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Here on these Mountains, where he had been starv’d,

Had not my People found him, as we travell’d.

This was not handsome, Brother.

Henr. You are merry.

Rod. You’ll find it sober Truth.

Duke. If so, ’tis ill.

Henr. ’Tis Fiction all, Sir; — Brother, you must please

To look some other Fool to put these Tricks on;

They are too obvious: — Please your Grace, give Leave

T’ admit the Boy; If he know me, and say,

I stole him from his Friends, and cast him off,

Know me no more. — Brother, pray do not wrong me.

Enters Violante

Rod. Here is the Boy. If he deny this to you,

Then I have wrong’d you.

Duke. Hear me; What’s thy Name, Boy?

Viol. Florio, an’t like your Grace.

Duke. A pretty Child.

Where wast thou born?

Viol.On t’other Side the Mountains.

Duke. What are thy Friends?

Viol. A Father, Sir; but poor.

Duke. How camest thou hither? how, to leave thy Father?

Viol. That noble Gentleman pleas’d once to like me,[Pointing to Henriquez.

And, not to lye, so much to doat upon me,

That with his Promises he won my Youth,

And Duty, from my Father: Him I follow’d.

Rod. How say you now, Brother?

Cam.Ay, my Lord, how say You?

Hen. As I have Life and Soul, ’tis all a Trick, Sir.

I never saw the Boy before.

Viol. O Sir,

Call not your Soul to witness in a Wrong:

And ’tis not noble in you, to despise

What you have made thus. If I lye, let Justice

Turn all her Rods upon me.

Duke.Fye, Henriquez;

There is no Trace of Cunning in this Boy.

Cam. A good Boy! — Be not fearful: Speak thy Mind, Child.

Nature, sure, meant thou should’st have been a Wench;

And then’t had been no Marvel he had bobb’d thee.

Duke. Why did he put thee from him?

Viol. That to me

Is yet unknown, Sir; for my Faith, he could not;

I never did deceive him: for my Service,

He had no just Cause; what my Youth was able,

My Will still put in Act, to please my Master:

I cannot steal; therefore that can be nothing

To my Undoing: no, nor lye; my Breeding,

Tho’ it be plain, is honest.

Duke. Weep not, Child.

Cam. This Lord has abused Men, Women, and Children already: What farther Plot he has, the Devil knows.

Duke. If thou can’st bring a Witness of thy Wrong,

(Else it would be Injustice to believe thee,

He having sworn against it;) thou shalt have,

I bind it with my Honour, Satisfaction

To thine own Wishes.

Viol. I desire no more, Sir.

I have a Witness, and a noble one,

For Truth and Honesty.

Rod.Go, bring him hither. [Exit Violante.

Henr. This lying Boy will take him to his Heels,

And leave me slander’d.

Rod. No; I’ll be his Voucher.

Henr. Nay then ’tis plain, this is Confederacy.

Rod. That he has been an Agent in your Service,

Appears from this. Here is a Letter, Brother,

(Produc’d, perforce, to give him Credit with me;)

The Writing, yours; the Matter, Love; for so,

He says, he can explain it.

Cam. Then, belike,

A young He-bawd.

Henr. This Forgery confounds me!

Duke. Read it, Roderick.

Rod. Reads.] Our Prudence should now teach us to

forget, what our Indiscretion has com­

mitted. I have already made one Step

towards this Wisdom — —

Henr. Hold, Sir.— My very Words to Violante!

[Aside.

Duke. Go on.

Henr. My gracious Father, give me Pardon;

I do confess, I some such Letter wrote

(The Purport all too trivial for your Ear,)

But how it reach’d this young Dissembler’s Hands,

Is what I cannot solve. For on my Soul,

And by the Honours of my Birth and House,

The Minion’s Face ’till now I never saw.

Rod. Run not too far in Debt on Protestation.—

Why should you do a Child this Wrong?

Henr. Go to;

Your Friendships past warrant not this Abuse:

If you provoke me thus, I shall forget

What you are to me. This is a meer Practice,

And Villany to draw me into Scandal.

Rod. No more; you are a Boy. — Here comes a Witness,

Shall prove you so: No more.—

Enter Julio, disguis’d; Violante, as a Woman.

Henr. Another Rascal!

Duke. Hold: —

Henr. Ha![Seeing Violante.

Duke. What’s here?

Henr. By all my Sins, the injur’d Violante. [Aside.

Rod. Now, Sir, whose Practice breaks?

Cam.Is