MOR.  Believe me, Forrest, thou hast well advis’d,
For I have heard of late much talk of him.

LACY.  Is not that Dunstan he who check’d the king
About his privy dealing with the nun,
And made him to do penance for the fault?

MOR.  The same is he; for whom I straight will send. 
Miles Forrest shall in post to Glastonbury,
And gently pray the abbot for my sake
To come to London.  Sure, I hope the heavens
Have ordain’d Dunstan to do Morgan good.

LACY.  Let us despatch him thither presently;
For I myself will stay for his return,
And see some end or other, ere I go.

MOR.  Come, then, Lord Lacy:  Forrest, come away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Enter BELPHEGOR, attired like a physician;
AKERCOCK, his man, in a tawny coat.

BEL.  Now is Belphegor, an incarnate devil,
Come to the earth to seek him out a dame: 
Hell be my speed! and so, I hope, it will. 
In lovely London are we here arrived;
Where, as I hear, the earl hath a fair daughter
So full of virtue and soft modesty,
That yet she never gave a man foul word.

AKER.  Marry, indeed, they say she cannot speak.

BEL.  For this cause have I taken this disguise,
And will profess me a physician,
Come up on purpose for to cure the lady: 
Marry, no may[434] shall bind me but herself,
And she I do intend shall be my wife.

AKER.  But, master, tell me one thing by the way: 
Do you not mean that I shall marry too?

BEL.  No, Akercock, thou shalt be still unwed;
For if they be as bad as is reported,
One wife will be enough to tire us both.

AKER.  O, then you mean that I shall now and then
Have, as it were, a course at base[435] with her.

BEL.  Not so, not so, that’s one of marriage’s plagues
Which I must seek to shun amongst the rest,
And live in sweet contentment with my wife,
That when I back again return to hell,
All women may be bound to reverence me
For saving of their credits, as I will. 
But who comes here?

    Enter CAPTAIN CLINTON.

CLIN.  This needs must tickle Musgrave to the quick,
And stretch his heart-strings farther by an inch,
That Lacy must be married to his love: 
And by that match my market is near marr’d
For Mariana, whom I most affect;
But I must cast about by some device
To help myself, and to prevent the earl.

BEL.  This fellow fitly comes to meet with me,
Who seems to be acquainted with the earl. [Aside. 
Good fortune guide you, sir!

CLIN.  As much to you.

BEL.  Might I entreat a favour at your hands?

CLIN.  What’s that?

BEL.  I am a stranger here in England, sir,
Brought from my native home upon report,
That the earl’s daughter wants the use of speech;
I have been practised in such cures ere now,
And willingly would try my skill on her. 
Let me request you so to favour me,
As to direct me to her father’s house.