Clif. I pray you say not so.
Wal. But I will say so!
Because I think so, know so, feel so, sir!
Your fortune, I have heard, I think, is ample!
And doubtless you live up to't?
Clif. 'Twas my rule,
And is so still, to keep my outlay, sir,
A span within my means.
Wal. A prudent rule!
The turf is a seductive pastime!
Clif. Yes.
Wal. You keep a racing stud? You bet?
Clif. No, neither.
'Twas still my father's precept--"Better owe
A yard of land to labour, than to chance
Be debtor for a rood!"
Wal. 'Twas a wise precept.
You've a fair house--you'll get a mistress for it?
Clif. In time!
Wal. In time! 'Tis time thy choice were made.
Is't not so yet? Or is thy lady love
The newest still thou seest?
Clif. Nay, not so.
I'd marry, Master Walter, but old use -
For since the age of thirteen I have lived
In the world--has made me jealous of the thing
That flattered me with hope of profit. Bargains
Another would snap up, might be for me:
Till I had turned and turned them! Speculations,
That promised, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty,
Ay, cent-per-cent.
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