Scene 6.
Lucia, Cutter, Worm.
To her self at her Entrance.Luc.Not choose amiss? indeed I must do, Uncle,
If I should choose again; especially,
If I should do't out of your drinking company;
Though I have seen these fellows here, I think
A hundred times, yet I so much despise 'em,
I never askt their names: But I must speak to 'em now. My Uncle, Gentlemen, will wait upon you presently again, and sent me hither to desire your patience!
If I should choose again; especially,
If I should do't out of your drinking company;
Though I have seen these fellows here, I think
A hundred times, yet I so much despise 'em,
I never askt their names: But I must speak to 'em now. My Uncle, Gentlemen, will wait upon you presently again, and sent me hither to desire your patience!
[Worm goes out.Cut.Patience, Madam, will be no Virtue requisite for us, whilst you are pleas'd to stay here; Ha, ha! Cutter! that lit pretty pat 'ifaith for a beginning.
Luc.Is your friend going, Sir?
Cut.Friend, Madam? — (I hope I shall be even with him presently) he's a merry fellow that your Uncle and I divert our selves withall.
Luc.What is he? pray Sir.
Cut.That's something difficult to tell you, Madam;
But he has been all things. He was a Scholar once, and since a Merchant, but broke the first half year; after that he serv'd a Justice o' Peace, and from thence turn'd a kind o' Sollicitor at Goldsmiths-hall; h'as a pretty Smattering too in Poetry, and would ha' been my Lady Protectres's Poet; He writ once a Copy in praise of her Beauty, but her Highness gave him for it but an old Half-crown piece in Gold, which she had hoorded up before these troubles, and that discourag'd him from any further Applications to the Court. Since that, h'as been a little Agitator for the Cavalier party, and drew in one of the 'Prentices that were hang'd lately; He's a good ingenious fellow, that's the truth on't, and a pleasant Droll when h'as got a cup o' Wine in his pate, which your Uncle and I supply him with; but for matters that concern the King neither of us trust him. Not that I can say h'as betraid any body, but he's so indigent a Varlet, that I'm afraid he would sell his Soul to Oliver for a Noble. But Madam, what a pox should we talk any more o' that Mole-catcher? (Now I'm out again— I am so us'd onely to ranting Whores, that an honest Gentlewoman puts me to a Non-plus!)
But he has been all things. He was a Scholar once, and since a Merchant, but broke the first half year; after that he serv'd a Justice o' Peace, and from thence turn'd a kind o' Sollicitor at Goldsmiths-hall; h'as a pretty Smattering too in Poetry, and would ha' been my Lady Protectres's Poet; He writ once a Copy in praise of her Beauty, but her Highness gave him for it but an old Half-crown piece in Gold, which she had hoorded up before these troubles, and that discourag'd him from any further Applications to the Court. Since that, h'as been a little Agitator for the Cavalier party, and drew in one of the 'Prentices that were hang'd lately; He's a good ingenious fellow, that's the truth on't, and a pleasant Droll when h'as got a cup o' Wine in his pate, which your Uncle and I supply him with; but for matters that concern the King neither of us trust him. Not that I can say h'as betraid any body, but he's so indigent a Varlet, that I'm afraid he would sell his Soul to Oliver for a Noble. But Madam, what a pox should we talk any more o' that Mole-catcher? (Now I'm out again— I am so us'd onely to ranting Whores, that an honest Gentlewoman puts me to a Non-plus!)
Luc.Why, my Uncle recommended him to me, Sir, as a Person of Quality, and of the same Condition with your self, onely that you had been a Collonel o' Foot, and he a Captain of Horse in his Majesty's Service.
Cut.You know your Uncle's Drolling humor, Madam; he thought there was no danger in the Raillerie, and that you'd quickly find out what he was; Here he comes again,
[Enter Worm.
I'le leave him with you, Madam, for a Minute, and wait upon you immediately, (I am at a loss, and must recover my self) Captain, I ha' dealt better by you than you deserv'd, and given you a high Character to her; see you do me right too, if there be occasion— I'l make bold though to hearken whether you do or no.
[Exit Cutter, and stands at the dore.
[Enter Worm.
I'le leave him with you, Madam, for a Minute, and wait upon you immediately, (I am at a loss, and must recover my self) Captain, I ha' dealt better by you than you deserv'd, and given you a high Character to her; see you do me right too, if there be occasion— I'l make bold though to hearken whether you do or no.
[Exit Cutter, and stands at the dore.
Wor.Madam, my Noble friend your Uncle has been pleas'd to honor me so far with his good Opinion, as to allow me the liberty to kiss your hands.
Luc.You'r welcome, Sir, but pray, Sir, give me leave
Before you enter into farther Complement
To ask one question of you.
Before you enter into farther Complement
To ask one question of you.
Wor.I shall resolve you, Madam, with that truth
Which may, I hope, invite you to believe me
In what I'me to say afterwards.
Which may, I hope, invite you to believe me
In what I'me to say afterwards.
Luc.'Tis to tell me your friends Name, Sir, and his Quality, which, though I've seen him oft, I am yet ignorant of: I suppose him to be some honorable person, who has eminently serv'd the King in the late Wars.
at the door.Cut.'Tis a shrewd discerning Wench, she has hit me right already!
Wor.They call him Collonel Cutter, but to deal faithfully with you, Madam, he's no more a Colonel than you'r a Major General.
Cut.Ha! sure I mistake the Rogue!
Wor.He never serv'd his King, not he, no more than he does his Maker; 'Tis true, h'as drunk his Health as often as any man, upon other mens charges, and he was for a little while, I think, a kind of Hector, 'till he was soundly beaten one day, and dragg'd about the room, like old Hector o' Troy about the Town.
Cut.What does this Dog mean, trow?
Wor.Once indeed he was very low for almost a twelve-month, and had neither mony enough to hire a Barber, nor buy Sizars, and then he wore a Beard (he said) for King Charls; he's now in pretty good cloathes, but would you saw the furniture of his Chamber! marry half a Chair, an Earthen Chamberpot without an Ear, and the bottom of an Ink-horn for a Candle-stick, the rest is broken foul Tobacco-pipes, and a dozen o' Gally-pots with Sawfe in 'em.
Cut.Was there ever such a cursed Villain!
Wor.H'as been a known Cheat about the Town these twenty years.
Luc.What does my Uncle mean to keep him company, if he be such a one?
Wor.Why he's infatuated, I think! I ha' warn'd him on't a thousand times; he has some wit (to give the devil his due) and that 'tis makes us endure him, but however I'd advise your Uncle to be a a little more cautious how he talks before him o' State matters, for he's shrewdly wrong'd if he be n't Cromwel's Agent for all the Taverns between Kings-street and the Devil at Temple-bar, indeed he's a kind o' Resident in 'em.
Cut.Flesh and blood can bear no longer——— Worm, you'r a stinking, lying, perjur'd, damn'd Villain; and if I do not bring you, Madam, his Nose and both his Ears, and lay 'em at your feet here before night, may the Pillory and the Pox take mine▪ till then, suspend your judgment.
[Exit Cutter.
[Exit Cutter.
Luc.Nay, you'r both even; just such an excellent Character did he bestow on you; Why, thou vile Wretch,
Go to the Stews, the Gaol, and there make love,
Thou'lt find none there but such as will scorn thee!
Go to the Stews, the Gaol, and there make love,
Thou'lt find none there but such as will scorn thee!
[Exit.Wor.Why here's brave work i'faith! I ha' carri'd it swimmingly, I'le e'en go steal away and drink a dozen before I venture to think one thought o' the business.
Luc.Go cursed race, which stick your loathsome crimes
Upon the Honorable Cause and Party;
And to the Noble Loyal Sufferers,
A worser suffering add of Hate and Infamy.
Go to the Robbers and the Parricides,
And fix your Spots upon their Painted Vizards,
Not on the Native face of Innocence,
'Tis you retard that Industry by which
Our Country would recover from this sickness;
Which, whilst it fears th' eruption of such Ulcers,
Keeps a Disease tormenting it within,
But if kind Heav'n please to restore our Health,
When once the great Physician shall return,
[Exit.He quickly will I hope restore our Beauty.
Upon the Honorable Cause and Party;
And to the Noble Loyal Sufferers,
A worser suffering add of Hate and Infamy.
Go to the Robbers and the Parricides,
And fix your Spots upon their Painted Vizards,
Not on the Native face of Innocence,
'Tis you retard that Industry by which
Our Country would recover from this sickness;
Which, whilst it fears th' eruption of such Ulcers,
Keeps a Disease tormenting it within,
But if kind Heav'n please to restore our Health,
When once the great Physician shall return,
[Exit.He quickly will I hope restore our Beauty.