Or there's no peace nor rest for him at home: I grant his state will bear it; yet he's censured For his indulgence, and, for sir John Frugal, By some styled sir John Prodigal.

Trade. Is his brother,

Master Luke Frugal, living?

Gold. Yes; the more

His misery, poor man!

Trade. Still in the counter?

Gold. In a worse place. He was redeem'd from the hole,

To live, in our house, in hell; since, his base usage
Consider'd, 'tis no better. My proud lady
Admits him to her table; marry, ever
Beneath the salt, and there he sits the subject
Of her contempt and scorn; and dinner ended,
His courteous nieces find employment for him
Fitting an under-prentice, or a footman,
And not an uncle.

Trade. I wonder, being a scholar

Well read, and travell'd, the world yielding means For men of such desert, he should endure it.

Gold. He does, with a strange patience; and to The servants, so familiar, nay humble!

[us,

Mill. As I hope to see

A country knight's son and heir walk bare before you

When you are a countess, as you may be one When my master dies, or leaves trading; and I, continuing

Your principal woman, take the upper hand
Of a squire's wife, though a justice, as I must
By the place you give me; you look now as young
As when you were married.

L. Frug. I think I bear my years well.

Mill. Why should you talk of years? Time hath not plough'd

One furrow in your face: and were you not known The mother of my young ladies, you might pass For a virgin of fifteen.

Trade. Here's no gross flattery!

Will she swallow this?

Gold. You see she does, and glibly.

Mill. You never can be old; wear but a mask Forty years hence, and you will still seem young In your other parts. What a waist is here! O Venus!

That I had been born a king! and here a hand
To be kiss'd ever :-pardon my boldness, madam.
Then, for a leg and foot, you will be courted
When a great grandmother.

L. Frug. These, indeed, wench, are not
So subject to decayings as the face;
Their comeliness lasts longer.

Mill. Ever, ever!

Such a rare featured and proportion'd madam,
London could never boast of.

L. Frug. Where are my shoes?

Mill. Those that your ladyship gave order, Be made of the Spanish perfum❜d skins? [should L. Frug. The same.

Mill. I sent the prison-bird this morning for But he neglects his duty. [them;

Anne. He is grown

Exceeding careless.

Mary. And begins to murmur

At our commands, and sometimes grumbles to us, He is, forsooth, our uncle!

L. Frug. He is your slave,

And as such use him.

Anne. Willingly; but he's grown
Rebellious, madam.

Gold. Nay, like hen, like chicken.
L. Frug. I'll humble him.

Enter LUKE, with shoes, garters, fans and roses.

Gold. Here he comes, sweating all over : He shews like a walking frippery.

L. Frug. Very good, sir:

Were you drunk last night, that you could rise no

sooner,

With humble diligence, to do what my daughters And woman did command you?

Luke. Drunk, an't please you!

L. Frug. Drunk, I said, sirrah! dar'st thou, in a look,

Repine or grumble? Thou unthankful wretch,
Did our charity redeem thee out of prison,
(Thy patrimony spent,) ragged, and lousy,
When the sheriff's basket, and his broken meat,
Were your festival exceedings! and is this
So soon forgotten?

Luke. I confess I am,
Your creature, madam.

Enter HOLDFAST, and Porters with Baskets, &c.
L. Frug. What have you brought there?
Hold. The cream o' the market;
Provision enough to serve a garrison.
I weep to think on't: when my master got
His wealth, his family fed on roots and livers,
And necks of beef on Sundays.-

But now I fear it will be spent in poultry;
Butcher's-meat will not go down.

L. Frug. Why, you rascal, is it

At your expense? what cooks have you provided? Hold. The best of the city: they've wrought

at my lord mayor's.

SCENE II. The Street before FRUGAL's House. Enter Sir MAURICE LACY and Page.

Sir Maur. You were with Plenty?

Page. Yes, sir.

Sir Maur. And what answer Return'd the clown?

Page. Clown, sir! he is transform'd, And grown a gallant of the last edition; More rich than gaudy in his habit; yet The freedom and the bluntness of his language Continues with him. When I told him that You gave him caution, as he loved the peace And safety of his life, he should forbear To pass the merchant's threshold, until you, Of his two daughters, had made choice of her Whom you design'd to honour as your wife, He smiled in scorn.

Sir Maur. In scorn!

Page. His words confirm'd it;

They were few, but to this purpose: Tell your

master,

Though his lordship in reversion were now his,
It cannot awe me. I was born a freeman,
And will not yield, in the way of affection,
Precedence to him: I will visit them,
Though he sate porter to deny me entrance:
When I meet him next, I'll say more to his face.
Deliver thou this: then gave me a piece,
To help my memory, and so we parted.
Sir Maur. Where got he this spirit?
Page. At the academy of valour,

Newly erected for the institution

Of elder brothers; where they are taught the ways, Though they refuse to seal for a duellist,

How to decline a challenge. He himself

Can best resolve you.

Walk into Moorfields

I dare look on your Toledo. Do not shew

A foolish valour in the streets, to make

Work for shopkeepers and their clubs, 'tis scurvy, And the women will laugh at us.

Sir Maur. You presume

On the protection of your hinds.
Plenty. I scorn it:

Though I keep men, I fight not with their fingers,
Nor make it my religion to follow

The gallant's fashion, to have my family
Consisting in a footman and a page,

And those two sometimes hungry. I can feed these,
And clothe them too, my gay sir.

Sir Maur. What a fine man Hath your tailor made you!

Plenty. 'Tis quite contrary,

I have made my tailor, for my clothes are paid for

As soon as put on; a sin your man of title

Is seldom guilty of; but Heaven forgive it!

I have other faults, too, very incident
To a plain gentleman: I eat my venison

With my neighbours in the country, and present

not

My pheasants, partridges, and growse to the usurer;
Nor ever yet paid brokage to his scrivener.
I flatter not my mercer's wife, nor feast her
With the first cherries, or peascods, to prepare me
Credit with her husband, when I come to London.
The wool of my sheep, or a score or two of fat oxen
In Smithfield, give me money for my expenses.
I can make my wife a jointure of such lands too
As are not encumber'd; no annuity

Or statute lying on them. This I can do,
An it please your future honour, and why, there-
You should forbid my being suitor with you, [fore,
My dullness apprehends not.

Page. This is bitter.

[Aside.

Sir Maur. I have heard you, sir, and in my patience shewn

Too much of the stoic. But to parley further,
Or answer your gross jeers, would write me coward.
This only,-thy great grandfather was a butcher,
And his son a grazier; thy sire, constable
Of the hundred, and thou the first of your dunghill
Created gentleman. Now you may come on, sir,
You and your thrashers.

Plenty. Stir not, on your lives.
This for the grazier-this for the butcher.

Sir John. Hold, if you proceed thus, I must make use of the next justice' power, And leave persuasion; and in plain terms tell you,

Enter Lady FRUGAL, Anne, MARY, and MILLISCENT. Neither your birth, sir Maurice, nor your wealth, Shall privilege this riot. See whom you have drawn To be spectators of it! can you imagine It can stand with the credit of my daughters, To be the argument of your swords! i' th' street Nay, ere you do salute, or I give way To any private conference, shake hands In sign of peace: he that draws back, parts with My good opinion. [They shake hands.] This is as it should be.

[too?

Make your approaches, and if their affection Can sympathise with yours, they shall not come On my credit, beggars to you. I will hear What you reply within.

[Exeunt HoYST, PENURY, and FORTUNE. Heaven bless your honour! L. Lacy. Your hand, master Luke: the world's much changed with you

Within these few months; then you were the gallant:
No meeting at the horse-race, cocking, hunting,
Shooting, or bowling, at which master Luke
Was not a principal gamester, and companion
For the nobility.

Luke. I have paid dear

For those follies, my good lord; and 'tis but justice
That such as soar above their pitch, and will not
Be warn'd by my example, should, like me,
Share in the miseries that wait upon it.
Your honour, in your charity, may do well
Not to upbraid me with those weaknesses,
Too late repented.

L. Lacy. I nor do, nor will ;

And you shall find I'll lend a helping hand To raise your fortunes: how deals your brother with you?

Luke. Beyond my merit, I thank his goodness I am a free man, all my debts discharged; [for't. Nor does one creditor, undone by me, Curse my loose riots. I have meat and clothes, Time to ask heaven remission for what's past; Cares of the world by me are laid aside, My present poverty's a blessing to me; And though I have been long, I dare not say I ever lived till now.

L. Lacy. You bear it well;

Yet as you wish I should receive for truth
What you deliver, with that truth acquaint me
With your brother's inclination. I have heard,
In the acquisition of his wealth, he weighs not
Whose ruins he builds upon.

Luke. In that, report

Wrongs him, my lord. He is a citizen,
And would increase his heap, and will not lose
What the law gives him: such as are worldly wise
Pursue that track, or they will ne'er wear scarlet.
But if your honour please to know his temper,
You are come opportunely. I can bring you
Where you, unseen, shall see and hear his carriage
Towards some poor men, whose making, or un-
Depends upon his pleasure.
[doing,

L. Lacy. To my wish:

I know no object that could more content me. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.-A Counting-room in FRUGAL'S House.

Enter Sir JOHN FRUGAL, HOYST, FORTUNE, Penury, and GOLDWIRE, Junior.

Sir John. What would you have me do? reach me a chair.

When I lent my monies I appear'd an angel;
But now I would call in mine own, a devil.

Hoyst. Were you the devil's dam, you must stay till I have it,

For as I am a gentleman

Re-enter LUKE, behind, with Lord Lacy, whom he places near the door.

Luke. There you may hear all.

Hoyst. I pawn'd you my land for the tenth part of the value :

Now, 'cause I am a gamester, and keep ordinaries,
And a livery punk or so, and trade not with
The money-mongers' wives, not one will be bound
for me;

'Tis a hard case; you must give me longer day,
Or I shall grow very angry.

Sir John. Fret, and spare not.
I know no obligation lies upon me
With my honey to feed drones.
How much owes Penury?

Gold. Two hundred pounds:

But to the pur[pose,

His bond three times since forfeited.

Sir John. Is it sued?

For a good man! You were the glorious trader,
Embraced all bargains: the main venturer
In every ship that launch'd forth; kept your wife
As a lady; she had her caroch, her choice
Of summer-houses, built with other men's monies
Ta'en up at interest, the certain road

To Ludgate in a citizen. Pray you acquaint me,
How were my thousand pounds employ'd?
For. Insult not

On my calamity; though, being a debtor,

And a slave to him that lends, I must endure it.
Yet hear me speak thus much in my defence;
Losses at sea, and those, sir, great and many,
By storms and tempests, not domestical riots
In soothing my wife's humour, or mine own,
Have brought me to this low ebb.

Sir John. Suppose this true,

What is't to me? I must and will have my money,
Or I'll protest you first, and, that done, have
The statute made for bankrupts served upon you.
For. 'Tis in your power, but not in mine to
shun it.

Luke. [comes forward.] Not, as a brother, sir, but with such duty,

As I should use unto my father, since

Your charity is my parent, give me leave

To speak my thoughts.

Sir John. What would you say?

Luke. No word, sir,

I hope, shall give offence: nor let it relish Of flattery, though I proclaim aloud,

I glory in the bravery of your mind,

To which your wealth's a servant. Not that riches
Is, or should be, contemn'd, it being a blessing
Derived from heaven, and by your industry
Pull'd down upon you; but in this, dear sir,
You have many equals: such a man's possessions
Extend as far as yours; a second hath
His bags as full; a third in credit flies
As high in the popular voice: but the distinction
And noble difference by which you are
Divided from them, is, that you are styled,
Gentle in your abundance, good in plenty ;
And that you feel compassion in your bowels
Of others miseries, (I have found it, sir,
Heaven keep me thankful for't!) while they are
As rigid and inexorable.
[curs'd

Sir John. I delight not

To hear this spoke to my face.

Luke. That shall not grieve you.
Your affability, and mildness, clothed

In the garments of your [thankful] debtors' breath,
Shall everywhere, though you strive to conceal it,
Be seen and wonder'd at, and in the act
With a prodigal hand rewarded. Whereas, such
As are born only for themselves, and live so,
Though prosperous in worldly understandings,
Are but like beasts of rapine, that, by odds
Of strength, usurp, and tyrannize o'er others
Brought under their subjection.

L. Lacy. A rare fellow!

I am strangely taken with him.

Luke. Can you think, sir,

In your unquestion'd wisdom, I beseech you,
The goods of this poor man sold at an outcry,
His wife turn'd out of doors, his children forced
To beg their bread; this gentleman's estate,
By wrong extorted, can advantage you?

Hoyst. If it thrive with him, hang me, as it will If he be not converted. [damn him,

Luke. You are too violent.

Or that the ruin of this once brave merchant,
For such he was esteem'd, though now decay'd,
Will raise your reputation with good men?
But you may urge, (pray you pardon me, my zeal
Makes me thus bold and vehement,) in this
You satisfy your anger, and revenge
For being defeated. Suppose this, it will not
Repair your loss, and there was never yet
But shame and scandal in a victory,
When the rebels unto reason, passions, fought it.
Then for revenge, by great souls it was ever
Contemn'd, though offered; entertain'd by none
But cowards, base and abject spirits, strangers
To moral honesty, and never yet
Acquainted with religion.

L. Lacy. Our divines
Cannot speak more effectually.
Sir John. Shall I be
Talk'd out of my money?

Luke. No, sir, but entreated
To do yourself a benefit, and preserve
What you possess entire.

Sir John. How, my good brother?

Luke. By making these your beadsmen. When