Second Serv. It hath a power to cross all wicked spells;
So that a man may sit next stool to th' devil,
If he can lay but slyly such a twig
Beneath his seat, nor suffer any harm.
First Serv. I wish there were some herb of secret power
To save from daily skaith of blund'ring fools:
I know beneath whose stool it should be press'd.
Get thee along! the feast smokes in the hall.
(Exeunt.
SCENE IV. A Saxon hall with the walls hung round with armour. Mollo, Ethelbert, Selred, Ethwald, Bertha, Sigurtha, and others, are discovered sitting round a table, on which stand goblets and flaggons, &c. after a feast.
Eth. Nay, gentle Bertha, if thou followest him,
Sheer off those lovely tresses from thy head,
And with a frowning helmet shade those eyes:
E'en with thy prowess added to his own,
Methinks he will not be surcharged of means
To earn his brilliant fortune in the field.
Ber. Nay, rather will I fill a little scrip
With sick-men's drugs and salves for fest'ring wounds,
And journey by his side, a trav'lling leech.
Sel. That will, indeed, no unmeet comrade be
For one whose fortune must be earn'd with blows
Borne by no substitutes.
