ARM. Magic is mighty, and fortelleth great matters. Indeed, father, here is the earl come to see thee, And therefore, good father, fable not with him.

GEO. Welcome is the earl to my poor cell, and so Are you, my lords; but let me counsel you To leave these wars against your king, and live In quiet.

KEN. Father, we come not for advice in war, But to know whether we shall win or leese.*

GEO. Lose, gentle lords, but not by good king A baser man shall give you all the foil.

[Edward;
KEN. Ay, marry, father, what man is that?
GEO. Poor George-a-Greene, the Pinner.
KEN. What shall he?

GEO. Pull all your plumes, and sore dishonour you.
KEN. He! as how?

GEO. Nay, the end tries all; but so it will fall out.
KEN. But so it shall not, by my honour, Christ.
I'll raise my camp, and fire Wakefield town,
And take that servile Pinner George-a-Greene,
And butcher him before king Edward's face.
GEO. Good my lord, be not offended,
For I speak no more than art reveals to me:
And for greater proof,

Give your man leave to fetch me my staff.
KEN. Jenkin, fetch him his walking-staff.
JEN. Here is your walking-staff.

GEO. I'll prove it good upon your carcasses:
A wiser wizard never met you yet,
Nor one that better could foredoom
Now I have singled you here alone,

your

I care not though you be three to one.
KEN. Villain, hast thou betray'd us?

fall.

GEO. Momford, thou liest, never was I traitor yet;

leese] i. e. lose.

Only devis'd this guile to draw you on,
For to be combatants.

Now conquer me, and then march on to London :
But shall go hard, but I will hold you task.

ARM. Come, my lord, cheerly, I'll kill him hand to hand.

KEN. A thousand pound to him that strikes that
stroke!

GEO. Then give it me, for I will have the first.
[Here they fight; George kills Sir Gilbert,
and takes the other two prisoners.

BON. Stay, George, we do appeal.
GEO. To whom?

BON. Why, to the king:

For rather had we bide what he appoints,
Than here be murder'd by a servile groom.

KEN. What wilt thou do with us?

GEO. Even as lord Bonfield wist:

You shall unto the king, and for that purpose,
See where the Justice is plac'd.

Enter JUSTICE.

Jus. Now, my lord of Kendal, where be all your threats?

Even as the cause, so is the combat fallen,

Else one could never have conquer'd three.

KEN. I pray thee, Woodroffe, do not twit me; If I have faulted, I must make amends.

GEO. Master Woodroffe, here is not a place for many words:

I beseech ye, sir, discharge all his soldiers,
That every man may go home unto his own house.
Jus. It shall be so; what wilt thou do, George?
GEO. Master Woodroffe, look to your charge;
Leave me to myself.

Jus. Come, my lords. [Exeunt all but George.

GEO. Here sit thou, George, wearing a willow wreath,

As one despairing of thy beauteous love.

Fie, George! no more;

Pine not away for that which cannot be.
I cannot joy in any earthly bliss,

So long as I do want my Bettris.

Enter JENKIN.

JEN. Who see a master of mine?

GEO. How now, sirrah, whither away?

[be?

JEN. Whither away! why, who do you take me to

GEO. Why, Jenkin, my man.

[altered.

JEN. I was so once indeed, but now the case is
GEO. I pray thee, as how?

JEN. Were not you a fortune-teller to-day?
GEO. Well, what of that?

JEN. So sure am I become a juggler. What will you say if I juggle your sweet-heart?

GEO. Peace, prating losell: her jealous father Doth wait over her with such suspicious eyes, That, if a man but dally by her feet,

He thinks it straight a witch to charm his daughter. JEN. Well, what will you give me, if I bring her hither?

GEO. A suit of green, and twenty crowns besides. JEN. Well, by your leave, give me room; you must give me something that you have lately worn. GEO. Here is a gown, will that serve you?

JEN. Ay, this will serve me: keep out of my circle, Lest you be torn in pieces with she-devils. Mistress Bettris, once, twice, thrice.

[He throws the ground* in, and she [Bettris]

comes out.

O, is this no cunning!

--

ground] Probably misprinted for " gown." Editor of Dodsley's Old Plays.

stance.

GEO. Is this my love, or is it but her shadow? JEN. Ay, this is the shadow, but here is the sub[thee hither? * GEO. Tell me, sweet love, what good fortune brought For one it was that favour'd George-a-Greene. BET. Both love and fortune brought me to my George,

In whose sweet sight is all my heart's content. GEO. Tell me, sweet love, how cam'st thou from thy father's?

BET. A willing mind hath many slips in love: It was not I, but Wily, thy sweet boy.

GEO. And where is Wily now?

BET. In my apparel, in my chamber still. GEO. Jenkin, come hither: go to Bradford, And listen out your fellow Wily.

Come, Bettris, let us in,

And in my cottage we will sit and talk.

[Exeunt omnes.

Enter KING EDWARD, [JAMES] the KING OF SCOTS, LORD WARWICK, young CUDDY, and their train.

K. EDW. Brother of Scotland, I do hold it hard, Seeing a league of truce was late confirm'd "Twixt you and me, without displeasure offer'd You should make such invasion in my land. The vows of kings should be as oracles, Not blemish'd with the stain of any breach; Chiefly where fealty and homage will† it.

K. JAMES. Brother of England, rub not the sore afresh;

My conscience grieves me for my deep misdeed.

* Tell me, &c.] It is plain from what follows that either this line is corrupt, or that a line which came immediately after it has dropt out.

t will] The 4to. "willeth."

I have the worst; of thirty thousand men,
There scap'd not full five thousand from the field.
K. Enw. Gramercy, Musgrove, else it had gone
Cuddy, I'll quite thee well ere we two part. [hard.
K. JAMES. But had not his old father, William
Musgrove,

Play'd twice the man, I had not now been here.
A stronger man I seldom felt before;

But one of more resolute valiance

Treads not, I think, upon the English ground.

K. Edw. I wot well, Musgrove shall not lose his

hire.

CUD. And it please your Grace, my

father was

Five score and three at Midsummer last past:
Yet had king Jamie been as good as George-a-Greene,
Yet Billy Musgrove would have fought with him.
K. Edw. As George-a-Greene !

I pray thee, Cuddy, let me question thee.
Much have I heard, since I came to my crown,
Many in manner of a proverb say,

Were he as good as George-a-Greene, I would strike

him sure.

I pray thee tell me, Cuddy, can'st thou inform me, What is that George-a-Greene?

CUD. Know, my lord, I never saw the man,
But mickle talk is of him in the country:

They say he is the Pinner of Wakefield town:
But for his other qualities, I let alone.

WAR. May it please your Grace, I know the man
too well.

K. EDW. Too well! why so, Warwick?

[ake.

WAR. For once he swing'd me till my bones did
K. EDW. Why, dares he strike an earl?
WAR. An earl, my lord! nay he will strike a king,

*But] Qy." And.”