A wholesome taste again: alas! I know, sir,
What an unequal distance lies between

Great Huntley's daughter's birth and Dalyell's fortunes;

She's the king's kinswoman, placed near the crown, A princess of the blood, and I a subject.

Hunt. Right; but a noble subject; put in that

too.

Dal. I could add more; and in the rightest line, Derive my pedigree from Adam Mure,

A Scottish knight; whose daughter was the mother
To him who first begot the race of Jameses,
That sway the sceptre to this very day.

But kindreds are not ours, when once the date
Of many years have swallow'd up the memory
Of their originals; so pasture-fields,

Neighbouring too near the ocean, are supp'd up
And known no more: for stood I in my first
And native greatness, if my princely mistress
Vouchsafed me not her servant, 't were as good
I were reduced to clownery, to nothing,
As to a throne of wonder.

Hunt. Now, by Saint Andrew,

A spark of metal! he has a brave fire in him.
I would he had my daughter, so I knew 't not.
But 't must not be so, must not.-[Aside.]—Well,
young lord,

This will not do yet; if the girl be headstrong,
And will not hearken to good counsel, steal her,
And run away with her; dance' galliards, do,
And frisk about the world to learn the languages:
'T will be a thriving trade; you may set up by 't.
Dal. With pardon, noble Gordon, this disdain
Suits not your daughter's virtue, or my constancy.
Hunt. You're angry-would he would beat me, I
deserve it.
[Aside.

1A lively, leaping, nimble French dance; from gaillard, gay.— NARES'S GLOSSARY.

Dalyell, thy hand, we are friends: follow thy court

ship,

Take thine own time and speak; if thou prevail'st With passion, more than I can with my counsel, She's thine; nay, she is thine: 't is a fair match, Free and allow'd. I'll only use my tongue, Without a father's power; use thou thine;

Self do, self have-no more words; 'win and wear her.

Dal. You bless me; I am now too poor in thanks Το pay the debt I owe you.

Hunt. Nay, thou 'rt poor enough.—

I love his spirit infinitely.-Look ye,
She comes to her now, to her, to her!

Enter KATHERINE and JANE.

Kath. The king commands your presence, sir.
Hunt. The gallant—

This, this, this lord, this servant, Kate, of yours,
Desires to be your master.

Kath. I acknowledge him

A worthy friend of mine.

Dal. Your humblest creature.

Hunt. So, so; the game's a-foot, I'm in cold hunting, The hare and hounds are parties.

Dal. Princely lady,

How most unworthy I am to employ

My services, in honour of your virtues,

How hopeless my desires are to enjoy

Your fair opinion, and much more your love;

Are only matters of despair, unless

[Aside.

Your goodness gives large warrants to my boldness, My feeble-wing'd ambition.

Hunt. This is scurvy.

Kath. My lord, I interrupt you not.

Hunt. Indeed!

[Aside.

Now on my life she'll court him.-[Aside.]—Nay,

nay, on, sir.

Dal. Oft have I tuned the lesson of my sorrows

To sweeten discord, and enrich your pity,

But all in vain: here had my comforts sunk
And never ris'n again, to tell a story
Of the despairing lover, had not now,
Even now, the earl your father—
Hunt. He means me sure.

[Aside.

Dal. After some fit disputes of your condition, Your highness and my lowness, given a license Which did not more embolden, than encourage My faulting tongue.

Hunt. How, how? how's that? embolden? Encourage? I encourage ye! d'ye hear, sir? A subtle trick, a quaint one.-Will you hear, man? What did I say to you? come, come, to the point. Kath. It shall not need, my lord.

Hunt. Then hear me, Kate!→

Keep you on that hand of her; I on this.-
Thou stand'st between a father and a suitor,
Both striving for an interest in thy heart:
He courts thee for affection, I for duty;
He as a servant pleads; but by the privilege
Of nature, though I might command, my care
Shall only counsel what it shall not force.

Thou canst but make one choice; the ties of marriage
Are tenures, not at will, but during life.

Consider whose thou art, and who; a princess,
A princess of the royal blood of Scotland,
In the full spring of youth, and fresh in beauty.
The king that sits upon the throne is young,
And yet unmarried, forward in attempts
On any least occasion, to endanger

His person; wherefore, Kate, as I am confident
Thou dar'st not wrong thy birth and education
By yielding to a common servile rage
Of female wantonness, so I am confident
Thou wilt proportion all thy thoughts to side'
Thy equals, if not equal thy superiors.

1 i. e. to equal, to stand in equal place with.

My lord of Dalyell, young in years, is old
In honours, but nor eminent in titles

[N]or in estate, that may support or add to
The expectation of thy fortunes. Settle
Thy will and reason by a strength of judgment,
For, in a word, I give thee freedom; take it.
If equal fates have not ordain'd to pitch
Thy hopes above my height, let not thy passion
Lead thee to sink mine honour in oblivion:
Thou art thine own; I have done.'

Dal. Oh! you are all oracle,

The living stock and root of truth and wisdom.
Kath. My worthiest lord and father, the indulgence
Of your sweet composition thus commands
The lowest of obedience; you have granted
A liberty so large, that I want skill

To choose without direction of example:
From which I daily learn, by how much more
You take off from the roughness of a father,
By so much more I am engaged to tender
The duty of a daughter. For respects
Of birth, degrees of title, and advancement,
I nor admire nor slight them: all my studies
Shall ever aim at this perfection only,
To live and die so, that you may not blush
In any course of mine to own me yours.

Hunt. Kate, Kate, thou grow'st upon my heart, like peace,

Creating every other hour a jubilee.

Kath. To you, my lord of Dalyell, I address Some few remaining words: the general fame That speaks your merit, even in vulgar tongues, Proclaims it clear; but in the best, a precedent. Hunt. Good wench, good girl, i' faith!

i I have done.] And done well too! What authority the poet had for the histrionic character of this nobleman I know not; but if the princely family of the Gordons ever numbered such a person as this among their ancestors let them be justly proud of him; for neither on the stage nor in the great drama of life will there be easily found a character to put in competition with him.-GIFFORD,

Kath. For my part, trust me,

I value mine own worth at higher rate,

'Cause you are pleas'd to prize it: if the stream
Of your protested service (as you term it)

Run in a constancy, more than a compliment,
It shall be my delight, that worthy love

Leads you to worthy actions; and these guide you
Richly to wed an honourable name:

So every virtuous praise, in after-ages,

Shall be your heir, and I, in your brave mention,
Be chronicled the mother of that issue,

That glorious issue.

Hunt. Oh, that I were young again!

She'd make me court proud danger, and suck spirit From reputation.

Kath. To the present motion,

Here's all that I dare answer: when a ripeness
Of more experience, and some use of time,
Resolves to treat the freedom of my youth
Upon exchange of troths, I shall desire
No surer credit of a match with virtue

Than such as lives in you; meantime, my hopes are
Preserv'd secure, in having you a friend.

Dal. You are a blessed lady, and instruct
Ambition not to soar a farther flight,

Than in the perfum'd air of your soft voice.-
My noble lord of Huntley, you have lent
A full extent of bounty to this parley;

And for it shall command your humblest servant. Hunt. Enough: we are still friends, and will continue

A hearty love.-Oh, Kate! thou art mine own.-
No more; my lord of Crawford.

Enter CRAWFORD.1

Craw. From the king

1 Enter Crawford.] This is probably (for I speak with great hesitation on the subject) John, second son of David, fourth Earl of Craw ford. If I am right in this conjecture, he stood in some kind of relation