Inform 'em that. 2 Sol. So I will, sir. 1 Lord. Till then, I'll keep him dark, and safely lock'd SCENE II. Florence. A Room in the Widow's House. and DIANA. [Exeunt. Enter BERTRAM Ber. They told me, that your name was Fontibell. Dia. No, my good lord, Diana. Ber. Titled goddess: And worth it with addition! But, fair soul, If the quick fire of youth light not your mind, When you are dead, you should be such a one Dia. She then was honest. Ber. So should you be. Dia. No. My mother did but duty; such, my lord, Ber. No more of that! I pr'ythee, do not strive against my vows : By love's own sweet constraint, and will forever Dia. Ay, so you serve us, Till we serve you: but when you have our roses, Ber. How have I sworn ? Dia. 'Tis not the many oaths, that make the truth; But the plain single vow, that is vow'd true. What is not holy, that we swear not by, But take the Highest to witness: Then, pray you, tell me, I lov'd you dearly, would you believe my oaths, To swear by him whom I protest to love, That I will work against him: Therefore, your oaths Ber. Change it, change it; Be not so holy-cruel: love is holy; And my integrity ne'er knew the crafts, That you do charge men with Stand no more off, Who then recover: Say, thou art mine, and ever Dia. I see, that men make hopes, in such 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' the world In me to lose. Dia. Mine honour's such a ring : My chastity's the jewel of our house, Ber. Here, take my ring: My house, mine honour, yea, my life be thine, Dia. When midnight comes, knock at my chamber window; I'll order take, my mother shall not hear. My reasons are most strong; and you shall know them, A wife of me, though there my hope be done. Ber. A heaven on earth I have won,by wooing thee.[Ex. Dia. For which live long to thank both heaven and me! You may so in the end. My mother told me just how he would woo, As if she sat in his heart; she says, all men Have the like oaths: he had sworn to marry me, When his wife's dead; therefore I'll lie with him, The Florentine Camp. SCENE III. [Exit. Enter the two French Lords, and two or three Soldiers. 1 Lord. You have not given him his mother's letter? 2 Lord. I have delivered it an hour since: there is something in't that stings his nature; for, on the reading it, he changed almost into another man. 1 Lord. He has much worthy blame laid upon him, for shaking off so good a wife, and so sweet a lady. 2 Lord. Especially he hath incurred the everlasting displeasure of the king, who had even tuned his bounty to sing 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. 2 Lord. He hath perverted a young gentlewoman here in Florence, of a most chaste 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 unchaste composition. 1 Lord. Now, God delay 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, till they attain to their abhorred ends; so he, that in this action contrives against his own nobility, in his proper stream o'erflows himself. 1 Lord. Is it not meant damnable in us, to be trumpeters of our unlawful intents? We shall not then have his company to-night? 2 Lord. Not till after midnight; for he is dieted to his hour. 1 Lord. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him see his company anatomized; that he might take [5] Braid signifies crafty or deceitful. STEEV. [6] This is a very just and moral reason. Bertram, by finding how erroneously he has judged, will be less confident, and more easily moved by admonition. JOHNS. |