_K. of Eng._ Now life and death dependeth on my sword: This hand now rear'd, my Douglas, if I list, Could part thy head and shoulders both in twain; But, since I see thee wise and old in years, True to thy king, and faithful in his wars, Live thou and thine. Dunbar is too-too small To give an entrance to the English king: I, eagle-like, disdain these little fowls, And look on none but those that dare resist. Enter your town, as those that live by me: For others that resist, kill, forage, spoil. Mine English soldiers, as you love your king, Revenge his daughter's death, and do me right. [_Exeunt_. SCENE IV.--_Near the Scottish Camp._ _Enter a_ Lawyer, _a_ Merchant, _and a_ Divine. _Law._ My friends, what think you of this present state? Were ever seen such changes in a time? The manners and the fashions of this age Are, like the ermine-skin, so full of spots, As sooner may the Moor be washèd white Than these corruptions banish'd from this realm. _Merch._ What sees Mas Lawyer in this state amiss? _Law._ A wresting power that makes a nose of wax Of grounded law, a damn'd and subtle drift In all estates to climb by others' loss; An eager thirst of wealth, forgetting truth. Might I ascend unto the highest states, And by descent discover every crime, My friends, I should lament, and you would grieve To see the hapless ruins of this realm. _Div._ O lawyer, thou hast curious eyes to pry Into the secret maims of their estate; But if thy veil of error were unmask'd, Thyself should see your sect do maim her most. Are you not those that should maintain the peace, Yet only are the patrons of our strife? If your profession have his ground and spring First from the laws of God, then country's right, Not any ways inverting nature's power, Why thrive you by contentions? why devise you Clauses, and subtle reasons to except? Our state was first, before you grew so great, A lantern to the world for unity: Now they that are befriended and are rich Oppress the poor: come Homer without coin, He is not heard. What shall we term this drift? To say the poor man's cause is good and just, And yet the rich man gains the best in law? It is your guise (the more the world laments) To coin provisos to beguile your laws; To make a gay pretext of due proceeding, When you delay your common-pleas for years. Mark what these dealings lately here have wrought: The crafty men have purchas'd great men's lands; They powl,[292] they pinch, their tenants are undone; If these complain, by you they are undone; You fleece them of their coin, their children beg, And many want, because you may be rich: This scar is mighty, Master Lawyer. Now war hath gotten head within this land, Mark but the guise. The poor man that is wrong'd