University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

—Court-yard of Beaton's Castle.—Gordonsha leading Captain Strang, Strang of Balcaskie, Melvil, &c.
GORDONSHA.

A prize, a prize, your worships! If there's been ae man

fell'd i'the upper story o'this castle, there's been anither
saved i'the cellar. So it's a'ae woo; the warld's nae the
poorer for't a'—what's been wastit ben the house, has been
hained but—Here's a tint friend for you!

[Shewing Captain Strang.
STRANG OF BALCASKIE.
Mine honest Captain, I am glad to see you;
Though squalid in your garb, and long in beard
Which clamours loudly for a pair of shears,
Thank God, you're yet alive to trample on
Its bushy length.

CAPTAIN STRANG.
I'm yet alive, thank heav'n,
And this brave man, its instrument, who came
Most opportunely half an hour ago,
To rescue me from being basely choked
By a rope's end; the knot was cast about
My gullet by the swabber of this castle,
(A fellow with a porpoise-looking face,)
Who gnash'd his teeth upon me like a shark,
And said, Now die, Tarpawlin heretic!
He then 'gan draw the clinch, so that my throat
Being tighten'd, sobb'd and rattled horribly;
Then was I one foot fairly in the grave;
When, all at once, this my deliverer, sent
By my good angel in the thrott'ling nick,
Shot through the door, and with his handspike's stroke
Capsized my hangman, making him lie wreck'd,
Keel uppermost—at which I was relieved;
And now come forth from my abhorred hold,
Where I have long been stow'd up like a truss
Of stinking flax from Holland: Sirs, excuse
My unwash'd face, my beggarly vile raiment,
My Jew-surpassing beard, which from my stem
Hangs dangling like the colours from the poop
Of my good ship the Betsy.

STRANG OF BALCASKIE.
We excuse them,
In joy of your so strange deliverance.
It was a marvellous 'scape; you stood upon
The razor's edge of death; had Card'nal lived
Another hour, these rags had been your shroud,
And that long beard had strapp'd you round and round,
To keep you snug and motionless i'th'tomb.

CAPTAIN STRANG.
Yea, I had gone to bottom, to be sure,
Ship, cargo, rigging, all. Therefore I'm glad,
That he who cubb'd me under hatches so,
And ruled the helm himself so tyrannously,
By this hard gale hath been blown overboard
Into the floods of death; and that I live
To entertain you with my narrative.
I'll have me wash'd, and go to sea again
In quest of gin and flax, and Luther's books,
Despite of Mary Guise and Card'nal's ghost.

STRANG OF BALCASKIE.
It is all well; the sooner then you shave,
And wash, your comforts will accelerate.
Your wife and daughter still are sojourners
In this crazed town, awaiting your release;
They won with Widow Yule, whose house you know;
There you will find them.

CAPTAIN STRANG.
I skip high with joy,
At thought of meeting my dear wife again
And daughter, who have both been sobbing long,
Wringing their hands for my poor sorry sake.—
Come, my deliv'rer, wilt thou go with me?
As yet my legs do totter, woundy stiff
With dungeon-rheum; lend me your hand, I pray,
And shore my frail lapse-sided vessel up
When stemming through the crowd.

GORDONSHA,
(handing him.)
Here then, good Captain.

STRANG OF BALCASKIE.
I'll see you at your lodging-house, anon.

[Exeunt differently.