Page:The Works of Ben Jonson - Gifford - Volume 6.djvu/169

A gentleman o' the field, one captain Thums,
I know not whether you know 'un, or no: it may be
You do, and it may be you do not again.

 Turfe. No, I assure you on my constableship, I do not know 'un.

[Aside. Hilts. Nor I neither, i' faith.—

It skills not^[1] much; my captain and myself
Having occasion to come riding by here
This morning, at the corner of St. John's wood,
Some mile [west] o' this town, were set upon
By a sort of country-fellows, that not only
Beat us, but robb'd us most sufficiently,
And bound us to our behaviour hand and foot;
And so they left us. Now, don constable,
I am to charge you in her majesty's name,
As you will answer it at your apperil,^[2]
That forthwith you raise hue and cry in the hundred,
For all such persons as you can despect,
By the length and breadth of your office: for I tell you,
The loss is of some value; therefore look to't.

 Turfe. As fortune mend me now, or any office
Of a thousand pound, if I know what to zay,
Would I were dead, or vaire hang'd up at Tyburn,
If I do know what course to take, or how
To turn myself just at this time too, now
My daughter is to be married! I'll but go
To Pancridge-church hard by, and return instantly,
And all my neighbourhood shall go about it.

 Hilts. Tut, Pancridge me no Pancridge! if you let it

1. It skills not] i. e. it matters not, it is of no consequence, &c. So in the Poetaster: "Give him what thou hast, though it lack a shilling or two of the sum, it skills not."
2. As you will answer it at your apperil.] Again! See voI. v. p. 137.