1    A father cruel, and a step-dame false;
2    A foolish suitor to a wedded lady,
3    That hath her husband banish'd;--O, that husband!
4    My supreme crown of grief! and those repeated
5    Vexations of it! Had I been thief-stol'n,
6    As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable
7    Is the desire that's glorious: blest be those,
8    How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills,
9    Which seasons comfort. Who may this be? Fie!

10   Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome,
11   Comes from my lord with letters.

12   Change you, madam?
13   The worthy Leonatus is in safety
14   And greets your highness dearly.

15   Thanks, good sir:
16   You're kindly welcome.

Aside
17    All of her that is out of door most rich!
18   If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare,
19   She is alone the Arabian bird, and I
20   Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend!
21   Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!
22   Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight;
23   Rather directly fly.

Reads
24    'He is one of the noblest note, to whose
25   kindnesses I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon
26   him accordingly, as you value your trust--
27   LEONATUS.'
28   So far I read aloud:
29   But even the very middle of my heart
30   Is warm'd by the rest, and takes it thankfully.
31   You are as welcome, worthy sir, as I
32   Have words to bid you, and shall find it so
33   In all that I can do.

34   Thanks, fairest lady.
35   What, are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes
36   To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop
37   Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt
38   The fiery orbs above and the twinn'd stones
39   Upon the number'd beach? and can we not
40   Partition make with spectacles so precious
41   'Twixt fair and foul?

42   What makes your admiration?

43   It cannot be i' the eye, for apes and monkeys
44   'Twixt two such shes would chatter this way and
45   Contemn with mows the other; nor i' the judgment,
46   For idiots in this case of favour would
47   Be wisely definite; nor i' the appetite;
48   Sluttery to such neat excellence opposed
49   Should make desire vomit emptiness,
50   Not so allured to feed.

51   What is the matter, trow?

52   The cloyed will,
53   That satiate yet unsatisfied desire, that tub
54   Both fill'd and running, ravening first the lamb
55   Longs after for the garbage.

56   What, dear sir,
57   Thus raps you? Are you well?

58   Thanks, madam; well.
To PISANIO
59   Beseech you, sir, desire
60   My man's abode where I did leave him: he
61   Is strange and peevish.

62   I was going, sir,
63   To give him welcome.

64   Continues well my lord? His health, beseech you?

65   Well, madam.

66   Is he disposed to mirth? I hope he is.

67   Exceeding pleasant; none a stranger there
68   So merry and so gamesome: he is call'd
69   The Briton reveller.

70   When he was here,
71   He did incline to sadness, and oft-times
72   Not knowing why.

73   I never saw him sad.
74   There is a Frenchman his companion, one
75   An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much loves
76   A Gallian girl at home; he furnaces
77   The thick sighs from him, whiles the jolly Briton--
78   Your lord, I mean--laughs from's free lungs, cries 'O,
79   Can my sides hold, to think that man, who knows
80   By history, report, or his own proof,
81   What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose
82   But must be, will his free hours languish for
83   Assured bondage?'

84   Will my lord say so?

85   Ay, madam, with his eyes in flood with laughter:
86   It is a recreation to be by
87   And hear him mock the Frenchman. But, heavens know,
88   Some men are much to blame.

89   Not he, I hope.

90   Not he: but yet heaven's bounty towards him might
91   Be used more thankfully. In himself, 'tis much;
92   In you, which I account his beyond all talents,
93   Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound
94   To pity too.

95   What do you pity, sir?

96   Two creatures heartily.

97   Am I one, sir?
98   You look on me: what wreck discern you in me
99   Deserves your pity?

100  Lamentable! What,
101  To hide me from the radiant sun and solace
102  I' the dungeon by a snuff?

103  I pray you, sir,
104  Deliver with more openness your answers
105  To my demands. Why do you pity me?

106  That others do--
107  I was about to say--enjoy your--But
108  It is an office of the gods to venge it,
109  Not mine to speak on 't.

110  You do seem to know
111  Something of me, or what concerns me: pray you,--
112  Since doubling things go ill often hurts more
113  Than to be sure they do; for certainties
114  Either are past remedies, or, timely knowing,
115  The remedy then born--discover to me
116  What both you spur and stop.

117  Had I this cheek
118  To bathe my lips upon; this hand, whose touch,
119  Whose every touch, would force the feeler's soul
120  To the oath of loyalty; this object, which
121  Takes prisoner the wild motion of mine eye,
122  Fixing it only here; should I, damn'd then,
123  Slaver with lips as common as the stairs
124  That mount the Capitol; join gripes with hands
125  Made hard with hourly falsehood--falsehood, as
126  With labour; then by-peeping in an eye
127  Base and unlustrous as the smoky light
128  That's fed with stinking tallow; it were fit
129  That all the plagues of hell should at one time
130  Encounter such revolt.

131  My lord, I fear,
132  Has forgot Britain.

133  And himself. Not I,
134  Inclined to this intelligence, pronounce
135  The beggary of his change; but 'tis your graces
136  That from pay mutest conscience to my tongue
137  Charms this report out.

138  Let me hear no more.

139  O dearest soul! your cause doth strike my heart
140  With pity, that doth make me sick. A lady
141  So fair, and fasten'd to an empery,
142  Would make the great'st king double,--to be partner'd
143  With tomboys hired with that self-exhibition
144  Which your own coffers yield! with diseased ventures
145  That play with all infirmities for gold
146  Which rottenness can lend nature! such boil'd stuff
147  As well might poison poison! Be revenged;
148  Or she that bore you was no queen, and you
149  Recoil from your great stock.

150  Revenged!
151  How should I be revenged? If this be true,--
152  As I have such a heart that both mine ears
153  Must not in haste abuse--if it be true,
154  How should I be revenged?

155  Should he make me
156  Live, like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets,
157  Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,
158  In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it.
159  I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure,
160  More noble than that runagate to your bed,
161  And will continue fast to your affection,
162  Still close as sure.

163  What, ho, Pisanio!

164  Let me my service tender on your lips.

165  Away! I do condemn mine ears that have
166  So long attended thee. If thou wert honourable,
167  Thou wouldst have told this tale for virtue, not
168  For such an end thou seek'st,--as base as strange.
169  Thou wrong'st a gentleman, who is as far
170  From thy report as thou from honour, and
171  Solicit'st here a lady that disdains
172  Thee and the devil alike. What ho, Pisanio!
173  The king my father shall be made acquainted
174  Of thy assault: if he shall think it fit,
175  A saucy stranger in his court to mart
176  As in a Romish stew and to expound
177  His beastly mind to us, he hath a court
178  He little cares for and a daughter who
179  He not respects at all. What, ho, Pisanio!

180  O happy Leonatus! I may say
181  The credit that thy lady hath of thee
182  Deserves thy trust, and thy most perfect goodness
183  Her assured credit. Blessed live you long!
184  A lady to the worthiest sir that ever
185  Country call'd his! and you his mistress, only
186  For the most worthiest fit! Give me your pardon.
187  I have spoke this, to know if your affiance
188  Were deeply rooted; and shall make your lord,
189  That which he is, new o'er: and he is one
190  The truest manner'd; such a holy witch
191  That he enchants societies into him;
192  Half all men's hearts are his.

193  You make amends.

194  He sits 'mongst men like a descended god:
195  He hath a kind of honour sets him off,
196  More than a mortal seeming. Be not angry,
197  Most mighty princess, that I have adventured
198  To try your taking a false report; which hath
199  Honour'd with confirmation your great judgment
200  In the election of a sir so rare,
201  Which you know cannot err: the love I bear him
202  Made me to fan you thus, but the gods made you,
203  Unlike all others, chaffless. Pray, your pardon.

204  All's well, sir: take my power i' the court
205  for yours.

206  My humble thanks. I had almost forgot
207  To entreat your grace but in a small request,
208  And yet of moment to, for it concerns
209  Your lord; myself and other noble friends,
210  Are partners in the business.

211  Pray, what is't?

212  Some dozen Romans of us and your lord--
213  The best feather of our wing--have mingled sums
214  To buy a present for the emperor
215  Which I, the factor for the rest, have done
216  In France: 'tis plate of rare device, and jewels
217  Of rich and exquisite form; their values great;
218  And I am something curious, being strange,
219  To have them in safe stowage: may it please you
220  To take them in protection?

221  Willingly;
222  And pawn mine honour for their safety: since
223  My lord hath interest in them, I will keep them
224  In my bedchamber.

225  They are in a trunk,
226  Attended by my men: I will make bold
227  To send them to you, only for this night;
228  I must aboard to-morrow.

229  O, no, no.

230  Yes, I beseech; or I shall short my word
231  By lengthening my return. From Gallia
232  I cross'd the seas on purpose and on promise
233  To see your grace.

234  I thank you for your pains:
235  But not away to-morrow!

236  O, I must, madam:
237  Therefore I shall beseech you, if you please
238  To greet your lord with writing, do't to-night:
239  I have outstood my time; which is material
240  To the tender of our present.

241  I will write.
242  Send your trunk to me; it shall safe be kept,
243  And truly yielded you. You're very welcome.