]
SCENE III.--_A Library in_ DON JEROME'S _House_.
DON JEROME _and_ DON FERDINAND _discovered_.
_Don Jer_. Object to Antonio! I have said it. His poverty, can you
acquit him of that?
_Don Ferd_. Sir, I own he is not over rich; but he is of as ancient
and honourable a family as any in the kingdom.
_Don Jer_. Yes, I know the beggars are a very ancient family in most
kingdoms; but never in great repute, boy.
_Don Ferd_. Antonio, sir, has many amiable qualities.
_Don Jer_. But he is poor; can you clear him of that, I say? Is he not
a gay, dissipated rake, who has squandered his patrimony?
_Don Ferd_. Sir, he inherited but little; and that his generosity,
more than his profuseness, has stripped him of; but he has never
sullied his honour, which, with his title, has outlived his means.
_Don Jer_. Psha! you talk like a blockhead! nobility, without an
estate, is as ridiculous as gold lace on a frieze coat.
_Don Ferd_. This language, sir, would better become a Dutch or English
trader than a Spaniard.
_Don Jer_. Yes; and those Dutch and English traders, as you call them,
are the wiser people. Why, booby, in England they were formerly as
nice, as to birth and family, as we are: but they have long discovered
what a wonderful purifier gold is; and now, no one there regards
pedigree in anything but a horse.
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