Nay, I'll be bound not. Sa! Sa!

Host. Laugh an thou likest; but put up thy toasting-iron.

Will. Well, thou hast reason for thanksgiving. But I think thy wife was right, if the poor gentleman's thrust was drunken, 'twas a compliment to thy wine. A scurvy rogue to ask for his money when he was poor, and thy wine did affect him.

Host. But to speak seriously, good Will, what bringeth thee here? Who is thy master! Can I assist thee in anything?

Will. Well, I pity thee, and will say no more. My master is young Arthur Walton. He hath returned. He gave up the fortune to his brother Basil.

Host. I thought he was settled abroad.

Will. No! no! He is here, and now he wanteth assistance from his brother; for we are in some present straits, and this Basil will have nought to say to him. What I shall want of thee is information of the family; and mayhap thy daughter will have to see Mistress Florence for us with a message.

[Enter TAPSTER and two or three Roundhead Soldiers, L.]

Tap. Master, master! here be soldiers quartered on us.

Will. The Philistines be upon thee!

Host. O Lord!——be praised. See directly and water the double ale—Tell my daughter to lock up the Trinidado tobaccos—Haste!

[Enter IRETON, HARRISON, and Soldiers, L.U.E.]

Ire. [Reading Papers.] Give us to drink, good measure; for the flesh is thirsty. That we have shall be paid. Who is that fellow [points to William] with his sword drawn?

Har. Ha! a malignant.—Smite him!

Sold. Lo! he shall die.

Host. Hold! hold! 'tis an innocent youth. He did but draw his weapon to defy the evil one. He is strong in prayer. [To William aside.] Speak quickly, an thou lovest thyself—something from Tobit, or the Psalmody.

Har. Thou hearest—Sin-Despise! touch not the youth. Lo, I myself have wrestled with the powers of darkness. [To William.] In what shape cometh he?

Will. With horns, an't please you, [Aside.] very like Master Newborn there.

Har. [To himself.] With me 'tis different. In the curtain'd night,
A Form comes shrieking on me,
With such an edg'd and preternatural cry
'T would stir the blood of clustering bats from sleep,
Tear their hook'd wings from out the mildew'd eaves,
And drive them circling forth—
I tell ye that I fight with him until
The sweat like blood puts out my burning eyes.
Call you this dreaming?

Will. [Aside to the Host.] Dost think the gentleman eats suppers?

Ire. A plague upon his damn'd repentant fancies!

Har. [Still to himself.] 'Twas on the heath,
As he did gripe and hold it from his breast,
He cut my blade with fifty pallid fingers,
On his knees, crying out
He had at home an old and doating father;
And yet I slew him!
There was a ribbon round his neck
That caught in the hilt of my sword.
A stripling, and so long a dying? Why
'Tis most unnatural!

Host. [Aside to William.] I would not have his conscience to be vintner to the Parliament.

Will. [To Host.] Nor I, for my master to be a fat-witted Duke, and I his chief serving-man.

Ire. Here we need counsel, and he raves of dreams
And devils. Yet, 'tis true, he fights as if
He were possess'd by them.
Come, Harrison!
Will you not hear how fortune dawns upon us?—

Har. Ay! indeed—
Excuse me, Ireton, I was something absent;
I think my health of late is shatter'd much.
Sometimes I talk aloud. Did I not speak
But now of Joab in the Bible,
And how he did slay Abner?—
Thou know'st I read the Scripture very oft.

A Trooper. Ay! he goes to bed with it under his pillow, lest the evil one should prevail. Desborough told him of it.

Har. Heard you of Falkland's death?

Ire. At Newbury?—
I did. On either side, in this sad war
The good and noble seem the ripest fruit,
And so fall first.

Har. Thus let them perish, all That strive against the Lord. Is Cromwell nigh?—

Ire. He will be here anon.

Har. [To himself.] The mighty men
Of Israel slew all. It was a sin
To spare the child in the womb.
I am a fool
To shiver thus to think that night must come.
The lion trembles at the sun's eclipse,
But, not for murder of the innocent lamb.
Who walks across my grave?—

Ire. Come, let us go:
I cannot pray or wrestle in the spirit;
But let us talk of earthly fights and toils.
I love fat quarters in a Bishopric
As well as any preacher of us all.

Har. Come, men, to quarters—
In four hours' time we march
To join Lord Essex—see your girths are slack'd,
Your pistols prim'd, your beasts fed, and your souls
Watching for grace, the word is "Kill and slay"—
'Twere best all eat, for I will fast and pray.

[Exeunt HARRISON and IRETON, R.S.E.]

A Soldier. [To William.] I say, wilt thou discourse?

2nd Sold. Give him a text.

3rd Sold. He lacketh speech—He is a dumb Amalekite.

1st Sold. I will even awaken him with a prick of my sword.

Host. Nay! he is strong in the word. [To William.] Preach something, if thou beest wise.

Will. What the devil!—

3rd Sold. Ay! uplift thy voice against Beelzebub.

Host. Thou couldst talk fast enough just now.

Will. Gurton! for this I will undo thee. Newborn! thou didst just now water thine ale. Hezekiah! thou dissemblest, which is more than thy wife used to do; for she feared thee not.

Host. I pity thee, and will say no more.

1st Sold. Here is a stool, let him mount thereon.

Will. These be ignorant knaves. I will practice on them. It may come to good. [Mounts the stool.] The Lord leadeth his people through the wilderness to salvation, crinkeldom cum crankeldom. [Mutters to himself.]

Soldiers. Hum!

Will. Of all thirsts, there be none like that after righteousness.—[Mutters to himself.]

Soldiers. Hum!

Will. [Aside.] For strong ale, which I think hath to do with the conversion of this Gurton. [Mutters to himself.]

1st Sold. Lift thy voice higher, that we stumble not in the dark.

Will. [Aside.] I would I could remember a text—anything will do—[Aloud.] The General Cromwell hath, they say, a red nose, and doth never spit white, which I look upon as a great sign, as was the burning bush to Moses!

2nd Sold. Ha! Blasphemest thou?

3rd Sold. He scoffeth!

4th Sold. Down with him.

Host. O fool! There will be blood spilt!