_May_. Your lordship and the colonel do us great honour; pray, my lord, be pleased to sit down; pray, colonel, be pleased to sit. More wine here. _Fust_. I wish, Mr Trapwit, your actors don't get drunk in the first act. _Trap_. Dear sir, don't interrupt the rehearsal. _Place_. Gentlemen, prosperity to the corporation! _Fust_. Sir, I am a well-wisher to the corporation, and, if you please, will pledge his lordship:--success to your comedy, Mr Trapwit. [_Drinks_. _Trap_. Give me a glass--sir, here's to your tragedy. Now, pray, no more interruption; for this scene is one continual joke, and if you open your lips in it you will break the thread of the jest. _May_. My lord, we are sensible of your great power to serve this corporation, and we do not doubt but we shall feel the effect on't. _Place_. Gentlemen, you may depend on me; I shall do all in my power. I shall do you some services which are not proper at present to mention to you; in the meantime, Mr Mayor, give me leave to squeeze you by the hand, in assurance of my sincerity. _Trap_. You, Mr, that act my lord, bribe a little more openly, if you please, or the audience will lose that joke, and it is one of the strongest in my whole play. _Place_. Sir, I cannot possibly do it better at the table. _Trap_. Then get all up, and come forward to the front of the stage. Now, you gentlemen that act the mayor and aldermen, range yourselves in a line; and you, my lord and the colonel, come to one end and bribe away with right and left. _Fust_. Is this wit, Mr Trapwit? _Trap_. Yes, sir, it is wit; and such wit as will run all over the kingdom. _Fust_. But, methinks, colonel Promise, as you call him, is but ill-named; for he is a man of very few words. _Trap_. You'll be of another opinion before the play is over; at present his hands are too full of business; and you may remember, sir, I before told you this is none of your plays wherein much is said and nothing done. Gentlemen, are you all bribed? _Omnes_. Yes, sir. _Trap_. Then, my lord and the colonel, you must go off, and make room for the other candidates to come on and bribe too. [_Exeunt_ PLACE _and_ PROMISE. _Fust_. Is there nothing but bribery in this play of yours, Mr Trapwit?