Now comes he with his paltry scroll of parchment,
And, "Can you read it?"--After such affront,
The point is, if I will.

Osw.

A point soon solved,
Unless you choose to sleep among the frogs;

For look you, sir, there is the chamber window,
Beneath it lies the lake.

ELE. Kind master Gullcrammer, beware my hus

band,

He brooks no contradiction-'tis his fault,

And in his wrath he 's dangerous.

GUL. (looks at the scroll, and mutters as if reading.) Hashgaboth hotch-potch—

A simple matter this to make a rout of

Ten rashersen bacon, mish-mash venison,

Sausagian soused-face-Tis a simple catalogue

Of our small supper-made by the grave sage

The power to tell a better tale of wonder
Wrought on wise Gullcrammer. I'll go prepare me.

FLO. I have not Katleen's spirit, yet I hate
This Gullcrammer too heartily, to stop
Any disgrace that 's hasting towards him.

[Exri.

Osw. (to whom the Beggar has been again reading the
scroll.)

'Tis a strange prophecy!-The silver moon,
Now waning sorely, is our ancient bearing-
Strange and unfitting guests-

GUL. (interrupting him.) Ay, ay, the matter
Is, as you say, all moonshine in the water.
Osw. How mean you, sir? (threatening.)
GUL.

To show that I can rhyme

With yonder bluegown. Give me breath and time,
I will maintain, in spite of his pretence,

Whose prescience knew this night that we should feast Mine exposition had the better sense

On venison, hash'd sow's face, and sausages,

And hung his steel-coat for a supper bell-
E'en let us to our provender again,

For it is written we shall finish it,

And bless our stars the lightning left it us.

Osw. This must be impudence or ignorance!-
The spirit of rough Erick stirs within me,
And I will knock thy brains out if thou palterest!
Expound the scroll to me!

GUL.
You 're over hasty;
And yet you may be right too-'Tis Samaritan,
Now I look closer on 't, and I did take it
For simple Hebrew.

DUR. 'Tis Hebrew to a simpleton,
That we see plainly, friend-Give me the scroll.
GUL. Alas, good friend! what would you do with it?
DUR. (takes it from him.) My best to read it, sir—
The character is Saxon,

Used at no distant date within this district;
And thus the tenor runs-nor in Samaritan,
Nor simple Hebrew, but in wholesome English:-
Devorgoil, thy bright moon waneth,
And the rust thy harness staineth;
Servile guests the banquet soil

Of the once proud Devorgoil.

But should Black Erick's armour fall,

It spoke good victuals and increase of cheer;

And his, more guests to eat what we have here

An increment right needless.

Osw.

To kennel, hound!

GUL.

Get thee gone;

The hound will have his bone.
[Takes up
the platter of meat, and a flask.
Osw. Flora, show him his chamber-take him hence,
Or, by the name I bear, I'll see his brains.
GUL. Ladies, good night!-I spare you, sir, the pains.
[Exit, lighted by FLORA with a lamp
Osw. The owl is fled.-I 'll not to bed to-night;
There is some change impending o'er this house,
For good or ill. I would some holy man
Were here, to counsel us what we should do!
Yon witless thin-faced gull is but a cassock
Stuff'd out with chaff and straw.

DUR. (assuming an air of dignity.) I have been wont,
In other days, to point to erring mortals
The rock which they should anchor on.

[He holds up a Cross-the rest take a posture
of devotion, and the Scene closes.

Look for guests shall scare you all!

They shall come ere peep of day,

Wake and watch, and hope and pray.

KAT. (to FLO.) Here is fine foolery-an old wall
shakes

At a loud thunder-clap-down comes a suit
Of ancient armour, when its wasted braces
Were all too rotten so sustain its weight-
A beggar cries out, Miracle! and your father,
Weighing the importance of his name and lineage,
Must needs believe the dotard! 1

FLO. Mock not, I pray you; this may be too serious.
KAT. And if I live till morning, I will have

ACT III.-SCENE I.

A ruinous Anteroom in the Castle. Enter Katleen, fantastically dressed to play the Character of Cockledemoy, with the visor in her hand.

KAT. I've scarce had time to glance at my sweet

person,

Yet this much could I see, with half a glance,
My elfish dress becomes me-I'll not mask me
Till I have seen Lance Blackthorn. Lance! I say-
[Calls.

Blackthorn, make haste!

MS.-" A begging knave cries out, a Miracle!

And your good sire, doting on the importance

Of his high birth and house, must needs believs him."

Enter BLACKTHORN, half dressed as Owlspiegle.

BLA. Here am I-Blackthorn in the upper half,
Much at your service; but my nether parts

Are goblinized and Owlspiegled. I had much ado
To get these trankums on. I judge Lord Erick
Kept no good house, and starved his quondam bar-
ber.

SCENE II.

Scene changes to GULLCRAMMER's Sleeping Apartment. He enters, ushered in by FLORA, who sets on the table a flask, with the lamp.

FLO. A flask, in case your Reverence be athirsty ; A light, in case your Reverence be afear'd ;

KAT. Peace, ass, and hide you-Gullcrammer is And so sweet slumber to your Reverence. coming;

He left the hall before, but then took fright,

And e'en sneak'd back. The Lady Flora lights

him

Trim occupation for her ladyship!

Had you seen Leonard, when she left the hall

On such fine errand!

GUL. Kind Mistress Flora, will you?-eh! eh! eh!
FLO. Will I what?
GUL. Tarry a little?

FLO. (smiling.) Kind Master Gullcrammer,
How can you ask me aught so unbecoming?

GUL. Oh, fie, fie, fie!-Believe me, Mistress Flora, "Tis not for that-but being guided through

BLA. This Gullerammer shall have a bob extraor- Such dreary galleries, stairs, and suites of rooms, dinary

To this same cubicle, I'm somewhat loth

For my good comrade's sake.-But tell me, Kat- To bid adieu to pleasant company.

leen,

What dress is this of yours?

KAT. A page's, fool!
BLA.
I'm accounted no great scholar,
But 'tis a page that I would fain peruse
A little closer.
KAT.
Put on your spectacles,
And try if you can read it at this distance,
For you shall come no nearer.

FLO. A flattering compliment!-In plain truth you are frighten'd.

GUL. What! frighten'd?—I—I-am not timorous. FLO. Perhaps you 've heard this is our haunted chamber?

[Approaches her. But then it is our best-Your Reverence knows, That in all tales which turn upon a ghost,

Your traveller belated has the luck

To enjoy the haunted room-it is a rule:

BLA. But is there nothing, then, save rank impos- To some it were a hardship, but to you, ture,

In all these tales of goblinry at Devorgoil?

Who are a scholar, and not timorous-
GUL. I did not say I was not timorous,

KAT. My aunt's grave lord thinks otherwise, sup- I said I was not temerarious.—

posing

That his great name so interests the Heavens,

That miracles must needs bespeak its fall—

I would that I were in a lowly cottage

Beneath the greenwood, on its walls no armour
To court the levin-bolt-

BLA.
And a kind husband, Katleen,
To ward such dangers as must needs come nigh.-
My father's cottage stands so low and lone,
That you would think it solitude itself;

The greenwood shields it from the northern blast,
And, in the woodbine round its latticed casement,
The linnet's sure to build the earliest nest
In all the forest.
KAT.

Peace, you fool, they come.

FLORA lights GULLCRAMMER across the Stage. KAT. (when they have passed.) Away with you!

On with your cloak-be ready at the signal.

Perhaps he hears us now-(in an under tone)—A
None of your elves that pinch folks black and blue,
For lack of cleanliness.

GUL. As for that, Mistress Flora,
My taffeta doublet hath been duly brush'd,
My shirt hebdomadal put on this morning.

FLO. Why, you need fear no goblins. But this
Owlspiegle

Is of another class;-yet has his frolics;

Cuts hair, trims beards, and plays amid his antics

BLA. And shall we talk of that same cottage, Kat- The office of a sinful mortal barber. leen,

Such is at least the rumour.

GUL. He will not cut my clothes, or scar my face,
Or draw my blood?

FLO.
Enormities like these
Were never charged against him.

GUL. And, Mistress Flora, would you smile on me,

If, prick'd by the fond hope of your approval,

I should endure this venture?

FLO.

I shall have cause to smile.

I do hope
Well! in that hope
I will embrace the achievement for thy sake.

GUL.

[She is going. Yet, stay, stay, stay!-on second thoughts I will notI've thought on it, and will the mortal cudgel Rather endure than face the ghostly razor!

I love the bell that soon shall tell the parish
Of Gabblegoose, Melchisedek's incumbent-
And shall the future minister of Gabblegoose,
Whom his parishioners will soon require
To exorcise their ghosts, detect their witches,
Lie shivering in his bed for a pert goblin,
Whom, be he switch'd or cocktail'd, horn'd or poll'd,
A few tight Hebrew words will soon send packing?

Your crab-tree 's tough but blunt,—your razor 's Tush! I will rouse the parson up within me,

polish'd,

But, as the proverb goes, 'tis cruel sharp,

I'll to thy father, and unto his pleasure
Submit these destined shoulders.

FLO.
But you shall not,
Believe me, sir, you shall not; he is desperate,
And better far be trimm'd by ghost or goblin,
Than by my sire in anger; there are stores
Of hidden treasure, too, and Heaven knows what,
Buried among these ruins-you shall stay.

(Apart.) And if indeed there be such sprite as Owls-
piegle,

And, lacking him, that thy fear plague thee not
Worse than a goblin, I have miss'd my purpose,
Which else stands good in either case.-Good-night,
sir.
[Exit, and double-locks the door.
GUL. Nay, hold ye, hold!-Nay, gentle Mistress
Flora,

Wherefore this ceremony?-She has lock'd me in,
And left me to the goblin !—(Listening.)—So, so, so!
I hear her light foot trip to such a distance,
That I believe the castle's breadth divides me
From human company. I'm ill at ease-

And bid defiance- -(A distant noise.) In the name
of Heaven,
[ness!
What sounds are these !-O Lord! this comes of rash-
[Draws his head down under the bed-clothes.

Duet without, between OWLSPIEGLE and COCKLEDEMOY.

OWLSPIEGLE.

Cockledemoy!
My boy, my boy

COCKLEDEMOY.

Here, father, here.

OWLSPIEGLE.

Now the pole-star 's red and burning,
And the witch's spindle turning,
Appear, appear!

GUL. (who has again raised himself, and listened with great terror to the Duet.) I have heard of the devil's dam before,

But never of his child. Now, Heaven deliver me!

But if this citadel (Laying his hand on his stomach) The Papists have the better of us there,-

She has a footstep light, and taper ankle. [Chuckles.
Aha! that ankle! yet, confound it too,
But for those charms Melchisedek had been
Snug in his bed at Mucklewhame-I say,
Confound her footstep, and her instep too,
To use a cobbler's phrase.-There I was quaint.
Now, what to do in this vile circumstance,
To watcl. or go to bed, I can't determine;

Were I a-bed, the ghost might catch me napping,

And if I watch, my terrors will increase

As ghostly hours approach. I'll to my bed
E'en in my taffeta doublet, shrink my head
Beneath the clothes-leave the lamp burning there,
[Sets it on the table.

And trust to fate the issue.

[He lays aside his cloak, and brushes it, as from
habit, starting at every moment; ties a nap-
kin over his head; then shrinks beneath the bed-
clothes. He starts once or twice, and at length
seems to go to sleep. A bell tolls ONE. He
in his bed.

leaps up
GUL. I had just coax'd myself to sweet forgetful-

ness,

And that confounded bell-I hate all bells,

Except a dinner bell-and yet 1 lie, too,—

They have their Latin prayers, cut and dried,
And pat for such occasion-I can think
On nought but the vernacular.

OWLSPIEGLE.

Cockledemoy!

My boy, my boy,

We'll sport us here

COCKLEDEMOY.

Our gambols play,
Like elve and fay ;

OWLSPIEGLE.

And domineer,

BOTH.

Laugh, frolic, and frisk, till the morning appear.

COCKLEDEMOY.

Lift latch-open clasp

Shoot bolt-and burst hasp!

[The door opens with violence. Enter BLACKTHORN as OWLSPIEGLE, fantastically dressed as a Spanish Barber, tall, thin, emaciated, and ghostly; KATLEEN, as COCKLEDEMOY, attends as his Page. All their manners, tonas,

[They search the room with mops and mows. Thrice shriek'd hath the owl, thrice croak'd hath the At length COCKLEDEMOY jumps on the bed.

GULLCRAMMER raises himself half up, sup- Here, ho! Master Gullerammer, rise and be shaven ! porting himself by his hands. CoOCKLEDEMOY

Thrice crow'd hath the blackcock, thrice croak'd hath Respect their loving sires, endure a chiding,