the tits[4054] will ravish him.

_All._ My service To both.

_Woman._ Ours waits on you.

_Cham._ And shall do ever.

_Ord._ You are my lady’s charge, be therefore careful 15 That you sustain your parts.

_Woman._ We can bear, I warrant you.

_Exeunt_ W. Woman _and_ Chambermaid.

_Furn._ Here, drink it off; the ingredients are cordial, And this the true elixir; it hath boil’d Since midnight for you. ’T is the quintessence Of five cocks of the game, ten dozen of sparrows, 20 Knuckles of veal, potato-roots and marrow, Coral and ambergris. Were you two years older, And I had a wife, or gamesome mistress, I durst trust you with neither. You need not bait After this, I warrant you, though your journey ’s long; 25 You may ride on the strength of this till tomorrow morning.

_All._ Your courtesies overwhelm me: I much grieve To part from such true friends; and yet find comfort, My attendance on my honourable lord, Whose resolution holds to visit my lady, 30 Will speedily bring me back.

_Knocking at the gate._

_Mar._ (_within._) Dar’st thou venture further?

_Well._ (_within._) Yes, yes, and knock again.

_Ord._ ’T is he; disperse!

_Amb._ Perform it bravely.

_Furn._ I know my cue, ne’er doubt me. _Exeunt_ [_all but_ ALLWORTH].

[_Enter_ WATCHALL, _ceremoniously introducing_ WELLBORN _and_ MARRALL.]

_Watch._ Beast that I was, to make you stay! Most welcome; 34 You were long since expected.

_Well._ Say so much To my friend, I pray you.

_Watch._ For your sake, I will, sir.

_Mar._ For his sake!

_Well._ Mum; this is nothing.

_Mar._ More than ever I would have believ’d, though I had found it in my primer.

_All._ When I have given your reasons for my late harshness, You ’ll pardon and excuse me; for, believe me, 40 Though now I part abruptly, in my service I will deserve it.

_Mar._ Service! with a vengeance!

_Well._ I am satisfied: farewell, Tom.

_All._ All joy stay with you! _Exit._

_Re-enter_ AMBLE.

_Amb._ You are happily encounter’d; I yet never Presented one so welcome as I know 45 You will be to my lady.

_Mar._ This is some vision, Or, sure, these men are mad, to worship a dunghill; It cannot be a truth.

_Well._ Be still a pagan, An unbelieving infidel; be so, miscreant, And meditate on “blankets, and on dog-whips!” 50

_Re-enter_ FURNACE.

_Furn._ I am glad you are come; until I know your pleasure I knew not how to serve up my lady’s dinner.

_Mar._ His pleasure! is it possible?

_Well._ What ’s thy will?

_Furn._ Marry, sir, I have some grouse, and turkey chicken, Some rails[4055] and quails, and my lady will’d me ask you, 55 What kind of sauces best affect your palate, That I may use my utmost skill to please it.

_Mar._ [_Aside._] The devil ’s enter’d this cook. Sauce for his palate! That, on my knowledge, for almost this twelve-month, Durst wish but cheese-parings and brown bread on Sundays. 60

_Well._ That way I like ’em best.

_Furn._ It shall be done, sir. _Exit._

_Well._ What think you of “the hedge we shall dine under?” Shall we feed gratis?

_Mar._ I know not what to think; Pray you make me not mad.

_Re-enter_ ORDER.

_Ord._ This place becomes you not; 64 Pray you walk, sir, to the dining room.

_Well._ I am well here, Till her ladyship quits her chamber.

_Mar._ Well here, say you? ’T is a rare change! But yesterday you thought Yourself well in a barn, wrapp’d up in peas-straw.

_Re-enter_ Waiting Woman _and_ Chambermaid.

_Woman._ O! sir, you are wish’d for.

_Cham._ My lady dreamt, sir, of you.

_Woman._ And the first command she gave, after she rose, 70 Was (her devotions done) to give her notice When you approach’d here.

_Cham._ Which is done, on my virtue.

_Mar._ I shall be converted; I begin to grow Into a new belief, which saints nor angels 74 Could have won me to have faith in.

_Woman._ Sir, my lady!

_Enter_ LADY ALLWORTH.

_L. All._ I come to meet you, and languish’d till I saw you. This first kiss is for form; I allow a second To such a friend. [_Kisses_ WELLBORN.]

_Mar._ To such a friend! Heaven bless me!

_Well._ I am wholly yours; yet, madam, if you please To grace this gentleman with a salute—— 80

_Mar._ Salute me at his bidding!

_Well._ I shall receive it As a most high favour.

_L. All._ Sir, you may command me. [_Advances to kiss_ MARRALL, _who retires_.]

_Well._ Run backward from a lady! and such a lady!

_Mar._ To kiss her foot is, to poor me, a favour I am unworthy of. _Offers to kiss her foot._

_L. All._ Nay, pray you rise; 85 And since you are so humble, I ’ll exalt you. You shall dine with me to-day, at mine own table.

_Mar._ Your ladyship’s table! I am not good enough To sit at your steward’s board.

_L. All._ You are too modest; I will not be deni’d.

_Re-enter_ FURNACE.

_Furn._ Will you still be babbling 90 Till your meat freeze on the table? The old trick still; My art ne’er thought on!

_L. All._ Your arm, Master Wellborn:—— Nay, keep us company. [_To_ MARRALL.]

_Mar._ I was ne’er so grac’d.

_Exeunt_ WELLBORN, LADY ALLWORTH, AMBLE, MARRALL, W. Woman, [_and_ Chambermaid.]

_Ord._ So! we have play’d our parts, and are come off well; But if I know the mystery, why my lady 95 Consented to it, or why Master Wellborn Desir’d it, may I perish!

_Furn._ Would I had The roasting of his heart that cheated him, And forces the poor gentleman to these shifts! By fire! for cooks are Persians, and swear by it, 100 Of all the griping and extorting tyrants I ever heard or read of, I ne’er met A match to Sir Giles Overreach.

_Watch._ What will you take To tell him so, fellow Furnace?

_Furn._ Just as much As my throat is worth, for that would be the price on ’t. 105 To have a usurer that starves himself, And wears a cloak of one and twenty years On a suit of fourteen groats, bought of the hangman, To grow rich, and then purchase, is too common; But this Sir Giles feeds high, keeps many servants, 110 Who must at his command do any outrage; Rich in his habit, vast in his expenses; Yet he to admiration[4056] still increases In wealth and lordships.

_Ord._ He frights men out of their estates, And breaks through all law-nets, made to curb ill men, 115 As they were cobwebs. No man dares reprove him, Such a spirit to dare and power to do were never Lodg’d so unluckily.

_Re-enter_ AMBLE [_laughing_].

_Amb._ Ha! ha! I shall burst.

_Ord._ Contain thyself, man.

_Furn._ Or make us partakers Of your sudden mirth.

_Amb._ Ha! ha! my lady has got 120 Such a guest at her table!—this term-driver, Marrall, This snip of an attorney——

_Furn._ What of him, man?

_Amb._ The knave thinks still he ’s at the cook’s shop in Ram Alley,[4057] Where the clerks divide, and the elder is to choose; And feeds so slovenly!

_Furn._ Is this all?

_Amb._ My lady 125 Drank to him for fashion sake, or to please Master Wellborn; As I live, he rises, and takes up a dish In which there were some remnants of a boil’d capon, And pledges her in white broth!

_Furn._ Nay, ’t is like The rest of his tribe.

_Amb._ And when I brought him wine, 130 He leaves his stool, and, after a leg or two, Most humbly thanks my worship.

_Ord._ Risen already!

_Amb._ I shall be chid.

_Re-enter_ LADY ALLWORTH, WELLBORN, _and_ MARRALL.

_Furn._ My lady frowns.

_L. All._ You wait well! [_To_ AMBLE] Let me have no more of this: I observ’d your jeering. Sirrah, I ’ll have you know, whom I think worthy 135 To sit at my table, be he ne’er so mean, When I am present, is not your companion.

_Ord._ Nay, she ’ll preserve what ’s due to her.

_Furn._ This refreshing Follows your flux of laughter.

_L. All._ [_to_ WELLBORN.] You are master Of your own will. I know so much of manners, As not to inquire your purposes; in a word, 141 To me you are ever welcome, as to a house That is your own.

_Wel._ [_Aside to_ MARRALL.] Mark that.

_Mar._ With reverence, sir, An it like your worship.

_Well._ Trouble yourself no further, Dear madam; my heart ’s full of zeal and service, 145 However in my language I am sparing. Come, Master Marrall.

_Mar._ I attend your worship. _Exeunt_ WELLBORN _and_ MARRALL.

_L. All._ I see in your looks you are sorry, and you know me An easy mistress. Be merry; I have forgot all. Order and Furnace, come with me; I must give you 150 Further directions.

_Ord._ What you please,

_Furn._ We are ready. _Exeunt._