University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

A Parlour.
HEARTY Writing.—Enter TRADEWELL.
HEARTY.
This is kind—have you seen Wishwell?

TRADEWELL.
I have—

HEARTY.
And well—what news?—

TRADEWELL.
He tells me 'tis confirm'd—that this good lord
Has been again most graciously received,
Keeps stedfast to his plan, and close pursues
His honest purpose—and the general joy
Proclaims success—no business else is talk'd of.
Our gracious Princess and this worthy lord
Alone engross all conversation:
Meet whom you will in publick, with sweet accent,
Denoting inward joy, the speech still turns
On royal goodness, and on patriot love—
One, taking you by th'hand, “Our debts, says he,
“Whose overflowings long have laid us waste,
“Now pent within their channels, shall no longer
“Licence perfidious powers to take advantage!”
With hope erect (the happy change of things
Rend'ring all ranks familiar) another tells you,
Unask'd, without the leave of an acquaintance,
“Our british lyon has too long been passive,
“To leap o'er sticks, and show ridiculous feats,
“At the insulting orders of those states,
“Which in the days of our great ancestors
“Stood trembling at his roar!”—

HEARTY.
But, my good friend!
Tho' these reports, like a reviving cordial,
Have rais'd me up, all circumstances weigh'd
Is not our case too desperate?—Let me ask you,
It is not with design to throw a damp
Upon the publick joy—
But with such debts, almost to bankruptcy,
Sunk as we are, pray how are we to raise
Th'immense supplies our injured honour calls for?
Staggering, with bending joints, beneath our burdens,
How shall our shoulders bear a heavier load?

TRADEWELL.
Save us from being given up as pledges
To griping usurers—we've love and duty
(Still verdant underneath oppression's weight)
That never have forsook us—we have these
Still left with us!—
To yield the loan, for honour and protection,
Chearful as ever!—The stream t'our capitol
Conveying our collections is not sought
To be diverted, but the point that's wanted,
Is how to cleanse the channel of it's filth,
Root out the matted weeds that stop it's current
With their foul feedings—to clear it of it's banks
Of mud and rubbish, which now top the brink,
And stop the labouring oar!—

HEARTY.
I see your purpose!—O! could this be practis'd,
Our purse would gladly meet the calls of state,
And in our rising joys past miseries
Would all be soon forgot—

TRADEWELL.
You judge quite right—
Supplies would in no sort be term'd a grievance,
If those who are entrusted with their uses
Observe the rule that nature gives them,
To teach just application!—her full springs
Flow down her hills unforc'd, trilling their way
To the next stream, which swelling with the loan,
To the full-fed river hollows out its course;
Between whose shelving banks, they sail to th'ocean,
Our watry bulwark, and from thence exhal'd
By heat's attractive power, are drawn towards heaven
To fill the clouds with fatness, watching occasion
In their descent t'enrich our fields and pastures.

HEARTY.
Nature, 'tis true, has given us noble rules
For civil life, were we dispos'd to follow 'em.

TRADEWELL.
This is lord Worthy's purpose.—

HEARTY.
May it prosper—
To generous views kind heaven will grant success,
'Tis it's own work, which it delights to bless.