The Toy Shop (1735) The King and the Miller of Mansfield (1737) Part 10

_Lure._ Whatever stains my Honour must be false.

_King._ I know it must, my Lord; yet has this Man, not knowing who I was, presum'd to charge your Lordship, not only with great Injustice to himself; but also with ruining an innocent Virgin whom he lov'd, and who was to have been his Wife; which, if true, were base and treacherous; but I know 'tis false, and therefore leave it to your Lordship to say what Punishment I shall inflict upon him, for the Injury done to your Honour.

_Lure._ I thank your Majesty. I will not be severe; he shall only ask my Pardon, and To-morrow Morning be oblig'd to marry the Creature he has traduc'd me with.

_King._ This is mild. Well, you hear your Sentence.

_d.i.c.k._ May I not have Leave to speak before your Majesty?

_King._ What can'st thou say?

_d.i.c.k._ If I had your Majesty's Permission, I believe I have certain Witnesses, which will undeniably prove the Truth of all I have accus'd his Lordship of.

_King._ Produce them.

_d.i.c.k._ _Peggy!_

_Enter_ PEGGY.

_King._ Do you know this Woman, my Lord?

_Lure._ I know her, please your Majesty, by Sight, she is a Tenant's Daughter.

_Peg_. [_Aside._] Majesty! What, is this the King?

_d.i.c.k._ Yes.

_King._ Have you no particular Acquaintance with her?

_Lure._ Hum----I have not seen her these several Months.

_d.i.c.k._ True, my Lord; and that is part of your Accusation; for, I believe, I have some Letters which will prove your Lordship once had a more particular Acquaintance with her. Here is one of the first his Lordship wrote to her, full of the tenderest and most solemn Protestations of Love and Constancy; here is another which will inform your Majesty of the Pains he took to ruin her; there is an absolute Promise of Marriage before he could accomplish it.

_King._ What say you, my Lord, are these your Hand?

_Lure._ I believe, please your Majesty, I might have had a little Affair of Gallantry with the Girl some Time ago.

_King._ It was a _little_ Affair, my Lord; a _mean_ Affair; and what you call Gallantry, I call Infamy. Do you think, my Lord, that Greatness gives a Sanction to Wickedness? Or that it is the Prerogative of Lords to be unjust and inhumane? You remember the Sentence which yourself p.r.o.nounc'd upon this innocent Man; you cannot think it hard that it should pa.s.s on you who are guilty.

_Lure._ I hope your Majesty will consider my Rank, and not oblige me to marry her.

_King._ Your Rank! my Lord. Greatness that stoops to Actions base and low, deserts its Rank, and pulls its Honours down. What makes your Lordship Great? Is it your gilded Equipage and Dress? Then put it on your meanest Slave, and he's as great as you. Is it your Riches or Estate? The Villian that should plunder you of all, would then be great as you. No, my Lord, he that acts greatly, is the true Great Man. I therefore think you ought, in Justice, to marry her you thus have wrong'd.

_Peg._ Let my Tears thank your Majesty. But, alas! I am afraid to marry this young Lord; that would only give him Power to use me worse, and still encrease my Misery: I therefore beg your Majesty will not command him to do it.

_King._ Rise then, and hear me. My Lord, you see how low the greatest n.o.bleman may be reduced by ungenerous Actions. Here is, under your own Hand, an absolute Promise of Marriage to this young Woman, which, from a thorough Knowledge of your Unworthiness, she has prudently refus'd to make you fulfil. I shall therefore not insist upon it; but I command you, upon Pain of my Displeasure, immediately to settle on her Five hundred Pounds a Year.

_Peg._ May Heaven reward your Majesty's Goodness. 'Tis too much for me, but if your Majesty thinks fit, let it be settled upon this much-injured Man, to make some Satisfaction for the Wrongs which have been done him. As to myself, I only sought to clear the Innocence of him I lov'd and wrong'd, then hide me from the World, and die forgiven.

_d.i.c.k._ This Act of generous Virtue cancels all past Failings; come to my Arms, and be as dear as ever.

_Peg._ You cannot sure forgive me!

_d.i.c.k._ I can, I do, and still will make you mine.

_Peg._ O! why did I ever wrong such generous Love!

_d.i.c.k._ Talk no more of it. Here let us kneel, and thank the Goodness which has made us blest.

_King._ May you be happy.

_Mil._ [_Kneels._] After I have seen so much of your Majesty's Goodness, I cannot despair of Pardon, even for the rough Usage your Majesty receiv'd from me.

[_The King draws his Sword, the Miller is frighted, and rises up, thinking he was going to kill him._

What have I done that I should lose my Life?

_King._ Kneel without Fear. No, my good Host, so far are you from having any thing to pardon, that I am much your Debtor. I cannot think but so good and honest a Man will make a worthy and honourable Knight, so rise up, Sir _John c.o.c.kle_: And, to support your State, and in some sort requite the Pleasure you have done us, a Thousand Marks a Year shall be your Revenue.

_Mil._ Your Majesty's Bounty I receive with Thankfulness; I have been guilty of no Meanness to obtain it, and hope I shall not be obliged to keep it upon base Conditions; for tho' I am willing to be a faithful Subject, I am resolv'd to be a free and an honest Man.

_King._ I rely upon your being so: And to gain the Friendship of such a one, I shall always think an Addition to my Happiness, tho' a King.

Worth, in whatever State, is sure a Prize Which Kings, of all Men, ought not to despise; By selfish Sycophants so close besieg'd, 'Tis by meer Chance a worthy Man's oblig'd: But hence, to every Courtier be it known, Virtue shall find Protection from the Throne.

FINISH.