always mistrust those wall-eyed saints.

Lewis. Beware, Sir Count; your keen and worldly witIs good for worldly uses, not to tiltWithal at holy men and holy things.He pleases well the spiritual senseOf my most peerless lady, whose discernmentIs still the touchstone of my grosser fancy:He is her friend, and mine: and you must love himEven for our sakes alone, [to a bystander] A word with you, sir.

[In the meantime Elizabeth and Conrad are talking together.]

Eliz. I would be taught—

Con. It seems you claim some knowledge,By choosing thus your teacher.

Eliz. I would know more—

Con. Go then to the schools—and be no wiser, madam;And let God’s charge here run to waste, to seekThe bitter fruit of knowledge—hunt the rainbowO’er hill and dale, while wisdom rusts at home.

Eliz. I would be holy, master—

Con. Be so, then.God’s will stands fair: ’tis thine which fails, if any.

Eliz. I would know how to rule—

Con. Then must thou learnThe needs of subjects, and be ruled thyself.Sink, if thou longest to rise; become most small—The strength which comes by weakness makes thee great.

Eliz. I will.

Lewis. What, still at lessons? Come, my fairest sister,Usher the holy man unto his lodgings. [Exeunt.]

Wal [alone]. So, so, the birds are limed:—Heaven grant that we do not soon see them stowed in separate cages. Well, here my prophesying ends. I shall go to my lands, and see how much the gentlemen my neighbours have stolen off them the last week,—Priests? Frogs in the king’s bedchamber! What says the song?

I once had a hound, a right good hound,A hound both fleet and strong:He ate at my board, and he slept by my bed,And ran with me all the day long.But my wife took a priest, a shaveling priest,And ‘such friendships are carnal,’ quoth he.So my wife and her priest they drugged the poor beast,And the rat’s bane is waiting for me.

SCENE III

The Gateway of a Convent. Night.

Enter Conrad.

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