Page:Superstition play.djvu/20

Rave. Turn your eye—thither
Upon you haughty mansion—you have heard?—
Walf. Much idle rumour.
Rave. Do you deem it so.
Whence then, and who is this imperious dame,
That holds herself above her fellow creatures,
And scorns our church's discipline: her means—
Her business here?
Walf. The ignorant and envious
May find, in her superior intellect—
E'en in her ample wealth and proud reserve
Food for their hate, and therefore their suspicion;
But for us, Ravensworth—
Rave. No more, ere long,
These questions must be answer'd.
Walf. Be it so;
I shall be ready in all lawful ways
To seek the truth.
Rave. 'Tis well, we soon may need you.
What public tidings hear you?
Walf. That King Philip
Our savage foe, after his late defeat,
Has gained his rocky hold, where he now lies,
With scarce a fragment of his former force.
Rave. Where are our troops?
Walf. They watch the enemy.
Rave. They should have followed up their victory.
To the extermination of the heathen.—
Has there aught chanc'd in the village?
Walf. There have arrived
Two persons from the court of Charles.
Rave. More vanity!
What do they here?
Walf. The elder, it is said,
Brings letters to the government.
(Crosses to l. h.)
Rave. Charles Stuart,
Is growing much concern'd about the people