To set the exact wealth of all our states
All at one cast? to set so rich a main
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour? 48
It were not good; for therein should we read
The very bottom and the soul of hope,
The very list, the very utmost bound
Of all our fortunes.
Doug.Faith, and so we should; 52
Where now remains a sweet reversion:
We may boldly spend upon the hope of what
Is to come in:
A comfort of retirement lives in this. 56
Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto,
If that the devil and mischance look big
Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.
Wor. But yet, I would your father had been here. 60
The quality and hair of our attempt
Brooks no division. It will be thought
By some, that know not why he is away,
That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike 64
Of our proceedings, kept the earl from hence.
And think how such an apprehension
May turn the tide of fearful faction
And breed a kind of question in our cause; 68
For well you know we of the offering side
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement,
And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence
The eye of reason may pry in upon us: 72
This absence of your father's draws a curtain,
That shows the ignorant a kind of fear
47 main: stake
48 nice: slender, precarious
51 list: limit
53 Cf. n.
56 Cf. n.
61 hair: nature
67 fearful: timid
69 the offering side: the offensive
70 arbitrement: judicial inquiry
73 draws: draws aside
