d."

"Ah, Mr. Gilbert! since first he went to Guinea after those poor
negroes, little lightness has my heart known; and the very day that that
crest was put up in our grand new house, as the parson read the first
lesson, there was this text in it, Mr. Gilbert, 'Woe to him that
buildeth his house by iniquity, and his chambers by wrong. Shalt thou
live because thou closest thyself in cedar?' And it went into my ears
like fire, Mr. Gilbert, and into my heart like lead; and when the parson
went on, 'Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice?
Then it was well with him,' I thought of good old Captain Will; and--I
tell you, Mr. Gilbert, those negroes are on my soul from morning until
night! We are all mighty grand now, and money comes in fast, but the
Lord will require the blood of them at our hands yet, He will!"

"My dearest madam, who can prosper more than you? If your husband copied
the Dons too closely once or twice in the matter of those negroes (which
I do not deny,) was he not punished at once when he lost ships, men, all
but life, at St. Juan d'Ulloa?"

"Ay, yes," she said; "and that did give me a bit of comfort, especially
when the queen--God save her tender heart!--was so sharp with him for
pity of the poor wretches, but it has not mended him. He is growing fast
like the rest now, Mr. Gilbert, greedy to win, and niggardly to spend
(God forgive him!) and always fretting and plotting for some new gain,
and envying and grudging at Drake, and all who are deeper in the
snare of prosperity than he is. Gold, gold, nothing but gold in
every mouth--there it is! Ah! I mind when Plymouth was a quiet little
God-fearing place as God could smile upon: but ever since my John, and
Sir Francis, and poor Mr. Oxenham found out the way to the Indies, it's
been a sad place. Not a sailor's wife but is crying 'Give, give,' like
the daughters of the horse-leech; and every woman must drive her
husband out across seas to bring her home money to squander on hoods and
farthingales, and go mincing with outstretched necks and wanton eyes;
and they will soon learn to do worse than that, for the sake of gain.
But the Lord's hand will be against their tires and crisping-pins, their
mufflers and farthingales, as it was against the Jews of old. Ah, dear
me!"

The two interlocutors in this dialogue were sitting in a low
oak-panelled room in Plymouth town, handsomely enough furnished, adorned
with carving and gilding and coats o