d, officers;
I will not thrust my finger in the fire.
Lay hands on him, I say: why step you back?
I mean to be the hindmost, lest that any
Should run away, and leave the rest in peril.
Stand forward: are you not asham'd to fear?

Y. ART. Nay, never strive; behold, I yield myself.
I must commend your resolution
That, being so many and so weapon'd,
Dare not adventure on a man unarm'd.
Now, lead me to what prison you think best.
Yet use me well; I am a gentleman.

HUGH. Truly, Master Arthur, we will use you as well as heart can think;
the justices sit to-day, and my master is chief: you shall command me.

BRA. What! hath he yielded? if he had withstood us,
This curtle-axe of mine had cleft his head;
Resist he durst not, when he once spied me.
Come, lead him hence: how lik'st thou this, sweet witch?
This fellow's death will make our mistress rich.

MRS SPLAY. I say, I care not who's dead or alive,
So by their lives or deaths we two may thrive.

HUGH. Come, bear him away.

[_Exeunt_.

SCENE III.

_A Room, in Justice Season's House_.

_Enter_ JUSTICE REASON, OLD MASTER ARTHUR,
_and_ OLD MASTER LUSAM.

JUS. Old Master Arthur and Master Lusam, so
It is that I have heard both your complaints,
But understood neither, for, you know,
_Legere et non intelligere negligere est_.

O. ART. I come for favour, as a father should,
Pitying the fall and ruin of his son.

O. LUS. I come for justice, as a father should,
That hath by violent murder lost his daughter.

JUS. You come for favour, and you come for justice:
Justice with favour is not partial,
And, using that, I hope to please you both.

O. ART. Good Master Justice, think upon my son.

O. LUS. Good Master Justice, think upon my daughter.

JUS. Why, so I do; I think upon them both;
But can do neither of you good;
For he that lives must die, and she that's dead
Cannot be revived.

O. ART. Lusam, thou seek'st to rob me of my son,
My only son.

O. LUS. He robb'd me of my daughter, my only daughter.

JUS. And robbers are flat felons by the law.

O. ART. Lusam, I say thou art a blood-sucker,
A tyrant, a remorseless cannibal:
Old as I am, I'll prove it on thy bones.

O. LUS. Am I a blood-sucker or cannibal?
Am I a tyrant that do thirst for blood?

O. ART. Ay, if thou seek'st the ruin of my son,
Thou art a tyrant and a blood-sucker.

O. LUS. Ay, if I seek the ruin of thy son,
I am indeed.

O. ART. Nay,