of me! Well, you must have the money-yet upon my honour 'tis a very hard price. Times are very hard, provisions very dear! Well, well, you must have the money; dere ish the twenty ducats, and much good may you do with them!

Nic. And there is the necklace, and much good may it do you !

Bal. Well, they are pretty chrystals enough, very pretty chrystals indeed! It will do for my daughter Leah-or another very much like it. (Aside.) [Exit..

NICOLINO Solus.

but in driv

A lucky stroke of fortune will do more for a man in a minute than a week's drudgery. I might have had thirty, I believe, if I had stood out; ing a bargain I'm no match for a Jew. My trade is to catch fish his to snare men; and tho' I understand my business tolerably, I believe he's the more successful angler of the two.

AIR 6th.
I.

Most fish that inhabit the sea

With my net I can take now and then,
Yet how much more successful is he

Who can thrive as a fisher of men :

For tho' some are as simple as dace,
And greedy as gudgeons a few,
Yet I fancy that is not the case
With a lawyer, a maid, or a Jew.

H.

Your lawyer some say is a shark,
Yet he preys both by land and by water;
And perhaps 'twould be nearer the mark,
If we dubb'd him' a black alligator.
To catch him there is but one rule,
A rogue can best hamper his brother;
And they tell me, like pikes in a pool,
Your lawyers will bite one another.

IH.

For cunning a Jew has no match,
He'll slip through your hands like an eel;
And maids are still harder to catch,
When of youth the first blushes they feel:
But with patience an angler must wait
Till older and older they grow,

When like trouts they'll all rise at his bait,
Tho' a feather-the very first throw.

[Exit.

Scene

Enter Crier, People, and BALTHAZAR following.

Crier. "To all Catholic people: whereas divers " villains unknown, and whose persons cannot there"fore be described, have privately, and in open "defiance of all law, traitorously, libellously, "wickedly, maliciously, and flagitiously, being insti"gated by the prince of darkness, carried off or eloped with the Countess of Modena, that angel "of light."

66

Bal. Carried off a countess? Well, dat ish no business of mine!

Crier. "This is to give notice, that whoever will apprehend and discover, or discover and apprehend "these unchristian ravishers and violators, whether

66

66

male or female, shall receive a reward of one thou"sand ducats."

Bal. One thousand ducats? Oh,, dat ish business of every body's. My dear friend, did you say one thousand ducats?

Crier. Don't friend me-I wasn't speaking to you. -"To all Catholic people."

Bal. Yesh, but you should always read that part of a proclamation twice, which speaks of the reward -But did you say one thousand ducats?

Crier. A reward of one thousand ducats-one half to be paid on the fact being proved, and the other after release.

BAL. (Aside.) One thousand ducats-mercy on me, one thousand ducats!

Crier. "The countess, at the time of her being "carried off, had on a blue silk gown, several valu"able rings, and a diamond necklace."

Bal. Mercy on me, what does he say? a diamond necklace? My dear friend, do repeat that part of the proclamation, tho' I am not a Catholic-Did you say the countess had on a diamond necklace?

Crier. A blue gold-Psha! I wish you would not put me out. A blue silk gown, several valuable rings, and a diamond necklace. [Exit, with the people.

BALTHAZAR solus.

Mercy on me, what is this? The countess carried off and had on a diamond necklace? Then my dear friend Nicolino is a rogue! Caught it in his net! If this necklace should be the countess's, and it should be found upon me, the excellence of my character would hardly save my neck. I will go for the officers of justice-But then if I should bring my dear friend to the gallows? It would go against my conscience to hang my friend-but to hang myself,

that would be suicide. Oh! that would go more against my conscience. If one of us must be exalted, it is but common politeness to give the preference to my friend, which, in such a case, I am sure he would give to me.-I will go for the officers of justice.

AIR 7th.

When I wash a very little boy,

And sat on my father's knee,

He call'd me his darling, his pride, and his joy,
And my pretty Balthazar, said he,

Whilst you live, be more willing to borrow than lend,

For the world is a scramble for pelf.

And tho' you should now and then think of a friend, You must always remember yourself.

So I look'd something roguish, but made no reply, Yet my father was pleas'd with the turn of my eye, And my dear mother said,

As she patted my head,

I think that Balthazar will do bye and bye. [Exit.