Cromwell [aside.]A useless tool! But I myself will see
This Davenant.
Scene 14.—Cromwell, Sir Richard Willis, Lord Rochester.
Rochester.Well, here am I!—Let me rehearse my rôle.
In sooth one must be doubly Puritan,
When one to Cromwell speaks, by Milton sent.
'Tis Davenant to whom I owe the chance.
Thanks to his cozenage of Milton, I
Shall be Noll's chaplain ere an hour's past.
If Satan flies away with me to-day,
He'll fly away with Cromwell's almoner—
No less, by heav'n!—Come, Wilmot, now begin
The tragi-comedy! In the wolfs maw
Place thy presumptuous head, and for thy King,
Without repining, wear that headgear strange;
Frances thou'lt see once more!
But who are these?
Willis [to Cromwell.]'Tis by a Swedish brig the gold is sent;
And in his letter Hyde, the Chancellor,
Advises me that for the enterprise,
A Jew doth likewise proffer credit.
Rochester. What!
They talk of correspondence with Lord Hyde!
Can it be true?
