narrow breeches, and walking underneath a window? I should know him again amongst a thousand.

Beat. Don Melchor, in my conscience, madam. Bel. This rogue will invent more stories of me, than e'er were fathered upon Lilly!

Mask. Will you confess, then? do you think I'll stain my honour to swallow a lie for you?

Bel. Well, a pox on you, I am an astrologer.
Beat. O, are you so, sir?

Theo. I hope then, learned sir, as you have been curious in enquiring into my secrets, you will be so much a cavalier as to conceal them.

Bel. You need not doubt me, madam; I am more in your power than you can be in mine: Besides, if I were once known in town, the next thing, for aught I know, would be to bring me before the fathers of the inquisition.

Beat. Well, madam, what do you think of me now? I have betrayed you, I have sold you! how can you ever make me amends for this imputation? I did not think you could have used me so

[Cries, and claps her hands at her. Theo. Nay, pr'ythee, Beatrix, do not cry; I'll leave off my new gown to-morrow, and thou shalt have it.

Beat. No, I'll cry eternally! you have taken away my good name from me; and you can never make me recompence- -except you give me your

new gorget too.

Theo. No more words; thou shalt have it, girl.
Beat. O, madam, your father has surprised us!

Enter Don ALONZO, and frowns.

Bel. Then, I'll begone, to avoid suspicion.
Theo. By your favour, sir, you shall stay a little;

the happiness of so rare an acquaintance ought to be cherished on my side by a longer conversation. Alon. Theodosia, what business have you with this cavalier?

Theo. That, sir, which will make you as ambitious of being known to him as I have been: Under the habit of a gallant, he conceals the greatest astrologer this day living.

Alon. You amaze me, daughter!

Theo. For my own part, I have been consulting with him about some particulars of my fortunes past and future; both which he has resolved me with that admirable knowledge

Bel. Yes, faith, sir, I was foretelling her of a disaster that severely threatened her: And-one thing I foresee already by my stars, that I must bear up boldly, or I am lost. [Aside. Mask. [To BEL.] Never fear him, sir; he's an ignorant fellow, and credulous, I warrant him.

Alon. Daughter, be not too confident in your belief; there's nothing more uncertain than the old prophecies of these Nostradamusses; but of what nature was the question which you asked him?

Theo. What should be my fortune in marriage. Alon. And, pray, what did you answer, sir? Bel. I answered her the truth, that she is in danger of marrying a gentleman without a fortune. Theo. And this, sir, has put me in such a frightAlon. Never trouble yourself about it, daughter; follow my advice, and I warrant you a rich husband.

Bel. But the stars say she shall not follow your advice: If it happens otherwise, I'll burn my folio volumes, and my manuscripts too, I assure you that, sir.

Alon. Be not too confident, young man; I know somewhat in astrology myself; for, in my young

er years, I studied it; and, though I say it, made some small proficiency in it.

Bel. Marry, heaven forbid! [Aside. Alon. And I could only find it was no way demonstrative, but altogether fallacious.

Mask. On what a rock have we split ourselves! Bel. Now my ignorance will certainly come out! Beat. Sir, remember you are old and crazy, sir; and if the evening air should take you- -beseech you, sir, retire.

Alon. Knowledge is to be preferred before health; I must needs discuss a point with this learned cavalier, concerning a difficult question in that art, which almost gravels me.

Mask. How I sweat for him, Beatrix, and myself too, who have brought him into this præmunire!

Beat. You must be impudent; for our old man will stick like a burr to you, now he's in a dispute.

Alon. What judgment may a man reasonably form from the trine aspect of the two infortunes in angular houses?

Bel. That's a matter of nothing, sir; I'll turn my man loose to you for such a question.

[Puts MASKALL forward.

Alon. Come on, sir. I am the quærent.

Mask. Meaning me, sir! I vow to God, and your worship knows it, I never made that science my study in the least, sir.

Bel. The gleanings of mine are enough for that: Why, you impudent rogue you, hold forth your gifts, or I'll-What a devil, must I be pestered with every trivial question, when there's not a master in town of any science, but has his usher for these mean offices?

Theo. Try him in some deeper question, sir; you see he will not put himself forth for this.

Alon. Then I'll be more abstruse with him: What think you, sir, of the taking Hyleg? or of the best way of rectification for a nativity? Have you been conversant in the Centiloquium of Trismegistus: What think you of Mars in the tenth, when 'tis his own house, or of Jupiter configurated with malevolent planets?

Bel. I thought what your skill was! to answer your question in two words, Mars rules over the martial, and Jupiter over the jovial; and so of the

rest, sir.

pay

Alon. This every school-boy could have told me. Bel. Why then you must not ask such schoolboy's questions. But your carcase, sirrah, shall for this. [Aside to MASKALL. Alon. You seem not to understand the terms, sir. Bel. By your favour, sir, I know there are five of them; do not I know your Michaelmas, your Hillary, your Easter, your Trinity, and your Long Vocation term, sir?

Alon. I do not understand a word of this jargon. Bel. It may be not, sir; I believe the terms are not the same in Spain they are in England.

Mask. Did one ever hear so impudent an ignorance?

Alon. The terms of art are the same every where. Bel. Tell me that! you are an old man, and they are altered since you studied them.

Alon. That may be, I must confess; however, if you please to discourse something of the art to me, you shall find me an apt scholar.

Ser. Sir

Enter a Servant to ALONZO.

[Whispers. Alon. Sir, I am sorry a business of importance.

calls me hence; but I'll wait on you some other time, to discourse more at large of astrology. Bel. Is your business very pressing?

Alon. It is, I assure you, sir.

Bel. I am very sorry, for I should have instructed you in such rare secrets! I have no fault, but that I am too communicative.

Alon. I'll dispatch my business, and return immediately; come away, daughter.

[Exeunt ALON. THEO. BEAT. and Serv. Bel. A devil on his learning; he had brought me to my last legs; I was fighting as low as ever was 'Squire Widdrington.

Mask. Who would have suspected it from that wicked elder?

Bel. Suspected it? why 'twas palpable from his very physiognomy; he looks like Haly, and the spirit Fircue in the fortune-book.

Enter WILDBLOOD.

Wild. How now, Bellamy! in wrath! pr'ythee, what's the matter?

Bel. The story is too long to tell you; but this rogue here has made me pass for an arrant fortuneteller.

Mask. If I had not, I am sure he must have passed for an arrant mad man; he had discovered, in a rage, all that Beatrix had confessed to me concerning her mistress's love; and I had no other way to bring him off, but to say he knew it by the pla

nets.

Wild. And art thou such an oaf to be vexed at this as the adventure may be managed, it may make the most pleasant one in all the carnival.

Bel. Death! I shall have all Madrid about me in these two days.

Wild. Nay, all Spain, i̇'faith, as fast as I can di