MED. Surely, Lady Joculette, you set him at a rate far above th' market? you value him not as if you meant to sell. JOC. No, nor buy neither. I have no property in such a rich pennyworth; for, if I had, I should wish---- MED. I know what, madam. JOC. Good now! thy conceit? MED. Shall I freely unbosom me? ALL. Pray thee, madam; do, madam! MED. You would wish that, his puny baker-legs had more Essex[178] growth in them, for else they would make ill butcher's ware! JOC. Thou art a shrewd wench, trust me. TIN. Well, ladies, I know a new-minted lord, that can act the Spanish Don, with a peaked beard and a starched look, to an hair. FRI. O Madam Tinder, I guess where you are; but he wants a little of your spirit. He can cringe and caress better than he dare fight. A lady's honour might perish under such a feverish champion. CAR. For love's sake, let's make haste. Nothing will be done till we come. _Enter_ CHRISTABEL _with a crutch_. CHRIS. Good madam landlady, take lame Christabel along with you; she means to have a bout for her ale-money. JOC. We shall not want, then, for handsome attendance. [_Exeunt._ SCENE VI. _Enter_ GENTLEMAN-USHER. G.-USHER. Give way! make present way for his excellence and his consuls. _Enter_ DUKE EUGENIO _and his Consuls. After them the deserted_ KNIGHTS; _the_ PLATONIC CONFIDANTS; _the_ ALIMONY LADIES; _the_ TUNIS ENGAGERS. DUKE. As we have view'd and clear'd our foreign coasts, We're now to prune those wild luxurious sprays, Which give impede unto this spreading vine, Our flow'ry Seville, whose succeeding fame, Acquir'd by civil[179] discipline, exacts Our care and yours, grave councillors of state. 'Tis not enough with balms to close the skin, And leave the wound t' exulcerate within; For he, whose care's to cure the core without And searcheth not the bottom, spoils the root. Let's first then look on vices, which put on The face of virtue; and where modesty (Merely dissembled) cloth'd with taking beauty, Arms itself strongly 'gainst all opposition. Nay, what retains ofttimes such influence On reverend scarlet, as it darks the light Of judgment; and makes elders fix their eyes On rare-light objects, which so strangely takes, As they make judges vice's advocates. But here's none such, I hope. Our state is free, And so our patriots and state-consuls be. Complaints inform us, and we wond'red much At th' first perusal, how a feminine nature, So sweetly pleasing, should be so deprav'd. FRI. What means the duke? [_Aside._ CAR. I relish not th' discourse. [_Aside._ DUKE. Have we not here some ladies o'th' New Dress, So newly styl'd, and in their honour soil'd, Who have deserted whom they ought to love? LADIES. Is this the court masque, and the ball we look'd for? [_Aside._ DUKE. Be you those ladies? CHRIS. I am one of them, forsooth. LADIES. We are the same, so like your excellence. And now redress'd.