University of Virginia Library

Actus Quintus.

The Argument of the Fifth Act.

The Scots King being overthrown at the battel of Worcster, accepts of Hinds conduct (knowing how well he was acquainted with the Country) who carries him safe away. (Ut aiunt.)
Enter Hind and the King of Scots.
Hind.
Me thinks (Sir) you do seem in this disguise,
Like lightning in the Keldar of a cloud;
Your visage (Sir) is not least legible,
There is a Libel in your very dresse.

King.
Well sung the Roman Bard, that all things sublunary
Of worth do hang on very slender strings.

Hind.
Nothing 's more ticklish then the state of Kings:
Tall Cædars oft are torn up by the roots
By blustring Boreas, when the humble shrub
Sits safe, exalting to behold their ruine.

King.
I know as well all bodies politick
As those are humane, have their Dates and Deaths.
The Romans first had Kings, whose rule took end
In Tarquins fall; Consuls then sate at helm,
Swaying the Argosey of all the world,
Until Augustus leap'd into the throne,
Making all stoop to single soveraignty:
Thus have all things terrestrial their Dates,
The greatest Emperors, and greatest States,
The Lamps of Heaven, the Planets change above,
The Sun from his Diurnal Arch doth move;
Ayre doth sometime to fire or water run,
And fire an earthly habit doth put on,
That men asleep, rockt by felicity,
That vainly dream here of Eternity,
May wake and see, since humane and Divine
Things taste mutation, 'tis not strange 'tis Mine.

Hind,
(Sir) Ime acquainted well with all these parts;
All England is, but as More fields to me,
Make me your guide (Sir) and ne're doubt your safety;
For though to others I have been untrue,
Let me be hang'd if I prove false to you.

Exeunt.