GRISK. Thou too wilt leave me when our fortunes fall.

SCRUB. No! Wet-nurse, dry-nurse, house-maid, cook, and all, To thee I'll be; and by thy honoured side

Right side or left-my duty shall be tied.

Still will I follow thee, depend upon it,

While hope remains

GRISK. (aside.) To get a cast-off bonnet.

SCRUB. Learn, madam, to contemn all praise betimes;

For flattery, madam, is the nurse of crimes.

GRISK. Believe, Scrubinda, I shall one day try

To pay thee well for thy fidelity.

Should e'er kind Fortune bless me with her gifts,
I'll give thee-

SCRUB. (eagerly.) What?

GRISK.

A dozen Holland-chemises.

Take this half-crown. Retire. Here comes my lord.

SCRUB. (pocketing the money.) Thus virtue ever is its own reward.

[Exit SCRUBINDA.

Enter CONSCIENZO, in thought.

GRISK. Why wears my Conscienzo that sad brow?

Why ruminates my lord like any cow?

Rouse! like a kitten frisk about the house,

Nor like a tom-cat mope.

CONS.

I'm poor as mouse.

GRISK. (anxiously.) Mouse! say not church-mouse.
CONS. (with dignified resignation.)

Poor as mouse of church.

GRISK. Sure Fortune flogs us with her longest birch.
CONS. O Fortune! wilt thou ever be thus cross!

I'm tired as dog, and sick as any horse.

(To GRISK.) Leave me, my love; I fain would be alone ;

For all my sorrows must be all mine own.

GRISK. (tenderly.) No; let me stay, and share them drop by drop. CONS. Oh! here's a sample of a wife !-Then stop.

GRISK. Say, my dear consort,-Conscienzo, say,

Why still thou quit'st thy bed ere break of day?
Why still, thy loving, fond Griskinda scorning,
Thou com'st home every night at three i' the morning?
And when thou com'st her dark-brown woes to share,
She finds thee still as surly as a bear?

CONS. Say, my Griskinda, what's this yarn about?
GRISK. There is a secret, and I'll find it out.

CONS. Will no kind windmill grind me into dust!
GRISK. (kneeling.) In pity tell me.

CONS.

Hide me, night, from day!

Must I the secret of my friend betray?

O fatal force! I can resist no longer;

I am the weaker one, since thou'rt the stronger,-
Now list, and tremble.-About ten o'clock

I happen'd at Rascallo's door to knock,
When thus his purpose burst upon mine ear,

In dreadful speech

RASC:

(RASCALLO, who has been listening at a door in the centre,
rushes forward, and comes between them.)
Behold him, traitor, here!

(CONSCIENZO and GRISKINDA kneel.

He points a dagger at the bosom of each. SCRUBINDA rushes in, and holds a rolling-pin over RASCALLO's head.

SCRUB. Hold! monster, hold!

RASC.
Rascallo, undismay'd,
Smiles at thy rolling-pin, frail kitchen-maid.

Hence to thy scullery!

SCRUB.

Here I'd stay, base bragger, Had'st thou ten hands, and in each hand a dagger. Get thee down stairs!

RASC.

SCRUB.

TABLEAU.)

Never!

Then stay, poor blockhead,

Till from thy thick skull thy dull brains be knocked.
RASC. O, what a maid is this! As I'm alive,

wife :

Her soul's as large as any common five!
This is the maid whom Fate designs my
I'll marry her; I will, upon my life!
Sweet guardian of the sable pots and pans,

I'll make thee mine-so let's proclaim the banns.
SCRUB. All impudence must sink before this man's!
What means thy bold presumption? monster, say!
RASC. First take that threatening rolling-pin away.

CONS. GRISK. Good sir, we can't stand kneeling here all day.
RASC. Still kneel, till I'm resolved for love or war.

GRISK. Psha!

And further,

RASC. Rise, then; you're free.
SCRUB. (embracing Rasc.)

RASC.

To give't a zest, we'll season it with murther.
As for this outrage, friends, I beg your pardon.
CONS. I care not for thy humours a brass fardon:
But, mark me! when thou'rt next inclined for joking,
Be't not with daggers in one's bowels poking.

GRISK. Now say, Rascallo, whence this fearful rout?
RASC. I'll tell thee.-Sweet Scrubinda, just step out.
Anon we will confer about our marriage.

SCRUB. First, promise me thou'lt let me keep a carriage.
RASC. Now, by the sweetly-flowing silver Styx,

I'll let thee drive, my love, a coach-and-six ;

And, unless Fortune on my purpose frown,
I'll place upon thy head a glittering crown.
SCRUB. A crown!

CONS. (aside to RASCALLO.) My friend, too rashly spoken.

RASC. (recovering himself.) I mean a-Brummagem five-shilling

token.

Now leave us, love. (Aside.) A woman's like a parrot,—
Ne'er happy but when swinging in her chariot.

SCRUB. (aside.) To learn what's going on, I'll use this device:
I'll close the door, and listen at a crevice.

RASC. Now, Conscienzo, was this noble?-eh ?—
Say, was this giving me, thy friend, fair play?
Was't right to trust my secret to thy wife,
Risking thine own and thy Rascallo's life?
To tell a woman about killing kings,

And filching crowns,-and them 'ere sort o' things?
CONS. Ha ha! ha! ha!

GRISK.

[Exit SCRUBINDA.

He he he! he he! he! RASC. Flames, fire, and fury! do you laugh at me? CONS. We laugh to find thee such a stupid elf. Whate'er she knows, thou'st told her, sir, thyself. RASC. And so I have.-May we depend upon her? GRISK. Thou may'st.

RASC.

But swear.

GRISK. (kneeling, and with great solemnity.) Upon my word and

honour!

RASC. Hear then my plan; 'tis ready cut and dried.

(To CONS.) Thou and myself, together, side by side,
Will to the palace, when the King's alone,
And ask him civilly to yield the throne.
If he refuse, as 'tis most like he will,

Then to our business-kill, kill, kill, kill, kill;
Disarm the guard, and, this great work being done,
Despatch the Privy Council one by one.

CONS. (pityingly.) And won't you not spare any?

(Shows a paper.)

No, not none.

RASC.
Next storm the Mint, and, having seized the treasure,
Thou shalt proclaim me king.

CONS.
I'll do't with pleasure.
RASC. The fair Scrubinda, then, I'll make my queen,

(GRISKINDA starts.)

And deck her beauteous form-in sarsnet green,
Fringe, feathers, flounces, furbelows-so fine out,
That from other queens she'll take the shine out.
Thou, sweet Griskinda, shalt attend upon her (in a patronising tone),
The first and foremost of her dames of honour.

I'll keep my word: here 'mongst my mems I set it.

(Writes in a pocket-book.) GRISK. (aside.) Now don't he wish her majesty (sneeringly) may

get it?

RASC. Thee, Conscienzo, will I elevate,

And make thee all that's noble, grand, and great:

Still shalt thou find me to thy interest partial,

So be thou-in short, everything from Archbishop of Canterbury down to City Marshal.

CONS. (bowing.) My liege, y king- that is to be, I meanGRISK. (aside.) Nor sun nor moon shall e'er behold her queen. CONS. Some slight objections might I dare to start Against thy royal scheme?

RASC.

With all my heart.

CONS. The royal presence how shall we approach?

RASC. Well urged — (meditating)-I have't: we 'll hire a hackney-coach.

CONS. Next, we 've no friends, no money-
RASC.

That's the reason:

If we were rich, the devil take high treason.
Come, follow me: hence with thy fearful fuss,
Fit only for a puling boy at nurse;
I tell thee I'll put money in thy purse.
Our states are bad

[Pronounce nuss, &c.]

they cannot well be worse;

And if we fail, the King can but —
CONS. and GRISK,

RASC.

What?

Kill us.

[Exit RASCALLO.]

CONS. Why did I league with him in this vile plot ? Ambition, thou art like

- I know not what.

He that is lured by thy enticements fair

Is like the bark that floats - I know not where;

And I am like those rash and daring men

Mad with wild schemes, who lived-I know not when.

But shall this be? No-no; I'll fall to pray'rs,

And kick ambition all the way down stairs.

Avaunt, ye very various visions vain!

So-Conscienzo is himself again!

GRISK. (sneeringly.) 'Tis wisely done! when Fortune kneels be.

fore thee,

All sparkling in a full-dress suit of glory,

To spurn her favours; and the crown and rule

She tenders, to throw from thee like a fool.

CONS. To kill a king!

GRISK.

Thou mewling, puling elf!

I'll go and knock his pate about myself.

CONS. Hold! I'm resolved. The deed myself I'll do.

GRISK. Go kill the King, and the king-killer too (significantly). Coxs. I understand thee not, my sweet rose-bud.

[SCRUBINDA appears listening.

'Tis as clear as mud.

Speak thy dark meaning.
GRISK.
Dost not perceive? - Rascallo mounts the throne,
And what he'll do when there is not yet known.
Scrubinda, too O torture!

And what her acts may be

These things premised, I must take leave to say,
We are as fit for king and queen as they.

CONS. What's to be done?

GRISK.

They'll both be hang'd, or to be plain- they'll swing.
CONS. What follows then?

GRISK.

Betray them to the King.

Then? Why, what ought to follow ?

We'll kill the King, and win the crown dead-hollow.

CONS. O, my Griskinda! 'tis a question which is, Or thou, or I, most fit to wear the small-clothes. GRISK. Then, let us on.

CONS.

GRISK.

But if we fail?

We fail.

CONS. But should the King make head?

GRISK.

Still scorn we to turn tail. [Exeunt GRISKINDA and CONSCIENZO.

SCRUBINDA comes forward.

SCRUB. Now that's what I call neat: the genteel thingTo up and tell our matters to the King!

And get me hang'd, and my Rascallo too!

Bear up, my woman's heart! - Now

what's to do? —

-

Ha!-with their own base measures I'll come o'er 'em :
A swift-wing'd cab shall bear me there before 'em.
Thus have I seen on Alps' recumbent heights,
When the dim turret of the sky alights -
(While flickering whirlwinds flutter on the shore,
Mocking each fragment's undulating roar) —
A storm-fed lion pulverise the light,
Till all is lost in rage and universal night.

[Exit SCRUBINDA, with a rush.

SCENE III. A Hall in the Palace.

Enter RUMFUSKIN, musing.

RUM. Why was I born a king, ah! tell me why
Was I foredoom'd to so much misery?

Why make a king of these here realms of me?
O luckless fate! O hapless destiny!

What is a king?- or what, indeed, is man?
Or what is life? O tell me ye

who can. To be a king! what is it, say, but, oh!

To wear a crown, and reign supreme in woe.
Thou happy shepherd, or thou thoughtless clown,
Give me thy peace, take thou my weary crown;
I'll give my palace for thy humble cot,-

Like other kings I say 't, but like them, too,—I'll not.