OLD FORSTER

TO His air has a sweet a breath Master Bruy , and in good I hope, this hall Plays the lewd wanton with our sails, And makes him big with vaporous envy. Such a delivery heaven send us, But time must ripen it? are our accounts made even? As evenly we will lay our bosoms as our bottom With love as merchandise, and may they both increase oh Infinites. Here you shall dig, and find your lading. The Merchant's casualty: We always venture on uncertain ods, Although we bear Hope's Emblem the anchor with us. The wind brought it, let the wind blow't away again; Should not the Sea sometime be partner with us Our wealth would swallow us. I could prevent you; is't not my unthrifty brother? I Sir, that work is good, and therein could I Join with your good intents, but to relieve A wast-good, a spendthrift.— Sirrah, when saw you my son Robert I pay for their meetings I'm S e; that boy Makes prize of all his fingers light on To relieve his unthrifty Uncle. 'Tis partly your fault, Sitra you see'r, and suffer it, By concealing of his pilferings. in neither well; Sir, for note but the cion of my estate; I'm lately married To a wealthy Widow from whom my substance Changed lie does arise, she has observed this in her often complains and grudges at it, And what broils such civili discords bring, married men are ignorant of: Nay will you see a present proof of it. Why what's the matter Woman? Nay, thou'It be herd too far. That's my son. And the other's my brother. Why did I ever cherish him, have not I threat Him with disinheritance for this disorder? The other's in Ludgate. Prithee content thy self; I'll see a present Remedy; sirrah, go call him in; this worthy Gentleman shall know the cause, and censure For us both with equity. Now Sir, are all my words with you So light esteemed that they can Take no hold upon your duty? And you Sir. I had thought you had been in Ludgate Sir. Indeed that's a place you can hardly be removed From, but this is not a place fit for one in Debt, how came you out of prison Sirrah? Your duty did belong to me, and I did not command He has not worthy Sir, but to make void That false construction; here I disclaim The title of a brother; and by that disclaim Hast thou lost thy child's partly; be thou engaged For any debts of his, in prison rot with him; My goods shall not purchase such Fruitless recompense. If ere I know thou keepest him company, I'll take my blessing from thee whilst I live, And that which after me should bless thy estate. Tut, tut, these are babbles. You must be out of prison first Sir. I, do; let him fear up his arm, and scarf it up With two yards of rope; counterfeit two villains; Beg under a hedge and share your bounty: but come Not near my house, not thou in's company, if thoul't obey, There's punishment, for thee; for thee there's worse; The lose of all that's mine, with my deer curse. Sir, in a word, take it; Your full lading and venture Is returned at sixty fold increase. Oh Sir, care and ambition seldom meet, Let us be thrifty; Titles will faster come, Than we shall wish to have them. Why Sir, if so you please, I'lease your cares; Shall I Like a full adventurer now bid you A certain ready sum for your half traffic. Shall I bid your venture at a venture. Twenty thousand pounds. Shall I meet you half way? If you Like my payment, it's the one half in ready Cash, the other sealed for six Months. Your hazard is now all passed, Sir. Believe me Sir, I account my self a large Gainer by you. What is it, Sir? I would you had enjoined me some great labour Far your own loves sake, but to that my stands fixed against; I'm deaf, of them. Sir, I have no such thing a kin to me. Not I Sir: he's a stranger to me: Save your Knee, I have no blessing for you. Did he not say, hee'd beg for you, you'd best Make use of's bounty. Sir, if your daughter cast any eye of favour upon This Unthrift restraint, he's a beggar: Mistress Jane, take heed what you do. Sir, your money shall be ready, and your bills; Other business I have none: For thee, Beg, hang, die Like a slave; Such blessings ever thou from me shalt have. Pray stay Sir, I have bethought me, let me once Throw Dice at all, and either be a complete Merchant, or wrack my estate for ever: Hear me Sir, I have of wares that are now vendible, So much as will defray your utmost penny; Will you accept of them, and save this charge Of wax and parchment. Broad clothes, Karsies, Cutchineale, such As will not stay two days upon your hands. I have no other end, Sir; let our Factors peruse and deal for both. Richard, have you any further news yet from our shipping? I must plainly now confess, Master Alderman, I shall gain much by you. The half of your Ship defrays my full cost. How now woman? wracked in the heaven of felici ty? What ailest thou? I hope so too; his hate is better than his friendship. What of him? he's in Ludgate again. How, married? no woman of repute would choose So slightly. Fie, fie, it's fabulous. But wife, my wealth will five times double his, e'r This Tide ebb again; I wonder I hear not the Brazen Cannon proclaim the Arrival of my Infinite substance. Let him first pay his old score, and then reckon; But that she:— Content thee; Forgive her; shee'l do so no more; She was a rich widow, a wife he'll make her poor. You say true it's my enemy indeed. Well fare rich widows, when such beggars flourish; But ill shall they fare, that flourish over such beggars. No wonder, woman, he would do that in Ludgate; But 'twas when his kind Nephew did relieve him: I shall hear him cry there again shortly. The Gentleman is merry. What Idol kneels that heretic too. Do Sir, or turn your adoration that way; You were kind to him in his tarter'd state; Let him requite it now. I, I, a beggars gallop up and down. This is the rich Merchantman; Who will kill a man at Tiburne shortly. Take your adoption with you, Sir. It's my curse then; get thee out of mine eye. Th'art a became in't, and I'll tear it out e'r it Offend to look on thee. See wife, here comes Richard. Now listen, and hear me crowned The wealthiest London Merchant. Why dost thou look so sadly? Why, thy voice is good enough. Would? what can so baleful be, as thou wouldst To make by this sad prologue? I am no traitor To consiscate my goods: speak, what e'r it be. Dally not with torments, sink me at once. Hah! Hold woman; hold prithee; it's none of his fauk. Undone for ever! Where could this mischief fail Were not my ships in their full pride at Dover; And what English Carybda's has the devil dug To swallow nearer home. Dam up thy Mouth from any farther Mischievous relation. Even now thy baleful utterance was choked, And now it runs too fast; thou fatal Bird no more. Oh curse not, they come too fast! I prithee split me too. Undone for ever, my credit I have cracked, To buy a Venture, which the Sea has soaked; What worse can woe report. Be it the worst then; that place I did assign My unthrifty brother, Ludgate, must now be mine. Break, and take Ludgate. I scorned my child, now he may scorn his father. I will; would he my wants relieve, scorn to take what he would yield to give: My heart be still my friend, although no other; scorn the help of either son, or brother, My portion's begging now; seldom before. In one sad hour, was man so rich and poor. I will not trust the iron hearts of men; My credit's lost, my wealth the Sea has swallowed, Wracked at my door, even in the mouth o'th'Thames. O my misfortune! never man Like me Was so thrown down, and cast to misery. I prithee get thee gone, and with thy diligence Assist thy Mistress to keep that little left, to Help her self, whilst here in Ludgate I secure My body from Writs, Arrests, and Executions, Which, well I know, my cruel Creditors will Thunder on me. Go, get thee gone; if what Is left they'll take, do thou agree; If not, I am here resolved to stay and die. Do so, Come Sir, I yield my self your prisoner, You are the Keeper of this Ludgate. So, I have seen the fair outside of this tomb before; This goodly apple has a rotten core. I prithee bar me of no privilege endue to a free Citizen; Thou knowest me well? Oh speak not of them! do not kiss and kill me: I have no son nor brother that esteems me, And I for ever hate their memory: Prithee no more; I am come sick into a Bade Inn, and look for worse attendance, I have taken a surfeit of misfortunes, and here Must swallow pills With poison to recure me: I am seasick, Sir, And heave my hands to heaven; never to so Low and ebb was Foster driven. So, so, if this old Wall-nut-tree, after all this Cudgeling, have but one cluster left, thou shalt Have that too; if not, take off these leaves that Cover me; pull off these white locks; rend them from My head, and let me in my woes be buried. I think no less; For rich men seldom meet with such distress, Well, well, what book must I read over now? What servile Oar must I be tied to here, Slavelike to tug within this christian Galley? For a beggar to beg, Sir, is no shame; And for the iron grate, it bears and emblem Oh firon-hearted Creditors, that force men lie In loathsome prisons thus to starve and die. Oh torment to my soul! What makest thou here? Cannot the picture of my misery Be drawn , and hung out to the eyes of men, But thou must come to scorn and laugh at it? Hence from my sighed, dissembling villain; go, Thine Uncle sends defiance to my woe, And thou must bring it: Hence, thou Basyliske, That killest me with mine eyes: nay, never kneel; These scornful mocks more than my woes I feel. Him, and thee I curse, Pl starve, e'r I eat bred from his purse, Or from thy hand; Out villain, tell that Cur, Thy barking Uncle, that I lie not here Upon my bed of riot, as he did, Covered with all the villainies, which man Had ever woven; tell him I lie not so, It was the hand of heaven struck me thus low, And I do thank it. Get thee gone, I say, Or I shall curse thee, strike thee; Prithee away; Or if thou'lt laugh thy fill at my poor state, Then stay, and listen to the prison grate, And hear thy father, and old wretched man, That yesterday had thousands, beg and cry, To get a penny: O my misery! Upon my curse I chargeno nearer come, I'l be no father to so vild a Son. Bred, bred, one penny to buy a Loaf of bred for the tender mercy! Bred, bred; some Christian man send back Your charity to and number of poor prisoners; One penny for the tender mercy. The hand of heaven reward you, gentle Sir, Never may you want, never feel misery; Let blessings in unnumbered measure grow, And fallen upon your head where e'r you go. Bred, bred, for the tender mercy; one Penny for a loaf of bred. Bred, bred, some charitable man remember The poor prisoners; bred for the render mercy, One penny. I have no such fat legacy left me, To teach me how to play the hypocrite. Would? Is not this Ludgate? A Jail, a prison, a tomb of men locked up; Alive and buried? Oh, at what crevice then hath comfort Like a Sunbeam crept? for all the doors And windows are of Iron, and barred to keep Her out; I had a limb cut from my body Dear to me as life; I had a son and brother too; O grief, they both would give me poison first In gold, before their hollow palms ten Drops should hold of nature's drink, cold water, But to save my life one minute; whence Should pity come, when my best friends do. Beat it from this room. Oh wife, my losses are as numberless as the Sea's sands that swallowed them. And shall I in reckoning them, my sad griefs multiply? But all my wealth and state lies in the seas Bottom. O never. Go send him in; none comes to do me good My wealth is lost, now let them take my blood. Would? what art thou? Call for the Keeper there And thrust him out of doors, or lock me up. Rise mischief, rise, away and get thee gone. My heart still hates thee. Get you both gone; That misery takes some rest that dwells alone; Away thou villain. Hang thee, hang thee. Destruction meet thee, turn the key there ho. Stay. I see mine error now: o can there grow A Rose upon a Bramble? did theree'r flow Poison and health together in one tide? I'm born a man; reason may step aside. And lead a father's love out of the way: Forgive me, my good Boy, I went astray; Look, on my knees I beg it; not for joy Thou bringest this golden rubbish, which I spurn But glad in this, the heaven's mine eye balls turn, And fix them right to look upon that face Where love remains with pity, duty, grace. O my deer wronged boy! Yet wife, I disinherited this boy. And that enjoy for ever, evermore; my Blessings fly, to pay thy virtues, love and charity. Better than your husband's hate could wish me, That laughs to see my back with sorrows bow: But I am rid of half my ague now. Yes, and my heart had every hour a fit. But now 'tas left me well, and I left it. What has my poor boy done, that you have Made so much blood rise in's cheeks? It'll never be music it's so full of frets. And found nothing when they are cracked, As is his love to me, and mine to him. I'l see a fury first, hence, clap to the door I prithee. Get thee from my sighed, thou devil in read; Comest thou in scarlet pride to tread on thy poor Brother in a Jail, Is there but one small conduit- pipe that runs could water to my comfort, and Wouldst thou cut off that thou cruel man? Thou canst not be to nature so uneven, To punish that which has a pay from heaven; Pirty I mean, and duty; Wouldst thou strike? Wound me then, that will kill thee if I can, Than to no brother, and I'll be no man. How can I choose? thou makest me mad, For shame thou shouldst not make these white hairs sad; Churl, Beatrice not my poor boy, let him not loose Thy love for my sake, I had rather bruise My soul with torments for a thousand years, could live them, rather than salt tears thy Malice draw from him; see here's thy gold, Tell it, none's stole, my woes can never be told. Choke with thy dunghill muck, and vex me not. No matter, lands to him in heaven will fallen. Poor tyranny; when Lions weak Lambs kill. Before I understood his virtuous mind, Or weighed his disposition to be kind, I did that froward work; This now great man, Was and unthrifty wretch, a prodigal then. And I disdained to know his brotherhood, Denied relief to him; this child kind and good Against my contradiction, did him relieve, as his Distressed Uncle, at this I chide; for bade, Still he holds on his course, He grows more kind, and he in wasting worse; My rage continued as it had begun, And in that rage I threw away my son. Oh let my shame my bosoms centre break! Love is to young it coyes, but cannot speak. It whole redownes again, for I am yours; Forget this minute my forgetful hours. I give him to you now Sir. And all that you gave me, I do bestow, So in one hour become full heir to two. I, by vulgar blemish; but not by any good account; There let him howl, S the best stay he hath; For nothing but a prison can contain him So boundless is his riot; twice have I raised His decayed Fortune's to a fair estate But with as fruitless charity, as if I had thrown My safe landed substance back into the Sea, Or dress in pity some corrupted Jade, And he should kick me for my courtesy. I am sure you cannot but hear, what quick. Sands he finds out, as Dice, Cards, Pigeon-holes, And which is more, should I not restrain it, Hee'd make my state his prodigality. Why Sir, how should I minister remedy and know not the . Why, where are you Sir? This was your work to let this bandog lose. I know him not: I am no King, unless of scorn and woe, Why kneelest thou then; why dost thou mock me so? Listen their arrival, and bid the Gunner speak it In his loud thunder all the City over; Tingle the Merchant's ears at the report Of my abundant wealth; now go with George. Why, these are Oracles, doubtful Enigma's! Good Angels guard you, Sir, my prayers shall be That heaven may bless you for this charity. Nay, leave out the adjective (unthrifty,) brother Sir, 'tis he that I would speak of. He cannot be named without unthrifty S , his p oper Epithet, would you conceit ut what my love has done for him , so chargeable, and so expensive, would not urge another addition. Nay Sir, you must not stay acquantity the name of brother Which is inseparable, he's now in Ludgate Sir, And partly of your treasure lies buried with him. As I went into prison Sirrah, by the keepers. Believe me Sir, he has answered you well. I'l give her a wedding Ring on that condition And put a Stone in't worth a thousand pound, Sir. You were best go fish for better manners, or I for less with you. 1 line