e,
When most you did expect a sunshine day,
My father's will would mar your hop'd-for hay;
And when you thought to reap the fruits of love,
His hard constraint would blast it in the bloom:
For he so doats on Peter Plod-all's pelf,
That none but he forsooth must be the man:
And I will rather match myself
Unto a groom of Pluto's grisly den,
Than unto such a silly golden ass.

CHURMS.
Bravely resolved, i' faith!

LELIA.
But, to be short--
I have a secret friend, that dwells from hence
Some two days' journey, that's the most;
And if you can, as well I know you may,
Convey me thither secretly--
For company I desire no other than your own--
Here take my hand:
That once perform'd, my heart is next.

CHURMS.
If on th'adventure all the dangers lay,
That Europe or the western world affords;
Were it to combat Cerberus himself,
Or scale the brazen walls of Pluto's court,
When as there is so fair a prize propos'd;
If I shrink back, or leave it unperform'd,
Let the world canonise me for a coward:
Appoint the time, and leave the rest to me.

LELIA.
When night's black mantle overspreads the sky,
And day's bright lamp is drenched in the west--
To-morrow night I think the fittest time,
That silent shade[s] may give us[159] safe convoy
Unto our wished hopes, unseen of living eye.

CHURMS.
And at that time I will not fail
In that, or ought may make for our avail.

NURSE.
But what if Sophos should meet you by the forest-side, and encounter
you with his single rapier?

CHURMS.
Sophos? a hop of my thumb!
A wretch, a wretch! Should Sophos meet
Us there accompani'd with some champion
With whom 'twere any credit to encounter,
Were he as stout as Hercules himself,
Then would I buckle with them hand to hand,
And bandy blows, as thick as hailstones fall,
And carry Lelia away in spite of all their force.
What? love will make cowards fight--
Much more a man of my resolution.

LELIA.
And on your resolution I'll depend.
Until to-morrow at th'appointed time,
When I look for you: till when I leave you,
And go make preparation for our journey.

CHURMS.
Farewell, fair love, until we meet again. Why so: did I not tell you she
would be glad to run away with me at length? Why, this falls out, e'en
as a man would say, thus I would have it. But now I must go cast about
for some money too. Let me see, I have outlawed three or four of Gripe's
debtors; and I have the bonds in mine own hands. The sum that is due to
him is some tw