Scene II Fayal21
Enter Spencer and Captain Goodlack.
Goodlack.
What were you thinking, sir?
Spencer.
Troth, of the world: what any man should see in’t to be in love with it.
Goodlack.
The reason of your meditation?
Spencer.
To imagine that in the same instant that one forfeits all his estate, another enters upon a rich possession. As one goes to the church to be married, another is hurried to the gallows to be hanged; the last having no feeling of the first man’s joy, nor the first of the last man’s misery. At the same time that one lies tortured upon the rack, another lies tumbling with his mistress over head and ears in down and feathers. This when I truly consider, I cannot but wonder why any fortune should make a man ecstasied.
Goodlack.
You give yourself too much to melancholy.
Spencer.
These are my maxims; and were they as faithfully practised by others as truly apprehended by me, we should have less oppression, and more charity.
Enter the two Captains.
1st Captain.
Make good thy words.
2nd Captain.
I say, thou hast injured me.
1st Captain.
Tell me wherein.
2nd Captain.
When we assaulted Fayal,
And I had, by the general’s command,
The onset, and with danger of my person
Enforced the Spaniard to a swift retreat,
And beat them from their fort, thou, when thou saw’st
All fear and danger past, madest up with me,
To share that honour which was sole mine own,
And never ventured shot for’t, or e’er came
Where bullet grazed.
Spencer.
See, captain, a fray towards;
Let’s, if we can, atone22 this difference.
Goodlack.
Content.
1st Captain.
I’ll prove it with my sword,
That though thou hadst the foremost place in field,
And I the second, yet my company
Was equal in the entry of the fort.
My sword was that day drawn as soon as thine,
And that poor honour which I won that day
Was but my merit.
2nd Captain.
Wrong me palpably,
And justify the same!
Spencer.
You shall not fight.
1st Captain.
Why, sir, who made you first a justicer,
And taught you that word “shall?” You are no general;
Or, if you be, pray show us your commission.
Spencer.
Sir, I have no commission but my counsel,
And that I’ll show you freely.
2nd Captain.
’Tis some chaplain.
1st Captain.
I do not like his text.
Goodlack.
Let’s beat their weapons down.
1st Captain.
I’ll aim at him that offers to divide us!
[They fight.
2nd Captain.
Pox of these part-frays! see, I am wounded,
By beating down my weapon.
Goodlack.
How fares my friend?
Spencer.
You sought for blood, and, gentlemen, you have it.
Let mine appease you: I am hurt to death.
1st Captain.
My rage converts to pity, that this gentleman
Shall suffer for his goodness.
Goodlack.
Noble friend,
I will revenge thy death.
Spencer.
He is no friend
That murmurs such a thought.—Oh, gentlemen,
I killed a man in Plymouth, and by you
Am slain in Fayal. Carrol fell by me,
And I fall by a Spencer. Heaven is just,
And will not suffer murder unrevenged.
Heaven pardon me, as I forgive you both!
Shift for yourselves: away!
2nd Captain.
We saw him die,
But grieve you should so perish.
Spencer.
Note Heaven’s justice,
And henceforth make that use on’t—I shall faint.
1st Captain.
Short farewells now must serve. If thou survivest,
Live to thine honour; but if thou expirest
Heaven take thy soul to mercy!
[Exeunt Captains.
Spencer.
I bleed much;
I must go seek a surgeon.
Goodlack.
Sir, how cheer you?
Spencer.
Like one that’s bound upon a new adventure
To the other world; yet thus much, worthy friend,
Let me entreat you: since I understand
The fleet is bound for England, take your occasion
To ship yourself, and when you come to Foy,
Kindly commend me to my dearest Bess:
Thou shalt receive a will, in which I have
Possessed her of five hundred pounds a year.
Goodlack.
A noble legacy.
Spencer.
The rest I have bestowed amongst my friends,
Only reserving a bare hundred pounds,
To see me honestly and well interred.
Goodlack.
I shall perform your trust as carefully
As to my father, breathed he.
Spencer.
Mark me, captain;
Her legacy I give with this proviso:
If, at thy arrival where my Bess remains,
Thou find’st her well reported, free from scandal,
My will stands firm; but if thou hear’st her branded
For loose behaviour, or immodest life,
What she should have, I here bestow on thee;
It is thine own: but, as thou lovest thy soul,
Deal faithfully betwixt my Bess and me.
Goodlack.
Else let me die a prodigy.
Spencer.
This ring was hers; that, be she loose or chaste,
Being her own, restore her: she will know it;
And doubtless she deserves it. O my memory!
What had I quite forgot? She hath my picture.
Goodlack.
And what of that?
Spencer.
If she be ranked among the loose and lewd,
Take it away: I hold it much indecent
A whore should ha’t in keeping; but if constant,
Let her enjoy it. This my will perform,
As thou art just and honest.
Goodlack.
Sense else forsake me.
Spencer.
Now lead me to my chamber. All’s made even—
My peace with earth, and my atone with Heaven.
[Exeunt.