Act. 5. Sc. 1.]

Boor. List! a wild hog:

[of 'em!

He grunts! now 'tis a bear; this wood is full
And now a wolf, mistress; a wolf, a wolf!
It is the howling of a wolf.

Gert. The braying of an ass, is it not?
Bour. Oh, now one has me!

Oh, my left ham! Farewell!

Gert. Look to your shanks,

Your breech is safe enough; the wolf's a fernbrake.

[in it! Boor. But see, see, see! there is a serpent 'T has eyes as broad as platters; it spits fire! Now it creeps tow'rds us; help me to say my [stopt; prayers!

'T hath swallow'd me almost; my breath I cannot speak! Do I speak, mistress? tell me, Gert. Why, thou strange timorous sot, canst thou perceive

Any thing i' th' bush but a poor glow-worm? Boor. It may be 'tis but a glow-worm now; but 'twill

Grow to a fire-drake presently.

Gert. Come thou from it!]

[teous,

I have a precious guide of you, and a courThat gives me leave to lead myself the way [Holla.

thus.

Boor. It thunders; you hear that now?
Gert. I hear one holla.

Boor. 'Tis thunder, thunder! See, a flash [off'; of lightning! Are you not blasted, mistress? Pull your mask "T has play'd the barber with me here: I [shaven; have lost

My beard, my beard! Pray God you be not Twill spoil your marriage, mistress.

Gert. What strange wonders

Fear fancies in a coward!

Boor. Now the earth opens!
Gert. Prithee hold thy peace.

Boor. Will you on then?

Gert. Both love and jealousy have made
me bold:

Where my fate leads
Boor, God be with

nie, I must go. [Exit.

you

then!

Hemp. Who goes there?
Boor. Mistress, I am taken.

Hemp. Mistress? Look forth, soldiers!

321

[lody.

and pikes too,

after.

ried to-day,

And was the bride and all; but in came Clause,

[win Mr. GosThe old lame beggar, and whips up Under his arm, away with him; as a kite, Or an old fox, would swoop away a gosling. Hemp. "Tis she, 'tis she, 'tis she! Niece! Re-enter Gertrude.

Wol. I begin, Hempskirke, to believe my Works to my ends.

Hemp. Yes, Sir; and this adds trust Unto the fellow our guide, who assur'd me Florez

[did
Liv'd in some merchant's shape, as Gerrard
In the old beggar's, and that he would use
Ilim for the train to call the other forth;
All which we find is done. [Holla again.]
That's he again.

Wol. Good we sent out to meet him.
Hemp. Here's the oak.

Gert. Oh, I am miserably lost, thus fall'n Into uncle's hands from all my hopes! Can I not think away myself and die?

my

[Exeunt.

Enter Ilubert, Higgen, Prigg, Ferret, Snap, and Ginks, like loors,

Hub. I like your habits well; they're safe; [ha?

stand close.

Ilig. But what's the action we are for now, Robbing a ripier 54 of his fish? Prigg. Or taking

A poulterer prisoner, without ransom, bullies? Hig. Or cutting off a convoy of butter?

2T

Fer. Or surprising a boor's ken, for grunting-cheats?54

Prigg. Or cackling-cheats?

Hig. Or Margery-praters, rogers, And bits o' th buttery?

Prigg. Oh, I could drive a regiment Of geese afore me, such a night as this, Ten leagues, with my hat and staff, and not a hiss

Heard, nor a wing of my troops disorder'd. Hig. Tell us,

If it be milling of a lag of duds,

The fetching-off a buck of clothes, or so?
We are horribly out of linen.55

Hub. No such matter.

54 Granting-cheats.] Former editions. 55 Buck of clothes, &c.] A parcel of

Merry Wives of Windsor.

Hub. Divide then

Your force into five squadrons; for there are
So many out-lets, ways through the wood,
That issue from the place where they are
lodz'd:

Five several ways; of all which passages
We must possess ourselves, to round 'em in;
For by one starting-hole they'll all escape else.
I, and four boors here to me, will be guides:
The squadron where you are myself will lead;
And that they may be more secure, I'll use
My wonted whoops and hollas, as I were
A-hunting for 'em; which will make them

Seward.

Seward.

I must o'ercome in this, in all things else The victory be yours. Could you here read

me,

You should perceive how all my faculties
Triumph in my blest fate, to be found yours:
I am your son, your son, Sir! And am prouder
To be so, to the father to such goodness,
(Which Heav'n be pleas'd I may inherit from
you!)

Than I shall ever of those specious titles
That plead for my succession in the earldom
(Did I possess it now) left by my mother.
Ger. I do believe it: But-
Flo. Oh, my lov'd father,
Before I knew you were so, by instinct,
Nature had taught me to look on your wants,
Not as a stranger's: And, I know not how,
What you call'd charity, I thought the

ment

pay

[for: Of some religions debt Nature stood bound And last of all, when your magnificent bounty, In my low ebb of fortune, had brought in A flood of blessings, though my threat'ning

Wol. Ay, cripple; your feign'd crutches will not help you,

Nor patch'd disguise, that hath so long_conceal'd you;

[rard; It's now no halting: I must here find GerAnd in this merchant's habit one call'd Florez, Who would be an earl.

Ger. And is, wert thou a subject.
Flo. Is this that traitor Wolfort?
Wol. Yes; but you

Are they that are betray'd. Hempskirke!
Gert. My Goswin

[ness, Turn'd prince? Oh, I am poorer by this greatThan all my former jealousies or misfortunes. Flo. Gertrude! [her:

1

Wol. Stay, Sir; you were to-day too near You must no more aim at those casy accesses, 'Less you can do't in air, without a head; Which shall be suddenly try'd.

Gert. Oh, take my heart first; And, since I cannot hope now to enjoy him, Let me but fall a part of his glad ransom. Wol. You know not your own value that

entreat

Ger. So proud a fiend as Wolfort!
Wol. For so lost

A thing as Florez.

Flo. And that would be so,

Rather than she should stoop again to thee! There is no death, but's sweeter than all life, When Wolfort is to give it. Oh, my Gertrude,

It is not that, nor princedom, that I g0 from; It is from thee! that loss includeth all.

Wol. Ay, if my young prince knew his loss, he'd say so; [him. Which, that he yet may chew on, I will tell This is no Gertrude, nor no Hempskirke's niece; Bertha!

Nor Vandunke's daughter: This is Bertha,
The heir of Brabant, she that cans'd the war,
Whom I did steal, during my treaty there,
In your minority, to raise myself:

I then foreseeing 'twould beget a quarrel;~
That, a necessity of my employment;—
The same employment, make me master of
strength;-

That strength, the lord of Flanders; so of
Brabant,

[Sir,

By marrying her: Which had not been to do,
She come of years, but that the expectation,
First, of her father's death, retarded it;
And since, the standing-out of Bruges;
where

[lost. Hempskirke had hid her, till she was near But, Sir, we have recover'd her: Your merchantship [toms, May break; for this was one of your best bot I think.

Flo. How they triumph in their treachery! Hemp. Lord Arnold of Benthuisen, this lord Costin,

This Jaculin, the sister unto Florez.

Wol. All found? Why, here's brave game; this was sport-royal,

And puts me in thought of a new kind of death for 'em. [rez' fall; Huntsman, your horn! First, wind me FloNext, Gerrard's; then, his daughter Jaculin's. Those rascals, they shall die without their rites: 53

[take Hang 'em, Hempskirke, on these trees. I'll Th' assay of these myself.

Hub. Not here, my lord;

Let 'em be broken up upon a scaffold; 'Twill shew the better when their arbour's made.

Ger. Wretch, art thou not content thou hast betray'd us,

But mock'st us too?

Ginks. False Hubert, this is monstrous! Wol. Hubert?

Hemp. Who? this?

Ger. Yes, this is Hubert, Wolfort;

I hope h' has help'd himself to a tree. Wol. The first,

[Sir:

The first of any, and most glad I have you,
I let you go before, but for a train.
Is't you have done this service?

Hub. As your huntsman; co

But now as Hubert (save yourselves) I will---The Wolf's afoot! Let slip! kill, kill, kill, kill!

Enter, with a drum, Vandunke, 'Merchants, Higgen, Prigg, Ferret, and Snap. Wol. Betray'd? [man. Hub. No, but well catch'd; and I the huntsVand. How do you, Wolfort? Rascal! good knave Wolfort!

I speak it now without the rose! and Hempskirke,

[this lady

Rogue Hempskirke! you that have no niece: Was stol'n by you, and ta'en by you, and now Resign'd by me to the right owner here. Take her, my prince!

Flo. Can this be possible?

flove!

Welcome, my love, my sweet, my worthy Fand. I ha' giv'n you her twice; now keep her better: And thank

Lord Hubert, that came to me in Gerrard's

Like Cæsar, when he bred his Commentaries;
So I, to breed my chronicle, came forth
Cesar Vandunke, & veni, vidi, vici!
Give me my bottle, and set down the drum.
You had your tricks, Sir, had you? we ha'
tricks too!

You stole the lady!

Hig. And we led your squadrons,

Where they ha' scratch'd their legs a little, with brambles,

If not their faces.

Prigg. Yes, and run their heads
Against trees.

Tig. 'Tis captain Prigg, Sir!
Prigg. And colonel Higgen!

Hig. We have fill'd a pit with your people, some with legs.

Some with arms broken, and a neck or two I think be loose.

Prigg. The rest too, that escap'd,

Are not yet out o' th' briars.

Hig. And your horses, Sir,

Are well set up in Bruges all by this time. You look as you were not well, Sir, and

would be

Flo. 'Twere truer valour, if thou durst reThe wrongs th' hast done, and live.

Wol. Who? I repent, [guage, And say I'm sorry? Yes, 'tis the fool's lanAnd not for Wolfort.

Fund. Wolfort, thou'rt a devil,

And speak'st his language. Oh, that I had
my longing!
[him.
Under this row of trees now would I hang
Flo. No, let him live until he can repent;
But banish'd from our state; that is thy dooin.
Fand. Then hang his worthy captain here,
this Hempskirke,

For profit of th example.
Flo. No; let him

[lodge first,

Hig. Not I, if they should offer it: I'll disRemove the Bush into another climate.

Ger. Sir, you must thank this worthy burgomaster.

Here be friends ask to be look'd on too,
And thank'd; who, tho' their trade and course
of life

Be not so perfect but it may be better'd,
Have yet us'd me with courtesy, and been true
Subjects unto me, while I was their king;
A place I know not well how to resign,
Nor unto whom. But this I will entreat
Your grace: command them to follow me to
Bruges;

Where I will take the care on me to find
Some manly, and more profitable course,
To fit them as a part of the republick.
Flo. Do you hear, Sir;? Do so.
Hig. Thanks to your good grace!
Prigg. To your good lordship!
Fer. May you both live long!

Ger. Attend me at Vandunke's, the burgomaster's. [Exeunt all but beggars. Hig. Yes, to beat hemp, and be whipp'd twice a-week,

Or turn the wheel for Crab the rope-maker;
Or learn to go along with him his course
(That's a fine course now) i' th' common-
What say you to it? [wealth: Prigg,
Prigg. It is the backward'st course

I know i' th' world.

Hig. Then Higgen will scarce thrive by it, You do conclude?

Prigg. 'Faith hardly, very hardly.

Ilig. Troth, I am partly of your mind, prince Prigg. [will seek

And therefore, farewell, Flanders! Higgen

61 With joy.] Former editions.

Hig. We stand here for an Epilogue. Ladies, your bounties first! the rest will follow; For women's favours are a leading alms: If you be pleas'd, look cheerly, throw your Out at your masks. feyes Prigg. And let your beauties sparkle! Hig. So may you ne'er want dressings, jewels, gowns,

Still in the fashion!

Prigg. Nor the men you love, Wealth nor discourse to please you!

Hig. May you, gentlemen,

Never want good fresh suits, nor liberty! Prigg. May every merchant here see safe his ventures!

Hig. And every honest citizen his debts in !
Prigg. The lawyers gain good clients!
Ilig. And the clients

Good counsel!