SCENE III.

A room in SIR OLIVER TWILIGHT's house.

Enter SIR OLIVER TWILIGHT, SANDFIELD, PHILIP TWILIGHT, and SAVOURWIT.

SIR O. TWI. Good master Sandfield, for the great affection

You bear toward my girl, I am well pleas'd

You should enjoy her beauty; heaven forbid, sir, That I should cast away a proper gentleman,

So far in love, with a sour mood or so.

No, no;

I'll not die guilty of a lover's neck-cracking.
Marry, as for portion, there I leave you, sir,
To the mercy of your destiny again;

I'll have no hand in that.

SAND. Faith, something, sir,

Be't but t'express your love.

SIR O. Twi. I've no desire, sir,

T'express my love that way, and so rest satisfied; I pray take heed in urging that too much

You draw not my love from me.

SAND. Fates foresee, sir.

SIR O. TWI. Faith, then you may go, seek out a

high steeple,

Or a deep water-there's no saving of you.

SAV. How naturally he plays upon himself!

[Aside.

SIR O. TWI. Marry, if a wedding-dinner, as I told

you,

And three years' board, well lodgèd in mine house,
And eating, drinking, and a sleeping portion,
May give you satisfaction, I'm your man, sir;
Seek out no other.

SAND. I'm content to embrace it, sir,

Rather than hazard languishment or ruin.

SIR O. TWI. I love thee for thy wisdom; such a son-in-law

Will cheer a father's heart: welcome, sweet master
Sandfield.

Whither away, boys? Philip!"
PHIL. To visit my love, sir,
Old master Sunset's daughter.

SIR O. TWI. That's my Philip!

Ply't hard, my good boys both, put 'em to't finely; One day, one dinner, and one house shall join you.

SAND.
PHIL.

That's our desire, sir.

[Exeunt SANDFIELD and PHILIP. SIR O. TWI. Pist!t come hither, Savourwit; Observe my son, and bring me word, sweet boy, Whether has a speeding wit or no in wooing.

SAV. That will I, sir. That your own eyes might tell ye"

I think it speedy; your girl has a round belly. [Exit. SIRO. TWI. How soon the comfortable shine of joy Breaks through a cloud of grief!

The tears that I let fall for my dead wife

Are dried up with the beams of my girl's fortunes :
Her life, her death, and her ten years' distress,
Are even forgot with me; the love and care

That I ought her, her daughter sh' owes it all;
It can but be bestow'd, and there 'tis well.

Philip] After this word old ed. gives a stage - direction "Enter Philip," though it has previously marked his entrance at the commencement of the scene.

Pist] i. e. Hist: compare vol. ii. p. 460.-Old ed. "Pish." ye] Old ed. "you"-but this line was meant to rhyme with the next.

ought] i. e. owed.

showes] Old ed. "shows:"-owes, i. e. owns, possesses.

Enter Servant.

How now? what news?

SER. There's a Dutch merchant, sir, that's now come over,

Desires some conference with you.

SIR O. TWI. How! a Dutch merchant?

Pray, send him in to me. [Exit Servant.]-What news with him, trow ?x

Enter Dutch Merchant, with a little Dutch Boy in great slops.

D. MER. Sir Oliver Twilight?

SIR O. TWI. That's my name indeed, sir; I pray, be cover'd,' sir; you're very welcome. D. MER. This is my business, sir; I took into my charge

A few words to deliver to yourself

From a dear friend of yours, that wonders strangely At your unkind neglect.

SIR O. TWI. Indeed! what might

He be, sir?

D. MER. Nay, you're i' the wrong gender now; 'Tis that distressèd lady, your good wife, sir. SIR O. TWI. What say you, sir? my wife! D. MER. Yes, sir, your wife:

This strangeness now of yours seems more to harden Th' uncharitable neglect she tax'd you for.

SIR O. TWI. Pray, give me leave, sir; is my wife alive?

D. MER. Came any news to you, sir, to the contrary?

SIR O. TWI. Yes, by my faith, did there.

*trow] i. think you.

1 great slops] i. e. wide trousers.
be cover'd] i. e. put on your hat.

D. MER. Pray, how long since, sir?
SIR O. TWI. 'Tis now some ten weeks.
D. MER. Faith, within this month, sir,

I saw her talk and eat; and those, in our calendar,
Are signs of life and health.

SIR O. TWI. Mass, so they are in ours!

D. MER. And these were the last words her passion threw me,—

No grief, quoth she, sits to my heart so close
As his unkindness, and my daughter's loss.

SIR O. TWI. You make me weep and wonder; for I swear

I sent her ransom, and that daughter's here.

D. MER. Here! that will come well to lighten her of one grief;

I long to see her, for the piteous moan

Her mother made for her.

SIR O. TWI. That shall you, sir.Within there!

SER. Sir?

Re-enter Servant.

SIR O. TWI. Call down my daughter.

SER. Yes, sir.

[Exit.

SIR O. TWI. Here is strange budgelling: I tell

you, sir,

Those that I put in trust were near me too

A man would think they should not juggle with

me

My own son and my servant; no worse people, sir. D. MER. And yet ofttimes, sir, what worse knave

to a man

Than he that eats his meat?

a

passion] i. e. sorrow.

bbudgelling] Perhaps a form of boggling. A friend suggests "budgetting."

SIR O. TWI. Troth, you say true, sir:

I sent 'em simply, and that news they brought,
My wife had left the world; and, with that son a
I sent to her, this brought his sister home:
Look you, sir, this is she.

Enter GRACE.

D. MER. If my eye sin not, sir, Or misty error falsify the glass,

I saw that face at Antwerp in an inn,

When I set forth first to fetch home this boy.
SIR O. TWI. How? in an inn?
GRACE. O, I'm betray'd, I fear!

D. MER. How do you, young mistress?
GRACE. Your eyes wrong your tongue, sir,
And make you sin in both; I am not she.

[Aside.

D. MER. NO? then I ne'er saw face twice. - Sir Oliver Twilight,

I tell you my free thoughts, I fear you're blinded; I do not like this story; I doubt much

The sister is as false as the dead mother.

SIR O. TWI. Yea, say you so, sir? I see nothing lets me

But to doubt so too then.

So, to your chamber; we have done with you.

storm!

GRACE. I would be glad you had: here's a strange [Aside. Sift it out well, sir; till anon I leave you, sir. [Exit. D. MER. Business commands me hence; but, as

a pledge

Of my return, I'll leave my little son with you,
Who yet takes little pleasure in this country,
'Cause he can speak no English, all Dutch he.

son] Qy. "sum"? but perhaps "this" in the next line means Savourwit. lets] i. e. hinders.

bmake] Old ed. "makes."