If your ladyship please to use it. Lady. Come, Mr Wellborn,

[Exit LADY and WELLBORN. Over. Grosser and grosser! My good lord, Excuse my manners.

Enter LOVELL, MARGARET and ALLWORTH. Lov. There needs none, Sir Giles; I may, ere long, say father, when it please My dearest mistress to give warrant to it. Over. She shall seal to it, my lord, and make me happy.

Marg. My lady is returned.

Enter WELLBORN and LADY.

Lady. Provide my coach,

I'll instantly away: my thanks, sir Giles,
For my entertainment.

Over. 'Tis your nobleness

To think it such.

Well. So I do, sir; 'Tis strange to me.

Over. But I'll make it no wonder ; And, what is more, unfold my nature to you. We worldly men, when we see friends and kins

men

Past hope, sunk in their fortunes, lend no hand
To lift them up, but rather set our feet
Upon their heads, to press them to the bottom;
As, I must yield, with you I practised it:
But now I see you in a way to rise,

I can and will assist you. This rich lady
And I am glad of it) is enamoured of you.
Well. No such thing:
Compassion rather, sir.

Over. Well, in a word,

Greedy. In troth, my lord, after the sun is up I cannot sleep; for I have a foolish stomach, That croaks for breakfast. With your lordship's favour,

I have a serious question to demand
Of my worthy friend, sir Giles.

Lov. Pray you, use your pleasure.

Greedy. How far, sir Giles--and, pray you, an

swer ine

Upon your credit-hold it to be

you

With her, my lord, comes to you; nor shall you

have

One motive to induce you to believe
I live too long, since every year I'll add
Something unto the heap, which shall be yours

too.

Lov. You are a right kind father.
Over. You shall have reason

To think me such. How do you like this seat?
It is well wooded and well watered, the acres

worth's?

Over. Why, some four miles.

Greedy. How! four miles, good Sir Giles?

Upon your reputation think better;

For four miles riding

Could not have raised so huge an appetite

As I feel gnawing on me.

Mar. Whether you ride,

Or go a-foot, you are that way still provided,
And it please your worship.

Over. How now, sirrah! prating
Before my lord? no deference? Go to my nephew;
See all his debts discharged, and help his worship
To fit on his rich suit.

[Exit MARRALL.

Mar. I may fit you, too." Lov. I have writ this morning A few lines to my mistress, your fair daughter. Over. Twill fire her, for she's wholly yours already.

Sweet Mr Allworth, take my ring; 'twill carry To her presence, I dare warrant you; and there plead

For my good lord, if you shall find occasion. That done, pray ride to Nottingham; get a

cence,

To entertain your friends in a summer's progress? What thinks my noble lord?

Lov. 'Tis a wholesome air,

And well built; and she, that's mistress of it,
Worthy the large revenue.

Over. She the mistress?

It may be so for a time; but let my lord
Say only, that he but like it, and would have it,
I say, ere long 'tis his.

Lov. Impossible.

Over. You do conclude too fast, not knowing

Still by this token. I'll have it dispatched,
And suddenly, my lord: that I may say
My honourable, nay, right honourable daughter.
Greedy. Take my advice, young gentleman;
get your breakfast.

'Tis unwholesome to ride fasting. I'll eat with you,

And that abundantly.

Over. Some fury's in that gut:

Hungry again? Did you not devour, this morning, A shield of brawn, and a barrel of Colchester oysters?

Greedy. Why, that was, sir, only to scour my stomach,

A kind of preparative. Come, gentlemen,
I will not have you feed alone, while I am here.
Lov. Haste your return.

Allw. I will not fail, my lord.
Greedy. Nor I, to line
My Christmas coffer.

[Exeunt GREEDY and ALLWORTH.
Over. To my wish, we're private.
I come not to make offer with my daughter
A certain portion; that were poor and trivial:
In one word, I pronounce all that is mine,
In lands, or leases, ready coin, or goods,

Over. You run, my lord, no hazard; Your reputation shall stand as fair, In all good mens' opinions, as now: Nor can my actions, though condemned for ill, Cast any foul aspersion upon yours. For though I do contemn report myself, As a mere sound, I still will be so tender Of what concerns you in all points of honour, That the immaculate whiteness of your fame, Nor your unquestioned integrity, Shall ere be sullied with one taint or spot, That may take from your innocence and candour. All my ambition is, to have my daughter Right honourable; which my lord can make her : And might I live to dance upon my knee A young lord Lovell, born by her unto you, I write nil ultra to my proudest hopes. As for possessions, and annual rents, Equivalent to maintain you in the port Your noble birth and present state require, I do remove that burden from your shoulders, And take it on mine own; for though I ruin The country, to supply your riotous waste, The scourge of prodigals, want, shall never find

you.

Lov. Are you not moved with the imprecations

And curses of whole families, made wretched By these practices?

Over. Yes, as rocks are,

When foamy billows split themselves against
Their flinty ribs; or as the moon is moved,
When wolves, with hunger pined, howl at her
brightness.

I am of a solid temper, and, like these,
Steer on a constant course: with mine own sword,
If called into the field, I can make that right,
Which fearful enemies murmured at as wrong.
Now, for those other piddling complaints,
Breathed out in bitterness; as when they call me
Extortioner, tyrant, cormorant, or intruder
On my poor neighbour's right, or grand incloser,
Of what was common, to my private use;
Nay, when my ears are pierced with widows'
cries,

And undone orphans wash with tears my threshold,

I only think what 'tis to have my daughter
Right honourable; and 'tis a powerful charm!
Makes me insensible of remorse, or pity,
Or the least sting of conscience.
Lov. I admire

The toughness of your nature.

Over. 'Tis for you,

My lord, and for my daughter, I am marble;
Nay, more, if you will have my character
In little, I enjoy more true delight
In my arrival to my wealth these dark

And crooked ways, than you shall e'er take plea

sure

In spending what my industry hath compassed. My haste commands me hence: in one word, therefore,

Is it a match, my lord?

Lov. I hope that is past doubt, now.

For your own sake I am glad you came no sooner,
Since this bold, bad man, sir Giles Overreach,
Made such a plain discovery of himself,
And read this morning such devilish matins,
That I should think a sin, next to his,
But to repeat it-

Lady. I ne'er pressed, my lord,
On other's privacies; yet, against my will,
Walking, for health's sake, in the gallery
Adjoining to our lodgings, I was made
(So loud and vehement he was) partaker
Of his tempting offers. But,

My good lord, if I may use my freedom,
As to an honoured friend-

Lov. You lessen else
Your favour to me.

Lady. I dare, then, say thus: (However common men

Make sordid wealth the object and sole end
Of their industrious aims) 'twill not agree
With those of noble blood, of fame and honour.
Love. Madam, 'tis confessed;
But what infer you from it?

Lady. This, my lord: I allow

The heir of sir Giles Overreach, Margaret,
A maid well qualified, and the richest match
Our north part can boast of; yet she cannot,
With all that she brings with her, fill their mouths,
That never will forget who was her father;
Or that my husband Allworth's lands, and Well-
born's,

(How wrung from both needs no repetition) Were real motives, that more worked your lordship

To join your families, than her form and virtues.
You may conceive the rest.

Lov. I do, sweet madam;
And long since have considered it.

Were Overreach's states thrice centupled, his