Enter TOUCHSTONE, GOLDING, and WOLF.
Touch.
I will receive no letters, Master Wolf; you shall pardon me.
Gold.
Good Father, let me entreat you.
Touch.
Son Golding, I will not be tempted; I find mine own easy nature, and I know not what a well-penn'd, subtle letter may work upon it; there may be tricks, packing, do you see? Return with your packet, sir.
Wolf.
Believe it, sir, you need fear no packing here; these are but letters of submission, all.
Touch.
Sir, I do look for no submission. I will bear myself in this like blind Justice. Work upon that now! When the sessions come, they shall hear from me.
Gold.
From whom come your letters, Master Wolf?
Wolf.
An 't please you, sir, one from Sir Petronel, another from Francis Quicksilver, and a third from old Security, who is almost mad in prison. There are two to your Worship; one from Master Francis, sir; another from the knight.
Touch.
I do wonder, Master Wolf, why you should travail thus, in a business so contrary to kind or the nature o' your place; that you, being the keeper of a prison, should labor the release of your prisoners; whereas, methinks, it were far more natural and kindly in you to be ranging about for more, and not let these scape you have already under the tooth. But they say you wolves, when you ha' suck'd the blood, once that they are dry, you ha' done.
Wolf.
Sir, your Worship may descant as you please o' my name; but I protest I was never so mortified with any men's discourse or behavior in prison; yet I have had of all sorts of men i' the kingdom under my keys; and almost of all religions i' the land, as Papist, Protestant, Puritan, Brownist, Anabaptist, Millenary, Family o' Love, Jew, Turk, Infidel, Atheist, Good Fellow, etc.
Gold.
And which of all these, thinks Master Wolf, was the best religion?
Wolf.
Troth, Master Deputy, they that pay fees best; we never examine their consciences farder.
Gold.
I believe you, Master Wolf. — Good faith, sir, here's a great deal of humility i' these letters!
Wolf.
Humility, sir? Ay. Were your Worship an eyewitness of it, you would say so. The knight will i' the Knights' Ward, do what we can, sir; and Master Quicksilver would be i' the Hole, if we would let him. I never knew or saw prisoners more penitent or more devout. They will sit you up all night singing of psalms, and edifying the whole prison; only Security sings a note too high sometimes, because he lies i' the Twopenny Ward, far off, and cannot take his tune. The neighbors can not rest for him, but come every morning to ask what godly prisoners we have.
Touch.
Which on 'em is 't is so devout, the knight or the tother?
Wolf.
Both, sir; but the young man especially. I never heard his like. He has cut his hair too. He is so well given, and has such good gifts. He can tell you almost all the stories of the Book of Martyrs, and speak you all the Sick Man's Salve without book.
Touch.
Ay, if he had had grace, he was brought up where it grew, iwis. — On, Master Wolf.
Wolf.
And he has converted one Fangs, a sergeant, a fellow could neither write nor read; he was called the Bandog o' the Counter; and he has brought him already to pare his nails and say his prayers; and 't is hop'd, he will sell his place shortly, and become an intelligencer.
Touch.
No more; I am coming already. If I should give any farther ear, I were taken. Adieu, good Master Wolf. — Son, I do feel mine own weaknesses; do not importune me. Pity is a rheum that I am subject to; but I will resist it. Master Wolf, "Fish is cast away that is cast in dry pools." Tell Hypocrisy it will not do; I have touch'd and tried too often; I am yet proof, and I will remain so. When the sessions come, they shall hear from me. In the meantime, to all suits, to all entreaties, to all letters, to all tricks, I will be deaf as an adder and blind as a beetle, lay mine ear to the ground, and lock mine eyes i' my hand against all temptations.
Exit.
Gold.
You see, Master Wolf, how inexorable he is. There is no hope to recover him. Pray you commend me to my brother knight, and to my fellow Francis [ giving money ]; present 'em with this small token of my love; tell 'em, I wish I could do 'em any worthier office; but, in this, 't is desperate: yet I will not fail to try the uttermost of my power for 'em. And, sir, as far as I have any credit with you, pray you let 'em want nothing; though I am not ambitious they should know so much.
Wolf.
Sir, both your actions and words speak you to be a true gentleman. They shall know only what is fit, and no more.
Exeunt.