_Sir Dav._ Ha! whosoe'er thou art thou canst not eat me! speak to me, who has done this? Thou canst not say I did it. _Sir Jol._ Did it? did what? Here's nobody says you did anything that I know, neighbour; what's the matter with you? what ails you? whither do you go? whither do you run? I tell you here's nobody says a word to you. _Sir Dav._ Did you not see the ghost just now? _Sir Jol._ Ghost! pr'ythee now, here's no ghost; whither would you go? I tell you, you shall not stir one foot farther, man; the devil take me if you do. Ghost! pr'ythee, here's no ghost at all; a little flesh and blood, indeed, there is, some old, some young, some alive, some dead, and so forth; but ghost! pish, here's no ghost. _Sir Dav._ But, sir, if I say I did see a ghost, I did see a ghost, an you go to that; why, sure I know a ghost when I see one. Ah, my dear, if thou hadst but seen the devil half so often as I have seen him! _L. Dunce._ Alas, Sir Davy! if you ever loved me, come not, oh, come not near me; I have resolved to waste the short remainder of my life in penitence, and taste of joys no more. _Sir Dav._ Alas, my poor child! But do you think there was no ghost indeed? _Sir Jol._ Ghost! Alas-a-day, what should a ghost do here? _Sir Dav._ And is the man dead? _Sir Jol._ Dead! ay, ay, stark dead, he's stiff by this time. _L. Dunce._ Here you may see the horrid ghastly spectacle, the sad effects of my too rigid virtue, and your too fierce resentment-- _Sir Jol._ Do you see there? _Sir Dav._ Ay, ay, I do see; would I had never seen him; would he had lain with my wife in every house between Charing Cross and Aldgate, so this had never happened! _Sir Jol._ In truth, and would he had! but we are all mortal, neighbour, all mortal; to-day we are here, to-morrow gone; like the shadow that vanisheth, like the grass that withereth, or like the flower that fadeth; or indeed like anything, or rather like nothing: but we are all mortal. _Sir Dav._ Heigh! _L. Dunce._ Down, down that trap-door, it goes into a bathing-room; for the rest, leave it to my conduct. [BEAUGARD _descends_. _Sir Jol._ 'Tis very unfortunate that you should run yourself into this _premunire_,[53] Sir Davy. _Sir Dav._ Indeed, and so it is. _Sir Jol._ For a gentleman, a man in authority, a person in years, one that used to go to church with his neighbours. _Sir Dav._ Every Sunday truly, Sir Jolly. _Sir Jol._ Pay scot and lot to the parish. _Sir Dav._ Six pounds a year to the very poor, without abatement or deduction: 'tis very hard if so good a commonwealth's-man should be brought to ride in a cart at last, and be hanged in a sunshiny morning to make butchers and suburb apprentices a holiday; I'll e'en run away.