P. jun. Why, you shall see him ;-Founder! Come in

Enter PENNY BOY Canter.

No follower, but companion:

I pray thee put him in, friend; [to Nath.] there's an angel

Thou dost not know, he is a wise old fellow, Though he seem patch'd thus, and made up of [Exit Nath. Founder, we are in here, in, i' the News-office! In this day's roll already!-I do muse

pieces.

How you came by us, sirs.

Cym. One master Picklock,

A lawyer that hath purchased here a place
This morning of an emissary under me-
Fit. Emissary Westminster.

Cym. Gave it into the office.
Fit. For his essay, his piece.
P. jun. My man of law!

He's my attorney, and solicitor too!

A fine pragmatic! what is his place worth?
Cym. A nemo-scit, sir.

Fit. 'Tis as news come in.

Cym. And as they are issued. I have the just moiety

For my part: then the other moiety

Is parted into seven: the four emissaries,
Whereof my cousin Fitton here's for Court,
Ambler for Paul's, and Buz for the Exchange,
Picklock for Westminster, with the examiner,
And register, they have full parts: and then one
part

Is under-parted to a couple of clerks.
And there's the just division of the profits.
P. jun. Have you those clerks, sir?

Cym. There is one desk empty, But it has many suitors.

P. jun. Sir, may I

Present one more, and carry it, if his parts
Or gifts, which you will call them-
Cym. Be sufficient, sir.

P. jun. What are your present clerk's habilities?

How is he qualified?

Cym. A decay'd stationer

He was, but knows news well, can sort and rank them.

Fit. And for a need can make them.

Cym. True Paul's, bred

In the church-yard.

P. jun. And this at the west-door

On the other side; he is my barber, Tom,
A pretty scholar, and a master of arts,

Was made, or went out master of arts in a throng,'
At the university; as before, one Christmas,
He got into a masque at court, by his wit,
And the good means of his cittern,' holding up
thus

For one of the music: he's a nimble fellow,
And alike skill'd in every liberal science,
As having certain snaps of all; a neat

Quick vein in forging news too: I do love him, And promised him a good turn, and I would do it.

What is your price? the value?

2

Cym. Fifty pounds, sir.

Went out master of arts in a throng, &c.] i. e. when honorary degrees were conferred, in compliment to some person of high rank, foreign prince, &c. who visited the University.

3 And the good means of his cittern,] "For you know (says Tom Brown) that a cittern is as natural to a barber, as milk to a calf, or dancing-bears to a bag-piper." Vol. iii. p. 74.

P. jun. Get in, Tom, take possession, I instal thee.

Here, tell your money. Give thee joy, good

Tom!

And let me hear from thee every minute of news, While the New Staple stands, or the office lasts, Which I do wish may ne'er be less, for thy sake.

Re-enter NATHANIEL.

Nath. The emissaries, sir, would speak with you

And master Fitton; they have brought in news,
Three bale together.

Cym. Sir, you are welcome here.
Fit. So is your creature.

Cym. Business calls us off, sir,
That may concern the office.
P. jun. Keep me fair, sir,
Still in your staple; I am here
On the same floor.

your friend,

Fit. We shall be your servants.

[Exeunt all but P. jun. and P. Cant.

P. jun. How dost thou like it, founder?
P. Can. All is well,

But that your man of law, methinks, appears not
In his due time. O! here comes master's worship.

Enter PICKLOCK.

Pick. How does the heir, bright master
Pennyboy?

Is he awake yet in his one and twenty?——
Why, this is better far, than to wear cypress,
Dull smutting gloves, or melancholy blacks,
And have a pair of twelve-penny broad ribands,
Laid out like labels,

P. jun. I should have made shift

To have laugh'd as heartily in my mourner's hood,
As in this suit, if it had pleased my father
To have been buried with the trumpeters.
Pick. The heralds of arms, you mean.
P. jun. I mean,

All noise that is superfluous!

Pick. All that idle pomp,

And vanity of a tombstone, your wise father
Did by his will prevent. Your worship had-
P. jun. A loving and obedient father of him,
I know it [I]; a right kind-natured man,
To die so opportunely.

Pick. And to settle

All things so well! compounded for your wardship The week afore, and left your state entire, Without any charge upon't.

P. jun. I must needs say,

I lost an officer of him, a good bailiff,
And I shall want him: but all peace be with him!
I will not wish him alive again, not I,

For all my fortune. Give your worship joy
Of your new place, your emissaryship
In the News-office!

Pick. Know you why I bought it, sir?
P. jun. Not Ï.

Pick. To work for you, and carry a mine
Against the master of it, master Cymbal,
Who hath a plot, upon a gentlewoman
Was once design'd for sir.
you,

P. jun. Me?

Pick. Your father,

Old master Pennyboy, of happy memory,
And wisdom too, as any in the county,
Careful to find out a fit match for you,
In his own life-time, (but he was prevented,)
Left it in writing in a schedule here,

VOL. V.

To be annexed to his will, that you,

His only son, upon his charge and blessing,
Should take due notice of a gentlewoman
Sojourning with your uncle, Richer Pennyboy.
P. jun. A Cornish gentlewoman; I do know
her,

Mistress Pecunia Do-all.
Pick. A great lady,

Indeed, she is, and not of mortal race,

Infanta of the mines; her grace's grandfather
Was duke, and cousin to the king of Ophyr,
The Subterranean. Let that pass. Her name is,
Or rather her three names are (for such she is)
Aurelia Clara Pecunia, a great princess,
Of mighty power, though she live in private,
With a contracted family! Her secretary-

P. Can. Who is her gentleman-usher too.
Pick. One Broker;

And then two gentlewomen, mistress Statute
And mistress Band, with Wax the chambermaid,
And mother Mortgage the old nurse, two grooms,
Pawn and his fellow: you have not many to
bribe, sir.

The work is feasible, and the approaches easy,
By your own kindred. Now, sir, Cymbal thinks,
The master here, and governor of the Staple,
By his fine arts, and pomp of his great place,
To draw her! He concludes, she is a woman,
And that so soon as she hears of the new office,
She'll come to visit it, as they all have longings,
After new sights and motions! But your bounty,
Person, and bravery, must achieve her.

P. Can. She is

The talk o' the time! the adventure of the age! Pick. You cannot put yourself upon an action Of more importance.

P. Can. All the world are suitors to her.