I lov'd you dearly, would you believe my oaths, That I will work against him. Therefore your oaths Ber. Change it, change it: Be not fo holy cruel; love is holy; That you do charge men with: stand no more off, Which then recover. Say, thou art mine, and ever Dia. I fee that men make hopes in fuch affairs Dia. Will you not, my lord? Ber. It is an honour 'longing to our house, Bequeathed down from many ancestors ; Which were the greatest obloquy i'th' world In me to lofe. Dia. Mine honour's such a ring; My chastity's the jewel of our house, In me to lose. Thus your own proper wisdom Ber. Here, take my ring: My house, my honour, yea, my life be thine, And I'll be bid by thee. Dia. When midnight comes, knock at my chamber-window; I'll order take, my mother fhall not hear. Now will I charge you in the band of truth, When you have conquer'd my yet maiden-bed, i Remain there but an hour, nor speak to me: My reasons are most strong, and you shall know them, A wife of me, though there my hope be done. [Exit. Dia. For which live long to thank both heav'n and me! You may fo in the end. As if fhe fat in's heart; fhe fays, all men My mother told me just how he would woo, Have the like oaths: he had fworn to marry me When his wife's dead: therefore I'll lie with him To cozen him that would unjustly win. SCENE III. [Exit. Enter the two French Lords, and two or three Soldiers. OU have not given him his mother's letter? 1 Lord. Y You 2 Lord. I have deliver'd it an hour fince; there is fomething in't that stings his nature; for, on the reading it, he chang'd almost into another man. I Lord. He has much worthy blame lay'd upon him for shaking off fo good a wife, and so sweet a lady. 2 Lord. Efpecially, he hath incurred the everlasting displeasure of the king, who had even tun'd his bounty to fing happiness to him. I will tell you a thing, but you shall let it dwell darkly with you. 1 Lord. When you have spoken it, 'tis dead, and I am the grave of it. VOL. II. Ddd 2 Lord. 2 Lord. He hath perverted a young gentlewoman here in Florence, of a moft chafte renown, and this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of her honour; he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchafte compofition. I Lord. Now god allay our rebellion! as we are ourselves, what things are we! 2 Lord. Merely our own traitors: and as in the common course of all treasons, we still see them reveal themselves, ere they attain to their abhorr❜d ends; so he that in this action contrives against his own nobility, in his proper ftream o'er-flows himself. I Lord. Is it not moft damnable in us to be the trumpeters of our unlawful intents? we fhall not then have his company to-night? 2 Lord. Not till after midnight; for he is dieted to his hour. I Lord. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him fee his companion anatomiz'd, that he might take a measure of his own judgment, wherein fo curiously he had fet this counterfeit. 2 Lord. We will not meddle with him till he come; for his prefence must be the whip of the other. you I Lord. In the mean time, what hear of these wars? 2 Lord. I hear, there is an overture of peace. I Lord. Nay, I affure you, a peace concluded. 2 Lord. What will count Roufillon do then? will he travel higher, or return again into France? 1 Lord. I perceive by this demand, you are not altogether of his council. 2 Lord. Let it be forbid, fir! fo fhould I be a great deal of his act. I Lord. Sir, his wife, fome two months fince, fled from his houfe; her pretence is a pilgrimage to faint Jaques le grand; which holy undertaking, with a moft auftere fanctimony, the accomplish'd: and, there refiding, the tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her grief; in fine, made a groan of her last breath, and now fhe fings in heaven. 2 Lord. How is this justified? I Lord. The stronger part of it by her own letters, which makes her her story true, even to the point of her death; her death itself (which could not be her office to fay, is come) was faithfully confirm'd by the rector of the place. 2 Lord. Hath the count all this intelligence? I Lord. Ay, and the particular confirmations, from point to point, to the full arming of the verity. 2 Lord. I am heartily forry that he'll be glad of this. 1 Lord. How mightily fometimes we make us comforts of our loffes ! 2 Lord. And how mightily some other times we drown our gain in tears! the great dignity, that his valour hath here acquired for him, fhall at home be encounter'd with a fhame as ample. I Lord. The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whip'd them not; and our crimes would defpair, if they were not cherish'd by our virtues. Enter a Servant. How now? where's your mafter? Ser. He met the duke in the ftreet, fir, of whom he hath taken a folemn leave: his lordship will next morning for France. The duke hath offered him letters of commendations to the king. 2 Lord. They fhall be no more than needful there, if they were more than they can commend. I Lord. They cannot be too fweet for the king's tartnefs: here's his lordship now. How now, my lord? is't not after midnight? Ber. I have to-night despatch'd fixteen businesses, a month's length a-piece, by an abstract of success: I have congeed with the duke, done my adieu with his nearest; buried a wife, mourn'd for her; writ to my lady mother, I am returning; entertain’d Ddd 2 my my convoy; and, between these main parcels of defpatch, effected many nicer needs: the last was the greatest, but that I have not ended yet. 2 Lord. If the bufinefs be of any difficulty, and this morning your departure hence, it requires hafte of your lordship. Ber. I mean, the business is not ended, as fearing to hear of it hereafter. But shall we have this dialogue between the fool and the foldier? come, bring forth this counterfeit medal; h'as deceiv'd me, like a double-meaning prophefier. 2 Lord. Bring him forth; h'as fat in the stocks all night, poor gallant knave. Ber. No matter; his heels have deferv'd it in ufurping his fpurs fo long. How does he carry himself? I Lord. I have told your lordship already: the ftocks carry him. But, to answer you as you would be understood, he weeps like a wench that had shed her milk; he hath confefs'd himself to Morgan, whom he supposes to be a friar, from the time of his remembrance to this very inftant difafter of his fetting i'th' stocks; and what, think you, he hath confefs'd? Ber. Nothing of me, has he? 2 Lord. His confeffion is taken, and it shall be read to his face; if your lordship be in't, as I believe you are, you must have the patience to hear it. SCENE V. Enter Parolles with his Interpreter. Ber. A plague upon him! muffled! he can fay nothing of me. 1 Lord. Hush! hoodman comes: Portotartaroffa. Inter. He calls for the tortures; what will you fay without 'em? Par. I will confefs what I know without constraint; if ye pinch me like a pafty, I can fay no more. Inter. Bofko chimurcho. I Lord. Biblibindo chicurmurco. |