The Merry Devil eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 49 pages of information about The Merry Devil.

The Merry Devil eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 49 pages of information about The Merry Devil.

Sir Raph
Unreverend Friar—­

Hildersham
Nay, then give me leave, sir, to depart in quiet; I had
hoped you had sent for me to some other end.

Sir Arthur
Nay, stay, good Friar; if any thing hath hapd
About this matter in thy love to u,
That thy strickt order cannot justify,
Admit it be so, we will cover it. 
Take no care, man: 
Disclaim me yet thy counsell and advise,
The wisest man that is may be o’erreacht.

Hildersham
Sir Arthur, by my order and my faith,
I know not what you mean.

Sir Raph
By your order and your faith? 
This is most strange of all:  Why, tell me, Friar,
Are not you Confessor to my Son Francke?

Hildersham
Yes, that I am.

Sir Raph
And did not this good knight here and my self
Confess with you, being his ghostly Father,
To deal with him about th’ unbanded marriage
Betwixt him and that fair young Millisent?

Hildersham
I never heard of any match intended.

Sir Arthur
Did not we break our minds that very time,
That our device of making her a Nun
Was but a colour and a very plot
To put by young Mountchensey?  Ist not true?

Hildersham
The more I strive to know what you should mean,
The less I understand you.

Sir Raph
Did not you tell us still how Peter Fabell
At length would cross us, if we took not heed?

Hildersham
I have heard of one that is a great magician,
But he’s about the University.

Sir Raph
Did not you send your novice Benedic
To persuade the girl to leave Mountchensey’s love,
To cross that Peter Fabell in his art,
And to that purpose made him visitor?

Hildersham
I never sent my novice from the house,
Nor have we made our visitation yet.

Sir Arthur
Never sent him?  Nay, did he not go? 
And did not I direct him to the house,
And confer with him by the way? and did he not
Tell me what charge he had received from you,
Word by word, as I requested at your hands?

Hildersham
That you shall know; he came along with me,
And stays without.  Come hither, Benedic!

[Enter Benedic.]

Young Benedic, were you ere sent by me
To Chesson Nunnery for a visitor?

Benedic
Never, sir, truly.

Sir Raph
Stranger then all the rest!

Sir Arthur
Did not I direct you to the house? 
Confer with you
From Waltham Abbey unto Chesson wall?

Benedic
I never saw you, sir, before this hour.

Sir Raph
The devill thou didst not!  Hoe, Chamberlen!

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Merry Devil from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.