Crime & punishment > Peveril of the peak, or, The days of Charles II

PEVERIL OF THE PEAK.
Act III.
Duke. Why, thou suspicious fool, think’st thou
I would spoil a plan so much to my own advantage. !
Chris. My lord, I know your grace as well, or v
better, haply, than you know yourself. To'spoil a :
well-digested plot, by some cross-sally of your own, !
would better please you than its success effected by ■
the schemes of others. But Shaftesbury, and all !
who hate the present measures of this French du- '
chess and her minions, are resolved; and, should \
you fail us, we have, within the city, friends who— i -
Duke. The city too! By my faith, Christian,, t,
your rule seems absolute. I marvel that the sober : \
inmates of the city would e’er pollute themselves by : •
intercourse with one so strictly virtuous as thyself. ■ ,
Chris. This is a wide world; and, let a man but t
rule his tongue, he may wear various forms, yet'
’scape detection ; and, should it follow, let him be :t
bold and useful to his cause and party, zeal will hide - ,
as many faults as e’er did charity.
Duke. Christian, not to flatter thee, thou art the ;
most barefaced knave who ever breathed.
Chris. Of a commoner I may be. Flattery, my i
lord, suits neither of us. My lord, your most hum- .
ble slave and servant. [Exit Christian.'
Duke. Farewell, most Christian Christian; and':
go thy ways for a profligate, designing villain. I’ll
find out this girl at all events. The knave shall be
dogged. Sail by thy compass, truly !—No, Buck- t
ingham must keep his own steerage through shoal
and through weather. [Exit, i
SCENE II—The Park.
Enter Julian and Lance Outram.
Jul. Now, Lance, while I deliver these dispatches,
according to the direction of the Countess, haste and