SIR JO. Zooks, would the captain would come; the very remembrance makes
me quake; agad, I shall never be reconciled to this place heartily.
SHARP. ’Tis but trying, and being where I am at worst, now luck!—cursed
fortune! this must be the place, this damned unlucky place—
SIR JO. Agad, and so ’tis. Why, here has been more mischief done, I
perceive.
SHARP. No, ’tis gone, ’tis lost—ten thousand devils on that chance which
drew me hither; ay, here, just here, this spot to me is hell; nothing to
be found, but the despair of what I’ve lost. [_Looking about as in
search_.]
SIR JO. Poor gentleman! By the Lord Harry I’ll stay no longer, for I
have found too—
SHARP. Ha! who’s that has found? What have you found? Restore it
quickly, or by—
SIR JO. Not I, sir, not I; as I’ve a soul to be saved, I have found
nothing but what has been to my loss, as I may say, and as you were
saying, sir.
SHARP. Oh, your servant, sir; you are safe, then, it seems. ’Tis an ill
wind that blows nobody good. Well, you may rejoice over my ill fortune,
since it paid the price of your ransom.
SIR JO. I rejoice! agad, not I, sir: I’m very sorry for your loss, with
all my heart, blood and guts, sir; and if you did but know me, you’d
ne’er say I were so ill-natured.
SHARP. Know you! Why, can you be so ungrateful to forget me?
SIR JO. O Lord, forget him! No, no, sir, I don’t forget you—because I
never saw your face before, agad. Ha, ha, ha!
SHARP. How! [_Angrily_.]
SIR JO. Stay, stay, sir, let me recollect—he’s a damned angry fellow—I
believe I had better remember him, until I can get out of his sight; but
out of sight out of mind, agad. [_Aside_.]
SHARP. Methought the service I did you last night, sir, in preserving
you from those ruffians, might have taken better root in your shallow
memory.
SIR JO. Gads-daggers-belts-blades and scabbards, this is the very
gentleman! How shall I make him a return suitable to the greatness of
his merit? I had a pretty thing to that purpose, if he ha’n’t frighted
it out of my memory. Hem! hem! sir, I most submissively implore your
pardon for my transgression of ingratitude and omission; having my entire
dependence, sir, upon the superfluity of your goodness, which, like an
inundation, will, I hope, totally immerge the recollection of my error,
and leave me floating, in your sight, upon the full-blown bladders of
repentance—by the help of which, I shall once more hope to swim into your
favour. [_Bows_.]
SHARP. So-h, oh, sir, I am easily pacified, the acknowledgment of a
gentleman—
SIR JO. Acknowledgment! Sir, I am all over acknowledgment, and will not
stick to show it in the greatest extremity by night or by day, in
sickness or in health, winter or summer; all seasons and occasions shall
testify the reality and gratitude of your superabundant humble servant,
Sir Joseph Wittoll, knight. Hem! hem!
SHARP. Sir Joseph Wittoll?
SIR JO. The same, sir, of Wittoll Hall in _Comitatu_ Bucks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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