War. Two thousand poond? Bread a gued, and I’s gif my Voice for
_Fleetwood_. [Aside.
Lam. Two thousand; nay, my Lords, let it be three.
War. Wons, I lee’d, I lee’d; I’s keep my Voice for _Lambert_—Guds
Benizon light on yar Sol, my gued Lord _Lambert._
Hews. Three thousand Pound! why such a Sum wou’d buy half _Scotland_.
War. Wons, my Lord, ya look but blindly on’t then: time was, a Mite
on’t had bought aud shoos in yar Stall, Brother, tho noo ya so abound
in _Irish_ and Bishops Lands.
Duc. You have nick’d him there, my Lord.
All. He, he, he.
War. Scribe—gang a tiny bit farther.
Clerk. —And that your Honours would be pleas’d to confer an Annual
Pension on him—
Lam. Reason, I think; what say you, my Lords, of five hundred Pound a
Year?
All. Agreed, agreed.
War. The Diel swallow me, my Lord, ya won my Heart.
Due. ’Tis very well—but out of what shall this be rais’d?
Lam. We’ll look what Malignants’ Estates are forfeit, undispos’d of—let
me see—who has young _Freeman’s_ Estate?
Des. My Lord, that fell to me.
Lam. What all the fifteen hundred Pound a Year?
Des. A Dad, and all little enough.
Free. The Devil do him good with it.
Des. Had not the Lard put it into your Hearts to have given me two
thousand _per Annum_ out of Bishops Lands, 381 and three thousand _per
Annum_ out of the Marquess’s Estate; how shou’d I have liv’d and serv’d
the Commonwealth as I have done?
Free. A plague confound his Honour, he makes a hard shift to live on
Eight thousand Pound a Year, who was born and bred a Hedger.
Lov. Patience, Friend.
Lam. I have been thinking—but I’ll find out a way.
Lov. Or betray some honest Gentleman, on purpose to gratify the Loone.
Lam. And, Gentlemen, I am bound in Honour and Conscience to speak in
behalf of my Lord _Whitlock_; I think fit, if you agree with me, he
shou’d be made Constable of _Windsor_ Castle, Warden of the Forest,
with the Rents, Perquisities, and Profits thereto belonging; nor can
your Lordships confer a Place of greater Trust and Honour in more safe
Hands.
Due. I find he wou’d oblige all to his side. [Aside.
Has he not part of the Duke of _Buckingham’s Estate_ already, with
_Chelsey_ House, and several other Gifts?
Lam. He has dearly deserv’d ’em; he has serv’d our Interest well and
faithfully.
Due. And he has been well paid for’t.
Whit. And so were you, Sir, with several Lordships, and Bishops Lands,
you were not born to, I conceive.
Duc. I have not got it, Sir, by knavish Querks in Law; a Sword that
deals out Kingdoms to the brave, has cut out some small parcels of
Earth for me. And what of this? [Stands up in a heat.
Whit. I think, Sir, he that talks well, and to th’ purpose, may be as
useful to the Commonwealth as he that fights well. Why do we keep so
many else in Pension that ne’er drew Sword, but to talk, and rail at
the malignant Party; to libel and defame ’em handsomly, with pious
useful Lyes,
Which pass for Gospel with the common Rabble,
And edify more than _Hugh Peter’s_ Sermons;
382 And make Fools bring more Grist to the publick Mill.
Then, Sir, to wrest the Law to our convenience
Is no small, inconsiderate Work.
Free. And which you may be hang’d for very shortly— [Aside.
Lam. ’Tis granted, my Lord, your Merit’s infinite—We made him Keeper of
the Great Seal, ’tis true, ’tis Honour, but no Salary.
Duc. Ten thousand Pound a Year in Bribes will do as well.
Lam. Bribes are not so frequent now as in Old _Noll’s_ Days.
Hews. Well, my Lord, let us be brief and tedious, as the saying is, and
humour one another: I’m for _Whitlock’s_ Advance.
Lam. I move for a Salary, Gentlemen, _Scobel_ and other petty Clerks
have had a thousand a Year; my Lord sure merits more.
Hews. Why—let him have two thousand then.
Fleet. I profess ingeniously, with all my Heart.
Whit. I humbly thank your Lordships—but, if I may be so bold to ask,
from whence shall I receive it?
Lam. Out of the Customs.
Cob. Brotherly Love ought to go along with us—but, under favour, when
this is gone, where shall we raise new Supplies?
Lam. We’ll tax the Nation high, the City higher, They are our Friends,
our most obsequious Slaves, Our Dogs to fetch and carry, our very
Asses—
Lov. And our Oxes, with the help of their Wives. [Aside.
Lam. Besides, the City’s rich, and near her time, I hope, of being
deliver’d.
War. Wons a gued, wad I’d the laying o’ her, she shou’d be sweetly
brought to Bed, by my Sol.
Des. The City cares for no _Scotch_ Pipers, my Lord.
War. By my Sol, but she has danc’d after the gued 383 Pipe of
Reformation, when the Covenant Jigg gang’d maryly round, Sirs.
Clerk. My Lords, here are some poor malignant Petitioners.
Lam. Oh, turn ’em out, here’s nothing for ’em; these Fellows were
petitioning my Lady to day—I thought she had given you a satisfactory
Answer,
Lov. She did indeed, my Lord: but ’tis a hard Case, to take away a
Gentleman’s Estate, without convicting him of any Crime.
Lam. Oh, Sir, we shall prove that hereafter.
Lov. But to make sure Work, you’ll hang a Man first and examine his
Offence afterwards; a Plague upon your Consciences: My Friend here had
a little fairer Play; your Villains, your Witnesses in Pension swore
him a Colonel for our glorious Master, of ever blessed Memory, at eight
Years old; a Plague upon their Miracles.
Fleet. Ingeniously, Sirrah, you shall be pillory’d for defaming our
reverend Witnesses: Guards, take ’em to your Custody both.
Free. Damn it, I shall miss my Assignation with Lady _Desbro_; a Pox of
your unnecessary prating, what shall I do? [Guards take ’em away.
Lam. And now, my Lords, we have finished the Business of the Day. My
good Lord _Fleetwood_, I am entirely yours, and at our next sitting
shall approve my self your Creature—
Whit. My good Lord, I am your submissive Vassal.
War. Wons, my Lord, I scorn any Man shou’d be mere yare Vassal than
Archibald Johnson.
[To _Fleetwood_.
[Ex. All.
Scene II. A Chamber in Lady _Desbro’s_ House.
Enter La. _Desbro_, and _Corporal_ in haste.
L. Des. Seiz’d on, secur’d! Was there no time but this? What made him
at the Committee, or when there why 384 spoke he honest Truth? What
shall I do, good Corporal? Advise; take Gold, and see if you can
corrupt his Guards: but they are better paid for doing Mischief; yet
try, their Consciences are large. [Gives him Gold.
Cor. I’ll venture my Life in so good a Cause, Madam. [Exit.
Enter _Tom_.
Tom. Madam, here’s Mr. _Ananias Gogle_, the Lay-Elder of _Clement’s_
Parish.
L. Des. Damn the sham Saint; am I now in Condition to be plagu’d with
his impertinent Nonsense?
Tom. Oh! Pray, Madam, hear him preach a little; ’tis the purest Sport—
Enter _Ananias_.
Ana. Peace be in this Place.
L. Des. A blessed hearing; he preaches nothing in his Conventicles, but
Blood and Slaughter. [Aside.
What wou’d you, Sir? I’m something busy now.
Ana. Ah, the Children of the Elect have no Business but the great Work
of Reformation: Yea verily, I say, all other Business is profane, and
diabolical, and devilish; Yea, I say, these Dressings, Curls, and
Shining Habilliments—which take so up your time, your precious time; I
say, they are an Abomination, yea, an Abomination in the sight of the
Righteous, and serve but as an _Ignis fatuus_, to lead vain Man
astray—I say again— [Looking now and then behind on the Page.
L. Des. —You are a very Coxcomb.
Ana. I say again, that even I, upright I, one of the new Saints, find a
sort of a—a—I know not what—a kind of a Motion as it were—a stirring
up—as a Man may say, to wickedness—Yea, verily it corrupteth the
outward Man within me.
L. Des. Is this your Business, Sir, to rail against our Clothes, as if
you intended to preach me into my Primitive Nakedness again?
385
Ana. Ah, the naked Truth is best; but, Madam, I have a little work of
Grace to communicate unto you, please you to send your Page away—
L. Des. Withdraw—sure I can make my Party good with one wicked
Elder:—Now, Sir, your Bus’ness. [Ex. _Tom._
—Be brief.
Ana. As brief as you please—but—who in the sight of so much Beau - -
ty—can think of any Bus’ness but the Bus’ness—Ah! hide those tempting
Breasts,—Alack, how smooth and warm they are— [Feeling ’em, and
sneering.
L. Des. How now, have you forgot your Function?
Ana. Nay, but I am mortal Man also, and may fall seven times a day—Yea
verily, I may fall seven times a day—Your Ladyship’s Husband is
old,—and where there is a good excuse for falling,—ah, there the
fall—ing—is excusable.—And might I but fall with your Ladyship,—might
I, I say.—
L. Des. How, this from you, the Head o’ th’ Church Militant, the very
Pope of Presbytery?
Ana. Verily, the Sin lieth in the Scandal; therefore most of the
discreet pious Ladies of the Age chuse us, upright Men, who make a
Conscience of a Secret, the Laity being more regardless of their
Fame.—In sober sadness, the Place—inviteth, the Creature tempting, and
the Spirit very violent within me. [Takes and ruffles her.
L. Des. Who waits there?—I’m glad you have prov’d your self what I ever
thought of all your pack of Knaves.
Ana. Ah, Madam! Do not ruin my Reputation; there are Ladies of high
Degree in the Commonwealth, to whom we find our selves most comforting;
why might not you be one?—for, alas, we are accounted as able Men in
Ladies Chambers, as in our Pulpits: we serve both Functions—
Enter Servants.
Hah! her Servants— [Stands at a distance.
L. Des. Shou’d I tell this, I shou’d not find belief.
[Aside.
386
Ana. Madam, I have another Errand to your Ladiship.—It is the Duty of
my Occupation to catechize the Heads of every Family within my Diocese;
and you must answer some few Questions I shall ask.—In the first place,
Madam,—Who made ye?
L. Des. So, from Whoring, to a zealous Catechism—who made me? what
Insolence is this, to ask me Questions which every Child that lisps out
Words can answer!
Ana. ’Tis our Method, Madam.
L. Des. Your Impudence, Sirrah,—let me examine your Faith, who are so
sawcy to take an account of mine—Who made you? But lest you shou’d not
know, I will inform you: First, Heav’n made you a deform’d,
ill-favour’d Creature; then the Rascal your Father made you a Taylor;
next, your Wife made you a Cuckold; and lastly the Devil has made you a
Doctor; and so get you gone for a Fool and a Knave all over.
Ana. A Man of my Coat affronted thus!
L. Des. It shall be worse, Sirrah, my Husband shall know how kind you
wou’d have been to him, because your Disciple and Benefactor, to have
begot him a Babe of Grace for a Son and Heir.
Ana. Mistake not my pious meaning, most gracious Lady.
L. Des. I’ll set you out in your Colours: Your impudent and bloody
Principles, your Cheats, your Rogueries on honest Men, thro their kind,
deluded Wives, whom you cant and goggle into a Belief, ’tis a great
work of Grace to steal, and beggar their whole Families, to contribute
to your Gormandizing, Lust and Laziness; Ye Locusts of the Land, preach
Nonsense, Blasphemy, and Treason, till you sweat again, that the
sanctify’d Sisters may rub you down, to comfort and console the
Creature.
Ana. Ah! Am—
L. Des. Sirrah, be gone, and trouble me no more—be gone—yet stay—the
Rogue may be of use to me—Amongst the heap of Vice, Hypocrisy, and
Devils that 387 possess all your Party, you may have some necessary
Sin; I’ve known some honest, useful Villains amongst you, that will
swear, profess, and lye devoutedly for the Good Old Cause.
Ana. Yea, verily, I hope there are many such, and I shou’d rejoice,
yea, exceedingly rejoice in any Gadly Performance to your Ladiship.
L. Des. This is a pious Work: You are a Knave of Credit, a very Saint
with the rascally Rabble, with whom your seditious Cant more prevails,
your precious Hum and Ha, and gifted Nonsense, than all the Rhetorick
of the Learn’d or Honest.
Ana. Hah!
L. Des. —In fine, I have use of your Talent at present, there’s one now
in Confinement of the Royal Party—his Name’s _Freeman_.
Ana. And your Ladiship wou’d have him dispatch’d; I conceive ye—but
wou’d you have him dispatch’d privately, or by Form of Law? we’ve Tools
for all uses, and ’tis a pious Work, and meritorious.
L. Des. Right, I wou’d indeed have him dispatch’d, and privately; but
’tis hither privately, hither to my Chamber, privately, for I have
private Bus’ness with him. D’ye start?—this must be done—for you can
pimp I’m sure upon occasion, you’ve Tools for all uses; come, resolve,
or I’ll discover your bloody Offer. Is your Stomach so queasy it cannot
digest Pimping, that can swallow Whoring, false Oaths, Sequestration,
Robbery, Rapes, and Murders daily?
Ana. Verily, you mistake my pious Meaning; it is the Malignant I stick
at; the Person, not the Office: and in sadness, Madam, it goeth against
my tender Conscience to do any good to one of the Wicked.
L. Des. It must stretch at this time; go haste to the Guard, and demand
him in my Husband’s Name; here’s something worth your Pains—having
releas’d him, bring him to me, you understand me—go bid him be
diligent, 388 and as you behave your self, find my Favour; for know,
Sir, I am as great a Hypocrite as you, and know the Cheats of your
Religion too; and since we know one another, ’tis like we shall be
true.
Ana. But shou’d the Man be missing, and I call’d to account?—
L. Des. He shall be return’d in an hour: go, get you gone, and bring
him, or—no more— [Ex. _Ana._
For all degrees of Vices, you must grant,
There is no Rogue like your _Geneva_ Saint. [Exeunt.
ACT IV.
Scene I. A Chamber in La. _Desbro’s_ House. Candles, and Lights.
Enter L. _Desbro_ and _Freeman_.
L. Des. By what strange Miracle, my dearest _Freeman_, wert thou set at
liberty?
Free. On the zealous Parole of _Rabbie Ananias_; that Rhetorick that
can convert whole Congregations of well-meaning Blockheads to errant
Knaves, has now mollify’d my Keeper; I’m to be render’d back within
this Hour: let’s not, my dear _Maria_, lose the precious minutes this
Reverend Hypocrite has given us.
L. Des. Oh! you are very gay, have you forgot whose Prisoner you are,
and that perhaps, e’er many Days are ended, they may hang you for
High-Treason against the Commonwealth? they never want a good
thorow-stitch’d Witness to do a Murder lawfully.
Free. No matter, then I shall die with Joy, _Maria_, when I consider,
that you lov’d so well to give me the last Proof on’t.
L. Des. Are you in earnest, _Freeman?_ and wou’d you take what Honour
will not suffer me to grant?
Free. With all my Heart, Honour’s a poor Excuse. 389 Your Heart and
Vows (your better part) are mine; you’ve only lent your Body out to one
whom you call Husband, and whom Heaven has mark’d for Cuckoldom. Nay,
’tis an Act of honest Loyalty, so to revenge our Cause; whilst you were
only mine, my honest Love thought it a Sin to press these Favours from
you; ’twas injuring my self as well as thee; but now we only give and
take our Right.
L. Des. No more, my Husband’s old—
Free. Right, my dear _Maria_, and therefore—
L. Des. —May possibly die—
Free. He will be hang’d first.
L. Des. —I hope so—either of which will do our Bus’ness—unreasonable
_Freeman_, not to have Patience till my Husband be hang’d a little.
Free. But what if Destiny put the Change upon us, and I be hang’d
instead of _Desbro?_
L. Des. Why then thou art not the first gallant Fellow that has died in
the Good and Royal Cause; and a small taste of Happiness will but turn
thee off the Ladder with the sadder Heart.
Free. Hast thou the Conscience, lovely as thou art,
To deal out all thy Beauty to a Traitor?
Is not this Treason of the highest Nature,
To rob the Royal Party of such Treasure,
And give it to our mortal Enemies?
For Shame, be wise, and just,
And do not live a Rebel to our Cause;
’Tis Sin enough to have Society with such a wicked Race.
L. Des. But I am married to him.
Free. So much the worse, to make a League and Covenant with such
Villains, and keep the sinful Contract; a little harmless Lying and
Dissimulation I’ll allow thee, but to be right down honest, ’tis the
Devil.
L. Des. This will not do, it never shall be said I’ve been so much
debauch’d by Conventicling to turn a sainted Sinner; No, I’m true to my
Allegiance still, true to my 390 King and Honour. Suspect my Loyalty
when I lose my Virtue: a little time, I’m sure, will give me honestly
into thy Arms; if thou hast Bravery, shew it in thy Love.
Free. You will o’ercome, and shame me every way;—but when will this
Change come? and till it do, what Pawn will you give me, I shall be
happy then?
L. Des. My Honour, and that Happiness you long for, and take but two
Months time for their Redemption.
Free. How greedily I’ll seize the Forfeiture!
L. Des. But what am I like to get if this Change do come?
Free. A Slave, and whatever you please to make of him.
L. Des. Who knows, in such an universal Change, how you may alter too?
Free. I’ll give ye Bond and Vows, unkind _Maria_,—Here take my Hand—Be
it known unto all Men, by these Presents, that I, _John Freeman_ of
_London_, Gent, acknowledge my self in Debt to _Maria Desbro_, the Sum
of one Heart, with an incurable Wound; one Soul, destin’d hers from its
first Being; and one Body, whole, sound, and in perfect Health; which I
here promise to pay to the said _Maria_, upon Demand, if the aforesaid
_John Freeman_ be not hang’d before such Demand made. Whereto I set my
Hand—and seal it with my Lips. [In a Tone.
L. Des. And I, in consideration of such Debt, do freely give unto the
abovesaid _John Freeman_, the Heart and Body of the abovesaid _Maria
Desbro_, with all Appurtenances thereto belonging, whenever it shall
please Heaven to bring my Husband fairly to the Gallows. [In a Tone.
Free. Amen—kiss the Book— [Kisses her.
[_Ana._ hums without.
L. Des. Hah! that’s _Ananias_; sure some Danger’s near, the necessary
Rascal gives us notice of.
Free. ’Tis so, what wouldst thou have me do?
L. Des. Thou art undone if seen—here, step within this Curtain. [He
goes.
391
Enter _Ananias_, humming, and spreading his Cloak wide; _Desbro_ behind
him, puffing in a Chafe.
Des. Ads nigs, what a Change is here like to be?—puff, puff—we have
manag’d Matters sweetly—to let the _Scotch_ General undermine us; puff,
puff.
L. Des. What’s the Matter?
Des. Nothing, Cockey, nothing, but that we are like to return to our
first nothing.
Ana. Yea, verily, when our time’s come; but ah, the great Work of
Reformation is not yet fully accomplish’d, which must be wrought by the
Saints, and we cannot spare one of them until the Work be finish’d.
Des. Yea, yea, it is finish’d I doubt, puff, puff: fie, fie, what a
Change is here!
Ana. Patience, ah, ’tis a precious Virtue!—
Des. Patience, Sir! what, when I shall lose so many fine Estates which
did appertain to the Wicked; and which, I trusted, had been establish’d
ours, and tell’st thou me of Patience? puff, puff. [Walking fast.
Ana. How! lose ’em, Sir? handle the matter with Patience; I hope the
Committee of Safety, or the Rump, will not do an illegal thing to one
of the Brethren.
Des. No, no, I have been a trusty Knave to them, and so I have found
them all to me: but _Monk! Monk!_ O that ever we should be such blind
Fools to trust an honest General!
Ana. Patience, Sir! what of him?
Des. I just now receiv’d private Intelligence, he’s coming out of
_Scotland_ with his Forces—puff, puff.
Ana. Why, let him come a Gad’s Name, we have those will give him a
civil Salute, if he mean not honourably to the Commonwealth. Patience,
Sir.
Des. But if he proves the stronger, and shou’d chance to be so great a
Traitor to us, to bring in the Man—the King.
L. Des. How, the King, Husband! the great Heroick!
Free. Death, this Woman is a Sybil: ah, noble _Monk!_
Ana. Hum—the King!—
392 Des. Ah, and with the King, the Bishops; and then, where’s all our
Church and Bishops Lands! oh, undone—puff, puff.
Ana. How, bring in the King and Bishops! my righteous Spirit is raised
too—I say, I will excommunicate him for one of the Wicked, yea, for a
profane Heroick, a Malignant, a Tory,—a—I say, we will surround him,
and confound him with a mighty Host; yea, and fight the Lard’s Battel
with him: yea, we will—
Des. Truckle to his Pow’r—puff, puff.
Ana. Nay, I say verily, nay; for, in Sadness, I will die in my Calling.
Des. So I doubt shall I—which is Ploughing, Hedging, and Ditching.
Ana. Yea, we have the Sword of the Righteous in our Hand, and we will
defend the mighty Revenues of the Church, which the Lard hath given
unto his People, and chosen ones—I say, we will defend—
Des. Ah, Patience, Sir, ah, ’tis a pious Virtue—
Ana. Ah, it is Zeal in one of us, the Out-goings of the Spirit.
Enter _Tom_.
Tom. Sir, will you go down to Prayers? the Chaplain waits.
Des. No, no, Boy, I am too serious for that Exercise, I cannot now
dissemble, Heav’n forgive me.
Ana. How, Sir, not dissemble—ah, then you have lost a great Virtue
indeed, a very great Virtue; ah, let us not give away the Good Old
Cause—but, as we have hitherto maintain’d it by gadly Cozenage, and
pious Frauds, let us persevere—ah, let us persevere to the end; let us
not lose our Heritage for a Mess of Pottage, that is, let us not lose
the Cause for Dissimulation and Hypocrisy, those two main Engines that
have earned on the great Work.
Des. Verily, you have prevail’d, and I will go take 393 counsel of my
Pillow: Boy—call my Man to undress me—I’ll to Bed, for I am sick at
Heart. [Ex. _Tom._
Free. Death, what shall I do now?
[_Des._ walks, she whispers _Ana._
L. Des. You must get my Man off, or we’re undone.
Ana. Madam, be comforted, Heaven will bring all things about for our
Advantage— [As _Des._ turns.
L. Des. But he’s behind the Curtains, Man—
[_Des._ turns from ’em.
Ana. Ah, let Providence alone— [Spreads his Cloak wide, and goes by
degrees toward the Bed.] —Your pious Lady, Sir, is doubtful, but I will
give her ample Satisfaction.
Des. Ah, do, Mr. _Ananias_, do, for she’s a good and virtuous Lady,
_certo_ she is.
[_Ana._ goes close to the Bed-post, and speaks over his Shoulder.
Ana. Get ye behind my Cloak—
L. Des. Indeed, Sir, your Counsel and Assistance is very comfortable.
Ana. We should be Help-meets to one another, Madam.
Des. Alack, good Man!
[L. _Des._ goes to coax her Husband.
L. Des. Ay, my dear, I am so much oblig’d to him, that I know not,
without thy Aid, how to make him amends.
Free. So, this is the first Cloak of Zeal I ever made use of.
[_Ana._ going, spreading his Cloak, to the Door; _Free._ behind goes
out.
Des. Good Lady, give him his twenty pieces, adad, he worthily deserves
’em. [Gives her Gold.
L. Des. Indeed, and so he does, Dear, if thou knew’st all.—What say you
now, do I not improve in Hypocrisy? And shall I not in time make a
precious Member of your Church? [To _Ana._
Ana. Verily, your Ladyship is most ingenious and expert.—Sir, I most
humbly take my leave. [Ex. _Ana._
Enter _Tom_.
Tom. My Lord, my Lord _Lambert_ has sent in all haste for you, you must
attend at his House immediately.
394 Des. So, he has heard the News—I must away—let my Coach be ready.
[Ex. _Des._
L. Des. How unlucky was this that _Freeman_ should be gone—Sirrah, run
and see to o’ertake him, and bring him back. [Exeunt.
Scene II. A fine Chamber in La. _Lambert’s_ House.
Enter _Gilliflower_ and _Loveless_ by dark, richly drest.
Lov. Where am I, _Gilliflower?_
Gill. In my Lady’s Apartment, Sir, she’ll be with you presently; you
need not fear betraying, Sir, for I’ll assure you I’m an Heroick in my
Heart: my Husband was a Captain for his Majesty of ever-blessed Memory,
and kill’d at Naseby, God be thanked, Sir.
Lov. What pity ’tis that thou shouldst serve this Party?
Gill. Bating her Principles, my Lady has good Nature enough to oblige a
Servant; and truly, Sir, my Vails were good in old _Oliver’s_ Days; I
got well by that Amour between him and my Lady; the man was lavish
enough.
Lov. Yes, of the Nation’s Treasure—but prithee tell me, is not thy Lady
mad, raving on Crowns and Kingdoms?
Gill. It appears so to you, who are not us’d to the Vanity of the
Party, but they are all so mad in their Degree, and in the Fit they
talk of nothing else, Sir: we have tomorrow a Hearing as they call it.
Lov. What’s that, a Conventicle?
Gill. No, no, Sir, Ladies of the last Edition, that present their
Grievances to the Council of Ladies, of which my Lady’s chief, which
Grievances are laid open to the Committee of Safety, and so redress’d
or slighted, as they are.
Lov. That must be worth one’s Curiosity, could one but see’t.
Gill. We admit no Man, Sir.
Lov. ’Sdeath, for so good a sight I will turn Woman, I’ll act it to a
hair.
395 Gill. That would be excellent.
Lov. Nay, I must do’t; the Novelty is rare—but I’m impatient—prithee
let thy Lady know I wait.
Gill. She’s in Affairs of State, but will be here immediately; mean
time, retire into her Cabinet, I’ll send the Page with Lights, there
you may repose till my Lady comes, on the Pallat. [She leads him out.
Scene III. A great Chamber of State, and Canopy in _Lambert’s_ House.
And at a Table, seated _Lambert_, _Fleetwood_, _Desbro_, _Hewson_,
_Duckenfield_, _Wariston_, _Cobbet_; all half drunk, with Bottles and
Glasses on the Table; L. _Lam._ and L. _Fleet._
Lam. My Lord _Wariston_, you are not merry to night.
War. Wons, Mon, this _Monk_ sticks in my Gullet, the muckle Diel pull
him out by th’ Lugs; the faud Loone will en spoyle and our Sport, mon.
Lam. I thought I had enough satisfied all your Fears; the Army’s mine,
that is,—’tis yours, my Lords, and I’ll imploy it too so well for the
Good of the Commonwealth, you shall have Cause to commend both my
Courage and Conduct; my Lord _Wariston_, will you accompany me?
War. Ah, my gued Lord, the Honour is too great. ’Tis not but I’s dare
fight, my Lord, but I love not the limmer Loone, he has a villanous
honest Face an’s ene; I’s ken’d him ence, and lik’t him not; but I’s
drink tol yar gued Fortune; let it gang aboote, ene and ad, Sirs.
[All drink.
Lam. We’ll leave all Discourse of Bus’ness, and give our selves to
Mirth; I fancy good Success from this day’s Omen.
Enters _Gill_, whispers L. _Lam._ she rises.
L. Lam. Waited so long!
396 Gill. And grew impatient, an’t please your Highness; must I go tell
him you cannot see him to night.
L. Lam. Not for the World; my silly Politician will be
Busying himself in the dull Affairs of State;
—Dull in comparison of Love, I mean;
I never lov’d before; old _Oliver_ I suffer’d for my Interest,
And ’tis some Greatness, to be Mistress to the best;
But this mighty Pleasure comes _a propos_,
To sweeten all the heavy Toils of Empire.
Gill. So it does, an’t please your Highness.
L. Lam. Go, let him know I’m coming—Madam, I must beg your Pardon; you
hear, my Lord to morrow goes on his great Expedition; and, for any
thing we know, may fall a glorious Sacrifice to the Commonwealth;
therefore ’tis meet I offer up some Prayers for his Safety, and all my
leisure Hours ’twixt this and that, will be too few—Your humble
Servant, Madam. [Ex. L. _Lam._ and _Gill._
L. Fleet. My Dear, I’ll leave you too, my time of Devotion is come, and
Heav’n will stay for no Body; where are my People? is my Coach ready,
or my Chair?
Fleet. Go in your Chair, my Love, lest you catch cold.
L. Fleet. And light your Flambeaus,—I love to have my Chair surrounded
with Flambeaus.
Enter _Page_.
Page. Your Chair is ready, Madam.
[She goes out led by _Fleet_.
Hews. What think ye now, my Lords, of settling the Nation a little? I
find my Head swim with Politicks, and what ye call ums.
War. Wons, and wad ya settle the Nation when we real our selves?
Hews. Who, pox, shall we stand making Childrens Shoes all the Year? No,
no, let’s begin to settle the Nation, I say, and go thro-stitch with
our Work.
Duc. Right, we have no Head to obey; so that if this 397 _Scotch_
General do come whilst we Dogs fight for the Bone, he runs away with
it.
Hews. Shaw, we shall patch up matters with the _Scotch_ General, I’ll
warrant you: However, here’s to our next Head—One and all. [All drink.
Fleet. Verily, Sirs, this Health-drinking savoureth of Monarchy, and is
a Type of Malignancy.
War. Bread, my Lord, no preaching o’er yar Liquer, wee’s now for a Cup
o’ th’ Creature.
Cob. In a gadly way you may; it is lawful.
Lam. Come, come, we’re dull, give us some Musick—come, my Lord, I’ll
give you a Song, I love Musick as I do a Drum, there’s Life and Soul
in’t, call my Musick.
Fleet. Yea, I am for any Musick, except an Organ.
War. Sbread, Sirs, and I’s for a Horn-pipe, I’ve a faud Theefe here
shall dance ye Dance tol a Horn-pipe, with any States-man a ya aud.
All. He, he, he.
Duc. I know not what your faud Theefe can do; but I’ll hold you a
Wager, Colonel _Hewson_, and Colonel _Desbro_ shall dance ye the
Seint’s Jigg with any Sinner of your Kirk, or field Conventicler.
War. Wons, and I’s catch ’em at that Sport, I’s dance tol ’em for a
_Scotch_ Poond; but farst yar Song, my Lord, I hope ’tis boody, or else
’tis not werth a Feart.
All. He, he, he.
SONG, sung by my Lord _Lambert_.
A Pox of the States-man that’s witty,
That watches and plots all the sleepless Night,
For seditious Harangues to the _Whigs_ of the City,
And piously turns a Traitor in spite.
Let him wrack, and torment his lean Carrion,
To bring his sham-Plots about,
Till Religion, King, Bishop, and Baron,
For the publick Good, be quite routed out.
398
Whilst we that are no Politicians,
But Rogues that are resolute, bare-fac’d and great,
Boldly head the rude Rabble in open Sedition,
Bearing all down before us in Church and in State.
Your Impudence is the best State-trick,
And he that by Law means to rule,
Let his History with ours be related,
Tho we prove the Knaves, ’tis he is the Fool.
War. The Diel a me, wele sung, my Lord, and gen aud Trades fail, yas
make a quaint Minstrel.
All. He, he, he.
War. Noo, Sirs, yar Dance? [They fling Cushions at one another, and
grin. Musick plays.] —Marry, Sirs, an this be yar dancing, tol dance
and ne’er stir Stap, the Diel lead the Donce for _Archibald_.
[When they have flung Cushions thus a while to the Musick time, they
beat each other from the Table, one by one, and fall into a godly
Dance; after a while, _Wariston_ rises, and dances ridiculously a while
amongst them; then to the Time of the Tune, they take out the rest, as
at the Cushion-Dance, or in that nature. _Wariston_ being the last
taken in, leads the rest.
—Haud, Minstrels, haud; Bread a gued. I’s fatch ad Ladies in—lead away,
Minstrels, tol my Lady’s Apartment.
[Musick playing before all.
[Exeunt dancing.
Scene IV. Flat.
Enter _Page_.
Page. _Cock_, Here must I wait, to give my Lady notice when my Lord
approaches;—The fine Gentleman that is alone with her, gave me these
two fine Pieces of Gold, and bad me buy a Sword to fight for the King
withal; and I’m resolv’d to lay it all out in a Sword, not a penny in
Nickers, and fight for the Heroicks as long as I have a 399 Limb, if
they be all such fine Men as this within. But hark, sure I hear some
coming.— [Exit.
[Flat Scene draws off, discovers L. _Lam._ on a Couch, with _Loveless_,
tying a rich Diamond-Bracelet about his Arm: a Table behind with
Lights, on which a Velvet Cushion, with a Crown and Scepter cover’d.
Lov. This Present’s too magnificent: such Bracelets young Monarchs
shou’d put on.
L. Lam. Persons like me, when they make Presents, Sir, must do it for
their Glory, not considering the Merit of the Wearer: yet this, my
charming _Loveless_, comes short of what I ought to pay thy Worth;
comes short too of my Love.
Lov. You bless me, Madam—
L. Lam. This the great Monarch of the World once ty’d about my Arm, and
bad me wear it, till some greater Man shou’d chance to win my Heart;
Thou art that Man whom Love has rais’d above him;
Whom every Grace and every Charm thou hast
Conspire to make thee mightier to my Soul;
And _Oliver_, illustrious _Oliver_,
Was yet far short of thee.
Lov. He was the Monarch then whose Spoils I triumph in.
L. Lam. They were design’d too for Trophies to the young and gay.
Ah, _Loveless!_ that I cou’d reward thy Youth
With something that might make thee more than Man,
As well as to give the best of Women to thee—
[Rises, takes him by the Hand, leads him to the Table. He starts.
—Behold this gay, this wondrous glorious thing.
Lov. Hah—a Crown—and Scepter!
Have I been all this while
So near the sacred Relicks of my King;
And found no awful Motion in my Blood,
Nothing that mov’d sacred Devotion in me? [Kneels.
400 —Hail sacred Emblem of great Majesty,
Thou that hast circled more Divinity
Than the great Zodiack that surrounds the World.
I ne’er was blest with sight of thee till now,
But in much reverenc’d Pictures— [Rises and bows.
L. Lam. Is’t not a lovely thing?
Lov. There’s such Divinity i’ th’ very Form on’t,
Had I been conscious I’d been near the Temple,
Where this bright Relick of the glorious Martyr
Had been enshrin’d, ’t had spoil’d my soft Devotion.
—’Tis Sacrilege to dally where it is;
A rude, a saucy Treason to approach it
With an unbended Knee: for Heav’ns sake, Madam,
Let us not be profane in our Delights,
Either withdraw, or hide that glorious Object.
L. Lam. Thou art a Fool, the very sight of this—
Raises my Pleasure higher:
Methinks I give a Queen into thy Arms,
And where I love I cannot give enough; [Softly.
—Wou’d I cou’d set it on thy Head for ever,
’Twou’d not become my simple Lord
The thousandth part so well. [Goes to put it on his Head, he puts it
back.
Lov. Forbear, and do not play with holy things;
Let us retire, and love as Mortals shou’d,
Not imitate the Gods, and spoil our Joys.
L. Lam. Lovely, and unambitious!
What hopes have I of all your promis’d Constancy,
Whilst this which possibly e’er long may adorn my Brow,
And ought to raise me higher in your Love,
Ought to transform you even to Adoration,
Shall poorly make you vanish from its Lustre?
Methinks the very Fancy of a Queen
Is worth a thousand Mistresses of less illustrious Rank.
Lov. What, every pageant Queen? you might from thence infer
401 I’d fall in love with every little Actress, because
She acts the Queen for half an hour,
But then the gaudy Robe is laid aside.
L. Lam. I’ll pardon the Comparison in you.
Lov. I do not doubt your Power of being a Queen,
But trust, it will not last.
How truly brave would your great Husband be,
If, whilst he may, he paid this mighty Debt
To the right Owner!
If, whilst he has the Army in his Power,
He made a true and lawful use of it,
To settle our great Master in his Throne;
And by an Act so glorious raise his Name
Even above the Title of a King.
L. Lam. You love me not, that would persuade me from My Glory.
Enter _Gilliflower_.
Gill. Oh, Madam, the Lords are all got merry, as they call it, and are
all dancing hither.
L. Lam. What, at their _Oliverian_ Frolicks?—Dear _Loveless_, withdraw,
I wou’d not give the fond believing Fool a Jealousy of me.
Gill. Withdraw, Madam? ’tis impossible, he must run just into their
Mouths.
L. Lam. I’m ill at these Intrigues, being us’d to Lovers that still
came with such Authority, that modestly my Husband wou’d withdraw—but
Loveless is in danger, therefore take care he be not seen.
Gill. Heav’ns! they are coming, there’s no Retreat—
L. Lam. Lie down on the Couch—and cover him you with the
Foot-Carpet—So, give me my Prayer-Book.
[He lies down along on the Couch, they cover him with the Carpet: L.
_Lam._ takes her Book, sits down on his Feet, and leans on the Back of
the Couch reading; _Gill._ stands at t’other end, they enter dancing as
before.
402
—What Insolence is this? do you not hear me, you—Sots—whom Gaiety and
Dancing do so ill become.
War. [Singing.] Welcome, _Joan Sanderson_, welcome, welcome. [Goes to
take her out, she strikes him.
Wons, Madam, that’s no part o’ th’ Dance.
L. Lam. No, but ’tis part of a reward for your Insolence, Which
possibly your Head shall answer for—
Lam. Pardon him, my Dear, he meant no Disrespect to thee.
L. Lam. How dare you interrupt my Devotion, Sirrah? Be gone with all
your filthy ill-bred Crew.
[_Lam._ sits down on _Lov._
Lam. My only Dear, be patient; hah!—Something moves under me; Treason,
Treason! [He rises.
[_Lov._ rolls off, and turns _Lam._ over, the rest of the Men run out
crying Treason, Treason, overthrowing the Lights, putting ’em out.
L. Lam. Treason, Treason! my Lord, my Lord!
Lam. Lights there, a Plot, a Popish Plot, Lights!
L. Lam. The Crown, the Crown, guard the Crown!
[She groping about, finds _Lov._ by his Clothes, knows him.
—Here, take this Key, the next room is my Bed-chamber, Secure yourself
a moment.— [Ex. _Loveless_.
Lights there, the Crown—who art thou?
[Takes hold of _Lam._
Lam. ’Tis I.
L. Lam. Ah, my Lord, what’s the matter?—
Lam. Nay, my Lady, I ask you what’s the matter?
Enter _Page_ with Lights.
By Heaven, all is not well; hark ye, my fine she Politician, who was it
you had hid beneath this Carpet?
L. Lam. Heav’ns! dost hear him, _Gilliflower?_ Sure the Fellow’s mad.
Gill. Alack, my Lord, are you out of your honourable Wits? Heav’n
knows, my Lady was at her Devotion.
403 Lam. Baud, come, confess thy self to be one. At her Devotion! yes,
with a He Saint.
Gill. Ah! Gad forbid the Saints should be so wicked.
L. Lam. Hark ye, thou little sniveling Hypocrite, who hast no Virtue
but a little Conduct in Martial Discipline; who hast by Perjuries,
Cheats, and pious Villanies, wound thy self up into the Rabble’s
Favour, where thou mayst stand till some more great in Roguery remove
thee from that height, or to the Gallows, if the King return: hast thou
the Impudence to charge my Virtue?
Lam. I know not, Madam, whether that Virtue you boast were lost, or
only stak’t, and ready for the Gamester; but I am sure a Man was hid
under this Carpet.
L. Lam. Oh Heav’ns, a Man!
Gill. Lord, a Man! Are you sure ’twas a Man, my Lord?—Some villanous
Malignant, I’ll warrant.
Lam. It may be so.
Gill. Alack, the Wickedness of these Heroicks to hide under Carpets;
why they’l have the impudence to hide under our Petticoats shortly, if
your Highness take ’em not down. [To Lady _Lam._
Lam. I do believe so; Death—a Cuckold? shall that black Cloud shade all
my rising Fame?
L. Lam. Cuckold! Why, is that Name so great a Stranger to ye,
Or has your rising Fame made ye forget
How long that Cloud has hung upon your Brow?
—’Twas once the height of your Ambition, Sir;
When you were a poor-sneaking Slave to _Cromwell_,
Then you cou’d cringe, and sneer, and hold the Door,
And give him every Opportunity,
Had not my Piety defeated your Endeavours.
Lam. That was for Glory,
Who wou’d not be a Cuckold to be great?
—If _Cromwell_ leap’d into my Saddle once,
I’ll step into his Throne for’t: but, to be pointed at
404 By Rascals that I—rule—’tis insupportable.
L. Lam. How got this Fellow drunk? call up my Officers!
Who durst deliver him this quantity of Wine?
Send strait in my Name, to summon all the
Drunken Committee of Safety into my Presence.
By Heav’n, I’ll show you, Sir—yes they shall
See what a fine King they’re like to have
In Honest, Gadly, Sober, Wise _Jack Lambert_.
—Nay, I’ll do’t; d’ye think to take away my Honour thus?
I, who by my sole Politicks and Management
Have set you up, Villain of Villains, Sirrah.
—Away—summon ’em all. [To _Gilliflower_.
Lam. Stay—be not so rash; who was beneath the Carpet?
L. Lam. I will not answer thee.
Lam. Nor any living thing?
L. Lam. No Creature in the Room, thou silly Ideot, but _Gilliflower_
and I—at our Devotion, praying to Heav’n for your Success to morrow—and
am I thus rewarded?
[Weeps, _Gill._ weeps too.
Lam. My Soul, I cannot bear the Sight of Tears From these dear Charming
Eyes.
L. Lam. No matter, Sir, the Committee shall right me.
Lam. Upon my Knees I ask thy Pardon, Dear; by all that’s good, I wou’d
have sworn I’d felt something stir beneath me as I sat, which threw me
over.
L. Lam. Only your Brains turn’d round with too much drinking and
dancing, Exercises you are not us’d to—go sleep, and settle ’em, for
I’ll not deign to Bed with you to night—retire, as e’er you hope to
have my Aid in your Advancement to the Crown.
Lam. I’m gone—and once more pardon my Mistake. [Bows, and goes out. Ex.
_Gill._
L. Lam. —So, this fighting Fool, so worshipp’d by the Rabble,
How meanly can a Woman make him sneak?—
405 The happy Night’s our own— [To _Loveless_.
Enter _Gill._ _Loveless_.
Lov. Excellent Creature, how I do adore thee!
L. Lam. But you, perhaps, are satisfied already—
Lov. Never; shou’dst thou be kind to all Eternity. Thou hast one Virtue
more, I pay thee Homage for; I heard from the Alcove how great a
Mistress thou art in the dear Mystery of Jilting.
L. Lam. That’s the first Lesson Women learn in Conventicles, Religion
teaches those Maxims to our Sex: by this
Kings are deposed, and Commonwealths are rul’d;
By Jilting all the Universe is fool’d. [Exeunt.
ACT V.
Scene I. A Street.
Enter _Corporal_, half drest; with Soldiers, Joyner, and Felt-maker.
Cor. Ha, Rogues, the City-Boys are up in Arms; brave Boys, all for the
King now!
Felt. Have a care what you say, Sir; but as to the City’s being in
Mutiny, that makes well for us: we shall fall to our old Trade of
plundering; something will fall to the Righteous, and there is Plunder
enough.
Cor. You plunder, Sirrah! knock him down, and carry him into the
Guard-room, and secure him.
[Two Soldiers seize him.
1 Sold. They say the Committee of Safety sate all Night at General
_Lambert’s_, about some great Affair—some rare Change, Rogues.
2 Sold. Yes, and to put off Sorrow, they say, were all right reverendly
drunk too.
Cor. I suppose there is some heavenly matter in hand; there was Treason
cried out at the General’s last night, and the Committee of no Safety
all ran away.
1 Sold. Or rather reel’d away.
406 Cor. The Ladies squeak’d, the Lords fled, and all the House was up
in Arms.
Felt. Yea, and with Reason they say; for the Pope in disguise was found
under the Lady’s Bed, and two huge Jesuits as big as the tall
_Irish-man_, with Blunderbusses; having, as ’tis said, a Design to
steal the Crown, now in Custody of the General—
2 Sold. Good lack, is’t possible?
Joyn. Nay, Sir, ’tis true, and is’t not time we look’d about us?
Cor. A Pox upon ye all for lying Knaves—secure ’em both on the Guard
till farther Order—and let us into th’ City, Boys: hay for
_Lombard-Street_.
2 Sold. Ay, hay for _Lombard-Street_; there’s a Shop I have mark’d out
for my own already.
1 Sold. There’s a handsom Citizen’s Wife, that I have an Eye upon, her
Husband’s a rich Banker, I’ll take t’one with t’other.
Joyn. You are mistaken, Sir, that Plunder is reserv’d for us, if they
begin to mutiny; that wicked City that is so weary of a Commonwealth.
2 Sold. Yes, they’re afraid of the Monster they themselves have made.
Enter _Lov._ and _Free._ in disguise.
Cor. Hah, my noble Colonel! what, in disguise!
Free. We have made our Escapes—and hope to see better times shortly,
the noble _Scotch_ General is come, Boys.
Enter _Captain_ of the Prentices, and a great Gang with him, arm’d with
Swords, Staffs, &c.
Capt. Come, my Lads, since you have made me Captain, I’ll lead you
bravely on; I’ll die in the Cause, or bring you off with Victory.
1 Pren. Here’s a Club shall do some Execution: I’ll beat out _Hewson’s_
t’other Eye; I scorn to take him on the blind side.
407 Capt. In the first Place, we must all sign a Petition to my Lord
Mayor.—
2 Pren. Petitions! we’ll have no Petition, Captain; we are for
Club-Law, Captain.
Capt. Obey, or I leave you.
All. Obey, Obey.
Capt. Look ye, we’ll petition for an honest Free Parliament I say.
1 Pren. No Parliament, no Parliament, we have had too much of that
Mischief already, Captain.
All. No Parliament, no Parliament.
Capt. Farewel, Gentlemen, I thought I might have been heard.
Free. Death, Sirs, you shall hear the Captain out.
All. We obey, we obey.
Capt. I say an honest Free Parliament, not one pick’d and chosen by
Faction; but such an one as shall do our Bus’ness, Lads, and bring in
the _Great Heroick_.
All. Ay, ay, the Great Heroick, the Great Heroick.
Lov. A fine Youth, and shou’d be encourag’d.
Capt. Good—in the next Place, the noble _Scotch_ General is come, and
we’ll side with him.
Free. Ay, ay, all side with him.
1 Pren. Your Reason, Captain, for we have acted too much without Reason
already.
2 Pren. Are we sure of him, Captain?
Capt. Oh, he’ll doubtless declare for the King, Boys.
All. Hay, _Viva le Roy, viva le Monk!_
Capt. Next, I hear there’s a Proclamation coming out to dissolve the
Committee of no Safety.
All. Good, good.
Capt. And I hope you are all brave enough to stand to your Loyal
Principles with your Lives and Fortunes.
All. We’ll die for the Royal Interest.
Capt. In the next Place, there’s another Proclamation come out.
408 2 Pren. This Captain is a Man of rare Intelligence; but for what,
Captain?
Capt. Why—to—hang us all, if we do not immediately depart to our
respective Vocations: How like you that, my Lads?
2 Pren. Hum—hang’d! I’ll e’en home again.
1 Pren. And I too, I do not like this hanging.
2 Pren. A Man looks but scurvily with his Neck awry.
3 Pren. Ay, ay, we’ll home.
Capt. Why, now you shew what precious Men you are—the King wou’d be
finely hop’d up with such Rascals, that for fear of a little hanging
would desert his Cause; a Pox upon you all, I here discharge ye—
—Take back your Coward Hands and give me Hearts. [Flings ’em a Scroll.
I scorn to fight with such mean-spirited Rogues;
I did but try your boasted Courages.
Lov. Brave Boy.
Lov. and _Free._ We’ll die with thee, Captain—
All. Oh, noble Captain, we recant—
1 Pren. We recant, dear Captain, we’ll die, one and all.
All. One and all, one and all.
Capt. Why, so there’s some trusting to you now.
3 Pren. But is there such a Proclamation, Captain?
Capt. There is; but anon, when the Crop-ear’d Sheriff begins to read
it, let every Man enlarge his Voice, and cry, no Proclamation, no
Proclamation.
All. Agreed, agreed.
Lov. Brave noble Lads, hold still your Resolution, And when your
leisure Hours will give ye leave, Drink the King’s Health, here’s Gold
for you to do so.
Free. Take my Mite too, brave Lads. [Gives ’em Gold.
All. Hay! _Viva_ the brave Heroicks!
Enter _Ananias Gogle_.
Ana. Hum, what have we here, a Street-Conventicle—or a 409 Mutiny? Yea,
verily, it is a Mutiny—What meaneth this Appearance in hostile manner,
in open Street, by Day-light?
Capt. Hah! one of the sanctify’d Lay Elders, one of the Fiends of the
Nation, that go about like roaring Lions seeking whom they may devour.
Lov. Who, Mr. _Ananias_ the Padder?
Ana. Bear witness, Gentlemen all, he calls me Highway-man; thou shalt
be hang’d for Scandal on the Brethren.
Lov. I’ll prove what I say, Sirrah; do you not rob on the High-way i’
th’ Pulpit? rob the Sisters, and preach it lawful for them to rob their
Husbands; rob Men even of their Consciences and Honesty; nay rather
than stand out, rob poor Wenches of their Bodkins and Thimbles?
Ana. I commit ye; here, Soldiers, I charge ye in the Name of—of—marry,
I know not who, in my Name, and the good People of _England_, take ’em
to safe Custody.
Capt. How, lay hold of honest Gentlemen! Noble Cavaliers, knock him
down.
All. Knock him down, knock him down.
Free. Hold, worthy Youths; the Rascal has done me Service.
Ana. [Pulling off his Hat to ’em all.] Ye look like Citizens, that evil
Spirit is entered in unto you, oh Men of London! that ye have changed
your Note, like Birds of evil Omen; that you go astray after new
Lights, or rather no Lights, and commit Whoredom with your Fathers
Idols, even in the midst of the Holy City, which the Saints have
prepared for the Elect, the Chosen ones.
Capt. Hark ye, Sirrah, leave preaching, and fall to declaring for us,
or thou art mortal.
Ana. Nay, I say nay, I will die in my Calling—yea, I will fall a
Sacrifice to the Good Old Cause; abomination ye with a mighty Hand, and
will destroy, demolish and confound your Idols, those heathenish
Malignants whom you follow, even with Thunder and Lightning, even as a
Field of Corn blasted by a strong Blast.
410 Lov. Knock him down!
All. Down with Dagon, down with him!
Enter _Hewson_ with Guards.
Hews. Ah, Rogues, have I caught ye napping?
[They all surround him and his Red-Coats.
All. Whoop Cobler, Whoop Cobler!
[The Boys, _Lov._ and _Free._ _Corp._ and Sold. beat off _Hewson_ and
his Party. _Ana._ gets a Sword, and fights too.
Scene II. Changes to a Chamber in La. _Lambert’s_ House.
Enter L. _Lam._ and _Gill._
Gill. I’ve had no time to ask your Highness how you slept to Night; but
that’s a needless Question.
L. Lam. How mean you? do you suspect my Virtue? do you believe
_Loveless_ dares attempt any thing against my Honour? No,
_Gilliflower_, he acted all things so like a Gentleman, that every
moment takes my Heart more absolutely.
Gill. My Lord departed highly satisfied.
L. Lam. She is not worthy of Intrigues of Love, that cannot manage a
silly Husband as she pleases—but, _Gilliflower_, you forget that this
is Council day.
Gill. No, but I do not, Madam, some important Suitors wait already.
Enter L. _Des._ and L. _Fleetwood_.
L. Lam. Your Servant, Madam _Desbro_, thou’rt welcome—
_Gilliflower_, are all things ready in the Council-Chamber?
We that are great must sometimes stoop to Acts,
That have at least some shew of Charity;
We must redress the Grievance of our People.
L. Fleet. She speaks as she were Queen, but I shall put a spoke in her
rising Wheel of Fortune, or my Lord’s Politicks fail him.
[Scene draws off, Table with Papers: Chairs round it.
411 L. Lam. Where are the Ladies of the Council?—how remiss they are in
their Attendance on us.
L. Fleet. Us! Heav’ns, I can scarce endure this Insolence!—We will take
care to mind ’em of their Duty—
L. Lam. We, poor Creature! how simply Majesty becomes her?
[They all sitting down, enter L. _Cromwel_ angrily, and takes her
Place, L. _Lam._ uppermost.
—Madam, as I take it, at our last sitting, our Pleasure was, that you
shou’d sit no more.
Crom. Your Pleasure! Is that the General Voice? This is my Place in
spite of thee, and all thy fawning Faction, and I shall keep it, when
thou perhaps, shalt be an humble Suppliant here at my Foot-stool.
L. Lam. I smile at thee.
Cram. Do, and cringe; ’tis thy business to make thee popular.
But ’tis not that—
Nor thy false Beauty that will serve thy Ends.
L. Lam. Rail on; declining Majesty may be excus’d,
Call in the Women that attend for redress of Grievances.
[Ex. _Page_.
Enter _Page_ with Women, and _Loveless_ dress’d as a Woman.
Gentlewomen, what’s your Bus’ness with us?
Lov. Gentlewomen! some of us are Ladies.
L. Lam. Ladies in good time; by what Authority, and from whom do you
derive your Title of Ladies?
L. Fleet. Have a care how you usurp what is not your own!
Lov. How the Devil rebukes Sin! [Aside.
L. Des. From whom had you your Honours, Women?
Lov. From our Husbands.
Gill. Husbands, who are they, and of what standing?
2 Lady. Of no long standing, I confess.
Gill. That’s a common Grievance indeed.
L. Des. And ought to be redress’d.
412
L. Lam. And that shall be taken into consideration; write it down,
_Gilliflower_; who made your Husband a Knight, Woman?
Lov. _Oliver_ the first, an’t please ye.
L. Lam. Of horrid Memory; write that down—who yours?
2 Lady. _Richard_ the fourth, an’t like your Honour.
Gill. Of sottish Memory; shall I write that down too?
L. Des. Most remarkably.
Crom. Heav’ns! Can I hear this Profanation of our Royal Family? [Aside.
L. Lam. I wonder with what impudence _Noll_ and _Dick_ cou’d Knightify
your Husbands; for ’tis a Rule in Heraldry, that none can make a Knight
but him that is one; ’tis _Sancha Pancha’s_ Case in _Don Quixot_.
Crom. How dare you question my Husband’s Authority? [Rises in Anger.
Who nobly won his Honour in the Field,
Not like thy sneaking Lord who gain’d his Title
From his Wife’s gay Love-tricks—
Bartering her Honour for his Coronet.
L. Lam. Thou ly’st, my Husband earn’d it with his Sword,
Braver and juster than thy bold Usurper,
Who waded to his Glory through a Sea
Of Royal Blood—
L. Des. Sure _Loveless_ has done good on her, and converted her.
L. Fleet. Madam, I humbly beg you will be patient, you’ll ruin all my
Lord’s Designs else—Women, proceed to your Grievances, both publick and
private.
Lov. I petition for a Pension; my Husband, deceas’d, was a constant
active man, in all the late Rebellion, against the Man; he plunder’d my
Lord _Capel_, he betray’d his dearest Friend _Brown Bushel_, who
trusted his Life in his Hands, and several others; plundering their
Wives and Children even to their Smocks.
413 L. Lam. Most considerable Service, and ought to be consider’d.
2 Lady. And most remarkably, at the Trial of the late Man, I spit in’s
Face, and betray’d the Earl of _Holland_ to the Parliament.
Crom. In the King’s Face, you mean—it shew’d your Zeal for the Good
Cause.
2 Lady. And ’twas my Husband that headed the Rabble, to pull down _Gog_
and _Magog_, the Bishops, broke the Idols in the Windows, and turn’d
the Churches into Stables and Dens of Thieves; rob’d the Altar of the
Cathedral of the twelve pieces of Plate call’d the twelve Apostles,
turn’d eleven of ’em into Money, and kept _Judas_ for his own use at
home.
L. Fleet. On my Word, most wisely perform’d, note it down—
3 Lady. And my Husband made Libels on the Man from the first Troubles
to this day, defam’d and profan’d the Woman and her Children, printed
all the Man’s Letters to the Woman with Burlesque Marginal Notes,
pull’d down the sumptuous Shrines in Churches, and with the golden and
Popish Spoils adorn’d his own Houses and Chimney-Pieces.
L. Lam. We shall consider these great Services.
Lov. To what a height is Impudence arriv’d? [Aside.
L. Lam. Proceed to private Grievances.
Lov. An’t please your Honours, my Husband prays too much; which both
hinders his private bus’ness at home, and his publick Services to the
Commonwealth—
L. Lam. A double Grievance—set it down, Gilliflower.
Lov. And then he rails against the Whore of Babylon, and all my
neighbours think he calls me Whore.
Cram. A most unpardonable fault.
L. Lam. We’ll have that rectify’d, it will concern us.
Lov. Then he never kisses me, but he says a long Grace, which is more
mortifying than inviting.
414 L. Des. That is the fault of all the new Saints, which is the
reason their Wives take a pious care, as much as in them lies, to send
’em to Heaven, by making ’em Cuckolds.
L. Fleet. A very charitable Work, and ought to be encourag’d.
[_Loveless_ gives in a Petition to _Gilliflower_.
Gill. The humble Petition of the Lady _Make-shift._ [Reads.
—Heav’ns, Madam, here are many thousand Hands to’t of the distressed
Sex.
All. Read it.
Gill. Reads.] Whereas there pass’d an Act, _June_ 24th, against
Fornication and Adultery, to the great detriment of most of the young
Ladies, Gentlewomen, and Commonalty of _England_, and to the utter
decay of many whole Families, especially when married to old Men; your
Petitioners most humbly beg your Honours will take this great Grievance
into mature Consideration, and the said Act may be repealed.
—A Blessing on ’em, they shall have my Hand too.
L. Lam. We acknowledge, there are many Grievances in that Act; but
there are many Conveniences too, for it ties up the villanous Tongues
of Men from boasting our Favours.
Crom. But as it lays a Scandal on Society—tis troublesome, Society
being the very Life of a Republick—_Peters_ the first, and _Martin_ the
second.
Lov. But in a Free-State, why shou’d we not be free?
L. Des. Why not? we stand for the Liberty and Property of our Sex, and
will present it to the Committee of Safety.
Lov. Secondly, we desire the Heroicks, vulgarly call’d the Malignant,
may not be look’d on as Monsters, for assuredly they are Men; and that
it may not be charg’d to us as a Crime to keep ’em company, for they
are honest Men.
2 Lady. And some of ’em Men that will stand to their Principles.
415 L. Lam. Is there no other honest Men that will do as well?
3 Lady. Good Men are scarce.
L. Lam. They’re all for Heroicks, sure ’tis the mode to love ’em—I
cannot blame ’em. [Aside.
Lov. And that when we go to Morning and Evening Lectures, to
_Tantlings_, or elsewhere, and either before or after visit a private
Friend, it may be actionable for the wicked to scandalize us, by
terming of it, abusing the Creature, when ’tis harmless recreating the
Creature.
All. Reason, Reason.
Lov. Nor that any Husband shou’d interrupt his Wife, when at her
private Devotion.
Enter _Page_.
L. Lam. I have been too late sensible of that Grievance.
Gill. And, Madam, I wou’d humbly pray a Patent for Scolding, to ease my
Spleen.
Page. An please your Highness, here’s a Messenger arriv’d Post with
Letters from my Lord the General.
[Ex. _Page_.
L. Lam. Greater Affairs—oblige us to break up the Council. [Rises, the
Women retire.
Enter _Page_ with Messenger, or Letters.
—What means this haste? [Opens, and reads ’em.
Crom. Hah, bless my Eye-sight, she looks pale,—now red again; some turn
to his Confusion, Heav’n, I beseech thee.
L. Lam. My Lord’s undone! his Army has deserted him;
Left him defenceless to the Enemies Pow’r.
Ah, Coward Traytors! Where’s that brutal Courage,
That made you so successful in your Villanies?
Has Hell, that taught you Valour, now abandon’d ye?
—How in an instant are my Glories fall’n!
Crom. Ha, ha, ha—What, has your Highness any Cause of Grief?
416 Gill. Call up your Courage, Madam, do not let these things scoff
you—you may be yet a Queen: Remember what _Lilly_ told you, Madam.
L. Lam. Damn _Lilly_, who with lying Prophecies has rais’d me to the
hopes of Majesty: a Legion of his Devils take him for’t.
Crom. Oh, have a care of Cursing, Madam.
L. Lam. Screech-Owl, away, thy Voice is ominous.
Oh I cou’d rave! but that it is not great;
—And silent Sorrow—has most Majesty.
Enter _Wariston_, huffing.
War. Wons, Madam, undone, undone; our honourable Committee is gone to
th’ Diel, and the damn’d loosey Rump is aud in aud; the muckle Diel set
it i’solt, and his Dam drink most for’t.
Crom. The Committee dissolv’d! whose wise work was that? it looks like
_Fleetwood’s_ silly Politicks.
War. Marry, and yar Ladiship’s i’th’ right,’twas en the Work o’th’ faud
Loone, the Diel brest his Wem for’t.
Enter _Hewson_, _Desbro_, _Whitlock_, _Duc._ and _Cob._
Hew. So, Brethren in Iniquity, we have spun a fine Thred, the Rump’s
all in all now, rules the Roast, and has sent for the General with
Scissers and Rasor.
Whit. With a Sisseraro, you mean.
Hew. None of your Terms in Law, good Brother.
War. Right; but gen ya have any Querks in Law, Mr. Lyar, that will save
our Crags, ’twill be warth a Fee.
Duc. We have plaid our Cards fair.
War. I’s deny that; Wans, Sirs, ya plaid ’em faul; a Fule had the
shooftling of’em, and the Muckle Diel himself turn up Trump.
Whit. We are lost, Gentlemen, utterly lost; who the Devil wou’d have
thought of a Dissolution?
Hews. Is there no Remedy?
Duc. Death, I’ll to the _Scotch_ General; turn but in time 417 as many
greater Rogues than I have done, and ’twill save my Stake yet—Farewel,
Gentlemen.
Des. No Remedy?
War. Nene, Sirs, again the King’s Evil; Bread, Sirs, ya’s ene gan tol
yar Stall agen: I’s en follow _Duckenfield_—Farewel, Mr. Leyer.
L. Lam. See the Vicissitudes of human Glory.
These Rascals, that but yesterday petition’d me
With humble Adoration, now scarce pay
Common Civilities due to my Sex alone.
Enter _Fleetwood_.
Crom. How now, Fool, what is’t that makes ye look so pertly? Some
mighty Business you have done, I’ll warrant.
Fleet. Verily, Lady Mother, you are the strangest Body; a Man cannot
please you—Have I not finely circumvented _Lambert?_ made the Rump
Head, who have committed him to the _Tower_; ne’er stir now that I
have, and I’m the greatest Man in _England_, as I live I am, as a Man
may say.
Crom. Yes, till a greater come. Ah, Fool of Fools, not to fore-see the
danger of that nasty Rump.
L. Fleet. Good Madam, treat my Lord with more Respect.
Crom. Away, fond Fool, born with so little Sense, To doat on such a
wretched Idiot; It was thy Fate in _Ireton’s_ days to love him, Or you
were foully scandalized.
Fleet. You are not so well spoken of neither, ne’er stir now, and you
go to that. I can be King to morrow if I will.
Crom. Thou lyest, thou wo’t be hang’d first; mark that I tell thee so.
I’ll prove _Cassandra_ to thee, and prophesy thy Doom; Heav’n pays the
Traitor back with equal Measure. Remember how you serv’d my poor Son
Richard.
[Ex. _Crom._ and _Page_.
Fleet. She’s mad—Come, my Dear, let’s leave the House of this Villain,
that meant to have cozen’d me illegally or three Kingdoms—but that I
outwitted him at last.
[Ex. _Fleet._ L. _Fleet_, and _Page_.
418
Enter _Page_.
L. Lam. Imprison’d too, i’th’ Tower! what Fate is mine? [Leans on
_Des._
Page. Madam, the fine Heroick’s come to wait on you.
L. Lam. Hah! _Loveless!_ let him not see the Ruin of my Greatness,
which he foretold, and kindly begg’d I wou’d usurp no more. [Weep.
Enter _Loveless_.
Lov. This News has brought me back, I love this Woman,
Vain as she is, in spite of all her Fopperies of State— [Bows to her,
and looks sad.
L. Lam. Alas, I do not merit thy Respect,
I’m fall’n to Scorn, to Pity and Contempt. [Weeping.
Ah, Loveless, fly the wretched—Thy
Virtue is too noble to be shin’d on
By any thing but rising Suns alone:
I’m a declining Shade—
Lov. By Heaven, you were never great till now;
I never thought thee so much worth my Love,
My Knee, and Adoration, till this Minute. [Kneels.
—I come to offer you my Life, and all
The little Fortune the rude Herd has left me.
L. Lam. Is there such God-like Virtue in your Sex?
Or, rather, in your Party.
Curse on the Lyes and Cheats of Conventicles,
That taught me first to think Heroicks Devils,
Blood-thirsty, leud, tyrannick, salvage Monsters.
—But I believe ’em Angels all, if all like _Loveless_.
What heavenly thing then must the Master be,
Whose Servants are divine?
[Enter _Page_ running.
Page. Oh, Madam! all the Heroick Boys are up in Arms, and swear they’ll
have your Highness, dead or alive,—they have besieg’d the House.
L. Lam. Heav’ns, the Rabble!—those faithless things 419 that us’d to
croud my Coach’s Wheels, and stop my Passage, with their officious
Noise and Adoration.
Enter _Freeman_.
Free. _Loveless_, thy Aid; the City-Sparks are up;
Their zealous Loyalty admits no Bounds.
A glorious Change is coming, and I’ll appear now barefac’d.
Lov. Madam, fear not the Rabble; retire. _Freeman_ and I can still ’em.
Leads her in, and bows low.
Free. My dear _Maria_, I shall claim ye shortly—
L. Des. Do your worst, I’m ready for the Challenge. [Go in.
[Ex. _Lov._ and _Free._ another way.
Scene III. The Street.
Enter _Captain_ and the rest.
Capt. I say we’ll have the She-Politican out, she did more mischief
than her Husband, pitiful, dittiful _Lambert_; who is, thanks be
prais’d, in the Tower, to which place Lord of his Mercy bring all the
King’s Enemies.
All. Amen, Amen.
Enter _Lov._ and _Freeman_.
Lov. Why, how now, Captain, what, besiege the Women! No, let us lead
our Force to nobler Enemies.
Capt. Nay, noble Chief, your Word’s our Law.
Lov. No, I resign that Title to the brave _Scotch_ General, who has
just now enter’d the City.
Capt. We know it, Sir; do you not observe how the Crop-ear’d Fanaticks
trot out of Town?—The Rogues began their old belov’d Mutiny, but
’twould not do.
Lov. A Pox upon ’em, they went out like the Snuff of a Candle,
stinkingly and blinkingly.
1 Pr. Ay, ay, let ’em hang themselves, and then they are cold Meat for
the Devil.
Capt. But, noble Champion, I hope we may have leave to roast the Rump
to night.
420 Lov. With all our Hearts, here’s Mony to make Fires—
Free. And here’s for Drink to’t, Boys.
All. Hey—_Viva le Roy, viva les Heroicks!_ [Go out hollowing.
Enter _Ananias_ peeping, _Felt-maker_, and _Joyner_.
Ana. So, the Rabble’s gone: ah, Brethren! what will this wicked World
come to?
Felt. Alack, alack, to no Goodness, you may be sure: pray what’s the
News?
[_Fleet._ peeping out of a Garret-Window.
Fleet. _Anania_, _Anania!_
Ana. Who calleth _Ananias?_ lo, here am I.
Fleet. Behold, it is I, look up. How goeth tidings?
Ana. Full ill, I fear; ’tis a bad Omen to see your Lordship so nigh
Heaven; when the Saints are Garretified.
Fleet. I am fortifying my self against the Evil-Day.
Ana. Which is come upon us like a Thief in the night; like a Torrent
from the Mountain of Waters, or a Whirlwind from the Wilderness.
Fleet. Why, what has the _Scotch_ General done?
Ana. Ah! he playeth the Devil with the Saints in the City, because they
put the Covenant-Oath unto him; he pulls up their Gates, their Posts
and Chains, and enters.
Felt. And wou’d the wicked City let him have his beastly Will of her?
Ana. Nay, but she was ravish’d—deflower’d.
Joy. How, ravish’d! oh monstrous! was ever such a Rape committed upon
an innocent City? lay her Legs open to the wide World, for every Knave
to view her Nakedness?
Felt. Ah, ah! what Days, what Times, and what Seasons are here?
[Exeunt.
Enter _Capt._ _Corp._ and _Prent._ with Faggots, hollowing.
Corp. What say you now, Lads, is not my Prophecy truer than _Lilly’s?_
I told you the Rump would fall to 421 our handling and drinking for:
the King’s proclaim’d, Rogues.
Capt. Ay, ay, _Lilly_, a Plague on him, he prophesied _Lambert_ should
be uppermost.
Corp. Yes, he meant perhaps on _Westminster_ Pinacle: where’s _Lilly_
now, with all his Prophecies against the _Royal Family?_
Capt. In one of his Twelve Houses.
1 Pren. We’ll fire him out to Night, Boy; come, all hands to work for
the Fire. [Ex. all hollowing.
Fleet. Ah, dismal, heavy day, a day of Grief and Woe, Which hast bereft
me of my hopes for ay, Ah, Lard, ah what shall I do? [Exit.
Scene IV. A Chamber in _Lambert’s_ House.
Enter _Lov._ leading L. _Lam._ in disguise, _Page_ and _Gilliflower_
disguised, _Lov._ dressing her.
Lov. My Charmer, why these Tears,
If for the fall of all thy painted Glories,
Thou art, in the esteem of all good Men,
Above what thou wert then?
The glorious Sun is rising in our Hemisphere,
And I, amongst the crowd of Loyal Sufferers,
Shall share in its kindly Rays.
L. Lam. Best of thy Sex—
What have I left to gratify thy Goodness?
Lov. You have already by your noble Bounty,
Made me a Fortune, had I nothing else;
All which I render back, with all that Wealth
Heaven and my Parents left me:
Which, tho unjustly now detain’d from me,
Will once again be mine, and then be yours.
Enter _Free._
Free. Come, haste, the Rabble gather round the House,
And swear they’ll have this Sorceress.
422 Lov. Let me loose among ’em, their rude officious Honesty must be
punish’d.
L. Lam. Oh, let me out, do not expose thy Person to their mad Rage,
rather resign the Victim. [Holds him.
Lov. Resign thee! by Heaven, I think I shou’d turn Rebel first.
Enter La. _Des._ disguised, and _Tom_ with Jewels in a Box.
L. Des. With much ado, according to thy direction, dear _Freeman_, I
have pass’d the Pikes, my House being surrounded; and my Husband
demanded, fell down dead with fear.
Free. How, thy Husband dead!
L. Des. Dead as old _Oliver_, and much ado I got off with these Jewels,
the Rabble swore I was one of the Party; and had not the honest
Corporal convinc’d em, I had been pull’d to pieces.—Come, haste away,
Madam, we shall be roasted with the Rump else.
L. Lam. Adieu, dear Mansion! whose rich gilded Roofs so oft put me in
mind of Majesty—And thou, my Bed of State, where my soft Slumbers have
presented me with Diadems and Scepters—when waking I have stretch’d my
greedy Arms to grasp the vanish’d Phantom! ah, adieu! and all my hopes
of _Royalty_ adieu.—
Free. And dare you put your self into my Protection? Well, if you do, I
doubt you’ll never be your own Woman again.
L. Des. No matter, I’m better lost than found on such occasions.
[Exeunt.
Scene V. A Street; a great Bonfire, with Spits, and Rumps roasting, and
the Mobile about the Fire, with Pots, Bottles, Fiddles.
1 Pren. Here, _Jack_, a Health to the King.
2 Pren. Let it pass, Lad, and next to the noble General.
1 Pren. _Ralph_, baste the Rump well, or ne’er hope to see a King agen.
423 3 Pren. The Rump will baste it self, it has been well cram’d.
Enter _Freeman_, L. _Des._ _Loveless_, and L. _Lam._ _Gill._ _Tom_,
Pages, &c.
Cap. Hah, Noble Champion, faith, Sir, you must honour us so far as to
drink the King’s Health, and the noble General’s, before you go.
Enter _Wariston_, drest like a Pedlar, with a Box about his Neck full
of Ballads and Things.
War. Will ya buy a guedly Ballat or a _Scotch_ Spur, Sirs? a guedly
Ballat, or a _Scotch_ Spur.—’Sbread, I’s scapt hitherte weele enough,
I’s say’d my Crag fro stretching twa Inches longer than ’twas borne:
will ya buy a Jack-line to roast the Rump, a new Jack Lambert Line?—or
a blithe Ditty of the Noble _Scotch_ General?—come buy my Ditties.
Cap. How, a Ditty o’th’ General? let’s see’t, Sirrah.
War. ’Sbread, Sirs, and here’s the guedly Ballat of the General’s
coming out of _Scotland_.
Cap. Here, who sings it? we’ll all bear the bob.
[_Wariston_ sings the Ballad, all bearing the Bob.
Enter _Ananias_ crying Almanacks.
Ana. New Almanacks, new Almanacks.
Cap. Hah, who have we here? _Ananias_, Holder-forth of _Clement’s_
Parish?
All. Ha, a Traytor, a Traytor.
Lov. If I am not mistaken, this blithe Ballad-singer too was Chair-man
to the Committee of Safety.
Cap. Is your Lordship turned Pedlar at last?
War. What mon I do noo? Lerd, ne mere Lerd than yar sel, Sir; wons I
show ’em a fair pair of Heels.
[Goes to run away, they get him on a Colt-staff, with _Ananias_ on
another, Fidlers playing _Fortune my Foe_, round the Fire.
424 Cap. Play _Fortune my Foe_, Sirrah.
Enter _Hewson_, drest like a Country Fellow.
Cor. Who are you, Sirrah? you have the mark o’ th’ Beast.
Hews. Who aye, Sir? Aye am a Doncer, that come a merry-making among ya—
Cap. Come, Sirrah, your Feats of Activity quickly then.
[He dances; which ended, they get him on a Colt-staff, and cry a
_Cobler_, a _Cobler_.
All. A Cobler, a Cobler.
Cap. To Prison with the Traytors, and then we have made a good Night’s
work on’t.
Then let’s all home, and to the Powers Divine
Pray for the King, and all the Sacred Line. [Exeunt.
EPILOGUE
Spoken by Lady _Desbro_.
THE Vizor’s off, and now I dare appear.
High for the _Royal Cause_ in Cavalier;
Tho once as true a _Whig_ as most of you,
Cou’d cant, and lye, preach, and dissemble too:
So far you drew me in, but faith I’ll be
Reveng’d on you for thus debauching me:
Same of your pious Cheats I’ll open lay,
That lead your _Ignoramus_ Flock astray:
For since I cannot fight, I will not fail
To exercise my Talent, that’s to rail.
Ye Race of Hypocrites, whose Cloak of Zeal
Covers the Knave that cants for _Commonweal_,
All Laws, the Church and State to Ruin brings,
And impudently sets a Rule on Kings;
Ruin, destroy, all’s good that you decree
By your Infallible _Presbytery_,
Prosperous at first, in Ills you grow so vain,
You thought to play the _Old Game_ o’er again:
425 And thus the Cheat was put upon the Nation,
First with _Long Parliaments_, next _Reformation_,
And now you hop’d to make a new Invasion:
And when you can’t prevail by open Force,
To cunning tickling Tricks you have recourse,
And raise Sedition forth without Remorse.
Confound these cursed _Tories_, then they cry, [In a preaching tone.
Those Fools, those Pimps to Monarchy,
Those that exclude the Saints; yet open th’ Door,
To introduce the _Babylonian Whore_.
By Sacred _Oliver_ the Nation’s mad;
Beloved, ’twas not so when he was Head:
But then, as I have said it oft before ye,
A _Cavalier_ was but a Type of _Tory_.
The Curs durst then not bark, but all the Breed
Is much encreas’d since that good Man was dead:
Yet then they rail’ d against the _Good Old Cause_,
Rail’d foolishly for Loyalty, and Laws;
But when the Saints had put them to a stand,
We left them Loyalty, and took their Land:
Yea, and the pious Work of Reformation
Rewarded was with Plunder, Sequestration.
Thus cant the Faithful; nay, they’re so uncivil,
To pray us harmless Players to the Devil.
When this is all th’ Exception they can make,
They damn us for our Glorious Master’s sake.
But why ’gainst us do you unjustly arm?
Our small Religion sure can do no harm;
Or if it do, since that’s the only thing,
We will reform when you are true to th’ King.
Notes on the Text.
435
The Roundheads.
Dedication
p. 337 _To The Right Noble Henry Fitz-Roy._ The Dedicatory Epistle only
appears in the two 4tos, 1682 and 1698.
p. 337, l. 31 _Good Old Couse._ ‘Couse’ to represent a Cockney
pronunciation.
p. 338, l. 28 _Ignoramus the 1st and the 2d._ Mrs. Behn deftly compares
the verdict of that faction which would have damned her play with the
verdict given by the City jury who acquitted Shaftesbury.
Prologue
p. 341, l. 7 _ycleped Hewson._ 4to ‘Eclipsed Huson’.
Dramatis Personæ
p. 343 _Dramatis Personæ._ I have added, ‘Captain of the Prentices,
Page to Lady Fleetwood, A Felt-maker, A Joyner, Doorkeeper, Two Clerks,
Three Soldiers, Women Servants to Lady Lambert, Petitioners, Servants,
Guards.’ The name of Lady Desbro’s Page, Tom, is supplied by Act iv, 1.
For _Sanctify’d Mobile_, 1724 reads ‘Sanctify’d Mobility’.
Act I: Scene i
p. 344, l. 21 _Push a Pike._ 1724 ‘Push of Pike’.
p. 347, l. 3 _Go out._ 1724 ‘Goes out’.
p. 347, l. 11 _the rest of the Soldiers._ 1724 ‘the rest of Soldiers’.
p. 350, l. 14 _Love, Wit and Beauty._ 1724 prints these lines as prose.
p. 350, l. 17 _A God! altho his outside._ 4tos and 1724 print this
speech as prose.
p. 350, l. 22 _No, methought he grew._ 1724 prints this speech as
prose.
p. 351, l. 10 _Ha, he’s yonder._ 1724 prints this speech as prose.
p. 353, l. 16 _Exeunt both._ 1724 ‘exeunt’, 4tos ‘exit both’.
Act I: Scene ii
p. 353, l. 17 _Scene II. A Chamber in Lambert’s House._ 4tos ‘Scene a
Chamber.’ 1724 ‘Scene. A Chamber.’ I have added ‘II’ and ‘in Lambert’s
House.’
p. 354, l. 19 _how have I show’d._ 1724 misprints ‘how have show’d’.
p. 355, l. 28 _the Lard’s handling._ 1724 ‘the Lord’s’, 4tos ‘Lard’s’.
p. 356, l. 28 _light on yu._ 1724 ‘light on you’.
p. 358, l. 1 _a brave Mon._ 1724 ‘a brave Man’.
p. 358, l. 1 _I may cooncel._ 1724 ‘I may counsel’.
p. 358, l. 10 _he’s a brave Mon, a Mon indeed, gen._ 1724 ‘he’s a brave
Mon indeed gen’.
Act II: Scene i
p. 359, l. 11 _Scene I. A Chamber of State in Lambert’s House._ I have
added ‘in Lambert’s House’.
p. 360, l. 22 _admit him tho’._ 1724 omits ‘tho’’.
p. 360, l. 25 _I shou’d say._ 1724 misprints ‘I shou’d stay’.
p. 360, l. 27 _these Heroicks are punctual men._ 1724 omits ‘men’.
p. 361, l. 4 _Walks away._ 1724 omits this stage direction.
p. 361, l. 17 _Some such trivial thing._ 1724 ‘some such trifling
thing’.
p. 365, l. 28 _Verily we should live._ 1724 ‘Verily ye should live’.
p. 366, l. 21 _Write Panegyricks._ 1724 prints these concluding four
lines as prose. 4tos metrically.
p. 367, l. 2 _Lambert will destroy all._ 1724 ‘Lambert would destroy
all’.
p. 368, l. 1 _Or Mind embyass’d._ 1724 ‘Embarass’d’.
p. 368, l. 12 _Execrations._ 1724 ‘Excrations’.
p. 368, l. 28 _Cry mercy, Madam._ 1724 omits ‘Madam’.
p. 368, l. 29 _most lucky Minute._ 1724 ‘most unlucky Minute’.
p. 370, l. 19 _my Honourable Lord is busied._ 1724 ‘has business’.
436 p. 370, l. 22 _extemporary._ 1724 ‘extempore’.
p. 373, l. 33 _Old Oliver’s Brains._ 1724 ‘Brain’.
Act III: Scene i
p. 374, l. 31 _take ’em then for Archibald; ’tis._ 1724 ‘take ’em then
for Archibald? ’tis’.
p. 374, l. 32 _warse._ 1724 ‘worse’.
p. 376, l. 6 _Hew. My Lord, I am sorry._ 1724 ‘Hew. I am sorry’.
p. 377, l. 28 _what stuff’s here._ 1724 ‘what’s stuff’s here’.
p. 378, l. 4 _Walter Walton._ 1724 ‘Walter Walter’.
p. 378, l. 19 _ever cam into lour_, read _ever came intol our._ 1724
‘ever came into’.
p. 378, l. 23 _I’s larne._ 1724 ‘I’s learn’.
p. 379, l. 14 _se fast._ 1724 ‘so fast’.
p. 380, l. 16 _shoos in yar._ 1724 ‘shoes’.
p. 380, l. 28 _Malignant’s Estates._ 1724 ‘Malignant Estates’.
p. 382, l. 36 _she has danc’d after._ 1724 ‘she has danc’d here after’.
Act III: Scene ii
p. 383, l. 31 _Scene II. A Chamber in Lady Desbro’s House._ 4tos and
1724 ‘Scene, a Chamber’.
p. 384, l. 7 _Enter Tom._ 4tos and 1724 ‘Enter Page’ with
speech-prefix— ‘Pag.’ and ‘Exit Page’; but Act iv, 1, 4tos we have
‘Enter Page’ with speech-prefix ‘Tom’ and later in the same scene
‘Enter Tom Page’.
p. 384, l. 12 _hear him preach._ 1724 ‘here him preach’.
p. 385, l. 8 _Beau - - ty._ And later ‘fall - ing’ to mark the
sanctimonious drawl. 1724 prints ‘Beauty’ and ‘falling’.
p. 388, ll. 8, 10 _Exeunt._ 4tos omit. 1724 omits ‘Ex. Ana.’
Act IV: Scene i
p. 388, l. 12 _A Chamber in La. Desbro’s House._ 4tos and 1724
‘Chamber, Candles and Lights’.
p. 390, l. 33 _gives us notice of._ 1724 ‘gives us notice of it’.
p. 391, l. 29 _come a Gad’s Name._ 1724 ‘come in Gad’s Name’.
p. 392, l. 11 _Nay, I say verily, nay._ 1724 ‘I say verily, nay’.
p. 392, l. 17 _the Lard hath given._ 1724 ‘the Lard has given’.
p. 392, l. 22 _Enter Tom._ 1724 ‘Enter Page’, speech-prefix ‘Page’, and
‘Ex. Page’; 4tos ‘Enter Page’, speech-prefix ‘Tom’, ‘Ex. Tom Page’.
p. 392, l. 29 _we have hitherto maintain’d._ 1724 omits ‘hitherto’.
Act IV: Scene ii
p. 394, l. 6 _A fine Chamber._ I have added to 4tos and 1724 ‘in La.
Lambert’s House’.
Act IV: Scene iii
p. 395, l. 8 _A great Chamber._ I have added to 4tos and 1724 ‘in
Lambert’s House’.
p. 395, l. 26 _I’s drink tol yar gued Fortune._ 1724 ‘to yar gued
Fortune’.
p. 396, l. 17 _Ex. L. Lam. and Gill._ I have added ‘and Gill’.
p. 396, l. 22 _light your Flambeaus._ 1724 ‘your Flambeau’.
p. 396, l. 30 _when we real._ 1724 ‘when we reel’.
p. 397, l. 8 _o’er yar Liquer._ 1724 ‘Liquor’.
p. 397, l. 15 _I’s for a Horn-pipe._ 1724 omits ‘for’.
p. 397, l. 24 _Scotch Poond._ 1724 ‘Pound’.
p. 397, l. 24 _yar Song._ 1724 ‘your Song’.
p. 398, l. 15 _lead the Donce._ 1724 ‘lead the Dance’.
Act IV: Scene iv
p. 399, l. 28 _As well as to give._ 1724 ‘As well as give’.
p. 399, l. 36 _Kneels._ 4to 1698 and 1724 omit this stage direction.
p. 400, l. 23 _he puts it back._ 4tos ‘he put it back’. 1724 ‘he puts
it off’.
437 p. 401, l. 26 _my Husband wou’d withdraw._ 1724 ‘my Husband cou’d
withdraw’.
p. 401, l. 32 _He lies down along on the Couch._ 1724 ‘He lies down on
the Couch’.
Act V: Scene i
p. 405, l. 14 _Scene I. A Street._ 1724 ‘Scene I. Street’.
p. 407, l. 28 _Viva le Roy, Viva le Monk!_ 4tos ‘Via la Roy, Via la
Monk.’
p. 408, l. 23 _Why, so there’s some trusting._ 1724 omits ‘so’.
p. 408, l. 33 _Viva the brave._ 1724 ‘Vive the brave’.
p. 410, l. 9 _Ana. gets a Sword, and fights too._ 1724 ‘and fights
’em’.
Act V: Scene ii
p. 410, l. 10 _Scene II. Changes to a Chamber in La. Lambert’s House._
4tos and 1724 ‘Scene changes to a Chamber’.
Act V: Scene iia
p. 411, l. 12 _and I shall keep it._ 1724 omits ‘I’.
p. 412, l. 22 _L. Lam. Thou ly’st._ 4tos and 1724 print this speech as
prose, but it admits of metrical division.
p. 413, l. 9 _Gog and Magog._ 4tos ‘God and Magog’.
p. 415, l. 6 _Morning and Evening Lectures._ 4tos ‘Mornings and
Evenings Lectures’.
p. 415, l. 23 _Enter Page with Messenger._ 1724 ‘Enter Page with
Messengers’.
p. 415, l. 30 _Where’s that brutal Courage._ 1724 ‘the Brutal Courage’.
p. 416, l. 16 _whose wise work was that?_ 1724 ‘whose wise work’s
that?’
p. 416, l. 29 _Wans, Sirs._ 1724 ‘Wons, Sirs’.
p. 417, l. 5 _ya’s ene._ 1724 ‘ye’s ene’.
p. 417, l. 6 _Mr. Leyer._ 1724 ‘Mr. Lyar’.
p. 417, l. 12 _makes ye look._ 1724 ‘makes you look’.
p. 417, l. 36 _L. Fleet and Pag._ 1724 omits ‘and Pag.’
p. 418, l. 6 _no more. [Weep._ 1724 omits ‘Weep’.
p. 419, l. 11 _Go in._ 1724 only marks ‘Ex.’ for all characters.
Act V: Scene iii
p. 419, l. 13 _Scene III. The Street._ 4tos and 1724 ‘Scene the
Street’.
p. 420, l. 3 _Viva le Roy, viva._ 1724 ‘Vive le Roy, vive’.
p. 420, l. 14 _ill, I fear; ’tis a bad._ 1724 ‘ill, I fear ’tis a bad’.
p. 420, l. 32 _are here? [Exeunt._ 4tos and 1724 omit ‘Exeunt’. I
supply this as, obviously, these characters must leave the stage when
the Prentices rush on.
p. 421, l. 12 _ay, Ah, Lard, ah what._ 4tos ‘ay, ah Lard, what’. 1724
‘ay. Lard, ah what’.
Act V: Scene iv
p. 421, l. 14 _Scene IV. A Chamber in Lambert’s House._ 4tos and 1724
‘Scene, A Chamber’.
p. 421, l. 23 _share in its kindly._ 1724 ‘share its kindly’.
p. 422, l. 7 _and Tom with jewels._ 4tos and 1724 ‘Page with jewels’.
p. 422, l. 25 _Well, if you do._ 1724 ‘Why, if you do’.
Act V: Scene v
p. 422, l. 29 _Scene V. A Street._ 4tos and 1724 ‘Scene, a Street’.
p. 423, l. 3 _Gill. Tom, Pages, &c._ I have inserted Tom’s name here.
p. 424, l. 5 _come a merry-making._ 1724 ‘come merry-making’.
p. 424, l. 33 _you grow so vain._ 1724 ‘you grew so vain’.
p. 425, l. 7. _In a preaching tone._ 1724 ‘In a preachin tone’. The
dropped ‘g’, is not intentional here, but a misprint.
_450_
Notes: Critical And Explanatory.
The Roundheads.
Dedication
p. 337 _To the Right Noble Henry Fitzroy._ Second son of Charles II by
Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine, afterwards Duchess of
Cleveland, was born 20 September, 1663. He married, 1 August, 1672,
Isabella, daughter and heiress of Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington. The
bride was then only five years old. In September, 1675, Henry Fitzroy
was created Duke of Grafton, and on 30 September, 1680, was installed
by proxy as Knight of the Garter. In 1682 he 451 became colonel of the
first foot guards. He died 9 October, 1690, from a wound he received
under the walls of Cork during Marlborough’s expedition to Ireland.
Brave and even reckless to a fault, he is said to have been the most
popular and the ablest of the sons of Charles II.
Prologue
p. 341 _noise of Plots._ The ferment occasioned by the pretended Popish
Plot of 1678 and the illegal Exclusion Bill was in full blast.
p. 341 _Presbytery._ Presbyterianism.
p. 341 _Forty One._ 1641 was the date of the Grand Remonstrance and
Petition to Charles I.
p. 341 _Ignoramus._ When Shaftesbury was indicted for high treason, 24
November, 1681, the grand jury ignored or threw out the bill. Their
declaration was ‘ignoramus’. cf. Dryden’s prologue to _The Duke of
Guise_ (1682):—
Let ignoramus juries find no traitors,
and other innumerable references to this verdict.
Dramatis Personæ
p. 343 _Fleetwood._ Lieutenant-General Charles Fleetwood was son-in-law
to Oliver Cromwell, and for a time Lord-Deputy of Ireland. He was
mainly instrumental in the resignation of Richard Cromwell, but so weak
and vacillating that he lost favour with all parties. His name was
excepted from the general amnesty, and it was only with great
difficulty that, owing to the influence of Lord Litchfield, he escaped
with his life. He died in obscurity at Stoke Newington, 4 October,
1692.
p. 343 _Lambert._ Major-General Lambert (1619-83) lost his commissions
owing to the jealousy of Oliver Cromwell, on whose death he privily
opposed Richard Cromwell. In August, 1659, he defeated the Royalist
forces under Sir George Booth in Cheshire, but subsequently his army
deserted. On his return to London he was arrested (5 March, 1660), by
the Parliament, but escaped. Tried for high treason at the Restoration,
he was banished to Guernsey, where he died in the winter of 1683.
p. 343 _Wariston._ Archibald Johnston, Lord Wariston, a fierce fanatic,
was parliamentary commissioner for the administration of justice in
Scotland and a member of Cromwell’s House of Peers. On the revival of
the Rump he became president of the Council of State, and permanent
president of the Committee of Safety. At the Restoration he fled, but
was brought back from Rouen to be hanged at the Market Cross,
Edinburgh, 23 July, 1663. Carlyle dubs him a ‘lynx-eyed lawyer and
austere presbyterian zealot’, and Burnet says, ‘Presbyterianism was
more to him than all the world.’
p. 343 _Hewson._ John Hewson, regicide, a shoemaker, was a commander
under Cromwell, and afterwards a peer in the Upper House. At the
Restoration he escaped to the Continent and died in exile at Amsterdam,
1662, or, by another account, at Rouen.
p. 343 _Desbro._ John Desborough, Desborow, or Disbrowe (1608-80) was
Cromwell’s brother-in-law. Being left a widower, he married again
April, 1658. As he had refused to sit as a judge at the trial of
Charles I, he was not exempted from the amnesty; but being considered a
source of danger, he was, after the Restoration, ‘always watched with
peculiar jealousy,’ and suffered some short term of imprisonment.
452 p. 343 _Duckingfield._ Robert Duckenfield (1619-89), a strong
Parliamentarian, but one who refused to assist at the King’s trial. He
had large estates in Cheshire, where he lived retired after a short
imprisonment at the Restoration. His son Robert, who succeeded him, was
subsequently created a baronet by Charles II, 16 June, 1665.
p. 343 _Corbet._ Although this name is here given as Corbet, Colonel
Cobbet occurs Act i, II (p. 355), and we have Cobbet again Act iii, I
(p. 374). This character is certainly not Miles Corbet the regicide,
but Ralph Cobbet, who was both a colonel and a member of the Committee
of Safety. Ralph Cobbet is frequently alluded to in the satires of the
time, e.g. _The Gang; or, The Nine Worthies and Champions_ (17 January,
1659-60):—
A man of stomack in the next deal,
With a hey down, &c.
Was hungry Colonel Cobbet;
He would eat at a meale
A whole commonweale,
And make a joint but a gobbet.
p. 343 _Whitlock._ Bulstrode Whitelock (1605-75), keeper of the Great
Seal, and in August, 1659, president of the Council of State, was
always inclined to royalism, and even advised Cromwell to restore
Charles II. At the Restoration he was allowed to retire to Chilton
Park, Hungerford, Wilts, and died there 28 July, 1675. According to
some accounts his death took place at Fawley, Bucks.
p. 343 _Lady Lambert._ Lady Lambert was Frances, daughter of Sir
William Lister, knight, of Thornton in Craven, Yorks. She was married
10 September, 1639. Contemporaries attribute Lambert’s ambition to the
influence of his wife, whose pride is frequently alluded to. e.g.
_Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson_, edited by C. H. Firth (Nimmo, 1885),
Vol. II, p. 189, ‘There went a story that as my Lady Ireton was walking
in St. James’ Park the Lady Lambert, as proud as her husband, came by
where she was, and as the present princess always has precedency of the
relict of the dead prince, so she put my Lady Ireton below; who,
notwithstanding her piety and humility, was a little grieved at the
affront.’
p. 343 _Lady Desbro._ Desborough’s second wife, whom he married April,
1658, is said, on the dubious authority of Betham, to have been Anne,
daughter of Sir Richard Everard, Bart., of Much Waltham. Mrs. Behn’s
amorous lady, Maria, is, of course, purely fictional.
p. 343 _Lady Fleetwood._ Bridget, eldest daughter of Oliver Cromwell,
was married first to Ireton, who died 26 November, 1651, and secondly,
in 1652, to Fleetwood. She did not live long after the Restoration, and
was buried at S. Anne’s, Blackfriars, 1 July, 1662.
p. 343 _Lady Cromwell._ Cromwell married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
James Bourchier, 22 August, 1620. She survived her husband seven years,
dying 19 November, 1665. After the Restoration she lived in great
seclusion at Norboro’, Northamptonshire, the house of her son-in-law,
John Claypoole.
453
p. 343 _Clement’s Parish._ Probably St. Clements, Eastcheap. This
church, described by Stow as being ‘small and void of monuments’, was
destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt 1686. The old church of St.
Clement Danes, Strand, being in a ruinous condition, was pulled down in
1680 and built again on the same site. The Puritans always omitted the
prefix ‘St.’ and spoke of churches as ‘Paul’s’, ‘Mary’s’,
‘Bartholomew’s’, ‘Helen’s’ and the like.
The above Note refers to the male character Ananias Goggle, but is
printed after the Commentary on the four main female characters.
Act I: Scene i
p. 344 _Gad and the Lord Fleetwood._ Fleetwood, even in an age of
Tartuffes, was especially distinguished for the fluency of his canting
hypocrisy and godliness. He was a bitter persecutor of Catholics, a
warm favourer of Anabaptists and the extremer fanatics of every kidney.
p. 345 _Vane._ Sir Harry Vane (1613-62), the prominent Parliamentarian
and a leading member of the Committee of Safety was executed as a
regicide, June, 1662.
p. 345 _Fifth Monarchy._ The Fifth Monarchy men were a sect of wild
enthusiasts who declared themselves ‘subjects only of King Jesus’, and
held that a fifth universal monarchy (like those of Assyria, Persia,
Greece, and Rome) would be established by Christ in person, until which
time no single person must presume to rule or be king.
p. 346 _Haslerig._ Sir Arthur Heselrige, one of the Five Members whom
Parliament refused to yield to Charles I in January, 1642, was a
republican of the most violent type. He died a prisoner in the Tower, 7
January, 1661.
p. 349 _an errant Heroick._ A term for a cavalier or Royalist, cf.
Edward Waterhouse’s _A Short Narrative of the late Dreadful Fire in
London_ (1667, 12mo): ‘Even so, O Lord, rebuke the evil spirit of these
_Sanballats_, and raise up the spirit of the _Nehemiahs_ and other such
Heroicks of Kindness and Ability to consider _London._’ Tatham, in _The
Rump_ (4to, 1660; 1661), Act ii, 1, has ‘The very names of the
Cromwells will become far more odious than ever Needham could make the
Heroicks’.
p. 349 _cuckold the Ghost of Old Oliver._ The intrigue between Cromwell
and Lambert’s wife is affirmed in ‘_Newes from the New Exchange; or,
the Commonwealth of Ladies ..._ London; printed in the year of women
without grace, 1650’ (4to). Noble, in his _Memoirs of the Cromwell
Family_ (8vo, London, 1787, 3rd edit., Vol. II, p. 369), says that the
lady ‘was an elegant and accomplished woman’, she was ‘suppos’d to have
been partial to Oliver the Protector.’ A scarce poem, _Iter Australe_
(London, 1660, 4to), declares of Cromwell that some
Would have him a David, ’cause he went
To Lambert’s wife, when he was in his tent.
Some six months before Cromwell’s death, when Lambert visited him, Noll
‘fell on his neck, kissed him, inquired of dear Johnny for his jewel
(so he called Mrs. Lambert) and for all his children by name.’
Cromwell’s immoralities in youth, when a brewer at Ely, were notorious.
Although the parish registers of S. John’s, Huntingdon, have been
tampered with, the following, under the years 1621 and 1628, remain:
‘Oliverus Cromwell reprehensus erat coram tota Ecclesia pro factis.’
454 and ‘Hoc anno Oliverus Cromwell fecit penitentiam coram tota
ecclesia.’ An attempt has been made to erase these.
Act I: Scene ii
p. 354 _Tony._ Anthony Ashley Cooper; afterwards first Earl of
Shaftesbury.
p. 357 _Wallingford House._ Stood on the site of the present Admiralty.
It was so called from Sir William Knollys, Baron Wallingford, Treasurer
of the Household to Elizabeth and James I. After Cromwell’s death the
General Council of the Officers of the Army (Wallingford House Party)
met here. Fleetwood actually lived in the house. At the Restoration it
reverted to the Duke of Buckingham. The Crown purchased it 1680, and
the Admiralty was built about 1720.
Act II: Scene i
p. 361 _Cobler’s-Stall._ Hewson, says Wood, had originally been ‘an
honest shoemaker in Westminster.’
p. 362 _Conventickling._ Conventicle was accentuated upon the third
syllable. This, of course, led to innuendo, cf. 1 _Hudibras_ (1663)
Canto ii, 437:
He used to lay about and stickle
Like ram or bull at conventicle
and Dryden, in _The Medal_ (1682):—
A tyrant theirs; the heaven their priesthood paints
A conventicle of gloomy sullen saints.
p. 363 _Pryn._ William Prynne (1600-69) had been sentenced to severe
punishment in February, 1634, for the scandals and libels contained in
his dull diatribe, _Histriomastix._ He lost both his ears in the
pillory.
p. 365 _Needham._ Marchamont Nedham, ‘the Commonwealth’s Didaper’, was
a graduate of All Souls, Oxon, and sometime an usher at Merchant
Taylors’ school. He also seems to have been connected with the legal
profession. ‘The skip-jack of all fortunes’, neither side has a good
word for this notorious pamphleteer, the very scum of our early
journalism. When _Mercurius Britannicus_ temporarily ceased publication
with No. 50, 9 September, 1644, Nedham recommenced it on the 30th of
the same month with No. 51 (not No. 52 as is sometimes stated). No. 92,
28 July-4 August, 1645, and the number 11-18 May, 1646, revile the King
in such scurrilous terms that Nedham was haled to the bar of the House
of Lords and imprisoned. Later he turned Royalist, but in 1650
published _The Case of the Commonwealth Stated_, a defence of the
regicides, for which he received a pension of £100 a year. He fled to
Holland, April, 1660, but being pardoned, returned to England. He died
in Devereux Court, Temple Bar, November, 1678, and is buried in St.
Clement Danes. Wood characterizes him as ‘a most seditious, mutable and
railing author,’ whilst Cleveland terms him ‘that impudent and
incorrigible reviler’.
p. 365 _Ireton, my best of Sons._ Noble, in his _Memoirs of the
Cromwell Family_, says that the fact Fleetwood had not the abilities of
her first husband gave his wife much concern, as she saw with great
regret the ruin his conduct must bring on herself and her children.
p. 366 _Richard’s Wife._ Richard Cromwell at the age of 23 married
Dorothy, daughter of Richard Major, of Hursley, Hampshire.
p. 366 _glorious Titles._ Cromwell’s wife was, as a matter of fact,
very averse to all grandeur and state. The satires of the time laugh at
her homeliness and parsimony.
455 p. 369 _Ormond._ James Butler, Duke of Ormond, was lord-lieutenant
of Ireland, 1643-47.
p. 370 _Exercise._ A common term amongst the Puritans for worship; a
sermon or extemporary prayer. As early as 1574. Archbishop Whitgift
speaks of the exercises of ‘praying, singing of psalms, interpreting
and prophesying’, cf. Davenant, _The Wits_ (4to 1636):—
I am a new man, Luce; thou shalt find me
In a Geneva band....
And squire thy untooth’d aunt to an exercise,
and also:—
[she] divides
The day in exercise.
— Mayne’s _City Match_ (1639), iv, v.
p. 372 _Duke of Glocester._ Henry of Oatlands, Duke of Gloucester,
youngest son of Charles I. Born 8 July, 1639, he died of smallpox at
Whitehall 13 September, 1660. The Parliament sent him to the continent
on 11 February, 1653.
p. 373 _he should have been bound Prentice._ A proposition was actually
made in Parliament that the young Duke of Gloucester should be bound to
a trade, in order, as it was impudently expressed, ‘that he might earn
his bread honestly.’ Fortunately, saner counsels prevailed, in which
his fate was happier than that of the Dauphin committed to the
cruelties of Citizen Simon, cordwainer.
p. 373 _Old Thurlo._ John Thurloe (1616-68), Secretary of State to
Cromwell; M.P. for Ely, 1654 and 1656. He died 21 February, 1668.
Act III: Scene i
p. 378 _Highness’s Funeral._ A large portion of the debt incurred for
Oliver Cromwell’s magnificently extravagant funeral ceremonies fell on
Richard, who was obliged to retire for a while to the continent to
avoid arrest and await some settlement. These obsequies cost in all the
huge sum of £60,000, which there was a great difficulty in paying. The
chief undertaker’s name was Rolt. See note on _The Widow Ranter_ —
‘Trusting for Old Oliver’s funeral,’ Act i. (Vol. IV.)
p. 378 _Walter Frost._ Walter Frost, secretary to the Republican
Council of State, was quondam manciple of Emmanuel, Cambridge, and
acted as spy-master and manager of the ‘committee hackneys,’ which
hunted down and betrayed Royalists. This infamous fellow, who dubbed
himself Esquire and Latinized his name to Gualter, was authorized to
publish (i.e. write) ‘intelligence every week upon Thursday according
to an Act of Parliament for that purpose.’ He licensed _A Briefe
Relation_ (No 1, 2 October, 1649) from its second number until 22
October, 1650. This is certainly one of the most evil and lying of the
Republican diurnals.
p. 378 _Hutchinson._ Richard Hutchinson, deputy treasurer to Sir Henry
Vane. He succeeded as Treasurer to the Navy in 1651 and continued to
hold office after the Restoration. He is several times mentioned by
Pepys.
p. 379 _Jacobus._ A gold coin value 25s., first current in the reign of
James I.
p. 379 _Mr. Ice._ Perhaps Stephen Isles who was appointed a
Commissioner for the London Militia, 7 July, 1659. The name ‘Mr. Ice’
occurs in Tatham’s _Rump_ in the same context.
456
p. 379 _Loether._ Sir Gerard Lowther, who, once a loyalist, became a
republican, and in 1654 was one of the Three Commissioners of the Great
Seal in Ireland. He acquired large estates and died very wealthy on the
eve of the Restoration.
p. 381 _Duke of Buckingham’s Estate ... with Chelsey House._ Bulstrode
Whitelocke actually had obtained the Duke’s sequestered estate, and
stood for Bucks in Parliament. During the Commonwealth Chelsea House
was bestowed upon him as an official residence, and he lived there till
the Restoration, when it reverted to the Duke, to whose father it had
been granted in 1627 by Charles I. He sold it in 1664 to the trustees
of George Digby, Earl of Bristol. In 1682 it became the property of
Henry, Marquis of Worcester, afterwards Duke of Beaufort, and was
renamed Beaufort House. Sir Hans Sloane purchased it in 1738, and it
was demolished two years later.
p. 381 _Hugh Peters._ This divine, who had been chaplain to Sir Thomas
Fairfax, was notorious for his fanatical and ranting sermons. Having
openly advocated and preached the death of Charles I, he was, at the
Restoration, excluded from the general amnesty, tried for high treason,
and executed 16 October, 1660.
p. 382 _Scobel._ Henry Scobell, clerk to the Long Parliament. His name
appeared as the licenser of various newsbooks, and he superintended the
publication of _Severall Proceedings in Parliament_, No. 1, 25 Sept.-9
Oct., 1649. Scobell died in 1660, his will being proved 29 Sept. of
that year.
Act IV: Scene ii
p. 394 _Vails._ Avails; profits. Money given to servants: ‘tips’.
Act IV: Scene iii
p. 398 _Cushion-Dance._ A merry old English round action dance common
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
p. 398 _Nickers._ Or knickers, marbles generally made of baked clay.
cf. Duffet’s farce, _The Mock Tempest_ (1675), Act iv, I:—
Enter _Hypolito playing with Nickers_.
Hyp. Anan, Anan, forsooth— you, Sir, don’t you stir the Nickers. I’l
play out my game presently.
Act IV: Scene iv
p. 402 _Joan Sanderson._ The air to which the Cushion Dance was usually
performed. It may be found in Playford’s _Dancing Master_, 1686.
Sometimes the dance itself was known as Joan Sanderson.
Act V: Scene i
p. 406 _The Tall Irishman._ Oliver Cromwell’s porter, yclept Daniel,
was a giant. This fellow, through poring over mystical divinity, lost
his wits: he preached, prophesied, and raved until finally he was
incarcerated in Bedlam, where, after a while, his liberty was allowed
him. A famous item amongst his books was a large Bible presented by
Neil Gwynne. D’Urfey in his Prologue to _Sir Barnaby Whigg_ (1681),
has: ‘Like Oliver’s porter, but not so devout.’ There is a rare, if not
unique, portrait of Daniel in the Print Room, British Museum. The
reputed portrait in Pierce Tempest’s _Cryes of the City of London_ (No.
71. Un insensé pour la Religion. M. Lauron del. P. Tempest ex.) is not
that of a remarkably tall man.
p. 410 _Enter Hewson with Guards._ 5 December, 1659, Hewson did
actually suppress a rising of London prentices, two or three of whom
were killed and some score wounded. This made him very unpopular.
457
Act V: Scene iia
p. 412 _Lord Capel._ Arthur, Lord Capel, Baron Hadham, a gallant
royalist leader, was, after the surrender of Colchester, treacherously
imprisoned. He escaped, but was betrayed, and beheaded 9 March, 1649.
p. 412 _Brown Bushel._ A sea captain. Originally inclined to the
Parliament, he became a royalist. In 1643 he was taken prisoner, but
after being exchanged lived quietly and retired till 1648, when he was
seized as a deserter, and after three years captivity, tried, and
executed 29 April, 1651.
p. 413 _Earl of Holland._ Henry Rich, Earl of Holland (1590-1649), a
staunch royalist, was executed 9 March, 1649, in company with Lord
Capel and the Duke of Hamilton.
p. 413 _Judas._ The piece of plate dubb’d Judas would be gilded, cf.
Middleton’s _Chaste Maid in Cheapside_, (4to, 1630), iii, 2.
3rd Gossip. Two great ’postle-spoons, one of them gilt.
1st Puritan. Sure that was Judas then with the red beard.
Red is the traditional colour of Judas’ hair. cf. Dryden’s lines on
Jacob Tonson the publisher:—
With two left legs and Judas-coloured hair.
p. 414 _an act, 24 June._ Cromwell’s parliament passed Draconian Acts
punishing adultery, incest, fornication, with death; the two former on
the first offence, the last on the second conviction. _Mercurius
Politicus_, No. 168. Thursday, 25 August— Thursday, 1 September, 1653
(p. 2700), records the execution of an old man of eighty-nine who was
found guilty at Monmouth Assize of adultery with a woman over sixty. It
is well known that under the Commonwealth the outskirts of London were
crowded with brothels, and the license of Restoration days pales before
the moral evils and cankers existing under Cromwell. The officially
recognized independent diurnals _Mercurius Democritus_, _Mercurius
Fumigosus_, have been described as ‘abominable’. In 1660, when the
writers of these attempted to circulate literature which had been
common in the preceeding decade, they were promptly ‘clapt up in
Newgate’.
p. 414 _Peters the first_, _Martin the Second._ Hugh Peters has been
noticed before. Henry Martin was an extreme republican, and at one time
even a Leveller. He was a commissioner of the High Court of Justice and
a regicide. At the Restoration he was imprisoned for life and died at
Chepstow Castle, 1681, aged seventy-eight. He was notorious for
profligacy and shamelessness, and kept a very seraglio of mistresses.
p. 415 _Tantlings._ St. Antholin’s (St. Anthling’s), Budge Row, Watling
Street, had long been a stronghold of puritanism. As early as 1599,
morning prayer and lecture were instituted, ‘after the Geneva fashion’.
The bells began at five in the morning. This church was largely
attended by fanatics and extremists. There are frequent allusions to
St. Antholin’s and its matutinal chimes. The church was burned down in
the Great Fire. Middleton and Dekker’s _Roaring Girl_ (1611): ‘Sha’s a
tongue will be heard further in a still morning than Saint Antling’s
bell.’
She will outpray
A preacher at St. Antlin’s.
— Mayne’s _City Match_ (1639), iv, v.
458
Davenant’s _News from Plymouth_ (fol. 1673, licensed 1635), i, I:—
Two disciples to St. Tantlin,
That rise to long exercise before day.
p. 416 _Lilly._ William Lilly (1602-81). The famous astrologer and
fortune-teller. In Tatham’s _The Rump_ (1660), he is introduced on the
stage, and there is a scene between him and Lady Lambert, Act iv.
p. 416 _sisseraro._ More usually sasarara. A corruption of
_certiorari_, a writ in law to expedite justice. ‘If it be lost or
stole ... I could bring him to a cunning kinsman of mine that would
fetcht again with a sesarara,’— _The Puritan_ (1607). ‘Their souls
fetched up to Heaven with a sasarara.’— _The Revenger’s Tragedy_, iv, 2
(1607), _The Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766), ch. xxi: ‘“As for the matter
of that,” returned the hostess, “gentle or simple, out she shall pack
with a sussarara”.’
Act V: Scene iii
p. 421 _Twelve Houses._ Each of the astrological divisions of the
heavens denoting the station of a planet is termed a house.
Act V: Scene v
p. 423 _bear the bob._ To join in the chorus. Bob is the burden or
refrain of a song.
p. 423 _Colt-staff._ Or col-staff (Latin _collum_). A staff by which
two men carry a load, one end of the pole resting on a shoulder of each
porter. cf. _Merry Wives of Windsor_, iii, 3, ‘Where’s the cowl-staff?’
p. 423 _Fortune my Foe._ This extremely popular old tune is in Queen
Elizabeth’s _Virginal Book_; in William Ballet’s MS. Lute Book; in
_Bellerophon_ (1622), and in numerous other old musical works. There
are allusions to it in Shakespeare and many of the dramatists.