_Sec._ What! landed at Cuckold's Haven! Hell and damnation! I will run back and drown myself. [_He falls down._ _Sl._ Poor man, how weak he is! the weak water has washed away his strength. _Sec._ Landed at Cuckold's Haven! If it had not been to die twenty times alive, I should never have 'scaped death! I will never arise more; I will grovel here and eat dirt till I be choked; I will make the gentle earth do that, which the cruel water has denied me. 49 _Sl._ Alas! good father, be not so desperate! Rise, man; if you will I'll come presently and lead you home. _Sec._ Home! shall I make any know my home, that has known me thus abroad? How low shall I crouch away, that no eye may see me? I will creep on the earth while I live, and never look heaven in the face more. [_Exit creeping._ _Sl._ What young planet reigns now, trow,[74] that old men are so foolish? What desperate young swaggerer would have been abroad such a weather as this, upon the water? Ay me! see another remnant of this unfortunate shipwreck, or some other. A woman, i'faith, a woman; though it be almost at St. Katherine's, I discern it to be a woman, for all her body is above the water, and her clothes swim about her most handsomely. O, they bear her up most bravely! has not a woman reason to love the taking up of her clothes the better while she lives, for this? Alas! how busy the rude Thames is about her! a pox o' that wave! it will drown her, i'faith, 'twill drown her! Cry God mercy, she has 'scaped it--I thank heaven she has 'scaped it! O how she swims like a mermaid! some vigilant body look out and save her. That's well said; just where the priest fell in, there's one sets down a ladder, and goes to take her up. God's blessing o' thy heart, boy! Now take her up in thy arms and to bed with her; she's up, she's up! She's a beautiful woman, I warrant her; the billows durst not devour her. 77 _Enter the_ Drawer _of the Blue Anchor,_[75] _with_ WINIFRED. _Dr._ How fare you now, lady? _Wi._ Much better, my good friend, than I wish; as one desperate of her fame, now my life is preserved. _Dr._ Comfort yourself: that power that preserved you from death can likewise defend you from infamy, howsoever you deserve it. Were not you one that took boat late this night, with a knight and other gentlemen at Billingsgate? _Wi._ Unhappy that I am, I was. 86