John Bull Part 25

_Sir Simon._ Tell Mr. Rochdale to come to me directly.

_Serv._ Yes, Sir Simon. [_Sees JOB._] Hee! hee!

_Sir Simon._ Don't stand grinning, you b.o.o.by! but go.

_Serv._ Yes, Sir Simon. Hee! he! [_Exit._

_Job._ [_Reaching a Book from the Table._] "Burn's Justice!"

_Sir Simon._ And how dare you take it up?

_Job._ Because you have laid it down. Read it a little better, and, then, I may respect you more.--There it is.

[_Throws it on the Floor._

_Enter FRANK ROCHDALE._

_Sir Simon._ So, sir! prettily I am insulted on your account!

_Frank._ Good Heaven, sir! what is the matter?

_Sir Simon._ The matter! [_Points to JOB._] Lug that old bundle of bra.s.s out of my chair, directly.

[_FRANK casts his Eyes on THORNBERRY, then on the Ground, and stands abashed._

_Job._ He dare as soon jump into one of your tin-mines.

Bra.s.s!--there is no baser metal than hypocrisy: he came with that false coin to my shop, and it pa.s.s'd; but see how conscience nails him to the spot, now!

_Frank._ [_To SIR SIMON._] Sir, I came to explain all.

_Sir Simon._ Sir, you must be aware that all is explained already.

You provoke a brazier almost to knock me down; and bring me news of it, when he is fix'd as tight in my study, as a copper in my kitchen.

_Frank._ [_Advancing to JOB._] Mr. Thornberry, I----

_Job._ Keep your distance! I'm an old fellow; but if my daughter's seducer comes near me, I'll beat him as flat as a stewpan.

_Frank._ [_Still advancing._] Suffer me to speak, and--

_Job._ [_Rising from the Chair, and holding up his Cane._] Come an inch nearer, and I'll be as good as my word.

_Enter PEREGRINE._

_Pereg._ Hold!

_Job._ Eh! you here? then I have some chance, perhaps, of getting righted, at last.

_Pereg._ Do not permit pa.s.sion to weaken that chance.

_Job._ Oh, plague! you don't know;--I wasn't violent till----

_Pereg._ Nay, nay; cease to grasp that cane.--While we are so conspicuously bless'd with laws to chastise a culprit, the mace of justice is the only proper weapon for the injured.--Let me talk with you. [_Takes THORNBERRY aside._

_Sir Simon._ [_To FRANK ROCHDALE._] Well, sir; who may this last person be, whom you have thought proper should visit me?

_Frank._ A stranger in this country, sir, and----

_Sir Simon._ And a friend, I perceive, of that old ruffian.

_Frank._ I have reason to think, sir, he is a friend to Mr.

Thornberry.

_Sir Simon._ Sir, I am very much obliged to you.--You send a brazier to challenge me, and now, I suppose, you have brought a travelling tinker for his second. Where does he come from?

_Frank._ India, sir. He leap'd from the vessel that was foundering on the rocks, this morning, and swam to sh.o.r.e.

_Sir Simon._ Did he? I wish he had taken the jump with the brazier tied to his neck.

[_PEREGRINE and JOB come forward._

_Pereg._ [_Apart to JOB._] I can discuss it better in your absence.

Be near with Mary: should the issue be favourable, I will call you.

_Job._ [_Apart to PEREG._] Well, well! I will. You have a better head at it than I.----Justice! Oh, if I was Lord Chancellor, I'd knock all the family down with the mace, in a minute. [_Exit._

_Pereg._ Suffer me to say a few words, Sir Simon Rochdale, in behalf of that unhappy man. [_Pointing to where JOB was gone out._

_Sir Simon._ And pray, sir, what privilege have you to interfere in my domestic concerns?

_Pereg._ None, as it appears abstractedly. Old Thornberry has just deputed me to accommodate his domestic concerns with you: I would, willingly, not touch upon yours.

_Sir Simon._ Poh! poh! You can't touch upon one, Without being impertinent about the other.

_Pereg._ Have the candour to suppose, Sir Simon, that I mean no disrespect to your house. Although I may stickle, l.u.s.tily, with you, in the cause of an aggrieved man, believe me, early habits have taught me to be anxious for the prosperity of the Rochdales.

_Sir Simon._ Early habits!

_Pereg._ I happened to be born on your estate, Sir Simon; and have obligations to some part of your family.

_Sir Simon._ Then, upon my soul, you have chosen a pretty way to repay them!

_Pereg._ I know no better way of repaying them, than by consulting your family honour. In my boyhood, it seem'd as if nature had dropp'd me a kind of infant subject on your father's Cornish territory; and the whole pedigree of your house is familiar to me.

_Sir Simon._ Is it? Confound him, he has heard of the miller!

[_Aside._] Sir, you may talk this tolerably well; but 'tis my hope--my opinion, I mean, you can't tell who was my grandfather.

_Pereg._ Whisper the secret to yourself, Sir Simon; and let reason also whisper to you, that, when honest industry raises a family to opulence and honours, its very original lowness sheds l.u.s.tre on its elevation;--but all its glory fades, when it has given a wound, and denies a balsam, to a man, as humble, and as honest, as your own ancestor.

_Sir Simon._ But I haven't given the wound.--And why, good sir, won't you be pleased to speak your sentiments!

[_To FRANK, who has retired, during the above Conversation, to the Back of the Room._