Enter Hodge very fine, with a Tip-staff, Cromwell with the Mace carried before him; the Dukes of Norfolk and Suf folk, and Atendants.

Hodge. Come, away with thefe Beggars here, Rife up, Sirrah; come out, good People;

Run before there ho.

[Friskibal rifeth, and ftands afar off. Seely, Ay, we are kick'd away now, we come for our own; the time hath been, he would a look'd more friendly upon us: And you, Hodge, we know you well enough, tho' you are fo fine.

Crom. Come hither, Sirrah: Stay, what Men are these? My honeft Hoft of Hounslow, and his Wife ;

I owe thee Mony, Father, do I not?

Seely. Ay, by the Body of me, doft thou; would thou wouldeft pay me, good four Pound it is, I have a the Poft at home.

Crom. I know 'tis true; Sirrah, give him ten Angels, 'And look your Wife and you do ftay to Dinner:

And while you live, I freely give to you,

Four pound a Year, for the four Pound I ought you,
Seely. Art not chang'd, art old Tom ftill?

Now God bless thee, good Lord Tom:

Home Joan, home; I'll dine with my Lord Tom to Day, And thou shalt come next Week.

Fetch my Cow; home Joan, home.

Wife. Now God bless thee, my good Lord Tom; I'll fetch my Cow prefently.

Enter Gardiner.

Crom. Sirrah, go to yon Stranger, tell him I defire him ftay to Dinner: I muft fpeak with him.

Gard. My Lord of Norfolk, fee you this fame Bubble? That fame puff; but mark the end, my Lord, mark the

end.

Nor. I promise you, I like not fomething he hath done; But let that pafs; the King doth love him well.

Crom. Good morrow to my Lord of Winchester: I know you bear me hard about the Abbey Lands. Gar. Have I not reafon, when Religion is wrong'd? You had no colour for what you have done.

Crom.

Crom. Yes, the abolishing of Antichrift,
And of his Popish order for our Realm:
I am no Enemy to Religion,

But what is done, it is for England's good:
What did they serve for, but to feed a fort
Of lazy Abbots, and of full-fed Fryers?
They neither plow, nor fow, and yet they reap
The Fat of all the Land, and fuck the Poor :
Look what was theirs, is in King Henry's Hands,
His Wealth before lay in the Abbey Lands.

Gar. Indeed these things you have alledg'd, my Lord,
When, God doth know, the Infant yet unborn,
Will curfe the time, the Abbies were pull'd down;
I pray now where is Hospitality?

Where now may poor diftreffed People go,

For to relieve their Need, or reft their Bones,
When weary Travel doth opprefs their Limbs?
And where religious Men fhould take them in,
Shall now be kept back by a Maftive Dog:
And thousand thousand

Nor. O my Lord, no more: things past redress,
Tis bootlefs to complain.

Crom. What, fhall we to the Convocation-house?
Nor. We'll follow you, my Lord, pray lead the way.
Enter old Cromwell, like a Farmer.

Old Crom. How? one Cromwell

Made Lord Keeper fince I left Putney,

And dwelt in Torkshire? I never heard better News;
I'll fee that Cromwell, or it fhall
go hard.

Crom. My aged Father! State fet afide :
Father, on my Knee I crave your Bleffing:
One of my Servants go and have him in,
At better Leifure will we talk with him.
Old Crom. Now if I dye how happy were the day,
To fee this Comfort rains forth fhowers of Joy.

[Exit old Cromwell. Nor. This Duty in him shows a kind of Grace. Crom. Go on before, for time draws on apace,

Exeunt all but Friskibal.

Frif, I wonder what this Lord would have with me,

His Man fo ftrictly gave me charge to stay:

Crom. My Bufinefs, Sir, lyes unto Mantua ; Please you to give me fafe Conduct thither.

Gov. Go, and conduct him to the Mantua Port, And fee him fafe delivered presently.

t

Exeunt Cromwell and Bedford.

Go draw the Curtains, let us fee the Earl :

O, he is writing, ftand apart a while.

Hodge. Fellow William, I am not as I have been; I went from you a Smith, I write to you as a Lord; I am at this prefent writing, among the Polonian Cafiges. I do commend my Lordship to Ralph and to Roger, to Bridget and to Dr rothy, and fo to all the Youth of Putney.

Gov. Sure these are the Names of English Noblemen, Some of his fpecial Friends, to whom he writes:

But stay, he doth addrefs himself to fing.

[Here he fings a Song. My Lord, I am glad you are fo Frolick and fo Blithe; Believe me, Noble Lord, if you knew all,

You'd change your merry Vein to fudden Sorrow.

Hodge. I change my very Vein? no, thou Bononian, no; I am a Lord, and therefore let me go ;

And do defie thee and thy Cafiges:

Therefore ftand off, and come not near my Honour.

Gov. My Lord, this Jefting cannot ferve your turn. Hodge. Doft think, thou black Bononian Beaft, That I do flout, do gibe, or jeft?

No, no, thou Bear-pot, know that I,

A Noble Earl, a Lord par-dy.

Gov. What means this Trumpet's found?

[A Trumpet founds. Enter a Messenger.

Cit. One come from the States of Mantua.

Gov. What, would you with us, fpeak thou Man of Mantua?

Mef. Men of Bononia, this my Meffage is,
To let you know the Noble Earl of Bedford
Is fafe within the Town of Mantua,

And wills you fend the Peafant that you have,
Who hath deceiv'd your Expectation;
Or else the States of Mantua have vow'd,
They will recal the Truce that they have made,
And not a Man fhall ftir from forth your Town,

Tha

That shall return, unless you fend him back.

Gov. O this Misfortune, how it mads my Heart?
The Neopolitan hath buguil'd us all.

Hence with this Fool, what fhall we do with him,
The Earl being gone? a plague upon it all.

Hodge. No I'll affure you, I am no Earl, but a Smith, Sir, One Hodge, a Smith at Putney, Sir;

One that hath gulled you, that hath bored you, Sir.
Gov. Away with him, take hence the Fool you came for.
Hodge. Ay, Sir, and I'll leave the greater Fool with you.
Mef. Farewel, Bononians. Come, Friend, along with me.
Hodge. My Friend, afore, my Lordship will follow thee.

[Exit.

Gov. Well, Mantua, fince by thee the Earl is loft, Within few Days I hope to fee thee croft.

Enter Chorus.

[Exeunt.

Cho. Thus far you fee how Cromwell's Fortune pass'd.

The Earl of Bedford being fafe in Mantua,
Defires Cromwell's Company into France,

To make requital for his Courtefie:
But Cromwell doth deny the Earl his Suit,
And tells him that thofe Parts he meant to fee,
He had not yet fet footing on the Land,
And fo directly takes his way to Spain;
The Earl to France, and fo they both do part.

Now let your Thoughts as fwift as is the Wind,

Skip fome few Years, that Cromwell spent in Travel;
And now imagine him to be in England,

Servant unto the Mafter of the Rolls:

Where in fhort time he there began to flourish,

An Hour Shall show you what few Years did cherish. [Exit.
The Mufick plays, they bring out the Banquet. Enter Str
Chriftopher Hales, Cromwell, and two Servants.
Hales. Come, Sirs, be careful of your Mafter's Credit ;
And as our Bounty now exceeds the Figure

Of common Entertainment, fo do you,
With Looks as free as is your Master's Soul,
Give formal Welcome to the thronged Tables,
That fhall receive the Cardinal's Followers,
And the Attendance of the great Lord Chancellor.

Y 2

But

But all my Care, Cromwell, depends on thee:
Thou art a Man differing from vulgar Form,
And by how much thy Spirit is rankt 'bove these,
In rules of Art, by fo much it fhines brighter by travel,
Whose Obfervance pleads his Merit,

In a most learn'd, yet unaffecting Spirit.
Good Cromwell, caft an Eye of fair Regard
'Bout all my Houfe, and what this ruder Flesh,
Through Ignorance, or Wine, do mifcreate,
Salve thou with Courtefie; if Welcome want,
Full Bowls, and ample Banquets will feem scant.
Crom. Sir, whatfoever lies in me,
Affure you I will fhew my utmost Duty.

[Exit Crom.
Hales. About it then, the Lords will straight be here:
Cromwell, thou haft those parts would rather fute
The Service of the State than of my House:
I look upon thee with a loving Eye,

That one Day will prefer thy Destiny.

Enter Messenger.

Mef. Sir, the Lords be at hand.

Hales. They are welcome, bid Cromwell straight at tend us,

And look you all things be in perfect readiness.

The Mufick Plays. Enter Cardinal Wolfey, Sir Thomas

Moore and Gardiner.

Wol. Q, Sir Chriftopher, you are too liberal: What, a Banquet too?

Hales. My Lords, if Words could fhow the ample Wel come, that my free Heart affords you, I could then become a Prater but I now muft deal like a feaft Politician with your Lordships, defer your Welcome 'till the Banquet end that it may then falve our defect of Fare :

Yet welcome now, and all that tend on you.

Wol. Thanks to the kind Mafter of the Rolls.
Come and fit down, fit down Sir Thomas Moore:
'Tis ftrange, how that we and the Spaniard differ,
Their Dinner is our Banquet, after Dinner,
And they are Men of active difpofition:
This I gather, that by their fparing Meat,
Their Bodies are more fitter for the Wars:

Ап