X-Git-Url: https://git.njae.me.uk/?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=shakespeare.txt;fp=shakespeare.txt;h=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hb=311b300d197536622980f7a837294d8245e326b4;hp=6b50bbfb220212a12910b578abc14b8e1010178b;hpb=d7224fba67d9f99c01bd78ef669c96189686e4c2;p=cipher-tools.git diff --git a/shakespeare.txt b/shakespeare.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6b50bbf..0000000 --- a/shakespeare.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,129107 +0,0 @@ -A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM - -Now , fair Hippolyta , our nuptial hour -Draws on apace : four happy days bring in -Another moon ; but O ! methinks how slow -This old moon wanes ; she lingers my desires , -Like to a step dame , or a dowager -Long withering out a young man's revenue . - -Four days will quickly steep themselves in night ; -Four nights will quickly dream away the time ; -And then the moon , like to a silver bow -New-bent in heaven , shall behold the night -Of our solemnities . - -Go , Philostrate , -Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments ; -Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth ; -Turn melancholy forth to funerals ; -The pale companion is not for our pomp . - -Hippolyta , I woo'd thee with my sword , -And won thy love doing thee injuries ; -But I will wed thee in another key , -With pomp , with triumph , and with revelling . - - -Happy be Theseus , our renowned duke ! - -Thanks , good Egeus : what's the news with thee ? - -Full of vexation come I , with complaint -Against my child , my daughter Hermia . -Stand forth , Demetrius . My noble lord , -This man hath my consent to marry her . -Stand forth , Lysander : and , my gracious duke , -This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child : -Thou , thou , Lysander , thou hast given her rimes , -And interchang'd love-tokens with my child ; -Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung , -With feigning voice , verses of feigning love ; -And stol'n the impression of her fantasy -With bracelets of thy hair , rings , gawds , conceits , -Knacks , trifles , nosegays , sweetmeats , messengers -Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth ; -With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart ; -Turn'd her obedience , which is due to me , -To stubborn harshness . And , my gracious duke , -Be it so she will not here before your Grace -Consent to marry with Demetrius , -I beg the ancient privilege of Athens , -As she is mine , I may dispose of her ; -Which shall be either to this gentleman , -Or to her death , according to our law -Immediately provided in that case . - -What say you , Hermia ? be advis'd , fair maid . -To you , your father should be as a god ; -One that compos'd your beauties , yea , and one -To whom you are but as a form in wax -By him imprinted , and within his power -To leave the figure or disfigure it . -Demetrius is a worthy gentleman . - -So is Lysander . - -In himself he is ; -But , in this kind , wanting your father's voice , -The other must be held the worthier . - -I would my father look'd but with my eyes . - -Rather your eyes must with his judgment look . - -I do entreat your Grace to pardon me . -I know not by what power I am made bold , -Nor how it may concern my modesty -In such a presence here to plead my thoughts ; -But I beseech your Grace , that I may know -The worst that may befall me in this case , -If I refuse to wed Demetrius . - -Either to die the death , or to abjure -For ever the society of men . -Therefore , fair Hermia , question your desires ; -Know of your youth , examine well your blood , -Whe'r , if you yield not to your father's choice , -You can endure the livery of a nun , -For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd , -To live a barren sister all your life , -Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon . -Thrice blessed they that master so their blood , -To undergo such maiden pilgrimage ; -But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd , -Than that which withering on the virgin thorn -Grows , lives , and dies , in single blessedness . - -So will I grow , so live , so die , my lord , -Ere I will yield my virgin patent up -Unto his lordship , whose unwished yoke -My soul consents not to give sovereignty . - -Take time to pause ; and , by the next new moon , -The sealing-day betwixt my love and me -For everlasting bond of fellowship , -Upon that day either prepare to die -For disobedience to your father's will , -Or else to wed Demetrius , as he would ; -Or on Diana's altar to protest -For aye austerity and single life . - -Relent , sweet Hermia ; and , Lysander , yield -Thy crazed title to my certain right . - -You have her father's love , Demetrius ; -Let me have Hermia's : do you marry him . - -Scornful Lysander ! true , he hath my love , -And what is mine my love shall render him ; -And she is mine , and all my right of her -I do estate unto Demetrius . - -I am , my lord , as well deriv'd as he , -As well possess'd ; my love is more than his ; -My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd -If not with vantage , as Demetrius' ; -And , which is more than all these boasts can be , -I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia . -Why should not I then prosecute my right ? -Demetrius , I'll avouch it to his head , -Made love to Nedar's daughter , Helena , -And won her soul ; and she , sweet lady , dotes , -Devoutly dotes , dotes in idolatry , -Upon this spotted and inconstant man . - -I must confess that I have heard so much , -And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof ; -But , being over-full of self-affairs , -My mind did lose it . But , Demetrius , come ; -And come , Egeus ; you shall go with me , -I have some private schooling for you both . -For you , fair Hermia , look you arm yourself -To fit your fancies to your father's will , -Or else the law of Athens yields you up , -Which by no means we may extenuate , -To death , or to a vow of single life . -Come , my Hippolyta : what cheer , my love ? -Demetrius and Egeus , go along : -I must employ you in some business -Against our nuptial , and confer with you -Of something nearly that concerns yourselves . - -With duty and desire we follow you . - - -How now , my love ! Why is your cheek so pale ? -How chance the roses there do fade so fast ? - -Belike for want of rain , which I could well -Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes . - -Ay me ! for aught that ever I could read , -Could ever hear by tale or history , -The course of true love never did run smooth ; -But , either it was different in blood , - -O cross ! too high to be enthrall'd to low . - -Or else misgraffed in respect of years , - -O spite ! too old to be engag'd to young . - -Or else it stood upon the choice of friends , - -O hell ! to choose love by another's eye . - -Or , if there were a sympathy in choice , -War , death , or sickness did lay siege to it , -Making it momentany as a sound , -Swift as a shadow , short as any dream , -Brief as the lightning in the collied night , -That , in a spleen , unfolds both heaven and earth , -And ere a man hath power to say , 'Behold !' -The jaws of darkness do devour it up : -So quick bright things come to confusion . - -If then true lovers have been ever cross'd , -It stands as an edict in destiny : -Then let us teach our trial patience , -Because it is a customary cross , -As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs , -Wishes and tears , poor fancy's followers . - -A good persuasion : therefore , hear me , Hermia . -I have a widow aunt , a dowager -Of great revenue , and she hath no child : -From Athens is her house remote seven leagues ; -And she respects me as her only son . -There , gentle Hermia , may I marry thee , -And to that place the sharp Athenian law -Cannot pursue us . If thou lov'st me then , -Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night , -And in the wood , a league without the town , -Where I did meet thee once with Helena , -To do observance to a morn of May , -There will I stay for thee . - -My good Lysander ! -I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow , -By his best arrow with the golden head , -By the simplicity of Venus' doves , -By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves , -And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen , -When the false Troyan under sail was seen , -By all the vows that ever men have broke , -In number more than ever women spoke , -In that same place thou hast appointed me , -To-morrow truly will I meet with thee . - -Keep promise , love . Look , here comes Helena . - - -God speed fair Helena ! Whither away ? - -Call you me fair ? that fair again unsay . -Demetrius loves your fair : O happy fair ! -Your eyes are lode-stars ! and your tongue's sweet air -More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear , -When wheat is green , when hawthorn buds appear . -Sickness is catching : O ! were favour so , -Yours would I catch , fair Hermia , ere I go ; -My ear should catch your voice , my eye your eye , -My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody . -Were the world mine , Demetrius being bated , -The rest I'd give to be to you translated . -O ! teach me how you look , and with what art -You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart . - -I frown upon him , yet he loves me still . - -O ! that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill . - -I give him curses , yet he gives me love . - -O ! that my prayers could such affection move . - -The more I hate , the more he follows me . - -The more I love , the more he hateth me . - -His folly , Helena , is no fault of mine . - -None , but your beauty : would that fault were mine ! - -Take comfort : he no more shall see my face ; -Lysander and myself will fly this place . -Before the time I did Lysander see , -Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me : -O ! then , what graces in my love do dwell , -That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell . - -Helen , to you our minds we will unfold . -To-morrow night , when Ph be doth behold -Her silver visage in the wat'ry glass , -Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass , -A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal , -Through Athens' gates have we devis'd to steal . - -And in the wood , where often you and I -Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie , -Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet , -There my Lysander and myself shall meet ; -And thence from Athens turn away our eyes , -To seek new friends and stranger companies . -Farewell , sweet playfellow : pray thou for us ; -And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius ! -Keep word , Lysander : we must starve our sight -From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight . - -I will , my Hermia . - -Helena , adieu : -As you on him , Demetrius dote on you ! - - -How happy some o'er other some can be ! -Through Athens I am thought as fair as she ; -But what of that ? Demetrius thinks not so ; -He will not know what all but he do know ; -And as he errs , doting on Hermia's eyes , -So I , admiring of his qualities . -Things base and vile , holding no quantity , -Love can transpose to form and dignity . -Love looks not with the eyes , but with the mind , -And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind . -Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste ; -Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste : -And therefore is Love said to be a child , -Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd . -As waggish boys in game themselves forswear , -So the boy Love is perjur'd every where ; -For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne , -He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine ; -And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt , -So he dissolv'd , and showers of oaths did melt . -I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight : -Then to the wood will he to-morrow night -Pursue her ; and for this intelligence -If I have thanks , it is a dear expense : -But herein mean I to enrich my pain , -To have his sight thither and back again . - - -Is all our company here ? - -You were best to call them generally , man by man , according to the scrip . - -Here is the scroll of every man's name , which is thought fit , through all Athens , to play in our interlude before the duke and the duchess on his wedding-day at night . - -First , good Peter Quince , say what the play treats on ; then read the names of the actors , and so grow to a point . - -Marry , our play is , The most lamentable comedy , and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby . - -A very good piece of work , I assure you , and a merry . Now , good Peter Quince , call forth your actors by the scroll . Masters , spread yourselves . - -Answer as I call you . Nick Bottom , the weaver . - -Ready . Name what part I am for , and proceed . - -You , Nick Bottom , are set down for Pyramus . - -What is Pyramus ? a lover , or a tyrant ? - -A lover , that kills himself most gallantly for love . - -That will ask some tears in the true performing of it : if I do it , let the audience look to their eyes ; I will move storms , I will condole in some measure . To the rest : yet my chief humour is for a tyrant . I could play Ercles rarely , or a part to tear a cat in , to make all split . - -The raging rocks -And shivering shocks -Shall break the locks -Of prison gates : -And Phibbus' car -Shall shine from far -And make and mar -The foolish Fates . - -This was lofty ! Now name the rest of the players . This is Ercles' vein , a tyrant's vein ; a lover is more condoling . - -Francis Flute , the bellows-mender . - -Here , Peter Quince . - -You must take Thisby on you . - -What is Thisby ? a wandering knight ? - -It is the lady that Pyramus must love . - -Nay , faith , let not me play a woman ; I have a beard coming . - -That's all one : you shall play it in a mask , and you may speak as small as you will . - -An I may hide my face , let me play Thisby too . I'll speak in a monstrous little voice , 'Thisne , Thisne !' 'Ah , Pyramus , my lover dear ; thy Thisby dear , and lady dear !' - -No , no ; you must play Pyramus ; and Flute , you Thisby . - -Well , proceed . - -Robin Starveling , the tailor . - -Here , Peter Quince . - -Robin Starveling , you must play Thisby's mother . Tom Snout , the tinker . - -Here , Peter Quince . - -You , Pyramus's father ; myself , Thisby's father ; Snug , the joiner , you the lion's part : and , I hope , here is a play fitted . - -Have you the lion's part written ? pray you , if it be , give it me , for I am slow of study . - -You may do it extempore , for it is nothing but roaring . - -Let me play the lion too . I will roar , that I will do any man's heart good to hear me ; I will roar , that I will make the duke say , 'Let him roar again , let him roar again .' - -An you should do it too terribly , you would fright the duchess and the ladies , that they would shriek ; and that were enough to hang us all . - -That would hang us , every mother's son . - -I grant you , friends , if that you should fright the ladies out of their wits , they would have no more discretion but to hang us ; but I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove ; I will roar you as 'twere any nightingale . - -You can play no part but Pyramus ; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man ; a proper man , as one shall see in a summer's day ; a most lovely , gentleman-like man ; therefore , you must needs play Pyramus . - -Well , I will undertake it . What beard were I best to play it in ? - -Why , what you will . - -I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard , your orange-tawny beard , your purple-in-grain beard , or your French-crown colour beard , your perfect yellow . - -Some of your French crowns have no hair at all , and then you will play bare-faced . But masters , here are your parts ; and I am to entreat you , request you , and desire you , to con them by to-morrow night , and meet me in the palace wood , a mile without the town , by moonlight : there will we rehearse ; for if we meet in the city , we shall be dogged with company , and our devices known . In the meantime I will draw a bill of properties , such as our play wants . I pray you , fail me not . - -We will meet ; and there we may rehearse more obscenely and courageously . Take pains ; be perfect ; adieu . - -At the duke's oak we meet . - -Enough ; hold , or cut bow-strings . - -How now , spirit ! whither wander you ? - - -Over hill , over dale , -Thorough bush , thorough brier , -Over park , over pale , -Thorough flood , thorough fire , -I do wander every where , -Swifter than the moone's sphere ; -And I serve the fairy queen , -To dew her orbs upon the green : -The cowslips tall her pensioners be ; -In their gold coats spots you see ; -Those be rubies , fairy favours , -In their freckles live their savours : - -I must go seek some dew-drops here , -And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear . -Farewell , thou lob of spirits : I'll be gone ; -Our queen and all her elves come here anon . - -The king doth keep his revels here to-night . -Take heed the queen come not within his sight ; -For Oberon is passing fell and wrath , -Because that she as her attendant hath -A lovely boy , stol'n from an Indian king ; -She never had so sweet a changeling ; -And jealous Oberon would have the child -Knight of his train , to trace the forests wild ; -But she , perforce , withholds the loved boy , -Crowns him with flowers , and makes him all her joy . -And now they never meet in grove , or green , -By fountain clear , or spangled starlight sheen , -But they do square ; that all their elves , for fear , -Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there . - -Either I mistake your shape and making quite , -Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite -Call'd Robin Goodfellow : are you not he -That frights the maidens of the villagery ; -Skim milk , and sometimes labour in the quern , -And bootless make the breathless housewife churn ; -And sometime make the drink to bear no barm ; -Mislead night-wanderers , laughing at their harm ? -Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck , -You do their work , and they shall have good luck : -Are you not he ? - -Fairy , thou speak'st aright ; -I am that merry wanderer of the night . -I jest to Oberon , and make him smile -When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile , -Neighing in likeness of a filly foal : -And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl , -In very likeness of a roasted crab ; -And , when she drinks , against her lips I bob -And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale . -The wisest aunt , telling the saddest tale , -Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me ; -Then slip I from her bum , down topples she , -And 'tailor' cries , and falls into a cough ; -And then the whole quire hold their hips and loff ; -And waxen in their mirth , and neeze , and swear -A merrier hour was never wasted there . -But , room , fairy ! here comes Oberon . - -And here my mistress . Would that he were gone ! - - -Ill met by moonlight , proud Titania . - -What ! jealous Oberon . Fairies , skip hence : -I have forsworn his bed and company . - -Tarry , rash wanton ! am not I thy lord ? - -Then , I must be thy lady ; but I know -When thou hast stol'n away from fairy land , -And in the shape of Corin sat all day , -Playing on pipes of corn , and versing love -To amorous Phillida . Why art thou here , -Come from the furthest steppe of India ? -But that , forsooth , the bouncing Amazon , -Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love , -To Theseus must be wedded , and you come -To give their bed joy and prosperity . - -How canst thou thus for shame , Titania , -Glance at my credit with Hippolyta , -Knowing I know thy love to Theseus ? -Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night -From Perigouna , whom he ravished ? -And make him with fair gle break his faith , -With Ariadne , and Antiopa ? - -These are the forgeries of jealousy : -And never , since the middle summer's spring , -Met we on hill , in dale , forest , or mead , -By paved fountain , or by rushy brook , -Or in the beached margent of the sea , -To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind , -But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport . -Therefore the winds , piping to us in vain , -As in revenge , have suck'd up from the sea -Contagious fogs ; which , falling in the land , -Have every pelting river made so proud -That they have overborne their continents : -The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain , -The ploughman lost his sweat , and the green corn -Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard : -The fold stands empty in the drowned field , -And crows are fatted with the murrion flock ; -The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud , -And the quaint mazes in the wanton green -For lack of tread are undistinguishable : -The human mortals want their winter here : -No night is now with hymn or carol blest : -Therefore the moon , the governess of floods , -Pale in her anger , washes all the air , -That rheumatic diseases do abound : -And thorough this distemperature we see -The seasons alter : hoary-headed frosts -Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose , -And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown -An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds -Is , as in mockery , set . The spring , the summer , -The childing autumn , angry winter , change -Their wonted liveries , and the mazed world , -By their increase , now knows not which is which . -And this same progeny of evil comes -From our debate , from our dissension : -We are their parents and original . - -Do you amend it then ; it lies in you . -Why should Titania cross her Oberon ? -I do but beg a little changeling boy , -To be my henchman . - -Set your heart at rest ; -The fairy land buys not the child of me . -His mother was a votaress of my order : -And , in the spiced Indian air , by night , -Full often hath she gossip'd by my side , -And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands , -Marking the embarked traders on the flood ; -When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive -And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind ; -Which she , with pretty and with swimming gait -Following ,her womb then rich with my young squire , -Would imitate , and sail upon the land , -To fetch me trifles , and return again , -As from a voyage , rich with merchandise . -But she , being mortal , of that boy did die ; -And for her sake I do rear up her boy , -And for her sake I will not part with him . - -How long within this wood intend you stay ? - -Perchance , till after Theseus' weddingday . -If you will patiently dance in our round , -And see our moonlight revels , go with us ; -If not , shun me , and I will spare your haunts . - -Give me that boy , and I will go with thee . - -Not for thy fairy kingdom . Fairies , away ! -We shall chide downright , if I longer stay . - - -Well , go thy way : thou shalt not from this grove -Till I torment thee for this injury . -My gentle Puck , come hither . Thou remember'st -Since once I sat upon a promontory , -And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back -Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath , -That the rude sea grew civil at her song , -And certain stars shot madly from their spheres -To hear the sea-maid's music . - -I remember . - -That very time I saw , but thou couldst not , -Flying between the cold moon and the earth , -Cupid all arm'd : a certain aim he took -At a fair vestal throned by the west , -And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow , -As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ; -But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft -Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon , -And the imperial votaress passed on , -In maiden meditation , fancy-free . -Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell : -It fell upon a little western flower , -Before milk-white , now purple with love's wound , -And maidens call it , Love-in-idleness . -Fetch me that flower ; the herb I show'd thee once : -The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid -Will make or man or woman madly dote -Upon the next live creature that it sees . -Fetch me this herb ; and be thou here again -Ere the leviathan can swim a league . - -I'll put a girdle round about the earth -In forty minutes . - - -Having once this juice -I'll watch Titania when she is asleep , -And drop the liquor of it in her eyes : -The next thing then she waking looks upon , -Be it on lion , bear , or wolf , or bull , -On meddling monkey , or on busy ape , -She shall pursue it with the soul of love : -And ere I take this charm off from her sight , -As I can take it with another herb , -I'll make her render up her page to me . -But who comes here ? I am invisible , -And I will overhear their conference . - - -I love thee not , therefore pursue me not . -Where is Lysander and fair Hermia ? -The one I'll slay , the other slayeth me . -Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood ; -And here am I , and wood within this wood , -Because I cannot meet my Hermia . -Hence ! get thee gone , and follow me no more . - -You draw me , you hard-hearted adamant : -But yet you draw not iron , for my heart -Is true as steel : leave you your power to draw , -And I shall have no power to follow you . - -Do I entice you ? Do I speak you fair ? -Or , rather , do I not in plainest truth -Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you ? - -And even for that do I love you the more . -I am your spaniel ; and , Demetrius , -The more you beat me , I will fawn on you : -Use me but as your spaniel , spurn me , strike me , -Neglect me , lose me ; only give me leave , -Unworthy as I am , to follow you . -What worser place can I beg in your love , -And yet a place of high respect with me , -Than to be used as you use your dog ? - -Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit , -For I am sick when I do look on you . - -And I am sick when I look not on you . - -You do impeach your modesty too much , -To leave the city , and commit yourself -Into the hands of one that loves you not ; -To trust the opportunity of night -And the ill counsel of a desert place -With the rich worth of your virginity . - -Your virtue is my privilege : for that -It is not night when I do see your face , -Therefore I think I am not in the night ; -Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company , -For you in my respect are all the world : -Then how can it be said I am alone , -When all the world is here to look on me ? - -I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes , -And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts . - -The wildest hath not such a heart as you . -Run when you will , the story shall be chang'd ; -Apollo flies , and Daphne holds the chase ; -The dove pursues the griffin ; the mild hind -Makes speed to catch the tiger : bootless speed , -When cowardice pursues and valour flies . - -I will not stay thy questions : let me go ; -Or , if thou follow me , do not believe -But I shall do thee mischief in the wood . - -Ay , in the temple , in the town , the field , -You do me mischief . Fie , Demetrius ! -Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex . -We cannot fight for love , as men may do ; -We should be woo'd and were not made to woo . - -I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell , -To die upon the hand I love so well . - - -Fare thee well , nymph : ere he do leave this grove , -Thou shalt fly him , and he shall seek thy love . - -Hast thou the flower there ? Welcome , wanderer . - -Ay , there it is . - -I pray thee , give it me . -I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows , -Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows -Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine , -With sweet musk-roses , and with eglantine : -There sleeps Titania some time of the night , -Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight ; -And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin , -Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in : -And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes , -And make her full of hateful fantasies . -Take thou some of it , and seek through this grove : -A sweet Athenian lady is in love -With a disdainful youth : anoint his eyes ; -But do it when the next thing he espies -May be the lady . Thou shalt know the man -By the Athenian garments he hath on . -Effect it with some care , that he may prove -More fond on her than she upon her love . -And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow . - -Fear not , my lord , your servant shall do so . - - -Come , now a roundel and a fairy song ; -Then , for the third of a minute , hence ; -Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds , -Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings , -To make my small elves coats , and some keep back -The clamorous owl , that nightly hoots , and wonders -At our quaint spirits . Sing me now asleep ; -Then to your offices , and let me rest . - -The Fairies sing . - - -I . - -You spotted snakes with double tongue , -Thorny hedge-hogs , be not seen ; -Newts , and blind-worms , do no wrong ; -Come not near our fairy queen . -Philomel , with melody , -Sing in our sweet lullaby : -Lulla , lulla , lullaby ; lulla , lulla , lullaby : -Never harm , -Nor spell , nor charm , -Come our lovely lady nigh ; -So , good night , with lullaby . - -II . - -Weaving spiders come not here ; -Hence , you long-legg'd spinners , hence ! -Beetles black , approach not near ; -Worm nor snail , do no offence . -Philomel , with melody , &c . - - -Hence , away ! now all is well . -One aloof stand sentinel . - -What thou seest when thou dost wake , -Do it for thy true-love take ; -Love and languish for his sake : -Be it ounce , or cat , or bear , -Pard , or boar with bristled hair , -In thy eye that shall appear -When thou wak'st , it is thy dear . -Wake when some vile thing is near . - -Fair love , you faint with wandering in the wood ; -And to speak troth , I have forgot our way : -We'll rest us , Hermia , if you think it good , -And tarry for the comfort of the day . - -Be it so , Lysander : find you out a bed , -For I upon this bank will rest my head . - -One turf shall serve as pillow for us both ; -One heart , one bed , two bosoms , and one troth . - -Nay , good Lysander ; for my sake , my dear , -Lie further off yet , do not lie so near . - -O ! take the sense , sweet , of my innocence , -Love takes the meaning in love's conference . -I mean that my heart unto yours is knit , -So that but one heart we can make of it ; -Two bosoms interchained with an oath ; -So then two bosoms and a single troth . -Then by your side no bed-room me deny , -For , lying so , Hermia , I do not lie . - -Lysander riddles very prettily : -Now much beshrew my manners and my pride , -If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied . -But , gentle friend , for love and courtesy -Lie further off ; in human modesty , -Such separation as may well be said -Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid , -So far be distant ; and , good night , sweet friend . -Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end ! - -Amen , amen , to that fair prayer , say I ; -And then end life when I end loyalty ! - -Here is my bed : sleep give thee all his rest ! - -With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd ! - - -Through the forest have I gone , -But Athenian found I none , -On whose eyes I might approve -This flower's force in stirring love . -Night and silence ! who is here ? -Weeds of Athens he doth wear : -This is he , my master said , -Despised the Athenian maid ; -And here the maiden , sleeping sound , -On the dank and dirty ground . -Pretty soul ! she durst not lie -Near this lack-love , this kill-courtesy . - -Churl , upon thy eyes I throw -All the power this charm doth owe . -When thou wak'st , let love forbid -Sleep his seat on thy eyelid : -So awake when I am gone ; -For I must now to Oberon . - - -Stay , though thou kill me , sweet Demetrius . - -I charge thee , hence , and do not haunt me thus . - -O ! wilt thou darkling leave me ? do not so . - -Stay , on thy peril : I alone will go . - - -O ! I am out of breath in this fond chase . -The more my prayer , the lesser is my grace . -Happy is Hermia , wheresoe'er she lies ; -For she hath blessed and attractive eyes . -How came her eyes so bright ? Not with salt tears : -If so , my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers . -No , no , I am as ugly as a bear ; -For beasts that meet me run away for fear ; -Therefore no marvel though Demetrius -Do , as a monster , fly my presence thus . -What wicked and dissembling glass of mine -Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne ? -But who is here ? Lysander ! on the ground ! -Dead ? or asleep ? I see no blood , no wound . -Lysander , if you live , good sir , awake . - -And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake . -Transparent Helena ! Nature shows art , -That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart . -Where is Demetrius ? O ! how fit a word -Is that vile name to perish on my sword . - -Do not say so , Lysander ; say not so . -What though he love your Hermia ? Lord ! what though ? -Yet Hermia still loves you : then be content . - -Content with Hermia ! No : I do repent -The tedious minutes I with her have spent . -Not Hermia , but Helena I love : -Who will not change a raven for a dove ? -The will of man is by his reason sway'd , -And reason says you are the worthier maid . -Things growing are not ripe until their season ; -So I , being young , till now ripe not to reason ; -And touching now the point of human skill , -Reason becomes the marshal to my will , -And leads me to your eyes ; where I o'erlook -Love's stories written in love's richest book . - -Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born ? -When at your hands did I deserve this scorn ? -Is't not enough , is't not enough , young man , -That I did never , no , nor never can , -Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye , -But you must flout my insufficiency ? -Good troth , you do me wrong , good sooth , you do , -In such disdainful manner me to woo . -But fare you well : perforce I must confess -I thought you lord of more true gentleness . -O ! that a lady of one man refus'd , -Should of another therefore be abus'd . - - -She sees not Hermia . Hermia , sleep thou there ; -And never mayst thou come Lysander near . -For , as a surfeit of the sweetest things -The deepest loathing to the stomach brings ; -Or , as the heresies that men do leave -Are hated most of those they did deceive : -So thou , my surfeit and my heresy , -Of all be hated , but the most of me ! -And , all my powers , address your love and might -To honour Helen , and to be her knight . - - -Help me , Lysander , help me ! do thy best -To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast . -Ay me , for pity ! what a dream was here ! -Lysander , look how I do quake with fear : -Methought a serpent eat my heart away , -And you sat smiling at his cruel prey . -Lysander ! what ! remov'd ?Lysander ! lord ! -What ! out of hearing ? gone ? no sound , no word ? -Alack ! where are you ? speak , an if you hear ; -Speak , of all loves ! I swound almost with fear . -No ! then I well perceive you are not nigh : -Either death or you I'll find immediately . - -Are we all met ? - -Pat , pat ; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal . This green plot shall be our stage , this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house ; and we will do it in action as we will do it before the duke . - -Peter Quince , - -What sayst thou , bully Bottom ? - -There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisby that will never please . First , Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself , which the ladies cannot abide . How answer you that ? - -By'r lakin , a parlous fear . - -I believe we must leave the killing out , when all is done . - -Not a whit : I have a device to make all well . Write me a prologue ; and let the prologue seem to say , we will do no harm with our swords , and that Pyramus is not killed indeed ; and , for the more better assurance , tell them that I , Pyramus , am not Pyramus , but Bottom the weaver : this will put them out of fear . - -Well , we will have such a prologue , and it shall be written in eight and six . - -No , make it two more : let it be written in eight and eight . - -Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion ? - -I fear it , I promise you . - -Masters , you ought to consider with yourselves : to bring in ,God shield us !a lion among ladies , is a most dreadful thing ; for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living , and we ought to look to it . - -Therefore , another prologue must tell he is not a lion . - -Nay , you must name his name , and half his face must be seen through the lion's neck ; and he himself must speak through , saying thus , or to the same defect , 'Ladies ,' or , 'Fair ladies ,' 'I would wish you ,' or , 'I would request you ,' or , 'I would entreat you , not to fear , not to tremble : my life for yours . If you think I come hither as a lion , it were pity of my life : no , I am no such thing : I am a man as other men are ;' and there indeed let him name his name , and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner . - -Well , it shall be so . But there is two hard things , that is , to bring the moonlight into a chamber ; for , you know , Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight . - -Doth the moon shine that night we play our play ? - -A calendar , a calendar ! look in the almanack ; find out moonshine , find out moonshine . - -Yes , it doth shine that night . - -Why , then may you leave a casement of the great chamber-window , where we play , open ; and the moon may shine in at the casement . - -Ay ; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lanthorn , and say he comes to disfigure , or to present , the person of Moonshine . Then , there is another thing : we must have a wall in the great chamber ; for Pyramus and Thisby , says the story , did talk through the chink of a wall . - -You can never bring in a wall . What say you , Bottom ? - -Some man or other must present Wall ; and let him have some plaster , or some loam , or some rough-cast about him , to signify wall ; and let him hold his fingers thus , and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper . - -If that may be , than all is well . Come , sit down , every mother's son , and rehearse your parts . Pyramus , you begin : when you have spoken your speech , enter into that brake ; and so every one according to his cue . - - -What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here , -So near the cradle of the fairy queen ? -What ! a play toward ; I'll be an auditor ; -An actor too perhaps , if I see cause . - -Speak , Pyramus .Thisby , stand forth . - -Thisby , the flowers have odious savours sweet , - -Odorous , odorous . - -odours savours sweet : -So hath thy breath , my dearest Thisby dear . But hark , a voice ! stay thou but here awhile , -And by and by I will to thee appear . - - -A stranger Pyramus than e'er play'd here ! - - -Must I speak now ? - -Ay , marry , must you ; for you must understand , he goes but to see a noise that he heard , and is to come again . - -Most radiant Pyramus , most lily-white of hue , -Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier , -Most brisky juvenal , and eke most lovely Jew , -As true as truest horse that yet would never tire , -I'll meet thee , Pyramus , at Ninny's tomb . - -'Ninus' tomb ,' man . Why , you must not speak that yet ; that you answer to Pyramus : you speak all your part at once , cues and all . Pyramus , enter : your cue is past ; it is 'never tire .' - -O !As true as truest horse , that yet would never tire . - - -If I were , fair Thisby , I were only thine . - -O monstrous ! O strange ! we are haunted . -Pray , masters ! fly , masters !Help ! - - -I'll follow you , I'll lead you about a round , -Through bog , through bush , through brake , through brier : -Sometime a horse I'll be , sometime a hound , -A hog , a headless bear , sometime a fire ; -And neigh , and bark , and grunt , and roar , and burn , -Like horse , hound , hog , bear , fire , at every turn . - - -Why do they run away ? this is a knavery of them to make me afeard . - - -O Bottom , thou art changed ! what do I see on thee ? - -What do you see ? you see an ass-head of your own , do you ? - -Bless thee , Bottom ! bless thee ! thou art translated . - - -I see their knavery : this is to make an ass of me ; to fright me , if they could . But I will not stir from this place , do what they can : I will walk up and down here , and I will sing , that they shall hear I am not afraid . - -The ousel-cock , so black of hue , -With orange-tawny bill , -The throstle with his note so true , -The wren with little quill . - - -What angel wakes me from my flowery bed ? - - -The finch , the sparrow , and the lark , -The plain-song cuckoo gray , -Whose note full many a man doth mark , -And dares not answer , nay ; - -for indeed , who would set his wit to so foolish a bird ? who would give a bird the lie , though he cry 'cuckoo' never so ? - -I pray thee , gentle mortal , sing again : -Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note ; -So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape ; -And thy fair virtue's force , perforce , doth move me , -On the first view , to say , to swear , I love thee . - -Methinks , mistress , you should have little reason for that : and yet , to say the truth , reason and love keep little company together now-a-days . The more the pity , that some honest neighbours will not make them friends . Nay , I can gleek upon occasion . - -Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful . - -Not so , neither ; but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood , I have enough to serve mine own turn . - -Out of this wood do not desire to go : -Thou shalt remain here , whe'r thou wilt or no . -I am a spirit of no common rate ; -The summer still doth tend upon my state ; -And I do love thee : therefore , go with me ; -I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee , -And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep , -And sing , while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep : -And I will purge thy mortal grossness so -That thou shalt like an airy spirit go . -Pease-blossom ! Cobweb ! Moth ! and Mustardseed ! - - -Ready . - -And I . - -And I . - -And I . - -Where shall we go ? - -Be kind and courteous to this gentleman ; -Hop in his walks , and gambol in his eyes ; -Feed him with apricocks and dewberries , -With purple grapes , green figs , and mulberries . -The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees , -And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs , -And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes , -To have my love to bed , and to arise ; -And pluck the wings from painted butterflies -To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes : -Nod to him , elves , and do him courtesies . - -Hail , mortal ! - -Hail ! - -Hail ! - -Hail ! - -I cry your worships mercy , heartily : I beseech your worship's name . - -Cobweb . - -I shall desire you of more acquaintance , good Master Cobweb : if I out my finger , I shall make bold with you . Your name , honest gentleman ? - -Pease-blossom . - -I pray you , commend me to Mistress Squash , your mother , and to Master Peascod , your father . Good Master Pease-blossom , I shall desire you of more acquaintance too . Your name , I beseech you , sir ? - -Mustard-seed . - -Good Master Mustard-seed , I know your patience well : that same cowardly , giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house . I promise you , your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now . I desire you of more acquaintance , good Master Mustard-seed . - -Come , wait upon him ; lead him to my bower . -The moon methinks , looks with a watery eye ; -And when she weeps , weeps every little flower , -Lamenting some enforced chastity . -Tie up my love's tongue , bring him silently . - - -I wonder if Titania be awak'd ; -Then , what it was that next came in her eye , -Which she must dote on in extremity . -Here comes my messenger . - - -How now , mad spirit ! - -What night-rule now about this haunted grove ? - -My mistress with a monster is in love . -Near to her close and consecrated bower , -While she was in her dull and sleeping hour , -A crew of patches , rude mechanicals , -That work for bread upon Athenian stalls , -Were met together to rehearse a play -Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day . -The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort , -Who Pyramus presented in their sport -Forsook his scene , and enter'd in a brake , -When I did him at this advantage take ; -An ass's nowl I fixed on his head : -Anon his Thisbe must be answered , -And forth my mimick comes . When they him spy , -As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye , -Or russet-pated choughs , many in sort , -Rising and cawing at the gun's report , -Sever themselves , and madly sweep the sky ; -So , at his sight , away his fellows fly , -And , at our stamp , here o'er and o'er one falls ; -He murder cries , and help from Athens calls . -Their sense thus weak , lost with their fears thus strong , -Made senseless things begin to do them wrong ; -For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch ; -Some sleeves , some hats , from yielders all things catch . -I led them on in this distracted fear , -And left sweet Pyramus translated there ; -When in that moment , so it came to pass , -Titania wak'd and straightway lov'd an ass . - -This falls out better than I could devise . -But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes -With the love-juice , as I did bid thee do ? - -I took him sleeping ,that is finish'd too , -And the Athenian woman by his side ; -That , when he wak'd , of force she must be ey'd . - - -Stand close : this is the same Athenian . - -This is the woman ; but not this the man . - -O ! why rebuke you him that loves you so ? -Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe . - -Now I but chide ; but I should use thee worse , -For thou , I fear , hast given me cause to curse . -If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep , -Being o'er shoes in blood , plunge in knee deep , -And kill me too . -The sun was not so true unto the day -As he to me . Would he have stol'n away -From sleeping Hermia ? I'll believe as soon -This whole earth may be bor'd , and that the moon -May through the centre creep , and so displease -Her brother's noontide with the Antipodes . -It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him ; -So should a murderer look , so dead , so grim . - -So should the murder'd look , and so should I , -Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty ; -Yet you , the murderer , look as bright , as clear , -As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere . - -What's this to my Lysander ? where is he ? -Ah ! good Demetrius , wilt thou give him me ? - -I had rather give his carcass to my hounds . - -Out , dog ! out , cur ! thou driv'st me past the bounds -Of maiden's patience . Hast thou slain him then ? -Henceforth be never number'd among men ! -O ! once tell true , tell true , e'en for my sake ; -Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake , -And hast thou kill'd him sleeping ? O brave touch ! -Could not a worm , an adder , do so much ? -An adder did it ; for with doubler tongue -Than thine , thou serpent , never adder stung . - -You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood : -I am not guilty of Lysander's blood , -Nor is he dead , for aught that I can tell . - -I pray thee , tell me then that he is well . - -An if I could , what should I get therefore ? - -A privilege never to see me more . -And from thy hated presence part I so ; -See me no more , whe'r he be dead or no . - - -There is no following her in this fierce vein : -Here therefore for awhile I will remain . -So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow -For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe ; -Which now in some slight measure it will pay , -If for his tender here I make some stay . - - -What hast thou done ? thou hast mistaken quite , -And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight : -Of thy misprision must perforce ensue -Some true-love turn'd , and not a false turn'd true . - -Then fate o'er-rules , that , one man holding troth , -A million fail , confounding oath on oath . - -About the wood go swifter than the wind , -And Helena of Athens look thou find : -All fancy-sick she is , and pale of cheer -With sighs of love , that cost the fresh blood dear . -By some illusion see thou bring her here : -I'll charm his eyes against she do appear . - -I go , I go ; look how I go ; -Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow . - -Flower of this purple dye , -Hit with Cupid's archery , -Sink in apple of his eye . -When his love he doth espy , -Let her shine as gloriously -As the Venus of the sky . -When thou wak'st , if she be by , -Beg of her for remedy . - - -Captain of our fairy band , -Helena is here at hand , -And the youth , mistook by me , -Pleading for a lover's fee . -Shall we their fond pageant see ? -Lord , what fools these mortals be ! - -Stand aside : the noise they make -Will cause Demetrius to awake . - -Then will two at once woo one ; -That must needs be sport alone ; -And those things do best please me -That befall preposterously . - -Why should you think that I should woo in scorn ? -Scorn and derision never come in tears : -Look , when I vow , I weep ; and vows so born , -In their nativity all truth appears . -How can these things in me seem scorn to you , -Bearing the badge of faith to prove them true ? - -You do advance your cunning more and more . -When truth kills truth , O devilish-holy fray ! -These vows are Hermia's : will you give her o'er ? -Weigh oath with oath , and you will nothing weigh : -Your vows , to her and me , put in two scales , -Will even weigh , and both as light as tales . - -I had no judgment when to her I swore . - -Nor none , in my mind , now you give her o'er . - -Demetrius loves her , and he loves not you . - -O Helen ! goddess , nymph , perfect , divine ! -To what , my love , shall I compare thine eyne ? -Crystal is muddy . O ! how ripe in show -Thy lips , those kissing cherries , tempting grow , -This pure congealed white , high Taurus' snow , -Fann'd with the eastern wind , turns to a crow -When thou hold'st up thy hand . O ! let me kiss -That princess of pure white , this seal of bliss . - -O spite ! O hell ! I see you all are bent -To set against me for your merriment : -If you were civil and knew courtesy , -You would not do me thus much injury . -Can you not hate me , as I know you do , -But you must join in souls to mock me too ? -If you were men , as men you are in show , -You would not use a gentle lady so ; -To vow , and swear , and superpraise my parts , -When I am sure you hate me with your hearts . -You both are rivals , and love Hermia , -And now both rivals , to mock Helena : -A trim exploit , a manly enterprise , -To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes -With your derision ! none of noble sort -Would so offend a virgin , and extort -A poor soul's patience , all to make you sport . - -You are unkind , Demetrius ; be not so ; -For you love Hermia ; this you know I know : -And here , with all good will , with all my heart , -In Hermia's love I yield you up my part ; -And yours of Helena to me bequeath , -Whom I do love , and will do to my death . - -Never did mockers waste more idle breath . - -Lysander , keep thy Hermia ; I will none : -If e'er I lov'd her , all that love is gone . -My heart with her but as guest wise sojourn'd , -And now to Helen it is home return'd , -There to remain . - -Helen , it is not so . - -Disparage not the faith thou dost not know , -Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear . -Look ! where thy love comes : yonder is thy dear . - - -Dark night , that from the eye his function takes , -The ear more quick of apprehension makes ; -Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense , -It pays the hearing double recompense . -Thou art not by mine eye , Lysander , found ; -Mine ear , I thank it , brought me to thy sound . -But why unkindly didst thou leave me so ? - -Why should he stay , whom love doth press to go ? - -What love could press Lysander from my side ? - -Lysander's love , that would not let him bide , -Fair Helena , who more engilds the night -Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light . -Why seek'st thou me ? could not this make thee know , -The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so ? - -You speak not as you think : it cannot be . - -Lo ! she is one of this confederacy . -Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three -To fashion this false sport in spite of me . -Injurious Hermia ! most ungrateful maid ! -Have you conspir'd , have you with these contriv'd -To bait me with this foul derision ? -Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd , -The sister-vows , the hours that we have spent , -When we have chid the hasty-footed time -For parting us , O ! is it all forgot ? -All school-days' friendship , childhood innocence ? -We , Hermia , like two artificial gods , -Have with our neelds created both one flower , -Both on one sampler , sitting on one cushion , -Both warbling of one song , both in one key , -As if our hands , our sides , voices , and minds , -Had been incorporate . So we grew together , -Like to a double cherry , seeming parted , -But yet an union in partition ; -Two lovely berries moulded on one stem ; -So , with two seeming bodies , but one heart ; -Two of the first , like coats in heraldry , -Due but to one , and crowned with one crest . -And will you rent our ancient love asunder , -To join with men in scorning your poor friend ? -It is not friendly , 'tis not maidenly : -Our sex , as well as I , may chide you for it , -Though I alone do feel the injury . - -I am amazed at your passionate words . -I scorn you not : it seems that you scorn me . - -Have you not set Lysander , as in scorn , -To follow me and praise my eyes and face , -And made your other love , Demetrius , -Who even but now did spurn me with his foot , -To call me goddess , nymph , divine and rare , -Precious , celestial ? Wherefore speaks he this -To her he hates ? and wherefore doth Lysander -Deny your love , so rich within his soul , -And tender me , forsooth , affection , -But by your setting on , by your consent ? -What though I be not so in grace as you , -So hung upon with love , so fortunate , -But miserable most to love unlov'd ? -This you should pity rather than despise . - -I understand not what you mean by this . - -Ay , do , persever , counterfeit sad looks , -Make mouths upon me when I turn my back ; -Wink each at other ; hold the sweet jest up : -This sport , well carried , shall be chronicled . -If you have any pity , grace , or manners , -You would not make me such an argument . -But , fare ye well : 'tis partly mine own fault , -Which death or absence soon shall remedy . - -Stay , gentle Helena ! hear my excuse : -My love , my life , my soul , fair Helena ! - -O excellent ! - -Sweet , do not scorn her so . - -If she cannot entreat , I can compel . - -Thou canst compel no more than she entreat : -Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers . -Helen , I love thee ; by my life , I do : -I swear by that which I will lose for thee , -To prove him false that says I love thee not . - -I say I love thee more than he can do . - -If thou say so , withdraw , and prove it too . - -Quick , come ! - -Lysander , whereto tends all this ? - -Away , you Ethiop ! - -No , no , he'll . . . -Seem to break loose ; take on , as you would follow , -But yet come not : you are a tame man , go ! - -Hang off , thou cat , thou burr ! vile thing , let loose , -Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent . - -Why are you grown so rude ? what change is this , -Sweet love , - -Thy love ! out , tawny Tartar , out ! -Out , loathed medicine ! hated poison , hence ! - -Do you not jest ? - -Yes , sooth ; and so do you . - -Demetrius , I will keep my word with thee . - -I would I had your bond , for I perceive -A weak bond holds you : I'll not trust your word . - -What ! should I hurt her , strike her , kill her dead ? -Although I hate her , I'll not harm her so . - -What ! can you do me greater harm than hate ? -Hate me ! wherefore ? O me ! what news , my love ? -Am not I Hermia ? Are not you Lysander ? -I am as fair now as I was erewhile . -Since night you lov'd me ; yet , since night you left me : -Why , then you left me ,O , the gods forbid ! -In earnest , shall I say ? - -Ay , by my life ; -And never did desire to see thee more . -Therefore be out of hope , of question , doubt ; -Be certain , nothing truer : 'tis no jest , -That I do hate thee and love Helena . - -O me ! you juggler ! you canker-blossom ! -You thief of love ! what ! have you come by night -And stol'n my love's heart from him ? - -Fine , i' faith ! -Have you no modesty , no maiden shame , -No touch of bashfulness ? What ! will you tear -Impatient answers from my gentle tongue ? -Fie , fie ! you counterfeit , you puppet you ! - -Puppet ! why , so : ay , that way goes the game . -Now I perceive that she hath made compare -Between our statures : she hath urg'd her height ; -And with her personage , her tall personage , -Her height , forsooth , she hath prevail'd with him . -And are you grown so high in his esteem , -Because I am so dwarfish and so low ? -How low am I , thou painted maypole ? speak ; -How low am I ? I am not yet so low -But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes . - -I pray you , though you mock me , gentlemen , -Let her not hurt me : I was never curst ; -I have no gift at all in shrewishness ; -I am a right maid for my cowardice : -Let her not strike me . You perhaps may think , -Because she is something lower than myself , -That I can match her . - -Lower ! hark , again . - -Good Hermia , do not be so bitter with me . -I evermore did love you , Hermia , -Did ever keep your counsels , never wrong'd you ; -Save that , in love unto Demetrius , -I told him of your stealth unto this wood . -He follow'd you ; for love I follow'd him ; -But he hath chid me hence , and threaten'd me -To strike me , spurn me , nay , to kill me too : -And now , so you will let me quiet go , -To Athens will I bear my folly back , -And follow you no further : let me go : -You see how simple and how fond I am . - -Why , get you gone . Who is't that hinders you ? - -A foolish heart , that I leave here behind . - -What ! with Lysander ? - -With Demetrius . - -Be not afraid : she shall not harm thee , Helena . - -No , sir ; she shall not , though you take her part . - -O ! when she's angry , she is keen and shrewd . -She was a vixen when she went to school : -And though she be but little , she is fierce . - -'Little' again ! nothing but 'low' and 'little !' -Why will you suffer her to flout me thus ? -Let me come to her . - -Get you gone , you dwarf ; -You minimus , of hindering knot-grass made ; -You bead , you acorn ! - -You are too officious -In her behalf that scorns your services . -Let her alone ; speak not of Helena ; -Take not her part , for , if thou dost intend -Never so little show of love to her , -Thou shalt aby it . - -Now she holds me not ; -Now follow , if thou dar'st , to try whose right , -Or thine or mine , is most in Helena . - -Follow ! nay , I'll go with thee , cheek by jole . - - -You , mistress , all this coil is 'long of you : -Nay , go not back . - -I will not trust you , I , -Nor longer stay in your curst company . -Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray , -My legs are longer though , to run away . - - -I am amaz'd , and know not what to say . - - -This is thy negligence : still thou mistak'st , -Or else commit'st thy knaveries wilfully . - -Believe me , king of shadows , I mistook . -Did not you tell me I should know the man -By the Athenian garments he had on ? -And so far blameless proves my enterprise , -That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes ; -And so far am I glad it so did sort , -As this their jangling I esteem a sport . - -Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight : -Hie therefore , Robin , overcast the night ; -The starry welking cover thou anon -With drooping fog as black as Acheron ; -And lead these testy rivals so astray , -As one come not within another's way . -Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue , -Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong ; -And sometime rail thou like Demetrius ; -And from each other look thou lead them thus , -Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep -With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep : -Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye ; -Whose liquor hath this virtuous property , -To take from thence all error with his might , -And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight . -When they next wake , all this derision -Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision ; -And back to Athens shall the lovers wend , -With league whose date till death shall never end . -Whiles I in this affair do thee employ , -I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy ; -And then I will her charmed eye release -From monster's view , and all things shall be peace . - -My fairy lord , this must be done with haste , -For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast , -And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger ; -At whose approach , ghosts , wandering here and there , -Troop home to churchyards : damned spirits all , -That in cross-ways and floods have burial , -Already to their wormy beds are gone ; -For fear lest day should look their shames upon , -They wilfully themselves exile from light , -And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night . - -But we are spirits of another sort . -I with the morning's love have oft made sport ; -And , like a forester , the groves may tread , -Even till the eastern gate , all fiery-red , -Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams , -Turns into yellow gold his salt green-streams . -But , notwithstanding , haste ; make no delay : -We may effect this business yet ere day . - -Up and down , up and down ; -I will lead them up and down : -I am fear'd in field and town ; -Goblin , lead them up and down . - -Here comes one . - - -Where art thou , proud Demetrius ? speak thou now . - -Here , villain ! drawn and ready . Where art thou ? - -I will be with thee straight . - -Follow me , then , -To plainer ground . - -Lysander ! speak again . -Thou runaway , thou coward , art thou fled ? -Speak ! In some bush ? Where dost thou hide thy head ? - -Thou coward ! art thou bragging to the stars , -Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars , -And wilt not come ? Come , recreant ; come , thou child ; -I'll whip thee with a rod : he is defil'd -That draws a sword on thee . - -Yea , art thou there ? - -Follow my voice : we'll try no manhood here . - -He goes before me and still dares me on : -When I come where he calls , then he is gone . -The villain is much lighter-heel'd than I : -I follow'd fast , but faster he did fly ; -That fallen am I in dark uneven way , -And here will rest me . - -Come , thou gentle day ! -For if but once thou show me thy grey light , -I'll find Demetrius and revenge this spite . - -Ho ! ho ! ho ! Coward , why com'st thou not ? - -Abide me , if thou dar'st ; for well I wot -Thou runn'st before me , shifting every place , -And dar'st not stand , nor look me in the face . -Where art thou now ? - -Come hither : I am here . - -Nay then , thou mock'st me . Thou shalt buy this dear , -If ever I thy face by daylight see : -Now , go thy way . Faintness constraineth me -To measure out my length on this cold bed : -By day's approach look to be visited . - -O weary night ! O long and tedious night , -Abate thy hours ! shine , comforts , from the east ! -That I may back to Athens by daylight , -From these that my poor company detest : -And sleep , that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye , -Steal me awhile from mine own company . - -Yet but three ? Come one more ; -Two of both kinds make up four . -Here she comes , curst and sad : -Cupid is a knavish lad , -Thus to make poor females mad . - -Never so weary , never so in woe , -Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers , -I can no further crawl , no further go ; -My legs can keep no pace with my desires . -Here will I rest me till the break of day . -Heavens shield Lysander , if they mean a fray ! - -On the ground -Sleep sound : -I'll apply -To your eye , -Gentle lover , remedy - -When thou wak'st , -Thou tak'st -True delight -In the sight -Of thy former lady's eye : -And the country proverb known , -That every man should take his own , -In your waking shall be shown : -Jack shall have Jill ; -Nought shall go ill ; -The man shall have his mare again , -And all shall be well . - - -Come , sit thee down upon this flowery bed , -While I thy amiable cheeks do coy , -And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head , -And kiss thy fair large ears , my gentle joy . - -Where's Pease-blossom ? - -Ready . - -Scratch my head , Pease-blossom . Where's Mounsieur Cobweb ? - -Ready . - -Mounsieur Cobweb , good mounsieur , get your weapons in your hand , and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle ; and , good mounsieur , bring me the honey-bag . Do not fret yourself too much in the action , mounsieur ; and , good mounsieur , have a care the honey-bag break not ; I would be loath to have you overflown with a honey-bag , signior . Where's Mounsieur Mustard-seed ? - -Ready . - -Give me your neaf , Mounsieur Mustard-seed . Pray you , leave your curtsy , good mounsieur . - -What's your will ? - -Nothing , good mounsieur , but to help Cavalery Cobweb to scratch . I must to the barber's , mounsieur , for methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face ; and I am such a tender ass , if my hair do but tickle me , I must scratch . - -What , wilt thou hear some music , my sweet love ? - -I have a reasonable good ear in music : let us have the tongs and the bones . - -Or say , sweet love , what thou desir'st to eat . - -Truly , a peck of provender : I could munch your good dry oats . Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay : good hay , sweet hay , hath no fellow . - -I have a venturous fairy that shall seek -The squirrel's hoard , and fetch thee thence new nuts . - -I had rather have a handful or two of dried pease . But , I pray you , let none of your people stir me : I have an exposition of sleep come upon me . - -Sleep thou , and I will wind thee in my arms . -Fairies , be gone , and be all ways away . - -So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle -Gently entwist ; the female ivy so -Enrings the barky fingers of the elm . -O ! how I love thee ; how I dote on thee ! - -Welcome , good Robin . See'st thou this sweet sight ? -Her dotage now I do begin to pity : -For , meeting her of late behind the wood , -Seeking sweet favours for this hateful fool , -I did upbraid her and fall out with her ; -For she his hairy temples then had rounded -With coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers ; -And that same dew , which sometime on the buds -Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls , -Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes -Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail . -When I had at my pleasure taunted her , -And she in mild terms begg'd my patience , -I then did ask of her her changeling child ; -Which straight she gave me , and her fairy sent -To bear him to my bower in fairy land . -And now I have the boy , I will undo -This hateful imperfection of her eyes : -And , gentle Puck , take this transformed scalp -From off the head of this Athenian swain , -That he , awaking when the other do , -May all to Athens back again repair , -And think no more of this night's accidents -But as the fierce vexation of a dream . -But first I will release the fairy queen . - - -Be as thou wast wont to be ; -See as thou wast wont to see : -Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower -Hath such force and blessed power . - -Now , my Titania ; wake you , my sweet queen . - -My Oberon ! what visions have I seen ! -Methought I was enamour'd of an ass . - -There lies your love . - -How came these things to pass ? -O ! how mine eyes do loathe his visage now . - -Silence , awhile . Robin , take off this head . -Titania , music call ; and strike more dead -Than common sleep of all these five the sense . - -Music , ho ! music ! such as charmeth sleep . - - -When thou wak'st , with thine own fool's eyes peep . - -Sound , music ! - -Come , my queen , take hands with me , -And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be . -Now thou and I are new in amity , -And will to-morrow midnight solemnly -Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly , -And bless it to all fair prosperity . -There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be -Wedded , with Theseus , all in jollity . - - -Fairy king , attend , and mark : -I do hear the morning lark . - -Then , my queen , in silence sad , -Trip we after the night's shade ; -We the globe can compass soon , -Swifter than the wandering moon . - -Come , my lord ; and in our flight -Tell me how it came this night -That I sleeping here was found -With these mortals on the ground . - - -Go , one of you , find out the forester ; -For now our observation is perform'd ; -And since we have the vaward of the day , -My love shall hear the music of my hounds . -Uncouple in the western valley ; let them go : -Dispatch , I say , and find the forester . -We will , fair queen , up to the mountain's top , -And mark the musical confusion -Of hounds and echo in conjunction . - -I was with Hercules and Cadmus once , -When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear -With hounds of Sparta : never did I hear -Such gallant chiding ; for , besides the groves , -The skies , the fountains , every region near -Seem'd all one mutual cry . I never heard -So musical a discord , such sweet thunder . - -My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind , -So flew'd , so sanded ; and their heads are hung -With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; -Crook-knee'd , and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls ; -Slow in pursuit , but match'd in mouth like bells , -Each under each . A cry more tuneable -Was never holla'd to , nor cheer'd with horn , -In Crete , in Sparta , nor in Thessaly : -Judge , when you hear . But , soft ! what nymphs are these ? - -My lord , this is my daughter here asleep ; -And this , Lysander ; this Demetrius is ; -This Helena , old Nedar's Helena : -I wonder of their being here together . - -No doubt they rose up early to observe -The rite of May , and , hearing our intent , -Came here in grace of our solemnity . -But speak , Egeus , is not this the day -That Hermia should give answer of her choice ? - -It is , my lord . - -Go , bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns . - - -Good morrow , friends . Saint Valentine is past : - -Begin these wood-birds but to couple now ? - -Pardon , my lord . - - -I pray you all , stand up . -I know you two are rival enemies : -How comes this gentle concord in the world , -That hatred is so far from jealousy , -To sleep by hate , and fear no enmity ? - -My lord , I shall reply amazedly , -Half sleep , half waking : but as yet , I swear , -I cannot truly say how I came here ; -But , as I think ,for truly would I speak , -And now I do bethink me , so it is , -I came with Hermia hither : our intent -Was to be gone from Athens , where we might , -Without the peril of the Athenian law - -Enough , enough , my lord ; you have enough : -I beg the law , the law , upon his head . -They would have stol'n away ; they would , Demetrius , -Thereby to have defeated you and me ; -You of your wife , and me of my consent , -Of my consent that she should be your wife . - -My lord , fair Helen told me of their stealth , -Of this their purpose hither , to this wood ; -And I in fury hither follow'd them , -Fair Helena in fancy following me . -But , my good lord , I wot not by what power , -But by some power it is ,my love to Hermia , -Melted as doth the snow , seems to me now -As the remembrance of an idle gaud -Which in my childhood I did dote upon ; -And all the faith , the virtue of my heart , -The object and the pleasure of mine eye , -Is only Helena . To her , my lord , -Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia : -But , like in sickness , did I loathe this food ; -But , as in health , come to my natural taste , -Now do I wish it , love it , long for it , -And will for evermore be true to it . - -Fair lovers , you are fortunately met : -Of this discourse we more will hear anon . -Egeus , I will overbear your will , -For in the temple , by and by , with us , -These couples shall eternally be knit : -And , for the morning now is something worn , -Our purpos'd hunting shall be set aside . -Away with us , to Athens : three and three , -We'll hold a feast in great solemnity . -Come , Hippolyta . - - -These things seem small and undistinguishable , -Like far-off mountains turned into clouds . - -Methinks I see these things with parted eye , -When everything seems double . - -So methinks : -And I have found Demetrius , like a jewel , -Mine own , and not mine own . - -Are you sure -That we are awake ? It seems to me -That yet we sleep , we dream . Do you not think -The duke was here , and bid us follow him ? - -Yea ; and my father . - -And Hippolyta . - -And he did bid us follow to the temple . - -Why then , we are awake . Let's follow him ; -And by the way let us recount our dreams . - - -When my cue comes , call me , and I will answer : my next is , 'Most fair Pyramus .' Heigh-ho ! Peter Quince ! Flute , the bellows-mender ! Snout , the tinker ! Starveling ! God's my life ! stolen hence , and left me asleep ! I have had a most rare vision . I have had a dream , past the wit of man to say what dream it was : man is but an ass , if he go about to expound this dream . Methought I was there is no man can tell what . Methought I was ,and methought I had ,but man is but a patched fool , if he will offer to say what methought I had . The eye of man hath not heard , the ear of man hath not seen , man's hand is not able to taste , his tongue to conceive , nor his heart to report , what my dream was . I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream : it shall be called Bottom's Dream , because it hath no bottom ; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play , before the duke : peradventure , to make it the more gracious , I shall sing it at her death . - - -Have you sent to Bottom's house ? is he come home yet ? - -He cannot be heard of . Out of doubt he is transported . - -If he come not , then the play is marred : it goes not forward , doth it ? - -It is not possible : you have not a man in all Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he . - -No ; he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft man in Athens . - -Yea , and the best person too ; and he is a very paramour for a sweet voice . - -You must say , 'paragon :' a paramour is , God bless us ! a thing of naught . - - -Masters , the duke is coming from the temple , and there is two or three lords and ladies more married : if our sport had gone forward , we had all been made men . - -O sweet bully Bottom ! Thus hath he lost sixpence a day during his life ; he could not have 'scaped sixpence a day : an the duke had not given him sixpence a day for playing Pyramus , I'll be hanged ; he would have deserved it : sixpence a day in Pyramus , or nothing . - - -Where are these lads ? where are these hearts ? - -Bottom ! O most courageous day ! O most happy hour ! - -Masters , I am to discourse wonders : but ask me not what ; for if I tell you , I am no true Athenian . I will tell you everything , right as it fell out . - -Let us hear , sweet Bottom . - -Not a word of me . All that I will tell you is , that the duke hath dined . Get your apparel together , good strings to your beards , new ribbons to your pumps ; meet presently at the palace ; every man look o'er his part ; for the short and the long is , our play is preferred . In any case , let Thisby have clean linen ; and let not him that plays the lion pare his nails , for they shall hang out for the lion's claws . And , most dear actors , eat no onions nor garlic , for we are to utter sweet breath , and I do not doubt but to hear them say , it is a sweet comedy . No more words : away ! go ; away . - -'Tis strange , my Theseus , that these lovers speak of . - -More strange than true . I never may believe -These antique fables , nor these fairy toys . -Lovers and madmen have such seething brains , -Such shaping fantasies , that apprehend -More than cool reason ever comprehends . -The lunatic , the lover , and the poet , -Are of imagination all compact : -One sees more devils than vast hell can hold , -That is , the madman ; the lover , all as frantic , -Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt : -The poet's eye , in a fine frenzy rolling , -Doth glance from heaven to earth , from earth to heaven ; -And , as imagination bodies forth -The forms of things unknown , the poet's pen -Turns them to shapes , and gives to airy nothing -A local habitation and a name . -Such tricks hath strong imagination , -That , if it would but apprehend some joy , -It comprehends some bringer of that joy ; -Or in the night , imagining some fear , -How easy is a bush suppos'd a bear ! - -But all the story of the night told over , -And all their minds transfigur'd so together , -More witnesseth than fancy's images , -And grows to something of great constancy , -But , howsoever , strange and admirable . - -Here come the lovers , full of joy and mirth . - - -Joy , gentle friends ! joy , and fresh days of love - -Accompany your hearts ! - -More than to us -Wait in your royal walks , your board , your bed ! - -Come now ; what masques , what dances shall we have , -To wear away this long age of three hours -Between our after-supper and bed-time ? -Where is our usual manager of mirth ? -What revels are in hand ? Is there no play , -To ease the anguish of a torturing hour ? -Call Philostrate . - -Here , mighty Theseus . - -Say , what abridgment have you for this evening ? -What masque ? what music ? How shall we beguile -The lazy time , if not with some delight ? - -There is a brief how many sports are ripe ; -Make choice of which your highness will see first . - - -The battle with the Centaurs , to be sung -By an Athenian eunuch to the harp . -We'll none of that : that have I told my love , -In glory of my kinsman Hercules . -The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals , -Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage . -That is an old device ; and it was play'd -When I from Thebes came last a conqueror . -The thrice three Muses mourning for the death -Of Learning , late deceas'd in beggary . -That is some satire keen and critical , -Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony . -A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus -And his love Thisbe ; very tragical mirth . -Merry and tragical ! tedious and brief ! -That is , hot ice and wonderous strange snow . -How shall we find the concord of this discord ? - -A play there is , my lord , some ten words long , -Which is as brief as I have known a play ; -But by ten words , my lord , it is too long , -Which makes it tedious ; for in all the play -There is not one word apt , one player fitted . -And tragical , my noble lord , it is ; -For Pyramus therein doth kill himself . -Which when I saw rehears'd , I must confess , -Made mine eyes water ; but more merry tears -The passion of loud laughter never shed . - -What are they that do play it ? - -Hard-handed men , that work in Athens here , -Which never labour'd in their minds till now , -And now have toil'd their unbreath'd memories -With this same play , against your nuptial . - -And we will hear it . - -No , my noble lord ; -It is not for you : I have heard it over , -And it is nothing , nothing in the world ; -Unless you can find sport in their intents , -Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain , -To do you service . - -I will hear that play ; -For never anything can be amiss , -When simpleness and duty tender it . -Go , bring them in : and take your places , ladies . - - -I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharg'd , -And duty in his service perishing . - -Why , gentle sweet , you shall see no such thing . - -He says they can do nothing in this kind . - -The kinder we , to give them thanks for nothing . -Our sport shall be to take what they mistake : -And what poor duty cannot do , noble respect -Takes it in might , not merit . -Where I have come , great clerks have purposed -To greet me with premeditated welcomes ; -Where I have seen them shiver and look pale , -Make periods in the midst of sentences , -Throttle their practis'd accent in their fears , -And , in conclusion , dumbly have broke off , -Not paying me a welcome . Trust me , sweet , -Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome ; -And in the modesty of fearful duty -I read as much as from the rattling tongue -Of saucy and audacious eloquence . -Love , therefore , and tongue-tied simplicity -In least speak most , to my capacity . - - -So please your Grace , the Prologue is address'd . - -Let him approach . - - -If we offend , it is with our good will . -That you should think , we come not to offend , -But with good will . To show our simple skill , -That is the true beginning of our end . -Consider then we come but in despite . -We do not come as minding to content you , -Our true intent is . All for your delight , -We are not here . That you should here repent you , -The actors are at hand ; and , by their show , -You shall know all that you are like to know . - - -This fellow doth not stand upon points . - -He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt ; he knows not the stop . A good moral , my lord : it is not enough to speak , but to speak true . - -Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child on a recorder ; a sound , but not in government . - -His speech was like a tangled chain ; nothing impaired , but all disordered . Who is next ? - - -Gentles , perchance you wonder at this show ; -But wonder on , till truth make all things plain . -This man is Pyramus , if you would know ; -This beauteous lady Thisby is , certain . -This man , with lime and rough-cast , doth present -Wall , that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder ; -And through Wall's chink , poor souls , they are content -To whisper , at the which let no man wonder . -This man , with lanthorn , dog , and bush of thorn , -Presenteth Moonshine ; for , if you will know , -By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn -To meet at Ninus' tomb , there , there to woo . -This grisly beast , which Lion hight by name , -The trusty Thisby , coming first by night , -Did scare away , or rather did affright ; -And , as she fied , her mantle she did fall , -Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain . -Anon comes Pyramus , sweet youth and tall , -And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain : -Whereat , with blade , with bloody blameful blade , -He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast ; -And Thisby , tarrying in mulberry shade , -His dagger drew , and died . For all the rest , -Let Lion , Moonshine , Wall , and lovers twain , -At large discourse , while here they do remain . - - -I wonder , if the lion be to speak . - -No wonder , my lord : one lion may , when many asses do . -Wall . In this same interlude it doth befall -That I , one Snout by name , present a wall ; -And such a wall , as I would have you think , -That had in it a crannied hole or chink , -Through which the lovers , Pyramus and Thisby , -Did whisper often very secretly . -This loam , this rough-cast , and this stone doth show -That I am that same wall ; the truth is so ; -And this the cranny is , right and sinister , -Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper . - -Would you desire lime and hair to speak better ? - -It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse , my lord . - -Pyramus draws near the wall : silence ! - - -O grim-look'd night ! O night with hue so black ! -O night , which ever art when day is not ! -O night ! O night ! alack , alack , alack ! -I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot . -And thou , O wall ! O sweet , O lovely wall ! -That stand'st between her father's ground and mine ; -Thou wall , O wall ! O sweet , and lovely wall ! -Show me thy chink to blink through with mine eyne . - -Thanks , courteous wall : Jove shield thee well for this ! -But what see I ? No Thisby do I see . -O wicked wall ! through whom I see no bliss ; -Curs'd be thy stones for thus deceiving me ! - -The wall , methinks , being sensible , should curse again . - -No , in truth , sir , he should not . 'Deceiving me ,' is Thisby's cue : she is to enter now , and I am to spy her through the wall . You shall see , it will fall pat as I told you . Yonder she comes . - - -O wall ! full often hast thou heard my moans , -For parting my fair Pyramus and me : -My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones , -Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee . - -I see a voice : now will I to the chink , -To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face . -Thisby . - -My love ! thou art my love , I think . - -Think what thou wilt , I am thy lover's grace ; -And , like Limander , am I trusty still . - -And I like Helen , till the Fates me kill . - -Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true . - -As Shafalus to Procrus , I to you . - -O ! kiss me through the hole of this vile wall . - -I kiss the wall's hole , not your lips at all - -Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway ? - -'Tide life , 'tide death , I come without delay . - - -Thus have I , Wall , my part discharged so ; -And , being done , thus Wall away doth go . - - -Now is the mural down between the two neighbours . - -No remedy , my lord , when walls are so wilful to hear without warning . - -This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard . - -The best in this kind are but shadows , and the worst are no worse , if imagination amend them . - -It must be your imagination then , and not theirs . - -If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves , they may pass for excellent men . Here come two noble beasts in , a man and a lion . - - -You , ladies , you , whose gentle hearts do fear -The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor , -May now perchance both quake and tremble here , -When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar . -Then know that I , one Snug the joiner , am -A lion-fell , nor else no lion's dam : -For , if I should as lion come in strife -Into this place , 'twere pity on my life . - -A very gentle beast , and of a good conscience . - -The very best at a beast , my lord , that e'er I saw . - -This lion is a very fox for his valour . - -True ; and a goose for his discretion . - -Not so , my lord ; for his valour cannot carry his discretion , and the fox carries the goose . - -His discretion , I am sure , cannot carry his valour , for the goose carries not the fox . It is well : leave it to his discretion , and let us listen to the moon . - -This lanthorn doth the horned moon present ; - -He should have worn the horns on his head . - -He is no crescent , and his horns are invisible within the circumference . - -This lanthorn doth the horned moon present ; -Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be . - -This is the greatest error of all the rest . -The man should be put into the lanthorn : how is it else the man i' the moon ? - -He dares not come there for the candle ; for , you see , it is already in snuff . - -I am aweary of this moon : would he would change ! - -It appears , by his small light of discretion , that he is in the wane ; but yet , in courtesy , in all reason , we must stay the time . - -Proceed , Moon . - -All that I have to say , is , to tell you that the lanthorn is the moon ; I , the man in the moon ; this thorn-bush , my thorn-bush ; and this dog , my dog . - -Why , all these should be in the lanthorn ; for all these are in the moon . But , silence ! here comes Thisbe . - - -This is old Ninny's tomb . Where is my love ? - -Oh . - - -Well roared , Lion . - -Well run , Thisbe . - -Well shone , Moon . Truly , the moon shines with a good grace . - - -Well moused , Lion . - -And then came Pyramus . - -And so the lion vanished . - - -Sweet moon , I thank thee for thy sunny beams ; -I thank thee , moon , for shining now so bright , -For , by thy gracious , golden , glittering streams , -I trust to taste of truest Thisby's sight . - -But stay , O spite ! -But mark , poor knight , -What dreadful dole is here ! -Eyes , do you see ? -How can it be ? -O dainty duck ! O dear ! -Thy mantle good , -What ! stain'd with blood ! -Approach , ye Furies fell ! -O Fates , come , come , -Cut thread and thrum ; -Quail , crush , conclude , and quell ! - - -This passion , and the death of a dear friend , would go near to make a man look sad . - -Beshrew my heart , but I pity the man . - -O ! wherefore , Nature , didst thou lions frame ? -Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear ? -Which is no , no which was the fairest dame -That liv'd , that lov'd , that lik'd , that look'd with cheer . - - -Come tears , confound ; -Out , sword , and wound -The pap of Pyramus : -Ay , that left pap , -Where heart doth hop : -Thus die I , thus , thus , thus . - -Now am I dead , -Now am I fled ; -My soul is in the sky : -Tongue , lose thy light ! -Moon , take thy flight ! - -Now die , die , die , die , die . - -No die , but an ace , for him ; for he is but one . - -Less than an ace , man , for he is dead ; he is nothing . - -With the help of a surgeon , he might yet recover , and prove an ass . - -How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes back and finds her lover ? - -She will find him by starlight . Here she comes ; and her passion ends the play . - - -Methinks she should not use a long one for such a Pyramus : I hope she will be brief . - -A mote will turn the balance , which Pyramus , which Thisbe , is the better : he for a man , God warrant us ; she for a woman , God bless us . - -She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes . - -And thus she moans , videlicet : - - -Asleep , my love ? -What , dead , my dove ? -O Pyramus , arise ! -Speak , speak ! Quite dumb ? -Dead , dead ! A tomb -Must cover thy sweet eyes . -These lily lips , -This cherry nose , -These yellow cowslip cheeks , -Are gone , are gone : -Lovers , make moan ! -His eyes were green as leeks . -O , Sisters Three , -Come , come to me , -With hands as pale as milk ; -Lay them in gore , -Since you have shore -With shears his thread of silk . -Tongue , not a word : -Come , trusty sword : -Come , blade , my breast imbrue : - -And farewell , friends ; -Thus Thisby ends : -Adieu , adieu , adieu . - -Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead . - -Ay , and Wall too . - -No , I assure you ; the wall is down that parted their fathers . Will it please you to see the epilogue , or to hear a Bergomask dance between two of our company ? - -No epilogue , I pray you ; for your play needs no excuse . Never excuse ; for when the players are all dead , there need none to be blamed . Marry , if he that writ it had played Pyramus , and hanged himself in Thisbe's garter , it would have been a fine tragedy : and so it is , truly , and very notably discharged . But come , your Bergomask : let your epilogue alone . - -The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve ; -Lovers , to bed ; 'tis almost fairy time . -I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn , -As much as we this night have overwatch'd . -This palpable-gross play hath well beguil'd -The heavy gait of night . Sweet friends , to bed . -A fortnight hold we this solemnity , -In nightly revels , and new jollity . - -Now the hungry lion roars , -And the wolf behowls the moon ; -Whilst the heavy ploughman snores , -All with weary task fordone . -Now the wasted brands do glow , -Whilst the screech-owl , screeching loud , -Puts the wretch that lies in woe -In remembrance of a shroud . -Now it is the time of night -That the graves , all gaping wide , -Every one lets forth his sprite , -In the church-way paths to glide : -And we fairies , that do run -By the triple Hecate's team , -From the presence of the sun , -Following darkness like a dream , -Now are frolic ; not a mouse -Shall disturb this hallow'd house : -I am sent with broom before , -To sweep the dust behind the door . - - -Through the house give glimmering light -By the dead and drowsy fire ; -Every elf and fairy sprite -Hop as light as bird from brier ; -And this ditty after me -Sing and dance it trippingly . - -First , rehearse your song by rote , -To each word a warbling note : -Hand in hand , with fairy grace , -Will we sing , and bless this place . - - -Now , until the break of day , -Through this house each fairy stray . -To the best bride-bed will we , -Which by us shall blessed be ; -And the issue there create -Ever shall be fortunate . -So shall all the couples three -Ever true in loving be ; -And the blots of Nature's hand -Shall not in their issue stand : -Never mole , hare-lip , nor scar , -Nor mark prodigious , such as are -Despised in nativity , -Shall upon their children be . -With this field-dew consecrate , -Every fairy take his gait , -And each several chamber bless , -Through this palace , with sweet peace ; -Ever shall in safety rest , -And the owner of it blest . -Trip away ; -Make no stay ; -Meet me all by break of day . - - -If we shadows have offended , -Think but this , and all is mended , -That you have but slumber'd here -While these visions did appear . -And this weak and idle theme , -No more yielding but a dream , -Gentles , do not reprehend : -If you pardon , we will mend . -And , as I'm an honest Puck , -If we have unearned luck -Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue , -We will make amends ere long ; -Else the Puck a liar call : -So , good night unto you all . -Give me your hands , if we be friends , -And Robin shall restore amends . - -ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL - -In delivering my son from me , I bury a second husband . - -And I , in going , madam , weep o'er my father's death anew ; but I must attend his majesty's command , to whom I am now in ward , evermore in subjection . - -You shall find of the king a husband , madam ; you , sir , a father . He that so generally is at all times good , must of necessity hold his virtue to you , whose worthiness would stir it up where it wanted rather than lack it where there is such abundance . - -What hope is there of his majesty's amendment ? - -He hath abandoned his physicians , madam ; under whose practices he hath persecuted time with hope , and finds no other advantage in the process but only the losing of hope by time . - -This young gentlewoman had a father ,O , that 'had !' how sad a passage 'tis !whose skill was almost as great as his honesty ; had it stretched so far , would have made nature immortal , and death should have play for lack of work . Would , for the king's sake , he were living ! I think it would be the death of the king's disease . - -How called you the man you speak of , madam ? - -He was famous , sir , in his profession , and it was his great right to be so : Gerard de Narbon . - -He was excellent indeed , madam : the king very lately spoke of him admiringly and mourningly . He was skilful enough to have lived still , if knowledge could be set up against mortality . - -What is it , my good lord , the king languishes of ? - -A fistula , my lord . - -I heard not of it before . - -I would it were not notorious . Was this gentlewoman the daughter of Gerard de Narbon ? - -His sole child , my lord ; and bequeathed to my overlooking . I have those hopes of her good that her education promises : her dispositions she inherits , which makes fair gifts fairer ; for where an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities , there commendations go with pity ; they are virtues and traitors too : in her they are the better for their simpleness ; she derives her honesty and achieves her goodness . - -Your commendations , madam , get from her tears . - -'Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise in . The remembrance of her father never approaches her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows takes all livelihood from her cheek . No more of this , Helena , go to , no more ; lest it be rather thought you affect a sorrow , than have it . - -I do affect a sorrow indeed , but I have it too . - -Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead , excessive grief the enemy to the living . - -If the living be enemy to the grief , the excess makes it soon mortal . - -Madam , I desire your holy wishes . - -How understand we that ? - -Be thou blest , Bertram ; and succeed thy father -In manners , as in shape ! thy blood and virtue -Contend for empire in thee ; and thy goodness -Share with thy birthright ! Love all , trust a few , -Do wrong to none : be able for thine enemy -Rather in power than use , and keep thy friend -Under thy own life's key : be check'd for silence , -But never tax'd for speech . What heaven more will -That thee may furnish , and my prayers pluck down , -Fall on thy head ! Farewell , my lord ; -'Tis an unseason'd courtier ; good my lord , -Advise him . - -He cannot want the best -That shall attend his love . - -Heaven bless him ! Farewell , Bertram . - - -The best wishes that can be forged in your thoughts be servants to you ! Be comfortable to my mother , your mistress , and make much of her . - -Farewell , pretty lady : you must hold the credit of your father . - - -O ! were that all . I think not on my father ; -And these great tears grace his remembrance more -Than those I shed for him . What was he like ? -I have forgot him : my imagination -Carries no favour in't but Bertram's . -I am undone : there is no living , none , -If Bertram be away . It were all one -That I should love a bright particular star -And think to wed it , he is so above me : -In his bright radiance and collateral light -Must I be comforted , not in his sphere . -The ambition in my love thus plagues itself : -The hind that would be mated by the lion -Must die for love . 'Twas pretty , though a plague , -To see him every hour ; to sit and draw -His arched brows , his hawking eye , his curls , -In our heart's table ; heart too capable -Of every line and trick of his sweet favour : -But now he's gone , and my idolatrous fancy -Must sanctify his reliques . Who comes here ? -One that goes with him : I love him for his sake ; -And yet I know him a notorious liar , -Think him a great way fool , solely a coward ; -Yet these fix'd evils sit so fit in him , -That they take place , when virtue's steely bones -Look bleak in the cold wind : withal , full oft we see -Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly . - - -Save you , fair queen ! - -And you , monarch ! - -No . - -And no . - -Are you meditating on virginity ? - -Ay . You have some stain of soldier in you ; let me ask you a question . Man is enemy to virginity ; how may we barricado it against him ? - -Keep him out . - -But he assails ; and our virginity , though valiant in the defence , yet is weak . Unfold to us some war-like resistance . - -There is none : man , sitting down before you , will undermine you and blow you up . - -Bless our poor virginity from underminers and blowers up ! Is there no military policy , how virgins might blow up men ? - -Virginity being blown down , man will quicklier be blown up : marry in blowing him down again , with the breach yourselves made , you lose your city . It is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to preserve virginity . Loss of virginity is rational increase , and there was never virgin got till virginity was first lost . That you were made of is metal to make virgins . Virginity , by being once lost , may be ten times found : by being ever kept , it is ever lost .'Tis too cold a companion : away with't ! - -I will stand for't a little , though therefore I die a virgin . - -There's little can be said in't ; 'tis against the rule of nature . To speak on the part of virginity is to accuse your mothers , which is most infallible disobedience . He that hangs himself is a virgin : virginity murders itself , and should be buried in highways , out of all sanctified limit , as a desperate offendress against nature . Virginity breeds mites , much like a cheese , consumes itself to the very paring , and so dies with feeding his own stomach . Besides , virginity is peevish , proud , idle , made of self-love , which is the most inhibited sin in the canon . Keep it not ; you cannot choose but lose by't ! Out with't ! within the year it will make itself two , which is a goodly increase , and the principal itself not much the worse . Away with't ! - -How might one do , sir , to lose it to her own liking ? - -Let me see : marry , ill , to like him that ne'er it likes . 'Tis a commodity that will lose the gloss with lying ; the longer kept , the less worth : off with't , while 'tis vendible ; answer the time of request . Virginity , like an old courtier , wears her cap out of fashion ; richly suited , but unsuitable : just like the brooch and the toothpick , which wear not now . Your date is better in your pie and your porridge than in your cheek : and your virginity , your old virginity , is like one of our French withered pears ; it looks ill , it eats drily ; marry , 'tis a withered pear ; it was formerly better ; marry , yet 'tis a withered pear . Will you anything with it ? - -Not my virginity yet . -There shall your master have a thousand loves , -A mother , and a mistress , and a friend , -A ph nix , captain , and an enemy , -A guide , a goddess , and a sovereign , -A counsellor , a traitress , and a dear ; -His humble ambition , proud humility , -His jarring concord , and his discord dulcet , -His faith , his sweet disaster ; with a world -Of pretty , fond , adoptious christendoms , -That blinking Cupid gossips . Now shall he -I know not what he shall . God send him well ! -The court's a learning-place , and he is one - -What one , i' faith ? - -That I wish well . 'Tis pity - -What's pity ? - -That wishing well had not a body in't , -Which might be felt ; that we , the poorer born , -Whose baser stars do shut us up in wishes , -Might with effects of them follow our friends , -And show what we alone must think , which never -Returns us thanks . - - -Monsieur Parolles , my lord calls for you . - - -Little Helen , farewell : if I can remember thee , I will think of thee at court . - -Monsieur Parolles , you were born under a charitable star . - -Under Mars , I . - -I especially think , under Mars . - -Why under Mars ? - -The wars have so kept you under that you must needs be born under Mars . - -When he was predominant . - -When he was retrograde , I think rather . - -Why think you so ? - -You go so much backward when you fight . - -That's for advantage . - -So is running away , when fear proposes the safety : but the composition that your valour and fear makes in you is a virtue of a good wing , and I like the wear well . - -I am so full of businesses I cannot answer thee acutely . I will return perfect courtier ; in the which , my instruction shall serve to naturalize thee , so thou wilt be capable of a courtier's counsel , and understand what advice shall thrust upon thee ; else thou diest in thine unthankfulness , and thine ignorance makes thee away : farewell . When thou hast leisure , say thy prayers ; when thou hast none , remember thy friends . Get thee a good husband , and use him as he uses thee : so , farewell . - - -Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie -Which we ascribe to heaven : the fated sky -Gives us free scope ; only doth backward pull -Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull . -What power is it which mounts my love so high ; -That makes me see , and cannot feed mine eye ? -The mightiest space in fortune nature brings -To join like likes , and kiss like native things . -Impossible be strange attempts to those -That weigh their pains in sense , and do suppose -What hath been cannot be : who ever strove -To show her merit , that did miss her love ? -The king's disease ,my project may deceive me , -But my intents are fix'd and will not leave me . - - -The Florentines and Senoys are by the ears ; -Have fought with equal fortune , and continue -A braving war . - -So 'tis reported , sir . - -Nay , 'tis most credible : we here receive it -A certainty , vouch'd from our cousin Austria , -With caution that the Florentine will move us -For speedy aid ; wherein our dearest friend -Prejudicates the business , and would seem -To have us make denial . - -His love and wisdom , -Approv'd so to your majesty , may plead -For amplest credence . - -He hath arm'd our answer , -And Florence is denied before he comes : -Yet , for our gentlemen that mean to see -The Tuscan service , freely have they leave -To stand on either part . - -It well may serve -A nursery to our gentry , who are sick -For breathing and exploit . - -What's he comes here ? - - -It is the Count Rousillon , my good lord , -Young Betram . - -Youth , thou bear'st thy father's face ; -Frank nature , rather curious than in haste , -Hath well compos'd thee . Thy father's moral parts -Mayst thou inherit too ! Welcome to Paris . - -My thanks and duty are your majesty's . - -I would I had that corporal soundness now , -As when thy father and myself in friendship -First tried our soldiership ! He did look far -Into the service of the time and was -Discipled of the bravest : he lasted long ; -But on us both did haggish age steal on , -And wore us out of act . It much repairs me -To talk of your good father . In his youth -He had the wit which I can well observe -To-day in our young lords ; but they may jest -Till their own scorn return to them unnoted -Ere they can hide their levity in honour . -So like a courtier , contempt nor bitterness -Were in his pride or sharpness ; if they were , -His equal had awak'd them ; and his honour , -Clock to itself , knew the true minute when -Exception bid him speak , and at this time -His tongue obey'd his hand : who were below him -He us'd as creatures of another place , -And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks , -Making them proud of his humility , -In their poor praise he humbled . Such a man -Might be a copy to these younger times , -Which , follow'd well , would demonstrate them now -But goers backward . - -His good remembrance , sir , -Lies richer in your thoughts than on his tomb ; -So in approof lives not his epitaph -As in your royal speech . - -Would I were with him ! He would always say , -Methinks I hear him now : his plausive words -He scatter'd not in ears , but grafted them , -To grow there and to bear . 'Let me not live ,' -Thus his good melancholy oft began , -On the catastrophe and heel of pastime , -When it was out ,'Let me not live ,' quoth he , -'After my flame lacks oil , to be the snuff -Of younger spirits , whose apprehensive senses -All but new things disdain ; whose judgments are -Mere fathers of their garments ; whose constancies -Expire before their fashions .' This he wish'd : -I , after him , do after him wish too , -Since I nor wax nor honey can bring home , -I quickly were dissolved from my hive , -To give some labourers room . - -You are lov'd , sir ; -They that least lend it you shall lack you first . - -I fill a place , I know't . How long is't , count , -Since the physician at your father's died ? -He was much fam'd . - -Some six months since , my lord . - -If he were living , I would try him yet : -Lend me an arm : the rest have worn me out -With several applications : nature and sickness -Debate it at their leisure . Welcome , count ; -My son's no dearer . - -Thank your majesty . - - -I will now hear : what say you of this gentlewoman ? - -Madam , the care I have had to even your content , I wish might be found in the calendar of my past endeavours ; for then we wound our modesty and make foul the clearness of our deservings , when of ourselves we publish them . - -What does this knave here ? Get you gone , sirrah : the complaints I have heard of you I do not all believe : 'tis my slowness that I do not ; for I know you lack not folly to commit them , and have ability enough to make such knaveries yours . - -'Tis not unknown to you , madam , I am a poor fellow . - -Well , sir . - -No , madam , 'tis not so well that I am poor , though many of the rich are damned . But , if I may have your ladyship's good will to go to the world , Isbel the woman and I will do as we may . - -Wilt thou needs be a beggar ? - -I do beg your good will in this case . - -In what case ? - -In Isbel's case and mine own . Service is no heritage ; and I think I shall never have the blessing of God till I have issue o' my body , for they say barnes are blessings . - -Tell me thy reason why thou wilt marry . - -My poor body , madam , requires it : I am driven on by the flesh ; and he must needs go that the devil drives . - -Is this all your worship's reason ? - -Faith , madam , I have other holy reasons , such as they are . - -May the world know them ? - -I have been , madam , a wicked creature , as you and all flesh and blood are ; and , indeed , I do marry that I may repent . - -Thy marriage , sooner than thy wickedness . - -I am out o' friends , madam ; and I hope to have friends for my wife's sake . - -Such friends are thine enemies , knave . - -You're shallow , madam , in great friends ; for the knaves come to do that for me which I am aweary of . He that ears my land spares my team , and gives me leave to in the crop : if I be his cuckold , he's my drudge . He that comforts my wife is the cherisher of my flesh and blood ; he that cherishes my flesh and blood loves my flesh and blood ; he that loves my flesh and blood is my friend : ergo , he that kisses my wife is my friend . If men could be contented to be what they are , there were no fear in marriage ; for young Charbon the puritan , and old Poysam the papist , howsome'er their hearts are severed in religion , their heads are both one ; they may joul horns together like any deer i' the herd . - -Wilt thou ever be a foul-mouthed and calumnious knave ? - -A prophet I , madam ; and I speak the truth the next way : - -For I the ballad will repeat , -Which men full true shall find ; -Your marriage comes by destiny , -Your cuckoo sings by kind . - - -Get you gone , sir : I'll talk with you more anon . - -May it please you , madam , that he bid Helen come to you : of her I am to speak . - -Sirrah , tell my gentlewoman I would speak with her ; Helen I mean . - - -Was this fair face the cause , quoth she , -Why the Grecians sacked Troy ? -Fond done , done fond , -Was this King Priam's joy ? -With that she sighed as she stood , -With that she sighed as she stood , -And gave this sentence then ; -Among nine bad if one be good , -Among nine bad if one be good , -There's yet one good in ten . - - -What ! one good in ten ? you corrupt the song , sirrah . - -One good woman in ten , madam ; which is a purifying o' the song . Would God would serve the world so all the year ! we'd find no fault with the tithe-woman if I were the parson . One in ten , quoth a' ! An we might have a good woman born but for every blazing star , or at an earthquake ,'twould mend the lottery well : a man may draw his heart out ere a' pluck one . - -You'll be gone , sir knave , and do as I command you ! - -That man should be at woman's command , and yet no hurt done ! Though honesty be no puritan , yet it will do no hurt ; it will wear the surplice of humility over the black gown of a big heart . I am going , forsooth : the business is for Helen to come hither . - - -Well , now . - -I know , madam , you love your gentlewoman entirely . - -Faith , I do : her father bequeathed her to me ; and she herself , without other advantage , may lawfully make title to as much love as she finds : there is more owing her than is paid , and more shall be paid her than she'll demand . - -Madam , I was very late more near her than I think she wished me : alone she was , and did communicate to herself her own words to her own ears ; she thought , I dare vow for her , they touched not any stranger sense . Her matter was , she loved your son : Fortune , she said , was no goddess , that had put such difference betwixt their two estates ; Love no god , that would not extend his might , only where qualities were level ; Dian no queen of virgins , that would suffer her poor knight surprised , without rescue in the first assault or ransom afterward . This she delivered in the most bitter touch of sorrow that e'er I heard virgin exclaim in ; which I held my duty speedily to acquaint you withal , sithence in the loss that may happen , it concerns you something to know it . - -You have discharged this honestly : keep it to yourself . Many likelihoods informed me of this before , which hung so tottering in the balance that I could neither believe nor misdoubt . Pray you , leave me : stall this in your bosom ; and I thank you for your honest care . I will speak with you further anon . - -Even so it was with me when I was young : -If ever we are nature's , these are ours ; this thorn -Doth to our rose of youth rightly belong ; -Our blood to us , this to our blood is born : -It is the show and seal of nature's truth , -Where love's strong passion is impress'd in youth : -By our remembrances of days foregone , -Such were our faults ; or then we thought them none . - -Her eye is sick on't : I observe her now . - -What is your pleasure , madam ? - -You know , Helen , -I am a mother to you . - -Mine honourable mistress . - -Nay , a mother : -Why not a mother ? When I said , 'a mother ,' -Methought you saw a serpent : what's in 'mother' -That you start at it ? I say , I am your mother ; -And put you in the catalogue of those -That were enwombed mine : 'tis often seen -Adoption strives with nature , and choice breeds -A native slip to us from foreign seeds ; -You ne'er oppress'd me with a mother's groan , -Yet I express to you a mother's care . -God's mercy , maiden ! does it curd thy blood -To say I am thy mother ? What's the matter , -That this distemper'd messenger of wet , -The many-colour'd Iris , rounds thine eye ? -Why ? that you are my daughter ? - -That I am not . - -I say , I am your mother . - -Pardon , madam ; -The Count Rousillon cannot be my brother : -I am from humble , he from honour'd name ; -No note upon my parents , his all noble : -My master , my dear lord he is ; and I -His servant live , and will his vassal die . -He must not be my brother . - -Nor I your mother ? - -You are my mother , madam : would you were , -So that my lord your son were not my brother , -Indeed my mother ! or were you both our mothers , -I care no more for than I do for heaven , -So I were not his sister . Can't no other , -But , I your daughter , he must be my brother ? - -Yes , Helen , you might be my daughter-in-law : -God shield you mean it not ! daughter and mother -So strive upon your pulse . What , pale again ? -My fear hath catch'd your fondness : now I see -The mystery of your loneliness , and find -Your salt tears' head : now to all sense 'tis gross -You love my son : invention is asham'd , -Against the proclamation of thy passion , -To say thou dost not : therefore tell me true ; -But tell me then , 'tis so ; for , look , thy cheeks -Confess it , th' one to th' other ; and thine eyes -See it so grossly shown in thy behaviours -That in their kind they speak it : only sin -And hellish obstinacy tie thy tongue , -That truth should be suspected . Speak , is't so ? -If it be so , you have wound a goodly clew ; -If it be not , forswear't : howe'er , I charge thee , -As heaven shall work in me for thine avail , -To tell me truly . - -Good madam , pardon me ! - -Do you love my son ? - -Your pardon , noble mistress ! - -Love you my son ? - -Do not you love him , madam ? - -Go not about ; my love hath in't a bond -Whereof the world takes note : come , come , disclose -The state of your affection , for your passions -Have to the full appeach'd . - -Then , I confess , -Here on my knee , before high heaven and you -That before you , and next unto high heaven , -I love your son . -My friends were poor , but honest ; so's my love : -Be not offended , for it hurts not him -That he is lov'd of me : I follow him not -By any token of presumptuous suit ; -Nor would I have him till I do deserve him ; -Yet never know how that desert should be . -I know I love in vain , strive against hope ; -Yet , in this captious and intenible sieve -I still pour in the waters of my love , -And lack not to lose still . Thus , Indian-like , -Religious in mine error , I adore -The sun , that looks upon his worshipper , -But knows of him no more . My dearest madam , -Let not your hate encounter with my love -For loving where you do : but , if yourself , -Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth , -Did ever in so true a flame of liking -Wish chastely and love dearly , that your Dian -Was both herself and Love ; O ! then , give pity -To her , whose state is such that cannot choose -But lend and give where she is sure to lose ; -That seeks not to find that her search implies , -But , riddle-like , lives sweetly where she dies . - -Had you not lately an intent , speak truly , -To go to Paris ? - -Madam , I had . - -Wherefore ? tell true . - -I will tell truth ; by grace itself I swear . -You know my father left me some prescriptions -Of rare and prov'd effects , such as his reading -And manifest experience had collected -For general sovereignty ; and that he will'd me -In heedfull'st reservation to bestow them , -As notes whose faculties inclusive were -More than they were in note . Amongst the rest , -There is a remedy , approv'd , set down -To cure the desperate languishings whereof -The king is render'd lost . - -This was your motive -For Paris , was it ? speak . - -My lord your son made me to think of this ; -Else Paris , and the medicine , and the king , -Had from the conversation of my thoughts -Haply been absent then . - -But think you , Helen , -If you should tender your supposed aid , -He would receive it ? He and his physicians -Are of a mind ; he , that they cannot help him , -They , that they cannot help . How shall they credit -A poor unlearned virgin , when the schools , -Embowell'd of their doctrine , have left off -The danger to itself ? - -There's something in't , -More than my father's skill , which was the great'st -Of his profession , that his good receipt -Shall for my legacy be sanctified -By the luckiest stars in heaven : and , would your honour -But give me leave to try success , I'd venture -The well-lost life of mine on his Grace's cure , -By such a day , and hour . - -Dost thou believe't ? - -Ay , madam , knowingly . - -Why , Helen , thou shalt have my leave and love , -Means , and attendants , and my loving greetings -To those of mine in court . I'll stay at home -And pray God's blessing into thy attempt . -Be gone to-morrow ; and be sure of this , -What I can help thee to thou shalt not miss . - - -Farewell , young lords : these war-like principles -Do not throw from you : and you , my lords , farewell : -Share the advice betwixt you ; if both gain , all -The gift doth stretch itself as 'tis receiv'd , -And is enough for both . - -'Tis our hope , sir , -After well enter'd soldiers , to return -And find your Grace in health . - -No , no , it cannot be ; and yet my heart -Will not confess he owes the malady -That doth my life besiege . Farewell , young lords ; -Whether I live or die , be you the sons -Of worthy Frenchmen : let higher Italy -Those bated that inherit but the fall -Of the last monarchy see that you come -Not to woo honour , but to wed it ; when -The bravest questant shrinks , find what you seek -That fame may cry you loud : I say , farewell . - -Health , at your bidding , serve your majesty ! - -Those girls of Italy , take heed of them : -They say , our French lack language to deny -If they demand : beware of being captives , -Before you serve . - -Our hearts receive your warnings . - -Farewell . Come hither to me . - - -O my sweet lord , that you will stay behind us ! - -'Tis not his fault , the spark . - -O ! 'tis brave wars . - -Most admirable : I have seen those wars . - -I am commanded here , and kept a coil with -'Too young ,' and 'the next year ,' and ''tis too early .' - -An thy mind stand to't , boy , steal away bravely . - -I shall stay here the forehorse to a smock , -Creaking my shoes on the plain masonry , -Till honour be bought up and no sword worn -But one to dance with ! By heaven ! I'll steal away . - -There's honour in the theft . - -Commit it , count . - -I am your accessary ; and so farewell . - -I grow to you , and our parting is a tortured body . - -Farewell , captain . - -Sweet Monsieur Parolles ! - -Noble heroes , my sword and yours are kin . Good sparks and lustrous , a word , good metals : you shall find in the regiment of the Spinii , one Captain Spurio , with his cicatrice , an emblem of war , here on his sinister cheek : it was this very sword entrenched it : say to him , I live , and observe his reports for me - -We shall , noble captain . - - -Mars dote on you for his novices ! What will ye do ? - -Stay ; the king . - - -Use a more spacious ceremony to the noble lords ; you have restrained yourself within the list of too cold an adieu : be more expressive to them ; for they wear themselves in the cap of the time , there do muster true gait , eat , speak , and move under the influence of the most received star ; and though the devil lead the measure , such are to be followed . After them , and take a more dilated farewell . - -And I will do so . - -Worthy fellows ; and like to prove most sinewy swordmen . - -Pardon , my lord , for me and for my tidings . - -I'll fee thee to stand up . - -Then here's a man stands that has brought his pardon . -I would you had kneel'd , my lord , to ask me mercy , -And that at my bidding you could so stand up . - -I would I had ; so I had broke thy pate , -And ask'd thee mercy for't . - -Good faith , across : but , my good lord , 'tis thus ; -Will you be cur'd of your infirmity ? - -No . - -O ! will you eat no grapes , my royal fox ? -Yes , but you will my noble grapes an if -My royal fox could reach them . I have seen a medicine -That's able to breathe life into a stone , -Quicken a rock , and make you dance canary -With spritely fire and motion ; whose simple touch -Is powerful to araise King Pepin , nay , -To give great Charlemain a pen in's hand -And write to her a love-line . - -What 'her' is this ? - -Why , Doctor She . My lord , there's one arriv'd -If you will see her : now , by my faith and honour , -If seriously I may convey my thoughts -In this my light deliverance , I have spoke -With one , that in her sex , her years , profession , -Wisdom , and constancy , hath amaz'd me more -Than I dare blame my weakness . Will you see her , -For that is her demand , and know her business ? -That done , laugh well at me . - -Now , good Lafeu , -Bring in the admiration , that we with thee -May spend our wonder too , or take off thine -By wond'ring how thou took'st it . - -Nay , I'll fit you , -And not be all day neither . - - -Thus he his special nothing ever prologues . - - -Nay , come your ways . - -This haste hath wings indeed . - -Nay , come your ways ; -This is his majesty , say your mind to him : -A traitor you do look like ; but such traitors -His majesty seldom fears : I am Cressid's uncle , -That dare leave two together . Fare you well . - - -Now , fair one , does your business follow us ? - -Ay , my good lord . -Gerard de Narbon was my father ; -In what he did profess well found . - -I knew him . - -The rather will I spare my praises towards him ; -Knowing him is enough . On's bed of death -Many receipts he gave me ; chiefly one , -Which , as the dearest issue of his practice , -And of his old experience the only darling , -He bade me store up as a triple eye , -Safer than mine own two , more dear . I have so ; -And , hearing your high majesty is touch'd -With that malignant cause wherein the honour -Of my dear father's gift stands chief in power , -I come to tender it and my appliance , -With all bound humbleness . - -We thank you , maiden ; -But may not be so credulous of cure , -When our most learned doctors leave us , and -The congregated college have concluded -That labouring art can never ransom nature -From her inaidable estate ; I say we must not -So stain our judgment , or corrupt our hope , -To prostitute our past-cure malady -To empirics , or to dissever so -Our great self and our credit , to esteem -A senseless help when help past sense we deem . - -My duty then , shall pay me for my pains : -I will no more enforce mine office on you ; -Humbly entreating from your royal thoughts -A modest one , to bear me back again . - -I cannot give thee less , to be call'd grateful . -Thou thought'st to help me , and such thanks I give -As one near death to those that wish him live ; -But what at full I know , thou know'st no part , -I knowing all my peril , thou no art . - -What I can do can do no hurt to try , -Since you set up your rest 'gainst remedy . -He that of greatest works is finisher -Oft does them by the weakest minister : -So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown , -When judges have been babes ; great floods have flown -From simple sources ; and great seas have dried -When miracles have by the greatest been denied . -Oft expectation fails , and most oft there -Where most it promises ; and oft it hits -Where hope is coldest and despair most fits . - -I must not hear thee : fare thee well , kind maid . -Thy pains , not us'd , must by thyself be paid : -Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward . - -Inspired merit so by breath is barr'd . -It is not so with Him that all things knows , -As 'tis with us that square our guess by shows ; -But most it is presumption in us when -The help of heaven we count the act of men . -Dear sir , to my endeavours give consent ; -Of heaven , not me , make an experiment . -I am not an impostor that proclaim -Myself against the level of mine aim ; -But know I think , and think I know most sure , -My art is not past power nor you past cure . - -Art thou so confident ? Within what space -Hop'st thou my cure ? - -The great'st grace lending grace , -Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring -Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring , -Ere twice in murk and occidental damp -Moist Hesperus hath quench'd his sleepy lamp , -Or four and twenty times the pilot's glass -Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass , -What is infirm from your sound parts shall fly , -Health shall live free , and sickness freely die . - -Upon thy certainty and confidence -What dar'st thou venture ? - -Tax of impudence , -A strumpet's boldness , a divulged shame , -Traduc'd by odious ballads : my maiden's name -Sear'd otherwise ; nay worse if worse extended -With vilest torture let my life be ended . - -Methinks in thee some blessed spirit doth speak , -His powerful sound within an organ weak ; -And what impossibility would slay -In common sense , sense saves another way . -Thy life is dear ; for all that life can rate -Worth name of life in thee hath estimate ; -Youth , beauty , wisdom , courage , virtue , all -That happiness and prime can happy call : -Thou this to hazard needs must intimate -Skill infinite or monstrous desperate . -Sweet practiser , thy physic I will try , -That ministers thine own death if I die . - -If I break time , or flinch in property -Of what I spoke , unpitied let me die , -And well deserv'd . Not helping , death's my fee ; -But , if I help , what do you promise me ? - -Make thy demand . - -But will you make it even ? - -Ay , by my sceptre , and my hopes of heaven . - -Then shalt thou give me with thy kingly hand -What husband in thy power I will command : -Exempted be from me the arrogance -To choose from forth the royal blood of France , -My low and humble name to propagate -With any branch or image of thy state ; -But such a one , thy vassal , whom I know -Is free for me to ask , thee to bestow . - -Here is my hand ; the premises observ'd , -Thy will by my performance shall be serv'd : -So make the choice of thy own time , for I , -Thy resolv'd patient , on thee still rely . -More should I question thee , and more I must , -Though more to know could not be more to trust , -From whence thou cam'st , how tended on ; but rest -Unquestion'd welcome and undoubted blest . -Give me some help here , ho ! If thou proceed -As high as word , my deed shall match thy deed . - - -Come on , sir ; I shall now put you to the height of your breeding . - -I will show myself highly fed and lowly taught . I know my business is but to the court . - -To the court ! why what place make you special , when you put off that with such contempt ? 'But to the court !' - -Truly , madam , if God have lent a man any manners , he may easily put it off at court : he that cannot make a leg , put off's cap , kiss his hand , and say nothing , has neither leg , hands , lip , nor cap ; and indeed such a fellow , to say precisely , were not for the court . But , for me , I have an answer will serve all men . - -Marry , that's a bountiful answer that fits all questions . - -It is like a barber's chair that fits all buttocks ; the pin-buttock , the quatch-buttock , the brawn-buttock , or any buttock . - -Will your answer serve fit to all questions ? - -As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney , as your French crown for your taffeta punk , as Tib's rush for Tom's forefinger , as a pancake for Shrove-Tuesday , a morris for Mayday , as the nail to his hole , the cuckold to his horn , as a scolding quean to a wrangling knave , as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth ; nay , as the pudding to his skin . - -Have you , I say , an answer of such fitness for all questions ? - -From below your duke to beneath your constable , it will fit any question . - -It must be an answer of most monstrous size that must fit all demands . - -But a trifle neither , in good faith , if the learned should speak truth of it . Here it is , and all that belongs to't : ask me if I am a courtier ; it shall do you no harm to learn . - -To be young again , if we could . I will be a fool in question , hoping to be the wiser by your answer . I pray you , sir , are you a courtier ? - -O Lord , sir ! there's a simple putting off . More , more , a hundred of them . - -Sir , I am a poor friend of yours , that loves you . - -O Lord , sir ! Thick , thick , spare not me . - -I think , sir , you can eat none of this homely meat . - -O Lord , sir ! Nay , put me to't , I warrant you . - -You were lately whipped , sir , as I think . - -O Lord , sir ! Spare not me . - -Do you cry , 'O Lord , sir !' at your whipping , and 'Spare not me ?' Indeed your 'O Lord , sir !' is very sequent to your whipping : you would answer very well to a whipping , if you were but bound to't . - -I ne'er had worse luck in my life in my 'O Lord , sir !' I see things may serve long , but not serve ever . - -I play the noble housewife with the time , -To entertain't so merrily with a fool . - -O Lord , sir ! why , there't serves well again . - -An end , sir : to your business . Give Helen this , -And urge her to a present answer back : -Commend me to my kinsmen and my son . -This is not much . - -Not much commendation to them . - -Not much employment for you : you understand me ? - -Most fruitfully : I am there before my legs . - -Haste you again . - - -They say miracles are past ; and we have our philosophical persons , to make modern and familiar , things supernatural and causeless . Hence is it that we make trifles of terrors , ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge , when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear . - -Why , 'tis the rarest argument of wonder that hath shot out in our latter times . - -And so 'tis . - -To be relinquished of the artists , - -So I say . - -Both of Galen and Paracelsus . - -So I say . - -Of all the learned and authentic fellows , - -Right ; so I say . - -That gave him out incurable , - -Why , there 'tis ; so say I too . - -Not to be helped , - -Right ; as 'twere , a man assured of a - -Uncertain life , and sure death . - -Just , you say well : so would I have said . - -I may truly say it is a novelty to the world . - -It is , indeed : if you will have it in showing , you shall read it in what do you call there - -A showing of a heavenly effect in an earthly actor . - -That's it I would have said ; the very same . - -Why , your dolphin is not lustier : 'fore me , I speak in respect - -Nay , 'tis strange , 'tis very strange , that is the brief and the tedious of it ; and he is of a most facinorous spirit , that will not acknowledge it to be the - -Very hand of heaven - -Ay , so I say . - -In a most weak and debile minister , great power , great transcendence : which should , indeed , give us a further use to be made than alone the recovery of the king , as to be generally thankful . - -I would have said it ; you say well . Here comes the king . - - -Lustig , as the Dutchman says : I'll like a maid the better , whilst I have a tooth in my head . Why , he's able to lead her a coranto . - -Mort du vinaigre ! Is not this Helen ? - -'Fore God , I think so . - -Go , call before me all the lords in court . - -Sit , my preserver , by thy patient's side : -And with this healthful hand , whose banish'd sense -Thou hast repeal'd , a second time receive -The confirmation of my promised gift , -Which but attends thy naming . - - -Fair maid , send forth thine eye : this youthful parcel -Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing , -O'er whom both sov'reign power and father's voice -I have to use : thy frank election make ; - -Thou hast power to choose , and they none to forsake . - -To each of you one fair and virtuous mistress -Fall , when Love please ! marry , to each , but one . - -I'd give bay Curtal , and his furniture , -My mouth no more were broken than these boys' -And writ as little beard . - -Peruse them well : -Not one of those but had a noble father . - -Gentlemen , -Heaven hath through me restor'd the king to health . - -We understand it , and thank heaven for you . - -I am a simple maid ; and therein wealthiest -That I protest I simply am a maid . -Please it your majesty , I have done already : -The blushes in my cheeks thus whisper me , -'We blush , that thou shouldst choose ; but , be refus'd , -Let the white death sit on thy cheek for ever ; -We'll ne'er come there again .' - -Make choice ; and see , -Who shuns thy love , shuns all his love in me . - -Now , Dian , from thy altar do I fly , -And to imperial Love , that god most high , -Do my sighs stream . Sir , will you hear my suit ? - -And grant it . - -Thanks , sir ; all the rest is mute . - -I had rather be in this choice than throw ames-ace for my life . - -The honour , sir , that flames in your fair eyes , -Before I speak , too threateningly replies : -Love make your fortunes twenty times above -Her that so wishes , and her humble love ! - -No better , if you please . - -My wish receive , -Which great Love grant ! and so I take my leave . - -Do all they deny her ? An they were sons of mine , I'd have them whipp'd or I would send them to the Turk to make eunuchs of . - -Be not afraid that I your hand should take ; -I'll never do you wrong for your own sake : -Blessing upon your vows ! and in your bed -Find fairer fortune , if you ever wed ! - -These boys are boys of ice , they'll none have her : sure , they are bastards to the English ; the French ne'er got 'em . - -You are too young , too happy , and too good , -To make yourself a son out of my blood . - -Fair one , I think not so . - -There's one grape yet . I am sure thy father drunk wine . But if thou be'st not an ass , I am a youth of fourteen : I have known thee already . - -I dare not say I take you ; but I give -Me and my service , ever whilst I live , -Into your guiding power . This is the man . - -Why then , young Bertram , take her ; she's thy wife . - -My wife , my liege ! I shall beseech your highness -In such a business give me leave to use -The help of mine own eyes . - -Know'st thou not , Bertram , -What she has done for me ? - -Yes , my good lord ; -But never hope to know why I should marry her . - -Thou know'st she has rais'd me from my sickly bed . - -But follows it , my lord , to bring me down -Must answer for your raising ? I know her well : -She had her breeding at my father's charge . -A poor physician's daughter my wife ! Disdain -Rather corrupt me ever ! - -'Tis only title thou disdain'st in her , the which -I can build up . Strange is it that our bloods , -Of colour , weight , and heat , pour'd all together , -Would quite confound distinction , yet stand off -In differences so mighty . If she be -All that is virtuous , save what thou dislik'st , -A poor physician's daughter , thou dislik'st -Of virtue for the name ; but do not so : -From lowest place when virtuous things proceed , -The place is dignified by the doer's deed : -Where great additions swell's , and virtue none , -It is a dropsied honour . Good alone -Is good without a name : vileness is so : -The property by what it is should go , -Not by the title . She is young , wise , fair ; -In these to nature she's immediate heir , -And these breed honour : that is honour's scorn -Which challenges itself as honour's born , -And is not like the sire : honours thrive -When rather from our acts we them derive -Than our foregoers . The mere word's a slave , -Debosh'd on every tomb , on every grave -A lying trophy , and as oft is dumb -Where dust and damn'd oblivion is the tomb -Of honour'd bones indeed . What should be said ? -If thou canst like this creature as a maid , -I can create the rest : virtue and she -Is her own dower ; honour and wealth from me . - -I cannot love her , nor will strive to do't . - -Thou wrong'st thyself if thou shouldst strive to choose . - -That you are well restor'd , my lord , I'm glad : -Let the rest go . - -My honour's at the stake , which to defeat -I must produce my power . Here , take her hand , -Proud scornful boy , unworthy this good gift , -That dost in vile misprision shackle up -My love and her desert ; thou canst not dream -We , poising us in her defective scale , -Shall weigh thee to the beam ; that wilt not know , -It is in us to plant thine honour where -We please to have it grow . Check thy contempt : -Obey our will , which travails in thy good : -Believe not thy disdain , but presently -Do thine own fortunes that obedient right -Which both thy duty owes and our power claims ; -Or I will throw thee from my care for ever -Into the staggers and the careless lapse -Of youth and ignorance ; both my revenge and hate -Loosing upon thee , in the name of justice , -Without all terms of pity . Speak ; thine answer . - -Pardon , my gracious lord ; for I submit -My fancy to your eyes . When I consider -What great creation and what dole of honour -Flies where you bid it , I find that she , which late -Was in my nobler thoughts most base , is now -The praised of the king ; who , so ennobled , -Is , as 'twere , born so . - -Take her by the hand , -And tell her she is thine : to whom I promise -A counterpoise , if not to thy estate -A balance more replete . - -I take her hand . - -Good fortune and the favour of the king -Smile upon this contract ; whose ceremony -Shall seem expedient on the now-born brief , -And be perform'd to-night : the solemn feast -Shall more attend upon the coming space , -Expecting absent friends . As thou lov'st her , -Thy love's to me religious ; else , does err . - - -Do you hear , monsieur ? a word with you . - -Your pleasure , sir ? - -Your lord and master did well to make his recantation . - -Recantation ! My lord ! my master ! - -Ay ; is it not a language I speak ? - -A most harsh one , and not to be understood without bloody succeeding . My master ! - -Are you companion to the Count Rousillon ? - -To any count ; to all counts ; to what is man . - -To what is count's man : count's master is of another style . - -You are too old , sir ; let it satisfy you , you are too old . - -I must tell thee , sirrah , I write man ; to which title age cannot bring thee . - -What I dare too well do , I dare not do . - -I did think thee , for two ordinaries , to be a pretty wise fellow : thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel ; it might pass : yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great a burden . I have now found thee ; when I lose thee again , I care not ; yet art thou good for nothing but taking up , and that thou'rt scarce worth . - -Hadst thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee , - -Do not plunge thyself too far in anger , lest thou hasten thy trial ; which if Lord have mercy on thee for a hen ! So , my good window of lattice , fare thee well : thy casement I need not open , for I look through thee . Give me thy hand . - -My lord , you give me most egregious indignity . - -Ay , with all my heart ; and thou art worthy of it . - -I have not , my lord , deserved it . - -Yes , good faith , every dram of it ; and I will not bate thee a scruple . - -Well , I shall be wiser . - -E'en as soon as thou canst , for thou hast to pull at a smack o' the contrary . If ever thou be'st bound in thy scarf and beaten , thou shalt find what it is to be proud of thy bondage . I have a desire to hold my acquaintance with thee , or rather my knowledge , that I may say in the default , he is a man I know . - -My lord , you do me most insupportable vexation . - -I would it were hell-pains for thy sake , and my poor doing eternal : for doing I am past ; as I will by thee , in what motion age will give me leave . - - -Well , thou hast a son shall take this disgrace off me ; scurvy , old , filthy , scurvy lord ! Well , I must be patient ; there is no fettering of authority . I'll beat him , by my life , if I can meet him with any convenience , an he were double and double a lord . I'll have no more pity of his age than I would have of I'll beat him , an if I could but meet him again ! - - -Sirrah , your lord and master's married ; there's news for you : you have a new mistress . - -I most unfeignedly beseech your lordship to make some reservation of your wrongs : he is my good lord : whom I serve above is my master . - -Who ? God ? - -Ay , sir . - -The devil it is that's thy master . Why dost thou garter up thy arms o' this fashion ? dost make hose of thy sleeves ? do other servants so ? Thou wert best set thy lower part where thy nose stands . By mine honour , if I were but two hours younger , I'd beat thee : methinks thou art a general offence , and every man should beat thee : I think thou wast created for men to breathe themselves upon thee . - -This is hard and undeserved measure , my lord . - -Go to , sir ; you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernel out of a pomegranate ; you are a vagabond and no true traveller : you are more saucy with lords and honourable personages than the heraldry of your birth and virtue gives you commission . You are not worth another word , else I'd call you knave . I leave you . - - -Good , very good ; it is so then : good , very good . Let it be concealed awhile . - - -Undone , and forfeited to cares for ever ! - -What is the matter , sweet heart ? - -Although before the solemn priest I have sworn , -I will not bed her . - -What , what , sweet heart ? - -O my Parolles , they have married me ! -I'll to the Tuscan wars , and never bed her . - -France is a dog-hole , and it no more merits -The tread of a man's foot . To the wars ! - -There's letters from my mother : what the import is -I know not yet . - -Ay , that would be known . To the wars , my boy ! to the wars ! -He wears his honour in a box , unseen , -That hugs his kicky-wicky here at home , -Spending his manly marrow in her arms , -Which should sustain the bound and high curvet -Of Mars's fiery steed . To other regions ! -France is a stable ; we that dwell in't jades ; -Therefore , to the war ! - -It shall be so : I'll send her to my house , -Acquaint my mother with my hate to her , -And wherefore I am fled ; write to the king -That which I durst not speak : his present gift -Shall furnish me to those Italian fields , -Where noble fellows strike . War is no strife -To the dark house and the detested wife . - -Will this capriccio hold in thee ? art sure ? - -Go with me to my chamber , and advise me . -I'll send her straight away : to-morrow -I'll to the wars , she to her single sorrow . - -Why , these balls bound ; there's noise in it . 'Tis hard : -A young man married is a man that's marr'd : -Therefore away , and leave her bravely ; go : -The king has done you wrong : but , hush ! 'tis so . - - -My mother greets me kindly : is she well ? - -She is not well ; but yet she has her health ; she's very merry ; but yet she is not well : but thanks be given , she's very well , and wants nothing i' the world ; but yet she is not well . - -If she be very well , what does she ail that she's not very well ? - -Truly , she's very well indeed , but for two things . - -What two things ? - -One , that she's not in heaven , whither -God send her quickly ! the other , that she's in earth , from whence God send her quickly ! - - -Bless you , my fortunate lady ! - -I hope , sir , I have your good will to have mine own good fortunes . - -You had my prayers to lead them on ; and to keep them on , have them still . O ! my knave , how does my old lady ? - -So that you had her wrinkles , and I her money , I would she did as you say . - -Why , I say nothing . - -Marry , you are the wiser man ; for many a man's tongue shakes out his master's undoing . To say nothing , to do nothing , to know nothing , and to have nothing , is to be a great part of your title ; which is within a very little of nothing . - -Away ! thou'rt a knave . - -You should have said , sir , before a knave thou'rt a knave ; that is , before me thou'rt a knave : this had been truth , sir . - -Go to , thou art a witty fool ; I have found thee . - -Did you find me in yourself , sir ? or were you taught to find me ? The search , sir , was profitable ; and much fool may you find in you , even to the world's pleasure and the increase of laughter . - -A good knave , i' faith , and well fed . -Madam , my lord will go away to-night ; -A very serious business calls on him . -The great prerogative and rite of love , -Which , as your due , time claims , he does acknowledge , -But puts it off to a compell'd restraint ; -Whose want , and whose delay , is strew'd with sweets , -Which they distil now in the curbed time , -To make the coming hour o'erflow with joy , -And pleasure drown the brim . - -What's his will else ? - -That you will take your instant leave o' the king , -And make this haste as your own good proceeding , -Strengthen'd with what apology you think -May make it probable need . - -What more commands he ? - -That , having this obtain'd , you presently -Attend his further pleasure . - -In everything I wait upon his will . - -I shall report it so . - -I pray you . Come , sirrah . - - -But I hope your lordship thinks not him a soldier . - -Yes , my lord , and of very valiant approof . - -You have it from his own deliverance . - -And by other warranted testimony . - -Then my dial goes not true : I took this lark for a bunting . - -I do assure you , my lord , he is very great in knowledge , and accordingly valiant . - -I have then sinned against his experience and transgressed against his valour ; and my state that way is dangerous , since I cannot yet find in my heart to repent . Here he comes ; I pray you , make us friends ; I will pursue the amity . - - -These things shall be done , sir . - -Pray you , sir , who's his tailor ? - -Sir ? - -O ! I know him well . Ay , sir ; he , sir , is a good workman , a very good tailor . - -Is she gone to the king ? - -She is . - -Will she away to-night ? - -As you'll have her . - -I have writ my letters , casketed my treasure , -Given orders for our horses ; and to-night , -When I should take possession of the bride , -End ere I do begin . - -A good traveller is something at the latter end of a dinner ; but one that lies three thirds , and uses a known truth to pass a thousand nothings with , should be once heard and thrice beaten . God save you , captain . - -Is there any unkindness between my lord and you , monsieur ? - -I know not how I have deserved to run into my lord's displeasure . - -You have made shift to run into't , boots and spurs and all , like him that leaped into the custard ; and out of it you'll run again , rather than suffer question for your residence . - -It may be you have mistaken him , my lord . - -And shall do so ever , though I took him at his prayers . Fare you well , my lord ; and believe this of me , there can be no kernel in this light nut ; the soul of this man is his clothes . Trust him not in matter of heavy consequence ; I have kept of them tame , and know their natures . Farewell , monsieur : I have spoken better of you than you have or will to deserve at my hand ; but we must do good against evil . - - -An idle lord , I swear . - -I think not so . - -Why , do you not know him ? - -Yes , I do know him well ; and common speech -Gives him a worthy pass . Here comes my clog . - - -I have , sir , as I was commanded from you , -Spoke with the king , and have procur'd his leave -For present parting ; only , he desires -Some private speech with you . - -I shall obey his will . -You must not marvel , Helen , at my course , -Which holds not colour with the time , nor does -The ministration and required office -On my particular : prepar'd I was not -For such a business ; therefore am I found -So much unsettled . This drives me to entreat you -That presently you take your way for home ; -And rather muse than ask why I entreat you ; -For my respects are better than they seem , -And my appointments have in them a need -Greater than shows itself at the first view -To you that know them not . This to my mother . - -'Twill be two days ere I shall see you , so -I leave you to your wisdom . - -Sir , I can nothing say , -But that I am your most obedient servant . - -Come , come , no more of that . - -And ever shall -With true observance seek to eke out that -Wherein toward me my homely stars have fail'd -To equal my great fortune . - -Let that go : -My haste is very great . Farewell : hie home . - -Pray sir , your pardon . - -Well , what would you say ? - -I am not worthy of the wealth I owe , -Nor dare I say 'tis mine , and yet it is ; -But , like a timorous thief , most fain would steal -What law does vouch mine own . - -What would you have ? - -Something , and scarce so much : nothing , indeed . -I would not tell you what I would , my lord : -Faith , yes ; -Strangers and foes do sunder , and not kiss . - -I pray you , stay not , but in haste to horse . - -I shall not break your bidding , good my lord . - -Farewell . - -Go thou toward home ; where I will never come -Whilst I can shake my sword or hear the drum . -Away ! and for our flight . - -Bravely , coragio ! - -So that from point to point now have you heard -The fundamental reasons of this war , -Whose great decision hath much blood let forth , -And more thirsts after . - -Holy seems the quarrel -Upon your Grace's part ; black and fearful -On the opposer . - -Therefore we marvel much our cousin France -Would in so just a business shut his bosom -Against our borrowing prayers . - -Good my lord , -The reasons of our state I cannot yield , -But like a common and an outward man , -That the great figure of a council frames -By self-unable motion : therefore dare not -Say what I think of it , since I have found -Myself in my incertain grounds to fail -As often as I guess'd . - -Be it his pleasure . - -But I am sure the younger of our nature , -That surfeit on their ease , will day by day -Come here for physic . - -Welcome shall they be , -And all the honours that can fly from us -Shall on them settle . You know your places well ; -When better fall , for your avails they fell . -To-morrow to the field . - - -It hath happened all as I would have had it , save that he comes not along with her . - -By my troth , I take my young lord to be a very melancholy man . - -By what observance , I pray you ? - -Why , he will look upon his boot and sing ; mend the ruff and sing ; ask questions and sing ; pick his teeth and sing . I know a man that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor for a song . - -Let me see what he writes , and when he means to come . - -I have no mind to Isbel since I was at court . Our old ling and our Isbels o' the country are nothing like your old ling and your Isbels o' the court : the brains of my Cupid's knocked out , and I begin to love , as an old man loves money , with no stomach . - -What have we here ? - -E'en that you have there . - - -I have sent you a daughter-in-law : she hath recovered the king , and undone me . I have wedded her , not bedded her ; and sworn to make the 'not' eternal . You shall hear I am ran away : know it before the report come . If there be breadth enough in the world , I will hold a long distance . My duty to you . -Your unfortunate son , -This is not well : rash and unbridled boy , -To fly the favours of so good a king ! -To pluck his indignation on thy head -By the misprising of a maid too virtuous -For the contempt of empire ! - - -O madam ! yonder is heavy news within between two soldiers and my young lady . - -What is the matter ? - -Nay , there is some comfort in the news , some comfort ; your son will not be killed so soon as I thought he would . - -Why should he be killed ? - -So say I , madam , if he run away , as I hear he does : the danger is in standing to't ; that's the loss of men , though it be the getting of children . Here they come will tell you more ; for my part , I only hear your son was run away . - -Save you , good madam . - -Madam , my lord is gone , for ever gone . - -Do not say so . - -Think upon patience . Pray you , gentlemen , -I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief , -That the first face of neither , on the start , -Can woman me unto 't : where is my son , I pray you ? - -Madam , he's gone to serve the Duke of Florence : -We met him thitherward ; for thence we came , -And , after some dispatch in hand at court , -Thither we bend again . - -Look on his letter , madam ; here's my passport . -When thou canst get the ring upon my finger , which never shall come off , and show me a child begotten of thy body that I am father to , then call me husband : but in such a 'then' I write a 'never .' -This is a dreadful sentence . - -Brought you this letter , gentlemen ? - -Ay , madam ; -And for the contents' sake are sorry for our pains . - -I prithee , lady , have a better cheer ; -If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine , -Thou robb'st me of a moiety : he was my son , -But I do wash his name out of my blood , -And thou art all my child . Towards Florence is he ? - -Ay , madam . - -And to be a soldier ? - -Such is his noble purpose ; and , believe't , -The duke will lay upon him all the honour -That good convenience claims . - -Return you thither ? - -Ay , madam , with the swiftest wing of speed . - -Till I have no wife , I have nothing in France . -'Tis bitter . - -Find you that there ? - -Ay , madam . - -'Tis but the boldness of his hand , haply , which his heart was not consenting to . - -Nothing in France until he have no wife ! -There's nothing here that is too good for him -But only she ; and she deserves a lord -That twenty such rude boys might tend upon , -And call her hourly mistress . Who was with him ? - -A servant only , and a gentleman -Which I have some time known . - -Parolles , was it not ? - -Ay , my good lady , he . - -A very tainted fellow , and full of wickedness . -My son corrupts a well-derived nature -With his inducement . - -Indeed , good lady , -The fellow has a deal of that too much , -Which holds him much to have . - -Y'are welcome , gentlemen . -I will entreat you , when you see my son , -To tell him that his sword can never win -The honour that he loses : more I'll entreat you -Written to bear along . - -We serve you , madam , -In that and all your worthiest affairs . - -Not so , but as we change our courtesies . -Will you draw near ? - - -'Till I have no wife , I have nothing in France .' -Nothing in France until he has no wife ! -Thou shalt have none , Rousillon , none in France ; -Then hast thou all again . Poor lord ! is't I -That chase thee from thy country , and expose -Those tender limbs of thine to the event -Of the non-sparing war ? and is it I -That drive thee from the sportive court , where thou -Wast shot at with fair eyes , to be the mark -Of smoky muskets ? O you leaden messengers , -That ride upon the violent speed of fire , -Fly with false aim ; move the still-piecing air , -That sings with piercing ; do not touch my lord ! -Whoever shoots at him , I set him there ; -Whoever charges on his forward breast , -I am the caitiff that do hold him to't ; -And , though I kill him not , I am the cause -His death was so effected : better 'twere -I met the ravin lion when he roar'd -With sharp constraint of hunger ; better 'twere -That all the miseries which nature owes -Were mine at once . No , come thou home , Rousillon , -Whence honour but of danger wins a scar , -As oft it loses all : I will be gone ; -My being here it is that holds thee hence : -Shall I stay here to do't ? no , no , although -The air of paradise did fan the house , -And angels offic'd all : I will be gone , -That pitiful rumour may report my flight , -To consolate thine ear . Come , night ; end , day ! -For with the dark , poor thief , I'll steal away . - - -The general of our horse thou art ; and we , -Great in our hope , lay our best love and credence -Upon thy promising fortune . - -Sir , it is -A charge too heavy for my strength , but yet -We'll strive to bear it for your worthy sake -To the extreme edge of hazard . - -Then go thou forth , -And fortune play upon thy prosp'rous helm -As thy auspicious mistress ! - -This very day , -Great Mars , I put myself into thy file : -Make me but like my thoughts , and I shall prove -A lover of thy drum , hater of love . - - -Alas ! and would you take the letter of her ? -Might you not know she would do as she has done , -By sending me a letter ? Read it again . - -I am Saint Jaques' pilgrim , thither gone : - -Ambitious love hath so in me offended -That bare-foot plod I the cold ground upon -With sainted vow my faults to have amended . -Write , write , that from the bloody course of war , -My dearest master , your dear son , may hie : -Bless him at home in peace , whilst I from far -His name with zealous fervour sanctify : -His taken labours bid him me forgive ; -I , his despiteful Juno , sent him forth -From courtly friends , with camping foes to live , -Where death and danger dog the heels of worth : -He is too good and fair for Death and me ; -Whom I myself embrace , to set him free . - - -Ah , what sharp stings are in her mildest words ! -Rinaldo , you did never lack advice so much , -As letting her pass so : had I spoke with her , -I could have well diverted her intents , -Which thus she hath prevented . - -Pardon me , madam : -If I had given you this at over-night -She might have been o'erta'en ; and yet she writes , -Pursuit would be but vain . - -What angel shall -Bless this unworthy husband ? he cannot thrive , -Unless her prayers , whom heaven delights to hear , -And loves to grant , reprieve him from the wrath -Of greatest justice . Write , write , Rinaldo , -To this unworthy husband of his wife ; -Let every word weigh heavy of her worth -That he does weigh too light : my greatest grief , -Though little he do feel it , set down sharply . -Dispatch the most convenient messenger : -When haply he shall hear that she is gone , -He will return ; and hope I may that she , -Hearing so much , will speed her foot again , -Led hither by pure love . Which of them both -Is dearest to me I have no skill in sense -To make distinction . Provide this messenger . -My heart is heavy and mine age is weak ; -Grief would have tears , and sorrow bids me speak . - - -Nay , come ; for if they do approach the city we shall lose all the sight . - -They say the French Count has done most honourable service . - -It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander , and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother . We have lost our labour ; they are gone a contrary way : hark ! you may know by their trumpets . - -Come ; let's return again , and suffice ourselves with the report of it . Well , Diana , take heed of this French earl : the honour of a maid is her name , and no legacy is so rich as honesty . - -I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited by a gentleman his companion . - -I know that knave ; hang him ! one Parolles : a filthy officer he is in those suggestions for the young earl . Beware of them , Diana ; their promises , enticements , oaths , tokens , and all these engines of lust , are not the things they go under : many a maid hath been seduced by them ; and the misery is , example , that so terrible shows in the wrack of maidenhood , cannot for all that dissuade succession , but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them . I hope I need not to advise you further ; but I hope your own grace will keep you where you are , though there were no further danger known but the modesty which is so lost . - -You shall not need to fear me . - -I hope so . Look , here comes a pilgrim : -I know she will lie at my house ; thither they send one another . I'll question her . - -God save you , pilgrim ! whither are you bound ? - -To Saint Jaques le Grand . -Where do the palmers lodge , I do beseech you ? - -At the Saint Francis , here beside the port . - -Is this the way ? - -Ay , marry , is't . Hark you ! - -They come this way . If you will tarry , holy pilgrim , -But till the troops come by , -I will conduct you where you shall be lodg'd : -The rather , for I think I know your hostess -As ample as myself . - -Is it yourself ? - -If you shall please so , pilgrim . - -I thank you , and will stay upon your leisure . - -You came , I think , from France ? - -I did so . - -Here you shall see a countryman of yours -That has done worthy service . - -His name , I pray you . - -The Count Rousillon : know you such a one ? - -But by the ear , that hears most nobly of him ; -His face I know not . - -Whatsoe'er he is , -He's bravely taken here . He stole from France , -As 'tis reported , for the king had married him -Against his liking . Think you it is so ? - -Ay , surely , mere the truth : I know his lady . - -There is a gentleman that serves the count -Reports but coarsely of her . - -What's his name ? - -Monsieur Parolles . - -O ! I believe with him , -In argument of praise , or to the worth -Of the great count himself , she is too mean -To have her name repeated : all her deserving -Is a reserved honesty , and that -I have not heard examin'd . - -Alas , poor lady ! -'Tis a hard bondage to become the wife -Of a detesting lord . - -Ay , right ; good creature , wheresoe'er she is , -Her heart weighs sadly . This young maid might do her -A shrewd turn if she pleas'd . - -How do you mean ? -May be the amorous count solicits her -In the unlawful purpose . - -He does , indeed ; -And brokes with all that can in such a suit -Corrupt the tender honour of a maid : -But she is arm'd for him and keeps her guard -In honestest defence . - -The gods forbid else ! - - -So , now they come . -That is Antonio , the duke's eldest son ; -That , Escalus . - -Which is the Frenchman ? - -He ; -That with the plume : 'tis a most gallant fellow ; -I would he lov'd his wife . If he were honester , -He were much goodlier ; is't not a handsome gentleman ? - -I like him well . - -'Tis pity he is not honest . Yond's that same knave -That leads him to these places : were I his lady -I would poison that vile rascal . - -Which is he ? - -That jack-an-apes with scarfs . Why is he melancholy ? - -Perchance he's hurt i' the battle . - -Lose our drum ! well . - -He's shrewdly vexed at something . -Look , he has spied us . - -Marry , hang you ! - -And your courtesy , for a ring-carrier ! - - -The troop is past . Come , pilgrim , I will bring you -Where you shall host : of enjoin'd penitents -There's four or five , to great Saint Jaques bound , -Already at my house . - -I humbly thank you . -Please it this matron and this gentle maid -To eat with us to-night , the charge and thanking -Shall be for me ; and , to requite you further , -I will bestow some precepts of this virgin -Worthy the note . - -We'll take your offer kindly . - - -Nay , good my lord , put him to't : let him have his way . - -If your lordship find him not a hilding , hold me no more in your respect . - -On my life , my lord , a bubble . - -Do you think I am so far deceived in him ? - -Believe it , my lord , in mine own direct knowledge , without any malice , but to speak of him as my kinsman , he's a most notable coward , an infinite and endless liar , an hourly promise-breaker , the owner of no one good quality worthy your lordship's entertainment . - -It were fit you knew him ; lest , reposing too far in his virtue , which he hath not , he might at some great and trusty business in a main danger fail you . - -I would I knew in what particular action to try him . - -None better than to let him fetch off his drum , which you hear him so confidently undertake to do . - -I , with a troop of Florentines , will suddenly surprise him : such I will have whom I am sure he knows not from the enemy . We will bind and hood wink him so , that he shall suppose no other but that he is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries , when we bring him to our own tents . Be but your lordship present at his examination : if he do not , for the promise of his life and in the highest compulsion of base fear , offer to betray you and deliver all the intelligence in his power against you , and that with the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath , never trust my judgment in anything . - -O ! for the love of laughter , let him fetch his drum : he says he has a stratagem for't . When your lordship sees the bottom of his success in't , and to what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will be melted , if you give him not John Drum's entertainment , your inclining cannot be removed . Here he comes . - -O ! for the love of laughter , hinder not the honour of his design : let him fetch off his drum in any hand . - - -How now , monsieur ! this drum sticks sorely in your disposition . - -A pox on't ! let it go : 'tis but a drum . - -'But a drum !' Is't 'but a drum ?' A drum so lost ! There was excellent command , to charge in with our horse upon our own wings , and to rend our own soldiers ! - -That was not to be blamed in the command of the service : it was a disaster of war that C sar himself could not have prevented if he had been there to command . - -Well , we cannot greatly condemn our success : some dishonour we had in the loss of that drum ; but it is not to be recovered . - -It might have been recovered . - -It might ; but it is not now . - -It is to be recovered . But that the merit of service is seldom attributed to the true and exact performer , I would have that drum or another , or hic jacet . - -Why , if you have a stomach to't , monsieur , if you think your mystery in stratagem can bring this instrument of honour again into its native quarter , be magnanimous in the enterprise and go on ; I will grace the attempt for a worthy exploit : if you speed well in it , the duke shall both speak of it , and extend to you what further becomes his greatness , even to the utmost syllable of your worthiness . - -By the hand of a soldier , I will undertake it . - -But you must not now slumber in it . - -I'll about it this evening : and I will presently pen down my dilemmas , encourage myself in my certainty , put myself into my mortal preparation , and by midnight look to hear further from me . - -May I be bold to acquaint his Grace you are gone about it ? - -I know not what the success will be , my lord ; but the attempt I vow . - -I know thou'rt valiant ; and , to the possibility of thy soldiership , will subscribe for thee . Farewell . - -I love not many words . - - -No more than a fish loves water . Is not this a strange fellow , my lord , that so confidently seems to undertake this business , which he knows is not to be done ; damns himself to do , and dares better be damned than to do't ? - -You do not know him , my lord , as we do : certain it is , that he will steal himself into a man's favour , and for a week escape a great deal of discoveries ; but when you find him out you have him ever after . - -Why , do you think he will make no deed at all of this that so seriously he does address himself unto ? - -None in the world ; but return with an invention and clap upon you two or three probable lies . But we have almost embossed him , you shall see his fall to-night ; for , indeed , he is not for your lordship's respect . - -We'll make you some sport with the fox ere we case him . He was first smoked by the old Lord Lafeu : when his disguise and he is parted , tell me what a sprat you shall find him ; which you shall see this very night . - -I must go look my twigs : he shall be caught . - -Your brother he shall go along with me . - -As't please your lordship : I'll leave you . - - -Now will I lead you to the house , and show you -The lass I spoke of . - -But you say she's honest . - -That's all the fault . I spoke with her but once , -And found her wondrous cold ; but I sent to her , -By this same coxcomb that we have i' the wind , -Tokens and letters which she did re-send ; -And this is all I have done . She's a fair creature ; -Will you go see her ? - -With all my heart , my lord . - - -If you misdoubt me that I am not she , -I know not how I shall assure you further , -But I shall lose the grounds I work upon . - -Though my estate be fall'n , I was well born , -Nothing acquainted with these businesses ; -And would not put my reputation now -In any staining act . - -Nor would I wish you . -First , give me trust , the county is my husband , -And what to your sworn counsel I have spoken -Is so from word to word ; and then you cannot , -By the good aid that I of you shall borrow , -Err in bestowing it . - -I should believe you : -For you have show'd me that which well approves -You're great in fortune . - -Take this purse of gold , -And let me buy your friendly help thus far , -Which I will over-pay and pay again -When I have found it . The county woos your daughter , -Lays down his wanton siege before her beauty , -Resolv'd to carry her : let her in fine consent , -As we'll direct her how 'tis best to bear it . -Now , his important blood will nought deny -That she'll demand : a ring the county wears , -That down ward hath succeeded in his house -From son to son , some four or five descents -Since the first father wore it : this ring he holds -In most rich choice ; yet , in his idle fire , -To buy his will , it would not seem too dear , -Howe'er repented after . - -Now I see -The bottom of your purpose . - -You see it lawful then . It is no more , -But that your daughter , ere she seems as won , -Desires this ring , appoints him an encounter , -In fine , delivers me to fill the time , -Herself most chastely absent . After this , -To marry her , I'll add three thousand crowns -To what is past already . - -I have yielded . -Instruct my daughter how she shall persever , -That time and place with this deceit so lawful -May prove coherent . Every night he comes -With musics of all sorts and songs compos'd -To her unworthiness : it nothing steads us -To chide him from our eaves , for he persists -As if his life lay on't . - -Why then to-night -Let us assay our plot ; which , if it speed , -Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed , -And lawful meaning in a lawful act , -Where both not sin , and yet a sinful fact . -But let's about it . - -He can come no other way but by this hedge-corner . When you sally upon him , speak what terrible language you will : though you understand it not yourselves , no matter ; for we must not seem to understand him , unless some one among us , whom we must produce for an interpreter . - -Good captain , let me be the interpreter . - -Art not acquainted with him ? knows he not thy voice ? - -No , sir , I warrant you . - -But what linsey-woolsey hast thou to speak to us again ? - -Even such as you speak to me . - -He must think us some band of strangers i' the adversary's entertainment . Now , he hath a smack of all neighbouring languages ; therefore we must every one be a man of his own fancy , not to know what we speak one to another ; so we seem to know , is to know straight our purpose : chough's language , gabble enough , and good enough . As for you , interpreter , you must seem very politic . But couch , ho ! here he comes , to beguile two hours in a sleep , and then to return and swear the lies he forges . - - -Ten o'clock : within these three hours 'twill be time enough to go home . What shall I say I have done ? It must be a very plausive invention that carries it . They begin to smoke me , and disgraces have of late knocked too often at my door . I find my tongue is too foolhardy ; but my heart hath the fear of Mars before it and of his creatures , not daring the reports of my tongue . - -This is the first truth that e'er thine own tongue was guilty of . - -What the devil should move me to undertake the recovery of this drum , being not ignorant of the impossibility , and knowing I had no such purpose ? I must give myself some hurts and say I got them in exploit . Yet slight ones will not carry it : they will say , 'Came you off with so little ?' and great ones I dare not give . Wherefore , what's the instance ? Tongue , I must put you into a butter-woman's mouth , and buy myself another of Bajazet's mute , if you prattle me into these perils . - -Is it possible he should know what he is , and be that he is ? - -I would the cutting of my garments would serve the turn or the breaking of my Spanish sword . - -We cannot afford you so . - -Or the baring of my beard , and to say it was in stratagem . - -'Twould not do . - -Or to drown my clothes , and say I was stripped . - -Hardly serve . - -Though I swore I leaped from the window of the citadel - -How deep ? - -Thirty fathom . - -Three great oaths would scarce make that be believed . - -I would I had any drum of the enemy's : -I would swear I recovered it . - -Thou shalt hear one anon . - -A drum now of the enemy's ! - - -Throca movousus , cargo , cargo , cargo . - -Cargo , cargo , villianda par corbo , cargo . - - -O ! ransom , ransom ! Do not hide mine eyes . - -Boskos thromuldo boskos . - -I know you are the Muskos' regiment ; -And I shall lose my life for want of language . -If there be here German , or Dane , low Dutch , -Italian , or French , let him speak to me : -I will discover that which shall undo -The Florentine . - -Boskos vauvado : -I understand thee , and can speak thy tongue : -Kerelybonto : Sir , -Betake thee to thy faith , for seventeen poniards -Are at thy bosom . - -O ! - -O ! pray , pray , pray . -Manka revania dulche . - -Oscorbidulchos volivorco . - -The general is content to spare thee yet ; -And , hoodwink'd as thou art , will lead thee on -To gather from thee : haply thou may'st inform -Something to save thy life . - -O ! let me live , -And all the secrets of our camp I'll show , -Their force , their purposes ; nay , I'll speak that -Which you will wonder at . - -But wilt thou faithfully ? - -If I do not , damn me . - -Acordo linta . -Come on ; thou art granted space . - - -Go , tell the Count Rousillon , and my brother , -We have caught the woodcock , and will keep him muffled -Till we do hear from them . - -Captain , I will . - -A' will betray us all unto ourselves : -Inform on that . - -So I will , sir . - -Till then , I'll keep him dark and safely lock'd . - - -They told me that your name was Fontibell . - -No , my good lord , Diana . - -Titled goddess ; -And worth it , with addition ! But , fair soul , -In your fine frame hath love no quality ? -If the quick fire of youth light not your mind , -You are no maiden , but a monument : -When you are dead , you should be such a one -As you are now , for you are cold and stern ; -And now you should be as your mother was -When your sweet self was got . - -She then was honest . - -So should you be . - -No : -My mother did but duty ; such , my lord , -As you owe to your wife . - -No more o' that ! -I prithee do not strive against my vows . -I was compell'd to her ; but I love thee -By love's own sweet constraint , and will for ever -Do thee all rights of service . - -Ay , so you serve us -Till we serve you ; but when you have our roses , -You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves -And mock us with our bareness . - -How have I sworn ! - -'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 , -If I should swear by God's great attributes -I lov'd you dearly , would you believe my oaths , -When I did love you ill ? this has no holding , -To swear by him whom I protest to love , -That I will work against him : therefore your oaths -Are words and poor conditions , but unseal'd ; -At least in my opinion . - -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 , -But give thyself unto my sick desires , -Who then recover : say thou art mine , and ever -My love as it begins shall so persever . - -I see that men make ropes in such a scarr -That we'll forsake ourselves . Give me that ring . - -I'll lend it thee , my dear ; but have no power -To give it from me . - -Will you not , my lord ? - -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 . - -Mine honour's such a ring : -My chastity's the jewel of our house , -Bequeathed down from many ancestors , -Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world -In me to lose . Thus your own proper wisdom -Brings in the champion honour on my part -Against your vain assault . - -Here , take my ring : -My house , mine honour , yea , my life , be thine , -And I'll be bid by thee . - -When midnight comes , knock at my chamber-window : -I'll order take my mother shall not hear . -Now will I charge you in the band of truth , -When you have conquer'd my yet maiden bed , -Remain there but an hour , nor speak to me . -My reasons are most strong ; and you shall know them -When back again this ring shall be deliver'd : -And on your finger in the night I'll put -Another ring , that what in time proceeds -May token to the future our past deeds . -Adieu , till then ; then , fail not . You have won -A wife of me , though there my hope be done . - -A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee . - - -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 's 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 -When I am buried . Since Frenchmen are so braid , -Marry that will , I live and die a maid : -Only in this disguise I think't no sin -To cozen him that would unjustly win . - - -You have not given him his mother's letter ? - -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 . - -He has much worthy blame laid upon him for shaking off so good a wife and so sweet a lady . - -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 . - -When you have spoken it , 'tis dead , and I am the grave of it . - -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 . - -Now , God delay our rebellion ! as we are ourselves , what things are we ! - -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 . - -Is it not most damnable in us , to be trumpeters of our unlawful intents ? We shall not then have his company to-night ? - -Not till after midnight , for he is dieted to his hour . - -That approaches apace : I would gladly have him see his company anatomized , that he might take a measure of his own judgments , wherein so curiously he had set this counterfeit . - -We will not meddle with him till he come , for his presence must be the whip of the other . - -In the meantime what near you of these wars ? - -I hear there is an overture of peace . - -Nay , I assure you , a peace concluded . - -What will Count Rousillon do then ? will he travel higher , or return again into France ? - -I perceive by this demand , you are not altogether of his council . - -Let it be forbid , sir ; so should I be a great deal of his act . - -Sir , his wife some two months since fled from his house : her pretence is a pilgrimage to Saint Jaques le Grand ; which holy undertaking with most austere sanctimony she accomplished ; and , there residing , the tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her grief ; in fine , made a groan of her last breath , and now she sings in heaven . - -How is this justified ? - -The stronger part of it by her own letters , which make her story true , even to the point of her death : her death itself , which could not be her office to say is come , was faithfully confirmed by the rector of the place . - -Hath the count all this intelligence ? - -Ay , and the particular confirmations , point from point , to the full arming of the verity . - -I am heartily sorry that he'll be glad of this . - -How mightily sometimes we make us comforts of our losses ! - -And how mightily some other times we drown our gain in tears ! The great dignity that his valour hath here acquired for him shall at home be encountered with a shame as ample . - -The web of our life is of a mingled yarn , good and ill together : our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not ; and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues . - -How now ! where's your master ? - -He met the duke in the street , sir , of whom he hath taken a solemn leave : his lordship will next morning for France . The duke hath offered him letters of commendations to the king . - -They shall be no more than needful there , if they were more than they can commend . - -They cannot be too sweet for the king's tartness . Here's his lordship now . - -How now , my lord ! is't not after midnight ? - -I have to-night dispatched sixteen businesses , a month's length a-piece , by an abstract of success : I have conge'd with the duke , done my adieu with his nearest , buried a wife , mourned for her , writ to my lady mother I am returning , entertained my convoy ; and between these main parcels of dispatch effected many nicer needs : the last was the greatest , but that I have not ended yet . - -If the business be of any difficulty , and this morning your departure hence , it requires haste of your lordship . - -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 soldier ? Come , bring forth this counterfeit model : he has deceived me , like a double-meaning prophesier . - -Bring him forth . - -Has sat i' the stocks all night , poor gallant knave . - -No matter ; his heels have deserved it , in usurping his spurs so long . How does he carry himself ? - -I have told your lordship already , the stocks carry him . But to answer you as you would be understood ; he weeps like a wench that had shed her milk : he hath confessed himself to Morgan ,whom he supposes to be a friar ,from the time of his remembrance to this very instant disaster of his setting i' the stocks : and what think you he hath confessed ? - -Nothing of me , has a' ? - -His confession 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 . - - -A plague upon him ! muffled ! he can say nothing of me : hush ! hush ! - -Hoodman comes ! Porto tartarossa . - -He calls for the tortures : what will you say without 'em ? - -I will confess what I know without constraint : if ye pinch me like a pasty , I can say no more . - -Bosko chimurcho . - -Boblibindo chicurmurco . - -You are a merciful general . Our general bids you answer to what I shall ask you out of a note . - -And truly , as I hope to live . - -First , demand of him how many horse the duke is strong . What say you to that ? - -Five or six thousand ; but very weak and unserviceable : the troops are all scattered , and the commanders very poor rogues , upon my reputation and credit , and as I hope to live . - -Shall I set down your answer so ? - -Do : I'll take the sacrament on't , how and which way you will . - -All's one to him . What a past-saving slave is this ! - -You are deceived , my lord : this is Monsieur Parolles , the gallant militarist ,that was his own phrase ,that had the whole theorick of war in the knot of his scarf , and the practice in the chape of his dagger . - -I will never trust a man again for keeping his sword clean ; nor believe he can have everything in him by wearing his apparel neatly . - -Well , that's set down . - -Five or six thousand horse , I said ,I will say true ,or thereabouts , set down , for I'll speak truth . - -He's very near the truth in this . - -But I con him no thanks for't , in the nature he delivers it . - -Poor rogues , I pray you , say . - -Well , that's set down . - -I humbly thank you , sir . A truth's a truth ; the rogues are marvellous poor . - -Demand of him , of what strength they are a-foot . What say you to that ? - -By my troth , sir , if I were to live this present hour , I will tell true . Let me see : Spurio , a hundred and fifty ; Sebastian , so many ; Corambus , so many ; Jaques , so many ; Guiltian , Cosmo , Lodowick , and Gratii , two hundred fifty each ; mine own company , Chitopher , Vaumond , Bentii , two hundred fifty each : so that the muster-file , rotten and sound , upon my life , amounts not to fifteen thousand poll ; half of the which dare not shake the snow from off their cassocks , lest they shake themselves to pieces . - -What shall be done to him ? - -Nothing , but let him have thanks . Demand of him my condition , and what credit I have with the duke . - -Well , that's set down . You shall demand of him , whether one Captain Dumain be i' the camp , a Frenchman ; what his reputation is with the duke ; what his valour , honesty , and expertness in wars ; or whether he thinks it were not possible , with well-weighing sums of gold , to corrupt him to a revolt . What say you to this ? what do you know of it ? - -I beseech you , let me answer to the particular of the inter'gatories : demand them singly . - -Do you know this Captain Dumain ? - -I know him : a' was a botcher's 'prentice in Paris , from whence he was whipped for getting the shrieve's fool with child ; a dumb innocent , that could not say him nay . - - -Nay , by your leave , hold your hands ; though I know his brains are forfeit to the next tile that falls . - -Well , is this captain in the Duke of Florence's camp ? - -Upon my knowledge he is , and lousy . - -Nay , look not so upon me ; we shall hear of your lordship anon . - -What is his reputation with the duke ? - -The duke knows him for no other but a poor officer of mine , and writ to me this other day to turn him out o' the band : I think I have his letter in my pocket . - -Marry , we'll search . - -In good sadness , I do not know : either it is there , or it is upon a file with the duke's other letters in my tent . - -Here 'tis ; here's a paper ; shall I read it to you ? - -I do not know if it be it or no . - -Our interpreter does it well . - -Excellently . - -Dian , the count's a fool , and full of gold - -That is not the duke's letter , sir ; that is an advertisement to a proper maid in Florence , one Diana , to take heed of the allurement of one Count Rousillon , a foolish idle boy , but for all that very ruttish . I pray you , sir , put it up again . - -Nay , I'll read it first , by your favour . - -My meaning in't , I protest , was very honest in the behalf of the maid ; for I knew the young count to be a dangerous and lascivious boy , who is a whale to virginity , and devours up all the fry it finds . - -Damnable both-sides rogue ! - -When he swears oaths , bid him drop gold , and take it ; -After he scores , he never pays the score : -Half won is match well made ; match , and well make it ; -He ne'er pays after-debts ; take it before , -And say a soldier , Dian , told thee this , -Men are to mell with , boys are not to kiss ; -For count of this , the count's a fool , I know it , -Who pays before , but not when he does owe it . - -Thine , as he vow'd to thee in thine ear , - -He shall be whipped through the army with this rime in's forehead . - -This is your devoted friend , sir ; the manifold linguist and the armipotent soldier . - -I could endure anything before but a cat , and now he's a cat to me . - -I perceive , sir , by our general's looks , we shall be fain to hang you . - -My life , sir , in any case ! not that I am afraid to die ; but that , my offences being many , I would repent out the remainder of nature . Let me live , sir , in a dungeon , i' the stocks , or anywhere , so I may live . - -We'll see what may be done , so you confess freely : therefore , once more to this Captain Dumain . You have answered to his reputation with the duke and to his valour : what is his honesty ? - -He will steal , sir , an egg out of a cloister ; for rapes and ravishments he parallels Nessus ; he professes not keeping of oaths ; in breaking 'em he is stronger than Hercules ; he will lie , sir , with such volubility , that you would think truth were a fool ; drunkenness is his best virtue , for he will be swine-drunk , and in his sleep he does little harm , save to his bed-clothes about him ; but they know his conditions , and lay him in straw . I have but little more to say , sir , of his honesty : he has everything that an honest man should not have ; what an honest man should have , he has nothing . - -I begin to love him for this . - -For this description of thine honesty ? A pox upon him for me ! he is more and more a cat . - -What say you to his expertness in war ? - -Faith , sir , he has led the drum before the English tragedians ,to belie him I will not ,and more of his soldiership I know not ; except , in that country , he had the honour to be the officer at a place there called Mile-end , to instruct for the doubling of files : I would do the man what honour I can , but of this I am not certain . - -He hath out-villained villany so far , that the rarity redeems him . - -A pox on him ! he's a cat still . - -His qualities being at this poor price , I need not ask you , if gold will corrupt him to revolt . - -Sir , for a cardecu he will sell the fee-simple of his salvation , the inheritance of it ; and cut the entail from all remainders , and a perpetual succession for it perpetually . - -What's his brother , the other Captain Dumain ? - -Why does he ask him or me ? - -What's he ? - -E'en a crow o' the same nest ; not altogether so great as the first in goodness , but greater a great deal in evil . He excels his brother for a coward , yet his brother is reputed one of the best that is . In a retreat he out-runs any lackey ; marry , in coming on he has the cramp . - -If your life be saved , will you undertake to betray the Florentine ? - -Ay , and the captain of his horse , Count Rousillon . - -I'll whisper with the general , and know his pleasure . - -I'll no more drumming ; a plague of all drums ! Only to seem to deserve well , and to beguile the supposition of that lascivious young boy the count , have I run into this danger . Yet who would have suspected an ambush where I was taken ? - -There is no remedy , sir , but you must die . The general says , you , that have so traitorously discovered the secrets of your army , and made such pestiferous reports of men very nobly held , can serve the world for no honest use ; therefore you must die . Come , headsman , off with his head . - -O Lord , sir , let me live , or let me see my death ! - -That shall you , and take your leave of all your friends . - -So , look about you : know you any here ? - -Good morrow , noble captain . - -God bless you , Captain Parolles . - -God save you , noble captain . - -Captain , what greeting will you to my Lord Lafeu ? I am for France . - -Good captain , will you give me a copy of the sonnet you writ to Diana in behalf of the Count Rousillon ? an I were not a very coward I'd compel it of you ; but fare you well . - - -You are undone , captain ; all but your scarf ; that has a knot on't yet . - -Who cannot be crushed with a plot ? - -If you could find out a country where but women were that had received so much shame , you might begin an impudent nation . Fare ye well , sir ; I am for France too : we shall speak of you there . - - -Yet am I thankful : if my heart were great -'Twould burst at this . Captain I'll be no more ; -But I will eat and drink , and sleep as soft -As captain shall : simply the thing I am -Shall make me live . Who knows himself a braggart , -Let him fear this ; for it will come to pass -That every braggart shall be found an ass . -Rust , sword ! cool , blushes ! and Parolles , live -Safest in shame ! being fool'd , by foolery thrive ! -There's place and means for every man alive . -I'll after them . - - -That you may well perceive I have not wrong'd you , -One of the greatest in the Christian world -Shall be my surety ; 'fore whose throne 'tis needful , -Ere I can perfect mine intents , to kneel . -Time was I did him a desired office , -Dear almost as his life ; which gratitude -Through flinty Tartar's bosom would peep forth , -And answer , thanks . I duly am inform'd -His Grace is at Marseilles ; to which place -We have convenient convoy . You must know , -I am supposed dead : the army breaking , -My husband hies him home ; where , heaven aiding , -And by the leave of my good lord the king , -We'll be before our welcome . - -Gentle madam , -You never had a servant to whose trust -Your business was more welcome . - -Nor you , mistress , -Ever a friend whose thoughts more truly labour -To recompense your love . Doubt not but heaven -Hath brought me up to be your daughter's dower , -As it hath fated her to be my motive -And helper to a husband . But , O strange men ! -That can such sweet use make of what they hate , -When saucy trusting of the cozen'd thoughts -Defiles the pitchy night : so lust doth play -With what it loathes for that which is away . -But more of this hereafter . You , Diana , -Under my poor instructions yet must suffer -Something in my behalf . - -Let death and honesty -Go with your impositions , I am yours -Upon your will to suffer . - -Yet , I pray you : -But with the word the time will bring on summer , -When briers shall have leaves as well as thorns , -And be as sweet as sharp . We must away ; -Our waggon is prepar'd , and time revives us : -All's well that ends well : still the fine's the crown ; -Whate'er the course , the end is the renown . - - -No , no , no ; your son was misled with a snipt-taffeta fellow there , whose villanous saffron would have made all the unbaked and doughy youth of a nation in his colour : your daughter-in-law had been alive at this hour , and your son here at home , more advanced by the king than by that red-tailed humble-bee I speak of . - -I would I had not known him ; it was the death of the most virtuous gentlewoman that ever nature had praise for creating . If she had partaken of my flesh , and cost me the dearest groans of a mother , I could not have owed her a more rooted love . - -'Twas a good lady , 'twas a good lady : we may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such another herb . - -Indeed , sir , she was the sweet-marjoram of the salad , or , rather the herb of grace . - -They are not salad-herbs , you knave ; they are nose-herbs . - -I am no great Nebuchadnezzar , sir ; I have not much skill in grass . - -Whether dost thou profess thyself , a knave , or a fool ? - -A fool , sir , at a woman's service , and a knave at a man's . - -Your distinction ? - -I would cozen the man of his wife , and do his service . - -So you were a knave at his service , indeed . - -And I would give his wife my bauble , sir , to do her service . - -I will subscribe for thee , thou art both knave and fool . - -At your service . - -No , no , no . - -Why , sir , if I cannot serve you , I can serve as great a prince as you are . - -Who's that ? a Frenchman ? - -Faith , sir , a' has an English name ; but his phisnomy is more hotter in France than there . - -What prince is that ? - -The black prince , sir ; alias , the prince of darkness ; alias , the devil . - -Hold thee , there's my purse . I give thee not this to suggest thee from thy master thou talkest of : serve him still . - -I am a woodland fellow , sir , that always loved a great fire ; and the master I speak of , ever keeps a good fire . But , sure , he is the prince of the world ; let his nobility remain in's court . I am for the house with the narrow gate , which I take to be too little for pomp to enter : some that humble themselves may ; but the many will be too chill and tender , and they'll be for the flowery way that leads to the broad gate and the great fire . - -Go thy ways , I begin to be aweary of thee ; and I tell thee so before , because I would not fall out with thee . Go thy ways : let my horses be well looked to , without any tricks . - -If I put any tricks upon 'em , sir , they shall be jade's tricks , which are their own right by the law of nature . - - -A shrewd knave and an unhappy . - -So he is . My lord that's gone made himself much sport out of him : by his authority he remains here , which he thinks is a patent for his sauciness ; and , indeed , he has no pace , but runs where he will . - -I like him well ; 'tis not amiss . And I was about to tell you , since I heard of the good lady's death , and that my lord your son was upon his return home , I moved the king my master to speak in the behalf of my daughter ; which , in the minority of them both , his majesty , out of a self-gracious remembrance , did first propose . His highness hath promised me to do it ; and to stop up the displeasure he hath conceived against your son , there is no fitter matter . How does your ladyship like it ? - -With very much content , my lord ; and I wish it happily effected . - -His highness comes post from Marseilles , of as able body as when he numbered thirty : he will be here to-morrow , or I am deceived by him that in such intelligence hath seldom failed . - -It rejoices me that I hope I shall see him ere I die . I have letters that my son will be here to-night : I shall beseech your lordship to remain with me till they meet together . - -Madam , I was thinking with what manners I might safely be admitted . - -You need but plead your honourable privilege . - -Lady , of that I have made a bold charter ; but I thank my God it holds yet . - - -O madam ! yonder's my lord your son with a patch of velvet on's face : whether there be a scar under it or no , the velvet knows ; but 'tis a goodly patch of velvet . His left cheek is a cheek of two pile and a half , but his right cheek is worn bare . - -A scar nobly got , or a noble scar , is a good livery of honour ; so belike is that . - -But it is your carbonadoed face . - -Let us go see your son , I pray you : I long to talk with the young noble soldier . - -Faith , there's a dozen of 'em , with delicate fine hats and most courteous feathers , which bow the head and nod at every man . - -But this exceeding posting , day and night , -Must wear your spirits low ; we cannot help it : -But since you have made the days and nights as one , -To wear your gentle limbs in my affairs , -Be bold you do so grow in my requital -As nothing can unroot you . In happy time ; - - -This man may help me to his majesty's ear , - -If he would spend his power . God save you , sir . - -And you . - -Sir , I have seen you in the court of France . - -I have been sometimes there . - -I do presume , sir , that you are not fallen -From the report that goes upon your goodness ; -And therefore , goaded with most sharp occasions , -Which lay nice manners by , I put you to -The use of your own virtues , for the which -I shall continue thankful . - -What's your will ? - -That it will please you -To give this poor petition to the king , -And aid me with that store of power you have -To come into his presence . - -The king's not here . - -Not here , sir ! - -Not , indeed : -He hence remov'd last night , and with more haste -Than is his use . - -Lord , how we lose our pains ! - -All's well that ends well yet , -Though time seems so adverse and means unfit . -I do beseech you , whither is he gone ? - -Marry , as I take it , to Rousillon ; -Whither I am going . - -I do beseech you , sir , -Since you are like to see the king before me , -Commend the paper to his gracious hand ; -Which I presume shall render you no blame -But rather make you thank your pains for it . -I will come after you with what good speed -Our means will make us means . - -This I'll do for you . - -And you shall find yourself to be well thank'd , -Whate'er falls more . We must to horse again : -Go , go , provide . - - -Good Monsieur Lavache , give my Lord Lafeu this letter . I have ere now , sir , been better known to you , when I have held familiarity with fresher clothes ; but I am now , sir , muddied in Fortune's mood , and smell somewhat strong of her strong displeasure . - -Truly , Fortune's displeasure is but sluttish if it smell so strongly as thou speakest of : I will henceforth eat no fish of Fortune's buttering . Prithee , allow the wind . - -Nay , you need not to stop your nose , sir : I spake but by a metaphor . - -Indeed , sir , if your metaphor stink , I will stop my nose ; or against any man's metaphor . Prithee , get thee further . - -Pray you , sir , deliver me this paper . - -Foh ! prithee , stand away : a paper from Fortune's close-stool to give to a nobleman ! Look , here he comes himself . - - -Here is a purr of Fortune's , sir , or of Fortune's cat but not a musk-cat that has fallen into the unclean fishpond of her displeasure , and , as he says , is muddied withal . Pray you , sir , use the carp as you may , for he looks like a poor , decayed , ingenious , foolish , rascally knave . I do pity his distress in my similes of comfort , and leave him to your lordship . - -My lord , I am a man whom Fortune hath cruelly scratched . - -And what would you have me to do ? 'tis too late to pare her nails now . Wherein have you played the knave with Fortune that she should scratch you , who of herself is a good lady , and would not have knaves thrive long under her ? There's a cardecu for you . Let the justices make you and Fortune friends ; I am for other business . - -I beseech your honour to hear me one single word . - -You beg a single penny more : come , you shall ha't ; save your word . - -My name , my good lord , is Parolles . - -You beg more than one word then . Cox my passion ! give me your hand . How does your drum ? - -O , my good lord ! you were the first that found me . - -Was I , in sooth ? and I was the first that lost thee . - -It lies in you , my lord , to bring me in some grace , for you did bring me out . - -Out upon thee , knave ! dost thou put upon me at once both the office of God and the devil ? one brings thee in grace and the other brings thee out . - -The king's coming ; I know by his trumpets . Sirrah , inquire further after me ; I had talk of you last night : though you are a fool and a knave , you shall eat : go to , follow . - -I praise God for you . - - -We lost a jewel of her , and our esteem -Was made much poorer by it : but your son , -As mad in folly , lack'd the sense to know -Her estimation home . - -'Tis past , my liege ; -And I beseech your majesty to make it -Natural rebellion , done i' the blaze of youth ; -When oil and fire , too strong for reason's force , -O'erbears it and burns on . - -My honour'd lady , -I have forgiven and forgotten all , -Though my revenges were high bent upon him , -And watch'd the time to shoot . - -This I must say , -But first I beg my pardon ,the young lord -Did to his majesty , his mother , and his lady , -Offence of mighty note , but to himself -The greatest wrong of all : he lost a wife -Whose beauty did astonish the survey -Of richest eyes , whose words all ears took captive , -Whose dear perfection hearts that scorn'd to serve -Humbly call'd mistress . - -Praising what is lost -Makes the remembrance dear . Well , call him hither ; -We are reconcil'd , and the first view shall kill -All repetition . Let him not ask our pardon : -The nature of his great offence is dead , -And deeper than oblivion we do bury -The incensing relics of it : let him approach , -A stranger , no offender ; and inform him -So 'tis our will he should . - -I shall , my liege . - - -What says he to your daughter ? have you spoke ? - -All that he is hath reference to your highness . - -Then shall we have a match . I have letters sent me , -That set him high in fame . - - -He looks well on't . - -I am not a day of season , -For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail -In me at once ; but to the brightest beams -Distracted clouds give way : so stand thou forth ; -The time is fair again . - -My high-repented blames , -Dear sovereign , pardon to me . - -All is whole ; -Not one word more of the consumed time . -Let's take the instant by the forward top , -For we are old , and on our quick'st decrees -The inaudible and noiseless foot of time -Steals ere we can effect them . You remember -The daughter of this lord ? - -Admiringly , my liege : -At first I stuck my choice upon her , ere my heart -Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue , -Where the impression of mine eye infixing , -Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me , -Which warp'd the line of every other favour ; -Scorn'd a fair colour , or express'd it stolen ; -Extended or contracted all proportions -To a most hideous object : thence it came -That she , whom all men prais'd , and whom myself , -Since I have lost , have lov'd , was in mine eye -The dust that did offend it . - -Well excus'd : -That thou didst love her , strikes some scores away -From the great compt . But love that comes too late , -Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried , -To the great sender turns a sour offence , -Crying , 'That's good that's gone .' Our rasher faults -Make trivial price of serious things we have , -Not knowing them until we know their grave : -Oft our displeasures , to ourselves unjust , -Destroy our friends and after weep their dust : -Our own love waking cries to see what's done , -While shameful hate sleeps out the afternoon . -Be this sweet Helen's knell , and now forget her . -Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin : -The main consents are had ; and here we'll stay -To see our widower's second marriage-day . - -Which better than the first , O dear heaven , bless ! -Or , ere they meet , in me , O nature , cesse ! - -Come on , my son , in whom my house's name -Must be digested , give a favour from you -To sparkle in the spirits of my daughter , -That she may quickly come . - -And every hair that's on't , Helen , that's dead , -Was a sweet creature ; such a ring as this , -The last that e'er I took her leave at court , -I saw upon her finger . - -Hers it was not . - -Now , pray you , let me see it ; for mine eye , -While I was speaking , oft was fasten'd to't . -This ring was mine ; and , when I gave it Helen , -I bade her , if her fortunes ever stood -Necessitied to help , that by this token -I would relieve her . Had you that craft to reave her -Of what should stead her most ? - -My gracious sovereign , -Howe'er it pleases you to take it so , -The ring was never hers . - -Son , on my life , -I have seen her wear it ; and she reckon'd it -At her life's rate . - -I am sure I saw her wear it . - -You are deceiv'd , my lord , she never saw it : -In Florence was it from a casement thrown me , -Wrapp'd in a paper , which contain'd the name -Of her that threw it . Noble she was , and thought -I stood engag'd : but when I had subscrib'd -To mine own fortune , and inform'd her fully -I could not answer in that course of honour -As she had made the overture , she ceas'd , -In heavy satisfaction , and would never -Receive the ring again . - -Plutus himself , -That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine , -Hath not in nature's mystery more science -Than I have in this ring : 'twas mine , 'twas Helen's , -Whoever gave it you . Then , if you know -That you are well acquainted with yourself , -Confess 'twas hers , and by what rough enforcement -You got it from her . She call'd the saints to surety , -That she would never put it from her finger -Unless she gave it to yourself in bed , -Where you have never come , or sent it us -Upon her great disaster . - -She never saw it . - -Thou speak'st it falsely , as I love mine honour ; -And mak'st conjectural fears to come into me -Which I would fain shut out . If it should prove -That thou art so inhuman ,'twill not prove so ; -And yet I know not : thou didst hate her deadly , -And she is dead ; which nothing , but to close -Her eyes myself , could win me to believe , -More than to see this ring . Take him away . - -My fore-past proofs , howe'er the matter fall , -Shall tax my fears of little vanity , -Having vainly fear'd too little . Away with him ! -We'll sift this matter further . - -If you shall prove -This ring was ever hers , you shall as easy -Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence , -Where yet she never was . - - -I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings . - - -Gracious sovereign , -Whether I have been to blame or no , I know not : -Here's a petition from a Florentine , -Who hath , for four or five removes come short -To tender it herself . I undertook it , -Vanquish'd thereto by the fair grace and speech -Of the poor suppliant , who by this I know -Is here attending : her business looks in her -With an importing visage , and she told me , -In a sweet verbal brief , it did concern -Your highness with herself . - -"Upon his many protestations to marry me when his wife was dead , I blush to say it , he won me . Now is the Count Rousillon a widower : his vows are forfeited to me , and my honour's paid to him . He stole from Florence , taking no leave , and I follow him to his country for justice . Grant it me , O king ! in you it best lies ; otherwise a seducer flourishes , and a poor maid is undone . DIANA CAPILET ." - -I will buy me a son-in-law in a fair , and toll for this : I'll none of him . - -The heavens have thought well on thee , Lafeu , -To bring forth this discovery . Seek these suitors : -Go speedily and bring again the count . - -I am afeard the life of Helen , lady , -Was foully snatch'd . - -Now , justice on the doers ! - - -I wonder , sir , sith wives are monsters to you , -And that you fly them as you swear them lordship , -Yet you desire to marry . - -What woman's that ? - -I am , my lord , a wretched Florentine , -Derived from the ancient Capilet : -My suit , as I do understand , you know , -And therefore know how far I may be pitied . - -I am her mother , sir , whose age and honour -Both suffer under this complaint we bring , -And both shall cease , without your remedy . - -Come hither , county ; do you know these women ? - -My lord , I neither can nor will deny -But that I know them : do they charge me further ? - -Why do you look so strange upon your wife ? - -She's none of mine , my lord . - -If you shall marry , -You give away this hand , and that is mine ; -You give away heaven's vows , and those are mine ; -You give away myself , which is known mine ; -For I by vow am so embodied yours -That she which marries you must marry me ; -Either both or none . - -Your reputation comes too short for my daughter : you are no husband for her . - -My lord , this is a fond and desperate creature , -Whom sometime I have laugh'd with : let your highness -Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour -Than for to think that I would sink it here . - -Sir , for my thoughts , you have them ill to friend , -Till your deeds gain them : fairer prove your honour , -Than in my thought it lies . - -Good my lord , -Ask him upon his oath , if he does think -He had not my virginity . - -What sayst thou to her ? - -She's impudent , my lord ; -And was a common gamester to the camp . - -He does me wrong , my lord ; if I were so , -He might have bought me at a common price : -Do not believe him . O ! behold this ring , -Whose high respect and rich validity -Did lack a parallel ; yet for all that -He gave it to a commoner o' the camp , -If I be one . - -He blushes , and 'tis it : -Of six preceding ancestors , that gem -Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue , -Hath it been ow'd and worn . This is his wife : -That ring's a thousand proofs . - -Methought you said -You saw one here in court could witness it . - -I did , my lord , but loath am to produce -So bad an instrument : his name's Parolles . - -I saw the man to-day , if man he be . - -Find him , and bring him hither . - - -What of him ? -He's quoted for a most perfidious slave , -With all the spots of the world tax'd and debosh'd , -Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth . -Am I or that or this for what he'll utter , -That will speak anything ? - -She hath that ring of yours . - -I think she has : certain it is I lik'd her , -And boarded her i' the wanton way of youth . -She knew her distance and did angle for me , -Madding my eagerness with her restraint , -As all impediments in fancy's course -Are motives of more fancy ; and , in fine , -Her infinite cunning , with her modern grace , -Subdued me to her rate ; she got the ring , -And I had that which any inferior might -At market-price have bought . - -I must be patient ; -You , that have turn'd off a first so noble wife , -May justly diet me . I pray you yet , -Since you lack virtue I will lose a husband , -Send for your ring ; I will return it home , -And give me mine again . - -I have it not . - -What ring was yours , I pray you ? - -Sir , much like -The same upon your finger . - -Know you this ring ? this ring was his of late . - -And this was it I gave him , being a-bed . - -The story then goes false you threw it him -Out of a casement . - -I have spoke the truth . - - -My lord , I do confess the ring was hers . - -You boggle shrewdly , every feather starts you . -Is this the man you speak of ? - -Ay , my lord . - -Tell me , sirrah , but tell me true , I charge you , -Not fearing the displeasure of your master , -Which , on your just proceeding I'll keep off , -By him and by this woman here what know you ? - -So please your majesty , my master hath been an honourable gentleman : tricks he hath had in him , which gentlemen have . - -Come , come , to the purpose : did he love this woman ? - -Faith , sir , he did love her ; but how ? - -How , I pray you ? - -He did love her , sir , as a gentleman loves a woman . - -How is that ? - -He loved her , sir , and loved her not . - -As thou art a knave , and no knave . -What an equivocal companion is this ! - -I am a poor man , and at your majesty's command . - -He is a good drum , my lord , but a naughty orator . - -Do you know he promised me marriage ? - -Faith , I know more than I'll speak . - -But wilt thou not speak all thou knowest ? - -Yes , so please your majesty . I did go between them , as I said ; but more than that , he loved her , for , indeed , he was mad for her , and talked of Satan , and of limbo , and of Furies , and I know not what : yet I was in that credit with them at that time , that I knew of their going to bed , and of other motions , as promising her marriage , and things which would derive me ill will to speak of : therefore I will not speak what I know . - -Thou hast spoken all already , unless thou canst say they are married : but thou art too fine in thy evidence ; therefore stand aside . This ring , you say , was yours ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -Where did you buy it ? or who gave it you ? - -It was not given me , nor I did not buy it . - -Who lent it you ? - -It was not lent me neither . - -Where did you find it , then ? - -I found it not . - -If it were yours by none of all these ways , -How could you give it him ? - -I never gave it him . - -This woman's an easy glove , my lord : she goes off and on at pleasure . - -This ring was mine : I gave it his first wife . - -It might be yours or hers , for aught I know . - -Take her away ; I do not like her now . -To prison with her ; and away with him . -Unless thou tell'st me where thou hadst this ring -Thou diest within this hour . - -I'll never tell you . - -Take her away . - -I'll put in bail , my liege . - -I think thee now some common customer . - -By Jove , if ever I knew man , 'twas you . - -Wherefore hast thou accus'd him all this while ? - -Because he's guilty , and he is not guilty . -He knows I am no maid , and he'll swear to't ; -I'll swear I am a maid , and he knows not . -Great king , I am no strumpet , by my life ; -I am either maid , or else this old man's wife . - - -She does abuse our ears : to prison with her ! - -Good mother , fetch my bail . - -Stay , royal sir ; -The jeweller that owes the ring is sent for , -And he shall surety me . But for this lord , -Who hath abus'd me , as he knows himself , -Though yet he never harm'd me , here I quit him : -He knows himself my bed he hath defil'd , -And at that time he got his wife with child : -Dead though she be , she feels her young one kick : -So there's my riddle : one that's dead is quick ; -And now behold the meaning . - - -Is there no exorcist -Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes ? -Is't real that I see ? - -No , my good lord ; -'Tis but the shadow of a wife you see ; -The name and not the thing . - -Both , both . O ! pardon . - -O my good lord ! when I was like this maid , -I found you wondrous kind . There is your ring ; -And , look you , here's your letter ; this it says : -When from my finger you can get this ring , -And are by me with child , &c . This is done : -Will you be mine , now you are doubly won ? - -If she , my liege , can make me know this clearly , -I'll love her dearly , ever , ever dearly . - -If it appear not plain , and prove untrue , -Deadly divorce step between me and you ! -O ! my dear mother ; do I see you living ? - -Mine eyes smell onions ; I shall weep anon . - -Good Tom Drum , lend me a handkercher : so , I thank thee . Wait on me home , I'll make sport with thee : let thy curtsies alone , they are scurvy ones . - -Let us from point to point this story know , -To make the even truth in pleasure flow . - - -If thou be'st yet a fresh uncropped flower , -Choose thou thy husband , and I'll pay thy dower ; -For I can guess that by thy honest aid -Thou keptst a wife herself , thyself a maid . -Of that , and all the progress , more and less , -Resolvedly more leisure shall express : -All yet seems well ; and if it end so meet , -The bitter past , more welcome is the sweet . - -Spoken by the The king's a beggar , now the play is done : -All is well ended if this suit be won -That you express content ; which we will pay , -With strife to please you , day exceeding day : -Ours be your patience then , and yours our parts ; -Your gentle hands lend us , and take our hearts . - -AS YOU LIKE IT - -As I remember , Adam , it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns , and , as thou sayest , charged my brother on his blessing , to breed me well : and there begins my sadness . My brother Jaques he keeps at school , and report speaks goldenly of his profit : for my part , he keeps me rustically at home , or , to speak more properly , stays me here at home unkept ; for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth , that differs not from the stalling of an ox ? His horses are bred better ; for , besides that they are fair with their feeding , they are taught their manage , and to that end riders dearly hired : but I , his brother , gain nothing under him but growth , for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I . Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me , the something that nature gave me , his countenance seems to take from me : he lets me feed with his hinds , bars me the place of a brother , and , as much as in him lies , mines my gentility with my education . This is it , Adam , that grieves me ; and the spirit of my father , which I think is within me , begins to mutiny against this servitude . I will no longer endure it , though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it . - -Yonder comes my master , your brother . - -Go apart , Adam , and thou shalt hear how he will shake me up . - - -Now , sir ! what make you here ? - -Nothing : I am not taught to make anything . - -What mar you then , sir ? - -Marry , sir , I am helping you to mar that which God made , a poor unworthy brother of yours , with idleness . - -Marry , sir , be better employed , and be naught awhile . - -Shall I keep your hogs , and eat husks with them ? What prodigal portion have I spent , that I should come to such penury ? - -Know you where you are , sir ? - -O ! sir , very well : here in your orchard . - -Know you before whom , sir ? - -Ay , better than he I am before knows me . I know you are my eldest brother ; and , in the gentle condition of blood , you should so know me . The courtesy of nations allows you my better , in that you are the first-born ; but the same tradition takes not away my blood , were there twenty brothers betwixt us . I have as much of my father in me as you ; albeit , I confess , your coming before me is nearer to his reverence . - -What , boy ! - -Come , come , elder brother , you are too young in this . - -Wilt thou lay hands on me , villain ? - -I am no villain ; I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys ; he was my father , and he is thrice a villain that says such a father begot villains . Wert thou not my brother , I would not take this hand from thy throat till this other had pulled out thy tongue for saying so : thou hast railed on thyself . - -Sweet masters , be patient : for your father's remembrance , be at accord . - -Let me go , I say . - -I will not , till I please : you shall hear me . My father charged you in his will to give me good education : you have trained me like a peasant , obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities . The spirit of my father grows strong in me , and I will no longer endure it ; therefore allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman , or give me the poor allottery my father left me by testament ; with that I will go buy my fortunes . - -And what wilt thou do ? beg , when that is spent ? Well , sir , get you in : I will not long be troubled with you ; you shall have some part of your will : I pray you , leave me . - -I will no further offend you than becomes me for my good . - -Get you with him , you old dog . - -Is 'old dog' my reward ? Most true , I have lost my teeth in your service . God be with my old master ! he would not have spoke such a word . - - -Is it even so ? begin you to grow upon me ? I will physic your rankness , and yet give no thousand crowns neither . Holla , Dennis ! - - -Calls your worship ? - -Was not Charles the duke's wrestler here to speak with me ? - -So please you , he is here at the door , and importunes access to you . - -Call him in . - -'Twill be a good way ; and to-morrow the wrestling is . - - -Good morrow to your worship . - -Good Monsieur Charles , what's the new news at the new court ? - -There's no news at the court , sir , but the old news : that is , the old duke is banished by his younger brother the new duke ; and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him , whose lands and revenues enrich the new duke ; therefore he gives them good leave to wander . - -Can you tell if Rosalind , the duke's daughter , be banished with her father ? - -O , no ; for the duke's daughter , her cousin , so loves her ,being ever from their cradles bred together ,that she would have followed her exile , or have died to stay behind her . She is at the court , and no less beloved of her uncle than his own daughter ; and never two ladies loved as they do . - -Where will the old duke live ? - -They say he is already in the forest of Arden , and a many merry men with him ; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England . They say many young gentlemen flock to him every day , and fleet the time carelessly , as they did in the golden world . - -What , you wrestle to-morrow before the new duke ? - -Marry , do I , sir ; and I came to acquaint you with a matter . I am given , sir , secretly to understand that your younger brother Orlando hath a disposition to come in disguised against me to try a fall . To-morrow , sir , I wrestle for my credit , and he that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him well . Your brother is but young and tender ; and , for your love , I would be loath to foil him as I must , for my own honour , if he come in : therefore , out of my love to you , I came hither to acquaint you withal , that either you might stay him from his intendment , or brook such disgrace well as he shall run into , in that it is a thing of his own search and altogether against my will . - -Charles , I thank thee for thy love to me , which thou shalt find I will most kindly requite . I had myself notice of my brother's purpose herein , and have by underhand means laboured to dissuade him from it , but he is resolute . I'll tell thee , Charles , it is the stubbornest young fellow of France ; full of ambition , an envious emulator of every man's good parts , a secret and villanous contriver against me his natural brother : therefore use thy discretion . I had as lief thou didst break his neck as his finger . And thou wert best look to't ; for if thou dost him any slight disgrace , or if he do not mightily grace himself on thee , he will practise against thee by poison , entrap thee by some treacherous device , and never leave thee till he hath ta'en thy life by some indirect means or other ; for , I assure thee ,and almost with tears I speak it ,there is not one so young and so villanous this day living . I speak but brotherly of him ; but should I anatomize him to thee as he is , I must blush and weep , and thou must look pale and wonder . - -I am heartily glad I came hither to you . If he come to-morrow , I'll give him his payment : if ever he go alone again , I'll never wrestle for prize more ; and so God keep your worship ! - - -Farewell , good Charles . Now will I stir this gamester . I hope I shall see an end of him ; for my soul , yet I know not why , hates nothing more than he . Yet he's gentle , never schooled and yet learned , full of noble device , of all sorts enchantingly beloved , and , indeed so much in the heart of the world , and especially of my own people , who best know him , that I am altogether misprised . But it shall not be so long ; this wrestler shall clear all : nothing remains but that I kindle the boy thither , which now I'll go about . - -I pray thee , Rosalind , sweet my coz , be merry . - -Dear Celia , I show more mirth than I am mistress of , and would you yet I were merrier ? Unless you could teach me to forget a banished father , you must not learn me how to remember any extraordinary pleasure . - -Herein I see thou lovest me not with the full weight that I love thee . If my uncle , thy banished father , had banished thy uncle , the duke my father , so thou hadst been still with me , I could have taught my love to take thy father for mine : so wouldst thou , if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously tempered as mine is to thee . - -Well , I will forget the condition of my estate , to rejoice in yours . - -You know my father hath no child but I , nor none is like to have ; and , truly , when he dies , thou shalt be his heir : for what he hath taken away from thy father perforce , I will render thee again in affection ; by mine honour , I will ; and when I break that oath , let me turn monster . Therefore , my sweet Rose , my dear Rose , be merry . - -From henceforth I will , coz , and devise sports . Let me see ; what think you of falling in love ? - -Marry , I prithee , do , to make sport withal : but love no man in good earnest ; nor no further in sport neither , than with safety of a pure blush thou mayst in honour come off again . - -What shall be our sport then ? - -Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her wheel , that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally . - -I would we could do so , for her benefits are mightily misplaced , and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in her gifts to women . - -'Tis true ; for those that she makes fair she scarce makes honest , and those that she makes honest she makes very ill-favouredly . - -Nay , now thou goest from Fortune's office to Nature's : Fortune reigns in gifts of the world , not in the lineaments of Nature . - - -No ? when Nature hath made a fair creature , may she not by Fortune fall into the fire ? Though Nature hath given us wit to flout at Fortune , hath not Fortune sent in this fool to cut off the argument ? - -Indeed , there is Fortune too hard for Nature , when Fortune makes Nature's natural the cutter-off of Nature's wit . - -Peradventure this is not Fortune's work neither , but Nature's ; who , perceiving our natural wits too dull to reason of such goddesses , hath sent this natural for our whetstone : for always the dulness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits . How now , wit ! whither wander you ? - -Mistress , you must come away to your father . - -Were you made the messenger ? - -No , by mine honour ; but I was bid to come for you . - -Where learned you that oath , fool ? - -Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were good pancakes , and swore by his honour the mustard was naught : now , I'll stand to it , the pancakes were naught and the mustard was good , and yet was not the knight forsworn . - -How prove you that , in the great heap of your knowledge ? - -Ay , marry : now unmuzzle your wisdom . - -Stand you both forth now : stroke your chins , and swear by your beards that I am a knave . - -By our beards , if we had them , thou art . - -By my knavery , if I had it , then I were ; but if you swear by that that is not , you are not forsworn : no more was this knight , swearing by his honour , for he never had any ; or if he had , he had sworn it away before ever he saw those pancakes or that mustard . - -Prithee , who is't that thou meanest ? - -One that old Frederick , your father , loves . - -My father's love is enough to honour him . Enough ! speak no more of him ; you'll be whipped for taxation one of these days . - -The more pity , that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly . - -By my troth , thou sayest true ; for since the little wit that fools have was silenced , the little foolery that wise men have makes a great show . Here comes Monsieur Le Beau . - -With his mouth full of news . - -Which he will put on us , as pigeons feed their young . - -Then we shall be news-cramm'd . - -All the better ; we shall be more marketable . - -Bon jour , Monsieur Le Beau : what's the news ? - -Fair princess , you have lost much good sport . - -Sport ! Of what colour ? - -What colour , madam ! How shall -I answer you ? - -As wit and fortune will . - -Or as the Destinies decree . - -Well said : that was laid on with a trowel . - -Nay , if I keep not my rank , - -Thou losest thy old smell . - -You amaze me , ladies : I would have told you of good wrestling , which you have lost the sight of . - -Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling . - -I will tell you the beginning ; and , if it please your ladyships , you may see the end , for the best is yet to do ; and here , where you are , they are coming to perform it . - -Well , the beginning , that is dead and buried . - -There comes an old man and his three sons , - -I could match this beginning with an old tale . - -Three proper young men , of excellent growth and presence ; - -With bills on their necks , 'Be it known unto all men by these presents .' - -The eldest of the three wrestled with Charles , the duke's wrestler ; which Charles in a moment threw him and broke three of his ribs , that there is little hope of life in him : so he served the second , and so the third . Yonder they lie ; the poor old man , their father , making such pitiful dole over them that all the beholders take his part with weeping . - -Alas ! - -But what is the sport , monsieur , that the ladies have lost ? - -Why , this that I speak of . - -Thus men may grow wiser every day : it is the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies . - -Or I , I promise thee . - -But is there any else longs to feel this broken music in his sides ? is there yet another dotes upon rib-breaking ? Shall we see this wrestling , cousin ? - -You must , if you stay here ; for here is the place appointed for the wrestling , and they are ready to perform it . - -Yonder , sure , they are coming : let us now stay and see it . - - -Come on : since the youth will not be entreated , his own peril on his forwardness . - -Is yonder the man ? - -Even he , madam . - -Alas ! he is too young : yet he looks successfully . - -How now , daughter and cousin ! are you crept hither to see the wrestling ? - -Ay , my liege , so please you give us leave . - -You will take little delight in it , I can tell you , there is such odds in the man : in pity of the challenger's youth I would fam dissuade him , but he will not be entreated . Speak to him , ladies ; see if you can move him . - -Call him hither , good Monsieur le Beau . - -Do so : I'll not be by . - - -Monsieur the challenger , the princes call for you . - -I attend them with all respect and duty . - -Young man , have you challenged Charles the wrestler ? - -No , fair princess ; he is the general challenger : I come but in , as others do , to try with him the strength of my youth . - -Young gentleman , your spirits are too bold for your years . You have seen cruel proof of this man's strength : if you saw yourself with your eyes or knew yourself with your judgment , the fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal enterprise . We pray you , for your own sake , to embrace your own safety and give over this attempt . - -Do , young sir : your reputation shall not therefore be misprised . We will make it our suit to the duke that the wrestling might not go forward . - -I beseech you , punish me not with your hard thoughts , wherein I confess me much guilty , to deny so fair and excellent ladies anything . But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me to my trial : wherein if I be foiled , there is but one shamed that was never gracious ; if killed , but one dead that is willing to be so . I shall do my friends no wrong , for I have none to lament me ; the world no injury , for in it I have nothing ; only in the world I fill up a place , which may be better supplied when I have made it empty . - -The little strength that I have , I would it were with you . - -And mine , to eke out hers . - -Fare you well . Pray heaven I be deceived in you ! - -Your heart's desires be with you ! - -Come , where is this young gallant that is so desirous to lie with his mother earth ? - -Ready , sir ; but his will hath in it a more modest working . - -You shall try but one fall . - -No , I warrant your Grace , you shall not entreat him to a second , that have so mightily persuaded him from a first . - -You mean to mock me after ; you should not have mocked me before : but come your ways . - -Now Hercules be thy speed , young man ! - -I would I were invisible , to catch the strong fellow by the leg . - - -O excellent young man ! - -If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye , I can tell who should down . - - -No more , no more . - -Yes , I beseech your Grace : I am not yet well breathed . - -How dost thou , Charles ? - -He cannot speak , my lord . - -Bear him away . What is thy name , young man ? - - -Orlando , my liege ; the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys . - -I would thou hadst been son to some man else : -The world esteem'd thy father honourable , -But I did find him still mine enemy : -Thou shouldst have better pleas'd me with this deed , -Hadst thou descended from another house . -But fare thee well ; thou art a gallant youth : -I would thou hadst told me of another father . - - -Were I my father , coz , would I do this ? - -I am more proud to be Sir Rowland's son , -His youngest son ; and would not change that calling , -To be adopted heir to Frederick . - -My father lov'd Sir Rowland as his soul , -And all the world was of my father's mind : -Had I before known this young man his son , -I should have given him tears unto entreaties , -Ere he should thus have ventur'd . - -Gentle cousin , -Let us go thank him and encourage him : -My father's rough and envious disposition -Sticks me at heart . Sir , you have well deserv'd : -If you do keep your promises in love -But justly , as you have exceeded all promise , -Your mistress shall be happy . - -Gentleman , - -Wear this for me , one out of suits with fortune , -That could give more , but that her hand lacks means . -Shall we go , coz ? - -Ay . Fare you well , fair gentleman . - -Can I not say , I thank you ? My better parts -Are all thrown down , and that which here stands up -Is but a quintain , a mere lifeless block . - -He calls us back : my pride fell with my fortunes ; -I'll ask him what he would . Did you call , sir ? -Sir , you have wrestled well , and overthrown -More than your enemies . - -Will you go , coz ? - -Have with you . Fare you well . - - -What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue ? -I cannot speak to her , yet she urg'd conference . -O poor Orlando , thou art overthrown ! -Or Charles or something weaker masters thee . - - -Good sir , I do in friendship counsel you -To leave this place . Albeit you have deserv'd -High commendation , true applause and love , -Yet such is now the duke's condition -That he misconstrues all that you have done . -The duke is humorous : what he is indeed , -More suits you to conceive than I to speak of . - -I thank you , sir ; and pray you , tell me this ; -Which of the two was daughter of the duke , -That here was at the wrestling ? - -Neither his daughter , if we judge by manners : -But yet , indeed the smaller is his daughter : -The other is daughter to the banish'd duke , -And here detain'd by her usurping uncle , -To keep his daughter company ; whose loves -Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters . -But I can tell you that of late this duke -Hath ta'en displeasure 'gainst his gentle niece , -Grounded upon no other argument -But that the people praise her for her virtues , -And pity her for her good father's sake ; -And , on my life , his malice 'gainst the lady -Will suddenly break forth . Sir , fare you well : -Hereafter , in a better world than this , -I shall desire more love and knowledge of you . - -I rest much bounden to you : fare you well . - -Thus must I from the smoke into the smother ; -From tyrant duke unto a tyrant brother . -But heavenly Rosalind ! - - -Why , cousin ! why , Rosalind ! Cupid have mercy ! Not a word ? - -Not one to throw at a dog . - -No , thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs ; throw some of them at me ; come , lame me with reasons . - -Then there were two cousins laid up ; when the one should be lamed with reasons and the other mad without any . - -But is all this for your father ? - -No , some of it is for my child's father : -O , how full of briers is this working-day world ! - -They are but burrs , cousin , thrown upon thee in holiday foolery : if we walk not in the trodden paths , our very petticoats will catch them . - -I could shake them off my coat : these burrs are in my heart . - -Hem them away . - -I would try , if I could cry 'hem ,' and have him . - -Come , come ; wrestle with thy affections . - -O ! they take the part of a better wrestler than myself ! - -O , a good wish upon you ! you will try in time , in despite of a fall . But , turning these jests out of service , let us talk in good earnest : is it possible , on such a sudden , you should fall into so strong a liking with old Sir Rowland's youngest son ? - -The duke my father loved his father dearly . - -Doth it therefore ensue that you should love his son dearly ? By this kind of chase , I should hate him , for my father hated his father dearly ; yet I hate not Orlando . - -No , faith , hate him not , for my sake . - -Why should I not ? doth he not deserve well ? - -Let me love him for that ; and do you love him , because I do . Look , here comes the duke . - -With his eyes full of anger . - - -Mistress , dispatch you with your safest haste , -And get you from our court . - -Me , uncle ? - -You , cousin : -Within these ten days if that thou be'st found -So near our public court as twenty miles , -Thou diest for it . - -I do beseech your Grace , -Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me . -If with myself I hold intelligence , -Or have acquaintance with mine own desires , -If that I do not dream or be not frantic , -As I do trust I am not ,then , dear uncle , -Never so much as in a thought unborn -Did I offend your highness . - -Thus do all traitors : -If their purgation did consist in words , -They are as innocent as grace itself : -Let it suffice thee that I trust thee not . - -Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor : -Tell me whereon the likelihood depends . - -Thou art thy father's daughter ; there's enough . - -So was I when your highness took his dukedom ; -So was I when your highness banish'd him . -Treason is not inherited , my lord ; -Or , if we did derive it from our friends , -What's that to me ? my father was no traitor : -Then , good my liege , mistake me not so much -To think my poverty is treacherous . - -Dear sovereign , hear me speak . - -Ay , Celia ; we stay'd her for your sake ; -Else had she with her father rang'd along . - -I did not then entreat to have her stay : -It was your pleasure and your own remorse . -I was too young that time to value her ; -But now I know her : if she be a traitor , -Why so am I ; we still have slept together , -Rose at an instant , learn'd , play'd , eat together ; -And wheresoe'er we went , like Juno's swans , -Still we went coupled and inseparable . - -She is too subtle for thee ; and her smoothness , -Her very silence and her patience , -Speak to the people , and they pity her . -Thou art a fool : she robs thee of thy name ; -And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous -When she is gone . Then open not thy lips : -Firm and irrevocable is my doom -Which I have pass'd upon her ; she is banish'd . - -Pronounce that sentence then , on me , my liege : -I cannot live out of her company . - -You are a fool . You , niece , provide yourself : -If you outstay the time , upon mine honour , -And in the greatness of my word , you die . - - -O my poor Rosalind ! whither wilt thou go ? -Wilt thou change fathers ? I will give thee mine . -I charge thee , be not thou more griev'd than I am . - -I have more cause . - -Thou hast not , cousin ; -Prithee , be cheerful ; know'st thou not , the duke -Hath banish'd me , his daughter ? - -That he hath not . - -No , hath not ? Rosalind lacks then the love -Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one : -Shall we be sunder'd ? shall we part , sweet girl ? -No : let my father seek another heir . -Therefore devise with me how we may fly , -Whither to go , and what to bear with us : -And do not seek to take your change upon you , -To bear your griefs yourself and leave me out ; -For , by this heaven , now at our sorrows pale , -Say what thou canst , I'll go along with thee . - -Why , whither shall we go ? - -To seek my uncle in the forest of Arden . - -Alas , what danger will it be to us , -Maids as we are , to travel forth so far ! -Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold . - -I'll put myself in poor and mean attire , -And with a kind of umber smirch my face ; -The like do you : so shall we pass along -And never stir assailants . - -Were it not better , -Because that I am more than common tall , -That I did suit me all points like a man ? -A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh , -A boar-spear in my hand ; and ,in my heart -Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will , -We'll have a swashing and a martial outside , -As many other mannish cowards have -That do outface it with their semblances . - -What shall I call thee when thou art a man ? - -I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own page , -And therefore look you call me Ganymede . -But what will you be call'd ? - -Something that hath a reference to my state : -No longer Celia , but Aliena . - -But , cousin , what if we assay'd to steal -The clownish fool out of your father's court ? -Would he not be a comfort to our travel ? - -He'll go along o'er the wide world with me ; -Leave me alone to woo him . Let's away , -And get our jewels and our wealth together , -Devise the fittest time and safest way -To hide us from pursuit that will be made -After my flight . Now go we in content -To liberty and not to banishment . - -Now , my co-mates and brothers in exile , -Hath not old custom made this life more sweet -Than that of painted pomp ? Are not these woods -More free from peril than the envious court ? -Here feel we but the penalty of Adam , -The seasons' difference ; as , the icy fang -And churlish chiding of the winter's wind , -Which , when it bites and blows upon my body , -Even till I shrink with cold , I smile and say -'This is no flattery : these are counsellors -That feelingly persuade me what I am .' -Sweet are the uses of adversity , -Which like the toad , ugly and venomous , -Wears yet a precious jewel in his head ; -And this our life exempt from public haunt , -Finds tongues in trees , books in the running brooks , -Sermons in stones , and good in every thing . -I would not change it . - -Happy is your Grace , -That can translate the stubbornness of fortune -Into so quiet and so sweet a style . - -Come , shall we go and kill us venison ? -And yet it irks me , the poor dappled fools , -Being native burghers of this desert city , -Should in their own confines with forked heads -Have their round haunches gor'd . - -Indeed , my lord , -The melancholy Jaques grieves at that ; -And , in that kind , swears you do more usurp -Than doth your brother that hath banish'd you . -To-day my Lord of Amiens and myself -Did steal behind him as he lay along -Under an oak whose antique root peeps out -Upon the brook that brawls along this wood ; -To the which place a poor sequester'd stag , -That from the hunters' aim had ta'en a hurt , -Did come to languish ; and , indeed , my lord , -The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans -That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat -Almost to bursting , and the big round tears -Cours'd one another down his innocent nose -In piteous chase ; and thus the hairy fool , -Much marked of the melancholy Jaques , -Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook , -Augmenting it with tears . - -But what said Jaques ? -Did he not moralize this spectacle ? - -O , yes , into a thousand similes . -First , for his weeping into the needless stream ; -'Poor deer ,' quoth he , 'thou mak'st a testament -As worldlings do , giving thy sum of more -To that which had too much :' then , being there alone , -Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends ; -''Tis right ,' quoth he ; 'thus misery doth part -The flux of company :' anon , a careless herd , -Full of the pasture , jumps along by him -And never stays to greet him ; 'Ay ,' quoth Jaques , -'Sweep on , you fat and greasy citizens ; -'Tis just the fashion ; wherefore do you look -Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there ?' -Thus most invectively he pierceth through -The body of the country , city , court , -Yea , and of this our life ; swearing that we -Are mere usurpers , tyrants , and what's worse , -To fright the animals and to kill them up -In their assign'd and native dwelling-place . - -And did you leave him in this contemplation ? - -We did , my lord , weeping and commenting -Upon the sobbing deer . - -Show me the place . -I love to cope him in these sullen fits , -For then he's full of matter . - -I'll bring you to him straight . - - -Can it be possible that no man saw them ? -It cannot be : some villains of my court -Are of consent and sufferance in this . - -I cannot hear of any that did see her . -The ladies , her attendants of her chamber , -Saw her a-bed ; and , in the morning early -They found the bed untreasur'd of their mistress . - -My lord , the roynish clown , at whom so oft -Your Grace was wont to laugh , is also missing . -Hisperia , the princess' gentlewoman , -Confesses that she secretly o'erheard -Your daughter and her cousin much commend -The parts and graces of the wrestler -That did but lately foil the sinewy Charles ; -And she believes , wherever they are gone , -That youth is surely in their company . - -Send to his brother ; fetch that gallant hither ; -If he be absent , bring his brother to me ; -I'll make him find him . Do this suddenly , -And let not search and inquisition quail -To bring again these foolish runaways . - - -Who's there ? - -What ! my young master ? O my gentle master ! -O my sweet master ! O you memory -Of old Sir Rowland ! why , what make you here ? -Why are you virtuous ? Why do people love you ? -And wherefore are you gentle , strong , and valiant ? -Why would you be so fond to overcome -The bony priser of the humorous duke ? -Your praise is come too swiftly home before you . -Know you not , master , to some kind of men -Their graces serve them but as enemies ? -No more do yours : your virtues , gentle master , -Are sanctified and holy traitors to you . -O , what a world is this , when what is comely -Envenoms him that bears it ! - -Why , what's the matter ? - -O unhappy youth ! -Come not within these doors ; within this roof -The enemy of all your graces lives . -Your brother ,no , no brother ; yet the son , -Yet not the son , I will not call him son -Of him I was about to call his father , -Hath heard your praises , and this night he means -To burn the lodging where you use to lie , -And you within it : if he fail of that , -He will have other means to cut you off . -I overheard him and his practices . -This is no place ; this house is but a butchery : -Abhor it , fear it , do not enter it . - -Why , whither , Adam , wouldst thou have me go ? - -No matter whither , so you come not here . - -What ! wouldst thou have me go and beg my food ? -Or with a base and boisterous sword enforce -A thievish living on the common road ? -This I must do , or know not what to do : -Yet this I will not do , do how I can ; -I rather will subject me to the malice -Of a diverted blood and bloody brother . - -But do not so . I have five hundred crowns , -The thrifty hire I sav'd under your father , -Which I did store to be my foster-nurse -When service should in my old limbs lie lame , -And unregarded age in corners thrown . -Take that ; and He that doth the ravens feed , -Yea , providently caters for the sparrow , -Be comfort to my age ! Here is the gold ; -All this I give you . Let me be your servant : -Though I look old , yet I am strong and lusty ; -For in my youth I never did apply -Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood , -Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo -The means of weakness and debility ; -Therefore my age is as a lusty winter , -Frosty , but kindly . Let me go with you ; -I'll do the service of a younger man -In all your business and necessities . - -O good old man ! how well in thee appears -The constant service of the antique world , -When service sweat for duty , not for meed ! -Thou art not for the fashion of these times , -Where none will sweat but for promotion , -And having that , do choke their service up -Even with the having : it is not so with thee . -But , poor old man , thou prun'st a rotten tree , -That cannot so much as a blossom yield , -In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry . -But come thy ways , we'll go along together , -And ere we have thy youthful wages spent , -We'll light upon some settled low content . - -Master , go on , and I will follow thee -To the last gasp with truth and loyalty . -From seventeen years till now almost fourscore -Here lived I , but now live here no more . -At seventeen years many their fortunes seek ; -But at fourscore it is too late a week : -Yet fortune cannot recompense me better -Than to die well and not my master's debtor . - - -O Jupiter ! how weary are my spirits . - -I care not for my spirits if my legs were not weary . - -I could find it in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel and to cry like a woman ; but I must comfort the weaker vessel , as doublet and hose ought to show itself courageous to petticoat : therefore , courage , good Aliena . - -I pray you , bear with me : I cannot go no further . - -For my part , I had rather bear with you than bear you ; yet I should bear no cross if I did bear you , for I think you have no money in your purse . - -Well , this is the forest of Arden . - -Ay , now am I in Arden ; the more fool I : when I was at home , I was in a better place : but travellers must be content . - -Ay , be so , good Touchstone . Look you , who comes here ; a young man and an old in solemn talk . - - -That is the way to make her scorn you still . - -O Corin , that thou knew'st how I do love her ! - -I partly guess , for I have lov'd ere now . - -No , Corin ; being old , thou canst not guess , -Though in thy youth thou wast as true a lover -As ever sigh'd upon a midnight pillow : -But if thy love were ever like to mine , -As sure I think did never man love so , -How many actions most ridiculous -Hast thou been drawn to by thy fantasy ? - -Into a thousand that I have forgotten . - -O ! thou didst then ne'er love so heartily . -If thou remember'st not the slightest folly -That ever love did make thee run into , -Thou hast not lov'd : -Or if thou hast not sat as I do now , -Wearing thy hearer with thy mistress' praise , -Thou hast not lov'd : -Or if thou hast not broke from company -Abruptly , as my passion now makes me , -Thou hast not lov'd . O Phebe , Phebe , Phebe ! - - -Alas , poor shepherd ! searching of thy wound , -I have by hard adventure found mine own . - -And I mine . I remember , when I was in love I broke my sword upon a stone , and bid him take that for coming a-night to Jane Smile ; and I remember the kissing of her batler , and the cow's dugs that her pretty chopped hands had milked ; and I remember the wooing of a peascod instead of her , from whom I took two cods , and giving her them again , said with weeping tears , 'Wear these for my sake .' We that are true lovers run into strange capers ; but as all is mortal in nature , so is all nature in love mortal in folly . - -Thou speakest wiser than thou art ware of . - -Nay , I shall ne'er be ware of mine own wit till I break my shins against it . - -Jove , Jove ! this shepherd's passion -Is much upon my fashion . - -And mine ; but it grows something stale with me . - -I pray you , one of you question yond man , -If he for gold will give us any food : -I faint almost to death . - -Holla , you clown ! - -Peace , fool : he's not thy kinsman . - -Who calls ? - -Your betters , sir . - -Else are they very wretched . - -Peace , I say . Good even to you , friend . - -And to you , gentle sir , and to you all . - -I prithee , shepherd , if that love or gold -Can in this desert place buy entertainment , -Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed . -Here's a young maid with travel much oppress'd , -And faints for succour . - -Fair sir , I pity her , -And wish , for her sake more than for mine own , -My fortunes were more able to relieve her ; -But I am shepherd to another man , -And do not shear the fleeces that I graze : -My master is of churlish disposition -And little recks to find the way to heaven -By doing deeds of hospitality . -Besides , his cote , his flocks , and bounds of feed -Are now on sale ; and at our sheepcote now , -By reason of his absence , there is nothing -That you will feed on ; but what is , come see , -And in my voice most welcome shall you be . - -What is he that shall buy his flock and pasture ? - -That young swain that you saw here but erewhile , -That little cares for buying anything . - -I pray thee , if it stand with honesty , -Buy thou the cottage , pasture , and the flock , -And thou shalt have to pay for it of us . - -And we will mend thy wages . I like this place , -And willingly could waste my time in it . - -Assuredly the thing is to be sold : -Go with me : if you like upon report -The soil , the profit , and this kind of life , -I will your very faithful feeder be , -And buy it with your gold right suddenly . - - -Under the greenwood tree -Who loves to lie with me , -And turn his merry note -Unto the sweet bird's throat , -Come hither , come hither , come hither : -Here shall he see -No enemy -But winter and rough weather . - -More , more , I prithee , more . - -It will make you melancholy , Monsieur Jaques . - -I thank it . More ! I prithee , more . I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs . More ! I prithee , more . - -My voice is ragged ; I know I cannot please you . - -I do not desire you to please me ; I do desire you to sing . Come , more ; another stanzo : call you them stanzos ? - -What you will , Monsieur Jaques . - -Nay , I care not for their names ; they owe me nothing . Will you sing ? - -More at your request than to please myself . - -Well then , if ever I thank any man , I'll thank you : but that they call compliment is like the encounter of two dog-apes , and when a man thanks me heartily , methinks I have given him a penny and he renders me the beggarly thanks . Come , sing ; and you that will not , hold your tongues . - -Well , I'll end the song . Sirs , cover the while ; the duke will drink under this tree . He hath been all this day to look you . - -And I have been all this day to avoid him . He is too disputable for my company : I think of as many matters as he , but I give heaven thanks , and make no boast of them . Come , warble ; come . - -Who doth ambition shun , - -And loves to live i' the sun , -Secking the food he eats , -And pleas'd with what he gets . -Come hither , come hither , come hither : -Here shall he see -No enemy -But winter and rough weather . - -I'll give you a verse to this note , that I made yesterday in despite of my invention . - -And I'll sing it . - -Thus it goes : - -If it do come to pass -That any man turn ass , -Leaving his wealth and ease , -A stubborn will to please , -Ducdame , ducdame , ducdame : -Here shall he see -Gross fools as he , -An if he will come to me . - - -What's that 'ducdame ?' - -'Tis a Greek invocation to call fools into a circle . I'll go sleep if I can ; if I cannot , I'll rail against all the first-born of Egypt . - -And I'll go seek the duke : his banquet is prepared . - - -Dear master , I can go no further : O ! I die for food . Here lie I down , and measure out my grave . Farewell , kind master . - -Why , how now , Adam ! no greater heart in thee ? Live a little ; comfort a little ; cheer thyself a little . If this uncouth forest yield anything savage , I will either be food for it , or bring it for food to thee . Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers . For my sake be comfortable , hold death awhile at the arm's end , I will here be with thee presently , and if I bring thee not something to eat , I will give thee leave to die ; but if thou diest before I come , thou art a mocker of my labour . Well said ! thou lookest cheerly , and I'll be with thee quickly . Yet thou liest in the bleak air : come I will bear thee to some shelter , and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner , if there live anything in this desert . Cheerly , good Adam . - - -I think he be transform'd into a beast , -For I can nowhere find him like a man . - -My lord , he is but even now gone hence : -Here was he merry , hearing of a song . - -If he , compact of jars , grow musical , -We shall have shortly discord in the spheres . -Go , seek him : tell him I would speak with him . - -He saves my labour by his own approach . - - -Why , how now , monsieur ! what a life is this , -That your poor friends must woo your company ? -What , you look merrily ! - -A fool , a fool ! I met a fool i' the forest , -A motley fool ; a miserable world ! -As I do live by food , I met a fool ; -Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun , -And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms , -In good set terms , and yet a motley fool . -'Good morrow , fool ,' quoth I . 'No , sir ,' quoth he , -'Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune .' -And then he drew a dial from his poke , -And , looking on it with lack-lustre eye , -Says very wisely , 'It is ten o'clock ; -Thus may we see ,' quoth he , 'how the world wags : -'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine , -And after one hour more 'twill be eleven ; -And so , from hour to hour we ripe and ripe , -And then from hour to hour we rot and rot , -And thereby hangs a tale .' When I did hear -The motley fool thus moral on the time , -My lungs began to crow like chanticleer , -That fools should be so deep-contemplative , -And I did laugh sans intermission -An hour by his dial . O noble fool ! -A worthy fool ! Motley's the only wear . - -What fool is this ? - -O worthy fool ! One that hath been a courtier , -And says , if ladies be but young and fair , -They have the gift to know it ; and in his brain , -Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit -After a voyage ,he hath strange places cramm'd -With observation , the which he vents -In mangled forms . O that I were a fool ! -I am ambitious for a motley coat . - -Thou shalt have one . - -It is my only suit ; -Provided that you weed your better judgments -Of all opinion that grows rank in them -That I am wise . I must have liberty -Withal , as large a charter as the wind , -To blow on whom I please ; for so fools have : -And they that are most galled with my folly , -They most must laugh . And why , sir , must they so ? -The 'why' is plain as way to parish church : -He that a fool doth very wisely hit -Doth very foolishly , although he smart , -Not to seem senseless of the bob ; if not , -The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd -Even by the squandering glances of the fool . -Invest me in my motley ; give me leave -To speak my mind , and I will through and through -Cleanse the foul body of th' infected world , -If they will patiently receive my medicine . - -Fie on thee ! I can tell what thou wouldst do . - -What , for a counter , would I do , but good ? - -Most mischievous foul sin , in chiding sin : -For thou thyself hast been a libertine , -As sensual as the brutish sting itself ; -And all the embossed sores and headed evils , -That thou with licence of free foot hast caught , -Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world . - -Why , who cries out on pride , -That can therein tax any private party ? -Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea , -Till that the weary very means do ebb ? -What woman in the city do I name , -When that I say the city-woman bears -The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders ? -Who can come in and say that I mean her , -When such a one as she such is her neighbour ? -Or what is he of basest function , -That says his bravery is not on my cost , -Thinking that I mean him ,but therein suits -His folly to the mettle of my speech ? -There then ; how then ? what then ? Let me see wherein -My tongue hath wrong'd him : if it do him right , -Then he hath wrong'd himself ; if he be free , -Why then , my taxing like a wild goose flies , -Unclaim'd of any man . But who comes here ? - - -Forbear , and eat no more . - -Why , I have eat none yet . - -Nor shalt not , till necessity be serv'd . - -Of what kind should this cock come of ? - -Art thou thus bolden'd , man , by thy distress , -Or else a rude despiser of good manners , -That in civility thou seem'st so empty ? - -You touch'd my vein at first : the thorny point -Of bare distress hath ta'en from me the show -Of smooth civility ; yet I am inland bred -And know some nurture . But forbear , I say : -He dies that touches any of this fruit -Till I and my affairs are answered . - -An you will not be answered with reason , -I must die . - -What would you have ? Your gentleness shall force -More than your force move us to gentleness . - -I almost die for food ; and let me have it . - -Sit down and feed , and welcome to our table . - -Speak you so gently ? Pardon me , I pray you : -I thought that all things had been savage here , -And therefore put I on the countenance -Of stern commandment . But whate'er you are -That in this desert inaccessible , -Under the shade of melancholy boughs , -Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time ; -If ever you have look'd on better days , -If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church , -If ever sat at any good man's feast , -If ever from your eyelids wip'd a tear , -And know what 'tis to pity , and be pitied , -Let gentleness my strong enforcement be : -In the which hope I blush , and hide my sword . - -True is it that we have seen better days , -And have with holy bell been knoll'd to church , -And sat at good men's feasts , and wip'd our eyes -Of drops that sacred pity hath engender'd ; -And therefore sit you down in gentleness -And take upon command what help we have -That to your wanting may be minister'd . - -Then but forbear your food a little while , -Whiles , like a doe , I go to find my fawn -And give it food . There is an old poor man , -Who after me hath many a weary step -Limp'd in pure love : till he be first suffic'd , -Oppress'd with two weak evils , age and hunger , -I will not touch a bit . - -Go find him out , -And we will nothing waste till you return . - -I thank ye ; and be bless'd for your good comfort ! - - -Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy : -This wide and universal theatre -Presents more woful pageants than the scene -Wherein we play in . - -All the world's a stage , -And all the men and women merely players : -They have their exits and their entrances ; -And one man in his time plays many parts , -His acts being seven ages . At first the infant , -Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms . -And then the whining school-boy , with his satchel , -And shining morning face , creeping like snail -Unwillingly to school . And then the lover , -Sighing like furnace , with a woful ballad -Made to his mistress' eyebrow . Then a soldier , -Full of strange oaths , and bearded like the pard , -Jealous in honour , sudden and quick in quarrel , -Seeking the bubble reputation -Even in the cannon's mouth . And then the justice , -In fair round belly with good capon lin'd , -With eyes severe , and beard of formal cut , -Full of wise saws and modern instances ; -And so he plays his part . The sixth age shifts -Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon , -With spectacles on nose and pouch on side , -His youthful hose well sav'd , a world too wide -For his shrunk shank ; and his big manly voice , -Turning again toward childish treble , pipes -And whistles in his sound . Last scene of all , -That ends this strange eventful history , -Is second childishness and mere oblivion , -Sans teeth , sans eyes , sans taste , sans everything . - - -Welcome . Set down your venerable burden , -And let him feed . - -I thank you most for him . - -So had you need : -I scarce can speak to thank you for myself . - -Welcome ; fall to : I will not trouble you -As yet , to question you about your fortunes . -Give us some music ; and , good cousin , sing . - -Blow , blow , thou winter wind , -Thou art not so unkind -As man's ingratitude ; -Thy tooth is not so keen , -Because thou art not seen , -Although thy breath be rude . -Heigh-ho ! sing , heigh-ho ! unto the green holly : -Most friendship is feigning , most loving mere folly . -Then heigh-ho ! the holly ! -This life is most jolly . -Freeze , freeze , thou bitter sky , -That dost not bite so nigh -As benefits forgot : -Though thou the waters warp , -Thy sting is not so sharp -As friend remember'd not . -Heigh-ho ! sing , heigh-ho ! unto the green holly : -Most friendship is feigning , most loving mere folly . -Then heigh-ho ! the holly ! -This life is most jolly . - -If that you were the good Sir Rowland's son , -As you have whisper'd faithfully you were , -And as mine eye doth his effigies witness -Most truly limn'd and living in your face , -Be truly welcome hither : I am the duke -That lov'd your father : the residue of your fortune , -Go to my cave and tell me . Good old man , -Thou art right welcome as thy master is . -Support him by the arm . Give me your hand , -And let me all your fortunes understand . - -Not seen him since ! Sir , sir , that cannot be : -But were I not the better part made mercy , -I should not seek an absent argument -Of my revenge , thou present . But look to it : -Find out thy brother , wheresoe'er he is ; -Seek him with candle ; bring him , dead or living , -Within this twelvemonth , or turn thou no more -To seek a living in our territory . -Thy lands and all things that thou dost call thine -Worth seizure , do we seize into our hands , -Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother's mouth -Of what we think against thee . - -O that your highness knew my heart in this ! -I never lov'd my brother in my life . - -More villain thou . Well , push him out of doors ; -And let my officers of such a nature -Make an extent upon his house and lands . -Do this expediently and turn him going . - - -Hang there , my verse , in witness of my love : -And thou , thrice-crowned queen of night , survey -With thy chaste eye , from thy pale sphere above , -Thy huntress' name , that my full life doth sway . -O Rosalind ! these trees shall be my books , -And in their barks my thoughts I'll character , -That every eye , which in this forest looks , -Shall see thy virtue witness'd everywhere . -Run , run , Orlando : carve on every tree -The fair , the chaste , and unexpressive she . - -And how like you this shepherd's life , Master Touchstone ? - -Truly , shepherd , in respect of itself , it is a good life ; but in respect that it is a shepherd's life , it is naught . In respect that it is solitary , I like it very well ; but in respect that it is private , it is a very vile life . Now , in respect it is in the fields , it pleaseth me well ; but in respect it is not in the court , it is tedious . As it is a spare life , look you , it fits my humour well ; but as there is no more plenty in it , it goes much against my stomach . Hast any philosophy in thee , shepherd ? - -No more but that I know the more one sickens the worse at ease he is ; and that he that wants money , means , and content , is without three good friends ; that the property of rain is to wet , and fire to burn ; that good pasture makes fat sheep , and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun ; that he that hath learned no wit by nature nor art may complain of good breeding , or comes of a very dull kindred . - -Such a one is a natural philosopher . Wast ever in court , shepherd ? - -No , truly . - -Then thou art damned . - -Nay , I hope . - -Truly , thou art damned like an ill-roasted egg , all on one side . - -For not being at court ? Your reason . - -Why , if thou never wast at court , thou never sawest good manners ; if thou never sawest good manners , then thy manners must be wicked ; and wickedness is sin , and sin is damnation . Thou art in a parlous state , shepherd . - -Not a whit , Touchstone : those that are good manners at the court , are as ridiculous in the country as the behaviour of the country is most mockable at the court . You told me you salute not at the court , but you kiss your hands ; that courtesy would be uncleanly if courtiers were shepherds . - -Instance , briefly ; come , instance . - -Why , we are still handling our ewes , and their fells , you know , are greasy . - -Why , do not your courtier's hands sweat ? and is not the grease of a mutton as wholesome as the sweat of a man ? Shallow , shallow . A better instance , I say ; come . - -Besides , our hands are hard . - -Your lips will feel them the sooner : shallow again . A more sounder instance ; come . - -And they are often tarred over with the surgery of our sheep ; and would you have us kiss tar ? The courtier's hands are perfumed with civet . - -Most shallow man ! Thou worms-meat , in respect of a good piece of flesh , indeed ! Learn of the wise , and perpend : civet is of a baser birth than tar , the very uncleanly flux of a cat . Mend the instance , shepherd . - -You have too courtly a wit for me : I'll rest . - -Wilt thou rest damned ? God help thee , shallow man ! God make incision in thee ! thou art raw . - -Sir , I am a true labourer : I earn that I eat , get that I wear , owe no man hate , envy no man's happiness , glad of other men's good , content with my harm ; and the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck . - -That is another simple sin in you , to bring the ewes and the rams together , and to offer to get your living by the copulation of cattle ; to be bawd to a bell-wether , and to betray a she-lamb of a twelvemonth to a crooked-pated , old , cuckoldy ram , out of all reasonable match . If thou be'st not damned for this , the devil himself will have no shepherds : I cannot see else how thou shouldst 'scape . - -Here comes young Master Ganymede , my new mistress's brother . - -From the east to western Ind , -No jewel is like Rosalind -Her worth , being mounted on the wind , -Through all the world bears Rosalind . -All the pictures fairest lin'd -Are but black to Rosalind . -Let no face be kept in mind , -But the fair of Rosalind . - - -I'll rime you so , eight years together , dinners and suppers and sleeping hours excepted : it is the right butter-women's rank to market . - -Out , fool ! - -For a taste : - -If a hart do lack a hind , -Let him seek out Rosalind . -If the cat will after kind , -So be sure will Rosalind . -Winter-garments must be lin'd , -So must slender Rosalind . -They that reap must sheaf and bind , -Then to cart with Rosalind . -Sweetest nut hath sourest rind , -Such a nut is Rosalind . -He that sweetest rose will find -Must find love's prick and Rosalind . - -This is the very false gallop of verses : why do you infect yourself with them ? - -Peace ! you dull fool : I found them on a tree . - -Truly , the tree yields bad fruit . - -I'll graff it with you , and then I shall graff it with a medlar : then it will be the earliest fruit i' the country ; for you'll be rotten ere you be half ripe , and that's the right virtue of the medlar . - -You have said ; but whether wisely or no , let the forest judge . - - -Peace ! -Here comes my sister , reading : stand aside . - - -Why should this a desert be ? -For it is unpeopled ? No ; -Tongues I'll hang on every tree , -That shall civil sayings show . -Some , how brief the life of man -Runs his erring pilgrimage , -That the stretching of a span -Buckles in his sum of age ; -Some , of violated vows -'Twixt the souls of friend and friend : -But upon the fairest boughs , -Or at every sentence' end , -Will I Rosalinda write ; -Teaching all that read to know -The quintessence of every sprite -Heaven would in little show . -Therefore Heaven Nature charg'd -That one body should be fill'd -With all graces wide enlarg'd : -Nature presently distill'd -Helen's cheek , but not her heart , -Cleopatra's majesty , -Atalanta's better part , -Sad Lucretia's modesty . -Thus Rosalind of many parts -By heavenly synod was devis'd -Of many faces , eyes , and hearts , -To have the touches dearest priz'd . -Heaven would that she these gifts should have , -And I to live and die her slave . - - -O most gentle pulpiter ! what tedious homily of love have you wearied your parishioners withal , and never cried , 'Have patience , good people !' - -How now ! back , friends ! Shepherd , go off a little : go with him , sirrah . - -Come , shepherd , let us make an honourable retreat ; though not with bag and baggage , yet with scrip and scrippage . - - -Didst thou hear these verses ? - -O , yes , I heard them all , and more too ; for some of them had in them more feet than the verses would bear . - -That's no matter : the feet might bear the verses . - -Ay , but the feet were lame , and could not bear themselves without the verse , and therefore stood lamely in the verse . - -But didst thou hear without wondering , how thy name should be hanged and carved upon these trees ? - -I was seven of the nine days out of the wonder before you came ; for look here what I found on a palm-tree : I was never so be-rimed since Pythagoras' time , that I was an Irish rat , which I can hardly remember . - -Trow you who hath done this ? - -Is it a man ? - -And a chain , that you once wore , about his neck . Change you colour ? - -I prithee , who ? - -O Lord , Lord ! it is a hard matter for friends to meet ; but mountains may be removed with earthquakes , and so encounter . - -Nay , but who is it ? - -Is it possible ? - -Nay , I prithee now , with most petitionary vehemence , tell me who it is . - -O wonderful , wonderful , and most wonderful wonderful ! and yet again wonderful ! and after that , out of all whooping ! - -Good my complexion ! dost thou think , though I am caparison'd like a man , I have a doublet and hose in my disposition ? One inch of delay more is a South-sea of discovery ; I prithee , tell me who is it quickly , and speak apace . I would thou couldst stammer , that thou mightst pour this concealed man out of thy mouth , as wine comes out of a narrow-mouth'd bottle ; either too much at once , or none at all . I prithee , take the cork out of thy mouth , that I may drink thy tidings . - -So you may put a man in your belly . - -Is he of God's making ? What manner of man ? Is his head worth a hat , or his chin worth a beard ? - -Nay , he hath but a little beard . - -Why , God will send more , if the man will be thankful . Let me stay the growth of his beard , if thou delay me not the knowledge of his chin . - -It is young Orlando , that tripped up the wrestler's heels and your heart both , in an instant . - -Nay , but the devil take mocking : speak , sad brow and true maid . - -I' faith , coz , 'tis he . - -Orlando ? - -Orlando . - -Alas the day ! what shall I do with my doublet and hose ? What did he when thou sawest him ? What said he ? How looked he ? Wherein went he ? What makes he here ? Did he ask for me ? Where remains he ? How parted he with thee , and when shalt thou see him again ? Answer me in one word . - -You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first : 'tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size . To say ay and no to these particulars is more than to answer in a catechism . - -But doth he know that I am in this forest and in man's apparel ? Looks he as freshly as he did the day he wrestled ? - -It is as easy to count atomies as to resolve the propositions of a lover ; but take a taste of my finding him , and relish it with good observance . I found him under a tree , like a dropped acorn . - -It may well be called Jove's tree , when it drops forth such fruit . - -Give me audience , good madam . - -Proceed . - -There lay he , stretch'd along like a wounded knight . - -Though it be pity to see such a sight , it well becomes the ground . - -Cry 'holla !' to thy tongue , I prithee ; it curvets unseasonably . He was furnish'd like a hunter . - -O , ominous ! he comes to kill my heart . - -I would sing my song without a burthen : thou bringest me out of tune . - -Do you not know I am a woman ? when I think , I must speak . Sweet , say on . - -You bring me out . Soft ! comes he not here ? - -'Tis he : slink by , and note him . - - -I thank you for your company ; but , good faith , I had as lief have been myself alone . - -And so had I ; but yet , for fashion' sake , I thank you too for your society . - -God be wi' you : let's meet as little as we can . - -I do desire we may be better strangers . - -I pray you , mar no more trees with writing love-songs in their barks . - -I pray you mar no more of my verses with reading them ill-favouredly . - -Rosalind is your love's name ? - -Yes , just . - -I do not like her name . - -There was no thought of pleasing you when she was christened . - -What stature is she of ? - -Just as high as my heart . - -You are full of pretty answers . Have you not been acquainted with goldsmiths' wives , and conn'd them out of rings ? - -Not so ; but I answer you right painted cloth , from whence you have studied your questions . - -You have a nimble wit : I think 'twas made of Atalanta's heels . Will you sit down with me ? and we two will rail against our mistress the world , and all our misery . - -I will chide no breather in the world but myself , against whom I know most faults . - -The worst fault you have is to be in love . - -'Tis a fault I will not change for your best virtue . I am weary of you . - -By my troth , I was seeking for a fool when I found you . - -He is drowned in the brook : look but in , and you shall see him . - -There I shall see mine own figure . - -Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher . - -I'll tarry no longer with you . Farewell , good Signior Love . - -I am glad of your departure . Adieu , good Monsieur Melancholy . - - -I will speak to him like a saucy lackey , and under that habit play the knave with him . Do you hear , forester ? - -Very well : what would you ? - -I pray you , what is't o'clock ? - -You should ask me , what time o' day ; there's no clock in the forest . - -Then there is no true lover in the forest ; else sighing every minute and groaning every hour would detect the lazy foot of Time as well as a clock . - -And why not the swift foot of Time ? had not that been as proper ? - -By no means , sir . Time travels in divers paces with divers persons . I'll tell you who Time ambles withal , who Time trots withal , who Time gallops withal , and who he stands still withal . - -I prithee , who doth he trot withal ? - -Marry , he trots hard with a young maid between the contract of her marriage and the day it is solemnized ; if the interim be but a se'nnight , Time's pace is so hard that it seems the length of seven year . - -Who ambles Time withal ? - -With a priest that lacks Latin , and a rich man that hath not the gout ; for the one sleeps easily because he cannot study , and the other lives merrily because he feels no pain ; the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning , the other knowing no burden of heavy tedious penury . These Time ambles withal . - -Who doth he gallop withal ? - -With a thief to the gallows ; for though he go as softly as foot can fall he thinks himself too soon there . - -Who stays it still withal ? - -With lawyers in the vacation ; for they sleep between term and term , and then they perceive not how Time moves . - -Where dwell you , pretty youth ? - -With this shepherdess , my sister ; here in the skirts of the forest , like fringe upon a petticoat . - -Are you native of this place ? - -As the cony , that you see dwell where she is kindled . - -Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling . - -I have been told so of many : but indeed an old religious uncle of mine taught me to speak , who was in his youth an inland man ; one that knew courtship too well , for there he fell in love . I have heard him read many lectures against it ; and I thank God , I am not a woman , to be touched with so many giddy offences as he hath generally taxed their whole sex withal . - -Can you remember any of the principal evils that he laid to the charge of women ? - -There were none principal ; they were all like one another as half-pence are ; every one fault seeming monstrous till his fellow fault came to match it . - -I prithee , recount some of them . - -No , I will not cast away my physic , but on those that are sick . There is a man haunts the forest , that abuses our young plants with carving 'Rosalind' on their barks ; hangs odes upon hawthorns , and elegies on brambles ; all , forsooth , deifying the name of Rosalind : if I could meet that fancy-monger , I would give him some good counsel , for he seems to have the quotidian of love upon him . - -I am he that is so love-shaked . I pray you , tell me your remedy . - -There is none of my uncle's marks upon you : he taught me how to know a man in love ; in which cage of rushes I am sure you are not prisoner . - -What were his marks ? - -A lean cheek , which you have not ; a blue eye and sunken , which you have not ; an unquestionable spirit , which you have not ; a beard neglected , which you have not : but I pardon you for that , for , simply , your having in beard is a younger brother's revenue . Then , your hose should be ungartered , your bonnet unbanded , your sleeve unbuttoned , your shoe untied , and everything about you demonstrating a careless desolation . But you are no such man : you are rather point-device in your accoutrements ; as loving yourself than seeming the lover of any other . - -Fair youth , I would I could make thee believe I love . - -Me believe it ! you may as soon make her that you love believe it ; which , I warrant , she is apter to do than to confess she does ; that is one of the points in the which women still give the lie to their consciences . But , in good sooth , are you he that hangs the verses on the trees , wherein Rosalind is so admired ? - -I swear to thee , youth , by the white hand of Rosalind , I am that he , that unfortunate he . - -But are you so much in love as your rimes speak ? - -Neither rime nor reason can express how much . - -Love is merely a madness , and , I tell you , deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do ; and the reason why they are not so punished and cured is , that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too . Yet I profess curing it by counsel . - -Did you ever cure any so ? - -Yes , one ; and in this manner . He was to imagine me his love , his mistress ; and I set him every day to woo me : at which time would I , being but a moonish youth , grieve , be effeminate , changeable , longing and liking ; proud , fantastical , apish , shallow , inconstant , full of tears , full of smiles , for every passion something , and for no passion truly anything , as boys and women are , for the most part , cattle of this colour ; would now like him , now loathe him ; then entertain him , then forswear him ; now weep for him , then spit at him ; that I drave my suitor from his mad humour of love to a living humour of madness , which was , to forswear the full stream of the world , and to live in a nook merely monastic . And thus I cured him ; and this way will I take upon me to wash your liver as clean as a sound sheep's heart , that there shall not be one spot of love in't . - -I would not be cured , youth . - -I would cure you , if you would but call me Rosalind , and come every day to my cote and woo me . - -Now , by the faith of my love , I will : tell me where it is . - -Go with me to it and I'll show it you ; and by the way you shall tell me where in the forest you live . Will you go ? - -With all my heart , good youth . - -Nay , you must call me Rosalind . Come , sister , will you go ? - - -Come apace , good Audrey : I will fetch up your goats , Audrey . And how , Audrey ? am I the man yet ? doth my simple feature content you ? - -Your features ! Lord warrant us ! what features ? - -I am here with thee and thy goats , as the most capricious poet , honest Ovid , was among the Goths . - -O knowledge ill-inhabited , worse than Jove in a thatch'd house ! - -When a man's verses cannot be understood , nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child Understanding , it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room . Truly , I would the gods had made thee poetical . - -I do not know what 'poetical' is . Is it honest in deed and word ? Is it a true thing ? - -No , truly , for the truest poetry is the most feigning ; and lovers are given to poetry , and what they swear in poetry may be said as lovers they do feign . - -Do you wish then that the gods had made me poetical ? - -I do , truly ; for thou swearest to me thou art honest : now , if thou wert a poet , I might have some hope thou didst feign . - -Would you not have me honest ? - -No , truly , unless thou wert hard-favour'd ; for honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar . - -A material fool . - -Well , I am not fair , and therefore I pray the gods make me honest . - -Truly , and to cast away honesty upon a foul slut were to put good meat into an unclean dish . - -I am not a slut , though I thank the gods I am foul . - -Well , praised be the gods for thy foulness ! sluttishness may come hereafter . But be it as it may be , I will marry thee ; and to that end I have been with Sir Oliver Martext , the vicar of the next village , who hath promised to meet me in this place of the forest , and to couple us . - -I would fain see this meeting . - -Well , the gods give us joy ! - -Amen . A man may , if he were of a fearful heart , stagger in this attempt ; for here we have no temple but the wood , no assembly but horn-beasts . But what though ? Courage ! As horns are odious , they are necessary . It is said , 'many a man knows no end of his goods :' right ; many a man has good horns , and knows no end of them . Well , that is the dowry of his wife ; 'tis none of his own getting . Horns ? Even so . Poor men alone ? No , no ; the noblest deer hath them as huge as the rascal . Is the single man therefore blessed ? No : as a walled town is more worthier than a village , so is the forehead of a married man more honourable than the bare brow of a bachelor ; and by how much defence is better than no skill , by so much is a horn more precious than to want . Here comes Sir Oliver . - -Sir Oliver Martext , you are well met : will you dispatch us here under this tree , or shall we go with you to your chapel ? - -Is there none here to give the woman ? - -I will not take her on gift of any man . - -Truly , she must be given , or the marriage is not lawful . - -Proceed , proceed : I'll give her . - -Good even , good Master What-ye-call't . how do you , sir ? You are very well met : God 'ild you for your last company : I am very glad to see you : even a toy in hand here , sir : nay , pray be covered . - -Will you be married , motley ? - -As the ox hath his bow , sir , the horse his curb , and the falcon her bells , so man hath his desires ; and as pigeons bill , so wedlock would be nibbling . - -And will you , being a man of your breeding , be married under a bush , like a beggar ? Get you to church , and have a good priest that can tell you what marriage is : this fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot ; then one of you will prove a shrunk panel , and like green timber , warp , warp . - -I am not in the mind but I were better to be married of him than of another : for he is not like to marry me well , and not being well married , it will be a good excuse for me hereafter to leave my wife . - -Go thou with me , and let me counsel thee . - -Come , sweet Audrey : -We must be married , or we must live in bawdry . -Farewell , good Master Oliver : not - -O sweet Oliver ! -O brave Oliver ! -Leave me not behind thee : - -but , - -Wind away , -Begone , I say , -I will not to wedding with thee . - -'Tis no matter : ne'er a fantastical knave of them all shall flout me out of my calling . - - -Never talk to me : I will weep . - -Do , I prithee ; but yet have the grace to consider that tears do not become a man . - -But have I not cause to weep ? - -As good cause as one would desire ; therefore weep . - -His very hair is of the dissembling colour . - -Something browner than Judas's ; marry , his kisses are Judas's own children . - -I' faith , his hair is of a good colour . - -An excellent colour : your chesnut was ever the only colour . - -And his kissing is as full of sanctity as the touch of holy bread . - -He hath bought a pair of cast lips of Diana : a nun of winter's sisterhood kisses not more religiously ; the very ice of chastity is in them . - -But why did he swear he would come this morning , and comes not ? - -Nay , certainly , there is no truth in him . - -Do you think so ? - -Yes : I think he is not a pick-purse nor a horse-stealer ; but for his verity in love , I do think him as concave as a covered goblet or a worm-eaten nut . - -Not true in love ? - -Yes , when he is in ; but I think he is not in . - -You have heard him swear downright he was . - -'Was' is not 'is :' besides , the oath of a lover is no stronger than the word of a tapster ; they are both the confirmers of false reckonings . He attends here in the forest on the duke your father . - -I met the duke yesterday and had much question with him . He asked me of what parentage I was ; I told him , of as good as he ; so he laughed , and let me go . But what talk we of fathers , when there is such a man as Orlando ? - -O , that's a brave man ! he writes brave verses , speaks brave words , swears brave oaths , and breaks them bravely , quite traverse , athwart the heart of his lover ; as a puisny tilter , that spurs his horse but on one side , breaks his staff like a noble goose . But all's brave that youth mounts and folly guides . Who comes here ? - - -Mistress and master , you have oft inquir'd -After the shepherd that complain'd of love , -Who you saw sitting by me on the turf , -Praising the proud disdainful shepherdess -That was his mistress . - -Well , and what of him ? - -If you will see a pageant truly play'd , -Between the pale complexion of true love -And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain , -Go hence a little , and I shall conduct you , -If you will mark it . - -O ! come , let us remove : -The sight of lovers feedeth those in love . -Bring us to this sight , and you shall say -I'll prove a busy actor in their play . - - -Sweet Phebe , do not scorn me ; do not , Phebe : -Say that you love me not , but say not so -In bitterness . The common executioner , -Whose heart the accustom'd sight of death makes hard , -Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck -But first begs pardon : will you sterner be -Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops ? - - -I would not be thy executioner : -I fly thee , for I would not injure thee . -Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye : -'Tis pretty , sure , and very probable , -That eyes , that are the frail'st and softest things , -Who shut their coward gates on atomies , -Should be call'd tyrants , butchers , murderers ! -Now I do frown on thee with all my heart ; -And , if mine eyes can wound , now let them kill thee ; -Now counterfeit to swound ; why now fall down ; -Or , if thou canst not , O ! for shame , for shame , -Lie not , to say mine eyes are murderers . -Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee ; -Scratch thee but with a pin , and there remains -Some scar of it ; lean but upon a rush , -The cicatrice and capable impressure -Thy palm some moment keeps ; but now mine eyes , -Which I have darted at thee , hurt thee not , -Nor , I am sure , there is no force in eyes -That can do hurt . - -O dear Phebe , -If ever ,as that ever may be near , -You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy , -Then shall you know the wounds invisible -That love's keen arrows make . - -But , till that time -Come not thou near me ; and , when that time comes , -Afflict me with thy mocks , pity me not ; -As , till that time I shall not pity thee . - -And why , I pray you ? Who might be your mother , -That you insult , exult , and all at once , -Over the wretched ? What though you have no beauty , -As by my faith , I see no more in you -Than without candle may go dark to bed , -Must you be therefore proud and pitiless ? -Why , what means this ? Why do you look on me ? -I see no more in you than in the ordinary -Of nature's sale-work . Od's my little life ! -I think she means to tangle my eyes too . -No , faith , proud mistress , hope not after it : -'Tis not your inky brows , your black silk hair , -Your bugle eyeballs , nor your cheek of cream , -That can entame my spirits to your worship . -You foolish shepherd , wherefore do you follow her , -Like foggy south puffing with wind and rain ? -You are a thousand times a properer man -Than she a woman : 'tis such fools as you -That make the world full of ill-favour'd children : -'Tis not her glass , but you , that flatters her ; -And out of you she sees herself more proper -Than any of her lineaments can show her . -But , mistress , know yourself : down on your knees , -And thank heaven , fasting , for a good man's love : -For I must tell you friendly in your ear , -Sell when you can ; you are not for all markets . -Cry the man mercy ; love him ; take his offer : -Foul is most foul , being foul to be a scoffer . -So take her to thee , shepherd . Fare you well . - -Sweet youth , I pray you , chide a year together : -I had rather hear you chide than this man woo . - -He's fallen in love with her foulness , and she'll fall in love with my anger . If it be so , as fast as she answers thee with frowning looks , I'll sauce her with bitter words . Why look you so upon me ? - -For no ill will I bear you . - -I pray you , do not fall in love with me , -For I am falser than vows made in wine : -Besides , I like you not . If you will know my house , -'Tis at the tuft of olives here hard by . -Will you go , sister ? Shepherd , ply her hard . -Come , sister . Shepherdess , look on him better , -And be not proud : though all the world could see , -None could be so abus'd in sight as he . -Come , to our flock . - - -Dead shepherd , now I find thy saw of might : -'Who ever lov'd that lov'd not at first sight ?' - -Sweet Phebe , - -Ha ! what sayst thou , Silvius ? - -Sweet Phebe , pity me . - -Why , I am sorry for thee , gentle Silvius . - -Wherever sorrow is , relief would be : -If you do sorrow at my grief in love , -By giving love your sorrow and my grief -Were both extermin'd . - -Thou hast my love : is not that neighbourly ? - -I would have you . - -Why , that were covetousness . -Silvius , the time was that I hated thee ; -And yet it is not that I bear thee love : -But since that thou canst talk of love so well , -Thy company , which erst was irksome to me , -I will endure , and I'll employ thee too ; -But do not look for further recompense -Than thine own gladness that thou art employ'd . - -So holy and so perfect is my love , -And I in such a poverty of grace , -That I shall think it a most plenteous crop -To glean the broken ears after the man -That the main harvest reaps : loose now and then -A scatter'd smile , and that I'll live upon . - -Know'st thou the youth that spoke to me erewhile ? - -Not very well , but I have met him oft ; -And he hath bought the cottage and the bounds -That the old carlot once was master of . - -Think not I love him , though I ask for him . -'Tis but a peevish boy ; yet he talks well ; -But what care I for words ? yet words do well , -When he that speaks them pleases those that hear . -It is a pretty youth : not very pretty : -But , sure , he's proud ; and yet his pride becomes him : -He'll make a proper man : the best thing in him -Is his complexion ; and faster than his tongue -Did make offence his eye did heal it up . -He is not very tall ; yet for his years he's tall : -His leg is but so so ; and yet 'tis well : -There was a pretty redness in his lip , -A little riper and more lusty red -Than that mix'd in his cheek ; 'twas just the difference -Betwixt the constant red and mingled damask . -There be some women , Silvius , had they mark'd him -In parcels as I did , would have gone near -To fall in love with him ; but , for my part , -I love him not nor hate him not ; and yet -Have more cause to hate him than to love him : -For what had he to do to chide at me ? -He said mine eyes were black and my hair black ; -And , now I am remember'd , scorn'd at me . -I marvel why I answer'd not again : -But that's all one ; omittance is no quittance . -I'll write to him a very taunting letter , -And thou shalt bear it : wilt thou , Silvius ? - -Phebe , with all my heart . - -I'll write it straight ; -The matter's in my head and in my heart : -I will be bitter with him and passing short . -Go with me , Silvius . - -I prithee , pretty youth , let me be better acquainted with thee . - -They say you are a melancholy fellow . - -I am so ; I do love it better than laughing . - -Those that are in extremity of either are abominable fellows , and betray themselves to every modern censure worse than drunkards . - -Why , 'tis good to be sad and say nothing . - -Why , then , 'tis good to be a post . - -I have neither the scholar's melancholy , which is emulation ; nor the musician's , which is fantastical ; nor the courtier's , which is proud ; nor the soldier's , which is ambitious ; nor the lawyer's , which is politic ; nor the lady's , which is nice ; nor the lover's , which is all these : but it is a melancholy of mine own , compounded of many simples , extracted from many objects , and indeed the sundry contemplation of my travels , which , by often rumination , wraps me in a most humorous sadness . - -A traveller ! By my faith , you have great reason to be sad . I fear you have sold your own lands to see other men's ; then , to have seen much and to have nothing , is to have rich eyes and poor hands . - -Yes , I have gained my experience . - -And your experience makes you sad : I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad : and to travel for it too ! - - -Good day , and happiness , dear Rosalind ! - -Nay then , God be wi' you , an you talk in blank verse . - - -Farewell , Monsieur Traveller : look you lisp , and wear strange suits , disable all the benefits of your own country , be out of love with your nativity , and almost chide God for making you that countenance you are ; or I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola . Why , how now , Orlando ! where have you been all this while ? You a lover ! An you serve me such another trick , never come in my sight more . - -My fair Rosalind , I come within an hour of my promise . - -Break an hour's promise in love ! He that will divide a minute into a thousand parts , and break but a part of the thousandth part of a minute in the affairs of love , it may be said of him that Cupid hath clapped him o' the shoulder , but I'll warrant him heart-whole . - -Pardon me , dear Rosalind . - -Nay , an you be so tardy , come no more in my sight : I had as lief be wooed of a snail . - -Of a snail ! - -Ay , of a snail ; for though he comes slowly , he carries his house on his head ; a better jointure , I think , than you make a woman : besides , he brings his destiny with him . - -What's that ? - -Why , horns ; that such as you are fain to be beholding to your wives for : but he comes armed in his fortune and prevents the slander of his wife . - -Virtue is no horn-maker ; and my Rosalind is virtuous . - -And I am your Rosalind ? - -It pleases him to call you so ; but he hath a Rosalind of a better leer than you . - -Come , woo me , woo me ; for now I am in a holiday humour , and like enough to consent . What would you say to me now , an I were your very very Rosalind ? - -I would kiss before I spoke . - -Nay , you were better speak first , and when you were gravelled for lack of matter , you might take occasion to kiss . Very good orators , when they are out , they will spit ; and for lovers lacking ,God warn us !matter , the cleanliest shift is to kiss . - -How if the kiss be denied ? - -Then she puts you to entreaty , and there begins new matter . - -Who could be out , being before his beloved mistress ? - -Marry , that should you , if I were your mistress ; or I should think my honesty ranker than my wit . - -What , of my suit ? - -Not out of your apparel , and yet out of your suit . Am not I your Rosalind ? - -I take some joy to say you are , because I would be talking of her . - -Well , in her person I say I will not have you . - -Then in mine own person I die . - -No , faith , die by attorney . The poor world is almost six thousand years old , and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person , videlicet , in a love-cause . Troilus had his brains dashed out with a Grecian club ; yet he did what he could to die before , and he is one of the patterns of love . Leander , he would have lived many a fair year , though Hero had turned nun , if it had not been for a hot mid-summer night ; for , good youth , he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont , and being taken with the cramp was drowned ; and the foolish coroners of that age found it was 'Hero of Sestos .' But these are all lies : men have died from time to time , and worms have eaten them , but not for love . - -I would not have my right Rosalind of this mind ; for , I protest , her frown might kill me . - -By this hand , it will not kill a fly . But come , now I will be your Rosalind in a more coming-on disposition ; and ask me what you will , I will grant it . - -Then love me , Rosalind . - -Yes , faith will I , Fridays and Saturdays and all . - -And wilt thou have me ? - -Ay , and twenty such . - -What sayest thou ? - -Are you not good ? - -I hope so . - -Why then , can one desire too much of a good thing ?Come , sister , you shall be the priest and marry us .Give me your hand , Orlando . What do you say , sister ? - -Pray thee , marry us . - -I cannot say the words . - -You must begin ,'Will you , Orlando ,' - -Go to .Will you , Orlando , have to wife this Rosalind ? - -I will . - -Ay , but when ? - -Why now ; as fast as she can marry us . - -Then you must say , 'I take thee , Rosalind , for wife .' - -I take thee , Rosalind , for wife . - -I might ask you for your commission ; but , I do take thee , Orlando , for my husband : there's a girl goes before the priest ; and , certainly , a woman's thought runs before her actions . - -So do all thoughts ; they are winged . - -Now tell me how long you would have her after you have possessed her ? - -For ever and a day . - -Say 'a day ,' without the 'ever .' No , no , Orlando ; men are April when they woo , December when they wed : maids are May when they are maids , but the sky changes when they are wives . I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen ; more clamorous than a parrot against rain ; more new-fangled than an ape ; more giddy in my desires than a monkey : I will weep for nothing , like Diana in the fountain , and I will do that when you are disposed to be merry ; I will laugh like a hyen , and that when thou art inclined to sleep . - -But will my Rosalind do so ? - -By my life , she will do as I do . - -O ! but she is wise . - -Or else she could not have the wit to do this : the wiser , the waywarder : make the doors upon a woman's wit , and it will out at the casement ; shut that , and 'twill out at the key-hole ; stop that , 'twill fly with the smoke out at the chimney . - -A man that hath a wife with such a wit , he might say , 'Wit , whither wilt ?' - -Nay , you might keep that check for it till you met your wife's wit going to your neighbour's bed . - -And what wit could wit have to excuse that ? - -Marry , to say she came to seek you there . You shall never take her without her answer , unless you take her without her tongue . O ! that woman that cannot make her fault her husband's occasion , let her never nurse her child herself , for she will breed it like a fool . - -For these two hours , Rosalind , I will leave thee . - -Alas ! dear love , I cannot lack thee two hours . - -I must attend the duke at dinner : by two o'clock I will be with thee again . - -Ay , go your ways , go your ways ; I knew what you would prove , my friends told me as much , and I thought no less : that flattering tongue of yours won me : 'tis but one cast away , and so , come , death ! Two o'clock is your hour ? - -Ay , sweet Rosalind . - -By my troth , and in good earnest , and so God mend me , and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous , if you break one jot of your promise or come one minute behind your hour , I will think you the most pathetical break-promise , and the most hollow lover , and the most unworthy of her you call Rosalind , that may be chosen out of the gross band of the unfaithful . Therefore , beware my censure , and keep your promise . - -With no less religion than if thou wert indeed my Rosalind : so , adieu . - -Well , Time is the old justice that examines all such offenders , and let Time try . Adieu . - - -You have simply misused our sex in your love-prate : we must have your doublot and hose plucked over your head , and show the world what the bird hath done to her own nest . - -O coz , coz , coz , my pretty little coz , that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love ! But it cannot be sounded : my affection hath an unknown bottom , like the bay of Portugal . - -Or rather , bottomless ; that as fast as you pour affection in , it runs out . - -No ; that same wicked bastard of Venus , that was begot of thought , conceived of spleen , and born of madness , that blind rascally boy that abuses every one's eyes because his own are out , let him be judge how deep I am in love . I'll tell thee , Aliena , I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando : I'll go find a shadow and sigh till he come . - -And I'll sleep . - - -Which is he that killed the deer ? - -Sir , it was I . - -Let's present him to the duke , like a -Roman conqueror ; and it would do well to set the deer's horns upon his head for a branch of victory . Have you no song , forester , for this purpose ? - -Yes , sir . - -Sing it : 'tis no matter how it be in tune so it make noise enough . - -What shall he have that kill'd the deer ? -His leather skin and horns to wear . -Then sing him home - -Take thou no scorn to wear the horn ; -It was a crest ere thou wast born : -Thy father's father wore it , -And thy father bore it : -The horn , the horn , the lusty horn -Is not a thing to laugh to scorn - - -How say you now ? Is it not past two o'clock ? And here much Orlando ! - -I warrant you , with pure love and a troubled brain , he hath ta'en his bow and arrows , and is gone forth to sleep . Look , who comes here . - - -My errand is to you , fair youth . -My gentle Phebe did bid me give you this : - -I know not the contents ; but , as I guess -By the stern brow and waspish action -Which she did use as she was writing of it , -It bears an angry tenour : pardon me ; -I am but as a guiltless messenger . - -Patience herself would startle at this letter , -And play the swaggerer : bear this , bear all : -She says I am not fair ; that I lack manners ; -She calls me proud , and that she could not love me -Were man as rare as ph nix . 'Od's my will ! -Her love is not the hare that I do hunt : -Why writes she so to me ? Well , shepherd , well , -This is a letter of your own device . - -No , I protest , I know not the contents : -Phebe did write it . - -Come , come , you are a fool , -And turn'd into the extremity of love . -I saw her hand : she has a leathern hand , -A freestone-colour'd hand ; I verily did think -That her old gloves were on , but 'twas her hands : -She has a housewife's hand ; but that's no matter : -I say she never did invent this letter ; -This is a man's invention , and his hand . - -Sure , it is hers . - -Why , 'tis a boisterous and a cruel style , -A style for challengers ; why , she defies me , -Like Turk to Christian : woman's gentle brain -Could not drop forth such giant-rude invention , -Such Ethiop words , blacker in their effect -Than in their countenance . Will you hear the letter ? - -So please you , for I never heard it yet ; -Yet heard too much of Phebe's cruelty . - -She Phebes me . Mark how the tyrant writes . - -Art thou god to shepherd turn'd , -That a maiden's heart hath burn'd ? - -Can a woman rail thus ? - -Call you this railing ? - -Why , thy godhead laid apart , -Warr'st thou with a woman's heart ? - -Did you ever hear such railing ? - -Whiles the eye of man did woo me , -That could do no vengeance to me . - -Meaning me a beast . - -If the scorn of your bright eyne -Have power to raise such love in mine , -Alack ! in me what strange effect -Would they work in mild aspect . -Whiles you chid me , I did love , -How then might your prayers move ! -He that brings this love to thee -Little knows this love in me ; -And by him seal up thy mind ; -Whether that thy youth and kind -Will the faithful offer take -Of me and all that I can make ; -Or else by him my love deny , -And then I'll study how to die . - - -Call you this chiding ? - -Alas , poor shepherd ! - -Do you pity him ? no , he deserves no pity . Wilt thou love such a woman ? What , to make thee an instrument and play false strains upon thee ! not to be endured ! Well , go your way to her , for I see love hath made thee a tame snake , and say this to her : that if she love me , I charge her to love thee : if she will not , I will never have her , unless thou entreat for her . If you be a true lover , hence , and not a word , for here comes more company . - -Good morrow , fair ones . Pray you if you know , -Where in the purlieus of this forest stands -A sheepcote fenc'd about with olive-trees ? - -West of this place , down in the neighbour bottom : -The rank of osiers by the murmuring stream -Left on your right hand brings you to the place . -But at this hour the house doth keep itself ; -There's none within . - -If that an eye may profit by a tongue , -Then should I know you by description ; -Such garments , and such years : 'The boy is fair , -Of female favour , and bestows himself -Like a ripe sister : but the woman low , -And browner than her brother .' Are not you -The owner of the house I did inquire for ? - -It is no boast , being ask'd , to say , we are . - -Orlando doth commend him to you both , -And to that youth he calls his Rosalind -He sends this bloody napkin . Are you he ? - -I am : what must we understand by this ? - -Some of my shame ; if you will know of me -What man I am , and how , and why , and where -This handkercher was stain'd . - -I pray you , tell it . - -When last the young Orlando parted from you -He left a promise to return again -Within an hour ; and , pacing through the forest , -Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy , -Lo , what befell ! he threw his eye aside , -And mark what object did present itself : -Under an oak , whose boughs were moss'd with age , -And high top bald with dry antiquity , -A wretched ragged man , o'ergrown with hair , -Lay sleeping on his back : about his neck -A green and gilded snake had wreath'd itself , -Who with her head nimble in threats approach'd -The opening of his mouth ; but suddenly , -Seeing Orlando , it unlink'd itself , -And with indented glides did slip away -Into a bush ; under which bush's shade -A lioness , with udders all drawn dry , -Lay couching , head on ground , with catlike watch , -When that the sleeping man should stir ; for 'tis -The royal disposition of that beast -To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead : -This seen , Orlando did approach the man , -And found it was his brother , his elder brother . - -O ! I have heard him speak of that same brother ; -And he did render him the most unnatural -That liv'd 'mongst men . - -And well he might so do , -For well I know he was unnatural . - -But , to Orlando : did he leave him there , -Food to the suck'd and hungry lioness ? - -Twice did he turn his back and purpos'd so ; -But kindness , nobler ever than revenge , -And nature , stronger than his just occasion , -Made him give battle to the lioness , -Who quickly fell before him : in which hurtling -From miserable slumber I awak'd . - -Are you his brother ? - -Was it you he rescu'd ? - -Was't you that did so oft contrive to kill him ? - -'Twas I ; but 'tis not I . I do not shame -To tell you what I was , since my conversion -So sweetly tastes , being the thing I am . - -But , for the bloody napkin ? - -By and by . -When from the first to last , betwixt us two , -Tears our recountments had most kindly bath'd , -As how I came into that desert place : -In brief , he led me to the gentle duke , -Who gave me fresh array and entertainment , -Committing me unto my brother's love ; -Who led me instantly unto his cave , -There stripp'd himself ; and here , upon his arm -The lioness had torn some flesh away , -Which all this while had bled ; and now he fainted , -And cried , in fainting , upon Rosalind . -Brief , I recover'd him , bound up his wound ; -And , after some small space , being strong at heart , -He sent me hither , stranger as I am , -To tell this story , that you might excuse -His broken promise ; and to give this napkin , -Dy'd in his blood , unto the shepherd youth -That he in sport doth call his Rosalind . - -Why , how now , Ganymede ! sweet Ganymede ! - -Many will swoon when they do look on blood . - -There is more in it . Cousin ! Ganymede ! - -Look , he recovers . - -I would I were at home . - -We'll lead you thither . I pray you , will you take him by the arm ? - -Be of good cheer , youth . You a man ! You lack a man's heart . - -I do so , I confess it . Ah , sirrah ! a body would think this was well counterfeited . I pray you , tell your brother how well I counterfeited . Heigh-ho ! - -This was not counterfeit : there is too great testimony in your complexion that it was a passion of earnest . - -Counterfeit , I assure you . - -Well then , take a good heart and counterfeit to be a man . - -So I do ; but , i' faith , I should have been a woman by right . - -Come ; you look paler and paler : pray you , draw homewards . Good sir , go with us . - -That will I , for I must bear answer back How you excuse my brother , Rosalind . - -I shall devise something . But , I pray you , commend my counterfeiting to him . Will you go ? - -We shall find a time , Audrey : patience , gentle Audrey . - -Faith , the priest was good enough , for all the old gentleman's saying . - -A most wicked Sir Oliver , Audrey ; a most vile Martext . But , Audrey , there is a youth here in the forest lays claim to you . - -Ay , I know who 'tis : he hath no interest in me in the world . Here comes the man you mean . - - -It is meat and drink to me to see a clown . By my troth , we that have good wits have much to answer for : we shall be flouting ; we cannot hold . - -Good even , Audrey . - -God ye good even , William . - -And good even to you , sir . - -Good even , gentle friend . Cover thy head , cover thy head ; nay , prithee , be covered . How old are you , friend ? - -Five-and-twenty , sir . - -A ripe age . Is thy name William ? - -William , sir . - -A fair name . Wast born i' the forest here ? - -Ay , sir , I thank God . - -'Thank God ;' a good answer . Art rich ? - -Faith , sir , so so . - -'So so ,' is good , very good , very excellent good : and yet it is not ; it is but so so . Art thou wise ? - -Ay , sir , I have a pretty wit . - -Why , thou sayest well . I do now remember a saying , 'The fool doth think he is wise , but the wise man knows himself to be a fool .' The heathen philosopher , when he had a desire to eat a grape , would open his lips when he put it into his mouth ; meaning thereby that grapes were made to eat and lips to open . You do love this maid ? - -I do , sir . - -Give me your hand . Art thou learned ? - -No , sir . - -Then learn this of me : to have , is to have ; for it is a figure in rhetoric , that drink , being poured out of a cup into a glass , by filling the one doth empty the other ; for all your writers do consent that ipse is he : now , you are not ipse , for I am he . - -Which he , sir ? - -He , sir , that must marry this woman . Therefore , you clown , abandon ,which is in the vulgar , leave ,the society ,which in the boorish is , company ,of this female ,which in the common is , woman ; which together is , abandon the society of this female , or , clown , thou perishest ; or , to thy better understanding , diest ; or , to wit , I kill thee , make thee away , translate thy life into death , thy liberty into bondage . I will deal in poison with thee , or in bastinado , or in steel ; I will bandy with thee in faction ; I will o'errun thee with policy ; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways : therefore tremble , and depart . - -Do , good William . - -God rest you merry , sir . - -Our master and mistress seek you : come , away , away ! - -Trip , Audrey ! trip , Audrey ! I attend , I attend . - - -Is't possible that on so little acquaintance you should like her ? that , but seeing , you should love her ? and , loving , woo ? and , wooing , she should grant ? and will you persever to enjoy her ? - -Neither call the giddiness of it in question , the poverty of her , the small acquaintance , my sudden wooing , nor her sudden consenting ; but say with me , I love Aliena ; say with her , that she loves me ; consent with both , that we may enjoy each other : it shall be to your good ; for my father's house and all the revenue that was old Sir Rowland's will I estate upon you , and here live and die a shepherd . - -You have my consent . Let your wedding be to-morrow : thither will I invite the duke and all's contented followers . Go you and prepare Aliena ; for , look you , here comes my Rosalind . - - -God save you , brother . - -And you , fair sister . - - -O ! my dear Orlando , how it grieves me to see thee wear thy heart in a scarf . - -It is my arm . - -I thought thy heart had been wounded with the claws of a lion . - -Wounded it is , but with the eyes of a lady . - -Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to swound when he showed me your handkercher ? - -Ay , and greater wonders than that . - -O ! I know where you are . Nay , 'tis true : there was never anything so sudden but the fight of two rams , and C sar's thrasonical brag of 'I came , saw , and overcame :' for your brother and my sister no sooner met , but they looked ; no sooner looked but they loved ; no sooner loved but they sighed ; no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason ; no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy : and in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage which they will climb incontinent , or else be incontinent before marriage . They are in the very wrath of love , and they will together : clubs cannot part them . - -They shall be married to-morrow , and I will bid the duke to the nuptial . But , O ! how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes . By so much the more shall I to-morrow be at the height of heart-heaviness , by how much I shall think my brother happy in having what he wishes for . - -Why then , to-morrow I cannot serve your turn for Rosalind ? - -I can live no longer by thinking . - -I will weary you then no longer with idle talking . Know of me then ,for now I speak to some purpose ,that I know you are a gentleman of good conceit . I speak not this that you should bear a good opinion of my knowledge , insomuch I say I know you are ; neither do I labour for a greater esteem than may in some little measure draw a belief from you , to do yourself good , and not to grace me . Believe then , if you please , that I can do strange things . I have , since I was three years old , conversed with a magician , most profound in his art and yet not damnable . If you do love Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture cries it out , when your brother marries Aliena , shall you marry her . I know into what straits of fortune she is driven ; and it is not impossible to me , if it appear not inconvenient to you , to set her before your eyes to-morrow , human as she is , and without any danger . - -Speakest thou in sober meanings ? - -By my life , I do ; which I tender dearly , though I say I am a magician . Therefore , put you in your best array ; bid your friends ; for if you will be married to-morrow , you shall ; and to Rosalind , if you will . Look , here comes a lover of mine , and a lover of hers . - - -Youth , you have done me much ungentleness , -To show the letter that I writ to you . - -I care not if I have : it is my study -To seem despiteful and ungentle to you . -You are there follow'd by a faithful shepherd : -Look upon him , love him ; he worships you . - -Good shepherd , tell this youth what 'tis to love . - -It is to be all made of sighs and tears ; -And so am I for Phebe . - -And I for Ganymede . - -And I for Rosalind . - -And I for no woman . - -It is to be all made of faith and service ; -And so am I for Phebe . - -And I for Ganymede . - -And I for Rosalind . - -And I for no woman . - -It is to be all made of fantasy , -All made of passion , and all made of wishes ; -All adoration , duty , and observance ; -All humbleness , all patience , and impatience ; -All purity , all trial , all obeisance ; -And so am I for Phebe . - -And so am I for Ganymede . - -And so am I for Rosalind . - -And so am I for no woman . - -If this be so , why blame you me to love you ? - -If this be so , why blame you me to love you ? - -If this be so , why blame you me to love you ? - -Who do you speak to , 'Why blame you me to love you ?' - -To her that is not here , nor doth not hear . - -Pray you , no more of this : 'tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon . - - -As you love Phebe , meet : and as I love no woman , I'll meet . So , fare you well : I have left you commands . - -I'll not fail , if I live . - -Nor I . - -Nor I . - - -To-morrow is the joyful day , Audrey ; to-morrow will we be married . - -I do desire it with all my heart , and I hope it is no dishonest desire to desire to be a woman of the world . Here come two of the banished duke's pages . - - -Well met , honest gentleman . - -By my troth , well met . Come , sit , sit , and a song . - -We are for you : sit i' the middle . - -Shall we clap into't roundly , without hawking or spitting , or saying we are hoarse , which are the only prologues to a bad voice ? - -I'faith , i'faith ; and both in a tune , like two gipsies on a horse . - -It was a lover and his lass , -With a hey , and a ho , and a hey nonino , -That o'er the green corn-field did pass , -In the spring time , the only pretty ring time , -When birds do sing , hey ding a ding , ding ; -Sweet lovers love the spring . -Between the acres of the rye , -With a hey , and a ho , and a hey nonino , -These pretty country folks would lie , -In the spring time , &c . -This carol they began that hour , -With a hey , and a ho , and a hey nonino , -How that a life was but a flower -In the spring time , &c . -And therefore take the present time , -With a hey , and a ho , and a hey nonino ; -For love is crowned with the prime -In the spring time , &c . - -Truly , young gentlemen , though there was no great matter in the ditty , yet the note was very untuneable . - -You are deceived , sir : we kept time ; we lost not our time . - -By my troth , yes ; I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish song . God be wi' you ; and God mend your voices ! Come , Audrey . - - -Dost thou believe , Orlando , that the boy -Can do all this that he hath promised ? - -I sometimes do believe , and sometimes do not ; -As those that fear they hope , and know they fear . - - -Patience once more , whiles our compact is urg'd . - - -You say , if I bring in your Rosalind , -You will bestow her on Orlando here ? - -That would I , had I kingdoms to give with her . - -And you say , you will have her when I bring her ? - -That would I , were I of all kingdoms king . - -You say , that you'll marry me , if I be willing ? - -That will I , should I die the hour after . - -But if you do refuse to marry me , -You'll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd ? - -So is the bargain . - -You say , that you'll have Phebe , if she will ? - -Though to have her and death were both one thing . - -I have promis'd to make all this matter even . -Keep you your word , O duke , to give your daughter ; -You yours , Orlando , to receive his daughter ; -Keep your word , Phebe , that you'll marry me , -Or else , refusing me , to wed this shepherd ; -Keep your word , Silvius , that you'll marry her , -If she refuse me : and from hence I go , -To make these doubts all even . - - -I do remember in this shepherd boy -Some lively touches of my daughter's favour . - -My lord , the first time that I ever saw him , -Methought he was a brother to your daughter ; -But , my good lord , this boy is forest-born , -And hath been tutor'd in the rudiments -Of many desperate studies by his uncle , -Whom he reports to be a great magician , -Obscured in the circle of this forest . - - -There is , sure , another flood toward , and these couples are coming to the ark . Here comes a pair of very strange beasts , which in all tongues are called fools . - -Salutation and greeting to you all ! - -Good my lord , bid him welcome . This is the motley-minded gentleman that I have so often met in the forest : he hath been a courtier , he swears . - -If any man doubt that , let him put me to my purgation . I have trod a measure ; I have flattered a lady ; I have been politic with my friend , smooth with mine enemy ; I have undone three tailors ; I have had four quarrels , and like to have fought one . - -And how was that ta'en up ? - -Faith , we met , and found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause . - -How seventh cause ? Good my lord , like this fellow . - -I like him very well . - -God 'ild you , sir ; I desire you of the like . I press in here , sir , amongst the rest of the country copulatives , to swear , and to forswear , according as marriage binds and blood breaks . A poor virgin , sir , an ill-favoured thing , sir , but mine own : a poor humour of mine , sir , to take that that no man else will . Rich honesty dwells like a miser , sir , in a poor house , as your pearl in your foul oyster . - -By my faith , he is very swift and sententious . - -According to the fool's bolt , sir , and such dulcet diseases . - -But , for the seventh cause ; how did you find the quarrel on the seventh cause ? - -Upon a lie seven times removed :bear your body more seeming , Audrey :as thus , sir . I did dislike the cut of a certain courtier's beard : he sent me word , if I said his beard was not cut well , he was in the mind it was : this is called 'the retort courteous .' If I sent him word again , it was not well cut , he would send me word , he cut it to please himself : this is called the 'quip modest .' If again , it was not well cut , he disabled my judgment : this is called the 'reply churlish .' If again , it was not well cut , he would answer , I spake not true : this is called the 'reproof valiant :' if again , it was not well cut , he would say , I lie : this is called the 'countercheck quarrelsome' : and so to the 'lie circumstantial ,' and the 'lie direct .' - -And how oft did you say his beard was not well cut ? - -I durst go no further than the 'lie circumstantial ,' nor he durst not give me the 'lie direct ;' and so we measured swords and parted . - -Can you nominate in order now the degrees of the lie ? - -O sir , we quarrel in print ; by the book , as you have books for good manners : I will name you the degrees . The first , the 'retort courteous ;' the second , the 'quip modest ;' the third , the 'reply churlish ;' the fourth , the 'reproof valiant ;' the fifth , the 'countercheck quarrelsome ;' the sixth , the 'lie with circumstance ;' the seventh , the 'lie direct .' All these you may avoid but the lie direct ; and you may avoid that too , with an 'if .' I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel ; but when the parties were met themselves , one of them thought but of an 'if ,' as 'If you said so , then I said so ;' and they shook hands and swore brothers . Your 'if' is the only peace-maker ; much virtue in 'if .' - -Is not this a rare fellow , my lord ? he's as good at any thing , and yet a fool . - -He uses his folly like a stalking-horse , and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit . - - -Then is there mirth in heaven , -When earthly things made even -Atone together . -Good duke , receive thy daughter ; -Hymen from heaven brought her ; -Yea , brought her hither , -That thou mightst join her hand with his , -Whose heart within her bosom is . - -To you I give myself , for I am yours . - - -To you I give myself , for I am yours . - -If there be truth in sight , you are my daughter . - -If there be truth in sight , you are my Rosalind . - -If sight and shape be true , -Why then , my love adieu ! - -I'll have no father , if you be not he . - - -I'll have no husband , if you be not he : - - -Nor ne'er wed woman , if you be not she . - - -Peace , ho ! I bar confusion : -'Tis I must make conclusion -Of these most strange events : -Here's eight that must take hands -To join in Hymen's bands , -If truth holds true contents . - - -You and you no cross shall part : - - -You and you are heart in heart : - - -You to his love must accord , -Or have a woman to your lord : - - -You and you are sure together , -As the winter to foul weather . -Whiles a wedlock hymn we sing , -Feed yourselves with questioning , -That reason wonder may diminish , -How thus we met , and these things finish . - - -Wedding is great Juno's crown : -O blessed bond of board and bed ! -'Tis Hymen peoples every town ; -High wedlock then be honoured . -Honour , high honour , and renown , -To Hymen , god of every town ! - -O my dear niece ! welcome thou art to me : -Even daughter , welcome in no less degree . - -I will not eat my word , now thou art mine ; -Thy faith my fancy to thee doth combine . - - -Let me have audience for a word or two : -I am the second son of old Sir Rowland , -That bring these tidings to this fair assembly . -Duke Frederick , hearing how that every day -Men of great worth resorted to this forest , -Address'd a mighty power , which were on foot -In his own conduct , purposely to take -His brother here and put him to the sword : -And to the skirts of this wild wood he came , -Where , meeting with an old religious man , -After some question with him , was converted -Both from his enterprise and from the world ; -His crown bequeathing to his banish'd brother , -And all their lands restor'd to them again -That were with him exil'd . This to be true , -I do engage my life . - -Welcome , young man ; -Thou offer'st fairly to thy brothers' wedding : -To one , his lands withheld ; and to the other -A land itself at large , a potent dukedom . -First , in this forest , let us do those ends -That here were well begun and well begot ; -And after , every of this happy number -That have endur'd shrewd days and nights with us , -Shall share the good of our returned fortune , -According to the measure of their states . -Meantime , forget this new-fall'n dignity , -And fall into our rustic revelry . -Play , music ! and you , brides and bridegrooms all , -With measure heap'd in joy , to the measures fall . - -Sir , by your patience . If I heard you rightly , -The duke hath put on a religious life , -And thrown into neglect the pompous court ? - -He hath . - -To him will I : out of these convertites -There is much matter to be heard and learn'd . - - -You to your former honour I bequeath ; -Your patience and your virtue well deserve it : - - -You to a love that your true faith doth merit : - - -You to your land , and love , and great allies : - - -You to a long and well-deserved bed : - - -And you to wrangling ; for thy loving voyage -Is but for two months victual'd . So , to your pleasures : -I am for other than for dancing measures . - -Stay , Jaques , stay . - -To see no pastime , I : what you would have -I'll stay to know at your abandon'd cave . - - -Proceed , proceed : we will begin these rites , -As we do trust they'll end , in true delights . - -It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue ; but it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the prologue . If it be true that good wine needs no bush , 'tis true that a good play needs no epilogue ; yet to good wine they do use good bushes , and good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues . What a case am I in then , that am neither a good epilogue , nor cannot insinuate with you in the behalf of a good play ! I am not furnished like a beggar , therefore to beg will not become me : my way is , to conjure you ; and I'll begin with the women . I charge you , O women ! for the love you bear to men , to like as much of this play as please you : and I charge you , O men ! for the love you bear to women ,as I perceive by your simpering none of you hate them ,that between you and the women , the play may please . If I were a woman I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me , complexions that liked me , and breaths that I defied not ; and , I am sure , as many as have good beards , or good faces , or sweet breaths , will , for my kind offer , when I make curtsy , bid me farewell . - -CYMBELINE - -You do not meet a man but frowns ; our bloods -No more obey the heavens than our courtiers -Still seem as does the king . - -But what's the matter ? - -His daughter , and the heir of 's kingdom , whom -He purpos'd to his wife's sole son ,a widow -That late he married ,hath referr'd herself -Unto a poor but worthy gentleman . She's wedded ; -Her husband banish'd , she imprison'd : all -Is outward sorrow , though I think the king -Be touch'd at very heart . - -None but the king ? - -He that hath lost her too ; so is the queen , -That most desir'd the match ; but not a courtier , -Although they wear their faces to the bent -Of the king's looks , hath a heart that is not -Glad at the thing they scowl at . - -And why so ? - -He that hath miss'd the princess is a thing -Too bad for bad report ; and he that hath her , -I mean that married her , alack ! good man ! -And therefore banish'd is a creature such -As , to seek through the regions of the earth -For one his like , there would be something failing -In him that should compare . I do not think -So fair an outward and such stuff within -Endows a man but he . - -You speak him far . - -I do extend him , sir , within himself , -Crush him together rather than unfold -His measure duly . - -What's his name and birth ? - -I cannot delve him to the root : his father -Was called Sicilius , who did join his honour -Against the Romans with Cassibelan , -But had his titles by Tenantius whom -He serv'd with glory and admir'd success , -So gain'd the sur-addition Leonatus ; -And had , besides this gentleman in question , -Two other sons , who in the wars o' the time -Died with their swords in hand ; for which their father -Then old and fond of issue took such sorrow -That he quit being , and his gentle lady , -Big of this gentleman , our theme , deceas'd -As he was born . The king , he takes the babe -To his protection ; calls him Posthumus Leonatus ; -Breeds him and makes him of his bedchamber , -Puts to him all the learnings that his time -Could make him the receiver of ; which he took , -As we do air , fast as 'twas minister'd , -And in's spring became a harvest ; liv'd in court , -Which rare it is to do most prais'd , most lov'd ; -A sample to the youngest , to the more mature -A glass that feated them , and to the graver -A child that guided dotards ; to his mistress , -For whom he now is banish'd , her own price -Proclaims how she esteem'd him and his virtue ; -By her election may be truly read -What kind of man he is . - -I honour him , -Even out of your report . But pray you , tell me , -Is she sole child to the king ? - -His only child . -He had twosons ,if this be worth your hearing , -Mark it ,the eldest of them at three years old , -I' the swathing clothes the other , from their nursery -Were stol'n ; and to this hour no guess in knowledge -Which way they went . - -How long is this ago ? - -Some twenty years . - -That a king's children should be so convey'd , -So slackly guarded , and the search so slow , -That could not trace them ! - -Howsoe'er 'tis strange , -Or that the negligence may well be laugh'd at , -Yet is it true , sir . - -I do well believe you . - -We must forbear . Here comes the gentleman , -The queen , and princess . - -No , be assur'd you shall not find me , daughter , -After the slander of most step-mothers , -Evil-ey'd unto you ; you're my prisoner , but -Your gaoler shall deliver you the keys -That lock up your restraint . For you , Posthumus , -So soon as I can win the offended king , -I will be known your advocate ; marry , yet -The fire of rage is in him , and 'twere good -You lean'd unto his sentence with what patience -Your wisdom may inform you . - -Please your highness , -I will from hence to-day . - -You know the peril : -I'll fetch a turn about the garden , pitying -The pangs of barr'd affections , though the king -Hath charg'd you should not speak together . - - -O ! -Dissembling courtesy . How fine this tyrant -Can tickle where she wounds ! My dearest husband , -I something fear my father's wrath ; but nothing , -Always reserv'd my holy duty ,what -His rage can do on me . You must be gone ; -And I shall here abide the hourly shot -Of angry eyes , not comforted to live , -But that there is this jewel in the world -That I may see again . - -My queen ! my mistress ! -O lady , weep no more , lest I give cause -To be suspected of more tenderness -Than doth become a man . I will remain -The loyal'st husband that did e'er plight troth . -My residence in Rome at one Philario's , -Who to my father was a friend , to me -Known but by letter ; thither write , my queen , -And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you send , -Though ink be made of gall . - - -Be brief , I pray you ; -If the king come , I shall incur I know not -How much of his displeasure . - -Yet I'll move him -To walk this way . I never do him wrong , -But he does buy my injuries to be friends , -Pays dear for my offences . - - -Should we be taking leave -As long a term as yet we have to live , -The loathness to depart would grow . Adieu ! - -Nay , stay a little : -Were you but riding forth to air yourself -Such parting were too petty . Look here , love ; -This diamond was my mother's ; take it , heart ; -But keep it till you woo another wife , -When Imogen is dead . - -How ! how ! another ? -You gentle gods , give me but this I have , -And sear up my embracements from a next -With bonds of death !Remain , remain thou here - -While sense can keep it on ! And , sweetest , fairest , -As I my poor self did exchange for you , -To your so infinite loss , so in our trifles -I still win of you ; for my sake wear this ; -It is a manacle of love ; I'll place it -Upon this fairest prisoner . - - -O the gods ! -When shall we see again ? - - -Alack ! the king ! - -Thou basest thing , avoid ! hence , from my sight ! -If after this command thou fraught the court -With thy unworthiness , thou diest . Away ! -Thou'rt poison to my blood . - -The gods protect you -And bless the good remainders of the court ! -I am gone . - - -There cannot be a pinch in death -More sharp than this is . - -O disloyal thing , -That shouldst repair my youth , thou heap'st instead -A year's age on me . - -I beseech you , sir , -Harm not yourself with your vexation ; -I am senseless of your wrath ; a touch more rare -Subdues all pangs , all fears . - -Past grace ? obedience ? - -Past hope , and in despair ; that way , past grace . - -That mightst have had the sole son of my queen ! - -O bless'd , that I might not ! I chose an eagle -And did avoid a puttock . - -Thou took'st a beggar ; wouldst have made my throne -A seat for baseness . - -No ; I rather added -A lustre to it . - -O thou vile one ! - -Sir , -It is your fault that I have lov'd Posthumus ; -You bred him as my playfellow , and he is -A man worth any woman , overbuys me -Almost the sum he pays . - -What ! art thou mad ? - -Almost , sir ; heaven restore me ! Would I were -A neat-herd's daughter , and my Leonatus -Our neighbour shepherd's son ! - -Thou foolish thing ! - - -They were again together ; you have done -Not after our command . Away with her , - -And pen her up . - -Beseech your patience . Peace ! -Dear lady daughter , peace ! Sweet sovereign , -Leave us to ourselves , and make yourself some comfort -Out of your best advice . - -Nay , let her languish -A drop of blood a day ; and , being aged , -Die of this folly ! - - -Fie ! you must give way : - -Here is your servant . How now , sir ! What news ? - -My lord your son drew on my master . - -Ha ! -No harm , I trust , is done ? - -There might have been , -But that my master rather play'd than fought , -And had no help of anger ; they were parted -By gentlemen at hand . - -I am very glad on 't . - -Your son's my father's friend ; he takes his part . -To draw upon an exile ! O brave sir ! -I would they were in Afric both together , -Myself by with a needle , that I might prick -The goer-back . Why came you from your master ? - -On his command : he would not suffer me -To bring him to the haven ; left these notes -Of what commands I should be subject to , -When 't pleas'd you to employ me . - -This hath been -Your faithful servant ; I dare lay mine honour -He will remain so . - -I humbly thank your highness . - -Pray , walk awhile . - -About some half-hour hence , -I pray you , speak with me . You shall at least -Go see my lord aboard ; for this time leave me . - - -Sir , I would advise you to shift a shirt ; the violence of action hath made you reek as a sacrifice . Where air comes out , air comes in ; there's none abroad so wholesome as that you vent . - -If my shirt were bloody , them to shift it . Have I hurt him ? - -No faith ; not so much as his patience . - -Hurt him ! his body's a passable carcass if he be not hurt ; it is a throughfare for steel if it be not hurt . - -His steel was in debt ; it went o' the backside the town . - -The villain would not stand me . - -No ; but he fled forward still , toward your face . - -Stand you ! You have land enough of your own ; but he added to your having , gave you some ground . - -As many inches as you have oceans . Puppies ! - -I would they had not come between us . - -So would I till you had measured how long a fool you were upon the ground . - -And that she should love this fellow and refuse me ! - -If it be a sin to make a true election , she is damned . - -Sir , as I told you always , her beauty and her brain go not together ; she's a good sign , but I have seen small reflection of her wit . - -She shines not upon fools , lest the reflection should hurt her . - -Come , I'll to my chamber . Would there had been some hurt done ! - -I wish not so ; unless it had been the fall of an ass , which is no great hurt . - -You'll go with us ? - -I'll attend your lordship . - -Nay , come , let's go together . - -Well , my lord . - - -I would thou grew'st unto the shores of the haven , -And question'dst every sail : if he should write , -And I not have it , 'twere a paper lost , -As offer'd mercy is . What was the last -That he spake to thee ? - -It was his queen , his queen ! - -Then wav'd his handkerchief ? - -And kiss'd it , madam . - -Senseless linen , happier therein than I ! -And that was all ? - -No , madam ; for so long -As he could make me with this eye or ear -Distinguish him from others , he did keep -The deck , with glove , or hat , or handkerchief , -Still waving , as the fits and stirs of 's mind -Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on , -How swift his ship . - -Thou shouldst have made him -As little as a crow , or less , ere left -To after-eye him . - -Madam , so I did . - -I would have broke mine eye-strings , crack'd them , but -To look upon him , till the diminution -Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle , -Nay , follow'd him , till he had melted from -The smallness of a gnat to air , and then -Have turn'd mine eye , and wept . But , good Pisanio , -When shall we hear from him ? - -Be assur'd , madam , -With his next vantage . - -I did not take my leave of him , but had -Most pretty things to say ; ere I could tell him -How I would think on him at certain hours -Such thoughts and such , or I could make him swear -The shes of Italy should not betray -Mine interest and his honour , or have charg'd him , -At the sixth hour of morn , at noon , at mid-night , -To encounter me with orisons , for then -I am in heaven for him ; or ere I could -Give him that parting kiss which I had set -Betwixt two charming words , comes in my father , -And like the tyrannous breathing of the north -Shakes all our buds from growing . - - -The queen , madam , -Desires your highness' company . - -Those things I bid you do , get them dispatch'd . -I will attend the queen . - -Madam , I shall . - - -Believe it , sir , I have seen him in Britain ; he was then of a crescent note , expected to prove so worthy as since he hath been allowed the name of ; but I could then have looked on him without the help of admiration , though the catalogue of his endowments had been tabled by his side and I to peruse him by items . - -You speak of him when he was less furnished than now he is with that which makes him both without and within . - -I have seen him in France : we had very many there could behold the sun with as firm eyes as he . - -This matter of marrying his king's daughter ,wherein he must be weighed rather by her value than his own ,words him , I doubt not , a great deal from the matter . - -And then , his banishment . - -Ay , and the approbation of those that weep this lamentable divorce under her colours are wonderfully to extend him ; be it but to fortify her judgment , which else an easy battery might lay flat , for taking a beggar without less quality . But how comes it , he is to sojourn with you ? How creeps acquaintance ? - -His father and I were soldiers together ; to whom I have been often bound for no less than my life . Here comes the Briton : let him be so entertained amongst you as suits , with gentlemen of your knowing , to a stranger of his quality . - -I beseech you all , be better known to this gentleman , whom I commend to you , as a noble friend of mine ; how worthy he is I will leave to appear hereafter , rather than story him in his own hearing . - -Sir , we have known together in Orleans . - -Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies , which I will be ever to pay and yet pay still . - -Sir , you o'er-rate my poor kindness . I was glad I did atone my countryman and you ; it had been pity you should have been put together with so mortal a purpose as then each bore , upon importance of so slight and trivial a nature . - -By your pardon , sir , I was then a young traveller ; rather shunned to go even with what I heard than in my every action to be guided by others' experiences ; but , upon my mended judgment ,if I offend not to say it is mended ,my quarrel was not altogether slight . - -Faith , yes , to be put to the arbitrement of swords , and by such two that would by all likelihood have confounded one the other , or have fallen both . - -Can we , with manners , ask what was the difference ? - -Safely , I think . 'Twas a contention in public , which may , without contradiction , suffer the report . It was much like an argument that fell out last night , where each of us fell in praise of our country mistresses ; this gentleman at that time vouching and upon warrant of bloody affirmation his to be more fair , virtuous , wise , chaste , constant , qualified , and less attemptable , than any the rarest of our ladies in France . - -That lady is not now living , or this gentleman's opinion by this worn out . - -She holds her virtue still and I my mind . - -You must not so far prefer her 'fore ours of Italy . - -Being so far provoked as I was in France , I would abate her nothing , though I profess myself her adorer , not her friend . - -As fair and as good a kind of hand-in-hand comparison had been something too fair and too good for any lady in Britain . If she went before others I have seen , as that diamond of yours outlustres many I have beheld , I could not but believe she excelled many ; but I have not seen the most precious diamond that is , nor you the lady . - -I praised her as I rated her ; so do I my stone . - -What do you esteem it at ? - -More than the world enjoys . - -Either your unparagoned mistress is dead , or she's outprized by a trifle . - -You are mistaken ; the one may be sold , or given ; or if there were wealth enough for the purchase , or merit for the gift ; the other is not a thing for sale , and only the gift of the gods . - -Which the gods have given you ? - -Which , by their graces , I will keep . - -You may wear her in little yours , but , you know , strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds . Your ring may be stolen , too ; so your brace of unprizeable estimations , the one is but frail and the other causal ; a cunning thief , or a that way accomplished courtier , would hazard the winning both of first and last . - -Your Italy contains none so accomplished a courtier to convince the honour of my mistress , if , in the holding or loss of that , you term her frail . I do nothing doubt you have store of thieves ; notwithstanding I fear not my ring . - -Let us leave here , gentlemen . - -Sir , with all my heart . This worthy signior , I thank him , makes no stranger of me ; we are familiar at first . - -With five times so much conversation I should get ground of your fair mistress , make her go back , even to the yielding , had I admittance and opportunity to friend . - -No , no . - -I dare thereupon pawn the moiety of my estate to your ring , which , in my opinion , o'ervalues it something ; but I make my wager rather against your confidence than her reputation ; and , to bar your offence herein too , I durst attempt it against any lady in the world . - -You are a great deal abused in too bold a persuasion ; and I doubt not you sustain what you're worthy of by your attempt . - -What's that ? - -A repulse ; though your attempt , as you call it , deserves more ,a punishment too . - -Gentlemen , enough of this ; it came in too suddenly ; let it die as it was born , and , I pray you , be better acquainted . - -Would I had put my estate and my neighbour's on the approbation of what I have spoke ! - -What lady would you choose to assail ? - -Yours ; whom in constancy you think stands so safe . I will lay you ten thousand ducats to your ring , that , commend me to the court where your lady is , with no more advantage than the opportunity of a second conference , and I will bring from thence that honour of hers which you imagine so reserved . - -I will wage against your gold , gold to it : my ring I hold dear as my finger ; 'tis part of it . - -You are afraid , and therein the wiser . If you buy ladies' flesh at a million a dram , you cannot preserve it from tainting . But I see you have some religion in you , that you fear . - -This is but a custom in your tongue ; you bear a graver purpose , I hope . - -I am the master of my speeches , and would undergo what's spoken , I swear . - -Will you ? I shall but lend my diamond till your return . Let there be covenants drawn between 's : my mistress exceeds in goodness the hugeness of your unworthy thinking ; I dare you to this match . Here's my ring . - -I will have it no lay . - -By the gods , it is one . If I bring you no sufficient testimony that I have enjoyed the dearest bodily part of your mistress , my ten thousand ducats are yours ; so is your diamond too : if I come off , and leave her in such honour as you have trust in , she your jewel , this your jewel , and my gold are yours ; provided I have your commendation for my more free entertainment . - -I embrace these conditions ; let us have articles betwixt us . Only , thus far you shall answer : if you make your voyage upon her and give me directly to understand that you have prevailed , I am no further your enemy ; she is not worth our debate : if she remain unseduced ,you not making it appear otherwise ,for your ill opinion , and the assault you have made to her chastity , you shall answer me with your sword . - -Your hand ; a covenant . We will have these things set down by lawful counsel , and straight away for Britain , lest the bargain should catch cold and starve . I will fetch my gold and have our two wagers recorded . - -Agreed . - - -Will this hold , think you ? - -Signior Iachimo will not from it . Pray , let us follow 'em . - - -Whiles yet the dew 's on ground , gather those flowers : -Make haste ; who has the note of them ? - -I , madam . - -Dispatch . - -Now , Master doctor , have you brought those drugs ? - -Pleaseth your highness , ay ; here they are , madam : - -But I beseech your Grace , without offence , -My conscience bids me ask ,wherefore you have -Commanded of me these most poisonous compounds , -Which are the movers of a languishing death , -But though slow , deadly ? - -I wonder , doctor , -Thou ask'st me such a question : have I not been -Thy pupil long ? Hast thou not learn'd me how -To make perfumes ? distil ? preserve ? yea , so -That our great king himself doth woo me oft -For my confections ? Having thus far proceeded , -Unless thou think'st me devilish ,is 't not meet -That I did amplify my judgment in -Other conclusions ? I will try the forces -Of these thy compounds on such creatures as -We count not worth the hanging ,but none human , -To try the vigour of them and apply -Allayments to their act , and by them gather -Their several virtues and effects . - -Your highness -Shall from this practice but make hard your heart ; -Besides , the seeing these effects will be -Both noisome and infectious . - -O ! content thee . - - -Here comes a flattering rascal ; upon him -Will I first work : he's for his master , -And enemy to my son . How now , Pisanio : -Doctor , your service for this time is ended ; - -Take your own way . - -I do suspect you , madam ; -But you shall do no harm . - -Hark thee , a word . - -I do not like her . She doth think she has -Strange lingering poisons ; I do know her spirit , -And will not trust one of her malice with -A drug of such damn'd nature . Those she has -Will stupify and dull the sense awhile ; -Which first , perchance , she'll prove on cats and dogs , -Then afterward up higher ; but there is -No danger in what show of death it makes , -More than the locking-up the spirits a time , -To be more fresh , reviving . She is fool'd -With a most false effect ; and I the truer , -So to be false with her . - -No further service , doctor , -Until I send for thee . - -I humbly take my leave . - - -Weeps she still , sayst thou ? Dost thou think in time -She will not quench , and let instructions enter -Where folly now possesses ? Do thou work : -When thou shalt bring me word she loves my son , -I'll tell thee on the instant thou art then -As great as is thy master ; greater , for -His fortunes all lie speechless , and his name -Is at last gasp ; return he cannot , nor -Continue where he is ; to shift his being -Is to exchange one misery with another , -And every day that comes comes to decay -A day's work in him . What shalt thou expect , -To be depender on a thing that leans , -Who cannot be new built , nor has no friends , -So much as but to prop him ? - -Thou tak'st up -Thou know'st not what ; but take it for thy labour : -It is a thing I made , which hath the king -Five times redeem'd from death ; I do not know -What is more cordial : nay , I prithee , take it ; -It is an earnest of a further good -That I mean to thee . Tell thy mistress how -The case stands with her ; do 't as from thyself . -Think what a chance thou changest on , but think -Thou hast thy mistress still , to boot , my son , -Who shall take notice of thee . I'll move the king -To any shape of thy preferment such -As thou'lt desire ; and then myself , I chiefly , -That set thee on to this desert , am bound -To load thy merit richly . Call my women ; -Think on my words . - -A sly and constant knave , -Not to be shak'd ; the agent for his master , -And the remembrancer of her to hold -The hand-fast to her lord . I have given him that -Which , if he take , shall quite unpeople her -Of leigers for her sweet , and which she after , -Except she bend her humour , shall be assur'd -To taste of too . - - -So , so ;well done , well done . -The violets , cowslips , and the prime-roses -Bear to my closet . Fare thee well , Pisanio : -Think on my words . - -And shall do : -But when to my good lord I prove untrue , -I'll choke myself ; there's all I'll do for you . - - -A father cruel , and a step-dame false ; -A foolish suitor to a wedded lady , -That hath her husband banish'd : O ! that husband , -My supreme crown of grief ! and those repeated -Vexations of it ! Had I been thief-stol'n , -As my two brothers , happy ! but most miserable -Is the desire that's glorious : bless'd be those , -How mean so'er , that have their honest wills , -Which seasons comfort . Who may this be ? Fie ! - - -Madam , a noble gentleman of Rome , -Comes from my lord with letters . - -Change you , madam ? -The worthy Leonatus is in safety , -And greets your highness dearly . - - -Thanks , good sir : -You are kindly welcome . - -All of her that is out of door most rich ! -If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare , -She is alone the Arabian bird , and I -Have lost the wager . Boldness be my friend ! -Arm me , audacity , from head to foot ! -Or , like the Parthian , I shall flying fight ; -Rather , directly fly . - -He is one of the noblest note , to whose kindnesses I am most infinitely tied . Reflect upon him accordingly , as you value your truest -So far I read aloud ; -But even the very middle of my heart -Is warm'd by the rest , and takes it thankfully . -You are as welcome , worthy sir , as I -Have words to bid you ; and shall find it so -In all that I can do . - -Thanks , fairest lady . -What ! are men mad ? Hath nature given them eyes -To see this vaulted arch , and the rich crop -Of sea and land , which can distinguish 'twixt -The fiery orbs above and the twinn'd stones -Upon the number'd beach ? and can we not -Partition make with spectacles so precious -'Twixt fair and foul ? - -What makes your admiration ? - -It cannot be i' the eye ; for apes and monkeys -'Twixt two such shes would chatter this way and -Contemn with mows the other ; nor i' the judgment , -For idiots in this case of favour would -Be wisely definite ; nor i' the appetite ; -Sluttery to such neat excellence oppos'd -Should make desire vomit emptiness , -Not so allur'd to feed . - -What is the matter , trow ? - -The cloyed will , -That satiate yet unsatisfied desire , that tub -Both fill'd and running ,ravening first the lamb , -Longs after for the garbage . - -What , dear sir , -Thus raps you ? are you well ? - -Thanks , madam , well . - - -Beseech you , sir , -Desire my man's abode where I did leave him ; -He's strange and peevish . - -I was going , sir , -To give him welcome . - - -Continues well my lord his health , beseech you ? - -Well , madam . - -Is he dispos'd to mirth ? I hope he is . - -Exceeding pleasant ; none a stranger there -So merry and so gamesome : he is call'd -The Briton reveller . - -When he was here -He did incline to sadness , and oft-times -Not knowing why . - -I never saw him sad . -There is a Frenchman his companion , one , -An eminent monsieur , that , it seems , much loves -A Gallian girl at home ; he furnaces -The thick sighs from him , whiles the jolly Briton -Your lord , I mean laughs from 's free lungs , cries , 'O ! -Can my sides hold , to think that man , who knows -By history , report , or his own proof , -What woman is , yea , what she cannot choose -But must be , will his free hours languish for -Assured bondage ?' - -Will my lord say so ? - -Ay , madam , with his eyes in flood with laughter : -It is a recreation to be by -And hear him mock the Frenchman ; but , heavens know , -Some men are much to blame . - -Not he , I hope . - -Not he ; but yet heaven's bounty towards him might -Be us'd more thankfully . In himself , 'tis much ; -In you ,which I account his beyond all talents , -Whilst I am bound to wonder , I am bound -To pity too . - -What do you pity , sir ? - -Two creatures , heartily . - -Am I one , sir ? -You look on me : what wrack discern you in me -Deserves your pity ? - -Lamentable ! What ! -To hide me from the radiant sun and solace -I' the dungeon by a snuff ! - -I pray you , sir , -Deliver with more openness your answers -To my demands . Why do you pity me ? - -That others do , -I was about to say , enjoy your But -It is an office of the gods to venge it , -Not mine to speak on 't . - -You do seem to know -Something of me , or what concerns me ; pray you , -Since doubting things go ill often hurts more -Than to be sure they do ; for certainties -Either are past remedies , or , timely knowing , -The remedy then born ,discover to me -What both you spur and stop . - -Had I this cheek -To bathe my lips upon ; this hand , whose touch , -Whose every touch , would force the feeler's soul -To the oath of loyalty ; this object , which -Takes prisoner the wild motion of mine eye , -Firing it only here ; should I damn'd then -Slaver with lips as common as the stairs -That mount the Capitol ; join gripes with hands -Made hard with hourly falsehood ,falsehood , as -With labour ;then by-peeping in an eye , -Base and illustrous as the smoky light -That's fed with stinking tallow ; it were fit -That all the plagues of hell should at one time -Encounter such revolt . - -My lord , I fear , -Has forgot Britain . - -And himself . Not I , -Inclin'd to this intelligence , pronounce -The beggary of his change ; but 'tis your graces -That from my mutest conscience to my tongue -Charms this report out . - -Let me hear no more . - -O dearest soul ! your cause doth strike my heart -With pity , that doth make me sick . A lady -So fair ,and fasten'd to an empery -Would make the great'st king double ,to be partner'd -With tom-boys hir'd with that self-exhibition -Which your own coffers yield ! with diseas'd ventures -That play with all infirmities for gold -Which rottenness can lend nature ! such boil'd stuff -As well might poison poison ! Be reveng'd ; -Or she that bore you was no queen , and you -Recoil from your great stock . - -Reveng'd ! -How should I be reveng'd ? If this be true , -As I have such a heart , that both mine ears -Must not in haste abuse ,if it be true , -How should I be reveng'd ? - -Should be make me -Live like Diana's priest , betwixt cold sheets , -Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps , -In your despite , upon your purse ? Revenge it . -I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure , -More noble than that runagate to your bed , -And will continue fast to your affection , -Still close as sure . - -What ho , Pisanio ! - -Let me my service tender on your lips . - -Away ! I do condemn mine ears that have -So long attended thee . If thou wert honourable , -Thou wouldst have told this tale for virtue , not -For such an end thou seek'st ; as base as strange . -Thou wrong'st a gentleman , who is as far -From thy report as thou from honour , and -Solicit'st here a lady that disdains -Thee and the devil alike . What ho , Pisanio ! -The king my father shall be made acquainted -Of thy assault ; if he shall think it fit , -A saucy stranger in his court to mart -As in a Romish stew and to expound -His beastly mind to us , he hath a court -He little cares for and a daughter who -He not respects at all . What ho , Pisanio ! - -O happy Leonatus ! I may say : -The credit that thy lady hath of thee -Deserves thy trust , and thy most perfect goodness -Her assur'd credit . Blessed live you long ! -A lady to the worthiest sir that ever -Country call'd his ; and you his mistress , only -For the most worthiest fit . Give me your pardon . -I have spoken this , to know if your affiance -Were deeply rooted , and shall make your lord -That which he is , new o'er ; and he is one -The truest manner'd ; such a holy witch -That he enchants societies into him ; -Half all men's hearts are his . - -You make amends . - -He sits 'mongst men like a descended god : -He hath a kind of honour sets him off , -More than a mortal seeming . Be not angry , -Most mighty princess , that I have adventur'd -To try your taking of a false report ; which hath -Honour'd with confirmation your great judgment -In the election of a sir so rare , -Which you know cannot err . The love I bear him -Made me to fan you thus ; but the gods made you , -Unlike all others , chaffless . Pray , your pardon . - -All's well , sir . Take my power i' the court for yours . - -My humble thanks . I had almost forget -To entreat your Grace but in a small request , -And yet of moment too , for it concerns -Your lord , myself , and other noble friends , -Are partners in the business . - -Pray , what is 't ? - -Some dozen Romans of us and your lord , -The best feather of our wing , have mingled sums -To buy a present for the emperor ; -Which I , the factor for the rest , have done -In France ; 'tis plate of rare device , and jewels -Of rich and exquisite form ; their values great ; -And I am something curious , being strange , -To have them in safe stowage . May it please you -To take them in protection ? - -Willingly ; -And pawn mine honour for their safety : since -My lord hath interest in them , I will keep them -In my bedchamber . - -They are in a trunk , -Attended by my men ; I will make bold -To send them to you , only for this night ; -I must aboard to-morrow . - -O ! no , no . - -Yes , I beseech , or I shall short my word -By lengthening my return . From Gallia -I cross'd the seas on purpose and on promise -To see your Grace . - -I thank you for your pains ; -But not away to-morrow ! - -O ! I must , madam : -Therefore I shall beseech you , if you please -To greet your lord with writing , do 't to-night : -I have outstood my time , which is material -To the tender of our present . - -I will write . -Send your trunk to me ; it shall safe be kept , -And truly yielded you . You're very welcome . - -Was there ever man had such luck ! when I kissed the jack , upon an up-cast to be hit away ! I had a hundred pound on 't ; and then a whoreson jackanapes must take me up for swearing , as if I borrowed mine oaths of him and might not spend them at my pleasure . - -What got he by that ? You have broke his pate with your bowl . - -If his wit had been like him that broke it , it would have run all out . - -When a gentleman is disposed to swear , it is not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths , ha ? - -No , my lord ; - -nor crop the ears of them . - -Whoreson dog ! I give him satisfaction ! -Would he had been one of my rank ! - -To have smelt like a fool . - -I am not vexed more at any thing in the earth . A pox on 't ! I had rather not be so noble as I am . They dare not fight with me because of the queen my mother . Every Jack-slave hath his bellyful of fighting , and I must go up and down like a cock that nobody can match . - -You are cock and capon too ; and you crow , cock , with your comb on . - -Sayest thou ? - -It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to . - -No , I know that ; but it is fit I should commit offence to my inferiors . - -Ay , it is fit for your lordship only . - -Why , so I say . - -Did you hear of a stranger that's come to court to-night ? - -A stranger , and I not know on 't ! - -He's a strange fellow himself , and knows it not . - -There's an Italian come ; and 'tis thought , one of Leonatus' friends . - -Leonatus ! a banished rascal ; and he's another , whatsoever he be . Who told you of this stranger ? - -One of your lordship's pages . - -Is it fit I went to look upon him ? Is there no derogation in 't ? - -You cannot derogate , my lord . - -Not easily , I think . - -You are a fool , granted ; therefore your issues , being foolish , do not derogate . - -Come , I'll go see this Italian . What I have lost to-day at bowls I'll win to-night of him . Come , go . - -I'll attend your lordship . - -That such a crafty devil as is his mother -Should yield the world this ass ! a woman that -Bears all down with her brain , and this her son -Cannot take two from twenty for his heart -And leave eighteen . Alas ! poor princess , -Thou divine Imogen , what thou endur'st -Betwixt a father by thy step-dame govern'd , -A mother hourly coining plots , a wooer -More hateful than the foul expulsion is -Of thy dear husband , than that horrid act -Of the divorce he'd make . The heavens hold firm -The walls of thy dear honour ; keep unshak'd -That temple , thy fair mind ; that thou mayst stand , -To enjoy thy banish'd lord and this great land ! - - -Who's there ? my woman Helen ? - -Please you , madam . - -What hour is it ? - -Almost midnight , madam . - -I have read three hours then ; mine eyes are weak ; -Fold down the leaf where I have left ; to bed : -Take not away the taper , leave it burning , -And if thou canst awake by four o' the clock , -I prithee , call me . Sleep has seized me wholly . - -To your protection I commend me , gods ! -From fairies and the tempters of the night -Guard me , beseech ye ! - - -The crickets sing , and man's o'erlabour'd sense -Repairs itself by rest . Our Tarquin thus -Did softly press the rushes ere he waken'd -The chastity he wounded . Cytherea , -How bravely thou becom'st thy bed ! freshlily , -And whiter than the sheets ! That I might touch ! -But kiss : one kiss ! Rubies unparagon'd , -How dearly they do 't ! 'Tis her breathing that -Perfumes the chamber thus ; the flame of the taper -Bows toward her , and would under-peep her lids , -To see the enclosed lights , now canopied -Under these windows , white and azure lac'd -With blue of heaven's own tinct . But my design , -To note the chamber : I will write all down : -Such and such pictures ; there the window ; such -Th' adornment of her bed ; the arras , figures , -Why , such and such ; and the contents o' the story . -Ah ! but some natural notes about her body , -Above ten thousand meaner moveables -Would testify , to enrich mine inventory . -O sleep ! thou ape of death , lie dull upon her ; -And be her senses but as a monument -Thus in a chapel lying . Come off , come off ; - -As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard ! -'Tis mine ; and this will witness outwardly , -As strongly as the conscience does within , -To the madding of her lord . On her left breast -A mole cinque-spotted , like the crimson drops -I' the bottom of a cowslip : here's a voucher ; -Stronger than ever law could make : this secret -Will force him think I have pick'd the lock and ta'en -The treasure of her honour . No more . To what end ? -Why should I write this down , that's riveted , -Screw'd to my memory ? She hath been reading late -The tale of Tereus ; here the leaf's turn'd down -Where Philomel gave up . I have enough : -To the trunk again , and shut the spring of it . -Swift , swift , you dragons of the night , that dawning -May bare the raven's eye ! I lodge in fear ; -Though this a heavenly angel , hell is here . - -One , two , three : time , time ! - - -Your lordship is the most patient man in loss , the most coldest that ever turned up ace . - -It would make any man cold to lose . - -But not every man patient after the noble temper of your lordship . You are most hot and furious when you win . - -Winning will put any man into courage . -If I could get this foolish Imogen , I should have gold enough . It's almost morning , is 't not ? - -Day , my lord . - -I would this music would come . I am advised to give her music o' mornings ; they say it will penetrate . - - -Come on ; tune . If you can penetrate her with your fingering , so ; we'll try with tongue too : if none will do , let her remain ; but I'll never give o'er . First , a very excellent good-conceited thing ; after , a wonderful sweet air , with admirable rich words to it : and then let her consider . - - -Hark ! hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings , -And Ph bus 'gins arise , -His steeds to water at those springs -On chalic'd flowers that lies , -And winking Mary-buds begin -To ope their golden eyes : -With every thing that pretty is , -My lady sweet , arise . -Arise , arise ! - - -So , get you gone . If this penetrate , I will consider your music the better ; if it do not , it is a vice in her ears , which horse-hairs and calves'-guts , nor the voice of unpaved eunuch to boot , can never amend . - -Here comes the king . - -I am glad I was up so late , for that's the reason I was up so early ; he cannot choose but take this service I have done fatherly . - -Good morrow to your majesty and to my gracious mother . - -Attend you here the door of our stern daughter ? -Will she not forth ? - -I have assail'd her with musics , but she vouchsafes no notice . - -The exile of her minion is too new , -She hath not yet forgot him ; some more time -Must wear the print of his remembrance out , -And then she's yours . - -You are most bound to the king , -Who lets go by no vantages that may -Prefer you to his daughter . Frame yourself -To orderly soliciting , and be friended -With aptness of the season ; make denials -Increase your services ; so seem as if -You were inspir'd to do those duties which -You tender to her ; that you in all obey her -Save when command to your dismission tends , -And therein you are senseless . - -Senseless ! not so . - - -So like you , sir , ambassadors from Rome ; -The one is Caius Lucius . - -A worthy fellow , -Albeit he comes on angry purpose now ; -But that's no fault of his : we must receive him -According to the honour of his sender ; -And towards himself , his goodness forespent on us , -We must extend our notice . Our dear son , -When you have given good morning to your mistress , -Attend the queen and us ; we shall have need -To employ you towards this Roman . Come , our queen . - - -If she be up , I'll speak with her ; if not , -Let her lie still , and dream . By your leave , ho ! - -I know her women are about her . What -If I do line one of their hands ? 'Tis gold -Which buys admittance ; oft it doth ; yea , and makes -Diana's rangers false themselves , yield up -Their deer to the stand o' the stealer ; and 'tis gold -Which makes the true man kill'd and saves the thief ; -Nay , sometime hangs both thief and true man . What -Can it not do and undo ? I will make -One of her women lawyer to me , for -I yet not understand the case myself . -By your leave . - -Who's there , that knocks ? - -A gentleman . - -No more ? - -Yes , and a gentlewoman's son . - -That's more -Than some whose tailors are as dear as yours -Can justly boast of . What's your lordship's pleasure ? - -Your lady's person : is she ready ? - -Ay , -To keep her chamber . - -There's gold for you ; sell me your good report . - -How ! my good name ? or to report of you -What I shall think is good ?The princess ! - - -Good morrow , fairest ; sister , your sweet hand . - - -Good morrow , sir . You lay out too much pains -For purchasing but trouble ; the thanks I give -Is telling you that I am poor of thanks -And scarce can spare them . - -Still , I swear I love you . - -If you but said so , 'twere as deep with me : -If you swear still , your recompense is still -That I regard it not . - -This is no answer . - -But that you shall not say I yield being silent -I would not speak . I pray you , spare me : faith , -I shall unfold equal discourtesy -To your best kindness . One of your great knowing -Should learn , being taught , forbearance . - -To leave you in your madness , 'twere my sin : -I will not . - -Fools cure not mad folks . - -Do you call me fool ? - -As I am mad , I do : -If you'll be patient , I'll no more be mad ; -That cures us both . I am much sorry , sir , -You put me to forget a lady's manners , -By being so verbal ; and learn now , for all , -That I , which know my heart , do here pronounce -By the very truth of it , I care not for you ; -And am so near the lack of charity , -To accuse myself ,I hate you ; which I had rather -You felt than make 't my boast . - -You sin against -Obedience , which you owe your father . For -The contract you pretend with that base wretch , -One bred of alms and foster'd with cold dishes , -With scraps o' the court , it is no contract , none ; -And though it be allow'd in meaner parties -Yet who than he more mean ?to knit their souls -On whom there is no more dependancy -But brats and beggary in self-figur'd knot ; -Yet you are curb'd from that enlargement by -The consequence o' the crown , and must not soil -The precious note of it with a base slave , -A hilding for a livery , a squire's cloth , -A pantler , not so eminent . - -Profane fellow ! -Wert thou the son of Jupiter , and no more -But what thou art besides , thou wert too base -To be his groom ; thou wert dignified enough , -Even to the point of envy , if 'twere made -Comparative for your virtues , to be styl'd -The under-hangman of his kingdom , and hated -For being preferr'd so well . - -The south-fog rot him ! - -He never can meet more mischance than come -To be but nam'd of thee . His meanest garment -That ever hath but clipp'd his body , is dearer -In my respect than all the hairs above thee , -Were they all made such men . How now , Pisanio ! - - -'His garment !' Now , the devil - -To Dorothy my woman hie thee presently , - -'His garment !' - -I am sprighted with a fool , -Frighted , and anger'd worse . Go , bid my woman -Search for a jewel that too casually -Hath left mine arm ; it was thy master's , 'shrew me -If I would lose it for a revenue -Of any king's in Europe . I do think -I saw 't this morning ; confident I am -Last night 'twas on mine arm , I kiss'd it ; -I hope it be not gone to tell my lord -That I kiss aught but he . - -'Twill not be lost . - -I hope so ; go , and search . - - -You have abus'd me : -'His meanest garment !' - -Ay , I said so , sir : -If you will make 't an action , call witness to 't . - -I will inform your father . - -Your mother too : -She's my good lady , and will conceive , I hope , -But the worst of me . So I leave you , sir , -To the worst of discontent . - - -I'll be reveng'd . -'His meanest garment !' Well . - - -Fear it not , sir ; I would I were so sure -To win the king as I am bold her honour -Will remain hers . - -What means do you make to him ? - -Not any , but abide the change of time , -Quake in the present winter's state and wish -That warmer days would come ; in these sear'd hopes , -I barely gratify your love ; they failing , -I must die much your debtor . - -Your very goodness and your company -O'erpays all I can do . By this , your king -Hath heard of great Augustus ; Caius Lucius -Will do 's commission throughly , and I think -He'll grant the tribute , send the arrearages , -Or look upon our Romans , whose remembrance -Is yet fresh in their grief . - -I do believe -Statist though I am none , nor like to be -That this will prove a war ; and you shall hear -The legions now in Gallia sooner landed -In our not-fearing Britain , than have tidings -Of any penny tribute paid . Our countrymen -Are men more order'd than when Julius C sar -Smil'd at their lack of skill , but found their courage -Worthy his frowning at : their discipline , -Now winged ,with their courage will make known -To their approvers they are people such -That mend upon the world . - -See ! Iachimo ! - - -The swiftest harts have posted you by land , -And winds of all the corners kiss'd your sails , -To make your vessel nimble . - -Welcome , sir . - -I hope the briefness of your answer made -The speediness of your return . - -Your lady -Is one of the fairest that I have look'd upon . - -And therewithal the best ; or let her beauty -Look through a casement to allure false hearts -And be false with them . - -Here are letters for you . - -Their tenour good , I trust . - -'Tis very like . - -Was Caius Lucius in the Britain court -When you were there ? - -He was expected then , -But not approach'd . - -All is well yet . -Sparkles this stone as it was wont ? or is't not -Too dull for your good wearing ? - -If I have lost it , -I should have lost the worth of it in gold . -I'll make a journey twice as far to enjoy -A second night of such sweet shortness which -Was mine in Britain ; for the ring is won . - -The stone's too hard to come by . - -Not a whit , -Your lady being so easy . - -Make not , sir , -Your loss your sport : I hope you know that we -Must not continue friends . - -Good sir , we must , -If you keep covenant . Had I not brought -The knowledge of your mistress home , I grant -We were to question further , but I now -Profess myself the winner of her honour , -Together with your ring ; and not the wronger -Of her or you , having proceeded but -By both your wills . - -If you can make 't apparent -That you have tasted her in bed , my hand -And ring is yours ; if not , the foul opinion -You had of her pure honour gains or loses -Your sword or mine or masterless leaves both -To who shall find them . - -Sir , my circumstances -Being so near the truth as I will make them , -Must first induce you to believe : whose strength -I will confirm with oath ; which , I doubt not , -You'll give me leave to spare , when you shall find -You need it not . - -Proceed . - -First , her bedchamber , -Where I confess I slept not , but profess -Had that was well worth watching ,it was hang'd -With tapestry of silk and silver ; the story -Proud Cleopatra , when she met her Roman , -And Cydnus swell'd above the banks , or for -The press of boats or pride ; a piece of work -So bravely done , so rich , that it did strive -In workmanship and value ; which I wonder'd -Could be rarely and exactly wrought , -Since the true life on 't was - -This is true ; -And this you might have heard of here , by me , -Or by some other . - -More particulars -Must justify my knowledge . - -So they must , -Or do your honour injury . - -The chimney -Is south the chamber , and the chimney-piece -Chaste Dian bathing ; never saw I figures -So likely to report themselves ; the cutter -Was as another nature , dumb ; outwent her , -Motion and breath left out . - -This is a thing -Which you might from relation likewise reap , -Being , as it is , much spoke of . - -The roof o' the chamber -With golden cherubins is fretted ; her andirons -I had forgot them were two winking Cupids -Of silver , each on one foot standing , nicely -Depending on their brands . - -This is her honour ! -Let it be granted you have seen all this ,and praise -Be given to your remembrance ,the description -Of what is in her chamber nothing saves -The wager you have laid . - -Then , if you can , -Be pale : I beg but leave to air this jewel ; see ! - -And now 'tis up again ; it must be married -To that your diamond ; I'll keep them . - -Jove ! -Once more let me behold it . Is it that -Which I left with her ? - -Sir ,I thank her ,that : -She stripp'd it from her arm ; I see her yet ; -Her pretty action did outsell her gift , -And yet enrich'd it too . She gave it me , and said -She priz'd it once . - -May be she pluck'd it off -To send it me . - -She writes so to you , doth she ? - -O ! no , no , no , 'tis true . Here , take this too ; - -It is a basilisk unto mine eye , -Kills me to look on 't . Let there be no honour -Where there is beauty ; truth where semblance ; love -Where there's another man ; the vows of women -Of no more bondage be to where they are made -Than they are to their virtues , which is nothing . -O ! above measure false . - -Have patience , sir , -And take your ring again ; 'tis not yet won : -It may be probable she lost it ; or -Who knows if one of her women , being corrupted , -Hath stol'n it from her ? - -Very true ; -And so I hope he came by 't . Back my ring . -Render to me some corporal sign about her , -More evident than this ; for this was stol'n . - -By Jupiter , I had it from her arm . - -Hark you , he swears ; by Jupiter he swears . -'Tis true ; nay , keep the ring ; 'tis true : I am sure -She would not lose it ; her attendants are -All sworn and honourable ; they induc'd to steal it ! -And by a stranger ! No , he hath enjoy'd her ; -The cognizance of her incontinency -Is this ; she hath bought the name of whore thus dearly . -There , take thy hire ; and all the fiends of hell -Divide themselves between you ! - -Sir , be patient : -This is not strong enough to be believ'd -Of one persuaded well of - -Never talk on 't ; -She hath been colted by him . - -If you seek -For further satisfying , under her breast , -Worthy the pressing , lies a mole , right proud -Of that most delicate lodging : by my life , -I kiss'd it , and it gave me present hunger -To feed again , though full . You do remember -This stain upon her ? - -Ay , and it doth confirm -Another stain , as big as hell can hold , -Were there no more but it . - -Will you hear more ? - -Spare your arithmetic ; never count the turns ; -Once , and a million ! - -I'll be sworn , - -No swearing . -If you will swear you have not done 't , you lie ; -And I will kill thee if thou dost deny -Thou'st made me cuckold . - -I'll deny nothing . - -O ! that I had her here , to tear her limb-meal . -I will go there and do 't , i' the court , before -Her father . I'll do something - - -Quite besides -The government of patience ! You have won : -Let's follow him , and pervert the present wrath -He hath against himself . - -With all my heart . - - -Is there no way for men to be , but women -Must be half-workers ? We are all bastards ; all , -And that most venerable man which I -Did call my father was I know not where -When I was stamp'd ; some coiner with his tools -Made me a counterfeit ; yet my mother seem'd -The Dian of that time ; so doth my wife -The nonpareil of this . O ! vengeance , vengeance ; -Me of my lawful pleasure she restrain'd -And pray'd me oft forbearance ; did it with -A pudency so rosy the sweet view on 't -Might well have warm'd old Saturn ; that I thought her -As chaste as unsunn'd snow . O ! all the devils ! -This yellow Iachimo , in an hour ,was 't not ? -Or less at first ?perchance he spoke not , but -Like a full-acorn'd boar , a German one , -Cried 'O !' and mounted ; found no opposition -But what he look'd for should oppose and she -Should from encounter guard . Could I find out -The woman's part in me ! For there's no motion -That tends to vice in man but I affirm -It is the woman's part ; be it lying , note it , -The woman's ; flattering , hers ; deceiving , hers ; -Lust and rank thoughts , hers , hers ; revenges , hers ; -Ambitions , covetings , change of prides , disdain , -Nice longing , slanders , mutability , -All faults that man may name , nay , that hell knows , -Why , hers , in part , or all ; but rather , all ; -For even to vice -They are not constant , but are changing still -One vice but of a minute old for one -Not half so old as that . I'll write against them , -Detest them , curse them . Yet 'tis greater skill -In a true hate to pray they have their will : -The very devils cannot plague them better . - -Now say what would Augustus C sar with us ? - -When Julius C sar whose remembrance yet -Lives in men's eyes , and will to ears and tongues -Be theme and hearing ever was in this Britain , -And conquer'd it , Cassibelan , thine uncle , -Famous in C sar's praises , no whit less -Than in his feats deserving it ,for him -And his succession , granted Rome a tribute , -Yearly three thousand pounds , which by thee lately -Is left untender'd . - -And , to kill the marvel , -Shall be so ever . - -There be many C sars -Ere such another Julius . Britain is -A world by itself , and we will nothing pay -For wearing our own noses . - -That opportunity , -Which then they had to take from 's , to resume , -We have again . Remember , sir , my liege , -The kings your ancestors , together with -The natural bravery of your isle , which stands -As Neptune's park , ribbed and paled in -With rocks unscaleable and roaring waters , -With sands , that will not bear your enemies' boats , -But suck them up to the topmast . A kind of conquest -C sar made here , but made not here his brag -Of 'came , and saw , and overcame :' with shame -The first that ever touch'd him he was carried -From off our coast , twice beaten ; and his shipping -Poor ignorant baubles !on our terrible seas , -Like egg-shells mov'd upon their surges , crack'd -As easily 'gainst our rocks : for joy whereof -The fam'd Cassibelan , who was once at point -O giglot fortune !to master C sar's sword , -Made Lud's town with rejoicing-fires bright , -And Britons stiut with courage . - -Come , there's no more tribute to be paid . Our kingdom is stronger than it was at that time ; and , as I said , there is no moe such C sars ; other of them may have crooked noses , but to owe such straight arms , none . - -Son , let your mother end . - -We have yet many among us can gripe as hard as Cassibelan ; I do not say I am one , but I have a hand . Why tribute ? why should we pay tribute ? If C sar can hide the sun from us with a blanket , or put the moon in his pocket , we will pay him tribute for light ; else , sir , no more tribute , pray you now . - -You must know , -Till the injurious Romans did extort -This tribute from us , we were free ; C sar's ambition -Which swell'd so much that it did almost stretch -The sides o' the world against all colour here -Did put the yoke upon 's ; which to shake off -Becomes a war-like people , whom we reckon -Ourselves to be . We do say then to C sar -Our ancestor was that Mulmutius which -Ordain'd our laws , whose use the sword of C sar -Hath too much mangled ; whose repair and franchise -Shall , by the power we hold , be our good deed , -Though Rome be therefore angry . Mulmutius made our laws , -Who was the first of Britain which did put -His brows within a golden crown , and call'd -Himself a king . - -I am sorry , Cymbeline , -That I am to pronounce Augustus C sar -C sar , that hath more kings his servants than -Thyself domestic officers thine enemy . -Receive it from me , then : war and confusion -In C sar's name pronounce I 'gainst thee : look -For fury not to be resisted . Thus defied , -I thank thee for myself . - -Thou art welcome , Caius . -Thy C sar knighted me ; my youth I spent -Much under him ; of him I gather'd honour ; -Which he , to seek of me again , perforce , -Behoves me keep at utterance . I am perfect -That the Pannonians and Dalmatians for -Their liberties are now in arms ; a precedent -Which not to read would show the Britons cold : -So C sar shall not find them . - -Let proof speak . - -His majesty bids you welcome . Make pastime with us a day or two , or longer ; if you seek us afterwards in other terms , you shall find us in our salt-water girdle ; if you beat us out of it , it is yours ; if you fall in the adventure , our crows shall fare the better for you ; and there's an end . - -So , sir . - -I know your master's pleasure and he mine : -All the remain is 'Welcome !' - - -How ! of adultery ! Wherefore write you not -What monster's her accuser ? Leonatus ! -O master ! what a strange infection -Is fall'n into thy ear ! What false Italian -As poisonous-tongu'd as handed hath prevail'd -On thy too ready hearing ? Disloyal ! No : -She's punish'd for her truth , and undergoes , -More goddess-like than wife-like , such assaults -As would take in some virtue . O my master ! -Thy mind to her is now as low as were -Thy fortunes . How ! that I should murder her ? -Upon the love and truth and vows which I -Have made to thy command ? I , her ? her blood ? -If it be so to do good service , never -Let me be counted serviceable . How look I , -That I should seem to lack humanity -So much as this fact comes to ?Do't : the letter -That I have sent her by her own command -Shall give thee opportunity :O damn'd paper ! -Black as the ink that's on thee . Senseless bauble , -Art thou a feodary for this act , and look'st -So virgin-like without ? Lo ! here she comes . -I am ignorant in what I am commanded . - - -How now , Pisanio ! - -Madam , here is a letter from my lord . - -Who ? thy lord ? that is my lord , Leonatus . -O ! learn'd indeed were that astronomer -That knew the stars as I his characters ; -He'd lay the future open . You good gods , -Let what is here contain'd relish of love , -Of my lord's health , of his content , yet not -That we two are asunder ; let that grieve him , -Some griefs are med'cinable ; that is one of them , -For it doth physic love ,of his content , -All but in that ! Good wax , thy leave . Bless'd be -You bees that make these locks of counsel ! Lovers -And men in dangerous bonds pray not alike ; -Though forfeiters you cast in prison , yet -You clasp young Cupid's tables . Good news , gods ! -Justice , and your father's wrath , should he take me in his dominion , could not be so cruel to me , as you , O the dearest of creatures , would not even renew me with your eyes . Take notice that I am in Cambria , at Milford-Haven ; what your own love will out of this advise you , follow . So , he wishes you all happiness , that remains loyal to his vow , and your , increasing in love , -O ! for a horse with wings ! Hear'st thou , Pisanio ? -He is at Milford-Haven ; read , and tell me -How far 'tis thither . If one of mean affairs -May plod it in a week , why may not I -Glide thither in a day ? Then , true Pisanio , -Who long'st , like me , to see thy lord ; who long'st , -O ! let me 'bate ,but not like me ; yet long'st , -But in a fainter kind :O ! not like me , -For mine's beyond beyond ; say , and speak thick ; -Love's counsellor should fill the bores of hearing , -To the smothering of the sense ,how far it is -To this same blessed Milford ; and , by the way , -Tell me how Wales was made so happy as -T' inherit such a haven ; but , first of all , -How we may steal from hence , and , for the gap -That we shall make in time , from our hencegoing -And our return , to excuse ; but first , how get hence . -Why should excuse be born or ere begot ? -We'll talk of that hereafter . Prithee , speak , -How many score of miles may we well ride -'Twixt hour and hour ? - -One score 'twixt sun and sun , -Madam , 's enough for you , and too much too . - -Why , one that rode to 's execution , man , -Could never go so slow : I have heard of riding wagers , -Where horses have been nimbler than the sands -That run i' the clock's behalf . But this is foolery ; -Go bid my woman feign a sickness ; say -She'll home to her father ; and provide me presently -A riding-suit , no costlier than would fit -A franklin's housewife . - -Madam , you're best consider . - -I see before me , man ; nor here , nor here , -Nor what ensues , but have a fog in them , -That I cannot look through . Away , I prithee ; -Do as I bid thee . There's no more to say ; -Accessible is none but Milford way . - - -A goodly day not to keep house , with such -Whose roof's as low as ours ! Stoop , boys ; this gate -Instructs you how to adore the heavens , and bows you -To a morning's holy office ; the gates of monarchs -Are arch'd so high that giants may jet through -And keep their impious turbans on , without -Good morrow to the sun . Hail , thou fair heaven ! -We house i' the rock , yet use thee not so hardly -As prouder livers do . - -Hail , heaven ! - -Hail , heaven ! - -Now for our mountain sport . Up to yond hill ; -Your legs are young ; I'll tread these flats . Consider , -When you above perceive me like a crow , -That it is place which lessens and sets off ; -And you may then revolve what tales I have told you -Of courts , of princes , of the tricks in war ; -This service is not service , so being done , -But being so allow'd ; to apprehend thus -Draws us a profit from all things we see , -And often , to our comfort , shall we find -The sharded beetle in a safer hold -Than is the full wing'd eagle . O ! this life -Is nobler than attending for a check , -Richer than doing nothing for a bribe , -Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk ; -Such gain the cap of him that makes 'em fine , -Yet keeps his book uncross'd ; no life to ours . - -Out of your proof you speak ; we , poor unfledg'd , -Have never wing'd from view o' the nest , nor know not -What air's from home . Haply this life is best , -If quiet life be best ; sweeter to you -That have a sharper known , well corresponding -With your stiff age ; but unto us it is -A cell of ignorance , travelling a-bed , -A prison for a debtor , that not dares -To stride a limit . - -What should we speak of -When we are old as you ? when we shall hear -The rain and wind beat dark December , how -In this our pinching cave shall we discourse -The freezing hours away ? We have seen nothing ; -We are beastly , subtle as the fox for prey , -Like war-like as the wolf for what we eat ; -Our valour is to chase what flies ; our cage -We make a quire , as doth the prison'd bird , -And sing our bondage freely . - -How you speak ! -Did you but know the city's usuries -And felt them knowingly ; the art o' the court , -As hard to leave as keep , whose top to climb -Is certain falling , or so slippery that -The fear's as bad as falling ; the toil of the war , -A pain that only seems to seek out danger -I' the name of fame and honour ; which dies i' the search , -And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph -As record of fair act ; nay , many times , -Doth ill deserve by doing well ; what's worse , -Must curtsy at the censure : O boys ! this story -The world may read in me ; my body's mark'd -With Roman swords , and my report was once -First with the best of note ; Cymbeline lov'd me , -And when a soldier was the theme , my name -Was not far off ; then was I as a tree -Whose boughs did bend with fruit , but , in one night , -A storm or robbery , call it what you will , -Shook down my mellow hangings , nay , my leaves , -And left me bare to weather . - -Uncertain favour ! - -My fault being nothing ,as I have told you oft , -But that two villains , whose false oaths prevail'd -Before my perfect honour , swore to Cymbeline -I was confederate with the Romans ; so -Follow'd my banishment , and this twenty years -This rock and these demesnes have been my world , -Where I have liv'd at honest freedom , paid -More pious debts to heaven than in all -The fore-end of my time . But , up to the mountains ! -This is not hunter's language . He that strikes -The venison first shall be the lord o' the feast ; -To him the other two shall minister ; -And we will fear no poison which attends -In place of greater state . I'll meet you in the valleys . - -How hard it is to hide the sparks of nature ! -These boys know little they are sons to the king ; -Nor Cymbeline dreams that they are alive . -They think they are mine ; and , though train'd up thus meanly -I' the cave wherein they bow , their thoughts do hit -The roofs of palaces , and nature prompts them -In simple and low things to prince it much -Beyond the trick of others . This Polydore , -The heir of Cymbeline and Britain , who -The king his father call'd Guiderius ,Jove ! -When on my three-foot stool I sit and tell -The war-like feats I have done , his spirits fly out -Into my story : say , 'Thus mine enemy fell , -And thus I set my foot on 's neck ;' even then -The princely blood flows in his cheek , he sweats , -Strains his young nerves , and puts himself in posture -That acts my words . The younger brother , Cadwal , -Once Arviragus ,in as like a figure , -Strikes life into my speech and shows much more -His own conceiving . Hark ! the game is rous'd . -O Cymbeline ! heaven and my conscience knows -Thou didst unjustly banish me ; whereon , -At three and two years old , I stole these babes , -Thinking to bar thee of succession , as -Thou reft'st me of my lands . Euriphile , -Thou wast their nurse ; they took thee for their mother , -And every day do honour to her grave : -Myself , Belarius , that am Morgan call'd , -They take for natural father . The game is up . - - -Thou told'st me , when we came from horse , the place -Was near at hand : ne'er long'd my mother so -To see me first , as I have now . Pisanio ! man ! -Where is Posthumus ? What is in thy mind , -That makes thee stare thus ? Wherefore breaks that sigh -From the inward of thee ? One , but painted thus , -Would be interpreted a thing perplex'd -Beyond self-explication ; put thyself -Into a haviour of less fear , ere wildness -Vanquish my staider senses . What's the matter ? -Why tender'st thou that paper to me with -A look untender ? If 't be summer news , -Smile to 't before ; if winterly , thou need'st -But keep that count'nance still . My husband's hand ! -That drug-damn'd Italy hath out-craftied him , -And he's at some hard point . Speak , man ; thy tongue -May take off some extremity , which to read -Would be even mortal to me . - -Please you , read ; -And you shall find me , wretched man , a thing -The most disdain'd of fortune . - -Thy mistress , Pisanio , hath played the strumpet in my bed ; the testimonies whereof lie bleeding in me . I speak not out of weak surmises , but from proof as strong as my grief and as certain as I expect my revenge . That part thou , Pisanio , must act for me , if thy faith be not tainted with the breach of hers . Let thine own hands take away her life ; I shall give thee opportunity at Milford-Haven ; she hath my letter for the purpose ; where , if thou fear to strike , and to make me certain it is done , thou art the pandar to her dishonour and equally to me disloyal . - -What shall I need to draw my sword ? the paper -Hath cut her throat already . No , 'tis slander , -Whose edge is sharper than the sword , whose tongue -Outvenoms all the worms of Nile , whose breath -Rides on the posting winds and doth belie -All corners of the world ; kings , queens , and states , -Maids , matrons , nay , the secrets of the grave -This viperous slander enters . What cheer , madam ? - -False to his bed ! What is it to be false ? -To lie in watch there and to think on him ? -To weep 'twixt clock and clock ? if sleep charge nature , -To break it with a fearful dream of him , -And cry myself awake ? that's false to 's bed , is it ? - -Alas ! good lady . - -I false ! Thy conscience witness ! Iachimo , -Thou didst accuse him of incontinency ; -Thou then look'dst like a villain ; now methinks -Thy favour's good enough . Some jay of Italy , -Whose mother was her painting , hath betray'd him : -Poor I am stale , a garment out of fashion , -And , for I am richer than to hang by the walls , -I must be ripp'd ; to pieces with me ! O ! -Men's vows are women's traitors ! All good seeming , -By thy revolt , O husband ! shall be thought -Put on for villany ; not born where 't grows , -But worn a bait for ladies . - -Good madam , hear me . - -True honest men being heard , like false neas , -Were in his time thought false , and Sinon's weeping -Did scandal many a holy tear , took pity -From most true wretchedness ; so thou , Posthumus , -Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men ; -Goodly and gallant shall be false and perjur'd -From thy great fail . Come , fellow , be thou honest ; -Do thou thy master's bidding . When thou seest him , -A little witness my obedience ; look ! -I draw the sword myself ; take it , and hit -The innocent mansion of my love , my heart . -Fear not , 'tis empty of all things but grief ; -Thy master is not there , who was indeed -The riches of it : do his bidding ; strike . -Thou mayst be valiant in a better cause , -But now thou seem'st a coward . - -Hence , vile instrument ! -Thou shalt not damn my hand . - -Why , I must die ; -And if I do not by thy hand , thou art -No servant of thy master's . Against self-slaughter -There is a prohibition so divine -That cravens my weak hand . Come , here's my heart . -Something's afore 't ; soft , soft ! we'll no defence ; -Obedient as the scabbard . What is here ? -The scriptures of the loyal Leonatus -All turn'd to heresy ! Away , away ! -Corrupters of my faith ; you shall no more -Be stomachers to my heart . Thus may poor fools -Believe false teachers ; though those that are betray'd -Do feel the treason sharply , yet the traitor -Stands in worse case of woe . -And thou , Posthumus , thou that didst set up -My disobedience 'gainst the king my father , -And make me put into contempt the suits -Of princely fellows , shalt hereafter find -It is no act of common passage , but -A strain of rareness ; and I grieve myself -To think , when thou shalt be disedg'd by her -That now thou tir'st on , how thy memory -Will then be pang'd by me . Prithee , dispatch ; -The lamb entreats the butcher ; where's thy knife ? -Thou art too slow to do thy master's bidding , -When I desire it too . - -O , gracious lady ! -Since I receiv'd command to do this business -I have not slept one wink . - -Do 't , and to bed then . - -I'll wake mine eyeballs blind first . - -Wherefore then -Didst undertake it ? Why hast thou abus'd -So many miles with a pretence ? this place ? -Mine action and thine own ? our horses' labour ? -The time inviting thee ? the perturb'd court , -For my being absent ?whereunto I never -Purpose return .Why hast thou gone so far , -To be unbent when thou hast ta'en thy stand , -The elected deer before thee ? - -But to win time -To lose so bad employment , in the which -I have consider'd of a course . Good lady , -Hear me with patience . - -Talk thy tongue weary ; speak : -I have heard I am a strumpet , and mine ear , -Therein false struck , can take no greater wound , -Nor tent to bottom that . But speak . - -Then , madam , -I thought you would not back again . - -Most like , -Bringing me here to kill me . - -Not so , neither ; -But if I were as wise as honest , then -My purpose would prove well . It cannot be -But that my master is abus'd ; some villain , -Some villain , ay , and singular in his art , -Hath done you both this cursed injury . - -Some Roman courtezan . - -No , on my life . -I'll give but notice you are dead and send him -Some bloody sign of it ; for 'tis commanded -I should do so : you shall be miss'd at court , -And that will well confirm it . - -Why , good fellow , -What shall I do the while ? where bide ? how live ? -Or in my life what comfort , when I am -Dead to my husband ? - -If you'll back to the court , - -No court , no father ; nor no more ado -With that harsh , noble , simple nothing Cloten ! -That Cloten , whose love-suit hath been to me -As fearful as a siege . - -If not at court , -Then not in Britain must you bide . - -Where then ? -Hath Britain all the sun that shines ? Day , night , -Are they not but in Britain ? I' the world's volume -Our Britain seems as of it , but not in 't ; -In a great pool a swan's nest : prithee , think -There's livers out of Britain . - -I am most glad -You think of other place . The ambassador , -Lucius the Roman , comes to Milford-Haven -To-morrow ; now , if you could wear a mind -Dark as your fortune is , and but disguise -That which , t' appear itself , must not yet be -But by self-danger , you should tread a course -Pretty , and full of view ; yea , haply , near -The residence of Posthumus ; so nigh at least -That though his actions were not visible , yet -Report should render him hourly to your ear -As truly as he moves . - -O ! for such means : -Though peril to my modesty , not death on 't , -I would adventure . - -Well , then , here's the point : -You must forget to be a woman ; change -Command into obedience ; fear and niceness -The handmaids of all women , or more truly -Woman it pretty self into a waggish courage ; -Ready in gibes , quick-answer'd , saucy , and -As quarrelous as the weasel ; nay , you must -Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek , -Exposing it but , O ! the harder heart , -Alack ! no remedy to the greedy touch -Of common-kissing Titan , and forget -Your laboursome and dainty trims , wherein -You made great Juno angry . - -Nay , be brief : -I see into thy end , and am almost -A man already . - -First , make yourself but like one . -Forethinking this , I have already fit -'Tis in my cloak-bag doublet , hat , hose , all -That answer to them ; would you in their serving , -And with what imitation you can borrow -From youth of such a season , 'fore noble Lucius -Present yourself , desire his service , tell him -Wherein you are happy ,which you'll make him know , -If that his head have ear in music ,doubtless -With joy he will embrace you , for he's honourable , -And , doubling that , most holy . Your means abroad , -You have me , rich ; and I will never fail -Beginning nor supplyment . - -Thou art all the comfort -The gods will diet me with . Prithee , away ; -There's more to be consider'd , but we'll even -All that good time will give us ; this attempt -I'm soldier to , and will abide it with -A prince's courage . Away , I prithee . - -Well , madam , we must take a short farewell , -Lest , being miss'd , I be suspected of -Your carriage from the court . My noble mistress , -Here is a box , I had it from the queen , -What's in 't is precious ; if you are sick at sea , -Or stomach-qualm'd at land , a dram of this -Will drive away distemper . To some shade , -And fit you to your manhood . May the gods -Direct you to the best ! - -Amen . I thank thee - - -Thus far ; and so farewell . - -Thanks , royal sir . -My emperor hath wrote , I must from hence ; -And am right sorry that I must report ye -My master's enemy . - -Our subjects , sir , -Will not endure his yoke ; and for ourself -To show less sovereignty than they , must needs -Appear unking-like . - -So , sir : I desire of you -A conduct over land to Milford-Haven . -Madam , all joy befall your Grace . - -And you ! - -My lords , you are appointed for that office ; -The due of honour in no point omit . -So , farewell , noble Lucius . - -Your hand , my lord . - -Receive it friendly ; but from this time forth -I wear it as your enemy . - -Sir , the event -Is yet to name the winner . Fare you well . - -Leave not the worthy Lucius , good my lords , -Till he have cross'd the Severn . Happiness ! - - -He goes hence frowning ; but it honours us -That we have given him cause . - -'Tis all the better ; -Your valiant Britons have their wishes in it . - -Lucius hath wrote already to the emperor -How it goes here . It fits us therefore ripely -Our chariots and horsemen be in readiness ; -The powers that he already hath in Gallia -Will soon be drawn to head , from whence he moves -His war for Britain . - -'Tis not sleepy business ; -But must be look'd to speedily and strongly . - -Our expectation that it would be thus -Hath made us forward . But , my gentle queen , -Where is our daughter ? She hath not appear'd -Before the Roman , nor to us hath tender'd -The duty of the day ; she looks us like -A thing more made of malice than of duty : -We have noted it . Call her before us , for -We have been too slight in sufferance . - - -Royal sir . -Since the exile of Posthumus , most retir'd -Hath her life been ; the cure whereof , my lord , -'Tis time must do . Beseech your majesty , -Forbear sharp speeches to her ; she's a lady -So tender of rebukes that words are strokes , -And strokes death to her . - - -Where is she , sir ? How -Can her contempt be answer'd ? - -Please you , sir , -Her chambers are all lock'd , and there's no answer -That will be given to the loudest noise we make . - -My lord , when last I went to visit her , -She pray'd me to excuse her keeping close , -Whereto constrain'd by her infirmity , -She should that duty leave unpaid to you , -Which daily she was bound to proffer ; this -She wish'd me to make known , but our great court -Made me to blame in memory . - -Her doors lock'd ! -Not seen of late ! Grant , heavens , that which I fear -Prove false ! - - -Son , I say , follow the king . - -That man of hers , Pisanio , her old servant , -I have not seen these two days . - -Go , look after . - -Pisanio , thou that stand'st so for Posthumus ! -He hath a drug of mine ; I pray his absence -Proceed by swallowing that , for he believes -It is a thing most precious . But for her , -Where is she gone ? Haply , despair hath sciz'd her , -Or , wing'd with fervour of her love , she's flown -To her desir'd Posthumus . Gone she is -To death or to dishonour , and my end -Can make good use of either ; she being down , -I have the placing of the British crown . - -How now , my son ! - -'Tis certain she is fled . -Go in and cheer the king ; he rages , none -Dare come about him . - -All the better ; may -This night forestall him of the coming day ! - - -I love and hate her ; for she's fair and royal , -And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite -Than lady , ladies , woman ; from every one -The best she hath , and she , of all compounded , -Outsells them all . I love her therefore ; but -Disdaining me and throwing favours on -The low Posthumus slanders so her judgment -That what's else rare is chok'd , and in that point -I will conclude to hate her , nay , indeed , -To be reveng'd upon her . For , when fools -Shall - - -Who is here ? What ! are you packing , sirrah ? -Come hither . Ah ! you precious pandar . Villain , -Where is thy lady ? In a word ; or else - -Thou art straightway with the fiends . - -O ! good my lord . - -Where is thy lady ? or , by Jupiter -I will not ask again . Close villain , -I'll have this secret from thy heart , or rip -Thy heart to find it . Is she with Posthumus ? -From whose so many weights of baseness cannot -A dram of worth be drawn . - -Alas ! my lord , -How can she be with him ? When was she miss'd ? -He is in Rome . - -Where is she , sir ? Come nearer , -No further halting ; satisfy me home -What is become of her ? - -O ! my all-worthy lord . - -All-worthy villain ! -Discover where thy mistress is at once . -At the next word ; no more of 'worthy lord !' -Speak , or thy silence on the instant is -Thy condemnation and thy death . - -Then , sir , -This paper is the history of my knowledge -Touching her flight . - - -Let's see 't . I will pursue her -Even to Augustus' throne . - -Or this , or perish . -She's far enough ; and what he learns by this -May prove his travel , not her danger . - -Hum ! - -I'll write to my lord she's dead . O Imogen ! -Safe mayst thou wander , safe return agen ! - -Sirrah , is this letter true ? - -Sir , as I think . - -It is Posthumus' hand ; I know 't . Sirrah , if thou wouldst not be a villain , but do me true service , undergo those employments wherein I should have cause to use thee with a serious industry , that is , what villany soe'er I bid thee do , to perform it directly and truly , I would think thee an honest man ; thou shouldst neither want my means for thy relief nor my voice for thy preferment . - -Well , my good lord . - -Wilt thou serve me ? For since patiently and constantly thou hast stuck to the bare fortune of that beggar Posthumus , thou canst not , in the course of gratitude , but be a diligent follower of mine . Wilt thou serve me ? - -Sir , I will . - -Give me thy hand ; here's my purse . Hast any of thy late master's garments in thy possession ? - -I have , my lord , at my lodging , the same suit he wore when he took leave of my lady and mistress . - -The first service thou dost me , fetch that suit hither : let it be thy first service ; go . - -I shall , my lord . - - -Meet thee at Milford-Haven !I forgot to ask him one thing ; I'll remember 't anon ,even there , thou villain Posthumus , will I kill thee . I would these garments were come . She said upon a time ,the bitterness of it I now belch from my heart ,that she held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect than my noble and natural person , together with the adornment of my qualities . With that suit upon my back will I ravish her : first kill him , and in her eyes ; there shall she see my valour , which will then be a torment to her contempt . He on the ground , my speech of insultment ended on his dead body , and when my lust hath dined ,which , as I say , to vex her , I will execute in the clothes that she so praised ,to the court I'll knock her back , foot her home again . She hath despised me rejoicingly , and I'll be merry in my revenge . - -Be those the garments ? - -Ay , my noble lord . - -How long is 't since she went to Milford-Haven ? - -She can scarce be there yet . - -Bring this apparel to my chamber ; that is the second thing that I have commanded thee : the third is , that thou wilt be a voluntary mute to my design . Be but duteous , and true preferment shall tender itself to thee . My revenge is now at Milford ; would I had wings to follow it ! -Come , and be true . - - -Thou bidd'st me to my loss ; for true to thee -Were to prove false , which I will never be , -To him that is most true . To Milford go , -And find not her whom thou pursu'st . Flow , flow , -You heavenly blessings , on her ! This fool's speed -Be cross'd with slowness ; labour be his meed ! - - -I see a man's life is a tedious one ; -I have tir'd myself , and for two nights together -Have made the ground my bed ; I should be sick -But that my resolution helps me . Milford , -When from the mountain-top Pisanio show'd thee , -Thou wast within a ken . O Jove ! I think -Foundations fly the wretched ; such , I mean , -Where they should be reliev'd . Two beggars told me -I could not miss my way ; will poor folks lie , -That have afflictions on them , knowing 'tis -A punishment or trial ? Yes ; no wonder , -When rich ones scarce tell true . To lapse in fulness -Is sorer than to lie for need , and falsehood -Is worse in kings than beggars . My dear lord ! -Thou art one o' the false ones . Now I think on thee , -My hunger's gone , but even before I was -At point to sink for food . But what is this ? -Here is a path to 't ; 'tis some savage hold ; -I were best not call , I dare not call , yet famine , -Ere clean it o'erthrow nature , makes it valiant . -Plenty and peace breeds cowards , hardness ever -Of hardiness is mother . Ho ! Who's here ? -If any thing that's civil , speak ; if savage , -Take or lend . Ho ! No answer ? Then I'll enter . -Best draw my sword ; and if mine enemy -But fear the sword like me , he'll scarcely look on 't . -Such a foe , good heavens ! - -You , Polydore , have prov'd best woodman , and -Are master of the feast ; Cadwal and I -Will play the cook and servant , 'tis our match ; -The sweat of industry would dry and die -But for the end it works to . Come ; our stomachs -Will make what's homely savoury ; weariness -Can snore upon the flint when resty sloth -Finds the down pillow hard . Now , peace be here , -Poor house , that keep'st thyself ! - -I am throughly weary . - -I am weak with toil , yet strong in appetite . - -There is cold meat i' the cave ; we'll browse on that , -Whilst what we have kill'd be cook'd . - -Stay ; come not in ; -But that it eats our victuals , I should think -Here were a fairy . - -What's the matter , sir ? - -By Jupiter , an angel ! or , if not , -An earthly paragon ! Behold divineness -No elder than a boy ! - - -Good masters , harm me not : -Before I enter'd here , I call'd ; and thought -To have begg'd or bought what I have took . Good troth , -I have stol'n nought , nor would not , though I had found -Gold strew'd i' the floor . Here's money for my meat ; -I would have left it on the board so soon -As I had made my meal , and parted -With prayers for the provider . - -Money , youth ? - -All gold and silver rather turn to dirt ! -As 'tis no better reckon'd but of those -Who worship dirty gods . - -I see you're angry . -Know , if you kill me for my fault , I should -Have died had I not made it . - -Whither bound ? - -To Milford-Haven . - -What's your name ? - -Fidele , sir . I have a kinsman who -Is bound for Italy ; he embark'd at Milford : -To whom being going , almost spent with hunger , -I am fall'n in this offence . - -Prithee , fair youth , -Think us no churis , nor measure our good minds -By this rude place we live in . Well encounter'd ! -'Tis almost night ; you shall have better cheer -Ere you depart , and thanks to stay and eat it . -Boys , bid him welcome . - -Were you a woman , youth , -I should woo hard but be your groom . In honesty , -I bid for you , as I do buy . - -I'll make 't my comfort -He is a man ; I'll love him as my brother ; -And such a welcome as I'd give to him -After a long absence , such is yours : most welcome ! -Be sprightly , for you fall 'mongst friends . - -'Mongst friends , -If brothers . - -Would it had been so , that they -Had been my father's sons ; then had my prize -Been less , and so more equal ballasting -To thee , Posthumus . - -He wrings at some distress . - -Would I could free 't ! - -Or I , whate'er it be , -What pain it cost , what danger . Gods ! - -Hark , boys - - -Great men , -That had a court no bigger than this cave , -That did attend themselves and had the virtue -Which their own conscience seal'd them ,laying by -That nothing-gift of differing multitudes , -Could not out-peer these twain . Pardon me , gods ! -I'd change my sex to be companion with them , -Since Leonatus' false . - -It shall be so . -Boys , we'll go dress our hunt . Fair youth , come in : -Discourse is heavy , fasting ; when we have supp'd , -We'll mannerly demand thee of thy story , -So far as thou wilt speak it . - -Pray , draw near . - -The night to the owl and morn to the lark less welcome . - -Thanks , sir . - -I pray , draw near . - - -This is the tenour of the emperor's writ : -That since the common men are now in action -'Gainst the Pannonians and Dalmatians , -And that the legions now in Gallia are -Full weak to undertake our wars against -The fall'n-off Britons , that we do incite -The gentry to this business . He creates -Lucius pro-consul ; and to you the tribunes , -For this immediate levy , he commends -His absolute commission . Long live C sar ! - -Is Lucius general of the forces ? - -Ay . - -Remaining now in Gallia ? - -With those legions -Which I have spoke of , whereunto your levy -Must be supplyant ; the words of your commission -Will tie you to the numbers and the time -Of their dispatch . - -We will discharge our duty . - -I am near to the place where they should meet , if Pisanio have mapped it truly . How fit his garments serve me ! Why should his mistress , who was made by him that made the tailor , not be fit too ? the rather ,saving reverence of the word ,for 'tis said a woman's fitness comes by fits . Therein I must play the workman . I dare speak it to myself ,for it is not vain-glory , for a man and his glass to confer in his own chamber ,I mean , the lines of my body are as well drawn as his ; no less young , more strong , not beneath him in fortunes , beyond him in the advantage of the time , above him in birth , alike conversant in general services , and more remarkable in single oppositions ; yet this imperceiverant thing loves him in my despite . What mortality is ! Posthumus , thy head , which now is growing upon thy shoulders , shall within this hour be off , thy mistress enforced , thy garments cut to pieces before thy face ; and all this done , spurn her home to her father , who may haply be a little angry for my so rough usage , but my mother , having power of his testiness , shall turn all into my commendations . My horse is tied up safe ; out , sword , and to a sore purpose ! Fortune , put them into my hand ! This is the very description of their meeting-place ; and the fellow dares not deceive me . - - -You are not well ; remain here in the cave ; -We'll come to you after hunting . - -Brother , stay here ; -Are we not brothers ? - -So man and man should be , -But clay and clay differs in dignity , -Whose dust is both alike . I am very sick . - -Go you to hunting ; I'll abide with him . - -So sick I am not , yet I am not well ; -But not so citizen a wanton as -To seem to die ere sick . So please you , leave me ; -Stick to your journal course ; the breach of custom -Is breach of all . I am ill ; but your being by me -Cannot amend me ; society is no comfort -To one not sociable . I am not very sick , -Since I can reason of it ; pray you , trust me here , -I'll rob none but myself , and let me die , -Stealing so poorly . - -I love thee ; I have spoke it ; -How much the quantity , the weight as much , -As I do love my father . - -What ! how ! how ! - -If it be sin to say so , sir , I yoke me -In my good brother's fault : I know not why -I love this youth ; and I have heard you say , -Love's reason's without reason : the bier at door , -And a demand who is 't shall die , I'd say -'My father , not this youth .' - -O noble strain ! -O worthiness of nature ! breed of greatness ! -Cowards father cowards , and base things sire base : -Nature hath meal and bran , contempt and grace . -I'm not their father ; yet who this should be , -Doth miracle itself , lov'd before me . -'Tis the ninth hour o' the morn . - -Brother , farewell . - -I wish ye sport . - -You health . So please you , sir . - -These are kind creatures . Gods , what lies I have heard ! -Our courtiers say all's savage but at court : -Experience , O ! thou disprov'st report . -The imperious seas breed monsters , for the dish -Poor tributary rivers as sweet fish . -I am sick still , heart-sick . Pisanio , -I'll now taste of thy drug . - - -I could not stir him ; -He said he was gentle , but unfortunate ; -Dishonestly afflicted , but yet honest . - -Thus did he answer me ; yet said hereafter -I might know more . - -To the field , to the field ! - - -We'll leave you for this time ; go in and rest . - -We'll not be long away . - -Pray , be not sick , -For you must be our housewife . - -Well or ill , -I am bound to you . - -And shalt be ever . - -This youth , howe'er distress'd , appears he hath had -Good ancestors . - -How angel-like he sings ! - -But his neat cookery ! he cut our roots -In characters , -And sauc'd our broths as Juno had been sick -And he her dieter . - -Nobly he yokes -A smiling with a sigh , as if the sigh -Was that it was , for not being such a smile ; -The smile mocking the sigh , that it would fly -From so divine a temple , to commix -With winds that sailors rail at . - -I do note -That grief and patience rooted in him , both -Mingle their spurs together . - -Grow , patience ! -And let the stinking-elder , grief , untwine -His perishing root with the increasing vine ! - -It is great morning . Come , away !Who's there ? - - -I cannot find those runagates ; that villain -Hath mock'd me . I am faint . - -'Those runagates !' -Means he not us ? I partly know him ; 'tis -Cloten , the son o' the queen . I fear some ambush . -I saw him not these many years , and yet -I know 'tis he . We are held as outlaws : hence ! - -He is but one . You and my brother search -What companies are near ; pray you , away ; -Let me alone with him . - - -Soft ! What are you -That fly me thus ? some villain mountainers ? -I have heard of such . What slave art thou ? - -A thing -More slavish did I ne'er than answering -A 'slave' without a knock . - -Thou art a robber , -A law-breaker , a villain . Yield thee , thief . - -To who ? to thee ? What art thou ? Have not I -An arm as big as thine ? a heart as big ? -Thy words , I grant , are bigger , for I wear not -My dagger in my mouth . Say what thou art , -Why I should yield to thee ? - -Thou villain base , -Know'st me not by my clothes ? - -No , nor thy tailor , rascal , -Who is thy grandfather : he made those clothes , -Which , as it seems , make thee . - -Thou precious varlet , -My tailor made them not . - -Hence then , and thank -The man that gave them thee . Thou art some fool ; -I am loath to beat thee . - -Thou injurious thief , -Hear but my name , and tremble . - -What's thy name ? - -Cloten , thou villain . - -Cloten , thou double villain , be thy name , -I cannot tremble at it ; were it Toad , or Adder , Spider , -'Twould move me sooner . - -To thy further fear , -Nay , to thy mere confusion , thou shalt know -I am son to the queen . - -I'm sorry for 't , not seeming -So worthy as thy birth . - -Art not afeard ? - -Those that I reverence those I fear , the wise ; -At fools I laugh , not fear them . - -Die the death : -When I have slain thee with my proper hand , -I'll follow those that even now fled hence , -And on the gates of Lud's town set your heads : -Yield , rustic mountaineer . - -No companies abroad . - -None in the world . You did mistake him , sure . - -I cannot tell ; long is it since I saw him , -But time hath nothing blurr'd those lines of favour -Which then he wore ; the snatches in his voice , -And burst of speaking , were as his . I am absolute -'Twas very Cloten . - -In this place we left them : -I wish my brother make good time with him , -You say he is so fell . - -Being scarce made up , -I mean , to man , he had not apprehension -Of roaring terrors ; for defect of judgment -Is oft the cease of fear . But see , thy brother . - - -This Cloten was a fool , an empty purse , -There was no money in 't . Not Hercules -Could have knock'd out his brains , for he had none ; -Yet I not doing this , the fool had borne -My head as I do his . - -What hast thou done ? - -I am perfect what : cut off one Cloten's head , -Son to the queen , after his own report ; -Who call'd me traitor , mountaineer , and swore , -With his own single hand he'd take us in , -Displace our heads where thank the gods !they grow , -And set them on Lud's town . - -We are all undone . - -Why , worthy father , what have we to lose , -But that he swore to take , our lives ? The law -Protects not us ; then why should we be tender -To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us , -Play judge and executioner all himself , -For we do fear the law ? What company -Discover you abroad ? - -No single soul -Can we set eye on ; but in all safe reason -He must have some attendants . Though his humour -Was nothing but mutation , ay , and that -From one bad thing to worse ; not frenzy , not -Absolute madness could so far have rav'd -To bring him here alone . Although , perhaps , -It may be heard at court that such as we -Cave here , hunt here , are outlaws , and in time -May make some stronger head ; the which he hearing , -As it is like him ,might break out , and swear -He'd fetch us in ; yet is 't not probable -To come alone , either he so undertaking , -Or they so suffering ; then , on good ground we fear , -If we do fear this body hath a tail -More perilous than the head . - -Let ordinance -Come as the gods foresay it ; howsoe'er , -My brother hath done well . - -I had no mind -To hunt this day ; the boy Fidele's sickness -Did make my way long forth . - -With his own sword , -Which he did wave against my throat , I have ta'en -His head from him ; I'll throw 't into the creek -Behind our rock , and let it to the sea , -And tell the fishes he's the queen's son , Cloten : -That's all I reck . - - -I fear 'twill be reveng'd . -Would , Polydore , thou hadst not done 't ! though valour -Becomes thee well enough . - -Would I had done 't -So the revenge alone pursu'd me ! Polydore , -I love thee brotherly , but envy much -Thou hast robb'd me of this deed ; I would revenges , -That possible strength might meet , would seek us through -And put us to our answer . - -Well , 'tis done . -We'll hunt no more to-day , nor seek for danger -Where there's no profit . I prithee , to our rock ; -You and Fidele play the cooks ; I'll stay -Till hasty Polydore return , and bring him -To dinner presently . - -Poor sick Fidele ! -I'll willingly to him ; to gain his colour -I'd let a parish of such Clotens blood , -And praise myself for charity . - - -O thou goddess ! -Thou divine Nature , how thyself thou blazon'st -In these two princely boys . They are as gentle -As zephyrs , blowing below the violet , -Not wagging his sweet head ; and yet as rough , -Their royal blood enchaf'd , as the rud'st wind , -That by the top doth take the mountain pine , -And make him stoop to the vale . 'Tis wonder -That an invisible instinct should frame them -To royalty unlearn'd , honour untaught , -Civility not seen from other , valour -That wildly grows in them , but yields a crop -As if it had been sow'd ! Yet still it's strange -What Cloten's being here to us portends , -Or what his death will bring us . - - -Where's my brother ? -I have sent Cloten's clotpoll down the stream , -In embassy to his mother ; his body's hostage -For his return . - - -My ingenious instrument ! -Hark ! Polydore , it sounds ; but what occasion -Hath Cadwal now to give it motion ? Hark ! - -Is he at home ? - -He went hence even now . - -What does he mean ? since death of my dear'st mother -It did not speak before . All solemn things -Should answer solemn accidents . The matter ? -Triumphs for nothing and lamenting toys -Is jollity for apes and grief for boys . -Is Cadwal mad ? - - -Look ! here he comes , -And brings the dire occasion in his arms -Of what we blame him for . - -The bird is dead -That we have made so much on . I had rather -Have skipp'd from sixteen years of age to sixty , -To have turn'd my leaping-time into a crutch , -Than have seen this . - -O , sweetest , fairest lily ! -My brother wears thee not the one half so well -As when thou grew'st thyself . - -O melancholy ! -Who ever yet could sound thy bottom ? find -The ooze , to show what coast thy sluggish crare -Might easiliest harbour in ? Thou blessed thing ! -Jove knows what man thou mightst have made ; but I , -Thou diedst , a most rare boy , of melancholy . -How found you him ? - -Stark , as you see : -Thus smiling , as some fly had tickled slumber , -Not as death's dart , being laugh'd at ; his right cheek -Reposing on a cushion . - -Where ? - -O' the floor , -His arms thus leagu'd ; I thought he slept , and put -My clouted brogues from off my feet , whose rudeness -Answer'd my steps too loud . - -Why , he but sleeps : -If he be gone , he'll make his grave a bed ; -With female fairies will his tomb be haunted , -And worms will not come to thee . - -With fairest flowers -While summer lasts and I live here , Fidele , -I'll sweeten thy sad grave ; thou shalt not lack -The flower that's like thy face , pale primrose , nor -The azur'd hare-bell , like thy veins , no , nor -The leaf of eglantine , whom not to slander , -Out-sweeten'd not thy breath : the ruddock would , -With charitable bill ,O bill ! sore-shaming -Those rich-left heirs , that let their fathers lie -Without a monument ,bring thee all this ; -Yea , and furr'd moss besides , when flowers are none , -To winter-ground thy corse . - -Prithee , have done , -And do not play in wench-like words with that -Which is so serious . Let us bury him , -And not protract with admiration what -Is now due debt . To the grave ! - -Say , where shall 's lay him ? - -By good Euriphile , our mother . - -Be 't so : -And let us , Polydore , though now our voices -Have got the mannish crack , sing him to the ground , -As once our mother ; use like note and words , -Save that Euriphile must be Fidele . - -Cadwal , -I cannot sing ; I'll weep , and word it with thee ; -For notes of sorrow out of tune are worse -Than priests and fanes that lie . - -We'll speak it then . - -Great griefs , I see , medicine the less , for Cloten -Is quite forgot . He was a queen's son , boys , -And though he came our enemy , remember -He was paid for that ; though mean and mighty rotting -Together , have one dust , yet reverence -That angel of the world doth make distinction -Of place 'tween high and low . Our foe was princely , -And though you took his life , as being our foe , -Yet bury him as a prince . - -Pray you , fetch him hither . -Thersites' body is as good as Ajax' -When neither are alive . - -If you'll go fetch him , -We'll say our song the whilst . Brother , begin . - - -Nay , Cadwal , we must lay his head to the east ; -My father hath a reason for 't . - -'Tis true . - -Come on then , and remove him . - -So , begin . - - -Fear no more the heat o' the sun , -Nor the furious winter's rages ; -Thou thy worldly task hast done , -Home art gone , and ta'en thy wages ; -Golden lads and girls all must , -As chimney-sweepers , come to dust . - -Fear no more the frown o' the great , -Thou art past the tyrant's stroke : -Care no more to clothe and eat ; -To thee the reed is as the oak : -The sceptre , learning , physic , must -All follow this , and come to dust . - -Fear no more the lightning-flash , - -Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone ; - -Fear not slander , censure rash ; - -Thou hast finish'd joy and moan - -All lovers young , all lovers must -Consign to thee , and come to dust . - -No exorciser harm thee ! - -Nor no witchcraft charm thee ! - -Ghost unlaid forbear thee ! - -Nothing ill come near thee ! - -Quiet consummation have ; -And renowned be thy grave ! - -We have done our obsequies . Come , lay him down . - -Here's a few flowers , but 'bout mid-night , more ; -The herbs that have on them cold dew o' the night -Are strewings fitt'st for graves . Upon their faces -You were as flowers , now wither'd ; even so -These herblets shall , which we upon you strew . -Come on , away ; apart upon our knees . -The ground that gave them first has them again ; -Their pleasures here are past , so is their pain . - - -Yes , sir , to Milford-Haven ; which is the way ? -I thank you . By yond bush ? Pray , how far thither ? -'Ods pittikins ! can it be six mile yet ? -I have gone all night : Faith , I'll lie down and sleep . - - -But , soft ! no bed-fellow ! O gods and goddesses ! -These flowers are like the pleasures of the world ; -This bloody man , the care on 't . I hope I dream ; -For so I thought I was a cave-keeper , -And cook to honest creatures ; but 'tis not so , -'Twas but a bolt of nothing , shot at nothing , -Which the brain makes of fumes . Our very eyes -Are sometimes like our judgments , blind . Good faith , -I tremble still with fear ; but if there be -Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity -As a wren's eye , fear'd gods , a part of it ! -The dream's here still ; even when I wake , it is -Without me , as within me ; not imagin'd , felt . -A headless man ! The garments of Posthumus ! -I know the shape of 's leg , this is his hand , -His foot Mercurial , his Martial thigh , -The brawns of Hercules , but his Jovial face -Murder in heaven ? How ! 'Tis gone . Pisanio , -All curses madded Hecuba gave the Greeks , -And mine to boot , be darted on thee ! Thou , -Conspir'd with that irregulous devil , Cloten , -Hast here cut off my lord . To write and read -Be henceforth treacherous ! Damn'd Pisanio -Hath with his forged letters , damn'd Pisanio , -From this most bravest vessel of the world -Struck the main-top ! O Posthumus ! alas ! -Where is thy head ? where's that ? Ay me ! where's that ? -Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart , -And left this head on . How should this be ? Pisanio ? -'Tis he and Cloten ; malice and lucre in them -Have laid this woe here . O ! 'tis pregnant , pregnant ! -The drug he gave me , which he said was precious -And cordial to me , have I not found it -Murderous to the senses ? That confirms it home ; -This is Pisanio's deed , and Cloten's : O ! -Give colour to my pale cheek with thy blood , -That we the horrider may seem to those -Which chance to find us . O ! my lord , my lord . - -To them the legions garrison'd in Gallia , -After your will , have cross'd the sea , attending -You here at Milford-Haven with your ships : -They are in readiness . - -But what from Rome ? - -The senate hath stirr'd up the confiners -And gentlemen of Italy , most willing spirits , -That promise noble service ; and they come -Under the conduct of bold Iachimo , -Sienna's brother . - -When expect you them ? - -With the next benefit o' the wind . - -This forwardness -Makes our hopes fair . Command our present numbers -Be muster'd ; bid the captains look to 't . Now , sir , -What have you dream'd of late of this war's purpose ? - -Last night the very gods show'd me a vision , -I fast and pray'd for their intelligence ,thus : -I saw Jove's bird , the Roman eagle , wing'd -From the spongy south to this part of the west , -There vanish'd in the sunbeams ; which portends , -Unless my sins abuse my divination , -Success to the Roman host . - -Dream often so , -And never false . Soft , ho ! what trunk is here -Without his top ? The ruin speaks that sometime -It was a worthy building . How ! a page ! -Or dead or sleeping on him ? But dead rather , -For nature doth abhor to make his bed -With the defunct , or sleep upon the dead . -Let's see the boy's face . - -He's alive , my lord . - -He'll , then , instruct us of this body . Young one , -Inform us of thy fortunes , for it seems -They crave to be demanded . Who is this -Thou mak'st thy bloody pillow ? Or who was he -That , otherwise than noble nature did , -Hath alter'd that good picture ? What's thy interest -In this sad wrack ? How came it ? Who is it ? -What art thou ? - -I am nothing ; or if not , -Nothing to be were better . This was my master , -A very valiant Briton and a good , -That here by mountaineers lies slain . Alas ! -There are no more such masters ; I may wander -From east to occident , cry out for service , -Try many , all good , serve truly , never -Find such another master . - -'Lack , good youth ! -Thou mov'st no less with thy complaining than -Thy master in bleeding . Say his name , good friend . - -Richard du Champ . - -If I do lie and do -No harm by it , though the gods hear , I hope -They'll pardon it .Say you , sir ? - -Thy name ? - -Fidele , sir . - -Thou dost approve thyself the very same ; -Thy name well fits thy faith , thy faith thy name . -Wilt take thy chance with me ? I will not say -Thou shalt be so well master'd , but be sure -No less belov'd . The Roman emperor's letters , -Sent by a consul to me , should not sooner -Than thine own worth prefer thee . Go with me . - -I'll follow , sir . But first , an 't please the gods , -I'll hide my master from the flies , as deep -As these poor pickaxes can dig ; and when -With wild wood-leaves and weeds I ha' strew'd his grave , -And on it said a century of prayers , -Such as I can , twice o'er , I'll weep and sigh ; -And , leaving so his service , follow you , -So please you entertain me . - -Ay , good youth , -And rather father thee than master thee . -My friends , -The boy hath taught us manly duties ; let us -Find out the prettiest daisied plot we can , -And make him with our pikes and partisans -A grave ; come , arm him . Boy , he is preferr'd -By thee to us , and he shall be interr'd -As soldiers can . Be cheerful ; wipe thine eyes : -Some falls are means the happier to arise . - - -Again ; and bring me word how 'tis with her . - -A fever with the absence of her son , -A madness , of which her life's in danger . Heavens ! -How deeply you at once do touch me . Imogen , -The great part of my comfort , gone ; my queen -Upon a desperate bed , and in a time -When fearful wars point at me ; her son gone , -So needful for this present : it strikes me , past -The hope of comfort . But for thee , fellow , -Who needs must know of her departure and -Dost seem so ignorant , we'll enforce it from thee -By a sharp torture . - -Sir , my life is yours , -I humbly set it at your will ; but , for my mistress , -I nothing know where she remains , why gone , -Nor when she purposes return . Beseech your highness , -Hold me your loyal servant . - -Good my liege , -The day that she was missing he was here ; -I dare be bound he's true and shall perform -All parts of his subjection loyally . For Cloten , -There wants no diligence in seeking him , -And will , no doubt , be found . - -The time is troublesome . - - -We'll slip you for a season ; but our jealousy -Does yet depend . - -So please-your majesty , -The Roman legions , all from Gallia drawn , -Are landed on your coast , with a supply -Of Roman gentlemen , by the senate sent . - -Now for the counsel of my son and queen ! -I am amaz'd with matter . - -Good my liege , -Your preparation can affront no less -Than what you hear of ; come more , for more you're ready : -The want is , but to put those powers in motion -That long to move . - -I thank you . Let's withdraw ; -And meet the time as it seeks us . We fear not -What can from Italy annoy us , but -We grieve at chances here . Away ! - - -I heard no letter from my master since -I wrote him Imogen was slain ; 'tis strange ; -Nor hear I from my mistress , who did promise -To yield me often tidings ; neither know I -What is betid to Cloten ; but remain -Perplex'd in all : the heavens still must work . -Wherein I am false I am honest ; not true to be true : -These present wars shall find I love my country , -Even to the note o' the king , or I'll fall in them . -All other doubts , by time let them be clear'd ; -Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd . - - -The noise is round about us . - -Let us from it . - -What pleasure , sir , find we in life , to lock it -From action and adventure ? - -Nay , what hope -Have we in hiding us ? this way , the Romans -Must or for Britons slay us , or receive us -For barbarous and unnatural revolts -During their use , and slay us after . - -Sons , -We'll higher to the mountains ; there secure us . -To the king's party there's no going ; newness -Of Cloten's death ,we being not known , not muster'd -Among the bands ,may drive us to a render -Where we have liv'd , and so extort from 's that -Which we have done , whose answer would be death -Drawn on with torture . - -This is , sir , a doubt -In such a time nothing becoming you , -Nor satisfying us . - -It is not likely -That when they hear the Roman horses neigh , -Behold their quarter'd fires , have both their eyes -And ears so cloy'd importantly as now , -That they will waste their time upon our note , -To know from whence we are . - -O ! I am known -Of many in the army ; many years , -Though Cloten then but young , you see , not wore him -From my remembrance . And , besides , the king -Hath not deserv'd my service nor your loves -Who find in my exile the want of breeding , -The certainty of this hard life ; aye hopeless -To have the courtesy your cradle promis'd , -But to be still hot summer's tanlings and -The shrinking slaves of winter . - -Than be so -Better to cease to be . Pray , sir , to the army : -I and my brother are not known ; yourself , -So out of thought , and thereto so o'ergrown , -Cannot be question'd . - -By this sun that shines , -I'll thither : what thing is it that I never -Did see man die ! scarce ever look'd on blood -But that of coward hares , hot goats , and venison ! -Never bestrid a horse , save one that had -A rider like myself , who ne'er wore rowel -Nor iron on his heel ! I am asham'd -To look upon the holy sun , to have -The benefit of his bless'd beams , remaining -So long a poor unknown . - -By heavens ! I'll go : -If you will bless me , sir , and give me leave , -I'll take the better care ; but if you will not , -The hazard therefore due fall on me by -The hands of Romans . - -So say I ; amen . - -No reason I , since of your lives you set -So slight a valuation , should reserve -My crack'd one to more care . Have with you , boys ! -If in your country wars you chance to die , -That is my bed too , lads , and there I'll lie : -Lead , lead . - -The time seems long ; their blood thinks scorn , -Till it fly out and show them princes born . - -Yea , bloody cloth , I'll keep thee , for I wish'd -Thou shouldst be colour'd thus . You married ones , -If each of you should take this course , how many -Must murder wives much better than themselves -For wrying but a little ! O Pisanio ! -Every good servant does not all commands ; -No bond but to do just ones . Gods ! if you -Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults , I never -Had liv'd to put on this ; so had you sav'd -The noble Imogen to repent , and struck -Me , wretch more worth your vengeance . But , alack ! -You snatch some hence for little faults ; that's love , -To have them fall no more ; you some permit -To second ills with ills , each elder worse , -And make them dread it , to the doers' thrift . -But Imogen is your own ; do your best wills , -And make me bless'd to obey . I am brought hither -Among the Italian gentry , and to fight -Against my lady's kingdom ; 'tis enough -That , Britain , I have kill'd thy mistress-piece ! -I'll give no wound to thee . Therefore good heavens , -Hear patiently my purpose : I'll disrobe me -Of these Italian weeds , and suit myself -As does a Briton peasant ; so I'll fight -Against the part I come with , so I'll die -For thee , O Imogen ! even for whom my life -Is , every breath , a death : and thus , unknown , -Pitied nor hated , to the face of peril -Myself I'll dedicate . Let me make men know -More valour in me than my habits show . -Gods ! put the strength o' the Leonati in me . -To shame the guise o' the world , I will begin -The fashion , less without and more within . - - -The heaviness and guilt within my bosom -Takes off my manhood : I have belied a lady , -The princess of this country , and the air on 't -Revengingly enfeebles me ; or could this carl , -A very drudge of nature's , have subdu'd me -In my profession ? Knighthoods and honours , borne -As I wear mine , are titles but of scorn . -If that thy gentry , Britain , go before -This lout as he exceeds our lords , the odds -Is that we scarce are men and you are gods . - - -Stand , stand ! We have the advantage of the ground . -The lane is guarded ; nothing routs us but -The villany of our fears . - -Stand , stand , and fight ! - -Stand , stand , and fight ! - -Away , boy , from the troops , and save thyself ; -For friends kill friends , and the disorder's such -As war were hoodwink'd . - -'Tis their fresh supplies . - -It is a day turn'd strangely : or betimes -Let's re-inforce , or fly . - - -Cam'st thou from where they made the stand ? - -I did : -Though you , it seems , come from the fliers . - -I did . - -No blame be to you , sir ; for all was lost , -But that the heavens fought . The king himself -Of his wings destitute , the army broken , -And but the backs of Britons seen , all flying -Through a strait lane ; the enemy full-hearted , -Lolling the tongue with slaughtering , having work -More plentiful than tools to do 't , struck down -Some mortally , some slightly touch'd , some falling -Merely through fear ; that the strait pass was damm'd -With dead men hurt behind , and cowards living -To die with lengthen'd shame . - -Where was this lane ? - -Close by the battle , ditch'd , and wall'd with turf ; -Which gave advantage to an ancient soldier , -An honest one , I warrant ; who deserv'd -So long a breeding as his white beard came to , -In doing this for his country ; athwart the lane , -He , with two striplings ,lads more like to run -The country base than to commit such slaughter , -With faces fit for masks , or rather fairer -Than those for preservation cas'd , or shame , -Made good the passage ; cried to those that fled , -'Our Britain's harts die flying , not our men : -To darkness fleet souls that fly backwards . Stand ! -Or we are Romans , and will give you that -Like beasts which you shun beastly , and may save , -But to look back in frown : stand , stand !' These three , -Three thousand confident , in act as many , -For three performers are the file when all -The rest do nothing ,with this word , 'Stand , stand !' -Accommodated by the place , more charming -With their own nobleness ,which could have turn'd -A distaff to a lance ,gilded pale looks , -Part shame , part spirit renew'd ; that some , turn'd coward -But by example ,O ! a sin of war , -Damn'd in the first beginners ,'gan to look -The way that they did , and to grin like lions -Upon the pikes o' the hunters . Then began -A stop i' the chaser , a retire , anon , -A rout , confusion thick ; forthwith they fly -Chickens , the way which they stoop'd eagles ; slaves , -The strides they victors made . And now our cowards -Like fragments in hard voyages became -The life o' the need ; having found the back door open -Of the unguarded hearts , Heavens ! how they wound ; -Some slain before ; some dying ; some their friends -O'er-borne i' the former wave ; ten , chas'd by one , -Are now each one the slaughter-man of twenty ; -Those that would die or ere resist are grown -The mortal bugs o' the field . - -This was strange chance : -A narrow lane , an old man , and two boys ! - -Nay , do not wonder at it ; you are made -Rather to wonder at the things you hear -Than to work any . Will you rime upon 't , -And vent it for a mockery ? Here is one : -'Two boys , an old man twice a boy , a lane , -Preserv'd the Britons , was the Romans' bane .' - -Nay , be not angry , sir . - -'Lack ! to what end ? -Who dares not stand his foe , I'll be his friend ; -For if he'll do , as he is made to do , -I know he'll quickly fly my friendship too . -You have put me into rime . - -Farewell ; you're angry . - - -Still going ?This is a lord ! O noble misery ! -To be i' the field , and ask , 'what news ?' of me ! -To-day how many would have given their honours -To have sav'd their carcases ! took heel to do 't , -And yet died too ! I , in mine own woe charm'd , -Could not find death where I did hear him groan , -Nor feel him where he struck : being an ugly monster , -'Tis strange he hides him in fresh cups , soft beds , -Sweet words ; or hath more ministers than we -That draw his knives i' the war . Well , I will find him ; -For being now a favourer to the Briton , -No more a Briton , I have resum'd again -The part I came in ; fight I will no more , -But yield me to the veriest hind that shall -Once touch my shoulder . Great the slaughter is -Here made by the Roman ; great the answer be -Britons must take . For me , my ransom's death ; -On either side I come to spend my breath , -Which neither here I'll keep nor bear agen , -But end it by some means for Imogen . - - -Great Jupiter be prais'd ! Lucius is taken . -'Tis thought the old man and his sons were angels . - -There was a fourth man , in a silly habit , -That gave th' affront with them . - -So 'tis reported ; -But none of 'em can be found . Stand ! who is there ? - -A Roman , -Who had not now been drooping here , if seconds -Had answer'd him . - -Lay hands on him ; a dog ! -A lag of Rome shall not return to tell -What crows have peck'd them here . He brags his service -As if he were of note : bring him to the king . - - -You shall not now be stol'n , you have locks upon you : -So graze as you find pasture . - -Ay , or a stomach . - - -Most welcome , bondage ! for thou art a way , -I think , to liberty . Yet am I better -Than one that's sick o' the gout , since he had rather -Groan so in perpetuity than be cur'd -By the sure physician death ; who is the key -To unbar these locks . My conscience , thou art fetter'd -More than my shanks and wrists : you good gods , give me -The penitent instrument to pick that bolt ; -Then , free for ever ! Is 't enough I am sorry ? -So children temporal fathers do appease ; -Gods are more full of mercy . Must I repent ? -I cannot do it better than in gyves , -Desir'd more than constrain'd ; to satisfy , -If of my freedom 'tis the main part , take -No stricter render of me than my all . -I know you are more clement than vile men , -Who of their broken debtors take a third , -A sixth , a tenth , letting them thrive again -On their abatement : that's not my desire ; -For Imogen's dear life take mine ; and though -'Tis not so dear , yet 'tis a life ; you coin'd it ; -'Tween man and man they weigh not every stamp ; -Though light , take pieces for the figure's sake : -You rather mine , being yours ; and so great powers , -If you will take this audit , take this life , -And cancel these cold bonds . O Imogen ! -I'll speak to thee in silence . - - -No more , thou thunder-master , show -Thy spite on mortal flies : -With Mars fall out , with Juno chide , -That thy adulteries -Rates and revenges . -Hath my poor boy done aught but well , -Whose face I never saw ? -I died whilst in the womb he stay'd -Attending nature's law : -Whose father then as men report , -Thou orphans' father art -Thou shouldst have been , and shielded him -From this earth-vexing smart . - -Lucina lent not me her aid , -But took me in my throes ; -That from me was Posthumus ript , -Came crying 'mongst his foes , -A thing of pity ! - -Great nature , like his ancestry , -Moulded the stuff so fair , -That he deserv'd the praise o' the world , -As great Sicilius' heir . - -When once he was mature for man , -In Britain where was he -That could stand up his parallel , -Or fruitful object be -In eye of Imogen , that best -Could deem his dignity ? - -With marriage wherefore was he mock'd , -To be exil'd , and thrown -From Leonati's seat , and cast -From her his dearest one , -Sweet Imogen ? - -Why did you suffer Iachimo , -Slight thing of Italy , -To taint his nobler heart and brain -With needless jealousy ; -And to become the geck and scorn -O' the other's villany ? - -For this from stiller seats we came , -Our parents and us twain , -That striking in our country's cause -Fell bravely and were slain ; -Our fealty and Tenantius' right -With honour to maintain . - -Like hardiment Posthumus hath -To Cymbeline perform'd : -Then Jupiter , thou king of gods , -Why hast thou thus adjourn'd -The graces for his merits due , -Being all to dolours turn'd ? - -Thy crystal window ope ; look out ; -No longer exercise -Upon a valiant race thy harsh -And potent injuries . - -Since , Jupiter , our son is good , -Take off his miseries . - -Peep through thy marble mansion ; help ! -Or we poor ghosts will cry -To the shining synod of the rest -Against thy deity . - -Help , Jupiter ! or we appeal , -And from thy justice fly . - - -No more , you petty spirits of region low , Offend our hearing ; hush ! How dare you ghosts -Accuse the thunderer , whose bolt , you know , -Sky-planted , batters all rebelling coasts ? -Poor shadows of Elysium , hence ; and rest -Upon your never-withering banks of flowers : -Be not with mortal accidents opprest ; -No care of yours it is ; you know 'tis ours . -Whom best I love I cross ; to make my gift , -The more delay'd , delighted . Be content ; -Your low-laid son our godhead will uplift : -His comforts thrive , his trials well are spent . -Our Jovial star reign'd at his birth , and in -Our temple was he married . Rise , and fade ! -He shall be lord of Lady Imogen , -And happier much by his affliction made . -This tablet lay upon his breast , wherein -Our pleasure his full fortune doth confine ; -And so , away : no further with your din -Express impatience , lest you stir up mine . -Mount , eagle , to my palace crystalline . - - -He came in thunder ; his celestial breath -Was sulphurous to smell ; the holy eagle -Stoop'd , as to foot us ; his ascension is -More sweet than our bless'd fields ; his royal bird -Prunes the immortal wing and cloys his beak , -As when his god is pleas'd . - -Thanks , Jupiter ! - -The marble pavement closes ; he is enter'd -His radiant roof . Away ! and , to be blest , -Let us with care perform his great behest . - - -Sleep , thou hast been a grandsire , and begot -A father to me ; and thou hast created -A mother and two brothers . But O scorn ! -Gone ! they went hence so soon as they were born : -And so I am awake . Poor wretches , that depend -On greatness' favour dream as I have done ; -Wake , and find nothing . But , alas ! I swerve : -Many dream not to find , neither deserve , -And yet are steep'd in favours ; so am I , -That have this golden chance and know not why . -What fairies haunt this ground ? A book ? O rare one ! -Be not , as is our fangled world , a garment -Nobler than that it covers : let thy effects -So follow , to be most unlike our courtiers , -As good as promise . -Whenas a lion's whelp shall , to himself unknown , without seeking find , and be embraced by a piece of tender air ; and when from a stately cedar shall be lopped branches , which , being dead many years , shall after revive , be jointed to the old stock , and freshly grow , then shall Posthumus end his miseries , Britain be fortunate , and flourish in peace and plenty . -'Tis still a dream , or else such stuff as madmen -Tongue and brain not ; either both or nothing ; -Or senseless speaking , or a speaking such -As sense cannot untie . Be what it is , -The action of my life is like it , which -I'll keep , if but for sympathy . - - -Come , sir , are you ready for death ? - -Over-roasted rather ; ready long ago . - -Hanging is the word , sir : if you be ready for that , you are well cooked . - -So , if I prove a good repast to the spectators , the dish pays the shot . - -A heavy reckoning for you , sir ; but the comfort is , you shall be called to no more payments , fear no more tavern-bills , which are often the sadness of parting , as the procuring of mirth . You come in faint for want of meat , depart reeling with too much drink , sorry that you have paid too much ; and sorry that you are paid too much ; purse and brain both empty ; the brain the heavier for being too light , the purse too light , being drawn of heaviness of this contradiction you shall now be quit . O ! the charity of a penny cord ; it sums up thousands in a trice : you have no true debitor and creditor but it ; of what's past , is , and to come , the discharge . Your neck , sir , is pen , book and counters ; so the acquittance follows . - -I am merrier to die than thou art to live . - -Indeed , sir , he that sleeps feels not the toothache ; but a man that were to sleep your sleep , and a hangman to help him to bed , I think he would change places with his officer ; for look you , sir , you know not which way you shall go . - -Yes , indeed do I , fellow . - -Your death has eyes in 's head , then ; I have not seen him so pictured : you must either be directed by some that take upon them to know , or take upon yourself that which I am sure you do not know , or jump the after inquiry on your own peril : and how you shall speed in your journey's end , I think you'll never return to tell one . - -I tell thee , fellow , there are none want eyes to direct them the way I am going but such as wink and will not use them . - -What an infinite mock is this , that a man should have the best use of eyes to see the way of blindness ! I am sure hanging's the way of winking . - - -Knock off his manacles ; bring your prisoner to the king . - -Thou bring'st good news ; I am called to be made free . - -I'll be hang'd , then . - -Thou shalt be then freer than a gaoler ; no bolts for the dead . - - -Unless a man would marry a gallows and beget young gibbets , I never saw one so prone . Yet , on my conscience , there are verier knaves desire to live , for all he be a Roman ; and there be some of them too , that die against their wills ; so should I , if I were one . I would we were all of one mind , and one mind good ; O ! there were desolation of gaolers and gallowses . I speak against my present profit , but my wish hath a preferment in 't . - - -Stand by my side , you whom the gods have made -Preservers of my throne . Woe is my heart -That the poor soldier that so richly fought , -Whose rags sham'd gilded arms , whose naked breast -Stepp'd before targes of proof , cannot be found : -He shall be happy that can find him , if -Our grace can make him so . - -I never saw -Such noble fury in so poor a thing ; -Such precious deeds in one that promis'd nought -But beggary and poor looks . - -No tidings of him ? - -He hath been search'd among the dead and living , -But no trace of him . - -To my grief , I am -The heir of his reward ; which I will add - -To you , the liver , heart , and brain of Britain , -By whom , I grant , she lives . 'Tis now the time -To ask of whence you are : report it . - -Sir , -In Cambria are we born , and gentlemen : -Further to boast were neither true nor modest , -Unless I add , we are honest . - -Bow your knees . -Arise , my knights o' the battle : I create you -Companions to our person , and will fit you -With dignities becoming your estates . - - -There's business in these faces . Why so sadly -Greet you our victory ? you look like Romans , - -And not o' the court of Britain . - -Hail , great king ! -To sour your happiness , I must report -The queen is dead . - -Whom worse than a physician -Would this report become ? But I consider , -By medicine life may be prolong'd , yet death -Will seize the doctor too . How ended she ? - -With horror , madly dying , like her life ; -Which , being cruel to the world , concluded -Most cruel to herself . What she confess'd -I will report , so please you : these her women -Can trip me if I err ; who with wet cheeks -Were present when she finish'd . - -Prithee , say . - -First , she confess'd she never lov'd you , only -Affected greatness got by you , not you ; -Married your royalty , was wife to your place ; -Abhorr'd your person . - -She alone knew this ; -And , but she spoke it dying , I would not -Believe her lips in opening it . Proceed . - -Your daughter , whom she bore in hand to love -With such integrity , she did confess -Was as a scorpion to her sight ; whose life , -But that her flight prevented it , she had -Ta'en off by poison . - -O most delicate fiend ! -Who is't can read a woman ? Is there more ? - -More , sir , and worse . She did confess she had -For you a mortal mineral ; which , being took , -Should by the minute feed on life , and ling'ring , -By inches waste you ; in which time she purpos'd , -By watching , weeping , tendance , kissing , to -O'ercome you with her show ; yea , and in time -When she had fitted you with her craft to work -Her son into the adoption of the crown ; -But failing of her end by his strange absence , -Grew shameless-desperate ; open'd , in despite -Of heaven and men , her purposes ; repented -The evils she hatch'd were not effected : so , -Despairing died . - -Heard you all this , her women ? - -We did , so please your highness . - -Mine eyes -Were not in fault , for she was beautiful ; -Mine ears , that heard her flattery ; nor my heart , -That thought her like her seeming : it had been vicious -To have mistrusted her : yet , O my daughter ! -That it was folly in me , thou mayst say , -And prove it in thy feeling . Heaven mend all ! - -Thou com'st not , Caius , now for tribute ; that -The Britons have raz'd out , though with the loss -Of many a bold one ; whose kinsmen have made suit -That their good souls may be appeas'd with slaughter -Of you their captives , which ourself have granted : - -So , think of your estate . - -Consider , sir , the chance of war : the day -Was yours by accident ; had it gone with us , -We should not , when the blood was cool , have threaten'd -Our prisoners with the sword . But since the gods -Will have it thus , that nothing but our lives -May be call'd ransom , let it come ; sufficeth , -A Roman with a Roman's heart can suffer ; -Augustus lives to think on 't ; and so much -For my peculiar care . This one thing only -I will entreat ; my boy , a Briton born , -Let him be ransom'd ; never master had -A page so kind , so duteous , diligent , -So tender over his occasions , true , -So feat , so nurse-like . Let his virtue join -With my request , which I'll make bold your highness -Cannot deny ; he hath done no Briton harm , -Though he have serv'd a Roman . Save him , sir , -And spare no blood beside . - -I have surely seen him ; -His favour is familiar to me . Boy , -Thou hast look'd thyself into my grace , -And art mine own . I know not why nor wherefore , -To say , 'live , boy :' ne'er thank thy master ; live : -And ask of Cymbeline what boon thou wilt , -Fitting my bounty and thy state , I'll give it ; -Yea , though thou do demand a prisoner , -The noblest ta'en . - -I humbly thank your highness . - -I do not bid thee beg my life , good lad ; -And yet I know thou wilt . - -No , no ; alack ! -There's other work in hand . I see a thing -Bitter to me as death ; your life , good master , -Must shuffle for itself . - -The boy disdains me , -He leaves me , scorns me ; briefly die their joys -That place them on the truth of girls and boys . -Why stands he so perplex'd ? - -What wouldst thou , boy ? -I love thee more and more ; think more and more -What's best to ask . Know'st him thou look'st on ? speak ; -Wilt have him live ? Is he thy kin ? thy friend ? - -He is a Roman ; no more kin to me -Than I to your highness ; who , being born your vassal , -Am something nearer . - -Wherefore ey'st him so ? - -I'll tell you , sir , in private , if you please -To give me hearing . - -Ay , with all my heart , -And lend my best attention . What's thy name ? - -Fidele , sir . - -Thou'rt my good youth , my page ; -I'll be thy master : walk with me ; speak freely . - - -Is not this boy reviv'd from death ? - -One sand another -Not more resembles ;that sweet rosy lad -Who died , and was Fidele . What think you ? - -The same dead thing alive . - -Peace , peace ! see further ; he eyes us not ; forbear ; -Creatures may be alike ; were 't he , I am sure -He would have spoke to us . - -But we saw him dead . - -Be silent ; let's see further . - -It is my mistress : -Since she is living , let the time run on -To good , or bad . - - -Come , stand thou by our side : -Make thy demand aloud . - -Sir , step you forth ; -Give answer to this boy , and do it freely , -Or , by our greatness and the grace of it , -Which is our honour , bitter torture shall -Winnow the truth from falsehood . On , speak to him . - -My boon is , that this gentleman may render -Of whom he had this ring . - -What's that to him ? - -That diamond upon your finger , say -How came it yours ? - -Thou'lt torture me to leave unspoken that -Which , to be spoke , would torture thee . - -How ! me ? - -I am glad to be constrain'd to utter that -Which torments me to conceal . By villany -I got this ring ; 'twas Leonatus' jewel , -Whom thou didst banish , and which more may grieve thee , -As it doth me a nobler sir ne'er liv'd -'Twixt sky and ground . Wilt thou hear more , my lord ? - -All that belongs to this . - -That paragon , thy daughter , -For whom my heart drops blood , and my false spirits -Quail to remember ,Give me leave ; I faint . - -My daughter ! what of her ? Renew thy strength ; -I had rather thou shouldst live while nature will -Than die ere I hear more . Strive , man , and speak . - -Upon a time ,unhappy was the clock -That struck the hour !it was in Rome ,accurs'd -The mansion where !'twas at a feast O , would -Our viands had been poison'd , or at least -Those which I heav'd to head !the good Posthumus , -What should I say ? he was too good to be -Where ill men were ; and was the best of all -Amongst the rar'st of good ones ;sitting sadly -Hearing us praise our loves of Italy -For beauty that made barren the swell'd boast -Of him that best could speak ; for feature laming -The shrine of Venus , or straight-pight Minerva , -Postures beyond brief nature ; for condition , -A shop of all the qualities that man -Loves woman for ; besides that hook of wiving , -Fairness which strikes the eye . - -I stand on fire . -Come to the matter . - -All too soon I shall , -Unless thou wouldst grieve quickly . This Posthumus -Most like a noble lord in love , and one -That had a royal lover took his hint ; -And , not dispraising whom we prais'd ,therein -He was as calm as virtue ,he began -His mistress' picture ; which by his tongue being made , -And then a mind put in 't , either our brags -Were crack'd of kitchen trulls , or his description -Prov'd us unspeaking sots . - -Nay , nay , to the purpose . - -Your daughter's chastity , there it begins . -He spake of her as Dian had hot dreams , -And she alone were cold ; whereat I , wretch , -Made scruple of his praise , and wager'd with him -Pieces of gold 'gainst this , which then he wore -Upon his honour'd finger , to attain -In suit the place of his bed , and win this ring -By hers and mine adultery . He , true knight , -No lesser of her honour confident -Than I did truly find her , stakes this ring ; -And would so , had it been a carbuncle -Of Ph bus' wheel ; and might so safely , had it -Been all the worth of 's car . Away to Britain -Post I in this design . Well may you , sir , -Remember me at court , where I was taught -Of your chaste daughter the wide difference -'Twixt amorous and villanous . Being thus quench'd -Of hope , not longing , mine Italian brain -'Gan in your duller Britain operate -Most vilely ; for my vantage , excellent ; -And , to be brief , my practice so prevail'd , -That I return'd with simular proof enough -To make the noble Leonatus mad , -By wounding his belief in her renown -With tokens thus , and thus ; averring notes -Of chamber-hanging , pictures , this her bracelet ; -Oh cunning ! how I got it !nay , some marks -Of secret on her person , that he could not -But think her bond of chastity quite crack'd , -I having ta'en the forfeit . Whereupon , -Methinks I see him now , - -Ay , so thou dost , -Italian fiend !Ay me , most credulous fool , -Egregious murderer , thief , any thing -That's due to all the villains past , in being , -To come . O ! give me cord , or knife , or poison , -Some upright justicer . Thou king , send out -For torturers ingenious ; it is I -That all the abhorred things o' the earth amend -By being worse than they . I am Posthumus , -That kill'd thy daughter ; villain-like , I lie ; -That caus'd a lesser villain than myself , -A sacrilegious thief , to do 't ; the temple -Of virtue was she ; yea , and she herself . -Spit , and throw stones , cast mire upon me , set -The dogs o' the street to bay me ; every villain -Be call'd Posthumus Leonatus ; and -Be villany less than 'twas ! O Imogen ! -My queen , my life , my wife ! O Imogen , -Imogen , Imogen ! - -Peace , my lord ! hear , hear ! - -Shall 's have a play of this ? Thou scornful page , -There lie thy part . - - -O , gentlemen , help ! -Mine , and your mistress ! O ! my Lord Posthumus , -You ne'er kill'd Imogen till now . Help , help ! -Mine honour'd lady ! - -Does the world go round ? - -How come these staggers on me ? - -Wake , my mistress ! - -If this be so , the gods do mean to strike me -To death with mortal joy . - -How fares my mistress ? - -O ! get thee from my sight : -Thou gav'st me poison : dangerous fellow , hence ! -Breathe not where princes are . - -The tune of Imogen ! - -Lady , -The gods throw stones of sulphur on me , if -That box I gave you was not thought by me -A precious thing : I had it from the queen . - -New matter still ? - -It poison'd me . - -O gods ! -I left out one thing which the queen confess'd , -Which must approve thee honest : 'If Pisanio -Have ,' said she , 'given his mistress that confection -Which I gave him for cordial , she is serv'd -As I would serve a rat .' - -What's this , Cornelius ? - -The queen , sir , very oft importun'd me -To temper poisons for her , still pretending -The satisfaction of her knowledge only -In killing creatures vile , as cats and dogs , -Of no esteem ; I , dreading that her purpose -Was of more danger , did compound for her -A certain stuff , which , being ta'en , would cease -The present power of life , but in short time -All offices of nature should again -Do their due functions . Have you ta'en of it ? - -Most like I did , for I was dead . - -My boys , -There was our error . - -This is , sure , Fidele . - -Why did you throw your wedded lady from you ? -Think that you are upon a rock ; and now -Throw me again . - - -Hang there like fruit , my soul , -Till the tree die ! - -How now , my flesh , my child ! -What , mak'st thou me a dullard in this act ? -Wilt thou not speak to me ? - -Your blessing , sir . - -Though you did love this youth , I blame ye not ; -You had a motive for 't . - -My tears that fall -Prove holy water on thee ! Imogen , -Thy mother's dead . - -I am sorry for 't , my lord . - -O , she was naught ; and long of her it was -That we meet here so strangely ; but her son -Is gone , we know not how , nor where . - -My lord , -Now fear is from me , I'll speak troth . Lord Cloten , -Upon my lady's missing , came to me -With his sword drawn , foam'd at the mouth , and swore -If I discover'd not which way she was gone , -It was my instant death . By accident , -I had a feigned letter of my master's -Then in my pocket , which directed him -To seek her on the mountains near to Milford ; -Where , in a frenzy , in my master's garments , -Which he enforc'd from me , away he posts -With unchaste purpose and with oath to violate -My lady's honour ; what became of him -I further know not . - -Let me end the story : -I slew him there . - -Marry , the gods forfend ! -I would not thy good deeds should from my lips -Pluck a hard sentence : Prithee , valiant youth , -Deny 't again . - -I have spoke it , and I did it . - -He was a prince . - -A most incivil one . The wrongs he did me -Were nothing prince-like ; for he did provoke me -With language that would make me spurn the sea -If it could so roar to me . I cut off 's head ; -And am right glad he is not standing here -To tell this tale of mine . - -I am sorry for thee : -By thine own tongue thou art condemn'd , and must -Endure our law . Thou'rt dead . - -That headless man -I thought had been my lord . - -Bind the offender , -And take him from our presence . - -Stay , sir king : -This man is better than the man he slew , -As well descended as thyself ; and hath -More of thee merited than a band of Clotens -Had ever scar for . - -Let his arms alone ; -They were not born for bondage . - -Why , old soldier , -Wilt thou undo the worth thou art unpaid for , -By tasting of our wrath ? How of descent -As good as we ? - -In that he spake too far . - -And thou shalt die for 't . - -We will die all three : -But I will prove that two on 's are as good -As I have given out him . My sons , I must -For mine own part unfold a dangerous speech , -Though , haply , well for you . - -Your danger's ours . - -And our good his . - -Have at it , then , by leave . -Thou hadst , great king , a subject who was call'd -Belarius . - -What of him ? he is -A banish'd traitor . - -He it is that hath -Assum'd this age : indeed , a banish'd man ; -I know not how a traitor . - -Take him hence : -The whole world shall not save him . - -Not too hot : -First pay me for the nursing of thy sons ; -And let it be confiscate all so soon -As I have receiv'd it . - -Nursing of my sons ! - -I am too blunt and saucy ; here's my knee : -Ere I arise I will prefer my sons ; -Then spare not the old father . Mighty sir , -These two young gentlemen , that call me father , -And think they are my sons , are none of mine ; -They are the issue of your loins , my liege , -And blood of your begetting . - -How ! my issue ! - -So sure as you your father's . I , old Morgan , -Am that Belarius whom you sometime banish'd : -Your pleasure was my mere offence , my punishment -Itself , and all my treason ; that I suffer'd -Was all the harm I did . These gentle princes -For such and so they are these twenty years -Have I train'd up ; those arts they have as I -Could put into them ; my breeding was , sir , as -Your highness knows . Their nurse , Euriphile , -Whom for the theft I wedded , stole these children -Upon my banishment : I mov'd her to 't , -Having receiv'd the punishment before , -For that which I did then ; beaten for loyalty -Excited me to treason . Their dear loss , -The more of you 'twas felt the more it shap'd -Unto my end of stealing them . But , gracious sir , -Here are your sons again ; and I must lose -Two of the sweet'st companions in the world . -The benediction of these covering heavens -Fall on their heads like dew ! for they are worthy -To inlay heaven with stars . - -Thou weep'st , and speak'st . -The service that you three have done is more -Unlike than this thou tell'st . I lost my children : -If these be they , I know not how to wish -A pair of worthier sons . - -Be pleas'd awhile . -This gentleman , whom I call Polydore , -Most worthy prince , as yours , is true Guiderius ; -This gentleman , my Cadwal , Arviragus , -Your younger princely son ; he , sir , was lapp'd -In a most curious mantle , wrought by the hand -Of his queen mother , which , for more probation , -I can with ease produce . - -Guiderius had -Upon his neck a mole , a sanguine star ; -It was a mark of wonder . - -This is he , -Who hath upon him still that natural stamp . -It was wise nature's end in the donation , -To be his evidence now . - -O ! what , am I -A mother to the birth of three ? Ne'er mother -Rejoic'd deliverance more . Blest pray you be , -That , after this strange starting from your orbs , -You may reign in them now . O Imogen ! -Thou hast lost by this a kingdom . - -No , my lord ; -I have got two worlds by 't . O my gentle brothers ! -Have we thus met ? O , never say hereafter -But I am truest speaker : you call'd me brother , -When I was but your sister ; I you brothers -When ye were so indeed . - -Did you e'er meet ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -And at first meeting lov'd ; -Continu'd so , until we thought he died . - -By the queen's dram she swallow'd . - -O rare instinct ! -When shall I hear all through ? This fierce abridgment -Hath to it circumstantial branches , which -Distinction should be rich in . Where ? how liv'd you ? -And when came you to serve our Roman captive ? -How parted with your brothers ? how first met them ? -Why fied you from the court , and whither ? These , -And your three motives to the battle , with -I know not how much more , should be demanded , -And all the other by-dependances , -From chance to chance , but nor the time nor place -Will serve our long inter'gatories . See , -Posthumus anchors upon Imogen , -And she , like harmless lightning , throws her eye -On him , her brothers , me , her master , hitting -Each object with a joy : the counterchange -Is severally in all . Let's quit this ground , -And smoke the temple with our sacrifices . - - -Thou art my brother ; so we'll hold thee ever . - -You are my father too ; and did relieve me , -To see this gracious season . - -All o'erjoy'd -Save these in bonds ; let them be joyful too , -For they shall taste our comfort . - -My good master , -I will yet do you service . - -Happy be you ! - -The forlorn soldier , that so nobly fought -He would have well becom'd this place and grac'd -The thankings of a king . - -I am , sir , -The soldier that did company these three -In poor beseeming ; 'twas a fitment for -The purpose I then follow'd . That I was he , -Speak , Iachimo ; I had you down and might -Have made you finish . - -I am down again ; -But now my heavy conscience sinks my knee , -As then your force did . Take that life , beseech you , -Which I so often owe , but your ring first , -And here the bracelet of the truest princess -That ever swore her faith . - -Kneel not to me : -The power that I have on you is to spare you ; -The malice towards you to forgive you . Live , -And deal with others better . - -Nobly doom'd : -We'll learn our freeness of a son-in-law ; -Pardon's the word to all . - -You holp us , sir , -As you did mean indeed to be our brother ; -Joy'd are we that you are . - -Your servant , princes . Good my lord of Rome , -Call forth your soothsayer . As I slept , methought -Great Jupiter , upon his eagle back'd , -Appear'd to me , with other spritely shows -Of mine own kindred : when I wak'd , I found -This label on my bosom ; whose containing -Is so from sense in hardness that I can -Make no collection of it ; let him show -His skill in the construction . - -Philarmonus ! - -Here , my good lord . - -Read , and declare the meaning - -Whenas a lion's whelp shall , to himself unknown , without seeking find , and be embraced by a piece of tender air ; and when from a stately cedar shall be lopped branches , which , being dead many years , shall after revive , be jointed to the old stock , and freshly grow : then shall Posthumus end his miseries , Britain be fortunate , and flourish in peace and plenty . -Thou , Leonatus , art the lion's whelp ; -The fit and apt construction of thy name , -Being Leo-natus , doth import so much . - - -The piece of tender air , thy virtuous daughter , -Which we call mollis aer ; and mollis aer -We term it mulier ; which mulier , I divine , -Is this most constant wife ; who , even now , -Answering the letter of the oracle , -Unknown to you , - -unsought , were clipp'd about -With this most tender air . - -This hath some seeming . - -The lofty cedar , royal Cymbeline , -Personates thee , and thy lopp'd branches point -Thy two sons forth ; who , by Belarius stolen , -For many years thought dead , are now reviv'd -To the majestic cedar join'd , whose issue -Promises Britain peace and plenty . - -Well ; -My peace we will begin . And , Caius Lucius , -Although the victor , we submit to C sar , -And to the Roman empire ; promising -To pay our wonted tribute , from the which -We were dissuaded by our wicked queen ; -Whom heavens in justice both on her and hers -Have laid most heavy hand . - -The fingers of the powers above do tune -The harmony of this peace . The vision -Which I made known to Lucius ere the stroke -Of this yet scarce-cold battle , at this instant -Is full accomplish'd ; for the Roman eagle , -From south to west on wing soaring aloft , -Lessen'd herself , and in the beams o' the sun -So vanish'd : which foreshow'd our princely eagle , -The imperial C sar , should again unite -His favour with the radiant Cymbeline , -Which shines here in the west . - -Laud we the gods ; -And let our crooked smokes climb to their nostrils -From our bless'd altars . Publish we this peace -To all our subjects . Set we forward : let -A Roman and a British ensign wave -Friendly together ; so through Lud's town march : -And in the temple of great Jupiter -Our peace we'll ratify ; seal it with feasts . -Set on there . Never was a war did cease , -Ere bloody hands were wash'd , with such a peace . - -LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST - -Let fame , that all hunt after in their lives , -Live register'd upon our brazen tombs , -And then grace us in the disgrace of death ; -When , spite of cormorant devouring Time , -The endeavour of this present breath may buy -That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge , -And make us heirs of all eternity . -Therefore , brave conquerors ,for so you are , -That war against your own affections -And the huge army of the world's desires , -Our late edict shall strongly stand in force : -Navarre shall be the wonder of the world ; -Our court shall be a little academe , -Still and contemplative in living art . -You three , Berowne , Dumaine , and Longaville , -Have sworn for three years' term to live with me , -My fellow-scholars , and to keep those statutes -That are recorded in this schedule here : -Your oaths are pass'd ; and now subscribe your names , -That his own hand may strike his honour down -That violates the smallest branch herein . -If you are arm'd to do , as sworn to do , -Subscribe to your deep oaths , and keep it too . - -I am resolv'd ; 'tis but a three years' fast : -The mind shall banquet , though the body pine : -Fat paunches have lean pates , and dainty bits -Make rich the ribs , but bankrupt quite the wits . - -My loving lord , Dumaine is mortified : -The grosser manner of these world's delights -He throws upon the gross world's baser slaves : -To love , to wealth , to pomp , I pine and die ; -With all these living in philosophy . - -I can but say their protestation over ; -So much , dear liege , I have already sworn , -That is , to live and study here three years . -But there are other strict observances ; -As , not to see a woman in that term , -Which I hope well is not enrolled there : -And one day in a week to touch no food , -And but one meal on every day beside ; -The which I hope is not enrolled there : -And then , to sleep but three hours in the night , -And not be seen to wink of all the day , -When I was wont to think no harm all night -And make a dark night too of half the day , -Which I hope well is not enrolled there . -O ! these are barren tasks , too hard to keep , -Not to see ladies , study , fast , not sleep . - -Your oath is pass'd to pass away from these . - -Let me say no , my liege , an if you please . -I only swore to study with your Grace , -And stay here in your court for three years' space . - -You swore to that , Berowne , and to the rest . - -By yea and nay , sir , then I swore in jest . -What is the end of study ? let me know . - -Why , that to know which else we should not know . - -Things hid and barr'd , you mean , from common sense ? - -Ay , that is study's god-like recompense . - -Come on then ; I will swear to study so , -To know the thing I am forbid to know ; -As thus : to study where I well may dine , -When I to feast expressly am forbid ; -Or study where to meet some mistress fine , -When mistresses from common sense are hid ; -Or , having sworn too hard-a-keeping oath , -Study to break it , and not break my troth . -If study's gain be thus , and this be so , -Study knows that which yet it doth not know . -Swear me to this , and I will ne'er say no . - -These be the stops that hinder study quite , -And train our intellects to vain delight . - -Why , all delights are vain ; but that most vain -Which , with pain purchas'd doth inherit pain : -As , painfully to pore upon a book , -To seek the light of truth ; while truth the while -Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look : -Light seeking light doth light of light beguile : -So , ere you find where light in darkness lies , -Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes . -Study me how to please the eye indeed , -By fixing it upon a fairer eye , -Who dazzling so , that eye shall be his heed , -And give him light that it was blinded by . -Study is like the heaven's glorious sun , -That will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks ; -Small have continual plodders ever won , -Save base authority from others' books . -These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights -That give a name to every fixed star , -Have no more profit of their shining nights -Than those that walk and wot not what they are . -Too much to know is to know nought but fame ; -And every godfather can give a name . - -How well he's read , to reason against reading ! - -Proceeded well , to stop all good proceeding ! - -He weeds the corn , and still lets grow the weeding . - -The spring is near , when green geese are a-breeding . - -How follows that ? - -Fit in his place and time . - -In reason nothing . - -Something then , in rime . - -Berowne is like an envious sneaping frost -That bites the first-born infants of the spring . - -Well , say I am : why should proud summer boast -Before the birds have any cause to sing ? -Why should I joy in an abortive birth ? -At Christmas I no more desire a rose -Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth ; -But like of each thing that in season grows . -So you , to study now it is too late , -Climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate . - -Well , sit you out : go home , Berowne : adieu ! - -No , my good lord ; I have sworn to stay with you : -And though I have for barbarism spoke more -Than for that angel knowledge you can say , -Yet confident I'll keep to what I swore , -And bide the penance of each three years' day . -Give me the paper ; let me read the same ; -And to the strict'st decrees I'll write my name . - -How well this yielding rescues thee from shame ! - -Item , That no woman shall come within a mile of my court . Hath this been proclaimed ? - -Four days ago . - -Let's see the penalty . On pain of losing her tongue . Who devised this penalty ? - -Marry , that did I . - -Sweet lord , and why ? - -To fright them hence with that dread penalty . - -A dangerous law against gentility ! - -Item . If any man be seen to talk with a woman within the term of three years , he shall endure such public shame as the rest of the court can possibly devise . -This article , my liege , yourself must break ; -For well you know here comes in embassy -The French king's daughter with yourself to speak -A maid of grace and complete majesty -About surrender up of Aquitaine -To her decrepit , sick , and bed-rid father : -Therefore this article is made in vain , -Or vainly comes th' admired princess hither . - -What say you , lords ? why , this was quite forgot . - -So study evermore is overshot : -While it doth study to have what it would , -It doth forget to do the thing it should ; -And when it hath the thing it hunteth most , -'Tis won as towns with fire ; so won , so lost . - -We must of force dispense with this decree ; -She must lie here on mere necessity . - -Necessity will make us all forsworn -Three thousand times within this three years' space ; -For every man with his affects is born , -Not by might master'd , but by special grace . -If I break faith this word shall speak for me , -I am forsworn 'on mere necessity .' -So to the laws at large I write my name : - -And he that breaks them in the least degree -Stands in attainder of eternal shame : -Suggestions are to others as to me ; -But I believe , although I seem so loath , -I am the last that will last keep his oath . -But is there no quick recreation granted ? - -Ay , that there is . Our court , you know , is haunted -With a refined traveller of Spain ; -A man in all the world's new fashion planted , -That hath a mint of phrases in his brain ; -One whom the music of his own vain tongue -Doth ravish like enchanting harmony ; -A man of complements , whom right and wrong -Have chose as umpire of their mutiny : -This child of fancy , that Armado hight , -For interim to our studies shall relate -In high-born words the worth of many a knight -From tawny Spain lost in the world's debate . -How you delight , my lords , I know not , I ; -But , I protest , I love to hear him lie , -And I will use him for my minstrelsy . - -Armado is a most illustrious wight , -A man of fire-new words , fashion's own knight . - -Costard the swain and he shall be our sport ; -And , so to study , three years is but short . - - -Which is the duke's own person ? - -This , fellow . What wouldst ? - -I myself reprehend his own person , for I am his Grace's tharborough : but I would see his own person in flesh and blood . - -This is he . - -Signior Arm Arm commends you . There's villany abroad : this letter will tell you more . - -Sir , the contempts thereof are as touching me . - -A letter from the magnificent Armado . - -How long soever the matter , I hope in God for high words . - -A high hope for a low heaven : God grant us patience ! - -To hear , or forbear laughing ? - -To hear meekly , sir , and to laugh moderately ; or to forbear both . - -Well , sir , be it as the style shall give us cause to climb in the merriness . - -The matter is to me , sir , as concerning Jaquenetta . The manner of it is , I was taken with the manner . - -In what manner ? - -In manner and form following , sir ; all those three : I was seen with her in the manor-house , sitting with her upon the form , and taken following her into the park ; which , put together , is , in manner and form following . Now , sir , for the manner ,it is the manner of a man to speak to a woman , for the form ,in some form . - -For the following , sir ? - -As it shall follow in my correction ; and God defend the right ! - -Will you hear this letter with attention ? - -As we would hear an oracle . - -Such is the simplicity of man to hearken after the flesh . - -Great deputy , the welkin's vicegerent , and sole dominator of Navarre , my soul's earth's God , and body's fostering patron , - -Not a word of Costard yet . - -So it is , - -It may be so ; but if he say it is so , he is , in telling true , but so . - -Peace ! - -Be to me and every man that dares not fight . - -No words ! - -Of other men's secrets , I beseech you . - -So it is , besieged with sable-coloured melancholy , I did commend the black-oppressing humour to the most wholesome physic of thy health-giving air ; and , as I am a gentleman , betook myself to walk . The time when ? About the sixth hour ; when beasts most graze , birds best peck , and men sit down to that nourishment which is called supper : so much for the time when . Now for the ground which ; which , I mean , I walked upon : it is ycleped thy park . Then for the place where ; where , I mean , I did encounter that most obscene and preposterous event , that draweth from my snow-white pen the ebon-coloured ink , which here thou viewest , beholdest , surveyest , or seest . But to the place where , it standeth north-north-east and by east from the west corner of thy curious-knotted garden : there did I see that low-spirited swain , that base minnow of thy mirth , - -Me . - -that unlettered small-knowing soul , - -Me . - -that shallow vessel , - -Still me . - -which , as I remember , hight Costard , - -O me . - -sorted and consorted , contrary to thy established proclaimed edict and continent canon , with with ,O ! with but with this I passion to say wherewith , - -With a wench . - -with a child of our grandmother Eve , a female ; or , for thy more sweet understanding , a woman . Him , I ,as my everesteemed duty pricks me on ,have sent to thee , to receive the meed of punishment , by thy sweet Grace's officer , Antony Dull ; a man of good repute , carriage , bearing , and estimation . - -Me , an't please you ; I am Antony Dull . - -For Jaquenetta ,so is the weaker vessel called which I apprehended with the aforesaid swain ,I keep her as a vessel of thy law's fury ; and shall , at the least of thy sweet notice , bring her to trial . Thine , in all compliments of devoted and heart-burning heat of duty , - -This is not so well as I looked for , but the best that ever I heard . - -Ay , the best for the worst . But , sirrah , what say you to this ? - -Sir , I confess the wench . - -Did you hear the proclamation ? - -I do confess much of the hearing it , but little of the marking of it . - -It was proclaimed a year's imprisonment to be taken with a wench . - -I was taken with none , sir : I was taken with a damosel . - -Well , it was proclaimed 'damosel .' - -This was no damosel neither , sir : she was a 'virgin .' - -It is so varied too ; for it was proclaimed 'virgin .' - -If it were , I deny her virginity : I was taken with a maid . - -This maid will not serve your turn , sir . - -This maid will serve my turn , sir . - -Sir , I will pronounce your sentence : you shall fast a week with bran and water . - -I had rather pray a month with mutton and porridge . - -And Don Armado shall be your keeper . -My Lord Berowne , see him deliver'd o'er : -And go we , lords , to put in practice that -Which each to other hath so strongly sworn . - - -I'll lay my head to any good man's hat , -These oaths and laws will prove an idle scorn . -Sirrah , come on . - -I suffer for the truth , sir : for true it is I was taken with Jaquenetta , and Jaquenetta is a true girl ; and therefore welcome the sour cup of prosperity ! Affliction may one day smile again ; and till then , sit thee down , sorrow ! - - -Boy , what sign is it when a man of great spirit grows melancholy ? - -A great sign , sir , that he will look sad . - -Why , sadness is one and the self-same thing , dear imp . - -No , no ; O Lord , sir , no . - -How canst thou part sadness and melancholy , my tender juvenal ? - -By a familiar demonstration of the working , my tough senior . - -Why tough senior ? why tough senior ? - -Why tender juvenal ? why tender juvenal ? - -I spoke it , tender juvenal , as a congruent epitheton appertaining to thy young days , which we may nominate tender . - -And I , tough senior , as an appertinent title to your old time , which we may name tough . - -Pretty , and apt . - -How mean you , sir ? I pretty , and my saying apt ? or I apt , and my saying pretty ? - -Thou pretty , because little . - -Little pretty , because little . Wherefore apt ? - -And therefore apt , because quick . - -Speak you this in my praise , master ? - -In thy condign praise . - -I will praise an eel with the same praise . - -What ! that an eel is ingenious ? - -That an eel is quick . - -I do say thou art quick in answers : thou heatest my blood . - -I am answered , sir . - -I love not to be crossed . - -He speaks the mere contrary : crosses love not him . - -I have promised to study three years with the duke . - -You may do it in an hour , sir . - -Impossible . - -How many is one thrice told ? - -I am ill at reckoning ; it fitteth the spirit of a tapster . - -You are a gentleman and a gamester , sir . - -I confess both : they are both the varnish of a complete man . - -Then , I am sure you know how much the gross sum of deuce-ace amounts to . - -It doth amount to one more than two . - -Which the base vulgar do call three . - -True . - -Why , sir , is this such a piece of study ? Now , here's three studied , ere you'll thrice wink ; and how easy it is to put 'years' to the word 'three ,' and study three years in two words , the dancing horse will tell you . - -A most fine figure ! - -To prove you a cipher . - -I will hereupon confess I am in love ; and as it is base for a soldier to love , so am I in love with a base wench . If drawing my sword against the humour of affection would deliver me from the reprobate thought of it , I would take Desire prisoner , and ransom him to any French courtier for a new devised curtsy . I think scorn to sigh : methinks I should outswear Cupid . Comfort me , boy : what great men have been in love ? - -Hercules , master . - -Most sweet Hercules ! More authority , dear boy , name more ; and , sweet my child , let them be men of good repute and carriage . - -Samson , master : he was a man of good carriage , great carriage , for he carried the towngates on his back like a porter ; and he was in love . - -O well-knit Samson ! strong-jointed Samson ! I do excel thee in my rapier as much as thou didst me in carrying gates . I am in love too . Who was Samson's love , my dear Moth ? - -A woman , master . - -Of what complexion ? - -Of all the four , or the three , or the two , or one of the four . - -Tell me precisely of what complexion . - -Of the sea-water green , sir . - -Is that one of the four complexions ? - -As I have read , sir ; and the best of them too . - -Green indeed is the colour of lovers ; but to have a love of that colour , methinks Samson had small reason for it . He surely affected her for her wit . - -It was so , sir , for she had a green wit . - -My love is most immaculate white and red . - -Most maculate thoughts , master , are masked under such colours . - -Define , define , well-educated infant . - -My father's wit , and my mother's tongue , assist me ! - -Sweet invocation of a child ; most pretty and pathetical ! - - -If she be made of white and red , -Her faults will ne'er be known , -For blushing cheeks by faults are bred , -And fears by pale white shown : -Then if she fear , or be to blame , -By this you shall not know , -For still her cheeks possess the same -Which native she doth owe . - -A dangerous rime , master , against the reason of white and red . - -Is there not a ballad , boy , of the King and the Beggar ? - -The world was very guilty of such a ballad some three ages since ; but I think now 'tis not to be found ; or , if it were , it would neither serve for the writing nor the tune . - -I will have that subject newly writ o'er , that I may example my digression by some mighty precedent . Boy , I do love that country girl that I took in the park with the rational hind Costard : she deserves well . - -To be whipped ; and yet a better love than my master . - -Sing , boy : my spirit grows heavy in love . - -And that's great marvel , loving a light wench . - -I say , sing . - -Forbear till this company be past . - - -Sir , the duke's pleasure is , that you keep Costard safe : and you must let him take no delight nor no penance , but a' must fast three days a week . For this damsel , I must keep her at the park ; she is allowed for the day-woman . -Fare you well . - -I do betray myself with blushing . Maid ! - -Man ? - -I will visit thee at the lodge . - -That's hereby . - -I know where it is situate . - -Lord , how wise you are ! - -I will tell thee wonders . - -With that face ? - -I love thee . - -So I heard you say . - -And so farewell . - -Fair weather after you ! - -Come , Jaquenetta , away ! - - -Villain , thou shalt fast for thy offences ere thou be pardoned . - -Well , sir , I hope , when I do it , I shall do it on a full stomach . - -Thou shalt be heavily punished . - -I am more bound to you than your fellows , for they are but lightly rewarded . - -Take away this villain : shut him up . - -Come , you transgressing slave : away ! - -Let me not be pent up , sir : I will fast , being loose . - -No , sir ; that were fast and loose : thou shalt to prison . - -Well , if ever I do see the merry days of desolation that I have seen , some shall see - -What shall some see ? - -Nay , nothing , Master Moth , but what they look upon . It is not for prisoners to be too silent in their words ; and therefore I will say nothing : I thank God I have as little patience as another man , and therefore I can be quiet . - - -I do affect the very ground , which is base , where her shoe , which is baser , guided by her foot , which is basest , doth tread . I shall be forsworn ,which is a great argument of falsehood ,if I love . And how can that be true love which is falsely attempted ? Love is a familiar ; Love is a devil : there is no evil angel but Love . Yet was Samson so tempted , and he had an excellent strength ; yet was Solomon so seduced , and he had a very good wit . Cupid's butt-shaft is too hard for Hercules' club , and therefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier . The first and second clause will not serve my turn ; the passado he respects not , the duello he regards not : his disgrace is to be called boy , but his glory is , to subdue men . Adieu , valour ! rust , rapier ! be still , drum ! for your manager is in love ; yea , he loveth . Assist me some extemporal god of rime , for I am sure I shall turn sonneter . Devise , wit ; write , pen ; for I am for whole volumes in folio . - -Now , madam , summon up your dearest spirits : -Consider whom the king your father sends , -To whom he sends , and what's his embassy : -Yourself , held precious in the world's esteem , -To parley with the sole inheritor -Of all perfections that a man may owe , -Matchless Navarre ; the plea of no less weight -Than Aquitaine , a dowry for a queen . -Be now as prodigal of all dear grace -As Nature was in making graces dear -When she did starve the general world beside , -And prodigally gave them all to you . - -Good Lord Boyet , my beauty , though but mean , -Needs not the painted flourish of your praise : -Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye , -Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues . -I am less proud to hear you tell my worth -Than you much willing to be counted wise -In spending your wit in the praise of mine . -But now to task the tasker : good Boyet , -You are not ignorant , all-telling fame -Doth noise abroad , Navarre hath made a vow , -Till painful study shall out-wear three years , -No woman may approach his silent court : -Therefore to us seemth it a needful course , -Before we enter his forbidden gates , -To know his pleasure ; and in that behalf , -Bold of your worthiness , we single you -As our best-moving fair solicitor . -Tell him , the daughter of the King of France , -On serious business , craving quick dispatch , -Importunes personal conference with his Grace . -Haste , signify so much ; while we attend , -Like humble-visag'd suitors , his high will . - -Proud of employment , willingly I go . - -All pride is willing pride , and yours is so . - -Who are the votaries , my loving lords , -That are vow-fellows with this virtuous duke ? - -Lord Longaville is one . - -Know you the man ? - -I know him , madam : at a marriage feast , -Between Lord Perigort and the beauteous heir -Of Jacques Falconbridge , solemnized -In Normandy , saw I this Longaville . -A man of sovereign parts he is esteem'd ; -Well fitted in the arts , glorious in arms : -Nothing becomes him ill that he would well . -The only soil of his fair virtue's gloss , -If virtue's gloss will stain with any soil , -Is a sharp wit match'd with too blunt a will ; -Whose edge hath power to cut , whose will still wills -It should none spare that come within his power . - -Some merry mocking lord , belike ; is't so ? - -They say so most that most his humours know . - -Such short-liv'd wits do wither as they grow . -Who are the rest ? - -The young Dumaine , a well-accomplish'd youth , -Of all that virtue love for virtue lov'd : -Most power to do most harm , least knowing ill , -For he hath wit to make an ill shape good , -And shape to win grace though he had no wit . -I saw him at the Duke Alen on's once ; -And much too little of that good I saw -Is my report to his great worthiness . - -Another of these students at that time -Was there with him , if I have heard a truth : -Berowne they call him ; but a merrier man , -Within the limit of becoming mirth , -I never spent an hour's talk withal . -His eye begets occasion for his wit ; -For every object that the one doth catch -The other turns to a mirth-moving jest , -Which his fair tongue , conceit's expositor , -Delivers in such apt and gracious words , -That aged ears play truant at his tales , -And younger hearings are quite ravished ; -So sweet and voluble is his discourse . - -God bless my ladies ! are they all in love , -That every one her own hath garnished -With such bedecking ornaments of praise ? - -Here comes Boyet . - - -Now , what admittance , lord ? - -Navarre had notice of your fair approach ; -And he and his competitors in oath -Were all address'd to meet you , gentle lady , -Before I came . Marry , thus much I have learnt ; -He rather means to lodge you in the field , -Like one that comes here to besiege his court , -Than seek a dispensation for his oath , -To let you enter his unpeeled house . -Here comes Navarre . - -Fair princess , welcome to the court of Navarre . - -'Fair ,' I give you back again ; and 'welcome' I have not yet : the roof of this court is too high to be yours , and welcome to the wide fields too base to be mine . - -You shall be welcome , madam , to my court . - -I will be welcome , then : conduct me thither . - -Hear me , dear lady ; I have sworn an oath . - -Our Lady help my lord ! he'll be forsworn . - -Not for the world , fair madam , by my will . - -Why , will shall break it ; will , and nothing else . - -Your ladyship is ignorant what it is . - -Were my lord so , his ignorance were wise , -Where now his knowledge must prove ignorance . -I hear your grace hath sworn out house-keeping : -'Tis deadly sin to keep that oath , my lord , -And sin to break it . -But pardon me , I am too sudden-bold : -To teach a teacher ill beseemeth me . -Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my coming , -And suddenly resolve me in my suit . - - -Madam , I will , if suddenly I may . - -You will the sooner that I were away , -For you'll prove perjur'd if you make me stay . - -Did not I dance with you in Brabant once ? - -Did not I dance with you in Brabant once ? - -I know you did . - -How needless was it then -To ask the question ! - -You must not be so quick . - -'Tis 'long of you that spur me with such questions . - -Your wit's too hot , it speeds too fast , 'twill tire . - -Not till it leave the rider in the mire . - -What time o' day ? - -The hour that fools should ask . - -Now fair befall your mask ! - -Fair fall the face it covers ! - -And send you many lovers ! - -Amen , so you be none . - -Nay , then I will be gone . - -Madam , your father here doth intimate -The payment of a hundred thousand crowns ; -Being but the one half of an entire sum -Disbursed by my father in his wars . -But say that he , or we ,as neither have , -Receiv'd that sum , yet there remains unpaid -A hundred thousand more ; in surety of the which , -One part of Aquitaine is bound to us , -Although not valu'd to the money's worth . -If then the king your father will restore -But that one half which is unsatisfied , -We will give up our right in Aquitaine , -And hold fair friendship with his majesty . -But that it seems , he little purposeth , -For here he doth demand to have repaid -A hundred thousand crowns ; and not demands , -On payment of a hundred thousand crowns , -To have his title live in Aquitaine ; -Which we much rather had depart withal , -And have the money by our father lent , -Than Aquitaine , so gelded as it is . -Dear princess , were not his requests so far -From reason's yielding , your fair self should make -A yielding 'gainst some reason in my breast , -And go well satisfied to France again . - -You do the king my father too much wrong -And wrong the reputation of your name , -In so unseeming to confess receipt -Of that which hath so faithfully been paid . - -I do protest I never heard of it ; -And if you prove it , I'll repay it back -Or yield up Aquitaine . - -We arrest your word . -Boyet , you can produce acquittances -For such a sum from special officers -Of Charles his father . - -Satisfy me so . - -So please your Grace , the packet is not come -Where that and other specialties are bound : -To-morrow you shall have a sight of them . - -It shall suffice me : at which interview -All liberal reason I will yield unto . -Meantime , receive such welcome at my hand -As honour , without breach of honour , may -Make tender of to thy true worthiness . -You may not come , fair princess , in my gates ; -But here without you shall be so receiv'd , -As you shall deem yourself lodg'd in my heart , -Though so denied fair harbour in my house . -Your own good thoughts excuse me , and farewell : -To-morrow shall we visit you again . - -Sweet health and fair desires consort your Grace ! - -Thy own wish wish I thee in every place ! - - -Lady , I will commend you to mine own heart . - -Pray you , do my commendations ; I would be glad to see it . - -I would you heard it groan . - -Is the fool sick ? - -Sick at the heart . - -Alack ! let it blood . - -Would that do it good ? - -My physic says , 'ay .' - -Will you prick't with your eye ? - -No point , with my knife . - -Now , God save thy life ! - -And yours from long living ! - -I cannot stay thanksgiving . - - -Sir , I pray you , a word : what lady is that same ? - -The heir of Alen on , Katharine her name . - -A gallant lady . Monsieur , fare you well . - - -I beseech you a word : what is she in the white ? - -A woman sometimes , an you saw her in the light . - -Perchance light in the light . I desire her name . - -She hath but one for herself ; to desire that , were a shame . - -Pray you , sir , whose daughter ? - -Her mother's , I have heard . - -God's blessing on your beard ! - -Good sir , be not offended . -She is an heir of Falconbridge . - -Nay , my choler is ended . -She is a most sweet lady . - -Not unlike , sir ; that may be . - - -What's her name , in the cap ? - -Rosaline , by good hap . - -Is she wedded or no ? - -To her will , sir , or so . - -You are welcome , sir . Adieu . - -Farewell to me , sir , and welcome to you . - - -That last is Berowne , the merry mad-cap lord : -Not a word with him but a jest . - -And every jest but a word . - -It was well done of you to take him at his word . - -I was as willing to grapple , as he was to board . - -Two hot sheeps , marry ! - -And wherefore not ships ? -No sheep , sweet lamb , unless we feed on your lips . - -You sheep , and I pasture : shall that finish the jest ? - -So you grant pasture for me . - - -Not so , gentle beast . -My lips are no common , though several they be . - -Belonging to whom ? - -To my fortunes and me . - -Good wits will be jangling ; but , gentles , agree . -This civil war of wits were much better us'd -On Navarre and his book-men , for here 'tis abus'd . - -If my observation ,which very seldom lies , -By the heart's still rhetoric disclosed with eyes , -Deceive me not now , Navarre is infected . - -With what ? - -With that which we lovers entitle affected . - -Your reason . - -Why , all his behaviours did make their retire -To the court of his eye , peeping thorough desire ; -His heart , like an agate , with your print impress'd , -Proud with his form , in his eye pride express'd : -His tongue , all impatient to speak and not see , -Did stumble with haste in his eyesight to be ; -All senses to that sense did make their repair , -To feel only looking on fairest of fair , -Methought all his senses were lock'd in his eye , -As jewels in crystal for some prince to buy ; -Who , tend'ring their own worth from where they were glass'd , -Did point you to buy them , along as you pass'd . -His face's own margent did quote such amazes , -That all eyes saw his eyes enchanted with gazes . -I'll give you Aquitaine , and all that is his , -An' you give him for my sake but one loving kiss . - -Come to our pavilion : Boyet is dispos'd . - -But to speak that in words which his eye hath disclos'd . -I only have made a mouth of his eye , -By adding a tongue which I know will not he . - -Thou art an old love-monger , and speak'st skilfully . - -He is Cupid's grandfather and learns news of him . - -Then was Venus like her mother , for her father is but grim . - -Do you hear , my mad wenches ? - -No . - -What , then , do you see ? - -Ay , our way to be gone . - -You are too hard for me . - -Warble , child ; make passionate my sense of hearing . - -Concolinel , - -Sweet air ! Go , tenderness of years ; take this key , give enlargement to the swain , bring him festinately hither ; I must employ him in a letter to my love . - -Master , will you win your love with a French brawl ? - -How meanest thou ? brawling in French ? - -No , my complete master ; but to jig off a tune at the tongue's end , canary to it with your feet , humour it with turning up your eyelids , sigh a note and sing a note , sometime through the throat , as if you swallowed love by singing love , sometime through the nose , as if you snuffed up love by smelling love ; with your hat penthouse-like o'er the shop of your eyes ; with your arms crossed on your thin belly-doublet like a rabbit on a spit ; or your hands in your pocket like a man after the old painting ; and keep not too long in one tune , but a snip and away . These are complements , these are humours , these betray nice wenches , that would be betrayed without these ; and make them men of note ,do you note me ?that most are affected to these . - -How hast thou purchased this experience ? - -By my penny of observation . - -But O but O , - -'The hobby-horse is forgot .' - -Callest thou my love 'hobby-horse ?' - -No , master ; the hobby-horse is but a colt , and your love perhaps , a hackney . But have you forgot your love ? - -Almost I had . - -Negligent student ! learn her by heart . - -By heart , and in heart , boy . - -And out of heart , master : all those three I will prove . - -What wilt thou prove ? - -A man , if I live ; and this , by , in , and without , upon the instant : by heart you love her , because your heart cannot come by her ; in heart you love her , because your heart is in love with her ; and out of heart you love her , being out of heart that you cannot enjoy her . - -I am all these three . - -And three times as much more , and yet nothing at all . - -Fetch hither the swain : he must carry me a letter . - -A message well sympathized : a horse to be ambassador for an ass . - -Ha , ha ! what sayest thou ? - -Marry , sir , you must send the ass upon the horse , for he is very slow-gaited . But I go . - -The way is but short : away ! - -As swift as lead , sir . - -Thy meaning , pretty ingenious ? -Is not lead a metal heavy , dull , and slow ? - -Minime , honest master ; or rather , master , no . - -I say , lead is slow . - -You are too swift , sir , to say so : -Is that lead slow which is fir'd from a gun ? - -Sweet smoke of rhetoric ! -He reputes me a cannon ; and the bullet , that's he : -I shoot thee at the swain . - -Thump then , and I flee . - - -A most acute juvenal ; volable and free of grace ! -By thy favour , sweet welkin , I must sigh in thy face : -Most rude melancholy , valour gives thee place . -My herald is return'd . - - -A wonder , master ! here's a costard broken in a shin . - -Some enigma , some riddle : come , thy l'envoy ; begin . - -No egma , no riddle , no l'envoy ; no salve in the mail , sir . O ! sir , plantain , a plain plantain : no l'envoy , no l'envoy : no salve , sir , but a plantain . - -By virtue , thou enforcest laughter ; thy silly thought , my spleen ; the heaving of my lungs provokes me to ridiculous smiling : O ! pardon me , my stars . Doth the inconsiderate take salve for l'envoy , and the word l'envoy for a salve ? - -Do the wise think them other ? is not l'envoy a salve ? - -No , page : it is an epilogue or discourse , to make plain -Some obscure precedence that hath tofore been sain . -I will example it : - -The fox , the ape , and the humble-bee -Were still at odds , being but three . - -There's the moral . Now the l'envoy . - -I will add the l'envoy . Say the moral again . - - -The fox , the ape , and the humble-bee , -Were still at odds , being but three . - -Until the goose came out of door , -And stay'd the odds by adding four . - -Now will I begin your moral , and do you follow with my l'envoy . - -The fox , the ape , and the humble-bee , -Were still at odds , being but three . - -Until the goose came out of door , -Staying the odds by adding four . - - -A good l'envoy , ending in the goose . -Would you desire more ? - -The boy hath sold him a bargain , a goose , that's flat . -Sir , your pennyworth is good an your goose be fat . -To sell a bargain well is as cunning as fast and loose : -Let me see ; a fat l'envoy ; ay , that's a fat goose . - -Come hither , come hither . How did this argument begin ? - -By saying that a costard was broken in a shin . -Then call'd you for the l'envoy . - -True , and I for a plantain : thus came your argument in ; -Then the boy's fat l'envoy , the goose that you bought ; -And he ended the market . - -But tell me ; how was there a costard broken in a shin ? - -I will tell you sensibly . - -Thou hast no feeling of it , Moth : I will speak that l'envoy : -I , Costard , running out , that was safely within , -Fell over the threshold and broke my shin . - -We will talk no more of this matter . - -Till there be more matter in the shin . - -Sirrah Costard , I will enfranchise thee . - -O ! marry me to one Frances : I smell some l'envoy , some goose , in this . - -By my sweet soul , I mean setting thee at liberty , enfreedoming thy person : thou wert immured , restrained , captivated , bound . - -True , true , and now you will be my purgation and let me loose . - -I give thee thy liberty , set thee from durance ; and in lieu thereof , impose upon thee nothing but this : - -Bear this significant to the country maid Jaquenetta . [Giving money .] There is remuneration ; for the best ward of mine honour is rewarding my dependents . Moth , follow . - - -Like the sequel , I . Signior Costard , adieu . - -My sweet ounce of man's flesh ! my incony Jew ! - -Now will I look to his remuneration . Remuneration ! O ! that's the Latin word for three farthings : three farthings , remuneration . 'What's the price of this inkle ?' 'One penny .' 'No , I'll give you a remuneration :' why , it carries it Remuneration ! why , it is a fairer name than French crown . I will never buy and sell out of this word . - - -O ! my good knave Costard , exceedingly well met . - -Pray you , sir , how much carnation riband may a man buy for a remuneration ? - -What is a remuneration ? - -Marry , sir , halfpenny farthing . - -Why then , three-farthing-worth of silk . - -I thank your worship . God be wi' you ! - -Stay , slave ; I must employ thee : -As thou wilt win my favour , good my knave , -Do one thing for me that I shall entreat . - -When would you have it done , sir ? - -O , this afternoon . - -Well , I will do it , sir ! fare you well . - -O , thou knowest not what it is . - -I shall know , sir , when I have done it . - -Why , villain , thou must know first . - -I will come to your worship to-morrow morning . - -It must be done this afternoon . Hark , slave , it is but this : -The princess comes to hunt here in the park , -And in her train there is a gentle lady : -When tongues speak sweetly , then they name her name , -And Rosaline they call her : ask for her -And to her white hand see thou do commend -This seal'd-up counsel . - -There's thy guerdon : go . - -Gardon , O sweet gardon ! better than remuneration ; a 'leven-pence farthing better . -Most sweet gardon ! I will do it , sir , in print -Gardon ! remuneration ! - - -And I , -Forsooth , in love ! I , that have been love's whip ; -A very beadle to a humorous sigh ; -A critic , nay , a night-watch constable , -A domineering pedant o'er the boy , -Than whom no mortal so magnificent ! -This wimpled , whining , purblind , wayward boy , -This senior-junior , giant-dwarf , Dan Cupid ; -Regent of love-rimes , lord of folded arms , -The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans , -Liege of all loiterers and malecontents , -Dread prince of plackets , king of codpieces , -Sole imperator and great general -Of trotting 'paritors : O my little heart ! -And I to be a corporal of his field , -And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop ! -What I ! I love ! I sue ! I seek a wife ! -A woman that is like a German clock , -Still a-repairing , ever out of frame , -And never going aright , being a watch , -But being watch'd that it may still go right ! -Nay , to be perjur'd , which is worst of all ; -And , among three , to love the worst of all ; -A wightly wanton with a velvet brow , -With two pitch balls stuck in her face for eyes ; -Ay , and , by heaven , one that will do the deed -Though Argus were her eunuch and her guard : -And I to sigh for her ! to watch for her ! -To pray for her ! Go to ; it is a plague -That Cupid will impose for my neglect -Of his almighty dreadful little might . -Well , I will love , write , sigh , pray , sue , and groan : -Some men must love my lady , and some Joan . - -Was that the king , that spurr'd his horse so hard -Against the steep uprising of the hill ? - -I know not ; but I think it was not he . - -Whoe'er a' was , a' show'd a mounting mind . -Well , lords , to-day we shall have our dispatch ; -On Saturday we will return to France . -Then , forester , my friend , where is the bush -That we must stand and play the murderer in ? - -Hereby , upon the edge of yonder coppice ; -A stand where you may make the fairest shoot . - -I thank my beauty , I am fair that shoot , -And thereupon thou speak'st the fairest shoot . - -Pardon me , madam , for I meant not so . - -What , what ? first praise me , and again say no ? -O short-liv'd pride ! Not fair ? alack for woe ! - -Yes , madam , fair . - -Nay , never paint me now : -Where fair is not , praise cannot mend the brow . -Here , good my glass : - -Take this for telling true : -Fair payment for foul words is more than due . - -Nothing but fair is that which you inherit . - -See , see ! my beauty will be sav'd by merit . -O heresy in fair , fit for these days ! -A giving hand , though foul , shall have fair praise . -But come , the bow : now mercy goes to kill , -And shooting well is then accounted ill . -Thus will I save my credit in the shoot : -Not wounding , pity would not let me do't ; -If wounding , then it was to show my skill , -That more for praise than purpose meant to kill . -And out of question so it is sometimes , -Glory grows guilty of detested crimes , -When , for fame's sake , for praise , an outward part , -We bend to that the working of the heart ; -As I for praise alone now seek to spill -The poor deer's blood , that my heart means no ill . - -Do not curst wives hold that self-sovereignty -Only for praise' sake , when they strive to be -Lords o'er their lords ? - -Only for praise ; and praise we may afford -To any lady that subdues a lord . - - -Here comes a member of the commonwealth . - -God dig-you-den all ! Pray you , which is the head lady ? - -Thou shalt know her , fellow , by the rest that have no heads . - -Which is the greatest lady , the highest ? - -The thickest , and the tallest . - -The thickest , and the tallest ! it is so ; truth is truth . -An your waist , mistress , were as slender as my wit , -One o'these maids' girdles for your waist should be fit . -Are not you the chief woman ? you are the thickest here . - -What's your will , sir ? what's your will ? - -I have a letter from Monsieur Berowne to one Lady Rosaline . - -O ! thy letter , thy letter ; he's a good friend of mine . -Stand aside , good bearer . Boyet , you can carve ; -Break up this capon . - -I am bound to serve . -This letter is mistook ; it importeth none here : -It is writ to Jaquenetta . - -We will read it , I swear . -Break the neck of the wax , and every one give ear . - -By heaven , that thou art fair , is most infallible ; true , that thou art beauteous ; truth itself , that thou art lovely . More fairer than fair , beautiful than beauteous , truer than truth itself , have commiseration on thy heroical vassal ! The magnanimous and most illustrate king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon , and he it was that might rightly say veni , vidi , vici ; which to anatomize in the vulgar O base and obscure vulgar !videlicet , he came , saw , and overcame : he came , one ; saw , two ; overcame , three . Who came ? the king : Why did he come ? to see : Why did he see ? to overcome : To whom came he ? to the beggar : What saw he ? the beggar . Whom overcame he ? the beggar . The conclusion is victory : on whose side ? the king's ; the captive is enriched : on whose side ? the beggar's . The catastrophe is a nuptial : on whose side ? the king's , no , on both in one , or one in both . I am the king , for so stands the comparison ; thou the beggar , for so witnesseth thy lowliness . Shall I command thy love ? I may : Shall I enforce thy love ? I could : Shall I entreat thy love ? I will . What shalt thou exchange for rags ? robes ; for tittles ? titles ; for thyself ? me . Thus , expecting thy reply , I profane my lips on thy foot , my eyes on thy picture , and my heart on thy every part . -Thine , in the dearest design of Industry , DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO . -Thus dost thou hear the Nemean lion roar -'Gainst thee , thou lamb , that standest as his prey : -Submissive fall his princely feet before , -And he from forage will incline to play . -But if thou strive , poor soul , what art thou then ? -Food for his rage , repasture for his den . - -What plume of feathers is he that indited this letter ? -What vane ? what weathercock ? did you ever hear better ? - -I am much deceiv'd but I remember the style . - -Else your memory is bad , going o'er it erewhile . - -This Armado is a Spaniard , that keeps here in court ; -A phantasime , a Monarcho , and one that makes sport -To the prince and his book-mates . - -Thou , fellow , a word . -Who gave thee this letter ? - -I told you ; my lord . - -To whom shouldst thou give it ? - -From my lord to my lady . - -From which lord , to which lady ? - -From my lord Berowne , a good master of mine , -To a lady of France , that he call'd Rosaline . - -Thou hast mistaken his letter . Come , lords , away . -Here , sweet , put up this : 'twill be thine another day . - - -Who is the suitor ? who is the suitor ? - -Shall I teach you to know ? - -Ay , my continent of beauty . - -Why , she that bears the bow . -Finely put off ! - -My lady goes to kill horns ; but , if thou marry , -Hang me by the neck if horns that year miscarry . -Finely put on ! - -Well then , I am the shooter . - -And who is your deer ? - -If we choose by the horns , yourself : come not near . -Finely put on , indeed ! - -You still wrangle with her , Boyet , and she strikes at the brow . - -But she herself is hit lower : have I hit her now ? - -Shall I come upon thee with an old saying , that was a man when King Pepin of France was a little boy , as touching the hit it ? - -So may I answer thee with one as old , that was a woman when Queen Guinever of Britain was a little wench , as touching the hit it . - - -Thou canst not hit it , hit it , hit it , -Thou canst not hit it , my good man . - -An I cannot , cannot , cannot , -An I cannot , another can . - -By my troth , most pleasant : how both did fit it ! - -A mark marvellous well shot , for they both did hit it . - -A mark ! O ! mark but that mark ; a mark , says my lady ! -Let the mark have a prick in't , to mete at , if it may be . - -Wide o' the bow hand ! i' faith your hand is out . - -Indeed a' must shoot nearer , or he'll ne'er hit the clout . - -An' if my hand be out , then belike your hand is in . - -Then will she get the upshoot by cleaving the pin . - -Come , come , you talk greasily ; your lips grow foul . - -She's too hard for you at pricks , sir : challenge her to bowl . - -I fear too much rubbing . Good night , my good owl . - - -By my soul , a swain ! a most simple clown ! -Lord , lord how the ladies and I have put him down ! -O' my troth , most sweet jests ! most incony vulgar wit ! -When it comes so smoothly off , so obscenely , as it were , so fit , -Armado , o' the one side , O ! a most dainty man . -To see him walk before a lady , and to bear her fan ! -To see him kiss his hand ! and how most sweetly a' will swear ! -And his page o' t'other side , that handful of wit ! -Ah ! heavens , it is a most pathetical nit . - - -Sola , sola ! - - -Very reverend sport , truly : and done in the testimony of a good conscience . - -The deer was , as you know , sanguis , in blood ; ripe as a pomewater , who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of c lo , the sky , the welkin , the heaven ; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra , the soil , the land , the earth . - -Truly , Master Holofernes , the epithets are sweetly varied , like a scholar at the least : but , sir , I assure ye , it was a buck of the first head . - -Sir Nathaniel , haud credo . - -'Twas not a haud credo ; 'twas a pricket . - -Most barbarous intimation ! yet a kind of insinuation , as it were , in via , in way , of explication ; facere , as it were , replication , or , rather , ostentare , to show , as it were , his inclination ,after his undressed , unpolished , uneducated , unpruned , untrained , or , rather , unlettered , or , ratherest , unconfirmed fashion ,to insert again my haud credo for a deer . - -I said the deer was not a haud credo ; 'twas a pricket . - -Twice sod simplicity , bis coctus ! -O ! thou monster Ignorance , how deformed dost thou look ! - -Sir , he hath not fed of the dainties that are bred of a book ; -he hath not eat paper , as it were ; he hath not drunk ink : his intellect is not replenished ; he is only an animal , only sensible in the duller parts : -And such barren plants are set before us , that we thankful should be , -Which we of taste and feeling are , for those parts that do fructify in us more than he ; -For as it would ill become me to be vain , indiscreet , or a fool : -So , were there a patch set on learning , to see him in a school : -But , omne bene , say I ; being of an old Father's mind , -Many can brook the weather that love not the wind . - -You two are book-men : can you tell by your wit , -What was a month old at Cain's birth , that's not five weeks old as yet ? - -Dictynna , goodman Dull : Dictynna , goodman Dull . - -What is Dictynna ? - -A title to Ph be , to Luna , to the moon . - -The moon was a month old when Adam was no more ; -And raught not to five weeks when he came to five-score . -The allusion holds in the exchange . - -'Tis true indeed : the collusion holds in the exchange . - -God comfort thy capacity ! I say , the allusion holds in the exchange . - -And I say the pollusion holds in the exchange , for the moon is never but a month old ; and I say beside that 'twas a pricket that the princess killed . - -Sir Nathaniel , will you hear an extemporal epitaph on the death of the deer ? and , to humour the ignorant , I have call'd the deer the princess killed , a pricket . - -Perge , good Master Holofernes , perge ; so it shall please you to abrogate scurrility . - -I will something affect the letter ; for it argues facility . - -The preyful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleasing pricket ; -Some say a sore ; but not a sore , till now made sore with shooting . -The dogs did yell ; put l to sore , then sorel jumps from thicket ; -Or pricket , sore , or else sorel ; the people fall a hooting . -If sore be sore , then l to sore makes fifty sores one sorel ! -Of one sore I a hundred make , by adding but one more l . - - -A rare talent ! - -If a talent be a claw , look how he claws him with a talent . - -This is a gift that I have , simple , simple ; a foolish extravagant spirit , full of forms , figures , shapes , objects , ideas , apprehensions , motions , revolutions : these are begot in the ventricle of memory , nourished in the womb of pia mater , and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion . But the gift is good in those in whom it is acute , and I am thankful for it . - -Sir , I praise the Lord for you , and so may my parishioners ; for their sons are well tutored by you , and their daughters profit very greatly under you : you are a good member of the commonwealth . - -Mehercle ! if their sons be ingenuous , they shall want no instruction ; if their daughters be capable , I will put it to them . But , vir sapit qui pauca loquitur . A soul feminine saluteth us . - - -God give you good morrow , Master parson . - -Master parson , quasi pers-on . An if one should be pierced , which is the one ? - -Marry , Master schoolmaster , he that is likest to a hogshead . - -Piercing a hogshead ! a good lustre of conceit in a turf of earth ; fire enough for a flint , pearl enough for a swine : 'tis pretty ; it is well . - -Good Master parson - -be so good as read me this letter : it was given me by Costard , and sent me from Don Armado : I beseech you , read it . - -Fauste , precor gelida quando pecus omne sub umbra Ruminat , and so forth . Ah ! good old Mantuan . I may speak of thee as the traveller doth of Venice : - -Venetia , Venetia , -Chi non te vede , non te pretia . - -Old Mantuan ! old Mantuan ! Who understandeth thee not , loves thee not . Ut , re , sol , la , mi , fa . Under pardon , sir , what are the contents ? or , rather , as Horace says in his What , my soul , verses ? - -Ay , sir , and very learned . - -Let me hear a staff , a stanze , a verse : lege , domine . - - -If love make me forsworn , how shall I swear to love ? -Ah ! never faith could hold , if not to beauty vow'd ; -Though to myself forsworn , to thee I'll faithful prove ; -Those thoughts to me were oaks , to thee like osiers bow'd -Study his bias leaves and makes his book thine eyes . -Where all those pleasures live that art would comprehend : -If knowledge be the mark , to know thee shall suffice -Well learned is that tongue that well can thee commend ; -All ignorant that soul that sees thee without wonder ; -Which is to me some praise that I thy parts admire -Thy eye Jove's lightning bears , thy voice his dreadful thunder , -Which , not to anger bent , is music and sweet fire . -Celestial as thou art , O ! pardon love this wrong . -That sings heaven's praise with such an earthly tongue ! - - -You find not the apostrophas , and so miss the accent : let me supervise the canzonet . Here are only numbers ratified ; but , for the elegancy , facility , and golden cadence of poesy , caret . Ovidius Naso was the man : and why , indeed , Naso , but for smelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy , the jerks of invention ? Imitari is nothing ; so doth the hound his master , the ape his keeper , the 'tired horse his rider . But , damosella virgin , was this directed to you ? - -Ay , sir ; from one Monsieur Berowne , one of the strange queen's lords . - -I will overglance the superscript . To the snow-white hand of the most beauteous Lady Rosaline . I will look again on the intellect of the letter , for the nomination of the party writing to the person written unto : Your ladyship's , in all desired employment , - - -Good Costard , go with me . Sir , God save your life ! - -Have with thee , my girl . - - -Sir , you have done this in the fear of God , very religiously ; and , as a certain Father saith - -Sir , tell not me of the Father ; I do fear colourable colours . But to return to the verses : did they please you , Sir Nathaniel ? - -Marvellous well for the pen . - -I do dine to-day at the father's of a certain pupil of mine ; where , if before repast it shall please you to gratify the table with a grace , I will , on my privilege I have with the parents of the foresaid child or pupil , undertake your ben venuto ; where I will prove those verses to be very unlearned , neither savouring of poetry , wit , nor invention . I beseech your society . - -And thank you too ; for society saith the text is the happiness of life . - -And , certes , the text most infallibly concludes it .[To - -The king he is hunting the deer ; I am coursing myself : they have pitched a toil ; I am toiling in a pitch ,pitch that defiles : defile ! a foul word ! Well , sit thee down , sorrow ! for so they say the fool said , and so say I , and I the fool : well proved , wit ! By the Lord , this love is as mad as Ajax : it kills sheep : it kills me , I a sheep : well proved again o' my side ! I will not love ; if I do , hang me ; i' faith , I will not . O ! but her eye ,by this light , but for her eye , I would not love her ; yes , for her two eyes . Well , I do nothing in the world but lie , and lie in my throat . By heaven , I do love , and it hath taught me to rime , and to be melancholy ; and here is part of my rime , and here my melancholy . Well , she hath one o' my sonnets already : the clown bore it , the fool sent it , and the lady hath it : sweet clown , sweeter fool , sweetest lady ! By the world , I would not care a pin if the other three were in . Here comes one with a paper : God give him grace to groan ! - -Ah me ! - -Shot , by heaven ! Proceed , sweet Cupid : thou hast thumped him with thy bird-bolt under the left pap . In faith , secrets ! - - -So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not -To those fresh morning drops upon the rose , -As thy eye-beams , when their fresh rays have smote -The night of dew that on my cheeks down flows : -Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright -Through the transparent bosom of the deep , -As doth thy face through tears of mine give light , -Thou shin'st in every tear that I do weep . -No drop but as a coach doth carry thee ; -So ridest thou triumphing in my woe . -Do but behold the tears that swell in me , -And they thy glory through my grief will show -But do not love thyself , then thou wilt keep -My tears for glasses , and still make me weep . -O queen of queens ! how far thou dost excel , -No thought can think , nor tongue of mortal tell - -How shall she know my griefs ? I'll drop the paper : -Sweet leaves , shade folly . Who is he comes here ? - -What , Longaville ! and reading ! listen , ear . - - -Now , in thy likeness , one more fool appear ! - -Ay me ! I am forsworn . - -Why , he comes in like a perjure , wearing papers . - -In love , I hope : sweet fellowship in shame ! - -One drunkard loves another of the name . - -Am I the first that have been perjur'd so ? - -I could put thee in comfort : not by two that I know : -Thou mak'st the triumviry , the corner-cap of society , -The shape of love's Tyburn , that hangs up simplicity . - -I fear these stubborn lines lack power to move . -O sweet Maria , empress of my love ! -These numbers will I tear , and write in prose . - -O ! rimes are guards on wanton Cupid's hose : -Disfigure not his slop . - -This same shall go . - -Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye , -'Gainst whom the world cannot hold argument , -Persuade my heart to this false perjury ? -Vows for thee broke deserve not punishment . -A woman I forswore ; but I will prove , -Thou being a goddess , I forswore not thee : -My vow was earthly , thou a heavenly love ; -Thy grace , being gain'd , cures all disgrace in me . -Vows are but breath , and breath a vapour is : -Then thou , fair sun , which on my earth dost shine , -Exhal'st this vapour-vow ; in thee it is : -If broken , then , it is no fault of mine : -If by me broke , what fool is not so wise -To lose an oath to win a paradise ! - - -This is the liver-vein , which makes flesh a deity ; -A green goose a goddess ; pure , pure idolatry . -God amend us , God amend ! we are much out o' the way . - -By whom shall I send this ?Company ! stay . - - -All hid , all hid ; an old infant play . -Like a demi-god here sit I in the sky , -And wretched fools' secrets heedfully o'er-eye . -More sacks to the mill ! O heavens ! I have my wish . - -Dumaine transform'd : four woodcocks in a dish ! - -O most divine Kate ! - -O most profane coxcomb ! - -By heaven , the wonder of a mortal eye ! - -By earth , she is but corporal ; there you lie . - -Her amber hairs for foul have amber quoted . - -An amber-colour'd raven was well noted . - -As upright as the cedar . - -Stoop , I say ; -Her shoulder is with child . - -As fair as day . - -Ay , as some days ; but then no sun must shine . - -O ! that I had my wish . - -And I had mine ! - -And I mine too , good Lord ! - -Amen , so I had mine . Is not that a good word ? - -I would forget her ; but a fever she -Reigns in my blood , and will remember'd be . - -A fever in your blood ! why , then incision -Would let her out in saucers : sweet misprision ! - -Once more I'll read the ode that I have writ . - -Once more I'll mark how love can vary wit . - - -On a day , alack the day ! -Love , whose month is ever May , -Spied a blossom passing fair -Playing in the wanton air : -Through the velvet leaves the wind , -All unseen , 'gan passage find ; -That the lover , sick to death , -Wish'd himself the heaven's breath . -Air , quoth he , thy cheeks may blow ; -Air , would I might triumph so ! -But alack ! my hand is sworn -Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn : -Vow , alack ! for youth unmeet , -Youth so apt to pluck a sweet . -Do not call it sin in me , -That I am forsworn for thee ; -Thou for whom e'en Jove would swear -Juno but an Ethiop were ; -And deny himself for Jove , -Turning mortal for thy love . - -This will I send , and something else more plain , -That shall express my true love's fasting pain . -O ! would the King , Berowne , and Longaville -Were lovers too . Ill , to example ill , -Would from my forehead wipe a perjur'd note ; -For none offend where all alike do dote . - -Dumaine , thy love is far from charity , -That in love's grief desir'st society : -You may look pale , but I should blush , I know , -To be o'erheard and taken napping so . - -Come , sir , you blush : as his your case is such ; -You chide at him , offending twice as much : -You do not love Maria ; Longaville -Did never sonnet for her sake compile , -Nor never lay his wreathed arms athwart -His loving bosom to keep down his heart . -I have been closely shrouded in this bush , -And mark'd you both , and for you both did blush . -I heard your guilty rimes , observ'd your fashion , -Saw sighs reek from you , noted well your passion : -Ay me ! says one ; O Jove ! the other cries ; -One , her hairs were gold , crystal the other's eyes : - - -You would for paradise break faith and troth ; - - -And Jove , for your love , would infringe an oath . -What will Berowne say , when that he shall hear -A faith infringed , which such zeal did swear ? -How will he scorn ! how will he spend his wit ! -How will he triumph , leap and laugh at it ! -For all the wealth that ever I did see , -I would not have him know so much by me . - -Now step I forth to whip hypocrisy . - -Ah ! good my liege , I pray thee , pardon me : -Good heart ! what grace hast thou , thus to reprove -These worms for loving , that art most in love ? -Your eyes do make no coaches ; in your tears -There is no certain princess that appears : -You'll not be perjur'd , 'tis a hateful thing : -Tush ! none but minstrels like of sonneting . -But are you not asham'd ? nay , are you not , -All three of you , to be thus much o'ershot ? -You found his mote ; the king your mote did see ; -But I a beam do find in each of three . -O ! what a scene of foolery have I seen , -Of sighs , of groans , of sorrow , and of teen ; -O me ! with what strict patience have I sat , -To see a king transformed to a gnat ; -To see great Hercules whipping a gig , -And profound Solomon to tune a jig , -And Nestor play at push-pin with the boys , -And critic Timon laugh at idle toys ! -Where lies thy grief ? O ! tell me , good Dumaine , -And , gentle Longaville , where lies thy pain ? -And where my liege's ? all about the breast : -A caudle , ho ! - -Too bitter is thy jest . -Are we betray'd thus to thy over-view ? - -Not you to me , but I betray'd by you : -I , that am honest ; I , that hold it sin -To break the vow I am engaged in ; -I am betray'd , by keeping company -With men like men , men of inconstancy . -When shall you see me write a thing in rime ? -Or groan for Joan ? or spend a minute's time -In pruning me ? When shall you hear that I -Will praise a hand , a foot , a face , an eye , -A gait , a state , a brow , a breast , a waist , leg , a limb ? - -Soft ! Whither away so fast ? true man or a thief that gallops so ? - -I post from love ; good lover , let me go . - - -God bless the king ! - -What present hast thou there ? - -Some certain treason . - -What makes treason here ? - -Nay , it makes nothing , sir . - -If it mar nothing neither , -The treason and you go in peace away together . - -I beseech your Grace , let this letter be read : -Our parson misdoubts it ; 'twas treason , he said . - -Berowne , read it over - -There hadst thou it ? - -Of Costard . - -Where hadst thou it ? - -Of Dun Adramadio , Dun Adramadio . - - -How now ! what is in you ? why dost thou tear it ? - -A toy , my liege , a toy : your Grace needs not fear it . - -It did move him to passion , and therefore let's hear it . - -It is Berowne's writing , and here is his name . - -Ah , you whoreson logger-head , you were born to do me shame . -Guilty , my lord , guilty ; I confess , I confess . - -What ? - -That you three fools lack'd me fool to make up the mess ; -He , he , and you , and you my liege , and I , -Are pick-purses in love , and we deserve to die . -O ! dismiss this audience , and I shall tell you more . - -Now the number is even . - -True , true ; we are four . -Will these turtles be gone ? - -Hence , sirs ; away ! - -Walk aside the true folk , and let the traitors stay . - - -Sweet lords , sweet lovers , O ! let us embrace . -As true we are as flesh and blood can be : -The sea will ebb and flow , heaven show his face ; -Young blood doth not obey an old decree : -We cannot cross the cause why we were born ; -Therefore , of all hands must we be forsworn . - -What ! did these rent lines show some love of thine ? - -'Did they ,' quoth you ? Who sees the heavenly Rosaline , -That , like a rude and savage man of Inde , -At the first opening of the gorgeous east , -Bows not his vassal head , and , strucken blind , -Kisses the base ground with obedient breast ? -What peremptory eagle-sighted eye -Dares look upon the heaven of her brow , -That is not blinded by her majesty ? - -What zeal , what fury hath inspir'd thee now ? -My love , her mistress , is a gracious moon ; -She , an attending star , scarce seen a light . - -My eyes are then no eyes , nor I Berowne : -O ! but for my love , day would turn to night . -Of all complexions the cull'd sovereignty -Do meet , as at a fair , in her fair cheek ; -Where several worthies make one dignity , -Where nothing wants that want itself doth seek . -Lend me the flourish of all gentle tongues , -Fie , painted rhetoric ! O ! she needs it not : -To things of sale a seller's praise belongs ; -She passes praise ; then praise too short doth blot . -A wither'd hermit , five-score winters worn , -Might shake off fifty , looking in her eye : -Beauty doth varnish age , as if new-born , -And gives the crutch the cradle's infancy . -O ! 'tis the sun that maketh all things shine . - -By heaven , thy love is black as ebony . - -Is ebony like her ? O wood divine ! -A wife of such wood were felicity . -O ! who can give an oath ? where is a book ? -That I may swear beauty doth beauty lack , -If that she learn not of her eye to look : -No face is fair that is not full so black . - -O paradox ! Black is the badge of hell , -The hue of dungeons and the scowl of night ; -And beauty's crest becomes the heavens well . - -Devils soonest tempt , resembling spirits of light . -O ! if in black my lady's brows be deck'd , -It mourns that painting and usurping hair -Should ravish doters with a false aspect ; -And therefore is she born to make black fair . -Her favour turns the fashion of the days , -For native blood is counted painting now : -And therefore red , that would avoid dispraise , -Paints itself black , to imitate her brow . - -To look like her are chimney-sweepers black . - -And since her time are colliers counted bright . - -And Ethiops of their sweet complexion crack . - -Dark needs no candles now , for dark is light . - -Your mistresses dare never come in rain , -For fear their colours should be wash'd away . - -'Twere good yours did ; for , sir , to tell you plain , -I'll find a fairer face not wash'd to-day . - -I'll prove her fair , or talk till doomsday here . - -No devil will fright thee then so much as she . - -I never knew man hold vile stuff so dear . - -Look , here's thy love : - -my foot and her face see . - -O ! if the streets were paved with thine eyes , -Her feet were much too dainty for such tread . - -O vile ! then , as she goes , what upward lies -The street should see as she walk'd over head . - -But what of this ? Are we not all in love ? - -Nothing so sure ; and thereby all forsworn . - -Then leave this chat ; and good Berowne , now prove -Our loving lawful , and our faith not torn . - -Ay , marry , there ; some flattery for this evil . - -O ! some authority how to proceed ; -Some tricks , some quillets , how to cheat the devil . - -Some salve for perjury . - -O , 'tis more than need . -Have at you , then , affection's men-at-arms : -Consider what you first did swear unto , -To fast , to study , and to see no woman ; -Flat treason 'gainst the kingly state of youth . -Say , can you fast ? your stomachs are too young , -And abstinence engenders maladies . -And where that you have vow'd to study , lords , -In that each of you hath forsworn his book , -Can you still dream and pore and thereon look ? -For when would you , my lord , or you , or you , -Have found the ground of study's excellence -Without the beauty of a woman's face ? -From women's eyes this doctrine I derive : -They are the ground , the books , the academes , -From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire . -Why , universal plodding poisons up -The nimble spirits in the arteries , -As motion and long-during action tires -The sinewy vigour of the traveller . -Now , for not looking on a woman's face , -You have in that forsworn the use of eyes , -And study too , the causer of your vow ; -For where is any author in the world -Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye ? -Learning is but an adjunct to ourself , -And where we are our learning likewise is : -Then when ourselves we see in ladies' eyes , -Do we not likewise see our learning there ? -O ! we have made a vow to study , lords , -And in that vow we have forsworn our books : -For when would you , my liege , or you , or you , -In leaden contemplation have found out -Such fiery numbers as the prompting eyes -Of beauty's tutors have enrich'd you with ? -Other slow arts entirely keep the brain , -And therefore , finding barren practisers , -Scarce show a harvest of their heavy toil ; -But love , first learned in a lady's eyes , -Lives not alone immured in the brain , -But , with the motion of all elements , -Courses as swift as thought in every power , -And gives to every power a double power , -Above their functions and their offices . -It adds a precious seeing to the eye ; -A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind ; -A lover's ear will hear the lowest sound , -When the suspicious head of theft is stopp'd : -Love's feeling is more soft and sensible -Than are the tender horns of cockled snails : -Love's tongue proves dainty Bacchus gross in taste . -For valour , is not Love a Hercules , -Still climbing trees in the Hesperides ? -Subtle as Sphinx ; as sweet and musical -As bright Apollo's lute , strung with his hair ; -And when Love speaks , the voice of all the gods -Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony . -Never durst poet touch a pen to write -Until his ink were temper'd with Love's sighs ; -O ! then his lines would ravish savage ears , -And plant in tyrants mild humility . -From women's eyes this doctrine I derive : -They sparkle still the right Promethean fire ; -They are the books , the arts , the academes , -That show , contain , and nourish all the world ; -Else none at all in aught proves excellent . -Then fools you were these women to forswear , -Or , keeping what is sworn , you will prove fools . -For wisdom's sake , a word that all men love , -Or for love's sake , a word that loves all men , -Or for men's sake , the authors of these women ; -Or women's sake , by whom we men are men , -Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves , -Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths . -It is religion to be thus forsworn ; -For charity itself fulfils the law ; -And who can sever love from charity ? - -Saint Cupid , then ! and , soldiers , to the field ! - -Advance your standards , and upon them , lords ! -Pell-mell , down with them ! but be first advis'd , -In conflict that you get the sun of them . - -Now to plain-dealing ; lay these glozes by ; -Shall we resolve to woo these girls of France ? - -And win them too : therefore let us devise -Some entertainment for them in their tents . - -First , from the park let us conduct them thither ; -Then homeward every man attach the hand -Of his fair mistress : in the afternoon -We will with some strange pastime solace them , -Such as the shortness of the time can shape ; -For revels , dances , masks , and merry hours , -Forerun fair Love , strewing her way with flowers . - -Away , away ! no time shall be omitted , -That will betime , and may by us be fitted . - -Allons ! allons ! Sow'd cockle reap'd no corn ; -And justice always whirls in equal measure : -Light wenches may prove plagues to men forsworn ; -If so , our copper buys no better treasure . - -Satis quod sufficit . - -I praise God for you , sir : your reasons at dinner have been sharp and sententious ; pleasant without scurrility , witty without affection , audacious without impudency , learned without opinion , and strange without heresy . I did converse this quondam day with a companion of the king's , who is intituled , nominated , or called , Don Adriano de Armado . - -Novi hominem tanquam te : his humour is lofty , his discourse peremptory , his tongue field , his eye ambitious , his gait majestical , and his general behaviour vain , ridiculous , and thrasonical . He is too picked , too spruce , too affected , too odd , as it were , too peregrinate , as I may call it . - -A most singular and choice epithet . - - -He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument . I abhor such fanatical phantasimes , such insociable and point-devise companions ; such rackers of orthography , as to speak dout , fine , when he should say , doubt ; det , when he should pronounce , debt ,d , e , b , t , not d , e , t : he clepeth a calf , cauf ; half , hauf ; neighbour vocatur nebour , neigh abbreviated ne . This is abhominable , which he would call abominable ,it insinuateth me of insanie : anne intelligis , domine ? To make frantic , lunatic . - -Laus Deo bone intelligo . - -Bone ? bone , for bene : Priscian a little scratched ; 'twill serve . - - -Videsne quis venit ? - -Video , et gaudeo . - -Chirrah ! - -Quare Chirrah , not sirrah ? - -Men of peace , well encountered . - -Most military sir , salutation . - -They have been at a great feast of languages , and stolen the scraps . - -O ! they have lived long on the almsbasket of words . I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word ; for thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus : thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon . - -Peace ! the peal begins . - -Monsieur , are you not lettered ? - -Yes , yes ; he teaches boys the hornbook . What is a , b , spelt backward , with the horn on his head ? - -Ba , pueritia , with a horn added . - -Ba ! most silly sheep with a horn . You hear his learning . - -Quis , quis , thou consonant ? - -The third of the five vowels , if you repeat them ; or the fifth , if I . - -I will repeat them ,a , e , i , - -The sheep ; the other two concludes it ,o , u . - -Now , by the salt wave of the Mediterraneum , a sweet touch , a quick venew of wit ! snip , snap , quick and home ! it rejoiceth my intellect : true wit ! - -Offered by a child to an old man ; which is wit-old . - -What is the figure ? what is the figure ? - -Horns . - -Thou disputest like an infant ; go , whip thy gig . - -Lend me your horn to make one , and I will whip about your infamy circum circa . A gig of a cuckold's horn . - -An I had but one penny in the world , thou shouldst have it to buy gingerbread . Hold , there is the very remuneration I had of thy master , thou halfpenny purse of wit , thou pigeon-egg of discretion . O ! an the heavens were so pleased that thou wert but my bastard , what a joyful father wouldst thou make me . Go to ; thou hast it ad dunghill , at the fingers' ends , as they say . - -O ! I smell false Latin ; dunghill for unguem . - -Arts-man , pr ambula : we will be singled from the barbarous . Do you not educate youth at the charge-house on the top of the mountain ? - -Or mons , the hill . - -At your sweet pleasure , for the mountain . - -I do , sans question . - -Sir , it is the king's most sweet pleasure and affection to congratulate the princess at her pavilion in the posteriors of this day , which the rude multitude call the afternoon . - -The posterior of the day , most generous sir , is liable , congruent , and measurable for the afternoon : the word is well culled , chose , sweet and apt , I do assure you , sir ; I do assure . - -Sir , the king is a noble gentleman , and my familiar , I do assure ye , very good friend . For what is inward between us , let it pass : I do beseech thee , remember thy curtsy ; I beseech thee , apparel thy head : and among other importunate and most serious designs , and of great import indeed , too , but let that pass : for I must tell thee , it will please his Grace , by the world , sometime to lean upon my poor shoulder , and with his royal finger , thus dally with my excrement , with my mustachio : but , sweet heart , let that pass . By the world , I recount no fable : some certain special honours it pleaseth his greatness to impart to Armado , a soldier , a man of travel , that hath seen the world : but let that pass . The very all of all is , but , sweet heart , I do implore secrecy , that the king would have me present the princess , sweet chuck , with some delightful ostentation , or show , or pageant , or antick , or fire-work . Now , understanding that the curate and your sweet self are good at such eruptions and sudden breaking out of mirth , as it were , I have acquainted you withal , to the end to crave your assistance . - -Sir , you shall present before her the Nine Worthies . Sir Nathaniel , as concerning some entertainment of time , some show in the posterior of this day , to be rendered by our assistance , at the king's command , and this most gallant , illustrate , and learned gentleman , before the princess ; I say , none so fit as to present the Nine Worthies . - -Where will you find men worthy enough to present them ? - -Joshua , yourself ; myself , or this gallant gentleman , Judas Maccab us ; this swain , because of his great limb , or joint , shall pass Pompey the Great ; the page , Hercules , - -Pardon , sir ; error : he is not quantity enough for that Worthy's thumb : he is not so big as the end of his club . - -Shall I have audience ? he shall present Hercules in minority : his enter and exit shall be strangling a snake ; and I will have an apology for that purpose . - -An excellent device ! so , if any of the audience hiss , you may cry , 'Well done , Hercules ! now thou crushest the snake !' that is the way to make an offence gracious , though few have the grace to do it . - -For the rest of the Worthies ? - -I will play three myself . - -Thrice-worthy gentleman ! - -Shall I tell you a thing ? - -We attend . - -We will have , if this fadge not , an antick . I beseech you , follow . - -Via , goodman Dull ! thou hast spoken no word all this while . - -Nor understood none neither , sir . - -Allons ! we will employ thee . - -I'll make one in a dance , or so ; or I will play the tabor to the Worthies , and let them dance the hay . - -Most dull , honest Dull , to our sport , away ! - - -Sweet hearts , we shall be rich ere we depart , -If fairings come thus plentifully in : lady wall'd about with diamonds ! -Look you what I have from the loving king . - -Madam , came nothing else along with that ? - -Nothing but this ! yes , as much love in rime -As would be cramm'd up in a sheet of paper , -Writ o' both sides the leaf , margent and all , -That he was fain to seal on Cupid's name . - -That was the way to make his godhead wax ; -For he hath been five thousand years a boy . - -Ay , and a shrewd unhappy gallows too . - -You'll ne'er be friends with him : a' kill'd your sister . - -He made her melancholy , sad , and heavy ; -And so she died : had she been light , like you , -Of such a merry , nimble , stirring spirit , -She might ha' been a grandam ere she died ; -And so may you , for a light heart lives long . - -What's your dark meaning , mouse , of this light word ? - -A light condition in a beauty dark . - -We need more light to find your meaning out . - -You'll mar the light by taking it in snuff ; -Therefore , I'll darkly end the argument . - -Look , what you do , you do it still i' the dark . - -So do not you , for you are a light wench . - -Indeed I weigh not you , and therefore light . - -You weigh me not . O ! that's you care not for me . - -Great reason ; for , 'past cure is still past care .' - -Well bandied both ; a set of wit well play'd . -But Rosaline , you have a favour too : -Who sent it ? and what is it ? - -I would you knew : -An if my face were but as fair as yours , -My favour were as great ; be witness this . -Nay , I have verses too , I thank Berowne : -The numbers true ; and , were the numb'ring too , -I were the fairest goddess on the ground : -I am compar'd to twenty thousand fairs . -O ! he hath drawn my picture in his letter . - -Anything like ? - -Much in the letters , nothing in the praise . - -Beauteous as ink ; a good conclusion . - -Fair as a text B in a copy-book . - -'Ware pencils ! how ? let me not die your debtor . -My red dominical , my golden letter : -O , that your face were not so full of O's ! - -A pox of that jest ! and beshrew all shrows ! - -But what was sent to you from fair Dumaine ? - -Madam , this glove . - -Did he not send you twain ? - -Yes , madam ; and moreover , -Some thousand verses of a faithful lover : -A huge translation of hypocrisy , -Vilely compil'd , profound simplicity . - -This , and these pearls to me sent Longaville : -The letter is too long by half a mile . - -I think no less . Dost thou not wish in heart -The chain were longer and the letter short ? - -Ay , or I would these hands might never part . - -We are wise girls to mock our lovers so . - -They are worse fools to purchase mocking so . -That same Berowne I'll torture ere I go . -O that I knew he were but in by the week ! -How I would make him fawn , and beg , and seek , -And wait the season , and observe the times , -And spend his prodigal wits in bootless rimes , -And shape his service wholly to my hests , -And make him proud to make me proud that jests ! -So perttaunt-like would I o'ersway his state -That he should be my fool , and I his fate . - -None are so surely caught , when they are catch'd , -As wit turn'd fool : folly , in wisdom hatch'd , -Hath wisdom's warrant and the help of school -And wit's own grace to grace a learned fool . - -The blood of youth burns not with such excess -As gravity's revolt to wantonness . - -Folly in fools bears not so strong a note -As foolery in the wise , when wit doth dote ; -Since all the power thereof it doth apply -To prove , by wit , worth in simplicity . - - -Here comes Boyet , and mirth is in his face . - -O ! I am stabb'd with laughter . Where's her Grace ? - -Thy news , Boyet ? - -Prepare , madam , prepare ! -Arm , wenches , arm ! encounters mounted are -Against your peace : Love doth approach disguis'd , -Armed in arguments ; you'll be surpris'd : -Muster your wits ; stand in your own defence ; -Or hide your heads like cowards , and fly hence . - -Saint Denis to Saint Cupid ! What are they -That charge their breath against us ? say , scout , say . - -Under the cool shade of a sycamore -I thought to close mine eyes some half an hour , -When , lo ! to interrupt my purpos'd rest , -Toward that shade I might behold addrest -The king and his companions : warily -I stole into a neighbour thicket by , -And overheard what you shall overhear ; -That , by and by , disguis'd they will be here . -Their herald is a pretty knavish page , -That well by heart hath conn'd his embassage : -Action and accent did they teach him there ; -'Thus must thou speak , and thus thy body bear .' -And ever and anon they made a doubt -Presence majestical would put him out ; -'For ,' quoth the king , 'an angel shalt thou see ; -Yet fear not thou , but speak audaciously .' -The boy replied , 'An angel is not evil ; -I should have fear'd her had she been a devil .' -With that all laugh'd and clapp'd him on the shoulder , -Making the bold wag by their praises bolder . -One rubb'd his elbow thus , and fleer'd , and swore -A better speech was never spoke before ; -Another , with his finger and his thumb , -Cry'd 'Via ! we will do't , come what will come ;' -The third he caper'd and cried , 'All goes well ;' -The fourth turn'd on the toe , and down he fell . -With that , they all did tumble on the ground , -With such a zealous laughter , so profound , -That in this spleen ridiculous appears , -To check their folly , passion's solemn tears . - -But what , but what , come they to visit us ? - -They do , they do ; and are apparell'd thus , -Like Muscovites or Russians , as I guess . -Their purpose is to parle , to court and dance ; -And every one his love-feat will advance -Unto his several mistress , which they'll know -By favours several which they did bestow . - -And will they so ? the gallants shall be task'd : -For , ladies , we will every one be mask'd , -And not a man of them shall have the grace , -Despite of suit , to see a lady's face . -Hold , Rosaline , this favour thou shalt wear , -And then the king will court thee for his dear : -Hold , take thou this , my sweet , and give me thine , -So shall Berowne take me for Rosaline , -And change you favours too ; so shall your loves -Woo contrary , deceiv'd by these removes . - -Come on , then ; wear the favours most in sight . - -But in this changing what is your intent ? - -The effect of my intent is , to cross theirs : -They do it but in mocking merriment ; -And mock for mock is only my intent . -Their several counsels they unbosom shall -To loves mistook and so be mock'd withal -Upon the next occasion that we meet , -With visages display'd , to talk and greet . - -But shall we dance , if they desire us to't ? - -No , to the death , we will not move a foot : -Nor to their penn'd speech render we no grace ; -But while 'tis spoke each turn away her face . - -Why , that contempt will kill the speaker's heart , -And quite divorce his memory from his part . - -Therefore I do it ; and I make no doubt , -The rest will ne'er come in , if he be out . -There's no such sport as sport by sport o'erthrown , -To make theirs ours and ours none but our own : -So shall we stay , mocking intended game , -And they , well mock'd , depart away with shame . - - -The trumpet sounds : be mask'd ; the maskers come . - - -All hail , the richest beauties on the earth ! - -Beauties no richer than rich taffeta . - -A holy parcel of the fairest dames , - -That ever turn'd their backs to mortal views ! - -'Their eyes ,' villain , 'their eyes .' - -That ever turn'd their eyes to mortal views ! -Out - -True ; 'out ,' indeed . - -'Out of your favours , heavenly spirits , vouchsafe -Not to behold' - -'Once to behold ,' rogue . - -'Once to behold with your sun-beamed eyes , -with your sun-beamed eyes' - -They will not answer to that epithet ; -You were best call it 'daughter-beamed eyes .' - -They do not mark me , and that brings me out . - -Is this your perfectness ? be gone , you rogue ! - - -What would these strangers ? know their minds , Boyet : -If they do speak our language , 'tis our will -That some plain man recount their purposes : -Know what they would . - -What would you with the princess ? - -Nothing but peace and gentle visitation . - -What would they , say they ? - -Nothing but peace and gentle visitation . - -Why , that they have ; and bid them so be gone . - -She says , you have it , and you may be gone . - -Say to her , we have measur'd many miles , -To tread a measure with her on this grass . - -They say , that they have measur'd many a mile , -To tread a measure with you on this grass . - -It is not so . Ask them how many inches -Is in one mile : if they have measur'd many , -The measure then of one is easily told . - -If to come hither you have measur'd miles , -And many miles , the princess bids you tell -How many inches do fill up one mile . - -Tell her we measure them by weary steps . - -She hears herself . - -How many weary steps , -Of many weary miles you have o'ergone , -Are number'd in the travel of one mile ? - -We number nothing that we spend for you : -Our duty is so rich , so infinite , -That we may do it still without accompt . -Vouchsafe to show the sunshine of your face , -That we , like savages , may worship it . - -My face is but a moon , and clouded too . - -Blessed are clouds , to do as such clouds do ! -Vouchsafe , bright moon , and these thy stars , to shine , -Those clouds remov'd , upon our wat'ry eyne . - -O vain petitioner ! beg a greater matter ; -Thou now request'st but moonshine in the water . - -Then , in our measure but vouchsafe one change . -Thou bid'st me beg ; this begging is not strange . - -Play , music , then ! Nay , you must do it soon . - -Not yet ! no dance ! thus change I like the moon . - -Will you not dance ? How come you thus estrang'd ? - -You took the moon at full , but now she's chang'd . - -Yet still she is the moon , and I the man . -The music plays ; vouchsafe some motion to it . - -Our ears vouchsafe it . - -But your legs should do it . - -Since you are strangers , and come here by chance , -We'll not be nice : take hands : we will not dance . - -Why take we hands then ? - -Only to part friends . -Curtsy , sweet hearts ; and so the measure ends . - -More measure of this measure : be not nice . - -We can afford no more at such a price . - -Prize you yourselves ? what buys your company ? - -Your absence only . - -That can never be . - -Then cannot we be bought : and so , adieu ; -Twice to your visor , and half once to you ! - -If you deny to dance , let's hold more chat . - -In private , then . - -I am best pleas'd with that . - - -White-handed mistress , one sweet word with thee . - -Honey , and milk , and sugar ; there are three . - -Nay then , two treys , an if you grow so nice , -Metheglin , wort , and malmsey : well run , dice ! -There's half a dozen sweets . - -Seventh sweet , adieu : -Since you can cog , I'll play no more with you . - -One word in secret . - -Let it not be sweet . - -Thou griev'st my gall . - -Gall ! bitter . - -Therefore meet . - - -Will you vouchsafe with me to change a word ? - -Name it . - -Fair lady , - -Say you so ? Fair lord , -Take that for your fair lady . - -Please it you , -As much in private , and I'll bid adieu . - - -What ! was your visor made without a tongue ? - -I know the reason , lady , why you ask . - -O ! for your reason ; quickly , sir ; I long . - -You have a double tongue within your mask , -And would afford my speechless visor half . - -'Veal ,' quoth the Dutchman . Is not 'veal' a calf ? - -A calf , fair lady ! - -No , a fair lord calf . - -Let's part the word . - -No , I'll not be your half : -Take all , and wean it : it may prove an ox . - -Look , how you butt yourself in these sharp mocks . -Will you give horns , chaste lady ? do not so . - -Then die a calf , before your horns do grow . - -One word in private with you , ere I die . - -Bleat softly then ; the butcher hears you cry . - - -The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen -As is the razor's edge invisible , -Cutting a smaller hair than may be seen , -Above the sense of sense ; so sensible -Seemeth their conference ; their conceits have wings -Fleeter than arrows , bullets , wind , thought , swifter things . - -Not one word more , my maids : break off , break off . - -By heaven , all dry-beaten with pure scoff ! - -Farewell , mad wenches : you have simple wits . - -Twenty adieus , my frozen Muscovits . - -Are these the breed of wits so wonder'd at ? - -Tapers they are , with your sweet breaths puff'd out . - -Well-liking wits they have ; gross , gross ; fat , fat . - -O poverty in wit , kingly-poor flout ! -Will they not , think you , hang themselves to-night ? -Or ever , but in visors , show their faces ? -This pert Berowne was out of countenance quite . - -O ! they were all in lamentable cases . -The king was weeping-ripe for a good word . - -Berowne did swear himself out of all suit . - -Dumaine was at my service , and his sword : -'No point ,' quoth I : my servant straight was mute . - -Lord Longaville said , I came o'er his heart ; -And trow you what he call'd me ? - -Qualm , perhaps . - -Yes , in good faith . - -Go , sickness as thou art ! - -Well , better wits have worn plain statutecaps . -But will you hear ? the king is my love sworn . - -And quick Berowne hath plighted faith to me . - -And Longaville was for my service born . - -Dumaine is mine , as sure as bark on tree . - -Madam , and pretty mistresses , give ear : -Immediately they will again be here -In their own shapes ; for it can never be -They will digest this harsh indignity . - -Will they return ? - -They will , they will , God knows ; -And leap for joy , though they are lame with blows : -Therefore change favours ; and , when they repair , -Blow like sweet roses in this summer air . - -How blow ? how blow ? speak to be understood . - -Fair ladies mask'd , are roses in their bud : -Dismask'd , their damask sweet commixture shown , -Are angels vailing clouds , or roses blown . - -Avaunt perplexity ! What shall we do -If they return in their own shapes to woo ? - -Good madam , if by me you'll be advis'd , -Let's mock them still , as well known as disguis'd . -Let us complain to them what fools were here , -Disguis'd like Muscovites , in shapeless gear ; -And wonder what they were , and to what end -Their shallow shows and prologue vilely penn'd , -And their rough carriage so ridiculous , -Should be presented at our tent to us . - -Ladies , withdraw : the gallants are at hand . - -Whip to your tents , as roes run over land . - -Fair sir , God save you ! Where is the princess ? - -Gone to her tent . Please it your majesty , -Command me any service to her thither ? - -That she vouchsafe me audience for one word . - -I will ; and so will she , I know , my lord . - - -This fellow pecks up wit , as pigeons pease , -And utters it again when God doth please : -He is wit's pedlar , and retails his wares -At wakes and wassails , meetings , markets , fairs ; -And we that sell by gross , the Lord doth know , -Have not the grace to grace it with such show . -This gallant pins the wenches on his sleeve ; -Had he been Adam , he had tempted Eve : -He can carve too , and lisp : why , this is he -That kiss'd his hand away in courtesy ; -This is the ape of form , monsieur the nice , -That , when he plays at tables , chides the dice -In honourable terms : nay , he can sing -A mean most meanly , and in ushering -Mend him who can : the ladies call him , sweet ; -The stairs , as he treads on them , kiss his feet . -This is the flower that smiles on every one , -To show his teeth as white as whales-bone ; -And consciences , that will not die in debt , -Pay him the due of honey-tongu'd Boyet . - -A blister on his sweet tongue , with my heart , -That put Armado's page out of his part ! - - -See where it comes ! Behaviour , what wert thou , -Till this man show'd thee ? and what art thou now ? - -All hail , sweet madam , and fair time of day ! - -'Fair ,' in 'all hail ,' is foul , as I conceive . - -Construe my speeches better , if you may . - -Then wish me better : I will give you leave . - -We came to visit you , and purpose now -To lead you to our court : vouchsafe it then . - -This field shall hold me , and so hold your vow : -Nor God , nor I , delights in perjur'd men . - -Rebuke me not for that which you provoke : -The virtue of your eye must break my oath . - -You nick-name virtue ; vice you should have spoke ; -For virtue's office never breaks men's troth . -Now , by my maiden honour , yet as pure -As the unsullied lily , I protest , -A world of torments though I should endure , -I would not yield to be your house's guest ; -So much I hate a breaking cause to be -Of heavenly oaths , vow'd with integrity . - -O ! you have liv'd in desolation here , -Unseen , unvisited , much to our shame . - -Not so , my lord ; it is not so , I swear ; -We have had pastime here and pleasant game . -A mess of Russians left us but of late . - -How , madam ! Russians ? - -Ay , in truth , my lord ; -Trim gallants , full of courtship and of state . - -Madam , speak true . It is not so , my lord : -My lady , to the manner of the days , -In courtesy gives undeserving praise . -We four , indeed , confronted were with four -In Russian habit : here they stay'd an hour , -And talk'd apace ; and in that hour , my lord , -They did not bless us with one happy word . -I dare not call them fools ; but this I think , -When they are thirsty , fools would fam have drink . - -This jest is dry to me . Fair gentle sweet , -Your wit makes wise things foolish : when we greet , -With eyes best seeing , heaven's fiery eye , -By light we lose light : your capacity -Is of that nature that to your huge store -Wise things seem foolish and rich things but poor . - -This proves you wise and rich , for in my eye - -I am a fool , and full of poverty . - -But that you take what doth to you belong , -It were a fault to snatch words from my tongue . - -O ! I am yours , and all that I possess . - -All the fool mine ? - -I cannot give you less . - -Which of the visors was it that you wore ? - -Where ? when ? what visor ? why demand you this ? - -There , then , that visor ; that superfluous case -That hid the worse , and show'd the better face . - -We are descried : they'll mock us now downright . - -Let us confess , and turn it to a jest . - -Amaz'd , my lord ? Why looks your highness sad ? - -Help ! hold his brows ! he'll swound . -Why look you pale ? -Sea-sick , I think , coming from Muscovy . - -Thus pour the stars down plagues for perjury . -Can any face of brass hold longer out ? -Here stand I , lady ; dart thy skill at me ; -Bruise me with scorn , confound me with a flout ; -Thrust thy sharp wit quite through my ignorance ; -Cut me to pieces with thy keen conceit ; -And I will wish thee never more to dance , -Nor never more in Russian habit wait . -O ! never will I trust to speeches penn'd , -Nor to the motion of a school-boy's tongue , -Nor never come in visor to my friend , -Nor woo in rime , like a blind harper's song , -Taffeta phrases , silken terms precise , -Three-pil'd hyperboles , spruce affectation , -Figures pedantical ; these summer flies -Have blown me full of maggot ostentation : -I do forswear them ; and I here protest , -By this white glove ,how white the hand , -God knows , -Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd -In russet yeas and honest kersey noes : -And , to begin , wench ,so God help me , la ! -My love to thee is sound , sans crack or flaw . - -Sans 'sans ,' I pray you . - -Yet I have a trick -Of the old rage : bear with me , I am sick ; -I'll leave it by degrees . Soft ! let us see : -Write , 'Lord have mercy on us' on those three ; -They are infected , in their hearts it lies ; -They have the plague , and caught it of your eyes : -These lords are visited ; you are not free , -For the Lord's tokens on you do I see . - -No , they are free that gave these tokens to us . - -Our states are forfeit : seek not to undo us . - -It is not so . For how can this be true , -That you stand forfeit , being those that sue ? - -Peace ! for I will not have to do with you . - -Nor shall not , if I do as I intend . - -Speak for yourselves : my wit is at an end . - -Teach us , sweet madam , for our rude transgression -Some fair excuse . - -The fairest is confession . -Were you not here , but even now , disguis'd ? - -Madam , I was . - -And were you well advis'd ? - -I was , fair madam . - -When you then were here , -What did you whisper in your lady's ear ? - -That more than all the world I did respect her . - -When she shall challenge this , you will reject her . - -Upon mine honour , no . - -Peace ! peace ! forbear ; -Your oath once broke , you force not to forswear . - -Despise me , when I break this oath of mine . - -I will ; and therefore keep it . Rosaline , -What did the Russian whisper in your ear ? - -Madam , he swore that he did hold me dear -As precious eyesight , and did value me -Above this world ; adding thereto , moreover , -That he would wed me , or else die my lover . - -God give thee joy of him ! the noble lord -Most honourably doth uphold his word . - -What mean you , madam ? by my life , my troth , -I never swore this lady such an oath . - -By heaven you did ; and to confirm it plain , -You gave me this : but take it , sir , again . - -My faith and this the princess I did give : -I knew her by this jewel on her sleeve . - -Pardon me , sir , this jewel did she wear ; -And Lord Berowne , I thank him , is my dear . -What , will you have me , or your pearl again ? - -Neither of either ; I remit both twain . -I see the trick on't : here was a consent , -Knowing aforehand of our merriment , -To dash it like a Christmas comedy . -Some carry-tale , some please-man , some slight zany , -Some mumble-news , some trencher-knight , some Dick , -That smiles his cheek in years , and knows the trick -To make my lady laugh when she's dispos'd , -Told our intents before ; which once disclos'd , -The ladies did change favours , and then we , -Following the signs , woo'd but the sign of she . -Now , to our perjury to add more terror , -We are again forsworn , in will and error . -Much upon this it is : - -and might not you -Forestall our sport , to make us thus untrue ? -Do not you know my lady's foot by the squire , -And laugh upon the apple of her eye ? -And stand between her back , sir , and the fire , -Holding a trencher , jesting merrily ? -You put our page out : go , you are allow'd ; -Die when you will , a smock shall be your shroud . -You leer upon me , do you ? there's an eye -Wounds like a leaden sword . - -Full merrily -Hath this brave manage , this career , been run . - -Lo ! he is tilting straight . Peace ! I have done . - -Welcome , pure wit ! thou partest a fair fray . - -O Lord , sir , they would know -Whether the three Worthies shall come in or no . - -What , are there but three ? - -No , sir ; but it is vara fine , -For every one pursents three . - -And three times thrice is nine . - -Not so , sir ; under correction , sir , I hope , it is not so . -You cannot beg us , sir , I can assure you , sir ; we know what we know : -I hope , sir , three times thrice , sir , - -Is not nine . - -Under correction , sir , we know whereuntil it doth amount . - -By Jove , I always took three threes for nine . - -O Lord , sir ! it were pity you should get your living by reckoning , sir . - -How much is it ? - -O Lord , sir ! the parties themselves , the actors , sir , will show whereuntil it doth amount : for mine own part , I am , as they say , but to parfect one man in one poor man , Pompion the Great , sir . - -Art thou one of the Worthies ? - -It pleased them to think me worthy of Pompion the Great : for mine own part , I know not the degree of the Worthy , but I am to stand for him . - -Go , bid them prepare . - -We will turn it finely off , sir ; we will take some care . - - -Berowne , they will shame us ; let them not approach . - -We are shame-proof , my lord ; and 'tis some policy -To have one show worse than the king's and his company . - -I say they shall not come . - -Nay , my good lord , let me o'errule you now . -That sport best pleases that doth least know how ; -Where zeal strives to content , and the contents -Die in the zeal of those which it presents ; -Their form confounded makes most form in mirth , -When great things labouring perish in their birth . - -A right description of our sport , my lord . - - -Anointed , I implore so much expense of thy royal sweet breath as will utter a brace of words . - - -Doth this man serve God ? - -Why ask you ? - -He speaks not like a man of God's making , - -That's all one , my fair , sweet , honey monarch ; for , I protest , the schoolmaster is exceeding fantastical ; too-too vain ; too-too vain : but we will put it , as they say , to fortuna de la guerra . I wish you the peace of mind , most royal couplement ! - - -Here is like to be a good presence of Worthies . He presents Hector of Troy ; the swain , Pompey the Great ; the parish curate , Alexander ; Armado's page , Hercules ; the pedant , Judas Maccab us : -And if these four Worthies in their first show thrive , -These four will change habits and present the other five . - -There is five in the first show . - -You are deceived , 'tis not so . - -The pedant , the braggart , the hedgepriest , the fool , and the boy : -Abate throw at novum , and the whole world again -Cannot pick out five such , take each one in his vein . - -The ship is under sail , and here she comes amain . - - -I Pompey am , - -You lie , you are not he . - -I Pompey am , - -With libbard's head on knee . - -Well said , old mocker : I must needs be friends with thee . - -I Pompey am , Pompey surnam'd the Big , - -'The Great .' - -It is 'Great ,' sir ; Pompey surnam'd the Great ; -That oft in field , with targe and shield , did make my foe to sweat : -And travelling along this coast , I here am come by chance , -And lay my arms before the legs of this sweet lass of France . -If your ladyship would say , 'Thanks , Pompey ,' I had done . - -Great thanks , great Pompey . - -'Tis not so much worth ; but I hope I was perfect . I made a little fault in 'Great .' - -My hat to a halfpenny , Pompey proves the best Worthy . - - -When in the world I liv'd , I was the world's commander ; -By east , west , north , and south , I spread my conquering might : -My scutcheon plain declares that I am Alisander , - -Your nose says , no , you are not ; for it stands too right . - -Your nose smells 'no ,' in this , most tender-smelling knight . - -The conqueror is dismay'd . Proceed , good Alexander . - -When in the world I liv'd , I was the world's commander ; - -Most true ; 'tis right : you were so , Alisander . - -Pompey the Great , - -Your servant , and Costard . - -Take away the conqueror , take away Alisander . - - -There , an't shall please you : a foolish mild man ; an honest man , look you , and soon dashed ! He is a marvellous good neighbour , faith , and a very good bowler ; but , for Alisander ,alas , you see how 'tis ,a little o'erparted . But there are Worthies a-coming will speak their mind in some other sort . - -Stand aside , good Pompey . - - -Great Hercules is presented by this imp , -Whose club kill'd Cerberus , that three-headed canis ; -And , when he was a babe , a child , a shrimp , -Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus . -Quoniam , he seemeth in minority , -Ergo , I come with this apology . -Keep some state in thy exit , and vanish . - -Judas I am . - -A Judas ! - -Not Iscariot , sir . -Judas I am , ycleped Maccab us . - -Judas Maccab us clipt is plain Judas . - -A kissing traitor . How art thou prov'd Judas ? - -Judas I am . - -The more shame for you , Judas . - -What mean you , sir ? - -To make Judas hang himself . - -Begin , sir ; you are my elder . - -Well follow'd : Judas was hanged on an elder . - -I will not be put out of countenance . - -Because thou hast no face . - -What is this ? - -A cittern-head . - -The head of a bodkin . - -A death's face in a ring . - -The face of an old Roman coin , scarce seen . - -The pommel of C sar's falchion . - -The carved-bone face on a flask . - -Saint George's half-cheek in a brooch . - -Ay , and in a brooch of lead . - -Ay , and worn in the cap of a toothdrawer . -And now forward ; for we have put thee in countenance . - -You have put me out of countenance . - -False : we have given thee faces . - -But you have outfaced them all . - -An thou wert a lion , we would do so . - -Therefore , as he is an ass , let him go . -And so adieu , sweet Jude ! nay , why dost thou stay ? - -For the latter end of his name . - -For the ass to the Jude ? give it him :Jud-as , away ! - -This is not generous , not gentle , not humble . - -A light for Monsieur Judas ! it grows dark , he may stumble . - -Alas ! poor Maccab us , how hath he been baited . - - -Hide thy head , Achilles : here comes Hector in arms . - -Though my mocks come home by me , I will now be merry . - -Hector was but a Troyan in respect of this . - -But is this Hector ? - -I think Hector was not so clean-timbered . - -His calf is too big for Hector . - -More calf , certain . - -No ; he is best indued in the small . - -This cannot be Hector . - -He's a god or a painter ; for he makes faces . - -The armipotent Mars , of lances the almighty , -Gave Hector a gift , - -A gilt nutmeg . - -A lemon . - -Stuck with cloves . - -No , cloven . - -Peace ! -The armipotent Mars , of lances the almighty , Gave Hector a gift , the heir of Ilion ; -A man so breath'd , that certain he would fight ye -From morn till night , out of his pavilion . -I am that flower , - -That mint . - -That columbine . - -Sweet Lord Longaville , rein thy tongue . - -I must rather give it the rein , for it runs against Hector . - -Ay , and Hector's a greyhound . - -The sweet war-man is dead and rotten ; sweet chucks , beat not the bones of the buried ; when he breathed , he was a man . But I will forward with my device . - -Sweet royalty , bestow on me the sense of hearing . - -Speak , brave Hector ; we are much delighted . - -I do adore thy sweet Grace's slipper . - -Loves her by the foot . - -He may not by the yard . - -This Hector far surmounted Hannibal , - -The party is gone ; fellow Hector , she is gone ; she is two months on her way . - -What meanest thou ? - -Faith , unless you play the honest Troyan , the poor wench is cast away : she's quick ; the child brags in her belly already : 'tis yours . - -Dost thou infamonize me among potentates ? Thou shalt die . - -Then shall Hector be whipped for Jaquenetta that is quick by him , and hanged for Pompey that is dead by him . - -Most rare Pompey ! - -Renowned Pompey ! - -Greater than great , great , great , great Pompey ! Pompey the Huge ! - -Hector trembles . - -Pompey is moved . More Ates , more Ates ! stir them on ! stir them on ! - -Hector will challenge him . - -Ay , if a' have no more man's blood in's belly than will sup a flea . - -By the north pole , I do challenge thee . - -I will not fight with a pole , like a northern man : I'll slash ; I'll do it by the sword . I bepray you , let me borrow my arms again . - -Room for the incensed Worthies ! - -I'll do it in my shirt . - -Most resolute Pompey ! - -Master , let me take you a button-hole lower . Do you not see Pompey is uncasing for the combat ? What mean you ? you will lose your reputation . - -Gentlemen and soldiers , pardon me ; I will not combat in my shirt . - -You may not deny it ; Pompey hath made the challenge . - -Sweet bloods , I both may and will . - -What reason have you for't ? - -The naked truth of it is , I have no shirt . I go woolward for penance . - -True , and it was enjoined him in Rome for want of linen ; since when , I'll be sworn , he wore none but a dish-clout of Jaquenetta's , and that a' wears next his heart for a favour . - - -God save you , madam ! - -Welcome , Marcade ; -But that thou interrupt'st our merriment . - -I am sorry , madam ; for the news I bring -Is heavy in my tongue . The king your father - -Dead , for my life ! - -Even so : my tale is told . - -Worthies , away ! The scene begins to cloud . - -For my own part , I breathe free breath . I have seen the day of wrong through the little hole of discretion , and I will right myself like a soldier . - - -How fares your majesty ? - -Boyet , prepare : I will away to-night . - -Madam , not so : I do beseech you , stay . - -Prepare , I say . I thank you , gracious lords , -For all your fair endeavours ; and entreat , -Out of a new-sad soul , that you vouchsafe -In your rich wisdom to excuse or hide -The liberal opposition of our spirits , -If over-boldly we have borne ourselves -In the converse of breath ; your gentleness -Was guilty of it . Farewell , worthy lord ! -A heavy heart bears not a nimble tongue , -Excuse me so , coming so short of thanks -For my great suit so easily obtain'd . - -The extreme part of time extremely forms -All causes to the purpose of his speed , -And often , at his very loose , decides -That which long process could not arbitrate : -And though the mourning brow of progeny -Forbid the smiling courtesy of love -The holy suit which fain it would convince ; -Yet , since love's argument was first on foot , -Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it -From what it purpos'd ; since , to wail friends lost -Is not by much so wholesome-profitable -As to rejoice at friends but newly found . - -I understand you not : my griefs are double . - -Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief ; -And by these badges understand the king . -For your fair sakes have we neglected time , -Play'd foul play with our oaths . Your beauty , ladies , -Hath much deform'd us , fashioning our humours -Even to the opposed end of our intents ; -And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous , -As love is full of unbefitting strains ; -All wanton as a child , skipping and vain ; -Form'd by the eye , and , therefore , like the eye , -Full of stray shapes , of habits and of forms , -Varying in subjects , as the eye doth roll -To every varied object in his glance : -Which parti-coated presence of loose love -Put on by us , if , in your heavenly eyes , -Have misbecome our oaths and gravities , -Those heavenly eyes , that look into these faults , -Suggested us to make . Therefore , ladies , -Our love being yours , the error that love makes -Is likewise yours : we to ourselves prove false , -By being once false for ever to be true -To those that make us both ,fair ladies , you : -And even that falsehood , in itself a sin , -Thus purifies itself and turns to grace . - -We have receiv'd your letters full of love ; -Your favours , the embassadors of love ; -And , in our maiden council , rated them -At courtship , pleasant jest , and courtesy , -As bombast and as lining to the time . -But more devout than this in our respects -Have we not been ; and therefore met your loves -In their own fashion , like a merriment . - -Our letters , madam , show'd much more than jest . - -So did our looks . - -We did not quote them so . - -Now , at the latest minute of the hour , -Grant us your loves . - -A time , methinks , too short -To make a world-without-end bargain in . -No , no , my lord , your Grace is perjur'd much , -Full of dear guiltiness ; and therefore this : -If for my love ,as there is no such cause , -You will do aught , this shall you do for me : -Your oath I will not trust ; but go with speed -To some forlorn and naked hermitage , -Remote from all the pleasures of the world ; -There stay , until the twelve celestial signs -Have brought about their annual reckoning . -If this austere insociable life -Change not your offer made in heat of blood ; -If frosts and fasts , hard lodging and thin weeds , -Nip not the gaudy blossoms of your love , -But that it bear this trial and last love ; -Then , at the expiration of the year , -Come challenge me , challenge me by these deserts , -And , by this virgin palm now kissing thine , -I will be thine ; and , till that instant , shut -My woful self up in a mourning house , -Raining the tears of lamentation -For the remembrance of my father's death . -If this thou do deny , let our hands part ; -Neither intitled in the other's heart . - -If this , or more than this , I would deny , -To flatter up these powers of mine with rest , -The sudden hand of death close up mine eye ! -Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast . - -And what to me , my love ? and what to me ? - -You must be purged too , your sins are rack'd : -You are attaint with faults and perjury ; -Therefore , if you my favour mean to get , -A twelvemonth shall you spend , and never rest , -But seek the weary beds of people sick . - -But what to me , my love ? but what to me ? - -A wife ! A beard , fair health , and honesty ; -With three-fold love I wish you all these three . - -O ! shall I say , I thank you , gentle wife ? - -Not so , my lord . A twelvemonth and a day -I'll mark no words that smooth-fac'd wooers say : -Come when the king doth to my lady come ; -Then , if I have much love , I'll give you some . - -I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then . - -Yet swear not , lest you be forsworn again . - -What says Maria ? - -At the twelvemonth's end -I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend . - -I'll stay with patience ; but the time is long . - -The liker you ; few taller are so young . - -Studies my lady ? mistress , look on me . -Behold the window of my heart , mine eye , -What humble suit attends thy answer there ; -Impose some service on me for thy love . - -Oft have I heard of you , my Lord Berowne , -Before I saw you , and the world's large tongue -Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks ; -Full of comparisons and wounding flouts , -Which you on all estates will execute -That lie within the mercy of your wit : -To weed this wormwood from your fruitful brain , -And therewithal to win me , if you please , -Without the which I am not to be won , -You shall this twelvemonth term , from day to day , -Visit the speechless sick , and still converse -With groaning wretches ; and your task shall be , -With all the fierce endeavour of your wit -To enforce the pained impotent to smile . - -To move wild laughter in the throat of death ? -It cannot be ; it is impossible : -Mirth cannot move a soul in agony . - -Why , that's the way to choke a gibing spirit , -Whose influence is begot of that loose grace -Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools . -A jest's prosperity lics in the ear -Of him that hears it , never in the tongue -Of him that makes it : then , if sickly ears , -Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear groans , -Will hear your idle scorns , continue them , -And I will have you and that fault withal ; -But if they will not , throw away that spirit , -And I shall find you empty of that fault , -Right joyful of your reformation . - -A twelvemonth ! well , befall what will befall , -I'll jest a twelvemonth in a hospital . - -Ay , sweet my lord ; and so I take my leave . - -No , madam ; we will bring you on your way . - -Our wooing doth not end like an old play ; -Jack hath not Jill ; these ladies' courtesy -Might well have made our sport a comedy . - -Come , sir , it wants a twelvemonth and a day , -And then 'twill end . - -That's too long for a play . - - -Sweet majesty , vouchsafe me , - -Was not that Hector ? - -The worthy knight of Troy . - -I will kiss thy royal finger , and take leave . I am a votary ; I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three years . But , most esteemed greatness , will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled in praise of the owl and the cuckoo ? it should have followed in the end of our show . - -Call them forth quickly ; we will do so . - -Holla ! approach . - - -This side is Hiems , Winter ; this Ver , the Spring ; the one maintained by the owl , the other by the cuckoo . Ver , begin . - -SPRING . - - -I - -When daisies pied and violets blue -And lady-smocks all silver-white -And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue -Do paint the meadows with delight , -The cuckoo then , on every tree , -Mocks married men ; for thus sings he , -Cuckoo , -Cuckoo , cuckoo : O , word of fear , -Unpleasing to a married ear ! - -II . - -When shepherds pipe on oaten straws , -And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks , -When turtles tread , and rooks , and daws , -And maidens bleach their summer smocks , -The cuckoo then , on every tree , -Mocks married men ; for thus sings he , -Cuckoo ; -Cuckoo , cuckoo : O , word of fear , -Unpleasing to a married ear ! - -WINTER . - - -III . - -When icicles hang by the wall , -And Dick the shepherd blows his nail , -And Tom bears logs into the hall , -And milk comes frozen home in pail , -When blood is nipp'd , and ways be foul , -Then nightly sings the staring owl , -Tu-who ; -Tu-whit , tu-who a merry note , -While greasy Joan doth keel the pot . - -IV - -When all aloud the wind doth blow , -And coughing drowns the parson's saw , -And birds sit brooding in the snow , -And Marian's nose looks red and raw , -When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl , -Then nightly sings the staring owl , -Tu-who ; -Tu-whit , tu-who a merry note , -While greasy Joan doth keel the pot . - - -The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo . You , that way : we , this way . - -MEASURE FOR MEASURE - -Escalus . - -My lord ? - -Of government the properties to unfold , -Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse , -Since I am put to know that your own science -Exceeds , in that , the lists of all advice -My strength can give you : then no more remains , -But that , to your sufficiency , as your worth is able , -And let them work . The nature of our people , -Our city's institutions , and the terms -For common justice , you're as pregnant in , -As art and practice hath enriched any -That we remember . There is our commission , - -From which we would not have you warp . Call hither , -I say , bid come before us Angelo . - -What figure of us think you he will bear ? -For you must know , we have with special soul -Elected him our absence to supply , -Lent him our terror , drest him with our love , -And given his deputation all the organs -Of our own power : what think you of it ? - -If any in Vienna be of worth -To undergo such ample grace and honour , -It is Lord Angelo . - -Look where he comes . - - -Always obedient to your Grace's will , -I come to know your pleasure . - -Angelo , -There is a kind of character in thy life , -That , to th' observer doth thy history -Fully unfold . Thyself and thy belongings -Are not thine own so proper , as to waste -Thyself upon thy virtues , they on thee . -Heaven doth with us as we with torches do , -Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues -Did not go forth of us , 'twere all alike -As if we had them not . Spirits are not finely touch'd -But to fine issues , nor Nature never lends -The smallest scruple of her excellence , -But , like a thrifty goddess , she determines -Herself the glory of a creditor , -Both thanks and use . But I do bend my speech -To one that can my part in him advertise ; -Hold , therefore , Angelo : - -In our remove be thou at full ourself ; -Mortality and mercy in Vienna -Live in thy tongue and heart . Old Escalus , -Though first in question , is thy secondary . -Take thy commission . - - -Now , good my lord , -Let there be some more test made of my metal , -Before so noble and so great a figure -Be stamp'd upon it . - -No more evasion : -We have with a leaven'd and prepared choice -Proceeded to you ; therefore take your honours . -Our haste from hence is of so quick condition -That it prefers itself , and leaves unquestion'd -Matters of needful value . We shall write to you , -As time and our concernings shall importune , -How it goes with us ; and do look to know -What doth befall you here . So , fare you well : -To the hopeful execution do I leave you -Of your commissions . - -Yet , give leave , my lord , -That we may bring you something on the way . - -My haste may not admit it ; -Nor need you , on mine honour , have to do -With any scruple : your scope is as mine own , -So to enforce or qualify the laws -As to your soul seems good . Give me your hand ; -I'll privily away : I love the people , -But do not like to stage me to their eyes . -Though it do well , I do not relish well -Their loud applause and Aves vehement , -Nor do I think the man of safe discretion -That does affect it . Once more , fare you well . - -The heavens give safety to your purposes ! - -Lead forth and bring you back in happiness ! - -I thank you . Fare you well . - - -I shall desire you , sir , to give me leave -To have free speech with you ; and it concerns me -To look into the bottom of my place : -A power I have , but of what strength and nature -I am not yet instructed . - -'Tis so with me . Let us withdraw together , -And we may soon our satisfaction have -Touching that point . - -I'll wait upon your honour . - - -If the Duke with the other dukes come not to composition with the King of Hungary , why then , all the dukes fall upon the king . - -Heaven grant us its peace , but not the King of Hungary's ! - -Amen . - -Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate , that went to sea with the Ten Commandments , but scraped one out of the table . - -'Thou shalt not steal ?' - -Ay , that he razed . - -Why , 'twas a commandment to command the captain and all the rest from their functions : they put forth to steal . There's not a soldier of us all , that , in the thanksgiving before meat , doth relish the petition well that prays for peace . - -I never heard any soldier dislike it . - -I believe thee , for I think thou never wast where grace was said . - -No ? a dozen times at least . - -What , in metre ? - -In any proportion or in any language . - -I think , or in any religion . - -Ay ; why not ? Grace is grace , despite of all controversy : as , for example , thou thyself art a wicked villain , despite of all grace . - -Well , there went but a pair of shears between us . - -I grant ; as there may between the lists and the velvet : thou art the list . - -And thou the velvet : thou art good velvet ; thou art a three-piled piece , I warrant thee . I had as lief be a list of an English kersey as be piled , as thou art piled , for a French velvet . Do I speak feelingly now ? - -I think thou dost ; and , indeed , with most painful feeling of thy speech : I will , out of thine own confession , learn to begin thy health ; but , whilst I live , forget to drink after thee . - -I think I have done myself wrong , have I not ? - -Yes , that thou hast , whether thou art tainted or free . - -Behold , behold , where Madam Mitigation comes ! I have purchased as many diseases under her roof as come to - -To what , I pray ? - -Judge . - -To three thousand dolours a year . - -Ay , and more . - -A French crown more . - -Thou art always figuring diseases in me ; but thou art full of error : I am sound . - -Nay , not as one would say , healthy ; but so sound as things that are hollow : thy bones are hollow ; impiety has made a feast of thee . - - -How now ! which of your hips has the most profound sciatica ? - -Well , well ; there's one yonder arrested and carried to prison was worth five thousand of you all . - -Who's that , I pray thee ? - -Marry , sir , that's Claudio , Signior Claudio . - -Claudio to prison ! 'tis not so . - -Nay , but I know 'tis so : I saw him arrested ; saw him carried away ; and , which is more , within these three days his head to be chopped off . - -But , after all this fooling , I would not have it so . Art thou sure of this ? - -I am too sure of it ; and it is for getting Madam Julietta with child . - -Believe me , this may be : he promised to meet me two hours since , and he was ever precise in promise-keeping . - -Besides , you know , it draws something near to the speech we had to such a purpose . - -But most of all , agreeing with the proclamation . - -Away ! let's go learn the truth of it . - - -Thus , what with the war , what with the sweat , what with the gallows and what with poverty , I am custom-shrunk . - -How now ! what's the news with you ? - -Yonder man is carried to prison . - -Well : what has he done ? - -A woman . - -But what's his offence ? - -Groping for trouts in a peculiar river . - -What , is there a maid with child by him ? - -No ; but there's a woman with maid by him . You have not heard of the proclamation , have you ? - -What proclamation , man ? - -All houses of resort in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down - -And what shall become of those in the city ? - -They shall stand for seed : they had gone down too , but that a wise burgher put in for them . - -But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pulled down ? - -To the ground , mistress . - -Why , here's a change indeed in the commonwealth ! What shall become of me ? - -Come ; fear not you : good counsellors lack no clients : though you change your place , you need not change your trade ; I'll be your tapster still . Courage ! there will be pity taken on you ; you that have worn your eyes almost out in the service , you will be considered . - -What's to do here , Thomas tapster ? -Let's withdraw . - -Here comes Signior Claudio , led by the provost to prison ; and there's Madam Juliet . - -Fellow , why dost thou show me thus to the world ? -Bear me to prison , where I am committed . - -I do it not in evil disposition , -But from Lord Angelo by special charge . - -Thus can the demi-god Authority -Make us pay down for our offence' by weight . -The words of heaven ; on whom it will , it will ; -On whom it will not , so : yet still 'tis just . - - -Why , how now , Claudio ! whence comes this restraint ? - -From too much liberty , my Lucio , liberty : -As surfeit is the father of much fast , -So every scope by the immoderate use -Turns to restraint . Our natures do pursue -Like rats that ravin down their proper bane , -A thirsty evil , and when we drink we die . - -If I could speak so wisely under an arrest , I would send for certain of my creditors . And yet , to say the truth , I had as lief have the foppery of freedom as the morality of imprisonment . What's thy offence , Claudio ? - -What but to speak of would offend again . - -What , is't murder ? - -No . - -Lechery ? - -Call it so . - -Away , sir ! you must go . - -One word , good friend . Lucio , a word with you . - - -A hundred , if they'll do you any good . -Is lechery so looked after ? - -Thus stands it with me : upon a true contract -I got possession of Julietta's bed : -You know the lady ; she is fast my wife , -Save that we do the denunciation lack -Of outward order : this we came not to , -Only for propagation of a dower -Remaining in the coffer of her friends , -From whom we thought it meet to hide our love -Till time had made them for us . But it chances -The stealth of our most mutual entertainment -With character too gross is writ on Juliet . - -With child , perhaps ? - -Unhappily , even so . -And the new deputy now for the duke , -Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness , -Or whether that the body public be -A horse whereon the governor doth ride , -Who , newly in the seat , that it may know -He can command , lets it straight feel the spur ; -Whether the tyranny be in his place , -Or in his eminence that fills it up , -I stagger in :but this new governor -Awakes me all the enrolled penalties -Which have , like unscour'd armour , hung by the wall -So long that nineteen zodiacs have gone round , -And none of them been worn ; and , for a name , -Now puts the drowsy and neglected act -Freshly on me : 'tis surely for a name . - -I warrant it is : and thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders that a milkmaid , if she be in love , may sigh it off . Send after the duke and appeal to him . - -I have done so , but he's not to be found . -I prithee , Lucio , do me this kind service . -This day my sister should the cloister enter , -And there receive her approbation : -Acquaint her with the danger of my state ; -Implore her , in my voice , that she make friends -To the strict deputy ; bid herself assay him : -I have great hope in that ; for in her youth -There is a prone and speechless dialect , -Such as move men ; beside , she hath prosperous art -When she will play with reason and discourse , -And well she can persuade . - -I pray she may : as well for the encouragement of the like , which else would stand under grievous imposition , as for the enjoying of thy life , who I would be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of tick-tack . I'll to her . - -I thank you , good friend Lucio . - -Within two hours . - -Come , officer , away ! - - -No , holy father ; throw away that thought : -Believe not that the dribbling dart of love -Can pierce a complete bosom . Why I desire thee -To give me secret harbour , hath a purpose -More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends -Of burning youth . - -May your Grace speak of it ? - -My holy sir , none better knows than you -How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd , -And held in idle price to haunt assemblies -Where youth , and cost , and witless bravery keeps . -I have deliver'd to Lord Angelo -A man of stricture and firm abstinence -My absolute power and place here in Vienna , -And he supposes me travell'd to Poland ; -For so I have strew'd it in the common ear , -And so it is receiv'd . Now , pious sir , -You will demand of me why I do this ? - -Gladly , my lord . - -We have strict statutes and most biting laws , -The needful bits and curbs to headstrong steeds , -Which for this fourteen years we have let sleep ; -Even like an o'ergrown lion in a cave , -That goes not out to prey . Now , as fond fathers , -Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch , -Only to stick it in their children's sight -For terror , not to use , in time the rod -Becomes more mock'd than fear'd ; so our decrees , -Dead to infliction , to themselves are dead , -And liberty plucks justice by the nose ; -The baby beats the nurse , and quite athwart -Goes all decorum . - -It rested in your Grace -T' unloose this tied-up justice when you pleas'd ; -And it in you more dreadful would have seem'd -Than in Lord Angelo . - -I do fear , too dreadful : -Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope , -'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them -For what I bid them do : for we bid this be done , -When evil deeds have their permissive pass -And not the punishment . Therefore , indeed , my father , -I have on Angelo impos'd the office , -Who may , in the ambush of my name , strike home , -And yet my nature never in the sight -To do it slander . And to behold his sway , -I will , as 'twere a brother of your order , -Visit both prince and people : therefore , I prithee , -Supply me with the habit , and instruct me -How I may formally in person bear me -Like a true friar . Moe reasons for this action -At our more leisure shall I render you ; -Only , this one : Lord Angelo is precise ; -Stands at a guard with envy ; scarce confesses -That his blood flows , or that his appetite -Is more to bread than stone : hence shall we see , -If power change purpose , what our seemers be . - - -And have you nuns no further privileges ? - -Are not these large enough ? - -Yes , truly : I speak not as desiring more , -But rather wishing a more strict restraint -Upon the sisterhood , the votarists of Saint Clare . - -Ho ! Peace be in this place ! - -Who's that which calls ? - -It is a man's voice . Gentle Isabella , -Turn you the key , and know his business of him : -You may , I may not ; you are yet unsworn . -When you have vow'd , you must not speak with men -But in the presence of the prioress : -Then , if you speak , you must not show your face , -Or , if you show your face , you must not speak . -He calls again ; I pray you , answer him . - - -Peace and prosperity ! Who is't that calls ? - - -Hail , virgin , if you be , as those cheek-roses -Proclaim you are no less ! Can you so stead me -As bring me to the sight of Isabella , -A novice of this place , and the fair sister -To her unhappy brother Claudio ? - -Why 'her unhappy brother ?' let me ask ; -The rather for I now must make you know -I am that Isabella and his sister . - -Gentle and fair , your brother kindly greets you : -Not to be weary with you , he's in prison . - -Woe me ! for what ? - -For that which , if myself might be his judge , -He should receive his punishment in thanks : -He hath got his friend with child . - -Sir , make me not your story . - -It is true . -I would not , though 'tis my familiar sin -With maids to seem the lapwing and to jest , -Tongue far from heart , play with all virgins so : -I hold you as a thing ensky'd and sainted ; -By your renouncement an immortal spirit , -And to be talk'd with in sincerity , -As with a saint . - -You do blaspheme the good in mocking me . - -Do not believe it . Fewness and truth , 'tis thus : -Your brother and his lover have embrac'd : -As those that feed grow full , as blossoming time -That from the seedness the bare fallow brings -To teeming foison , even so her plenteous womb -Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry . - -Some one with child by him ? My cousin Juliet ? - -Is she your cousin ? - -Adoptedly ; asschool-maids change their names -By vain , though apt affection . - -She it is . - -O ! let him marry her . - -This is the point . -The duke is very strangely gone from hence ; -Bore many gentlemen , myself being one , -In hand and hope of action ; but we do learn -By those that know the very nerves of state , -His givings out were of an infinite distance -From his true-meant design . Upon his place , -And with full line of his authority , -Governs Lord Angelo ; a man whose blood -Is very snow-broth ; one who never feels -The wanton stings and motions of the sense , -But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge -With profits of the mind , study and fast . -He ,to give fear to use and liberty , -Which have for long run by the hideous law , -As mice by lions , hath pick'd out an act , -Under whose heavy sense your brother's life -Falls into forfeit : he arrests him on it , -And follows close the rigour of the statute , -To make him an example . All hope is gone , -Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer -To soften Angelo ; and that's my pith of business -Twixt you and your poor brother . - -Doth he so seek his life ? - -He's censur'd him -Already ; and , as I hear , the provost hath -A warrant for his execution . - -Alas ! what poor ability's in me -To do him good ? - -Assay the power you have . - -My power ? alas ! I doubt - -Our doubts are traitors , -And make us lose the good we oft might win , -By fearing to attempt . Go to Lord Angelo , -And let him learn to know , when maidens sue , -Men give like gods ; but when they weep and kneel , -All their petitions are as freely theirs -As they themselves would owe them . - -I'll see what I can do . - -But speedily . - -I will about it straight ; -No longer staying but to give the Mother -Notice of my affair . I humbly thank you : -Commend me to my brother ; soon at night -I'll send him certain word of my success . - -I take my leave of you . - -Good sir , adieu . - -We must not make a scarecrow of the law , -Setting it up to fear the birds of prey , -And let it keep one shape , till custom make it -Their perch and not their terror . - -Ay , but yet -Let us be keen and rather cut a little , -Than fall , and bruise to death . Alas ! this gentleman , -Whom I would save , had a most noble father . -Let but your honour know , -Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue , -That , in the working of your own affections , -Had time coher'd with place or place with wishing , -Or that the resolute acting of your blood -Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpose , -Whether you had not , some time in your life , -Err'd in this point which now you censure him , -And pull'd the law upon you . - -'Tis one thing to be tempted , Escalus , -Another thing to fall . I not deny , -The jury , passing on the prisoner's life , -May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two -Guiltier than him they try ; what's open made to justice , -That justice seizes : what know the laws -That thieves do pass on thieves ? 'Tis very pregnant , -The jewel that we find , we stoop and take it -Because we see it ; but what we do not see -We tread upon , and never think of it . -You may not so extenuate his offence -For I have had such faults ; but rather tell me , -When I , that censure him , do so offend , -Let mine own judgment pattern out my death , -And nothing come in partial . Sir , he must die . - -Be it as your wisdom will . - -Where is the provost ? - -Here , if it like your honour . - -See that Claudio -Be executed by nine to-morrow morning : -Bring him his confessor , let him be prepar'd ; -For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage . - - -Well , heaven forgive him , and forgive us all ! -Some rise by sin , and some by virtue fall : -Some run from brakes of ice , and answer none , -And some condemned for a fault alone . - - -Come , bring them away : if these be good people in a common-weal that do nothing but use their abuses in common houses , I know no law : bring them away . - -How now , sir ! What's your name , and what's the matter ? - -If it please your honour , I am the poor duke's constable , and my name is Elbow : I do lean upon justice , sir ; and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors . - -Benefactors ! Well ; what benefactors are they ? are they not malefactors ? - -If it please your honour , I know not well what they are ; but precise villains they are , that I am sure of , and void of all profanation in the world that good Christians ought to have . - -This comes off well : here's a wise officer . - -Go to : what quality are they of ? Elbow is your name ? why dost thou not speak , Elbow ? - -He cannot , sir : he's out at elbow . - -What are you , sir ? - -He , sir ! a tapster , sir ; parcel-bawd ; one that serves a bad woman , whose house , sir , was , as they say , plucked down in the suburbs ; and now she professes a hot-house , which , I think , is a very ill house too . - -How know you that ? - -My wife , sir , whom I detest before heaven and your honour , - -How ! thy wife ? - -Ay , sir ; whom , I thank heaven , is an honest woman , - -Dost thou detest her therefore ? - -I say , sir , I will detest myself also , as well as she , that this house , if it be not a bawd's house , it is pity of her life , for it is a naughty house . - -How dost thou know that , constable ? - -Marry , sir , by my wife ; who , if she had been a woman cardinally given , might have been accused in fornication , adultery , and all uncleanliness there . - -By the woman's means ? - -Ay , sir , by Mistress Overdone's means ; but as she spit in his face , so she defied him . - -Sir , if it please your honour , this is not so . - -Prove it before these varlets here , thou honourable man , prove it . - -Do you hear how he misplaces ? - -Sir , she came in , great with child , and longing ,saving your honour's reverence ,for stewed prunes . Sir , we had but two in the house , which at that very distant time stood , as it were , in a fruit-dish , a dish of some three-pence ; your honours have seen such dishes ; they are not China dishes , but very good dishes . - -Go to , go to : no matter for the dish , sir . - -No , indeed , sir , not of a pin ; you are therein in the right : but to the point . As I say , this Mistress Elbow , being , as I say , with child , and being great-bellied , and longing , as I said , for prunes , and having but two in the dish , as I said , Master Froth here , this very man , having eaten the rest , as I said , and , as I say , paying for them very honestly ; for , as you know , Master Froth , I could not give you three-pence again . - -No , indeed . - -Very well : you being then , if you be remembered , cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes , - -Ay , so I did , indeed . - -Why , very well : I telling you then , if you be remembered , that such a one and such a one were past cure of the thing you wot of , unless they kept very good diet , as I told you , - -All this is true . - -Why , very well then . - -Come , you are a tedious fool : to the purpose . What was done to Elbow's wife , that he hath cause to complain of ? Come me to what was done to her . - -Sir , your honour cannot come to that yet . - -No , sir , nor I mean it not . - -Sir , but you shall come to it , by your honour's leave . And , I beseech you , look into Master Froth here , sir ; a man of fourscore pound a year , whose father died at Hallowmas . Was't not at Hallowmas , Master Froth ? - -All-hallownd eve . - -Why , very well : I hope here be truths . He , sir , sitting , as I say , in a lower chair , sir ; 'twas in the Bunch of Grapes , where indeed , you have a delight to sit , have you not ? - -I have so , because it is an open room and good for winter . - -Why , very well then : I hope here be truths . - -This will last out a night in Russia , -When nights are longest there : I'll take my leave , -And leave you to the hearing of the cause , -Hoping you'll find good cause to whip them all . - -I think no less . Good morrow to your lordship . - -Now , sir , come on : what was done to Elbow's wife , once more ? - -Once , sir ? there was nothing done to her once . - -I beseech you , sir , ask him what this man did to my wife . - -I beseech your honour , ask me . - -Well , sir , what did this gentleman to her ? - -I beseech you , sir , look in this gentleman's face . Good Master Froth , look upon his honour ; 'tis for a good purpose . Doth your honour mark his face ? - -Ay , sir , very well . - -Nay , I beseech you , mark it well . - -Well , I do so . - -Doth your honour see any harm in his face ? - -Why , no . - -I'll be supposed upon a book , his face is the worst thing about him . Good , then ; if his face be the worst thing about him , how could Master Froth do the constable's wife any harm ? I would know that of your honour . - -He's in the right . Constable , what say you to it ? - -First , an' it like you , the house is a respected house ; next , this is a respected fellow , and his mistress is a respected woman . - -By this hand , sir , his wife is a more respected person than any of us all . - -Varlet , thou liest : thou liest , wicked varlet . The time is yet to come that she was ever respected with man , woman , or child . - -Sir , she was respected with him before he married with her . - -Which is the wiser here ? Justice , or Iniquity ? Is this true ? - -O thou caitiff ! O thou varlet ! O thou wicked Hannibal ! I respected with her before I was married to her ? If ever I was respected with her , or she with me , let not your worship think me the poor duke's officer . Prove this , thou wicked Hannibal , or I'll have mine action of battery on thee . - -If he took you a box o' th' ear , you might have your action of slander too . - -Marry , I thank your good worship for it . What is't your worship's pleasure I shall do with this wicked caitiff ? - -Truly , officer , because he hath some offences in him that thou wouldest discover if thou couldst , let him continue in his courses till thou knowest what they are . - -Marry , I thank your worship for it . Thou seest , thou wicked varlet , now , what's come upon thee : thou art to continue now , thou varlet , thou art to continue . - -Where were you born , friend ? - -Here in Vienna , sir . - -Are you of fourscore pounds a year ? - -Yes , an't please you , sir . - -So . - -What trade are you of , sir ? - -A tapster ; a poor widow's tapster . - -Your mistress' name ? - -Mistress Overdone . - -Hath she had any more than one husband ? - -Nine , sir ; Overdone by the last . - -Nine !Come hither to me , Master Froth . Master Froth , I would not have you acquainted with tapsters ; they will draw you , Master Froth , and you will hang them . Get you gone , and let me hear no more of you . - -I thank your worship . For mine own part , I never come into any room in a taphouse , but I am drawn in . - -Well : no more of it , Master Froth : farewell . - -Come you hither to me , Master tapster . What's your name , Master tapster ? - -Pompey . - -What else ? - -Bum , sir . - -Troth , and your bum is the greatest thing about you , so that , in the beastliest sense , you are Pompey the Great . Pompey , you are partly a bawd , Pompey , howsoever you colour it in being a tapster , are you not ? come , tell me true : it shall be the better for you . - -Truly , sir , I am a poor fellow that would live . - -How would you live , Pompey ? by being a bawd ? What do you think of the trade , Pompey ? is it a lawful trade ? - -If the law would allow it , sir . - -But the law will not allow it , Pompey ; nor it shall not be allowed in Vienna . - -Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the youth of the city ? - -No , Pompey . - -Truly , sir , in my humble opinion , they will to't then . If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves , you need not to fear the bawds . - -There are pretty orders beginning , I can tell you : it is but heading and hanging . - -If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten year together , you'll be glad to give out a commission for more heads . If this law hold in Vienna ten year , I'll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a bay . If you live to see this come to pass , say , Pompey told you so . - -Thank you , good Pompey ; and , in requital of your prophecy , hark you : I advise you , let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever ; no , not for dwelling where you do : if I do , Pompey , I shall beat you to your tent , and prove a shrewd C sar to you . In plain dealing , Pompey , I shall have you whipt . So , for this time , Pompey , fare you well . - -I thank your worship for your good counsel ; - -but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall better determine . -Whip me ! No , no ; let carman whip his jade ; -The valiant heart's not whipt out of his trade . - - -Come hither to me , Master Elbow ; come hither , Master constable . How long have you been in this place of constable ? - -Seven year and a half , sir . - -I thought , by your readiness in the office , you had continued in it some time . You say , seven years together ? - -And a half , sir . - -Alas ! it hath been great pains to you ! They do you wrong to put you so oft upon 't . Are there not men in your ward sufficient to serve it ? - -Faith , sir , few of any wit in such matters . As they are chosen , they are glad to choose me for them : I do it for some piece of money , and go through with all . - -Look you bring me in the names of some six or seven , the most sufficient of your parish . - -To your worship's house , sir ? - -To my house . Fare you well . - -What's o'clock , think you ? - -Eleven , sir . - -I pray you home to dinner with me . - -I humbly thank you . - -It grieves me for the death of Claudio ; -But there is no remedy . - -Lord Angelo is severe . - -It is but needful : -Mercy is not itself , that oft looks so ; -Pardon is still the nurse of second woe . -But yet , poor Claudio ! There's no remedy . -Come , sir . - - -He's hearing of a cause : he will come straight : -I'll tell him of you . - -Pray you , do . - -I'll know -His pleasure ; may be he will relent . Alas ! -He hath but as offended in a dream : -All sects , all ages smack of this vice , and he -To die for it ! - - -Now , what's the matter , provost ? - -Is it your will Claudio shall die to-morrow ? - -Did I not tell thee , yea ? hadst thou not order ? -Why dost thou ask again ? - -Lest I might be too rash . -Under your good correction , I have seen , -When , after execution , Judgment hath -Repented o'er his doom . - -Go to ; let that be mine : -Do you your office , or give up your place , -And you shall well be spar'd . - -I crave your honour's pardon . -What shall be done , sir , with the groaning Juliet ? -She's very near her hour . - -Dispose of her -To some more fitter place ; and that with speed . - - -Here is the sister of the man condemn'd -Desires access to you . - -Hath he a sister ? - -Ay , my good lord ; a very virtuous maid , -And to be shortly of a sisterhood , -If not already . - -Well , let her be admitted . - -See you the fornicatress be remov'd : -Let her have needful , but not lavish , means ; -There shall be order for't . - - -God save your honour ! - - -Stay a little while . - -You're welcome : what's your will ? - -I am a woful suitor to your honour , -Please but your honour hear me . - -Well ; what's your suit ? - -There is a vice that most I do abhor , -And most desire should meet the blow of justice , -For which I would not plead , but that I must ; -For which I must not plead , but that I am -At war 'twixt will and will not . - -Well ; the matter ? - -I have a brother is condemn'd to die : -I do beseech you , let it be his fault , -And not my brother . - -Heaven give thee moving graces ! - -Condemn the fault , and not the actor of it ? -Why , every fault's condemn'd ere it be done . -Mine were the very cipher of a function , -To fine the faults whose fine stands in record , -And let go by the actor . - -O just , but severe law ! -I had a brother , then .Heaven keep your honour ! - - -Give't not o'er so : to him again , entreat him ; -Kneel down before him , hang upon his gown ; -You are too cold ; if you should need a pin , -You could not with more tame a tongue desire it . -To him . I say ! - -Must he needs die ? - -Maiden , no remedy . - -Yes ; I do think that you might pardon him , -And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy . - -I will not do't . - -But can you , if you would ? - -Look , what I will not , that I cannot do . - -But might you do't , and do the world no wrong , -If so your heart were touch'd with that remorse -As mine is to him ? - -He's sentenc'd : 'tis too late . - -You are too cold . - -Too late ? why , no ; I , that do speak a word , -May call it back again . Well , believe this , -No ceremony that to great ones 'longs , -Not the king's crown , nor the deputed sword , -The marshal's truncheon , nor the judge's robe , -Become them with one half so good a grace -As mercy does . -If he had been as you , and you as he , -You would have slipt like him ; but he , like you , -Would not have been so stern . - -Pray you , be gone . - -I would to heaven I had your potency , -And you were Isabel ! should it then be thus ? -No ; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge , -And what a prisoner . - -Ay , touch him ; there's the vein . - -Your brother is a forfeit of the law , -And you but waste your words . - -Alas ! alas ! -Why , all the souls that were were forfeit once ; -And He that might the vantage best have took , -Found out the remedy . How would you be , -If He , which is the top of judgment , should -But judge you as you are ? O ! think on that , -And mercy then will breathe within your lips , -Like man new made . - -Be you content , fair maid ; -It is the law , not I , condemn your brother : -Were he my kinsman , brother , or my son , -It should be thus with him : he must die to-morrow . - -To-morrow ! O ! that's sudden ! Spare him , spare him ! -He's not prepar'd for death . Even for our kitchens -We kill the fowl of season : shall we serve heaven -With less respect than we do minister -To our gross selves ? Good , good my lord , bethink you : -Who is it that hath died for this offence ? -There's many have committed it . - -Ay , well said . - -The law hath not been dead , though it hath slept : -Those many had not dar'd to do that evil , -If that the first that did th' edict infringe -Had answer'd for his deed : now 'tis awake , -Takes note of what is done , and , like a prophet , -Looks in a glass , that shows what future evils , -Either new , or by remissness new-conceiv'd , -And so in progress to be hatch'd and born , -Are now to have no successive degrees , -But , ere they live , to end . - -Yet show some pity . - -I show it most of all when I show justice ; -For then I pity those I do not know , -Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall , -And do him right , that , answering one foul wrong , -Lives not to act another . Be satisfied : -Your brother dies to-morrow : be content . - -So you must be the first that gives this sentence , -And he that suffers . O ! it is excellent -To have a giant's strength , but it is tyrannous -To use it like a giant . - -That's well said . - -Could great men thunder -As Jove himself does , Jove would ne'er be quiet , -For every pelting , petty officer -Would use his heaven for thunder ; nothing but thunder . -Merciful heaven ! -Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt -Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak -Than the soft myrtle ; but man , proud man , -Drest in a little brief authority , -Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd , -His glassy essence , like an angry ape , -Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven -As make the angels weep ; who , with our spleens , -Would all themselves laugh mortal . - -O , to him , to him , wench ! He will relent : -He's coming : I perceive't . - -Pray heaven she win him ! - -We cannot weigh our brother with ourself : -Great men may jest with saints ; 'tis wit in them , -But , in the less foul profanation . - -Thou'rt in the right , girl : more o' that . - -That in the captain's but a choleric word , -Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy . - -Art advis'd o' that ? more on 't . - -Why do you put these sayings upon me ? - -Because authority , though it err like others , -Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself , -That skins the vice o' the top . Go to your bosom ; -Knock there , and ask your heart what it doth know -That's like my brother's fault : if it confess -A natural guiltiness such as is his , -Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue -Against my brother's life . - -She speaks , and 'tis -Such sense that my sense breeds with it . Fare you well . - -Gentle my lord , turn back . - -I will bethink me . Come again to-morrow . - -Hark how I'll bribe you . Good my lord , turn back . - -How ! bribe me ? - -Ay , with such gifts that heaven shall share with you . - -You had marr'd all else . - -Not with fond sicles of the tested gold , -Or stones whose rates are either rich or poor -As fancy values them ; but with true prayers -That shall be up at heaven and enter there -Ere sun-rise : prayers from preserved souls , -From fasting maids whose minds are dedicate -To nothing temporal . - -Well ; come to me to-morrow . - -Go to ; 'tis well : away ! - -Heaven keep your honour safe ! - -Amen : -For I am that way going to temptation , -Where prayers cross . - -At what hour to-morrow -Shall I attend your lordship ? - -At any time 'fore noon . - -Save your honour ! - - -From thee ; even from thy virtue ! -What's this ? what's this ? Is this her fault or mine ? -The tempter or the tempted , who sins most ? -Ha ! -Not she ; nor doth she tempt : but it is I , -That , lying by the violet in the sun , -Do as the carrion does , not as the flower , -Corrupt with virtuous season . Can it be -That modesty may more betray our sense -Than woman's lightness ? Having waste ground enough , -Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary , -And pitch our evils there ? O , fie , fie , fie ! -What dost thou , or what art thou , Angelo ? -Dost thou desire her foully for those things -That make her good ? O , let her brother live ! -Thieves for their robbery have authority -When judges steal themselves . What ! do I love her , -That I desire to hear her speak again , -And feast upon her eyes ? What is't I dream on ? -O cunning enemy , that , to catch a saint , -With saints dost bait thy hook ! Most dangerous -Is that temptation that doth goad us on -To sin in loving virtue : never could the strumpet , -With all her double vigour , art and nature , -Once stir my temper ; but this virtuous maid -Subdues me quite . Ever till now , -When men were fond , I smil'd and wonder'd how . - - -Hail to you , provost ! so I think you are . - -I am the provost . What's your will , good friar ? - -Bound by my charity and my bless'd order , -I come to visit the afflicted spirits -Here in the prison : do me the common right -To let me see them and to make me know -The nature of their crimes , that I may minister -To them accordingly . - -I would do more than that , if more were needful . -Look , here comes one : a gentlewoman of mine , -Who , falling in the flaws of her own youth , -Hath blister'd her report . She is with child , -And he that got it , sentenc'd ; a young man -More fit to do another such offence , -Than die for this . - - -When must he die ? - -As I do think , to-morrow . - - -I have provided for you : stay a while , -And you shall be conducted . - -Repent you , fair one , of the sin you carry ? - -I do , and bear the shame most patiently . - -I'll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience , -And try your penitence , if it be sound , -Or hollowly put on . - -I'll gladly learn . - -Love you the man that wrong'd you ? - -Yes , as I love the woman that wrong'd him . - -So then it seems your most offenceful act -Was mutually committed ? - -Mutually . - -Then was your sin of heavier kind than his . - -I do confess it , and repent it , father . - -'Tis meet so , daughter : but lest you do repent , -As that the sin hath brought you to this shame , -Which sorrow is always toward ourselves , not heaven , -Showing we would not spare heaven as we love it , -But as we stand in fear , - -I do repent me , as it is an evil , -And take the shame with joy . - -There rest . -Your partner , as I hear , must die to-morrow , -And I am going with instruction to him . -God's grace go with you ! Benedicite ! - - -Must die to-morrow ! O injurious love , -That respites me a life , whose very comfort -Is still a dying horror ! - -'Tis pity of him . - - -When I would pray and think , I think and pray -To several subjects : heaven hath my empty words , -Whilst my invention , hearing not my tongue , -Anchors on Isabel : heaven in my mouth , -As if I did but only chew his name , -And in my heart the strong and swelling evil -Of my conception . The state , whereon I studied , -Is like a good thing , being often read , -Grown fear'd and tedious ; yea , my gravity , -Wherein , let no man hear me , I take pride , -Could I with boot change for an idle plume , -Which the air beats for vain . O place ! O form ! -How often dost thou with thy case , thy habit , -Wrench awe from fools , and tie the wiser souls -To thy false seeming ! Blood , thou art blood : -Let's write good angel on the devil's horn , -'Tis not the devil's crest . - -How now ! who's there ? - -One Isabel , a sister , -Desires access to you . - -Teach her the way . - -O heavens ! -Why does my blood thus muster to my heart , -Making both it unable for itself , -And dispossessing all my other parts -Of necessary fitness ? -So play the foolish throngs with one that swounds ; -Come all to help him , and so stop the air -By which he should revive : and even so -The general , subject to a well-wish'd king , -Quit their own part , and in obsequious fondness -Crowd to his presence , where their untaught love -Must needs appear offence . - -How now , fair maid ! - -I am come to know your pleasure . - -That you might know it , would much better please me , -Than to demand what 'tis . Your brother cannot live . - -Even so . Heaven keep your honour ! - -Yet may he live awhile ; and , it may be , -As long as you or I : yet he must die . - -Under your sentence ? - -Yea . - -When , I beseech you ? that in his reprieve , -Longer or shorter , he may be so fitted -That his soul sicken not . - -Ha ! fie , these filthy vices ! It were as good -To pardon him that hath from nature stolen -A man already made , as to remit -Their saucy sweetness that do coin heaven's image -In stamps that are forbid : 'tis all as easy -Falsely to take away a life true made , -As to put metal in restrained means -To make a false one . - -'Tis set down so in heaven , but not in earth . - -Say you so ? then I shall pose you quickly . -Which had you rather , that the most just law -Now took your brother's life ; or , to redeem him , -Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness -As she that he hath stain'd ? - -Sir , believe this , -I had rather give my body than my soul . - -I talk not of your soul . Our compell'd sins -Stand more for number than for accompt . - -How say you ? - -Nay , I'll not warrant that ; for I can speak -Against the thing I say . Answer to this : -I , now the voice of the recorded law , -Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life : -Might there not be a charity in sin -To save this brother's life ? - -Please you to do't , -I'll take it as a peril to my soul ; -It is no sin at all , but charity . - -Pleas'd you to do't , at peril of your soul , -Were equal poise of sin and charity . - -That I do beg his life , if it be sin , -Heaven let me bear it ! you granting of my suit , -If that be sin , I'll make it my morn prayer -To have it added to the faults of mine , -And nothing of your answer . - -Nay , but hear me . -Your sense pursues not mine : either you are ignorant , -Or seem so craftily ; and that's not good . - -Let me be ignorant , and in nothing good , -But graciously to know I am no better . - -Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright -When it doth tax itself ; as these black masks -Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder -Than beauty could , display'd . But mark me ; -To be received plain , I'll speak more gross : -Your brother is to die . - -So . - -And his offence is so , as it appears -Accountant to the law upon that pain . - -True . - -Admit no other way to save his life , -As I subscribe not that , nor any other , -But in the loss of question ,that you , his sister , -Finding yourself desir'd of such a person , -Whose credit with the judge , or own great place , -Could fetch your brother from the manacles -Of the all-building law ; and that there were -No earthly mean to save him , but that either -You must lay down the treasures of your body -To this suppos'd , or else to let him suffer ; -What would you do ? - -As much for my poor brother , as myself : -That is , were I under the terms of death , -Th' impression of keen whips I'd wear as rubies , -And strip myself to death , as to a bed -That , longing , have been sick for , ere I'd yield -My body up to shame . - -Then must your brother die . - -And 'twere the cheaper way : -Better it were a brother died at once , -Than that a sister , by redeeming him , -Should die for ever . - -Were not you then as cruel as the sentence -That you have slander'd so ? - -Ignomy in ransom and free pardon -Are of two houses : lawful mercy -Is nothing kin to foul redemption . - -You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant ; -And rather prov'd the sliding of your brother -A merriment than a vice . - -O , pardon me , my lord ! it oft falls out , -To have what we would have , we speak not what we mean . -I something do excuse the thing I hate , -For his advantage that I dearly love . - -We are all frail . - -Else let my brother die , -If not a feodary , but only he -Owe and succeed thy weakness . - -Nay , women are frail too . - -Ay , as the glasses where they view themselves , -Which are as easy broke as they make forms . -Women ! Help heaven ! men their creation mar -In profiting by them . Nay , call us ten times frail , -For we are soft as our complexions are , -And credulous to false prints . - -I think it well : -And from this testimony of your own sex , -Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger -Than faults may shake our frames ,let me be bold ; -I do arrest your words . Be that you are , -That is , a woman ; if you be more , you're none ; -If you be one , as you are well express'd -By all external warrants , show it now , -By putting on the destin'd livery . - -I have no tongue but one : gentle my lord , -Let me entreat you speak the former language . - -Plainly conceive , I love you . - -My brother did love Juliet ; and you tell me -That he shall die for't . - -He shall not , Isabel , if you give me love . - -I know your virtue hath a licence in't . -Which seems a little fouler than it is , -To pluck on others . - -Believe me , on mine honour , -My words express my purpose . - -Ha ! little honour to be much believ'd , -And most pernicious purpose ! Seeming , seeming ! -I will proclaim thee , Angelo ; look for't : -Sign me a present pardon for my brother , -Or with an outstretch'd throat I'll tell the world aloud -What man thou art . - -Who will believe thee , Isabel ? -My unsoil'd name , the austereness of my life , -My vouch against you , and my place i' the state , -Will so your accusation overweigh , -That you shall stifle in your own report -And smell of calumny . I have begun ; -And now I give my sensual race the rein : -Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite ; -Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes , -That banish what they sue for ; redeem thy brother -By yielding up thy body to my will , -Or else he must not only die the death , -But thy unkindness shall his death draw out -To lingering sufferance . Answer me to-morrow , -Or , by the affection that now guides me most , -I'll prove a tyrant to him . As for you , -Say what you can , my false o'erweighs your true . - - -To whom should I complain ? Did I tell this , -Who would believe me ? O perilous mouths ! -That bear in them one and the self-same tongue , -Either of condemnation or approof , -Bidding the law make curt'sy to their will ; -Hooking both right and wrong to th' appetite , -To follow as it draws . I'll to my brother : -Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood , -Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour , -That , had he twenty heads to tender down -On twenty bloody blocks , he'd yield them up , -Before his sister should her body stoop -To such abhorr'd pollution . -Then , Isabel , live chaste , and , brother , die : -More than our brother is our chastity . -I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request , -And fit his mind to death , for his soul's rest . - -So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo ? - -The miserable have no other medicine -But only hope : -I have hope to live , and am prepar'd to die . - -Be absolute for death ; either death or life -Shall thereby be the sweeter . Reason thus with life : -If I do lose thee , I do lose a thing -That none but fools would keep : a breath thou art , -Servile to all the skyey influences , -That dost this habitation , where thou keep'st , -Hourly afflict . Merely , thou art death's fool ; -For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun , -And yet run'st toward him still . Thou art not noble : -For all th' accommodations that thou bear'st -Are nurs'd by baseness . Thou art by no means valiant ; -For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork -Of a poor worm . Thy best of rest is sleep , -And that thou oft provok'st ; yet grossly fear'st -Thy death , which is no more . Thou art not thyself ; -For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains -That issue out of dust . Happy thou art not ; -For what thou hast not , still thou striv'st to get , -And what thou hast , forget'st . Thou art not certain ; -For thy complexion shifts to strange effects , -After the moon . If thou art rich , thou'rt poor ; -For , like an ass whose back with ingots bows , -Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey , -And death unloads thee . Friend hast thou none ; -For thine own bowels , which do call thee sire , -The mere effusion of thy proper loins , -Do curse the gout , serpigo , and the rheum , -For ending thee no sooner . Thou hast nor youth nor age ; -But , as it were , an after-dinner's sleep , -Dreaming on both ; for all thy blessed youth -Becomes as aged , and doth beg the alms -Of palsied eld ; and when thou art old and rich , -Thou hast neither heat , affection , limb , nor beauty , -To make thy riches pleasant . What's yet in this -That bears the name of life ? Yet in this life -Lie hid moe thousand deaths : yet death we fear , -That makes these odds all even . - -I humbly thank you . -To sue to live , I find I seek to die , -And , seeking death , find life : let it come on . - -What ho ! Peace here ; grace and good company ! - -Who's there ? come in : the wish deserves a welcome . - -Dear sir , ere long I'll visit you again . - -Most holy sir , I thank you . - - -My business is a word or two with Claudio . - -And very welcome . Look , signior ; here's your sister . - -Provost , a word with you . - -As many as you please . - -Bring me to hear them speak , where I may be conceal'd . - - -Now , sister , what's the comfort ? - -Why , as all comforts are ; most good , most good indeed . -Lord Angelo , having affairs to heaven , -Intends you for his swift ambassador , -Where you shall be an everlasting leiger : -Therefore , your best appointment make with speed ; -To-morrow you set on . - -Is there no remedy ? - -None , but such remedy , as to save a head -To cleave a heart in twain . - -But is there any ? - -Yes , brother , you may live : -There is a devilish mercy in the judge , -If you'll implore it , that will free your life , -But fetter you till death . - -Perpetual durance ? - -Ay , just ; perpetual durance , a restraint , -Though all the world's vastidity you had , -To a determin'd scope . - -But in what nature ? - -In such a one as , you consenting to't , -Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear , -And leave you naked . - -Let me know the point . - -O , I do fear thee , Claudio ; and I quake , -Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain , -And six or seven winters more respect -Than a perpetual honour . Dar'st thou die ? -The sense of death is most in apprehension , -And the poor beetle , that we tread upon , -In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great -As when a giant dies . - -Why give you me this shame ? -Think you I can a resolution fetch -From flowery tenderness ? If I must die , -I will encounter darkness as a bride , -And hug it in mine arms . - -There spake my brother : there my father's grave -Did utter forth a voice . Yes , thou must die : -Thou art too noble to conserve a life -In base appliances . This outward-sainted deputy , -Whose settled visage and deliberate word -Nips youth i' the head , and follies doth enmew -As falcon doth the fowl , is yet a devil ; -His filth within being cast , he would appear -A pond as deep as hell . - -The prenzie Angelo ? - -O , 'tis the cunning livery of hell , -The damned'st body to invest and cover -In prenzie guards ! Dost thou think , Claudio ? -If I would yield him my virginity , -Thou mightst be freed . - -O heavens ! it cannot be . - -Yes , he would give't thee , from this rank offence , -So to offend him still . This night's the time -That I should do what I abhor to name , -Or else thou diest to-morrow . - -Thou shalt not do't . - -O ! were it but my life , -I'd throw it down for your deliverance -As frankly as a pin . - -Thanks , dear Isabel . - -Be ready , Claudio , for your death to-morrow . - -Yes . Has he affections in him , -That thus can make him bite the law by the nose , -When he would force it ? Sure , it is no sin ; -Or of the deadly seven it is the least . - -Which is the least ? - -If it were damnable , he being so wise , -Why would he for the momentary trick -Be perdurably fin'd ? O Isabel ! - -What says my brother ? - -Death is a fearful thing . - -And shamed life a hateful . - -Ay , but to die , and go we know not where ; -To lie in cold obstruction and to rot ; -This sensible warm motion to become -A kneaded clod ; and the delighted spirit -To bathe in fiery floods , or to reside -In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice ; -To be imprison'd in the viewless winds , -And blown with restless violence round about -The pendant world ; or to be worse than worst -Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts -Imagine howling : 'tis too horrible ! -The weariest and most loathed worldly life -That age , ache , penury and imprisonment -Can lay on nature is a paradise -To what we fear of death . - -Alas ! alas ! - -Sweet sister , let me live : -What sin you do to save a brother's life , -Nature dispenses with the deed so far -That it becomes a virtue . - -O you beast ! -O faithless coward ! O dishonest wretch ! -Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice ? -Is't not a kind of incest , to take life -From thine own sister's shame ? What should I think ? -Heaven shield my mother play'd my father fair ; -For such a warped slip of wilderness -Ne'er issu'd from his blood . Take my defiance ; -Die , perish ! Might but my bending down -Reprieve thee from thy fate , it should proceed . -I'll pray a thousand prayers for thy death , -No word to save thee . - -Nay , hear me , Isabel . - -O , fie , fie , fie ! -Thy sin's not accidental , but a trade . -Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd : -'Tis best that thou diest quickly . - - -O hear me , Isabella . - - -Vouchsafe a word , young sister , but one word . - -What is your will ? - -Might you dispense with your leisure , I would by and by have some speech with you : the satisfaction I would require is likewise your own benefit . - -I have no superfluous leisure : my stay must be stolen out of other affairs ; but I will attend you a while . - -Son , I have overheard what hath past between you and your sister . Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her ; only he hath made an assay of her virtue to practise his judgment with the disposition of natures . She , having the truth of honour in her , hath made him that gracious denial which he is most glad to receive : I am confessor to Angelo , and I know this to be true ; therefore prepare yourself to death . Do not satisfy your resolution with hopes that are fallible : to-morrow you must die ; go to your knees and make ready . - -Let me ask my sister pardon . I am so out of love with life that I will sue to be rid of it . - -Hold you there : farewell . - - -Provost , a word with you . - -What's your will , father ? - -That now you are come , you will be gone . Leave me awhile with the maid : my mind promises with my habit no loss shall touch her by my company . - -In good time . - - -The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good : the goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beauty brief in goodness ; but grace , being the soul of your complexion , shall keep the body of it ever fair . The assault that Angelo hath made to you , fortune hath conveyed to my understanding ; and , but that frailty hath examples for his falling , I should wonder at Angelo . How would you do to content this substitute , and to save your brother ? - -I am now going to resolve him ; I had rather my brother die by the law than my son should be unlawfully born . But O , how much is the good duke deceived in Angelo ! If ever he return and I can speak to him . I will open my lips in vain , or discover his government . - -That shall not be much amiss : yet , as the matter now stands , he will avoid your accusation ; 'he made trial of you only .' Therefore , fasten your ear on my advisings : to the love I have in doing good a remedy presents itself . I do make myself believe that you may most uprighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit , redeem your brother from the angry law , do no stain to your own gracious person , and much please the absent duke , if peradventure he shall ever return to have hearing of this business . - -Let me hear you speak further . I have spirit to do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit . - -Virtue is bold , and goodness never fearful . Have you not heard speak of Mariana , the sister of Frederick , the great soldier who miscarried at sea ? - -I have heard of the lady , and good words went with her name . - -She should this Angelo have married ; was affianced to her by oath , and the nuptial appointed : between which time of the contract , and limit of the solemnity , her brother Frederick was wracked at sea , having in that perished vessel the dowry of his sister . But mark how heavily this befell to the poor gentlewoman : there she lost a noble and renowned brother , in his love toward her ever most kind and natural ; with him the portion and sinew of her fortune , her marriage-dowry with both , her combinate husband , this well-seeming Angelo . - -Can this be so ? Did Angelo so leave her ? - -Left her in her tears , and dried not one of them with his comfort ; swallowed his vows whole , pretending in her discoveries of dishonour : in few , bestowed her on her own lamentation , which she yet wears for his sake ; and he , a marble to her tears , is washed with them , but relents not . - -What a merit were it in death to take this poor maid from the world ! What corruption in this life , that it will let this man live ! But how out of this can she avail ? - -It is a rupture that you may easily heal ; and the cure of it not only saves your brother , but keeps you from dishonour in doing it . - -Show me how , good father . - -This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection : his unjust unkindness , that in all reason should have quenched her love , hath , like an impediment in the current , made it more violent and unruly . Go you to Angelo : answer his requiring with a plausible obedience : agree with his demands to the point ; only refer yourself to this advantage , first , that your stay with him may not be long , that the time may have all shadow and silence in it , and the place answer to convenience . This being granted in course , and now follows all , we shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment , go in your place ; if the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter , it may compel him to her recompense ; and here by this is your brother saved , your honour untainted , the poor Mariana advantaged , and the corrupt deputy scaled . The maid will I frame and make fit for his attempt . If you think well to carry this , as you may , the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof . What think you of it ? - -The image of it gives me content already , and I trust it will grow to a most prosperous perfection . - -It lies much in your holding up . Haste you speedily to Angelo : if for this night he entreat you to his bed , give him promise of satisfaction . I will presently to St . Luke's ; there , at the moated grange , resides this dejected Mariana : at that place call upon me , and dispatch with Angelo , that it may be quickly . - -I thank you for this comfort . Fare you well , good father . - - -Nay , if there be no remedy for it , but that you will needs buy and sell men and women like beasts , we shall have all the world drink brown and white bastard . - -O heavens ! what stuff is here ? - -'Twas never merry world , since , of two usuries , the merriest was put down , and the worser allowed by order of law a furred gown to keep him warm ; and furred with fox and lamb skins too , to signify that craft , being richer than innocency , stands for the facing . - -Come your way , sir . Bless you , good father friar . - -And you , good brother father . What offence hath this man made you , sir ? - -Marry , sir , he hath offended the law : and , sir , we take him to be a thief too , sir ; for we have found upon him , sir , a strange picklock , which we have sent to the deputy . - -Fie , sirrah : a bawd , a wicked bawd ! -The evil that thou causest to be done , -That is thy means to live . Do thou but think -What 'tis to cram a maw or clothe a back -From such a filthy vice : say to thyself , -From their abominable and beastly touches -I drink , I eat , array myself , and live . -Canst thou believe thy living is a life , -So stinkingly depending ? Go mend , go mend . - -Indeed , it does stink in some sort , sir ; but yet , sir , I would prove - -Nay , if the devil have given thee proofs for sin , -Thou wilt prove his . Take him to prison , officer ; -Correction and instruction must both work -Ere this rude beast will profit . - -He must before the deputy , sir ; he has given him warning . The deputy cannot abide a whoremaster : if he be a whoremonger , and comes before him , he were as good go a mile on his errand . - -That we were all , as some would seem to be , -From our faults , as faults from seeming , free ! - -His neck will come to your waist ,a cord , sir . - -I spy comfort : I cry , bail . Here's a gentleman and a friend of mine . - - -How now , noble Pompey ! What , at the wheels of C sar ? Art thou led in triumph ? What , is there none of Pygmalion's images , newly made woman , to he had now , for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it clutched ? What reply ? ha ? What say'st thou to this tune , matter and method ? Is't not drowned i' the last rain , ha ? What sayest thou Trot ? Is the world as it was , man ? Which is the way ? Is it sad , and few words , or how ? The trick of it ? - -Still thus , and thus , still worse ! - -How doth my dear morsel , thy mistress ? Procures she still , ha ? - -Troth , sir , she hath eaten up all her beef , and she is herself in the tub . - -Why , 'tis good ; it is the right of it ; it must be so : ever your fresh whore and your powdered bawd : an unshunned consequence ; it must be so . Art going to prison , Pompey ? - -Yes , faith , sir . - -Why , 'tis not amiss , Pompey . Farewell . Go , say I sent thee thither . For debt , Pompey ? or how ? - -For being a bawd , for being a bawd . - -Well , then , imprison him . If imprisonment be the due of a bawd , why , 'tis his right : bawd is he , doubtless , and of antiquity too ; bawd-born . Farewell , good Pompey . Commend me to the prison , Pompey . You will turn good husband now , Pompey ; you will keep the house . - -I hope , sir , your good worship will be my bail . - -No , indeed will I not , Pompey ; it is not the wear . I will pray , Pompey , to increase your bondage : if you take it not patiently , why , your mettle is the more . Adieu , trusty Pompey . Bless you , friar . - -And you . - -Does Bridget paint still , Pompey , ha ? - -Come your ways , sir ; come . - -You will not bail me then , sir ? - -Then , Pompey , nor now . What news abroad , friar ? What news ? - -Come your ways , sir ; come . - -Go to kennel , Pompey ; go . - -What news , friar , of the duke ? - -I know none . Can you tell me of any ? - -Some say he is with the Emperor of Russia ; other some , he is in Rome : but where is he , think you ? - -I know not where ; but wheresoever , I wish him well . - -It was a mad fantastical trick of him to steal from the state , and usurp the beggary he was never born to . Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence ; he puts transgression to't . - -He does well in't . - -A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm in him : something too crabbed that way , friar . - -It is too general a vice , and severity must cure it . - -Yes , in good sooth , the vice is of a great kindred ; it is well allied ; but it is impossible to extirp it quite , friar , till eating and drinking be put down . They say this Angelo was not made by man and woman after this downright way of creation : is it true , think you ? - -How should he be made , then ? - -Some report a sea-maid spawn'd him ; some that he was begot between two stock-fishes . But it is certain that when he makes water his urine is congealed ice ; that I know to be true ; and he is a motion generative ; that's infallible . - -You are pleasant , sir , and speak apace . - -Why , what a ruthless thing is this in him , for the rebellion of a cod-piece to take away the life of a man ! Would the duke that is absent have done this ? Ere he would have hanged a man for the getting a hundred bastards , he would have paid for the nursing a thousand : he had some feeling of the sport ; he knew the service , and that instructed him to mercy . - -I never heard the absent duke much detected for women ; he was not inclined that way . - -O , sir , you are deceived . - -'Tis not possible . - -Who ? not the duke ? yes , your beggar of fifty , and his use was to put a ducat in her clack-dish ; the duke had crotchets in him . He would be drunk too ; that let me inform you . - -You do him wrong , surely . - -Sir , I was an inward of his . A shy fellow was the duke ; and , I believe I know the cause of his withdrawing . - -What , I prithee , might be the cause ? - -No , pardon ; 'tis a secret must be locked within the teeth and the lips ; but this I can let you understand , the greater file of the subject held the duke to be wise . - -Wise ! why , no question but he was . - -A very superficial , ignorant , unweighing fellow . - -Either this is envy in you , folly , or mistaking : the very stream of his life and the business he hath helmed must , upon a warranted need , give him a better proclamation . Let him be but testimonied in his own bringings forth , and he shall appear to the envious a scholar , a statesman and a soldier . Therefore you speak unskilfully ; or , if your knowledge be more , it is much darkened in your malice . - -Sir , I know him , and I love him . - -Love talks with better knowledge , and knowledge with dearer love . - -Come , sir , I know what I know . - -I can hardly believe that , since you know not what you speak . But , if ever the duke return ,as our prayers are he may ,let me desire you to make your answer before him : if it be honest you have spoke , you have courage to maintain it . I am bound to call upon you ; and , I pray you , your name ? - -Sir , my name is Lucio , well known to the duke . - -He shall know you better , sir , if I may live to report you . - -I fear you not . - -O ! you hope the duke will return no more , or you imagine me too unhurtful an opposite . But indeed I can do you little harm ; you'll forswear this again . - -I'll be hanged first : thou art deceived in me , friar . But no more of this . Canst thou tell if Claudio die to-morrow or no ? - -Why should he die , sir ? - -Why ? for filling a bottle with a tundish . I would the duke we talk of were returned again : this ungenitured agent will unpeople the province with continency ; sparrows must not build in his house-eaves , because they are lecherous . The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered ; he would never bring them to light : would he were returned ! Marry , this Claudio is condemned for untrussing . Farewell , good friar ; I prithee , pray for me . The duke , I say to thee again , would eat mutton on Fridays . He's not past it yet , and I say to thee , he would mouth with a beggar , though she smelt brown bread and garlic : say that I said so . Farewell . - - -No might nor greatness in mortality -Can censure 'scape : back-wounding calumny -The whitest virtue strikes . What king so strong -Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue ? -But who comes here ? - - -Go ; away with her to prison ! - -Good my lord , be good to me ; your honour is accounted a merciful man ; good my lord . - -Double and treble admonition , and still forfeit in the same kind ? This would make mercy swear , and play the tyrant . - -A bawd of eleven years' continuance , may it please your honour . - -My lord , this is one Lucio's information against me . Mistress Kate Keepdown was with child by him in the duke's time ; he promised her marriage ; his child is a year and a quarter old , come Philip and Jacob : I have kept it myself , and see how he goes about to abuse me ! - -That fellow is a fellow of much licence : let him be called before us . Away with her to prison ! Go to ; no more words . - -Provost , my brother Angelo will not be altered ; Claudio must die to-morrow . Let him be furnished with divines , and have all charitable preparation : if my brother wrought by my pity , it should not be so with him . - -So please you , this friar hath been with him , and advised him for the entertainment of death . - -Good even , good father . - -Bliss and goodness on you ! - -Of whence are you ? - -Not of this country , though my chance is now -To use it for my time : I am a brother -Of gracious order , late come from the See , -In special business from his Holiness . - -What news abroad i' the world ? - -None , but there is so great a fever on goodness , that the dissolution of it must cure it : novelty is only in request ; and it is as dangerous to be aged in any kind of course , as it is virtuous to be constant in any undertaking : there is scarce truth enough alive to make societies secure , but security enough to make fellowships accursed . Much upon this riddle runs the wisdom of the world . This news is old enough , yet it is every day's news . I pray you , sir , of what disposition was the duke ? - -One that , above all other strifes , contended especially to know himself . - -What pleasure was he given to ? - -Rather rejoicing to see another merry , than merry at anything which professed to make him rejoice : a gentleman of all temperance . But leave we him to his events , with a prayer they may prove prosperous ; and let me desire to know how you find Claudio prepared . I am made to understand , that you have lent him visitation . - -He professes to have received no sinister measure from his judge , but most willingly humbles himself to the determination of justice ; yet had he framed to himself , by the instruction of his frailty , many deceiving promises of life , which I , by my good leisure have discredited to him , and now is he resolved to die . - -You have paid the heavens your function , and the prisoner the very debt of your calling . I have laboured for the poor gentleman to the extremest shore of my modesty ; but my brother justice have I found so severe , that he hath forced me to tell him he is indeed Justice . - -If his own life answer the straitness of his proceeding , it shall become him well ; wherein if he chance to fail , he hath sentenced himself . - -I am going to visit the prisoner . Fare you well . - -Peace be with you ! - -He , who the sword of heaven will bear -Should be as holy as severe ; -Pattern in himself to know , -Grace to stand , and virtue go ; -More nor less to others paying -Than by self offences weighing . -Shame to him whose cruel striking -Kills for faults of his own liking ! -Twice treble shame on Angelo , -To weed my vice and let his grow ! -O , what may man within him hide , -Though angel on the outward side ! -How many likeness made in crimes , -Making practice on the times , -To draw with idle spiders' strings -Most pond'rous and substantial things ! -Craft against vice I must apply : -With Angelo to-night shall lie -His old betrothed but despis'd : -So disguise shall , by the disguis'd , -Pay with falsehood false exacting , -And perform an old contracting . - -Take , O take those lips away , -That so sweetly were forsworn ; -And those eyes , the break of day , -Lights that do mislead the morn : -But my kisses bring again , -bring again , -Seals of love , but seal'd in vain , -seal'd in vain . - - -Break off thy song , and haste thee quick away : -Here comes a man of comfort , whose advice -Hath often still'd my brawling discontent . - -I cry you mercy , sir ; and well could wish -You had not found me here so musical : -Let me excuse me , and believe me so , - -My mirth it much displeas'd , but pleas'd my woe . - -'Tis good ; though music oft hath such a charm -To make bad good , and good provoke to harm . -I pray you tell me , hath anybody inquired for me here to-day ? much upon this time have I promised here to meet . - -You have not been inquired after : I have sat here all day . - -I do constantly believe you . The time is come even now . I shall crave your forbearance a little ; may be I will call upon you anon , for some advantage to yourself . - -I am always bound to you . - -Very well met , and well come . -What is the news from this good deputy ? - -He hath a garden circummur'd with brick , -Whose western side is with a vineyard back'd ; -And to that vineyard is a planched gate , -That makes his opening with this bigger key ; -This other doth command a little door -Which from the vineyard to the garden leads ; -There have I made my promise -Upon the heavy middle of the night -To call upon him . - -But shall you on your knowledge find this way ? - -I have ta'en a due and wary note upon't : -With whispering and most guilty diligence , -In action all of precept , he did show me -The way twice o'er . - -Are there no other tokens -Between you 'greed concerning her observance ? - -No , none , but only a repair i' the dark ; -And that I have possess'd him my most stay -Can be but brief ; for I have made him know -I have a servant comes with me along , -That stays upon me , whose persuasion is -I come about my brother . - -'Tis well borne up . -I have not yet made known to Mariana -A word of this . What ho ! within ! come forth . - - -I pray you , be acquainted with this maid ; - -She comes to do you good . - -I do desire the like . - -Do you persuade yourself that I respect you ? - -Good friar , I know you do , and oft have found it . - -Take then this your companion by the hand , -Who hath a story ready for your ear . -I shall attend your leisure : but make haste ; -The vaporous night approaches . - -Will't please you walk aside ? - - -O place and greatness ! millions of false eyes -Are stuck upon thee : volumes of report -Run with these false and most contrarious quests -Upon thy doings : thousand escapes of wit -Make thee the father of their idle dream , -And rack thee in their fancies ! - -Welcome ! How agreed ? - -She'll take the enterprise upon her , father , -If you advise it . - -It is not my consent , -But my entreaty too . - -Little have you to say -When you depart from him , but , soft and low , -'Remember now my brother .' - -Fear me not . - -Nor , gentle daughter , fear you not at all . -He is your husband on a pre-contract : -To bring you thus together , 'tis no sin , -Sith that the justice of your title to him -Doth flourish the deceit . Come , let us go : -Our corn's to reap , for yet our tithe's to sow . - - -Come hither , sirrah . Can you cut off a man's head ? - -If the man be a bachelor , sir , I can ; but if he be a married man , he is his wife's head , and I can never cut off a woman's head . - -Come , sir , leave me your snatches , and yield me a direct answer . To-morrow morning are to die Claudio and Barnardine . Here is in our prison a common executioner , who in his office lacks a helper : if you will take it on you to assist him , it shall redeem you from your gyves ; if not , you shall have your full time of imprisonment , and your deliverance with an unpitied whipping , for you have been a notorious bawd . - -Sir , I have been an unlawful bawd time out of mind ; but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman . I would be glad to receive some instruction from my fellow partner . - -What ho , Abhorson ! Where's Abhorson , there ? - - -Do you call , sir ? - -Sirrah , here's a fellow will help you to-morrow in your execution . If you think it meet , compound with him by the year , and let him abide here with you ; if not , use him for the present , and dismiss him . He cannot plead his estimation with you ; he hath been a bawd . - -A bawd , sir ? Fie upon him ! he will discredit our mystery . - -Go to , sir ; you weigh equally ; a feather will turn the scale . - - -Pray , sir , by your good favour for surely , sir , a good favour you have , but that you have a hanging look ,do you call , sir , your occupation a mystery ? - -Ay , sir ; a mystery . - -Painting , sir , I have heard say , is a mystery ; and your whores , sir , being members of my occupation , using painting , do prove my occupation a mystery : but what mystery there should be in hanging , if I should be hanged , I cannot imagine . - -Sir , it is a mystery . - -Proof ? - -Every true man's apparel fits your thief . - -If it be too little for your thief , your true man thinks it big enough ; if it be too big for your thief , your thief thinks it little enough : so , every true man's apparel fits your thief . - - -Are you agreed ? - -Sir , I will serve him ; for I do find that your hangman is a more penitent trade than your bawd , he doth often ask forgiveness . - -You , sirrah , provide your block and your axe to-morrow four o'clock . - -Come on , bawd ; I will instruct thee in my trade ; follow . - -I do desire to learn , sir ; and , I hope , if you have occasion to use me for your own turn , you shall find me yare ; for , truly , sir , for your kindness I owe you a good turn . - -Call hither Barnardine and Claudio : - -The one has my pity ; not a jot the other , -Being a murderer , though he were my brother . - - -Look , here's the warrant , Claudio , for thy death : -'Tis now dead midnight , and by eight to-morrow - -Thou must be made immortal . Where's Barnardine ? - -As fast lock'd up in sleep as guiltless labour -When it lies starkly in the traveller's bones ; -He will not wake . - -Who can do good on him ? -Well , go ; prepare yourself . - -But hark , what noise ? -Heaven give your spirits comfort ! - -By and by . -I hope it is some pardon or reprieve -For the most gentle Claudio . - -Welcome , father . - -The best and wholesom'st spirits of the night -Envelop you , good provost ! Who call'd here of late ? - -None since the curfew rung . - -Not Isabel ? - -No . - -They will , then , ere't be long . - -What comfort is for Claudio ? - -There's some in hope . - -It is a bitter deputy . - -Not so , not so : his life is parallel'd -Even with the stroke and line of his great justice : -He doth with holy abstinence subdue -That in himself which he spurs on his power -To qualify in others : were he meal'd with that -Which he corrects , then were he tyrannous ; -But this being so , he's just . - -Now are they come . - -This is a gentle provost : seldom when -The steeled gaoler is the friend of men . - -How now ! What noise ? That spirit's possess'd with haste -That wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes . - - -There he must stay until the officer -Arise to let him in ; he is call'd up . - -Have you no countermand for Claudio yet , -But he must die to-morrow ? - -None , sir , none . - -As near the dawning , provost , as it is , -You shall hear more ere morning . - -Happily -You something know ; yet , I believe there comes -No countermand : no such example have we . -Besides , upon the very siege of justice , -Lord Angelo hath to the public ear -Profess'd the contrary . - -This is his lordship's man . - -And here comes Claudio's pardon . - -My lord hath sent you this note ; and by me this further charge , that you swerve not from the smallest article of it , neither in time , matter , or other circumstance . Good morrow ; for , as I take it , it is almost day . - -I shall obey him . - - -This is his pardon , purchased by such sin -For which the pardoner himself is in ; -Hence hath offence his quick celerity , -When it is borne in high authority . -When vice makes mercy , mercy's so extended , -That for the fault's love is the offender friended . -Now , sir , what news ? - -I told you ; Lord Angelo , belike thinking me remiss in mine office , awakens me with this unwonted putting on ; methinks strangely , for he hath not used it before . - -Pray you , let's hear . - -Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary , let Claudio be executed by four of the clock ; and , in the afternoon , Barnardine . For my better satisfaction , let me have Claudio's head sent me by five . Let this be duly performed ; with a thought that more depends on it than we must yet deliver . Thus fail not to do your office , as you will answer it at your peril . -What say you to this , sir ? - -What is that Barnardine who is to be executed this afternoon ? - -A Bohemian born , but here nursed up and bred ; one that is a prisoner nine years old . - -How came it that the absent duke had not either delivered him to his liberty or executed him ? I have heard it was ever his manner to do so . - -His friends still wrought reprieves for him ; and , indeed , his fact , till now in the government of Lord Angelo , came not to an undoubtful proof . - -It is now apparent ? - -Most manifest , and not denied by himself . - -Hath he borne himself penitently in prison ? How seems he to be touched ? - -A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully but as a drunken sleep ; careless , reckless , and fearless of what's past , present , or to come ; insensible of mortality , and desperately mortal . - -He wants advice . - -He will hear none . He hath evermore had the liberty of the prison : give him leave to escape hence , he would not : drunk many times a day , if not many days entirely drunk . We have very oft awaked him , as if to carry him to execution , and showed him a seeming warrant for it : it hath not moved him at all . - -More of him anon . There is written in your brow , provost , honesty and constancy ; if I read it not truly , my ancient skill beguiles me ; but , in the boldness of my cunning I will lay myself in hazard . Claudio , whom here you have warrant to execute , is no greater forfeit to the law than Angalo who hath sentenced him . To make you understand this in a manifested effect , I crave but four days' respite , for the which you are to do me both a present and a dangerous courtesy . - -Pray , sir , in what ? - -In the delaying death . - -Alack ! how may I do it , having the hour limited , and an express command , under penalty , to deliver his head in the view of Angelo ? I may make my case as Claudio's to cross this in the smallest . - -By the vow of mine order I warrant you , if my instructions may be your guide . Let this Barnardine be this morning executed , and his head borne to Angelo . - -Angelo hath seen them both , and will discover the favour . - -O ! death's a great disguiser , and you may add to it . Shave the head , and tie the beard ; and say it was the desire of the penitent to be so bared before his death : you know the course is common . If anything fall to you upon this , more than thanks and good fortune , by the saint whom I profess , I will plead against it with my life . - -Pardon me , good father ; it is against my oath . - -Were you sworn to the duke or to the deputy ? - -To him , and to his substitutes . - -You will think you have made no offence , if the duke avouch the justice of your dealing ? - -But what likelihood is in that ? - -Not a resemblance , but a certainty . Yet since I see you fearful , that neither my coat , integrity , nor persuasion can with ease attempt you , I will go further than I meant , to pluck all fears out of you . Look you , sir ; here is the hand and seal of the duke : you know the character , I doubt not , and the signet is not strange to you . - -I know them both . - -The contents of this is the return of the duke : you shall anon over-read if at your pleasure , where you shall find within these two days , he will be here . This is a thing that Angelo knows not , for he this very day receives letters of strange tenour ; perchance of the duke's death ; perchance , his entering into some monastery ; but , by chance , nothing of what is writ . Look , the unfolding star calls up the shepherd . Put not yourself into amazement how these things should be : all difficulties are but easy when they are known . Call your executioner , and off with Barnardine's head : I will give him a present shrift and advise him for a better place . Yet you are amaz'd , but this shall absolutely resolve you . Come away ; it is almost clear dawn . - - -I am as well acquainted here as I was in our house of profession : one would think it were Mistress Overdone's own house , for here be many of her old customers . First , here's young Master Rash ; he's in for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger , nine-score and seventeen pounds , of which he made five marks , ready money : marry , then ginger was not much in request , for the old women were all dead . Then is there here one Master Caper , at the suit of Master Three-pile the mercer , for some four suits of peach-colour'd satin , which now peaches him a beggar . Then have we young Dizy , and young Master Deep-vow , and Master Copperspur , and Master Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man , and young Drop-heir that kill'd lusty Pudding , and Master Forthlight , the tilter , and brave Master Shoe-tie the great traveller , and wild Half-can that stabbed Pots , and , I think , forty more ; all great doers in our trade , and are now 'for the Lord's sake .' - - -Sirrah , bring Barnardine hither . - -Master Barnardine ! you must rise and be hanged , Master Barnardine . - -What ho ! Barnardine ! - -A pox o' your throats ! -Who makes that noise there ? What are you ? - -Your friends , sir ; the hangman . You must be so good , sir , to rise and be put to death . - -Away ! you rogue , away ! -I am sleepy . - -Tell him he must awake , and that quickly too . - -Pray , Master Barnardine , awake till you are executed , and sleep afterwards . - -Go in to him , and fetch him out . - -He is coming , sir , he is coming ; I hear his straw rustle . - -Is the axe upon the block , sirrah ? - -Very ready , sir . - - -How now , Abhorson ! what's the news with you ? - -Truly , sir , I would desire you to clap into your prayers ; for , look you , the warrant's come . - -You rogue , I have been drinking all night ; I am not fitted for't . - -O , the better , sir ; for he that drinks all night , and is hang'd betimes in the morning , may sleep the sounder all the next day . - -Look you , sir ; here comes your ghostly father : do we jest now , think you ? - - -Sir , induced by my charity , and hearing how hastily you are to depart , I am come to advise you , comfort you , and pray with you . - -Friar , not I : I have been drinking hard all night , and I will have more time to prepare me , or they shall beat out my brains with billets . I will not consent to die this day , that's certain . - -O , sir , you must ; and therefore , I beseech you look forward on the journey you shall go . - -I swear I will not die to-day for any man's persuasion . - -But hear you . - -Not a word : if you have anything to say to me , come to my ward ; for thence will not I to day . - -Unfit to live or die . O , gravel heart ! -After him fellows : bring him to the block . - - -Now , sir , how do you find the prisoner ? - -A creature unprepar'd , unmeet for death ; -And , to transport him in the mind he is -Were damnable . - -Here in the prison , father , -There died this morning of a cruel fever -One Ragozine , a most notorious pirate , -A man of Claudio's years ; his beard and head -Just of his colour . What if we do omit -This reprobate till he were well inclin'd , -And satisfy the deputy with the visage -Of Ragozine , more like to Claudio ? - -O , 'tis an accident that heaven provides ! -Dispatch it presently : the hour draws on -Prefix'd by Angelo . See this be done , -And sent according to command , whiles I -Persuade this rude wretch willingly to die . - -This shall be done , good father , presently . -But Barnardine must die this afternoon : -And how shall we continue Claudio , -To save me from the danger that might come -If he were known alive ? - -Let this be done : -Put them in secret holds , both Barnardine and Claudio : -Ere twice the sun hath made his journal greeting -To the under generation , you shall find -Your safety manifested . - -I am your free dependant . - -Quick , dispatch , -And send the head to Angelo . - -Now will I write letters to Angelo , -The provost , he shall bear them ,whose contents -Shall witness to him I am near at home , -And that , by great injunctions , I am bound -To enter publicly : him I'll desire -To meet me at the consecrated fount -A league below the city ; and from thence , -By cold gradation and well-balanc'd form , -We shall proceed with Angelo . - - -Here is the head ; I'll carry it myself . - -Convenient is it . Make a swift return , -For I would commune with you of such things -That want no ear but yours . - -I'll make all speed . - - -Peace , ho , be here ! - -The tongue of Isabel . She's come to know -If yet her brother's pardon be come hither ; -But I will keep her ignorant of her good , -To make her heavenly comforts of despair , -When it is least expected . - - -Ho ! by your leave . - -Good morning to you , fair and gracious daughter . - -The better , given me by so holy a man . -Hath yet the deputy sent my brother's pardon ? - -He hath releas'd him , Isabel , from the world : -His head is off and sent to Angelo . - -Nay , but it is not so . - -It is no other : show your wisdom , daughter , -In your close patience . - -O ! I will to him and pluck out his eyes ! - -You shall not be admitted to his sight . - -Unhappy Claudio ! Wretched Isabel ! -Injurious world ! Most damned Angelo ! - -This nor hurts him nor profits you a jot ; -Forbear it therefore ; give your cause to heaven . -Mark what I say , which you shall find -By every syllable a faithful verity . -The duke comes home to-morrow ; nay , dry your eyes : -One of our covent , and his confessor , -Gives me this instance : already he hath carried -Notice to Escalus and Angelo , -Who do prepare to meet him at the gates , -There to give up their power . If you can , pace your wisdom -In that good path that I would wish it go , -And you shall have your bosom on this wretch , -Grace of the Duke , revenges to your heart , -And general honour . - -I am directed by you . - -This letter then to Friar Peter give ; -'Tis that he sent me of the duke's return : -Say , by this token , I desire his company -At Mariana's house to-night . Her cause and yours , -I'll perfect him withal , and he shall bring you -Before the duke ; and to the head of Angelo -Accuse him home , and home . For my poor self , -I am combined by a sacred vow -And shall be absent . Wend you with this letter . -Command these fretting waters from your eyes -With a light heart : trust not my holy order , -If I pervert your course . Who's here ? - - -Good even . Friar , where is the provost ? - -Not within , sir . - -O pretty Isabella , I am pale at mine heart to see thine eyes so red : thou must be patient . I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran ; I dare not for my head fill my belly ; one fruitful meal would set me to't . But they say the duke will be here to-morrow . By my troth , Isabel , I loved thy brother : if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been at home , he had lived . - - -Sir , the duke is marvellous little beholding to your reports ; but the best is , he lives not in them . - -Friar , thou knowest not the duke so well as I do : he's a better woodman than thou takest him for . - -Well , you'll answer this one day . -Fare ye well . - -Nay , tarry ; I'll go along with thee : I can tell thee pretty tales of the duke . - -You have told me too many of him already , sir , if they be true ; if not true , none were enough . - -I was once before him for getting a wench with child . - -Did you such a thing ? - -Yes , marry , did I ; but I was fain to forswear it : they would else have married me to the rotten medlar . - -Sir , your company is fairer than honest . -Rest you well . - -By my troth , I'll go with thee to the lane's end . If bawdy talk offend you , we'll have very little of it . Nay , friar , I am a kind of burr ; I shall stick . - - -Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched other . - -In most uneven and distracted manner . -His actions show much like to madness : pray heaven his wisdom be not tainted ! And why meet him at the gates , and redeliver our authorities there ? - -I guess not . - -And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his entering , that if any crave redress of injustice , they should exhibit their petitions in the street ? - -He shows his reason for that : to have a dispatch of complaints , and to deliver us from devices hereafter , which shall then have no power to stand against us . - -Well , I beseech you , let it be proclaim'd : -Betimes i' the morn I'll call you at your house ; -Give notice to such men of sort and suit -As are to meet him . - -I shall , sir : fare you well . - -Good night . - -This deed unshapes me quite , makes me unpregnant -And dull to all proceedings . A deflower'd maid , -And by an eminent body that enforc'd -The law against it ! But that her tender shame -Will not proclaim against her maiden loss , -How might she tongue me ! Yet reason dares her no : -For my authority bears so credent bulk , -That no particular scandal once can touch : -But it confounds the breather . He should have liv'd , -Save that his riotous youth , with dangerous sense , -Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge , -By so receiving a dishonour'd life -With ransom of such shame . Would yet he had liv'd ! -Alack ! when once our grace we have forgot , -Nothing goes right : we would , and we would not . - - -These letters at fit time deliver me . - -The provost knows our purpose and our plot . -The matter being afoot , keep your instruction , -And hold you ever to our special drift , -Though sometimes you do blench from this to that , -As cause doth minister . Go call at Flavius' house , -And tell him where I stay : give the like notice -To Valentinus , Rowland , and to Crassus , -And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate ; -But send me Flavius first . - -It shall be speeded well . - -I thank thee , Varrius ; thou hast made good haste . -Come , we will walk . There's other of our friends -Will greet us here anon , my gentle Varrius . - - -To speak so indirectly I am loath : -I would say the truth ; but to accuse him so , -That is your part : yet I'm advis'd to do it ; -He says , to veil full purpose . - -Be rul'd by him . - -Besides , he tells me that if peradventure -He speak against me on the adverse side , -I should not think it strange ; for 'tis a physic -That's bitter to sweet end . - -I would , Friar Peter - -O , peace ! the friar is come . - - -Come ; I have found you out a stand most fit , -Where you may have such vantage on the duke , -He shall not pass you . Twice have the trumpets sounded : -The generous and gravest citizens -Have hent the gates , and very near upon -The duke is ent'ring : therefore hence , away ! - -My very worthy cousin , fairly met ! -Our old and faithful friend , we are glad to see you . - -Happy return be to your royal Grace ! - -Happy return be to your royal Grace ! - -Many and hearty thankings to you both . -We have made inquiry of you ; and we hear -Such goodness of your justice , that our soul -Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks , -Forerunning more requital . - -You make my bonds still greater . - -O ! your desert speaks loud ; and I should wrong it , -To lock it in the wards of covert bosom , -When it deserves , with characters of brass , -A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time -And razure of oblivion . Give me your hand , -And let the subject see , to make them know -That outward courtesies would fain proclaim -Favours that keep within . Come , Escalus , -You must walk by us on our other hand ; -And good supporters are you . - - -Now is your time : speak loud and kneel before him . - -Justice , O royal duke ! Vail your regard -Upon a wrong'd , I'd fain have said , a maid ! -O worthy prince ! dishonour not your eye -By throwing it on any other object -Till you have heard me in my true complaint -And given me justice , justice , justice , justice ! - -Relate your wrongs : in what ? by whom ? Be brief ; -Here is Lord Angelo , shall give you justice : -Reveal yourself to him . - -O worthy duke ! -You bid me seek redemption of the devil . -Hear me yourself ; for that which I must speak -Must either punish me , not being believ'd , -Or wring redress from you . Hear me , O , hear me , here ! - -My lord , her wits , I fear me , are not firm : -She hath been a suitor to me for her brother -Cut off by course of justice , - -By course of justice ! - -And she will speak most bitterly and strange . - -Most strange , but yet most truly , will I speak . -That Angelo's forsworn , is it not strange ? -That Angelo's a murderer , is't not strange ? -That Angelo is an adulterous thief , -A hypocrite , a virgin-violator ; -Is it not strange , and strange ? - -Nay , it is ten times strange . - -It is not truer he is Angelo -Than this is all as true as it is strange ; -Nay , it is ten times true ; for truth is truth -To the end of reckoning . - -Away with her ! poor soul , -She speaks this in the infirmity of sense . - -O prince , I conjure thee , as thou believ'st -There is another comfort than this world , -That thou neglect me not , with that opinion -That I am touch'd with madness . Make not impossible -That which but seems unlike . 'Tis not impossible -But one , the wicked'st caitiff on the ground , -May seem as shy , as grave , as just , as absolute -As Angelo ; even so may Angelo , -In all his dressings , characts , titles , forms , -Be an arch-villain . Believe it , royal prince : -If he be less , he's nothing ; but he's more , -Had I more name for badness . - -By mine honesty , -If she be mad ,as I believe no other , -Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense , -Such a dependency of thing on thing , -As e'er I heard in madness . - -O gracious duke ! -Harp not on that ; nor do not banish reason -For inequality ; but let your reason serve -To make the truth appear where it seems hid , -And hide the false seems true . - -Many that are not mad -Have , sure , more lack of reason . What would you say ? - -I am the sister of one Claudio , -Condemn'd upon the act of fornication -To lose his head ; condemn'd by Angelo . -I , in probation of a sisterhood , -Was sent to by my brother ; one Lucio -As then the messenger , - -That's I , an't like your Grace : -I came to her from Claudio , and desir'd her -To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo -For her poor brother's pardon . - -That's he indeed . - -You were not bid to speak . - -No , my good lord ; -Nor wish'd to hold my peace . - -I wish you now , then ; -Pray you , take note of it ; and when you have -A business for yourself , pray heaven you then -Be perfect . - -I warrant your honour . - -The warrant's for yourself : take heed to it . - -This gentleman told somewhat of my tale , - -Right . - -It may be right ; but you are in the wrong -To speak before your time . Proceed . - -I went -To this pernicious caitiff deputy . - -That's somewhat madly spoken . - -Pardon it ; -The phrase is to the matter . - -Mended again : the matter ; proceed . - -In brief , to set the needless process by , -How I persuaded , how I pray'd , and kneel'd , -How he refell'd me , and how I replied , -For this was of much length ,the vile conclusion -I now begin with grief and shame to utter . -He would not , but by gift of my chaste body -To his concupiscible intemperate lust , -Release my brother ; and , after much debatement , -My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour , -And I did yield to him . But the next morn betimes , -His purpose surfeiting , he sends a warrant -For my poor brother's head . - -This is most likely ! - -O , that it were as like as it is true ! - -By heaven , fond wretch ! thou know'st not what thou speak'st , -Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour -In hateful practice . First , his integrity -Stands without blemish ; next , it imports no reason -That with such vehemency he should pursue -Faults proper to himself : if he had so offended , -He would have weigh'd thy brother by himself , -And not have cut him off . Some one hath set you on : -Confess the truth , and say by whose advice -Thou cam'st here to complain . - -And is this all ? -Then , O you blessed ministers above , -Keep me in patience ; and , with ripen'd time -Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up -In countenance ! Heaven shield your Grace from woe , -As I , thus wrong'd , hence unbelieved go ! - -I know you'd fain be gone . An officer ! -To prison with her ! Shall we thus permit -A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall -On him so near us ? This needs must be a practice . -Who knew of your intent and coming hither ? - -One that I would were here , Friar Lodowick . - -A ghostly father , belike . Who knows that Lodowick ? - -My lord , I know him ; 'tis a meddling friar ; -I do not like the man : had he been lay , my lord , -For certain words he spake against your Grace -In your retirement , I had swing'd him soundly . - -Words against me ! This' a good friar , belike ! -And to set on this wretched woman here -Against our substitute ! Let this friar be found . - -But yesternight , my lord , she and that friar , -I saw them at the prison : a saucy friar , -A very scurvy fellow . - -Bless'd be your royal Grace ! -I have stood by , my lord , and I have heard -Your royal ear abus'd . First , hath this woman -Most wrongfully accus'd your substitute , -Who is as free from touch or soil with her , -As she from one ungot . - -We did believe no less . -Know you that Friar Lodowick that she speaks of ? - -I know him for a man divine and holy ; -Not scurvy , nor a temporary meddler , -As he's reported by this gentleman ; -And , on my trust , a man that never yet -Did , as he vouches , misreport your Grace . - -My lord , most villanously ; believe it . - -Well ; he in time may come to clear himself , -But at this instant he is sick , my lord , -Of a strange fever . Upon his mere request , -Being come to knowledge that there was complaint -Intended 'gainst Lord Angelo , came I hither , -To speak , as from his mouth , what he doth know -Is true and false ; and what he with his oath -And all probation will make up full clear , -Whensoever he's convented . First , for this woman , -To justify this worthy nobleman , -So vulgarly and personally accus'd , -Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes , -Till she herself confess it . - -Good friar , let's hear it . - -Do you not smile at this , Lord Angelo ? -O heaven , the vanity of wretched fools ! -Give us some seats . Come , cousin Angelo ; -In this I'll be impartial ; be you judge -Of your own cause . Is this the witness , friar ? -First , let her show her face , and after speak . - -Pardon , my lord ; I will not show my face -Until my husband bid me . - -What , are you married ? - -No , my lord . - -Are you a maid ? - -No , my lord . - -A widow , then ? - -Neither , my lord . - -Why , you -Are nothing , then : neither maid , widow , nor wife ? - -My lord , she may be a punk ; for many of them are neither maid , widow , nor wife . - -Silence that fellow : I would he had some cause -To prattle for himself . - -Well , my lord . - -My lord , I do confess I ne'er was married ; -And I confess besides I am no maid : -I have known my husband yet my husband knows not -That ever he knew me . - -He was drunk then my lord : it can be no better . - -For the benefit of silence , would thou wert so too ! - -Well , my lord . - -This is no witness for Lord Angelo . - -Now I come to't , my lord : -She that accuses him of fornication , -In self-same manner doth accuse my husband ; -And charges him , my lord , with such a time , -When , I'll depose , I had him in mine arms , -With all th' effect of love . - -Charges she moe than me ? - -Not that I know . - -No ? you say your husband . - -Why , just , my lord , and that is Angelo , -Who thinks he knows that he ne'er knew my body -But knows he thinks that he knows Isabel's . - -This is a strange abuse . Let's see thy face . - -My husband bids me ; now I will unmask . - -This is that face , thou cruel Angelo , -Which once thou swor'st was worth the looking on : -This is the hand which , with a vow'd contract , -Was fast belock'd in thine : this is the body -That took away the match from Isabel , -And did supply thee at thy garden-house -In her imagin'd person . - -Know you this woman ? - -Carnally , she says . - -Sirrah , no more ! - -Enough , my lord . - -My lord , I must confess I know this woman ; -And five years since there was some speech of marriage -Betwixt myself and her , which was broke off , -Partly for that her promised proportions -Came short of composition ; but , in chief -For that her reputation was disvalu'd -In levity : since which time of five years -I never spake with her , saw her , nor heard from her , -Upon my faith and honour . - -Noble prince , -As there comes light from heaven and words from breath , -As there is sense in truth and truth in virtue , -I am affianc'd this man's wife as strongly -As words could make up vows : and , my good lord , -But Tuesday night last gone in 's garden-house -He knew me as a wife . As this is true , -Let me in safety raise me from my knees -Or else for ever be confixed here , -A marble monument . - -I did but smile till now : -Now , good my lord , give me the scope of justice ; -My patience here is touch'd . I do perceive -These poor informal women are no more -But instruments of some more mightier member -That sets them on . Let me have way , my lord , -To find this practice out . - -Ay , with my heart ; -And punish them unto your height of pleasure . -Thou foolish friar , and thou pernicious woman , -Compact with her that's gone , think'st thou thy oaths , -Though they would swear down each particular saint , -Were testimonies against his worth and credit -That's seal'd in approbation ? You , Lord Escalus , -Sit with my cousin ; lend him your kind pains -To find out this abuse , whence 'tis deriv'd . -There is another friar that set them on ; -Let him be sent for . - -Would he were here , my lord ; for he indeed -Hath set the women on to this complaint : -Your provost knows the place where he abides -And he may fetch him . - -Go do it instantly . - -And you , my noble and well-warranted cousin , -Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth , -Do with your injuries as seems you best , -In any chastisement : I for awhile will leave you ; -But stir not you , till you have well determin'd -Upon these slanderers . - -My lord , we'll do it throughly . - -Signior Lucio , did not you say you knew that -Friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person ? - -Cucullus non facit monachum : honest in nothing , but in his clothes ; and one that hath spoke most villanous speeches of the duke . - -We shall entreat you to abide here till he come and enforce them against him . We shall find this friar a notable fellow . - -As any in Vienna , on my word . - -Call that same Isabel here once again : -I would speak with her . - - -Pray you , my lord , give me leave to question ; you shall see how I'll handle her . - -Not better than he , by her own report . - -Say you ? - -Marry , sir , I think , if you handled her privately , she would sooner confess : perchance , publicly , she'll be ashamed . - -I will go darkly to work with her . - -That's the way : for women are light at midnight . - - -Come on , mistress : here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said . - -My lord , here comes the rascal I spoke of ; here with the provost . - -In very good time : speak not you to him , till we call upon you . - - -Mum . - -Come , sir . Did you set these women on to slander Lord Angelo ? they have confessed you did . - -'Tis false . - -How ! know you where you are ? - -Respect to your great place ! and let the devil -Be sometime honour'd for his burning throne . -Where is the duke ? 'tis he should hear me speak . - -The duke's in us , and we will hear you speak : -Look you speak justly . - -Boldly , at least . But , O , poor souls ! -Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox ? -Good night to your redress ! Is the duke gone ? -Then is your cause gone too . The duke's unjust , -Thus to retort your manifest appeal , -And put your trial in the villain's mouth -Which here you come to accuse . - -This is the rascal : this is he I spoke of . - -Why , thou unreverend and unhallow'd friar ! -Is't not enough thou hast suborn'd these women -To accuse this worthy man , but , in foul mouth , -And in the witness of his proper ear , -To call him villain ? -And then to glance from him to the duke himself . -To tax him with injustice ? take him hence ; -To the rack with him ! We'll touse you joint by joint , -But we will know his purpose . What ! 'unjust' ? - -Be not so hot ; the duke -Dare no more stretch this finger of mine than he -Dare rack his own : his subject am I not , -Nor here provincial . My business in this state -Made me a looker-on here in Vienna , -Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble -Till it o'er-run the stew : laws for all faults , -But faults so countenanc'd , that the strong statutes -Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop , -As much in mock as mark . - -Slander to the state ! Away with him to prison ! - -What can you vouch against him , Signior Lucio ? -Is this the man that you did tell us of ? - -'Tis he , my lord . Come hither , goodman bald-pate : do you know me ? - -I remember you , sir , by the sound of your voice : I met you at the prison , in the absence of the duke . - -O ! did you so ? And do you remember what you said of the duke ? - -Most notedly , sir . - -Do you so , sir ? And was the duke a flesh-monger , a fool , and a coward , as you then reported him to be ? - -You must , sir , change persons with me , ere you make that my report : you , indeed , spoke so of him ; and much more , much worse . - -O thou damnable fellow ! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy speeches ? - -I protest I love the duke as I love myself . - -Hark how the villain would close now , after his treasonable abuses ! - -Such a fellow is not to be talk'd withal . -Away with him to prison ! Where is the provost ? -Away with him to prison ! Lay bolts enough on him , let him speak no more . Away with those giglots too , and with the other confederate companion ! - - -Stay , sir ; stay awhile . - -What ! resists he ? Help him , Lucio . - -Come , sir ; come , sir ; come , sir ; foh ! sir . Why , you bald-pated , lying rascal , you must be hooded , must you ? show your knave's visage , with a pox to you ! show your sheepbiting face , and be hanged an hour ! Will't not off ? - - -Thou art the first knave that e'er made a duke . -First , provost , let me bail these gentle three . - - -Sneak not away , sir ; for the friar and you -Must have a word anon . Lay hold on him . - -This may prove worse than hanging . - -What you have spoke I pardon ; sit you down : -We'll borrow place of him . - -Sir , by your leave . -Hast thou or word , or wit , or impudence , -That yet can do thee office ? If thou hast , -Rely upon it till my tale be heard , -And hold no longer out . - -O my dread lord ! -I should be guiltier than my guiltiness , -To think I can be undiscernible -When I perceive your Grace , like power divine , -Hath look'd upon my passes . Then , good prince , -No longer session hold upon my shame , -But let my trial be mine own confession : -Immediate sentence then and sequent death -Is all the grace I beg . - -Come hither , Mariana , -Say , wast thou e'er contracted to this woman ? - -I was , my lord . - -Go take her hence , and marry her instantly . -Do you the office , friar ; which consummate , -Return him here again . Go with him , provost . - - -My lord , I am more amaz'd at his dishonour -Than at the strangeness of it . - -Come hither , Isabel . -Your friar is now your prince : as I was then -Advertising and holy to your business , -Not changing heart with habit , I am still -Attorney'd at your service . - -O , give me pardon , -That I , your vassal , have employ'd and pain'd -Your unknown sovereignty ! - -You are pardon'd , Isabel : -And now , dear maid , be you as free to us . -Your brother's death , I know , sits at your heart ; -And you may marvel why I obscur'd myself , -Labouring to save his life , and would not rather -Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power -Than let him so be lost . O most kind maid ! -It was the swift celerity of his death , -Which I did think with slower foot came on , -That brain'd my purpose : but , peace be with him ! -That life is better life , past fearing death , -Than that which lives to fear : make it your comfort , -So happy is your brother . - -I do , my lord . - - -For this new-married man approaching here , -Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd -Your well-defended honour , you must pardon -For Mariana's sake . But as he adjudg'd your brother , -Being criminal , in double violation -Of sacred chastity , and of promise-breach , -Thereon dependent , for your brother's life , -The very mercy of the law cries out -Most audible , even from his proper tongue , -'An Angelo for Claudio , death for death !' -Haste still pays haste , and leisure answers leisure , -Like doth quit like , and Measure still for Measure . -Then , Angelo , thy fault's thus manifested , -Which , though thou wouldst deny , denies thee vantage . -We do condemn thee to the very block -Where Claudio stoop'd to death , and with like haste . -Away with him ! - -O , my most gracious lord ! -I hope you will not mock me with a husband . - -It is your husband mock'd you with a husband . -Consenting to the safeguard of your honour , -I thought your marriage fit ; else imputation , -For that he knew you , might reproach your life -And choke your good to come . For his possessions , -Although by confiscation they are ours , -We do instate and widow you withal , -To buy you a better husband . - -O my dear lord ! -I crave no other , nor no better man . - -Never crave him ; we are definitive . - -Gentle my liege , - -You do but lose your labour . -Away with him to death ! - -Now , sir , to you . - -O my good lord ! Sweet Isabel , take my part : -Lend me your knees , and , all my life to come , -I'll lend you all my life to do you service , - -Against all sense you do importune her : -Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact , -Her brother's ghost his paved bed would break , -And take her hence in horror . - -Isabel , -Sweet Isabel , do yet but kneel by me : -Hold up your hands , say nothing , I'll speak all . -They say best men are moulded out of faults , -And , for the most , become much more the better -For being a little bad : so may my husband . -O , Isabel ! will you not lend a knee ? - -He dies for Claudio's death . - -Most bounteous sir , -Look , if it please you , on this man condemn'd , -As if my brother liv'd . I partly think -A due sincerity govern'd his deeds , -Till he did look on me : since it is so , -Let him not die . My brother had but justice , -In that he did the thing for which he died : -For Angelo , -His act did not o'ertake his bad intent ; -And must be buried but as an intent -That perish'd by the way . Thoughts are no subjects ; -Intents but merely thoughts . - -Merely , my lord . - -Your suit's unprofitable : stand up , I say . -I have bethought me of another fault . -Provost , how came it Claudio was beheaded -At an unusual hour ? - -It was commanded so . - -Had you a special warrant for the deed ? - -No , my good lord ; it was by private message . - -For which I do discharge you of your office : -Give up your keys . - -Pardon me , noble lord : -I thought it was a fault , but knew it not , -Yet did repent me , after more advice ; -For testimony whereof , one in the prison , -That should by private order else have died -I have reserv'd alive . - -What's he ? - -His name is Barnardine . - -I would thou hadst done so by Claudio . -Go , fetch him hither : let me look upon him . - - -I am sorry , one so learned and so wise -As you , Lord Angelo , have still appear'd , -Should slip so grossly , both in the heat of blood , -And lack of temper'd judgment afterward . - -I am sorry that such sorrow I procure ; -And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart -That I crave death more willingly than mercy : -'Tis my deserving , and I do entreat it . - - -Which is that Barnardine ? - -This , my lord . - -There was a friar told me of this man . -Sirrah , thou art said to have a stubborn soul , -That apprehends no further than this world , -And squar'st thy life according . Thou'rt condemn'd : -But , for those earthly faults , I quit them all , -And pray thee take this mercy to provide -For better times to come . Friar , advise him : -I leave him to your hand .What muffled fellow's that ? - -This is another prisoner that I sav'd , -That should have died when Claudio lost his head , -As like almost to Claudio as himself . - - -If he be like your brother , for his sake -Is he pardon'd ; and , for your lovely sake -Give me your hand and say you will be mine , -He is my brother too . But fitter time for that . -By this , Lord Angelo perceives he's safe : -Methinks I see a quickening in his eye . -Well , Angelo , your evil quits you well : -Look that you love your wife ; her worth worth yours . -I find an apt remission in myself , -And yet here's one in place I cannot pardon . - - -You , sirrah , that knew me for a fool , a coward , -One all of luxury , an ass , a madman : -Wherein have I so deserv'd of you , -That you extol me thus ? - -'Faith , my lord , I spoke it but according to the trick . If you will hang me for it , you may ; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipped . - -Whipp'd first , sir , and hang'd after . -Proclaim it , provost , round about the city , -If any woman's wrong'd by this lewd fellow , -As I have heard him swear himself there's one -Whom he begot with child , let her appear , -And he shall marry her : the nuptial finish'd , -Let him be whipp'd and hang'd . - -I beseech your highness , do not marry me to a whore . Your highness said even now , I made you a duke : good my lord , do not recompense me in making me a cuckold . - -Upon mine honour , thou shalt marry her . -Thy slanders I forgive ; and therewithal -Remit thy other forfeits . Take him to prison , -And see our pleasure herein executed . - -Marrying a punk , my lord , is pressing to death , whipping , and hanging . - -Slandering a prince deserves it . -She , Claudio , that you wrong'd , look you restore . -Joy to you , Mariana ! love her , Angelo : -I have confess'd her and I know her virtue . -Thanks , good friend Escalus , for thy much goodness : -There's more behind that is more gratulate . -Thanks , provost , for thy care and secrecy ; -We shall employ thee in a worthier place . -Forgive him , Angelo , that brought you home -The head of Ragozine for Claudio's : -The offence pardons itself . Dear Isabel , -I have a motion much imports your good ; -Whereto if you'll a willing ear incline , -What's mine is yours , and what is yours is mine . -So , bring us to our palace ; where we'll show -What's yet behind , that's meet you all should know . - -MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - -I learn in this letter that Don Pedro of Arragon comes this night to Messina . - -He is very near by this : he was not three leagues off when I left him . - -How many gentlemen have you lost in this action ? - -But few of any sort , and none of name . - -A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full numbers . I find here that Don Pedro hath bestowed much honour on a young Florentine called Claudio . - -Much deserved on his part and equally remembered by Don Pedro . He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age , doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion : he hath indeed better bettered expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how . - -He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much glad of it . - -I have already delivered him letters , and there appears much joy in him ; even so much that joy could not show itself modest enough without a badge of bitterness . - -Did he break out into tears ? - -In great measure . - -A kind overflow of kindness . There are no faces truer than those that are so washed : how much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping ! - -I pray you is Signior Mountanto returned from the wars or no ? - -I know none of that name , lady : there was none such in the army of any sort . - -What is he that you ask for , niece ? - -My cousin means Signior Benedick of Padua . - -O ! he is returned , and as pleasant as ever he was . - -He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight ; and my uncle's fool , reading the challenge , subscribed for Cupid , and challenged him at the bird-bolt . I pray you , how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars ? But how many hath he killed ? for , indeed , I promised to eat all of his killing . - -Faith , niece , you tax Signior Benedick too much ; but he'll be meet with you , I doubt it not . - -He hath done good service , lady , in these wars . - -You had musty victual , and he hath holp to eat it : he is a very valiant trencherman ; he hath an excellent stomach . - -And a good soldier too , lady . - -And a good soldier to a lady ; but what is he to a lord ? - -A lord to a lord , a man to a man , stuffed with all honourable virtues . - -It is so , indeed ; he is no less than a stuffed man ; but for the stuffing ,well , we are all mortal . - -You must not , sir , mistake my niece There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her : they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them . - -Alas ! he gets nothing by that . In our last conflict four of his five wits went halting off , and now is the whole man governed with one ! so that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm , let him bear it for a difference between himself and his horse ; for it is all the wealth that he hath left to be known a reasonable creature . Who is his companion now ? He hath every month a new sworn brother . - -Is't possible ? - -Very easily possible : he wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat ; it ever changes with the next block . - -I see , lady , the gentleman is not in your books . - -No ; an he were , I would burn my study . But , I pray you , who is his companion ? Is there no young squarer now that will make a voyage with him to the devil ? - -He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio . - -O Lord ! he will hang upon him like a disease : he is sooner caught than the pestilence , and the taker runs presently mad . God help the noble Claudio ! if he have caught the Benedick , it will cost him a thousand pound ere a' be cured . - -I will hold friends with you , lady . - -Do , good friend . - -You will never run mad , niece . - -No , not till a hot January . - -Don Pedro is approached . - - -Good Signior Leonato , you are come to meet your trouble : the fashion of the world is to avoid cost , and you encounter it . - -Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of your Grace , for trouble being gone , comfort should remain ; but when you depart from me , sorrow abides and happiness takes his leave . - -You embrace your charge too willingly . I think this is your daughter . - -Her mother hath many times told me so . - -Were you in doubt , sir , that you asked her ? - -Signior Benedick , no ; for then you were a child . - -You have it full , Benedick : we may guess by this what you are , being a man . Truly , the lady fathers herself . Be happy , lady , for you are like an honourable father . - -If Signior Leonato be her father , she would not have his head on her shoulders for all Messina , as like him as she is . - -I wonder that you will still be talking , Signior Benedick : nobody marks you . - -What ! my dear Lady Disdain , are you yet living ? - -Is it possible Disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick ? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain , if you come in her presence . - -Then is courtesy a turncoat . But it is certain I am loved of all ladies , only you excepted ; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart ; for , truly , I love none . - -A dear happiness to women : they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor . I thank God and my cold blood , I am of your humour for that : I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me . - -God keep your ladyship still in that mind ; so some gentleman or other shall scape a predestinate scratched face . - -Scratching could not make it worse , an 'twere such a face as yours were . - -Well , you are a rare parrot-teacher . - -A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours . - -I would my horse had the speed of your tongue , and so good a continuer . But keep your way , i' God's name ; I have done . - -You always end with a jade's trick : I know you of old . - -This is the sum of all , Leonato : Signior Claudio , and Signior Benedick , my dear friend Leonato hath invited you all . I tell him we shall stay here at the least a month , and he heartily prays some occasion may detain us longer : I dare swear he is no hypocrite , but prays from his heart . - -If you swear , my lord , you shall not be forsworn . - -Let me bid you welcome , my lord : being reconciled to the prince your brother , I owe you all duty . - -I thank you : I am not of many words , but I thank you . - -Please it your Grace lead on ? - -Your hand , Leonato ; we will go together . - - -Benedick , didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato ? - -I noted her not ; but I looked on her . - -Is she not a modest young lady ? - -Do you question me , as an honest man should do , for my simple true judgment ; or would you have me speak after my custom , as being a professed tyrant to their sex ? - -No ; I pray thee speak in sober judgment . - -Why , i' faith , methinks she's too low for a high praise , too brown for a fair praise , and too little for a great praise : only this commendation I can afford her , that were she other than she is , she were unhandsome , and being no other but as she is , I do not like her . - -Thou thinkest I am in sport : I pray thee tell me truly how thou likest her . - -Would you buy her , that you inquire after her ? - -Can the world buy such a jewel ? - -Yea , and a case to put it into . But speak you this with a sad brow , or do you play the flouting Jack , to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder , and Vulcan a rare carpenter ? Come , in what key shall a man take you , to go in the song ? - -In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on . - -I can see yet without spectacles and I see no such matter : there's her cousin an she were not possessed with a fury , exceeds her as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December . But I hope you have no intent to turn husband , have you ? - -I would scarce trust myself , though I had sworn to the contrary , if Hero would be my wife . - -Is't come to this , i' faith ? Hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion ? Shall I never see a bachelor of three-score again ? Go to , i' faith ; an thou wilt needs thrust thy neck into a yoke , wear the print of it , and sigh away Sundays . Look ! Don Pedro is returned to seek you . - - -What secret hath held you here , that you followed not to Leonato's ? - -I would your Grace would constrain me to tell . - -I charge thee on thy allegiance . - -You hear , Count Claudio : I can be secret as a dumb man ; I would have you think so ; but on my allegiance , mark you this , on my allegiance : he is in love . With who ? now that is your Grace's part . Mark how short his answer is : with Hero , Leonato's short daughter . - -If this were so , so were it uttered . - -Like the old tale , my lord : 'it is not so , nor 'twas not so ; but , indeed , God forbid it should be so .' - -If my passion change not shortly , God forbid it should be otherwise . - -Amen , if you love her ; for the lady is very well worthy . - -You speak this to fetch me in , my lord . - -By my troth , I speak my thought . - -And in faith , my lord , I spoke mine . - -And by my two faiths and troths , my lord , I spoke mine . - -That I love her , I feel . - -That she is worthy , I know . - -That I neither feel how she should be loved nor know how she should be worthy , is the opinion that fire cannot melt out of me : I will die in it at the stake . - -Thou wast ever an obstinate heretic in the despite of beauty . - -And never could maintain his part but in the force of his will . - -That a woman conceived me , I thank her ; that she brought me up , I likewise give her most humble thanks : but that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead , or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick , all women shall pardon me . Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any , I will do myself the right to trust none ; and the fine is ,for the which I may go the finer ,I will live a bachelor . - -I shall see thee , ere I die , look pale with love . - -With anger , with sickness , or with hunger , my lord ; not with love : prove that ever I lose more blood with love than I will get again with drinking , pick out mine eyes with a ballad-maker's pen , and hang me up at the door of a brothel-house for the sign of blind Cupid . - -Well , if ever thou dost fall from this faith , thou wilt prove a notable argument . - -If I do , hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me ; and he that hits me , let him be clapped on the shoulder , and called Adam . - -Well , as time shall try : -'In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke .' - -The savage bull may ; but if ever the sensible Benedick bear it , pluck off the bull's horns and set them in my forehead ; and let me be vilely painted , and in such great letters as they write , 'Here is good horse to hire ,' let them signify under my sign 'Here you may see Benedick the married man .' - -If this should ever happen , thou wouldst be horn-mad . - -Nay , if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in Venice , thou wilt quake for this shortly . - -I look for an earthquake too then . - -Well , you will temporize with the hours . In the meantime , good Signior Benedick , repair to Leonato's : commend me to him and tell him I will not fail him at supper ; for indeed he hath made great preparation . - -I have almost matter enough in me for such an embassage ; and so I commit you - -To the tuition of God : from my house , if I had it , - -The sixth of July : your loving friend , Benedick . - -Nay , mock not , mock not . The body of your discourse is sometime guarded with fragments , and the guards are but slightly basted on neither : ere you flout old ends any further , examine your conscience : and so I leave you . - - -My liege , your highness now may do me good . - -My love is thine to teach : teach it but how , -And thou shalt see how apt it is to learn -Any hard lesson that may do thee good . - -Hath Leonato any son , my lord ? - -No child but Hero ; she's his only heir . -Dost thou affect her , Claudio ? - -O ! my lord , -When you went onward on this ended action , -I looked upon her with a soldier's eye , -That lik'd , but had a rougher task in hand -Than to drive liking to the name of love ; -But now I am return'd , and that war-thoughts -Have left their places vacant , in their rooms -Come thronging soft and delicate desires , -All prompting me how fair young Hero is , -Saying , I lik'd her ere I went to wars . - -Thou wilt be like a lover presently , -And tire the hearer with a book of words . -If thou dost love fair Hero , cherish it , -And I will break with her , and with her father , -And thou shalt have her . Was't not to this end -That thou began'st to twist so fine a story ? - -How sweetly do you minister to love , -That know love's grief by his complexion ! -But lest my liking might too sudden seem , -I would have salv'd it with a longer treatise . - -What need the bridge much broader than the flood ? -The fairest grant is the necessity . -Look , what will serve is fit : 'tis once , thou lov'st , -And I will fit thee with the remedy . -I know we shall have revelling to-night : -I will assume thy part in some disguise , -And tell fair Hero I am Claudio ; -And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart , -And take her hearing prisoner with the force -And strong encounter of my amorous tale : -Then , after to her father will I break ; -And the conclusion is , she shall be thine . -In practice let us put it presently . - - -How now , brother ! Where is my cousin , your son ? Hath he provided this music ? - -He is very busy about it . But , brother , I can tell you strange news that you yet dreaint not of . - -Are they good ? - -As the event stamps them : but they have a good cover ; they show well outward . The prince and Count Claudio , walking in a thick-pleached alley in my orchard , were thus much overheard by a man of mine : the prince discovered to Claudio that he loved my niece your daughter , and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance ; and , if he found her accordant , he meant to take the present time by the top and instantly break with you of it . - -Hath the fellow any wit that told you this ? - -A good sharp fellow : I will send for him ; and question him yourself . - -No , no ; we will hold it as a dream till it appear itself : but I will acquaint my daughter withal , that she may be the better prepared for an answer , if peradventure this be true . Go you , and tell her of it . - -Cousins , you know what you have to do . O ! I cry you mercy , friend ; go you with me , and I will use your skill . Good cousin , have a care this busy time . - - -What the good-year , my lord ! why are you thus out of measure sad ? - -There is no measure in the occasion that breeds ; therefore the sadness is without limit . - -You should hear reason . - -And when I have heard it , what blessing brings it ? - -It not a present remedy , at least a patient sufferance . - -I wonder that thou , being ,as thou say'st thou art ,born under Saturn , goest about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief . I cannot hide what I am : I must be sad when I have cause , and smile at no man's jests ; eat when I have stomach , and wait for no man's leisure ; sleep when I am drowsy , and tend on no man's business ; laugh when I am merry , and claw no man in his humour . - -Yea ; but you must not make the full show of this till you may do it without controlment . You have of late stood out against your brother , and he hath ta'en you newly into his grace ; where it is impossible you should take true root but by the fair weather that you make yourself : it is needful that you frame the season for your own harvest . - -I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace ; and it better fits my blood to be disdained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any : in this , though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man , it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain . I am trusted with a muzzle and enfranchised with a clog ; therefore I have decreed not to sing in my cage . If I had my mouth , I would bite ; if I had my liberty , I would do my liking : in the meantime , let me be that I am , and seek not to alter me . - -Can you make no use of your discontent ? - -I make all use of it , for I use it only . Who comes here ? - -What news , Borachio ? - -I came yonder from a great supper : the prince , your brother , is royally entertained by Leonato ; and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage . - -Will it serve for any model to build mischief on ? What is he for a fool that betroths himself to unquietness ? - -Marry , it is your brother's right hand . - -Who ? the most exquisite Claudio ? - -Even he . - -A proper squire ! And who , and who ? which way looks he ? - -Marry , on Hero , the daughter and heir of Leonato . - -A very forward March-chick ! How came you to this ? - -Being entertained for a perfumer , as I was smoking a musty room , comes me the prince and Claudio , hand in hand , in sad conference : I whipt me behind the arras , and there heard it agreed upon that the prince should woo Hero for himself , and having obtained her , give her to Count Claudio . - -Come , come ; let us thither : this may prove food to my displeasure . That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow : if I can cross him any way , I bless myself every way . You are both sure , and will assist me ? - -To the death , my lord . - -To the death , my lord . - -Let us to the great supper : their cheer is the greater that I am subdued . Would the cook were of my mind ! Shall we go prove what's to be done ? - -We'll wait upon your lordship . - -Was not Count John here at supper ? - -I saw him not . - -How tartly that gentleman looks ! I never can see him but I am heart-burned an hour after . - -He is of a very melancholy disposition . - -He were an excellent man that were made just in the mid-way between him and Benedick : the one is too like an image , and says nothing ; and the other too like my lady's eldest son , evermore tattling . - -Then half Signior Benedick's tongue in Count John's mouth , and half Count John's melancholy in Signior Benedick's face , - -With a good leg and a good foot , uncle , and money enough in his purse , such a man would win any woman in the world , if a' could get her good will . - -By my troth , niece , thou wilt never get thee a husband , if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue . - -In faith , she's too curst . - -Too curst is more than curst : I shall lessen God's sending that way ; for it is said , 'God sends a curst cow short horns ;' but to a cow too curst he sends none . - -So , by being too curst , God will send you no horns ? - -Just , if he send me no husband ; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening . Lord ! I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face : I had rather lie in the woollen . - -You may light on a husband that hath no beard . - -What should I do with him ? dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting-gentlewoman ? He that hath a beard is more than a youth , and he that hath no beard is less than a man ; and he that is more than a youth is not for me ; and he that is less than a man , I am not for him : therefore I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bear-ward , and lead his apes into hell . - -Well then , go you into hell ? - -No ; but to the gate ; and there will the devil meet me , like an old cuckold , with horns on his head , and say , 'Get you to heaven , Beatrice , get you to heaven ; here's no place for you maids :' so deliver I up my apes , and away to Saint Peter for the heavens ; he shows me where the bachelors sit , and there live we as merry as the day is long . - -Well , niece , I trust you will be ruled by your father . - -Yes , faith ; it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy , and say , 'Father , as it please you :' but yet for all that , cousin , let him be a handsome fellow , or else make another curtsy , and say , 'Father , as it please me .' - -Well , niece , I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband . - -Not till God make men of some other metal than earth . Would it not grieve a woman to be over-mastered with a piece of valiant dust ? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl ? No , uncle , I'll none : Adam's sons are my brethren ; and truly , I hold it a sin to match in my kindred . - -Daughter , remember what I told you : if the prince do solicit you in that kind , you know your answer . - -The fault will be in the music , cousin , if you be not wooed in good time : if the prince be too important , tell him there is measure in everything , and so dance out the answer . For , hear me , Hero : wooing , wedding , and repenting , is as a Scotch jig , a measure , and a cinque-pace : the first suit is hot and hasty , like a Scotch jig , and full as fantastical ; the wedding , mannerly-modest , as a measure , full of state and ancientry ; and then comes Repentance , and , with his bad legs , falls into the cinque-pace faster and faster , till he sink into his grave . - -Cousin , you apprehend passing shrewdly . - -I have a good eye , uncle : I can see a church by daylight . - -The revellers are entering , brother : make good room . - -Lady , will you walk about with your friend ? - -So you walk softly and look sweetly and say nothing , I am yours for the walk ; and especially when I walk away . - -With me in your company ? - -I may say so , when I please . - -And when please you to say so ? - -When I like your favour ; for God defend the lute should be like the case ! - -My visor is Philemon's roof ; within the house is Jove . - -Why , then , your visor should be thatch'd . - -Speak low , if you speak love . - - -Well , I would you did like me . - -So would not I , for your own sake ; for I have many ill qualities . - -Which is one ? - -I say my prayers aloud . - -I love you the better ; the hearers may cry Amen . - -God match me with a good dancer ! - -Amen . - -And God keep him out of my sight when the dance is done ! Answer , clerk . - -No more words : the clerk is answered . - -I know you well enough : you are Signior Antonio . - -At a word , I am not . - -I know you by the waggling of your head . - -To tell you true , I counterfeit him . - -You could never do him so ill-well , unless you were the very man . Here's his dry hand up and down : you are he , you are he . - -At a word , I am not . - -Come , come ; do you think I do not know you by your excellent wit ? Can virtue hide itself ? Go to , mum , you are he : graces will appear , and there's an end . - -Will you not tell me who told you so ? - -No , you shall pardon me . - -Nor will you not tell me who you are ? - -Not now . - -That I was disdainful , and that I had my good wit out of the 'Hundred Merry Tales .' Well , this was Signior Benedick that said so . - -What's he ? - -I am sure you know him well enough . - -Not I , believe me . - -Did he never make you laugh ? - -I pray you , what is he ? - -Why , he is the prince's jester : a very dull fool ; only his gift is in devising impossible slanders : none but libertines delight in him ; and the commendation is not in his wit , but in his villany ; for he both pleases men and angers them , and then they laugh at him and beat him . I am sure he is in the fleet : I would he had boarded me ! - -When I know the gentleman , I'll tell him what you say . - -Do , do : he'll but break a comparison or two on me ; which , peradventure not marked or not laughed at , strikes him into melancholy ; and then there's a partridge wing saved , for the fool will eat no supper that night . - -We must follow the leaders . - -In every good thing . - -Nay , if they lead to any ill , I will leave them at the next turning . - - -Sure my brother is amorous on Hero , and hath withdrawn her father to break with him about it . The ladies follow her and but one visor remains . - -And that is Claudio : I know him by his bearing . - -Are you not Signior Benedick ? - -You know me well ; I am he . - -Signior , you are very near my brother in his love : he is enamoured on Hero ; I pray you , dissuade him from her ; she is no equal for his birth : you may do the part of an honest man in it . - -How know you he loves her ? - -I heard him swear his affection . - -So did I too ; and he swore he would marry her to-night . - -Come , let us to the banquet . - - -Thus answer I in name of Benedick , -But hear these ill news with the ears of Claudio . -'Tis certain so ; the prince woos for himself . -Friendship is constant in all other things -Save in the office and affairs of love : -Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues ; -Let every eye negotiate for itself -And trust no agent ; for beauty is a witch -Against whose charms faith melteth into blood . -This is an accident of hourly proof , -Which I mistrusted not . Farewell , therefore , Hero ! - - -Count Claudio ? - -Yea , the same . - -Come , will you go with me ? - -Whither ? - -Even to the next willow , about your own business , count . What fashion will you wear the garland of ? About your neck , like a usurer's chain ? or under your arm , like a lieutenant's scarf ? You must wear it one way , for the prince hath got your Hero . - -I wish him joy of her . - -Why , that's spoken like an honest drovier : so they sell bullocks . But did you think the prince would have served you thus ? - -I pray you , leave me . - -Ho ! now you strike like the blind man : 'twas the boy that stole your meat , and you'll beat the post . - -If it will not be , I'll leave you . - - -Alas ! poor hurt fowl . Now will he creep into sedges . But , that my lady Beatrice should know me , and not know me ! The prince's fool ! Ha ! it may be I go under that title because I am merry . Yea , but so I am apt to do myself wrong ; I am not so reputed : it is the base though bitter disposition of Beatrice that puts the world into her person , and so gives me out . Well , I'll be revenged as I may . - - -Now , signior , where's the count ? Did you see him ? - -Troth , my lord , I have played the part of Lady Fame . I found him here as melancholy as a lodge in a warren . I told him , and I think I told him true , that your Grace had got the good will of this young lady ; and I offered him my company to a willow tree , either to make him a garland , as being forsaken , or to bind him up a rod , as being worthy to be whipped . - -To be whipped ! What's his fault ? - -The flat transgression of a school-boy , who , being overjoy'd with finding a bird's nest , shows it his companion , and he steals it . - -Wilt thou make a trust a transgression ? The transgression is in the stealer . - -Yet it had not been amiss the rod had been made , and the garland too ; for the garland he might have worn himself , and the rod he might have bestowed on you , who , as I take it , have stolen his bird's nest . - -I will but teach them to sing , and restore them to the owner . - -If their singing answer your saying , by my faith , you say honestly . - -The Lady Beatrice hath a quarrel to you : the gentleman that danced with her told her she is much wronged by you . - -O ! she misused me past the endurance of a block : an oak but with one green leaf on it , would have answered her : my very visor began to assume life and scold with her . She told me , not thinking I had been myself , that I was the prince's jester ; that I was duller than a great thaw ; huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance upon me , that I stood like a man at a mark , with a whole army shooting at me . She speaks poniards , and every word stabs : if her breath were as terrible as her terminations , there were no living near her ; she would infect to the north star . I would not marry her , though she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed : she would have made Hercules have turned spit , yea , and have cleft his club to make the fire too . Come , talk not of her ; you shall find her the infernal Ate in good apparel . I would to God some scholar would conjure her , for certainly , while she is here , a man may live as quiet in hell as in a sanctuary ; and people sin upon purpose because they would go thither ; so , indeed , all disquiet , horror and perturbation follow her . - - -Look ! here she comes . - -Will your Grace command me any service to the world's end ? I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on ; I will fetch you a toothpicker now from the furthest inch of Asia ; bring you the length of Prester John's foot ; fetch you a hair off the Great Cham's beard ; do you any embassage to the Pigmies , rather than hold three words' conference with this harpy . You have no employment for me ? - -None , but to desire your good company . - -O God , sir , here's a dish I love not : I cannot endure my Lady Tongue . - - -Come , lady , come ; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick . - -Indeed , my lord , he lent it me awhile ; and I gave him use for it , a double heart for a single one : marry , once before he won it of me with false dice , therefore your Grace may well say I have lost it . - -You have put him down , lady , you have put him down . - -So I would not he should do me , my lord , lest I should prove the mother of fools . I have brought Count Claudio , whom you sent me to seek . - -Why , how now , count ! wherefore are you sad ? - -Not sad , my lord . - -How then ? Sick ? - -Neither , my lord . - -The count is neither sad , nor sick , nor merry , nor well ; but civil count , civil as an orange , and something of that jealous complexion . - -I' faith , lady , I think your blazon to be true ; though , I'll be sworn , if he be so , his conceit is false . Here , Claudio , I have wooed in thy name , and fair Hero is won ; I have broke with her father , and , his good will obtained ; name the day of marriage , and God give thee joy ! - -Count , take of me my daughter , and with her my fortunes : his Grace hath made the match , and all grace say Amen to it ! - -Speak , count , 'tis your cue . - -Silence is the perfectest herald of joy : I were but little happy , if I could say how much . Lady , as you are mine , I am yours : I give away myself for you and dote upon the exchange . - -Speak , cousin ; or , if you cannot , stop his mouth with a kiss , and let not him speak neither . - -In faith , lady , you have a merry heart . - -Yea , my lord ; I thank it , poor fool , it keeps on the windy side of care . My cousin tells him in his ear that he is in her heart . - -And so she doth , cousin . - -Good Lord , for alliance ! Thus goes every one to the world but I , and I am sunburnt . I may sit in a corner and cry heigh-ho for a husband ! - -Lady Beatrice , I will get you one . - -I would rather have one of your father's getting . Hath your Grace ne'er a brother like you ? Your father got excellent husbands , if a maid could come by them . - -Will you have me , lady ? - -No , my lord , unless I might have another for working days : your Grace is too costly to wear every day . But , I beseech your Grace , pardon me ; I was born to speak all mirth and no matter . - -Your silence most offends me , and to be merry best becomes you ; for , out of question , you were born in a merry hour . - -No , sure , my lord , my mother cried ; but then there was a star danced , and under that was I born . Cousins , God give you joy ! - -Niece , will you look to those things I told you of ? - -I cry you mercy , uncle . By your Grace's pardon . - - -By my troth , a pleasant-spirited lady . - -There's little of the melancholy element in her , my lord : she is never sad but when she sleeps ; and not ever sad then , for I have heard my daughter say , she hath often dreamed of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing . - -She cannot endure to hear tell of a husband . - -O ! by no means : she mocks all her wooers out of suit . - -She were an excellent wife for Benedick . - -O Lord ! my lord , if they were but a week married , they would talk themselves mad . - -Count Claudio , when mean you to go to church ? - -To-morrow , my lord . Time goes on crutches till love have all his rites . - -Not till Monday , my dear son , which is hence a just seven-night ; and a time too brief too , to have all things answer my mind . - -Come , you shake the head at so long a breathing ; but , I warrant thee , Claudio , the time shall not go dully by us . I will in the interim undertake one of Hercules' labours , which is , to bring Signior Benedick and the Lady Beatrice into a mountain of affection the one with the other . I would fain have it a match ; and I doubt not but to fashion it , if you three will but minister such assistance as I shall give you direction . - -My lord , I am for you , though it cost me ten nights' watchings . - -And I , my lord . - -And you too , gentle Hero ? - -I will do any modest office , my lord , to help my cousin to a good husband . - -And Benedick is not the unhopefullest husband that I know . Thus far can I praise him ; he is of a noble strain , of approved valour , and confirmed honesty . I will teach you how to humour your cousin , that she shall fall in love with Benedick ; and I , with your two helps , will so practise on Benedick that , in despite of his quick wit and his queasy stomach , he shall fall in love with Beatrice . If we can do this , Cupid is no longer an archer : his glory shall be ours , for we are the only love-gods . Go in with me , and I will tell you my drift . - - -It is so ; the Count Claudio shall marry the daughter of Leonato . - -Yea , my lord ; but I can cross it . - -Any bar , any cross , any impediment will be medicinable to me : I am sick in displeasure to him , and whatsoever comes athwart his affection ranges evenly with mine . How canst thou cross this marriage ? - -Not honestly , my lord ; but so covertly that no dishonesty shall appear in me . - -Show me briefly how . - -I think I told your lordship , a year since , how much I am in the favour of Margaret , the waiting-gentlewoman to Hero . - -I remember . - -I can , at any unseasonable instant of the night , appoint her to look out at her lady's chamber-window . - -What life is in that , to be the death of this marriage ? - -The poison of that lies in you to temper . Go you to the prince your brother ; spare not to tell him , that he hath wronged his honour in marrying the renowned Claudio ,whose estimation do you mightily hold up ,to a contaminated stale , such a one as Hero . - -What proof shall I make of that ? - -Proof enough to misuse the prince , to vex Claudio , to undo Hero , and kill Leonato . -Look you for any other issue ? - -Only to despite them , I will endeavour any thing . - -Go , then ; find me a meet hour to draw Don Pedro and the Count Claudio alone : tell them that you know that Hero loves me ; intend a kind of zeal both to the prince and Claudio , as in love of your brother's honour , who hath made this match , and his friend's reputation , who is thus like to be cozened with the semblance of a maid ,that you have discovered thus . They will scarcely believe this without trial : offer them instances , which shall bear no less likelihood than to see me at her chamber-window , hear me call Margaret Hero ; hear Margaret term me Claudio ; and bring them to see this the very night before the intended wedding : for in the meantime I will so fashion the matter that Hero shall be absent ; and there shall appear such seeming truth of Hero's disloyalty , that jealousy shall be called assurance , and all the preparation overthrown . - -Grow this to what adverse issue it can , I will put it in practice . Be cunning in the working this , and thy fee is a thousand ducats . - -Be you constant in the accusation , and my cunning shall not shame me . - -I will presently go learn their day of marriage . - - -Boy ! - - -Signior ? - -In my chamber-window lies a book ; bring it hither to me in the orchard . - -I am here already , sir . - -I know that ; but I would have thee hence , and here again . [Exit Boy .] I do much wonder that one man , seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviours to love , will , after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others , become the argument of his own scorn by falling in love : and such a man is Claudio . I have known , when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife ; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe : I have known , when he would have walked ten mile afoot to see a good armour ; and now will he lie ten nights awake , carving the fashion of a new doublet . He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose , like an honest man and a soldier ; and now is he turned orthographer ; his words are a very fantastical banquet , just so many strange dishes . May I be so converted , and see with these eyes ? I cannot tell ; I think not : I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster ; but I'll take my oath on it , till he have made an oyster of me , he shall never make me such a fool . One woman is fair , yet I am well ; another is wise , yet I am well ; another virtuous , yet I am well ; but till all graces be in one woman , one woman shall not come in my grace . Rich she shall be , that's certain ; wise , or I'll none ; virtuous , or I'll never cheapen her ; fair , or I'll never look on her ; mild , or come not near me ; noble , or not I for an angel ; of good discourse , an excellent musician , and her hair shall be of what colour it please God . Ha ! the prince and Monsieur Love ! I will hide me in the arbour . - -Come , shall we hear this music ? - -Yea , my good lord . How still the evening is , -As hush'd on purpose to grace harmony ! - -See you where Benedick hath hid himself ? - -O ! very well , my lord : the music ended , -We'll fit the kid-fox with a penny-worth . - -Come , Balthazar , we'll hear that song again . - -O ! good my lord , tax not so bad a voice -To slander music any more than once . - -It is the witness still of excellency , -To put a strange face on his own perfection . -I pray thee , sing , and let me woo no more . - -Because you talk of wooing , I will sing ; -Since many a wooer doth commence his suit -To her he thinks not worthy ; yet he woos ; -Yet will he swear he loves . - -Nay , pray thee , come ; -Or if thou wilt hold longer argument , -Do it in notes . - -Note this before my notes ; -There's not a note of mine that's worth the noting . - -Why these are very crotchets that he speaks ; -Notes , notes , forsooth , and nothing ! - - -Now , divine air ! now is his soul ravished ! Is it not strange that sheeps' guts should hale souls out of men's bodies ? Well , a horn for my money , when all's done . - -Sigh no more , ladies , sigh no more , -Men were deceivers ever ; -One foot in sea , and one on shore , -To one thing constant never . -Then sigh not so , -But let them go , -And be you blithe and bonny , -Converting all your sounds of woe -Into Hey nonny , nonny . -Sing no more ditties , sing no mo -Of dumps so dull and heavy ; -The fraud of men was ever so , -Since summer first was leavy . -Then sigh not so , -But let them go , -And be you blithe and bonny , -Converting all your sounds of woe -Into Hey nonny , nonny . - - -By my troth , a good song . - -And an ill singer , my lord . - -Ha , no , no , faith ; thou singest well enough for a shift . - -An he had been a dog that should have howled thus , they would have hanged him ; and I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief . I had as lief have heard the night-raven , come what plague could have come after it . - -Yea , marry ; dost thou hear , Balthazar ? I pray thee , get us some excellent music , for to-morrow night we would have it at the Lady Hero's chamber-window . - -The best I can , my lord . - -Do so : farewell . - -Come hither , Leonato : what was it you told me of to-day , that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signior Benedick ? - -O ! ay : - -Stalk on , stalk on ; the fowl sits . I did never think that lady would have loved any man . - -No , nor I neither ; but most wonderful that she should so dote on Signior Benedick , whom she hath in all outward behaviours seemed ever to abhor . - -Is't possible ? Sits the wind in that corner ? - -By my troth , my lord , I cannot tell what to think of it but that she loves him with an enraged affection : it is past the infinite of thought . - -May be she doth but counterfeit . - -Faith , like enough . - -O God ! counterfeit ! There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion as she discovers it . - -Why , what effects of passion shows she ? - -Bait the hook well : this fish will bite . - -What effects , my lord ? She will sit you ; - -You heard my daughter tell you how . - -She did , indeed . - -How , how , I pray you ? You amaze me : I would have thought her spirit had been invincible against all assaults of affection . - -I would have sworn it had , my lord ; especially against Benedick . - -I should think this a gull , but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it : knavery cannot , sure , hide itself in such reverence . - -He hath ta'en the infection : hold it up . - -Hath she made her affection known to Benedick ? - -No ; and swears she never will : that's her torment . - -'Tis true , indeed ; so your daughter says : 'Shall I ,' says she , 'that have so oft encountered him with scorn , write to him that I love him ?' - -This says she now when she is beginning to write to him ; for she'll be up twenty times a night , and there will she sit in her smock till she have writ a sheet of paper : my daughter tells us all . - -Now you talk of a sheet of paper , I remember a pretty jest your daughter told us of . - -O ! when she had writ it , and was reading it over , she found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet ? - -That . - -O ! she tore the letter into a thousand halfpence ; railed at herself , that she should be so immodest to write to one that she knew would flout her : 'I measure him ,' says she , 'by my own spirit ; for I should flout him , if he writ to me ; yea , though I love him , I should .' - -Then down upon her knees she falls , weeps , sobs , beats her heart , tears her hair , prays , curses ; 'O sweet Benedick ! God give me patience !' - -She doth indeed ; my daughter says so ; and the ecstasy hath so much overborne her , that my daughter is sometimes afeard she will do a desperate outrage to herself . It is very true . - -It were good that Benedick knew of it by some other , if she will not discover it . - -To what end ? he would but make a sport of it and torment the poor lady worse . - -An he should , it were an alms to hang him . She's an excellent sweet lady , and , out of all suspicion , she is virtuous . - -And she is exceeding wise . - -In everything but in loving Benedick . - -O ! my lord , wisdom and blood combating in so tender a body , we have ten proofs to one that blood hath the victory . I am sorry for her , as I have just cause , being her uncle and her guardian . - -I would she had bestowed this dotage on me ; I would have daffed all other respects and made her half myself . I pray you , tell Benedick of it , and hear what a' will say . - -Were it good , think you ? - -Hero thinks surely she will die ; for she says she will die if he love her not , and she will die ere she make her love known , and she will die if he woo her , rather than she will bate one breath of her accustomed crossness . - -She doth well : if she should make tender of her love , 'tis very possible he'll scorn it ; for the man ,as you know all ,hath a contemptible spirit . - -he is a very proper man . - -He hath indeed a good outward happiness . - -'Fore God , and in my mind , very wise . - -He doth indeed show some sparks that are like wit . - -And I take him to be valiant . - -As Hector , I assure you : and in the managing of quarrels you may say he is wise ; for either he avoids them with great discretion , or undertakes them with a most Christian-like fear . - -If he do fear God , a' must necessarily keep peace : if he break the peace , he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling . - -And so will he do ; for the man doth fear God , howsoever it seems not in him by some large jests he will make . Well , I am sorry for your niece . Shall we go seek Benedick , and tell him of her love ? - -Never tell him , my lord : let her wear it out with good counsel . - -Nay , that's impossible : she may wear her heart out first . - -Well , we will hear further of it by your daughter : let it cool the while . I love Benedick well , and I could wish he would modestly examine himself , to see how much he is unworthy to have so good a lady . - -My lord , will you walk ? dinner is ready . - -If he do not dote on her upon this , I will never trust my expectation . - -Let there be the same net spread for her ; and that must your daughter and her gentlewoman carry . The sport will be , when they hold one an opinion of another's dotage , and no such matter : that's the scene that I would see , which will be merely a dumbshow . Let us send her to call him in to dinner . - - -This can be no trick : the conference was sadly borne . They have the truth of this from Hero . They seem to pity the lady : it seems , her affections have their full bent . Love me ! why , it must be requited . I hear how I am censured : they say I will bear myself proudly , if I perceive the love come from her ; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection . I did never think to marry : I must not seem proud : happy are they that hear their detractions , and can put them to mending . They say the lady is fair : 'tis a truth , I can bear them witness ; and virtuous : 'tis so , I cannot reprove it ; and wise , but for loving me : by my troth , it is no addition to her wit , nor no great argument of her folly , for I will be horribly in love with her . I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me , because I have railed so long against marriage ; but doth not the appetite alter ? A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age . Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour ? No ; the world must be peopled . When I said I would die a bachelor , I did not think I should live till I were married . Here comes Beatrice . By this day ! she's a fair lady : I do spy some marks of love in her . - - -Against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner . - -Fair Beatrice , I thank you for your pains . - -I took no more pains for those thanks than you take pains to thank me : if it had been painful , I would not have come . - -You take pleasure then in the message ? - -Yea , just so much as you may take upon a knife's point , and choke a daw withal . You have no stomach , signior : fare you well . - - -Ha ! 'Against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner ,' there's a double meaning in that . 'I took no more pains for those thanks than you took pains to thank me ,' that's as much as to say , Any pains that I take for you is as easy as thanks . If I do not take pity of her , I am a villain ; if I do not love her , I am a Jew . I will go get her picture . - -Good Margaret , run thee to the parlour ; -There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice -Proposing with the prince and Claudio : -Whisper her ear , and tell her , I and Ursula -Walk in the orchard , and our whole discourse -Is all of her ; say that thou overheard'st us , -And bid her steal into the pleached bower , -Where honey-suckles , ripen'd by the sun , -Forbid the sun to enter ; like favourites , -Made proud by princes , that advance their pride -Against that power that bred it . There will she hide her , -To listen our propose . This is thy office ; -Bear thee well in it and leave us alone . - -I'll make her come , I warrant you , presently . - - -Now , Ursula , when Beatrice doth come , -As we do trace this alley up and down , -Our talk must only be of Benedick : -When I do name him , let it be thy part -To praise him more than ever man did merit . -My talk to thee must be how Benedick -Is sick in love with Beatrice : of this matter -Is little Cupid's crafty arrow made , -That only wounds by hearsay . - - -Now begin ; -For look where Beatrice , like a lapwing , runs - -Close by the ground , to hear our conference . - -The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish -Cut with her golden oars the silver stream , -And greedily devour the treacherous bait : -So angle we for Beatrice ; who even now -Is couched in the woodbine coverture . -Fear you not my part of the dialogue . - -Then go we near her , that her ear lose nothing -Of the false sweet bait that we lay for it . - -No , truly , Ursula , she is too disdainful ; -I know her spirits are as coy and wild -As haggerds of the rock . - -But are you sure -That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely ? - -So says the prince , and my new-trothed lord . - -And did they bid you tell her of it , madam ? - -They did entreat me to acquaint her of it ; -But I persuaded them , if they lov'd Benedick , -To wish him wrestle with affection , -And never to let Beatrice know of it . - -Why did you so ? Doth not the gentleman -Deserve as full as fortunate a bed -As ever Beatrice shall couch upon ? - -O god of love ! I know he doth deserve -As much as may be yielded to a man ; -But nature never fram'd a woman's heart -Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice ; -Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes , -Misprising what they look on , and her wit -Values itself so highly , that to her -All matter else seems weak . She cannot love , -Nor take no shape nor project of affection , -She is so self-endear'd . - -Sure , I think so ; -And therefore certainly it were not good -She knew his love , lest she make sport at it . - -Why , you speak truth . I never yet saw man , -How wise , how noble , young , how rarely featur'd , -But she would spell him backward : if fair-fac'd , -She would swear the gentleman should be her sister ; -If black , why , Nature , drawing of an antick , -Made a foul blot ; if tall , a lance ill-headed ; -If low , an agate very vilely cut ; -If speaking , why , a vane blown with all winds ; -If silent , why , a block moved with none . -So turns she every man the wrong side out , -And never gives to truth and virtue that -Which simpleness and merit purchaseth . - -Sure , sure , such carping is not commendable . - -No ; not to be so odd and from all fashions -As Beatrice is , cannot be commendable . -But who dare tell her so ? If I should speak , -She would mock me into air : O ! she would laugh me -Out of myself , press me to death with wit . -Therefore let Benedick , like cover'd fire , -Consume away in sighs , waste inwardly : -It were a better death than die with mocks , -Which is as bad as die with tickling . - -Yet tell her of it : hear what she will say . - -No ; rather I will go to Benedick , -And counsel him to fight against his passion . -And , truly , I'll devise some honest slanders -To stain my cousin with . One doth not know -How much an ill word may empoison liking . - -O ! do not do your cousin such a wrong . -She cannot be so much without true judgment , -Having so swift and excellent a wit -As she is priz'd to have ,as to refuse -So rare a gentleman as Signior Benedick . - -He is the only man of Italy , -Always excepted my dear Claudio . - -I pray you , be not angry with me , madam , -Speaking my fancy : Signior Benedick , -For shape , for bearing , argument and valour , -Goes foremost in report through Italy . - -Indeed , he hath an excellent good name . - -His excellence did earn it , ere he had it . -When are you married , madam ? - -Why , every day , to-morrow . Come , go in : -I'll show thee some attires , and have thy counsel -Which is the best to furnish me to-morrow . - -She's lim'd , I warrant you : we have caught her , madam . - -If it prove so , then loving goes by haps : -Some Cupid kills with arrows , some with traps . - - -What fire is in mine ears ? Can this be true ? -Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much ? -Contempt , farewell ! and maiden pride , adieu ! -No glory lives behind the back of such . -And , Benedick , love on ; I will requite thee , -Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand : -If thou dost love , my kindness shall incite thee -To bind our loves up in a holy band ; -For others say thou dost deserve , and I -Believe it better than reportingly . - - -I do but stay till your marriage be consummate , and then go I toward Arragon . - -I'll bring you thither , my lord , if you'll vouchsafe me . - -Nay , that would be as great a soil in the new gloss of your marriage , as to show a child his new coat and forbid him to wear it . I will only be bold with Benedick for his company ; for , from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot , he is all mirth : he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid's bow-string , and the little hangman dare not shoot at him . He hath a heart as sound as a bell , and his tongue is the clapper ; for what his heart thinks his tongue speaks . - -Gallants , I am not as I have been . - -So say I : methinks you are sadder . - -I hope he be in love . - -Hang him , truant ! there's no true drop of blood in him , to be truly touched with love . If he be sad , he wants money . - -I have the tooth-ache . - -Draw it . - -Hang it . - -You must hang it first , and draw it afterwards . - -What ! sigh for the tooth-ache ? - -Where is but a humour or a worm ? - -Well , every one can master a grief but he that has it . - -Yet say I , he is in love . - -There is no appearance of fancy in him , unless it be a fancy that he hath to strange disguises ; as , to be a Dutchman to-day , a Frenchman to-morrow , or in the shape of two countries at once , as a German from the waist downward , all slops , and a Spaniard from the hip upward , no doublet . Unless he have a fancy to this foolery , as it appears he hath , he is no fool for fancy , as you would have it appear he is . - -If he be not in love with some woman , there is no believing old signs : a' brushes his hat a mornings ; what should that bode ? - -Hath any man seen him at the barber's ? - -No , but the barber's man hath been seen with him ; and the old ornament of his cheek hath already stuffed tennis-balls . - -Indeed he looks younger than he did , by the loss of a beard . - -Nay , a' rubs himself with civet : can you smell him out by that ? - -That's as much as to say the sweet youth's in love . - -The greatest note of it is his melancholy . - -And when was he wont to wash his face ? - -Yea , or to paint himself ? for the which , I hear what they say of him . - -Nay , but his jesting spirit ; which is now crept into a lute-string , and new-governed by stops . - -Indeed , that tells a heavy tale for him . Conclude , conclude he is in love . - -Nay , but I know who loves him . - -That would I know too : I warrant , one that knows him not . - -Yes , and his ill conditions ; and in despite of all , dies for him . - -She shall be buried with her face upwards . - -Yet is this no charm for the tooth-ache . -Old signior , walk aside with me : I have studied eight or nine wise words to speak to you , which these hobby-horses must not hear . - - -For my life , to break with him about Beatrice . - -'Tis even so . Hero and Margaret have by this played their parts with Beatrice , and then the two bears will not bite one another when they meet . - - -My lord and brother , God save you ! - -Good den , brother . - -If your leisure served , I would speak with you . - -In private ? - -If it please you ; yet Count Claudio may hear , for what I would speak of concerns him . - -What's the matter ? - -Means your lordship to be married to-morrow ? - -You know he does . - -I know not that , when he knows what I know . - -If there be any impediment , I pray you discover it . - -You may think I love you not : let that appear hereafter , and aim better at me by that I now will manifest . For my brother , I think he holds you well , and in dearness of heart hath holp to effect your ensuing marriage ; surely suit ill-spent , and labour ill bestowed ! - -Why , what's the matter ? - -I came hither to tell you ; and circumstances shortened ,for she hath been too long a talking of ,the lady is disloyal . - -Who , Hero ? - -Even she : Leonato's Hero , your Hero , every man's Hero . - -Disloyal ? - -The word's too good to paint out her wickedness ; I could say , she were worse : think you of a worse title , and I will fit her to it . Wonder not till further warrant : go but with me to-night , you shall see her chamber-window entered , even the night before her wedding-day : if you love her then , to-morrow wed her ; but it would better fit your honour to change your mind . - -May this be so ? - -I will not think it . - -If you dare not trust that you see , confess not that you know . If you will follow me , I will show you enough ; and when you have seen more and heard more , proceed accordingly . - -If I see any thing to-night why I should not marry her to-morrow , in the congregation , where I should wed , there will I shame her . - -And , as I wooed for thee to obtain her , I will join with thee to disgrace her . - -I will disparage her no further till you are my witnesses : bear it coldly but till midnight , and let the issue show itself . - -O day untowardly turned ! - -O mischief strangely thwarting ! - -O plague right well prevented ! So will you say when you have seen the sequel . - - -Are you good men and true ? - -Yea , or else it were pity but they should suffer salvation , body and soul . - -Nay , that were a punishment too good for them , if they should have any allegiance in them , being chosen for the prince's watch . - -Well , give them their charge , neighbour Dogberry . - -First , who think you the most desartless man to be constable ? - -Hugh Oatcake , sir , or George Seacoal ; for they can write and read . - -Come hither , neighbour Seacoal . God hath blessed you with a good name : to be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune ; but to write and read comes by nature . - -Both which , Master constable , - -You have : I knew it would be your answer . Well , for your favour , sir , why , give God thanks , and make no boast of it ; and for your writing and reading , let that appear when there is no need of such vanity . You are thought here to be the most senseless and fit man for the constable of the watch ; therefore bear you the lanthorn . This is your charge : you shall comprehend all vagrom men ; you are to bid any man stand , in the prince's name . - -How , if a' will not stand ? - -Why , then , take no note of him , but let him go ; and presently call the rest of the watch together , and thank God you are rid of a knave . - -If he will not stand when he is bidden , he is none of the prince's subjects . - -True , and they are to meddle with none but the prince's subjects . You shall also make no noise in the streets : for , for the watch to babble and to talk is most tolerable and not to be endured . - -We will rather sleep than talk : we know what belongs to a watch . - -Why , you speak like an ancient and most quiet watchman , for I cannot see how sleeping should offend ; only have a care that your bills be not stolen . Well , you are to call at all the alehouses , and bid those that are drunk get them to bed . - -How if they will not ? - -Why then , let them alone till they are sober : if they make you not then the better answer , you may say they are not the men you took them for . - -Well , sir . - -If you meet a thief , you may suspect him , by virtue of your office , to be no true man ; and , for such kind of men , the less you meddle or make with them , why , the more is for your honesty . - -If we know him to be a thief , shall we not lay hands on him ? - -Truly , by your office , you may ; but I think they that touch pitch will be defiled . The most peaceable way for you , if you do take a thief , is , to let him show himself what he is and steal out of your company . - -You have been always called a merciful man , partner . - -Truly , I would not hang a dog by my will , much more a man who hath any honesty in him . - -If you hear a child cry in the night , you must call to the nurse and bid her still it . - -How if the nurse be asleep and will not hear us ? - -Why , then , depart in peace , and let the child wake her with crying ; for the ewe that will not hear her lamb when it baes , will never answer a calf when he bleats . - -'Tis very true . - -This is the end of the charge . You constable , are to present the prince's own person : if you meet the prince in the night , you may stay him . - -Nay , by 'r lady , that I think , a' cannot . - -Five shillings to one on't , with any man that knows the statues , he may stay him : marry , not without the prince be willing ; for , indeed , the watch ought to offend no man , and it is an offence to stay a man against his will . - -By 'r lady , I think it be so . - -Ha , ah , ha ! Well , masters , good night : an there be any matter of weight chances , call up me : keep your fellows' counsels and your own , and good night . Come , neighbour . - -Well , masters , we hear our charge : let us go sit here upon the church-bench till two , and then all go to bed . - -One word more , honest neighbours . I pray you , watch about Signior Leonato's door ; for the wedding being there to-morrow , there is a great coil to-night . Adieu ; be vigitant , I beseech you . - -What , Conrade ! - -Peace ! stir not . - -Conrade , I say ! - -Here , man , I am at thy elbow . - -Mass , and my elbow itched ; I thought there would a scab follow . - -I will owe thee an answer for that ; and now forward with thy tale . - -Stand thee close then under this penthouse , for it drizzles rain , and I will , like a true drunkard , utter all to thee . - -Some treason , masters ; yet stand close . - -Therefore know , I have earned of Don John a thousand ducats . - -Is it possible that any villany should be so dear ? - -Thou shouldst rather ask if it were possible any villany should be so rich ; for when rich villains have need of poor ones , poor ones may make what price they will . - -I wonder at it . - -That shows thou art unconfirmed . Thou knowest that the fashion of a doublet , or a hat , or a cloak , is nothing to a man . - -Yes , it is apparel . - -I mean , the fashion . - -Yes , the fashion is the fashion . - -Tush ! I may as well say the fool's the fool . But seest thou not what a deformed thief this fashion is ? - -I know that Deformed ; a' has been a vile thief this seven years ; a' goes up and down like a gentleman : I remember his name . - -Didst thou not hear somebody ? - -No : 'twas the vane on the house . - -Seest thou not , I say , what a deformed thief this fashion is ? how giddily he turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five-and-thirty ? sometime fashioning them like Pharaoh's soldiers in the reechy painting ; sometime like god Bel's priests in the old church-window ; sometime like the shaven Hercules in the smirched worm-eaten tapestry , where his cod-piece seems as massy as his club ? - -All this I see , and I see that the fashion wears out more apparel than the man . But art not thou thyself giddy with the fashion too , that thou hast shifted out of thy tale into telling me of the fashion ? - -Not so , neither ; but know , that I have to-night wooed Margaret , the Lady Hero's gentlewoman , by the name of Hero : she leans me out at her mistress' chamber-window , bids me a thousand times good night ,I tell this tale vilely :I should first tell thee how the prince , Claudio , and my master , planted and placed and possessed by my master Don John , saw afar off in the orchard this amiable encounter . - -And thought they Margaret was Hero ? - -Two of them did , the prince and Claudio ; but the devil my master , knew she was Margaret ; and partly by his oaths , which first possessed them , partly by the dark night , which did deceive them , but chiefly by my villany , which did confirm any slander that Don John had made , away went Claudio enraged ; swore he would meet her , as he was appointed , next morning at the temple , and there , before the whole congregation , shame her with what he saw o'er night , and send her home again without a husband . - -We charge you in the prince's name , stand ! - -Call up the right Master constable . We have here recovered the most dangerous piece of lechery that ever was known in the commonwealth . - -And one Deformed is one of them : I know him , a' wears a lock . - -Masters , masters ! - -You'll be made bring Deformed forth , I warrant you . - -Masters , - -Never speak : we charge you let us obey you to go with us . - -We are like to prove a goodly commodity , being taken up of these men's bills . - -A commodity in question , I warrant you . Come , we'll obey you . - - -Good Ursula , wake my cousin Beatrice , and desire her to rise . - -I will , lady . - -And bid her come hither . - -Well . - - -Troth , I think your other rabato were better . - -No , pray thee , good Meg , I'll wear this . - -By my troth's not so good ; and I warrant your cousin will say so . - -My cousin's a fool , and thou art another : I'll wear none but this . - -I like the new tire within excellently , if the hair were a thought browner ; and your gown's a most rare fashion , i' faith . I saw the Duchess of Milan's gown that they praise so . - -O ! that exceeds , they say . - -By my troth's but a night-gown in respect of yours : cloth o' gold , and cuts , and laced with silver , set with pearls , down sleeves , side sleeves , and skirts round , underborne with a bluish tinsel ; but for a fine , quaint , graceful , and excellent fashion , yours is worth ten on't . - -God give me joy to wear it ! for my heart is exceeding heavy . - -'Twill be heavier soon by the weight of a man . - -Fie upon thee ! art not ashamed ? - -Of what , lady ? of speaking honourably ? is not marriage honourable in a beggar ? Is not your lord honourable without marriage ? I think you would have me say , 'saving your reverence , a husband :' an bad thinking do not wrest true speaking , I'll offend nobody . Is there any harm in 'the heavier for a husband ?' None , I think , an it be the right husband and the right wife ; otherwise 'tis light , and not heavy : ask my Lady Beatrice else ; here she comes . - - -Good morrow , coz . - -Good morrow , sweet Hero . - -Why , how now ! do you speak in the sick tune ? - -I am out of all other tune , methinks . - -Clap's into 'Light o' love ;' that goes without a burden : do you sing it , and I'll dance it . - -Ye light o' love with your heels ! then , if your husband have stables enough , you'll see he shall lack no barns . - -O illegitimate construction ! I scorn that with my heels . - -'Tis almost five o'clock , cousin ; 'tis time you were ready . By my troth , I am exceeding ill . Heigh-ho ! - -For a hawk , a horse , or a husband ? - -For the letter that begins them all , H . - -Well , an you be not turned Turk , there's no more sailing by the star . - -What means the fool , trow ? - -Nothing I ; but God send every one their heart's desire ! - -These gloves the count sent me ; they are an excellent perfume . - -I am stuffed , cousin , I cannot smell . - -A maid , and stuffed ! there's goodly catching of cold . - -O , God help me ! God help me ! how long have you professed apprehension ? - -Ever since you left it . Doth not my wit become me rarely ! - -It is not seen enough , you should wear it in your cap . By my troth , I am sick . - -Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus , and lay it to your heart : it is the only thing for a qualm . - -There thou prick'st her with a thistle . - -Benedictus ! why Benedictus ? you have some moral in this Benedictus . - -Moral ! no , by my troth , I have no moral meaning ; I meant , plain holy-thistle . You may think , perchance , that I think you are in love : nay , by'r lady , I am not such a fool to think what I list ; nor I list not to think what I can ; nor , indeed , I cannot think , if I would think my heart out of thinking , that you are in love , or that you will be in love , or that you can be in love . Yet Benedick was such another , and now is he become a man : he swore he would never marry ; and yet now , in despite of his heart , he eats his meat without grudging : and how you may be converted , I know not ; but methinks you look with your eyes as other women do . - -What pace is this that thy tongue keeps ? - -Not a false gallop . - - -Madam , withdraw : the prince , the count , Signior Benedick , Don John , and all the gallants of the town , are come to fetch you to church . - -Help to dress me , good coz , good Meg , good Ursula . - - -What would you with me , honest neighbour ? - -Marry , sir , I would have some confidence with you , that decerns you nearly . - -Brief , I pray you ; for you see it is a busy time with me . - -Marry , this it is , sir . - -Yes , in truth it is , sir . - -What is it , my good friends ? - -Goodman Verges , sir , speaks a little off the matter : an old man , sir , and his wits are not so blunt , as , God help , I would desire they were ; but , in faith , honest as the skin between his brows . - -Yes , I thank God , I am as honest as any man living , that is an old man and no honester than I . - -Comparisons are odorous : palabras , neighbour Verges . - -Neighbours , you are tedious . - -It pleases your worship to say so , but we are the poor duke's officers ; but truly , for mine own part , if I were as tedious as a king , I could find in my heart to bestow it all of your worship . - -All thy tediousness on me ! ha ? - -Yea , an't were a thousand pound more than 'tis ; for I hear as good exclamation on your worship , as of any man in the city , and though I be but a poor man , I am glad to hear it . - -And so am I . - -I would fain know what you have to say . - -Marry , sir , our watch to-night , excepting your worship's presence , ha' ta'en a couple of as arrant knaves as any in Messina . - -A good old man , sir ; he will be talking ; as they say , 'when the age is in , the wit is out .' God help us ! it is a world to see ! Well said , i' faith , neighbour Verges : well , God's a good man ; an two men ride of a horse , one must ride behind . An honest soul , i' faith , sir ; by my troth he is , as ever broke bread : but God is to be worshipped : all men are not alike ; alas ! good neighbour . - -Indeed , neighbour , he comes too short of you . - -Gifts that God gives . - -I must leave you . - -One word , sir : our watch , sir , hath indeed comprehended two aspicious persons , and we would have them this morning examined before your worship . - -Take their examination yourself , and bring it me : I am now in great haste , as may appear unto you . - -It shall be suffigance . - -Drink some wine ere you go : fare you well . - - -My lord , they stay for you to give your daughter to her husband . - -I'll wait upon them : I am ready . - - -Go , good partner , go , get you to Francis Seacoal ; bid him bring his pen and inkhorn to the gaol : we are now to examination these men . - -And we must do it wisely . - -We will spare for no wit , I warrant you ; here's that shall drive some of them to a non-come : only get the learned writer to set down our excommunication , and meet me at the gaol . - -Come , Friar Francis , be brief : only to the plain form of marriage , and you shall recount their particular duties afterwards . - -You come hither , my lord , to marry this lady ? - -No . - -To be married to her , friar ; you come to marry her . - -Lady , you come hither to be married to this count ? - -I do . - -If either of you know any inward impediment , why you should not be conjoined , I charge you , on your souls , to utter it . - -Know you any , Hero ? - -None , my lord . - -Know you any , count ? - -I dare make his answer ; none . - -O ! what men dare do ! what men may do ! what men daily do , not knowing what they do ! - -How now ! Interjections ? Why then , some be of laughing , as ah ! ha ! he ! - -Stand thee by , friar . Father , by your leave : -Will you with free and unconstrained soul -Give me this maid , your daughter ? - -As freely , son , as God did give her me . - -And what have I to give you back whose worth -May counterpoise this rich and precious gift ? - -Nothing , unless you render her again . - -Sweet prince , you learn me noble thankfulness . -There , Leonato , take her back again : -Give not this rotten orange to your friend ; -She's but the sign and semblance of her honour . -Behold ! how like a maid she blushes here . -O ! what authority and show of truth -Can cunning sin cover itself withal . -Comes not that blood as modest evidence -To witness simple virtue ? Would you not swear , -All you that see her , that she were a maid , -By these exterior shows ? But she is none : -She knows the heat of a luxurious bed ; -Her blush is guiltiness , not modesty . - -What do you mean , my lord ? - -Not to be married , -Not to knit my soul to an approved wanton . - -Dear my lord , if you , in your own proof , -Have vanquish'd the resistance of her youth , -And made defeat of her virginity , - -I know what you would say : if I have known her , -You'll say she did embrace me as a husband , -And so extenuate the 'forehand sin : -No , Leonato , -I never tempted her with word too large ; -But , as a brother to his sister , show'd -Bashful sincerity and comely love . - -And seem'd I ever otherwise to you ? - -Out on thee ! Seeming ! I will write against it : -You seem to me as Dian in her orb , -As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown ; -But you are more intemperate in your blood -Than Venus , or those pamper'd animals -That rage in savage sensuality . - -Is my lord well , that he doth speak so wide ? - -Sweet prince , why speak not you ? - -What should I speak ? -I stand dishonour'd , that have gone about -To link my dear friend to a common stale . - -Are these things spoken , or do I but dream ? - -Sir , they are spoken , and these things are true . - -This looks not like a nuptial . - -True ! O God ! - -Leonato , stand I here ? -Is this the prince ? Is this the prince's brother ? -Is this face Hero's ? Are our eyes our own ? - -All this is so ; but what of this , my lord ? - -Let me but move one question to your daughter ; -And by that fatherly and kindly power -That you have in her , bid her answer truly . - -I charge thee do so , as thou art my child . - -O , God defend me ! how am I beset ! -What kind of catechizing call you this ? - -To make you answer truly to your name . - -Is it not Hero ? Who can blot that name -With any just reproach ? - -Marry , that can Hero : -Hero itself can blot out Hero's virtue . -What man was he talk'd with you yesternight -Out at your window , betwixt twelve and one ? -Now , if you are a maid , answer to this . - -I talk'd with no man at that hour , my lord . - -Why , then are you no maiden . Leonato , -I am sorry you must hear : upon mine honour , -Myself , my brother , and this grieved count , -Did see her , hear her , at that hour last night , -Talk with a ruffian at her chamber-window ; -Who hath indeed , most like a liberal villain , -Confess'd the vile encounters they have had -A thousand times in secret . - -Fie , fie ! they are not to be nam'd , my lord , -Not to be spoke of ; -There is not chastity enough in language -Without offence to utter them . Thus , pretty lady , -I am sorry for thy much misgovernment . - -O Hero ! what a Hero hadst thou been , -If half thy outward graces had been plac'd -About thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart ! -But fare thee well , most foul , most fair ! farewell , -Thou pure impiety , and impious purity ! -For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love , -And on my eyelids shall conjecture hang , -To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm , -And never shall it more be gracious . - -Hath no man's dagger here a point for me ? - - -Why , how now , cousin ! wherefore sink you down ? - -Come , let us go . These things , come thus to light , -Smother her spirits up . - - -How doth the lady ? - -Dead , I think ! help , uncle ! -Hero ! why , Hero ! Uncle ! Signior Benedick ! -Friar ! - -O Fate ! take not away thy heavy hand : -Death is the fairest cover for her shame -That may be wish'd for . - -How now , cousin Hero ! - -Have comfort , lady . - -Dost thou look up ? - -Yea ; wherefore should she not ? - -Wherefore ! Why , doth not every earthly thing -Cry shame upon her ? Could she here deny -The story that is printed in her blood ? -Do not live , Hero ; do not ope thine eyes ; -For , did I think thou wouldst not quickly die , -Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames , -Myself would , on the rearward of reproaches , -Strike at thy life . Griev'd I , I had but one ? -Chid I for that at frugal nature's frame ? -O ! one too much by thee . Why had I one ? -Why ever wast thou lovely in mine eyes ? -Why had I not with charitable hand -Took up a beggar's issue at my gates , -Who smirched thus , and mir'd with infamy , -I might have said , 'No part of it is mine ; -This shame derives itself from unknown loins ?' -But mine , and mine I lov'd , and mine I prais'd , -And mine that I was proud on , mine so much -That I myself was to myself not mine , -Valuing of her ; why , she O ! she is fallen -Into a pit of ink , that the wide sea -Hath drops too few to wash her clean again , -And salt too little which may season give -To her foul-tainted flesh . - -Sir , sir , be patient . -For my part , I am so attir'd in wonder , -I know not what to say . - -O ! on my soul , my cousin is belied ! - -Lady , were you her bedfellow last night ? - -No , truly , not ; although , until last night , -I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow . - -Confirm'd , confirm'd ! O ! that is stronger made , -Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron . -Would the two princes lie ? and Claudio lie , -Who lov'd her so , that , speaking of her foulness , -Wash'd it with tears ? Hence from her ! let her die . - -Hear me a little ; -For I have only been silent so long , -And given way unto this course of fortune , -By noting of the lady : I have mark'd -A thousand blushing apparitions -To start into her face ; a thousand innocent shames -In angel whiteness bear away those blushes ; -And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire , -To burn the errors that these princess hold -Against her maiden truth . Call me a fool ; -Trust not my reading nor my observations , -Which with experimental seal doth warrant -The tenour of my book ; trust not my age , -My reverence , calling , nor divinity , -If this sweet lady lie not guiltless here -Under some biting error . - -Friar , it cannot be . -Thou seest that all the grace that she hath left -Is , that she will not add to her damnation -A sin of perjury : she not denies it . -Why seek'st thou then to cover with excuse -That which appears in proper nakedness ? - -Lady , what man is he you are accus'd of ? - -They know that do accuse me , I know none ; -If I know more of any man alive -Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant , -Let all my sins lack mercy ! O , my father ! -Prove you that any man with me convers'd -At hours unmeet , or that I yesternight -Maintain'd the change of words with any creature , -Refuse me , hate me , torture me to death . - -There is some strange misprision in the princes . - -Two of them have the very bent of honour ; -And if their wisdoms be misled in this , -The practice of it lives in John the bastard , -Whose spirits toil in frame of villanies . - -I know not . If they speak but truth of her , -These hands shall tear her ; if they wrong her honour , -The proudest of them shall well hear of it . -Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine . -Nor age so eat up my invention , -Nor fortune made such havoc of my means , -Nor my bad life reft me so much of friends , -But they shall find , awak'd in such a kind , -Both strength of limb and policy of mind , -Ability in means and choice of friends , -To quit me of them throughly . - -Pause awhile , -And let my counsel sway you in this case . -Your daughter here the princes left for dead ; -Let her awhile be secretly kept in , -And publish it that she is dead indeed : -Maintain a mourning ostentation ; -And on your family's old monument -Hang mournful epitaphs and do all rites -That appertain unto a burial . - -What shall become of this ? What will this do ? - -Marry , this well carried shall on her behalf -Change slander to remorse ; that is some good : -But not for that dream I on this strange course , -But on this travail look for greater birth . -She dying , as it must be so maintain'd , -Upon the instant that she was accus'd , -Shall be lamented , pitied and excus'd -Of every hearer ; for it so falls out -That what we have we prize not to the worth -Whiles we enjoy it , but being lack'd and lost , -Why , then we rack the value , then we find -The virtue that possession would not show us -Whiles it was ours . So will it fare with Claudio : -When he shall hear she died upon his words , -The idea of her life shall sweetly creep -Into his study of imagination , -And every lovely organ of her life -Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit , -More moving-delicate , and full of life -Into the eye and prospect of his soul , -Than when she liv'd indeed : then shall he mourn , -If ever love had interest in his liver , -And wish he had not so accused her , -No , though he thought his accusation true . -Let this be so , and doubt not but success -Will fashion the event in better shape -Than I can lay it down in likelihood . -But if all aim but this be levell'd false , -The supposition of the lady's death -Will quench the wonder of her infamy : -And if it sort not well , you may conceal her , -As best befits her wounded reputation , -In some reclusive and religious life , -Out of all eyes , tongues , minds , and injuries . - -Signior Leonato , let the friar advise you : -And though you know my inwardness and love -Is very much unto the prince and Claudio , -Yet , by mine honour , I will deal in this -As secretly and justly as your soul -Should with your body . - -Being that I flow in grief , -The smallest twine may lead me . - -'Tis well consented : presently away ; -For to strange sores strangely they strain the cure . -Come , lady , die to live : this wedding day -Perhaps is but prolong'd : have patience and endure . - - -Lady Beatrice , have you wept all this while ? - -Yea , and I will weep a while longer . - -I will not desire that . - -You have no reason ; I do it freely . - -Surely I do believe your fair cousin is wronged . - -Ah ! how much might the man deserve of me that would right her . - -Is there any way to show such friendship ? - -A very even way , but no such friend . - -May a man do it ? - -It is a man's office , but not yours . - -I do love nothing in the world so well as you : is not that strange ? - -As strange as the thing I know not . -It were as possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as your , but believe me not , and yet I lie not ; I confess nothing , not I deny nothing . I am sorry for my cousin . - -By my sword , Beatrice , thou lovest me . - -Do not swear by it , and eat it . - -I will swear by it that you love me ; and I will make him eat it that says I love not you . - -Will you not eat your word ? - -With no sauce that can be devised to it . I protest I love thee . - -Why then , God forgive me ! - -What offence , sweet Beatrice ? - -You have stayed me in a happy hour : -I was about to protest I loved you . - -And do it with all thy heart . - -I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest . - -Come , bid me do anything for thee . - -Kill Claudio . - -Ha ! not for the wide world . - -You kill me to deny it . Farewell . - -Tarry , sweet Beatrice . - -I am gone , though I am here : there is no love in you : nay , I pray you , let me go . - -Beatrice , - -In faith , I will go . - -We'll be friends first . - -You dare easier be friends with me than fight with mine enemy . - -Is Claudio thine enemy ? - -Is he not approved in the height a villain , that hath slandered , scorned , dishonoured my kinswoman ? O ! that I were a man . What ! bear her in hand until they come to take hands , and then , with public accusation , uncovered slander , unmitigated rancour ,O God , that I were a man ! I would eat his heart in the market-place . - -Hear me , Beatrice , - -Talk with a man out at a window ! a proper saying ! - -Nay , but Beatrice , - -Sweet Hero ! she is wronged , she is slandered , she is undone . - -Beat - -Princes and counties ! Surely , a princely testimony , a goodly Count Comfect ; a sweet gallant , surely ! O ! that I were a man for his sake , or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake ! But manhood is melted into curtsies , valour into compliment , and men are only turned into tongue , and trim ones too : he is now as valiant as Hercules , that only tells a lie and swears it . I cannot be a man with wishing , therefore I will die a woman with grieving . - -Tarry , good Beatrice . By this hand , I love thee . - -Use it for my love some other way than swearing by it . - -Think you in your soul the Count Claudio hath wronged Hero ? - -Yea , as sure as I have a thought or a soul . - -Enough ! I am engaged , I will challenge him . I will kiss your hand , and so leave you . By this hand , Claudio shall render me a dear account . As you hear of me , so think of me . Go , comfort your cousin : I must say she is dead ; and so , farewell . - - -Is our whole dissembly appeared ? - -O ! a stool and a cushion for the sexton . - -Which be the malefactors ? - -Marry , that am I and my partner . - -Nay , that's certain : we have the exhibition to examine . - -But which are the offenders that are to be examined ? let them come before Master constable . - -Yea , marry , let them come before me . -What is your name , friend ? - -Borachio . - -Pray write down Borachio . Yours , sirrah ? - -I am a gentleman , sir , and my name is Conrade . - -Write down Master gentleman Conrade . Masters , do you serve God ? - -Yea , sir , we hope . - -Yea , sir , we hope . - -Write down that they hope they serve God : and write God first ; for God defend but God should go before such villains ! Masters , it is proved already that you are little better than false knaves , and it will go near to be thought so shortly . How answer you for yourselves ? - -Marry , sir , we say we are none . - -A marvellous witty fellow , I assure you ; but I will go about with him . Come you hither , sirrah ; a word in your ear : sir , I say to you , it is thought you are false knaves . - -Sir , I say to you we are none . - -Well , stand aside . 'Fore God , they are both in a tale . Have you writ down , that they are none ? - -Master constable , you go not the way to examine : you must call forth the watch that are their accusers . - -Yea , marry , that's the eftest way . Let the watch come forth . Masters , I charge you , in the prince's name , accuse these men . - -This man said , sir , that Don John , the prince's brother , was a villain . - -Write down Prince John a villain . -Why , this is flat perjury , to call a prince's brother villain . - -Master constable , - -Pray thee , fellow , peace : I do not like thy look , I promise thee . - -What heard you him say else ? - -Marry , that he had received a thousand ducats of Don John for accusing the Lady Hero wrongfully . - -Flat burglary as ever was committed . - -Yea , by the mass , that it is . - -What else , fellow ? - -And that Count Claudio did mean , upon his words , to disgrace Hero before the whole assembly , and not marry her . - -O villain ! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this . - -What else ? - -This is all . - -And this is more , masters , than you can deny . Prince John is this morning secretly stolen away : Hero was in this manner accused , in this very manner refused , and , upon the grief of this , suddenly died . Master constable , let these men be bound , and brought to Leonato's : I will go before and show him their examination . - - -Come , let them be opinioned . - -Let them be in the hands - -Off , coxcomb ! - -God's my life ! where's the sexton ? let him write down the prince's officer coxcomb . Come , bind them . Thou naughty varlet ! - -Away ! you are an ass ; you are an ass . - -Dost thou not suspect my place ? Dost thou not suspect my years ? O that he were here to write me down an ass ! but , masters , remember that I am an ass ; though it be not written down , yet forget not that I am an ass . No , thou villain , thou art full of piety , as shall be proved upon thee by good witness . I am a wise fellow ; and , which is more , an officer ; and , which is more , a householder ; and , which is more , as pretty a piece of flesh as any in Messina ; and one that knows the law , go to ; and a rich fellow enough , go to ; and a fellow that hath had losses ; and one that hath two gowns , and everything handsome about him . Bring him away . O that I had been writ down an ass ! - -If you go on thus , you will kill yourself ; -And 'tis not wisdom thus to second grief -Against yourself . - -I pray thee , cease thy counsel , -Which falls into mine ears as profitless -As water in a sieve : give not me counsel ; -Nor let no comforter delight mine ear -But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine : -Bring me a father that so lov'd his child , -Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine , -And bid him speak of patience ; -Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine , -And let it answer every strain for strain , -As thus for thus and such a grief for such , -In every lineament , branch , shape , and form : -If such a one will smile , and stroke his beard ; -Bid sorrow wag , cry 'hem' when he should groan , -Patch grief with proverbs ; make misfortune drunk -With candle-wasters ; bring him yet to me , -And I of him will gather patience . -But there is no such man ; for , brother , men -Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief -Which they themselves not feel ; but , tasting it , -Their counsel turns to passion , which before -Would give preceptial medicine to rage , -Fetter strong madness in a silken thread , -Charm ache with air and agony with words . -No , no ; 'tis all men's office to speak patience -To those that wring under the load of sorrow , -But no man's virtue nor sufficiency -To be so moral when he shall endure -The like himself . Therefore give me no counsel : -My griefs cry louder than advertisement . - -Therein do men from children nothing differ . - -I pray thee , peace ! I will be flesh and blood ; -For there was never yet philosopher -That could endure the toothache patiently , -However they have writ the style of gods -And made a push at chance and sufferance . - -Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself ; -Make those that do offend you suffer too . - -There thou speak'st reason : nay , I will do so . -My soul doth tell me Hero is belied ; -And that shall Claudio know ; so shall the prince , -And all of them that thus dishonour her . - -Here come the prince and Claudio hastily . - - -Good den , good den . - -Good day to both of you . - -Hear you , my lords , - -We have some haste , Leonato . - -Some haste , my lord ! well , fare you well , my lord : -Are you so hasty now ?well , all is one . - -Nay , do not quarrel with us , good old man . - -If he could right himself with quarrelling , -Some of us would lie low . - -Who wrongs him ? - -Marry , thou dost wrong me ; thou dissembler , thou . -Nay , never lay thy hand upon thy sword ; -I fear thee not . - -Marry , beshrew my hand , -If it should give your age such cause of fear . -In faith , my hand meant nothing to my sword . - -Tush , tush , man ! never fleer and jest at me : -I speak not like a dotard nor a fool , -As , under privilege of age , to brag -What I have done being young , or what would do , -Were I not old . Know , Claudio , to thy head , -Thou hast so wrong'd mine innocent child and me -That I am forc'd to lay my reverence by , -And , with grey hairs and bruise of many days , -Do challenge thee to trial of a man . -I say thou hast belied mine innocent child : -Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart , -And she lies buried with her ancestors ; -O ! in a tomb where never scandal slept , -Save this of hers , fram'd by thy villany ! - -My villany ? - -Thine , Claudio ; thine , I say . - -You say not right , old man . - -My lord , my lord , -I'll prove it on his body , if he dare , -Despite his nice fence and his active practice , -His May of youth and bloom of lustihood . - -Away ! I will not have to do with you . - -Canst thou so daff me ? Thou hast kill'd my child ; -If thou kill'st me , boy , thou shalt kill a man . - -He shall kill two of us , and men indeed : -But that's no matter ; let him kill one first : -Win me and wear me ; let him answer me . -Come , follow me , boy ; come , sir boy , come , follow me . -Sir boy , I'll whip you from your foining fence ; -Nay , as I am a gentleman , I will . - -Brother , - -Content yourself . God knows I lov'd my niece ; -And she is dead , slander'd to death by villains , -That dare as well answer a man indeed -As I dare take a serpent by the tongue . -Boys , apes , braggarts , Jacks , milksops ! - -Brother Antony , - -Hold you content . What , man ! I know them , yea , -And what they weigh , even to the utmost scruple , -Scrambling , out-facing , fashion-monging boys , -That lie and cog and flout , deprave and slander , -Go antickly , show outward hideousness , -And speak off half a dozen dangerous words , -How they might hurt their enemies , if they durst ; -And this is all ! - -But , brother Antony , - -Come , 'tis no matter : -Do not you meddle , let me deal in this . - -Gentlemen both , we will not wake your patience . -My heart is sorry for your daughter's death ; -But , on my honour , she was charg'd with nothing -But what was true and very full of proof . - -My lord , my lord - -I will not hear you . - -No ? -Come , brother , away . I will be heard . - -And shall , or some of us will smart for it . - -See , see ; here comes the man we went to seek . - -Now , signior , what news ? - -Good day , my lord . - -Welcome , signior : you are almost come to part almost a fray . - -We had like to have had our two noses snapped off with two old men without teeth . - -Leonato and his brother . What thinkest thou ? Had we fought , I doubt we should have been too young for them . - -In a false quarrel there is no true valour . I came to seek you both . - -We have been up and down to seek thee ; for we are high-proof melancholy , and would fain have it beaten away . Wilt thou use thy wit ? - -It is in my scabbard ; shall I draw it ? - -Dost thou wear thy wit by thy side ? - -Never any did so , though very many have been beside their wit . I will bid thee draw , as we do the minstrels ; draw , to pleasure us . - -As I am an honest man , he looks pale . Art thou sick , or angry ? - -What , courage , man ! What though care killed a cat , thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care . - -Sir , I shall meet your wit in the career , an you charge it against me . I pray you choose another subject . - -Nay then , give him another staff : this last was broke cross . - -By this light , he changes more and more : I think he be angry indeed . - -If he be , he knows how to turn his girdle . - -Shall I speak a word in your ear ? - -God bless me from a challenge ! - -You are a villain ; I jest not : I will make it good how you dare , with what you dare , and when you dare . Do me right , or I will protest your cowardice . You have killed a sweet lady , and her death shall fall heavy on you . Let me hear from you . - -Well I will meet you , so I may have good cheer . - -What , a feast , a feast ? - -I' faith , I thank him ; he hath bid me to a calf's-head and a capon , the which if I do not carve most curiously , say my knife's naught . -Shall I not find a woodcock too ? - -Sir , your wit ambles well ; it goes easily . - -I'll tell thee how Beatrice praised thy wit the other day . I said , thou hadst a fine wit . 'True ,' says she , 'a fine little one .' 'No ,' said I , 'a great wit .' 'Right ,' said she , 'a great gross one .' 'Nay ,' said I , 'a good wit .' 'Just ,' said she , 'it hurts nobody .' 'Nay ,' said I , 'the gentleman is wise .' 'Certain ,' said she , 'a wise gentleman .' 'Nay ,' said I , 'he hath the tongues .' 'That I believe ,' said she . 'for he swore a thing to me on Monday night , which he forswore on Tuesday morning : there's a double tongue ; there's two tongues .' Thus did she , an hour together , trans-shape thy particular virtues ; yet at last she concluded with a sigh , thou wast the properest man in Italy . - -For the which she wept heartily and said she cared not . - -Yea , that she did ; but yet , for all that , an if she did not hate him deadly , she would love him dearly . The old man's daughter told us all . - -All , all ; and moreover , God saw him when he was hid in the garden . - -But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head ? - -Yea , and text underneath , 'Here dwells Benedick the married man !' - -Fare you well , boy : you know my mind . I will leave you now to your gossip-like humour : you break jests as braggarts do their blades , which , God be thanked , hurt not . My lord , for your many courtesies I thank you : I must discontinue your company . Your brother the bastard is fled from Messina : you have , among you , killed a sweet and innocent lady . For my Lord Lack-beard there , he and I shall meet ; and till then , peace be with him . - - -He is in earnest . - -In most profound earnest ; and , I'll warrant you , for the love of Beatrice . - -And hath challenged thee ? - -Most sincerely . - -What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off his wit ! - -He is then a giant to an ape ; but then is an ape a doctor to such a man . - -But , soft you ; let me be : pluck up , my heart , and be sad ! Did he not say my brother was fled ? - - -Come , you , sir : if justice cannot tame you , she shall ne'er weigh more reasons in her balance . Nay , an you be a cursing hypocrite once , you must be looked to . - -How now ! two of my brother's men bound ! Borachio , one ! - -Hearken after their offence , my lord . - -Officers , what offence have these men done ? - -Marry , sir , they have committed false report ; moreover , they have spoken untruths ; secondarily , they are slanders ; sixth and lastly , they have belied a lady ; thirdly , they have verified unjust things ; and to conclude , they are lying knaves . - -First , I ask thee what they have done ; thirdly , I ask thee what's their offence ; sixth and lastly , why they are committed ; and , to conclude , what you lay to their charge ? - -Rightly reasoned , and in his own division ; and , by my troth , there's one meaning well suited . - -Who have you offended , masters , that you are thus bound to your answer ? this learned constable is too cunning to be understood . What's your offence ? - -Sweet prince , let me go no further to mine answer : do you hear me , and let this count kill me . I have deceived even your very eyes : what your wisdoms could not discover , these shallow fools have brought to light ; who , in the night overheard me confessing to this man how Don John your brother incensed me to slander the Lady Hero ; how you were brought into the orchard and saw me court Margaret in Hero's garments ; how you disgraced her , when you should marry her . My villany they have upon record ; which I had rather seal with my death than repeat over to my shame . The lady is dead upon mine and my master's false accusation ; and , briefly , I desire nothing but the reward of a villain . - -Runs not this speech like iron through your blood ? - -I have drunk poison whiles he utter'd it . - -But did my brother set thee on to this ? - -Yea ; and paid me richly for the practice of it . - -He is compos'd and fram'd of treachery : -And fled he is upon this villany . - -Sweet Hero ! now thy image doth appear -In the rare semblance that I lov'd it first . - -Come , bring away the plaintiffs : by this time our sexton hath reformed Signior Leonato of the matter . And masters , do not forget to specify , when time and place shall serve , that I am an ass . - -Here , here comes Master Signior Leonato , and the sexton too . - - -Which is the villain ? Let me see his eyes , -That , when I note another man like him , -I may avoid him . Which of these is he ? - -If you would know your wronger , look on me . - -Art thou the slave that with thy breath hast kill'd -Mine innocent child ? - -Yea , even I alone . - -No , not so , villain ; thou beliest thyself : -Here stand a pair of honourable men ; -A third is fled , that had a hand in it . -I thank you , princes , for my daughter's death -Record it with your high and worthy deeds . -'Twas bravely done , if you bethink you of it . - -I know not how to pray your patience ; -Yet I must speak . Choose your revenge yourself ; -Impose me to what penance your invention -Can lay upon my sin : yet sinn'd I not -But in mistaking . - -By my soul , nor I : -And yet , to satisfy this good old man , -I would bend under any heavy weight -That he'll enjoin me to . - -I cannot bid you bid my daughter live ; -That were impossible : but , I pray you both , -Possess the people in Messina here -How innocent she died ; and if your love -Can labour aught in sad invention , -Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb , -And sing it to her bones : sing it to-night . -To-morrow morning come you to my house , -And since you could not be my son-in-law , -Be yet my nephew . My brother hath a daughter , -Almost the copy of my child that's dead , -And she alone is heir to both of us : -Give her the right you should have given her cousin , -And so dies my revenge . - -O noble sir , -Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me ! -I do embrace your offer ; and dispose -For henceforth of poor Claudio . - -To-morrow then I will expect your coming ; -To-night I take my leave . This naughty man -Shall face to face be brought to Margaret , -Who , I believe , was pack'd in all this wrong , -Hir'd to it by your brother . - -No , by my soul she was not ; -Nor knew not what she did when she spoke to me ; -But always hath been just and virtuous -In anything that I do know by her . - -Moreover , sir ,which , indeed , is not under white and black ,this plaintiff here , the offender , did call me ass : I beseech you , let it be remembered in his punishment . And also , the watch heard them talk of one Deformed : they say he wears a key in his ear and a lock hanging by it , and borrows money in God's name , the which he hath used so long and never paid , that now men grow hard-hearted , and will lend nothing for God's sake . Pray you , examine him upon that point . - -I thank thee for thy care and honest pains . - -Your worship speaks like a most thankful and reverend youth , and I praise God for you . - -There's for thy pains . - -God save the foundation ! - -Go , I discharge thee of thy prisoner , and I thank thee . - -I leave an arrant knave with your worship ; which I beseech your worship to corect yourself , for the example of others . God keep your worship ! I wish your worship well ; God restore you to health ! I humbly give you leave to depart , and if a merry meeting may be wished , God prohibit it ! Come , neighbour . - - -Until to-morrow morning , lords , farewell . - -Farewell , my lords : we look for you to-morrow . - -We will not fail . - -To-night I'll mourn with Hero . - - -Bring you these fellows on . We'll talk with Margaret , -How her acquaintance grew with this lewd fellow . - - -Pray thee , sweet Mistress Margaret , deserve well at my hands by helping me to the speech of Beatrice . - -Will you then write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty ? - -In so high a style , Margaret , that no man living shall come over it ; for , in most comely truth , thou deservest it . - -To have no man come over me ! why , shall I always keep below stairs ? - -Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth ; it catches . - -And yours as blunt as the fencer's foils , which hit , but hurt not . - -A most manly wit , Margaret ; it will not hurt a woman : and so , I pray thee , call Beatrice . I give thee the bucklers . - -Give us the swords , we have bucklers of our own . - -If you use them , Margaret , you must put in the pikes with a vice ; and they are dangerous weapons for maids . - -Well , I will call Beatrice to you , who I think hath legs . - -And therefore will come . - - -The god of love , -That sits above , -And knows me , and knows me , -How pitiful I deserve , - -I mean , in singing ; but in loving , Leander the good swimmer , Troilus the first employer of pandars , and a whole book full of these quondam carpet-mongers , whose names yet run smoothly in the even road of a blank verse , why , they were never so truly turned over and over as my poor self , in love . Marry , I cannot show it in rime ; I have tried : I can find out no rime to 'lady' but 'baby ,' an innocent rime ; for 'scorn ,' 'horn ,' a hard rime ; for 'school ,' 'fool ,' a babbling rime ; very ominous endings : no , I was not born under a riming planet , nor I cannot woo in festival terms . - -Sweet Beatrice , wouldst thou come when I called thee ? - -Yea , signior ; and depart when you bid me . - -O , stay but till then ! - -'Then' is spoken ; fare you well now : and yet , ere I go , let me go with that I came for ; which is , with knowing what hath passed between you and Claudio . - -Only foul words ; and thereupon I will kiss thee . - -Foul words is but foul wind , and foul wind is but foul breath , and foul breath is noisome ; therefore I will depart unkissed . - -Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense , so forcible is thy wit . But I must tell thee plainly , Claudio undergoes my challenge , and either I must shortly hear from him , or I will subscribe him a coward . And , I pray thee now , tell me , for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me ? - -For them all together ; which maintained so politic a state of evil that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them . But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me ? - -'Suffer love ,' a good epithet ! I do suffer love indeed , for I love thee against my will . - -In spite of your heart , I think . Alas , poor heart ! If you spite it for my sake , I will spite it for yours ; for I will never love that which my friend hates . - -Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably . - -It appears not in this confession : there's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself . - -An old , an old instance , Beatrice , that lived in the time of good neighbours . If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies , he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps . - -And how long is that think you ? - -Question : why , an hour in clamour and a quarter in rheum : therefore it is most expedient for the wise ,if Don Worm , his conscience , find no impediment to the contrary ,to be the trumpet of his own virtues , as I am to myself . So much for praising myself , who , I myself will bear witness , is praiseworthy . And now tell me , how doth your cousin ? - -Very ill . - -And how do you ? - -Very ill too . - -Serve God , love me , and mend . There will I leave you too , for here comes one in haste . - - -Madam , you must come to your uncle . Yonder's old coil at home : it is proved , my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused , the prince and Claudio mightily abused ; and Don John is the author of all , who is fled and gone . Will you come presently ? - -Will you go hear this news , signior ? - -I will live in thy heart , die in thy lap , and be buried in thy eyes ; and moreover I will go with thee to thy uncle's . - - -Is this the monument of Leonato ? - -It is , my lord . - -Done to death by slanderous tongues -Was the Hero that here lies : -Death , in guerdon of her wrongs , -Gives her fame which never dies . -So the life that died with shame -Lives in doath with glorious fame . - -Hang thou there upon the tomb , -Praising her when I am dumb . -Now , music , sound , and sing your solemn hymn . - -Pardon , goddess of the night , -Those that slew thy virgin knight ; -For the which , with songs of woe , -Round about her tomb they go . -Midnight , assist our moan ; -Help us to sigh and groan , -Heavily , heavily : -Graves , yawn and yield your dead , -Till death be uttered , -Heavily , heavily . - -Now , unto thy bones good night ! -Yearly will I do this rite . - -Good morrow , masters : put your torches out . -The wolves have prey'd ; and look , the gentle day , -Before the wheels of Ph bus , round about -Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey . -Thanks to you all , and leave us : fare you well - -Good morrow , masters : each his several way . - -Come , let us hence , and put on other weeds ; -And then to Leonato's we will go . - -And Hymen now with luckier issue speed's , -Than this for whom we render'd up this woe ! - - -Did I not tell you she was innocent ? - -So are the prince and Claudio , who accus'd her -Upon the error that you heard debated : -But Margaret was in some fault for this , -Although against her will , as it appears -In the true course of all the question . - -Well , I am glad that all things sort so well . - -And so am I , being else by faith enforc'd -To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it . - -Well , daughter , and you gentlewomen all , -Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves , -And when I send for you , come hither mask'd : -The prince and Claudio promis'd by this hour -To visit me . - -You know your office , brother ; -You must be father to your brother's daughter , -And give her to young Claudio . - -Which I will do with confirm'd countenance . - -Friar , I must entreat your pains , I think . - -To do what , signior ? - -To bind me , or undo me ; one of them . -Signior Leonato , truth it is , good signior , -Your niece regards me with an eye of favour . - -That eye my daughter lent her : 'tis most true . - -And I do with an eye of love requite her . - -The sight whereof I think , you had from me , -From Claudio , and the prince . But what's your will ? - -Your answer , sir , is enigmatical : -But , for my will , my will is your good will -May stand with ours , this day to be conjoin'd -In the state of honourable marriage : -In which , good friar , I shall desire your help . - -My heart is with your liking . - -And my help . -Here come the prince and Claudio . - - -Good morrow to this fair assembly . - -Good morrow , prince ; good morrow , Claudio : -We here attend you . Are you yet determin'd -To-day to marry with my brother's daughter ? - -I'll hold my mind , were she an Ethiop . - -Call her forth , brother : here's the friar ready . - - -Good morrow , Benedick . Why , what's the matter , -That you have such a February face , -So full of frost , of storm and cloudiness ? - -I think he thinks upon the savage bull . -Tush ! fear not , man , we'll tip thy horns with gold , -And all Europa shall rejoice at thee , -As once Europa did at lusty Jove , -When he would play the noble beast in love . - -Bull Jove , sir , had an amiable low : -And some such strange bull leap'd your father's cow , -And got a calf in that same noble feat , -Much like to you , for you have just his bleat . - -For this I owe you : here come other reckonings . - -Which is the lady I must seize upon ? - -This same is she , and I do give you her . - -Why , then she's mine . Sweet , let me see your face . - -No , that you shall not , till you take her hand -Before this friar , and swear to marry her . - -Give me your hand : before this holy friar , -I am your husband , if you like of me . - -And when I liv'd , I was your other wife : - -And when you lov'd , you were my other husband . - -Another Hero ! - -Nothing certainer : -One Hero died defil'd , but I do live , -And surely as I live , I am a maid . - -The former Hero ! Hero that is dead ! - -She died , my lord , but whiles her slander liv'd . - -All this amazement can I qualify : -When after that the holy rites are ended , -I'll tell you largely of fair Hero's death : -Meantime , let wonder seem familiar , -And to the chapel let us presently . - -Soft and fair , friar . Which is Beatrice ? - -I answer to that name . What is your will ? - -Do not you love me ? - -Why , no ; no more than reason . - -Why , then , your uncle and the prince and Claudio -Have been deceived ; for they swore you did . - -Do not you love me ? - -Troth , no ; no more than reason . - -Why , then , my cousin , Margaret , and Ursula , -Are much deceiv'd ; for they did swear you did . - -They swore that you were almost sick for me . - -They swore that you were well-nigh dead for me . - -'Tis no such matter . Then , you do not love me ? - -No , truly , but in friendly recompense . - -Come , cousin , I am sure you love the gentleman . - -And I'll be sworn upon 't that he loves her ; -For here's a paper written in his hand , -A halting sonnet of his own pure brain , -Fashion'd to Beatrice . - -And here's another , -Writ in my cousin's hand , stolen from her pocket , -Containing her affection unto Benedick . - -A miracle ! here's our own hands against our hearts . Come , I will have thee ; but , by this light , I take thee for pity . - -I would not deny you ; but , by this good day , I yield upon great persuasion , and partly to save your life , for I was told you were in a consumption . - -Peace ! I will stop your mouth . - - -How dost thou , Benedick , the married man ? - -I'll tell thee what , prince ; a college of witcrackers cannot flout me out of my humour . Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram ? No ; if a man will be beaten with brains , a' shall wear nothing handsome about him . In brief , since I do purpose to marry , I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it ; and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it , for man is a giddy thing , and this is my conclusion . For thy part , Claudio , I did think to have beaten thee ; but , in that thou art like to be my kinsman , live unbruised , and love my cousin . - -I had well hoped thou wouldst have denied Beatrice , that I might have cudgelled thee out of thy single life , to make thee a double-dealer ; which , out of question , thou wilt be , if my cousin do not look exceeding narrowly to thee . - -Come , come , we are friends . Let's have a dance ere we are married , that we may lighten our own hearts and our wives' heels . - -We'll have dancing afterward . - -First , of my word ; therefore play , music ! Prince , thou art sad ; get thee a wife , get thee a wife : there is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn . - - -My lord , your brother John is ta'en in flight , -And brought with armed men back to Messina . - -Think not on him till to-morrow : I'll devise thee brave punishments for him . Strike up , pipers ! - -PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE - - -To sing a song that old was sung , -From ashes ancient Gower is come , -Assuming man's infirmities , -To glad your ear , and please your eyes . -It hath been sung at festivals , -On ember-eves , and holy-ales ; -And lords and ladies in their lives -Have read it for restoratives : -The purchase is to make men glorious ; -Et bonum quo antiquius , eo melius . -If you , born in these latter times , -When wit's more ripe , accept my rimes , -And that to hear an old man sing -May to your wishes pleasure bring , -I life would wish , and that I might -Waste it for you like taper-light . -This Antioch , then , Antiochus the Great -Built up , this city , for his chiefest seat , -The fairest in all Syria , -I tell you what mine authors say : -This king unto him took a fere , -Who died and left a female heir , -So buxom , blithe , and full of face -As heaven had lent her all his grace ; -With whom the father liking took , -And her to incest did provoke . -Bad child , worse father ! to entice his own -To evil should be done by none . -By custom what they did begin -Was with long use account no sin . -The beauty of this sinful dame -Made many princes thither frame , -To seek her as a bed-fellow , -In marriage-pleasures play-fellow : -Which to prevent , he made a law , -To keep her still , and men in awe , -That whoso ask'd her for his wife , -His riddle told not , lost his life : -So for her many a wight did die , -As yon grim looks do testify . -What now ensues , to the judgment of your eye -I give , my cause who best can justify . - - -Young Prince of Tyre , you have at large receiv'd -The danger of the task you undertake . - -I have , Antiochus , and , with a soul -Embolden'd with the glory of her praise , -Think death no hazard in this enterprise . - -Bring in our daughter , clothed like a bride , -For the embracements even of Jove himself ; -At whose conception , till Lucina reign'd , -Nature this dowry gave , to glad her presence , -The senate-house of planets all did sit , -To knit in her their best perfections . - -See , where she comes apparell'd like the spring , -Graces her subjects , and her thoughts the king -Of every virtue gives renown to men ! -Her face the book of praises , where is read -Nothing but curious pleasures , as from thence -Sorrow were ever raz'd , and testy wrath -Could never be her mild companion . -You gods , that made me man , and sway in love , -That hath inflam'd desire in my breast -To taste the fruit of you celestial tree -Or die in the adventure , be my helps , -As I am son and servant to your will , -To compass such a boundless happiness ! - -Prince Pericles , - -That would be son to great Antiochus . - -Before thee stands this fair Hesperides , -With golden fruit , but dangerous to be touch'd ; -For death-like dragons here affright thee hard : -Her face , like heaven , enticeth thee to view -Her countless glory , which desert must gain ; -And which , without desert , because thine eye -Presumes to reach , all thy whole heap must die . -Yon sometime famous princes , like thyself , -Drawn by report , adventurous by desire , -Tell thee with speechless tongues and semblance pale , -That without covering , save yon field of stars , -They here stand martyrs , slain in Cupid's wars ; -And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist -For going on death's net , whom none resist . - -Antiochus , I thank thee , who hath taught -My frail mortality to know itself , -And by those fearful objects to prepare -This body , like to them , to what I must ; -For death remember'd should be like a mirror , -Who tells us life's but breath , to trust it error . -I'll make my will then ; and as sick men do , -Who know the world , see heaven , but feeling woe , -Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did : -So I bequeath a happy peace to you -And all good men , as every prince should do ; -My riches to the earth from whence they came , - -But my unspotted fire of love to you . -Thus ready for the way of life or death , -I wait the sharpest blow . - -Scorning advice , read the conclusion then ; -Which read and not expounded , 'tis decreed , -As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed . - -Of all say'd yet , mayst thou prove prosperous ! -Of all say'd yet , I wish thee happiness ! - -Like a bold champion , I assume the lists , -Nor ask advice of any other thought -But faithfulness and courage . - -I am no viper , yet I feed -On mother's flesh which did me breed ; -I sought a husband , in which labour -I found that kindness in a father . -He's father , son , and husband mild , -I mother , wife , and yet his child . -How they may be , and yet in two , -As you will live , resolve it you . - -Sharp physic is the last : but , O you powers ! -That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts , -Why cloud they not their sights perpetually , -If this be true , which makes me pale to read it ? -Fair glass of light , I lov'd you , and could still , -Were not this glorious casket stor'd with ill : -But I must tell you now my thoughts revolt ; -For he's no man on whom perfections wait -That , knowing sin within , will touch the gate . -You're a fair viol , and your sense the strings , -Who , finger'd to make men his lawful music , -Would draw heaven down and all the gods to hearken ; -But being play'd upon before your time , -Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime . -Good sooth , I care not for you . - -Prince Pericles , touch not , upon thy life , -For that's an article within our law , -As dangerous as the rest . Your time's expir'd : -Either expound now or receive your sentence . - -Great king , -Few love to hear the sins they love to act ; -'Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it . -Who has a book of all that monarchs do , -He's more secure to keep it shut than shown ; -For vice repeated is like the wandering wind , -Blows dust in others' eyes , to spread itself ; -And yet the end of all is bought thus dear , -The breath is gone , and the sore eyes see clear -To stop the air would hurt them . The blind mole casts -Copp'd hills towards heaven , to tell the earth is throng'd -By man's oppression ; and the poor worm doth die for 't . -Kings are earth's gods ; in vice their law's their will ; -And if Jove stray , who dares say Jove doth ill ? -It is enough you know ; and it is fit , -What being more known grows worse , to smother it . -All love the womb that their first being bred , -Then give my tongue like leave to love my head . - -Heaven ! that I had thy head ; he has found the meaning ; -But I will gloze with him . Young Prince of Tyre , -Though by the tenour of our strict edict , -Your exposition misinterpreting , -We might proceed to cancel of your days ; -Yet hope , succeeding from so fair a tree -As your fair self , doth tune us otherwise : -Forty days longer we do respite you ; -If by which time our secret be undone , -This mercy shows we'll joy in such a son : -And until then your entertain shall be -As doth befit our honour and your worth . - - -How courtesy would seem to cover sin , -When what is done is like a hypocrite , -The which is good in nothing but in sight ! -If it be true that I interpret false , -Then were it certain you were not so bad -As with foul incest to abuse your soul ; -Where now you're both a father and a son , -By your untimely claspings with your child , -Which pleasure fits a husband , not a father ; -And she an eater of her mother's flesh , -By the defiling of her parent's bed ; -And both like serpents are , who though they feed -On sweetest flowers , yet they poison breed . -Antioch , farewell ! for wisdom sees , those men -Blush not in actions blacker than the night , -Will shun no course to keep them from the light . -One sin , I know , another doth provoke ; -Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke . -Poison and treason are the hands of sin , -Ay , and the targets , to put off the shame : -Then , lest my life be cropp'd to keep you clear , -By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear . - -He hath found the meaning , for which we mean -To take his head . -He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy , -Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin -In such a loathed manner ; -And therefore instantly this prince must die , -For by his fall my honour must keep high . -Who attends us there ? - - -Doth your highness call ? - -Thaliard , -You're of our chamber , and our mind partakes -Her private actions to your secrecy ; -And for your faithfulness we will advance you . -Thaliard , behold , here's poison , and here's gold ; -We hate the Prince of Tyre , and thou must kill him : -It fits thee not to ask the reason why , -Because we bid it . Say , is it done ? - -My lord , 'tis done . - -Enough . - -Let your breath cool yourself , telling your haste . - -My lord , Prince Pericles is fled . - - -As thou -Wilt live , fly after ; and , as an arrow shot -From a well-experienc'd archer hits the mark -His eye doth level at , so thou ne'er return -Unless thou say 'Prince Pericles is dead .' - -My lord , -If I can get him within my pistol's length , -I'll make him sure enough : so , farewell to your highness . - -Thaliard , adieu ! - -Till Pericles be dead , -My heart can lend no succour to my head . - - -Let none disturb us . -Why should this change of thoughts , -The sad companion , dull-ey'd melancholy , -Be my so us'd a guest , as not an hour -In the day's glorious walk or peaceful night -The tomb where grief should sleep can breed me quiet ? -Here pleasures court mine eyes , and mine eyes shun them , -And danger , which I feared , is at Antioch , -Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here ; -Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits , -Nor yet the other's distance comfort me . -Then it is thus : the passions of the mind , -That have their first conception by mis-dread , -Have after-nourishment and life by care ; -And what was first but fear what might be done , -Grows elder now and cares it be not done . -And so with me : the great Antiochus , -'Gainst whom I am too little to contend , -Since he's so great can make his will his act , -Will think me speaking , though I swear to silence ; -Nor boots it me to say I honour him , -If he suspect I may dishonour him ; -And what may make him blush in being known , -He'll stop the course by which it might be known . -With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land , -And with the ostent of war will look so huge , -Amazement shall drive courage from the state , -Our men be vanquish'd ere they do resist , -And subjects punish'd that ne'er thought offence : -Which care of them , not pity of myself , -Who am no more but as the tops of trees , -Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them , -Make both my body pine and soul to languish , -And punish that before that he would punish . - - -Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast ! - -And keep your mind , till you return to us , -Peaceful and comfortable . - -Peace , peace ! and give experience tongue . -They do abuse the king that flatter him ; -For flattery is the bellows blows up sin ; -The thing the which is flatter'd , but a spark , -To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing ; -Whereas reproof , obedient and in order , -Fits kings , as they are men , for they may err : -When Signior Sooth here does proclaim a peace , -He flatters you , makes war upon your life . -Prince , pardon me , or strike me , if you please ; -I cannot be much lower than my knees . - -All leave us else ; but let your cares o'erlook -What shipping and what lading's in our haven , -And then return to us . - -Helicanus , thou -Hast mov'd us ; what seest thou in our looks ? - -An angry brow , dread lord . - -If there be such a dart in prince's frowns , -How durst thy tongue move anger to our face ? - -How dare the plants look up to heaven , from whence -They have their nourishment ? - -Thou know'st I have power -To take thy life from thee . - -I have ground the axe myself ; -Do you but strike the blow . - -Rise , prithee , rise ; -Sit down ; thou art no flatterer : -I thank thee for it ; and heaven forbid -That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid ! -Fit counsellor and servant for a prince , -Who by thy wisdom mak'st a prince thy servant , -What wouldst thou have me do ? - -To bear with patience -Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself . - -Thou speak'st like a physician , Helicanus , -That minister'st a potion unto me -That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself . -Attend me then : I went to Antioch , -Where as thou know'st , against the face of death -I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty , -From whence an issue I might propagate -Are arms to princes and bring joys to subjects . -Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder ; -The rest , hark in thine ear , as black as incest ; -Which by my knowledge found , the sinful father -Seem'd not to strike , but smooth ; but thou know'st this , -'Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss . -Which fear so grew in me I hither fled , -Under the covering of a careful night , -Who seem'd my good protector ; and , being here , -Bethought me what was past , what might succeed . -I knew him tyrannous ; and tyrants' fears -Decrease not , but grow faster than the years . -And should he doubt it , as no doubt he doth , -That I should open to the listening air -How many worthy princes' bloods were shed , -To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope , -To lop that doubt he'll fill this land with arms , -And make pretence of wrong that I have done him ; -When all , for mine , if I may call 't , offence , -Must feel war's blow , who spares not innocence : -Which love to all , of which thyself art one , -Who now reprov'st me for it , - -Alas ! sir . - -Drew sleep out of mine eyes , blood from my cheeks , -Musings into my mind , with thousand doubts -How I might stop this tempest , ere it came ; -And finding little comfort to relieve them , -I thought it princely charity to grieve them . - -Well , my lord , since you have given me leave to speak , -Freely will I speak . Antiochus you fear , -And justly too , I think , you fear the tyrant , -Who either by public war or private treason -Will take away your life . -Therefore , my lord , go travel for a while , -Till that his rage and anger be forgot , -Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life . -Your rule direct to any ; if to me , -Day serves not light more faithful than I'll be . - -I do not doubt thy faith ; -But should he wrong my liberties in my absence ? - -We'll mingle our bloods together in the earth , -From whence we had our being and our birth . - -Tyre , I now look from thee then , and to Tarsus -Intend my travel , where I'll hear from thee , -And by whose letters I'll dispose myself . -The care I had and have of subjects' good -On thee I'll lay , whose wisdom's strength can bear it . -I'll take thy word for faith , not ask thine oath ; -Who shuns not to break one will sure crack both . -But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe , -That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince , -Thou show'dst a subject's shine , I a true prince . - - -So this is Tyre , and this the court . Here must I kill King Pericles ; and if I do not , I am sure to be hanged at home : 'tis dangerous . Well , I perceive he was a wise fellow , and had good discretion , that , being bid to ask what he would of the king , desired he might know none of his secrets : now do I see he had some reason for it ; for if a king bid a man be a villain , he is bound by the indenture of his oath to be one . Hush ! here come the lords of Tyre . - - -You shall not need , my fellow peers of Tyre , -Further to question me of your king's departure : -His seal'd commission , left in trust with me , -Doth speak sufficiently he's gone to travel . - -How ! the king gone ! - -If further yet you will be satisfied , -Why , as it were unlicens'd of your loves , -He would depart , I'll give some light unto you . -Being at Antioch - -What from Antioch ? - -Royal Antiochus on what cause I know not -Took some displeasure at him , at least he judg'd so ; -And doubting lest that he had err'd or sinn'd , -To show his sorrow he'd correct himself ; -So puts himself unto the shipman's toil , -With whom each minute threatens life or death . - -Well , I perceive -I shall not be hang'd now , although I would ; -But since he's gone , the king it sure must please : -He 'scap'd the land , to perish at the sea . -I'll present myself . - -Peace to the lords of Tyre . - -Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome . - -From him I come , -With message unto princely Pericles ; -But since my landing I have understood -Your lord hath betook himself to unknown travels , -My message must return from whence it came . - -We have no reason to desire it , -Commended to our master , not to us : -Yet , ere you shall depart , this we desire , -As friends to Antioch , we may feast in Tyre . - - -My Dionyza , shall we rest us here , -And by relating tales of others' griefs , -See if 'twill teach us to forget our own ? - -That were to blow at fire in hope to quench it ; -For who digs hills because they do aspire -Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher . -O my distressed lord ! even such our griefs are ; -Here they're but felt , and seen with mischief's eyes , -But like to groves , being topp'd , they higher rise . - -O Dionyza , -Who wanteth food , and will not say he wants it , -Or can conceal his hunger till he famish ? -Our tongues and sorrows do sound deep -Our woes into the air ; our eyes do weep -Till tongues fetch breath that may proclaim them louder ; -That if heaven slumber while their creatures want , -They may awake their helps to comfort them . -I'll then discourse our woes , felt several years , -And wanting breath to speak help me with tears . - -I'll do my best , sir . - -This Tarsus , o'er which I have the government , -A city on whom plenty held full hand , -For riches strew'd herself even in the streets ; -Whose towers bore heads so high they kiss'd the clouds , -And strangers ne'er beheld but wonder'd at ; -Whose men and dames so jetted and adorn'd , -Like one another's glass to trim them by : -Their tables were stor'd full to glad the sight , -And not so much to feed on as delight ; -All poverty was scorn'd , and pride so great , -The name of help grew odious to repeat . - -O ! 'tis too true , - -But see what heaven can do ! By this our change , -These mouths , whom but of late earth , sea , and air -Were all too little to content and please , -Although they gave their creatures in abundance , -As houses are defil'd for want of use , -They are now starv'd for want of exercise ; -Those palates who , not yet two summers younger , -Must have inventions to delight the taste , -Would now be glad of bread , and beg for it ; -Those mothers who , to nousle up their babes , -Thought nought too curious , are ready now -To eat those little darlings whom they lov'd . -So sharp are hunger's teeth , that man and wife -Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life . -Here stands a lord , and there a lady weeping ; -Here many sink , yet those which see them fall -Have scarce strength left to give them burial . -Is not this true ? - -Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it . - -O ! let those cities that of plenty's cup -And her prosperities so largely taste , -With their superfluous riots , hear these tears : -The misery of Tarsus may be theirs . - - -Where's the lord governor ? - -Here . -Speak out thy sorrows which thou bring'st in haste , -For comfort is too far for us to expect . - -We have descried , upon our neighbouring shore , -A portly sail of ships make hitherward . - -I thought as much . -One sorrow never comes but brings an heir -That may succeed as his inberitor ; -And so in ours . Some neighbouring nation , -Taking advantage of our misery , -Hath stuff'd these hollow vessels with their power , -To beat us down , the which are down already ; -And make a conquest of unhappy me , -Whereas no glory's got to overcome . - -That's the least fear ; for by the semblance -Of their white flags display'd , they bring us peace , -And come to us as favourers , not as foes . - -Thou speak'st like him 's untutor'd to repeat : -Who makes the fairest show means most deceit . -But bring they what they will and what they can , -What need we fear ? -The ground's the lowest and we are half way there . -Go tell their general we attend him here , -To know for what he comes , and whence he comes , -And what he craves . - -I go , my lord . - - -Welcome is peace if he on peace consist ; -If wars we are unable to resist . - - -Lord governor , for so we hear you are , -Let not our ships and number of our men , -Be like a beacon fir'd to amaze your eyes . -We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre , -And seen the desolation of your streets : -Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears , -But to relieve them of their heavy load ; -And these our ships , you happily may think -Are like the Trojan horse was stuff'd within -With bloody veins , expecting overthrow , -Are stor'd with corn to make your needy bread , -And give them life whom hunger starv'd half dead . - -The gods of Greece protect you ! -And we'll pray for you . - -Arise , I pray you , rise : -We do not look for reverence , but for love , -And harbourage for ourself , our ships , and men . - -The which when any shall not gratify , -Or pay you with unthankfulness in thought , -Be it our wives , our children , or ourselves , -The curse of heaven and men succeed their evils ! -Till when the which , I hope , shall ne'er be seen -Your Grace is welcome to our town and us . - -Which welcome we'll accept ; feast here awhile , -Until our stars that frown lend us a smile . - -Here have you seen a mighty king -His child , I wis , to incest bring ; -A better prince and benign lord , -That will prove awful both in deed and word . -Be quiet , then , as men should be , -Till he hath pass'd necessity . -I'll show you those in troubles reign , -Losing a mite , a mountain gain . -The good in conversation , -To whom I give my benison , -Is still at Tarsus , where each man -Thinks all is writ he speken can ; -And , to remember what he does , -Build his statue to make him glorious : -But tidings to the contrary -Are brought your eyes ; what need speak I ? - - -Good Helicane hath stay'd at home , -Not to eat honey like a drone -From others' labours ; for though he strive -To killen bad , keep good alive , -And to fulfil his prince' desire , -Sends word of all that haps in Tyre : -How Thaliard came full bent with sin -And had intent to murder him ; -And that in Tarsus was not best -Longer for him to make his rest . -He , doing so , put forth to seas , -Where when men been , there's seldom ease ; -For now the wind begins to blow ; -Thunder above and deeps below -Make such unquiet , that the ship -Should house him safe is wrack'd and split ; -And he , good prince , having all lost , -By waves from coast to coast is tost . -All perishen of man , of pelf , -Ne aught escapen but himself ; -Till Fortune , tir'd with doing bad , -Threw him ashore , to give him glad ; -And here he comes . What shall be next , -Pardon old Gower , this longs the text . - -Yet cease your ire , you angry stars of heaven ! -Wind , rain , and thunder , remember , earthly man -Is but a substance that must yield to you ; -And I , as fits my nature , do obey you . -Alas ! the sea hath cast me on the rocks , -Wash'd me from shore to shore , and left me breath -Nothing to think on but ensuing death : -Let it suffice the greatness of your powers -To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes ; -And having thrown him from your watery grave , -Here to have death in peace is all he'll crave . - - -What , ho , Pilch ! - -Ha ! come and bring away the nets . - -What , Patch-breech , I say ! - -What say you , master ? - -Look how thou stirrest now ! come away , or I'll fetch thee with a wannion . - -Faith , master , I am thinking of the poor men that were cast away before us even now . - -Alas ! poor souls ; it grieved my heart to hear what pitiful cries they made to us to help them , when , well-a-day , we could scarce help ourselves . - -Nay , master , said not I as much when I saw the porpus how he bounced and tumbled ? they say they're half fish half flesh ; a plague on them ! they ne'er come but I look to be washed . Master , I marvel how the fishes live in the sea . - -Why , as men do a-land ; the great ones eat up the little ones ; I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitly as to a whale ; a' plays and tumbles , driving the poor fry before him , and at last devours them all at a mouthful . Such whales have I heard on o' the land , who never leave gaping till they've swallowed the whole parish , church , steeple , bells , and all . - -A pretty moral . - -But master , if I had been the sexton , I would have been that day in the belfry . - -Why , man ? - -Because he should have swallowed me too ; and when I had been in his belly , I would have kept such a jangling of the bells , that he should never have left till he cast bells , steeple , church , and parish , up again . But if the good King Simonides were of my mind , - -Simonides ! - -We would purge the land of these drones , that rob the bee of her honey . - -How from the finny subject of the sea -These fishers tell the infirmities of men ; -And from their watery empire recollect -All that may men approve or men detect ! - - -Peace be at your labour , honest fishermen . - -Honest ! good fellow , what's that ? if it be a day fits you , search out of the calendar , and nobody look after it . - -Y' may see the sea hath cast me on your coast . - -What a drunken knave was the sea , to cast thee in our way ! - -A man whom both the waters and the wind , -In that vast tennis-court , have made the ball -For them to play upon , entreats you pity him ; -He asks of you , that never us'd to beg . - -No , friend , cannot you beg ? here's them in our country of Greece gets more with begging than we can do with working . - -Canst thou catch any fishes then ? - -I never practised it . - -Nay then thou wilt starve , sure ; for here's nothing to be got now-a-days unless thou canst fish for 't . - -What I have been I have forgot to know , -But what I am want teaches me to think on ; -A man throng'd up with cold ; my veins are chill , -And have no more of life than may suffice -To give my tongue that heat to ask your help ; -Which if you shall refuse , when I am dead , -For that I am a man , pray see me buried . - -Die , quoth-a ? Now , gods forbid ! I have a gown here ; come , put it on ; keep thee warm . Now , afore me , a handsome fellow ! Come , thou shalt go home , and we'll have flesh for holidays , fish for fasting-days , and moreo'er puddings and flap-jacks ; and thou shalt be welcome . - -I thank you , sir . - -Hark you , my friend ; you said you could not beg . - -I did but crave . - -But crave ! Then I'll turn craver too , and so I shall 'scape whipping . - -Why , are all your beggars whipped , then ? - -O ! not all , my friend , not all ; for if all your beggars were whipped , I would wish no better office than to be beadle . But , master , I'll go draw up the net . - - -How well this honest mirth becomes their labour ! - -Hark you , sir ; do you know where ye are ? - -Not well . - -Why , I'll tell you : this is called Pentapolis , and our king the good Simonides . - -The good King Simonides do you call him ? - -Ay , sir ; and he deserves to be so called for his peaceable reign and good government . - -He is a happy king , since he gains from his subjects the name of good by his government . How far is his court distant from this shore ? - -Marry , sir , half a day's journey ; and I'll tell you , he hath a fair daughter , and to-morrow is her birthday ; and there are princes and knights come from all parts of the world to just and tourney for her love . - -Were my fortunes equal to my desires , I could wish to make one there . - -O ! sir , things must be as they may ; and what a man cannot get , he may lawfully deal for his wife's soul , - - -Help , master , help ! here's a fish hangs in the net , like a poor man's right in the law ; 'twill hardly come out . Ha ! bots on 't , 'tis come at last , and 'tis turned to a rusty armour . - -An armour , friends ! I pray you , let me see it . -Thanks , Fortune , yet , that after all my crosses -Thou giv'st me somewhat to repair myself ; -And though it was mine own , part of mine heritage , -Which my dead father did bequeath to me , -With this strict charge , even as he left his life , -'Keep it , my Pericles , it hath been a shield -'Twixt me and death ;' and pointed to this brace ; -'For that it sav'd me , keep it ; in like necessity -The which the gods protect thee from !'t may defend thee .' -It kept where I kept , I so dearly lov'd it ; -Till the rough seas , that spare not any man , -Took it in rage , though calm'd they have given 't again . -I thank thee for 't ; my shipwrack now 's no ill , -Since I have here my father's gift in 's will . - -What mean you , sir ? - -To beg of you , kind friends , this coat of worth , -For it was sometime target to a king ; -I know it by this mark . He lov'd me dearly , -And for his sake I wish the having of it ; -And that you'd guide me to your sovereign's court , -Where with it I may appear a gentleman ; -And if that ever my low fortunes better , -I'll pay your bounties ; till then rest your debtor . - -Why , wilt thou tourney for the lady ? - -I'll show the virtue I have borne in arms . - -Why , do'e take it ; and the gods give thee good on 't ! - -Ay , but hark you , my friend ; 'twas we that made up this garment through the rough seams of the water ; there are certain condolements , certain vails . I hope , sir , if you thrive , you'll remember from whence you had it . - -Believe it , I will . -By your furtherance I am cloth'd in steel ; -And spite of all the rapture of the sea , -This jewel holds his biding on my arm : -Unto thy value will I mount myself -Upon a courser , whose delightful steps -Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread . -Only , my friend , I yet am unprovided -Of a pair of bases . - -We'll sure provide ; thou shalt have my best gown to make thee a pair , and I'll bring thee to the court myself . - -Then honour be but a goal to my will ! This day I'll rise , or else add ill to ill . - -Are the knights ready to begin the triumph ? - -They are , my liege ; -And stay your coming to present themselves . - -Return them , we are ready ; and our daughter , -In honour of whose birth these triumphs are , -Sits here , like beauty's child , whom nature gat -For men to see , and seeing wonder at . - - -It pleaseth you , my royal father , to express -My commendations great , whose merit's less . - -'Tis fit it should be so ; for princes are -A model , which heaven makes like to itself : -As jewels lose their glory if neglected , -So princes their renowns if not respected . -'Tis now your honour , daughter , to explain -The labour of each knight in his device . - -Which , to preserve mine honour , I'll perform . - - -Who is the first that doth prefer himself ? - -A knight of Sparta , my renowned father ; -And the device he bears upon his shield -Is a black Ethiop reaching at the sun ; -The word , Lux tua vita mihi . - -He loves you well that holds his life of you . - -Who is the second that presents himself ? - -A prince of Macedon , my royal father ; -And the device he bears upon his shield -Is an arm'd knight that's conquer'd by a lady ; -The motto thus , in Spanish , Piu por dulzura que por fuerza . - - -And what's the third ? - -The third of Antioch ; -And his device , a wreath of chivalry ; -The word , Me pomp provexit apex . - - -What is the fourth ? - -A burning torch that's turned upside down ; -The word , Quod me alit me extinguit . - -Which shows that beauty hath his power and will , -Which can as well inflame as it can kill . - - -The fifth , a hand environed with clouds , -Holding out gold that's by the touchstone tried ; -The motto thus , Sic spectanda fides . - - -And what 's -The sixth and last , the which the knight himself -With such a graceful courtesy deliver'd ? - -He seems to be a stranger ; but his present is -A wither'd branch , that's only green at top ; -The motto , In hac spe vivo . - -A pretty moral ; -From the dejected state wherein he is , -He hopes by you his fortune yet may flourish . - -He had need mean better than his outward show -Can any way speak in his just commend ; -For , by his rusty outside he appears -To have practis'd more the whipstock than the lance . - -He well may be a stranger , for he comes -To an honour'd triumph strangely furnished . - -And on set purpose let his armour rust -Until this day , to scour it in the dust . - -Opinion's but a fool , that makes us scan -The outward habit by the inward man . -But stay , the knights are coming ; we'll withdraw -Into the gallery . - - -Knights , -To say you're welcome were superfluous . -To place upon the volume of your deeds , -As in a title-page , your worth in arms , -Were more than you expect , or more than's fit , -Since every worth in show commends itself . -Prepare for mirth , for mirth becomes a feast : -You are princes and my guests . - -But you , my knight and guest ; -To whom this wreath of victory I give , -And crown you king of this day's happiness . - -'Tis more by fortune , lady , than by merit . - -Call it by what you will , the day is yours ; -And here , I hope , is none that envies it . -In framing an artist art hath thus decreed , -To make some good , but others to exceed ; -And you're her labour'd scholar . Come , queen o' the feast , -For , daughter , so you are ,here take your place ; -Marshal the rest , as they deserve their grace . - -We are honour'd much by good Simonides . - -Your presence glads our days ; honour we love , -For who hates honour , hates the gods above . - -Sir , yonder is your place . - -Some other is more fit . - -Contend not , sir ; for we are gentlemen -That neither in our hearts nor outward eyes -Envy the great nor do the low despise . - -You are right courteous knights . - -Sit , sir ; sit . - -By Jove , I wonder , that is king of thoughts , -These cates resist me , she but thought upon . - -By Juno , that is queen of marriage , -All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury , -Wishing him my meat . Sure , he's a gallant gentleman . - -He's but a country gentleman ; -He has done no more than other knights have done ; -He has broken a staff or so ; so let it pass . - -To me he seems like diamond to glass . - -Yon king's to me like to my father's picture , -Which tells me in that glory once he was ; -Had princes sit , like stars , about his throne , -And he the sun for them to reverence . -None that beheld him , but like lesser lights -Did vail their crowns to his supremacy ; -Where now his son's like a glow-worm in the night , -The which hath fire in darkness , none in light : -Whereby I see that Time's the king of men ; -He's both their parent , and he is their grave , -And gives them what he will , not what they crave . - -What , are you merry , knights ? - -Who can be other in this royal presence ? - -Here , with a cup that's stor'd unto the brim , -As you do love , fill to your mistress' lips , -We drink this health to you . - -We thank your Grace . - -Yet pause awhile ; -Yon knight doth sit too melancholy , -As if the entertainment in our court -Had not a show might countervail his worth . -Note it not you , Thaisa ? - -What is it -To me , my father ? - -O ! attend , my daughter : -Princes in this should live like gods above , -Who freely give to every one that comes -To honour them ; -And princes not doing so are like to gnats , -Which make a sound , but kill'd are wonder'd at . -Therefore to make his entrance more sweet , -Here say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him . - -Alas ! my father , it befits not me -Unto a stranger knight to be so bold ; -He may my proffer take for an offence , -Since men take women's gifts for impudence . - -How ! -Do as I bid you , or you'll move me else . - -Now , by the gods , he could not please me better . - -And further tell him , we desire to know of him , -Of whence he is , his name , and parentage . - -The king , my father , sir , has drunk to you . - -I thank him . - -Wishing it so much blood unto your life . - -I thank both him and you , and pledge him freely . - -And further he desires to know of you , -Of whence you are , your name and parentage . - -A gentleman of Tyre , my name , Pericles ; -My education been in arts and arms ; -Who , looking for adventures in the world , -Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men , -And after shipwrack , driven upon this shore . - -He thanks your Grace ; names himself Pericles , -A gentleman of Tyre , -Who only by misfortune of the seas -Bereft of ships and men , cast on this shore . - -Now , by the gods , I pity his misfortune , -And will awake him from his melancholy . -Come , gentlemen , we sit too long on trifles , -And waste the time which looks for other revels . -Even in your armours , as you are address'd , -Will very well become a soldier's dance . -I will not have excuse , with saying this -Loud music is too harsh for ladies' heads -Since they love men in arms as well as beds . - -So this was well ask'd , 'twas so well perform'd . -Come , sir ; -Here is a lady that wants breathing too : -And I have often heard , you knights of Tyre -Are excellent in making ladies trip , -And that their measures are as excellent . - -In those that practise them they are , my lord . - -O ! that's as much as you would be denied -Of your fair courtesy . - -Unclasp , unclasp ; -Thanks , gentlemen , to all ; all have done well , - - -But you the best . Pages and lights , to conduct -These knights unto their several lodgings ! Yours , sir , -We have given order to be next our own . - -I am at your Grace's pleasure . - -Princes , it is too late to talk of love , -And that's the mark I know you level at ; -Therefore each one betake him to his rest ; -To-morrow all for speeding do their best . - - -No , Escanes , know this of me , -Antiochus from incest liv'd not free ; -For which , the most high gods not minding longer -To withhold the vengeance that they had in store , -Due to this heinous capital offence , -Even in the height and pride of all his glory , -When he was seated in a chariot -Of an inestimable value , and his daughter with him , -A fire from heaven came and shrivell'd up -Their bodies , even to loathing ; for they so stunk , -That all those eyes ador'd them ere their fall -Scorn now their hand should give them burial . - -'Twas very strange . - -And yet but just ; for though -This king were great , his greatness was no guard -To bar heaven's shaft , but sin had his reward . - -'Tis very true . - - -See , not a man in private conference -Or council has respect with him but he . - -It shall no longer grieve without reproof . - -And curs'd be he that will not second it . - -Follow me then . Lord Helicane , a word . - -With me ? and welcome . Happy day , my lords . - -Know that our griefs are risen to the top , -And now at length they overflow their banks . - -Your griefs ! for what ? wrong not the prince you love . - -Wrong not yourself then , noble Helicane ; -But if the prince do live , let us salute him , -Or know what ground's made happy by his breath . -If in the world he live , we'll seek him out ; -If in his grave he rest , we'll find him there ; -And be resolv'd he lives to govern us , -Or dead , give 's cause to mourn his funeral , -And leaves us to our free election . - -Whose death's indeed the strongest in our censure : -And knowing this kingdom is without a head , -Like goodly buildings left without a roof -Soon fall to ruin , your noble self , -That best know'st how to rule and how to reign , -We thus submit unto , our sovereign . - -Live , noble Helicane ! - -For honour's cause forbear your suffrages : -If that you love Prince Pericles , forbear . -Take I your wish , I leap into the seas , -Where's hourly trouble for a minute's ease . -A twelvemonth longer , let me entreat you -To forbear the absence of your king ; -If in which time expir'd he not return , -I shall with aged patience bear your yoke . -But if I cannot win you to this love , -Go search like nobles , like noble subjects , -And in your search spend your adventurous worth ; -Whom if you find , and win unto return , -You shall like diamonds sit about his crown . - -To wisdom he's a fool that will not yield ; -And since Lord Helicane enjoineth us , -We with our travels will endeavour it . - -Then you love us , we you , and we'll clasp hands : -When peers thus knit , a kingdom ever stands . - - -Good morrow to the good Simonides . - -Knights , from my daughter this I let you know , -That for this twelvemonth she'll not undertake -A married life . -Her reason to herself is only known , -Which yet from her by no means can I get . - -May we not get access to her , my lord ? - -Faith , by no means ; she hath so strictly tied -Her to her chamber that 'tis impossible . -One twelve moons more she'll wear Diana's livery ; -This by the eye of Cynthia hath she vow'd , -And on her virgin honour will not break it . - -Though loath to bid farewell , we take our leaves . - - -So , -They're well dispatch'd ; now to my daughter's letter . -She tells me here , she'll wed the stranger knight , -Or never more to view nor day nor light . -'Tis well , mistress ; your choice agrees with mine ; -I like that well : how absolute she's in 't , -Not minding whether I dislike or no ! -Well , I do commend her choice ; -And will no longer have it be delay'd . -Soft ! here he comes : I must dissemble it . - - -All fortune to the good Simonides ! - -To you as much , sir ! I am beholding to you -For your sweet music this last night : I do -Protest my ears were never better fed -With such delightful pleasing harmony - -It is your Grace's pleasure to commend , -Not my desert . - -Sir , you are music's master . - -The worst of all her scholars , my good lord . - -Let me ask you one thing . -What do you think of my daughter , sir ? - -A most virtuous princess . - -And she is fair too , is she not ? - -As a fair day in summer ; wondrous fair . - -My daughter , sir , thinks very well of you ; -Ay , so well , that you must be her master , -And she will be your scholar : therefore look to it . - -I am unworthy for her schoolmaster . - -She thinks not so ; peruse this writing else . - -What's here ? -A letter that she loves the knight of Tyre ! -'Tis the king's subtilty to have my life . -O ! seek not to entrap me , gracious lord , -A stranger and distressed gentleman , -That never aim'd so high to love your daughter , -But bent all offices to honour her . - -Thou hast bewitch'd my daughter , and thou art -A villain . - -By the gods , I have not : -Never did thought of mine levy offence ; -Nor never did my actions yet commence -A deed might gain her love or your displeasure . - -Traitor , thou liest . - -Traitor ! - -Ay , traitor . - -Even in his throat , unless it be the king , -That calls me traitor , I return the lie . - -Now , by the gods , I do applaud his courage . - -My actions are as noble as my thoughts , -That never relish'd of a base descent . -I came unto your court for honour's cause , -And not to be a rebel to her state ; -And he that otherwise accounts of me , -This sword shall prove he's honour's enemy . - -No ? -Here comes my daughter , she can witness it . - - -Then , as you are as virtuous as fair , -Resolve your angry father , if my tongue -Did e'er solicit , or my hand subscribe -To any syllable that made love to you . - -Why , sir , say if you had , -Who takes offence at that would make me glad ? - -Yea , mistress , are you so peremptory ? - - -I am glad on 't , with all my heart . -I'll tame you ; I'll bring you in subjection . -Will you , not having my consent , -Bestow your love and your affections -Upon a stranger ? - -who , for aught I know , -May be , nor can I think the contrary , -As great in blood as I myself . - - -Therefore , hear you , mistress ; either frame -Your will to mine ; and you , sir , hear you , -Either be rul'd by me , or I will make you -Man and wife : -Nay , come , your hands and lips must seal it too ; -And being join'd , I'll thus your hopes destroy ; -And for a further grief ,God give you joy ! -What ! are you both pleas'd ? - -Yes , if you love me , sir . - -Even as my life , or blood that fosters it . - -What ! are you both agreed ? - -Yes , if 't please your majesty . - -Yes , if 't please your majesty . - -It pleaseth me so well , that I will see you wed ; -Then with what haste you can get you to bed . - -Now sleep yslaked hath the rout ; -No din but snores the house about , -Made louder by the o'er-fed breast -Of this most pompous marriage-feast . -The cat , with eyne of burning coal , -Now couches fore the mouse's hole ; -And crickets sing at the oven's mouth , -E'er the blither for their drouth . -Hymen hath brought the bride to bed , -Where , by the loss of maidenhead , -A babe is moulded . Be attent ; -And time that is so briefly spent -With your fine fancies quaintly eche ; -What's dumb in show I'll plain with speech . - - -By many a dern and painful perch , -Of Pericles the careful search -By the four opposing coigns , -Which the world together joins , -Is made with all due diligence -That horse and sail and high expense , -Can stead the quest . At last from Tyre , -Fame answering the most strange inquire -To the court of King Simonides -Are letters brought , the tenour these : -Antiochus and his daughter dead ; -The men of Tyrus on the head -Of Helicanus would set on -The crown of Tyre , but he will none : -The mutiny he there hastes t' oppress ; -Says to 'em , if King Pericles -Come not home in twice six moons , -He , obedient to their dooms , -Will take the crown . The sum of this , -Brought hither to Pentapolis , -Yravished the regions round , -And every one with claps can sound , -'Our heir-apparent is a king ! -Who dream'd , who thought of such a thing ?' -Brief , he must hence depart to Tyre : -His queen , with child , makes her desire , -Which who shall cross ?along to go ; -Omit we all their dole and woe : -Lychorida , her nurse , she takes , -And so to sea . Their vessel shakes -On Neptune's billow ; half the flood -Hath their keel cut : but Fortune's mood -Varies again ; the grisled north -Disgorges such a tempest forth , -That , as a duck for life that dives , -So up and down the poor ship drives . -The lady shrieks , and well-a-near -Does fall in travail with her fear ; -And what ensues in this fell storm -Shall for itself itself perform . -I nill relate , action may -Conveniently the rest convey , -Which might not what by me is told . -In your imagination hold -This stage the ship , upon whose deck -The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak . - -Thou God of this great vast , rebuke these surges , -Which wash both heaven and hell ; and thou , that hast -Upon the winds command , bind them in brass , -Having call'd them from the deep . O ! still -Thy deafening , dreadful thunders ; gently quench -Thy nimble , sulphurous flashes . O ! how Lychorida , -How does my queen ? Thou stormest venomously ; -Wilt thou spit all thyself ? The seaman's whistle -Is as a whisper in the ears of death , -Unheard . Lychorida ! Lucina , O ! -Divinest patroness , and midwife gentle -To those that cry by night , convey thy deity -Aboard our dancing boat ; make swift the pangs -Of my queen's travails ! - -Now , Lychorida ! - -Here is a thing too young for such a place , -Who , if it had conceit , would die , as I -Am like to do : take in your arms this piece -Of your dead queen . - -How , how , Lychorida ! - -Patience , good sir ; do not assist the storm . -Here's all that is left living of your queen , -A little daughter : for the sake of it , -Be manly , and take comfort . - -O you gods ! -Why do you make us love your goodly gifts , -And snatch them straight away ? We here below , -Recall not what we give , and therein may -Use honour with you . - -Patience , good sir , -Even for this charge . - -Now , mild may be thy life ! -For a more blust'rous birth had never babe : -Quiet and gentle thy conditions ! -For thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world -That e'er was prince's child . Happy what follows ! -Thou hast as chiding a nativity -As fire , air , water , earth , and heaven can make , -To herald thee from the womb ; even at the first -Thy loss is more than can thy portage quit , -With all thou canst find here . Now , the good gods -Throw their best eyes upon 't ! - - -What courage , sir ? God save you ! - -Courage enough . I do not fear the flaw ; -It hath done to me the worst . Yet for the love -Of this poor infant , this fresh-new sea-farer , -I would it would be quiet . - -Slack the bolins there ! thou wilt not , wilt thou ? Blow , and split thyself . - -But sea-room , an the brine and cloudy billow kiss the moon , I care not . - -Sir , you queen must overboard : the sea works high , the wind is loud , and will not lie till the ship be cleared of the dead . - -That's your superstition . - -Pardon us , sir ; with us at sea it hath been still observed , and we are strong in custom . Therefore briefly yield her , for she must overboard straight . - -As you think meet . Most wretched queen ! - -Here she lies , sir . - -A terrible child-bed hast thou had , my dear ; -No light , no fire : the unfriendly elements -Forgot thee utterly ; nor have I time -To give thee hallow'd to thy grave , but straight -Must cast thee , scarcely coffin'd , in the ooze ; -Where , for a monument upon thy bones , -And aye-remaining lamps , the belching whale -And humming water must o'erwhelm thy corpse , -Lying with simple shells ! O Lychorida ! -Bid Nestor bring me spices , ink and paper , -My casket and my jewels ; and bid Nicander -Bring me the satin coffer : lay the babe -Upon the pillow . Hie thee , whiles I say -A priestly farewell to her : suddenly , woman . - - -Sir , we have a chest beneath the hatches , caulk'd and bitumed ready . - -I thank thee . Mariner , say what coast is this ? - -We are near Tarsus . - -Thither , gentle mariner , -Alter thy course for Tyre . When canst thou reach it ? - -By break of day , if the wind cease . - -O ! make for Tarsus . -There will I visit Cleon , for the babe -Cannot hold out to Tyrus ; there I'll leave it -At careful nursing . Go thy ways , good mariner ; -I'll bring the body presently . - - -Philemon , ho ! - - -Doth my lord call ? - -Get fire and meat for these poor men ; -'T has been a turbulent and stormy night . - -I have been in many ; but such a night as this -Till now I ne'er endur'd . - -Your master will be dead ere you return ; -There's nothing can be minister'd to nature -That can recover him . - -Give this to the 'pothecary , -And tell me how it works . - -Good morrow , sir . - -Good morrow to your lordship . - -Gentlemen , -Why do you stir so early ? - -Sir , -Our lodgings , standing bleak upon the sea , -Shook as the earth' did quake ; -The very principals did seem to rend , -And all to topple . Pure surprise and fear -Made me to quit the house . - -That is the cause we trouble you so early ; -'Tis not our husbandry . - -O ! you say well . - -But I much marvel that your lordship , having -Rich tire about you , should at these early hours -Shake off the golden slumber of repose . -'Tis most strange , -Nature should be so conversant with pain , -Being thereto not compell'd . - -I hold it ever , -Virtue and cunning were endowments greater -Than nobleness and riches ; careless heirs -May the two latter darken and expend , -But immortality attends the former , -Making a man a god . 'Tis known I ever -Have studied physic , through which secret art , -By turning o'er authorities , I have -Together with my practice made familiar -To me and to my aid the blest infusions -That dwell in vegetives , in metals , stones ; -And can speak of the disturbances -That nature works , and of her cures ; which doth give me -A more content in course of true delight -Than to be thirsty after tottering honour , -Or tie my treasure up in silken bags , -To please the fool and death . - -Your honour has through Ephesus pour'd forth -Your charity , and hundreds call themselves -Your creatures , who by you have been restor'd : -And not your knowledge , your personal pain , but even -Your purse , still open , hath built Lord Cerimon -Such strong renown as time shall ne'er decay . - - -So ; lift there . - -What is that ? - -Sir , even now -Did the sea toss upon our shore this chest : -'Tis of some wrack . - -Set it down ; let's look upon 't . - -'Tis like a coffin , sir . - -Whate'er it be , -'Tis wondrous heavy . Wrench it open straight ; -If the sea's stomach be o'ercharg'd with gold , -'Tis a good constraint of fortune it belches upon us . - -'Tis so , my lord . - -How close 'tis caulk'd and bitumed ! -Did the sea cast it up ? - -I never saw so huge a billow , sir , -As toss'd it upon shore . - -Come , wrench it open . -Soft ! it smells most sweetly in my sense . - -A delicate odour . - -As ever hit my nostril . So , up with it . -O you most potent gods ! what's here ? a corse ! - -Most strange ! - -Shrouded in cloth of state ; balm'd and entreasur'd -With full bags of spices ! A passport too ! -Apollo , perfect me i' the characters ! - -Here I give to understand , -If e'er this coffin drive a-land , -I , King Pericles , have lost -This queen worth all our mundane cost . -Who finds her , give her burying ; -She was the daughter of a king : -Besides this treasure for a fee , -The gods requite his charity ! - -If thou liv'st , Pericles , thou hast a heart -That even cracks for woe ! This chanc'd to-night . - -Most likely , sir . - -Nay , certainly to-night ; -For look , how fresh she looks . They were too rough -That threw her in the sea . Make fire within ; -Fetch hither all the boxes in my closet . - -Death may usurp on nature many hours , -And yet the fire of life kindle again -The overpress'd spirits . I heard -Of an Egyptian , that had nine hours lien dead , -Who was by good appliances recovered . - - -Well said , well said ; the fire and cloths . -The rough and woeful music that we have , -Cause it to sound , beseech you . -The viol once more ;how thou stirr'st , thou block ! -The music there ! I pray you , give her air . -Gentlemen , -This queen will live ; nature awakes , a warmth -Breathes out of her ; she hath not been entranc'd -Above five hours . See ! how she 'gins to blow - -Into life's flower again . - -The heavens -Through you increase our wonder and set up -Your fame for ever . - -She is alive ! behold , -Her eyelids , cases to those heavenly jewels -Which Pericles hath lost , -Begin to part their fringes of bright gold ; -The diamonds of a most praised water -Do appear , to make the world twice rich . Live , -And make us weep to hear your fate , fair creature , -Rare as you seem to be ! - - -O dear Diana ! -Where am I ? Where's my lord ? What world is this ? - -Is not this strange ? - -Most rare . - -Hush , gentle neighbours ! -Lend me your hands ; to the next chamber bear her . -Get linen ; now this matter must be look'd to , -For her relapse is mortal , Come , come ; -And sculapius guide us ! - - -Most honour'd Cleon , I must needs be gone ; -My twelve months are expir'd , and Tyrus stands -In a litigious peace . You and your lady -Take from my heart all thankfulness ; the gods -Make up the rest upon you ! - -Your shafts of fortune , though they hurt you mortally , -Yet glance full wanderingly on us . - -O your sweet queen ! -That the strict fates had pleas'd you had brought her hither , -To have bless'd mine eyes with her ! - -We cannot but obey -The powers above us . Could I rage and roar -As doth the sea she lies in , yet the end -Must be as 'tis . My gentle babe Marina whom , -For she was born at sea , I have nam'd so here -I charge your charity withal , and leave her -The infant of your care , beseeching you -To give her princely training , that she may be -Manner'd as she is born . - -Fear not , my lord , but think -Your Grace , that fed my country with your corn -For which the people's prayers still fall upon you -Must in your child be thought on . If neglection -Should therein make me vile , the common body , -By you reliev'd , would force me to my duty ; -But if to that my nature need a spur , -The gods revenge it upon me and mine , -To the end of generation ! - -I believe you ; -Your honour and your goodness teach me to 't , -Without your vows . Till she be married , madam , -By bright Diana , whom we honour , all -Unscissar'd shall this hair of mine remain , -Though I show ill in 't . So I take my leave . -Good madam , make me blessed in your care -In bringing up my child . - -I have one myself , -Who shall not be more dear to my respect -Than yours , my lord . - -Madam , my thanks and prayers . - -We'll bring your Grace e'en to the edge o' the shore ; -Then give you up to the mask'd Neptune and -The gentlest winds of heaven . - -I will embrace -Your offer . Come , dearest madam . O ! no tears , -Lychorida , no tears : -Look to your little mistress , on whose grace -You may depend hereafter . Come , my lord . - - -Madam , this letter , and some certain jewels , -Lay with you in your coffer ; which are now -At your command . Know you the character ? - -It is my lord's . -That I was shipp'd at sea , I well remember , -Even on my eaning time ; but whether there -Deliver'd , by the holy gods , -I cannot rightly say . But since King Pericles , -My wedded lord , I ne'er shall see again , -A vestal livery will I take me to , -And never more have joy . - -Madam , if this you purpose as you speak , -Diana's temple is not distant far , -Where you may abide till your date expire . -Moreover , if you please , a niece of mine -Shall there attend you . - -My recompense is thanks , that's all ; -Yet my good will is great , though the gift small . - -Imagine Pericles arriv'd at Tyre , -Welcom'd and settled to his own desire . -His woeful queen we leave at Ephesus , -Unto Diana there a votaress . -Now to Marina bend your mind , -Whom our fast-growing scene must find -At Tarsus , and by Cleon train'd -In music , letters ; who hath gain'd -Of education all the grace , -Which makes her bath the heart and places -Of general wonder . But , alack ! -That monster envy , oft the wrack -Of earned praise , Marina's life -Seeks to take off by treason's knife . -And in this kind hath our Cleon -One daughter , and a wench full grown , -Even ripe for marriage-rite ; this maid -Hight Philoten , and it is said -For certain in our story , she -Would ever with Marina be : -Be 't when she weav'd the sleided silk -With fingers , long , small , white as milk , -Or when she would with sharp neeld wound -The cambric , which she made more sound -By hurting it ; when to the lute -She sung , and made the night-bird mute , -That still records with moan ; or when -She would with rich and constant pen -Vail to her mistress Dian ; still -This Philoten contends in skill -With absolute Marina : so -With the dove of Paphos might the crow -Vie feathers white . Marina gets -All praises , which are paid as debts , -And not as given . This so darks -In Philoten all graceful marks , -That Cleon's wife , with envy rare , -A present murderer does prepare -For good Marina , that her daughter -Might stand peerless by this slaughter . -The sooner her vile thoughts to stead , -Lychorida , our nurse , is dead : -And cursed Dionyza hath -The pregnant instrument of wrath -Prest for this blow . The unborn event -I do commend to your content : -Only I carry winged time -Post on the lame feet of my rime ; -Which never could I so convey , -Unless your thoughts went on my way . -Dionyza doth appear , -With Leonine , a murderer . - - -Thy oath remember ; thou hast sworn to do 't : -'Tis but a blow , which never shall be known . -Thou canst not do a thing i' the world so soon , -To yield thee so much profit . Let not conscience , -Which is but cold , inflaming love i' thy bosom , -Inflame too nicely ; nor let pity , which -Even women have cast off , melt thee , but he -A soldier to thy purpose . - -I'll do 't ; but yet she is a goodly creature . - -The fitter , then , the gods should have her . Here -She comes weeping for her only mistress' death . -Thou art resolv'd ? - -I am resolv'd . - - -No , I will rob Tellus of her weed , -To strew thy green with flowers ; the yellows , blues , -The purple violets , and marigolds , -Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave , -While summer days do last . Ay me ! poor maid , -Born in a tempest , when my mother died , -This world to me is like a lasting storm , -Whirring me from my friends . - -How now , Marina ! why do you keep alone ? -How chance my daughter is not with you ? Do not -Consume your blood with sorrowing ; you have -A nurse of me . Lord ! how your favour's chang'd -With this unprofitable woe . Come , -Give me your flowers , ere the sea mar it . -Walk with Leonine ; the air is quick there , -And it pierces and sharpens the stomach . Come , -Leonine , take her by the arm , walk with her . - -No , I pray you ; -I'll not bereave you of your servant . - -Come , come ; -I love the king your father , and yourself , -With more than foreign heart . We every day -Expect him here ; when he shall come and find -Our paragon to all reports thus blasted , -He will repent the breadth of his great voyage ; -Blame both my lord and me , that we have taken -No care to your best courses . Go , I pray you ; -Walk , and be cheerful once again ; reserve -That excellent complexion , which did steal -The eyes of young and old . Care not for me ; -I can go home alone . - -Well , I will go ; -But yet I have no desire to it . - -Come , come , I know 'tis good for you . -Walk half an hour , Leonine , at least . -Remember what I have said . - -I warrant you , madam . - -I'll leave you , my sweet lady , for a while ; -Pray you walk softly , do not heat your blood : -What ! I must have care of you . - -My thanks , sweet madam . - -Is this wind westerly that blows ? - -South-west . - -When I was born , the wind was north . - -Was 't so ? - -My father , as nurse said , did never fear , -But cried 'Good seamen !' to the sailors , galling -His kingly hands haling ropes ; -And , clasping to the mast , endur'd a sea -That almost burst the deck . - -When was this ? - -When I was born : -Never were waves nor wind more violent ; -And from the ladder-tackle washes off -A canvas-climber . 'Ha !' says one , 'wilt out ?' -And with a dropping industry they skip -From stem to stern ; the boatswain whistles , and -The master calls , and trebles their confusion . - -Come ; say your prayers . - -What mean you ? - -If you require a little space for prayer , -I grant it . Pray ; but be not tedious , -For the gods are quick of ear , and I am sworn -To do my work with haste . - -Why will you kill me ? - -To satisfy my lady . - -Why would she have me kill'd ? -Now , as I can remember , by my troth , -I never did her hurt in all my life . -I never spake bad word , nor did ill turn -To any living creature ; believe me , la , -I never kill'd a mouse , nor hurt a fly ; -I trod upon a worm against my will , -But I wept for it . How have I offended , -Wherein my death might yield her any profit , -Or my life imply her any danger ? - -My commission -Is not to reason of the deed , but do 't . - -You will not do 't for all the world , I hope . -You are well favour'd , and your looks foreshow -You have a gentle heart . I saw you lately , -When you caught hurt in parting two that fought ; -Good sooth , it show'd well in you ; do so now ; -Your lady seeks my life ; come you between , -And save poor me , the weaker . - -I am sworn , -And will dispatch . - - -Hold , villain ! - - -A prize ! a prize ! - -Half-part , mates , half-part . -Come , let's have her aboard suddenly . - -These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes ; -And they have seiz'd Marina . Let her go ; -There's no hope she'll return . I'll swear she's dead , -And thrown into the sea . But I'll see further ; -Perhaps they will but please themselves upon her , -Not carry her aboard . If she remain , -Whom they have ravish'd must by me be slain . - - -Boult . - -Sir ? - -Search the market narrowly ; Mitylene is full of gallants ; we lost too much money this mart by being too wenchless . - -We were never so much out of creatures . We have but poor three , and they can do no more than they can do ; and they with continual action are even as good as rotten . - -Therefore , let's have fresh ones , whate'er we pay for them . If there be not a conscience to be used in every trade , we shall never prosper . - -Thou sayst true ; 'tis not the bringing up of poor bastards , as , I think , I have brought up some eleven - -Ay , to eleven ; and brought them down again . But shall I search the market ? - -What else , man ? The stuff we have a strong wind will blow it to pieces , they are so pitifully sodden . - -Thou sayst true ; they're too unwholesome , o' conscience . The poor Transylvanian is dead , that lay with the little baggage . - -Ay , she quickly pooped him ; she made him roast-meat for worms . But I'll go search the market . - - -Three or four thousand chequins were as pretty a proportion to live quietly , and so give over . - -Why to give over , I pray you ? is it a shame to get when we are old ? - -O ! our credit comes not in like the commodity , nor the commodity wages not with the danger ; therefore , if in our youths we could pick up some pretty estate , 'twere not amiss to keep our door hatched . Besides , the sore terms we stand upon with the gods will be strong with us for giving over . - -Come , other sorts offend as well as we . - -As well as we ! ay , and better too ; we offend worse . Neither is our profession any trade ; it's no calling . But here comes Boult . - - -Come your ways . My masters , you say she's a virgin ? - -O ! sir , we doubt it not . - -Master , I have gone through for this piece , you see : if you like her , so ; if not , I have lost my earnest . - -Boult , has she any qualities ? - -She has a good face , speaks well , and has excellent good clothes ; there's no further necessity of qualities can make her be refused . - -What's her price , Boult ? - -I cannot be bated one doit of a thousand pieces . - -Well , follow me , my masters , you shall have your money presently . Wife , take her in ; instruct her what she has to do , that she may not be raw in her entertainment . - - -Boult , take you the marks of her , the colour of her hair , complexion , height , age , with warrant of her virginity ; and cry , 'He that will give most , shall have her first .' Such a maiden-head were no cheap thing , if men were as they have been . Get this done as I command you . - -Performance shall follow . - - -Alack ! that Leonine was so slack , so slow . -He should have struck , not spoke ; or that these pirates -Not enough barbarous had not o'erboard thrown me -For to seek my mother ! - -Why lament you , pretty one ? - -That I am pretty . - -Come , the gods have done their part in you . - -I accuse them not . - -You are lit into my hands , where you are like to live . - -The more my fault -To 'scape his hands where I was like to die . - -Ay , and you shall live in pleasure . - -No . - -Yes , indeed , shall you , and taste gentlemen of all fashions . You shall fare well ; you shall have the difference of all complexions . What ! do you stop your ears ? - -Are you a woman ? - -What would you have me be , an I be not a woman ? - -An honest woman , or not a woman . - -Marry , whip thee , gosling ; I think I shall have something to do with you . Come , you are a young foolish sapling , and must be bowed as I would have you . - -The gods defend me ! - -If it please the gods to defend you by men , then men must comfort you , men must feed you , men must stir you up . Boult's returned . - -Now , sir , hast thou cried her through the market ? - -I have cried her almost to the number of her hairs ; I have drawn her picture with my voice . - -And I prithee , tell me , how dost thou find the inclination of the people , especially of the younger sort ? - -Faith , they listened to me , as they would have hearkened to their father's testament . There was a Spaniard's mouth so watered , that he went to bed to her very description . - -We shall have him here to-morrow with his best ruff on . - -To-night , to-night . But , mistress , do you know the French knight that cowers i' the hams ? - -Who ? Monsieur Veroles ? - -Ay ; he offered to cut a caper at the proclamation ; but he made a groan at it , and swore he would see her to-morrow . - -Well , well ; as for him , he brought his disease hither : here he does but repair it . I know he will come in our shadow , to scatter his crowns in the sun . - -Well , if we had of every nation a traveller , we should lodge them with this sign . - -Pray you , come hither awhile . You have fortunes coming upon you . Mark me : you must seem to do that fearfully , which you commit willingly ; to despise profit where you have most gain . To weep that you live as ye do makes pity in your lovers ; seldom but that pity begets you a good opinion , and that opinion a mere profit . - -I understand you not . - -O ! take her home , mistress , take her home ; these blushes of hers must be quenched with some present practice . - -Thou sayst true , i' faith , so they must ; for your bride goes to that with shame which is her way to go with warrant . - -Faith , some do , and some do not . But , mistress , if I have bargained for the joint , - -Thou mayst cut a morsel off the spit . - -I may so ? - -Who should deny it ? Come , young one , I like the manner of your garments well . - -Ay , by my faith , they shall not be changed yet . - -Boult , spend thou that in the town ; report what a sojourner we have ; you'll lose nothing by custom . When nature framed this piece , she meant thee a good turn ; therefore say what a paragon she is , and thou hast the harvest out of thine own report . - -I warrant you , mistress , thunder shall not so awake the beds of eels as my giving out her beauty stir up the lewdly-inclined . I'll bring home some to-night . - -Come your ways ; follow me . - -If fires be hot , knives sharp , or waters deep , -Untied I still my virgin knot will keep . -Diana , aid my purpose ! - -What have we to do with Diana ? -Pray you , will you go with us ? - - -Why , are you foolish ? Can it be undone ? - -O Dionyza ! such a piece of slaughter -The sun and moon ne'er look'd upon . - -I think -You'll turn a child again . - -Were I chief lord of all this spacious world , -I'd give it to undo the deed . O lady ! -Much less in blood than virtue , yet a princess -To equal any single crown o' the earth -I' the justice of compare . O villain Leonine ! -Whom thou hast poison'd too ; -If thou hadst drunk to him 't had been a kindness -Becoming well thy fact ; what canst thou say -When noble Pericles shall demand his child ? - -That she is dead . Nurses are not the fates , -To foster it , nor ever to preserve . -She died at night ; I'll say so . Who can cross it ? -Unless you play the pious innocent , -And for an honest attribute cry out -'She died by foul play .' - -O ! go to . Well , well , -Of all the faults beneath the heavens , the gods -Do like this worst . - -Be one of those that think -The pretty wrens of Tarsus will fly hence , -And open this to Pericles . I do shame -To think of what a noble strain you are , -And of how coward a spirit . - -To such proceeding -Who ever but his approbation added , -Though not his prime consent , he did not flow -From honourable sources . - -Be it so , then ; -Yet none does know but you how she came dead , -Nor none can know , Leonine being gone . -She did distain my child , and stood between -Her and her fortunes ; none would look on her , -But cast their gazes on Marina's face , -Whilst ours was blurted at and held a malkin -Not worth the time of day . It pierc'd me thorough ; -And though you call my course unnatural , -You not your child well loving , yet I find -It greets me as an enterprise of kindness -Perform'd to your sole daughter . - -Heavens forgive it ! - -And as for Pericles , -What should he say ? We wept after her hearse , -And even yet we mourn ; her monument -Is almost finish'd , and her epitaphs -In glittering golden characters express -A general praise to her , and care in us -At whose expense 'tis done . - -Thou art like the harpy , -Which , to betray , dost with thine angel's face , -Seize with thine eagle's talons . - -You are like one that superstitiously -Doth swear to the gods that winter kills the flies ; -But yet I know you'll do as I advise . - -Thus time we waste , and longest leagues make short ; -Sail seas in cockles , have an wish but for 't ; -Making to take your imagination -From bourn to bourn , region to region . -By you being pardon'd , we commit no crime -To use one language in each several clime -Where our scenes seem to live . I do beseech you -To learn of me , who stand i' the gaps to teach you , -The stages of our story . Pericles -Is now again thwarting the wayward seas , -Attended on by many a lord and knight , -To see his daughter , all his life's delight . -Old Helicanus goes along . Behind -Is left to govern it , you bear in mind , -Old Escanes , whom Helicanus late -Advanc'd in time to great and high estate . -Well-sailing ships and bounteous winds have brought -This king to Tarsus , think his pilot thought , -So with his steerage shall your thoughts grow on , -To fetch his daughter home , who first is gone . -Like motes and shadows see them move awhile ; -Your ears unto your eyes I'll reconcile . - - -See how belief may suffer by foul show ! -This borrow'd passion stands for true old woe ; -And Pericles , in sorrow all devour'd , -With sighs shot through , and biggest tears o'ershower'd , -Leaves Tarsus and again embarks . He swears -Never to wash his face , nor cut his hairs ; -He puts on sackcloth , and to sea . He bears -A tempest , which his mortal vessel tears , -And yet he rides it out . Now please you wit -The epitaph is for Marina writ -By wicked Dionyza . - - -the fairest , sweet'st , and best lies here , -who wither'd in her spring of year : -she was of tyrus the king's daughter , -on whom foul death hath made this slaughter . -marina was she call'd ; and at her birth , -thetis , being proud , swallow'd some part o' the earth : -therefore the earth , fearing to be o'erflow'd , -hath thetis' birth-child on the heavens bestow'd : -wherefore she does , and swears she'll never stint , -make raging battery upon shores of flint . - -No visor does become black villany -So well as soft and tender flattery . -Let Pericles believe his daughter's dead , -And bear his courses to be ordered -By Lady Fortune ; while our scene must play -His daughter's woe and heavy well-a-day -In her unholy service . Patience then , -And think you now are all in Mitylen . - - -Did you ever hear the like ? - -No , nor never shall do in such a place as this , she being once gone . - -But to have divinity preached there ! did you ever dream of such a thing ? - -No , no . Come , I am for no more bawdy-houses . Shall's go hear the vestals sing ? - -I'll do any thing now that is virtuous ; but I am out of the road of rutting for ever . - - -Well , I had rather than twice the worth of her she had ne'er come here . - -Fie , fie upon her ! she is able to freeze the god Priapus , and undo a whole generation ; we must either get her ravished , or be rid of her . When she should do for clients her fitment , and do me the kindness of our profession , she has me her quirks , her reasons , her master-reasons , her prayers , her knees ; that she would make a puritan of the devil if he should cheapen a kiss of her . - -Faith , I must ravish her , or she'll disfurnish us of all our cavaliers , and make all our swearers priests . - -Now , the pox upon her green-sickness for me ! - -Faith , there's no way to be rid on 't but by the way to the pox . Here comes the Lord Lysimachus , disguised . - -We should have both lord and lown if the peevish baggage would but give way to customers . - - -How now ! How a dozen of virginities ? - -Now , the gods to-bless your honour ! - -I am glad to see your honour in good health . - -You may so ; 'tis the better for you that your resorters stand upon sound legs . How now ! wholesome iniquity , have you that a man may deal withal , and defy the surgeon ? - -We have here one , sir , if she would but there never came her like in Mitylene . - -If she'd do the deed of darkness , thou wouldst say . - -Your honour knows what 'tis to say well enough . - -Well ; call forth , call forth . - -For flesh and blood , sir , white and red , you shall see a rose ; and she were a rose indeed if she had but - -What , prithee ? - -O ! sir , I can be modest . - -That dignifies the renown of a bawd no less than it gives a good report to a number to be chaste . - - -Here comes that which grows to the stalk ; never plucked yet , I can assure you . - -Is she not a fair creature ? - -Faith , she would serve after a long voyage at sea . Well , there's for you ; leave us . - -I beseech your honour , give me leave ; a word , and I'll have done presently . - -I beseech you do . - -First , I would have you note , this is an honourable man . - -I desire to find him so , that I may worthily note him . - -Next , he's the governor of this country , and a man whom I am bound to . - -If he govern the country , you are bound to him indeed ; but how honourable he is in that I know not . - -Pray you , without any more virginal fencing , will you use him kindly ? He will line your apron with gold . - -What he will do graciously , I will thankfully receive . - -Ha' you done ? - -My lord , she's not paced yet ; you must take some pains to work her to your manage . Come , we will leave his honour and her together . - -Go thy ways . - -Now , pretty one , how long have you been at this trade ? - -What trade , sir ? - -Why , I cannot name 't but I shall offend . - -I cannot be offended with my trade . Please you to name it . - -How long have you been of this profession ? - -E'er since I can remember . - -Did you go to 't so young ? Were you a gamester at five or at seven ? - -Earlier too , sir , if now I be one . - -Why , the house you dwell in proclaims you to be a creature of sale . - -Do you know this house to be a place of such resort , and will come into 't ? I hear say you are of honourable parts , and are the governor of this place . - -Why , hath your principal made known unto you who I am ? - -Who is my principal ? - -Why , your herb-woman ; she that sets seeds and roots of shame and iniquity . O ! you have heard something of my power , and so stand aloof for more serious wooing . But I protest to thee , pretty one , my authority shall not see thee , or else look friendly upon thee . Come , bring me to some private place ; come , come . - -If you were born to honour , show it now ; -If put upon you , make the judgment good -That thought you worthy of it . - -How's this ? how's this ? Some more ; be sage . - -For me , -That am a maid , though most ungentle fortune -Hath plac'd me in this sty , where , since I came , -Diseases have been sold dearer than physic , -O ! that the gods -Would set me free from this unhallow'd place , -Though they did change me to the meanest bird -That flies i' the purer air ! - -I did not think -Thou couldst have spoke so well ; ne'er dream'd thou couldst . -Had I brought hither a corrupted mind , -Thy speech had alter'd it . Hold , here's gold for thee ; -Persever in that clear way thou goest , -And the gods strengthen thee ! - -The good gods preserve you ! - -For me , be you thoughten -That I came with no ill intent , for to me -The very doors and windows savour vilely . -Farewell . Thou art a piece of virtue , and -I doubt not but thy training hath been noble . -Hold , here's more gold for thee . -A curse upon him , die he like a thief , -That robs thee of thy goodness ! If thou dost -Hear from me , it shall be for thy good . - - -I beseech your honour , one piece for me . - -Avaunt ! thou damned door-keeper . Your house , -But for this virgin that doth prop it , would -Sink and overwhelm you . Away ! - - -How's this ? We must take another course with you . If your peevish chastity , which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope , shall undo a whole household , let me be gelded like a spaniel . Come your ways . - -Whither would you have me ? - -I must have your maidenhead taken off , or the common hangman shall execute it . Come your ways . We'll have no more gentlemen driven away . Come your ways , I say . - - -How now ! what's the matter ? - -Worse and worse , mistress ; she has here spoken holy words to the Lord Lysimachus . - -O ! abominable . - -She makes our profession as it were to stink afore the face of the gods . - -Marry , hang her up for ever ! - -The nobleman would have dealt with her like a nobleman , and she sent him away as cold as a snowball ; saying his prayers too . - -Boult , take her away ; use her at thy pleasure ; crack the glass of her virginity , and make the rest malleable . - -An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she is , she shall be ploughed . - -Hark , hark , you gods ! - -She conjures ; away with her ! Would she had never come within my doors ! Marry , hang you ! She's born to undo us . Will you not go the way of women-kind ? Marry , come up , my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays ! - - -Come , mistress ; come your ways with me . - -Whither wilt thou have me ? - -To take from you the jewel you hold so dear . - -Prithee , tell me one thing first . - -Come now , your one thing . - -What canst thou wish thine enemy to be ? - -Why , I could wish him to be my master , or rather , my mistress . - -Neither of these are so bad as thou art , -Since they do better thee in their command . -Thou hold'st a place , for which the pained'st fiend -Of hell would not in reputation change ; -Thou art the damned door-keeper to every -Coystril that comes inquiring for his Tib , -To the choleric fisting of every rogue -Thy ear is liable , thy food is such -As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs . - -What would you have me do ? go to the wars , would you ? where a man may serve seven years for the loss of a leg , and have not money enough in the end to buy him a wooden one ? - -Do any thing but this thou doest . Empty . -Old receptacles , or common sewers , of filth ; -Serve by indenture to the common hangman : -Any of these ways are yet better than this ; -For what thou professest , a baboon , could he speak , -Would own a name too dear . O ! that the gods -Would safely deliver me from this place . -Here , here's gold for thee . -If that thy master would gain by me , -Proclaim that I can sing , weave , sew , and dance , -With other virtues , which I'll keep from boast ; -And I will undertake all these to teach . -I doubt not but this populous city will -Yield many scholars . - -But can you teach all this you speak of ? - -Prove that I cannot , take me home again , -And prostitute me to the basest groom -That doth frequent your house . - -Well , I will see what I can do for thee ; if I can place thee , I will . - -But , amongst honest women . - -Faith , my acquaintance lies little amongst them . But since my master and mistress have bought you , there's no going but by their consent ; therefore I will make them acquainted with your purpose , and I doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough . Come ; I'll do for thee what I can ; come your ways . - - -Marina thus the brothel 'scapes , and chances -Into an honest house , our story says . -She sings like one immortal , and she dances -As goddess-like to her admired lays ; -Deep clerks she dumbs ; and with her neeld composes -Nature's own shape , of bud , bird , branch , or berry , -That even her art sisters the natural roses ; -Her inkle , silk , twin with the rubied cherry ; -That pupils lacks she none of noble race , -Who pour their bounty on her ; and her gain -She gives the cursed bawd . Here we her place ; -And to her father turn our thoughts again , -Where we left him , on the sea . We there him lost , -Whence , driven before the winds , he is arriv'd -Here where his daughter dwells : and on this coast -Suppose him now at anchor . The city striv'd -God Neptune's annual feast to keep ; from whence -Lysimachus our Tyrian ship espies , -His banners sable , trimm'd with rich expense ; -And to him in his barge with fervour hies . -In your supposing once more put your sight -Of heavy Pericles ; think this his bark : -Where what is done in action , more , if might , -Shall be discover'd ; please you , sit and hark . - -Where's the Lord Helicanus ? he can resolve you . -O ! here he is . -Sir , there's a barge put off from Mitylene , -And in it is Lysimachus , the governor , -Who craves to come aboard . What is your will ? - -That he have his . Call up some gentlemen . - -Ho , gentlemen ! my lord calls . - - -Doth your lordship call ? - -Gentlemen , there's some of worth would come aboard ; -I pray ye , greet them fairly . - -Sir , -This is the man that can , in aught you would , -Resolve you . - -Hail , reverend sir ! The gods preserve you ! - -And you , sir , to outlive the age I am , -And die as I would do . - -You wish me well . -Being on shore , honouring of Neptune's triumphs , -Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us , -I made to it to know of whence you are . - -First , what is your place ? - -I am the governor of this place you lie before . - -Sir , -Our vessel is of Tyre , in it the king ; -A man who for this three months hath not spoken -To any one , nor taken sustenance -But to prorogue his grief . - -Upon what ground is his distemperature ? - -'Twould be too tedious to repeat ; -But the main grief springs from the loss -Of a beloved daughter and a wife . - -May we not see him ? - -You may ; -But bootless is your sight : he will not speak -To any . - -Yet let me obtain my wish . - -Behold him . - -This was a goodly person , -Till the disaster that , one mortal night , -Drove him to this . - -Sir king , all hail ! the gods preserve you ! -Hall , royal sir ! - -It is in vain ; he will not speak to you . - -Sir , -We have a maid in Mitylene , I durst wager , -Would win some words of him . - -'Tis well bethought . -She questionless with her sweet harmony -And other chosen attractions , would allure , -And make a battery through his deafen'd ports -Which now are midway stopp'd : -She is all happy as the fair'st of all , -And with her fellow maids is now upon -The leafy shelter that abuts against -The island's side . - - -Sure , all's effectless ; yet nothing we'll omit , -That bears recovery's name . But , since your kindness -We have stretch'd thus far , let us beseech you , -That for our gold we may provision have , -Wherein we are not destitute for want , -But weary for the staleness . - -O ! sir , a courtesy , -Which if we should deny , the most just gods -For every graff would send a caterpillar , -And so afflict our province . Yet once more -Let me entreat to know at large the cause -Of your king's sorrow . - -Sit , sir , I will recount it to you ; -But see , I am prevented . - - -O ! here is -The lady that I sent for . Welcome , fair one ! -Is't not a goodly presence ? - -She's a gallant lady . - -She's such a one , that were I well assur'd -Came of a gentle kind and noble stock , -I'd wish no better choice , and think me rarely wed . -Fair one , all goodness that consists in bounty -Expect even here , where is a kingly patient : -If that thy prosperous and artificial feat -Can draw him but to answer thee in aught , -Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay -As thy desires can wish . - -Sir , I will use -My utmost skill in his recovery , -Provided -That none but I and my companion maid -Be suffer'd to come near him . - -Come , let us leave her ; -And the gods make her prosperous ! - - -Mark'd he your music ? - -No , nor look'd on us . - -See , she will speak to him . - -Hail , sir ! my lord , lend ear . - -Hum ! ha ! - -I am a maid , -My lord , that ne'er before invited eyes , -But have been gaz'd on like a comet ; she speaks , -My lord , that , may be , hath endur'd a grief -Might equal yours , if both were justly weigh'd . -Though wayward Fortune did malign my state , -My derivation was from ancestors -Who stood equivalent with mighty kings ; -But time hath rooted out my parentage , -And to the world and awkward casualties -Bound me in servitude . - -I will desist ; -But there is something glows upon my cheek , -And whispers in mine ear , 'Go not till he speak .' - -My fortunes parentage good parentage -To equal mine !was it not thus ? what say you ? - -I said , my lord , if you did know my parentage , -You would not do me violence . - -I do think so . Pray you , turn your eyes upon me . -You are like something that What country-woman ? -Here of these shores ? - -No , nor of any shores ; -Yet I was mortally brought forth , and am -No other than I appear . - -I am great with woe , and shall deliver weeping . -My dearest wife was like this maid , and such a one -My daughter might have been : my queen's square brows ; -Her stature to an inch ; as wand-like straight ; -As silver-voic'd ; her eyes as jewel-like , -And cas'd as richly ; in pace another Juno ; -Who starves the ears she feeds , and makes them hungry , -The more she gives them speech . Where do you live ? - -Where I am but a stranger ; from the deck -You may discern the place . - -Where were you bred ? -And how achiev'd you these endowments , which -You make more rich to owe ? - -Should I tell my history , it would seem -Like lies , disdain'd in the reporting . - -Prithee , speak ; -Falseness cannot come from thee , for thou look'st -Modest as justice , and thou seem'st a palace -For the crown'd truth to dwell in . I believe thee , -And make my senses credit thy relation -To points that seem impossible ; for thou lookest -Like one I lov'd indeed . What were thy friends ? -Didst thou not say when I did push thee back , -Which was when I perceiv'd thee ,that thou cam'st -From good descending ? - -So indeed I did . - -Report thy parentage . I think thou saidst -Thou hadst been toss'd from wrong to injury , -And that thou thought'st thy griefs might equal mine , -If both were open'd . - -Some such thing -I said , and said no more but what my thoughts -Did warrant me was likely . - -Tell thy story ; -If thine consider'd prove the thousandth part -Of my endurance , thou art a man , and I -Have suffer'd like a girl ; yet thou dost look -Like Patience gazing on kings' graves , and smiling -Extremity out of act . What were thy friends ? -How lost thou them ? Thy name , my most kind virgin ? -Recount , I do beseech thee . Come , sit by me . - -My name is Marina . - -O ! I am mock'd , -And thou by some incensed god sent hither -To make the world to laugh at me . - -Patience , good sir , -Or here I'll cease . - -Nay , I'll be patient . -Thou little know'st how thou dost startle me , -To call thyself Marina . - -The name -Was given me by one that had some power ; -My father , and a king . - -How ! a king's daughter ? -And call'd Marina ? - -You said you would believe me ; -But , not to be a troubler of your peace , -I will end here . - -But are you flesh and blood ? -Have you a working pulse ? and are no fairy ? -Motion !Well ; speak on . Where were you born ? -And wherefore call'd Marina ? - -Call'd Marina -For I was born at sea . - -At sea ! what mother ? - -My mother was the daughter of a king ; -Who died the minute I was born , -As my good nurse Lychorida hath oft -Deliver'd weeping . - -O ! stop there a little . -This is the rarest dream that e'er dull sleep -Did mock sad fools withal ; this cannot be . -My daughter's buried . Well ; where were you bred ? -I'll hear you more , to the bottom of your story , -And never interrupt you . - -You'll scorn to believe me ; 'twere best I did give o'er . - -I will believe you by the syllable -Of what you shall deliver . Yet , give me leave : -How came you in these parts ? where were you bred ? - -The king my father did in Tarsus leave me , -Till cruel Cleon , with his wicked wife , -Did seek to murder me ; and having woo'd -A villain to attempt it , who having drawn to do 't , -A crew of pirates came and rescu'd me ; -Brought me to Mitylene . But , good sir , -Whither will you have me ? Why do you weep ? It may be -You think me an impostor ; no , good faith ; -I am the daughter to King Pericles , -If good King Pericles be . - -Ho , Helicanus ! - -Calls my lord ? - -Thou art a grave and noble counsellor , -Most wise in general ; tell me , if thou canst , -What this maid is , or what is like to be , -That thus hath made me weep ? - -I know not ; but -Here is the regent , sir , of Mitylene , -Speaks nobly of her . - -She never would tell -Her parentage ; being demanded that , -She would sit still and weep . - -O Helicanus ! strike me , honour'd sir ; -Give me a gash , put me to present pain , -Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me -O'erbear the shores of my mortality , -And drown me with their sweetness . O ! come hither , -Thou that begett'st him that did thee beget ; -Thou that wast born at sea , buried at Tarsus , -And found at sea again . O Helicanus ! -Down on thy knees , thank the holy gods as loud -As thunder threatens us ; this is Marina . -What was thy mother's name ? tell me but that , -For truth can never be confirm'd enough , -Though doubts did ever sleep . - -First , sir , I pray , -What is your title ? - -I am Pericles of Tyre : but tell me now -My drown'd queen's name , as in the rest you said -Thou hast been god-like perfect ; -Thou'rt heir of kingdoms , and another life -To Pericles thy father . - -Is it no more to be your daughter than -To say my mother's name was Thaisa ? -Thaisa was my mother , who did end -The minute I began . - -Now , blessing on thee ! rise ; thou art my child , -Give me fresh garments . Mine own , Helicanus ; -She is not dead at Tarsus , as she should have been , -By savage Cleon ; she shall tell thee all ; -When thou shalt kneel , and justify in knowledge -She is thy very princess . Who is this ? - -Sir , 'tis the governor of Mitylene , -Who , hearing of your melancholy state , -Did come to see you . - -I embrace you . -Give me my robes . I am wild in my beholding . -O heavens ! bless my girl . But , hark ! what music ? -Tell Helicanus , my Marina , tell him -O'er , point by point , for yet he seems to doubt , -How sure you are my daughter . But , what music ? - -My lord , I hear none . - -None ! -The music of the spheres ! List , my Marina . - -It is not good to cross him ; give him way . - -Rarest sounds ! Do ye not hear ? - -My lord , I hear . - - -Most heavenly music : -It nips me unto list'ning , and thick slumber -Hangs upon mine eyes ; let me rest . - - -A pillow for his head . -So , leave him all . Well , my companion friends , -If this but answer to my just belief , -I'll well remember you . - -My temple stands in Ephesus ; hie thee thither , -And do upon mine altar sacrifice . -There , when my maiden priests are met together , -Before the people all , -Reveal how thou at sea didst lose thy wife ; -To mourn thy crosses , with thy daughter's , call -And give them repetition to the life . -Perform my bidding , or thou liv'st in woe ; -Do it , and happy ; by my silver bow ! -Awake , and tell thy dream ! - - -Celestial Dian , goddess argentine , -I will obey thee ! Helicanus ! - - -Sir ? - -My purpose was for Tarsus , there to strike -The inhospitable Cleon : but I am -For other service first : toward Ephesus -Turn our blown sails ; eftsoons I'll tell thee why . - - -Shall we refresh us , sir , upon your shore , -And give you gold for such provision -As our intents will need ? - -Sir , -With all my heart ; and when you come ashore , -I have another suit . - -You shall prevail , -Were it to woo my daughter ; for it seems -You have been noble towards her . - -Sir , lend me your arm . - -Come , my Marina . - - -Now our sands are almost run ; -More a little , and then dumb . -This , my last boon , give me , -For such kindness must relieve me , -That you aptly will suppose -What pageantry , what feats , what shows , -What minstrelsy , and pretty din , -The regent made in Mitylen -To greet the king . So he thriv'd , -That he is promis'd to be wiv'd -To fair Marina ; but in no wise -Till he had done his sacrifice , -As Dian bade : whereto being bound , -The interim , pray you , all confound . -In feather'd briefness sails are fill'd , -And wishes fall out as they're will'd . -At Ephesus , the temple see , -Our king and all his company . -That he can hither come so soon , -Is by your fancy's thankful doom . - -Hail , Dian ! to perform thy just command , -I here confess myself the King of Tyre ; -Who , frighted from my country , did wed -At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa . -At sea in childbed died she , but brought forth -A maid-child call'd Marina ; who , O goddess ! -Wears yet thy silver livery . She at Tarsus -Was nurs'd with Cleon , whom at fourteen years -He sought to murder ; but her better stars -Brought her to Mitylene , 'gainst whose shore -Riding , her fortunes brought the maid aboard us , -Where , by her own most clear remembrance , she -Made known herself my daughter . - -Voice and favour ! -You are , you are O royal Pericles ! - - -What means the nun ? she dies ! help , gentlemen ! - -Noble sir , -If you have told Diana's altar true , -This is your wife . - -Reverend appearer , no ; -I threw her o'erboard with these very arms . - -Upon this coast , I warrant you . - -'Tis most certain . - -Look to the lady . O ! she's but o'erjoy'd . -Early in blustering morn this lady was -Thrown upon this shore . I op'd the coffin , -Found there rich jewels ; recover'd her , and plac'd her -Here in Diana's temple . - -May we see them ? - -Great sir , they shall be brought you to my house , -Whither I invite you . Look ! Thaisa is -Recovered . - -O ! let me look ! -If he be none of mine , my sanctity -Will to my sense bend no licentious ear , -But curb it , spite of seeing . O ! my lord , -Are you not Pericles ? Like him you speak , -Like him you are . Did you not name a tempest , -A birth , and death ? - -The voice of dead Thaisa ! - -That Thaisa am I , supposed dead -And drown'd . - -Immortal Dian ! - -Now I know you better . -When we with tears parted Pentapolis , -The king my father gave you such a ring . - - -This , this : no more , you gods ! your present kindness -Makes my past miseries sport : you shall do well , -That on the touching of her lips I may -Melt and no more be seen . O ! come , be buried -A second time within these arms . - -My heart -Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom . - - -Look , who kneels here ! Flesh of thy flesh , Thaisa ; -Thy burden at the sea , and call'd Marina , -For she was yielded there . - -Bless'd , and mine own ! - -Hail , madam , and my queen ! - -I know you not . - -You have heard me say , when I did fly from Tyre , -I left behind an ancient substitute ; -Can you remember what I call'd the man ? -I have nam'd him oft . - -'Twas Helicanus then . - -Still confirmation ! -Embrace him , dear Thaisa ; this is he . -Now do I long to hear how you were found , -How possibly preserv'd , and whom to thank , -Besides the gods , for this great miracle . - -Lord Cerimon , my lord ; this man , -Through whom the gods have shown their power ; that can -From first to last resolve you . - -Reverend sir , -The gods can have no mortal officer -More like a god than you . Will you deliver -How this dead queen re-lives ? - -I will , my lord . -Beseech you , first go with me to my house . -Where shall be shown you all was found with her ; -How she came placed here in the temple ; -No needful thing omitted . - -Pure Dian ! bless thee for thy vision ; I -Will offer night-oblations to thee . Thaisa , -This prince , the fair-betrothed of your daughter , -Shall marry her at Pentapolis . And now -This ornament -Makes me look dismal will I clip to form ; -And what this fourteen years no rasor touch'd , -To grace thy marriage-day I'll beautify . - -Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit , sir , -My father's dead . - -Heavens make a star of him ! Yet there , my queen , -We'll celebrate their nuptials , and ourselves -Will in that kingdom spend our following days ; -Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign . -Lord Cerimon , we do our longing stay -To hear the rest untold . Sir , lead's the way . - -In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard -Of monstrous lust the due and just reward : -In Pericles , his queen , and daughter , seen -Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen -Virtue preserv'd from fell destruction's blast , -Led on by heaven , and crown'd with joy at last . -In Helicanus may you well descry -A figure of truth , of faith , of loyalty . -In reverend Cerimon there well appears -The worth that learned charity aye wears . -For wicked Cleon and his wife , when fame -Had spread their cursed deed , and honour'd name -Of Pericles , to rage the city turn , -That him and his they in his palace burn : -The gods for murder seemed so content -To punish them ; although not done , but meant . -So on your patience evermore attending , -New joy wait on you ! Here our play hath ending . - -THE COMEDY OF ERRORS - -Proceed , Solinus , to procure my fall , -And by the doom of death end woes and all . - -Merchant of Syracusa , plead no more . -I am not partial to infringe our laws : -The enmity and discord which of late -Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke -To merchants , our well-dealing countrymen , -Who , wanting guilders to redeem their lives , -Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods , -Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks . -For , since the mortal and intestine jars -'Twixt thy seditious countrymen and us , -It hath in solemn synods been decreed , -Both by the Syracusians and ourselves , -T' admit no traffic to our adverse towns : -Nay , more , if any , born at Ephesus -Be seen at Syracusian marts and fairs ; -Again , if any Syracusian born -Come to the bay of Ephesus , he dies , -His goods confiscate to the duke's dispose ; -Unless a thousand marks be levied , -To quit the penalty and to ransom him . -Thy substance , valu'd at the highest rate , -Cannot amount unto a hundred marks ; -Therefore , by law thou art condemn'd to die . - -Yet this my comfort : when your words are done , -My woes end likewise with the evening sun . - -Well , Syracusian ; say , in brief the cause -Why thou departedst from thy native home , -And for what cause thou cam'st to Ephesus . - -A heavier task could not have been impos'd -Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable ; -Yet , that the world may witness that my end -Was wrought by nature , not by vile offence , -I'll utter what my sorrow gives me leave . -In Syracusa was I born , and wed -Unto a woman , happy but for me , -And by me too , had not our hap been bad . -With her I liv'd in joy : our wealth increas'd -By prosperous voyages I often made -To Epidamnum ; till my factor's death , -And the great care of goods at random left , -Drew me from kind embracements of my spouse : -From whom my absence was not six months old , -Before herself ,almost at fainting under -The pleasing punishment that women bear , -Had made provision for her following me , -And soon and safe arrived where I was . -There had she not been long but she became -A joyful mother of two goodly sons ; -And , which was strange , the one so like the other , -As could not be distinguish'd but by names . -That very hour , and in the self-same inn , -A meaner woman was delivered -Of such a burden , male twins , both alike . -Those ,for their parents were exceeding poor , -I bought , and brought up to attend my sons . -My wife , not meanly proud of two such boys , -Made daily motions for our home return : -Unwilling I agreed ; alas ! too soon -We came aboard . -A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd , -Before the always-wind-obeying deep -Gave any tragic instance of our harm : -But longer did we not retain much hope ; -For what obscured light the heavens did grant -Did but convey unto our fearful minds -A doubtful warrant of immediate death ; -Which , though myself would gladly have embrac'd , -Yet the incessant weepings of my wife , -Weeping before for what she saw must come , -And piteous plainings of the pretty babes , -That mourn'd for fashion , ignorant what to fear , -Forc'd me to seek delays for them and me . -And this it was , for other means was none : -The sailors sought for safety by our boat , -And left the ship , then sinking-ripe , to us : -My wife , more careful for the latter-born , -Had fasten'd him unto a small spare mast , -Such as seafaring men provide for storms ; -To him one of the other twins was bound , -Whilst I had been like heedful of the other . -The children thus dispos'd , my wife and I , -Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix'd , -Fasten'd ourselves at either end the mast ; -And floating straight , obedient to the stream , -Were carried towards Corinth , as we thought . -At length the sun , gazing upon the earth , -Dispers'd those vapours that offended us , -And , by the benefit of his wished light -The seas wax'd calm , and we discovered -Two ships from far making amain to us ; -Of Corinth that , of Epidaurus this : -But ere they came ,O ! let me say no more ; -Gather the sequel by that went before . - -Nay , forward , old man ; do not break off so ; -For we may pity , though not pardon thee . - -O ! had the gods done so , I had not now -Worthily term'd them merciless to us ! -For , ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues , -We were encounter'd by a mighty rock ; -Which being violently borne upon , -Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst ; -So that , in this unjust divorce of us -Fortune had left to both of us alike -What to delight in , what to sorrow for . -Her part , poor soul ! seeming as burdened -With lesser weight , but not with lesser woe , -Was carried with more speed before the wind , -And in our sight they three were taken up -By fishermen of Corinth , as we thought . -At length , another ship had seiz'd on us ; -And , knowing whom it was their hap to save , -Gave healthful welcome to their ship-wrack'd guests ; -And would have reft the fishers of their prey , -Had not their bark been very slow of sail ; -And therefore homeward did they bend their course . -Thus have you heard me sever'd from my bliss , -That by misfortune was my life prolong'd , -To tell sad stories of my own mishaps . - -And , for the sake of them thou sorrowest for , -Do me the favour to dilate at full -What hath befall'n of them and thee till now . - -My youngest boy , and yet my eldest care , -At eighteen years became inquisitive -After his brother ; and importun'd me -That his attendant for his case was like , -Reft of his brother , but retain'd his name -Might bear him company in the quest of him ; -Whom whilst I labour'd of a love to see , -I hazarded the loss of whom I lov'd . -Five summers have I spent in furthest Greece , -Roaming clean through the bounds of Asia , -And , coasting homeward , came to Ephesus , -Hopeless to find , yet loath to leave unsought -Or that or any place that harbours men . -But here must end the story of my life ; -And happy were I in my timely death , -Could all my travels warrant me they live . - -Hapless geon , whom the fates have mark'd -To bear the extremity of dire mishap ! -Now , trust me , were it not against our laws , -Against my crown , my oath , my dignity , -Which princes , would they , may not disannul , -My soul should sue as advocate for thee . -But though thou art adjudged to the death -And passed sentence may not be recall'd -But to our honour's great disparagement , -Yet will I favour thee in what I can : -Therefore , merchant , I'll limit thee this day -To seek thy life by beneficial help . -Try all the friends thou hast in Ephesus ; -Beg thou , or borrow , to make up the sum , -And live ; if no , then thou art doom'd to die . -Gaoler , take him to thy custody . - -I will , my lord . - -Hopeless and helpless doth geon wend , -But to procrastinate his lifeless end . - - -Therefore , give out you are of Epidamnum , -Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate . -This very day , a Syracusian merchant -Is apprehended for arrival here ; -And , not being able to buy out his life , -According to the statute of the town -Dies ere the weary sun set in the west . -There is your money that I had to keep . - -Go bear it to the Centaur , where we host , -And stay there , Dromio , till I come to thee . -Within this hour it will be dinner-time : -Till that , I'll view the manners of the town , -Peruse the traders , gaze upon the buildings , -And then return and sleep within mine inn , -For with long travel I am stiff and weary . -Get thee away . - -Many a man would take you at your word , -And go indeed , having so good a mean . - - -A trusty villain , sir , that very oft , -When I am dull with care and melancholy , -Lightens my humour with his merry jests . -What , will you walk with me about the town , -And then go to my inn and dine with me ? - -I am invited , sir , to certain merchants , -Of whom I hope to make much benefit ; -I crave your pardon . Soon at five o'clock , -Please you , I'll meet with you upon the mart , -And afterward consort you till bed-time : -My present business calls me from you now . - -Farewell till then : I will go lose myself , -And wander up and down to view the city . - -Sir , I commend you to your own content . - - -He that commends me to mine own content , -Commends me to the thing I cannot get . -I to the world am like a drop of water -That in the ocean seeks another drop ; -Who , falling there to find his fellow forth , -Unseen , inquisitive , confounds himself : -So I , to find a mother and a brother , -In quest of them , unhappy , lose myself . - - -Here comes the almanack of my true date . - -What now ? How chance thou art return'd so soon ? - -Return'd so soon ! rather approach'd too late : -The capon burns , the pig falls from the spit , -The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell ; -My mistress made it one upon my cheek : -She is so hot because the meat is cold ; -The meat is cold because you come not home ; -You come not home because you have no stomach ; -You have no stomach , having broke your fast ; -But we , that know what 'tis to fast and pray , -Are penitent for your default to-day . - -Stop in your wind , sir : tell me this , I pray : -Where have you left the money that I gave you ? - -O !sixpence , that I had o' Wednesday last -To pay the saddler for my mistress' crupper ; -The saddler had it , sir ; I kept it not . - -I am not in a sportive humour now . -Tell me , and dally not , where is the money ? -We being strangers here , how dar'st thou trust -So great a charge from thine own custody ? - -I pray you , jest , sir , as you sit at dinner . -I from my mistress come to you in post ; -If I return , I shall be post indeed , -For she will score your fault upon my pate . -Methinks your maw , like mine , should be your clock -And strike you home without a messenger . - -Come , Dromio , come ; these jests are out of season ; -Reserve them till a merrier hour than this . -Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee ? - -To me , sir ? why , you gave no gold to me . - -Come on , sir knave , have done your foolishness , -And tell me how thou hast dispos'd thy charge . - -My charge was but to fetch you from the mart -Home to your house , the Ph nix , sir , to dinner : -My mistress and her sister stays for you . - -Now , as I am a Christian , answer me , -In what safe place you have bestow'd my money ; -Or I shall break that merry sconce of yours -That stands on tricks when I am undispos'd . -Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me ? - -I have some marks of yours upon my pate , -Some of my mistress' marks upon my shoulders , -But not a thousand marks between you both . -If I should pay your worship those again , -Perchance you will not bear them patiently . - -Thy mistress' marks ! what mistress , slave , hast thou ? - -Your worship's wife , my mistress at the Ph nix ; -She that doth fast till you come home to dinner , -And prays that you will hie you home to dinner . - -What ! wilt thou flout me thus unto my face , -Being forbid ? There , take you that , sir knave . - - -What mean you , sir ? for God's sake , hold your hands ! -Nay , an you will not , sir , I'll take my heels . - - -Upon my life , by some device or other -The villain is o'er-raught of all my money . -They say this town is full of cozenage ; -As , nimble jugglers that deceive the eye , -Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind , -Soul-killing witches that deform the body , -Disguised cheaters , prating mountebanks , -And many such-like liberties of sin : -If it prove so , I will be gone the sooner . -I'll to the Centaur , to go seek this slave : -I greatly fear my money is not safe . - -Neither my husband , nor the slave return'd , -That in such haste I sent to seek his master ! -Sure , Luciana , it is two o'clock . - -Perhaps some merchant hath invited him , -And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner . -Good sister , let us dine and never fret : -A man is master of his liberty : -Time is their master , and , when they see time , -They'll go or come : if so , be patient , sister . - -Why should their liberty than ours be more ? - -Because their business still lies out o' door . - -Look , when I serve him so , he takes it ill . - -O ! know he is the bridle of your will . - -There's none but asses will be bridled so . - -Why , headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe . -There's nothing situate under heaven's eye -But hath his bound , in earth , in sea , in sky : -The beasts , the fishes , and the winged fowls , -Are their males' subjects and at their controls . -Men , more divine , the masters of all these , -Lords of the wide world , and wild wat'ry seas , -Indu'd with intellectual sense and souls , -Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls , -Are masters to their females and their lords : -Then , let your will attend on their accords . - -This servitude makes you to keep unwed . - -Not this , but troubles of the marriage-bed . - -But , were you wedded , you would bear some sway . - -Ere I learn love , I'll practise to obey . - -How if your husband start some other where ? - -Till he come home again , I would forbear . - -Patience unmov'd ! no marvel though she pause ; -They can be meek that have no other cause . -A wretched soul , bruis'd with adversity , -We bid be quiet when we hear it cry ; -But were we burden'd with like weight of pain , -As much , or more we should ourselves complain : -So thou , that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee , -With urging helpless patience wouldst relieve me : -But if thou live to see like right bereft . -This fool-begg'd patience in thee will be left . - -Well , I will marry one day , but to try . -Here comes your man : now is your husband nigh . - - -Say , is your tardy master now at hand ? - -Nay , he's at two hands with me , and that my two ears can witness . - -Say , didst thou speak with him ? Know'st thou his mind ? - -Ay , ay , he told his mind upon mine ear . -Beshrew his hand , I scarce could understand it . - -Spake he so doubtfully , thou couldst not feel his meaning ? - -Nay , he struck so plainly , I could too well feel his blows ; and withal so doubtfully , that I could scarce understand them . - -But say , I prithee , is he coming home ? -It seems he hath great care to please his wife . - -Why , mistress , sure my master is horn-mad . - -Horn-mad , thou villain ! - -I mean not cuckold-mad ; but , sure , he is stark mad . -When I desir'd him to come home to dinner , -He ask'd me for a thousand marks in gold : -''Tis dinner time ,' quoth I ; 'my gold !' quoth he : -'Your meat doth burn ,' quoth I ; 'my gold !' quoth he : -'Will you come home ?' quoth I : 'my gold !' quoth he : -'Where is the thousand marks I gave thee , villain ?' -'The pig ,' quoth I , 'is burn'd ;' 'my gold !' quoth he : -'My mistress , sir ,' quoth I : 'hang up thy mistress ! -I know not thy mistress : out on thy mistress !' - -Quoth who ? - -Quoth my master : -'I know ,' quoth he , 'no house , no wife , no mistress .' -So that my errand , due unto my tongue , -I thank him , I bear home upon my shoulders ; -For , in conclusion , he did beat me there . - -Go back again , thou slave , and fetch him home . - -Go back again , and be new beaten home ? -For God's sake , send some other messenger . - -Back , slave , or I will break thy pate across . - -And he will bless that cross with other beating : -Between you , I shall have a holy head . - -Hence , prating peasant ! fetch thy master home . - -Am I so round with you as you with me , -That like a football you do spurn me thus ? -You spurn me hence , and he will spurn me hither : -If I last in this service , you must case me in leather . - - -Fie , how impatience loureth in your face ! - -His company must do his minions grace , -Whilst I at home starve for a merry look . -Hath homely age the alluring beauty took -From my poor cheek ? then , he hath wasted it : -Are my discourses dull ? barren my wit ? -If voluble and sharp discourse be marr'd , -Unkindness blunts it more than marble hard : -Do their gay vestments his affections bait ? -That's not my fault ; he's master of my state : -What ruins are in me that can be found -By him not ruin'd ? then is he the ground -Of my defeatures . My decayed fair -A sunny look of his would soon repair ; -But , too unruly deer , he breaks the pale -And feeds from home : poor I am but his stale . - -Self-harming jealousy ! fie ! beat it hence . - -Unfeeling fools can with such wrengs dispense . -I know his eye doth homage otherwhere , -Or else what lets it but he would be here ? -Sister , you know he promis'd me a chain : -Would that alone , alone he would detain , -So he would keep fair quarter with his bed ! -I see , the jewel best enamelled -Will lose his beauty ; and though gold bides still -That others touch , yet often touching will -Wear gold ; and no man that hath a name , -By falsehood and corruption doth it shame . -Since that my beauty cannot please his eye , -I'll weep what's left away , and weeping die . - -How many fond fools serve mad jealousy ! - - -The gold I gave to Dromio is laid up -Safe at the Centaur ; and the heedful slave -Is wander'd forth , in care to seek me out . -By computation , and mine host's report , -I could not speak with Dromio since at first -I sent him from the mart . See , here he comes . - - -How now , sir ! is your merry humour alter'd ? -As you love strokes , so jest with me again . -You know no Centaur ? You receiv'd no gold ? -Your mistress sent to have me home to dinner ? -My house was at the Ph nix ? Wast thou mad , - -That thus so madly thou didst answer me ? - -What answer , sir ? when spake I such a word ? - -Even now , even here , not half-an-hour since . - -I did not see you since you sent me hence , -Home to the Centaur , with the gold you gave me . - -Villain , thou didst deny the gold's receipt , -And told'st me of a mistress and a dinner ; -For which , I hope , thou felt'st I was displeas'd . - -I am glad to see you in this merry vein : -What means this jest ? I pray you , master , tell me . - -Yea , dost thou jeer , and flout me in the teeth ? -Think'st thou I jest ? Hold , take thou that , and that . - - -Hold , sir , for God's sake ! now your jest is earnest . -Upon what bargain do you give it me ? - -Because that I familiarly sometimes -Do use you for my fool , and chat with you , -Your sauciness will jest upon my love , -And make a common of my serious hours . -When the sun shines let foolish gnats make sport , -But creep in crannies when he hides his beams . -If you will jest with me , know my aspect , -And fashion your demeanour to my looks , -Or I will beat this method in your sconce . - -Sconce , call you it ? so you would leave battering , I had rather have it a head : an you use these blows long , I must get a sconce for my head and insconce it too ; or else I shall seek my wit in my shoulders . But , I pray , sir , why am I beaten ? - -Dost thou not know ? - -Nothing , sir , but that I am beaten . - -Shall I tell you why ? - -Ay , sir , and wherefore ; for they say every why hath a wherefore . - -Why , first ,for flouting me ; and then , wherefore , -For urging it the second time to me . - -Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season , -When , in the why and the wherefore is neither rime nor reason ? -Well , sir , I thank you . - -Thank me , sir ! for what ? - -Marry , sir , for this something that you gave me for nothing . - -I'll make you amends next , to give you nothing for something . But say , sir , is it dinner-time ? - -No , sir : I think the meat wants that I have - -In good time , sir ; what's that ? - -Basting . - -Well , sir , then 'twill be dry . - -If it be , sir , I pray you eat none of it . - -Your reason ? - -Lest it make you choleric , and purchase me another dry basting . - -Well , sir , learn to jest in good time : there's a time for all things . - -I durst have denied that , before you were so choleric . - -By what rule , sir ? - -Marry , sir , by a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father Time himself . - -Let's hear it . - -There's no time for a man to recover his hair that grows bald by nature . - -May he not do it by fine and recovery ? - -Yes , to pay a fine for a periwig and recover the lost hair of another man . - -Why is Time such a niggard of hair , being , as it is , so plentiful an excrement ? - -Because it is a blessing that he bestows on beasts : and what he hath scanted men in hair , he hath given them in wit . - -Why , but there's many a man hath more hair than wit . - -Not a man of those but he hath the wit to lose his hair . - -Why , thou didst conclude hairy men plain dealers without wit . - -The plainer dealer , the sooner lost : yet be loseth it in a kind of jollity . - -For what reason ? - -For two ; and sound ones too . - -Nay , not sound , I pray you . - -Sure ones then . - -Nay , not sure , in a thing falsing . - -Certain ones , then . - -Name them . - -The one , to save the money that he spends in tiring ; the other , that at dinner they should not drop in his porridge . - -You would all this time have proved there is no time for all things . - -Marry , and did , sir ; namely , no time to recover hair lost by nature . - -But your reason was not substantial , why there is not time to recover . - -Thus I mend it : Time himself is bald , and therefore to the world's end will have bald followers . - -I knew 'twould be a bald conclusion . -But soft ! who wafts us yonder ? - - -Ay , ay , Antipholus , look strange , and frown : -Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspects , -I am not Adriana , nor thy wife . -The time was once when thou unurg'd wouldst vow -That never words were music to thine ear , -That never object pleasing in thine eye , -That never touch well welcome to thy hand , -That never meat sweet-savour'd in thy taste , -Unless I spake , or look'd , or touch'd , or carv'd to thee . -How comes it now , my husband , O ! how comes it , -That thou art thus estranged from thyself ? -Thyself I call it , being strange to me , -That , undividable , incorporate , -Am better than thy dear self's better part . -Ah ! do not tear away thyself from me , -For know , my love , as easy mayst thou fall -A drop of water in the breaking gulf , -And take unmingled thence that drop again , -Without addition or diminishing , -As take from me thyself and not me too . -How dearly would it touch thee to the quick , -Shouldst thou but hear I were licentious , -And that this body , consecrate to thee , -By ruffian lust should be contaminate ! -Wouldst thou not spit at me and spurn at me , -And hurl the name of husband in my face , -And tear the stain'd skin off my harlot-brow , -And from my false hand cut the wedding-ring -And break it with a deep-divorcing vow ? -I know thou canst ; and therefore , see thou do it . -I am possess'd with an adulterate blot ; -My blood is mingled with the crime of lust : -For if we two be one and thou play false , -I do digest the poison of thy flesh , -Being strumpeted by thy contagion . -Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed ; -I live unstain'd , thou undishonoured . - -Plead you to me , fair dame ? I know you not : -In Ephesus I am but two hours old , -As strange unto your town as to your talk ; -Who , every word by all my wit being scann'd , -Want wit in all one word to understand . - -Fie , brother : how the world is chang'd with you ! -When were you wont to use my sister thus ? -She sent for you by Dromio home to dinner . - -By Dromio ? - -By me ? - -By thee ; and this thou didst return from him , -That he did buffet thee , and in his blows , -Denied my house for his , me for his wife . - -Did you converse , sir , with this gentle-woman ? -What is the course and drift of your compact ? - -I , sir ? I never saw her till this time . - -Villain , thou liest ; for even her very words -Didst thou deliver to me on the mart . - -I never spake with her in all my life . - -How can she thus then , call us by our names , -Unless it be by inspiration ? - -How ill agrees it with your gravity -To counterfeit thus grossly with your slave , -A betting him to thwart me in my mood ! -Be it my wrong you are from me exempt , -But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt . -Come , I will fasten on this sleeve of thine ; -Thou art an elm , my husband , I a vine , -Whose weakness , married to thy stronger state , -Makes me with thy strength to communicate : -If aught possess thee from me , it is dross , -Usurping ivy , brier , or idle moss ; -Who , all for want of pruning , with intrusion -Infect thy sap and live on thy confusion . - -To me she speaks ; she moves me for her theme ! -What ! was I married to her in my dream ? -Or sleep I now and think I hear all this ? -What error drives our eyes and ears amiss ? -Until I know this sure uncertainty , -I'll entertain the offer'd fallacy . - -Dromio , go bid the servants spread for dinner - -O , for my beads ! I cross me for a sinner . -This is the fairy land : O ! spite of spites . -We talk with goblins , owls , and elvish sprites : -If we obey them not , this will ensue , -They'll suck our breath , or pinch us black and blue . - -Why prat'st thou to thyself and answer'st not ? -Dromio , thou drone , thou snail , thou slug , thou sot ! - -I am transformed , master , am not I ? - -I think thou art , in mind , and so am I . - -Nay , master , both in mind and in my shape . - -Thou hast thine own form . - -No , I am an ape . - -If thou art chang'd to aught , 'tis to an ass . - -'Tis true ; she rides me and I long for grass . -'Tis so , I am an ass ; else it could never be -But I should know her as well as she knows me . - -Come , come ; no longer will I be a fool , -To put the finger in the eye and weep , -Whilst man and master laugh my woes to scorn . -Come , sir , to dinner . Dromio , keep the gate . -Husband , I'll dine above with you to-day , -And shrive you of a thousand idle pranks . -Sirrah , if any ask you for your master , -Say he dines forth , and let no creature enter . -Come , sister . Dromio , play the porter well . - -Am I in earth , in heaven , or in hell ? -Sleeping or waking ? mad or well-advis'd ? -Known unto these , and to myself disguis'd ! -I'll say as they say , and persever so , -And in this mist at all adventures go . - -Master , shall I be porter at the gate ? - -Ay ; and let none enter , lest I break your pate . - -Come , come , Antipholus ; we dine too late . - -Good Signior Angelo , you must excuse us all ; -My wife is shrewish when I keep not hours ; -Say that I linger'd with you at your shop -To see the making of her carkanet , -And that to-morrow you will bring it home . -But here's a villain , that would face me down -He met me on the mart , and that I beat him , -And charg'd him with a thousand marks in gold , -And that I did deny my wife and house . -Thou drunkard , thou , what didst thou mean by this ? - -Say what you will , sir , but I know what I know ; -That you beat me at the mart , I have your hand to show : -If the skin were parchment and the blows you gave were ink , -Your own handwriting would tell you what I think . - -I think thou art an ass . - -Marry , so it doth appear -By the wrongs I suffer and the blows I bear . -I should kick , being kick'd ; and , being at that pass , -You would keep from my heels and beware of an ass . - -You are sad , Signior Balthazar : pray God , our cheer -May answer my good will and your good welcome here . - -I hold your dainties cheap , sir , and your welcome dear . - -O , Signior Balthazar , either at flesh or fish , -A table-full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish . - -Good meat , sir , is common ; that every churl affords . - -And welcome more common , for that's nothing but words . - -Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast . - -Ay , to a niggardly host and more sparing guest : -But though my cates be mean , take them in good part ; -Better cheer may you have , but not with better heart . -But soft ! my door is lock'd . Go bid them let us in . - -Maud , Bridget , Marian , Cicely , Gillian , Ginn ! - -Mome , malt-horse , capon , coxcomb , idiot , patch ! -Either get thee from the door or sit down at the hatch . -Dost thou conjure for wenches , that thou call'st for such store , -When one is one too many ? Go , get thee from the door . - -What patch is made our porter ?My master stays in the street . - -Let him walk from whence he came , lest he catch cold on's feet . - -Who talks within there ? ho ! open the door . - -Right , sir ; I'll tell you when , an you'll tell me wherefore . - -Wherefore ? for my dinner : I have not din'd to-day . - -Nor to-day here you must not ; come again when you may . - -What art thou that keep'st me out from the house I owe ? - -The porter for this time , sir , and my name is Dromio . - -O villain ! thou hast stolen both mine office and my name : -The one ne'er got me credit , the other mickle blame . -If thou hadst been Dromio to-day in my place , -Thou wouldst have chang'd thy face for a name , or thy name for an ass . - -What a coil is there , Dromio ! who are those at the gate ? - -Let my master in , Luce . - -Faith , no ; he comes too late ; -And so tell your master . - -O Lord ! I must laugh . -Have at you with a proverb : Shall I set in my staff ? - -Have at you with another : that's when ? can you tell ? - -If thy name be call'd Luce ,Luce , thou hast answer'd him well . - -Do you hear , you minion ? you'll let us in , I trow ? - -I thought to have ask'd you . - -And you said , no . - -So come , help : well struck ! there was blow for blow . - -Thou baggage , let me in . - -Can you tell for whose sake ? - -Master , knock the door hard . - -Let him knock till it ache . - -You'll cry for this , minion , if I beat the door down . - -What needs all that , and a pair of stocks in the town ? - -Who is that at the door that keeps all this noise ? - -By my troth your town is troubled with unruly boys . - -Are you there , wife ? you might have come before . - -Your wife , sir knave ! go , get you from the door . - -If you went in pain , master , this 'knave' would go sore . - -Here is neither cheer , sir , nor welcome : we would fain have either . - -In debating which was best , we shall part with neither . - -They stand at the door , master : bid them welcome hither . - -There is something in the wind , that we cannot get in . - -You would say so , master , if your garments were thin . -Your cake here is warm within ; you stand here in the cold : -It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and sold . - -Go fetch me something : I'll break ope the gate . - -Break any breaking here , and I'll break your knave's pate . - -A man may break a word with you , sir , and words are but wind : -Ay , and break it in your face , so he break it not behind . - -It seems thou wantest breaking : out upon thee , hind ! - -Here's too much 'out upon thee !' I pray thee , let me in . - -Ay , when fowls have no feathers , and fish have no fin . - -Well , I'll break in . Go borrow me a crow . - -A crow without feather ? Master , mean you so ? -For a fish without a fin , there's a fowl without a feather : -If a crow help us in , sirrah , we'll pluck a crow together . - -Go get thee gone : fetch me an iron crow . - -Have patience , sir ; O ! let it not be so ; -Herein you war against your reputation , -And draw within the compass of suspect -The unviolated honour of your wife . -Once this ,your long experience of her wisdom , -Her sober virtue , years , and modesty , -Plead on her part some cause to you unknown ; -And doubt not , sir , but she will well excuse -Why at this time the doors are made against you . -Be rul'd by me : depart in patience , -And let us to the Tiger all to dinner ; -And about evening come yourself alone , -To know the reason of this strange restraint . -If by strong hand you offer to break in -Now in the stirring passage of the day , -A vulgar comment will be made of it , -And that supposed by the common rout -Against your yet ungalled estimation , -That may with foul intrusion enter in -And dwell upon your grave when you are dead ; -For slander lives upon succession , -For ever housed where it gets possession . - -You have prevail'd : I will depart in quiet , -And , in despite of mirth , mean to be merry . -I know a wench of excellent discourse , -Pretty and witty , wild and yet , too , gentle : -There will we dine : this woman that I mean , -My wife ,but , I protest , without desert , -Hath oftentimes upbraided me withal : -To her will we to dinner . - -Get you home , -And fetch the chain ; by this I know 'tis made : -Bring it , I pray you , to the Porpentine ; -For there's the house : that chain will I bestow , -Be it for nothing but to spite my wife , -Upon mine hostess there . Good sir , make haste . -Since mine own doors refuse to entertain me , -I'll knock elsewhere , to see if they'll disdain me . - -I'll meet you at that place some hour hence . - -Do so . This jest shall cost me some expense . - - -And may it be that you have quite forgot A husband's office ? Shall , Antipholus , -Even in the spring of love , thy love-springs rot ? -Shall love , in building , grow so ruinous ? -If you did wed my sister for her wealth , -Then , for her wealth's sake use her with more kindness : -Or , if you like elsewhere , do it by stealth ; -Muffle your false love with some show of blindness ; -Let not my sister read it in your eye ; -Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator ; -Look sweet , speak fair , become disloyalty ; -Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger ; -Bear a fair presence , though your heart be tainted ; -Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint ; -Be secret-false : what need she be acquainted ? -What simple thief brags of his own attaint ? -'Tis double wrong to truant with your bed , -And let her read it in thy looks at board : -Shame hath a bastard fame , well managed ; -Ill deeds are doubled with an evil word . -Alas ! poor women , make us but believe , -Being compact of credit , that you love us ; -Though others have the arm , show us the sleeve ; -We in your motion turn , and you may move us . -Then , gentle brother , get you in again ; -Comfort my sister , cheer her , call her wife : -'Tis holy sport to be a little vain , -When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife . - -Sweet mistress ,what your name is else , I know not , -Nor by what wonder you do hit of mine , -Less in your knowledge and your grace you show not -Than our earth's wonder ; more than earth divine . -Teach me , dear creature , how to think and speak : -Lay open to my earthy-gross conceit , -Smother'd in errors , feeble , shallow , weak , -The folded meaning of your words' deceit . -Against my soul's pure truth why labour you -To make it wander in an unknown field ? -Are you a god ? would you create me new ? -Transform me then , and to your power I'll yield . -But if that I am I , then well I know -Your weeping sister is no wife of mine , -Nor to her bed no homage do I owe : -Far more , far more , to you do I decline . -O ! train me not , sweet mermaid , with thy note , -To drown me in thy sister flood of tears : -Sing , siren , for thyself , and I will dote : -Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hairs , -And as a bed I'll take them and there lie ; -And , in that glorious supposition think -He gains by death that hath such means to die : -Let Love , being light , be drowned if she sink ! - -What ! are you mad , that you do reason so ? - -Not mad , but mated ; how , I do not know . - -It is a fault that springeth from your eye . - -For gazing on your beams ; fair sun , being by . - -Gaze where you should , and that will clear your sight . - -As good to wink , sweet love , as look on night . - -Why call you me love ? call my sister so . - -Thy sister's sister . - -That's my sister . - -No ; -It is thyself , mine own self's better part ; -Mine eye's clear eye , my dear heart's dearer heart ; -My food , my fortune , and my sweet hope's aim , -My sole earth's heaven , and my heaven's claim . - -All this my sister is , or else should be . - -Call thyself sister , sweet , for I aim thee . -Thee will I love and with thee lead my life : -Thou hast no husband yet nor I no wife . -Give me thy hand . - -O ! soft , sir ; hold you still : -I'll fetch my sister , to get her good will . - -Why , how now , Dromio ! where run'st thou so fast ? - -Do you know me , sir ? am I Dromio ? am I your man ? am I myself ? - -Thou art Dromio , thou art my man , thou art thyself . - -I am an ass , I am a woman's man and besides myself . - -What woman's man ? and how besides thyself ? - -Marry , sir , besides myself , I am due to a woman ; one that claims me , one that haunts me , one that will have me . - -What claim lays she to thee ? - -Marry , sir , such claim as you would lay to your horse ; and she would have me as a beast : not that , I being a beast , she would have me ; but that she , being a very beastly creature , lays claim to me . - -What is she ? - -A very reverent body ; aye , such a one as a man may not speak of , without he say , 'Sir-reverence .' I have but lean luck in the match , and yet is she a wondrous fat marriage . - -How dost thou mean a fat marriage ? - -Marry , sir , she's the kitchen-wench , and all grease ; and I know not what use to put her to but to make a lamp of her and run from her by her own light . I warrant her rags and the tallow in them will burn a Poland winter ; if she lives till doomsday , she'll burn a week longer than the whole world . - -What complexion is she of ? - -Swart , like my shoe , but her face nothing like so clean kept : for why she sweats ; a man may go over shoes in the grime of it . - -That's a fault that water will mend . - -No , sir , 'tis in grain ; Noah's flood could not do it . - -What's her name ? - -Nell , sir ; but her name and three quarters ,that is , an ell and three quarters ,will not measure her from hip to hip . - -Then she bears some breadth ? - -No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip : she is spherical , like a globe ; I could find out countries in her . - -In what part of her body stands Ireland ? - -Marry , sir , in her buttocks : I found it out by the bogs . - -Where Scotland ? - -I found it by the barrenness ; hard in the palm of the hand . - -Where France ? - -In her forehead ; armed and reverted , making war against her heir . - -Where England ? - -I looked for the chalky cliffs , but I could find no whiteness in them : but I guess it stood in her chin , by the salt rheum that ran between France and it . - -Where Spain ? - -Faith , I saw not ; but I felt it hot in her breath . - -Where America , the Indies ? - -O , sir ! upon her nose , all o'er embellished with rubies , carbuncles , sapphires , declining their rich aspect to the hot breath of Spain , who sent whole armadoes of caracks to be ballast at her nose . - -Where stood Belgia , the Netherlands ? - -O , sir ! I did not look so low . To conclude , this drudge , or diviner , laid claim to me ; call'd me Dromio ; swore I was assured to her ; told me what privy marks I had about me , as the mark of my shoulder , the mole in my neck , the great wart on my left arm , that I , amazed , ran from her as a witch . -And , I think , if my breast had not been made of faith and my heart of steel , -She had transform'd me to a curtal dog and made me turn i' the wheel . - -Go hie thee presently post to the road : -An if the wind blow any way from shore , -I will not harbour in this town to-night : -If any bark put forth , come to the mart , -Where I will walk till thou return to me . -If every one knows us and we know none , -'Tis time , I think , to trudge , pack , and be gone . - -As from a bear a man would run for life , -So fly I from her that would be my wife . - - -There's none but witches do inhabit here , -And therefore 'tis high time that I were hence . -She that doth call me husband , even my soul -Doth for a wife abhor ; but her fair sister , -Possess'd with such a gentle sovereign grace , -Of such enchanting presence and discourse , -Hath almost made me traitor to myself : -But , lest myself be guilty to self-wrong , -I'll stop mine ears against the mermaid's song . - - -Master Antipholus ! - -Ay , that's my name . - -I know it well , sir : lo , here is the chain . -I thought to have ta'en you at the Porpentine ; -The chain unfinish'd made me stay thus long . - -What is your will that I shall do with this ? - -What please yourself , sir : I have made it for you . - -Made it for me , sir ! I bespoke it not - -Not once , nor twice , but twenty times you have . -Go home with it and please your wife withal ; -And soon at supper-time I'll visit you , -And then receive my money for the chain . - -I pray you , sir , receive the money now , -For fear you ne'er see chain nor money more . - -You are a merry man , sir : fare you well . - - -What I should think of this , I cannot tell : -But this I think , there's no man is so vain -That would refuse so fair an offer'd chain . -I see , a man here needs not live by shifts , -When in the streets he meets such golden gifts . -I'll to the mart , and there for Dromio stay : -If any ship put out , then straight away . - -You know since Pentecost the sum is due , -And since I have not much importun'd you ; -Nor now I had not , but that I am bound -To Persia , and want guilders for my voyage : -Therefore make present satisfaction , -Or I'll attach you by this officer . - -Even just the sum that I do owe to you -Is growing to me by Antipholus ; -And in the instant that I met with you -He had of me a chain : at five o'clock -I shall receive the money for the same . -Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house , -I will discharge my bond , and thank you too . - - -That labour may you save : see where he comes . - -While I go to the goldsmith's house , go thou -And buy a rope's end , that I will bestow -Among my wife and her confederates , -For locking me out of my doors by day . -But soft ! I see the goldsmith . Get thee gone ; -Buy thou a rope , and bring it home to me . - -I buy a thousand pound a year : I buy a rope ! - - -A man is well holp up that trusts to you : -I promised your presence and the chain ; -But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me . -Belike you thought our love would last too long , -If it were chain'd together , and therefore came not . - -Saving your merry humour , here's the note -How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat . -The fineness of the gold , and chargeful fashion , -Which doth amount to three odd ducats more -Than I stand debted to this gentleman : -I pray you see him presently discharg'd , -For he is bound to sea and stays but for it . - -I am not furnish'd with the present money ; -Besides , I have some business in the town . -Good signior , take the stranger to my house , -And with you take the chain , and bid my wife -Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof : -Perchance I will be there as soon as you . - -Then , you will bring the chain to her yourself ? - -No ; bear it with you , lest I come not time enough . - -Well , sir , I will . Have you the chain about you ? - -An if I have not , sir , I hope you have , -Or else you may return without your money . - -Nay , come , I pray you , sir , give me the chain : -Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman , -And I , to blame , have held him here too long . - -Good Lord ! you use this dalliance to excuse -Your breach of promise to the Porpentine . -I should have child you for not bringing it , -But , like a shrew , you first begin to brawl . - -The hour steals on ; I pray you , sir , dispatch . - -You hear how he importunes me : the chain ! - -Why , give it to my wife and fetch your money . - -Come , come ; you know I gave it you even now . -Either send the chain or send by me some token . - -Fie ! now you run this humour out of breath . -Come , where's the chain ? I pray you , let me see it . - -My business cannot brook this dalliance . -Good sir , say whe'r you'll answer me or no : -If not , I'll leave him to the officer . - -I answer you ! what should I answer you ? - -The money that you owe me for the chain . - -I owe you none till I receive the chain . - -You know I gave it you half an hour since . - -You gave me none : you wrong me much to say so . - -You wrong me more , sir , in denying it : -Consider how it stands upon my credit . - -Well , officer , arrest him at my suit . - -I do ; -And charge you in the duke's name to obey me . - -This touches me in reputation . -Either consent to pay this sum for me , -Or I attach you by this officer . - -Consent to pay thee that I never had ! -Arrest me , foolish fellow , if thou dar'st . - -Here is thy fee : arrest him , officer . -I would not spare my brother in this case , -If he should scorn me so apparently . - -I do arrest you , sir : you hear the suit . - -I do obey thee till I give thee bail . -But , sirrah , you shall buy this sport as dear -As all the metal in your shop will answer . - -Sir , sir , I shall have law in Ephesus , -To your notorious shame , I doubt it not . - - -Master , there is a bark of Epidamnum -That stays but till her owner comes aboard , -And then she bears away . Our fraughtage , sir , -I have convey'd aboard , and I have bought -The oil , the balsamum , and aqua-vit . -The ship is in her trim ; the merry wind -Blows fair from land ; they stay for nought at all -But for their owner , master , and yourself . - -How now ! a madman ! Why , thou peevish sheep , -What ship of Epidamnum stays for me ? - -A ship you sent me to , to hire waftage . - -Thou drunken slave , I sent thee for a rope ; -And told thee to what purpose , and what end . - -You sent me for a rope's end as soon : -You sent me to the bay , sir , for a bark . - -I will debate this matter at more leisure , -And teach your ears to list me with more heed . -To Adriana , villain , hie thee straight ; -Give her this key , and tell her , in the desk -That's cover'd o'er with Turkish tapestry , -There is a purse of ducats : let her send it . -Tell her I am arrested in the street , -And that shall bail me . Hie thee , slave , be gone ! -On , officer , to prison till it come . - - -To Adriana ! that is where we din'd , -Where Dowsabel did claim me for her husband : -She is too big , I hope , for me to compass . -Thither I must , although against my will , -For servants must their masters' minds fulfil . - - -Ah ! Luciana , did he tempt thee so ? -Mights thou perceive austerely in his eye -That he did plead in earnest ? yea or no ? -Look'd he or red or pale ? or sad or merrily ? -What observation mad'st thou in this case -Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face ? - -First he denied you had in him no right . - -He meant he did me none ; the more my spite . - -Then swore he that he was a stranger here . - -And true he swore , though yet forsworn he were . - -Then pleaded I for you . - -And what said he ? - -That love I begg'd for you he begg'd of me . - -With what persuasion did he tempt thy love ? - -With words that in an honest suit might move . -First , he did praise my beauty , then my speech . - -Didst speak him fair ? - -Have patience , I beseech . - -I cannot , nor I will not hold me still : -My tongue , though not my heart , shall have his will . -He is deformed , crooked , old and sere , -Ill-fac'd , worse bodied , shapeless every where : -Vicious , ungentle , foolish , blunt , unkind , -Stigmatical in making , worse in mind . - -Who would be jealous then , of such a one ? -No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone . - -Ah ! but I think him better than I say , -And yet would herein others' eyes were worse . -Far from her nest the lapwing cries away : -My heart prays for him , though my tongue do curse . - - -Here , go : the desk ! the purse ! sweet , now , make haste . - -How hast thou lost thy breath ? - -By running fast . - -Where is thy master , Dromio ? is he well ? - -No , he's in Tartar limbo , worse than hell . -A devil in an everlasting garment hath him , -One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel ; -A fiend , a fairy , pitiless and rough ; -A wolf , nay , worse , a fellow all in buff ; -A back-friend , a shoulder-clapper , one that countermands -The passages of alleys , creeks and narrow lands ; -A hound that runs counter and yet draws dryfoot well ; -One that , before the judgment , carries poor souls to hell . - -Why , man , what is the matter ? - -I do not know the matter : he is 'rested on the case . - -What , is he arrested ? tell me at whose suit . - -I know not at whose suit he is arrested well ; -But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him , that can I tell . -Will you send him , mistress , redemption , the money in his desk ? - -Go fetch it , sister . - -This I wonder at : -That he , unknown to me , should be in debt : -Tell me , was he arrested on a band ? - -Not on a band , but on a stronger thing ; -A chain , a chain . Do you not hear it ring ? - -What , the chain ? - -No , no , the bell : 'tis time that I were gone : -It was two ere I left him , and now the clock strikes one . - -The hours come back ! that did I never hear . - -O yes ; if any hour meet a sergeant , a' turns back for very fear . - -As if Time were in debt ! how fondly dost thou reason ! - -Time is a very bankrupt , and owes more than he's worth to season . -Nay , he's a thief too : have you not heard men say , -That Time comes stealing on by night and day ? -If Time be in debt and theft , and a sergeant in the way , -Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day ? - - -Go , Dromio : there's the money , bear it straight , -And bring thy master home immediately . -Come , sister ; I am press'd down with conceit ; Conceit , my comfort and my injury . - - -There's not a man I meet but doth salute me , -As if I were their well acquainted friend ; -And every one doth call me by my name . -Some tender money to me ; some invite me ; -Some other give me thanks for kindnesses ; -Some offer me commodities to buy : -Even now a tailor call'd me in his shop -And show'd me silks that he had bought for me , -And therewithal , took measure of my body . -Sure these are but imaginary wiles , -And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here . - - -Master , here's the gold you sent me for . -What ! have you got the picture of old Adam new apparelled ? - -What gold is this ? What Adam dost thou mean ? - -Not that Adam that kept the Paradise , but that Adam that keeps the prison : he that goes in the calf's skin that was killed for the Prodigal : he that came behind you , sir , like an evil angel , and bid you forsake your liberty . - -I understand thee not . - -No ? why , 'tis a plain case : he that went , like a base-viol , in a case of leather ; the man , sir , that , when gentlemen are tired , gives them a fob , and 'rests them ; he , sir , that takes pity on decayed men and gives them suits of durance ; he that sets up his rest to do more exploits with his mace than a morris-pike . - -What , thou meanest an officer ? - -Ay , sir , the sergeant of the band ; he that brings any man to answer it that breaks his band ; one that thinks a man always going to bed , and says , 'God give you good rest !' - -Well , sir , there rest in your foolery . Is there any ship puts forth to-night ? may we be gone ? - -Why , sir , I brought you word an hour since that the bark Expedition put forth to-night ; and then were you hindered by the sergeant to tarry for the hoy Delay . Here are the angels that you sent for to deliver you . - -The fellow is distract , and so am I ; -And here we wander in illusions : -Some blessed power deliver us from hence ! - - -Well met , well met , Master Antipholus . -I see , sir , you have found the goldsmith now : -Is that the chain you promis'd me to-day ? - -Satan , avoid ! I charge thee tempt me not ! - -Master , is this Mistress Satan ? - -It is the devil . - -Nay , she is worse , she is the devil's dam , and here she comes in the habit of a light wench : and thereof comes that the wenches say , 'God damn me ;' that's as much as to say , 'God make me a light wench .' It is written , they appear to men like angels of light : light is an effect of fire , and fire will burn ; ergo , light wenches will burn . Come not near her . - -Your man and you are marvellous merry , sir . Will you go with me ? we'll mend our dinner here . - -Master , if you do , expect spoon-meat , so bespeak a long spoon . - -Why , Dromio ? - -Marry , he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil . - -Avoid thee , fiend ! what tell'st thou me of supping ? -Thou art , as you are all , a sorceress : -I conjure thee to leave me and be gone . - -Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner , -Or , for my diamond , the chain you promis'd , -And I'll be gone , sir , and not trouble you . - -Some devils ask but the parings of one's nail , -A rush , a hair , a drop of blood , a pin , -A nut , a cherry-stone ; -But she , more covetous , would have a chain . -Master , be wise : an if you give it her , -The devil will shake her chain and fright us with it . - -I pray you , sir , my ring , or else the chain : -I hope you do not mean to cheat me so . - -Avaunt , thou witch ! Come , Dromio , let us go . - -'Fly pride ,' says the peacock : mistress , that you know . - - -Now , out of doubt , Antipholus is mad , -Else would he never so demean himself . -A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats , -And for the same he promis'd me a chain : -Both one and other he denies me now . -The reason that I gather he is mad , -Besides this present instance of his rage , -Is a mad tale he told to-day at dinner , -Of his own doors being shut against his entrance -Belike his wife , acquainted with his fits , -On purpose shut the doors against his way . -My way is now to hie home to his house , -And tell his wife , that , being lunatic , -He rush'd into my house , and took perforce -My ring away . This course I fittest choose , -For forty ducats is too much to lose . - - -Fear me not , man ; I will not break away : -I'll give thee , ere I leave thee , so much money , -To warrant thee , as I am 'rested for . -My wife is in a wayward mood to-day , -And will not lightly trust the messenger . -That I should be attach'd in Ephesus , -I tell you , 'twill sound harshly in her ears . - - -Here comes my man : I think he brings the money . - -How now , sir ! have you that I sent you for ? - -Here's that , I warrant you , will pay them all . - -But where's the money ? - -Why , sir , I gave the money for the rope . - -Five hundred ducats , villain , for a rope ? - -I'll serve you , sir , five hundred at the rate . - -To what end did I bid thee hie thee home ? - -To a rope's end , sir ; and to that end am I return'd . - -And to that end , sir , I will welcome you . - - -Good sir , be patient . - -Nay , 'tis for me to be patient ; I am in adversity . - -Good now , hold thy tongue . - -Nay , rather persuade him to hold his hands . - -Thou whoreson , senseless villain ! - -I would I were senseless , sir , that I might not feel your blows . - -Thou art sensible in nothing but blows , and so is an ass . - -I am an ass indeed ; you may prove it by my long ears . I have served him from the hour of my nativity to this instant , and have nothing at his hands for my service but blows . When I am cold , he heats me with beating ; when I am warm , he cools me with beating ; I am waked with it when I sleep ; raised with it when I sit ; driven out of doors with it when I go from home ; welcomed home with it when I return ; nay , I bear it on my shoulders , as a beggar wont her brat ; and , I think , when he hath lamed me , I shall beg with it from door to door . - -Come , go along ; my wife is coming yonder . - - -Mistress , respice finem , respect your end ; or rather , to prophesy like the parrot , 'Beware the rope's end .' - -Wilt thou still talk ? - - -How say you now ? is not your husband mad ? - -His incivility confirms no less . -Good Doctor Pinch , you are a conjurer ; -Establish him in his true sense again , -And I will please you what you will demand . - -Alas ! how fiery and how sharp he looks . - -Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy ! - -Give me your hand and let me feel your pulse . - -There is my hand , and let it feel your ear . - - -I charge thee , Satan , hous'd within this man , -To yield possession to my holy prayers , -And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight : -I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven . - -Peace , doting wizard , peace ! I am not mad . - -O ! that thou wert not , poor distressed soul ! - -You minion , you , are these your customers ? -Did this companion with the saffron face -Revel and feast it at my house to-day , -Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut -And I denied to enter in my house ? - -O husband , God doth know you din'd at home ; -Where would you had remain'd until this time . -Free from these slanders and this open shame ! - -Din'd at home ! Thou villain , what say'st thou ? - -Sir , sooth to say , you did not dine at home . - -Were not my doors lock'd up and I shut out ? - -Perdy , your doors were lock'd and you shut out . - -And did not she herself revile me there ? - -Sans fable , she herself revil'd you there . - -Did not her kitchen-maid rail , taunt , and scorn me ? - -Certes , she did ; the kitchen-vestal scorn'd you . - -And did not I in rage depart from thence ? - -In verity you did : my bones bear witness , -That since have felt the vigour of his rage . - -Is't good to soothe him in these contraries ? - -It is no shame : the fellow finds his vein , -And , yielding to him humours well his frenzy . - -Thou hast suborn'd the goldsmith to arrest me . - -Alas ! I sent you money to redeem you , -By Dromio here , who came in haste for it . - -Money by me ! heart and good will you might ; -But surely , master , not a rag of money . - -Went'st not thou to her for a purse of ducats ? - -He came to me , and I deliver'd it . - -And I am witness with her that she did . - -God and the rope-maker bear me witness -That I was sent for nothing but a rope ! - -Mistress , both man and master is possess'd : -I know it by their pale and deadly looks . -They must be bound and laid in some dark room . - -Say , wherefore didst thou lock me forth to-day ? -And why dost thou deny the bag of gold ? - -I did not , gentle husband , lock thee forth . - -And , gentle master , I receiv'd no gold ; -But I confess , sir , that we were lock'd out . - -Dissembling villain ! thou speak'st false in both . - -Dissembling harlot ! thou art false in all ; -And art confederate with a damned pack -To make a loathsome abject scorn of me ; -But with these nails I'll pluck out those false eyes -That would behold in me this shameful sport . - -O ! bind him , bind him , let him not come near me . - -More company ! the fiend is strong within him . - -Ay me ! poor man , how pale and wan he looks ! - - -What , will you murder me ? Thou gaoler , thou , -I am thy prisoner : wilt thou suffer them -To make a rescue ? - -Masters , let him go : -He is my prisoner , and you shall not have him . - -Go bind this man , for he is frantic too . - - -What wilt thou do , thou peevish officer ? -Hast thou delight to see a wretched man -Do outrage and displeasure to himself ? - -He is my prisoner : if I let him go , -The debt he owes will be requir'd of me . - -I will discharge thee ere I go from thee : -Bear me forthwith unto his creditor , -And , knowing how the debt grows , I will pay it . -Good Master doctor , see him safe convey'd -Home to my house . O most unhappy day ! - -O most unhappy strumpet ! - -Master , I am here enter'd in bond for you . - -Out on thee , villain ! wherefore dost thou mad me ? - -Will you be bound for nothing ? be mad , good master ; cry , 'the devil !' - -God help , poor souls ! how idly do they talk . - -Go bear him hence . Sister , go you with me . - -Say now , whose suit is he arrested at ? - -One Angelo , a goldsmith ; do you know him ? - -I know the man . What is the sum he owes ? - -Two hundred ducats . - -Say , how grows it due ? - -Due for a chain your husband had of him . - -He did bespeak a chain for me , but had it not . - -When as your husband all in rage , to-day -Came to my house , and took away my ring , -The ring I saw upon his finger now , -Straight after did I meet him with a chain . - -It may be so , but I did never see it . -Come , gaoler , bring me where the goldsmith is : -I long to know the truth hereof at large . - - -God , for thy mercy ! they are loose again . - -And come with naked swords . Let's call more help -To have them bound again . - -Away ! they'll kill us . - - -I see , these witches are afraid of swords . - -She that would be your wife now ran from you . - -Come to the Centaur ; fetch our stuff from thence : -I long that we were safe and sound aboard . - -Faith , stay here this night , they will surely do us no harm ; you saw they speak us fair , give us gold : methinks they are such a gentle nation , that , but for the mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage of me , I could find in my heart to stay here still , and turn witch . - -I will not stay to-night for all the town ; -Therefore away , to get our stuff aboard . - -I am sorry , sir , that I have hinder'd you ; -But , I protest , he had the chain of me , -Though most dishonestly he doth deny it . - -How is the man esteem'd here in the city ? - -Of very reverend reputation , sir , -Of credit infinite , highly belov'd , -Second to none that lives here in the city : -His word might bear my wealth at any time . - -Speak softly : yonder , as I think , he walks . - - -'Tis so ; and that self chain about his neck -Which he forswore most monstrously to have . -Good sir , draw near to me , I'll speak to him . -Signior Antipholus , I wonder much -That you would put me to this shame and trouble ; -And not without some scandal to yourself , -With circumstance and oaths so to deny -This chain which now you wear so openly : -Beside the charge , the shame , imprisonment , -You have done wrong to this my honest friend , -Who , but for staying on our controversy , -Had hoisted sail and put to sea to-day . -This chain you had of me ; can you deny it ? - -I think I had : I never did deny it . - -Yes , that you did , sir , and forswore it too . - -Who heard me to deny it or forswear it ? - -These ears of mine , thou know'st , did hear thee . -Fie on thee , wretch ! 'tis pity that thou liv'st -To walk where any honest men resort . - -Thou art a villain to impeach me thus : -I'll prove mine honour and mine honesty -Against thee presently , if thou dar'st stand . - -I dare , and do defy thee for a villain . - -Hold ! hurt him not , for God's sake ! he is mad . -Some get within him , take his sword away . -Bind Dromio too , and bear them to my house . - -Run , master , run ; for God's sake , take a house ! -This is some priory : in , or we are spoil'd . - -Be quiet , people . Wherefore throng you hither ? - -To fetch my poor distracted husband hence . -Let us come in , that we may bind him fast , -And bear him home for his recovery . - -I knew he was not in his perfect wits . - -I am sorry now that I did draw on him . - -How long hath this possession held the man ? - -This week he hath been heavy , sour , sad , -And much different from the man he was ; -But , till this afternoon his passion -Ne'er brake into extremity of rage . - -Hath he not lost much wealth by wrack of sea ? -Buried some dear friend ? Hath not else his eye -Stray'd his affection in unlawful love ? -A sin prevailing much in youthful men , -Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing . -Which of these sorrows is he subject to ? - -To none of these , except it be the last ; -Namely , some love that drew him oft from home . - -You should for that have reprehended him . - -Why , so I did . - -Ay , but not rough enough . - -As roughly as my modesty would let me . - -Haply , in private . - -And in assemblies too . - -Ay , but not enough . - -It was the copy of our conference : -In bed , he slept not for my urging it ; -At board , he fed not for my urging it ; -Alone , it was the subject of my theme ; -In company I often glanced it : -Still did I tell him it was vile and bad . - -And thereof came it that the man was mad : -The venom clamours of a jealous woman -Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth . -It seems , his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing , -And thereof comes it that his head is light . -Thou say'st his meat was sauc'd with thy upbraidings : -Unquiet meals make ill digestions ; -Thereof the raging fire of fever bred : -And what's a fever but a fit of madness ? -Thou say'st his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls : -Sweet recreation barr'd , what doth ensue -But moody moping , and dull melancholy , -Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair , -And at her heels a huge infectious troop -Of pale distemperatures and foes to life ? -In food , in sport , and life-preserving rest -To be disturb'd , would mad or man or beast : -The consequence is then , thy jealous fits -Have scar'd thy husband from the use of wits . - -She never reprehended him but mildly -When he demean'd himself rough , rude , and wildly . -Why bear you these rebukes and answer not ? - -She did betray me to my own reproof . -Good people , enter , and lay hold on him . - -No ; not a creature enters in my house . - -Then , let your servants bring my husband forth . - -Neither : he took this place for sanctuary , -And it shall privilege him from your hands -Till I have brought him to his wits again , -Or lose my labour in assaying it . - -I will attend my husband , be his nurse , -Diet his sickness , for it is my office , -And will have no attorney but myself ; -And therefore let me have him home with me . - -Be patient ; for I will not let him stir -Till I have us'd the approved means I have , -With wholesome syrups , drugs , and holy prayers , -To make of him a formal man again . -It is a branch and parcel of mine oath , -A charitable duty of my order ; -Therefore depart and leave him here with me . - -I will not hence and leave my husband here ; -And ill it doth beseem your holiness -To separate the husband and the wife . - -Be quiet , and depart : thou shalt not have him . - - -Complain unto the duke of this indignity . - -Come , go : I will fall prostrate at his feet , -And never rise until my tears and prayers -Have won his Grace to come in person hither , -And take perforce my husband from the abbess . - -By this , I think , the dial points at five : -Anon , I'm sure , the duke himself in person -Comes this way to the melancholy vale , -The place of death and sorry execution , -Behind the ditches of the abbey here . - -Upon what cause ? - -To see a reverend Syracusian merchant , -Who put unluckily into this bay -Against the laws and statutes of this town , -Beheaded publicly for his offence . - -See where they come : we will behold his death . - -Kneel to the duke before he pass the abbey . - - -Yet once again proclaim it publicly , -If any friend will pay the sum for him , -He shall not die ; so much we tender him . - -Justice , most sacred duke , against the abbess ! - -She is a virtuous and a reverend lady : -It cannot be that she hath done thee wrong . - -May it please your Grace , Antipholus , my husband , -Whom I made lord of me and all I had , -At your important letters , this ill day -A most outrageous fit of madness took him , -That desperately he hurried through the street , -With him his bondman , all as mad as he , -Doing displeasure to the citizens -By rushing in their houses , bearing thence -Rings , jewels , anything his rage did like . -Once did I get him bound and sent him home , -Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went -That here and there his fury had committed . -Anon , I wot not by what strong escape , -He broke from those that had the guard of him , -And with his mad attendant and himself , -Each one with ireful passion , with drawn swords -Met us again , and , madly bent on us -Chas'd us away , till , raising of more aid -We came again to bind them . Then they fled -Into this abbey , whither we pursu'd them ; -And here the abbess shuts the gates on us , -And will not suffer us to fetch him out , -Nor send him forth that we may bear him hence . -Therefore , most gracious duke , with thy command -Let him be brought forth , and borne hence for help . - -Long since thy husband serv'd me in my wars , -And I to thee engag'd a prince's word , -When thou didst make him master of thy bed , -To do him all the grace and good I could . -Go , some of you , knock at the abbey gate -And bid the lady abbess come to me . -I will determine this before I stir . - - -O mistress , mistress ! shift and save yourself ! -My master and his man are both broke loose , -Beaten the maids a-row and bound the doctor , -Whose beard they have sing'd off with brands of fire ; -And ever as it blaz'd they threw on him -Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair . -My master preaches patience to him , and the while -His man with scissors nicks him like a fool ; -And sure , unless you send some present help , -Between them they will kill the conjurer . - -Peace , fool ! thy master and his man are here , -And that is false thou dost report to us . - -Mistress , upon my life , I tell you true ; -I have not breath'd almost , since I did see it . -He cries for you and vows , if he can take you , -To scotch your face , and to disfigure you . - -Hark , hark ! I hear him , mistress : fly , be gone ! - -Come , stand by me ; fear nothing . Guard with halberds ! - -Ay me , it is my husband ! Witness you , -That he is borne about invisible : -Even now we hous'd him in the abbey here , -And now he's here , past thought of human reason . - - -Justice , most gracious duke ! O ! grant me justice , -Even for the service that long since I did thee , -When I bestrid thee in the wars and took -Deep scars to save thy life ; even for the blood -That then I lost for thee , now grant me justice . - -Unless the fear of death doth make me dote , -I see my son Antipholus and Dromio ! - -Justice , sweet prince , against that woman there ! -She whom thou gav'st to me to be my wife , -That hath abused and dishonour'd me , -Even in the strength and height of injury ! -Beyond imagination is the wrong -That she this day hath shameless thrown on me . - -Discover how , and thou shalt find me just . - -This day , great duke , she shut the doors upon me , -While she with harlots feasted in my house . - -A grievous fault ! Say , woman , didst thou so ? - -No , my good lord : myself , he , and my sister -To-day did dine together . So befall my soul -As this is false he burdens me withal ! - -Ne'er may I look on day , nor sleep on night , -But she tells to your highness simple truth ! - -O perjur'd woman ! They are both forsworn : -In this the madman justly chargeth them ! - -My liege , I am advised what I say : -Neither disturb'd with the effect of wine , -Nor heady-rash , provok'd with raging ire , -Albeit my wrongs might make one wiser mad . -This woman lock'd me out this day from dinner : -That goldsmith there , were he not pack'd with her , -Could witness it , for he was with me then ; -Who parted with me to go fetch a chain , -Promising to bring it to the Porpentine , -Where Balthazar and I did dine together . -Our dinner done , and he not coming thither , -I went to seek him : in the street I met him , -And in his company that gentleman . -There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down -That I this day of him receiv'd the chain , -Which , God he knows , I saw not ; for the which -He did arrest me with an officer . -I did obey , and sent my peasant home -For certain ducats : he with none return'd . -Then fairly I bespoke the officer -To go in person with me to my house . -By the way we met -My wife , her sister , and a rabble more -Of vile confederates : along with them -They brought one Pinch , a hungry lean-fac'd villain , -A mere anatomy , a mountebank , -A threadbare juggler , and a fortune-teller , -A needy , hollow-ey'd , sharp-looking wretch , -A living-dead man . This pernicious slave , -Forsooth , took on him as a conjurer , -And , gazing in mine eyes , feeling my pulse , -And with no face , as 'twere , out-facing me , -Cries out , I was possess'd . Then , altogether -They fell upon me , bound me , bore me thence , -And in a dark and dankish vault at home -There left me and my man , both bound together ; -Till , gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder , -I gain'd my freedom , and immediately -Ran hither to your Grace ; whom I beseech -To give me ample satisfaction -For these deep shames and great indignities . - -My lord , in truth , thus far I witness with him , -That he din'd not at home , but was lock'd out . - -But had he such a chain of thee , or no ? - -He had , my lord ; and when he ran in here , -These people saw the chain about his neck . - -Besides , I will be sworn these ears of mine -Heard you confess you had the chain of him -After you first forswore it on the mart ; -And thereupon I drew my sword on you ; -And then you fled into this abbey here , -From whence , I think , you are come by miracle . - -I never came within these abbey walls ; -Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me ; -I never saw the chain , so help me heaven ! -And this is false you burden me withal . - -Why , what an intricate impeach is this ! -I think you all have drunk of Circe's cup . -If here you hous'd him , here he would have been ; -If he were mad , he would not plead so coldly ; -You say he din'd at home ; the goldsmith here -Denies that saying . Sirrah , what say you ? - -Sir , he din'd with her there , at the Porpentine . - -He did , and from my finger snatch'd that ring . - -'Tis true , my liege ; this ring I had of her . - -Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here ? - -As sure , my liege , as I do see your Grace . - -Why , this is strange . Go call the abbess hither . - -I think you are all mated or stark mad . - -Most mighty duke , vouchsafe me speak a word : -Haply I see a friend will save my life , -And pay the sum that may deliver me . - -Speak freely , Syracusian , what thou wilt . - -Is not your name , sir , called Antipholus ? -And is not that your bondman Dromio ? - -Within this hour I was his bondman , sir ; -But he , I thank him , gnaw'd in two my cords : -Now am I Dromio and his man , unbound . - -I am sure you both of you remember me . - -Ourselves we do remember , sir , by you ; -For lately we were bound , as you are now . -You are not Pinch's patient , are you , sir ? - -Why look you strange on me ? you know me well . - -I never saw you in my life till now . - -O ! grief hath chang'd me since you saw me last , -And careful hours , with Time's deformed hand , -Have written strange defeatures in my face : -But tell me yet , dost thou not know my voice ? - -Neither . - -Dromio , nor thou ? - -No , trust me , sir , not I . - -I am sure thou dost . - -Ay , sir ; but I am sure I do not ; and whatsoever a man denies , you are now bound to believe him . - -Not know my voice ! O , time's extremity , -Hast thou so crack'd and splitted my poor tongue -In seven short years , that here my only son -Knows not my feeble key of untun'd cares ? -Though now this grained face of mine be hid -In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow , -And all the conduits of my blood froze up , -Yet hath my night of life some memory , -My wasting lamps some fading glimmer left , -My dull deaf ears a little use to hear : -All these old witnesses , I cannot err , -Tell me thou art my son Antipholus . - -I never saw my father in my life . - -But seven years since , in Syracusa , boy , -Thou know'st we parted : but perhaps , my son , -Thou sham'st to acknowledge me in misery . - -The duke and all that know me in the city -Can witness with me that it is not so : -I ne'er saw Syracusa in my life . - -I tell thee , Syracusian , twenty years -Have I been patron to Antipholus , -During which time he ne'er saw Syracusa . -I see thy age and dangers make thee dote . - - -Most mighty duke , behold a man much wrong'd . - - -I see two husbands , or mine eyes deceive me ! - -One of these men is Genius to the other ; -And so of these : which is the natural man , -And which the spirit ? Who deciphers them ? - -I , sir , am Dromio : command him away . - -I , sir , am Dromio : pray let me stay . - -geon art thou not ? or else his ghost ? - -O ! my old master ; who hath bound him here ? - -Whoever bound him , I will loose his bonds , -And gain a husband by his liberty . -Speak , old geon , if thou be'st the man -That hadst a wife once call'd milia , -That bore thee at a burden two fair sons . -O ! if thou be'st the same geon , speak , -And speak unto the same milia ! - -If I dream not , thou art milia : -If thou art she , tell me where is that son -That floated with thee on the fatal raft ? - -By men of Epidamnum , he and I , -And the twin Dromio , all were taken up : -But by and by rude fishermen of Corinth -By force took Dromio and my son from them , -And me they left with those of Epidamnum . -What then became of them , I cannot tell ; -I to this fortune that you see me in . - -Why , here begins his morning story right : -These two Antipholus' , these two so like , -And these two Dromios , one in semblance , -Besides her urging of her wrack at sea ; -These are the parents to these children , -Which accidentally are met together . -Antipholus , thou cam'st from Corinth first ? - -No , sir , not I ; I came from Syracuse . - -Stay , stand apart ; I know not which is which . - -I came from Corinth , my most gracious lord , - -And I with him . - -Brought to this town by that most famous warrior , -Duke Menaphon , your most renowned uncle . - -Which of you two did dine with me to-day ? - -I , gentle mistress . - -And are not you my husband ? - -No ; I say nay to that . - -And so do I ; yet did she call me so ; -And this fair gentlewoman , her sister here , -Did call me brother . - -What I told you then , -I hope I shall have leisure to make good , -If this be not a dream I see and hear . - -That is the chain , sir , which you had of me . - -I think it be , sir ; I deny it not . - -And you , sir , for this chain arrested me . - -I think I did , sir ; I deny it not . - -I sent you money , sir , to be your bail , -By Dromio ; but I think he brought it not . - -No , none by me . - -This purse of ducats I receiv'd from you , -And Dromio , my man , did bring them me . -I see we still did meet each other's man , -And I was ta'en for him , and he for me , -And thereupon these errors are arose . - -These ducats pawn I for my father here . - -It shall not need : thy father hath his life . - -Sir , I must have that diamond from you . - -There , take it ; and much thanks for my good cheer . - -Renowned duke , vouchsafe to take the pains -To go with us into the abbey here , -And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes ; -And all that are assembled in this place , -That by this sympathized one day's error -Have suffer'd wrong , go keep us company , -And we shall make full satisfaction . -Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail -Of you , my sons ; and , till this present hour -My heavy burdens ne'er delivered . -The duke , my husband , and my children both , -And you the calendars of their nativity , -Go to a gossip's feast , and joy with me : -After so long grief such festivity ! - -With all my heart I'll gossip at this feast . - - -Master , shall I fetch your stuff from shipboard ? - -Dromio , what stuff of mine hast thou embark'd ? - -Your goods that lay at host , sir , in the Centaur . - -He speaks to me . I am your master , Dromio : -Come , go with us ; we'll look to that anon : -Embrace thy brother there ; rejoice with him . - - -There is a fat friend at your master's house , -That kitchen'd me for you to-day at dinner : -She now shall be my sister , not my wife . - -Methinks you are my glass , and not my brother : -I see by you I am a sweet-fac'd youth . -Will you walk in to see their gossiping ? - -Not I , sir ; you are my elder . - -That's a question : how shall we try it ? - -We'll draw cuts for the senior : till then lead thou first . - -Nay , then , thus : -We came into the world like brother and brother ; -And now let's go hand in hand , not one before another . - -THE MERCHANT OF VENICE - - -In sooth , I know not why I am so sad : -It wearies me ; you say it wearies you ; -But how I caught it , found it , or came by it , -What stuff 'tis made of , whereof it is born , -I am to learn ; -And such a want-wit sadness makes of me , -That I have much ado to know myself . - -Your mind is tossing on the ocean ; -There , where your argosies with portly sail , -Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood , -Or , as it were , the pageants of the sea , -Do overpeer the petty traffickers , -That curtsy to them , do them reverence , -As they fly by them with their woven wings . - -Believe me , sir , had I such venture forth , -The better part of my affections would -Be with my hopes abroad . I should be still -Plucking the grass to know where sits the wind ; -Peering in maps for ports , and piers , and roads ; -And every object that might make me fear -Misfortune to my ventures , out of doubt -Would make me sad . - -My wind , cooling my broth , -Would blow me to an ague , when I thought -What harm a wind too great might do at sea . -I should not see the sandy hour-glass run -But I should think of shallows and of flats , -And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand -Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs -To kiss her burial . Should I go to church -And see the holy edifice of stone , -And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks , -Which touching but my gentle vessel's side -Would scatter all her spices on the stream , -Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ; -And , in a word , but even now worth this , -And now worth nothing ? Shall I have the thought -To think on this , and shall I lack the thought -That such a thing bechanc'd would make me sad ? -But tell not me : I know Antonio -Is sad to think upon his merchandise . - -Believe me , no : I thank my fortune for it , -My ventures are not in one bottom trusted , -Nor to one place ; nor is my whole estate -Upon the fortune of this present year : -Therefore , my merchandise makes me not sad . - -Why , then you are in love . - -Fie , fie ! - -Not in love neither ? Then let's say you are sad , -Because you are not merry : and 'twere as easy -For you to laugh and leap , and say you are merry , -Because you are not sad . Now , by two-headed Janus , -Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time : -Some that will evermore peep through their eyes -And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper , -And other of such vinegar aspect -That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile , -Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable . - - -Here comes Bassanio , your most noble kinsman , -Gratiano , and Lorenzo . Fare ye well : -We leave you now with better company . - -I would have stay'd till I had made you merry , -If worthier friends had not prevented me . - -Your worth is very dear in my regard . -I take it , your own business calls on you , -And you embrace the occasion to depart . - -Good morrow , my good lords . - -Good signiors both , when shall we laugh ? say when ? -You grow exceeding strange : must it be so ? - -We'll make our leisures to attend on yours . - - -My Lord Bassanio , since you have found Antonio , -We too will leave you ; but , at dinner-time , -I pray you , have in mind where we must meet . - -I will not fail you . - -You look not well , Signior Antonio ; -You have too much respect upon the world : -They lose it that do buy it with much care : -Believe me , you are marvellously chang'd . - -I hold the world but as the world , Gratiano ; -A stage where every man must play a part , -And mine a sad one . - -Let me play the fool : -With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come , -And let my liver rather heat with wine -Than my heart cool with mortifying groans . -Why should a man , whose blood is warm within , -Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster ? -Sleep when he wakes , and creep into the jaundice -By being peevish ? I tell thee what , Antonio -I love thee , and it is my love that speaks -There are a sort of men whose visages -Do cream and mantle like a standing pond , -And do a wilful stillness entertain , -With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion -Of wisdom , gravity , profound conceit ; -As who should say , 'I am Sir Oracle , -And when I ope my lips let no dog bark !' -O , my Antonio , I do know of these , -That therefore only are reputed wise -For saying nothing ; when , I am very sure , -If they should speak , would almost damn those ears -Which , hearing them , would call their brothers fools . -I'll tell thee more of this another time : -But fish not , with this melancholy bait , -For this fool-gudgeon , this opinion . -Come , good Lorenzo . Fare ye well awhile : -I'll end my exhortation after dinner . - -Well , we will leave you then till dinner-time . -I must be one of these same dumb-wise men , -For Gratiano never lets me speak . - -Well , keep me company but two years moe , -Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue . - -Farewell : I'll grow a talker for this gear . - -Thanks , i' faith ; for silence is only commendable -In a neat's tongue dried and a maid not vendible . - - -Is that anything now ? - -Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing , more than any man in all Venice . His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff : you shall seek all day ere you find them , and , when you have them , they are not worth the search . - -Well , tell me now , what lady is the same -To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage , -That you to-day promis'd to tell me of ? - -'Tis not unknown to you , Antonio , -How much I have disabled mine estate , -By something showing a more swelling port -Than my faint means would grant continuance : -Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd -From such a noble rate ; but my chief care -Is , to come fairly off from the great debts -Wherein my time , something too prodigal , -Hath left me gag'd . To you , Antonio , -I owe the most , in money and in love ; -And from your love I have a warranty -To unburthen all my plots and purposes -How to get clear of all the debts I owe . - -I pray you , good Bassanio , let me know it ; -And if it stand , as you yourself still do , -Within the eye of honour , be assur'd , -My purse , my person , my extremest means , -Lie all unlock'd to your occasions . - -In my school-days , when I had lost one shaft , -I shot his fellow of the self-same flight -The self-same way with more advised watch , -To find the other forth , and by adventuring both , -I oft found both . I urge this childhood proof , -Because what follows is pure innocence . -I owe you much , and , like a wilful youth , -That which I owe is lost ; but if you please -To shoot another arrow that self way -Which you did shoot the first , I do not doubt , -As I will watch the aim , or to find both , -Or bring your latter hazard back again , -And thankfully rest debtor for the first . - -You know me well , and herein spend but time -To wind about my love with circumstance ; -And out of doubt you do me now more wrong -In making question of my uttermost -Than if you had made waste of all I have : -Then do but say to me what I should do -That in your knowledge may by me be done , -And I am prest unto it : therefore speak . - -In Belmont is a lady richly left , -And she is fair , and , fairer than that word , -Of wondrous virtues : sometimes from her eyes -I did receive fair speechless messages : -Her name is Portia ; nothing undervalu'd -To Cato's daughter , Brutus' Portia : -Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth , -For the four winds blow in from every coast -Renowned suitors ; and her sunny locks -Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ; -Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strond , -And many Jasons come in quest of her . -O my Antonio ! had I but the means -To hold a rival place with one of them , -I have a mind presages me such thrift , -That I should questionless be fortunate . - -Thou knowest that all my fortunes are at sea ; -Neither have I money , nor commodity -To raise a present sum : therefore go forth ; -Try what my credit can in Venice do : -That shall be rack'd , even to the uttermost , -To furnish thee to Belmont , to fair Portia . -Go , presently inquire , and so will I , -Where money is , and I no question make -To have it of my trust or for my sake . - - -By my troth , Nerissa , my little body is aweary of this great world . - -You would be , sweet madam , if your miseries were in the same abundance as your good fortunes are : and yet , for aught I see , they are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing . It is no mean happiness therefore , to be seated in the mean : superfluity comes sooner by white hairs , but competency lives longer . - -Good sentences and well pronounced . - -They would be better if well followed . - -If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do , chapels had been churches , and poor men's cottages princes' palaces . It is a good divine that follows his own instructions : I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done , than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching . The brain may devise laws for the blood , but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree : such a hare is madness the youth , to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the cripple . But this reasoning is not in the fashion to choose me a husband . O me , the word 'choose !' I may neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I dislike ; so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father . Is it not hard , Nerissa , that I cannot choose one nor refuse none ? - -Your father was ever virtuous , and holy men at their death have good inspirations ; therefore , the lottery that he hath devised in these three chests of gold , silver , and lead , whereof who chooses his meaning chooses you , will , no doubt , never be chosen by any rightly but one who you shall rightly love . But what warmth is there in your affection towards any of these princely suitors that are already come ? - -I pray thee , over-name them , and as thou namest them , I will describe them ; and , according to my description , level at my affection . - -First , there is the Neapolitan prince . - -Ay , that's a colt indeed , for he doth nothing but talk of his horse ; and he makes it a great appropriation to his own good parts that he can shoe him himself . I am much afeard my lady his mother played false with a smith . - -Then is there the County Palatine . - -He doth nothing but frown , as who should say , 'An you will not have me , choose .' He hears merry tales , and smiles not : I fear he will prove the weeping philosopher when he grows old , being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth . I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth than to either of these . God defend me from these two ! - -How say you by the French lord , Monsieur Le Bon ? - -God made him , and therefore let him pass for a man . In truth , I know it is a sin to be a mocker ; but , he ! why , he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan's , a better bad habit of frowning than the Count Palatine ; he is every man in no man ; if a throstle sing , he falls straight a-capering ; he will fence with his own shadow : if I should marry him , I should marry twenty husbands . If he would despise me , I would forgive him , for if he love me to madness , I shall never requite him . - -What say you , then , to Falconbridge , the young baron of England ? - -You know I say nothing to him , for he understands not me , nor I him : he hath neither Latin , French , nor Italian ; and you will come into the court and swear that I have a poor pennyworth in the English . He is a proper man's picture , but , alas ! who can converse with a dumb-show ? How oddly he is suited ! I think he bought his doublet in Italy , his round hose in France , his bonnet in Germany , and his behaviour every where . - -What think you of the Scottish lord , his neighbour ? - -That he hath a neighbourly charity in him , for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman , and swore he would pay him again when he was able : I think the Frenchman became his surety and sealed under for another . - -How like you the young German , the Duke of Saxony's nephew ? - -Very vilely in the morning , when he is sober , and most vilely in the afternoon , when he is drunk : when he is best , he is a little worse than a man , and when he is worst , he is little better than a beast . An the worst fall that ever fell , I hope I shall make shift to go without him . - -If he should offer to choose , and choose the right casket , you should refuse to perform your father's will , if you should refuse to accept him . - -Therefore , for fear of the worst , I pray thee , set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket , for , if the devil be within and that temptation without , I know he will choose it . I will do anything , Nerissa , ere I will be married to a sponge . - -You need not fear , lady , the having any of these lords : they have acquainted me with their determinations ; which is , indeed , to return to their home and to trouble you with no more suit , unless you may be won by some other sort than your father's imposition depending on the caskets . - -If I live to be as old as Sibylla , I will die as chaste as Diana , unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will . I am glad this parcel of wooers are so reasonable , for there is not one among them but I dote on his very absence , and I pray God grant them a fair departure . - -Do you not remember , lady , in your father's time , a Venetian , a scholar and a soldier , that came hither in the company of the Marquis of Montferrat ? - -Yes , yes : it was Bassanio ; as I think , he was so called . - -True , madam : he , of all the men that ever my foolish eyes looked upon , was the best deserving a fair lady . - -I remember him well , and I remember him worthy of thy praise . - -How now ! what news ? - -The four strangers seek for you , madam , to take their leave ; and there is a forerunner come from a fifth , the Prince of Morocco , who brings word the prince his master will be here to-night . - -If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good heart as I can bid the other four farewell , I should be glad of his approach : if he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil , I had rather he should shrive me than wive me . Come , Nerissa . Sirrah , go before . -Whiles we shut the gate upon one wooer , another knocks at the door . - - -Three thousand ducats ; well ? - -Ay , sir , for three months . - -For three months ; well ? - -For the which , as I told you , Antonio shall be bound . - -Antonio shall become bound ; well ? - -May you stead me ? Will you pleasure me ? Shall I know your answer ? - -Three thousand ducats , for three months , and Antonio bound . - -Your answer to that . - -Antonio is a good man . - -Have you heard any imputation to the contrary ? - -Ho , no , no , no , no : my meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is sufficient . Yet his means are in supposition : he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis , another to the Indies ; I understand moreover upon the Rialto , he hath a third at Mexico , a fourth for England , and other ventures he hath , squandered abroad . But ships are but boards , sailors but men : there be land-rats and water-rats , land-thieves , and water-thieves ,I mean pirates ,and then there is the peril of waters , winds , and rocks . The man is , notwithstanding , sufficient . Three thousand ducats ; I think , I may take his bond . - -Be assured you may . - -I will be assured I may ; and , that I may be assured , I will bethink me . May I speak with Antonio ? - -If it please you to dine with us . - -Yes , to smell pork : to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into . I will buy with you , sell with you , talk with you , walk with you , and so following ; but I will not eat with you , drink with you , nor pray with you . What news on the Rialto ? Who is he comes here ? - - -This is Signior Antonio . - -How like a fawning publican he looks ! -I hate him for he is a Christian ; -But more for that in low simplicity -He lends out money gratis , and brings down -The rate of usance here with us in Venice . -If I can catch him once upon the hip , -I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him . -He hates our sacred nation , and he rails , -Even there where merchants most do congregate , -On me , my bargains , and my well-won thrift , -Which he calls interest . Cursed be my tribe , -If I forgive him ! - -Shylock , do you hear ? - -I am debating of my present store , -And , by the near guess of my memory , -I cannot instantly raise up the gross -Of full three thousand ducats . What of that ? -Tubal , a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe , -Will furnish me . But soft ! how many months -Do you desire ? - -Rest you fair , good signior ; -Your worship was the last man in our mouths . - -Shylock , albeit I neither lend nor borrow -By taking nor by giving of excess , -Yet , to supply the ripe wants of my friend , -I'll break a custom . - -Is he yet possess'd -How much ye would ? - -Ay , ay , three thousand ducats . - -And for three months . - -I had forgot ; three months ; you told me so . -Well then , your bond ; and let me see . But hear you ; -Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow -Upon advantage . - -I do never use it . - -When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's sheep , -This Jacob from our holy Abram was , -As his wise mother wrought in his behalf , -The third possessor : ay , he was the third , - -And what of him ? did he take interest ? - -No ; not take interest ; not , as you would say , -Directly interest : mark what Jacob did . -When Laban and himself were compromis'd , -That all the eanlings that were streak'd and pied -Should fall as Jacob's hire , the ewes , being rank , -In end of autumn turned to the rams ; -And , when the work of generation was -Between these woolly breeders in the act , -The skilful shepherd peel'd me certain wands , -And , in the doing of the deed of kind , -He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes , -Who , then conceiving , did in eaning time -Fall parti-colour'd lambs , and those were Jacob's . -This was a way to thrive , and he was blest : -And thrift is blessing , if men steal it not . - -This was a venture , sir , that Jacob serv'd for ; -A thing not in his power to bring to pass , -But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of heaven . -Was this inserted to make interest good ? -Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams ? - -I cannot tell ; I make it breed as fast : But note me , signior . - -Mark you this , Bassanio , -The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose . -An evil soul , producing holy witness , -Is like a villain with a smiling cheek , -A goodly apple rotten at the heart . -O , what a goodly outside falsehood hath ! - -Three thousand ducats ; 'tis a good round sum . -Three months from twelve , then let me see the rate . - -Well , Shylock , shall we be beholding to you ? - -Signior Antonio , many a time and oft -In the Rialto you have rated me -About my moneys and my usances : -Still have I borne it with a patient shrug , -For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe . -You call me misbeliever , cut-throat dog , -And spet upon my Jewish gaberdine , -And all for use of that which is mine own . -Well then , it now appears you need my help : -Go to then ; you come to me , and you say , -'Shylock , we would have moneys :' you say so ; -You , that did void your rheum upon my beard , -And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur -Over your threshold : moneys is your suit . -What should I say to you ? Should I not say , -'Hath a dog money ? Is it possible -A cur can lend three thousand ducats ?' or -Shall I bend low , and in a bondman's key , -With bated breath , and whispering humbleness , -Say this : -'Fair sir , you spet on me on Wednesday last ; -You spurn'd me such a day ; another time -You call'd me dog ; and for these courtesies -I'll lend you thus much moneys ?' - -I am as like to call thee so again , -To spet on thee again , to spurn thee too . -If thou wilt lend this money , lend it not -As to thy friends ,for when did friendship take -A breed for barren metal of his friend ? -But lend it rather to thine enemy ; -Who if he break , thou mayst with better face -Exact the penalty . - -Why , look you , how you storm ! -I would be friends with you , and have your love , -Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with , -Supply your present wants , and take no doit -Of usance for my moneys , and you'll not hear me : -This is kind I offer . - -This were kindness . - -This kindness will I show . -Go with me to a notary , seal me there -Your single bond ; and , in a merry sport , -If you repay me not on such a day , -In such a place , such sum or sums as are -Express'd in the condition , let the forfeit -Be nominated for an equal pound -Of your fair flesh , to be cut off and taken -In what part of your body pleaseth me . - -Content , i' faith : I'll seal to such a bond , -And say there is much kindness in the Jew . - -You shall not seal to such a bond for me : -I'll rather dwell in my necessity . - -Why , fear not , man ; I will not forfeit it : -Within these two months , that's a month before -This bond expires , I do expect return -Of thrice three times the value of this bond . - -O father Abram ! what these Christians are , -Whose own hard dealing teaches them suspect -The thoughts of others . Pray you , tell me this ; -If he should break his day , what should I gain -By the exaction of the forfeiture ? -A pound of man's flesh , taken from a man , -Is not so estimable , profitable neither , -As flesh of muttons , beefs , or goats . I say , -To buy his favour , I extend this friendship : -If he will take it , so ; if not , adieu ; -And , for my love , I pray you wrong me not . - -Yes , Shylock , I will seal unto this bond . - -Then meet me forthwith at the notary's ; -Give him direction for this merry bond , -And I will go and purse the ducats straight , -See to my house , left in the fearful guard -Of an unthrifty knave , and presently -I will be with you . - -Hie thee , gentle Jew . - -This Hebrew will turn Christian : he grows kind . - -I like not fair terms and a villain's mind . - -Come on : in this there can be no dismay ; -My ships come home a month before the day . - - -Mislike me not for my complexion , -The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun , -To whom I am a neighbour and near bred . -Bring me the fairest creature northward born , -Where Ph bus' fire scarce thaws the icicles , -And let us make incision for your love , -To prove whose blood is reddest , his or mine . -I tell thee , lady , this aspect of mine -Hath fear'd the valiant : by my love , I swear -The best regarded virgins of our clime -Have lov'd it too : I would not change this hue , -Except to steal your thoughts , my gentle queen . - -In terms of choice I am not solely led -By nice direction of a maiden's eyes ; -Besides , the lottery of my destiny -Bars me the right of voluntary choosing : -But if my father had not scanted me -And hedg'd me by his wit , to yield myself -His wife who wins me by that means I told you , -Yourself , renowned prince , then stood as fair -As any comer I have look'd on yet -For my affection . - -Even for that I thank you : -Therefore , I pray you , lead me to the caskets -To try my fortune . By this scimitar , -That slew the Sophy , and a Persian prince -That won three fields of Sultan Solyman , -I would outstare the sternest eyes that look , -Outbrave the heart most daring on the earth , -Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear , -Yea , mock the lion when he roars for prey , -To win thee , lady . But , alas the while ! -If Hercules and Lichas play at dice -Which is the better man , the greater throw -May turn by fortune from the weaker hand : -So is Alcides beaten by his page ; -And so may I , blind fortune leading me , -Miss that which one unworthier may attain , -And die with grieving . - -You must take your chance ; -And either not attempt to choose at all , -Or swear before you choose , if you choose wrong , -Never to speak to lady afterward -In way of marriage : therefore be advis'd . - -Nor will not : come , bring me unto my chance . - -First , forward to the temple : after dinner -Your hazard shall be made . - -Good fortune then ! -To make me blest or cursed'st among men ! - - -Certainly my conscience will serve me to run from this Jew my master . The fiend is at mine elbow , and tempts me , saying to me , 'Gobbo , Launcelot Gobbo , good Launcelot ,' or 'good Gobbo ,' or 'good Launcelot Gobbo , use your legs , take the start , run away .' My conscience says , 'No ; take heed , honest Launcelot ; take heed , honest Gobbo ;' or , as aforesaid , 'honest Launcelot Gobbo ; do not run ; scorn running with thy heels .' Well , the most courageous fiend bids me pack : 'Via !' says the fiend ; 'away !' says the fiend ; 'for the heavens , rouse up a brave mind ,' says the fiend , 'and run .' Well , my conscience , hanging about the neck of my heart , says very wisely to me , 'My honest friend Launcelot , being an honest man's son ,' or rather an honest woman's son ;for , indeed , my father did something smack , something grow to , he had a kind of taste ;well , my conscience says , 'Launcelot , budge not .' 'Budge ,' says the fiend . 'Budge not ,' says my conscience . 'Conscience ,' say I , 'you counsel well ;' 'fiend ,' say I , 'you counsel well :' to be ruled by my conscience , I should stay with the Jew my master , who , God bless the mark ! is a kind of devil ; and , to run away from the Jew , I should be ruled by the fiend , who , saving your reverence , is the devil himself . Certainly , the Jew is the very devil incarnal ; and , in my conscience , my conscience is but a kind of hard conscience , to offer to counsel me to stay with the Jew . The fiend gives the more friendly counsel : I will run , fiend ; my heels are at your commandment ; I will run . - - -Master young man , you ; I pray you , which is the way to Master Jew's ? - -O heavens ! this is my truebegotten father , who , being more than sandblind , high-gravel blind , knows me not : I will try confusions with him . - -Master young gentleman , I pray you , which is the way to Master Jew's ? - -Turn up on your right hand at the next turning , but , at the next turning of all , on your left ; marry , at the very next turning , turn of no hand , but turn down indirectly to the Jew's house . - -By God's sonties , 'twill be a hard way to hit . Can you tell me whether one Launcelot , that dwells with him , dwell with him or no ? - -Talk you of young Master Launcelot ? - -Mark me now ; now will I raise the waters . Talk you of young Master Launcelot ? - -No master , sir , but a poor man's son : his father , though I say it , is an honest , exceeding poor man , and , God be thanked , well to live . - -Well , let his father be what a' will , we talk of young Master Launcelot . - -Your worship's friend , and Launcelot , sir . - -But I pray you , ergo , old man , ergo , I beseech you , talk you of young Master Launcelot ? - -Of Launcelot , an't please your mastership . - -Ergo , Master Launcelot . Talk not of Master Launcelot , father ; for the young gentleman ,according to Fates and Destinies and such odd sayings , the Sisters Three and such branches of learning ,is , indeed , deceased ; or , as you would say in plain terms , gone to heaven . - -Marry , God forbid ! the boy was the very staff of my age , my very prop . - -Do I look like a cudgel or a hovel-post , a staff or a prop ? Do you know me , father ? - -Alack the day ! I know you not , young gentleman : but I pray you , tell me , is my boy ,God rest his soul !alive or dead ? - -Do you not know me , father ? - -Alack , sir , I am sand-blind ; I know you not . - -Nay , indeed , if you had your eyes , you might fail of the knowing me : it is a wise father that knows his own child . Well , old man , I will tell you news of your son . Give me your blessing ; truth will come to light ; murder cannot be hid long ; a man's son may , but , in the end , truth will out . - -Pray you , sir , stand up . I am sure you are not Launcelot , my boy . - -Pray you , let's have no more fooling about it , but give me your blessing : I am Launcelot , your boy that was , your son that is , your child that shall be . - -I cannot think you are my son . - -I know not what I shall think of that ; but I am Launcelot , the Jew's man , and I am sure Margery your wife is my mother . - -Her name is Margery , indeed : I'll be sworn , if thou be Launcelot , thou art mine own flesh and blood . Lord worshipped might he be ! what a beard hast thou got ! thou hast got more hair on thy chin than Dobbin my thill-horse has on his tail . - -It should seem then that Dobbin's tail grows backward : I am sure he had more hair on his tail than I have on my face , when I last saw him . - -Lord ! how art thou changed . How dost thou and thy master agree ? I have brought him a present . How 'gree you now ? - -Well , well : but , for mine own part , as I have set up my rest to run away , so I will not rest till I have run some ground . My master's a very Jew : give him a present ! give him a halter : I am farnished in his service ; you may tell every finger I have with my ribs . Father , I am glad you are come : give me your present to one Master Bassanio , who , indeed , gives rare new liveries . If I serve not him , I will run as far as God has any ground . O rare fortune ! here comes the man : to him , father ; for I am a Jew , if I serve the Jew any longer . - - -You may do so ; but let it be so hasted that supper be ready at the very furthest by five of the clock . See these letters delivered ; put the liveries to making ; and desire Gratiano to come anon to my lodging . - - -To him , father . - -God bless your worship ! - -Gramercy ! wouldst thou aught with me ? - -Here's my son , sir , a poor boy , - -Not a poor boy , sir , but the rich Jew's man ; that would , sir ,as my father shall specify , - -He hath a great infection , sir , as one would say , to serve - -Indeed , the short and the long is , I serve the Jew , and have a desire , as my father shall specify , - -His master and he , saving your worship's reverence , are scarce cater-cousins , - -To be brief , the very truth is that the Jew having done me wrong , doth cause me ,as my father , being , I hope , an old man , shall frutify unto you , - -I have here a dish of doves that I would bestow upon your worship , and my suit is , - -In very brief , the suit is impertinent to myself , as your worship shall know by this honest old man ; and , though I say it , though old man , yet poor man , my father . - -One speak for both . What would you ? - -Serve you , sir . - -That is the very defect of the matter , sir . - -I know thee well ; thou hast obtain'd thy suit : -Shylock thy master spoke with me this day , -And hath preferr'd thee , if it be preferment -To leave a rich Jew's service , to become -The follower of so poor a gentleman . - -The old proverb is very well parted between my master Shylock and you , sir : you have the grace of God , sir , and he hath enough . - -Thou speak'st it well . Go , father , with thy son . -Take leave of thy old master , and inquire -My lodging out . - -Give him a livery -More guarded than his fellows' : see it done . - -Father , in . I cannot get a service , no ; I have ne'er a tongue in my head . Well , - -if any man in Italy have a fairer table which doth offer to swear upon a book , I shall have good fortune . Go to ; here's a simple line of life : here's a small trifle of wives : alas ! fifteen wives is nothing : a 'leven widows and nine maids is a simple coming-in for one man ; and then to 'scape drowning thrice , and to be in peril of my life with the edge of a feather-bed ; here are simple 'scapes . Well , if Fortune be a woman , she's a good wench for this gear . Father , come ; I'll take my leave of the Jew in the twinkling of an eye . - - -I pray thee , good Leonardo , think on this : -These things being bought , and orderly bestow'd , -Return in haste , for I do feast to-night -My best-esteem'd acquaintance : hie thee , go . - -My best endeavours shall be done herein . - - -Where is your master ? - -Yonder , sir , he walks . - - -Signior Bassanio ! - -Gratiano ! - -I have a suit to you . - -You have obtain'd it . - -You must not deny me : I must go with you to Belmont . - -Why , then you must . But hear thee , Gratiano ; -Thou art too wild , too rude and bold of voice ; -Parts that become thee happily enough , -And in such eyes as ours appear not faults ; -But where thou art not known , why , there they show -Something too liberal . Pray thee , take pain -To allay with some cold drops of modesty -Thy skipping spirit , lest , through thy wild behaviour , -I be misconstru'd in the place I go to , -And lose my hopes . - -Signior Bassanio , hear me : -If I do not put on a sober habit , -Talk with respect , and swear but now and then , -Wear prayer-books in my pocket , look demurely , -Nay more , while grace is saying , hood mine eyes -Thus with my hat , and sigh , and say 'amen ;' -Use all the observance of civility , -Like one well studied in a sad ostent -To please his grandam , never trust me more . - -Well , we shall see your bearing . - -Nay , but I bar to-night ; you shall not gauge me -By what we do to-night . - -No , that were pity : -I would entreat you rather to put on -Your boldest suit of mirth , for we have friends -That purpose merriment . But fare you well : -I have some business . - -And I must to Lorenzo and the rest ; -But we will visit you at supper-time . - - -I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so : -Our house is hell , and thou , a merry devil , -Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness . -But fare thee well ; there is a ducat for thee : -And , Launcelot , soon at supper shalt thou see -Lorenzo , who is thy new master's guest : -Give him this letter ; do it secretly ; -And so farewell : I would not have my father -See me in talk with thee . - -Adieu ! tears exhibit my tongue . Most beautiful pagan , most sweet Jew ! If a Christian did not play the knave and get thee , I am much deceived . But , adieu ! these foolish drops do somewhat drown my manly spirit : adieu ! - -Farewell , good Launcelot . - -Alack , what heinous sin is it in me -To be asham'd to be my father's child ! -But though I am a daughter to his blood , -I am not to his manners . O Lorenzo ! -If thou keep promise , I shall end this strife , -Become a Christian , and thy loving wife . - - -Nay , we will slink away in supper-time , -Disguise us at my lodging , and return -All in an hour . - -We have not made good preparation . - -We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers . - -'Tis vile , unless it may be quaintly order'd , -And better , in my mind , not undertook . - -'Tis now but four o'clock : we have two hours -To furnish us . - -Friend Launcelot , what's the news ? - -An it shall please you to break up this , it shall seem to signify . - -I know the hand : in faith , 'tis a fair hand ; -And whiter than the paper it writ on -Is the fair hand that writ . - -Love news , in faith . - -By your leave , sir . - -Whither goest thou ? - -Marry , sir , to bid my old master , the Jew , to sup to-night with my new master , the Christian . - -Hold here , take this : tell gentle Jessica -I will not fail her ; speak it privately . -Go , gentlemen , - -Will you prepare you for this masque to-night ? -I am provided of a torch-bearer . - -Ay , marry , I'll be gone about it straight . - -And so will I . - -Meet me and Gratiano -At Gratiano's lodging some hour hence . - -'Tis good we do so . - - -Was not that letter from fair Jessica ? - -I must needs tell thee all . She hath directed -How I shall take her from her father's house ; -What gold and jewels she is furnish'd with ; -What page's suit she hath in readiness . -If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven , -It will be for his gentle daughter's sake ; -And never dare misfortune cross her foot , -Unless she do it under this excuse , -That she is issue to a faithless Jew . -Come , go with me : peruse this as thou goest . -Fair Jessica shall be my torch-bearer . - - -Well , thou shalt see , thy eyes shall be thy judge , -The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio : -What , Jessical thou shalt not gormandize , -As thou hast done with me ;What , Jessical -And sleep and snore , and rend apparel out -Why , Jessica , I say ! - -Why , Jessica ! - -Who bids thee call ? I do not bid thee call . - -Your worship was wont to tell me that -I could do nothing without bidding . - - -Call you ? What is your will ? - -I am bid forth to supper , Jessica : -There are my keys . But wherefore should I go ? -I am not bid for love ; they flatter me : -But yet I'll go in hate , to feed upon -The prodigal Christian . Jessica , my girl , -Look to my house . I am right loath to go : -There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest , -For I did dream of money-bags to-night . - -I beseech you , sir , go : my young master doth expect your reproach . - -So do I his . - -And they have conspired together : I will not say you shall see a masque ; but if you do , then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on Black-Monday last , at six o'clock i' the morning , falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was four year in the afternoon . - -What ! are there masques ? Hear you me , Jessica : -Lock up my doors ; and when you hear the drum , -And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife , -Clamber not you up to the casements then , -Nor thrust your head into the public street -To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces , -But stop my house's ears , I mean my casements ; -Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter -My sober house . By Jacob's staff I swear -I have no mind of feasting forth to-night ; -But I will go . Go you before me , sirrah ; -Say I will come . - -I will go before , air . Mistress , look out at window , for all this ; - -There will come a Christian by , -Will be worth a Jewess' eye . - -What says that fool of Hagar's offspring , ha ? - -His words were , 'Farewell , mistress ;' nothing else . - -The patch is kind enough , but a huge feeder ; -Snail-slow in profit , and he sleeps by day -More than the wild cat : drones hive not with me ; -Therefore I part with him , and part with him -To one that I would have him help to waste -His borrow'd purse . Well , Jessica , go in : -Perhaps I will return immediately : -Do as I bid you ; shut doors after you : -'Fast bind , fast find ,' -A proverb never stale in thrifty mind . - - -Farewell ; and if my fortune be not crost , -I have a father , you a daughter , lost . - - -This is the penthouse under which Lorenzo -Desir'd us to make stand . - -His hour is almost past . - -And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour , -For lovers ever run before the clock . - -O ! ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly -To seal love's bonds new-made , than they are wont -To keep obliged faith unforfeited ! - -That ever holds : who riseth from a feast -With that keen appetite that he sits down ? -Where is the horse that doth untread again -His tedious measures with the unbated fire -That he did pace them first ? All things that are , -Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd . -How like a younker or a prodigal -The scarfed bark puts from her native bay , -Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind ! -How like the prodigal doth she return , -With over-weather'd ribs and ragged sails , -Lean , rent , and beggar'd by the strumpet wind ! - -Here comes Lorenzo : more of this hereafter . - - -Sweet friends , your patience for my long abode ; -Not I , but my affairs , have made you wait : -When you shall please to play the thieves for wives , -I'll watch as long for you then . Approach ; -Here dwells my father Jew . Ho ! who's within ? - - -Who are you ? Tell me , for more certainty , -Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue . - -Lorenzo , and thy love . - -Lorenzo , certain ; and my love indeed , -For whom love I so much ? And now who knows -But you , Lorenzo , whether I am yours ? - -Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that thou art . - -Here , catch this casket ; it is worth the pains . -I am glad 'tis night , you do not look on me , -For I am much asham'd of my exchange ; -But love is blind , and lovers cannot see -The pretty follies that themselves commit ; -For if they could , Cupid himself would blush -To see me thus transformed to a boy . - -Descend , for you must be my torch-bearer . - -What ! must I hold a candle to my shames ? -They in themselves , good sooth , are too-too light . -Why , 'tis an office of discovery , love , -And I should be obscur'd . - -So are you , sweet , -Even in the lovely garnish of a boy . -But come at once ; -For the close night doth play the runaway , -And we are stay'd for at Bassanio's feast . - -I will make fast the doors , and gild myself -With some more ducats , and be with you straight . - - -Now , by my hood , a Gentile , and no Jew . - -Beshrew me , but I love her heartily ; -For she is wise , if I can judge of her , -And fair she is , if that mine eyes be true , -And true she is , as she hath prov'd herself ; -And therefore , like herself , wise , fair , and true , -Shall she be placed in my constant soul . - - -What , art thou come ? On , gentlemen ; away ! -Our masquing mates by this time for us stay . - - -Who's there ? - -Signior Antonio ! - -Fie , fie , Gratiano ! where are all the rest ? -'Tis nine o'clock ; our friends all stay for you . -No masque to-night : the wind is come about ; -Bassanio presently will go aboard : -I have sent twenty out to seek for you . - -I am glad on't : I desire no more delight -Than to be under sail and gone to-night . - - -Go , draw aside the curtains , and discover -The several caskets to this noble prince . -Now make your choice . - -The first , of gold , which this inscription bears : -Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire . -The second , silver , which this promise carries : -Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves . -This third , dull lead , with warning all as blunt : -Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath . -How shall I know if I do choose the right ? - -The one of them contains my picture , prince : -If you choose that , then I am yours withal . - -Some god direct my judgment ! Let me see : -I will survey the inscriptions back again : -What says this leaden casket ? -Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath . -Must give : For what ? for lead ? hazard for lead ? -This casket threatens . Men that hazard all -Do it in hope of fair advantages : -A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross ; -I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead . -What says the silver with her virgin hue ? -Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves . -As much as he deserves ! Pause there , Morocco , -And weigh thy value with an even hand . -If thou be'st rated by thy estimation , -Thou dost deserve enough ; and yet enough -May not extend so far as to the lady : -And yet to be afeard of my deserving -Were but a weak disabling of myself . -As much as I deserve ! Why , that's the lady : -I do in birth deserve her , and in fortunes , -In graces , and in qualities of breeding ; -But more than these , in love I do deserve . -What if I stray'd no further , but chose here ? -Let's see once more this saying grav'd in gold : -Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire . -Why , that's the lady : all the world desires her ; -From the four corners of the earth they come , -To kiss this shrine , this mortal-breathing saint : -The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds -Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now -For princes to come view fair Portia : -The watery kingdom , whose ambitious head -Spits in the face of heaven , is no bar -To stop the foreign spirits , but they come , -As o'er a brook , to see fair Portia . -One of these three contains her heavenly picture . -Is't like that lead contains her ? 'Twere damnation -To think so base a thought : it were too gross -To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave . -Or shall I think in silver she's immur'd , -Being ten times undervalu'd to tried gold ? -O sinful thought ! Never so rich a gem -Was set in worse than gold . They have in England -A coin that bears the figure of an angel -Stamped in gold , but that's insculp'd upon ; -But here an angel in a golden bed -Lies all within . Deliver me the key : -Here do I choose , and thrive I as I may ! - -There , take it , prince ; and if my form lie there , -Then I am yours . - - -O hell ! what have we here ? -A carrion Death , within whose empty eye -There is a written scroll . I'll read the writing . - -All that glisters is not gold ; -Often have you heard that told : -Many a man his life hath sold -But my outside to behold : -Gilded tombs do worms infold . -Had you been as wise as bold , -Young in limbs , in judgment old , -Your answer had not been inscroll'd : -Fare you well ; your suit is cold . - -Cold , indeed ; and labour lost : -Then , farewell , heat , and welcome , frost ! -Portia , adieu . I have too griev'd a heart -To take a tedious leave : thus losers part . - - -A gentle riddance . Draw the curtains : go . -Let all of his complexion choose me so . - - -Why , man , I saw Bassanio under sail : -With him is Gratiano gone along ; -And in their ship I'm sure Lorenzo is not . - -The villain Jew with outcries rais'd the duke , -Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship . - -He came too late , the ship was under sail : -But there the duke was given to understand -That in a gondola were seen together -Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica . -Besides , Antonio certified the duke -They were not with Bassanio in his ship . - -I never heard a passion so confus'd , -So strange , outrageous , and so variable , -As the dog Jew did utter in the streets : -'My daughter ! O my ducats ! O my daughter ! -Fled with a Christian ! O my Christian ducats ! -Justice ! the law ! my ducats , and my daughter ! -A sealed bag , two sealed bags of ducats , -Of double ducats , stol'n from me by my daughter ! -And jewels ! two stones , two rich and precious stones , -Stol'n by my daughter ! Justice ! find the girl ! -She hath the stones upon her , and the ducats .' - -Why , all the boys in Venice follow him , -Crying , his stones , his daughter , and his ducats . - -Let good Antonio look he keep his day , -Or he shall pay for this . - -Marry , well remember'd . -I reason'd with a Frenchman yesterday , -Who told me ,in the narrow seas that part -The French and English ,there miscarried -A vessel of our country richly fraught . -I thought upon Antonio when he told me , -And wish'd in silence that it were not his . - -You were best to tell Antonio what you hear ; -Yet do not suddenly , for it may grieve him . - -A kinder gentleman treads not the earth . -I saw Bassanio and Antonio part : -Bassanio told him he would make some speed -Of his return : he answer'd 'Do not so ; -Slubber not business for my sake , Bassanio , -But stay the very riping of the time ; -And for the Jew's bond which he hath of me , -Let it not enter in your mind of love : -Be merry , and employ your chiefest thoughts -To courtship and such fair ostents of love -As shall conveniently become you there :' -And even there , his eye being big with tears , -Turning his face , he put his hand behind him , -And with affection wondrous sensible -He wrung Bassanio's hand ; and so they parted . - -I think he only loves the world for him . -I pray thee , let us go and find him out , -And quicken his embraced heaviness -With some delight or other . - -Do we so . - - -Quick , quick , I pray thee ; draw the curtain straight : -The Prince of Arragon hath ta'en his oath , -And comes to his election presently . - - -Behold , there stands the caskets , noble prince : -If you choose that wherein I am contain'd , -Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemniz'd ; -But if you fail , without more speech , my lord , -You must be gone from hence immediately . - -I am enjoin'd by oath to observe three things : -First , never to unfold to any one -Which casket 'twas I chose ; next , if I fail -Of the right casket , never in my life -To woo a maid in way of marriage ; -Lastly , -If I do fail in fortune of my choice , -Immediately to leave you and be gone . - -To these injunctions every one doth swear -That comes to hazard for my worthless self . - -And so have I address'd me . Fortune now -To my heart's hope ! Gold , silver , and base lead . -Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath : -You shall look fairer , ere I give or hazard . -What says the golden chest ? ha ! let me see : -Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire . -What many men desire ! that 'many' may be meant -By the fool multitude , that choose by show , -Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach ; -Which pries not to the interior , but , like the martlet , -Builds in the weather on the outward wall , -Even in the force and road of casualty . -I will not choose what many men desire , -Because I will not jump with common spirits -And rank me with the barbarous multitude . -Why , then to thee , thou silver treasure-house ; -Tell me once more what title thou dost bear : -Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves . -And well said too ; for who shall go about -To cozen fortune and be honourable -Without the stamp of merit ? Let none presume -To wear an undeserved dignity . -O ! that estates , degrees , and offices -Were not deriv'd corruptly , and that clear honour -Were purchas'd by the merit of the wearer . -How many then should cover that stand bare ; -How many be commanded that command ; -How much low peasantry would then be glean'd -From the true seed of honour ; and how much honour -Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times -To be new varnish'd ! Well , but to my choice : -Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves . -I will assume desert . Give me a key for this , -And instantly unlock my fortunes here . - - -Too long a pause for that which you find there . - -What's here ? the portrait of a blinking idiot , -Presenting me a schedule ! I will read it . -How much unlike art thou to Portia ! -How much unlike my hopes and my deservings ! -Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves . -Did I deserve no more than a fool's head ? -Is that my prize ? are my deserts no better ? - -To offend , and judge , are distinct offices , -And of opposed natures . - -What is here ? - -The fire seven times tried this : -Seven times tried that judgment is -That did never choose amiss . -Some there be that shadows kiss ; -Such have but a shadow's bliss : -There be fools alive , I wis , -Silver'd o'er ; and so was this . -Take what wife you will to bed , -I will ever be your head : -So be gone , sir : you are sped . - - -Still more fool I shall appear -By the time I linger here : -With one fool's head I came to woo , -But I go away with two . -Sweet , adieu . I'll keep my oath , -Patiently to bear my wroth . - -Thus hath the candle sing'd the moth . -O , these deliberate fools ! when they do choose , -They have the wisdom by their wit to lose . - -The ancient saying is no heresy : -'Hanging and wiving goes by destiny .' - -Come , draw the curtain , Nerissa . - - -Where is my lady ? - -Here ; what would my lord ? - -Madam , there is alighted at your gate -A young Venetian , one that comes before -To signify the approaching of his lord ; -From whom he bringeth sensible regreets , -To wit , besides commends and courteous breath , -Gifts of rich value . Yet I have not seen -So likely an embassador of love . -A day in April never came so sweet , -To show how costly summer was at hand , -As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord . - -No more , I pray thee : I am half afeard -Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee , -Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him . -Come , come , Nerissa ; for I long to see -Quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly . - -Bassanio , lord Love , if thy will it be ! - -Now , what news on the Rialto ? - -Why , yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wracked on the narrow seas ; the Goodwins , I think they call the place ; a very dangerous flat , and fatal , where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried , as they say , if my gossip Report be an honest woman of her word . - -I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever knapped ginger , or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a third husband . But it is true ,without any slips of prolixity or crossing the plain highway of talk ,that the good Antonio , the honest Antonio ,O , that I had a title good enough to keep his name company ! - -Come , the full stop . - -Ha ! what sayst thou ? Why , the end is , he hath lost a ship . - -I would it might prove the end of his losses . - -Let me say 'amen' betimes , lest the devil cross my prayer , for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew . - -How now , Shylock ! what news among the merchants ? - -You knew , none so well , none so well as you , of my daughter's flight . - -That's certain : I , for my part , knew the tailor that made the wings she flew withal . - -And Shylock , for his own part , knew the bird was fledged ; and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam . - -She is damned for it . - -That's certain , if the devil may be her judge . - -My own flesh and blood to rebel ! - -Out upon it , old carrion ! rebels it at these years ? - -I say my daughter is my flesh and blood . - -There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory ; more between your bloods than there is between red wine and Rhenish . But tell us , do you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no ? - -There I have another bad match : a bankrupt , a prodigal , who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto ; a beggar , that used to come so smug upon the mart ; let him look to his bond : he was wont to call me usurer ; let him look to his bond : he was wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy ; let him look to his bond . - -Why , I am sure , if he forfeit thou wilt not take his flesh : what's that good for ? - -To bait fish withal : if it will feed nothing else , it will feed my revenge . He hath disgraced me , and hindered me half a million , laughed at my losses , mocked at my gains , scorned my nation , thwarted my bargains , cooled my friends , heated mine enemies ; and what's his reason ? I am a Jew . Hath not a Jew eyes ? hath not a Jew hands , organs , dimensions , senses , affections , passions ? fed with the same food , hurt with the same weapons , subject to the same diseases , healed by the same means , warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer , as a Christian is ? If you prick us , do we not bleed ? if you tickle us , do we not laugh ? if you poison us , do we not die ? and if you wrong us , shall we not revenge ? If we are like you in the rest , we will resemble you in that . If a Jew wrong a Christian , what is his humility ? Revenge . If a Christian wrong a Jew , what should his sufferance be by Christian example ? Why , revenge . The villany you teach me I will execute , and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction . - - -Gentlemen , my master Antonio is at his house , and desires to speak with you both . - -We have been up and down to seek him . - - -Here comes another of the tribe : a third cannot be matched , unless the devil himself turn Jew . - - -How now , Tubal ! what news from Genoa ? Hast thou found my daughter ? - -I often came where I did hear of her , but cannot find her . - -Why there , there , there ! a diamond gone , cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort ! The curse never fell upon our nation till now ; I never felt it till now : two thousand ducats in that ; and other precious , precious jewels . I would my daughter were dead at my foot , and the jewels in her ear ! would she were hearsed at my foot , and the ducats in her coffin ! No news of them ? Why , so : and I know not what's spent in the search : Why thou loss upon loss ! the thief gone with so much , and so much to find the thief ; and no satisfaction , no revenge : nor no ill luck stirring but what lights on my shoulders ; no sighs but of my breathing ; no tears but of my shedding . - -Yes , other men have ill luck too . Antonio , as I heard in Genoa , - -What , what , what ? ill luck , ill luck ? - -hath an argosy cast away , coming from Tripolis . - -I thank God ! I thank God ! Is it true ? is it true ? - -I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wrack . - -I thank thee , good Tubal . Good news , good news ! ha , ha ! Where ? in Genoa ? - -Your daughter spent in Genoa , as I heard , one night , fourscore ducats . - -Thou stick'st a dagger in me : I shall never see my gold again : fourscore ducats at a sitting ! fourscore ducats ! - -There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice , that swear he cannot choose but break . - -I am very glad of it : I'll plague him ; I'll torture him : I am glad of it . - -One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey . - -Out upon her ! Thou torturest me , Tubal : it was my turquoise ; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor : I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys . - -But Antonio is certainly undone . - -Nay , that's true , that's very true . Go , Tubal , fee me an officer ; bespeak him a fortnight before . I will have the heart of him , if he forfeit ; for , were he out of Venice , I can make what merchandise I will . Go , go , Tubal , and meet me at our synagogue ; go , good Tubal ; at our synagogue , Tubal . - - -I pray you , tarry : pause a day or two -Before you hazard ; for , in choosing wrong . -I lose your company : therefore , forbear awhile . -There's something tells me , but it is not love , -I would not lose you ; and you know yourself , -Hate counsels not in such a quality . -But lest you should not understand me well , -And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought , -I would detain you here some month or two -Before you venture for me . I could teach you -How to choose right , but then I am forsworn ; -So will I never be : so may you miss me ; -But if you do , you'll make me wish a sin , -That I had been forsworn . Beshrew your eyes , -They have o'erlook'd me and divided me : -One half of me is yours , the other half yours , -Mine own , I would say ; but if mine , then yours , -And so all yours . O ! these naughty times -Put bars between the owners and their rights ; -And so , though yours , not yours . Prove it so , -Let fortune go to hell for it , not I . -I speak too long ; but 'tis to peise the time , -To eke it and to draw it out in length , -To stay you from election . - -Let me choose ; -For as I am , I live upon the rack . - -Upon the rack , Bassanio ! then confess -What treason there is mingled with your love . - -None but that ugly treason of mistrust , -Which makes me fear th' enjoying of my love : -There may as well be amity and life -'Tween snow and fire , as treason and my love . - -Ay , but I fear you speak upon the rack , -Where men enforced do speak anything . - -Promise me life , and I'll confess the truth . - -Well then , confess , and live . - -'Confess' and 'love' -Had been the very sum of my confession : -O happy torment , when my torturer -Doth teach me answers for deliverance ! -But let me to my fortune and the caskets . - -Away then ! I am lock'd in one of them : -If you do love me , you will find me out . -Nerissa and the rest , stand all aloof . -Let music sound while he doth make his choice ; -Then , if he lose , he makes a swan-like end , -Fading in music : that the comparison -May stand more proper , my eye shall be the stream -And watery death-bed for him . He may win ; -And what is music then ? then music is -Even as the flourish when true subjects bow -To a new-crowned monarch : such it is -As are those dulcet sounds in break of day -That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear , -And summon him to marriage . Now he goes , -With no less presence , but with much more love , -Than young Alcides , when he did redeem -The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy -To the sea-monster : I stand for sacrifice ; -The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives , -With bleared visages , come forth to view -The issue of the exploit . Go , Hercules ! -Live thou , I live : with much , much more dismay -I view the fight than thou that mak'st the fray . - - -Tell me where is fancy bred , -Or in the heart or in the head ? -How begot , how nourished ? -Reply , reply . -It is engender'd in the eyes , -With gazing fed ; and fancy dies -In the cradle where it lies -Let us all ring fancy's knell ; -I'll begin it ,Ding , dong , bell . - - -Ding , dong , bell . - -So may the outward shows be least themselves : -The world is still deceiv'd with ornament . -In law , what plea so tainted and corrupt -But , being season'd with a gracious voice , -Obscures the show of evil ? In religion , -What damned error , but some sober brow -Will bless it and approve it with a text , -Hiding the grossness with fair ornament ? -There is no vice so simple but assumes -Some mark of virtue on his outward parts . -How many cowards , whose hearts are all as false -As stairs of sand , wear yet upon their chins -The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars , -Who , inward search'd , have livers white as milk ; -And these assume but valour's excrement -To render them redoubted ! Look on beauty , -And you shall see 'tis purchas'd by the weight ; -Which therein works a miracle in nature , -Making them lightest that wear most of it : -So are those crisped snaky golden locks -Which make such wanton gambols with the wind , -Upon supposed fairness , often known -To be the dowry of a second head , -The skull that bred them , in the sepulchre . -Thus ornament is but the guiled shore -To a most dangerous sea ; the beauteous scarf -Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word , -The seeming truth which cunning times put on -To entrap the wisest . Therefore , thou gaudy gold , -Hard food for Midas , I will none of thee ; -Nor none of thee , thou pale and common drudge -'Tween man and man : but thou , thou meagre lead , -Which rather threat'nest than dost promise aught , -Thy plainness moves me more than eloquence , -And here choose I : joy be the consequence ! - -How all the other passions fleet to air , -As doubtful thoughts , and rash-embrac'd despair , -And shuddering fear , and green-ey'd jealousy . -O love ! be moderate ; allay thy ecstasy ; -In measure rain thy joy ; scant this excess ; -I feel too much thy blessing ; make it less , -For fear I surfeit ! - -What find I here ? - -Fair Portia's counterfeit ! What demi-god -Hath come so near creation ? Move these eyes ? -Or whether , riding on the balls of mine , -Seem they in motion ? Here are sever'd lips , -Parted with sugar breath ; so sweet a bar -Should sunder such sweet friends . Here , in her hairs -The painter plays the spider , and hath woven -A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men -Faster than gnats in cobwebs : but her eyes ! -How could he see to do them ? having made one , -Methinks it should have power to steal both his -And leave itself unfurnish'd : yet look , how far -The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow -In underprizing it , so far this shadow -Doth limp behind the substance . Here's the scroll , -The continent and summary of my fortune . - -You that choose not by the view , -Chance as fair and choose as true ! -Since this fortune falls to you , -Be content and seek no new . -If you be well pleas'd with this -And hold your fortune for your bliss , -Turn you where your lady is -And claim her with a loving kiss . - -A gentle scroll . Fair lady , by your leave ; - -I come by note , to give and to receive . -Like one of two contending in a prize , -That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes , -Hearing applause and universal shout , -Giddy in spirit , still gazing in a doubt -Whether those peals of praise be his or no ; -So , thrice-fair lady , stand I , even so , -As doubtful whether what I see be true , -Until confirm'd , sign'd , ratified by you . - -You see me , Lord Bassanio , where I stand , -Such as I am : though for myself alone -I would not be ambitious in my wish , -To wish myself much better ; yet , for you -I would be trebled twenty times myself ; -A thousand times more fair , ten thousand times -More rich ; -That only to stand high in your account , -I might in virtues , beauties , livings , friends , -Exceed account : but the full sum of me -Is sum of nothing ; which , to term in gross , -Is an unlesson'd girl , unschool'd , unpractis'd ; -Happy in this , she is not yet so old -But she may learn ; happier than this , -She is not bred so dull but she can learn ; -Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit -Commits itself to yours to be directed , -As from her lord , her governor , her king . -Myself and what is mine to you and yours -Is now converted : but now I was the lord -Of this fair mansion , master of my servants , -Queen o'er myself ; and even now , but now , -This house , these servants , and this same myself -Are yours , my lord . I give them with this ring ; -Which when you part from , lose , or give away , -Let it presage the ruin of your love , -And be my vantage to exclaim on you . - -Madam , you have bereft me of all words , -Only my blood speaks to you in my veins ; -And there is such confusion in my powers , -As , after some oration fairly spoke -By a beloved prince , there doth appear -Among the buzzing pleased multitude ; -Where every something , being blent together , -Turns to a wild of nothing , save of joy , -Express'd and not express'd . But when this ring -Parts from this finger , then parts life from hence : -O ! then be bold to say Bassanio's dead . - -My lord and lady , it is now our time , -That have stood by and seen our wishes prosper , -To cry , good joy . Good joy , my lord and lady ! - -My Lord Bassanio and my gentle lady , -I wish you all the joy that you can wish ; -For I am sure you can wish none from me : -And when your honours mean to solemnize -The bargain of your faith , I do beseech you , -Even at that time I may be married too . - -With all my heart , so thou canst get a wife . - -I thank your lordship , you have got me one . -My eyes , my lord , can look as swift as yours : -You saw the mistress , I beheld the maid ; -You lov'd , I lov'd for intermission . -No more pertains to me , my lord , than you . -Your fortune stood upon the caskets there , -And so did mine too , as the matter falls ; -For wooing here until I sweat again , -And swearing till my very roof was dry -With oaths of love , at last , if promise last , -I got a promise of this fair one here -To have her love , provided that your fortune -Achiev'd her mistress . - -Is this true , Nerissa ? - -Madam , it is , so you stand pleas'd withal . - -And do you , Gratiano , mean good faith ? - -Yes , faith , my lord . - -Our feast shall be much honour'd in your marriage . - -We'll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats . - -What ! and stake down ? - -No ; we shall ne'er win at that sport , and stake down . -But who comes here ? Lorenzo and his infidel ? -What ! and my old Venetian friend , Salanio ? - - -Lorenzo , and Salanio , welcome hither , -If that the youth of my new interest here -Have power to bid you welcome . By your leave , -I bid my very friends and countrymen , -Sweet Portia , welcome . - -So do I , my lord : -They are entirely welcome . - -I thank your honour . For my part , my lord , -My purpose was not to have seen you here ; -But meeting with Salanio by the way , -He did entreat me , past all saying nay , -To come with him along . - -I did , my lord , -And I have reason for it . Signior Antonio -Commends him to you . - - -Ere I ope his letter , -I pray you , tell me how my good friend doth . - -Not sick , my lord , unless it be in mind ; -Nor well , unless in mind : his letter there -Will show you his estate . - -Nerissa , cheer yon stranger ; bid her welcome . -Your hand , Salanio . What's the news from Venice ? -How doth that royal merchant , good Antonio ? -I know he will be glad of our success ; -We are the Jasons , we have won the fleece . - -I would you had won the fleece that he hath lost . - -There are some shrewd contents in yon same paper , -That steal the colour from Bassanio's cheek : -Some dear friend dead , else nothing in the world -Could turn so much the constitution -Of any constant man . What , worse and worse ! -With leave , Bassanio ; I am half yourself , -And I must freely have the half of anything -That this same paper brings you . - -O sweet Portia ! -Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words -That ever blotted paper . Gentle lady , -When I did first impart my love to you , -I freely told you all the wealth I had -Ran in my veins , I was a gentleman : -And then I told you true ; and yet , dear lady , -Rating myself at nothing , you shall see -How much I was a braggart . When I told you -My state was nothing , I should then have told you -That I was worse than nothing ; for , indeed , -I have engag'd myself to a dear friend , -Engag'd my friend to his mere enemy , -To feed my means . Here is a letter , lady ; -The paper as the body of my friend , -And every word in it a gaping wound , -Issuing life-blood . But is it true , Salanio ? -Hath all his ventures fail'd ? What , not one hit ? -From Tripolis , from Mexico , and England , -From Lisbon , Barbary , and India ? -And not one vessel 'scape the dreadful touch -Of merchant-marring rocks ? - -Not one , my lord . -Besides , it should appear , that if he had -The present money to discharge the Jew , -He would not take it . Never did I know -A creature , that did bear the shape of man , -So keen and greedy to confound a man . -He plies the duke at morning and at night , -And doth impeach the freedom of the state , -If they deny him justice : twenty merchants , -The duke himself , and the magnificoes -Of greatest port , have all persuaded with him ; -But none can drive him from the envious plea -Of forfeiture , of justice , and his bond . - -When I was with him , I have heard him swear -To Tubal and to Chus , his countrymen , -That he would rather have Antonio's flesh -Than twenty times the value of the sum -That he did owe him ; and I know , my lord , -If law , authority , and power deny not , -It will go hard with poor Antonio . - -Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble ? - -The dearest friend to me , the kindest man , -The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit -In doing courtesies , and one in whom -The ancient Roman honour more appears -Than any that draws breath in Italy . - -What sum owes he the Jew ? - -For me , three thousand ducats . - -What , no more ? -Pay him six thousand , and deface the bond ; -Double six thousand , and then treble that , -Before a friend of this description -Shall lose a hair thorough Bassanio's fault . -First go with me to church and call me wife , -And then away to Venice to your friend ; -For never shall you lie by Portia's side -With an unquiet soul . You shall have gold -To pay the petty debt twenty times over : -When it is paid , bring your true friend along . -My maid Nerissa and myself meantime , -Will live as maids and widows . Come , away ! -For you shall hence upon your wedding-day . -Bid your friends welcome , show a merry cheer ; -Since you are dear bought , I will love you dear . -But let me hear the letter of your friend . - -Sweet Bassanio , my ships have all miscarried , my creditors grow cruel , my estate is very low , my bond to the Jew is forfeit ; and since , in paying it , it is impossible I should live , all debts are cleared between you and I , if I might but see you at my death . Notwithstanding , use your pleasure : if your love do not persuade you to come , let not my letter . - -O love , dispatch all business , and be gone ! - -Since I have your good leave to go away , -I will make haste ; but , till I come again , -No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay , -Nor rest be interposer 'twixt us twain . - - -Gaoler , look to him : tell not me of mercy ; -This is the fool that lent out money gratis : -Gaoler , look to him . - -Hear me yet , good Shylock . - -I'll have my bond ; speak not against my bond : -I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond . -Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause , -But , since I am a dog , beware my fangs : -The duke shall grant me justice . I do wonder , -Thou naughty gaoler , that thou art so fond -To come abroad with him at his request . - -I pray thee , hear me speak . - -I'll have my bond ; I will not hear thee speak : -I'll have my bond , and therefore speak no more . -I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool , -To shake the head , relent , and sigh , and yield -To Christian intercessors . Follow not ; -I'll have no speaking ; I will have my bond . - - -It is the most impenetrable cur -That ever kept with men . - -Let him alone : -I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers . -He seeks my life ; his reason well I know . -I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures -Many that have at times made moan to me ; -Therefore he hates me . - -I am sure the duke -Will never grant this forfeiture to hold . - -The duke cannot deny the course of law : -For the commodity that strangers have -With us in Venice , if it be denied , -'Twill much impeach the justice of the state ; -Since that the trade and profit of the city -Consisteth of all nations . Therefore , go : -These griefs and losses have so bated me , -That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh -To-morrow to my bloody creditor . -Well , gaoler , on . Pray God , Bassanio come -To see me pay his debt , and then I care not ! - - -Madam , although I speak it in your presence , -You have a noble and a true conceit -Of god-like amity ; which appears most strongly -In bearing thus the absence of your lord . -But if you knew to whom you show this honour , -How true a gentleman you send relief , -How dear a lover of my lord your husband , -I know you would be prouder of the work -Than customary bounty can enforce you . - -I never did repent for doing good , -Nor shall not now : for in companions -That do converse and waste the time together , -Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love , -There must be needs a like proportion -Of lineaments , of manners , and of spirit ; -Which makes me think that this Antonio , -Being the bosom lover of my lord , -Must needs be like my lord . If it be so , -How little is the cost I have bestow'd -In purchasing the semblance of my soul -From out the state of hellish cruelty ! -This comes too near the praising of myself ; -Therefore , no more of it : hear other things . -Lorenzo , I commit into your hands -The husbandry and manage of my house -Until my lord's return : for mine own part , -I have toward heaven breath'd a secret vow -To live in prayer and contemplation , -Only attended by Nerissa here , -Until her husband and my lord's return . -There is a monastery two miles off , -And there will we abide . I do desire you -Not to deny this imposition , -The which my love and some necessity -Now lays upon you . - -Madam , with all my heart : -I shall obey you in all fair commands . - -My people do already know my mind , -And will acknowledge you and Jessica -In place of Lord Bassanio and myself . -So fare you well till we shall meet again . - -Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you ! - -I wish your ladyship all heart's content . - -I thank you for your wish , and am well pleas'd -To wish it back on you : fare you well , Jessica . - -Now , Balthazar , -As I have ever found thee honest-true , -So let me find thee still . Take this same letter , -And use thou all the endeavour of a man -In speed to Padua : see thou render this -Into my cousin's hand , Doctor Bellario ; -And , look , what notes and garments he doth give thee , -Bring them , I pray thee , with imagin'd speed -Unto the traject , to the common ferry -Which trades to Venice . Waste no time in words , -But get thee gone : I shall be there before thee . - -Madam , I go with all convenient speed . - - -Come on , Nerissa : I have work in hand -That you yet know not of : we'll see our husbands -Before they think of us . - -Shall they see us ? - -They shall , Nerissa ; but in such a habit -That they shall think we are accomplished -With that we lack . I'll hold thee any wager , -When we are both accoutred like young men , -I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two , -And wear my dagger with the braver grace , -And speak between the change of man and boy -With a reed voice , and turn two mincing steps -Into a manly stride , and speak of frays -Like a fine bragging youth , and tell quaint lies , -How honourable ladies sought my love , -Which I denying , they fell sick and died : -I could not do withal ; then I'll repent , -And wish , for all that , that I had not kill'd them : -And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell , -That men shall swear I have discontinu'd school -Above a twelvemonth . I have within my mind -A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks , -Which I will practise . - -Why , shall we turn to men ? - -Fie , what a question's that , -If thou wert near a lewd interpreter ! -But come : I'll tell thee all my whole device -When I am in my coach , which stays for us -At the park gate ; and therefore haste away , -For we must measure twenty miles to-day . - - -Yes , truly ; for , look you , the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children ; therefore , I promise you , I fear you . I was always plain with you , and so now I speak my agitation of the matter : therefore be of good cheer ; for , truly , I think you are damned . There is but one hope in it that can do you any good , and that is but a kind of bastard hope neither . - -And what hope is that , I pray thee ? - -Marry , you may partly hope that your father got you not , that you are not the Jew's daughter . - -That were a kind of bastard hope , indeed : so the sins of my mother should be visited upon me . - -Truly then I fear you are damned both by father and mother : thus when I shun Scylla , your father , I fall into Charybdis , your mother : well , you are gone both ways . - -I shall be saved by my husband ; he hath made me a Christian . - -Truly the more to blame he : we were Christians enow before ; e'en as many as could well live one by another . This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs : if we grow all to be pork-eaters , we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money . - -I'll tell my husband , Launcelot , what you say : here he comes . - - -I shall grow jealous of you shortly , Launcelot , if you thus get my wife into corners . - -Nay , you need not fear us , Lorenzo : Launcelot and I are out . He tells me flatly , there is no mercy for me in heaven , because I am a Jew's daughter : and he says you are no good member of the commonwealth , for , in converting Jews to Christians , you raise the price of pork . - -I shall answer that better to the commonwealth than you can the getting up of the negro's belly : the Moor is with child by you , Launcelot . - -It is much that the Moor should be more than reason ; but if she be less than an honest woman , she is indeed more than I took her for . - -How every fool can play upon the word ! I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence , and discourse grow commendable in none only but parrots . Go in , sirrah : bid them prepare for dinner . - -That is done , sir ; they have all stomachs . - -Goodly Lord , what a wit-snapper are you ! then bid them prepare dinner . - -That is done too , sir ; only , 'cover' is the word . - -Will you cover , then , sir ? - -Not so , sir , neither ; I know my duty . - -Yet more quarrelling with occasion ! Wilt thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant ? I pray thee , understand a plain man in his plain meaning : go to thy fellows ; bid them cover the table , serve in the meat , and we will come in to dinner . - -For the table , sir , it shall be served in ; for the meat , sir , it shall be covered ; for your coming in to dinner , sir , why , let it be as humours and conceits shall govern . - - -O dear discretion , how his words are suited ! -The fool hath planted in his memory -An army of good words : and I do know -A many fools , that stand in better place , -Garnish'd like him , that for a tricksy word -Defy the matter . How cheer'st thou , Jessica ? -And now , good sweet , say thy opinion ; -How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife ? - -Past all expressing . It is very meet , -The Lord Bassanio live an upright life , -For , having such a blessing in his lady , -He finds the joys of heaven here on earth ; -And if on earth he do not mean it , then -In reason he should never come to heaven . -Why , if two gods should play some heavenly match , -And on the wager lay two earthly women , -And Portia one , there must be something else -Pawn'd with the other , for the poor rude world -Hath not her fellow . - -Even such a husband -Hast thou of me as she is for a wife . - -Nay , but ask my opinion too of that . - -I will anon ; first , let us go to dinner . - -Nay , let me praise you while I have a stomach . - -No , pray thee , let it serve for table-talk ; Then howsoe'er thou speak'st , 'mong other things I shall digest it . - -Well , I'll set you forth . - -What , is Antonio here ? - -Ready , so please your Grace . - -I am sorry for thee : thou art come to answer -A stony adversary , an inhuman wretch -Uncapable of pity , void and empty -From any dram of mercy . - -I have heard -Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify -His rigorous course ; but since he stands obdurate , -And that no lawful means can carry me -Out of his envy's reach , I do oppose -My patience to his fury , and am arm'd -To suffer with a quietness of spirit -The very tyranny and rage of his . - -Go one , and call the Jew into the court . - -He's ready at the door : he comes , my lord . - - -Make room , and let him stand before our face . -Shylock , the world thinks , and I think so too , -That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice -To the last hour of act ; and then 'tis thought -Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange -Than is thy strange-apparent cruelty ; -And where thou now exact'st the penalty , -Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh , -Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture , -But , touch'd with human gentleness and love , -Forgive a moiety of the principal ; -Glancing an eye of pity on his losses , -That have of late so huddled on his back , -Enow to press a royal merchant down , -And pluck commiseration of his state -From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint , -From stubborn Turks and Tartars , never train'd -To offices of tender courtesy . -We all expect a gentle answer , Jew . - -I have possess'd your Grace of what I purpose ; -And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn -To have the due and forfeit of my bond : -If you deny it , let the danger light -Upon your charter and your city's freedom . -You'll ask me , why I rather choose to have -A weight of carrion flesh than to receive -Three thousand ducats : I'll not answer that : -But say it is my humour : is it answer'd ? -What if my house be troubled with a rat , -And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats -To have it ban'd ? What , are you answer'd yet ? -Some men there are love not a gaping pig ; -Some , that are mad if they behold a cat ; -And others , when the bagpipe sings i' the nose , -Cannot contain their urine : for affection , -Mistress of passion , sways it to the mood -Of what it likes , or loathes . Now , for your answer : -As there is no firm reason to be render'd , -Why he cannot abide a gaping pig ; -Why he , a harmless necessary cat ; -Why he , a wauling bagpipe ; but of force -Must yield to such inevitable shame -As to offend , himself being offended ; -So can I give no reason , nor I will not , -More than a lodg'd hate and a certain loathing -I bear Antonio , that I follow thus -A losing suit against him . Are you answer'd ? - -This is no answer , thou unfeeling man , -To excuse the current of thy cruelty . - -I am not bound to please thee with my answer . - -Do all men kill the things they do not love ? - -Hates any man the thing he would not kill ? - -Every offence is not a hate at first . - -What ! wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice ? - -I pray you , think you question with the Jew : -You may as well go stand upon the beach , -And bid the main flood bate his usual height ; -You may as well use question with the wolf , -Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ; -You may as well forbid the mountain pines -To wag their high tops , and to make no noise -When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven ; -You may as well do anything most hard , -As seek to soften that than which what's harder ? -His Jewish heart : therefore , I do beseech you , -Make no more offers , use no further means ; -But with all brief and plain conveniency , -Let me have judgment , and the Jew his will . - -For thy three thousand ducats here is six . - -If every ducat in six thousand ducats -Were in six parts and every part a ducat , -I would not draw them ; I would have my bond . - -How shalt thou hope for mercy , rendering none ? - -What judgment shall I dread , doing no wrong ? -You have among you many a purchas'd slave , -Which , like your asses and your dogs and mules , -You use in abject and in slavish parts , -Because you bought them : shall I say to you , -Let them be free , marry them to your heirs ? -Why sweat they under burdens ? let their beds -Be made as soft as yours , and let their palates -Be season'd with such viands ? You will answer : -'The slaves are ours :' so do I answer you : -The pound of flesh which I demand of him , -Is dearly bought ; 'tis mine and I will have it . -If you deny me , fie upon your law ! -There is no force in the decrees of Venice . -I stand for judgment : answer ; shall I have it ? - -Upon my power I may dismiss this court , -Unless Bellario , a learned doctor , -Whom I have sent for to determine this , -Come here to-day . - -My lord , here stays without -A messenger with letters from the doctor , -New come from Padua . - -Bring us the letters : call the messenger . - -Good cheer , Antonio ! What , man , courage yet ! -The Jew shall have my flesh , blood , bones , and all , -Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood . - -I am a tainted wether of the flock , -Meetest for death : the weakest kind of fruit -Drops earliest to the ground ; and so let me : -You cannot better be employ'd , Bassanio , -Than to live still , and write mine epitaph . - - -Came you from Padua , from Bellario ? - -From both , my lord . Bellario greets your Grace . - - -Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly ? - -To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there . - -Not on thy sole , but on thy soul , harsh Jew , -Thou mak'st thy knife keen ; but no metal can , -No , not the hangman's axe , bear half the keenness -Of thy sharp envy . Can no prayers pierce thee ? - -No , none that thou hast wit enough to make . - -O , be thou damn'd , inexecrable dog ! -And for thy life let justice be accus'd . -Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith -To hold opinion with Pythagoras , -That souls of animals infuse themselves -Into the trunks of men : thy currish spirit -Govern'd a wolf , who , hang'd for human slaughter , -Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet , -And whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam , -Infus'd itself in thee ; for thy desires -Are wolfish , bloody , starv'd , and ravenous . - -Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond , -Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud : -Repair thy wit , good youth , or it will fall -To cureless ruin . I stand here for law . - -This letter from Bellario doth commend -A young and learned doctor to our court . -Where is he ? - -He attendeth here hard by , -To know your answer , whether you'll admit him . - -With all my heart : some three or four of you -Go give him courteous conduct to this place . -Meantime , the court shall hear Bellario's letter . - -Your Grace shall understand that at the receipt of your letter I am very sick ; but in the instant that your messenger came , in loving visitation was with me a young doctor of Rome ; his name is Balthazar . I acquainted him with the cause in controversy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant : we turned o'er many books together : he is furnished with my opinion ; which , bettered with his own learning ,the greatness whereof I cannot enough commend ,comes with him , at my importunity , to fill up your Grace's request in my stead I beseech you , let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation , for I never knew so young a body with so old a head . I leave him to your gracious acceptance , whose trial shall better publish his commendation . - -You hear the learn'd Bellario , what he writes : -And here , I take it , is the doctor come . - -Give me your hand . Came you from old Bellario ? - -I did , my lord . - -You are welcome : take your place . -Are you acquainted with the difference -That holds this present question in the court ? - -I am informed throughly of the cause . -Which is the merchant here , and which the Jew ? - -Antonio and old Shylock , both stand forth . - -Is your name Shylock ? - -Shylock is my name . - -Of a strange nature is the suit you follow ; -Yet in such rule that the Venetian law -Cannot impugn you as you do proceed . - - -You stand within his danger , do you not ? - -Ay , so he says . - -Do you confess the bond ? - -I do . - -Then must the Jew be merciful . - -On what compulsion must I ? tell me that . - -The quality of mercy is not strain'd , -It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven -Upon the place beneath : it is twice bless'd ; -It blesseth him that gives and him that takes : -'Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes -The throned monarch better than his crown ; -His sceptre shows the force of temporal power , -The attribute to awe and majesty , -Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; -But mercy is above this sceptred sway , -It is enthroned in the hearts of kings , -It is an attribute to God himself , -And earthly power doth then show likest God's -When mercy seasons justice . Therefore , Jew , -Though justice be thy plea , consider this , -That in the course of justice none of us -Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy , -And that same prayer doth teach us all to render -The deeds of mercy . I have spoke thus much -To mitigate the justice of thy plea , -Which if thou follow , this strict court of Venice -Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there . - -My deeds upon my head ! I crave the law , -The penalty and forfeit of my bond . - -Is he not able to discharge the money ? - -Yes , here I tender it for him in the court ; -Yea , twice the sum : if that will not suffice , -I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er , -On forfeit of my hands , my head , my heart . -If this will not suffice , it must appear -That malice bears down truth . And , I beseech you , -Wrest once the law to your authority : -To do a great right , do a little wrong , -And curb this cruel devil of his will . - -It must not be . There is no power in Venice -Can alter a decree established : -'Twill be recorded for a precedent , -And many an error by the same example -Will rush into the state . It cannot be . - -A Daniel come to judgment ! yea , a Daniel ! -O wise young judge , how I do honour thee ! - -I pray you , let me look upon the bond . - -Here 'tis , most reverend doctor ; here it is . - -Shylock , there's thrice thy money offer'd thee . - -An oath , an oath , I have an oath in heaven : -Shall I lay perjury upon my soul ? -No , not for Venice . - -Why , this bond is forfeit ; -And lawfully by this the Jew may claim -A pound of flesh , to be by him cut off -Nearest the merchant's heart . Be merciful : -Take thrice thy money ; bid me tear the bond . - -When it is paid according to the tenour . -It doth appear you are a worthy judge ; -You know the law , your exposition -Hath been most sound : I charge you by the law , -Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar , -Proceed to judgment : by my soul I swear -There is no power in the tongue of man -To alter me . I stay here on my bond . - -Most heartily I do beseech the court -To give the judgment . - -Why then , thus it is : -You must prepare your bosom for his knife . - -O noble judge ! O excellent young man ! - -For , the intent and purpose of the law -Hath full relation to the penalty , -Which here appeareth due upon the bond . - -'Tis very true ! O wise and upright judge ! -How much more elder art thou than thy looks ! - -Therefore lay bare your bosom . - -Ay , 'his breast :' -So says the bond :doth it not , noble judge ? -'Nearest his heart :' those are the very words . - -It is so . Are there balance here to weigh -The flesh ? - -I have them ready . - -Have by some surgeon , Shylock , on your charge , -To stop his wounds , lest he do bleed to death . - -Is it so nominated in the bond ? - -It is not so express'd ; but what of that ? -'Twere good you do so much for charity . - -I cannot find it : 'tis not in the bond . - -You , merchant , have you anything to say ? - -But little : I am arm'd and well prepar'd . -Give me your hand , Bassanio : fare you well ! -Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you ; -For herein Fortune shows herself more kind -Than is her custom : it is still her use -To let the wretched man outlive his wealth , -To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow -An age of poverty ; from which lingering penance -Of such a misery doth she cut me off . -Commend me to your honourable wife : -Tell her the process of Antonio's end ; -Say how I lov'd you , speak me fair in death ; -And , when the tale is told , bid her be judge -Whether Bassanio had not once a love . -Repent not you that you shall lose your friend , -And he repents not that he pays your debt ; -For if the Jew do cut but deep enough , -I'll pay it instantly with all my heart . - -Antonio , I am married to a wife -Which is as dear to me as life itself ; -But life itself , my wife , and all the world , -Are not with me esteem'd above thy life : -I would lose all , ay , sacrifice them all , -Here to this devil , to deliver you . - -Your wife would give you little thanks for that , -If she were by to hear you make the offer . - -I have a wife , whom , I protest , I love : -I would she were in heaven , so she could -Entreat some power to change this currish Jew . - -'Tis well you offer it behind her back ; -The wish would make else an unquiet house . - -These be the Christian husbands ! I have a daughter ; -Would any of the stock of Barabbas -Had been her husband rather than a Christian ! -We trifle time ; I pray thee , pursue sentence . - -A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine : -The court awards it , and the law doth give it . - -Most rightful judge ! - -And you must cut this flesh from off his breast : -The law allows it , and the court awards it . - -Most learned judge ! A sentence ! come , prepare ! - -Tarry a little : there is something else . -This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood ; -The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh :' -Then take thy bond , take thou thy pound of flesh ; -But , in the cutting it , if thou dost shed -One drop of Christian blood , thy lands and goods -Are , by the laws of Venice , confiscate -Unto the state of Venice . - -O upright judge ! Mark , Jew : O learned judge ! - -Is that the law ? - -Thyself shalt see the act ; -For , as thou urgest justice , be assur'd -Thou shalt have justice , more than thou desir'st . - -O learned judge ! Mark , Jew : a learned judge ! - -I take this offer then : pay the bond thrice , -And let the Christian go . - -Here is the money . - -Soft ! -The Jew shall have all justice ; soft ! no haste : -He shall have nothing but the penalty . - -O Jew ! an upright judge , a learned judge ! - -Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh . -Shed thou no blood ; nor cut thou less , nor more , -But just a pound of flesh : if thou tak'st more , -Or less , than a just pound , be it but so much -As makes it light or heavy in the substance , -Or the division of the twentieth part -Of one poor scruple , nay , if the scale do turn -But in the estimation of a hair , -Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate . - -A second Daniel , a Daniel , Jew ! -Now , infidel , I have thee on the hip . - -Why doth the Jew pause ? take thy forfeiture . - -Give me my principal , and let me go . - -I have it ready for thee ; here it is . - -He hath refus'd it in the open court : -He shall have merely justice , and his bond . - -A Daniel , still say I ; a second Daniel ! -I thank thee , Jew , for teaching me that word . - -Shall I not have barely my principal ? - -Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture , -To be so taken at thy peril , Jew . - -Why , then the devil give him good of it ! -I'll stay no longer question . - -Tarry , Jew : -The law hath yet another hold on you . -It is enacted in the laws of Venice , -If it be prov'd against an alien -That by direct or indirect attempts -He seek the life of any citizen , -The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive -Shall seize one half his goods ; the other half -Comes to the privy coffer of the state ; -And the offender's life lies in the mercy -Of the duke only , 'gainst all other voice . -In which predicament , I say , thou stand'st ; -For it appears by manifest proceeding , -That indirectly and directly too -Thou hast contriv'd against the very life -Of the defendant ; and thou hast incurr'd -The danger formerly by me rehears'd . -Down therefore and beg mercy of the duke . - -Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself : -And yet , thy wealth being forfeit to the state , -Thou hast not left the value of a cord ; -Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge . - -That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits , -I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it . -For half thy wealth , it is Antonio's ; -The other half comes to the general state , -Which humbleness may drive into a fine . - -Ay , for the state ; not for Antonio . - -Nay , take my life and all ; pardon not that : -You take my house when you do take the prop -That doth sustain my house ; you take my life -When you do take the means whereby I live . - -What mercy can you render him , Antonio ? - -A halter gratis ; nothing else , for God's sake ! - -So please my lord the duke , and all the court , -To quit the fine for one half of his goods , -I am content ; so he will let me have -The other half in use , to render it , -Upon his death , unto the gentleman -That lately stole his daughter : -Two things provided more , that , for this favour , -He presently become a Christian ; -The other , that he do record a gift , -Here in the court , of all he dies possess'd , -Unto his son Lorenzo , and his daughter . - -He shall do this , or else I do recant -The pardon that I late pronounced here . - -Art thou contented , Jew ? what dost thou say ? - -I am content . - -Clerk , draw a deed of gift . - -I pray you give me leave to go from hence : -I am not well . Send the deed after me , -And I will sign it . - -Get thee gone , but do it . - -In christening thou shalt have two godfathers ; -Had I been judge , thou shouldst have had ten more , -To bring thee to the gallows , not the font . - - -Sir , I entreat you home with me to dinner . - -I humbly do desire your Grace of pardon : -I must away this night toward Padua , -And it is meet I presently set forth . - -I am sorry that your leisure serves you not . -Antonio , gratify this gentleman , -For , in my mind , you are much bound to him . - - -Most worthy gentleman , I and my friend -Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted -Of grievous penalties ; in lieu whereof , -Three thousand ducats , due unto the Jew , -We freely cope your courteous pains withal . - -And stand indebted , over and above , -In love and service to you evermore . - -He is well paid that is well satisfied ; -And I , delivering you , am satisfied , -And therein do account myself well paid : -My mind was never yet more mercenary . -I pray you , know me when we meet again : -I wish you well , and so I take my leave . - -Dear sir , of force I must attempt you further : -Take some remembrance of us , as a tribute , -Not as a fee . Grant me two things , I pray you , -Not to deny me , and to pardon me . - -You press me far , and therefore I will yield . - - -Give me your gloves , I'll wear them for your sake ; - - -And , for your love , I'll take this ring from you . -Do not draw back your hand ; I'll take no more ; -And you in love shall not deny me this . - -This ring , good sir ? alas ! it is a trifle ; -I will not shame myself to give you this . - -I will have nothing else but only this ; -And now methinks I have a mind to it . - -There's more depends on this than on the value . -The dearest ring in Venice will I give you , -And find it out by proclamation : -Only for this , I pray you , pardon me . - -I see , sir , you are liberal in offers : -You taught me first to beg , and now methinks -You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd . - -Good sir , this ring was given me by my wife ; -And , when she put it on , she made me vow -That I should never sell nor give nor lose it . - -That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts . -An if your wife be not a mad-woman , -And know how well I have deserv'd the ring , -She would not hold out enemy for ever , -For giving it to me . Well , peace be with you . - - -My Lord Bassanio , let him have the ring : -Let his deservings and my love withal -Be valu'd 'gainst your wife's commandment . - -Go , Gratiano ; run and overtake him ; -Give him the ring , and bring him , if thou canst , -Unto Antonio's house . Away ! make haste . - -Come , you and I will thither presently , -And in the morning early will we both -Fly toward Belmont . Come , Antonio . - - -Inquire the Jew's house out , give him this deed , -And let him sign it . We'll away to-night , -And be a day before our husbands home : -This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo . - - -Fair sir , you are well o'erta'en . -My Lord Bassanio upon more advice -Hath sent you here this ring , and doth entreat -Your company at dinner . - -That cannot be : -His ring I do accept most thankfully ; -And so , I pray you , tell him : furthermore , -I pray you , show my youth old Shylock's house . - -That will I do . - -Sir , I would speak with you . - - -I'll see if I can get my husband's ring , -Which I did make him swear to keep for ever . - -Thou mayst , I warrant . We shall have old swearing -That they did give the rings away to men ; -But we'll outface them , and outswear them too . -Away ! make haste : thou know'st where I will tarry . - -Come , good sir , will you show me to this house ? - -The moon shines bright : in such a night as this , -When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees -And they did make no noise , in such a night -Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls , -And sigh'd his soul toward the Grecian tents , -Where Cressid lay that night . - -In such a night -Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew , -And saw the lion's shadow ere himself , -And ran dismay'd away . - -In such a night -Stood Dido with a willow in her hand -Upon the wild sea-banks , and waft her love -To come again to Carthage . - -In such a night -Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs -That did renew old son . - -In such a night -Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew , -And with an unthrift love did run from Venice , -As far as Belmont . - -In such a night -Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well , -Stealing her soul with many vows of faith , -And ne'er a true one . - -In such a night -Did pretty Jessica , like a little shrew , -Slander her love , and he forgave it her . - -I would out-night you , did no body come ; -But , hark ! I hear the footing of a man . - - -Who comes so fast in silence of the night ? - -A friend . - -A friend ! what friend ? your name , I pray you , friend . - -Stephano is my name ; and I bring word -My mistress will before the break of day -Be here at Belmont : she doth stray about -By holy crosses , where she kneels and prays -For happy wedlock hours . - -Who comes with her ? - -None , but a holy hermit and her maid . -I pray you , is my master yet return'd ? - -He is not , nor we have not heard from him . -But go we in , I pray thee , Jessica , -And ceremoniously let us prepare -Some welcome for the mistress of the house . - - -Sola , sola ! wo ha , ho ! sola , sola ! - -Who calls ? - -Sola ! did you see Master Lorenzo ? -Master Lorenzo ! sola , sola ! - -Leave hollaing , man ; here . - -Sola ! where ? where ? - -Here . - -Tell him there's a post come from my master , with his horn full of good news : my master will be here ere morning . - - -Sweet soul , let's in , and there expect their coming . -And yet no matter ; why should we go in ? -My friend Stephano , signify , I pray you , -Within the house , your mistress is at hand ; -And bring your music forth into the air . - -How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! -Here will we sit , and let the sounds of music -Creep in our ears : soft stillness and the night -Become the touches of sweet harmony . -Sit , Jessica : look , how the floor of heaven -Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold : -There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st -But in his motion like an angel sings , -Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins ; -Such harmony is in immortal souls ; -But , whilst this muddy vesture of decay -Doth grossly close it in , we cannot hear it . - -Come , ho ! and wake Diana with a hymn : -With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear , -And draw her home with music . - - -I am never merry when I hear sweet music . - -The reason is , your spirits are attentive : -For do but note a wild and wanton herd , -Or race of youthful and unhandled colts , -Fetching mad bounds , bellowing and neighing loud , -Which is the hot condition of their blood ; -If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound , -Or any air of music touch their ears , -You shall perceive them make a mutual stand , -Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze -By the sweet power of music : therefore the poet -Did feign that Orpheus drew trees , stones , and floods ; -Since nought so stockish , hard , and full of rage , -But music for the time doth change his nature . -The man that hath no music in himself , -Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds , -Is fit for treasons , stratagems , and spoils ; -The motions of his spirit are dull as night , -And his affections dark as Erebus : -Let no such man be trusted . Mark the music . - - -That light we see is burning in my hall . -How far that little candle throws his beams ! -So shines a good deed in a naughty world . - -When the moon shone , we did not see the candle . - -So doth the greater glory dim the less : -A substitute shines brightly as a king -Until a king be by , and then his state -Empties itself , as doth an inland brook -Into the main of waters . Music ! hark ! - -It is your music , madam , of the house . - -Nothing is good , I see , without respect : -Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day . - -Silence bestows that virtue on it , madam . - -The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark -When neither is attended , and I think -The nightingale , if she should sing by day , -When every goose is cackling , would be thought -No better a musician than the wren . -How many things by season season'd are -To their right praise and true perfection ! -Peace , ho ! the moon sleeps with Endymion , -And would not be awak'd ! - - -That is the voice , -Or I am much deceiv'd , of Portia . - -He knows me , as the blind man knows the cuckoo , -By the bad voice . - -Dear lady , welcome home . - -We have been praying for our husbands' welfare , -Which speed , we hope , the better for our words . -Are they return'd ? - -Madam , they are not yet ; -But there is come a messenger before , -To signify their coming . - -Go in , Nerissa : -Give order to my servants that they take -No note at all of our being absent hence ; -Nor you , Lorenzo ; Jessica , nor you . - - -Your husband is at hand ; I hear his trumpet : -We are no tell-tales , madam ; fear you not . - -This night methinks is but the daylight sick ; -It looks a little paler : 'tis a day , -Such as the day is when the sun is hid . - - -We should hold day with the Antipodes , -If you would walk in absence of the sun . - -Let me give light , but let me not be light ; -For a light wife doth make a heavy husband , -And never be Bassanio so for me : -But God sort all ! You are welcome home , my lord . - -I thank you , madam . Give welcome to my friend : -This is the man , this is Antonio , -To whom I am so infinitely bound . - -You should in all sense be much bound to him , -For , as I hear , he was much bound for you . - -No more than I am well acquitted of . - -Sir , you are very welcome to our house : -It must appear in other ways than words , -Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy . - -By yonder moon I swear you do me wrong ; -In faith , I gave it to the judge's clerk : -Would he were gelt that had it , for my part , -Since you do take it , love , so much at heart . - -A quarrel , ho , already ! what's the matter ? - -About a hoop of gold , a paltry ring -That she did give me , whose poesy was -For all the world like cutlers' poetry -Upon a knife , 'Love me , and leave me not .' - -What talk you of the posy , or the value ? -You swore to me , when I did give it you , -That you would wear it till your hour of death , -And that it should lie with you in your grave : -Though not for me , yet for your vehement oaths , -You should have been respective and have kept it . -Gave it a judge's clerk ! no , God's my judge , -The clerk will ne'er wear hair on's face that had it . - -He will , an if he live to be a man . - -Ay , if a woman live to be a man . - -Now , by this hand , I gave it to a youth , -A kind of boy , a little scrubbed boy , -No higher than thyself , the judge's clerk . -A prating boy , that begg'd it as a fee : -I could not for my heart deny it him . - -You were to blame ,I must be plain with you , -To part so slightly with your wife's first gift ; -A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger , -And riveted so with faith unto your flesh . -I gave my love a ring and made him swear -Never to part with it ; and here he stands , -I dare be sworn for him he would not leave it -Nor pluck it from his finger for the wealth -That the world masters . Now , in faith , Gratiano , -You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief : -An 'twere to me , I should be mad at it . - -Why , I were best to cut my left hand off , -And swear I lost the ring defending it . - -My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away -Unto the judge that begg'd it , and indeed -Deserv'd it too ; and then the boy , his clerk , -That took some pains in writing , he begg'd mine ; -And neither man nor master would take aught -But the two rings . - -What ring gave you , my lord ? -Not that , I hope , that you receiv'd of me . - -If I could add a lie unto a fault , -I would deny it ; but you see my finger -Hath not the ring upon it ; it is gone . - -Even so void is your false heart of truth . -By heaven , I will ne'er come in your bed -Until I see the ring . - -Nor I in yours , -Till I again see mine . - -Sweet Portia , -If you did know to whom I gave the ring , -If you did know for whom I gave the ring , -And would conceive for what I gave the ring , -And how unwillingly I left the ring , -When naught would be accepted but the ring , -You would abate the strength of your displeasure . - -If you had known the virtue of the ring , -Or half her worthiness that gave the ring , -Or your own honour to contain the ring , -You would not then have parted with the ring . -What man is there so much unreasonable , -If you had pleas'd to have defended it -With any terms of zeal , wanted the modesty -To urge the thing held as a ceremony ? -Nerissa teaches me what to believe : -I'll die for't but some woman had the ring . - -No , by my honour , madam , by my soul , -No woman had it ; but a civil doctor , -Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me , -And begg'd the ring , the which I did deny him , -And suffer'd him to go displeas'd away ; -Even he that did uphold the very life -Of my dear friend . What should I say , sweet lady ? -I was enforc'd to send it after him ; -I was beset with shame and courtesy ; -My honour would not let ingratitude -So much besmear it . Pardon me , good lady , -For , by these blessed candles of the night , -Had you been there , I think you would have begg'd -The ring of me to give the worthy doctor . - -Let not that doctor e'er come near my house . -Since he hath got the jewel that I lov'd , -And that which you did swear to keep for me , -I will become as liberal as you ; -I'll not deny him anything I have ; -No , not my body , nor my husband's bed . -Know him I shall , I am well sure of it : -Lie not a night from home ; watch me like Argus : -If you do not , if I be left alone , -Now by mine honour , which is yet mine own , -I'll have that doctor for my bedfellow . - -And I his clerk ; therefore be well advis'd -How you do leave me to mine own protection . - -Well , do you so : let me not take him , then ; -For if I do , I'll mar the young clerk's pen . - -I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels . - -Sir , grieve not you ; you are welcome notwithstanding . - -Portia , forgive me this enforced wrong ; -And in the hearing of these many friends , -I swear to thee , even by thine own fair eyes , -Wherein I see myself , - -Mark you but that ! -In both my eyes he doubly sees himself ; -In each eye , one : swear by your double self , -And there's an oath of credit . - -Nay , but hear me : -Pardon this fault , and by my soul I swear -I never more will break an oath with thee . - -I once did lend my body for his wealth , -Which , but for him that had your husband's ring , -Had quite miscarried : I dare be bound again , -My soul upon the forfeit , that your lord -Will never more break faith advisedly . - -Then you shall be his surety . Give him this , -And bid him keep it better than the other . - -Here , Lord Bassanio ; swear to keep this ring . - -By heaven ! it is the same I gave the doctor ! - -I had it of him : pardon me , Bassanio , -For , by this ring , the doctor lay with me . - -And pardon me , my gentle Gratiano ; -For that same scrubbed boy , the doctor's clerk , -In lieu of this last night did lie with me . - -Why , this is like the mending of highways -In summer , where the ways are fair enough . -What ! are we cuckolds ere we have deserv'd it ? - -Speak not so grossly . You are all amaz'd : -Here is a letter ; read it at your leisure ; -It comes from Padus , from Bellario : -There you shall find that Portia was the doctor , -Nerissa , there , her clerk : Lorenzo here -Shall witness I set forth as soon as you -And even but now return'd ; I have not yet -Enter'd my house . Antonio , you are welcome ; -And I have better news in store for you -Than you expect : unseal this letter soon ; -There you shall find three of your argosies -Are richly come to harbour suddenly . -You shall not know by what strange accident -I chanced on this letter . - -I am dumb . - -Were you the doctor and I knew you not ? - -Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold ? - -Ay ; but the clerk that never means to do it , -Unless he live until he be a man . - -Sweet doctor , you shall be my bedfellow : -When I am absent , then , lie with my wife . - -Sweet lady , you have given me life and living ; -For here I read for certain that my ships -Are safely come to road . - -How now , Lorenzo ! -My clerk hath some good comforts too for you . - -Ay , and I'll give them him without a fee . -There do I give to you and Jessica , -From the rich Jew , a special deed of gift , -After his death , of all he dies possess'd of . - -Fair ladies , you drop manna in the way -Of starved people . - -It is almost morning , -And yet I am sure you are not satisfied -Of these events at full . Let us go in ; -And charge us there upon inter'gatories , -And we will answer all things faithfully . - -Let it be so : the first inter'gatory -That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is , -Whe'r till the next night she had rather stay , -Or go to bed now , being two hours to day : -But were the day come , I should wish it dark , -That I were couching with the doctor's clerk . -Well , while I live I'll fear no other thing -So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring . - -THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR - -Sir Hugh , persuade me not ; I will make a Star-chamber matter of it ; if he were twenty Sir John Falstaffs he shall not abuse Robert Shallow , esquire . - -In the county of Gloster , justice of peace , and coram . - -Ay , cousin Slender , and cust-alorum . - -Ay , and rato-lorum too ; and a gentleman born , Master Parson ; who writes himself armigero , in any bill , warrant , quittance , or obligation ,armigero . - -Ay , that I do ; and have done any time these three hundred years . - -All his successors gone before him hath done't ; and all his ancestors that come after him may : they may give the dozen white luces in their coat . - -It is an old coat . - -The dozen white louses do become an old coat well ; it agrees well , passant ; it is a familiar beast to man , and signifies love . - -The luce is the fresh fish ; the salt fish is an old coat . - -I may quarter , coz ? - -You may , by marrying . - -It is marring indeed , if he quarter it . - -Not a whit . - -Yes , py'r lady ; if he has a quarter of your coat , there is but three skirts for yourself , in my simple conjectures : but that is all one . If Sir John Falstaff have committed disparagements unto you , I am of the Church , and will be glad to do my benevolence to make atonements and compremises between you . - -The Council shall hear it ; it is a riot . - -It is not meet the Council hear a riot ; there is no fear of Got in a riot . The Council , look you , shall desire to hear the fear of Got , and not to hear a riot ; take your vizaments in that . - -Ha ! o' my life , if I were young again , the sword should end it . - -It is petter that friends is the sword , and end it ; and there is also another device in my prain , which , peradventure , prings goot discretions with it . There is Anne Page , which is daughter to Master Thomas Page , which is pretty virginity . - -Mistress Anne Page ? She has brown hair , and speaks small like a woman . - -It is that fery person for all the orld , as just as you will desire ; and seven hundred pounds of moneys , and gold and silver , is her grandsire , upon his death's-bed ,Got deliver to a joyful resurrections !give , when she is able to overtake seventeen years old . It were a goot motion if we leave our pribbles and prabbles , and desire a marriage between Master Abraham and Mistress Anne Page . - -Did her grandsire leave her seven hundred pound ? - -Ay , and her father is make her a petter penny . - -I know the young gentlewoman ; she has good gifts . - -Seven hundred pounds and possibilities is goot gifts . - -Well , let us see honest Master Page . Is Falstaff there ? - -Shall I tell you a lie ? I do despise a har as I do despise one that is false ; or as I despise one that is not true . The knight , Sir John , is there ; and , I beseech you , be ruled by your well-willers . I will peat the door for Master Page . - -What , hoa ! Got pless your house here ! - -Who's there ? - -Here is Got's plessing , and your friend . and Justice Shallow ; and here young Master Slender , that peradventures shall tell you another tale , if matters grow to your likings . - - -I am glad to see your worships well . I thank you for my venison , Master Shallow . - -Master Page , I am glad to see you : much good do it your good heart ! I wished your venison better ; it was ill killed . How doth good Mistress Page ?and I thank you always with my heart , la ! with my heart . - -Sir , I thank you . - -Sir , I thank you ; by yea and no , I do . - -I am glad to see you , good Master Slender . - -How does your fallow greyhound , sir ? I heard say he was outrun on Cotsall . - -It could not be judged , sir . - -You'll not confess , you'll not confess . - -That he will not : 'tis your fault , 'tis your fault . 'Tis a good dog . - -A cur , sir . - -Sir , he's a good dog , and a fair dog ; can there be more said ? he is good and fair . Is Sir John Falstaff here ? - -Sir , he is within ; and I would I could do a good office between you . - -It is spoke as a Christians ought to speak . - -He hath wronged me , Master Page . - -Sir , he doth in some sort confess it . - -If it be confessed , it is not redressed : is not that so , Master Page ? He hath wronged me ; indeed , he hath ;at a word , he hath ,believe me : Robert Shallow , esquire , saith , he is wronged . - -Here comes Sir John . - - -Now , Master Shallow , you'll complain of me to the king ? - -Knight , you have beaten my men , killed my deer , and broke open my lodge . - -But not kissed your keeper's daughter ? - -Tut , a pin ! this shall be answered . - -I will answer it straight : I have done all this . That is now answered . - -The Council shall know this . - -'Twere better for you if it were known in counsel : you'll be laughed at . - -Pauca verba , Sir John ; goot worts . - -Good worts ! good cabbage . Slender , I broke your head : what matter have you against me ? - -Marry , sir , I have matter in my head against you ; and against your cony-catching rascals , Bardolph , Nym , and Pistol . They carried me to the tavern , and made me drunk , and afterwards picked my pocket . - -You Banbury cheese ! - -Ay , it is no matter . - -How now , Mephistophilus ! - -Ay , it is no matter . - -Slice , I say ! pauca , pauca ; slice ! that's my humour . - -Where's Simple , my man ? can you tell , cousin ? - -Peace , I pray you . Now let us understand : there is three umpires in this matter , as I understand ; that is Master Page , fidelicet , Master Page ; and there is myself , fidelicet , myself ; and the three party is , lastly and finally , mine host of the Garter . - -We three , to hear it and end it between them . - -Fery goot : I will make a prief of it in my note-book ; and we will afterwards ork upon the cause with as great discreetly as we can . - -Pistol ! - -He hears with ears . - -The tevil and his tam ! what phrase is this , 'He hears with ear ?' Why , it is affectations . - -Pistol , did you pick Master Slender's purse ? - -Ay , by these gloves , did he ,or I would I might never come in mine own great chamber again else ,of seven groats in mill-sixpences , and two Edward shovel-boards , that cost me two shilling and two pence a-piece of Yead Miller , by these gloves . - -Is this true , Pistol ? - -No ; it is false , if it is a pick-purse . - -Ha , thou mountain foreigner !Sir John and master mine , -I combat challenge of this latten bilbo . -Word of denial in thy labras here ! -Word of denial : froth and scum , thou liest . - -By these gloves , then , 'twas he . - -Be avised , sir , and pass good humours . I will say , 'marry trap ,' with you , if you run the nuthook's humour on me : that is the very note of it . - -By this hat , then , he in the red face had it ; for though I cannot remember what I did when you made me drunk , yet I am not altogether an ass . - -What say you , Scarlet and John ? - -Why , sir , for my part , I say , the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five sentences . - -It is his 'five senses ;' fie , what the ignorance is ! - -And being fap , sir , was , as they say , cashier'd ; and so conclusions pass'd the careires . - -Ay , you spake in Latin then too ; but 'tis no matter . I'll ne'er be drunk whilst I live again , but in honest , civil , godly company , for this trick : if I be drunk , I'll be drunk with those that have the fear of God , and not with drunken knaves . - -So Got udge me , that is a virtuous mind . - -You hear all these matters denied , gentlemen ; you hear it . - - -Nay , daughter , carry the wine in ; we'll drink within . - - -O heaven ! this is Mistress Anne Page . - -How now , Mistress Ford ! - -Mistress Ford , by my troth , you are very well met : by your leave , good mistress . - - -Wife , bid these gentlemen welcome . Come , we have a hot venison pasty to dinner : come , gentlemen , I hope we shall drink down all unkindness . - - -I had rather than forty shillings I had my Book of Songs and Sonnets here . - -How now , Simple ! Where have you been ? I must wait on myself , must I ? You have not the Book of Riddles about you , have you ? - -Book of Riddles ! why , did you not lend it to Alice Shortcake upon All-Hallowmas last , a fortnight afore Michaelmas ? - -Come , coz ; come , coz ; we stay for you . A word with you , coz ; marry , this , coz : there is , as 'twere a tender , a kind of tender , made afar off by Sir Hugh here : do you understand me ? - -Ay , sir , you shall find me reasonable : if it be so , I shall do that that is reason . - -Nay , but understand me . - -So I do , sir . - -Give ear to his motions , Master Slender : I will description the matter to you , if you pe capacity of it . - -Nay , I will do as my cousin Shallow says . I pray you pardon me ; he's a justice of peace in his country , simple though I stand here . - -But that is not the question ; the question is concerning your marriage . - -Ay , there's the point , sir . - -Marry , is it , the very point of it ; to Mistress Anne Page . - -Why , if it be so , I will marry her upon any reasonable demands . - -But can you affection the 'oman ? Let us command to know that of your mouth or of your lips ; for divers philosophers hold that the lips is parcel of the mouth : therefore , precisely , can you carry your good will to the maid ? - -Cousin Abraham Slender , can you love her ? - -I hope , sir , I will do as it shall become one that would do reason . - -Nay , Got's lords and his ladies ! you must speak possitable , if you can carry her your desires towards her . - -That you must . Will you , upon good dowry , marry her ? - -I will do a greater thing than that , upon your request , cousin , in any reason . - -Nay , conceive me , conceive me , sweet coz : what I do , is to pleasure you , coz . Can you love the maid ? - -I will marry her , sir , at your request ; but if there be no great love in the beginning , yet heaven may decrease it upon better acquaintance , when we are married and have more occasion to know one another : I hope , upon familiarity will grow more contempt : but if you say , 'Marry her ,' I will marry her ; that I am freely dissolved , and dissolutely . - -It is a fery discretion answer ; save , the faul is in the ort 'dissolutely :' the ort is , according to our meaning , 'resolutely .' His meaning is goot . - -Ay , I think my cousin meant well . - -Ay , or else I would I might be hanged , la ! - -Here comes fair Mistress Anne . - -Would I were young for your sake , Mistress Anne . - -The dinner is on the table ; my father desires your worships' company . - -I will wait on him , fair Mistress Anne . - -Od's plessed will ! I will not be absence at the grace . - - -Will't please your worship to come in , sir ? - -No , I thank you , forsooth , heartily ; I am very well . - -The dinner attends you , sir . - -I am not a-hungry , I thank you forsooth . Go , sirrah , for all you are my man , go wait upon my cousin Shallow . - -A justice of peace sometime may be beholding to his friend for a man . I keep but three men and a boy yet , till my mother be dead ; but what though ? yet I live like a poor gentleman born . - -I may not go in without your worship : they will not sit till you come . - -I' faith , I'll eat nothing ; I thank you as much as though I did . - -I pray you , sir , walk in . - -I had rather walk here , I thank you . I bruised my shin th' other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence ; three veneys for a dish of stewed prunes ;and , by my troth , I cannot abide the smell of hot meat since . Why do your dogs bark so ? be there bears i' the town ? - -I think there are , sir ; I heard them talked of . - -I love the sport well ; but I shall as soon quarrel at it as any man in England . You are afraid , if you see the bear loose , are you not ? - -Ay , indeed , sir . - -That's meat and drink to me , now : I have seen Sackerson loose twenty times , and have taken him by the chain ; but , I warrant you , the women have so cried and shrieked at it , that it passed : but women , indeed , cannot abide 'em ; they are very ill-favoured rough things . - - -Come , gentle Master Slender , come ; we stay for you . - -I'll eat nothing , I thank you , sir . - -By cock and pie , you shall not choose , sir ! come , come . - -Nay , pray you , lead the way . - -Come on , sir . - -Mistress Anne , yourself shall go first . - -Not I , sir ; pray you , keep on . - -Truly , I will not go first : truly , la ! I will not do you that wrong . - -I pray you , sir . - -I'll rather be unmannerly than troublesome . You do yourself wrong , indeed , la ! - - -Go your ways , and ask of Doctor Caius' house , which is the way : and there dwells one Mistress Quickly , which is in the manner of his nurse , or his try nurse , or his cook , or his laundry , his washer , and his wringer . - -Well , sir . - -Nay , it is petter yet . Give her this letter ; for it is a 'oman that altogether's acquaintance with Mistress Anne Page : and the letter is , to desire and require her to solicit your master's desires to Mistress Anne Page . I pray you , be gone : I will make an end of my dinner ; there's pippins and seese to come . - - -Mine host of the Garter ! - -What says my bully-rook ? Speak scholarly and wisely . - -Truly , mine host , I must turn away some of my followers . - -Discard , bully Hercules ; cashier : let them wag ; trot , trot . - -I sit at ten pounds a week . - -Thou'rt an emperor , C sar , Keisar , and Pheezar . I will entertain Bardolph ; he shall draw , he shall tap : said I well , bully Hector ? - -Do so , good mine host . - -I have spoke ; let him follow . - -Let me see thee forth and lime : I am at a word ; follow . - - -Bardolph , follow him . A tapster is a good trade : an old cloak makes a new jerkin ; a withered serving-man , a fresh tapster . Go ; adieu . - -It is a life that I have desired . I will thrive . - -O base Hungarian wight ! wilt thou the spigot wield ? - - -He was gotten in drink ; is not the humour conceited ? - -I am glad I am so acquit of this tinderbox ; his thefts were too open ; his filching was like an unskilful singer ; he kept not time . - -The good humour is to steal at a minim's rest . - -'Convey ,' the wise it call . 'Steal !' foh ! a fico for the phrase ! - -Well , sirs , I am almost out at heels . - -Why , then , let kibes ensue . - -There is no remedy ; I must conycatch , I must shift . - -Young ravens must have food . - -Which of you know Ford of this town ? - -I ken the wight : he is of substance good . - -My honest lads , I will tell you what I am about . - -Two yards , and more . - -No quips now , Pistol ! Indeed , I am in the waist two yards about ; but I am now about no waste ; I am about thrift . Briefly , I do mean to make love to Ford's wife : I spy entertainment in her ; she discourses , she carves , she gives the leer of invitation : I can construe the action of her familiar style ; and the hardest voice of her behaviour , to be Englished rightly , is , 'I am Sir John Falstaff's .' - -He hath studied her well , and translated her well , out of honesty into English . - -The anchor is deep : will that humour pass ? - -Now , the report goes she has all the rule of her husband's purse ; he hath a legion of angels . - -As many devils entertain , and 'To her , boy ,' say I . - -The humour rises ; it is good : humour me the angels . - -I have writ me here a letter to her ; and here another to Page's wife , who even now gave me good eyes too , examined my parts with most judicious illiades : sometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot , sometimes my portly belly . - -Then did the sun on dunghill shine . - -I thank thee for that humour . - -O ! she did so course o'er my exteriors with such a greedy intention , that the appetite of her eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning-glass . Here's another letter to her : she bears the purse too ; she is a region in Guiana , all gold and bounty . I will be 'cheator to them both , and they shall be exchequers to me : they shall be my East and West Indies , and I will trade to them both . Go bear thou this letter to Mistress Page ; and thou this to Mistress Ford . We will thrive , lads , we will thrive . - -Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become , -And by my side wear steel ? then , Lucifer take all ! - -I will run no base humour : here , take the humour-letter . I will keep the haviour of reputation . - -Hold , sirrah , bear you these letters tightly : -Sail like my pinnace to these golden shores . -Rogues , hence ! avaunt ! vanish like hailstones , go ; -Trudge , plod away o'the hoof ; seek shelter , pack ! -Falstaff will learn the humour of this age , -French thrift , you rogues : myself and skirted page . - - -Let vultures gripe thy guts ! for gourd and fullam holds , -And high and low beguile the rich and poor . -Tester I'll have in pouch when thou shalt lack , -Base Phrygian Turk ! - -I have operations in my head , which be humours of revenge . - -Wilt thou revenge ? - -By welkin and her star ! - -With wit or steel ? - -With both the humours , I : -I will discuss the humour of this love to Page . - - -And I to Ford shall eke unfold -How Falstaff , varlet vile , -His dove will prove , his gold will hold , -And his soft couch defile . - - -My humour shall not cool : I will incense Page to deal with poison ; I will possess him with yellowness , for the revolt of mine is dangerous : that is my true humour . - -Thou art the Mars of malcontents : I second thee ; troop on . - - -What , John Rugby ! - -I pray thee , go to the casement , and see if you can see my master , Master Doctor Caius , coming : if he do , i' faith , and find anybody in the house , here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English . - -I'll go watch . - -Go ; and we'll have a posset for't soon at night , in faith , at the latter end of a sea-coal fire . - -An honest , willing , kind fellow , as ever servant shall come in house withal ; and , I warrant you , no tell-tale , nor no breed-bate : his worst fault is , that he is given to prayer ; he is something peevish that way , but nobody but has his fault ; but let that pass . Peter Simple you say your name is ? - -Ay , for fault of a better . - -And Master Slender's your master ? - -Ay , forsooth . - -Does he not wear a great round beard like a glover's paring-knife ? - -No , forsooth : he hath but a little wheyface , with a little yellow beard a cane-coloured beard . - -A softly-sprighted man , is he not ? - -Ay , forsooth ; but he is as tall a man of his hands as any is between this and his head : he hath fought with a warrener . - -How say you ?O ! I should remember him : does he not hold up his head , as it were , and strut in his gait ? - -Yes , indeed , does he . - -Well , heaven send Anne Page no worse fortune ! Tell Master Parson Evans I will do what I can for your master : Anne is a good girl , and I wish - - -Out , alas ! here comes my master . - -We shall all be shent . Run in here , good young man ; go into this closet . - - -'And down , down , adown-a ,' &c . - -Vat is you sing ? I do not like dese toys . Pray you , go and vetch me in my closet une boitine verde ; a box , a green-a box : do intend vat I speak ? a green-a box . - -Ay , forsooth ; I'll fetch it you . - -I am glad he went not in himself : if he had found the young man , he would have been horn-mad . - -Fe , fe , fe , fe ! ma foi , il fait fort chaud . Je m'en vais la cour ,la grande affaire . - -Is it this , sir ? - -Oui ; mettez le au mon pocket ; d p chez , quickly .Vere is dat knave Rugby ? - -What , John Rugby ! John ! - - -Here , sir . - -You are John Rugby , and you are Jack Rugby : come , take-a your rapier , and come after my heel to de court . - -'Tis ready , sir , here in the porch . - -By my trot , I tarry too long .Od's me ! Qu'ay j'oubli ? dere is some simples in my closet , dat I vill not for de varld I shall leave behind . - -Ay me ! he'll find the young man there , and be mad . - -O diable ! diable ! vat is in my closet ?Villain ! larron ! - -Rugby , my rapier ! - -Good master , be content . - -Verefore shall I be content-a ? - -The young man is an honest man . - -Vat shall de honest man do in my closet ? dere is no honest man dat shall come in my closet . - -I beseech you , be not so phlegmatic . Hear the truth of it : he came of an errand to me from Parson Hugh . - -Vell . - -Ay , forsooth , to desire her to - -Peace , I pray you . - -Peace-a your tongue !Speak-a your tale . - -To desire this honest gentlewoman , your maid , to speak a good word to Mistress Anne Page for my master in the way of marriage . - -This is all , indeed , la ! but I'll ne'er put my finger in the fire , and need not . - -Sir Hugh send-a you ?Rugby , baillez me some paper : tarry you a little-a while . - - -I am glad he is so quiet : if he had been throughly moved , you should have heard him so loud , and so melancholy . But , notwithstanding , man , I'll do your master what good I can ; and the very yea and the no is , the French doctor , my master ,I may call him my master , look you , for I keep his house ; and I wash , wring , brew , bake , scour , dress meat and drink , make the beds , and do all myself , - -'Tis a great charge to come under one body's hand . - -Are you avis'd o' that ? you shall find it a great charge : and to be up early and down late ; but notwithstanding ,to tell you in your ear ,I would have no words of it ,my master himself is in love with Mistress Anne Page : but notwithstanding that , I know Anne's mind , that's neither here nor there . - -You jack'nape , give-a dis letter to Sir Hugh ; by gar , it is a challenge : I vill cut his troat in de Park ; and I vill teach a scurvy jack-a-nape priest to meddle or make . You may be gone ; it is not good you tarry here : by gar , I vill cut all his two stones ; by gar , he shall not have a stone to trow at his dog . - - -Alas ! he speaks but for his friend . - -It is no matter-a for dat :do not you tell-a me dat I shall have Anne Page for myself ? By gar , I vill kill de Jack priest ; and I have appointed mine host of de Jartiere to measure our weapon . By gar , I vill myself have Anne Page . - -Sir , the maid loves you , and all shall be well . We must give folks leave to prate : what , the good-jer ! - -Rugby , come to the court vit me . By gar , if I have not Anne Page , I shall turn your head out of my door . Follow my heels , Rugby . - - -You shall have An fool's-head of your own . No , I know Anne's mind for that : never a woman in Windsor knows more of Anne's mind than I do ; nor can do more than I do with her , I thank heaven . - -Who's within there ? ho ! - -Who's there , I trow ? Come near the house , I pray you . - - -How now , good woman ! how dost thou ? - -The better , that it pleases your good worship to ask . - -What news ? how does pretty Mistress Anne ? - -In truth , sir , and she is pretty , and honest , and gentle ; and one that is your friend , I can tell you that by the way ; I praise heaven for it . - -Shall I do any good , thinkest thou ? Shall I not lose my suit ? - -Troth , sir , all is in his hands above ; but notwithstanding , Master Fenton , I'll be sworn on a book , she loves you . Have not your worship a wart above your eye ? - -Yes , marry have I ; what of that ? - -Well , thereby hangs a tale . Good faith , it is such another Nan ; but , I detest , an honest maid as ever broke bread : we had an hour's talk of that wart . I shall never laugh but in that maid's company ;but , indeed , she is given too much to allicholy and musing . But for you well , go to . - -Well , I shall see her to-day . Hold , there's money for thee ; let me have thy voice in my behalf : if thou seest her before me , commend me . - -Will I ? i' faith , that we will : and I will tell your worship more of the wart the next time we have confidence ; and of other wooers . - -Well , farewell ; I am in great haste now . - -Farewell to your worship . - -Truly , an honest gentleman : but Anne loves him not ; for I know Anne's mind as well as another does . Out upon't ! what have I forgot ? - -What ! have I 'scaped love-letters in the holiday-time of my beauty , and am I now a subject for them ? Let me see . - -Ask me no reason why I love you ; for though Love use Reason for his physician , he admits him not for his counsellor . You are not young , no more am I ; go to then , there's sympathy ; you are merry , so am I , ha ! ha ! then , there's more sympathy , you love sack , and so do I , would you desire better sympathy ? Let it suffice thee , Mistress Page , at the least , if the love of a soldier can suffice , that I love thee I will not say , pity me ,'tis not a soldier-like phrase ; but I say , love me . By me , - -Thine own true knight , -By day or night , -Or any kind of light , -With all his might -For thee to fight , - -What a Herod of Jewry is this ! O wicked , wicked world ! one that is well-nigh worn to pieces with age , to show himself a young gallant ! What an unweighed behaviour hath this Flemish drunkard picked , with the devil's name ! out of my conversation , that he dares in this manner assay me ? Why , he hath not been thrice in my company ! What should I say to him ? I was then frugal of my mirth :heaven forgive me ! Why , I'll exhibit a bill in the parliament for the putting down of men . How shall I be revenged on him ? for revenged I will be , as sure as his guts are made of puddings . - - -Mistress Page ! trust me , I was going to your house . - -And , trust me , I was coming to you . You look very ill . - -Nay , I'll ne'er believe that : I have to show to the contrary . - -Faith , but you do , in my mind . - -Well , I do then ; yet , I say I could show you to the contrary . O , Mistress Page ! give me some counsel . - -What's the matter , woman ? - -O woman , if it were not for one trifling respect , I could come to such honour ! - -Hang the trifle , woman ; take the honour . What is it ?dispense with trifles ;what is it ? - -If I would but go to hell for an eternal moment or so , I could be knighted . - -What ? thou liest . Sir Alice Ford ! These knights will hack ; and so thou shouldst not alter the article of thy gentry . - -We burn daylight : here , read , read ; perceive how I might be knighted . I shall think the worse of fat men as long as I have an eye to make difference of men's liking : and yet he would not swear ; praised women's modesty ; and gave such orderly and well-behaved reproof to all uncomeliness , that I would have sworn his disposition would have gone to the truth of his words ; but they do no more adhere and keep place together than the Hundredth Psalm to the tune of 'Green Sleeves .' What tempest , I trow , threw this whale , with so many tuns of oil in his belly , ashore at Windsor ? How shall I be revenged on him ? I think , the best way were to entertain him with hope , till the wicked fire of lust have melted him in his own grease . Did you ever hear the like ? - -Letter for letter , but that the name of Page and Ford differs ! To thy great comfort in this mystery of ill opinions , here's the twin brother of thy letter : but let thine inherit first ; for , I protest , mine never shall . I warrant , he hath a thousand of these letters , writ with blank space for different names , sure more , and these are of the second edition . He will print them , out of doubt ; for he cares not what he puts into the press , when he would put us two : I had rather be a grantess , and lie under Mount Pelion . Well , I will find you twenty lascivious turtles ere one chaste man . - -Why , this is the very same ; the very hand , the very words . What doth he think of us ? - -Nay , I know not : it makes me almost ready to wrangle with mine own honesty . I'll entertain myself like one that I am not acquainted withal ; for , sure , unless he know some strain in me , that I know not myself , he would never have boarded me in this fury . - -Boarding call you it ? I'll be sure to keep him above deck . - -So will I : if he come under my hatches , I'll never to sea again . Let's be revenged on him : let's appoint him a meeting ; give him a show of comfort in his suit , and lead him on with a fine-baited delay , till he hath pawned his horses to mine host of the Garter . - -Nay , I will consent to act any villany against him , that may not sully the chariness of our honesty . O , that my husband saw this letter ! it would give eternal food to his jealousy . - -Why , look , where he comes ; and my good man too : he's as far from jealousy , as I am from giving him cause ; and that , I hope , is an unmeasurable distance . - -You are the happier woman . - -Let's consult together against this greasy knight . Come hither . - -Well , I hope it be not so . - -Hope is a curtal dog in some affairs : -Sir John affects thy wife . - -Why , sir , my wife is not young . - -He woos both high and low , both rich and poor , -Both young and old , one with another , Ford . -He loves the galimaufry : Ford , perpend . - -Love my wife ! - -With liver burning hot : prevent , or go thou , -Like Sir Act on he , with Ringwood at thy heels . -O ! odious is the name ! - -What name , sir ? - -The horn , I say . Farewell : -Take heed ; have open eye , for thieves do foot by night : -Take heed , ere summer comes or cuckoo-birds do sing . -Away , sir Corporal Nym ! -Believe it , Page ; he speaks sense . - - -I will be patient : I will find out this . - -And this is true ; I like not the humour of lying . He hath wronged me in some humours : I should have borne the humoured letter to her , but I have a sword and it shall bite upon my necessity . He loves your wife ; there's the short and the long . My name is Corporal Nym ; I speak , and I avouch 'tis true : my name is Nym , and Falstaff loves your wife . Adieu . I love not the humour of bread and cheese ; and there's the humour of it . Adieu . - - -'The humour of it ,' quoth'a ! here's a fellow frights humour out of his wits . - -I will seek out Falstaff . - -I never heard such a drawling , affecting rogue . - -If I do find it : well . - -I will not believe such a Cataian , though the priest o' the town commended him for a true man . - -'Twas a good sensible fellow : well . - -How now , Meg ! - -Whither go you , George ?Hark you . - -How now , sweet Frank ! why art thou melancholy ? - -I melancholy ! I am not melancholy . Get you home , go . - -Faith , thou hast some crotchets in thy head now . Will you go , Mistress Page ? - -Have with you . You'll come to dinner , George ? - -Look , who comes yonder : she shall be our messenger to this paltry knight . - -Trust me , I thought on her : she'll fit it . - - -You are come to see my daughter Anne ? - -Ay , forsooth ; and , I pray , how does good Mistress Anne ? - -Go in with us , and see : we'd have an hour's talk with you . - - -How now , Master Ford ! - -You heard what this knave told me , did you not ? - -Yes ; and you heard what the other told me ? - -Do you think there is truth in them ? - -Hang 'em , slaves ! I do not think the knight would offer it : but these that accuse him in his intent towards our wives , are a yoke of his discarded men ; very rogues , now they be out of service . - -Were they his men ? - -Marry , were they . - -I like it never the better for that . Does he lie at the Garter ? - -Ay , marry , does he . If he should intend this voyage towards my wife , I would turn her loose to him ; and what he gets more of her than sharp words , let it lie on my head . - -I do not misdoubt my wife , but I would be loth to turn them together . A man may be too confident : I would have nothing 'lie on my head :' I cannot be thus satisfied . - -Look , where my ranting host of the Garter comes . There is either liquor in his pate or money in his purse when he looks so merrily . - -How now , mine host ! - -How now , bully-rook ! thou'rt a gentleman . Cavaliero-justice , I say ! - -I follow , mine host , I follow . Good even and twenty , good Master Page ! Master Page , will you go with us ? we have sport in hand . - -Tell him , cavaliero-justice ; tell him , bully-rook . - -Sir , there is a fray to be fought between Sir Hugh the Welsh priest and Caius the French doctor . - -Good mine host o' the Garter , a word with you . - -What sayest thou , my bully-rook ? - - -Will you go with us to behold it ? My merry host hath had the measuring of their weapons , and , I think , hath appointed them contrary places ; for , believe me , I hear the parson is no jester . Hark , I will tell you what our sport shall be . - - -Hast thou no suit against my knight , my guest-cavalier ? - -None , I protest : but I'll give you a pottle of burnt sack to give me recourse to him and tell him my name is Brook , only for a jest . - -My hand , bully : thou shalt have egress and regress ; said I well ? and thy name shall be Brook . It is a merry knight . Will you go , mynheers ? - -Have with you , mine host . - -I have heard , the Frenchman hath good skill in his rapier . - -Tut , sir ! I could have told you more . In these times you stand on distance , your passes , stoccadoes , and I know not what : 'tis the heart , Master Page ; 'tis here , 'tis here . I have seen the time with my long sword I would have made you four tall fellows skip like rats . - -Here , boys , here , here ! shall we wag ? - -Have with you . I had rather hear them scold than fight . - - -Though Page be a secure fool , and stands so firmly on his wife's frailty , yet I cannot put off my opinion so easily . She was in his company at Page's house , and what they made there , I know not . Well , I will look further into't ; and I have a disguise to sound Falstaff . If I find her honest , I lose not my labour ; if she be otherwise , 'tis labour well bestowed . - - -I will not lend thee a penny . - -Why , then the world's mine oyster , -Which I with sword will open . -I will retort the sum in equipage . - -Not a penny . I have been content , sir , you should lay my countenance to pawn : I have grated upon my good friends for three reprieves for you and your coach-fellow Nym ; or else you had looked through the grate , like a geminy of baboons . I am damned in hell for swearing to gentlemen my friends , you were good soldiers and tall fellows ; and when Mistress Bridget lost the handle of her fan , I took't upon mine honour thou hadst it not . - -Didst thou not share ? hadst thou not fifteen pence ? - -Reason , you rogue , reason : thinkest thou , I'll endanger my soul gratis ? At a word , hang no more about me ; I am no gibbet for you : go : a short knife and a throng !to your manor of Picht-hatch ! go . You'll not bear a letter for me , you rogue !you stand upon your honour !Why , thou unconfinable baseness , it is as much as I can do to keep the terms of mine honour precise . I , I , I , myself sometimes , leaving the fear of God on the left hand and hiding mine honour in my necessity , am fain to shuffle , to hedge and to lurch ; and yet you , rogue , will ensconce your rags , your cat-a-mountain looks , your red-lattice phrases , and your bold-beating oaths , under the shelter of your honour ! You will not do it , you ! - -I do relent : what wouldst thou more of man ? - - -Sir , here's a woman would speak with you . - -Let her approach . - - -Give your worship good morrow . - -Good morrow , good wife . - -Not so , an't please your worship . - -Good maid , then . - -I'll be sworn -As my mother was , the first hour I was born . - -I do believe the swearer . What with me ? - -Shall I vouchsafe your worship a word or two ? - -Two thousand , fair woman ; and I'll vouchsafe thee the hearing . - -There is one Mistress Ford , sir ,I pray , come a little nearer this ways :I myself dwell with Master Doctor Caius . - -Well , on : Mistress Ford , you say , - -Your worship says very true :I pray your worship , come a little nearer this ways . - -I warrant thee , nobody hears ; mine own people , mine own people . - -Are they so ? God bless them , and make them his servants ! - -Well : Mistress Ford ; what of her ? - -Why , sir , she's a good creature . Lord , Lord ! your worship's a wanton ! Well , heaven forgive you , and all of us , I pray ! - -Mistress Ford ; come , Mistress Ford , - -Marry , this is the short and the long of it . You have brought her into such a canaries as 'tis wonderful : the best courtier of them all , when the court lay at Windsor , could never have brought her to such a canary ; yet there has been knights , and lords , and gentlemen , with their coaches , I warrant you , coach after coach , letter after letter , gift after gift ; smelling so sweetly all musk , and so rushling , I warrant you , in silk and gold ; and in such alligant terms ; and in such wine and sugar of the best and the fairest , that would have won any woman's heart ; and , I warrant you , they could never get an eye-wink of her . I had myself twenty angels given me this morning ; but I defy all angels , in any such sort , as they say , but in the way of honesty : and , I warrant you , they could never get her so much as sip on a cup with the proudest of them all ; and yet there has been earls , nay , which is more , pensioners ; but , I warrant you , all is one with her . - -But what says she to me ? be brief , my good she Mercury . - -Marry , she hath received your letter ; for the which she thanks you a thousand times ; and she gives you to notify that her husband will be absence from his house between ten and eleven . - -Ten and eleven ? - -Ay , forsooth ; and then you may come and see the picture , she says , that you wot of : Master Ford , her husband , will be from home . Alas ! the sweet woman leads an ill life with him ; he's a very jealousy man ; she leads a very frampold life with him , good heart . - -Ten and eleven . Woman , commend me to her ; I will not fail her . - -Why , you say well . But I have another messenger to your worship : Mistress Page hath her hearty commendations to you too : and let me tell you in your ear , she's as fartuous a civil modest wife , and one , I tell you , that will not miss you morning nor evening prayer , as any is in Windsor , whoe'er be the other : and she bade me tell your worship that her husband is seldom from home ; but , she hopes there will come a time . I never knew a woman so dote upon a man : surely , I think you have charms , la ; yes , in truth . - -Not I , I assure thee : setting the attraction of my good parts aside , I have no other charms . - -Blessing on your heart for't ! - -But , I pray thee , tell me this : has Ford's wife and Page's wife acquainted each other how they love me ? - -That were a jest indeed ! they have not so little grace , I hope : that were a trick , indeed ! But Mistress Page would desire you to send her your little page , of all loves : her husband has a marvellous infection to the little page ; and , truly , Master Page is an honest man . Never a wife in Windsor leads a better life than she does : do what she will , say what she will , take all , pay all , go to bed when she list , rise when she list , all is as she will : and , truly she deserves it ; for if there be a kind woman in Windsor , she is one . You must send her your page ; no remedy . - -Why , I will . - -Nay , but do so , then : and , look you , he may come and go between you both ; and in any case have a nay-word , that you may know one another's mind , and the boy never need to understand any thing ; for 'tis not good that children should know any wickedness : old folks , you know , have discretion , as they say , and know the world . - -Fare thee well : commend me to them both . There's my purse ; I am yet thy debtor .Boy , go along with this woman . - -This news distracts me . - -This punk is one of Cupid's carriers . -Clap on more sails ; pursue ; up with your fights ; -Give fire ! she is my prize , or ocean whelm them all ! - - -Sayest thou so , old Jack ? go thy ways ; I'll make more of thy old body than I have done . Will they yet look after thee ? Wilt thou , after the expense of so much money , be now a gainer ? Good body , I thank thee . Let them say 'tis grossly done ; so it be fairly done , no matter . - - -Sir John , there's one Master Brook below would fain speak with you , and be acquainted with you : and hath sent your worship a morning's draught of sack . - -Brook is his name ? - -Ay , sir . - -Call him in . - -Such Brooks are welcome to me , that o'erflow such liquor . Ah , ha ! Mistress Ford and Mistress Page , have I encompassed you ? go to ; via ! - - -Bless your , sir ! - -And you , sir ; would you speak with me ? - -I make bold to press with so little preparation upon you . - -You're welcome . What's your will ?Give us leave , drawer . - - -Sir , I am a gentleman that have spent much : my name is Brook . - -Good Master Brook , I desire more acquaintance of you . - -Good Sir John , I sue for yours : not to charge you ; for I must let you understand I think myself in better plight for a lender than you are : the which hath something emboldened me to this unseasoned intrusion ; for , they say , if money go before , all ways do lie open . - -Money is a good soldier , sir , and will on . - -Troth , and I have a bag of money here troubles me : if you will help to bear it , Sir John , take all , or half , for easing me of the carriage . - -Sir , I know not how I may deserve to be your porter . - -I will tell you , sir , if you will give me the hearing . - -Speak , good Master Brook ; I shall be glad to be your servant . - -Sir , I hear you are a scholar ,I will be brief with you , and you have been a man long known to me , though I had never so good means , as desire , to make myself acquainted with you . I shall discover a thing to you , wherein I must very much lay open mine own imperfection ; but , good Sir John , as you have one eye upon my follies , as you hear them unfolded , turn another into the register of your own , that I may pass with a reproof the easier , sith you yourself know how easy it is to be such an offender . - -Very well , sir ; proceed . - -There is a gentlewoman in this town , her husband's name is Ford . - -Well , sir . - -I have long loved her , and , I protest to you , bestowed much on her ; followed her with a doting observance ; engrossed opportunities to meet her ; fee'd every slight occasion that could but niggardly give me sight of her ; not only bought many presents to give her , but have given largely to many to know what she would have given . Briefly , I have pursued her as love hath pursued me ; which hath been on the wing of all occasions . But whatsoever I have merited , either in my mind or in my means , meed , I am sure , I have received none ; unless experience be a jewel that I have purchased at an infinite rate ; and that hath taught me to say this , - -Love like a shadow flies when substance love pursues ; -Pursuing that that flies , and flying what pursues - - -Have you received no promise of satisfaction at her hands ? - -Never . - -Have you importuned her to such a purpose ? - -Never . - -Of what quality was your love , then ? - -Like a fair house built upon another man's ground ; so that I have lost my edifice by mistaking the place where I erected it . - -To what purpose have you unfolded this to me ? - -When I have told you that , I have told you all . Some say , that though she appear honest to me , yet in other places she enlargeth her mirth so far that there is shrewd construction made of her . Now , Sir John , here is the heart of my purpose : you are a gentleman of excellent breeding , admirable discourse , of great admittance , authentic in your place and person , generally allowed for your many war-like , court-like , and learned preparations . - -O , sir ! - -Believe it , for you know it . There is money ; spend it , spend it ; spend more ; spend all I have ; only give me so much of your time in exchange of it , as to lay an amiable siege to the honesty of this Ford's wife : use your art of wooing , win her to consent to you ; if any man may , you may as soon as any . - -Would it apply well to the vehemency of your affection , that I should win what you would enjoy ? Methinks you prescribe to yourself very preposterously . - -O , understand my drift . She dwells so securely on the excellency of her honour , that the folly of my soul dares not present itself : she is too bright to be looked against . Now , could I come to her with any detection in my hand , my desires had instance and argument to commend themselves : I could drive her then from the ward of her purity , her reputation , her marriage vow , and a thousand other her defences , which now are too-too strongly embattled against me . What say you to't , Sir John ? - -Master Brook , I will first make bold with your money ; next , give me your hand ; and last , as I am a gentleman , you shall , if you will , enjoy Ford's wife . - -O good sir ! - -I say you shall . - -Want no money , Sir John ; you shall want none . - -Want no Mistress Ford , Master Brook ; you shall want none . I shall be with her , I may tell you , by her own appointment ; even as you came in to me , her assistant or go-between parted from me : I say I shall be with her between ten and eleven ; for at that time the jealous rascally knave her husband will be forth . Come you to me at night ; you shall know how I speed . - -I am blest in your acquaintance . Do you know Ford , sir ? - -Hang him , poor cuckoldly knave ! I know him not . Yet I wrong him , to call him poor : they say the jealous wittolly knave hath masses of money ; for the which his wife seems to me well-favoured . I will use her as the key of the cuckoldly rogue's coffer ; and there's my harvest-home . - -I would you knew Ford , sir , that you might avoid him , if you saw him . - -Hang him , mechanical salt-butter rogue ! I will stare him out of his wits ; I will awe him with my cudgel : it shall hang like a meteor o'er the cuckold's horns . Master Brook , thou shalt know I will predominate over the peasant , and thou shalt he with his wife . Come to me soon at night . Ford's a knave , and I will aggravate his style ; thou , Master Brook , shalt know him for knave and cuckold . Come to me soon at night . - - -What a damned Epicurean rascal is this ! My heart is ready to crack with impatience . Who says this is improvident jealousy ? my wife hath sent to him , the hour is fixed , the match is made . Would any man have thought this ? See the hell of having a false woman ! My bed shall be abused , my coffers ransacked , my reputation gnawn at ; and I shall not only receive this villanous wrong , but stand under the adoption of abominable terms , and by him that does me this wrong . Terms ! names ! Amaimon sounds well ; Lucifer , well ; Barbason , well ; yet they are devils' additions , the names of fiends : but Cuckold ! Wittol !Cuckold ! the devil himself hath not such a name . Page is an ass , a secure ass : he will trust his wife ; he will not be jealous . I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter , Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese , an Irishman with my aqua-vit bottle , or a thief to walk my ambling gelding , than my wife with herself : then she plots , then she ruminates , then she devises ; and what they think in their hearts they may effect , they will break their hearts but they will effect . God be praised for my jealousy ! Eleven o'clock the hour : I will prevent this , detect my wife , be revenged on Falstaff , and laugh at Page . I will about it ; better three hours too soon than a minute too late . Fie , fie , fie ! cuckold ! cuckold ! cuckold ! - - -Jack Rugby ! - -Sir ? - -Vat is de clock , Jack ? - -'Tis past the hour , sir , that Sir Hugh promised to meet . - -By gar , he has save his soul , dat he is no come : he has pray his Pible vell , dat he is no come . By gar , Jack Rugby , he is dead already , if he be come . - -He is wise , sir ; he knew your worship would kill him , if he came . - -By gar , de herring is no dead so as I vill kill him . Take your rapier , Jack ; I vill tell you how I vill kill him . - -Alas , sir ! I cannot fence . - -Villany , take your rapier . - -Forbear ; here's company . - - -Bless thee , bully doctor ! - -Save you , Master Doctor Caius ! - -Now , good Master doctor ! - -Give you good morrow , sir . - -Vat be all you , one , two , tree , four , come for ? - -To see thee fight , to see thee foin , to see thee traverse ; to see thee here , to see thee there ; to see thee pass thy punto , thy stock , thy reverse , thy distance , thy montant . Is he dead , my Ethiopian ? is he dead , my Francisco ? ha , bully ! What says my sculapius ? my Galen ? my heart of elder ? ha ! is he dead , bully stale ? is he dead ? - -By gar , he is de coward Jack priest of de vorld ; he is not show his face . - -Thou art a Castilian King Urinal ! Hector of Greece , my boy ! - -I pray you , bear vitness that me have stay six or seven , two , tree hours for him , and he is no come . - -He is the wiser man , Master doctor : he is a curer of souls , and you a curer of bodies ; if you should fight , you go against the hair of your professions . Is it not true , Master Page ? - -Master Shallow , you have yourself been a great fighter , though now a man of peace . - -Bodykins , Master Page , though I now be old and of the peace , if I see a sword out , my finger itches to make one . Though we are justices and doctors and churchmen , Master Page , we have some salt of our youth in us ; we are the sons of women , Master Page . - -'Tis true , Master Shallow . - -It will be found so , Master Page . Master Doctor Caius , I am come to fetch you home . I am sworn of the peace : you have showed yourself a wise physician , and Sir Hugh hath shown himself a wise and patient churchman . You must go with me , Master doctor . - -Pardon , guest-justice .A word , Monsieur Mockwater . - -Mock-vater ! vat is dat ? - -Mock-water , in our English tongue , is valour , bully . - -By gar , den , I have as mush mock-vater as de Englishman . Scurvy jack-dog priest ! by gar , me vill cut his ears . - -He will clapper-claw thee tightly , bully . - -Clapper-de-claw ! vat is dat ? - -That is , he will make thee amends . - -By gar , me do look , he shall clapper-de-claw me ; for , by gar , me vill have it . - -And I will provoke him to't , or let him wag . - -Me tank you for dat . - -And moreover , bully ,But first , Master guest , and Master Page , and eke Cavaliero Slender , go you through the town to Frogmore . - - -Sir Hugh is there , is he ? - -He is there : see what humour he is in ; and I will bring the doctor about by the fields . Will it do well ? - -We will do it . - -Adieu , good Master doctor . - - -By gar , me vill kill de priest ; for he speak for a jack-an-ape to Anne Page . - -Let him die . Sheathe thy impatience ; throw cold water on thy choler : go about the fields with me through Frogmore : I will bring thee where Mistress Anne Page is , at a farmhouse a-feasting ; and thou shalt woo her . Cried I aim ? said I well ? - -By gar , me tank you for dat : by gar , I love you ; and I shall procure-a you de good guest , de earl , de knight , de lords , de gentlemen , my patients . - -For the which I will be thy adversary toward Anne Page : said I well ? - -By gar , 'tis good ; vell said . - -Let us wag , then . - -Come at my heels , Jack Rugby . - -I pray you now , good Master Slender's serving-man , and friend Simple by your name , which way have you looked for Master Caius , that calls himself doctor of physic ? - -Marry , sir , the pittie-ward , the parkward , every way ; old Windsor way , and every way but the town way . - -I most fehemently desire you you will also look that way . - -I will , sir . - - -Pless my soul ! how full of chollors I am , and trempling of mind ! I shall be glad if he have deceived me . How melancholies I am ! I will knog his urinals about his knave's costard when I have goot opportunities for the 'ork : pless my soul ! - - -To shallow rivers , to whose falls -Melodious birds sing madrigals ; -There will we make our peds of roses , -And a thousand fragrant pasies . -To shallow - -Mercy on me ! I have a great dispositions to cry . - - -Melodious birds sing madrigals , -When as I sat in Pabylon , -And a thousand vagram posies . -To shallow , - -Yonder he is coming , this way , Sir Hugh . - -He's welcome . - - -To shallow rivers , to whose falls - -Heaven prosper the right !what weapons is he ? - -No weapons , sir . There comes my master , Master Shallow , and another gentleman , from Frogmore , over the stile , this way . - -Pray you , give me my gown ; or else keep it in your arms . - -How now , Master Parson ! Good morrow , good Sir Hugh . Keep a gamester from the dice , and a good student from his book , and it is wonderful . - -Ah , sweet Anne Page ! - -Save you , good Sir Hugh ! - -Pless you from His mercy sake , all of you ! - -What , the sword and the word ! do you study them both , Master Parson ? - -And youthful still in your doublet and hose ! this raw rheumatic day ? - -There is reasons and causes for it . - -We are come to you to do a good office , Master parson . - -Fery well : what is it ? - -Yonder is a most reverend gentleman , who , belike having received wrong by some person , is at most odds with his own gravity and patience that ever you saw . - -I have lived fourscore years and upward ; I never heard a man of his place , gravity , and learning , so wide of his own respect . - -What is he ? - -I think you know him ; Master Doctor Caius , the renowned French physician . - -Got's will , and his passion of my heart ! I had as lief you would tell me of a mess of porridge . - -Why ? - -He has no more knowledge in Hibbocrates and Galen ,and he is a knave besides ; a cowardly knave as you would desires to be acquainted withal . - -I warrant you , he's the man should fight with him . - -O , sweet Anne Page ! - -It appears so , by his weapons . Keep them asunder : here comes Doctor Caius . - - -Nay , good Master parson , keep in your weapon . - -So do you , good Master doctor . - -Disarm them , and let them question : let them keep their limbs whole and hack our English . - -I pray you , let-a me speak a word vit your ear : verefore vill you not meet-a me ? - -Pray you , use your patience : in good time . - -By gar , you are de coward , de Jack dog , John ape . - -Pray you , let us not be laughing-stogs to other men's humours ; I desire you in friendship , and I will one way or other make you amends : [Aloud .] I will knog your urinals about your knave's cogscomb for missing your meetings and appointments . - -Diable !Jack Rugby ,mine host de Jarretierre ,have I not stay for him to kill him ? have I not , at de place I did appoint ? - -As I am a Christians soul , now , look you , this is the place appointed : I'll be judgment by mine host of the Garter . - -Peace , I say , Gallia and Guallia ; French and Welsh , soul-curer and body-curer ! - -Ay , dat is very good ; excellent . - -Peace , I say ! hear mine host of the Garter . Am I politic ? am I subtle ? am I a Machiavel ? Shall I lose my doctor ? no ; he gives me the potions and the motions . Shall I lose my parson , my priest , my Sir Hugh ? no ; he gives me the proverbs and the no-verbs . Give me thy hand , terrestrial ; so ;give me thy hand celestial ; so . Boys of art , I have deceived you both ; I have directed you to wrong places : your hearts are mighty , your skins are whole , and let burnt sack be the issue . Come , lay their swords to pawn . Follow me , lads of peace ; follow , follow , follow . - -Trust me , a mad host !Follow , gentlemen , follow . - -O , sweet Anne Page ! - - -Ha ! do I perceive dat ? have you make-a de sot of us , ha , ha ? - -This is well ; he has made us his vlouting-stog . I desire you that we may be friends and let us knog our prains together to be revenge on this same scall , scurvy , cogging companion , the host of the Garter . - -By gar , vit all my heart . He promise to bring me vere is Anne Page : by gar , he deceive me too . - -Well , I will smite his noddles . Pray you , follow . - - -Nay , keep your way , little gallant : you were wont to be a follower , but now you are a leader . Whether had you rather lead mine eyes , or eye your master's heels ? - -I had rather , forsooth , go before you like a man than follow him like a dwarf . - -O ! you are a flattering boy : now I see you'll be a courtier . - - -Well met , Mistress Page . Whither go you ? - -Truly , sir , to see your wife : is she at home ? - -Ay ; and as idle as she may hang together , for want of company . I think , if your husbands were dead , you two would marry . - -Be sure of that ,two other husbands . - -Where had you this pretty weathercock ? - -I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of . What do you call your knight's name , sirrah ? - -Sir John Falstaff . - -Sir John Falstaff ! - -He , he ; I can never hit on's name . There is such a league between my good man and he ! Is your wife at home indeed ? - -Indeed she is . - -By your leave , sir : I am sick till I see her . - - -Has Page any brains ? hath he any eyes ? hath he any thinking ? Sure , they sleep ; he hath no use of them . Why , this boy will carry a letter twenty mile , as easy as a cannon will shoot point-blank twelve score . He pieces out his wife's inclination ; he gives her folly motion and advantage : and now she's going to my wife , and Falstaff's boy with her . A man may hear this shower sing in the wind : and Falstaff's boy with her ! Good plots ! they are laid ; and our revolted wives share damnation together . Well ; I will take him , then torture my wife , pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page , divulge Page himself for a secure and wilful Act on ; and to these violent proceedings all my neighbours shall cry aim . - -The clock gives me my cue , and my assurance bids me search ; there I shall find Falstaff . I shall be rather praised for this than mocked ; for it is as positive as the earth is firm , that Falstaff is there : I will go . - - -Well met , Master Ford . - -Trust me , a good knot . I have good cheer at home ; and I pray you all go with me . - -I must excuse myself , Master Ford . - -And so must I , sir : we have appointed to dine with Mistress Anne , and I would not break with her for more money than I'll speak of . - -We have lingered about a match between Anne Page and my cousin Slender , and this day we shall have our answer . - -I hope I have your good will , father Page . - -You have , Master Slender ; I stand wholly for you : but my wife , Master doctor , is for you altogether . - -Ay , by gar ; and de maid is love-a me : my nursh-a Quickly tell me so mush . - -What say you to young Master Fenton ? he capers , he dances , he has eyes of youth , he writes verses , he speaks holiday , he smells April and May : he will carry't , he will carry't ; 'tis in his buttons ; he will carry't . - -Not by my consent , I promise you . The gentleman is of no having : he kept company with the wild prince and Pointz ; he is of too high a region ; he knows too much . No , he shall not knit a knot in his fortunes with the finger of my substance : if he take her , let him take her simply ; the wealth I have waits on my consent , and my consent goes not that way . - -I beseech you heartily , some of you go home with me to dinner : besides your cheer , you shall have sport ; I will show you a monster . Master doctor , you shall go ; so shall you , Master Page ; and you , Sir Hugh . - -Well , fare you well : we shall have the freer wooing at Master Page's . - - -Go home , John Rugby ; I come anon . - - -Farewell , my hearts : I will to my honest knight Falstaff , and drink canary with him . - - -I think I shall drink in pipewine first with him ; I'll make him dance . Will you go , gentles ? - -Have with you to see this monster . - - -What , John ! what , Robert ! - -Quickly , quickly :Is the buckbasket - -I warrant . What , Robin , I say ! - - -Come , come , come . - -Here , set it down . - -Give your men the charge ; we must be brief . - -Marry , as I told you before , John , and Robert , be ready here hard by in the brewhouse ; and when I suddenly call you , come forth , and without any pause or staggering , take this basket on your shoulders : that done , trudge with it in all haste , and carry it among the whitsters in Datchet-mead , and there empty it in the muddy ditch , close by the Thames side . - -You will do it ? - -I have told them over and over ; they lack no direction . Be gone , and come when you are called . - - -Here comes little Robin . - - -How now , my eyas-musket ! what news with you ? - -My master , Sir John , is come in at your back-door , Mistress Ford , and requests your company . - -You little Jack-a-Lent , have you been true to us ? - -Ay , I'll be sworn . My master knows not of your being here , and hath threatened to put me into everlasting liberty if I tell you of it ; for he swears he'll turn me away . - -Thou'rt a good boy ; this secrecy of thine shall be a tailor to thee and shall make thee a new doublet and hose . I'll go hide me . - -Do so . Go tell thy master I am alone . - -Mistress Page , remember you your cue . - -I warrant thee ; if I do not act it , hiss me . - - -Go to , then : we'll use this unwholesome humidity , this gross watery pumpion ; we'll teach him to know turtles from jays . - - -'Have I caught my heavenly jewel ?' Why , now let me die , for I have lived long enough : this is the period of my ambition : O this blessed hour ! - -O , sweet Sir John ! - -Mistress Ford , I cannot cog , I cannot prate , Mistress Ford . Now shall I sin in my wish : I would thy husband were dead . I'll speak it before the best lord , I would make thee my lady . - -I your lady , Sir John ! alas , I should be a pitiful lady . - -Let the court of France show me such another . I see how thine eye would emulate the diamond : thou hast the right arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship-tire , the tire-valiant , or any tire of Venetian admittance . - -A plain kerchief , Sir John : my brows become nothing else ; nor that well neither . - -By the Lord , thou art a traitor to say so : thou wouldst make an absolute courtier ; and the firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gait in a semi-circled farthingale . I see what thou wert , if Fortune thy foe were not , Nature thy friend . Come , thou canst not hide it . - -Believe me , there's no such thing in me . - -What made me love thee ? let that persuade thee there's something extraordinary in thee . Come , I cannot cog and say thou art this and that , like a many of these lisping hawthornbuds , that come like women in men s apparel , and smell like Bucklersbury in simple-time ; I cannot ; but I love thee ; none but thee ; and thou deservest it . - -Do not betray me , sir . I fear you love Mistress Page . - -Thou mightst as well say , I love to walk by the Counter-gate , which is as hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln . - -Well , heaven knows how I love you ; and you shall one day find it . - -Keep in that mind ; I'll deserve it . - -Nay , I must tell you , so you do , or else I could not be in that mind . - -Mistress Ford ! Mistress Ford ! here's Mistress Page at the door , sweating and blowing and looking wildly , and would needs speak with you presently . - -She shall not see me : I will ensconce me behind the arras . - -Pray you , do so : she's a very tattling woman . - - -What's the matter ? how now ! - -O Mistress Ford ! what have you done ? You're shamed , you are overthrown , you're undone for ever ! - -What's the matter , good Mistress Page ? - -O well-a-day , Mistress Ford ! having an honest man to your husband , to give him such cause of suspicion ! - -What cause of suspicion ? - -What cause of suspicion ! Out upon you ! how am I mistook in you ! - -Why , alas , what's the matter ? - -Your husband's coming hither , woman , with all the officers of Windsor , to search for a gentleman that he says is here now in the house by your consent , to take an ill advantage of his absence : you are undone . - -Speak louder .'Tis not so , I hope . - -Pray heaven it be not so , that you have such a man here ! but 'tis most certain your husband's coming with half Windsor at his heels , to search for such a one . I come before to tell you . If you know yourself clear , why , I am glad of it ; but if you have a friend here , convey , convey him out . Be not amazed ; call all your senses to you : defend your reputation , or bid farewell to your good life for ever . - -What shall I do ?There is a gentleman , my dear friend ; and I fear not mine own shame so much as his peril : I had rather than a thousand pound he were out of the house . - -For shame ! never stand 'you had rather' and 'you had rather :' your husband's here at hand ; bethink you of some conveyance : in the house you cannot hide him . O , how have you deceived me ! Look , here is a basket : if he be of any reasonable stature , he may creep in here ; and throw foul linen upon him , as if it were going to bucking : or it is whiting-time send him by your two men to Datchet-mead . - -He's too big to go in there . What shall I do ? - -Let me see't , let me see't , O , let me see't ! I'll in , I'll in . Follow your friend's counsel . I'll in . - -What , Sir John Falstaff ! Are these your letters , knight ? - -I love thee , and none but thee ; help me away : let me creep in here . I'll never - - -Help to cover your master , boy . Call your men , Mistress Ford . You dissembling knight ! - -What , John ! Robert ! John ! - -Go take up these clothes here quickly ; where's the cowl-staff ? look , how you drumble ! carry them to the laundress in Datchet-mead ; quickly , come . - -Pray you , come near : if I suspect without cause , why then make sport at me ; then let me be your jest ; I deserve it . How now ! what goes here ? whither bear you this ? - -To the laundress , forsooth . - -Why , what have you to do whither they bear it ? You were best meddle with buck-washing . - -Buck ! I would I could wash myself of the buck ! Buck , buck , buck ! Ay , buck ; I warrant you , buck ; and of the season too , it shall appear . - -Gentlemen , I have dreamed to-night ; I'll tell you my dream . Here , here , here be my keys : ascend my chambers ; search , seek , find out : I'll warrant we'll unkennel the fox . Let me stop this way first . [Locking the door .] So , now uncape . - -Good Master Ford , be contented : you wrong yourself too much . - -True , Master Page . Up , gentlemen ; you shall see sport anon : follow me , gentlemen . - - -This is fery fantastical humours and jealousies . - -By gar , 'tis no de fashion of France ; it is not jealous in France . - -Nay , follow him , gentlemen ; see the issue of his search . - - -Is there not a double excellency in this ? - -I know not which pleases me better ; that my husband is deceived , or Sir John . - -What a taking was he in when your husband asked who was in the basket ! - -I am half afraid he will have need of washing ; so throwing him into the water will do him a benefit . - -Hang him , dishonest rascal ! I would all of the same strain were in the same distress . - -I think my husband hath some special suspicion of Falstaff's being here ; for I never saw him so gross in his jealousy till now . - -I will lay a plot to try that ; and we will yet have more tricks with Falstaff : his dissolute disease will scarce obey this medicine . - -Shall we send that foolish carrion Mistress Quickly to him , and excuse his throwing into the water ; and give him another hope , to betray him to another punishment ? - -We will do it : let him be sent for to-morrow , eight o'clock , to have amends . - - -I cannot find him : may be the knave bragged of that he could not compass . - -Heard you that ? - -Ay , ay , peace .You use me well , Master Ford , do you ? - -Ay , I do so . - -Heaven make you better than your thoughts ! - -Amen ! - -You do yourself mighty wrong , Master Ford . - -Ay , ay ; I must bear it . - -If there pe any pody in the house , and in the chambers , and in the coffers , and in the presses , heaven forgive my sins at the day of judgment ! - -By gar , nor I too , dere is no bodies . - -Fie , fie , Master Ford ! are you not ashamed ? What spirit , what devil suggests this imagination ? I would not ha' your distemper in this kind for the wealth of Windsor Castle . - -'Tis my fault , Master Page : I suffer for it . - -You suffer for a pad conscience : your wife is as honest a 'omans as I will desires among five thousand , and five hundred too . - -By gar , I see 'tis an honest woman . - -Well ; I promised you a dinner . Come , come , walk in the Park : I pray you , pardon me ; I will hereafter make known to you why I have done this . Come , wife ; come , Mistress Page . I pray you , pardon me ; pray heartily , pardon me . - -Let's go in , gentlemen ; but , trust me , we'll mock him . I do invite you to-morrow morning to my house to breakfast ; after , we'll a-birding together : I have a fine hawk for the bush . Shall it be so ? - -Any thing . - -If there is one , I shall make two in the company . - -If dere be one or two , I shall make-a de turd . - -Pray you go , Master Page . - -I pray you now , remembrance to-morrow on the lousy knave , mine host . - -Dat is good ; by gar , vit all my heart . - -A lousy knave ! to have his gibes and his mockeries ! - - -I see I cannot get thy father's love ; -Therefore no more turn me to him , sweet Nan . - -Alas ! how then ? - -Why , thou must be thyself . -He doth object , I am too great of birth , -And that my state being gall'd with my expense , -I seek to heal it only by his wealth . -Besides these , other bars he lays before me , -My riots past , my wild societies ; -And tells me 'tis a thing impossible -I should love thee but as a property . - -May be he tells you true . - -No , heaven so speed me in my time to come ! -Albeit I will confess thy father's wealth -Was the first motive that I woo'd thee , Anne : -Yet , wooing thee , I found thee of more value -Than stamps in gold or sums in sealed bags ; -And 'tis the very riches of thyself -That now I aim at . - -Gentle Master Fenton , -Yet seek my father's love ; still seek it , sir : -If opportunity and humblest suit -Cannot attain it , why , then ,hark you hither . - -Break their talk , Mistress Quickly : my kinsman shall speak for himself . - -I'll make a shaft or a bolt on't . 'Slid , 'tis but venturing . - -Be not dismayed . - -No , she shall not dismay me : I care not for that , but that I am afeard . - -Hark ye ; Master Slender would speak a word with you . - -I come to him . - -This is my father's choice . -O , what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults -Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year ! - -And how does good Master Fenton ? Pray you , a word with you . - -She's coming ; to her , coz . O boy , thou hadst a father ! - -I had a father , Mistress Anne ; my uncle can tell you good jests of him . Pray you , uncle , tell Mistress Anne the jest , how my father stole two geese out of a pen , good uncle . - -Mistress Anne , my cousin loves you . - -Ay , that I do ; as well as I love any woman in Glostershire . - -He will maintain you like a gentlewoman . - -Ay , that I will , come cut and long-tail , under the degree of a squire . - -He will make you a hundred and fifty pounds jointure . - -Good Master Shallow , let him woo for himself . - -Marry , I thank you for it ; I thank you for that good comfort . She calls you , coz : I'll leave you . - -Now , Master Slender . - -Now , good Mistress Anne . - -What is your will ? - -My will ? od's heartlings ! that's a pretty jest , indeed ! I ne'er made my will yet , I thank heaven ; I am not such a sickly creature , I give heaven praise . - -I mean , Master Slender , what would you with me ? - -Truly , for mine own part , I would little or nothing with you . Your father and my uncle have made motions : if it be my luck , so ; if not , happy man be his dole ! They can tell you how things go better than I can : you may ask your father ; here he comes . - - -Now , Master Slender : love him , daughter Anne . -Why , how now ! what does Master Fenton here ? -You wrong me , sir , thus still to haunt my house : -I told you , sir , my daughter is dispos'd of . - -Nay , Master Page , be not impatient . - -Good Master Fenton , come not to my child . - -She is no match for you . - -Sir , will you hear me ? - -No , good Master Fenton . -Come , Master Shallow ; come , son Slender , in . -Knowing my mind , you wrong me , Master Fenton . - - -Speak to Mistress Page . - -Good Mistress Page , for that I love your daughter -In such a righteous fashion as I do , -Perforce , against all checks , rebukes and manners , -I must advance the colours of my love -And not retire : let me have your good will . - -Good mother , do not marry me to yond fool . - -I mean it not ; I seek you a better husband . - -That's my master , Master doctor . - -Alas ! I had rather be set quick i' the earth , -And bowl'd to death with turnips . - -Come , trouble not yourself . Good Master Fenton , -I will not be your friend nor enemy : -My daughter will I question how she loves you , -And as I find her , so am I affected . -'Till then , farewell , sir : she must needs go in ; -Her father will be angry . - -Farewell , gentle mistress . Farewell , Nan . - - -This is my doing , now : 'Nay ,' said I , 'will you cast away your child on a fool , and a physician ? Look on Master Fenton .' This is my doing . - -I thank thee : and I pray thee , once to-night -Give my sweet Nan this ring . There's for thy pains . - -Now heaven send thee good fortune ! - -A kind heart he hath : a woman would run through fire and water for such a kind heart . But yet I would my master had Mistress Anne ; or I would Master Slender had her ; or , in sooth , I would Master Fenton had her . I will do what I can for them all three , for so I have promised , and I'll be as good as my word ; but speciously for Master Fenton . Well , I must of another errand to Sir John Falstaff from my two mistresses : what a beast am I to slack it ! - - -Bardolph , I say , - -Here , sir . - -Go fetch me a quart of sack ; put a toast in't . - -Have I lived to be carried in a basket , and to be thrown in the Thames like a barrow of butcher's offal ? Well , if I be served such another trick , I'll have my brains ta'en out , and buttered , and give them to a dog for a new year's gift . The rogues slighted me into the river with as little remorse as they would have drowned a blind bitch's puppies , fifteen i' the litter ; and you may know by my size that I have a kind of alacrity in sinking : if the bottom were as deep as hell , I should down . I had been drowned but that the shore was shelvy and shallow ; a death that I abhor , for the water swells a man , and what a thing should I have been when I had been swelled ! I should have been a mountain of mummy . - - -Here's Mistress Quickly , sir , to speak with you . - -Come , let me pour in some sack to the Thames water , for my belly's as cold as if I had swallowed snowballs for pills to cool the reins . Call her in . - -Come in , woman . - - -By your leave . I cry you mercy : give your worship good morrow . - -Take away these chalices . Go brew me a pottle of sack finely . - -With eggs , sir ? - -Simple of itself ; I'll no pullet-sperm in my brewage . - -How now ! - -Marry , sir , I come to your worship from Mistress Ford . - -Mistress Ford ! I have had ford enough ; I was thrown into the ford ; I have my belly full of ford . - -Alas the day ! good heart , that was not her fault : she does so take on with her men ; they mistook their erection . - -So did I mine , to build upon a foolish woman's promise . - -Well , she laments , sir , for it , that it would yearn your heart to see it . Her husband goes this morning a-birding : she desires you once more to come to her between eight and nine . I must carry her word quickly : she'll make you amends , I warrant you . - -Well , I will visit her : tell her so ; and bid her think what a man is : let her consider his frailty , and then judge of my merit . - -I will tell her . - -Do so . Between nine and ten , sayest thou ? - -Eight and nine , sir . - -Well , be gone : I will not miss her . - -Peace be with you , sir . - - -I marvel I hear not of Master Brook ; he sent me word to stay within . I like his money well . O ! here he comes . - - -Bless you , sir ! - -Now , Master Brook , you come to know what hath passed between me and Ford's wife ? - -That , indeed , Sir John , is my business . - -Master Brook , I will not lie to you : I was at her house the hour she appointed me . - -And how sped you , sir ? - -Very ill-favouredly , Master Brook . - -How so , sir ? did she change her determination ? - -No , Master Brook ; but the peaking cornuto her husband , Master Brook , dwelling in a continual 'larum of jealousy , comes me in the instant of our encounter , after we had embraced , kissed , protested , and , as it were , spoke the prologue of our comedy ; and at his heels a rabble of his companions , thither provoked and instigated by his distemper , and , forsooth , to search his house for his wife's love . - -What ! while you were there ? - -While I was there . - -And did he search for you , and could not find you ? - -You shall hear . As good luck would have it , comes in one Mistress Page ; gives intelligence of Ford's approach ; and in her invention , and Ford's wife's distraction , they conveyed me into a buck-basket . - -A buck-basket ! - -By the Lord , a buck-basket ! rammed me in with foul shirts and smocks , socks , foul stockings , greasy napkins ; that , Master Brook , there was the rankest compound of villanous smell that ever offended nostril . - -And how long lay you there ? - -Nay , you shall hear , Master Brook , what I have suffered to bring this woman to evil for your good . Being thus crammed in the basket , a couple of Ford's knaves , his hinds , were called forth by their mistress to carry me in the name of foul clothes to Datchet-lane : they took me on their shoulders ; met the jealous knave their master in the door , who asked them once or twice what they had in their basket . I quaked for fear lest the lunatic knave would have searched it ; but Fate , ordaining he should be a cuckold , held his hand . Well ; on went he for a search , and away went I for foul clothes . But mark the sequel , Master Brook : I suffered the pangs of three several deaths : first , an intolerable-fright , to be detected with a jealous rotten bell-wether ; next , to be compassed , like a good bilbo , in the circumference of a peck , hilt to point , heel to head ; and then , to be stopped in , like a strong distillation , with stinking clothes that fretted in their own grease : think of that , a man of my kidney , think of that , that am as subject to heat as butter ; a man of continual dissolution and thaw : it was a miracle to 'scape suffocation . And in the height of this bath , when I was more than half stewed in grease , like a Dutch dish , to be thrown into the Thames , and cooled , glowing hot , in that surge , like a horse-shoe ; think of that , hissing hot , think of that , Master Brook ! - -In good sadness , sir , I am sorry that for my sake you have suffered all this . My suit then is desperate ; you'll undertake her no more ? - -Master Brook , I will be thrown into Etna , as I have been into Thames , ere I will leave her thus . Her husband is this morning gone a-birding : I have received from her another embassy of meeting ; 'twixt eight and nine is the hour , Master Brook . - -'Tis past eight already , sir . - -Is it ? I will then address me to my appointment . Come to me at your convenient leisure , and you shall know how I speed , and the conclusion shall be crowned with your enjoying her : adieu . You shall have her , Master Brook ; Master Brook , you shall cuckold Ford . - - -Hum ! ha ! is this a vision ? is this a dream ? do I sleep ? Master Ford , awake ! awake , Master Ford ! there's a hole made in your best coat , Master Ford . This 'tis to be married : this 'tis to have linen and buck-baskets ! Well , I will proclaim myself what I am : I will now take the lecher ; he is at my house ; he cannot 'scape me ; 'tis impossible he should ; he cannot creep into a half-penny purse , nor into a pepper-box ; but , lest the devil that guides him should aid him , I will search impossible places . Though what I am I cannot avoid , yet to be what I would not , shall not make me tame : if I have horns to make me mad , let the proverb go with me ; I'll be horn-mad . - -Is he at Master Ford's already , thinkest thou ? - -Sure he is by this , or will be presently ; but truly , he is very courageous mad about his throwing into the water . Mistress Ford desires you to come suddenly . - -I'll be with her by and by : I'll but bring my young man here to school . Look , where his master comes ; 'tis a playing-day , I see . - -How now , Sir Hugh ! no school to-day ? - -No ; Master Slender is get the boys leave to play . - -Blessing of his heart ! - -Sir Hugh , my husband says my son profits nothing in the world at his book : I pray you , ask him some questions in his accidence . - -Come hither , William ; hold up your head ; come . - -Come on , sirrah ; hold up your head ; answer your master , be not afraid . - -William , how many numbers is in nouns ? - -Two . - -Truly , I thought there had been one number more , because they say , 'Od's nouns .' - -Peace your tattlings ! What is fair , William ? - -Pulcher . - -Polecats ! there are fairer things than polecats , sure . - -You are a very simplicity 'oman : I pray you peace . What is lapis , William ? - -A stone . - -And what is a stone , William ? - -A pebble . - -No , it is lapis : I pray you remember in your prain . - -Lapis . - -That is a good William . What is he , William , that does lend articles ? - -Articles are borrowed of the pronoun , and be thus declined , Singulariter , nominativo , hic , h c , hoc . - -Nominativo , hig , hag , hog ; pray you , mark : genitivo , hujus . Well , what is your accusative case ? - -Accusativo , hinc . - -I pray you , have your remembrance , child ; accusativo , hung , hang , hog . - -Hang hog is Latin for bacon , I warrant you . - -Leave your prabbles , 'oman . What is the focative case , William ? - -O vocativo , O . - -Remember , William ; focative is caret . - -And that's a good root . - -'Oman , forbear . - -Peace ! - -What is your genitive case plural , William ? - -Genitive case ? - -Ay . - -Genitive , horum , harum , horum . - -Vengeance of Jenny's case ! fie on her ! Never name her , child , if she be a whore . - -For shame , 'oman ! - -You do ill to teach the child such words . He teaches him to hick and to hack , which they'll do fast enough of themselves , and to call 'horum ?' fie upon you ! - -'Oman , art thou lunatics ? hast thou no understandings for thy cases and the numbers and the genders ? Thou art as foolish Christian creatures as I would desires . - -Prithee , hold thy peace . - -Show me now , William , some declensions of your pronouns . - -Forsooth , I have forgot . - -It is qui , qu , quod ; if you forget your quis , your qu s , and your quods , you must be preeches . Go your ways and play ; go . - -He is a better scholar than I thought he was . - -He is a good sprag memory . Farewell , Mistress Page . - -Adieu , good Sir Hugh . - -Get you home , boy . Come , we stay too long . - - -Mistress Ford , your sorrow hath eaten up my sufferance . I see you are obsequious in your love , and I profess requital to a hair's breadth ; not only , Mistress Ford , in the simple office of love , but in all the accoutrement , complement and ceremony of it . But are you sure of your husband now ? - -He's a-birding , sweet Sir John . - -What ho ! gossip Ford ! what ho ! - -Step into the chamber , Sir John . - -How now , sweetheart ! who's at home besides yourself ? - -Why , none but mine own people . - -Indeed ! - -No , certainly . - -Speak louder . - -Truly , I am so glad you have nobody here . - -Why ? - -Why , woman , your husband is in his old lunes again : he so takes on yonder with my husband ; so rails against all married mankind ; so curses all Eve's daughters , of what complexion soever ; and so buffets himself on the forehead , crying , 'Peer out , peer out !' that any madness I ever yet beheld seemed but tameness , civility and patience , to this his distemper he is in now . I am glad the fat knight is not here . - -Why , does he talk of him ? - -Of none but him ; and swears he was carried out , the last time he searched for him , in a basket : protests to my husband he is now here , and hath drawn him and the rest of their company from their sport , to make another experiment of his suspicion . But I am glad the knight is not here ; now he shall see his own foolery . - -How near is he , Mistress Page ? - -Hard by ; at street end ; he will be here anon . - -I am undone ! the knight is here . - -Why then you are utterly shamed , and he's but a dead man . What a woman are you ! Away with him , away with him ! better shame than murder . - -Which way should he go ? how should I bestow him ? Shall I put him into the basket again ? - - -No , I'll come no more i' the basket . May I not go out ere he come ? - -Alas ! three of Master Ford's brothers watch the door with pistols , that none shall issue out ; otherwise you might slip away ere he came . But what make you here ? - -What shall I do ? I'll creep up into the chimney . - -There they always use to discharge their birding-pieces . - -Creep into the kiln-hole . - -Where is it ? - -He will seek there , on my word . Neither press , coffer , chest , trunk , well , vault , but he hath an abstract for the remembrance of such places , and goes to them by his note : there is no hiding you in the house . - -I'll go out , then . - -If you go out in your own semblance , you die , Sir John . Unless you go out disguised , - -How might we disguise him ? - -Alas the day ! I know not . There is no woman's gown big enough for him ; otherwise , he might put on a hat , a muffler , and a kerchief , and so escape . - -Good hearts , devise something : any extremity rather than a mischief . - -My maid's aunt , the fat woman of Brainford , has a gown above . - -On my word , it will serve him ; she's as big as he is : and there's her thrummed hat and her muffler too . Run up , Sir John . - -Go , go , sweet Sir John : Mistress Page and I will look some linen for your head . - -Quick , quick ! we'll come dress you straight ; put on the gown the while . - - -I would my husband would meet him in this shape : he cannot abide the old woman of Brainford ; he swears she's a witch ; forbade her my house , and hath threatened to beat her . - -Heaven guide him to thy husband's cudgel , and the devil guide his cudgel afterwards ! - -But is my husband coming ? - -Ay , in good sadness , is he ; and talks of the basket too , howsoever he hath had intelligence . - -We'll try that ; for I'll appoint my men to carry the basket again , to meet him at the door with it , as they did last time . - -Nay , but he'll be here presently : let's go dress him like the witch of Brainford . - -I'll first direct my men what they shall do with the basket . Go up ; I'll bring linen for him straight . - - -Hang him , dishonest varlet ! we cannot misuse him enough . -We'll leave a proof , by that which we will do , -Wives may be merry , and yet honest too : -We do not act that often jest and laugh ; -'Tis old , but true , 'Still swine eats all the draff .' - -Go , sirs , take the basket again on your shoulders : your master is hard at door ; if he bid you set it down , obey him . Quickly ; dispatch . - - -Come , come , take it up . - -Pray heaven , it be not full of knight again . - -I hope not ; I had as lief bear so much lead . - - -Ay , but if it prove true , Master Page , have you any way then to unfool me again ? Set down the basket , villains . Somebody call my wife . Youth in a basket ! O you panderly rascals ! there's a knot , a ging , a pack , a conspiracy against me : now shall the devil be shamed . What , wife , I say ! Come , come forth ! Behold what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching ! - -Why , this passes ! Master Ford , you are not to go loose any longer ; you must be pinioned . - -Why , this is lunatics ! this is mad as a mad dog ! - -Indeed , Master Ford , this is not well , indeed . - -So say I too , sir . - -Come hither , Mistress Ford , the honest woman , the modest wife , the virtuous creature , that hath the jealous fool to her husband ! I suspect without cause , mistress , do I ? - -Heaven by my witness , you do , if you suspect me in any dishonesty . - -Well said , brazen-face ! hold it out . Come forth , sirrah ! - - -This passes ! - -Are you not ashamed ? let the clothes alone . - -I shall find you anon . - -'Tis unreasonable . Will you take up your wife's clothes ? Come away . - -Empty the basket , I say ! - -Why , man , why ? - -Master Page , as I am an honest man , there was one conveyed out of my house yesterday in this basket : why may not he be there again ? In my house I am sure he is ; my intelligence is true ; my jealousy is reasonable . Pluck me out all the linen . - -If you find a man there he shall die a flea's death . - -Here's no man . - -By my fidelity , this is not well , Master Ford ; this wrongs you . - -Master Ford , you must pray , and not follow the imaginations of your own heart : this is jealousies . - -Well , he's not here I seek for . - -No , nor nowhere else but in your brain . - - -Help to search my house this one time : if I find not what I seek , show no colour for my extremity ; let me for ever be your table-sport ; let them say of me , 'As jealous as Ford , that searched a hollow walnut for his wife's leman .' Satisfy me once more ; once more search with me . - -What ho , Mistress Page ! come you and the old woman down ; my husband will come into the chamber . - -Old woman ! What old woman's that ? - -Why , it is my maid's aunt of Brainford . - -A witch , a quean , an old cozening quean ! Have I not forbid her my house ? She comes of errands , does she ? We are simple men ; we do not know what's brought to pass under the profession of fortune-telling . She works by charms , by spells , by the figure , and such daubery as this is , beyond our element : we know nothing . Come down , you witch , you hag , you ; come down , I say ! - -Nay , good , sweet husband ! good gentlemen , let him not strike the old woman . - - -Come , Mother Prat ; come , give me your hand . - -I'll 'prat' her . - -Out of my door , you witch , you rag , you baggage , you polecat , you ronyon ! out , out ! I'll conjure you , I'll fortune-tell you . - - -Are you not ashamed ? I think you have killed the poor woman . - -Nay , he will do it . 'Tis a goodly credit for you . - -Hang her , witch ! - -By yea and no , I think the 'oman is a witch indeed : I like not when a 'oman has a great peard ; I spy a great peard under her muffler . - -Will you follow , gentlemen ? I beseech you , follow : see but the issue of my jealousy . If I cry out thus upon no trail , never trust me when I open again . - -Let's obey his humour a little further . Come , gentlemen . - - -Trust me , he beat him most pitifully . - -Nay , by the mass , that he did not ; he beat him most unpitifully methought . - -I'll have the cudgel hallowed and hung o'er the altar : it hath done meritorious service . - -What think you ? May we , with the warrant of womanhood and the witness of a good conscience , pursue him with any further revenge ? - -The spirit of wantonness is , sure , scared out of him : if the devil have him not in fee-simple , with fine and recovery , he will never , I think , in the way of waste , attempt us again . - -Shall we tell our husbands how we have served him ? - -Yes , by all means ; if it be but to scrape the figures out of your husband's brains . If they can find in their hearts the poor unvirtuous fat knight shall be any further afflicted , we two will still be the ministers . - -I'll warrant they'll have him publicly shamed , and methinks there would be no period to the jest , should he not be publicly shamed . - -Come , to the forge with it then ; shape it : I would not have things cool . - - -Sir , the Germans desire to have three of your horses : the duke himself will be to-morrow at court , and they are going to meet him . - -What duke should that be comes so secretly ? I hear not of him in the court . Let me speak with the gentlemen ; they speak English ? - -Ay , sir ; I'll call them to you . - -They shall have my horses , but I'll make them pay ; I'll sauce them : they have had my house a week at command ; I have turned away my other guests : they must come off ; I'll sauce them . Come . - - -'Tis one of the pest discretions of a 'oman as ever I did look upon . - -And did he send you both these letters at an instant ? - -Within a quarter of an hour . - -Pardon me , wife . Henceforth do what thou wilt ; -I rather will suspect the sun with cold -Than thee with wantonness : now doth thy honour stand , -In him that was of late an heretic , -As firm as faith . - -'Tis well , 'tis well ; no more . -Be not as extreme in submission -As in ofrence ; -But let our plot go forward : let our wives -Yet once again , to make us public sport , -Appoint a meeting with this old fat fellow , -Where we may take him and disgrace him for it . - -There is no better way than that they spoke of . - -How ? to send him word they'll meet him in the Park at midnight ? Fie , fie ! he'll never come . - -You say he has been thrown into the rivers , and has been grievously peaten as an old 'oman : methinks there should be terrors in him that he should not come ; methinks his flesh is punished , he shall have no desires . - -So think I too . - -Devise but how you'll use him when he comes , -And let us two devise to bring him thither . - -There is an old tale goes that Herne the hunter , -Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest , -Doth all the winter-time , at still midnight , -Walk round about an oak , with great ragg'd horns ; -And there he blasts the tree , and takes the cattle , -And makes milch-kine yield blood , and shakes a chain -In a most hideous and dreadful manner : -You have heard of such a spirit , and well you know -The superstitious idle-headed eld -Receiv'd and did deliver to our age -This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth . - -Why , yet there want not many that do fear -In deep of night to walk by this Herne's oak . -But what of this ? - -Marry , this is our device ; -That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us , -Disguis'd like Herne with huge horns on his head . - -Well , let it not be doubted but he'll come , -And in this shape when you have brought him thither , -What shall be done with him ? what is your plot ? - -That likewise have we thought upon , and thus : -Nan Page my daughter , and my little son , -And three or four more of their growth , we'll dress -Like urchins , ouphs and fairies , green and white , -With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads , -And rattles in their hands . Upon a sudden , -As Falstaff , she , and I , are newly met , -Let them from forth a sawpit rush at once -With some diffused song : upon their sight , -We two in great amazedness will fly : -Then let them all encircle him about , -And , fairy-like , to-pinch the unclean knight ; -And ask him why , that hour of fairy revel , -In their so sacred paths he dares to tread -In shape profane . - -And till he tell the truth , -Let the supposed fairies pinch him sound -And burn him with their tapers . - -The truth being known , -We'll all present ourselves , dis-horn the spirit , -And mock him home to Windsor . - -The children must -Be practis'd well to this , or they'll ne'er do't . - -I will teach the children their behaviours ; and I will be like a jack-an-apes also , to burn the knight with my taber . - -That will be excellent . I'll go buy them vizards . - -My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies , -Finely attired in a robe of white . - -That silk will I go buy : - -and in that time -Shall Master Slender steal my Nan away , -And marry her at Eton . Go , send to Falstaff straight . - -Nay , I'll to him again in name of Brook ; -He'll tell me all his purpose . Sure , he'll come . - -Fear not you that . Go , get us properties , -And tricking for our fairies . - -Let us about it : it is admirable pleasures and fery honest knaveries . - - -Go , Mistress Ford , -Send Quickly to Sir John , to know his mind . - -I'll to the doctor : he hath my good will , -And none but he , to marry with Nan Page . -That Slender , though well landed , is an idiot ; -And him my husband best of all affects : -The doctor is well money'd , and his friends -Potent at court : he , none but he , shall have her , -Though twenty thousand worthier come to crave her . - - -What wouldst thou have , boor ? what , thick-skin ? speak , breathe , discuss ; brief , short , quick , snap . - -Marry , sir , I come to speak with Sir John Falstaff from Master Slender . - -There's his chamber , his house , his castle , his standing-bed and truckle-bed : 'tis painted about with the story of the Prodigal , fresh and new . Go knock and call : he'll speak like an Anthropophaginian unto thee : knock , I say . - -There's an old woman , a fat woman , gone up into his chamber : I'll be so bold as stay , sir , till she come down ; I come to speak with her , indeed . - -Ha ! a fat woman ! the knight may be robbed : I'll call . Bully knight ! Bully Sir John ! speak from thy lungs military : art thou there ? it is thine host , thine Ephesian , calls . - -How now , mine host ! - -Here's a Bohemian-Tartar tarries the coming down of thy fat woman . Let her descend , bully ; let her descend ; my chambers are honourable : fie ! privacy ? fie ! - - -There was , mine host , an old fat woman even now with me , but she's gone . - -Pray you , sir , was't not the wise woman of Brainford ? - -Ay , marry , was it , muscle-shell : what would you with her ? - -My Master , sir , Master Slender , sent to her , seeing her go thorough the streets , to know , sir , whether one Nym , sir , that beguiled him of a chain , had the chain or no . - -I spake with the old woman about it . - -And what says she , I pray , sir ? - -Marry , she says that the very same man that beguiled Master Slender of his chain cozened him of it . - -I would I could have spoken with the woman herself : I had other things to have spoken with her too , from him . - -What are they ? let us know . - -Ay , come ; quick . - -I may not conceal them , sir . - -Conceal them , or thou diest . - -Why , sir , they were nothing but about Mistress Anne Page ; to know if it were my master's fortune to have her or no . - -'Tis , 'tis his fortune . - -What , sir ? - -To have her , or no . Go ; say the woman told me so . - -May I be bold to say so , sir ? - -Ay , Sir Tike ; who more bold ? - -I thank your worship : I shall make my master glad with these tidings . - - -Thou art clerkly , thou art clerkly , Sir John . Was there a wise woman with thee ? - -Ay , that there was , mine host ; one that hath taught me more wit than ever I learned before in my life : and I paid nothing for it neither , but was paid for my learning . - - -Out , alas , sir ! cozenage , mere cozenage ! - -Where be my horses ? speak well of them , varletto . - -Run away , with the cozeners ; for so soon as I came beyond Eton , they threw me off , from behind one of them , in a slough of mire ; and set spurs and away , like three German devils , three Doctor Faustuses . - -They are gone but to meet the duke , villain . Do not say they be fled : Germans are honest men . - - -Where is mine host ? - -What is the matter , sir ? - -Have a care of your entertainments : there is a friend of mine come to town , tells me , there is three cozen-germans that has cozened all the hosts of Readins , of Maidenhead , of Colebrook , of horses and money . I tell you for good will , look you : you are wise and full of gibes and vlouting-stogs , and 'tis not convenient you should be cozened . Fare you well . - -Vere is mine host de Jarteer ? - -Here , Master doctor , in perplexity and doubtful dilemma . - -I cannot tell vat is dat ; but it is tell-a me dat you make grand preparation for a duke de Jamany : by my trot , dere is no duke dat de court is know to come . I tell you for good vill : adieu . - - -Hue and cry , villain ! go . Assist me , knight ; I am undone . Fly , run , hue and cry , villain ! I am undone ! - - -I would all the world might be cozened , for I have been cozened and beaten too . If it should come to the ear of the court how I have been transformed , and how my transformation hath been washed and cudgelled , they would melt me out of my fat drop by drop , and liquor fishermen's boots with me : I warrant they would whip me with their fine wits till I were as crest-fallen as a dried pear . I never prospered since I forswore myself at primero . Well , if my wind were but long enough to say my prayers , I would repent . - -Now , whence come you ? - -From the two parties , forsooth . - -The devil take one party and his dam the other ! and so they shall be both bestowed . I have suffered more for their sakes , more than the villanous inconstancy of man's disposition is able to bear . - -And have not they suffered ? Yes , I warrant ; speciously one of them : Mistress Ford , good heart , is beaten black and blue , that you cannot see a white spot about her . - -What tellest thou me of black and blue ? I was beaten myself into all the colours of the rainbow ; and I was like to be apprehended for the witch of Brainford : but that my admirable dexterity of wit , my counterfeiting the action of an old woman , delivered me , the knave constable had set me i' the stocks , i' the common stocks , for a witch . - -Sir , let me speak with you in your chamber ; you shall hear how things go , and , I warrant , to your content . Here is a letter will say somewhat . Good hearts ! what ado here is to bring you together ! Sure , one of you does not serve heaven well , that you are so crossed . - -Come up into my chamber . - - -Master Fenton , talk not to me : my mind is heavy ; I will give over all . - -Yet hear me speak . Assist me in my purpose , -And , as I am a gentleman , I'll give thee -A hundred pound in gold more than your loss . - -I will hear you , Master Fenton ; and I will , at the least , keep your counsel . - -From time to time I have acquainted you -With the dear love I bear to fair Anne Page ; -Who , mutually hath answer'd my affection , -So far forth as herself might be her chooser , -Even to my wish . I have a letter from her -Of such contents as you will wonder at ; -The mirth whereof so larded with my matter , -That neither singly can be manifested , -Without the show of both ; wherein fat Falstaff -Hath a great scare : the image of the jest -I'll show you here at large - -Hark , good mine host : -To-night at Herne's oak , just 'twixt twelve and one , -Must my sweet Nan present the Fairy Queen ; -The purpose why , is here : in which disguise , -While other jests are something rank on foot , -Her father hath commanded her to slip -Away with Slender , and with him at Eton -Immediately to marry : she hath consented : -Now , sir , -Her mother , even strong against that match -And firm for Doctor Caius , hath appointed -That he shall likewise shuffle her away , -While other sports are tasking of their minds ; -And at the deanery , where a priest attends , -Straight marry her : to this her mother's plot -She , seemingly obedient , likewise hath -Made promise to the doctor . Now , thus it rests : -Her father means she shall be all in white , -And in that habit , when Slender sees his time -To take her by the hand and bid her go , -She shall go with him : her mother hath intended , -The better to denote her to the doctor , -For they must all be mask'd and vizarded -That quaint in green she shall be loose enrob'd , -With ribands pendent , flaring 'bout her head ; -And when the doctor spies his vantage ripe , -To pinch her by the hand ; and on that token -The maid hath given consent to go with him . - -Which means she to deceive , father or mother ? - -Both , my good host , to go along with me : -And here it rests , that you'll procure the vicar -To stay for me at church 'twixt twelve and one , -And , in the lawful name of marrying , -To give our hearts united ceremony . - -Well , husband your device ; I'll to the vicar . -Bring you the maid , you shall not lack a priest . - -So shall I evermore be bound to thee ; -Besides , I'll make a present recompense . - -Prithee , no more prattling ; go : I'll hold . This is the third time ; I hope good luck lies in odd numbers . Away ! go . They say there is divinity in odd numbers , either in nativity , chance or death . Away ! - -I'll provide you a chain , and I'll do what I can to get you a pair of horns . - -Away , I say ; time wears : hold up your head , and mince . - - -How now , Master Brook ! Master Brook , the matter will be known to-night , or never . Be you in the Park about midnight , at Herne's oak , and you shall see wonders . - -Went you not to her yesterday , sir , as you told me you had appointed ? - -I went to her , Master Brook , as you see , like a poor old man ; but I came from her , Master Brook , like a poor old woman . That same knave Ford , her husband , hath the finest mad devil of jealousy in him , Master Brook , that ever governed frenzy . I will tell you : he beat me grievously , in the shape of a woman ; for in the shape of a man , Master Brook , I fear not Goliath with a weaver's beam , because I know also life is a shuttle . I am in haste : go along with me ; I'll tell you all , Master Brook . Since I plucked geese , played traunt , and whipped top , I knew not what it was to be beaten till lately . Follow me : I'll tell you strange things of this knave Ford , on whom to-night I will be revenged , and I will deliver his wife into your hand . Follow . Strange things in hand , Master Brook ! Follow . - - -Come , come ; we'll couch i' the castle-ditch till we see the light of our fairies . Remember , son Slender , my daughter . - -Ay , forsooth ; I have spoke with her and we have a nayword how to know one another . I come to her in white , and cry , 'mum ;' she cries , 'budget ;' and by that we know one another . - -That's good too : but what needs either your 'mum ,' or her 'budget ?' the white will decipher her well enough . It hath struck ten o'clock . - -The night is dark ; light and spirits will become it well . Heaven prosper our sport ! No man means evil but the devil , and we shall know him by his horns . Let's away ; follow me . - - -Master Doctor , my daughter is in green : when you see your time , take her by the hand , away with her to the deanery , and dispatch it quickly . Go before into the Park : we two must go together . - -I know vat I have to do . Adieu . - -Fare you well , sir . - -My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of Falstaff , as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter : but 'tis no matter ; better a little chiding than a great deal of heart break . - -Where is Nan now and her troop of fairies , and the Welsh devil , Hugh ? - -They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak , with obscured lights ; which , at the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting , they will at once display to the night . - -That cannot choose but amaze him . - -If he be not amazed , he will be mocked ; if he be amazed , he will every way be mocked . - -We'll betray him finely . - -Against such lewdsters and their lechery , -Those that betray them do no treachery . - -The hour draws on : to the oak , to the oak ! - - -Trib , trib , fairies : come ; and remember your parts . Be pold , I pray you ; follow me into the pit , and when I give the watch-ords , do as I pid you . Come , come ; trib , trib . - - -The Windsor bell hath struck twelve ; the minute draws on . Now , the hot-blooded gods assist me ! Remember , Jove , thou wast a bull for thy Europa ; love set on thy horns . O powerful love ! that , in some respects , makes a beast a man ; in some other , a man a beast . You were also , Jupiter , a swan for the love of Leda ; O omnipotent love ! how near the god drew to the complexion of a goose ! A fault done first in the form of a beast ; O Jove , a beastly fault ! and then another fault in the semblance of a fowl : think on 't , Jove ; a foul fault ! When gods have hot backs , what shall poor men do ? For me , I am here a Windsor stag ; and the fattest , I think , i' the forest : send me a cool rut-time , Jove , or who can blame me to piss my tallow ? Who comes here ? my doe ? - - -Sir John ! art thou there , my deer ? my male deer ? - -My doe with the black scut ! Let the sky rain potatoes ; let it thunder to the tune of 'Green Sleeves ;' hail kissing-comfits and snow eringoes ; let there come a tempest of provocation , I will shelter me here . - - -Mistress Page is come with me , sweetheart . - -Divide me like a brib'd buck , each a haunch : I will keep my sides to myself , my shoulders for the fellow of this walk , and my horns I bequeath your husbands . Am I a woodman , ha ? Speak I like Herne the hunter ? Why , now is Cupid a child of conscience ; he makes restitution . As I am a true spirit , welcome ! - - -Alas ! what noise ? - -Heaven forgive our sins ! - -What should this be ? - -Away , away ! - -Away , away ! - - -I think the devil will not have me damned , lest the oil that is in me should set hell on fire ; he would never else cross me thus . - - -Fairies , black , grey , green , and white , -You moonshine revellers , and shades of night , -You orphan heirs of fixed destiny , -Attend your office and your quality . -Crier Hobgoblin , make the fairy oyes . - -Elves , list your names : silence , you airy toys ! -Cricket , to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap : -Where fires thou find'st unrak'd and hearths unswept , -There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry : -Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery . - -They are fairies ; he that speaks to them shall die : -I'll wink and couch : no man their works must eye . - - -Where's Bede ? Go you , and where you find a maid -That , ere she sleep , has thrice her prayers said , -Rein up the organs of her fantasy , -Sleep she as sound as careless infancy ; -But those that sleep and think not on their sins , -Pinch them , arms , legs , backs , shoulders , sides , and shins . - -About , about ! -Search Windsor castle , elves , within and out : -Strew good luck , ouphs , on every sacred room , -That it may stand till the perpetual doom , -In state as wholesome as in state 'tis fit , -Worthy the owner , and the owner it . -The several chairs of order look you scour -With juice of balm and every precious flower : -Each fair instalment , coat , and several crest , -With loyal blazon , ever more be blest ! -And nightly , meadow-fairies , look you sing , -Like to the Garter's compass , in a ring : -The expressure that it bears , green let it be , -More fertile-fresh than all the field to see ; -And , Honi soit qui mal y pense write -In emerald tufts , flowers purple , blue , and white ; -Like sapphire , pearl , and rich embroidery , -Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee : -Fairies use flowers for their charactery . -Away ! disperse ! But , till 'tis one o'clock , -Our dance of custom round about the oak -Of Herne the hunter , let us not forget . - -Pray you , lock hand in hand ; yourselves in order set ; -And twenty glow-worms shall our lanthorns be , -To guide our measure round about the tree . -But , stay ; I smell a man of middle-earth . - -Heavens defend me from that Welsh fairy , lest he transform me to a piece of cheese ! - -Vile worm , thou wast o'erlook'd even in thy birth . - -With trial-fire touch me his finger-end : -If he be chaste , the flame will back descend -And turn him to no pain ; but if he start , -It is the flesh of a corrupted heart . - -A trial ! come . - -Come , will this wood take fire ? - - -Oh , oh , oh ! - -Corrupt , corrupt , and tainted in desire ! -About him , fairies , sing a scornful rime ; -And , as you trip , still pinch him to your time . - -Fie on sinful fantasy ! -Fie on lust and luxury ! -Lust is but a bloody fire , -Kindled with unchaste desire , -Fed in heart , whose flames aspire , -As thoughts do blow them higher and higher . -Pinch him , fairies , mutually ; -Pinch him for his villany ; -Pinch him , and burn him , and turn him about , -Till candles and star-light and moonshine be out . - - -Nay , do not fly : I think we have watch'd you now : -Will none but Herne the hunter serve your turn ? - -I pray you , come , hold up the jest no higher . -Now , good Sir John , how like you Windsor wives ? -See you these , husband ? do not these fair yokes -Become the forest better than the town ? - -Now sir , who's a cuckold now ? Master Brook , Falstaff's a knave , a cuckoldly knave ; here are his horns , Master Brook : and , Master Brook , he hath enjoyed nothing of Ford's but his buck-basket , his cudgel , and twenty pounds of money , which must be paid too , Master Brook ; his horses are arrested for it , Master Brook . - -Sir John , we have had ill luck ; we could never meet . I will never take you for my love again , but I will always count you my deer . - -I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass . - -Ay , and an ox too ; both the proofs are extant . - -And these are not fairies ? I was three or four times in the thought they were not fairies ; and yet the guiltiness of my mind , the sudden surprise of my powers , drove the grossness of the foppery into a received belief , in despite of the teeth of all rime and reason , that they were fairies . See now how wit may be made a Jack-a-lent , when 'tis upon ill employment ! - -Sir John Falstaff , serve Got , and leave your desires , and fairies will not pinse you . - -Well said , fairy Hugh . - -And leave you your jealousies too , I pray you . - -I will never mistrust my wife again , till thou art able to woo her in good English . - -Have I laid my brain in the sun and dried it , that it wants matter to prevent so gross o'er-reaching as this ? Am I ridden with a Welsh goat too ? shall I have a coxcomb of frize ? 'Tis time I were choked with a piece of toasted cheese . - -Seese is not goot to give putter : your pelly is all putter . - -'Seese' and 'putter !' have I lived to stand at the taunt of one that makes fritters of English ? This is enough to be the decay of lust and late-walking through the realm . - -Why , Sir John , do you think , though we would have thrust virtue out of our hearts by the head and shoulders , and have given ourselves without scruple to hell , that ever the devil could have made you our delight ? - -What , a hodge-pudding ? a bag of flax ? - -A puffed man ? - -Old , cold , withered , and of intolerable entrails ? - -And one that is as slanderous as Satan ? - -And as poor as Job ? - -And as wicked as his wife ? - -And given to fornications , and to taverns , and sack and wine and metheglins , and to drinkings and swearings and starings , pribbles and prabbles ? - -Well , I am your theme : you have the start of me ; I am dejected ; I am not able to answer the Welsh flannel . Ignorance itself is a plummet o'er me : use me as you will . - -Marry , sir , we'll bring you to Windsor , to one Master Brook , that you have cozened of money , to whom you should have been a pander : over and above that you have suffered , I think , to repay that money will be a biting affliction . - -Nay , husband , let that go to make amends ; -Forgive that sum , and so we'll all be friends . - -Well , here's my hand : all is forgiven at last . - -Yet be cheerful , knight : thou shalt eat a posset to-night at my house ; where I will desire thee to laugh at my wife , that now laughs at thee . Tell her , Master Slender hath married her daughter . - -Doctors doubt that : if Anne Page be my daughter , she is , by this Doctor Caius' wife . - - -Whoa , ho ! ho ! father Page ! - -Son , how now ! how now , son ! have you dispatched ? - -Dispatched ! I'll make the best in Gloster-shire know on 't ; would I were hanged , la , else ! - -Of what , son ? - -I came yonder at Eton to marry Mistress Anne Page , and she's a great lubberly boy : if it had not been i' the church , I would have swinged him , or he should have swinged me . If I did not think it had been Anne Page , would I might never stir ! and 'tis a postmaster's boy . - -Upon my life , then , you took the wrong . - -What need you tell me that ? I think so , when I took a boy for a girl . If I had been married to him , for all he was in woman's apparel , I would not have had him . - -Why , this is your own folly . Did not I tell you how you should know my daughter by her garments ? - -I went to her in white , and cried , 'mum ,' and she cried 'budget ,' as Anne and I had appointed ; and yet it was not Anne , but a postmaster's boy . - -Jeshu ! Master Slender , cannot you see put marry poys ? - -O I am vexed at heart : what shall I do ? - -Good George , be not angry : I knew of your purpose ; turned my daughter into green ; and , indeed , she is now with the doctor at the deanery , and there married . - - -Vere is Mistress Page ? By gar , I am cozened : I ha' married un gar on , a boy ; un paysan , by gar , a boy ; it is not Anne Page : by gar , I am cozened . - -Why , did you not take her in green ? - -Ay , by gar , and 'tis a boy : by gar , I'll raise all Windsor . - - -This is strange . Who hath got the right Anne ? - -My heart misgives me : here comes Master Fenton . - -How now , Master Fenton ! - -Pardon , good father ! good my mother , pardon ! - -Now , mistress , how chance you went not with Master Slender ? - -Why went you not with Master Doctor , maid ? - -You do amaze her : hear the truth of it . -You would have married her most shamefully , -Where there was no proportion held in love . -The truth is , she and I , long since contracted , -Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us . -The offence is holy that she hath committed , -And this deceit loses the name of craft , -Of disobedience , or unduteous title , -Since therein she doth evitate and shun -A thousand irreligious cursed hours , -Which forced marriage would have brought upon her . - -Stand not amaz'd : here is no remedy : -In love the heavens themselves do guide the state : -Money buys lands , and wives are sold by fate . - -I am glad , though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me , that your arrow hath glanced . - -Well , what remedy ?Fenton , heaven give thee joy ! -What cannot be eschew'd must be embrac'd . - -When night dogs run all sorts of deer are chas'd . - -Well , I will muse no further . Master Fenton , -Heaven give you many , many merry days ! -Good husband , let us every one go home , -And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire ; -Sir John and all . - -Let it be so . Sir John , -To Master Brook you yet shall hold your word ; -For he to-night shall lie with Mistress Ford . - -THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - - -I'll pheeze you , in faith . - -A pair of stocks , you rogue ! - -Y'are a baggage : the Slys are no rogues ; look in the chronicles ; we came in with Richard Conqueror . Therefore , paucas pallabris ; let the world slide . Sessa ! - -You will not pay for the glasses you have burst ? - -No , not a denier . Go by , Jeronimy , go to thy cold bed , and warm thee . - -I know my remedy : I must go fetch the third-borough . - - -Third , or fourth , or fifth borough , I'll answer him by law . I'll not budge an inch , boy : let him come , and kindly . - -Huntsman , I charge thee , tender well my hounds : -Brach Merriman , the poor cur is emboss'd , -And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach . -Saw'st thou not , boy , how Silver made it good -At the hedge-corner , in the coldest fault ? -I would not lose the dog for twenty pound . - -Why , Bellman is as good as he , my lord ; -He cried upon it at the merest loss , -And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent : -Trust me , I take him for the better dog . - -Thou art a fool : if Echo were as fleet , -I would esteem him worth a dozen such . -But sup them well , and look unto them all : -To-morrow I intend to hunt again . - -I will , my lord . - -What's here ? one dead , or drunk ? See , doth he breathe ? - -He breathes , my lord . Were he not warm'd with ale , -This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly . - -O monstrous beast ! how like a swine he lies ! -Grim death , how foul and loathsome is thine image ! -Sirs , I will practise on this drunken man . -What think you , if he were convey'd to bed , -Wrapp'd in sweet clothes , rings put upon his fingers , -A most delicious banquet by his bed , -And brave attendants near him when he wakes , -Would not the beggar then forget himself ? - -Believe me , lord , I think he cannot choose . - -It would seem strange unto him when he wak'd . - -Even as a flattering dream or worthless fancy . -Then take him up and manage well the jest . -Carry him gently to my fairest chamber , -And hang it round with all my wanton pictures ; -Balm his foul head in warm distilled waters , -And burn sweet wood to make the lodging sweet . -Procure me music ready when he wakes , -To make a dulcet and a heavenly sound ; -And if he chance to speak , be ready straight , -And with a low submissive reverence -Say , 'What is it your honour will command ?' -Let one attend him with a silver basin -Full of rose-water , and bestrew'd with flowers ; -Another bear the ewer , the third a diaper , -And say , 'Will't please your lordship cool your hands ?' -Some one be ready with a costly suit , -And ask him what apparel he will wear ; -Another tell him of his hounds and horse , -And that his lady mourns at his disease . -Persuade him that he hath been lunatic ; -And , when he says he is say that he dreams , -For he is nothing but a mighty lord . -This do , and do it kindly , gentle sirs : -It will be pastime passing excellent , -If it be husbanded with modesty . - -My lord , I warrant you we will play our part , -As he shall think , by our true diligence , -He is no less than what we say he is . - -Take him up gently , and to bed with him , -And each one to his office when he wakes . - -Sirrah , go see what trumpet 'tis that sounds : - -Belike , some noble gentleman that means , -Travelling some journey , to repose him here . - -How now ! who is it ? - -An it please your honour , -Players that offer service to your lordship . - -Bid them come near . - -Now , fellows , you are welcome . - -We thank your honour . - -Do you intend to stay with me to-night ? - -So please your lordship to accept our duty . - -With all my heart . This fellow I remember , -Since once he play'd a farmer's eldest son : -'Twas where you woo'd the gentlewoman so well . -I have forgot your name ; but , sure , that part -Was aptly fitted and naturally perform'd . - -I think 'twas Soto that your honour means . - -'Tis very true : thou didst it excellent . -Well , you are come to me in happy time , -The rather for I have some sport in hand -Wherein your cunning can assist me much . -There is a lord will hear you play to-night ; -But I am doubtful of your modesties , -Lest , over-eyeing of his odd behaviour , -For yet his honour never heard a play , -You break into some merry passion -And so offend him ; for I tell you , sirs , -If you should smile he grows impatient . - -Fear not , my lord : we can contain ourselves -Were he the veriest antick in the world . - -Go , sirrah , take them to the buttery , -And give them friendly welcome every one : -Let them want nothing that my house affords . - -Sirrah , go you to Barthol'mew my page , -And see him dress'd in all suits like a lady : -That done , conduct him to the drunkard's chamber ; -And call him 'madam ,' do him obeisance . -Tell him from me ,as he will win my love , -He bear himself with honourable action , -Such as he hath observ'd in noble ladies -Unto their lords , by them accomplished : -Such duty to the drunkard let him do -With soft low tongue and lowly courtesy ; -And say , 'What is't your honour will command , -Wherein your lady and your humble wife -May show her duty , and make known her love ?' -And then , with kind embracements , tempting kisses , -And with declining head into his bosom , -Bid him shed tears , as being overjoy'd -To see her noble lord restor'd to health , -Who for this seven years hath esteemed him -No better than a poor and loathsome beggar . -And if the boy have not a woman's gift -To rain a shower of commanded tears , -An onion will do well for such a shift , -Which in a napkin being close convey'd , -Shall in despite enforce a watery eye . -See this dispatch'd with all the haste thou canst : -Anon I'll give thee more instructions . - -I know the boy will well usurp the grace , -Voice , gait , and action of a gentlewoman : -I long to hear him call the drunkard husband , -And how my men will stay themselves from laughter -When they do homage to this simple peasant . -I'll in to counsel them : haply , my presence -May well abate the over merry spleen -Which otherwise would grow into extremes . - - -For God's sake ! a pot of small ale . - -Will't please your lordship drink a cup of sack ? - -Will't please your honour taste of these conserves ? - -What raiment will your honour wear to-day ? - -I am Christophero Sly ; call not me honour , nor lordship : I ne'er drank sack in my life ; and if you give me any conserves , give me conserves of beef . Ne'er ask me what raiment I'll wear , for I have no more doublets than backs , no more stockings than legs , nor no more shoes than feet : nay , sometime more feet than shoes , or such shoes as my toes look through the overleather . - -Heaven cease this idle humour in your honour ! -O , that a mighty man , of such descent , -Of such possessions , and so high esteem , -Should be infused with so foul a spirit ! - -What ! would you make me mad ? Am not I Christopher Sly , old Sly's son , of Burtonheath ; by birth a pedlar , by education a cardmaker , by transmutation a bear-herd , and now by present profession a tinker ? Ask Marian Hacket , the fat ale-wife of Wincot , if she know me not : if she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale , score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom . What ! I am not bestraught : here's - -O ! this it is that makes your lady mourn . - -O ! this it is that makes your servants droop . - -Hence comes it that your kindred shuns your house , -As beaten hence by your strange lunacy . -O noble lord , bethink thee of thy birth , -Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment , -And banish hence these abject lowly dreams . -Look how thy servants do attend on thee , -Each in his office ready at thy beck : -Wilt thou have music ? hark ! Apollo plays , - -And twenty caged nightingales do sing : -Or wilt thou sleep ? we'll have thee to a couch -Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed -On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis . -Say thou wilt walk , we will bestrew the ground : -Or wilt thou ride ? thy horses shall be trapp'd , -Their harness studded all with gold and pearl . -Dost thou love hawking ? thou hast hawks will soar -Above the morning lark : or wilt thou hunt ? -Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them , -And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth . - -Say thou wilt course ; thy greyhounds are as swift -As breathed stags , ay , fleeter than the roe . - -Dost thou love pictures ? we will fetch thee straight -Adonis painted by a running brook , -And Cytherea all in sedges hid , -Which seem to move and wanton with her breath , -Even as the waving sedges play with wind . - -We'll show thee Io as she was a maid , -And how she was beguiled and surpris'd , -As lively painted as the deed was done . - -Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood , -Scratching her legs that one shall swear she bleeds ; -And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep , -So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn . - -Thou art a lord and nothing but a lord : -Thou hast a lady far more beautiful -Than any woman in this waning age . - -And till the tears that she hath shed for thee -Like envious floods o'er-run her lovely face , -She was the fairest creature in the world ; -And yet she is inferior to none . - -Am I a lord ? and have I such a lady ? -Or do I dream ? or have I dream'd till now ? -I do not sleep ; I see , I hear , I speak ; -I smell sweet savours , and I feel soft things : -Upon my life , I am a lord indeed ; -And not a tinker , nor Christophero Sly . -Well , bring our lady hither to our sight ; -And once again , a pot o' the smallest ale . - -Will't please your mightiness to wash your hands ? - -O , how we joy to see your wit restor'd ! -O , that once more you knew but what you are ! -These fifteen years you have been in a dream , -Or , when you wak'd , so wak'd as if you slept . - -These fifteen years ! by my fay , a goodly nap . -But did I never speak of all that time ? - -O ! yes , my lord , but very idle words ; -For though you lay here in this goodly chamber , -Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door , -And rail upon the hostess of the house , -And say you would present her at the leet , -Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts . -Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket . - -Ay , the woman's maid of the house . - -Why , sir , you know no house , nor no such maid , -Nor no such men as you have reckon'd up , -As Stephen Sly , and old John Naps of Greece , -And Peter Turf , and Henry Pimpernell , -And twenty more such names and men as these , -Which never were nor no man ever saw . - -Now , Lord be thanked for my good amends ! - -Amen . - -I thank thee ; thou shalt not lose by it . - - -How fares my noble lord ? - -Marry , I fare well , for here is cheer enough . -Where is my wife ? - -Here , noble lord : what is thy will with her ? - -Are you my wife , and will not call me husband ? -My men should call me lord : I am your goodman . - -My husband and my lord , my lord and husband ; -I am your wife in all obedience . - -I know it well . What must I call her ? - -Madam . - -Al'ce madam , or Joan madam ? - -Madam , and nothing else : so lords call ladies . - -Madam wife , they say that I have dream'd -And slept above some fifteen year or more . - -Ay , and the time seems thirty unto me , -Being all this time abandon'd from your bed . - -'Tis much . Servants , leave me and her alone . -Madam , undress you , and come now to bed . - -Thrice noble lord , let me entreat of you -To pardon me yet for a night or two , -Or , if not so , until the sun be set : -For your physicians have expressly charg'd , -In peril to incur your former malady , -That I should yet absent me from your bed : -I hope this reason stands for my excuse . - -Ay , it stands so , that I may hardly tarry so long ; but I would be loath to fall into my dreams again : I will therefore tarry , in spite of the flesh and the blood . - - -Your honour's players , hearing your amendment , -Are come to play a pleasant comedy ; -For so your doctors hold it very meet , -Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood , -And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy : -Therefore they thought it good you hear a play , -And frame your mind to mirth and merriment , -Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life . - -Marry , I will ; let them play it . Is not a commonty a Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick ? - -No , my good lord ; it is more pleasing stuff . - -What ! household stuff ? - -It is a kind of history . - -Well , we'll see't . Come , madam wife , sit by my side , -And let the world slip : we shall ne'er be younger . - - -Tranio , since for the great desire I had -To see fair Padua , nursery of arts , -I am arriv'd for fruitful Lombardy , -The pleasant garden of great Italy ; -And by my father's love and leave am arm'd -With his good will and thy good company , -My trusty servant well approv'd in all , -Here let us breathe , and haply institute -A course of learning and ingenious studies . -Pisa , renowned for grave citizens , -Gave me my being and my father first , -A merchant of great traffic through the world , -Vincentio , come of the Bentivolii . -Vincentio's son , brought up in Florence , -It shall become to serve all hopes conceiv'd , -To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds : -And therefore , Tranio , for the time I study , -Virtue and that part of philosophy -Will I apply that treats of happiness -By virtue specially to be achiev'd . -Tell me thy mind ; for I have Pisa left -And am to Padua come , as he that leaves -A shallow plash to plunge him in the deep , -And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst . - -Mi perdonate , gentle master mine , -I am in all affected as yourself , -Glad that you thus continue your resolve -To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy . -Only , good master , while we do admire -This virtue and this moral discipline , -Let's be no stoics nor no stocks , I pray ; -Or so devote to Aristotle's checks -As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd . -Balk logic with acquaintance that you have , -And practise rhetoric in your common talk ; -Music and poesy use to quicken you ; -The mathematics and the metaphysics , -Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you ; -No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en ; -In brief , sir , study what you most affect . - -Gramercies , Tranio , well dost thou advise . -If , Biondello , thou wert come ashore , -We could at once put us in readiness , -And take a lodging fit to entertain -Such friends as time in Padua shall beget . -But stay awhile : what company is this ? - -Master , some show to welcome us to town . - - -Gentlemen , importune me no further , -For how I firmly am resolv'd you know ; -That is , not to bestow my youngest daughter -Before I have a husband for the elder . -If either of you both love Katharina , -Because I know you well and love you well , -Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure . - -To cart her rather : she's too rough for me . -There , there , Hortensio , will you any wife ? - -I pray you , sir , is it your will -To make a stale of me amongst these mates ? - -Mates , maid ! how mean you that ? no mates for you , -Unless you were of gentler , milder mould . - -I' faith , sir , you shall never need to fear : -I wis it is not half way to her heart ; -But if it were , doubt not her care should be -To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool , -And paint your face , and use you like a fool . - -From all such devils , good Lord deliver us ! - -And me too , good Lord ! - -Hush , master ! here is some good pastime toward : -That wench is stark mad or wonderful froward . - -But in the other's silence do I see -Maid's mild behaviour and sobriety . -Peace , Tranio ! - -Well said , master ; mum ! and gaze your fill . - -Gentlemen , that I may soon make good -What I have said ,Bianca , get you in : -And let it not displease thee , good Bianca , -For I will love thee ne'er the less , my girl . - -A pretty peat ! it is best -Put finger in the eye , an she knew why . - -Sister , content you in my discontent . -Sir , to your pleasure humbly I subscribe : -My books and instruments shall be my company , -On them to look and practise by myself . - -Hark , Tranio ! thou mayst hear Minerva speak . - -Signior Baptista , will you be so strange ? -Sorry am I that our good will effects -Bianca's grief . - -Why will you mew her up , -Signior Baptista , for this fiend of hell , -And make her bear the penance of her tongue ? - -Gentlemen , content ye ; I am resolv'd . -Go in , Bianca . - -And for I know she taketh most delight -In music , instruments , and poetry , -Schoolmasters will I keep within my house , -Fit to instruct her youth . If you , Hortensio , -Or Signior Gremio , you , know any such , -Prefer them hither ; for to cunning men -I will be very kind , and liberal -To mine own children in good bringing up ; -And so , farewell . Katharina , you may stay ; -For I have more to commune with Bianca . - - -Why , and I trust I may go too ; may I not ? -What ! shall I be appointed hours , as though , belike , -I knew not what to take , and what to leave ? Ha ! - - -You may go to the devil's dam : your gifts are so good , here's none will hold you . Their love is not so great , Hortensio , but we may blow our nails together , and fast it fairly out : our cake's dough on both sides . Farewell : yet , for the love I bear my sweet Bianca , if I can by any means light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights , I will wish him to her father . - -So will I , Signior Gremio : but a word , I pray . Though the nature of our quarrel yet never brooked parle , know now , upon advice , it toucheth us both ,that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress and be happy rivals in Bianca's love ,to labour and effect one thing specially . - -What's that , I pray ? - -Marry , sir , to get a husband for her sister . - -A husband ! a devil . - -I say , a husband . - -I say , a devil . Thinkest thou , Hortensio , though her father be very rich , any man is so very a fool to be married to hell ? - -Tush , Gremio ! though it pass your patience and mine to endure her loud alarums , why , man , there be good fellows in the world , an a man could light on them , would take her with all faults , and money enough . - -I cannot tell ; but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition , to be whipped at the high-cross every morning . - -Faith , as you say , there's small choice in rotten apples . But , come ; since this bar in law makes us friends , it shall be so far forth friendly maintained , till by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband , we set his youngest free for a husband , and then have to't afresh . Sweet Bianca ! Happy man be his dole ! He that runs fastest gets the ring . How say you , Signior Gremio ? - -I am agreed : and would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing , that would thoroughly woo her , wed her , and bed her , and rid the house of her . Come on . - - -I pray , sir , tell me , is it possible -That love should of a sudden take such hold ? - -O Tranio ! till I found it to be true , -I never thought it possible or likely ; -But see , while idly I stood looking on , -I found the effect of love in idleness ; -And now in plainness do confess to thee , -That art to me as secret and as dear -As Anna to the Queen of Carthage was , -Tranio , I burn , I pine , I perish , Tranio , -If I achieve not this young modest girl . -Counsel me , Tranio , for I know thou canst : -Assist me , Tranio , for I know thou wilt . - -Master , it is no time to chide you now ; -Affection is not rated from the heart : -If love have touch'd you , nought remains but so , -Redime te captum , quam queas minimo . - -Gramercies , lad ; go forward : this contents : -The rest will comfort , for thy counsel's sound . - -Master , you look'd so longly on the maid , -Perhaps you mark'd not what's the pith of all . - -O yes , I saw sweet beauty in her face , -Such as the daughter of Agenor had , -That made great Jove to humble him to her hand , -When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand . - -Saw you no more ? mark'd you not how her sister -Began to scold and raise up such a storm -That mortal ears might hardly endure the din ? - -Tranio , I saw her coral lips to move , -And with her breath she did perfume the air ; -Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her . - -Nay , then , 'tis time to stir him from his trance . -I pray , awake , sir : if you love the maid , -Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her . Thus it stands : -Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd , -That till the father rid his hands of her , -Master , your love must live a maid at home ; -And therefore has he closely mew'd her up , -Because she will not be annoy'd with suitors . - -Ah , Tranio , what a cruel father's he ! -But art thou not advis'd he took some care -To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her ? - -Ay , marry , am I , sir ; and now 'tis plotted . - -I have it , Tranio . - -Master , for my hand , -Both our inventions meet and jump in one . - -Tell me thine first . - -You will be schoolmaster , -And undertake the teaching of the maid : -That's your device . - -It is : may it be done ? - -Not possible ; for who shall bear your part , -And be in Padua here Vincentio's son ? -Keep house and ply his book , welcome his friends ; -Visit his countrymen , and banquet them ? - -Basta ; content thee ; for I have it full . -We have not yet been seen in any house , -Nor can we be distinguish'd by our faces -For man , or master : then , it follows thus : -Thou shalt be master , Tranio , in my stead , -Keep house , and port , and servants , as I should : -I will some other be ; some Florentine , -Some Neapolitan , or meaner man of Pisa . -'Tis hatch'd and shall be so : Tranio , at once -Uncase thee , take my colour'd hat and cloak : -When Biondello comes , he waits on thee ; -But I will charm him first to keep his tongue . - - -So had you need . -In brief then , sir , sith it your pleasure is , -And I am tied to be obedient ; -For so your father charg'd me at our parting , -'Be serviceable to my son ,' quoth he , -Although I think 'twas in another sense : -I am content to be Lucentio , -Because so well I love Lucentio . - -Tranio , be so , because Lucentio loves ; -And let me be a slave , to achieve that maid -Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye . -Here comes the rogue . - -Sirrah , where have you been ? - -Where have I been ! Nay , how now ! where are you ? -Master , has my fellow Tranio stol'n your clothes , -Or you stol'n his ? or both ? pray , what's the news ? - -Sirrah , come hither : 'tis no time to jest , -And therefore frame your manners to the time . -Your fellow Tranio , here , to save my life , -Puts my apparel and my countenance on , -And I for my escape have put on his ; -For in a quarrel since I came ashore -I kill'd a man , and fear I was descried . -Wait you on him , I charge you , as becomes , -While I make way from hence to save my life : -You understand me ? - -I , sir ! ne'er a whit . - -And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth : -Tranio is changed to Lucentio . - -The better for him : would I were so too ! - -So would I , faith , boy , to have the next wish after , -That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest daughter . -But , sirrah , not for my sake , but your master's , I advise -You use your manners discreetly in all kind of companies : -When I am alone , why , then I am Tranio ; -But in all places else your master , Lucentio . - -Tranio , let's go . One thing more rests , that thyself execute , to make one among these wooers : if thou ask me why , sufficeth my reasons are both good and weighty . - -My lord , you nod ; you do not mind the play . - -Yes , by Saint Anne , I do . A good matter , surely : comes there any more of it ? - -My lord , 'tis but begun . - -'Tis a very excellent piece of work , madam lady : would 'twere done ! - - -Verona , for awhile I take my leave , -To see my friends in Padua ; but , of all -My best beloved and approved friend , -Hortensio ; and I trow this is his house . -Here , sirrah Grumio ; knock , I say . - -Knock , sir ! whom should I knock ? is there any man has rebused your worship ? - -Villain , I say , knock me here soundly . - -Knock you here , sir ! why , sir , what am I , sir , that I should knock you here , sir ? - -Villain , I say , knock me at this gate ; -And rap me well , or I'll knock your knave's pate . - -My master is grown quarrelsome . I should knock you first , -And then I know after who comes by the worst . - -Will it not be ? -Faith , sirrah , an you'll not knock , I'll ring it ; -I'll try how you can sol , fa , and sing it . - - -Help , masters , help ! my master is mad . - -Now , knock when I bid you , sirrah villain ! - - -How now ! what's the matter ? My old friend Grumio ! and my good friend Petruchio ! How do you all at Verona ? - -Signior Hortensio , come you to part the fray ? -Con tutto il cuore ben trovato , may I say . - -Alla nostra casa ben venuto ; molto honorato signior mio Petruchio . -Rise , Grumio , rise : we will compound this quarrel . - -Nay , 'tis no matter , sir , what he 'leges in Latin . If this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his service , look you , sir , he bid me knock him and rap him soundly , sir : well , was it fit for a servant to use his master so ; being , perhaps , for aught I see , two-and-thirty , a pip out ? -Whom would to God , I had well knock'd at first , -Then had not Grumio come by the worst . - -A senseless villain ! Good Hortensio , -I bade the rascal knock upon your gate , -And could not get him for my heart to do it . - -Knock at the gate ! O heavens ! Spake you not these words plain , 'Sirrah , knock me here , rap me here , knock me well , and knock me soundly ?' And come you now with 'knocking at the gate ?' - -Sirrah , be gone , or talk not , I advise you . - -Petruchio , patience ; I am Grumio's pledge . -Why , this's a heavy chance 'twixt him and you , -Your ancient , trusty , pleasant servant Grumio . -And tell me now , sweet friend , what happy gale -Blows you to Padua here from old Verona ? - -Such wind as scatters young men through the world -To seek their fortunes further than at home , -Where small experience grows . But in a few , -Signior Hortensio , thus it stands with me : -Antonio , my father , is deceas'd , -And I have thrust myself into this maze , -Haply to wive and thrive as best I may . -Crowns in my purse I have and goods at home , -And so am come abroad to see the world . - -Petruchio , shall I then come roundly to thee , -And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife ? -Thou'dst thank me but a little for my counsel ; -And yet I'll promise thee she shall be rich , -And very rich : but thou'rt too much my friend , -And I'll not wish thee to her . - -Signior Hortensio , 'twixt such friends as we , -Few words suffice ; and therefore , if thou know -One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife , -As wealth is burden of my wooing dance , -Be she as foul as was Florentius' love , -As old as Sibyl , and as curst and shrewd -As Socrates' Xanthippe , or a worse , -She moves me not , or not removes , at least , -Affection's edge in me , were she as rough -As are the swelling Adriatic seas : -I come to wive it wealthily in Padua ; -If wealthily , then happily in Padua . - -Nay , look you , sir , he tells you flatly what his mind is : why , give him gold enough and marry him to a puppet or an aglet-baby ; or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head , though she have as many diseases as two-and-fifty horses : why , nothing comes amiss , so money comes withal . - -Petruchio , since we are stepp'd thus far in , -I will continue that I broach'd in jest . -I can , Petruchio , help thee to a wife -With wealth enough , and young and beauteous , -Brought up as best becomes a gentlewoman : -Her only fault ,and that is faults enough , -Is , that she is intolerable curst -And shrewd and froward , so beyond all measure , -That , were my state far worser than it is , -I would not wed her for a mine of gold : - -Hortensio , peace ! thou know'st not gold's effect : -Tell me her father's name , and 'tis enough ; -For I will board her , though she chide as loud -As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack . - -Her father is Baptista Minola , -An affable and courteous gentleman ; -Her name is Katharina Minola , -Renown'd in Padua for her scolding tongue . - -I know her father , though I know not her ; -And he knew my deceased father well . -I will not sleep , Hortensio , till I see her ; -And therefore let me be thus bold with you , -To give you over at this first encounter , -Unless you will accompany me thither . - -I pray you , sir , let him go while the humour lasts . O' my word , an she knew him as well as I do , she would think scolding would do little good upon him . She may , perhaps , call him half a score knaves or so : why , that's nothing : an he begin once , he'll rail in his ropetricks . I'll tell you what , sir , an she stand him but a little , he will throw a figure in her face , and so disfigure her with it that she shall have no more eyes to see withal than a cat . You know him not , sir . - -Tarry , Petruchio , I must go with thee , -For in Baptista's keep my treasure is : -He hath the jewel of my life in hold , -His youngest daughter , beautiful Bianca , -And her withholds from me and other more , -Suitors to her and rivals in my love ; -Supposing it a thing impossible , -For those defects I have before rehears'd , -That ever Katharina will be woo'd : -Therefore this order hath Baptista ta'en , -That none shall have access unto Bianca , -Till Katharine the curst have got a husband . - -Katharine the curst ! -A title for a maid of all titles the worst . - -Now shall my friend Petruchio do me grace , -And offer me , disguis'd in sober robes , -To old Baptista as a schoolmaster -Well seen in music , to instruct Bianca ; -That so I may , by this device , at least -Have leave and leisure to make love to her , -And unsuspected court her by herself . - -Here's no knavery ! See , to beguile the old folks , how the young folks lay their heads together ! - -Master , master , look about you : who goes there , ha ? - -Peace , Grumio ! 'tis the rival of my love . -Petruchio , stand by awhile . - -A proper stripling , and an amorous ! - -O ! very well ; I have perus'd the note . -Hark you , sir ; I'll have them very fairly bound : -All books of love , see that at any hand , -And see you read no other lectures to her . -You understand me . Over and beside -Signior Baptista's liberality , -I'll mend it with a largess . Take your papers too , -And let me have them very well perfum'd ; -For she is sweeter than perfume itself -To whom they go to . What will you read to her ? - -Whate'er I read to her , I'll plead for you , -As for my patron , stand you so assur'd , -As firmly as yourself were still in place ; -Yea , and perhaps with more successful words -Than you , unless you were a scholar , sir . - -O ! this learning , what a thing it is . - -O ! this woodcock , what an ass it is . - -Peace , sirrah ! - -Grumio , mum ! God save you , Signior Gremio ! - -And you're well met , Signior Hortensio . -Trow you whither I am going ? To Baptista Minola . -I promis'd to inquire carefully -About a schoolmaster for the fair Bianca ; -And , by good fortune , I have lighted well -On this young man ; for learning and behaviour -Fit for her turn ; well read in poetry -And other books , good ones , I warrant ye . - -'Tis well : and I have met a gentleman -Hath promis'd me to help me to another , -A fine musician to instruct our mistress : -So shall I no whit be behind in duty -To fair Bianca , so belov'd of me . - -Belov'd of me , and that my deeds shall prove . - -And that his bags shall prove . - -Gremio , 'tis now no time to vent our love : -Listen to me , and if you speak me fair , -I'll tell you news indifferent good for either . -Here is a gentleman whom by chance I met , -Upon agreement from us to his liking , -Will undertake to woo curst Katharine ; -Yea , and to marry her , if her dowry please . - -So said , so done , is well . -Hortensio , have you told him all her faults ? - -I know she is an irksome , brawling scold : -If that be all , masters , I hear no harm . - -No , sayst me so , friend ? What countryman ? - -Born in Verona , old Antonio's son : -My father dead , my fortune lives for me ; -And I do hope good days and long to see . - -O , sir , such a life , with such a wife , were strange ! -But if you have a stomach , to't i' God's name : -You shall have me assisting you in all . -But will you woo this wild-cat ? - -Will I live ? - -Will he woo her ? ay , or I'll hang her . - -Why came I hither but to that intent ? -Think you a little din can daunt mine ears ? -Have I not in my time heard lions roar ? -Have I not heard the sea , puff'd up with winds , -Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat ? -Have I not heard great ordnance in the field , -And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies ? -Have I not in a pitched battle heard -Loud 'larums , neighing steeds , and trumpets' clang ? -And do you tell me of a woman's tongue , -That gives not half so great a blow to hear -As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire ? -Tush , tush ! fear boys with bugs . - -For he fears none . - -Hortensio , hark : -This gentleman is happily arriv'd , -My mind presumes , for his own good and ours . - -I promis'd we would be contributors , -And bear his charge of wooing , whatsoe'er . - -And so we will , provided that he win her . - -I would I were as sure of a good dinner . - - -Gentlemen , God save you ! If I may be bold , -Tell me , I beseech you , which is the readiest way -To the house of Signior Baptista Minola ? - -He that has the two fair daughters : is't he you mean ? - -Even he , Biondello ! - -Hark you , sir ; you mean not her to - -Perhaps , him and her , sir : what have you to do ? - -Not her that chides , sir , at any hand , I pray . - -I love no chiders , sir . Biondello , let's away . - -Well begun , Tranio . - -Sir , a word ere you go : -Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of , yea or no ? - -And if I be , sir , is it any offence ? - -No ; if without more words you will get you hence . - -Why , sir , I pray , are not the streets as free -For me as for you ? - -But so is not she . - -For what reason , I beseech you ? - -For this reason , if you'll know , -That she's the choice love of Signior Gremio . - -That she's the chosen of Signior Hortensio . - -Softly , my masters ! if you be gentlemen , -Do me this right ; hear me with patience . -Baptista is a noble gentleman , -To whom my father is not all unknown ; -And were his daughter fairer than she is , -She may more suitors have , and me for one . -Fair Leda's daughter had a thousand wooers ; -Then well one more may fair Bianca have , -And so she shall ; Lucentio shall make one , -Though Paris came in hope to speed alone . - -What ! this gentleman will out-talk us all . - -Sir , give him head : I know he'll prove a jade . - -Hortensio , to what end are all these words ? - -Sir , let me be so bold as ask you , -Did you yet ever see Baptista's daughter ? - -No , sir ; but hear I do that he hath two , -The one as famous for a scolding tongue -As is the other for beauteous modesty . - -Sir , sir , the first's for me ; let her go by . - -Yea , leave that labour to great Hercules , -And let it be more than Alcides' twelve . - -Sir , understand you this of me in sooth : -The youngest daughter , whom you hearken for , -Her father keeps from all access of suitors , -And will not promise her to any man -Until the elder sister first be wed ; -The younger then is free , and not before . - -If it be so , sir , that you are the man -Must stead us all , and me among the rest ; -And if you break the ice , and do this feat , -Achieve the elder , set the younger free -For our access , whose hap shall be to have her -Will not so graceless be to be ingrate . - -Sir , you say well , and well you do conceive ; -And since you do profess to be a suitor , -You must , as we do , gratify this gentleman , -To whom we all rest generally beholding . - -Sir , I shall not be slack : in sign whereof , -Please ye we may contrive this afternoon , -And quaff carouses to our mistress' health , -And do as adversaries do in law , -Strive mightily , but eat and drink as friends . - -O excellent motion ! Fellows , let's be gone . - -O excellent motion ! Fellows , let's be gone . - -The motion's good indeed , and be it so : -Petruchio , I shall be your ben venuto . - -Good sister , wrong me not , nor wrong yourself , -To make a bondmaid and a slave of me ; -That I disdain : but for these other gawds , -Unbind my hands , I'll pull them off myself , -Yea , all my raiment , to my petticoat ; -Or what you will command me will I do , -So well I know my duty to my elders . - -Of all thy suitors , here I charge thee , tell -Whom thou lov'st best : see thou dissemble not . - -Believe me , sister , of all the men alive -I never yet beheld that special face -Which I could fancy more than any other . - -Minion , thou liest . Is't not Hortensio ? - -If you affect him , sister , here I swear -I'll plead for you myself , but you shall have him . - -O ! then , belike , you fancy riches more : -You will have Gremio to keep you fair . - -Is it for him you do envy me so ? -Nay , then you jest ; and now I well perceive -You have but jested with me all this while : -I prithee , sister Kate , untie my hands . - -If that be jest , then all the rest was so . - -Why , how now , dame ! whence grows this insolence ? -Bianca , stand aside . Poor girl ! she weeps . -Go ply thy needle ; meddle not with her . -For shame , thou hilding of a devilish spirit , -Why dost thou wrong her that did ne'er wrong thee ? -When did she cross thee with a bitter word ? - -Her silence flouts me , and I'll be reveng'd . - - -What ! in my sight ? Bianca , get thee in . - - -What ! will you not suffer me ? Nay , now I see -She is your treasure , she must have a husband ; -I must dance bare-foot on her wedding-day , -And , for your love to her , lead apes in hell . -Talk not to me : I will go sit and weep -Till I can find occasion of revenge . - - -Was ever gentleman thus griev'd as I ? -But who comes here ? - - -Good morrow , neighbour Baptista . - -Good morrow , neighbour Gremio . God save you , gentlemen ! - -And you , good sir . Pray , have you not a daughter -Call'd Katharina , fair and virtuous ? - -I have a daughter , sir , call'd Katharina . - -You are too blunt : go to it orderly . - -You wrong me , Signior Gremio : give me leave . -I am a gentleman of Verona , sir , -That , hearing of her beauty and her wit , -Her affability and bashful modesty , -Her wondrous qualities and mild behaviour , -Am bold to show myself a forward guest -Within your house , to make mine eye the witness -Of that report which I so oft have heard . -And , for an entrance to my entertainment , -I do present you with a man of mine , - -Cunning in music and the mathematics , -To instruct her fully in those sciences , -Whereof I know she is not ignorant . -Accept of him , or else you do me wrong : -His name is Licio , born in Mantua . - -You're welcome , sir ; and he , for your good sake . -But for my daughter Katharine , this I know , -She is not for your turn , the more my grief . - -I see you do not mean to part with her , -Or else you like not of my company . - -Mistake me not ; I speak but as I find . -Whence are you , sir ? what may I call your name ? - -Petruchio is my name ; Antonio's son ; -A man well known throughout all Italy . - -I know him well : you are welcome for his sake . - -Saving your tale , Petruchio , I pray , -Let us , that are poor petitioners , speak too . -Backare ! you are marvellous forward . - -O , pardon me , Signior Gremio ; I would fain be doing . - -I doubt it not , sir ; but you will curse your wooing . -Neighbour , this is a gift very grateful , I am sure of it . To express the like kindness myself , that have been more kindly beholding to you than any , freely give unto you this young scholar , - -that has been long studying at Rheims ; as cunning in Greek , Latin , and other languages , as the other in music and mathematics . His name is Cambio ; pray accept his service . - -A thousand thanks , Signior Gremio ; welcome , good Cambio . - -But , gentle sir , methinks you walk like a stranger : may I be so bold to know the cause of your coming ? - -Pardon me , sir , the boldness is mine own , -That , being a stranger in this city here , -Do make myself a suitor to your daughter , -Unto Bianca , fair and virtuous . -Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me , -In the preferment of the eldest sister . -This liberty is all that I request , -That , upon knowledge of my parentage , -I may have welcome 'mongst the rest that woo , -And free access and favour as the rest : -And , toward the education of your daughters , -I here bestow a simple instrument , -And this small packet of Greek and Latin books : -If you accept them , then their worth is great . - -Lucentio is your name , of whence , I pray ? - -Of Pisa , sir ; son to Vincentio . - -A mighty man of Pisa ; by report -I know him well : you are very welcome , sir . - - -and you the set of books ; -You shall go see your pupils presently . -Holla , within ! - - -Sirrah , lead these gentlemen -To my two daughters , and then tell them both -These are their tutors : bid them use them well . - -We will go walk a little in the orchard , -And then to dinner . You are passing welcome , - -And so I pray you all to think yourselves . - -Signior Baptista , my business asketh haste , -And every day I cannot come to woo . -You knew my father well , and in him me , -Left solely heir to all his lands and goods , -Which I have better'd rather than decreas'd : -Then tell me , if I get your daughter's love , -What dowry shall I have with her to wife ? - -After my death the one half of my lands , -And in possession twenty thousand crowns . - -And , for that dowry , I'll assure her of -Her widowhood , be it that she survive me , -In all my lands and leases whatsoever . -Let specialties be therefore drawn between us , -That covenants may be kept on either hand . - -Ay , when the special thing is well obtain'd , -That is , her love ; for that is all in all . - -Why , that is nothing ; for I tell you , father , -I am as peremptory as she proud-minded ; -And where two raging fires meet together -They do consume the thing that feeds their fury : -Though little fire grows great with little wind , -Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all ; -So I to her , and so she yields to me ; -For I am rough and woo not like a babe . - -Well mayst thou woo , and happy be thy speed ! -But be thou arm'd for some unhappy words . - -Ay , to the proof ; as mountains are for winds , -That shake not , though they blow perpetually . - - -How now , my friend ! why dost thou look so pale ? - -For fear , I promise you , if I look pale . - -What , will my daughter prove a good musician ? - -I think she'll sooner prove a soldier : -Iron may hold with her , but never lutes . - -Why , then thou canst not break her to the lute ? - -Why , no ; for she hath broke the lute to me . -I did but tell her she mistook her frets , -And bow'd her hand to teach her fingering ; -When , with a most impatient devilish spirit , -'Frets , call you these ?' quoth she ; 'I'll fume with them ;' -And , with that word , she struck me on the head , -And through the instrument my pate made way ; -And there I stood amazed for a while , -As on a pillory , looking through the lute ; -While she did call me rascal fiddler , -And twangling Jack ; with twenty such vile terms -As she had studied to misuse me so . - -Now , by the world , it is a lusty wench ! -I love her ten times more than e'er I did : -O ! how I long to have some chat with her ! - -Well , go with me , and be not so discomfited : -Proceed in practice with my younger daughter ; -She's apt to learn , and thankful for good turns . -Signior Petruchio , will you go with us , -Or shall I send my daughter Kate to you ? - -I pray you do ; I will attend her here , - -And woo her with some spirit when she comes . -Say that she rail ; why then I'll tell her plain -She sings as sweetly as a nightingale : -Say that she frown ; I'll say she looks as clear -As morning roses newly wash'd with dew : -Say she be mute and will not speak a word ; -Then I'll commend her volubility , -And say she uttereth piercing eloquence : -If she do bid me pack ; I'll give her thanks , -As though she bid me stay by her a week : -If she deny to wed ; I'll crave the day -When I shall ask the banns , and when be married . -But here she comes ; and now , Petruchio , speak . - -Good morrow , Kate ; for that's your name , I hear . - -Well have you heard , but something hard of hearing : -They call me Katharine that do talk of me . - -You lie , in faith ; for you are call'd plain Kate , -And bonny Kate , and sometimes Kate the curst ; -But , Kate , the prettiest Kate in Christendom ; -Kate of Kate-Hall , my super-dainty Kate , -For dainties are all cates : and therefore , Kate , -Take this of me , Kate of my consolation ; -Hearing thy mildness prais'd in every town , -Thy virtues spoke of , and thy beauty sounded , -Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs , -Myself am mov'd to woo thee for my wife . - -Mov'd ! in good time : let him that mov'd you hither -Remove you hence . I knew you at the first , -You were a moveable . - -Why , what's a moveable ? - -A joint-stool . - -Thou hast hit it : come , sit on me . - -Asses are made to bear , and so are you . - -Women are made to bear , and so are you . - -No such jade as bear you , if me you mean . - -Alas ! good Kate , I will not burden thee ; -For , knowing thee to be but young and light , - -Too light for such a swain as you to catch , -And yet as heavy as my weight should be . - -Should be ! should buz ! - -Well ta'en , and like a buzzard . - -O slow-wing'd turtle ! shall a buzzard take thee ? - -Ay , for a turtle , as he takes a buzzard . - -Come , come , you wasp ; i' faith you are too angry . - -If I be waspish , best beware my sting . - -My remedy is , then , to pluck it out . - -Ay , if the fool could find it where it lies . - -Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting ? -In his tail . - -In his tongue . - -Whose tongue ? - -Yours , if you talk of tails ; and so farewell . - -What ! with my tongue in your tail ? nay , come again . -Good Kate , I am a gentleman . - -That I'll try . - - -I swear I'll cuff you if you strike again . - -So may you lose your arms : -If you strike me , you are no gentleman ; -And if no gentleman , why then no arms . - -A herald , Kate ? O ! put me in thy books . - -What is your crest ? a coxcomb ? - -A combless cock , so Kate will be my hen . - -No cock of mine ; you crow too like a craven . - -Nay , come , Kate , come ; you must not look so sour . - -It is my fashion when I see a crab . - -Why , here's no crab , and therefore look not sour . - -There is , there is . - -Then show it me . - -Had I a glass , I would . - -What , you mean my face ? - -Well aim'd of such a young one . - -Now , by Saint George , I am too young for you . - -Yet you are wither'd . - -'Tis with cares . - -I care not . - -Nay , hear you , Kate : in sooth , you 'scape not so . - -I chafe you , if I tarry : let me go . - -No , not a whit : I find you passing gentle . -'Twas told me you were rough and coy and sullen , -And now I find report a very liar ; -For thou art pleasant , gamesome , passing courteous , -But slow in speech , yet sweet as spring-time flowers : -Thou canst not frown , thou canst not look askance , -Nor bite the lip , as angry wenches will ; -Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk ; -But thou with mildness entertain'st thy wooers , -With gentle conference , soft and affable . -Why does the world report that Kate doth limp ? -O slanderous world ! Kate , like the hazel-twig , -Is straight and slender , and as brown in hue -As hazel nuts , and sweeter than the kernels . -O ! let me see thee walk : thou dost not halt . - -Go , fool , and whom thou keep'st command . - -Did ever Dian so become a grove -As Kate this chamber with her princely gait ? -O ! be thou Dian , and let her be Kate , -And then let Kate be chaste , and Dian sportful ! - -Where did you study all this goodly speech ? - -It is extempore , from my mother-wit . - -A witty mother ! witless else her son . - -Am I not wise ? - -Yes ; keep you warm . - -Marry , so I mean , sweet Katharine , in thy bed : -And therefore , setting all this chat aside , -Thus in plain terms : your father hath consented -That you shall be my wife ; your dowry 'greed on ; -And will you , nill you , I will marry you . -Now , Kate , I am a husband for your turn ; -For , by this light , whereby I see thy beauty , -Thy beauty that doth make me like thee well , -Thou must be married to no man but me : -For I am he am born to tame you , Kate ; -And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate -Conformable as other household Kates . -Here comes your father : never make denial ; -I must and will have Katharine to my wife . - - -Now , Signior Petruchio , how speed you with my daughter ? - -How but well , sir ? how but well ? -It were impossible I should speed amiss . - -Why , how now , daughter Katharine ! in your dumps ? - -Call you me daughter ? now , I promise you -You have show'd a tender fatherly regard , -To wish me wed to one half lunatic ; -A mad-cap ruffian and a swearing Jack , -That thinks with oaths to face the matter out . - -Father , 'tis thus : yourself and all the world , -That talk'd of her , have talk'd amiss of her : -If she be curst , it is for policy , -For she's not froward , but modest as the dove ; -She is not hot , but temperate as the morn ; -For patience she will prove a second Grissel , -And Roman Lucrece for her chastity ; -And to conclude , we have 'greed so well together , -That upon Sunday is the wedding-day . - -I'll see thee hang'd on Sunday first . - -Hark , Petruchio : she says she'll see thee hang'd first . - -Is this your speeding ? nay then , good night our part ! - -Be patient , gentlemen ; I choose her for myself : -If she and I be pleas'd , what's that to you ? -'Tis bargain'd 'twixt us twain , being alone , -That she shall still be curst in company . -I tell you , 'tis incredible to believe -How much she loves me : O ! the kindest Kate . -She hung about my neck , and kiss on kiss -She vied so fast , protesting oath on oath , -That in a twink she won me to her love . -O ! you are novices : 'tis a world to see , -How tame , when men and women are alone , -A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew . -Give me thy hand , Kate : I will unto Venice -To buy apparel 'gainst the wedding-day . -Provide the feast , father , and bid the guests ; -I will be sure my Katharine shall be fine . - -I know not what to say ; but give me your hands . -God send you joy , Petruchio ! 'tis a match . - -Amen , say we : we will be witnesses . - -Amen , say we : we will be witnesses . - -Father , and wife , and gentlemen , adieu . -I will to Venice ; Sunday comes apace : -We will have rings , and things , and fine array ; -And , kiss me , Kate , we will be married o' Sunday . - - -Was ever match clapp'd up so suddenly ? - -Faith , gentlemen , now I play a merchant's part , -And venture madly on a desperate mart . - -'Twas a commodity lay fretting by you : -'Twill bring you gain , or perish on the seas . - -The gain I seek is , quiet in the match . - -No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch . -But now , Baptista , to your younger daughter : -Now is the day we long have looked for : -I am your neighbour , and was suitor first . - -And I am one that love Bianca more -Than words can witness , or your thoughts can guess . - -Youngling , thou canst not love so dear as I . - -Greybeard , thy love doth freeze . - -But thine doth fry . -Skipper , stand back : 'tis age that nourisheth . - -But youth in ladies eyes that flourisheth . - -Content you , gentlemen ; I'll compound this strife : -'Tis deeds must win the prize ; and he , of both , -That can assure my daughter greatest dower -Shall have my Bianca's love . -Say , Signior Gremio , what can you assure her ? - -First , as you know , my house within the city -Is richly furnished with plate and gold : -Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands ; -My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry ; -In ivory coffers I have stuff'd my crowns ; -In cypress chests my arras counterpoints , -Costly apparel , tents , and canopies , -Fine linen , Turkey cushions boss'd with pearl , -Valance of Venice gold in needle-work , -Pewter and brass , and all things that belong -To house or housekeeping : then , at my farm -I have a hundred milch-kine to the pail , -Six score fat oxen standing in my stalls , -And all things answerable to this portion . -Myself am struck in years , I must confess ; -And if I die to-morrow , this is hers , -If whilst I live she will be only mine . - -That 'only' came well in . Sir , list to me : -I am my father's heir and only son : -If I may have your daughter to my wife , -I'll leave her houses three or four as good , -Within rich Pisa walls , as any one -Old Signior Gremio has in Padua ; -Besides two thousand ducats by the year -Of fruitful land , all of which shall be her jointure . -What , have I pinch'd you , Signior Gremio ? - -Two thousand ducats by the year of land ! -My land amounts not to so much in all : -That she shall have ; besides an argosy -That now is lying in Marseilles' road . -What , have I chok'd you with an argosy ? - -Gremio , 'tis known my father hath no less -Than three great argosies , besides two galliasses , -And twelve tight galleys ; these I will assure her , -And twice as much , whate'er thou offer'st next . - -Nay , I have offer'd all , I have no more ; -And she can have no more than all I have : -If you like me , she shall have me and mine . - -Why , then the maid is mine from all the world , -By your firm promise . Gremio is out-vied . - -I must confess your offer is the best ; -And , let your father make her the assurance , -She is your own ; else , you must pardon me : -If you should die before him , where's her dower ? - -That's but a cavil : he is old , I young . - -And may not young men die as well as old ? - -Well , gentlemen , -I am thus resolv'd . On Sunday next , you know , -My daughter Katharine is to be married : -Now , on the Sunday following , shall Bianca -Be bride to you , if you make this assurance ; -If not , to Signior Gremio : -And so , I take my leave , and thank you both . - -Adieu , good neighbour . - -Now I fear thee not : -Sirrah young gamester , your father were a fool -To give thee all , and in his waning age -Set foot under thy table . Tut ! a toy ! -An old Italian fox is not so kind , my boy . - - -A vengeance on your crafty wither'd hide ! -Yet I have fac'd it with a card of ten . -'Tis in my head to do my master good : -I see no reason , but suppos'd Lucentio -Must get a father , called 'suppos'd Vincentio ;' -And that's a wonder : fathers , commonly -Do get their children ; but in this case of wooing , -A child shall get a sire , if I fail not of my cunning . - -Fiddler , forbear ; you grow too forward , sir : -Have you so soon forgot the entertainment -Her sister Katharine welcom'd you withal ? - -But , wrangling pedant , this is -The patroness of heavenly harmony : -Then give me leave to have prerogative ; -And when in music we have spent an hour , -Your lecture shall have leisure for as much . - -Preposterous ass , that never read so far -To know the cause why music was ordain'd ! -Was it not to refresh the mind of man -After his studies or his usual pain ? -Then give me leave to read philosophy , -And while I pause , serve in your harmony . - -Sirrah , I will not bear these braves of thine . - -Why , gentlemen , you do me double wrong , -To strive for that which resteth in my choice . -I am no breeching scholar in the schools ; -I'll not be tied to hours nor 'pointed times , -But learn my lessons as I please myself . -And , to cut off all strife , here sit we down : -Take you your instrument , play you the whiles ; -His lecture will be done ere you have tun'd . - -You'll leave his lecture when I am in tune ? - - -That will be never : tune vour instrument . - -Where left we last ? - -Here , madam : - -Hac ibat Simois ; hic est Sigeia tellus ; -Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis . - - -Construe them . - -Hac ibat , as I told you before , Simois , I am Lucentio , hic est , son unto Vincentio of Pisa , Sigeia tellus , disguised thus to get your love ; Hic steterat , and that Lucentio that comes a wooing , Priami , is my man Tranio , regia , bearing my port , celsa senis , that we might beguile the old pantaloon . - -Madam , my instrument's in tune . - -Let's hear . - -O fie ! the treble jars . - -Spit in the hole , man , and tune again . - -Now let me see if I can construe it : Hac ibat Simois , I know you not , hic est Sigeia tellus , I trust you not ; Hic steterat Priami , take heed he hear us not , regia , presume not ; celsa senis , despair not . - -Madam , 'tis now in tune . - -All but the base . - -The base is right ; 'tis the base knave that jars . -How fiery and forward our pedant is ! - - -Now , for my life , the knave doth court my love : -Pedascule , I'll watch you better yet . - -In time I may believe , yet I mistrust . - -Mistrust it not ; for , sure , acides -Was Ajax , call'd so from his grandfather . - -I must believe my master ; else , I promise you , -I should be arguing still upon that doubt : -But let it rest . Now , Licio , to you . -Good masters , take it not unkindly , pray , -That I have been thus pleasant with you both . - -You may go walk , and give me leave a while : -My lessons make no music in three parts . - -Are you so formal , sir ? - -Well , I must wait , -And watch withal ; for , but I be deceiv'd , -Our fine musician groweth amorous . - -Madam , before you touch the instrument , -To learn the order of my fingering , -I must begin with rudiments of art ; -To teach you gamut in a briefer sort , -More pleasant , pithy , and effectual , -Than hath been taught by any of my trade : -And there it is in writing , fairly drawn . - -Why , I am past my gamut long ago . - -Yet read the gamut of Hortensio . - - -'Gamut' I am , the ground of all accord , -'A re ,' to plead Hortensio's passion ; -'B mi ,' Bianca , take him for thy lord , -'C fa ut ,' that loves with all affection : -'D sol re ,' one clef , two notes have I : -'E la mi ,' show pity , or I die . - -Call you this gamut ? tut , I like it not : -Old fashions please me best ; I am not so nice , -To change true rules for odd inventions . - - -Mistress , your father prays you leave your books , -And help to dress your sister's chamber up : -You know to-morrow is the wedding-day . - -Farewell , sweet masters both : I must be gone . - - -Faith , mistress , then I have no cause to stay . - - -But I have cause to pry into this pedant : -Methinks he looks as though he were in love . -Yet if thy thoughts , Bianca , be so humble -To cast thy wandering eyes on every stale , -Seize thee that list : if once I find thee ranging , -Hortensio will be quit with thee by changing . - - -Signior Lucentio , this is the 'pointed day -That Katharine and Petruchio should be married , -And yet we hear not of our son-in-law . -What will be said ? what mockery will it be -To want the bridegroom when the priest attends -To speak the ceremonial rites of marriage ! -What says Lucentio to this shame of ours ? - -No shame but mine : I must , forsooth , be forc'd -To give my hand oppos'd against my heart -Unto a mad-brain rudesby , full of spleen ; -Who woo'd in haste and means to wed at leisure . -I told you , I , he was a frantic fool , -Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behaviour ; -And to be noted for a merry man , -He'll woo a thousand , 'point the day of marriage , -Make friends invite , and proclaim the banns ; -Yet never means to wed where he hath woo'd . -Now must the world point at poor Katharine , -And say , 'Lo ! there is mad Petruchio's wife , -If it would please him come and marry her .' - -Patience , good Katharine , and Baptista too . -Upon my life , Petruchio means but well , -Whatever fortune stays him from his word : -Though he be blunt , I know him passing wise ; -Though he be merry , yet withal he's honest . - -Would Katharine had never seen him though ! - - -Go , girl : I cannot blame thee now to weep , -For such an injury would vex a very saint , -Much more a shrew of thy impatient humour . - - -Master , master ! news ! old news , and such news as you never heard of ! - -Is it new and old too ? how may that be ? - -Why , is it not news to hear of Petruchio's coming ? - -Is he come ? - -Why , no , sir . - -What then ? - -He is coming . - -When will he be here ? - -When he stands where I am and sees you there . - -But , say , what to thine old news ? - -Why , Petruchio is coming , in a new hat and an old jerkin ; a pair of old breeches thrice turned ; a pair of boots that have been candle-cases , one buckled , another laced ; an old rusty sword ta'en out of the town-armoury , with a broken hilt , and chapeless ; with two broken points : his horse hipped with an old mothy saddle and stirrups of no kindred ; besides , possessed with the glanders and like to mose in the chine ; troubled with the lampass , infected with the fashions , full of windgalls , sped with spavins , rayed with the yellows , past cure of the fives , stark spoiled with the staggers , begnawn with the bots , swayed in the back , and shoulder-shotten ; near-legged before , and with a half-checked bit , and a head-stall of sheep's leather , which , being restrained to keep him from stumbling , hath been often burst and now repaired with knots ; one girth six times pieced , and a woman's crupper of velure , which hath two letters for her name fairly set down in studs , and here and there pieced with packthread . - -Who comes with him ? - -O , sir ! his lackey , for all the world caparisoned like the horse ; with a linen stock on one leg and a kersey boot-hose on the other , gartered with a red and blue list ; an old hat , and the 'humour of forty fancies' pricked in't for a feather : a monster , a very monster in apparel , and not like a Christian footboy or a gentleman's lackey . - -'Tis some odd humour pricks him to this fashion ; -Yet oftentimes he goes but mean-apparell'd . - -I am glad he is come , howsoe'er he comes . - -Why , sir , he comes not . - -Didst thou not say he comes ? - -Who ? that Petruchio came ? - -Ay , that Petruchio came . - -No , sir ; I say his horse comes , with him on his back . - -Why , that's all one . - - -Nay , by Saint Jamy , -I hold you a penny , -A horse and a man -Is more than one , -And yet not many . - -Come , where be these gallants ? who is at home ? - -You are welcome , sir . - -And yet I come not well . - -And yet you halt not . - -Not so well apparell'd -As I wish you were . - -Were it better , I should rush in thus . -But where is Kate ? where is my lovely bride ? -How does my father ? Gentles , methinks you frown : -And wherefore gaze this goodly company , -As if they saw some wondrous monument , -Some comet , or unusual prodigy ? - -Why , sir , you know this is your weddingday : -First were we sad , fearing you would not come ; -Now sadder , that you come so unprovided . -Fie ! doff this habit , shame to your estate , -An eye-sore to our solemn festival . - -And tell us what occasion of import -Hath all so long detain'd you from your wife , -And sent you hither so unlike yourself ? - -Tedious it were to tell , and harsh to hear : -Sufficeth , I am come to keep my word , -Though in some part enforced to digress ; -Which , at more leisure , I will so excuse -As you shall well be satisfied withal . -But where is Kate ? I stay too long from her : -The morning wears , 'tis time we were at church . - -See not your bride in these unreverent robes : -Go to my chamber ; put on clothes of mine . - -Not I , believe me : thus I'll visit her . - -But thus , I trust , you will not marry her . - -Good sooth , even thus ; therefore ha' done with words : -To me she's married , not unto my clothes . -Could I repair what she will wear in me -As I can change these poor accoutrements , -'Twere well for Kate and better for myself . -But what a fool am I to chat with you -When I should bid good morrow to my bride , -And seal the title with a lovely kiss ! - - -He hath some meaning in his mad attire . -We will persuade him , be it possible , -To put on better ere he go to church . - -I'll after him , and see the event of this . - - -But to her love concerneth us to add -Her father's liking : which to bring to pass , -As I before imparted to your worship , -I am to get a man ,whate'er he be -It skills not much , we'll fit him to our turn , -And he shall be Vincentio of Pisa , -And make assurance here in Padua , -Of greater sums than I have promised . -So shall you quietly enjoy your hope , -And marry sweet Bianca with consent . - -Were it not that my fellow schoolmaster -Doth watch Bianca's steps so narrowly , -'Twere good , methinks , to steal our marriage ; -Which once perform'd , let all the world say no , -I'll keep mine own , despite of all the world . - -That by degrees we mean to look into , -And watch our vantage in this business . -We'll over-reach the greybeard , Gremio , -The narrow-prying father , Minola , -The quaint musician , amorous Licio ; -All for my master's sake , Lucentio . - -Signior Gremio , came you from the church ? - -As willingly as e'er I came from school . - -And is the bride and bridegroom coming home ? - -A bridegroom say you ? 'Tis a groom indeed , -A grumbling groom , and that the girl shall find . - -Curster than she ? why , 'tis impossible . - -Why , he's a devil , a devil , a very fiend . - -Why , she's a devil , a devil , the devil's dam . - -Tut ! she's a lamb , a dove , a fool to him . -I'll tell you , Sir Lucentio : when the priest -Should ask , if Katharine should be his wife , -'Ay , by gogs-wouns !' quoth he ; and swore so loud , -That , all amaz'd , the priest let fall the book ; -And , as he stoop'd again to take it up , -The mad-brain'd bridegroom took him such a cuff -That down fell priest and book and book and priest : -'Now take them up ,' quoth he , 'if any list .' - -What said the wench when he arose again ? - -Trembled and shook ; for why he stampt and swore , -As if the vicar meant to cozen him . -But after many ceremonies done , -He calls for wine : 'A health !' quoth he ; as if -He had been aboard , carousing to his mates -After a storm ; quaff'd off the muscadel , -And threw the sops all in the sexton's face ; -Having no other reason -But that his beard grew thin and hungerly , -And seem'd to ask him sops as he was drinking . -This done , he took the bride about the neck , -And kiss'd her lips with such a clamorous smack -That at the parting all the church did echo : -And I , seeing this , came thence for very shame ; -And after me , I know , the rout is coming . -Such a mad marriage never was before . -Hark , hark ! I hear the minstrels play . - -Gentlemen and friends , I thank you for your pains : -I know you think to dine with me to-day , -And have prepar'd great store of wedding cheer ; -But so it is , my haste doth call me hence , -And therefore here I mean to take my leave . - -Is't possible you will away to-night ? - -I must away to-day , before night come . -Make it no wonder : if you knew my business , -You would entreat me rather go than stay . -And , honest company , I thank you all , -That have beheld me give away myself -To this most patient , sweet , and virtuous wife . -Dine with my father , drink a health to me , -For I must hence ; and farewell to you all . - -Let us entreat you stay till after dinner . - -It may not be . - -Let me entreat you . - -It cannot be . - -Let me entreat you . - -I am content . - -Are you content to stay ? - -I am content you shall entreat me stay , -But yet not stay , entreat me how you can . - -Now , if you love me , stay . - -Grumio , my horse ! - -Ay , sir , they be ready : the oats have eaten the horses . - -Nay , then , -Do what thou canst , I will not go to-day ; -No , nor to-morrow , nor till I please myself , -The door is open , sir , there lies your way ; -You may be jogging whiles your boots are green ; -For me , I'll not be gone till I please myself . -'Tis like you'll prove a jolly surly groom , -That take it on you at the first so roundly . - -O Kate ! content thee : prithee , be not angry . - -I will be angry : what hast thou to do ? -Father , be quiet ; he shall stay my leisure . - -Ay , marry , sir , now it begins to work . - -Gentlemen , forward to the bridal dinner : -I see a woman may be made a fool , -If she had not a spirit to resist . - -They shall go forward , Kate , at thy command . -Obey the bride , you that attend on her ; -Go to the feast , revel and domineer , -Carouse full measure to her maidenhead , -Be mad and merry , or go hang yourselves : -But for my bonny Kate , she must with me . -Nay , look not big , nor stamp , nor stare , nor fret ; -I will be master of what is mine own . -She is my goods , my chattels ; she is my house , -My household stuff , my field , my barn , -My horse , my ox , my ass , my anything ; -And here she stands , touch her whoever dare ; -I'll bring mine action on the proudest he -That stops my way in Padua . Grumio , -Draw forth thy weapon , we're beset with thieves ; -Rescue thy mistress , if thou be a man . -Fear not , sweet wench ; they shall not touch thee , Kate : -I'll buckler thee against a million . - - -Nay , let them go , a couple of quiet ones . - -Went they not quickly I should die with laughing . - -Of all mad matches never was the like . - -Mistress , what's your opinion of your sister ? - -That , being mad herself , she's madly mated . - -I warrant him , Petruchio is Kated . - -Neighbours and friends , though bride and bridegroom wants -For to supply the places at the table , -You know there wants no junkets at the feast . -Lucentio , you shall supply the bridegroom's place , -And let Bianca take her sister's room . - -Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it ? - -She shall , Lucentio . Come , gentlemen , let's go . - -Fie , fie , on all tired jades , on all mad masters , and all foul ways ! Was ever man so beaten ? was ever man so rayed ? was ever man so weary ? I am sent before to make a fire , and they are coming after to warm them . Now , were not I a little pot and soon hot , my very lips might freeze to my teeth , my tongue to the roof of my mouth , my heart in my belly , ere I should come by a fire to thaw me ; but I , with blowing the fire , shall warm myself ; for , considering the weather , a taller man than I will take cold . Holla , ho ! Curtis . - - -Who is that calls so coldly ? - -A piece of ice : if thou doubt it , thou mayst slide from my shoulder to my heel with no greater a run but my head and my neck . A fire , good Curtis . - -Is my master and his wife coming , Grumio ? - -O ! ay , Curtis , ay ; and therefore fire , fire ; cast on no water . - -Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported ? - -She was , good Curtis , before this frost ; but , thou knowest , winter tames man , woman , and beast ; for it hath tamed my old master , and my new mistress , and myself , fellow Curtis . - -Away , you three-inch-fool ! I am no beast . - -Am I but three inches ? why , thy horn is a foot ; and so long am I at the least . But wilt thou make a fire , or shall I complain on thee to our mistress , whose hand ,she being now at hand ,thou shalt soon feel , to thy cold comfort , for being slow in thy hot office ? - -I prithee , good Grumio , tell me , how goes the world ? - -A cold world , Curtis , in every office but thine ; and therefore , fire . Do thy duty , and have thy duty , for my master and mistress are almost frozen to death . - -There's fire ready ; and therefore , good Grumio , the news ? - -Why , 'Jack , boy ! ho , boy !' and as much news as thou wilt . - -Come , you are so full of cony-catching . - -Why therefore fire : for I have caught extreme cold . Where's the cook ? is supper ready , the house trimmed , rushes strewed , cobwebs swept ; the serving-men in their new fustian , their white stockings , and every officer his wedding-garment on ? Be the Jacks fair within , the Jills fair without , and carpets laid , and everything in order ? - -All ready ; and therefore , I pray thee , news ? - -First , know , my horse is tired ; my master and mistress fallen out . - -How ? - -Out of their saddles into the dirt ; and thereby hangs a tale . - -Let's ha't , good Grumio . - -Lend thine ear . - -Here . - -There . - -This is to feel a tale , not to hear a tale . - -And therefore it is called a sensible tale ; and this cuff was but to knock at your ear and beseech listening . Now I begin : Imprimis , we came down a foul hill , my master riding behind my mistress , - -Both of one horse ? - -What's that to thee ? - -Why , a horse . - -Tell thou the tale : but hadst thou not crossed me thou shouldst have heard how her horse fell , and she under her horse ; thou shouldst have heard in how miry a place , how she was bemoiled : how he left her with the horse upon her ; how he beat me because her horse stumbled ; how she waded through the dirt to pluck him off me : how he swore ; how she prayed , that never prayed before ; how I cried ; how the horses ran away ; how her bridle was burst ; how I lost my crupper ; with many things of worthy memory , which now shall die in oblivion , and thou return unexperienced to thy grave . - -By this reckoning he is more shrew than she . - -Ay ; and that , thou and the proudest of you all shall find when he comes home . But what talk I of this ? Call forth Nathaniel , Joseph , Nicholas , Philip , Walter , Sugarsop , and the rest : let their heads be sleekly combed , their blue coats brushed , and their garters of an indifferent knit : let them curtsy with their left legs , and not presume to touch a hair of my master's horsetail till they kiss their hands . Are they all ready ? - -They are . - -Call them forth . - -Do you hear ? ho ! you must meet my master to countenance my mistress . - -Why , she hath a face of her own . - -Who knows not that ? - -Thou , it seems , that callest for company to countenance her . - -I call them forth to credit her . - -Why , she comes to borrow nothing of them . - - -Welcome home , Grumio ! - -How now , Grumio ? - -What , Grumio ! - -Fellow Grumio ! - -How now , old lad ! - -Welcome , you ; how now , you ; what , you ; fellow , you ; and thus much for greeting . Now , my spruce companions , is all ready , and all things neat ? - -All things is ready . How near is our master ? - -E'en at hand , alighted by this ; and therefore be not ,Cock's passion , silence ! I hear my master . - - -Where be these knaves ? What ! no man at door -To hold my stirrup nor to take my horse ? -Where is Nathaniel , Gregory , Philip ? - -Here , here , sir ; here , sir . - -Here , sir ! here , sir ! here , sir ! here , sir ! -You logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms ! -What , no attendance ? no regard ? no duty ? -Where is the foolish knave I sent before ? - -Here , sir ; as foolish as I was before . - -You peasant swain ! you whoreson malt-horse drudge ! -Did I not bid thee meet me in the park , -And bring along these rascal knaves with thee ? - -Nathaniel's coat , sir , was not fully made , -And Gabriel's pumps were all unpink'd i' the heel , -There was no link to colour Peter's hat , -And Walter's dagger was not come from sheathing , -There were none fine but Adam , Ralph , and Gregory ; -The rest were ragged , old , and beggarly ; -Yet , as they are , here are they come to meet you . - -Go , rascals , go , and fetch my supper in . - -Where is the life that late I led ? -Where are those ? Sit down , Kate , and welcome . -Soud , soud , soud , soud ! - - -Why , when , I say ?Nay , good sweet Kate , be merry . -Off with my boots , you rogues ! you villains ! When ? - -It was the friar of orders grey , -As he forth walked on his way : - -Out , you rogue ! you pluck my foot awry : - -Take that , and mend the plucking off the other . -Be merry , Kate . Some water , here ; what , ho ! -Where's my spaniel Troilus ? Sirrah , get you hence -And bid my cousin Ferdinand come hither : - -One , Kate , that you must kiss , and be acquainted with . -Where are my slippers ? Shall I have some water ? -Come , Kate , and wash , and welcome heartily . - - -You whoreson villain ! will you let it fall ? - -Patience , I pray you ; 'twas a fault unwilling . - -A whoreson , beetle-headed , flap-ear'd knave ! -Come , Kate , sit down ; I know you have a stomach . -Will you give thanks , sweet Kate , or else shall I ? -What's this ? mutton ? - -Ay . - -Who brought it ? - -I . - -'Tis burnt ; and so is all the meat . -What dogs are these ! Where is the rascal cook ? -How durst you , villains , bring it from the dresser , -And serve it thus to me that love it not ? - -There , take it to you , trenchers , cups , and all . -You heedless joltheads and unmanner'd slaves ! -What ! do you grumble ? I'll be with you straight . - -I pray you , husband , be not so disquiet : -The meat was well if you were so contented . - -I tell thee , Kate , 'twas burnt and dried away ; -And I expressly am forbid to touch it , -For it engenders choler , planteth anger ; -And better 'twere that both of us did fast , -Since , of ourselves , ourselves are choleric , -Than feed it with such over-roasted flesh . -Be patient ; to-morrow't shall be mended , -And for this night we'll fast for company : -Come , I will bring thee to thy bridal chamber . - - -Peter , didst ever see the like ? - -He kills her in her own humour . - - -Where is he ? - -In her chamber , making a sermon of continency to her ; -And rails , and swears , and rates , that she , poor soul , -Knows not which way to stand , to look , to speak , -And sits as one new-risen from a dream . -Away , away ! for he is coming hither . - -Thus have I politicly begun my reign , -And 'tis my hope to end successfully . -My falcon now is sharp and passing empty , -And till she stoop she must not be full-gorg'd , -For then she never looks upon her lure . -Another way I have to man my haggard , -To make her come and know her keeper's call ; -That is , to watch her , as we watch these kites -That bate and beat and will not be obedient . -She eat no meat to-day , nor none shall eat ; -Last night she slept not , nor to-night she shall not : -As with the meat , some undeserved fault -I'll find about the making of the bed ; -And here I'll fling the pillow , there the bolster , -This way the coverlet , another way the sheets : -Ay , and amid this hurly I intend -That all is done in reverend care of her ; -And in conclusion she shall watch all night : -And if she chance to nod I'll rail and brawl , -And with the clamour keep her still awake . -This is a way to kill a wife with kindness ; -And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour . -He that knows better how to tame a shrew , -Now let him speak : 'tis charity to show . - - -Is't possible , friend Licio , that Mistress Bianca -Doth fancy any other but Lucentio ? -I tell you , sir , she bears me fair in hand . - -Sir , to satisfy you in what I have said , -Stand by , and mark the manner of his teaching . - -Now , mistress , profit you in what you read ? - -What , master , read you ? first resolve me that . - -I read that I profess , the Art to Love . - -And may you prove , sir , master of your art ! - -While you , sweet dear , prove mistress of my heart . - - -Quick proceeders , marry ! Now , tell me , I pray , -You that durst swear that your mistress Bianca -Lov'd none in the world so well as Lucentio . - -O despiteful love ! unconstant womankind ! -I tell thee , Licio , this is wonderful . - -Mistake no more : I am not Licio , -Nor a musician , as I seem to be ; -But one that scorns to live in this disguise , -For such a one as leaves a gentleman , -And makes a god of such a cullion : -Know , sir , that I am call'd Hortensio . - -Signior Hortensio , I have often heard -Of your entire affection to Bianca ; -And since mine eyes are witness of her lightness , -I will with you , if you be so contented , -Forswear Bianca and her love for ever . - -See , how they kiss and court ! Signior Lucentio , -Here is my hand , and here I firmly vow -Never to woo her more ; but I do forswear her , -As one unworthy all the former favours -That I have fondly flatter'd her withal . - -And here I take the like unfeigned oath , -Never to marry with her though she would entreat . -Fie on her ! see how beastly she doth court him . - -Would all the world , but he had quite forsworn ! -For me , that I may surely keep mine oath , -I will be married to a wealthy widow -Ere three days pass , which hath as long lov'd me -As I have lov'd this proud disdainful haggard . -And so farewell , Signior Lucentio . -Kindness in women , not their beauteous looks , -Shall win my love : and so I take my leave , -In resolution as I swore before . - - -Mistress Bianca , bless you with such grace -As 'longeth to a lover's blessed case ! -Nay , I have ta'en you napping , gentle love , -And have forsworn you with Hortensio . - -Tranio , you jest . But have you both forsworn me ? - -Mistress , we have . - -Then we are rid of Licio . - -I' faith , he'll have a lusty widow now , That shall be woo'd and wedded in a day . - -God give him joy ! - -Ay , and he'll tame her . - -He says so , Tranio . - -Faith , he is gone unto the taming-school . - -The taming-school ! what , is there such a place ? - -Ay , mistress , and Petruchio is the master ; -That teacheth tricks eleven and twenty long , -To tame a shrew , and charm her chattering tongue . - - -O master , master ! I have watch'd so long -That I'm dog-weary ; but at last I spied -An ancient angel coming down the hill -Will serve the turn . - -What is he , Biondello ? - -Master , a mercatante , or a pedant , -I know not what ; but formal in apparel , -In gait and countenance surely like a father . - -And what of him , Tranio ? - -If he be credulous and trust my tale , -I'll make him glad to seem Vincentio , -And give assurance to Baptista Minola , -As if he were the right Vincentio . -Take in your love , and then let me alone . - -God save you , sir ! - -And you , sir ! you are welcome . -Travel you far on , or are you at the furthest ? - -Sir , at the furthest for a week or two ; -But then up further , and as far as Rome ; -And so to Tripoli , if God lend me life . - -What countryman , I pray ? - -Of Mantua . - -Of Mantua , sir ! marry , God forbid ! -And come to Padua , careless of your life ? - -My life , sir ! how , I pray ? for that goes hard . - -'Tis death for any one in Mantua -To come to Padua . Know you not the cause ? -Your ships are stay'd at Venice ; and the duke , -For private quarrel 'twixt your duke and him , -Hath publish'd and proclaim'd it openly . -'Tis marvel , but that you are but newly come , -You might have heard it else proclaim'd about . - -Alas , sir ! it is worse for me than so ; -For I have bills for money by exchange -From Florence , and must here deliver them . - -Well , sir , to do you courtesy , -This will I do , and this I will advise you : -First , tell me , have you ever been at Pisa ? - -Ay , sir , in Pisa have I often been ; -Pisa , renowned for grave citizens . - -Among them , know you one Vincentio ? - -I know him not , but I have heard of him ; -A merchant of incomparable wealth . - -He is my father , sir ; and , sooth to say , -In countenance somewhat doth resemble you . - -As much as an apple doth an oyster , and all one . - -To save your life in this extremity , -This favour will I do you for his sake ; -And think it not the worst of all your fortunes -That you are like to Sir Vincentio . -His name and credit shall you undertake , -And in my house you shall be friendly lodg'd , -Look that you take upon you as you should ! -You understand me , sir ; so shall you stay -Till you have done your business in the city . -If this be courtesy , sir , accept of it . - -O sir , I do ; and will repute you ever -The patron of my life and liberty . - -Then go with me to make the matter good . -This , by the way , I let you understand : -My father is here look'd for every day , -To pass assurance of a dower in marriage -'Twixt me and one Baptista's daughter here : -In all these circumstances I'll instruct you . -Go with me to clothe you as becomes you . - - -No , no , forsooth ; I dare not , for my life . - -The more my wrong the more his spite appears . -What , did he marry me to famish me ? -Beggars , that come unto my father's door , -Upon entreaty have a present alms ; -If not , elsewhere they meet with charity : -But I , who never knew how to entreat , -Nor never needed that I should entreat , -Am starv'd for meat , giddy for lack of sleep ; -With oaths kept waking , and with brawling fed . -And that which spites me more than all these wants , -He does it under name of perfect love ; -As who should say , if I should sleep or eat -'Twere deadly sickness , or else present death . -I prithee go and get me some repast ; -I care not what , so it be wholesome food . - -What say you to a neat's foot ? - -'Tis passing good : I prithee let me have it . - -I fear it is too choleric a meat . -How say you to a fat tripe finely broil'd ? - -I like it well : good Grumio , fetch it me . - -I cannot tell ; I fear 'tis choleric . -What say you to a piece of beef and mustard ? - -A dish that I do love to feed upon . - -Ay , but the mustard is too hot a little . - -Why , then the beef , and let the mustard rest . - -Nay , then I will not : you shall have the mustard , -Or else you get no beef of Grumio . - -Then both , or one , or anything thou wilt . - -Why then , the mustard without the beef . - -Go , get thee gone , thou false deluding slave , - -That feed'st me with the very name of meat . -Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you , -That triumph thus upon my misery ! -Go , get thee gone , I say . - - -How fares my Kate ? What , sweeting , all amort ? - -Mistress , what cheer ? - -Faith , as cold as can be . - -Pluck up thy spirits ; look cheerfully upon me . -Here , love ; thou seest how diligent I am , -To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee : - -I am sure , sweet Kate , this kindness merits thanks . -What ! not a word ? Nay then , thou lov'st it not , -And all my pains is sorted to no proof . -Here , take away this dish . - -I pray you , let it stand . - -The poorest service is repaid with thanks , -And so shall mine , before you touch the meat . - -I thank you , sir . - -Signior Petruchio , fie ! you are to blame . -Come , Mistress Kate , I'll bear you company . - -Eat it up all , Hortensio , if thou lov'st me . -Much good do it unto thy gentle heart ! -Kate , eat apace : and now , my honey love , -Will we return unto thy father's house , -And revel it as bravely as the best , -With silken coats and caps and golden rings , -With ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things ; -With scarfs and fans and double change of bravery , -With amber bracelets , beads and all this knavery . -What ! hast thou din'd ? The tailor stays thy leisure , -To deck thy body with his ruffling treasure . - - -Come , tailor , let us see these ornaments ; -Lay forth the gown . - - -What news with you , sir ? - -Here is the cap your worship did bespeak . - -Why , this was moulded on a porringer ; -A velvet dish : fie , fie ! 'tis lewd and filthy : -Why , 'tis a cockle or a walnut-shell , -A knack , a toy , a trick , a baby's cap : -Away with it ! come , let me have a bigger . - -I'll have no bigger : this doth fit the time , -And gentlewomen wear such caps as these . - -When you are gentle , you shall have one too ; -And not till then . - -That will not be in haste . - -Why , sir , I trust I may have leave to speak , -And speak I will ; I am no child , no babe : -Your betters have endur'd me say my mind , -And if you cannot , best you stop your ears . -My tongue will tell the anger of my heart , -Or else my heart , concealing it , will break : -And rather than it shall , I will be free -Even to the uttermost , as I please , in words . - -Why , thou sayst true ; it is a paltry cap , -A custard-coffin , a bauble , a silken pie . -I love thee well in that thou lik'st it not . - -Love me or love me not , I like the cap , -And it I will have , or I will have none . - - -Thy gown ? why , ay : come , tailor , let us see't . -O mercy , God ! what masquing stuff is here ? -What's this ? a sleeve ? 'tis like a demi-cannon : -What ! up and down , carv'd like an apple-tart ? -Here's snip and nip and cut and slish and slash , -Like to a censer in a barber's shop . -Why , what , i' devil's name , tailor , call'st thou this ? - -I see , she's like to have neither cap nor gown . - -You bid me make it orderly and well , -According to the fashion and the time . - -Marry , and did : but if you be remember'd , -I did not bid you mar it to the time . -Go , hop me over every kennel home , -For you shall hop without my custom , sir . -I'll none of it : hence ! make your best of it . - -I never saw a better-fashion'd gown , -More quaint , more pleasing , nor more commendable . -Belike you mean to make a puppet of me . - -Why , true ; he means to make a puppet of thee . - -She says your worship means to make a puppet of her . - -O monstrous arrogance ! Thou liest , thou thread , -Thou thimble , -Thou yard , three-quarters , half-yard , quarter , nail ! -Thou flea , thou nit , thou winter-cricket thou ! -Brav'd in mine own house with a skein of thread ! -Away ! thou rag , thou quantity , thou remnant , -Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard -As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou liv'st ! -I tell thee , I , that thou hast marr'd her gown . - -Your worship is deceiv'd : the gown is made -Just as my master had direction . -Grumio gave order how it should be done . - -I gave him no order ; I gave him the stuff . - -But how did you desire it should be made ? - -Marry , sir , with needle and thread . - -But did you not request to have it cut ? - -Thou hast faced many things . - -I have . - -Face not me : thou hast braved many men ; brave not me : I will neither be faced nor braved . I say unto thee , I bid thy master cut out the gown ; but I did not bid him cut it to pieces : ergo , thou liest . - -Why , here is the note of the fashion to testify . - -Read it . - -The note lies in's throat if he say I said so . - -Imprimis . A loose-bodied gown . - -Master , if ever I said loose-bodied gown , sew me in the skirts of it , and beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread . I said , a gown . - -Proceed . - -With a small compassed cape . - -I confess the cape . - -With a trunk sleeve . - -I confess two sleeves . - -The sleeves curiously cut . - -Ay , there's the villany . - -Error i' the bill , sir ; error i' the bill . I commanded the sleeves should be cut out and sewed up again ; and that I'll prove upon thee , though thy little finger be armed in a thimble . - -This is true that I say : an I had thee in place where thou shouldst know it . - -I am for thee straight : take thou the bill , give me thy mete-yard , and spare not me . - -God-a-mercy , Grumio ! then he shall have no odds . - -Well , sir , in brief , the gown is not for me . - -You are i' the right , sir ; 'tis for my mistress . - -Go , take it up unto thy master's use . - -Villain , not for thy life ! take up my mistress' gown for thy master's use ! - -Why , sir , what's your conceit in that ? - -O , sir , the conceit is deeper than you think for . -Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use ! -O , fie , fie , fie ! - -Hortensio , say thou wilt see the tailor paid . - - -Go take it hence ; be gone , and say no more . - -Tailor , I'll pay thee for thy gown to-morrow : -Take no unkindness of his hasty words . -Away ! I say ; commend me to thy master . - - -Well , come , my Kate ; we will unto your father's , -Even in these honest mean habiliments . -Our purses shall be proud , our garments poor : -For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich ; -And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds , -So honour peereth in the meanest habit . -What is the jay more precious than the lark -Because his feathers are more beautiful ? -Or is the adder better than the eel -Because his painted skin contents the eye ? -O , no , good Kate ; neither art thou the worse -For this poor furniture and mean array . -If thou account'st it shame , lay it on me ; -And therefore frolic : we will hence forthwith , -To feast and sport us at thy father's house . -Go , call my men , and let us straight to him ; -And bring our horses unto Long-lane end ; -There will we mount , and thither walk on foot . -Let's see ; I think 'tis now some seven o'clock , -And well we may come there by dinner-time . - -I dare assure you , sir , 'tis almost two ; -And 'twill be supper-time ere you come there . - -It shall be seven ere I go to horse . -Look , what I speak , or do , or think to do , -You are still crossing it . Sirs , let't alone : -I will not go to-day ; and ere I do , -It shall be what o'clock I say it is . - -Why , so this gallant will command the sun . - - -Sir , this is the house : please it you that I call ? - -Ay , what else ? and , but I be deceived , -Signior Baptista may remember me , -Near twenty years ago , in Genoa , -Where we were lodgers at the Pegasus . - -'Tis well ; and hold your own , in any case , -With such austerity as 'longeth to a father . - -I warrant you . But , sir , here comes your boy ; -'Twere good he were school'd . - - -Fear you not him . Sirrah Biondello , -Now do your duty throughly , I advise you : -Imagine 'twere the right Vincentio . - -Tut ! fear not me . - -But hast thou done thy errand to Baptista ? - -I told him that your father was at Venice , -And that you look'd for him this day in Padua . - -Thou'rt a tall fellow : hold thee that to drink . -Here comes Baptista . Set your countenance , sir . - - -Signior Baptista , you are happily met . - - -Sir , this is the gentleman I told you of : -I pray you , stand good father to me now , - -Give me Bianca for my patrimony . - -Soft , son ! -Sir , by your leave : having come to Padua -To gather in some debts , my son Lucentio -Made me acquainted with a weighty cause -Of love between your daughter and himself : -And ,for the good report I hear of you , -And for the love he beareth to your daughter , -And she to him ,to stay him not too long , -I am content , in a good father's care , -To have him match'd ; and , if you please to like -No worse than I , upon some agreement -Me shall you find ready and willing -With one consent to have her so bestow'd ; -For curious I cannot be with you , -Signior Baptista , of whom I hear so well . - -Sir , pardon me in what I have to say : -Your plainness and your shortness please me well . -Right true it is , your son Lucentio here -Doth love my daughter and she loveth him , -Or both dissemble deeply their affections : -And therefore , if you say no more than this , -That like a father you will deal with him -And pass my daughter a sufficient dower , -The match is made , and all is done : -Your son shall have my daughter with consent . - -I thank you , sir . Where , then , do you know best -We be affied and such assurance ta'en -As shall with either part's agreement stand ? - -Not in my house , Lucentio ; for , you know , -Pitchers have ears , and I have many servants . -Besides , old Gremio is hearkening still , -And happily we might be interrupted . - -Then at my lodging an it like you : -There doth my father lie , and there this night -We'll pass the business privately and well . -Send for your daughter by your servant here ; -My boy shall fetch the scrivener presently . -The worst is this , that , at so slender warning , -You're like to have a thin and slender pittance . - -It likes me well . Cambio , hie you home , -And bid Bianca make her ready straight ; -And , if you will , tell what hath happened : -Lucentio's father is arriv'd in Padua , -And how she's like to be Lucentio's wife . - -I pray the gods she may with all my heart ! - -Dally not with the gods , but get thee gone . -Signior Baptista , shall I lead the way ? -Welcome ! one mess is like to be your cheer . -Come , sir ; we will better it in Pisa . - -I follow you . - - -Cambio ! - -What sayst thou , Biondello ? - -You saw my master wink and laugh upon you ? - -Biondello , what of that ? - -Faith , nothing ; but he has left me here behind to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens . - -I pray thee , moralize them . - -Then thus . Baptista is safe , talking with the deceiving father of a deceitful son . - -And what of him ? - -His daughter is to be brought by you to the supper . - -And then ? - -The old priest at Saint Luke's church is at your command at all hours . - -And what of all this ? - -I cannot tell , expect they are busied about a counterfeit assurance : take you assurance of her , cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum . To the church ! take the priest , clerk , and some sufficient honest witnesses . -If this be not that you look for , I have no more to say , -But bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day . - - -Hearest thou , Biondello ? - -I cannot tarry : I knew a wench married in an afternoon as she went to the garden for parsley to stuff a rabbit ; and so may you , sir ; and so , adieu , sir . My master hath appointed me to go to Saint Luke's , to bid the priest be ready to come against you come with your appendix . - - -I may , and will , if she be so contented : -She will be pleas'd ; then wherefore should I doubt ? -Hap what hap may , I'll roundly go about her : -It shall go hard if Cambio go without her . - - -Come on , i' God's name ; once more toward our father's . -Good Lord , how bright and goodly shines the moon ! - -The moon ! the sun : it is not moonlight now . - -I say it is the moon that shines so bright . - -I know it is the sun that shines so bright . - -Now , by my mother's son , and that's myself , -It shall be moon , or star , or what I list , -Or ere I journey to your father's house . -Go one and fetch our horses back again . -Evermore cross'd and cross'd ; nothing but cross'd ! - -Say as he says , or we shall never go . - -Forward , I pray , since we have come so far , -And be it moon , or sun , or what you please . -An if you please to call it a rush-candle , -Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me . - -I say it is the moon . - -I know it is the moon . - -Nay , then you lie ; it is the blessed sun . - -Then God be bless'd , it is the blessed sun : -But sun it is not when you say it is not , -And the moon changes even as your mind . -What you will have it nam'd , even that it is ; -And so , it shall be so for Katharine . - -Petruchio , go thy ways ; the field is won . - -Well , forward , forward ! thus the bowl should run , -And not unluckily against the bias . -But soft ! what company is coming here ? - - -Good morrow , gentle mistress : where away ? -Tell me , sweet Kate , and tell me truly too , -Hast thou beheld a fresher gentlewoman ? -Such war of white and red within her cheeks ! -What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty , -As those two eyes become that heavenly face ? -Fair lovely maid , once more good day to thee . - -Sweet Kate , embrace her for her beauty's sake . - -A' will make the man mad , to make a woman of him . - -Young budding virgin , fair and fresh and sweet , -Whither away , or where is thy abode ? -Happy the parents of so fair a child ; -Happier the man , whom favourable stars -Allot thee for his lovely bed-fellow ! - -Why , how now , Kate ! I hope thou art not mad : -This is a man , old , wrinkled , faded , wither'd , -And not a maiden , as thou sayst he is . - -Pardon , old father , my mistaking eyes , -That have been so bedazzled with the sun -That everything I look on seemeth green : -Now I perceive thou art a reverend father ; -Pardon , I pray thee , for my mad mistaking . - -Do , good old grandsire ; and withal make known -Which way thou travellest : if along with us , -We shall be joyful of thy company . - -Fair sir , and you my merry mistress , -That with your strange encounter much amaz'd me , -My name is called Vincentio ; my dwelling , Pisa ; -And bound I am to Padua , there to visit -A son of mine , which long I have not seen . - -What is his name ? - -Lucentio , gentle sir . - -Happily met ; the happier for thy son . -And now by law , as well as reverend age , -I may entitle thee my loving father : -The sister to my wife , this gentlewoman , -Thy son by this hath married . Wonder not , -Nor be not griev'd : she is of good esteem , -Her dowry wealthy , and of worthy birth ; -Beside , so qualified as may beseem -The spouse of any noble gentleman . -Let me embrace with old Vincentio ; -And wander we to see thy honest son , -Who will of thy arrival be full joyous . - -But is this true ? or is it else your pleasure , -Like pleasant travellers , to break a jest -Upon the company you overtake ? - -I do assure thee , father , so it is . - -Come , go along , and see the truth hereof ; -For our first merriment hath made thee jealous . - - -Well , Petruchio , this has put me in heart . -Have to my widow ! and if she be froward , -Then hast thou taught Hortensio to be untoward . - -Softly and swiftly , sir , for the priest is ready . - -I fly , Biondello : but they may chance to need thee at home ; therefore leave us . - -Nay , faith , I'll see the church o' your back ; and then come back to my master as soon as I can . - - -I marvel Cambio comes not all this while . - - -Sir , here's the door , this is Lucentio's house : -My father's bears more toward the marketplace ; -Thither must I , and here I leave you , sir . - -You shall not choose but drink before you go . -I think I shall command your welcome here , -And , by all likelihood , some cheer is toward . - - -They're busy within ; you were best knock louder . - - -What's he that knocks as he would beat down the gate ? - -Is Signior Lucentio within , sir ? - -He's within , sir , but not to be spoken withal . - -What if a man bring him a hundred pound or two , to make merry withal ? - -Keep your hundred pounds to yourself : he shall need none so long as I live . - -Nay , I told you your son was well beloved in Padua . Do you hear , sir ? To leave frivolous circumstances , I pray you , tell Signior Lucentio that his father is come from Pisa , and is here at the door to speak with him . - -Thou liest : his father is come from Padua , and here looking out at the window . - -Art thou his father ? - -Ay , sir ; so his mother says , if I may believe her . - -Why , how now , gentleman ! why , this is flat knavery , to take upon you another man's name . - -Lay hands on the villain : I believe , a' means to cozen somebody in this city under my countenance . - - -I have seen them in the church together : God send 'em good shipping ! But who is here ? mine old master , Vincentio ! now we are undone and brought to nothing . - -Come hither , crack-hemp . - -I hope I may choose , sir . - -Come hither , you rogue . What , have you forgot me ? - -Forgot you ! no , sir : I could not forget you , for I never saw you before in all my life . - -What , you notorious villain ! didst thou never see thy master's father , Vincentio ? - -What , my old , worshipful old master ? yes , marry , sir : see where he looks out of the window . - -Is't so , indeed ? - - -Help , help , help ! here's a madman will murder me . - - -Help , son ! help , Signior Baptista ! - - -Prithee , Kate , let's stand aside , and see the end of this controversy . - -Sir , what are you that offer to beat my servant ? - -What am I , sir ! nay , what are you , sir ? O immortal gods ! O fine villain ! A silken doublet ! a velvet hose ! a scarlet cloak ! and a copatain hat ! O , I am undone ! I am undone ! while I play the good husband at home , my son and my servant spend all at the university . - -How now ! what's the matter ? - -What , is the man lunatic ? - -Sir , you seem a sober ancient gentleman by your habit , but your words show you a madman . Why , sir , what 'cerns it you if I wear pearl and gold ? I thank my good father , I am able to maintain it . - -Thy father ! O villain ! he is a sailmaker in Bergamo . - -You mistake , sir , you mistake , sir . Pray , what do you think is his name ? - -His name ! as if I knew not his name : I have brought him up ever since he was three years old , and his name is Tranio . - -Away , away , mad ass ! his name is Lucentio ; and he is mine only son , and heir to the lands of me , Signior Vincentio . - -Lucentio ! O ! he hath murdered his master . Lay hold on him , I charge you in the duke's name . O my son , my son ! tell me , thou villain , where is my son Lucentio ? - -Call forth an officer . - -Carry this mad knave to the gaol . Father Baptista , I charge you see that he be forthcoming . - -Carry me to the gaol ! - -Stay , officer : he shall not go to prison . - -Talk not , Signior Gremio : I say he shall go to prison . - -Take heed , Signior Baptista , lest you be cony-catched in this business : I dare swear this is the right Vincentio . - -Swear , if thou darest . - -Nay , I dare not swear it . - -Then thou wert best say , that I am not Lucentio . - -Yes , I know thee to be Signior Lucentio . - -Away with the dotard ! to the gaol with him ! - -Thus strangers may be haled and abused : O monstrous villain ! - - -O ! we are spoiled ; and yonder he is : deny him , forswear him , or else we are all undone . - -Pardon , sweet father . - -Lives my sweetest son ? - - -Pardon , dear father . - -How hast thou offended ? -Where is Lucentio ? - -Here's Lucentio , -Right son to the right Vincentio ; -That have by marriage made thy daughter mine , -While counterfeit supposes blear'd thine eyne . - -Here's packing , with a witness , to deceive us all ! - -Where is that damned villain Tranio , -That fac'd and brav'd me in this matter so ? - -Why , tell me , is not this my Cambio ? - -Cambio is chang'd into Lucentio . - -Love wrought these miracles . Bianca's love -Made me exchange my state with Tranio , -While he did bear my countenance in the town ; -And happily I have arriv'd at last -Unto the wished haven of my bliss . -What Tranio did , myself enforc'd him to ; -Then pardon him , sweet father , for my sake . - -I'll slit the villain's nose , that would have sent me to the gaol . - -But do you hear , sir ? -Have you married my daughter without asking my good will ? - -Fear not , Baptista ; we will content you , go to : but I will in , to be revenged for this villany . - - -And I , to sound the depth of this knavery . - - -Look not pale , Bianca ; thy father will not frown . - - -My cake is dough ; but I'll in among the rest , -Out of hope of all , but my share of the feast . - -Husband , let's follow , to see the end of this ado . - -First kiss me , Kate , and we will . - -What ! in the midst of the street ? - -What ! art thou ashamed of me ? - -No , sir , God forbid ; but ashamed to kiss . - -Why , then let's home again . Come , sirrah , let's away . - -Nay , I will give thee a kiss : now pray thee , love , stay . - -Is not this well ? Come , my sweet Kate : -Better once than never , for never too late . - - -At last , though long , our jarring notes agree : -And time it is , when raging war is done , -To smile at 'scapes and perils overblown . -My fair Bianca , bid my father welcome , -While I with self-same kindness welcome thine . -Brother Petruchio , sister Katharina , -And thou , Hortensio , with thy loving widow , -Feast with the best , and welcome to my house : -My banquet is to close our stomachs up , -After our great good cheer . Pray you , sit down ; -For now we sit to chat as well as eat . - - -Nothing but sit and sit , and eat and eat ! - -Padua affords this kindness , son Petruchio . - -Padua affords nothing but what is kind . - -For both our sakes I would that word were true . - -Now , for my life , Hortensio fears his widow . - -Then never trust me , if I be afeard . - -You are very sensible , and yet you miss my sense : -I mean , Hortensio is afeard of you . - -He that is giddy thinks the world turns round . - -Roundly replied . - -Mistress , how mean you that ? - -Thus I conceive by him . - -Conceives by me ! How likes Hortensio that ? - -My widow says , thus she conceives her tale . - -Very well mended . Kiss him for that , good widow . - -'He that is giddy thinks the world turns round :' -I pray you , tell me what you meant by that . - -Your husband , being troubled with a shrew , -Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe : -And now you know my meaning . - -A very mean meaning . - -Right , I mean you . - -And I am mean , indeed , respecting you . - -To her , Kate ! - -To her , widow ! - -A hundred marks , my Kate does put her down . - -That's my office . - -Spoke like an officer : ha' to thee , lad . - - -How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks ? - -Believe me , sir , they butt together well . - -Head and butt ! a hasty-witted body -Would say your head and butt were head and horn . - -Ay , mistress bride , hath that awaken'd you ? - -Ay , but not frighted me ; therefore I'll sleep again . - -Nay , that you shall not ; since you have begun , -Have at you for a bitter jest or two . - -Am I your bird ? I mean to shift my bush ; -And then pursue me as you draw your bow . -You are welcome all . - - -She hath prevented me . Here , Signior Tranio ; -This bird you aim'd at , though you hit her not : -Therefore a health to all that shot and miss'd . - -O sir ! Lucentio slipp'd me , like his greyhound , -Which runs himself , and catches for his master . - -A good swift simile , but something currish . - -'Tis well , sir , that you hunted for yourself : -'Tis thought your deer does hold you at a bay . - -O ho , Petruchio ! Tranio hits you now . - -I thank thee for that gird , good Tranio . - -Confess , confess , hath he not hit you here ? - -A' has a little gall'd me , I confess ; -And , as the jest did glance away from me , -'Tis ten to one it maim'd you two outright . - -Now , in good sadness , son Petruchio , -I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all . - -Well , I say no : and therefore , for assurance , -Let's each one send unto his wife ; -And he whose wife is most obedient -To come at first when he doth send for her , -Shall win the wager which we will propose . - -Content . What is the wager ? - -Twenty crowns . - -Twenty crowns ! -I'll venture so much of my hawk or hound , -But twenty times so much upon my wife . - -A hundred then . - -Content . - -A match ! 'tis done . - -Who shall begin ? - -That will I . -Go , Biondello , bid your mistress come to me . - -I go . - - -Son , I will be your half , Bianca comes . - -I'll have no halves ; I'll bear it all myself . - -How now ! what news ? - -Sir , my mistress sends you word -That she is busy and she cannot come . - -How ! she is busy , and she cannot come ! -Is that an answer ? - -Ay , and a kind one too : -Pray God , sir , your wife send you not a worse . - -I hope , better . - -Sirrah Biondello , go and entreat my wife -To come to me forthwith . - - -O ho ! entreat her ! -Nay , then she must needs come . - -I am afraid , sir , -Do what you can , yours will not be entreated . - -Now , where's my wife ? - -She says you have some goodly jest in hand : -She will not come : she bids you come to her . - -Worse and worse ; she will not come ! O vile , -Intolerable , not to be endur'd ! -Sirrah Grumio , go to your mistress ; say , -I command her come to me . - - -I know her answer . - -What ? - -She will not . - -The fouler fortune mine , and there an end . - - -Now , by my holidame , here comes Katharina ! - -What is your will , sir , that you send for me ? - -Where is your sister , and Hortensio's wife ? - -They sit conferring by the parlour fire . - -Go , fetch them hither : if they deny to come , -Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands . -Away , I say , and bring them hither straight . - - -Here is a wonder , if you talk of a wonder . - -And so it is . I wonder what it bodes . - -Marry , peace it bodes , and love , and quiet life , -An awful rule and right supremacy ; -And , to be short , what not that's sweet and happy . - -Now fair befall thee , good Petruchio ! -The wager thou hast won ; and I will add -Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns ; -Another dowry to another daughter , -For she is chang'd , as she had never been . - -Nay , I will win my wager better yet , -And show more sign of her obedience , -Her new-built virtue and obedience . -See where she comes , and brings your froward wives -As prisoners to her womanly persuasion . - - -Katharine , that cap of yours becomes you not : -Off with that bauble , throw it under foot . - -Lord ! let me never have a cause to sigh , -Till I be brought to such a silly pass ! - -Fie ! what a foolish duty call you this ? - -I would your duty were as foolish too : -The wisdom of your duty , fair Bianca , -Hath cost me an hundred crowns since supper-time . - -The more fool you for laying on my duty . - -Katharine , I charge thee , tell these headstrong women -What duty they do owe their lords and husbands . - -Come , come , you're mocking : we will have no telling . - -Come on , I say ; and first begin with her . - -She shall not . - -I say she shall : and first begin with her . - -Fie , fie ! unknit that threatening unkind brow , -And dart not scornful glances from those eyes , -To wound thy lord , thy king , thy governor : -It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads , -Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds , -And in no sense is meet or amiable . -A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled , -Muddy , ill-seeming , thick , bereft of beauty ; -And while it is so , none so dry or thirsty -Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it . -Thy husband is thy lord , thy life , thy keeper , -Thy head , thy sovereign ; one that cares for thee , -And for thy maintenance commits his body -To painful labour both by sea and land , -To watch the night in storms , the day in cold , -Whilst thou liest warm at home , secure and safe ; -And craves no other tribute at thy hands -But love , fair looks , and true obedience ; -Too little payment for so great a debt . -Such duty as the subject owes the prince , -Even such a woman oweth to her husband ; -And when she's froward , peevish , sullen , sour , -And not obedient to his honest will , -What is she but a foul contending rebel , -And graceless traitor to her loving lord ? -I am asham'd that women are so simple -To offer war where they should kneel for peace , -Or seek for rule , supremacy , and sway , -When they are bound to serve , love , and obey . -Why are our bodies soft , and weak , and smooth , -Unapt to toil and trouble in the world , -But that our soft conditions and our hearts -Should well agree with our external parts ? -Come , come , you froward and unable worms ! -My mind hath been as big as one of yours , -My heart as great , my reason haply more , -To bandy word for word and frown for frown ; -But now I see our lances are but straws , -Our strength as weak , our weakness past compare , -That seeming to be most which we indeed least are . -Then vail your stomachs , for it is no boot , -And place your hands below your husband's foot : -In token of which duty , if he please , -My hand is ready ; may it do him ease . - -Why , there's a wench ! Come on , and kiss me , Kate . - -Well , go thy ways , old lad , for thou shalt ha't . - -'Tis a good hearing when children are toward . - -But a harsh hearing when women are froward . - -Come , Kate , we'll to bed . -We three are married , but you two are sped . -'Twas I won the wager , - -though you hit the white ; -And , being a winner , God give you good night ! - - -Now , go thy ways ; thou hast tam'd a curst shrew . - -'Tis a wonder , by your leave , she will be tam'd so . - -THE TEMPEST - -Boatswain ! - -Here , master : what cheer ? - -Good , speak to the mariners : fall to't yarely , or we run ourselves aground : bestir , bestir . - -Heigh , my hearts ! cheerly , cheerly , my hearts ! yare , yare ! Take in the topsail . Tend to the master's whistle .Blow , till thou burst thy wind , if room enough ! - - -Good boatswain , have care . Where's the master ? Play the men . - -I pray now , keep below . - -Where is the master , boson ? - -Do you not hear him ? You mar our labour : keep your cabins : you do assist the storm . - -Nay , good , be patient . - -When the sea is . Hence ! What cares these roarers for the name of king ? To cabin : silence ! trouble us not . - -Good , yet remember whom thou hast aboard . - -None that I more love than myself . You are a counsellor : if you can command these elements to silence , and work the peace of the present , we will not hand a rope more ; use your authority : if you cannot , give thanks you have lived so long , and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour , if it so hap .Cheerly , good hearts !Out of our way , I say . - - -I have great comfort from this fellow : methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him ; his complexion is perfect gallows . Stand fast , good Fate , to his hanging ! make the rope of his destiny our cable , for our own doth little advantage ! If he be not born to be hanged , our case is miserable . - -Down with the topmast ! yare ! lower , lower ! Bring her to try with main-course . - -A plague upon this howling ! they are louder than the weather , or our office . - -Yet again ? what do you here ? Shall we give o'er , and drown ? Have you a mind to sink ? - -A pox o' your throat , you bawling , blasphemous , incharitable dog ! - -Work you , then . - -Hang , cur , hang ! you whoreson , insolent noisemaker , we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art . - -I'll warrant him for drowning ; though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell , and as leaky as an unstanched wench . - -Lay her a-hold , a-hold ! Set her two courses ; off to sea again ; lay her off . - - -All lost ! to prayers , to prayers ! all lost ! - - -What , must our mouths be cold ? - -The king and prince at prayers ! let us assist them , -For our case is as theirs . - -I am out of patience . - -We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards . -This wide-chapp'd rascal ,would thou might'st lie drowning , -The washing of ten tides ! - -He'll be hang'd yet , -Though every drop of water swear against it , -And gape at wid'st to glut him . - -'We split , we split !' 'Farewell , my wife and children !' -'Farewell , brother !' 'We split , we split , we split !' ] - -Let's all sink wi' the king . - - -Let's take leave of him . - - -Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground ; long heath , brown furze , any thing . The wills above be done ! but I would fain die a dry death . - - -If by your art , my dearest father , you have -Put the wild waters in this roar , allay them . -The sky , it seems , would pour down stinking pitch , -But that the sea , mounting to th' welkin's cheek , -Dashes the fire out . O ! I have suffer'd -With those that I saw suffer : a brave vessel , -Who had , no doubt , some noble creatures in her , -Dash'd all to pieces . O ! the cry did knock -Against my very heart . Poor souls , they perish'd . -Had I been any god of power , I would -Have sunk the sea within the earth , or e'er -It should the good ship so have swallow'd and -The fraughting souls within her . - -Be collected : -No more amazement . Tell your piteous heart -There's no harm done . - -O , woe the day ! - -No harm . -I have done nothing but in care of thee , -Of thee , my dear one ! thee , my daughter !who -Art ignorant of what thou art , nought knowing -Of whence I am : nor that I am more better -Than Prospero , master of a full poor cell , -And thy no greater father . - -More to know -Did never meddle with my thoughts . - -'Tis time -I should inform thee further . Lend thy hand , -And pluck my magic garment from me .So : - -Lie there , my art .Wipe thou thine eyes ; have comfort . -The direful spectacle of the wrack , which touch'd -The very virtue of compassion in thee , -I have with such provision in mine art -So safely order'd , that there is no soul -No , not so much perdition as an hair , -Betid to any creature in the vessel -Which thou heard'st cry , which thou saw'st sink . Sit down ; -For thou must now know further . - -You have often -Begun to tell me what I am , but stopp'd , -And left me to a bootless inquisition , -Concluding , 'Stay ; not yet .' - -The hour's now come , -The very minute bids thee ope thine ear ; -Obey and be attentive . Canst thou remember -A time before we came unto this cell ? -I do not think thou canst , for then thou wast not -Out three years old . - -Certainly , sir , I can . - -By what ? by any other house or person ? -Of anything the image tell me , that -Hath kept with thy remembrance . - -'Tis far off ; -And rather like a dream than an assurance -That my remembrance warrants . Had I not -Four or five women once that tended me ? - -Thou hadst , and more , Miranda . But how is it -That this lives in thy mind ? What seest thou else -In the dark backward and abysm of time ? -If thou remember'st aught ere thou cam'st here , -How thou cam'st here , thou may'st . - -But that I do not . - -Twelve year since , Miranda , twelve year since , -Thy father was the Duke of Milan and -A prince of power . - -Sir , are not you my father ? - -Thy mother was a piece of virtue , and -She said thou wast my daughter ; and thy father -Was Duke of Milan , and his only heir -A princess ,no worse issued . - -O , the heavens ! -What foul play had we that we came from thence ? -Or blessed was't we did ? - -Both , both , my girl : -By foul play , as thou say'st , were we heav'd thence ; -But blessedly holp hither . - -O ! my heart bleeds -To think o' the teen that I have turn'd you to , -Which is from my remembrance . Please you , further . - -My brother and thy uncle , call'd Antonio , -I pray thee , mark me ,that a brother should -Be so perfidious !he whom next thyself , -Of all the world I lov'd , and to him put -The manage of my state ; as at that time , -Through all the signiories it was the first , -And Prospero the prime duke ; being so reputed -In dignity , and for the liberal arts , -Without a parallel : those being all my study , -The government I cast upon my brother , -And to my state grew stranger , being transported -And rapt in secret studies . Thy false uncle -Dost thou attend me ? - -Sir , most heedfully . - -Being once perfected how to grant suits , -How to deny them , who t'advance , and who -To trash for over-topping ; new created -The creatures that were mine , I say , or chang'd 'em , -Or else new form'd 'em : having both the key -Of officer and office , set all hearts i' the state -To what tune pleas'd his ear ; that now he was -The ivy which had hid my princely trunk , -And suck'd my verdure out on't .Thou attend'st not . - -O , good sir ! I do . - -I pray thee , mark me . -I , thus neglecting worldly ends , all dedicated -To closeness and the bettering of my mind -With that , which , but by being so retir'd , -O'erpriz'd all popular rate , in my false brother -Awak'd an evil nature ; and my trust , -Like a good parent , did beget of him -A falsehood in its contrary as great -As my trust was ; which had , indeed no limit , -A confidence sans bound . He being thus lorded , -Not only with what my revenue yielded , -But what my power might else exact ,like one , -Who having , into truth , by telling of it , -Made such a sinner of his memory , -To credit his own lie ,he did believe -He was indeed the duke ; out o' the substitution , -And executing th' outward face of royalty , -With all prerogative :Hence his ambition growing , -Dost thou hear ? - -Your tale , sir , would cure deafness . - -To have no screen between this part he play'd -And him he play'd it for , he needs will be -Absolute Milan . Me , poor man ,my library -Was dukedom large enough : of temporal royalties -He thinks me now incapable ; confederates , -So dry he was for sway ,wi' the king of Naples -To give him annual tribute , do him homage ; -Subject his coronet to his crown , and bend -The dukedom , yet unbow'd ,alas , poor Milan ! -To most ignoble stooping . - -O the heavens ! - -Mark his condition and the event ; then tell me -If this might be a brother . - -I should sin -To think but nobly of my grandmother : -Good wombs have borne bad sons . - -Now the condition . -This King of Naples , being an enemy -To me inveterate , hearkens my brother's suit ; -Which was , that he , in lieu o' the premises -Of homage and I know not how much tribute , -Should presently extirpate me and mine -Out of the dukedom , and confer fair Milan , -With all the honours on my brother : whereon , -A treacherous army levied , one midnight -Fated to the purpose did Antonio open -The gates of Milan ; and , i' the dead of darkness , -The ministers for the purpose hurried thence -Me and thy crying self . - -Alack , for pity ! -I , not rememb'ring how I cried out then , -Will cry it o'er again : it is a hint , -That wrings mine eyes to 't . - -Hear a little further , -And then I'll bring thee to the present business -Which now's upon us ; without the which this story -Were most impertinent . - -Wherefore did they not -That hour destroy us ? - -Well demanded , wench : -My tale provokes that question . Dear , they durst not , -So dear the love my people bore me , nor set -A mark so bloody on the business ; but -With colours fairer painted their foul ends . -In few , they hurried us aboard a bark , -Bore us some leagues to sea ; where they prepar'd -A rotten carcass of a boat , not rigg'd , -Nor tackle , sail , nor mast ; the very rats -Instinctively have quit it : there they hoist us , -To cry to the sea that roar'd to us ; to sigh -To the winds whose pity , sighing back again , -Did us but loving wrong . - -Alack ! what trouble -Was I then to you ! - -O , a cherubin -Thou wast , that did preserve me ! Thou didst smile , -Infused with a fortitude from heaven , -When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt , -Under my burden groan'd ; which rais'd in me -An undergoing stomach , to bear up -Against what should ensue . - -How came we ashore ? - -By Providence divine . -Some food we had and some fresh water that -A noble Neapolitan , Gonzalo , -Out of his charity ,who being then appointed -Master of this design ,did give us ; with -Rich garments , linens , stuffs , and necessaries , -Which since have steaded much ; so , of his gentleness , -Knowing I lov'd my books , he furnish'd me , -From mine own library with volumes that -I prize above my dukedom . - -Would I might -But ever see that man ! - -Now I arise : - -Sit still , and hear the last of our sea-sorrow . -Here in this island we arriv'd ; and here -Have I , thy schoolmaster , made thee more profit -Than other princes can , that have more time -For vainer hours and tutors not so careful . - -Heavens thank you for't ! And now , I pray you , sir , -For still 'tis beating in my mind ,your reason -For raising this sea-storm ? - -Know thus far forth . -By accident most strange , bountiful Fortune , -Now my dear lady , hath mine enemies -Brought to this shore ; and by my prescience -I find my zenith doth depend upon -A most auspicious star , whose influence -If now I court not but omit , my fortunes -Will ever after droop . Here cease more questions ; -Thou art inclin'd to sleep ; 'tis a good dulness , -And give it way ;I know thou canst not choose . - -Come away , servant , come ! I'm ready now . -Approach , my Ariel ; come ! - - -All hail , great master ! grave sir , hail ! I come -To answer thy best pleasure ; be't to fly , -To swim , to dive into the fire , to ride -On the curl'd clouds : to thy strong bidding task -Ariel and all his quality . - -Hast thou , spirit , -Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee ? - -To every article . -I boarded the king's ship ; now on the beak , -Now in the waist , the deck , in every cabin , -I flam'd amazement : sometime I'd divide -And burn in many places ; on the topmast , -The yards , and boresprit , would I flame distinctly , -Then meet , and join : Jove's lightnings , the precursors -O' the dreadful thunder-claps , more momentary -And sight-outrunning were not : the fire and cracks -Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune -Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble , -Yea , his dread trident shake . - -My brave spirit ! -Who was so firm , so constant , that this coil -Would not infect his reason ? - -Not a soul -But felt a fever of the mad and play'd -Some tricks of desperation . All but mariners , -Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel , -Then all a-fire with me : the king's son , Ferdinand , -With hair up-staring ,then like reeds , not hair , -Was the first man that leap'd ; cried , 'Hell is empty , -And all the devils are here .' - -Why , that's my spirit ! -But was not this nigh shore ? - -Close by , my master . - -But are they , Ariel , safe ? - -Not a hair perish'd ; -On their sustaining garments not a blemish , -But fresher than before : and , as thou bad'st me , -In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle . -The king's son have I landed by himself ; -Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs -In an odd angle of the isle and sitting , -His arms in this sad knot . - -Of the king's ship -The mariners , say how thou hast dispos'd , -And all the rest o' the fleet . - -Safely in harbour -Is the king's ship ; in the deep nook , where once -Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew -From the still-vex'd Bermoothes ; there she's hid : -The mariners all under hatches stow'd ; -Who , with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour , -I have left asleep : and for the rest o' the fleet -Which I dispers'd , they all have met again , -And are upon the Mediterranean flote , -Bound sadly home for Naples , -Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrack'd , -And his great person perish . - -Ariel , thy charge -Exactly is perform'd : but there's more work : -What is the time o' th' day ? - -Past the mid season . - -At least two glasses . The time 'twixt six and now -Must by us both be spent most preciously . - -Is there more toil ? Since thou dost give me pains , -Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd -Which is not yet perform'd me . - -How now ! moody ? -What is't thou canst demand ? - -My liberty . - -Before the time be out ? no more ! - -I prithee -Remember , I have done thee worthy service ; -Told thee no lies , made no mistakings , serv'd -Without or grudge or grumblings : thou didst promise -To bate me a full year . - -Dost thou forget -From what a torment I did free thee ? - -No . - -Thou dost ; and think'st it much to tread the ooze -Of the salt deep , -To run upon the sharp wind of the north , -To do me business in the veins o' th' earth -When it is bak'd with frost . - -I do not , sir . - -Thou liest , malignant thing ! Hast thou forgot -The foul witch Sycorax , who with age and envy -Was grown into a hoop ? hast thou forgot her ? - -No , sir . - -Thou hast . Where was she born ? speak ; tell me . - -Sir , in Argier . - -O ! was she so ? I must , -Once in a month , recount what thou hast been , -Which thou forget'st . This damn'd witch , Sycorax , -For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible -To enter human hearing , from Argier , -Thou know'st , was banish'd : for one thing she did -They would not take her life . Is not this true ? - -Ay , sir . - -This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child -And here was left by the sailors . Thou , my slave , -As thou report'st thyself , wast then her servant : -And , for thou wast a spirit too delicate -To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands , -Refusing her grand hests , she did confine thee , -By help of her more potent ministers , -And in her most unmitigable rage , -Into a cloven pine ; within which rift -Imprison'd , thou didst painfully remain -A dozen years ; within which space she died -And left thee there , where thou didst vent thy groans -As fast as mill-wheels strike . Then was this island , -Save for the son that she did litter here , -A freckled whelp hag-born ,not honour'd with -A human shape . - -Yes ; Caliban her son . - -Dull thing , I say so ; he that Caliban , -Whom now I keep in service . Thou best know'st -What torment I did find thee in ; thy groans -Did make wolves howl and penetrate the breasts -Of ever-angry bears : it was a torment -To lay upon the damn'd , which Sycorax -Could not again undo ; it was mine art , -When I arriv'd and heard thee , that made gape -The pine , and let thee out . - -I thank thee , master . - -If thou more murmur'st , I will rend an oak -And peg thee in his knotty entrails till -Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters . - -Pardon , master ; -I will be correspondent to command , -And do my spiriting gently . - -Do so ; and after two days -I will discharge thee . - -That's my noble master ! -What shall I do ? say what ? what shall I do ? - -Go make thyself like a nymph of the sea : be subject -To no sight but thine and mine ; invisible -To every eyeball else . Go , take this shape , -And hither come in't : go , hence with diligence ! - -Awake , dear heart , awake ! thou hast slept well ; -Awake ! - -The strangeness of your story put -Heaviness in me . - -Shake it off . Come on ; -We'll visit Caliban my slave , who never -Yields us kind answer . - -'Tis a villain , sir , -I do not love to look on . - -But , as 'tis , -We cannot miss him : he does make our fire , -Fetch in our wood ; and serves in offices -That profit us .What ho ! slave ! Caliban ! -Thou earth , thou ! speak . - -There's wood enough within . - -Come forth , I say ; there's other business for thee : -Come , thou tortoise ! when ? - - -Fine apparition ! My quaint Ariel , - -Hark in thine ear . - -My lord , it shall be done . - - -Thou poisonous slave , got by the devil himself -Upon thy wicked dam , come forth ! - - -As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd -With raven's feather from unwholesome fen -Drop on you both ! a south-west blow on ye , -And blister you all o'er ! - -For this , be sure , to-night thou shalt have cramps , -Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up ; urchins -Shall forth at vast of night , that they may work -All exercise on thee : thou shalt be pinch'd -As thick as honeycomb , each pinch more stinging -Than bees that made them . - -I must eat my dinner . -This island's mine , by Sycorax my mother , -Which thou tak'st from me . When thou camest first , -Thou strok'dst me , and mad'st much of me ; wouldst give me -Water with berries in't ; and teach me how -To name the bigger light , and how the less , -That burn by day and night : and then I lov'd thee -And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle , -The fresh springs , brine-pits , barren place , and fertile . -Cursed be I that did so !All the charms -Of Sycorax , toads , beetles , bats , light on you ! -For I am all the subjects that you have , -Which first was mine own king ; and here you sty me -In this hard rock , whiles you do keep from me -The rest o' th' island . - -Thou most lying slave , -Whom stripes may move , not kindness ! I have us'd thee , -Filth as thou art , with human care ; and lodg'd thee -In mine own cell , till thou didst seek to violate -The honour of my child . - -Oh ho ! Oh ho !would it had been done ! -Thou didst prevent me ; I had peopled else -This isle with Calibans . - -Abhorred slave , -Which any print of goodness will not take , -Being capable of all ill ! I pitied thee , -Took pains to make thee speak , taught thee each hour -One thing or other : when thou didst not , savage , -Know thine own meaning , but wouldst gabble like -A thing most brutish , I endow'd thy purposes -With words that made them known : but thy vile race , -Though thou didst learn , had that in't which good natures -Could not abide to be with ; therefore wast thou -Deservedly confin'd into this rock , -Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison . - -You taught me language : and my profit on't -Is , I know how to curse : the red plague rid you , -For learning me your language ! - -Hag-seed , hence ! -Fetch us in fuel ; and be quick , thou'rt best , -To answer other business . Shrug'st thou , malice ? -If thou neglect'st , or dost unwillingly -What I command , I'll rack thee with old cramps , -Fill all thy bones with aches ; make thee roar , -That beasts shall tremble at thy din . - -No , pray thee ! - - -I must obey : his art is of such power , -It would control my dam's god , Setebos , -And make a vassal of him . - -So , slave ; hence ! - -Come unto these yellow sands , -And then take hands : -Curtsied when you have , and kiss'd , -The wild waves whist , -Foot it featly here and there ; -And , sweet sprites , the burden bear . -Hark , hark ! - -The watch-dogs bark : - -Hark , hark ! I hear -The strain of strutting Chanticleer - -Where should this music be ? i' th' air , or th' earth ? -It sounds no more ;and sure , it waits upon -Some god o' th' island . Sitting on a bank , -Weeping again the king my father's wrack , -This music crept by me upon the waters , -Allaying both their fury , and my passion , -With its sweet air : thence I have follow'd it , -Or it hath drawn me rather ,but 'tis gone . -No , it begins again . - -Full fathom five thy father lies ; -Of his bones are coral made -Those are pearls that were his eyes : -Nothing of him that doth fade , -But doth suffer a sea-change -Into something rich and strange . -Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell : - -Hark ! now I hear them ,ding-dong , bell . - - -The ditty does remember my drown'd father . -This is no mortal business , nor no sound -That the earth owes :I hear it now above me . - -The fringed curtains of thine eye advance , -And say what thou seest yond . - -What is't ? a spirit ? -Lord , how it looks about ! Believe me , sir , -It carries a brave form :but 'tis a spirit . - -No , wench ; it eats and sleeps , and hath such senses -As we have , such ; this gallant which thou see'st , -Was in the wrack ; and , but he's something stain'd -With grief ,that's beauty's canker ,thou might'st call him -A goodly person : he hath lost his fellows -And strays about to find 'em . - -I might call him -A thing divine ; for nothing natural -I ever saw so noble . - -It goes on , I see , -As my soul prompts it .Spirit , fine spirit ! I'll free thee -Within two days for this . - -Most sure , the goddess -On whom these airs attend !Vouchsafe , my prayer -May know if you remain upon this island ; -And that you will some good instruction give -How I may bear me here : my prime request , -Which I do last pronounce , is ,O you wonder ! -If you be maid or no ? - -No wonder , sir ; -But certainly a maid . - -My language ! heavens ! -I am the best of them that speak this speech , -Were I but where 'tis spoken . - -How ! the best ? -What wert thou , if the King of Naples heard thee ? - -A single thing , as I am now , that wonders -To hear thee speak of Naples . He does hear me ; -And , that he does , I weep : myself am Naples , -Who with mine eyes ,ne'er since at ebb ,beheld -The king , my father wrack'd . - -Alack , for mercy ! - -Yes , faith , and all his lords ; the Duke of Milan , -And his brave son being twain . - -The Duke of Milan , -And his more braver daughter could control thee , -If now 'twere fit to do't .At the first sight - -They have changed eyes :delicate Ariel , -I'll set thee free for this ! - -A word , good sir ; -I fear you have done yourself some wrong : a word . - -Why speaks my father so ungently ? This -Is the third man that e'er I saw ; the first -That e'er I sigh'd for : pity move my father -To be inclin'd my way ! - -O ! if a virgin , -And your affection not gone forth , I'll make you -The Queen of Naples . - -Soft , sir : one word more - - -They are both in either's powers : but this swift business -I must uneasy make , lest too light winning -Make the prize light . - -One word more : I charge thee -That thou attend me . Thou dost here usurp -The name thou ow'st not ; and hast put thyself -Upon this island as a spy , to win it -From me , the lord on't . - -No , as I am a man . - -There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple : -If the ill spirit have so fair a house , -Good things will strive to dwell with't . - -Follow me . - - -Come ; -I'll manacle thy neck and feet together : -Sea-water shalt thou drink ; thy food shall be -The fresh-brook muscles , wither'd roots and husks -Wherein the acorn cradled . Follow . - -No ; -I will resist such entertainment till -Mine enemy has more power . - - -O dear father ! -Make not too rash a trial of him , for -He's gentle , and not fearful . - -What ! I say , -My foot my tutor ?Put thy sword up , traitor ; -Who mak'st a show , but dar'st not strike , thy conscience -Is so possess'd with guilt : come from thy ward , -For I can here disarm thee with this stick -And make thy weapon drop . - -Beseech you , father ! - -Hence ! hang not on my garments . - -Sir , have pity : -I'll be his surety . - -Silence ! one word more -Shall make me chide thee , if not hate thee . What ! -An advocate for an impostor ? hush ! -Thou think'st there is no more such shapes as he , -Having seen but him and Caliban : foolish wench ! -To the most of men this is a Caliban -And they to him are angels . - -My affections -Are then most humble ; I have no ambition -To see a goodlier man . - -Come on ; obey : -Thy nerves are in their infancy again , -And have no vigour in them . - -So they are : -My spirits , as in a dream , are all bound up . -My father's loss , the weakness which I feel , -The wrack of all my friends , or this man's threats , -To whom I am subdued , are but light to me , -Might I but through my prison once a day -Behold this maid : all corners else o' th' earth -Let liberty make use of ; space enough -Have I in such a prison . - -Come on . -Thou hast done well , fine Ariel ! - -Follow me . - - -Hark , what thou else shalt do me . - -Be of comfort ; -My father's of a better nature , sir , -Than he appears by speech : this is unwonted , -Which now came from him . - -Thou shalt be as free -As mountain winds ; but then exactly do -All points of my command . - -To the syllable . - -Come , follow .Speak not for him . - -Beseech you , sir , be merry : you have cause , -So have we all , of joy ; for our escape -Is much beyond our loss . Our hint of woe -Is common : every day some sailor's wife , -The masters of some merchant and the merchant , -Have just our theme of woe ; but for the miracle , -I mean our preservation , few in millions -Can speak like us : then wisely , good sir , weigh -Our sorrow with our comfort . - -Prithee , peace . - -He receives comfort like cold porridge . - -The visitor will not give him o'er so . - -Look , he's winding up the watch of his wit ; by and by it will strike . - -Sir , - -One : tell . - -When every grief is entertain'd that's offer'd , -Comes to the entertainer - -A dollar . - -Dolour comes to him , indeed : you have spoken truer than you purposed . - -You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should . - -Therefore , my lord , - -Fie , what a spendthrift is he of his tongue ! - -I prithee , spare . - -Well , I have done : but yet - -He will be talking . - -Which , of he or Adrian , for a good wager , first begins to crow ? - -The old cock . - -The cockerel . - -Done . The wager ? - -A laughter . - -A match ! - -Though this island seem to be desert , - -Ha , ha , ha ! So you're paid . - -Uninhabitable , and almost inaccessible , - -Yet - -Yet - -He could not miss it . - -It must needs be of subtle , tender , and delicate temperance . - -Temperance was a delicate wench . - -Ay , and a subtle ; as he most learnedly delivered . - -The air breathes upon us here most sweetly . - -As if it had lungs , and rotten ones . - -Or as 'twere perfumed by a fen . - -Here is everything advantageous to life . - -True ; save means to live . - -Of that there's none , or little . - -How lush and lusty the grass looks ! how green ! - -The ground indeed is tawny . - -With an eye of green in't . - -He misses not much . - -No ; he doth but mistake the truth totally . - -But the rarity of it is ,which is indeed almost beyond credit , - -As many vouch'd rarities are . - -That our garments , being , as they were , drenched in the sea , hold notwithstanding their freshness and glosses ; being rather new-dyed than stain'd with salt water . - -If but one of his pockets could speak , would it not say he lies ? - -Ay , or very falsely pocket up his report . - -Methinks , our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric , at the marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis . - -'Twas a sweet marriage , and we prosper well in our return . - -Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen . - -Not since widow Dido's time . - -Widow ! a pox o' that ! How came that widow in ? Widow Dido ! - -What if he had said , widower neas too ? Good Lord , how you take it ! - -Widow Dido , said you ? you make me study of that : she was of Carthage , not of Tunis . - -This Tunis , sir , was Carthage . - -Carthage ? - -I assure you , Carthage . - -His word is more than the miraculous harp . - -He hath rais'd the wall , and houses too . - -What impossible matter will he make easy next ? - -I think he will carry this island home in his pocket , and give it his son for an apple . - -And , sowing the kernels of it in the sea , bring forth more islands . - -Ay ? - -Why , in good time . - -Sir , we were talking that our garments seem now as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter , who is now queen . - -And the rarest that e'er came there . - -Bate , I beseech you , widow Dido . - -O ! widow Dido ; ay , widow Dido . - -Is not , sir , my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it ? I mean , in a sort . - -That sort was well fish'd for . - -When I wore it at your daughter's marriage ? - -You cram these words into mine ears , against -The stomach of my sense . Would I had never -Married my daughter there ! for , coming thence , -My son is lost ; and , in my rate , she too , -Who is so far from Italy remov'd , -I ne'er again shall see her . O thou , mine heir -Of Naples and of Milan ! what strange fish -Hath made his meal on thee ? - -Sir , he may live : -I saw him beat the surges under him , -And ride upon their backs : he trod the water , -Whose enmity he flung aside , and breasted -The surge most swoln that met him : his bold head -'Bove the contentious waves he kept , and oar'd -Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke -To the shore , that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd , -As stooping to relieve him . I not doubt -He came alive to land . - -No , no ; he's gone . - -Sir , you may thank yourself for this great loss , -That would not bless our Europe with your daughter , -But rather lose her to an African ; -Where she at least is banish'd from your eye , -Who hath cause to wet the grief on't . - -Prithee , peace . - -You were kneel'd to and importun'd otherwise -By all of us ; and the fair soul herself -Weigh'd between loathness and obedience , at -Which end o' the beam should bow . We have lost your son , -I fear , for ever : Milan and Naples have -More widows in them of this business' making , -Than we bring men to comfort them : the fault's -Your own . - -So is the dearest of the loss . - -My lord Sebastian , -The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness -And time to speak it in ; you rub the sore , -When you should bring the plaster . - -Very well . - -And most chirurgeonly . - -It is foul weather in us all , good sir , -When you are cloudy . - -Foul weather ? - -Very foul . - -Had I plantation of this isle , my lord , - -He'd sow't with nettle-seed . - -Or docks , or mallows . - -'And were the king on't , what would I do ? - -'Scape being drunk for want of wine . - -I' the commonwealth I would by contraries -Execute all things ; for no kind of traffic -Would I admit ; no name of magistrate ; -Letters should not be known ; riches , poverty , -And use of service , none ; contract , succession , -Bourn , bound of land , tilth , vineyard , none ; -No use of metal , corn , or wine , or oil ; -No occupation ; all men idle , all ; -And women too , but innocent and pure ; -No sovereignty , - -Yet he would be king on't . - -The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning . - -All things in common nature should produce -Without sweat or endeavour : treason , felony , -Sword , pike , knife , gun , or need of any engine , -Would I not have ; but nature should bring forth , -Of its own kind , all foison , all abundance , -To feed my innocent people . - -No marrying 'mong his subjects ? - -None , man ; all idle ; whores and knaves . - -I would with such perfection govern , sir , -To excel the golden age - -Save his majesty ! - -Long live Gonzalo ! - -And ,do you mark me , sir ? - -Prithee , no more : thou dost talk nothing to me . - -I do well believe your highness ; and did it to minister occasion to these gentlemen , who are of such sensible and nimble lungs that they always use to laugh at nothing . - -'Twas you we laugh'd at . - -Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing to you ; so you may continue and laugh at nothing still . - -What a blow was there given ! - -An it had not fallen flat-long . - -You are gentlemen of brave mettle : you would lift the moon out of her sphere , if she would continue in it five weeks without changing . - - -We would so , and then go a-bat-fowling . - -Nay , good my lord , be not angry . - -No , I warrant you ; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly . Will you laugh me asleep , for I am very heavy ? - -Go sleep , and hear us . - - -What ! all so soon asleep ! I wish mine eyes -Would , with themselves , shut up my thoughts : I find -They are inclin'd to do so . - -Please you , sir , -Do not omit the heavy offer of it : -It seldom visits sorrow ; when it doth -It is a comforter . - -We two , my lord , -Will guard your person while you take your rest , -And watch your safety . - -Thank you . Wondrous heavy . - - -What a strange drowsiness possesses them ! - -It is the quality o' the climate . - -Why -Doth it not then our eyelids sink ? I find not -Myself dispos'd to sleep . - -Nor I : my spirits are nimble . -They fell together all , as by consent ; -They dropp'd , as by a thunder-stroke . What might , -Worthy Sebastian ? O ! what might ?No more : -And yet methinks I see it in thy face , -What thou should'st be . The occasion speaks thee ; and -My strong imagination sees a crown -Dropping upon thy head . - -What ! art thou waking ? - -Do you not hear me speak ? - -I do ; and surely , -It is a sleepy language , and thou speak'st -Out of thy sleep . What is it thou didst say ? -This is a strange repose , to be asleep -With eyes wide open ; standing , speaking , moving , -And yet so fast asleep . - -Noble Sebastian , -Thou let'st thy fortune sleep die rather ; wink'st -Whiles thou art waking . - -Thou dost snore distinctly : -There's meaning in thy snores . - -I am more serious than my custom : you -Must be so too , if heed me ; which to do -Trebles thee o'er . - -Well ; I am standing water . - -I'll teach you how to flow . - -Do so : to ebb , -Hereditary sloth instructs me . - -O ! -If you but knew how you the purpose cherish -Whiles thus you mock it ! how , in stripping it , -You more invest it ! Ebbing men , indeed , -Most often do so near the bottom run -By their own fear or sloth . - -Prithee , say on : -The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim -A matter from thee , and a birth indeed -Which throes thee much to yield . - -Thus , sir : -Although this lord of weak remembrance , this -Who shall be of as little memory -When he is earth'd , hath here almost persuaded , -For he's a spirit of persuasion , only -Professes to persuade ,the king , his son's alive , -'Tis as impossible that he's undrown'd -As he that sleeps here swims . - -I have no hope -That he's undrown'd . - -O ! out of that 'no hope -What great hope have you ! no hope that way is -Another way so high a hope that even -Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond , -But doubts discovery there . Will you grant with me -That Ferdinand is drown'd ? - -He's gone . - -Then tell me -Who's the next heir of Naples ? - -Claribel . - -She that is Queen of Tums ; she that dwells -Ten leagues beyond man's life ; she that from Naples -Can have no note , unless the sun were post -The man i' th' moon's too slow till new-born chins -Be rough and razorable : she that , from whom ? -We all were sea-swallow'd , though some cast again , -And by that destiny to perform an act -Whereof what's past is prologue , what to come -In yours and my discharge . - -What stuff is this !How say you ? -'Tis true my brother's daughter's Queen of Tunis ; -So is she heir of Naples ; 'twixt which regions -There is some space . - -A space whose every cubit -Seems to cry out , 'How shall that Claribel -Measure us back to Naples ?Keep in Tunis , -And let Sebastian wake !' Say , this were death -That now hath seiz'd them ; why , they were no worse -Than now they are . There be that can rule Naples -As well as he that sleeps ; lords that can prate -As amply and unnecessarily -As this Gonzalo ; I myself could make -A chough of as deep chat . O , that you bore -The mind that I do ! what a sleep were this -For your advancement ! Do you understand me ? - -Methinks I do . - -And how does your content -Tender your own good fortune ? - -I remember -You did supplant your brother Prospero . - -True : -And look how well my garments sit upon me ; -Much feater than before ; my brother's servants -Were then my fellows ; now they are my men . - -But , for your conscience , - -Ay , sir ; where lies that ? if it were a kibe , -'Twould put me to my slipper ; but I feel not -This deity in my bosom : twenty consciences , -That stand 'twixt me and Milan , candied be they , -And melt ere they molest ! Here lies your brother , -No better than the earth he lies upon , -If he were that which now he's like , that's dead ; -Whom I , with this obedient steel ,three inches of it , -Can lay to bed for ever ; whiles you , doing thus , -To the perpetual wink for aye might put -This ancient morsel , this Sir Prudence , who -Should not upbraid our course . For all the rest , -They'll take suggestion as a cat laps milk ; -They'll tell the clock to any business that -We say befits the hour . - -Thy case , dear friend , -Shall be my precedent : as thou got'st Milan , -I'll come by Naples . Draw thy sword : one stroke -Shall free thee from the tribute which thou pay'st , -And I the king shall love thee . - -Draw together ; -And when I rear my hand , do you the like , -To fall it on Gonzalo . - -O ! but one word . - -My master through his art foresees the danger -That you , his friend , are in ; and sends me forth -For else his project dies to keep thee living . - - -While you here do snoring lie , -Open-ey'd Conspiracy -His time doth take . -If of life you keep a care , -Shake off slumber , and beware -Awake ! awake ! - - -Then let us both be sudden . - -Now , good angels -Preserve the king ! - - -Why , how now ! ho , awake ! Why are you drawn ? -Wherefore this ghastly looking ? - -What's the matter ? - -Whiles we stood here securing your repose , -Even now , we heard a hollow burst of bellowing -Like bulls , or rather hons ; did't not wake you ? -It struck mine ear most terribly . - -I heard nothing . - -O ! 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear , -To make an earthquake : sure it was the roar -Of a whole herd of lions . - -Heard you this , Gonzalo ? - -Upon mine honour , sir , I heard a humming , -And that a strange one too , which did awake me . -I shak'd you , sir , and cry'd ; as mine eyes open'd , -I saw their weapons drawn :there was a noise , -That's verily . 'Tis best we stand upon our guard , -Or that we quit this place : let's draw our weapons . - -Lead off this ground , and let's make further search -For my poor son . - -Heavens keep him from these beasts ! -For he is , sure , i' the island . - -Lead away . - - -Prospero my lord shall know what I have done : -So , king , go safely on to seek thy son . - - -All the infections that the sun sucks up -From bogs , fens , flats , on Prosper fall , and make him -By inch-meal a disease ! His spirits hear me , -And yet I needs must curse . But they'll nor pinch , -Fright me with urchin-shows , pitch me i' the mire , -Nor lead me , like a firebrand , in the dark -Out of my way , unless he bid 'em ; but -For every trifle are they set upon me : -Sometime like apes , that mow and chatter at me -And after bite me ; then like hedge-hogs , which -Lie tumbling in my bare-foot way and mount -Their pricks at my foot-fall ; sometime am I -All wound with adders , who with cloven tongues -Do hiss me into madness . - - -Lo now ! lo ! -Here comes a spirit of his , and to torment me -For bringing wood in slowly : I'll fall flat ; - -Perchance he will not mind me . - -Here's neither bush nor shrub to bear off any weather at all , and another storm brewing ; I hear it sing i' the wind : yond same black cloud , yond huge one , looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor . If it should thunder as it did before , I know not where to hide my head : yond same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls .What have we here ? a man or a fish ? Dead or alive ? A fish : he smells like a fish ; a very ancient and fish-like smell ; a kind of not of the newest Poor-John . A strange fish ! Were I in England now ,as once I was ,and had but this fish painted , not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver : there would this monster make a man ; any strange beast there makes a man . When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar , they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian . Legg'd like a man ! and his fins like arms ! Warm , o' my troth ! I do now let loose my opinion , hold it no longer ; this is no fish , but an islander , that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt . - -Alas ! the storm is come again : my best way is to creep under his gaberdine ; there is no other shelter hereabout : misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows . I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past . - -I shall no more to sea , to sea , -Here shall I die a-shore : - -This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral : -Well , here's my comfort . - - -The master , the swabber , the boatswain and I , -The gunner and his mate , -Lov'd Mall , Meg , and Marian and Margery , -But none of us car'd for Kate ; -For she had a tongue with a tang , -Would cry to a sailor , 'Go hang !' -She lov'd not the savour of tar nor of pitch , -Yet a tailor might scratch her where-e'er she did itch : -Then to sea , boys , and let her go hang . - -This is a scurvy tune too : but here's my comfort . - - -Do not torment me : O ! - -What's the matter ? Have we devils here ? Do you put tricks upon us with savages and men of Ind ? Ha ! I have not 'scaped drowning , to be afeard now of your four legs ; for it hath been said , As proper a man as ever went on four legs cannot make him give ground : and it shall be said so again while Stephano breathes at's nostrils . - -The spirit torments me : O ! - -This is some monster of the isle with four legs , who hath got , as I take it , an ague . Where the devil should he learn our language ? I will give him some relief , if it be but for that : if I can recover him and keep him tame and get to Naples with him , he's a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat's-leather . - -Do not torment me , prithee : I'll bring my wood home faster . - -He's in his fit now and does not talk after the wisest . He shall taste of my bottle : if he have never drunk wine afore it will go near to remove his fit . If I can recover him , and keep him tame , I will not take too much for him : he shall pay for him that hath him , and that soundly . - -Thou dost me yet but little hurt ; thou wilt anon , I know it by thy trembling : now Prosper works upon thee . - -Come on your ways : open your mouth ; here is that which will give language to you , cat . Open your mouth : this will shake your shaking , I can tell you , and that soundly - -: you cannot tell who's your friend ; open your chaps again . - -I should know that voice : it should be but he is drowned , and these are devils . O ! defend me . - -Four legs and two voices ; a most delicate monster ! His forward voice now is to speak well of his friend ; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches , and to detract . If all the wine in my bottle will recover him , I will help his ague . Come . Amen ! I will pour some in thy other mouth . - -Stephano ! - -Doth thy other mouth call me ? Mercy ! mercy ! This is a devil , and no monster : I will leave him ; I have no long spoon . - -Stephano !if thou beest Stephano , touch me , and speak to me ; for I am Trinculo :be not afeard thy good friend Trinculo . - -If thou beest Trinculo , come forth . I'll pull thee by the lesser legs : if any be Trinculo's legs , these are they . Thou art very Trinculo indeed ! How cam'st thou to be the siege of this moon-calf ? Can he vent Trinculos ? - -I took him to be killed with a thunderstroke . But art thou not drowned , Stephano ? I hope now thou art not drowned . Is the storm overblown ? I hid me under the dead mooncalf's gaberdine for fear of the storm . And art thou living , Stephano ? O Stephano ! two Neapolitans 'scaped ! - -Prithee , do not turn me about : my stomach is not constant . - -These be fine things an if they be not sprites . -That's a brave god and bears celestial liquor : -I will kneel to him . - -How didst thou 'scape ? How cam'st thou hither ? swear by this bottle , how thou cam'st hither . I escaped upon a butt of sack , which the sailors heaved overboard , by this bottle ! which I made of the bark of a tree with mine own hands , since I was cast ashore . - -I'll swear upon that bottle , to be thy true subject ; for the liquor is not earthly . - -Here : swear then , how thou escapedst . - -Swam ashore , man , like a duck : I can swim like a duck , I'll be sworn . - -Here , kiss the book - -. Though thou canst swim like a duck , thou art made like a goose . - -O Stephano ! hast any more of this ? - -The whole butt , man : my cellar is in a rock by the seaside , where my wine is hid . How now , moon-calf ! how does thine ague ? - -Hast thou not dropped from heaven ? - -Out o the moon , I do assure thee : I was the man in the moon , when time was . - -I have seen thee in her , and I do adore thee ; my mistress showed me thee , and thy dog , and thy bush . - -Come , swear to that ; kiss the book ; I will furnish it anon with new contents ; swear . - -By this good light , this is a very shallow monster .I afeard of him !a very weak monster .The man i' the moon ! a most poor credulous monster !Well drawn , monster , in good sooth . - -I'll show thee every fertile inch o' the island ; -And I will kiss thy foot . I prithee , be my god . - -By this light , a most perfidious and drunken monster : when his god's asleep , he'll rob his bottle . - -I'll kiss thy foot : I'll swear myself thy subject . - -Come on then ; down , and swear . - -I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed monster . A most scurvy monster ! I could find in my heart to beat him , - -Come , kiss . - -But that the poor monster's in drink : an abominable monster ! - -I'll shew thee the best springs ; I'll pluck thee berries ; -I'll fish for thee , and get thee wood enough . -A plague upon the tyrant that I serve ! -I'll bear him no more sticks , but follow thee , -Thou wondrous man . - -A most ridiculous monster , to make a wonder of a poor drunkard ! - -I prithee , let me bring thee where crabs grow ; -And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts ; -Show thee a jay's nest and instruct thee how -To snare the nimble marmozet ; I'll bring thee -To clust'ring filberts , and sometimes I'll get thee -Young scamels from the rock . Wilt thou go with me ? - -I prithee now , lead the way , without any more talking .Trinculo , the king and all our company else being drowned , we will inherit here .Here ; bear my bottle .Fellow Trinculo , we'll fill him by and by again . - -Farewell , master ; farewell , farewell - - -A howling monster , a drunken monster . - - -No more dams I'll make for fish , -Nor fetch in firing -At requiring , -Nor scrape trenchering , nor wash dish , -'Ban , 'Ban , Ca Caliban , -Has a new master Get a new man . - -Freedom , high-day ! high-day , freedom ! freedom ! high-day , freedom ! - -O brave monster ! lead the way . - -There be some sports are painful , and their labour -Delight in them sets off : some kinds of baseness -Are nobly undergone , and most poor matters -Point to rich ends . This my mean task -Would be as heavy to me as odious ; but -The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead -And makes my labours pleasures : O ! she is -Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed , -And he's compos'd of harshness . I must remove -Some thousands of these logs and pile them up , -Upon a sore injunction : my sweet mistress -Weeps when she sees me work , and says such baseness -Had never like executor . I forget : -But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours , -Most busiest when I do it . - - -Alas ! now , pray you , -Work not so hard : I would the lightning had -Burnt up those logs that you are enjoin'd to pile ! -Pray , set it down and rest you : when this burns , -'Twill weep for having wearied you . My father -Is hard at study ; pray now , rest yourself : -He's safe for these three hours . - -O most dear mistress , -The sun will set , before I shall discharge -What I must strive to do . - -If you'll sit down , -I'll bear your logs the while . Pray , give me that ; -I'll carry it to the pile . - -No , precious creature : -I had rather crack my sinews , break my back , -Than you should such dishonour undergo , -While I sit lazy by . - -It would become me -As well as it does you : and I should do it -With much more ease ; for my good will is to it , -And yours it is against . - -Poor worm ! thou art infected : -This visitation shows it . - -You look wearily . - -No , noble mistress ; 'tis fresh morning with me -When you are by at night . I do beseech you -Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers -What is your name ? - -Miranda .O my father ! -I have broke your hest to say so . - -Admir'd Miranda ! -Indeed , the top of admiration ; worth -What's dearest to the world ! Full many a lady -I have ey'd with best regard , and many a time -The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage -Brought my too diligent ear : for several virtues -Have I lik'd several women ; never any -With so full soul but some defect in her -Did quarrel with the noblest grace she ow'd , -And put it to the foil : but you , O you ! -So perfect and so peerless , are created -Of every creature's best . - -I do not know -One of my sex ; no woman's face remember , -Save , from my glass , mine own ; nor have I seen -More that I may call men than you , good friend , -And my dear father : how features are abroad , -I am skill-less of ; but , by my modesty , -The jewel in my dower ,I would not wish -Any companion in the world but you ; -Nor can imagination form a shape , -Besides yourself , to like of . But I prattle -Something too wildly and my father's precepts -I therein do forget . - -I am in my condition -A prince , Miranda ; I do think , a king ; -I would not so !and would no more endure -This wooden slavery than to suffer -The flesh-fly blow my mouth .Hear my soul speak : -The very instant that I saw you did -My heart fly to your service ; there resides , -To make me slave to it ; and for your sake -Am I this patient log-man . - -Do you love me ? - -O heaven ! O earth ! bear witness to this sound , -And crown what I profess with kind event -If I speak true : if hollowly , invert -What best is boded me to mischief ! I , -Beyond all limit of what else i' the world , -Do love , prize , honour you . - -I am a fool -To weep at what I am glad of . - -Fair encounter -Of two most rare affections ! Heavens rain grace -On that which breeds between them ! - -Wherefore weep you ? - -At mine unworthiness , that dare not offer -What I desire to give ; and much less take -What I shall die to want . But this is trifling ; -And all the more it seeks to hide itself -The bigger bulk it shows . Hence , bashful cunning ! -And prompt me , plain and holy innocence ! -I am your wife , if you will marry me ; -If not , I'll die your maid : to be your fellow -You may deny me ; but I'll be your servant -Whether you will or no . - -My mistress , dearest ; -And I thus humble ever . - -My husband then ? - -Ay , with a heart as willing -As bondage e'er of freedom : here's my hand . - -And mine , with my heart in't : and now farewell -Till half an hour hence . - -A thousand thousand ! - - -So glad of this as they , I cannot be , -Who are surpris'd withal ; but my rejoicing -At nothing can be more . I'll to my book ; -For yet , ere supper time , must I perform -Much business appertaining . - - -Tell not me :when the butt is out , we will drink water ; not a drop before : therefore bear up , and board 'em .Servant-monster , drink to me . - -Servant-monster ! the folly of this island ! They say there's but five upon this isle : we are three of them ; if th' other two be brained like us , the state totters . - -Drink , servant-monster , when I bid thee : thy eyes are almost set in thy head . - -Where should they be set else ? he were a brave monster indeed , if they were set in his tail . - -My man-monster hath drowned his tongue in sack : for my part , the sea cannot drown me ; I swam , ere I could recover the shore , five-and-thirty leagues , off and on , by this light . Thou shalt be my lieutenant , monster , or my standard . - -Your lieutenant , if you list ; he's no standard . - -We'll not run , Monsieur monster . - -Nor go neither : but you'll lie , like dogs ; and yet say nothing neither . - -Moon-calf , speak once in thy life , if thou beest a good moon-calf . - -How does thy honour ? Let me lick thy shoe . I'll not serve him , he is not valiant . - -Thou hest , most ignorant monster : I am in case to justle a constable . Why , thou deboshed fish thou , was there ever a man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day ? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie , being but half a fish and half a monster ? - -Lo , how he mocks me ! wilt thou let him , my lord ? - -'Lord' quoth he !that a monster should be such a natural ! - -Lo , lo , again ! bite him to death , I prithee . - -Trinculo , keep a good tongue in your head : if you prove a mutineer , the next tree ! The poor monster's my subject , and he shall not suffer indignity . - -I thank my noble lord . Wilt thou be pleas'd -To hearken once again the suit I made thee ? - -Marry , will I ; kneel , and repeat it : I will stand , and so shall Trinculo . - - -As I told thee before , I am subject to a tyrant , a sorcerer , that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island . - -Thou liest . - -Thou liest , thou jesting monkey thou ; -I would my valiant master would destroy thee ; -I do not lie . - -Trinculo , if you trouble him any more in his tale , by this hand , I will supplant some of your teeth . - -Why , I said nothing . - -Mum then and no more . - -Proceed . - -I say , by sorcery he got this isle ; -From me he got it : if thy greatness will , -Revenge it on him ,for , I know , thou dar'st ; -But this thing dare not , - -That's most certain . - -Thou shalt be lord of it and I'll serve thee . - -How now shall this be compassed ? Canst thou bring me to the party ? - -Yea , yea , my lord : I'll yield him thee asleep , -Where thou may'st knock a nail into his head . - -Thou liest ; thou canst not . - -What a pied ninny's this ! Thou scurvy patch ! -I do beseech thy greatness , give him blows , -And take his bottle from him : when that's gone -He shall drink nought but brine ; for I'll not show him -Where the quick freshes are . - -Trinculo , run into no further danger : interrupt the monster one word further , and , by this hand , I'll turn my mercy out o' doors and make a stock-fish of thee . - -Why , what did I ? I did nothing . I'll go further off . - -Didst thou not say he hed ? - -Thou liest . - -Do I so ? take thou that . - - -As you like this , give me the lie another time . - -I did not give thee the he :Out o' your wits and hearing too ?A pox o' your bottle ! this can sack and drinking do .A murrain on your monster , and the devil take your fingers ! - -Ha , ha , ha ! - -Now , forward with your tale .Prithee stand further off . - -Beat him enough : after a little time -I'll beat him too . - -Stand further .Come , proceed . - -Why , as I told thee , 'tis a custom with him -I' the afternoon to sleep : there thou may'st brain him , -Having first seiz'd his books ; or with a log -Batter his skull , or paunch him with a stake , -Or cut his wezand with thy knife . Remember -First to possess his books ; for without them -He's but a sot , as I am , nor hath not -One spirit to command : they all do hate him -As rootedly as I . Burn but his books ; -He has brave utensils ,for so he calls them , -Which , when he has a house , he'll deck withal : -And that most deeply to consider is -The beauty of his daughter ; he himself -Calls her a nonpareil : I never saw a woman , -But only Sycorax my dam and she ; -But she as far surpasseth Sycorax -As great'st does least . - -Is it so brave a lass ? - -Ay , lord ; she will become thy bed , I warrant , -And bring thee forth brave brood . - -Monster , I will kill this man : his daughter and I will be king and queen ,save our graces ! and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys . Dost thou like the plot , Trinculo ? - -Excellent . - -Give me thy hand : I am sorry I beat thee ; but , while thou livest , keep a good tongue in thy head . - -Within this half hour will he be asleep ; -Wilt thou destroy him then ? - -Ay , on mine honour . - -This will I tell my master . - -Thou mak'st me merry : I am full of pleasure . -Let us be jocund : will you troll the catch -You taught me but while-ere ? - -At thy request , monster , I will do reason , any reason : Come on , Trinculo , let us sing . - - -Flout 'em , and scout 'em ; and scout 'em , and flout 'em ; -Thought is free . - - -That's not the tune . - - -What is this same ? - -This is the tune of our catch , played by the picture of Nobody . - -If thou beest a man , show thyself in thy likeness : if thou beest a devil , take't as thou list . - -O , forgive me my sins ! - -He that dies pays all debts : I defy thee .Mercy upon us ! - -Art thou afeard ? - -No , monster , not I . - -Be not afeard : the isle is full of noises , -Sounds and sweet airs , that give delight , and hurt not . -Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments -Will hum about mine ears ; and sometime voices , -That , if I then had wak'd after long sleep , -Will make mesleep again : and then , in dreaming , -The clouds methought would open and show riches -Ready to drop upon me ; that , when I wak'd -I cried to dream again . - -This will prove a brave kingdom to me , where I shall have my music for nothing . - -When Prospero is destroyed . - -That shall be by and by : I remember the story . - -The sound is going away : let's follow it , and after do our work . - -Lead , monster ; we'll follow .I would I could see this taborer ! he lays it on . Wilt come ? - -I'll follow , Stephano . - - -By'r lakin , I can go no further , sir ; -My old bones ache : here's a maze trod indeed , -Through forth-rights , and meanders ! by your patience , -I needs must rest me . - -Old lord , I cannot blame thee , -Who am myself attach'd with weariness , -To the dulling of my spirits : sit down , and rest . -Even here I will put off my hope , and keep it -No longer for my flatterer : he is drown'd -Whom thus we stray to find ; and the sea mocks -Our frustrate search on land . Well , let him go . - -I am right glad that he's so out of hope . -Do not , for one repulse , forego the purpose -That you resolv'd to effect . - -The next advantage -Will we take throughly . - -Let it be to-night ; -For , now they are oppress'd with travel , they -Will not , nor cannot , use such vigilance -As when they are fresh . - -I say to-night : no more . - -What harmony is this ? my good friends , hark ! - -Marvellous sweet music ! - -Give us kind keepers , heavens ! What were these ? - -A living drollery . Now I will believe -That there are unicorns ; that in Arabia -There is one tree , the ph nix' throne ; one ph nix -At this hour reigning there . - -I'll believe both ; -And what does else want credit , come to me , -And I'll be sworn 'tis true : travellers ne'er did lie , -Though fools at home condemn them . - -If in Naples -I should report this now , would they believe me ? -If I should say I saw such islanders , -For , certes , these are people of the island , -Who , though they are of monstrous shape , yet , note , -Their manners are more gentle-kind than of -Our human generation you shall find -Many , nay , almost any . - -Honest lord , -Thou hast said well ; for some of you there present -Are worse than devils . - -I cannot too much muse , -Such shapes , such gesture , and such sound , expressing , -Although they want the use of tongue ,a kind -Of excellent dumb discourse . - -Praise in departing . - -They vanish'd strangely . - -No matter , since -They have left their viands behind ; for we have stomachs . -Will't please you to taste of what is here ? - -Not I . - -Faith , sir , you need not fear . When we were boys , -Who would believe that there were mountaineers -Dew-lapp'd like bulls , whose throats had hanging at them -Wallets of flesh ? or that there were such men -Whose heads stood in their breasts ? which now we find -Each putter-out of five for one will bring us -Good warrant of . - -I will stand to and feed , -Although my last ; no matter , since I feel -The best is past .Brother , my lord the duke , -Stand to and do as we . - -You are three men of sin , whom Destiny -That hath to instrument this lower world -And what is in't ,the never-surfeited sea -Hath caused to belch up you ; and on this island -Where man doth not inhabit ; you 'mongst men -Being most unfit to live . I have made you mad ; - - -And even with such-like valour men hang and drown -Their proper selves . You fools ! I and my fellows -Are ministers of fate : the elements -Of whom your swords are temper'd , may as well -Wound the loud winds , or with bemock'd-at stabs -Kill the still-closing waters , as diminish -One dowle that's in my plume ; my fellow-ministers -Are like invulnerable . If you could hurt , -Your swords are now too massy for your strengths , -And will not be uplifted . But , remember , -For that's my business to you ,that you three -From Milan did supplant good Prospero ; -Expos'd unto the sea , which hath requit it , -Him and his innocent child : for which foul deed -The powers , delaying , not forgetting , have -Incens'd the seas and shores , yea , all the creatures , -Against your peace . Thee of thy son , Alonso , -They have bereft ; and do pronounce , by me , -Lingering perdition ,worse than any death -Can be at once ,shall step by step attend -You and your ways ; whose wraths to guard you from -Which here in this most desolate isle , else falls -Upon your heads ,is nothing but heart-sorrow -And a clear life ensuing . - - -Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou -Perform'd , my Ariel ; a grace it had , devouring : -Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated -In what thou hadst to say : so , with good life -And observation strange , my meaner ministers -Their several kinds have done . My high charms work , -And these mine enemies are all knit up -In their distractions : they now are in my power ; -And in these fits I leave them , while I visit -Young Ferdinand ,whom they suppose is drown'd , -And his and mine lov'd darling . - - -I the name of something holy , sir , why stand you -In this strange stare ? - -O , it is monstrous ! monstrous ! -Methought the billows spoke and told me of it ; -The winds did sing it to me ; and the thunder , -That deep and dreadful organ-pipe , pronounc'd -The name of Prosper : it did bass my trespass . -Therefore my son i' th' ooze is bedded ; and -I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded , -And with him there lie mudded . - - -But one fiend at a time , -I'll fight their legions o'er . - -I'll be thy second . - - -All three of them are desperate ; their great guilt , -Like poison given to work a great time after , -Now 'gins to bite the spirits .I do beseech you -That are of suppler joints , follow them swiftly -And hinder them from what this ecstasy -May now provoke them to . - -Follow , I pray you . - -If I have too austerely punish'd you , -Your compensation makes amends ; for I -Have given you here a third of mine own life , -Or that for which I live ; whom once again -I tender to thy hand : all thy vexations -Were but my trials of thy love , and thou -Hast strangely stood the test : here , afore Heaven , -I ratify this my rich gift . O Ferdinand ! -Do not smile at me that I boast her off , -For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise , -And make it halt behind her . - -I do believe it -Against an oracle . - -Then , as my gift and thine own acquisition -Worthily purchas'd , take my daughter : but -If thou dost break her virgin knot before -All sanctimonious ceremonies may -With full and holy rite be minister'd , -No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall -To make this contract grow ; but barren hate , -Sour-ey'd disdain and discord shall bestrew -The union of your bed with weeds so loathly -That you shall hate it both : therefore take heed , -As Hymen's lamps shall light you . - -As I hope -For quiet days , fair issue and long life , -With such love as 'tis now , the murkiest den , -The most opportune place , the strong'st sug gestion -Our worser genius can , shall never melt -Mine honour into lust , to take away -The edge of that day's celebration -When I shall think , or Ph bus' steeds are founder'd , -Or Night kept chain'd below . - -Fairly spoke : -Sit then , and talk with her , she is thine own . -What , Ariell my industrious servant Ariell - - -What would my potent master ? here I am . - -Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service -Did worthily perform ; and I must use you -In such another trick . Go bring the rabble , -O'er whom I give thee power , here to this place : -Incite them to quick motion ; for I must -Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple -Some vanity of mine art : it is my promise , -And they expect it from me . - -Presently ? - -Ay , with a twink . - -Before you can say , 'Come ,' and 'Go ,' -And breathe twice ; and cry , 'so , so ,' -Each one , tripping on his toe , -Will be here with mop and mow . -Do you love me , master ? no ? - -Dearly my delicate Ariel . Do not approach -Till thou dost hear me call . - -Well , I conceive . - - -Look , thou be true ; do not give dalliance -Too much the rein : the strongest oaths are straw -To the fire i' the blood : be more abstemious , -Or else good night your vow ! - -I warrant you , sir ; -The white-cold virgin snow upon my heart -Abates the ardour of my liver . - -Well . -Now come , my Ariel ! bring a corollary , -Rather than want a spirit : appear , and pertly . -No tongue ! all eyes ! be silent . - -Ceres , most bounteous lady , thy rich leas -Of wheat , rye , barley , vetches , oats , and peas ; -Thy turfy mountains , where live nibbling sheep , -And flat meads thatch'd with stover , them to keep ; -Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims , -Which spongy April at thy hest betrims , -To make cold nymphs chaste crowns ; and thy broom groves , -Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves , -Being lass-lorn ; thy pole-clipt vineyard ; -And thy sea-marge , sterile and rocky-hard , -Where thou thyself dost air : the queen o' the sky , -Whose watery arch and messenger am I , -Bids thee leave these ; and with her sovereign grace , -Here on this grass-plot , in this very place , -To come and sport ; her peacocks fly amain : -Approach , rich Ceres , her to entertain . - - -Hail , many-colour'd messenger , that ne'er -Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter ; -Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers -Diffusest honey-drops , refreshing showers : -And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown -My bosky acres , and my unshrubb'd down , -Rich scarf to my proud earth ; why hath thy queen -Summon'd me hither , to this short-grass'd green ? - -A contract of true love to celebrate , -And some donation freely to estate -On the bless'd lovers . - -Tell me , heavenly bow , -If Venus or her son , as thou dost know , -Do now attend the queen ? since they did plot -The means that dusky Dis my daughter got , -Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company -I have forsworn . - -Of her society -Be not afraid ; I met her deity -Cutting the clouds towards Paphos and her son -Dove-drawn with her . Here thought they to have done -Some wanton charm upon this man and maid , -Whose vows are , that no bed-rite shall be paid -Till Hymen's torch be lighted ; but in vain : -Mars's hot minion is return'd again ; -Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows , -Swears he will shoot no more , but play with sparrows , -And be a boy right out . - -Highest queen of state , -Great Juno comes ; I know her by her gait . - - -How does my bounteous sister ? Go with me -To bless this twain , that they may prosperous be , -And honour'd in their issue . - -Honour , riches , marriage-blessing , -Long continuance , and increasing , -Hourly joys be still upon you ! -Juno sings her blessings on you . - -Earth's increase , foison plenty , -Barns and garners never empty : -Vines , with clust'ring bunches growing ; -Plants with goodly burden bowing ; -Spring come to you at the farthest -In the very end of harvest ! -Scarcity and want shall shun you ; -Ceres' blessing so is on you . - -This is a most majestic vision , and -Harmonious charmingly : May I be bold -To think these spirits ? - -Spirits , which by mine art -I have from their confines call'd to enact -My present fancies . - -Let me live here ever : -So rare a wonder'd father and a wise , -Makes this place Paradise . - - -Sweet , now , silence ! -Juno and Ceres whisper seriously , -There's something else to do : hush , and be mute , -Or else our spell is marr'd . - -You nymphs , call'd Naiades , of the windring brooks , -With your sedg'd crowns , and ever-harmless looks , -Leave your crisp channels , and on this green land -Answer your summons : Juno does command . -Come , temperate nymphs , and help to celebrate -A contract of true love : be not too late . - - -You sun-burn'd sicklemen , of August weary , -Come hither from the furrow , and be merry : -Make holiday : your rye-straw hats put on , -And these fresh nymphs encounter every one -In country footing . - - -I had forgot that foul conspiracy -Of the beast Caliban , and his confederates -Against my life : the minute of their plot -Is almost come . - -Well done ! avoid ; no more ! - -This is strange : your father's in some passion -That works him strongly . - -Never till this day -Saw I him touch'd with anger so distemper'd . - -You do look , my son , in a mov'd sort , -As if you were dismay'd : be cheerful , sir : -Our revels now are ended . These our actors , -As I foretold you , were all spirits and -Are melted into air , into thin air : -And , like the baseless fabric of this vision , -The cloud-capp'd towers , the gorgeous palaces , -The solemn temples , the great globe itself , -Yea , all which it inherit , shall dissolve -And , like this insubstantial pageant faded , -Leave not a rack behind . We are such stuff -As dreams are made on , and our little life -Is rounded with a sleep .Sir , I am vex'd : -Bear with my weakness ; my old brain is troubled . -Be not disturb'd with my infirmity . -If you be pleas'd , retire into my cell -And there repose : a turn or two I'll walk , -To still my beating mind . - -We wish your peace . - - -Come with a thought ! - -I thank thee : Ariel , come ! - - -Thy thoughts I cleave to . What's thy pleasure ? - -Spirit , -We must prepare to meet with Caliban . - -Ay , my commander ; when I presented Ceres , -I thought to have told thee of it ; but I fear'd -Lest I might anger thee . - -Say again , where didst thou leave these varlets ? - -I told you , sir , they were red-hot with drinking ; -So full of valour that they smote the air -For breathing in their faces ; beat the ground -For kissing of their feet ; yet always bending -Towards their project . Then I beat my tabor ; -At which , like unback'd colts , they prick'd their ears , -Advanc'd their eyelids , lifted up their noses -As they smelt music : so I charm'd their ears -That , calf-like , they my lowing follow'd through -Tooth'd briers , sharp furzes , pricking goss and thorns , -Which enter'd their frail shins : at last I left them -I' the filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell , -There dancing up to the chins , that the foul lake -O'erstunk their feet . - -This was well done , my bird . -Thy shape invisible retain thou still : -The trumpery in my house , go bring it hither , -For stale to catch these thieves . - -I go , I go . - - -A devil , a born devil , on whose nature -Nurture can never stick ; on whom my pains , -Humanely taken , are all lost , quite lost ; -And as with age his body uglier grows , -So his mind cankers . I will plague them all , -Even to roaring . - - -Come , hang them on this line . - -Pray you , tread softly , that the blind mole may not -Hear a foot fall : we now are near his cell . - -Monster , your fairy , which you say is a harmless fairy , has done little better than played the Jack with us . - -Monster , I do smell all horse-piss ; at which my nose is in great indignation . - -So is mine .Do you hear , monster ? If I should take a displeasure against you , look you , - -Thou wert but a lost monster . - -Good my lord , give me thy favour still : -Be patient , for the prize I'll bring thee to -Shall hoodwink this mischance : therefore speak softly ; -All's hush'd as midnight yet . - -Ay , but to lose our bottles in the pool , - -There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that , monster , but an infinite loss . - -That's more to me than my wetting : yet this is your harmless fairy , monster . - -I will fetch off my bottle , though I be o'er ears for my labour . - -Prithee , my king , be quiet . Seest thou here , -This is the mouth o' the cell : no noise , and enter . -Do that good mischief , which may make this island -Thine own for ever , and I , thy Caliban , -For aye thy foot-licker . - -Give me thy hand : I do begin to have bloody thoughts . - -O king Stephano ! O peer ! O worthy Stephano ! look , what a wardrobe here is for thee ! - -Let it alone , thou fool ; it is but trash . - -O , ho , monster ! we know what belongs to a frippery .O king Stephano ! - -Put off that gown , Trinculo ; by this hand , I'll have that gown . - -Thy grace shall have it . - -The dropsy drown this fooll what do you mean -To dote thus on such luggage ? Let's along , -And do the murder first : if he awake , -From toe to crown he'll fill our skins with pinches ; -Make us strange stuff . - -Be you quiet , monster .Mistress line , is not this my jerkin ? Now is the jerkin under the line : now , jerkin , you are like to lose your hair and prove a bald jerkin . - -Do , do : we steal by line and level , an't like your grace . - -I thank thee for that jest ; here's a garment for't : wit shall not go unrewarded while I am king of this country : 'Steal by line and level ,' is an excellent pass of pate ; there's another garment for't . - -Monster , come , put some lime upon your fingers , and away with the rest . - -I will have none on't : we shall lose our time , -And all be turn'd to barnacles , or to apes -With foreheads villanous low . - -Monster , lay-to your fingers : help to bear this away where my hogshead of wine is , or I'll turn you out of my kingdom . Go to ; carry this . - -And this . - -Ay , and this . - -Hey , Mountain , hey ! - -Silver ! there it goes , Silver ! - -Fury , Fury ! there , Tyrant , there ! hark , hark ! - -Go , charge my goblins that they grind their joints -With dry convulsions ; shorten up their sinews -With aged cramps , and more pinch-spotted make them -Than pard , or cat o' mountain . - -Hark ! they roar . - -Let them be hunted soundly . At this hour -Lie at my mercy all mine enemies : -Shortly shall all my labours end , and thou -Shalt have the air at freedom : for a little , -Follow , and do me service . - -Now does my project gather to a head : -My charms crack not ; my spirits obey , and time -Goes upright with his carriage . How's the day ? - -On the sixth hour ; at which time , my lord , -You said our work should cease . - -I did say so , -When first I rais'd the tempest . Say , my spirit , -How fares the king and's followers ? - -Confin'd together -In the same fashion as you gave in charge , -Just as you left them : all prisoners , sir , -In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell ; -They cannot budge till your release . The king , -His brother , and yours , abide all three distracted , -And the remainder mourning over them , -Brimful of sorrow and dismay ; but chiefly -Him , that you term'd , sir , 'The good old lord Gonzalo :' -His tears run down his beard , like winter's drops -From eaves of reeds ; your charm so strongly works them , -That if you now beheld them , your affections -Would become tender . - -Dost thou think so , spirit ? - -Mine would , sir , were I human . - -And mine shall . -Hast thou , which art but air , a touch , a feeling -Of their afflictions , and shall not myself , -One of their kind , that relish all as sharply , -Passion as they , be kindlier mov'd than thou art ? -Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick , -Yet with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury -Do I take part : the rarer action is -In virtue than in vengeance : they being penitent , -The sole drift of my purpose doth extend -Not a frown further . Go , release them , Ariel . -My charms I'll break , their senses I'll restore , -And they shall be themselves . - -I'll fetch them , sir - - -Ye elves of hills , brooks , standing lakes , and groves ; -And ye , that on the sands with printless foot -Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him -When he comes back ; you demi-puppets , that -By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make -Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you , whose pastime -Is to make midnight mushrooms ; that rejoice -To hear the solemn curfew ; by whose aid , -Weak masters though ye be I have bedimm'd -The noontide sun , call'd forth the mutinous winds , -And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault -Set roaring war : to the dread-rattling thunder -Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak -With his own bolt : the strong-bas'd promontory -Have I made shake ; and by the spurs pluck'd up -The pine and cedar : graves at my command -Have wak'd their sleepers , op'd , and let them forth -By my so potent art . But this rough magic -I here abjure ; and , when I have requir'd -Some heavenly music ,which even now I do , -To work mine end upon their senses that -This airy charm is for , I'll break my staff , -Bury it certain fathoms in the earth , -And , deeper than did ever plummet sound , -I'll drown my book . - -A solemn air and the best comforter -To an unsettled fancy , cure thy brains , -Now useless , boil'd within thy skull ! There stand , -For you are spell-stopp'd . -Holy Gonzalo , honourable man , -Mine eyes , even sociable to the show of thine , -Fall fellowly drops . The charm dissolves apace ; -And as the morning steals upon the night , -Melting the darkness , so their rising senses -Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle -Their clearer reason .O good Gonzalo ! -My true preserver , and a loyal sir -To him thou follow'st , I will pay thy graces -Home , both in word and deed .Most cruelly -Didst thou , Alonso , use me and my daughter : -Thy brother was a furtherer in the act ; -Thou'rt pinch'd for't now , Sebastian .Flesh and blood , -You , brother mine , that entertain'd ambition , -Expell'd remorse and nature ; who , with Sebastian , -Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong , -Would here have kill'd your king ; I do forgive thee , -Unnatural though thou art !Their understanding -Begins to swell , and the approaching tide -Will shortly fill the reasonable shores -That now lie foul and muddy . Not one of them -That yet looks on me , or would know me .Ariel , -Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell : - -I will discase me , and myself present , -As I was sometime Milan .Quickly , spirit ; -Thou shalt ere long be free . - - -Where the bee sucks , there suck I -In a cowslip's bell I he : -There I couch when owls do cry . -On the bat's back I do fly -After summer merrily -Merrily , merrily shall I live now -Under the blossom that hangs on the bough - - -Why , that's my dainty Ariel ! I shall miss thee ; -But yet thou shalt have freedom ;so , so , so . -To the king's ship , invisible as thou art : -There shalt thou find the mariners asleep -Under the hatches ; the master and the boatswain -Being awake , enforce them to this place , -And presently , I prithee . - -I drink the air before me , and return -Or e'er your pulse twice beat . - - -All torment , trouble , wonder , and amazement -Inhabits here : some heavenly power guide us -Out of this fearful country ! - -Behold , sir king , -The wronged Duke of Milan , Prospero . -For more assurance that a living prince -Does now speak to thee , I embrace thy body ; -And to thee and thy company I bid -A hearty welcome . - -Whe'r thou beest he or no , -Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me , -As late I have been , I not know : thy pulse -Beats , as of flesh and blood ; and , since I saw thee , -Th' affliction of my mind amends , with which , -I fear , a madness held me : this must crave , -An if this be at all a most strange story . -Thy dukedom I resign , and do entreat -Thou pardon me my wrongs .But how should Prospero -Be living , and be here ? - -First , noble friend , -Let me embrace thine age ; whose honour cannot -Be measur'd , or confin'd . - -Whether this be , -Or be not , I'll not swear . - -You do yet taste -Some subtilties o' the isle , that will not let you -Believe things certain .Welcome ! my friends all : - - -But you , my brace of lords , were I so minded , -I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you , -And justify you traitors : at this time -I will tell no tales . - -The devil speaks in him . - -No . -For you , most wicked sir , whom to call brother -Would even infect my mouth , I do forgive -Thy rankest fault ; all of them ; and require -My dukedom of thee , which , perforce , I know , -Thou must restore . - -If thou beest Prospero , -Give us particulars of thy preservation ; -How thou hast met us here , who three hours since -Were wrack'd upon this shore ; where I have lost , -How sharp the point of this remembrance is ! -My dear son Ferdinand . - -I am woe for't , sir . - -Irreparable is the loss , and patience -Says it is past her cure . - -I rather think -You have not sought her help ; of whose soft grace , -For the like loss I have her sovereign aid , -And rest myself content . - -You the like loss ! - -As great to me , as late ; and , supportable -To make the dear loss , have I means much weaker -Than you may call to comfort you , for I -Have lost my daughter . - -A daughter ? -O heavens ! that they were living both in Naples , -The king and queen there ! that they were , I wish -Myself were mudded in that oozy bed -Where my son lies . When did you lose your daughter ? - -In this last tempest . I perceive , these lords -At this encounter do so much admire -That they devour their reason , and scarce think -Their eyes do offices of truth , their words -Are natural breath : but , howsoe'er you have -Been justled from your senses , know for certain -That I am Prospero and that very duke -Which was thrust forth of Milan ; who most strangely -Upon this shore , where you were wrack'd , was landed , -To be the lord on't . No more yet of this ; -For 'tis a chronicle of day by day , -Not a relation for a breakfast nor -Befitting this first meeting . Welcome , sir ; -This cell's my court : here have I few attendants -And subjects none abroad : pray you , look in . -My dukedom since you have given me again , -I will requite you with as good a thing ; -At least bring forth a wonder , to content ye -As much as me my dukedom . - - -Sweet lord , you play me false . - -No , my dearest love , -I would not for the world . - -Yes , for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle , -And I would call it fair play . - -If this prove -A vision of the island , one dear son -Shall I twice lose . - -A most high miracle ! - -Though the seas threaten , they are merciful : -I have curs'd them without cause . - - -Now , all the blessings -Of a glad father compass thee about ! -Arise , and say how thou cam'st here . - -O , wonder ! -How many goodly creatures are there here ! -How beauteous mankind is ! O brave new world , -That has such people in't ! - -'Tis new to thee . - -What is this maid , with whom thou wast at play ? -Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be three hours : -Is she the goddess that hath sever'd us , -And brought us thus together ? - -Sir , she is mortal ; -But by immortal Providence she's mine ; -I chose her when I could not ask my father -For his advice , nor thought I had one . She -Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan , -Of whom so often I have heard renown , -But never saw before ; of whom I have -Receiv'd a second life ; and second father -This lady makes him to me . - -I am hers : -But O ! how oddly will it sound that I -Must ask my child forgiveness ! - -There , sir , stop : -Let us not burden our remembrances -With a heaviness that's gone . - -I have inly wept , -Or should have spoke ere this . Look down , you gods , -And on this couple drop a blessed crown ; -For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way -Which brought us hither ! - -I say , Amen , Gonzalo ! - -Was Milan thrust from Milan , that his issue -Should become kings of Naples ? O , rejoice -Beyond a common joy , and set it down -With gold on lasting pillars . In one voyage -Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis , -And Ferdinand , her brother , found a wife -Where he himself was lost ; Prospero his dukedom -In a poor isle ; and all of us ourselves , -When no man was his own . - -Give me your hands : -Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart -That doth not wish you joy ! - -Be it so : Amen ! - - -O look , sir ! look , sir ! here are more of us . -I prophesied , if a gallows were on land , -This fellow could not drown .Now , blasphemy , -That swear'st grace o'erboard , not an oath on shore ? - -Hast thou no mouth by land ? What is the news ? - -The best news is that we have safely found -Our king and company : the next , our ship , -Which but three glasses since we gave out split , -Is tight and yare and bravely rigg'd as when -We first put out to sea . - -Sir , all this service -Have I done since I went . - -My tricksy spirit ! - -These are not natural events ; they strengthen -From strange to stranger .Say , how came you hither ? - -If I did think , sir , I were well awake , -I'd strive to tell you . We were dead of sleep , -And ,how we know not ,all clapp'd under hatches , -Where , but even now , with strange and several noises -Of roaring , shrieking , howling , jingling chains , -And mo diversity of sounds , all horrible , -We were awak'd ; straightway , at liberty : -Where we , in all her trim , freshly beheld -Our royal , good , and gallant ship ; our master -Capering to eye her : on a trice , so please you , -Even in a dream , were we divided from them , -And were brought moping hither . - -Was't well done ? - -Bravely , my diligence ! Thou shalt be free . - -This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod ; -And there is in this business more than nature -Was ever conduct of : some oracle -Must rectify our knowledge . - -Sir , my liege , -Do not infest your mind with beating on -The strangeness of this business : at pick'd leisure -Which shall be shortly , single I'll resolve you , -Which to you shall seem probable ,of every -These happen'd accidents ; till when , be cheerful , -And think of each thing well . - -Come hither , spirit ; -Set Caliban and his companions free ; -Untie the spell . - -How fares my gracious sir ? -There are yet missing of your company -Some few odd lads that you remember not . - - -Every man shift for all the rest , and let no man take care for himself , for all is but fortune .Coragio ! bully-monster , Coragio ! - -If these be true spies which I wear in my head , here's a goodly sight . - -O Setebos ! these be brave spirits , indeed . -How fine my master is ! I am afraid -He will chastise me . - -Ha , ha ! -What things are these , my lord Antonio ? -Will money buy them ? - -Very like ; one of them -Is a plain fish , and , no doubt , marketable . - -Mark but the badges of these men , my lords , -Then say , if they be true .This mis-shapen knave , -His mother was a witch ; and one so strong -That could control the moon , make flows and ebbs , -And deal in her command without her power . -These three have robb'd me ; and this demidevil , -For he's a bastard one ,had plotted with them -To take my life : two of these fellows you -Must know and own ; this thing of darkness I -Acknowledge mine . - -I shall be pinch'd to death - -Is not this Stephano , my drunken butler ? - -He is drunk now : where had he wine ? - -And Trinculo is reeling-ripe : where should they -Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them ? -How cam'st thou in this pickle ? - -I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last that , I fear me , will never out of my bones : I shall not fear fly-blowing . - -Why , how now , Stephano ! - -O ! touch me not : I am not Stephano , but a cramp . - -You'd be king of the isle , sirrah ? - -I should have been a sore one then . - -This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on . - - -He is as disproportion'd in his manners As in his shape .Go , sirrah , to my cell ; -Take with you your companions : as you look -To have my pardon , trim it handsomely . - -Ay , that I will ; and I'll be wise hereafter , -And seek for grace . What a thrice-double ass -Was I , to take this drunkard for a god , -And worship this dull fool ! - -Go to ; away ! - -Hence , and bestow your luggage where you found it . - -Or stole it , rather . - - -Sir , I invite your highness and your train -To my poor cell , where you shall take your rest -For this one night ; which part of it I'll waste -With such discourse as , I not doubt , shall make it -Go quick away ; the story of my life -And the particular accidents gone by -Since I came to this isle : and in the morn -I'll bring you to your ship , and so to Naples , -Where I have hope to see the nuptial -Of these our dear-beloved solemniz'd ; -And thence retire me to my Milan , where -Every third thought shall be my grave . - -I long -To hear the story of your life , which must -Take the ear strangely . - -I'll deliver all ; -And promise you calm seas , auspicious gales -And sail so expeditious that shall catch -Your royal fleet far off . - -My Ariel , chick , -That is thy charge : then to the elements -Be free , and fare thou well !Please you , draw near . - -Now my charms are all o'erthrown , -And what strength I have's mine own ; -Which is most faint : now , 'tis true , -I must be here confin'd by you , -Or sent to Naples Let me not , -Since I have my dukedom got -And pardon'd the deceiver , dwell -In this bare island by your spell ; -But release me from my bands -With the help of your good hands . -Gentle breath of yours my sails -Must fill , or else my project fails , -Which was to please . Now I want -Spirits to enforce , art to enchant ; -And my ending is despair , -Unless I be reliev'd by prayer , -Which pierces so that it assaults -Mercy itself and frees all faults . -As you from crimes would pardon'd be , -Let your indulgence set me free . - -THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA - -Cease to persuade , my loving Proteus : -Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits . -Were't not affection chains thy tender days -To the sweet glances of thy honour'd love , -I rather would entreat thy company -To see the wonders of the world abroad -Than , living dully sluggardiz'd at home , -Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness . -But since thou lov'st , love still , and thrive therein , -Even as I would when I to love begin . - -Wilt thou be gone ? Sweet Valentine , adieu ! -Think on thy Proteus , when thou haply seest -Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel : -Wish me partaker in thy happiness -When thou dost meet good hap ; and in thy danger , -If ever danger do environ thee , -Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers , -For I will be thy beadsman , Valentine . - -And on a love-book pray for my success ? - -Upon some book I love I'll pray for thee . - -That's on some shallow story of deep love , -How young Leander cross'd the Hellespont . - -That's a deep story of a deeper love ; -For he was more than over shoes in love . - -'Tis true ; for you are over boots in love , -And yet you never swum the Hellespont . - -Over the boots ? nay , give me not the boots . - -No , I will not , for it boots thee not . - -What ? - -To be in love , where scorn is bought with groans ; -Coy looks with heart-sore sighs ; one fading moment's mirth -With twenty watchful , weary , tedious nights : -If haply won , perhaps a hapless gain ; -If lost , why then a grievous labour won : -However , but a folly bought with wit , -Or else a wit by folly vanquished . - -So , by your circumstance , you call me fool . - -So , by your circumstance , I fear you'll prove . - -'Tis love you cavil at : I am not Love . - -Love is your master , for he masters you ; -And he that is so yoked by a fool , -Methinks , should not be chronicled for wise . - -Yet writers say , as in the sweetest bud -The eating canker dwells , so eating love -Inhabits in the finest wits of all . - -And writers say , as the most forward bud -Is eaten by the canker ere it blow , -Even so by love the young and tender wit -Is turned to folly ; blasting in the bud , -Losing his verdure even in the prime , -And all the fair effects of future hopes . -But wherefore waste I time to counsel thee -That art a votary to fond desire ? -Once more adieu ! my father at the road -Expects my coming , there to see me shipp'd . - -And thither will I bring thee , Valentine . - -Sweet Proteus , no ; now let us take our leave . -To Milan let me hear from thee by letters -Of thy success in love , and what news else -Betideth here in absence of thy friend ; -And I likewise will visit thee with mine . - -All happiness bechance to thee in Milan ! - -As much to you at home ! and so , farewell . - - -He after honour hunts , I after love : -He leaves his friends to dignify them more ; -I leave myself , my friends and all , for love . -Thou , Julia , thou hast metamorphos'd me ; -Made me neglect my studies , lose my time , -War with good counsel , set the world at nought ; -Made wit with musing weak , heart sick with thought . - - -Sir Proteus , save you ! Saw you my master ? - -But now he parted hence , to embark for Milan . - -Twenty to one , then , he is shipp'd already , -And I have play'd the sheep , in losing him . - -Indeed , a sheep doth very often stray , -An if the shepherd be a while away . - -You conclude that my master is a shepherd , then , and I a sheep ? - -I do . - -Why then my horns are his horns , whether I wake or sleep . - -A silly answer , and fitting well a sheep . - -This proves me still a sheep . - -True , and thy master a shepherd . - -Nay , that I can deny by a circumstance . - -It shall go hard but I'll prove it by another . - -The shepherd seeks the sheep , and not the sheep the shepherd ; but I seek my master , and my master seeks not me : therefore I am no sheep . - -The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd , the shepherd for food follows not the sheep ; thou for wages followest thy master , thy master for wages follows not thee : therefore thou art a sheep . - -Such another proof will make me cry 'baa .' - -But , dost thou hear ? gavest thou my letter to Julia ? - -Ay , sir : I , a lost mutton , gave your letter to her , a laced mutton ; and she , a laced mutton , gave me , a lost mutton , nothing for my labour . - -Here's too small a pasture for such store of muttons . - -If the ground be overcharged , you were best stick her . - -Nay , in that you are astray ; 'twere best pound you . - -Nay , sir , less than a pound shall serve me for carrying your letter . - -You mistake : I mean the pound ,a pinfold . - -From a pound to a pin ? fold it over and over , -'Tis threefold too little for carrying a letter to your lover . - -But what said she ? - -Did she nod ? - -Ay . - -Nod , ay ? why , that's noddy . - -You mistook , sir : I say she did nod ; and you ask me if she did nod ; and I say , Ay . - -And that set together is noddy . - -Now you have taken the pains to set it together , take it for your pains . - -No , no ; you shall have it for bearing the letter . - -Well , I perceive I must be fain to bear with you . - -Why , sir , how do you bear with me ? - -Marry , sir , the letter very orderly ; having nothing but the word 'noddy' for my pains . - -Beshrew me , but you have a quick wit . - -And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse . - -Come , come ; open the matter in brief : what said she ? - -Open your purse , that the money and the matter may be both at once delivered . - -Well , sir , here is for your pains - -What said she ? - -Truly , sir , I think you'll hardly win her . - -Why ? couldst thou perceive so much from her ? - -Sir , I could perceive nothing at all from her ; no , not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter . And being so hard to me that brought your mind , I fear she'll prove as hard to you in telling your mind . Give her no token but stones , for she's as hard as steel . - -What ! said she nothing ? - -No , not so much as 'Take this for thy pains .' To testify your bounty , I thank you , you have testerned me ; in requital whereof , henceforth carry your letters yourself . And so , sir , I'll commend you to my master . - -Go , go , be gone , to save your ship from wrack ; -Which cannot perish , having thee aboard , -Being destin'd to a drier death on shore . - -I must go send some better messenger : -I fear my Julia would not deign my lines , -Receiving them from such a worthless post . - - -But say , Lucetta , now we are alone , -Wouldst thou then counsel me to fall in love ? - -Ay , madam , so you stumble not unheedfully . - -Of all the fair resort of gentlemen -That every day with parle encounter me , -In thy opinion which is worthiest love ? - -Please you repeat their names , I'll show my mind -According to my shallow simple skill . - -What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour ? - -As of a knight well-spoken , neat and fine ; -But , were I you , he never should be mine . - -What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio ? - -Well of his wealth ; but of himself , so so . - -What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus ? - -Lord , Lord ! to see what folly reigns in us ! - -How now ! what means this passion at his name ? - -Pardon , dear madam ; 'tis a passing shame -That I , unworthy body as I am , -Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen . - -Why not on Proteus , as of all the rest ? - -Then thus ,of many good I think him best . - -Your reason ? - -I have no other but a woman's reason : -I think him so because I think him so . - -And wouldst thou have me cast my love on him ? - -Ay , if you thought your love not cast away . - -Why , he , of all the rest hath never mov'd me . - -Yet he of all the rest , I think , best loves ye . - -His little speaking shows his love but small . - -Fire that's closest kept burns most of all . - -They do not love that do not show their love . - -O ! they love least that let men know their love . - -I would I knew his mind . - -Peruse this paper , madam . - - -'To Julia .' Say from whom ? - -That the contents will show . - -Say , say , who gave it thee ? - -Sir Valentine's page , and sent , I think , from Proteus . -He would have given it you , but I , being in the way , -Did in your name receive it ; pardon the fault , I pray . - -Now , by my modesty , a goodly broker ! -Dare you presume to harbour wanton lines ? -To whisper and conspire against my youth ? -Now , trust me , 'tis an office of great worth -And you an officer fit for the place . -There , take the paper : see it be return'd ; -Or else return no more into my sight . - -To plead for love deserves more fee than hate . - -Will ye be gone ? - -That you may ruminate . - - -And yet I would I had o'erlook'd the letter . -It were a shame to call her back again -And pray her to a fault for which I chid her . -What fool is she , that knows I am a maid , -And would not force the letter to my view ! -Since maids , in modesty , say 'No' to that -Which they would have the profferer construe 'Ay .' -Fie , fie ! how wayward is this foolish love -That , like a testy babe , will scratch the nurse -And presently all humbled kiss the rod ! -How churlishly I child Lucetta hence , -When willingly I would have had her here : -How angerly I taught my brow to frown , -When inward joy enforc'd my heart to smile . -My penance is , to call Lucetta back -And ask remission for my folly past . -What ho ! Lucetta ! - - -What would your ladyship ? - -Is it near dinner-time ? - -I would it were ; -That you might kill your stomach on your meat -And not upon your maid . - -What is't that you took up so gingerly ? - -Nothing . - -Why didst thou stoop , then ? - -To take a paper up -That I let fall . - -And is that paper nothing ? - -Nothing concerning me . - -Then let it lie for those that it concerns . - -Madam , it will not lie where it concerns , -Unless it have a false interpreter . - -Some love of yours hath writ to you in rime . - -That I might sing it , madam , to a tune : -Give me a note : your ladyship can set . - -As little by such toys as may be possible ; -Best sing it to the tune of 'Light o' Love .' - -It is too heavy for so light a tune . - -Heavy ! belike it hath some burden , then ? - -Ay ; and melodious were it , would you sing it . - -And why not you ? - -I cannot reach so high . - -Let's see your song . - -How now , minion ! - -Keep tune there still , so you will sing it out : -And yet methinks , I do not like this tune . - -You do not ? - -No , madam ; it is too sharp . - -You , minion , are too saucy . - -Nay , now you are too flat -And mar the concord with too harsh a descant : -There wanteth but a mean to fill your song . - -The mean is drown'd with your unruly bass . - -Indeed , I bid the base for Proteus . - -This babble shall not henceforth trouble me . -Here is a coil with protestation ! - -Go , get you gone , and let the papers lie : -You would be fingering them , to anger me . - -She makes it strange ; but she would be best pleas'd -To be so anger'd with another letter . - - -Nay , would I were so anger'd with the same ! -O hateful hands , to tear such loving words ! -Injurious wasps , to feed on such sweet honey -And kill the bees that yield it with your stings ! -I'll kiss each several paper for amends . -Look , here is writ 'kind Julia :' unkind Julia ! -As in revenge of thy ingratitude , -I throw thy name against the bruising stones , -Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain . -And here is writ 'love-wounded Proteus :' -Poor wounded name ! my bosom , as a bed -Shall lodge thee till thy wound be throughly heal'd ; -And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss . -But twice or thrice was 'Proteus' written down : -Be calm , good wind , blow not a word away -Till I have found each letter in the letter , -Except mine own name ; that some whirlwind bear -Unto a ragged , fearful hanging rock , -And throw it thence into the raging sea ! -Lo ! here in one line is his name twice writ , -'Poor forlorn Proteus , passionate Proteus , -To the sweet Julia' :that I'll tear away ; -And yet I will not , sith so prettily -He couples it to his complaining names : -Thus will I fold them one upon another : -Now kiss , embrace , contend , do what you will . - - -Madam , -Dinner is ready , and your father stays . - -Well , let us go . - -What ! shall these papers he like tell-tales here ? - -If you respect them , best to take them up . - -Nay , I was taken up for laying them down ; -Yet here they shall not lie , for catching cold . - -I see you have a month's mind to them . - -Ay , madam , you may say what sights you see ; -I see things too , although you judge I wink . - -Come , come ; will't please you go ? - - -Tell me , Panthino , what sad talk was that -Wherewith my brother held you in the cloister ? - -'Twas of his nephew Proteus , your son . - -Why , what of him ? - -He wonder'd that your lordship -Would suffer him to spend his youth at home , -While other men , of slender reputation , -Put forth their sons to seek preferment out : -Some to the wars , to try their fortune there ; -Some to discover islands far away ; -Some to the studious universities . -For any or for all these exercises -He said that Proteus your son was meet , -And did request me to importune you -To let him spend his time no more at home , -Which would be great impeachment to his age , -In having known to travel in his youth . - -Nor need'st thou much importune me to that -Whereon this month I have been hammering . -I have consider'd well his loss of time , -And how he cannot be a perfect man , -Not being tried and tutor'd in the world : -Experience is by industry achiev'd -And perfected by the swift course of time . -Then tell me , whither were I best to send him ? - -I think your lordship is not ignorant -How his companion , youthful Valentine , -Attends the emperor in his royal court . - -I know it well . - -'Twere good , I think , your lordship sent him thither : -There shall be practise tilts and tournaments , -Hear sweet discourse , converse with noblemen , -And be in eye of every exercise -Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth . - -I like thy counsel , well hast thou advis'd : -And that thou mayst perceive how well I like it -The execution of it shall make known . -Even with the speediest expedition -I will dispatch him to the emperor's court . - -To-morrow , may it please you , Don Alphonso -With other gentlemen of good esteem , -Are journeying to salute the emperor -And to commend their service to his will . - -Good company ; with them shall Proteus go : -And in good time :now will we break with him . - - -Sweet love ! sweet lines ! sweet life ! -Here is her hand , the agent of her heart ; -Here is her oath for love , her honour's pawn . -O ! that our fathers would applaud our loves , -To seal our happiness with their consents ! -O heavenly Julia ! - -How now ! what letter are you reading there ? - -May't please your lordship , 'tis a word or two -Of commendations sent from Valentine , -Deliver'd by a friend that came from him . - -Lend me the letter ; let me see what news . - -There is no news , my lord ; but that he writes -How happily he lives , how well belov'd -And daily graced by the emperor ; -Wishing me with him , partner of his fortune . - -And how stand you affected to his wish ? - -As one relying on your lordship's will -And not depending on his friendly wish . - -My will is something sorted with his wish . -Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed ; -For what I will , I will , and there an end . -I am resolv'd that thou shalt spend some time -With Valentinus in the emperor's court : -What maintenance he from his friends receives , -Like exhibition thou shalt have from me . -To-morrow be in readiness to go : -Excuse it not , for I am peremptory . - -My lord , I cannot be so soon provided : -Please you , deliberate a day or two . - -Look , what thou want'st shall be sent after thee : -No more of stay ; to-morrow thou must go . -Come on , Panthino : you shall be employ'd -To hasten on his expedition . - - -Thus have I shunn'd the fire for fear of burning , -And drench'd me in the sea , where I am drown'd . -I fear'd to show my father Julia's letter , -Lest he should take exceptions to my love ; -And with the vantage of mine own excuse -Hath he excepted most against my love . -O ! how this spring of love resembleth -The uncertain glory of an April day , -Which now shows all the beauty of the sun , -And by and by a cloud takes all away ! - - -Sir Proteus , your father calls for you : -He is in haste ; therefore , I pray you , go . - -Why , this it is : my heart accords thereto , -And yet a thousand times it answers , 'no .' - -Sir , your glove . - - -Not mine ; my gloves are on . - -Why , then this may be yours , for this is but one . - -Ha ! let me see : ay , give it me , it's mine ; -Sweet ornament that decks a thing divine ! -Ah Silvia ! Silvia ! - -Madam Silvia ! Madam Silvia ! - -How now , sirrah ? - -She is not within hearing , sir . - -Why , sir , who bade you call her ? - -Your worship , sir ; or else I mistook . - -Well , you'll still be too forward . - -And yet I was last chidden for being too slow . - -Go to , sir . Tell me , do you know Madam Silvia ? - -She that your worship loves ? - -Why , how know you that I am in love ? - -Marry , by these special marks : first , you have learned , like Sir Proteus , to wreathe your arms , like a malecontent ; to relish a love-song , like a robin-redbreast ; to walk alone , like one that had the pestilence ; to sigh , like a schoolboy that had lost his A B C ; to weep , like a young wench that had buried her grandam ; to fast , like one that takes diet ; to watch , like one that fears robbing ; to speak puling , like a beggar at Hallowmas . You were wont , when you laughed , to crow like a cock ; when you walked , to walk like one of the lions ; when you fasted , it was presently after dinner ; when you looked sadly , it was for want of money : and now you are metamorphosed with a mistress , that , when I look on you , I can hardly think you my master . - -Are all these things perceived in me ? - -They are all perceived without ye . - -Without me ? they cannot . - -Without you ? nay , that's certain ; for , without you were so simple , none else would : but you are so without these follies , that these follies are within you and shine through you like the water in an urinal , that not an eye that sees you but is a physician to comment on your malady . - -But tell me , dost thou know my lady Silvia ? - -She that you gaze on so as she sits at supper ? - -Hast thou observed that ? even she , I mean . - -Why , sir , I know her not . - -Dost thou know her by my gazing on her , and yet knowest her not ? - -Is she not hard-favoured , sir ? - -Not so fair , boy , as well-favoured . - -Sir , I know that well enough . - -What dost thou know ? - -That she is not so fair , as , of you , well-favoured . - -I mean that her beauty is exquisite , but her favour infinite . - -That's because the one is painted and the other out of all count . - -How painted ? and how out of count ? - -Marry , sir , so painted to make her fair , that no man counts of her beauty . - -How esteemest thou me ? I account of her beauty . - -You never saw her since she was deformed . - -How long hath she been deformed ? - -Ever since you loved her . - -I have loved her ever since I saw her , and still I see her beautiful . - -If you love her you cannot see her . - -Why ? - -Because Love is blind . O ! that you had mine eyes ; or your own eyes had the lights they were wont to have when you chid at Sir Proteus for going ungartered ! - -What should I see then ? - -Your own present folly and her passing deformity : for he , being in love , could not see to garter his hose ; and you , being in love , cannot see to put on your hose . - -Belike , boy , then , you are in love ; for last morning you could not see to wipe my shoes . - -True , sir ; I was in love with my bed . I thank you , you swinged me for my love , which makes me the bolder to chide you for yours . - -In conclusion , I stand affected to her . - -I would you were set , so your affection would cease . - -Last night she enjoined me to write some lines to one she loves . - -And have you ? - -I have . - -Are they not lamely writ ? - -No , boy , but as well as I can do them . -Peace ! here she comes . - - -O excellent motion ! O exceeding puppet ! now will he interpret to her . - -Madam and mistress , a thousand good morrows . - -O ! give ye good even : here's a million of manners . - -Sir Valentine and servant , to you two thousand . - -He should give her interest , and she gives it him . - -As you enjoin'd me , I have writ your letter -Unto the secret nameless friend of yours ; -Which I was much unwilling to proceed in -But for my duty to your ladyship . - - -I thank you , gentle servant . 'Tis very clerkly done . - -Now , trust me , madam , it came hardly off ; -For , being ignorant to whom it goes -I writ at random , very doubtfully . - -Perchance you think too much of so much pains ? - -No , madam ; so it stead you , I will write , -Please you command , a thousand times as much . -And yet - -A pretty period ! Well , I guess the sequel ; -And yet I will not name it ; and yet I care not ; -And yet take this again ; and yet I thank you , -Meaning henceforth to trouble you no more . - -And yet you will ; and yet another yet . - -What means your ladyship ? do you not like it ? - -Yes , yes : the lines are very quaintly writ , -But since unwillingly , take them again : -Nay , take them . - - -Madam , they are for you . - -Ay , ay ; you writ them , sir , at my request , -But I will none of them ; they are for you . -I would have had them writ more movingly . - -Please you , I'll write your ladyship another . - -And when it's writ , for my sake read it over : -And if it please you , so ; if not , why , so . - -If it please me , madam , what then ? - -Why , if it please you , take it for your labour : -And so , good morrow , servant . - - -O jest unseen , inscrutable , invisible , -As a nose on a man's face , or a weathercock on a steeple ! -My master sues to her , and she hath taught her suitor , -He being her pupil , to become her tutor . -O excellent device ! was there ever heard a better , -That my master , being scribe , to himself should write the letter ? - -How now , sir ! what are you reasoning with yourself ? - -Nay , I was riming : 'tis you that have the reason . - -To do what ? - -To be a spokesman from Madam Silvia . - -To whom ? - -To yourself . Why , she wooes you by a figure . - -What figure ? - -By a letter , I should say . - -Why , she hath not writ to me ? - -What need she , when she hath made you write to yourself ? Why , do you not perceive the jest ? - -No , believe me . - -No believing you , indeed , sir . But did you perceive her earnest ? - -She gave me none , except an angry word . - -Why , she hath given you a letter . - -That's the letter I writ to her friend . - -And that letter hath she delivered , and there an end . - -I would it were no worse . - -I'll warrant you , 'tis as well : -'For often have you writ to her , and she , in modesty , -Or else for want of idle time , could not again reply ; -Or fearing else some messenger that might her mind discover , -Herself hath taught her love himself to write unto her lover .' -All this I speak in print , for in print I found it . -Why muse you , sir ? 'tis dinner-time . - -I have dined . - -Ay , but hearken , sir : though the chameleon Love can feed on the air , I am one that am nourished by my victuals and would fain have meat . O ! be not like your mistress : be moved , be moved . - - -Have patience , gentle Julia . - -I must , where is no remedy . - -When possibly I can , I will return . - -If you turn not , you will return the sooner . -Keep this remembrance for thy Julia's sake . - - -Why , then , we'll make exchange : here , take you this . - - -And seal the bargain with a holy kiss . - -Here is my hand for my true constancy ; -And when that hour o'erslips me in the day -Wherein I sigh not , Julia , for thy sake , -The next ensuing hour some foul mischance -Torment me for my love's forgetfulness ! -My father stays my coming ; answer not . -The tide is now : nay , not thy tide of tears ; -That tide will stay me longer than I should . -Julia , farewell . - -What ! gone without a word ? -Ay , so true love should do : it cannot speak ; -For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it . - - -Sir Proteus , you are stay'd for . - -Go ; I come , I come . -Alas ! this parting strikes poor lovers dumb . - - -Nay , 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping : all the kind of the Launces have this very fault . I have received my proportion , like the prodigious son , and am going with Sir Proteus to the imperial's court . I think Crab my dog be the sourest-natured dog that lives : my mother weeping , my father wailing , my sister crying , our maid howling , our cat wringing her hands , and all our house in a great perplexity , yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed one tear . He is a stone , a very pebble stone , and has no more pity in him than a dog ; a Jew would have wept to have seen our parting : why , my grandam , having no eyes , look you , wept herself blind at my parting . Nay , I'll show you the manner of it . This shoe is my father ; no , this left shoe is my father : no , no , this left shoe is my mother ; nay , that cannot be so neither :yes , it is so ; it is so ; it hath the worser sole . This shoe , with the hole in , is my mother , and this my father . A vengeance on't ! there 'tis : now , sir , this staff is my sister ; for , look you , she is as white as a lily and as small as a wand : this hat is Nan , our maid : I am the dog ; no , the dog is himself , and I am the dog ,O ! the dog is me , and I am myself : ay , so , so . Now come I to my father ; 'Father , your blessing ;' now should not the shoe speak a word for weeping : now should I kiss my father ; well , he weeps on . Now come I to my mother ;O , that she could speak now like a wood woman ! Well , I kiss her ; why , there 'tis ; here's my mother's breath up and down . Now come I to my sister ; mark the moan she makes : Now the dog all this while sheds not a tear nor speaks a word ; but see how I lay the dust with my tears . - - -Launce , away , away , aboard ! thy master is shipped , and thou art to post after with oars . What's the matter ? why weepest thou , man ? Away , ass ! you'll lose the tide if you tarry any longer . - -It is no matter if the tied were lost ; for it is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied . - -What's the unkindest tide ? - -Why , he that's tied here , Crab , my dog . - -Tut , man , I mean thou'lt lose the flood ; and , in losing the flood , lose thy voyage , and , in losing thy voyage , lose thy master ; and , in losing thy master , lose thy service ; and , in losing thy service ,Why dost thou stop my mouth ? - -For fear thou shouldst lose thy tongue . - -Where should I lose my tongue ? - -In thy tale . - -In thy tail ! - -Lose the tide , and the voyage , and the master , and the service , and the tied ! Why , man , if the river were dry , I am able to fill it with my tears ; if the wind were down , I could drive the boat with my sighs . - -Come , come away , man ; I was sent to call thee . - -Sir , call me what thou darest . - -Wilt thou go ? - -Well , I will go . - - -Servant ! - -Mistress ? - -Master , Sir Thurio frowns on you . - -Ay , boy , it's for love . - -Not of you . - -Of my mistress , then . - -'Twere good you knock'd him . - -Servant , you are sad . - -Indeed , madam , I seem so . - -Seem you that you are not ? - -Haply I do . - -So do counterfeits . - -So do you . - -What seem I that I am not ? - -Wise . - -What instance of the contrary ? - -Your folly . - -And how quote you my folly ? - -I quote it in your jerkin . - -My jerkin is a doublet . - -Well , then , I'll double your folly . - -How ? - -What , angry , Sir Thurio ! do you change colour ? - -Give him leave , madam ; he is a kind of chameleon . - -That hath more mind to feed on your blood than live in your air . - -You have said , sir . - -Ay , sir , and done too , for this time . - -I know it well , sir : you always end ere you begin . - -A fine volley of words , gentlemen , and quickly shot off . - -'Tis indeed , madam ; we thank the giver . - -Who is that , servant ? - -Yourself , sweet lady ; for you gave the fire . Sir Thurio borrows his wit from your ladyship's looks , and spends what he borrows kindly in your company . - -Sir , if you spend word for word with me , I shall make your wit bankrupt . - -I know it well , sir : you have an exchequer of words , and , I think , no other treasure to give your followers ; for it appears by their bare liveries that they live by your bare words . - -No more , gentlemen , no more . Here comes my father . - - -Now , daughter Silvia , you are hard beset . -Sir Valentine , your father's in good health : -What say you to a letter from your friends -Of much good news ? - -My lord , I will be thankful -To any happy messenger from thence . - -Know ye Don Antonio , your countryman ? - -Ay , my good lord ; I know the gentleman -To be of worth and worthy estimation , -And not without desert so well reputed . - -Hath he not a son ? - -Ay , my good lord ; a son that well deserves -The honour and regard of such a father . - -You know him well ? - -I know him as myself ; for from our infancy -We have convers'd and spent our hours together : -And though myself have been an idle truant , -Omitting the sweet benefit of time -To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection , -Yet hath Sir Proteus ,for that's his name , -Made use and fair advantage of his days : -His years but young , but his experience old ; -His head unmellow'd , but his judgment ripe ; -And , in a word ,for far behind his worth -Come all the praises that I now bestow , -He is complete in feature and in mind -With all good grace to grace a gentleman . - -Beshrew me , sir , but if he make this good , -He is as worthy for an empress' love -As meet to be an emperor's counsellor . -Well , sir , this gentleman is come to me -With commendation from great potentates ; -And here he means to spend his time awhile : -I think , 'tis no unwelcome news to you . - -Should I have wish'd a thing , it had been he . - -Welcome him then according to his worth . -Silvia , I speak to you ; and you , Sir Thurio : -For Valentine , I need not cite him to it . -I'll send him hither to you presently . - - -This is the gentleman I told your ladyship -Had come along with me , but that his mistress -Did hold his eyes lock'd in her crystal looks . - -Belike that now she hath enfranchis'd them -Upon some other pawn for fealty . - -Nay , sure , I think she holds them prisoners still . - -Nay , then he should be blind ; and , being blind , -How could he see his way to seek out you ? - -Why , lady , Love hath twenty pairs of eyes . - -They say that Love hath not an eye at all . - -To see such lovers , Thurio , as yourself : -Upon a homely object Love can wink . - -Have done , have done . Here comes the gentleman . - - -Welcome , dear Proteus ! Mistress , I beseech you , -Confirm his welcome with some special favour . - -His worth is warrant for his welcome hither , -If this be he you oft have wish'd to hear from . - -Mistress , it is : sweet lady , entertain him -To be my fellow-servant to your ladyship . - -Too low a mistress for so high a servant . - -Not so , sweet lady ; but too mean a servant -To have a look of such a worthy mistress . - -Leave off discourse of disability : -Sweet lady , entertain him for your servant . - -My duty will I boast of , nothing else . - -And duty never yet did want his meed . -Servant , you are welcome to a worthless mistress . - -I'll die on him that says so but yourself . - -That you are welcome ? - -That you are worthless . - - -Madam , my lord your father would speak with you . - -I wait upon his pleasure . - -Come , Sir Thurio , -Go with me . Once more , new servant , welcome : -I'll leave you to confer of home-affairs ; -When you have done , we look to hear from you . - -We'll both attend upon your ladyship . - - -Now , tell me , how do all from whence you came ? - -Your friends are well and have them much commended . - -And how do yours ? - -I left them all in health . - -How does your lady and how thrives your love ? - -My tales of love were wont to weary you ; -I know you joy not in a love-discourse . - -Ay , Proteus , but that life is alter'd now : -I have done penance for contemning love ; -Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd me -With bitter fasts , with penitential groans , -With nightly tears and daily heart-sore sighs ; -For , in revenge of my contempt of love , -Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes , -And made them watchers of mine own heart's sorrow . -O , gentle Proteus ! Love's a mighty lord , -And hath so humbled me as I confess , -There is no woe to his correction , -Nor to his service no such joy on earth . -Now no discourse , except it be of love ; -Now can I break my fast , dine , sup and sleep , -Upon the very naked name of love . - -Enough ; I read your fortune in your eye . -Was this the idol that you worship so ? - -Even she ; and is she not a heavenly saint ? - -No ; but she is an earthly paragon . - -Call her divine . - -I will not flatter her . - -O ! flatter me , for love delights in praises . - -When I was sick you gave me bitter pills , -And I must minister the like to you . - -Then speak the truth by her ; if not divine , -Yet let her be a principality , -Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth . - -Except my mistress . - -Sweet , except not any , -Except thou wilt except against my love . - -Have I not reason to prefer mine own ? - -And I will help thee to prefer her too : -She shall be dignified with this high honour , -To bear my lady's train , lest the base earth -Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss , -And , of so great a favour growing proud , -Disdain to root the summer-swelling flower , -And make rough winter everlastingly . - -Why , Valentine , what braggardism is this ? - -Pardon me , Proteus : all I can is nothing -To her whose worth makes other worthies nothing . -She is alone . - -Then , let her alone . - -Not for the world : why , man , she is mine own , -And I as rich in having such a jewel -As twenty seas , if all their sand were pearl , -The water nectar , and the rocks pure gold . -Forgive me that I do not dream on thee , -Because thou see'st me dote upon my love . -My foolish rival , that her father likes -Only for his possessions are so huge , -Is gone with her along , and I must after , -For love , thou know'st , is full of jealousy . - -But she loves you ? - -Ay , and we are betroth'd : nay , more , our marriage-hour , -With all the cunning manner of our flight , -Determin'd of : how I must climb her window , -The ladder made of cords , and all the means -Plotted and 'greed on for my happiness . -Good Proteus , go with me to my chamber , -In these affairs to aid me with thy counsel . - -Go on before , I shall inquire you forth : -I must unto the road , to disembark -Some necessaries that I needs must use , -And then I'll presently attend you . - -Will you make haste ? - -I will . - -Even as one heat another heat expels , -Or as one nail by strength drives out another , -So the remembrance of my former love -Is by a newer object quite forgotten . -Is it mine eye , or Valentinus' praise , -Her true perfection , or my false transgression , -That makes me reasonless to reason thus ? -She's fair ; and so is Julia that I love , -That I did love , for now my love is thaw'd , -Which , like a waxen image 'gainst a fire , -Bears no impression of the thing it was . -Methinks my zeal to Valentine is cold , -And that I love him not as I was wont : -O ! but I love his lady too-too much ; -And that's the reason I love him so little . -How shall I dote on her with more advice , -That thus without advice begin to love her ? -'Tis but her picture I have yet beheld , -And that hath dazzled my reason's light ; -But when I look on her perfections , -There is no reason but I shall be blind . -If I can check my erring love , I will ; -If not , to compass her I'll use my skill . - - -Launce ! by mine honesty , welcome to Milan ! - -Forswear not thyself , sweet youth , for I am not welcome . I reckon this always that a man is never undone till he be hanged ; nor never welcome to a place till some certain shot be paid and the hostess say , 'Welcome !' - -Come on , you madcap , I'll to the alehouse with you presently ; where , for one shot of five pence , thou shalt have five thousand welcomes . But , sirrah , how did thy master part with Madam Julia ? - -Marry , after they closed in earnest , they parted very fairly in jest . - -But shall she marry him ? - -No . - -How then ? Shall he marry her ? - -No , neither . - -What , are they broken ? - -No , they are both as whole as a fish . - -Why then , how stands the matter with them ? - -Marry , thus ; when it stands well with him , it stands well with her . - -What an ass art thou ! I understand thee not . - -What a block art thou , that thou canst not ! My staff understands me . - -What thou sayest ? - -Ay , and what I do too : look thee , I'll but lean , and my staff understands me . - -It stands under thee , indeed . - -Why , stand-under and under-stand is all one . - -But tell me true , will't be a match ? - -Ask my dog : if he say ay , it will ; if he say no , it will ; if he shake his tail and say nothing , it will . - -The conclusion is , then , that it will . - -Thou shalt never get such a secret from me but by a parable . - -'Tis well that I get it so . But , Launce , how sayest thou , that my master is become a notable lover ? - -I never knew him otherwise . - -Than how ? - -A notable lubber , as thou reportest him to be . - -Why , thou whoreson ass , thou mistakest me . - -Why , fool , I meant not thee ; I meant thy master . - -I tell thee , my master is become a hot lover . - -Why , I tell thee , I care not though he burn himself in love . If thou wilt go with me to the alehouse so ; if not , thou art a Hebrew , a Jew , and not worth the name of a Christian . - -Why ? - -Because thou hast not so much charity in thee as to go to the ale with a Christian . Wilt thou go ? - -At thy service . - - -To leave my Julia , shall I be forsworn ; -To love fair Silvia , shall I be forsworn ; -To wrong my friend , I shall be much forsworn ; -And even that power which gave me first my oath -Provokes me to this threefold perjury : -Love bade me swear , and Love bids me forswear . -O sweet-suggesting Love ! if thou hast sinn'd , -Teach me , thy tempted subject , to excuse it . -At first I did adore a twinkling star , -But now I worship a celestial sun . -Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken ; -And he wants wit that wants resolved will -To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better . -Fie , fie , unreverend tongue ! to call her bad , -Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd -With twenty thousand soul-confirming oaths . -I cannot leave to love , and yet I do ; -But there I leave to love where I should love . -Julia I lose and Valentine I lose : -If I keep them , I needs must lose myself ; -If I lose them , thus find I by their loss , -For Valentine , myself ; for Julia , Silvia . -I to myself am dearer than a friend , -For love is still most precious in itself ; -And Silvia witness heaven that made her fair ! -Shows Julia but a swarthy Ethiope . -I will forget that Julia is alive , -Remembering that my love to her is dead ; -And Valentine I'll hold an enemy , -Aiming at Silvia as a sweeter friend . -I cannot now prove constant to myself -Without some treachery us'd to Valentine : -This night he meaneth with a corded ladder -To climb celestial Silvia's chamber-window , -Myself in counsel , his competitor . -Now presently , I'll give her father notice -Of their disguising and pretended flight ; -Who , all enrag'd , will banish Valentine ; -For Thurio , he intends , shall wed his daughter ; -But , Valentine being gone , I'll quickly cross , -By some sly trick blunt Thurio's dull proceeding . -Love , lend me wings to make my purpose swift , -As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift ! - - -Counsel , Lucetta ; gentle girl , assist me : -And e'en in kind love I do conjure thee , -Who art the table wherein all my thoughts -Are visibly character'd and engrav'd , -To lesson me and tell me some good mean -How , with my honour , I may undertake -A journey to my loving Proteus . - -Alas ! the way is wearisome and long . - -A true-devoted pilgrim is not weary -To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps ; -Much less shall she that hath Love's wings to fly , -And when the flight is made to one so dear , -Of such divine perfection , as Sir Proteus . - -Better forbear till Proteus make return . - -O ! know'st thou not his looks are my soul's food ? -Pity the dearth that I have pined in , -By longing for that food so long a time . -Didst thou but know the inly touch of love , -Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow -As seek to quench the fire of love with words . - -I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire , -But qualify the fire's extreme rage , -Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason . - -The more thou damm'st it up , the more it burns . -The current that with gentle murmur glides , -Thou know'st , being stopp'd , impatiently doth rage ; -But when his fair course is not hindered , -He makes sweet music with th' enamell'd stones , -Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge -He overtaketh in his pilgrimage ; -And so by many winding nooks he strays -With willing sport , to the wild ocean . -Then let me go and hinder not my course : -I'll be as patient as a gentle stream -And make a pastime of each weary step , -Till the last step have brought me to my love ; -And there I'll rest , as after much turmoil -A blessed soul doth in Elysium . - -But in what habit will you go along ? - -Not like a woman ; for I would prevent -The loose encounters of lascivious men . -Gentle Lucetta , fit me with such weeds -As may beseem some well-reputed page . - -Why , then , your ladyship must cut your hair . - -No , girl ; I'll knit it up in silken strings -With twenty odd-conceited true-love knots : -To be fantastic may become a youth -Of greater time than I shall show to be . - -What fashion , madam , shall I make your breeches ? - -That fits as well as 'Tell me , good my lord , -What compass will you wear your farthingale ?' -Why , even what fashion thou best lik'st , Lucetta . - -You must needs have them with a cod-piece , madam . - -Out , out , Lucetta ! that will be ill-favour'd . - -A round hose , madam , now's not worth a pin , -Unless you have a cod-piece to stick pins on . - -Lucetta , as thou lov'st me , let me have -What thou think'st meet and is most mannerly . -But tell me , wench , how will the world repute me -For undertaking so unstaid a journey ? -I fear me , it will make me scandaliz'd . - -If you think so , then stay at home and go not . - -Nay , that I will not . - -Then never dream on infamy , but go . -If Proteus like your journey when you come , -No matter who's displeas'd when you are gone . -I fear me , he will scarce be pleas'd withal . - -That is the least , Lucetta , of my fear : -A thousand oaths , an ocean of his tears , -And instances of infinite of love -Warrant me welcome to my Proteus . - -All these are servants to deceitful men . - -Base men , that use them to so base effect ; -But truer stars did govern Proteus' birth : -His words are bonds , his oaths are oracles , -His love sincere , his thoughts immaculate , -His tears pure messengers sent from his heart , -His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth . - -Pray heaven he prove so when you come to him ! - -Now , as thou lov'st me , do him not that wrong -To bear a hard opinion of his truth : -Only deserve my love by loving him , -And presently go with me to my chamber , -To take a note of what I stand in need of -To furnish me upon my longing journey . -All that is mine I leave at thy dispose , -My goods , my lands , my reputation ; -Only , in lieu thereof , dispatch me hence . -Come , answer not , but to it presently ! -I am impatient of my tarriance . - -Sir Thurio , give us leave , I pray , awhile ; -We have some secrets to confer about . - -Now tell me , Proteus , what's your will with me ? - -My gracious lord , that which I would discover -The law of friendship bids me to conceal ; -But when I call to mind your gracious favours -Done to me , undeserving as I am , -My duty pricks me on to utter that -Which else no worldly good should draw from me . -Know , worthy prince , Sir Valentine , my friend , -This night intends to steal away your daughter : -Myself am one made privy to the plot . -I know you have determin'd to bestow her -On Thurio , whom your gentle daughter hates ; -And should she thus be stol'n away from you -It would be much vexation to your age . -Thus , for my duty's sake , I rather chose -To cross my friend in his intended drift , -Than , by concealing it , heap on your head -A pack of sorrows which would press you down , -Being unprevented , to your timeless grave . - -Proteus , I thank thee for thine honest care , -Which to requite , command me while I live . -This love of theirs myself have often seen , -Haply , when they have judg'd me fast asleep , -And oftentimes have purpos'd to forbid -Sir Valentine her company and my court ; -But fearing lest my jealous aim might err -And so unworthily disgrace the man , -A rashness that I ever yet have shunn'd , -I gave him gentle looks , thereby to find -That which thyself hast now disclos'd to me . -And , that thou mayst perceive my fear of this , -Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested , -I nightly lodge her in an upper tower , -The key whereof myself have ever kept ; -And thence she cannot be convey'd away . - -Know , noble lord , they have devis'd a mean -How he her chamber-window will ascend -And with a corded ladder fetch her down ; -For which the youthful lover now is gone -And this way comes he with it presently ; -Where , if it please you , you may intercept him . -But , good my lord , do it so cunningly -That my discovery be not aimed at ; -For love of you , not hate unto my friend , -Hath made me publisher of this pretence . - -Upon mine honour , he shall never know -That I had any light from thee of this . - -Adieu , my lord : Sir Valentine is coming . - -Sir Valentine , whither away so fast ? - -Please it your Grace , there is a messenger -That stays to bear my letters to my friends , -And I am going to deliver them . - -Be they of much import ? - -The tenour of them doth but signify -My health and happy being at your court . - -Nay then , no matter : stay with me awhile ; -I am to break with thee of some affairs -That touch me near , wherein thou must be secret . -'Tis not unknown to thee that I have sought -To match my friend Sir Thurio to my daughter . - -I know it well , my lord ; and sure , the match -Were rich and honourable ; besides , the gentleman -Is full of virtue , bounty , worth , and qualities -Beseeming such a wife as your fair daughter . -Cannot your Grace win her to fancy him ? - -No , trust me : she is peevish , sullen , froward , -Proud , disobedient , stubborn , lacking duty ; -Neither regarding that she is my child , -Nor fearing me as if I were her father : -And , may I say to thee this pride of hers , -Upon advice , hath drawn my love from her ; -And , where I thought the remnant of mine age -Should have been cherish'd by her child-like duty , -I now am full resolv'd to take a wife -And turn her out to who will take her in : -Then let her beauty be her wedding-dower ; -For me and my possessions she esteems not . - -What would your Grace have me to do in this ? - -There is a lady of Verona here , -Whom I affect ; but she is nice and coy -And nought esteems my aged eloquence : -Now therefore , would I have thee to my tutor , -For long agone I have forgot to court ; -Besides , the fashion of the time is chang'd , -How and which way I may bestow myself -To be regarded in her sun-bright eye . - -Win her with gifts , if she respect not words : -Dumb jewels often in their silent kind -More than quick words do move a woman's mind . - -But she did scorn a present that I sent her . - -A woman sometime scorns what best contents her . -Send her another ; never give her o'er , -For scorn at first makes after-love the more . -If she do frown , 'tis not in hate of you , -But rather to beget more love in you ; -If she do chide , 'tis not to have you gone ; -For why the fools are mad if left alone . -Take no repulse , whatever she doth say ; -For , 'get you gone ,' she doth not mean , 'away !' -Flatter and praise , commend , extol their graces ; -Though ne'er so black , say they have angels' faces . -That man that hath a tongue , I say , is no man , -If with his tongue he cannot win a woman . - -But she I mean is promis'd by her friends -Unto a youthful gentleman of worth , -And kept severely from resort of men , -That no man hath access by day to her . - -Why then , I would resort to her by night . - -Ay , but the doors be lock'd and keys kept safe , -That no man hath recourse to her by night . - -What lets but one may enter at her window ? - -Her chamber is aloft , far from the ground , -And built so shelving that one cannot climb it -Without apparent hazard of his life . - -Why then , a ladder quaintly made of cords , -To cast up , with a pair of anchoring hooks , -Would serve to scale another Hero's tower , -So bold Leander would adventure it . - -Now , as thou art a gentleman of blood , -Advise me where I may have such a ladder . - -When would you use it ? pray , sir , tell me that . - -This very night ; for Love is like a child , -That longs for every thing that he can come by . - -By seven o'clock I'll get you such a ladder . - -But hark thee ; I will go to her alone : -How shall I best convey the ladder thither ? - -It will be light , my lord , that you may bear it -Under a cloak that is of any length . - -A cloak as long as thine will serve the turn ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -Then let me see thy cloak : -I'll get me one of such another length . - -Why , any cloak will serve the turn , my lord . - -How shall I fashion me to wear a cloak ? -I pray thee , let me feel thy cloak upon me . - -What letter is this same ? What's here ?To Silvia ! -And here an engine fit for my proceeding ! -I'll be so bold to break the seal for once . - -My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly ; -And slaves they are to me that send them flying -O ! could their master come and go as lightly , -Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying ! -My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them ; -While I , their king , that thither them importune , -Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless'd them , -Because myself do want my servants' fortune : -I curse myself , for they are sent by me , -That they should harbour where their lord would be . - -What's here ? - -Silvia , this night I will enfranchise thee - -'Tis so ; and here's the ladder for the purpose . -Why , Phaethon ,for thou art Merops' son , -Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car -And with thy daring folly burn the world ? -Wilt thou reach stars , because they shine on thee ? -Go , basc intruder ! overweening slave ! -Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates , -And think my patience , more than thy desert , -Is privilege for thy departure hence . -Thank me for this more than for all the favours -Which all too much I have bestow'd on thee . -But if thou linger in my territories -Longer than swiftest expedition -Will give thee time to leave our royal court , -By heaven ! my wrath shall far exceed the love -I ever borc my daughter or thyself . -Be gone ! I will not hear thy vain excuse ; -But , as thou lov'st thy life , make speed from hence . - - -And why not death rather than living torment ? -To die is to be banish'd from myself ; -And Silvia is myself : banish'd from her -Is self from self ,a deadly banishment ! -What light is light , if Silvia be not seen ? -What joy is joy , if Silvia be not by ? -Unless it be to think that she is by -And feed upon the shadow of perfection . -Except I be by Silvia in the night , -There is no music in the nightingale ; -Unless I look on Silvia in the day , -There is no day for me to look upon . -She is my essence ; and I leave to be , -If I be not by her fair influence -Foster'd , illumin'd , cherish'd , kept alive . -I fly not death , to fly his deadly doom : -Tarry I here , I but attend on death ; -But , fly I hence , I fly away from life . - - -Run , boy ; run , run , and seek him out . - -Soho ! soho ! - -What seest thou ? - -Him we go to find : there's not a hair on's head but 'tis a Valentine . - -Valentine ? - -No . - -Who then ? his spirit ? - -Neither . - -What then ? - -Nothing . - -Can nothing speak ? Master , shall I strike ? - -Who would'st thou strike ? - -Nothing . - -Villain , forbear . - -Why , sir , I'll strike nothing : I pray you , - -Sirrah , I say , forbear .Friend Valentine , a word . - -My ears are stopp'd and cannot hear good news , -So much of bad already hath possess'd them . - -Then in dumb silence will I bury mine , -For they are harsh , untuneable and bad . - -Is Silvia dead ? - -No , Valentine . - -No Valentine , indeed , for sacred Silvia ! -Hath she forsworn me ? - -No , Valentine . - -No Valentine , if Silvia have forsworn me ! -What is your news ? - -Sir , there is a proclamation that you are vanished . - -That thou art banished , O , that's the news , -From hence , from Silvia , and from me thy friend . - -O , I have fed upon this woe already , -And now excess of it will make me surfeit . -Doth Silvia know that I am banished ? - -Ay , ay ; and she hath offer'd to the doom -Which , unrevers'd , stands in effectual force -A sea of melting pearl , which some call tears : -Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd ; -With them , upon her knees , her humble self ; -Wringing her hands , whose whiteness so became them -As if but now they waxed pale for woe : -But neither bended knees , pure hands held up , -Sad sighs , deep groans , nor silver-shedding tears , -Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire ; -But Valentine , if he be ta'en , must die . -Besides , her intercession chaf'd him so , -When she for thy repeal was suppliant , -That to close prison he commanded her , -With many bitter threats of biding there . - -No more ; unless the next word that thou speak'st -Have some malignant power upon my life : -If so , I pray thee , breathe it in mine ear , -As ending anthem of my endless dolour . - -Cease to lament for that thou canst not help , -And study help for that which thou lament'st . -Time is the nurse and breeder of all good . -Here if thou stay , thou canst not see thy love ; -Besides , thy staying will abridge thy life . -Hope is a lover's staff ; walk hence with that -And manage it against despairing thoughts . -Thy letters may be here , though thou art hence ; -Which , being writ to me , shall be deliver'd -Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love . -The time now serves not to expostulate : -Come , I'll convey thee through the city-gate , -And , ere I part with thee , confer at large -Of all that may concern thy love-affairs . -As thou lov'st Silvia , though not for thyself , -Regard thy danger , and along with me ! - -I pray thee , Launce , and if thou seest my boy , -Bid him make haste and meet me at the North-gate . - -Go , sirrah , find him out . Come , Valentine . - -O my dear Silvia ! hapless Valentine ! - - -I am but a fool , look you ; and yet I have the wit to think my master is a kind of a knave : but that's all one , if he be but one knave . He lives not now that knows me to be in love : yet I am in love ; but a team of horse shall not pluck that from me , nor who 'tis I love ; and yet 'tis a woman ; but what woman , I will not tell myself ; and yet 'tis a milkmaid ; yet 'tis not a maid , for she hath had gossips ; yet 'tis a maid , for she is her master's maid , and serves for wages . She hath more qualities than a water-spaniel ,which is much in a bare Christian . - -Here is the catelog of her condition . Imprimis , She can fetch and carry . Why , a horse can do no more : nay , a horse cannot fetch , but only carry ; therefore , is she better than a jade . Item , She can milk ; look you , a sweet virtue in a maid with clean hands . - - -How now , Signior Launce ! what news with your mastership ? - -With my master's ship ? why , it is at sea . - -Well , your old vice still ; mistake the word . What news , then , in your paper ? - -The blackest news that ever thou heardest . - -Why , man , how black ? - -Why , as black as ink . - -Let me read them . - -Fie on thee , jolthead ! thou canst not read . - -Thou liest ; I can . - -I will try thee . Tell me this : who begot thee ? - -Marry , the son of my grandfather . - -O , illiterate loiterer ! it was the son of thy grandmother . This proves that thou canst not read . - -Come , fool , come : try me in thy paper . - -There ; and Saint Nicholas be thy speed ! - -Imprimis , She can milk . - -Ay , that she can . - -Item , She brews good ale . - -And thereof comes the proverb , 'Blessing of your heart , you brew good ale .' - -Item , She can sew . - -That's as much as to say , Can she so ? - -Item , She can knit . - -What need a man care for a stock with a wench , when she can knit him a stock ? - -Item , She can wash and scour . - -A special virtue ; for then she need not be washed and scoured . - -Item , She can spin . - -Then may I set the world on wheels , when she can spin for her living . - -Item , She hath many nameless virtues . - -That's as much as to say , bastard virtues ; that , indeed , know not their fathers , and therefore have no names . - -Here follow her vices . - -Close at the heels of her virtues . - -Item , She is not to be kissed fasting , in respect of her breath . - -Well , that fault may be mended with a breakfast . Read on . - -Item , She hath a sweet mouth . - -That makes amends for her sour breath . - -Item , She doth talk in her sleep . - -It's no matter for that , so she sleep not in her talk . - -Item , She is slow in words . - -O villain , that set this down among her vices ! To be slow in words is a woman's only virtue : I pray thee , out with't , and place it for her chief virtue . - -Item , She is proud . - -Out with that too : it was Eve's legacy , and cannot be ta'en from her . - -Item , She hath no teeth . - -I care not for that neither , because I love crusts . - -Item , She is curst . - -Well ; the best is , she hath no teeth to bite . - -Item , She will often praise her liquor . - -If her liquor be good , she shall : if she will not , I will ; for good things should be praised . - -Item , She is too liberal . - -Of her tongue she cannot , for that's writ down she is slow of : of her purse she shall not , for that I'll keep shut : now , of another thing she may , and that cannot I help . Well , proceed . - -Item , She hath more hair than wit , and more faults than hairs , and more wealth than faults . - -Stop there ; I'll have her : she was mine , and not mine , twice or thrice in that last article . Rehearse that once more . - -Item , She hath more hair than wit . - -More hair than wit it may be ; I'll prove it : the cover of the salt hides the salt , and therefore it is more than the salt ; the hair , that covers the wit is more than the wit , for the greater hides the less . What's next ? - -And more faults than hairs . - -That's monstrous ! O , that that were out ! - -And more wealth than faults . - -Why , that word makes the faults gracious . Well , I'll have her ; and if it be a match , as nothing is impossible , - -What then ? - -Why , then will I tell thee ,that thy master stays for thee at the North-gate . - -For me ? - -For thee ! ay ; who art thou ? he hath stayed for a better man than thee . - -And must I go to him ? - -Thou must run to him , for thou hast stayed so long that going will scarce serve the turn . - -Why didst not tell me sooner ? pox of your love-letters ! - - -Now will he be swing'd for reading my letter . An unmannerly slave , that will thrust himself into secrets . I'll after , to rejoice in the boy's correction . - - -Sir Thurio , fear not but that she will love you , -Now Valentine is banish'd from her sight . - -Since his exile she hath despis'd me most , -Forsworn my company and rail'd at me , -That I am desperate of obtaining her . - -This weak impress of love is as a figure -Trenched in ice , which with an hour's heat -Dissolves to water and doth lose his form . -A little time will melt her frozen thoughts , -And worthless Valentine shall be forgot . - - -How now , Sir Proteus ! Is your countryman - -According to our proclamation gone ? - -Gone , my good lord . - -My daughter takes his going grievously . - -A little time , my lord , will kill that grief . - -So I believe ; but Thurio thinks not so . -Proteus , the good conceit I hold of thee , -For thou hast shown some sign of good desert , -Makes me the better to confer with thee . - -Longer than I prove loyal to your Grace -Let me not live to look upon your Grace . - -Thou know'st how willingly I would effect -The match between Sir Thurio and my daughter . - -I do , my lord . - -And also , I think , thou art not ignorant -How she opposes her against my will . - -She did , my lord , when Valentine was here . - -Ay , and perversely she persevers so . -What might we do to make the girl forget -The love of Valentine , and love Sir Thurio ? - -The best way is to slander Valentine -With falsehood , cowardice , and poor descent , -Three things that women highly hold in hate . - -Ay , but she'll think that it is spoke in hate . - -Ay , if his enemy deliver it : -Therefore it must with circumstance be spoken -By one whom she esteemeth as his friend . - -Then you must undertake to slander him . - -And that , my lord , I shall be loath to do : -'Tis an ill office for a gentleman , -Especially against his very friend . - -Where your good word cannot advantage him , -Your slander never can endamage him : -Therefore the office is indifferent , -Being entreated to it by your friend . - -You have prevail'd , my lord . If I can do it , -By aught that I can speak in his dispraise , -She shall not long continue love to him . -But say this weed her love from Valentine , -It follows not that she will love Sir Thurio . - -Therefore , as you unwind her love from him , -Lest it should ravel and be good to none , -You must provide to bottom it on me ; -Which must be done by praising me as much -As you in worth dispraise Sir Valentine . - -And , Proteus , we dare trust you in this kind , -Because we know , on Valentine's report , -You are already Love's firm votary -And cannot soon revolt and change your mind . -Upon this warrant shall you have access -Where you with Silvia may confer at large ; -For she is lumpish , heavy , melancholy , -And , for your friend's sake , will be glad of you ; -Where you may temper her , by your persuasion -To hate young Valentine and love my friend . - -As much as I can do I will effect . -But you , Sir Thurio , are not sharp enough ; -You must lay lime to tangle her desires -By wailful sonnets , whose composed rimes -Should be full-fraught with serviceable vows . - -Ay , -Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy . - -Say that upon the altar of her beauty -You sacrifice your tears , your sighs , your heart . -Write till your ink be dry , and with your tears -Moist it again , and frame some feeling line -That may discover such integrity : -For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets' sinews , -Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones , -Make tigers tame and huge leviathans -Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands . -After your dire-lamenting elegies , -Visit by night your lady's chamber-window -With some sweet consort : to their instruments -Tune a deploring dump ; the night's dead silence -Will well become such sweet-complaining grievance . -This , or else nothing , will inherit her . - -This discipline shows thou hast been in love . - -And thy advice this night I'll put in practice . -Therefore , sweet Proteus , my direction-giver , -Let us into the city presently -To sort some gentlemen well skill'd in music . -I have a sonnet that will serve the turn -To give the onset to thy good advice . - -About it , gentlemen ! - -We'll wait upon your grace till aftersupper , -And afterward determine our proceedings . - -Even now about it ! I will pardon you . - -Fellows , stand fast ; I see a passenger . - -If there be ten , shrink not , but down with 'em . - - -Stand , sir , and throw us that you have about ye ; -If not , we'll make you sit and rifle you . - -Sir , we are undone : these are the villains -That all the travellers do fear so much . - -My friends , - -That's not so , sir ; we are your enemies . - -Peace ! we'll hear him . - -Ay , by my beard , will we , for he is a proper man . - -Then know , that I have little wealth to lose . -A man I am cross'd with adversity : -My riches are these poor habiliments , -Of which if you should here disfurnish me , -You take the sum and substance that I have . - -Whither travel you ? - -To Verona . - -Whence came you ? - -From Milan . - -Have you long sojourn'd there ? - -Some sixteen months ; and longer might have stay'd -If crooked fortune had not thwarted me . - -What ! were you banish'd thence ? - -I was . - -For what offence ? - -For that which now torments me to rehearse . -I kill'd a man , whose death I much repent ; -But yet I slew him manfully , in fight , -Without false vantage or base treachery . - -Why , ne'er repent it , if it were done so . -But were you banish'd for so small a fault ? - -I was , and held me glad of such a doom . - -Have you the tongues ? - -My youthful travel therein made me happy , -Or else I often had been miserable . - -By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar , -This fellow were a king for our wild faction ! - -We'll have him : Sirs , a word . - -Master , be one of them ; -It is an honourable kind of thievery . - -Peace , villain ! - -Tell us this : have you anything to take to ? - -Nothing , but my fortune . - -Know then , that some of us are gentlemen , -Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth -Thrust from the company of awful men : -Myself was from Verona banished -For practising to steal away a lady , -An heir , and near allied unto the duke . - -And I from Mantua , for a gentleman , -Who , in my mood , I stabb'd unto the heart . - -And I for such like petty crimes as these . -But to the purpose ; for we cite our faults , -That they may hold excus'd our lawless lives ; -And , partly , seeing you are beautified -With goodly shape , and by your own report -A linguist , and a man of such perfection -As we do in our quality much want - -Indeed , because you are a banish'd man , -Therefore , above the rest , we parley to you . -Are you content to be our general ? -To make a virtue of necessity -And live , as we do , in this wilderness ? - -What say'st thou ? wilt thou be of our consort ? -Say 'ay ,' and be the captain of us all : -We'll do thee homage and be rul'd by thee , -Love thee as our commander and our king . - -But if thou scorn our courtesy , thou diest . - -Thou shalt not live to brag what we have offer'd . - -I take your offer and will live with you , -Provided that you do no outrages -On silly women , or poor passengers . - -No ; we detest such vile , base practices . -Come , go with us ; we'll bring thee to our crews , -And show thee all the treasure we have got , -Which , with ourselves , all rest at thy dispose . - - -Already have I been false to Valentine , -And now I must be as unjust to Thurio . -Under the colour of commending him , -I have access my own love to prefer : -But Silvia is too fair , too true , too holy , -To be corrupted with my worthless gifts . -When I protest true loyalty to her , -She twits me with my falsehood to my friend ; -When to her beauty I commend my vows , -She bids me think how I have been forsworn -In breaking faith with Julia whom I lov'd : -And notwithstanding all her sudden quips , -The least whereof would quell a lover's hope , -Yet , spaniel-like , the more she spurns my love , -The more it grows , and fawneth on her still . -But here comes Thurio : now must we to her window , -And give some evening music to her ear . - - -How now , Sir Proteus ! are you crept before us ? - -Ay , gentle Thurio ; for you know that love -Will creep in service where it cannot go . - -Ay ; but I hope , sir , that you love not here . - -Sir , but I do ; or else I would be hence . - -Who ? Silvia ? - -Ay , Silvia , for your sake . - -I thank you for your own . Now , gentlemen , -Let's tune , and to it lustily a while . - - -Now , my young guest , methinks you're allycholly : I pray you , why is it ? - -Marry , mine host , because I cannot be merry . - -Come , we'll have you merry . I'll bring you where you shall hear music and see the gentleman that you asked for . - -But shall I hear him speak ? - -Ay , that you shall . - -That will be music . - - -Hark ! hark ! - -Is he among these ? - -Ay ; but peace ! let's hear 'em . - - -Who is Silvia ? what is she ? -That all our swains commend her ? -Holy , fair , and wise is she ; -The heaven such grace did lend her , -That she might admired be . -Is she kind as she is fair ? -For beauty lives with kindness : -Love doth to her eyes repair , -To help him of his blindness ; -And , being help'd , inhabits there . -Then to Silvia let us sing , -That Silvia is excelling ; -She excels each mortal thing -Upon the dull earth dwelling ; -To her let us garlands bring . - -How now ! are you sadder than you were before ? How do you , man ? the music likes you not . - -You mistake ; the musician likes me not . - -Why , my pretty youth ? - -He plays false , father . - -How ? out of tune on the strings ? - -Not so ; but yet so false that he grieves my very heart-strings . - -You have a quick ear . - -Ay ; I would I were deaf ; it makes me have a slow heart . - -I perceive you delight not in music . - -Not a whit ,when it jars so . - -Hark ! what fine change is in the music ! - -Ay , that change is the spite . - -You would have them always play but one thing ? - -I would always have one play but one thing . -But , host , doth this Sir Proteus that we talk on -Often resort unto this gentlewoman ? - -I will tell you what Launce , his man , told me : he lov'd her out of all nick . - -Where is Launce ? - -Gone to seek his dog ; which , to-morrow , by his master's command , he must carry for a present to his lady . - -Peace ! stand aside : the company parts . - -Sir Thurio , fear not you : I will so plead -That you shall say my cunning drift excels . - -Where meet we ? - -At Saint Gregory's well . - -Farewell . - -Madam , good even to your ladyship . - -I thank you for your music , gentlemen . -Who is that that spake ? - -One , lady , if you knew his pure heart's truth , -You would quickly learn to know him by his voice . - -Sir Proteus , as I take it . - -Sir Proteus , gentle lady , and your servant . - -What is your will ? - -That I may compass yours . - -You have your wish ; my will is even this : -That presently you hie you home to bed . -Thou subtle , perjur'd , false , disloyal man ! -Think'st thou I am so shallow , so conceitless , -To be seduced by thy flattery , -That hast deceiv'd so many with thy vows ? -Return , return , and make thy love amends . -For me , by this pale queen of night I swear , -I am so far from granting thy request -That I despise thee for thy wrongful suit , -And by and by intend to chide myself -Even for this time I spend in talking to thee . - -I grant , sweet love , that I did love a lady ; -But she is dead . - -'Tware false , if I should speak it ; -For I am sure she is not buried . - -Say that she be ; yet Valentine thy friend -Survives ; to whom , thyself art witness -I am betroth'd : and art thou not asham'd -To wrong him with thy importunacy ? - -I likewise hear that Valentine is dead . - -And so suppose am I ; for in his grave , Assure thyself my love is buried . - -Sweet lady , let me rake it from the earth . - -Go to thy lady's grave and call hers thence ; -Or , at the least , in hers sepulchre thine . - -He heard not that . - -Madam , if your heart be so obdurate , -Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love , -The picture that is hanging in your chamber : -To that I'll speak , to that I'll sigh and weep ; -For since the substance of your perfect self -Is else devoted , I am but a shadow , -And to your shadow will I make true love . - -If 'twere a substance , you would , sure , deceive it , -And make it but a shadow , as I am . - -I am very loath to be your idol , sir ; -But , since your falsehood shall become you well -To worship shadows and adore false shapes , -Send to me in the morning and I'll send it . -And so , good rest . - -As wretches have o'er night -That wait for execution in the morn . - - -Host , will you go ? - -By my halidom , I was fast asleep . - -Pray you , where lies Sir Proteus ? - -Marry , at my house . Trust me , I think 'tis almost day . - -Not so ; but it hath been the longest night -That e'er I watch'd and the most heaviest . - - -This is the hour that Madam Silvia -Entreated me to call , and know her mind : -There's some great matter she'd employ me in . -Madam , Madam ! - - -Who calls ? - -Your servant , and your friend ; -One that attends your ladyship's command . - -Sir Eglamour , a thousand times good morrow . - -As many , worthy lady , to yourself . -According to your ladyship's impose , -I am thus early come to know what service -It is your pleasure to command me in . - -O Eglamour , thou art a gentleman -Think not I flatter , for I swear I do not -Valiant , wise , remorseful , well-accomplish'd . -Thou art not ignorant what dear good will -I bear unto the banish'd Valentine , -Nor how my father would enforce me marry -Vain Thurio , whom my very soul abhors . -Thyself hast lov'd ; and I have heard thee say -No grief did ever come so near thy heart -As when thy lady and thy true love died , -Upon whose grave thou vow'dst pure chastity . -Sir Eglamour , I would to Valentine , -To Mantua , where , I hear he makes abode ; -And , for the ways are dangerous to pass , -I do desire thy worthy company , -Upon whose faith and honour I repose . -Urge not my father's anger , Eglamour , -But think upon my grief , a lady's grief , -And on the justice of my flying hence , -To keep me from a most unholy match , -Which heaven and fortune still rewards with plagues . -I do desire thee , even from a heart -As full of sorrows as the sea of sands , -To bear me company and go with me : -If not , to hide what I have said to thee , -That I may venture to depart alone . - -Madam , I pity much your grievances ; -Which since I know they virtuously are plac'd , -I give consent to go along with you , -Recking as little what betideth me -As much I wish all good befortune you . -When will you go ? - -This evening coming . - -Where shall I meet you ? - -At Friar Patrick's cell , -Where I intend holy confession . - -I will not fail your ladyship . -Good morrow , gentle lady . - -Good morrow , kind Sir Eglamour . - - -When a man's servant shall play the cur with him , look you , it goes hard ; one that I brought up of a puppy ; one that I saved from drowning , when three or four of his blind brothers and sisters went to it . I have taught him , even as one would say precisely , 'Thus would I teach a dog .' I was sent to deliver him as a present to Mistress Silvia from my master , and I came no sooner into the dining-chamber but he steps me to her trencher and steals her capon's leg . O ! 'tis a foul thing when a cur cannot keep himself in all companies . I would have , as one should say , one that takes upon him to be a dog indeed , to be , as it were , a dog at all things . If I had not had more wit than he , to take a fault upon me that he did , I think verily he had been hanged for't : sure as I live , he had suffered for't : you shall judge . He thrusts me himself into the company of three or four gentleman-like dogs under the duke's table : he had not been there bless the mark a pissing-while , but all the chamber smelt him . 'Out with the dog !' says one ; 'What cur is that ?' says another ; 'Whip him out ,' says the third ; 'Hang him up ,' says the duke . I , having been acquainted with the smell before , knew it was Crab , and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs : 'Friend ,' quoth I , 'you mean to whip the dog ?' 'Ay , marry , do I ,' quoth he . 'You do him the more wrong ,' quoth I ; ''twas I did the thing you wot of .' He makes me no more ado , but whips me out of the chamber . How many masters would do this for his servant ? Nay , I'll be sworn , I have sat in the stocks for puddings he hath stolen , otherwise he had been executed ; I have stood on the pillory for geese he hath killed , otherwise he had suffered for't ; thou thinkest not of this now . Nay , I remember the trick you served me when I took my leave of Madam Silvia : did not I bid thee still mark me and do as I do ? When didst thou see me heave up my leg and make water against a gentlewoman's farthingale ? Didst thou ever see me do such a trick ? - - -Sebastian is thy name ? I like thee well -And will employ thee in some service presently . - -In what you please : I will do what I can . - -I hope thou wilt . - -How now , you whoreson peasant ! -Where have you been these two days loitering ? - -Marry , sir , I carried Mistress Silvia the dog you bade me . - -And what says she to my little jewel ? - -Marry , she says , your dog was a cur , and tells you , currish thanks is good enough for such a present . - -But she received my dog ? - -No , indeed , did she not : here have I brought him back again . - -What ! didst thou offer her this from me ? - -Ay , sir : the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman boys in the marketplace ; and then I offered her mine own , who is a dog as big as ten of yours , and therefore the gift the greater . - -Go , get thee hence , and find my dog again , -Or ne'er return again into my sight . -Away , I say ! Stay'st thou to vex me here ? -A slave that still an end turns me to shame . - -Sebastian , I have entertained thee -Partly , that I have need of such a youth , -That can with some discretion do my business , -For't is no trusting to yond foolish lout ; -But chiefly for thy face and thy behaviour , -Which , if my augury deceive me not , -Witness good bringing up , fortune , and truth : -Therefore , know thou , for this I entertain thee . -Go presently , and take this ring with thee . -Deliver it to Madam Silvia : -She lov'd me well deliver'd it to me . - -It seems , you lov'd not her , to leave her token . -She's dead , belike ? - -Not so : I think , she lives . - -Alas ! - -Why dost thou cry 'alas ?' - -I cannot choose -But pity her . - -Wherefore should'st thou pity her ? - -Because methinks that she lov'd you as well -As you do love your lady Silvia . -She dreams on him that has forgot her love ; -You dote on her , that cares not for your love . -'Tis pity , love should be so contrary ; -And thinking on it makes me cry , 'alas !' - -Well , well , give her that ring and therewithal -This letter : that's her chamber . Tell my lady -I claim the promise for her heavenly picture . -Your message done , hie home unto my chamber , -Where thou shalt find me sad and solitary . - - -How many women would do such a message ? -Alas , poor Proteus ! thou hast entertain'd -A fox to be the shepherd of thy lambs . -Alas , poor fool ! why do I pity him -That with his very heart despiseth me ? -Because he loves her , he despiseth me ; -Because I love him , I must pity him . -This ring I gave him when he parted from me , -To bind him to remember my good will ; -And now am I unhappy messenger -To plead for that which I would not obtain , -To carry that which I would have refus'd , -To praise his faith which I would have disprais'd . -I am my master's true-confirmed love , -But cannot be true servant to my master , -Unless I prove false traitor to myself . -Yet will I woo for him ; but yet so coldly -As heaven it knows , I would not have him speed . - - -Gentlewoman , good day ! I pray you , be my mean - -To bring me where to speak with Madam Silvia . - -What would you with her , if that I be she ? - -If you be she , I do entreat your patience To hear me speak the message I am sent on . - -From whom ? - -From my master , Sir Proteus , madam . - -O ! he sends you for a picture ? - -Ay , madam . - -Ursula , bring my picture there . - -Go , give your master this : tell him from me , -One Julia , that his changing thoughts forget , -Would better fit his chamber than this shadow . - -Madam , please you peruse this letter . -Pardon me , madam , I have unadvis'd -Deliver'd you a paper that I should not : -This is the letter to your ladyship . - -I pray thee , let me look on that again . - -It may not be : good madam , pardon me . - -There , hold . -I will not look upon your master's lines : -I know , they are stuff'd with protestations -And full of new-found oaths , which he will break -As easily as I do tear his paper . - -Madam , he sends your ladyship this ring . - -The more shame for him that he sends it me ; -For , I have heard him say a thousand times , -His Julia gave it him at his departure . -Though his false finger have profan'd the ring , -Mine shall not do his Julia so much wrong . - -She thanks you . - -What say'st thou ? - -I thank you , madam , that you tender her . -Poor gentlewoman ! my master wrongs her much . - -Dost thou know her ? - -Almost as well as I do know myself : -To think upon her woes , I do protest -That I have wept a hundred several times . - -Belike , she thinks , that Proteus hath forsook her . - -I think she doth , and that's her cause of sorrow . - -Is she not passing fair ? - -She hath been fairer , madam , than she is . -When she did think my master lov'd her well , -She , in my judgment , was as fair as you ; -But since she did neglect her looking-glass -And threw her sun-expelling mask away , -The air hath starv'd the roses in her cheeks -And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face , -That now she is become as black as I . - -How tall was she ? - -About my stature ; for , at Pentecost , -When all our pageants of delight were play'd , -Our youth got me to play the woman's part , -And I was trimm'd in Madam Julia's gown , -Which served me as fit , by all men's judgments , -As if the garment had been made for me : -Therefore I know she is about my height . -And at that time I made her weep agood ; -For I did play a lamentable part . -Madam , 'twas Ariadne passioning -For Theseus' perjury and unjust flight ; -Which I so lively acted with my tears -That my poor mistress , moved therewithal , -Wept bitterly , and would I might be dead -If I in thought felt not her very sorrow ! - -She is beholding to thee , gentle youth . -Alas , poor lady , desolate and left ! -I weep myself to think upon thy words . -Here , youth , there is my purse : I give thee this -For thy sweet mistress' sake , because thou lov'st her . -Farewell . - -And she shall thank you for't , if e'er you know her . - -A virtuous gentlewoman , mild and beautiful . -I hope my master's suit will be but cold , -Since she respects my mistress' love so much . -Alas , how love can trifle with itself ! -Here is her picture : let me see ; I think , -If I had such a tire , this face of mine -Were full as lovely as is this of hers ; -And yet the painter flatter'd her a little , -Unless I flatter with myself too much . -Her hair is auburn , mine is perfect yellow : -If that be all the difference in his love -I'll get me such a colour'd periwig . -Her eyes are grey as glass , and so are mine : -Ay , but her forehead's low , and mine's as high . -What should it be that he respects in her -But I can make respective in myself , -If this fond Love were not a blinded god ? -Come , shadow , come , and take this shadow up , -For 'tis thy rival . O thou senseless form ! -Thou shalt be worshipp'd , kiss'd , lov'd , and ador'd , -And , were there sense in his idolatry , -My substance should be statue in thy stead . -I'll use thee kindly for thy mistress' sake , -That us'd me so ; or else , by Jove I vow , -I should have scratch'd out your unseeing eyes , -To make my master out of love with thee . - -The sun begins to gild the western sky , -And now it is about the very hour -That Silvia at Friar Patrick's cell should meet me . -She will not fail ; for lovers break not hours , -Unless it be to come before their time , -So much they spur their expedition . -See , where she comes . - -Lady , a happy evening ! - -Amen , amen ! go on , good Eglamour , -Out at the postern by the abbey-wall . -I fear I am attended by some spies . - -Fear not : the forest is not three leagues off ; -If we recover that , we're sure enough . - - -Sir Proteus , what says Silvia to my suit ? - -O , sir , I find her milder than she was ; -And yet she takes exceptions at your person . - -What ! that my leg is too long ? - -No , that it is too little . - -I'll wear a boot to make it somewhat rounder . - -But love will not be spurr'd to what it loathes . - -What says she to my face ? - -She says it is a fair one . - -Nay then , the wanton lies ; my face is black . - -But pearls are fair , and the old saying is , -'Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes .' - -'Tis true , such pearls as put out ladies' eyes ; -For I had rather wink than look on them . - -How likes she my discourse ? - -Ill , when you talk of war . - -But well , when I discourse of love and peace ? - -But better , indeed , when you hold your peace . - -What says she to my valour ? - -O , sir , she makes no doubt of that . - -She needs not , when she knows it cowardice . - -What says she to my birth ? - -That you are well deriv'd . - -True ; from a gentleman to a fool . - -Considers she my possessions ? - -O , ay ; and pities them . - -Wherefore ? - -That such an ass should owe them . - -That they are out by lease . - -Here comes the duke . - - -How now , Sir Proteus ! how now , Thurio ! -Which of you saw Sir Eglamour of late ? - -Not I . - -Nor I . - -Saw you my daughter ? - -Neither . - -Why then , -She's fled unto that peasant Valentine , -And Eglamour is in her company . -'Tis true ; for Friar Laurence met them both , -As he in penance wander'd through the forest ; -Him he knew well , and guess'd that it was she , -But , being mask'd , he was not sure of it ; -Besides , she did intend confession -At Patrick's cell this even , and there she was not . -These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence . -Therefore , I pray you , stand not to discourse , -But mount you presently and meet with me -Upon the rising of the mountain-foot , -That leads towards Mantua , whither they are fled . -Dispatch , sweet gentlemen , and follow me . - - -Why , this it is to be a peevish girl , -That flies her fortune when it follows her . -I'll after , more to be reveng'd on Eglamour -Than for the love of reckless Silvia . - - -And I will follow , more for Silvia's love -Than hate of Eglamour that goes with her . - - -And I will follow , more to cross that love -Than hate for Silvia that is gone for love . - - -Come , come , -Be patient ; we must bring you to our captain . - -A thousand more mischances than this one -Have learn'd me how to brook this patiently . - -Come , bring her away . - -Where is the gentleman that was with her ? - -Being nimble-footed , he hath outrun us ; -But Moyses and Valerius follow him . -Go thou with her to the west end of the wood ; -There is our captain . We'll follow him that's fled : -The thicket is beset ; he cannot 'scape . - - -Come , I must bring you to our captain's cave . -Fear not ; he bears an honourable mind , -And will not use a woman lawlessly . - -O Valentine ! this I endure for thee . - - -How use doth breed a habit in a man ! -This shadowy desart , unfrequented woods , -I better brook than flourishing peopled towns . -Here can I sit alone , unseen of any , -And to the nightingale's complaining notes -Tune my distresses and record my woes . -O thou that dost inhabit in my breast , -Leave not the mansion so long tenantless , -Lest , growing ruinous , the building fall -And leave no memory of what it was ! -Repair me with thy presence , Silvia ! -Thou gentle nymph , cherish thy forlorn swain ! - -What halloing and what stir is this to-day ? -These are my mates , that make their wills their law , -Have some unhappy passenger in chase . -They love me well ; yet I have much to do -To keep them from uncivil outrages . -Withdraw thee , Valentine : who's this comes here ? - -Madam , this service I have done for you -Though you respect not aught your servant doth -To hazard life and rescue you from him -That would have forc'd your honour and your love . -Vouchsafe me , for my meed , but one fair look ; -A smaller boon than this I cannot beg , -And less than this , I am sure , you cannot give . - -How like a dream is this I see and hear ! -Love , lend me patience to forbear awhile . - -O , miserable , unhappy that I am ! - -Unhappy were you , madam , ere I came ; -But by my coming I have made you happy . - -By thy approach thou mak'st me most unhappy . - -And me , when he approacheth to your presence . - -Had I been seized by a hungry lion , -I would have been a breakfast to the beast , -Rather than have false Proteus rescue me . -O ! heaven be judge how I love Valentine , -Whose life's as tender to me as my soul , -And full as much for more there cannot be -I do detest false perjur'd Proteus . -Therefore be gone , solicit me no more . - -What dangerous action , stood it next to death , -Would I not undergo for one calm look ! -O , 'tis the curse in love , and still approv'd , -When women cannot love where they're belov'd ! - -When Proteus cannot love where he's belov'd . -Read over Julia's heart , thy first best love , -For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith -Into a thousand oaths ; and all those oaths -Descended into perjury to love me . -Thou hast no faith left now , unless thou'dst two , -And that's far worse than none : better have none -Than plural faith which is too much by one . -Thou counterfeit to thy true friend ! - -In love -Who respects friend ? - -All men but Proteus . - -Nay , if the gentle spirit of moving words -Can no way change you to a milder form , -I'll woo you like a soldier , at arms' end , -And love you 'gainst the nature of love ,force ye . - -O heaven ! - -I'll force thee yield to my desire . - -Ruffian , let go that rude uncivil touch ; -Thou friend of an ill fashion ! - -Valentine ! - -Thou common friend , that's without faith or love -For such is a friend now treach'rous man ! -Thou hast beguil'd my hopes : naught but mine eye -Could have persuaded me . Now I dare not say -I have one friend alive : thou wouldst disprove me . -Who should be trusted now , when one's right hand -Is perjur'd to the bosom ? Proteus , -I am sorry I must never trust thee more , -But count the world a stranger for thy sake . -The private wound is deep'st . O time most curst ! -'Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst ! - -My shame and guilt confound me . -Forgive me , Valentine . If hearty sorrow -Be a sufficient ransom for offence , -I tender't here : I do as truly suffer -As e'er I did commit . - -Then , I am paid ; -And once again I do receive thee honest . -Who by repentance is not satisfied -Is nor of heaven , nor earth ; for these are pleas'd . -By penitence the Eternal's wrath's appeas'd : -And , that my love may appear plain and free , -All that was mine in Silvia I give thee . - -O me unhappy ! - - -Look to the boy . - -Why , boy ! why , wag ! how now ! what's the matter ? -Look up ; speak . - -O good sir , my master charg'd me -To deliver a ring to Madam Silvia , -Which out of my neglect was never done . - -Where is that ring , boy ? - -Here 'tis this is it . - - -How ! let me see . -Why this is the ring I gave to Julia . - -O , cry you mercy , sir ; I have mistook : -This is the ring you sent to Silvia . - - -But how cam'st thou by this ring ? -At my depart I gave this unto Julia . - -And Julia herself did give it me ; -And Julia herself hath brought it hither . - -How ! Julia ! - -Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths , -And entertain'd them deeply in her heart : -How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root ! -O Proteus ! let this habit make thee blush . -Be thou asham'd that I have took upon me -Such an immodest raiment ; if shame live -In a disguise of love . -It is the lesser blot , modesty finds , -Women to change their shapes than men their minds . - -Than men their minds ! 'tis true . O heaven ! were man -But constant , he were perfect : that one error -Fills him with faults ; makes him run through all the sins : -Inconstancy falls off ere it begins . -What is in Silvia's face , but I may spy -More fresh in Julia's with a constant eye ? - -Come , come , a hand from either . -Let me be blest to make this happy close : -'Twere pity two such friends should be long foes . - -Bear witness , heaven , I have my wish , for ever . - -And I mine . - - -A prize ! a prize ! a prize ! - -Forbear , forbear , I say ; it is my lord the duke . -Your Grace is welcome to a man disgrac'd , -Banished Valentine . - -Sir Valentine ! - -Yonder is Silvia ; and Silvia's mine . - -Thurio , give back , or else embrace thy death ; -Come not within the measure of my wrath ; -Do not name Silvia thine ; if once again , -Verona shall not hold thee . Here she stands ; -Take but possession of her with a touch ; -I dare thee but to breathe upon my love . - -Sir Valentine , I care not for her , I . -I hold him but a fool that will endanger -His body for a girl that loves him not : -I claim her not , and therefore she is thine . - -The more degenerate and base art thou , -To make such means for her as thou hast done , -And leave her on such slight conditions . -Now , by the honour of my ancestry , -I do applaud thy spirit , Valentine , -And think thee worthy of an empress' love . -Know then , I here forget all former griefs , -Cancel all grudge , repeal thee home again , -Plead a new state in thy unrivall'd merit , -To which I thus subscribe : Sir Valentine , -Thou art a gentleman and well deriv'd ; -Take thou thy Silvia , for thou hast deserv'd her . - -I thank your Grace ; the gift hath made me happy . -I now beseech you , for your daughter's sake , -To grant one boon that I shall ask of you . - -I grant it , for thine own , whate'er it be . - -These banish'd men , that I have kept withal -Are men endu'd with worthy qualities : -Forgive them what they have committed here , -And let them be recall'd from their exile . -They are reformed , civil , full of good , -And fit for great employment , worthy lord . - -Thou hast prevail'd ; I pardon them , and thee : -Dispose of them as thou know'st their deserts . -Come , let us go : we will include all jars -With triumphs , mirth , and rare solemnity . - -And as we walk along , I dare be bold -With our discourse to make your Grace to smile . -What think you of this page , my lord ? - -I think the boy hath grace in him : he blushes . - -I warrant you , my lord , more grace than boy . - -What mean you by that saying ? - -Please you , I'll tell you as we pass along , -That you will wonder what hath fortuned . -Come , Proteus ; 'tis your penance , but to hear -The story of your loves discovered : -That done , our day of marriage shall be yours ; -One feast , one house , one mutual happiness . - -THE WINTERS TALE - -If you shall chance , Camillo , to visit Bohemia , on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot , you shall see , as I have said , great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia . - -I think , this coming summer , the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him . - -Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves : for , indeed , - -Beseech you , - -Verily , I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge : we cannot with such magnificence in so rare I know not what to say . We will give you sleepy drinks , that your senses , unintelligent of our insufficience , may , though they cannot praise us , as little accuse us . - -You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely . - -Believe me , I speak as my understanding instructs me , and as mine honesty puts it to utterance . - -Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia . They were trained together in their childhoods ; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection which cannot choose but branch now . Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society , their encounters , though not personal , have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts , letters , loving embassies ; that they have seemed to be together , though absent , shook hands , as over a vast , and embraced , as it were , from the ends of opposed winds . The heavens continue their loves ! - -I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it . You have an unspeakable comfort of your young Prince Mamilhus : it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note . - -I very well agree with you in the hopes of him . It is a gallant child ; one that indeed physics the subject , makes old hearts fresh ; they that went on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man . - -Would they else be content to die ? - -Yes ; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live . - -If the king had no son , they would desire to live on crutches till he had one . - - -Nine changes of the watery star have been -The shepherd's note since we have left our throne -Without a burden : time as long again -Would be fill'd up , my brother , with our thanks ; -And yet we should for perpetuity -Go hence in debt : and therefore , like a cipher , -Yet standing in rich place , I multiply -With one 'We thank you' many thousands moe -That go before it . - -Stay your thanks awhile , -And pay them when you part . - -Sir , that's to-morrow . -I am question'd by my fears , of what may chance -Or breed upon our absence ; that may blow -No sneaping winds at home , to make us say , -'This is put forth too truly !' Besides , I have stay'd -To tire your royalty . - -We are tougher , brother , -Than you can put us to't . - -No longer stay . - -One seven-night longer . - -Very sooth , to-morrow . - -We'll part the time between's then ; and in that -I'll no gainsaying . - -Press me not , beseech you , so . -There is no tongue that moves , none , none i' the world , -So soon as yours could win me : so it should now , -Were there necessity in your request , although -'Twere needful I denied it . My affairs -Do even drag me homeward ; which to hinder -Were in your love a whip to me ; my stay -To you a charge and trouble : to save both , -Farewell , our brother . - -Tongue-tied , our queen ? speak you . - -I had thought , sir , to have held my peace until -You had drawn oaths from him not to stay . -You , sir , -Charge him too coldly : tell him , you are sure -All in Bohemia's well : this satisfaction -The by-gone day proclaim'd : say this to him , -He's beat from his best ward . - -Well said , Hermione . - -To tell he longs to see his son were strong : -But let him say so then , and let him go ; -But let him swear so , and he shall not stay , -We'll thwack him hence with distaffs . - - -Yet of your royal presence I'll adventure -The borrow of a week . When at Bohemia -You take my lord , I'll give him my commission -To let him there a month behind the gest -Prefix'd for's parting : yet , good deed , Leontes , -I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind -What lady she her lord . You'll stay ? - -No , madam . - -Nay , but you will ? - -I may not , verily . - -Verily ! -You put me off with limber vows ; but I , -Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths , -Should yet say , 'Sir , no going .' Verily , -You shall not go : a lady's 'verily' 's -As potent as a lord's . Will you go yet ? -Force me to keep you as a prisoner , -Not like a guest ; so you shall pay your fees -When you depart , and save your thanks . How say you ? -My prisoner , or my guest ? by your dread 'verily ,' -One of them you shall be . - -Your guest , then , madam : -To be your prisoner should import offending ; -Which is for me less easy to commit -Than you to punish . - -Not your gaoler then , -But your kind hostess . Come , I'll question you -Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys : -You were pretty lordings then . - -We were , fair queen , -Two lads that thought there was no more behind -But such a day to-morrow as to-day , -And to be boy eternal . - -Was not my lord the verier wag o' the two ? - -We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun , -And bleat the one at the other : what we chang'd -Was innocence for innocence ; we knew not -The doctrine of ill-doing , no nor dream'd -That any did . Had we pursu'd that life , -And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd -With stronger blood , we should have answer'd heaven -Boldly , 'not guilty ;' the imposition clear'd -Hereditary ours . - -By this we gather -You have tripp'd since . - -O ! my most sacred lady , -Temptations have since then been born to's ; for -In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl ; -Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes -Of my young playfellow . - -Grace to boot ! -Of this make no conclusion , lest you say -Your queen and I are devils ; yet , go on : -The offences we have made you do we'll answer ; -If you first sinn'd with us , and that with us -You did continue fault , and that you slipp'd not -With any but with us . - -Is he won yet ? - -He'll stay , my lord . - -At my request he would not . -Hermione , my dearest , thou never spok'st -To better purpose . - -Never ? - -Never , but once . - -What ! have I twice said well ? when was't before ? -I prithee tell me ; cram's with praise , and make's -As fat as tame things : one good deed , dying tongueless , -Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that . -Our praises are our wages : you may ride's -With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere -With spur we heat an acre . But to the goal : -My last good deed was to entreat his stay : -What was my first ? it has an elder sister , -Or I mistake you : O ! would her name were Grace . -But once before I spoke to the purpose : when ? -Nay , let me have't ; I long . - -Why , that was when -Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death , -Ere I could make thee open thy white hand -And clap thyself my love : then didst thou utter , -'I am yours for ever .' - -'Tis grace indeed . -Why , lo you now , I have spoke to the purpose twice : -The one for ever earn'd a royal husband , -The other for some while a friend . - - -Too hot , too hot ! -To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods . -I have tremor cordis on me : my heart dances ; -But not for joy ; not joy . This entertainment -May a free face put on , derive a liberty -From heartiness , from bounty , fertile bosom , -And well become the agent :'t may I grant : -But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers , -As now they are , and making practis'd smiles , -As in a looking-glass ; and then to sigh , as 'twere -The mort o' the deer ; O ! that is entertainment -My bosom likes not , nor my brows . Mamillius , -Art thou my boy ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -I' fecks ? -Why , that's my bawcock . What ! hast smutch'd thy nose ? -They say it is a copy out of mine . Come , captain , -We must be neat ; not neat , but cleanly , captain : -And yet the steer , the heifer , and the calf , -Are all call'd neat . Still virginalling -Upon his palm ! How now , you wanton calf ! -Art thou my calf ? - -Yes , if you will , my lord . - -Thou want'st a rough pash and the shoots that I have , -To be full like me : yet they say we are -Almost as like as eggs ; women say so , -That will say anything : but were they false -As o'er-dy'd blacks , as wind , as waters , false -As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes -No bourn 'twixt his and mine , yet were it true -To say this boy were like me . Come , sir page , -Look on me with your wolkin eye : sweet villain ! -Most dear'st ! my collop ! Can thy dam ?may't be ? -Affection ! thy intention stabs the centre : -Thou dost make possible things not so held , -Communicat'st with dreams ;how can this be ? -With what's unreal thou co-active art , -And fellow'st nothing : then , 'tis very credent -Thou mayst co-join with something ; and thou dost , -And that beyond commission , and I find it , -And that to the infection of my brains -And hardening of my brows . - -What means Sicilia ? - -He something seems unsettled . - -How , my lord ! -What cheer ? how is't with you , best brother ? - -You look -As if you held a brow of much distraction : -Are you mov'd , my lord ? - -No , in good earnest . -How sometimes nature will betray its folly , -Its tenderness , and make itself a pastime -To harder bosoms ! Looking on the lines -Of my boy's face , methoughts I did recoil -Twenty-three years , and saw myself unbreech'd , -In my green velvet coat , my dagger muzzled , -Lest it should bite its master , and so prove , -As ornaments oft do , too dangerous : -How like , methought , I then was to this kernel , -This squash , this gentleman . Mine honest friend , -Will you take eggs for money ? - -No , my lord , I'll fight . - -You will ? why , happy man be his dole ! My brother , -Are you so fond of your young prince as we -Do seem to be of ours ? - -If at home , sir , -He's all my exercise , my mirth , my matter , -Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy ; -My parasite , my soldier , statesman , all : -He makes a July's day short as December , -And with his varying childness cures in me -Thoughts that would thick my blood . - -So stands this squire -Offic'd with me . We two will walk , my lord , -And leave you to your graver steps . Hermione , -How thou lov'st us , show in our brother's welcome : -Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap : -Next to thyself and my young rover , he's -Apparent to my heart . - -If you would seek us , -We are yours i' the garden : shall's attend you there ? - -To your own bents dispose you : you'll be found , -Be you beneath the sky . - -I am angling now , -Though you perceive me not how I give line . -Go to , go to ! -How she holds up the neb , the bill to him ! -And arms her with the boldness of a wife -To her allowing husband ! - -Gone already ! -Inch-thick , knee-deep , o'er head and ears a fork'd one ! -Go play , boy , play ; thy mother plays , and I -Play too , but so disgrac'd a part , whose issue -Will hiss me to my grave : contempt and clamour -Will be my knell . Go play , boy , play . There have been , -Or I am much deceiv'd , cuckolds ere now ; -And many a man there is even at this present , -Now , while I speak this , holds his wife by the arm , -That little thinks she has been sluic'd in's absence , -And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour , by -Sir Smile , his neighbour : nay , there's comfort in't , -Whiles other men have gates , and those gates open'd , -As mine , against their will . Should all despair -That have revolted wives the tenth of mankind -Would hang themselves . Physic for't there is none ; -It is a bawdy planet , that will strike -Where 'tis predominant ; and 'tis powerful , think it , -From east , west , north , and south : be it concluded , -No barricado for a belly : know't ; -It will let in and out the enemy -With bag and baggage . Many a thousand on's -Have the disease , and feel't not . How now , boy ! - -I am like you , they say . - -Why , that's some comfort . -What ! Camillo there ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -Go play , Mamillius ; thou'rt an honest man . - -Camillo , this great sir will yet stay longer . - -You had much ado to make his anchor hold : -When you cast out , it still came home . - -Didst note it ? - -He would not stay at your petitions ; made -His business more material . - -Didst perceive it ? - - -They're here with me already , whispering , rounding -'Sicilia is a so-forth .' 'Tis far gone , -When I shall gust it last . How came't , Camillo , -That he did stay ? - -At the good queen's entreaty . - -At the queen's , be't : 'good' should be pertinent ; -But so it is , it is not . Was this taken -By any understanding pate but thine ? -For thy conceit is soaking ; will draw in -More than the common blocks : not noted , is't , -But of the finer natures ? by some severals -Of head-piece extraordinary ? lower messes -Perchance are to this business purblind ? say . - -Business , my lord ! I think most understand -Bohemia stays here longer . - -Ha ! - -Stays here longer . - -Ay , but why ? - -To satisfy your highness and the entreaties -Of our most gracious mistress . - -Satisfy ! -The entreaties of your mistress ! satisfy ! -Let that suffice . I have trusted thee , Camillo , -With all the nearest things to my heart , as well -My chamber-councils , wherein , priest-like , thou -Hast cleans'd my bosom : I from thee departed -Thy penitent reform'd ; but we have been -Deceiv'd in thy integrity , deceiv'd -In that which seems so . - -Be it forbid , my lord ! - -To bide upon 't , thou art not honest ; or , -If thou inclin'st that way , thou art a coward , -Which hoxes honesty behind , restraining -From course requir'd ; or else thou must be counted -A servant grafted in my serious trust , -And therein negligent ; or else a fool -That seest a game play'd home , the rich stake drawn , -And tak'st it all for jest . - -My gracious lord , -I may be negligent , foolish , and fearful ; -In every one of these no man is free , -But that his negligence , his folly , fear , -Among the infinite doings of the world , -Sometime puts forth . In your affairs , my lord , -If ever I were wilful-negligent , -It was my folly ; if industriously -I play'd the fool , it was my negligence , -Not weighing well the end ; if ever fearful -To do a thing , where I the issue doubted , -Whereof the execution did cry out -Against the non-performance , 'twas a fear -Which oft infects the wisest : these , my lord , -Are such allow'd infirmities that honesty -Is never free of : but , beseech your Grace , -Be plainer with me ; let me know my trespass -By its own visage ; if I then deny it , -'Tis none of mine . - -Ha' not you seen , Camillo , -But that's past doubt ; you have , or your eyeglass -Is thicker than a cuckold's horn ,or heard , -For to a vision so apparent rumour -Cannot be mute ,or thought ,for cogitation -Resides not in that man that does not think , -My wife is slippery ? If thou wilt confess , -Or else be impudently negative , -To have nor eyes , nor ears , nor thought ,then say -My wife's a hobby-horse ; deserves a name -As rank as any flax-wench that puts to -Before her troth-plight : say't and justify't . - -I would not be a stander-by , to hear -My sovereign mistress clouded so , without -My present vengeance taken : 'shrew my heart , -You never spoke what did become you less -Than this ; which to reiterate were sin -As deep as that , though true . - -Is whispering nothing ? -Is leaning cheek to cheek ? is meeting noses ? -Kissing with inside lip ? stopping the career -Of laughter with a sigh ?a note infallible -Of breaking honesty ,horsing foot on foot ? -Skulking in corners ? wishing clocks more swift ? -Hours , minutes ? noon , midnight ? and all eyes -Blind with the pin and web but theirs , theirs only , -That would unseen be wicked ? is this nothing ? -Why , then the world and all that's in't is nothing ; -The covering sky is nothing ; Bohemia nothing ; -My wife is nothing ; nor nothing have these nothings , -If this be nothing . - -Good my lord , be cur'd -Of this diseas'd opinion , and betimes ; -For 'tis most dangerous . - -Say it be , 'tis true . - -No , no , my lord . - -It is ; you lie , you lie : -I say thou liest , Camillo , and I hate thee ; -Pronounce thee a gross lout , a mindless slave , -Or else a hovering temporizer , that -Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil , -Inclining to them both : were my wife's liver -Infected as her life , she would not live -The running of one glass . - -Who does infect her ? - -Why , he that wears her like her medal , hanging -About his neck , Bohemia : who , if I -Had servants true about me , that bare eyes -To see alike mine honour as their profits , -Their own particular thrifts , they would do that -Which should undo more doing : ay , and thou , -His cup-bearer ,whom I from meaner form -Have bench'd and rear'd to worship , who mayst see -Plainly , as heaven sees earth , and earth sees heaven , -How I am galled ,mightst bespice a cup , -To give mine enemy a lasting wink ; -Which draught to me were cordial . - -Sir , my lord , -I could do this , and that with no rash potion , -But with a lingering dram that should not work -Maliciously like poison : but I cannot -Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress , -So sovereingly being honourable : -I have lov'd thee , - -Make that thy question , and go rot ! -Dost think I am so muddy , so unsettled , -To appoint myself in this vexation ; sully -The purity and whiteness of my sheets , -Which to preserve is sleep ; which being spotted -Is goads , thorns , nettles , tails of wasps ? -Give scandal to the blood o' the prince my son , -Who I do think is mine , and love as mine , -Without ripe moving to't ? Would I do this ? -Could man so blench ? - -I must believe you , sir : -I do ; and will fetch off Bohemia for't ; -Provided that when he's remov'd , your highness -Will take again your queen as yours at first , -Even for your son's sake ; and thereby for sealing -The injury of tongues in courts and kingdoms -Known and allied to yours . - -Thou dost advise me -Even so as I mine own course have set down : -I'll give no blemish to her honour , none . - -My lord , -Go then ; and with a countenance as clear -As friendship wears at feasts , keep with Bohemia , -And with your queen . I am his cupbearer ; -If from me he have wholesome beverage , -Account me not your servant . - -This is all : -Do't , and thou hast the one half of my heart ; -Do't not , thou split'st thine own . - -I'll do't , my lord . - -I will seem friendly , as thou hast advis'd me . - - -O miserable lady ! But , for me , -What case stand I in ? I must be the poisoner -Of good Polixenes ; and my ground to do't -Is the obedience to a master ; one -Who , in rebellion with himself will have -All that are his so too . To do this deed -Promotion follows . If I could find example -Of thousands that had struck anointed kings , -And flourish'd after , I'd not do't ; but since -Nor brass nor stone nor parchment bears not one , -Let villany itself forswear't . I must -Forsake the court : to do't , or no , is certain -To me a break-neck . Happy star reign now ! -Here comes Bohemia . - - -This is strange : methinks -My favour here begins to warp . Not speak ? -Good day , Camillo . - -Hail , most royal sir ! - -What is the news i' the court ? - -None rare , my lord . - -The king hath on him such a countenance -As he had lost some province and a region -Lov'd as he loves himself : even now I met him -With customary compliment , when he , -Wafting his eyes , to the contrary , and falling -A lip of much contempt , speeds from me and -So leaves me to consider what is breeding -That changes thus his manners . - -I dare not know , my lord . - -How ! dare not ! do not ! Do you know , and dare not -Be intelligent to me ? 'Tis thereabouts : -For , to yourself , what you do know , you must , -And cannot say you dare not . Good Camillo , -Your chang'd complexions are to me a mirror -Which shows me mine chang'd too ; for I must be -A party in this alteration , finding -Myself thus alter'd with't . - -There is a sickness -Which puts some of us in distemper ; but -I cannot name the disease , and it is caught -Of you that yet are well . - -How ! caught of me ? -Make me not sighted like the basilisk : -I have look'd on thousands , who have sped the better -By my regard , but kill'd none so . Camillo , -As you are certainly a gentleman , thereto -Clerk-like experienc'd , which no less adorns -Our gentry than our parents' noble names , -In whose success we are gentle ,I beseech you , -If you know aught which does behove my knowledge -Thereof to be inform'd , imprison it not -In ignorant concealment . - -I may not answer . - -A sickness caught of me , and yet I well ! -I must be answer'd . Dost thou hear , Camillo ; -I conjure thee , by all the parts of man -Which honour does acknowledge ,whereof the least -Is not this suit of mine ,that thou declare -What incidency thou dost guess of harm -Is creeping toward me ; how far off , how near ; -Which way to be prevented if to be ; -If not , how best to bear it . - -Sir , I will tell you ; -Since I am charg'd in honour and by him -That I think honourable . Therefore mark my counsel , -Which must be even as swiftly follow'd as -I mean to utter it , or both yourself and me -Cry 'lost ,' and so good night ! - -On , good Camillo . - -I am appointed him to murder you . - -By whom , Camillo ? - -By the king . - -For what ? - -He thinks , nay , with all confidence he swears , -As he had seen't or been an instrument -To vice you to't , that you have touch'd his queen -Forbiddenly . - -O , then my best blood turn -To an infected jelly , and my name -Be yok'd with his that did betray the Best ! -Turn then my freshest reputation to -A savour , that may strike the dullest nostril -Where I arrive ; and my approach be shunn'd , -Nay , hated too , worse than the great'st infection -That e'er was heard or read ! - -Swear his thought over -By each particular star in heaven and -By all their influences , you may as well -Forbid the sea for to obey the moon -As or by oath remove or counsel shake -The fabric of his folly , whose foundation -Is pil'd upon his faith , and will continue -The standing of his body . - -How should this grow ? - -I know not : but I am sure 'tis safer to -Avoid what's grown than question how 'tis born . -If therefore you dare trust my honesty , -That lies enclosed in this trunk , which you -Shall bear along impawn'd , away to-night ! -Your followers I will whisper to the business , -And will by twos and threes at several posterns -Clear them o'the city . For myself , I'll put -My fortunes to your service , which are here -By this discovery lost . Be not uncertain ; -For , by the honour of my parents , I -Have utter'd truth , which , if you seek to prove , -I dare not stand by ; nor shall you be safer -Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth , thereon -His execution sworn . - -I do believe thee : -I saw his heart in's face . Give me thy hand : -Be pilot to me and thy places shall -Still neighbour mine . My ships are ready and -My people did expect my hence departure -Two days ago . This jealousy -Is for a precious creature : as she's rare -Must it be great , and , as his person's mighty -Must it be violent , and , as he does conceive -He is dishonour'd by a man which ever -Profess'd to him , why , his revenges must -In that be made more bitter . Fear o'ershades me : -Good expedition be my friend , and comfort -The gracious queen , part of his theme , but nothing -Of his ill-ta'en suspicion ! Come . Camillo ; -I will respect thee as a father if -Thou bear'st my life off hence : let us avoid . - -It is in mine authority to command -The keys of all the posterns : please your highness -To take the urgent hour . Come , sir , away ! - -Take the boy to you : he so troubles me , 'Tis past enduring . - -Come , my gracious lord , Shall I be your playfellow ? - -No , I'll none of you . - -Why , my sweet lord ? - -You'll kiss me hard and speak to me as if -I were a baby still . I love you better . - -And why so , my lord ? - -Not for because -Your brows are blacker ; yet black brows , they say , -Become some women best , so that there be not -Too much hair there , but in a semicircle , -Or a half-moon made with a pen . - -Who taught you this ? - -I learn'd it out of women's faces . Pray now , -What colour are your eyebrows ? - -Blue , my lord . - -Nay , that's a mock : I have seen a lady's nose -That has been blue , but not her eyebrows . - -Hark ye ; -The queen your mother rounds apace : we shall -Present our services to a fine new prince -One of these days ; and then you'd wanton with us , -If we would have you . - -She is spread of late -Into a goodly bulk : good time encounter her ! - -What wisdom stirs amongst you ? Come sir , now -I am for you again : pray you , sit by us , -And tell's a tale . - -Merry or sad shall't be ? - -As merry as you will . - -A sad tale's best for winter . -I have one of sprites and goblins . - -Let's have that , good sir . -Come on , sit down : come on , and do your best -To fright me with your sprites ; you're powerful at it . - -There was a man , - -Nay , come , sit down ; then on . - -Dwelt by a churchyard . I will tell it softly ; -Yond crickets shall not hear it . - -Come on then , -And give't me in mine ear . - - -Was he met there ? his train ? Camillo with him ? - -Behind the tuft of pines I met them : never -Saw I men scour so on their way : I ey'd them -Even to their ships - -How blest am I -In my just censure , in my true opinion ! -Alack , for lesser knowledge ! How accurs'd -In being so blest ! There may be in the cup -A spider steep'd , and one may drink , depart , -And yet partake no venom , for his knowledge -Is not infected ; but if one present -The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye , make known -How he hath drunk , he cracks his gorge , his sides , -With violent hefts . I have drunk , and seen the spider . -Camillo was his help in this , his pandar : -There is a plot against my life , my crown ; -All's true that is mistrusted : that false villain -Whom I employ'd was pre-employ'd by him : -He has discover'd my design , and I -Remain a pinch'd thing ; yea , a very trick -For them to play at will . How came the posterns -So easily open ? - -By his great authority ; -Which often hath no less prevail'd than so -On your command . - -I know't too well . - - -Give me the boy : I am glad you did not nurse him : -Though he does bear some signs of me , yet you -Have too much blood in him . - -What is this ? sport ? - -Bear the boy hence ; he shall not come about her ; -Away with him ! - -and let her sport herself -With that she's big with ; for 'tis Polixenes -Has made thee swell thus . - -But I'd say he had not , -And I'll be sworn you would believe my saying , -Howe'er you lean to the nayward . - -You , my lords , -Look on her , mark her well ; be but about -To say , 'she is a goodly lady ,' and -The justice of your hearts will thereto add -''Tis pity she's not honest , honourable :' -Praise her but for this her without-door form , -Which , on my faith deserves high speech ,and straight -The shrug , the hum or ha , these petty brands -That calumny doth use ,O , I am out ! -That mercy does , for calumny will sear -Virtue itself : these shrugs , these hums and ha's , -When you have said 'she's goodly ,' come between , -Ere you can say 'she's honest .' But be't known , -From him that has most cause to grieve it should be , -She's an adulteress . - -Should a villain say so , -The most replenish'd villain in the world , -He were as much more villain : you , my lord , -Do but mistake . - -You have mistook , my lady , -Polixenes for Leontes . O thou thing ! -Which I'll not call a creature of thy place , -Lest barbarism , making me the precedent , -Should a like language use to all degrees , -And mannerly distinguishment leave out -Betwixt the prince and beggar : I have said -She's an adulteress ; I have said with whom : -More , she's a traitor , and Camillo is -A federary with her , and one that knows -What she should shame to know herself -But with her most vile principal , that she's -A bed-swerver , even as bad as those -That vulgars give bold'st titles ; ay , and privy -To this their late escape . - -No , by my life , -Privy to none of this . How will this grieve you -When you shall come to clearer knowledge that -You thus have publish'd me ! Gentle my lord , -You scarce can right me throughly then to say -You did mistake . - -No ; if I mistake -In those foundations which I build upon , -The centre is not big enough to bear -A schoolboy's top . Away with her to prison ! -He who shall speak for her is afar off guilty -But that he speaks . - -There's some ill planet reigns : -I must be patient till the heavens look -With an aspect more favourable . Good my lords , -I am not prone to weeping , as our sex -Commonly are ; the want of which vain dew -Perchance shall dry your pities ; but I have -That honourable grief lodg'd here which burns -Worse than tears drown . Beseech you all , my lords , -With thoughts so qualified as your charities -Shall best instruct you , measure me ; and so -The king's will be perform'd ! - -Shall I be heard ? - -Who is't that goes with me ? Beseech your highness , -My women may be with me ; for you see -My plight requires it . Do not weep , good fools ; -There is no cause : when you shall know your mistress -Has deserv'd prison , then abound in tears -As I come out : this action I now go on -Is for my better grace . Adieu , my lord : -I never wish'd to see you sorry ; now -I trust I shall . My women , come ; you have leave . - -Go , do our bidding : hence ! - - -Beseech your highness call the queen again . - -Be certain what you do , sir , lest your justice -Prove violence : in the which three great ones suffer , -Yourself , your queen , your son . - -For her , my lord , -I dare my life lay down , and will do't , sir , -Please you to accept it ,that the queen is spotless -I' the eyes of heaven and to you : I mean , -In this which you accuse her . - -If it prove -She's otherwise , I'll keep my stables where -I lodge my wife ; I'll go in couples with her ; -Than when I feel and see her no further trust her ; -For every inch of woman in the world , -Ay , every dram of woman's flesh is false , -If she be . - -Hold your peaces ! - -Good my lord , - -It is for you we speak , not for ourselves . -You are abus'd , and by some putter-on -That will be damn'd for't ; would I knew the villain , -I would land-damn him . Be she honour-flaw'd , -I have three daughters ; the eldest is eleven , -The second and the third , nine and some five ; -If this prove true , they'll pay for't : by mine honour , -I'll geld them all ; fourteen they shall not see , -To bring false generations : they are co-heirs ; -And I had rather glib myself than they -Should not produce fair issue . - -Cease ! no more . -You smell this business with a sense as cold -As is a dead man's nose ; but I do see't and feel't , -As you feel doing thus , and see withal -The instruments that feel . - -If it be so , -We need no grave to bury honesty : -There's not a grain of it the face to sweeten -Of the whole dungy earth . - -What ! lack I credit ? - -I had rather you did lack than I , my lord , -Upon this ground ; and more it would content me -To have her honour true than your suspicion , -Be blam'd for't how you might . - -Why , what need we -Commune with you of this , but rather follow -Our forceful instigation ? Our prerogative -Calls not your counsels , but our natural goodness -Imparts this ; which if you ,or stupified -Or seeming so in skill ,cannot or will not -Relish a truth like us , inform yourselves -We need no more of your advice : the matter , -The loss , the gain , the ordering on't , is all -Properly ours . - -And I wish , my liege , -You had only in your silent judgment tried it , -Without more overture . - -How could that be ? -Either thou art most ignorant by age , -Or thou wert born a fool . Camillo's flight , -Added to their familiarity , -Which was as gross as ever touch'd conjecture , -That lack'd sight only , nought for approbation -But only seeing , all other circumstances -Made up to the deed , doth push on this proceeding : -Yet , for a greater confirmation , -For in an act of this importance 'twere -Most piteous to be wild ,I have dispatch'd in post -To sacred Delphos , to Apollo's temple , -Cleomenes and Dion , whom you know -Of stuff'd sufficiency . Now , from the oracle -They will bring all ; whose spiritual counsel had , -Shall stop or spur me . Have I done well ? - -Well done , my lord . - -Though I am satisfied and need no more -Than what I know , yet shall the oracle -Give rest to the minds of others , such as he -Whose ignorant credulity will not -Come up to the truth . So have we thought it good -From our free person she should be confin'd , -Lest that the treachery of the two fled hence -Be left her to perform . Come , follow us : -We are to speak in public ; for this business -Will raise us all . - -To laughter , as I take it , -If the good truth were known . - - -The keeper of the prison , call to him ; -Let him have knowledge who I am . - -Good lady , -No court in Europe is too good for thee ; -What dost thou then in prison ? - - -Now , good sir , - -You know me , do you not ? - -For a worthy lady -And one whom much I honour . - -Pray you then , -Conduct me to the queen . - -I may not , madam : to the contrary -I have express commandment . - -Here's ado , -To lock up honesty and honour from -The access of gentle visitors ! Is't lawful , pray you , -To see her women ? any of them ? Emilia ? - -So please you , madam , -To put apart these your attendants , I -Shall bring Emilia forth . - -I pray now , call her . -Withdraw yourselves . - - -And , madam , -I must be present at your conference . - -Well , be't so , prithee . - -Here's such ado to make no stain a stain , -As passes colouring . - - -Dear gentlewoman , - -How fares our gracious lady ? - -As well as one so great and so forlorn -May hold together . On her frights and griefs , -Which never tender lady hath borne greater , -She is something before her time deliver'd . - -A boy ? - -A daughter ; and a goodly babe , -Lusty and like to live : the queen receives -Much comfort in't ; says , 'My poor prisoner , -I am innocent as you .' - -I dare be sworn : -These dangerous unsafe lunes i' the king , beshrew them ! -He must be told on't , and he shall : the office -Becomes a woman best ; I'll take't upon me . -If I prove honey-mouth'd , let my tongue blister , -And never to my red-look'd anger be -The trumpet any more . Pray you , Emilia , -Commend my best obedience to the queen : -If she dares trust me with her little babe , -I'll show it to the king and undertake to be -Her advocate to the loud'st . We do not know -How he may soften at the sight of the child : -The silence often of pure innocence -Persuades when speaking fails . - -Most worthy madam , -Your honour and your goodness is so evident -That your free undertaking cannot miss -A thriving issue : there is no lady living -So meet for this great errand . Please your ladyship -To visit the next room , I'll presently -Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer , -Who but to-day hammer'd of this design , -But durst not tempt a minister of honour , -Lest she should be denied . - -Tell her , Emilia , -I'll use that tongue I have : if wit flow from't -As boldness from my bosom , let it not be doubted -I shall do good . - -Now be you blest for it ! -I'll to the queen . Please you , come something nearer . - -Madam , if't please the queen to send the babe , -I know not what I shall incur to pass it , -Having no warrant . - -You need not fear it , sir : -The child was prisoner to the womb , and is -By law and process of great nature thence -Freed and enfranchis'd ; not a party to -The anger of the king , nor guilty of , -If any be , the trespass of the queen . - -I do believe it . - -Do not you fear : upon mine honour , I -Will stand betwixt you and danger . - - -Nor night , nor day , no rest ; it is but weakness -To bear the matter thus ; mere weakness . If -The cause were not in being ,part o' the cause , -She the adultress ; for the harlot king -Is quite beyond mine arm , out of the blank -And level of my brain , plot-proof ; but she -I can hook to me : say , that she were gone , -Given to the fire , a moiety of my rest -Might come to me again . Who's there ? - -My lord ? - -How does the boy ? - -He took good rest to-night ; -'Tis hop'd his sickness is discharg'd . - -To see his nobleness ! -Conceiving the dishonour of his mother , -He straight declin'd , droop'd , took it deeply , -Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on't in himself , -Threw off his spirit , his appetite , his sleep , -And downright languish'd . Leave me solely : go , -See how he fares . - -Fie , fie ! no thought of him ; -The very thought of my revenges that way -Recoil upon me : in himself too mighty , -And in his parties , his alliance ; let him be -Until a time may serve : for present vengeance , -Take it on her . Camillo and Polixenes -Laugh at me ; make their pastime at my sorrow : -They should not laugh , if I could reach them , nor -Shall she within my power . - - -You must not enter . - -Nay , rather , good my lords , be second to me : -Fear you his tyrannous passion more , alas , -Than the queen's life ? a gracious innocent soul , -More free than he is jealous . - -That's enough . - -Madam , he hath not slept to-night ; commanded -None should come at him . - -Not so hot , good sir ; -I come to bring him sleep . 'Tis such as you , -That creep like shadows by him and do sigh -At each his needless heavings , such as you -Nourish the cause of his awaking : I -Do come with words as med'cinal as true , -Honest as either , to purge him of that humour -That presses him from sleep . - -What noise there , ho ? - -No noise , my lord ; but needful conference -About some gossips for your highness . - -How ! -Away with that audacious lady ! Antigonus , -I charg'd thee that she should not come about me : -I knew she would . - -I told her so , my lord , -On your displeasure's peril , and on mine , -She should not visit you . - -What ! canst not rule her ? - -From all dishonesty he can : in this , -Unless he take the course that you have done , -Commit me for committing honour , trust it , -He shall not rule me . - -La you now ! you hear ; -When she will take the rein I let her run ; -But she'll not stumble . - -Good my liege , I come , -And I beseech you , hear me , who professes -Myself your loyal servant , your physician , -Your most obedient counsellor , yet that dares -Less appear so in comforting your evils -Than such as most seem yours : I say , I come -From your good queen . - -Good queen ! - -Good queen , my lord , good queen ; I say , good queen ; -And would by combat make her good , so were I -A man , the worst about you . - -Force her hence . - -Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes -First hand me : on mine own accord I'll off ; -But first I'll do my errand . The good queen , -For she is good , hath brought you forth a daughter : -Here 'tis ; commends it to your blessing . - - -Out ! -A mankind witch ! Hence with her , out o' door : -A most intelligencing bawd ! - -Not so ; -I am as ignorant in that as you -In so entitling me , and no less honest -Than you are mad ; which is enough , I'll warrant , -As this world goes , to pass for honest . - -Traitors ! -Will you not push her out ? Give her the bastard . - - -Thou dotard ! thou art woman-tir'd , unroosted -By thy dame Partlet here . Take up the bastard ; -Take't up , I say ; give't to thy crone . - -For ever -Unvenerable be thy hands , if thou -Tak'st up the princess by that forced baseness -Which he has put upon't ! - -He dreads his wife . - -So I would you did ; then , 'twere past all doubt , -You'd call your children yours . - -A nest of traitors ! - -I am none , by this good light . - -Nor I ; nor any -But one that's here , and that's himself ; for he -The sacred honour of himself , his queen's , -His hopeful son's , his babe's , betrays to slander , -Whose sting is sharper than the sword's ; and will not , -For , as the case now stands , it is a curse -He cannot be compell'd to't ,once remove -The root of his opinion , which is rotten -As ever oak or stone was sound . - -A callat -Of boundless tongue , who late hath beat her husband -And now baits me ! This brat is none of mine ; -It is the issue of Polixenes : -Hence with it ; and , together with the dam -Commit them to the fire ! - -It is yours ; -And , might we lay the old proverb to your charge , -'So like you , 'tis the worse .' Behold , my lords , -Although the print be little , the whole matter -And copy of the father ; eye , nose , lip , -The trick of's frown , his forehead , nay , the valley , -The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek , his smiles , -The very mould and frame of hand , nail , finger : -And thou , good goddess Nature , which hast made it -So like to him that got it , if thou hast -The ordering of the mind too , 'mongst all colours -No yellow in't ; lest she suspect , as he does , -Her children not her husband's . - -A gross hag ! -And , lozel , thou art worthy to be hang'd , -That wilt not stay her tongue . - -Hang all the husbands -That cannot do that feat , you'll leave yourself -Hardly one subject . - -Once more , take her hence . - -A most unworthy and unnatural lord -Can do no more . - -I'll ha' thee burn'd . - -I care not : -It is a heretic that makes the fire , -Not she which burns in't . I'll not call you tyrant ; -But this most cruel usage of your queen , -Not able to produce more accusation -Than your own weak-hing'd fancy ,something savours -Of tyranny , and will ignoble make you , -Yea , scandalous to the world . - -On your allegiance , -Out of the chamber with her ! Were I a tyrant , -Where were her life ? she durst not call me so -If she did know me one . Away with her ! - -I pray you do not push me ; I'll be gone . -Look to your babe , my lord ; 'tis yours : Jove send her -A better guiding spirit ! What need these hands ? -You , that are thus so tender o'er his follies , -Will never do him good , not one of you . -So , so : farewell ; we are gone . - - -Thou , traitor , hast set on thy wife to this . -My child ! away with't !even thou , that hast -A heart so tender o'er it , take it hence -And see it instantly consum'd with fire : -Even thou and none but thou . Take it up straight : -Within this hour bring me word 'tis done , -And by good testimony ,or I'll seize thy life , -With what thou else call'st thine . If thou refuse -And wilt encounter with my wrath , say so ; -The bastard brains with these my proper hands -Shall I dash out . Go , take it to the fire ; -For thou sett'st on thy wife . - -I did not , sir : -These lords , my noble fellows , if they please , -Can clear me in't . - -We can , my royal liege , -He is not guilty of her coming hither . - -You are liars all . - -Beseech your highness , give us better credit : -We have always truly serv'd you , and beseech you -So to esteem of us ; and on our knees we beg , -As recompense of our dear services -Past and to come , that you do change this purpose , -Which being so horrible , so bloody , must -Lead on to some foul issue . We all kneel . - -I am a feather for each wind that blows . -Shall I live on to see this bastard kneel -And call me father ? Better burn it now -Than curse it then . But , be it ; let it live : -It shall not neither . - -You , sir , come you hither ; -You that have been so tenderly officious -With Lady Margery , your midwife there , -To save this bastard's life ,for 'tis a bastard , -So sure as thy beard's grey ,what will you adventure -To save this brat's life ? - -Any thing , my lord , -That my ability may undergo , -And nobleness impose : at least , thus much : -I'll pawn the little blood which I have left , -To save the innocent : any thing possible . - -It shall be possible . Swear by this sword -Thou wilt perform my bidding . - -I will , my lord . - -Mark and perform it ,seest thou !for the fail -Of any point in't shall not only be -Death to thyself , but to thy lewd-tongu'd wife , -Whom for this time we pardon . We enjoin thee , -As thou art liegeman to us , that thou carry -This female bastard hence ; and that thou bear it -To some remote and desart place quite out -Of our dominions ; and that there thou leave it , -Without more mercy , to its own protection , -And favour of the climate . As by strange fortune -It came to us , I do in justice charge thee , -On thy soul's peril and thy body's torture , -That thou commend it strangely to some place , -Where chance may nurse or end it . Take it up . - -I swear to do this , though a present death -Had been more merciful . Come on , poor babe : -Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens -To be thy nurses ! Wolves and bears , they say , -Casting their savageness aside have done -Like offices of pity . Sir , be prosperous -In more than this deed doth require ! And blessing -Against this cruelty fight on thy side , -Poor thing , condemn'd to loss ! - - -No ; I'll not rear -Another's issue . - - -Please your highness , posts -From those you sent to the oracle are come -An hour since : Cleomenes and Dion , -Being well arriv'd from Delphos , are both landed , -Hasting to the court . - -So please you , sir , their speed -Hath been beyond account . - -Twenty-three days -They have been absent : 'tis good speed ; foretells -The great Apollo suddenly will have -The truth of this appear . Prepare you , lords ; -Summon a session , that we may arraign -Our most disloyal lady ; for , as she hath -Been publicly accus'd , so shall she have -A just and open trial . While she lives -My heart will be a burden to me . Leave me , -And think upon my bidding . - -The climate's delicate , the air most sweet , -Fertile the isle , the temple much surpassing -The common praise it bears . - -I shall report , -For most it caught me , the celestial habits , -Methinks I so should term them ,and the reverence -Of the grave wearers . O , the sacrifice ! -How ceremonious , solemn , and unearthly -It was i' the offering ! - -But of all , the burst -And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle , -Kin to Jove's thunder , so surpris'd my sense , -That I was nothing . - -If the event o' the journey -Prove as successful to the queen ,O , be't so ! -As it hath been to us rare , pleasant , speedy , -The time is worth the use on't . - -Great Apollo -Turn all to the best ! These proclamations , -So forcing faults upon Hermione , -I little like . - -The violent carriage of it -Will clear or end the business : when the oracle , -Thus by Apollo's great divine seal'd up , -Shall the contents discover , something rare -Even then will rush to knowledge .Go :fresh horses ! -And gracious be the issue ! - - -This sessions , to our great grief we pronounce , -Even pushes 'gainst our heart : the party tried -The daughter of a king , our wife , and one -Of us too much belov'd . Let us be clear'd -Of being tyrannous , since we so openly -Proceed in justice , which shall have due course , -Even to the guilt or the purgation . -Produce the prisoner . - -It is his highness' pleasure that the queen -Appear in person here in court . Silence ! - - -Read the indictment . - -Hermione , queen to the worthy Leontes , King of Sicilia , thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason , in committing adultery with Polixenes , King of Bohemia , and conspiring with Camillo to take away the life of our sovereign lord the king , thy royal husband : the pretence whereof being by circumstances partly laid open , thou , Hermione , contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true subject , didst counsel and aid them , for their better safety , to fly away by night . - -Since what I am to say must be but that -Which contradicts my accusation , and -The testimony on my part no other -But what comes from myself , it shall scarce boot me -To say 'Not guilty :' mine integrity -Being counted falsehood , shall , as I express it , -Be so receiv'd . But thus : if powers divine -Behold our human actions , as they do , -I doubt not then but innocence shall make -False accusation blush , and tyranny -Tremble at patience . You , my lord , best know , -Who least will seem to do so ,my past life -Hath been as continent , as chaste , as true , -As I am now unhappy ; which is more -Than history can pattern , though devis'd -And play'd to take spectators . For behold me , -A fellow of the royal bed , which owe -A moiety of the throne , a great king's daughter , -The mother to a hopeful prince , here standing -To prate and talk for life and honour 'fore -Who please to come and hear . For life , I prize it . -As I weigh grief , which I would spare : for honour , -'Tis a derivative from me to mine , -And only that I stand for . I appeal -To your own conscience , sir , before Polixenes -Came to your court , how I was in your grace , -How merited to be so ; since he came , -With what encounter so uncurrent I -Have strain'd , to appear thus : if one jot beyond -The bound of honour , or in act or will -That way inclining , harden'd be the hearts -Of all that hear me , and my near'st of kin -Cry fie upon my grave ! - -I ne'er heard yet -That any of these bolder vices wanted -Less impudence to gainsay what they did -Than to perform it first . - -That's true enough ; -Though 'tis a saying , sir , not due to me . - -You will not own it . - -More than mistress of -Which comes to me in name of fault , I must not -At all acknowledge . For Polixenes , -With whom I am accus'd ,I do confess -I lov'd him as in honour he requir'd , -With such a kind of love as might become -A lady like me ; with a love even such , -So and no other , as yourself commanded : -Which not to have done I think had been in me -Both disobedience and ingratitude -To you and toward your friend , whose love had spoke , -Even since it could speak , from an infant , freely -That it was yours . Now , for conspiracy , -I know not how it tastes , though it be dish'd -For me to try how : all I know of it -Is that Camillo was an honest man ; -And why he left your court , the gods themselves , -Wotting no more than I , are ignorant . - -You knew of his departure , as you know -What you have underta'en to do in's absence . - -Sir , -You speak a language that I understand not : -My life stands in the level of your dreams , -Which I'll lay down . - -Your actions are my dreams : -You had a bastard by Polixenes , -And I but dream'd it . As you were past all shame , -Those of your fact are so ,so past all truth : -Which to deny concerns more than avails ; for as -Thy brat hath been cast out , like to itself , -No father owning it ,which is , indeed , -More criminal in thee than it ,so thou -Shalt feel our justice , in whose easiest passage -Look for no less than death . - -Sir , spare your threats : -The bug which you would fright me with I seek . -To me can life be no commodity : -The crown and comfort of my life , your favour , -I do give lost ; for I do feel it gone , -But know not how it went . My second joy , -And first-fruits of my body , from his presence -I am barr'd , like one infectious . My third comfort , -Starr'd most unluckily , is from my breast , -The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth , -Hal'd out to murder : myself on every post -Proclaim'd a strumpet : with immodest hatred -The child-bed privilege denied , which 'longs -To women of all fashion : lastly , hurried -Here to this place , i'the open air , before -I have got strength of limit . Now , my liege , -Tell me what blessings I have here alive , -That I should fear to die ? Therefore proceed . -But yet hear this ; mistake me not ; no life , -I prize it not a straw :but for mine honour , -Which I would free , if I shall be condemn'd -Upon surmises , all proofs sleeping else -But what your jealousies awake , I tell you -'Tis rigour and not law . Your honours all , -I do refer me to the oracle : -Apollo be my judge ! - -This your request -Is altogether just : therefore , bring forth , -And in Apollo's name , his oracle . - - -The Emperor of Russia was my father : -O ! that he were alive , and here beholding -His daughter's trial ; that he did but see -The flatness of my misery ; yet with eyes -Of pity , not revenge ! - - -You here shall swear upon this sword of justice , -That you , Cleomenes and Dion , have -Been both at Delphos , and from thence have brought -This seal'd-up oracle , by the hand deliver'd -Of great Apollo's priest , and that since then -You have not dar'd to break the holy seal , -Nor read the secrets in't . - -All this we swear . - -All this we swear . - -Break up the seals , and read . - -Hermione is chaste ; Polixenes blameless ; Camillo a true subject ; Leontes a jealous tyrant ; his innocent babe truly begotten ; and the king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found ! - -Now blessed be the great Apollo ! - -Praised ! - -Hast thou read truth ? - -Ay , my lord ; even so -As it is here set down . - -There is no truth at all i' the oracle : -The sessions shall proceed : this is mere falsehood . - - -My lord the king , the king ! - -What is the business ? - -O sir ! I shall be hated to report it : -The prince your son , with mere conceit and fear -Of the queen's speed , is gone . - -How ! gone ! - -Is dead . - -Apollo's angry ; and the heavens themselves -Do strike at my injustice . - -How now , there ! - -This news is mortal to the queen : look down , -And see what death is doing . - -Take her hence : -Her heart is but o'ercharg'd ; she will recover : -I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion : -Beseech you , tenderly apply to her -Some remedies for life . - -Apollo , pardon -My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle ! -I'll reconcile me to Polixenes , -New woo my queen , recall the good Camillo , -Whom I proclaim a man of truth , of mercy ; -For , being transported by my jealousies -To bloody thoughts and to revenge , I chose -Camillo for the minister to poison -My friend Polixenes : which had been done , -But that the good mind of Camillo tardied -My swift command ; though I with death and with -Reward did threaten and encourage him , -Not doing it , and being done : he , most humane -And fill'd with honour , to my kingly guest -Unclasp'd my practice , quit his fortunes here , -Which you knew great , and to the certain hazard -Of all incertainties himself commended , -No richer than his honour : how he glisters -Thorough my rust ! and how his piety -Does my deeds make the blacker ! - - -Woe the while ! -O , cut my lace , lest my heart , cracking it , -Break too ! - -What fit is this , good lady ? - -What studied torments , tyrant , hast for me ? -What wheels ? racks ? fires ? What flaying ? or what boiling -In leads , or oils ? what old or newer torture -Must I receive , whose every word deserves -To taste of thy most worst ? Thy tyranny , -Together working with thy jealousies , -Fancies too weak for boys , too green and idle -For girls of nine , O ! think what they have done , -And then run mad indeed , stark mad ; for all -Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it . -That thou betray'dst Polixenes , 'twas nothing ; -That did but show thee of a fool , inconstant -And damnable ingrateful ; nor was't much -Thou wouldst have poison'd good Camillo's honour -To have him kill a king ; poor trespasses , -More monstrous standing by : whereof I reckon -The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter -To be or none or little ; though a devil -Would have shed water out of fire ere done't : -Nor is't directly laid to thee , the death -Of the young prince , whose honourable thoughts , -Thoughts high for one so tender ,cleft the heart -That could conceive a gross and foolish sire -Blemish'd his gracious dam : this is not , no , -Laid to thy answer : but the last ,O lords ! -When I have said , cry , 'woe !' the queen , the queen , -The sweetest , dearest creature's dead , and vengeance for't -Not dropp'd down yet . - -The higher powers forbid ! - -I say she's dead ; I'll swear't : if word nor oath -Prevail not , go and see : if you can bring -Tincture or lustre in her lip , her eye , -Heat outwardly , or breath within , I'll serve you -As I would do the gods . But , O thou tyrant ! -Do not repent these things , for they are heavier -Than all thy woes can stir ; therefore betake thee -To nothing but despair . A thousand knees -Ten thousand years together , naked , fasting , -Upon a barren mountain , and still winter -In storm perpetual , could not move the gods -To look that way thou wert . - -Go on , go on ; -Thou canst not speak too much : I have deserv'd -All tongues to talk their bitterest . - -Say no more : -Howe'er the business goes , you have made fault -I' the boldness of your speech . - -I am sorry for't : -All faults I make , when I shall come to know them , -I do repent . Alas ! I have show'd too much -The rashness of a woman : he is touch'd -To the noble heart . What's gone and what's past help -Should be past grief : do not receive affliction -At my petition ; I beseech you , rather -Let me be punish'd , that have minded you -Of what you should forget . Now , good my liege , -Sir , royal sir , forgive a foolish woman : -The love I bore your queen ,lo , fool again ! -I'll speak of her no more , nor of your children ; -I'll not remember you of my own lord , -Who is lost too : take your patience to you , -And I'll say nothing . - -Thou didst speak but well , -When most the truth , which I receive much better -Than to be pitied of thee . Prithee , bring me -To the dead bodies of my queen and son : -One grave shall be for both : upon them shall -The causes of their death appear , unto -Our shame perpetual . Once a day I'll visit -The chapel where they lie , and tears shed there -Shall be my recreation : so long as nature -Will bear up with this exercise , so long -I daily vow to use it . Come and lead me -Unto these sorrows . - - -Thou art perfect , then , our ship hath touch'd upon -The desarts of Bohemia ? - -Ay , my lord ; and fear -We have landed in ill time : the skies look grimly -And threaten present blusters . In my conscience , -The heavens with that we have in hand are angry , -And frown upon's . - -Their sacred wills be done ! Go , get aboard ; -Look to thy bark : I'll not be long before -I call upon thee . - -Make your best haste , and go not -Too far i' the land : 'tis like to be loud weather ; -Besides , this place is famous for the creatures -Of prey that keep upon't . - -Go thou away : -I'll follow instantly . - -I am glad at heart -To be so rid of the business . - - -Come , poor babe : -I have heard , but not believ'd , the spirits o' the dead -May walk again : if such thing be , thy mother -Appear'd to me last night , for ne'er was dream -So like a waking . To me comes a creature , -Sometimes her head on one side , some another ; -I never saw a vessel of like sorrow , -So fill'd , and so becoming : in pure white robes , -Like very sanctity , she did approach -My cabin where I lay ; thrice bow'd before me , -And , gasping to begin some speech , her eyes -Became two spouts : the fury spent , anon -Did this break from her : 'Good Antigonus , -Since fate , against thy better disposition , -Hath made thy person for the thrower-out -Of my poor babe , according to thine oath , -Places remote enough are in Bohemia , -There weep and leave it crying ; and , for the babe -Is counted lost for ever , Perdita , -I prithee , call't : for this ungentle business , -Put on thee by my lord , thou ne'er shalt see -Thy wife Paulina more :' and so , with shrieks , -She melted into air . Affrighted much , -I did in time collect myself , and thought -This was so and no slumber . Dreams are toys ; -Yet for this once , yea , superstitiously , -I will be squar'd by this . I do believe -Hermione hath suffer'd death ; and that -Apollo would , this being indeed the issue -Of King Polixenes , it should here be laid , -Either for life or death , upon the earth -Of its right father . Blossom , speed thee well ! - -There lie ; and there thy character : there these ; - -Which may , if fortune please , both breed thee , pretty , -And still rest thine . The storm begins : poor wretch ! -That for thy mother's fault art thus expos'd -To loss and what may follow . Weep I cannot , -But my heart bleeds , and most accurs'd am I -To be by oath enjoin'd to this . Farewell ! -The day frowns more and more : thou art like to have -A lullaby too rough . I never saw -The heavens so dim by day . A savage clamour ! -Well may I get aboard ! This is the chase : -I am gone for ever . - -I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty , or that youth would sleep out the rest ; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child , wronging the ancientry , stealing , fighting . Hark you now ! Would any but these boiled brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty hunt this weather ? They have scared away two of my best sheep ; which I fear the wolf will sooner find than the master : if anywhere I have them , 'tis by the sea-side , browsing of ivy . Good luck , an't be thy will ! what have we here ? - -Mercy on's , a barne ; a very pretty barne ! A boy or a child , I wonder ? A pretty one ; a very pretty one ; sure some scape : though I am not bookish , yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the scape . This has been some stair-work , some trunk-work , some behind-door-work ; they were warmer that got this than the poor thing is here . I'll take it up for pity ; yet I'll tarry till my son come ; he hollaed but even now . Whoa , ho , hoa ! - - -Hilloa , loa ! - -What ! art so near ? If thou'lt see a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten , come hither . What ailest thou , man ? - -I have seen two such sights by sea and by land ! but I am not to say it is a see , for it is now the sky : betwixt the firmament and it you cannot thrust a bodkin's point . - -Why , boy , how is it ? - -I would you did but see how it chafes , how it rages , how it takes up the shore ! but that's not to the point . O ! the most piteous cry of the poor souls ; sometimes to see 'em , and not to see 'em ; now the ship boring the moon with her mainmast , and anon swallowed with yest and froth , as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead . And then for the land-service : to see how the bear tore out his shoulderbone ; how he cried to me for help and said his name was Antigonus , a nobleman . But to make an end of the ship : to see how the sea flap-dragoned it : but , first , how the poor souls roared , and the sea mocked them ; and how the poor gentleman roared , and the bear mocked him , both roaring louder than the sea or weather . - -Name of mercy ! when was this , boy ? - -Now , now ; I have not winked since I saw these sights : the men are not yet cold under water , nor the bear half dined on the gentleman : he's at it now . - -Would I had been by , to have helped the old man ! - -I would you had been by the ship's side , to have helped her : there your charity would have lacked footing . - -Heavy matters ! heavy matters ! but look thee here , boy . Now bless thyself : thou mettest with things dying , I with things new born . Here's a sight for thee ; look thee , a bearing-cloth for a squire's child ! Look thee here : take up , take up , boy ; open't . So , let's see : it was told me , I should be rich by the fairies : this is some changeling .Open't . What's within , boy ? - -You're a made old man : if the sins of your youth are forgiven you , you're well to live . Gold ! all gold ! - -This is fairy gold , boy , and 'twill prove so : up with't , keep it close : home , home , the next way . We are lucky , boy ; and to be so still , requires nothing but secrecy . Let my sheep go . Come , good boy , the next way home . - -Go you the next way with your findings . I'll go see if the bear be gone from the gentleman , and how much he hath eaten : they are never curst but when they are hungry . If there be any of him left , I'll bury it . - -That's a good deed . If thou mayst discern by that which is left of him what he is , fetch me to the sight of him . - -Marry , will I ; and you shall help to put him i' the ground . - -'Tis a lucky day , boy , and we'll do good deeds on't . - -I , that please some , try all , both joy and terror -Of good and bad , that make and unfold error , -Now take upon me , in the name of Time , -To use my wings . Impute it not a crime -To me or my swift passage , that I slide -O'er sixteen years , and leave the growth untried -Of that wide gap ; since it is in my power -To o'erthrow law , and in one self-born hour -To plant and o'erwhelm custom . Let me pass -The same I am , ere ancient'st order was -Or what is now receiv'd : I witness to -The times that brought them in ; so shall I do -To the freshest things now reigning , and make stale -The glistering of this present , as my tale -Now seems to it . Your patience this allowing , -I turn my glass and give my scene such growing -As you had slept between . Leontes leaving , -The effects of his fond jealousies so grieving , -That he shuts up himself ,imagine me , -Gentle spectators , that I now may be -In fair Bohemia ; and remember well , -I mention'd a son o' the king's , which Florizel -I now name to you ; and with speed so pace -To speak of Perdita , now grown in grace -Equal with wondering : what of her ensues -I list not prophesy ; but let Time's news -Be known when 'tis brought forth . A shepherd's daughter , -And what to her adheres , which follows after , -Is th' argument of Time . Of this allow , -If ever you have spent time worse ere now : -If never , yet that Time himself doth say -He wishes earnestly you never may . - -I pray thee , good Camillo , be no more importunate : 'tis a sickness denying thee anything ; a death to grant this . - -It is fifteen years since I saw my country : though I have for the most part been aired abroad , I desire to lay my bones there . Besides , the penitent king , my master , hath sent for me ; to whose feeling sorrows I might be some allay , or I o'erween to think so , which is another spur to my departure . - -As thou lovest me , Camillo , wipe not out the rest of thy services by leaving me now . The need I have of thee thine own goodness hath made : better not to have had thee than thus to want thee . Thou , having made me businesses which none without thee can sufficiently manage , must either stay to execute them thyself or take away with thee the very services thou hast done ; which if I have not enough considered ,as too much I cannot ,to be more thankful to thee shall be my study , and my profit therein , the heaping friendships . Of that fatal country , Sicilia , prithee speak no more , whose very naming punishes me with the remembrance of that penitent , as thou callest him , and reconciled king , my brother ; whose loss of his most precious queen and children are even now to be afresh lamented . Say to me , when sawest thou the Prince Florizel , my son ? Kings are no less unhappy , their issue not being gracious , than they are in losing them when they have approved their virtues . - -Sir , it is three days since I saw the prince . What his happier affairs may be , are to me unknown ; but I have missingly noted he is of late much retired from court , and is less frequent to his princely exercises than formerly he hath appeared . - -I have considered so much , Camillo , and with some care ; so far , that I have eyes under my service which look upon his removedness ; from whom I have this intelligence , that he is seldom from the house of a most homely shepherd ; a man , they say , that from very nothing , and beyond the imagination of his neighbours , is grown into an unspeakable estate . - -I have heard , sir , of such a man , who hath a daughter of most rare note : the report of her is extended more than can be thought to begin from such a cottage . - -That's likewise part of my intelligence ; but I fear , the angle that plucks our son thither . Thou shalt accompany us to the place ; where we will , not appearing what we are , have some question with the shepherd ; from whose simplicity I think it not uneasy to get the cause of my son's resort thither . Prithee , be my present partner in this business , and lay aside the thoughts of Sicilia . - -I willingly obey your command . - -My best Camillo !We must disguise ourselves . - -When daffodils begin to peer , -With heigh ! the doxy , over the dale , -Why , then comes in the sweet o' the year ; -For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale . - - -The white sheet bleaching on the hedge , -With heigh ! the sweet birds , O , how they sing ! -Doth set my pugging tooth on edge ; -For a quart of ale is a dish for a king - - -The lark , that tirra-lirra chants , -With , heigh ! with , heigh ! the thrush and the jay , -Are summer songs for me and my aunts , -While we lie tumbling in the hay . - - -I have served Prince Florizel , and in my time wore three-pile ; but now I am out of service : - -But shall I go mourn for that , my dear ? -The pale moon shines by night ; -And when I wander here and there , -I then do most go right . -If tinkers may have leave to live , -And bear the sow-skin bowget , -Then my account I well may give , -And in the stocks avouch it - -My traffic is sheets ; when the kite builds , look to lesser linen . My father named me Autolycus ; who being , as I am , littered under Mercury , was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles . With die and drab I purchased this caparison , and my revenue is the silly cheat . Gallows and knock are too powerful on the highway : beating and hanging are terrors to me : for the life to come , I sleep out the thought of it . A prize ! a prize ! - - -Let me see : Every 'leven wether tods ; every tod yields pound and odd shilling : fifteen hundred shorn , what comes the wool to ? - -If the springe hold , the cock's mine . - -I cannot do't without compters . Let me see ; what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast ? 'Three pound of sugar ; five pound of currants ; rice ,' what will this sister of mine do with rice ? But my father hath made her mistress of the feast , and she lays it on . She hath made me four-and-twenty nosegays for the shearers , three-man song-men all , and very good ones ; but they are most of them means and bases : but one puritan amongst them , and he sings psalms to hornpipes . I must have saffron , to colour the warden pies ; mace , dates ,none ; that's out of my note :nutmegs seven ; a race or two of ginger ,but that I may beg ;four pound of prunes , and as many of raisins o' the sun . - -O ! that ever I was born ! - - -I' the name of me ! - -O ! help me , help me ! pluck but off these rags , and then death , death ! - -Alack , poor soul ! thou hast need of more rags to lay on thee , rather than have these off . - -O , sir ! the loathsomeness of them offends me more than the stripes I have received , which are mighty ones and millions . - -Alas , poor man ! a million of beating may come to a great matter . - -I am robbed , sir , and beaten ; my money and apparel ta'en from me , and these detestable things put upon me . - -What , by a horseman or a footman ? - -A footman , sweet sir , a footman . - -Indeed , he should be a footman , by the garments he hath left with thee : if this be a horseman's coat , it hath seen very hot service . Lend me thy hand , I'll help thee : come , lend me thy hand . - - -O ! good sir , tenderly , O ! - -Alas , poor soul ! - -O ! good sir ; softly , good sir ! I fear , sir , my shoulder-blade is out . - -How now ! canst stand ? - -Softly , dear sir ; - -good sir , softly . You ha' done me a charitable office . - -Dost lack any money ? I have a little money for thee . - -No , good sweet sir : no , I beseech you , sir . I have a kinsman not past three-quarters of a mile hence , unto whom I was going : I shall there have money , or anything I want : offer me no money , I pray you ! that kills my heart . - -What manner of fellow was he that robbed you ? - -A fellow , sir , that I have known to go about with trol-my-dames : I knew him once a servant of the prince . I cannot tell , good sir , for which of his virtues it was , but he was certainly whipped out of the court . - -His vices , you would say : there's no virtue whipped out of the court : they cherish it , to make it stay there , and yet it will no more but abide . - -Vices , I would say , sir . I know this man well : he hath been since an ape-bearer ; then a process-server , a bailiff ; then he compassed a motion of the Prodigal Son , and married a tinker's wife within a mile where my land and living lies ; and having flown over many knavish professions , he settled only in rogue : some call him Autolycus . - -Out upon him ! Prig , for my life , prig : he haunts wakes , fairs , and bear-baitings . - -Very true , sir ; he , sir , he : that's the rogue that put me into this apparel . - -Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia : if you had but looked big and spit at him , he'd have run . - -I must confess to you , sir , I am no fighter : I am false of heart that way , and that he knew , I warrant him . - -How do you now ? - -Sweet sir , much better than I was : I can stand and walk . I will even take my leave of you , and pace softly towards my kinsman's . - -Shall I bring thee on the way ? - -No , good-faced sir ; no , sweet sir . - -Then fare thee well : I must go buy spices for our sheep-shearing . - -Prosper you , sweet sir ! - -Your purse is not hot enough to purchase your spice . I'll be with you at your sheep-shearing too . If I make not this cheat bring out another , and the shearers prove sheep , let me be unrolled , and my name put in the book of virtue . - -Jog on , jog on , the footpath way , -And merrily hent the stile-a : -A merry heart goes all the day , -Your sad tares in a mile-a . - -These your unusual weeds to each part of you -Do give a life : no shepherdess , but Flora -Peering in April's front . This your sheep-shearing -Is as a meeting of the petty gods , -And you the queen on't . - -Sir , my gracious lord , -To chide at your extremes it not becomes me : -O ! pardon , that I name them . Your high self , -The gracious mark o' the land , you have obscur'd -With a swain's wearing , and me , poor lowly maid , -Most goddess-like prank'd up . But that our feasts -In every mess have folly , and the feeders -Digest it with a custom , I should blush -To see you so attired ,swoon , I think , -To show myself a glass . - -I bless the time -When my good falcon made her flight across -Thy father's ground . - -Now , Jove afford you cause ! -To me the difference forges dread ; your greatness -Hath not been us'd to fear . Even now I tremble -To think , your father , by some accident , -Should pass this way as you did . O , the Fates ! -How would he look , to see his work , so noble , -Vilely bound up ? What would he say ? Or how -Should I , in these my borrow'd flaunts , behold -The sternness of his presence ? - -Apprehend -Nothing but jollity . The gods themselves , -Humbling their deities to love , have taken -The shapes of beasts upon them : Jupiter -Became a bull , and bellow'd ; the green Neptune -A ram , and bleated ; and the fire-rob'd god , -Golden Apollo , a poor humble swain , -As I seem now . Their transformations -Were never for a piece of beauty rarer , -Nor in a way so chaste , since my desires -Run not before mine honour , nor my lusts -Burn hotter than my faith . - -O ! but , sir , -Your resolution cannot hold , when 'tis -Oppos'd , as it must be , by the power of the king . -One of these two must be necessities , -Which then will speak , that you must change this purpose , -Or I my life . - -Thou dearest Perdita , -With these forc'd thoughts , I prithee , darken not -The mirth o' the feast : or I'll be thine , my fair , -Or not my father's ; for I cannot be -Mine own , nor anything to any , if -I be not thine : to this I am most constant , -Though destiny say no . Be merry , gentle ; -Strangle such thoughts as these with any thing -That you behold the while . Your guests are coming : -Lift up your countenance , as it were the day -Of celebration of that nuptial which -We two have sworn shall come . - -O lady Fortune , -Stand you auspicious ! - -See , your guests approach : -Address yourself to entertain them sprightly , -And let's be red with mirth . - - -Fie , daughter ! when my old wife liv'd , upon -This day she was both pantler , butler , cook ; -Both dame and servant ; welcom'd all , serv'd all , -Would sing her song and dance her turn ; now here , -At upper end o' the table , now i' the middle ; -On his shoulder , and his ; her face o' fire -With labour and the thing she took to quench it , -She would to each one sip . You are retir'd , -As if you were a feasted one and not -The hostess of the meeting : pray you , bid -These unknown friends to's welcome ; for it is -A way to make us better friends , more known . -Come , quench your blushes and present yourself -That which you are , mistress o' the feast : come on , -And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing , -As your good flock shall prosper . - -Sir , welcome : -It is my father's will I should take on me -The hostess-ship o' the day : - -You're welcome , sir . -Give me those flowers there , Dorcas . Reverend sirs , -For you there's rosemary and rue ; these keep -Seeming and savour all the winter long : -Grace and remembrance be to you both , -And welcome to our shearing ! - -Shepherdess , -A fair one are you ,well you fit our ages -With flowers of winter . - -Sir , the year growing ancient , -Not yet on summer's death , nor on the birth -Of trembling winter , the fairest flowers o' the season -Are our carnations , and streak'd gillyvors , -Which some call nature's bastards : of that kind -Our rustic garden's barren , and I care not -To get slips of them . - -Wherefore , gentle maiden , -Do you neglect them ? - -For I have heard it said -There is an art which in their piedness shares -With great creating nature . - -Say there be ; -Yet nature is made better by no mean -But nature makes that mean : so , over that art , -Which you say adds to nature , is an art -That nature makes . You see , sweet maid , we marry -A gentler scion to the wildest stock , -And make conceive a bark of baser kind -By bud of nobler race : this is an art -Which does mend nature , change it rather , but -The art itself is nature . - -So it is . - -Then make your garden rich in gillyvors , -And do not call them bastards . - -I'll not put -The dibble in earth to set one slip of them ; -No more than , were I painted , I would wish -This youth should say , 'twere well , and only therefore -Desire to breed by me . Here's flowers for you ; -Hot lavender , mints , savory , marjoram ; -The marigold , that goes to bed wi' the sun , -And with him rises weeping : these are flowers -Of middle summer , and I think they are given -To men of middle age . You're very welcome . - -I should leave grazing , were I of your flock , -And only live by gazing . - -Out , alas ! -You'd be so lean , that blasts of January -Would blow you through and through . Now , my fair'st friend , -I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might -Become your time of day ; and yours , and yours , -That wear upon your virgin branches yet -Your maidenheads growing : O Proserpina ! -For the flowers now that frighted thou let'st fall -From Dis's waggon ! daffodils , -That come before the swallow dares , and take -The winds of March with beauty ; violets dim , -But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes -Or Cytherea's breath ; pale prime-roses , -That die unmarried , ere they can behold -Bright Ph bus in his strength , a malady -Most incident to maids ; bold oxlips and -The crown imperial ; lilies of all kinds , -The flower-de-luce being one . O ! these I lack -To make you garlands of , and my sweet friend , -To strew him o'er and o'er ! - -What ! like a corse ? - -No , like a bank for love to lie and play on ; -Not like a corse ; or if ,not to be buried , -But quick and in mine arms . Come , take your flowers : -Methinks I play as I have seen them do -In Whitsun pastorals : sure this robe of mine -Does change my disposition . - -What you do -Still betters what is done . When you speak , sweet , -I'd have you do it ever : when you sing , -I'd have you buy and sell so ; so give alms ; -Pray so ; and , for the ordering your affairs , -To sing them too : when you do dance , I wish you -A wave o' the sea , that you might ever do -Nothing but that ; move still , still so , -And own no other function : each your doing , -So singular in each particular , -Crowns what you are doing in the present deed , -That all your acts are queens . - -O Doricles ! -Your praises are too large : but that your youth , -And the true blood which fairly peeps through it , -Do plainly give you out an unstain'd shepherd , -With wisdom I might fear , my Doricles , -You woo'd me the false way . - -I think you have -As little skill to fear as I have purpose -To put you to't . But , come ; our dance , I pray . -Your hand , my Perdita : so turtles pair -That never mean to part . - -I'll swear for 'em . - -This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever -Ran on the green-sord : nothing she does or seems -But smacks of something greater than herself ; -Too noble for this place . - -He tells her something -That makes her blood look out . Good sooth , she is -The queen of curds and cream . - -Come on , strike up . - -Mopsa must be your mistress : marry , garlic , -To mend her kissing with . - -Now , in good time ! - -Not a word , a word : we stand upon our manners . -Come , strike up . - - -Pray , good shepherd , what fair swain is this -Which dances with your daughter ? - -They call him Doricles , and boasts himself -To have a worthy feeding ; but I have it -Upon his own report and I believe it : -He looks like sooth . He says he loves my daughter : -I think so too ; for never gaz'd the moon -Upon the water as he'll stand and read -As 'twere my daughter's eyes ; and , to be plain , -I think there is not half a kiss to choose -Who loves another best . - -She dances featly . - -So she does any thing , though I report it -That should be silent . If young Doricles -Do light upon her , she shall bring him that -Which he not dreams of . - - -O master ! if you did but hear the pedlar at the door , you would never dance again after a tabor and pipe ; no , the bagpipe could not move you . He sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money ; he utters them as he had eaten ballads and all men's ears grew to his tunes . - -He could never come better : he shall come in : I love a ballad but even too well , if it be doleful matter merrily set down , or a very pleasant thing indeed and sung lamentably . - -He hath songs for man or woman , of all sizes ; no milliner can so fit his customers with gloves : he has the prettiest love-songs for maids ; so without bawdry , which is strange ; with such delicate burthens of dildos and fadings , 'jump her and thump her ;' and where some stretchmouthed rascal would , as it were , mean mischief and break a foul gap into the matter , he makes the maid to answer , 'Whoop , do me no harm , good man ;' puts him off , slights him with 'Whoop , do me no harm , good man .' - -This is a brave fellow . - -Believe me , thou talkest of an admirable conceited fellow . Has he any unbraided wares ? - -He hath ribands of all the colours i' the rainbow ; points more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can learnedly handle , though they come to him by the gross ; inkles , caddisses , cambrics , lawns : why , he sings 'em over , as they were gods or goddesses . You would think a smock were a she-angel , he so chants to the sleeve-hand and the work about the square on't . - -Prithee , bring him in , and let him approach singing . - -Forewarn him that he use no scurrilous words in's tunes . - - -You have of these pedlars , that have more in them than you'd think , sister . - -Ay , good brother , or go about to think . - -Lawn as white as driven snow ; -Cyprus black as e'er was crow ; -Gloves as sweet as damask roses ; -Masks for faces and for noses ; -Bugle-bracelet , necklace-amber , -Perfume for a lady's chamber ; -Golden quoifs and stomachers , -For my lads to give their dears ; -Pins and poking-sticks of steel ; -What maids lack from head to heel : -Come buy of me , come ; come buy , come buy ; -Buy , lads , or else your lasses cry : -Come buy . - -If I were not in love with Mopsa , thou shouldst take no money of me ; but being enthralled as I am , it will also be the bondage of certain ribands and gloves . - -I was promised them against the feast ; but they come not too late now . - -He hath promised you more than that , or there be liars . - -He hath paid you all he promised you : may be he has paid you more , which will shame you to give him again . - -Is there no manners left among maids ? will they wear their plackets where they should bear their faces ? Is there not milking-time , when you are going to bed , or kiln-hole , to whistle off these secrets , but you must be tittle-tattling before all our guests ? 'Tis well they are whispering : clamour your tongues , and not a word more . - -I have done . Come , you promised me a tawdry lace and a pair of sweet gloves . - -Have I not told thee how I was cozened by the way , and lost all my money ? - -And indeed , sir , there are cozeners abroad ; therefore it behoves men to be wary . - -Fear not thou , man , thou shalt lose nothing here . - -I hope so , sir ; for I have about me many parcels of charge . - -What hast here ? ballads ? - -Pray now , buy some : I love a ballad in print , a-life , for then we are sure they are true . - -Here's one to a very doleful tune , how a usurer's wife was brought to bed of twenty money-bags at a burden ; and how she longed to eat adders' heads and toads carbonadoed . - -Is it true , think you ? - -Very true , and but a month old . - -Bless me from marrying a usurer ! - -Here's the midwife's name to't , one Mistress Taleporter , and five or six honest wives' that were present . Why should I carry lies abroad ? - -Pray you now , buy it . - -Come on , lay it by : and let's first see moe ballads ; we'll buy the other things anon . - -Here's another ballad of a fish that appeared upon the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of April , forty thousand fathom above water , and sung this ballad against the hard hearts of maids : it was thought she was a woman and was turned into a cold fish for she would not exchange flesh with one that loved her . The ballad is very pitiful and as true . - -Is it true too , think you ? - -Five justices' hands at it , and witnesses more than my pack will hold . - -Lay it by too : another . - -This is a merry ballad , but a very pretty one . - -Let's have some merry ones . - -Why , this is a passing merry one , and goes to the tune of 'Two maids wooing a man :' there's scarce a maid westward but she sings it : 'tis in request , I can tell you . - -We can both sing it : if thou'lt bear a part thou shalt hear ; 'tis in three parts . - -We had the tune on't a month ago . - -I can bear my part ; you must know 'tis my occupation : have at it with you . - - -Get you hence , for I must go , -Where it fits not you to know . - -Whither ? - -O ! whither ? - -Whither ? - -It becomes thy oath full woll , -Thou to me thy secrets tell . - -Me too : let me go thither . - -Or thou go'st to the grange or mill . - -If to either , thou dost ill . - -Neither . - -What , neither ? - -Neither . - -Thou hast sworn my love to be - -Thou hast sworn it more to me : -Then whither go'st ? say whither ? - - -We'll have this song out anon by ourselves : my father and the gentlemen are in sad talk , and we'll not trouble them : come , bring away thy pack after me . Wenches , I'll buy for you both . Pedlar , let's have the first choice . Follow me , girls . - - -And you shall pay well for 'em . - -Will you buy any tape , -Or lace for your cape , -My dainty duck , my dear-a ? -Any silk , any thread , -Any toys for your head , -Of the new'st and fin'st , fin'st wear-a ? -Come to the pedlar ; -Money's a meddler , -That doth utter all men's ware-a . - - -Master , there is three carters , three shepherds , three neat-herds , three swine-herds , that have made themselves all men of hair ; they call themselves Saltiers ; and they have a dance which the wenches say is a gallimaufry of gambols , because they are not in't ; but they themselves are o' the mind ,if it be not too rough for some that know little but bowling ,it will please plentifully . - -Away ! we'll none on't : here has been too much homely foolery already . I know , sir , we weary you . - -You weary those that refresh us : pray , let's see these four threes of herdsmen . - -One three of them , by their own report , sir , hath danced before the king ; and not the worst of the three but jumps twelve foot and a half by the squier . - -Leave your prating : since these good men are pleased let them come in : but quickly now . - -Why , they stay at door , sir . - -O , father ! you'll know more of that hereafter . - - -Is it not too far gone ? 'Tis time to part them . -He's simple and tells much . - -How now , fair shepherd ! -Your heart is full of something that does take -Your mind from feasting . Sooth , when I was young , -And handed love as you do , I was wont -To load my she with knacks : I would have ransack'd -The pedlar's silken treasury and have pour'd it -To her acceptance ; you have let him go -And nothing marted with him . If your lass -Interpretation should abuse and call this -Your lack of love or bounty , you were straited -For a reply , at least if you make a care -Of happy holding her . - -Old sir , I know -She prizes not such trifles as these are . -The gifts she looks from me are pack'd and lock'd -Up in my heart , which I have given already , -But not deliver'd . O ! hear me breathe my life -Before this ancient sir , who , it should seem , -Hath sometime lov'd : I take thy hand ; this hand , -As soft as dove's down , and as white as it , -Or Ethiopian's tooth , or the fann'd snow -That's bolted by the northern blasts twice o'er . - -What follows this ? -How prettily the young swain seems to wash -The hand was fair before ! I have put you out : -But to your protestation : let me hear -What you profess . - -Do , and be witness to't . - -And this my neighbour too ? - -And he , and more -Than he , and men , the earth , the heavens , and all ; -That , were I crown'd the most imperial monarch , -Thereof most worthy , were I the fairest youth -That ever made eye swerve , had force and knowledge -More than was ever man's , I would not prize them -Without her love : for her employ them all ; -Commend them and condemn them to her service -Or to their own perdition . - -Fairly offer'd . - -This shows a sound affection . - -But , my daughter , -Say you the like to him ? - -I cannot speak -So well , nothing so well ; no , nor mean better : -By the pattern of mine own thoughts I cut out -The purity of his . - -Take hands ; a bargain ; -And , friends unknown , you shall bear witness to't : -I give my daughter to him , and will make -Her portion equal his . - -O ! that must be -I' the virtue of your daughter : one being dead , -I shall have more than you can dream of yet ; -Enough then for your wonder . But , come on ; -Contract us 'fore these witnesses . - -Come , your hand ; -And , daughter , yours . - -Soft , swain , awhile , beseech you . -Have you a father ? - -I have ; but what of him ? - -Knows he of this ? - -He neither does nor shall . - -Methinks a father -Is , at the nuptial of his son , a guest -That best becomes the table . Pray you , once more , -Is not your father grown incapable -Of reasonable affairs ? is he not stupid -With age and altering rheums ? can he speak ? hear ? -Know man from man ? dispute his own estate ? -Lies he not bed-rid ? and again does nothing -But what he did being childish ? - -No , good sir : -He has his health and ampler strength indeed -Than most have of his age . - -By my white beard , -You offer him , if this be so , a wrong -Something unfilial . Reason my son -Should choose himself a wife , but as good reason -The father ,all whose joy is nothing else -But fair posterity ,should hold some counsel -In such a business . - -I yield all this ; -But for some other reasons , my grave sir , -Which 'tis not fit you know , I not acquaint -My father of this business . - -Let him know't . - -He shall not . - -Prithee , let him . - -No , he must not . - -Let him , my son : he shall not need to grieve -At knowing of thy choice . - -Come , come , he must not . -Mark our contract . - -Mark your divorce , young sir , - -Whom son I dare not call : thou art too base -To be acknowledg'd : thou a sceptre's heir , -That thus affect'st a sheep-hook ! Thou old traitor , -I am sorry that by hanging thee I can -But shorten thy life one week . And thou , fresh piece -Of excellent witchcraft , who of force must know -The royal fool thou cop'st with , - -O , my heart ! - -I'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briers , and made -More homely than thy state . For thee , fond boy , -If I may ever know thou dost but sigh -That thou no more shalt see this knack ,as never -I mean thou shalt ,we'll bar thee from succession ; -Not hold thee of our blood , no , not our kin , -Far than Deucalion off : mark thou my words : -Follow us to the court . Thou , churl , for this time , -Though full of our displeasure , yet we free thee -From the dead blow of it . And you , enchantment , -Worthy enough a herdsman ; yea , him too , -That makes himself , but for our honour therein , -Unworthy thee ,if ever henceforth thou -These rural latches to his entrance open , -Or hoop his body more with thy embraces , -I will devise a death as cruel for thee -As thou art tender to't . - - -Even here undone ! -I was not much afeard ; for once or twice -I was about to speak and tell him plainly , -The self-same sun that shines upon his court -Hides not his visage from our cottage , but -Looks on alike . Will't please you , sir , be gone ? -I told you what would come of this : beseech you , -Of your own state take care : this dream of mine -Being now awake , I'll queen it no inch further , -But milk my ewes and weep . - -Why , how now , father ! -Speak , ere thou diest . - -I cannot speak , nor think , -Nor dare to know that which I know . O sir ! -You have undone a man of fourscore three , -That thought to fill his grave in quiet , yea , -To die upon the bed my father died , -To lie close by his honest bones : but now -Some hangman must put on my shroud and lay me -Where no priest shovels in dust . O cursed wretch ! -That knew'st this was the prince , and wouldst adventure -To mingle faith with him . Undone ! undone ! -If I might die within this hour , I have liv'd -To die when I desire . - - -Why look you so upon me ? -I am but sorry , not afeard ; delay'd , -But nothing alter'd . What I was , I am : -More straining on for plucking back ; not following -My leash unwillingly . - -Gracious my lord , -You know your father's temper : at this time -He will allow no speech , which I do guess -You do not purpose to him ; and as hardly -Will he endure your sight as yet , I fear : -Then , till the fury of his highness settle , -Come not before him . - -I not purpose it . -I think , Camillo ? - -Even he , my lord . - -How often have I told you 'twould be thus ! -How often said my dignity would last -But till 'twere known ! - -It cannot fail but by -The violation of my faith ; and then -Let nature crush the sides o' the earth together -And mar the seeds within ! Lift up thy looks : -From my succession wipe me , father ; I -Am heir to my affection . - -Be advis'd . - -I am ; and by my fancy : if my reason -Will thereto be obedient , I have reason ; -If not , my senses , better pleas'd with madness , -Do bid it welcome . - -This is desperate , sir . - -So call it ; but it does fulfil my vow , -I needs must think it honesty . Camillo , -Not for Bohemia , nor the pomp that may -Be thereat glean'd , for all the sun sees or -The close earth wombs or the profound sea hides -In unknown fathoms , will I break my oath -To this my fair belov'd . Therefore , I pray you , -As you have ever been my father's honour'd friend , -When he shall miss me ,as , in faith , I mean not -To see him any more ,cast your good counsels -Upon his passion : let myself and fortune -Tug for the time to come . This you may know -And so deliver , I am put to sea -With her whom here I cannot hold on shore ; -And most opportune to our need , I have -A vessel rides fast by , but not prepar'd -For this design . What course I mean to hold -Shall nothing benefit your knowledge , nor -Concern me the reporting . - -O my lord ! -I would your spirit were easier for advice , -Or stronger for your need . - -Hark , Perdita . - - -I'll hear you by and by . - -He's irremovable , -Resolv'd for flight . Now were I happy if -His going I could frame to serve my turn , -Save him from danger , do him love and honour , -Purchase the sight again of dear Sicilia -And that unhappy king , my master , whom -I so much thirst to see . - -Now , good Camillo , -I am so fraught with curious business that -I leave out ceremony . - -Sir , I think -You have heard of my poor services , i' the love -That I have borne your father ? - -Very nobly -Have you deserv'd : it is my father's music -To speak your deeds , not little of his care -To have them recompens'd as thought on . - -Well , my lord , -If you may please to think I love the king -And through him what's nearest to him , which is -Your gracious self , embrace but my direction , -If your more ponderous and settled project -May suffer alteration , on mine honour -I'll point you where you shall have such receiving -As shall become your highness ; where you may -Enjoy your mistress ,from the whom , I see , -There's no disjunction to be made , but by , -As , heavens forfend ! your ruin ,marry her ; -And with my best endeavours in your absence -Your discontenting father strive to qualify , -And bring him up to liking . - -How , Camillo , -May this , almost a miracle , be done ? -That I may call thee something more than man , -And , after that trust to thee . - -Have you thought on -A place whereto you'll go ? - -Not any yet ; -But as the unthought-on accident is guilty -To what we wildly do , so we profess -Ourselves to be the slaves of chance and flies -Of every wind that blows . - -Then list to me : -This follows ; if you will not change your purpose -But undergo this flight , make for Sicilia , -And there present yourself and your fair princess , -For so , I see , she must be ,'fore Leontes ; -She shall be habited as it becomes -The partner of your bed . Methinks I see -Leontes opening his free arms and weeping -His welcomes forth ; asks thee , the son , forgiveness -As 'twere i' the father's person ; kisses the hands -Of your fresh princess ; o'er and o'er divides him -'Twixt his unkindness and his kindness : the one -He chides to hell , and bids the other grow -Faster than thought or time . - -Worthy Camillo , -What colour for my visitation shall I -Hold up before him ? - -Sent by the king your father -To greet him and to give him comforts . Sir , -The manner of your bearing towards him , with -What you as from your father shall deliver , -Things known betwixt us three , I'll write you down : -The which shall point you forth at every sitting -What you must say ; that he shall not perceive -But that you have your father's bosom there -And speak his very heart . - -I am bound to you . -There is some sap in this . - -A course more promising -Than a wild dedication of yourselves -To unpath'd waters , undream'd shores , most certain -To miseries enough : no hope to help you , -But as you shake off one to take another ; -Nothing so certain as your anchors , who -Do their best office , if they can but stay you -Where you'll be loath to be . Besides , you know -Prosperity's the very bond of love , -Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together -Affliction alters . - -One of these is true : -I think affliction may subdue the cheek , -But not take in the mind . - -Yea , say you so ? -There shall not at your father's house these seven years -Be born another such . - -My good Camillo , -She is as forward of her breeding as -She is i' the rear o' her birth . - -I cannot say 'tis pity -She lacks instructions , for she seems a mistress -To most that teach . - -Your pardon , sir ; for this -I'll blush you thanks . - -My prettiest Perdita ! -But O ! the thorns we stand upon . Camillo , -Preserver of my father , now of me , -The med'cine of our house , how shall we do ? -We are not furnish'd like Bohemia's son , -Nor shall appear in Sicilia . - -My lord , -Fear none of this : I think you know my fortunes -Do all lie there : it shall be so my care -To have you royally appointed as if -The scene you play were mine . For instance , sir , -That you may know you shall not want , one word . - -Ha , ha ! what a fool Honesty is ! and Trust , his sworn brother , a very simple gentleman ! I have sold all my trumpery : not a counterfeit stone , not a riband , glass , pomander , brooch , table-book , ballad , knife , tape , glove , shoe-tie , bracelet , horn-ring , to keep my pack from fasting : they throng who should buy first , as if my trinkets had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer : by which means I saw whose purse was best in picture ; and what I saw , to my good use I remembered . My clown ,who wants but something to be a reasonable man ,grew so in love with the wenches' song that he would not stir his pettitoes till he had both tune and words ; which so drew the rest of the herd to me that all their other senses stuck in ears : you might have pinched a placket , it was senseless ; 'twas nothing to geld a codpiece of a purse ; I would have filed keys off that hung in chains : no hearing , no feeling , but my sir's song , and admiring the nothing of it ; so that , in this time of lethargy I picked and cut most of their festival purses ; and had not the old man come in with a whoo-bub against his daughter and the king's son , and scared my choughs from the chaff , I had not left a purse alive in the whole army . - - -Nay , but my letters , by this means being there -So soon as you arrive , shall clear that doubt . - -And those that you'll procure from King Leontes - -Shall satisfy your father . - -Happy be you ! -All that you speak shows fair . - -Whom have we here ? -We'll make an instrument of this : omit -Nothing may give us aid . - -If they have overheard me now , why , hanging . - -How now , good fellow ! Why shakest thou so ? Fear not , man ; here's no harm intended to thee . - -I am a poor fellow , sir . - -Why , be so still ; here's nobody will steal that from thee ; yet , for the outside of thy poverty we must make an exchange ; therefore , discase thee instantly ,thou must think , there's a necessity in't ,and change garments with this gentleman : though the pennyworth on his side be the worst , yet hold thee , there's some boot . - -I am a poor fellow , sir . - -I know ye well enough . - -Nay , prithee , dispatch : the gentleman is half flayed already . - -Are you in earnest , sir ? - -I smell the trick on't . - -Dispatch , I prithee . - -Indeed , I have had earnest ; but I cannot with conscience take it . - -Unbuckle , unbuckle . - -Fortunate mistress ,let my prophecy -Come home to ye !you must retire yourself -Into some covert : take your sweetheart's hat -And pluck it o'er your brows ; muffle your face ; -Dismantle you , and , as you can , disliken -The truth of your own seeming ; that you may , -For I do fear eyes over you ,to shipboard -Get undescried . - -I see the play so lies -That I must bear a part . - -No remedy . -Have you done there ? - -Should I now meet my father -He would not call me son . - -Nay , you shall have no hat . - -Come , lady , come . Farewell , my friend . - -Adieu , sir . - -O Perdita , what have we twain forgot ! -Pray you , a word . - - -What I do next shall be to tell the king -Of this escape , and whither they are bound ; -Wherein my hope is I shall so prevail -To force him after : in whose company -I shall review Sicilia , for whose sight -I have a woman's longing . - -Fortune speed us ! -Thus we set on , Camillo , to the sea-side . - -The swifter speed the better . - - -I understand the business ; I hear it . To have an open ear , a quick eye , and a nimble hand , is necessary for a cut-purse : a good nose is requisite also , to smell out work for the other senses . I see this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive . What an exchange had this been without boot ! what a boot is here with this exchange ! Sure , the gods do this year connive at us , and we may do anything extempore . The prince himself is about a piece of iniquity ; stealing away from his father with his clog at his heels . If I thought it were a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal , I would not do't : I hold it the more knavery to conceal it , and therein am I constant to my profession . Aside , aside : here is more matter for a hot brain . Every lane's end , every shop , church , session , hanging , yields a careful man work . - - -See , see , what a man you are now ! There is no other way but to tell the king she's a changeling and none of your flesh and blood . - -Nay , but hear me . - -Nay , but hear me . - -Go to , then . - -She being none of your flesh and blood , your flesh and blood has not offended the king ; and so your flesh and blood is not to be punished by him . Show those things you found about her ; those secret things , all but what she has with her : this being done , let the law go whistle : I warrant you . - -I will tell the king all , every word , yea , and his son's pranks too ; who , I may say , is no honest man neither to his father nor to me , to go about to make me the king's brother-in-law . - -Indeed , brother-in-law was the furthest off you could have been to him , and then your blood had been the dearer by I know not how much an ounce . - -Very wisely , puppies ! - -Well , let us to the king : there is that in this fardel will make him scratch his beard . - -I know not what impediment this complaint may be to the flight of my master . - -Pray heartily he be at palace . - -Though I am not naturally honest , I am so sometimes by chance : let me pocket up my pedlar's excrement . [Takes off his false beard .] How now , rustics ! whither are you bound ? - -To the palace , an it like your worship . - -Your affairs there , what , with whom , the condition of that fardel , the place of your dwelling , your names , your ages , of what having , breeding , and anything that is fitting to be known , discover . - -We are but plain fellows , sir . - -A lie ; you are rough and hairy . Let me have no lying ; it becomes none but tradesmen , and they often give us soldiers the lie ; but we pay them for it with stamped coin , not stabbing steel ; therefore they do not give us the lie . - -Your worship had like to have given us one , if you had not taken yourself with the manner . - -Are you a courtier , an't like you , sir ? - -Whether it like me or no , I am a courtier . Seest thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings ? hath not my gait in it the measure of the court ? receives not thy nose court-odour from me ? reflect I not on thy baseness court-contempt ? Think'st thou , for that I insinuate , or toaze from thee thy business , I am therefore no courtier ? I am courtier , cap-a-pe , and one that will either push on or pluck back thy business there : whereupon I command thee to open thy affair . - -My business , sir , is to the king . - -What advocate hast thou to him ? - -I know not , an't like you . - -Advocate's the court-word for a pheasant : say you have none . - -None , sir ; I have no pheasant , cock nor hen . - -How bless'd are we that are not simple men ! -Yet nature might have made me as these are , -Therefore I'll not disdain . - -This cannot be but a great courtier . - -His garments are rich , but he wears them not handsomely . - -He seems to be the more noble in being fantastical : a great man , I'll warrant ; I know by the picking on's teeth . - -The fardel there ? what's i' the fardel ? -Wherefore that box ? - -Sir , there lies such secrets in this fardel and box which none must know but the king ; and which he shall know within this hour if I may come to the speech of him . - -Age , thou hast lost thy labour . - -Why , sir ? - -The king is not at the palace ; he is gone aboard a new ship to purge melancholy and air himself : for , if thou be'st capable of things serious , thou must know the king is full of grief . - -So 'tis said , sir , about his son , that should have married a shepherd's daughter . - -If that shepherd be not now in hand-fast , let him fly : the curses he shall have , the torture he shall feel , will break the back of man , the heart of monster . - -Think you so , sir ? - -Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy and vengeance bitter ; but those that are germane to him , though removed fifty times , shall all come under the hangman : which though it be great pity , yet it is necessary . An old sheep-whistling rogue , a ram-tender , to offer to have his daughter come into grace ! Some say he shall be stoned ; but that death is too soft for him , say I : draw our throne into a sheep cote ! all deaths are too few , the sharpest too easy . - -Has the old man e'er a son , sir , do you hear , an't like you , sir ? - -He has a son , who shall be flayed alive ; then 'nointed over with honey , set on the head of a wasp's nest ; then stand till he be three quarters and a dram dead ; then recovered again with aqua-vit or some other hot infusion ; then , raw as he is , and in the hottest day prognostication proclaims , shall he be set against a brick-wall , the sun looking with a southward eye upon him , where he is to behold him with flies blown to death . But what talk we of these traitorly rascals , whose miseries are to be smiled at , their offences being so capital ? Tell me ,for you seem to be honest plain men ,what you have to the king : being something gently considered , I'll bring you where he is aboard , tender your persons to his presence , whisper him in your behalfs ; and if it be in man besides the king to effect your suits , here is a man shall do it . - -He seems to be of great authority : close with him , give him gold ; and though authority be a stubborn bear , yet he is oft led by the nose with gold . Show the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand , and no more ado . Remember , 'stoned ,' and 'flayed alive !' - -An't please you , sir , to undertake the business for us , here is that gold I have : I'll make it as much more and leave this young man in pawn till I bring it you . - -After I have done what I promised ? - -Ay , sir . - -Well , give me the moiety . Are you a party in this business ? - -In some sort , sir : but though my case be a pitiful one , I hope I shall not be flayed out of it . - -O ! that's the case of the shepherd's son : hang him , he'll be made an example . - -Comfort , good comfort ! we must to the king and show our strange sights : he must know 'tis none of your daughter nor my sister ; we are gone else . Sir , I will give you as much as this old man does when the business is performed ; and remain , as he says , your pawn till it be brought you . - -I will trust you . Walk before toward the sea-side ; go on the right hand , I will but look upon the hedge and follow you . - -We are blessed in this man , as I may say , even blessed . - -Let's before as he bids us . He was provided to do us good . - - -If I had a mind to be honest I see Fortune would not suffer me : she drops booties in my mouth . I am courted now with a double occasion , gold , and a means to do the prince my master good ; which who knows how that may turn back to my advancement ? I will bring these two moles , these blind ones , aboard him : if he think it fit to shore them again , and that the complaint they have to the king concerns him nothing , let him call me rogue for being so far officious ; for I am proof against that title and what shame else belongs to't . To him will I present them : there may be matter in it . - -Sir , you have done enough , and have perform'd -A saint-like sorrow : no fault could you make -Which you have not redeem'd ; indeed , paid down -More penitence than done trespass . At the last , -Do as the heavens have done , forget your evil ; -With them forgive yourself . - -Whilst I remember -Her and her virtues , I cannot forget -My blemishes in them , and so still think of -The wrong I did myself ; which was so much , -That heirless it hath made my kingdom , and -Destroy'd the sweet'st companion that e'er man -Bred his hopes out of . - -True , too true , my lord ; -If one by one you wedded all the world , -Or from the all that are took something good , -To make a perfect woman , she you kill'd -Would be unparallel'd . - -I think so . Kill'd ! -She I kill'd ! I did so ; but thou strik'st me -Sorely to say I did : it is as bitter -Upon thy tongue as in my thought . Now , good now -Say so but seldom . - -Not at all , good lady : -You might have spoken a thousand things that would -Have done the time more benefit , and grac'd -Your kindness better . - -You are one of those -Would have him wed again . - -If you would not so , -You pity not the state , nor the remembrance -Of his most sovereign name ; consider little -What dangers , by his highness' fail of issue , -May drop upon his kingdom and devour -Incertain lookers-on . What were more holy -Than to rejoice the former queen is well ? -What holier than for royalty's repair , -For present comfort , and for future good , -To bless the bed of majesty again -With a sweet fellow to't ? - -There is none worthy , -Respecting her that's gone . Besides , the gods -Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes ; -For has not the divine Apollo said , -Is't not the tenour of his oracle , -That King Leontes shall not have an heir -Till his lost child be found ? which that it shall , -Is all as monstrous to our human reason -As my Antigonus to break his grave -And come again to me ; who , on my life , -Did perish with the infant . 'Tis your counsel -My lord should to the heavens be contrary , -Oppose against their wills . - -Care not for issue ; -The crown will find an heir : great Alexander -Left his to the worthiest , so his successor -Was like to be the best . - -Good Paulina , -Who hast the memory of Hermione , -I know , in honour ; O ! that ever I -Had squar'd me to thy counsel ! then , even now , -I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes , -Have taken treasure from her lips , - -And left them -More rich , for what they yielded . - -Thou speak'st truth . -No more such wives ; therefore , no wife : one worse , -And better us'd , would make her sainted spirit -Again possess her corpse and on this stage , -Where we're offenders now ,appear soul-vex'd , -And begin , 'Why to me ?' - -Had she such power , -She had just cause . - -She had ; and would incense me -To murder her I married . - -I should so : -Were I the ghost that walk'd , I'd bid you mark -Her eye , and tell me for what dull part in't -You chose her ; then I'd shriek , that even your ears -Should rift to hear me ; and the words that follow'd -Should be 'Remember mine .' - -Stars , stars ! -And all eyes else dead coals . Fear thou no wife ; -I'll have no wife , Paulina . - -Will you swear -Never to marry but by my free leave ? - -Never , Paulina : so be bless'd my spirit ! - -Then , good my lords , bear witness to his oath . - -You tempt him over much . - -Unless another , -As like Hermione as is her picture , -Affront his eye . - -Good madam , - -I have done . -Yet , if my lord will marry ,if you will , sir , -No remedy , but you will ,give me the office -To choose you a queen , she shall not be so young -As was your former ; but she shall be such -As , walk'd your first queen's ghost , it should take joy -To see her in your arms . - -My true Paulina , -We shall not marry till thou bidd'st us . - -That -Shall be when your first queen's again in breath ; -Never till then . - - -One that gives out himself Prince Florizel , -Son of Polixenes , with his princess ,she -The fairest I have yet beheld ,desires access -To your high presence . - -What with him ? he comes not -Like to his father's greatness ; his approach , -So out of circumstance and sudden , tells us -'Tis not a visitation fram'd , but forc'd -By need and accident . What train ? - -But few , -And those but mean . - -His princess , say you , with him ? - -Ay , the most peerless piece of earth , I think , -That e'er the sun shone bright on . - -O Hermione ! -As every present time doth boast itself -Above a better gone , so must thy grave -Give way to what's seen now . Sir , you yourself -Have said and writ so ,but your writing now -Is colder than that theme ,'She had not been , -Nor was not to be equall'd ;' thus your verse -Flow'd with her beauty once : 'tis shrewdly ebb'd -To say you have seen a better . - -Pardon , madam : -The one I have almost forgot your pardon -The other , when she has obtain'd your eye , -Will have your tongue too . This is a creature , -Would she begin a sect , might quench the zeal -Of all professors else , make proselytes -Of who she but bid follow . - -How ! not women ? - -Women will love her , that she is a woman -More worth than any man ; men , that she is -The rarest of all women . - -Go , Cleomenes ; -Yourself , assisted with your honour'd friends , -Bring them to our embracement . Still 'tis strange , - -He thus should steal upon us . - -Had our prince -Jewel of children seen this hour , he had pair'd -Well with this lord : there was not full a month -Between their births . - -Prithee , no more : cease ! thou know'st -He dies to me again when talk'd of : sure , -When I shall see this gentleman , thy speeches -Will bring me to consider that which may -Unfurnish me of reason . They are come . - - -Your mother was most true to wedlock , prince ; -For she did print your royal father off , -Conceiving you . Were I but twenty-one , -Your father's image is so hit in you , -His very air , that I should call you brother , -As I did him ; and speak of something wildly -By us perform'd before . Most dearly welcome ! -And you , fair princess ,goddess ! O , alas ! -I lost a couple , that 'twixt heaven and earth -Might thus have stood begetting wonder as -You , gracious couple , do : and then I lost -All mine own folly the society , -Amity too , of your brave father , whom , -Though bearing misery , I desire my life - -Once more to look on him . - -By his command -Have I here touch'd Sicilia ; and from him -Give you all greetings that a king , at friend , -Can send his brother : and , but infirmity , -Which waits upon worn times ,hath something seiz'd -His wish'd ability , he had himself -The land and waters 'twixt your throne and his -Measur'd to look upon you , whom he loves -He bade me say so more than all the sceptres -And those that bear them living . - -O , my brother ! -Good gentleman ,the wrongs I have done thee stir -Afresh within me , and these thy offices -So rarely kind , are as interpreters -Of my behind-hand slackness ! Welcome hither , -As is the spring to the earth . And hath he too -Expos'd this paragon to the fearful usage -At least ungentle of the dreadful Neptune , -To greet a man not worth her pains , much less -The adventure of her person ? - -Good my lord , -She came from Libya . - -Where the war-like Smalus , -That noble honour'd lord , is fear'd and lov'd ? - -Most royal sir , from thence ; from him , whose daughter -His tears proclaim'd his , parting with her : thence -A prosperous south-wind friendly we have cross'd , -To execute the charge my father gave me -For visiting your highness : my best train -I have from your Sicilian shores dismiss'd ; -Who for Bohemia bend , to signify -Not only my success in Libya , sir , -But my arrival and my wife's , in safety -Here where we are . - -The blessed gods -Purge all infection from our air whilst you -Do climate here ! You have a holy father , -A graceful gentleman ; against whose person , -So sacred as it is , I have done sin : -For which the heavens , taking angry note , -Have left me issueless ; and your father's bless'd -As he from heaven merits it with you , -Worthy his goodness . What might I have been , -Might I a son and daughter now have look'd on , -Such goodly things as you ! - - -Most noble sir , -That which I shall report will bear no credit , -Were not the proof so nigh . Please you , great sir , -Bohemia greets you from himself by me ; -Desires you to attach his son , who has -His dignity and duty both cast off -Fled from his father , from his hopes , and with -A shepherd's daughter . - -Where's Bohemia ? speak . - -Here in your city ; I now came from him : -I speak amazedly , and it becomes -My marvel and my message . To your court -Whiles he was hastening ,in the chase it seems -Of this fair couple ,meets he on the way -The father of this seeming lady and -Her brother , having both their country quitted -With this young prince . - -Camillo has betray'd me ; -Whose honour and whose honesty till now -Endur'd all weathers . - -Lay't so to his charge : -He's with the king your father . - -Who ? Camillo ? - -Camillo , sir : I spake with him , who now -Has these poor men in question . Never saw I -Wretches so quake : they kneel , they kiss the earth , -Forswear themselves as often as they speak : -Bohemia stops his ears , and threatens them -With divers deaths in death . - -O my poor father ! -The heaven sets spies upon us , will not have -Our contract celebrated . - -You are married ? - -We are not , sir , nor are we like to be ; -The stars , I see , will kiss the valleys first : -The odds for high and low's alike . - -My lord , -Is this the daughter of a king ? - -She is , -When once she is my wife . - -That 'once ,' I see , by your good father's speed , -Will come on very slowly . I am sorry , -Most sorry , you have broken from his liking -Where you were tied in duty ; and as sorry -Your choice is not so rich in worth as beauty , -That you might well enjoy her . - -Dear , look up : -Though Fortune , visible an enemy , -Should chase us with my father , power no jot -Hath she to change our loves . Beseech you , sir , -Remember since you ow'd no more to time -Than I do now ; with thought of such affections , -Step forth mine advocate ; at your request -My father will grant precious things as trifles - -Would he do so , I'd beg your precious mistress , -Which he counts but a trifle . - -Sir , my liege , -Your eye hath too much youth in't : not a month -'Fore your queen died , she was more worth such gazes -Than what you look on now . - -I thought of her , -Even in these looks I made . - -But your petition -Is yet unanswer'd . I will to your father : -Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires , -I am friend to them and you ; upon which errand -I now go toward him . Therefore follow me , -And mark what way I make : come , good my lord . - - -Beseech you , sir , were you present at this relation ? - -I was by at the opening of the fardel , heard the old shepherd deliver the manner how he found it : whereupon , after a little amazedness , we were all commanded out of the chamber ; only this methought I heard the shepherd say , he found the child . - -I would most gladly know the issue of it . - -I make a broken delivery of the business ; but the changes I perceived in the king and Camillo were very notes of admiration : they seemed almost , with staring on one another , to tear the cases of their eyes ; there was speech in their dumbness , language in their very gesture ; they looked as they had heard of a world ransomed , or one destroyed : a notable passion of wonder appeared in them ; but the wisest beholder , that knew no more but seeing , could not say if the importance were joy or sorrow ; but in the extremity of the one it must needs be . - -Here comes a gentleman that haply knows more . The news , Rogero ? - -Nothing but bonfires : the oracle is fulfilled ; the king's daughter is found : such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour that ballad-makers cannot be able to express it . - -Here comes the lady Paulina's steward : he can deliver you more . How goes it now , sir ? this news which is called true is so like an old tale , that the verity of it is in strong suspicion : has the king found his heir ? - -Most true , if ever truth were pregnant by circumstance : that which you hear you'll swear you see , there is such unity in the proofs . The mantle of Queen Hermione , her jewel about the neck of it , the letters of Antigonus found with it , which they know to be his character ; the majesty of the creature in resemblance of the mother , the affection of nobleness which nature shows above her breeding , and many other evidences proclaim her with all certainty to be the king's daughter . Did you see the meeting of the two kings ? - -No . - -Then have you lost a sight , which was to be seen , cannot be spoken of . There might you have beheld one joy crown another , so , and in such manner that , it seemed , sorrow wept to take leave of them , for their joy waded in tears . There was casting up of eyes , holding up of hands , with countenances of such distraction that they were to be known by garment , not by favour . Our king , being ready to leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter , as if that joy were now become a loss , cries , 'O , thy mother , thy mother !' then asks Bohemia forgiveness ; then embraces his son-in-law ; then again worries he his daughter with clipping her ; now he thanks the old shepherd , which stands by like a weather-bitten conduit of many kings' reigns . I never heard of such another encounter , which lames report to follow it and undoes description to do it . - -What , pray you , became of Antigonus that carried hence the child ? - -Like an old tale still , which will have matter to rehearse , though credit be asleep and not an ear open . He was torn to pieces with a bear : this avouches the shepherd's son , who has not only his innocence which seems much to justify him , but a handkerchief and rings of his that Paulina knows . - -What became of his bark and his followers ? - -Wracked , the same instant of their master's death , and in the view of the shepherd : so that all the instruments which aided to expose the child were even then lost when it was found . But , O ! the noble combat that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina . She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband , another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled : she lifted the princess from the earth , and so locks her in embracing , as if she would pin her to her heart that she might no more be in danger of losing . - -The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and princes , for by such was it acted . - -One of the prettiest touches of all , and that which angled for mine eyes ,caught the water though not the fish ,was when at the relation of the queen's death , with the manner how she came to it ,bravely confessed and lamented by the king ,how attentiveness wounded his daughter ; till , from one sign of dolour to another , she did , with an 'alas !' I would fain say , bleed tears , for I am sure my heart wept blood . Who was most marble there changed colour ; some swounded , all sorrowed : if all the world could have seen't , the woe had been universal . - -Are they returned to the court ? - -No ; the princess hearing of her mother's statue , which is in the keeping of Paulina a piece many years in doing , and now newly performed by that rare Italian master , Julio Romano ; who , had he himself eternity and could put breath into his work , would beguile Nature of her custom , so perfectly he is her ape : he so near to Hermione hath done Hermione that they say one would speak to her and stand in hope of answer : thither with all greediness of affection are they gone , and there they intend to sup . - -I thought she had some great matter there in hand , for she hath privately , twice or thrice a day , ever since the death of Hermione , visited that removed house . Shall we thither and with our company piece the rejoicing ? - -Who would be thence that has the benefit of access ? every wink of an eye some new grace will be born : our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge . Let's along . - - -Now , had I not the dash of my former life in me , would preferment drop on my head . I brought the old man and his son aboard the prince ; told him I heard them talk of a fardel and I know not what ; but he at that time , overfond of the shepherd's daughter ,so he then took her to be ,who began to be much sea-sick , and himself little better , extremity of weather continuing , this mystery remained undiscovered . But 'tis all one to me ; for had I been the finder out of this secret , it would not have relished among my other discredits . Here come those I have done good to against my will , and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune . - - -Come , boy ; I am past moe children , but thy sons and daughters will be all gentlemen born . - -You are well met , sir . You denied to fight with me this other day , because I was no gentleman born : see you these clothes ? say , you see them not and think me still no gentleman born : you were best say these robes are not gentleman born . Give me the lie , do , and try whether I am not now gentleman born . - -I know you are now , sir , a gentleman born . - -Ay , and have been so any time these four hours . - -And so have I , boy . - -So you have : but I was a gentleman born before my father ; for the king's son took me by the hand and called me brother ; and then the two kings called my father brother ; and then the prince my brother and the princess my sister called my father father ; and so we wept : and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed . - -We may live , son , to shed many more . - -Ay ; or else 'twere hard luck , being in so preposterous estate as we are . - -I humbly beseech you , sir , to pardon me all the faults I have committed to your worship , and to give me your good report to the prince my master . - -Prithee , son , do ; for we must be gentle , now we are gentlemen . - -Thou wilt amend thy life ? - -Ay , an it like your good worship . - -Give me thy hand : I will swear to the prince thou art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia . - -You may say it , but not swear it . - -Not swear it , now I am a gentleman ? Let boors and franklins say it , I'll swear it . - -How if it be false , son ? - -If it be ne'er so false , a true gentleman may swear it in the behalf of his friend : and I'll swear to the prince thou art a tall fellow of thy hands and that thou wilt not be drunk ; but I know thou art no tall fellow of thy hands and that thou wilt be drunk : but I'll swear it , and I would thou wouldst be a tall fellow of thy hands . - -I will prove so , sir , to my power . - -Ay , by any means prove a tall fellow : if I do not wonder how thou darest venture to be drunk , not being a tall fellow , trust me not . Hark ! the kings and the princes , our kindred , are going to see the queen's picture . Come , follow us : we'll be thy good masters . - - -O grave and good Paulina , the great comfort -That I have had of thee ! - -What , sovereign sir , -I did not well , I meant well . All my services -You have paid home ; but that you have vouchsaf'd , -With your crown'd brother and these your contracted -Heirs of your kingdoms , my poor house to visit , -It is a surplus of your grace , which never -My life may last to answer . - -O Paulina ! -We honour you with trouble : but we came -To see the statue of our queen : your gallery -Have we pass'd through , not without much content -In many singularities , but we saw not -That which my daughter came to look upon , -The statue of her mother . - -As she liv'd peerless , -So her dead likeness , I do well believe , -Excels whatever yet you look'd upon -Or hand of man hath done ; therefore I keep it -Lonely , apart . But here it is : prepare -To see the life as lively mock'd as ever -Still sleep mock'd death : behold ! and say 'tis well . - -I like your silence : it the more shows off -Your wonder ; but yet speak : first you , my liege . -Comes it not something near ? - -Her natural posture ! -Chide me , dear stone , that I may say , indeed -Thou art Hermione ; or rather , thou art she -In thy not chiding , for she was as tender -As infancy and grace . But yet , Paulina , -Hermione was not so much wrinkled ; nothing -So aged as this seems . - -O ! not by much . - -So much the more our carver's excellence ; -Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes her -As she liv'd now . - -As now she might have done , -So much to my good comfort , as it is -Now piercing to my soul . O ! thus she stood , -Even with such life of majesty ,warm life , -As now it coldly stands ,when first I woo'd her . -I am asham'd : does not the stone rebuke me -For being more stone than it ? O , royal piece ! -There's magic in thy majesty , which has -My evils conjur'd to remembrance , and -From thy admiring daughter took the spirits , -Standing like stone with thee . - -And give me leave , -And do not say 'tis superstition , that -I kneel and then implore her blessing . Lady , -Dear queen , that ended when I but began , -Give me that hand of yours to kiss . - -O , patience ! -The statue is but newly fix'd , the colour's -Not dry . - -My lord , your sorrow was too sore laid on , -Which sixteen winters cannot blow away , -So many summers dry : scarce any joy -Did ever so long live ; no sorrow -But kill'd itself much sooner . - -Dear my brother , -Let him that was the cause of this have power -To take off so much grief from you as he -Will piece up in himself . - -Indeed , my lord , -If I had thought the sight of my poor image -Would thus have wrought you ,for the stone is mine , -I'd not have show'd it . - -Do not draw the curtain . - -No longer shall you gaze on't , lest your fancy -May think anon it moves . - -Let be , let be ! -Would I were dead , but that , methinks , already -What was he that did make it ? See , my lord , -Would you not deem it breath'd , and that those veins -Did verily bear blood ? - -Masterly done : -The very life seems warm upon her lip . - -The fixure of her eye has motion in't , -As we are mock'd with art . - -I'll draw the curtain ; -My lord's almost so far transported that -He'll think anon it lives . - -O sweet Paulina ! -Make me to think so twenty years together : -No settled senses of the world can match -The pleasure of that madness . Let't alone . - -I am sorry , sir , I have thus far stirr'd you : but -I could afflict you further . - -Do , Paulina ; -For this affliction has a taste as sweet -As any cordial comfort . Still , methinks , -There is an air comes from her : what fine chisel -Could ever yet cut breath ? Let no man mock me , -For I will kiss her . - -Good my lord , forbear . -The ruddiness upon her lip is wet : -You'll mar it if you kiss it ; stain your own -With oily painting . Shall I draw the curtain ? - -No , not these twenty years . - -So long could I -Stand by , a looker-on . - -Either forbear , -Quit presently the chapel , or resolve you -For more amazement . If you can behold it , -I'll make the statue move indeed , descend , -And take you by the hand ; but then you'll think , -Which I protest against ,I am assisted -By wicked powers . - -What you can make her do , -I am content to look on : what to speak , -I am content to hear ; for 'tis as easy -To make her speak as move . - -It is requir'd -You do awake your faith . Then , all stand still ; -Or those that think it is unlawful business -I am about , let them depart . - -Proceed : -No foot shall stir . - -Music , awake her : strike ! - -'Tis time ; descend ; be stone no more : approach ; -Strike all that look upon with marvel . Come ; -I'll fill your grave up : stir ; nay , come away ; -Bequeath to death your numbness , for from him -Dear life redeems you . You perceive she stirs : - -Start not ; her actions shall be holy as -You hear my spell is lawful : do not shun her -Until you see her die again , for then -You kill her double . Nay , present your hand : -When she was young you woo'd her ; now in age -Is she become the suitor ! - -O ! she's warm . -If this be magic , let it be an art -Lawful as eating . - -She embraces him . - -She hangs about his neck : -If she pertain to life let her speak too . - -Ay ; and make't manifest where she has liv'd , -Or how stol'n from the dead . - -That she is living , -Were it but told you , should be hooted at -Like an old tale ; but it appears she lives , -Though yet she speak not . Mark a little while . -Please you to interpose , fair madam . kneel -And pray your mother's blessing . Turn , good lady ; -Our Perdita is found . - - -You gods , look down , -And from your sacred vials pour your graces -Upon my daughter's head ! Tell me , mine own , -Where hast thou been preserv'd ? where liv'd ? how found -Thy father's court ? for thou shalt hear that I , -Knowing by Paulina that the oracle -Gave hope thou wast in being , have preserv'd -Myself to see the issue . - -There's time enough for that ; -Lest they desire upon this push to trouble -Your joys with like relation . Go together , -You precious winners all : your exultation -Partake to every one . I , an old turtle , -Will wing me to some wither'd bough , and there -My mate , that's never to be found again , -Lament till I am lost . - -O ! peace , Paulina . -Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent , -As I by thine a wife : this is a match , -And made between's by vows . Thou hast found mine ; -But how , is to be question'd ; for I saw her , -As I thought dead , and have in vain said many -A prayer upon her grave . I'll not seek far , -For him , I partly know his mind ,to find thee -An honourable husband . Come , Camillo , -And take her by the hand ; whose worth and honesty -Is richly noted , and here justified -By us , a pair of kings . Let's from this place . -What ! look upon my brother : both your pardons , -That e'er I put between your holy looks -My ill suspicion . This' your son-in-law , -And son unto the king ,whom heavens directing , -Is troth-plight to your daughter . Good Paulina , -Lead us from hence , where we may leisurely -Each one demand and answer to his part -Perform'd in this wide gap of time since first -We were dissever'd : hastily lead away . - -TROILUS AND CRESSIDA - -In Troy there lies the scene . From isles of Greece -The princes orgulous , their high blood chaf'd , -Have to the port of Athens sent their ships , -Fraught with the ministers and instruments -Of cruel war : sixty and nine , that wore -Their crownets regal , from the Athenian bay -Put forth toward Phrygia ; and their vow is made -To ransack Troy , within whose strong immures -The ravish'd Helen , Menelaus' queen , -With wanton Paris sleeps ; and that's the quarrel . -To Tenedos they come , -And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge -Their war-like fraughtage : now on Dardan plains -The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch -Their brave pavilions : Priam's six-gated city , -Dardan , and Tymbria , Ilias , Chetas , Trojan , -And Antenorides , with massy staples -And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts , -Sperr up the sons of Troy . -Now expectation , tickling skittish spirits , -On one and other side , Trojan and Greek , -Sets all on hazard . And hither am I come -A prologue arm'd , but not in confidence -Of author's pen or actor's voice , but suited -In like conditions as our argument , -To tell you , fair beholders , that our play -Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils , -Beginning in the middle ; starting thence away -To what may be digested in a play . -Like or find fault ; do as your pleasures are : -Now good or bad , 'tis but the chance of war . - -Call here my varlet , I'll unarm again : -Why should I war without the walls of Troy , -That find such cruel battle here within ? -Each Trojan that is master of his heart , -Let him to field ; Troilus , alas ! has none . - -Will this gear ne'er be mended ? - -The Greeks are strong , and skilful to their strength . -Fierce to their skill , and to their fierceness valiant ; -But I am weaker than a woman's tear , -Tamer than sleep , fonder than ignorance , -Less valiant than the virgin in the night , -And skilless as unpractis'd infancy . - -Well , I have told you enough of this : for my part , I'll not meddle nor make no further . He that will have a cake out of the wheat must tarry the grinding . - -Have I not tarried ? - -Ay , the grinding ; but you must tarry the bolting . - -Have I not tarried ? - -Ay , the bolting ; but you must tarry the leavening . - -Still have I tarried . - -Ay , to the leavening ; but here's yet in the word 'hereafter' the kneading , the making of the cake , the heating of the oven , and the baking ; nay , you must stay the cooling too , or you may chance to burn your lips . - -Patience herself , what goddess e'er she be , -Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do . -At Priam's royal table do I sit ; -And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts , -So , traitor ! 'when she comes' !When is she thence ? - -Well , she looked yesternight fairer than ever I saw her look , or any woman else . - -I was about to tell thee : when my heart , -As wedged with a sigh , would rive in twain , -Lest Hector or my father should perceive me , -I have as when the sun doth light a storm -Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile ; -But sorrow , that is couch'd in seeming gladness , -Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness . - -An her hair were not somewhat darker than Helen's ,well , go to ,there were no more comparison between the women : but , for my part , she is my kins woman ; I would not , as they term it , praise her , but I would somebody had heard her talk yesterday , as I did : I will not dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit , but - -O Pandarus ! I tell thee , Pandarus , -When I do tell thee , there my hopes lie drown'd , -Reply not in how many fathoms deep -They lie indrench'd . I tell thee I am mad -In Cressid's love : thou answer'st , she is fair ; -Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart -Her eyes , her hair , her cheek , her gait , her voice ; -Handlest in thy discourse , O ! that her hand , -In whose comparison all whites are ink , -Writing their own reproach ; to whose soft seizure -The cygnet's down is harsh , and spirit of sense -Hard as the palm of ploughman : this thou tell'st me , -As true thou tell'st me , when I say I love her ; -But , saying thus , instead of oil and balm , -Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me -The knife that made it . - -I speak no more than truth . - -Thou dost not speak so much . - -Faith , I'll not meddle in't . Let her be as she is : if she be fair , 'tis the better for her ; an she be not , she has the mends in her own hands . - -Good Pandarus , how now , Pandarus ! - -I have had my labour for my travail ; ill-thought on of her , and ill-thought on of you : gone between , and between , but small thanks for my labour . - -What ! art thou angry , Pandarus ? what ! with me ? - -Because she's kin to me , therefore she's not so fair as Helen : an she were not kin to me , she would be as fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday . But what care I ? I care not an she were a black-a-moor ; 'tis all one to me . - -Say I she is not fair ? - -I do not care whether you do or no . She's a fool to stay behind her father : let her to the Greeks ; and so I'll tell her the next time I see her . For my part , I'll meddle nor make no more i' the matter . - -Pandarus , - -Not I . - -Sweet Pandarus , - -Pray you , speak no more to me ! I will leave all as I found it , and there an end . - - -Peace , you ungracious clamours ! peace , rude sounds ! -Fools on both sides ! Helen must needs bo fair , -When with your blood you daily paint her thus . -I cannot fight upon this argument ; -It is too starv'd a subject for my sword . -But Pandarus ,O gods ! how do you plague me . -I cannot come to Cressid but by Pandar ; -And he's as tetchy to be woo'd to woo -As she is stubborn-chaste against all suit . -Tell me , Apollo , for thy Daphne's love , -What Cressid is , what Pandar , and what we ? -Her bed is India ; there she lies , a pearl : -Between our Ilium and where she resides -Let it be call'd the wild and wandering flood ; -Ourself the merchant , and this sailing Pandar -Our doubtful hope , our convoy and our bark . - - -How now , Prince Troilus ! wherefore not afield ? - -Because not there : this woman's answer sorts , -For womanish it is to be from thence . -What news , neas , from the field to-day ? - -That Paris is returned home , and hurt . - -By whom , neas ? - -Troilus , by Menelaus . - -Let Paris bleed : 'tis but a scar to scorn ; -Paris is gor'd with Menelaus' horn . - - -Hark , what good sport is out of town to-day ! - -Better at home , if 'would I might' were 'may .' -But to the sport abroad : are you bound thither ? - -In all swift haste . - -Come , go we then together . - - -Who were those went by ? - -Queen Hecuba and Helen . - -And whither go they ? - -Up to the eastern tower , -Whose height commands as subject all the vale , -To see the battle . Hector , whose patience -Is as a virtue fix'd , to-day was mov'd : -He chid Andromache , and struck his armourer ; -And , like as there were husbandry in war , -Before the sun rose he was harness'd light , -And to the field goes he ; where every flower -Did , as a prophet , weep what it foresaw -In Hector's wrath . - -What was his cause of anger ? - -The noise goes , this : there is among the Greeks -A lord of Trojan blood , nephew to Hector ; -They call him Ajax . - -Good ; and what of him ? - -They say he is a very man per se -And stands alone . - -So do all men , unless they are drunk , sick , or have no legs . - -This man , lady , hath robbed many beasts of their particular additions : he is as valiant as the lion , churlish as the bear , slow as the elephant : a man into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his valour is crushed into folly , his folly sauced with discretion : there is no man hath a virtue that he hath not a glimpse of , nor any man an attaint but he carries some stain of it . He is melancholy without cause , and merry against the hair ; he hath the joints of every thing , but every thing so out of joint that he is a gouty Briareus , many hands and no use ; or purblind Argus , all eyes and no sight . - -But how should this man , that makes me smile , make Hector angry ? - -They say he yesterday coped Hector in the battle and struck him down ; the disdain and shame whereof hath ever since kept Hector fasting and waking . - -Who comes here ? - - -Madam , your uncle Pandarus . - -Hector's a gallant man . - -As may be in the world , lady . - -What's that ? what's that ? - -Good morrow , uncle Pandarus . - -Good morrow , cousin Cressid . What do you talk of ? Good morrow , Alexander . -How do you , cousin ? When were you at Ilium ? - -This morning , uncle . - -What were you talking of when I came ? Was Hector armed and gone ere ye came to Ilium ? Helen was not up , was she ? - -Hector was gone , but Helen was not up . - -E'en so : Hector was stirring early . - -That were we talking of , and of his anger . - -Was he angry ? - -So he says here . - -True , he was so ; I know the cause too : he'll lay about him to-day , I can tell them that : and there's Troilus will not come far behind him ; let them take heed of Troilus , I can tell them that too . - -What ! is he angry too ? - -Who , Troilus ? Troilus is the better man of the two . - -O Jupiter ! there's no comparison . - -What ! not between Troilus and Hector ? -Do you know a man if you see him ? - -Ay , if I ever saw him before and knew him . - -Well , I say Troilus is Troilus . - -Then you say as I say ; for I am sure he is not Hector . - -No , nor Hector is not Troilus in some degrees . - -'Tis just to each of them ; he is himself . - -Himself ! Alas , poor Troilus , I would he were . - -So he is . - -Condition , I had gone bare-foot to India . - -He is not Hector . - -Himself ! no , he's not himself . Would a' were himself : well , the gods are above ; time must friend or end : well , Troilus , well , I would my heart were in her body . No , Hector is not a better man than Troilus . - -Excuse me . - -He is elder . - -Pardon me , pardon me . - -Th' other's not come to't ; you shall tell me another tale when the other's come to't . Hector shall not have his wit this year . - -He shall not need it if he have his own . - -Nor his qualities . - -No matter . - -Nor his beauty . - -'Twould not become him ; his own's better . - -You have no judgment , niece : Helen herself swore th' other day , that Troilus , for a brown favour ,for so 'tis I must confess ,not brown neither , - -No , but brown . - -Faith , to say truth , brown and not brown . - -To say the truth , true and not true . - -She prais'd his complexion above Paris . - -Why , Paris hath colour enough . - -So he has . - -Then Troilus should have too much : if she praised him above , his complexion is higher than his : he having colour enough , and the other higher , is too flaming a praise for a good complexion . I had as lief Helen's golden tongue had commended Troilus for a copper nose . - -I swear to you , I think Helen loves him better than Paris . - -Then she's a merry Greek indeed . - -Nay , I am sure she does . She came to him th' other day into the compassed window , and , you know , he has not past three or four hairs on his chin , - -Indeed , a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring his particulars therein to a total . - -Why , he is very young ; and yet will he , within three pound , lift as much as his brother Hector . - -Is he so young a man , and so old a lifter ? - -But to prove to you that Helen loves him : she came and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin , - -Juno have mercy ! how came it cloven ? - -Why , you know , 'tis dimpled . I think his smiling becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia . - -O ! he smiles valiantly . - -Does he not ? - -O ! yes , an 'twere a cloud in autumn . - -Why , go to , then . But to prove to you that Helen loves Troilus , - -Troilus will stand to the proof , if you'll prove it so . - -Troilus ! why he esteems her no more than I esteem an addle egg . - -If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head , you would eat chickens i' the shell . - -I cannot choose but laugh , to think how she tickled his chin : indeed , she has a marvell's white hand , I must needs confess , - -Without the rack . - -And she takes upon her to spy a white hair on his chin . - -Alas ! poor chin ! many a wart is richer . - -But there was such laughing : Queen Hecuba laughed that her eyes ran o'er . - -With millstones . - -And Cassandra laughed . - -But there was more temperate fire under the pot of her eyes : did her eyes run o'er too ? - -And Hector laughed . - -At what was all this laughing ? - -Marry , at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus' chin . - -An't had been a green hair , I should have laughed too . - -They laughed not so much at the hair as at his pretty answer . - -What was his answer ? - -Quoth she , 'Here's but one-and-fifty hairs on your chin , and one of them is white .' - -This is her question . - -That's true ; make no question of that . 'One-and-fifty hairs ,' quoth he , 'and one white : that white hair is my father , and all the rest are his sons .' 'Jupiter !' quoth she , 'which of these hairs is Paris , my husband ?' 'The forked one ,' quoth he ; 'pluck't out , and give it him .' But there was such laughing , and Helen so blushed , and Paris so chafed , and all the rest so laughed , that it passed . - -So let it now , for it has been a great while going by . - -Well , cousin , I told you a thing yesterday ; think on't . - -So I do . - -I'll be sworn 'tis true : he will weep you , an 'twere a man born in April . - -And I'll spring up in his tears , an 'twere a nettle against May . - - -Hark ! they are coming from the field . Shall we stand up here , and see them as they pass toward Ilium ? good niece , do ; sweet niece , Cressida . - -At your pleasure . - -Here , here ; here's an excellent place : here we may see most bravely . I'll tell you them all by their names as they pass by , but mark Troilus above the rest . - -Speak not so loud . - - -That's neas : is not that a brave man ? he's one of the flowers of Troy , I can tell you : but mark Troilus ; you shall see anon . - - -Who's that ? - -That's Antenor : he has a shrewd wit , I can tell you ; and he's a man good enough : he's one o' the soundest judgments in Troy , whosoever , and a proper man of person . When comes Troilus ? I'll show you Troilus anon : if he see me , you shall see him nod at me . - -Will he give you the nod ? - -You shall see . - -If he do , the rich shall have more . - - -That's Hector , that , that , look you , that ; there's a fellow ! Go thy way , Hector ! There's a brave man , niece . O brave Hector ! Look how he looks ! there's a countenance ! Is't not a brave man ? - -O ! a brave man . - -Is a' not ? It does a man's heart good . Look you what hacks are on his helmet ! look you yonder , do you see ? look you there : there's no jesting ; there's laying on , take't off who will , as they say : there be hacks ! - -Be those with swords ? - -Swords ? any thing , he cares not ; an the devil come to him , it's all one : by God's lid , it does one's heart good . Yonder comes Paris , yonder comes Paris . - -Look ye yonder , niece : is't not a gallant man too , is't not ? Why , this is brave now . Who said he came hurt home to-day ? he's not hurt : why , this will do Helen's heart good now , ha ! Would I could see Troilus now ! You shall see Troilus anon . - -Who's that ? - - -That's Helenus . I marvel where Troilus is . That's Helenus . I think he went not forth to-day . That's Helenus . - -Can Helenus fight , uncle ? - -Helenus ? no , yes , he'll fight indifferent well . I marvel where Troilus is . Hark ! do you not hear the people cry , 'Troilus ?' Helenus is a priest . - -What sneaking fellow comes yonder ? - - -Where ? yonder ? that's Deiphobus . -Tis Troilus ! there's a man , niece ! Hem ! Brave -Troilus ! the prince of chivalry ! - -Peace ! for shame , peace ! - -Mark him ; note him : O brave Troilus ! look well upon him , niece : look you how his sword is bloodied , and his helmet more hacked than Hector's ; and how he looks , and how he goes ! O admirable youth ! he ne'er saw three-and-twenty . Go thy way , Troilus , go thy way ! Had I a sister were a grace , or a daughter a goddess , he should take his choice . O admirable man ! Paris ? Paris is dirt to him ; and , I warrant , Helen , to change , would give an eye to boot . - -Here come more . - - -Asses , fools , dolts ! chaff and bran , chaff and bran ! porridge after meat ! I could live and die i' the eyes of Troilus . Ne'er look , ne'er look ; the eagles are gone : crows and daws , crows and daws ! I had rather be such a man as Troilus than Agamemnon and all Greece . - -There is among the Greeks Achilles , a better man than Troilus . - -Achilles ! a drayman , a porter , a very camel . - -Well , well . - -'Well , well !' Why , have you any discretion ? have you any eyes ? Do you know what a man is ? Is not birth , beauty , good shape , discourse , manhood , learning , gentleness , virtue , youth , liberality , and so forth , the spice and salt that season a man ? - -Ay , a minced man : and then to be baked with no date in the pie , for then the man's date's out . - -You are such a woman ! one knows not at what ward you lie . - -Upon my back , to defend my belly ; upon my wit , to defend my wiles ; upon my secrecy , to defend mine honesty ; my mask , to defend my beauty ; and you , to defend all these : and at all these wards I lie , at a thousand watches . - -Say one of your watches . - -Nay , I'll watch you for that ; and that's one of the chiefest of them too : if I cannot ward what I would not have hit , I can watch you for telling how I took the blow ; unless it swell past hiding , and then it's past watching . - -You are such another ! - - -Sir , my lord would instantly speak with you . - -Where ? - -At your own house ; there he unarms him . - -Good boy , tell him I come . - -I doubt he be hurt . Fare ye well , good niece . - -Adieu , uncle . - -I'll be with you , niece , by and by . - -To bring , uncle ? - -Ay , a token from Troilus . - -By the same token , you are a bawd . - -Words , vows , gifts , tears , and love's full sacrifice -He offers in another's enterprise ; -But more in Troilus thousand-fold I see -Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be . -Yet hold I off . Women are angels , wooing : -Things won are done ; joy's soul lies in the doing : -That she belov'd knows nought that knows not this : -Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is : -That she was never yet , that ever knew -Love got so sweet as when desire did sue . -Therefore this maxim out of love I teach : -Achievement is command ; ungain'd , beseech : -Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear , -Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear . - - -Princes , -What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks ? -The ample proposition that hope makes -In all designs begun on earth below -Fails in the promis'd largeness : checks and disasters -Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd ; -As knots , by the conflux of meeting sap , -Infect the sound pine and divert his grain -Tortive and errant from his course of growth . -Nor , princes , is it matter new to us -That we come short of our suppose so far -That after seven years' siege yet Troy walls stand ; -Sith every action that hath gone before , -Whereof we have record , trial did draw -Bias and thwart , not answering the aim , -And that unbodied figure of the thought -That gave't surmised shape . Why then , you princes , -Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works , -And call them shames ? which are indeed nought else -But the protractive trials of great Jove , -To find persistive constancy in men : -The fineness of which metal is not found -In Fortune's love ; for then , the bold and coward , -The wise and fool , the artist and unread , -The hard and soft , seem all affin'd and kin : -But , in the wind and tempest of her frown , -Distinction , with a broad and powerful fan , -Puffing at all , winnows the light away ; -And what hath mass or matter , by itself -Lies rich in virtue and unmingled . - -With due observance of thy god-like seat , -Great Agamemnon , Nestor shall apply -Thy latest words . In the reproof of chance -Lies the true proof of men : the sea being smooth , -How many shallow bauble boats dare sail -Upon her patient breast , making their way -With those of nobler bulk ! -But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage -The gentle Thetis , and anon behold -The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut , -Bounding between the two moist elements , -Like Perseus' horse : where's then the saucy boat -Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now -Co-rivall'd greatness ? either to harbour fled , -Or made a toast for Neptune . Even so -Doth valour's show and valour's worth divide -In storms of fortune ; for in her ray and brightness -The herd hath more annoyance by the breese -Than by the tiger ; but when the splitting wind -Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks , -And flies fled under shade , why then the thing of courage , -As rous'd with rage , with rage doth sympathize , -And with an accent tun'd in self-same key , -Retorts to chiding fortune . - -Agamemnon , -Thou great commander , nerve and bone of Greece , -Heart of our numbers , soul and only spirit , -In whom the tempers and the minds of all -Should be shut up , hear what Ulysses speaks . -Besides the applause and approbation -The which , - -most mighty for thy place and sway , - - -And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out life , -I give to both your speeches , which were such -As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece -Should hold up high in brass ; and such again -As venerable Nestor , hatch'd in silver , -Should with a bond of air , strong as the axle-tree -On which heaven rides , knit all the Greekish ears -To his experienc'd tongue , yet let it please hoth , -Thou great , and wise , to hear Ulysses speak . - -Speak , Prince of Ithaca ; and be't of less expect -That matter needless , of importless burden , -Divide thy lips , than we are confident , -When rank Thersites opes his mastick jaws , -We shall hear music , wit , and oracle . - -Troy , yet upon his basis , had been down , -And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master , -But for these instances . -The specialty of rule hath been neglected : -And look , how many Grecian tents do stand -Hollow upon this plain , so many hollow factions . -When that the general is not like the hive -To whom the foragers shall all repair , -What honey is expected ? Degree being vizarded , -The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask . -The heavens themselves , the planets , and this centre -Observe degree , priority , and place , -Insisture , course , proportion , season , form , -Office , and custom , in all line of order : -And therefore is the glorious planet Sol -In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd -Amidst the other ; whose med'cinable eye -Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil , -And posts , like the commandment of a king , -Sans check , to good and bad : but when the planets -In evil mixture to disorder wander , -What plagues , and what portents , what mutiny , -What raging of the sea , shaking of earth , -Commotion in the winds , frights , changes , horrors , -Divert and crack , rend and deracinate -The unity and married calm of states -Quite from their fixure ! O ! when degree is shak'd , -Which is the ladder to all high designs , -The enterprise is sick . How could communities , -Degrees in schools , and brotherhoods in cities , -Peaceful commerce from dividable shores , -The primogenitive and due of birth , -Prerogative of age , crowns , sceptres , laurels , -But by degree , stand in authentic place ? -Take but degree away , untune that string , -And , hark ! what discord follows ; each thing meets -In mere oppugnancy : the bounded waters -Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores , -And make a sop of all this solid globe : -Strength should be lord of imbecility , -And the rude son should strike his father dead : -Force should be right ; or rather , right and wrong -Between whose endless jar justice resides -Should lose their names , and so should justice too . -Then every thing includes itself in power , -Power into will , will into appetite ; -And appetite , a universal wolf , -So doubly seconded with will and power , -Must make perforce a universal prey , -And last eat up himself . Great Agamemnon , -This chaos , when degree is suffocate , -Follows the choking . -And this neglection of degree it is -That by a pace goes backward , with a purpose -It hath to climb . The general's disdain'd -By him one step below , he by the next , -That next by him beneath ; so every step , -Exampled by the first pace that is sick -Of his superior , grows to an envious fever -Of pale and bloodless emulation : -And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot , -Not her own sinews . To end a tale of length , -Troy in our weakness lives , not in her strength . - -Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd -The fever whereof all our power is sick . - -The nature of the sickness found , Ulysses , -What is the remedy ? - -The great Achilles , whom opinion crowns -The sinew and the forehand of our host , -Having his ear full of his airy fame , -Grows dainty of his worth , and in his tent -Lies mocking our designs . With him Patroclus -Upon a lazy bed the livelong day -Breaks scurril jests , -And with ridiculous and awkward action -Which , slanderer , he imitation calls -He pageants us . Sometime , great Agamemnon , -Thy topless deputation he puts on -And , like a strutting player , whose conceit -Lies in his hamstring , and doth think it rich -To hear the wooden dialogue and sound -'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage , -Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming -He acts thy greatness in :and when he speaks , -'Tis like a chime a mending ; with terms unsquar'd , -Which , from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd , -Would seem hyperboles . At this fusty stuff -The large Achilles , on his press'd bed lolling , -From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause ; -Cries , 'Excellent ! 'tis Agamemnon just . -Now play me Nestor ; hem , and stroke thy beard , -As he being drest to some oration .' -That's done ;as near as the extremest ends -Of parallels , like as Vulcan and his wife : -Yet good Achilles still cries , 'Excellent ! -'Tis Nestor right . Now play him me , Patroclus , -Arming to answer in a night alarm .' -And then , forsooth , the faint defects of age -Must be the scene of mirth ; to cough and spit , -And with a palsy-fumbling on his gorget , -Shake in and out the rivet : and at this sport -Sir Valour dies ; cries , 'O ! enough , Patroclus ; -Or give me ribs of steel ; I shall split all -In pleasure of my spleen .' And in this fashion , -All our abilities , gifts , natures , shapes , -Severals and generals of grace exact , -Achievements , plots , orders , preventions , -Excitements to the field , or speech for truce , -Success or loss , what is or is not , serves -As stuff for these two to make paradoxes . - -And in the imitation of these twain -Whom , as Ulysses says , opinion crowns -With an imperial voice many are infect . -Ajax is grown self-will'd , and bears his head -In such a rein , in full as proud a place -As broad Achilles ; keeps his tent like him ; -Makes factious feasts ; rails on our state of war , -Bold as an oracle , and sets Thersites -A slave whose gall coins slanders like a mint -To match us in comparison with dirt ; -To weaken and discredit our exposure , -How rank soever rounded in with danger . - -They tax our policy , and call it cowardice ; -Count wisdom as no member of the war ; -Forestall prescience , and esteem no act -But that of hand : the still and mental parts , -That do contrive how many hands shall strike , -When fitness calls them on , and know by measure -Of their observant toil the enemies' weight , -Why , this hath not a finger's dignity : -They call this bed-work , mappery , closet-war ; -So that the ram that batters down the wall , -For the great swing and rudeness of his poise , -They place before his hand that made the engine , -Or those that with the fineness of their souls -By reason guides his execution . - -Let this be granted , and Achilles' horse -Makes many Thetis' sons . - - -What trumpet ? look , Menelaus . - -From Troy . - - -What would you 'fore our tent ? - -Is this great Agamemnon's tent , I pray you ? - -Even this . - -May one , that is a herald and a prince , -Do a fair message to his kingly ears ? - -With surety stronger than Achilles' arm -'Fore all the Greekish heads , which with one voice -Call Agamemnon head and general . - -Fair leave and large security . How may -A stranger to those most imperial looks -Know them from eyes of other mortals ? - -How ! - -Ay ; -I ask , that I might waken reverence , -And bid the cheek be ready with a blush -Modest as morning when she coldly eyes -The youthful Ph bus : -Which is that god in office , guiding men ? -Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon ? - -This Trojan scorns us ; or the men of Troy -Are ceremonious courtiers . - -Courtiers as free , as debonair , unarm'd , -As bending angels ; that's their fame in peace : -But when they would seem soldiers , they have galls , -Good arms , strong joints , true swords ; and , Jove's accord , -Nothing so full of heart . But peace , neas ! -Peace , Trojan ! lay thy finger on thy lips ! -The worthiness of praise distains his worth , -If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth ; -But what the repining enemy commends , -That breath fame blows ; that praise , sole pure , transcends . - -Sir , you of Troy , call you yourself neas ? - -Ay , Greek , that is my name . - -What's your affair , I pray you ? - -Sir , pardon ; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears . - -He hears nought privately that comes from Troy . - -Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him : -I bring a trumpet to awake his ear , -To set his sense on the attentive bent , -And then to speak . - -Speak frankly as the wind : -It is not Agamemnon's sleeping hour ; -That thou shalt know , Trojan , he is awake , -He tells thee so himself . - -Trumpet , blow aloud , -Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents ; -And every Greek of mettle , let him know , -What Troy means fairly shall be spoke aloud . - -We have , great Agamemnon , here in Troy . -A prince called Hector ,Priam is his father , -Who in this dull and long-continu'd truce -Is rusty grown : he bade me take a trumpet , -And to this purpose speak : kings , princes , lords ! -If there be one among the fair'st of Greece -That holds his honour higher than his ease , -That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril , -That knows his valour , and knows not his fear , -That loves his mistress more than in confession , -With truant vows to her own lips he loves , -And dare avow her beauty and her worth -In other arms than hers ,to him this challenge . -Hector , in view of Trojans and of Greeks , -Shall make it good , or do his best to do it , -He hath a lady wiser , fairer , truer , -Than ever Greek did compass in his arms ; -And will to-morrow with his trumpet call , -Mid-way between your tents and walls of Troy , -To rouse a Grecian that is true in love : -If any come , Hector shall honour him ; -If none , he'll say in Troy when he retires , -The Grecian dames are sunburnt , and not worth -The splinter of a lance . Even so much . - -This shall be told our lovers , Lord neas ; -If none of them have soul in such a kind , -We left them all at home : but we are soldiers ; -And may that soldier a mere recreant prove , -That means not , hath not , or is not in love ! -If then one is , or hath , or means to be , -That one meets Hector ; if none else , I am he . - -Tell him of Nestor , one that was a man -When Hector's grandsire suck'd : he is old now ; -But if there be not in our Grecian host -One noble man that hath one spark of fire -To answer for his love , tell him from me , -I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver , -And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn ; -And , meeting him , will tell him that my lady -Was fairer than his grandam , and as chaste -As may be in the world : his youth in flood , -I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood . - -Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth ! - -Amen . - -Fair Lord neas , let me touch your hand ; -To our pavilion shall I lead you first . -Achilles shall have word of this intent ; -So shall each lord of Greece , from tent to tent : -Yourself shall feast with us before you go , -And find the welcome of a noble foe . - - -Nestor ! - -What says Ulysses ? - -I have a young conception in my brain ; -Be you my time to bring it to some shape . - -What is't ? - -This 'tis : -Blunt wedges rive hard knots : the seeded pride -That hath to this maturity blown up -In rank Achilles , must or now be cropp'd , -Or , shedding , breed a nursery of like evil , -To overbulk us all . - -Well , and how ? - -This challenge that the gallant Hector sends , -However it is spread in general name , -Relates in purpose only to Achilles . - -The purpose is perspicuous even as substance -Whose grossness little characters sum up : -And , in the publication , make no strain , -But that Achilles , were his brain as barren -As banks of Libya ,though , Apollo knows , -'Tis dry enough ,will with great speed of judgment , -Ay , with celerity , find Hector's purpose -Pointing on him . - -And wake him to the answer , think you ? - -Yes , 'tis most meet : whom may you else oppose , -That can from Hector bring those honours off , -If not Achilles ? Though't be a sportful combat , -Yet in the trial much opinion dwells ; -For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute -With their fin'st palate : and trust to me , Ulysses , -Our imputation shall be oddly pois'd -In this wild action ; for the success , -Although particular , shall give a scantling -Of good or bad unto the general ; -And in such indexes , although small pricks -To their subsequent volumes , there is seen -The baby figure of the giant mass -Of things to come at large . It is suppos'd -He that meets Hector issues from our choice ; -And choice , being mutual act of all our souls , -Makes merit her election , and doth boil , -As 'twere from forth us all , a man distill'd -Out of our virtues ; who miscarrying , -What heart receives from bence the conquering part , -To steel a strong opinion to themselves ? -Which entertain'd , limbs are his instruments , -In no less working than are swords and bows -Directive by the limbs . - -Give pardon to my speech : -Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector . -Let us like merchants show our foulest wares , -And think perchance they'll sell ; if not , -The lustre of the better yet to show -Shall show the better . Do not consent -That ever Hector and Achilles meet ; -For both our honour and our shame in this -Are dogg'd with two strange followers . - -I see them not with my old eyes : what are they ? - -What glory our Achilles shares from Hector , -Were he not proud , we all should share with him : -But he already is too insolent ; -And we were better parch in Afric sun -Than in the pride and salt scorn of his eyes , -Should he 'scape Hector fair : if he were foil'd , -Why then we did our main opinion crush -In taint of our best man . No ; make a lottery ; -And by device let blockish Ajax draw -The sort to fight with Hector : among ourselves -Give him allowance as the worthier man , -For that will physic the great Myrmidon -Who broils in loud applause ; and make him fall -His crest that prouder than blue Iris bends . -If the dull brainless Ajax come safe off , -We'll dress him up in voices : if he fail , -Yet go we under our opinion still -That we have better men . But , hit or miss , -Our project's life this shape of sense assumes : -Ajax employ'd plucks down Achilles' plumes . - -Ulysses , -Now I begin to relish thy advice ; -And I will give a taste of it forthwith -To Agamemnon : go we to him straight . -Two curs shall tame each other : pride alone -Must tarre the mastiffs on , as 'twere their bone . - - -Thersites ! - -Agamemnon , how if he had boils ? full , all over , generally ? - -Thersites ! - -And those boils did run ? Say so , did not the general run then ? were not that a botchy core ? - -Dog ! - -Then would come some matter from him : I see none now . - -Thou bitch-wolf's son , canst thou not hear ? -Feel , then . - - -The plague of Greece upon thee , thou mongrel beef-witted lord ! - -Speak then , thou vinewedst leaven , speak : I will beat thee into handsomeness . - -I shall sooner rail thee into wit and holiness : but I think thy horse will sooner con an oration than thou learn a prayer without book . Thou canst strike , canst thou ? a red murrain o' thy jade's tricks ! - -Toadstool , learn me the proclamation . - -Dost thou think I have no sense , thou strikest me thus ? - -The proclamation ! - -Thou art proclaimed a fool , I think . - -Do not , porpentine , do not : my fingers itch . - -I would thou didst itch from head to foot , and I had the scratching of thee ; I would make thee the loathsomest scab of Greece . When thou art forth in the incursions , thou strikest as slow as another . - -I say , the proclamation ! - -Thou grumblest and railest every hour on Achilles , and thou art as full of envy at his greatness as Cerberus is at Proserpina's beauty , ay that thou barkest at him . - -Mistress Thersites ! - -Thou shouldst strike him . - -Cobloaf ! - -He would pun thee into shivers with his fist , as a sailor breaks a biscuit . - -You whoreson cur . - - -Do , do . - -Thou stool for a witch ! - -Ay , do , do ; thou sodden-witted lord ! thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows ; an assinego may tutor thee : thou scurvy-valiant ass ! thou art here but to thrash Trojans ; and thou art bought and sold among those of any wit , like a barbarian slave . If thou use to beat me , I will begin at thy heel , and tell what thou art by inches , thou thing of no bowels , thou ! - -You dog ! - -You scurvy lord ! - -You cur ! - - -Mars his idiot ! do , rudeness ; do , camel ; do , do . - - -Why , how now , Ajax ! wherefore do you this ? -How now , Thersites ! what's the matter , man ? - -You see him there , do you ? - -Ay ; what's the matter ? - -Nay , look upon him . - -So I do : what's the matter ? - -Nay , but regard him well . - -'Well !' why , so I do . - -But yet you look not well upon him ; for , whosoever you take him to be , he is Ajax . - -I know that , fool . - -Ay , but that fool knows not himself . - -Therefore I beat thee . - -Lo , lo , lo , lo , what modicums of wit he utters ! his evasions have ears thus long . I have bobbed his brain more than he has beat my bones : I will buy nine sparrows for a penny , and his pia mater is not worth the ninth part of a sparrow . This lord , Achilles , Ajax , who wears his wit in his belly , and his guts in his head , I'll tell you what I say of him . - -What ? - -I say , this Ajax , - - -Nay , good Ajax . - -Has not so much wit - -Nay , I must hold you . - -As will stop the eye of Helen's needle , for whom he comes to fight . - -Peace , fool ! - -I would have peace and quietness , but the fool will not : he there ; that he ; look you there . - -O thou damned cur ! I shall - -Will you set your wit to a fool's ? - -No , I warrant you ; for a fool's will shame it . - -Good words , Thersites . - -What's the quarrel ? - -I bade the vile owl go learn me the tenour of the proclamation , and he rails upon me . - -I serve thee not . - -Well , go to , go to . - -I serve here voluntary . - -Your last service was sufferance , 'twas not voluntary ; no man is beaten voluntary : Ajax was here the voluntary , and you as under an impress . - -Even so ; a great deal of your wit too lies in your sinews , or else there be liars . Hector shall have a great catch if he knock out either of your brains : a' were as good crack a fusty nut with no kernel . - -What , with me too , Thersites ? - -There's Ulysses and old Nestor , whose wit was mouldy ere your grandsires had nails on their toes , yoke you like draught-oxen , and make you plough up the wars . - -What , what ? - -Yes , good sooth : to , Achilles ! to , Ajax ! to ! - -I shall cut out your tongue . - -'Tis no matter ; I shall speak as much as thou afterwards . - -No more words , Thersites ; peace ! - -I will hold my peace when Achilles' brach bids me , shall I ? - -There's for you , Patroclus . - -I will see you hanged , like clotpoles , ere I come any more to your tents : I will keep where there is wit stirring and leave the faction of fools . - - -A good riddance . - -Marry , this , sir , is proclaim'd through all our host : -That Hector , by the fifth hour of the sun , -Will , with a trumpet , 'twixt our tents and Troy -To morrow morning call some knight to arms -That hath a stomach ; and such a one that dare -Maintain I know not what : 'tis trash . Farewell . - -Farewell . Who shall answer him ? - -I know not : it is put to lottery ; otherwise , -He knew his man . - -O , meaning you . I will go learn more of it . - - -After so many hours , lives , speeches spent , -Thus once again says Nestor from the Greeks : -'Deliver Helen , and all damage else , -As honour , loss of time , travail , expense , -Wounds , friends , and what else dear that is consum'd -In hot digestion of this cormorant war , -Shall be struck off .' Hector , what say you to't ? - -Though no man lesser fears the Greeks than I , -As far as toucheth my particular , -Yet , dread Priam , -There is no lady of more softer bowels , -More spongy to suck in the sense of fear , -More ready to cry out 'Who knows what follows ?' -Than Hector is . The wound of peace is surety , -Surety secure ; but modest doubt is call'd -The beacon of the wise , the tent that searches -To the bottom of the worst . Let Helen go : -Since the first sword was drawn about this question , -Every tithe soul , 'mongst many thousand dismes , -Hath been as dear as Helen ; I mean , of ours : -If we have lost so many tenths of ours , -To guard a thing not ours nor worth to us , -Had it our name , the value of one ten , -What merit's in that reason which denies -The yielding of her up ? - -Fie , fie ! my brother , -Weigh you the worth and honour of a king -So great as our dread father in a scale -Of common ounces ? will you with counters sum -The past proportion of his infinite ? -And buckle in a waist most fathomless -With spans and inches so diminutive -As fears and reasons ? fie , for godly shame ! - -No marvel , though you bite so sharp at reasons , -You are so empty of them . Should not our father -Bear the great sway of his affairs with reasons , -Because your speech hath none that tells him so ? - -You are for dreams and slumbers , brother priest ; -You fur your gloves with reason . Here are your reasons : -You know an enemy intends you harm ; -You know a sword employ'd is perilous , -And reason flies the object of all harm : -Who marvels then , when Helenus beholds -A Grecian and his sword , if he do set -The very wings of reason to his heels , -And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove , -Or like a star disorb'd ? Nay , if we talk of reason , -Let's shut our gates and sleep : manhood and honour -Should have hare-hearts , would they but fat their thoughts -With this cramm'd reason : reason and respect -Make livers pale , and lustihood deject . - -Brother , she is not worth what she doth cost -The holding . - -What is aught but as 'tis valu'd ? - -But value dwells not in particular will ; -It holds his estimate and dignity -As well wherein 'tis precious of itself -As in the prizer . 'Tis mad idolatry -To make the service greater than the god ; -And the will dotes that is inclinable -To what infectiously itself affects , -Without some image of the affected merit . - -I take to-day a wife , and my election -Is led on in the conduct of my will ; -My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears , -Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores -Of will and judgment . How may I avoid , -Although my will distaste what it elected , -The wife I chose ? there can be no evasion -To blench from this and to stand firm by honour . -We turn not back the silks upon the merchant -When we have soil'd them , nor the remainder viands -We do not throw in unrespective sink -Because we now are full . It was thought meet -Paris should do some vengeance on the Greeks : -Your breath of full consent bellied his sails ; -The seas and winds old wranglers took a truce -And did him service : he touch'd the ports desir'd , -And for an old aunt whom the Greeks held captive -He brought a Grecian queen , whose youth and freshness -Wrinkles Apollo's , and makes stale the morning . -Why keep we her ? the Grecians keep our aunt : -Is she worth keeping ? why , she is a pearl , -Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships , -And turn'd crown'd kings to merchants . -If you'll avouch 'twas wisdom Paris went , -As you must needs , for you all cried 'Go , go ,' -If you'll confess he brought home noble prize , -As you must needs , for you all clapp'd your hands , -And cry'd 'Inestimable !' why do you now -The issue of your proper wisdoms rate , -And do a deed that Fortune never did , -Beggar the estimation which you priz'd -Richer than sea and land ? O ! theft most base , -That we have stol'n what we do fear to keep ! -But thieves unworthy of a thing so stol'n , -That in their country did them that disgrace -We fear to warrant in our native place . - -Cry , Trojans , cry ! - -What noise ? what shriek ? - -'Tis our mad sister , I do know her voice - -Cry , Trojans ! - -It is Cassandra . - - -Cry , Trojans , cry ! lend me ten thousand eyes , -And I will fill them with prophetic tears . - -Peace , sister , peace ! - -Virgins and boys , mid-age and wrinkled eld , -Soft infancy , that nothing canst but cry , -Add to my clamours ! let us pay betimes -A moiety of that mass of moan to come . -Cry , Trojans , cry ! practise your eyes with tears ! -Troy must not be , nor goodly Ilion stand ; -Our firebrand brother , Paris , burns us all . -Cry , Trojans , cry ! a Helen and a woe ! -Cry , cry ! Troy burns , or else let Helen go . - - -Now , youthful Troilus , do not these high strains -Of divination in our sister work -Some touches of remorse ? or is your blood -So madly hot that no discourse of reason , -Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause , -Can qualify the same ? - -Why , brother Hector , -We may not think the justness of each act -Such and no other than event doth form it , -Nor once deject the courage of our minds , -Because Cassandra's mad : her brain-sick raptures -Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel -Which hath our several honours all engag'd -To make it gracious . For my private part , -I am no more touch'd than all Priam's sons ; -And Jove forbid there should be done amongst us -Such things as might offend the weakest spleen -To fight for and maintain . - -Else might the world convince of levity -As well my undertakings as your counsels ; -But I attest the gods , your full consent -Gave wings to my propension and cut off -All fears attending on so dire a project : -For what , alas ! can these my single arms ? -What propugnation is in one man's valour , -To stand the push and enmity of those -This quarrel would excite ? Yet , I protest , -Were I alone to pass the difficulties , -And had as ample power as I have will , -Paris should ne'er retract what he hath done , -Nor faint in the pursuit . - -Paris , you speak -Like one besotted on your sweet delights : -You have the honey still , but these the gall ; -So to be valiant is no praise at all . - -Sir , I propose not merely to myself -The pleasure such a beauty brings with it ; -But I would have the soil of her fair rape -Wip'd off , in honourable keeping her . -What treason were it to the ransack'd queen , -Disgrace to your great worths , and shame to me , -Now to deliver her possession up , -On terms of base compulsion ! Can it be -That so degenerate a strain as this -Should once set footing in your generous bosoms ? -There's not the meanest spirit on our party -Without a heart to dare or sword to draw -When Helen is defended , nor none so noble -Whose life were ill bestow'd or death unfam'd -Where Helen is the subject : then , I say , -Well may we fight for her , whom , we know well , -The world's large spaces cannot parallel . - -Paris and Troilus , you have both said well ; -And on the cause and question now in hand -Have gloz'd , but superficially ; not much -Unlike young men , whom Aristotle thought -Unfit to hear moral philosophy . -The reasons you allege do more conduce -To the hot passion of distemper'd blood -Than to make up a free determination -'Twixt right and wrong ; for pleasure and revenge -Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice -Of any true decision . Nature craves -All dues be render'd to their owners : now , -What nearer debt in all humanity -Than wife is to the husband ? if this law -Of nature be corrupted through affection , -And that great minds , of partial indulgence -To their benumbed wills , resist the saine ; -There is a law in each well-order'd nation -To curb those raging appetites that are -Most disobedient and refractory . -If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king , -As it is known she is , these moral laws -Of nature , and of nations , speak aloud -To have her back return'd : thus to persist -In doing wrong extenuates not wrong , -But makes it much more heavy . Hector's opinion -Is this , in way of truth ; yet , ne'ertheless , -My spritely brethren , I propend to you -In resolution to keep Helen still ; -For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance -Upon our joint and several dignities . - -Why , there you touch'd the life of our design : -Were it not glory that we more affected -Than the performance of our heaving spleens , -I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood -Spent more in her defence . But , worthy Hector , -She is a theme of honour and renown , -A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds , -Whose present courage may beat down our foes , -And fame in time to come canonize us ; -For , I presume , brave Hector would not lose -So rich advantage of a promis'd glory -As smiles upon the forehead of this action -For the wide world's revenue . - -I am yours , -You valiant offspring of great Priamus . -I have a roisting challenge sent amongst -The dull and factious nobles of the Greeks -Will strike amazement to their drowsy spirits . -I was advertis'd their great general slept -Whilst emulation in the army crept : -This , I presume , will wake him . - - -How now , Thersites ! what , lost in the labyrinth of thy fury ! Shall the elephant Ajax carry it thus ? he beats me , and I rail at him : O worthy satisfaction ! Would it were otherwise ; that I could beat him , whilst he railed at me . 'Sfoot , I'll learn to conjure and raise devils , but I'll see some issue of my spiteful execrations . Then there's Achilles , a rare enginer . If Troy be not taken till these two undermine it , the walls will stand till they fall of themselves . O ! thou great thunder-darter of Olympus , forget that thou art Jove the king of gods , and , Mercury , lose all the serpentine craft of thy caduceus , if ye take not that little little less than little wit from them that they have ; which short-armed ignorance itself knows is so abundant scarce it will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a spider , without drawing their massy irons and cutting the web . After this , the vengeance on the whole camp ! or , rather , the Neapolitan bone-ache ! for that , methinks , is the curse dependant on those that war for a placket . I have said my prayers , and devil Envy say Amen . What , ho ! my Lord Achilles ! - - -Who's there ? Thersites ! Good Thersites , come in and rail . - -If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit , thou wouldst not have slipped out of my contemplation : but it is no matter ; thyself upon thyself ! The common curse of mankind , folly and ignorance , be thine in great revenue ! heaven bless thee from a tutor , and discipline come not near thee ! Let thy blood be thy direction till thy death ! then , if she that lays thee out says thou art a fair corpse , I'll be sworn and sworn upon't she never shrouded any but lazars . Amen . Where's Achilles ? - -What ! art thou devout ? wast thou in prayer ? - -Ay ; the heavens hear me ! - - -Who's there ? - -Thersites , my lord . - -Where , where ? Art thou come ? Why , my cheese , my digestion , why hast thou not served thyself in to my table so many meals ? Come , what's Agamemnon ? - -Thy commander , Achilles . Then tell me , Patroclus , what's Achilles ? - -Thy lord , Thersites . Then tell me , I pray thee , what's thyself ? - -Thy knower , Patroclus . Then tell me , Patroclus , what art thou ? - -Thou mayst tell that knowest . - -O ! tell , tell . - -I'll decline the whole question . Agamemnon commands Achilles ; Achilles is my lord ; I am Patroclus' knower ; and Patroclus is a fool . - -You rascal ! - -Peace , fool ! I have not done . - -He is a privileged man . Proceed , Thersites . - -Agamemnon is a fool ; Achilles is a fool ; Thersites is a fool ; and , as aforesaid , Patroclus is a fool . - -Derive this ; come . - -Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles ; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon ; Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool ; and Patroclus is a fool positive . - -Why am I a fool ? - -Make that demand to the Creator . It suffices me thou art . Look you , who comes here ? - -Patroclus , I'll speak with nobody . Come in with me , Thersites . - - -Here is such patchery , such juggling , and such knavery ! all the argument is a cuckold and a whore ; a good quarrel to draw emulous factions and bleed to death upon . Now , the dry serpigo on the subject ! and war and lechery confound all ! - -Where is Achilles ? - -Within his tent ; but ill-dispos'd , my lord . - -Let it be known to him that we are here . -He shent our messengers ; and we lay by -Our appertainments , visiting of him : -Let him be told so ; lest perchance he think -We dare not move the question of our place , -Or know not what we are . - -I shall say so to him . - - -We saw him at the opening of his tent : -He is not sick . - -Yes , lion-sick , sick of proud heart : you may call it melancholy if you will favour the man ; but , by my head , 'tis pride : but why , why ? let him show us a cause . A word , my lord . - - -What moves Ajax thus to bay at him ? - -Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him . - -Who , Thersites ? - -He . - -Then will Ajax lack matter , if he have lost his argument . - -No ; you see , he is his argument that has his argument , Achilles . - -All the better ; their fraction is more our wish than their faction : but it was a strong composure a fool could disunite . - -The amity that wisdom knits not folly may easily untie . Here comes Patroclus . - - -No Achilles with him . - -The elephant hath joints , but none for courtesy : his legs are legs for necessity , not for flexure . - -Achilles bids me say , he is much sorry -If any thing more than your sport and pleasure -Did move your greatness and this noble state -To call upon him ; he hopes it is no other -But , for your health and your digestion sake , -An after-dinner's breath . - -Hear you , Patroclus : -We are too well acquainted with these answers : -But his evasion , wing'd thus swift with scorn , -Cannot outfly our apprehensions . -Much attribute he hath , and much the reason -Why we ascribe it to him ; yet all his virtues , -Not virtuously on his own part beheld , -Do in our eyes begin to lose their gloss , -Yea , like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish , -Are like to rot untasted . Go and tell him , -We come to speak with him ; and you shall not sin -If you do say we think him over-proud -And under-honest , in self-assumption greater -Than in the note of judgment ; and worthier than himself -Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on , -Disguise the holy strength of their command , -And underwrite in an observing kind -His humorous predominance ; yea , watch -His pettish lunes , his ebbs , his flows , as if -The passage and whole carriage of this action -Rode on his tide . Go tell him this , and add , -That if he overhold his price so much , -We'll none of him ; but let him , like an engine -Not portable , lie under this report : -'Bring action hither , this cannot go to war :' -A stirring dwarf we do allowance give -Before a sleeping giant : tell him so . - -I shall ; and bring his answer presently . - - -In second voice we'll not be satisfied ; -We come to speak with him . Ulysses , enter you . - - -What is he more than another ? - -No more than what he thinks he is . - -Is he so much ? Do you not think he thinks himself a better man than I am ? - -No question . - -Will you subscribe his thought , and say he is ? - -No , noble Ajax ; you are as strong , as valiant , as wise , no less noble , much more gentle , and altogether more tractable . - -Why should a man be proud ? How doth pride grow ? I know not what pride is . - -Your mind is the clearer , Ajax , and your virtues the fairer . He that is proud eats up himself : pride is his own glass , his own trumpet , his own chronicle ; and whatever praises itself but in the deed , devours the deed in the praise . - -I do hate a proud man , as I hate the engendering of toads . - -Yet he loves himself : is't not strange ? - - -Achilles will not to the field to-morrow . - -What's his excuse ? - -He doth rely on none , -But carries on the stream of his dispose -Without observance or respect of any , -In will peculiar and in self-admission . - -Why will he not upon our fair request -Untent his person and share the air with us ? - -Things small as nothing , for request's sake only , -He makes important : possess'd he is with greatness , -And speaks not to himself but with a pride -That quarrels at self-breath : imagin'd worth -Holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse , -That 'twixt his mental and his active parts -Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages -And batters down himself : what should I say ? -He is so plaguy proud , that the death-tokens of it -Cry 'No recovery .' - -Let Ajax go to him . -Dear lord , go you and meet him in his tent : -'Tis said he holds you well , and will be led -At your request a little from himself . - -O Agamemnon ! let it not be so . -We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes -When they go from Achilles : shall the proud lord -That bastes his arrogance with his own seam , -And never suffers matter of the world -Enter his thoughts , save such as do revolve -And ruminate himself , shall he be worshipp'd -Of that we hold an idol more than he ? -No , this thrice-worthy and right valiant lord -Must not so stale his palm , nobly acquir'd ; -Nor , by my will , assubjugate his merit , -As amply titled as Achilles is , -By going to Achilles : -That were to enlard his fat-already pride , -And add more coals to Cancer when he burns -With entertaining great Hyperion . -This lord go to him ! Jupiter forbid , -And say in thunder , 'Achilles go to him .' - -O ! this is well ; he rubs the vein of him . - -And how his silence drinks up this applause ! - -If I go to him , with my armed fist -I'll pash him o'er the face . - -O , no ! you shall not go . - -An a' be proud with me , I'll pheeze his pride . -Let me go to him . - -Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel . - -A paltry , insolent fellow ! - -How he describes himself ! - -Can he not be sociable ? - -The raven chides blackness . - -I'll let his humours blood . - -He will be the physician that should be the patient . - -An all men were o' my mind , - -Wit would be out of fashion . - -A' should not bear it so , a' should eat swords first : shall pride carry it ? - -An't would , you'd carry half . - -A' would have ten shares . - -I will knead him ; I will make him supple . - -He's not yet through warm : force him with praises : pour in , pour in ; his ambition is dry . - -My lord , you feed too much on this dislike . - -Our noble general , do not do so . - -You must prepare to fight without Achilles . - -Why , 'tis this naming of him does him harm . -Here is a man but 'tis before his face ; -I will be silent . - -Wherefore should you so ? -He is not emulous , as Achilles is . - -Know the whole world , he is as valiant . - -A whoreson dog , that shall palter thus with us ! Would he were a Trojan ! - -What a vice were it in Ajax now , - -If he were proud , - -Or covetous of praise , - -Ay , or surly borne , - -Or strange , or self-affected ! - -Thank the heavens , lord , thou art of sweet composure ; -Praise him that got thee , her that gave thee suck : -Fam'd be thy tutor , and thy parts of nature -Thrice-fam'd , beyond all erudition : -But he that disciplin'd thy arms to fight , -Let Mars divide eternity in twain , -And give him half : and , for thy vigour , -Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield -To sinewy Ajax . I will not praise thy wisdom , -Which , like a bourn , a pale , a shore , confines -Thy spacious and dilated parts : here's Nestor -Instructed by the antiquary times , -He must , he is , he cannot but be wise ; -But pardon , father Nestor , were your days -As green as Ajax , and your brain so temper'd , -You should not have the eminence of him , -But be as Ajax . - -Shall I call you father ? - -Ay , my good son . - -Be rul'd by him , Lord Ajax . - -There is no tarrying here ; the hart Achilles -Keeps thicket . Please it our great general -To call together all his state of war ; -Fresh kings are come to Troy : to-morrow , -We must with all our main of power stand fast : -And here's a lord ,come knights from east to west , -And cull their flower , Ajax shall cope the best . - -Go we to council . Let Achilles sleep : -Light boats sail swift , though greater hulks draw deep . - - -Friend ! you ! pray you , a word : do not you follow the young Lord Paris ? - -Ay , sir , when he goes before me . - -You depend upon him , I mean ? - -Sir , I do depend upon the Lord . - -You depend upon a noble gentleman ; -I must needs praise him . - -The Lord be praised ! - -You know me , do you not ? - -Faith , sir , superficially . - -Friend , know me better . I am the -Lord Pandarus . - -I hope I shall know your honour better . - -I do desire it . - -You are in the state of grace . - -Grace ! not so , friend ; honour and lordship are my titles . - -What music is this ? - -I do but partly know , sir : it is music in parts . - -Know you the musicians ? - -Wholly , sir . - -Who play they to ? - -To the hearers , sir . - -At whose pleasure , friend ? - -At mine , sir , and theirs that love music . - -Command , I mean , friend . - -Who shall I command , sir ? - -Friend , we understand not one another : -I am too courtly , and thou art too cunning . At whose request do these men play ? - -That's to't , indeed , sir . Marry , sir , at the request of Paris my lord , who is there in person ; with him the mortal Venus , the heartblood of beauty , love's invisible soul . - -Who , my cousin Cressida ? - -No , sir , Helen : could you not find out that by her attributes ? - -It should seem , fellow , that thou hast not seen the Lady Cressida . I come to speak with Paris from the Prince Troilus : I will make a complimental assault upon him , for my business seethes . - -Sodden business : there's a stewed phrase , indeed . - - -Fair be to you , my lord , and to all this fair company ! fair desires , in all fair measures , fairly guide them ! especially to you , fair queen ! fair thoughts be your fair pillow ! - -Dear lord , you are full of fair words . - -You speak your fair pleasure , sweet queen . Fair prince , here is good broken music . - -You have broke it , cousin ; and , by my life , you shall make it whole again : you shall piece it out with a piece of your performance . Nell , he is full of harmony . - -Truly , lady , no . - -O , sir ! - -Rude , in sooth ; in good sooth , very rude . - -Well said , my lord ! Well , you say so in fits . - -I have business to my lord , dear queen . -My lord , will you vouchsafe me a word ? - -Nay , this shall not hedge us out : we'll hear you sing , certainly . - -Well , sweet queen , you are pleasant with me . But , marry , thus , my lord . My dear lord and most esteemed friend , your brother Troilus - -My Lord Pandarus ; honey-sweet lord , - -Go to , sweet queen , go to : commends himself most affectionately to you . - -You shall not bob us out of our melody : if you do , our melancholy upon your head ! - -Sweet queen , sweet queen ! that's a sweet queen , i' faith . - -And to make a sweet lady sad is a sour offence . - -Nay , that shall not serve your turn ; that shall it not , in truth , la ! Nay , I care not for such words : no , no . And , my lord , he desires you , that if the king call for him at supper , you will make his excuse . - -My Lord Pandarus , - -What says my sweet queen , my very sweet queen ? - -What exploit's in hand ? where sups he to-night ? - -Nay , but my lord , - -What says my sweet queen ! My cousin will fall out with you . You must know where he sups . - -I'll lay my life , with my disposer Cressida . - -No , no , no such matter ; you are wide . Come , your disposer is sick . - -Well , I'll make excuse . - -Ay , good my lord . Why should you say Cressida ? no , your poor disposer's sick . - -I spy . - -You spy ! what do you spy ? Come , give me an instrument . Now , sweet queen . - -Why , this is kindly done . - -My niece is horribly in love with a thing you have , sweet queen . - -She shall have it , my lord , if it be not my Lord Paris . - -He ! no , she'll none of him ; they two are twain . - -Falling in , after falling out , may make them three . - -Come , come , I'll hear no more of this . -I'll sing you a song now . - -Ay , ay , prithee now . By my troth , sweet lord , thou hast a fine forehead . - -Ay , you may , you may . - -Let thy song be love : this love will undo us all . O Cupid , Cupid , Cupid ! - -Love ! ay , that it shall , i' faith . - -Ay , good now , love , love , nothing but love . - -In good troth , it begins so : - - -Love , love , nothing but love , still more ! -For , oh ! love's bow -Shoots buck and doe : -The shaft confounds , -Not that it wounds , -But tickles still the sore . -These lovers cry O ! O ! they die ! -Yet that which seems the wound to kill , -Doth turn O ! O ! to ha ! ha ! he ! -So dying love lives still : -O ! O ! a while , but ha ! ha ! ha ! -O ! O ! groans out for ha ! ha ! ha ! - -Heigh-ho ! - -In love , i' faith , to the very tip of the nose . - -He eats nothing but doves , love ; and that breeds hot blood , and hot blood begets hot thoughts , and hot thoughts beget hot deeds , and hot deeds is love . - -Is this the generation of love ? hot blood ? hot thoughts , and hot deeds ? Why , they are vipers : is love a generation of vipers ? Sweet lord , who's a-field to-day ? - -Hector , Deiphobus , Helenus , Antenor , and all the gallantry of Troy : I would fain have armed to-day , but my Nell would not have it so . How chance my brother Troilus went not ? - -He hangs the lip at something : you know all , Lord Pandarus . - -Not I , honey-sweet queen . I long to hear how they sped to-day . You'll remember your brother's excuse ? - -To a hair . - -Farewell , sweet queen . - -Commend me to your niece . - -I will , sweet queen . - - -They're come from field : let us to Priam's hall -To greet the warriors . Sweet Helen , I must woo you -To help unarm our Hector : his stubborn buckles , -With these your white enchanting fingers touch'd , -Shall more obey than to the edge of steel -Or force of Greekish sinews ; you shall do more -Than all the island kings ,disarm great Hector . - -'Twill make us proud to be his servant , Paris ; -Yea , what he shall receive of us in duty -Gives us more palm in beauty than we have , -Yea , overshines ourself . - -Sweet , above thought I love thee . - - -How now ! where's thy master ? at my cousin Cressida's ? - -No , sir ; he stays for you to conduct him thither . - - -O ! here he comes . How now , how now ! - -Sirrah , walk off . - - -Have you seen my cousin ? - -No , Pandarus : I stalk about her door , -Like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks -Staying for waftage . O ! be thou my Charon , -And give me swift transportance to those fields -Where I may wallow in the lily-beds -Propos'd for the deserver ! O gentle Pandarus ! -From Cupid's shoulder pluck his painted wings , -And fly with me to Cressid . - -Walk here i' the orchard . I'll bring her straight . - - -I am giddy , expectation whirls me round . -The imaginary relish is so sweet -That it enchants my sense . What will it be -When that the watery palate tastes indeed -Love's thrice-repured nectar ? death , I fear me , -Swounding destruction , or some joy too fine , -Too subtle-potent , tun'd too sharp in sweetness -For the capacity of my ruder powers : -I fear it much ; and I do fear besides -That I shall lose distinction in my joys ; -As doth a battle , when they charge on heaps -The enemy flying . - - -She's making her ready : she'll come straight : you must be witty now . She does so blush , and fetches her wind so short , as if she were frayed with a sprite : I'll fetch her . It is the prettiest villain : she fetches her breath as short as a new-ta'en sparrow . - - -Even such a passion doth embrace my bosom ; -My heart beats thicker than a fev'rous pulse ; -And all my powers do their bestowing lose , -Like vassalage at unawares encountering -The eye of majesty . - - -Come , come , what need you blush ? shame's a baby . Here she is now : swear the oaths now to her that you have sworn to me . What ! are you gone again ? you must be watched ere you be made tame , must you ? Come your ways , come your ways ; an you draw backward , we'll put you i' the fills . Why do you not speak to her ? Come , draw this curtain , and let's see your picture . Alas the day , how loath you are to offend day-light ! an 'twere dark , you'd close sooner . So , so ; rub on , and kiss the mistress . How now ! a kiss in fee-farm ! build there , carpenter ; the air is sweet . Nay , you shall fight your hearts out ere I part you . The falcon as the tercel , for all the ducks i' the river : go to , go to . - -You have bereft me of all words , lady . - -Words pay no debts , give her deeds ; but she'll bereave you of the deeds too if she call your activity in question . What ! billing again ? Here's 'In witness whereof the parties interchangeably' Come in , come in : I'll go get a fire . - - -Will you walk in , my lord ? - -O Cressida ! how often have I wished me thus ! - -Wished , my lord ! The gods grant ,O my lord ! - -What should they grant ? what makes this pretty abruption ? What too curious dreg espies my sweet lady in the fountain of our love ? - -More dregs than water , if my fears have eyes . - -Fears make devils of cherubins ; they never see truly . - -Blind fear , that seeing reason leads , finds safer footing than blind reason stumbling without fear : to fear the worst oft cures the worse . - -O ! let my lady apprehend no fear : in all Cupid's pageant there is presented no monster . - -Nor nothing monstrous neither ? - -Nothing but our undertakings ; when we vow to weep seas , live in fire , eat rocks , tame tigers ; thinking it harder for our mistress to devise imposition enough than for us to undergo any difficulty imposed . This is the monstruosity in love , lady , that the will is infinite , and the execution confined ; that the desire is boundless , and the act a slave to limit . - -They say all lovers swear more performance than they are able , and yet reserve an ability that they never perform ; vowing more than the perfection of ten and discharging less than the tenth part of one . They that have the voice of lions and the act of hares , are they not monsters ? - -Are there such ? such are not we . Praise us as we are tasted , allow us as we prove ; our head shall go bare , till merit crown it . No perfection in reversion shall have a praise in present : we will not name desert before his birth , and , being born , his addition shall be humble . Few words to fair faith : Troilus shall be such to Cressid , as what envy can say worst shall be a mock for his truth ; and what truth can speak truest not truer than Troilus . - -Will you walk in , my lord ? - - -What ! blushing still ? have you not done talking yet ? - -Well , uncle , what folly I commit , I dedicate to you . - -I thank you for that : if my lord get a boy of you , you'll give him me . Be true to my lord ; if he flinch , chide me for it . - -You know now your hostages ; your uncle's word , and my firm faith . - -Nay , I'll give my word for her too . Our kindred , though they be long ere they are wooed , they are constant being won : they are burrs , I can tell you ; they'll stick where they are thrown . - -Boldness comes to me now , and brings me heart : -Prince Troilus , I have lov'd you night and day -For many weary months . - -Why was my Cressid then so hard to win ? - -Hard to seem won ; but I was won , my lord , -With the first glance that ever pardon me -If I confess much you will play the tyrant . -I love you now ; but , till now , not so much -But I might master it : in faith , I lie ; -My thoughts were like unbridled children , grown -Too headstrong for their mother . See , we fools ! -Why have I blabb'd ? who shall be true to us -When we are so unsecret to ourselves ? -But , though I lov'd you well , I woo'd you not ; -And yet , good faith , I wish'd myself a man , -Or that we women had men's privilege -Of speaking first . Sweet , bid me hold my tongue ; -For in this rapture I shall surely speak -The thing I shall repent . See , see ! your silence , -Cunning in dumbness , from my weakness draws -My very soul of counsel . Stop my mouth . - -And shall , albeit sweet music issues thence . - -Pretty , i' faith . - -My lord , I do beseech you , pardon me ; -'Twas not my purpose thus to beg a kiss : -I am asham'd : O heavens ! what have I done ? -For this time will I take my leave , my lord . - -Your leave , sweet Cressid ? - -Leave ! an you take leave till to-morrow morning , - -Pray you , content you . - -What offends you , lady ? - -Sir , mine own company . - -You cannot shun yourself . - -Let me go and try : -I have a kind of self resides with you ; -But an unkind self , that itself will leave , -To be another's fool . I would be gone : -Where is my wit ? I speak I know not what . - -Well know they what they speak that speak so wisely . - -Perchance , my lord , I show more craft than love ; -And fell so roundly to a large confession , -To angle for your thoughts : but you are wise , -Or else you love not , for to be wise , and love , -Exceeds man's might ; that dwells with gods above . - -O ! that I thought it could be in a woman -As if it can I will presume in you -To feed for aye her lamp and flames of love ; -To keep her constancy in plight and youth , -Outliving beauty's outward , with a mind -That doth renew swifter than blood decays : -Or that persuasion could but thus convince me , -That my integrity and truth to you -Might be affronted with the match and weight -Of such a winnow'd purity in love ; -How were I then uplifted ! but , alas ! -I am as true as truth's simplicity , -And simpler than the infancy of truth . - -In that I'll war with you . - -O virtuous fight ! -When right with right wars who shall be most right . -True swains in love shall in the world to come -Approve their truths by Troilus : when their rimes , -Full of protest , of oath , and big compare , -Want similes , truth tir'd with iteration , -As true as steel , as plantage to the moon , -As sun to day , as turtle to her mate , -As iron to adamant , as earth to the centre , -Yet , after all comparisons of truth , -As truth's authentic author to be cited , -'As true as Troilus' shall crown up the verse -And sanctify the numbers . - -Prophet may you be ! -If I be false , or swerve a hair from truth , -When time is old and hath forgot itself , -When waterdrops have worn the stones of Troy , -And blind oblivion swallow'd cities up , -And mighty states characterless are grated -To dusty nothing , yet let memory , -From false to false , among false maids in love -Upbraid my falsehood ! when they have said 'as false -As air , as water , wind , or sandy earth , -As fox to lamb , as wolf to heifer's calf , -Pard to the hind , or stepdame to her son ;' -Yea , let them say , to stick the heart of falsehood , -'As false as Cressid .' - -Go to , a bargain made ; seal it , seal it : I'll be the witness . Here I hold your hand , here my cousin's . If ever you prove false one to another , since I have taken such pains to bring you together , let all pitiful goers-between be called to the world's end after my name ; call them all Pandars ; let all constant men be Troiluses , all false women Cressids , and all brokers-between Pandars ! say , Amen . - -Amen . - -Amen . - -Amen . Whereupon I will show you a chamber and a bed ; which bed , because it shall not speak of your pretty encounters , press it to death : away ! -And Cupid grant all tongue-tied maidens here -Bed , chamber , Pandar to provide this gear ! - - -Now , princes , for the service I have done you , -The advantage of the time prompts me aloud -To call for recompense . Appear it to your mind -That through the sight I bear in things to come , -I have abandon'd Troy , left my possession , -Incurr'd a traitor's name ; expos'd myself , -From certain and possess'd conveniences , -To doubtful fortunes ; sequestering from me all -That time , acquaintance , custom , and condition -Made tame and most familiar to my nature ; -And here , to do you service , have become -As new into the world , strange , unacquainted : -I do beseech you , as in way of taste , -To give me now a little benefit , -Out of those many register'd in promise , -Which , you say , live to come in my behalf . - -What wouldst thou of us , Trojan ? make demand . - -You have a Trojan prisoner , call'd Antenor , -Yesterday took : Troy holds him very dear . -Oft have you often have you thanks therefore -Desir'd my Cressid in right great exchange , -Whom Troy hath still denied ; but this Antenor -I know is such a wrest in their affairs -That their negociations all must slack , -Wanting his manage ; and they will almost -Give us a prince of blood , a son of Priam , -In change of him : let him be sent , great princes , -And he shall buy my daughter ; and her presence -Shall quite strike off all service I have done , -In most accepted pain . - -Let Diomedes bear him , -And bring us Cressid hither : Calchas shall have -What he requests of us . Good Diomed , -Furnish you fairly for this interchange : -Withal bring word if Hector will to-morrow -Be answer'd in his challenge : Ajax is ready . - -This shall I undertake ; and 'tis a burden -Which I am proud to bear . - -Achilles stands in the entrance of his tent : -Please it our general to pass strangely by him , -As if he were forgot ; and , princes all , -Lay negligent and loose regard upon him : -I will come last . 'Tis like he'll question me -Why such unplausive eyes are bent on him : -If so , I have derision med'cinable -To use between your strangeness and his pride , -Which his own will shall have desire to drink . -It may do good : pride hath no other glass -To show itself but pride , for supple knees -Feed arrogance and are the poor man's fees . - -We'll execute your purpose , and put on -A form of strangeness as we pass along : -So do each lord , and either greet him not , -Or else disdainfully , which shall shake him more -Than if not look'd on . I will lead the way . - -What ! comes the general to speak with me ? -You know my mind ; I'll fight no more 'gainst Troy . - -What says Achilles ? would he aught with us ? - -Would you , my lord , aught with the general ? - -No . - -Nothing , my lord . - -The better . - - -Good day , good day . - -How do you ? how do you ? - - -What ! does the cuckold scorn me ? - -How now , Patroclus ? - -Good morrow , Ajax . - -Ha ? - -Good morrow . - -Ay , and good next day too . - - -What mean these fellows ? Know they not Achilles ? - -They pass by strangely : they were us'd to bend , -To send their smiles before them to Achilles ; -To come as humbly as they us'd to creep -To holy altars . - -What ! am I poor of late ? -'Tis certain , greatness , once fall'n out with fortune , -Must fall out with men too : what the declin'd is -He shall as soon read in the eyes of others -As feel in his own fall ; for men , like butterflies , -Show not their mealy wings but to the summer , -And not a man , for being simply man , -Hath any honour , but honour for those honours -That are without him , as places , riches , and favour , -Prizes of accident as oft as merit : -Which when they fall , as being slippery standers , -The love that lean'd on them as slippery too , -Do one pluck down another , and together -Die in the fall . But 'tis not so with me : -Fortune and I are friends : I do enjoy -At ample point all that I did possess , -Save these men's looks ; who do , methinks , find out -Something not worth in me such rich beholding -As they have often given . Here is Ulysses : -I'll interrupt his reading . -How now , Ulysses ! - -Now , great Thetis' son ! - -What are you reading ? - -A strange fellow here -Writes me , -That man , how dearly ever parted , -How much in having , or without or in , -Cannot make boast to have that which he hath , -Nor feels not what he owes but by reflection ; -As when his virtues shining upon others -Heat them , and they retort that heat again -To the first giver . - -This is not strange , Ulysses ! -The beauty that is borne here in the face -The bearer knows not , but commends itself -To others' eyes : nor doth the eye itself -That most pure spirit of sense behold itself , -Not going from itself ; but eye to eye oppos'd -Salutes each other with each other's form ; -For speculation turns not to itself -Till it hath travell'd and is mirror'd there -Where it may see itself . This is not strange at all . - -I do not strain at the position , -It is familiar , but at the author s drift ; -Who in his circumstance expressly proves -That no man is the lord of any thing -Though in and of him there be much consisting -Till he communicate his parts to others : -Nor doth he of himself know them for aught -Till he behold them form'd in the applause -Where they're extended ; who , like an arch , reverberates -The voice again , or , like a gate of steel -Fronting the sun , receives and renders back -His figure and his heat . I was much rapt in this ; -And apprehended here immediately -The unknown Ajax . -Heavens , what a man is there ! a very horse , -That has he knows not what . Nature , what things there are , -Most abject in regard , and dear in use ! -What things again most dear in the esteem -And poor in worth ! Now shall we see to-morrow , -An act that very chance doth throw upon him , -Ajax renown'd . O heavens ! what some men do ; -While some men leave to do . -How some men creep in skittish Fortune's hall , -Whiles others play the idiots in her eyes ! -How one man eats into another's pride , -While pride is fasting in his wantonness ! -To see these Grecian lords ! why , even already -They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder , -As if his foot were on brave Hector's breast , -And great Troy shrinking . - -I do believe it ; for they pass'd by me -As misers do by beggars , neither gave to me -Good word or look : what ! are my deeds forgot ? - -Time hath , my lord , a wallet at his back , -Wherein he puts alms for oblivion , -A great-siz'd monster of ingratitudes : -Those scraps are good deeds past ; which are devour'd -As fast as they are made , forgot as soon -As done : perseverance , dear my lord , -Keeps honour bright : to have done , is to hang -Quite out of fashion , like a rusty mail -In monumental mockery . Take the instant way ; -For honour travels in a strait so narrow -Where one but goes abreast : keep , then , the path ; -For emulation hath a thousand sons -That one by one pursue : if you give way , -Or hedge aside from the direct forthright , -Like to an enter'd tide they all rush by -And leave you hindmost ; -Or , like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank , -Lie there for pavement to the abject rear , -O'errun and trampled on : then what they do in present , -Though less than yours in past , must o'ertop yours ; -For time is like a fashionable host , -That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand , -And with his arms outstretch'd , as he would fly , -Grasps in the comer : welcome ever smiles , -And farewell goes out sighing . O ! let not virtue seek -Remuneration for the thing it was ; -For beauty , wit , -High birth , vigour of bone , desert in service , -Love , friendship , charity , are subjects all -To envious and calumniating time . -One touch of nature makes the whole world kin , -That all with one consent praise new-born gawds , -Though they are made and moulded of things past , -And give to dust that is a little gilt -More laud than gilt o'er-dusted . -The present eye praises the present object : -Then marvel not , thou great and complete man , -That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax ; -Since things in motion sooner catch the eye -Than what not stirs . The cry went once on thee , -And still it might , and yet it may again , -If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive , -And case thy reputation in thy tent ; -Whose glorious deeds , but in these fields of late , -Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves , -And drave great Mars to faction . - -Of this my privacy -I have strong reasons . - -But 'gainst your privacy -The reasons are more potent and heroical . -'Tis known , Achilles , that you are in love -With one of Priam's daughters . - -Ha ! known ! - -Is that a wonder ? -The providence that's in a watchful state -Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold , -Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps , -Keeps place with thought , and almost , like the gods , -Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles . -There is a mystery with whom relation -Durst never meddle in the soul of state , -Which hath an operation more divine -Than breath or pen can give expressure to . -All the commerce that you have had with Troy -As perfectly is ours as yours , my lord ; -And better would it fit Achilles much -To throw down Hector than Polyxena ; -But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home , -When fame shall in our islands sound her trump , -And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing , -'Great Hector's sister did Achilles win , -But our great Ajax bravely beat down him .' -Farewell , my lord : I as your lover speak ; -The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break . - - -To this effect , Achilles , have I mov'd you . -A woman impudent and mannish grown -Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man -In time of action . I stand condemn'd for this : -They think my little stomach to the war -And your great love to me restrains you thus . -Sweet , rouse yourself ; and the weak wanton Cupid -Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold , -And , like a dew-drop from the lion's mane , -Be shook to air . - -Shall Ajax fight with Hector ? - -Ay ; and perhaps receive much honour by him . - -I see my reputation is at stake ; -My fame is shrewdly gor'd . - -O ! then , beware ; -Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves : -Omission to do what is necessary -Seals a commission to a blank of danger ; -And danger , like an ague , subtly taints -Even then when we sit idly in the sun . - -Go call Thersites hither , sweet Patroclus : -I'll send the fool to Ajax and desire him -T' invite the Trojan lords after the combat -To see us here unarmed . I have a woman's longing , -An appetite that I am sick withal , -To see great Hector in his weeds of peace ; -To talk with him and to behold his visage , -Even to my full of view . A labour sav'd ! - - -A wonder ! - -What ? - -Ajax goes up and down the field , asking for himself . - -How so ? - -He must fight singly to-morrow with Hector , and is so prophetically proud of an heroical cudgelling that he raves in saying nothing . - -How can that be ? - -Why , he stalks up and down like a peacock , a stride and a stand ; ruminates like a hostess that hath no arithmetic but her brain to set down her reckoning ; bites his lip with a politic regard , as who should say 'There were wit in this head , an 'twould out ;' and so there is , but it lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint , which will not show without knocking . The man's undone for ever ; for if Hector break not his neck i' the combat , he'll break't himself in vainglory . He knows not me : I said , 'Good morrow , Ajax ;' and he replies , 'Thanks , Agamemnon .' What think you of this man that takes me for the general ? He's grown a very land-fish , languageless , a monster . A plague of opinion ! a man may wear it on both sides , like a leather jerkin . - -Thou must be my ambassador to him , Thersites . - -Who , I ? why , he'll answer nobody ; he professes not answering ; speaking is for beggars ; he wears his tongue in his arms . I will put on his presence : let Patroclus make demands to me , you shall see the pageant of Ajax . - -To him , Patroclus : tell him , I humbly desire the valiant Ajax to invite the most valorous Hector to come unarmed to my tent ; and to procure safe-conduct for his person of the magnanimous and most illustrious , six-or-seven-times-honoured captain-general of the Grecian army , Agamemnon , et c tera . Do this . - -Jove bless great Ajax ! - -Hum ! - -I come from the worthy Achilles , - -Ha ! - -Who most humbly desires you to invite Hector to his tent , - -Hum ! - -And to procure safe-conduct from Agamemnon . - -Agamemnon ! - -Ay , my lord . - -Ha ! - -What say you to't ? - -God be wi' you , with all my heart . - -Your answer , sir . - -If to-morrow be a fair day , by eleven o'clock it will go one way or other ; howsoever , he shall pay for me ere he has me . - -Your answer , sir . - -Fare you well , with all my heart . - -Why , but he is not in this tune , is he ? - -No , but he's out o' tune thus . What music will be in him when Hector has knocked out his brains , I know not ; but , I am sure , none , unless the fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on . - -Come , thou shalt bear a letter to him straight . - -Let me bear another to his horse , for that's the more capable creature . - -My mind is troubled , like a fountain stirr'd ; -And I myself see not the bottom of it . - - -Would the fountain of your mind were clear again , that I might water an ass at it ! I had rather be a tick in a sheep than such a valiant ignorance . - -See , ho ! who is that there ? - -It is the Lord neas . - -Is the prince there in person ? -Had I so good occasion to lie long -As you , Prince Paris , nothing but heavenly business -Should rob my bed-mate of my company . - -That's my mind too . Good morrow , Lord neas . - -A valiant Greek , neas ; take his hand : -Witness the process of your speech , wherein -You told how Diomed , a whole week by days , -Did haunt you in the field . - -Health to you , valiant sir , -During all question of the gentle truce ; -But when I meet you arm'd , as black defiance -As heart can think or courage execute . - -The one and other Diomed embraces . -Our bloods are now in calm , and , so long , health ! -But when contention and occasion meet , -By Jove , I'll play the hunter for thy life -With all my force , pursuit , and policy . - -And thou shalt hunt a lion , that will fly -With his face backward . In humane gentleness , -Welcome to Troy ! now , by Anchises' life , -Welcome , indeed ! By Venus' hand I swear , -No man alive can love in such a sort -The thing he means to kill more excellently . - -We sympathize . Jove , let neas live , -If to my sword his fate be not the glory , -A thousand complete courses of the sun ! -But , in mine emulous honour , let him die , -With every joint a wound , and that to-morrow ! - -We know each other well . - -We do ; and long to know each other worse . - -This is the most despiteful gentle greeting , -The noblest hateful love , that e'er I heard of . -What business , lord , so early ? - -I was sent for to the king ; but why , I know not . - -His purpose meets you : 'twas to bring this Greek -To Calchas' house , and there to render him , -For the enfreed Antenor , the fair Cressid . -Let's have your company ; or , if you please , -Haste there before us . I constantly do think -Or rather , call my thought a certain knowledge -My brother Troilus lodges there to-night : -Rouse him and give him note of our approach , -With the whole quality wherefore : I fear -We shall be much unwelcome . - -That I assure you : -Troilus had rather Troy were borne to Greece -Than Cressid borne from Troy . - -There is no help ; -The bitter disposition of the time -Will have it so . On , lord ; we'll follow you . - -Good morrow , all . - - -And tell me , noble Diomed ; faith , tell me true , -Even in the soul of sound good-fellowship , -Who , in your thoughts , merits fair Helen best -Myself or Menelaus ? - -Both alike : -He merits well to have her that doth seek her -Not making any scruple of her soilure -With such a hell of pain and world of charge , -And you as well to keep her that defend her -Not palating the taste of her dishonour -With such a costly loss of wealth and friends : -He , like a puling cuckold , would drink up -The lees and dregs of a flat tamed piece ; -You , like a lecher , out of whorish loins -Are pleas'd to breed out your inheritors : -Both merits pois'd , each weighs nor less nor more ; -But he as he , the heavier for a whore . - -You are too bitter to your country-woman . - -She's bitter to her country . Hear me , Paris : -For every false drop in her bawdy veins -A Grecian's life hath sunk ; for every scruple -Of her contaminated carrion weight -A Trojan hath been slain . Since she could speak , -She hath not given so many good words breath -As for her Greeks and Trojans suffer'd death . - -Fair Diomed , you do as chapmen do , -Dispraise the thing that you desire to buy ; -But we in silence hold this virtue well , -We'll not commend what we intend to sell . -Here lies our way . - - -Dear , trouble not yourself : the morn is cold . - -Then , sweet my lord , I'll call mine uncle down : -He shall unbolt the gates . - -Trouble him not ; -To bed , to bed : sleep kill those pretty eyes , -And give as soft attachment to thy senses -As infants' empty of all thought ! - -Good morrow then . - -I prithee now , to bed . - -Are you aweary of me ? - -O Cressida ! but that the busy day , -Wak'd by the lark , hath rous'd the ribald crows , -And dreaming night will hide our joys no longer , -I would not from thee . - -Night hath been too brief . - -Beshrew the witch ! with venomous wights she stays -As tediously as hell , but flies the grasps of love -With wings more momentary-swift than thought . -You will catch cold , and curse me . - -Prithee , tarry : -You men will never tarry . -O foolish Cressid ! I might have still held off , -And then you would have tarried . Hark ! there's one up . - -What ! are all the doors open here ? - -It is your uncle . - -A pestilence on him ! now will he be mocking : I shall have such a life ! - - -How now , how now ! how go maiden-heads ? -Here , you maid ! where's my cousin Cressid ? - -Go hang yourself , you naughty mocking uncle ! -You bring me to do and then you flout me too . - -To do what ? to do what ? let her say what : what have I brought you to do ? - -Come , come ; beshrew your heart ! you'll ne'er be good , -Nor suffer others . - -Ha , ha ! Alas , poor wretch ! a poor capocchia ! hast not slept to-night ? would he not , a naughty man , let it sleep ? a bugbear take him ! - -Did not I tell you ? 'would he were knock'd o' the head ! - -Who's that at door ? good uncle , go and see . -My lord , come you again into my chamber : -You smile , and mock me , as if I meant naughtily . - -Ha , ha ! - -Come , you are deceiv'd , I think of no such thing . - -How earnestly they knock ! Pray you , come in : -I would not for half Troy have you seen here . - - -Who's there ? what's the matter ? will you beat down the door ? How now ! what's the matter ? - - -Good morrow , lord , good morrow . - -Who's there ? my Lord neas ! By my troth , -I knew you not : what news with you so early ? - -Is not Prince Troilus here ? - -Here ! what should he do here ? - -Come , he is here , my lord : do not deny him : it doth import him much to speak with me . - -Is he here , say you ? 'tis more than I know , I'll be sworn : for my own part , I came in late . What should he do here ? - -Who ! nay , then : come , come , you'll do him wrong ere you're 'ware . You'll be so true to him , to be false to him . Do not you know of him , but yet go fetch him hither ; go . - - -How now ! what's the matter ? - -My lord , I scarce have leisure to salute you , -My matter is so rash : there is at hand -Paris your brother , and Deiphobus , -The Grecian Diomed , and our Antenor -Deliver'd to us ; and for him forthwith , -Ere the first sacrifice , within this hour , -We must give up to Diomedes' hand -The Lady Cressida . - -Is it so concluded ? - -By Priam , and the general state of Troy : -They are at hand and ready to effect it . - -How my achievements mock me ! -I will go meet them : and , my Lord neas , -We met by chance ; you did not find me here . - -Good , good , my lord ; the secrets of nature -Have not more gift in taciturnity . - - -Is't possible ? no sooner got but lost ? -The devil take Antenor ! the young prince will go mad : a plague upon Antenor ! I would they had broke's neck ! - - -How now ! What is the matter ? Who was here ? - -Ah ! ah ! - -Why sigh you so profoundly ? where's my lord ? gone ! Tell me , sweet uncle , what's the matter ? - -Would I were as deep under the earth as I am above ! - -O the gods ! what's the matter ? - -Prithee , get thee in . Would thou hadst ne'er been born ! I knew thou wouldst be his death . O poor gentleman ! A plague upon Antenor ! - -Good uncle , I beseech you , on my knees I beseech you , what's the matter ? - -Thou must be gone , wench , thou must be gone ; thou art changed for Antenor . Thou must to thy father , and be gone from Troilus : 'twill be his death ; 'twill be his bane ; he cannot bear it . - -O you immortal gods ! I will not go . - -Thou must . - -I will not , uncle : I have forgot my father ; -I know no touch of consanguinity ; -No kin , no love , no blood , no soul so near me -As the sweet Troilus . O you gods divine ! -Make Cressid's name the very crown of falsehood -If ever she leave Troilus ! Time , force , and death , -Do to this body what extremes you can ; -But the strong base and building of my love -Is as the very centre of the earth , -Drawing all things to it . I'll go in and weep , - -Do , do . - -Tear my bright hair , and scratch my praised cheeks , -Crack my clear voice with sobs , and break my heart -With sounding Troilus . I will not go from Troy . - - -It is great morning , and the hour prefix'd -Of her delivery to this valiant Greek -Comes fast upon . Good my brother Troilus , -Tell you the lady what she is to do , -And haste her to the purpose . - -Walk into her house ; -I'll bring her to the Grecian presently : -And to his hand when I deliver her , -Think it an altar , and thy brother Troilus -A priest , there offering to it his own heart . - - -I know what 'tis to love ; -And would , as I shall pity , I could help ! -Please you walk in , my lords . - - -Be moderate , be moderate . - -Why tell you me of moderation ? -The grief is fine , full , perfect , that I taste , -And violenteth in a sense as strong -As that which causeth it : how can I moderate it ? -If I could temporize with my affection , -Or brew it to a weak and colder palate , -The like allayment could I give my grief : -My love admits no qualifying dross ; -No more my grief , in such a precious loss . - - -Here , here , here he comes . Ah ! sweet ducks . - -O Troilus ! Troilus ! - -What a pair of spectacles is here ! Let me embrace too . 'O heart ,' as the goodly saying is , - -O heart , heavy heart , -Why sigh'st thou without breaking ? - -when he answers again , - -Because thou canst not ease thy smart -By friendship nor by speaking . - -There was never a truer rime . Let us cast away nothing , for we may live to have need of such a verse : we see it , we see it . How now , lambs ! - -Cressid , I love thee in so strain'd a purity , -That the bless'd gods , as angry with my fancy , -More bright in zeal than the devotion which -Cold lips blow to their deities , take thee from me . - -Have the gods envy ? - -Ay , ay , ay , ay ; 'tis too plain a case . - -And is it true that I must go from Troy ? - -A hateful truth . - -What ! and from Troilus too ? - -From Troy and Troilus . - -Is it possible ? - -And suddenly ; where injury of chance -Puts back leave-taking , justles roughly by -All time of pause , rudely beguiles our lips -Of all rejoindure , forcibly prevents -Our lock'd embrasures , strangles our dear vows -Even in the birth of our own labouring breath . -We two , that with so many thousand sighs -Did buy each other , must poorly sell ourselves -With the rude brevity and discharge of one . -Injurious time now with a robber's haste -Crams his rich thievery up , he knows not how : -As many farewells as be stars in heaven , -With distinct breath and consign'd kisses to them , -He fumbles up into a loose adieu , -And scants us with a single famish'd kiss , -Distasted with the salt of broken tears . - -My lord , is the lady ready ? - -Hark ! you are call'd : some say the Genius so -Cries 'Come !' to him that instantly must die . -Bid them have patience ; she shall come anon . - -Where are my tears ? rain , to lay this wind , or my heart will be blown up by the root ! - - -I must then to the Grecians ? - -No remedy . - -A woeful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks ! -When shall we see again ? - -Hear me , my love . Be thou but true of heart , - -I true ! how now ! what wicked deem is this ? - -Nay , we must use expostulation kindly , -For it is parting from us : -I speak not 'be thou true ,' as fearing thee , -For I will throw my glove to Death himself , -That there's no maculation in thy heart ; -But , 'be thou true ,' say I , to fashion in -My sequent protestation ; be thou true , -And I will see thee . - -O ! you shall be expos'd , my lord , to dangers -As infinite as imminent ; but I'll be true . - -And I'll grow friend with danger . Wear this sleeve . - -And you this glove . When shall I see you ? - -I will corrupt the Grecian sentinels , -To give thee nightly visitation . -But yet , be true . - -O heavens ! 'be true' again ! - -Hear why I speak it , love : -The Grecian youths are full of quality ; -They're loving , well compos'd , with gifts of nature , -Flowing and swelling o'er with arts and exercise : -How novelty may move , and parts with person , -Alas ! a kind of godly jealousy , -Which , I beseech you , call a virtuous sin , -Makes me afear'd . - -O heavens ! you love me not . - -Die I a villain , then ! -In this I do not call your faith in question -So mainly as my merit : I cannot sing , -Nor heel the high lavolt , nor sweeten talk , -Nor play at subtle games ; fair virtues all , -To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant : -But I can tell that in each grace of these -There lurks a still and dumb-discoursive devil -That tempts most cunningly . But be not tempted . - -Do you think I will ? - -No . -But something may be done that we will not : -And sometimes we are devils to ourselves -When we will tempt the frailty of our powers , -Presuming on their changeful potency . - -Nay , good my lord , - -Come , kiss ; and let us part . - -Brother Troilus ! - -Good brother , come you hither ; -And bring neas and the Grecian with you . - -My lord , will you be true ? - -Who , I ? alas , it is my vice , my fault : -While others fish with craft for great opinion , -I with great truth catch mere simplicity ; -Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns , -With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare . -Fear not my truth ; the moral of my wit -Is plain , and true ; there's all the reach of it . - - -Welcome , Sir Diomed ! Here is the lady -Which for Antenor we deliver you : -At the port , lord , I'll give her to thy hand , -And by the way possess thee what she is . -Entreat her fair ; and , by my soul , fair Greek , -If e'er thou stand at mercy of my sword , -Name Cressid , and thy life shall be as safe - -As Priam is in Ilion . - -Fair Lady Cressid , -So please you , save the thanks this prince expects : -The lustre in your eye , heaven in your cheek , -Pleads your fair usage ; and to Diomed -You shall be mistress , and command him wholly . - -Grecian , thou dost not use me courteously , -To shame the zeal of my petition to thee -In praising her : I tell thee , lord of Greece , -She is as far high-soaring o'er thy praises -As thou unworthy to be call'd her servant . -I charge thee use her well , even for my charge ; -For , by the dreadful Pluto , if thou dost not , -Though the great bulk Achilles be thy guard , -I'll cut thy throat . - -O ! be not mov'd , Prince Troilus : -Let me be privileg'd by my place and message -To be a speaker free ; when I am hence , -I'll answer to my lust ; and know you , lord , -I'll nothing do on charge : to her own worth -She shall be priz'd ; but that you say 'be't so ,' -I'll speak it in my spirit and honour , 'no .' - -Come , to the port . I'll tell thee , Diomed , -This brave shall oft make thee to hide thy head . -Lady , give me your hand , and , as you walk , -To our own selves bend we our needful talk . - - -Hark ! Hector's trumpet . - -How have we spent this morning ! -The prince must think me tardy and remiss , -That swore to ride before him to the field . - -'Tis Troilus' fault . Come , come , to field with him . - -Let us make ready straight . - -Yea , with a bridegroom's fresh alacrity , -Let us address to tend on Hector's heels : -The glory of our Troy doth this day lie -On his fair worth and single chivalry . - - -Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair , -Anticipating time with starting courage . -Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy , -Thou dreadful Ajax ; that the appalled air -May pierce the head of the great combatant -And hale him hither . - -Thou , trumpet , there's my purse . -Now crack thy lungs , and split thy brazen pipe : -Blow , villain , till thy sphered bias cheek -Outswell the colic of puff'd Aquilon . -Come , stretch thy chest , and let thy eyes spout blood ; -Thou blow'st for Hector . - - -No trumpet answers . - -'Tis but early days . - -Is not yond Diomed with Calchas' daughter ? - -'Tis he , I ken the manner of his gait ; -He rises on the toe : that spirit of his -In aspiration lifts him from the earth . - - -Is this the Lady Cressid ? - -Even she . - -Most dearly welcome to the Greeks , sweet lady . - -Our general doth salute you with a kiss . - -Yet is the kindness but particular ; -'Twere better she were kiss'd in general . - -And very courtly counsel : I'll begin . -So much for Nestor . - -I'll take that winter from your lips , fair lady : -Achilles bids you welcome . - -I had good argument for kissing once . - -But that's no argument for kissing now ; -For thus popp'd Paris in his hardiment , -And parted thus you and your argument . - -O , deadly gall , and theme of all our scorns ! -For which we lose our heads to gild his horns . - -The first was Menelaus' kiss ; this , mine : -Patroclus kisses you . - -O ! this is trim . - -Paris and I , kiss evermore for him . - -I'll have my kiss , sir . Lady , by your leave . - -In kissing , do you render or receive ? - -Both take and give . - -I'll make my match to live , -The kiss you take is better than you give ; -Therefore no kiss . - -I'll give you boot ; I'll give you three for one . - -You're an odd man ; give even , or give none . - -An odd man , lady ! every man is odd . - -No , Paris is not ; for , you know 'tis true , -That you are odd , and he is even with you . - -You fillip me o' the head . - -No , I'll be sworn . - -It were no match , your nail against his horn . -May I , sweet lady , beg a kiss of you ? - -You may . - -I do desire it . - -Why , beg , then . - -Why , then , for Venus' sake , give me a kiss , -When Helen is a maid again , and his . - -I am your debtor ; claim it when 'tis due . - -Never's my day , and then a kiss of you . - -Lady , a word : I'll bring you to your father . - - -A woman of quick sense . - -Fie , fie upon her ! -There's language in her eye , her cheek , her lip , -Nay , her foot speaks ; her wanton spirits look out -At every joint and motive of her body . -O ! these encounterers , so glib of tongue , -That give a coasting welcome ere it comes , -And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts -To every tickling reader , set them down -For sluttish spoils of opportunity -And daughters of the game . - - -The Trojans' trumpet . - -Yonder comes the troop . - - -Hail , all you state of Greece ! what shall be done -To him that victory commands ? or do you purpose -A victor shall be known ? will you the knights -Shall to the edge of all extremity -Pursue each other , or shall be divided -By any voice or order of the field ? -Hector bade ask . - -Which way would Hector have it ? - -He cares not ; he'll obey conditions . - -'Tis done like Hector ; but securely done , -A little proudly , and great deal misprising -The knight oppos'd . - -If not Achilles , sir . -What is your name ? - -If not Achilles , nothing . - -Therefore Achilles ; but , whate'er , know this : -In the extremity of great and little , -Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector ; -The one almost as infinite as all , -The other blank as nothing . Weigh him well , -And that which looks like pride is courtesy . -This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood : -In love whereof half Hector stays at home ; -Half heart , half hand , half Hector comes to seek -This blended knight , half Trojan , and half Greek . - -A maiden battle , then ? O ! I perceive you . - - -Here is Sir Diomed . Go , gentle knight , -Stand by our Ajax : as you and Lord neas -Consent upon the order of their fight , -So be it ; either to the uttermost , -Or else a breath : the combatants being kin -Half stints their strife before their strokes begin . - - -They are oppos'd already . - -What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy ? - -The youngest son of Priam , a true knight : -Not yet mature , yet matchless ; firm of word , -Speaking in deeds and deedless in his tongue ; -Not soon provok'd , nor being provok'd soon calm'd : -His heart and hand both open and both free ; -For what he has he gives , what thinks he shows ; -Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty , -Nor dignifies an impure thought with breath . -Manly as Hector , but more dangerous ; -For Hector , in his blaze of wrath , subscribes -To tender objects ; but he in heat of action -Is more vindicative than jealous love . -They call him Troilus , and on him erect -A second hope , as fairly built as Hector . -Thus says neas ; one that knows the youth -Even to his inches , and with private soul -Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me . - - -They are in action . - -Now , Ajax , hold thine own ! - -Hector , thou sleep'st ; awake thee ! - -His blows are well dispos'd : there , Ajax ! - -You must no more . - - -Princes , enough , so please you . - -I am not warm yet ; let us fight again . - -As Hector pleases . - -Why , then will I no more : -Thou art , great lord , my father's sister's son , -A cousin-german to great Priam's seed ; -The obligation of our blood forbids -A gory emulation 'twixt us twain . -Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so -That thou couldst say , 'This hand is Grecian all , -And this is Trojan ; the sinews of this leg -All Greek , and this all Troy ; my mother's blood -Runs on the dexter cheek , and this sinister -Bounds in my father's ,' by Jove multipotent , -Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member -Wherein my sword had not impressure made -Of our rank feud . But the just gods gainsay -That any drop thou borrow'dst from thy mother , -My sacred aunt , should by my mortal sword -Be drain'd ! Let me embrace thee , Ajax ; -By him that thunders , thou hast lusty arms ; -Hector would have them fall upon him thus : -Cousin , all honour to thee ! - -I thank thee , Hector : -Thou art too gentle and too free a man : -I came to kill thee , cousin , and bear hence -A great addition earned in thy death . - -Not Neoptolemus so mirable , -On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st byes -Cries , 'This is he !' could promise to himself -A thought of added honour torn from Hector . - -There is expectance here from both the sides , -What further you will do . - -We'll answer it ; -The issue is embracement : Ajax , farewell . - -If I might in entreaties find success , -As seld I have the chance ,I would desire -My famous cousin to our Grecian tents . - -'Tis Agamemnon's wish , and great Achilles -Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector . - -neas , call my brother Troilus to me , -And signify this loving interview -To the expecters of our Trojan part ; -Desire them home . Give me thy hand , my cousin ; -I will go eat with thee and see your knights . - -Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here . - -The worthiest of them tell me name by name ; -But for Achilles , mine own searching eyes -Shall find him by his large and portly size . - -Worthy of arms ! as welcome as to one -That would be rid of such an enemy ; -But that's no welcome ; understand more clear , -What's past and what's to come is strew'd with husks -And formless ruin of oblivion ; -But in this extant moment , faith and troth , -Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing , -Bids thee , with most divine integrity , -From heart of very heart , great Hector , welcome . - -I thank thee , most imperious Agamemnon . - -My well-fam'd Lord of Troy , no less to you . - -Let me confirm my princely brother's greeting : -You brace of war-like brothers , welcome hither . - -Whom must we answer ? - -The noble Menelaus . - -O ! you , my lord ? by Mars his gauntlet , thanks ! -Mock not that I affect the untraded oath ; -Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove : -She's well , but bade me not commend her to you . - -Name her not now , sir ; she's a deadly theme . - -O ! pardon ; I offend . - -I have , thou gallant Trojan , seen thee oft , -Labouring for destiny , make cruel way -Through ranks of Greekish youth : and I have seen thee , -As hot as Perseus , spur thy Phrygian steed , -Despising many forfeits and subduements , -When thou hast hung thy advanc'd sword i' th' air , -Not letting it decline on the declin'd ; -That I have said to some my standers-by , -'Lo ! Jupiter is yonder , dealing life !' -And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath , -When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in , -Like an Olympian wrestling : this have I seen ; -But this thy countenance , still lock'd in steel , -I never saw till now . I knew thy grandsire , -And once fought with him : he was a soldier good ; -But , by great Mars , the captain of us all , -Never like thee . Let an old man embrace thee ; -And , worthy warrior , welcome to our tents . - -'Tis the old Nestor . - -Let me embrace thee , good old chronicle , -That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time : -Most reverend Nestor , I am glad to clasp thee . - -I would my arms could match thee in contention , -As they contend with thee in courtesy . - -I would they could . - -Ha ! -By this white beard , I'd fight with thee to-morrow . -Well , welcome , welcome ! I have seen the time . - -I wonder now how yonder city stands , -When we have here her base and pillar by us . - -I know your favour , Lord Ulysses , well . -Ah ! sir , there's many a Greek and Trojan dead , -Since first I saw yourself and Diomed -In Ilion , on your Greekish embassy . - -Sir , I foretold you then what would ensue : -My prophecy is but half his journey yet ; -For yonder walls , that pertly front your town , -Yond towers , whose wanton tops do buss the clouds , -Must kiss their own feet . - -I must not believe you : -There they stand yet , and modestly I think , -The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost -A drop of Grecian blood : the end crowns all , -And that old common arbitrator , Time , -Will one day end it . - -So to him we leave it . -Most gentle and most valiant Hector , welcome . -After the general , I beseech you next -To feast with me and see me at my tent . - -I shall forestall thee , Lord Ulysses , thou ! -Now , Hector , I have fed mine eyes on thee ; -I have with exact view perus'd thee , Hector , -And quoted joint by joint . - -Is this Achilles ? - -I am Achilles . - -Stand fair , I pray thee : let me look on thee . - -Behold thy fill . - -Nay , I have done already . - -Thou art too brief : I will the second time , -As I would buy thee , view thee limb by limb . - -O ! like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er ; -But there's more in me than thou understand'st . -Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye ? - -Tell me , you heavens , in which part of his body -Shall I destroy him ? whether there , or there , or there ? -That I may give the local wound a name , -And make distinct the very breach whereout -Hector's great spirit flew . Answer me , heavens ! - -It would discredit the bless'd gods , proud man , -To answer such a question . Stand again : -Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly -As to prenominate in nice conjecture -Where thou wilt hit me dead ? - -I tell thee , yea . - -Wert thou an oracle to tell me so , -I'd not believe thee . Henceforth guard thee well , -For I'll not kill thee there , nor there , nor there ; -But , by the forge that stithied Mars his helm , -I'll kill thee every where , yea , o'er and o'er . -You wisest Grecians , pardon me this brag ; -His insolence draws folly from my lips ; -But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words , -Or may I never - -Do not chafe thee , cousin : -And you , Achilles , let these threats alone , -Till accident or purpose bring you to't : -You may have every day enough of Hector , -If you have stomach . The general state , I fear , -Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him . - -I pray you , let us see you in the field ; -We have had pelting wars since you refus'd -The Grecians' cause . - -Dost thou entreat me , Hector ? -To-morrow do I meet thee , fell as death ; -To-night all friends . - -Thy hand upon that match . - -First , all you peers of Greece , go to my tent ; -There in the full convive we afterwards , -As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall -Concur together , severally entreat him . -Beat loud the tabourines , let the trumpets blow , -That this great soldier may his welcome know . - - -My Lord Ulysses , tell me , I beseech you , -In what place of the field doth Calchas keep ? - -At Menelaus' tent , most princely Troilus : -There Diomed doth feast with him to-night ; -Who neither looks upon the heaven nor earth , -But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view -On the fair Cressid . - -Shall I , sweet lord , be bound to thee so much , -After we part from Agamemnon's tent , -To bring me thither ? - -You shall command me , sir . -As gentle tell me , of what honour was -This Cressida in Troy ? Had she no lover there -That wails her absence ? - -O , sir ! to such as boasting show their scars -A mock is due . Will you walk on , my lord ? -She was belov'd , she lov'd ; she is , and doth : -But still sweet love is food for fortune's tooth . - - -I'll heat his blood with Greekish wine to-night , -Which with my scimitar I'll cool to-morrow . -Patroclus , let us feast him to the height . - -Here comes Thersites . - - -How now , thou core of envy ! -Thou crusty batch of nature , what's the news ? - -Why , thou picture of what thou seemest , and idol of idiot-worshippers , here's a letter for thee . - -From whence , fragment ? - -Why , thou full dish of fool , from Troy . - -Who keeps the tent now ? - -The surgeon's box , or the patient's wound . - -Well said , adversity ! and what need these tricks ? - -Prithee , be silent , boy : I profit not by thy talk : thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet . - -Male varlet , you rogue ! what's that ? - -Why , his masculine whore . Now , the rotten diseases of the south , the guts-griping , ruptures , catarrhs , loads o' gravel i' the back , lethargies , cold palsies , raw eyes , dirt-rotten livers , wheezing lungs , bladders full of imposthume , sciaticas , lime-kilns i' the palm , incurable bone-ache , and the rivelled fee-simple of the tetter , take and take again such preposterous discoveries ! - -Why , thou damnable box of envy , thou , what meanest thou to curse thus ? - -Do I curse thee ? - -Why , no , you ruinous butt , you whoreson indistinguishable cur , no . - -No ! why art thou then exasperate , thou idle immaterial skein of sleave silk , thou green sarcenet flap for a sore eye , thou tassel of a prodigal's purse , thou ? Ah ! how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies , diminutives of nature . - -Out , gall ! - -Finch egg ! - -My sweet Patroclus , I am thwarted quite -From my great purpose in to-morrow's battle . -Here is a letter from Queen Hecuba , -A token from her daughter , my fair love , -Both taxing me and gaging me to keep -An oath that I have sworn . I will not break it : -Fall Greeks ; fail fame ; honour or go or stay ; -My major vow lies here , this I'll obey . -Come , come , Thersites , help to trim my tent ; -This night in banqueting must all be spent . -Away , Patroclus ! - - -With too much blood and too little brain , these two may run mad ; but if with too much brain , and too little blood they do , I'll be a curer of madmen . Here's Agamemnon , an honest fellow enough , and one that loves quails , but he has not so much brain as ear-wax : and the goodly transformation of Jupiter there , his brother , the bull , the primitive statue , and oblique memorial of cuckolds ; a thrifty shoeing-horn in a chain , hanging at his brother's leg , to what form but that he is should wit larded with malice and malice forced with wit turn him to ? To an ass , were nothing : he is both ass and ox ; to an ox , were nothing : he is both ox and ass . To be a dog , a mule , a cat , a fitchew , a toad , a lizard , an owl , a puttock , or a herring without a roe , I would not care ; but to be Menelaus ! I would conspire against destiny . Ask me not what I would be , if I were not Thersites , for I care not to be the louse of a lazar , so I were not Menelaus . Hey-day ! spirits and fires ! - - -We go wrong , we go wrong . - -No , yonder 'tis ; -There , where we see the lights . - -I trouble you . - -No , not a whit . - -Here comes himself to guide you . - - -Welcome , brave Hector ; welcome , princes all . - -So now , fair prince of Troy , I bid good-night . -Ajax commands the guard to tend on you . - -Thanks and good-night to the Greeks' general . - -Good-night , my lord . - -Good-night , sweet Lord Menelaus . - -Sweet draught : 'sweet ,' quoth a' ! sweet sink , sweet sewer . - -Good-night and welcome both at once , to those -That go or tarry . - -Good-night . - - -Old Nestor tarries ; and you too , Diomed , -Keep Hector company an hour or two . - -I cannot , lord ; I have important business , -The tide whereof is now . Good-night , great Hector . - -Give me your hand . - -Follow his torch ; he goes to Calchas' tent . -I'll keep you company . - -Sweet sir , you honour me . - -And so , good-night . - - -Come , come , enter my tent . - - -That same Diomed's a false-hearted rogue , a most unjust knave ; I will no more trust him when he leers than I will a serpent when he hisses . He will spend his mouth , and promise , like Brabbler the hound ; but when he performs , astronomers foretell it : it is prodigious , there will come some change : the sun borrows of the moon when Diomed keeps his word . I will rather leave to see Hector , than not to dog him : they say he keeps a Trojan drab , and uses the traitor Calchas' tent . I'll after . Nothing but lechery ! all incontinent varlets . - - -What , are you up here , ho ! speak . - -Who calls ? - -Diomed . Calchas , I think . Where's your daughter ? - -She comes to you . - - -Stand where the torch may not discover us . - - -Cressid comes forth to him . - -How now , my charge ! - -Now , my sweet guardian ! Hark ! a word with you . - - -Yea , so familiar ! - -She will sing any man at first sight . - -And any man may sing her , if he can take her cliff ; she's noted . - -Will you remember ? - -Remember ! yes . - -Nay , but do , then ; -And let your mind be coupled with your words . - -What should she remember ? - -List ! - -Sweet honey Greek , tempt me no more to folly . - -Roguery ! - -Nay , then , - -I'll tell you what , - -Foh , foh ! come , tell a pin : you are forsworn . - -In faith , I cannot . What would you have me do ? - -A juggling trick ,to be secretly open . - -What did you swear you would bestow on me ? - -I prithee , do not hold me to mine oath ; -Bid me do anything but that , sweet Greek . - -Good-night . - -Hold , patience ! - -How now , Trojan ? - -Diomed , - -No , no , good-night ; I'll be your fool no more . - -Thy better must . - -Hark ! one word in your ear . - -O plague and madness ! - -You are mov'd , prince ; let us depart , I pray you , -Lest your displeasure should enlarge itself -To wrathful terms . This place is dangerous ; -The time right deadly . I beseech you , go . - -Behold , I pray you ! - -Nay , good my lord , go off : -You flow to great distraction ; come , my lord . - -I pray thee , stay . - -You have not patience ; come . - -I pray you , stay . By hell , and all hell's torments , -I will not speak a word ! - -And so , good-night . - -Nay , but you part in anger . - -Doth that grieve thee ? -O wither'd truth ! - -Why , how now , lord ! - -By Jove , -I will be patient . - -Guardian !why , Greek ! - -Foh , foh ! adieu ; you palter . - -In faith , I do not : come hither once again . - -You shake , my lord , at something : will you go ? -You will break out . - -She strokes his cheek ! - -Come , come . - -Nay , stay ; by Jove , I will not speak a word : -There is between my will and all offences -A guard of patience : stay a little while . - -How the devil Luxury , with his fat rump and potato finger , tickles these together ! Fry , lechery , fry ! - -But will you , then ? - -In faith , I will , la ; never trust me else . - -Give me some token for the surety of it . - -I'll fetch you one . - - -You have sworn patience . - -Fear me not , sweet lord ; -I will not be myself , nor have cognition -Of what I feel : I am all patience . - - -Now the pledge ! now , now , now ! - -Here , Diomed , keep this sleeve . - -O beauty ! where is thy faith ? - -My lord , - -I will be patient ; outwardly I will . - -You look upon that sleeve ; behold it well . -He lov'd me O false wench !Give't to me again . - -Whose was't ? - -It is no matter , now I have't again . -I will not meet with you to-morrow night . -I prithee , Diomed , visit me no more . - -Now she sharpens : well said , whetstone ! - -I shall have it . - -What , this ? - -Ay , that . - -O ! all you gods . O pretty , pretty pledge ! -Thy master now lies thinking in his bed -Of thee and me ; and sighs , and takes my glove , -And gives me norial dainty kisses to it , -As I kiss thee . Nay , do not snatch it from me ; -He that takes that doth take my heart withal . - -I had your heart before ; this follows it . - -I did swear patience . - -You shall not have it , Diomed ; faith you shall not ; -I'll give you something else . - -I will have this . Whose was it ? - -'Tis no matter . - -Come , tell me whose it was . - -'Twas one's that loved me better than you will . -But , now you have it , take it . - -Whose was it ? - -By all Diana's waiting-women yond , -And by herself , I will not tell you whose . - -To-morrow will I wear it on my helm , -And grieve his spirit that dares not challenge it . - -Wert thou the devil , and wor'st it on thy horn , -It should be challeng'd . - -Well , well , 'tis done , 'tis past : and yet it is not : -I will not keep my word . - -Why then , farewell ; -Thou never shalt mock Diomed again . - -You shall not go : one cannot speak a word , -But it straight starts you . - -I do not like this fooling . - -Nor I , by Pluto : but that that likes not me -Pleases me best . - -What , shall I come ? the hour ? - -Ay , come :O Jove ! -Do come :I shall be plagu'd . - -Farewell till then . - -Good-night : I prithee , come . - -Troilus , farewell ! one eye yet looks on thee , -But with my heart the other eye doth see . -Ah ! poor our sex ; this fault in us I find , -The error of our eye directs our mind . -What error leads must err . O ! then conclude -Minds sway'd by eyes are full of turpitude . - - -A proof of strength she could not publish more , -Unless she said , 'My mind is now turn'd whore .' - -All's done , my lord . - -It is . - -Why stay we , then ? - -To make a recordation to my soul -Of every syllable that here was spoke . -But if I tell how these two did co-act , -Shall I not lie in publishing a truth ? -Sith yet there is a credence in my heart , -An esperance so obstinately strong , -That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears , -As if those organs had deceptions functions , -Created only to calumniate . -Was Cressid here ? - -I cannot conjure , Trojan . - -She was not , sure . - -Most sure she was . - -Why , my negation hath no taste of madness . - -Nor mine , my lord : Cressid was here but now . - -Let it not be believ'd for womanhood ! -Think we had mothers ; do not give advantage -To stubborn critics , apt , without a theme , -For depravation , to square the general sex -By Cressid's rule : rather think this not Cressid . - -What hath she done , prince , that can soil our mothers ? - -Nothing at all , unless that this were she . - -Will he swagger himself out on's own eyes ? - -This she ? no , this is Diomed's Cressida . -If beauty have a soul , this is not she ; -If souls guide vows , if vows be sanctimony , -If sanctimony be the gods' delight , -If there be rule in unity itself , -This is not she . O madness of discourse , -That cause sets up with and against itself ; -Bi-fold authority ! where reason can revolt -Without perdition , and loss assume all reason -Without revolt : this is , and is not , Cressid . -Within my soul there doth conduce a fight -Of this strange nature that a thing inseparate -Divides more wider than the sky and earth ; -And yet the spacious breadth of this division -Admits no orifice for a point as subtle -As Ariachne's broken woof to enter . -Instance , O instance ! strong as Pluto's gates ; -Cressid is mine , tied with the bonds of heaven : -Instance , O instance ! strong as heaven itself ; -The bonds of heaven are slipp'd , dissolv'd , and loos'd ; -And with another knot , five-finger-tied , -The fractions of her faith , orts of her love , -The fragments , scraps , the bits , and greasy reliques -Of her o'er-eaten faith , are bound to Diomed . - -May worthy Troilus be half attach'd -With that which here his passion doth express ? - -Ay , Greek ; and that shall be divulged well -In characters as red as Mars his heart -Inflam'd with Venus : never did young man fancy -With so eternal and so fix'd a soul . -Hark , Greek : as much as I do Cressid love , -So much by weight hate I her Diomed ; -That sleeve is mine that he'll bear on his helm ; -Were it a casque compos'd by Vulcan's skill , -My sword should bite it . Not the dreadful spout -Which shipmen do the hurricano call , -Constring'd in mass by the almighty sun , -Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear -In his descent than shall my prompted sword -Falling on Diomed . - -He'll tickle it for his concupy . - -O Cressid ! O false Cressid ! false , false , false ! -Let all untruths stand by thy stained name , -And they'll seem glorious . - -O ! contain yourself ; -Your passion draws ears hither . - - -I have been seeking you this hour , my lord . -Hector , by this , is arming him in Troy : -Ajax , your guard , stays to conduct you home . - -Have with you , prince . My courteous lord , adieu . -Farewell , revolted fair ! and Diomed , -Stand fast , and wear a castle on thy head ! - -I'll bring you to the gates . - -Accept distracted thanks . - - -Would I could meet that rogue Diomed ! I would croak like a raven ; I would bode , I would bode . Patroclus would give me any thing for the intelligence of this whore : the parrot will not do more for an almond than he for a commodious drab . Lechery , lechery ; still , wars and lechery : nothing else holds fashion . A burning devil take them ! - - -When was my lord so much ungently temper'd , -To stop his ears against admonishment ? -Unarm , unarm , and do not fight to-day . - -You train me to offend you ; get you in : -By all the everlasting gods , I'll go . - -My dreams will , sure , prove ominous to the day . - -No more , I say . - - -Where is my brother Hector ? - -Here , sister ; arm'd , and bloody in intent . -Consort with me in loud and dear petition ; -Pursue we him on knees ; for I have dream'd -Of bloody turbulence , and this whole night -Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaughter . - -O ! 'tis true . - -Ho ! bid my trumpet sound . - -No notes of sally , for the heavens , sweet brother . - -Be gone , I say : the gods have heard me swear . - -The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows : -They are polluted offerings , more abhorr'd -Than spotted livers in the sacrifice . - -O ! be persuaded : do not count it holy -To hurt by being just : it is as lawful , -For we would give much , to use violent thefts , -And rob in the behalf of charity . - -It is the purpose that makes strong the vow ; -But vows to every purpose must not hold . -Unarm , sweet Hector . - -Hold you still , I say ; -Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate : -Life every man holds dear ; but the dear man -Holds honour far more precious-dear than life . - -How now , young man ! mean'st thou to fight to-day ? - -Cassandra , call my father to persuade . - - -No , faith , young Troilus ; doff thy harness , youth ; -I am to-day i' the vein of chivalry : -Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong , -And tempt not yet the brushes of the war . -Unarm thee , go , and doubt thou not , brave boy , -I'll stand to-day for thee and me and Troy . - -Brother , you have a vice of mercy in you , -Which better fits a lion than a man . - -What vice is that , good Troilus ? chide me for it . - -When many times the captive Grecian falls , -Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword , -You bid them rise , and live . - -O ! 'tis fair play . - -Fool's play , by heaven , Hector . - -How now ! how now ! - -For the love of all the gods , -Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers , -And when we have our armours buckled on , -The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords , -Spur them to ruthful work , rein them from ruth . - -Fie , savage , fie ! - -Hector , then 'tis wars . - -Troilus , I would not have you fight to-day . - -Who should withhold me ? -Not fate , obedience , nor the hand of Mars -Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire ; -Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees , -Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears ; -Nor you , my brother , with your true sword drawn , -Oppos'd to hinder me , should stop my way , -But by my ruin . - - -Lay hold upon him , Priam , hold him fast : -He is thy crutch ; now if thou lose thy stay , -Thou on him leaning , and all Troy on thee , -Fall all together . - -Come , Hector , come ; go back : -Thy wife hath dream'd ; thy mother hath had visions ; -Cassandra doth foresee ; and I myself -Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt , -To tell thee that this day is ominous : -Therefore , come back . - -neas is a-field ; -And I do stand engag'd to many Greeks , -Even in the faith of valour , to appear -This morning to them . - -Ay , but thou shalt not go . - -I must not break my faith . -You know me dutiful ; therefore , dear sir , -Let me not shame respect , but give me leave -To take that course by your consent and voice , -Which you do here forbid me , royal Priam . - -O Priam ! yield not to him . - -Do not , dear father . - -Andromache , I am offended with you : -Upon the love you bear me , get you in . - - -This foolish , dreaming , superstitious girl -Makes all these bodements . - -O farewell ! dear Hector . -Look ! how thou diest ; look ! how thy eye turns pale ; -Look ! how thy wounds do bleed at many vents : -Hark ! how Troy roars : how Hecuba cries out ! -How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth ! -Behold , distraction , frenzy , and amazement , -Like witless anticks , one another meet , -And all cry Hector ! Hector's dead ! O Hector ! - -Away ! Away ! - -Farewell . Yet , soft ! Hector , I take my leave : -Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive . - - -You are amaz'd , my liege , at her exclaim . -Go in and cheer the town : we'll forth and fight ; -Do deeds worth praise and tell you them at night . - -Farewell : the gods with safety stand about thee ! - - -They are at it , hark ! Proud Diomed , believe , -I come to lose my arm , or win my sleeve . - - -Do you hear , my lord ? do you hear ? - -What now ? - -Here's a letter come from yond poor girl . - -Let me read . - -A whoreson tisick , a whoreson rascally tisick so troubles me , and the foolish fortune of this girl ; and what one thing , what another , that I shall leave you one o' these days : and I have a rheum in mine eyes too , and such an ache in my bones that , unless a man were cursed , I cannot tell what to think on't . What says she there ? - -Words , words , mere words , no matter from the heart ; -The effect doth operate another way . - -Go , wind to wind , there turn and change together . -My love with words and errors still she feeds , -But edifies another with her deeds . - - -Now they are clapper-clawing one another ; I'll go look on . That dissembling abominable varlet , Diomed , has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there in his helm : I would fain see them meet ; that that same young Trojan ass , that loves the whore there , might send that Greekish whoremasterly villain , with the sleeve , back to the dissembling luxurious drab , on a sleeveless errand . O' the other side , the policy of those crafty swearing rascals ,that stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese , Nestor , and that same dog-fox , Ulysses , is not proved worth a blackberry : they set me up , in policy , that mongrel cur , Ajax , against that dog of as bad a kind , Achilles ; and now is the cur Ajax prouder than the cur Achilles , and will not arm to-day ; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism , and policy grows into an ill opinion . Soft ! here comes sleeve , and t' other . - - -Fly not ; for shouldst thou take the river Styx , -I would swim after . - -Thou dost miscall retire : -I do not fly ; but advantageous care -Withdrew me from the odds of multitude . -Have at thee ! - -Hold thy whore , Grecian ! now for thy whore , Trojan ! now the sleeve , now the sleeve ! - -What art thou , Greek ? art thou for Hector's match ? -Art thou of blood and honour ? - -No , no , I am a rascal ; a scurvy railing knave ; a very filthy rogue . - -I do believe thee : live . - - -God-a-mercy , that thou wilt believe me ; but a plague break thy neck for frighting me ! What's become of the wenching rogues ? I think they have swallowed one another : I would laugh at that miracle ; yet , in a sort , lechery eats itself . I'll seek them . - - -Go , go , my servant , take thou Troilus' horse ; -Present the fair steed to my Lady Cressid : -Fellow , commend my service to her beauty : -Tell her I have chastis'd the amorous Trojan , -And am her knight by proof . - -I go , my lord . - -Renew , renew ! The fierce Polydamas -Hath beat down Menon ; bastard Margarelon -Hath Doreus prisoner , -And stands colossus-wise , waving his beam , -Upon the pashed corses of the kings -Epistrophus and Cedius ; Polixenes is slain ; -Amphimachus , and Thoas , deadly hurt ; -Patroclus ta'en , or slain ; and Palamedes -Sore hurt and bruis'd ; the dreadful Sagittary -Appals our numbers : haste we , Diomed , -To reinforcement , or we perish all . - - -Go , bear Patroclus' body to Achilles ; -And bid the snail-pac'd Ajax arm for shame . -There is a thousand Hectors in the field : -Now here he fights on Galathe his horse , -And there lacks work ; anon he's there afoot , -And there they fly or die , like scaled sculls -Before the belching whale ; then is he yonder , -And there the strawy Greeks , ripe for his edge , -Fall down before him , like the mower's swath : -Here , there , and everywhere , he leaves and takes , -Dexterity so obeying appetite -That what he will he does ; and does so much -That proof is called impossibility . - - -O ! courage , courage , princes ; great Achilles -Is arming , weeping , cursing , vowing vengeance : -Patroclus' wounds have rous'd his drowsy blood , -Together with his mangled Myrmidons , -That noseless , handless , hack'd and chipp'd , come to him , -Crying on Hector . Ajax hath lost a friend , -And foams at mouth , and he is arm'd and at it , -Roaring for Troilus , who hath done to-day -Mad and fantastic execution , -Engaging and redeeming of himself -With such a careless force and forceless care -As if that luck , in very spite of cunning , -Bade him win all . - - -Troilus ! thou coward Troilus ! - - -Ay , there , there . - -So , so , we draw together . - - -Where is this Hector ? -Come , come , thou boy-queller , show thy face ; -Know what it is to meet Achilles angry : -Hector ! where's Hector ? I will none but Hector . - - -Troilus , thou coward Troilus , show thy head ! - - -Troilus , I say ! where's Troilus ? - -What wouldst thou ? - -I would correct him . - -Were I the general , thou shouldst have my office -Ere that correction . Troilus , I say ! what , Troilus ! - - -O traitor Diomed ! Turn thy false face , thou traitor ! -And pay thy life thou ow'st me for my horse ! - -Ha ! art thou there ? - -I'll fight with him alone : stand , Diomed . - -He is my prize ; I will not look upon . - -Come , both you cogging Greeks ; have at you both ! - -Yea , Troilus ? O , well fought , my youngest brother ! - - -Now I do see thee . Ha ! have at thee , Hector ! - -Pause , if thou wilt . - -I do disdain thy courtesy , proud Trojan . -Be happy that my arms are out of use : -My rest and negligence befriend thee now , -But thou anon shalt hear of me again ; -Till when , go seek thy fortune . - - -Fare thee well : -I would have been much more a fresher man , -Had I expected thee . How now , my brother ! - - -Ajax hath ta'en neas : shall it be ? -No , by the flame of yonder glorious heaven , -He shall not carry him : I'll be ta'en too , -Or bring him off . Fate , hear me what I say ! -I reck not though I end my life to-day . - -Stand , stand , thou Greek ; thou art a goodly mark . -No ? wilt thou not ? I like thy armour well ; -I'll frush it , and unlock the rivets all , -But I'll be master of it . Wilt thou not , beast , abide ? -Why then , fly on , I'll hunt thee for thy hide . - - -Come here about me , you my Myrmidons ; -Mark what I say . Attend me where I wheel : -Strike not a stroke , but keep yourselves in breath : -And when I have the bloody Hector found , -Empale him with your weapons round about ; -In fellest manner execute your aims . -Follow me , sirs , and my proceedings eye : -It is decreed , Hector the great must die . - -The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it . Now , bull ! now , dog ! 'Loo , Paris , 'loo ! now , my double-henned sparrow ! 'loo , Paris , 'loo ! The bull has the game : 'ware horns , ho ! - -Turn , slave , and fight . - -What art thou ? - -A bastard son of Priam's . - -I am a bastard too ; I love bastards : I am a bastard begot , bastard instructed , bastard in mind , bastard in valour , in every thing illegitimate . One bear will not bite another , and wherefore should one bastard ? Take heed , the quarrel's most ominous to us : if the son of a whore fight for a whore , he tempts judgment . Farewell , bastard . - - -The devil take thee , coward ! - - -Most putrefied core , so fair without , -Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life . -Now is my day's work done ; I'll take good breath : -Rest , sword ; thou hast thy fill of blood and death . - -Look , Hector , how the sun begins to set ; -How ugly night comes breathing at his heels : -Even with the vail and darking of the sun , -To close the day up , Hector's life is done . - -I am unarm'd ; forego this vantage , Greek . - -Strike , fellows , strike ! this is the man I seek . - -So , Ilion , fall thou next ! now , Troy , sink down ! -Here lies thy heart , thy sinews , and thy bone . -On ! Myrmidons , and cry you all amain , -'Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain .' - -Hark ! a retreat upon our Grecian part . - -The Trojan trumpets sound the like , my lord . - -The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth , -And , stickler-like , the armies separates . -My half-supp'd sword , that frankly would have fed , -Pleas'd with this dainty bait , thus goes to bed . - -Come , tie his body to my horse's tail ; -Along the field I will the Trojan trail . - - -Hark ! hark ! what shout is that ? - -Peace , drums ! - - -Achilles ! -Achilles ! Hector's slain ! Achilles ! - -The bruit is , Hector's slain , and by Achilles . - -If it be so , yet bragless let it be ; -Great Hector was a man as good as he . - -March patiently along . Let one be sent -To pray Achilles see us at our tent . -If in his death the gods have us befriended , -Great Troy is ours , and our sharp wars are ended . - -Stand , ho ! yet are we masters of the field . -Never go home ; here starve we out the night . - - -Hector is slain . - -Hector ! the gods forbid ! - -He's dead ; and at the murderer's horse's tail , -In beastly sort , dragg'd through the shameful field . -Frown on , you heavens , effect your rage with speed ! -Sit , gods , upon your thrones , and smile at Troy ! -I say , at once let your brief plagues be mercy , -And linger not our sure destructions on ! - -My lord , you do discomfort all the host . - -You understand me not that tell me so . -I do not speak of flight , of fear , of death ; -But dare all imminence that gods and men -Address their dangers in . Hector is gone : -Who shall tell Priam so , or Hecuba ? -Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call'd -Go in to Troy , and say there Hector's dead : -There is a word will Priam turn to stone , -Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives , -Cold statues of the youth ; and , in a word , -Scare Troy out of itself . But march away : -Hector is dead ; there is no more to say . -Stay yet . You vile abominable tents , -Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains , -Let Titan rise as early as he dare , -I'll through and through you ! And , thou great-siz'd coward , -No space of earth shall sunder our two hates : -I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still , -That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy's thoughts . -Strike a free march to Troy ! with comfort go : -Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe . - -But hear you , hear you ! - -Hence , broker lackey ! ignomy and shame -Pursue thy life , and live aye with thy name ! - - -A goodly medicine for my aching bones ! O world ! world ! world ! thus is the poor agent despised . O traitors and bawds , how earnestly are you set a-work , and how ill requited ! why should our endeavour be so loved , and the performance so loathed ? what verse for it ? what instance for it ?Let me see ! - -Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing , -Till he hath lost his honey and his sting ; -And being once subdu'd in armed tail , -Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail . - -Good traders in the flesh , set this in your painted cloths . - -As many as be here of pander's hall , -Your eyes , half out , weep out at Pandar's fall ; -Or if you cannot weep , yet give some groans , -Though not for me , yet for your aching bones . -Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade , -Some two months hence my will shall here be made . -It should be now , but that my fear is this , -Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss . -Till then I'll sweat , and seek about for eases ; -And at that time bequeath you my diseases - -TWELFTH-NIGHT; OR WHAT YOU WILL - - -If music be the food of love , play on ; -Give me excess of it , that , surfeiting , -The appetite may sicken , and so die . -That strain again ! it had a dying fall : -O ! it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound -That breathes upon a bank of violets , -Stealing and giving odour . Enough ! no more : -'Tis not so sweet now as it was before . -O spirit of love ! how quick and fresh art thou , -That , notwithstanding thy capacity -Receiveth as the sea , nought enters there , -Of what validity and pitch soe'er , -But falls into abatement and low price , -Even in a minute : so full of shapes is fancy , -That it alone is high fantastical . - -Will you go hunt , my lord ? - -What , Curio ? - -The hart . - -Why , so I do , the noblest that I have . -O ! when mine eyes did see Olivia first , -Methought she purg'd the air of pestilence . -That instant was I turn'd into a hart , -And my desires , like fell and cruel hounds , -E'er since pursue me . - -How now ! what news from her ? - -So please my lord , I might not be admitted ; -But from her handmaid do return this answer : -The element itself , till seven years' heat , -Shall not behold her face at ample view ; -But , like a cloistress , she will veiled walk , -And water once a day her chamber round -With eve-offending brine : all this , to season -A brother's dead love , which she would keep fresh -And lasting in her sad remembrance . - -O ! she that hath a heart of that fine frame -To pay this debt of love but to a brother , -How will she love , when the rich golden shaft -Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else -That live in her ; when liver , brain , and heart , -These sovereign thrones , are all supplied , and fill'd -Her sweet perfections with one self king . -Away before me to sweet beds of flowers ; -Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers . - - -What country , friends , is this ? - -This is Illyria , lady . - -And what should I do in Illyria ? -My brother he is in Elysium . -Perchance he is not drown'd : what think you sailors ? - -It is perchance that you yourself were sav'd . - -O my poor brother ! and so perchance may he be . - -True , madam : and , to comfort you with chance , -Assure yourself , after our ship did split , -When you and those poor number sav'd with you -Hung on our driving boat , I saw your brother , -Most provident in peril , bind himself , -Courage and hope both teaching him the practice , -To a strong mast that liv'd upon the sea ; -Where , like Arion on the dolphin's back , -I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves -So long as I could see . - -For saying so there's gold . -Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope , -Whereto thy speech serves for authority , -The like of him . Know'st thou this country ? - -Ay , madam , well ; for I was bred and born -Not three hours' travel from this very place . - -Who governs here ? - -A noble duke , in nature as in name . - -What is his name ? - -Orsino . - -Orsino ! I have heard my father name him : -He was a bachelor then . - -And so is now , or was so very late ; -For but a month ago I went from hence , -And then 'twas fresh in murmur ,as , you know , -What great ones do the less will prattle of , -That he did seek the love of fair Olivia . - -What's she ? - -A virtuous maid , the daughter of a count -That died some twelvemonth since ; then leaving her -In the protection of his son , her brother , -Who shortly also died : for whose dear love , -They say she hath abjur'd the company -And sight of men . - -O ! that I serv'd that lady , -And might not be deliver'd to the world , -Till I had made mine own occasion mellow , -What my estate is . - -That were hard to compass , -Because she will admit no kind of suit , -No , not the duke's . - -There is a fair behaviour in thee , captain ; -And though that nature with a beauteous wall -Doth oft close in pollution , yet of thee -I will believe thou hast a mind that suits -With this thy fair and outward character . -I prithee ,and I'll pay thee bounteously , -Conceal me what I am , and be my aid -For such disguise as haply shall become -The form of my intent . I'll serve this duke : -Thou shalt present me as a eunuch to him : -It may be worth thy pains ; for I can sing -And speak to him in many sorts of music -That will allow me very worth his service . -What else may hap to time I will commit ; -Only shape thou thy silence to my wit . - -Be you his eunuch , and your mute I'll be : -When my tongue blabs , then let mine eyes not see . - -I thank thee : lead me on . - - -What a plague means my niece , to take the death of her brother thus ? I am sure care's an enemy to life . - -By my troth , Sir Toby , you must come in earlier o' nights : your cousin , my lady , takes great exceptions to your ill hours . - -Why , let her except before excepted . - -Ay , but you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order . - -Confine ! I'll confine myself no finer than I am . These clothes are good enough to drink in , and so be these boots too : an they be not , let them hang themselves in their own straps . - -That quaffing and drinking will undo you : I heard my lady talk of it yesterday ; and of a foolish knight that you brought in one night here to be her wooer . - -Who ? Sir Andrew Aguecheek ? - -Ay , he . - -He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria . - -What's that to the purpose ? - -Why , he has three thousand ducats a year . - -Ay , but he'll have but a year in all these ducats : he's a very fool and a prodigal . - -Fie , that you'll say so ! he plays o' the viol-de-gamboys , and speaks three or four languages word for word without book , and hath all the good gifts of nature . - -He hath indeed , almost natural ; for , besides that he's a fool , he's a great quarreller ; and but that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling , 'tis thought among the prudent he would quickly have the gift of a grave . - -By this hand , they are scoundrels and substractors that say so of him . Who are they ? - -They that add , moreover , he's drunk nightly in your company . - -With drinking healths to my niece . I'll drink to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and drink in Illyria . He's a coward and a coystril , that will not drink to my niece till his brains turn o' the toe like a parish-top . What , wench ! Castiliano vulgo ! for here comes Sir Andrew Agueface . - - -Sir Toby Belch ! how now , Sir Toby Belch ! - -Sweet Sir Andrew ! - -Bless you , fair shrew . - -And you too , sir . - -Accost , Sir Andrew , accost . - -What's that ? - -My niece's chambermaid . - -Good Mistress Accost , I desire better acquaintance . - -My name is Mary , sir . - -Good Mistress Mary Accost , - -You mistake , knight : 'accost' is , front her , board her , woo her , assail her . - -By my troth , I would not undertake her in this company . Is that the meaning of 'accost ?' - -Fare you well , gentlemen . - -An thou let her part so , Sir Andrew , would thou mightst never draw sword again ! - -An you part so , mistress , I would I might never draw sword again . Fair lady , do you think you have fools in hand ? - -Sir , I have not you by the hand . - -Marry , but you shall have ; and here's my hand . - -Now , sir , 'thought is free :' I pray you , bring your hand to the buttery-bar and let it drink . - -Wherefore , sweetheart ? what's your metaphor ? - -It's dry , sir . - -Why , I think so : I am not such an ass but I can keep my hand dry . But what's your jest ? - -A dry jest , sir . - -Are you full of them ? - -Ay , sir , I have them at my fingers' ends : marry , now I let go your hand , I am barren . - - -O knight ! thou lackest a cup of canary : when did I see thee so put down ? - -Never in your life , I think ; unless you see canary put me down . Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian or an ordinary man has ; but I am a great eater of beef , and I believe that does harm to my wit . - -No question . - -An I thought that , I'd forswear it . -I'll ride home to-morrow , Sir Toby . - -Pourquoi , my dear knight ? - -What is 'pourquoi ?' do or not do ? I would I had bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in fencing , dancing , and bear-baiting . O ! had I but followed the arts ! - -Then hadst thou had an excellent head of hair . - -Why , would that have mended my hair ? - -Past question ; for thou seest it will not curl by nature . - -But it becomes me well enough , does't not ? - -Excellent ; it hangs like flax on a distaff , and I hope to see a housewife take thee between her legs , and spin it off . - -Faith , I'll home to-morrow , Sir Toby : your niece will not be seen ; or if she be , it's four to one she'll none of me . The count himself here hard by woos her . - -She'll none o' the count ; she'll not match above her degree , neither in estate , years , nor wit ; I have heard her swear it . Tut , there's life in't , man . - -I'll stay a month longer . I am a fellow o' the strangest mind i' the world ; I delight in masques and revels sometimes altogether . - -Art thou good at these kickchawses , knight ? - -As any man in Illyria , whatsoever he be , under the degree of my betters : and yet I will not compare with an old man . - -What is thy excellence in a galliard , knight ? - -Faith , I can cut a caper . - -And I can cut the mutton to't . - -And I think I have the back-trick simply as strong as any man in Illyria . - -Wherefore are these things hid ? wherefore have these gifts a curtain before 'em ? are they like to take dust , like Mistress Mall's picture ? why dost thou not go to church in a galliard , and come home in a coranto ? My very walk should be a jig : I would not so much as make water but in a sink-a-pace . What dost thou mean ? is it a world to hide virtues in ? I did think , by the excellent constitution of thy leg , it was formed under the star of a galliard . - -Ay , 'tis strong , and it does indifferent well in a flame-coloured stock . Shall we set about some revels ? - -What shall we do else ? were we not born under Taurus ? - -Taurus ! that's sides and heart . - -No , sir , it is legs and thighs . Let me see thee caper . Ha ! higher : ha , ha ! excellent ! - - -If the duke continue these favours towards you , Cesario , you are like to be much advanced : he hath known you but three days , and already you are no stranger . - -You either fear his humour or my negligence , that you call in question the continuance of his love . Is he inconstant , sir , in his favours ? - -No , believe me . - -I thank you . Here comes the count . - - -Who saw Cesario ? ho ! - -On your attendance , my lord ; here . - -Stand you awhile aloof . Cesario , -Thou know'st no less but all ; I have unclasp'd -To thee the book even of my secret soul : -Therefore , good youth , address thy gait unto her , -Be not denied access , stand at her doors , -And tell them , there thy fixed foot shall grow -Till thou have audience . - -Sure , my noble lord , -If she be so abandon'd to her sorrow -As it is spoke , she never will admit me . - -Be clamorous and leap all civil bounds -Rather than make unprofited return . - -Say I do speak with her , my lord , what then ? - -O ! then unfold the passion of my love ; -Surprise her with discourse of my dear faith : -It shall become thee well to act my woes ; -She will attend it better in thy youth -Than in a nuncio of more grave aspect . - -I think not so , my lord . - -Dear lad , believe it ; -For they shall yet belie thy happy years -That say thou art a man : Diana's lip -Is not more smooth and rubious ; thy small pipe -Is as the maiden's organ , shrill and sound ; -And all is semblative a woman's part . -I know thy constellation is right apt -For this affair . Some four or five attend him ; -All , if you will ; for I myself am best -When least in company . Prosper well in this , -And thou shalt live as freely as thy lord , -To call his fortunes thine . - -I'll do my best -To woo your lady : - -yet , a barful strife ! -Whoe'er I woo , myself would be his wife . - - -Nay , either tell me where thou hast been , or I will not open my lips so wide as a bristle may enter in way of thy excuse . My lady will hang thee for thy absence . - -Let her hang me : he that is well hanged in this world needs to fear no colours . - -Make that good . - -He shall see none to fear . - -A good lenten answer : I can tell thee where that saying was born , of , 'I fear no colours .' - -Where , good Mistress Mary ? - -In the wars ; and that may you be bold to say in your foolery . - -Well , God give them wisdom that have it ; and those that are fools , let them use their talents . - -Yet you will be hanged for being so long absent ; or , to be turned away , is not that as good as a hanging to you ? - -Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage ; and , for turning away , let summer bear it out . - -You are resolute then ? - -Not so , neither ; but I am resolved on two points . - -That if one break , the other will hold ; or , if both break , your gaskins fall . - -Apt , in good faith ; very apt . Well , go thy way : if Sir Toby would leave drinking , thou wert as witty a piece of Eve's flesh as any in Illyria . - -Peace , you rogue , no more o' that . Here comes my lady : make your excuse wisely , you were best . - - -Wit , an't be thy will , put me into good fooling ! Those wits that think they have thee , do very oft prove fools ; and I , that am sure I lack thee , may pass for a wise man : for what says Quinapalus ? 'Better a witty fool than a foolish wit .' - -God bless thee , lady ! - -Take the fool away . - -Do you not hear , fellows ? Take away the lady . - -Go to , you're a dry fool ; I'll no more of you : besides , you grow dishonest . - -Two faults , madonna , that drink and good counsel will amend : for give the dry fool drink , then is the fool not dry ; bid the dishonest man mend himself : if he mend , he is no longer dishonest ; if he cannot , let the botcher mend him . Any thing that's mended is but patched : virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin ; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue . If that this simple syllogism will serve , so ; if it will not , what remedy ? As there is no true cuckold but calamity , so beauty's a flower . The lady bade take away the fool ; therefore , I say again , take her away . - -Sir , I bade them take away you . - -Misprision in the highest degree ! Lady , cucullus non facit monachum ; that's as much to say as I wear not motley in my brain . Good madonna , give me leave to prove you a fool . - -Can you do it ? - -Dexteriously , good madonna . - -Make your proof . - -I must catechise you for it , madonna : good my mouse of virtue , answer me . - -Well , sir , for want of other idleness , I'll bide your proof . - -Good madonna , why mournest thou ? - -Good fool , for my brother's death . - -I think his soul is in hell , madonna . - -I know his soul is in heaven , fool . - -The more fool , madonna , to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven . Take away the fool , gentlemen . - -What think you of this fool , Malvolio ? doth he not mend ? - -Yes ; and shall do , till the pangs of death shake him : infirmity , that decays the wise , doth ever make the better fool . - -God send you , sir , a speedy infirmity , for the better increasing your folly ! Sir Toby will be sworn that I am no fox , but he will not pass his word for two pence that you are no fool . - -How say you to that , Malvolio ? - -I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal : I saw him put down the other day with an ordinary fool that has no more brain than a stone . Look you now , he's out of his guard already ; unless you laugh and minister occasion to him , he is gagged . I protest , I take these wise men , that crow so at these set kind of fools , no better than the fools' zanies . - -O ! you are sick of self-love , Malvolio , and taste with a distempered appetite . To be generous , guiltless , and of free disposition , is to take those things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets . There is no slander in an allowed fool , though he do nothing but rail ; nor no railing in a known discreet man , though he do nothing but reprove . - -Now , Mercury endue thee with leasing , for thou speakest well of fools ! - - -Madam , there is at the gate a young gentleman much desires to speak with you . - -From the Count Orsino , is it ? - -I know not , madam : 'tis a fair young man , and well attended . - -Who of my people hold him in delay ? - -Sir Toby , madam , your kinsman . - -Fetch him off , I pray you : he speaks nothing but madman . Fie on him ! - - -Now you see , sir , how your fooling grows old , and people dislike it . - -Thou hast spoken for us , madonna , as if thy eldest son should be a fool ; whose skull Jove cram with brains ! for here comes one of thy kin has a most weak pia mater . - - -By mine honour , half drunk . What is he at the gate , cousin ? - -A gentleman . - -A gentleman ! what gentleman ? - -'Tis a gentleman here ,a plague o' these pickle herring ! How now , sot ! - -Good Sir Toby . - -Cousin , cousin , how have you come so early by this lethargy ? - -Lechery ! I defy lechery ! There's one at the gate . - -Ay , marry , what is he ? - -Let him be the devil , an he will , I care not : give me faith , say I . Well , it's all one . - - -What's a drunken man like , fool ? - -Like a drowned man , a fool , and a madman : one draught above heat makes him a fool , the second mads him , and a third drowns him . - -Go thou and seek the crowner , and let him sit o' my coz ; for he's in the third degree of drink , he's drowned : go , look after him . - -He is but mad yet , madonna ; and the fool shall look to the madman . - -Madam , yond young fellow swears he will speak with you . I told him you were sick : he takes on him to understand so much , and therefore comes to speak with you . I told him you were asleep : he seems to have a foreknowledge of that too , and therefore comes to speak with you . What is to be said to him , lady ? he's fortified against any denial . - -Tell him he shall not speak with me . - -Ha's been told so ; and he says , he'll stand at your door like a sheriff's post , and be the supporter to a bench , but he'll speak with you . - -What kind o' man is he ? - -Why , of mankind . - -What manner of man ? - -Of very ill manner : he'll speak with you , will you or no . - -Of what personage and years is he ? - -Not yet old enough for a man , nor young enough for a boy ; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod , or a codling when 'tis almost an apple : 'tis with him in standing water , between boy and man . He is very well-favoured , and he speaks very shrewishly : one would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him . - -Let him approach . Call in my gentlewoman . - -Gentlewoman , my lady calls . - -Give me my veil : come , throw it o'er my face . -We'll once more hear Orsino's embassy . - - -The honourable lady of the house , which is she ? - -Speak to me ; I shall answer for her . -Your will ? - -Most radiant , exquisite , and unmatchable beauty ,I pray you tell me if this be the lady of the house , for I never saw her : I would be loath to cast away my speech ; for , besides that it is excellently well penned , I have taken great pains to con it . Good beauties , let me sustain no scorn ; I am very comptible , even to the least sinister usage . - -Whence came you , sir ? - -I can say little more than I have studied , and that question's out of my part . Good gentle one , give me modest assurance if you be the lady of the house , that I may proceed in my speech . - -Are you a comedian ? - -No , my profound heart ; and yet , by the very fangs of malice I swear I am not that I play . Are you the lady of the house ? - -If I do not usurp myself , I am . - -Most certain , if you are she , you do usurp yourself ; for , what is yours to bestow is not yours to reserve . But this is from my commission : I will on with my speech in your praise , and then show you the heart of my message . - -Come to what is important in't : I forgive you the praise . - -Alas ! I took great pains to study it , and 'tis poetical . - -It is the more like to be feigned : I pray you keep it in . I heard you were saucy at my gates , and allowed your approach rather to wonder at you than to hear you . If you be not mad , be gone ; if you have reason , be brief : 'tis not that time of moon with me to make one in so skipping a dialogue . - -Will you hoist sail , sir ? here lies your way . - -No , good swabber ; I am to hull here a little longer . Some mollification for your giant , sweet lady . - -Tell me your mind . - -I am a messenger . - -Sure , you have some hideous matter to deliver , when the courtesy of it is so fearful . Speak your office . - -It alone concerns your ear . I bring no overture of war , no taxation of homage : I hold the olive in my hand ; my words are as full of peace as matter . - -Yet you began rudely . What are you ? what would you ? - -The rudeness that hath appear'd in me have I learn'd from my entertainment . What I am , and what I would , are as secret as maiden-head ; to your ears , divinity ; to any other's , profanation . - -Give us the place alone : we will hear this divinity . - -Now , sir ; what is your text ? - -Most sweet lady , - -A comfortable doctrine , and much may be said of it . Where lies your text ? - -In Orsino's bosom . - -In his bosom ! In what chapter of his bosom ? - -To answer by the method , in the first of his heart . - -O ! I have read it : it is heresy . Have you no more to say ? - -Good madam , let me see your face . - -Have you any commission from your lord to negotiate with my face ? you are now out of your text : but we will draw the curtain and show you the picture . - -Look you , sir , such a one I was as this present : is't not well done ? - -Excellently done , if God did all . - -'Tis in grain , sir ; 'twill endure wind and weather . - -'Tis beauty truly blent , whose red and white -Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on : -Lady , you are tho cruell'st she alive , -If you will lead these graces to the grave -And leave the world no copy . - -O ! sir , I will not be so hard-hearted ; I will give out divers schedules of my beauty : it shall be inventoried , and every particle and utensil labelled to my will : as Item , Two lips , indifferent red ; Item , Two grey eyes , with lids to them ; Item , One neck , one chin , and so forth . Were you sent hither to praise me ? - -I see you what you are : you are too proud ; -But , if you were the devil , you are fair . -My lord and master loves you : O ! such love -Could be but recompens'd , though you were crown'd -The nonpareil of beauty . - -How does he love me ? - -With adorations , with fertile tears , -With groans that thunder love , with sighs of fire . - -Your lord does know my mind ; I cannot love him ; -Yet I suppose him virtuous , know him noble , -Of great estate , of fresh and stainless youth ; -In voices well divulg'd , free , learn'd , and valiant ; -And , in dimension and the shape of nature -A gracious person ; but yet I cannot love him : -He might have took his answer long ago . - -If I did love you in my master's flame , -With such a suffering , such a deadly life , -In your denial I would find no sense ; -I would not understand it . - -Why , what would you ? - -Make me a willow cabin at your gate , -And call upon my soul within the house ; -Write loyal cantons of contemned love , -And sing them loud even in the dead of night ; -Holla your name to the reverberate hills , -And make the babbling gossip of the air -Cry out , 'Olivia !' O ! you should not rest -Between the elements of air and earth , -But you should pity me ! - -You might do much . What is your parentage ? - -Above my fortune , yet my state is well : -I am a gentleman . - -Get you to your lord : -I cannot love him . Let him send no more , -Unless , perchance , you come to me again , -To tell me how he takes it . Fare you well : -I thank you for your pains : spend this for me . - -I am no fee'd post , lady ; keep your purse : -My master , not myself , lacks recompense . -Love make his heart of flint that you shall love , -And let your fervour , like my master's , be -Plac'd in contempt ! Farewell , fair cruelty . - - -'What is your parentage ?' -'Above my fortunes , yet my state is well : -I am a gentleman .' I'll be sworn thou art : -Thy tongue , thy face , thy limbs , actions , and spirit , -Do give thee five-fold blazon . Not too fast : soft ! soft ! -Unless the master were the man . How now ! -Even so quickly may one catch the plague ? -Methinks I feel this youth's perfections -With an invisible and subtle stealth -To creep in at mine eyes . Well , let it be . -What , ho ! Malvolio ! - - -Here , madam , at your service . - -Run after that same peevish messenger , -The county's man : he left this ring behind him , -Would I , or not : tell him I'll none of it . -Desire him not to flatter with his lord , -Nor hold him up with hopes : I'm not for him . -If that the youth will come this way to-morrow , -I'll give him reasons for't . Hie thee , Malvolio . - -Madam , I will . - - -I do I know not what , and fear to find -Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind . -Fate , show thy force : ourselves we do not owe ; -What is decreed must be , and be this so ! - -Will you stay no longer ? nor will you not that I go with you ? - -By your patience , no . My stars shine darkly over me ; the malignancy of my fate might , perhaps , distemper yours ; therefore I shall crave of you your leave that I may bear my evils alone . It were a bad recompense for your love to lay any of them on you . - -Let me yet know of you whither you are bound . - -No , sooth , sir : my determinate voyage is mere extravagancy . But I perceive in you so excellent a touch of modesty that you will not extort from me what I am willing to keep in ; therefore , it charges me in manners the rather to express myself . You must know of me then , Antonio , my name is Sebastian , which I called Roderigo . My father was that Sebastian of Messaline , whom I know you have heard of . He left behind him myself and a sister , both born in an hour : if the heavens had been pleased , would we had so ended ! but you , sir , altered that ; for some hour before you took me from the breach of the sea was my sister drowned . - -Alas the day ! - -A lady , sir , though it was said she much resembled me , was yet of many accounted beautiful : but , though I could not with such estimable wonder overfar believe that , yet thus far I will boldly publish her : she bore a mind that envy could not but call fair . She is drowned already , sir , with salt water , though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more . - -Pardon me , sir , your bad entertainment . - -O good Antonio ! forgive me your trouble ! - -If you will not murder me for my love , let me be your servant . - -If you will not undo what you have done , that is , kill him whom you have recovered , desire it not . Fare ye well at once : my bosom is full of kindness ; and I am yet so near the manners of my mother , that upon the least occasion more mine eyes will tell tales of me . I am bound to the Count Orsino's court : farewell . - - -The gentleness of all the gods go with thee ! -I have many enemies in Orsino's court , -Else would I very shortly see thee there ; -But , come what may , I do adore thee so , -That danger shall seem sport , and I will go . - - -Were not you even now with the Countess Olivia ? - -Even now , sir : on a moderate pace I have since arrived but hither . - -She returns this ring to you , sir : you might have saved me my pains , to have taken it away yourself . She adds , moreover , that you should put your lord into a desperate assurance she will none of him . And one thing more ; that you be never so hardy to come again in his affairs , unless it be to report your lord's taking of this . Receive it so . - -She took the ring of me ; I'll none of it . - -Come , sir , you peevishly threw it to her ; and her will is it should be so returned : if it be worth stooping for , there it lies in your eye ; if not , be it his that finds it . - - -I left no ring with her : what means this lady ? -Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her ! -She made good view of me ; indeed , so much , -That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue , -For she did speak in starts distractedly . -She loves me , sure ; the cunning of her passion -Invites me in this churlish messenger . -None of my lord's ring ! why , he sent her none . -I am the man : if it be so , as 'tis , -Poor lady , she were better love a dream . -Disguise , I see , thou art a wickedness , -Wherein the pregnant enemy does much . -How easy is it for the proper-false -In women's waxen hearts to set their forms ! -Alas ! our frailty is the cause , not we ! -For such as we are made of , such we be . -How will this fadge ? My master loves her dearly ; -And I , poor monster , fond as much on him ; -And she , mistaken , seems to dote on me . -What will become of this ? As I am man , -My state is desperate for my master's love ; -As I am woman ,now alas the day ! -What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe ! -O time ! thou must untangle this , not I ; -It is too hard a knot for me to untie . - - -Approach , Sir Andrew : not to be a-bed after midnight is to be up betimes ; and diluculo surgere , thou knowest , - -Nay , by my troth , I know not ; but I know , to be up late is to be up late . - -A false conclusion : I hate it as an unfilled can . To be up after midnight and to go to bed then , is early ; so that to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes . Does not our life consist of the four elements ? - -Faith , so they say ; but , I think , it rather consists of eating and drinking . - -Thou art a scholar ; let us therefore eat and drink . Marian , I say ! a stoup of wine ! - - -Here comes the fool , i' faith . - -How now , my hearts ! Did you never see the picture of 'we three ?' - -Welcome , ass . Now let's have a catch . - -By my troth , the fool has an excellent breast . I had rather than forty shillings I had such a leg , and so sweet a breath to sing , as the fool has . In sooth , thou wast in very gracious fooling last night , when thou spokest of Pigrogromitus , of the Vapians passing the equinoctial of Queubus : 'twas very good , i' faith . I sent thee sixpence for thy leman : hadst it ? - -I did impeticos thy gratillity ; for Malvolio's nose is no whipstock : my lady has a white hand , and the Myrmidons are no bottleale houses . - -Excellent ! Why , this is the best fooling , when all is done . Now , a song . - -Come on ; there is sixpence for you : let's have a song . - -There's a testril of me too : if one knight give a - -Would you have a love-song , or a song of good life ? - -A love-song , a love-song . - -Ay , ay ; I care not for good life . - - -O mistress mine ! where are you roaming ? -O ! stay and hear ; your true love's coming , -That can sing both high and low . -Trip no further , pretty sweeting ; -Journeys end in lovers meeting , -Every wise man's son doth know . - - -Excellent good , i' faith . - -Good , good . - - -What is love ? 'tis not hereafter ; -Present mirth hath present laughter ; -What's to come is still unsure : -In delay there lies no plenty ; -Then come kiss me , sweet and twenty , -Youth's a stuff will not endure . - - -A mellifluous voice , as I am true knight . - -A contagious breath . - -Very sweet and contagious , i' faith . - -To hear by the nose , it is dulcet in contagion . But shall we make the welkin dance indeed ? Shall we rouse the night-owl in a catch that will draw three souls out of one weaver ? shall we do that ? - -An you love me , let's do't : I am dog at a catch . - -By'r lady , sir , and some dogs will catch well . - -Most certain . Let our catch be , 'Thou knave .' - -Hold thy peace , thou knave ,' knight ? I shall be constrain'd in't to call thee knave , knight . - -'Tis not the first time I have constrained one to call me knave . Begin , fool : it begins , 'Hold thy peace .' - -I shall never begin if I hold my peace . - -Good , i' faith . Come , begin . - -What a caterwauling do you keep here ! If my lady have not called up her steward Malvolio and bid him turn you out of doors , never trust me . - -My lady's a Cataian ; we are politicians ; Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramsey , and 'Three merry men be we .' Am not I consanguineous ? am I not of her blood ? Tillyvally , lady ! -There dwelt a man in Babylon , lady , lady ! - -Beshrew me , the knight's in admirable fooling . - -Ay , he does well enough if he be disposed , and so do I too : he does it with a better grace , but I do it more natural . - -O ! the twelfth day of December , - -For the love o' God , peace ! - - -My masters , are you mad ? or what are you ? Have you no wit , manners , nor honesty , but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night ? Do ye make an alehouse of my lady's house , that ye squeak out your coziers' catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice ? Is there no respect of place , persons , nor time , in you ? - -We did keep time , sir , in our catches . Sneck up ! - -Sir Toby , I must be round with you . My lady bade me tell you , that , though she harbours you as her kinsman , she's nothing allied to your disorders . If you can separate yourself and your misdemeanours , you are welcome to the house ; if not , an it would please you to take leave of her , she is very willing to bid you farewell . - -Farewell , dear heart , since I must needs be gone . - -Nay , good Sir Toby . - -His eyes do show his days are almost done . - -Is't even so ? - -But I will never die . - -Sir Toby , there you lie . - -This is much credit to you . - -Shall I bid him go ? - -What an if you do ? - -Shall I bid him go , and spare not ? - -O ! no , no , no , no , you dare not . - -'Out o' time !' Sir , ye lie . Art any more than a steward ? Dost thou think , because thou art virtuous , there shall be no more cakes and ale ? - -Yes , by Saint Anne ; and ginger shall be hot i' the mouth too . - -Thou'rt i' the right . Go , sir , rub your chain with crumbs . A stoup of wine , Maria ! - -Mistress Mary , if you prized my lady's favour at anything more than contempt , you would not give means for this uncivil rule : she shall know of it , by this hand . - - -Go shake your ears . - -'Twere as good a deed as to drink when a man's a-hungry , to challenge him the field , and then to break promise with him and make a fool of him . - -Do't , knight : I'll write thee a challenge ; or I'll deliver thy indignation to him by word of mouth . - -Sweet Sir Toby , be patient for to-night : since the youth of the count's was to-day with my lady , she is much out of quiet . For Monsieur Malvolio , let me alone with him : if I do not gull him into a nayword , and make him a common recreation , do not think I have wit enough to lie straight in my bed . I know I can do it . - -Possess us , possess us ; tell us something of him . - -Marry , sir , sometimes he is a kind of puritan . - -O ! if I thought that , I'd beat him like a dog . - -What , for being a puritan ? thy exquisite reason , dear knight ? - -I have no exquisite reason for't , but I have reason good enough . - -The devil a puritan that he is , or anything constantly but a time-pleaser ; an affectioned ass , that cons state without book , and utters it by great swarths : the best persuaded of himself ; so crammed , as he thinks , with excellences , that it is his ground of faith that all that look on him love him ; and on that vice in him will my revenge find notable cause to work . - -What wilt thou do ? - -I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of love ; wherein , by the colour of his beard , the shape of his leg , the manner of his gait , the expressure of his eye , forehead , and complexion , he shall find himself most feelingly personated . I can write very like my lady your niece ; on a forgotten matter we can hardly make distinction of our hands . - -Excellent ! I smell a device . - -I have't in my nose too . - -He shall think , by the letters that thou wilt drop , that they come from my niece , and that she is in love with him . - -My purpose is , indeed , a horse of that colour . - -And your horse now would make him an ass . - -Ass , I doubt not . - -O ! 'twill be admirable . - -Sport royal , I warrant you : I know my physic will work with him . I will plant you two , and let the fool make a third , where he shall find the letter : observe his construction of it . For this night , to bed , and dream on the event . Farewell . - - -Good night , Penthesilea . - -Before me , she's a good wench . - -She's a beagle , true-bred , and one that adores me : what o' that ? - -I was adored once too . - -Let's to bed , knight . Thou hadst need send for more money . - -If I cannot recover your niece , I am a foul way out . - -Send for money , knight : if thou hast her not i' the end , call me cut . - -If I do not , never trust me , take it how you will . - -Come , come : I'll go burn some sack ; 'tis too late to go to bed now . Come , knight ; come , knight . - - -Give me some music . Now , good morrow , friends : -Now , good Cesario , but that piece of song , -That old and antique song we heard last night ; -Methought it did relieve my passion much , -More than light airs and recollected terms -Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times : -Come ; but one verse . - -He is not here , so please your lordship , that should sing it . - -Who was it ? - -Feste , the jester , my lord ; a fool that the Lady Olivia's father took much delight in . He is about the house . - -Seek him out , and play the tune the while . - -Come hither , boy : if ever thou shalt love , -In the sweet pangs of it remember me ; -For such as I am all true lovers are : -Unstaid and skittish in all motions else -Save in the constant image of the creature -That is belov'd . How dost thou like this tune ? - -It gives a very echo to the seat -Where love is thron'd . - -Thou dost speak masterly . -My life upon't , young though thou art , thine eye -Hath stay'd upon some favour that it loves ; -Hath it not , boy ? - -A little , by your favour . - -What kind of woman is't ? - -Of your complexion . - -She is not worth thee , then . What years , i' faith ? - -About your years , my lord . - -Too old , by heaven . Let still the woman take -An elder than herself , so wears she to him , -So sways she level in her husband's heart : -For , boy , however we do praise ourselves , -Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm , -More longing , wavering , sooner lost and worn , -Than women's are . - -I think it well , my lord . - -Then , let thy love be younger than thyself , -Or thy affection cannot hold the bent ; -For women are as roses , whose fair flower -Being once display'd , doth fall that very hour . - -And so they are : alas , that they are so ; -To die , even when they to perfection grow ! - - -O , fellow ! come , the song we had last night . -Mark it , Cesario ; it is old and plain ; -The spinsters and the knitters in the sun , -And the free maids that weave their thread with bones , -Do use to chant it : it is silly sooth , -And dallies with the innocence of love , -Like the old age . - -Are you ready , sir ? - -Ay ; prithee , sing . - - -Come away , come away , death , -And in sad cypress let me be laid ; -Fly away , fly away , breath ; -I am slain by a fair cruel maid . -My shroud of white , stuck all with yew , -O ! prepare it -My part of death , no one so true -Did share it . - - -Not a flower , not a flower sweet , -On my black coffin let there be strown , -Not a friend , not a friend greet -My poor corse , where my bones shall be thrown . -A thousand thousand sighs to save , -Lay me , O ! where -Sad true lover never find my grave , -To weep there . - - -There's for thy pains . - -No pains , sir ; I take pleasure in singing , sir . - -I'll pay thy pleasure then . - -Truly , sir , and pleasure will be paid , one time or another . - -Give me now leave to leave thee . - -Now , the melancholy god protect thee , and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta , for thy mind is a very opal ! I would have men of such constancy put to sea , that their business might be everything and their intent everywhere ; for that's it that always makes a good voyage of nothing . Farewell . - - -Let all the rest give place . - -Once more , Cesario , -Get thee to yond same sovereign cruelty : -Tell her , my love , more noble than the world , -Prizes not quantity of dirty lands ; -The parts that fortune hath bestow'd upon her , -Tell her , I hold as giddily as fortune ; -But 'tis that miracle and queen of gems -That nature pranks her in attracts my soul . - -But if she cannot love you , sir ? - -I cannot be so answer'd . - -Sooth , but you must . -Say that some lady , as perhaps , there is , -Hath for your love as great a pang of heart -As you have for Olivia : you cannot love her ; -You tell her so ; must she not then be answer'd ? - -There is no woman's sides -Can bide the beating of so strong a passion -As love doth give my heart ; no woman's heart -So big , to hold so much ; they lack retention . -Alas ! their love may be call'd appetite , -No motion of the liver , but the palate , -That suffer surfeit , cloyment , and revolt ; -But mine is all as hungry as the sea , -And can digest as much . Make no compare -Between that love a woman can bear me -And that I owe Olivia . - -Ay , but I know , - -What dost thou know ? - -Too well what love women to men may owe : -In faith , they are as true of heart as we . -My father had a daughter lov'd a man , -As it might be , perhaps , were I a woman , -I should your lordship . - -And what's her history ? - -A blank , my lord . She never told her love , -But let concealment , like a worm i' the bud , -Feed on her damask cheek : she pin'd in thought , -And with a green and yellow melancholy , -She sat like Patience on a monument , -Smiling at grief . Was not this love indeed ? -We men may say more , swear more ; but indeed -Our shows are more than will , for still we prove -Much in our vows , but little in our love . - -But died thy sister of her love , my boy ? - -I am all the daughters of my father's house , -And all the brothers too ; and yet I know not . -Sir , shall I to this lady ? - -Ay , that's the theme . -To her in haste ; give her this jewel ; say -My love can give no place , bide no denay . - - -Come thy ways , Signior Fabian . - -Nay , I'll come : if I lose a scruple of this sport , let me be boiled to death with melancholy . - -Wouldst thou not be glad to have the niggardly rascally sheep-biter come by some notable shame ? - -I would exult , man : you know he brought me out o' favour with my lady about a bear-baiting here . - -To anger him we'll have the bear again ; and we will fool him black and blue ; shall we not , Sir Andrew ? - -An we do not , it is pity of our lives . - -Here comes the little villain . - -How now , my metal of India ! - -Get ye all three into the box-tree . Malvolio's coming down this walk : he has been yonder i' the sun practising behaviour to his own shadow this half-hour . Observe him , for the love of mockery ; for I know this letter will make a contemplative idiot of him . Close , in the name of jesting ! Lie thou there : - -for here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling . - -'Tis but fortune ; all is fortune . Maria once told me she did affect me ; and I have heard herself come thus near , that should she fancy , it should be one of my complexion . Besides , she uses me with a more exalted respect than anyone else that follows her . What should I think on't ? - -Here's an over-weening rogue ! - -O , peace ! Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him : how he jets under his advanced plumes ! - -'Slight , I could so beat the rogue ! - -Peace ! I say . - -To be Count Malvolio ! - -Ah , rogue ! - -Pistol him , pistol him . - -Peace ! peace ! - -There is example for't : the lady of the Strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe . - -Fie on him , Jezebel ! - -O , peace ! now he's deeply in ; look how imagination blows him . - -Having been three months married to her , sitting in my state , - -O ! for a stone-bow , to hit him in the eye ! - -Calling my officers about me , in my branched velvet gown ; having come from a daybed , where I have left Olivia sleeping , - -Fire and brimstone ! - -O , peace ! peace ! - -And then to have the humour of state : and after a demure travel of regard , telling them I know my place , as I would they should do theirs , to ask for my kinsman Toby , - -Bolts and shackles ! - -O , peace , peace , peace ! now , now . - -Seven of my people , with an obedient start , make out for him . I frown the while ; and perchance wind up my watch , or play with my some rich jewel . Toby approaches ; curtsies there to me , - -Shall this fellow live ? - -Though our silence be drawn from us with cars , yet peace ! - -I extend my hand to him thus , quenching my familiar smile with an austere regard of control , - -And does not Toby take you a blow o' the lips then ? - -Saying , 'Cousin Toby , my fortunes having cast me on your niece give me this prerogative of speech ,' - -What , what ? - -'You must amend your drunkenness .' - -Out , scab ! - -Nay , patience , or we break the sinews of our plot . - -'Besides , you waste the treasure of your time with a foolish knight ,' - -That's me , I warrant you . - -'One Sir Andrew ,' - -I knew 'twas I ; for many do call me fool . - -What employment have we here ? - -Now is the woodcock near the gin . - -O , peace ! and the spirit of humours intimate reading aloud to him ! - -By my life , this is my lady's hand ! these be her very C's , her U's , and her T's ; and thus makes she her great P's . It is , in contempt of question , her hand . - -Her C's , her U's , and her T's : why that - -To the unknown beloved , this and my good wishes : her very phrases ! By your leave , wax . Soft ! and the impressure her Lucrece , with which she uses to seal : 'tis my lady . To whom should this be ? - -This wins him , liver and all . - - -Jove knows I love ; -But who ? -Lips , do not move -No man must know . - -'No man must know .' What follows ? the numbers altered ! 'No man must know :' if this should be thee , Malvolio ! - -Marry , hang thee , brock ! - - -I may command where I adore ; -But silence , like a Lucrece knife , -With bloodless stroke my heart doth gore : -M , O , A , I , doth sway my life . - - -A fustian riddle ! - -Excellent wench , say I . - -'M , O , A , I , doth sway my life .' Nay , but first , let me see , let me see , let me see . - -What dish o' poison has she dressed him ! - -And with what wing the staniel checks at it ! - -'I may command where I adore .' Why , she may command me : I serve her ; she is my lady . Why , this is evident to any formal capacity ; there is no obstruction in this . And the end , what should that alphabetical position portend ? if I could make that resemble something in me ,Softly !M , O , A , I , - -O ! ay , make up that : he is now at a cold scent . - -Sowter will cry upon 't , for all this , though it be as rank as a fox . - -M , Malvolio ; M , why , that begins my name . - -Did not I say he would work it out ? the cur is excellent at faults . - -M ,But then there is no consonancy in the sequel ; that suffers under probation : A should follow , but O does . - -And O shall end , I hope . - -Ay , or I'll cudgel him , and make him cry , O ! - -And then I comes behind . - -Ay , an you had any eye behind you , you might see more detraction at your heels than fortunes before you . - -M , O , A , I ; this simulation is not as the former ; and yet , to crush this a little , it would bow to me , for every one of these letters are in my name . Soft ! here follows prose . - -If this fall into thy hand , revolve . In my stars I am above thee ; but be not afraid of greatness : some are born great , some achieve greatness , and some have greatness thrust upon them . Thy Fates open their hands ; let thy blood and spirit embrace them ; and to inure thyself to what thou art like to be , cast thy humble slough , and appear fresh . Be opposite with a kinsman , surly with servants ; let thy tongue tang arguments of state ; put thyself into the trick of singularity She thus advises thee that sighs for thee . Remember who commended thy yellow stockings , and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered : I say , remember . Go to , thou art made , if thou desirest to be so ; if not , let me see thee a steward still , the fellow of servants , and not worthy to touch Fortune's fingers . Farewell . She that would alter services with thee . THE FORTUNATE-UNHAPPY . - -Daylight and champian discovers not more : this is open . I will be proud , I will read politic authors , I will baffle Sir Toby , I will wash off gross acquaintance , I will be point-devise the very man . I do not now fool myself , to let imagination jade me , for every reason excites to this , that my lady loves me . She did commend my yellow stockings of late , she did praise my leg being cross-gartered ; and in this she manifests herself to my love , and , with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits of her liking . I thank my stars I am happy . I will be strange , stout , in yellow stockings , and cross-gartered , even with the swiftness of putting on . Jove and my stars be praised ! Here is yet a postscript . - -Thou canst not choose but know who I am . If thou entertainest my love , let it appear in thy smiling ; thy smiles become thee well ; therefore in my presence still smile , dear my sweet , I prithee . - -Jove , I thank thee . I will smile : I will do everything that thou wilt have me . - - -I will not give my part of this sport for a pension of thousands to be paid from the Sophy . - -I could marry this wench for this device . - -So could I too . - -And ask no other dowry with her but such another jest . - -Nor I neither . - -Here comes my noble gull-catcher . - - -Wilt thou set thy foot o' my neck ? - -Or o' mine either ? - -Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip , and become thy bond-slave ? - -I' faith , or I either ? - -Why , thou hast put him in such a dream , that when the image of it leaves him he must run mad . - -Nay , but say true ; does it work upon him ? - -Like aqua-vit with a midwife . - -If you will , then see the fruits of the sport , mark his first approach before my lady ; he will come to her in yellow stockings , and 'tis a colour she abhors ; and cross-gartered , a fashion she detests ; and he will smile upon her , which will now be so unsuitable to her disposition , being addicted to a melancholy as she is , that it cannot but turn him into a notable contempt . If you will see it , follow me . - -To the gates of Tartar , thou most excellent devil of wit ! - -I'll make one too . - -Save thee , friend , and thy music . Dost thou live by thy tabor ? - -No , sir , I live by the church . - -Art thou a churchman ? - -No such matter , sir : I do live by the church ; for I do live at my house , and my house doth stand by the church . - -So thou mayst say , the king lies by a beggar , if a beggar dwell near him ; or , the church stands by thy tabor , if thy tabor stand by the church . - -You have said , sir . To see this age ! -A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit : how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward ! - -Nay , that's certain : they that dally nicely with words may quickly make them wanton . - -I would therefore my sister had had no name , sir . - -Why , man ? - -Why , sir , her name's a word ; and to dally with that word might make my sister wanton . But indeed , words are very rascals since bonds disgraced them . - -Thy reason , man ? - -Troth , sir , I can yield you none without words ; and words are grown so false , I am loath to prove reason with them . - -I warrant thou art a merry fellow , and carest for nothing . - -Not so , sir , I do care for something ; but in my conscience , sir , I do not care for you : if that be to care for nothing , sir , I would it would make you invisible . - -Art not thou the Lady Olivia's fool ? - -No , indeed , sir ; the Lady Olivia has no folly : she will keep no fool , sir , till she be married ; and fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings the husband's the bigger . I am indeed not her fool , but her corrupter of words . - -I saw thee late at the Count Orsino's . - -Foolery , sir , does walk about the orb like the sun ; it shines every where . I would be sorry , sir , but the fool should be as oft with your master as with my mistress . I think I saw your wisdom there . - -Nay , an thou pass upon me , I'll no more with thee . Hold , there's sixpence for thee . - - -Now Jove , in his next commodity of hair , send thee a beard ! - -By my troth , I'll tell thee , I am almost sick for one , though I would not have it grow on my chin . Is thy lady within ? - -Would not a pair of these have bred , sir ? - -Yes , being kept together and put to use . - -I would play Lord Pandarus of Phrygia , sir , to bring a Cressida to this Troilus . - -I understand you , sir ; 'tis well begg'd . - -The matter , I hope , is not great , sir , begging but a beggar : Cressida was a beggar . My lady is within , sir . I will conster to them whence you come ; who you are and what you would are out of my welkin ; I might say 'element ,' but the word is overworn . - - -This fellow's wise enough to play the fool , -And to do that well craves a kind of wit : -He must observe their mood on whom he jests , -The quality of persons , and the time , -And , like the haggard , check at every feather -That comes before his eye . This is a practice -As full of labour as a wise man's art ; -For folly that he wisely shows is fit ; -But wise men folly-fall'n , quite taint their wit . - - -Save you , gentleman . - -And you , sir . - -Dieu vous garde , monsieur . - -Et vous aussi ; votre serviteur . - -I hope , sir , you are ; and I am yours . - -Will you encounter the house ? my niece is desirous you should enter , if your trade be to her . - -I am bound to your niece , sir : I mean , she is the list of my voyage . - -Taste your legs , sir : put them to motion . - -My legs do better understand me , sir , than I understand what you mean by bidding me taste my legs . - -I mean , to go , sir , to enter . - -I will answer you with gait and entrance . But we are prevented . - -Most excellent accomplished lady , the heavens rain odours on you ! - -That youth's a rare courtier . 'Rain odours !' well . - -My matter hath no voice , lady , but to your own most pregnant and vouchsafed ear . - -'Odours ,' 'pregnant ,' and 'vouchsafed .' I'll get 'em all three all ready . - -Let the garden door be shut , and leave me to my hearing . - -Give me your hand , sir . - -My duty , madam , and most humble service . - -What is your name ? - -Cesario is your servant's name , fair princess . - -My servant , sir ! 'Twas never merry world -Since lowly feigning was call'd compliment . -You're servant to the Count Orsino , youth . - -And he is yours , and his must needs be yours : -Your servant's servant is your servant , madam . - -For him , I think not on him : for his thoughts , -Would they were blanks rather than fill'd with me ! - -Madam , I come to whet your gentle thoughts -On his behalf . - -O ! by your leave , I pray you , -I bade you never speak again of him : -But , would you undertake another suit , -I had rather hear you to solicit that -Than music from the spheres . - -Dear lady , - -Give me leave , beseech you . I did send , -After the last enchantment you did here , -A ring in chase of you : so did I abuse -Myself , my servant , and , I fear me , you : -Under your hard construction must I sit , -To force that on you , in a shameful cunning , -Which you knew none of yours : what might you think ? -Have you not set mine honour at the stake , -And baited it with all th' unmuzzled thoughts -That tyrannous heart can think ? To one of your receiving -Enough is shown ; a cypress , not a bosom , -Hideth my heart . So , let me hear you speak . - -I pity you . - -That's a degree to love . - -No , not a grize ; for 'tis a vulgar proof -That very oft we pity enemies . - -Why , then methinks 'tis time to smile again . -O world ! how apt the poor are to be proud . -If one should be a prey , how much the better -To fall before the lion than the wolf ! - -The clock upbraids me with the waste of time . -Be not afraid , good youth , I will not have you : -And yet , when wit and youth is come to harvest , -Your wife is like to reap a proper man : -There lies your way , due west . - -Then westward-ho ! -Grace and good disposition attend your ladyship ! -You'll nothing , madam , to my lord by me ? - -Stay : -I prithee , tell me what thou think'st of me . - -That you do think you are not what you are . - -If I think so , I think the same of you . - -Then think you right : I am not what I am . - -I would you were as I would have you be ! - -Would it be better , madam , than I am ? -I wish it might , for now I am your fool . - -O ! what a deal of scorn looks beautiful -In the contempt and anger of his lip . -A murderous guilt shows not itself more soon -Than love that would seem hid ; love's night is noon . -Cesario , by the roses of the spring , -By maidhood , honour , truth , and every thing , -I love thee so , that , maugre all thy pride , -Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide . -Do not extort thy reasons from this clause , -For that I woo , thou therefore hast no cause ; -But rather reason thus with reason fetter , -Love sought is good , but giv'n unsought is better . - -By innocence I swear , and by my youth , -I have one heart , one bosom , and one truth , -And that no woman has ; nor never none -Shall mistress be of it , save I alone . -And so adieu , good madam : never more -Will I my master's tears to you deplore . - -Yet come again , for thou perhaps mayst move -That heart , which now abhors , to like his love . - - -No , faith , I'll not stay a jot longer . - -Thy reason , dear venom ; give thy reason . - -You must needs yield your reason , Sir Andrew . - -Marry , I saw your niece do more favours to the count's serving-man than ever she bestowed upon me ; I saw't i' the orchard . - -Did she see thee the while , old boy ? tell me that . - -As plain as I see you now . - -This was a great argument of love in her toward you . - -'Slight ! will you make an ass o' me ? - -I will prove it legitimate , sir , upon the oaths of judgment and reason . - -And they have been grand-jurymen since before Noah was a sailor . - -She did show favour to the youth in your sight only to exasperate you , to awake your dormouse valour , to put fire in your heart , and brimstone in your liver . You should then have accosted her , and with some excellent jests , firenew from the mint , you should have banged the youth into dumbness . This was looked for at your hand , and this was balked : the double gilt of this opportunity you let time wash off , and you are now sailed into the north of my lady's opinion ; where you will hang like an icicle on a Dutchman's beard , unless you do redeem it by some laudable attempt , either of valour or policy . - -An't be any way , it must be with valour , for policy I hate : I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician . - -Why , then , build me thy fortunes upon the basis of valour : challenge me the count's youth to fight with him ; hurt him in eleven places : my niece shall take note of it ; and assure thyself , there is no love-broker in the world can more prevail in man's commendation with woman than report of valour . - -There is no way but this , Sir Andrew . - -Will either of you bear me a challenge to him ? - -Go , write it in a martial hand ; be curst and brief ; it is no matter how witty , so it be eloquent , and full of invention : taunt him with the licence of ink : if thou thou'st him some thrice , it shall not be amiss ; and as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of paper , although the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware in England , set 'em down : go , about it . Let there be gall enough in thy ink , though thou write with a goose-pen , no matter : about it . - -Where shall I find you ? - -We'll call thee at the cubiculo : go . - - -This is a dear manakin to you , Sir Toby . - -I have been dear to him , lad , some two thousand strong , or so . - -We shall have a rare letter from him ; but you'll not deliver it . - -Never trust me , then ; and by all means stir on the youth to an answer . I think oxen and wainropes cannot hale them together . For Andrew , if he were opened , and you find so much blood in his liver as will clog the foot of a flea , I'll eat the rest of the anatomy . - -And his opposite , the youth , bears in his visage no great presage of cruelty . - -Look , where the youngest wren of nine comes . - - -If you desire the spleen , and will laugh yourselves into stitches , follow me . Yond gull Malvolio is turned heathen , a very renegado ; for there is no Christian , that means to be saved by believing rightly , can ever believe such impossible passages of grossness . He's in yellow stockings . - -And cross-gartered ? - -Most villanously ; like a pedant that keeps a school i' the church . I have dogged him like his murderer . He does obey every point of the letter that I dropped to betray him : he does smile his face into more lines than are in the new map with the augmentation of the Indies . You have not seen such a thing as 'tis ; I can hardly forbear hurling things at him . I know my lady will strike him : if she do , he'll smile and take't for a great favour . - -Come , bring us , bring us where he is . - - -I would not by my will have troubled you ; -But since you make your pleasure of your pains , -I will no further chide you . - -I could not stay behind you : my desire , -More sharp than filed steel , did spur me forth ; -And not all love to see you ,though so much -As might have drawn one to a longer voyage , -But jealousy what might befall your travel , -Being skilless in these parts ; which to a stranger , -Unguided and unfriended , often prove -Rough and unhospitable : my willing love , -The rather by these arguments of fear , -Set forth in your pursuit . - -My kind Antonio , -I can no other answer make but thanks , -And thanks , and ever thanks ; for oft good turns -Are shuffled off with such uncurrent pay : -But , were my worth , as is my conscience , firm , -You should find better dealing . What's to do ? -Shall we go see the reliques of this town ? - -To-morrow , sir : best first go see your lodging . - -I am not weary , and 'tis long to night : -I pray you , let us satisfy our eyes -With the memorials and the things of fame -That do renown this city . - -Would you'd pardon me ; -I do not without danger walk these streets : -Once , in a sea-fight 'gainst the Count his galleys , -I did some service ; of such note indeed , -That were I ta'en here it would scarce be answer'd . - -Belike you slew great number of his people ? - -The offence is not of such a bloody nature , -Albeit the quality of the time and quarrel -Might well have given us bloody argument . -It might have since been answer'd in repaying -What we took from them ; which , for traffic's sake , -Most of our city did : only myself stood out ; -For which , if I be lapsed in this place , -I shall pay dear . - -Do not then walk too open . - -It doth not fit me . Hold , sir ; here's my purse . -In the south suburbs , at the Elephant , -Is best to lodge : I will bespeak our diet , -Whiles you beguile the time and feed your knowledge -With viewing of the town : there shall you have me . - -Why I your purse ? - -Haply your eye shall light upon some toy -You have desire to purchase ; and your store , -I think , is not for idle markets , sir . - -I'll be your purse-bearer and leave you for an hour . - -To the Elephant . - -I do remember . - - -I have sent after him : he says he'll come ; -How shall I feast him ? what bestow of him ? -For youth is bought more oft than begg'd or borrow'd . -I speak too loud . -Where is Malvolio ? he is sad , and civil , -And suits well for a servant with my fortunes : -Where is Malvolio ? - -He's coming , madam ; but in very strange manner . He is sure possess'd , madam . - -Why , what's the matter ? does he rave ? - -No , madam ; he does nothing but smile : your ladyship were best to have some guard about you if he come , for sure the man is tainted in's wits . - -Go call him hither . - -I am as mad as he , -If sad and merry madness equal be . - -How now , Malvolio ! - -Sweet lady , ho , ho . - -Smil'st thou ? -I sent for thee upon a sad occasion . - -Sad , lady ! I could be sad : this does make some obstruction in the blood , this crossgartering ; but what of that ? if it please the eye of one , it is with me as the very true sonnet is , 'Please one and please all .' - -Why , how dost thou , man ? what is the matter with thee ? - -Not black in my mind , though yellow in my legs . It did come to his hands , and commands shall be executed : I think we do know the sweet Roman hand . - -Wilt thou go to bed , Malvolio ? - -To bed ! ay , sweetheart ; and I'll come to thee . - -God comfort thee ! Why dost thou smile so and kiss thy hand so oft ? - -How do you , Malvolio ? - -At your request ! Yes ; nightingales answer daws . - -Why appear you with this ridiculous boldness before my lady ? - -'Be not afraid of greatness :' 'Twas well writ . - -What meanest thou by that , Malvolio ? - -'Some are born great ,' - -Ha ! - -'Some achieve greatness ,' - -What sayst thou ? - -'And some have greatness thrust upon them .' - -Heaven restore thee ! - -'Remember who commended thy yellow stockings ,' - -Thy yellow stockings ! - -'And wished to see thee cross-gartered .' - -Cross-gartered ! - -'Go to , thou art made , if thou desirest to be so ,' - -Am I made ? - -'If not , let me see thee a servant still .' - -Why , this is very midsummer madness . - - -Madam , the young gentleman of the Count Orsino's is returned . I could hardly entreat him back : he attends your ladyship's pleasure . - -I'll come to him . - -Good Maria , let this fellow be looked to . Where's my cousin Toby ? Let some of my people have a special care of him : I would not have him miscarry for the half of my dowry . - - -Oh , ho ! do you come near me now ? no worse man than Sir Toby to look to me ! This concurs directly with the letter : she sends him on purpose , that I may appear stubborn to him ; for she incites me to that in the letter . 'Cast thy humble slough ,' says she ; 'be opposite with a kinsman , surly with servants ; let thy tongue tang with arguments of state ; put thyself into the trick of singularity ;' and consequently sets down the manner how ; as , a sad face , a reverend carriage , a slow tongue , in the habit of some sir of note , and so forth . I have limed her ; but it is Jove's doing , and Jove make me thankful ! And when she went away now , 'Let this fellow be looked to ;' fellow ! not Malvolio , nor after my degree , but fellow . Why , everything adheres together , that no dram of a scruple , no scruple of a scruple , no obstacle , no incredulous or unsafe circumstance What can be said ? Nothing that can be can come between me and the full prospect of my hopes . Well , Jove , not I , is the doer of this , and he is to be thanked . - - -Which way is he , in the name of sanctity ? If all the devils in hell be drawn in little , and Legion himself possess'd him , yet I'll speak to him . - -Here he is , here he is . How is't with you , sir ? how is't with you , man ? - -Go off ; I discard you : let me enjoy my private ; go off . - -Lo , how hollow the fiend speaks within him ! did not I tell you ? Sir Toby , my lady prays you to have a care of him . - -Ah , ha ! does she so ? - -Go to , go to : peace ! peace ! we must deal gently with him ; let me alone . How do you , Malvolio ? how is't with you ? What , man ! defy the devil : consider , he's an enemy to mankind . - -Do you know what you say ? - -La you ! an you speak ill of the devil , how he takes it at heart . Pray God , he be not bewitched ! - -Carry his water to the wise-woman . - -Marry , and it shall be done to-morrow morning , if I live . My lady would not lose him for more than I'll say . - -How now , mistress ! - -O Lord ! - -Prithee , hold thy peace ; this is not the way : do you not see you move him ? let me alone with him . - -No way but gentleness ; gently , gently : the fiend is rough , and will not be roughly used . - -Why , how now , my bawcock ! how dost thou , chuck ? - -Sir ! - -Ay , Biddy , come with me . What , man ! 'tis not for gravity to play at cherry-pit with Satan : hang him , foul collier ! - -Get him to say his prayers , good Sir Toby , get him to pray . - -My prayers , minx ! - -No , I warrant you , he will not hear of godliness . - -Go , hang yourselves all ! you are idle shallow things : I am not of your element . You shall know more hereafter . - - -Is't possible ? - -If this were played upon a stage now , I could condemn it as an improbable fiction . - -His very genius hath taken the infection of the device , man . - -Nay , pursue him now , lest the device take air , and taint . - -Why , we shall make him mad indeed . - -The house will be the quieter . - -Come , we'll have him in a dark room , and bound . My niece is already in the belief that he's mad : we may carry it thus , for our pleasure and his penance , till our very pastime , tired out of breath , prompt us to have mercy on him ; at which time we will bring the device to the bar , and crown thee for a finder of madmen . But see , but see . - - -More matter for a May morning . - -Here's the challenge ; read it : I warrant there's vinegar and pepper in't . - -Is't so saucy ? - -Ay , is't , I warrant him : do but read . - -Give me . Youth , whatsoever thou art , thou art but a scurvy fellow . - -Good , and valiant . - -Wonder not , nor admire not in thy mind , why I do call thee so , for I will show thee no reason for't , - -A good note , that keeps you from the blow of the law . - -Thou comest to the Lady Olivia , and in my sight she uses thee kindly : but thou liest in thy throat ; that is not the matter I challenge thee for . - -Very brief , and to exceeding good sense less . - -I will waylay thee going home ; where , if it be thy chance to kill me , - -Good . - -Thou killest me like a rogue and a villain . - -Still you keep o' the windy side of the law : good . - -Fare thee well ; and God have mercy upon one of our souls ! He may have mercy upon mine , but my hope is better ; and so look to thyself . Thy friend , as thou usest him , and thy sworn enemy , -If this letter move him not , his legs cannot . -I'll give't him . - -You may have very fit occasion for for't : he is now in some commerce with my lady , and will by and by depart . - -Go , Sir Andrew ; scout me for him at the corner of the orchard like a bum-baily : so soon as ever thou seest him , draw ; and , as thou drawest , swear horrible ; for it comes to pass oft that a terrible oath , with a swaggering accent sharply twanged off , gives manhood more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned him . Away ! - -Nay , let me alone for swearing . - - -Now will not I deliver his letter : for the behaviour of the young gentleman gives him out to be of good capacity and breeding ; his employment between his lord and my niece confirms no less : therefore this letter , being so excellently ignorant , will breed no terror in the youth : he will find it comes from a clodpole . But , sir , I will deliver his challenge by word of mouth ; set upon Aguecheek a notable report of valour ; and drive the gentleman ,as I know his youth will aptly receive it ,into a most hideous opinion of his rage , skill , fury , and impetuosity . This will so fright them both that they will kill one another by the look , like cockatrices . - -Here he comes with your niece : give them way till he take leave , and presently after him . - -I will meditate the while upon some horrid message for a challenge . - -I have said too much unto a heart of stone , -And laid mine honour too unchary out : -There's something in me that reproves my fault , -But such a headstrong potent fault it is -That it but mocks reproof . - -With the same haviour that your passion bears -Goes on my master's griefs . - -Here ; wear this jewel for me , 'tis my picture ; -Refuse it not ; it hath no tongue to vex you ; -And I beseech you come again to-morrow . -What shall you ask of me that I'll deny , -That honour sav'd may upon asking give ? - -Nothing but this ; your true love for my master . - -How with mine honour may I give him that -Which I have given to you ? - -I will acquit you . - -Well , come again to-morrow : fare thee well : -A fiend like thee might bear my soul to hell . - -Gentleman , God save thee . - -And you , sir . - -That defence thou hast , betake thee to't : of what nature the wrongs are thou hast done him , I know not ; but thy intercepter , full of despite , bloody as the hunter , attends thee at the orchard-end . Dismount thy tuck , be yare in thy preparation , for thy assailant is quick , skilful , and deadly . - -You mistake , sir : I am sure no man hath any quarrel to me : my remembrance is very free and clear from any image of offence done to any man . - -You'll find it otherwise , I assure you : therefore , if you hold your life at any price , betake you to your guard ; for your opposite hath in him what youth , strength , skill , and wrath , can furnish man withal . - -I pray you , sir , what is he ? - -He is knight dubbed with unhatched rapier , and on carpet consideration ; but he is a devil in private brawl : souls and bodies hath he divorced three , and his incensement at this moment is so implacable that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of death and sepulchre . Hob , nob , is his word : give't or take't . - -I will return again into the house and desire some conduct of the lady : I am no fighter . I have heard of some kind of men that put quarrels purposely on others to taste their valour ; belike this is a man of that quirk . - -Sir , no ; his indignation derives itself out of a very competent injury : therefore get you on and give him his desire . Back you shall not to the house , unless you undertake that with me which with as much safety you might answer him : therefore , on , or strip your sword stark naked ; for meddle you must , that's certain , or forswear to wear iron about you . - -This is as uncivil as strange . I beseech you , do me this courteous office , as to know of the knight what my offence to him is : it is something of my negligence , nothing of my purpose . - -I will do so . Signior Fabian , stay you by this gentleman till my return . - - -Pray you , sir , do you know of this matter ? - -I know the knight is incensed against you , even to a mortal arbitrement , but nothing of the circumstance more . - -I beseech you , what manner of man is he ? - -Nothing of that wonderful promise , to read him by his form , as you are like to find him in the proof of his valour . He is , indeed , sir , the most skilful , bloody , and fatal opposite that you could possibly have found in any part of Illyria . Will you walk towards him ? I will make your peace with him if I can . - -I shall be much bound to you for't : I am one that had rather go with sir priest than sir knight ; I care not who knows so much of my mettle . - -Why , man , he's a very devil ; I have not seen such a firago . I had a pass with him , rapier , scabbard and all , and he gives me the stuck in with such a mortal motion that it is inevitable ; and on the answer , he pays you as surely as your feet hit the ground they step on . They say he has been fencer to the Sophy . - -Pox on't , I'll not meddle with him . - -Ay , but he will not now be pacified : Fabian can scarce hold him yonder . - -Plague on't ; an I thought he had been valiant and so cunning in fence I'd have seen him damned ere I'd have challenged him . Let him let the matter slip , and I'll give him my horse , grey Capilet . - -I'll make the motion . Stand here ; make a good show on't : this shall end without the perdition of souls . - -Marry , I'll ride your horse as well as I ride you . - -I have his horse to take up the quarrel . I have persuaded him the youth's a devil . - -He is as horribly conceited of him ; and pants and looks pale , as if a bear were at his heels . - -There's no remedy , sir : he will fight with you for his oath's sake . Marry , he hath better bethought him of his quarrel , and he finds that now scarce to be worth talking of : therefore draw for the supportance of his vow : he protests he will not hurt you . - -Pray God defend me ! A little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a man . - -Give ground , if you see him furious . - -Come , Sir Andrew , there's no remedy : the gentleman will , for his honour's sake , have one bout with you ; he cannot by the duello avoid it : but he has promised me , as he is a gentleman and a soldier , he will not hurt you . Come on ; to't . - -Pray God , he keep his oath ! - - -I do assure you , 'tis against my will . - -Put up your sword . If this young gentleman -Have done offence , I take the fault on me : -If you offend him , I for him defy you . - - -You , sir ! why , what are you ? - -One , sir , that for his love dares yet do more -Than you have heard him brag to you he will . - -Nay , if you be an undertaker , I am for you . - - -O , good sir Toby , hold ! here come the officers . - -I'll be with you anon . - -Pray , sir , put your sword up , if you please . - -Marry , will I , sir ; and , for that I promised you , I'll be as good as my word . He will bear you easily and reins well . - - -This is the man ; do thy office . - -Antonio , I arrest thee at the suit -Of Count Orsino . - -You do mistake me , sir . - -No , sir , no jot : I know your favour well , -Though now you have no sea-cap on your head . -Take him away : he knows I know him well . - -I must obey . - -This comes with seeking you : -But there's no remedy : I shall answer it . -What will you do , now my necessity -Makes me to ask you for my purse ? It grieves me -Much more for what I cannot do for you -Than what befalls myself . You stand amaz'd : -But be of comfort . - -Come , sir , away . - -I must entreat of you some of that money . - -What money , sir ? -For the fair kindness you have show'd me here , -And part , being prompted by your present trouble , -Out of my lean and low ability -I'll lend you something : my having is not much : -I'll make division of my present with you . -Hold , there is half my coffer . - -Will you deny me now ? -Is't possible that my deserts to you -Can lack persuasion ? Do not tempt my misery , -Lest that it make me so unsound a man -As to upbraid you with those kindnesses -That I have done for you . - -I know of none ; -Nor know I you by voice or any feature . -I hate ingratitude more in a man -Than lying , vainness , babbling drunkenness , -Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption -Inhabits our frail blood . - -O heavens themselves ! - -Come , sir : I pray you , go . - -Let me speak a little . This youth that you see here -I snatch'd one-half out of the jaws of death , -Reliev'd him with such sanctity of love , -And to his image , which methought did promise -Most venerable worth , did I devotion . - -What's that to us ? The time goes by : away ! - -But O ! how vile an idol proves this god . -Thou hast , Sebastian , done good feature shame . -In nature there's no blemish but the mind ; -None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind : -Virtue is beauty , but the beauteous evil -Are empty trunks o'erflourish'd by the devil . - -The man grows mad : away with him ! Come , come , sir . - -Lead me on . - - -Methinks his words do from such passion fly , -That he believes himself ; so do not I . -Prove true , imagination , O , prove true , -That I , dear brother , be now ta'en for you ! - -Come hither , knight ; come hither , -Fabian : we'll whisper o'er a couplet or two of most sage saws . - -He nam'd Sebastian : I my brother know -Yet living in my glass ; even such and so -In favour was my brother ; and he went -Still in this fashion , colour , ornament , -For him I imitate . O ! if it prove , -Tempests are kind , and salt waves fresh in love ! - - -A very dishonest paltry boy , and more a coward than a hare . His dishonesty appears in leaving his friend here in necessity , and denying him ; and for his cowardship , ask Fabian . - -A coward , a most devout coward , religious in it . - -'Slid , I'll after him again and beat him . - -Do ; cuff him soundly , but never draw thy sword . - -An I do not , - - -Come , let's see the event . - -I dare lay any money 'twill be nothing yet . - -Will you make me believe that I am not sent for you ? - -Go to , go to ; thou art a foolish fellow : -Let me be clear of thee . - -Well held out , i' faith ! No , I do not know you ; nor I am not sent to you by my lady to bid you come speak with her ; nor your name is not Master Cesario ; nor this is not my nose neither . Nothing that is so is so . - -I prithee , vent thy folly somewhere else : -Thou know'st not me . - -Vent my folly ! He has heard that word of some great man , and now applies it to a fool . Vent my folly ! I am afraid this great lubber , the world , will prove a cockney . I prithee now , ungird thy strangeness and tell me what I shall vent to my lady . Shall I vent to her that thou art coming ? - -I prithee , foolish Greek , depart from me : -There's money for thee : if you tarry longer -I shall give worse payment . - -By my troth , thou hast an open hand . -These wise men that give fools money get themselves a good report after fourteen years' purchase . - - -Now , sir , have I met you again ? there's for you . - - -Why , there's for thee , and there , and there , and there ! - -Are all the people mad ? - - -Hold , sir , or I'll throw your dagger o'er the house . - -This will I tell my lady straight . I would not be in some of your coats for twopence . - - -Come on , sir : hold . - -Nay , let him alone ; I'll go another way to work with him : I'll have an action of battery against him if there be any law in Illyria . Though I struck him first , yet it's no matter for that . - -Let go thy hand . - -Come , sir , I will not let you go . Come , my young soldier , put up your iron : you are well fleshed ; come on . - -I will be free from thee . - -What wouldst thou now ? -If thou dar'st tempt me further , draw thy sword . - -What , what ! Nay then , I must have an ounce or two of this malapert blood from you . - -Hold , Toby ! on thy life I charge thee , hold ! - -Madam ! - -Will it be ever thus ? Ungracious wretch ! -Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves , -Where manners ne'er were preach'd . Out of my sight ! -Be not offended , dear Cesario . -Rudesby , be gone ! - -I prithee , gentle friend , -Let thy fair wisdom , not thy passion , sway -In this uncivil and unjust extent -Against thy peace . Go with me to my house , -And hear thou there how many fruitless pranks -This ruffian hath botch'd up , that thou thereby -Mayst smile at this . Thou shalt not choose but go : -Do not deny . Beshrew his soul for me , -He started one poor heart of mine in thee . - -What relish is in this ? how runs the stream ? -Or I am mad , or else this is a dream : -Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep ; -If it be thus to dream , still let me sleep ! - -Nay ; come , I prithee . Would thou'dst be rul'd by me ! - -Madam , I will . - -O ! say so , and so be ! - - -Nay , I prithee , put on this gown and this beard ; make him believe thou art Sir Topas the curate : do it quickly ; I'll call Sir Toby the whilst . - - -Well , I'll put it on and I will dissemble myself in't : and I would I were the first that ever dissembled in such a gown . I am not tall enough to become the function well , nor lean enough to be thought a good student ; but to be said an honest man and a good housekeeper goes as fairly as to say a careful man and a great scholar . The competitors enter . - - -God bless thee , Master parson . - -Bonos dies , Sir Toby : for , as the old hermit of Prague , that never saw pen and ink , very wittily said to a niece of King Gorboduc , 'That , that is , is ;' so I , being Master parson , am Master parson ; for , what is 'that ,' but 'that ,' and 'is ,' but 'is ?' - -To him , Sir Topas . - -What ho ! I say . Peace in this prison ! - -The knave counterfeits well ; a good knave . - -Who calls there ? - -Sir Topas , the curate , who comes to visit Malvolio the lunatic . - -Sir Topas , Sir Topas , good Sir Topas , go to my lady . - -Out , hyperbolical fiend ! how vexest thou this man ! Talkest thou nothing but of ladies ? - -Well said , Master Parson . - -Sir Topas , never was man thus wronged . Good Sir Topas , do not think I am mad : they have laid me here in hideous darkness . - -Fie , thou dishonest Satan ! I call thee by the most modest terms ; for I am one of those gentle ones that will use the devil himself with courtesy . Sayst thou that house is dark ? - -As hell , Sir Topas . - -Why , it hath bay-windows transparent as barricadoes , and the clerestories toward the south-north are as lustrous as ebony ; and yet complainest thou of obstruction ? - -I am not mad , Sir Topas . I say to you , this house is dark . - -Madman , thou errest : I say , there is no darkness but ignorance , in which thou art more puzzled than the Egyptians in their fog . - -I say this house is as dark as ignorance , though ignorance were as dark as hell ; and I say , there was never man thus abused . I am no more mad than you are : make the trial of it in any constant question . - -What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild fowl ? - -That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird . - -What thinkest thou of his opinion ? - -I think nobly of the soul , and no way approve his opinion . - -Fare thee well : remain thou still in darkness : thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits , and fear to kill a woodcock , lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam . Fare thee well . - -Sir Topas ! Sir Topas ! - -My most exquisite Sir Topas ! - -Nay , I am for all waters . - -Thou mightst have done this without thy beard and gown : he sees thee not . - -To him in thine own voice , and bring me word how thou findest him : I would we were well rid of this knavery . If he may be conveniently delivered , I would he were ; for I am now so far in offence with my niece that I cannot pursue with any safety this sport to the upshot . Come by and by to my chamber . - -Hey Robin , jolly Robin , -Tell me how thy lady does . - - -Fool ! - -My lady is unkind , perdy ! - -Fool ! - -Alas , why is she so ? - -Fool , I say ! - -She loves another . -Who calls , ha ? - -Good fool , as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand , help me to a candle , and pen , ink , and paper . As I am a gentleman , I will live to be thankful to thee for't . - -Master Malvoliol - -Ay , good fool . - -Alas , sir , how fell you beside your five wits ? - -Fool , there was never man so notoriously abused : I am as well in my wits , fool , as thou art . - -But as well ? then you are mad indeed , if you be no better in your wits than a fool . - -They have here propertied me ; keep me in darkness , send ministers to me , asses ! and do all they can to face me out of my wits . - -Advise you what you say : the minister is here . Malvolio , Malvolio , thy wits the heavens restore ! endeavour thyself to sleep , and leave thy vain bibble-babble . - -Sir Topas ! - -Maintain no words with him , good fellow .Who , I , sir ? not I , sir . God be wi' you , good Sir Topas . Marry , amen . I will , sir , I will . - -Fool , fool , fool , I say ! - -Alas , sir , be patient . What say you , sir ? I am shent for speaking to you . - -Good fool , help me to some light and some paper : I tell thee I am as well in my wits as any man in Illyria . - -Well-a-day , that you were , sir ! - -By this hand , I am . Good fool , some ink , paper , and light ; and convey what I will set down to my lady : it shall advantage thee more than ever the bearing of letter did . - -I will help you to't . But tell me true , are you not mad indeed ? or do you but counterfeit ? - -Believe me , I am not : I tell thee true . - -Nay , I'll ne'er believe a madman till I see his brains . I will fetch you light and paper and ink . - -Fool , I'll requite it in the highest degree : I prithee , be gone . - - -I am gone , sir , -And anon , sir , -I'll be with you again -In a trice , -Like to the old Vice , -Your need to sustain ; -Who with dagger of lath , -In his rage and his wrath , -Cries , Ah , ah ! to the devil : -Like a mad lad , -Pare thy nails , dad ; -Adieu , goodman drivel . - -This is the air ; that is the glorious sun ; This pearl she gave me , I do feel't and see't ; -And though 'tis wonder that enwraps me thus , -Yet 'tis not madness . Where's Antonio then ? -I could not find him at the Elephant ; -Yet there he was , and there I found this credit , -That he did range the town to seek me out . -His counsel now might do me golden service ; -For though my soul disputes well with my sense -That this may be some error , but no madness , -Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune -So far exceed all instance , all discourse , -That I am ready to distrust mine eyes , -And wrangle with my reason that persuades me -To any other trust but that I am mad -Or else the lady's mad : yet , if 'twere so , -She could not sway her house , command her followers , -Take and give back affairs and their dispatch -With such a smooth , discreet , and stable bearing -As I perceive she does . There's something in't -That is deceivable . But here the lady comes . - - -Blame not this haste of mine . If you mean well , -Now go with me and with this holy man -Into the chantry by ; there , before him , -And underneath that consecrated roof , -Plight me the full assurance of your faith ; -That my most jealous and too doubtful soul -May live at peace . He shall conceal it -Whiles you are willing it shall come to note , -What time we will our celebration keep -According to my birth . What do you say ? - -I'll follow this good man , and go with you ; -And , having sworn truth , ever will be true . - -Then lead the way , good father ; and heavens so shine -That they may fairly note this act of mine ! - - -Now , as thou lovest me , let me see his letter . - -Good Master Fabian , grant me another request . - -Anything . - -Do not desire to see this letter . - -This is , to give a dog , and , in recompense desire my dog again . - - -Belong you to the Lady Olivia , friends ? - -Ay , sir ; we are some of her trappings . - -I know thee well : how dost thou , my good fellow ? - -Truly , sir , the better for my foes and the worse for my friends . - -Just the contrary ; the better for thy friends . - -No , sir , the worse . - -How can that be ? - -Marry , sir , they praise me and make an ass of me ; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass : so that by my foes , sir , I profit in the knowledge of myself , and by my friends I am abused : so that , conclusions to be as kisses , if your four negatives make your two affirmatives , why then , the worse for my friends and the better for my foes . - -Why , this is excellent . - -By my troth , sir , no ; though it please you to be one of my friends . - -Thou shalt not be the worse for me : there's gold . - -But that it would be double-dealing , sir , I would you could make it another . - -O , you give me ill counsel . - -Put your grace in your pocket , sir , for this once , and let your flesh and blood obey it . - -Well , I will be so much a sinner to be a double-dealer : there's another . - -Primo , secundo , tertio , is a good play ; and the old saying is , 'the third pays for all :' the triplex , sir , is a good tripping measure ; or the bells of Saint Bennet , sir , may put you in mind ; one , two , three . - -You can fool no more money out of me at this throw : if you will let your lady know I am here to speak with her , and bring her along with you , it may awake my bounty further . - -Marry , sir , lullaby to your bounty till I come again . I go , sir ; but I would not have you to think that my desire of having is the sin of covetousness ; but as you say , sir , let your bounty take a nap , I will awake it anon . - - -Here comes the man , sir , that did rescue me . - - -That face of his I do remember well ; -Yet when I saw it last , it was besmear'd -As black as Vulcan in the smoke of war . -A bawbling vessel was he captain of , -For shallow draught and hulk unprizable ; -With which such scathful grapple did he make -With the most noble bottom of our fleet , -That very envy and the tongue of loss -Cried fame and honour on him . What's the matter ? - -Orsino , this is that Antonio -That took the Ph nix and her fraught from Candy ; -And this is he that did the Tiger board , -When your young nephew Titus lost his leg . -Here in the streets , desperate of shame and state , -In private brabble did we apprehend him . - -He did me kindness , sir , drew on my side ; -But in conclusion put strange speech upon me : -I know not what 'twas but distraction . - -Notable pirate ! thou salt-water thief ! -What foolish boldness brought thee to their mercies -Whom thou , in terms so bloody and so dear , -Hast made thine enemies ? - -Orsino , noble sir , -Be pleas'd that I shake off these names you give me : -Antonio never yet was thief or pirate , -Though I confess , on base and ground enough , -Orsino's enemy . A witchcraft drew me hither : -That most ingrateful boy there by your side , -From the rude sea's enrag'd and foamy mouth -Did I redeem ; a wrack past hope he was : -His life I gave him , and did thereto add -My love , without retention or restraint , -All his in dedication ; for his sake -Did I expose myself , pure for his love , -Into the danger of this adverse town ; -Drew to defend him when he was beset : -Where being apprehended , his false cunning , -Not meaning to partake with me in danger , -Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance , -And grew a twenty years removed thing -While one would wink , denied me mine own purse , -Which I had recommended to his use -Not half an hour before . - -How can this be ? - -When came he to this town ? - -To-day , my lord ; and for three months before , -No interim , not a minute's vacancy , -Both day and night did we keep company . - - -Here comes the countess : now heaven walks on earth ! -But for thee , fellow ; fellow , thy words are madness : -Three months this youth hath tended upon me ; -But more of that anon . Take him aside . - -What would my lord , but that he may not have , -Wherein Olivia may seem serviceable ? -Cesario , you do not keep promise with me . - -Madam ! - -Gracious Olivia . - -What do you say , Cesario ? Good my lord , - -My lord would speak ; my duty hushes me . - -If it be aught to the old tune , my lord , -It is as fat and fulsome to mine ear -As howling after music . - -Still so cruel ? - -Still so constant , lord . - -What , to perverseness ? you uncivil lady , -To whose ingrate and unauspicious altars -My soul the faithfull'st offerings hath breath'd out -That e'er devotion tender'd ! What shall I do ? - -Even what it please my lord , that shall become him . - -Why should I not , had I the heart to do it , -Like to the Egyptian thief at point of death , -Kill what I love ? a savage jealousy -That sometimes savours nobly . But hear me this : -Since you to non-regardance cast my faith , -And that I partly know the instrument -That screws me from my true place in your favour , -Live you , the marble-breasted tyrant still ; -But this your minion , whom I know you love , -And whom , by heaven I swear , I tender dearly , -Him will I tear out of that cruel eye , -Where he sits crowned in his master's spite . -Come , boy , with me ; my thoughts are ripe in mischief ; -I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love , -To spite a raven's heart within a dove . - - -And I , most jocund , apt , and willingly , -To do you rest , a thousand deaths would die . - - -Where goes Cesario ? - -After him I love -More than I love these eyes , more than my life , -More , by all mores , than e'er I shall love wife . -If I do feign , you witnesses above -Punish my life for tainting of my love ! - -Ah me , detested ! how am I beguil'd ! - -Who does beguile you ? who does do you wrong ? - -Hast thou forgot thyself ? Is it so long ? -Call forth the holy father . - - -Come away . - -Whither , my lord ? Cesario , husband , stay . - -Husband ? - -Ay , husband : can he that deny ? - -Her husband , sirrah ? - -No , my lord , not I . - -Alas ! it is the baseness of thy fear -That makes thee strangle thy propriety . -Fear not , Cesario ; take thy fortunes up ; -Be that thou know'st thou art , and then thou art -As great as that thou fear'st . - - -O , welcome , father ! -Father , I charge thee , by thy reverence , -Here to unfold ,though lately we intended -To keep in darkness what occasion now -Reveals before 'tis ripe ,what thou dost know - -Hath newly pass'd between this youth and me . - -A contract of eternal bond of love , -Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands , -Attested by the holy close of lips , -Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings ; -And all the ceremony of this compact -Seal'd in my function , by my testimony : -Since when , my watch hath told me , toward my grave -I have travell'd but two hours . - -O , thou dissembling cub ! what wilt thou be -When time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy case ? -Or will not else thy craft so quickly grow -That thine own trip shall be thine overthrow ? -Farewell , and take her ; but direct thy feet -Where thou and I henceforth may never meet . - -My lord , I do protest , - -O ! do not swear : -Hold little faith , though thou hast too much fear . - - -For the love of God , a surgeon ! send one presently to Sir Toby . - -What's the matter ? - -He has broke my head across , and has given Sir Toby a bloody coxcomb too . For the love of God , your help ! I had rather than forty pound I were at home . - -Who has done this , Sir Andrew ? - -The count's gentleman , one Cesario : we took him for a coward , but he's the very devil incardinate . - -My gentleman , Cesario ? - -Od's lifelings ! here he is . You broke my head for nothing ! and that that I did , I was set on to do't by Sir Toby . - -Why do you speak to me ? I never hurt you : -You drew your sword upon me without cause ; -But I bespake you fair , and hurt you not . - -If a bloody coxcomb be a hurt , you have hurt me : I think you set nothing by a bloody coxcomb . Here comes Sir Toby halting ; - -you shall hear more : but if he had not been in drink he would have tickled you othergates than he did . - -How now , gentleman ! how is't with you ? - -That's all one : he has hurt me , and there's the end on't . Sot , didst see Dick surgeon , sot ? - -O ! he's drunk , Sir Toby , an hour agone : his eyes were set at eight i' the morning . - -Then he's a rogue , and a passy-measures pavin . I hate a drunken rogue . - -Away with him ! Who hath made this havoc with them ? - -I'll help you , Sir Toby , because we'll be dressed together . - -Will you help ? an ass-head and a coxcomb and a knave , a thin-faced knave , a gull ! - -Get him to bed , and let his hurt be look'd to . - -I am sorry , madam , I have hurt your kinsman ; -But , had it been the brother of my blood , -I must have done no less with wit and safety . -You throw a strange regard upon me , and by that -I do perceive it hath offended you : -Pardon me , sweet one , even for the vows -We made each other but so late ago . - -One face , one voice , one habit , and two persons ; -A natural perspective , that is , and is not ! - -Antonio ! O my dear Antonio ! -How have the hours rack'd and tortur'd me -Since I have lost thee ! - -Sebastian are you ? - -Fear'st thou that , Antonio ? - -How have you made division of yourself ? -An apple cleft in two is not more twin -Than these two creatures . Which is Sebastian ? - -Most wonderful ! - -Do I stand there ? I never had a brother ; -Nor can there be that deity in my nature , -Of here and every where . I had a sister , -Whom the blind waves and surges have devour'd . -Of charity , what kin are you to me ? -What countryman ? what name ? what parentage ? - -Of Messaline : Sebastian was my father ; -Such a Sebastian was my brother too , -So went he suited to his watery tomb . -If spirits can assume both form and suit -You come to fright us . - -A spirit I am indeed ; -But am in that dimension grossly clad -Which from the womb I did participate . -Were you a woman , as the rest goes even , -I should my tears let fall upon your cheek , -And say , 'Thrice welcome , drowned Viola !' - -My father had a mole upon his brow . - -And so had mine . - -And died that day when Viola from her birth -Had number'd thirteen years . - -O ! that record is lively in my soul . -He finished indeed his mortal act -That day that made my sister thirteen years . - -If nothing lets to make us happy both -But this my masculine usurp'd attire , -Do not embrace me till each circumstance -Of place , time , fortune , do cohere and jump -That I am Viola : which to confirm , -I'll bring you to a captain in this town , -Where lie my maiden weeds : by whose gentle help -I was preserv'd to serve this noble count . -All the occurrence of my fortune since -Hath been between this lady and this lord . - -So comes it , lady , you have been mistook : -But nature to her bias drew in that . -You would have been contracted to a maid ; -Nor are you therein , by my life , deceiv'd , -You are betroth'd both to a maid and man . - -Be not amaz'd ; right noble is his blood . -If this be so , as yet the glass seems true , -I shall have share in this most happy wrack . - - -Boy , thou hast said to me a thousand times -Thou never shouldst love woman like to me . - -And all those sayings will I over-swear , -And all those swearings keep as true in soul -As doth that orbed continent the fire -That severs day from night . - -Give me thy hand ; -And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds . - -The captain that did bring me first on shore -Hath my maid's garments : he upon some action -Is now in durance at Malvolio's suit , -A gentleman and follower of my lady's . - -He shall enlarge him . Fetch Malvolio hither . -And yet , alas , now I remember me , -They say , poor gentleman , he's much distract . -A most extracting frenzy of mine own -From my remembrance clearly banish'd his . - -How does he , sirrah ? - -Truly , madam , he holds Belzebub at the stave's end as well as a man in his case may do . He has here writ a letter to you : I should have given it to you to-day morning ; but as a madman's epistles are no gospels , so it skills not much when they are delivered . - -Open it , and read it . - -Look then to be well edified , when the fool delivers the madman . -By the Lord , madam , - -How now ! art thou mad ? - -No , madam , I do but read madness : an your ladyship will have it as it ought to be , you must allow vox . - -Prithee , read i' thy right wits . - -So I do , madonna ; but to read his right wits is to read thus : therefore perpend , my princess , and give ear . - -Read it you , sirrah . - - -By the Lord , madam , you wrong me , and the world shall know it : though you have put me into darkness , and given your drunken cousin rule over me , yet have I the benefit of my senses as well as your ladyship . I have your own letter that induced me to the semblance I put on ; with the which I doubt not but to do myself much right , or you much shame . Think of me as you please . I leave my duty a little unthought of , and speak out of my injury . THE MADLY-USED MALVOLIO . - -Did he write this ? - -Ay , madam . - -This savours not much of distraction . - -See him deliver'd , Fabian ; bring him hither . - -My lord , so please you , these things further thought on , -To think me as well a sister as a wife , -One day shall crown the alliance on't , so please you , -Here at my house and at my proper cost . - -Madam , I am most apt to embrace your offer . - - -Your master quits you ; and , for your service done him , -So much against the mettle of your sex , -So far beneath your soft and tender breeding ; -And since you call'd me master for so long , -Here is my hand : you shall from this time be -Your master's mistress . - -A sister ! you are she . - - -Is this the madman ? - -Ay , my lord , this same . -How now , Malvolio ! - -Madam , you have done me wrong , -Notorious wrong . - -Have I , Malvolio ? no . - -Lady , you have . Pray you peruse that letter . -You must not now deny it is your hand : -Write from it , if you can , in hand or phrase , -Or say 'tis not your seal nor your invention : -You can say none of this . Well , grant it then , -And tell me , in the modesty of honour , -Why you have given me such clear lights of favour , -Bade me come smiling and cross-garter'd to you , -To put on yellow stockings , and to frown -Upon Sir Toby and the lighter people ; -And , acting this in an obedient hope , -Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd , -Kept in a dark house , visited by the priest , -And made the most notorious geck and gull -That e'er invention play'd on ? tell me why . - -Alas ! Malvolio , this is not my writing , -Though , I confess , much like the character ; -But , out of question , 'tis Maria's hand : -And now I do bethink me , it was she -First told me thou wast mad ; then cam'st in smiling , -And in such forms which here were presuppos'd -Upon thee in the letter . Prithee , be content : -This practice hath most shrewdly pass'd upon thee ; -But when we know the grounds and authors of it , -Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge -Of thine own cause . - -Good madam , hear me speak , -And let no quarrel nor no brawl to come -Taint the condition of this present hour , -Which I have wonder'd at . In hope it shall not , -Most freely I confess , myself and Toby -Set this device against Malvolio here , -Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts -We had conceiv'd against him . Maria writ -The letter at Sir Toby's great importance ; -In recompense whereof he hath married her . -How with a sportful malice it was follow'd , -May rather pluck on laughter than revenge , -If that the injuries be justly weigh'd -That have on both sides past . - -Alas , poor fool , how have they baffled thee ! - -Why , 'some are born great , some achieve greatness , and some have greatness thrown upon them .' I was one , sir , in this interlude ; one Sir Topas , sir ; but that's all one . 'By the Lord , fool , I am not mad :' But do you remember ? 'Madam , why laugh you at such a barren rascal ? an you smile not , he's gagged :' and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges . - -I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you . - - -He hath been most notoriously abus'd . - -Pursue him , and entreat him to a peace ; -He hath not told us of the captain yet : -When that is known and golden time convents , -A solemn combination shall be made -Of our dear souls . Meantime , sweet sister , -We will not part from hence . Cesario , come ; -For so you shall be , while you are a man ; -But when in other habits you are seen , -Orsino's mistress , and his fancy's queen . - -When that I was and a little tiny boy , -With hey , ho , the wind and the rain ; -A foolish thing was but a toy , -For the rain it raineth every day . - - -But when I came to man's estate , -With hey , ho , the wind and the rain ; -'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gates , -For the rain it raineth every day . - - -But when I came , alas ! to wive , -With hey , ho , the wind and the rain ; -By swaggering could I never thrive , -For the rain it raineth every day . - - -But when I came unto my beds , -With hey , ho , the wind and the rain ; -With toss-pots still had drunken heads , -For the rain it raineth every day . - - -A great while ago the world begun , -With hey , ho , the wind and the rain ; -But that's all one , our play is done , -And we'll strive to please you every day . - - THE FAMOUS HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF KING HENRY VIII - - -I come no more to make you laugh : things now , -That bear a weighty and a serious brow , -Sad , high , and working , full of state and woe , -Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow , -We now present . Those that can pity , here -May , if they think it well , let fall a tear ; -The subject will deserve it . Such as give -Their money out of hope they may believe , -May here find truth too . Those that come to see -Only a show or two , and so agree -The play may pass , if they be still and willing , -I'll undertake may see away their shilling -Richly in two short hours . Only they -That come to hear a merry , bawdy play , -A noise of targets , or to see a fellow -In a long molley coat guarded with yellow , -Will be deceiv'd ; for , gentle hearers , know , -To rank our chosen truth with such a show -As fool and fight is , besides forfeiting -Our own brains , and the opinion that we bring , -To make that only true we now intend , -Will leave us never an understanding friend . -Therefore , for goodness' sake , and as you are known -The first and happiest hearers of the town , -Be sad , as we would make ye : think ye see -The very persons of our noble story -As they were living ; think you see them great , -And follow'd with the general throng and sweat -Of thousand friends ; then , in a moment see -How soon this mightiness meets misery : -And if you can be merry then , I'll say -A man may weep upon his wedding day . - - -Good morrow , and well met . How have you done , -Since last we saw in France ? - -I thank your Grace , -Healthful ; and ever since a fresh admirer -Of what I saw there . - -An untimely ague -Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber , when -Those suns of glory , those two lights of men , -Met in the vale of Andren . - -'Twixt Guynes and Arde : -I was then present , saw them salute on horseback ; -Beheld them , when they lighted , how they clung -In their embracement , as they grew together ; -Which had they , what four thron'd ones could have weigh'd -Such a compounded one ? - -All the whole time -I was my chamber's prisoner . - -Then you lost -The view of earthly glory : men might say , -Till this time , pomp was single , but now married -To one above itself . Each following day -Became the next day's master , till the last -Made former wonders its . To-day the French -All clinquant , all in gold , like heathen gods , -Shone down the English ; and to-morrow they -Made Britain India : every man that stood -Show'd like a mine . Their dwarfish pages were -As cherubins , all gilt : the madams , too , -Not us'd to toil , did almost sweat to bear -The pride upon them , that their very labour -Was to them as a painting . Now this masque -Was cried incomparable ; and the ensuing night -Made it a fool , and beggar . The two kings , -Equal in lustre , were now best , now worst , -As presence did present them ; him in eye , -Still him in praise ; and , being present both , -'Twas said they saw but one ; and no discerner -Durst wag his tongue in censure . When these suns -For so they phrase 'em by their heralds challeng'd -The noble spirits to arms , they did perform -Beyond thought's compass ; that former fabulous story , -Being now seen possible enough , got credit , -That Bevis was believ'd . - -O ! you go far . - -As I belong to worship , and affect -In honour honesty , the tract of every thing -Would by a good discourser lose some life , -Which action's self was tongue to . All was royal ; -To the disposing of it nought rebell'd , -Order gave each thing view ; the office did -Distinctly his full function . - -Who did guide , -I mean , who set the body and the limbs -Of this great sport together , as you guess ? - -One certes , that promises no element -In such a business . - -I pray you , who , my lord ? - -All this was order'd by the good discretion -Of the right reverend Cardinal of York . - -The devil speed him ! no man's pie is freed -From his ambitious finger . What had he -To do in these fierce vanities ? I wonder -That such a keech can with his very bulk -Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun , -And keep it from the earth . - -Surely , sir , -There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends ; -For , being not propp'd by ancestry , whose grace -Chalks successors their way , nor call'd upon -For high feats done to the crown ; neither allied -To eminent assistants ; but , spider-like , -Out of his self-drawing web , he gives us note , -The force of his own merit makes his way ; -A gift that heaven gives for him , which buys -A place next to the king . - -I cannot tell -What heaven hath given him : let some graver eye -Pierce into that ; but I can see his pride -Peep through each part of him : whence has he that ? -If not from hell , the devil is a niggard , -Or has given all before , and he begins -A new hell in himself . - -Why the devil , -Upon this French going-out , took he upon him , -Without the privity o' the king , to appoint -Who should attend on him ? He makes up the file -Of all the gentry ; for the most part such -To whom as great a charge as little honour -He meant to lay upon : and his own letter , -The honourable board of council out , -Must fetch him in he papers . - -I do know -Kinsmen of mine , three at the least , that have -By this so sicken'd their estates , that never -They shall abound as formerly . - -O ! many -Have broke their backs with laying manors on 'em -For this great journey . What did this vanity -But minister communication of -A most poor issue ? - -Grievingly I think , -The peace between the French and us not values -The cost that did conclude it . - -Every man , -After the hideous storm that follow'd , was -A thing inspir'd ; and , not consulting , broke -Into a general prophecy : That this tempest , -Dashing the garment of this peace , aboded -The sudden breach on't . - -Which is budded out ; -For France hath flaw'd the league , and hath attach'd -Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux . - -Is it therefore -The ambassador is silenc'd ? - -Marry , is't . - -A proper title of a peace ; and purchas'd -At a superfluous rate ! - -Why , all this business -Our reverend cardinal carried . - -Like it your Grace , -The state takes notice of the private difference -Betwixt you and the cardinal . I advise you , -And take it from a heart that wishes towards you -Honour and plenteous safety ,that you read -The cardinal's malice and his potency -Together ; to consider further that -What his high hatred would effect wants not -A minister in his power . You know his nature , -That he's revengeful ; and I know his sword -Hath a sharp edge : it's long , and 't may be said , -It reaches far ; and where 'twill not extend , -Thither he darts it . Bosom up my counsel , -You'll find it wholesome . Lo where comes that rock -That I advise your shunning . - -The Duke of Buckingham's surveyor , ha ? -Where's his examination ? - -Here , so please you . - -Is he in person ready ? - -Ay , please your Grace . - -Well , we shall then know more ; and Buckingham -Shall lessen this big look . - - -This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd , and I -Have not the power to muzzle him ; therefore best -Not wake him in his slumber . A beggar's book -Outworths a noble's blood . - -What ! are you chaf'd ? -Ask God for temperance ; that's the appliance only -Which your disease requires . - -I read in's looks -Matter against me ; and his eye revil'd -Me , as his abject object : at this instant -He bores me with some trick : he's gone to the king ; -I'll follow , and out-stare him . - -Stay , my lord , -And let your reason with your choler question -What 'tis you go about . To climb steep hills -Requires slow pace at first : anger is like -A full-hot horse , who being allow'd his way , -Self-mettle tires him . Not a man in England -Can advise me like you : be to yourself -As you would to your friend . - -I'll to the king ; -And from a mouth of honour quite cry down -This Ipswich fellow's insolence , or proclaim -There's difference in no persons . - -Be advis'd ; -Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot -That it do singe yourself . We may outrun -By violent swiftness that which we run at , -And lose by overrunning . Know you not , -The fire that mounts the liquor till it run o'er , -In seeming to augment it wastes it ? Be advis'd : -I say again , there is no English soul -More stronger to direct you than yourself , -If with the sap of reason you would quench , -Or but allay , the fire of passion . - -Sir , -I am thankful to you , and I'll go along -By your prescription : but this top-proud fellow -Whom from the flow of gall I name not , but -From sincere motions ,by intelligence , -And proofs as clear as founts in July , when -We see each grain of gravel ,I do know -To be corrupt and treasonous . - -Say not , 'treasonous .' - -To the king I'll say't ; and make my vouch as strong -As shore of rock . Attend . This holy fox , -Or wolf , or both ,for he is equal ravenous -As he is subtle , and as prone to mischief -As able to perform 't , his mind and place -Infecting one another , yea , reciprocally , -Only to show his pomp as well in France -As here at home , suggests the king our master -To this last costly treaty , the interview , -That swallow'd so much treasure , and like a glass -Did break i' the rinsing . - -Faith , and so it did . - -Praygive me favour , sir . This cunning cardinal -The articles o' the combination drew -As himself pleas'd ; and they were ratified -As he cried , 'Thus let be ,' to as much end -As give a crutch to the dead . But our count-cardinal -Has done this , and 'tis well ; for worthy Wolsey , -Who cannot err , he did it . Now this follows , -Which , as I take it , is a kind of puppy -To the old dam , treason , Charles the emperor , -Under pretence to see the queen his aunt , -For 'twas indeed his colour , but he came -To whisper Wolsey ,here makes visitation : -His fears were , that the interview betwixt -England and France might , through their amity , -Breed him some prejudice ; for from this league -Peep'd harms that menac'd him . He privily -Deals with our cardinal , and , as I trow , -Which I do well ; for , I am sure the emperor -Paid ere he promis'd ; whereby his suit was granted -Ere it was ask'd ; but when the way was made , -And pav'd with gold , the emperor thus desir'd : -That he would please to alter the king's course , -And break the foresaid peace . Let the king know -As soon he shall by me that thus the cardinal -Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases , -And for his own advantage . - -I am sorry -To hear this of him ; and could wish he were -Something mistaken in 't . - -No , not a syllable : -I do pronounce him in that very shape -He shall appear in proof . - - -Your office , sergeant ; execute it . - -Sir , -My Lord the Duke of Buckingham , and Earl -Of Hereford , Stafford , and Northampton , I -Arrest thee of high treason , in the name -Of our most sovereign king . - -Lo you , my lord , -The net has fall'n upon me ! I shall perish -Under device and practice . - -I am sorry -To see you ta'en from liberty , to look on -The business present . 'Tis his highness' pleasure -You shall to the Tower . - -It will help me nothing -To plead mine innocence , for that dye is on me -Which makes my whit'st part black . The will of heaven -Be done in this and all things ! I obey . -O ! my Lord Abergavenny , fare you well ! - -Nay , he must bear you company . - -The king -Is pleas'd you shall to the Tower , till you know -How he determines further . - -As the duke said , -The will of heaven be done , and the king's pleasure -By me obey'd ! - -Here is a warrant from -The king to attach Lord Montacute ; and the bodies -Of the duke's confessor , John de la Car , -One Gilbert Peck , his chancellor , - -So , so ; -These are the limbs o' the plot : no more , I hope . - -A monk o' the Chartreux . - -O ! Nicholas Hopkins ? - -He . - -My surveyor is false ; the o'er-great cardinal -Hath show'd him gold . My life is spann'd already : -I am the shadow of poor Buckingham , -Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on , -By dark'ning my clear sun . My lord , farewell . - - -My life itself , and the best heart of it , -Thanks you for this great care : I stood i' the level -Of a full-charg'd confederacy , and give thanks -To you that chok'd it . Let be call'd before us -That gentleman of Buckingham's ; in person -I'll hear him his confessions justify ; -And point by point the treasons of his master -He shall again relate . - -Nay , we must longer kneel : I am a suitor . - -Arise , and take place by us : half your suit -Never name to us ; you have half our power : -The other moiety , ere you ask , is given ; -Repeat your will , and take it . - -Thank your majesty . -That you would love yourself , and in that love -Not unconsider'd leave your honour , nor -The dignity of your office , is the point -Of my petition . - -Lady mine , proceed . - -I am solicited , not by a few , -And those of true condition , that your subjects -Are in great grievance : there have been commissions -Sent down among 'em , which hath flaw'd the heart -Of all their loyalties : wherein , although , -My good Lord Cardinal , they vent reproaches -Most bitterly on you , as putter-on -Of these exactions , yet the king our master , -Whose honour heaven shield from soil !even he escapes not -Language unmannerly ; yea , such which breaks -The sides of loyalty , and almost appears -In loud rebellion . - -Not almost appears , -It doth appear ; for , upon these taxations , -The clothiers all , not able to maintain -The many to them 'longing , have put off -The spinsters , carders , fullers , weavers , who , -Unfit for other life , compell'd by hunger -And lack of other means , in desperate manner -Daring the event to the teeth , are all in uproar , -And danger serves among them . - -Taxation ! -Wherein ? and what taxation ? My Lord Cardinal , -You that are blam'd for it alike with us , -Know you of this taxation ? - -Please you , sir , -I know but of a single part in aught -Pertains to the state ; and front but in that file -Where others tell steps with me . - -No , my lord , -You know no more than others ; but you frame -Things that are known alike ; which are not wholesome -To those which would not know them , and yet must -Perforce be their acquaintance . These exactions , -Whereof my sov'reign would have note , they are -Most pestilent to the hearing ; and to bear 'em , -The back is sacrifice to the load . They say -They are devis'd by you , or else you suffer -Too hard an exclamation . - -Still exaction ! -The nature of it ? In what kind , let's know , -Is this exaction ? - -I am much too venturous -In tempting of your patience ; but am bolden'd -Under your promis'd pardon . The subjects' grief -Comes through commissions , which compel from each -The sixth part of his substance , to be levied -Without delay ; and the pretence for this -Is nam'd , your wars in France . This makes bold mouths : -Tongues spit their duties out , and cold hearts freeze -Allegiance in them ; their curses now -Live where their prayers did ; and it's come to pass , -This tractable obedience is a slave -To each incensed will . I would your highness -Would give it quick consideration , for -There is no primer business . - -By my life , -This is against our pleasure . - -And for me , -I have no further gone in this than by -A single voice , and that not pass'd me but -By learned approbation of the judges . If I am -Traduc'd by ignorant tongues , which neither know -My faculties nor person , yet will be -The chronicles of my doing , let me say -'Tis but the fate of place , and the rough brake -That virtue must go through . We must not stint -Our necessary actions , in the fear -To cope malicious censurers ; which ever , -As rav'nous fishes , do a vessel follow -That is new-trimm'd , but benefit no further -Than vainly longing . What we oft do best , -By sick interpreters , once weak ones , is -Not ours , or not allow'd ; what worst , as oft , -Hitting a grosser quality , is cried up -For our best act . If we shall stand still , -In fear our motion will be mock'd or carp'd at , -We should take root here where we sit , or sit -State-statues only . - -Things done well , -And with a care , exempt themselves from fear ; -Things done without example , in their issue -Are to be fear'd . Have you a precedent -Of this commission ? I believe , not any . -We must not rend our subjects from our laws , -And stick them in our will . Sixth part of each ? -A trembling contribution ! Why , we take -From every tree , lop , bark , and part o' the timber ; -And , though we leave it with a root , thus hack'd , -The air will drink the sap . To every county -Where this is question'd , send our letters , with -Free pardon to each man that has denied -The force of this commission . Pray , look to 't ; -I put it to your care . - -A word with you . -Let there be letters writ to every shire , -Of the king's grace and pardon . The griev'd commons -Hardly conceive of me ; let it be nois'd -That through our intercession this revokement -And pardon comes : I shall anon advise you -Further in the proceeding . - -I am sorry that the Duke of Buckingham -Is run in your displeasure . - -It grieves many : -The gentleman is learn'd , and a most rare speaker , -To nature none more bound ; his training such -That he may furnish and instruct great teachers , -And never seek for aid out of himself . Yet see , -When these so noble benefits shall prove -Not well dispos'd , the mind growing once corrupt , -They turn to vicious forms , ten times more ugly -Than ever they were fair . This man so complete , -Who was enroll'd 'mongst wonders , and when we , -Almost with ravish'd listening , could not find -His hour of speech a minute ; he , my lady , -Hath into monstrous habits put the graces -That once were his , and is become as black -As if besmear'd in hell . Sit by us ; you shall hear -This was his gentleman in trust of him -Things to strike honour sad . Bid him recount -The fore-recited practices ; whereof -We cannot feel too little , hear too much . - -Stand forth ; and with bold spirit relate what you , -Most like a careful subject , have collected -Out of the Duke of Buckingham . - -Speak freely . - -First , it was usual with him , every day -It would infect his speech , that if the king -Should without issue die , he'd carry it so -To make the sceptre his . These very words -I've heard him utter to his son-in-law , -Lord Abergavenny , to whom by oath he menac'd -Revenge upon the cardinal . - -Please your highness , note -This dangerous conception in this point . -Not friended by his wish , to your high person -His will is most malignant ; and it stretches -Beyond you , to your friends . - -My learn'd Lord Cardinal , -Deliver all with charity . - -Speak on : -How grounded he his title to the crown -Upon our fail ? to this point hast thou heard him -At any time speak aught ? - -He was brought to this -By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins . - -What was that Hopkins ? - -Sir , a Chartreux friar , -His confessor , who fed him every minute -With words of sovereignty . - -How know'st thou this ? - -Not long before your highness sped to France , -The duke being at the Rose , within the parish -Saint Lawrence Poultney , did of me demand -What was the speech among the Londoners -Concerning the French journey : I replied , -Men fear'd the French would prove perfidious , -To the king's danger . Presently the duke -Said , 'twas the fear , indeed ; and that he doubted -'Twould prove the verity of certain words -Spoke by a holy monk ; 'that oft ,' says he , -'Hath sent to me , wishing me to permit -John de la Car , my chaplain , a choice hour -To hear from him a matter of some moment : -Whom after under the confession's seal -He solemnly had sworn , that what he spoke , -My chaplain to no creature living but -To me should utter , with demure confidence -This pausingly ensu'd : neither the king nor 's heirs -Tell you the duke shall prosper : bid him strive -To gain the love o' the commonalty : the duke -Shall govern England .' - -If I know you well , -You were the duke's surveyor , and lost your office -On the complaint o' the tenants : take good heed -You charge not in your spleen a noble person , -And spoil your nobler soul . I say , take heed ; -Yes , heartily beseech you . - -Let him on . -Go forward . - -On my soul , I'll speak but truth . -I told my lord the duke , by the devil's illusions -The monk might be deceiv'd ; and that 'twas dangerous for him -To ruminate on this so far , until -It forg'd him some design , which , being believ'd , -It was much like to do . He answer'd , 'Tush ! -It can do me no damage ;' adding further , -That had the king in his last sickness fail'd , -The cardinal's and Sir Thomas Lovell's heads -Should have gone off . - -Ha ! what , so rank ? Ah , ha ! -There's mischief in this man . Canst thou say further ? - -I can , my liege . - -Proceed . - -Being at Greenwich , -After your highness had reprov'd the duke -About Sir William Blomer , - -I remember -Of such a time : being my sworn servant , -The duke retain'd him his . But on ; what hence ? - -'If ,' quoth he , 'I for this had been committed , -As , to the Tower , I thought , I would have play'd -The part my father meant to act upon -The usurper Richard ; who , being at Salisbury , -Made suit to come in 's presence ; which if granted , -As he made semblance of his duty , would -Have put his knife into him .' - -A giant traitor ! - -Now , madam , may his highness live in freedom , -And this man out of prison ? - -God mend all ! - -There's something more would out of thee ? what sayst ? - -After 'the duke his father ,' with 'the knife ,' -He stretch'd him , and , with one hand on his dagger , -Another spread on's breast , mounting his eyes , -He did discharge a horrible oath ; whose tenour -Was , were he evil us'd , he would outgo -His father by as much as a performance -Does an irresolute purpose . - -There's his period ; -To sheathe his knife in us . He is attach'd ; -Call him to present trial : if he may -Find mercy in the law , 'tis his ; if none , -Let him not seek't of us : by day and night ! -He's traitor to the height . - - -Is't possible the spells of France should juggle -Men into such strange mysteries ? - -New customs , -Though they be never so ridiculous , -Nay , let 'em be unmanly , yet are follow'd . - -As far as I see , all the good our English -Have got by the late voyage is but merely -A fit or two o' the face ; but they are shrewd ones ; -For when they hold 'em , you would swear directly -Their very noses had been counsellors -To Pepin or Clotharius , they keep state so . - -They have all new legs , and lame ones : one would take it , -That never saw 'em pace before , the spavin -Or springhalt reign'd among 'em . - -Death ! my lord , -Their clothes are after such a pagan cut too , -That , sure , they've worn out Christendom . - - -How now ! - -What news , Sir Thomas Lovell ? - -Faith , my lord , -I hear of none , but the new proclamation -That's clapp'd upon the court-gate . - -What is't for ? - -The reformation of our travell'd gallants , -That fill the court with quarrels , talk , and tailors . - -I am glad 'tis there : now I would pray our monsieurs -To think an English courtier may be wise , -And never see the Louvre . - -They must either -For so run the conditions leave those remnants -Of fool and feather that they got in France , -With all their honourable points of ignorance -Pertaining thereunto ,as fights and fireworks ; -Abusing better men than they can be , -Out of a foreign wisdom ;renouncing clean -The faith they have in tennis and tall stockings , -Short blister'd breeches , and those types of travel , -And understand again like honest men ; -Or pack to their old playfellows : there , I take it , -They may , cum privilegio , wear away -The lag end of their lewdness , and be laugh'd at . - -'Tis time to give 'em physic , their diseases -Are grown so catching . - -What a loss our ladies -Will have of these trim vanities ! - -Ay , marry , -There will be woe indeed , lords : the sly whoresons -Have got a speeding trick to lay down ladies ; -A French song and a fiddle has no fellow . - -The devil fiddle 'em ! I am glad they're going : -For , sure , there's no converting of 'em : now -An honest country lord , as I am , beaten -A long time out of play , may bring his plainsong -And have an hour of hearing ; and , by'r lady , -Held current music too . - -Well said , Lord Sands ; -Your colt's tooth is not cast yet . - -No , my lord ; -Nor shall not , while I have a stump . - -Sir Thomas , -Whither were you a-going ? - -To the cardinal's : -Your lordship is a guest too . - -O ! 'tis true : -This night he makes a supper , and a great one , -To many lords and ladies ; there will be -The beauty of this kingdom , I'll assure you . - -That churchman bears a bounteous mind indeed , -A hand as fruitful as the land that feeds us ; -His dews fall everywhere . - -No doubt he's noble ; -He had a black mouth that said other of him . - -He may , my lord ; he has wherewithal : in him -Sparing would show a worse sin than ill doctrine : -Men of his way should be most liberal ; -They are set here for examples . - -True , they are so ; -But few now give so great ones . My barge stays ; -Your lordship shall along . Come , good Sir Thomas , -We shall be late else ; which I would not be , -For I was spoke to , with Sir Henry Guildford , -This night to be comptrollers . - -I am your lordship's . - -Ladies , a general welcome from his Grace -Salutes ye all ; this night he dedicates -To fair content and you . None here , he hopes , -In all this noble bevy , has brought with her -One care abroad ; he would have all as merry -As , first , good company , good wine , good welcome -Can make good people . - -O , my lord ! you're tardy : -The very thought of this fair company -Clapp'd wings to me . - -You are young , Sir Harry Guildford . - -Sir Thomas Lovell , had the cardinal -But half my lay-thoughts in him , some of these -Should find a running banquet ere they rested , -I think would better please 'em : by my life , -They are a sweet society of fair ones . - -O ! that your lordship were but now confessor -To one or two of these ! - -I would I were ; -They should find easy penance . - -Faith , how easy ? - -As easy as a down-bed would afford it . - -Sweet ladies , will it please you sit ? Sir Harry , -Place you that side , I'll take the charge of this ; -His Grace is ent'ring . Nay you must not freeze ; -Two women plac'd together makes cold weather : -My Lord Sands , you are one will keep 'em waking ; -Pray , sit between these ladies . - -By my faith , -And thank your lordship . By your leave , sweet ladies : - -If I chance to talk a little wild , forgive me ; -I had it from my father . - -Was he mad , sir ? - -O ! very mad , exceeding mad ; in love too : -But he would bite none ; just as I do now , -He would kiss you twenty with a breath . - - -Well said , my lord . -So , now you're fairly seated . Gentlemen , -The penance lies on you , if these fair ladies -Pass away frowning . - -For my little cure , -Let me alone . - - -You're welcome , my fair guests : that noble lady , -Or gentleman , that is not freely merry , -Is not my friend : this , to confirm my welcome ; -And to you all , good health . - - -Your Grace is noble : -Let me have such a bowl may hold my thanks , -And save me so much talking . - -My Lord Sands , -I am beholding to you : cheer your neighbours . -Ladies , you are not merry : gentlemen , -Whose fault is this ? - -The red wine first must rise -In their fair cheeks , my lord ; then , we shall have 'em -Talk us to silence . - -You are a merry gamester , -My Lord Sands . - -Yes , if I make my play . -Here's to your ladyship ; and pledge it , madam , -For 'tis to such a thing , - -You cannot show me . - -I told your Grace they would talk anon . - - -What's that ? - -Look out there , some of ye . - - -What war-like voice , -And to what end , is this ? Nay , ladies , fear not ; -By all the laws of war you're privileg'd . - - -How now , what is't ? - -A noble troop of strangers ; -For so they seem : they've left their barge and landed ; -And hither make , as great ambassadors -From foreign princes . - -Good Lord Chamberlain , -Go , give 'em welcome ; you can speak the French tongue ; -And , pray , receive 'em nobly , and conduct 'em -Into our presence , where this heaven of beauty -Shall shine at full upon them . Some attend him . - -You have now a broken banquet ; but we'll mend it . -A good digestion to you all ; and once more -I shower a welcome on ye ; welcome all . - -A noble company ! what are their pleasures ? - -Because they speak no English , thus they pray'd -To tell your Grace : that , having heard by fame -Of this so noble and so fair assembly -This night to meet here , they could do no less , -Out of the great respect they bear to beauty , -But leave their flocks ; and , under your fair conduct , -Crave leave to view these ladies , and entreat -An hour of revels with 'em . - -Say , Lord Chamberlain , -They have done my poor house grace ; for which I pay 'em -A thousand thanks , and pray 'em take their pleasures . - - -The fairest hand I ever touch'd ! O beauty , -Till now I never knew thee ! - - -My lord . - -Your Grace ? - -Pray tell them thus much from me : -There should be one amongst 'em , by his person , -More worthy this place than myself ; to whom , -If I but knew him , with my love and duty -I would surrender it . - -I will , my lord . - - -What say they ? - -Such a one , they all confess , -There is , indeed ; which they would have your Grace -Find out , and he will take it . - -Let me see then . - -By all your good leaves , gentlemen , here I'll make -My royal choice . - -You have found him , cardinal . -You hold a fair assembly ; you do well , lord : -You are a churchman , or , I'll tell you , cardinal , -I should judge now unhappily . - -I am glad -Your Grace is grown so pleasant . - -My Lord Chamberlain , -Prithee , come hither . What fair lady's that ? - -An't please your Grace , Sir Thomas Bullen's daughter , -The Viscount Rochford , one of her highness' women . - -By heaven , she is a dainty one . Sweetheart , -I were unmannerly to take you out , -And not to kiss you . A health , gentlemen ! -Let it go round . - -Sir Thomas Lovell , is the banquest ready -I' the privy chamber ? - -Yes , my lord . - -Your Grace , -I fear , with dancing is a little heated . - -I fear , too much . - -There's fresher air , my lord , -In the next chamber . - -Lead in your ladies , every one . Sweet partner , -I must not yet forsake you . Let's be merry : -Good my Lord Cardinal , I have half a dozen healths -To drink to these fair ladies , and a measure -To lead 'em once again ; and then let's dream -Who's best in favour . Let the music knock it . - - -Whither away so fast ? - -O ! God save ye . -E'en to the hall , to hear what shall become -Of the great Duke of Buckingham . - -I'll save you -That labour , sir . All's now done but the ceremony -Of bringing back the prisoner . - -Were you there ? - -Yes , indeed , was I . - -Pray speak what has happen'd . - -You may guess quickly what . - -Is he found guilty ? - -Yes , truly is he , and condemn'd upon't . - -I am sorry for 't . - -So are a number more . - -But , pray , how pass'd it ? - -I'll tell you in a little . The great duke -Came to the bar ; where , to his accusations -He pleaded still not guilty , and alleg'd -Many sharp reasons to defeat the law . -The king's attorney on the contrary -Urg'd on the examinations , proofs , confessions -Of divers witnesses , which the duke desir'd -To have brought , viv voce , to his face : -At which appear'd against him his surveyor ; -Sir Gilbert Peck his chancellor ; and John Car , -Confessor to him ; with that devil-monk , -Hopkins , that made this mischief . - -That was he -That fed him with his prophecies ? - -The same . -All these accus'd him strongly ; which he fain -Would have flung from him , but , indeed , he could not : -And so his peers , upon this evidence , -Have found him guilty of high treason . Much -He spoke , and learnedly , for life ; but all -Was either pitied in him or forgotten . - -After all this how did he bear himself ? - -When he was brought again to the bar , to hear -His knell rung out , his judgment , he was stirr'd -With such an agony , he sweat extremely , -And something spoke in choler , ill , and hasty : -But he fell to himself again , and sweetly -In all the rest show'd a most noble patience . - -I do not think he fears death . - -Sure , he does not ; -He never was so womanish ; the cause -He may a little grieve at . - -Certainly -The cardinal is the end of this . - -'Tis likely -By all conjectures : first , Kildare's attainder , -Then deputy of Ireland ; who , remov'd , -Earl Surrey was sent thither , and in haste too , -Lest he should help his father . - -That trick of state -Was a deep envious one . - -At his return , -No doubt he will requite it . This is noted , -And generally , whoever the king favours , -The cardinal instantly will find employment , -And far enough from court too . - -All the commons -Hate him perniciously , and o' my conscience , -Wish him ten fathom deep : this duke as much -They love and dote on ; call him bounteous Buckingham , -The mirror of all courtesy ; - -Stay there , sir , -And see the noble ruin'd man you speak of . - -Let's stand close , and behold him . - -All good people , -You that thus far have come to pity me , -Hear what I say , and then go home and lose me . -I have this day receiv'd a traitor's judgment , -And by that name must die : yet , heaven bear witness , -And if I have a conscience , let it sink me , -Even as the axe falls , if I be not faithful ! -The law I bear no malice for my death , -'T has done upon the premises but justice ; -But those that sought it I could wish more Christians : -Be what they will , I heartily forgive 'em . -Yet let 'em look they glory not in mischief , -Nor build their evils on the graves of great men ; -For then my guiltless blood must cry against 'em . -For further life in this world I ne'er hope , -Nor will I sue , although the king have mercies -More than I dare make faults . You few that lov'd me , -And dare be bold to weep for Buckingham , -His noble friends and fellows , whom to leave -Is only bitter to him , only dying , -Go with me , like good angels , to my end ; -And , as the long divorce of steel falls on me , -Make of your prayers one sweet sacrifice , -And lift my soul to heaven . Lead on , o' God's name . - -I do beseech your Grace , for charity , -If ever any malice in your heart -Were hid against me , now to forgive me frankly . - -Sir Thomas Lovell , I as free forgive you -As I would be forgiven : I forgive all . -There cannot be those numberless offences -'Gainst me that I cannot take peace with : no black envy -Shall mark my grave . Commend me to his Grace ; -And , if he speak of Buckingham , pray , tell him -You met him half in heaven . My vows and prayers -Yet are the king's ; and , till my soul forsake , -Shall cry for blessings on him : may he live -Longer than I have time to tell his years ! -Ever belov'd and loving may his rule be ! -And when old time shall lead him to his end , -Goodness and he fill up one monument ! - -To the water side I must conduct your Grace ; -Then give my charge up to Sir Nicholas Vaux , -Who undertakes you to your end . - -Prepare there ! -The duke is coming : see the barge be ready ; -And fit it with such furniture as suits -The greatness of his person . - -Nay , Sir Nicholas , -Let it alone ; my state now will but mock me . -When I came hither , I was Lord High Constable , -And Duke of Buckingham ; now , poor Edward Bohun : -Yet I am richer than my base accusers , -That never knew what truth meant : I now seal it ; -And with that blood will make them one day groan for't . -My noble father , Henry of Buckingham , -Who first rais'd head against usurping Richard , -Flying for succour to his servant Banister , -Being distress'd , was by that wretch betray'd , -And without trial fell : God's peace be with him ! -Henry the Seventh succeeding , truly pitying -My father's loss , like a most royal prince , -Restor'd me to my honours , and , out of ruins , -Made my name once more noble . Now his son , -Henry the Eighth , life , honour , name , and all -That made me happy , at one stroke has taken -For ever from the world . I had my trial , -And , must needs say , a noble one ; which makes me -A little happier than my wretched father : -Yet thus far we are one in fortunes ; both -Fell by our servants , by those men welov'd most : -A most unnatural and faithless service ! -Heaven has an end in all ; yet , you that hear me , -This from a dying man receive as certain : -Where you are liberal of your loves and counsels -Be sure you be not loose ; for those you make friends -And give your hearts to , when they once perceive -The least rub in your fortunes , fall away -Like water from ye , never found again -But where they mean to sink ye . All good people , -Pray for me ! I must now forsake ye : the last hour -Of my long weary life is come upon me . -Farewell : -And when you would say something that is sad , -Speak how I fell . I have done ; and God forgive me ! - - -O ! this is full of pity ! Sir , it calls , -I fear , too many curses on their heads -That were the authors . - -If the duke be guiltless , -'Tis full of woe ; yet I can give you inkling -Of an ensuing evil , if it fall , -Greater than this . - -Good angels keep it from us ! -What may it be ? You do not doubt my faith , sir ? - -This secret is so weighty , 'twill require -A strong faith to conceal it . - -Let me have it ; -I do not talk much . - -I am confident : -You shall , sir . Did you not of late days hear -A buzzing of a separation -Between the king and Katharine ? - -Yes , but it held not ; -For when the king once heard it , out of anger -He sent command to the lord mayor straight -To stop the rumour , and allay those tongues -That durst disperse it . - -But that slander , sir , -Is found a truth now ; for it grows again -Fresher than e'er it was ; and held for certain -The king will venture at it . Either the cardinal , -Or some about him near , have , out of malice -To the good queen , possess'd him with a scruple -That will undo her : to confirm this too , -Cardinal Campeius is arriv'd , and lately ; -As all think , for this business . - -'Tis the cardinal ; -And merely to revenge him on the emperor -For not bestowing on him , at his asking , -The archbishopric of Toledo , this is purpos'd . - -I think you have hit the mark : but is't not cruel -That she should feel the smart of this ? The cardinal -Will have his will , and she must fall . - -'Tis woeful . -We are too open here to argue this ; -Let's think in private more . - - -My lord , The horses your lordship sent for , with all the care I had , I saw well chosen , ridden , and furnished . They were young and handsome , and of the best breed in the north . When they were ready to set out for London , a man of my Lord Cardinal's , by commission and main power , took them from me ; with this reason : His master would be served before a subject , if not before the king ; which stopped our mouths , sir . -I fear he will indeed . Well , let him have them : -He will have all , I think . - - -Well met , my Lord Chamberlain . - -Good day to both your Graces . - -How is the king employ'd ? - -I left him private , -Full of sad thoughts and troubles . - -What's the cause ? - -It seems the marriage with his brother's wife -Has crept too near his conscience . - -No ; his conscience -Has crept too near another lady . - -'Tis so : -This is the cardinal's doing , the king-cardinal : -That blind priest , like the eldest son of Fortune , -Turns what he list . The king will know him one day . - -Pray God he do ! he'll never know himself else . - -How holily he works in all his business , -And with what zeal ! for , now he has crack'd the league -Between us and the emperor , the queen's great nephew , -He dives into the king's soul , and there scatters -Dangers , doubts , wringing of the conscience , -Fears , and despairs ; and all these for his marriage : -And out of all these , to restore the king , -He counsels a divorce ; a loss of her , -That like a jewel has hung twenty years -About his neck , yet never lost her lustre ; -Of her , that loves him with that excellence -That angels love good men with ; even of her , -That , when the greatest stroke of fortune falls , -Will bless the king : and is not this course pious ? - -Heaven keep me from such counsel ! 'Tis most true -These news are every where ; every tongue speaks 'em , -And every true heart weeps for't . All that dare -Look into these affairs , see this main end , -The French king's sister . Heaven will one day open -The king's eyes , that so long have slept upon -This bold bad man . - -And free us from his slavery . - -We had need pray , -And heartily , for our deliverance ; -Or this imperious man will work us all -From princes into pages . All men's honours -Lie like one lump before him , to be fashion'd -Into what pitch he please . - -For me , my lords , -I love him not , nor fear him ; there's my creed . -As I am made without him , so I'll stand , -If the king please ; his curses and his blessings -Touch me alike , they're breath I not believe in . -I knew him , and I know him ; so I leave him -To him that made him proud , the pope . - -Let's in ; -And with some other business put the king -From these sad thoughts , that work too much upon him . -My lord , you'll bear us company ? - -Excuse me ; -The king hath sent me otherwhere : besides , -You'll find a most unfit time to disturb him : -Health to your lordships . - -Thanks , my good Lord Chamberlain . - -How sad he looks ! sure , he is much afflicted . - -Who is there , ha ? - -Pray God he be not angry . - -Who's there , I say ? How dare you thrust yourselves -Into my private meditations ? -Who am I , ha ? - -A gracious king that pardons all offences -Malice ne'er meant : our breach of duty this way -Is business of estate ; in which we come -To know your royal pleasure . - -Ye are too bold . -Go to ; I'll make ye know your times of business : -Is this an hour for temporal affairs , ha ? - - -Who's there ? my good Lord Cardinal ? O ! my Wolsey , -The quiet of my wounded conscience ; -Thou art a cure fit for a king . - -You're welcome , -Most learned reverend sir , into our kingdom : -Use us , and it . - -My good lord , have great care - -I be not found a talker . - -Sir , you cannot . -I would your Grace would give us but an hour -Of private conference . - -We are busy : go . - -This priest has no pride in him ! - -Not to speak of ; -I would not be so sick though for his place : -But this cannot continue . - -If it do , -I'll venture one have-at-him . - -I another . - - -Your Grace has given a precedent of wisdom -Above all princes , in committing freely -Your scruple to the voice of Christendom . -Who can be angry now ? what envy reach you ? -The Spaniard , tied by blood and favour to her , -Must now confess , if they have any goodness , -The trial just and noble . All the clerks , -I mean the learned ones , in Christian kingdoms -Have their free voices : Rome , the nurse of judgment , -Invited by your noble self , hath sent -One general tongue unto us , this good man , -This just and learned priest , Cardinal Campeius ; -Whom once more I present unto your highness . - -And once more in my arms I bid him welcome , -And thank the holy conclave for their loves : -They have sent me such a man I would have wish'd for . - -Your Grace must needs deserve all strangers' loves , -You are so noble . To your highness' hand -I tender my commission , by whose virtue , -The court of Rome commanding ,you , my Lord -Cardinal of York , are join'd with me , their servant , -In the impartial judging of this business . - -Two equal men . The queen shall be acquainted -Forthwith for what you come . Where's Gardiner ? - -I know your majesty has always lov'd her -So dear in heart , not to deny her that -A woman of less place might ask by law , -Scholars , allow'd freely to argue for her . - -Ay , and the best , she shall have ; and my favour -To him that does best : God forbid else . Cardinal , -Prithee , call Gardiner to me , my new secretary : -I find him a fit fellow . - -Give me your hand ; much joy and favour to you ; -You are the king's now . - -But to be commanded -For ever by your Grace , whose hand has rais'd me . - -Come hither , Gardiner . - - -My Lord of York , was not one Doctor Pace -In this man's place before him ? - -Yes , he was . - -Was he not held a learned man ? - -Yes , surely . - -Believe me , there's an ill opinion spread then -Even of yourself , Lord Cardinal . - -How ! of me ? - -They will not stick to say , you envied him , -And fearing he would rise , he was so virtuous , -Kept him a foreign man still ; which so griev'd him -That he ran mad and died . - -Heaven's peace be with him ! -That's Christian care enough : for living murmurers -There's places of rebuke . He was a fool , -For he would needs be virtuous : that good fellow , -If I command him , follows my appointment : -I will have none so near else . Learn this , brother , -We live not to be grip'd by meaner persons . - -Deliver this with modesty to the queen . - -The most convenient place that I can think of -For such receipt of learning , is Black-Friars ; -There ye shall meet about this weighty business . -My Wolsey , see it furnish'd . O my lord ! -Would it not grieve an able man to leave -So sweet a bedfellow ? But , conscience , conscience ! -O ! 'tis a tender place , and I must leave her . - - -Not for that neither : here's the pang that pinches : -His highness having liv'd so long with her , and she -So good a lady that no tongue could ever -Pronounce dishonour of her ; by my life , -She never knew harm-doing ; O ! now , after -So many courses of the sun enthron'd , -Still growing in a majesty and pomp , the which -To leave a thousand-fold more bitter than -'Tis sweet at first to acquire , after this process -To give her the avaunt ! it is a pity -Would move a monster . - -Hearts of most hard temper -Melt and lament for her . - -O ! God's will ; much better -She ne'er had known pomp : though 't be temporal , -Yet , if that quarrel , Fortune , do divorce -It from the bearer , 'tis a sufferance panging -As soul and body's severing . - -Alas ! poor lady , -She's a stranger now again . - -So much the more -Must pity drop upon her . Verily , -I swear , 'tis better to be lowly born , -And range with humble livers in content , -Than to be perk'd up in a glist'ring grief -And wear a golden sorrow . - -Our content -Is our best having . - -By my troth and maidenhead -I would not be a queen . - -Beshrew me , I would , -And venture maidenhead for't ; and so would you , -For all this spice of your hypocrisy . -You , that have so fair parts of woman on you , -Have too a woman's heart ; which ever yet -Affected eminence , wealth , sovereignty : -Which , to say sooth , are blessings , and which gifts -Saving your mincing the capacity -Of your soft cheveril conscience would receive , -If you might please to stretch it . - -Nay , good troth . - -Yes , troth , and troth ; you would not be a queen ? - -No , not for all the riches under heaven . - -'Tis strange : a three-pence bow'd would hire me , -Old as I am , to queen it . But , I pray you , -What think you of a duchess ? have you limbs -To bear that load of title ? - -No , in truth . - -Then you are weakly made . Pluck off a little : -I would not be a young count in your way , -For more than blushing comes to : if your back -Cannot vouchsafe this burden , 'tis too weak -Ever to get a boy . - -How you do talk ! -I swear again , I would not be a queen -For all the world . - -In faith , for little England -You'd venture an emballing : I myself -Would for Carnarvonshire , although there 'long'd -No more to the crown but that . Lo ! who comes here ? - - -Good morrow , ladies . What were't worth to know -The secret of your conference ? - -My good lord , -Not your demand ; it values not your asking : -Our mistress' sorrows we were pitying . - -It was a gentle business , and becoming -The action of good women : there is hope -All will be well . - -Now , I pray God , amen ! - -You bear a gentle mind , and heavenly blessings -Follow such creatures . That you may , fair lady , -Perceive I speak sincerely , and high note's -Ta'en of your many virtues , the king's majesty -Commends his good opinion of you , and -Does purpose honour to you no less flowing -Than Marchioness of Pembroke ; to which title -A thousand pound a year , annual support , -Out of his grace he adds . - -I do not know -What kind of my obedience I should tender ; -More than my all is nothing , nor my prayers -Are not words duly hallow'd , nor my wishes -More worth than empty vanities ; yet prayers and wishes -Are all I can return . Beseech your lordship , -Vouchsafe to speak my thanks and my obedience , -As from a blushing handmaid , to his highness , -Whose health and royalty I pray for . - -Lady , -I shall not fail to approve the fair conceit -The king hath of you . - -I have perus'd her well ; -Beauty and honour in her are so mingled -That they have caught the king ; and who knows yet -But from this lady may proceed a gem -To lighten all this isle ? - -I'll to the king , -And say , I spoke with you . - -My honour'd lord . - - -Why , this it is ; see , see ! -I have been begging sixteen years in court , -Am yet a courtier beggarly , nor could -Come pat betwixt too early and too late ; -For any suit of pounds ; and you , O fate ! -A very fresh-fish here ,fie , fie , upon -This compell'd fortune !have your mouth fill'd up -Before you open it . - -This is strange to me . - -How tastes it ? is it bitter ? forty pence , no . -There was a lady once ,'tis an old story , -That would not be a queen , that would she not , -For all the mud in Egypt : have you heard it ? - -Come , you are pleasant . - -With your theme I could -O'ermount the lark . The Marchioness of Pembroke ! -A thousand pounds a year , for pure respect ! -No other obligation ! By my life -That promises more thousands : honour's train -Is longer than his foreskirt . By this time -I know your back will bear a duchess : say , -Are you not stronger than you were ? - -Good lady , -Make yourself mirth with your particular fancy , -And leave me out on't . Would I had no being , -If this salute my blood a jot : it faints me , -To think what follows . -The queen is comfortless , and we forgetful -In our long absence . Pray , do not deliver -What here you've heard to her . - -What do you think me ? - - -Whilst our commission from Rome is read , -Let silence be commanded . - -What's the need ? -It hath already publicly been read , -And on all sides the authority allow'd ; -You may then spare that time . - -Be't so . Proceed . - -Say , Henry King of England , come into the court . - -Henry King of England , come into the court . - -Here . - -Say , Katharine Queen of England , come into the court . - -Katharine Queen of England , come into the court . - -Sir , I desire you do me right and justice ; -And to bestow your pity on me ; for -I am a most poor woman , and a stranger , -Born out of your dominions ; having here -No judge indifferent , nor no more assurance -Of equal friendship and proceeding . Alas ! sir , -In what have I offended you ? what cause -Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure , -That thus you should proceed to put me off -And take your good grace from me ? Heaven witness , -I have been to you a true and humble wife , -At all times to your will conformable ; -Ever in fear to kindle your dislike , -Yea , subject to your countenance , glad or sorry -As I saw it inclin'd . When was the hour -I ever contradicted your desire , -Or made it not mine too ? Or which of your friends -Have I not strove to love , although I knew -He were mine enemy ? what friend of mine -That had to him deriv'd your anger , did I -Continue in my liking ? nay , gave notice -He was from thence discharg'd . Sir , call to mind -That I have been your wife , in this obedience -Upward of twenty years , and have been blest -With many children by you : if , in the course -And process of this time , you can report , -And prove it too , against mine honour aught , -My bond to wedlock , or my love and duty , -Against your sacred person , in God's name -Turn me away ; and let the foul'st contempt -Shut door upon me , and so give me up -To the sharp'st kind of justice . Please you , sir , -The king , your father , was reputed for -A prince most prudent , of an excellent -And unmatch'd wit and judgment : Ferdinand , -My father , King of Spain , was reckon'd one -The wisest prince that there had reign'd by many -A year before : it is not to be question'd -That they had gather'd a wise council to them -Of every realm , that did debate this business , -Who deem'd our marriage lawful . Wherefore I humbly -Beseech you , sir , to spare me , till I may -Be by my friends in Spain advis'd , whose counsel -I will implore : if not , i' the name of God , -Your pleasure be fulfill'd ! - -You have here , lady , -And of your choice ,these reverend fathers ; men -Of singular integrity and learning , -Yea , the elect o' the land , who are assembled -To plead your cause . It shall be therefore bootless -That longer you desire the court , as well -For your own quiet , as to rectify -What is unsettled in the king . - -His Grace -Hath spoken well and justly : therefore , madam , -It's fit this royal session do proceed , -And that , without delay , their arguments -Be now produc'd and heard . - -Lord Cardinal , -To you I speak . - -Your pleasure , madam ? - -Sir , -I am about to weep ; but , thinking that -We are a queen ,or long have dream'd so ,certain -The daughter of a king , my drops of tears -I'll turn to sparks of fire . - -Be patient yet . - -I will , when you are humble ; nay , before , -Or God will punish me . I do believe , -Induc'd by potent circumstances , that -You are mine enemy ; and make my challenge -You shall not be my judge ; for it is you -Have blown this coal betwixt my lord and me , -Which God's dew quench ! Therefore I say again , -I utterly abhor , yea , from my soul -Refuse you for my judge , whom , yet once more , -I hold my most malicious foe , and think not -At all a friend to truth . - -I do profess -You speak not like yourself ; who ever yet -Have stood to charity , and display'd the effects -Of disposition gentle , and of wisdom -O'ertopping woman's power . Madam , you do me wrong : -I have no spleen against you ; nor injustice -For you or any : how far I have proceeded , -Or how far further shall , is warranted -By a commission from the consistory , -Yea , the whole consistory of Rome . You charge me -That I have blown this coal : I do deny it . -The king is present : if it be known to him -That I gainsay my deed , how may he wound , -And worthily , my falsehood ; yea , as much -As you have done my truth . If he know -That I am free of your report , he knows -I am not of your wrong . Therefore in him -It lies to cure me ; and the cure is , to -Remove these thoughts from you : the which before -His highness shall speak in , I do beseech -You , gracious madam , to unthink your speaking , -And to say so no more . - -My lord , my lord , -I am a simple woman , much too weak -To oppose your cunning . You're meek and humble-mouth'd ; -You sign your place and calling , in full seeming , -With meekness and humility ; but your heart -Is cramm'd with arrogancy , spleen , and pride . -You have , by fortune and his highness' favours , -Gone slightly o'er low steps , and now are mounted -Where powers are your retainers , and your words , -Domestics to you , serve your will as't please -Yourself pronounce their office . I must tell you , -You tender more your person's honour than -Your high profession spiritual ; that again -I do refuse you for my judge ; and here , -Before you all , appeal unto the pope , -To bring my whole cause 'fore his holiness , -And to be judg'd by him . - - -The queen is obstinate , -Stubborn to justice , apt to accuse it , and -Disdainful to be tried by't : 'tis not well . -She's going away . - -Call her again . - -Katharine Queen of England , come into the court . - -Madam , you are call'd back . - -What need you note it ? pray you , keep your way : -When you are call'd , return . Now , the Lord help ! -They vex me past my patience . Pray you , pass on : -I will not tarry ; no , nor ever more -Upon this business my appearance make -In any of their courts . - - -Go thy ways , Kate : -That man i' the world who shall report he has -A better wife , let him in nought be trusted , -For speaking false in that : thou art , alone , -If thy rare qualities , sweet gentleness , -Thy meekness saint-like , wife-like government , -Obeying in commanding , and thy parts -Sovereign and pious else , could speak thee out , -The queen of earthly queens . She's noble born ; -And , like her true nobility , she has -Carried herself towards me . - -Most gracious sir , -In humblest manner I require your highness , -That it shall please you to declare , in hearing -Of all these ears ,for where I am robb'd and bound -There must I be unloos'd , although not there -At once , and fully satisfied ,whether ever I -Did broach this business to your highness , or -Laid any scruple in your way , which might -Induce you to the question on't ? or ever -Have to you , but with thanks to God for such -A royal lady , spake one the least word that might -Be to the prejudice of her present state , -Or touch of her good person ? - -My Lord Cardinal , -I do excuse you ; yea , upon mine honour , -I free you from't . You are not to be taught -That you have many enemies , that know not -Why they are so , but , like to village curs , -Bark when their fellows do : by some of these -The queen is put in anger . You're excus'd : -But will you be more justified ? you ever -Have wish'd the sleeping of this business ; never -Desir'd it to be stirr'd ; but oft have hinder'd , oft , -The passages made toward it . On my honour , -I speak my good Lord Cardinal to this point , -And thus far clear him . Now , what mov'd me to't , -I will be bold with time and your attention : -Then mark the inducement . Thus it came ; give heed to't : -My conscience first receiv'd a tenderness , -Scruple , and prick , on certain speeches utter'd -By the Bishop of Bayonne , then French ambassador , -Who had been hither sent on the debating -A marriage 'twixt the Duke of Orleans and -Our daughter Mary . I' the progress of this business , -Ere a determinate resolution , he -I mean , the bishop did require a respite ; -Wherein he might the king his lord advertise -Whether our daughter were legitimate , -Respecting this our marriage with the dowager , -Sometimes our brother's wife . This respite shook -The bosom of my conscience , enter'd me , -Yea , with a splitting power , and made to tremble -The region of my breast ; which forc'd such way , -That many maz'd considerings did throng , -And press'd in with this caution . First , methought -I stood not in the smile of heaven , who had -Commanded nature , that my lady's womb , -If it conceiv'd a male child by me , should -Do no more offices of life to't than -The grave does to the dead ; for her male issue -Or died where they were made , or shortly after -This world had air'd them . Hence I took a thought -This was a judgment on me ; that my kingdom , -Well worthy the best heir o' the world , should not -Be gladded in't by me . Then follows that -I weigh'd the danger which my realms stood in -By this my issue's fail ; and that gave to me -Many a groaning throe . Thus hulling in -The wild sea of my conscience , I did steer -Toward this remedy , whereupon we are -Now present here together ; that's to say , -I meant to rectify my conscience , which -I then did feel full sick , and yet not well , -By all the rev'rend fathers of the land -And doctors learn'd . First , I began in private -With you , my Lord of Lincoln ; you remember -How under my oppression I did reek , -When I first mov'd you . - -Very well , my liege . - -I have spoke long : be pleas'd yourself to say -How far you satisfied me . - -So please your highness , -The question did at first so stagger me , -Bearing a state of mighty moment in't , -And consequence of dread , that I committed -The daring'st counsel that I had to doubt ; -And did entreat your highness to this course -Which you are running here . - -Then I mov'd you , -My Lord of Canterbury , and got your leave -To make this present summons . Unsolicited -I left no reverend person in this court ; -But by particular consent proceeded -Under your hands and seals : therefore , go on ; -For no dislike i' the world against the person -Of the good queen , but the sharp thorny points -Of my alleged reasons drive this forward . -Prove but our marriage lawful , by my life -And kingly dignity , we are contented -To wear our mortal state to come with her , -Katharine our queen , before the primest creature -That's paragon'd o' the world . - -So please your highness , -The queen being absent , 'tis a needful fitness -That we adjourn this court till further day : -Mean while must be an earnest motion -Made to the queen , to call back her appeal -She intends unto his holiness . - - -I may perceive -These cardinals trifle with me : I abhor -This dilatory sloth and tricks of Rome . -My learn'd and well-beloved servant Cranmer , -Prithee , return : with thy approach , I know , -My comfort comes along . Break up the court : -I say , set on . - - -Take thy lute , wench : my soul grows sad with troubles ; -Sing and disperse 'em , if thou canst . Leave working . - -Orpheus with his lute made trees , -And the mountain tops that freeze , -Bow themselves , when he did sing : -To his music plants and flowers -Ever sprung ; as sun and showers -There had made a lasting spring . -Every thing that heard him play , -Even the billows of the sea , -Hung their heads , and then lay by . -In sweet music is such art , -Killing care and grief of heart -Fall asleep , or hearing , die . - - -How now ! - -An't please your Grace , the two great cardinals -Wait in the presence . - -Would they speak with me ? - -They will'd me say so , madam . - -Pray their Graces -To come near . - -What can be their business -With me , a poor weak woman , fall'n from favour ? -I do not like their coming , now I think on't . -They should be good men , their affairs as righteous ; -But all hoods make not monks . - - -Peace to your highness ! - -Your Graces find me here part of a housewife , -I would be all , against the worst may happen . -What are your pleasures with me , reverend lords ? - -May it please you , noble madam , to withdraw -Into your private chamber , we shall give you -The full cause of our coming . - -Speak it here ; -There's nothing I have done yet , o' my conscience , -Deserves a corner : would all other women -Could speak this with as free a soul as I do ! -My lords , I care not so much I am happy -Above a number if my actions -Were tried by every tongue , every eye saw 'em , -Envy and base opinion set against 'em , -I know my life so even . If your business -Seek me out , and that way I am wife in , -Out with it boldly : truth loves open dealing . - -Tanta est erga te mentis integritas , regina serenissima , - -O , good my lord , no Latin ; -I am not such a truant since my coming -As not to know the language I have liv'd in : -A strange tongue makes my cause more strange , suspicious ; -Pray , speak in English : here are some will thank you , -If you speak truth , for their poor mistress' sake : -Believe me , she has had much wrong . Lord Cardinal , -The willing'st sin I ever yet committed -May be absolv'd in English . - -Noble lady , -I am sorry my integrity should breed , -And service to his majesty and you , -So deep suspicion , where all faith was meant . -We come not by the way of accusation , -To taint that honour every good tongue blesses , -Nor to betray you any way to sorrow , -You have too much , good lady ; but to know -How you stand minded in the weighty difference -Between the king and you ; and to deliver , -Like free and honest men , our just opinions -And comforts to your cause . - -Most honour'd madam , -My Lord of York , out of his noble nature , -Zeal and obedience he still bore your Grace , -Forgetting , like a good man , your late censure -Both of his truth and him ,which was too far , -Offers , as I do , in sign of peace , -His service and his counsel . - -To betray me . -My lords , I thank you both for your good wills ; -Ye speak like honest men ,pray God , ye prove so ! -But how to make ye suddenly an answer , -In such a point of weight , so near mine honour , -More near my life , I fear ,with my weak wit , -And to such men of gravity and learning , -In truth , I know not . I was set at work -Among my maids ; full little , God knows , looking -Either for such men or such business . -For her sake that I have been ,for I feel -The last fit of my greatness ,good your Graces -Let me have time and counsel for my cause : -Alas ! I am a woman , friendless , hopeless . - -Madam , you wrong the king's love with these fears : -Your hopes and friends are infinite . - -In England -But little for my profit . Can you think , lords , -That any Englishman dare give me counsel ? -Or be a known friend , 'gainst his highness' pleasure , -Though he be grown so desperate to be honest , -And live a subject ? Nay , forsooth , my friends , -They that must weigh out my afflictions , -They that my trust must grow to , live not here : -They are , as all my other comforts , far hence -In mine own country , lords . - -I would your Grace -Would leave your griefs , and take my counsel . - -How , sir ? - -Put your main cause into the king's protection ; -He's loving and most gracious : 'twill be much -Both for your honour better and your cause ; -For if the trial of the law o'ertake ye , -You'll part away disgrac'd . - -He tells you rightly . - -Ye tell me what ye wish for both ; my ruin . -Is this your Christian counsel ? out upon ye ! -Heaven is above all yet ; there sits a judge -That no king can corrupt . - -Your rage mistakes us . - -The more shame for ye ! holy men I thought ye , -Upon my soul , two reverend cardinal virtues ; -But cardinal sins and hollow hearts I fear ye . -Mend 'em , for shame , my lords . Is this your comfort ? -The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady , -A woman lost among ye , laugh'd at , scorn'd ? -I will not wish ye half my miseries , -I have more charity ; but say , I warn'd ye : -Take heed , for heaven's sake , take heed , lest at once -The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye . - -Madam , this is a mere distraction ; -You turn the good we offer into envy . - -Ye turn me into nothing : woe upon ye , -And all such false professors ! Would ye have me , -If ye have any justice , any pity ; -If ye be anything but churchmen's habits , -Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me ? -Alas ! he has banish'd me his bed already , -His love , too long ago ! I am old , my lords , -And all the fellowship I hold now with him -Is only my obedience . What can happen -To me above this wretchedness ? all your studies -Make me a curse like this . - -Your fears are worse . - -Have I liv'd thus long let me speak myself , -Since virtue finds no friends a wife , a true one ? -A woman , I dare say without vain-glory , -Never yet branded with suspicion ? -Have I with all my full affections -Still met the king ? lov'd him next heaven ? obey'd him ? -Been , out of fondness , superstitious to him ? -Almost forgot my prayers to content him ? -And am I thus rewarded ? 'tis not well , lords . -Bring me a constant woman to her husband , -One that ne'er dream'd a joy beyond his pleasure , -And to that woman , when she has done most , -Yet will I add an honour , a great patience . - -Madam , you wander from the good we aim at . - -My lord , I dare not make myself so guilty , -To give up willingly that noble title -Your master wed me to : nothing but death -Shall e'er divorce my dignities . - -Pray hear me . - -Would I had never trod this English earth , -Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it ! -Ye have angels' faces , but heaven knows your hearts . -What will become of me now , wretched lady ? -I am the most unhappy woman living . - - -Alas ! poor wenches , where are now your fortunes ? -Shipwrack'd upon a kingdom , where no pity , -No friends , no hope ; no kindred weep for me ; -Almost no grave allow'd me . Like the lily , -That once was mistress of the field and flourish'd , -I'll hang my head and perish . - -If your Grace -Could but be brought to know our ends are honest , -You'd feel more comfort . Why should we , good lady , -Upon what cause , wrong you ? alas ! our places , -The way of our profession is against it : -We are to cure such sorrows , not to sow them . -For goodness' sake , consider what you do ; -How you may hurt yourself , ay , utterly -Grow from the king's acquaintance , by this carriage . -The hearts of princes kiss obedience , -So much they love it ; but to stubborn spirits -They swell , and grow as terrible as storms . -I know you have a gentle , noble temper , -A soul as even as a calm : pray think us -Those we profess , peace-makers , friends , and servants . - -Madam , you'll find it so . You wrong your virtues -With these weak women's fears : a noble spirit , -As yours was put into you , ever casts -Such doubts , as false coin , from it . The king loves you ; -Beware you lose it not : for us , if you please -To trust us in your business , we are ready -To use our utmost studies in your service . - -Do what ye will , my lords : and , pray , forgive me -If I have us'd myself unmannerly . -You know I am a woman , lacking wit -To make a seemly answer to such persons . -Pray do my service to his majesty : -He has my heart yet ; and shall have my prayers -While I shall have my life . Come , reverend fathers , -Bestow your counsels on me : she now begs -That little thought , when she set footing here , -She should have bought her dignities so dear . - - -If you will now unite in your complaints , -And force them with a constancy , the cardinal -Cannot stand under them : if you omit -The offer of this time , I cannot promise -But that you shall sustain moe new disgraces -With these you bear already . - -I am joyful -To meet the least occasion that may give me -Remembrance of my father-in-law , the duke , -To be reveng'd on him . - -Which of the peers -Have uncontemn'd gone by him , or at least -Strangely neglected ? when did he regard -The stamp of nobleness in any person , -Out of himself ? - -My lords , you speak your pleasures : -What he deserves of you and me , I know ; -What we can do to him ,though now the time -Gives way to us ,I much fear . If you cannot -Bar his access to the king , never attempt -Any thing on him , for he hath a witchcraft -Over the king in's tongue . - -O ! fear him not ; -His spell in that is out : the king hath found -Matter against him that for ever mars -The honey of his language . No , he's settled , -Not to come off , in his displeasure . - -Sir , -I should be glad to hear such news as this -Once every hour . - -Believe it , this is true : -In the divorce his contrary proceedings -Are all unfolded ; wherein he appears -As I would wish mine enemy . - -How came -His practices to light ? - -Most strangely . - -O ! how ? how ? - -The cardinal's letter to the pope miscarried , -And came to the eye o' the king ; wherein was read , -That the cardinal did entreat his holiness -To stay the judgment o' the divorce ; for if -It did take place , 'I do ,' quoth he , 'perceive -My king is tangled in affection to -A creature of the queen's , Lady Anne Bullen .' - -Has the king this ? - -Believe it . - -Will this work ? - -The king in this perceives him , how he coasts -And hedges his own way . But in this point -All his tricks founder , and he brings his physic -After his patient's death : the king already -Hath married the fair lady . - -Would he had ! - -May you be happy in your wish , my lord ! -For I profess , you have it . - -Now all my joy -Trace the conjunction ! - -My amen to't ! - -All men's . - -There's order given for her coronation : -Marry , this is yet but young , and may be left -To some ears unrecounted . But , my lords , -She is a gallant creature , and complete -In mind and feature : I persuade me , from her -Will fall some blessing to this land , which shall -In it be memoriz'd . - -But will the king -Digest this letter of the cardinal's ? -The Lord forbid ! - -Marry , amen ! - -No , no ; -There be moe wasps that buzz about his nose -Will make this sting the sooner . Cardinal Campeius -Is stol'n away to Rome ; hath ta'en no leave ; -Has left the cause o' the king unhandled ; and -Is posted , as the agent of our cardinal , -To second all his plot . I do assure you -The king cried Ha ! at this . - -Now , God incense him , -And let him cry Ha ! louder . - -But , my lord , -When returns Cranmer ? - -He is return'd in his opinions , which -Have satisfied the king for his divorce , -Together with all famous colleges -Almost in Christendom . Shortly , I believe , -His second marriage shall be publish'd , and -Her coronation . Katharine no more -Shall be call'd queen , but princess dowager , -And widow to Prince Arthur . - -This same Cranmer's -A worthy fellow , and hath ta'en much pain -In the king's business . - -He has ; and we shall see him -For it an archbishop . - -So I hear . - -'Tis so . -The cardinal ! - - -Observe , observe ; he's moody . - -The packet , Cromwell , -Gave't you the king ? - -To his own hand , in his bedchamber . - -Look'd he o' the inside of the paper ? - -Presently -He did unseal them ; and the first he view'd , -He did it with a serious mind ; a heed -Was in his countenance . You he bade -Attend him here this morning . - -Is he ready -To come abroad ? - -I think , by this he is . - -Leave me awhile . - -It shall be to the Duchess of Alen on , -The French King's sister ; he shall marry her . -Anne Bullen ! No ; I'll no Anne Bullens for him : -There's more in't than fair visage . Bullen ! -No , we'll no Bullens . Speedily I wish -To hear from Rome . The Marchioness of Pembroke ! - -He's discontented . - -May be he hears the king -Does whet his anger to him . - -Sharp enough , -Lord , for thy justice ! - -The late queen's gentlewoman , a knight's daughter , -To be her mistress' mistress ! the queen's queen ! -This candle burns not clear : 'tis I must snuff it ; -Then , out it goes . What though I know her virtuous -And well deserving ? yet I know her for -A spleeny Lutheran ; and not wholesome to -Our cause , that she should lie i' the bosom of -Our hard-rul'd king . Again , there is sprung up -A heretic , an arch one , Cranmer ; one -Hath crawl'd into the favour of the king , -And is his oracle . - -He is vex'd at something . - -I would 'twere something that would fret the string , -The master-cord on's heart ! - - -The king , the king ! - -What piles of wealth hath he accumulated -To his own portion ! and what expense by the hour -Seems to flow from him ! How , i' the name of thrift , -Does he rake this together ? Now , my lords , -Saw you the cardinal ? - -My lord , we have -Stood here observing him ; some strange commotion -Is in his brain : he bites his lip , and starts ; -Stops on a sudden , looks upon the ground , -Then lays his finger on his temple ; straight -Springs out into fast gait ; then stops again , -Strikes his breast hard ; and anon he casts -His eye against the moon : in most strange postures -We have seen him set himself . - -It may well be : -There is a mutiny in 's mind . This morning -Papers of state he sent me to peruse , -As I requir'd ; and wot you what I found -There , on my conscience , put unwittingly ? -Forsooth , an inventory , thus importing ; -The several parcels of his plate , his treasure , -Rich stuffs and ornaments of household , which -I find at such a proud rate that it out-speaks -Possession of a subject . - -It's heaven's will : -Some spirit put this paper in the packet -To bless your eye withal . - -If we did think -His contemplation were above the earth , -And fix'd on spiritual object , he should still -Dwell in his musings : but I am afraid -His thinkings are below the moon , not worth -His serious considering . - - -Heaven forgive me ! -Ever God bless your highness ! - -Good my lord , -You are full of heavenly stuff , and bear the inventory -Of your best graces in your mind , the which -You were now running o'er : you have scarce time -To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span -To keep your earthly audit : sure , in that -I deem you an ill husband , and am glad -To have you therein my companion . - -Sir , -For holy offices I have a time ; a time -To think upon the part of business which -I bear i' the state ; and nature does require -Her times of preservation , which perforce -I , her frail son , amongst my brethren mortal , -Must give my tendance to . - -You have said well . - -And ever may your highness yoke together , -As I will lend you cause , my doing well -With my well saying ! - -'Tis well said again ; -And 'tis a kind of good deed to say well : -And yet words are no deeds . My father lov'd you : -He said he did ; and with his deed did crown -His word upon you . Since I had my office , -I have kept you next my heart ; have not alone -Employ'd you where high profits might come home , -But par'd my present havings , to bestow -My bounties upon you . - -What should this mean ? - -The Lord increase this business ! - -Have I not made you -The prime man of the state ? I pray you , tell me -If what I now pronounce you have found true ; -And if you may confess it , say withal , -If you are bound to us or no . What say you ? - -My sovereign , I confess your royal graces , -Shower'd on me daily , have been more than could -My studied purposes requite ; which went -Beyond all man's endeavours : my endeavours -Have ever come too short of my desires , -Yet fil'd with my abilities . Mine own ends -Have been mine so , that evermore they pointed -To the good of your most sacred person and -The profit of the state . For your great graces -Heap'd upon me , poor undeserver , I -Can nothing render but allegiant thanks , -My prayers to heaven for you , my loyalty , -Which ever has and ever shall be growing , -Till death , that winter , kill it . - -Fairly answer'd ; -A loyal and obedient subject is -Therein illustrated ; the honour of it -Does pay the act of it , as , i' the contrary , -The foulness is the punishment . I presume -That as my hand has open'd bounty to you , -My heart dropp'd love , my power rain'd honour , more -On you than any ; so your hand and heart , -Your brain , and every function of your power , -Should , notwithstanding that your bond of duty , -As 'twere in love's particular , be more -To me , your friend , than any . - -I do profess , -That for your highness' good I ever labour'd -More than mine own ; that am , have , and will be . -Though all the world should crack their duty to you , -And throw it from their soul ; though perils did -Abound as thick as thought could make 'em , and -Appear in forms more horrid , yet my duty , -As doth a rock against the chiding flood , -Should the approach of this wild river break , -And stand unshaken yours . - -'Tis nobly spoken . -Take notice , lords , he has a loyal breast , -For you have seen him open't . Read o'er this ; - -And after , this : and then to breakfast with -What appetite you have . - - -What should this mean ? -What sudden anger's this ? how have I reap'd it ? -He parted frowning from me , as if ruin -Leap'd from his eyes : so looks the chafed lion -Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd him ; -Then makes him nothing . I must read this paper ; -I fear , the story of his anger . 'Tis so ; -This paper has undone me ! 'Tis the account -Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together -For mine own ends ; indeed , to gain the popedom , -And fee my friends in Rome . O negligence ! -Fit for a fool to fall by : what cross devil -Made me put this main secret in the packet -I sent the king ? Is there no way to cure this ? -No new device to beat this from his brains ? -I know 'twill stir him strongly ; yet I know -A way , if it take right , in spite of fortune -Will bring me off again . What's this ?'To the Pope !' -The letter , as I live , with all the business -I writ to's holiness . Nay then , farewell ! -I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness ; -And from that full meridian of my glory , -I haste now to my setting : I shall fall -Like a bright exhalation in the evening , -And no man see me more . - - -Hear the king's pleasure , cardinal : who commands you -To render up the great seal presently -Into our hands ; and to confine yourself -To Asher-house , my Lord of Winchester's , -Till you hear further from his highness . - -Stay , -Where's your commission , lord ? words cannot carry -Authority so weighty . - -Who dare cross 'em , -Bearing the king's will from his mouth expressly ? - -Till I find more than will or words to do it , -I mean your malice , know , officious lords , -I dare and must deny it . Now I feel -Of what coarse metal ye are moulded , envy : -How eagerly ye follow my disgraces , -As if it fed ye ! and how sleek and wanton -Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin -Follow your envious courses , men of malice ; -You have Christian warrant for 'em , and , no doubt , -In time will find their fit rewards . That seal -You ask with such a violence , the king -Mine and your master with his own hand gave me ; -Bade me enjoy it with the place and honours -During my life ; and to confirm his goodness , -Tied it by letters-patents : now who'll take it ? - -The king , that gave it . - -It must be himself then . - -Thou art a proud traitor , priest . - -Proud lord , thou liest : -Within these forty hours Surrey durst better -Have burnt that tongue than said so . - -Thy ambition , -Thou scarlet sin , robb'd this bewailing land -Of noble Buckingham , my father-in-law : -The heads of all thy brother cardinals -With thee and all thy best parts bound together -Weigh'd not a hair of his . Plague of your policy ! -You sent me deputy for Ireland , -Far from his succour , from the king , from all -That might have mercy on the fault thou gav'st him ; -Whilst your great goodness , out of holy pity , -Absolv'd him with an axe . - -This and all else -This talking lord can lay upon my credit , -I answer is most false . The duke by law -Found his deserts : how innocent I was -From any private malice in his end , -His noble jury and foul cause can witness . -If I lov'd many words , lord , I should tell you , -You have as little honesty as honour , -That in the way of loyalty and truth -Toward the king , my ever royal master , -Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be , -And all that love his follies . - -By my soul , -Your long coat , priest , protects you ; thou shouldst feel -My sword i' the life-blood of thee else . My lords , -Can ye endure to hear this arrogance ? -And from this fellow ? If we live thus tamely , -To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet , -Farewell nobility ; let his Grace go forward , -And dare us with his cap like larks . - -All goodness -Is poison to thy stomach . - -Yes , that goodness -Of gleaning all the land's wealth into one , -Into your own hands , cardinal , by extortion ; -The goodness of your intercepted packets , -You writ to the pope against the king ; your goodness , -Since you provoke me , shall be most notorious . -My Lord of Norfolk , as you are truly noble , -As you respect the common good , the state -Of our despis'd nobility , our issues , -Who , if he live , will scarce be gentlemen , -Produce the grand sum of his sins , the articles -Collected from his life ; I'll startle you -Worse than the sacring bell , when the brown wench -Lay kissing in your arms , Lord Cardinal . - -How much , methinks , I could despise this man , -But that I am bound in charity against it ! - -Those articles , my lord , are in the king's hand ; -But , thus much , they are foul ones . - -So much fairer -And spotless shall mine innocence arise -When the king knows my truth . - -This cannot save you : -I thank my memory , I yet remember -Some of these articles ; and out they shall . -Now , if you can blush , and cry 'guilty ,' cardinal , -You'll show a little honesty . - -Speak on , sir ; -I dare your worst objections ; if I blush , -It is to see a nobleman want manners . - -I had rather want those than my head . Have at you ! -First , that , without the king's assent or know ledge , -You wrought to be a legate ; by which power -You maim'd the jurisdiction of all bishops . - -Then , that in all you writ to Rome , or else -To foreign princes , Ego et Rex meus -Was still inscrib'd ; in which you brought the king -To be your servant . - -Then , that without the knowledge -Either of king or council , when you went -Ambassador to the emperor , you made bold -To carry into Flanders the great seal . - -Item , you sent a large commission -To Gregory de Cassado , to conclude , -Without the king's will or the state's allowance , -A league between his highness and Ferrara . - -That , out of mere ambition , you have caus'd -Your holy hat to be stamp'd on the king's coin . - -Then , that you have sent innumerable substance , -By what means got I leave to your own conscience , -To furnish Rome , and to prepare the ways -You have for dignities ; to the mere undoing -Of all the kingdom . Many more there are ; -Which , since they are of you , and odious , -I will not taint my mouth with . - -O my lord ! -Press not a falling man too far ; 'tis virtue : -His faults lie open to the laws ; let them , -Not you , correct him . My heart weeps to see him -So little of his great self . - -I forgive him . - -Lord Cardinal , the king's further pleasure is , -Because all those things you have done of late , -By your power legatine , within this kingdom , -Fall into the compass of a pr munire , -That therefore such a writ be su'd against you ; -To forfeit all your goods , lands , tenements , -Chattels , and whatsoever , and to be -Out of the king's protection . This is my charge . - -And so we'll leave you to your meditations -How to live better . For your stubborn answer -About the giving back the great seal to us , -The king shall know it , and , no doubt , shall thank you . -So fare you well , my little good Lord Cardinal . - - -So farewell to the little good you bear me . -Farewell ! a long farewell , to all my greatness ! -This is the state of man : to-day be puts forth -The tender leaves of hopes ; to-morrow blossoms , -And bears his blushing honours thick upon him ; -The third day comes a frost , a killing frost ; -And , when he thinks , good easy man , full surely -His greatness is a-ripening , nips his root , -And then he falls , as I do . I have ventur'd , -Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders , -This many summers in a sea of glory , -But far beyond my depth : my high-blown pride -At length broke under me , and now has left me , -Weary and old with service , to the mercy -Of a rude stream , that must for ever hide me . -Vain pomp and glory of this world , I hate yo : -I feel my heart new open'd . O ! how wretched -Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours ! -There is , betwixt that smile we would aspire to , -That sweet aspect of princes , and their ruin , -More pangs and fears than wars or women have ; -And when he falls , he falls like Lucifer , -Never to hope again . - -Why , how now , Cromwell ! - -I have no power to speak , sir . - -What ! amaz'd -At my misfortunes ? can thy spirit wonder -A great man should decline ? Nay , an you weep , -I am fall'n indeed . - -How does your Grace ? - -Why , well ; -Never so truly happy , my good Cromwell . -I know myself now ; and I feel within me -A peace above all earthly dignities , -A still and quiet conscience . The king has cur'd me , -I humbly thank his Grace ; and from these shoulders , -These ruin'd pillars , out of pity taken -A load would sink a navy , too much honour : -O ! 'tis a burden , Cromwell , 'tis a burden -Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven . - -I am glad your Grace has made that right use of it . - -I hope I have : I am able now , methinks , -Out of a fortitude of soul I feel , -To endure more miseries and greater far -Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer . -What news abroad ? - -The heaviest and the worst , -Is your displeasure with the king . - -God bless him ! - -The next is , that Sir Thomas More is chosen -Lord Chancellor in your place . - -That's somewhat sudden : -But he's a learned man . May he continue -Long in his highness' favour , and do justice -For truth's sake and his conscience ; that his bones , -When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings , -May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on 'em ! -What more ? - -That Cranmer is return'd with welcome , -Install'd Lord Archbishop of Canterbury . - -That's news indeed . - -Last , that the Lady Anne , -Whom the king hath in secrecy long married , -This day was view'd in open , as his queen , -Going to chapel ; and the voice is now -Only about her coronation . - -There was the weight that pull'd me down . O Cromwell ! -The king has gone beyond me : all my glories -In that one woman I have lost for ever . -No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours , -Or gild again the noble troops that waited -Upon my smiles . Go , get thee from me , Cromwell ; -I am a poor fall'n man , unworthy now -To be thy lord and master : seek the king ; -That sun , I pray , may never set !I have told him -What , and how true thou art : he will advance thee ; -Some little memory of me will stir him -I know his noble nature not to let -Thy hopeful service perish too . Good Cromwell , -Neglect him not ; make use now , and provide -For thine own future safety . - -O my lord ! -Must I then , leave you ? must I needs forego -So good , so noble , and so true a master ? -Bear witness all that have not hearts of iron , -With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord . -The king shall have my service ; but my prayers -For ever and for ever , shall be yours . - -Cromwell , I did not think to shed a tear -In all my miseries ; but thou hast forc'd me , -Out of thy honest truth , to play the woman . -Let's dry our eyes : and thus far hear me , Cromwell ; -And , when I am forgotten , as I shall be , -And sleep in dull cold marble , where no mention -Of me more must be heard of , say , I taught thee , -Say , Wolsey , that once trod the ways of glory , -And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour , -Found thee a way , out of his wrack , to rise in ; -A sure and safe one , though thy master miss'd it . -Mark but my fall , and that that ruin'd me . -Cromwell , I charge thee , fling away ambition : -By that sin fell the angels ; how can man then , -The image of his Maker , hope to win by't ? -Love thyself last : cherish those hearts that hate thee ; -Corruption wins not more than honesty . -Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace , -To silence envious tongues : be just , and fear not . -Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's , -Thy God's , and truth's ; then if thou fall'st , O Cromwell ! -Thou fall'st a blessed martyr . Serve the king ; -And ,prithee , lead me in : -There take an inventory of all I have , -To the last penny ; 'tis the king's : my robe , -And my integrity to heaven is all -I dare now call mine own . O Cromwell , Cromwell ! -Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal -I serv'd my king , he would not in mine age -Have left me naked to mine enemies . - -Good sir , have patience . - -So I have . Farewell -The hopes of court ! my hopes in heaven do dwell . - - -You're well met once again . - -So are you . - -You come to take your stand here , and behold -The Lady Anne pass from her coronation ? - -'Tis all my business . At our last encounter -The Duke of Buckingham came from his trial . - -'Tis very true : but that time offer'd sorrow ; -This , general joy . - -'Tis well : the citizens , -I am sure , have shown at full their royal minds , -As , let 'em have their rights , they are ever forward , -In celebration of this day with shows , -Pageants , and sights of honour . - -Never greater ; -Nor , I'll assure you , better taken , sir . - -May I be bold to ask what that contains , -That paper in your hand ? - -Yes ; 'tis the list -Of those that claim their offices this day -By custom of the coronation . -The Duke of Suffolk is the first , and claims -To be high-steward ; next , the Duke of Norfolk , -He to be earl marshal : you may read the rest . - -I thank you , sir : had I not known those customs , -I should have been beholding to your paper . -But , I beseech you , what's become of Katharine , -The princess dowager ? how goes her business ? - -That I can tell you too . The Archbishop -Of Canterbury , accompanied with other -Learned and reverend fathers of his order , -Held a late court at Dunstable , six miles off -From Ampthill , where the princess lay ; to which -She was often cited by them , but appear'd not : -And , to be short , for not appearance and -The king's late scruple , by the main assent -Of all these learned men she was divorc'd , -And the late marriage made of none effect : -Since which she was remov'd to Kimbolton , -Where she remains now sick . - -Alas ! good lady ! - -The trumpets sound : stand close , the queen is coming . - -A lively flourish of trumpets . - - -1. Two Judges . -2 Lord Chancellor , with the purse and mace before him . -3. Choristers , singing . - - -4. Mayor of London , bearing the mace . Then Garter , in his coat of arms , and on his head a gilt copper crown . -5. - -6. - -7. A canopy borne by four of the Cinque-ports ; under it , the - -8. The old -9. Certain Ladies or Countesses , with plain circlets of gold without flowers . -They pass over the stage in order and state . - - -A royal train , believe me . These I know ; -Who's that that bears the sceptre ? - -Marquess Dorset : -And that the Earl of Surrey with the rod . - -A bold brave gentleman . That should be -The Duke of Suffolk ? - -'Tis the same ; high-steward . - -And that my Lord of Norfolk ? - -Yes . - -Heaven bless thee ! -Thou hast the sweetest face I ever look'd on . -Sir , as I have a soul , she is an angel ; -Our king has all the Indies in his arms , -And more and richer , when he strains that lady : -I cannot blame his conscience . - -They that bear -The cloth of honour over her , are four barons -Of the Cinque-ports . - -Those men are happy ; and so are all are near her . -I take it , she that carries up the train -Is that old noble lady , Duchess of Norfolk . - -It is ; and all the rest are countesses . - -Their coronets say so . These are stars indeed ; -And sometimes falling ones . - -No more of that . - - -God save you , sir ! Where have you been broiling ? - -Among the crowd i' the Abbey ; where a finger -Could not be wedg'd in more : I am stifled -With the mere rankness of their joy . - -You saw -The ceremony ? - -That I did . - -How was it ? - -Well worth the seeing . - -Good sir , speak it to us . - -As well as I am able . The rich stream -Of lords and ladies , having brought the queen -To a prepar'd place in the choir , fell off -A distance from her ; while her Grace sat down -To rest awhile , some half an hour or so , -In a rich chair of state , opposing freely -The beauty of her person to the people . -Believe me , sir , she is the goodliest woman -That ever lay by man : which when the people -Had the full view of , such a noise arose -As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest , -As loud , and to as many tunes : hats , cloaks , -Doublets , I think ,flew up ; and had their faces -Been loose , this day they had been lost . Such joy -I never saw before . Great-bellied women , -That had not half a week to go , like rams -In the old time of war , would shake the press , -And make 'em reel before them . No man living -Could say , 'This is my wife ,' there ; all were woven -So strangely in one piece . - -But , what follow'd ? - -At length her Grace rose , and with modest paces -Came to the altar ; where she kneel'd , and , saint-like , -Cast her fair eyes to heaven and pray'd devoutly . -Then rose again and bow'd her to the people : -When by the Archbishop of Canterbury -She had all the royal makings of a queen ; -As holy oil , Edward Confessor's crown , -The rod , and bird of peace , and all such emblems -Laid nobly on her : which perform'd , the choir , -With all the choicest music of the kingdom , -Together sung Te Deum . So she parted , -And with the same full state pac'd back again -To York-place , where the feast is held . - -Sir , -You must no more call it York-place , that's past ; -For , since the cardinal fell , that title's lost : -'Tis now the king's , and call'd Whitehall . - -I know it ; -But 'tis so lately alter'd that the old name -Is fresh about me . - -What two reverend bishops -Were those that went on each side of the queen ? - -Stokesly and Gardiner ; the one of Winchester , -Newly preferr'd from the king's secretary , -The other , London . - -He of Winchester -Is held no great good lover of the archbishop's , -The virtuous Cranmer . - -All the land knows that : -However , yet there's no great breach ; when it comes , -Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from him . - -Who may that be , I pray you ? - -Thomas Cromwell : -A man in much esteem with the king , and truly -A worthy friend . The king -Has made him master o' the jewel house , -And one , already , of the privy-council . - -He will deserve more . - -Yes , without all doubt . -Come , gentlemen , ye shall go my way , which -Is to the court , and there ye shall be my guests : -Something I can command . As I walk thither , -I'll tell ye more . - -You may command us , sir . - - -How does your Grace ? - -O Griffith ! sick to death ! -My legs , like loaden branches , bow to the earth , -Willing to leave their burden . Reach a chair : -So ; now , methinks , I feel a little ease . -Didst thou not tell me , Griffith , as thou ledd'st me , -That the great child of honour , Cardinal Wolsey , -Was dead ? - -Yes , madam ; but I think your Grace , -Out of the pain you suffer'd , gave no ear to't . - -Prithee , good Griffith , tell me how he died : -If well , he stepp'd before me , happily , -For my example . - -Well , the voice goes , madam : -For after the stout Earl Northumberland -Arrested him at York , and brought him forward , -As a man sorely tainted , to his answer , -He fell sick suddenly , and grew so ill -He could not sit his mule . - -Alas ! poor man . - -At last , with easy roads , he came to Leicester ; -Lodg'd in the abbey , where the reverend abbot , -With all his covent , honourably receiv'd him : -To whom he gave these words : 'O ! father abbot , -An old man , broken with the storms of state , -Is come to lay his weary bones among ye ; -Give him a little earth for charity .' -So went to bed , where eagerly his sickness -Pursu'd him still ; and three nights after this , -About the hour of eight ,which he himself -Foretold should be his last ,full of repentance , -Continual meditations , tears , and sorrows , -He gave his honours to the world again , -His blessed part to heaven , and slept in peace . - -So may he rest ; his faults lie gently on him ! -Yet thus far , Griffith , give me leave to speak him , -And yet with charity . He was a man -Of an unbounded stomach , ever ranking -Himself with princes ; one , that by suggestion -Tied all the kingdom ; simony was fair-play ; -His own opinion was his law ; i' the presence -He would say untruths , and be ever double -Both in his words and meaning . He was never , -But where he meant to ruin , pitiful ; -His promises were , as he then was , mighty ; -But his performance , as he is now , nothing : -Of his own body he was ill , and gave -The clergy ill example . - -Noble madam , -Men's evil manners live in brass ; their virtues -We write in water . May it please your highness -To hear me speak his good now ? - -Yes , good Griffith , -I were malicious else . - -This cardinal , -Though from a humble stock , undoubtedly -Was fashion'd to much honour from his cradle . -He was a scholar , and a ripe and good one ; -Exceeding wise , fair-spoken , and persuading ; -Lofty and sour to them that lov'd him not ; -But , to those men that sought him sweet as summer . -And though he were unsatisfied in getting , -Which was a sin ,yet in bestowing , madam , -He was most princely . Ever witness for him -Those twins of learning that he rais'd in you , -Ipswich , and Oxford ! one of which fell with him , -Unwilling to outlive the good that did it ; -The other , though unfinish'd , yet so famous , -So excellent in art , and still so rising , -That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue . -His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him ; -For then , and not till then , he felt himself , -And found the blessedness of being little : -And , to add greater honours to his age -Than man could give him , he died fearing God . - -After my death I wish no other herald , -No other speaker of my living actions , -To keep mine honour from corruption , -But such an honest chronicler as Griffith . -Whom I most hated living , thou hast made me , -With thy religious truth and modesty , -Now in his ashes honour . Peace be with him ! -Patience , be near me still ; and set me lower : -I have not long to trouble thee . Good Griffith , -Cause the musicians play me that sad note -I nam'd my knell , whilst I sit meditating -On that celestial harmony I go to . - - -She is asleep : good wench , let's sit down quiet , -For fear we wake her : softly , gentle Patience . - - -Spirits of peace , where are ye ? Are ye all gone , -And leave me here in wretchedness behind ye ? - -Madam , we are here . - -It is not you I call for : -Saw ye none enter since I slept ? - -None , madam . - -No ? Saw you not , even now , a blessed troop -Invite me to a banquet ; whose bright faces -Cast thousand beams upon me , like the sun ? -They promis'd me eternal happiness , -And brought me garlands , Griffith , which I feel -I am not worthy yet to wear : I shall assuredly . - -I am most joyful , madam , such good dreams -Possess your fancy . - -Bid the music leave , -They are harsh and heavy to me . - - -Do you note -How much her Grace is alter'd on the sudden ? -How long her face is drawn ? How pale she looks , -And of an earthy cold ? Mark her eyes ! - -She is going , wench . Pray , pray . - -Heaven comfort her ! - - -An't like your Grace , - -You are a saucy fellow : -Deserve we no more reverence ? - -You are to blame , -Knowing she will not lose her wonted greatness , -To use so rude behaviour ; go to , kneel . - -I humbly do entreat your highness pardon ; -My haste made me unmannerly . There is staying -A gentleman , sent from the king , to see you . - -Admit him entrance , Griffith : but this fellow -Let me ne'er see again . - -If my sight fail not , -You should be lord ambassador from the emperor , - -My royal nephew , and your name Capucius . - -Madam , the same ; your servant . - -O my lord ! -The times and titles now are alter'd strangely -With me since first you knew me . But , I pray you , -What is your pleasure with me ? - -Noble lady , -First , mine own service to your Grace ; the next , -The king's request that I would visit you ; -Who grieves much for your weakness , and by me -Sends you his princely commendations , -And heartily entreats you take good comfort . - -O ! my good lord , that comfort comes too late ; -'Tis like a pardon after execution : -That gentle physic , given in time , had cur'd me ; -But now I am past all comforts here but prayers . -How does his highness ? - -Madam , in good health . - -So may he ever do ! and ever flourish , -When I shall dwell with worms , and my poor name -Banish'd the kingdom . Patience , is that letter -I caus'd you write , yet sent away ? - -No , madam . - - -Sir , I most humbly pray you to deliver -This to my lord the king . - -Most willing , madam . - -In which I have commended to his goodness -The model of our chaste loves , his young daughter : -The dews of heaven fall thick in blessings on her ! -Beseeching him to give her virtuous breeding , -She is young , and of a noble modest nature , -I hope she will deserve well ,and a little -To love her for her mother's sake , that lov'd him , -Heaven knows how dearly . My next poor petition -Is , that his noble Grace would have some pity -Upon my wretched women , that so long -Have follow'd both my fortunes faithfully : -Of which there is not one , I dare avow , -And now I should not lie ,but will deserve , -For virtue , and true beauty of the soul , -For honesty and decent carriage , -A right good husband , let him be a noble ; -And , sure , those men are happy that shall have 'em . -The last is , for my men : they are the poorest , -But poverty could never draw 'em from me ; -That they may have their wages duly paid 'em , -And something over to remember me by : -If heaven had pleas'd to have given me longer life -And able means , we had not parted thus . -These are the whole contents : and , good my lord , -By that you love the dearest in this world , -As you wish Christian peace to souls departed , -Stand these poor people's friend , and urge the king -To do me this last right . - -By heaven , I will , -Or let me lose the fashion of a man ! - -I thank you , honest lord . Remember me -In all humility unto his highness : -Say his long trouble now is passing -Out of this world ; tell him , in death I bless'd him ; -For so I will . Mine eyes grow dim . Farewell , -My lord . Griffith , farewell . Nay , Patience , -You must not leave me yet : I must to bed ; -Call in more women . When I am dead , good wench , -Let me be us'd with honour : strew me over -With maiden flowers , that all the world may know -I was a chaste wife to my grave : embalm me , -Then lay me forth : although unqueen'd , yet like -A queen , and daughter to a king , inter me . -I can no more . - - -It's one o'clock , boy , is't not ? - -It hath struck . - -These should be hours for necessities , -Not for delights ; times to repair our nature -With comforting repose , and not for us -To waste these times . Good hour of night , Sir Thomas ! -Whither so late ? - -Came you from the king , my lord ? - -I did , Sir Thomas ; and left him at primero -With the Duke of Suffolk . - -I must to him too , -Before he go to bed . I'll take my leave . - -Not yet , Sir Thomas Lovell . What 's the matter ? -It seems you are in haste : an if there be -No great offence belongs to't , give your friend -Some touch of your late business : affairs , that walk -As they say spirits do at midnight , have -In them a wilder nature than the business -That seeks dispatch by day . - -My lord , I love you , -And durst commend a secret to your ear -Much weightier than this work . The queen's in labour , -They say , in great extremity ; and fear'd -She'll with the labour end . - -The fruit she goes with -I pray for heartily , that it may find -Good time , and live : but for the stock , Sir Thomas , -I wish it grubb'd up now . - -Methinks I could -Cry the amen ; and yet my conscience says -She's a good creature , and , sweet lady , does -Deserve our better wishes . - -But , sir , sir , -Hear me , Sir Thomas : you're a gentleman -Of mine own way ; I know you wise , religious ; -And , let me tell you , it will ne'er be well , -'Twill not , Sir Thomas Lovell , take 't of me , -Till Cranmer , Cromwell , her two hands , and she , -Sleep in their graves . - -Now , sir , you speak of two -The most remark'd i' the kingdom . As for Cromwell , -Beside that of the jewel-house , is made master -O' the rolls , and the king's secretary ; further , sir , -Stands in the gap and trade of moe preferments , -With which the time will load him . The archbishop -Is the king's hand and tongue ; and who dare speak -One syllable against him ? - -Yes , yes , Sir Thomas , -There are that dare ; and I myself have ventur'd -To speak my mind of him : and indeed this day , -Sir ,I may tell it you ,I think I have -Incens'd the lords o' the council that he is -For so I know he is , they know he is -A most arch heretic , a pestilence -That does infect the land : with which they mov'd -Have broken with the king ; who hath so far -Given ear to our complaint ,of his great grace -And princely care , foreseeing those fell mischiefs -Our reasons laid before him ,hath commanded -To-morrow morning to the council-board -He be convented . He's a rank weed , Sir Thomas , -And we must root him out . From your affairs -I hinder you too long : good-night , Sir Thomas ! - -Many good-nights , my lord . I rest your servant . - -Charles , I will play no more to-night ; -My mind's not on't ; you are too hard for me . - -Sir , I did never win of you before . - -But little , Charles ; -Nor shall not when my fancy's on my play . -Now , Lovell , from the queen what is the news ? - -I could not personally deliver to her -What you commanded me , but by her woman -I sent your message ; who return'd her thanks -In the great'st humbleness , and desir'd your highness -Most heartily to pray for her . - -What sayst thou , ha ? -To pray for her ? what ! is she crying out ? - -So said her woman ; and that her sufferance made -Almost each pang a death . - -Alas ! good lady . - -God safely quit her of her burden , and -With gentle travail , to the gladding of -Your highness with an heir ! - -'Tis midnight , Charles ; -Prithee , to bed ; and in thy prayers remember -The estate of my poor queen . Leave me alone ; -For I must think of that which company -Would not be friendly to . - -I wish your highness -A quiet night ; and my good mistress will -Remember in my prayers . - -Charles , good-night . - - -Well , Sir , what follows ? - -Sir , I have brought my lord the archbishop , -As you commanded me . - -Ha ! Canterbury ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -'Tis true : where is he , Denny ? - -He attends your highness' pleasure . - -Bring him to us . - - -This is about that which the bishop spake : -I am happily come hither . - - -Avoid the gallery . - -Ha ! I have said . Begone . -What ! - - -I am fearful . Wherefore frowns he thus ? -'Tis his aspect of terror : all's not well . - -How now , my lord ! You do desire to know -Wherefore I sent for you . - -It is my duty -To attend your highness' pleasure . - -Pray you , arise , -My good and gracious Lord of Canterbury . -Come , you and I must walk a turn together ; -I have news to tell you : come , come , give me your hand . -Ah ! my good lord , I grieve at what I speak , -And am right sorry to repeat what follows . -I have , and most unwillingly , of late -Heard many grievous , I do say , my lord , -Grievous complaints of you ; which , being consider'd , -Have mov'd us and our council , that you shall -This morning come before us ; where , I know , -You cannot with such freedom purge yourself , -But that , till further trial in those charges -Which will require your answer , you must take -Your patience to you , and be well contented -To make your house our Tower : you a brother of us , -It fits we thus proceed , or else no witness -Would come against you . - -I humbly thank your highness ; -And am right glad to catch this good occasion -Most throughly to be winnow'd , where my chaff -And corn shall fly asunder ; for I know -There's none stands under more calumnious tongues -Than I myself , poor man . - -Stand up , good Canterbury : -Thy truth and thy integrity is rooted -In us , thy friend : give me thy hand , stand up : -Prithee , let's walk . Now , by my holidame , -What manner of man are you ? My lord , I look'd -You would have given me your petition , that -I should have ta'en some pains to bring together -Yourself and your accusers ; and to have heard you , -Without indurance , further . - -Most dread liege , -The good I stand on is my truth and honesty : -If they shall fail , I , with mine enemies , -Will triumph o'er my person ; which I weigh not , -Being of those virtues vacant . I fear nothing -What can be said against me . - -Know you not -How your state stands i' the world , with the whole world ? -Your enemies are many , and not small ; their practices -Must bear the same proportion ; and not ever -The justice and the truth o' the question carries -The due o' the verdict with it . At what ease -Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt -To swear against you ? such things have been done . -You are potently oppos'd , and with a malice -Of as great size . Ween you of better luck , -I mean in perjur'd witness , than your master , -Whose minister you are , whiles here he liv'd -Upon this naughty earth ? Go to , go to ; -You take a precipice for no leap of danger , -And woo your own destruction . - -God and your majesty -Protect mine innocence ! or I fall into -The trap is laid for me ! - -Be of good cheer ; -They shall no more prevail than we give way to . -Keep comfort to you ; and this morning see -You do appear before them . If they shall chance , -In charging you with matters , to commit you , -The best persuasions to the contrary -Fail not to use , and with what vehemency -The occasion shall instruct you : if entreaties -Will render you no remedy , this ring -Deliver them , and your appeal to us -There make before them . Look ! the good man weeps ; -He's honest , on mine honour . God's blest mother ! -I swear he is true-hearted ; and a soul -None better in my kingdom . Get you gone , -And do as I have bid you . - -He has strangled -His language in his tears . - - -Come back : what mean you ? - -I'll not come back ; the tidings that I bring -Will make my boldness manners . Now , good angels -Fly o'er thy royal head , and shade thy person -Under their blessed wings ! - -Now , by thy looks -I guess thy message . Is the queen deliver'd ? -Say , ay ; and of a boy . - -Ay , ay , my liege ; -And of a lovely boy : the God of heaven -Both now and ever bless her ! 'tis a girl , -Promises boys hereafter . Sir , your queen -Desires your visitation , and to be -Acquainted with this stranger : 'tis as like you -As cherry is to cherry . - -Lovell ! - - -Sir ! - -Give her a hundred marks . I'll to the queen . - - -A hundred marks ! By this light , I'll ha' more . -An ordinary groom is for such payment : -I will have more , or scold it out of him . -Said I for this the girl was like to him ? -I will have more , or else unsay't ; and now , -While it is hot , I'll put it to the issue . - - -I hope I am not too late ; and yet the gentleman , -That was sent to me from the council , pray'd me -To make great haste . All fast ? what means this ? Ho ! -Who waits there ? - -Sure , you know me ? - -Yes , my lord ; -But yet I cannot help you . - -Why ? - -Your Grace must wait till you be call'd for . - - -So . - -This is a piece of malice . I am glad -I came this way so happily : the king -Shall understand it presently . - -'Tis Butts , -The king's physician . As he past along , -How earnestly he cast his eyes upon me . -Pray heaven he sound not my disgrace ! For certain , -This is of purpose laid by some that hate me , -God turn their hearts ! I never sought their malice , -To quench mine honour : they would shame to make me -Wait else at door , a fellow-counsellor , -'Mong boys , grooms , and lackeys . But their pleasures -Must be fulfill'd , and I attend with patience . - - -I'll show your Grace the strangest sight , - -What's that , Butts ? - -I think your highness saw this many a day . - -Body o' me , where is it ? - -There , my lord , -The high promotion of his Grace of Canterbury ; -Who holds his state at door , 'mongst pursuivants , -Pages , and footboys . - -Ha ! 'Tis he , indeed : -Is this the honour they do one another ? -'Tis well there's one above 'em yet . I had thought -They had parted so much honesty among 'em , -At least , good manners ,as not thus to suffer -A man of his place , and so near our favour , -To dance attendance on their lordships' pleasures , -And at the door too , like a post with packets . -By holy Mary , Butts , there's knavery : -Let 'em alone , and draw the curtain close ; -We shall hear more anon . - - -Speak to the business , Master secretary : -Why are we met in council ? - -Please your honours , -The chief cause concerns his Grace of Canterbury . - -Has he had knowledge of it ? - -Yes . - -Who waits there ? - -Without , my noble lords ? - -Yes . - -My lord archbishop : -And has done half-an-hour , to know your pleasures . - -Let him come in . - -Your Grace may enter now . - - -My good lord archbishop , I'm very sorry -To sit here at this present and behold -That chair stand empty : but we all are men , -In our own natures frail , and capable -Of our flesh ; few are angels : out of which frailty -And want of wisdom , you , that best should teach us , -Have misdemean'd yourself , and not a little , -Toward the king first , then his laws , in filling -The whole realm , by your teaching and your chaplains , -For so we are inform'd ,with new opinions , -Divers and dangerous ; which are heresies , -And , not reform'd , may prove pernicious . - -Which reformation must be sudden too , -My noble lords ; for those that tame wild horses -Pace 'em not in their hands to make 'em gentle , -But stop their mouths with stubborn bits , and spur 'em , -Till they obey the manage . If we suffer -Out of our easiness and childish pity -To one man's honour this contagious sickness , -Farewell all physic : and what follows then ? -Commotions , uproars , with a general taint -Of the whole state : as , of late days , our neighbours , -The upper Germany , can dearly witness , -Yet freshly pitied in our memories . - -My good lords , hitherto in all the progress -Both of my life and office , I have labour'd , -And with no little study , that my teaching -And the strong course of my authority -Might go one way , and safely ; and the end -Was ever , to do well : nor is there living , -I speak it with a single heart , my lords , -A man that more detests , more stirs against , -Both in his private conscience and his place , -Defacers of a public peace , than I do . -Pray heaven the king may never find a heart -With less allegiance in it ! Men , that make -Envy and crooked malice nourishment -Dare bite the best . I do beseech your lordships -That , in this case of justice , my accusers , -Be what they will , may stand forth face to face , -And freely urge against me . - -Nay , my lord , -That cannot be : you are a counsellor , -And by that virtue no man dare accuse you . - -My lord , because we have business of more moment , -We will be short with you . 'Tis his highness' pleasure , -And our consent , for better trial of you , -From hence you be committed to the Tower ; -Where , being but a private man again , -You shall know many dare accuse you boldly , -More than , I fear , you are provided for . - -Ah ! my good Lord of Winchester , I thank you ; -You are always my good friend : if your will pass , -I shall both find your lordship judge and juror , -You are so merciful . I see your end ; -'Tis my undoing : love and meekness , lord , -Become a churchman better than ambition : -Win straying souls with modesty again , -Cast none away . That I shall clear myself , -Lay all the weight ye can upon my patience , -I make as little doubt , as you do conscience , -In doing daily wrongs . I could say more , -But reverence to your calling makes me modest . - -My lord , my lord , you are a sectary ; -That's the plain truth : your painted gloss discovers , -To men that understand you , words and weakness . - -My Lord of Winchester , you are a little , -By your good favour , too sharp ; men so noble , -However faulty , yet should find respect -For what they have been : 'tis a cruelty -To load a falling man . - -Good Master secretary , -I cry your honour mercy , you may , worst -Of all this table , say so . - -Why , my lord ? - -Do not I know you for a favourer -Of this new sect ? ye are not sound . - -Not sound ? - -Not sound , I say . - -Would you were half so honest ! -Men's prayers then would seek you , not their fears . - -I shall remember this bold language . - -Do . -Remember your bold life too . - -This is too much ; -Forbear , for shame , my lords . - -I have done . - -And I . - -Then thus for you , my lord : it stands agreed , -I take it , by all voices , that forthwith -You be convey'd to the Tower a prisoner ; -There to remain till the king's further pleasure -Be known unto us . Are you all agreed , lords ? - -We are . - -Is there no other way of mercy , -But I must needs to the Tower , my lords ? - -What other -Would you expect ? You are strangely troublesome . -Let some o' the guard be ready there . - - -For me ? -Must I go like a traitor thither ? - -Receive him , -And see him safe i' the Tower . - -Stay , good my lords ; -I have a little yet to say . Look there , my lords ; -By virtue of that ring I take my cause -Out of the gripes of cruel men , and give it -To a most noble judge , the king my master . - -This is the king's ring . - -'Tis no counterfeit . - -'Tis the right ring , by heaven ! I told ye all , -When we first put this dangerous stone a-rolling , -'Twould fall upon ourselves . - -Do you think , my lords , -The king will suffer but the little finger -Of this man to be vex'd ? - -'Tis now too certain : -How much more is his life in value with him ? -Would I were fairly out on't . - -My mind gave me , -In seeking tales and informations -Against this man whose honesty the devil -And his disciples only envy at -Ye blew the fire that burns ye : now have at ye ! - - -Dread sovereign , how much are we bound to heaven -In daily thanks , that gave us such a prince ; -Not only good and wise , but most religious : -One that in all obedience makes the Church -The chief aim of his honour ; and , to strengthen -That holy duty , out of dear respect , -His royal self in judgment comes to hear -The cause betwixt her and this great offender . - -You were ever good at sudden commendations , -Bishop of Winchester ; but know , I come not -To hear such flattery now , and in my presence ; -They are too thin and bare to hide offences . -To me you cannot reach ; you play the spaniel , -And think with wagging of your tongue to win me ; -But , whatsoe'er thou tak'st me for , I'm sure -Thou hast a cruel nature and a bloody . - - -Good man , sit down . Now let me see the proudest -He , that dares most , but wag his finger at thee : -By all that's holy , he had better starve -Than but once think this place becomes thee not . - -May it please your Grace , - -No , sir , it does not please me . -I had thought I had had men of some understanding -And wisdom of my council ; but I find none . -Was it discretion , lords , to let this man , -This good man ,few of you deserve that title , -This honest man , wait like a lousy footboy -At chamber-door ? and one as great as you are ? -Why , what a shame was this ! Did my commission -Bid ye so far forget yourselves ? I gave ye -Power as he was a counsellor to try him , -Not as a groom . There's some of ye , I see , -More out of malice than integrity , -Would try him to the utmost , had ye mean ; -Which ye shall never have while I live . - -Thus far , -My most dread sov'reign , may it like your Grace -To let my tongue excuse all . What was purpos'd -Concerning his imprisonment , was rather -If there be faith in men meant for his trial -And fair purgation to the world , than malice , -I'm sure , in me . - -Well , well , my lords , respect him ; -Take him , and use him well ; he's worthy of it . -I will say thus much for him , if a prince -May be beholding to a subject , I -Am , for his love and service , so to him . -Make me no more ado , but all embrace him : -Be friends , for shame , my lords ! My Lord of Canterbury , -I have a suit which you must not deny me ; -That is , a fair young maid that yet wants baptism , -You must be godfather , and answer for her . - -The greatest monarch now alive may glory -In such an honour : how may I deserve it , -That am a poor and humble subject to you ? - -Come , come , my lord , you'd spare your spoons : you shall have two noble partners with you ; the old Duchess of Norfolk , and Lady Marquess Dorset : will these please you ? -Once more , my Lord of Winchester , I charge you , -Embrace and love this man . - -With a true heart -And brother-love I do it . - -And let heaven -Witness , how dear I hold this confirmation . - -Good man ! those joyful tears show thy true heart : -The common voice , I see , is verified -Of thee , which says thus , 'Do my Lord of Canterbury -A shrewd turn , and he is your friend for ever .' -Come , lords , we trifle time away ; I long -To have this young one made a Christian . -As I have made ye one , lords , one remain ; -So I grow stronger , you more honour gain . - - -You'll leave your noise anon , ye rascals . -Do you take the court for Paris-garden ? ye rude slaves , leave your gaping . - - -Good Master porter , I belong to the larder . - -Belong to the gallows , and be hanged , you rogue ! Is this a place to roar in ? Fetch me a dozen crab-tree staves , and strong ones : these are but switches to 'em . I'll scratch your heads : you must be seeing christenings ! Do you look for ale and cakes here , you rude rascals ? - -Pray , sir , be patient : 'tis as much impossible -Unless we sweep 'em from the door with cannons -To scatter 'em , as 'tis to make 'em sleep -On May-day morning ; which will never be . -We may as well push against Paul's as stir 'em . - -How got they in , and be hang'd ? - -Alas , I know not ; how gets the tide in ? -As much as one sound cudgel of four foot -You see the poor remainder could distribute , -I made no spare , sir . - -You did nothing , sir . - -I am not Samson , nor Sir Guy , nor Colbrand , -To mow 'em down before me ; but if I spar'd any -That had a head to hit , either young or old , -He or she , cuckold or cuckold-maker , -Let me ne'er hope to see a chine again ; -And that I would not for a cow , God save her ! - - -Do you hear , Master porter ? - -I shall be with you presently , good -Master puppy . Keep the door close , sirrah . - -What would you have me do ? - -What should you do , but knock 'em down by the dozens ? Is this Moorfields to muster in ? or have we some strange Indian with the great tool come to court , the women so besiege us ? Bless me , what a fry of fornication is at door ! On my Christian conscience , this one christening will beget a thousand : here will be father , godfather , and all together . - -The spoons will be the bigger , sir . There is a fellow somewhat near the door , he should be a brazier by his face , for , o' my conscience , twenty of the dog days now reign in's nose : all that stand about him are under the line , they need no other penance . That fire-drake did I hit three times on the head , and three times was his nose discharged against me : he stands there , like a mortar-piece , to blow us . There was a haberdasher's wife of small wit near him , that railed upon me till her pinked porringer fell off her head , for kindling such a combustion in the state . I missed the meteor once , and hit that woman , who cried out , 'Clubs !' when I might see from far some forty truncheoners draw to her succour , which were the hope o' the Strand , where she was quartered . They fell on ; I made good my place ; at length they came to the broomstaff to me ; I defied 'em still ; when suddenly a file of boys behind 'em , loose shot , delivered such a shower of pebbles , that I was fain to draw mine honour in , and let 'em win the work . The devil was amongst 'em , I think , surely . - -These are the youths that thunder at a playhouse , and fight for bitten apples ; that no audience , but the Tribulation of Tower-hill , or the Limbs of Limehouse , their dear brothers , are able to endure . I have some of 'em in Limbo Patrum , and there they are like to dance these three days ; besides the running banquet of two beadles , that is to come . - - -Mercy o' me , what a multitude are here ! -They grow still too , from all parts they are coming , -As if we kept a fair here ! Where are these porters , -These lazy knaves ? Ye have made a fine hand , fellows : -There's a trim rabble let in . Are all these -Your faithful friends o' the suburbs ? We shall have -Great store of room , no doubt , left for the ladies , -When they pass back from the christening . - -An't please your honour , -We are but men ; and what so many may do , -Not being torn a-pieces , we have done : -An army cannot rule 'em . - -As I live , -If the king blame me for't , I'll lay ye all -By the heels , and suddenly ; and on your heads -Clap round fines for neglect : ye're lazy knaves ; -And here ye lie baiting of bombards , when -Ye should do service . Hark ! the trumpets sound ; -They're come already from the christening . -Go , break among the press , and find a way out -To let the troop pass fairly , or I'll find -A Marshalsea shall hold ye play these two months . - -Make way there for the princess . - -You great fellow , -Stand close up , or I'll make your head ache . - -You i' the camlet , get up o' the rail : -I'll pick you o'er the pales else . - -Heaven , from thy endless goodness , send prosperous life , long , and ever happy , to the high and mighty Princess of England , Elizabeth ! - - -And to your royal Grace , and the good queen , -My noble partners , and myself , thus pray : -All comfort , joy , in this most gracious lady , -Heaven ever laid up to make parents happy , -May hourly fall upon ye ! - -Thank you , good lord archbishop : -What is her name ? - -Elizabeth . - -Stand up , lord . - -With this kiss take my blessing ; God protect thee ! -Into whose hand I give thy life . - -Amen . - -My noble gossips , ye have been too prodigal : -I thank ye heartily : so shall this lady -When she has so much English . - -Let me speak , sir , -For heaven now bids me ; and the words I utter -Let none think flattery , for they'll find 'em truth . -This royal infant ,heaven still move about her ! -Though in her cradle , yet now promises -Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings , -Which time shall bring to ripeness : she shall be -But few now living can behold that goodness -A pattern to all princes living with her , -And all that shall succeed : Saba was never -More covetous of wisdom and fair virtue -Than this pure soul shall be : all princely graces , -That mould up such a mighty piece as this is , -With all the virtues that attend the good , -Shall still be doubled on her ; truth shall nurse her ; -Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her ; -She shall be lov'd and fear'd ; her own shall bless her ; -Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn , -And hang their heads with sorrow ; good grows with her . -In her days every man shall eat in safety -Under his own vine what he plants ; and sing -The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours . -God shall be truly known ; and those about her -From her shall read the perfect ways of honour , -And by those claim their greatness , not by blood . -Nor shall this peace sleep with her ; but as when -The bird of wonder dies , the maiden ph nix , -Her ashes new-create another heir -As great in admiration as herself , -So shall she leave her blessedness to one , -When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness , -Who , from the sacred ashes of her honour , -Shall star-like rise , as great in fame as she was , -And so stand fix'd . Peace , plenty , love , truth , terror , -That were the servants to this chosen infant , -Shall then be his , and like a vine grow to him : -Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine , -His honour and the greatness of his name -Shall be , and make new nations ; he shall flourish , -And , like a mountain cedar , reach his branches -To all the plains about him ; our children's children -Shall see this , and bless heaven . - -Thou speakest wonders . - -She shall be , to the happiness of England , -An aged princess ; many days shall see her , -And yet no day without a deed to crown it . -Would I had known no more ! but she must die , -She must , the saints must have her , yet a virgin ; -A most unspotted lily shall she pass -To the ground , and all the world shall mourn her . - -O lord archbishop ! -Thou hast made me now a man : never , before -This happy child , did I get any thing . -This oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me , -That when I am in heaven , I shall desire -To see what this child does , and praise my Maker . -I thank ye all . To you , my good Lord Mayor , -And your good brethren , I am much beholding ; -I have receiv'd much honour by your presence , -And ye shall find me thankful . Lead the way , lords : -Ye must all see the queen , and she must thank ye ; -She will be sick else . This day , no man think -He has business at his house ; for all shall stay : -This little one shall make it holiday . - - -'Tis ten to one , this play can never please -All that are here : some come to take their ease -And sleep an act or two ; but those , we fear , -We've frighted with our trumpets ; so , 'tis clear -They'll say 'tis naught : others , to hear the city -Abus'd extremely , and to cry , 'That's witty !' -Which we have not done neither : that , I fear , -All the expected good we're like to hear -For this play at this time , is only in -The merciful construction of good women ; -For such a one we show'd 'em : if they smile , -And say 'twill do , I know , within a while -All the best men are ours ; for 'tis ill hap -If they hold when their ladies bid 'em clap . - -THE FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV - -So shaken as we are , so wan with care , -Find we a time for frighted peace to pant , -And breathe short-winded accents of new broils -To be commenc'd in stronds afar remote . -No more the thirsty entrance of this soil -Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood ; -No more shall trenching war channel her fields , -Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs -Of hostile paces : those opposed eyes , -Which , like the meteors of a troubled heaven , -All of one nature , of one substance bred , -Did lately meet in the intestine shock -And furious close of civil butchery , -Shall now , in mutual well-beseeming ranks , -March all one way , and be no more oppos'd -Against acquaintance , kindred , and allies : -The edge of war , like an ill-sheathed knife , -No more shall cut his master . Therefore , friends , -As far as to the sepulchre of Christ , -Whose soldier now , under whose blessed cross -We are impressed and engag'd to fight , -Forthwith a power of English shall we levy , -Whose arms were moulded in their mother's womb -To chase these pagans in those holy fields -Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet -Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd -For our advantage on the bitter cross . -But this our purpose is a twelvemonth old , -And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go : -Therefore we meet not now . Then let me hear -Of you , my gentle cousin Westmoreland , -What yesternight our council did decree -In forwarding this dear expedience . - -My liege , this haste was hot in question , -And many limits of the charge set down -But yesternight ; when all athwart there came -A post from Wales loaden with heavy news ; -Whose worst was , that the noble Mortimer , -Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight -Against the irregular and wild Glendower , -Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken , -And a thousand of his people butchered ; -Upon whose dead corpse' there was such misuse , -Such beastly shameless transformation -By those Welshwomen done , as may not be -Without much shame re-told or spoken of . - -It seems then that the tidings of this broil -Brake off our business for the Holy Land . - -This match'd with other like , my gracious lord ; -For more uneven and unwelcome news -Came from the north and thus it did import : -On Holy-rood day , the gallant Hotspur there , -Young Harry Percy and brave Archibald , -That ever-valiant and approved Scot , -At Holmedon met , -Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour ; -As by discharge of their artillery , -And shape of likelihood , the news was told ; -For he that brought them , in the very heat -And pride of their contention did take horse , -Uncertain of the issue any way . - -Here is a dear and true industrious friend , -Sir Walter Blunt , new lighted from his horse , -Stain'd with the variation of each soil -Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours ; -And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news . -The Earl of Douglas is discomfited ; -Ten thousand bold Scots , two and twenty knights , -Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see -On Holmedon's plains : of prisoners Hotspur took -Mordake the Earl of Fife , and eldest son -To beaten Douglas , and the Earls of Athol , -Of Murray , Angus , and Menteith . -And is not this an honourable spoil ? -A gallant prize ? ha , cousin , is it not ? - -In faith , -It is a conquest for a prince to boast of . - -Yea , there thou mak'st me sad and mak'st me sin -In envy that my Lord Northumberland -Should be the father to so blest a son , -A son who is the theme of honour's tongue ; -Amongst a grove the very straightest plant ; -Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride : -Whilst I , by looking on the praise of him , -See riot and dishonour stain the brow -Of my young Harry . O ! that it could be prov'd -That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd -In cradle-clothes our children where they lay , -And call'd mine Percy , his Plantagenet . -Then would I have his Harry , and he mine . -But let him from my thoughts . What think you , coz , -Of this young Percy's pride ? the prisoners , -Which he in this adventure hath surpris'd , -To his own use he keeps , and sends me word , -I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife . - -This is his uncle's teaching , this is Worcester , -Malevolent to you in all aspects ; -Which makes him prune himself , and bristle up -The crest of youth against your dignity . - -But I have sent for him to answer this ; -And for this cause a while we must neglect -Our holy purpose to Jerusalem . -Cousin , on Wednesday next our council we -Will hold at Windsor ; so inform the lords : -But come yourself with speed to us again ; -For more is to be said and to be done -Than out of anger can be uttered . - -I will , my hege . - - -Now , Hal , what time of day is it , lad ? - -Thou art so fat-witted , with drinking of old sack , and unbuttoning thee after supper , and sleeping upon benches after noon , that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know . What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day ? unless hours were cups of sack , and minutes capons , and clocks the tongues of bawds , and dials the signs of leaping-houses , and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffeta , I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day . - -Indeed , you come near me now , Hal ; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars , and not by Ph bus , he , 'that wandering knight so fair .' And , I prithee , sweet wag , when thou art king ,as , God save thy Grace ,majesty , I should say , for grace thou wilt have none , - -What ! none ? - -No , by my troth ; not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter . - -Well , how then ? come , roundly , roundly . - -Marry , then , sweet wag , when thou art king , let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty : let us be Diana's foresters , gentlemen of the shade , minions of the moon ; and let men say , we be men of good government , being governed as the sea is , by our noble and chaste mistress the moon , under whose countenance we steal . - -Thou sayest well , and it holds well too ; for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea , being governed as the sea is , by the moon . As for proof now : a purse of gold most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning ; got with swearing 'Lay by ;' and spent with crying 'Bring in :' now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder , and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows . - -By the Lord , thou sayest true , lad . And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench ? - -As the honey of Hybla , my old lad of the castle . And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance ? - -How now , how now , mad wag ! what , in thy quips and thy quiddities ? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin ? - -Why , what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern ? - -Well , thou hast called her to a reckoning many a time and oft . - -Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part ? - -No ; I'll give thee thy due , thou hast paid all there . - -Yea , and elsewhere , so far as my coin would stretch ; and where it would not , I have used my credit . - -Yea , and so used it that , were it not here apparent that thou art their apparent .But , I prithee , sweet wag , shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king , and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antick the law ? Do not thou , when thou art king , hang a thief . - -No ; thou shalt . - -Shall I ? O rare ! By the Lord , I'll be a brave judge . - -Thou judgest false already ; I mean , thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman . - -Well , Hal , well ; and in some sort it jumps with my humour as well as waiting in the court , I can tell you . - -For obtaining of suits ? - -Yea , for obtaining of suits , whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe . 'Sblood , I am as melancholy as a gib cat , or a lugged bear . - -Or an old lion , or a lover's lute . - -Yea , or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe . - -What sayest thou to a hare , or the melancholy of Moor-ditch ? - -Thou hast the most unsavory similes , and art , indeed , the most comparative , rascalliest , sweet young prince ; but , Hal , I prithee , trouble me no more with vanity . I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought . An old lord of the council rated me the other day in the street about you , sir , but I marked him not ; and yet he talked very wisely , but I regarded him not ; and yet he talked wisely , and in the street too . - -Thou didst well ; for wisdom cries out in the streets , and no man regards it . - -O ! thou hast damnable iteration , and art indeed able to corrupt a saint . Thou hast done much harm upon me , Hal ; God forgive thee for it ! Before I knew thee , Hal , I knew nothing ; and now am I , if a man should speak truly , little better than one of the wicked . I must give over this life , and I will give it over ; by the Lord , an I do not , I am a villain : I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom . - -Where shall we take a purse to-morrow , Jack ? - -Zounds ! where thou wilt , lad , I'll make one ; an I do not , call me a villain and baffle me . - -I see a good amendment of life in thee ; from praying to purse-taking . - - -Why , Hal , 'tis my vocation , Hal ; 'tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation . Poins ! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match . O ! if men were to be saved by merit , what hole in hell were hot enough for him ? This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand !' to a true man . - -Good morrow , Ned . - -Good morrow , sweet Hal . What says Monsieur Remorse ? What says Sir John Sack-and-Sugar ? Jack ! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul , that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg ? - -Sir John stands to his word , the devil shall have his bargain ; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs : he will give the devil his due . - -Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil . - -Else he had been damned for cozening the devil . - -But my lads , my lads , to-morrow morning , by four o'clock , early at Gadshill ! There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings , and traders riding to London with fat purses : I have vizards for you all ; you have horses for yourselves . Gadshill lies to night in Rochester ; I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap : we may do it as secure as sleep . If you will go I will stuff your purses full of crowns ; if you will not , tarry at home and be hanged . - -Hear ye , Yedward : if I tarry at home and go not , I'll hang you for going . - -You will , chops ? - -Hal , wilt thou make one ? - -Who , I rob ? I a thief ? not I , by my faith . - -There's neither honesty , manhood , nor good fellowship in thee , nor thou camest not of the blood royal , if thou darest not stand for ten shillings . - -Well , then , once in my days I'll be a madcap . - -Why , that's well said . - -Well , come what will , I'll tarry at home . - -By the Lord , I'll be a traitor then , when thou art king . - -I care not . - -Sir John , I prithee , leave the prince and me alone : I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall go . - -Well , God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him the ears of profiting , that what thou speakest may move , and what he hears may be believed , that the true prince may , for recreation sake , prove a false thief ; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance . Farewell : you shall find me in Eastcheap . - -Farewell , thou latter spring ! Farewell , All-hallown summer ! - - -Now , my good sweet honey lord , ride with us to-morrow : I have a jest to execute that I cannot manage alone . Falstaff , Bardolph , Peto , and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have already waylaid ; yourself and I will not be there ; and when they have the booty , if you and I do not rob them , cut this head from my shoulders . - -But how shall we part with them in setting forth ? - -Why , we will set forth before or after them , and appoint them a place of meeting , wherein it is at our pleasure to fail ; and then will they adventure upon the exploit themselves , which they shall have no sooner achieved but we'll set upon them . - -Yea , but 'tis like that they will know us by our horses , by our habits , and by every other appointment , to be ourselves . - -Tut ! our horses they shall not see , I'll tie them in the wood ; our vizards we will change after we leave them ; and , sirrah , I have cases of buckram for the nonce , to inmask our noted outward garments . - -Yea , but I doubt they will be too hard for us . - -Well , for two of them , I know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever turned back ; and for the third , if he fight longer than he sees reason , I'll forswear arms . The virtue of this jest will be , the incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will tell us when we meet at supper : how thirty , at least , he fought with ; what wards , what blows , what extremities he endured ; and in the reproof of this lies the jest . - -Well , I'll go with thee : provide us all things necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap ; there I'll sup . Farewell . - -Farewell , my lord . - - -I know you all , and will awhile uphold -The unyok'd humour of your idleness : -Yet herein will I imitate the sun , -Who doth permit the base contagious clouds -To smother up his beauty from the world , -That when he please again to be himself , -Being wanted , he may be more wonder'd at , -By breaking through the foul and ugly mists -Of vapours that did seem to strangle him . -If all the year were playing holidays , -To sport would be as tedious as to work ; -But when they seldom come , they wish'd for come , -And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents . -So , when this loose behaviour I throw off , -And pay the debt I never promised , -By how much better than my word I am -By so much shall I falsify men's hopes ; -And like bright metal on a sullen ground , -My reformation , glittering o'er my fault , -Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes -Than that which hath no foil to set it off . -I'll so offend to make offence a skill ; -Redeeming time when men think least I will . - - -My blood hath been too cold and temperate , -Unapt to stir at these indignities , -And you have found me ; for accordingly -You tread upon my patience : but , be sure , -I will from henceforth rather be myself , -Mighty , and to be fear'd , than my condition , -Which hath been smooth as oil , soft as young down , -And therefore lost that title of respect -Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud . - -Our house , my sovereign liege , little deserves -The scourge of greatness to be us'd on it ; -And that same greatness too which our own hands -Have holp to make so portly . - -My lord , - -Worcester , get thee gone ; for I do see -Danger and disobedience in thine eye . -O , sir , your presence is too bold and peremptory , -And majesty might never yet endure -The moody frontier of a servant brow . -You have good leave to leave us ; when we need -Your use and counsel we shall send for you . - -You were about to speak . - -Yea , my good lord . -Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded , -Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took , -Were , as he says , not with such strength denied -As is deliver'd to your majesty : -Either envy , therefore , or misprision -Is guilty of this fault and not my son . - -My liege , I did deny no prisoners : -But I remember , when the fight was done , -When I was dry with rage and extreme toil , -Breathless and faint , leaning upon my sword , -Came there a certain lord , neat , and trimly dress'd , -Fresh as a bridegroom ; and his chin , new reap'd , -Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home : -He was perfumed like a milliner , -And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held -A pouncet-box , which ever and anon -He gave his nose and took't away again ; -Who therewith angry , when it next came there , -Took it in snuff : and still he smil'd and talk'd ; -And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by , -He call'd them untaught knaves , unmannerly , -To bring a slovenly unhandsome corpse -Betwixt the wind and his nobility . -With many holiday and lady terms -He question'd me ; among the rest , demanded -My prisoners in your majesty's behalf . -I then all smarting with my wounds being cold , -To be so pester'd with a popinjay , -Out of my grief and my impatience -Answer'd neglectingly , I know not what , -He should , or he should not ; for he made me mad -To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet -And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman -Of guns , and drums , and wounds ,God save the mark ! -And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth -Was parmaceti for an inward bruise ; -And that it was great pity , so it was , -This villanous saltpetre should be digg'd -Out of the bowels of the harmless earth , -Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd -So cowardly ; and but for these vile guns , -He would himself have been a soldier . -This bald unjointed chat of his , my lord , -I answer'd indirectly , as I said ; -And I beseech you , let not his report -Come current for an accusation -Betwixt my love and your high majesty . - -The circumstance consider'd , good my lord , -Whatever Harry Percy then had said -To such a person and in such a place , -At such a time , with all the rest re-told , -May reasonably die and never rise -To do him wrong , or any way impeach -What then he said , so he unsay it now . - -Why , yet he doth deny his prisoners , -But with proviso and exception , -That we at our own charge shall ransom straight -His brother-in-law , the foolish Mortimer ; -Who , on my soul , hath wilfully betray'd -The lives of those that he did lead to fight -Against the great magician , damn'd Glendower , -Whose daughter , as we hear , the Earl of March -Hath lately married . Shall our coffers then -Be emptied to redeem a traitor home ? -Shall we buy treason , and indent with fears , -When they have lost and forfeited themselves ? -No , on the barren mountains let him starve ; -For I shall never hold that man my friend -Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost -To ransom home revolted Mortimer . - -Revolted Mortimer ! -He never did fall off , my sovereign liege , -But by the chance of war : to prove that true -Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds , -Those mouthed wounds , which valiantly he took , -When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank , -In single opposition , hand to hand , -He did confound the best part of an hour -In changing hardiment with great Glendower . -Three times they breath'd and three times did they drink , -Upon agreement , of swift Severn's flood , -Who then , affrighted with their bloody looks , -Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds , -And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank -Blood-stained with these valiant combatants . -Never did base and rotten policy -Colour her working with such deadly wounds ; -Nor never could the noble Mortimer -Receive so many , and all willingly : -Then let him not be slander'd with revolt . - -Thou dost belie him , Percy , thou dost belie him : -He never did encounter with Glendower : -I tell thee , -He durst as well have met the devil alone -As Owen Glendower for an enemy . -Art thou not asham'd ? But , sirrah , henceforth -Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer : -Send me your prisoners with the speediest means , -Or you shall hear in such a kind from me -As will displease you . My Lord Northumberland , -We license your departure with your son . -Send us your prisoners , or you'll hear of it . - - -An if the devil come and roar for them , -I will not send them : I will after straight -And tell him so ; for I will ease my heart , -Albeit I make a hazard of my head . - -What ! drunk with choler ? stay , and pause awhile : -Here comes your uncle . - - -Speak of Mortimer ! -'Zounds ! I will speak of him ; and let my soul -Want mercy if I do not join with him : -In his behalf I'll empty all these veins , -And shed my dear blood drop by drop i' the dust , -But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer -As high i' the air as this unthankful king , -As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke . - -Brother , the king hath made your nephew mad . - -Who struck this heat up after I was gone ? - -He will , forsooth , have all my prisoners ; -And when I urg'd the ransom once again -Of my wife's brother , then his cheek look'd pale , -And on my face he turn'd an eye of death , -Trembling even at the name of Mortimer . - -I cannot blame him : was he not proclaim'd -By Richard that dead is the next of blood ? - -He was ; I heard the proclamation : -And then it was when the unhappy king , -Whose wrongs in us God pardon !did set forth -Upon his Irish expedition ; -From whence he , intercepted , did return -To be depos'd , and shortly murdered . - -And for whose death we in the world's wide mouth -Live scandaliz'd and foully spoken of . - -But , soft ! I pray you , did King Richard then -Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer -Heir to the crown ? - -He did ; myself did hear it . - -Nay , then I cannot blame his cousin king , -That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve . -But shall it be that you , that set the crown -Upon the head of this forgetful man , -And for his sake wear the detested blot -Of murd'rous subornation , shall it be , -That you a world of curses undergo , -Being the agents , or base second means , -The cords , the ladder , or the hangman rather ? -O ! pardon me that I descend so low , -To show the line and the predicament -Wherein you range under this subtle king . -Shall it for shame be spoken in these days , -Or fill up chronicles in time to come , -That men of your nobility and power , -Did gage them both in'an unjust behalf , -As both of you God pardon it !have done , -To put down Richard , that sweet lovely rose , -And plant this thorn , this canker , Bolingbroke ? -And shall it in more shame be further spoken , -That you are fool'd , discarded , and shook off -By him for whom these shames ye underwent ? -No ; yet time serves wherein you may redeem -Your banish'd honours , and restore yourselves -Into the good thoughts of the world again ; -Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt -Of this proud king , who studies day and night -To answer all the debt he owes to you , -Even with the bloody payment of your deaths . -Therefore , I say , - -Peace , cousin ! say no more : -And now I will unclasp a secret book , -And to your quick-conceiving discontents -I'll read you matter deep and dangerous , -As full of peril and adventurous spirit -As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud , -On the unsteadfast footing of a spear . - -If he fall in , good night ! or sink or swim : -Send danger from the east unto the west , -So honour cross it from the north to south , -And let them grapple : O ! the blood more stirs -To rouse a lion than to start a hare . - -Imagination of some great exploit -Drives him beyond the bounds of patience . - -By heaven methinks it were an easy leap -To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon , -Or dive into the bottom of the deep , -Where fathom-line could never touch the ground , -And pluck up drowned honour by the locks ; -So he that doth redeem her thence might wear -Without corrival all her dignities : -But out upon this half-fac'd fellowship ! - -He apprehends a world of figures here , -But not the form of what he should attend . -Good cousin , give me audience for a while . - -I cry you mercy . - -Those same noble Scots -That are your prisoners , - -I'll keep them all ; -By God , he shall not have a Scot of them : -No , if a Scot would save his soul , he shall not : -I'll keep them , by this hand . - -You start away , -And lend no ear unto my purposes . -Those prisoners you shall keep . - -Nay , I will ; that's flat : -He said he would not ransom Mortimer ; -Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer ; -But I will find him when he lies asleep , -And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer !' -Nay , -I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak -Nothing but 'Mortimer ,' and give it him , -To keep his anger still in motion . - -Hear you , cousin ; a word . - -All studies here I solemnly defy , -Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke : -And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales , -But that I think his father loves him not , -And would be glad he met with some mischance , -I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale . - -Farewell , kinsman : I will talk to you -When you are better temper'd to attend . - -Why , what a wasp-stung and impatient fool -Art thou to break into this woman's mood , -Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own ! - -Why , look you , I am whipp'd and scourg'd with rods , -Nettled , and stung with pismires , when I hear -Of this vile politician , Bolingbroke . -In Richard's time ,what do ye call the place ? -A plague upon't it is in Gloucestershire ; -'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept , -His uncle York ; where I first bow'd my knee -Unto this king of smiles , this Bolingbroke , -'Sblood ! -When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh . - -At Berkeley Castle . - -You say true . -Why , what a candy deal of courtesy -This fawning greyhound then did proffer me ! -Look , 'when his infant fortune came to age ,' -And 'gentle Harry Percy ,' and 'kind cousin .' -O ! the devil take such cozeners . God forgive me ! -Good uncle , tell your tale , for I have done . - -Nay , if you have not , to't again ; -We'll stay your leisure . - -I have done , i' faith . - -Then once more to your Scottish prisoners . -Deliver them up without their ransom straight , -And make the Douglas' son your only mean -For powers in Scotland ; which , for divers reasons -Which I shall send you written , be assur'd , -Will easily be granted . - -You , my lord , -Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd , -Shall secretly into the bosom creep -Of that same noble prelate well belov'd , -The Archbishop . - -Of York , is it not ? - -True ; who bears hard -His brother's death at Bristol , the Lord Scroop . -I speak not this in estimation , -As what I think might be , but what I know -Is ruminated , plotted and set down ; -And only stays but to behold the face -Of that occasion that shall bring it on . - -I smell it . -Upon my life it will do wondrous well . - -Before the game's afoot thou still lett'st slip . - -Why , it cannot choose but be a noble plot : -And then the power of Scotland and of York , -To join with Mortimer , ha ? - -And so they shall . - -In faith , it is exceedingly well aim'd . - -And 'tis no little reason bids us speed , -To save our heads by raising of a head ; -For , bear ourselves as even as we can , -The king will always think him in our debt , -And think we think ourselves unsatisfied , -Till he hath found a time to pay us home . -And see already how he doth begin -To make us strangers to his looks of love . - -He does , he does : we'll be reveng'd on him . - -Cousin , farewell : no further go in this , -Than I by letters shall direct your course . -When time is ripe ,which will be suddenly , -I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer ; -Where you and Douglas and our powers at once , -As I will fashion it ,shall happily meet , -To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms , -Which now we hold at much uncertainty . - -Farewell , good brother : we shall thrive , I trust . - -Uncle , adieu : O ! let the hours be short , -Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport ! - -Heigh-ho ! An't be not four by the day I'll be hanged : Charles' Wain is over the new chimney , and yet our horse not packed . What , ostler ! - -Anon , anon . - -I prithee , Tom , beat Cut's saddle , put a few flocks in the point ; the poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess . - - -Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog , and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots ; this house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died . - -Poor fellow ! never joyed since the price of oats rose ; it was the death of him . - -I think this be the most villanous house in all London road for fleas : I am stung like a tench . - -Like a tench ! by the mass , there is ne'er a king christen could be better bit than I have been since the first cock . - -Why , they will allow us ne'er a jordan , and then we leak in the chimney ; and your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach . - -What , ostler ! come away and be hanged , come away . - -I have a gammon of bacon and two razes of ginger , to be delivered as far as Charing-cross . - -Godsbody ! the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved . What , ostler ! A plague on thee ! hast thou never an eye in thy head ? canst not hear ? An 'twere not as good a deed as drink to break the pate on thee , I am a very villain . Come , and be hanged ! hast no faith in thee ? - - -Good morrow , carriers . What's o'clock ? - -I think it be two o'clock . - -I prithee , lend me thy lanthorn , to see my gelding in the stable . - -Nay , by God , soft : I know a trick worth two of that , i' faith . - -I prithee , lend me thine . - -Ay , when ? canst tell ? Lend me thy lanthorn , quoth a' ? marry , I'll see thee hanged first . - -Sirrah carrier , what time do you mean to come to London ? - -Time enough to go to bed with a candle , I warrant thee . Come , neighbour Mugs , we'll call up the gentlemen : they will along with company , for they have great charge . - - -What , ho ! chamberlain ! - -'At hand , quoth pick-purse .' - -That's even as fair as , 'at hand , quoth the chamberlain' ; for thou variest no more from picking of purses than giving direction doth from labouring ; thou layest the plot how . - - -Good morrow , Master Gadshill . It holds current that I told you yesternight : there's a franklin in the wild of Kent hath brought three hundred marks with him in gold : I heard him tell it to one of his company last night at supper ; a kind of auditor ; one that hath abundance of charge too , God knows what . They are up already and call for eggs and butter : they will away presently . - -Sirrah , if they meet not with Saint Nicholas' clerks , I'll give thee this neck . - -No , I'll none of it : I prithee , keep that for the hangman ; for I know thou worship'st Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may . - -What talkest thou to me of the hangman ? If I hang I'll make a fat pair of gallows ; for if I hang , old Sir John hangs with me , and thou knowest he's no starveling . Tut ! there are other Troyans that thou dreamest not of , the which for sport sake are content to do the profession some grace ; that would , if matters should be looked into , for their own credit sake make all whole . I am joined with no foot-land-rakers , no long-staff sixpenny strikers , none of these mad mustachio-purple-hued malt worms ; but with nobility and tranquillity , burgomasters and great oneyers such as can hold in , such as will strike sooner than speak , and speak sooner than drink , and drink sooner than pray : and yet I lie ; for they pray continually to their saint , the commonwealth ; or , rather , not pray to her , but prey on her , for they ride up and down on her and make her their boots . - -What ! the commonwealth their boots ? will she hold out water in foul way ? - -She will , she will ; justice hath liquored her . We steal as in a castle , cock-sure ; we have the receipt of fern-seed , we walk invisible . - -Nay , by my faith , I think you are more beholding to the night than to fern-seed for your walking invisible . - -Give me thy hand : thou shalt have a share in our purchase , as I am a true man . - -Nay , rather let me have it , as you are a false thief . - -Go to ; homo is a common name to all men . Bid the ostler bring my gelding out of the stable . Farewell , you muddy knave . - - -Come , shelter , shelter : I have removed Falstaff's horse , and he frets like a gummed velvet . - -Stand close . - - -Poins ! Poins , and be hanged ! Poins ! - -Peace , ye fat-kidneyed rascal ! What a brawling dost thou keep ! - -Where's Poins , Hal ? - -He is walked up to the top of the hill : I'll go seek him . - - -I am accursed to rob in that thief's company ; the rascal hath removed my horse and tied him I know not where . If I travel but four foot by the squire further afoot I shall break my wind . Well , I doubt not but to die a fair death for all this , if I 'scape hanging for killing that rogue . I have forsworn his company hourly any time this two-and-twenty years , and yet I am bewitched with the rogue's company . If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him , I'll be hanged : it could not be else : I have drunk medicines . Poins ! Hal ! a plague upon you both ! Bardolph ! Peto ! I'll starve ere I'll rob a foot further . An 'twere not as good a deed as drink to turn true man and leave these rogues , I am the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth . Eight yards of uneven ground is threescore and ten miles afoot with me , and the stony-hearted villains know it well enough . A plague upon't when thieves cannot be true one to another ! - -Whew ! A plague upon you all ! Give me my horse , you rogues ; give me my horse and be hanged . - -Peace , ye fatguts ! lie down : lay thine ear close to the ground , and list if thou canst hear the tread of travellers . - -Have you any levers to lift me up again , being down ? 'Sblood ! I'll not bear mine own flesh so far afoot again for all the coin in thy father's exchequer . What a plague mean ye to colt me thus ? - -Thou liest : thou art not colted ; thou art uncolted . - -I prithee , good Prince Hal , help me to my horse , good king's son . - -Out , you rogue ! shall I be your ostler ? - -Go , hang thyself in thine own heir apparent garters ! If I be ta'en I'll peach for this . An I have not ballads made on you all , and sung to filthy tunes , let a cup of sack be my poison : when a jest is so forward , and afoot too ! I hate it . - - -Stand . - -So I do , against my will . - -O ! 'tis our setter : I know his voice . - - -What news ? - -Case ye , case ye ; on with your vizards : there's money of the king's coming down the hill ; 'tis going to the king's exchequer . - -You lie , you rogue ; 'tis going to the king's tavern . - -There's enough to make us all . - -To be hanged . - -Sirs , you four shall front them in the narrow lane ; Ned Poins and I will walk lower : if they 'scape from your encounter then they light on us . - -How many be there of them ? - -Some eight or ten . - -'Zounds ! will they not rob us ? - -What ! a coward , Sir John Paunch ? - -Indeed , I am not John of Gaunt , your grandfather ; but yet no coward , Hal . - -Well , we leave that to the proof . - -Sirrah Jack , thy horse stands behind the hedge : when thou needst him there thou shalt find him . Farewell , and stand fast . - -Now cannot I strike him if I should be hanged . - -Ned , where are our disguises ? - -Here , hard by ; stand close . - - -Now my masters , happy man be his dole , say I : every man to his business . - - -Come , neighbour ; the boy shall lead our horses down the hill ; we'll walk afoot awhile , and ease our legs . - -Stand ! - -Jesu bless us ! - -Strike ; down with them ; cut the villains' throats : ah ! whoreson caterpillars ! bacon-fed knaves ! they hate us youth : down with them ; fleece them . - -O ! we are undone , both we and ours for ever . - -Hang ye , gorbellied knaves , are ye undone ? No , ye fat chuffs ; I would your store were here ! On , bacons , on ! What ! ye knaves , young men must live . You are grand-jurors are ye ? We'll jure ye , i' faith . - -The thieves have bound the true men . Now could thou and I rob the thieves and go merrily to London , it would be argument for a week , laughter for a month , and a good jest for ever . - -Stand close ; I hear them coming . - - -Come , my masters ; let us share , and then to horse before day . An the Prince and Poins be not two arrant cowards , there's no equity stirring : there's no more valour in that Poins than in a wild duck . - -Your money ! - -Villains ! - - -Got with much ease . Now merrily to horse : -The thieves are scatter'd and possess'd with fear -So strongly that they dare not meet each other ; -Each takes his fellow for an officer . -Away , good Ned . Falstaff sweats to death -And lards the lean earth as he walks along : -Were't not for laughing I should pity him . - -How the rogue roar'd ! - - -But for mine own part , my lord , I could be well contented to be there , in respect of the love I bear your house . - -He could be contented ; why is he not then ? In respect of the love he bears our house : he shows in this he loves his own barn better than he loves our house . Let me see some more . - -The purpose you undertake is dangerous ; - -Why , that's certain : 'tis dangerous to take a cold , to sleep , to drink ; but I tell you , my lord fool , out of this nettle , danger , we pluck this flower , safety . - -The purpose you undertake is dangerous ; the friends you have named uncertain ; the time itself unsorted ; and your whole plot too light for the counterpoise of so great an opposition . - -Say you so , say you so ? I say unto you again , you are a shallow cowardly hind , and you lie . What a lack-brain is this ! By the Lord , our plot is a good plot as ever was laid ; our friends true and constant : a good plot , good friends , and full of expectation ; an excellent plot , very good friends . What a frosty-spirited rogue is this ! Why , my Lord of York commends the plot and the general course of the action . 'Zounds ! an I were now by this rascal , I could brain him with his lady's fan . Is there not my father , my uncle , and myself ? Lord Edmund Mortimer , my Lord of York , and Owen Glendower ? Is there not besides the Douglas ? Have I not all their letters to meet me in arms by the ninth of the next month , and are they not some of them set forward already ? What a pagan rascal is this ! an infidel ! Ha ! you shall see now in very sincerity of fear and cold heart , will he to the king and lay open all our proceedings . O ! I could divide myself and go to buffets , for moving such a dish of skim milk with so honourable an action . Hang him ! let him tell the king ; we are prepared . I will set forward to-night . - -How now , Kate ! I must leave you within these two hours . - -O , my good lord ! why are you thus alone ? -For what offence have I this fortnight been -A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed ? -Tell me , sweet lord , what is't that takes from thee -Thy stomach , pleasure , and thy golden sleep ? -Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth , -And start so often when thou sitt'st alone ? -Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks , -And given my treasures and my rights of thee -To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy ? -In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch'd , -And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars , -Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed , -Cry , 'Courage ! to the field !' And thou hast talk'd -Of sallies and retires , of trenches , tents , -Of palisadoes , frontiers , parapets , -Of basilisks , of cannon , culverin , -Of prisoners' ransom , and of soldiers slain , -And all the currents of a heady fight . -Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war , -And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep , -That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow , -Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream ; -And in thy face strange motions have appear'd , -Such as we see when men restrain their breath -On some great sudden hest . O ! what portents are these ? -Some heavy business hath my lord in hand , -And I must know it , else he loves me not . - -What , ho ! - -Is Gilliams with the packet gone ? - -He is , my lord , an hour ago . - -Hath Butler brought those horses from the sheriff ? - -One horse , my lord , he brought even now . - -What horse ? a roan , a crop-ear , is it not ? - -It is , my lord . - -That roan shall be my throne . -Well , I will back him straight : O , Esperance ! -Bid Butler lead him forth into the park . - - -But hear you , my lord . - -What sayst thou , my lady ? - -What is it carries you away ? - -Why , my horse , my love , my horse . - -Out , you mad-headed ape ! -A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen -As you are toss'd with . In faith , -I'll know your business , Harry , that I will . -I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir -About his title , and hath sent for you -To line his enterprise . But if you go - -So far afoot , I shall be weary , love . - -Come , come , you paraquito , answer me -Directly unto this question that I ask . -In faith , I'll break thy little finger , Harry , -An if thou wilt not tell me all things true . - -Away , -Away , you trifler ! Love ! I love thee not , -I care not for thee , Kate : this is no world -To play with mammets and to tilt with lips : -We must have bloody noses and crack'd crowns , -And pass them current too . God's me , my horse ! -What sayst thou , Kate ? what wouldst thou have with me ? - -Do you not love me ? do you not , indeed ? -Well , do not , then ; for since you love me not , -I will not love myself . Do you not love me ? -Nay , tell me if you speak in jest or no . - -Come , wilt thou see me ride ? -And when I am o' horseback , I will swear -I love thee infinitely . But hark you , Kate ; -I must not have you henceforth question me -Whither I go , nor reason whereabout . -Whither I must , I must ; and , to conclude , -This evening must I leave you , gentle Kate . -I know you wise ; but yet no further wise -Than Harry Percy's wife : constant you are , -But yet a woman : and for secrecy , -No lady closer ; for I well believe -Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know ; -And so far will I trust thee , gentle Kate . - -How ! so far ? - -Not an inch further . But , hark you , Kate ; -Whither I go , thither shall you go too ; -To-day will I set forth , to-morrow you . -Will this content you , Kate ? - -It must , of force . - - -Ned , prithee , come out of that fat room , and lend me thy hand to laugh a little . - -Where hast been , Hal ? - -With three or four loggerheads amongst three or four score hogsheads . I have sounded the very base string of humility . Sirrah , I am sworn brother to a leash of drawers , and can call them all by their christen names , as Tom , Dick , and Francis . They take it already upon their salvation , that though I be but Prince of Wales , yet I am the king of courtesy ; and tell me flatly I am no proud Jack , like Falstaff , but a Corinthian , a lad of mettle , a good boy ,by the Lord , so they call me ,and when I am king of England , I shall command all the good lads in Eastcheap . They call drinking deep , dyeing scarlet ; and when you breathe in your watering , they cry 'hem !' and bid you play it off . To conclude , I am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour , that I can drink with any tinker in his own language during my life . I tell thee , Ned , thou hast lost much honour that thou wert not with me in this action . But , sweet Ned ,to sweeten which name of Ned , I give thee this pennyworth of sugar , clapped even now into my hand by an underskinker , one that never spake other English in his life than 'Eight shillings and sixpence ,' and 'You are welcome ,' with this shrill addition ,'Anon , anon , sir ! Score a pint of bastard in the Half-moon ,' or so . But , Ned , to drive away the time till Falstaff come , I prithee do thou stand in some by-room , while I question my puny drawer to what end he gave me the sugar ; and do thou never leave calling 'Francis !' that his tale to me may be nothing but 'Anon .' Step aside , and I'll show thee a precedent . - -Francis ! - -Thou art perfect . - -Francis ! - -Anon , anon , sir . Look down into the Pomgarnet , Ralph . - -Come hither , Francis . - -My lord . - -How long hast thou to serve , Francis ? - -Forsooth , five years , and as much as to - -Francis ! - -Anon , anon , sir . - -Five years ! by'r lady a long lease for the clinking of pewter . But , Francis , darest thou be so valiant as to play the coward with thy indenture and show it a fair pair of heels and run from it ? - -O Lord , sir ! I'll be sworn upon all the books in England , I could find in my heart - -Francis ! - -Anon , sir . - -How old art thou , Francis ? - -Let me see about Michaelmas next I shall be - -Francis ! - -Anon , sir . Pray you , stay a little , my lord . - -Nay , but hark you , Francis . For the sugar thou gavest me , 'twas a pennyworth , was't not ? - -O Lord , sir ! I would it had been two . - -I will give thee for it a thousand pound : ask me when thou wilt and thou shalt have it . - -Francis ! - -Anon , anon . - -Anon , Francis ? No , Francis ; but to-morrow , Francis ; or , Francis , o' Thursday ; or , indeed , Francis , when thou wilt . But , Francis ! - -My lord ? - -Wilt thou rob this leathern-jerkin , crystal-button , knot-pated , agate-ring , pukestocking , caddis-garter , smooth-tongue , Spanish-pouch , - -O Lord , sir , who do you mean ? - -Why then , your brown bastard is your only drink ; for , look you , Francis , your white canvas doublet will sully . In Barbary , sir , it cannot come to so much . - -What , sir ? - -Francis ! - -Away , you rogue ! Dost thou not hear them call ? - -What ! standest thou still , and hearest such a calling ? Look to the guests within . - -My lord , old Sir John , with half a dozen more , are at the door : shall I let them in ? - -Let them alone awhile , and then open the door . - -Poins ! - - -Anon , anon , sir . - -Sirrah , Falstaff and the rest of the thieves are at the door : shall we be merry ? - -As merry as crickets , my lad . But hark ye ; what cunning match have you made with this jest of the drawer ? come , what's the issue ? - -I am now of all humours that have show'd themselves humours since the old days of goodman Adam to the pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight . - -What's o'clock , Francis ? - -Anon , anon , sir . - - -That ever this fellow should have fewer words than a parrot , and yet the son of a woman ! His industry is up-stairs and down-stairs ; his eloquence the parcel of a reckoning . I am not yet of Percy's mind , the Hotspur of the North ; he that kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast , washes his hands , and says to his wife , 'Fie upon this quiet life ! I want work .' 'O my sweet Harry ,' says she , 'how many hast thou killed to-day ?' 'Give my roan horse a drench ,' says he , and answers , 'Some fourteen ,' an hour after , 'a trifle , a trifle .' I prithee call in Falstaff : I'll play Percy , and that damned brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his wife . 'Rivo !' says the drunkard . Call in ribs , call in tallow . - - -Welcome , Jack : where hast thou been ? - -A plague of all cowards , I say , and a vengeance too ! marry , and amen ! Give me a cup of sack , boy . Ere I lead this life long , I'll sew nether-stocks and mend them and foot them too . A plague of all cowards ! Give me a cup of sack , rogue .Is there no virtue extant ? - - -Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish of butter pitiful-hearted Titan , that melted at the sweet tale of the sun ? if thou didst then behold that compound . - -You rogue , here's lime in this sack too : there is nothing but roguery to be found in villanous man : yet a coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime in it , a villanous coward ! Go thy ways , old Jack ; die when thou wilt . If manhood , good manhood , be not forgot upon the face of the earth , then am I a shotten herring . There live not three good men unhanged in England , and one of them is fat and grows old : God help the while ! a bad world , I say . I would I were a weaver ; I could sing psalms or anything . A plague of all cowards , I say still . - -How now , wool-sack ! what mutter you ? - -A king's son ! If I do not beat thee out of thy kingdom with a dagger of lath , and drive all thy subjects afore thee like a flock of wild geese , I'll never wear hair on my face more . You Prince of Wales ! - -Why , you whoreson round man , what's the matter ? - -Are you not a coward ? answer me to that ; and Poins there ? - -'Zounds ! ye fat paunch , an ye call me coward , I'll stab thee . - -I call thee coward ! I'll see thee damned ere I call thee coward ; but I would give a thousand pound I could run as fast as thou canst . You are straight enough in the shoulders ; you care not who sees your back : call you that backing of your friends ? A plague upon such backing ! give me them that will face me . Give me a cup of sack : I am a rogue if I drunk to-day . - -O villain ! thy lips are scarce wiped since thou drunkest last . - -All's one for that . - -A plague of all cowards , still say I . - -What's the matter ? - -What's the matter ? there be four of us here have ta'en a thousand pound this day morning . - -Where is it , Jack ? where is it ? - -Where is it ! taken from us it is : a hundred upon poor four of us . - -What , a hundred , man ? - -I am a rogue , if I were not at half-sword with a dozen of them two hours together . I have 'scap'd by miracle . I am eight times thrust through the doublet , four through the hose ; my buckler out through and through ; my sword hacked like a hand-saw : ecce signum ! I never dealt better since I was a man : all would not do . A plague of all cowards ! Let them speak : if they speak more or less than truth , they are villains and the sons of darkness . - -Speak , sirs ; how was it ? - -We four set upon some dozen , - -Sixteen , at least , my lord . - -And bound them . - -No , no , they were not bound . - -You rogue , they were bound , every man of them ; or I am a Jew else , an Ebrew Jew . - -As we were sharing , some six or seven fresh men set upon us , - -And unbound the rest , and then come in the other . - -What , fought ye with them all ? - -All ! I know not what ye call all ; but if I fought not with fifty of them , I am a bunch of radish : if there were not two or three and fifty upon poor old Jack , then am I no two-legged creature . - -Pray God you have not murdered some of them . - -Nay , that's past praying for : I have peppered two of them : two I am sure I have paid , two rogues in buckram suits . I tell thee what , Hal , if I tell thee a lie , spit in my face , call me horse . Thou knowest my old ward ; here I lay , and thus I bore my point . Four rogues in buckram let drive at me , - -What , four ? thou saidst but two even now . - -Four , Hal ; I told thee four . - -Ay , ay , he said four . - -These four came all a-front , and mainly thrust at me . I made me no more ado but took all their seven points in my target , thus . - -Seven ? why , there were but four even now . - -In buckram . - -Ay , four , in buckram suits . - -Seven , by these hilts , or I am a villain else . - -Prithee , let him alone ; we shall have more anon . - -Dost thou hear me , Hal ? - -Ay , and mark thee too , Jack . - -Do so , for it is worth the listening to . -These nine in buckram that I told thee of , - -So , two more already . - -Their points being broken , - -Down fell their hose . - -Began to give me ground ; but I followed me close , came in foot and hand and with a thought seven of the eleven I paid . - -O monstrous ! eleven buckram men grown out of two . - -But , as the devil would have it , three misbegotten knaves in Kendal-green came at my back and let drive at me ; for it was so dark , Hal , that thou couldst not see thy hand . - -These lies are like the father that begets them ; gross as a mountain , open , palpable . Why , thou clay-brained guts , thou knotty-pated fool , thou whoreson , obscene , greasy tallowketch , - -What , art thou mad ? art thou mad ? is not the truth the truth ? - -Why , how couldst thou know these men in Kendal-green , when it was so dark thou couldst not see thy hand ? come , tell us your reason : what sayest thou to this ? - -Come , your reason , Jack , your reason . - -What , upon compulsion ? 'Zounds ! an I were at the strappado , or all the racks in the world , I would not tell you on compulsion . Give you a reason on compulsion ! If reasons were as plenty as blackberries I would give no man a reason upon compulsion , I . - -I'll be no longer guilty of this sin : this sanguine coward , this bed-presser , this horseback-breaker , this huge hill of flesh ; - -'Sblood , you starveling , you elf-skin , you dried neat's-tongue , you bull's pizzle , you stock-fish ! O ! for breath to utter what is like thee ; you tailor's yard , you sheath , you bow-case , you vile standing-tuck ; - -Well , breathe awhile , and then to it again ; and when thou hast tired thyself in base comparisons , hear me speak but this . - -Mark , Jack . - -We two saw you four set on four and you bound them , and were masters of their wealth . Mark now , how a plain tale shall put you down . Then did we two set on you four , and , with a word , out-faced you from your prize , and have it ; yea , and can show it you here in the house . And , Falstaff , you carried your guts away as nimbly , with as quick dexterity , and roared for mercy , and still ran and roared , as ever I heard bull-calf . What a slave art thou , to hack thy sword as thou hast done , and then say it was in fight ! What trick , what device , what starting-hole canst thou now find out to hide thee from this open and apparent shame ? - -Come , let's hear , Jack ; what trick hast thou now ? - -By the Lord , I knew ye as well as he that made ye . Why , hear you , my masters : was it for me to kill the heir-apparent ? Should I turn upon the true prince ? Why , thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules ; but beware instinct ; the lion will not touch the true prince . Instinct is a great matter , I was a coward on instinct . I shall think the better of myself and thee during my life ; I for a valiant lion , and thou for a true prince . But , by the Lord , lads , I am glad you have the money . Hostess , clap to the doors : watch to-night , pray to-morrow . Gallants , lads , boys , hearts of gold , all the titles of good fellowship come to you ! What ! shall we be merry ? shall we have a play extempore ? - -Content ; and the argument shall be thy running away . - -Ah ! no more of that , Hal , an thou lovest me ! - - -O Jesu ! my lord the prince ! - -How now , my lady the hostess ! what sayest thou to me ? - -Marry , my lord , there is a nobleman of the court at door would speak with you : he says he comes from your father . - -Give him as much as will make him a royal man , and send him back again to my mother . - -What manner of man is he ? - -An old man . - -What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight ? Shall I give him his answer ? - -Prithee , do , Jack . - -Faith , and I'll send him packing . - - -Now , sirs : by'r lady , you fought fair ; so did you , Peto ; so did you , Bardolph : you are lions too , you ran away upon instinct , you will not touch the true prince ; no , fie ! - -Faith , I ran when I saw others run . - -Faith , tell me now in earnest , how came Falstaff's sword so hacked ? - -Why he hacked it with his dagger , and said he would swear truth out of England but he would make you believe it was done in fight , and persuaded us to do the like . - -Yea , and to tickle our noses with spear-grass to make them bleed , and then to beslubber our garments with it and swear it was the blood of true men . I did that I did not this seven year before ; I blushed to hear his monstrous devices . - -O villain ! thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen years ago , and wert taken with the manner , and ever since thou hast blushed extempore . Thou hadst fire and sword on thy side , and yet thou rannest away . What instinct hadst thou for it ? - -My lord , do you see these meteors ? do you behold these exhalations ? - -I do . - -What think you they portend ? - -Hot livers and cold purses . - -Choler , my lord , if rightly taken . - -No , if rightly taken , halter . - -Here comes lean Jack , here comes bare-bone .How now , my sweet creature of bombast ! How long is't ago , Jack , since thou sawest thine own knee ? - -My own knee ! when I was about thy years , Hal , I was not an eagle's talon in the waist ; I could have crept into any alderman's thumb-ring . A plague of sighing and grief ! it blows a man up like a bladder . There's villanous news abroad : here was Sir John Bracy from your father : you must to the court in the morning . That same mad fellow of the north , Percy , and he of Wales , that gave Amaimon the bastinado and made Lucifer cuckold , and swore the devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh hook what a plague call you him ? - -Owen Glendower . - -Owen , Owen , the same ; and his son-in-law Mortimer and old Northumberland ; and that sprightly Scot of Scots , Douglas , that runs o' horseback up a hill perpendicular . - -He that rides at high speed and with his pistol kills a sparrow flying . - -You have hit it . - -So did he never the sparrow . - -Well , that rascal hath good mettle in him ; he will not run . - -Why , what a rascal art thou then to praise him so for running ! - -O' horseback , ye cuckoo ! but , afoot he will not budge a foot . - -Yes , Jack , upon instinct . - -I grant ye , upon instinct . Well , he is there too , and one Mordake , and a thousand blue-caps more . Worcester is stolen away to-night ; thy father's beard is turned white with the news : you may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel . - -Why then , it is like , if there come a hot June and this civil buffeting hold , we shall buy maidenheads as they buy hob-nails , by the hundreds . - -By the mass , lad , thou sayest true ; it is like we shall have good trading that way . But tell me , Hal , art thou not horribly afeard ? thou being heir apparent , could the world pick thee out three such enemies again as that fiend Douglas , that spirit Percy , and that devil Glendower ? Art thou not horribly afraid ? doth not thy blood thrill at it ? - -Not a whit , i' faith ; I lack some of thy instinct . - -Well , thou wilt be horribly chid to-morrow when thou comest to thy father : if thou love me , practise an answer . - -Do thou stand for my father , and examine me upon the particulars of my life . - -Shall I ? content : this chair shall be my state , this dagger my sceptre , and this cushion my crown . - -Thy state is taken for a joint-stool , thy golden sceptre for a leaden dagger , and thy precious rich crown for a pitiful bald crown ! - -Well , an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee , now shalt thou be moved . Give me a cup of sack to make mine eyes look red , that it may be thought I have wept ; for I must speak in passion , and I will do it in King Cambyses' vein . - - -Well , here is my leg . - - -And here is my speech . Stand aside , nobility . - -O Jesu ! This is excellent sport , i' faith ! - -Weep not , sweet queen , for trickling tears are vain . - -O , the father ! how he holds his countenance . - -For God's sake , lords , convey my tristful queen , -For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes . - -O Jesu ! he doth it as like one of these harlotry players as ever I see ! - -Peace , good pint-pot ! peace , good tickle-brain ! Harry , I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time , but also how thou art accompanied : for though the camomile , the more it is trodden on the faster it grows , yet youth , the more it is wasted the sooner it wears . That thou art my son , I have partly thy mother's word , partly my own opinion ; but chiefly , a villanous trick of thine eye and a foolish hanging of thy nether lip , that doth warrant me . If then thou be son to me , here lies the point ; why , being son to me , art thou so pointed at ? Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries ? a question not to be asked . Shall the son of England prove a thief and take purses ? a question to be asked . There is a thing , Harry , which thou hast often heard of , and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch : this pitch , as ancient writers do report , doth defile ; so doth the company thou keepest ; for , Harry , now I do not speak to thee in drink , but in tears , not in pleasure but in passion , not in words only , but in woes also . And yet there is a virtuous man whom I have often noted in thy company , but I know not his name . - -What manner of man , an it like your majesty ? - -A goodly portly man , i' faith , and a corpulent ; of a cheerful look , a pleasing eye , and a most noble carriage ; and , as I think , his age some fifty , or by'r lady , inclining to threescore ; and now I remember me , his name is Falstaff : if that man should be lewdly given , he deceiveth me ; for , Harry , I see virtue in his looks . If then the tree may be known by the fruit , as the fruit by the tree , then , peremptorily I speak it , there is virtue in that Falstaff : him keep with , the rest banish . And tell me now , thou naughty varlet , tell me , where hast thou been this month ? - -Dost thou speak like a king ? Do thou stand for me , and I'll play my father . - -Depose me ? if thou dost it half so gravely , so majestically , both in word and matter , hang me up by the heels for a rabbit-sucker or a poulter's hare . - -Well , here I am set . - -And here I stand . Judge , my masters . - -Now , Harry ! whence come you ? - -My noble lord , from Eastcheap . - -The complaints I hear of thee are grievous . - -'Sblood , my lord , they are false : nay , -I'll tickle ye for a young prince , i' faith . - -Swearest thou , ungracious boy ? henceforth ne'er look on me . Thou art violently carried away from grace : there is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of a fat old man ; a tun of man is thy companion . Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humours , that bolting-hutch of beastliness , that swoln parcel of dropsies , that huge bombard of sack , that stuffed cloak-bag of guts , that roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly , that reverend vice , that grey iniquity , that father ruffian , that vanity in years ? Wherein is he good but to taste sack and drink it ? wherein neat and cleanly but to carve a capon and eat it ? wherein cunning but in craft ? wherein crafty but in villany ? wherein villanous but in all things ? wherein worthy but in nothing ? - -I would your Grace would take me with you : whom means your Grace ? - -That villanous abominable misleader of youth , Falstaff , that old white-bearded Satan . - -My lord , the man I know . - -I know thou dost . - -But to say I know more harm in him than in myself were to say more than I know . That he is old , the more the pity , his white hairs do witness it ; but that he is , saving your reverence , a whoremaster , that I utterly deny . If sack and sugar be a fault , God help the wicked ! If to be old and merry be a sin , then many an old host that I know is damned : if to be fat be to be hated , then Pharaoh's lean kine are to be loved . No , my good lord ; banish Peto , banish Bardolph , banish Poins ; but for sweet Jack Falstaff , kind Jack Falstaff , true Jack Falstaff , valiant Jack Falstaff , and therefore more valiant , being , as he is , old Jack Falstaff , banish not him thy Harry's company : banish not him thy Harry's company : banish plump Jack , and banish all the world . - -I do , I will . - - -O ! my lord , my lord , the sheriff with a most monstrous watch is at the door . - -Out , ye rogue ! Play out the play : I have much to say in the behalf of that Falstaff . - - -O Jesu ! my lord , my lord ! - -Heigh , heigh ! the devil rides upon a fiddle-stick : what's the matter ? - -The sheriff and all the watch are at the door : they are come to search the house . Shall I let them in ? - -Dost thou hear , Hal ? never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit : thou art essentially mad without seeming so . - -And thou a natural coward without instinct . - -I deny your major . If you will deny the sheriff , so ; if not , let him enter : if I become not a cart as well as another man , a plague on my bringing up ! I hope I shall as soon be strangled with a halter as another . - -Go , hide thee behind the arras : the rest walk up above . Now , my masters , for a true face and good conscience . - -Both which I have had ; but their date is out , and therefore I'll hide me . - - -Call in the sheriff . - -Now , master sheriff , what's your will with me ? - -First , pardon me , my lord . A hue and cry -Hath follow'd certain men unto this house . - -What men ? - -One of them is well known , my gracious lord , -A gross fat man . - -As fat as butter . - -The man , I do assure you , is not here , -For I myself at this time have employ'd him . -And , sheriff , I will engage my word to thee , -That I will , by to-morrow dinner-time , -Send him to answer thee , or any man , -For anything he shall be charg'd withal : -And so let me entreat you leave the house . - -I will , my lord . There are two gentlemen -Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks . - -It may be so : if he have robb'd these men , -He shall be answerable ; and so farewell . - -Good night , my noble lord . - -I think it is good morrow , is it not ? - -Indeed , my lord , I think it be two o'clock . - - -This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's . -Go , call him forth . - -Falstaff ! fast asleep behind the arras , and snorting like a horse . - -Hark , how hard he fetches breath . -Search his pockets . - -What hast thou found ? - -Nothing but papers , my lord . - -Let's see what they be : read them . - - -O monstrous ! but one half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack ! What there is else , keep close ; we'll read it at more advantage . There let him sleep till day . I'll to the court in the morning . We must all to the wars , and thy place shall be honourable . I'll procure this fat rogue a charge of foot ; and , I know , his death will be a march of twelve-score . The money shall be paid back again with advantage . Be with me betimes in the morning ; and so good morrow , Peto . - -Good morrow , good my lord . - -These promises are fair , the parties sure , -And our induction full of prosperous hope . - -Lord Mortimer , and cousin Glendower , -Will you sit down ? -And uncle Worcester : a plague upon it ! -I have forgot the map . - -No , here it is . -Sit , cousin Percy ; sit , good cousin Hotspur ; -For by that name as oft as Lancaster -Doth speak of you , his cheek looks pale and with -A rising sigh he wishes you in heaven . - -And you in hell , as often as he hears -Owen Glendower spoke of . - -I cannot blame him : at my nativity -The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes , -Of burning cressets ; and at my birth -The frame and huge foundation of the earth -Shak'd like a coward . - -Why , so it would have done at the same season , if your mother's cat had but kittened , though yourself had never been born . - -I say the earth did shake when I was born . - -And I say the earth was not of my mind , -If you suppose as fearing you it shook . - -The heavens were all on fire , the earth did tremble . - -O ! then the earth shook to see the heavens on fire , -And not in fear of your nativity . -Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth -In strange eruptions ; oft the teeming earth -Is with a kind of colic pinch'd and vex'd -By the imprisoning of unruly wind -Within her womb ; which , for enlargement striving , -Shakes the old beldam earth , and topples down -Steeples and moss-grown towers . At your birth -Our grandam earth , having this distemperature , -In passion shook . - -Cousin , of many men -I do not bear these crossings . Give me leave -To tell you once again that at my birth -The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes , -The goats ran from the mountains , and the herds -Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields . -These signs have mark'd me extraordinary ; -And all the courses of my life do show -I am not in the roll of common men . -Where is he living , clipp'd in with the sea -That chides the banks of England , Scotland , Wales , -Which calls me pupil , or hath read to me ? -And bring him out that is but woman's son -Can trace me in the tedious ways of art -And hold me pace in deep experiments . - -I think there's no man speaks better Welsh . -I'll to dinner . - -Peace , cousin Percy ! you will make him mad . - -I can call spirits from the vasty deep . - -Why , so can I , or so can any man ; -But will they come when you do call for them ? - -Why , I can teach thee , cousin , to command -The devil . - -And I can teach thee , coz , to shame the devil -By telling truth : tell truth and shame the devil . -If thou have power to raise him , bring him hither , -And I'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence . -O ! while you live , tell truth and shame the devil ! - -Come , come ; -No more of this unprofitable chat . - -Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head -Against my power ; thrice from the banks of Wye -And sandy-bottom'd Severn have I sent him -Bootless home and weather-beaten back . - -Home without boots , and in foul weather too ! -How 'scapes he agues , in the devil's name ? - -Come , here's the map : shall we divide our right -According to our threefold order ta'en ? - -The archdeacon hath divided it -Into three limits very equally . -England , from Trent and Severn hitherto , -By south and east , is to my part assign'd : -All westward , Wales beyond the Severn shore , -And all the fertile land within that bound , -To Owen Glendower : and , dear coz , to you -The remnant northward , lying off from Trent . -And our indentures tripartite are drawn , -Which being sealed interchangeably , -A business that this night may execute , -To-morrow , cousin Percy , you and I -And my good Lord of Worcester will set forth -To meet your father and the Scottish power , -As is appointed us , at Shrewsbury . -My father Glendower is not ready yet , -Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days . - - -Within that space you may have drawn together -Your tenants , friends , and neighbouring gentlemen . - -A shorter time shall send me to you , lords ; -And in my conduct shall your ladies come , -From whom you now must steal and take no leave ; -For there will be a world of water shed -Upon the parting of your wives and you . - -Methinks my moiety , north from Burton here , -In quantity equals not one of yours : -See how this river comes me cranking in , -And cuts me from the best of all my land -A huge half-moon , a monstrous cantle out . -I'll have the current in this place damm'd up , -And here the smug and silver Trent shall run -In a new channel , fair and evenly : -It shall not wind with such a deep indent , -To rob me of so rich a bottom here . - -Not wind ! it shall , it must ; you see it doth . - -Yea , but -Mark how he bears his course , and runs me up -With like advantage on the other side ; -Gelding the opposed continent as much , -As on the other side it takes from you . - -Yea , but a little charge will trench him here , -And on this north side win this cape of land ; -And then he runs straight and even . - -I'll have it so ; a little charge will do it . - -I will not have it alter'd . - -Will not you ? - -No , nor you shall not . - -Who shall say me nay ? - -Why , that will I . - -Let me not understand you then : -Speak it in Welsh . - -I can speak English , lord , as well as you , -For I was train'd up in the English court ; -Where , being but young , I framed to the harp -Many an English ditty lovely well , -And gave the tongue an helpful ornament ; -A virtue that was never seen in you . - -Marry , and I'm glad of it with all my heart . -I had rather be a kitten , and cry mew -Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers ; -I had rather hear a brazen canstick turn'd , -Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree ; -And that would set my teeth nothing on edge , -Nothing so much as mincing poetry : -'Tis like the forc'd gait of a shuffling nag . - -Come , you shall have Trent turn'd . - -I do not care : I'll give thrice so much land -To any well-deserving friend ; -But in the way of bargain , mark you me , -I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair . -Are the indentures drawn ? shall we be gone ? - -The moon shines fair , you may away by night : -I'll haste the writer and withal -Break with your wives of your departure hence : -I am afraid my daughter will run mad , -So much she doteth on her Mortimer . - - -Fie , cousin Percy ! how you cross my father ! - -I cannot choose : sometimes he angers me -With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant , -Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies , -And of a dragon , and a finless fish , -A clip-wing'd griffin , and a moulten raven , -A couching lion , and a ramping cat , -And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff -As puts me from my faith . I'll tell thee what ; -He held me last night at least nine hours -In reckoning up the several devils' names -That were his lackeys : I cried 'hum !' and 'well , go to .' -But mark'd him not a word . O ! he's as tedious -As a tired horse , a railing wife ; -Worse than a smoky house . I had rather live -With cheese and garlick in a windmill , far , -Than feed on cates and have him talk to me -In any summer-house in Christendom . - -In faith , he is a worthy gentleman , -Exceedingly well read , and profited -In strange concealments , valiant as a lion -And wondrous affable , and as bountiful -As mines of India . Shall I tell you , cousin ? -He holds your temper in a high respect , -And curbs himself even of his natural scope -When you do cross his humour ; faith , he does . -I warrant you , that man is not alive -Might so have tempted him as you have done , -Without the taste of danger and reproof : -But do not use it oft , let me entreat you . - -In faith , my lord , you are too wilfulblame ; -And since your coming hither have done enough -To put him quite beside his patience . -You must needs learn , lord , to amend this fault : -Though sometimes it show greatness , courage , blood , -And that's the dearest grace it renders you , -Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage , -Defect of manners , want of government , -Pride , haughtiness , opinion , and disdain : -The least of which haunting a nobleman -Loseth men's hearts and leaves behind a stain -Upon the beauty of all parts besides , -Beguiling them of commendation . - -Well , I am school'd ; good manners be your speed ! -Here come our wives , and let us take our leave . - - -This is the deadly spite that angers me , -My wife can speak no English , I no Welsh . - -My daughter weeps ; she will not part with you : -She'll be a soldier too : she'll to the wars . - -Good father , tell her that she and my aunt Percy , -Shall follow in your conduct speedily . - - -She's desperate here ; a peevish self-will'd harlotry , one that no persuasion can do good upon . - - -I understand thy looks : that pretty Welsh -Which thou pour'st down from these swelling heavens -I am too perfect in ; and , but for shame , -In such a parley would I answer thee . - -I understand thy kisses and thou mine , -And that's a feeling disputation : -But I will never be a truant , love , -Till I have learn'd thy language ; for thy tongue -Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penn'd , -Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower , -With ravishing division , to her lute . - -Nay , if you melt , then will she run mad . - - -O ! I am ignorance itself in this . - -She bids you -Upon the wanton rushes lay you down -And rest your gentle head upon her lap , -And she will sing the song that pleaseth you , -And on your eye-lids crown the god of sleep , -Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness , -Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep -As is the difference between day and night -The hour before the heavenly-harness'd team -Begins his golden progress in the east . - -With all my heart I'll sit and hear her sing : -By that time will our book , I think , be drawn . - -Do so ; -And those musicians that shall play to you -Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence , -And straight they shall be here : sit , and attend . - -Come , Kate , thou art perfect in lying down : come , quick , quick , that I may lay my head in thy lap . - -Go , ye giddy goose . - - -Now I perceive the devil understands Welsh ; -And 'tis no marvel he is so humorous . -By'r lady , he's a good musician . - -Then should you be nothing but musical for you are altogether governed by humours . Lie still , ye thief , and hear the lady sing in Welsh . - -I had rather hear Lady , my brach , how ! in Irish . - -Wouldst thou have thy head broken ? - -No . - -Then be still . - -Neither ; 'tis a woman's fault . - -Now , God help thee ! - -To the Welsh lady's bed . - -What's that ? - -Peace ! she sings . - - -Come , Kate , I'll have your song too . - -Not mine , in good sooth . - -Not yours , 'in good sooth !' Heart ! you swear like a comfit-maker's wife ! Not you , 'in good sooth ;' and , 'as true as I live ;' and , 'as God shall mend me ;' and , 'as sure as day :' -And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths , -As if thou never walk'dst further than Finsbury . -Swear me , Kate , like a lady as thou art , -A good mouth-filling oath ; and leave 'in sooth ,' -And such protest of pepper-gingerbread , -To velvet-guards and Sunday-citizens . -Come , sing . - -I will not sing . - -'Tis the next way to turn tailor or be red-breast teacher . An the indentures be drawn , I'll away within these two hours ; and so , come in when ye will . - - -Come , come , Lord Mortimer ; you are as slow -As hot Lord Percy is on fire to go . -By this our book is drawn ; we will but seal , -And then to horse immediately . - -With all my heart . - - -Lords , give us leave ; the Prince of Wales and I -Must have some private conference : but be near at hand , -For we shall presently have need of you . - -I know not whether God will have it so , -For some displeasing service I have done , -That , in his secret doom , out of my blood -He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me ; -But thou dost in thy passages of life -Make me believe that thou art only mark'd -For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven -To punish my mistreadings . Tell me else , -Could such inordinate and low desires , -Such poor , such bare , such lewd , such mean attempts , -Such barren pleasures , rude society , -As thou art match'd withal and grafted to , -Accompany the greatness of thy blood -And hold their level with thy princely heart ? - -So please your majesty , I would I could -Quit all offences with as clear excuse -As well as I am doubtless I can purge -Myself of many I am charg'd withal : -Yet such extenuation let me beg , -As , in reproof of many tales devis'd , -Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear , -By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers , -I may , for some things true , wherein my youth -Hath faulty wander'd and irregular , -Find pardon on my true submission . - -God pardon thee ! yet let me wonder , Harry , -At thy affections , which do hold a wing -Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors . -Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost , -Which by thy younger brother is supplied , -And art almost an alien to the hearts -Of all the court and princes of my blood . -The hope and expectation of thy time -Is ruin'd , and the soul of every man -Prophetically do forethink thy fall . -Had I so lavish of my presence been , -So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men , -So stale and cheap to vulgar company , -Opinion , that did help me to the crown , -Had still kept loyal to possession -And left me in reputeless banishment , -A fellow of no mark nor likelihood . -By being seldom seen , I could not stir , -But like a comet I was wonder'd at ; -That men would tell their children , 'This is he ;' -Others would say , 'Where ? which is Bolingbroke ?' -And then I stole all courtesy from heaven , -And dress'd myself in such humility -That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts , -Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths , -Even in the presence of the crowned king . -Thus did I keep my person fresh and new ; -My presence , like a robe pontifical , -Ne'er seen but wonder'd at : and so my state , -Seldom but sumptuous , showed like a feast , -And won by rareness such solemnity . -The skipping king , he ambled up and down -With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits , -Soon kindled and soon burnt ; carded his state , -Mingled his royalty with capering fools , -Had his great name profaned with their scorns , -And gave his countenance , against his name , -To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push -Of every beardless vain comparative ; -Grew a companion to the common streets , -Enfeoff'd himself to popularity ; -That , being daily swallow'd by men's eyes , -They surfeited with honey and began -To loathe the taste of sweetness , whereof a little -More than a little is by much too much . -So , when he had occasion to be seen , -He was but as the cuckoo is in June , -Heard , not regarded ; seen , but with such eyes -As , sick and blunted with community , -Afford no extraordinary gaze , -Such as is bent on sun-like majesty -When it shines seldom in admiring eyes ; -But rather drows'd and hung their eyelids down , -Slept in his face , and render'd such aspect -As cloudy men use to their adversaries , -Being with his presence glutted , gorg'd , and full . -And in that very line , Harry , stand'st thou ; -For thou hast lost thy princely privilege -With vile participation : not an eye -But is aweary of thy common sight , -Save mine , which hath desir'd to see thee more ; -Which now doth that I would not have it do , -Make blind itself with foolish tenderness . - -I shall hereafter , my thrice gracious lord , -Be more myself . - -For all the world , -As thou art to this hour was Richard then -When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh ; -And even as I was then is Percy now . -Now , by my sceptre and my soul to boot , -He hath more worthy interest to the state -Than thou the shadow of succession ; -For of no right , nor colour like to right , -He doth fill fields with harness in the realm , -Turns head against the lion's armed jaws , -And , being no more in debt to years than thou , -Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on -To bloody battles and to bruising arms . -What never-dying honour hath he got -Against renowned Douglas ! whose high deeds , -Whose hot incursions and great name in arms , -Holds from all soldiers chief majority , -And military title capital , -Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ . -Thrice hath this Hotspur , Mars in swathling clothes , -This infant warrior , in his enterprises -Discomfited great Douglas ; ta'en him once , -Enlarged him and made a friend of him , -To fill the mouth of deep defiance up -And shake the peace and safety of our throne . -And what say you to this ? Percy , Northumberland , -The Archbishop's Grace of York , Douglas , Mortimer , -Capitulate against us and are up . -But wherefore do I tell these news to thee ? -Why , Harry , do I tell thee of my foes , -Which art my near'st and dearest enemy ? -Thou that art like enough , through vassal fear , -Base inclination , and the start of spleen , -To fight against me under Percy's pay , -To dog his heels , and curtsy at his frowns , -To show how much thou art degenerate . - -Do not think so ; you shall not find it so : -And God forgive them , that so much have sway'd -Your majesty's good thoughts away from me ! -I will redeem all this on Percy's head , -And in the closing of some glorious day -Be bold to tell you that I am your son ; -When I will wear a garment all of blood -And stain my favours in a bloody mask , -Which , wash'd away , shall scour my shame with it : -And that shall be the day , whene'er it lights , -That this same child of honour and renown , -This gallant Hotspur , this all-praised knight , -And your unthought of Harry chance to meet . -For every honour sitting on his helm , -Would they were multitudes , and on my head -My shames redoubled !for the time will come -That I shall make this northern youth exchange -His glorious deeds for my indignities . -Percy is but my factor , good my lord , -To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf ; -And I will call him to so strict account -That he shall render every glory up , -Yea , even the slightest worship of his time , -Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart . -This , in the name of God , I promise here : -The which , if he be pleas'd I shall perform , -I do beseech your majesty may salve -The long-grown wounds of my intemperance : -If not , the end of life cancels all bands , -And I will die a hundred thousand deaths -Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow . - -A hundred thousand rebels die in this : -Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein . - -How now , good Blunt ! thy looks are full of speed . - -So hath the business that I come to speak of . -Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word -That Douglas and the English rebels met , -The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury . -A mighty and a fearful head they are , -If promises be kept on every hand , -As ever offer'd foul play in a state . - -The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day , -With him my son , Lord John of Lancaster ; -For this advertisement is five days old . -On Wednesday next , Harry , you shall set forward ; -On Thursday we ourselves will march : our meeting -Is Bridgenorth ; and Harry , you shall march -Through Gloucestershire ; by which account , -Our business valued , some twelve days hence -Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet . -Our hands are full of business : let's away ; -Advantage feeds him fat while men delay . - - -Bardolph , am I not fallen away vilely since this last action ? do I not bate ? do I not dwindle ? Why , my skin hangs about me like an old lady's loose gown ; I am withered like an old apple-john . Well , I'll repent , and that suddenly , while I am in some liking ; I shall be out of heart shortly , and then I shall have no strength to repent . An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church is made of , I am a peppercorn , a brewer's horse : the inside of a church ! Company , villanous company , hath been the spoil of me . - -Sir John , you are so fretful , you cannot live long . - -Why , there is it : come , sing me a bawdy song ; make me merry . I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be ; virtuous enough : swore little ; diced not above seven times a week ; went to a bawdy-house not above once in a quarter of an hour ; paid money that I borrowed three or four times ; lived well and in good compass ; and now I live out of all order , out of all compass . - -Why , you are so fat , Sir John , that you must needs be out of all compass , out of all reasonable compass , Sir John . - -Do thou amend thy face , and I'll amend my life : thou art our admiral , thou bearest the lanthorn in the poop , but 'tis in the nose of thee : thou art the Knight of the Burning Lamp . - -Why , Sir John , my face does you no harm . - -No , I'll be sworn ; I make as good use of it as many a man doth of a Death's head , or a memento mori : I never see thy face but I think upon hell-fire and Dives that lived in purple ; for there he is in his robes , burning , burning . If thou wert any way given to virtue , I would swear by thy face ; my oath should be , 'By this fire , that's God's angel :' but thou art altogether given over , and wert indeed , but for the light in thy face , the son of utter darkness . When thou rannest up Gadshill in the night to catch my horse , if I did not think thou hadst been an igius fatuus or a ball of wildfire , there's no purchase in money . O ! thou art a perpetual triumph , an everlasting bonfire-light . Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches , walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern : but the sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe . I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any time this two-and-thirty years ; God reward me for it ! - -'Sblood , I would my face were in your belly . - -God-a-mercy ! so should I be sure to be heart-burned . - -How now , Dame Partlet the hen ! have you inquired yet who picked my pocket ? - -Why , Sir John , what do you think , Sir John ? Do you think I keep thieves in my house ? I have searched , I have inquired , so has my husband , man by man , boy by boy , servant by servant : the tithe of a hair was never lost in my house before . - -You lie , hostess : Bardolph was shaved and lost many a hair ; and I'll be sworn my pocket was picked . Go to , you are a woman ; go . - -Who , I ? No ; I defy thee : God's light ! -I was never called so in my own house before . - -Go to , I know you well enough . - -No , Sir John ; you do not know me , Sir John : I know you , Sir John : you owe me money , Sir John , and now you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it : I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back . - -Dowlas , filthy dowlas : I have given them away to bakers' wives , and they have made bolters of them . - -Now , as I am true woman , holland of eight shillings an ell . You owe money here besides , Sir John , for your diet and by-drinkings , and money lent you , four-and-twenty pound . - -He had his part of it ; let him pay . - -He ! alas ! he is poor ; he hath nothing . - -How ! poor ? look upon his face ; what call you rich ? let them coin his nose , let them coin his cheeks . I'll not pay a denier . What ! will you make a younker of me ? shall I not take mine ease in mine inn but I shall have my pocket picked ? I have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather's worth forty mark . - -O Jesu ! I have heard the prince tell him , I know not how oft , that that ring was copper . - -How ! the prince is a Jack , a sneak-cup ; 'sblood ! an he were here , I would cudgel him like a dog , if he would say so . - - -How now , lad ! is the wind in that door , i' faith ? must we all march ? - -Yea , two and two , Newgate fashion . - -My lord , I pray you , hear me . - -What sayest thou , Mistress Quickly ? -How does thy husband ? I love him well , he is an honest man . - -Good my lord , hear me . - -Prithee , let her alone , and list to me . - -What sayest thou , Jack ? - -The other night I fell asleep here behind the arras and had my pocket picked : this house is turned bawdy-house ; they pick pockets . - -What didst thou lose , Jack ? - -Wilt thou believe me , Hal ? three or four bonds of forty pound a-piece , and a seal-ring of my grandfather's . - -A trifle ; some eight-penny matter . - -So I told him , my lord ; and I said I heard your Grace say so : and , my lord , he speaks most vilely of you , like a foul-mouthed man as he is , and said he would cudgel you . - -What ! he did not ? - -There's neither faith , truth , nor womanhood in me else . - -There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune ; nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn fox ; and for womanhood , Maid Marian may be the deputy's wife of the ward to thee . Go , you thing , go . - -Say , what thing ? what thing ? - -What thing ! why , a thing to thank God on . - -I am no thing to thank God on , I would thou shouldst know it ; I am an honest man's wife ; and , setting thy knighthood aside , thou art a knave to call me so . - -Setting thy womanhood aside , thou art a beast to say otherwise . - -Say , what beast , thou knave thou ? - -What beast ! why , an otter . - -An otter , Sir John ! why , an otter ? - -Why ? she's neither fish nor flesh ; a man knows not where to have her . - -Thou art an unjust man in saying so : thou or any man knows where to have me , thou knave thou ! - -Thou sayest true , hostess ; and he slanders thee most grossly . - -So he doth you , my lord ; and said this other day you ought him a thousand pound . - -Sirrah ! do I owe you a thousand pound ? - -A thousand pound , Hal ! a million : thy love is worth a million ; thou owest me thy love . - -Nay , my lord , he called you Jack , and said he would cudgel you . - -Did I , Bardolph ? - -Indeed , Sir John , you said so . - -Yea ; if he said my ring was copper . - -I say 'tis copper : darest thou be as good as thy word now ? - -Why , Hal , thou knowest , as thou art but man , I dare ; but as thou art prince , I fear thee as I fear the roaring of the lion s whelp . - -And why not as the lion ? - -The king himself is to be feared as the lion : dost thou think I'll fear thee as I fear thy father ? nay , an I do , I pray God my girdle break ! - -O ! if it should , how would thy guts fall about thy knees . But , sirrah , there's no room for faith , truth , or honesty in this bosom of thine ; it is all filled up with guts and midriff . Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket ! Why , thou whoreson , impudent , embossed rascal , if there were any thing in thy pocket but tavern reckonings , memorandums of bawdy-houses , and one poor pennyworth of sugar-candy to make thee long-winded ; if thy pocket were enriched with any other injuries but these , I am a villain . And yet you will stand to it , you will not pocket up wrong . Art thou not ashamed ? - -Dost thou hear , Hal ? thou knowest in the state of innocency Adam fell ; and what should poor Jack Falstaff do in the days of villany ? Thou seest I have more flesh than another man , and therefore more frailty . You confess then , you picked my pocket ? - -It appears so by the story . - -Hostess , I forgive thee . Go make ready breakfast ; love thy husband , look to thy servants , cherish thy guests : thou shalt find me tractable to any honest reason : thou seest I am pacified . Still ! Nay prithee , be gone . - -Now , Hal , to the news at court : for the robbery , lad , how is that answered ? - -O ! my sweet beef , I must still be good angel to thee : the money is paid back again . - -O ! I do not like that paying back ; 'tis a double labour . - -I am good friends with my father and may do anything . - -Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou dost , and do it with unwashed hands too . - -Do , my lord . - -I have procured thee , Jack , a charge of foot . - -I would it had been of horse . Where shall I find one that can steal well ? O ! for a fine thief , of the age of two-and-twenty , or thereabouts ; I am heinously unprovided . Well , God be thanked for these rebels ; they offend none but the virtuous : I laud them , I praise them . - -Bardolph ! - -My lord ? - -Go bear this letter to Lord John of Lancaster , -To my brother John ; this to my Lord of Westmoreland . -Go , Poins , to horse , to horse ! for thou and I -Have thirty miles to ride ere dinner-time . -Jack , meet me to-morrow in the Temple-hall -At two o'clock in the afternoon : -There shalt thou know thy charge , and there receive -Money and order for their furniture . -The land is burning ; Percy stands on high ; -And either we or they must lower lie . - - -Rare words ! brave world ! Hostess , my breakfast ; come ! -O ! I could wish this tavern were my drum . - -Well said , my noble Scot : if speaking truth -In this fine age were not thought flattery , -Such attribution should the Douglas have , -As not a soldier of this season's stamp -Should go so general current through the world . -By God , I cannot flatter ; do defy -The tongues of soothers ; but a braver place -In my heart's love hath no man than yourself . -Nay , task me to my word ; approve me , lord . - -Thou art the king of honour : -No man so potent breathes upon the ground -But I will beard him . - -Do so , and 'tis well . - - -What letters hast thou there ? - - -I can but thank you . - -These letters come from your father . - -Letters from him ! why comes he not himself ? - -He cannot come , my lord : he's grievous sick . - -'Zounds ! how has he the leisure to be sick -In such a justling time ? Who leads his power ? -Under whose government come they along ? - -His letters bear his mind , not I , my lord . - -I prithee , tell me , doth he keep his bed ? - -He did , my lord , four days ere I set forth ; -And at the time of my departure thence -He was much fear'd by his physicians . - -I would the state of time had first been whole -Ere he by sickness had been visited : -His health was never better worth than now . - -Sick now ! droop now ! this sickness doth infect -The very life-blood of our enterprise ; -'Tis catching hither , even to our camp , -He writes me here , that inward sickness -And that his friends by deputation could not -So soon be drawn ; nor did he think it meet -To lay so dangerous and dear a trust -On any soul remov'd but on his own . -Yet doth he give us bold advertisement , -That with our small conjunction we should on , -To see how fortune is dispos'd to us ; -For , as he writes , there is no quailing now , -Because the king is certainly possess'd -Of all our purposes . What say you to it ? - -Your father's sickness is a maim to us . - -A perilous gash , a very limb lopp'd off : -And yet , in faith , 'tis not ; his present want -Seems more than we shall find it . Were it good -To set the exact wealth of all our states -All at one cast ? to set so rich a main -On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour ? -It were not good ; for therein should we read -The very bottom and the soul of hope , -The very list , the very utmost bound -Of all our fortunes . - -Faith , and so we should ; -Where now remains a sweet reversion : -We may boldly spend upon the hope of what -Is to come in : -A comfort of retirement lives in this . - -A rendezvous , a home to fly unto , -If that the devil and mischance look big -Upon the maidenhead of our affairs . - -But yet , I would your father had been here . -The quality and hair of our attempt -Brooks no division . It will be thought -By some , that know not why he is away , -That wisdom , loyalty , and mere dislike -Of our proceedings , kept the earl from hence . -And think how such an apprehension -May turn the tide of fearful faction -And breed a kind of question in our cause ; -For well you know we of the offering side -Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement , -And stop all sight-holes , every loop from whence -The eye of reason may pry in upon us : -This absence of your father's draws a curtain , -That shows the ignorant a kind of fear -Before not dreamt of . - -You strain too far . -I rather of his absence make this use : -It lends a lustre and more great opinion , -A larger dare to our great enterprise , -Than if the earl were here ; for men must think , -If we without his help , can make a head -To push against the kingdom , with his help -We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down . -Yet all goes well , yet all our joints are whole . - -As heart can think : there is not such a word -Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear . - - -My cousin Vernon ! welcome , by my soul . - -Pray God my news be worth a welcome , lord . -The Earl of Westmoreland , seven thousand strong , -Is marching hitherwards ; with him Prince John . - -No harm : what more ? - -And further , I have learn'd , -The king himself in person is set forth , -Or hitherwards intended speedily , -With strong and mighty preparation . - -He shall be welcome too . Where is his son , -The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales , -And his comrades , that daff'd the world aside , -And bid it pass ? - -All furnish'd , all in arms , -All plum'd like estridges that wing the wind , -Baited like eagles having lately bath'd , -Glittering in golden coats , like images , -As full of spirit as the month of May , -And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer , -Wanton as youthful goats , wild as young bulls . -I saw young Harry , with his beaver on , -His cushes on his thighs , gallantly arm'd , -Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury , -And vaulted with such ease into his seat , -As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds , -To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus -And witch the world with noble horsemanship . - -No more , no more : worse than the sun in March -This praise doth nourish agues . Let them come ; -They come like sacrifices in their trim , -And to the fire-ey'd maid of smoky war -All hot and bleeding will we offer them : -The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit -Up to the ears in blood . I am on fire -To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh -And yet not ours . Come , let me taste my horse , -Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt -Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales : -Harry to Harry shall , hot horse to horse , -Meet and ne'er part till one drop down a corse . -O ! that Glendower were come . - -There is more news : -I learn'd in Worcester , as I rode along , -He cannot draw his power these fourteen days . - -That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet . - -Ay , by my faith , that bears a frosty sound . - -What may the king's whole battle reach unto ? - -To thirty thousand . - -Forty let it be : -My father and Glendower being both away , -The powers of us may serve so great a day . -Come , let us take a muster speedily : -Doomsday is near ; die all , die merrily . - -Talk not of dying : I am out of fear -Of death or death's hand for this one half year . - - -Bardolph , get thee before to Coventry ; fill me a bottle of sack : our soldiers shall march through : we'll to Sutton-Co'fil' to-night . - -Will you give me money , captain ? - -Lay out , lay out . - -This bottle makes an angel . - -An if it do , take it for thy labour ; and if it make twenty , take them all , I'll answer the coinage . Bid my Lieutenant Peto meet me at the town's end . - -I will , captain : farewell . - - -If I be not ashamed of my soldiers , I am a soused gurnet . I have misused the king's press damnably . I have got , in exchange of a hundred and fifty soldiers , three hundred and odd pounds . I press me none but good householders , yeomen's sons ; inquire me out contracted bachelors , such as had been asked twice on the banns ; such a commodity of warm slaves , as had as lief hear the devil as a drum ; such as fear the report of a caliver worse than a struck fowl or a hurt wild-duck . I pressed me none but such toasts-and-butter , with hearts in their bellies no bigger than pins' heads , and they have bought out their services ; and now my whole charge consists of ancients , corporals , lieutenants , gentlemen of companies , slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth , where the glutton's dogs licked his sores ; and such as indeed were never soldiers , but discarded unjust serving-men , younger sons to younger brothers , revolted tapsters and ostlers trade-fallen , the cankers of a calm world and a long peace ; ten times more dishonourable ragged than an old faced ancient : and such have I , to fill up the rooms of them that have bought out their services , that you would think that I had a hundred and fifty tattered prodigals , lately come from swine-keeping , from eating draff and husks . A mad fellow met me on the way and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the dead bodies . No eye hath seen such scarecrows . I'll not march through Coventry with them , that's flat : nay , and the villains march wide betwixt the legs , as if they had gyves on ; for , indeed I had the most of them out of prison . There's but a shirt and a half in all my company ; and the half shirt is two napkins tacked together and thrown over the shoulders like a herald's coat without sleeves ; and the shirt , to say the truth , stolen from my host at Saint Alban's , or the red-nose inn-keeper of Daventry . But that's all one ; they'll find linen enough on every hedge . - - -How now , blown Jack ! how now , quilt ! - -What , Hal ! How now , mad wag ! what a devil dost thou in Warwickshire ? My good Lord of Westmoreland , I cry you mercy : I thought your honour had already been at Shrewsbury . - -Faith , Sir John , 'tis more than time that I were there , and you too ; but my powers are there already . The king , I can tell you , looks for us all : we must away all night . - -Tut , never fear me : I am as vigilant as a cat to steal cream . - -I think to steal cream indeed , for thy theft hath already made thee butter . But tell me , Jack , whose fellows are these that come after ? - -Mine , Hal , mine . - -I did never see such pitiful rascals . - -Tut , tut ; good enough to toss ; food for powder , food for powder ; they'll fill a pit as well as better : tush , man , mortal men , mortal men . - -Ay , but , Sir John , methinks they are exceeding poor and bare ; too beggarly . - -Faith , for their poverty , I know not where they had that ; and for their bareness , I am sure they never learned that of me . - -No , I'll be sworn ; unless you call three fingers on the ribs bare . But sirrah , make haste : Percy is already in the field . - -What , is the king encamped ? - -He is , Sir John : I fear we shall stay too long . - -Well , -To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast -Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest . - - -We'll fight with him to-night . - -It may not be . - -You give him then advantage . - -Not a whit . - -Why say you so ? looks he not for supply ? - -So do we . - -His is certain , ours is doubtful . - -Good cousin , be advis'd : stir not to-night . - -Do not , my lord . - -You do not counsel well : -You speak it out of fear and cold heart . - -Do me no slander , Douglas : by my life , -And I dare well maintain it with my life , -If well-respected honour bid me on , -I hold as little counsel with weak fear -As you , my lord , or any Scot that this day lives : -Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle -Which of us fears . - -Yea , or to-night . - -Content . - -To-night , say I . - -Come , come , it may not be . I wonder much , -Being men of such great leading as you are , -That you foresee not what impediments -Drag back our expedition : certain horse -Of my cousin Vernon's are not yet come up : -Your uncle Worcester's horse came but to-day ; -And now their pride and mettle is asleep , -Their courage with hard labour tame and dull , -That not a horse is half the half of himself . - -So are the horses of the enemy -In general , journey-bated and brought low : -The better part of ours are full of rest . - -The number of the king exceedeth ours : -For God's sake , cousin , stay till all come in . - -I come with gracious offers from the king , -If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect . - -Welcome , Sir Walter Blunt ; and would to God -You were of our determination ! -Some of us love you well ; and even those some -Envy your great deservings and good name , -Because you are not of our quality , -But stand against us like an enemy . - -And God defend but still I should stand so , -So long as out of limit and true rule -You stand against anointed majesty . -But , to my charge . The king hath sent to know -The nature of your griefs , and whereupon -You conjure from the breast of civil peace -Such bold hostility , teaching his duteous land -Audacious cruelty . If that the king -Have any way your good deserts forgot , -Which he confesseth to be manifold , -He bids you name your griefs ; and with all speed -You shall have your desires with interest , -And pardon absolute for yourself and these -Herein misled by your suggestion . - -The king is kind ; and well we know the king -Knows at what time to promise , when to pay . -My father and my uncle and myself -Did give him that same royalty he wears ; -And when he was not six-and-twenty strong , -Sick in the world's regard , wretched and low , -A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home , -My father gave him welcome to the shore ; -And when he heard him swear and vow to God -He came but to be Duke of Lancaster , -To sue his livery and beg his peace , -With tears of innocency and terms of zeal , -My father , in kind heart and pity mov'd , -Swore him assistance and perform'd it too . -Now when the lords and barons of the realm -Perceiv'd Northumberland did lean to him , -The more and less came in with cap and knee ; -Met him in boroughs , cities , villages , -Attended him on bridges , stood in lanes , -Laid gifts before him , proffer'd him their oaths , -Gave him their heirs as pages , follow'd him -Even at the heels in golden multitudes . -He presently , as greatness knows itself , -Steps me a little higher than his vow -Made to my father , while his blood was poor , -Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurgh ; -And now , forsooth , takes on him to reform -Some certain edicts and some strait decrees -That lie too heavy on the commonwealth , -Cries out upon abuses , seems to weep -Over his country's wrongs ; and by this face , -This seeming brow of justice , did he win -The hearts of all that he did angle for ; -Proceeded further ; cut me off the heads -Of all the favourites that the absent king -In deputation left behind him here , -When he was personal in the Irish war . - -Tut , I came not to hear this . - -Then to the point . -In short time after , he depos'd the king ; -Soon after that , depriv'd him of his life ; -And , in the neck of that , task'd the whole state ; -To make that worse , suffer'd his kinsman March -Who is , if every owner were well plac'd , -Indeed his king to be engag'd in Wales , -There without ransom to lie forfeited ; -Disgrac'd me in my happy victories ; -Sought to entrap me by intelligence ; -Rated my uncle from the council-board ; -In rage dismiss'd my father from the court ; -Broke oath on oath , committed wrong on wrong ; -And in conclusion drove us to seek out -This head of safety ; and withal to pry -Into his title , the which we find -Too indirect for long continuance . - -Shall I return this answer to the king ? - -Not so , Sir Walter : we'll withdraw awhile . -Go to the king ; and let there be impawn'd -Some surety for a safe return again , -And in the morning early shall my uncle -Bring him our purposes ; and so farewell . - -I would you would accept of grace and love . - -And may be so we shall . - -Pray God , you do ! - - -Hie , good Sir Michael ; bear this sealed brief -With winged haste to the lord marshal ; -This to my cousin Scroop , and all the rest -To whom they are directed . If you knew -How much they do import , you would make haste . - -My good lord , -I guess their tenour . - -Like enough you do . -To-morrow , good Sir Michael , is a day -Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men -Must bide the touch ; for , sir , at Shrewsbury , -As I am truly given to understand , -The king with mighty and quick-raised power -Meets with Lord Harry : and , I fear , Sir Michael , -What with the sickness of Northumberland , -Whose power was in the first proportion , -And what with Owen Glendower's absence thence , -Who with them was a rated sinew too , -And comes not in , o'er-rul'd by prophecies , -I fear the power of Percy is too weak -To wage an instant trial with the king . - -Why , my good lord , you need not fear : -There is the Douglas and Lord Mortimer . - -No , Mortimer is not there . - -But there is Mordake , Vernon , Lord Harry Percy , -And there's my Lord of Worcester , and a head -Of gallant warriors , noble gentlemen . - -And so there is ; but yet the king hath drawn -The special head of all the land together : -The Prince of Wales , Lord John of Lancaster , -The noble Westmoreland , and war-like Blunt ; -And many moe corrivals and dear men -Of estimation and command in arms . - -Doubt not , my lord , they shall be well oppos'd . - -I hope no less , yet needful 'tis to fear ; -And , to prevent the worse , Sir Michael , speed : -For if Lord Percy thrive not , ere the king -Dismiss his power , he means to visit us , -For he hath heard of our confederacy , -And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him : -Therefore make haste . I must go write again -To other friends ; and so farewell , Sir Michael . - -How bloodily the sun begins to peer -Above yon busky hill ! the day looks pale -At his distemperature . - -The southern wind -Doth play the trumpet to his purposes , -And by his hollow whistling in the leaves -Foretells a tempest and a blustering day . - -Then with the losers let it sympathize , -For nothing can seem foul to those that win . - -How now , my Lord of Worcester ! 'tis not well -That you and I should meet upon such terms -As now we meet . You have deceiv'd our trust , -And made us doff our easy robes of peace , -To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel : -This is not well , my lord ; this is not well . -What say you to it ? will you again unknit -This churlish knot of all-abhorred war , -And move in that obedient orb again -Where you did give a fair and natural light , -And be no more an exhal'd meteor , -A prodigy of fear and a portent - -Of broached mischief to the unborn times ? - -Hear me , my liege . -For mine own part , I could be well content -To entertain the lag-end of my life -With quiet hours ; for I do protest -I have not sought the day of this dislike . - -You have not sought it ! how comes it then ? - -Rebellion lay in his way , and he found it . - -Peace , chewet , peace ! - -It pleas'd your majesty to turn your looks -Of favour from myself and all our house ; -And yet I must remember you , my lord , -We were the first and dearest of your friends . -For you my staff of office did I break -In Richard's time ; and posted day and night -To meet you on the way , and kiss your hand , -When yet you were in place and in account -Nothing so strong and fortunate as I . -It was myself , my brother , and his son , -That brought you home and boldly did outdare -The dangers of the time . You swore to us , -And you did swear that oath at Doncaster , -That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state , -Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right , -The seat of Gaunt , dukedom of Lancaster . -To this we swore our aid : but , in short space -It rain'd down fortune showering on your head , -And such a flood of greatness fell on you , -What with our help , what with the absent king , -What with the injuries of a wanton time , -The seeming sufferances that you had borne , -And the contrarious winds that held the king -So long in his unlucky Irish wars , -That all in England did repute him dead : -And from this swarm of fair advantages -You took occasion to be quickly woo'd -To gripe the general sway into your hand ; -Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster ; -And being fed by us you us'd us so -As that ungentle gull , the cuckoo's bird , -Useth the sparrow : did oppress our nest , -Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk -That even our love durst not come near your sight -For fear of swallowing ; but with nimble wing -We were enforc'd , for safety's sake , to fly -Out of your sight and raise this present head ; -Whereby we stand opposed by such means -As you yourself have forg'd against yourself -By unkind usage , dangerous countenance , -And violation of all faith and troth -Sworn to us in your younger enterprise . - -These things indeed , you have articulate , -Proclaim'd at market-crosses , read in churches , -To face the garment of rebellion -With some fine colour that may please the eye -Of fickle changelings and poor discontents , -Which gape and rub the elbow at the news -Of hurlyburly innovation : -And never yet did insurrection want -Such water-colours to impaint his cause ; -Nor moody beggars , starving for a time -Of pell-mell havoc and confusion . - -In both our armies there is many a soul -Shall pay full dearly for this encounter , -If once they join in trial . Tell your nephew , -The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world -In praise of Henry Percy : by my hopes , -This present enterprise set off his head , -I do not think a braver gentleman , -More active-valiant or more valiant-young , -More daring or more bold , is now alive -To grace this latter age with noble deeds . -For my part , I may speak it to my shame , -I have a truant been to chivalry ; -And so I hear he doth account me too ; -Yet this before my father's majesty -I am content that he shall take the odds -Of his great name and estimation , -And will , to save the blood on either side , -Try fortune with him in a single fight . - -And , Prince of Wales , so dare we venture thee , -Albeit considerations infinite -Do make against it . No , good Worcester , no , -We love our people well ; even those we love -That are misled upon your cousin's part ; -And , will they take the offer of our grace , -Both he and they and you , yea , every man -Shall be my friend again , and I'll be his . -So tell your cousin , and bring me word -What he will do ; but if he will not yield , -Rebuke and dread correction wait on us , -And they shall do their office . So , be gone : -We will not now be troubled with reply ; -We offer fair , take it advisedly . - - -It will not be accepted , on my life . -The Douglas and the Hotspur both together -Are confident against the world in arms . - -Hence , therefore , every leader to his charge ; -For , on their answer , will we set on them ; -And God befriend us , as our cause is just ! - - -Hal , if thou see me down in the battle , and bestride me , so ; 'tis a point of friendship . - -Nothing but a colossus can do thee that friendship . Say thy prayers , and farewell . - -I would it were bed-time , Hal , and all well . - -Why , thou owest God a death . - - -'Tis not due yet : I would be loath to pay him before his day . What need I be so forward with him that calls not on me ? Well , 'tis no matter ; honour pricks me on . Yea , but how if honour prick me off when I come on ? how then ? Can honour set to a leg ? No . Or an arm ? No . Or take away the grief of a wound ? No . Honour hath no skill in surgery then ? No . What is honour ? a word . What is that word , honour ? Air . A trim reckoning ! Who hath it ? he that died o' Wednesday . Doth he feel it ? No . Doth he hear it ? No . It is insensible then ? Yea , to the dead . But will it not live with the living ? No . Why ? Detraction will not suffer it . Therefore I'll none of it : honour is a mere scutcheon ; and so ends my catechism . - - -O , no ! my nephew must not know , Sir Richard , -The liberal kind offer of the king . - -'Twere best he did . - -Then are we all undone . -It is not possible , it cannot be , -The king should keep his word in loving us ; -He will suspect us still , and find a time -To punish this offence in other faults : -Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes ; -For treason is but trusted like the fox , -Who , ne'er so tame , so cherish'd , and lock'd up , -Will have a wild trick of his ancestors . -Look how we can , or sad or merrily , -Interpretation will misquote our looks , -And we shall feed like oxen at a stall , -The better cherish'd , still the nearer death . -My nephew's trespass may be well forgot , -It hath the excuse of youth and heat of blood ; -And an adopted name of privilege , -A hare-brain'd Hotspur , govern'd by a spleen . -All his offences live upon my head -And on his father's : we did train him on ; -And , his corruption being ta'en from us , -We , as the spring of all , shall pay for all . -Therefore , good cousin , let not Harry know -In any case the offer of the king . - -Deliver what you will , I'll say 'tis so . -Here comes your cousin . - - -My uncle is return'd : deliver up -My Lord of Westmoreland . Uncle , what news ? - -The king will bid you battle presently . - -Defy him by the Lord of Westmoreland . - -Lord Douglas , go you and tell him so . - -Marry , and shall , and very willingly . - - -There is no seeming mercy in the king . - -Did you beg any ? God forbid ! - -I told him gently of our grievances , -Of his oath-breaking ; which he mended thus , -By now forswearing that he is forsworn : -He calls us rebels , traitors ; and will scourge -With haughty arms this hateful name in us . - - -Arm , gentlemen ! to arms ! for I have thrown -A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth , -And Westmoreland , that was engag'd , did bear it ; -Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on . - -The Prince of Wales stepp'd forth before the king , -And , nephew , challeng'd you to single fight . - -O ! would the quarrel lay upon our heads , -And that no man might draw short breath to-day -But I and Harry Monmouth . Tell me , tell me , -How show'd his tasking ? seem'd it in contempt ? - -No , by my soul ; I never in my life -Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly , -Unless a brother should a brother dare -To gentle exercise and proof of arms . -He gave you all the duties of a man , -Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue , -Spoke your deservings like a chronicle , -Making you ever better than his praise , -By still dispraising praise valu'd with you ; -And , which became him like a prince indeed , -He made a blushing cital of himself , -And chid his truant youth with such a grace -As if he master'd there a double spirit -Of teaching and of learning instantly . -There did he pause . But let me tell the world , -If he outlive the envy of this day , -England did never owe so sweet a hope , -So much misconstru'd in his wantonness . - -Cousin , I think thou art enamoured -On his follies : never did I hear -Of any prince so wild a libertine . -But be he as he will , yet once ere night -I will embrace him with a soldier's arm , -That he shall shrink under my courtesy . -Arm , arm , with speed ! And , fellows , soldiers , friends , -Better consider what you have to do , -Than I , that have not well the gift of tongue , -Can lift your blood up with persuasion . - - -My lord , here are letters for you . - -I cannot read them now . -O gentlemen ! the time of life is short ; -To spend that shortness basely were too long , -If life did ride upon a dial's point , -Still ending at the arrival of an hour . -An if we live , we live to tread on kings ; -If die , brave death , when princes die with us ! -Now , for our consciences , the arms are fair , -When the intent of bearing them is just . - - -My lord , prepare ; the king comes on apace . - -I thank him that he cuts me from my tale , -For I profess not talking . Only this , -Let each man do his best : and here draw I -A sword , whose temper I intend to stain -With the best blood that I can meet withal -In the adventure of this perilous day . -Now , Esperance ! Percy ! and set on . -Sound all the lofty instruments of war , -And by that music let us all embrace ; -For , heaven to earth , some of us never shall -A second time do such a courtesy . - -What is thy name , that in the battle thus -Thou crossest me ? what honour dost thou seek -Upon my head ? - -Know then , my name is Douglas ; -And I do haunt thee in the battle thus -Because some tell me that thou art a king . - -They tell thee true . - -The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath bought -Thy likeness ; for , instead of thee , King Harry , -This sword hath ended him : so shall it thee , -Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner . - -I was not born a yielder , thou proud Scot ; -And thou shalt find a king that will revenge -Lord Stafford's death . - -O , Douglas ! hadst thou fought at Holmedon thus , -I never had triumph'd upon a Scot . - -All's done , all's won : here breathless lies the king . - -Where ? - -Here . - -This , Douglas ! no ; I know this face full well ; -A gallant knight he was , his name was Blunt ; -Semblably furnish'd like the king himself . - -A fool go with thy soul , whither it goes ! -A borrow'd title hast thou bought too dear : -Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king ? - -The king hath many marching in his coats . - -Now , by my sword , I will kill all his coats ; -I'll murder all his wardrobe , piece by piece , -Until I meet the king . - -Up , and away ! -Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day . - -Though I could 'scape shot-free at London , I fear the shot here ; here's no scoring but upon the pate . Soft ! who art thou ? Sir Walter Blunt : there's honour for you ! here's no vanity ! I am as hot as molten lead , and as heavy too : God keep lead out of me ! I need no more weight than mine own bowels . I have led my ragamuffins where they are peppered : there's not three of my hundred and fifty left alive , and they are for the town's end , to beg during life . But who comes here ? - - -What ! stand'st thou idle here ? lend me thy sword : -Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff -Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies , -Whose deaths are unreveng'd : prithee , lend me thy sword . - -O Hal ! I prithee , give me leave to breathe awhile . Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms as I have done this day . I have paid Percy , I have made him sure . - -He is , indeed ; and living to kill thee . -I prithee , lend me thy sword . - -Nay , before God , Hal , if Percy be alive , thou gett'st not my sword ; but take my pistol , if thou wilt . - -Give it me . What ! is it in the case ? - -Ay , Hal ; 'tis hot , 'tis hot : there's that will sack a city . - - -What ! is't a time to jest and dally now ? - - -Well , if Percy be alive , I'll pierce him . If he do come in my way , so : if he do not , if I come in his , willingly , let him make a carbonado of me . I like not such grinning honour as Sir Walter hath : give me life ; which if I can save , so ; if not , honour comes unlooked for , and there's an end . - - -I prithee , -Harry , withdraw thyself ; thou bleed'st too much . -Lord John of Lancaster , go you with him . - -Not I , my lord , unless I did bleed too . - -I beseech your majesty , make up , -Lest your retirement do amaze your friends . - -I will do so . -My Lord of Westmoreland , lead him to his tent . - -Come , my lord , I'll lead you to your tent . - -Lead me , my lord ? I do not need your help : -And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive -The Prince of Wales from such a field as this , -Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on , -And rebels' arms triumph in massacres ! - -We breathe too long : come , cousin Westmoreland , -Our duty this way lies : for God's sake , come . - - -By God , thou hast deceiv'd me , Lancaster ; -I did not think thee lord of such a spirit : -Before , I lov'd thee as a brother , John ; -But now , I do respect thee as my soul . - -I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point -With lustier maintenance than I did look for -Of such an ungrown warrior . - -O ! this boy -Lends mettle to us all . - -Another king ! they grow like Hydra's heads : -I am the Douglas , fatal to all those -That wear those colours on them : what art thou , -That counterfeit'st the person of a king ? - -The king himself ; who , Douglas , grieves at heart -So many of his shadows thou hast met -And not the very king . I have two boys -Seek Percy and thyself about the field : -But , seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily , -I will assay thee ; so defend thyself . - -I fear thou art another counterfeit ; -And yet , in faith , thou bear'st thee like a king : -But mine I am sure thou art , whoe'er thou be , -And thus I win thee . - - -Hold up thy head , vile Scot , or thou art like -Never to hold it up again ! the spirits -Of valiant Shirley , Stafford , Blunt , are in my arms : -It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee , -Who never promiseth but he means to pay . - -Cheerly , my lord : how fares your Grace ? -Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent , -And so hath Clifton : I'll to Clifton straight . - -Stay , and breathe awhile . -Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion , -And show'd thou mak'st some tender of my life , -In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me . - -O God ! they did me too much injury -That ever said I hearken'd for your death . -If it were so , I might have let alone -The insulting hand of Douglas over you ; -Which would have been as speedy in your end -As all the poisonous potions in the world , -And sav'd the treacherous labour of your son . - -Make up to Clifton : I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey . - -If I mistake not , thou art Harry Monmouth . - -Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name . - -My name is Harry Percy . - -Why , then , I see -A very valiant rebel of that name . -I am the Prince of Wales ; and think not , Percy , -To share with me in glory any more : -Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere ; -Nor can one England brook a double reign , -Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales . - -Nor shall it , Harry ; for the hour is come -To end the one of us ; and would to God -Thy name in arms were now as great as mine ! - -I'll make it greater ere I part from thee ; -And all the budding honours on thy crest -I'll crop , to make a garland for my head . - -I can no longer brook thy vanities . - -Well said , Hal ! to it , Hal ! Nay , you shall find no boy's play here , I can tell you . - -O , Harry ! thou hast robb'd me of my youth . -I better brook the loss of brittle life -Than those proud titles thou hast won of me ; -They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh : -But thought's the slave of life , and life time's fool ; -And time , that takes survey of all the world , -Must have a stop . O ! I could prophesy , -But that the earthy and cold hand of death -Lies on my tongue . No , Percy , thou art dust , -And food for - - -For worms , brave Percy . Fare thee well , great heart ! -Ill-weav'd ambition , how much art thou shrunk ! -When that this body did contain a spirit , -A kingdom for it was too small a bound ; -But now , two paces of the vilest earth -Is room enough : this earth , that bears thee dead , -Bears not alive so stout a gentleman . -If thou wert sensible of courtesy , -I should not make so dear a show of zeal : -But let my favours hide thy mangled face , -And , even in thy behalf , I'll thank myself -For doing these fair rites of tenderness . -Adieu , and take thy praise with thee to heaven ! -Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave , -But not remember'd in thy epitaph ! - -What ! old acquaintance ! could not all this flesh -Keep in a little life ? Poor Jack , farewell ! -I could have better spar'd a better man . -O ! I should have a heavy miss of thee -If I were much in love with vanity . -Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day , -Though many dearer , in this bloody fray . -Embowell'd will I see thee by and by : -Till then in blood by noble Percy lie . - - -Embowelled ! if thou embowel me to-day , I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too , to-morrow . 'Sblood ! 'twas time to counterfeit , or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too . Counterfeit ? I lie , I am no counterfeit : to die , is to be a counterfeit ; for he is but the counterfeit of a man , who hath not the life of a man ; but to counterfeit dying , when a man thereby liveth , is to be no counterfeit , but the true and perfect image of life indeed . The better part of valour is discretion ; in the which better part , I have saved my life . 'Zounds ! I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy though he be dead : how , if he should counterfeit too and rise ? By my faith I am afraid he would prove the better counterfeit . Therefore I'll make him sure ; yea , and I'll swear I killed him . Why may not he rise as well as I ? Nothing confutes me but eyes , and nobody sees me : therefore , sirrah [stabbing him] , with a new wound in your thigh come you along with me . - -Come , brother John ; full bravely hast thou flesh'd -Thy maiden sword . - -But , soft ! whom have we here ? -Did you not tell me this fat man was dead ? - -I did ; I saw him dead , -Breathless and bleeding on the ground . -Art thou alive ? or is it fantasy -That plays upon our eyesight ? I prithee , speak ; -We will not trust our eyes without our ears : -Thou art not what thou seem'st . - -No , that's certain ; I am not a double man : but if I be not Jack Falstaff , then am I a Jack . There is Percy - -: if your father will do me any honour , so ; if not , let him kill the next Percy himself . I look to be either earl or duke , I can assure you . - -Why , Percy I killed myself , and saw thee dead . - -Didst thou ? Lord , Lord ! how this world is given to lying . I grant you I was down and out of breath , and so was he ; but we rose both at an instant , and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock . If I may be believed , so ; if not , let them that should reward valour bear the sin upon their own heads . I'll take it upon my death , I gave him this wound in the thigh : if the man were alive and would deny it , 'zounds , I would make him eat a piece of my sword . - -This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard . - -This is the strangest fellow , brother John . -Come , bring your luggage nobly on your back : -For my part , if a lie may do thee grace , -I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have . - -The trumpet sounds retreat ; the day is ours . -Come , brother , let us to the highest of the field , -To see what friends are living , who are dead . - - -I'll follow , as they say , for reward . He that rewards me , God reward him ! If I do grow great , I'll grow less ; for I'll purge , and leave sack , and live cleanly , as a nobleman should do . - -Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke . -Ill-spirited Worcester ! did we not send grace , -Pardon , and terms of love to all of you ? -And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary ? -Misuse the tenour of thy kinsman's trust ? -Three knights upon our party slain to-day , -A noble earl and many a creature else -Had been alive this hour , -If like a Christian , thou hadst truly borne -Betwixt our armies true intelligence . - -What I have done my safety urg'd me to ; -And I embrace this fortune patiently , -Since not to be avoided it falls on me . - -Bear Worcester to the death and Vernon too : -Other offenders we will pause upon . - -How goes the field ? - -The noble Scot , Lord Douglas , when he saw -The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him , -The noble Percy slain , and all his men -Upon the foot of fear , fled with the rest ; -And falling from a hill he was so bruis'd -That the pursuers took him . At my tent -The Douglas is , and I beseech your Grace -I may dispose of him . - -With all my heart . - -Then , brother John of Lancaster , to you -This honourable bounty shall belong . -Go to the Douglas , and deliver him -Up to his pleasure , ransomless , and free : -His valour shown upon our crests to-day -Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds , -Even in the bosom of our adversaries . - -I thank your Grace for this high courtesy , -Which I shall give away immediately . - -Then this remains , that we divide our power . -You , son John , and my cousin Westmoreland -Towards York shall bend you , with your dearest speed , -To meet Northumberland and the prelate Scroop , -Who , as we hear , are busily in arms : -Myself and you , son Harry , will towards Wales , -To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March . -Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway , -Meeting the check of such another day : -And since this business so fair is done , -Let us not leave till all our own be won . - -THE FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI - -Fiends appearing to La Pucelle . - - -Hung be the heavens with black , yield day to night ! -Comets , importing change of times and states , -Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky , -And with them scourge the bad revolting stars , -That have consented unto Henry's death ! -King Henry the Fifth , too famous to live long ! -England ne'er lost a king of so much worth . - -England ne'er had a king until his time . -Virtue he had , deserving to command : -His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams ; -His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings ; -His sparkling eyes , replete with wrathful fire , -More dazzled and drove back his enemies -Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces . -What should I say ? his deeds exceed all speech : -He ne'er lift up his hand but conquered . - -We mourn in black : why mourn we not in blood ? -Henry is dead and never shall revive . -Upon a wooden coffin we attend , -And death's dishonourable victory -We with our stately presence glorify , -Like captives bound to a triumphant car . -What ! shall we curse the planets of mishap -That plotted thus our glory's overthrow ? -Or shall we think the subtle-witted French -Conjurers and sorcerers , that , afraid of him , -By magic verses have contriv'd his end ? - -He was a king bless'd of the King of kings . -Unto the French the dreadful judgment-day -So dreadful will not be as was his sight . -The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought : -The church's prayers made him so prosperous . - -The church ! where is it ? Had not churchmen pray'd -His thread of life had not so soon decay'd : -None do you like but an effeminate prince , -Whom like a school-boy you may over-awe . - -Gloucester , whate'er we like thou art protector , -And lookest to command the prince and realm . -Thy wife is proud ; she holdeth thee in awe , -More than God or religious churchmen may . - -Name not religion , for thou lov'st the flesh , -And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st , -Except it be to pray against thy foes . - -Cease , cease these jars and rest your minds in peace ! -Let's to the altar : heralds , wait on us : -Instead of gold we'll offer up our arms , -Since arms avail not , now that Henry's dead . -Posterity , await for wretched years , -When at their mothers' moist eyes babes shall suck , -Our isle be made a marish of salt tears , -And none but women left to wail the dead . -Henry the Fifth ! thy ghost I invocate : -Prosper this realm , keep it from civil broils ! -Combat with adverse planets in the heavens ! -A far more glorious star thy soul will make , -Than Julius C sar , or bright - - -My honourable lords , health to you all ! -Sad tidings bring I to you out of France , -Of loss , of slaughter , and discomfiture : -Guienne , Champaigne , Rheims , Orleans , -Paris , Guysors , Poictiers , are all quite lost . - -What sayst thou , man , before dead Henry's corse ? -Speak softly ; or the loss of those great towns -Will make him burst his lead and rise from death . - -Is Paris lost ? is Roan yielded up ? -If Henry were recall'd to life again -These news would cause him once more yield the ghost . - -How were they lost ? what treachery was us'd ? - -No treachery ; but want of men and money . -Among the soldiers this is muttered , -That here you maintain several factions ; -And , whilst a field should be dispatch'd and fought , -You are disputing of your generals . -One would have lingering wars with little cost ; -Another would fly swift , but wanteth wings ; -A third thinks , without expense at all , -By guileful fair words peace may be obtain'd . -Awake , awake , English nobility ! -Let not sloth dim your honours new-begot : -Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms ; -Of England's coat one half is cut away . - -Were our tears wanting to this funeral -These tidings would call forth their flowing tides . - -Me they concern ; Regent I am of France . -Give me my steeled coat : I'll fight for France . -Away with these disgraceful wailing robes ! -Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes , -To weep their intermissive miseries . - - -Lords , view these letters , full of bad mischance . -France is revolted from the English quite , -Except some petty towns of no import : -The Dauphin Charles is crowned king in Rheims ; -The Bastard of Orleans with him is join'd ; -Reignier , Duke of Anjou , doth take his part ; -The Duke of Alen on flieth to his side . - -The Dauphin crowned king ! all fly to him ! -O ! whither shall we fly from this reproach ? - -We will not fly , but to our enemies' throats . -Bedford , if thou be slack , I'll fight it out . - -Gloucester , why doubt'st thou of my forwardness ? -An army have I muster'd in my thoughts , -Wherewith already France is overrun . - - -My gracious lords , to add to your laments , -Wherewith you now bedew King Henry's hearse , -I must inform you of a dismal fight -Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French . - -What ! wherein Talbot overcame ? is't so ? - -O , no ! wherein Lord Talbot was o'erthrown : -The circumstance I'll tell you more at large . -The tenth of August last this dreadful lord , -Retiring from the siege of Orleans , -Having full scarce six thousand in his troop , -By three-and-twenty thousand of the French -Was round encompassed and set upon . -No leisure had he to enrank his men ; -He wanted pikes to set before his archers ; -Instead whereof sharp stakes pluck'd out of hedges -They pitched in the ground confusedly , -To keep the horsemen off from breaking in . -More than three hours the fight continued ; -Where valiant Talbot above human thought -Enacted wonders with his sword and lance . -Hundreds he sent to hell , and none durst stand him ; -Here , there , and every where , enrag'd he flew : -The French exclaim'd the devil was in arms ; -All the whole army stood agaz'd on him . -His soldiers , spying his undaunted spirit , -A Talbot ! A Talbot ! cried out amain , -And rush'd into the bowels of the battle . -Here had the conquest fully been seal'd up , -If Sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward . -He , being in the vaward ,plac'd behind , -With purpose to relieve and follow them , -Cowardly fled , not having struck one stroke . -Hence grew the general wrack and massacre ; -Enclosed were they with their enemies . -A base Walloon , to win the Dauphin's grace , -Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back ; -Whom all France , with their chief assembled strength , -Durst not presume to look once in the face . - -Is Talbot slain ? then I will slay myself , -For living idly here in pomp and ease -Whilst such a worthy leader , wanting aid , -Unto his dastard foemen is betray'd . - -O no ! he lives ; but is took prisoner , -And Lord Scales with him , and Lord Hungerford : -Most of the rest slaughter'd or took likewise . - -His ransom there is none but I shall pay : -I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne ; -His crown shall be the ransom of my friend ; -Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours . -Farewell , my masters ; to my task will I ; -Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make , -To keep our great Saint George's feast withal : -Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take , -Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake . - -So you had need ; for Orleans is besieg'd ; -The English army is grown weak and faint ; -The Earl of Salisbury craveth supply , -And hardly keeps his men from mutiny , -Since they , so few , watch such a multitude . - -Remember , lords , your oaths to Henry sworn , -Either to quell the Dauphin utterly , -Or bring him in obedience to your yoke . - -I do remember it ; and here take my leave , -To go about my preparation . - - -I'll to the Tower with all the haste I can , -To view the artillery and munition ; -And then I will proclaim young Henry king . - - -To Eltham will I , where the young king is , -Being ordain'd his special governor ; -And for his safety there I'll best devise . - - -Each hath his place and function to attend : -I am left out ; for me nothing remains . -But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office . -The king from Eltham I intend to steal , -And sit at chiefest stern of public weal . - - -Mars his true moving , even as in the heavens -So in the earth , to this day is not known . -Late did he shine upon the English side ; -Now we are victors ; upon us he smiles . -What towns of any moment but we have ? -At pleasure here we lie near Orleans ; -Otherwhiles the famish'd English , like pale ghosts , -Faintly besiege us one hour in a month . - -They want their porridge and their fat bull-beeves : -Either they must be dieted like mules -And have their provender tied to their mouths , -Or piteous they will look , like drowned mice . - -Let's raise the siege : why live we idly here ? -Talbot is taken , whom we wont to fear : -Remaineth none but mad-brain'd Salisbury , -And he may well in fretting spend his gall ; -Nor men nor money hath he to make war . - -Sound , sound alarum ! we will rush on them . -Now for the honour of the forlorn French ! -Him I forgive my death that killeth me -When he sees me go back one foot or fly . - -Who ever saw the like ? what men have I ! -Dogs ! cowards ! dastards ! I would ne'er have fled -But that they left me 'midst my enemies . - -Salisbury is a desperate homicide ; -He fighteth as one weary of his life : -The other lords , like lions wanting food , -Do rush upon us as their hungry prey . - -Froissart , a countryman of ours , records , -England all Olivers and Rowlands bred -During the time Edward the Third did reign . -More truly now may this be verified ; -For none but Samsons and Goliases , -It sendeth forth to skirmish . One to ten ! -Lean raw-bon'd rascals ! who would e'er suppose -They had such courage and audacity ? - -Let's leave this town ; for they are hare-brain'd slaves , -And hunger will enforce them to be more eager : -Of old I know them ; rather with their teeth -The walls they'll tear down than forsake the siege . - -I think , by some odd gimmals or device , -Their arms are set like clocks , still to strike on ; -Else ne'er could they hold out so as they do . -By my consent , we'll e'en let them alone . - -Be it so . - - -Where's the prince Dauphin ? I have news for him . - -Bastard of Orleans , thrice welcome to us . - -Methinks your looks are sad , your cheer appall'd : -Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence ? -Be not dismay'd , for succour is at hand : -A holy maid hither with me I bring , -Which by a vision sent to her from heaven -Ordained is to raise this tedious siege , -And drive the English forth the bounds of France . -The spirit of deep prophecy she hath , -Exceeding the nine sibyls of old Rome ; -What's past and what's to come she can descry . -Speak , shall I call her in ? Believe my words , -For they are certain and unfallible . - -Go , call her in . - -But first , to try her skill , -Reignier , stand thou as Dauphin in my place : -Question her proudly ; let thy looks be stern : -By this means shall we sound what skill she hath . - -Fair maid , is't thou wilt do these wondrous feats ? - -Reignier , is't thou that thinkest to beguile me ? -Where is the Dauphin ? Come , come from behind ; -I know thee well , though never seen before . -Be not amaz'd , there's nothing hid from me : -In private will I talk with thee apart . -Stand back , you lords , and give us leave a while . - -She takes upon her bravely at first dash . - -Dauphin , I am by birth a shepherd's daughter , -My wit untrain'd in any kind of art . -Heaven and our Lady gracious hath it pleas'd -To shine on my contemptible estate : -Lo ! whilst I waited on my tender lambs , -And to sun's parching heat display'd my cheeks , -God's mother deigned to appear to me , -And in a vision full of majesty -Will'd me to leave my base vocation -And free my country from calamity : -Her aid she promis'd and assur'd success ; -In complete glory she reveal'd herself ; -And , whereas I was black and swart before , -With those clear rays which she infus'd on me , -That beauty am I bless'd with which you see . -Ask me what question thou canst possible -And I will answer unpremeditated : -My courage try by combat , if thou dar'st , -And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex . -Resolve on this , thou shalt be fortunate -If thou receive me for thy war-like mate . - -Thou hast astonish'd me with thy high terms . -Only this proof I'll of thy valour make , -In single combat thou shalt buckle with me , -And if thou vanquishest , thy words are true ; -Otherwise I renounce all confidence . - -I am prepar'd : here is my keen-edg'd sword , -Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each side ; -The which at Touraine , in Saint Katharine's churchyard , -Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth . - -Then come , o' God's name ; I fear no woman . - -And , while I live , I'll ne'er fly from a man . - - -Stay , stay thy hands ! thou art an Amazon , -And fightest with the sword of Deborah . - -Christ's mother helps me , else I were too weak . - -Whoe'er helps thee , 'tis thou that must help me : -Impatiently I burn with thy desire ; -My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu'd . -Excellent Pucelle , if thy name be so , -Let me thy servant and not sovereign be ; -'Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus . - -I must not yield to any rites of love , -For my profession's sacred from above : -When I have chased all thy foes from hence , -Then will I think upon a recompense . - -Meantime look gracious on thy prostrate thrall . - -My lord , methinks , is very long in talk . - -Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock ; -Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech . - -Shall we disturb him , since he keeps no mean ? - -He may mean more than we poor men do know : -These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues . - -My lord , where are you ? what devise you on ? -Shall we give over Orleans , or no ? - -Why , no , I say , distrustful recreants ! -Fight till the last gasp ; I will be your guard . - -What she says , I'll confirm : we'll fight it out . - -Assign'd am I to be the English scourge . -This night the siege assuredly I'll raise : -Expect Saint Martin's summer , halcyon days , -Since I have entered into these wars . -Glory is like a circle in the water , -Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself , -Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought . -With Henry's death the English circle ends ; -Dispersed are the glories it included . -Now am I like that proud insulting ship -Which C sar and his fortune bare at once . - -Was Mahomet inspired with a dove ? -Thou with an eagle art inspired then . -Helen , the mother of great Constantine , -Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters were like thee . -Bright star of Venus , fall'n down on the earth , -How may I reverently worship thee enough ? - -Leave off delays and let us raise the siege . - -Woman , do what thou canst to save our honours ; -Drive them from Orleans and be immortalis'd . - -Presently we'll try . Come , let's away about it : -No prophet will I trust if she prove false . - - -I am come to survey the Tower this day ; -Since Henry's death , I fear , there is conveyance . -Where be these warders that they wait not here ? -Open the gates ! 'Tis Gloucester that calls . - - -Who's there that knocks so imperiously ? - -It is the noble Duke of Gloucester . - -Whoe'er he be , you may not be let in . - -Villains , answer you so the Lord Protector ? - -The Lord protect him ! so we answer him : -We do not otherwise than we are will'd . - -Who willed you ? or whose will stands but mine ? -There's none protector of the realm but I . -Break up the gates , I'll be your warrantize : -Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms ? - -Lieutenant , is it you whose voice I hear ? -Open the gates ! here's Gloucester that would enter . - -Have patience , noble Duke ; I may not open ; -The Cardinal of Winchester forbids : -From him I have express commandment -That thou nor none of thine shall be let in . - -Faint-hearted Woodvile , prizest him 'fore me ? -Arrogant Winchester , that haughty prelate , -Whom Henry , our late sovereign , ne'er could brook ? -Thou art no friend to God or to the king : -Open the gates , or I'll shut thee out shortly . - -Open the gates unto the Lord Protector ; -Or we'll burst them open , if that you come not quickly . - - -How now , ambitious Humphrey ! what means this ? - -Peel'd priest , dost thou command me to be shut out ? - -I do , thou most usurping proditor , -And not protector , of the king or realm . - -Stand back , thou manifest conspirator , -Thou that contriv'dst to murder our dead lord ; -Thou that giv'st whores indulgences to sin : -I'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat , -If thou proceed in this thy insolence . - -Nay , stand thou back ; I will not budge a foot : -This be Damascus , be thou cursed Cam , -To slay thy brother Abel , if thou wilt . - -I will not slay thee , but I'll drive thee back : -Thy scarlet robes as a child's bearing-cloth -I'll use to carry thee out of this place . - -Do what thou dar'st ; I'll beard thee to thy face . - -What ! am I dar'd and bearded to my face ? -Draw , men , for all this privileged place ; -Blue coats to tawny-coats . Priest , beware your beard ; - -I mean to tug it and to cuff you soundly . -Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat , -In spite of pope or dignities of church , -Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down . - -Gloucester , thou'lt answer this before the pope . - -Winchester goose ! I cry a rope ! a rope ! -Now beat them hence ; why do you let them stay ? -Thee I'll chase hence , thou wolf in sheep's array . -Out , tawny coats ! out , scarlet hypocrite ! - -Fie , lords ! that you , being supreme magistrates , -Thus contumeliously should break the peace ! - -Peace , mayor ! thou know'st little of my wrongs : -Here's Beaufort , that regards nor God nor King , -Hath here distrain'd the Tower to his use . - -Here's Gloucester , a foe to citizens ; -One that still motions war and never peace , -O'ercharging your free purses with large fines , -That seeks to overthrow religion -Because he is protector of the realm , -And would have armour here out of the Tower , -To crown himself king and suppress the prince . - -I will not answer thee with words , but blows . - - -Nought rests for me , in this tumultuous strife -But to make open proclamation . -Come , officer : as loud as e'er thou canst ; -Cry . - -All manner of men , assembled here in arms this day , against God's peace and the king's , we charge and command you , in his highness' name , to repair to your several dwelling-places ; and not to wear , handle , or use , any sword , weapon , or dagger , henceforward , upon pain of death . - -Cardinal , I'll be no breaker of the law ; -But we shall meet and break our minds at large . - -Gloucester , we will meet ; to thy cost , be sure : -Thy heart-blood I will have for this day's work . - -I'll call for clubs if you will not away . -This cardinal's more haughty than the devil . - -Mayor , farewell : thou dost but what thou mayst . - -Abominable Gloucester ! guard thy head ; -For I intend to have it ere long . - - -See the coast clear'd , and then we will depart . -Good God ! these nobles should such stomachs bear ; -I myself fight not once in forty year . - - -Sirrah , thou know'st how Orleans is besieg'd , -And how the English have the suburbs won . - -Father , I know ; and oft have shot at them , -Howe'er unfortunate I miss'd my aim . - -But now thou shalt not . Be thou rul'd by me : -Chief master-gunner am I of this town ; -Something I must do to procure me grace . -The prince's espials have informed me -How the English , in the suburbs close entrench'd , -Wont through a secret gate of iron bars -In yonder tower to overpeer the city , -And thence discover how with most advantage -They may vex us with shot or with assault . -To intercept this inconvenience , -A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd ; -And fully even these three days have I watch'd -If I could see them . Now , boy , do thou watch , -For I can stay no longer . -If thou spy'st any , run and bring me word ; -And thou shalt find me at the Governor's . - - -Father , I warrant you ; take you no care ; -I'll never trouble you if I may spy them . - - -Talbot , my life , my joy ! again return'd ! -How wert thou handled being prisoner ? -Or by what means got'st thou to be releas'd , -Discourse , I prithee , on this turret's top . - -The Duke of Bedford had a prisoner -Called the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles ; -For him I was exchang'd and ransomed . -But with a baser man at arms by far -Once in contempt they would have barter'd me : -Which I disdaining scorn'd , and craved death -Rather than I would be so vile-esteem'd . -In fine , redeem'd I was as I desir'd . -But , O ! the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart : -Whom with my bare fists I would execute -If I now had him brought into my power . - -Yet tell'st thou not how thou wert entertain'd . - -With scoffs and scorns and contumelious taunts . -In open market-place produc'd they me , -To be a public spectacle to all : -Here , said they , is the terror of the French , -The scarecrow that affrights our children so . -Then broke I from the officers that led me , -And with my nails digg'd stones out of the ground -To hurl at the beholders of my shame . -My grisly countenance made others fly . -None durst come near for fear of sudden death . -In iron walls they deem'd me not secure ; -So great fear of my name 'mongst them was spread -That they suppos'd I could rend bars of steel -And spurn in pieces posts of adamant : -Wherefore a guard of chosen shot I had , -That walk'd about me every minute-while ; -And if I did but stir out of my bed -Ready they were to shoot me to the heart . - - -I grieve to hear what torments you endur'd ; -But we will be reveng'd sufficiently . -Now it is supper-time in Orleans : -Here , through this grate , I count each one , -And view the Frenchmen how they fortify : -Let us look in ; the sight will much delight thee . -Sir Thomas Gargrave , and Sir William Glansdale , -Let me have your express opinions -Where is best place to make our battery next . - -I think at the North gate ; for there stand lords . - -And I , here , at the bulwark of the bridge . - -For aught I see , this city must be famish'd , -Or with light skirmishes enfeebled . - - -O Lord ! have mercy on us , wretched sinners . - -O Lord ! have mercy on me , woeful man . - -What chance is this that suddenly hath cross'd us ? -Speak , Salisbury ; at least , if thou canst speak : -How far'st thou , mirror of all martial men ? -One of thy eyes and thy cheek's side struck off ! -Accursed tower ! accursed fatal hand -That hath contriv'd this woeful tragedy ! -In thirteen battles Salisbury o'ercame ; -Henry the Fifth he first train'd to the wars ; -Whilst any trump did sound or drum struck up , -His sword did ne'er leave striking in the field . -Yet liv'st thou , Salisbury ? though thy speech doth fail , -One eye thou hast to look to heaven for grace : -The sun with one eye vieweth all the world . -Heaven , be thou gracious to none alive , -If Salisbury wants mercy at thy hands ! -Bear hence his body ; I will help to bury it . -Sir Thomas Gargrave , hast thou any life ? -Speak unto Talbot ; nay , look up to him . -Salisbury , cheer thy spirit with this comfort ; -Thou shalt not die , whiles -He beckons with his hand and smiles on me , -As who should say , 'When I am dead and gone , -Remember to avenge me on the French .' -Plantagenet , I will ; and like thee , Nero , -Play on the lute , beholding the towns burn : -Wretched shall France be only in my name . - -What stir is this ? What tumult's in the heavens ? -Whence cometh this alarum and the noise ? - - -My lord , my lord ! the French have gather'd head : -The Dauphin , with one Joan la Pucelle join'd , -A holy prophetess new risen up -Is come with a great power to raise the siege . - - -Hear , hear how dying Salisbury doth groan ! -It irks his heart he cannot be reveng'd . -Frenchmen , I'll be a Salisbury to you : -Pucelle or puzzel , dolphin or dogfish , -Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horse's heels -And make a quagmire of your mingled brains . -Convey me Salisbury into his tent , -And then we'll try what these dastard Frenchmen dare . - - -Where is my strength , my valour , and my force ? -Our English troops retire , I cannot stay them ; -A woman clad in armour chaseth them . - - -Here , here she comes . I'll have a bout with thee : -Devil , or devil's dam , I'll conjure thee : -Blood will I draw on thee , thou art a witch , - -And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st . - -Come , come ; 'tis only I that must disgrace thee . - - -Heavens , can you suffer hell so to prevail ? -My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage , -And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder , -But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet . - - -Talbot , farewell ; thy hour is not yet come : -I must go victual Orleans forthwith . - -O'ertake me if thou canst ; I scorn thy strength . -Go , go , cheer up thy hunger-starved men ; -Help Salisbury to make his testament : -This day is ours , as many more shall be . - - -My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel ; -I know not where I am , nor what I do : -A witch , by fear , not force , like Hannibal , -Drives back our troops and conquers as she lists : -So bees with smoke , and doves with noisome stench , -Are from their hives and houses driven away . -They call'd us for our fierceness English dogs ; -Now , like to whelps , we crying run away . - -Hark , countrymen ! either renew the fight , -Or tear the lions out of England's coat ; -Renounce your soil , give sheep in lions' stead : -Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf , -Or horse or oxen from the leopard , -As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves . - -It will not be : retire into your trenches : -You all consented unto Salisbury's death , -For none would strike a stroke in his revenge . -Pucelle is entered into Orleans -In spite of us or aught that we could do . -O ! would I were to die with Salisbury . -The shame hereof will make me hide my head . - - -Advance our waving colours on the walls ; -Rescu'd is Orleans from the English : -Thus Joan la Pucelle hath perform'd her word . - -Divinest creature , Astr a's daughter , -How shall I honour thee for this success ? -Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens , -That one day bloom'd and fruitful were the next . -France , triumph in thy glorious prophetess ! -Recover'd is the town of Orleans : -More blessed hap did ne'er befall our state . - -Why ring not out the bells throughout the town ? -Dauphin , command the citizens make bonfires -And feast and banquet in the open streets , -To celebrate the joy that God hath given us . - -All France will be replete with mirth and joy , -When they shall hear how we have play'd the men . - -'Tis Joan , not we , by whom the day is won ; -For which I will divide my crown with her ; -And all the priests and friars in my realm -Shall in procession sing her endless praise . -A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear -Than Rhodope's or Memphis ever was : -In memory of her when she is dead , -Her ashes , in an urn more precious -Than the rich-jewell'd coffer of Darius , -Transported shall be at high festivals -Before the kings and queens of France . -No longer on Saint Denis will we cry , -But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint . -Come in , and let us banquet royally , -After this golden day of victory . - -Sirs , take your places and be vigilant . -If any noise or soldier you perceive -Near to the walls , by some apparent sign -Let us have knowledge at the court of guard . - -Sergeant , you shall . - -Thus are poor servitors -When others sleep upon their quiet beds -Constrain'd to watch in darkness , rain , and cold . - - -Lord regent , and redoubted Burgundy , -By whose approach the regions of Artois , -Walloon , and Picardy , are friends to us , -This happy night the Frenchmen are secure , -Having all day carous'd and banqueted : -Embrace we then this opportunity , -As fitting best to quittance their deceit -Contriv'd by art and baleful sorcery . - -Coward of France ! how much he wrongs his fame , -Despairing of his own arm's fortitude , -To join with witches and the help of hell ! - -Traitors have never other company . -But what's that Pucelle whom they term so pure ? - -A maid , they say . - -A maid , and be so martial ! - -Pray God she prove not masculine ere long ; -If underneath the standard of the French -She carry armour , as she hath begun . - -Well , let them practise and converse with spirits ; -God is our fortress , in whose conquering name -Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks . - -Ascend , brave Talbot ; we will follow thee . - -Not all together : better far , I guess , -That we do make our entrance several ways , -That if it chance the one of us do fail , -The other yet may rise against their force . - -Agreed . I'll to yond corner . - -And I to this . - -And here will Talbot mount , or make his grave . -Now , Salisbury , for thee , and for the right -Of English Henry , shall this night appear -How much in duty I am bound to both . - - -Arm , arm ! the enemy doth make assault ! - -How now , my lords ! what ! all unready so ? - -Unready ! ay , and glad we 'scap'd so well . - -'Twas time , I trow , to wake and leave our beds , -Hearing alarums at our chamber-doors . - -Of all exploits since first I follow'd arms , -Ne'er heard I of a war-like enterprise -More venturous or desperate than this . - -I think this Talbot be a fiend of hell . - -If not of hell , the heavens , sure , favour him . - -Here cometh Charles : I marvel how he sped . - -Tut ! holy Joan was his defensive guard . - - -Is this thy cunning , thou deceitful dame ? -Didst thou at first , to flatter us withal , -Make us partakers of a little gain , -That now our loss might be ten times so much ? - -Wherefore is Charles impatient with his friend ? -At all times will you have my power alike ? -Sleeping or waking must I still prevail , -Or will you blame and lay the fault on me ? -Improvident soldiers ! had your watch been good , -This sudden mischief never could have fall'n . - -Duke of Alen on , this was your default , -That , being captain of the watch to-night , -Did look no better to that weighty charge . - -Had all your quarters been so safely kept -As that whereof I had the government , -We had not been thus shamefully surpris'd . - -Mine was secure . - -And so was mine , my lord . - -And for myself , most part of all this night , -Within her quarter and mine own precinct -I was employ'd in passing to and fro , -About relieving of the sentinels : -Then how or which way should they first break in ? - -Question , my lords , no further of the case , -How or which way : 'tis sure they found some place -But weakly guarded , where the breach was made . -And now there rests no other shift but this ; -To gather our soldiers , scatter'd and dispers'd , -And lay new platforms to endamage them . - -I'll be so bold to take what they have left . -The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword ; -For I have loaden me with many spoils , -Using no other weapon but his name . - - -The day begins to break , and night is fled , -Whose pitchy mantle over-veil'd the earth . -Here sound retreat , and cease our hot pursuit . - - -Bring forth the body of old Salisbury , -And here advance it in the market-place , -The middle centre of this cursed town . -Now have I paid my vow unto his soul ; -For every drop of blood was drawn from him -There hath at least five Frenchmen died to-night . -And that hereafter ages may behold -What ruin happen'd in revenge of him , -Within their chiefest temple I'll erect -A tomb wherein his corse shall be interr'd : -Upon the which , that every one may read , -Shall be engrav'd the sack of Orleans , -The treacherous manner of his mournful death , -And what a terror he had been to France . -But , lords , in all our bloody massacre , -I muse we met not with the Dauphin's grace , -His new-come champion , virtuous Joan of Arc , -Nor any of his false confederates . - -'Tis thought , Lord Talbot , when the fight began , -Rous'd on the sudden from their drowsy beds , -They did amongst the troops of armed men -Leap o'er the walls for refuge in the field . - -Myself as far as I could well discern -For smoke and dusky vapours of the night -Am sure I scar'd the Dauphin and his trull , -When arm in arm they both came swiftly running , -Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves -That could not live asunder day or night . -After that things are set in order here , -We'll follow them with all the power we have . - - -All hail , my lords ! Which of this princely train -Call ye the war-like Talbot , for his acts -So much applauded through the realm of France ? - -Here is the Talbot : who would speak with him ? - -The virtuous lady , Countess of Auvergne , -With modesty admiring thy renown , -By me entreats , great lord , thou wouldst vouchsafe -To visit her poor castle where she lies , -That she may boast she hath beheld the man -Whose glory fills the world with loud report . - -Is it even so ? Nay , then , I see our wars -Will turn into a peaceful comic sport , -When ladies crave to be encounter'd with . -You may not , my lord , despise her gentle suit . - -Ne'er trust me then ; for when a world of men -Could not prevail with all their oratory , -Yet hath a woman's kindness over-rul'd : -And therefore tell her I return great thanks , -And in submission will attend on her . -Will not your honours bear me company ? - -No , truly ; it is more than manners will ; -And I have heard it said , unbidden guests -Are often welcomest when they are gone . - -Well then , alone ,since there's no remedy , -I mean to prove this lady's courtesy . -Come hither , captain . - -You perceive my mind . - -I do , my lord , and mean accordingly . - - -Porter , remember what I gave in charge ; -And when you have done so , bring the keys to me . - -Madam , I will . - - -The plot is laid : if all things fall out right , -I shall as famous be by this exploit -As Scythian Tomyris by Cyrus' death . -Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight , -And his achievements of no less account : -Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears , -To give their censure of these rare reports . - - -Madam , -According as your ladyship desir'd , -By message crav'd , so is Lord Talbot come . - -And he is welcome . What ! is this the man ? - -Madam , it is . - -Is this the scourge of France ? -Is this the Talbot , so much fear'd abroad , -That with his name the mothers still their babes ? -I see report is fabulous and false : -I thought I should have seen some Hercules , -A second Hector , for his grim aspect , -And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs . -Alas ! this is a child , a silly dwarf : -It cannot be this weak and writhled shrimp -Should strike such terror to his enemies . - -Madam , I have been bold to trouble you ; -But since your ladyship is not at leisure , -I'll sort some other time to visit you . - -What means he now ? Go ask him whither he goes . - -Stay , my Lord Talbot ; for my lady craves -To know the cause of your abrupt departure . - -Marry , for that she's in a wrong belief , -I go to certify her Talbot's here . - - -If thou be he , then art thou prisoner . - -Prisoner ! to whom ? - -To me , blood-thirsty lord ; -And for that cause I train'd thee to my house . -Long time thy shadow hath been thrall to me , -For in my gallery thy picture hangs : -But now the substance shall endure the like , -And I will chain these legs and arms of thine , -That hast by tyranny , these many years -Wasted our country , slain our citizens , -And sent our sons and husbands captivate . - -Ha , ha , ha ! - -Laughest thou , wretch ? thy mirth shall turn to moan . - -I laugh to see your ladyship so fond -To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow , -Whereon to practise your severity . - -Why , art not thou the man ? - -I am , indeed . - -Then have I substance too . - -No , no , I am but shadow of myself : -You are deceiv'd , my substance is not here ; -For what you see is but the smallest part -And least proportion of humanity . -I tell you , madam , were the whole frame here , -It is of such a spacious lofty pitch , -Your roof were not sufficient to contain it . - -This is a riddling merchant for the nonce ; -He will be here , and yet he is not here : -How can these contrarieties agree ? - -That will I show you presently . - - -How say you , madam ? are you now persuaded -That Talbot is but shadow of himself ? -These are his substance , sinews , arms , and strength , -With which he yoketh your rebellious necks , -Razeth your cities , and subverts your towns , - -And in a moment makes them desolate . - -Victorious Talbot ! pardon my abuse : -I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited , -And more than may be gather'd by thy shape . -Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath ; -For I am sorry that with reverence -I did not entertain thee as thou art . - -Be not dismay'd , fair lady ; nor misconster -The mind of Talbot as you did mistake -The outward composition of his body . -What you have done hath not offended me ; -Nor other satisfaction do I crave , -But only , with your patience , that we may -Taste of your wine and see what cates you have ; -For soldiers' stomachs always serve them well . - -With all my heart , and think me honoured -To feast so great a warrior in my house . - - -Great lords , and gentlemen , what means this silence ? -Dare no man answer in a case of truth ? - -Within the Temple hall we were too loud ; -The garden here is more convenient . - -Then say at once if I maintain'd the truth , -Or else was wrangling Somerset in the error ? - -Faith , I have been a truant in the law , -And never yet could frame my will to it ; -And therefore frame the law unto my will . - -Judge you , my Lord of Warwick , then , between us . - -Between two hawks , which flies the higher pitch ; -Between two dogs , which hath the deeper mouth ; -Between two blades , which bears the better temper ; -Between two horses , which doth bear him best ; -Between two girls , which hath the merriest eye ; -I have perhaps , some shallow spirit of judgment ; -But in these nice sharp quillets of the law , -Good faith , I am no wiser than a daw . - -Tut , tut ! here is a mannerly forbearance : -The truth appears so naked on my side , -That any purblind eye may find it out . - -And on my side it is so well apparell'd , -So clear , so shining , and so evident , -That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye . - -Since you are tongue-tied , and so loath to speak , -In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts : -Let him that is a true-born gentleman , -And stands upon the honour of his birth , -If he suppose that I have pleaded truth , -From off this brier pluck a white rose with me . - -Let him that is no coward nor no flatterer , -But dare maintain the party of the truth , -Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me . - -I love no colours , and , without all colour -Of base insinuating flattery -I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet . - -I pluck this red rose with young Somerset : -And say withal I think he held the right . - -Stay , lords and gentlemen , and pluck no more , -Till you conclude that he , upon whose side -The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree , -Shall yield the other in the right opinion . - -Good Master Vernon , it is well objected : -If I have fewest I subscribe in silence . - -And I . - -Then for the truth and plainness of the case , -I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here , -Giving my verdict on the white rose side . - -Prick not your finger as you pluck it off , -Lest bleeding you do paint the white rose red , -And fall on my side so , against your will . - -If I , my lord , for my opinion bleed , -Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt , -And keep me on the side where still I am . - -Well , well , come on : who else ? - -Unless my study and my books be false , -The argument you held was wrong in you , -In sign whereof I pluck a white rose too . - -Now , Somerset , where is your argument ? - -Here , in my scabbard ; meditating that -Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red . - -Meantime , your cheeks do counterfeit our roses ; -For pale they look with fear , as witnessing -The truth on our side . - -No , Plantagenet , -'Tis not for fear but anger that thy cheeks -Blush for pure shame to counterfeit our roses , -And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error . - -Hath not thy rose a canker , Somerset ? - -Hath not thy rose a thorn , Plantagenet ? - -Ay , sharp and piercing , to maintain his truth ; -Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood . - -Well , I'll find friends to wear my bleeding roses , -That shall maintain what I have said is true , -Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen . - -Now , by this maiden blossom in my hand , -I scorn thee and thy faction , peevish boy . - -Turn not thy scorns this way , Plantagenet . - -Proud Pole , I will , and scorn both him and thee . - -I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat . - -Away , away ! good William de la Pole : -We grace the yeoman by conversing with him . - -Now , by God's will , thou wrong'st him , Somerset : -His grandfather was Lionel , Duke of Clarence , -Third son to the third Edward , King of England . -Spring crestless yeomen from so deep a root ? - -He bears him on the place's privilege , -Or durst not , for his craven heart , say thus . - -By Him that made me , I'll maintain my words -On any plot of ground in Christendom . -Was not thy father , Richard Earl of Cambridge , -For treason executed in our late king's days ? -And , by his treason stand'st not thou attainted , -Corrupted , and exempt from ancient gentry ? -His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood ; -And , till thou be restor'd , thou art a yeoman . - -My father was attached , not attained ; -Condemn'd to die for treason , but no traitor ; -And that I'll prove on better men than Somerset , -Were growing time once ripen'd to my will . -For your partaker Pole and you yourself , -I'll note you in my book of memory , -To scourge you for this apprehension : -Look to it well and say you are well warn'd . - -Ah , thou shalt find us ready for thee still , -And know us by these colours for thy foes ; -For these my friends in spite of thee shall wear . - -And , by my soul , this pale and angry rose , -As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate , -Will I for ever and my faction wear , -Until it wither with me to my grave -Or flourish to the height of my degree . - -Go forward , and be chok'd with thy ambition : -And so farewell until I meet thee next . - - -Have with thee , Pole . Farewell , ambitious Richard . - - -How I am brav'd and must perforce endure it ! - -This blot that they object against your house -Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament , -Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloucester ; -And if thou be not then created York , -I will not live to be accounted Warwick . -Meantime in signal of my love to thee , -Against proud Somerset and William Pole , -Will I upon thy party wear this rose . -And here I prophesy : this brawl to-day , -Grown to this faction in the Temple garden , -Shall send between the red rose and the white -A thousand souls to death and deadly night . - -Good Master Vernon , I am bound to you , -That you on my behalf would pluck a flower . - -In your behalf still would I wear the same . - -And so will I . - -Thanks , gentle sir . -Come , let us four to dinner : I dare say -This quarrel will drink blood another day . - - -Kind keepers of my weak decaying age , -Let dying Mortimer here rest himself . -Even like a man new haled from the rack , -So fare my limbs with long imprisonment ; -And these gray locks , the pursuivants of death , -Nestor-like aged , in an age of care , -Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer . -These eyes , like lamps whose wasting oil is spent , -Wax dim , as drawing to their exigent ; -Weak shoulders , overborne with burdening grief , -And pithless arms , like to a wither'd vine -That droops his sapless branches to the ground : -Yet are these feet , whose strengthless stay is numb , -Unable to support this lump of clay , -Swift-winged with desire to get a grave , -As witting I no other comfort have . -But tell me , keeper , will my nephew come ? - -Richard Plantagenet , my lord , will come : -We sent unto the Temple , unto his chamber . -And answer was return'd that he will come . - -Enough : my soul shall then be satisfied . -Poor gentleman ! his wrong doth equal mine . -Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign , -Before whose glory I was great in arms , -This loathsome sequestration have I had ; -And even since then hath Richard been obscur'd , -Depriv'd of honour and inheritance . -But now the arbitrator of despairs , -Just death , kind umpire of men's miseries , -With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence : -I would his troubles likewise were expir'd , -That so he might recover what was lost . - - -My lord , your loving nephew now is come . - -Richard Plantagenet , my friend , is he come ? - -Ay , noble uncle , thus ignobly us'd , -Your nephew , late despised Richard , comes . - -Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck , -And in his bosom spend my latter gasp : -O ! tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks , -That I may kindly give one fainting kiss . -And now declare , sweet stem from York's great stock , -Why didst thou say of late thou wert despis'd ? - -First , lean thine aged back against mine arm ; -And in that ease , I'll tell thee my disease . -This day , in argument upon a case , -Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me ; -Among which terms he us'd a lavish tongue -And did upbraid me with my father's death : -Which obloquy set bars before my tongue , -Else with the like I had requited him . -Therefore , good uncle , for my father's sake , -In honour of a true Plantagenet , -And for alliance sake , declare the cause -My father , Earl of Cambridge , lost his head . - -That cause , fair nephew , that imprison'd me , -And hath detain'd me all my flow'ring youth -Within a loathsome dungeon , there to pine , -Was cursed instrument of his decease . - -Discover more at large what cause that was , -For I am ignorant and cannot guess . - -I will , if that my fading breath permit , -And death approach not ere my tale be done . -Henry the Fourth , grandfather to this king , -Depos'd his nephew Richard , Edward's son , -The first-begotten , and the lawful heir -Of Edward king , the third of that descent : -During whose reign the Percies of the North , -Finding his usurpation most unjust , -Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne . -The reason mov'd these warlike lords to this -Was , for that young King Richard thus remov'd , -Leaving no heir begotten of his body -I was the next by birth and parentage ; -For by my mother I derived am -From Lionel Duke of Clarence , the third son -To King Edward the Third ; whereas he -From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree , -Being but fourth of that heroic line . -But mark : as , in this haughty great attempt -They laboured to plant the rightful heir , -I lost my liberty , and they their lives . -Long after this , when Henry the Fifth -Succeeding his father Bolingbroke , did reign , -Thy father , Earl of Cambridge , then deriv'd -From famous Edmund Langley , Duke of York , -Marrying my sister that thy mother was , -Again in pity of my hard distress -Levied an army , weening to redeem -And have install'd me in the diadem ; -But , as the rest , so fell that noble earl , -And was beheaded . Thus the Mortimers , -In whom the title rested , were suppress'd . - -Of which , my lord , your honour is the last . - -True ; and thou seest that I no issue have , -And that my fainting words do warrant death : -Thou art my heir ; the rest I wish thee gather : -But yet be wary in thy studious care . - -Thy grave admonishments prevail with me . -But yet methinks my father's execution -Was nothing less than bloody tyranny . - -With silence , nephew , be thou politic : -Strong-fixed is the house of Lancaster , -And like a mountain , not to be remov'd . -But now thy uncle is removing hence , -As princes do their courts , when they are cloy'd -With long continuance in a settled place . - -O uncle ! would some part of my young years -Might but redeem the passage of your age . - -Thou dost then wrong me ,as the slaughterer doth , -Which giveth many wounds when one will kill . -Mourn not , except thou sorrow for my good ; -Only give order for my funeral : -And so farewell ; and fair be all thy hopes , -And prosperous be thy life in peace and war ! - - -And peace , no war , befall thy parting soul ! -In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage , -And like a hermit overpass'd thy days . -Well , I will lock his counsel in my breast ; -And what I do imagine let that rest . -Keepers , convey him hence ; and I myself -Will see his burial better than his life . - -Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer , -Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort : -And , for those wrongs , those bitter injuries , -Which Somerset hath offer'd to my house , -I doubt not but with honour to redress ; -And therefore haste I to the parliament , -Either to be restored to my blood , -Or make my ill the advantage of my good . - - -Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines , -With written pamphlets studiously devis'd , -Humphrey of Gloucester ? If thou canst accuse , -Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge , -Do it without invention , suddenly ; -As I , with sudden and extemporal speech -Purpose to answer what thou canst object . - -Presumptuous priest ! this place commands my patience -Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonour'd me . -Think not , although in writing I preferr'd -The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes , -That therefore I have forg'd , or am not able -Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen : -No , prelate ; such is thy audacious wickedness , -Thy lewd , pestiferous , and dissentious pranks , -As very infants prattle of thy pride . -Thou art a most pernicious usurer , -Froward by nature , enemy to peace ; -Lascivious , wanton , more than well beseems -A man of thy profession and degree ; -And for thy treachery , what's more manifest ? -In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life -As well at London Bridge as at the Tower . -Beside , I fear me , if thy thoughts were sifted , -The king , thy sov'reign , is not quite exempt -From envious malice of thy swelling heart . - -Gloucester , I do defy thee . Lords , vouchsafe -To give me hearing what I shall reply . -If I were covetous , ambitious , or perverse , -As he will have me , how am I so poor ? -Or how haps it I seek not to advance -Or raise myself , but keep my wonted calling ? -And for dissension , who preferreth peace -More than I do , except I be provok'd ? -No , my good lords , it is not that offends ; -It is not that that hath incens'd the duke : -It is , because no one should sway but he ; -No one but he should be about the king ; -And that engenders thunder in his breast , -And makes him roar these accusations forth . -But he shall know I am as good - -As good ! -Thou bastard of my grandfather ! - -Ay , lordly sir ; for what are you , I pray , -But one imperious in another's throne ? - -Am I not protector , saucy priest ? - -And am not I a prelate of the church ? - -Yes , as an outlaw in a castle keeps , -And useth it to patronage his theft . - -Unreverent Gloucester ! - -Thou art reverent , -Touching thy spiritual function , not thy life . - -Rome shall remedy this . - -Roam thither then . - -My lord , it were your duty to forbear . - -Ay , see the bishop be not overborne . - -Methinks my lord should be religious , -And know the office that belongs to such . - -Methinks his lordship should be humbler ; -It fitteth not a prelate so to plead . - -Yes , when his holy state is touch'd so near . - -State holy , or unhallow'd , what of that ? -Is not his Grace protector to the king ? - -Plantagenet , I see , must hold his tongue , -Lest it be said , 'Speak , sirrah , when you should ; -Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords ?' -Else would I have a fling at Winchester . - -Uncles of Gloucester and of Winchester , -The special watchmen of our English weal , -I would prevail , if prayers might prevail , -To join your hearts in love and amity . -O ! what a scandal is it to our crown , -That two such noble peers as ye should jar . -Believe me , lords , my tender years can tell -Civil dissension is a viperous worm , -That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth . - -What tumult's this ? - -An uproar , I dare warrant , -Begun through malice of the bishop's men . - -O , my good lords , and virtuous Henry , -Pity the city of London , pity us ! -The bishop and the Duke of Gloucester's men , -Forbidden late to carry any weapon , -Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble stones , -And banding themselves in contrary parts -Do pelt so fast at one another's pate , -That many have their giddy brains knock'd out : -Our windows are broke down in every street , -And we for fear compell'd to shut our shops . - - -We charge you , on allegiance to ourself , -To hold your slaught'ring hands , and keep the peace . -Pray , uncle Gloucester , mitigate this strife . - -Nay , if we be forbidden stones , we'll fall to it with our teeth . - -Do what ye dare , we are as resolute . - - -You of my household , leave this peevish broil , -And set this unaccustom'd fight aside . - -My lord , we know your Grace to be a man -Just and upright , and , for your royal birth , -Inferior to none but to his majesty ; -And ere that we will suffer such a prince , -So kind a father of the commonweal , -To be disgraced by an inkhorn mate , -We and our wives and children all will fight , -And have our bodies slaught'red by thy foes . - -Ay , and the very parings of our nails -Shall pitch a field when we are dead . - - -Stay , stay , I say ! -And , if you love me , as you say you do , -Let me persuade you to forbear a while . - -O ! how this discord doth afflict my soul ! -Can you , my Lord of Winchester , behold -My sighs and tears and will not once relent ? -Who should be pitiful if you be not ? -Or who should study to prefer a peace -If holy churchmen take delight in broils ? - -Yield , my Lord Protector ; yield , Winchester ; -Except you mean with obstinate repulse -To slay your sov'reign and destroy the realm . -You see what mischief and what murder too -Hath been enacted through your enmity : -Then be at peace , except ye thirst for blood . - -He shall submit or I will never yield . - -Compassion on the king commands me stoop ; -Or I would see his heart out ere the priest -Should ever get that privilege of me . - -Behold , my Lord of Winchester , the duke -Hath banish'd moody discontented fury , -As by his smoothed brows it doth appear : -Why look you still so stern and tragical ? - -Here , Winchester , I offer thee my hand . - -Fie , uncle Beaufort ! I have heard you preach , -That malice was a great and grievous sin ; -And will not you maintain the thing you teach , -But prove a chief offender in the same ? - -Sweet king ! the bishop hath a kindly gird . -For shame , my Lord of Winchester , relent ! -What ! shall a child instruct you what to do ? - -Well , Duke of Gloucester , I will yield to thee ; -Love for thy love and hand for hand I give . - -Ay ; but I fear me , with a hollow heart . -See here , my friends and loving countrymen , -This token serveth for a flag of truce , -Betwixt ourselves and all our followers . -So help me God , as I dissemble not ! - -So help me God , as I intend it not ! - -O loving uncle , kind Duke of Gloucester , -How joyful am I made by this contract ! -Away , my masters ! trouble us no more ; -But join in friendship , as your lords have done . - -Content : I'll to the surgeon's . - -And so will I . - -And I will see what physic the tavern affords . - - -Accept this scroll , most gracious sovereign , -Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet -We do exhibit to your majesty . - -Well urg'd , my Lord of Warwick : for , sweet prince , -An if your Grace mark every circumstance , -You have great reason to do Richard right ; -Especially for those occasions -At Eltham-place I told your majesty . - -And those occasions , uncle , were of force : -Therefore , my loving lords , our pleasure is -That Richard be restored to his blood . - -Let Richard be restored to his blood ; -So shall his father's wrongs be recompens'd . - -As will the rest , so willeth Winchester . - -If Richard will be true , not that alone , -But all the whole inheritance I give -That doth belong unto the house of York , -From whence you spring by lineal descent . - -Thy humble servant vows obedience , -And humble service till the point of death . - -Stoop then and set your knee against my foot ; -And , in reguerdon of that duty done , -I girt thee with the valiant sword of York : -Rise , Richard , like a true Plantagenet , -And rise created princely Duke of York . - -And so thrive Richard as thy foes may fall ! -And as my duty springs , so perish they -That grudge one thought against your majesty ! - -Welcome , high prince , the mighty Duke of York ! - -Perish , base prince , ignoble Duke of York ! - -Now , will it best avail your majesty -To cross the seas and to be crown'd in France . -The presence of a king engenders love -Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends , -As it disanimates his enemies . - -When Gloucester says the word , King Henry goes ; -For friendly counsel cuts off many foes . - -Your ships already are in readiness . - - -Ay , we may march in England or in France , -Not seeing what is likely to ensue . -This late dissension grown betwixt the peers -Burns under feigned ashes of forg'd love , -And will at last break out into a flame : -As fester'd members rot but by degree , -Till bones and flesh and sinews fall away , -So will this base and envious discord breed . -And now I fear that fatal prophecy -Which in the time of Henry , nam'd the Fifth , -Was in the mouth of every sucking babe ; -That Henry born at Monmouth should win all ; -And Henry born at Windsor should lose all : -Which is so plain that Exeter doth wish -His days may finish ere that hapless time . - -These are the city gates , the gates of Roan , -Through which our policy must make a breach : -Take heed , be wary how you place your words ; -Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men -That come to gather money for their corn . -If we have entrance ,as I hope we shall , -And that we find the slothful watch but weak , -I'll by a sign give notice to our friends , -That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them . - -Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city , -And we be lords and rulers over Roan ; -Therefore we'll knock . - - -Qui est l ? - -Paisans , pauvres gens de France : -Poor market-folks that come to sell their corn . - -Enter , go in ; the market-bell is rung . - -Now , Roan , I'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground . - -Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem ! -And once again we'll sleep secure in Roan . - -Here enter'd Pucelle and her practisants ; -Now she is there how will she specify -Where is the best and safest passage in ? - -By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower ; -Which , once discern'd , shows that her meaning is , -No way to that , for weakness , which she enter'd . - - -Behold ! this is the happy wedding torch -That joineth Roan unto her countrymen , -But burning fatal to the Talbotites ! - - -See , noble Charles , the beacon of our friend , -The burning torch in yonder turret stands . - -Now shine it like a comet of revenge , -A prophet to the fall of all our foes ! - -Defer no time , delays have dangerous ends ; -Enter , and cry 'The Dauphin !' presently , -And then do execution on the watch . - -France , thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears , -If Talbot but survive thy treachery . -Pucelle , that witch , that damned sorceress , -Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares , -That hardly we escap'd the pride of France . - - -Good morrow , gallants ! Want ye corn for bread ? -I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast -Before he'll buy again at such a rate . -'Twas full of darnel ; do you like the taste ? - -Scoff on , vile fiend and shameless courtezan ! -I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own , -And make thee curse the harvest of that corn . - -Your Grace may starve perhaps , before that time . - -O ! let no words , but deeds , revenge this treason ! - -What will you do , good grey-beard ? break a lance , -And run a tilt at death within a chair ? - -Foul fiend of France , and hag of all despite , -Encompass'd with thy lustful paramours ! -Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age -And twit with cowardice a man half dead ? -Damsel , I'll have a bout with you again , -Or else let Talbot perish with this shame . - -Are you so hot , sir ? Yet , Pucelle , hold thy peace ; -If Talbot do but thunder , rain will follow . - -God speed the parliament ! who shall be the speaker ? - -Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field ? - -Belike your lordship takes us then for fools , -To try if that our own be ours or no . - -I speak not to that railing Hecate , -But unto thee , Alen on , and the rest ; -Will ye , like soldiers , come and fight it out ? - -Signior , no . - -Signior , hang ! base muleters of France ! -Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls , -And dare not take up arms like gentlemen . - -Away , captains ! let's get us from the walls ; -For Talbot means no-goodness , by his looks . -God be wi' you , my lord ! we came but to tell you -That we are here . - - -And there will we be too , ere it be long , -Or else reproach be Talbot's greatest fame ! -Vow , Burgundy , by honour of thy house , -Prick'd on by public wrongs sustain'd in France , -Either to get the town again , or die ; -And I , as sure as English Henry lives , -And as his father here was conqueror , -As sure as in this late-betrayed town -Great C ur-de-lion's heart was buried , -So sure I swear to get the town or die . - -My vows are equal partners with thy vows . - -But , ere we go , regard this dying prince , -The valiant Duke of Bedford . Come , my lord , -We will bestow you in some better place , -Fitter for sickness and for crazy age . - -Lord Talbot , do not so dishonour me : -Here will I sit before the walls of Roan , -And will be partner of your weal or woe . - -Courageous Bedford , let us now persuade you . - -Not to be gone from hence ; for once I read , -That stout Pendragon in his litter , sick , -Came to the field and vanquished his foes : -Methinks I should revive the soldiers' hearts , -Because I ever found them as myself . - -Undaunted spirit in a dying breast ! -Then be it so : heavens keep old Bedford safe ! -And now no more ado , brave Burgundy , -But gather we our forces out of hand , -And set upon our boasting enemy . - -Whither away , Sir John Fastolfe , in such haste ? - -Whither away ! to save myself by flight : -We are like to have the overthrow again . - -What ! will you fly , and leave Lord Talbot ? - -Ay , -All the Talbots in the world , to save my life . - - -Cowardly knight ! ill fortune follow thee ! - - -Now , quiet soul , depart when Heaven please , -For I have seen our enemies' overthrow . -What is the trust or strength of foolish man ? -They , that of late were daring with their scoffs -Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves . - -Lost , and recover'd in a day again ! -This is a double honour , Burgundy : -Yet heavens have glory for this victory ! - -Warlike and martial Talbot , Burgundy -Enshrines thee in his heart , and there erects -Thy noble deeds as valour's monument . - -Thanks , gentle duke . But where is Pucelle now ? -I think her old familiar is asleep . -Now where's the Bastard's braves , and Charles his gleeks ? -What ! all amort ? Roan hangs her head for grief , -That such a valiant company are fled . -Now will we take some order in the town , -Placing therein some expert officers , -And then depart to Paris to the king ; -For there young Henry with his nobles lie . - -What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy . - -But yet , before we go , let's not forget -The noble Duke of Bedford late deceas'd , -But see his exequies fulfill'd in Roan : -A braver soldier never couched lance , -A gentler heart did never sway in court ; -But kings and mightiest potentates must die , -For that's the end of human misery . - - -Dismay not , princes , at this accident , -Nor grieve that Roan is so recovered : -Care is no cure , but rather corrosive , -For things that are not to be remedied . -Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while , -And like a peacock sweep along his tail ; -We'll pull his plumes and take away his train , -If Dauphin and the rest will be but rul'd . - -We have been guided by thee hitherto , -And of thy cunning had no diffidence : -One sudden foil shall never breed distrust . - -Search out thy wit for secret policies , -And we will make thee famous through the world . - -We'll set thy statue in some holy place -And have thee reverenc'd like a blessed saint : -Employ thee , then , sweet virgin , for our good . - -Then thus it must be ; this doth Joan devise : -By fair persuasions , mix'd with sugar'd words , -We will entice the Duke of Burgundy -To leave the Talbot and to follow us . - -Ay , marry , sweeting , if we could do that , -France were no place for Henry's warriors ; -Nor should that nation boast it so with us , -But be extirped from our provinces . - -For ever should they be expuls'd from France , -And not have title of an earldom here . - -Your honours shall perceive how I will work -To bring this matter to the wished end . - -Hark ! by the sound of drum you may perceive -Their powers are marching unto Paris-ward . - - -There goes the Talbot , with his colours spread , -And all the troops of English after him . - -Now in the rearward comes the duke and his : -Fortune in favour makes him lag behind . -Summon a parley ; we will talk with him . - -A parley with the Duke of Burgundy ! - -Who craves a parley with the Burgundy ? - -The princely Charles of France , thy countryman . - -What sayst thou , Charles ? for I am marching hence . - -Speak , Pucelle , and enchant him with thy words . - -Brave Burgundy , undoubted hope of France ! -Stay , let thy humble handmaid speak to thee . - -Speak on ; but be not over-tedious . - -Look on thy country , look on fertile France , -And see the cities and the towns defac'd -By wasting ruin of the cruel foe . -As looks the mother on her lowly babe -When death doth close his tender dying eyes , -See , see the pining malady of France ; -Behold the wounds , the most unnatural wounds , -Which thou thyself hast giv'n her woeful breast . -O ! turn thy edged sword another way ; -Strike those that hurt , and hurt not those that help . -One drop of blood drawn from thy country's bosom , -Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore : -Return thee therefore , with a flood of tears , -And wash away thy country's stained spots . - -Either she hath bewitch'd me with her words , -Or nature makes me suddenly relent . - -Besides , all French and France exclaims on thee , -Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny . -Who join'st thou with but with a lordly nation -That will not trust thee but for profit's sake ? -When Talbot hath set footing once in France , -And fashion'd thee that instrument of ill , -Who then but English Henry will be lord , -And thou be thrust out like a fugitive ? -Call we to mind , and mark but this for proof , -Was not the Duke of Orleans thy foe , -And was he not in England prisoner ? -But when they heard he was thine enemy , -They set him free , without his ransom paid , -In spite of Burgundy and all his friends . -See then , thou fight'st against thy countrymen ! -And join'st with them will be thy slaughtermen . -Come , come , return ; return thou wand'ring lord ; -Charles and the rest will take thee in their arms . - -I am vanquished ; these haughty words of hers -Have batter'd me like roaring cannon-shot , -And made me almost yield upon my knees . -Forgive me , country , and sweet countrymen ! -And , lords , accept this hearty kind embrace : -My forces and my power of men are yours . -So , farewell , Talbot ; I'll no longer trust thee . - -Done like a Frenchman : turn , and turn again ! - -Welcome , brave duke ! thy friendship makes us fresh . - -And doth beget new courage in our breasts . - -Pucelle hath bravely play'd her part in this , -And doth deserve a coronet of gold . - -Now let us on , my lords , and join our powers : -And seek how we may prejudice the foe . - - -My gracious prince , and honourable peers , -Hearing of your arrival in this realm , -I have a while giv'n truce unto my wars , -To do my duty to my sovereign : -In sign whereof , this arm ,that hath reclaim'd -To your obedience fifty fortresses , -Twelve cities , and seven walled towns of strength , -Beside five hundred prisoners of esteem , -Lets fall his sword before your highness' feet , - -And with submissive loyalty of heart , -Ascribes the glory of his conquest got , -First to my God , and next unto your Grace . - -Is this the Lord Talbot , uncle Gloucester , -That hath so long been resident in France ? - -Yes , if it please your majesty , my liege . - -Welcome , brave captain and victorious lord ! -When I was young ,as yet I am not old , -I do remember how my father said , -A stouter champion never handled sword . -Long since we were resolved of your truth , -Your faithful service and your toil in war ; -Yet never have you tasted our reward , -Or been reguerdon'd with so much as thanks , -Because till now we never saw your face : -Therefore , stand up ; and for these good deserts , -We here create you Earl of Shrewsbury ; -And in our coronation take your place . - - -Now , sir , to you , that were so hot at sea , -Disgracing of these colours that I wear -In honour of my noble Lord of York , -Dar'st thou maintain the former words thou spak'st ? - -Yes , sir : as well as you dare patronage -The envious barking of your saucy tongue -Against my lord the Duke of Somerset . - -Sirrah , thy lord I honour as he is . - -Why , what is he ? as good a man as York . - -Hark ye ; not so : in witness , take ye that . - - -Villain , thou know'st the law of arms is such -That , whoso draws a sword , 'tis present death , -Or else this blow should broach thy dearest blood . -But I'll unto his majesty , and crave -I may have liberty to venge this wrong ; -When thou shalt see I'll meet thee to thy cost . - -Well , miscreant , I'll be there as soon as you ; -And , after , meet you sooner than you would . - - -Lord bishop , set the crown upon his head . - -God save King Henry , of that name the sixth . - -Now , Governor of Paris , take your oath , - -That you elect no other king but him , -Esteem none friends but such as are his friends , -And none your foes but such as shall pretend -Malicious practices against his state : -This shall ye do , so help you righteous God ! - -My gracious sovereign ; as I rode from Calais , -To haste unto your coronation , -A letter was deliver'd to my hands , -Writ to your Grace from the Duke of Burgundy . - -Shame to the Duke of Burgundy and thee ! -I vow'd , base knight , when I did meet thee next , -To tear the garter from thy craven's leg ; - -Which I have done , because unworthily -Thou wast installed in that high degree . -Pardon me , princely Henry , and the rest : -This dastard , at the battle of Patay , -When but in all I was six thousand strong , -And that the French were almost ten to one , -Before we met or that a stroke was given , -Like to a trusty squire did run away : -In which assault we lost twelve hundred men ; -Myself , and divers gentlemen beside , -Were there surpris'd and taken prisoners . -Then judge , great lords , if I have done amiss ; -Or whether that such cowards ought to wear -This ornament of knighthood , yea , or no ? - -To say the truth , this fact was infamous -And ill beseeming any common man , -Much more a knight , a captain and a leader . - -When first this order was ordain'd , my lords , -Knights of the garter were of noble birth , -Valiant and virtuous , full of haughty courage , -Such as were grown to credit by the wars ; -Not fearing death , nor shrinking for distress , -But always resolute in most extremes . -He then that is not furnish'd in this sort -Doth but usurp the sacred name of knight , -Profaning this most honourable order ; -And should if I were worthy to be judge -Be quite degraded , like a hedge-born swain -That doth presume to boast of gentle blood . - -Stain to thy countrymen ! thou hear'st thy doom . -Be packing therefore , thou that wast a knight ; -Henceforth we banish thee on pain of death . - -And now , my Lord Protector , view the letter -Sent from our uncle Duke of Burgundy . - -What means his Grace , that he hath chang'd his style ? -No more , but plain and bluntly , To the King ! -Hath he forgot he is his sovereign ? -Or doth this churlish superscription -Pretend some alteration in good will ? -What's here ? I have , upon especial cause , -Mov'd with compassion of my country's wrack , -Together with the pitiful complaints -Of such as your oppression feeds upon , -Forsaken your pernicious faction , -And join'd with Charles , the rightful King of France . -O , monstrous treachery ! Can this be so , -That in alliance , amity , and oaths , -There should be found such false dissembling guile ? - -What ! doth my uncle Burgundy revolt ? - -He doth , my lord , and is become your foe . - -Is that the worst this letter doth contain ? - -It is the worst , and all , my lord , he writes . - -Why then , Lord Talbot there shall talk with him , -And give him chastisement for this abuse . -How say you , my lord ? are you not content ? - -Content , my liege ! Yes : but that I am prevented , -I should have begg'd I might have been employ'd . - -Then gather strength , and march unto him straight : -Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason , -And what offence it is to flout his friends . - -I go , my lord ; in heart desiring still -You may behold confusion of your foes . - -Grant me the combat , gracious sovereign ! - -And me , my lord ; grant me the combat too ! - -This is my servant : hear him , noble prince ! - -And this is mine : sweet Henry , favour him ! - -Be patient , lords ; and give them leave to speak . -Say , gentlemen , what makes you thus exclaim ? -And wherefore crave you combat ? or with whom ? - -With him , my lord ; for he hath done me wrong . - -And I with him ; for he hath done me wrong . - -What is that wrong whereof you both complain ? -First let me know , and then I'll answer you . - -Crossing the sea from England into France , -This fellow here , with envious carping tongue , -Upbraided me about the rose I wear ; -Saying , the sanguine colour of the leaves -Did represent my master's blushing cheeks , -When stubbornly he did repugn the truth -About a certain question in the law -Argu'd betwixt the Duke of York and him ; -With other vile and ignominious terms : -In confutation of which rude reproach , -And in defence of my lord's worthiness , -I crave the benefit of law of arms . - -And that is my petition , noble lord : -For though he seem with forged quaint conceit , -To set a gloss upon his bold intent , -Yet know , my lord , I was provok'd by him ; -And he first took exceptions at this badge , -Pronouncing , that the paleness of this flower -Bewray'd the faintness of my master's heart . - -Will not this malice , Somerset , be left ? - -Your private grudge , my Lord of York , will out , -Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it . - -Good Lord ! what madness rules in brain-sick men , -When , for so slight and frivolous a cause , -Such factious emulations shall arise ! -Good cousins both , of York and Somerset , -Quiet yourselves , I pray , and be at peace . - -Let this dissension first be tried by fight , -And then your highness shall command a peace . - -The quarrel toucheth none but us alone ; -Betwixt ourselves let us decide it , then . - -There is my pledge ; accept it , Somerset . - -Nay , let it rest where it began at first . - -Confirm it so , mine honourable lord . - -Confirm it so ! Confounded be your strife ! -And perish ye , with your audacious prate ! -Presumptuous vassals ! are you not asham'd , -With this immodest clamorous outrage -To trouble and disturb the king and us ? -And you , my lords , methinks you do not well -To bear with their perverse objections ; -Much less to take occasion from their mouths -To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves : -Let me persuade you take a better course . - -It grieves his highness : good my lords , be friends . - -Come hither , you that would be combatants . -Henceforth I charge you , as you love our favour , -Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause . -And you , my lords , remember where we are ; -In France , amongst a fickle wav'ring nation . -If they perceive dissension in our looks , -And that within ourselves we disagree , -How will their grudging stomachs be provok'd -To wilful disobedience , and rebel ! -Beside , what infamy will there arise , -When foreign princes shall be certified -That for a toy , a thing of no regard , -King Henry's peers and chief nobility -Destroy'd themselves , and lost the realm of France ! -O ! think upon the conquest of my father , -My tender years , and let us not forego -That for a trifle that was bought with blood ! -Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife . -I see no reason , if I wear this rose , - -That any one should therefore be suspicious -I more incline to Somerset than York : -Both are my kinsmen , and I love them both . -As well they may upbraid me with my crown , -Because , forsooth , the King of Scots is crown'd . -But your discretions better can persuade -Than I am able to instruct or teach : -And therefore , as we hither came in peace , -So let us still continue peace and love . -Cousin of York , we institute your Grace -To be our regent in these parts of France : -And , good my Lord of Somerset , unite -Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot ; -And like true subjects , sons of your progenitors , -Go cheerfully together and digest -Your angry choler on your enemies . -Ourself , my Lord Protector , and the rest , -After some respite will return to Calais ; -From thence to England ; where I hope ere long -To be presented by your victories , -With Charles , Alen on , and that traitorous rout . - - -My Lord of York , I promise you , the king Prettily , methought , did play the orator . - -And so he did ; but yet I like it not , -In that he wears the badge of Somerset . - -Tush ! that was but his fancy , blame him not ; -I dare presume , sweet prince , he thought no harm . - -An if I wist he did ,But let it rest ; -Other affairs must now be managed . - - -Well didst thou , Richard , to suppress thy voice ; -For had the passions of thy heart burst out , -I fear we should have seen decipher'd there -More rancorous spite , more furious raging broils , -Than yet can be imagin'd or suppos'd . -But howsoe'er , no simple man that sees -This jarring discord of nobility , -This shouldering of each other in the court , -This factious bandying of their favourites , -But that it doth presage some ill event . -'Tis much when sceptres are in children's hands ; -But more , when envy breeds unkind division : -There comes the ruin , there begins confusion . - - -Go to the gates of Bourdeaux , trumpeter ; -Summon their general unto the wall . - - -English John Talbot , captains , calls you forth , -Servant in arms to Harry King of England ; -And thus he would : Open your city gates , -Be humble to us , call my sov'reign yours , -And do him homage as obedient subjects , -And I'll withdraw me and my bloody power ; -But , if you frown upon this proffer'd peace , -You tempt the fury of my three attendants , -Lean famine , quartering steel , and climbing fire ; -Who in a moment even with the earth -Shall lay your stately and air-braving towers , - -If you forsake the offer of their love . - -Thou ominous and fearful owl of death , -Our nation's terror and their bloody scourge ! -The period of thy tyranny approacheth . -On us thou canst not enter but by death ; -For , I protest , we are well fortified , -And strong enough to issue out and fight : -If thou retire , the Dauphin , well appointed , -Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee : -On either hand thee there are squadrons pitch'd , -To wall thee from the liberty of flight ; -And no way canst thou turn thee for redress -But death doth front thee with apparent spoil , -And pale destruction meets thee in the face . -Ten thousand French have ta'en the sacrament , -To rive their dangerous artillery -Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot . -Lo ! there thou stand'st , a breathing valiant man , -Of an invincible unconquer'd spirit : -This is the latest glory of thy praise , -That I , thy enemy , 'due thee withal ; -For ere the glass , that now begins to run , -Finish the process of his sandy hour , -These eyes , that see thee now well coloured , -Shall see thee wither'd , bloody , pale , and dead . - -Hark ! hark ! the Dauphin's drum , a warning bell , -Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul ; -And mine shall ring thy dire departure out . - - -He fables not ; I hear the enemy : -Out , some light horsemen , and peruse their wings . -O ! negligent and heedless discipline ; -How are we park'd and bounded in a pale , -A little herd of England's timorous deer , -Maz'd with a yelping kennel of French curs ! -If we be English deer , be then , in blood ; -Not rascal-like , to fall down with a pinch , -But rather moody-mad and desperate stags , -Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel , -And make the cowards stand aloof at bay : -Sell every man his life as dear as mine , -And they shall find dear deer of us , my friends . -God and Saint George , Talbot and England's right , -Prosper our colours in this dangerous fight ! - - -Are not the speedy scouts return'd again , -That dogg'd the mighty army of the Dauphin ? - -They are return'd , my lord ; and give it out , -That he is march'd to Bourdeaux with his power , -To fight with Talbot . As he march'd along , -By your espials were discovered -Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led , -Which join'd with him and made their march for Bourdeaux . - -A plague upon that villain Somerset , -That thus delays my promised supply -Of horsemen that were levied for this siege ! -Renowned Talbot doth expect my aid , -And I am louted by a traitor villain , -And cannot help the noble chevalier . -God comfort him in this necessity ! -If he miscarry , farewell wars in France . - - -Thou princely leader of our English strength , -Never so needful on the earth of France , -Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot , -Who now is girdled with a waist of iron -And hemm'd about with grim destruction . -To Bourdeaux , war-like duke ! To Bourdeaux , York ! -Else , farewell Talbot , France , and England's honour . - -O God ! that Somerset , who in proud heart -Doth stop my cornets , were in Talbot's place ! -So should we save a valiant gentleman -By forfeiting a traitor and a coward . -Mad ire and wrathful fury , make me weep -That thus we die , while remiss traitors sleep . - -O ! send some succour to the distress'd lord . - -He dies , we lose ; I break my war-like word ; -We mourn , France smiles ; we lose , they daily get ; -All 'long of this vile traitor Somerset . - -Then God take mercy on brave Talbot's soul ; -And on his son young John , whom two hours since -I met in travel toward his war-like father . -This seven years did not Talbot see his son ; -And now they meet where both their lives are done . - -Alas ! what joy shall noble Talbot have , -To bid his young son welcome to his grave ? -Away ! vexation almost stops my breath -That sunder'd friends greet in the hour of death . -Lucy , farewell : no more my fortune can , -But curse the cause I cannot aid the man . -Maine , Blois , Poictiers , and Tours , are won away , -'Long all of Somerset and his delay . - - -Thus , while the vulture of sedition -Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders , -Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss -The conquest of our scarce cold conqueror , -That ever living man of memory , -Henry the Fifth : Whiles they each other cross , -Lives , honours , lands , and all hurry to loss . - - -It is too late ; I cannot send them now : -This expedition was by York and Talbot -Too rashly plotted : all our general force -Might with a sally of the very town -Be buckled with : the over-daring Talbot -Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour -By this unheedful , desperate , wild adventure : -York set him on to fight and die in shame , -That , Talbot dead , great York might bear the name . - -Here is Sir William Lucy , who with me -Set from our o'ermatch'd forces forth for aid . - - -How now , Sir William ! whither were you sent ? - -Whither , my lord ? from bought and sold Lord Talbot ; -Who , ring'd about with bold adversity , -Cries out for noble York and Somerset , -To beat assailing death from his weak legions : -And whiles the honourable captain there -Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs , -And , in advantage lingering , looks for rescue , -You , his false hopes , the trust of England's honour , -Keep off aloof with worthless emulation . -Let not your private discord keep away -The levied succours that should lend him aid , -While he , renowned noble gentleman , -Yields up his life unto a world of odds : -Orleans the Bastard , Charles , Burgundy , -Alen on , Reignier , compass him about , -And Talbot perisheth by your default . - -York set him on ; York should have sent him aid . - -And York as fast upon your Grace exclaims ; -Swearing that you withhold his levied host -Collected for this expedition . - -York lies ; he might have sent and had the horse : -I owe him little duty , and less love ; -And take foul scorn to fawn on him by sending . - -The fraud of England , not the force of France , -Hath now entrapp'd the noble-minded Talbot . -Never to England shall he bear his life , -But dies , betray'd to fortune by your strife . - -Come , go ; I will dispatch the horsemen straight : -Within six hours they will be at his aid . - -Too late comes rescue : he is ta'en or slain , -For fly he could not if he would have fled ; -And fly would Talbot never , though he might . - -If he be dead , brave Talbot , then adieu ! - -His fame lives in the world , his shame in you . - - -O young John Talbot ! I did send for thee -To tutor thee in stratagems of war , -That Talbot's name might be in thee reviv'd -When sapless age , and weak unable limbs -Should bring thy father to his drooping chair . -But ,O malignant and ill-boding stars ! -Now thou art come unto a feast of death , -A terrible and unavoided danger : -Therefore , dear boy , mount on my swiftest horse , -And I'll direct thee how thou shalt escape -By sudden flight : come , dally not , be gone . - -Is my name Talbot ? and am I your son ? -And shall I fly ? O ! if you love my mother , -Dishonour not her honourable name , -To make a bastard and a slave of me : -The world will say he is not Talbot's blood -That basely fled when noble Talbot stood . - -Fly , to revenge my death , if I be slain . - -He that flies so will ne'er return again . - -If we both stay , we both are sure to die . - -Then let me stay ; and , father , do you fly : -Your loss is great , so your regard should be ; -My worth unknown , no loss is known in me . -Upon my death the French can little boast ; -In yours they will , in you all hopes are lost . -Flight cannot stain the honour you have won ; -But mine it will that no exploit have done : -You fled for vantage everyone will swear ; -But if I bow , they'll say it was for fear . -There is no hope that ever I will stay -If the first hour I shrink and run away . -Here , on my knee , I beg mortality , -Rather than life preserv'd with infamy . - -Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb ? - -Ay , rather than I'll shame my mother's womb . - -Upon my blessing I command thee go . - -To fight I will , but not to fly the foe . - -Part of thy father may be sav'd in thee . - -No part of him but will be shame in me . - -Thou never hadst renown , nor canst not lose it . - -Yes , your renowned name : shall flight abuse it ? - -Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that stain . - -You cannot witness for me , being slain . -If death be so apparent , then both fly . - -And leave my followers here to fight and die ? -My age was never tainted with such shame . - -And shall my youth be guilty of such blame ? -No more can I be sever'd from your side -Than can yourself yourself in twain divide . -Stay , go , do what you will , the like do I ; -For live I will not if my father die . - -Then here I take my leave of thee , fair son , -Born to eclipse thy life this afternoon . -Come , side by side together live and die , -And soul with soul from France to heaven fly . - -Saint George and victory ! fight , soldiers , fight ! -The regent hath with Talbot broke his word , -And left us to the rage of France his sword . -Where is John Talbot ? Pause , and take thy breath : -I gave thee life and rescu'd thee from death . - -O ! twice my father , twice am I thy son : -The life thou gav'st me first was lost and done , -Till with thy war-like sword , despite of fate , -To my determin'd time thou gav'st new date . - -When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire , -It warm'd thy father's heart with proud desire -Of bold-fac'd victory . Then leaden age , -Quicken'd with youthful spleen and war-like rage , -Beat down Alen on , Orleans , Burgundy , -And from the pride of Gallia rescu'd thee . -The ireful bastard Orleans ,that drew blood -From thee , my boy , and had the maidenhood -Of thy first fight ,I soon encountered -And , interchanging blows , I quickly shed -Some of his bastard blood ; and , in disgrace , -Bespoke him thus , 'Contaminated , base , -And misbegotten blood I spill of thine , -Mean and right poor , for that pure blood of mine -Which thou didst force from Talbot , my brave boy :' -Here , purposing the Bastard to destroy , -Came in strong rescue . Speak , thy father's care , -Art thou not weary , John ? How dost thou fare ? -Wilt thou yet leave the battle , boy , and fly , -Now thou art seal'd the son of chivalry ? -Fly , to revenge my death when I am dead ; -The help of one stands me in little stead . -O ! too much folly is it , well I wot , -To hazard all our lives in one small boat . -If I to-day die not with Frenchmen's rage , -To-morrow I shall die with mickle age : -By me they nothing gain an if I stay ; -'Tis but the short'ning of my life one day . -In thee thy mother dies , our household's name , -My death's revenge , thy youth , and England's fame . -All these and more we hazard by thy stay ; -All these are sav'd if thou wilt fly away . - -The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart ; -These words of yours draw life-blood from my heart . -On that advantage , bought with such a shame , -To save a paltry life and slay bright fame , -Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly , -The coward horse that bears me fall and die ! -And like me to the peasant boys of France , -To be shame's scorn and subject of mischance ! -Surely , by all the glory you have won , -An if I fly , I am not Talbot's son : -Then talk no more of flight , it is no boot ; -If son to Talbot , die at Talbot's foot . - -Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete , -Thou Icarus . Thy life to me is sweet : -If thou wilt fight , fight by thy father's side , -And , commendable prov'd , let's die in pride . - - -Where is my other life ?mine own is gone ; -O ! where's young Talbot ? where is valiant John ? -Triumphant death , smear'd with captivity , -Young Talbot's valour makes me smile at thee . -When he perceiv'd me shrink and on my knee , -His bloody sword he brandish'd over me , -And like a hungry lion did commence -Rough deeds of rage and stern impatience ; -But when my angry guardant stood alone , -Tendering my ruin and assail'd of none , -Dizzy-ey'd fury and great rage of heart -Suddenly made him from my side to start -Into the clust'ring battle of the French ; -And in that sea of blood my boy did drench -His overmounting spirit ; and there died -My Icarus , my blossom , in his pride . - - -O , my dear lord ! lo , where your son is borne ! - -Thou antick , death , which laugh'st us here to scorn , -Anon , from thy insulting tyranny , -Coupled in bonds of perpetuity , -Two Talbots , winged through the lither sky , -In thy despite shall 'scape mortality . -O ! thou , whose wounds become hard-favour'd death , -Speak to thy father ere thou yield thy breath ; -Brave death by speaking whe'r he will or no ; -Imagine him a Frenchman and thy foe . -Poor boy ! he smiles , methinks , as who should say , -Had death been French , then death had died to-day . -Come , come , and lay him in his father's arms : -My spirit can no longer bear these harms . -Soldiers , adieu ! I have what I would have , -Now my old arms are young John Talbot's grave . - -Had York and Somerset brought rescue in -We should have found a bloody day of this . - -How the young whelp of Talbot's , raging-wood , -Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's blood ! - -Once I encounter'd him , and thus I said : -'Thou maiden youth , be vanquish'd by a maid :' -But with a proud majestical high scorn , -He answer'd thus : 'Young Talbot was not born -To be the pillage of a giglot wench .' -So , rushing in the bowels of the French , -He left me proudly , as unworthy fight . - -Doubtless he would have made a noble knight ; -See , where he lies inhearsed in the arms -Of the most bloody nurser of his harms . - -Hew them to pieces , hack their bones asunder , -Whose life was England's glory , Gallia's wonder . - -O , no ! forbear ; for that which we have fled -During the life , let us not wrong it dead . - - -Herald , conduct me to the Dauphin's tent , -To know who hath obtain'd the glory of the day . - -On what submissive message art thou sent ? - -Submission , Dauphin ! 'tis a mere French word ; -We English warriors wot not what it means . -I come to know what prisoners thou hast ta'en , -And to survey the bodies of the dead . - -For prisoners ask'st thou ? hell our prison is . -But tell me whom thou seek'st . - -Where is the great Alcides of the field , -Valiant Lord Talbot , Earl of Shrewsbury ? -Created , for his rare success in arms , -Great Earl of Washford , Waterford , and Valence ; -Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchinfield , -Lord Strange of Blackmere , Lord Vordun of Alton , -Lord Cromwell of Wingfield , Lord Furnival of Sheffield , -The thrice-victorious Lord of Falconbridge ; -Knight of the noble order of Saint George , -Worthy Saint Michael and the Golden Fleece ; -Great mareschal to Henry the Sixth -Of all his wars within the realm of France ? - -Here is a silly stately style indeed ! -The Turk , that two-and-fifty kingdoms hath , -Writes not so tedious a style as this . -Him that thou magnifiest with all these titles , -Stinking and fly-blown lies here at our feet . - -Is Talbot slain , the Frenchmen's only scourge , -Your kingdom's terror and black Nemesis ? -O ! were mine eye-balls into bullets turn'd , -That I in rage might shoot them at your faces ! -O ! that I could but call these dead to life ! -It were enough to fright the realm of France . -Were but his picture left among you here -It would amaze the proudest of you all . -Give me their bodies , that I may bear them hence , -And give them burial as beseems their worth . - -I think this upstart is old Talbot's ghost , -He speaks with such a proud commanding spirit . -For God's sake , let him have 'em ; to keep them here -They would but stink and putrefy the air . - -Go , take their bodies hence . - -I'll bear them hence : -But from their ashes shall be rear'd -A ph nix that shall make all France afeard . - -So we be rid of them , do with 'em what thou wilt . -And now to Paris , in this conquering vein : -All will be ours now bloody Talbot's slain . - -Have you perus'd the letters from the pope , -The emperor , and the Earl of Armagnac ? - -I have , my lord ; and their intent is this : -They humbly sue unto your excellence -To have a godly peace concluded of -Between the realms of England and of France . - -How doth your Grace affect their motion ? - -Well , my good lord ; and as the only means -To stop effusion of our Christian blood , -And stablish quietness on every side . - -Ay , marry , uncle ; for I always thought -It was both impious and unnatural -That such immanity and bloody strife -Should reign among professors of one faith . - -Beside , my lord , the sooner to effect -And surer bind this knot of amity , -The Earl of Armagnac , near knit to Charles , -A man of great authority in France , -Proffers his only daughter to your Grace -In marriage , with a large and sumptuous dowry . - -Marriage , uncle ! alas ! my years are young , -And fitter is my study and my books -Than wanton dalliance with a paramour . -Yet call the ambassadors ; and , as you please , -So let them have their answers every one : -I shall be well content with any choice -Tends to God's glory and my country's weal . - -What ! is my Lord of Winchester install'd , -And call'd unto a cardinal's degree ? -Then , I perceive that will be verified -Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy , -'If once he come to be a cardinal , -He'll make his cap co-equal with the crown .' - -My lords ambassadors , your several suits -Have been consider'd , and debated on . -Your purpose is both good and reasonable ; -And therefore are we certainly resolv'd -To draw conditions of a friendly peace ; -Which by my Lord of Winchester we mean -Shall be transported presently to France . - -And for the proffer of my lord your master , -I have inform'd his highness so at large , -As ,liking of the lady's virtuous gifts , -Her beauty , and the value of her dower , -He doth intend she shall be England's queen . - -In argument and proof of which contract , -Bear her this jewel , pledge of my affection . -And so , my lord protector , see them guarded , -And safely brought to Dover ; where inshipp'd -Commit them to the fortune of the sea . - - -Stay , my lord legate : you shall first receive -The sum of money which I promised -Should be deliver'd to his holiness -For clothing me in these grave ornaments . - -I will attend upon your lordship's leisure . - -Now Winchester will not submit , I trow , -Or be inferior to the proudest peer . -Humphrey of Gloucester , thou shalt well perceive -That neither in birth or for authority -The bishop will be overborne by thee : -I'll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee , -Or sack this country with a mutiny . - - -These news , my lord , may cheer our drooping spirits ; -'Tis said the stout Parisians do revolt , -And turn again unto the war-like French . - -Then , march to Paris , royal Charles of France , -And keep not back your powers in dalliance . - -Peace be amongst them if they turn to us ; -Else , ruin combat with their palaces ! - - -Success unto our valiant general , -And happiness to his accomplices ! - -What tidings send our scouts ? I prithee speak . - -The English army , that divided was -Into two parties , is now conjoin'd in one , -And means to give you battle presently . - -Somewhat too sudden , sirs , the warning is : -But we will presently provide for them . - -I trust the ghost of Talbot is not there : -Now he is gone , my lord , you need not fear . - -Of all base passions , fear is most accurs'd . -Command the conquest , Charles , it shall be thine ; -Let Henry fret and all the world repine . - -Then on , my lords ; and France be fortunate ! - - -The regent conquers and the Frenchmen fly . -Now help , ye charming spells and periapts ; -And ye choice spirits that admonish me -And give me signs of future accidents : - -You speedy helpers , that are substitutes -Under the lordly monarch of the north , -Appear , and aid me in this enterprise ! - - -This speedy and quick appearance argues proof -Of your accustom'd diligence to me . -Now , ye familiar spirits , that are cull'd -Out of the powerful regions under earth , -Help me this once , that France may get the field . - -O ! hold me not with silence over-long . -Where I was wont to feed you with my blood , -I'll lop a member off and give it you , -In earnest of a further benefit , -So you do condescend to help me now . - -No hope to have redress ? My body shall -Pay recompense , if you will grant my suit . - -Cannot my body nor blood-sacrifice -Entreat you to your wonted furtherance ? -Then take my soul ; my body , soul , and all , -Before that England give the French the foil . - -See ! they forsake me . Now the time is come , -That France must vail her lofty-plumed crest , -And let her head fall into England's lap . -My ancient incantations are too weak , -And hell too strong for me to buckle with : -Now , France , thy glory droopeth to the dust . - -Damsel of France , I think I have you fast : -Unchain your spirits now with spelling charms , -And try if they can gain your liberty . -A goodly prize , fit for the devil's grace ! -See how the ugly witch doth bend her brows , -As if with Circe she would change my shape . - -Chang'd to a worser shape thou canst not be . - -O ! Charles the Dauphin is a proper man ; -No shape but his can please your dainty eye . - -A plaguing mischief light on Charles and thee ! -And may ye both be suddenly surpris'd -By bloody hands , in sleeping on your beds ! - -Fell banning hag , enchantress , hold thy tongue ! - -I prithee , give me leave to curse a while . - -Curse , miscreant , when thou comest to the stake . - -Be what thou wilt , thou art my prisoner . - -O fairest beauty ! do not fear nor fly , -For I will touch thee but with reverent hands . -I kiss these fingers for eternal peace , -And lay them gently on thy tender side . -What art thou ? say , that I may honour thee . - -Margaret my name , and daughter to a king , -The King of Naples , whosoe'er thou art . - -An earl I am , and Suffolk am I call'd . -Be not offended , nature's miracle , -Thou art allotted to be ta'en by me : -So doth the swan her downy cygnets save , -Keeping them prisoners underneath her wings . -Yet if this servile usage once offend , -Go and be free again , as Suffolk's friend . - -O stay ! I have no power to let her pass ; -My hand would free her , but my heart says no . -As plays the sun upon the glassy streams , -Twinkling another counterfeited beam , -So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes . -Fain would I woo her , yet I dare not speak : -I'll call for pen and ink and write my mind . -Fie , De la Pole ! disable not thyself ; -Hast not a tongue ? is she not here thy prisoner ? -Wilt thou be daunted at a woman's sight ? -Ay ; beauty's princely majesty is such -Confounds the tongue and makes the senses rough . - -Say , Earl of Suffolk ,if thy name be so , -What ransom must I pay before I pass ? -For I perceive , I am thy prisoner . - -How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit , -Before thou make a trial of her love ? - -Why speak'st thou not ? what ransom must I pay ? - -She's beautiful and therefore to be woo'd , -She is a woman , therefore to be won . - -Wilt thou accept of ransom , yea or no ? - -Fond man ! remember that thou hast a wife ; -Then how can Margaret be thy paramour ? - -I were best to leave him , for he will not hear . - -There all is marr'd ; there lies a cooling card . - -He talks at random ; sure , the man is mad . - -And yet a dispensation may be had . - -And yet I would that you would answer me . - -I'll win this Lady Margaret . For whom ? -Why , for my king : tush ! that's a wooden thing . - -He talks of wood : it is some carpenter . - -Yet so my fancy may be satisfied , -And peace established between these realms . -But there remains a scruple in that too ; -For though her father be the King of Naples , -Duke of Anjou and Maine , yet is he poor , -And our nobility will scorn the match . - -Hear ye , captain ? Are you not at leisure ? - -It shall be so , disdain they ne'er so much : -Henry is youthful and will quickly yield . -Madam , I have a secret to reveal . - -What though I be enthrall'd ? he seems a knight , -And will not any way dishonour me . - -Lady , vouchsafe to listen what I say . - -Perhaps I shall be rescu'd by the French ; -And then I need not crave his courtesy . - -Sweet madam , give me hearing in a cause - -Tush , women have been captivate ere now . - -Lady , wherefore talk you so ? - -I cry you mercy , 'tis but quid for quo . - -Say , gentle princess , would you not suppose -Your bondage happy to be made a queen ? - -To be a queen in bondage is more vile -Than is a slave in base servility ; -For princes should be free . - -And so shall you , -If happy England's royal king be free . - -Why , what concerns his freedom unto me ? - -I'll undertake to make thee Henry's queen , -To put a golden sceptre in thy hand -And set a precious crown upon thy head , -If thou wilt condescend to be my - -What ? - -His love . - -I am unworthy to be Henry's wife . - -No , gentle madam ; I unworthy am -To woo so fair a dame to be his wife -And have no portion in the choice myself . -How say you , madam , are you so content ? - -An if my father please , I am content . - -Then call our captains and our colours forth ! -And , madam , at your father's castle walls -We'll crave a parley , to confer with him . - -See , Reignier , see thy daughter prisoner ! - -To whom ? - -To me . - -Suffolk , what remedy ? -I am a soldier , and unapt to weep , -Or to exclaim on Fortune's fickleness . - -Yes , there is remedy enough ; my lord : -Consent , and for thy honour , give consent , -Thy daughter shall be wedded to my king , -Whom I with pain have woo'd and won thereto ; -And this her easy-held imprisonment -Hath gain'd thy daughter princely liberty . - -Speaks Suffolk as he thinks ? - -Fair Margaret knows -That Suffolk doth not flatter , face , or feign . - -Upon thy princely warrant , I descend -To give thee answer of thy just demand . - - -And here I will expect thy coming . - - -Welcome , brave earl , into our territories : -Command in Anjou what your honour pleases . - -Thanks , Reignier , happy for so sweet a child , -Fit to be made companion with a king . -What answer makes your Grace unto my suit ? - -Since thou dost deign to woo her little worth -To be the princely bride of such a lord , -Upon condition I may quietly -Enjoy mine own , the county Maine and Anjou , -Free from oppression or the stroke of war , -My daughter shall be Henry's if he please . - -That is her ransom ; I deliver her ; -And those two counties I will undertake -Your Grace shall well and quietly enjoy . - -And I again , in Henry's royal name , -As deputy unto that gracious king , -Give thee her hand for sign of plighted faith . - -Reignier of France , I give thee kingly thanks , -Because this is in traffic of a king : - - -And yet , methinks , I could be well content -To be mine own attorney in this case . -I'll over then , to England with this news , -And make this marriage to be solemniz'd . -So farewell , Reignier : set this diamond safe , -In golden palaces , as it becomes . - -I do embrace thee , as I would embrace -The Christian prince , King Henry , were he here . - -Farewell , my lord . Good wishes , praise , and prayers -Shall Suffolk ever have of Margaret . - - -Farewell , sweet madam ! but hark you , Margaret ; -No princely commendations to my king ? - -Such commendations as become a maid , -A virgin , and his servant , say to him . - -Words sweetly plac'd and modestly directed . -But madam , I must trouble you again , -No loving token to his majesty ? - -Yes , my good lord ; a pure unspotted heart , -Never yet taint with love , I send the king . - -And this withal . - - -That for thyself : I will not so presume , -To send such peevish tokens to a king . - - -O ! wert thou for myself ! But Suffolk , stay ; -Thou mayst not wander in that labyrinth ; -There Minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk . -Solicit Henry with her wondrous praise : -Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount -And natural graces that extinguish art ; -Repeat their semblance often on the seas , -That , when thou com'st to kneel at Henry's feet , -Thou mayst bereave him of his wits with wonder . - - -Bring forth that sorceress , condemn'd to burn . - - -Ah , Joan ! this kills thy father's heart outright . -Have I sought every country far and near , -And , now it is my chance to find thee out , -Must I behold thy timeless cruel death ? -Ah , Joan ! sweet daughter Joan , I'll die with thee . - -Decrepit miser ! base ignoble wretch ! -I am descended of a gentler blood : -Thou art no father nor no friend of mine . - -Out , out ! My lords , an please you , 'tis not so ; -I did beget her all the parish knows : -Her mother liveth yet , can testify -She was the first fruit of my bachelorship . - -Graceless ! wilt thou deny thy parentage ? - -This argues what her kind of life hath been : -Wicked and vile ; and so her death concludes . - -Fie , Joan , that thou wilt be so obstacle ! -God knows , thou art a collop of my flesh ; -And for thy sake have I shed many a tear : -Deny me not , I prithee , gentle Joan . - -Peasant , avaunt ! You have suborn'd this man , -Of purpose to obscure my noble birth . - -'Tis true , I gave a noble to the priest , -The morn that I was wedded to her mother . -Kneel down and take my blessing , good my girl . -Wilt thou not stoop ? Now cursed be the time -Of thy nativity ! I would the milk -Thy mother gave thee , when thou suck'dst her breast , -Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake ! -Or else , when thou didst keep my lambs a-field -I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee ! -Dost thou deny thy father , cursed drab ? -O ! burn her , burn her ! hanging is too good . - - -Take her away ; for she hath liv'd too long , -To fill the world with vicious qualities . - -First , let me tell you whom you have condemn'd : -Not me begotten of a shepherd swain , -But issu'd from the progeny of kings ; -Virtuous and holy ; chosen from above , -By inspiration of celestial grace , -To work exceeding miracles on earth . -I never had to do with wicked spirits : -But you ,that are polluted with your lusts , -Stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents , -Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices , -Because you want the grace that others have , -You judge it straight a thing impossible -To compass wonders but by help of devils . -No misconceived ! Joan of Arc hath been -A virgin from her tender infancy , -Chaste and immaculate in very thought ; -Whose maiden blood , thus rigorously effus'd , -Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven . - -Ay , ay : away with her to execution ! - -And hark ye , sirs ; because she is a maid , -Spare for no fagots , let there be enow : -Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake , -That so her torture may be shortened . - -Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts ? -Then , Joan , discover thine infirmity ; -That warranteth by law to be thy privilege . -I am with child , ye bloody homicides : -Murder not then the fruit within my womb , -Although ye hale me to a violent death . - -Now , heaven forefend ! the holy maid with child ! - -The greatest miracle that e'er ye wrought ! -Is all your strict preciseness come to this ? - -She and the Dauphin have been juggling : -I did imagine what would be her refuge . - -Well , go to ; we will have no bastards live ; -Especially since Charles must father it . - -You are deceiv'd ; my child is none of his : -It was Alen on that enjoy'd my love . - -Alen on ! that notorious Machiavel ! -It dies an if it had a thousand lives . - -O ! give me leave , I have deluded you : -'Twas neither Charles , nor yet the duke I nam'd , -But Reignier , King of Naples , that prevail'd . - -A married man : that's most intolerable . - -Why , here's a girl ! I think she knows not well , -There were so many , whom she may accuse . - -It's sign she hath been liberal and free . - -And yet , forsooth , she is a virgin pure . -Strumpet , thy words condemn thy brat and thee : -Use no entreaty , for it is in vain . - -Then lead me hence ; with whom I leave my curse : -May never glorious sun reflex his beams -Upon the country where you make abode ; -But darkness and the gloomy shade of death -Environ you , till mischief and despair -Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves ! - - -Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes , -Thou foul accursed minister of hell ! - - -Lord regent , I do greet your excellence -With letters of commission from the king . -For know , my lords , the states of Christendom , -Mov'd with remorse of these outrageous broils , -Have earnestly implor'd a general peace -Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French ; -And here at hand the Dauphin , and his train , -Approacheth to confer about some matter . - -Is all our travail turn'd to this effect ? -After the slaughter of so many peers , -So many captains , gentlemen , and soldiers , -That in this quarrel have been overthrown , -And sold their bodies for their country's benefit , -Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace ? -Have we not lost most part of all the towns , -By treason , falsehood , and by treachery , -Our great progenitors had conquered ? -O ! Warwick , Warwick ! I foresee with grief -The utter loss of all the realm of France . - -Be patient , York : if we conclude a peace , -It shall be with such strict and severe covenants -As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby . - - -Since , lords of England , it is thus agreed , -That peaceful truce shall be proclaim'd in France , -We come to be informed by yourselves -What the conditions of that league must be . - -Speak , Winchester ; for boiling choler chokes -The hollow passage of my poison'd voice , -By sight of these our baleful enemies . - -Charles , and the rest , it is enacted thus : -That , in regard King Henry gives consent , -Of mere compassion and of lenity , -To ease your country of distressful war , -And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace , -You shall become true liegemen to his crown : -And , Charles , upon-condition thou wilt swear -To pay him tribute , and submit thyself , -Thou shalt be plac'd as viceroy under him , -And still enjoy thy regal dignity . - -Must he be then , as shadow of himself ? -Adorn his temples with a coronet , -And yet , in substance and authority , -Retain but privilege of a private man ? -This proffer is absurd and reasonless . - -'Tis known already that I am possess'd -With more than half the Gallian territories , -And therein reverenc'd for their lawful king : -Shall I , for lucre of the rest unvanquish'd , -Detract so much from that prerogative -As to be call'd but viceroy of the whole ? -No , lord ambassador ; I'll rather keep -That which I have than , coveting for more , -Be cast from possibility of all . - -Insulting Charles ! hast thou by secret means -Us'd intercession to obtain a league , -And now the matter grows to compromise , -Stand'st thou aloof upon comparison ? -Either accept the title thou usurp'st , -Of benefit proceeding from our king -And not of any challenge of desert , -Or we will plague thee with incessant wars . - -My lord , you do not well in obstinacy -To cavil in the course of this contract : -If once it be neglected , ten to one , -We shall not find like opportunity . - -To say the truth , it is your policy -To save your subjects from such massacre -And ruthless slaughters as are daily seen -By our proceeding in hostility ; -And therefore take this compact of a truce , -Although you break it when your pleasure serves . - -How sayst thou , Charles ? shall our condition stand ? - -It shall ; -Only reserv'd , you claim no interest -In any of our towns of garrison . - -Then swear allegiance to his majesty ; -As thou art knight , never to disobey -Nor be rebellious to the crown of England , -Thou , nor thy nobles , to the crown of England . - -So , now dismiss your army when ye please ; -Hang up your ensigns , let your drums be still , -For here we entertain a solemn peace . - - -Your wondrous rare description , noble earl , -Of beauteous Margaret hath astonish'd me : -Her virtues , graced with external gifts -Do breed love's settled passions in my heart : -And like as rigour of tempestuous gusts -Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide , -So am I driven by breath of her renown -Either to suffer shipwrack , or arrive -Where I may have fruition of her love . - -Tush ! my good lord , this superficial tale -Is but a preface of her worthy praise : -The chief perfections of that lovely dame -Had I sufficient skill to utter them -Would make a volume of enticing lines , -Able to ravish any dull conceit : -And , which is more , she is not so divine , -So full replete with choice of all delights , -But with as humble lowliness of mind -She is content to be at your command ; -Command , I mean , of virtuous chaste intents , -To love and honour Henry as her lord . - -And otherwise will Henry ne'er presume . -Therefore , my Lord Protector , give consent -That Margaret may be England's royal queen . - -So should I give consent to flatter sin . -You know , my lord , your highness is betroth'd -Unto another lady of esteem ; -How shall we then dispense with that contract , -And not deface your honour with reproach ? - -As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths ; -Or one that , at a triumph having vow'd -To try his strength , forsaketh yet the lists -By reason of his adversary's odds . -A poor earl's daughter is unequal odds , -And therefore may be broke without offence . - -Why , what , I pray , is Margaret more than that ? -Her father is no better than an earl , -Although in glorious titles he excel . - -Yes , my good lord , her father is a king , -The King of Naples and Jerusalem ; -And of such great authority in France -As his alliance will confirm our peace , -And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance . - -And so the Earl of Armagnac may do , -Because he is near kinsman unto Charles . - -Beside , his wealth doth warrant liberal dower , -Where Reignier sooner will receive than give . - -A dower , my lords ! disgrace not so your king , -That he should be so abject , base , and poor , -To choose for wealth and not for perfect love . -Henry is able to enrich his queen , -And not to seek a queen to make him rich : -So worthless peasants bargain for their wives , -As market-men for oxen , sheep , or horse . -Marriage is a matter of more worth -Than to be dealt in by attorneyship : -Not whom we will , but whom his Grace affects , -Must be companion of his nuptial bed ; -And therefore , lords , since he affects her most -It most of all these reasons bindeth us , -In our opinions she should be preferr'd . -For what is wedlock forced , but a hell , -An age of discord and continual strife ? -Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss , -And is a pattern of celestial peace . -Whom should we match with Henry , being a king , -But Margaret , that is daughter to a king ? -Her peerless feature , joined with her birth , -Approves her fit for none but for a king : -Her valiant courage and undaunted spirit -More than in women commonly is seen -Will answer our hope in issue of a king ; -For Henry , son unto a conqueror , -Is likely to beget more conquerors , -If with a lady of so high resolve -As is fair Margaret he be link'd in love . -Then yield , my lords ; and here conclude with me -That Margaret shall be queen , and none but she . - -Whether it be through force of your report , -My noble lord of Suffolk , or for that -My tender youth was never yet attaint -With any passion of inflaming love , -I cannot tell ; but this I am assur'd , -I feel such sharp dissension in my breast , -Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear , -As I am sick with working of my thoughts . -Take , therefore , shipping ; post , my lord , to France ; -Agree to any covenants , and procure -That Lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come -To cross the seas to England and be crown'd -King Henry's faithful and anointed queen : -For your expenses and sufficient charge , -Among the people gather up a tenth . -Be gone , I say ; for till you do return -I rest perplexed with a thousand cares . -And you , good uncle , banish all offence : -If you do censure me by what you were , -Not what you are , I know it will excuse -This sudden execution of my will . -And so , conduct me , where , from company -I may revolve and ruminate my grief . - - -Ay , grief , I fear me , both at first and last . - - -Thus Suffolk hath prevail'd ; and thus he goes , -As did the youthful Paris once to Greece ; -With hope to find the like event in love , -But prosper better than the Trojan did . -Margaret shall now be queen , and rule the king ; -But I will rule both her , the king , and realm . - -THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN - -Now , say , Chatillon , what would France with us ? - -Thus , after greeting , speaks the King of France , -In my behaviour , to the majesty , -The borrow'd majesty of England here . - -A strange beginning ; 'borrow'd majesty !' - -Silence , good mother ; hear the embassy . - -Philip of France , in right and true behalf -Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son , -Arthur Plantagenet , lays most lawful claim -To this fair island and the territories , -To Ireland , Poictiers , Anjou , Touraine , Maine ; -Desiring thee to lay aside the sword -Which sways usurpingly these several titles , -And put the same into young Arthur's hand , -Thy nephew and right royal sovereign . - -What follows if we disallow of this ? - -The proud control of fierce and bloody war , -To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld . - -Here have we war for war , and blood for blood , -Controlment for controlment : so answer France . - -Then take my king's defiance from my mouth , -The furthest limit of my embassy . - -Bear mine to him , and so depart in peace : -Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France ; -For ere thou canst report I will be there , -The thunder of my cannon shall be heard . -So , hence ! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath -And sullen presage of your own decay . -An honourable conduct let him have : -Pembroke , look to't . Farewell , Chatillon . - - -What now , my son ! have I not ever said -How that ambitious Constance would not cease -Till she had kindled France and all the world -Upon the right and party of her son ? -This might have been prevented and made whole -With very easy arguments of love , -Which now the manage of two kingdoms must -With fearful bloody issue arbitrate . - -Our strong possession and our right for us . - -Your strong possession much more than your right , -Or else it must go wrong , with you and me : -So much my conscience whispers in your ear , -Which none but heaven and you and I shall hear . - - -My liege , here is the strangest controversy , -Come from the country to be judg'd by you , -That e'er I heard : shall I produce the men ? - -Let them approach . - -Our abbeys and our priories shall pay -This expedition's charge . - -What men are you ? - -Your faithful subject I , a gentleman -Born in Northamptonshire , and eldest son , -As I suppose , to Robert Faulconbridge , -A soldier , by the honour-giving hand -Of C ur-de-Lion knighted in the field . - -What art thou ? - -The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge . - -Is that the elder , and art thou the heir ? -You came not of one mother then , it seems . - -Most certain of one mother , mighty king , -That is well known : and , as I think , one father : -But for the certain knowledge of that truth -I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother : -Of that I doubt , as all men's children may . - -Out on thee , rude man ! thou dost shame thy mother -And wound her honour with this diffidence . - -I , madam ? no , I have no reason for it ; -That is my brother's plea and none of mine ; -The which if he can prove , a' pops me out -At least from fair five hundred pound a year : -Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land ! - -A good blunt fellow . Why , being younger born , -Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance ? - -I know not why , except to get the land . -But once he slander'd me with bastardy : -But whe'r I be as true-begot or no , -That still I lay upon my mother's head ; -But that I am as well-begot , my liege , -Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me ! -Compare our faces and be judge yourself . -If old Sir Robert did beget us both , -And were our father , and this son like him ; -O old Sir Robert , father , on my knee -I give heaven thanks I was not like to thee ! - -Why , what a madcap hath heaven lent us here ! - -He hath a trick of C ur-de-Lion's face ; -The accent of his tongue affecteth him . -Do you not read some tokens of my son -In the large composition of this man ? - -Mine eye hath well examined his parts , -And finds them perfect Richard . Sirrah , speak : -What doth move you to claim your brother's land ? - -Because he hath a half-face , like my father . -With half that face would he have all my land ; -A half-fac'd groat five hundred pound a year ! - -My gracious liege , when that my father liv'd , -Your brother did employ my father much , - -Well , sir , by this you cannot get my land : -Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother . - -And once dispatch'd him in an embassy -To Germany , there with the emperor -To treat of high affairs touching that time . -The advantage of his absence took the king , -And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's ; -Where how he did prevail I shame to speak , -But truth is truth : large lengths of seas and shores -Between my father and my mother lay , -As I have heard my father speak himself , -When this same lusty gentleman was got . -Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd -His lands to me , and took it on his death -That this my mother's son was none of his ; -An if he were , he came into the world -Full fourteen weeks before the course of time . -Then , good my liege , let me have what is mine , -My father's land , as was my father's will . - -Sirrah , your brother is legitimate ; -Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him , -And if she did play false , the fault was hers ; -Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands -That marry wives . Tell me , how if my brother , -Who , as you say , took pains to get this son , -Had of your father claim'd this son for his ? -In sooth , good friend , your father might have kept -This calf bred from his cow from all the world ; -In sooth he might : then , if he were my brother's , -My brother might not claim him ; nor your father , -Being none of his , refuse him : this concludes ; -My mother's son did get your father's heir ; -Your father's heir must have your father's land . - -Shall then my father's will be of no force -To dispossess that child which is not his ? - -Of no more force to dispossess me , sir , -Than was his will to get me , as I think . - -Whe'r hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge -And like thy brother , to enjoy thy land , -Or the reputed son of C ur-de-Lion , -Lord of thy presence and no land beside ? - -Madam , an if my brother had my shape , -And I had his , Sir Robert his , like him ; -And if my legs were two such riding-rods , -My arms such eel-skins stuff'd , my face so thin -That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose -Lest men should say , 'Look , where three-far-things goes !' -And , to his shape , were heir to all this land , -Would I might never stir from off this place , -I'd give it every foot to have this face : -I would not be Sir Nob in any case . - -I like thee well : wilt thou forsake thy fortune , -Bequeath thy land to him , and follow me ? -I am a soldier and now bound to France . - -Brother , take you my land , I'll take my chance . -Your face hath got five hundred pounds a year , -Yet sell your face for five pence and 'tis dear . -Madam , I'll follow you unto the death . - -Nay , I would have you go before me thither . - -Our country manners give our betters way . - -What is thy name ? - -Philip , my liege , so is my name begun ; -Philip , good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son . - -From henceforth bear his name whose form thou bearest : -Kneel thou down Philip , but arise more great ; -Arise Sir Richard , and Plantagenet . - -Brother by the mother's side , give me your hand : -My father gave me honour , yours gave land . -Now blessed be the hour , by night or day , -When I was got , Sir Robert was away ! - -The very spirit of Plantagenet ! -I am thy grandam , Richard : call me so . - -Madam , by chance but not by truth ; what though ? -Something about , a little from the right , -In at the window , or else o'er the hatch : -Who dares not stir by day must walk by night , -And have is have , however men do catch . -Near or far off , well won is still well shot , -And I am I , howe'er I was begot . - -Go , Faulconbridge : now hast thou thy desire ; -A landless knight makes thee a landed squire . -Come , madam , and come , Richard : we must speed -For France , for France , for it is more than need . - -Brother , adieu : good fortune come to thee ! -For thou wast got i' the way of honesty . - -A foot of honour better than I was , -But many a many foot of land the worse . -Well , now can I make any Joan a lady . -'Good den , Sir Richard !' 'God-a-mercy , fellow !' -And if his name be George , I'll call him Peter ; -For new-made honour doth forget men's names : -'Tis too respective and too sociable -For your conversion . Now your traveller , -He and his toothpick at my worship's mess , -And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd , -Why then I suck my teeth , and catechize -My picked man of countries : 'My dear sir ,' -Thus , leaning on mine elbow , I begin , -'I shall beseech you ,' that is question now ; -And then comes answer like an absey-book : -'O , sir ,' says answer , 'at your best command ; -At your employment ; at your service , sir :' -'No , sir ,' says question , 'I , sweet sir , at yours :' -And so , ere answer knows what question would , -Saving in dialogue of compliment , -And talking of the Alps and Apennines , -The Pyrenean and the river Po , -It draws toward supper in conclusion so . -But this is worshipful society -And fits the mounting spirit like myself ; -For he is but a bastard to the time , -That doth not smack of observation ; -And so am I , whether I smack or no ; -And not alone in habit and device , -Exterior form , outward accoutrement , -But from the inward motion to deliver -Sweet , sweet , sweet poison for the age's tooth : -Which , though I will not practise to deceive , -Yet , to avoid deceit , I mean to learn ; -For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising . -But who comes in such haste in riding-robes ? -What woman-post is this ? hath she no husband -That will take pains to blow a horn before her ? - - -O me ! it is my mother . How now , good lady ! - -What brings you here to court so hastily ? - -Where is that slave , thy brother ? where is he , -That holds in chase mine honour up and down ? - -My brother Robert ? old Sir Robert's son ? -Colbrand the giant , that same mighty man ? -Is it Sir Robert's son that you seek so ? - -Sir Robert's son ! Ay , thou unreverend boy , -Sir Robert's son : why scorn'st thou at Sir Robert ? -He is Sir Robert's son , and so art thou . - -James Gurney , wilt thou give us leave awhile ? - -Good leave , good Philip . - -Philip ! sparrow ! James , -There's toys abroad : anon I'll tell thee more . - -Madam , I was not old Sir Robert's son : -Sir Robert might have eat his part in me -Upon Good-Friday and ne'er broke his fast . -Sir Robert could do well : marry , to confess , -Could he get me ? Sir Robert could not do it : -We know his handiwork : therefore , good mother , -To whom am I beholding for these limbs ? -Sir Robert never holp to make this leg . - -Hast thou conspired with thy brother too , -That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour ? -What means this scorn , thou most untoward knave ? - -Knight , knight , good mother , Basilisco-like . -What ! I am dubb'd ; I have it on my shoulder . -But , mother , I am not Sir Robert's son ; -I have disclaim'd Sir Robert and my land ; -Legitimation , name , and all is gone . -Then , good my mother , let me know my father ; -Some proper man , I hope ; who was it , mother ? - -Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge ? - -As faithfully as I deny the devil . - -King Richard C ur-de-Lion was thy father : -By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd -To make room for him in my husband's bed . -Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge ! -Thou art the issue of my dear offence , -Which was so strongly urg'd past my defence . - -Now , by this light , were I to get again , -Madam , I would not wish a better father . -Some sins do bear their privilege on earth , -And so doth yours ; your fault was not your folly : -Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose , -Subjected tribute to commanding love , -Against whose fury and unmatched force -The aweless lion could not wage the fight , -Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand . -He that perforce robs lions of their hearts -May easily win a woman's . Ay , my mother , -With all my heart I thank thee for my father ! -Who lives and dares but say thou didst not well -When I was got , I'll send his soul to hell . -Come , lady , I will show thee to my kin ; -And they shall say , when Richard me begot , -If thou hadst said him nay , it had been sin : -Who says it was , he lies : I say , 'twas not . - - -Before Angiers well met , brave Austria . -Arthur , that great forerunner of thy blood , -Richard , that robb'd the lion of his heart -And fought the holy wars in Palestine , -By this brave duke came early to his grave : -And , for amends to his posterity , -At our importance hither is he come , -To spread his colours , boy , in thy behalf , -And to rebuke the usurpation -Of thy unnatural uncle , English John : -Embrace him , love him , give him welcome hither . - -God shall forgive you C ur-de-Lion's death -The rather that you give his offspring life , -Shadowing their right under your wings of war . -I give you welcome with a powerless hand , -But with a heart full of unstained love : -Welcome before the gates of Angiers , duke . - -A noble boy ! Who would not do thee right ? - -Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss , -As seal to this indenture of my love , -That to my home I will no more return -Till Angiers , and the right thou hast in France , -Together with that pale , that white-fac'd shore , -Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides -And coops from other lands her islanders , -Even till that England , hedg'd in with the main , -That water-walled bulwark , still secure -And confident from foreign purposes , -Even till that utmost corner of the west -Salute thee for her king : till then , fair boy , -Will I not think of home , but follow arms . - -O ! take his mother's thanks , a widow's thanks , -Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength -To make a more requital to your love . - -The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords -In such a just and charitable war . - -Well then , to work : our cannon shall be bent -Against the brows of this resisting town . -Call for our chiefest men of discipline , -To cull the plots of best advantages : -We'll lay before this town our royal bones , -Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood , -But we will make it subject to this boy . - -Stay for an answer to your embassy , -Lest unadvis'd you stain your swords with blood . -My Lord Chatillon may from England bring -That right in peace which here we urge in war ; -And then we shall repent each drop of blood -That hot rash haste so indirectly shed . - - -A wonder , lady ! lo , upon thy wish , -Our messenger , Chatillon , is arriv'd ! -What England says , say briefly , gentle lord ; -We coldly pause for thee ; Chatillon , speak . - -Then turn your forces from this paltry siege -And stir them up against a mightier task . -England , impatient of your just demands , -Hath put himself in arms : the adverse winds , -Whose leisure I have stay'd , have given him time -To land his legions all as soon as I ; -His marches are expedient to this town , -His forces strong , his soldiers confident . -With him along is come the mother-queen , -An Ate , stirring him to blood and strife ; -With her her niece , the Lady Blanch of Spain ; -With them a bastard of the king's deceas'd ; -And all the unsettled humours of the land , -Rash , inconsiderate , fiery voluntaries , -With ladies' faces and fierce dragons' spleens , -Have sold their fortunes at their native homes , -Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs , -To make a hazard of new fortunes here . -In brief , a braver choice of dauntless spirits -Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er -Did never float upon the swelling tide , -To do offence and scathe in Christendom . - -The interruption of their churlish drums -Cuts off more circumstance : they are at hand , -To parley or to fight ; therefore prepare . - -How much unlook'd for is this expedition ! - -By how much unexpected , by so much -We must awake endeavour for defence , -For courage mounteth with occasion : -Let them be welcome then , we are prepar'd . - - -Peace be to France , if France in peace permit -Our just and lineal entrance to our own ; -If not , bleed France , and peace ascend to heaven , -Whiles we , God's wrathful agent , do correct -Their proud contempt that beats his peace to heaven . - -Peace be to England , if that war return -From France to England , there to live in peace . -England we love ; and , for that England's sake -With burden of our armour here we sweat : -This toil of ours should be a work of thine ; -But thou from loving England art so far -That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king , -Cut off the sequence of posterity , -Out-faced infant state , and done a rape -Upon the maiden virtue of the crown . -Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face : -These eyes , these brows , were moulded out of his ; -This little abstract doth contain that large -Which died in Geffrey , and the hand of time -Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume . -That Geffrey was thy elder brother born , -And this his son ; England was Geffrey's right -And this is Geffrey's . In the name of God -How comes it then that thou art call'd a king , -When living blood doth in these temples beat , -Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest ? - -From whom hast thou this great commission , France , -To draw my answer from thy articles ? - -From that supernal judge , that stirs good thoughts -In any breast of strong authority , -To look into the blots and stains of right : -That judge hath made me guardian to this boy : -Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong , -And by whose help I mean to chastise it . - -Alack ! thou dost usurp authority . - -Excuse ; it is to beat usurping down . - -Who is it thou dost call usurper , France ? - -Let me make answer ; thy usurping son . - -Out , insolent ! thy bastard shall be king , -That thou mayst be a queen , and check the world ! - -My bed was ever to thy son as true -As thine was to thy husband , and this boy -Liker in feature to his father Geffrey -Than thou and John in manners ; being as like -As rain to water , or devil to his dam . -My boy a bastard ! By my soul I think -His father never was so true begot : -It cannot be an if thou wert his mother . - -There's a good mother , boy , that blots thy father . - -There's a good grandam , boy , that would blot thee . - -Peace ! - -Hear the crier . - -What the devil art thou ? - -One that will play the devil , sir , with you , -An a' may catch your hide and you alone . -You are the hare of whom the proverb goes , -Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard . -I'll smoke your skin coat , an I catch you right . -Sirrah , look to't ; i' faith , I will , i' faith . - -O ! well did he become that lion's robe , -That did disrobe the lion of that robe . - -It lies as sightly on the back of him -As great Alcides' shows upon an ass : -But , ass , I'll take that burden from your back , -Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack . - -What cracker is this same that deafs our ears -With this abundance of superfluous breath ? -King ,Lewis , determine what we shall do straight . - -Women and fools , break off your conference . -King John , this is the very sum of all : -England and Ireland , Anjou , Touraine , Maine , -In right of Arthur do I claim of thee . -Wilt thou resign them and lay down thy arms ? - -My life as soon : I do defy thee , France . -Arthur of Britaine , yield thee to my hand ; -And out of my dear love I'll give thee more -Than e'er the coward hand of France can win . -Submit thee , boy . - -Come to thy grandam , child . - -Do , child , go to it grandam , child ; -Give grandam kingdom , and it grandam will -Give it a plum , a cherry , and a fig : -There's a good grandam . - -Good my mother , peace ! -I would that I were low laid in my grave : -I am not worth this coil that's made for me . - -His mother shames him so , poor boy , he weeps . - -Now shame upon you , whe'r she does or no ! -His grandam's wrongs , and not his mother's shames , -Draw those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes , -Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee ; -Ay , with these crystal beads heaven shall be brib'd -To do him justice and revenge on you . - -Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth ! - -Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth ! -Call not me slanderer ; thou and thine usurp -The dominations , royalties , and rights -Of this oppressed boy : this is thy eld'st son's son , -Infortunate in nothing but in thee : -Thy sins are visited in this poor child ; -The canon of the law is laid on him , -Being but the second generation -Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb . - -Bedlam , have done . - -I have but this to say , -That he's not only plagued for her sin , -But God hath made her sin and her the plague -On this removed issue , plagu'd for her , -And with her plague , her sin ; his injury -Her injury , the beadle to her sin , -All punish'd in the person of this child , -And all for her . A plague upon her ! - -Thou unadvised scold , I can produce -A will that bars the title of thy son . - -Ay , who doubts that ? a will ! a wicked will ; -A woman's will ; a canker'd grandam's will ! - -Peace , lady ! pause , or be more temperate : -It ill beseems this presence to cry aim -To these ill-tuned repetitions . -Some trumpet summon hither to the walls -These men of Angiers : let us hear them speak -Whose title they admit , Arthur's or John's . - - -Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls ? - -'Tis France , for England . - -England for itself . -You men of Angiers , and my loving subjects , - -You loving men of Angiers , Arthur's subjects , -Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle , - -For our advantage ; therefore hear us first . -These flags of France , that are advanced here -Before the eye and prospect of your town , -Have hither march'd to your endamagement : -The cannons have their bowels full of wrath , -And ready mounted are they to spit forth -Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls : -All preparation for a bloody siege -And merciless proceeding by these French -Confronts your city's eyes , your winking gates ; -And but for our approach those sleeping stones , -That as a waist do girdle you about , -By the compulsion of their ordinance -By this time from their fixed beds of lime -Had been dishabited , and wide havoc made -For bloody power to rush upon your peace . -But on the sight of us your lawful king , -Who painfully with much expedient march -Have brought a countercheck before your gates , -To save unscratch'd your city's threaten'd cheeks , -Behold , the French amaz'd vouchsafe a parle ; -And now , instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire , -To make a shaking fever in your walls , -They shoot but calm words folded up in smoke , -To make a faithless error in your ears : -Which trust accordingly , kind citizens , -And let us in , your king , whose labour'd spirits , -Forwearied in this action of swift speed , -Crave harbourage within your city walls . - -When I have said , make answer to us both . -Lo ! in this right hand , whose protection -Is most divinely vow'd upon the right -Of him it holds , stands young Plantagenet , -Son to the elder brother of this man , -And king o'er him and all that he enjoys : -For this down-trodden equity , we tread -In war-like march these greens before your town , -Being no further enemy to you -Than the constraint of hospitable zeal , -In the relief of this oppressed child , -Religiously provokes . Be pleased then -To pay that duty which you truly owe -To him that owes it , namely , this young prince ; -And then our arms , like to a muzzled bear , -Save in aspect , have all offence seal'd up ; -Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent -Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven ; -And with a blessed and unvex'd retire , -With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruis'd , -We will bear home that lusty blood again -Which here we came to spout against your town , -And leave your children , wives , and you , in peace . -But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer , -'Tis not the roundure of your old-fac'd walls -Can hide you from our messengers of war , -Though all these English and their discipline -Were harbour'd in their rude circumference . -Then tell us , shall your city call us lord , -In that behalf which we have challeng'd it ? -Or shall we give the signal to our rage -And stalk in blood to our possession ? - -In brief , we are the King of England's subjects : -For him , and in his right , we hold this town . - -Acknowledge then the king , and let me in . - -That can we not ; but he that proves the king , -To him will we prove loyal : till that time -Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world . - -Doth not the crown of England prove the king ? -And if not that , I bring you witnesses , -Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed , - -Bastards , and else . - -To verify our title with their lives . - -As many and as well-born bloods as those , - -Some bastards too . - -Stand in his face to contradict his claim . - -Till thou compound whose right is worthiest , -We for the worthiest hold the right from both . - -Then God forgive the sins of all those souls -That to their everlasting residence , -Before the dew of evening fall , shall fleet , -In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king ! - -Amen , Amen ! Mount , chevaliers ! to arms ! - -Saint George , that swing'd the dragon , and e'er since -Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door , -Teach us some fence ! - -Sirrah , were I at home , -At your den , sirrah , with your lioness , -I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide , -And make a monster of you . - -Peace ! no more . - -O ! tremble , for you hear the lion roar . - -Up higher to the plain ; where we'll set forth -In best appointment all our regiments . - -Speed then , to take advantage of the field . - -It shall be so ; - -and at the other hill -Command the rest to stand . God , and our right ! - -You men of Angiers , open wide your gates , -And let young Arthur , Duke of Britaine , in , -Who , by the hand of France this day hath made -Much work for tears in many an English mother , -Whose sons he scatter'd on the bleeding ground ; -Many a widow's husband grovelling lies , -Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth ; -And victory , with little loss , doth play -Upon the dancing banners of the French , -Who are at hand , triumphantly display'd , -To enter conquerors and to proclaim -Arthur of Britaine England's king and yours . - - -Rejoice , you men of Angiers , ring your bells ; -King John , your king and England's , doth approach , -Commander of this hot malicious day . -Their armours , that march'd hence so silver-bright , -Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood ; -There stuck no plume in any English crest -That is removed by a staff of France ; -Our colours do return in those same hands -That did display them when we first march'd forth ; -And , like a jolly troop of huntsmen , come -Our lusty English , all with purpled hands -Dy'd in the dying slaughter of their foes . -Open your gates and give the victors way . - -Heralds , from off our towers we might behold , -From first to last , the onset and retire -Of both your armies ; whose equality -By our best eyes cannot be censured : -Blood hath bought blood , and blows have answer'd blows ; -Strength match'd with strength , and power confronted power : -Both are alike ; and both alike we like . -One must prove greatest : while they weigh so even , -We hold our town for neither , yet for both . - - -France , hast thou yet more blood to cast away ? -Say , shall the current of our right run on ? -Whose passage , vex'd with thy impediment , -Shall leave his native channel and o'erswell -With course disturb'd even thy conflning shores , -Unless thou let his silver water keep -A peaceful progress to the ocean . - -England , thou hast not sav'd one drop of blood , -In this hot trial , more than we of France ; -Rather , lost more : and by this hand I swear , -That sways the earth this climate overlooks , -Before we will lay down our just-borne arms , -We'll put thee down , 'gainst whom these arms we bear , -Or add a royal number to the dead , -Gracing the scroll that tells of this war's loss -With slaughter coupled to the name of kings . - -Ha , majesty ! how high thy glory towers -When the rich blood of kings is set on fire ! -O ! now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel ; -The swords of soldiers are his teeth , his fangs ; -And now he feasts , mousing the flesh of men , -In undetermin'd differences of kings . -Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus ? -Cry 'havoc !' kings ; back to the stained field , -You equal-potents , fiery-kindled spirits ! -Then let confusion of one part confirm -The other's peace ; till then , blows , blood , and death ! - -Whose party do the townsmen yet admit ? - -Speak , citizens , for England ; who's your king ? - -The King of England , when we know the king . - -Know him in us , that here hold up his right . - -In us , that are our own great deputy , -And bear possession of our person here , -Lord of our presence , Angiers , and of you . - -A greater power than we denies all this ; -And , till it be undoubted , we do lock -Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates , -Kings of ourselves ; until our fears , resolv'd , -Be by some certain king purg'd and depos'd . - -By heaven , these scroyles of Angiers flout you , kings , -And stand securely on their battlements -As in a theatre , whence they gape and point -At your industrious scenes and acts of death . -Your royal presences be rul'd by me : -Do like the mutines of Jerusalem , -Be friends awhile and both conjointly bend -Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town . -By east and west let France and England mount -Their battering cannon charged to the mouths , -Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down -The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city : -I'd play incessantly upon these jades , -Even till unfenced desolation -Leave them as naked as the vulgar air . -That done , dissever your united strengths , -And part your mingled colours once again ; -Turn face to face and bloody point to point ; -Then , in a moment , Fortune shall cull forth -Out of one side her happy minion , -To whom in favour she shall give the day , -And kiss him with a glorious victory . -How like you this wild counsel , mighty states ? -Smacks it not something of the policy ? - -Now , by the sky that hangs above our heads , -I like it well . France , shall we knit our powers -And lay this Angiers even with the ground ; -Then after fight who shall be king of it ? - -An if thou hast the mettle of a king , -Being wrong'd as we are by this peevish town , -Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery , -As we will ours , against these saucy walls ; -And when that we have dash'd them to the ground , -Why then defy each other , and , pell-mell , -Make work upon ourselves , for heaven or hell . - -Let it be so . Say , where will you assault ? - -We from the west will send destruction -Into this city's bosom . - -I from the north . - -Our thunder from the south -Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town . - -O , prudent discipline ! From north to south -Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth : -I'll stir them to it . Come , away , away ! - -Hear us , great kings : vouchsafe a while to stay , -And I shall show you peace and fair-fac'd league ; -Win you this city without stroke or wound ; -Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds , -That here come sacrifices for the field . -Persever not , but hear me , mighty kings . - -Speak on with favour : we are bent to hear . - -That daughter there of Spain , the Lady Blanch , -Is near to England : look upon the years -Of Lewis the Dauphin and that lovely maid . -If lusty love should go in quest of beauty , -Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch ? -If zealous love should go in search of virtue , -Where should he find it purer than in Blanch ? -If love ambitious sought a match of birth , -Whose veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch ? -Such as she is , in beauty , virtue , birth , -Is the young Dauphin every way complete : -If not complete of , say he is not she ; -And she again wants nothing , to name want , -If want it be not that she is not he : -He is the half part of a blessed man , -Left to be finished by such a she ; -And she a fair divided excellence , -Whose fulness of perfection lies in him . -O ! two such silver currents , when they join , -Do glorify the banks that bound them in ; -And two such shores to two such streams made one , -Two such controlling bounds shall you be , kings , -To these two princes , if you marry them . -This union shall do more than battery can -To our fast-closed gates ; for at this match , -With swifter spleen than powder can enforce , -The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope , -And give you entrance ; but without this match , -The sea enraged is not half so deaf , -Lions more confident , mountains and rocks -More free from motion , no , not death himself -In mortal fury half so peremptory , -As we to keep this city . - -Here's a stay , -That shakes the rotten carcase of old Death -Out of his rags ! Here's a large mouth , indeed , -That spits forth death and mountains , rocks and seas , -Talks as familiarly of roaring lions -As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs . -What cannoneer begot this lusty blood ? -He speaks plain cannon fire , and smoke and bounce ; -He gives the bastinado with his tongue ; -Our ears are cudgell'd ; not a word of his -But buffets better than a fist of France . -'Zounds ! I was never so bethump'd with words -Since I first call'd my brother's father dad . - -Son , list to this conjunction , make this match ; -Give with our niece a dowry large enough ; -For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie -Thy now unsur'd assurance to the crown , -That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe -The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit . -I see a yielding in the looks of France ; -Mark how they whisper : urge them while their souls -Are capable of this ambition , -Lest zeal , now melted by the windy breath -Of soft petitions , pity and remorse , -Cool and congeal again to what it was . - -Why answer not the double majesties -This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town ? - -Speak England first , that hath been forward first -To speak unto this city : what say you ? - -If that the Dauphin there , thy princely son , -Can in this book of beauty read 'I love ,' -Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen : -For Anjou , and fair Touraine , Maine , Poictiers , -And all that we upon this side the sea , -Except this city now by us besieg'd , -Find liable to our crown and dignity , -Shall gild her bridal bed and make her rich -In titles , honours , and promotions , -As she in beauty , education , blood , -Holds hand with any princess of the world . - -What sayst thou , boy ? look in the lady's face . - -I do , my lord ; and in her eye I find -A wonder , or a wondrous miracle , -The shadow of myself form'd in her eye ; -Which , being but the shadow of your son -Becomes a sun , and makes your son a shadow : -I do protest I never lov'd myself -Till now infixed I beheld myself , -Drawn in the flattering table of her eye . - - -Drawn in the flattering table of her eye ! -Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow ! -And quarter'd in her heart ! he doth espy -Himself love's traitor : this is pity now , -That hang'd and drawn and quarter'd , there should be -In such a love so vile a lout as he . - -My uncle's will in this respect is mine : -If he see aught in you that makes him like , -That anything he sees , which moves his liking , -I can with ease translate it to my will ; -Or if you will , to speak more properly , -I will enforce it easily to my love . -Further I will not flatter you , my lord , -That all I see in you is worthy love , -Than this : that nothing do I see in you , -Though churlish thoughts themselves should be your judge , -That I can find should merit any hate . - -What say these young ones ? What say you , my niece ? - -That she is bound in honour still to do -What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say . - -Speak then , Prince Dauphin ; can you love this lady ? - -Nay , ask me if I can refrain from love ; -For I do love her most unfeignedly . - -Then do I give Volquessen , Touraine , Maine , -Poictiers , and Anjou , these five provinces , -With her to thee ; and this addition more , -Full thirty thousand marks of English coin . -Philip of France , if thou be pleas'd withal , -Command thy son and daughter to join hands . - -It likes us well . Young princes , close your hands . - -And your lips too ; for I am well assur'd -That I did so when I was first assur'd . - -Now , citizens of Angiers , ope your gates , -Let in that amity which you have made ; -For at Saint Mary's chapel presently -The rites of marriage shall be solemniz'd . -Is not the Lady Constance in this troop ? -I know she is not ; for this match made up -Her presence would have interrupted much : -Where is she and her son ? tell me , who knows . - -She is sad and passionate at your highness' tent . - -And , by my faith , this league that we have made -Will give her sadness very little cure . -Brother of England , how may we content -This widow lady ? In her right we came ; -Which we , God knows , have turn'd another way , -To our own vantage . - -We will heal up all ; -For we'll create young Arthur Duke of Britaine -And Earl of Richmond ; and this rich fair town -We make him lord of . Call the Lady Constance : -Some speedy messenger bid her repair -To our solemnity : I trust we shall , -If not fill up the measure of her will , -Yet in some measure satisfy her so , -That we shall stop her exclamation . -Go we , as well as haste will suffer us , -To this unlook'd-for unprepared pomp . - - -Mad world ! mad kings ! mad composition ! -John , to stop Arthur's title in the whole , -Hath willingly departed with a part ; -And France , whose armour conscience buckled on , -Whom zeal and charity brought to the field -As God's own soldier , rounded in the ear -With that same purpose-changer , that sly devil , -That broker , that still breaks the pate of faith , -That daily break-vow , he that wins of all , -Of kings , of beggars , old men , young men , maids , -Who having no external thing to lose -But the word 'maid ,' cheats the poor maid of that , -That smooth-fac'd gentleman , tickling Commodity , -Commodity , the bias of the world ; -The world , who of itself is peized well , -Made to run even upon even ground , -Till this advantage , this vile-drawing bias , -This sway of motion , this Commodity , -Makes it take head from all indifferency , -From all direction , purpose , course , intent : -And this same bias , this Commodity , -This bawd , this broker , this all-changing word , -Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France , -Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid , -From a resolv'd and honourable war , -To a most base and vile-concluded peace . -And why rail I on this Commodity ? -But for because he hath not woo'd me yet . -Not that I have the power to clutch my hand -When his fair angels would salute my palm ; -But for my hand , as unattempted yet , -Like a poor beggar , raileth on the rich . -Well , whiles I am a beggar , I will rail , -And say there is no sin but to be rich ; -And being rich , my virtue then shall be -To say there is no vice but beggary . -Since kings break faith upon Commodity , -Gain , be my lord , for I will worship thee ! - -Gone to be married ! gone to swear a peace ! -False blood to false blood join'd ! gone to be friends ! -Shall Lewis have Blanch , and Blanch those provinces ? -It is not so ; thou hast misspoke , misheard ; -Be well advis'd , tell o'er thy tale again : -It cannot be ; thou dost but say 'tis so . -I trust I may not trust thee , for thy word -Is but the vain breath of a common man : -Believe me , I do not believe thee , man ; -I have a king's oath to the contrary . -Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frighting me , -For I am sick and capable of fears ; -Oppress'd with wrongs , and therefore full of fears ; -A widow , husbandless , subject to fears ; -A woman , naturally born to fears ; -And though thou now confess thou didst but jest , -With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce , -But they will quake and tremble all this day . -What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head ? -Why dost thou look so sadly on my son ? -What means that hand upon that breast of thine ? -Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum , -Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds ? -Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words ? -Then speak again ; not all thy former tale , -But this one word , whether thy tale be true . - -As true as I believe you think them false -That give you cause to prove my saying true . - -O ! if thou teach me to believe this sorrow , -Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die ; -And let belief and life encounter so -As doth the fury of two desperate men -Which in the very meeting fall and die . -Lewis marry Blanch ! O boy ! then where art thou ? -France friend with England what becomes of me ? -Fellow , be gone ! I cannot brook thy sight : -This news hath made thee a most ugly man . - -What other harm have I , good lady , done , -But spoke the harm that is by others done ? - -Which harm within itself so heinous is -As it makes harmful all that speak of it . - -I do beseech you , madam , be content . - -If thou , that bidd'st me be content , wert grim , -Ugly and slanderous to thy mother's womb , -Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains , -Lame , foolish , crooked , swart , prodigious , -Patch'd with foul moles and eye-offending marks , -I would not care , I then would be content ; -For then I should not love thee , no , nor thou -Become thy great birth , nor deserve a crown . -But thou art fair ; and at thy birth , dear boy , -Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great : -Of Nature's gifts thou mayst with lilies boast -And with the half-blown rose . But Fortune , O ! -She is corrupted , chang'd , and won from thee : -She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John , -And with her golden hand hath pluck'd on France -To tread down fair respect of sovereignty , -And made his majesty the bawd to theirs . -France is a bawd to Fortune and King John , -That strumpet Fortune , that usurping John ! -Tell me , thou fellow , is not France forsworn ? -Envenom him with words , or get thee gone -And leave those woes alone which I alone -Am bound to underbear . - -Pardon me , madam , -I may not go without you to the kings . - -Thou mayst , thou shalt : I will not go with thee . -I will instruct my sorrows to be proud ; -For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop . -To me and to the state of my great grief -Let kings assemble ; for my grief's so great -That no supporter but the huge firm earth -Can hold it up : here I and sorrows sit ; -Here is my throne , bid kings come bow to it . - -'Tis true , fair daughter ; and this blessed day -Ever in France shall be kept festival : -To solemnize this day the glorious sun -Stays in his course and plays the alchemist , -Turning with splendour of his precious eye -The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold : -The yearly course that brings this day about -Shall never see it but a holiday . - -A wicked day , and not a holy day ! -What hath this day deserv'd ? what hath it done -That it in golden letters should be set -Among the high tides in the calendar ? -Nay , rather turn this day out of the week , -This day of shame , oppression , perjury : -Or , if it must stand still , let wives with child -Pray that their burdens may not fall this day , -Lest that their hopes prodigiously be cross'd : -But on this day let seamen fear no wrack ; -No bargains break that are not this day made ; -This day all things begun come to ill end ; -Yea , faith itself to hollow falsehood change ! - -By heaven , lady , you shall have no cause -To curse the fair proceedings of this day : -Have I not pawn'd to you my majesty ? - -You have beguil'd me with a counterfeit -Resembling majesty , which , being touch'd and tried , -Proves valueless : you are forsworn , forsworn ; -You came in arms to spill mine enemies' blood , -But now in arms you strengthen it with yours : -The grappling vigour and rough frown of war -Is cold in amity and painted peace , -And our oppression hath made up this league . -Arm , arm , you heavens , against these perjur'd kings ! -A widow cries ; be husband to me , heavens ! -Let not the hours of this ungodly day -Wear out the day in peace ; but , ere sunset , -Set armed discord 'twixt these perjur'd kings ! -Hear me ! O , hear me ! - -Lady Constance , peace ! - -War ! war ! no peace ! peace is to me a war . -O , Lymoges ! O , Austria ! thou dost shame -That bloody spoil . thou slave , thou wretch , thou coward ! -Thou little valiant , great in villany ! -Thou ever strong upon the stronger side ! -Thou Fortune's champion , that dost never fight -But when her humorous ladyship is by -To teach thee safety ! thou art perjur'd too , -And sooth'st up greatness . What a fool art thou , -A ramping fool , to brag , and stamp and swear -Upon my party ! Thou cold-blooded slave , -Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side ? -Been sworn my soldier ? bidding me depend -Upon thy stars , thy fortune , and thy strength ? -And dost thou now fall over to my foes ? -Thou wear a hon's hide ! doff it for shame , -And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs . - -O ! that a man should speak those words to me . - -And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs . - -Thou dar'st not say so , villain , for thy life . - -And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs . - -We like not this ; thou dost forget thyself . - - -Here comes the holy legate of the pope . - -Hail , you anointed deputies of heaven ! -To thee , King John , my holy errand is . -I Pandulph , of fair Milan cardinal , -And from Pope Innocent the legate here , -Do in his name religiously demand -Why thou against the church , our holy mother , -So wilfully dost spurn ; and , force perforce , -Keep Stephen Langton , chosen Archbishop -Of Canterbury , from that holy see ? -This , in our foresaid holy father's name , -Pope Innocent , I do demand of thee . - -What earthly name to interrogatories -Can task the free breath of a sacred king ? -Thou canst not , cardinal , devise a name -So slight , unworthy and ridiculous , -To charge me to an answer , as the pope . -Tell him this tale ; and from the mouth of England -Add thus much more : that no Italian priest -Shall tithe or toll in our dominions ; -But as we under heaven are supreme head , -So under him that great supremacy , -Where we do reign , we will alone uphold , -Without the assistance of a mortal hand : -So tell the pope ; all reverence set apart -To him , and his usurp'd authority . - -Brother of England , you blaspheme in this . - -Though you and all the kings of Christendom -Are led so grossly by this meddling priest , -Dreading the curse that money may buy out ; -And , by the merit of vile gold , dross , dust , -Purchase corrupted pardon of a man , -Who in that sale sells pardon from himself ; -Though you and all the rest so grossly led -This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish ; -Yet I alone , alone do me oppose -Against the pope , and count his friends my foes . - -Then , by the lawful power that I have , -Thou shalt stand curs'd and excommunicate : -And blessed shall he be that doth revolt -From his allegiance to a heretic ; -And meritorious shall that hand be call'd , -Canonized and worshipp'd as a saint , -That takes away by any secret course -Thy hateful life . - -O ! lawful let it be -That I have room with Rome to curse awhile . -Good father cardinal , cry thou amen -To my keen curses ; for without my wrong -There is no tongue hath power to curse him right . - -There's law and warrant , lady , for my curse . - -And for mine too : when law can do no right , -Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong . -Law cannot give my child his kingdom here , -For he that holds his kingdom holds the law : -Therefore , since law itself is perfect wrong , -How can the law forbid my tongue to curse ? - -Philip of France , on peril of a curse , -Let go the hand of that arch-heretic , -And raise the power of France upon his head , -Unless he do submit himself to Rome . - -Look'st thou pale , France ? do not let go thy hand . - -Look to that , devil , lest that France repent , -And by disjoining hands , hell lose a soul . - -King Philip , listen to the cardinal . - -And hang a calf's-skin on his recreant limbs . - -Well , ruffian , I must pocket up these wrongs , -Because - -Your breeches best may carry them . - -Philip , what sayst thou to the cardinal ? - -What should he say , but as the cardinal ? - -Bethink you , father ; for the difference -Is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome , -Or the light loss of England for a friend : -Forego the easier . - -That's the curse of Rome . - -O Lewis , stand fast ! the devil tempts thee here , -In likeness of a new untrimmed bride . - -The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith , -But from her need . - -O ! if thou grant my need , -Which only lives but by the death of faith , -That need must needs infer this principle , -That faith would live again by death of need : -O ! then , tread down my need , and faith mounts up ; -Keep my need up , and faith is trodden down . - -The king is mov'd , and answers not to this . - -O ! be remov'd from him , and answer well . - -Do so , King Philip : hang no more in doubt . - -Hang nothing but a calf's-skin , most sweet lout . - -I am perplex'd , and know not what to say . - -What canst thou say but will perplex thee more , -If thou stand excommunicate and curs'd ? - -Good reverend father , make my person yours , -And tell me how you would bestow yourself . -This royal hand and mine are newly knit , -And the conjunction of our inward souls -Married in league , coupled and link'd together -With all religious strength of sacred vows ; -The latest breath that gave the sound of words -Was deep-sworn faith , peace , amity , true love , -Between our kingdoms and our royal selves ; -And even before this truce , but new before , -No longer than we well could wash our hands -To clap this royal bargain up of peace , -Heaven knows , they were besmear'd and overstain'd -With slaughter's pencil , where revenge did paint -The fearful difference of incensed kings : -And shall these hands , so lately purg'd of blood , -So newly join'd in love , so strong in both , -Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet ? -Play fast and loose with faith ? so jest with heaven , -Make such unconstant children of ourselves , -As now again to snatch our palm from palm , -Unswear faith sworn , and on the marriage-bed -Of smiling peace to march a bloody host , -And make a riot on the gentle brow -Of true sincerity ? O ! holy sir , -My reverend father , let it not be so ! -Out of your grace , devise , ordain , impose -Some gentle order , and then we shall be bless'd -To do your pleasure and continue friends . - -All form is formless , order orderless , -Save what is opposite to England's love . -Therefore to arms ! be champion of our church , -Or let the church , our mother , breathe her curse , -A mother's curse , on her revolting son . -France , thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue , -A chafed lion by the mortal paw , -A fasting tiger safer by the tooth , -Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold . - -I may disjoin my hand , but not my faith . - -So mak'st thou faith an enemy to faith : -And like a civil war sett'st oath to oath , -Thy tongue against thy tongue . O ! let thy vow -First made to heaven , first be to heaven perform'd ; -That is , to be the champion of our church . -What since thou swor'st is sworn against thyself -And may not be performed by thyself ; -For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss -Is not amiss when it is truly done ; -And being not done , where doing tends to ill , -The truth is then most done not doing it . -The better act of purposes mistook -Is to mistake again ; though indirect , -Yet indirection thereby grows direct , -And falsehood falsehood cures , as fire cools fire -Within the scorched veins of one new-burn'd . -It is religion that doth make vows kept ; -But thou hast sworn against religion -By what thou swear'st , against the thing thou swear'st , -And mak'st an oath the surety for thy truth -Against an oath : the truth thou art unsure -To swear , swears only not to be forsworn ; -Else what a mockery should it be to swear ! -But thou dost swear only to be forsworn ; -And most forsworn , to keep what thou dost swear . -Therefore thy later vows against thy first -Is in thyself rebellion to thyself ; -And better conquest never canst thou make -Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts -Against these giddy loose suggestions : -Upon which better part our prayers come in , -If thou vouchsafe them ; but , if not , then know -The peril of our curses light on thee -So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off , -But in despair die under their black weight . - -Rebellion , flat rebellion ! - -Will't not be ? -Will not a calf's-skin stop that mouth of thine ? - -Father , to arms ! - -Upon thy wedding-day ? -Against the blood that thou hast married ? -What ! shall our feast be kept with slaughter'd men ? -Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums , -Clamours of hell , be measures to our pomp ? -O husband , hear me ! ay , alack ! how new -Is husband in my mouth ; even for that name , -Which till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce , -Upon my knee I beg , go not to arms -Against mine uncle . - -O ! upon my knee , -Made hard with kneeling , I do pray to thee , -Thou virtuous Dauphin , alter not the doom -Forethought by heaven . - -Now shall I see thy love : what motive may -Be stronger with thee than the name of wife ? - -That which upholdeth him that thee upholds , -His honour : O ! thine honour , Lewis , thine honour . - -I muse your majesty doth seem so cold , -When such profound respects do pull you on . - -I will denounce a curse upon his head . - -Thou shalt not need . England , I'll fall from thee . - -O fair return of banish'd majesty ! - -O foul revolt of French inconstancy ! - -France , thou shalt rue this hour within this hour . - -Old Time the clock-setter , that bald sexton Time , -Is it as he will ? well then , France shall rue . - -The sun's o'ercast with blood : fair day , adieu ! -Which is the side that I must go withal ? -I am with both : each army hath a hand ; -And in their rage , I having hold of both , -They whirl asunder and dismember me . -Husband , I cannot pray that thou mayst win ; -Uncle , I needs must pray that thou mayst lose ; -Father , I may not wish the fortune thine ; -Grandam , I will not wish thy wishes thrive : -Whoever wins , on that side shall I lose ; -Assured loss before the match be play'd . - -Lady , with me ; with me thy fortune lies . - -There where my fortune lives , there my life dies . - -Cousin , go draw our puissance together . - -France , I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath ; -A rage whose heat hath this condition , -That nothing can allay , nothing but blood , -The blood , and dearest-valu'd blood of France . - -Thy rage shall burn thee up , and thou shalt turn -To ashes , ere our blood shall quench that fire : -Look to thyself , thou art in jeopardy . - -No more than he that threats . To arms let's hie ! - - -Now , by my life , this day grows wondrous hot ; -Some airy devil hovers in the sky -And pours down mischief . Austria's head lie there , -While Philip breathes . - - -Hubert , keep this boy . Philip , make up , -My mother is assailed in our tent , -And ta'en , I fear . - -My lord , I rescu'd her ; -Her highness is in safety , fear you not : -But on , my liege ; for very little pains -Will bring this labour to a happy end . - - -So shall it be ; your grace shall stay behind -So strongly guarded . - -Cousin , look not sad : -Thy grandam loves thee ; and thy uncle will -As dear be to thee as thy father was . - -O ! this will make my mother die with grief . - -Cousin , away for England ! haste before ; -And , ere our coming , see thou shake the bags -Of hoarding abbots ; set at liberty -Imprison'd angels : the fat ribs of peace -Must by the hungry now be fed upon : -Use our commission in his utmost force . - -Bell , book , and candle shall not drive me back -When gold and silver becks me to come on . -I leave your highness . Grandam , I will pray , -If ever I remember to be holy , -For your fair safety ; so I kiss your hand . - -Farewell , gentle cousin . - -Coz , farewell . - - -Come hither , little kinsman ; hark , a word . - - -Come hither , Hubert . O my gentle Hubert , -We owe thee much : within this wall of flesh -There is a soul counts thee her creditor , -And with advantage means to pay thy love : -And , my good friend , thy voluntary oath -Lives in this bosom , dearly cherished . -Give me thy hand . I had a thing to say , -But I will fit it with some better time . -By heaven , Hubert , I am almost asham'd -To say what good respect I have of thee . - -I am much bounden to your majesty . - -Good friend , thou hast no cause to say so yet ; -But thou shalt have ; and creep time ne'er so slow , -Yet it shall come for me to do thee good . -I had a thing to say , but let it go : -The sun is in the heaven , and the proud day , -Attended with the pleasures of the world , -Is all too wanton and too full of gawds -To give me audience : if the midnight bell -Did , with his iron tongue and brazen mouth , -Sound one into the drowsy race of night ; -If this same were a churchyard where we stand , -And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs ; -Or if that surly spirit , melancholy , -Had bak'd thy blood and made it heavy-thick , -Which else runs tickling up and down the veins , -Making that idiot , laughter , keep men's eyes -And strain their cheeks to idle merriment , -A passion hateful to my purposes ; -Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes , -Hear me without thine ears , and make reply -Without a tongue , using conceit alone , -Without eyes , ears , and harmful sound of words ; -Then , in despite of brooded watchful day , -I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts : -But ah ! I will not : yet I love thee well ; -And , by my troth , I think thou lov'st me well . - -So well , that what you bid me undertake , -Though that my death were adjunct to my act , -By heaven , I would do it . - -Do not I know thou wouldst ? -Good Hubert ! Hubert , Hubert , throw thine eye -On yon young boy : I'll tell thee what , my friend , -He is a very serpent in my way ; -And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread -He lies before me : dost thou understand me ? -Thou art his keeper . - -And I'll keep him so -That he shall not offend your majesty . - -Death . - -My lord ? - -A grave . - -He shall not live . - -Enough . -I could be merry now . Hubert , I love thee ; -Well , I'll not say what I intend for thee : -Remember . Madam , fare you well : -I'll send those powers o'er to your majesty . - -My blessing go with thee ! - -For England , cousin ; go : -Hubert shall be your man , attend on you -With all true duty . On toward Calais , ho ! - - -So , by a roaring tempest on the flood , -A whole armado of convicted sail -Is scatter'd and disjoin'd from fellowship . - -Courage and comfort ! all shall yet go well . - -What can go well when we have run so ill ? -Are we not beaten ? Is not Angiers lost ? -Arthur ta'en prisoner ? divers dear friends slain ? -And bloody England into England gone , -O'erbearing interruption , spite of France ? - -What he hath won that hath he fortified : -So hot a speed with such advice dispos'd , -Such temperate order in so fierce a cause , -Doth want example : who hath read or heard -Of any kindred action like to this ? - -Well could I bear that England had this praise , -So we could find some pattern of our shame . - - -Look , who comes here ! a grave unto a soul ; -Holding the eternal spirit , against her will , -In the vile prison of afflicted breath . - -I prithee lady , go away with me . - -Lo now ! now see the issue of your peace . - -Patience , good lady ! comfort , gentle Constance ! - -No , I defy all counsel , all redress , -But that which ends all counsel , true redress , -Death , death : O , amiable lovely death ! -Thou odoriferous stench ! sound rottenness ! -Arise forth from the couch of lasting night , -Thou hate and terror to prosperity , -And I will kiss thy detestable bones , -And put my eyeballs in thy vaulty brows , -And ring these fingers with thy household worms , -And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust , -And be a carrion monster like thyself : -Come , grin on me ; and I will think thou smil'st -And buss thee as thy wife ! Misery's love , -O ! come to me . - -O fair affliction , peace ! - -No , no , I will not , having breath to cry : -O ! that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth ! -Then with a passion would I shake the world , -And rouse from sleep that fell anatomy -Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice , -Which scorns a modern invocation . - -Lady , you utter madness , and not sorrow . - -Thou art not holy to belie me so ; -I am not mad : this hair I tear is mine ; -My name is Constance ; I was Geffrey's wife ; -Young Arthur is my son , and he is lost ! -I am not mad : I would to heaven I were ! -For then 'tis like I should forget myself : -O ! if I could , what grief should I forget . -Preach some philosophy to make me mad , -And thou shalt be canoniz'd , cardinal ; -For being not mad but sensible of grief , -My reasonable part produces reason -How I may be deliver'd of these woes , -And teaches me to kill or hang myself : -If I were mad , I should forget my son , -Or madly think a babe of clouts were he . -I am not mad : too well , too well I feel -The different plague of each calamity . - -Bind up those tresses . O ! what love I note -In the fair multitude of those her hairs : -Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen , -Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends -Do glue themselves in sociable grief ; -Like true , inseparable , faithful loves , -Sticking together in calamity . - -To England , if you will . - -Bind up your hairs . - -Yes , that I will ; and wherefore will I do it ? -I tore them from their bonds , and cried aloud -'O ! that these hands could so redeem my son , -As they have given these hairs their liberty !' -But now I envy at their liberty , -And will again commit them to their bonds , -Because my poor child is a prisoner . -And , father cardinal , I have heard you say -That we shall see and know our friends in heaven . -If that be true , I shall see my boy again ; -For since the birth of Cain , the first male child , -To him that did but yesterday suspire , -There was not such a gracious creature born . -But now will canker-sorrow eat my bud -And chase the native beauty from his cheek , -And he will look as hollow as a ghost , -As dim and meagre as an ague's fit , -And so he'll die ; and , rising so again , -When I shall meet him in the court of heaven -I shall not know him : therefore never , never -Must I behold my pretty Arthur more . - -You hold too heinous a respect of grief . - -He talks to me , that never had a son . - -You are as fond of grief as of your child . - -Grief fills the room up of my absent child , -Lies in his bed , walks up and down with me , -Puts on his pretty looks , repeats his words , -Remembers me of all his gracious parts , -Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form : -Then have I reason to be fond of grief . -Fare you well : had you such a loss as I , -I could give better comfort than you do . -I will not keep this form upon my head -When there is such disorder in my wit . -O Lord ! my boy , my Arthur , my fair son ! -My life , my joy , my food , my all the world ! -My widow-comfort , and my sorrows' cure ! - - -I fear some outrage , and I'll follow her . - - -There's nothing in this world can make me joy : -Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale , -Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man ; -And bitter shame hath spoil'd the sweet world's taste , -That it yields nought but shame and bitterness . - -Before the curing of a strong disease , -Even in the instant of repair and health , -The fit is strongest : evils that take leave , -On their departure most of all show evil . -What have you lost by losing of this day ? - -All days of glory , joy , and happiness . - -If you had won it , certainly you had . -No , no ; when Fortune means to men most good , -She looks upon them with a threatening eye . -'Tis strange to think how much King John hath lost -In this which he accounts so clearly won . -Are not you griev'd that Arthur is his prisoner ? - -As heartily as he is glad he hath him . - -Your mind is all as youthful as your blood . -Now hear me speak with a prophetic spirit ; -For even the breath of what I mean to speak -Shall blow each dust , each straw , each little rub , -Out of the path which shall directly lead -Thy foot to England's throne ; and therefore mark . -John hath seiz'd Arthur ; and it cannot be , -That whiles warm life plays in that infant's veins -The misplac'd John should entertain an hour , -One minute , nay , one quiet breath of rest . -A sceptre snatch'd with an unruly hand -Must be as boisterously maintain'd as gain'd ; -And he that stands upon a slippery place -Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up : -That John may stand , then Arthur needs must fall ; -So be it , for it cannot be but so . - -But what shall I gain by young Arthur's fall ? - -You , in the right of Lady Blanch your wife , -May then make all the claim that Arthur did . - -And lose it , life and all , as Arthur did . - -How green you are and fresh in this old world ! -John lays you plots ; the times conspire with you ; -For he that steeps his safety in true blood -Shall find but bloody safety and untrue . -This act so evilly borne shall cool the hearts -Of all his people and freeze up their zeal , -That none so small advantage shall step forth -To check his reign , but they will cherish it ; -No natural exhalation in the sky , -No scope of nature , no distemper'd day , -No common wind , no customed event , -But they will pluck away his natural cause -And call them meteors , prodigies , and signs , -Abortives , presages , and tongues of heaven , -Plainly denouncing vengeance upon John . - -May be he will not touch young Arthur's life , -But hold himself safe in his prisonment . - -O ! sir , when he shall hear of your approach , -If that young Arthur be not gone already , -Even at that news he dies ; and then the hearts -Of all his people shall revolt from him -And kiss the lips of unacquainted change , -And pick strong matter of revolt and wrath -Out of the bloody fingers' ends of John . -Methinks I see this hurly all on foot : -And , O ! what better matter breeds for you -Than I have nam'd . The bastard Faulconbridge -Is now in England ransacking the church , -Offending charity : if but a dozen French -Were there in arms , they would be as a call -To train ten thousand English to their side ; -Or as a little snow , tumbled about , -Anon becomes a mountain . O noble Dauphin ! -Go with me to the king . 'Tis wonderful -What may be wrought out of their discontent -Now that their souls are topful of offence . -For England go ; I will whet on the king . - -Strong reasons make strong actions . Let us go : -If you say ay , the king will not say no . - -Heat me these irons hot ; and look thou stand -Within the arras : when I strike my foot -Upon the bosom of the ground , rush forth , -And bind the boy which you shall find with me -Fast to the chair : be heedful . Hence , and watch . - -I hope your warrant will bear out the deed . - -Uncleanly scruples ! fear not you : look to't . - -Young lad , come forth ; I have to say with you . - - -Good morrow , Hubert . - -Good morrow , little prince . - -As little prince ,having so great a title -To be more prince ,as may be . You are sad . - -Indeed , I have been merrier . - -Mercy on me ! -Methinks nobody should be sad but I : -Yet I remember , when I was in France , -Young gentlemen would be as sad as night , -Only for wantonness . By my christendom , -So I were out of prison and kept sheep , -I should be as merry as the day is long ; -And so I would be here , but that I doubt -My uncle practises more harm to me : -He is afraid of me , and I of him . -Is it my fault that I was Geffrey's son ? -No , indeed , is't not ; and I would to heaven -I were your son , so you would love me , Hubert . - -If I talk to him with his innocent prate -He will awake my mercy which lies dead : -Therefore I will be sudden and dispatch . - -Are you sick , Hubert ? you look pale to-day : -In sooth , I would you were a little sick , -That I might sit all night and watch with you : -I warrant I love you more than you do me . - -His words do take possession of my bosom . -Read here , young Arthur . - -How now , foolish rheum ! -Turning dispiteous torture out of door ! -I must be brief , lest resolution drop -Out at mine eyes in tender womanish tears . -Can you not read it ? is it not fair writ ? - -Too fairly , Hubert , for so foul effect . -Must you with hot irons burn out both mine eyes ? - -Young boy , I must . - -And will you ? - -And I will . - -Have you the heart ? When your head did but ache , -I knit my handkercher about your brows , -The best I had , a princess wrought it me , -And I did never ask it you again ; -And with my hand at midnight held your head , -And like the watchful minutes to the hour , -Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time , -Saying , 'What lack you ?' and , 'Where lies your grief ?' -Or , 'What good love may I perform for you ?' -Many a poor man's son would have lain still , -And ne'er have spoke a loving word to you ; -But you at your sick-service had a prince . -Nay , you may think my love was crafty love , -And call it cunning : do an if you will . -If heaven be pleas'd that you must use me ill , -Why then you must . Will you put out mine eyes ? -These eyes that never did nor never shall -So much as frown on you ? - -I have sworn to do it ; -And with hot irons must I burn them out . - -Ah ! none but in this iron age would do it ! -The iron of itself , though heat red-hot , -Approaching near these eyes , would drink my tears -And quench this fiery indignation -Even in the matter of mine innocence ; -Nay , after that , consume away in rust , -But for containing fire to harm mine eye . -Are you more stubborn-hard than hammer'd iron ? -An if an angel should have come to me -And told me Hubert should put out mine eyes , -I would not have believ'd him ; no tongue but Hubert's . - -Come forth . - -Do as I bid you do . - -O ! save me , Hubert , save me ! my eyes are out -Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men . - -Give me the iron , I say , and bind him here . - -Alas ! what need you be so boisterousrough ? -I will not struggle ; I will stand stone-still . -For heaven's sake , Hubert , let me not be bound ! -Nay , hear me , Hubert : drive these men away , -And I will sit as quiet as a lamb ; -I will not stir , nor wince , nor speak a word , -Nor look upon the iron angerly . -Thrust but these men away , and I'll forgive you , -Whatever torment you do put me to . - -Go , stand within : let me alone with him . - -I am best pleas'd to be from such a deed . - - -Alas ! I then have chid away my friend : -He hath a stern look , but a gentle heart . -Let him come back , that his compassion may -Give life to yours . - -Come , boy , prepare yourself . - -Is there no remedy ? - -None , but to lose your eyes . - -O heaven ! that there were but a mote in yours , -A grain , a dust , a gnat , a wandering hair , -Any annoyance in that precious sense ; -Then feeling what small things are boisterous there , -Your vile intent must needs seem horrible . - -Is this your promise ? go to , hold your tongue . - -Hubert , the utterance of a brace of tongues -Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes : -Let me not hold my tongue ; let me not , Hubert : -Or Hubert , if you will , cut out my tongue , -So I may keep mine eyes : O ! spare mine eyes , -Though to no use but still to look on you : -Lo ! by my troth , the instrument is cold -And would not harm me . - -I can heat it , boy . - -No , in good sooth ; the fire is dead with grief , -Being create for comfort , to be us'd -In undeserv'd extremes : see else yourself ; -There is no malice in this burning coal ; -The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out -And strew'd repentant ashes on his head . - -But with my breath I can revive it , boy . - -An if you do you will but make it blush -And glow with shame of your proceedings , Hubert : -Nay , it perchance will sparkle in your eyes ; -And like a dog that is compell'd to fight , -Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on . -All things that you should use to do me wrong -Deny their office : only you do lack -That mercy which fierce fire and iron extends , -Creatures of note for mercy-lacking uses . - -Well , see to live ; I will not touch thine eyes -For all the treasure that thine uncle owes : -Yet am I sworn and I did purpose , boy , -With this same very iron to burn them out . - -O ! now you look like Hubert , all this while -You were disguised . - -Peace ! no more . Adieu . -Your uncle must not know but you are dead ; -I'll fill these dogged spies with false reports : -And , pretty child , sleep doubtless and secure , -That Hubert for the wealth of all the world -Will not offend thee . - -O heaven ! I thank you , Hubert . - -Silence ! no more , go closely in with me : -Much danger do I undergo for thee . - - -Here once again we sit , once again crown'd , -And look'd upon , I hope , with cheerful eyes . - -This 'once again ,' but that your highness pleas'd , -Was once superfluous : you were crown'd before , -And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off , -The faiths of men ne'er stained with revolt ; -Fresh expectation troubled not the land -With any long'd-for change or better state . - -Therefore , to be possess'd with double pomp , -To guard a title that was rich before , -To gild refined gold , to paint the lily , -To throw a perfume on the violet , -To smooth the ice , or add another hue -Unto the rainbow , or with taper-light -To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish , -Is wasteful and ridiculous excess . - -But that your royal pleasure must be done , -This act is as an ancient tale new told , -And in the last repeating troublesome , -Being urged at a time unseasonable . - -In this the antique and well-noted face -Of plain old form is much disfigured ; -And , like a shifted wind unto a sail , -It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about , -Startles and frights consideration , -Makes sound opinion sick and truth suspected , -For putting on so new a fashion'd robe . - -When workmen strive to do better than well -They do confound their skill in covetousness ; -And oftentimes excusing of a fault -Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse : -As patches set upon a little breach -Discredit more in hiding of the fault -Than did the fault before it was so patch'd . - -To this effect , before you were newcrown'd , -We breath'd our counsel : but it pleas'd your highness -To overbear it , and we are all well pleas'd ; -Since all and every part of what we would -Doth make a stand at what your highness will . - -Some reasons of this double coronation -I have possess'd you with and think them strong ; -And more , more strong ,when lesser is my fear , -I shall indue you with : meantime but ask -What you would have reform'd that is not well ; -And well shall you perceive how willingly -I will both hear and grant you your requests . - -Then I ,as one that am the tongue of these -To sound the purposes of all their hearts , -Both for myself and them ,but , chief of all , -Your safety , for the which myself and them -Bend their best studies ,heartily request -The enfranchisement of Arthur ; whose restraint -Doth move the murmuring lips of discontent -To break into this dangerous argument : -If what in rest you have in right you hold , -Why then your fears ,which , as they say , attend -The steps of wrong ,should move you to mew up -Your tender kinsman , and to choke his days -With barbarous ignorance , and deny his youth -The rich advantage of good exercise ? -That the time's enemies may not have this -To grace occasions , let it be our suit -That you have bid us ask , his liberty ; -Which for our goods we do no further ask -Than whereupon our weal , on you depending , -Counts it your weal he have his liberty . - - -Let it be so : I do commit his youth -To your direction . Hubert , what news with you ? - - -This is the man should do the bloody deed ; -He show'd his warrant to a friend of mine : -The image of a wicked hemous fault -Lives in his eye ; that close aspect of his -Does show the mood of a much troubled breast ; -And I do fearfully believe 'tis done , -What we so fear'd he had a charge to do . - -The colour of the king doth come and go -Between his purpose and his conscience , -Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set : -His passion is so ripe it needs must break . - -And when it breaks , I fear will issue thence -The foul corruption of a sweet child's death . - -We cannot hold mortality's strong hand : -Good lords , although my will to give is living , -The suit which you demand is gone and dead : -He tells us Arthur is deceas'd to-night . - -Indeed we fear'd his sickness was past cure . - -Indeed we heard how near his death he was -Before the child himself felt he was sick : -This must be answer'd , either here or hence . - -Why do you bend such solemn brows on me ? -Think you I bear the shears of destiny ? -Have I commandment on the pulse of life ? - -It is apparent foul play ; and 'tis shame -That greatness should so grossly offer it : -So thrive it in your game ! and so , farewell . - -Stay yet , Lord Salisbury ; I'll go with thee , -And find the inheritance of this poor child , -His little kingdom of a forced grave . -That blood which ow'd the breadth of all this isle , -Three foot of it doth hold : bad world the while ! -This must not be thus borne : this will break out -To all our sorrows , and ere long I doubt . - - -They burn in indignation . I repent : -There is no sure foundation set on blood , -No certain life achiev'd by others' death . - - -A fearful eye thou hast : where is that blood -That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks ? -So foul a sky clears not without a storm : - -Pour down thy weather : how goes all in France ? - -From France to England . Never such a power -For any foreign preparation -Was levied in the body of a land . -The copy of your speed is learn'd by them ; -For when you should be told they do prepare , -The tidings come that they are all arriv'd . - -O ! where hath our intelligence been drunk ? -Where hath it slept ? Where is my mother's care -That such an army could be drawn in France , -And she not hear of it ? - -My liege , her ear -Is stopp'd with dust : the first of April died -Your noble mother ; and , as I hear , my lord , -The Lady Constance in a frenzy died -Three days before : but this from rumour's tongue -I idly heard ; if true or false I know not . - -Withhold thy speed , dreadful occasion ! -O ! make a league with me , till I have pleas'd -My discontented peers . What ! mother dead ! -How wildly then walks my estate in France ! -Under whose conduct came those powers of France -That thou for truth giv'st out are landed here ? - -Under the Dauphin . - -Thou hast made me giddy -With these ill tidings . - - -Now , what says the world -To your proceedings ? do not seek to stuff - -My head with more ill news , for it is full . - -But if you be afeard to hear the worst , -Then let the worst unheard fall on your head . - -Bear with me , cousin , for I was amaz'd -Under the tide ; but now I breathe again -Aloft the flood , and can give audience -To any tongue , speak it of what it will . - -How I have sped among the clergymen , -The sums I have collected shall express . -But as I travell'd hither through the land , -I find the people strangely fantasied , -Possess'd with rumours , full of idle dreams , -Not knowing what they fear , but full of fear . -And here's a prophet that I brought with me -From forth the streets of Pomfret , whom I found -With many hundreds treading on his heels ; -To whom he sung , in rude harsh-sounding rimes , -That , ere the next Ascension-day at noon , -Your highness should deliver up your crown . - -Thou idle dreamer , wherefore didst thou so ? - -Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so . - -Hubert , away with him ; imprison him : -And on that day at noon , whereon , he says , -I shall yield up my crown , let him be hang'd . -Deliver him to safety , and return , -For I must use thee . - -O my gentle cousin , -Hear'st thou the news abroad , who are arriv'd ? - -The French , my lord ; men's mouths are full of it : -Besides , I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury , -With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire , -And others more , going to seek the grave -Of Arthur , whom they say is kill'd to-night -On your suggestion . - -Gentle kinsman , go , -And thrust thyself into their companies . -I have a way to win their loves again ; -Bring them before me . - -I will seek them out . - -Nay , but make haste ; the better foot before . -O ! let me have no subject enemies -When adverse foreigners affright my towns -With dreadful pomp of stout invasion . -Be Mercury , set feathers to thy heels , -And fly like thought from them to me again . - -The spirit of the time shall teach me speed . - -Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman . - -Go after him ; for he perhaps shall need -Some messenger betwixt me and the peers ; -And be thou he . - -With all my heart , my liege . - - -My mother dead ! - - -My lord , they say five moons were seen to-night : -Four fixed , and the fifth did whirl about -The other four in wondrous motion . - -Five moons ! - -Old men and beldams in the streets -Do prophesy upon it dangerously : -Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths ; -And when they talk of him , they shake their heads -And whisper one another in the ear ; -And he that speaks , doth gripe the hearer's wrist -Whilst he that hears makes fearful action , -With wrinkled brows , with nods , with rolling eyes . -I saw a smith stand with his hammer , thus , -The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool , -With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news ; -Who , with his shears and measure in his hand , -Standing on slippers ,which his nimble haste -Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet , -Told of a many thousand warlike French , -That were embattailed and rank'd in Kent . -Another lean unwash'd artificer -Cuts off his tale and talks of Arthur's death . - -Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears ? -Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death ? -Thy hand hath murder'd him : I had a mighty cause -To wish him dead , but thou hadst none to kill him . - -No had , my lord ! why , did you not provoke me ? - -It is the curse of kings to be attended -By slaves that take their humours for a warrant -To break within the bloody house of life , -And on the winking of authority -To understand a law , to know the meaning -Of dangerous majesty , when , perchance , it frowns -More upon humour than advis'd respect . - -Here is your hand and seal for what I did . - -O ! when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth -Is to be made , then shall this hand and seal -Witness against us to damnation . -How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds -Makes ill deeds done ! Hadst not thou been by , -A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd , -Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame , -This murder had not come into my mind ; -But taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect , -Finding thee fit for bloody villany , -Apt , liable to be employ'd in danger , -I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death ; -And thou , to be endeared to a king , -Made it no conscience to destroy a prince . - -My lord , - -Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause -When I spake darkly what I purposed , -Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face , -As bid me tell my tale in express words , -Deep shame had struck me dumb , made me break off , -And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me : -But thou didst understand me by my signs -And didst in signs again parley with sin ; -Yea , without stop , didst let thy heart consent , -And consequently thy rude hand to act -The deed which both our tongues held vile to name . -Out of my sight , and never see me more ! -My nobles leave me ; and my state is brav'd , -Even at my gates , with ranks of foreign powers : -Nay , in the body of this fleshly land , -This kingdom , this confine of blood and breath , -Hostility and civil tumult reigns -Between my conscience and my cousin's death . - -Arm you against your other enemies , -I'll make a peace between your soul and you . -Young Arthur is alive : this hand of mine -Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand , -Not painted with the crimson spots of blood . -Within this bosom never enter'd yet -The dreadful motion of a murderous thought ; -And you have slander'd nature in my form , -Which , howsoever rude exteriorly , -Is yet the cover of a fairer mind -Than to be butcher of an innocent child . - -Doth Arthur live ? O ! haste thee to the peers , -Throw this report on their incensed rage , -And make them tame to their obedience . -Forgive the comment that my passion made -Upon thy feature ; for my rage was blind , -And foul imaginary eyes of blood -Presented thee more hideous than thou art . -O ! answer not ; but to my closet bring -The angry lords , with all expedient haste . -I conjure thee but slowly ; run more fast . - - -The wall is high ; and yet will I leap down -Good ground , be pitiful and hurt me not ! -There's few or none do know me ; if they did , -This ship-boy's semblance hath disguis'd me quite . -I am afraid ; and yet I'll venture it . -If I get down , and do not break my limbs , -I'll find a thousand shifts to get away : -As good to die and go , as die and stay . - -O me ! my uncle's spirit is in these stones : -Heaven take my soul , and England keep my bones ! - -Lords , I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury . -It is our safety , and we must embrace -This gentle offer of the perilous time . - -Who brought that letter from the cardinal ? - -The Count Melun , a noble lord of France ; -Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love , -Is much more general than these lines import . - -To-morrow morning let us meet him then . - -Or rather then set forward ; for 'twill be -Two long days' journey , lords , or e'er we meet . - - -Once more to-day well met , distemper'd lords ! -The king by me requests your presence straight . - -The king hath dispossess'd himself of us : -We will not line his thin bestained cloak -With our pure honours , nor attend the foot -That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks . -Return and tell him so : we know the worst . - -Whate'er you think , good words , I think , were best . - -Our griefs , and not our manners , reason now . - -But there is little reason in your grief ; -Therefore 'twere reason you had manners now . - -Sir , sir , impatience hath his privilege . - -'Tis true ; to hurt his master , no man else . - -This is the prison . - -What is he lies here ? - -O death , made proud with pure and princely beauty ! -The earth had not a hole to hide this deed . - -Murder , as hating what himself hath done , -Doth lay it open to urge on revenge . - -Or when he doom'd this beauty to a grave , -Found it too precious-princely for a grave . - -Sir Richard , what think you ? Have you beheld , -Or have you read , or heard ? or could you think ? -Or do you almost think , although you see , -That you do see ? could thought , without this object , -Form such another ? This is the very top , -The height , the crest , or crest unto the crest , -Of murder's arms : this is the bloodiest shame , -The wildest savagery , the vilest stroke , -That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage -Presented to the tears of soft remorse . - -All murders past do stand excus'd in this : -And this , so sole and so unmatchable , -Shall give a holiness , a purity , -To the yet unbegotten sin of times ; -And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest , -Exampled by this heinous spectacle . - -It is a damned and a bloody work ; -The graceless action of a heavy hand , -If that it be the work of any hand . - -If that it be the work of any hand ! -We had a kind of light what would ensue : -It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand ; -The practice and the purpose of the king : -From whose obedience I forbid my soul , -Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life , -And breathing to his breathless excellence -The incense of a vow , a holy vow , -Never to taste the pleasures of the world , -Never to be infected with delight , -Nor conversant with ease and idleness , -Till I have set a glory to this hand , -By giving it the worship of revenge . - -Our souls religiously confirm thy words . - -Our souls religiously confirm thy words . - - -Lords , I am hot with haste in seeking you : -Arthur doth live : the king hath sent for you . - -O ! he is bold and blushes not at death . -Avaunt , thou hateful villain ! get thee gone . - -I am no villain . - -Must I rob the law ? - -Your sword is bright , sir ; put it up again . - -Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin . - -Stand back , Lord Salisbury , stand back , I say : -By heaven , I think my sword's as sharp as yours . -I would not have you , lord , forget yourself , -Nor tempt the danger of my true defence ; -Lest I , by marking of your rage , forget -Your worth , your greatness , and nobility . - -Out , dunghill ! dar'st thou brave a nobleman ? - -Not for my life ; but yet I dare defend -My innocent life against an emperor . - -Thou art a murderer . - -Do not prove me so ; -Yet I am none . Whose tongue soe'er speaks false , -Not truly speaks ; who speaks not truly , lies . - -Cut him to pieces . - -Keep the peace , I say . - -Stand by , or I shall gall you , Faulconbridge . - -Thou wert better gall the devil , Salisbury : -If thou but frown on me , or stir thy foot , -Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame , -I'll strike thee dead . Put up thy sword betime : -Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron , -That you shall think the devil is come from hell . - -What wilt thou do , renowned Faulconbridge ? -Second a villain and a murderer ? - -Lord Bigot , I am none . - -Who kill'd this prince ? - -'Tis not an hour since I left him well : -I honour'd him , I lov'd him ; and will weep -My date of life out for his sweet life's loss . - -Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes , -For villany is not without such rheum ; -And he , long traded in it , makes it seem -Like rivers of remorse and innocency . -Away with me , all you whose souls abhor -The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house ; -For I am stifled with this smell of sin . - -Away toward Bury ; to the Dauphin there ! - -There tell the king he may inquire us out . - - -Here's a good world ! Knew you of this fair work ? -Beyond the infinite and boundless reach -Of mercy , if thou didst this deed of death , -Art thou damn'd , Hubert . - -Do but hear me , sir . - -Ha ! I'll tell thee what ; -Thou art damn'd as black nay , nothing is so black ; -Thou art more deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer : -There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell -As thou shalt be , if thou didst kill this child . - -Upon my soul , - -If thou didst but consent -To this most cruel act , do but despair ; -And if thou want'st a cord , the smallest thread -That ever spider twisted from her womb -Will serve to strangle thee ; a rush will be a beam -To hang thee on ; or wouldst thou drown thyself , -Put but a little water in a spoon , -And it shall be as all the ocean , -Enough to stifle such a villain up . -I do suspect thee very grievously . - -If I in act , consent , or sin of thought , -Be guilty of the stealing that sweet breath -Which was embounded in this beauteous clay , -Let hell want pains enough to torture me . -I left him well . - -Go , bear him in thine arms . -I am amaz'd , methinks , and lose my way -Among the thorns and dangers of this world . -How easy dost thou take all England up ! -From forth this morsel of dead royalty , -The life , the right and truth of all this realm -Is fled to heaven ; and England now is left -To tug and scamble and to part by the teeth -The unow'd interest of proud swelling state . -Now for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty -Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest , -And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace : -Now powers from home and discontents at home -Meet in one line ; and vast confusion waits , -As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast , -The imminent decay of wrested pomp . -Now happy he whose cloak and ceinture can -Hold out this tempest . Bear away that child -And follow me with speed : I'll to the king : -A thousand businesses are brief in hand , -And heaven itself doth frown upon the land . - -Thus have I yielded up into your hand -The circle of my glory . - -Take again -From this my hand , as holding of the pope , -Your sovereign greatness and authority . - -Now keep your holy word : go meet the French , -And from his holiness use all your power -To stop their marches 'fore we are inflam'd . -Our discontented counties do revolt , -Our people quarrel with obedience , -Swearing allegiance and the love of soul -To stranger blood , to foreign royalty . -This inundation of mistemper'd humour -Rests by you only to be qualified : -Then pause not ; for the present time's so sick , -That present medicine must be minister'd , -Or overthrow incurable ensues . - -It was my breath that blew this tempest up -Upon your stubborn usage of the pope ; -But since you are a gentle convertite , -My tongue shall hush again this storm of war -And make fair weather in your blustering land . -On this Ascension-day , remember well , -Upon your oath of service to the pope , -Go I to make the French lay down their arms . - - -Is this Ascension-day ? Did not the prophet -Say that before Ascension-day at noon -My crown I should give off ? Even so I have : -I did suppose it should be on constraint ; -But , heaven be thank'd , it is but voluntary . - - -All Kent hath yielded ; nothing there holds out -But Dover Castle : London hath receiv'd , -Like a kind host , the Dauphin and his powers : -Your nobles will not hear you , but are gone -To offer service to your enemy ; -And wild amazement hurries up and down -The little number of your doubtful friends . - -Would not my lords return to me again -After they heard young Arthur was alive ? - -They found him dead and cast into the streets , -An empty casket , where the jewel of life -By some damn'd hand was robb'd and ta'en away . - -That villain Hubert told me he did live . - -So , on my soul , he did , for aught he knew . -But wherefore do you droop ? why look you sad ? -Be great in act , as you have been in thought ; -Let not the world see fear and sad distrust -Govern the motion of a kingly eye : -Be stirring as the time ; be fire with fire ; -Threaten the threatener , and outface the brow -Of bragging horror : so shall inferior eyes , -That borrow their behaviours from the great , -Grow great by your example and put on -The dauntless spirit of resolution . -Away ! and glister like the god of war -When he intendeth to become the field : -Show boldness and aspiring confidence . -What ! shall they seek the lion in his den -And fright him there ? and make him tremble there ? -O ! let it not be said . Forage , and run -To meet displeasure further from the doors , -And grapple with him ere he comes so nigh . - -The legate of the pope hath been with me , -And I have made a happy peace with him ; -And he hath promis'd to dismiss the powers -Led by the Dauphin . - -O inglorious league ! -Shall we , upon the footing of our land , -Send fair-play orders and make compromise , -Insinuation , parley and base truce -To arms invasive ? shall a beardless boy , -A cocker'd silken wanton , brave our fields , -And flesh his spirit in a war-like soul , -Mocking the air with colours idly spread , -And find no check ? Let us , my liege , to arms : -Perchance the cardinal cannot make your peace ; -Or if he do , let it at least be said -They saw we had a purpose of defence . - -Have thou the ordering of this present time . - -Away then , with good courage ! yet , I know , -Our party may well meet a prouder foe . - - -My Lord Melun , let this be copied out , -And keep it safe for our remembrance . -Return the precedent to these lords again ; -That , having our fair order written down , -Both they and we , perusing o'er these notes , -May know wherefore we took the sacrament , -And keep our faiths firm and inviolable . - -Upon our sides it never shall be broken . -And , noble Dauphin , albeit we swear -A voluntary zeal , an unurg'd faith -To your proceedings ; yet , believe me , prince , -I am not glad that such a sore of time -Should seek a plaster by contemn'd revolt , -And heal the inveterate canker of one wound -By making many . O ! it grieves my soul -That I must draw this metal from my side -To be a widow-maker ! O ! and there -Where honourable rescue and defence -Cries out upon the name of Salisbury . -But such is the infection of the time , -That , for the health and physic of our right , -We cannot deal but with the very hand -Of stern injustice and confused wrong . -And is't not pity , O my grieved friends ! -That we , the sons and children of this isle , -Were born to see so sad an hour as this ; -Wherein we step after a stranger march -Upon her gentle bosom , and fill up -Her enemies' ranks ,I must withdraw and weep -Upon the spot of this enforced cause , -To grace the gentry of a land remote , -And follow unacquainted colours here ? -What , here ? O nation ! that thou couldst remove ; -That Neptune's arms , who clippeth thee about , -Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself , -And gripple thee unto a pagan shore ; -Where these two Christian armies might combine -The blood of malice in a vein of league , -And not to spend it so unneighbourly ! - -A noble temper dost thou show in this ; -And great affections wrestling in thy bosom -Do make an earthquake of nobility . -O ! what a noble combat hast thou fought -Between compulsion and a brave respect . -Let me wipe off this honourable dew , -That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks : -My heart hath melted at a lady's tears , -Being an ordinary inundation ; -But this effusion of such manly drops , -This shower , blown up by tempest of the soul , -Startles mine eyes , and makes me more amaz'd -Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven -Figur'd quite o'er with burning meteors . -Lift up thy brow , renowned Salisbury , -And with a great heart heave away this storm : -Commend these waters to those baby eyes -That never saw the giant world enrag'd ; -Nor met with fortune other than at feasts , -Full warm of blood , of mirth , of gossiping . -Come , come ; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as deep -Into the purse of rich prosperity -As Lewis himself : so , nobles , shall you all , -That knit your sinews to the strength of mine . - - -And even there , methinks , an angel spake : -Look , where the holy legate comes apace , -To give us warrant from the hand of heaven , -And on our actions set the name of right - -With holy breath . - -Hail , noble prince of France ! -The next is this : King John hath reconcil'd -Himself to Rome ; his spirit is come in -That so stood out against the holy church , -The great metropolis and see of Rome . -Therefore thy threat'ning colours now wind up , -And tame the savage spirit of wild war , -That , like a lion foster'd up at hand , -It may lie gently at the foot of peace , -And be no further harmful than in show . - -Your grace shall pardon me ; I will not back : -I am too high-born to be propertied , -To be a secondary at control , -Or useful serving-man and instrument -To any sovereign state throughout the world . -Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars -Between this chastis'd kingdom and myself , -And brought in matter that should feed this fire ; -And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out -With that same weak wind which enkindled it . -You taught me how to know the face of right , -Acquainted me with interest to this land , -Yea , thrust this enterprise into my heart ; -And come you now to tell me John hath made -His peace with Rome ? What is that peace to me ? -I , by the honour of my marriage-bed , -After young Arthur , claim this land for mine ; -And , now it is half-conquer'd , must I back -Because that John hath made his peace with Rome ? -Am I Rome's slave ? What penny hath Rome borne , -What men provided , what munition sent , -To underprop this action ? is't not I -That undergo this charge ? who else but I , -And such as to my claim are liable , -Sweat in this business and maintain this war ? -Have I not heard these islanders shout out , -Vive le roy ! as I have bank'd their towns ? -Have I not here the best cards for the game -To win this easy match play'd for a crown ? -And shall I now give o'er the yielded set ? -No , no , on my soul , it never shall be said . - -You look but on the outside of this work . - -Outside or inside , I will not return -Till my attempt so much be glorified -As to my ample hope was promised -Before I drew this gallant head of war , -And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world , -To outlook conquest and to win renown -Even in the jaws of danger and of death . - -What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us ? - - -According to the fair play of the world , -Let me have audience ; I am sent to speak : -My holy Lord of Milan , from the king -I come , to learn how you have dealt for him ; -And , as you answer , I do know the scope -And warrant limited unto my tongue . - -The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite , -And will not temporize with my entreaties : -He flatly says he'll not lay down his arms . - -By all the blood that ever fury breath'd , -The youth says well . Now hear our English king ; -For thus his royalty doth speak in me . -He is prepar'd ; and reason too he should : -This apish and unmannerly approach , -This harness'd masque and unadvised revel , -This unhair'd sauciness and boyish troops , -The king doth smile at ; and is well prepar'd -To whip this dwarfish war , these pigmy arms , -From out the circle of his territories . -That hand which had the strength , even at your door , -To cudgel you and make you take the hatch ; -To dive , like buckets , in concealed wells ; -To crouch in litter of your stable planks : -To lie like pawns lock'd up in chests and trunks ; -To hug with swine ; to seek sweet safety out -In vaults and prisons ; and to thrill and shake , -Even at the crying of your nation's crow , -Thinking this voice an armed Englishman : -Shall that victorious hand be feebled here -That in your chambers gave you chastisement ? -No ! Know , the gallant monarch is in arms , -And like an eagle o'er his aiery towers , -To souse annoyance that comes near his nest . -And you degenerate , you ingrate revolts , -You bloody Neroes , ripping up the womb -Of your dear mother England , blush for shame : -For your own ladies and pale-visag'd maids -Like Amazons come tripping after drums , -Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change , -Their neelds to lances , and their gentle hearts -To fierce and bloody inclination . - -There end thy brave , and turn thy face in peace ; -We grant thou canst outscold us : fare thee well ; -We hold our time too precious to be spent -With such a brabbler . - -Give me leave to speak . - -No , I will speak . - -We will attend to neither . -Strike up the drums ; and let the tongue of war -Plead for our interest and our being here . - -Indeed , your drums , being beaten , will cry out ; -And so shall you , being beaten . Do but start -An echo with the clamour of thy drum , -And even at hand a drum is ready brac'd -That shall reverberate all as loud as thine ; -Sound but another , and another shall -As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear -And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder : for at hand , -Not trusting to this halting legate here , -Whom he hath us'd rather for sport than need , -Is warlike John ; and in his forehead sits -A bare-ribb'd death , whose office is this day -To feast upon whole thousands of the French . - -Strike up our drums , to find this danger out . - -And thou shalt find it , Dauphin , do not doubt . - - -How goes the day with us ? O ! tell me , Hubert . - -Badly , I fear . How fares your majesty ? - -This fever , that hath troubled me so long , -Lies heavy on me : O ! my heart is sick . - - -My lord , your valiant kinsman , Faulconbridge , -Desires your majesty to leave the field , -And send him word by me which way you go . - -Tell him , toward Swinstead , to the abbey there . - -Be of good comfort : for the great supply -That was expected by the Dauphin here , -Are wrack'd three nights ago on Goodwin sands . -This news was brought to Richard but even now . -The French fight coldly , and retire themselves . - -Ay me ! this tyrant fever burns me up , -And will not let me welcome this good news . -Set on toward Swinstead : to my litter straight ; -Weakness possesseth me , and I am faint . - - -I did not think the king so stor'd with friends . - -Up once again ; put spirit in the French : -If they miscarry we miscarry too . - -That misbegotten devil , Faulconbridge , -In spite of spite , alone upholds the day . - -They say King John , sore sick , hath left the field . - - -Lead me to the revolts of England here . - -When we were happy we had other names . - -It is the Count Melun . - -Wounded to death . - -Fly , noble English ; you are bought and sold ; -Unthread the rude eye of rebellion , -And welcome home again discarded faith . -Seek out King John and fall before his feet ; -For if the French be lords of this loud day , -He means to recompense the pains you take -By cutting off your heads . Thus hath he sworn , -And I with him , and many moe with me , -Upon the altar at Saint Edmundsbury ; -Even on that altar where we swore to you -Dear amity and everlasting love . - -May this be possible ? may this be true ? - -Have I not hideous death within my view , -Retaining but a quantity of life , -Which bleeds away , even as a form of wax -Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire ? -What in the world should make me now deceive , -Since I must lose the use of all deceit ? -Why should I then be false , since it is true -That I must die here and live hence by truth ? -I say again , if Lewis do win the day , -He is forsworn , if e'er those eyes of yours -Behold another day break in the east : -But even this night , whose black contagious breath -Already smokes about the burning crest -Of the old , feeble , and day-wearied sun , -Even this ill night , your breathing shall expire , -Paying the fine of rated treachery -Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives , -If Lewis by your assistance win the day . -Commend me to one Hubert with your king ; -The love of him , and this respect besides , -For that my grandsire was an Englishman , -Awakes my conscience to confess all this . -In lieu whereof , I pray you , bear me hence -From forth the noise and rumour of the field , -Where I may think the remnant of my thoughts -In peace , and part this body and my soul -With contemplation and devout desires . - -We do believe thee : and beshrew my soul -But I do love the favour and the form -Of this most fair occasion , by the which -We will untread the steps of damned flight , -And like a bated and retired flood , -Leaving our rankness and irregular course , -Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlook'd , -And calmly run on in obedience , -Even to our ocean , to our great King John . -My arm shall give thee help to bear thee hence , -For I do see the cruel pangs of death -Right in thine eye . Away , my friends ! New flight ; -And happy newness , that intends old right . - - -The sun of heaven methought was loath to set , -But stay'd and made the western welkin blush , -When the English measur'd backward their own ground -In faint retire . O ! bravely came we off , -When with a volley of our needless shot , -After such bloody toil , we bid good night , -And wound our tottering colours clearly up , -Last in the field , and almost lords of it ! - - -Where is my prince , the Dauphin ? - -Here : what news ? - -The Count Melun is slain ; the English lords , -By his persuasion , are again fall'n off ; -And your supply , which you have wish'd so long , -Are cast away and sunk , on Goodwin sands . - -Ah , foul shrewd news ! Beshrew thy very heart ! -I did not think to be so sad to-night -As this hath made me . Who was he that said -King John did fly an hour or two before -The stumbling night did part our weary powers ? - -Whoever spoke it , it is true , my lord . - -Well ; keep good quarter and good care to-night : -The day shall not be up so soon as I , -To try the fair adventure of to-morrow . - - -Who's there ? speak , ho ! speak quickly , or I shoot . - -A friend . What art thou ? - -Of the part of England . - -Whither dost thou go ? - -What's that to thee ? Why may not I demand -Of thine affairs as well as thou of mine ? - -Hubert , I think ? - -Thou hast a perfect thought : -I will upon all hazards well believe -Thou art my friend , that know'st my tongue so well . -Who art thou ? - -Who thou wilt : and if thou please , -Thou mayst befriend me so much as to think -I come one way of the Plantagenets . - -Unkind remembrance ! thou and eyeless night -Have done me shame : brave soldier , pardon me , -That any accent breaking from thy tongue -Should 'scape the true acquaintance of mine ear . - -Come , come ; sans compliment , what news abroad ? - -Why , here walk I in the black brow of night , -To find you out . - -Brief , then ; and what's the news ? - -O ! my sweet sir , news fitting to the night , -Black , fearful , comfortless , and horrible . - -Show me the very wound of this ill news : -I am no woman ; I'll not swound at it . - -The king , I fear , is poison'd by a monk : -I left him almost speechless ; and broke out -To acquaint you with this evil , that you might -The better arm you to the sudden time -Than if you had at leisure known of this . - -How did he take it ? who did taste to him ? - -A monk , I tell you ; a resolved villain , -Whose bowels suddenly burst out : the king -Yet speaks , and peradventure may recover . - -Whom didst thou leave to tend his majesty ? - -Why , know you not ? the lords are all come back , -And brought Prince Henry in their company ; -At whose request the king hath pardon'd them , -And they are all about his majesty . - -Withhold thine indignation , mighty heaven , -And tempt us not to bear above our power ! -I'll tell thee , Hubert , half my power this night , -Passing these flats , are taken by the tide ; -These Lincoln Washes have devoured them : -Myself , well-mounted , hardly have escap'd . -Away before ! conduct me to the king ; -I doubt he will be dead or ere I come . - - -It is too late : the life of all his blood -Is touch'd corruptibly ; and his pure brain , -Which some suppose the soul's frail dwelling-house , -Doth , by the idle comments that it makes , -Foretell the ending of mortality . - - -His highness yet doth speak ; and holds belief -That , being brought into the open air , -It would allay the burning quality -Of that fell poison which assaileth him . - -Let him be brought into the orchard here . -Doth he still rage ? - - -He is more patient -Than when you left him : even now he sung . - -O , vanity of sickness ! fierce extremes -In their continuance will not feel themselves . -Death , having prey'd upon the outward parts , -Leaves them invisible ; and his siege is now -Against the mind , the which he pricks and wounds -With many legions of strange fantasies , -Which , in their throng and press to that last hold , -Confound themselves . 'Tis strange that death should sing . -I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan , -Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death , -And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings -His soul and body to their lasting rest - -Be of good comfort , prince ; for you are born -To set a form upon that indigest -Which he hath left so shapeless and so rude . - - -Ay , marry , now my soul hath elbow-room ; -It would not out at windows , nor at doors . -There is so hot a summer in my bosom -That all my bowels crumble up to dust : -I am a scribbled form , drawn with a pen -Upon a parchment , and against this fire -Do I shrink up . - -How fares your majesty ? - -Poison'd , ill-fare ; dead , forsook , cast off ; -And none of you will bid the winter come -To thrust his icy fingers in my maw ; -Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course -Through my burn'd bosom ; nor entreat the north -To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips -And comfort me with cold . I do not ask you much : -I beg cold comfort ; and you are so strait -And so ingrateful you deny me that . - -O ! that there were some virtue in my tears , -That might relieve you . - -The salt in them is hot . -Within me is a hell ; and there the poison -Is as a fiend confin'd to tyrannize -On unreprievable condemned blood . - - -O ! I am scalded with my violent motion -And spleen of speed to see your majesty . - -O cousin ! thou art come to set mine eye : -The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd , -And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail -Are turned to one thread , one little hair ; -My heart hath one poor string to stay it by , -Which holds but till thy news be uttered ; -And then all this thou seest is but a clod -And module of confounded royalty . - -The Dauphin is preparing hitherward , -Where heaven he knows how we shall answer him : -For in a night the best part of my power , -As I upon advantage did remove , -Were in the Washes all unwarily -Devoured by the unexpected flood . - - -You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear . -My liege ! my lord ! But now a king , now thus . - -Even so must I run on , and even so stop . -What surety of the world , what hope , what stay , -When this was now a king , and now is clay ? - -Art thou gone so ? I do but stay behind -To do the office for thee of revenge , -And then my soul shall wait on thee to heaven , -As it on earth hath been thy servant still . -Now , now , you stars , that move in your right spheres , -Where be your powers ? Show now your mended faiths , -And instantly return with me again , -To push destruction and perpetual shame -Out of the weak door of our fainting land . -Straight let us seek , or straight we shall be sought : -The Dauphin rages at our very heels . - -It seems you know not then so much as we . -The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest , -Who half an hour since came from the Dauphin , -And brings from him such offers of our peace -As we with honour and respect may take , -With purpose presently to leave this war . - -He will the rather do it when he sees -Ourselves well sinewed to our defence . - -Nay , it is in a manner done already ; -For many carriages he hath dispatch'd -To the sea-side , and put his cause and quarrel -To the disposing of the cardinal : -With whom yourself , myself , and other lords , -If you think meet , this afternoon will post -To consummate this business happily . - -Let it be so . And you , my noble prince , -With other princes that may best be spar'd , -Shall wait upon your father's funeral . - -At Worcester must his body be interr'd ; -For so he will'd it . - -Thither shall it then . -And happily may your sweet self put on -The lineal state and glory of the land ! -To whom , with all submission , on my knee , -I do bequeath my faithful services -And true subjection everlastingly . - -And the like tender of our love we make , -To rest without a spot for evermore . - -I have a kind soul that would give you thanks , -And knows not how to do it but with tears . - -O ! let us pay the time but needful woe -Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs . -This England never did , nor never shall , -Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror , -But when it first did help to wound itself . -Now these her princes are come home again , -Come the three corners of the world in arms , -And we shall shock them . Nought shall make us rue , -If England to itself do rest but true . - -THE LIFE OF KING HENRY V - -Chorus . - -O ! for a Muse of fire , that would ascend -The brightest heaven of invention ; -A kingdom for a stage , princes to act -And monarchs to behold the swelling scene . -Then should the war-like Harry , like himself , -Assume the port of Mars ; and at his heels , -Leash'd in like hounds , should famine , sword , and fire -Crouch for employment . But pardon , gentles all , -The flat unraised spirits that hath dar'd -On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth -So great an object : can this cockpit hold -The vasty fields of France ? or may we cram -Within this wooden O the very casques -That did affright the air at Agincourt ? -O , pardon ! since a crooked figure may -Attest in little place a million ; -And let us , ciphers to this great accompt , -On your imaginary forces work . -Suppose within the girdle of these walls -Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies , -Whose high upreared and abutting fronts -The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder : -Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts : -Into a thousand parts divide one man , -And make imaginary puissance ; -Think when we talk of horses that you see them -Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth ; -For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings , -Carry them here and there , jumping o'er times , -Turning the accomplishment of many years -Into an hour-glass : for the which supply , -Admit me Chorus to this history ; -Who prologue-like your humble patience pray , -Gently to hear , kindly to judge , our play . - - -My lord , I'll tell you ; that self bill is urg'd , -Which in th' eleventh year of the last king's reign -Was like , and had indeed against us pass'd , -But that the scambling and unquiet time -Did push it out of further question . - -But how , my lord , shall we resist it now ? - -It must be thought on . If it pass against us , -We lose the better half of our possession ; -For all the temporal lands which men devout -By testament have given to the church -Would they strip from us ; being valu'd thus : -As much as would maintain , to the king's honour , -Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights , -Six thousand and two hundred good esquires ; -And , to relief of lazars and weak age , -Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil , -A hundred almshouses right well supplied ; -And to the coffers of the king beside , -A thousand pounds by the year . Thus runs the bill . - -This would drink deep . - -'Twould drink the cup and all . - -But what prevention ? - -The king is full of grace and fair regard . - -And a true lover of the holy church . - -The courses of his youth promis'd it not . -The breath no sooner left his father's body -But that his wildness , mortified in him , -Seem'd to die too ; yea , at that very moment , -Consideration like an angel came , -And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him , -Leaving his body as a paradise , -To envelop and contain celestial spirits . -Never was such a sudden scholar made ; -Never came reformation in a flood , -With such a heady currance , scouring faults ; -Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness -So soon did lose his seat and all at once -As in this king . - -We are blessed in the change . - -Hear him but reason in divinity , -And , all-admiring , with an inward wish -You would desire the king were made a prelate : -Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs , -You would say it hath been all in all his study : -List his discourse of war , and you shall hear -A fearful battle render'd you in music : -Turn him to any cause of policy , -The Gordian knot of it he will unloose , -Familiar as his garter ; that , when he speaks , -The air , a charter'd libertine , is still , -And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears , -To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences ; -So that the art and practic part of life -Must be the mistress to this theoric : -Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it , -Since his addiction was to courses vain ; -His companies unletter'd , rude , and shallow ; -His hours fill'd up with riots , banquets , sports ; -And never noted in him any study , -Any retirement , any sequestration -From open haunts and popularity . - -The strawberry grows underneath the nettle , -And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best -Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality : -And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation -Under the veil of wildness ; which , no doubt , -Grew like the summer grass , fastest by night , -Unseen , yet crescive in his faculty . - -It must be so ; for miracles are ceas'd ; -And therefore we must needs admit the means -How things are perfected . - -But , my good lord , -How now for mitigation of this bill -Urg'd by the commons ? Doth his majesty -Incline to it , or no ? - -He seems indifferent , -Or rather swaying more upon our part -Than cherishing the exhibiters against us ; -For I have made an offer to his majesty , -Upon our spiritual convocation , -And in regard of causes now in hand , -Which I have open'd to his Grace at large , -As touching France , to give a greater sum -Than ever at one time the clergy yet -Did to his predecessors part withal . - -How did this offer seem receiv'd , my lord ? - -With good acceptance of his majesty ; -Save that there was not time enough to hear , -As I perceiv'd his Grace would fain have done , -The severals and unhidden passages -Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms , -And generally to the crown and seat of France , -Deriv'd from Edward , his great-grandfather . - -What was the impediment that broke this off ? - -The French ambassador upon that instant -Crav'd audience ; and the hour I think is come -To give him hearing : is it four o'clock ? - -It is . - -Then go we in to know his embassy ; -Which I could with a ready guess declare -Before the Frenchman speak a word of it . - -I'll wait upon you , and I long to hear it . - - -Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury ? - -Not here in presence . - -Send for him , good uncle . - -Shall we call in the ambassador , my liege ? - -Not yet , my cousin : we would be resolv'd , -Before we hear him , of some things of weight -That task our thoughts , concerning us and France . - - -God and his angels guard your sacred throne , -And make you long become it ! - -Sure , we thank you . -My learned lord , we pray you to proceed , -And justly and religiously unfold -Why the law Salique that they have in France -Or should , or should not , bar us in our claim . -And God forbid , my dear and faithful lord , -That you should fashion , wrest , or bow your reading , -Or nicely charge your understanding soul -With opening titles miscreate , whose right -Suits not in native colours with the truth ; -For God doth know how many now in health -Shall drop their blood in approbation -Of what your reverence shall incite us to . -Therefore take heed how you impawn our person , -How you awake the sleeping sword of war : -We charge you in the name of God , take heed ; -For never two such kingdoms did contend -Without much fall of blood ; whose guiltless drops -Are every one a woe , a sore complaint , -'Gainst him whose wrongs give edge unto the swords -That make such waste in brief mortality . -Under this conjuration speak , my lord , -And we will hear , note , and believe in heart , -That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd -As pure as sin with baptism . - -Then hear me , gracious sovereign , and you peers , -That owe yourselves , your lives , and services -To this imperial throne . There is no bar -To make against your highness' claim to France -But this , which they produce from Pharamond , -In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant , -'No woman shall succeed in Salique land :' -Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze -To be the realm of France , and Pharamond -The founder of this law and female bar . -Yet their own authors faithfully affirm -That the land Salique is in Germany , -Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe ; -Where Charles the Great , having subdu'd the Saxons , -There left behind and settled certain French ; -Who , holding in disdain the German women -For some dishonest manners of their life , -Establish'd then this law ; to wit , no female -Should be inheritrix in Salique land : -Which Salique , as I said , 'twixt Elbe and Sala , -Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen . -Then doth it well appear the Salique law -Was not devised for the realm of France ; -Nor did the French possess the Salique land -Until four hundred one-and-twenty years -After defunction of King Pharamond , -Idly suppos'd the founder of this law ; -Who died within the year of our redemption -Four hundred twenty-six ; and Charles the Great -Subdu'd the Saxons , and did seat the French -Beyond the river Sala , in the year -Eight hundred five . Besides , their writers say , -King Pepin , which deposed Childeric , -Did , as heir general , being descended -Of Blithild , which was daughter to King Clothair , -Make claim and title to the crown of France . -Hugh Capet also , who usurp'd the crown -Of Charles the Duke of Loraine , sole heir male -Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great , -To find his title with some shows of truth , -Though in pure truth , it was corrupt and naught , -Convey'd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare , -Daughter to Charlemain , who was the son -To Lewis the emperor , and Lewis the son -Of Charles the Great . Also King Lewis the Tenth , -Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet , -Could not keep quiet in his conscience , -Wearing the crown of France , till satisfied -That fair Queen Isabel , his grandmother , -Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare , -Daughter to Charles the aforesaid Duke of Loraine : -By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great -Was re-united to the crown of France . -So that , as clear as is the summer's sun , -King Pepin's title , and Hugh Capet's claim , -King Lewis his satisfaction , all appear -To hold in right and title of the female : -So do the kings of France unto this day ; -Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law -To bar your highness claiming from the female ; -And rather choose to hide them in a net -Than amply to imbar their crooked titles -Usurp'd from you and your progenitors . - -May I with right and conscience make this claim ? - -The sin upon my head , dread sovereign ! -For in the book of Numbers is it writ : -'When the son dies , let the inheritance -Descend unto the daughter .' Gracious lord , -Stand for your own ; unwind your bloody flag ; -Look back into your mighty ancestors : -Go , my dread lord , to your great-grandsire's tomb , -From whom you claim ; invoke his war-like spirit , -And your great-uncle's , Edward the Black Prince , -Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy , -Making defeat on the full power of France ; -Whiles his most mighty father on a hill -Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp -Forage in blood of French nobility . -O noble English ! that could entertain -With half their forces the full pride of France , -And let another half stand laughing by , -All out of work , and cold for action . - -Awake remembrance of these valiant dead , -And with your puissant arm renew their feats : -You are their heir , you sit upon their throne , -The blood and courage that renowned them -Runs in your veins ; and my thrice-puissantliege -Is in the very May-morn of his youth , -Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises . - -Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth -Do all expect that you should rouse yourself , -As did the former lions of your blood . - -They know your Grace hath cause and means and might ; -So hath your highness ; never King of England -Had nobles richer , and more loyal subjects , -Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England -And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France . - -O ! let their bodies follow , my dear liege , -With blood and sword and fire to win your right ; -In aid whereof we of the spiritualty -Will raise your highness such a mighty sum -As never did the clergy at one time -Bring in to any of your ancestors . - -We must not only arm to invade the French , -But lay down our proportions to defend -Against the Scot , who will make road upon us -With all advantages . - -They of those marches , gracious sovereign , -Shall be a wall sufficient to defend -Our inland from the pilfering borderers . - -We do not mean the coursing snatchers only , -But fear the main intendment of the Scot , -Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us ; -For you shall read that my great-grandfather -Never went with his forces into France -But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom -Came pouring , like the tide into a breach , -With ample and brim fulness of his force , -Galling the gleaned land with hot essays , -Girding with grievous siege castles and towns ; -That England , being empty of defence , -Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbourhood . - -She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd , my liege ; -For hear her but exampled by herself : -When all her chivalry hath been in France -And she a mourning widow of her nobles , -She hath herself not only well defended , -But taken and impounded as a stray -The King of Scots ; whom she did send to France , -To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner kings , -And make your chronicle as rich with praise -As is the owse and bottom of the sea -With sunken wrack and sumless treasuries . - -But there's a saying very old and true ; - -If that you will France win , -Then with Scotland first begin : - -For once the eagle England being in prey , -To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot -Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs , -Playing the mouse in absence of the cat , -To tear and havoc more than she can eat . - -It follows then the cat must stay at home : -Yet that is but a crush'd necessity ; -Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries -And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves . -While that the armed hand doth fight abroad -The advised head defends itself at home : -For government , though high and low and lower , -Put into parts , doth keep in one consent , -Congreeing in a full and natural close , -Like music . - -Therefore doth heaven divide -The state of man in divers functions , -Setting endeavour in continual motion ; -To which is fixed , as an aim or butt , -Obedience : for so work the honey-bees , -Creatures that by a rule in nature teach -The act of order to a peopled kingdom . -They have a king and officers of sorts ; -Where some , like magistrates , correct at home , -Others , like merchants , venture trade abroad , -Others , like soldiers , armed in their stings , -Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ; -Which pillage they with merry march bring home -To the tent-royal of their emperor : -Who , busied in his majesty , surveys -The singing masons building roofs of gold , -The civil citizens kneading up the honey , -The poor mechanic porters crowding in -Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate , -The sad-ey'd justice , with his surly hum , -Delivering o'er to executors pale -The lazy yawning drone . I this infer , -That many things , having full reference -To one consent , may work contrariously ; -As many arrows , loosed several ways , -Fly to one mark ; as many ways meet in one town ; -As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea ; -As many lines close in the dial's centre ; -So may a thousand actions , once afoot , -End in one purpose , and be all well borne -Without defeat . Therefore to France , my liege . -Divide your happy England into four ; -Whereof take you one quarter into France , -And you withal shall make all Gallia shake . -If we , with thrice such powers left at home , -Cannot defend our own doors from the dog , -Let us be worried and our nation lose -The name of hardiness and policy . - -Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin . - -Now are we well resolv'd ; and by God's help , -And yours , the noble sinews of our power , -France being ours , we'll bend it to our awe -Or break it all to pieces : or there we'll sit , -Ruling in large and ample empery -O'er France and all her almost kingly dukedoms , -Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn , -Tombless , with no remembrance over them : -Either our history shall with full mouth -Speak freely of our acts , or else our grave , -Like Turkish mute , shall have a tongueless mouth , -Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph . - - -Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure -Of our fair cousin Dauphin ; for we hear - -Your greeting is from him , not from the king . - -May't please your majesty to give us leave -Freely to render what we have in charge ; -Or shall we sparingly show you far off -The Dauphin's meaning and our embassy ? - -We are no tyrant , but a Christian king ; -Unto whose grace our passion is as subject -As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons : -Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainness -Tell us the Dauphin's mind . - -Thus then , in few . -Your highness , lately sending into France , -Did claim some certain dukedoms , in the right -Of your great predecessor , King Edward the Third . -In answer of which claim , the prince our master -Says that you savour too much of your youth , -And bids you be advis'd there's nought in France -That can be with a nimble galliard won ; -You cannot revel into dukedoms there . -He therefore sends you , meeter for your spirit , -This tun of treasure ; and , in lieu of this , -Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim -Hear no more of you . This the Dauphin speaks . - -What treasure , uncle ? - -Tennis-balls , my liege . - -We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us : -His present and your pains we thank you for : -When we have match'd our rackets to these balls , -We will in France , by God's grace , play a set -Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard . -Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler -That all the courts of France will be disturb'd -With chaces . And we understand him well , -How he comes o'er us with our wilder days , -Not measuring what use we made of them . -We never valu'd this poor seat of England ; -And therefore , living hence , did give ourself -To barbarous licence ; as 'tis ever common -That men are merriest when they are from home . -But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state , -Be like a king and show my sail of greatness -When I do rouse me in my throne of France : -For that I have laid by my majesty -And plodded like a man for working-days , -But I will rise there with so full a glory -That I will dazzle all the eyes of France , -Yea , strike the Dauphin blind to look on us . -And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his -Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones ; and his soul -Shall stand sore-charged for the wasteful vengeance -That shall fly with them : for many a thousand widows -Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands ; -Mock mothers from their sons , mock castles down ; -And some are yet ungotten and unborn -That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's scorn . -But this lies all within the will of God , -To whom I do appeal ; and in whose name -Tell you the Dauphin I am coming on , -To venge me as I may and to put forth -My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause . -So get you hence in peace ; and tell the Dauphin -His jest will savour but of shallow wit -When thousands weep more than did laugh at it . -Convey them with safe conduct . Fare you well . - - -This was a merry message . - -We hope to make the sender blush at it . -Therefore , my lords , omit no happy hour -That may give furtherance to our expedition ; -For we have now no thought in us but France , -Save those to God , that run before our business . -Therefore let our proportions for these wars -Be soon collected , and all things thought upon -That may with reasonable swiftness add -More feathers to our wings ; for , God before , -We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door . -Therefore let every man now task his thought , -That this fair action may on foot be brought . - -Now all the youth of England are on fire , -And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies ; -Now thrive the armourers , and honour's thought -Reigns solely in the breast of every man : -They sell the pasture now to buy the horse , -Following the mirror of all Christian kings , -With winged heels , as English Mercuries . -For now sits Expectation in the air -And hides a sword from hilts unto the point -With crowns imperial , crowns and coronets , -Promis'd to Harry and his followers . -The French , advis'd by good intelligence -Of this most dreadful preparation , -Shake in their fear , and with pale policy -Seek to divert the English purposes . -O England ! model to thy inward greatness , -Like little body with a mighty heart , -What mightst thou do , that honour would thee do , -Were all thy children kind and natural ! -But see thy fault ! France hath in thee found out -A nest of hollow bosoms , which he fills -With treacherous crowns ; and three corrupted men , -One , Richard Earl of Cambridge , and the second , -Henry Lord Scroop of Masham , and the third , -Sir Thomas Grey , knight , of Northumberland , -Have , for the gilt of France ,O guilt , indeed ! -Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France ; -And by their hands this grace of kings must die , -If hell and treason hold their promises , -Ere he take ship for France , and in Southampton . -Linger your patience on ; and well digest -The abuse of distance while we force a play . -The sum is paid ; the traitors are agreed ; -The king is set from London ; and the scene -Is now transported , gentles , to Southampton : -There is the playhouse now , there must you sit : -And thence to France shall we convey you safe , -And bring you back , charming the narrow seas -To give you gentle pass ; for , if we may , -We'll not offend one stomach with our play . -But , till the king come forth and not till then , -Unto Southampton do we shift our scene . - -Well met , Corporal Nym . - -Good morrow , Lieutenant Bardolph . - -What , are Ancient Pistol and you friends yet ? - -For my part , I care not : I say little ; but when time shall serve , there shall be smiles ; but that shall be as it may . I dare not fight ; but I will wink and hold out mine iron . It is a simple one ; but what though ? it will toast cheese , and it will endure cold as another man's sword will : and there's an end . - -I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends , and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France : let it be so , good Corporal Nym . - -Faith , I will live so long as I may , that's the certain of it ; and when I cannot live any longer , I will do as I may : that is my rest , that is the rendezvous of it . - -It is certain , corporal , that he is married to Nell Quickly ; and , certainly she did you wrong , for you were troth-plight to her . - -I cannot tell ; things must be as they may : men may sleep , and they may have their throats about them at that time ; and , some say , knives have edges . It must be as it may : though patience be a tired mare , yet she will plod . There must be conclusions . Well , I cannot tell . - - -Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife . Good corporal , be patient here . How now , mine host Pistol ! - -Base tike , call'st thou me host ? -Now , by this hand , I swear , I scorn the term ; -Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers . - -No , by my troth , not long ; for we cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live honestly by the prick of their needles , but it will be thought we keep a bawdy-house straight . [ - -Good lieutenant ! good corporal ! offer nothing here . - -Pish ! - -Pish for thee , Iceland dog ! thou prickeared cur of Iceland ! - -Good Corporal Nym , show thy valour and put up your sword . - -Will you shog off ? I would have you solus . - - -Solus , egregious dog ? O viper vile ! -The solus in thy most mervailous face ; -The solus in thy teeth , and in thy throat , -And in thy hateful lungs , yea , in thy maw , perdy ; -And , which is worse , within thy nasty mouth ! -I do retort the solus in thy bowels ; -For I can take , and Pistol's cock is up , -And flashing fire will follow . - -I am not Barbason ; you cannot conjure me . I have an humour to knock you indifferently well . If you grow foul with me , Pistol , I will scour you with my rapier , as I may , in fair terms : if you would walk off , I would prick your guts a little , in good terms , as I may ; and that's the humour of it . - -O braggart vile and damned furious wight ! -The grave doth gape , and doting death is near ; -Therefore exhale . - -Hear me , hear me what I say : he that strikes the first stroke , I'll run him up to the hilts , as I am a soldier . - - -An oath of mickle might , and fury shall abate . -Give me thy fist , thy fore-foot to me give ; -Thy spirits are most tall . - -I will cut thy throat , one time or other , in fair terms ; that is the humour of it . - -Coupe le gorge ! -That is the word . I thee defy again . -O hound of Crete , think'st thou my spouse to get ? -No ; to the spital go , -And from the powdering-tub of infamy -Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind , -Doll Tearsheet she by name , and her espouse : -I have , and I will hold , the quondam Quickly -For the only she ; and pauca , there's enough . -Go to - - -Mine host Pistol , you must come to my master , and your hostess : he is very sick , and would to bed . Good Bardolph , put thy face between his sheets and do the office of a warming-pan . Faith , he's very ill . - -Away , you rogue ! - -By my troth , he'll yield the crow a pudding one of these days . The king has killed his heart . Good husband , come home presently . - - -Come , shall I make you two friends ? We must to France together . Why the devil should we keep knives to cut one another's throats ? - -Let floods o'erswell , and fiends for food howl on ! - -You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting ? - -Base is the slave that pays . - -That now I will have ; that's the humour of it . - -As manhood shall compound : push home . - - -By this sword , he that makes the first thrust , I'll kill him ; by this sword , I will . - -Sword is an oath , and oaths must have their course . - -Corporal Nym , an thou wilt be friends , be friends : an thou wilt not , why then , be enemies with me too . Prithee , put up . - -I shall have my eight shillings I won of you at betting ? - -A noble shalt thou have , and present pay ; -And liquor likewise will I give to thee , -And friendship shall combine , and brotherhood : -I'll live by Nym , and Nym shall live by me . -Is not this just ? for I shall sutler be -Unto the camp , and profits will accrue . -Give me thy hand . - -I shall have my noble ? - -In cash most justly paid . - - -Well then , that's the humour of it . - - -As ever you came of women , come in quickly to Sir John . Ah , poor heart ! he is so shaked of a burning quotidian tertian , that it is most lamentable to behold . Sweet men , come to him . - -The king hath run bad humours on the knight ; that's the even of it . - -Nym , thou hast spoke the right ; -His heart is fracted and corroborate . - -The king is a good king : but it must be as it may ; he passes some humours and careers . - -Let us condole the knight ; for , lambkins , we will live . - - -'Fore God , his Grace is bold to trust these traitors . - -They shall be apprehended by and by . - -How smooth and even they do bear themselves ! -As if allegiance in their bosoms sat , -Crowned with faith and constant loyalty . - -The king hath note of all that they intend , -By interception which they dream not of . - -Nay , but the man that was his bedfellow , -Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours , -That he should , for a foreign purse , so sell -His sovereign's life to death and treachery ! - - -Now sits the wind fair , and we will aboard . -My Lord of Cambridge , and my kind Lord of Masham , -And you , my gentle knight , give me your thoughts : -Think you not that the powers we bear with us -Will cut their passage through the force of France , -Doing the execution and the act -For which we have in head assembled them ? - -No doubt , my liege , if each man do his best . - -I doubt not that ; since we are well persuaded -We carry not a heart with us from hence -That grows not in a fair consent with ours ; -Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish -Success and conquest to attend on us . - -Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd -Than is your majesty : there's not , I think , a subject -That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness -Under the sweet shade of your government . - -True : those that were your father's enemies -Have steep'd their galls in honey , and do serve you -With hearts create of duty and of zeal . - -We therefore have great cause of thankfulness , -And shall forget the office of our hand , -Sooner than quittance of desert and merit -According to the weight and worthiness . - -So service shall with steeled sinews toil , -And labour shall refresh itself with hope , -To do your Grace incessant services . - -We judge no less . Uncle of Exeter , -Enlarge the man committed yesterday -That rail'd against our person : we consider -It was excess of wine that set him on ; -And on his more advice we pardon him . - -That's mercy , but too much security : -Let him be punish'd , sovereign , lest example -Breed , by his sufference , more of such a kind . - -O ! let us yet be merciful . - -So may your highness , and yet punish too . - -Sir , -You show great mercy , if you give him life -After the taste of much correction . - -Alas ! your too much love and care of me -Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch . -If little faults , proceeding on distemper , -Shall not be wink'd at , how shall we stretch our eye -When capital crimes , chew'd , swallow'd , and digested , -Appear before us ? We'll yet enlarge that man , -Though Cambridge , Scroop , and Grey , in their dear care , -And tender preservation of our person , -Would have him punish'd . And now to our French causes : -Who are the late commissioners ? - -I one , my lord : -Your highness bade me ask for it to-day . - -So did you me , my liege . - -And I , my royal sovereign . - -Then , Richard , Earl of Cambridge , there is yours ; -There yours , Lord Scroop of Masham ; and , sir knight , -Grey of Northumberland , this same is yours : -Read them ; and know , I know your worthiness . -My Lord of Westmoreland , and uncle Exeter , -We will aboard to-night . Why , how now , gentlemen ! -What see you in those papers that you lose -So much complexion ? Look ye , how they change ! -Their cheeks are paper . Why , what read you there , -That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood -Out of appearance ? - -I do confess my fault , -And do submit me to your highness' mercy . - -To which we all appeal . - -To which we all appeal . - -The mercy that was quick in us but late -By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd : -You must not dare , for shame , to talk of mercy ; -For your own reasons turn into your bosoms , -As dogs upon their masters , worrying you . -See you , my princes and my noble peers , -These English monsters ! My Lord of Cambridge here , -You know how apt our love was to accord -To furnish him with all appertinents -Belonging to his honour ; and this man -Hath , for a few light crowns , lightly conspir'd , -And sworn unto the practices of France , -To kill us here in Hampton : to the which -This knight , no less for bounty bound to us -Than Cambridge is , hath likewise sworn . But O ! -What shall I say to thee , Lord Scroop ? thou cruel , -Ingrateful , savage and inhuman creature ! -Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels , -That knew'st the very bottom of my soul , -That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold -Wouldst thou have practis'd on me for thy use ! -May it be possible that foreign hire -Could out of thee extract one spark of evil -That might annoy my finger ? 'tis so strange -That , though the truth of it stands off as gross -As black from white , my eye will scarcely see it . -Treason and murder ever kept together , -As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose , -Working so grossly in a natural cause -That admiration did not whoop at them : -But thou , 'gainst all proportion , didst bring in -Wonder to wait on treason and on murder : -And whatsoever cunning fiend it was -That wrought upon thee so preposterously -Hath got the voice in hell for excellence : -And other devils that suggest by treasons -Do botch and bungle up damnation -With patches , colours , and with forms , being fetch'd -From glistering semblances of piety ; -But he that temper'd thee bade thee stand up , -Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason , -Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor . -If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus -Should with his lion gait walk the whole world , -He might return to vasty Tartar back , -And tell the legions , 'I can never win -A soul so easy as that Englishman's .' -O ! how hast thou with jealousy infected -The sweetness of affiance . Show men dutiful ? -Why , so didst thou : seem they grave and learned ? -Why , so didst thou : come they of noble family ? -Why , so didst thou : seem they religious ? -Why , so didst thou : or are they spare in diet , -Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger , -Constant in spirit , not swerving with the blood , -Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement , -Not working with the eye without the ear , -And but in purged judgment trusting neither ? -Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem : -And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot , -To mark the full-fraught man and best indu'd -With some suspicion . I will weep for thee ; -For this revolt of thine , methinks , is like -Another fall of man . Their faults are open : -Arrest them to the answer of the law ; -And God acquit them of their practices ! - -I arrest thee of high treason , by the name of Richard Earl of Cambridge . -I arrest thee of high treason , by the name of Henry Lord Scroop of Masham . -I arrest thee of high treason , by the name of Thomas Grey , knight , of Northumberland . - -Our purposes God justly hath discover'd , -And I repent my fault more than my death ; -Which I beseech your highness to forgive , -Although my body pay the price of it . - -For me , the gold of France did not seduce , -Although I did admit it as a motive -The sooner to effect what I intended : -But God be thanked for prevention ; -Which I in sufference heartily will rejoice , -Beseeching God and you to pardon me . - -Never did faithful subject more rejoice -At the discovery of most dangerous treason -Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself , -Prevented from a damned enterprise . -My fault , but not my body ; pardon , sovereign . - -God quit you in his mercy ! Hear your sentence . -You have conspir'd against our royal person , -Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd , and from his coffers -Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death ; -Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter , -His princes and his peers to servitude , -His subjects to oppression and contempt , -And his whole kingdom into desolation . -Touching our person seek we no revenge ; -But we our kingdom's safety must so tender , -Whose ruin you have sought , that to her laws -We do deliver you . Get you therefore hence , -Poor miserable wretches , to your death ; -The taste whereof , God of his mercy give you -Patience to endure , and true repentance -Of all your dear offences ! Bear them hence . - -Now , lords , for France ! the enterprise whereof -Shall be to you , as us , like glorious . -We doubt not of a fair and lucky war , -Since God so graciously hath brought to light -This dangerous treason lurking in our way -To hinder our beginnings . We doubt not now -But every rub is smoothed on our way . -Then forth , dear countrymen : let us deliver -Our puissance into the hand of God , -Putting it straight in expedition . -Cheerly to sea ! the signs of war advance : -No king of England , if not king of France . - - -Prithee , honey-sweet husband , let me bring thee to Staines . - -No ; for my manly heart doth yearn . -Bardolph , be blithe ; Nym , rouse thy vaunting veins ; -Boy , bristle thy courage up ; for Falstaff he is dead , -And we must yearn therefore . - -Would I were with him , wheresome'er he is , either in heaven or in hell ! - -Nay , sure , he's not in hell : he's in Arthur's bosom , if ever man went to Arthur's bosom . A' made a finer end and went away an it had been any christom child ; a' parted even just between twelve and one , even at the turning o' the tide : for after I saw him fumble with the sheets and play with flowers and smile upon his fingers' ends , I knew there was but one way ; for his nose was as sharp as a pen , and a' babbled of green fields . 'How now , Sir John !' quoth I : 'what man ! be of good cheer .' So a' cried out 'God , God , God !' three or four times : now I , to comfort him , bid him a' should not think of God , I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet . So a' bade me lay more clothes on his feet : I put my hand into the bed and felt them , and they were as cold as any stone ; then I felt to his knees , and so upward , and upward , and all was as cold as any stone . - -They say he cried out of sack . - -Ay , that a' did . - -And of women . - -Nay , that a' did not . - -Yes , that a' did ; and said they were devils incarnate . - -A' could never abide carnation ; 'twas a colour he never liked . - -A' said once , the devil would have him about women . - -A' did in some sort , indeed , handle women ; but then he was rheumatic , and talked of the whore of Babylon . - -Do you not remember a' saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose , and a' said it was a black soul burning in hell-fire ? - -Well , the fuel is gone that maintained that fire : that's all the riches I got in his service . - -Shall we shog ? the king will be gone from Southampton . - -Come , let's away . My love , give me thy lips . -Look to my chattels and my moveables : -Let senses rule , the word is , 'Pitch and pay ;' -Trust none ; -For oaths are straws , men's faiths are wafercakes , -And hold-fast is the only dog , my duck : -Therefore , caveto be thy counsellor . -Go , clear thy crystals . Yoke-fellows in arms , -Let us to France ; like horse-leeches , my boys , -To suck , to suck , the very blood to suck ! - -And that's but unwholesome food , they say . - -Touch her soft mouth , and march . - -Farewell , hostess . - - -I cannot kiss , that is the humour of it ; but , adieu . - -Let housewifery appear : keep close , I thee command . - -Farewell ; adieu . - -Thus come the English with full power upon us ; -And more than carefully it us concerns -To answer royally in our defences . -Therefore the Dukes of Berri and Britaine , -Of Brabant and of Orleans , shall make forth , -And you , Prince Dauphin , with all swift dispatch , -To line and new repair our towns of war -With men of courage and with means defendant : -For England his approaches makes as fierce -As waters to the sucking of a gulf . -It fits us then to be as provident -As fear may teach us , out of late examples -Left by the fatal and neglected English -Upon our fields . - -My most redoubted father , -It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe ; -For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom , -Though war nor no known quarrel were in question , -But that defences , musters , preparations , -Should be maintain'd , assembled , and collected , -As were a war in expectation . -Therefore , I say 'tis meet we all go forth -To view the sick and feeble parts of France : -And let us do it with no show of fear ; -No , with no more than if we heard that England -Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance : -For , my good liege , she is so idly king'd , -Her sceptre so fantastically borne -By a vain , giddy , shallow , humorous youth , -That fear attends her not . - -O peace , Prince Dauphin ! -You are too much mistaken in this king . -Question your Grace the late ambassadors , -With what great state he heard their embassy , -How well supplied with noble counsellors , -How modest in exception , and , withal -How terrible in constant resolution , -And you shall find his vanities forespent -Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus , -Covering discretion with a coat of folly ; -As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots -That shall first spring and be most delicate . - -Well , 'tis not so , my lord high constable ; -But though we think it so , it is no matter : -In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh -The enemy more mighty than he seems : -So the proportions of defence are fill'd ; -Which of a weak and niggardly projection -Doth like a miser spoil his coat with scanting -A little cloth . - -Think we King Harry strong ; -And , princes , look you strongly arm to meet him . -The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us , -And he is bred out of that bloody strain -That haunted us in our familiar paths : -Witness our too much memorable shame -When Cressy battle fatally was struck -And all our princes captiv'd by the hand -Of that black name , Edward Black Prince of Wales ; -Whiles that his mounting sire , on mountain standing , -Up in the air , crown'd with the golden sun , -Saw his heroical seed , and smil'd to see him -Mangle the work of nature , and deface -The patterns that by God and by French fathers -Had twenty years been made . This is a stem -Of that victorious stock ; and let us fear -The native mightiness and fate of him . - - -Ambassadors from Harry King of England -Do crave admittance to your majesty . - -We'll give them present audience . Go , and bring them . - -You see this chase is hotly follow'd , friends . - -Turn head , and stop pursuit ; for coward dogs -Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten -Runs far before them . Good my sovereign , -Take up the English short , and let them know -Of what a monarchy you are the head : -Self-love , my liege , is not so vile a sin -As self-neglecting . - - -From our brother England ? - -From him ; and thus he greets your majesty . -He wills you , in the name of God Almighty , -That you divest yourself , and lay apart -The borrow'd glories that by gift of heaven , -By law of nature and of nations 'long -To him and to his heirs ; namely , the crown -And all wide-stretched honours that pertain -By custom and the ordinance of times -Unto the crown of France . That you may know -'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim , -Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days , -Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd , -He sends you this most memorable line , - -In every branch truly demonstrative ; -Willing you overlook this pedigree ; -And when you find him evenly deriv'd -From his most fam'd of famous ancestors , -Edward the Third , he bids you then resign -Your crown and kingdom , indirectly held -From him the native and true challenger . - -Or else what follows ? - -Bloody constraint ; for if you hide the crown -Even in your hearts , there will he rake for it : -Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming , -In thunder and in earthquake like a Jove , -That , if requiring fail , he will compel ; -And bids you , in the bowels of the Lord , -Deliver up the crown , and to take mercy -On the poor souls for whom this hungry war -Opens his vasty jaws ; and on your head -Turning the widows' tears , the orphans' cries , -The dead men's blood , the pining maidens' groans , -For husbands , fathers , and betrothed lovers , -That shall be swallow'd in this controversy . -This is his claim , his threat'ning , and my message ; -Unless the Dauphin be in presence here , -To whom expressly I bring greeting too . - -For us , we will consider of this further : -To-morrow shall you bear our full intent -Back to our brother England . - -For the Dauphin , -I stand here for him : what to him from England ? - -Scorn and defiance , slight regard , contempt , -And anything that may not misbecome -The mighty sender , doth he prize you at . -Thus says my king : an if your father's highness -Do not , in grant of all demands at large , -Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty , -He'll call you to so hot an answer of it , -That caves and womby vaultages of France -Shall chide your trespass and return your mock -In second accent of his ordinance . - -Say , if my father render fair return , -It is against my will ; for I desire -Nothing but odds with England : to that end , -As matching to his youth and vanity , -I did present him with the Paris balls . - -He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it , -Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe : -And , be assur'd , you'll find a difference -As we his subjects have in wonder found -Between the promise of his greener days -And these he masters now . Now he weighs time -Even to the utmost grain ; that you shall read -In your own losses , if he stay in France . - -To-morrow shall you know our mind at full . - -Dispatch us with all speed , lest that our king -Come here himself to question our delay ; -For he is footed in this land already . - -You shall be soon dispatch'd with fair conditions : -A night is but small breath and little pause -To answer matters of this consequence . - -Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies -In motion of no less celerity -Than that of thought . Suppose that you have seen -The well-appointed king at Hampton pier -Embark his royalty ; and his brave fleet -With silken streamers the young Ph bus fanning : -Play with your fancies , and in them behold -Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing ; -Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give -To sounds confus'd ; behold the threaden sails , -Borne with the invisible and creeping wind , -Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea , -Breasting the lofty surge . O ! do but think -You stand upon the rivage and behold -A city on the inconstant billows dancing ; -For so appears this fleet majestical , -Holding due course to Harfleur . Follow , follow ! -Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy , -And leave your England , as dead midnight still , -Guarded with grandsires , babies , and old women , -Either past or not arriv'd to pith and puissance : -For who is he , whose chin is but enrich'd -With one appearing hair , that will not follow -Those call'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France ? -Work , work your thoughts , and therein see a siege ; -Behold the ordenance on their carriages , -With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur . -Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back ; -Tells Harry that the king doth offer him -Katharine his daughter ; and with her , to dowry , -Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms : -The offer likes not : and the nimble gunner -With linstock now the devilish cannon touches , - -And down goes all before them . Still be kind , -And eke out our performance with your mind . - -Once more unto the breach , dear friends , once more ; -Or close the wall up with our English dead ! -In peace there's nothing so becomes a man -As modest stillness and humility : -But when the blast of war blows in our ears , -Then imitate the action of the tiger ; -Stiffen the sinews , summon up the blood , -Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage ; -Then lend the eye a terrible aspect ; -Let it pry through the portage of the head -Like the brass cannon ; let the brow o'erwhelm it -As fearfully as doth a galled rock -O'erhang and jutty his confounded base , -Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean . -Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide , -Hold hard the breath , and bend up every spirit -To his full height ! On , on , you noblest English ! -Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof ; -Fathers that , like so many Alexanders , -Have in these parts from morn till even fought , -And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument . -Dishonour not your mothers ; now attest -That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you . -Be copy now to men of grosser blood , -And teach them how to war . And you , good yeomen , -Whose limbs were made in England , show us here -The mettle of your pasture ; let us swear -That you are worth your breeding ; which I doubt not ; -For there is none of you so mean and base -That hath not noble lustre in your eyes . -I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips , -Straining upon the start . The game's afoot : -Follow your spirit ; and , upon this charge -Cry 'God for Harry ! England and Saint George !' - - -On , on , on , on , on ! to the breach , to the breach ! - -Pray thee , corporal , stay : the knocks are too hot ; and for mine own part , I have not a case of lives : the humour of it is too hot , that is the very plain-song of it . - -The plain-song is most just , for humours do abound : - -Knocks go and come : God's vassals drop and die ; -And sword and shield -In bloody field -Doth win immortal fame . - - -Would I were in an alehouse in London ! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale , and safety . - -And I : - -If wishes would prevail with me , -My purpose should not fail with me , -But thither would I hie . - -As duly , -But not as truly , -As bird doth sing on bough . - -Up to the breach , you dogs ! avaunt , you cullions ! - - -Be merciful , great duke , to men of mould ! -Abate thy rage , abate thy manly rage ! -Abate thy rage , great duke ! -Good bawcock , bate thy rage ; use lenity , sweet chuck ! - -These be good humours ! your honour wins bad humours . - - -As young as I am , I have observed these three swashers . I am boy to them all three , but all they three , though they would serve me , could not be man to me ; for , indeed three such antiques do not amount to a man . For Bardolph , he is white-livered and red-faced ; by the means whereof , a' faces it out , but fights not . For Pistol , he hath a killing tongue and a quiet sword ; by the means whereof a' breaks words , and keeps whole weapons . For Nym , he hath heard that men of few words are the best men ; and therefore he scorns to say his prayers , lest a' should be thought a coward : but his few bad words are matched with as few good deeds ; for a' never broke any man's head but his own , and that was against a post when he was drunk . They will steal any thing and call it purchase . Bardolph stole a lute-case , bore it twelve leagues , and sold it for three half-pence . Nym and Bardolph are sworn brothers in filching , and in Calais they stole a fire-shovel ;I knew by that piece of service the men would carry coals ,they would have me as familiar with men's pockets as their gloves or their handkerchers : which makes much against my manhood if I should take from another's pocket to put into mine ; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs . I must leave them and seek some better service : their villany goes against my weak stomach , and therefore I must cast it up . - -Captain Fluellen , you must come presently to the mines : the Duke of Gloucester would speak with you . - -To the mines ! tell you the duke it is not so good to come to the mines . For look you , the mines is not according to the disciplines of the war ; the concavities of it is not sufficient ; for , look you , th' athversary you may discuss unto the duke , look you is digt himself four yards under the countermines ; by Cheshu , I think , a' will plow up all if there is not better directions . - -The Duke of Gloucester , to whom the order of the siege is given , is altogether directed by an Irishman , a very valiant gentleman , i' faith . - -It is Captain Macmorris , is it not ? - -I think it be . - -By Cheshu , he is an ass , as in the world : -I will verify as much in his peard : he has no more directions in the true disciplines of the wars , look you , of the Roman disciplines , than is a puppy-dog . - - -Here a' comes ; and the Scots captain , Captain Jamy , with him . - -Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous gentleman , that is certain ; and of great expedition and knowledge in th' aunchient wars , upon my particular knowledge of his directions : by Cheshu , he will maintain his argument as well as any military man in the world , in the disciplines of the pristine wars of the Romans . - -I say gud day , Captain Fluellen . - -God-den to your worship , good Captain James . - -How now , Captain Macmorris ! have you quit the mines ? have the pioners given o'er ? - -By Chrish , la ! tish ill done : the work ish give over , the trumpet sound the retreat . By my hand , I swear , and my father's soul , the work ish ill done ; it ish give over : I would have blowed up the town , so Chrish save me , la ! in an hour : O ! tish ill done , tish ill done ; by my hand , tish ill done ! - -Captain Macmorris , I beseech you now , will you voutsafe me , look you , a few disputations with you , as partly touching or concerning the disciplines of the war , the Roman wars , in the way of argument , look you , and friendly communication ; partly to satisfy my opinion , and partly for the satisfaction , look you , of my mind , as touching the direction of the military discipline : that is the point . - -It sall be vary gud , gud feith , gud captains bath : - -and I sall quit you with gud leve , as I may pick occasion ; that sall I , marry . - -It is no time to discourse , so Chrish save me : the day is hot , and the weather , and the wars , and the king , and the dukes : it is no time to discourse . The town is beseeched , and the trumpet calls us to the breach ; and we talk , and be Chrish , do nothing : 'tis shame for us all ; so God sa' me , 'tis shame to stand still ; it is shame , by my hand ; and there is throats to be cut , and works to be done ; and there ish nothing done , so Chrish sa' me , la ! - -By the mess , ere theise eyes of mine take themselves to slumber , aile do gud service , or aile lig i' the grund for it ; ay , or go to death ; and aile pay it as valorously as I may , that sal I suerly do , that is the breff and the long . Marry , I wad full fain heard some question 'tween you tway . - -Captain Macmorris , I think , look you , under your correction , there is not many of your nation - -Of my nation ! What ish my nation ? ish a villain , and a bastard , and a knave , and a rascal ? What ish my nation ? Who talks of my nation ? - -Look you , if you take the matter otherwise than is meant , Captain Macmorris , peradventure I shall think you do not use me with that affability as in discretion you ought to use me , look you ; being as good a man as yourself , both in the disciplines of wars , and in the derivation of my birth , and in other particularities . - -I do not know you so good a man as myself : so Chrish save me , I will cut off your head . - -Gentlemen both , you will mistake each other . - -A ! that's a foul fault . - - -The town sounds a parley . - -Captain Macmorris , when there is more better opportunity to be required , look you , I will be so bold as to tell you I know the disciplines of wars ; and there is an end . - -How yet resolves the governor of the town ? -This is the latest parle we will admit : -Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves ; -Or like to men proud of destruction -Defy us to our worst : for , as I am a soldier , -A name that in my thoughts , becomes me best , -If I begin the battery once again , -I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur -Till in her ashes she lie buried . -The gates of mercy shall be all shut up , -And the flesh'd soldier , rough and hard of heart , -In liberty of bloody hand shall range -With conscience wide as hell , mowing like grass -Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants . -What is it then to me , if impious war , -Array'd in flames like to the prince of fiends , -Do , with his smirch'd complexion , all fell feats -Enlink'd to waste and desolation ? -What is't to me , when you yourselves are cause , -If your pure maidens fall into the hand -Of hot and forcing violation ? -What rein can hold licentious wickedness -When down the hill he holds his fierce career ? -We may as bootless spend our vain command -Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil -As send precepts to the leviathan -To come ashore . Therefore , you men of Harfleur , -Take pity of your town and of your people , -Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command ; -Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace -O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds -Of heady murder , spoil , and villany . -If not , why , in a moment , look to see -The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand -Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters ; -Your fathers taken by the silver beards , -And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls ; -Your naked infants spitted upon pikes , -Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confus'd -Do break the clouds , as did the wives of Jewry -At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen . -What say you ? will you yield , and this avoid ? -Or , guilty in defence , be thus destroy'd ? - -Our expectation hath this day an end . -The Dauphin , whom of succour we entreated , -Returns us that his powers are yet not ready -To raise so great a siege . Therefore , great king , -We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy . -Enter our gates ; dispose of us and ours ; -For we no longer are defensible . - -Open your gates ! Come , uncle Exeter , -Go you and enter Harfleur ; there remain , -And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French : -Use mercy to them all . For us , dear uncle , -The winter coming on and sickness growing -Upon our soldiers , we will retire to Calais . -To-night in Harfleur will we be your guest ; -To-morrow for the march are we addrest . - - -Alice , tu as est en Angleterre , et tu parles bien le langage . - -Un peu , madame . - -Je te prie , m'enseignez ; il faut que j'apprenne parler . Comment appellez vous la main en Anglois ? - -La main ? elle est appell e , de hand . - -De hand . Et les doigts ? - -Les doigts ? ma foy , je oublie les doigts ; mais je me souviendray . Les doigts ? je pense qu'ils sont appell s de fingres ; ouy , de fingres . - -La main , de hand ; les doigts , de fingres . Je pense que je suis le bon escolier . J'ai gagn deux mots d'Anglois vistement . Comment appellez vous les ongles ? - -Lesongles ? nous les appellons , de nails . - -De nails . Escoutez ; dites moy , si je parle bien : de hands , de fingres , et de nails . - -C'est bien dict , madame ; il est fort bon Anglois . - -Dites moy l'Anglois pour le bras . - -De arm , madame . - -Et le coude ? - -De elbow . - -De elbow . Je m'en fais la r p tition de tous les mots que vous m'avez appris d s pr sent . - -Il est trop difficile , madame , comme je pense . - -Excusez moy , Alice ; escoutez : de hand , de fingres , de nails , de arma , de bilbow . - -De elbow , madame . - -O Seigneur Dieu ! je m'en oublie ; de elbow . Comment appellez vous le col ? - -De nick , madame . - -De nick . Et le menton ? - -De chin . - -De sin . Le col , de nick : le menton , de sin . - -Ouy . Sauf vostre honneur , en v rit vous prononcez les mots aussi droict que les natifs d'Angleterre . - -Je ne doute point d'apprendre par la grace de Dieu , et en peu de temps . - -N'avez vous d j oubli ce que je vous ay enseign e ? - -Non , je reciteray vous promptement . -De hand , de fingre , de mails , - -De nails , madame . - -De nails , de arme , de ilbow . - -Sauf vostre honneur , d'elbow . - -Ainsi dis je ; d'elbow , de nick , et de sin . Comment appellez vous le pied et la robe ? - -De foot , madame ; et de coun . - -De foot , et de coun ? O Seigneur Dieu ! ces sont mots de son mauvais , corruptible , gros , et impudique , et non pour les dames d'honneur d'user . Je ne voudrois prononcer ces mots devant les seigneurs de France , pour tout le monde . Foh ! le foot , et le coun . N antmoins je reciterai une autre fois ma le on ensemble : de hand , de fingre , de nails , d'arm , d'elbow , de nick , de sin , de foot , de coun . - -Excellent , madame ! - -C'est assez pour une fois : allons nous diner . - - -'Tis certain , he hath pass'd the river Somme . - -And if he be not fought withal , my lord , -Let us not live in France ; let us quit all , -And give our vineyards to a barbarous people . - -O Dieu vivant ! shall a few sprays of us , -The emptying of our fathers' luxury , -Our scions , put in wild and savage stock , -Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds , -And overlook their grafters ? - -Normans , but bastard Normans , Norman bastards ! -Mort de ma vie ! if they march along -Unfought withal , but I will sell my dukedom , -To buy a slobbery and a dirty farm -In that nook-shotten isle of Albion . - -Dieu de battailes ! where have they this mettle ? -Is not their climate foggy , raw , and dull , -On whom , as in despite , the sun looks pale , -Killing their fruit with frowns ? Can sodden water , -A drench for sur-rein'd jades , their barley-broth , -Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat ? -And shall our quick blood , spirited with wine , -Seem frosty ? O ! for honour of our land , -Let us not hang like roping icicles -Upon our houses' thatch , whiles a more frosty people -Sweat drops of gallant youth in our rich fields ; -Poor we may call them in their native lords . - -By faith and honour , -Our madams mock at us , and plainly say -Our mettle is bred out ; and they will give -Their bodies to the lust of English youth -To new-store France with bastard warriors . - -They bid us to the English dancing-schools , -And teach lavoltas high and swift corantos ; -Saying our grace is only in our heels , -And that we are most lofty runaways . - -Where is Montjoy the herald ? speed him hence : -Let him greet England with our sharp defiance . -Up , princes ! and , with spirit of honour edg'd -More sharper than your swords , hie to the field : -Charles Delabreth , High Constable of France ; -You Dukes of Orleans , Bourbon , and Berri , -Alen on , Brabant , Bar , and Burgundy ; -Jaques Chatillon , Rambures , Vaudemont , -Beaumont , Grandpr , Roussi , and Fauconberg , -Foix , Lestrale , Bouciqualt , and Charolois ; -High dukes , great princes , barons , lords , and knights , -For your great seats now quit you of great shames . -Bar Harry England , that sweeps through our land -With pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur : -Rush on his host , as doth the melted snow -Upon the valleys , whose low vassal seat -The Alps doth spit and void his rheum upon : -Go down upon him , you have power enough , -And in a captive chariot into Roan -Bring him our prisoner . - -This becomes the great . -Sorry am I his numbers are so few , -His soldiers sick and famish'd in their march , -For I am sure when he shall see our army -He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear , -And for achievement offer us his ransom . - -Therefore , lord constable , haste on Montjoy , -And let him say to England that we send -To know what willing ransom he will give . -Prince Dauphin , you shall stay with us in Roan . - -Not so , I do beseech your majesty . - -Be patient , for you shall remain with us . -Now forth , lord constable and princes all , -And quickly bring us word of England's fall . - - -How now , Captain Fluellen ! come you from the bridge ? - -I assure you , there is very excellent services committed at the pridge . - -Is the Duke of Exeter safe ? - -The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as Agamemnon ; and a man that I love and honour with my soul , and my heart , and my duty , and my life , and my living , and my uttermost power : he is not God be praised and plessed !any hurt in the world ; but keeps the pridge most valiantly , with excellent discipline . There is an aunchient lieutenant there at the pridge , I think , in my very conscience , he is as valiant a man as Mark Antony ; and he is a man of no estimation in the world ; but I did see him do as gallant service . - -What do you call him ? - -He is called Aunchient Pistol . - -I know him not . - - -Here is the man . - -Captain , I thee beseech to do me favours : -The Duke of Exeter doth love thee well . - -Ay , I praise God ; and I have merited some love at his hands . - -Bardolph , a soldier firm and sound of heart , -And of buxom valour , hath , by cruel fate -And giddy Fortune's furious fickle wheel , -That goddess blind , -That stands upon the rolling restless stone , - -By your patience , Aunchient Pistol . Fortune is painted plind , with a muffler afore her eyes , to signify to you that Fortune is plind : and she is painted also with a wheel , to signify to you , which is the moral of it , that she is turning , and inconstant , and mutability , and variation : and her foot , look you , is fixed upon a spherical stone , which rolls , and rolls , and rolls : in good truth , the poet makes a most excellent description of it : Fortune is an excellent moral . - -Fortune is Bardolph's foe , and frowns on him ; -For he hath stol'n a pax , and hanged must a' be , -A damned death ! -Let gallows gape for dog , let man go free -And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate . -But Exeter hath given the doom of death -For pax of little price . -Therefore , go speak ; the duke will hear thy voice ; -And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut -With edge of penny cord and vile reproach : -Speak , captain , for his life , and I will thee requite . - -Aunchient Pistol , I do partly understand your meaning . - -Why then , rejoice therefore . - -Certainly , aunchient , it is not a thing to rejoice at ; for , if , look you , he were my brother , I would desire the duke to use his good pleasure and put him to execution ; for discipline ought to be used . - -Die and be damn'd ; and figo for thy friendship ! - -It is well . - -The fig of Spain ! - - -Very good . - -Why , this is an arrant counterfeit rascal : I remember him now ; a bawd , a cutpurse . - -I'll assure you a' uttered as prave words at the pridge as you shall see in a summer's day . But it is very well ; what he has spoke to me , that is well , I warrant you , when time is serve . - -Why , 'tis a gull , a fool , a rogue , that now and then goes to the wars to grace himself at his return into London under the form of a soldier . And such fellows are perfect in the great commanders' names , and they will learn you by rote where services were done ; at such and such a sconce , at such a breach , at such a convoy ; who came off bravely , who was shot , who disgraced , what terms the enemy stood on ; and this they con perfectly in the phrase of war , which they trick up with new-tuned oaths : and what a beard of the general's cut and a horrid suit of the camp will do among foaming bottles and ale-washed wits , is wonderful to be thought on . But you must learn to know such slanders of the age , or else you may be marvellously mistook . - -I tell you what , Captain Gower ; I do perceive , he is not the man that he would gladly make show to the world he is : if I find a hole in his coat I will tell him my mind . - -Hark you , the king is coming ; and I must speak with him from the pridgo . - - -God pless your majesty ! - -How now , Fluellen ! cam'st thou from the bridge ? - -Ay , so please your majesty . The Duke of Exeter hath very gallantly maintained the pridge : the French is gone off , look you , and there is gallant and most prave passages . Marry , th' athversary was have possession of the pridge , but he is enforced to retire , and the Duke of Exeter is master of the pridge . I can tell your majesty the duke is a prave man . - -What men have you lost , Fluellen ? - -The perdition of th' athversary hath been very great , reasonable great : marry , for my part , I think the duke hath lost never a man but one that is like to be executed for robbing a church ; one Bardolph , if your majesty know the man : his face is all bubukles , and whelks , and knobs , and flames o' fire ; and his lips blows at his nose , and it is like a coal of fire , sometimes plue and sometimes red ; but his nose is executed , and his fire's out . - -We would have all such offenders so cut off : and we give express charge that in our marches through the country there be nothing compelled from the villages , nothing taken but paid for , none of the French upbraided or abused in disdainful language ; for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom , the gentler gamester is the soonest winner . - - -You know me by my habit . - -Well then I know thee : what shall I know of thee ? - -My master's mind . - -Unfold it . - -Thus says my king : Say thou to Harry of England : Though we seemed dead , we did but sleep : advantage is a better soldier than rashness . Tell him , we could have rebuked him at Harfleur , but that we thought not good to bruise an injury till it were full ripe : now we speak upon our cue , and our voice is imperial : England shall repent his folly , see his weakness , and admire our sufferance . Bid him therefore consider of his ransom ; which must proportion the losses we have borne , the subjects we have lost , the disgrace we have digested ; which , in weight to re-answer , his pettiness would bow under . For our losses , his exchequer is too poor ; for the effusion of our blood , the muster of his kingdom too faint a number ; and for our disgrace , his own person , kneeling at our feet , but a weak and worthless satisfaction . To this add defiance : and tell him , for conclusion , he hath betrayed his followers , whose condemnation is pronounced . So far my king and master , so much my office . - -What is thy name ? I know thy quality . - -Montjoy . - -Thou dost thy office fairly . Turn thee back , -And tell thy king I do not seek him now , -But could be willing to march on to Calais -Without impeachment ; for , to say the sooth , -Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much -Unto an enemy of craft and vantage , -My people are with sickness much enfeebled , -My numbers lessen'd , and those few I have -Almost no better than so many French : -Who , when they were in health , I tell thee , herald , -I thought upon one pair of English legs -Did march three Frenchmen . Yet , forgive me , God , -That I do brag thus ! this your air of France -Hath blown that vice in me ; I must repent . -Go therefore , tell thy master here I am : -My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk , -My army but a weak and sickly guard ; -Yet , God before , tell him we will come on , -Though France himself and such another neighbour -Stand in our way . There's for thy labour , Montjoy . -Go , bid thy master well advise himself : -If we may pass , we will ; if we be hinder'd , -We shall your tawny ground with your red blood -Discolour : and so , Montjoy , fare you well . -The sum of all our answer is but this : -We would not seek a battle as we are ; -Nor , as we are , we say we will not shun it : -So tell your master . - -I shall deliver so . Thanks to your highness . - - -I hope they will not come upon us now . - -We are in God's hand , brother , not in theirs . -March to the bridge ; it now draws toward night : -Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves , -And on to-morrow bid them march away . - - -Tut ! I have the best armour of the world . Would it were day ! - -You have an excellent armour ; but let my horse have his due . - -It is the best horse of Europe . - -Will it never be morning ? - -My Lord of Orleans , and my lord high constable , you talk of horse and armour - -You are as well provided of both as any prince in the world . - -What a long night is this ! I will not change my horse with any that treads but on four pasterns . a , ha ! He bounds from the earth as if his entrails were hairs : le cheval volant , the Pegasus , qui a les narines de feu ! When I bestride him , I soar , I am a hawk : he trots the air ; the earth sings when he touches it ; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes . - -He's of the colour of the nutmeg . - -And of the heat of the ginger . It is a beast for Perseus : he is pure air and fire ; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him but only in patient stillness while his rider mounts him : he is indeed a horse ; and all other jades you may call beasts . - -Indeed , my lord , it is a most absolute and excellent horse . - -It is the prince of palfreys ; his neigh is like the bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces homage . - -No more , cousin . - -Nay , the man hath no wit that cannot , from the rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb , vary deserved praise on my palfrey : it is a theme as fluent as the sea ; turn the sands into eloquent tongues , and my horse is argument for them all . 'Tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on , and for a sovereign's sovereign to ride on ; and for the world familiar to us , and unknown to lay apart their particular functions and wonder at him . I once writ a sonnet in his praise and began thus : 'Wonder of nature !' - -I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress . - -Then did they imitate that which I composed to my courser ; for my horse is my mistress . - -Your mistress bears well . - -Me well ; which is the prescript praise and perfection of a good and particular mistress . - -Ma foi , methought yesterday your mistress shrewdly shook your back . - -So perhaps did yours . - -Mine was not bridled . - -O ! then belike she was old and gentle ; and you rode , like a kern of Ireland , your French hose off and in your straight strossers . - -You have good judgment in horsemanship . - -Be warned by me , then : they that ride so , and ride not warily , fall into foul bogs . I had rather have my horse to my mistress . - -I had as lief have my mistress a jade . - -I tell thee , constable , my mistress wears his own hair . - -I could make as true a boast as that if I had a sow to my mistress . - -Le chien est retourn son propre vomissement , et la truie lav e au bourbier : thou makest use of any thing . - -Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress : or any such proverb so little kin to the purpose . - -My lord constable , the armour that I saw in your tent to-night , are those stars or suns upon it ? - -Stars , my lord . - -Some of them will fall to-morrow , I hope . - -And yet my sky shall not want . - -That may be , for you bear a many superfluously , and 'twere more honour some were away . - -Even as your horse bears your praises ; who would trot as well were some of your brags dismounted . - -Would I were able to load him with his desert ! Will it never be day ? I will trot to-morrow a mile , and my way shall be paved with English faces . - -I will not say so for fear I should be faced out of my way . But I would it were morning , for I would fain be about the ears of the English . - -Who will go to hazard with me for twenty prisoners ? - -You must first go yourself to hazard , ere you have them . - -'Tis midnight : I'll go arm myself . - - -The Dauphin longs for morning . - -He longs to eat the English . - -I think he will eat all he kills . - -By the white hand of my lady , he's a gallant prince . - -Swear by her foot , that she may tread out the oath . - -He is simply the most active gentleman of France . - -Doing is activity , and he will still be doing . - -He never did harm , that I heard of . - -Nor will do none to-morrow : he will keep that good name still . - -I know him to be valiant . - -I was told that by one that knows him better than you . - -What's he ? - -Marry , he told me so himself ; and he said he cared not who knew it . - -He needs not ; it is no hidden virtue in him . - -By my faith , sir , but it is ; never any body saw it but his lackey : 'tis a hooded valour ; and when it appears , it will bate . - -'Ill will never said well .' - -I will cap that proverb with 'There is flattery in friendship .' - -And I will take up that with 'Give the devil his due .' - -Well placed : there stands your friend for the devil : have at the very eye of that proverb , with 'A pox of the devil .' - -You are the better at proverbs , by how much 'A fool's bolt is soon shot .' - -You have shot over . - -'Tis not the first time you were overshot . - - -My lord high constable , the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tents . - -Who hath measured the ground ? - -The Lord Grandpr . - -A valiant and most expert gentleman . Would it were day ! Alas ! poor Harry of England , he longs not for the dawning as we do . - -What a wretched and peevish fellow is this King of England , to mope with his fatbrained followers so far out of his knowledge ! - -If the English had any apprehension they would run away . - -That they lack ; for if their heads had any intellectual armour they could never wear such heavy head-pieces . - -That island of England breeds very valiant creatures : their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage . - -Foolish curs ! that run winking into the mouth of a Russian bear and have their heads crushed like rotten apples . You may as well say that's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion . - -Just , just ; and the men do sympathize with the mastiffs in robustious and rough coming on , leaving their wits with their wives : and then give them great meals of beef and iron and steel , they will eat like wolves and fight like devils . - -Ay , but these English are shrewdly out of beef . - -Then shall we find to-morrow they have only stomachs to eat and none to fight . Now is it time to arm ; come , shall we about it ? - -It is now two o'clock : but , let me see , by ten -We shall have each a hundred Englishmen . - - -Now entertain conjecture of a time -When creeping murmur and the poring dark -Fills the wide vessel of the universe . -From camp to camp , through the foul womb of night , -The hum of either army stilly sounds , -That the fix'd sentinels almost receive -The secret whispers of each other's watch : -Fire answers fire , and through their paly flames -Each battle sees the other's umber'd face : -Steed threatens steed , in high and boastful neighs -Piercing the night's dull ear ; and from the tents -The armourers , accomplishing the knights , -With busy hammers closing rivets up , -Give dreadful note of preparation . -The country cocks do crow , the clocks do toll , -And the third hour of drowsy morning name . -Proud of their numbers , and secure in soul , -The confident and over-lusty French -Do the low-rated English play at dice ; -And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night -Who , like a foul and ugly witch , doth limp -So tediously away . The poor condemned English , -Like sacrifices , by their watchful fires -Sit patiently , and inly ruminate -The morning's danger , and their gesture sad -Investing lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats -Presenteth them unto the gazing moon -So many horrid ghosts . O ! now , who will behold -The royal captain of this ruin'd band -Walking from watch to watch , from tent to tent , -Let him cry 'Praise and glory on his head !' -For forth he goes and visits all his host , -Bids them good morrow with a modest smile , -And calls them brothers , friends , and countrymen . -Upon his royal face there is no note -How dread an army hath enrounded him ; -Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour -Unto the weary and all-watched night : -But freshly looks and overbears attaint -With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty ; -That every wretch , pining and pale before , -Beholding him , plucks comfort from his looks , -A largess universal , like the sun -His liberal eye doth give to every one , -Thawing cold fear . Then mean and gentle all , -Behold , as may unworthiness define , -A little touch of Harry in the night . -And so our scene must to the battle fly ; -Where ,O for pity ,we shall much disgrace , -With four or five most vile and ragged foils , -Right ill dispos'd in brawl ridiculous , -The name of Agincourt . Yet sit and see ; -Minding true things by what their mockeries be . - -Gloucester , 'tis true that we are in great danger ; -The greater therefore should our courage be . -Good morrow , brother Bedford . God Almighty ! -There is some soul of goodness in things evil , -Would men observingly distil it out ; -For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers , -Which is both healthful , and good husbandry : -Besides , they are our outward consciences , -And preachers to us all ; admonishing -That we should dress us fairly for our end . -Thus may we gather honey from the weed , -And make a moral of the devil himself . - - -Good morrow , old Sir Thomas Erpingham : -A good soft pillow for that good white head - -Were better than a churlish turf of France . - -Not so , my liege : this lodging likes me better , -Since I may say , 'Now lie I like a king .' - -'Tis good for men to love their present pains -Upon example ; so the spirit is eas'd : -And when the mind is quicken'd , out of doubt , -The organs , though defunct and dead before , -Break up their drowsy grave , and newly move -With casted slough and fresh legerity . -Lend me thy cloak , Sir Thomas . Brothers both , -Commend me to the princes in our camp ; -Do my good morrow to them ; and anon -Desire them all to my pavilion . - -We shall , my liege . - - -Shall I attend your Grace ? - -No , my good knight ; -Go with my brothers to my lords of England : -I and my bosom must debate awhile , -And then I would no other company . - -The Lord in heaven bless thee , noble Harry ! - - -God-a-mercy , old heart ! thou speak'st cheerfully . - - -Qui va l ? - -A friend . - -Discuss unto me ; art thou officer ? -Or art thou base , common and popular ? - -I am a gentleman of a company . - -Trail'st thou the puissant pike ? - -Even so . What are you ? - -As good a gentleman as the emperor . - -Then you are a better than the king . - -The king's a bawcock , and a heart of gold , -A lad of life , an imp of fame : -Of parents good , of fist most valiant : -I kiss his dirty shoe , and from my heart-string -I love the lovely bully . What's thy name ? - -Harry le Roy . - -Le Roy ! a Cornish name : art thou of Cornish crew ? - -No , I am a Welshman . - -Know'st thou Fluellen ? - -Yes . - -Tell him , I'll knock his leek about his pate -Upon Saint Davy's day . - -Do not you wear your dagger in your cap that day , lest he knock that about yours . - -Art thou his friend ? - -And his kinsman too . - -The figo for thee then ! - -I thank you . God be with you ! - -My name is Pistol called . - - -It sorts well with your fierceness . - -Captain Fluellen ! - -Sol in the name of Cheshu Christ , speak lower . It is the greatest admiration in the universal world , when the true and auncient prerogatifes and laws of the wars is not kept . If you would take the pains but to examine the wars of Pompey the Great , you shall find , I warrant you , that there is no tiddle-taddle nor pibble-pabble in Pompey's camp ; I warrant you , you shall find the ceremonies of the wars , and the cares of it , and the forms of it , and the sobriety of it , and the modesty of it , to be otherwise . - -Why , the enemy is loud ; you heard him all night . - -If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb , is it meet , think you , that we should also , look you , be an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb , in your own conscience now ? - -I will speak lower . - -I pray you and peseech you that you will . - - -Though it appear a little out of fashion , -There is much care and valour in this Welshman . - - -Brother John Bates , is not that the morning which breaks yonder ? - -I think it be ; but we have no great cause to desire the approach of day . - -We see yonder the beginning of the day , but I think we shall never see the end of it . Who goes there ? - -A friend . - -Under what captain serve you ? - -Under Sir Thomas Erpingham . - -A good old commander and a most kind gentleman : I pray you , what thinks he of our estate ? - -Even as men wracked upon a sand , that look to be washed off the next tide . - -He hath not told his thought to the king ? - -No ; nor it is not meet he should . For , though I speak it to you , I think the king is but a man , as I am : the violet smells to him as it doth to me ; the element shows to him as it doth to me ; all his senses have but human conditions : his ceremonies laid by , in his nakedness he appears but a man ; and though his affections are higher mounted than ours , yet when they stoop , they stoop with the like wing . Therefore when he sees reason of fears , as we do , his fears , out of doubt , be of the same relish as ours are : yet , in reason , no man should possess him with any appearance of fear , lest he , by showing it , should dishearten his army . - -He may show what outward courage he will , but I believe , as cold a night as 'tis , he could wish himself in Thames up to the neck , and so I would he were , and I by him , at all adventures , so we were quit here . - -By my troth , I will speak my conscience of the king : I think he would not wish himself any where but where he is . - -Then I would he were here alone ; so should he be sure to be ransomed , and a many poor men's lives saved . - -I dare say you love him not so ill to wish him here alone , howsoever you speak this to feel other men's minds . Methinks I could not die any where so contented as in the king's company , his cause being just and his quarrel honourable . - -That's more than we know . - -Ay , or more than we should seek after ; for we know enough if we know we are the king's subjects . If his cause be wrong , our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of us . - -But if the cause be not good , the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make ; when all those legs and arms and heads , chopped off in a battle , shall join together at the latter day , and cry all , 'We died at such a place ;' some swearing , some crying for a surgeon , some upon their wives left poor behind them , some upon the debts they owe , some upon their children rawly left . I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle ; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing when blood is their argument ? Now , if these men do not die well , it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it , whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection . - -So , if a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea , the imputation of his wickedness , by your rule , should be imposed upon his father that sent him : or if a servant , under his master's command transporting a sum of money , be assailed by robbers and die in many irreconciled iniquities , you may call the business of the master the author of the servant's damnation . But this is not so : the king is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers , the father of his son , nor the master of his servant ; for they purpose not their death when they purpose their services . Besides , there is no king , be his cause never so spotless , if it come to the arbitrement of swords , can try it out with all unspotted soldiers . Some , peradventure , have on them the guilt of premeditated and contrived murder ; some , of beguiling virgins with the broken seals of perjury ; some , making the wars their bulwark , that have before gored the gentle bosom of peace with pillage and robbery . Now , if these men have defeated the law and outrun native punishment , though they can outstrip men , they have no wings to fly from God : war is his beadle , war is his vengeance ; so that here men are punished for before-breach of the king's laws in now the king's quarrel : where they feared the death they have borne life away , and where they would be safe they perish . Then , if they die unprovided , no more is the king guilty of their damnation than he was before guilty of those impieties for the which they are now visited . Every subject's duty is the king's ; but every subject's soul is his own . Therefore should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed , wash every mote out of his conscience ; and dying so , death is to him advantage ; or not dying , the time was blessedly lost wherein such preparation was gained : and in him that escapes , it were not sin to think , that making God so free an offer , he let him outlive that day to see his greatness , and to teach others how they should prepare . - -'Tis certain , every man that dies ill , the ill upon his own head : the king is not to answer it . - -I do not desire he should answer for me ; and yet I determine to fight lustily for him . - -I myself heard the king say he would not be ransomed . - -Ay , he said so , to make us fight cheerfully ; but when our throats are cut he may be ransomed , and we ne'er the wiser . - -If I live to see it , I will never trust his word after . - -You pay him then . That's a perilous shot out of an elder-gun , that a poor and a private displeasure can do against a monarch . You may as well go about to turn the sun to ice with fanning in his face with a peacock's feather . You'll never trust his word after ! come , 'tis a foolish saying . - -Your reproof is something too round ; I should be angry with you if the time were convenient . - -Let it be a quarrel between us , if you live . - -I embrace it . - -How shall I know thee again ? - -Give me any gage of thine , and I will wear it in my bonnet : then , if ever thou darest acknowledge it , I will make it my quarrel . - -Here's my glove : give me another of thine . - -There . - -This will I also wear in my cap : if ever thou come to me and say after to-morrow , 'This is my glove ,' by this hand I will take thee a box on the ear . - -If ever I live to see it , I will challenge it . - -Thou darest as well be hanged . - -Well , I will do it , though I take thee in the king's company . - -Keep thy word : fare thee well . - -Be friends , you English fools , be friends : we have French quarrels enow , if you could tell how to reckon . - -Indeed , the French may lay twenty French crowns to one , they will beat us ; for they bear them on their shoulders : but it is no English treason to cut French crowns , and to-morrow the king himself will be a clipper . - -Upon the king ! let us our lives , our souls , -Our debts , our careful wives , -Our children , and our sins lay on the king ! -We must bear all . O hard condition ! -Twin-born with greatness , subject to the breath -Of every fool , whose sense no more can feel -But his own wringing . What infinite heart's ease -Must kings neglect that private men enjoy ! -And what have kings that privates have not too , -Save ceremony , save general ceremony ? -And what art thou , thou idle ceremony ? -What kind of god art thou , that suffer'st more -Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers ? -What are thy rents ? what are thy comings-in ? -O ceremony ! show me but thy worth : -What is thy soul of adoration ? -Art thou aught else but place , degree , and form , -Creating awe and fear in other men ? -Wherein thou art less happy , being fear'd , -Than they in fearing . -What drink'st thou oft , instead of homage sweet , -But poison'd flattery ? O ! be sick , great greatness , -And bid thy ceremony give thee cure . -Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out -With titles blown from adulation ? -Will it give place to flexure and low-bending ? -Canst thou , when thou command'st the beggar's knee , -Command the health of it ? No , thou proud dream , -That play'st so subtly with a king's repose ; -I am a king that find thee ; and I know -'Tis not the balm , the sceptre and the ball , -The sword , the mace , the crown imperial , -The intertissued robe of gold and pearl , -The farced title running 'fore the king , -The throne he sits on , nor the tide of pomp -That beats upon the high shore of this world , -No , not all these , thrice-gorgeous ceremony , -Not all these , laid in bed majestical , -Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave , -Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind -Gets him to rest , cramm'd with distressful bread ; -Never sees horrid night , the child of hell , -But , like a lackey , from the rise to set -Sweats in the eye of Ph bus , and all night -Sleeps in Elysium ; next day after dawn , -Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse , -And follows so the ever-running year -With profitable labour to his grave : -And , but for ceremony , such a wretch , -Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep , -Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king . -The slave , a member of the country's peace , -Enjoys it ; but in gross brain little wots -What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace , -Whose hours the peasant best advantages . - - -My lord , your nobles , jealous of your absence , -Seek through your camp to find you . - -Good old knight , -Collect them all together at my tent : -I'll be before thee . - -I shall do't , my lord . - - -O God of battles ! steel my soldiers' hearts ; -Possess them not with fear ; take from them now -The sense of reckoning , if the opposed numbers -Pluck their hearts from them . Not to-day , O Lord ! -O ! not to-day , think not upon the fault -My father made in compassing the crown . -I Richard's body have interr'd anew , -And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears -Than from it issu'd forced drops of blood . -Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay , -Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up -Toward heaven , to pardon blood ; and I have built -Two chantries , where the sad and solemn priests -Sing still for Richard's soul . More will I do ; -Though all that I can do is nothing worth , -Since that my penitence comes after all , -Imploring pardon . - - -My liege ! - -My brother Gloucester's voice ! Ay ; -I know thy errand , I will go with thee : -The day , my friends , and all things stay for me . - - -The sun doth gild our armour : up , my lords ! - -Montez cheval ! My horse ! varlet ! lacquais ! ha ! - -O brave spirit ! - -Via ! les eaux et la terre ! - -Rien puis ? l'air et le feu . - -Ciel ! cousin Orleans . - -Now , my lord constable ! - -Hark how our steeds for present service neigh ! - -Mount them , and make incision in their hides , -That their hot blood may spin in English eyes , -And dout them with superfluous courage : ha ! - -What ! will you have them weep our horses' blood ? -How shall we then behold their natural tears ? - - -The English are embattail'd , you French peers . - -To horse , you gallant princes ! straight to horse ! -Do but behold yon poor and starved band , -And your fair show shall suck away their souls , -Leaving them but the shales and husks of men . -There is not work enough for all our hands ; -Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins -To give each naked curtal-axe a stain , -That our French gallants shall to-day draw out , -And sheathe for lack of sport : let us but blow on them , -The vapour of our valour will o'erturn them . -'Tis positive 'gainst all exceptions , lords , -That our superfluous lackeys and our peasants , -Who in unnecessary action swarm -About our squares of battle , were enow -To purge this field of such a hilding foe , -Though we upon this mountain's basis by -Took stand for idle speculation : -But that our honours must not . What's to say ? -A very little little let us do , -And all is done . Then let the trumpets sound -The tucket sonance and the note to mount : -For our approach shall so much dare the field , -That England shall couch down in fear and yield . - - -Why do you stay so long , my lords of France ? -Yon island carrions desperate of their bones , -Ill-favour'dly become the morning field : -Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose , -And our air shakes them passing scornfully : -Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host , -And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps : -The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks , -With torch-staves in their hand ; and their poor jades -Lob down their heads , dropping the hides and hips , -The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes , -And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit -Lies foul with chew'd grass , still and motionless ; -And their executors , the knavish crows , -Fly o'er them , all impatient for their hour . -Description cannot suit itself in words -To demonstrate the life of such a battle -In life so lifeless as it shows itself . - -They have said their prayers , and they stay for death . - -Shall we go send them dinners and fresh suits , -And give their fasting horses provender , -And after fight with them ? - -I stay but for my guard : on , to the field ! -I will the banner from a trumpet take , -And use it for my haste . Come , come , away ! -The sun is high , and we outwear the day . - - -Where is the king ? - -The king himself is rode to view their battle . - -Of fighting men they have full three-score thousand . - -There's five to one ; besides , they all are fresh . - -God's arm strike with us ! 'tis a fearful odds . -God be wi' you , princes all ; I'll to my charge : -If we no more meet till we meet in heaven , -Then , joyfully , my noble Lord of Bedford , -My dear Lord Gloucester , and my good Lord Exeter , -And my kind kinsman , warriors all , adieu ! - -Farewell , good Salisbury ; and good luck go with thee ! - -Farewell , kind lord . Fight valiantly to-day : -And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it , -For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour . - - -He is as full of valour as of kindness ; -Princely in both . - - -O ! that we now had here -But one ten thousand of those men in England -That do no work to-day . - -What's he that wishes so ? -My cousin Westmoreland ? No , my fair cousin : -If we are mark'd to die , we are enow -To do our country loss ; and if to live , -The fewer men , the greater share of honour . -God's will ! I pray thee , wish not one man more . -By Jove , I am not covetous for gold , -Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost ; -It yearns me not if men my garments wear ; -Such outward things dwell not in my desires : -But if it be a sin to covet honour , -I am the most offending soul alive . -No , faith , my coz , wish not a man from England : -God's peace ! I would not lose so great an honour -As one man more , methinks , would share from me , -For the best hope I have . O ! do not wish one more : -Rather proclaim it , Westmoreland , through my host , -That he which hath no stomach to this fight , -Let him depart ; his passport shall be made , -And crowns for convoy put into his purse : -We would not die in that man's company -That fears his fellowship to die with us . -This day is call'd the feast of Crispian : -He that outlives this day , and comes safe home , -Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd , -And rouse him at the name of Crispian . -He that shall live this day , and see old age , -Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours , -And say , 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian :' -Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars , -And say , 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day .' -Old men forget : yet all shall be forgot , -But he'll remember with advantages -What feats he did that day . Then shall our names , -Familiar in his mouth as household words , -Harry the king , Bedford and Exeter , -Warwick and Talbot , Salisbury and Gloucester , -Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd . -This story shall the good man teach his son ; -And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by , -From this day to the ending of the world , -But we in it shall be remembered ; -We few , we happy few , we band of brothers ; -For he to-day that sheds his blood with me -Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile -This day shall gentle his condition : -And gentlemen in England , now a-bed -Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here , -And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks -That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day . - - -My sov'reign lord , bestow yourself with speed : -The French are bravely in their battles set , -And will with all expedience charge on us . - -All things are ready , if our minds be so . - -Perish the man whose mind is backward now ! - -Thou dost not wish more help from England , coz ? - -God's will ! my liege , would you and I alone , -Without more help , could fight this royal battle ! - -Why , now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men ; -Which likes me better than to wish us one . -You know your places : God be with you all ! - - -Once more I come to know of thee , King Harry , -If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound , -Before thy most assured overthrow : -For certainly thou art so near the gulf -Thou needs must be englutted . Besides , in mercy , -The constable desires thee thou wilt mind -Thy followers of repentance ; that their souls -May make a peaceful and a sweet retire -From off these fields , where , wretches , their poor bodies -Must lie and fester . - -Who hath sent thee now ? - -The Constable of France . - -I pray thee , bear my former answer back : -Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones . -Good God ! why should they mock poor fellows thus ? -The man that once did sell the lion's skin -While the beast liv'd , was kill'd with hunting him . -A many of our bodies shall no doubt -Find native graves ; upon the which , I trust , -Shall witness live in brass of this day's work ; -And those that leave their valiant bones in France , -Dying like men , though buried in your dung-hills , -They shall be fam'd ; for there the sun shall greet them , -And draw their honours reeking up to heaven , -Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime , -The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France . -Mark then abounding valour in our English , -That being dead , like to the bullet's grazing , -Break out into a second course of mischief , -Killing in relapse of mortality . -Let me speak proudly : tell the constable , -We are but warriors for the working-day ; -Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd -With rainy marching in the painful field ; -There's not a piece of feather in our host -Good argument , I hope , we will not fly -And time hath worn us into slovenry : -But , by the mass , our hearts are in the trim ; -And my poor soldiers tell me , yet ere night -They'll be in fresher robes , or they will pluck -The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads , -And turn them out of service . If they do this , -As , if God please , they shall ,my ransom then -Will soon be levied . Herald , save thou thy labour ; -Come thou no more for ransom , gentle herald : -They shall have none , I swear , but these my joints ; -Which if they have as I will leave 'em them , -Shall yield them little , tell the constable . - -I shall , King Harry . And so , fare thee well : -Thou never shalt hear herald any more . - - -I fear thou'lt once more come again for ransom . - - -My lord , most humbly on my knee I beg -The leading of the vaward . - -Take it , brave York . Now , soldiers , march away : -And how thou pleasest , God , dispose the day ! - - -Yield , cur ! - -Je pense que vous estes le gentilhomme de bonne qualit . - -Quality ? Calen O custure me ! Art thou a gentleman ? -What is thy name ? discuss . - -O Seigneur Dieu ! - -O Signieur Dew should be a gentleman : -Perpend my words , O Signieur Dew , and mark : -O Signieur Dew , thou diest on point of fox -Except , O signieur , thou do give to me -Egregious ransom . - -O , prenez misericorde ! ayez piti de moy ! - -Moy shall not serve ; I will have forty moys ; -Or I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat -In drops of crimson blood . - -Est-il impossible d'eschapper la force de ton bras ? - -Brass , cur ! -Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat , -Offer'st me brass ? - -O pardonnez moy ! - -Sayst thou me so ? is that a ton of moys ? -Come hither , boy : ask me this slave in French -What is his name . - -Escoutez : comment estes vous appell ? - -Monsieur le Fer . - -He says his name is Master Fer . - -Master Fer ! I'll fer him , and firk him , and ferret him . Discuss the same in French unto him . - -I do not know the French for fer , and ferret , and firk . - -Bid him prepare , for I will cut his throat . - -Que dit-il , monsieur ? - -Il me commande vous dire que vous faites vous prest ; car ce soldat icy est dispos tout cette heure de couper vostre gorge . - -Ouy , cuppele gorge , permafoy . -Peasant , unless thou give me crowns , brave crowns ; -Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword . - -O ! je vous supplie pour l'amour de -Dieu , me pardonner ! Je suis le gentilhomme de bonne maison : gardez ma vie , et je vous donneray deux cents escus . - -What are his words ? - -He prays you to save his life : he is a gentleman of a good house ; and , for his ransom he will give you two hundred crowns . - -Tell him , my fury shall abate , and I -The crowns will take . - -Petit monsieur , que dit-il ? - -Encore qu'il est contre son jurement de pardonner aucan prisonnier ; neant-moins , pour les escus que vous l'avez promis , il est content de vous donner la liberte , le franchisement . - -Sur mes genoux , je vous donne mille remerciemens ; et je m'estime heureux que je suis tomb entre les mains d'un chevalier , je pense , le plus brave , valiant , et tr s distingu seigneur d'Angleterre . - -Expound unto me , boy . - -He gives you , upon his knees , a thousand thanks ; and he esteems himself happy that he hath fallen into the hands of one as he thinks the most brave , valorous , and thrice-worthy signieur of England . - -As I suck blood , I will some mercy show . -Follow me ! - - -Suivez vous le grand capitaine . I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart : but the saying is true , 'The empty vessel makes the greatest sound .' Bardolph and Nym had ten times more valour than this roaring devil i' the old play , that every one may pare his nails with a wooden dagger ; and they are both hanged ; and so would this be if he durst steal anything adventurously . I must stay with the lackeys , with the luggage of our camp : the French might have a good prey of us , if he knew of it ; for there is none to guard it but boys . - - -O seigneur ! le jour est perdu ! tout est perdu ! - -Mort de ma vie ! all is confounded , all ! -Reproach and everlasting shame -Sit mocking in our plumes . O meschante fortune ! -Do not run away . - - -Why , all our ranks are broke . - -O perdurable shame ! let's stab ourselves . -Be these the wretches that we play'd at dice for ? - -Is this the king we sent to for his ransom ? - -Shame , and eternal shame , nothing but shame ! -Let's die in honour ! once more back again ; -And he that will not follow Bourbon now , -Let him go hence , and with his cap in hand , -Like a base pander , hold the chamber-door -Whilst by a slave , no gentler than my dog , -His fairest daughter is contaminated . - -Disorder , that hath spoil'd us , friend us now ! -Let us on heaps go offer up our lives . - -We are enough yet living in the field -To smother up the English in our throngs , -If any order might be thought upon . - -The devil take order now ! I'll to the throng : -Let life be short , else shame will be too long . - - -Well have we done , thrice-valiant countrymen : -But all's not done ; yet keep the French the field . - -The Duke of York commends him to your majesty . - -Lives he , good uncle ? thrice within this hour -I saw him down ; thrice up again , and fighting ; -From helmet to the spur all blood he was . - -In which array , brave soldier , doth he lie , -Larding the plain ; and by his bloody side , -Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds , -The noble Earl of Suffolk also lies . -Suffolk first died : and York , all haggled over , -Comes to him , where in gore he lay insteep'd , -And takes him by the beard , kisses the gashes -That bloodily did yawn upon his face ; -And cries aloud , 'Tarry , dear cousin Suffolk ! -My soul shall thine keep company to heaven ; -Tarry , sweet soul , for mine , then fly abreast , -As in this glorious and well-foughten field , -We kept together in our chivalry !' -Upon these words I came and cheer'd him up : -He smil'd me in the face , raught me his hand , -And with a feeble gripe says , 'Dear my lord , -Commend my service to my sovereign .' -So did he turn , and over Suffolk's neck -He threw his wounded arm , and kiss'd his lips ; -And so espous'd to death , with blood he seal'd -A testament of noble-ending love . -The pretty and sweet manner of it forc'd -Those waters from me which I would have stopp'd ; -But I had not so much of man in me , -And all my mother came into mine eyes -And gave me up to tears . - -I blame you not ; -For , hearing this , I must perforce compound -With mistful eyes , or they will issue too . - -But hark ! what new alarum is this same ? -The French have reinforc'd their scatter'd men : -Then every soldier kill his prisoners ! -Give the word through . - - -Kill the poys and the luggage ! 'tis expressly against the law of arms : 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery , mark you now , as can be offer't : in your conscience now , is it not ? - -'Tis certain , there's not a boy left alive ; and the cowardly rascals that ran from the battle have done this slaughter : besides , they have burned and carried away all that was in the king's tent ; wherefore the king most worthily hath caused every soldier to cut his prisoner's throat . O ! 'tis a gallant king . - -Ay , he was porn at Monmouth , Captain Gower . What call you the town's name where Alexander the Pig was born ? - -Alexander the Great . - -Why , I pray you , is not pig great ? The pig , or the great , or the mighty , or the huge , or the magnanimous , are all one reckonings , save the phrase is a little variations . - -I think Alexander the Great was born in Macedon : his father was called Philip of Macedon , as I take it . - -I think it is in Macedon where Alexander is porn . I tell you , captain , if you look in the maps of the 'orld , I warrant you sall find , in the comparisons between Macedon and Monmouth , that the situations , look you , is both alike . There is a river in Macedon , and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth : it is called Wye at Monmouth ; but it is out of my prains what is the name of the other river ; but 'tis all one , 'tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers , and there is salmons in both . If you mark Alexander's life well , Harry of Monmouth's life is come after it indifferent well ; for there is figures in all things . Alexander ,God knows , and you know ,in his rages , and his furies , and his wraths , and his cholers , and his moods , and his displeasures , and his indignations , and also being a little intoxicates in his prains , did , in his ales and his angers , look you , kill his pest friend , Cleitus . - -Our king is not like him in that : he never killed any of his friends . - -It is not well done , mark you now , to take the tales out of my mouth , ere it is made and finished . I speak but in the figures and comparisons of it : as Alexander killed his friend Cleitus , being in his ales and his cups , so also Harry Monmouth , being in his right wits and his good judgments , turned away the fat knight with the great belly-doublet : he was full of jests , and gipes , and knaveries , and mocks ; I have forgot his name . - -Sir John Falstaff . - -That is he . I'll tell you , there is goot men porn at Monmouth . - -Here comes his majesty . - -I was not angry since I came to France -Until this instant . Take a trumpet , herald ; -Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill : -If they will fight with us , bid them come down , -Or void the field ; they do offend our sight . -If they'll do neither , we will come to them , -And make them skirr away , as swift as stones -Enforced from the old Assyrian slings . -Besides , we'll cut the throats of those we have , -And not a man of them that we shall take -Shall taste our mercy . Go and tell them so . - - -Here comes the herald of the French , my liege . - -His eyes are humbler than they us'd to be . - -How now ! what means this , herald ? know'st thou not -That I have fin'd these bones of mine for ransom ? -Com'st thou again for ransom ? - -No , great king . -I come to thee for charitable licence , -That we may wander o'er this bloody field -To book our dead , and then to bury them ; -To sort our nobles from our common men ; -For many of our princes woe the while ! -Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood ; -So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs -In blood of princes ; and their wounded steeds -Fret fetlock-deep in gore , and with wild rage -Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters , -Killing them twice . O ! give us leave , great king , -To view the field in safety and dispose -Of their dead bodies . - -I tell thee truly , herald , -I know not if the day be ours or no ; -For yet a many of your horsemen peer -And gallop o'er the field . - -The day is yours . - -Praised be God , and not our strength , for it ! -What is this castle call'd that stands hard by ? - -They call it Agincourt . - -Then call we this the field of Agincourt , -Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus . - -Your grandfather of famous memory , an't please your majesty , and your great-uncle Edward the Plack Prince of Wales , as I have read in the chronicles , fought a most prave pattle here in France . - -They did , Fluellen . - -Your majesty says very true . If your majesties is remembered of it , the Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow , wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps ; which , your majesty know , to this hour is an honourable badge of the service ; and I do believe , your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day . - -I wear it for a memorable honour ; For I am Welsh , you know , good countryman . - -All the water in Wye cannot wash your majesty's Welsh plood out of your pody , I can tell you that : Got pless it and preserve it , as long as it pleases his grace , and his majesty too ! - -Thanks , good my countryman . - -By Jeshu , I am your majesty's countryman , I care not who know it ; I will confess it to all the 'orld : I need not be ashamed of your majesty , praised be God , so long as your majesty is an honest man . - -God keep me so ! Our heralds go with him : -Bring me just notice of the numbers dead -On both our parts . Call yonder fellow hither . - - -Soldier , you must come to the king . - -Soldier , why wear'st thou that glove in thy cap ? - -An't please your majesty , 'tis the gage of one that I should fight withal , if he be alive . - -An Englishman ? - -An't please your majesty , a rascal that swaggered with me last night ; who , if a' live and ever dare to challenge this glove , I have sworn to take him a box o' the ear : or , if I can see my glove in his cap ,which he swore as he was a soldier he would wear if alive ,I will strike it out soundly . - -What think you , Captain Fluellen ? is it fit this soldier keep his oath ? - -He is a craven and a villain else , an't please your majesty , in my conscience . - -It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort , quite from the answer of his degree . - -Though he be as good a gentleman as the devil is , as Lucifer and Belzebub himself , it is necessary , look your Grace , that he keep his vow and his oath . If he be perjured , see you now , his reputation is as arrant a villain and a Jack-sauce as ever his black shoe trod upon God's ground and his earth , in my conscience , la ! - -Then keep thy vow , sirrah , when thou meetest the fellow . - -So I will , my liege , as I live . - -Who servest thou under ? - -Under Captain Gower , my liege . - -Gower is a goot captain , and is good knowledge and literatured in the wars . - -Call him hither to me , soldier . - -I will , my liege . - - -Here , Fluellen ; wear thou this favour for me and stick it in thy cap . When Alen on and myself were down together I plucked this glove from his helm : if any man challenge this , he is a friend to Alen on , and an enemy to our person ; if thou encounter any such , apprehend him , an thou dost me love . - -Your Grace does me as great honours as can be desired in the hearts of his subjects : I would fain see the man that has but two legs that shall find himself aggriefed at this glove , that is all ; but I would fain see it once , and please God of his grace that I might see . - -Knowest thou Gower ? - -He is my dear friend , an't please you . - -Pray thee , go seek him , and bring him to my tent . - -I will fetch him . - - -My Lord of Warwick , and my brother Gloucester , -Follow Fluellen closely at the heels . -The glove which I have given him for a favour , -May haply purchase him a box o' the ear ; -It is the soldier's ; I by bargain should -Wear it myself . Follow , good cousin Warwick : -If that the soldier strike him ,as , I judge -By his blunt bearing he will keep his word , -Some sudden mischief may arise of it ; -For I do know Fluellen valiant , -And touch'd with choler , hot as gunpowder , -And quickly will return an injury : -Follow and see there be no harm between them . -Go you with me , uncle of Exeter . - - -I warrant it is to knight you , captain . - - -God's will and his pleasure , captain , I peseech you now come apace to the king : there is more good toward you peradventure than is in your knowledge to dream of . - -Sir , know you this glove ? - -Know the glove ! I know the glove is a glove . - -I know this ; and thus I challenge it . - - -'Sblood ! an arrant traitor as any's in the universal 'orld , or in France , or in England - -How now , sir ! you villain ! - -Do you think I'll be forsworn ? - -Stand away , Captain Gower ; I will give treason his payment into plows , I warrant you . - -I am no traitor . - -That's a lie in thy throat . I charge you in his majesty's name , apprehend him : he is a friend of the Duke Alen on's . - - -How now , how now ! what's the matter ? - -My Lord of Warwick , here is ,praised be God for it !a most contagious treason come to light , look you , as you shall desire in a summer's day . Here is his majesty . - - -How now ! what's the matter ? - -My liege , here is a villain and a traitor , that , look your Grace , has struck the glove which your majesty is take out of the helmet of Alen on . - -My liege , this was my glove ; here is the fellow of it ; and he that I gave it to in change promised to wear it in his cap : I promised to strike him , if he did : I met this man with my glove in his cap , and I have been as good as my word . - -Your majesty hear now ,saving your majesty's manhood ,what an arrant , rascally , beggarly , lousy knave it is . I hope your majesty is pear me testimony and witness , and avouchments , that this is the glove of Alen on that your majesty is give me ; in your conscience now . - -Give me thy glove , soldier : look , here is the fellow of it . -'Twas I , indeed , thou promisedst to strike ; -And thou hast given me most bitter terms . - -An't please your majesty , let his neck answer for it , if there is any martial law in the 'orld . - -How canst thou make me satisfaction ? - -All offences , my lord , come from the heart : never came any from mine that might offend your majesty . - -It was ourself thou didst abuse . - -Your majesty came not like yourself : you appeared to me but as a common man ; witness the night , your garments , your lowliness ; and what your highness suffered under that shape , I beseech you , take it for your own fault and not mine : for had you been as I took you for I made no offence ; therefore , I beseech your highness , pardon me . - -Here , uncle Exeter , fill this glove with crowns , -And give it to this fellow . Keep it , fellow ; -And wear it for an honour in thy cap -Till I do challenge it . Give him the crowns : -And , captain , you must needs be friends with him . - -By this day and this light , the fellow has mettle enough in his belly . Hold , there is twelve pence for you , and I pray you to serve God , and keep you out of prawls , and prabbles , and quarrels , and dissensions , and , I warrant you , it is the better for you . - -I will none of your money . - -It is with a good will ; I can tell you it will serve you to mend your shoes : come , wherefore should you be so pashful ? your shoes is not so good : 'tis a good shilling , I warrant you , or I will change it . - - -Now , herald , are the dead number'd ? - -Here is the number of the slaughter'd French . - - -What prisoners of good sort are taken , uncle ? - -Charles Duke of Orleans , nephew to the king ; -John Duke of Bourbon , and Lord Bouciqualt : -Of other lords and barons , knights and squires , -Full fifteen hundred , besides common men . - -This note doth tell me of ten thousand French -That in the field lie slain : of princes , in this number , -And nobles bearing banners , there lie dead -One hundred twenty-six : added to these , -Of knights , esquires , and gallant gentlemen , -Eight thousand and four hundred ; of the which -Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights : -So that , in these ten thousand they have lost , -There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries ; -The rest are princes , barons , lords , knights , squires , -And gentlemen of blood and quality . -The names of those their nobles that lie dead : -Charles Delabreth , High Constable of France ; -Jaques of Chatillon , Admiral of France ; -The master of the cross-bows , Lord Rambures ; -Great-master of France , the brave Sir Guischard Dauphin ; -John Duke of Alen on ; Antony Duke of Brabant , -The brother to the Duke of Burgundy , -And Edward Duke of Bar : of lusty earls , -Grandpr and Roussi , Fauconberg and Foix , -Beaumont and Marle , Vaudemont and Lestrale . -Here was a royal fellowship of death ! -Where is the number of our English dead ? - -Edward the Duke of York , the Earl of Suffolk , -Sir Richard Ketly , Davy Gam , esquire : -None else of name : and of all other men -But five and twenty . O God ! thy arm was here ; -And not to us , but to thy arm alone , -Ascribe we all . When , without stratagem , -But in plain shock and even play of battle , -Was ever known so great and little loss -On one part and on the other ? Take it , God , -For it is none but thine ! - -'Tis wonderful ! - -Come , go we in procession to the village : -And be it death proclaimed through our host -To boast of this or take the praise from God -Which is his only . - -Is it not lawful , an please your majesty , to tell how many is killed ? - -Yes , captain ; but with this acknowledgment , -That God fought for us . - -Yes , my conscience , he did us great good . - -Do we all holy rites : -Let there be sung Non nobis and Te Deum ; -The dead with charity enclos'd in clay . -We'll then to Calais ; and to England then , -Where ne'er from France arriv'd more happy men . - -Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story , -That I may prompt them : and of such as have , -I humbly pray them to admit the excuse -Of time , of numbers , and due course of things , -Which cannot in their huge and proper life -Be here presented . Now we bear the king -Toward Calais : grant him there ; there seen , -Heave him away upon your winged thoughts -Athwart the sea . Behold , the English beach -Pales in the flood with men , with wives , and boys , -Whose shouts and claps out-voice the deep-mouth'd sea , -Which , like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king , -Seems to prepare his way : so let him land -And solemnly see him set on to London . -So swift a pace hath thought that even now -You may imagine him upon Blackheath ; -Where that his lords desire him to have borne -His bruised helmet and his bended sword -Before him through the city : he forbids it , -Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride ; -Giving full trophy , signal and ostent , -Quite from himself , to God . But now behold , -In the quick forge and working-house of thought , -How London doth pour out her citizens . -The mayor and all his brethren in best sort , -Like to the senators of the antique Rome , -With the plebeians swarming at their heels , -Go forth and fetch their conquering C sar in : -As , by a lower but loving likelihood , -Were now the general of our gracious empress , -As in good time he may ,from Ireland coming , -Bringing rebellion broached on his sword , -How many would the peaceful city quit -To welcome him ! much more , and much more cause , -Did they this Harry . Now in London place him ; -As yet the lamentation of the French -Invites the King of England's stay at home , -The emperor's coming in behalf of France , -To order peace between them ;and omit -All the occurrences , whatever chanc'd , -Till Harry's back-return again to France : -There must we bring him ; and myself have play'd -The interim , by remembering you 'tis past . -Then brook abridgment , and your eyes advance , -After your thoughts , straight back again to France . - -Nay , that's right ; but why wear you your leek to-day ? Saint Davy's day is past . - -There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things : I will tell you , asse my friend , Captain Gower . The rascally , scald , beggarly , lousy , pragging knave , Pistol ,which you and yourself and all the 'orld know to be no petter than a fellow ,look you now , of no merits , he is come to me and prings me pread and salt yesterday , look you , and pid me eat my leek . It was in a place where I could not preed no contention with him ; but I will be so pold as to wear it in my cap till I see him once again , and then I will tell him a little piece of my desires . - -Why , here he comes , swelling like a turkey-cock . - - -'Tis no matter for his swellings nor his turkey-cocks . God pless you , Aunchient Pistol ! you scurvy , lousy knave , God pless you ! - -Ha ! art thou bedlam ? dost thou thirst , base Troyan , -To have me fold up Parca's fatal web ? -Hence ! I am qualmish at the smell of leek . - -I peseech you heartily , scurvy lousy knave , at my desires and my requests and my petitions to eat , look you , this leek ; pecause , look you , you do not love it , nor your affections and your appetites and your digestions does not agree with it , I would desire you to eat it . - -Not for Cadwallader and all his goats . - -There is one goat for you . -Will you be so good , scald knave , as eat it ? - -Base Troyan , thou shalt die . - -You say very true , scald knave , when -God's will is . I will desire you to live in the mean time and eat your victuals ; come , there is sauce for it . - -You called me yesterday mountain-squire , but I will make you to-day a squire of low degree . I pray you , fall to : if you can mock a leek you can eat a leek . - -Enough , captain : you have astonished him . - -I say , I will make him eat some part of my leek , or I will peat his pate four days . Bite , I pray you ; it is good for your green wound and your ploody coxcomb . - -Must I bite ? - -Yes , certainly , and out of doubt and out of question too and ambiguities . - -By this leek , I will most horribly revenge . I eat and eat , I swear - -Eat , I pray you : will you have some more sauce to your leek ? there is not enough leek to swear by . - -Quiet thy cudgel : thou dost see I eat . - -Much good do you , scald knave , heartily . Nay , pray you , throw none away ; the skin is good for your broken coxcomb . When you take occasions to see leeks hereafter , I pray you , mock at 'em ; that is all . - -Good . - -Ay , leeks is good . Hold you , there is a groat to heal your pate . - -Me a groat ! - -Yes , verily and in truth , you shall take it ; or I have another leek in my pocket , which you shall eat . - -I take thy groat in earnest of revenge . - -If I owe you anything I will pay you in cudgels : you shall be a woodmonger , and buy nothing of me but cudgels . God be wi' you , and keep you , and heal your pate . - - -All hell shall stir for this . - -Go , go ; you are a counterfeit cowardly knave . Will you mock at an ancient tradition , begun upon an honourable respect , and worn as a memorable trophy of predeceased valour , and dare not a vouch in your deeds any of your words ? I have seen you gleeking and galling at this gentleman twice or thrice . You thought , because he could not speak English in the native garb , he could not therefore handle an English cudgel : you find it otherwise ; and henceforth let a Welsh correction teach you a good English condition . Fare ye well . - - -Doth Fortune play the huswife with me now ? -News have I that my Nell is dead i' the spital -Of malady of France : -And there my rendezvous is quite cut off . -Old I do wax , and from my weary limbs -Honour is cudgelled . Well , bawd I'll turn , -And something lean to cutpurse of quick hand . -To England will I steal , and there I'll steal : -And patches will I get unto these cudgell'd scars , -And swear I got them in the Gallia wars . - -Peace to this meeting , wherefore we are met ! -Unto our brother France , and to our sister , -Health and fair time of day ; joy and good wishes -To our most fair and princely cousin Katharine ; -And , as a branch and member of this royalty , -By whom this great assembly is contriv'd , -We do salute you , Duke of Burgundy ; -And , princes French , and peers , health to you all ! - -Right joyous are we to behold your face , -Most worthy brother England ; fairly met : -So are you , princes English , every one . - -So happy be the issue , brother England , -Of this good day and of this gracious meeting , -As we are now glad to behold your eyes ; -Your eyes , which hitherto have borne in them -Against the French , that met them in their bent , -The fatal balls of murdering basilisks : -The venom of such looks , we fairly hope , -Have lost their quality , and that this day -Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love . - -To cry amen to that , thus we appear . - -You English princes all , I do salute you . - -My duty to you both , on equal love , -Great Kings of France and England ! That I have labour'd -With all my wits , my pains , and strong endeavours , -To bring your most imperial majesties -Unto this bar and royal interview , -Your mightiness on both parts best can witness . -Since then my office hath so far prevail'd -That face to face , and royal eye to eye , -You have congreeted , let it not disgrace me -If I demand before this royal view , -What rub or what impediment there is , -Why that the naked , poor , and mangled Peace , -Dear nurse of arts , plenties , and joyful births , -Should not in this best garden of the world , -Our fertile France , put up her lovely visage ? -Alas ! she hath from France too long been chas'd , -And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps , -Corrupting in its own fertility . -Her vine , the merry cheerer of the heart , -Unpruned dies ; her hedges even-pleach'd , -Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair , -Put forth disorder'd twigs ; her fallow leas -The darnel , hemlock and rank fumitory -Doth root upon , while that the coulter rusts -That should deracinate such savagery ; -The even mead , that erst brought sweetly forth -The freckled cowslip , burnet , and green clover , -Wanting the scythe , all uncorrected , rank , -Conceives by idleness , and nothing teems -But hateful docks , rough thistles , kecksies , burs , -Losing both beauty and utility ; -And as our vineyards , fallows , meads , and hedges , -Defective in their natures , grow to wildness , -Even so our houses and ourselves and children -Have lost , or do not learn for want of time , -The sciences that should become our country , -But grow like savages ,as soldiers will , -That nothing do but meditate on blood , -To swearing and stern looks , diffus'd attire , -And every thing that seems unnatural . -Which to reduce into our former favour -You are assembled ; and my speech entreats -That I may know the let why gentle Peace -Should not expel these inconveniences , -And bless us with her former qualities . - -If , Duke of Burgundy , you would the peace , -Whose want gives growth to the imperfections -Which you have cited , you must buy that peace -With full accord to all our just demands ; -Whose tenours and particular effects -You have , enschedul'd briefly , in your hands . - -The king hath heard them ; to the which as yet , -There is no answer made . - -Well then the peace , -Which you before so urg'd , lies in his answer . - -I have but with a cursorary eye -O'erglanc'd the articles : pleaseth your Grace -To appoint some of your council presently -To sit with us once more , with better heed -To re-survey them , we will suddenly -Pass our accept and peremptory answer . - -Brother , we shall . Go , uncle Exeter , -And brother Clarence , and you , brother Gloucester , -Warwick and Huntingdon , go with the king ; -And take with you free power to ratify , -Augment , or alter , as your wisdoms best -Shall see advantageable for our dignity , -Anything in or out of our demands , -And we'll consign thereto . Will you , fair sister , -Go with the princes , or stay here with us ? - -Our gracious brother , I will go with them . -Haply a woman's voice may do some good -When articles too nicely urg'd be stood on . - -Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us : -She is our capital demand , compris'd -Within the fore-rank of our articles . - -She hath good leave . - - -Fair Katharine , and most fair ! -Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms , -Such as will enter at a lady's ear , -And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart ? - -Your majesty sall mock at me ; I cannot speak your England . - -O fair Katharine ! if you will love me soundly with your French heart , I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue . Do you like me , Kate ? - -Pardonnez moy , I cannot tell vat is 'like me .' - -An angel is like you , Kate ; and you are like an angel . - -Que dit-il ? que je suis semblable les anges ? - -Ouy , vrayment , sauf vostre grace , ainsi dit-il . - -I said so , dear Katharine ; and I must not blush to affirm it . - -O bon Dieu ! les langues des hommes sont pleines des tromperies . - -What says she , fair one ? that the tongues of men are full of deceits ? - -Ouy , dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits : dat is de princess . - -The princess is the better Englishwoman . I' faith , Kate , my wooing is fit for thy understanding : I am glad thou canst speak no better English ; for , if thou couldst , thou wouldst find me such a plain king that thou wouldst think I had sold my farm to buy my crown . I know no ways to mince it in love , but directly to say 'I love you :' then , if you urge me further than to say 'Do you in faith ?' I wear out my suit . Give me your answer ; i' faith do : and so clap hands and a bargain . How say you , lady ? - -Sauf vostre honneur , me understand vell . - -Marry , if you would put me to verses , or to dance for your sake , Kate , why you undid me : for the one , I have neither words nor measure , and for the other , I have no strength in measure , yet a reasonable measure in strength . If I could win a lady at leap-frog , or by vaulting into my saddle with my armour on my back , under the correction of bragging be it spoken , I should quickly leap into a wife . Or if I might buffet for my love , or bound my horse for her favours , I could lay on like a butcher and sit like a jack-an-apes , never off . But before God , Kate , I cannot look greenly nor gasp out my eloquence , nor I have no cunning in protestation ; only downright oaths , which I never use till urged , nor never break for urging . If thou caust love a fellow of this temper , Kate . whose face is not worth sun-burning , that never looks in his glass for love of anything he sees there , let thine eye be thy cook . I speak to thee plain soldier : if thou canst love me for this , take me ; if not , to say to thee that I shall die , is true ; but for thy love , by the Lord , no ; yet I love thee too . And while thou livest , dear Kate , take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy , for he perforce must do thee right , because he hath not the gift to woo in other places ; for these fellows of infinite tongue , that can rime themselves into ladies' favours , they do always reason themselves out again . What ! a speaker is but a prater ; a rime is but a ballad . A good leg will fall , a straight back will stoop , a black beard will turn white , a curled pate will grow bald , a fair face will wither , a full eye will wax hollow , but a good heart , Kate , is the sun and the moon ; or , rather , the sun , and not the moon ; for it shines bright and never changes , but keeps his course truly . If thou would have such a one , take me ; and take me , take a soldier ; take a soldier , take a king . And what sayest thou then to my love ? speak , my fair , and fairly , I pray thee . - -Is it possible dat I sould love de enemy of France ? - -No ; it is not possible you should love the enemy of France , Kate ; but , in loving me , you should love the friend of France ; for I love France so well , that I will not part with a village of it ; I will have it all mine : and , Kate , when France is mine and I am yours , then yours is France and you are mine . - -I cannot tell vat is dat . - -No , Kate ? I will tell thee in French , which I am sure will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck , hardly to be shook off . Je quand sur le possession de France , et quand vous avez le possession de moy ,let me see , what then ? Saint Denis be my speed !donc vostre est France , et vous estes mienne . It is as easy for me , Kate , to conquer the kingdom , as to speak so much more French : I shall never move thee in French , unless it be to laugh at me . - -Sauf vostre honneur , le Fran ois que vous parlez est meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle . - -No , faith , is't not , Kate ; but thy speaking of my tongue , and I thine , most truly falsely , must needs be granted to be much at one . But , Kate , dost thou understand thus much English , Canst thou love me ? - -I cannot tell . - -Can any of your neighbours tell , Kate ? I'll ask them . Come , I know thou lovest me ; and at night when you come into your closet you'll question this gentlewoman about me ; and I know , Kate , you will to her dispraise those parts in me that you love with your heart : but , good Kate , mock me mercifully ; the rather , gentle princess , because I love thee cruelly . If ever thou be'st mine , Kate ,as I have a saving faith within me tells me thou shalt ,I get thee with scambling , and thou must therefore needs prove a good soldier-breeder . Shall not thou and I , between Saint Denis and Saint George , compound a boy , half French , half English , that shall go to Constantinople and take the Turk by the beard ? shall we not ? what sayest thou , my fair flower-de-luce ? - -I do not know dat . - -No ; 'tis hereafter to know , but now to promise : do but now promise , Kate , you will endeavour for your French part of such a boy , and for my English moiety take the word of a king and a bachelor . How answer you , la plus belle Katharine du monde , mon tr s cher et divine d esse ? - -Your majest ave fausse French enough to deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France . - -Now , fie upon my false French ! By mine honour , in true English I love thee , Kate : by which honour I dare not swear thou lovest me ; yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost , notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my visage . Now beshrew my father's ambition ! he was thinking of civil wars when he got me : therefore was I created with a stubborn outside , with an aspect of iron , that , when I come to woo ladies I fright them . But , in faith , Kate , the elder I wax the better I shall appear : my comfort is , that old age , that ill layer-up of beauty , can do no more spoil upon my face : thou hast me , if thou hast me , at the worst ; and thou shalt wear me , if thou wear me , better and better . And therefore tell me , most fair Katharine , will you have me ? Put off your maiden blushes ; avouch the thoughts of your heart with the looks of an empress ; take me by the hand , and say 'Harry of England , I am thine :' which word thou shalt no sooner bless mine ear withal , but I will tell thee aloud 'England is thine , Ireland is thine , France is thine , and Henry Plantagenet is thine ;' who , though I speak it before his face , if he be not fellow with the best king , thou shalt find the best king of good fellows . Come , your answer in broken music ; for thy voice is music , and thy English broken ; therefore , queen of all , Katharine , break thy mind to me in broken English : wilt thou have me ? - -Dat is as it sall please de roy mon p re . - -Nay , it will please him well , Kate ; it shall please him , Kate . - -Den it sall also content me . - -Upon that I kiss your hand , and I call you my queen . - -Laissez , mon seigneur , laissez , laissez ! Ma foy , je ne veux point que vous abaissez vostre grandeur , en baisant la main d'une vostre indigne serviteure : excusez moy , je vous supplie , mon tr s puissant seigneur . - -Then I will kiss your lips , Kate . - -Les dames , et demoiselles , pour estre bais es devant leur noces , il n'est pas la coutume de France . - -Madam my interpreter , what says she ? - -Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France ,I cannot tell what is baiser in English . - -To kiss . - -Your majesty entendre bettre que moy . - -It is not a fashion for the maids in France to kiss before they are married , would she say ? - -Ouy , vrayment . - -O Kate ! nice customs curtsy to great kings . Dear Kate , you and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a country's fashion : we are the makers of manners , Kate ; and the liberty that follows our places stops the mouths of all find-faults , as I will do yours , for upholding the nice fashion of your country in denying me a kiss : therefore , patiently , and yielding - -. You have witchcraft in your lips , Kate : there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them , than in the tongues of the French council ; and they should sooner persuade Harry of England than a general petition of monarchs . Here comes your father . - -God save your majesty ! My royal cousin , teach you our princess English ? - -I would have her learn , my fair cousin , how perfectly I love her ; and that is good English . - -Is she not apt ? - -Our tongue is rough , coz , and my condition is not smooth ; so that , having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery about me , I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her , that he will appear in his true likeness . - -Pardon the frankness of my mirth if I answer you for that . If you would conjure in her , you must make a circle ; if conjure up Love in her in his true likeness , he must appear naked and blind . Can you blame her then , being a maid yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty , if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked seeing self ? It were , my lord , a hard condition for a maid to consign to . - -Yet they do wink and yield , as love is blind and enforces . - -They are then excused , my lord , when they see not what they do . - -Then , good my lord , teach your cousin to consent winking . - -I will wink on her to consent , my lord , if you will teach her to know my meaning : for maids , well summered and warm kept , are like flies at Bartholomew-tide , blind , though they have their eyes ; and then they will endure handling , which before would not abide looking on . - -This moral ties me over to time and a hot summer ; and so I shall catch the fly , your cousin , in the latter end , and she must be blind too . - -As love is , my lord , before it loves . - -It is so : and you may , some of you , thank love for my blindness , who cannot see many a fair French city for one fair French maid that stands in my way . - -Yes , my lord , you see them perspectively , the cities turned into a maid ; for they are all girdled with maiden walls that war hath never entered . - -Shall Kate be my wife ? - -So please you . - -I am content ; so the maiden cities you talk of may wait on her : so the maid that stood in the way for my wish shall show me the way to my will . - -We have consented to all terms of reason . - -Is't so , my lords of England ? - -The king hath granted every article : -His daughter first , and then in sequel all , -According to their firm proposed natures . - -Only he hath not yet subscribed this : -Where your majesty demands , that the King of France , having any occasion to write for matter of grant , shall name your highness in this form , and with this addition , in French , Notre tr s cher filz Henry roy d'Angleterre , H retier de France ; and thus in Latin , Pr clarissimus filius noster Henricus , Rex Angli , et H res Franci . - -Nor this I have not , brother , so denied , -But your request shall make me let it pass . - -I pray you then , in love and dear alliance , -Let that one article rank with the rest ; -And thereupon give me your daughter . - -Take her , fair son ; and from her blood raise up -Issue to me ; that the contending kingdoms -Of France and England , whose very shores look pale -With envy of each other's happiness , -May cease their hatred , and this dear conjunction -Plant neighbourhood and Christian-like accord -In their sweet bosoms , that never war advance -His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair France . - -Amen ! - -Now , welcome , Kate : and bear me witness all , -That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen . - - -God , the best maker of all marriages , -Combine your hearts in one , your realms in one ! -As man and wife , being two , are one in love , -So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal -That never may ill office , or fell jealousy , -Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage , -Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms , -To make divorce of their incorporate league ; -That English may as French , French Englishmen , -Receive each other ! God speak this Amen ! - -Amen ! - -Prepare we for our marriage : on which day , -My Lord of Burgundy , we'll take your oath , -And all the peers' , for surety of our leagues . -Then shall I swear to Kate , and you to me ; -And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be ! - -Thus far , with rough and all-unable pen , -Our bending author hath pursu'd the story ; -In little room confining mighty men , -Mangling by starts the full course of their glory . -Small time , but in that small most greatly liv'd -This star of England : Fortune made his sword , -By which the world's best garden he achiev'd , -And of it left his son imperial lord . -Henry the Sixth , in infant bands crown'd King -Of France and England , did this king succeed ; -Whose state so many had the managing , -That they lost France and made his England bleed : -Which oft our stage hath shown ; and , for their sake , -In your fair minds let this acceptance take . - -THE SECOND PART OF KING HENRY IV - - -Open your ears ; for which of you will stop -The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks ? -I , from the orient to the drooping west , -Making the wind my post-horse , still unfold -The acts commenced on this ball of earth : -Upon my tongues continual slanders ride , -The which in every language I pronounce , -Stuffing the ears of men with false reports . -I speak of peace , while covert enmity -Under the smile of safety wounds the world : -And who but Rumour , who but only I , -Make fearful musters and prepar'd defence , -Whilst the big year , swoln with some other grief , -Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war , -And no such matter ? Rumour is a pipe -Blown by surmises , jealousies , conjectures , -And of so easy and so plain a stop -That the blunt monster with uncounted heads , -The still-discordant wavering multitude , -Can play upon it . But what need I thus -My well-known body to anatomize -Among my household ? Why is Rumour here ? -I run before King Harry's victory ; -Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury -Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops , -Quenching the flame of bold rebellion -Even with the rebels' blood . But what mean I -To speak so true at first ? my office is -To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell -Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's sword , -And that the king before the Douglas' rage -Stoop'd his anointed head as low as death . -This have I rumour'd through the peasant towns -Between the royal field of Shrewsbury -And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone , -Where Hotspur's father , old Northumberland , -Lies crafty-sick . The posts come tiring on , -And not a man of them brings other news -Than they have learn'd of me : from Rumour's tongues -They bring smooth comforts false , worse than true wrongs . - - -Who keeps the gate here ? ho ! - -Where is the earl ? - -What shall I say you are ? - -Tell thou the earl -That the Lord Bardolph doth attend him here . - -His Lordship is walk'd forth into the orchard : -Please it your honour knock but at the gate , -And he himself will answer . - - -Here comes the earl . - - -What news , Lord Bardolph ? every minute now -Should be the father of some stratagem . -The times are wild ; contention , like a horse -Full of high feeding , madly hath broke loose -And bears down all before him . - -Noble earl , -I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury . - -Good , an God will ! - -As good as heart can wish . -The king is almost wounded to the death ; -And , in the fortune of my lord your son , -Prince Harry slain outright ; and both the Blunts -Kill'd by the hand of Douglas ; young Prince John -And Westmoreland and Stafford fled the field . -And Harry Monmouth's brawn , the hulk Sir John , -Is prisoner to your son : O ! such a day , -So fought , so follow'd , and so fairly won , -Came not till now to dignify the times -Since C sar's fortunes . - -How is this deriv'd ? -Saw you the field ? came you from Shrewsbury ? - -I spake with one , my lord , that came from thence ; -A gentleman well bred and of good name , -That freely render'd me these news for true . - -Here comes my servant Travers , whom I sent -On Tuesday last to listen after news . - -My lord , I over-rode him on the way ; -And he is furnish'd with no certainties -More than he haply may retail from me . - - -Now , Travers , what good tidings come with you ? - -My lord , Sir John Umfrevile turn'd me back -With joyful tidings ; and , being better hors'd , -Out-rode me . After him came spurring hard -A gentleman , almost forspent with speed , -That stopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horse . -He ask'd the way to Chester ; and of him -I did demand what news from Shrewsbury . -He told me that rebellion had bad luck , -And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold . -With that he gave his able horse the head , -And , bending forward struck his armed heels -Against the panting sides of his poor jade -Up to the rowel-head , and , starting so , -He seem'd in running to devour the way , -Staying no longer question . - -Ha ! Again : -Said he young Harry Percy's spur was cold ? -Of Hotspur , Coldspur ? that rebellion -Had met ill luck ? - -My lord , I'll tell you what : -If my young lord your son have not the day , -Upon mine honour , for a silken point -I'll give my barony : never talk of it . - -Why should the gentleman that rode by Travers -Give then such instances of loss ? - -Who , he ? -He was some hilding fellow that had stolen -The horse he rode on , and , upon my life , -Spoke at a venture . Look , here comes more news . - - -Yea , this man's brow , like to a title-leaf , -Foretells the nature of a tragic volume : -So looks the strond , whereon the imperious flood -Hath left a witness'd usurpation . -Say , Morton , didst thou come from Shrewsbury ? - -I ran from Shrewsbury , my noble lord ; -Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask -To fright our party . - -How doth my son and brother ? -Thou tremblest , and the whiteness in thy cheek -Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand . -Even such a man , so faint , so spiritless , -So dull , so dead in look , so woe-begone , -Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night , -And would have told him half his Troy was burn'd ; -But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue , -And I my Percy's death ere thou report'st it . -This thou wouldst say , 'Your son did thus and thus ; -Your brother thus ; so fought the noble Douglas ;' -Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds : -But in the end , to stop mine ear indeed , -Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise , -Ending with 'Brother , son , and all are dead .' - -Douglas is living , and your brother , yet ; -But , for my lord your son , - -Why , he is dead . -See , what a ready tongue suspicion hath ! -He that but fears the thing he would not know -Hath by instinct knowledge from others' eyes -That what he fear'd is chanced . Yet speak , Morton : -Tell thou thy earl his divination lies , -And I will take it as a sweet disgrace -And make thee rich for doing me such wrong . - -You are too great to be by me gainsaid ; -Your spirit is too true , your fears too certain . - -Yet , for all this , say not that Percy's dead . -I see a strange confession in thine eye : -Thou shak'st thy head , and hold'st it fear or sin -To speak a truth . If he be slain , say so ; -The tongue offends not that reports his death : -And he doth sin that doth belie the dead , -Not he which says the dead is not alive . -Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news -Hath but a losing office , and his tongue -Sounds ever after as a sullen bell , -Remember'd knolling a departing friend . - -I cannot think , my lord , your son is dead . - -I am sorry I should force you to believe -That which I would to God I had not seen ; -But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state , -Rendering faint quittance , wearied and outbreath'd , -To Harry Monmouth ; whose swift wrath beat down -The never-daunted Percy to the earth , -From whence with life he never more sprung up . -In few , his death ,whose spirit lent a fire -Even to the dullest peasant in his camp , -Being bruited once , took fire and heat away -From the best-temper'd courage in his troops ; -For from his metal was his party steel'd ; -Which once in him abated , all the rest -Turn'd on themselves , like dull and heavy lead : -And as the thing that's heavy in itself , -Upon enforcement flies with greatest speed , -So did our men , heavy in Hotspur's loss , -Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear -That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim -Than did our soldiers , aiming at their safety , -Fly from the field . Then was that noble Worcester -Too soon ta'en prisoner ; and that furious Scot , -The bloody Douglas , whose well-labouring sword -Had three times slain the appearance of the king , -'Gan vail his stomach , and did grace the shame -Of those that turn'd their backs ; and in his flight , -Stumbling in fear , was took . The sum of all -Is , that the king hath won , and hath sent out -A speedy power to encounter you , my lord , -Under the conduct of young Lancaster -And Westmoreland . This is the news at full . - -For this I shall have time enough to mourn . -In poison there is physic ; and these news , -Having been well , that would have made me sick , -Being sick , have in some measure made me well : -And as the wretch , whose fever-weaken'd joints , -Like strengthless hinges , buckle under life , -Impatient of his fit , breaks like a fire -Out of his keeper's arms , even so my limbs , -Weaken'd with grief , being now enrag'd with grief , -Are thrice themselves . Hence , therefore , thou nice crutch ! -A scaly gauntlet now , with joints of steel -Must glove this hand : and hence , thou sickly quoif ! -Thou art a guard too wanton for the head -Which princes , flesh'd with conquest , aim to hit . -Now bind my brows with iron ; and approach -The ragged'st hour that time and spite dare bring -To frown upon the enrag'd Northumberland ! -Let heaven kiss earth ! now let not nature's hand -Keep the wild flood confin'd ! let order die ! -And let this world no longer be a stage -To feed contention in a lingering act ; -But let one spirit of the first-born Cain -Reign in all bosoms , that , each heart being set -On bloody courses , the rude scene may end , -And darkness be the burier of the dead ! - -This strained passion doth you wrong , my lord . - -Sweet earl , divorce not wisdom from your honour . - -The lives of all your loving complices -Lean on your health ; the which , if you give o'er -To stormy passion must perforce decay . -You cast the event of war , my noble lord , -And summ'd the account of chance , before you said , -'Let us make head .' It was your presurmise -That in the dole of blows your son might drop : -You knew he walk'd o'er perils , on an edge , -More likely to fall in than to get o'er ; -You were advis'd his flesh was capable -Of wounds and scars , and that his forward spirit -Would lift him where most trade of danger rang'd : -Yet did you say , 'Go forth ;' and none of this , -Though strongly apprehended , could restrain -The stiff-borne action : what hath then befallen , -Or what hath this bold enterprise brought forth , -More than that being which was like to be ? - -We all that are engaged to this loss -Knew that we ventur'd on such dangerous seas -That if we wrought out life 'twas ten to one ; -And yet we ventur'd , for the gain propos'd -Chok'd the respect of likely peril fear'd ; -And since we are o'erset , venture again . -Come , we will all put forth , body and goods . - -'Tis more than time : and , my most noble lord , -I hear for certain , and do speak the truth , -The gentle Archbishop of York is up , -With well-appointed powers : he is a man -Who with a double surety binds his followers . -My lord your son had only but the corpse' , -But shadows and the shows of men to fight ; -For that same word , rebellion , did divide -The action of their bodies from their souls ; -And they did fight with queasiness , constrain'd , -As men drink potions , that their weapons only -Seem'd on our side : but , for their spirits and souls , -This word , rebellion , it had froze them up , -As fish are in a pond . But now the bishop -Turns insurrection to religion : -Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts , -He's follow'd both with body and with mind , -And doth enlarge his rising with the blood -Of fair King Richard , scrap'd from Pomfret stones ; -Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause ; -Tells them he doth bestride a bleeding land , -Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke ; -And more and less do flock to follow him . - -I knew of this before ; but , to speak truth , -This present grief had wip'd it from my mind . -Go in with me ; and counsel every man -The aptest way for safety and revenge : -Get posts and letters , and make friends with speed : -Never so few , and never yet more need . - - -Sirrah , you giant , what says the doctor to my water ? - -He said , sir , the water itself was a good healthy water ; but , for the party that owed it , he might have more diseases than he knew for . - -Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me : the brain of this foolish-compounded clay , man , is not able to invent anything that tends to laughter , more than I invent or is invented on me : I am not only witty in myself , but the cause that wit is in other men . I do here walk before thee like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one . If the prince put thee into my service for any other reason than to set me off , why then I have no judgment . Thou whoreson mandrake , thou art fitter to be worn in my cap than to wait at my heels . I was never manned with an agate till now ; but I will set you neither in gold nor silver , but in vile apparel , and send you back again to your master , for a jewel ; the juvenal , the prince your master , whose chin is not yet fledged . I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand than he shall get one on his cheek ; and yet he will not stick to say , his face is a face-royal : God may finish it when he will , it is not a hair amiss yet : he may keep it still as a face-royal , for a barber shall never earn sixpence out of it ; and yet he will be crowing as if he had writ man ever since his father was a bachelor . He may keep his own grace , but he is almost out of mine , I can assure him . What said Master Dombledon about the satin for my short cloak and my slops ? - -He said , sir , you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph ; he would not take his bond and yours : he liked not the security . - -Let him be damned like the glutton ! may his tongue be hotter ! A whoreson Achitophel ! a rascally yea-forsooth knave ! to bear a gentleman in hand , and then stand upon security . The whoreson smooth-pates do now wear nothing but high shoes , and bunches of keys at their girdles ; and if a man is thorough with them in honest taking up , then they must stand upon security . I had as lief they would put ratsbane in my mouth as offer to stop it with security . I looked a' should have sent me two and twenty yards of satin , as I am a true knight , and he sends me security . Well , he may sleep in security ; for he hath the horn of abundance , and the lightness of his wife shines through it : and yet cannot he see , though he have his own lanthorn to light him . Where's Bardolph ? - -He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship a horse . - -I bought him in Paul's , and he'll buy me a horse in Smithfield : an I could get me but a wife in the stews , I were manned , horsed , and wived . - - -Sir , here comes the nobleman that committed the prince for striking him about Bardolph . - -Wait close ; I will not see him . - -What's he that goes there ? - -Falstaff , an't please your lordship . - -He that was in question for the robbery ? - -He , my lord ; but he hath since done good service at Shrewsbury , and , as I hear , is now going with some charge to the Lord John of Lancaster . - -What , to York ? Call him back again . - -Sir John Falstaff ! - -Boy , tell him I am deaf . - -You must speak louder , my master is deaf . - -I am sure he is , to the hearing of anything good . Go , pluck him by the elbow ; I must speak with him . - -Sir John ! - -What ! a young knave , and beg ! Is there not wars ? is there not employment ? doth not the king lack subjects ? do not the rebels want soldiers ? Though it be a shame to be on any side but one , it is worse shame to beg than to be on the worst side , were it worse than the name of rebellion can tell how to make it . - -You mistake me , sir . - -Why , sir , did I say you were an honest man ? setting my knighthood and my soldiership aside , I had lied in my throat if I had said so . - -I pray you , sir , then set your knighthood and your soldiership aside , and give me leave to tell you you lie in your throat if you say I am any other than an honest man . - -I give thee leave to tell me so ! I lay aside that which grows to me ! If thou gett'st any leave of me , hang me : if thou takest leave , thou wert better be hanged . You hunt-counter : hence ! avaunt ! - -Sir , my lord would speak with you . - -Sir John Falstaff , a word with you . - -My good lord ! God give your lordship good time of day . I am glad to see your lordship abroad ; I heard say your lordship was sick : I hope your lordship goes abroad by advice . Your lordship , though not clean past your youth , hath yet some smack of age in you , some relish of the saltness of time ; and I most humbly beseech your lordship to have a reverend care of your health . - -Sir John , I sent for you before your expedition to Shrewsbury . - -An't please your lordship , I hear his majesty is returned with some discomfort from Wales . - -I talk not of his majesty . You would not come when I sent for you . - -And I hear , moreover , his highness is fallen into this same whoreson apoplexy . - -Well , heaven mend him ! I pray you , let me speak with you . - -This apoplexy is , as I take it , a kind of lethargy , an't please your lordship ; a kind of sleeping in the blood , a whoreson tingling . - -What tell you me of it ? be it as it is . - -It hath its original from much grief , from study and perturbation of the brain . I have read the cause of his effects in Galen : it is a kind of deafness . - -I think you are fallen into the disease , for you hear not what I say to you . - -Very well , my lord , very well : rather , an't please you , it is the disease of not listening , the malady of not marking , that I am troubled withal . - -To punish you by the heels would amend the attention of your ears ; and I care not if I do become your physician . - -I am as poor as Job , my lord , but not so patient : your lordship may minister the potion of imprisonment to me in respect of poverty ; but how I should be your patient to follow your prescriptions , the wise may make some dram of a scruple , or indeed a scruple itself . - -I sent for you , when there were matters against you for your life , to come speak with me . - -As I was then advised by my learned counsel in the laws of this land-service , I did not come . - -Well , the truth is , Sir John , you live in great infamy . - -He that buckles him in my belt cannot live in less . - -Your means are very slender , and your waste is great . - -I would it were otherwise : I would my means were greater and my waist slenderer . - -You have misled the youthful prince . - -The young prince hath misled me : I am the fellow with the great belly , and he my dog . - -Well , I am loath to gall a new-healed wound : your day's service at Shrewsbury hath a little gilded over your night's exploit on Gadshill : you may thank the unquiet time for your quiet o'er-posting that action . - -My lord ! - -But since all is well , keep it so : wake not a sleeping wolf . - -To wake a wolf is as bad as to smell a fox . - -What ! you are as a candle , the better part burnt out . - -A wassail candle , my lord ; all tallow : if I did say of wax , my growth would approve the truth . - -There is not a white hair on your face but should have his effect of gravity . - -His effect of gravy , gravy , gravy . - -You follow the young prince up and down , like his ill angel . - -Not so , my lord ; your ill angel is light , but I hope he that looks upon me will take me without weighing : and yet , in some respects , I grant , I cannot go , I cannot tell . Virtue is of so little regard in these costermonger times that true valour is turned bear-herd : pregnancy is made a tapster , and hath his quick wit wasted in giving reckonings : all the other gifts appertinent to man , as the malice of this age shapes them , are not worth a gooseberry . You that are old consider not the capacities of us that are young ; you measure the heat of our livers with the bitterness of your galls ; and we that are in the vaward of our youth , I must confess , are wags too . - -Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth , that are written down old with all the characters of age ? Have you not a moist eye , a dry hand , a yellow cheek , a white beard , a decreasing leg , an increasing belly ? Is not your voice broken , your wind short , your chin double , your wit single , and every part about you blasted with antiquity , and will you yet call yourself young ? Fie , fie , fie , Sir John ! - -My lord , I was born about three of the clock in the afternoon , with a white head , and something a round belly . For my voice , I have lost it with hollaing , and singing of anthems . To approve my youth further , I will not : the truth is , I am only old in judgment and understanding ; and he that will caper with me for a thousand marks , let him lend me the money , and have at him ! For the box o' the ear that the prince gave you , he gave it like a rude prince , and you took it like a sensible lord . I have checked him for it , and the young lion repents ; marry , not in ashes and sackcloth , but in new silk and old sack . - -Well , God send the prince a better companion ! - -God send the companion a better prince ! I cannot rid my hands of him . - -Well , the king hath severed you and Prince Harry . I hear you are going with Lord John of Lancaster against the archbishop and the Earl of Northumberland . - -Yea ; I thank your pretty sweet wit for it . But look you pray , all you that kiss my lady Peace at home , that our armies join not in a hot day ; for , by the Lord , I take but two shirts out with me , and I mean not to sweat extraordinarily : if it be a hot day , and I brandish anything but my bottle , I would I might never spit white again . There is not a dangerous action can peep out his head but I am thrust upon it . Well , I cannot last ever . But it was always yet the trick of our English nation , if they have a good thing , to make it too common . If you will needs say I am an old man , you should give me rest . I would to God my name were not so terrible to the enemy as it is : I were better to be eaten to death with rust than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion . - -Well , be honest , be honest ; and God bless your expedition . - -Will your lordship lend me a thousand pound to furnish me forth ? - -Not a penny ; not a penny ; you are too impatient to bear crosses . Fare you well : commend me to my cousin Westmoreland . - - -If I do , fillip me with a three-man beetle . A man can no more separate age and covetousness than he can part young limbs and lechery ; but the gout galls the one , and the pox pinches the other ; and so both the degrees prevent my curses . Boy ! - -Sir ! - -What money is in my purse ? - -Seven groats and twopence . - -I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse : borrowing only lingers and lingers it out , but the disease is incurable . Go bear this letter to my Lord of Lancaster ; this to the prince ; this to the Earl of Westmoreland ; and this to old Mistress Ursula , whom I have weekly sworn to marry since I perceived the first white hair on my chin . About it : you know where to find me . - -A pox of this gout ! or , a gout of this pox ! for the one or the other plays the rogue with my great toe . 'Tis no matter if I do halt ; I have the wars for my colour , and my pension shall seem the more reasonable . A good wit will make use of anything ; I will turn diseases to commodity . - - -Thus have you heard our cause and known our means ; -And , my most noble friends , I pray you all , -Speak plainly your opinions of our hopes : -And first , Lord Marshal , what say you to it ? - -I well allow the occasion of our arms ; -But gladly would be better satisfied -How in our means we should advance ourselves -To look with forehead bold and big enough -Upon the power and puissance of the king . - -Our present musters grow upon the file -To five-and-twenty thousand men of choice ; -And our supplies live largely in the hope -Of great Northumberland , whose bosom burns -With an incensed fire of injuries . - -The question , then , Lord Hastings , standeth thus : -Whether our present five-and-twenty thousand -May hold up head without Northumberland . - -With him , we may . - -Ay , marry , there's the point : -But if without him we be thought too feeble , -My judgment is , we should not step too far -Till we had his assistance by the hand ; -For in a theme so bloody-fao'd as this , -Conjecture , expectation , and surmise -Of aids incertain should not be admitted . - -'Tis very true , Lord Bardolph ; for , indeed -It was young Hotspur's case at Shrewsbury . - -It was , my lord ; who lin'd himself with hope , -Eating the air on promise of supply , -Flattering himself with project of a power -Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts ; -And so , with great imagination -Proper to madmen , led his powers to death , -And winking leap'd into destruction . - -But , by your leave , it never yet did hurt -To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope . - -Yes , if this present quality of war , -Indeed the instant action ,a cause on foot , -Lives so in hope , as in an early spring -We see the appearing buds ; which , to prove fruit , -Hope gives not so much warrant as despair -That frosts will bite them . When we mean to build , -We first survey the plot , then draw the model ; -And when we see the figure of the house , -Then must we rate the cost of the erection ; -Which if we find outweighs ability , -What do we then but draw anew the model -In fewer offices , or at last desist -To build at all ? Much more , in this great work , -Which is almost to pluck a kingdom down -And set another up ,should we survey -The plot of situation and the model , -Consent upon a sure foundation , -Question surveyors , know our own estate , -How able such a work to undergo , -To weigh against his opposite ; or else , -We fortify in paper , and in figures , -Using the names of men instead of men : -Like one that draws the model of a house -Beyond his power to build it ; who , half through , -Gives o'er and leaves his part-created cost -A naked-subject to the weeping clouds , -And waste for churlish winter's tyranny . - -Grant that our hopes , yet likely of fair birth , -Should be still-born , and that we now possess'd -The utmost man of expectation ; -I think we are a body strong enough , -Even as we are , to equal with the king . - -What ! is the king but five-and-twenty thousand ? - -To us no more ; nay , not so much , Lord Bardolph . -For his divisions , as the times do brawl , -Are in three heads : one power against the French , -And one against Glendower ; perforce , a third -Must take up us : so is the unfirm king -In three divided , and his coffers sound -With hollow poverty and emptiness . - -That he should draw his several strengths together -And come against us in full puissance , -Need not be dreaded . - -If he should do so , -He leaves his back unarm'd , the French and Welsh -Baying him at the heels : never fear that . - -Who is it like should lead his forces hither ? - -The Duke of Lancaster and Westmoreland ; -Against the Welsh , himself and Harry Monmouth : -But who is substituted 'gainst the French -I have no certain notice . - -Let us on -And publish the occasion of our arms . -The commonwealth is sick of their own choice ; -Their over-greedy love hath surfeited . -A habitation giddy and unsure -Hath he that buildeth on the vulgar heart . -O thou fond many ! with what loud applause -Didst thou beat heaven with blessing Bolingbroke -Before he was what thou wouldst have him be : -And being now trimm'd in thine own desires , -Thou , beastly feeder , art so full of him -That thou provok'st thyself to cast him up . -So , so , thou common dog , didst thou disgorge -Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard , -And now thou wouldst eat thy dead vomit up , -And howl'st to find it . What trust is in these times ? -They that , when Richard liv'd , would have him die , -Are now become enamour'd on his grave : -Thou , that threw'st dust upon his goodly head , -When through proud London he came sighing on -After the admired heels of Bolingbroke , -Cry'st now , 'O earth ! yield us that king again , -And take thou this !' O , thoughts of men accurst ! -Past and to come seem best ; things present worst . - -Shall we go draw our numbers and set on ? - -We are time's subjects , and time bids be gone . - -Master Fang , have you entered the exion ? - -It is entered . - -Where's your yeoman ? Is it a lusty yeoman ? will a' stand to't ? - -Sirrah , where's Snare ? - -O Lord , ay ! good Master Snare . - -Here , here . - -Snare , we must arrest Sir John Falstaff . - -Yea , good Master Snare ; I have entered him and all . - -It may chance cost some of us our lives , for he will stab . - -Alas the day ! take heed of him : he stabbed me in mine own house , and that most beastly . In good faith , he cares not what mischief he doth if his weapon be out : he will foin like any devil , he will spare neither man , woman , nor child . - -If I can close with him I care not for his thrust . - -No , nor I neither : I'll be at your elbow . - -An I but fist him once ; an a' come but within my vice , - -I am undone by his going ; I warrant you , he's an infinitive thing upon my score . Good Master Fang , hold him sure : good Master Snare , let him not 'scape . A' comes continuantly to Pie-corner saving your manhoods to buy a saddle , and he's indited to dinner to the Lubber's Head in Lumbert-Street , to Master Smooth's the silkman : I pray ye , since my exion is entered , and my case so openly known to the world , let him be brought in to his answer . A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone woman to bear ; and I have borne , and borne , and borne ; and have been fubbed off , and fubbed off , and fubbed off , from this day to that day , that it is a shame to be thought on . There is no honesty in such dealing ; unless a woman should be made an ass , and a beast , to bear every knave's wrong . Yonder he comes ; and that arrant malmseynose knave , Bardolph , with him . Do your offices , do your offices , Master Fang and Master Snare ; do me , do me , do me your offices . - - -How now ! whose mare's dead ? what's the matter ? - -Sir John , I arrest you at the suit of Mistress Quickly . - -Away , varlets ! Draw , Bardolph : cut me off the villain's head ; throw the quean in the channel . - -Throw me in the channel ! I'll throw thee in the channel . Wilt thou ? wilt thou ? thou bastardly rogue ! Murder , murder ! Ah , thou honey-suckle villain ! wilt thou kill God's officers and the king's ? Ah , thou honey-seed rogue ! thou art a honey-seed , a man-queller , and a woman-queller . - -Keep them off , Bardolph . - -A rescue ! a rescue ! - -Good people , bring a rescue or two ! Thou wo't , wo't thou ? thou wo't , wo't ta ? do , do , thou rogue ! do , thou hemp-seed ! - -Away , you scullion ! you rampallian ! you fustilarian ! I'll tickle your catastrophe . - - -What is the matter ? keep the peace here , ho ! - -Good my lord , be good to me ! I beseech you , stand to me ! - -How now , Sir John ! what ! are you brawling here ? -Doth this become your place , your time and business ? -You should have been well on your way to York . -Stand from him , fellow : wherefore hang'st upon him ? - -O , my most worshipful lord , an't please your grace , I am a poor widow of Eastcheap , and he is arrested at my suit . - -For what sum ? - -It is more than for some , my lord ; it is for all , all I have . He hath eaten me out of house and home ; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his : but I will have some of it out again , or I will ride thee o' nights like the mare . - -I think I am as like to ride the mare if I have any vantage of ground to get up . - -How comes this , Sir John ? Fie ! what man of good temper would endure this tempest of exclamation ? Are you not ashamed to enforce a poor widow to so rough a course to come by her own ? - -What is the gross sum that I owe thee ? - -Marry , if thou wert an honest man , thyself and the money too . Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet , sitting in my Dolphin-chamber , at the round table , by a seacoal fire , upon Wednesday in Wheeson week , when the prince broke thy head for liking his father to a singing-man of Windsor , thou didst swear to me then , as I was washing thy wound , to marry me and make me my lady thy wife . Canst thou deny it ? Did not goodwife Keech , the butcher's wife , come in then and call me gossip Quickly ? coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar ; telling us she had a good dish of prawns ; whereby thou didst desire to eat some , whereby I told thee they were ill for a green wound ? And didst thou not , when she was gone down-stairs , desire me to be no more so familiarity with such poor people ; saying that ere long they should call me madam ? And didst thou not kiss me and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings ? I put thee now to thy book-oath : deny it if thou canst . - -My lord , this is a poor mad soul ; and she says up and down the town that her eldest son is like you . She hath been in good case , and the truth is , poverty hath distracted her . But for these foolish officers , I beseech you I may have redress against them . - -Sir John , Sir John , I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the false way . It is not a confident brow , nor the throng of words that come with such more than impudent sauciness from you , can thrust me from a level consideration ; you have , as it appears to me , practised upon the easy-yielding spirit of this woman , and made her serve your uses both in purse and in person . - -Yea , in troth , my lord . - -Prithee , peace . Pay her the debt you owe her , and unpay the villany you have done her : the one you may do with sterling money , and the other with current repentance . - -My lord , I will not undergo this sneap without reply . You call honourable boldness impudent sauciness : if a man will make curtsy , and say nothing , he is virtuous . No , my lord , my humble duty remembered , I will not be your suitor : I say to you , I do desire deliverance from these officers , being upon hasty employment in the king's affairs . - -You speak as having power to do wrong : but answer in the effect of your reputation , and satisfy the poor woman . - -Come hither , hostess . - -Now , Master Gower ! what news ? - -The king , my lord , and Harry Prince of Wales -Are near at hand : the rest the paper tells . - - -As I am a gentleman . - -Nay , you said so before . - -As I am a gentleman . Come , no more words of it . - -By this heavenly ground I tread on , I must be fain to pawn both my plate and the tapestry of my dining-chambers . - -Glasses , glasses , is the only drinking : and for thy walls , a pretty slight drollery , or the story of the Prodigal , or the German hunting in water-work , is worth a thousand of these bed-hangings and these fly-bitten tapestries . Let it be ten pound if thou canst . Come , an it were not for thy humours , there is not a better wench in England . Go , wash thy face , and draw thy action . Come , thou must not be in this humour with me ; dost not know me ? Come , come , I know thou wast set on to this . - -Prithee , Sir John , let it be but twenty nobles : i' faith , I am loath to pawn my plate , so God save me , la ! - -Let it alone ; I'll make other shift : you'll be a fool still . - -Well , you shall have it , though I pawn my gown . I hope you'll come to supper . You'll pay me all together ? - -Will I live ? - -Go , with her , with her ; hook on , hook on . - -Will you have Doll Tearsheet meet you at supper ? - -No more words ; let's have her . - - -I have heard better news . - -What's the news , my good lord ? - -Where lay the king last night ? - -At Basingstoke , my lord . - -I hope , my lord , all's well : what is the news , my lord ? - -Come all his forces back ? - -No ; fifteen hundred foot , five hundred horse , -Are march'd up to my Lord of Lancaster , -Against Northumberland and the archbishop . - -Comes the king back from Wales , my noble lord ? - -You shall have letters of me presently . -Come , go along with me , good Master Gower . - -My lord ! - -What's the matter ? - -Master Gower , shall I entreat you with me to dinner ? - -I must wait upon my good lord here ; -I thank you , good Sir John . - -Sir John , you loiter here too long , being you are to take soldiers up in counties as you go . - -Will you sup with me , Master Gower ? - -What foolish master taught you these manners , Sir John ? - -Master Gower , if they become me not , he was a fool that taught them me . This is the right fencing grace , my lord ; tap for tap , and so part fair . - -Now the Lord lighten thee ! thou art a great fool . - - -Before God , I am exceeding weary . - -Is it come to that ? I had thought weariness durst not have attached one of so high blood . - -Faith , it does me , though it discolours the complexion of my greatness to acknowledge it . Doth it not show vilely in me to desire small beer ? - -Why , a prince should not be so loosely studied as to remember so weak a composition . - -Belike then my appetite was not princely got ; for , by my troth , I do now remember the poor creature , small beer . But , indeed , these humble considerations make me out of love with my greatness . What a disgrace is it to me to remember thy name , or to know thy face to-morrow ! or to take note how many pair of silk stockings thou hast ; viz . these , and those that were thy peach-coloured ones ! or to bear the inventory of thy shirts ; as , one for superfluity , and one other for use ! But that the tennis-court-keeper knows better than I , for it is a low ebb of linen with thee when thou keepest not racket there ; as thou hast not done a great while , because the rest of thy low-countries have made a shift to eat up thy holland : and God knows whether those that bawl out the ruins of thy linen shall inherit his kingdom ; but the midwives say the children are not in the fault ; whereupon the world increases , and kindreds are mightily strengthened . - -How ill it follows , after you have laboured so hard , you should talk so idly ! Tell me , how many good young princes would do so , their fathers being so sick as yours at this time is ? - -Shall I tell thee one thing , Poins ? - -Yes , faith , and let it be an excellent good thing . - -It shall serve among wits of no higher breeding than thine . - -Go to ; I stand the push of your one thing that you will tell . - -Marry , I tell thee , it is not meet that I should be sad , now my father is sick : albeit I could tell to thee ,as to one it pleases me , for fault of a better , to call my friend ,I could be sad , and sad indeed too . - -Very hardly upon such a subject . - -By this hand , thou thinkest me as far in the devil's book as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and persistency : let the end try the man . But I tell thee my heart bleeds inwardly that my father is so sick ; and keeping such vile company as thou art hath in reason taken from me all ostentation of sorrow . - -The reason ? - -What wouldst thou think of me if I should weep ? - -I would think thee a most princely hypocrite . - -It would be every man's thought ; and thou art a blessed fellow to think as every man thinks : never a man's thought in the world keeps the road-way better than thine : every man would think me a hypocrite indeed . And what accites your most worshipful thought to think so ? - -Why , because you have been so lewd and so much engraffed to Falstaff . - -And to thee . - -By this light , I am well spoke on ; I can hear it with mine own ears : the worst that they can say of me is that I am a second brother and that I am a proper fellow of my hands ; and these two things I confess I cannot help . By the mass , here comes Bardolph . - - -And the boy that I gave Falstaff : a' had him from me Christian ; and look , if the fat villain have not transformed him ape . - -God save your Grace ! - -And yours , most noble Bardolph . - -Come , you virtuous ass , you bashful fool , must you be blushing ? wherefore blush you now ? What a maidenly man-at-arms are you become ! Is it such a matter to get a pottle-pot's maidenhead ? - -A' calls me even now , my lord , through a red lattice , and I could discern no part of his face from the window : at last , I spied his eyes , and methought he had made two holes in the ale-wife's new petticoat , and peeped through . - -Hath not the boy profited ? - -Away , you whoreson upright rabbit , away ! - -Away , you rascally Althea's dream , away ! - -Instruct us , boy ; what dream , boy ? - -Marry , my lord , Althea dreamed she was delivered of a firebrand ; and therefore I call him her dream . - -A crown's worth of good interpretation . There it is , boy . - - -O ! that this good blossom could be kept from cankers . Well , there is sixpence to preserve thee . - -An you do not make him be hanged among you , the gallows shall have wrong . - -And how doth thy master , Bardolph ? - -Well , my lord . He heard of your Grace's coming to town : there's a letter for you . - -Delivered with good respect . And how doth the martlemas , your master ? - -In bodily health , sir . - -Marry , the immortal part needs a physician ; but that moves not him : though that be sick , it dies not . - -I do allow this wen to be as familiar with me as my dog ; and he holds his place , for look you how he writes . - -'John Falstaff , knight ,' every man must know that , as oft as he has occasion to name himself : even like those that are akin to the king , for they never prick their finger but they say , 'There is some of the king's blood spilt .' 'How comes that ?' says he that takes upon him not to conceive . The answer is as ready as a borrower's cap , 'I am the king's poor cousin , sir .' - -Nay , they will be kin to us , or they will fetch it from Japhet . But to the letter : - -Sir John Falstaff , knight , to the son of the king nearest his father , Harry Prince of Wales , greeting . Why , this is a certificate . - -Peace ! - -I will imitate the honourable Romans in brevity : sure he means brevity in breath , short-winded .I commend me to thee , I commend thee , and I leave thee . Be not too familiar with Poins ; for he misuses thy favours so much that he swears thou art to marry his sister Nell . Repent at idle times as thou mayest , and so farewell . - -My lord , I'll steep this letter in sack and make him eat it . - -That's to make him eat twenty of his words . But do you use me thus , Ned ? must I marry your sister ? - -God send the wench no worse fortune ! but I never said so . - -Well , thus we play the fools with the time , and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us . Is your master here in London ? - -Yes , my lord . - -Where sups he ? doth the old boar feed in the old frank ? - -At the old place , my lord , in Eastcheap . - -What company ? - -Ephesians , my lord , of the old church . - -Sup any women with him ? - -None , my lord , but old Mistress Quickly and Mistress Doll Tearsheet . - -What pagan may that be ? - -A proper gentlewoman , sir , and a kinswoman of my master's . - -Even such kin as the parish heifers are to the town bull . Shall we steal upon them , Ned , at supper ? - -I am your shadow , my lord ; I'll follow you . - -Sirrah , you boy , and Bardolph ; no word to your master that I am yet come to town : there's for your silence . - - -I have no tongue , sir . - -And for mine , sir , I will govern it . - -Fare ye well ; go . - -This Doll Tearsheet should be some road . - -I warrant you , as common as the way between Saint Alban's and London . - -How might we see Falstaff bestow himself to-night in his true colours , and not ourselves be seen ? - -Put on two leathern jerkins and aprons , and wait upon him at his table as drawers . - -From a god to a bull ! a heavy descension ! it was Jove's case . From a prince to a prentice ! a low transformation ! that shall be mine ; for in every thing the purpose must weigh with the folly . Follow me , Ned . - - -I pray thee , loving wife , and gentle daughter , -Give even way unto my rough affairs : -Put not you on the visage of the times , -And be like them to Percy troublesome . - -I have given over , I will speak no more : -Do what you will ; your wisdom be your guide . - -Alas ! sweet wife , my honour is at pawn ; -And , but my going , nothing can redeem it . - -O ! yet for God's sake , go not to these wars . -The time was , father , that you broke your word -When you were more endear'd to it than now ; -When your own Percy , when my heart's dear Harry , -Threw many a northward look to see his father -Bring up his powers ; but he did long in vain . -Who then persuaded you to stay at home ? -There were two honours lost , yours and your son's : -For yours , the God of heaven brighten it ! -For his , it stuck upon him as the sun -In the grey vault of heaven ; and by his light -Did all the chivalry of England move -To do brave acts : he was indeed the glass -Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves : -He had no legs , that practis'd not his gait ; -And speaking thick , which nature made his blemish , -Became the accents of the valiant ; -For those that could speak low and tardily , -Would turn their own perfection to abuse , -To seem like him : so that , in speech , in gait , -In diet , in affections of delight , -In military rules , humours of blood , -He was the mark and glass , copy and book , -That fashion'd others . And him , O wondrous him ! -O miracle of men ! him did you leave , -Second to none , unseconded by you , -To look upon the hideous god of war -In disadvantage ; to abide a field -Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name -Did seem defensible : so you left him . -Never , O ! never , do his ghost the wrong -To hold your honour more precise and nice -With others than with him : let them alone . -The marshal and the archbishop are strong : -Had my sweet Harry had but half their numbers , -To-day might I , hanging on Hotspur's neck , -Have talk'd of Monmouth's grave . - -Beshrew your heart , -Fair daughter ! you do draw my spirits from me -With new lamenting ancient oversights . -But I must go and meet with danger there , -Or it will seek me in another place , -And find me worse provided . - -O ! fly to Scotland , -Till that the nobles and the armed commons -Have of their puissance made a little taste . - -If they get ground and vantage of the king , -Then join you with them , like a rib of steel , -To make strength stronger ; but , for all our loves , -First let them try themselves . So did your son ; -He was so suffer'd : so came I a widow ; -And never shall have length of life enough -To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes , -That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven , -For recordation to my noble husband . - -Come , come , go in with me . 'Tis with my mind -As with the tide swell'd up unto its height , -That makes a still-stand , running neither way : -Fain would I go to meet the archbishop , -But many thousand reasons hold me back . -I will resolve for Scotland : there am I , -Till time and vantage crave my company . - - -What the devil hast thou brought there ? apple-johns ? thou knowest Sir John cannot endure an apple-john . - -Mass , thou sayst true . The prince once set a dish of apple-johns before him , and told him there were five more Sir Johns ; and , putting off his hat , said , 'I will now take my leave of these six dry , round , old withered knights .' It angered him to the heart ; but he hath forgot that . - -Why then , cover , and set them down : and see if thou canst find out Sneak's noise ; Mistress Tearsheet would fain hear some music . Dispatch : the room where they supped is too hot ; they'll come in straight . - -Sirrah , here will be the prince and Master Poins anon ; and they will put on two of our jerkins and aprons ; and Sir John must not know of it : Bardolph hath brought word . - -By the mass , here will be old utis : it will be an excellent stratagem . - -I'll see if I can find out Sneak . - -I'faith , sweetheart , methinks now you are in an excellent good temperality : your pulsidge beats as extraordinarily as heart would desire ; and your colour , I warrant you , is as red as any rose ; in good truth , la ! But , i' faith , you have drunk too much canaries , and that's a marvellous searching wine , and it perfumes the blood ere one can say , What's this ? How do you now ? - -Better than I was : hem ! - -Why , that's well said ; a good heart's worth gold . Lo ! here comes Sir John . - - -When Arthur first in court Empty the jordan . - -And was a worthy king . How now , Mistress Doll ! - -Sick of a calm : yea , good sooth . - -So is all her sect ; an they be once in a calm they are sick . - -You muddy rascal , is that all the comfort you give me ? - -You make fat rascals , Mistress Doll . - -I make them ! gluttony and diseases make them ; I make them not . - -If the cook help to make the gluttony , you help to make the diseases , Doll : we catch of you , Doll , we catch of you ; grant that , my poor virtue , grant that . - -Ay , marry ; our chains and our jewels . - -'Your brooches , pearls , and owches :' for to serve bravely is to come halting off you know : to come off the breach with his pike bent bravely , and to surgery bravely ; to venture upon the charged chambers bravely , - -Hang yourself , you muddy conger , hang yourself ! - -By my troth , this is the old fashion ; you two never meet but you fall to some discord : you are both , in good troth , as rheumatic as two dry toasts ; you cannot one bear with another's confirmities . What the good-year ! one must bear , and that must be you : you are the weaker vessel , as they say , the emptier vessel . - -Can a weak empty vessel bear such a huge full hogshead ? there's a whole merchant's venture of Bourdeaux stuff in him : you have not seen a hulk better stuffed in the hold . Come , I'll be friends with thee , Jack : thou art going to the wars ; and whether I shall ever see thee again or no , there is nobody cares . - - -Sir , Ancient Pistol's below , and would speak with you . - -Hang him , swaggering rascal ! let him not come hither : it is the foul-mouthedest rogue in England . - -If he swagger , let him not come here : no , by my faith ; I must live amongst my neighbours ; I'll no swaggerers : I am in good name and fame with the very best . Shut the door ; there comes no swaggerers here : I have not lived all this while to have swaggering now : shut the door , I pray you . - -Dost thou hear , hostess ? - -Pray you , pacify yourself , Sir John : there comes no swaggerers here . - -Dost thou hear ? it is mine ancient . - -Tilly-fally , Sir John , never tell me : your ancient swaggerer comes not in my doors . I was before Master Tisick , the deputy , t'other day ; and , as he said to me ,'twas no longer ago than Wednesday last ,'Neighbour Quickly ,' says he ;Master Dumbe , our minister , was by then ;'Neighbour Quickly ,' says he , 'receive those that are civil , for ,' said he , 'you are in an ill name ;' now , a' said so , I can tell whereupon ; 'for ,' says he , 'you are an honest woman , and well thought on ; therefore take heed what guests you receive : receive ,' says he , 'no swaggering companions .' There comes none here :you would bless you to hear what he said . No , I'll no swaggerers . - -He's no swaggerer , hostess ; a tame cheater , i' faith ; you may stroke him as gently as a puppy greyhound : he will not swagger with a Barbary hen if her feathers turn back in any show of resistance . Call him up , drawer . - - -Cheater , call you him ? I will bar no honest man my house , nor no cheater ; but I do not love swaggering , by my troth ; I am the worse , when one says swagger . Feel , masters , how I shake ; look you , I warrant you . - -So you do , hostess . - -Do I ? yea , in very truth , do I , an 'twere an aspen leaf : I cannot abide swaggerers . - - -God save you , Sir John ! - -Welcome , Ancient Pistol . Here , Pistol , I charge you with a cup of sack : do you discharge upon mine hostess . - -I will discharge upon her , Sir John , with two bullets . - -She is pistol-proof , sir ; you shall hardly offend her . - -Come , I'll drink no proofs nor no bullets : I'll drink no more than will do me good , for no man's pleasure , I . - -Then to you , Mistress Dorothy ; I will charge you . - -Charge me ! I scorn you , scurvy companion . What ! you poor , base , rascally , cheating , lack-linen mate ! Away , you mouldy rogue , away ! I am meat for your master . - -I know you , Mistress Dorothy . - -Away , you cut-purse rascal ! you filthy bung , away ! By this wine , I'll thrust my knife in your mouldy chaps an you play the saucy cuttle with me . Away , you bottle-ale rascal ! you basket-hilt stale juggler , you ! Since when , I pray you , sir ? God's light ! with two points on your shoulder ? much ! - -God let me not live . I will murder your ruff for this ! - -No more , Pistol : I would not have you go off here . Discharge yourself of our company , Pistol . - -No , good captain Pistol ; not here , sweet captain . - -Captain ! thou abominable damned cheater , art thou not ashamed to be called captain ? An captains were of my mind , they would truncheon you out for taking their names upon you before you have earned them . You a captain , you slave ! for what ? for tearing a poor whore's ruff in a bawdy-house ? He a captain ! Hang him , rogue ! He lives upon mouldy stewed prunes and dried cakes . A captain ! God's light , these villains will make the word captain as odious as the word 'occupy ,' which was an excellent good word before it was ill sorted : therefore captains had need look to it . - -Pray thee , go down , good ancient . - -Hark thee hither , Mistress Doll . - -Not I ; I tell thee what , Corporal Bardolph ; I could tear her . I'll be revenged of her . - -Pray thee , go down . - -I'll see her damned first ; to Pluto's damned lake , by this hand , to the infernal deep , with Erebus and tortures vile also . Hold hook and line , say I . Down , down , dogs ! down fates ! Have we not Hiren here ? - -Good Captain Peesel , be quiet ; it is very late , i' faith . I beseek you now , aggravate your choler . - -These be good humours , indeed ! Shall pack-horses , -And hollow pamper'd jades of Asia , -Which cannot go but thirty miles a day , -Compare with C sars , and with Cannibals , -And Trojan Greeks ? nay , rather damn them with -King Cerberus ; and let the welkin roar . -Shall we fall foul for toys ? - -By my troth , captain , these are very bitter words . - -Be gone , good ancient : this will grow to a brawl anon . - -Dio men like dogs ! give crowns like pins ! Have we not Hiren here ? - -O' my word , captain , there's none such here . What the good-year ! do you think I would deny her ? for God's sake ! be quiet . - -Then feed , and be fat , my fair Calipolis . -Come , give's some sack . -Si fortuna me tormente , sperato me contento . -Fear we broadsides ? no , let the fiend give fire : -Give me some sack ; and , sweetheart , lie thou there . - -Come we to full points here , and are et ceteras nothing ? - -Pistol , I would be quiet . - -Sweet knight , I kiss thy neif . What ! we have seen the seven stars . - -For God's sake , thrust him down stairs ! I cannot endure such a fustian rascal . - -'Thrust him down stairs !' know we not Galloway nags ? - -Quoit him down , Bardolph , like a shovegroat shilling : nay , an a' do nothing but speak nothing , a' shall be nothing here . - -Come , get you down stairs . - -What ! shall we have incision ? Shall we imbrue ? - -Then death rock me asleep , abridge my doleful days ! -Why then , let grievous , ghastly , gaping wounds -Untwine the Sisters Three ! Come , Atropos , I say ! - -Here's goodly stuff toward ! - -Give me my rapier , boy . - -I pray thee , Jack , I pray thee , do not draw . - -Get you down stairs . - - -Here's a goodly tumult ! I'll forswear keeping house , afore I'll be in these tirrits and frights . So ; murder , I warrant now . Alas , alas ! put up your naked weapons ; put up your naked weapons . - - -I pray thee , Jack , be quiet ; the rascal's gone . Ah ! you whoreson little valiant villain , you ! - -Are you not hurt i' the groin ? methought a' made a shrewd thrust at your belly . - - -Have you turned him out o' doors ? - -Yes , sir : the rascal's drunk . You have hurt him , sir , i' the shoulder . - -A rascal , to brave me ! - -Ah , you sweet little rogue , you ! Alas , poor ape , how thou sweatest ! Come , let me wipe thy face ; come on , you whoreson chops . Ah , rogue ! i' faith , I love thee . Thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy , worth five of Agamemnon , and ten times better than the Nine Worthies . Ah , villain ! - -A rascally slave ! I will toss the rogue in a blanket . - -Do , an thou darest for thy heart : an thou dost , I'll canvass thee between a pair of sheets . - - -The music is come , sir . - -Let them play . Play , sirs . Sit on my knee , Doll . A rascal bragging slave ! the rogue fled from me like quicksilver . - -I' faith , and thou followedst him like a church . Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig , when wilt thou leave fighting o' days , and foining o' nights , and begin to patch up thine old body for heaven ? - - -Peace , good Doll ! do not speak like a death's head : do not bid me remember mine end . - -Sirrah , what humour is the prince of ? - -A good shallow young fellow : a' would have made a good pantler , a' would have chipped bread well . - -They say , Poins has a good wit . - -He a good wit ! hang him , baboon ! his wit is as thick as Tewksbury mustard : there is no more conceit in him than is in a mallet . - -Why does the prince love him so , then ? - -Because their legs are both of a bigness , and he plays at quoits well , and eats conger and fennel , and drinks off candles' ends for flapdragons , and rides the wild mare with the boys , and jumps upon joint-stools , and swears with a good grace , and wears his boots very smooth , like unto the sign of the leg , and breeds no bate with telling of discreet stories ; and such other gambol faculties a' has , that show a weak mind and an able body , for the which the prince admits him : for the prince himself is such another ; the weight of a hair will turn the scales between their avoirdupois . - -Would not this nave of a wheel have his ears cut off ? - -Let's beat him before his whore . - -Look , whether the withered elder hath not his poll clawed like a parrot . - -Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance ? - -Kiss me , Doll . - -Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction ! what says the almanack to that ? - -And , look , whether the fiery Trigon , his man , be not lisping to his master's old tables , his note-book , his counsel-keeper . - -Thou dost give me flattering busses . - -By my troth , I kiss thee with a most constant heart . - -I am old , I am old . - -I love thee better than I love e'er a scurvy young boy of them all . - -What stuff wilt have a kirtle of ? I shall receive money o' Thursday ; thou shalt have a cap to-morrow . A merry song ! come : it grows late ; we'll to bed . Thou'lt forget me when I am gone . - -By my troth , thou'lt set me a-weeping an thou sayst so : prove that ever I dress myself handsome till thy return . Well , hearken at the end . - -Some sack , Francis ! - -Anon , anon , sir . - -Anon , anon , sir . - -Ha ! a bastard son of the king's ? And art not thou Poins his brother ? - -Why , thou globe of sinful cntinents , what a life dost thou lead ! - -A better than thou : I am a gentleman ; thou art a drawer . - -Very true , sir ; and I come to draw you out by the ears . - -O ! the Lord preserve thy good Grace ; by my troth , welcome to London . Now , the Lord bless that sweet face of thine ! O Jesu ! are you come from Wales ? - -Thou whoreson mad compound of majesty , by this light flesh and corrupt blood - -thou art welcome . - -How , you fat fool ! I scorn you . - -My lord , he will drive you out of your revenge and turn all to a merriment , if you take not the heat . - -You whoreson candle-mine , you , how vilely did you speak of me even now before this honest , virtuous , civil gentlewoman ! - -Blessing on your good heart ! and so she is , by my troth . - -Didst thou hear me ? - -Yea ; and you knew me , as you did when you ran away by Gadshill : you knew I was at your back , and spoke it on purpose to try my patience . - -No , no , no ; not so ; I did not think thou wast within hearing . - -I shall drive you then to confess the wilful abuse ; and then I know how to handle you . - -No abuse , Hal , o' mine honour ; no abuse . - -Not to dispraise me , and call me pantler and bread-chipper and I know not what ? - -No abuse , Hal . - -No abuse ! - -No abuse , Ned , in the world ; honest Ned , none . I dispraised him before the wicked , that the wicked might not fall in love with him ; in which doing I have done the part of a careful friend and a true subject , and thy father is to give me thanks for it . No abuse , Hal ; none , Ned , none : no , faith , boys , none . - -See now , whether pure fear and entire cowardice doth not make thee wrong this virtuous gentlewoman to close with us ? Is she of the wicked ? Is thine hostess here of the wicked ? Or is thy boy of the wicked ? Or honest Bardolph , whose zeal burns in his nose , of the wicked ? - -Answer , thou dead elm , answer . - -The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph irrecoverable ; and his face is Lucifer's privykitchen , where he doth nothing but roast maltworms . For the boy , there is a good angel about him ; but the devil outbids him too . - -For the women ? - -For one of them , she is in hell already , and burns poor souls . For the other , I owe her money ; and whether she be damned for that , I know not . - -No , I warrant you . - -No , I think thou art not ; I think thou art quit for that . Marry , there is another indictment upon thee , for suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house , contrary to the law ; for the which I think thou wilt howl . - -All victuallers do so : what's a joint of mutton or two in a whole Lent ? - -You , gentlewoman , - -What says your Grace ? - -His Grace says that which his flesh rebels against . - - -Who knocks so loud at door ? Look to the door there , Francis . - - -Peto , how now ! what news ? - -The king your father is at Westminster ; -And there are twenty weak and wearied posts -Come from the north : and as I came along , -I met and overtook a dozen captains , -Bare-headed , sweating , knocking at the taverns , -And asking every one for Sir John Falstaff . - -By heaven , Poins , I feel me much to blame , -So idly to profane the precious time , -When tempest of commotion , like the south , -Borne with black vapour , doth begin to melt -And drop upon our bare unarmed heads . -Give me my sword and cloak . Falstaff , good night . - - -Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night , and we must hence and leave it unpicked . - -More knocking at the door ! - -How now ! what's the matter ? - -You must away to court , sir , presently ; -A dozen captains stay at door for you . - -Pay the musicians , sirrah . Farewell , hostess ; farewell , Doll . You see , my good wenches , how men of merit are sought after : the undeserver may sleep when the man of action is called on . Farewell , good wenches . If I be not sent away post , I will see you again ere I go . - -I cannot speak ; if my heart be not ready to burst ,well , sweet Jack , have a care of thyself . - -Farewell , farewell . - - -Well , fare thee well : I have known thee these twenty-nine years , come peascod-time ; but an honester , and truer-hearted man ,well , fare thee well . - -Mistress Tearsheet ! - -What's the matter ? - -Bid Mistress Tearsheet come to my master . - -O ! run , Doll , run ; run , good Doll . - -Go , call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick ; -But , ere they come , bid them o'er-read these letters , -And well consider of them . Make good speed . - -How many thousand of my poorest subjects -Are at this hour asleep ! O sleep ! O gentle sleep ! -Nature's soft nurse , how have I frighted thee , -That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down -And steep my senses in forgetfulness ? -Why rather , sleep , liest thou in smoky cribs , -Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee , -And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber , -Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great , -Under the canopies of costly state , -And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody ? -O thou dull god ! why liest thou with the vile -In loathsome beds , and leav'st the kingly couch -A watch-case or a common 'larum bell ? -Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast -Seel up the ship-boy's eyes , and rock his brains -In cradle of the rude imperious surge , -And in the visitation of the winds , -Who take the ruffian billows by the top , -Curling their monstrous heads , and hanging them -With deaf'ning clamour in the slippery clouds , -That with the hurly death itself awakes ? -Canst thou , O partial sleep ! give thy repose -To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude , -And in the calmest and most stillest night , -With all appliances and means to boot , -Deny it to a king ? Then , happy low , lie down ! -Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown . - - -Many good morrows to your majesty ! - -Is it good morrow , lords ? - -'Tis one o'clock , and past . - -Why then , good morrow to you all , my lords . -Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you ? - -We have , my liege . - -Then you perceive the body of our kingdom , -How foul it is ; what rank diseases grow , -And with what danger , near the heart of it . - -It is but as a body , yet , distemper'd , -Which to his former strength may be restor'd -With good advice and little medicine : -My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd . - -O God ! that one might read the book of fate , -And see the revolution of the times -Make mountains level , and the continent , -Weary of solid firmness ,melt itself -Into the sea ! and , other times , to see -The beachy girdle of the ocean -Too wide for Neptune's hips ; how chances mock , -And changes fill the cup of alteration -With divers liquors ! O ! if this were seen , -The happiest youth , viewing his progress through , -What perils past , what crosses to ensue , -Would shut the book , and sit him down and die . -'Tis not ten years gone -Since Richard and Northumberland , great friends , -Did feast together , and in two years after -Were they at wars : it is but eight years since -This Percy was the man nearest my soul , -Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs -And laid his love and life under my foot ; -Yea , for my sake , even to the eyes of Richard -Gave him defiance . But which of you was by , - - -You , cousin Nevil , as I may remember , -When Richard , with his eye brimful of tears , -Then check'd and rated by Northumberland , -Did speak these words , now prov'd a prophecy ? -'Northumberland , thou ladder , by the which -My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne ;' -Though then , God knows , I had no such intent , -But that necessity so bow'd the state -That I and greatness were compelled to kiss : -'The time shall come ,' thus did he follow it , -'The time will come , that foul sin , gathering head , -Shall break into corruption :' so went on , -Foretelling this same time's condition -And the division of our amity . - -There is a history in all men's lives , -Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd ; -The which observ'd , a man may prophesy , -With a near aim , of the main chance of things -As yet not come to life , which in their seeds -And weak leginnings lie intreasured . -Such things become the hatch and brood of time ; -And by the necessary form of this -King Richard might create a perfect guess -That great Northumberland , then false to him , -Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness , -Which should not find a ground to root upon , -Unless on you . - -Are these things then necessities ? -Then let us meet them like necessities ; -And that same word even now cries out on us . -They say the bishop and Northumberland -Are fifty thousand strong . - -It cannot be , my lord ! -Rumour doth double , like the voice and echo , -The numbers of the fear'd . Please it your Grace -To go to bed : upon my soul , my lord , -The powers that you already have sent forth -Shall bring this prize in very easily . -To comfort you the more , I have receiv'd -A certain instance that Glendower is dead . -Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill , -And these unseason'd hours perforce must add -Unto your sickness . - -I will take your counsel : -And were these inward wars once out of hand , -We would , dear lords , unto the Holy Land . - - -Come on , come on , come on , sir ; give me your hand , sir , give me your hand , sir : an early stirrer , by the rood ! And how doth my good cousin Silence ? - -Good morrow , good cousin Shallow . - -And how doth my cousin , your bed-fellow ? and your fairest daughter and mine , my god-daughter Ellen ? - -Alas ! a black ousel , cousin Shallow ! - -By yea and nay , sir , I dare say my cousin William is become a good scholar . He is at Oxford still , is he not ? - -Indeed , sir , to my cost . - -A' must , then , to the inns o' court shortly . I was once of Clement's Inn ; where I think they will talk of mad Shallow yet . - -You were called 'lusty Shallow' then , cousin . - -By the mass , I was called any thing ; and I would have done any thing indeed too , and roundly too . There was I , and Little John Doit of Staffordshire , and black George Barnes , and Francis Pickbone , and Will Squele a Cotswold man ; you had not four such swinge-bucklers in all the inns of court again : and , I may say to you , we knew where the bona-robas were , and had the best of them all at commandment . Then was Jack Falstaff , now Sir John , a boy , and page to Thomas Mowbray , Duke of Norfolk . - -This Sir John , cousin , that comes hither anon about soldiers ? - -The same Sir John , the very same . I saw him break Skogan's head at the court gate , when a' was a crack not thus high : and the very same day did I fight with one Sampson Stockfish , a fruiterer , behind Gray's Inn . Jesu ! Jesu ! the mad days that I have spent ; and to see how many of mine old acquaintance are dead ! - -We shall all follow , cousin . - -Certain , 'tis certain ; very sure , very sure : death , as the Psalmist saith , is certain to all ; all shall die . How a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair ? - -Truly , cousin , I was not there . - -Death is certain . Is old Double of your town living yet ? - -Dead , sir . - -Jesu ! Jesu ! dead ! a' drew a good bow ; and dead ! a' shot a fine shoot : John a Gaunt loved him well , and betted much money on his head . Dead ! a' would have clapped i' the clout at twelve score ; and carried you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half , that it would have done a man's heart good to see . How a score of ewes now ? - -Thereafter as they be : a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds . - -And is old Double dead ? - -Here come two of Sir John Falstaff's men , as I think . - - -Good morrow , honest gentlemen : I beseech you , which is Justice Shallow ? - -I am Robert Shallow , sir ; a poor esquire of this county , and one of the king's justices of the peace : what is your good pleasure with me ? - -My captain , sir , commends him to you ; my captain , Sir John Falstaff : a tall gentleman , by heaven , and a most gallant leader . - -He greets me well , sir . I knew him a good backsword man . How doth the good knight ? may I ask how my lady his wife doth ? - -Sir , pardon ; a soldier is better accommodated than with a wife . - -It is well said , in faith , sir ; and it is well said indeed too . 'Better accommodated !' it is good ; yea indeed , is it : good phrases are surely and ever were , very commendable . Accommodated ! it comes of accommodo : very good ; a good phrase . - -Pardon me , sir ; I have heard the word . 'Phrase ,' call you it ? By this good day , I know not the phrase ; but I will maintain the word with my sword to be a soldier-like word , and a word of exceeding good command , by heaven . Accommodated ; that is , when a man is , as they say , accommodated ; or , when a man is , being , whereby , a' may be thought to be accommodated , which is an excellent thing . - - -It is very just . Look , here comes good Sir John . Give me your good hand , give me your worship's good hand . By my troth , you look well and bear your years very well : welcome , good Sir John . - -I am glad to see you well , good Master Robert Shallow . Master Surecard , as I think . - -No , Sir John ; it is my cousin , Silence , in commission with me . - -Good Master Silence , it well befits you should be of the peace . - -Your good worship is welcome . - -Fie ! this is hot weather , gentlemen . -Have you provided me here half a dozen sufficient men ? - -Marry , have we , sir . Will you sit ? - -Let me see them , I beseech you . - -Where's the roll ? where's the roll ? where's the roll ? Let me see , let me see , let me see . So , so , so , so , so , so , so : yea , marry , sir : Ralph Mouldy ! let them appear as I call ; let them do so , let them do so . Let me see ; where is Mouldy ? - -Here , an't please you . - -What think you , Sir John ? a goodlimbed fellow ; young , strong , and of good friends . - -Is thy name Mouldy ? - -Yea , an't please you . - -'Tis the more time thou wert used . - -Ha , ha , ha ! most excellent , i' faith ! things that are mouldy lack use : very singular good . In faith , well said , Sir John ; very well said . - -Prick him . - -I was pricked well enough before , an you could have let me alone : my old dame will be undone now for one to do her husbandry and her drudgery : you need not to have pricked me ; there are other men fitter to go out than I . - -Go to : peace , Mouldy ! you shall go . Mouldy , it is time you were spent . - -Spent ! - -Peace , fellow , peace ! stand aside : know you where you are ? For the other , Sir John : let me see . Simon Shadow ! - -Yea , marry , let me have him to sit under : he's like to be a cold soldier . - -Where's Shadow ? - -Here , sir . - -Shadow , whose son art thou ? - -My mother's son , sir . - -Thy mother's son ! like enough , and thy father's shadow : so the son of the female is the shadow of the male : it is often so , indeed ; but not of the father's substance . - -Do you like him , Sir John ? - -Shadow will serve for summer ; prick him , for we have a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book . - -Thomas Wart ? - -Where's he ? - -Here , sir . - -Is thy name Wart ? - -Yea , sir . - -Thou art a very ragged wart . - -Shall I prick him , Sir John ? - -It were superfluous ; for his apparel is built upon his back , and the whole frame stands upon pins : prick him no more . - -Ha , ha , ha ! you can do it , sir ; you can do it : I commend you well . Francis Feeble ! - -Here , sir . - -What trade art thou , Feeble ? - -A woman's tailor , sir . - -Shall I prick him , sir ? - -You may ; but if he had been a man's tailor he'd have pricked you . Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battle as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat ? - -I will do my good will , sir : you can have no more . - -Well said , good woman's tailor ! well said , courageous Feeble ! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove or most magnanimous mouse . Prick the woman's tailor ; well , Master Shallow ; deep , Master Shallow . - -I would Wart might have gone , sir . - -I would thou wert a man's tailor , that thou mightst mend him , and make him fit to go . I cannot put him to a private soldier that is the leader of so many thousands : let that suffice , most forcible Feeble . - -It shall suffice , sir . - -I am bound to thee , reverend Feeble . -Who is next ? - -Peter Bullcalf o' the green ! - -Yea , marry , let's see Bullcalf . - -Here , sir . - -'Fore God , a likely fellow ! Come , prick me Bullcalf till he roar again . - -O Lord ! good my lord captain , - -What ! dost thou roar before thou art pricked ? - -O Lord , sir ! I am a diseased man . - -What disease hast thou ? - -A whoreson cold , sir ; a cough , sir , which I caught with ringing in the king's affairs upon his coronation day , sir . - -Come , thou shalt go to the wars in a gown ; we will have away thy cold ; and I will take such order that thy friends shall ring for thee . Is here all ? - -Here is two more called than your number ; you must have but four here , sir : and so , I pray you , go in with me to dinner . - -Come , I will go drink with you , but I cannot tarry dinner . I am glad to see you , by my troth , Master Shallow . - -O , Sir John , do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in Saint George's fields ? - -No more of that , good Master Shallow , no more of that . - -Ha ! it was a merry night . And is Jane Nightwork alive ? - -She lives , Master Shallow . - -She never could away with me . - -Never , never ; she would always say she could not abide Master Shallow . - -By the mass , I could anger her to the heart . She was then a bona-roba . Doth she hold her own well ? - -Old , old , Master Shallow . - -Nay she must be old ; she cannot choose but be old ; certain she's old ; and had Robin Nightwork by old Nightwork before I came to Clement's Inn . - -That's fifty-five year ago . - -Ha ! cousin Silence , that thou hadst seen that that this knight and I have seen . Ha ! Sir John , said I well ? - -We have heard the chimes at midnight , Master Shallow . - -That we have , that we have , that we have ; in faith , Sir John , we have . Our watchword was , 'Hem , boys !' Come , let's to dinner ; come , let's to dinner . Jesus , the days that we have seen ! Come , come . - - -Good Master Corporate Bardolph , stand my friend , and here's four Harry ten shillings in French crowns for you . In very truth , sir , I had as lief be hanged , sir , as go : and yet , for mine own part , sir , I do not care ; but rather , because I am unwilling , and , for mine own part , have a desire to stay with my friends : else , sir , I did not care , for mine own part , so much . - -Go to ; stand aside . - -And , good Master corporal captain , for my old dame's sake , stand my friend : she has nobody to do any thing about her , when I am gone ; and she is old , and cannot help herself . You shall have forty , sir . - -Go to ; stand aside . - -By my troth , I care not ; a man can die but once ; we owe God a death . I'll ne'er bear a base mind : an't be my destiny , so ; an't be not , so . No man's too good to serve's prince ; and let it go which way it will , he that dies this year is quit for the next . - -Well said ; thou'rt a good fellow . - -Faith , I'll bear no base mind . - - -Come , sir , which men shall I have ? - -Four , of which you please . - -Sir , a word with you . I have three pound to free Mouldy and Bullcalf . - -Go to ; well . - -Come , Sir John , which four will you have ? - -Do you choose for me . - -Marry , then , Mouldy , Bullcalf , Feeble , and Shadow . - -Mouldy , and Bullcalf : for you , Mouldy , stay at home till you are past service : and for your part , Bullcalf , grow till you come unto it : I will none of you . - -Sir John , Sir John , do not yourself wrong : they are your likeliest men , and I would have you served with the best . - -Will you tell me , Master Shallow , how to choose a man ? Care I for the limb , the thewes , the stature , bulk , and big assemblance of a man ! Give me the spirit , Master Shallow . Here's Wart ; you see what a ragged appearance it is : a' shall charge you and discharge you with the motion of a pewterer's hammer , come off and on swifter than he that gibbets on the brewer's bucket . And this same half-faced fellow , Shadow , give me this man : he presents no mark to the enemy ; the foeman may with as great aim level at the edge of a penknife . And , for a retreat ; how swiftly will this Feeble the woman's tailor run off ! O ! give me the spare men , and spare me the great ones . Put me a caliver into Wart's hand , Bardolph . - -Hold , Wart , traverse ; thus , thus , thus . - -Come , manage me your caliver . So : very well : go to : very good : exceeding good . O , give me always a little , lean , old , chopp'd , bald shot . Well said , i' faith , Wart ; thou'rt a good scab : hold , there's a tester for thee . - -He is not his craft's master , he doth not do it right . I remember at Mile-end Green , when I lay at Clement's Inn ,I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show ,there was a little quiver fellow , and a' would manage you his piece thus : and a' would about and about , and come you in , and come you in ; 'rah , tah , tah ,' would a' say ; 'bounce ,' would a' say ; and away again would a' go , and again would a' come : I shall never see such a fellow . - -These fellows will do well , Master Shallow . God keep you , Master Silence : I will not use many words with you . Fare you well , gentlemen both : I thank you : I must a dozen mile to-night . Bardolph , give the soldiers coats . - -Sir John , the Lord bless you ! and prosper your affairs ! God send us peace ! At your return visit our house ; let our old acquaintance be renewed : peradventure I will with ye to the court . - -'Fore God I would you would , Master Shallow . - -Go to ; I have spoke at a word . God keep you . - -Fare you well , gentle gentlemen . - -As I return , I will fetch off these justices : I do see the bottom of Justice Shallow . Lord , Lord ! how subject we old men are to this vice of lying . This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his youth and the feats he hath done about Turnbull Street ; and every third word a lie , duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute . I do remember him at Clement's Inn like a man made after supper of a cheese-paring : when a' was naked he was for all the world like a forked radish , with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife : a' was so forlorn that his dimensions to any thick sight were invincible : a' was the very genius of famine ; yet lecherous as a monkey , and the whores called him mandrake : a' came ever in the rearward of the fashion and sung those tunes to the over-scutched huswives that he heard the carmen whistle , and sware they were his fancies or his good-nights . And now is this Vice's dagger become a squire , and talks as familiarly of John a Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother to him ; and I'll be sworn a' never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard , and then he burst his head for crowding among the marshal's men . I saw it and told John a Gaunt he beat his own name ; for you might have thrust him and all his apparel into an eel-skin ; the case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him , a court ; and now has he land and beefs . Well , I will be acquainted with him , if I return ; and it shall go hard but I will make him a philosopher's two stones to me . If the young dace be a bait for the old pike , I see no reason in the law of nature but I may snap at him . Let time shape , and there an end . - -What is this forest call'd ? - -'Tis Gaultree Forest , an't shall please your Grace . - -Here stand , my lords , and send discovers forth , -To know the numbers of our enemies . - -We have sent forth already . - -'Tis well done . -My friends and brethren in these great affairs , -I must acquaint you that I have receiv'd -New-dated letters from Northumberland ; -Their cold intent , tenour and substance , thus : -Here doth he wish his person , with such powers -As might hold sortance with his quality ; -The which he could not levy ; whereupon -He is retir'd , to ripe his growing fortunes , -To Scotland ; and concludes in hearty prayers -That your attempts may overlive the hazard -And fearful meeting of their opposite . - -Thus do the hopes we have in him touch ground -And dash themselves to pieces . - - -Now , what news ? - -West of this forest , scarcely off a mile , -In goodly form comes on the enemy ; -And , by the ground they hide , I judge their number -Upon or near the rate of thirty thousand . - -The just proportion that we gave them out . -Let us sway on and face them in the field . - - -What well-appointed leader fronts us here ? - -I think it is my Lord of Westmoreland . - -Health and fair greeting from our general . -The Prince , Lord John and Duke of Lancaster . - -Say on , my Lord of Westmoreland , in peace , -What doth concern your coming . - -Then , my lord , -Unto your Grace do I in chief address -The substance of my speech . If that rebellion -Came like itself , in base and abject routs , -Led on by bloody youth , guarded with rags , -And countenanc'd by boys and beggary ; -I say , if damn'd commotion so appear'd , -In his true , native , and most proper shape , -You , reverend father , and these noble lords -Had not been here , to dress the ugly form -Of base and bloody insurrection -With your fair honours . You , lord archbishop , -Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd , -Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd , -Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd , -Whose white investments figure innocence , -The dove and very blessed spirit of peace , -Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself -Out of the speech of peace that bears such grace -Into the harsh and boisterous tongue of war ; -Turning your books to greaves , your ink to blood , -Your pens to lances , and your tongue divine -To a loud trumpet and a point of war ? - -Wherefore do I this ? so the question stands . -Briefly to this end : we are all diseas'd ; -And , with our surfeiting and wanton hours -Have brought ourselves into a burning fever , -And we must bleed for it : of which disease -Our late king , Richard , being infected , died . -But , my most noble Lord of Westmoreland , -I take not on me here as a physician , -Nor do I as an enemy to peace -Troop in the throngs of military men ; -But rather show a while like fearful war , -To diet rank minds sick of happiness -And purge the obstructions which begin to stop -Our very veins of life . Hear me more plainly : -I have in equal balance justly weigh'd -What wrongs our arms may do , what wrongs we suffer , -And find our griefs heavier than our offences . -We see which way the stream of time doth run -And are enforc'd from our most quiet sphere -By the rough torrent of occasion ; -And have the summary of all our griefs , -When time shall serve , to show in articles , -Which long ere this we offer'd to the king , -And might by no suit gain our audience . -When we are wrong'd and would unfold our griefs , -We are denied access unto his person -Even by those men that most have done us wrong . -The dangers of the days but newly gone , -Whose memory is written on the earth -With yet appearing blood ,and the examples -Of every minute's instance , present now , -Have put us in these ill-beseeming arms ; -Not to break peace , or any branch of it , -But to establish here a peace indeed , -Concurring both in name and quality . - -When ever yet was your appeal denied ? -Wherein have you been galled by the king ? -What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you , -That you should seal this lawless bloody book -Of forg'd rebellion with a seal divine , -And consecrate commotion's bitter edge ? - -My brother general , the commonwealth , -To brother born an household cruelty , -I make my quarrel in particular . - -There is no need of any such redress ; -Or if there were , it not belongs to you . - -Why not to him in part , and to us all -That feel the bruises of the days before , -And suffer the condition of these times -To lay a heavy and unequal hand -Upon our honours ? - -O ! my good Lord Mowbray , -Construe the times to their necessities , -And you shall say indeed , it is the time , -And not the king , that doth you injuries . -Yet , for your part , it not appears to me -Either from the king or in the present time -That you should have an inch of any ground -To build a grief on : were you not restor'd -To all the Duke of Norfolk's signories , -Your noble and right well-remember'd father's ? - -What thing , in honour , had my father lost , -That need to be reviv'd and breath'd in me ? -The king that lov'd him as the state stood then , -Was force perforce compell'd to banish him : -And then that Harry Bolingbroke and he , -Being mounted and both roused in their seats , -Their neighing coursers daring of the spur , -Their armed staves in charge , their beavers down , -Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel , -And the loud trumpet blowing them together , -Then , then , when there was nothing could have stay'd -My father from the breast of Bolingbroke , -O ! when the king did throw his warder down , -His own life hung upon the staff he threw ; -Then threw he down himself and all their lives -That by indictment and by dint of sword -Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke . - -You speak , Lord Mowbray , now you know not what . -The Earl of Hereford was reputed then -In England the most valiant gentleman : -Who knows on whom Fortune would then have smil'd ? -But if your father had been victor there , -He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry ; -For all the country in a general voice -Cried hate upon him ; and all their prayers and love -Were set on Hereford , whom they doted on -And bless'd and grac'd indeed , more than the king . -But this is mere digression from my purpose . -Here come I from our princely general -To know your griefs ; to tell you from his Grace -That he will give you audience ; and wherein -It shall appear that your demands are just , -You shall enjoy them ; every thing set off -That might so much as think you enemies . - -But he hath forc'd us to compel this offer , -And it proceeds from policy , not love . - -Mowbray , you overween to take it so . -This offer comes from mercy , not from fear : -For , lo ! within a ken our army lies -Upon mine honour , all too confident -To give admittance to a thought of fear . -Our battle is more full of names than yours , -Our men more perfect in the use of arms , -Our armour all as strong , our cause the best ; -Then reason will our hearts should be as good : -Say you not then our offer is compell'd . - -Well , by my will we shall admit no parley . - -That argues but the shame of your offence : -A rotten case abides no handling . - -Hath the Prince John a full commission , -In very ample virtue of his father , -To hear and absolutely to determine -Of what conditions we shall stand upon ? - -That is intended in the general's name . -I muse you make so slight a question . - -Then take , my Lord of Westmoreland , this schedule , -For this contains our general grievances : -Each several article herein redress'd ; -All members of our cause , both here and hence , -That are insinew'd to this action , -Acquitted by a true substantial form -And present execution of our wills -To us and to our purposes consign'd ; -We come within our awful banks again -And knit our powers to the arm of peace . - -This will I show the general . Please you , lords , -In sight of both our battles we may meet ; -And either end in peace , which God so frame ! -Or to the place of difference call the swords -Which must decide it . - -My lord , we will do so . - - -There is a thing within my bosom tells me -That no conditions of our peace can stand . - -Fear you not that : if we can make our peace -Upon such large terms , and so absolute -As our condition shall consist upon , -Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains . - -Yea , but our valuation shall be such -That every slight and false-derived cause , -Yea , every idle , nice , and wanton reason -Shall to the king taste of this action ; -That , were our royal faiths martyrs in love , -We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind -That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff -And good from bad find no partition . - -No , no , my lord . Note this ; the king is weary -Of dainty and such picking grievances : -For he hath found to end one doubt by death -Revives two greater in the heirs of life ; -And therefore will he wipe his tables clean , -And keep no tell-tale to his memory -That may repeat and history his loss -To new remembrance ; for full well he knows -He cannot so precisely weed this land -As his misdoubts present occasion : -His foes are so enrooted with his friends -That , plucking to unfix an enemy , -He doth unfasten so and shake a friend . -So that this land , like an offensive wife , -That hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes , -As he is striking , holds his infant up -And hangs resolv'd correction in the arm -That was uprear'd to execution . - -Besides , the king hath wasted all his rods -On late offenders , that he now doth lack -The very instruments of chastisement ; -So that his power , like to a fangless lion , -May offer , but not hold . - -'Tis very true : -And therefore be assur'd , my good lord marshal , -If we do now make our atonement well , -Our peace will , like a broken limb united , -Grow stronger for the breaking . - -Be it so . -Here is return'd my Lord of Westmoreland . - - -The prince is here at hand : pleaseth your lordship , -To meet his Grace just distance 'tween our armies ? - -Your Grace of York , in God's name then , set forward . - -Before , and greet his Grace : my lord , we come . - -You are well encounter'd here , my cousin Mowbray : -Good day to you , gentle lord archbishop ; -And so to you , Lord Hastings , and to all . -My Lord of York , it better show'd with you , -When that your flock , assembled by the bell , -Encircled you to hear with reverence -Your exposition on the holy text -Than now to see you here an iron man , -Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum , -Turning the word to sword and life to death . -That man that sits within a monarch's heart -And ripens in the sunshine of his favour , -Would he abuse the countenance of the king , -Alack ! what mischief might he set abroach -In shadow of such greatness . With you , lord bishop , -It is even so . Who hath not heard it spoken -How deep you were within the books of God ? -To us , the speaker in his parliament ; -To us the imagin'd voice of God himself ; -The very opener and intelligencer -Between the grace , the sanctities of heaven , -And our dull workings . O ! who shall believe -But you misuse the reverence of your place , -Employ the countenance and grace of heaven , -As a false favourite doth his prince's name , -In deeds dishonourable ? You have taken up , -Under the counterfeited zeal of God , -The subjects of his substitute , my father ; -And both against the peace of heaven and him -Have here upswarm'd them . - -Good my Lord of Lancaster , -I am not here against your father's peace ; -But , as I told my Lord of Westmoreland , -The time misorder'd doth , in common sense , -Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form , -To hold our safety up . I sent your Grace -The parcels and particulars of our grief , -The which hath been with scorn shov'd from the court , -Whereon this Hydra son of war is born ; -Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleep -With grant of our most just and right desires , -And true obedience , of this madness cur'd , -Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty . - -If not , we ready are to try our fortunes -To the last man . - -And though we here fall down , -We have supplies to second our attempt : -If they miscarry , theirs shall second them ; -And so success of mischief shall be born , -And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up -Whiles England shall have generation . - -You are too shallow , Hastings , much too shallow , -To sound the bottom of the after-times . - -Pleaseth your Grace , to answer them directly -How far forth you do like their articles . - -I like them all , and do allow them well ; -And swear here , by the honour of my blood , -My father's purposes have been mistook , -And some about him have too lavishly -Wrested his meaning and authority . -My lord , these griefs shall be with speed redress'd ; -Upon my soul , they shall . If this may please you , -Discharge your powers unto their several counties , -As we will ours : and here between the armies -Let's drink together friendly and embrace , -That all their eyes may bear those tokens home -Of our restored love and amity . - -I take your princely word for these redresses . - -I give it you , and will maintain my word : -And thereupon I drink unto your Grace . - -Go , captain , and deliver to the army -This news of peace : let them have pay , and part : -I know it will well please them : hie thee , captain . - - -To you , my noble Lord of Westmoreland . - -I pledge your Grace : and , if you knew what pains -I have bestow'd to breed this present peace , -You would drink freely ; but my love to you -Shall show itself more openly hereafter . - -I do not doubt you . - -I am glad of it . -Health to my lord and gentle cousin , Mowbray . - -You wish me health in very happy season ; -For I am , on the sudden , something ill . - -Against ill chances men are ever merry , -But heaviness foreruns the good event . - -Therefore be merry , coz ; since sudden sorrow -Serves to say thus , Some good thing comes to morrow . - -Believe me , I am passing light in spirit . - -So much the worse if your own rule be true . - - -The word of peace is render'd : hark , how they shout ! - -This had been cheerful , after victory . - -A peace is of the nature of a conquest ; -For then both parties nobly are subdu'd , -And neither party loser . - -Go , my lord , -And let our army be discharged too . - -And , good my lord , so please you , let our trains -March by us , that we may peruse the men -We should have cop'd withal . - -Go , good Lord Hastings , -And , ere they be dismiss'd , let them march by . - - -I trust , lords , we shall lie to-night together . - -Now , cousin , wherefore stands our army still ? - -The leaders , having charge from you to stand , -Will not go off until they hear you speak . - -They know their duties . - - -My lord , our army is dispers'd already : -Like youthful steers unyok'd , they take their courses -East , west , north , south ; or , like a school broke up , -Each hurries toward his home and sporting-place . - -Good tidings , my Lord Hastings ; for the which -I do arrest thee , traitor , of high treason : -And you , lord archbishop , and you , Lord Mowbray , -Of capital treason I attach you both . - -Is this proceeding just and honourable ? - -Is your assembly so ? - -Will you thus break your faith ? - -I pawn'd thee none . -I promis'd you redress of these same grievances -Whereof you did complain ; which , by mine honour , -I will perform with a most Christian care . -But for you , rebels , look to taste the due -Meet for rebellion and such acts as yours . -Most shallowly did you these arms commence , -Fondly brought here and foolishly sent hence . -Strike up our drums ! pursue the scatter'd stray : -God , and not we , hath safely fought to-day . -Some guard these traitors to the block of death ; -Treason's true bed , and yielder up of breath . - - -What's your name , sir ? of what condition are you , and of what place , I pray ? - -I am a knight , sir ; and my name is Colevile of the dale . - -Well then , Colevile is your name , a knight is your degree , and your place the dale : Colevile shall still be your name , a traitor your degree , and the dungeon your place , a place deep enough ; so shall you be still Colevile of the dale . - -Are not you Sir John Falstaff ? - -As good a man as he , sir , whoe'er I am . Do ye yield , sir , or shall I sweat for you ? If I do sweat , they are the drops of thy lovers , and they weep for thy death : therefore rouse up fear and trembling , and do observance to my mercy . - -I think you are Sir John Falstaff , and in that thought yield me . - -I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of mine , and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word but my name . An I had but a belly of any indifferency , I were simply the most active fellow in Europe : my womb , my womb , my womb undoes me . Here comes our general . - - -The heat is past , follow no further now . -Call in the powers , good cousin Westmoreland . - -Now , Falstaff , where have you been all this while ? -When everything is ended , then you come : -These tardy tricks of yours will , on my life , -One time or other break some gallows' back . - -I would be sorry , my lord , but it should be thus : I never knew yet but rebuke and check was the reward of valour . Do you think me a swallow , an arrow , or a bullet ? have I , in my poor and old motion , the expedition of thought ? I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility ; I have foundered nine score and odd posts ; and here , travel-tainted as I am , have , in my pure and immaculate valour , taken Sir John Colevile of the dale , a most furious knight and valorous enemy . But what of that ? he saw me , and yielded ; that I may justly say with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome , 'I came , saw , and overcame .' - -It was more of his courtesy than your deserving . - -I know not : here he is , and here I yield him ; and I beseech your Grace , let it be booked with the rest of this day's deeds ; or , by the Lord , I will have it in a particular ballad else , with mine own picture on the top on't , Colevile kissing my foot . To the which course if I be enforced , if you do not all show like gilt two-pences to me , and I in the clear sky of fame o'ershine you as much as the full moon doth the cinders of the element , which show like pins' heads to her , believe not the word of the noble . Therefore let me have right , and let desert mount . - -Thine's too heavy to mount . - -Let it shine then . - -Thine's too thick to shine . - -Let it do something , my good lord , that may do me good , and call it what you will . - -Is thy name Colevile ? - -It is , my lord . - -A famous rebel art thou , Colevile . - -And a famous true subject took him . - -I am , my lord , but as my betters are -That led me hither : had they been rul'd by me -You should have won them dearer than you have . - -I know not how they sold themselves : but thou , like a kind fellow , gavest thyself away gratis , and I thank thee for thee . - - -Have you left pursuit ? - -Retreat is made and execution stay'd . - -Send Colevile with his confederates -To York , to present execution . -Blunt , lead him hence , and see you guard him sure . - -And now dispatch we toward the court , my lords : -I hear , the king my father is sore sick : -Our news shall go before us to his majesty , -Which , cousin - -, you shall bear , to comfort him ; -And we with sober speed will follow you . - -My lord , I beseech you , give me leave to go , -Through Gloucestershire , and when you come to court -Stand my good lord , pray , in your good report . - -Fare you well , Falstaff : I , in my condition , -Shall better speak of you than you deserve . - - -I would you had but the wit : 'twere better than your dukedom . Good faith , this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me ; nor a man cannot make him laugh ; but that's no marvel , he drinks no wine . There's never none of these demure boys come to any proof ; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood , and making many fish-meals , that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness ; and then , when they marry , they get wenches . They are generally fools and cowards , which some of us should be too but for inflammation . A good sherris-sack hath a two-fold operation in it . It ascends me into the brain ; dries me there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapours which environ it ; makes it apprehensive , quick , forgetive , full of nimble fiery and delectable shapes ; which , deliver'd o'er to the voice , the tongue , which is the birth , becomes excellent wit . The second property of your excellent sherris is , the warming of the blood ; which , before cold and settled , left the liver white and pale , which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice : but the sherris warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme . It illumineth the face , which , as a beacon , gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom , man , to arm ; and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain , the heart , who , great and puffed up with this retinue , doth any deed of courage ; and this valour comes of sherris . So that skill in the weapon is nothing without sack , for that sets it a-work ; and leaining , a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil till sack commences it and sets it in act and use . Hereof comes it that Prince Harry is valiant ; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father , he hath , like lean , sterile , and bare land , manured , husbanded , and tilled , with excellent endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris , that he is become very hot and valiant . If I had a thousand sons , the first human principle I would teach them should be , to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack . - -How now , Bardolph ? - -The army is discharged all and gone . - -Let them go . I'll through Gloucestershire ; and there will I visit Master Robert Shallow , esquire : I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb , and shortly will I seal with him . Come away . - - -Now , lords , if God doth give successful end -To this debate that bleedeth at our doors , -We will our youth lead on to higher fields -And draw no swords but what are sanctified . -Our navy is address'd , our power collected , -Our substitutes in absence well invested , -And everything lies level to our wish : -Only , we want a little personal strength ; -And pause us , till these rebels , now afoot , -Come underneath the yoke of government . - -Both which we doubt not but your majesty -Shall soon enjoy . - -Humphrey , my son of Gloucester , -Where is the prince your brother ? - -I think he's gone to hunt , my lord , at Windsor . - -And how accompanied ? - -I do not know , my lord . - -Is not his brother Thomas of Clarence with him ? - -No , my good lord ; he is in presence here . - -What would my lord and father ? - -Nothing but well to thee , Thomas of Clarence . -How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother ? -He loves thee , and thou dost neglect him , Thomas ; -Thou hast a better place in his affection -Than all thy brothers : cherish it , my boy , -And noble offices thou mayst effect -Of mediation , after I am dead , -Between his greatness and thy other brethren : -Therefore omit him not ; blunt not his love , -Nor lose the good advantage of his grace -By seeming cold or careless of his will ; -For he is gracious , if he be observ'd : -He hath a tear for pity and a hand -Open as day for melting charity ; -Yet , notwithstanding , being incens'd , he's flint ; -As humorous as winter , and as sudden -As flaws congealed in the spring of day . -His temper therefore must be well observ'd : -Chide him for faults , and do it reverently , -When you perceive his blood inclin'd to mirth ; -But , being moody , give him line and scope , -Till that his passions , like a whale on ground , -Confound themselves with working . Learn this , Thomas , -And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends , -A hoop of gold to bind thy brothers in , -That the united vessel of their blood , -Mingled with venom of suggestion -As , force perforce , the age will pour it in -Shall never leak , though it do work as strong -As aconitum or rash gunpowder . - -I shall observe him with all care and love . - -Why art thou not at Windsor with him , Thomas ? - -He is not there to-day ; he dines in London . - -And how accompanied ? canst thou tell that ? - -With Poins and other his continual followers . - -Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds ; -And he , the noble image of my youth , -Is overspread with them : therefore my grief -Stretches itself beyond the hour of death : -The blood weeps from my heart when I do shape -In forms imaginary the unguided days -And rotten times that you shall look upon -When I am sleeping with my ancestors . -For when his headstrong riot hath no curb , -When rage and hot blood are his counsellors , -When means and lavish manners meet together , -O ! with what wings shall his affections fly -Towards fronting peril and oppos'd decay . - -My gracious lord , you look beyond him quite : -The prince but studies his companions -Like a strange tongue , wherein , to gain the language , -'Tis needful that the most immodest word -Be look'd upon , and learn'd ; which once attain'd , -Your highness knows , comes to no further use -But to be known and hated . So , like gross terms , -The prince will in the perfectness of time -Cast off his followers ; and their memory -Shall as a pattern or a measure live , -By which his Grace must mete the lives of others , -Turning past evils to advantages . - -'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb -In the dead carrion . - -Who's here ? Westmoreland ! - -Health to my sovereign , and new happiness -Added to that that I am to deliver ! -Prince John your son doth kiss your Grace's hand : -Mowbray , the Bishop Scroop , Hastings and all -Are brought to the correction of your law . -There is not now a rebel's sword unsheath'd , -But Peace puts forth her olive everywhere . -The manner how this action hath been borne -Here at more leisure may your highness read , -With every course in his particular . - -O Westmoreland ! thou art a summer bird , -Which ever in the haunch of winter sings -The lifting up of day . - -Look ! here's more news . - -From enemies heaven keep your majesty ; -And , when they stand against you , may they fall -As those that I am come to tell you of ! -The Earl Northumberland , and the Lord Bardolph , -With a great power of English and of Scots , -Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown . -The manner and true order of the fight -This packet , please it you , contains at large . - -And wherefore should these good news make me sick ? -Will Fortune never come with both hands full -But write her fair words still in foulest letters ? -She either gives a stomach and no food ; -Such are the poor , in health ; or else a feast -And takes away the stomach ; such are the rich , -That have abundance and enjoy it not . -I should rejoice now at this happy news , -And now my sight fails , and my brain is giddy . -O me ! come near me , now I am much ill . - -Comfort , your majesty ! - -O my royal father ! - -My sovereign lord , cheer up yourself : look up ! - -Be patient , princes : you do know these fits -Are with his highness very ordinary : -Stand from him , give him air ; he'll straight be well . - -No , no ; he cannot long hold out these pangs : -The incessant care and labour of his mind -Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in -So thin , that life looks through and will break out . - -The people fear me ; for they do observe -Unfather'd heirs and loathly births of nature : -The seasons change their manners , as the year -Had found some months asleep and leap'd them over . - -The river hath thrice flow'd , no ebb between ; -And the old folk , time's doting chronicles , -Say it did so a little time before -That our great-grandsire , Edward , sick'd and died . - -Speak lower , princes , for the king recovers . - -This apoplexy will certain be his end . - -I pray you take me up , and bear me hence -Into some other chamber : softly , pray . - -Let there be no noise made , my gentle friends ; -Unless some dull and favourable hand -Will whisper music to my weary spirit . - -Call for the music in the other room . - -Set me the crown upon my pillow here . - -His eye is hollow , and he changes much . - -Less noise , less noise ! - - -Who saw the Duke of Clarence ? - -I am here , brother , full of heaviness . - -How now ! rain within doors , and none abroad ! -How doth the king ? - -Exceeding ill . - -Heard he the good news yet ? -Tell it him . - -He alter'd much upon the hearing it . - -If he be sick with joy , he will recover without physic . - -Not so much noise , my lords . Sweet prince , speak low ; -The king your father is dispos'd to sleep . - -Let us withdraw into the other room . - -Will't please your Grace to go along with us ? - -No ; I will sit and watch here by the king . - -Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow , -Being so troublesome a bedfellow ? -O polish'd perturbation ! golden care ! -That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide -To many a watchful night ! Sleep with it now ! -Yet not so sound , and half so deeply sweet -As he whose brow with homely biggin bound -Snores out the watch of night . O majesty ! -When thou dost pinch thy bearer , thou dost sit -Like a rich armour worn in heat of day , -That scalds with safety . By his gates of breath -There lies a downy feather which stirs not : -Did he suspire , that light and weightless down -Perforce must move . My gracious lord ! my father ! -This sleep is sound indeed ; this is a sleep -That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd -So many English kings . Thy due from me -Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood , -Which nature , love , and filial tenderness -Shall , O dear father ! pay thee plenteously : -My due from thee is this imperial crown , -Which , as immediate from thy place and blood , -Derives itself to me . Lo ! here it sits , - -Which heaven shall guard ; and put the world's whole strength -Into one giant arm , it shall not force -This lineal honour from me . This from thee -Will I to mine leave , as 'tis left to me . - - -Warwick ! Gloucester ! Clarence ! - - -Doth the king call ? - -What would your majesty ? How fares your Grace ? - -Why did you leave me here alone , my lords ? - -We left the prince my brother here , my liege , -Who undertook to sit and watch by you . - -The Prince of Wales ! Where is he ? let me see him : -He is not here . - -This door is open ; he is gone this way . - -He came not through the chamber where we stay'd . - -Where is the crown ? who took it from my pillow ? - -When we withdrew , my liege , we left it here . - -The prince hath ta'en it hence : go , seek him out . -Is he so hasty that he doth suppose -My sleep my death ? -Find him , my Lord of Warwick ; chide him hither . - -This part of his conjoins with my disease , -And helps to end me . See , sons , what things you are ! -How quickly nature falls into revolt -When gold becomes her object ! -For this the foolish over-careful fathers -Have broke their sleeps with thoughts , -Their brains with care , their bones with industry ; -For this they have engrossed and pil'd up -The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold ; -For this they have been thoughtful to invest -Their sons with arts and martial exercises : -When , like the bee , culling from every flower -The virtuous sweets , -Our thighs packed with wax , our mouths with honey , -We bring it to the hive , and like the bees , -Are murder'd for our pains . This bitter taste -Yield his engrossments to the ending father . - - -Now , where is he that will not stay so long - -Till his friend sickness hath determin'd me ? - -My lord , I found the prince in the next room , -Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks , -With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow -That tyranny , which never quaff'd but blood , -Would , by beholding him , have wash'd his knife -With gentle eye-drops . He is coming hither . - -But wherefore did he take away the crown ? - - -Lo , where he comes . Come hither to me , Harry . -Depart the chamber , leave us here alone . - -I never thought to hear you speak again . - -Thy wish was father , Harry , to that thought : -I stay too long by thee , I weary thee . -Dost thou so hunger for my empty chair -That thou wilt needs invest thee with mine honours -Before thy hour be ripe ? O foolish youth ! -Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm thee . -Stay but a little ; for my cloud of dignity -Is held from falling with so weak a wind -That it will quickly drop : my day is dim . -Thou hast stol'n that which after some few hours -Were thine without offence ; and at my death -Thou hast seal'd up my expectation : -Thy life did manifest thou lov'dst me not , -And thou wilt have me die assur'd of it . -Thou hid'st a thousand daggers in thy thoughts , -Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart , -To stab at half an hour of my life . -What ! canst thou not forbear me half an hour ? -Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself , -And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear -That thou art crowned , not that I am dead . -Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse -Be drops of balm to sanctify thy head : -Only compound me with forgotten dust ; -Give that which gave thee life unto the worms . -Pluck down my officers , break my decrees ; -For now a time is come to mock at form . -Harry the Fifth is crown'd ! Up , vanity ! -Down , royal state ! all you sage counsellors , hence ! -And to the English court assemble now , -From every region , apes of idleness ! -Now , neighbour confines , purge you of your scum : -Have you a ruffian that will swear , drink , dance , -Revel the night , rob , murder , and commit -The oldest sins the newest kind of ways ? -Be happy , he will trouble you no more : -England shall double gild his treble guilt . -England shall give him office , honour , might ; -For the fifth Harry from curb'd licence plucks -The muzzle of restraint , and the wild dog -Shall flesh his tooth in every innocent . -O my poor kingdom ! sick with civil blows . -When that my care could not withhold thy riots , -What wilt thou do when riot is thy care ? -O ! thou wilt be a wilderness again , -Peopled with wolves , thy old inhabitants . - -O ! pardon me , my liege ; but for my tears , -The moist impediments unto my speech , -I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke -Ere you with grief had spoke and I had heard -The course of it so far . There is your crown ; -And he that wears the crown immortally -Long guard it yours ! If I affect it more -Than as your honour and as your renown , -Let me no more from this obedience rise , -Which my most true and inward duteous spirit -Teacheth ,this prostrate and exterior bending . -God witness with me , when I here came in , -And found no course of breath within your majesty , -How cold it struck my heart ! if I do feign , -O ! let me in my present wildness die -And never live to show the incredulous world -The noble change that I have purposed . -Coming to look on you , thinking you dead , -And dead almost , my liege , to think you were , -I spake unto the crown as having sense , -And thus upbraided it : 'The care on thee depending -Hath fed upon the body of my father ; -Therefore , thou best of gold art worst of gold : -Other , less fine in carat , is more precious , -Preserving life in medicine potable : -But thou most fine , most honour'd , most renown'd , -Hast eat thy bearer up .' Thus , my most royal liege , -Accusing it , I put it on my head , -To try with it , as with an enemy -That had before my face murder'd my father , -The quarrel of a true inheritor . -But if it did infect my blood with joy , -Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride ; -If any rebel or vain spirit of mine -Did with the least affection of a welcome -Give entertainment to the might of it , -Let God for ever keep it from my head , -And make me as the poorest vassal is -That doth with awe and terror kneel to it ! - -O my son ! -God put it in thy mind to take it hence , -That thou mightst win the more thy father's love , -Pleading so wisely in excuse of it . -Come hither , Harry : sit thou by my bed ; -And hear , I think , the very latest counsel -That ever I shall breathe . God knows , my son , -By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways -I met this crown ; and I myself know well -How troublesome it sat upon my head : -To thee it shall descend with better quiet , -Better opinion , better confirmation ; -For all the soil of the achievement goes -With me into the earth . It seem'd in me -But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand , -And I had many living to upbraid -My gain of it by their assistances ; -Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed , -Wounding supposed peace . All these bold fears -Thou seest with peril I have answered ; -For all my reign hath been but as a scene -Acting that argument ; and now my death -Changes the mode : for what in me was purchas'd , -Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort ; -So thou the garment wear'st successively . -Yet , though thou stand'st more sure than I could do , -Thou art not firm enough , since griefs are green ; -And all my friends , which thou must make thy friends , -Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out ; -By whose fell working I was first advanc'd , -And by whose power I well might lodge a fear -To be again displac'd : which to avoid , -I cut them off ; and had a purpose now -To lead out many to the Holy Land , -Lest rest and lying still might make them look -Too near unto my state . Therefore , my Harry , -Be it thy course to busy giddy minds -With foreign quarrels ; that action , hence borne out , -May waste the memory of the former days . -More would I , but my lungs are wasted so -That strength of speech is utterly denied me . -How I came by the crown , O God , forgive ! -And grant it may with thee in true peace live . - -My gracious liege , -You won it , wore it , kept it , gave it me ; -Then plain and right must my possession be : -Which I with more than with a common pain -'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain . - - -Look , look , here comes my John of Lancaster . - -Health , peace , and happiness to my royal father ! - -Thou bring'st me happiness and peace , son John ; -But health , alack , with youthful wings is flown -From this bare wither'd trunk : upon thy sight -My worldly business makes a period . -Where is my Lord of Warwick ? - -My Lord of Warwick ! - - -Doth any name particular belong -Unto the lodging where I first did swound ? - -'Tis call'd Jerusalem , my noble lord . - -Laud be to God ! even there my life must end . -It hath been prophesied to me many years -I should not die but in Jerusalem , -Which vainly I suppos'd the Holy Land . -But bear me to that chamber ; there I'll lie : -In that Jerusalem shall Harry die . - -By cock and pie , sir , you shall not away to-night . What ! Davy , I say . - -You must excuse me , Master Robert Shallow . - -I will not excuse you ; you shall not be excused ; excuses shall not be admitted ; there is no excuse shall serve ; you shall not be excused . Why , Davy ! - - -Here , sir . - -Davy , Davy , Davy , Davy , let me see , Davy ; let me see : yea , marry , William cook , bid him come hither . Sir John , you shall not be excused . - -Marry , sir , thus ; those precepts cannot be served : and again , sir , shall we sow the headland with wheat ? - -With red wheat , Davy . But for William cook : are there no young pigeons ? - -Yes , sir . Here is now the smith's note for shoeing and plough-irons . - -Let it be cast and paid . Sir John , you shall not be excused . - -Now , sir , a new link to the bucket must needs be had : and , sir , do you mean to stop any of William's wages , about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair ? - -A' shall answer it . Some pigeons , Davy , a couple of short-legged hens , a joint of mutton , and any pretty little tiny kickshaws , tell William cook . - -Doth the man of war stay all night , sir ? - -Yea , Davy . I will use him well . A friend i' the court is better than a penny in purse . Use his men well , Davy , for they are arrant knaves , and will backbite . - -No worse than they are back-bitten , sir ; for they have marvellous foul linen . - -Well conceited , Davy : about thy business , Davy . - -I beseech you , sir , to countenance William Visor of Wincot against Clement Perkes of the hill . - -There are many complaints , Davy , against that Visor : that Visor is an arrant knave , on my knowledge . - -I grant your worship that he is a knave , sir ; but yet , God forbid , sir , but a knave should have some countenance at his friend's request . An honest man , sir , is able to speak for himself , when a knave is not . I have served your worship truly , sir , this eight years ; and if I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest man , I have but a very little credit with your worship . The knave is mine honest friend , sir ; therefore , I beseech your worship , let him be countenanced . - -Go to ; I say he shall have no wrong . Look about , Davy . - -Where are you , Sir John ? Come , come , come ; off with your boots . Give me your hand , Master Bardolph . - -I am glad to see your worship . - -I thank thee with all my heart , kind Master Bardolph : - -and welcome , my tall fellow . Come , Sir John . - -I'll follow you , good Master Robert Shallow . - -If I were sawed into quantities , I should make four dozen of such bearded hermit's staves as Master Shallow . It is a wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his : they , by observing him , do bear themselves like foolish justices ; he , by conversing with them , is turned into a justice-like serving-man . Their spirits are so married in conjunction with the participation of society that they flock together in consent , like so many wild-geese . If I had a suit to Master Shallow , I would humour his men with the imputation of being near their master : if to his men , I would curry with Master Shallow that no man could better command his servants . It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught , as men take diseases , one of another : therefore let men take heed of their company . I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow to keep Prince Harry in continual laughter the wearing out of six fashions ,which is four terms , or two actions ,and a' shall laugh without intervallums . O ! it is much that a lie with a slight oath and a jest with a sad brow will do with a fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders . O ! you shall see him laugh till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up ! - -Sir John ! - -I come , Master Shallow : I come , Master Shallow . - - -How now , my Lord Chief Justice ! whither away ? - -How doth the king ? - -Exceeding well : his cares are now all ended . - -I hope not dead . - -He's walk'd the way of nature ; -And to our purposes he lives no more . - -I would his majesty had call'd me with him : -The service that I truly did his life -Hath left me open to all injuries . - -Indeed I think the young king loves you not . - -I know he doth not , and do arm myself , -To welcome the condition of the time ; -Which cannot look more hideously upon me -Than I have drawn it in my fantasy . - - -Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry : -O ! that the living Harry had the temper -Of him , the worst of these three gentlemen . -How many nobles then should hold their places , -That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort ! - -O God ! I fear all will be overturn'd . - -Good morrow , cousin Warwick , good morrow . - -Good morrow , cousin . - -Good morrow , cousin . - -We meet like men that had forgot to speak . - -We do remember ; but our argument -Is all too heavy to admit much talk . - -Well , peace be with him that hath made us heavy ! - -Peace be with us , lest we be heavier ! - -O ! good my lord , you have lost a friend indeed ; -And I dare swear you borrow not that face -Of seeming sorrow ; it is sure your own . - -Though no man be assur'd what grace to find , -You stand in coldest expectation . -I am the sorrier ; would 'twere otherwise . - -Well , you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair , -Which swims against your stream of quality . - -Sweet princes , what I did , I did in honour , -Led by the impartial conduct of my soul ; -And never shall you see that I will beg -A ragged and forestall'd remission . -If truth and upright innocency fail me , -I'll to the king my master that is dead , -And tell him who hath sent me after him . - -Here comes the prince . - - -Good morrow , and God save your majesty ! - -This new and gorgeous garment , majesty , -Sits not so easy on me as you think . -Brothers , you mix your sadness with some fear : -This is the English , not the Turkish court ; -Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds , -But Harry Harry . Yet be sad , good brothers , -For , to speak truth , it very well becomes you : -Sorrow so royally in you appears -That I will deeply put the fashion on -And wear it in my heart . Why then , be sad ; -But entertain no more of it , good brothers , -Than a joint burden laid upon us all . -For me , by heaven , I bid you be assur'd , -I'll be your father and your brother too ; -Let me but bear your love , I'll bear your cares : -Yet weep that Harry's dead , and so will I ; -But Harry lives that shall convert those tears -By number into hours of happiness . - -We hope no other from your majesty . - -You all look strangely on me : - -and you most ; -You are , I think , assur'd I love you not . - -I am assur'd , if I be measur'd rightly , -Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me . - -No ! -How might a prince of my great hopes forget -So great indignities you laid upon me ? -What ! rate , rebuke , and roughly send to prison -The immediate heir of England ! Was this easy ? -May this be wash'd in Lethe , and forgotten ? - -I then did use the person of your father ; -The image of his power lay then in me : -And , in the administration of his law , -Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth , -Your highness pleased to forget my place , -The majesty and power of law and justice , -The image of the king whom I presented , -And struck me in my very seat of judgment ; -Whereon , as an offender to your father , -I gave bold way to my authority , -And did commit you . If the deed were ill , -Be you contented , wearing now the garland , -To have a son set your decrees at nought , -To pluck down justice from your awful bench , -To trip the course of law , and blunt the sword -That guards the peace and safety of your person : -Nay , more , to spurn at your most royal image -And mock your workings in a second body . -Question your royal thoughts , make the case yours ; -Be now the father and propose a son , -Hear your own dignity so much profan'd , -See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted , -Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd ; -And then imagine me taking your part , -And in your power soft silencing your son : -After this cold considerance , sentence me ; -And , as you are a king , speak in your state -What I have done that misbecame my place , -My person , or my liege's sov'reignty . - -You are right , justice ; and you weigh this well ; -Therefore still bear the balance and the sword : -And I do wish your honours may increase -Till you do live to see a son of mine -Offend you and obey you , as I did . -So shall I live to speak my father's words : -'Happy am I , that have a man so bold -That dares do justice on my proper son ; -And not less happy , having such a son , -That would deliver up his greatness so -Into the hands of justice .' You did commit me : -For which , I do commit into your hand -The unstained sword that you have us'd to bear ; -With this remembrance , that you use the same -With the like bold , just , and impartial spirit -As you have done 'gainst me . There is my hand : -You shall be as a father to my youth ; -My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear , -And I will stoop and humble my intents -To your well-practis'd wise directions . -And , princes all , believe me , I beseech you ; -My father is gone wild into his grave , -For in his tomb lie my affections ; -And with his spirit sadly I survive , -To mock the expectation of the world , -To frustrate prophecies , and to raze out -Rotten opinion , who hath writ me down -After my seeming . The tide of blood in me -Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now : -Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea , -Where it shall mingle with the state of floods -And flow henceforth in formal majesty . -Now call we our high court of parliament ; -And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel , -That the great body of our state may go -In equal rank with the best govern'd nation ; -That war or peace , or both at once , may be -As things acquainted and familiar to us ; -In which you , father , shall have foremost hand . -Our coronation done , we will accite , -As I before remember'd , all our state : -And , God consigning to my good intents , -No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say , -God shorten Harry's happy life one day . - - -Nay , you shall see mine orchard , where , in an arbour , we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing , with a dish of caraways , and so forth ; come , cousin Silence ; and then to bed . - -'Fore God , you have here a goodly dwelling , and a rich . - -Barren , barren , barren ; beggars all , beggars all , Sir John : marry , good air . Spread , Davy ; spread , Davy : well said , Davy . - -This Davy serves you for good uses ; he is your serving-man and your husband . - -A good varlet , a good varlet , a very good varlet , Sir John : by the mass , I have drunk too much sack at supper : a good varlet . Now sit down , now sit down . Come , cousin . - -Ah , sirrah ! quoth a' , we shall - -Do nothing but eat , and make good cheer , -And praise God for the merry year ; -When flesh is cheap and females dear , -And lusty lads roam here and there , -So merrily -And ever among so merrily . - - -There's a merry heart ! Good Master Silence , I'll give you a health for that anon . - -Give Master Bardolph some wine , Davy . - -Sweet sir , sit ; I'll be with you anon : most sweet sir , sit . Master page , good master page , sit . Proface ! What you want in meat we'll have in drink : but you must bear : the heart's all . - - -Be merry , Master Bardolph ; and my little soldier there , be merry . - - -Be merry , be merry , my wife has all ; -For women are shrews , both short and tall : -'Tis merry in hall when beards wag all , -And welcome merry Shrove-tide . -Be merry , be merry . - - -I did not think Master Silence had been a man of this mettle . - -Who , I ? I have been merry twice and once ere now . - - -There's a dish of leather-coats for you . - - -Davy ! - -Your worship ! I'll be with you straight . A cup of wine , sir ? - - -A cup of wine that's brisk and fine -And drink unto the leman mine ; -And a merry heart lives long-a . - - -Well said , Master Silence . - -And we shall be merry , now comes in the sweet o' the night . - -Health and long life to you , Master Silence . - - -Fill the cup , and let it come ; -I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom . - - -Honest Bardolph , welcome : if thou wantest anything and wilt not call , beshrew thy heart . - -Welcome , my little tiny thief ; and welcome indeed too . I'll drink to Master Bardolph and to all the cavaleiroes about London . - -I hope to see London once ere I die . - -An I might see you there , Davy , - -By the mass , you'll crack a quart together : ha ! will you not , Master Bardolph ? - -Yea , sir , in a pottle-pot . - -By God's liggens , I thank thee . The knave will stick by thee , I can assure thee that : a' will not out ; he is true bred . - -And I'll stick by him , sir . - -Why , there spoke a king . Lack nothing : be merry . - -Look who's at door there . Ho ! who knocks ? - -Why , now you have done me right . - - -Do me right , -And dub me knight : -Samingo - -Is't not so ? - -'Tis so . - -Is't so ? Why , then , say an old man can do somewhat . - - -An't please your worship , there's one Pistol come from the court with news . - -From the court ! let him come in . - -How now , Pistol ! - -Sir John , God save you , sir ! - -What wind blew you hither , Pistol ? - -Not the ill wind which blows no man to good . -Sweet knight , thou art now one of the greatest men in this realm . - -By'r lady , I think a' be , but goodman Puff of Barson . - -Puff ! -Puff in thy teeth , most recreant coward base ! -Sir John , I am thy Pistol and thy friend , -And helter-skelter have I rode to thee , -And tidings do I bring and lucky joys -And golden times and happy news of price . - -I prithee now , deliver them like a man of this world . - -A foutra for the world and worldlings base ! -I speak of Africa and golden joys . - -O base Assyrian knight , what is thy news ? -Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof . - - -And Robin Hood , Scarlet , and John . - - -Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons ? -And shall good news be baffled ? -Then , Pistol , lay thy head in Furies' lap . - -Honest gentleman , I know not your breeding . - -Why then , lament therefore . - -Give me pardon , sir : if , sir , you come with news from the court , I take it there is but two ways : either to utter them , or to conceal them . I am , sir , under the king , in some authority . - -Under which king , Bezonian ? speak , or die . - -Under King Harry . - -Harry the Fourth ? or Fifth ? - -Harry the Fourth . - -A foutra for thine office ! -Sir John , thy tender lambkin now is king ; -Harry the Fifth's the man . I speak the truth : -When Pistol lies , do this ; and fig me , like -The bragging Spaniard . - -What ! is the old king dead ? - -As nail in door : the things I speak are just . - -Away , Bardolph ! saddle my horse . Master Robert Shallow , choose what office thou wilt in the land , 'tis thine . Pistol , I will double-charge thee with dignities . - -O joyful day ! -I would not take a knighthood for my fortune . - -What ! I do bring good news . - -Carry Master Silence to bed . Master Shallow , my Lord Shallow , be what thou wilt , I am Fortune's steward . Get on thy boots : we'll ride all night . O sweet Pistol ! Away , Bardolph ! - -Come , Pistol , utter more to me ; and , withal devise something to do thyself good . Boot , boot , Master Shallow : I know the young king is sick for me . Let us take any man's horses ; the laws of England are at my commandment . Happy are they which have been my friends , and woe unto my lord chief justice ! - -Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also ! -'Where is the life that late I led ?' say they : -Why , here it is : welcome these pleasant days ! - - -No , thou arrant knave : I would to God I might die that I might have thee hanged ; thou hast drawn my shoulder out of joint . - -The constables have delivered her over to me , and she shall have whipping-cheer enough , I warrant her : there hath been a man or two lately killed about her . - -Nut-hook , nut-hook , you lie . Come on ; I'll tell thee what , thou damned tripe-visaged rascal , an the child I now go with do miscarry , thou hadst better thou hadst struck thy mother , thou paper-faced villain . - -O the Lord ! that Sir John were come ; he would make this a bloody day to somebody . But I pray God the fruit of her womb miscarry ! - -If it do , you shall have a dozen of cushions again ; you have but eleven now . Come , I charge you both go with me ; for the man is dead that you and Pistol beat among you . - -I'll tell thee what , thou thin man in a censer , I will have you as soundly swinged for this , you blue-bottle rogue ! you filthy famished correctioner ! if you be not swinged , I'll forswear half-kirtles . - -Come , come , you she knighterrant , come . - -O , that right should thus overcome might ! Well , of sufferance comes ease . - -Come , you rogue , come : bring me to a justice . - -Ay ; come , you starved blood-hound . - -Goodman death ! goodman bones ! - -Thou atomy , thou ! - -Come , you thin thing ; come , you rascal ! - -Very well . - - -More rushes , more rushes . - -The trumpets have sounded twice . - -It will be two o'clock ere they come from the coronation . Dispatch , dispatch . - -Stand here by me , Master Robert Shallow ; I will make the king do you grace . I will leer upon him , as a' comes by ; and do but mark the countenance that he will give me . - -God bless thy lungs , good knight . - -Come here , Pistol ; stand behind me . O ! if I had had time to have made new liveries , I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of you . But 'tis no matter ; this poor show doth better : this doth infer the zeal I had to see him . - -It doth so . - -It shows my earnestness of affection . - -It doth so . - -My devotion . - -It doth , it doth , it doth . - -As it were , to ride day and night ; and not to deliberate , not to remember , not to have patience to shift me . - -It is most certain . - -But to stand stained with travel , and sweating with desire to see him ; thinking of nothing else ; putting all affairs else in oblivion , as if there were nothing else to be done but to see him . - -'Tis semper idem , for absque hoc nihil est : -'Tis all in every part . - -'Tis so , indeed . - -My knight , I will inflame thy noble liver , -And make thee rage . -Thy Doll , and Helen of thy noble thoughts , -Is in base durance and contagious prison ; -Hal'd thither -By most mechanical and dirty hand : -Rouse up revenge from ebon den with fell Alecto's snake , -For Doll is in : Pistol speaks nought but truth . - -I will deliver her . - - -There roar'd the sea , and trumpetclangor sounds . - - -God save thy grace , King Hal ! my royal Hal ! - -The heavens thee guard and keep , most royal imp of fame ! - -God save thee , my sweet boy ! - -My lord chief justice , speak to that vain man . - -Have you your wits ? know you what 'tis you speak ? - -My king ! my Jove ! I speak to thee , my heart ! - -I know thee not , old man : fall to thy prayers ; -How ill white hairs become a fool and jester ! -I have long dream'd of such a kind of man , -So surfeit-swell'd , so old , and so profane ; -But , being awak'd , I do despise my dream . -Make less thy body hence , and more thy grace ; -Leave gormandising ; know the grave doth gape -For thee thrice wider than for other men . -Reply not to me with a fool-born jest : -Presume not that I am the thing I was ; -For God doth know , so shall the world perceive , -That I have turn'd away my former self ; -So will I those that kept me company . -When thou dost hear I am as I have been , -Approach me , and thou shalt be as thou wast , -The tutor and the feeder of my riots : -Till then , I banish thee , on pain of death , -As I have done the rest of my misleaders , -Not to come near our person by ten mile . -For competence of life I will allow you , -That lack of means enforce you not to evil : -And , as we hear you do reform yourselves , -We will , according to your strength and qualities , -Give you advancement . Be it your charge , my lord , -To see perform'd the tenour of our word . -Set on . - - -Master Shallow , I owe you a thousand pound . - -Ay , marry , Sir John ; which I beseech you to let me have home with me . - -That can hardly be , Master Shallow . Do not you grieve at this : I shall be sent for in private to him . Look you , he must seem thus to the world . Fear not your advancements ; I will be the man yet that shall make you great . - -I cannot perceive how , unless you should give me your doublet and stuff me out with straw . I beseech you , good Sir John , let me have five hundred of my thousand . - -Sir , I will be as good as my word : this that you heard was but a colour . - -A colour that I fear you will die in , Sir John . - -Fear no colours : go with me to dinner . Come , Lieutenant Pistol ; come , Bardolph : I shall be sent for soon at night . - - -Go , carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet ; -Take all his company along with him . - -My lord , my lord ! - -I cannot now speak : I will hear you soon . -Take them away . - -Si fortuna me tormenta , spero contenta . - - -I like this fair proceeding of the king's . -He hath intent his wonted followers -Shall all be very well provided for ; -But all are banish'd till their conversations -Appear more wise and modest to the world . - -And so they are . - -The king hath call'd his parliament , my lord . - -He hath . - -I will lay odds , that , ere this year expire , -We bear our civil swords and native fire -As far as France . I heard a bird so sing , -Whose music , to my thinking , pleas'd the king . -Come , will you hence ? - - -First , my fear ; then , my curtsy ; last my speech . My fear is , your displeasure , my curtsy , my duty , and my speech , to beg your pardon . If you look for a good speech now , you undo me ; for what I have to say is of mine own making ; and what indeed I should say will , I doubt , prove mine own marring . But to the purpose , and so to the venture . Be it known to you ,as it is very well ,I was lately here in the end of a displeasing play , to pray your patience for it and to promise you a better . I did mean indeed to pay you with this ; which , if like an ill venture it come unluckily home , I break , and you , my gentle creditors , lose . Here , I promised you I would be , and here I commit my body to your mercies : bate me some and I will pay you some ; and , as most debtors do , promise you infinitely . -If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me , will you command me to use my legs ? and yet that were but light payment , to dance out of your debt . But a good conscience will make any possible satisfaction , and so will I . All the gentlewomen here have forgiven me : if the gentlemen will not , then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen , which was never seen before in such an assembly . -One word more , I beseech you . If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat , our humble author will continue the story , with Sir John in it , and make you merry with fair Katharine of France : where , for anything I know , Falstaff shall die of a sweat , unless already a' be killed with your hard opinions ; for Oldcastle died a martyr , and this is not the man . My tongue is weary ; when my legs are too , I will bid you good night : and so kneel down before you ; but , indeed , to pray for the queen . - -THE SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI - - -As by your high imperial majesty -I had in charge at my depart for France , -As procurator to your excellence , -To marry Princess Margaret for your Grace ; -So , in the famous ancient city , Tours , -In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil , -The Dukes of Orleans , Calaber , Britaine , and Alen on , -Seven earls , twelve barons , and twenty reverend bishops , -I have perform'd my task , and was espous'd : -And humbly now upon my bended knee , -In sight of England and her lordly peers , -Deliver up my title in the queen -To your most gracious hands , that are the substance -Of that great shadow I did represent ; -The happiest gift that ever marquess gave , -The fairest queen that ever king receiv'd . - -Suffolk , arise . Welcome , Queen Margaret : -I can express no kinder sign of love -Than this kind kiss . O Lord ! that lends me life , -Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness ! -For thou hast given me in this beauteous face -A world of earthly blessings to my soul , -If sympathy of love unite our thoughts . - -Great King of England and my gracious lord , -The mutual conference that my mind hath had -By day , by night , waking , and in my dreams , -In courtly company , or at my beads , -With you , mine alderliefest sovereign , -Makes me the bolder to salute my king -With ruder terms , such as my wit affords , -And over-joy of heart doth minister . - -Her sight did ravish , but her grace in speech , -Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty , -Makes me from wondering fall to weeping joys ; -Such is the fulness of my heart's content . -Lords , with one cheerful voice welcome my love . - -Long live Queen Margaret , England's happiness ! - -We thank you all . - - -My Lord Protector , so it please your Grace , -Here are the articles of contracted peace -Between our sovereign and the French King Charles , -For eighteen months concluded by consent . - -Imprimis , It is agreed between the French king , Charles , and William De la Pole , Marquess of Suffolk , ambassador for Henry King of England , that the said Henry shall espouse the Lady Margaret , daughter unto Reignier King of Naples , Sicilia , and Jerusalem , and crown her Queen of England ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing . -Item , That the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine shall be released and delivered to the king her father . - - -Uncle , how now ! - -Pardon me , gracious lord ; -Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart -And dimm'd mine eyes , that I can read no further . - -Uncle of Winchester , I pray , read on . - -Item , It is further agreed between them , that the duchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father ; and she sent over of the King of England's own proper cost and charges , without having any dowry . - -They please us well . Lord marquess , kneel down : -We here create thee the first Duke of Suffolk , -And girt thee with the sword . Cousin of York , -We here discharge your Grace from being regent -I' the parts of France , till term of eighteen months -Be full expir'd . Thanks , uncle Winchester , -Gloucester , York , Buckingham , Somerset , -Salisbury , and Warwick ; -We thank you all for this great favour done , -In entertainment to my princely queen . -Come , let us in , and with all speed provide -To see her coronation be perform'd . - - -Brave peers of England , pillars of the state , -To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief , -Your grief , the common grief of all the land . -What ! did my brother Henry spend his youth , -His valour , coin , and people , in the wars ? -Did he so often lodge in open field , -In winter's cold , and summer's parching heat , -To conquer France , his true inheritance ? -And did my brother Bedford toil his wits , -To keep by policy what Henry got ? -Have you yourselves , Somerset , Buckingham , -Brave York , Salisbury , and victorious Warwick , -Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy ? -Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself , -With all the learned council of the realm , -Studied so long , sat in the council-house -Early and late , debating to and fro -How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe ? -And hath his highness in his infancy -Been crown'd in Paris , in despite of foes ? -And shall these labours and these honours die ? -Shall Henry's conquest , Bedford's vigilance , -Your deeds of war and all our counsel die ? -O peers of England ! shameful is this league , -Fatal this marriage , cancelling your fame , -Blotting your names from books of memory , -Razing the characters of your renown , -Defacing monuments of conquer'd France , -Undoing all , as all had never been . - -Nephew , what means this passionate discourse , -This peroration with such circumstance ? -For France , 'tis ours ; and we will keep it still . - -Ay , uncle ; we will keep it , if we can ; -But now it is impossible we should . -Suffolk , the new-made duke that rules the roast , -Hath given the duchies of Anjou and Maine -Unto the poor King Reignier , whose large style -Agrees not with the leanness of his purse . - -Now , by the death of him who died for all , -These counties were the keys of Normandy . -But wherefore weeps Warwick , my valiant son ? - -For grief that they are past recovery : -For , were there hope to conquer them again , -My sword should shed hot blood , mine eyes no tears . -Anjou and Maine ! myself did win them both ; -Those provinces these arms of mine did conquer : -And are the cities , that I got with wounds , -Deliver'd up again with peaceful words ? -Mort Dieu ! - -For Suffolk's duke , may he be suffocate , -That dims the honour of this war-like isle ! -France should have torn and rent my very heart -Before I would have yielded to this league . -I never read but England's kings have had -Large sums of gold and dowries with their wives ; -And our King Henry gives away his own , -To match with her that brings no vantages . - -A proper jest , and never heard before , -That Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth -For costs and charges in transporting her ! -She should have stay'd in France , and starv'd in France , -Before - -My Lord of Gloucester , now you grow too hot : -It was the pleasure of my lord the king . - -My Lord of Winchester , I know your mind : -'Tis not my speeches that you do mislike , -But 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye . -Rancour will out : proud prelate , in thy face -I see thy fury . If I longer stay -We shall begin our ancient bickerings . -Lordings , farewell ; and say , when I am gone , -I prophesied France will be lost ere long . - - -So , there goes our protector in a rage . -'Tis known to you he is mine enemy , -Nay , more , an enemy unto you all , -And no great friend , I fear me , to the king . -Consider lords , he is the next of blood , -And heir apparent to the English crown : -Had Henry got an empire by his marriage , -And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west , -There's reason he should be displeas'd at it . -Look to it , lords ; let not his smoothing words -Bewitch your hearts ; be wise and circumspect . -What though the common people favour him , -Calling him , 'Humphrey , the good Duke of Gloucester ;' -Clapping their hands , and crying with loud voice , -'Jesu maintain your royal excellence !' -With 'God preserve the good Duke Humphrey !' -I fear me , lords , for all this flattering gloss , -He will be found a dangerous protector . - -Why should he then protect our sovereign , -He being of age to govern of himself ? -Cousin of Somerset , join you with me , -And all together , with the Duke of Suffolk , -We'll quickly hoise Duke Humphrey from his seat . - -This weighty business will not brook delay ; -I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently . - - -Cousin of Buckingham , though Humphrey's pride -And greatness of his place be grief to us , -Yet let us watch the haughty cardinal : -His insolence is more intolerable -Than all the princes in the land beside : -If Gloucester be displac'd , he'll be protector . - -Or thou , or I , Somerset , will be protector , -Despite Duke Humphrey or the cardinal . - - -Pride went before , ambition follows him . -While these do labour for their own preferment , -Behoves it us to labour for the realm . -I never saw but Humphrey , Duke of Gloucester , -Did bear him like a noble gentleman . -Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal -More like a soldier than a man o' the church , -As stout and proud as he were lord of all , -Swear like a ruffian and demean himself -Unlike the ruler of a commonweal . -Warwick , my son , the comfort of my age , -Thy deeds , thy plainness , and thy house-keeping , -Have won the greatest favour of the commons , -Excepting none but good Duke Humphrey : -And , brother York , thy acts in Ireland , -In bringing them to civil discipline , -Thy late exploits done in the heart of France , -When thou wert regent for our sovereign , -Have made thee fear'd and honour'd of the people . -Join we together for the public good , -In what we can to bridle and suppress -The pride of Suffolk and the cardinal , -With Somerset's and Buckingham's ambition ; -And , as we may , cherish Duke Humphrey's deeds , -While they do tend the profit of the land . - -So God help Warwick , as he loves the land , -And common profit of his country ! - -And so says York , for he hath greatest cause . - -Then let's make haste away , and look unto the main . - -Unto the main ! O father , Maine is lost ! -That Maine which by main force Warwick did win , -And would have kept so long as breath did last : -Main chance , father , you meant ; but I meant Maine , -Which I will win from France , or else be slain . - - -Anjou and Maine are given to the French ; -Paris is lost ; the state of Normandy -Stands on a tickle point now they are gone . -Suffolk concluded on the articles , -The peers agreed , and Henry was well pleas'd -To change two dukedoms for a duke's fair daughter . -I cannot blame them all : what is't to them ? -'Tis thine they give away , and not their own . -Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage , -And purchase friends , and give to courtezans , -Still revelling like lords till all be gone ; -While as the silly owner of the goods -Weeps over them , and wrings his hapless hands , -And shakes his head , and trembling stands aloof , -While all is shar'd and all is borne away , -Ready to starve and dare not touch his own : -So York must sit and fret and bite his tongue -While his own lands are bargain'd for and sold . -Methinks the realms of England , France , and Ireland -Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood -As did the fatal brand Alth a burn'd -Unto the prince's heart of Calydon . -Anjou and Maine both given unto the French ! -Cold news for me , for I had hope of France , -Even as I have of fertile England's soil . -A day will come when York shall claim his own ; -And therefore I will take the Nevils' parts -And make a show of love to proud Duke Humphrey , -And , when I spy advantage , claim the crown , -For that's the golden mark I seek to hit . -Nor shall proud Lancaster usurp my right . -Nor hold the sceptre in his childish fist , -Nor wear the diadem upon his head , -Whose church-like humours fit not for a crown . -Then , York , be still awhile , till time do serve : -Watch thou and wake when others be asleep , -To pry into the secrets of the state ; -Till Henry , surfeiting in joys of love , -With his new bride and England's dear-bought queen , -And Humphrey with the peers be fall'n at jars : -Then will I raise aloft the milk-white rose , -With whose sweet smell the air shall be perfum'd , -And in my standard bear the arms of York , -To grapple with the house of Lancaster ; -And , force perforce , I'll make him yield the crown , -Whose bookish rule hath pull'd fair England down . - - -Why droops my lord , like over-ripen'd corn -Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load ? -Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows , -As frowning at the favours of the world ? -Why are thine eyes fix'd to the sullen earth , -Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight ? -What seest thou there ? King Henry's diadem -Enchas'd with all the honours of the world ? -If so , gaze on , and grovel on thy face , -Until thy head be circled with the same . -Put forth thy hand , reach at the glorious gold : -What ! is't too short ? I'll lengthen it with mine ; -And having both together heav'd it up , -We'll both together lift our heads to heaven , -And never more abase our sight so low -As to vouchsafe one glance unto the ground . - -O Nell , sweet Nell , if thou dost love thy lord , -Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts : -And may that thought , when I imagine ill -Against my king and nephew , virtuous Henry , -Be my last breathing in this mortal world ! -My troublous dream this night doth make me sad . - -What dream'd my lord ? tell me , and I'll requite it -With sweet rehearsal of my morning's dream . - -Methought this staff , mine office-badge in court , -Was broke in twain ; by whom I have forgot , -But , as I think , it was by the cardinal ; -And on the pieces of the broken wand -Were plac'd the heads of Edmund Duke of Somerset , -And William De la Pole , first Duke of Suffolk . -This was my dream : what it doth bode , God knows . - -Tut ! this was nothing but an argument -That he that breaks a stick of Gloucester's grove -Shall lose his head for his presumption . -But list to me , my Humphrey , my sweet duke : -Methought I sat in seat of majesty -In the cathedral church of Westminster , -And in that chair where kings and queens are crown'd ; -Where Henry and Dame Margaret kneel'd to me , -And on my head did set the diadem . - -Nay , Eleanor , then must I chide outright : -Presumptuous dame ! ill-nurtur'd Eleanor ! -Art thou not second woman in the realm , -And the protector's wife , belov'd of him ? -Hast thou not worldly pleasure at command , -Above the reach or compass of thy thought ? -And wilt thou still be hammering treachery , -To tumble down thy husband and thyself -From top of honour to disgrace's feet ? -Away from me , and let me hear no more . - -What , what , my lord ! are you so choleric -With Eleanor , for telling but her dream ? -Next time I'll keep my dreams unto myself , -And not be check'd . - -Nay , be not angry ; I am pleas'd again . - - -My Lord Protector , 'tis his highness' pleasure -You do prepare to ride unto Saint Alban's , -Whereas the king and queen do mean to hawk . - -I go . Come , Nell , thou wilt ride with us ? - -Yes , my good lord , I'll follow presently . - -Follow I must ; I cannot go before , -While Gloucester bears this base and humble mind . -Were I a man , a duke , and next of blood , -I would remove these tedious stumbling-blocks -And smooth my way upon their headless necks ; -And , being a woman , I will not be slack -To play my part in Fortune's pageant . -Where are you there ? Sir John ! nay , fear not , man , -We are alone ; here's none but thee and I . - - -Jesus preserve your royal majesty ! - -What sayst thou ? majesty ! I am but Grace . - -But , by the grace of God , and Hume's advice , -Your Grace's title shall be multiplied . - -What sayst thou , man ? hast thou as yet conferr'd -With Margery Jourdain , the cunning witch , -With Roger Bolingbroke , the conjurer ? -And will they undertake to do me good ? - -This they have promised , to show your highness -A spirit rais'd from depth of under ground , -That shall make answer to such questions -As by your Grace shall be propounded him . - -It is enough : I'll think upon the questions . -When from Saint Alban's we do make return -We'll see these things effected to the full . -Here , Hume , take this reward ; make merry , man , -With thy confed'rates in this weighty cause . - - -Hume must make merry with the duchess' gold ; -Marry and shall . But how now , Sir John Hume ! -Seal up your lips , and give no words but mum : -The business asketh silent secrecy . -Dame Eleanor gives gold to bring the witch : -Gold cannot come amiss , were she a devil . -Yet have I gold flies from another coast : -I dare not say from the rich cardinal -And from the great and new-made Duke of Suffolk ; -Yet I do find it so : for , to be plain , -They , knowing Dame Eleanor's aspiring humour , -Have hired me to undermine the duchess -And buzz these conjurations in her brain . -They say , 'A crafty knave does need no broker ;' -Yet am I Suffolk and the cardinal's broker . -Hume , if you take not heed , you shall go near -To call them both a pair of crafty knaves . -Well , so it stands ; and thus , I fear , at last -Hume's knavery will be the duchess' wrack , -And her attainture will be Humphrey's fall . -Sort how it will I shall have gold for all . - - -My masters , let's stand close : my Lord Protector will come this way by and by , and then we may deliver our supplications in the quill . - -Marry , the Lord protect him , for he's a good man ! Jesu bless him ! - - -Here a' comes , methinks , and the queen with him . I'll be the first , sure . - -Come back , fool ! this is the Duke of Suffolk and not my Lord Protector . - -How now , fellow ! wouldst anything with me ? - -I pray , my lord , pardon me : I took ye for my Lord Protector . - -To my Lord Protector ! are your supplications to his lordship ? Let me see them : what is thine ? - -Mine is , an't please your Grace , against John Goodman , my Lord Cardinal's man , for keeping my house , and lands , my wife and all , from me . - -Thy wife too ! that is some wrong indeed . What's yours ? What's here ? Against the Duke of Suffolk , for enclosing the commons of Melford ! How now , sir knave ! - -Alas ! sir , I am but a poor petitioner of our whole township . - -Against my master , Thomas Horner , for saying that the Duke of York was rightful heir to the crown . - -What sayst thou ? Did the Duke of York say he was rightful heir to the crown ? - -That my master was ? No , forsooth : my master said that he was ; and that the king was an usurper . - -Who is there ? - - -Take this fellow in , and send for his master with a pursuivant presently . We'll hear more of your matter before the king . - -And as for you , that love to be protected -Under the wings of our protector's grace , -Begin your suits anew and sue to him . - -Away , base cullions ! Suffolk , let them go . - -Come , let's be gone . - - -My Lord of Suffolk , say , is this the guise , -Is this the fashion of the court of England ? -Is this the government of Britain's isle , -And this the royalty of Albion's king ? -What ! shall King Henry be a pupil still -Under the surly Gloucester's governance ? -Am I a queen in title and in style , -And must be made a subject to a duke ? -I tell thee , Pole , when in the city Tours -Thou ran'st a tilt in honour of my love , -And stol'st away the ladies' hearts of France , -I thought King Henry had resembled thee -In courage , courtship , and proportion : -But all his mind is bent to holiness , -To number Ave-Maries on his beads ; -His champions are the prophets and apostles ; -His weapons holy saws of sacred writ ; -His study is his tilt-yard , and his loves -Are brazen images of canoniz'd saints . -I would the college of the cardinals -Would choose him pope , and carry him to Rome , -And set the triple crown upon his head : -That were a state fit for his holiness . - -Madam , be patient ; as I was cause -Your highness came to England , so will I -In England work your Grace's full content . - -Beside the haught protector , have we Beaufort -The imperious churchman , Somerset , Buckingham , -And grumbling York ; and not the least of these -But can do more in England than the king . - -And he of these that can do most of all -Cannot do more in England than the Nevils : -Salisbury and Warwick are no simple peers . - -Not all these lords do vex me half so much -As that proud dame , the Lord Protector's wife : -She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies , -More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's wife . -Strangers in court do take her for the queen : -She bears a duke's revenues on her back , -And in her heart she scorns our poverty . -Shall I not live to be aveng'd on her ? -Contemptuous base-born callot as she is , -She vaunted 'mongst her minions t'other day -The very train of her worst wearing gown -Was better worth than all my father's lands , -Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter . - -Madam , myself have lim'd a bush for her , -And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds -That she will light to listen to the lays , -And never mount to trouble you again . -So , let her rest : and , madam , list to me ; -For I am bold to counsel you in this . -Although we fancy not the cardinal , -Yet must we join with him and with the lords -Till we have brought Duke Humphrey in disgrace . -As for the Duke of York , this late complaint -Will make but little for his benefit : -So , one by one , we'll weed them all at last , -And you yourself shall steer the happy helm . - -For my part , noble lords , I care not which ; -Or Somerset or York , all's one to me . - -If York have ill demean'd himself in France , -Then let him be denay'd the regentship . - -If Somerset be unworthy of the place , -Let York be regent ; I will yield to him . - -Whether your Grace be worthy , yea or no , -Dispute not that : York is the worthier . - -Ambitious Warwick , let thy betters speak . - -The cardinal's not my better in the field . - -All in this presence are thy betters , Warwick . - -Warwick may live to be the best of all . - -Peace , son ! and show some reason , Buckingham , -Why Somerset should be preferr'd in this . - -Because the king , forsooth , will have it so . - -Madam , the king is old enough himself -To give his censure : these are no women's matters . - -If he be old enough , what needs your Grace -To be protector of his excellence ? - -Madam , I am protector of the realm ; -And at his pleasure will resign my place . - -Resign it then and leave thine insolence . -Since thou wertking ,as who is king but thou ? -The commonwealth hath daily run to wrack ; -The Dauphin hath prevail'd beyond the seas ; -And all the peers and nobles of the realm -Have been as bondmen to thy sovereignty . - -The commons hast thou rack'd ; the clergy's bags -Are lank and lean with thy extortions . - -Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife's attire -Have cost a mass of public treasury . - -Thy cruelty in execution -Upon offenders hath exceeded law , -And left thee to the mercy of the law . - -Thy sale of offices and towns in France , -If they were known , as the suspect is great , -Would make thee quickly hop without thy head . - -Give me my fan : what , minion ! can ye not ? - -I cry you mercy , madam , was it you ? - -Was't I ? yea , I it was , proud Frenchwoman : -Could I come near your beauty with my nails -I'd set my ten commandments in your face . - -Sweet aunt , be quiet ; 'twas against her will . - -Against her will ! Good king , look to't in time ; -She'll hamper thee and dandle thee like a baby : -Though in this place most master wear no breeches , -She shall not strike Dame Eleanor unreveng'd . - - -Lord Cardinal , I will follow Eleanor , -And listen after Humphrey , how he proceeds : -She's tickled now ; her fume can need no spurs , -She'll gallop far enough to her destruction . - -Now , lords , my choler being over-blown -With walking once about the quadrangle , -I come to talk of commonwealth affairs . -As for your spiteful false objections , -Prove them , and I lie open to the law : -But God in mercy so deal with my soul -As I in duty love my king and country ! -But to the matter that we have in hand . -I say , my sov'reign , York is meetest man -To be your regent in the realm of France . - -Before we make election , give me leave -To show some reason , of no little force , -That York is most unmeet of any man . - -I'll tell thee , Suffolk , why I am unmeet : -First , for I cannot flatter thee in pride ; -Next , if I be appointed for the place , -My Lord of Somerset will keep me here , -Without discharge , money , or furniture , -Till France be won into the Dauphin's hands . -Last time I danc'd attendance on his will -Till Paris was besieg'd , famish'd , and lost . - -That can I witness ; and a fouler fact -Did never traitor in the land commit . - -Peace , headstrong Warwick ! - -Image of pride , why should I hold my peace ? - - -Because here is a man accus'd of treason : -Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself ! - -Doth any one accuse York for a traitor ? - -What mean'st thou , Suffolk ? tell me , what are these ? - -Please it your majesty , this is the man -That doth accuse his master of high treason . -His words were these : that Richard , Duke of York , -Was rightful heir unto the English crown , -And that your majesty was a usurper . - -Say , man , were these thy words ? - -An't shall please your majesty , I never said nor thought any such matter : God is my witness , I am falsely accused by the villain . - -By these ten bones , my lords , he did speak them to me in the garret one night , as we were scouring my Lord of York's armour . - -Base dunghill villain , and mechanical , -I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's speech . -I do beseech your royal majesty -Let him have all the rigour of the law . - -Alas ! my lord , hang me if ever I spake the words . My accuser is my prentice ; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day , he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me : I have good witness of this : therefore I beseech your majesty , do not cast away an honest man for a villain's accusation . - -Uncle , what shall we say to this in law ? - -This doom , my lord , if I may judge . -Let Somerset be regent o'er the French , -Because in York this breeds suspicion ; -And let these have a day appointed them -For single combat in convenient place ; -For he hath witness of his servant's malice . -This is the law , and this Duke Humphrey's doom . - -Then be it so . My Lord of Somerset , -We make your Grace lord regent o'er the French . - -I humbly thank your royal majesty . - -And I accept the combat willingly . - -Alas ! my lord , I cannot fight : for God's sake , pity my case ! the spite of man prevaileth against me . O Lord , have mercy upon me ! I shall never be able to fight a blow . O Lord , my heart ! - -Sirrah , or you must fight , or else be hang'd . - -Away with them to prison ; and the day -Of combat shall be the last of the next month . -Come , Somerset , we'll see thee sent away . - - -Come , my masters ; the duchess , I tell you , expects performance of your promises . - -Master Hume , we are therefore provided . Will her ladyship behold and hear our exorcisms ? - -Ay ; what else ? fear you not her courage . - -I have heard her reported to be a woman of invincible spirit : but it shall be convenient , Master Hume , that you be by her aloft while we be busy below ; and so , I pray you , go in God's name , and leave us . - -Mother Jourdain , be you prostrate , and grovel on the earth ; John Southwell , read you ; and let us to our work . - - -Well said , my masters , and welcome all . -To this gear the sooner the better . - -Patience , good lady ; wizards know their times : -Deep night , dark night , the silent of the night , -The time of night when Troy was set on fire ; -The time when screech-owls cry , and ban-dogs howl , -And spirits walk , and ghosts break up their graves , -That time best fits the work we have in hand . -Madam , sit you , and fear not : whom we raise -We will make fast within a hallow'd verge . - - -Adsum . - -Asmath ! -By the eternal God , whose name and power -Thou tremblest at , answer that I shall ask ; -For till thou speak , thou shalt not pass from hence . - -Ask what thou wilt . That I had said and done ! - -First , of the king : what shall of him become ? - -The Duke yet lives that Henry shall depose ; -But him outlive , and die a violent death . - - -What fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk ? - -By water shall he die and take his end . - -What shall befall the Duke of Somerset ? - -Let him shun castles : -Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains -Than where castles mounted stand . -Have done , for more I hardly can endure . - -Descend to darkness and the burning lake ! -False fiend , avoid ! - -Lay hands upon these traitors and their trash . -Beldam , I think we watch'd you at an inch . -What ! madam , are you there ? the king and commonweal -Are deeply indebted for this piece of pains : -My Lord Protector will , I doubt it not , -See you well guerdon'd for these good deserts . - -Not half so bad as thine to England's king , -Injurious duke , that threat'st where is no cause . - -True , madam , none at all . What call you this ? - -Away with them ! let them be clapp'd up close -And kept asunder . You , madam , shall with us : -Stafford , take her to thee . - -We'll see your trinkets here all forthcoming . -All , away ! - - -Lord Buckingham , methinks you watch'd her well : -A pretty plot , well chosen to build upon ! -Now , pray , my lord , let's see the devil's writ . -What have we here ? -The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose ; -But him outlive , and die a violent death . -Why , this is just , -Aio te , acida , Romanos vincere posse . -Well , to the rest : -Tell me what fate awaits the Duke of Suffolk ? -By water shall he die and take his end . -What shall betide the Duke of Somerset ? -Let him shun castles : -Safer shall he be upon the sandy plains -Than where castles mounted stand . -Come , come , my lords ; these oracles -Are hardly attain'd , and hardly understood . -The king is now in progress towards Saint Alban's ; -With him , the husband of this lovely lady : -Thither go these news as fast as horse can carry them , -A sorry breakfast for my Lord Protector . - -Your Grace shall give me leave , my Lord of York , -To be the post , in hope of his reward . - -At your pleasure , my good lord . Who's within there , ho ! - - -Invite my Lords of Salisbury and Warwick -To sup with me to-morrow night . Away ! - - -Believe me , lords , for flying at the brook , -I saw not better sport these seven years' day : -Yet , by your leave , the wind was very high , -And , ten to one , old Joan had not gone out . - -But what a point , my lord , your falcon made , -And what a pitch she flew above the rest ! -To see how God in all his creatures works ! -Yea , man and birds are fain of climbing high . - -No marvel , an it like your majesty , -My Lord Protector's hawks do tower so well ; -They know their master loves to be aloft , -And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch . - -My lord , 'tis but a base ignoble mind -That mounts no higher than a bird can soar . - -I thought as much ; he'd be above the clouds . - -Ay , my Lord Cardinal ; how think you by that ? -Were it not good your Grace could fly to heaven ? - -The treasury of everlasting joy . - -Thy heaven is on earth ; thine eyes and thoughts -Beat on a crown , the treasure of thy heart ; -Pernicious protector , dangerous peer , -That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal ! - -What ! cardinal , is your priesthood grown peremptory ? -Tant ne animis c lestibus ir ? -Churchmen so hot ? good uncle , hide such malice ; -With such holiness can you do it ? - -No malice , sir ; no more than well becomes -So good a quarrel and so bad a peer . - -As who , my lord ? - -Why , as you , my lord , -An't like your lordly lord-protectorship . - -Why , Suffolk , England knows thine insolence . - -And thy ambition , Gloucester . - -I prithee , peace , -Good queen , and whet not on these furious peers ; -For blessed are the peacemakers on earth . - -Let me be blessed for the peace I make -Against this proud protector with my sword ! - -Faith , holy uncle , would 'twere come to that ! - -Marry , when thou dar'st . - -Make up no factious numbers for the matter ; -In thine own person answer thy abuse . - -Ay , where thou dar'st not peep : an if thou dar'st , -This evening on the east side of the grove . - -How now , my lords ! - -Believe me , cousin Gloucester , -Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly , -We had had more sport . - -Come with thy two-hand sword . - -True , uncle . - -Are you advis'd ? - -the east side of the grove . - -Cardinal , I am with you . - -Why , how now , uncle Gloucester ! - -Talking of hawking ; nothing else , my lord . - - -Now , by God's mother , priest , I'll shave your crown -For this , or all my fence shall fail . - -Medice teipsum ; -Protector , see to't well , protect yourself . - -The winds grow high ; so do your stomachs , lords . -How irksome is this music to my heart ! -When such strings jar , what hope of harmony ? -I pray , my lords , let me compound this strife . - - -What means this noise ? -Fellow , what miracle dost thou proclaim ? - -A miracle ! a miracle ! - -Come to the king , and tell him what miracle . - -Forsooth , a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine , -Within this half hour hath receiv'd his sight ; -A man that ne'er saw in his life before . - -Now , God be prais'd , that to believing souls -Gives light in darkness , comfort in despair ! - -Here comes the townsmen on procession , -To present your highness with the man . - -Great is his comfort in this earthly vale , -Although by his sight his sin be multiplied . - -Stand by , my masters ; bring him near the king : -His highness' pleasure is to talk with him . - -Good fellow , tell us here the circumstance , -That we for thee may glorify the Lord . -What ! hast thou been long blind , and now restor'd ? - -Born blind , an't please your Grace . - -Ay , indeed , was he . - -What woman is this ? - -His wife , an't like your worship . - -Hadst thou been his mother , thou couldst have better told . - -Where wert thou born ? - -At Berwick in the north , an't like your Grace . - -Poor soul ! God's goodness hath been great to thee : -Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass , -But still remember what the Lord hath done . - -Tell me , good fellow , cam'st thou here by chance , -Or of devotion , to this holy shrine ? - -God knows , of pure devotion ; being call'd -A hundred times and oft'ner in my sleep , -By good Saint Alban ; who said , 'Simpcox , come ; -Come , offer at my shrine , and I will help thee .' - -Most true , forsooth ; and many time and oft -Myself have heard a voice to call him so . - -What ! art thou lame ? - -Ay , God Almighty help me ! - -How cam'st thou so ? - -A fall off of a tree . - -A plum-tree , master . - -How long hast thou been blind ? - -O ! born so , master . - -What ! and wouldst climb a tree ? - -But that in all my life , when I was a youth . - -Too true ; and bought his climbing very dear . - -Mass , thou lov'dst plums well , that wouldst venture so . - -Alas ! master , my wife desir'd some damsons , -And made me climb with danger of my life . - -A subtle knave ! but yet it shall not serve . -Let me see thine eyes : wink now : now open them : -In my opinion yet thou seest not well . - -Yes , master , clear as day ; I thank God and Saint Alban . - -Sayst thou me so ? What colour is this cloak of ? - -Red , master ; red as blood . - -Why , that's well said . What colour is my gown of ? - -Black , forsooth ; coal-black , as jet . - -Why then , thou know'st what colour jet is of ? - -And yet , I think , jet did he never see . - -But cloaks and gowns before this day a many . - -Never , before this day , in all his life . - -Tell me , sirrah , what's my name ? - -Alas ! master , I know not . - -What's his name ? - -I know not . - -Nor his ? - -No , indeed , master . - -What's thine own name ? - -Saunder Simpcox , an if it please you , master . - -Then , Saunder , sit there , the lyingest knave in Christendom . If thou hadst been born blind , thou mightst as well have known all our names as thus to name the several colours we do wear . Sight may distinguish of colours , but suddenly to nominate them all , it is impossible . My lords , Saint Alban here hath done a miracle ; and would ye not think that cunning to be great , that could restore this cripple to his legs again ? - -O , master , that you could ! - -My masters of Saint Alban's , have you not beadles in your town , and things called whips ? - -Yes , my lord , if it please your Grace . - -Then send for one presently . - -Sirrah , go fetch the beadle hither straight . - - -Now fetch me a stool hither by and by . - - -Now , sirrah , if you mean to save yourself from whipping , leap me over this stool and run away . - -Alas ! master , I am not able to stand alone : -You go about to torture me in vain . - - -Well , sir , we must have you find your legs . Sirrah beadle , whip him till he leap over that same stool . - -I will , my lord . Come on , sirrah ; off with your doublet quickly . - -Alas ! master , what shall I do ? I am not able to stand . - -O God ! seest thou this , and bear'st so long ? - -It made me laugh to see the villain run . - -Follow the knave ; and take this drab away . - -Alas ! sir , we did it for pure need . - -Let them be whipp'd through every market town -Till they come to Berwick , from whence they came . - - -Duke Humphrey has done a miracle to-day . - -True ; made the lame to leap and fly away . - -But you have done more miracles than I ; -You made in a day , my lord , whole towns to fly . - - -What tidings with our cousin Buckingham ? - -Such as my heart doth tremble to unfold . -A sort of naughty persons , lewdly bent , -Under the countenance and confederacy -Of Lady Eleanor , the protector's wife , -The ringleader and head of all this rout , -Have practis'd dangerously against your state , -Dealing with witches and with conjurers : -Whom we have apprehended in the fact ; -Raising up wicked spirits from under-ground , -Demanding of King Henry's life and death , -And other of your highness' privy council , -As more at large your Grace shall understand . - -And so , my Lord Protector , by this means -Your lady is forthcoming yet at London . -This news , I think , hath turn'd your weapon's edge ; -'Tis like , my lord , you will not keep your hour . - -Ambitious churchman , leave to afflict my heart : -Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers ; -And , vanquish'd as I am , I yield to thee , -Or to the meanest groom . - -O God ! what mischiefs work the wicked ones , -Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby . - -Gloucester , see here the tainture of thy nest ; -And look thyself be faultless , thou wert best . - -Madam , for myself , to heaven I do appeal , -How I have lov'd my king and commonweal ; -And , for my wife , I know not how it stands . -Sorry I am to hear what I have heard : -Noble she is , but if she have forgot -Honour and virtue , and convers'd with such -As , like to pitch , defile nobility , -I banish her my bed and company , -And give her , as a prey , to law and shame , -That hath dishonour'd Gloucester's honest name . - -Well , for this night we will repose us here : -To-morrow toward London back again , -To look into this business thoroughly , -And call these foul offenders to their answers ; -And poise the cause in justice' equal scales , -Whose beam stands sure , whose rightful cause prevails . - - -Now , my good Lords of Salisbury and Warwick , -Our simple supper ended , give me leave , -In this close walk to satisfy myself , -In craving your opinion of my title , -Which is infallible to England's crown . - -My lord , I long to hear it at full . - -Sweet York , begin ; and if thy claim be good , -The Nevils are thy subjects to command . - -Then thus : -Edward the Third , my lords , had seven sons : -The first , Edward the Black Prince , Prince of Wales ; -The second , William of Hatfield ; and the third , -Lionel , Duke of Clarence ; next to whom -Was John of Gaunt , the Duke of Lancaster ; -The fifth was Edmund Langley , Duke of York ; -The sixth was Thomas of Woodstock , Duke of Gloucester ; -William of Windsor was the seventh and last . -Edward the Black Prince died before his father , -And left behind him Richard , his only son , -Who after Edward the Third's death , reign'd as king ; -Till Henry Bolingbroke , Duke of Lancaster , -The eldest son and heir of John of Gaunt , -Crown'd by the name of Henry the Fourth , -Seiz'd on the realm , depos'd the rightful king , -Sent his poor queen to France , from whence she came , -And him to Pomfret ; where as all you know , -Harmless Richard was murder'd traitorously . - -Father , the duke hath told the truth ; -Thus got the house of Lancaster the crown . - -Which now they hold by force and not by right ; -For Richard , the first son's heir , being dead , -The issue of the next son should have reign'd . - -But William of Hatfield died without an heir . - -The third son , Duke of Clarence , from whose line -I claim the crown , had issue , Philippe a daughter , -Who married Edmund Mortimer , Earl of March : -Edmund had issue Roger , Earl of March : -Roger had issue Edmund , Anne , and Eleanor . - -This Edmund , in the reign of Bolingbroke , -As I have read , laid claim unto the crown ; -And but for Owen Glendower , had been king , -Who kept him in captivity till he died . -But , to the rest . - -His eldest sister , Anne , -My mother , being heir unto the crown , -Married Richard , Earl of Cambridge , who was son -To Edmund Langley , Edward the Third's fifth son . -By her I claim the kingdom : she was heir -To Roger , Earl of March ; who was the son -Of Edmund Mortimer ; who married Philippe , -Sole daughter unto Lionel , Duke of Clarence : -So , if the issue of the eldest son -Succeed before the younger , I am king . - -What plain proceeding is more plain than this ? -Henry doth claim the crown from John of Gaunt , -The fourth son ; York claims it from the third . -Till Lionel's issue fails , his should not reign : -It fails not yet , but flourishes in thee , -And in thy sons , fair slips of such a stock . -Then , father Salisbury , kneel we together , -And in this private plot be we the first -That shall salute our rightful sovereign -With honour of his birthright to the crown . - -Long live our sovereign Richard , England's king ! - -We thank you , lords ! But I am not your king -Till I be crown'd , and that my sword be stain'd -With heart-blood of the house of Lancaster ; -And that's not suddenly to be perform'd , -But with advice and silent secrecy . -Do you as I do in these dangerous days , -Wink at the Duke of Suffolk's insolence , -At Beaufort's pride , at Somerset's ambition , -At Buckingham and all the crew of them , -Till they have snar'd the shepherd of the flock , -That virtuous prince , the good Duke Humphrey : -'Tis that they seek ; and they , in seeking that -Shall find their deaths , if York can prophesy . - -My lord , break we off ; we know your mind at full . - -My heart assures me that the Earl of Warwick -Shall one day make the Duke of York a king . - -And , Nevil , this I do assure myself , -Richard shall live to make the Earl of Warwick -The greatest man in England but the king . - - -Stand forth , Dame Eleanor Cobham , Gloucester's wife . -In sight of God and us , your guilt is great : -Receive the sentence of the law for sins -Such as by God's book are adjudg'd to death . -You four , from hence to prison back again ; -From thence , unto the place of execution : -The witch in Smithfield shall be burn'd to ashes , -And you three shall be strangled on the gallows . -You , madam , for you are more nobly born , -Despoiled of your honour in your life , -Shall , after three days' open penance done , -Live in your country here , in banishment , -With Sir John Stanley , in the Isle of Man . - -Welcome is banishment ; welcome were my death . - -Eleanor , the law , thou seest , hath judged thee : -I cannot justify whom the law condemns . - -Mine eyes are full of tears , my heart of grief . -Ah , Humphrey ! this dishonour in thine age -Will bring thy head with sorrow to the ground . -I beseech your majesty , give me leave to go ; -Sorrow would solace and mine age would ease . - -Stay , Humphrey , Duke of Gloucester : ere thou go , -Give up thy staff : Henry will to himself -Protector be ; and God shall be my hope , -My stay , my guide , and lantern to my feet . -And go in peace , Humphrey ; no less belov'd -Than when thou wert protector to thy king . - -I see no reason why a king of years -Should be to be protected like a child . -God and King Henry govern England's helm ! -Give up your staff , sir , and the king his realm . - -My staff ! here , noble Henry , is my staff : -As willingly do I the same resign -As e'er thy father Henry made it mine ; -And even as willingly at thy feet I leave it -As others would ambitiously receive it . -Farewell , good king ! when I am dead and gone , -May honourable peace attend thy throne . - - -Why , now is Henry king , and Margaret queen ; -And Humphrey , Duke of Gloucester , scarce himself , -That bears so shrewd a maim : two pulls at once ; -His lady banish'd , and a limb lopp'd off ; -This staff of honour raught : there let it stand , -Where it best fits to be , in Henry's hand . - -Thus droops this lofty pine and hangs his sprays ; -Thus Eleanor's pride dies in her youngest days . - -Lords , let him go . Please it your majesty -This is the day appointed for the combat ; -And ready are the appellant and defendant , -The armourer and his man , to enter the lists , -So please your highness to behold the fight . - -Ay , good my lord ; for purposely therefore -Left I the court , to see this quarrel tried . - -O' God's name , see the lists and all things fit : -Here let them end it ; and God defend the right ! - -I never saw a fellow worse bested , -Or more afraid to fight , than is the appellant , -The servant of this armourer , my lords . - - -Here , neighbour Horner , I drink to you in a cup of sack : and fear not , neighbour , you shall do well enough . - -And here , neighbour , here's a cup of charneco . - -And here's a pot of good double beer , neighbour : drink , and fear not your man . - -Let it come , i' faith , and I'll pledge you all ; and a fig for Peter ! - -Here , Peter , I drink to thee ; and be not afraid . - -Be merry , Peter , and fear not thy master : fight for credit of the prentices . - -I thank you all : drink , and pray for me , I pray you ; for , I think , I have taken my last draught in this world . Here , Robin , an if I die , I give thee my apron : and , Will , thou shalt have my hammer : and here , Tom , take all the money that I have . O Lord bless me ! I pray God , for I am never able to deal with my master , he hath learnt so much fence already . - -Come , leave your drinking and fall to blows . Sirrah , what's thy name ? - -Peter , forsooth . - -Peter ! what more ? - -Thump . - -Thump ! then see thou thump thy master well . - -Masters , I am come hither , as it were , upon my man's instigation , to prove him a knave , and myself an honest man : and touching the Duke of York , I will take my death I never meant him any ill , nor the king , nor the queen ; and therefore , Peter , have at thee with a downright blow ! - -Dispatch : this knave's tongue begins to double . -Sound , trumpets , alarum to the combatants . - - -Hold , Peter , hold ! I confess , I confess treason . - - -Take away his weapon . Fellow , thank -God , and the good wine in thy master's way . - -O God ! have I overcome mine enemies in this presence ? O Peter ! thou hast prevailed in right ! - -Go , take hence that traitor from our sight ; -For by his death we do perceive his guilt : -And God in justice hath reveal'd to us -The truth and innocence of this poor fellow , -Which he had thought to have murder'd wrongfully . -Come , fellow , follow us for thy reward . - - -Thus sometimes hath the brightest day a cloud ; -And after summer evermore succeeds -Barren winter , with his wrathful nipping cold : -So cares and joys abound , as seasons fleet . -Sirs , what's o'clock ? - -Ten , my lord . - -Ten is the hour that was appointed me -To watch the coming of my punish'd duchess : -Uneath may she endure the flinty streets , -To tread them with her tender-feeling feet . -Sweet Nell , ill can thy noble mind abrook -The abject people , gazing on thy face -With envious looks still laughing at thy shame , -That erst did follow thy proud chariot wheels -When thou didst ride in triumph through the streets . -But , soft ! I think she comes ; and I'll prepare -My tear-stain'd eyes to see her miseries . - - -So please your Grace , we'll take her from the sheriff . - -No , stir not , for your lives ; let her pass by . - -Come you , my lord , to see my open shame ? -Now thou dost penance too . Look ! how they gaze . -See ! how the giddy multitude do point , -And nod their heads , and throw their eyes on thee . -Ah , Gloucester , hide thee from their hateful looks , -And , in thy closet pent up , rue my shame , -And ban thine enemies , both mine and thine ! - -Be patient , gentle Nell ; forget this grief . - -Ay , Gloucester , teach me to forget myself ; -For whilst I think I am thy wedded wife , -And thou a prince , protector of this land , -Methinks I should not thus be led along , -Mail'd up in shame , with papers on my back , -And follow'd with a rabble that rejoice -To see my tears and hear my deep-fet groans . -The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet , -And when I start , the envious people laugh , -And bid me be advised how I tread . -Ah , Humphrey ! can I bear this shameful yoke ? -Trow'st thou that e'er I'll look upon the world , -Or count them happy that enjoy the sun ? -No ; dark shall be my light , and night my day ; -To think upon my pomp shall be my hell . -Sometime I'll say , I am Duke Humphrey's wife ; -And he a prince and ruler of the land : -Yet so he rul'd and such a prince he was -As he stood by whilst I , his forlorn duchess , -Was made a wonder and a pointing-stock -To every idle rascal follower . -But be thou mild and blush not at my shame ; -Nor stir at nothing till the axe of death -Hang over thee , as , sure , it shortly will ; -For Suffolk , he that can do all in all -With her that hateth thee , and hates us all , -And York , and impious Beaufort , that false priest , -Have all lim'd bushes to betray thy wings ; -And , fly thou how thou canst , they'll tangle thee : -But fear not thou , until thy foot be snar'd , -Nor never seek prevention of thy foes . - -Ah , Nell ! forbear : thou aimest all awry ; -I must offend before I be attainted ; -And had I twenty times so many foes , -And each of them had twenty times their power , -All these could not procure me any scath , -So long as I am loyal , true , and crimeless . -Wouldst have me rescue thee from this reproach ? -Why , yet thy scandal were not wip'd away , -But I in danger for the breach of law . -Thy greatest help is quiet , gentle Nell : -I pray thee , sort thy heart to patience ; -These few days' wonder will be quickly worn . - - -I summon your Grace to his majesty's parliament , holden at Bury the first of this next month . - -And my consent ne'er ask'd herein before ! -This is close dealing . Well , I will be there . - -My Nell , I take my leave : and , master sheriff , -Let not her penance exceed the king's commission . - -An't please your Grace , here my commission stays ; -And Sir John Stanley is appointed now -To take her with him to the Isle of Man . - -Must you , Sir John , protect my lady here ? - -So am I given in charge , may't please your Grace . - -Entreat her not the worse in that I pray -You use her well . The world may laugh again ; -And I may live to do you kindness if -You do it her : and so , Sir John , farewell . - -What ! gone , my lord , and bid me not farewell ! - -Witness my tears , I cannot stay to speak . - - -Art thou gone too ? All comfort go with thee ! -For none abides with me : my joy is death ; -Death , at whose name I oft have been afear'd , -Because I wish'd this world's eternity . -Stanley , I prithee , go , and take me hence ; -I care not whither , for I beg no favour , -Only convey me where thou art commanded . - -Why , madam , that is to the Isle of Man ; -There to be us'd according to your state . - -That's bad enough , for I am but reproach : -And shall I then be us'd reproachfully ? - -Like to a duchess , and Duke Humphrey's lady : -According to that state you shall be us'd . - -Sheriff , farewell , and better than I fare , -Although thou hast been conduct of my shame . - -It is my office ; and , madam , pardon me . - -Ay , ay , farewell ; thy office is discharg'd . -Come , Stanley , shall we go ? - -Madam , your penance done , throw off this sheet , -And go we to attire you for our journey . - -My shame will not be shifted with my sheet : -No ; it will hang upon my richest robes , -And show itself , attire me how I can . -Go , lead the way ; I long to see my prison . - - -I muse my Lord of Gloucester is not come : -'Tis not his wont to be the hindmost man , -Whate'er occasion keeps him from us now . - -Can you not see ? or will ye not observe -The strangeness of his alter'd countenance ? -With what a majesty he bears himself , -How insolent of late he is become , -How proud , how peremptory , and unlike himself ? -We know the time since he was mild and affable , -An if we did but glance a far-off look , -Immediately he was upon his knee , -That all the court admir'd him for submission : -But meet him now , and , be it in the morn , -When everyone will give the time of day , -He knits his brow and shows an angry eye , -And passeth by with stiff unbowed knee , -Disdaining duty that to us belongs . -Small curs are not regarded when they grin , -But great men tremble when the lion roars ; -And Humphrey is no little man in England . -First note that he is near you in descent , -And should you fall , he is the next will mount . -Me seemeth then it is no policy , -Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears , -And his advantage following your decease , -That he should come about your royal person -Or be admitted to your highness' council . -By flattery hath he won the commons' hearts , -And when he please to make commotion , -'Tis to be fear'd they all will follow him . -Now 'tis the spring , and weeds are shallow-rooted ; -Suffer them now and they'll o'ergrow the garden , -And choke the herbs for want of husbandry . -The reverent care I bear unto my lord -Made me collect these dangers in the duke . -If it be fond , call it a woman's fear ; -Which fear if better reasons can supplant , -I will subscribe and say I wrong'd the duke . -My Lord of Suffolk , Buckingham , and York , -Reprove my allegation if you can -Or else conclude my words effectual . - -Well hath your highness seen into this duke ; -And had I first been put to speak my mind , -I think I should have told your Grace's tale . -The duchess , by his subornation , -Upon my life , began her devilish practices : -Or if he were not privy to those faults , -Yet , by reputing of his high descent , -As , next the king he was successive heir , -And such high vaunts of his nobility , -Did instigate the bedlam brain-sick duchess , -By wicked means to frame our sovereign's fall . -Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep , -And in his simple show he harbours treason . -The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb : -No , no , my sov'reign ; Gloucester is a man -Unsounded yet , and full of deep deceit . - -Did he not , contrary to form of law , -Devise strange deaths for small offences done ? - -And did he not , in his protectorship , -Levy great sums of money through the realm -For soldiers' pay in France , and never sent it ? -By means whereof the towns each day revolted . - -Tut ! these are petty faults to faults unknown , -Which time will bring to light in smooth Duke Humphrey . - -My lords , at once : the care you have of us , -To mow down thorns that would annoy our foot , -Is worthy praise ; but shall I speak my conscience , -Our kinsman Gloucester is as innocent -From meaning treason to our royal person , -As is the sucking lamb or harmless dove . -The duke is virtuous , mild , and too well given -To dream on evil , or to work my downfall . - -Ah ! what's more dangerous than this fond affiance ! -Seems he a dove ? his feathers are but borrow'd , -For he's disposed as the hateful raven : -Is he a lamb ? his skin is surely lent him , -For he's inclin'd as is the ravenous wolf . -Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit ? -Take heed , my lord ; the welfare of us all -Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man . - - -All health unto my gracious sovereign ! - -Welcome , Lord Somerset . What news from France ? - -That all your interest in those territories -Is utterly bereft you ; all is lost . - -Cold news , Lord Somerset : but God's will be done ! - -Cold news for me ; for I had hope of France , -As firmly as I hope for fertile England . -Thus are my blossoms blasted in the bud , -And caterpillars eat my leaves away ; -But I will remedy this gear ere long , -Or sell my title for a glorious grave . - - -All happiness unto my lord the king ! -Pardon , my liege , that I have stay'd so long . - -Nay , Gloucester , know that thou art come too soon , -Unless thou wert more loyal than thou art : -I do arrest thee of high treason here . - -Well , Suffolk's duke , thou shalt not see me blush , -Nor change my countenance for this arrest : -A heart unspotted is not easily daunted . -The purest spring is not so free from mud -As I am clear from treason to my sovereign . -Who can accuse me ? wherein am I guilty ? - -'Tis thought , my lord , that you took bribes of France , -And , being protector , stay'd the soldiers' pay ; -By means whereof his highness hath lost France . - -Is it but thought so ? What are they that think it ? -I never robb'd the soldiers of their pay , -Nor ever had one penny bribe from France . -So help me God , as I have watch'd the night , -Ay , night by night , in studying good for England , -That doit that e'er I wrested from the king , -Or any groat I hoarded to my use , -Be brought against me at my trial-day ! -No ; many a pound of mine own proper store , -Because I would not tax the needy commons , -Have I disbursed to the garrisons , -And never ask'd for restitution . - -It serves you well , my lord , to say so much . - -I say no more than truth , so help me God ! - -In your protectorship you did devise -Strange tortures for offenders , never heard of , -That England was defam'd by tyranny . - -Why , 'tis well known that , whiles I was protector , -Pity was all the fault that was in me ; -For I should melt at an offender's tears , -And lowly words were ransom for their fault . -Unless it were a bloody murderer , -Or foul felonious thief that fleec'd poor passengers , -I never gave them condign punishment : -Murder , indeed , that bloody sin , I tortur'd -Above the felon or what trespass else . - -My lord , these faults are easy , quickly answer'd : -But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge , -Whereof you cannot easily purge yourself . -I do arrest you in his highness' name ; -And here commit you to my Lord Cardinal -To keep until your further time of trial . - -My Lord of Gloucester , 'tis my special hope -That you will clear yourself from all suspect : -My conscience tells me you are innocent . - -Ah ! gracious lord , these days are dangerous . -Virtue is chok'd with foul ambition , -And charity chas'd hence by rancour's hand ; -Foul subornation is predominant , -And equity exil'd your highness' land . -I know their complot is to have my life ; -And if my death might make this island happy , -And prove the period of their tyranny , -I would expend it with all willingness ; -But mine is made the prologue to their play ; -For thousands more , that yet suspect no peril , -Will not conclude their plotted tragedy . -Beaufort's red sparkling eyes blab his heart's malice , -And Suffolk's cloudy brow his stormy hate ; -Sharp Buckingham unburdens with his tongue -The envious load that lies upon his heart ; -And dogged York , that reaches at the moon , -Whose overweening arm I have pluck'd back , -By false accuse doth level at my life : -And you , my sov'reign lady , with the rest , -Causeless have laid disgraces on my head , -And with your best endeavour have stirr'd up -My liefest liege to be mine enemy . -Ay , all of you have laid your heads together ; -Myself had notice of your conventicles ; -And all to make away my guiltless life . -I shall not want false witness to condemn me , -Nor store of treasons to augment my guilt ; -The ancient proverb will be well effected : -'A staff is quickly found to beat a dog .' - -My liege , his railing is intolerable . -If those that care to keep your royal person -From treason's secret knife and traitor's rage -Be thus upbraided , chid , and rated at , -And the offender granted scope of speech , -'Twill make them cool in zeal unto your Grace . - -Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here -With ignominious words , though clerkly couch'd , -As if she had suborned some to swear -False allegations to o'erthrow his state ? - -But I can give the loser leave to chide . - -Far truer spoke than meant : I lose , indeed ; -Beshrew the winners , for they play'd me false ! -And well such losers may have leave to speak . - -He'll wrest the sense and hold us here all day . -Lord Cardinal , he is your prisoner . - -Sirs , take away the duke , and guard him sure . - -Ah ! thus King Henry throws away his crutch -Before his legs be firm to bear his body : -Thus is the shepherd beaten from thy side , -And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first . -Ah ! that my fear were false , ah ! that it were ; -For , good King Henry , thy decay I fear . - - -My lords , what to your wisdoms seemeth best -Do or undo , as if ourself were here . - -What ! will your highness leave the parliament ? - -Ay , Margaret ; my heart is drown'd with grief , -Whose flood begins to flow within mine eyes , -My body round engirt with misery , -For what's more miserable than discontent ? -Ah ! uncle Humphrey , in thy face I see -The map of honour , truth , and loyalty ; -And yet , good Humphrey , is the hour to come -That e'er I prov'd thee false , or fear'd thy faith . -What low'ring star now envies thy estate , -That these great lords , and Margaret our queen , -Do seek subversion of thy harmless life ? -Thou never didst them wrong , nor no man wrong ; -And as the butcher takes away the calf , -And binds the wretch , and beats it when it strays , -Bearing it to the bloody slaughter-house , -Even so , remorseless , have they borne him hence ; -And as the dam runs lowing up and down , -Looking the way her harmless young one went , -And can do nought but wail her darling's loss ; -Even so myself bewails good Gloucester's case , -With sad unhelpful tears , and with dimm'd eyes -Look after him , and cannot do him good ; -So mighty are his vowed enemies . -His fortunes I will weep ; and , 'twixt each groan , -Say 'Who's a traitor , Gloucester he is none .' - - -Fair lords , cold snow melts with the sun's hot beams . -Henry my lord is cold in great affairs , -Too full of foolish pity ; and Gloucester's show -Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile -With sorrow snares relenting passengers ; -Or as the snake , roll'd in a flow'ring bank , -With shining checker'd slough , doth sting a child -That for the beauty thinks it excellent . -Believe me , lords , were none more wise than I , -And yet herein I judge mine own wit good , -This Gloucester should be quickly rid the world , -To rid us from the fear we have of him . - -That he should die is worthy policy ; -And yet we want a colour for his death . -'Tis meet he be condemn'd by course of law . - -But in my mind that were no policy : -The king will labour still to save his life ; -The commons haply rise to save his life ; -And yet we have but trivial argument , -More than mistrust , that shows him worthy death . - -So that , by this , you would not have him die . - -Ah ! York , no man alive so fain as I . - -'Tis York that hath more reason for his death . -But my Lord Cardinal , and you , my Lord of Suffolk , -Say as you think , and speak it from your souls , -Were't not all one an empty eagle were set -To guard the chicken from a hungry kite , -As place Duke Humphrey for the king's protector ? - -So the poor chicken should be sure of death . - -Madam , 'tis true : and were't not madness , then , -To make the fox surveyor of the fold ? -Who , being accus'd a crafty murderer , -His guilt should be but idly posted over -Because his purpose is not executed . -No ; let him die , in that he is a fox , -By nature prov'd an enemy to the flock , -Before his chaps be stain'd with crimson blood , -As Humphrey , prov'd by reasons , to my liege . -And do not stand on quillets how to slay him : -Be it by gins , by snares , by subtilty , -Sleeping or waking , 'tis no matter how , -So he be dead ; for that is good deceit -Which mates him first that first intends deceit . - -Thrice noble Suffolk , 'tis resolutely spoke . - -Not resolute , except so much were done , -For things are often spoke and seldom meant ; -But , that my heart accordeth with my tongue , -Seeing the deed is meritorious , -And to preserve my sovereign from his foe , -Say but the word and I will be his priest . - -But I would have him dead , my Lord of Suffolk , -Ere you can take due orders for a priest : -Say you consent and censure well the deed , -And I'll provide his executioner ; -I tender so the safety of my liege . - -Here is my hand , the deed is worthy doing . - -And so say I . - -And I : and now we three have spoke it , -It skills not greatly who impugns our doom . - - -Great lords , from Ireland am I come amain , -To signify that rebels there are up , -And put the Englishmen unto the sword . -Send succours , lords , and stop the rage betime , -Before the wound do grow uncurable ; -For , being green , there is great hope of help . - -A breach that craves a quick expedient stop ! -What counsel give you in this weighty cause ? - -That Somerset be sent as regent thither . -'Tis meet that lucky ruler be employ'd ; -Witness the fortune he hath had in France . - -If York , with all his far-fet policy , -Had been the regent there instead of me , -He never would have stay'd in France so long . - -No , not to lose it all , as thou hast done : -I rather would have lost my life betimes -Than bring a burden of dishonour home , -By staying there so long till all were lost . -Show me one scar character'd on thy skin : -Men's flesh preserv'd so whole do seldom win . - -Nay then , this spark will prove a raging fire , -If wind and fuel be brought to feed it with . -No more , good York ; sweet Somerset , be still : -Thy fortune , York , hadst thou been regent there , -Might happily have prov'd far worse than his . - -What ! worse than nought ? nay , then a shame take all . - -And in the number thee , that wishest shame . - -My Lord of York , try what your fortune is . -The uncivil kerns of Ireland are in arms -And temper clay with blood of Englishmen : -To Ireland will you lead a band of men , -Collected choicely , from each county some , -And try your hap against the Irishmen ? - -I will , my lord , so please his majesty . - -Why , our authority is his consent , -And what we do establish he confirms : -Then , noble York , take thou this task in hand . - -I am content : provide me soldiers , lords , -Whiles I take order for mine own affairs . - -A charge , Lord York , that I will see perform'd . -But now return we to the false Duke Humphrey . - -No more of him ; for I will deal with him -That henceforth he shall trouble us no more . -And so break off ; the day is almost spent . -Lord Suffolk , you and I must talk of that event . - -My Lord of Suffolk , within fourteen days -At Bristol I expect my soldiers ; -For there I'll ship them all for Ireland . - -I'll see it truly done , my Lord of York . - - -Now , York , or never , steel thy fearful thoughts , -And change misdoubt to resolution : -Be that thou hop'st to be , or what thou art -Resign to death ; it is not worth the enjoying . -Let pale-fac'd fear keep with the mean-born man , -And find no harbour in a royal heart . -Faster than spring-time showers comes thought on thought , -And not a thought but thinks on dignity . -My brain , more busy than the labouring spider , -Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies . -Well , nobles , well ; 'tis politicly done , -To send me packing with a host of men : -I fear me you but warm the starved snake , -Who , cherish'd in your breasts , will sting your hearts . -'Twas men I lack'd , and you will give them me : -I take it kindly ; yet be well assur'd -You put sharp weapons in a madman's hands . -Whiles I in Ireland nourish a mighty band , -I will stir up in England some black storm -Shall blow ten thousand souls to heaven or hell ; -And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage -Until the golden circuit on my head , -Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams , -Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw . -And , for a minister of my intent , -I have seduc'd a headstrong Kentishman , -John Cade of Ashford , -To make commotion , as full well he can , -Under the title of John Mortimer . -In Ireland have I seen this stubborn Cade -Oppose himself against a troop of kerns , -And fought so long , till that his thighs with darts -Were almost like a sharp-quill'd porpentine : -And , in the end being rescu'd , I have seen -Him caper upright like a wild Morisco , -Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells . -Full often , like a shag-hair'd crafty kern , -Hath he conversed with the enemy , -And undiscover'd come to me again , -And given me notice of their villanies . -This devil here shall be my substitute ; -For that John Mortimer , which now is dead , -In face , in gait , in speech , he doth resemble ; -By this I shall perceive the commons' mind , -How they affect the house and claim of York . -Say he be taken , rack'd , and tortured , -I know no pain they can inflict upon him -Will make him say I mov'd him to those arms . -Say that he thrive ,as 'tis great like he will , -Why , then from Ireland come I with my strength , -And reap the harvest which that rascal sow'd ; -For , Humphrey being dead , as he shall be , -And Henry put apart , the next for me . - - -Run to my Lord of Suffolk ; let him know -We have dispatch'd the duke , as he commanded . - -O ! that it were to do . What have we done ? -Didst ever hear a man so penitent ? - - -Here comes my lord . - -Now , sirs , have you dispatch'd this thing ? - -Ay , my good lord , he's dead . - -Why , that's well said . Go , get you to my house ; -I will reward you for this venturous deed . -The king and all the peers are here at hand . -Have you laid fair the bed ? is all things well , -According as I gave directions ? - -'Tis , my good lord . - -Away ! be gone . - -Go , call our uncle to our presence straight ; -Say , we intend to try his Grace to-day , -If he be guilty , as 'tis published . - -I'll call him presently , my noble lord . - - -Lords , take your places ; and , I pray you all , -Proceed no straiter 'gainst our uncle Gloucester -Than from true evidence , of good esteem , -He be approv'd in practice culpable . - -God forbid any malice should prevail -That faultless may condemn a nobleman ! -Pray God , he may acquit him of suspicion ! - -I thank thee , Meg ; these words content me much . - - -How now ! why look'st thou pale ? why tremblest thou ? - -Where is our uncle ? what's the matter , Suffolk ? - -Dead in his bed , my lord ; Gloucester is dead . - -Marry , God forfend ! - -God's secret judgment : I did dream to-night -The duke was dumb , and could not speak a word . - - -How fares my lord ? Help , lords ! the king is dead . - -Rear up his body ; wring him by the nose . - -Run , go , help , help ! O Henry , ope thine eyes ! - -He doth revive again . Madam , be patient . - -O heavenly God ! - -How fares my gracious lord ? - -Comfort , my sovereign ! grocious Henry , comfort ! - -What ! doth my Lord of Suffolk comfort me ? -Came he right now to sing a raven's note , -Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers , -And thinks he that the chirping of a wren , -By crying comfort from a hollow breast , -Can chase away the first-conceived sound ? -Hide not thy poison with such sugar'd words : -Lay not thy hands on me ; forbear , I say : -Their touch affrights me as a serpent's sting . -Thou baleful messenger , out of my sight ! -Upon thy eyeballs murderous tyranny -Sits in grim majesty to fright the world . -Look not upon me , for thine eyes are wounding : -Yet do not go away ; come , basilisk , -And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight ; -For in the shade of death I shall find joy , -In life but double death , now Gloucester's dead . - -Why do you rate my Lord of Suffolk thus ? -Although the duke was enemy to him , -Yet he , most Christian-like , laments his death : -And for myself , foe as he was to me , -Might liquid tears or heart-offending groans -Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life , -I would be blind with weeping , sick with groans , -Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs , -And all to have the noble duke alive . -What know I how the world may deem of me ? -For it is known we were but hollow friends : -It may be judg'd I made the duke away : -So shall my name with slander's tongue be wounded , -And princes' courts be fill'd with my reproach . -This get I by his death . Ay me , unhappy ! -To be a queen , and crown'd with infamy ! - -Ah ! woe is me for Gloucester , wretched man . - -Be woe for me , more wretched than he is . -What ! dost thou turn away and hide thy face ? -I am no loathsome leper ; look on me . -What ! art thou , like the adder , waxen deaf ? -Be poisonous too and kill thy forlorn queen . -Is all thy comfort shut in Gloucester's tomb ? -Why , then , Dame Margaret was ne'er thy joy : -Erect his statua and worship it , -And make my image but an alehouse sign . -Was I for this nigh wrack'd upon the sea , -And twice by awkward wind from England's bank -Drove back again unto my native clime ? -What boded this , but well forewarning wind -Did seem to say , 'Seek not a scorpion's nest , -Nor set no footing on this unkind shore ?' -What did I then , but curs'd the gentle gusts -And he that loos'd them forth their brazen caves ; -And bid them blow towards England's blessed shore , -Or turn our stern upon a dreadful rock ? -Yet olus would not be a murderer , -But left that hateful office unto thee : -The pretty vaulting sea refus'd to drown me , -Knowing that thou wouldst have me drown'd on shore -With tears as salt as sea through thy unkindness : -The splitting rocks cower'd in the sinking sands , -And would not dash me with their ragged sides , -Because thy flinty heart , more hard than they , -Might in thy palace perish Margaret . -As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs , -When from thy shore the tempest beat us back , -I stood upon the hatches in the storm , -And when the dusky sky began to rob -My earnest-gaping sight of thy land's view , -I took a costly jewel from my neck , -A heart it was , bound in with diamonds , -And threw it towards thy land : the sea receiv'd it , -And so I wish'd thy body might my heart : -And even with this I lost fair England's view , -And bid mine eyes be packing with my heart , -And call'd them blind and dusky spectacles -For losing ken of Albion's wished coast . -How often have I tempted Suffolk's tongue -The agent of thy foul inconstancy -To sit and witch me , as Ascanius did -When he to madding Dido would unfold -His father's acts , commenc'd in burning Troy ! -Am I not witch'd like her ? or thou not false like him ? -Ay me ! I can no more . Die , Margaret ! -For Henry weeps that thou dost live so long . - -It is reported , mighty sovereign , -That good Duke Humphrey trait'rously is murder'd -By Suffolk and the Cardinal Beaufort's means . -The commons , like an angry hive of bees -That want their leader , scatter up and down , -And care not who they sting in his revenge . -Myself have calm'd their spleenful mutiny , -Until they hear the order of his death . - -That he is dead , good Warwick , 'tis too true ; -But how he died God knows , not Henry . -Enter his chamber , view his breathless corpse , -And comment then upon his sudden death . - -That shall I do , my liege . Stay , Salisbury , -With the rude multitude till I return . - - -O ! Thou that judgest all things , stay my thoughts , -My thoughts that labour to persuade my soul -Some violent hands were laid on Humphrey's life . -If my suspect be false , forgive me , God , -For judgment only doth belong to thee . -Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips -With twenty thousand kisses , and to drain -Upon his face an ocean of salt tears , -To tell my love unto his deaf dumb trunk , -And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling : -But all in vain are these mean obsequies , -And to survey his dead and earthly image -What were it but to make my sorrow greater ? - - -Come hither , gracious sovereign , view this body . - -That is to see how deep my grave is made ; -For with his soul fled all my worldly solace , -For seeing him I see my life in death . - -As surely as my soul intends to live -With that dread King that took our state upon him -To free us from his Father's wrathful curse , -I do believe that violent hands were laid -Upon the life of this thrice-famed duke . - -A dreadful oath , sworn with a solemn tongue ! -What instance gives Lord Warwick for his vow ? - -See how the blood is settled in his face . -Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost , -Of ashy semblance , meagre , pale , and bloodless , -Being all descended to the labouring heart ; -Who , in the conflict that it holds with death , -Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy ; -Which with the heart there cools , and ne'er returneth -To blush and beautify the cheek again . -But see , his face is black and full of blood , -His eyeballs further out than when he liv'd , -Staring full ghastly like a strangled man ; -His hair uprear'd , his nostrils stretch'd with struggling : -His hands abroad display'd , as one that grasp'd -And tugg'd for life , and was by strength subdu'd . -Look on the sheets , his hair , you see , is sticking ; -His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged , -Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodg'd . -It cannot be but he was murder'd here ; -The least of all these signs were probable . - -Why , Warwick , who should do the duke to death ? -Myself and Beaufort had him in protection ; -And we , I hope , sir , are no murderers . - -But both of you were vow'd Duke Humphrey's foes , -And you , forsooth , had the good duke to keep : -'Tis like you would not feast him like a friend , -And 'tis well seen he found an enemy . - -Then you , belike , suspect these noblemen -As guilty of Duke Humphrey's timeless death . - -Who finds the heifer dead , and bleeding fresh , -And sees fast by a butcher with an axe , -But will suspect 'twas he that made the slaughter ? -Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest , -But may imagine how the bird was dead , -Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak ? -Even so suspicious is this tragedy . - -Are you the butcher , Suffolk ? where's your knife ? -Is Beaufort term'd a kite ? where are his talons ? - -I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men ; -But here's a vengeful sword , rusted with ease , -That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart -That slanders me with murder's crimson badge . -Say , if thou dar'st , proud Lord of Warwickshire , -That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey's death . - - -What dares not Warwick , if false Suffolk dare him ? - -He dares not calm his contumelious spirit , -Nor cease to be an arrogant controller , -Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times . - -Madam , be still , with reverence may I say ; -For every word you speak in his behalf -Is slander to your royal dignity . - -Blunt-witted lord , ignoble in demeanour ! -If ever lady wrong'd her lord so much , -Thy mother took into her blameful bed -Some stern untutor'd churl , and noble stock -Was graft with crab-tree slip ; whose fruit thou art , -And never of the Nevils' noble race . - -But that the guilt of murder bucklers thee , -And I should rob the deathsman of his fee , -Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames , -And that my sov'reign's presence makes me mild , -I would , false murd'rous coward , on thy knee -Make thee beg pardon for thy passed speech , -And say it was thy mother that thou meant'st ; -That thou thyself wast born in bastardy : -And after all this fearful homage done , -Give thee thy hire , and send thy soul to hell , -Pernicious blood-sucker of sleeping men . - -Thou shalt be waking while I shed thy blood , -If from this presence thou dar'st go with me . - -Away even now , or I will drag thee hence : -Unworthy though thou art , I'll cope with thee , -And do some service to Duke Humphrey's ghost . - - -What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted ! -Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel just , -And he but naked , though lock'd up in steel , -Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted . - -What noise is this ? - -Why , how now , lords ! your wrathful weapons drawn -Here in our presence ! dare you be so bold ? -Why , what tumultuous clamour have we here ? - -The traitorous Warwick , with the men of Bury , -Set all upon me , mighty sovereign . - - -Sirs , stand apart ; the king shall know your mind . -Dread lord , the commons send you word by me , -Unless false Suffolk straight be done to death , -Or banished fair England's territories , -They will by violence tear him from your palace -And torture him with grievous lingering death . -They say , by him the good Duke Humphrey died ; -They say , in him they fear your highness' death ; -And mere instinct of love and loyalty , -Free from a stubborn opposite intent , -As being thought to contradict your liking , -Makes them thus forward in his banishment . -They say , in care of your most royal person , -That if your highness should intend to sleep , -And charge that no man should disturb your rest -In pain of your dislike or pain of death , -Yet , notwithstanding such a strait edict , -Were there a serpent seen , with forked tongue , -That slily glided towards your majesty , -It were but necessary you were wak'd , -Lest , being suffer'd in that harmful slumber , -The mortal worm might make the sleep eternal : -And therefore do they cry , though you forbid , -That they will guard you , whe'r you will or no , -From such fell serpents as false Suffolk is ; -With whose envenomed and fatal sting , -Your loving uncle , twenty times his worth , -They say , is shamefully bereft of life . - -An answer from the king , my Lord of Salisbury ! - -'Tis like the commons , rude unpolish'd hinds , -Could send such message to their sovereign ; -But you , my lord , were glad to be employ'd , -To show how quaint an orator you are : -But all the honour Salisbury hath won -Is that he was the lord ambassador , -Sent from a sort of tinkers to the king . - -An answer from the king , or we will all break in ! - -Go , Salisbury , and tell them all from me , -I thank them for their tender loving care ; -And had I not been cited so by them , -Yet did I purpose as they do entreat ; -For , sure , my thoughts do hourly prophesy -Mischance unto my state by Suffolk's means : -And therefore , by his majesty I swear , -Whose far unworthy deputy I am , -He shall not breathe infection in this air -But three days longer , on the pain of death . - - -O Henry ! let me plead for gentle Suffolk . - -Ungentle queen , to call him gentle Suffolk ! -No more , I say ; if thou dost plead for him -Thou wilt but add increase unto my wrath . -Had I but said , I would have kept my word , -But when I swear , it is irrevocable . - - -If after three days' space thou here be'st found -On any ground that I am ruler of , -The world shall not be ransom for thy life . -Come , Warwick , come , good Warwick , go with me ; -I have great matters to impart to thee . - - -Mischance and sorrow go along with you ! -Heart's discontent and sour affliction -Be playfellows to keep you company ! -There's two of you ; the devil make a third , -And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps ! - -Cease , gentle queen , these execrations , -And let thy Suffolk take his heavy leave . - -Fie , coward woman and soft-hearted wretch ! -Hast thou not spirit to curse thine enemy ? - -A plague upon them ! Wherefore should I curse them ? -Would curses kill , as doth the mandrake's groan , -I would invent as bitter-searching terms , -As curst , as harsh and horrible to hear , -Deliver'd strongly through my fixed teeth , -With full as many signs of deadly hate , -As lean-fac'd Envy in her loathsome cave . -My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words ; -Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint ; -My hair be fix'd on end , as one distract ; -Ay , every joint should seem to curse and ban : -And even now my burden'd heart would break -Should I not curse them . Poison be their drink ! -Gall , worse than gall , the daintiest that they taste ! -Their sweetest shade a grove of cypress trees ! -Their chiefest prospect murdering basilisks ! -Their softest touch as smart as lizard's stings ! -Their music frightful as the serpent's hiss , -And boding screech-owls make the concert full ! -All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell - -Enough , sweet Suffolk ; thou torment'st thyself ; -And these dread curses , like the sun 'gainst glass , -Or like an over-charged gun , recoil , -And turn the force of them upon thyself . - -You bade me ban , and will you bid me leave ? -Now , by the ground that I am banish'd from , -Well could I curse away a winter's night , -Though standing naked on a mountain top , -Where biting cold would never let grass grow , -And think it but a minute spent in sport . - -O ! let me entreat thee , cease ! Give me thy hand , -That I may dew it with my mournful tears ; -Nor let the rain of heaven wet this place , -To wash away my woeful monuments . -O ! could this kiss be printed in thy hand , - -That thou mightst think upon these by the seal , -Through whom a thousand sighs are breath'd for thee . -So , get thee gone , that I may know my grief ; -'Tis but surmis'd whiles thou art standing by , -As one that surfeits thinking on a want . -I will repeal thee , or , be well assur'd , -Adventure to be banished myself ; -And banished I am , if but from thee . -Go ; speak not to me ; even now be gone . -O ! go not yet . Even thus two friends condemn'd -Embrace and kiss , and take ten thousand leaves , -Loather a hundred times to part than die . -Yet now farewell ; and farewell life with thee ! - -Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished , -Once by the king , and three times thrice by thee . -'Tis not the land I care for , wert thou thence ; -A wilderness is populous enough , -So Suffolk had thy heavenly company : -For where thou art , there is the world itself , -With every several pleasure in the world , -And where thou art not , desolation . -I can no more : live thou to joy thy life ; -Myself to joy in nought but that thou liv'st . - - -Whither goes Vaux so fast ? what news , I prithee ? - -To signify unto his majesty -That Cardinal Beaufort is at point of death ; -For suddenly a grievous sickness took him , -That makes him gasp and stare , and catch the air , -Blaspheming God , and cursing men on earth . -Sometime he talks as if Duke Humphrey's ghost -Were by his side ; sometime he calls the king , -And whispers to his pillow , as to him , -The secrets of his overcharged soul : -And I am sent to tell his majesty -That even now he cries aloud for him . - -Go tell this heavy message to the king . - -Ay me ! what is this world ! what news are these ! -But wherefore grieve I at an hour's poor loss , -Omitting Suffolk's exile , my soul's treasure ? -Why only , Suffolk , mourn I not for thee , -And with the southern clouds contend in tears , -Theirs for the earth's increase , mine for my sorrows ? -Now get thee hence : the king , thou know'st , is coming ; -If thou be found by me thou art but dead . - -If I depart from thee I cannot live ; -And in thy sight to die , what were it else -But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap ? -Here could I breathe my soul into the air , -As mild and gentle as the cradle babe , -Dying with mother's dug between its lips ; -Where , from thy sight , I should be raging mad , -And cry out for thee to close up mine eyes , -To have thee with thy lips to stop my mouth : -So shouldst thou either turn my flying soul , -Or I should breathe it so into thy body , -And then it liv'd in sweet Elysium . -To die by thee , were but to die in jest ; -From thee to die were torture more than death . -O ! let me stay , befall what may befall ! - -Away ! though parting be a fretful corsive , -It is applied to a deathful wound . -To France , sweet Suffolk : let me hear from thee ; -For wheresoe'er thou art in this world's globe , -I'll have an Iris that shall find thee out . - -I go . - -And take my heart with thee . - -A jewel , lock'd into the woefull'st cask -That ever did contain a thing of worth . -Even as a splitted bark , so sunder we : -This way fall I to death . - -This way for me . - - -How fares my lord ? speak , Beaufort , to thy sovereign . - -If thou be'st death , I'll give thee England's treasure , -Enough to purchase such another island , -So thou wilt let me live , and feel no pain . - -Ah ! what a sign it is of evil life -Where death's approach is seen so terrible . - -Beaufort , it is thy sov'reign speaks to thee . - -Bring me unto my trial when you will . -Died he not in his bed ? where should he die ? -Can I make men live whe'r they will or no ? -O ! torture me no more , I will confess . -Alive again ? then show me where he is : -I'll give a thousand pound to look upon him . -He hath no eyes , the dust hath blinded them . -Comb down his hair ; look ! look ! it stands upright , -Like lime-twigs set to catch my winged soul . -Give me some drink ; and bid the apothecary -Bring the strong poison that I bought of him . - -O thou eternal Mover of the heavens ! -Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch ; -O ! beat away the busy meddling fiend -That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul , -And from his bosom purge this black despair . - -See how the pangs of death do make him grin ! - -Disturb him not ! let him pass peaceably . - -Peace to his soul , if God's good pleasure be ! -Lord Cardinal , if thou think'st on heaven's bliss , -Hold up thy hand , make signal of thy hope . -He dies , and makes no sign . O God , forgive him ! - -So bad a death argues a monstrous life . - -Forbear to judge , for we are sinners all . -Close up his eyes , and draw the curtain close ; -And let us all to meditation . - -The gaudy , blabbing , and remorseful day -Is crept into the bosom of the sea , -And now loud-howling wolves arouse the jades -That drag the tragic melancholy night ; -Who with their drowsy , slow , and flagging wings -Clip dead men's graves , and from their misty jaws -Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air . -Therefore bring forth the soldiers of our prize , -For , whilst our pinnace anchors in the Downs -Here shall they make their ransom on the sand , -Or with their blood stain this discolour'd shore . -Master , this prisoner freely give I thee : -And thou that art his mate make boot of this ; -The other - -, Walter Whitmore , is thy share . - -What is my ransom , master ? let me know . - -A thousand crowns , or else lay down your head . - -And so much shall you give , or off goes yours . - -What ! think you much to pay two thousand crowns , -And bear the name and port of gentlemen ? -Cut both the villains' throats ! for die you shall : -The lives of those which we have lost in fight -Cannot be counterpois'd with such a petty sum ! - -I'll give it , sir ; and therefore spare my life . - -And so will I , and write home for it straight . - -I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard , - - -And therefore to revenge it shalt thou die ; -And so should these if I might have my will . - -Be not so rash : take ransom ; let him live . - -Look on my George ; I am a gentleman : -Rate me at what thou wilt , thou shalt be paid . - -And so am I ; my name is Walter Whitmore . -How now ! why start'st thou ? what ! doth death affright ? - -Thy name affrights me , in whose sound is death . -A cunning man did calculate my birth , -And told me that by Water I should die : -Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded ; -Thy name is Gaultier , being rightly sounded . - -Gaultier , or Walter , which it is I care not ; -Never yet did base dishonour blur our name -But with our sword we wip'd away the blot : -Therefore , when merchant-like I sell revenge , -Broke be my sword , my arms torn and defac'd , -And I proclaim'd a coward through the world ! - - -Stay , Whitmore ; for thy prisoner is a prince , -The Duke of Suffolk , William de la Pole . - -The Duke of Suffolk muffled up in rags ! - -Ay , but these rags are no part of the duke : -Jove sometimes went disguis'd , and why not I ? - -But Jove was never slain , as thou shalt be . - -Obscure and lowly swain , King Henry's blood , -The honourable blood of Lancaster , -Must not be shed by such a jaded groom . -Hast thou not kiss'd thy hand and held my stirrup ? -Bare-headed plodded by my foot-cloth mule , -And thought thee happy when I shook my head ? -How often hast thou waited at my cup , -Fed from my trencher , kneel'd down at the board , -When I have feasted with Queen Margaret ? -Remember it and let it make thee crest-fall'n ; -Ay , and allay this thy abortive pride . -How in our voiding lobby hast thou stood -And duly waited for my coming forth ? -This hand of mine hath writ in thy behalf , -And therefore shall it charm thy riotous tongue . - -Speak , captain , shall I stab the forlorn swain ? - -First let my words stab him , as he hath me . - -Base slave , thy words are blunt , and so art thou . - -Convey him hence , and on our longboat's side -Strike off his head . - -Thou dar'st not for thy own . - -Yes , Pole . - -Pole ! - -Pool ! Sir Pool ! lord ! -Ay , kennel , puddle , sink ; whose filth and dirt -Troubles the silver spring where England drinks . -Now will I dam up this thy yawning mouth -For swallowing the treasure of the realm : -Thy lips , that kiss'd the queen , shall sweep the ground ; -And thou , that smil'dst at good Duke Humphrey's death , -Against the senseless winds shall grin in vain , -Who in contempt shall hiss at thee again : -And wedded be thou to the hags of hell , -For daring to affy a mighty lord -Unto the daughter of a worthless king , -Having neither subject , wealth , nor diadem . -By devilish policy art thou grown great , -And , like ambitious Sylla , overgorg'd -With gobbets of thy mother's bleeding heart . -By thee Anjou and Maine were sold to France , -The false revolting Normans thorough thee -Disdain to call us lord , and Picardy -Hath slain their governors , surpris'd our forts , -And sent the ragged soldiers wounded home . -The princely Warwick , and the Nevils all , -Whose dreadful swords were never drawn in vain , -As hating thee , are rising up in arms : -And now the house of York , thrust from the crown -By shameful murder of a guiltless king , -And lofty proud encroaching tyranny , -Burns with revenging fire ; whose hopeful colours -Advance our half-fac'd sun , striving to shine , -Under the which is writ Invitis nubibus . -The commons here in Kent are up in arms ; -And to conclude , reproach and beggary -Is crept into the palace of our king , -And all by thee . Away ! convey him hence . - -O ! that I were a god , to shoot forth thunder -Upon these paltry , servile , abject drudges . -Small things make base men proud : this villain here , -Being captain of a pinnace , threatens more -Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian pirate . -Drones suck not eagles' blood , but rob beehives . -It is impossible that I should die -By such a lowly vassal as thyself . -Thy words move rage , and not remorse in me : -I go of message from the queen to France ; -I charge thee , waft me safely cross the Channel . - -Walter ! - -Come , Suffolk , I must waft thee to thy death . - -Gelidus timor occupat artus : 'tis thee I fear . - -Thou shalt have cause to fear before I leave thee . -What ! are ye daunted now ? now will ye stoop ? - -My gracious lord , entreat him , speak him fair . - -Suffolk's imperial tongue is stern and rough , -Us'd to command , untaught to plead for favour . -Far be it we should honour such as these -With humble suit : no , rather let my head -Stoop to the block than these knees bow to any -Save to the God of heaven , and to my king ; -And sooner dance upon a bloody pole -Than stand uncover'd to the vulgar groom . -True nobility is exempt from fear : -More can I bear than you dare execute . - -Hale him away , and let him talk no more . - -Come , soldiers , show what cruelty ye can , -That this my death may never be forgot . -Great men oft die by vile bezonians . -A Roman sworder and banditto slave -Murder'd sweet Tully ; Brutus' bastard hand -Stabb'd Julius C sar ; savage islanders -Pompey the Great ; and Suffolk dies by pirates . - - -And as for these whose ransom we have set , -It is our pleasure one of them depart : -Therefore come you with us and let him go . - -There let his head and lifeless body lie , -Until the queen his mistress bury it . - - -O barbarous and bloody spectacle ! -His body will I bear unto the king : -If he revenge it not , yet will his friends ; -So will the queen , that living held him dear . - - -Come , and get thee a sword , though made of a lath : they have been up these two days . - -They have the more need to sleep now then . - -I tell thee , Jack Cade the clothier means to dress the commonwealth , and turn it , and set a new nap upon it . - -So he had need , for 'tis threadbare . Well , I say it was never merry world in England since gentlemen came up . - -O miserable age ! Virtue is not regarded in handicrafts-men . - -The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons . - -Nay , more ; the king's council are no good workmen . - -True ; and yet it is said , 'Labour in thy vocation :' which is as much to say as , let the magistrates be labouring men ; and therefore should we be magistrates . - -Thou hast hit it ; for there's no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand . - -I see them ! I see them ! There's Best's son , the tanner of Wingham , - -He shall have the skins of our enemies to make dog's-leather of . - -And Dick the butcher , - -Then is sin struck down like an ox , and iniquity's throat cut like a calf . - -And Smith the weaver , - -Argo , their thread of life is spun . - -Come , come , let's fall in with them . - - -We John Cade , so termed of our supposed father , - -Or rather , of stealing a cade of herrings . - -For our enemies shall fall before us , inspired with the spirit of putting down kings and princes ,Command silence . - -Silence ! - -My father was a Mortimer . - -He was an honest man , and a good bricklayer . - -My mother a Plantagenet , - -I knew her well ; she was a midwife . - -My wife descended of the Lacies , - -She was , indeed , a pedlar's daughter , and sold many laces . - -But now of late , not able to travel with her furred pack , she washes bucks here at home . - -Therefore am I of an honourable house . - -Ay , by my faith , the field is honourable ; and there was he born , under a hedge ; for his father had never a house but the cage . - -Valiant I am . - -A' must needs , for beggary is valiant . - -I am able to endure much . - -No question of that , for I have seen him whipped three market-days together . - -I fear neither sword nor fire . - -He need not fear the sword , for his coat is of proof . - -But methinks he should stand in fear of fire , being burnt i' the hand for stealing of sheep . - -Be brave , then ; for your captain is brave , and vows reformation . There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny ; the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops ; and I will make it felony to drink small beer . All the realm shall be in common , and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass . And when I am king ,as king I will be , - -God save your majesty ! - -I thank you , good people : there shall be no money ; all shall eat and drink on my score , and I will apparel them all in one livery , that they may agree like brothers , and worship me their lord . - -The first thing we do , let's kill all the lawyers . - -Nay , that I mean to do . Is not this a lamentable thing , that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment ? that parchment , being scribbled o'er , should undo a man ? Some say the bee stings ; but I say , 'tis the bee's wax , for I did but seal once to a thing , and I was never mine own man since . How now ! who's there ? - - -The clerk of Chatham : he can write and read and cast accompt . - -O monstrous ! - -We took him setting of boys' copies . - -Here's a villain ! - -Has a book in his pocket with red letters in't . - -Nay , then he is a conjurer . - -Nay , he can make obligations , and write court-hand . - -I am sorry for't : the man is a proper man , of mine honour ; unless I find him guilty , he shall not die . Come hither , sirrah , I must examine thee . What is thy name ? - -Emmanuel . - -They use to write it on the top of letters . 'Twill go hard with you . - -Let me alone . Dost thou use to write thy name , or hast thou a mark to thyself , like an honest plain-dealing man ? - -Sir , I thank God , I have been so well brought up , that I can write my name . - -He hath confessed : away with him ! he's a villain and a traitor . - -Away with him ! I say : hang him with his pen and ink-horn about his neck . - -Where's our general ? - -Here I am , thou particular fellow . - -Fly , fly , fly ! Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are hard by , with the king's forces . - -Stand , villain , stand , or I'll fell thee down . He shall be encountered with a man as good as himself : he is but a knight , is a' ? - -No . - -To equal him , I will make myself a knight presently . - -Rise up Sir John Mortimer . [Rises .] Now have at him . - - -Rebellious hinds , the filth and scum of Kent , -Mark'd for the gallows , lay your weapons down ; -Home to your cottages , forsake this groom : -The king is merciful , if you revolt . - -But angry , wrathful , and inclin'd to blood , -If you go forward : therefore yield , or die . - -As for these silken-coated slaves , I pass not : -It is to you , good people , that I speak , -O'er whom , in time to come I hope to reign ; -For I am rightful heir unto the crown . - -Villain ! thy father was a plasterer ; -And thou thyself a shearman , art thou not ? - -And Adam was a gardener . - -And what of that ? - -Marry , this : Edmund Mortimer , Earl of March , -Married the Duke of Clarence' daughter , did he not ? - -Ay , sir . - -By her he had two children at one birth . - -That's false . - -Ay , there's the question ; but I say , 'tis true : -The elder of them , being put to nurse , -Was by a beggar-woman stol'n away ; -And , ignorant of his birth and parentage , -Became a bricklayer when he came to age : -His son am I ; deny it if you can . - -Nay , 'tis too true ; therefore he shall be king . - -Sir , he made a chimney in my father's house , and the bricks are alive at this day to testify it ; therefore deny it not . - -And will you credit this base drudge's words , -That speaks he knows not what ? - -Ay , marry , will we ; therefore get ye gone . - -Jack Cade , the Duke of York hath taught you this . - -He lies , for I invented it myself . Go to , sirrah ; tell the king from me , that , for his father's sake , Henry the Fifth , in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns , I am content he shall reign ; but I'll be protector over him . - -And furthermore , we'll have the Lord Say's head for selling the dukedom of Maine . - -And good reason ; for thereby is England mained , and fain to go with a staff , but that my puissance holds it up . Fellow kings , I tell you that that Lord Say hath gelded the commonwealth , and made it a eunuch ; and more than that , he can speak French ; and therefore he is a traitor . - -O gross and miserable ignorance ! - -Nay , answer , if you can : the Frenchmen are our enemies ; go to then , I ask but this , can he that speaks with the tongue of an enemy be a good counsellor , or no ? - -No , no ; and therefore we'll have his head . - -Well , seeing gentle words will not prevail , -Assail them with the army of the king . - -Herald , away ; and throughout every town -Proclaim them traitors that are up with Cade ; -That those which fly before the battle ends -May , even in their wives' and children's sight , -Be hang'd up for example at their doors : -And you , that be the king's friends , follow me . - - -And you , that love the commons , follow me . -Now show yourselves men ; 'tis for liberty . -We will not leave one lord , one gentleman : -Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon , -For they are thrifty honest men , and such -As would , but that they dare not take our parts . - -They are all in order , and march toward us . - -But then are we in order when we are most out of order . Come , march ! forward ! - - -Where's Dick , the butcher of Ashford ? - -Here , sir . - -They fell before thee like sheep and oxen , and thou behavedst thyself as if thou hadst been in thine own slaughter-house : therefore thus will I reward thee , the Lent shall be as long again as it is ; and thou shalt have a licence to kill for a hundred lacking one . - -I desire no more . - -And , to speak truth , thou deservest no less . This monument of the victory will I bear ; - -and the bodies shall be dragged at my horse' heels , till I do come to London , where we will have the Mayor's sword borne before us . - -If we mean to thrive and do good , break open the gaols and let out the prisoners . - -Fear not that , I warrant thee . Come ; let's march towards London . - - -Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind , -And makes it fearful and degenerate ; -Think therefore on revenge , and cease to weep . -But who can cease to weep and look on this ? -Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast ; -But where's the body that I should embrace ? - -What answer makes your Grace to the rebels' supplication ? - -I'll send some holy bishop to entreat ; -For God forbid so many simple souls -Should perish by the sword ! And I myself , -Rather than bloody war shall cut them short , -Will parley with Jack Cade their general . -But stay , I'll read it over once again . - -Ah , barbarous villains ! hath this lovely face -Rul'd like a wandering planet over me , -And could it not enforce them to relent , -That were unworthy to behold the same ? - -Lord Say , Jack Cade hath sworn to have thy head . - -Ay , but I hope your highness shall have his . - -How now , madam ! -Still lamenting and mourning for Suffolk's death ? -I fear me , love , if that I had been dead , -Thou wouldest not have mourn'd so much for me . - -No , my love ; I should not mourn , but die for thee . - - -How now ! what news ? why com'st thou in such haste ? - -The rebels are in Southwark ; fly , my lord ! -Jack Cade proclaims himself Lord Mortimer , -Descended from the Duke of Clarence' house , -And calls your Grace usurper openly , -And vows to crown himself in Westminster . -His army is a ragged multitude -Of hinds and peasants , rude and merciless : -Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother's death -Hath given them heart and courage to proceed . -All scholars , lawyers , courtiers , gentlemen , -They call false caterpillars , and intend their death . - -O graceless men ! they know not what they do . - -My gracious lord , retire to Killingworth , -Until a power be rais'd to put them down . - -Ah ! were the Duke of Suffolk now alive , -These Kentish rebels would be soon appeas'd . - -Lord Say , the traitors hate thee , -Therefore away with us to Killingworth . - -So might your Grace's person be in danger . -The sight of me is odious in their eyes ; -And therefore in this city will I stay , -And live alone as secret as I may . - - -Jack Cade hath gotten London bridge ; -The citizens fly and forsake their houses ; -The rascal people , thirsting after prey , -Join with the traitor ; and they jointly swear -To spoil the city and your royal court . - -Then linger not , my lord ; away ! take horse . - -Come , Margaret ; God , our hope , will succour us . - -My hope is gone , now Suffolk is deceas'd . - -Farewell , my lord : trust not the Kentish rebels . - -Trust nobody , for fear you be betray'd . - -The trust I have is in mine innocence , -And therefore am I bold and resolute . - - -How now ! is Jack Cade slain ? - -No , my lord , nor likely to be slain ; for they have won the bridge , killing all those that withstand them . The Lord Mayor craves aid of your honour from the Tower , to defend the city from the rebels . - -Such aid as I can spare you shall command ; -But I am troubled here with them myself ; -The rebels have assay'd to win the Tower . -But get you to Smithfield and gather head , -And thither I will send you Matthew Goffe : -Fight for your king , your country , and your lives ; -And so , farewell , for I must hence again . - - -Now is Mortimer lord of this city . And here , sitting upon London-stone , I charge and command that , of the city's cost , the pissing-conduit run nothing but claret wine this first year of our reign . And now , henceforward , it shall be treason for any that calls me other than Lord Mortimer . - - -Jack Cade ! Jack Cade ! - -Knock him down there . - - -If this fellow be wise , he'll never call you Jack Cade more : I think he hath a very fair warning . - -My lord , there's an army gathered together in Smithfield . - -Come then , let's go fight with them . But first , go and set London-bridge on fire , and , if you can , burn down the Tower too . Come , let's away . - - -So , sirs :Now go some and pull down the Savoy ; others to the inns of court : down with them all . - -I have a suit unto your lordship . - -Be it a lordship , thou shalt have it for that word . - -Only that the laws of England may come out of your mouth . - -Mass , 'twill be sore law then ; for he was thrust in the mouth with a spear , and 'tis not whole yet . - -Nay , John , it will be stinking law ; for his breath stinks with eating toasted cheese . - -I have thought upon it ; it shall be so . Away ! burn all the records of the realm : my mouth shall be the parliament of England . - -Then we are like to have biting statutes , unless his teeth be pulled out . - -And henceforward all things shall be in common . - - -My lord , a prize , a prize ! here's the Lord Say , which sold the towns in France ; he that made us pay one-and-twenty fifteens , and one shilling to the pound , the last subsidy . - - -Well , he shall be beheaded for it ten times . Ah ! thou say , thou serge , nay , thou buckram lord ; now art thou within pointblank of our jurisdiction regal . What canst thou answer to my majesty for giving up of Normandy unto Monsieur Basimecu , the Dauphin of France ? Be it known unto thee by these presence , even the presence of Lord Mortimer , that I am the besom that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art . Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar-school ; and whereas , before , our fore-fathers had no other books but the score and the tally , thou hast caused printing to be used ; and , contrary to the king , his crown , and dignity , thou hast built a paper-mill . It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb , and such abominable words as no Christian car can endure to hear . Thou hast appointed justices of peace , to call poor men before them about matters they were not able to answer . Moreover , thou hast put them in prison ; and because they could not read , thou hast hanged them ; when indeed only for that cause they have been most worthy to live . Thou dost ride on a foot-cloth , dost thou not ? - -What of that ? - -Marry , thou oughtest not to let thy horse wear a cloak , when honester men than thou go in their hose and doublets . - -And work in their shirt too ; as myself , for example , that am a butcher . - -You men of Kent , - -What say you of Kent ? - -Nothing but this : 'tis bona terra , mala gens . - -Away with him ! away with him ! he speaks Latin . - -Hear me but speak , and bear me where you will . -Kent , in the Commentaries C sar writ , -Is term'd the civil'st place of all this isle : -Sweet is the country , because full of riches ; -The people liberal , valiant , active , wealthy ; -Which makes me hope you are not void of pity . -I sold not Maine , I lost not Normandy ; -Yet , to recover them , would lose my life . -Justice with favour have I always done ; -Prayers and tears have mov'd me , gifts could never . -When have I aught exacted at your hands , -But to maintain the king , the realm , and you ? -Large gifts have I bestow'd on learned clerks , -Because my book preferr'd me to the king , -And seeing ignorance is the curse of God , -Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven , -Unless you be possess'd with devilish spirits , -You cannot but forbear to murder me : -This tongue hath parley'd unto foreign kings -For your behoof , - -Tut ! when struck'st thou one blow in the field ? - -Great men have reaching hands : oft have I struck -Those that I never saw , and struck them dead . - -O monstrous coward ! what , to come behind folks ! - -These cheeks are pale for watching for your good . - -Give him a box o' the ear , and that will make 'em red again . - -Long sitting , to determine poor men's causes , -Hath made me full of sickness and diseases . - -Ye shall have a hempen caudle then , and the help of hatchet . - -Why dost thou quiver , man ?. - -The palsy , and not fear , provokes me . - -Nay , he nods at us ; as who should say , I'll be even with you : I'll see if his head will stand steadier on a pole , or no . Take him away and behead him . - -Tell me wherein have I offended most ? -Have I affected wealth , or honour ? speak . -Are my chests fill'd up with extorted gold ? -Is my apparel sumptuous to behold ? -Whom have I injur'd , that ye seek my death ? -These hands are free from guiltless bloodshedding , -This breast from harbouring foul deceitful thoughts . -O ! let me live . - -I feel remorse in myself with his words ; but I'll bridle it : he shall die , an it be but for pleading so well for his life . Away with him ! he has a familiar under his tongue ; he speaks not o' God's name . Go , take him away , I say , and strike off his head presently ; and then break into his son-in-law's house , Sir James Cromer , and strike off his head , and bring them both upon two poles hither . - -It shall be done . - -Ah , countrymen ! if when you make your prayers , -God should be so obdurate as yourselves , -How would it fare with your departed souls ? -And therefore yet relent , and save my life . - -Away with him ! and do as I command ye . - -The proudest peer in the realm shall not wear a head on his shoulders , unless he pay me tribute ; there shall not a maid be married , but she shall pay to me her maidenhead , ere they have it ; men shall hold of me in capite ; and we charge and command that their wives be as free as heart can wish or tongue can tell . - -My lord , when shall we go to Cheapside and take up commodities upon our bills ? - -Marry , presently . - -O ! brave ! - - -But is not this braver ? Let them kiss one another , for they loved well when they were alive . Now part them again , lest they consult about the giving up of some more towns in France . Soldiers , defer the spoil of the city until night : for with these borne before us , instead of maces , will we ride through the streets ; and at every corner have them kiss . Away ! - - -Up Fish Street ! down St . Magnus' corner ! kill and knock down ! throw them into Thames ! [A parley sounded , then a retreat .] What noise is this I hear ? Dare any be so bold to sound retreat or parley , when I command them kill ? - - -Ay , here they be that dare and will disturb thee . -Know , Cade , we come ambassadors from the king -Unto the commons whom thou hast misled ; -And here pronounce free pardon to them all -That will forsake thee and go home in peace . - -What say ye , countrymen ? will ye relent , -And yield to mercy , whilst 'tis offer'd you , -Or let a rebel lead you to your deaths ? -Who loves the king , and will embrace his pardon , -Fling up his cap , and say 'God save his majesty !' -Who hateth him , and honours not his father , -Henry the Fifth , that made all France to quake , -Shake he his weapon at us , and pass by . - -God save the king ! God save the king ! - -What ! Buckingham and Clifford , are ye so brave ? And you , base peasants , do ye believe him ? will you needs be hanged with your pardons about your necks ? Hath my sword therefore broke through London Gates , that you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark ? I thought ye would never have given out these arms till you had recovered your ancient freedom ; but you are all recreants and dastards , and delight to live in slavery to the nobility . Let them break your backs with burdens , take your houses over your heads , ravish your wives and daughters before your faces : for me , I will make shift for one , and so , God's curse light upon you all ! - -We'll follow Cade , we'll follow Cade ! - -Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth , -That thus you do exclaim you'll go with him ? -Will he conduct you through the heart of France , -And make the meanest of you earls and dukes ? -Alas ! he hath no home , no place to fly to ; -Nor knows he how to live but by the spoil , -Unless by robbing of your friends and us . -Were't not a shame , that whilst you live at jar , -The fearful French , whom you late vanquished , -Should make a start o'er seas and vanquish you ? -Methinks already in this civil broil -I see them lording it in London streets , -Crying Villiago ! unto all they meet . -Better ten thousand base-born Cades miscarry , -Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman's mercy . -To France , to France ! and get what you have lost ; -Spare England , for it is your native coast . -Henry hath money , you are strong and manly ; -God on our side , doubt not of victory . - -A Clifford ! a Clifford ! we'll follow the king and Clifford . - -Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro as this multitude ? The name of Henry the Fifth hales them to a hundred mischiefs , and makes them leave me desolate . I see them lay their heads together to surprise me . My sword make way for me , for here is no staying . In despite of the devils and hell , have through the very middest of you ! and heavens and honour be witness , that no want of resolution in me , but only my followers' base and ignominious treasons , makes me betake me to my heels . - - -What , is he fled ? go some , and follow him ; -And he that brings his head unto the king -Shall have a thousand crowns for his reward . - -Follow me , soldiers : we'll devise a mean -To reconcile you all unto the king . - - -Was ever king that joy'd an earthly throne , -And could command no more content than I ? -No sooner was I crept out of my cradle -But I was made a king at nine months old : -Was never subject long'd to be a king -As I do long and wish to be a subject . - - -Health , and glad tidings , to your majesty ! - -Why , Buckingham , is the traitor Cade surpris'd ? -Or is he but retir'd to make him strong ? - - -He's fled , my lord , and all his powers do yield ; -And humbly thus , with halters on their necks , -Expect your highness' doom , of life , or death . - -Then , heaven , set ope thy everlasting gates , -To entertain my vows of thanks and praise ! -Soldiers , this day have you redeem'd your lives , -And show'd how well you love your prince and country : -Continue still in this so good a mind , -And Henry , though he be infortunate , -Assure yourselves , will never be unkind : -And so , with thanks and pardon to you all , -I do dismiss you to your several countries . - -God save the king ! God save the king ! - - -Please it your Grace to be advertised , -The Duke of York is newly come from Ireland ; -And with a puissant and a mighty power -Of Gallowglasses , and stout kerns , -Is marching hitherward in proud array ; -And still proclaimeth , as he comes along , -His arms are only to remove from thee -The Duke of Somerset , whom he terms a traitor . - -Thus stands my state , 'twixt Cade and York distress'd ; -Like to a ship , that , having scap'd a tempest , -Is straight way calm'd , and boarded with a pirate . -But now is Cade driven back , his men dispers'd ; -And now is York in arms to second him . -I pray thee , Buckingham , go and meet him , -And ask him what's the reason of these arms . -Tell him I'll send Duke Edmund to the Tower ; -And , Somerset , we will commit thee thither , -Until his army be dismiss'd from him . - -My lord , -I'll yield myself to prison willingly , -Or unto death , to do my country good . - -In any case , be not too rough in terms ; -For he is fierce and cannot brook hard language . - -I will , my lord ; and doubt not so to deal -As all things shall redound unto your good . - -Come , wife , let's in , and learn to govern better ; -For yet may England curse my wretched reign . - -Fie on ambition ! fie on myself , that have a sword , and yet am ready to famish ! These five days have I hid me in these woods and durst not peep out , for all the country is laid for me ; but now I am so hungry , that if I might have a lease of my life for a thousand years I could stay no longer . Wherefore , on a brick wall have I climbed into this garden , to see if I can eat grass , or pick a sallet another while , which is not amiss to cool a man's stomach this hot weather . And I think this word 'sallet' was born to do me good : for many a time , but for a sallet , my brain-pan had been cleft with a brown bill ; and many a time , when I have been dry , and bravely marching , it hath served me instead of a quart-pot to drink in ; and now the word 'sallet' must serve me to feed on . - - -Lord ! who would live turmoiled in the court , -And may enjoy such quiet walks as these ? -This small inheritance my father left me -Contenteth me , and worth a monarchy . -I seek not to wax great by others' waning , -Or gather wealth I care not with what envy : -Sufficeth that I have maintains my state , -And sends the poor well pleased from my gate . - -Here's the lord of the soil come to seize me for a stray , for entering his fee-simple without leave . Ah , villain ! thou wilt betray me , and get a thousand crowns of the king by carrying my head to him ; but I'll make thee eat iron like an ostrich , and swallow my sword like a great pin , ere thou and I part . - -Why , rude companion , whatsoe'er thou be , -I know thee not ; why then should I betray thee ? -Is't not enough to break into my garden , -And like a thief to come to rob my grounds , -Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner , -But thou wilt brave me with these saucy terms ? - -Brave thee ! ay , by the best blood that ever was broached , and beard thee too . Look on me well : I have eat no meat these five days ; yet , come thou and thy five men , and if I do not leave you all as dead as a door-nail , I pray God I may never eat grass more . - -Nay , it shall ne'er be said , while England stands , -That Alexander Iden , an esquire of Kent , -Took odds to combat a poor famish'd man . -Oppose thy steadfast-gazing eyes to mine , -See if thou canst out-face me with thy looks : -Set limb to limb , and thou art far the lesser ; -Thy hand is but a finger to my fist ; -Thy leg a stick compared with this truncheon ; -My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast ; -And if mine arm be heaved in the air -Thy grave is digg'd already in the earth . -As for more words , whose greatness answers words , -Let this my sword report what speech forbears . - -By my valour , the most complete champion that ever I heard ! Steel , if thou turn the edge , or cut not out the burly-boned clown in chines of beef ere thou sleep in thy sheath , I beseech Jove on my knees , thou mayst be turned to hobnails . - -O , I am slain ! Famine and no other hath slain me : let ten thousand devils come against me , and give me but the ten meals I have lost , and I'll defy them all . Wither , garden ; and be henceforth a burying-place to all that do dwell in this house , because the unconquered soul of Cade is fled . - -Is't Cade that I have slain , that monstrous traitor ? -Sword , I will hallow thee for this thy deed , -And hang thee o'er my tomb when I am dead : -Ne'er shall this blood be wiped from thy point , -But thou shalt wear it as a herald's coat , -To emblaze the honour that thy master got . - -Iden , farewell ; and be proud of thy victory . Tell Kent from me , she hath lost her best man , and exhort all the world to be cowards ; for I , that never feared any , am vanquished by famine , not by valour . - - -How much thou wrong'st me , heaven be my judge . -Die , damned wretch , the curse of her that bare thee ! -And as I thrust thy body in with my sword , -So wish I I might thrust thy soul to hell . -Hence will I drag thee headlong by the heels -Unto a dunghill which shall be thy grave , -And there cut off thy most ungracious head ; -Which I will bear in triumph to the king , -Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon . - - -From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right , -And pluck the crown from feeble Henry's head : -Ring , bells , aloud ; burn , bonfires , clear and bright , -To entertain great England's lawful king . -Ah sancta majestas , who would not buy thee dear ? -Let them obey that know not how to rule ; -This hand was made to handle nought but gold : -I cannot give due action to my words , -Except a sword , or sceptre balance it . -A sceptre shall it have , have I-a soul , -On which I'll toss the flower-de-luce of France . - - -Whom have we here ? Buckingham , to disturb me ? - -The king hath sent him , sure : I must dissemble . - -York , if thou meanest well , I greet thee well . - -Humphrey of Buckingham , I accept thy greeting . -Art thou a messenger , or come of pleasure ? - -A messenger from Henry , our dread hege , -To know the reason of these arms in peace ; -Or why thou ,being a subject as I am , -Against thy oath and true allegiance sworn , -Shouldst raise so great a power without his leave , -Or dare to bring thy force so near the court . - -Scarce can I speak , my choler is so great : -O ! I could hew up rocks and fight with flint , -I am so angry at these abject terms ; -And now , like Ajax Telamonius , -On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury . -I am far better born than is the king , -More like a king , more kingly in my thoughts ; -But I must make fair weather yet awhile , -Till Henry be more weak , and I more strong . - - -Buckingham , I prithee , pardon me , -That I have given no answer all this while ; -My mind was troubled with deep melancholy . -The cause why I have brought this army hither -Is to remove proud Somerset from the king , -Seditious to his Grace and to the state . - -That is too much presumption on thy part : -But if thy arms be to no other end , -The king hath yielded unto thy demand : -The Duke of Somerset is in the Tower . - -Upon thine honour , is he a prisoner ? - -Upon mine honour , he is a prisoner . - -Then , Buckingham , I do dismiss my powers . -Soldiers , I thank you all ; disperse yourselves ; -Meet me to-morrow in Saint George's field , -You shall have pay , and everything you wish , -And let my sov'reign , virtuous Henry , -Command my eldest son , nay , all my sons , -As pledges of my fealty and love ; -I'll send them all as willing as I live : -Lands , goods , horse , armour , anything I have -Is his to use , so Somerset may die . - -York , I commend this kind submission : -We twain will go into his highness' tent . - - -Buckingham , doth York intend no harm to us , -That thus he marcheth with thee arm in arm ? - -In all submission and humility -York doth present himself unto your highness . - -Then what intend these forces thou dost bring ? - -To heave the traitor Somerset from hence , -And fight against that monstrous rebel , Cade , -Who since I heard to be discomfited . - - -If one so rude and of so mean condition -May pass into the presence of a king , -Lo ! I present your Grace a traitor's head , -The head of Cade , whom I in combat slew . - -The head of Cade ! Great God , how just art thou ! -O ! let me view his visage , being dead , -That living wrought me such exceeding trouble . -Tell me , my friend , art thou the man that slew him ? - -I was , an't like your majesty . - -How art thou call'd , and what is thy degree ? - -Alexander Iden , that's my name ; -A poor esquire of Kent , that loves his king . - -So please it you , my lord , 'twere not amiss -He were created knight for his good service . - -Iden , kneel down . - -Rise up a knight . -We give thee for reward a thousand marks ; -And will , that thou henceforth attend on us . - -May Iden live to merit such a bounty , -And never live but true unto his liege ! - -See ! Buckingham ! Somerset comes with the queen : -Go , bid her hide him quickly from the duke . - - -For thousand Yorks he shall not hide his head , -But boldly stand and front him to his face . - -How now ! is Somerset at liberty ? -Then , York , unloose thy long-imprison'd thoughts -And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart . -Shall I endure the sight of Somerset ? -False king ! why hast thou broken faith with me , -Knowing how hardly I can brook abuse ? -King did I call thee ? no , thou art not king ; -Not fit to govern and rule multitudes , -Which dar'st not , no , nor canst not rule a traitor . -That head of thine doth not become a crown ; -Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff , -And not to grace an awful princely sceptre . -That gold must round engirt these brows of mine , -Whose smile and frown , like to Achilles' spear , -Is able with the change to kill and cure . -Here is a hand to hold a sceptre up , -And with the same to act controlling laws . -Give place : by heaven , thou shalt rule no more -O'er him whom heaven created for thy ruler . - -O monstrous traitor :I arrest thee , York , -Of capital treason 'gainst the king and crown . -Obey , audacious traitor ; kneel for grace . - -Wouldst have me kneel ? first let me ask of these -If they can brook I bow a knee to man . -Sirrah , call in my sons to be my bail : - -I know ere they will have me go to ward , -They'll pawn their swords for my enfranchisement . - -Call hither Clifford ; bid him come amain , -To say if that the bastard boys of York -Shall be the surety for their traitor father . - - -O blood-bespotted Neapolitan , -Outcast of Naples , England's bloody scourge ! -The sons of York , thy betters in their birth , -Shall be their father's bail ; and bane to those -That for my surety will refuse the boys ! - - -See where they come : I'll warrant they'll make it good . - -And here comes Clifford , to deny their bail . - -Health and all happiness to my lord the king ! - -I thank thee , Clifford : say , what news with thee ? -Nay , do not fright us with an angry look : -We are thy sov'reign , Clifford , kneel again ; -For thy mistaking so , we pardon thee . - -This is my king , York , I do not mistake ; -But thou mistak'st me much to think I do . -To Bedlam with him ! is the man grown mad ? - -Ay , Clifford ; a bedlam and ambitious humour -Makes him oppose himself against his king . - -He is a traitor ; let him to the Tower , -And chop away that factious pate of his . - -He is arrested , but will not obey : -His sons , he says , shall give their words for him . - -Will you not , sons ? - -Ay , noble father , if our words will serve . - -And if words will not , then our weapons shall . - -Why , what a brood of traitors have we here ! - -Look in a glass , and call thy image so : -I am thy king , and thou a false-heart traitor . -Call hither to the stake my two brave bears , -That with the very shaking of their chains -They may astonish these fell-lurking curs : -Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me . - - -Are these thy bears ? we'll bait thy bears to death , -And manacle the bear-ward in their chains , -If thou dar'st bring them to the baiting-place . - -Oft have I seen a hot o'erweening cur -Run back and bite , because he was withheld ; -Who , being suffer'd with the bear's fell paw , -Hath clapp'd his tail between his legs , and cried : -And such a piece of service will you do , -If you oppose yourselves to match Lord Warwick . - -Hence , heap of wrath , foul indigested lump , -As crooked in thy manners as thy shape ! - -Nay , we shall heat you thoroughly anon . - -Take heed , lest by your heat you burn yourselves . - -Why , Warwick , hath thy knee forgot to bow ? -Old Salisbury , shame to thy silver hair , -Thou mad misleader of thy brain-sick son ! -What ! wilt thou on thy death-bed play the ruffian , -And seek for sorrow with thy spectacles ? -O ! where is faith ? O , where is loyalty ? -If it be banish'd from the frosty head , -Where shall it find a harbour in the earth ? -Wilt thou go dig a grave to find out war , -And shame thine honourable age with blood ? -Why art thou old , and want'st experience ? -Or wherefore dost abuse it , if thou hast it ? -For shame ! in duty bend thy knee to me , -That bows unto the grave with mickle age . - -My lord , I have consider'd with myself -The title of this most renowned duke ; -And in my conscience do repute his Grace -The rightful heir to England's royal seat . - -Hast thou not sworn allegiance unto me ? - -I have . - -Canst thou dispense with heaven for such an oath ? - -It is great sin to swear unto a sin , -But greater sin to keep a sinful oath . -Who can be bound by any solemn vow -To do a murderous deed , to rob a man , -To force a spotless virgin's chastity , -To reave the orphan of his patrimony , -To wring the widow from her custom'd right , -And have no other reason for this wrong -But that he was bound by a solemn oath ? - -A subtle traitor needs no sophister . - -Call Buckingham , and bid him arm himself . - -Call Buckingham , and all the friends thou hast , -I am resolv'd for death , or dignity . - -The first I warrant thee , if dreams prove true . - -You were best to go to bed and dream again , -To keep thee from the tempest of the field . - -I am resolv'd to bear a greater storm -Than any thou canst conjure up to-day ; -And that I'll write upon thy burgonet , -Might I but know thee by thy household badge . - -Now , by my father's badge , old Nevil's crest , -The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff , -This day I'll wear aloft my burgonet , -As on a mountain-top the cedar shows , -That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm , -Even to affright thee with the view thereof . - -And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear , -And tread it underfoot with all contempt , -Despite the bear-ward that protects the bear . - -And so to arms , victorious father , -To quell the rebels and their complices . - -Fie ! charity ! for shame ! speak not in spite , -For you shall sup with Jesu Christ to-night . - -Foul stigmatic , that's more than thou canst tell . - -If not in heaven , you'll surely sup in hell . - - -Clifford of Cumberland , 'tis Warwick calls : -And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear , -Now , when the angry trumpet sounds alarm , -And dead men's cries do fill the empty air , -Clifford , I say , come forth , and fight with me ! -Proud northern lord , Clifford of Cumberland , -Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms . - -How now , my noble lord ! what ! all afoot ? - -The deadly-handed Clifford slew my steed ; -But match to match I have encounter'd him , -And made a prey for carrion kites and crows -Even of the bonny beast he lov'd so well . - - -Of one or both of us the time is come . - -Hold , Warwick ! seek thee out some other chase , -For I myself must hunt this deer to death . - -Then , nobly , York ; 'tis for a crown thou fight'st . -As I intend , Clifford , to thrive to-day , -It grieves my soul to leave thee unassail'd . - - -What seest thou in me , York ? why dost thou pause ? - -With thy brave bearing should I be in love , -But that thou art so fast mine enemy . - -Nor should thy prowess want praise and esteem , -But that 'tis shown ignobly and in treason . - -So let it help me now against thy sword -As I in justice and true right express it . - -My soul and body on the action both ! - -A dreadful lay ! address thee instantly . - -La fin couronne les uvres . - - -Thus war hath given thee peace , for thou art still . -Peace with his soul , heaven , if it be thy will ! - -Shame and confusion ! all is on the rout : -Fear frames disorder , and disorder wounds -Where it should guard . O war ! thou son of hell , -Whom angry heavens do make their minister , -Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part -Hot coals of vengeance ! Let no soldier fly : -He that is truly dedicate to war -Hath no self-love ; nor he that loves himself -Hath not essentially , but by circumstance , -The name of valour . - -O ! let the vile world end , -And the premised flames of the last day -Knit heaven and earth together ; -Now let the general trumpet blow his blast , -Particularities and petty sounds -To cease !Wast thou ordain'd , dear father , -To lose thy youth in peace , and to achieve -The silver livery of advised age , -And , in thy reverence and thy chair-days thus -To die in ruffian battle ? Even at this sight -My heart is turn'd to stone : and while 'tis mine -It shall be stony . York not our old men spares : -No more will I their babes : tears virginal -Shall be to me even as the dew to fire ; -And beauty , that the tyrant oft reclaims , -Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax . -Henceforth I will not have to do with pity : -Meet I an infant of the house of York , -Into as many gobbets will I cut it -As wild Medea young Absyrtus did : -In cruelty will I seek out my fame . -Come , thou new ruin of old Clifford's house : - -As did neas old Anchises bear , -So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders ; -But then neas bare a living load , -Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine . - -So , lie thou there ; -For underneath an alehouse' paltry sign , -The Castle in Saint Alban's , Somerset -Hath made the wizard famous in his death . -Sword , hold thy temper ; heart , be wrathful still : -Priests pray for enemies , but princes kill . - -Away , my lord ! you are slow : for shame , away ! - -Can we outrun the heavens ? good Margaret , stay . - -What are you made of ? you'll nor fight nor fly : -Now is it manhood , wisdom , and defence , -To give the enemy way , and to secure us -By what we can , which can no more but fly . - -If you be ta'en , we then should see the bottom -Of all our fortunes : but if we haply scape , -As well we may , if not through your neglect , -We shall to London get , where you are lov'd , -And where this breach now in our fortunes made -May readily be stopp'd . - - -But that my heart's on future mischief set , -I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly ; -But fly you must : uncurable discomfit -Reigns in the hearts of all our present parts . -Away , for your relief ! and we will live -To see their day and them our fortune give . -Away , my lord , away ! - - -Of Salisbury , who can report of him ; -That winter lion , who in rage forgets -Aged contusions and all brush of time , -And , like a gallant in the brow of youth , -Repairs him with occasion ? this happy day -Is not itself , nor have we won one foot , -If Salisbury be lost . - -My noble father , -Three times to-day I holp him to his horse , -Three times bestrid him ; thrice I led him off , -Persuaded him from any further act : -But still , where danger was , still there I met him ; -And like rich hangings in a homely house , -So was his will in his old feeble body . -But , noble as he is , look where he comes . - - -Now , by my sword , well hast thou fought to-day ; -By the mass , so did we all . I thank you , Richard : -God knows how long it is I have to live ; -And it hath pleas'd him that three times to-day -You have defended me from imminent death . -Well , lords , we have not got that which we have : -'Tis not enough our foes are this time fled , -Being opposites of such repairing nature . - -I know our safety is to follow them ; - -For , as I hear , the king is fled to London , -To call a present court of parliament : -Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth : -What says Lord Warwick ? shall we after them ? - -After them ! nay , before them , if we can . -Now , by my hand , lords , 'twas a glorious day : -Saint Alban's battle , won by famous York , -Shall be eterniz'd in all age to come . -Sound , drums and trumpets , and to London all : -And more such days as these to us befall ! - -THE THIRD PART OF KING HENRY VI - -I wonder how the king escap'd our hands . - -While we pursu'd the horsemen of the north , -He slily stole away and left his men : -Whereat the great Lord of Northumberland , -Whose warlike ears could never brook retreat , -Cheer'd up the drooping army ; and himself , -Lord Clifford , and Lord Stafford , all abreast , -Charg'd our main battle's front , and breaking in -Were by the swords of common soldiers slain . - -Lord Stafford's father , Duke of Buckingham , -Is either slain or wounded dangerously ; -I cleft his beaver with a downright blow : -That this is true , father , behold his blood . - - -And , brother , here's the Earl of Wiltshire's blood , - -Whom I encounter'd as the battles join'd . - -Speak thou for me , and tell them what I did . - - -Richard hath best deserv'd of all my sons . -But , is your Grace dead , my Lord of Somerset ? - -Such hope have all the line of John of Gaunt ! - -Thus do I hope to shake King Henry's head . - -And so do I . Victorious Prince of York , -Before I see thee seated in that throne -Which now the house of Lancaster usurps , -I vow by heaven these eyes shall never close . -This is the palace of the fearful king , -And this the regal seat : possess it , York ; -For this is thine , and not King Henry's heirs' . - -Assist me , then , sweet Warwick , and I will ; -For hither we have broken in by force . - -We'll all assist you ; he that flies shall die . - -Thanks , gentle Norfolk . Stay by me , my lords ; -And , soldiers , stay and lodge by me this night . - -And when the king comes , offer him no violence , -Unless he seek to thrust you out perforce . - - -The queen this day here holds her parliament , -But little thinks we shall be of her council : -By words or blows here let us win our right . - -Arm'd as we are , let's stay within this house . - -The bloody parliament shall this be call'd , -Unless Plantagenet , Duke of York , be king , -And bashful Henry depos'd , whose cowardice -Hath made us by-words to our enemies . - -Then leave me not , my lords ; be resolute ; -I mean to take possession of my right . - -Neither the king , nor he that loves him best , -The proudest he that holds up Lancaster , -Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells . -I'll plant Plantagenet , root him up who dares . -Resolve thee , Richard ; claim the English crown . - - -My lords , look where the sturdy rebel sits , -Even in the chair of state ! belike he means -Back'd by the power of Warwick , that false peer -To aspire unto the crown and reign as king . -Earl of Northumberland , he slew thy father , -And thine , Lord Clifford ; and you both have vow'd revenge -On him , his sons , his favourites , and his friends . - -If I be not , heavens be reveng'd on me ! - -The hope thereof makes Clifford mourn in steel . - -What ! shall we suffer this ? let's pluck him down : -My heart for anger burns ; I cannot brook it . - -Be patient , gentle Earl of Westmoreland . - -Patience is for poltroons , such as he : -He durst not sit there had your father liv'd . -My gracious lord , here in the parliament -Let us assail the family of York . - -Well hast thou spoken , cousin : be it so . - -Ah ! know you not the city favours them , -And they have troops of soldiers at their beck ? - -But when the duke is slain they'll quickly fly . - -Far be the thought of this from Henry's heart , -To make a shambles of the parliament-house ! -Cousin of Exeter , frowns , words , and threats , -Shall be the war that Henry means to use . - -Thou factious Duke of York , descend my throne , -And kneel for grace and mercy at my feet ; -I am thy sovereign . - -I am thine . - -For shame ! come down : he made thee Duke of York . - -'Twas my inheritance , as the earldom was . - -Thy father was a traitor to the crown . - -Exeter , thou art a traitor to the crown -In following this usurping Henry . - -Whom should he follow but his natural king ? - -True , Clifford ; and that's Richard , Duke of York . - -And shall I stand , and thou sit in my throne ? - -It must and shall be so : content thyself . - -Be Duke of Lancaster : let him be king . - -He is both king and Duke of Lancaster ; -And that the Lord of Westmoreland shall maintain . - -And Warwick shall disprove it . You forget -That we are those which chas'd you from the field -And slew your fathers , and with colours spread -March'd through the city to the palace gates . - -Yes , Warwick , I remember it to my grief ; -And , by his soul , thou and thy house shall rue it . - -Plantagenet , of thee , and these thy sons , -Thy kinsmen and thy friends , I'll have more lives -Than drops of blood were in my father's veins . - -Urge it no more ; lest that instead of words , -I send thee , Warwick , such a messenger -As shall revenge his death before I stir . - -Poor Clifford ! how I scorn his worthless threats . - -Will you we show our title to the crown ? -If not , our swords shall plead it in the field . - -What title hast thou , traitor , to the crown ? -Thy father was , as thou art , Duke of York ; -Thy grandfather , Roger Mortimer , Earl of March ; -I am the son of Henry the Fifth , -Who made the Dauphin and the French to stoop , -And seiz'd upon their towns and provinces . - -Talk not of France , sith thou hast lost it all . - -The Lord Protector lost it , and not I : -When I was crown'd I was but nine months old . - -You are old enough now , and yet , methinks , you lose . -Father , tear the crown from the usurper's head . - -Sweet father , do so ; set it on your head . - -Good brother , as thou lov'st and honour'st arms , -Let's fight it out and not stand cavilling thus . - -Sound drums and trumpets , and the king will fly . - -Sons , peace ! - -Peace thou ! and give King Henry leave to speak . - -Plantagenet shall speak first : hear him , lords ; -And be you silent and attentive too , -For he that interrupts him shall not live . - -Think'st thou that I will leave my kingly throne , -Wherein my grandsire and my father sat ? -No : first shall war unpeople this my realm ; -Ay , and their colours , often borne in France , -And now in England to our heart's great sorrow , -Shall be my winding-sheet . Why faint you , lords ? -My title's good , and better far than his . - -Prove it , Henry , and thou shalt be king . - -Henry the Fourth by conquest got the crown . - -'Twas by rebellion against his king . - -I know not what to say : my title's weak . - - -Tell me , may not a king adopt an heir ? - -What then ? - -An if he may , then am I lawful king ; -For Richard , in the view of many lords , -Resign'd the crown to Henry the Fourth , -Whose heir my father was , and I am his . - -He rose against him , being his sovereign , -And made him to resign his crown perforce . - -Suppose , my lords , he did it unconstrain'd , -Think you 'twere prejudicial to his crown ? - -No ; for he could not so resign his crown -But that the next heir should succeed and reign . - -Art thou against us , Duke of Exeter ? - -His is the right , and therefore pardon me . - -Why whisper you , my lords , and answer not ? - -My conscience tells me he is lawful king . - -All will revolt from me , and turn to him . - -Plantagenet , for all the claim thou lay'st , -Think not that Henry shall be so depos'd . - -Depos'd he shall be in despite of all . - -Thou art deceiv'd : 'tis not thy southern power , -Of Essex , Norfolk , Suffolk , nor of Kent , -Which makes thee thus presumptuous and proud , -Can set the duke up in despite of me . - -King Henry , be thy title right or wrong , -Lord Clifford vows to fight in thy defence : -May that ground gape and swallow me alive , -Where I shall kneel to him that slew my father ! - -O Clifford , how thy words revive my heart ! - -Henry of Lancaster , resign thy crown . -What mutter you , or what conspire you , lords ? - -Do right unto this princely Duke of York , -Or I will fill the house with armed men , -And o'er the chair of state , where now he sits , -Write up his title with usurping blood . - - -My Lord of Warwick , hear me but one word : -Let me for this my life-time reign as king . - -Confirm the crown to me and to mine heirs , -And thou shalt reign in quiet while thou liv'st . - -I am content : Richard Plantagenet , -Enjoy the kingdom after my decease . - -What wrong is this unto the prince your son ! - -What good is this to England and himself ! - -Base , fearful , and despairing Henry ! - -How hast thou injur'd both thyself and us ! - -I cannot stay to hear these articles . - -Nor I . - -Come , cousin , let us tell the queen these news . - -Farewell , faint-hearted and degenerate king , -In whose cold blood no spark of honour bides . - -Be thou a prey unto the house of York , -And die in bands for this unmanly deed ! - -In dreadful war mayst thou be overcome , -Or live in peace abandon'd and despis'd ! - - -Turn this way , Henry , and regard them not . - -They seek revenge and therefore will not yield . - -Ah ! Exeter . - -Why should you sigh , my lord ? - -Not for myself , Lord Warwick , but my son , -Whom I unnaturally shall disinherit . -But be it as it may ; I here entail -The crown to thee and to thine heirs for ever ; -Conditionally , that here thou take an oath -To cease this civil war , and , whilst I live , -To honour me as thy king and sovereign ; -And neither by treason nor hostility -To seek to put me down and reign thyself . - -This oath I willingly take and will perform . - - -Long live King Henry ! Plantagenet , embrace him . - -And long live thou and these thy forward sons ! - -Now York and Lancaster are reconcil'd . - -Accurs'd be he that seeks to make them foes ! - - -Farewell , my gracious lord ; I'll to my castle . - -And I'll keep London with my soldiers . - -And I to Norfolk with my followers . - -And I unto the sea from whence I came . - - -And I , with grief and sorrow , to the court . - - -Here comes the queen , whose looks bewray her anger : -I'll steal away . - - -Exeter , so will I . - - -Nay , go not from me ; I will follow thee . - -Be patient , gentle queen , and I will stay . - -Who can be patient in such extremes ? -Ah ! wretched man ; would I had died a maid , -And never seen thee , never borne thee son , -Seeing thou hast prov'd so unnatural a father . -Hath he deserv'd to lose his birthright thus ? -Hadst thou but lov'd him half so well as I , -Or felt that pain which I did for him once , -Or nourish'd him as I did with my blood , -Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood there , -Rather than have made that savage duke thine heir , -And disinherited thine only son . - -Father , you cannot disinherit me : -If you be king , why should not I succeed ? - -Pardon me , Margaret ; pardon me , sweet son ; -The Earl of Warwick , and the duke , enforc'd me . - -Enforc'd thee ! art thou king , and wilt be forc'd ? -I shame to hear thee speak . Ah ! timorous wretch ; -Thou hast undone thyself , thy son , and me ; -And given unto the house of York such head -As thou shalt reign but by their sufferance . -To entail him and his heirs unto the crown , -What is it but to make thy sepulchre , -And creep into it far before thy time ? -Warwick is chancellor and the Lord of Calais ; -Stern Faulconbridge commands the narrow seas ; -The duke is made protector of the realm ; -And yet shalt thou be safe ? such safety finds -The trembling lamb environed with wolves . -Had I been there , which am a silly woman , -The soldiers should have toss'd me on their pikes -Before I would have granted to that act ; -But thou preferr'st thy life before thine honour : -And seeing thou dost , I here divorce myself , -Both from thy table , Henry , and thy bed , -Until that act of parliament be repeal'd -Whereby my son is disinherited . -The northern lords that have forsworn thy colours -Will follow mine , if once they see them spread ; -And spread they shall be , to thy foul disgrace , -And utter ruin of the house of York . -Thus do I leave thee . Come , son , let's away ; -Our army is ready ; come , we'll after them . - -Stay , gentle Margaret , and hear me speak . - -Thou hast spoke too much already : get thee gone . - -Gentle son Edward , thou wilt stay with me ? - -Ay , to be murder'd by his enemies . - -When I return with victory from the field -I'll see your Grace : till then , I'll follow her . - -Come , son , away ; we may not linger thus . - - -Poor queen ! how love to me and to her son -Hath made her break out into terms of rage . -Reveng'd may she be on that hateful duke , -Whose haughty spirit , winged with desire , -Will cost my crown , and like an empty eagle -Tire on the flesh of me and of my son ! -The loss of those three lords torments my heart : -I'll write unto them , and entreat them fair . -Come , cousin ; you shall be the messenger . - -And I , I hope , shall reconcile them all . - - -Brother , though I be youngest , give me leave . - -No , I can better play the orator . - -But I have reasons strong and forcible . - - -Why , how now , sons and brother ! at a strife ? -What is your quarrel ? how began it first ? - -No quarrel , but a slight contention . - -About what ? - -About that which concerns your Grace and us ; -The crown of England , father , which is yours . - -Mine , boy ? not till King Henry be dead . - -Your right depends not on his life or death . - -Now you are heir , therefore enjoy it now : -By giving the house of Lancaster leave to breathe , -It will outrun you , father , in the end . - -I took an oath that he should quietly reign . - -But for a kingdom any oath may be broken : -I would break a thousand oaths to reign one year . - -No ; God forbid your Grace should be forsworn . - -I shall be , if I claim by open war . - -I'll prove the contrary , if you'll hear me speak . - -Thou canst not , son ; it is impossible . - -An oath is of no moment , being not took -Before a true and lawful magistrate -That hath authority over him that swears : -Henry had none , but did usurp the place ; -Then , seeing 'twas he that made you to depose , -Your oath , my lord , is vain and frivolous . -Therefore , to arms ! And , father , do but think -How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown , -Within whose circuit is Elysium , -And all that poets feign of bliss and joy . -Why do we linger thus ? I cannot rest -Until the white rose that I wear be dy'd -Even in the lukewarm blood of Henry's heart . - -Richard , enough , I will be king , or die . -Brother , thou shalt to London presently , -And whet on Warwick to this enterprise . -Thou , Richard , shalt unto the Duke of Norfolk , -And tell him privily of our intent . -You , Edward , shall unto my Lord Cobham , -With whom the Kentishmen will willingly rise : -In them I trust ; for they are soldiers , -Witty , courteous , liberal , full of spirit . -While you are thus employ'd , what resteth more , -But that I seek occasion how to rise , -And yet the king not privy to my drift , -Nor any of the house of Lancaster ? - -But , stay : what news ? why com'st thou in such post ? - -The queen with all the northern earls and lords -Intend here to besiege you in your castle . -She is hard by with twenty thousand men , -And therefore fortify your hold , my lord . - -Ay , with my sword . What ! think'st thou that we fear them ? -Edward and Richard , you shall stay with me ; -My brother Montague shall post to London : -Let noble Warwick , Cobham , and the rest , -Whom we have left protectors of the king , -With powerful policy strengthen themselves , -And trust not simple Henry nor his oaths . - -Brother , I go ; I'll win them , fear it not : -And thus most humbly I do take my leave . - -Sir John , and Sir Hugh Mortimer , mine uncles ! -You are come to Sandal in a happy hour ; -The army of the queen mean to besiege us . - -She shall not need , we'll meet her in the field . - -What ! with five thousand men ? - -Ay , with five hundred , father , for a need : -A woman's general ; what should we fear ? - - -I hear their drums ; let's set our men in order , -And issue forth and bid them battle straight . - -Five men to twenty ! though the odds be great , -I doubt not , uncle , of our victory . -Many a battle have I won in France , -When as the enemy hath been ten to one : -Why should I not now have the like success ? - - -Ah , whither shall I fly to 'scape their hands ? -Ah ! tutor , look , where bloody Clifford comes ! - - -Chaplain , away ! thy priesthood saves thy life . -As for the brat of this accursed duke , -Whose father slew my father , he shall die . - -And I , my lord , will bear him company . - -Soldiers , away with him . - -Ah ! Clifford , murder not this innocent child , -Lest thou be hated both of God and man ! - - -How now ! is he dead already ? Or is it fear -That makes him close his eyes ? I'll open them . - -So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch -That trembles under his devouring paws ; -And so he walks , insulting o'er his prey , -And so he comes to rend his limbs asunder . -Ah ! gentle Clifford , kill me with thy sword , -And not with such a cruel threatening look . -Sweet Clifford ! hear me speak before I die : -I am too mean a subject for thy wrath ; -Be thou reveng'd on men , and let me live . - -In vain thou speak'st , poor boy ; my father's blood -Hath stopp'd the passage where thy words should enter . - -Then let my father's blood open it again : -He is a man , and , Clifford , cope with him . - -Had I thy brethren here , their lives and thine -Were not revenge sufficient for me ; -No , if I digg'd up thy forefathers' graves , -And hung their rotten coffins up in chains , -It could not slake mine ire , nor ease my heart . -The sight of any of the house of York -Is as a fury to torment my soul ; -And till I root out their accursed line , -And leave not one alive , I live in hell . -Therefore - - -O ! let me pray before I take my death . -To thee I pray ; sweet Clifford , pity me ! - -Such pity as my rapier's point affords . - -I never did thee harm : why wilt thou slay me ? - -Thy father hath . - -But 'twas ere I was born . -Thou hast one son ; for his sake pity me , -Lest in revenge thereof , sith God is just , -He be as miserably slain as I . -Ah ! let me live in prison all my days ; -And when I give occasion of offence , -Then let me die , for now thou hast no cause . - -No cause ! -Thy father slew my father ; therefore , die . - - -Dii faciant laudis summa sit ista tu ! - - -Plantagenet ! I come , Plantagenet ! -And this thy son's blood cleaving to my blade -Shall rust upon my weapon , till thy blood , -Congeal'd with this , do make me wipe off both . - - -The army of the queen hath got the field : -My uncles both are slain in rescuing me ; -And all my followers to the eager foe -Turn back and fly , like ships before the wind , -Or lambs pursu'd by hunger-starved wolves . -My sons , God knows what hath bechanced them : -But this I know , they have demean'd themselves -Like men born to renown by life or death . -Three times did Richard make a lane to me , -And thrice cried , 'Courage , father ! fight it out !' -And full as oft came Edward to my side , -With purple falchion , painted to the hilt -In blood of those that had encounter'd him : -And when the hardiest warriors did retire , -Richard cried , 'Charge ! and give no foot of ground !' -And cried , 'A crown , or else a glorious tomb ! -A sceptre , or an earthly sepulchre !' -With this , we charg'd again ; but , out , alas ! -We bodg'd again : as I have seen a swan -With bootless labour swim against the tide , -And spend her strength with over-matching waves . - -Ah , hark ! the fatal followers do pursue ; -And I am faint and cannot fly their fury ; -And were I strong I would not shun their fury : -The sands are number'd that make up my life ; -Here must I stay , and here my life must end . - - -Come , bloody Clifford , rough Northumberland , -I dare your quenchless fury to more rage : - -I am your butt , and I abide your shot . - -Yield to our mercy , proud Plantagenet . - -Ay , to such mercy as his ruthless arm -With downright payment show'd unto my father . -Now Ph thon hath tumbled from his car , -And made an evening at the noontide prick . - -My ashes , as the ph nix , may bring forth -A bird that will revenge upon you all ; -And in that hope I throw mine eyes to heaven , -Scorning whate'er you can afflict me with . -Why come you not ? what ! multitudes , and fear ? - -So cowards fight when they can fly no further ; -So doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons ; -So desperate thieves , all hopeless of their lives , -Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers . - -O Clifford ! but bethink thee once again , -And in thy thought o'er-run my former time ; -And , if thou canst for blushing , view this face , -And bite thy tongue , that slanders him with cowardice -Whose frown hath made thee faint and fly ere this . - -I will not bandy with thee word for word , -But buckle with thee blows , twice two for one . - - -Hold , valiant Clifford ! for a thousand causes -I would prolong awhile the traitor's life . -Wrath makes him deaf : speak thou , Northumberland . - -Hold , Clifford ! do not honour him so much -To prick thy finger , though to wound his heart . -What valour were it , when a cur doth grin , -For one to thrust his hand between his teeth , -When he might spurn him with his foot away ? -It is war's prize to take all vantages , -And ten to one is no impeach of valour . - - -Ay , ay ; so strives the woodcock with the gin . - -So doth the cony struggle in the net . - - -So triumph thieves upon their conquer'd booty ; -So true men yield , with robbers so o'er-matched . - -What would your Grace have done unto him now ? - -Brave warriors , Clifford and Northumberland , -Come , make him stand upon this molehill here , -That raught at mountains with outstretched arms , -Yet parted but the shadow with his hand . -What ! was it you that would be England's king ? -Was't you that revell'd in our parliament , -And made a preachment of your high descent ? -Where are your mess of sons to back you now ? -The wanton Edward , and the lusty George ? -And where's that valiant crook-back prodigy , -Dicky your boy , that with his grumbling voice -Was wont to cheer his dad in mutinies ? -Or , with the rest , where is your darling Rutland ? -Look , York : I stain'd this napkin with the blood -That valiant Clifford with his rapier's point -Made issue from the bosom of the boy ; -And if thine eyes can water for his death , -I give thee this to dry thy cheeks withal . -Alas , poor York ! but that I hate thee deadly , -I should lament thy miserable state . -I prithee grieve , to make me merry , York . -What ! hath thy fiery heart so parch'd thine entrails -That not a tear can fall for Rutland's death ? -Why art thou patient , man ? thou shouldst be mad ; -And I , to make thee mad , do mock thee thus . -Stamp , rave , and fret , that I may sing and dance . -Thou wouldst be fee'd , I see , to make me sport : -York cannot speak unless he wear a crown . -A crown for York ! and , lords , bow low to him : -Hold you his hands whilst I do set it on . - -Ay , marry , sir , now looks he like a king ! -Ay , this is he that took King Henry's chair ; -And this is he was his adopted heir . -But how is it that great Plantagenet -Is crown'd so soon , and broke his solemn oath ? -As I bethink me , you should not be king -Till our King Henry had shook hands with death . -And will you pale your head in Henry's glory , -And rob his temples of the diadem , -Now in his life , against your holy oath ? -O ! 'tis a fault too-too unpardonable . -Off with the crown ; and , with the crown , his head ; -And , whilst we breathe , take time to do him dead . - -That is my office , for my father's sake . - -Nay , stay ; let's hear the orisons he makes . - -She-wolf of France , but worse than wolves of France , -Whose tongue more poisons than the adder's tooth ! -How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex -To triumph , like an Amazonian trull , -Upon their woes whom fortune captivates ! -But that thy face is , visor-like , unchanging , -Made impudent with use of evil deeds , -I would assay , proud queen , to make thee blush : -To tell thee whence thou cam'st , of whom deriv'd , -Were shame enough to shame thee , wert thou not shameless . -Thy father bears the type of King of Naples , -Of both the Sicils and Jerusalem ; -Yet not so wealthy as an English yeoman . -Hath that poor monarch taught thee to insult ? -It needs not , nor it boots thee not , proud queen , -Unless the adage must be verified , -That beggars mounted run their horse to death . -'Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud ; -But , God he knows , thy share thereof is small : -'Tis virtue that doth make them most admir'd ; -The contrary doth make thee wonder'd at : -'Tis government that makes them seem divine ; -The want thereof makes thee abominable . -Thou art as opposite to every good -As the Antipodes are unto us , -Or as the south to the septentrion . -O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide ! -How couldst thou drain the life-blood of the child , -To bid the father wipe his eyes withal , -And yet be seen to bear a woman's face ? -Women are soft , mild , pitiful , and flexible ; -Thou stern , obdurate , flinty , rough , remorseless . -Bidd'st thou me rage ? why , now thou hast thy wish : -Wouldst have me weep ? why , now thou hast thy will ; -For raging wind blows up incessant showers , -And when the rage allays , the rain begins . -These tears are my sweet Rutland's obsequies , -And every drop cries vengeance for his death , -'Gainst thee , fell Clifford , and thee , false Frenchwoman . - -Beshrew me , but his passion moves me so -That hardly can I check my eyes from tears . - -That face of his the hungry cannibals -Would not have touch'd , would not have stain'd with blood ; -But you are more inhuman , more inexorable , -O ! ten times more , than tigers of Hyrcania . -See , ruthless queen , a hapless father's tears : -This cloth thou dipp'dst in blood of my sweet boy , -And I with tears do wash the blood away . -Keep thou the napkin , and go boast of this ; - -And if thou tell'st the heavy story right , -Upon my soul , the hearers will shed tears ; -Yea , even my foes will shed fast-falling tears , -And say , 'Alas ! it was a piteous deed !' -There , take the crown , and , with the crown my curse , -And in thy need such comfort come to thee -As now I reap at thy too cruel hand ! -Hard-hearted Clifford , take me from the world ; -My soul to heaven , my blood upon your heads ! - -Had he been slaughter-man to all my kin , -I should not for my life but weep with him , -To see how inly sorrow gripes his soul . - -What ! weeping-ripe , my Lord Northumberland ? -Think but upon the wrong he did us all , -And that will quickly dry thy melting tears . - -Here's for my oath ; here's for my father's death . - - -And here's to right our gentlehearted king . - - -Open thy gate of mercy , gracious God ! -My soul flies through these wounds to seek out thee . - - -Off with his head , and set it on York gates ; -So York may overlook the town of York . - -I wonder how our princely father 'scap'd , -Or whether he be 'scap'd away or no -From Clifford's and Northumberland's pursuit . -Had he been ta'en we should have heard the news ; -Had he been slain we should have heard the news ; -Or had he 'scap'd , methinks we should have heard -The happy tidings of his good escape . -How fares my brother ? why is he so sad ? - -I cannot joy until I be resolv'd -Where our right valiant father is become . -I saw him in the battle range about , -And watch'd him how he singled Clifford forth . -Methought he bore him in the thickest troop -As doth a lion in a herd of neat ; -Or as a bear , encompass'd round with dogs , -Who having pinch'd a few and made them cry , -The rest stand all aloof and bark at him . -So far'd our father with his enemies ; -So fled his enemies my war-like father : -Methinks , 'tis prize enough to be his son . -See how the morning opes her golden gates , -And takes her farewell of the glorious sun ; -How well resembles it the prime of youth , -Trimm'd like a younker prancing to his love . - -Dazzle mine eyes , or do I see three suns ? - -Three glorious suns , each one a perfect sun ; -Not separated with the racking clouds , -But sever'd in a pale clear-shining sky . -See , see ! they join , embrace , and seem to kiss , -As if they vow'd some league inviolable : -Now are they but one lamp , one light , one sun . -In this the heaven figures some event . - -'Tis wondrous strange , the like yet never heard of . -I think it cites us , brother , to the field ; -That we , the sons of brave Plantagenet , -Each one already blazing by our meeds , -Should notwithstanding join our lights together , -And over-shine the earth , as this the world . -Whate'er it bodes , henceforward will I bear -Upon my target three fair-shining suns . - -Nay , bear three daughters : by your leave I speak it , -You love the breeder better than the male . - - -But what art thou , whose heavy looks foretell - -Some dreadful story hanging on thy tongue ? - -Ah ! one that was a woeful looker-on , -When as the noble Duke of York was slain , -Your princely father , and my loving lord . - -O ! speak no more , for I have heard too much . - -Say how he died , for I will hear it all . - -Environed he was with many foes , -And stood against them , as the hope of Troy -Against the Greeks that would have enter'd Troy . -But Hercules himself must yield to odds ; -And many strokes , though with a little axe , -Hew down and fell the hardest-timber'd oak . -By many hands your father was subdu'd ; -But only slaughter'd by the ireful arm -Of unrelenting Clifford and the queen , -Who crown'd the gracious duke in high despite ; -Laugh'd in his face ; and when with grief he wept , -The ruthless queen gave him to dry his cheeks , -A napkin steeped in the harmless blood -Of sweet young Rutland , by rough Clifford slain : -And after many scorns , many foul taunts , -They took his head , and on the gates of York -They set the same ; and there it doth remain , -The saddest spectacle that e'er I view'd . - -Sweet Duke of York ! our prop to lean upon , -Now thou art gone , we have no staff , no stay ! -O Clifford ! boist'rous Clifford ! thou hast slain -The flower of Europe for his chivalry ; -And treacherously hast thou vanquish'd him , -For hand to hand he would have vanquish'd thee . -Now my soul's palace is become a prison : -Ah ! would she break from hence , that this my body -Might in the ground be closed up in rest , -For never henceforth shall I joy again , -Never , O ! never , shall I see more joy . - -I cannot weep , for all my body's moisture -Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart : -Nor can my tongue unload my heart's great burden ; -For self-same wind , that I should speak withal -Is kindling coals that fire all my breast , -And burn me up with flames , that tears would quench . -To weep is to make less the depth of grief : -Tears then , for babes ; blows and revenge for me ! -Richard , I bear thy name ; I'll venge thy death , -Or die renowned by attempting it . - -His name that valiant duke hath left with thee ; -His dukedom and his chair with me is left . - -Nay , if thou be that princely eagle's bird , -Show thy descent by gazing 'gainst the sun : -For chair and dukedom , throne and kingdom say ; -Either that is thine , or else thou wert not his . - - -How now , fair lords ! What fare ? what news abroad ? - -Great Lord of Warwick , if we should recount -Our baleful news , and at each word's deliv'rance -Stab poniards in our flesh till all were told , -The words would add more anguish than the wounds . -O valiant lord ! the Duke of York is slain . - -O Warwick ! Warwick ! that Plantagenet -Which held thee dearly as his soul's redemption , -Is by the stern Lord Clifford done to death . - -Ten days ago I drown'd these news in tears , -And now , to add more measure to your woes , -I come to tell you things sith then befallen . -After the bloody fray at Wakefield fought , -Where your brave father breath'd his latest gasp , -Tidings , as swiftly as the posts could run , -Were brought me of your loss and his depart . -I , then in London , keeper of the king , -Muster'd my soldiers , gather'd flocks of friends , -And very well appointed , as I thought , -March'd towards Saint Alban's to intercept the queen , -Bearing the king in my behalf along ; -For by my scouts I was advertised -That she was coming with a full intent -To dash our late decree in parliament , -Touching King Henry's oath and your succession . -Short tale to make , we at Saint Alban's met , -Our battles join'd , and both sides fiercely fought : -But whether 'twas the coldness of the king , -Who look'd full gently on his war-like queen , -That robb'd my soldiers of their heated spleen ; -Or whether 'twas report of her success ; -Or more than common fear of Clifford's rigour , -Who thunders to his captives blood and death , -I cannot judge : but , to conclude with truth , -Their weapons like to lightning came and went ; -Our soldiers' like the night-owl's lazy flight , -Or like a lazy thresher with a flail -Fell gently down , as if they struck their friends . -I cheer'd them up with justice of our cause , -With promise of high pay , and great rewards : -But all in vain ; they had no heart to fight , -And we in them no hope to win the day ; -So that we fled : the king unto the queen ; -Lord George your brother , Norfolk , and myself , -In haste , post-haste , are come to join with you ; -For in the marches here we heard you were , -Making another head to fight again . - -Where is the Duke of Norfolk , gentle Warwick ? -And when came George from Burgundy to England ? - -Some six miles off the duke is with the soldiers ; -And for your brother , he was lately sent -From your kind aunt , Duchess of Burgundy , -With aid of soldiers to this needful war . - -'Twas odds , belike , when valiant Warwick fled : -Oft have I heard his praises in pursuit , -But ne'er till now his scandal of retire . - -Nor now my scandal , Richard , dost thou hear ; -For thou shalt know , this strong right hand of mine -Can pluck the diadem from faint Henry's head , -And wring the awful sceptre from his fist , -Were he as famous , and as bold in war -As he is fam'd for mildness , peace , and prayer . - -I know it well , Lord Warwick ; blame me not : -'Tis love I bear thy glories makes me speak . -But , in this troublous time what's to be done ? -Shall we go throw away our coats of steel , -And wrap our bodies in black mourning gowns , -Numb'ring our Ave-Maries with our beads ? -Or shall we on the helmets of our foes -Tell our devotion with revengeful arms ? -If for the last , say 'Ay ,' and to it , lords . - -Why , therefore Warwick came to seek you out ; -And therefore comes my brother Montague . -Attend me , lords . The proud insulting queen , -With Clifford and the haught Northumberland , -And of their feather many more proud birds , -Have wrought the easy-melting king like wax . -He swore consent to your succession , -His oath enrolled in the parliament ; -And now to London all the crew are gone , -To frustrate both his oath and what beside -May make against the house of Lancaster . -Their power , I think , is thirty thousand strong : -Now , if the help of Norfolk and myself , -With all the friends that thou , brave Earl of March , -Amongst the loving Welshmen canst procure , -Will but amount to five and twenty thousand , -Why , Via ! to London will we march amain , -And once again bestride our foaming steeds , -And once again cry , 'Charge upon our foes !' -But never once again turn back and fly . - -Ay , now methinks I hear great Warwick speak : -Ne'er may he live to see a sunshine day , -That cries 'Retire ,' if Warwick bid him stay . - -Lord Warwick , on thy shoulder will I lean ; -And when thou fail'st as God forbid the hour ! -Must Edward fall , which peril heaven forfend ! - -No longer Earl of March , but Duke of York : -The next degree is England's royal throne ; -For King of England shalt thou be proclaim'd -In every borough as we pass along ; -And he that throws not up his cap for joy -Shall for the fault make forfeit of his head . -King Edward , valiant Richard , Montague , -Stay we no longer dreaming of renown , -But sound the trumpets , and about our task . - -Then , Clifford , were thy heart as hard as steel , -As thou hast shown it flinty by thy deeds , -I come to pierce it , or to give thee mine . - -Then strike up , drums ! God , and Saint George for us ! - - -How now ! what news ? - -The Duke of Norfolk sends you word by me , -The queen is coming with a puissant host ; -And craves your company for speedy counsel . - -Why then it sorts ; brave warriors , let's away . - -Welcome , my lord , to this brave town of York . -Yonder's the head of that arch-enemy , -That sought to be encompass'd with your crown : -Doth not the object cheer your heart , my lord ? - -Ay , as the rocks cheer them that fear their wrack : -To see this sight , it irks my very soul . -Withhold revenge , dear God ! 'tis not my fault , -Nor wittingly have I infring'd my vow . - -My gracious liege , this too much lenity -And harmful pity must be laid aside . -To whom do lions cast their gentle looks ? -Not to the beast that would usurp their den . -Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick ? -Not his that spoils her young before her face . -Who 'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting ? -Not he that sets his foot upon her back . -The smallest worm will turn being trodden on , -And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood . -Ambitious York did level at thy crown ; -Thou smiling while he knit his angry brows : -He , but a duke , would have his son a king , -And raise his issue like a loving sire ; -Thou , being a king , bless'd with a goodly son , -Didst yield consent to disinherit him , -Which argu'd thee a most unloving father . -Unreasonable creatures feed their young ; -And though man's face be fearful to their eyes , -Yet , in protection of their tender ones , -Who hath not seen them , even with those wings -Which sometime they have us'd with fearful flight , -Make war with him that climb'd unto their nest , -Offering their own lives in their young's defence ? -For shame , my liege ! make them your precedent . -Were it not pity that this goodly boy -Should lose his birthright by his father's fault , -And long hereafter say unto his child , -'What my great grandfather and grandsire got , -My careless father fondly gave away ?' -Ah ! what a shame were this . Look on the boy ; -And let his manly face , which promiseth -Successful fortune , steel thy melting heart -To hold thine own and leave thine own with him . - -Full well hath Clifford play'd the orator , -Inferring arguments of mighty force . -But , Clifford , tell me , didst thou never hear -That things ill got had ever bad success ? -And happy always was it for that son -Whose father for his hoarding went to hell ? -I'll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind ; -And would my father had left me no more ! -For all the rest is held at such a rate -As brings a thousand-fold more care to keep -Than in possession any jot of pleasure . -Ah ! cousin York , would thy best friends did know -How it doth grieve me that thy head is here ! - -My lord , cheer up your spirits : our foes are nigh , -And this soft courage makes your followers faint . -You promis'd knighthood to our forward son : -Unsheathe your sword , and dub him presently . -Edward , kneel down . - -Edward Plantagenet , arise a knight ; -And learn this lesson , draw thy sword in right . - -My gracious father , by your kingly leave , -I'll draw it as apparent to the crown , -And in that quarrel use it to the death . - -Why , that is spoken like a toward prince . - - -Royal commanders , be in readiness : -For with a band of thirty thousand men -Comes Warwick , backing of the Duke of York ; -And in the towns , as they do march along , -Proclaims him king , and many fly to him : -Darraign your battle , for they are at hand . - -I would your highness would depart the field : -The queen hath best success when you are absent . - -Ay , good my lord , and leave us to our fortune . - -Why , that's my fortune too ; therefore I'll stay . - -Be it with resolution then to fight . - -My royal father , cheer these noble lords , -And hearten those that fight in your defence : -Unsheathe your sword , good father : cry , 'Saint George !' - - -Now , perjur'd Henry , wilt thou kneel for grace , -And set thy diadem upon my head ; -Or bide the mortal fortune of the field ? - -Go , rate thy minions , proud insulting boy ! -Becomes it thee to be thus bold in terms -Before thy sovereign and thy lawful king ? - -I am his king , and he should bow his knee ; -I was adopted heir by his consent : -Since when , his oath is broke ; for , as I hear , -You , that are king , though he do wear the crown , -Have caus'd him , by new act of parliament , -To blot out me , and put his own son in . - -And reason too : -Who should succeed the father but the son ? - -Are you there , butcher ? O ! I cannot speak . - -Ay , crook-back ; here I stand to answer thee , -Or any he the proudest of thy sort . - -'Twas you that kill'd young Rutland , was it not ? - -Ay , and old York , and yet not satisfied . - -For God's sake , lords , give signal to the fight . - -What sayst thou , Henry , wilt thou yield the crown ? - -Why , how now , long-tongu'd Warwick ! dare you speak ? -When you and I met at Saint Alban's last , -Your legs did better service than your hands . - -Then 'twas my turn to fly , and now 'tis thine . - -You said so much before , and yet you fled . - -'Twas not your valour , Clifford , drove me thence . - -No , nor your manhood that durst make you stay . - -Northumberland , I hold thee reverently . -Break off the parley ; for scarce I can refrain -The execution of my big-swoln heart -Upon that Clifford , that cruel child-killer . - -I slew thy father : call'st thou him a child ? - -Ay , like a dastard and a treacherous coward , -As thou didst kill our tender brother Rutland ; -But ere sun-set I'll make thee curse the deed . - -Have done with words , my lords , and hear me speak . - -Defy them , then , or else hold close thy lips . - -I prithee , give no limits to my tongue : -I am a king , and privileg'd to speak . - -My liege , the wound that bred this meeting here -Cannot be cur'd by words ; therefore be still . - -Then , executioner , unsheathe thy sword . -By him that made us all , I am resolv'd -That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue . - -Say , Henry , shall I have my right or no ? -A thousand men have broke their fasts to-day , -That ne'er shall dine unless thou yield the crown . - -If thou deny , their blood upon thy head ; -For York in justice puts his armour on . - -If that be right which Warwick says is right , -There is no wrong , but everything is right . - -Whoever got thee , there thy mother stands ; -For well I wot thou hast thy mother's tongue . - -But thou art neither like thy sire nor dam , -But like a foul misshapen stigmatic , -Mark'd by the destinies to be avoided , -As venom toads , or lizards' dreadful stings . - -Iron of Naples hid with English gilt , -Whose father bears the title of a king , -As if a channel should be call'd the sea , -Sham'st thou not , knowing whence thou art extraught , -To let thy tongue detect thy base-born heart ? - -A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns , -To make this shameless callet know herself . -Helen of Greece was fairer far than thou , -Although thy husband may be Menelaus ; -And ne'er was Agamemnon's brother wrong'd -By that false woman as this king by thee . -His father revell'd in the heart of France , -And tam'd the king , and made the Dauphin stoop ; -And had he match'd according to his state , -He might have kept that glory to this day ; -But when he took a beggar to his bed , -And grac'd thy poor sire with his bridal day , -Even then that sunshine brew'd a shower for him , -That wash'd his father's fortunes forth of France , -And heap'd sedition on his crown at home . -For what hath broach'd this tumult but thy pride ? -Hadst thou been meek our title still had slept , -And we , in pity of the gentle king , -Had slipp'd our claim until another age . - -But when we saw our sunshine made thy spring , -And that thy summer bred us no increase , -We set the axe to thy usurping root ; -And though the edge hath something hit ourselves , -Yet know thou , since we have begun to strike , -We'll never leave , till we have hewn thee down , -Or bath'd thy growing with our heated bloods . - -And in this resolution I defy thee ; -Not willing any longer conference , -Since thou deny'st the gentle king to speak . -Sound trumpets !let our bloody colours wave ! -And either victory , or else a grave . - -Stay , Edward . - -No , wrangling woman , we'll no longer stay : -These words will cost ten thousand lives this day - - -Forspent with toil , as runners with a race , -I lay me down a little while to breathe ; -For strokes receiv'd , and many blows repaid , -Have robb'd my strong-knit sinews of their strength , -And spite of spite needs must I rest a while . - - -Smile , gentle heaven ! or strike , ungentle death ! -For this world frowns , and Edward's sun is clouded . - -How now , my lord ! what hap ? what hope of good ? - - -Our hap is loss , our hope but sad despair , -Our ranks are broke , and ruin follows us . -What counsel give you ? whither shall we fly ? - -Bootless is flight , they follow us with wings ; -And weak we are and cannot shun pursuit . - - -Ah ! Warwick , why hast thou withdrawn thyself ? -Thy brother's blood the thirsty earth hath drunk , -Broach'd with the steely point of Clifford's lance ; -And in the very pangs of death he cried , -Like to a dismal clangor heard from far , -'Warwick , revenge ! brother , revenge my death !' -So , underneath the belly of their steeds , -That stain'd their fetlocks in his smoking blood , -The noble gentleman gave up the ghost . - -Then let the earth be drunken with our blood : -I'll kill my horse because I will not fly . -Why stand we like soft-hearted women here , -Wailing our losses , whiles the foe doth rage ; -And look upon , as if the tragedy -Were play'd in jest by counterfeiting actors ? -Here on my knee I vow to God above , -I'll never pause again , never stand still -Till either death hath clos'd these eyes of mine , -Of fortune given me measure of revenge . - -O Warwick ! I do bend my knee with thine ; -And in this vow do chain my soul to thine . -And , ere my knee rise from the earth's cold face , -I throw my hands , mine eyes , my heart to thee , -Thou setter up and plucker down of kings , -Beseeching thee , if with thy will it stands -That to my foes this body must be prey , -Yet that thy brazen gates of heaven may ope , -And give sweet passage to my sinful soul ! -Now , lords , take leave until we meet again , -Where'er it be , in heaven or in earth . - -Brother , give me thy hand ; and , gentle Warwick , -Let me embrace thee in my weary arms : -I , that did never weep , now melt with woe -That winter should cut off our spring-time so . - -Away , away ! Once more , sweet lords , farewell . - -Yet let us all together to our troops , -And give them leave to fly that will not stay , -And call them pillars that will stand to us ; -And if we thrive , promise them such rewards -As victors wear at the Olympian games . -This may plant courage in their quailing breasts ; -For yet is hope of life and victory . -Forslow no longer ; make we hence amain . - - -Now , Clifford , I have singled thee alone . -Suppose this arm is for the Duke of York , -And this for Rutland ; both bound to revenge , -Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall . - -Now , Richard , I am with thee here alone . -This is the hand that stabb'd thy father York , -And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland ; -And here's the heart that triumphs in their death -And cheers these hands that slew thy sire and brother , -To execute the like upon thyself ; -And so , have at thee ! - - -Nay , Warwick , single out some other chase ; -For I myself will hunt this wolf to death . - - -This battle fares like to the morning's war , -When dying clouds contend with growing light , -What time the shepherd , blowing of his nails , -Can neither call it perfect day nor night . -Now sways it this way , like a mighty sea -Forc'd by the tide to combat with the wind ; -Now sways it that way , like the self-same sea -Forc'd to retire by fury of the wind : -Sometime the flood prevails , and then the wind ; -Now one the better , then another best ; -Both tugging to be victors , breast to breast , -Yet neither conqueror nor conquered : -So is the equal poise of this fell war . -Here on this molehill will I sit me down . -To whom God will , there be the victory ! -For Margaret my queen , and Clifford too , -Have chid me from the battle ; swearing both -They prosper best of all when I am thence . -Would I were dead ! if God's good will were so ; -For what is in this world but grief and woe ? -O God ! methinks it were a happy life , -To be no better than a homely swain ; -To sit upon a hill , as I do now , -To carve out dials quaintly , point by point , -Thereby to see the minutes how they run , -How many make the hour full complete ; -How many hours bring about the day ; -How many days will finish up the year ; -How many years a mortal man may live . -When this is known , then to divide the times : -So many hours must I tend my flock ; -So many hours must I take my rest ; -So many hours must I contemplate ; -So many hours must I sport myself ; -So many days my ewes have been with young ; -So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean ; -So many years ere I shall shear the fleece : -So minutes , hours , days , months , and years , -Pass'd over to the end they were created , -Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave . -Ah ! what a life were this ! how sweet ! how lovely ! -Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade -To shepherds , looking on their silly sheep , -Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy -To kings , that fear their subjects' treachery ? -O , yes ! it doth ; a thousand-fold it doth . -And to conclude , the shepherd's homely curds , -His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle , -His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade , -All which secure and sweetly he enjoys , -Is far beyond a prince's delicates , -His viands sparkling in a golden cup , -His body couched in a curious bed , -When care , mistrust , and treason wait on him . - - -Ill blows the wind that profits nobody . -This man whom hand to hand I slew in fight , -May be possessed with some store of crowns ; -And I , that haply take them from him now , -May yet ere night yield both my life and them -To some man else , as this dead man doth me . -Who's this ? O God ! it is my father's face , -Whom in this conflict I unwares have kill'd . -O heavy times , begetting such events ! -From London by the king was I press'd forth ; -My father , being the Earl of Warwick's man , -Came on the part of York , press'd by his master ; -And I , who at his hands receiv'd my life , -Have by my hands of life bereaved him . -Pardon me , God , I knew not what I did ! -And pardon , father , for I knew not thee ! -My tears shall wipe away these bloody marks ; -And no more words till they have flow'd their fill . - -O piteous spectacle ! O bloody times ! -Whiles lions war and battle for their dens , -Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity . -Weep , wretched man , I'll aid thee tear for tear ; -And let our hearts and eyes , like civil war , -Be blind with tears , and break o'ercharg'd with grief . - - -Thou that so stoutly hast resisted me , -Give me thy gold , if thou hast any gold , -For I have bought it with a hundred blows . -But let me see : is this our foeman's face ? -Ah ! no , no , no , it is mine only son . -Ah ! boy , if any life be left in thee , -Throw up thine eye : see , see ! what showers arise , -Blown with the windy tempest of my heart , -Upon thy wounds , that kill mine eye and heart . -O ! pity , God , this miserable age . -What stratagems , how fell , how butcherly , -Erroneous , mutinous , and unnatural , -This deadly quarrel daily doth beget ! -O boy ! thy father gave thee life too soon , -And hath bereft thee of thy life too late . - -Woe above woe ! grief more than common grief ! -O ! that my death would stay these ruthful deeds . -O ! pity , pity ; gentle heaven , pity . -The red rose and the white are on his face , -The fatal colours of our striving houses : -The one his purple blood right well resembles ; -The other his pale cheeks , methinks , presenteth : -Wither one rose , and let the other flourish ! -If you contend , a thousand lives must wither . - -How will my mother for a father's death -Take on with me and ne'er be satisfied ! - -How will my wife for slaughter of my son -Shed seas of tears and ne'er be satisfied ! - -How will the country for these woeful chances -Misthink the king and not be satisfied ! - -Was ever son so ru'd a father's death ? - -Was ever father so bemoan'd a son ? - -Was ever king so griev'd for subjects' woe ? -Much is your sorrow ; mine , ten times so much . - -I'll bear thee hence , where I may weep my fill . - - -These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet ; -My heart , sweet boy , shall be thy sepulchre , -For from my heart thine image ne'er shall go : -My sighing breast shall be thy funeral bell ; -And so obsequious will thy father be , -E'en for the loss of thee , having no more , -As Priam was for all his valiant sons . -I'll bear thee hence ; and let them fight that will , -For I have murder'd where I should not kill . - - -Sad-hearted men ,' much overgone with care , -Here sits a king more woeful than you are . - - -Fly , father , fly ! for all your friends are fled , -And Warwick rages like a chafed bull . -Away ! for death doth hold us in pursuit . - -Mount you , my lord ; towards Berwick post amain . -Edward and Richard , like a brace of greyhounds -Having the fearful flying hare in sight , -With fiery eyes sparkling for very wrath , -And bloody steel grasp'd in their ireful hands , -Are at our backs ; and therefore hence amain . - -Away ! for vengeance comes along with them . -Nay , stay not to expostulate ; make speed , -Or else come after : I'll away before . - -Nay , take me with thee , good sweet Exeter : -Not that I fear to stay , but love to go -Whither the queen intends . Forward ! away ! - - -Here burns my candle out ; ay , here it dies , -Which , while it lasted , gave King Henry light . -O Lancaster ! I fear thy overthrow -More than my body's parting with my soul . -My love and fear glu'd many friends to thee ; -And , now I fall , thy tough commixtures melt , -Impairing Henry , strengthening misproud York : -The common people swarm like summer flies ; -And whither fly the gnats but to the sun ? -And who shines now but Henry's enemies ? -O Ph bus ! hadst thou never given consent -That Ph thon should check thy fiery steeds , -Thy burning car never had scorch'd the earth ; -And , Henry , hadst thou sway'd as kings should do , -Or as thy father and his father did , -Giving no ground unto the house of York , -They never then had sprung like summer flies ; -I and ten thousand in this luckless realm -Had left no mourning widows for our death , -And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace . -For what doth cherish weeds but gentle air ? -And what makes robbers bold but too much lenity ? -Bootless are plaints , and cureless are my wounds ; -No way to fly , nor strength to hold out flight : -The foe is merciless , and will not pity ; -For at their hands I have deserv'd no pity . -The air hath got into my deadly wounds , -And much effuse of blood doth make me faint . -Come , York and Richard , Warwick and the rest ; -I stabb'd your fathers' bosoms , split my breast . - -Now breathe we , lords : good fortune bids us pause , -And smooth the frowns of war with peaceful looks . -Some troops pursue the bloody-minded queen , -That led calm Henry , though he were a king , -As doth a sail , fill'd with a fretting gust , -Command an argosy to stern the waves . -But think you , lords , that Clifford fled with them ? - -No , 'tis impossible he should escape ; -For , though before his face I speak the words , -Your brother Richard mark'd him for the grave ; -And wheresoe'er he is , he's surely dead . - - -Whose soul is that which takes her heavy leave ? - -A deadly groan , like life and death's departing . - -See who it is : and now the battle's ended , -If friend or foe let him be gently us'd . - -Revoke that doom of mercy , for 'tis Clifford ; -Who not contented that he lopp'd the branch -In hewing Rutland when his leaves put forth , -But set his murd'ring knife unto the root -From whence that tender spray did sweetly spring , -I mean our princely father , Duke of York . - -From off the gates of York fetch down the head , -Your father's head , which Clifford placed there ; -Instead whereof let this supply the room : -Measure for measure must be answered . - -Bring forth that fatal screech-owl to our house , -That nothing sung but death to us and ours : -Now death shall stop his dismal threatening sound , -And his ill-boding tongue no more shall speak . - - -I think his understanding is bereft . -Speak , Clifford ; dost thou know who speaks to thee ? -Dark cloudy death o'ershades his beams of life , -And he nor sees , nor hears us what we say . - -O ! would he did ; and so perhaps he doth : -'Tis but his policy to counterfeit , -Because he would avoid such bitter taunts -Which in the time of death he gave our father . - -If so thou think'st , vex him with eager words . - -Clifford ! ask mercy and obtain no grace . - -Clifford , repent in bootless penitence . - -Clifford ! devise excuses for thy faults . - -While we devise fell tortures for thy faults . - -Thou didst love York , and I am son to York . - -Thou pitiedst Rutland , I will pity thee . - -Where's Captain Margaret , to fence you now ? - -They mock thee , Clifford : swear as thou wast wont . - -What ! not an oath ? nay , then the world goes hard -When Clifford cannot spare his friends an oath . -I know by that he's dead ; and , by my soul , -If this right hand would buy two hours' life , -That I in all despite might rail at him , -This hand should chop it off , and with the issuing blood -Stifle the villain whose unstaunched thirst -York and young Rutland could not satisfy . - -Ay , but he's dead : off with the traitor's head , -And rear it in the place your father's stands . -And now to London with triumphant march , -There to be crowned England's royal king : -From whence shall Warwick cut the sea to France , -And ask the Lady Bona for thy queen . -So shalt thou sinew both these lands together ; -And , having France thy friend , thou shalt not dread -The scatter'd foe that hopes to rise again ; -For though they cannot greatly sting to hurt , -Yet look to have them buzz to offend thine ears . -First will I see the coronation ; -And then to Brittany I'll cross the sea , -To effect this marriage , so it please my lord . - -Even as thou wilt , sweet Warwick , let it be ; -For on thy shoulder do I build my seat , -And never will I undertake the thing -Wherein thy counsel and consent is wanting . -Richard , I will create thee Duke of Gloucester ; -And George , of Clarence ; Warwick , as ourself , -Shall do and undo as him pleaseth best . - -Let me be Duke of Clarence , George of Gloucester , -For Gloucester's dukedom is too ominous . - -Tut ! that's a foolish observation : -Richard , be Duke of Gloucester . Now to London , -To see these honours in possession . - -Under this thick-grown hrake we'll shroud ourselves ; -For through this laund anon the deer will come ; -And in this covert will we make our stand , -Culling the principal of all the deer . - -I'll stay above the hill , so both may shoot . - -That cannot be ; the noise of thy cross-bow -Will scare the herd , and so my shoot is lost . -Here stand we both , and aim we at the best : -And , for the time shall not seem tedious , -I'll tell thee what befell me on a day -In this self place where now we mean to stand . - -Here comes a man ; let's stay till he be past . - - -From Scotland am I stol'n , even of pure love , -To greet mine own land with my wishful sight . -No , Harry , Harry , 'tis no land of thine ; -Thy place is fill'd , thy sceptre wrung from thee , -Thy balm wash'd off wherewith thou wast anointed : -No bending knee will call thee C sar now , -No humble suitors press to speak for right , -No , not a man comes for redress of thee ; -For how can I help them , and not myself ? - -Ay , here's a deer whose skin's a keeper's fee : -This is the quondam king ; let's seize upon him . - -Let me embrace thee , sour adversity , -For wise men say it is the wisest course . - -Why linger we ? let us lay hands upon him . - -Forbear awhile ; we'll hear a little more . - -My queen and son are gone to France for aid ; -And , as I hear , the great commanding Warwick -Is thither gone , to crave the French king's sister -To wife for Edward . If this news be true , -Poor queen and son , your labour is but lost ; -For Warwick is a subtle orator , -And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words . -By this account then Margaret may win him , -For she's a woman to be pitied much : -Her sighs will make a battery in his breast ; -Her tears will pierce into a marble heart ; -The tiger will be mild whiles she doth mourn ; -And Nero will be tainted with remorse , -To hear and see her plaints , her brinish tears . -Ay , but she's come to beg ; Warwick , to give : -She on his left side craving aid for Henry ; -He on his right asking a wife for Edward . -She weeps , and says her Henry is depos'd ; -He smiles , and says his Edward is install'd ; -That she , poor wretch , for grief can speak no more : -Whiles Warwick tells his title , smooths the wrong , -Inferreth arguments of mighty strength , -And in conclusion wins the king from her , -With promise of his sister , and what else , -To strengthen and support King Edward's place . -O Margaret ! thus 'twill be ; and thou , poor soul , -Art then forsaken , as thou went'st forlorn . - -Say , what art thou , that talk'st of kings and queens ? - -More than I seem , and less than I was born to : -A man at least , for less I should not be ; -And men may talk of kings , and why not I ? - -Ay , but thou talk'st as if thou wert a king . - -Why , so I am , in mind ; and that's enough . - -But , if thou be a king , where is thy crown ? - -My crown is in my heart , not on my head ; -Not deck'd with diamonds and Indian stones , -Nor to be seen : my crown is call'd content ; -A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy . - -Well , if you be a king crown'd with content , -Your crown content and you must be contented -To go along with us ; for , as we think , -You are the king King Edward hath depos'd ; -And we his subjects , sworn in all allegiance , -Will apprehend you as his enemy . - -But did you never swear , and break an oath ? - -No , never such an oath ; nor will not now . - -Where did you dwell when I was King of England ? - -Here in this country , where we now remain . - -I was anointed king at nine months old ; -My father and my grandfather were kings , -And you were sworn true subjects unto me : -And tell me , then , have you not broke your oaths ? - -No ; -For we were subjects but while you were king . - -Why , am I dead ? do I not breathe a man ? -Ah ! simple men , you know not what you swear . -Look , as I blow this feather from my face , -And as the air blows it to me again , -Obeying with my wind when I do blow , -And yielding to another when it blows , -Commanded always by the greater gust ; -Such is the lightness of you common men . -But do not break your oaths ; for of that sin -My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty . -Go where you will , the king shall be commanded ; -And be you kings : command , and I'll obey . - -We are true subjects to the king , King Edward . - -So would you be again to Henry , -If he were seated as King Edward is . - -We charge you , in God's name , and in the king's , -To go with us unto the officers . - -In God's name , lead ; your king's name be obey'd : -And what God will , that let your king perform ; -And what he will , I humbly yield unto . - - -Brother of Gloucester , at Saint Alban's field -This lady's husband , Sir John Grey , was slain , -His lands then seiz'd on by the conqueror : -Her suit is now , to repossess those lands ; -Which we in justice cannot well deny , -Because in quarrel of the house of York -The worthy gentleman did lose his life . - -Your highness shall do well to grant her suit ; -It were dishonour to deny it her . - -It were no less : but yet I'll make a pause . - -Yea ; is it so ? -I see the lady hath a thing to grant -Before the king will grant her humble suit . - -He knows the game : how true he keeps the wind ! - -Silence ! - -Widow , we will consider of your suit , -And come some other time to know our mind . - -Right gracious lord , I cannot brook delay : -May it please your highness to resolve me now , -And what your pleasure is shall satisfy me . - -Ay , widow ? then I'll warrant you all your lands , -An if what pleases him shall pleasure you , -Fight closer , or , good faith , you'll catch a blow . - -I fear her not , unless she chance to fall . - -God forbid that ! for he'll take vantages . - -How many children hast thou , widow ? tell me . - -I think he means to beg a child of her . - -Nay , whip me , then ; he'll rather give her two . - -Three , my most gracious lord . - -You shall have four , if you'll be rul'd by him . - -'Twere pity they should lose their father's lands . - -Be pitiful , dread lord , and grant it then . - -Lords , give us leave : I'll try this widow's wit . - -Ay , good leave have you ; for you will have leave , -Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch . - - -Now , tell me , madam , do you love your children ? - -Ay , full as dearly as I love myself . - -And would you not do much to do them good ? - -To do them good I would sustain some harm . - -Then get your husband's lands , to do them good . - -Therefore I came unto your majesty . - -I'll tell you how these lands are to be got . - -So shall you bind me to your highness' service . - -What service wilt thou do me , if I give them ? - -What you command , that rests in me to do . - -But you will take exceptions to my boon . - -No , gracious lord , except I cannot do it . - -Ay , but thou canst do what I mean to ask . - -Why , then I will do what your Grace commands . - -He plies her hard ; and much rain wears the marble . - -As red as fire ! nay , then her wax must melt . - -Why stops my lord ? shall I not hear my task ? - -An easy task : 'tis but to love a king . - -That's soon perform'd , because I am a subject . - -Why then , thy husband's lands I freely give thee . - -I take my leave with many thousand thanks . - -The match is made ; she seals it with a curtsy . - -But stay thee ; 'tis the fruits of love I mean . - -The fruits of love I mean , my loving liege . - -Ay , but , I fear me , in another sense . -What love think'st thou I sue so much to get ? - -My love till death , my humble thanks , my prayers : -That love which virtue begs and virtue grants . - -No , by my troth , I did not mean such love . - -Why , then you mean not as I thought you did . - -But now you partly may perceive my mind . - -My mind will never grant what I perceive -Your highness aims at , if I aim aright . - -To tell thee plain , I aim to lie with thee . - -To tell you plain , I had rather lie in prison . - -Why , then thou shalt not have thy husband's lands . - -Why , then mine honesty shall be my dower ; -For by that loss I will not purchase them . - -Therein thou wrong'st thy children mightily . - -Herein your highness wrongs both them and me . -But , mighty lord , this merry inclination -Accords not with the sadness of my suit : -Please you dismiss me , either with 'ay ,' or 'no .' - -Ay , if thou wilt say 'ay' to my request ; -No , if thou dost say 'no' to my demand . - -Then , no , my lord . My suit is at an end . - -The widow likes him not , she knits her brows . - -He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom . - -Her looks do argue her replete with modesty ; -Her words do show her wit incomparable ; -All her perfections challenge sovereignty : -One way or other , she is for a king ; -And she shall be my love , or else my queen . -Say that King Edward take thee for his queen ? - -'Tis better said than done , my gracious lord : -I am a subject fit to jest withal , -But far unfit to be a sovereign . - -Sweet widow , by my state I swear to thee , -I speak no more than what my soul intends ; -And that is , to enjoy thee for my love . - -And that is more than I will yield unto . -I know I am too mean to be your queen , -And yet too good to be your concubine . - -You cavil , widow : I did mean , my queen . - -'Twill grieve your Grace my sons should call you father . - -No more than when my daughters call thee mother . -Thou art a widow , and thou hast some children ; -And , by God's mother , I , being but a bachelor , -Have other some : why , 'tis a happy thing -To be the father unto many sons . -Answer no more , for thou shalt be my queen . - -The ghostly father now hath done his shrift . - -When he was made a shriver , 'twas for shift . - -Brothers , you muse what chat we two have had . - -The widow likes it not , for she looks very sad . - -You'd think it strange if I should marry her . - -To whom , my lord ? - -Why , Clarence , to myself . - -That would be ten days' wonder at the least . - -That's a day longer than a wonder lasts . - -By so much is the wonder in extremes . - -Well , jest on , brothers : I can tell you both -Her suit is granted for her husband's lands . - - -My gracious lord , Henry your foe is taken , -And brought as prisoner to your palace gate . - -See that he be convey'd unto the Tower : -And go we , brothers , to the man that took him , -To question of his apprehension . -Widow , go you along . Lords , use her honourably . - - -Ay , Edward will use women honourably . -Would he were wasted , marrow , bones , and all , -That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring , -To cross me from the golden time I look for ! -And yet , between my soul's desire and me -The lustful Edward's title buried , -Is Clarence , Henry , and his son young Edward , -And all the unlook'd for issue of their bodies , -To take their rooms , ere I can place myself : -A cold premeditation for my purpose ! -Why then , I do but dream on sovereignty ; -Like one that stands upon a promontory , -And spies a far-off shore where he would tread , -Wishing his foot were equal with his eye ; -And chides the sea that sunders him from thence , -Saying , he'll lade it dry to have his way : -So do I wish the crown , being so far off , -And so I chide the means that keep me from it , -And so I say I'll cut the causes off , -Flattering me with impossibilities . -My eye's too quick , my heart o'erweens too much , -Unless my hand and strength could equal them . -Well , say there is no kingdom then for Richard ; -What other pleasure can the world afford ? -I'll make my heaven in a lady's lap , -And deck my body in gay ornaments , -And witch sweet ladies with my words and looks . -O miserable thought ! and more unlikely -Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns . -Why , love forswore me in my mother's womb : -And , for I should not deal in her soft laws , -She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe , -To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub ; -To make an envious mountain on my back , -Where sits deformity to mock my body ; -To shape my legs of an unequal size ; -To disproportion me in every part , -Like to a chaos , or an unlick'd bear-whelp -That carries no impression like the dam . -And am I then a man to be belov'd ? -O monstrous fault ! to harbour such a thought . -Then , since this earth affords no joy to me -But to command , to check , to o'erbear such -As are of better person than myself , -I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown ; -And , whiles I live , to account this world but hell , -Until my mis-shap'd trunk that bears this head -Be round impaled with a glorious crown . -And yet I know not how to get the crown , -For many lives stand between me and home : -And I , like one lost in a thorny wood , -That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns , -Seeking a way and straying from the way ; -Not knowing how to find the open air , -But toiling desperately to find it out , -Torment myself to catch the English crown : -And from that torment I will free myself , -Or hew my way out with a bloody axe . -Why , I can smile , and murder while I smile , -And cry , 'Content ,' to that which grieves my heart , -And wet my cheeks with artificial tears , -And frame my face to all occasions . -I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall ; -I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk ; -I'll play the orator as well as Nestor , -Deceive more slily than Ulysses could , -And , like a Sinon , take another Troy . -I can add colours to the chameleon , -Change shapes with Proteus for advantages , -And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school . -Can I do this , and cannot get a crown ? -Tut ! were it further off , I'll pluck it down . - -Fair Queen of England , worthy Margaret , -Sit down with us : it ill befits thy state -And birth , that thou shouldst stand while Lewis doth sit . - -No , mighty King of France : now Margaret -Must strike her sail , and learn a while to serve -Where kings command . I was , I must confess , -Great Albion's queen in former golden days ; -But now mischance hath trod my title down , -And with dishonour laid me on the ground , -Where I must take like seat unto my fortune , -And to my humble seat conform myself . - -Why , say , fair queen , whence springs this deep despair ? - -From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears -And stops my tongue , while heart is drown'd in cares . - -Whate'er it be , be thou still like thyself , -And sit thee by our side . - -Yield not thy neck -To fortune's yoke , but let thy dauntless mind -Still ride in triumph over all mischance . -Be plain , Queen Margaret , and tell thy grief ; -It shall be eas'd , if France can yield relief . - -Those gracious words revive my drooping thoughts , -And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak . -Now , therefore , be it known to noble Lewis , -That Henry , sole possessor of my love , -Is of a king become a banish'd man , -And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn ; -While proud ambitious Edward Duke of York -Usurps the regal title and the seat -Of England's true-anointed lawful king . -This is the cause that I , poor Margaret , -With this my son , Prince Edward , Henry's heir , -Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid ; -And if thou fail us , all our hope is done . -Scotland hath will to help , but cannot help ; -Our people and our peers are both misled , -Our treasure seiz'd , our soldiers put to flight , -And , as thou seest , ourselves in heavy plight . - -Renowned queen , with patience calm the storm , -While we bethink a means to break it off . - -The more we stay , the stronger grows our foe . - -The more I stay , the more I'll succour thee . - -O ! but impatience waiteth on true sorrow : -And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow . - - -What's he , approacheth boldly to our presence ? - -Our Earl of Warwick , Edward's greatest friend . - -Welcome , brave Warwick ! What brings thee to France ? - - -Ay , now begins a second storm to rise ; -For this is he that moves both wind and tide . - -From worthy Edward , King of Albion , -My lord and sovereign , and thy vowed friend , -I come , in kindness and unfeigned love , -First , to do greetings to thy royal person ; -And then to crave a league of amity ; -And lastly to confirm that amity -With nuptial knot , if thou vouchsafe to grant -That virtuous Lady Bona , thy fair sister , -To England's king in lawful marriage . - -If that go forward , Henry's hope is done . - -And , gracious madam , in our king's behalf , -I am commanded , with your leave and favour , -Humbly to kiss your hand , and with my tongue -To tell the passion of my sov'reign's heart ; -Where fame , late entering at his heedful ears , -Hath plac'd thy beauty's image and thy virtue . - -King Lewis and Lady Bona , hear me speak , -Before you answer Warwick . His demand -Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love , -But from deceit bred by necessity ; -For how can tyrants safely govern home , -Unless abroad they purchase great alliance ? -To prove him tyrant this reason may suffice , -That Henry liveth still ; but were he dead , -Yet here Prince Edward stands , King Henry's son . -Look , therefore , Lewis , that by this league and marriage -Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour ; -For though usurpers sway the rule awhile , -Yet heavens are just , and time suppresseth wrongs . - -Injurious Margaret ! - -And why not queen ? - -Because thy father Henry did usurp , -And thou no more art prince than she is queen . - -Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt , -Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain ; -And , after John of Gaunt , Henry the Fourth , -Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest ; -And , after that wise prince , Henry the Fifth , -Who by his prowess conquered all France : -From these our Henry lineally descends . - -Oxford , how haps it , in this smooth discourse , -You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost -All that which Henry the Fifth had gotten ? -Methinks these peers of France should smile at that . -But for the rest , you tell a pedigree -Of threescore and two years ; a silly time -To make prescription for a kingdom's worth . - -Why , Warwick , canst thou speak against thy liege , -Whom thou obeyedst thirty and six years , -And not bewray thy treason with a blush ? - -Can Oxford , that did ever fence the right , -Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree ? -For shame ! leave Henry , and call Edward king . - -Call him my king , by whose injurious doom -My elder brother , the Lord Aubrey Vere , -Was done to death ? and more than so , my father , -Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years , -When nature brought him to the door of death ? -No , Warwick , no ; while life upholds this arm , -This arm upholds the house of Lancaster . - -And I the house of York . - -Queen Margaret , Prince Edward , and Oxford , -Vouchsafe at our request to stand aside , -While I use further conference with Warwick . - - -Heaven grant that Warwick's words bewitch him not ! - -Now , Warwick , tell me , even upon thy conscience , -Is Edward your true king ? for I were loath -To link with him that were not lawful chosen . - -Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour . - -But is he gracious in the people's eye ? - -The more that Henry was unfortunate . - -Then further , all dissembling set aside , -Tell me for truth the measure of his love -Unto our sister Bona . - -Such it seems -As may beseem a monarch like himself . -Myself have often heard him say and swear -That this his love was an eternal plant , -Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground , -The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun , -Exempt from envy , but not from disdain , -Unless the Lady Bona quit his pain . - -Now , sister , let us hear your firm resolve . - -Your grant , or your denial , shall be mine : - - -Yet I confess that often ere this day , -When I have heard your king's desert recounted , -Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire . - -Then , Warwick , thus : our sister shall be Edward's ; -And now forthwith shall articles be drawn -Touching the jointure that your king must make , -Which with her dowry shall be counterpois'd . -Draw near , Queen Margaret , and be a witness -That Bona shall be wife to the English king . - -To Edward , but not to the English king . - -Deceitful Warwick ! it was thy device -By this alliance to make void my suit : -Before thy coming Lewis was Henry's friend . - -And still is friend to him and Margaret : -But if your title to the crown be weak , -As may appear by Edward's good success , -Then 'tis but reason that I be releas'd -From giving aid which late I promised . -Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand -That your estate requires and mine can yield . - -Henry now lives in Scotland at his ease , -Where having nothing , nothing can he lose . -And as for you yourself , our quondam queen , -You have a father able to maintain you , -And better 'twere you troubled him than France . - -Peace ! impudent and shameless Warwick , peace ; -Proud setter up and puller down of kings ; -I will not hence , till , with my talk and tears , -Both full of truth , I make King Lewis behold -Thy sly conveyance and thy lord's false love ; -For both of you are birds of self-same feather . - - -Warwick , this is some post to us or thee . - - -My lord ambassador , these letters are for you , -Sent from your brother , Marquess Montague : -These from our king unto your majesty ; - - -And , madam , these for you ; from whom I know not . - - -I like it well that our fair queen and mistress -Smiles at her news , while Warwick frowns at his . - -Nay , mark how Lewis stamps as he were nettled : -I hope all's for the best . - -Warwick , what are thy news ? and yours , fair queen ? - -Mine , such as fill my heart with unhop'd joys . - -Mine , full of sorrow and heart's discontent . - -What ! has your king married the Lady Grey ? -And now , to soothe your forgery and his , -Sends me a paper to persuade me patience ? -Is this the alliance that he seeks with France ? -Dare he presume to scorn us in this manner ? - -I told your majesty as much before : -This proveth Edward's love and Warwick's honesty . - -King Lewis , I here protest , in sight of heaven , -And by the hope I have of heavenly bliss , -That I am clear from this misdeed of Edward's ; -No more my king , for he dishonours me ; -But most himself , if he could see his shame . -Did I forget that by the house of York -My father came untimely to his death ? -Did I let pass the abuse done to my niece ? -Did I impale him with the regal crown ? -Did I put Henry from his native right ? -And am I guerdon'd at the last with shame ? -Shame on himself ! for my desert is honour : -And , to repair my honour , lost for him , -I here renounce him and return to Henry . -My noble queen , let former grudges pass , -And henceforth I am thy true servitor . -I will revenge his wrong to Lady Bona , -And replant Henry in his former state . - -Warwick , these words have turn'd my hate to love ; -And I forgive and quite forget old faults , -And joy that thou becom'st King Henry's friend . - -So much his friend , ay , his unfeigned friend , -That , if King Lewis vouchsafe to furnish us -With some few bands of chosen soldiers , -I'll undertake to land them on our coast , -And force the tyrant from his seat by war . -'Tis not his new-made bride shall succour him : -And as for Clarence , as my letters tell me , -He's very likely now to fall from him , -For matching more for wanton lust than honour , -Or than for strength and safety of our country . - -Dear brother , how shall Bona be reveng'd , -But by thy help to this distressed queen ? - -Renowned prince , how shall poor Henry live , -Unless thou rescue him from foul despair ? - -My quarrel and this English queen's are one . - -And mine , fair Lady Bona , joins with yours . - -And mine with hers , and thine and Margaret's . -Therefore , at last , I firmly am resolv'd -You shall have aid . - -Let me give humble thanks for all at once . - -Then , England's messenger , return in post , -And tell false Edward , thy supposed king , -That Lewis of France is sending over masquers , -To revel it with him and his new bride . -Thou seest what's past ; go fear thy king withal . - -Tell him , in hope he'll prove a widower shortly , -I'll wear the willow garland for his sake . - -Tell him , my mourning weeds are laid aside , -And I am ready to put armour on . - -Tell him from me , that he hath done me wrong , -And therefore I'll uncrown him ere't be long . -There's thy reward : be gone . - - -But , Warwick , -Thou and Oxford , with five thousand men , -Shall cross the seas , and bid false Edward battle ; -And , as occasion serves , this noble queen -And prince shall follow with a fresh supply . -Yet ere thou go , but answer me one doubt : -What pledge have we of thy firm loyalty ? - -This shall assure my constant loyalty : -That if our queen and this young prince agree , -I'll join mine eldest daughter and my joy -To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands . - -Yes , I agree , and thank you for your motion . -Son Edward , she is fair and virtuous , -Therefore delay not , give thy hand to Warwick ; -And , with thy hand , thy faith irrevocable , -That only Warwick's daughter shall be thine . - -Yes , I accept her , for she well deserves it ; -And here , to pledge my vow , I give my hand . - - -Why stay we now ? These soldiers shall be levied , -And thou , Lord Bourbon , our high admiral , -Shall waft them over with our royal fleet . -I long till Edward fall by war's mischance , -For mocking marriage with a dame of France . - - -I came from Edward as ambassador , -But I return his sworn and mortal foe : -Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me , -But dreadful war shall answer his demand . -Had he none else to make a stale but me ? -Then none but I shall turn his jest to sorrow . -I was the chief that rais'd him to the crown , -And I'll be chief to bring him down again : -Not that I pity Henry's misery , -But seek revenge on Edward's mockery . - -Now tell me , brother Clarence , what think you -Of this new marriage with the Lady Grey ? -Hath not our brother made a worthy choice ? - -Alas ! you know , 'tis far from hence to France ; -How could he stay till Warwick made return ? - -My lords , forbear this talk ; here comes the king . - -And his well-chosen bride . - -I mind to tell him plainly what I think . - -Now , brother Clarence , how like you our choice , -That you stand pensive , as half malcontent ? - -As well as Lewis of France , or the Earl of Warwick ; -Which are so weak of courage and in judgment -That they'll take no offence at our abuse . - -Suppose they take offence without a cause , -They are but Lewis and Warwick : I am Edward , -Your king and Warwick's , and must have my will . - -And you shall have your will , because our king : -Yet hasty marriage seldom proveth well . - -Yea , brother Richard , are you offended too ? - -Not I : -No , God forbid , that I should wish them sever'd -Whom God hath join'd together ; ay , and 'twere pity -To sunder them that yoke so well together . - -Setting your scorns and your mislike aside , -Tell me some reason why the Lady Grey -Should not become my wife and England's queen : -And you too , Somerset and Montague , -Speak freely what you think . - -Then this is mine opinion : that King Lewis -Becomes your enemy for mocking him -About the marriage of the Lady Bona . - -And Warwick , doing what you gave in charge , -Is now dishonoured by this new marriage . - -What if both Lewis and Warwick be appeas'd -By such invention as I can devise ? - -Yet to have join'd with France in such alliance -Would more have strengthen'd this our commonwealth -'Gainst foreign storms , than any home-bred marriage . - -Why , knows not Montague , that of itself -England is safe , if true within itself ? - -Yes ; but the safer when 'tis back'd with France . - -'Tis better using France than trusting France : -Let us be back'd with God and with the seas -Which he hath given for fence impregnable , -And with their helps only defend ourselves : -In them and in ourselves our safety lies . - -For this one speech Lord Hastings well deserves -To have the heir of the Lord Hungerford . - -Ay , what of that ? it was my will and grant ; -And for this once my will shall stand for law . - -And yet methinks your Grace hath not done well , -To give the heir and daughter of Lord Scales -Unto the brother of your loving bride : -She better would have fitted me or Clarence : -But in your bride you bury brotherhood . - -Or else you would not have bestow'd the heir -Of the Lord Bonville on your new wife's son , -And leave your brothers to go speed elsewhere . - -Alas , poor Clarence , is it for a wife -That thou art malcontent ? I will provide thee . - -In choosing for yourself you show'd your judgment , -Which being shallow , you shall give me leave -To play the broker on mine own behalf ; -And to that end I shortly mind to leave you . - -Leave me , or tarry , Edward will be king , -And not be tied unto his brother's will . - -My lords , before it pleas'd his majesty -To raise my state to title of a queen , -Do me but right , and you must all-confess -That I was not ignoble of descent ; -And meaner than myself have had like fortune . -But as this title honours me and mine , -So your dislikes , to whom I would be pleasing , -Do cloud my joys with danger and with sorrow . - -My love , forbear to fawn upon their frowns : -What danger or what sorrow can befall thee , -So long as Edward is thy constant friend , -And their true sovereign , whom they must obey ? -Nay , whom they shall obey , and love thee too , -Unless they seek for hatred at my hands ; -Which if they do , yet will I keep thee safe , -And they shall feel the vengeance of my wrath . - -I hear , yet say not much , but think the more . - - -Now , messenger , what letters or what news -From France ? - -My sovereign liege , no letters ; and few words ; -But such as I , without your special pardon , -Dare not relate . - -Go to , we pardon thee : therefore , in brief , -Tell me their words as near as thou canst guess them . -What answer makes King Lewis unto our letters ? - -At my depart these were his very words : -'Go tell false Edward , thy supposed king , -That Lewis of France is sending over masquers , -To revel it with him and his new bride .' - -Is Lewis so brave ? belike he thinks me Henry . -But what said Lady Bona to my marriage ? - -These were her words , utter'd with mild disdain : -'Tell him , in hope he'll prove a widower shortly , -I'll wear the willow garland for his sake .' - -I blame not her , she could say little less ; -She had the wrong . But what said Henry's queen ? -For I have heard that she was there in place . - -'Tell him ,' quoth she , 'my mourning weeds are done , -And I am ready to put armour on .' - -Belike she minds to play the Amazon . -But what said Warwick to these injuries ? - -He , more incens'd against your majesty -Than all the rest , discharg'd me with these words : -'Tell him from me that he hath done me wrong , -And therefore I'll uncrown him ere't be long .' - -Ha ! durst the traitor breathe out so proud words ? -Well , I will arm me , being thus forewarn'd : -They shall have wars , and pay for their presumption . -But say , is Warwick friends with Margaret ? - -Ay , gracious sovereign ; they are so link'd in friendship , -That young Prince Edward marries Warwick's daughter . - -Belike the elder ; Clarence will have the younger . -Now , brother king , farewell , and sit you fast , -For I will hence to Warwick's other daughter ; -That , though I want a kingdom , yet in marriage -I may not prove inferior to yourself . -You , that love me and Warwick , follow me . - - -Not I . -My thoughts aim at a further matter ; I -Stay not for love of Edward , but the crown . - -Clarence and Somerset both gone to Warwick ! -Yet am I arm'd against the worst can happen , -And haste is needful in this desperate case . -Pembroke and Stafford , you in our behalf -Go levy men , and make prepare for war : -They are already , or quickly will be landed : -Myself in person will straight follow you , - -But ere I go , Hastings and Montague , -Resolve my doubt . You twain , of all the rest , -Are near to Warwick by blood , and by alliance : -Tell me if you love Warwick more than me ? -If it be so , then both depart to him ; -I rather wish you foes than hollow friends : -But if you mind to hold your true obedience , -Give me assurance with some friendly vow -That I may never have you in suspect . - -So God help Montague as he proves true ! - -And Hastings as he favours Edward's cause ! - -Now , brother Richard , will you stand by us ? - -Ay , in despite of all that shall withstand you . - -Why , so ! then am I sure of victory . -Now therefore let us hence ; and lose no hour -Till we meet Warwick with his foreign power . - - -Trust me , my lord , all hitherto goes well ; -The common people by numbers swarm to us . - - -But see where Somerset and Clarence come ! - -Speak suddenly , my lords , are we all friends ? - -Fear not that , my lord . - -Then , gentle Clarence , welcome unto Warwick ; -And welcome , Somerset : I hold it cowardice , -To rest mistrustful where a noble heart -Hath pawn'd an open hand in sign of love ; -Else might I think that Clarence , Edward's brother , -Were but a feigned friend to our proceedings : -But welcome , sweet Clarence ; my daughter shall be thine . -And now what rests , but in night's coverture , -Thy brother being carelessly encamp'd , -His soldiers lurking in the towns about , -And but attended by a simple guard , -We may surprise and take him at our pleasure ? -Our scouts have found the adventure very easy . -That as Ulysses , and stout Diomede , -With sleight and manhood stole to Rhesus' tents , -And brought from thence the Thracian fatal steeds ; -So we , well cover'd with the night's black mantle , -At unawares may beat down Edward's guard , -And seize himself ; I say not , slaughter him , -For I intend but only to surprise him . -You , that will follow me to this attempt , -Applaud the name of Henry with your leader . - -Why , then , let's on our way in silent sort . -For Warwick and his friends , God and Saint George ! - - -Come on , my masters , each man take his stand ; -The king , by this , is set him down to sleep . - -What , will he not to bed ? - -Why , no : for he hath made a solemn vow -Never to lie and take his natural rest -Till Warwick or himself be quite suppress'd . - -To-morrow then belike shall be the day , -If Warwick be so near as men report . - -But say , I pray , what nobleman is that -That with the king here resteth in his tent ? - -'Tis the Lord Hastings , the king's chiefest friend . - -O ! is it so ? But why commands the king -That his chief followers lodge in towns about him , -While he himself keeps in the cold field ? - -'Tis the more honour , because the more dangerous . - -Ay , but give me worship and quietness ; -I like it better than a dangerous honour . -If Warwick knew in what estate he stands , -'Tis to be doubted he would waken him . - -Unless our halberds did shut up his passage . - -Ay ; wherefore else guard we his royal tent , -But to defend his person from night-foes ? - - -This is his tent ; and see where stand his guard . -Courage , my masters ! honour now or never ! -But follow me , and Edward shall be ours . - -Who goes there ? - -Stay , or thou diest . - - -What are they that fly there ? - -Richard and Hastings : let them go ; here's the duke . - -The duke ! Why , Warwick , when we parted last , -Thou call'dst me king ! - -Ay , but the case is alter'd : -When you disgrac'd me in my embassade , -Then I degraded you from being king , -And come now to create you Duke of York . -Alas ! how should you govern any kingdom , -That know not how to use ambassadors , -Nor how to be contented with one wife , -Nor how to use your brothers brotherly , -Nor how to study for the people's welfare , -Nor how to shroud yourself from enemies ? - -Yea , brother of Clarence , art thou here too ? -Nay , then , I see that Edward needs must down . -Yet , Warwick , in despite of all mischance , -Of thee thyself , and all thy complices , -Edward will always bear himself as king : -Though Fortune's malice overthrow my state , -My mind exceeds the compass of her wheel . - -Then , for his mind , be Edward England's king : - -But Henry now shall wear the English crown , -And be true king indeed , thou but the shadow . -My Lord of Somerset , at my request , -See that forthwith Duke Edward be convey'd -Unto my brother , Archbishop of York . -When I have fought with Pembroke and his fellows , -I'll follow you , and tell what answer -Lewis and the Lady Bona send to him : -Now , for a while farewell , good Duke of York . - -What fates impose , that men must needs abide ; -It boots not to resist both wind and tide . - - -What now remains , my lords , for us to do , -But march to London with our soldiers ? - -Ay , that's the first thing that we have to do ; -To free King Henry from imprisonment , -And see him seated in the regal throne . - - -Madam , what makes you in this sudden change ? - -Why , brother Rivers , are you yet to learn , -What late misfortune is befall'n King Edward ? - -What ! loss of some pitch'd battle against Warwick ? - -No , but the loss of his own royal person . - -Then is my sovereign slain ? - -Ay , almost slain , for he is taken prisoner ; -Either betray'd by falsehood of his guard -Or by his foe surpris'd at unawares : -And , as I further have to understand , -Is new committed to the Bishop of York , -Fell Warwick's brother , and by that our foe . - -These news , I must confess , are full of grief ; -Yet , gracious madam , bear it as you may : -Warwick may lose , that now hath won the day . - -Till then fair hope must hinder life's decay . -And I the rather wean me from despair -For love of Edward's offspring in my womb : -This is it that makes me bridle passion , -And bear with mildness my misfortune's cross ; -Ay , ay , for this I draw in many a tear , -And stop the rising of blood-sucking sighs , -Lest with my sighs or tears I blast or drown -King Edward's fruit , true heir to the English crown . - -But , madam , where is Warwick then become ? - -I am inform'd that he comes towards London , -To set the crown once more on Henry's head : -Guess thou the rest ; King Edward's friends must down . -But , to prevent the tyrant's violence , -For trust not him that hath once broken faith , -I'll hence forthwith unto the sanctuary , -To save at least the heir of Edward's right : -There shall I rest secure from force and fraud . -Come , therefore ; let us fly while we may fly : -If Warwick take us we are sure to die . - - -Now , my Lord Hastings and Sir William Stanley , -Leave off to wonder why I drew you hither , -Into this chiefest thicket of the park . -Thus stands the case . You know , our king , my brother , -Is prisoner to the bishop here , at whose hands -He hath good usage and great liberty , -And often but attended with weak guard , -Comes hunting this way to disport himself . -I have advertis'd him by secret means , -That if about this hour he make this way , -Under the colour of his usual game , -He shall here find his friends , with horse and men -To set him free from his captivity . - - -This way , my lord , for this way lies the game . - -Nay , this way , man : see where the huntsmen stand . -Now , brother of Gloucester , Lord Hastings , and the rest , -Stand you thus close , to steal the bishop's deer ? - -Brother , the time and case requireth haste . -Your horse stands ready at the park corner . - -But whither shall we then ? - -To Lynn , my lord ; and ship from thence to Flanders . - -Well guess'd , believe me ; for that was my meaning . - -Stanley , I will requite thy forwardness . - -But wherefore stay we ? 'tis no time to talk . - -Huntsman , what sayst thou ? wilt thou go along ? - -Better do so than tarry and be hang'd . - -Come then , away ; let's ha' no more ado . - -Bishop , farewell : shield thee from Warwick's frown , -And pray that I may repossess the crown . - -Master lieutenant , now that God and friends -Have shaken Edward from the regal seat , -And turn'd my captive state to liberty , -My fear to hope , my sorrows unto joys , -At our enlargement what are thy due fees ? - -Subjects may challenge nothing of their sovereigns ; -But if a humble prayer may prevail , -I then crave pardon of your majesty . - -For what , lieutenant ? for well using me ? -Nay , be thou sure , I'll well requite thy kindness , -For that it made my imprisonment a pleasure ; -Ay , such a pleasure as encaged birds -Conceive , when , after many moody thoughts -At last by notes of household harmony -They quite forget their loss of liberty . -But , Warwick , after God , thou set'st me free , -And chiefly therefore I thank God and thee ; -He was the author , thou the instrument . -Therefore , that I may conquer Fortune's spite -By living low , where Fortune cannot hurt me , -And that the people of this blessed land -May not be punish'd with my thwarting stars , -Warwick , although my head still wear the crown , -I here resign my government to thee , -For thou art fortunate in all thy deeds . - -Your Grace hath still been fam'd for virtuous ; -And now may seem as wise as virtuous , -By spying and avoiding Fortune's malice ; -For few men rightly temper with the stars : -Yet in this one thing let me blame your Grace , -For choosing me when Clarence is in place . - -No , Warwick , thou art worthy of the sway , -To whom the heavens , in thy nativity -Adjudg'd an olive branch and laurel crown , -As likely to be blest in peace , and war ; -And therefore I yield thee my free consent . - -And I choose Clarence only for protector . - -Warwick and Clarence , give me both your hands : -Now join your hands , and with your hands your hearts , -That no dissension hinder government : -I make you both protectors of this land , -While I myself will lead a private life , -And in devotion spend my latter days , -To sin's rebuke and my Creator's praise . - -What answers Clarence to his sovereign's will ? - -That he consents , if Warwick yield consent ; -For on thy fortune I repose myself . - -Why then , though loath , yet must I be content : -We'll yoke together , like a double shadow -To Henry's body , and supply his place ; -I mean , in bearing weight of government , -While he enjoys the honour and his ease . -And , Clarence , now then it is more than needful -Forthwith that Edward be pronounc'd a traitor , -And all his lands and goods be confiscate . - -What else ? and that succession be determin'd . - -Ay , therein Clarence shall not want his part . - -But , with the first of all your chief affairs , -Let me entreat , for I command no more , -That Margaret your queen , and my son Edward , -Be sent for , to return from France with speed : -For , till I see them here , by doubtful fear -My joy of liberty is half eclips'd . - -It shall be done , my sov'reign , with all speed . - -My Lord of Somerset , what youth is that -Of whom you seem to have so tender care ? - -My liege , it is young Henry , Earl of Richmond . - -Come hither , England's hope : - -If secret powers -Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts , -This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss . -His looks are full of peaceful majesty , -His head by nature fram'd to wear a crown , -His hand to wield a sceptre , and himself -Likely in time to bless a regal throne . -Make much of him , my lords ; for this is he -Must help you more than you are hurt by me . - - -What news , my friend ? - -That Edward is escaped from your brother , -And fled , as he hears since , to Burgundy . - -Unsavoury news ! but how made he escape ? - -He was convey'd by Richard Duke of Gloucester , -And the Lord Hastings , who attended him -In secret ambush on the forest side , -And from the bishop's huntsmen rescu'd him : -For hunting was his daily exercise . - -My brother was too careless of his charge . -But let us hence , my sovereign , to provide -A salve for any sore that may betide . - - -My lord , I like not of this flight of Edward's ; -For doubtless Burgundy will yield him help , -And we shall have more wars before't be long . -As Henry's late presaging prophecy -Did glad my heart with hope of this young Richmond , -So doth my heart misgive me , in these conflicts -What may befall him to his harm and ours : -Therefore , Lord Oxford , to prevent the worst , -Forthwith we'll send him hence to Brittany , -Till storms be past of civil enmity . - -Ay , for if Edward repossess the crown , -'Tis like that Richmond with the rest shall down . - -It shall be so ; he shall to Brittany . -Come , therefore , let's about it speedily . - - -Now , brother Richard , Lord Hastings , and the rest , -Yet thus far Fortune maketh us amends , -And says , that once more I shall interchange -My waned state for Henry's regal crown . -Well have we pass'd , and now repass'd the seas , -And brought desired help from Burgundy : -What then remains , we being thus arriv'd -From Ravenspurgh haven before the gates of York , -But that we enter , as into our dukedom ? - -The gates made fast ! Brother , I like not this ; -For many men that stumble at the threshold -Are well foretold that danger lurks within . - -Tush , man ! abodements must not now affright us . -By fair or foul means we must enter in , -For hither will our friends repair to us . - -My liege , I'll knock once more to summon them . - - -My lords , we were forewarned of your coming , -And shut the gates for safety of ourselves ; -For now we owe allegiance unto Henry . - -But , Master Mayor , if Henry be your king , -Yet Edward , at the least , is Duke of York . - -True , my good lord , I know you for no less . - -Why , and I challenge nothing but my dukedom , -As being well content with that alone . - -But when the fox hath once got in his nose , -He'll soon find means to make the body follow . - -Why , Master Mayor , why stand you in a doubt ? -Open the gates ; we are King Henry's friends . - -Ay , say you so ? the gates shall then be open'd . - - -A wise stout captain , and soon persuaded . - -The good old man would fain that all were well , -So 'twere not 'long of him ; but being enter'd , -I doubt not , I , but we shall soon persuade -Both him and all his brothers unto reason . - - -So , Master Mayor : these gates must not be shut -But in the night , or in the time of war . -What ! fear not , man , but yield me up the keys ; - -For Edward will defend the town and thee , -And all those friends that deign to follow me . - - -Brother , this is Sir John Montgomery , -Our trusty friend , unless I be deceiv'd . - -Welcome , Sir John ! but why come you in arms ? - -To help King Edward in his time of storm , -As every loyal subject ought to do . - -Thanks , good Montgomery ; but we now forget -Our title to the crown , and only claim -Our dukedom till God please to send the rest . - -Then fare you well , for I will hence again : -I came to serve a king and not a duke . -Drummer , strike up , and let us march away . - - -Nay , stay , Sir John , awhile ; and we'll debate -By what safe means the crown may be recover'd . - -What talk you of debating ? in few words , -If you'll not here proclaim yourself our king . -I'll leave you to your fortune , and be gone -To keep them back that come to succour you . -Why shall we fight , if you pretend no title ? - -Why , brother , wherefore stand you on nice points ? - -When we grow stronger then we'll make our claim ; -Till then , 'tis wisdom to conceal our meaning . - -Away with scrupulous wit ! now arms must rule . - -And fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns . -Brother , we will proclaim you out of hand ; -The bruit thereof will bring you many friends . - -Then be it as you will ; for 'tis my right , -And Henry but usurps the diadem . - -Ay , now my sov'reign speaketh like himself ; -And now will I be Edward's champion . - -Sound , trumpet ! Edward shall be here proclaim'd ; -Come , fellow soldier , make thou proclamation . - - -Edward the Fourth , by the grace of God , King of England and France , and Lord of Ireland , &c . - -And whosoe'er gainsays King Edward's right , -By this I challenge him to single fight . - - -Long live Edward the Fourth ! - -Thanks , brave Montgomery ;and thanks unto you all : -If Fortune serve me , I'll requite this kindness . -Now , for this night , let's harbour here in York ; -And when the morning sun shall raise his car -Above the border of this horizon , -We'll forward towards Warwick , and his mates ; -For well I wot that Henry is no soldier . -Ah , froward Clarence , how evil it beseems thee -To flatter Henry , and forsake thy brother ! -Yet , as we may , we'll meet both thee and Warwick . -Come on , brave soldiers : doubt not of the day ; -And , that once gotten , doubt not of large pay . - - -What counsel , lords ? Edward from Belgia , -With hasty Germans and blunt Hollanders , -Hath pass'd in safety through the narrow seas , -And with his troops doth march amain to London ; -And many giddy people flock to him . - -Let's levy men , and beat him back again . - -A little fire is quickly trodden out , -Which , being suffer'd , rivers cannot quench . - -In Warwickshire I have true-hearted friends , -Not mutinous in peace , yet bold in war ; -Those will I muster up : and thou , son Clarence , -Shalt stir up in Suffolk , Norfolk , and in Kent , -The knights and gentlemen to come with thee : -Thou , brother Montague , in Buckingham , -Northampton , and in Leicestershire , shalt find -Men well inclin'd to hear what thou command'st : -And thou , brave Oxford , wondrous well belov'd -In Oxfordshire , shalt muster up thy friends . -My sov'reign , with the loving citizens , -Like to his island girt in with the ocean , -Or modest Dian circled with her nymphs , -Shall rest in London till we come to him . -Fair lords , take leave , and stand not to reply . -Farewell , my sovereign . - -Farewell , my Hector , and my Troy's true hope . - -In sign of truth , I kiss your highness' hand . - -Well-minded Clarence , be thou fortunate ! - -Comfort , my lord ; and so , I take my leave . - -And thus I seal my truth , and bid adieu . - -Sweet Oxford , and my loving Montague , -And all at once , once more a happy farewell . - -Farewell , sweet lords : let's meet at Coventry . - - -Here at the palace will I rest awhile . -Cousin of Exeter , what thinks your lordship ? -Methinks the power that Edward hath in field -Should not be able to encounter mine . - -The doubt is that he will seduce the rest . - -That's not my fear ; my meed hath got me fame : -I have not stopp'd mine ears to their demands , -Nor posted off their suits with slow delays ; -My pity hath been balm to heal their wounds , -My mildness hath allay'd their swelling griefs , -My mercy dried their water-flowing tears ; -I have not been desirous of their wealth ; -Nor much oppress'd them with great subsidies , -Nor forward of revenge , though they much err'd . -Then why should they love Edward more than me ? -No , Exeter , these graces challenge grace : -And , when the lion fawns upon the lamb , -The lamb will never cease to follow him . - - -Hark , hark , my lord ! what shouts are these ? - - -Seize on the shame-fac'd Henry ! bear him hence : -And once again proclaim us King of England . -You are the fount that makes small brooks to flow : -Now stops thy spring ; my sea shall suck them dry , -And swell so much the higher by their ebb . -Hence with him to the Tower ! let him not speak . - -And , lords , towards Coventry bend we our course , -Where peremptory Warwick now remains : -The sun shines hot ; and , if we use delay , -Cold biting winter mars our hop'd-for hay . - -Away betimes , before his forces join , -And take the great-grown traitor unawares : -Brave warriors , march amain towards Coventry . - -Where is the post that came from valiant Oxford ? -How far hence is thy lord , mine honest fellow ? - -By this at Dunsmore , marching hitherward . - -How far off is our brother Montague ? -Where is the post that came from Montague ? - -By this at Daintry , with a puissant troop . - - -Say , Somerville , what says my loving son ? -And , by thy guess , how nigh is Clarence now ? - -At Southam I did leave him with his forces , -And do expect him here some two hours hence . - - -Then Clarence is at hand , I hear his drum . - -It is not his , my lord ; here Southam lies : -The drum your honour hears marcheth from Warwick . - -Who should that be ? belike , unlook'd for friends . - -They are at hand , and you shall quickly know . - - -Go , trumpet , to the walls , and sound a parle . - -See how the surly Warwick mans the wall . - -O , unbid spite ! is sportful Edward come ? -Where slept our scouts , or how are they seduc'd , -That we could hear no news of his repair ? - -Now , Warwick , wilt thou ope the city gates , -Speak gentle words , and humbly bend thy knee ? -Call Edward king , and at his hands beg mercy ? -And he shall pardon thee these outrages . - -Nay , rather , wilt thou draw thy forces hence , -Confess who set thee up and pluck'd thee down ? -Call Warwick patron , and be penitent ; -And thou shalt still remain the Duke of York . - -I thought , at least , he would have said the king ; -Or did he make the jest against his will ? - -Is not a dukedom , sir , a goodly gift ? - -Ay , by my faith , for a poor earl to give : -I'll do thee service for so good a gift . - -'Twas I that gave the kingdom to thy brother . - -Why then 'tis mine , if but by Warwick's gift . - -Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight : -And , weakling , Warwick takes his gift again ; -And Henry is my king , Warwick his subject . - -But Warwick's king is Edward's prisoner ; -And , gallant Warwick , do but answer this , -What is the body , when the head is off ? - -Alas ! that Warwick had no more forecast , -But , whiles he thought to steal the single ten , -The king was slily finger'd from the deck . -You left poor Henry at the bishop's palace , -And , ten to one , you'll meet him in the Tower . - -'Tis even so : yet you are Warwick still . - -Come , Warwick , take the time ; kneel down , kneel down : -Nay , when ? strike now , or else the iron cools . - -I had rather chop this hand off at a blow , -And with the other fling it at thy face , -Than bear so low a sail to strike to thee . - -Sail how thou canst , have wind and tide thy friend ; -This hand , fast wound about thy coal-black hair , -Shall , whiles thy head is warm and new cut off , -Write in the dust this sentence with thy blood : -'Wind-changing Warwick now can change no more .' - - -O cheerful colours ! see where Oxford comes ! - -Oxford , Oxford , for Lancaster ! - - -The gates are open , let us enter too . - -So other foes may set upon our backs . -Stand we in good array ; for they no doubt -Will issue out again and bid us battle : -If not , the city being but of small defence , -We'll quickly rouse the traitors in the same . - -O ! welcome , Oxford ! for we want thy help . - - -Montague , Montague , for Lancaster ! - - -Thou and thy brother both shall buy this treason -Even with the dearest blood your bodies bear . - -The harder match'd , the greater victory : -My mind presageth happy gain , and conquest . - - -Somerset , Somerset , for Lancaster ! - - -Two of thy name , both Dukes of Somerset , -Have sold their lives unto the house of York ; -And thou shalt be the third , if this sword hold . - - -And lo ! where George of Clarence sweeps along , -Of force enough to bid his brother battle ; -With whom an upright zeal to right prevails -More than the nature of a brother's love . -Come , Clarence , come ; thou wilt , if Warwick call . - -Father of Warwick , know you what this means ? - -Look here , I throw my infamy at thee : -I will not ruinate my father's house , -Who gave his blood to lime the stones together , -And set up Lancaster . Why , trow'st thou , Warwick , -That Clarence is so harsh , so blunt , unnatural , -To bend the fatal instruments of war -Against his brother and his lawful king ? -Perhaps thou wilt object my holy oath : -To keep that oath were more impiety -Than Jephthah's , when he sacrific'd his daughter . -I am so sorry for my trespass made -That , to deserve well at my brother's hands , -I here proclaim myself thy mortal foe ; -With resolution , wheresoe'er I meet thee -As I will meet thee if thou stir abroad -To plague thee for thy foul misleading me . -And so , proud-hearted Warwick , I defy thee , -And to my brother turn my blushing cheeks . -Pardon me , Edward , I will make amends ; -And , Richard , do not frown upon my faults , -For I will henceforth be no more unconstant . - -Now welcome more , and ten times more belov'd , -Than if thou never hadst deserv'd our hate . - -Welcome , good Clarence ; this is brother-like . - -O passing traitor , perjur'd , and unjust ! - -What , Warwick , wilt thou leave the town , and fight ? -Or shall we beat the stones about thine ears ? - -Alas ! I am not coop'd here for defence : -I will away towards Barnet presently , -And bid thee battle , Edward , if thou dar'st . - -Yes , Warwick , Edward dares , and leads the way . -Lords , to the field ; Saint George and victory ! - - -So , lie thou there : die thou , and die our fear ; -For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all . -Now Montague , sit fast ; I seek for thee , -That Warwick's bones may keep thine company . - - -Ah ! who is nigh ? come to me , friend or foe , -And tell me who is victor , York or Warwick ? -Why ask I that ? my mangled body shows , -My blood , my want of strength , my sick heart shows , -That I must yield my body to the earth , -And , by my fall , the conquest to my foe . -Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge , -Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle , -Under whose shade the ramping lion slept , -Whose top branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree , -And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful wind . -These eyes , that now are dimm'd with death's black veil , -Have been as piercing as the mid-day sun , -To search the secret treasons of the world : -The wrinkles in my brows , now fill'd with blood , -Were liken'd oft to kingly sepulchres ; -For who liv'd king , but I could dig his grave ? -And who durst smile when Warwick bent his brow ? -Lo ! now my glory smear'd in dust and blood ; -My parks , my walks , my manors that I had , -Even now forsake me ; and , of all my lands -Is nothing left me but my body's length . -Why , what is pomp , rule , reign , but earth and dust ? -And , live we how we can , yet die we must . - - -Ah ! Warwick , Warwick , wert thou as we are , -We might recover all our loss again . -The queen from France hath brought a puissant power ; -Even now we heard the news . Ah ! couldst thou fly . - -Why , then , I would not fly . Ah ! Montague , -If thou be there , sweet brother , take my hand , -And with thy lips keep in my soul awhile . -Thou lov'st me not ; for , brother , if thou didst , -Thy tears would wash this cold congealed blood -That glues my lips and will not let me speak . -Come quickly , Montague , or I am dead . - -Ah ! Warwick , Montague hath breath'd his last ; -And to the latest gasp , cried out for Warwick , -And said , 'Commend me to my valiant brother .' -And more he would have said ; and more he spoke , -Which sounded like a clamour in a vault , -That mought not be distinguish'd : but at last -I well might hear , deliver'd with a groan , -'O ! farewell , Warwick !' - -Sweet rest his soul ! Fly , lords , and save yourselves ; -For Warwick bids you all farewell , to meet in heaven . - - -Away , away , to meet the queen's great power . - - -Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course , -And we are grac'd with wreaths of victory . -But in the midst of this bright-shining day , -I spy a black , suspicious , threat'ning cloud , -That will encounter with our glorious sun , -Ere he attain his easeful western bed : -I mean , my lords , those powers that the queen -Hath rais'd in Gallia , have arriv'd our coast , -And , as we hear , march on to fight with us . - -A little gale will soon disperse that cloud , -And blow it to the source from whence it came : -Thy very beams will dry those vapours up , -For every cloud engenders not a storm . - -The queen is valu'd thirty thousand strong , -And Somerset , with Oxford , fled to her : -If she have time to breathe , be well assur'd -Her faction will be full as strong as ours . - -We are advertis'd by our loving friends -That they do hold their course toward Tewksbury . -We , having now the best at Barnet field , -Will thither straight , for willingness rids way ; -And , as we march , our strength will be augmented -In every county as we go along . -Strike up the drum ! cry 'Courage !' and away . - - -Great lords , wise men ne'er sit and wail their loss , -But cheerly seek how to redress their harms . -What though the mast be now blown over-board , -The cable broke , the holding anchor lost , -And half our sailors swallow'd in the flood ? -Yet lives our pilot still : is't meet that he -Should leave the helm and like a fearful lad -With tearful eyes add water to the sea , -And give more strength to that which hath too much ; -Whiles in his moan the ship splits on the rock , -Which industry and courage might have sav'd ? -Ah ! what a shame ! ah , what a fault were this . -Say , Warwick was our anchor ; what of that ? -And Montague our top-mast ; what of him ? -Our slaughter'd friends the tackles ; what of these ? -Why , is not Oxford here another anchor ? -And Somerset , another goodly mast ? -The friends of France our shrouds and tacklings ? -And , though unskilful , why not Ned and I -For once allow'd the skilful pilot's charge ? -We will not from the helm , to sit and weep , -But keep our course , though the rough wind say no , -From shelves and rocks that threaten us with wrack . -As good to chide the waves as speak them fair . -And what is Edward but a ruthless sea ? -What Clarence but a quicksand of deceit ? -And Richard but a ragged fatal rock ? -All those the enemies to our poor bark . -Say you can swim ; alas ! 'tis but a while : -Tread on the sand ; why , there you quickly sink : -Bestride the rock ; the tide will wash you off , -Or else you famish ; that's a threefold death . -This speak I , lords , to let you understand , -In case some one of you would fly from us , -That there's no hop'd-for mercy with the brothers -More than with ruthless waves , with sands and rocks . -Why , courage , then ! what cannot be avoided -'Twere childish weakness to lament or fear . - -Methinks a woman of this valiant spirit -Should , if a coward heard her speak these words , -Infuse his breast with magnanimity , -And make him , naked , foil a man at arms . -I speak not this , as doubting any here ; -For did I but suspect a fearful man , -He should have leave to go away betimes , -Lest in our need he might infect another , -And make him of like spirit to himself . -If any such be here , as God forbid ! -Let him depart before we need his help . - -Women and children of so high a courage , -And warriors faint ! why , 'twere perpetual shame . -O brave young prince ! thy famous grandfather -Doth live again in thee : long mayst thou live -To bear his image and renew his glories ! - -And he , that will not fight for such a hope , -Go home to bed , and , like the owl by day , -If he arise , be mock'd and wonder'd at . - -Thanks , gentle Somerset : sweet Oxford , thanks . - -And take his thanks that yet hath nothing else . - - -Prepare you , lords , for Edward is at hand , -Ready to fight ; therefore be resolute . - -I thought no less : it is his policy -To haste thus fast , to find us unprovided . - -But he's deceiv'd ; we are in readiness . - -This cheers my heart to see your forwardness . - -Here pitch our battle ; hence we will not budge . - - -Brave followers , yonder stands the thorny wood , -Which , by the heavens' assistance , and your strength , -Must by the roots be hewn up yet ere night . -I need not add more fuel to your fire , -For well I wot ye blaze to burn them out : -Give signal to the fight , and to it , lords . - -Lords , knights , and gentlemen , what I should say -My tears gainsay ; for every word I speak , -Ye see , I drink the water of mine eyes . -Therefore , no more but this : Henry , your sovereign , -Is prisoner to the foe ; his state usurp'd , -His realm a slaughter house , his subjects slain , -His statutes cancell'd , and his treasure spent ; -And yonder is the wolf that makes this spoil . -You fight in justice : then , in God's name , lords , -Be valiant , and give signal to the fight . - - -Now , here a period of tumultuous broils . -Away with Oxford to Hames Castle straight : -For Somerset , off with his guilty head . -Go , bear them hence ; I will not hear them speak . - -For my part , I'll not trouble thee with words . - -Nor I , but stoop with patience to my fortune . - - -So part we sadly in this troublous world , -To meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem . - -Is proclamation made , that who finds Edward -Shall have a high reward , and he his life ? - -It is : and lo , where youthful Edward comes . - - -Bring forth the gallant : let us hear him speak . -What ! can so young a thorn begin to prick ? -Edward , what satisfaction canst thou make , -For bearing arms , for stirring up my subjects , -And all the trouble thou hast turn'd me to ? - -Speak like a subject , proud ambitious York ! -Suppose that I am now my father's mouth : -Resign thy chair , and where I stand kneel thou , -Whilst I propose the self-same words to thee , -Which , traitor , thou wouldst have me answer to . - -Ah ! that thy father had been so resolv'd . - -That you might still have worn the petticoat , -And ne'er have stol'n the breech from Lancaster . - -Let sop fable in a winter's night ; -His currish riddles sort not with this place . - -By heaven , brat , I'll plague you for that word . - -Ay , thou wast born to be a plague to men . - -For God's sake , take away this captive scold . - -Nay , take away this scolding crookback rather . - -Peace , wilful boy , or I will charm your tongue . - -Untutor'd lad , thou art too malapert . - -I know my duty ; you are all undutiful : -Lascivious Edward , and thou perjur'd George , -And thou mis-shapen Dick , I tell ye all , -I am your better , traitors as ye are ; -And thou usurp'st my father's right and mine . - -Take that , the likeness of this railer here . - - -Sprawl'st thou ? take that , to end thy agony . - - -And there's for twitting me with perjury . - - -O , kill me too ! - -Marry , and shall . - - -Hold , Richard , hold ! for we have done too much . - -Why should she live , to fill the world with words ? - -What ! doth she swoon ? use means for her recovery . - -Clarence , excuse me to the king , my brother ; -I'll hence to London on a serious matter : -Ere ye come there , be sure to hear some news . - -What ? what ? - -The Tower ! the Tower ! - - -O Ned , sweet Ned ! speak to thy mother , boy ! -Canst thou not speak ? O traitors ! murderers ! -They that stabb'd C sar shed no blood at all , -Did not offend , nor were not worthy blame , -If this foul deed were by , to equal it : -He was a man ; this , in respect , a child ; -And men ne'er spend their fury on a child . -What's worse than murderer , that I may name it ? -No , no , my heart will burst , an if I speak : -And I will speak , that so my heart may burst . -Butchers and villains ! bloody cannibals ! -How sweet a plant have you untimely cropp'd ! -You have no children , butchers ! if you had , -The thought of them would have stirr'd up remorse : -But if you ever chance to have a child , -Look in his youth to have him so cut off -As , deathsmen , you have rid this sweet young prince ! - -Away with her ! go , bear her hence perforce . - -Nay , never bear me hence , dispatch me here : -Here sheathe thy sword , I'll pardon thee my death . -What ! wilt thou not ? then , Clarence , do it thou . - -By heaven , I will not do thee so much ease . - -Good Clarence , do ; sweet Clarence , do thou do it . - -Didst thou not hear me swear I would not do it ? - -Ay , but thou usest to forswear thyself : -'Twas sin before , but now 'tis charity . -What ! wilt thou not ? Where is that devil's butcher , -Hard-favour'd Richard ? Richard , where art thou ? -Thou art not here : murder is thy alms-deed ; -Petitioners for blood thou ne'er put'st back . - -Away , I say ! I charge ye , bear her hence . - -So come to you and yours , as to this prince ! - - -Where's Richard gone ? - -To London , all in post ; and , as I guess , -To make a bloody supper in the Tower . - -He's sudden if a thing comes in his head . -Now march we hence : discharge the common sort -With pay and thanks , and let's away to London -And see our gentle queen how well she fares ; -By this , I hope , she hath a son for me . - -Good day , my lord . What ! at your book so hard ? - -Ay , my good lord :my lord , I should say rather ; -'Tis sin to flatter , 'good' was little better : -'Good Gloucester' and 'good devil' were alike , -And both preposterous ; therefore , not 'good lord .' - -Sirrah , leave us to ourselves : we must confer . - - -So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf ; -So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece , -And next his throat unto the butcher's knife . -What scene of death hath Roscius now to act ? - -Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind ; -The thief doth fear each bush an officer . - -The bird that hath been limed in a bush , -With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush ; -And I , the hapless male to one sweet bird , -Have now the fatal object in my eye -Where my poor young was lim'd , was caught , and kill'd . - -Why , what a peevish fool was that of Crete , -That taught his son the office of a fowl ! -And yet , for all his wings , the fool was drown'd . - -I , D dalus ; my poor boy , Icarus ; -Thy father , Minos , that denied our course ; -The sun , that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy , -Thy brother Edward , and thyself the sea , -Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life . -Ah ! kill me with thy weapon , not with words . -My breast can better brook thy dagger's point -Than can my ears that tragic history . -But wherefore dost thou come ? is't for my life ? - -Think'st thou I am an executioner ? - -A persecutor , I am sure , thou art : -If murd'ring innocents be executing , -Why , then thou art an executioner . - -Thy son I kill'd for his presumption . - -Hadst thou been kill'd , when first thou didst presume , -Thou hadst not liv'd to kill a son of mine . -And thus I prophesy : that many a thousand , -Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear , -And many an old man's sigh , and many a widow's , -And many an orphan's water-standing eye , -Men for their sons' , wives for their husbands' , -And orphans for their parents' timeless death , -Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born . -The owl shriek'd at thy birth , an evil sign ; -The night-crow cried , aboding luckless time ; -Dogs howl'd , and hideous tempest shook down trees ! -The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top , -And chattering pies in dismal discords sung . -Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain , -And yet brought forth less than a mother's hope ; -To wit an indigest deformed lump , -Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree . -Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born , -To signify thou cam'st to bite the world : -And , if the rest be true which I have heard , -Thou cam'st - -I'll hear no more : die , prophet , in thy speech : - -For this , amongst the rest , was I ordain'd . - -Ay , and for much more slaughter after this . -O , God forgive my sins , and pardon thee ! - - -What ! will the aspiring blood of Lancaster -Sink in the ground ? I thought it would have mounted . -See how my sword weeps for the poor king's death ! -O ! may such purple tears be always shed -From those that wish the downfall of our house . -If any spark of life be yet remaining , -Down , down to hell ; and say I sent thee thither , - -I , that have neither pity , love , nor fear . -Indeed , 'tis true , that Henry told me of ; -For I have often heard my mother say -I came into the world with my legs forward . -Had I not reason , think ye , to make haste , -And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right ? -The midwife wonder'd , and the women cried -'O ! Jesus bless us , he is born with teeth .' -And so I was ; which plainly signified -That I should snarl and bite and play the dog . -Then , since the heavens have shap'd my body so , -Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it . -I have no brother , I am like no brother ; -And this word 'love ,' which greybeards call divine , -Be resident in men like one another -And not in me : I am myself alone . -Clarence , beware ; thou keep'st me from the light : -But I will sort a pitchy day for thee ; -For I will buzz abroad such prophecies -That Edward shall be fearful of his life ; -And then , to purge his fear , I'll be thy death . -King Henry and the prince his son are gone : -Clarence , thy turn is next , and then the rest , -Counting myself but bad till I be best . -I'll throw thy body in another room , -And triumph , Henry , in thy day of doom . - -Once more we sit in England's royal throne , -Re-purchas'd with the blood of enemies . -What valiant foemen like to autumn's corn , -Have we mow'd down , in tops of all their pride ! -Three Dukes of Somerset , threefold renown'd -For hardy and undoubted champions ; -Two Cliffords , as the father and the son ; -And two Northumberlands : two braver men -Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound ; -With them , the two brave bears , Warwick and Montague , -That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion , -And made the forest tremble when they roar'd . -Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat , -And made our footstool of security . -Come hither , Bess , and let me kiss my boy . -Young Ned , for thee thine uncles and myself -Have in our armours watch'd the winter's night ; -Went all a-foot in summer's scalding heat , -That thou might'st repossess the crown in peace ; -And of our labours thou shalt reap the gain . - -I'll blast his harvest , if your head were laid ; -For yet I am not look'd on in the world . -This shoulder was ordain'd so thick to heave ; -And heave it shall some weight , or break my back : -Work thou the way , and thou shalt execute . - -Clarence and Gloucester , love my lovely queen ; -And kiss your princely nephew , brothers both . - -The duty , that I owe unto your majesty , -I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe . - -Thanks , noble Clarence ; worthy brother , thanks . - -And , that I love the tree from whence thou sprang'st , -Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit . - - -To say the truth , so Judas kiss'd his master , -And cried 'all hail !' when as he meant all harm . - -Now am I seated as my soul delights , -Having my country's peace and brothers' loves . - -What will your Grace have done with Margaret ? -Reignier , her father , to the King of France -Hath pawn'd the Sicils and Jerusalem , -And hither have they sent it for her ransom . - -Away with her , and waft her hence to France . -And now what rests but that we spend the time -With stately triumphs , mirthful comic shows , -Such as befit the pleasure of the court ? -Sound , drums and trumpets ! farewell , sour annoy ! -For here , I hope , begins our lasting joy . - -THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD II - -Old John of Gaunt , time-honour'd Lancaster , -Hast thou , according to thy oath and band , -Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son , -Here to make good the boisterous late appeal , -Which then our leisure would not let us hear , -Against the Duke of Norfolk , Thomas Mowbray ? - -I have , my liege . - -Tell me , moreover , hast thou sounded him , -If he appeal the duke on ancient malice , -Or worthily , as a good subject should , -On some known ground of treachery in him ? - -As near as I could sift him on that argument , -On some apparent danger seen in him -Aim'd at your highness , no inveterate malice . - -Then call them to our presence : face to face , -And frowning brow to brow , ourselves will hear -The accuser and the accused freely speak : - -High-stomach'd are they both , and full of ire , -In rage deaf as the sea , hasty as fire . - - -Many years of happy days befall -My gracious sovereign , my most loving liege ! - -Each day still better other's happiness ; -Until the heavens , envying earth's good hap , -Add an immortal title to your crown ! - -We thank you both : yet one but flatters us , -As well appeareth by the cause you come ; -Namely , to appeal each other of high treason . -Cousin of Hereford , what dost thou object -Against the Duke of Norfolk , Thomas Mowbray ? - -First ,heaven be the record to my speech ! -In the devotion of a subject's love , -Tendering the precious safety of my prince , -And free from other misbegotten hate , -Come I appellant to this princely presence . -Now , Thomas Mowbray , do I turn to thee , -And mark my greeting well ; for what I speak -My body shall make good upon this earth , -Or my divine soul answer it in heaven . -Thou art a traitor and a miscreant ; -Too good to be so and too bad to live , -Since the more fair and crystal is the sky , -The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly . -Once more , the more to aggravate the note , -With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat ; -And wish , so please my sovereign , ere I move , -What my tongue speaks , my right drawn sword may prove . - -Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal : -'Tis not the trial of a woman's war , -The bitter clamour of two eager tongues , -Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain ; -The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this : -Yet can I not of such tame patience boast -As to be hush'd and nought at all to say . -First , the fair reverence of your highness curbs me -From giving reins and spurs to my free speech ; -Which else would post until it had return'd -These terms of treason doubled down his throat . -Setting aside his high blood's royalty , -And let him be no kinsman to my liege , -I do defy him , and I spit at him ; -Call him a slanderous coward and a villain : -Which to maintain I would allow him odds , -And meet him , were I tied to run afoot -Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps , -Or any other ground inhabitable , -Wherever Englishman durst set his foot . -Meantime let this defend my loyalty : -By all my hopes , most falsely doth he lie . - -Pale trembling coward , there I throw my gage , -Disclaiming here the kindred of the king ; -And lay aside my high blood's royalty , -Which fear , not reverence , makes thee to except : -If guilty dread have left thee so much strength -As to take up mine honour's pawn , then stoop : -By that , and all the rites of knighthood else , -Will I make good against thee , arm to arm , -What I have spoke , or thou canst worse devise . - -I take it up ; and by that sword I swear , -Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder , -I'll answer thee in any fair degree , -Or chivalrous design of knightly trial : -And when I mount , alive may I not light , -If I be traitor or unjustly fight ! - -What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge ? -It must be great that can inherit us -So much as of a thought of ill in him . - -Look , what I speak , my life shall prove it true ; -That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles -In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers , -The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments , -Like a false traitor and injurious villain . -Besides I say and will in battle prove , -Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge -That ever was survey'd by English eye , -That all the treasons for these eighteen years -Complotted and contrived in this land , -Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring . -Further I say and further will maintain -Upon his bad life to make all this good , -That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death , -Suggest his soon believing adversaries , -And consequently , like a traitor coward , -Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood : -Which blood , like sacrificing Abel's , cries , -Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth , -To me for justice and rough chastisement ; -And , by the glorious worth of my descent , -This arm shall do it , or this life be spent . - -How high a pitch his resolution soars ! -Thomas of Norfolk , what sayst thou to this ? - -O ! let my sovereign turn away his face -And bid his ears a little while be deaf , -Till I have told this slander of his blood -How God and good men hate so foul a liar . - -Mowbray , impartial are our eyes and ears : -Were he my brother , nay , my kingdom's heir , -As he is but my father's brother's son , -Now , by my sceptre's awe I make a vow , -Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood -Should nothing privilege him , nor partialize -The unstooping firmness of my upright soul . -He is our subject , Mowbray ; so art thou : -Free speech and fearless I to thee allow . - -Then , Bolingbroke , as low as to thy heart , -Through the false passage of thy throat , thou liest . -Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais -Disburs'd I duly to his highness' soldiers ; -The other part reserv'd I by consent , -For that my sovereign liege was in my debt -Upon remainder of a dear account , -Since last I went to France to fetch his queen . -Now swallow down that lie . For Gloucester's death , -I slew him not ; but to mine own disgrace -Neglected my sworn duty in that case . -For you , my noble Lord of Lancaster , -The honourable father to my foe , -Once did I lay an ambush for your life , -A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul ; -But ere I last receiv'd the sacrament -I did confess it , and exactly begg'd -Your Grace's pardon , and I hope I had it . -This is my fault : as for the rest appeal'd , -It issues from the rancour of a villain , -A recreant and most degenerate traitor ; -Which in myself I boldly will defend , -And interchangeably hurl down my gage -Upon this overweening traitor's foot , -To prove myself a loyal gentleman -Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom . -In haste whereof , most heartily I pray -Your highness to assign our trial day . - -Wrath-kindled gentlemen , be rul'd by me ; -Let's purge this choler without letting blood : -This we prescribe , though no physician ; -Deep malice makes too deep incision : -Forget , forgive ; conclude and be agreed , -Our doctors say this is no month to bleed . -Good uncle , let this end where it begun ; -We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk , you your son . - -To be a make-peace shall become my age : -Throw down , my son , the Duke of Norfolk's gage . - -And , Norfolk , throw down his . - -When , Harry , when ? -Obedience bids I should not bid again . - -Norfolk , throw down , we bid ; there is no boot . - -Myself I throw , dread sovereign , at thy foot . -My life thou shalt command , but not my shame : -The one my duty owes ; but my fair name , -Despite of death that lives upon my grave , -To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have . -I am disgrac'd , impeach'd , and baffled here , -Pierc'd to the soul with slander's venom'd spear , -The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood -Which breath'd this poison . - -Rage must be withstood : -Give me his gage : lions make leopards tame . - -Yea , but not change his spots : take but my shame , -And I resign my gage . My dear dear lord , -The purest treasure mortal times afford -Is spotless reputation ; that away , -Men are but gilded loam or painted clay . -A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest -Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast . -Mine honour is my life ; both grow in one ; -Take honour from me , and my life is done : -Then , dear my liege , mine honour let me try ; -In that I live and for that will I die . - -Cousin , throw down your gage : do you begin . - -O ! God defend my soul from such deep sin . -Shall I seem crest fall'n in my father's sight , -Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height -Before this out-dar'd dastard ? Ere my tongue -Shall wound mine honour with such feeble wrong , -Or sound so base a parle , my teeth shall tear -The slavish motive of recanting fear , -And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace , -Where shame doth harbour , even in Mowbray's face . - - -We were not born to sue , but to command : -Which since we cannot do to make you friends , -Be ready , as your lives shall answer it , -At Coventry , upon Saint Lambert's day : -There shall your swords and lances arbitrate -The swelling difference of your settled hate : -Since we cannot atone you , we shall see -Justice design the victor's chivalry . -Marshal , command our officers-at-arms -Be ready to direct these home alarms . - - -Alas ! the part I had in Woodstock's blood -Doth more solicit me than your exclaims , -To stir against the butchers of his life . -But since correction lieth in those hands -Which made the fault that we cannot correct , -Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven ; -Who , when they see the hours ripe on earth , -Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads . - -Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur ? -Hath love in thy old blood no living fire ? -Edward's seven sons , whereof thyself art one , -Were as seven vials of his sacred blood , -Or seven fair branches springing from one root : -Some of those seven are dried by nature's course , -Some of those branches by the Destinies cut ; -But Thomas , my dear lord , my life , my Gloucester , -One vial full of Edward's sacred blood , -One flourishing branch of his most royal root , -Is crack'd , and all the precious liquor spilt ; -Is hack'd down , and his summer leaves all vaded , -By envy's hand and murder's bloody axe . -Ah , Gaunt ! his blood was thine : that bed , that womb , -That metal , that self-mould , that fashion'd thee -Made him a man ; and though thou liv'st and breath'st , -Yet art thou slain in him : thou dost consent -In some large measure to thy father's death -In that thou seest thy wretched brother die , -Who was the model of thy father's life . -Call it not patience , Gaunt ; it is despair : -In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter'd -Thou show'st the naked pathway to thy life , -Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee : -That which in mean men we entitle patience -Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts . -What shall I say ? to safeguard thine own life , -The best way is to venge my Gloucester's death . - -God's is the quarrel ; for God's substitute , -His deputy anointed in his sight , -Hath caus'd his death ; the which if wrongfully , -Let heaven revenge , for I may never lift -An angry arm against his minister . - -Where then , alas ! may I complain myself ? - -To God , the widow's champion and defence . - -Why then , I will . Farewell , old Gaunt . -Thou go'st to Coventry , there to behold -Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight : -O ! sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear , -That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast . -Or if misfortune miss the first career , -Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom -That they may break his foaming courser's back , -And throw the rider headlong in the lists , -A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford ! -Farewell , old Gaunt : thy sometimes brother's wife -With her companion grief must end her life . - -Sister , farewell ; I must to Coventry . -As much good stay with thee as go with me ! - -Yet one word more . Grief boundeth where it falls , -Not with the empty hollowness , but weight : -I take my leave before I have begun , -For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done . -Commend me to my brother , Edmund York . -Lo ! this is all : nay , yet depart not so ; -Though this be all , do not so quickly go ; -I shall remember more . Bid him ah , what ? -With all good speed at Plashy visit me . -Alack ! and what shall good old York there see -But empty lodgings and unfurnish'd walls , -Unpeopled offices , untrodden stones ? -And what hear there for welcome but my groans ? -Therefore commend me ; let him not come there , -To seek out sorrow that dwells every where . -Desolate , desolate will I hence , and die : -The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye . - - -My Lord Aumerle , is Harry Hereford arm'd ? - -Yea , at all points , and longs to enter in . - -The Duke of Norfolk , sprightfully and bold , -Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet . - -Why then , the champions are prepar'd , and stay -For nothing but his majesty's approach . - - -Marshal , demand of yonder champion -The cause of his arrival here in arms : -Ask him his name , and orderly proceed -To swear him in the justice of his cause . - -In God's name , and the king's , say who thou art , -And why thou com'st thus knightly clad in arms , -Against what man thou com'st , and what thy quarrel . -Speak truly , on thy knighthood and thine oath : -As so defend thee heaven and thy valour ! - -My name is Thomas Mowbray , Duke of Norfolk , -Who hither come engaged by my oath , -Which God defend a knight should violate ! -Both to defend my loyalty and truth -To God , my king , and his succeeding issue , -Against the Duke of Hereford that appeals me ; -And , by the grace of God and this mine arm , -To prove him , in defending of myself , -A traitor to my God , my king , and me : -And as I truly fight , defend me heaven ! - -Marshal , ask yonder knight in arms , -Both who he is and why he cometh hither -Thus plated in habiliments of war ; -And formally , according to our law , -Depose him in the justice of his cause . - -What is thy name ? and wherefore com'st thou hither , -Before King Richard in his royal lists ? -Against whom comest thou ? and what's thy quarrel ? -Speak like a true knight , so defend thee heaven ! - -Harry of Hereford , Lancaster , and Derby , -Am I ; who ready here do stand in arms , -To prove by God's grace and my body's valour , -In lists , on Thomas Mowbray , Duke of Norfolk , -That he's a traitor foul and dangerous , -To God of heaven , King Richard , and to me : -And as I truly fight , defend me heaven ! - -On pain of death , no person be so bold -Or daring-hardy as to touch the lists , -Except the marshal and such officers -Appointed to direct these fair designs . - -Lord marshal , let me kiss my sovereign's hand , -And bow my knee before his majesty : -For Mowbray and myself are like two men -That vow a long and weary pilgrimage ; -Then let us take a ceremonious leave -And loving farewell of our several friends . - -The appellant in all duty greets your highness , -And craves to kiss your hand and take his leave . - -We will descend and fold him in our arms . -Cousin of Hereford , as thy cause is right , -So be thy fortune in this royal fight ! -Farewell , my blood ; which if to-day thou shed , -Lament we may , but not revenge thee dead . - -O ! let no noble eye profane a tear -For me , if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear . -As confident as is the falcon's flight -Against a bird , do I with Mowbray fight . -My loving lord , I take my leave of you ; -Of you , my noble cousin , Lord Aumerle ; -Not sick , although I have to do with death , -But lusty , young , and cheerly drawing breath . -Lo ! as at English feasts , so I regreet -The daintiest last , to make the end most sweet : -O thou , the earthly author of my blood , -Whose youthful spirit , in me regenerate , -Doth with a two-fold vigour lift me up -To reach at victory above my head , -Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers , -And with thy blessings steel my lance's point , -That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat , -And furbish new the name of John a Gaunt , -Even in the lusty haviour of his son . - -God in thy good cause make thee prosperous ! -Be swift like lightning in the execution ; -And let thy blows , doubly redoubled , -Fall like amazing thunder on the casque -Of thy adverse pernicious enemy : -Rouse up thy youthful blood , be valiant and live . - -Mine innocency and Saint George to thrive ! - - -However God or fortune cast my lot , -There lives or dies , true to King Richard's throne , -A loyal , just , and upright gentleman . -Never did captive with a freer heart -Cast off his chains of bondage and embrace -His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement , -More than my dancing soul doth celebrate -This feast of battle with mine adversary . -Most mighty liege , and my companion peers , -Take from my mouth the wish of happy years . -As gentle and as jocund as to jest , -Go I to fight : truth has a quiet breast . - -Farewell , my lord : securely I espy -Virtue with valour couched in thine eye . -Order the trial , marshal , and begin . - - -Harry of Hereford , Lancaster , and Derby , -Receive thy lance ; and God defend the right ! - -Strong as a tower in hope , I cry 'amen .' - -Go bear this lance to Thomas , Duke of Norfolk . - -Harry of Hereford , Lancaster , and Derby , -Stands here for God , his sovereign , and himself , -On pain to be found false and recreant , -To prove the Duke of Norfolk , Thomas Mowbray , -A traitor to his God , his king , and him ; -And dares him to set forward to the fight . - -Here standeth Thomas Mowbray , Duke of Norfolk , -On pain to be found false and recreant , -Both to defend himself and to approve -Henry of Hereford , Lancaster , and Derby , -To God , his sovereign , and to him , disloyal ; -Courageously and with a free desire , -Attending but the signal to begin . - -Sound , trumpets ; and set forward , combatants . - -Stay , stay , the king hath thrown his warderdown . - -Let them lay by their helmets and their spears , -And both return back to their chairs again : -Withdraw with us ; and let the trumpets sound -While we return these dukes what we decree . - -Draw near , -And list what with our council we have done . -For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd -With that dear blood which it hath fostered ; -And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect -Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' swords ; -And for we think the eagle-winged pride -Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts , -With rival-hating envy , set on you -To wake our peace , which in our country's cradle -Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep ; -Which so rous'd up with boist'rous untun'd drums , -With harsh-resounding trumpets' dreadful bray , -And grating shock of wrathful iron arms , -Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace -And make us wade even in our kindred's blood : -Therefore , we banish you our territories : -You , cousin Hereford , upon pain of life , -Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields , -Shall not regreet our fair dominions , -But tread the stranger paths of banishment . - -Your will be done : this must my comfort be , -That sun that warms you here shall shine on me ; -And those his golden beams to you here lent -Shall point on me and gild my banishment . - -Norfolk , for thee remains a heavier doom , -Which I with some unwillingness pronounce : -The sly slow hours shall not determinate -The dateless limit of thy dear exile ; -The hopeless word of 'never to return' -Breathe I against thee , upon pain of life . - -A heavy sentence , my most sovereign liege , -And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth : -A dearer merit , not so deep a maim -As to be cast forth in the common air , -Have I deserved at your highness' hands . -The language I have learn'd these forty years , -My native English , now I must forego ; -And now my tongue's use is to me no more -Than an unstringed viol or a harp , -Or like a cunning instrument cas'd up , -Or , being open , put into his hands -That knows no touch to tune the harmony : -Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue , -Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips ; -And dull , unfeeling , barren ignorance -Is made my gaoler to attend on me . -I am too old to fawn upon a nurse , -Too far in years to be a pupil now : -What is thy sentence then but speechless death , -Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath ? - -It boots thee not to be compassionate : -After our sentence plaining comes too late . - -Then , thus I turn me from my country's light , -To dwell in solemn shades of endless night . - - -Return again , and take an oath with thee . -Lay on our royal sword your banish'd hands ; -Swear by the duty that you owe to God -Our part therein we banish with yourselves -To keep the oath that we administer . -You never shall ,so help you truth and God ! -Embrace each other's love in banishment ; -Nor never look upon each other's face ; -Nor never write , regreet , nor reconcile -This low'ring tempest of your home-bred hate ; -Nor never by advised purpose meet -To plot , contrive , or complot any ill -'Gainst us , our state , our subjects , or our land . - -I swear . - -And I , to keep all this . - -Norfolk , so far , as to mine enemy : -By this time , had the king permitted us , -One of our souls had wander'd in the air , -Banish'd this frail sepulchre of our flesh , -As now our flesh is banish'd from this land : -Confess thy treasons ere thou fly the realm ; -Since thou hast far to go , bear not along -The clogging burden of a guilty soul . - -No , Bolingbroke : if ever I were traitor , -My name be blotted from the book of life , -And I from heaven banish'd as from hence ! -But what thou art , God , thou , and I do know ; -And all too soon , I fear , the king shall rue . -Farewell , my liege . Now no way can I stray ; -Save back to England , all the world's my way . - - -Uncle , even in the glasses of thine eyes -I see thy grieved heart : thy sad aspect -Hath from the number of his banish'd years -Pluck'd four away . - -Six frozen winters spent , -Return with welcome home from banishment . - -How long a time lies in one little word ! -Four lagging winters and four wanton springs -End in a word : such is the breath of kings . - -I thank my liege , that in regard of me -He shortens four years of my son's exile ; -But little vantage shall I reap thereby : -For , ere the six years that he hath to spend -Can change their moons and bring their times about , -My oil-dried lamp and time-bewasted light -Shall be extinct with age and endless night ; -My inch of taper will be burnt and done , -And blindfold death not let me see my son . - -Why , uncle , thou hast many years to live . - -But not a minute , king , that thou canst give : -Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow , -And pluck nights from me , but not lend a morrow ; -Thou canst help time to furrow me with age . -But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage ; -Thy word is current with him for my death , -But dead , thy kingdom cannot buy my breath . - -Thy son is banish'd upon good advice , -Whereto thy tongue a party-verdict gave : -Why at our justice seem'st thou then to lower ? - -Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour . -You urg'd me as a judge ; but I had rather -You would have bid me argue like a father . -O ! had it been a stranger , not my child , -To smooth his fault I should have been more mild : -A partial slander sought I to avoid , -And in the sentence my own life destroy'd . -Alas ! I look'd when some of you should say , -I was too strict to make mine own away ; -But you gave leave to my unwilling tongue -Against my will to do myself this wrong . - -Cousin , farewell ; and , uncle , bid him so : -Six years we banish him , and he shall go . - - -Cousin , farewell : what presence must not know , -From where you do remain let paper show . - -My lord , no leave take I ; for I will ride , -As far as land will let me , by your side . - -O ! to what purpose dost thou hoard thy words , -That thou return'st no greeting to thy friends ? - -I have too few to take my leave of you , -When the tongue's office should be prodigal -To breathe the abundant dolour of the heart . - -Thy grief is but thy absence for a time . - -Joy absent , grief is present for that time . - -What is six winters ? they are quickly gone . - -To men in joy ; but grief makes one hour ten . - -Call it a travel that thou tak'st for pleasure . - -My heart will sigh when I miscall it so , -Which finds it an inforced pilgrimage . - -The sullen passage of thy weary steps -Esteem as foil wherein thou art to set -The precious jewel of thy home return . - -Nay , rather , every tedious stride I make -Will but remember me what a deal of world -I wander from the jewels that I love . -Must I not serve a long apprenticehood -To foreign passages , and in the end , -Having my freedom , boast of nothing else -But that I was a journeyman to grief ? - -All places that the eye of heaven visits -Are to a wise man ports and happy havens . -Teach thy necessity to reason thus ; -There is no virtue like necessity . -Think not the king did banish thee , -But thou the king . Woe doth the heavier sit , -Where it perceives it is but faintly borne . -Go , say I sent thee forth to purchase honour , -And not the king exil'd thee ; or suppose -Devouring pestilence hangs in our air , -And thou art flying to a fresher clime . -Look , what thy soul holds dear , imagine it -To lie that way thou go'st , not whence thou com'st . -Suppose the singing birds musicians , -The grass whereon thou tread'st the presence strew'd , -The flowers fair ladies , and thy steps no more -Than a delightful measure or a dance ; -For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite -The man that mocks at it and sets it light . - -O ! who can hold a fire in his hand -By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? -Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite -By bare imagination of a feast ? -Or wallow naked in December snow -By thinking on fantastic summer's heat ? -O , no ! the apprehension of the good -Gives but the greater feeling to the worse : -Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more -Than when it bites , but lanceth not the sore . - -Come , come , my son , I'll bring thee on thy way . -Had I thy youth and cause , I would not stay . - -Then , England's ground , farewell ; sweet soil , adieu : -My mother , and my nurse , that bears me yet ! -Where'er I wander , boast of this I can , -Though banish'd , yet a true-born Englishman . - - -We did observe . Cousin Aumerle , -How far brought you high Hereford on his way ? - -I brought high Hereford , if you call him so , -But to the next highway , and there I left him . - -And say , what store of parting tears were shed ? - -Faith , none for me ; except the northeast wind , -Which then blew bitterly against our faces , -Awak'd the sleeping rheum , and so by chance -Did grace our hollow parting with a tear . - -What said our cousin when you parted with him ? - -'Farewell :' -And , for my heart disdained that my tongue -Should so profane the word , that taught me craft -To counterfeit oppression of such grief -That words seem'd buried in my sorrow's grave . -Marry , would the word 'farewell' have lengthen'd hours -And added years to his short banishment , -He should have had a volume of farewells ; -But , since it would not , he had none of me . - -He is our cousin , cousin ; but 'tis doubt , -When time shall call him home from banishment , -Whether our kinsman come to see his friends . -Ourself and Bushy , Bagot here and Green -Observ'd his courtship to the common people , -How he did seem to dive into their hearts -With humble and familiar courtesy , -What reverence he did throw away on slaves , -Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of smiles -And patient underbearing of his fortune , -As 'twere to banish their affects with him . -Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench ; -A brace of draymen bid God speed him well , -And had the tribute of his supple knee , -With 'Thanks , my countrymen , my loving friends ;' -As were our England in reversion his , -And he our subjects' next degree in hope . - -Well , he is gone ; and with him go these thoughts . -Now for the rebels which stand out in Ireland ; -Expedient manage must be made , my liege , -Ere further leisure yield them further means -For their advantage and your highness' loss . - -We will ourself in person to this war . -And , for our coffers with too great a court -And liberal largess are grown somewhat light , -We are enforc'd to farm our royal realm ; -The revenue whereof shall furnish us -For our affairs in hand . If that come short , -Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters ; -Whereto , when they shall know what men are rich , -They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold , -And send them after to supply our wants ; -For we will make for Ireland presently . - -Bushy , what news ? - -Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick , my lord , -Suddenly taken , and hath sent post-haste -To entreat your majesty to visit him . - -Where lies he ? - -At Ely House . - -Now , put it , God . in his physician's mind -To help him to his grave immediately ! -The lining of his coffers shall make coats -To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars . -Come , gentlemen , let's all go visit him : -Pray God we may make haste , and come too late . - -Amen . - -Will the king come , that I may breathe my last -In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth ? - -Vex not yourself , nor strive not with your breath ; -For all in vain comes counsel to his ear . - -O ! but they say the tongues of dying men -Enforce attention like deep harmony : -Where words are scarce , they are seldom spent in vain , -For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain . -He that no more must say is listen'd more -Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose ; -More are men's ends mark'd than their lives before : -The setting sun , and music at the close , -As the last taste of sweets , is sweetest last , -Writ in remembrance more than things long past : -Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear , -My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear . - -No ; it is stopp'd with other flattering sounds , -As praises of his state : then there are fond -Lascivious metres , to whose venom sound -The open ear of youth doth always listen : -Report of fashions in proud Italy , -Whose manners still our tardy apish nation -Limps after in base imitation . -Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity , -So it be new there's no respect how vile , -That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears ? -Then all too late comes counsel to be heard , -Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard . -Direct not him whose way himself will choose : -'Tis breath thou lack'st , and that breath wilt thou lose . - -Methinks I am a prophet new inspir'd , -And thus expiring do foretell of him : -His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last , -For violent fires soon burn out themselves ; -Small showers last long , but sudden storms are short ; -He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes ; -With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder : -Light vanity , insatiate cormorant , -Consuming means , soon preys upon itself . -This royal throne of kings , this scepter'd isle , -This earth of majesty , this seat of Mars , -This other Eden , demi-paradise , -This fortress built by Nature for herself -Against infection and the hand of war , -This happy breed of men , this little world , -This precious stone set in the silver sea , -Which serves it in the office of a wall , -Or as a moat defensive to a house , -Against the envy of less happier lands , -This blessed plot , this earth , this realm , this England , -This nurse , this teeming womb of royal kings , -Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth , -Renowned for their deeds as far from home , -For Christian service and true chivalry , -As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry -Of the world's ransom , blessed Mary's Son : -This land of such dear souls , this dear , dear land , -Dear for her reputation through the world , -Is now leas'd out ,I die pronouncing it , -Like to a tenement , or pelting farm : -England , bound in with the triumphant sea , -Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege -Of watery Neptune , is now bound in with shame , -With inky blots , and rotten parchment bonds : -That England , that was wont to conquer others , -Hath made a shameful conquest of itself . -Ah ! would the scandal vanish with my life , -How happy then were my ensuing death . - - -The king is come : deal mildly with his youth ; -For young hot colts , being rag'd , do rage the more . - -How fares our noble uncle , Lancaster ? - -What comfort , man ? How is't with aged Gaunt ? - -O ! how that name befits my composition ; -Old Gaunt indeed , and gaunt in being old : -Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast ; -And who abstains from meat that is not gaunt ? -For sleeping England long time have I watch'd ; -Watching breeds leanness , leanness is all gaunt . -The pleasure that some fathers feed upon -Is my strict fast , I mean my children's looks ; -And therein fasting hast thou made me gaunt . -Gaunt am I for the grave , gaunt as a grave , -Whose hollow womb inherits nought but bones . - -Can sick men play so nicely with their names ? - -No ; misery makes sport to mock itself : -Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me , -I mock my name , great king , to flatter thee . - -Should dying men flatter with those that live ? - -No , no ; men living flatter those that die . - -Thou , now a-dying , sayst thou flatter'st me . - -O , no ! thou diest , though I the sicker be . - -I am in health , I breathe , and see thee ill . - -Now , he that made me knows I see thee ill ; -Ill in myself to see , and in thee seeing ill . -Thy death-bed is no lesser than thy land -Wherein thou liest in reputation sick : -And thou , too careless patient as thou art , -Committ'st thy anointed body to the cure -Of those physicians that first wounded thee : -A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown , -Whose compass is no bigger than thy head ; -And yet , incaged in so small a verge , -The waste is no whit lesser than thy land . -O ! had thy grandsire , with a prophet's eye , -Seen how his son's son should destroy his sons , -From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame , -Deposing thee before thou wert possess'd , -Which art possess'd now to depose thyself . -Why , cousin , wert thou regent of the world , -It were a shame to let this land by lease ; -But for thy world enjoying but this land , -Is it not more than shame to shame it so ? -Landlord of England art thou now , not king : -Thy state of law is bond-slave to the law , -And - -And thou a lunatic lean-witted fool , -Presuming on an ague's privilege , -Dar'st with thy frozen admonition -Make pale our cheek , chasing the royal blood -With fury from his native residence . -Now , by my seat's right royal majesty , -Wert thou not brother to great Edward's son , -This tongue that runs so roundly in thy head -Should run thy head from thy unreverent shoulders . - -O ! spare me not , my brother Edward's son , -For that I was his father Edward's son . -That blood already , like the pelican , -Hast thou tapp'd out and drunkenly carous'd : -My brother Gloucester , plain well-meaning soul , -Whom fair befall in heaven 'mongst happy souls ! -May be a precedent and witness good -That thou respect'st not spilling Edward's blood : -Join with the present sickness that I have ; -And thy unkindness be like crooked age , -To crop at once a too-long wither'd flower . -Live in thy shame , but die not shame with thee ! -These words hereafter thy tormentors be ! -Convey me to my bed , then to my grave : -Love they to live that love and honour have . - - -And let them die that age and sullens have ; -For both hast thou , and both become the grave . - -I do beseech your majesty , impute his words -To wayward sickliness and age in him : -He loves you , on my life , and holds you dear -As Harry , Duke of Hereford , were he here . - -Right , you say true : as Hereford's love , so his ; -As theirs , so mine ; and all be as it is . - - -My liege , old Gaunt commends him to your majesty . - -What says he ? - -Nay , nothing ; all is said : -His tongue is now a stringless instrument ; -Words , life , and all , old Lancaster hath spent . - -Be York the next that must be bankrupt so ! -Though death be poor , it ends a mortal woe . - -The ripest fruit first falls , and so doth he : -His time is spent ; our pilgrimage must be . -So much for that . Now for our Irish wars . -We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns , -Which live like venom where no venom else -But only they have privilege to live . -And for these great affairs do ask some charge , -Towards our assistance we do seize to us -The plate , coin , revenues , and moveables , -Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd . - -How long shall I be patient ? Ah ! how long -Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong ? -Not Gloucester's death , nor Hereford's banishment , -Not Gaunt's rebukes , nor England's private wrongs , -Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke -About his marriage , nor my own disgrace , -Have ever made me sour my patient cheek , -Or bend one wrinkle on my sovereign's face . -I am the last of noble Edward's sons , -Of whom thy father , Prince of Wales , was first ; -In war was never lion rag'd more fierce , -In peace was never gentle lamb more mild , -Than was that young and princely gentleman . -His face thou hast , for even so look'd he , -Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours ; -But when he frown'd , it was against the French , -And not against his friends ; his noble hand -Did win what he did spend , and spent not that -Which his triumphant father's hand had won : -His hands were guilty of no kindred's blood , -But bloody with the enemies of his kin . -O , Richard ! York is too far gone with grief , -Or else he never would compare between . - -Why , uncle , what's the matter ? - -O ! my liege . -Pardon me , if you please ; if not , I , pleas'd -Not to be pardon'd , am content withal . -Seek you to seize and gripe into your hands -The royalties and rights of banish'd Hereford ? -Is not Gaunt dead , and doth not Hereford live ? -Was not Gaunt just , and is not Harry true ? -Did not the one deserve to have an heir ? -Is not his heir a well-deserving son ? -Take Hereford's rights away , and take from Time -His charters and his customary rights ; -Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day ; -Be not thyself ; for how art thou a king -But by fair sequence and succession ? -Now , afore God ,God forbid I say true ! -If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights , -Call in the letters-patent that he hath -By his attorneys-general to sue -His livery , and deny his offer'd homage , -You pluck a thousand dangers on your head , -You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts , -And prick my tender patience to those thoughts -Which honour and allegiance cannot think . - -Think what you will : we seize into our hands -His plate , his goods , his money , and his lands . - -I'll not be by the while : my liege , farewell : -What will ensue hereof , there's none can tell ; -But by bad courses may be understood -That their events can never fall out good . - - -Go , Bushy , to the Earl of Wiltshire straight : -Bid him repair to us to Ely House -To see this business . To-morrow next -We will for Ireland ; and 'tis time , I trow : -And we create , in absence of ourself , -Our uncle York lord governor of England ; -For he is just , and always lov'd us well . -Come on , our queen : to-morrow must we part ; -Be merry , for our time of stay is short . - -Well , lords , the Duke of Lancaster is dead . - -And living too ; for now his son is duke . - -Barely in title , not in revenue . - -Richly in both , if justice had her right . - -My heart is great ; but it must break with silence , -Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal tongue . - -Nay , speak thy mind ; and let him ne'er speak more -That speaks thy words again to do thee harm ! - -Tends that thou'dst speak to the Duke of Hereford ? -If it be so , out with it boldly , man ; -Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him . - -No good at all that I can do for him , -Unless you call it good to pity him , -Bereft and gelded of his patrimony . - -Now , afore God , 'tis shame such wrongs are borne -In him , a royal prince , and many more -Of noble blood in this declining land . -The king is not himself , but basely led -By flatterers ; and what they will inform , -Merely in hate , 'gainst any of us all , -That will the king severely prosecute -'Gainst us , our lives , our children , and our heirs . - -The commons hath he pill'd with grievous taxes , -And quite lost their hearts : the nobles hath he fin'd -For ancient quarrels , and quite lost their hearts . - -And daily new exactions are devis'd ; -As blanks , benevolences , and I wot not what : -But what , o' God's name , doth become of this ? - -Wars have not wasted it , for warr'd he hath not , -But basely yielded upon compromise -That which his ancestors achiev'd with blows . -More hath he spent in peace than they in wars . - -The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm . - -The king's grown bankrupt , like a broken man . - -Reproach and dissolution hangeth over him . - -He hath not money for these Irish wars , -His burdenous taxations notwithstanding , -But by the robbing of the banish'd duke . - -His noble kinsman : most degenerate king ! -But , lords , we hear this fearful tempest sing , -Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm ; -We see the wind sit sore upon our sails , -And yet we strike not , but securely perish . - -We see the very wrack that we must suffer ; -And unavoided is the danger now , -For suffering so the causes of our wrack . - -Not so : even through the hollow eyes of death -Ispy life peering ; but I dare not say -How near the tidings of our comfort is . - -Nay , let us share thy thoughts , as thou dost ours . - -Be confident to speak , Northumberland : -We three are but thyself : and , speaking so , -Thy words are but as thoughts ; therefore , be bold . - -Then thus : I have from Port le Blanc , a bay -In Brittany , receiv'd intelligence -That Harry Duke of Hereford , Rainold Lord Cobham , -That late broke from the Duke of Exeter , -His brother , Archbishop late of Canterbury , -Sir Thomas Erpingham , Sir John Ramston , -Sir John Norbery , Sir Robert Waterton , and Francis Quoint , -All these well furnish'd by the Duke of Britaine , -With eight tall ships , three thousand men of war , -Are making hither with all due expedience , -And shortly mean to touch our northern shore . -Perhaps they had ere this , but that they stay -The first departing of the king for Ireland . -If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke , -Imp out our drooping country's broken wing , -Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown , -Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre's gilt , -And make high majesty look like itself , -Away with me in post to Ravenspurgh ; -But if you faint , as fearing to do so , -Stay and be secret , and myself will go . - -To horse , to horse ! urge doubts to them that fear . - -Hold out my horse , and I will first be there . - - -Madam , your majesty is too much sad : -You promis'd , when you parted with the king , -To lay aside life-harming heaviness , -And entertain a cheerful disposition . - -To please the king I did ; to please myself -I cannot do it ; yet I know no cause -Why I should welcome such a guest as grief , -Save bidding farewell to so sweet a guest -As my sweet Richard : yet , again , methinks , -Some unborn sorrow , ripe in fortune's womb , -Is coming towards me , and my inward soul -With nothing trembles ; at some thing it grieves -More than with parting from my lord the king . - -Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows , -Which show like grief itself , but are not so . -For sorrow's eye , glazed with blinding tears , -Divides one thing entire to many objects ; -Like perspectives , which rightly gaz'd upon -Show nothing but confusion ; ey'd awry -Distinguish form : so your sweet majesty , -Looking awry upon your lord's departure , -Finds shapes of grief more than himself to wail ; -Which , look'd on as it is , is nought but shadows -Of what it is not . Then , thrice-gracious queen , -More than your lord's departure weep not : more's not seen ; -Or if it be , 'tis with false sorrow's eye , -Which for things true weeps things imaginary . - -It may be so ; but yet my inward soul -Persuades me it is otherwise : howe'er it be , -I cannot but be sad , so heavy sad , -As , though in thinking on no thought I think , -Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink . - -'Tis nothing but conceit , my gracious lady . - -'Tis nothing less : conceit is still deriv'd -From some forefather grief ; mine is not so , -For nothing hath begot my something grief ; -Or something hath the nothing that I grieve : -'Tis in reversion that I do possess ; -But what it is , that is not yet known ; what -I cannot name ; 'tis nameless woe , I wot . - - -God save your majesty ! and well met , gentlemen : -I hope the king is not yet shipp'd for Ireland . - -Why hop'st thou so ? 'tis better hope he is , -For his designs crave haste , his haste good hope : -Then wherefore dost thou hope he is not shipp'd ? - -That he , our hope , might have retir'd his power , -And driven into despair an enemy's hope , -Who strongly hath set footing in this land : -The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself , -And with uplifted arms is safe arriv'd -At Ravenspurgh . - -Now God in heaven forbid ! - -Ah ! madam , 'tis too true : and that is worse , -The Lord Northumberland , his son young Henry Percy , -The Lords of Ross , Beaumond , and Willoughby , -With all their powerful friends , are fled to him . - -Why have you not proclaim'd Northumberland -And all the rest of the revolted faction traitors ? - -We have : whereupon the Earl of Worcester -Hath broke his staff , resign'd his stewardship , -And all the household servants fled with him -To Bolingbroke . - -So , Green , thou art the midwife to my woe , -And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir : -Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy , -And I , a gasping new-deliver'd mother , -Have woe to woe , sorrow to sorrow join'd . - -Despair not , madam . - -Who shall hinder me ? -I will despair , and be at enmity -With cozening hope : he is a flatterer , -A parasite , a keeper-back of death , -Who gently would dissolve the bands of life , -Which false hope lingers in extremity . - - -Here comes the Duke of York . - -With signs of war about his aged neck : -O ! full of careful business are his looks . -Uncle , for God's sake , speak comfortable words . - -Should I do so , I should belie my thoughts : -Comfort's in heaven ; and we are on the earth , -Where nothing lives but crosses , cares , and grief . -Your husband , he is gone to save far off , -Whilst others come to make him lose at home : -Here am I left to underprop his land , -Who , weak with age , cannot support myself . -Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made ; -Now shall he try his friends that flatter'd him . - - -My lord , your son was gone before I came . - -He was ? Why , so ! go all which way it will ! -The nobles they are fled , the commons they are cold , -And will , I fear , revolt on Hereford's side . -Sirrah , get thee to Plashy , to my sister Gloucester ; -Bid her send me presently a thousand pound . -Hold , take my ring . - -My lord , I had forgot to tell your lordship : -To-day , as I came by , I called there ; -But I shall grieve you to report the rest . - -What is't , knave ? - -An hour before I came the duchess died . - -God for his mercy ! what a tide of woes -Comes rushing on this woeful land at once ! -I know not what to do : I would to God , -So my untruth had not provok'd him to it , -The king had cut off my head with my brother's . -What ! are there no posts dispatch'd for Ireland ? -How shall we do for money for these wars ? -Come , sister ,cousin , I would say ,pray , pardon me . -Go , fellow , get thee home ; provide some carts -And bring away the armour that is there . - -Gentlemen , will you go muster men ? If I know -How or which way to order these affairs -Thus thrust disorderly into my hands , -Never believe me . Both are my kinsmen : -The one is my sovereign , whom both my oath -And duty bids defend ; the other again -Is my kinsman , whom the king hath wrong'd , -Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right . -Well , somewhat we must do . Come , cousin , -I'll dispose of you . Gentlemen , go muster up your men , -And meet me presently at Berkeley Castle . -I should to Plashy too : -But time will not permit . All is uneven , -And every thing is left at six and seven . - - -The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland , -But none returns . For us to levy power -Proportionable to the enemy -Is all unpossible . - -Besides , our nearness to the king in love -Is near the hate of those love not the king . - -And that's the wavering commons ; for their love -Lies in their purses , and whoso empties them , -By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate . - -Wherein the king stands generally condemn'd . - -If judgment lie in them , then so do we , -Because we ever have been near the king . - -Well , I'll for refuge straight to Bristol Castle ; -The Earl of Wiltshire is already there . - -Thither will I with you ; for little office -Will the hateful commons perform for us , -Except like curs to tear us all to pieces . -Will you go along with us ? - -No ; I will to Ireland to his majesty . -Farewell : if heart's presages be not vain , -We three here part that ne'er shall meet again . - -That's as York thrives to beat back Bolingbroke . - -Alas , poor duke ! the task he undertakes -Is numbering sands and drinking oceans dry : -Where one on his side fights , thousands will fly . -Farewell at once ; for once , for all , and ever . - -Well , we may meet again . - -I fear me , never . - - -How far is it , my lord , to Berkeley now ? - -Believe me , noble lord , -I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire : -These high wild hills and rough uneven ways -Draw out our miles and make them wearisome ; -But yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar , -Making the hard way sweet and delectable . -But I bethink me what a weary way -From Ravenspurgh to Cotswold will be found -In Ross and Willoughby , wanting your company , -Which , I protest , hath very much beguil'd -The tediousness and process of my travel : -But theirs is sweeten'd with the hope to have -The present benefit which I possess ; -And hope to joy is little less in joy -Than hope enjoy'd : by this the weary lords -Shall make their way seem short , as mine hath done -By sight of what I have , your noble company . - -Of much less value is my company -Than your good words . But who comes here ? - - -It is my son , young Harry Percy , -Sent from my brother Worcester , whencesoever . -Harry , how fares your uncle ? - -I had thought , my lord , to have learn'd his health of you . - -Why , is he not with the queen ? - -No , my good lord ; he hath forsook the court , -Broken his staff of office , and dispers'd -The household of the king . - -What was his reason ? -He was not so resolv'd when last we spake together . - -Because your lordship was proclaimed traitor . -But he , my lord , is gone to Ravenspurgh , -To offer service to the Duke of Hereford , -And sent me over by Berkeley to discover -What power the Duke of York had levied there ; -Then with direction to repair to Ravenspurgh . - -Have you forgot the Duke of Hereford , boy ? - -No , my good lord ; for that is not forgot -Which ne'er I did remember : to my knowledge -I never in my life did look on him . - -Then learn to know him now : this is the duke . - -My gracious lord , I tender you my service , -Such as it is , being tender , raw , and young , -Which elder days shall ripen and confirm -To more approved service and desert . - -I thank thee , gentle Percy ; and be sure -I count myself in nothing else so happy -As in a soul remembering my good friends ; -And as my fortune ripens with thy love , -It shall be still thy true love's recompense : -My heart this covenant makes , my hand thus seals it . - -How far is it to Berkeley ? and what stir -Keeps good old York there with his men of war ? - -There stands the castle , by yon tuft of trees , -Mann'd with three hundred men , as I have heard ; -And in it are the Lords of York , Berkeley , and Seymour ; -None else of name and noble estimate . - - -Here come the Lords of Ross and Willoughby , -Bloody with spurring , fiery-red with haste . - -Welcome , my lords . I wot your love pursues -A banish'd traitor ; all my treasury -Is yet but unfelt thanks , which , more enrich'd , -Shall be your love and labour's recompense . - -Your presence makes us rich , most noble lord . - -And far surmounts our labour to attain it . - -Evermore thanks , the exchequer of the poor ; -Which , till my infant fortune comes to years , -Stands for my bounty . But who comes here ? - - -It is my Lord of Berkeley , as I guess . - -My lord of Hereford , my message is to you . - -My lord , my answer is to Lancaster ; -And I am come to seek that name in England ; -And I must find that title in your tongue -Before I make reply to aught you say . - -Mistake me not , my lord ; 'tis not my meaning -To raze one title of your honour out : -To you , my lord , I come , what lord you will , -From the most gracious regent of this land , -The Duke of York , to know what pricks you on -To take advantage of the absent time -And fright our native peace with self-born arms . - - -I shall not need transport my words by you : -Here comes his Grace in person . -My noble uncle ! - - -Show me thy humble heart , and not thy knee , -Whose duty is deceivable and false . - -My gracious uncle - -Tut , tut ! -Grace me no grace , nor uncle me no uncle : -I am no traitor's uncle ; and that word 'grace' -In an ungracious mouth is but profane . -Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs -Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground ? -But then , more 'why ?' why have they dar'd to march -So many miles upon her peaceful bosom , -Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war -And ostentation of despised arms ? -Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence ? -Why , foolish boy , the king is left behind , -And in my loyal bosom lies his power . -Were I but now the lord of such hot youth -As when brave Gaunt thy father , and myself , -Rescu'd the Black Prince , that young Mars of men , -From forth the ranks of many thousand French , -O ! then , how quickly should this arm of mine , -Now prisoner to the palsy , chastise thee -And minister correction to thy fault ! - -My gracious uncle , let me know my fault : -On what condition stands it and wherein ? - -Even in condition of the worst degree , -In gross rebellion and detested treason : -Thou art a banish'd man , and here art come -Before the expiration of thy time , -In braving arms against thy sovereign . - -As I was banish'd , I was banish'd Hereford ; -But as I come , I come for Lancaster . -And , noble uncle , I beseech your Grace -Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye : -You are my father , for methinks in you -I see old Gaunt alive : O ! then , my father , -Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd -A wandering vagabond ; my rights and royalties -Pluck'd from my arms perforce and given away -To upstart unthrifts ? Wherefore was I born ? -If that my cousin king be King of England , -It must be granted I am Duke of Lancaster . -You have a son , Aumerle , my noble kinsman ; -Had you first died , and he been thus trod down , -He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father , -To rouse his wrongs and chase them to the bay . -I am denied to sue my livery here , -And yet my letters-patent give me leave : -My father's goods are all distrain'd and sold , -And these and all are all amiss employ'd . -What would you have me do ? I am a subject , -And challenge law : attorneys are denied me , -And therefore personally I lay my claim -To my inheritance of free descent . - -The noble duke hath been too much abus'd . - -It stands your Grace upon to do him right . - -Base men by his endowments are made great . - -My lords of England , let me tell you this : -I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs , -And labour'd all I could to do him right ; -But in this kind to come , in braving arms , -Be his own carver and cut out his way , -To find out right with wrong , it may not be ; -And you that do abet him in this kind -Cherish rebellion and are rebels all . - -The noble duke hath sworn his coming is -But for his own ; and for the right of that -We all have strongly sworn to give him aid ; -And let him ne'er see joy that breaks that oath ! - -Well , well , I see the issue of these arms : -I cannot mend it , I must needs confess , -Because my power is weak and all ill left ; -But if I could , by him that gave me life , -I would attach you all and make you stoop -Unto the sovereign mercy of the king ; -But since I cannot , be it known to you -I do remain as neuter . So , fare you well ; -Unless you please to enter in the castle -And there repose you for this night . - -An offer , uncle , that we will accept : -But we must win your Grace to go with us -To Bristol Castle ; which they say is held -By Bushy , Bagot , and their complices , -The caterpillars of the commonwealth , -Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away . - -It may be I will go with you ; but yet I'll pause ; -For I am loath to break our country's laws . -Nor friends nor foes , to me welcome you are : -Things past redress are now with me past care . - - -My Lord of Salisbury , we have stay'd ten days , -And hardly kept our countrymen together , -And yet we hear no tidings from the king ; -Therefore we will disperse ourselves : farewell . - -Stay yet another day , thou trusty Welshman : -The king reposeth all his confidence in thee . - -'Tis thought the king is dead : we will not stay . -The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd -And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven , -The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth -And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change , -Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap , -The one in fear to lose what they enjoy , -The other to enjoy by rage and war : -These signs forerun the death or fall of kings . -Farewell : our countrymen are gone and fled , -As well assur'd Richard their king is dead . - - -Ah , Richard ! with the eyes of heavy mind -I see thy glory like a shooting star -Fall to the base earth from the firmament . -Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west , -Witnessing storms to come , woe , and unrest . -Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes , -And crossly to thy good all fortune goes . - - -Bring forth these men . -Bushy and Green , I will not vex your souls -Since presently your souls must part your bodies -With too much urging your pernicious lives , -For 'twere no charity ; yet , to wash your blood -From off my hands , here in the view of men -I will unfold some causes of your deaths . -You have misled a prince , a royal king , -A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments , -By you unhappied and disfigur'd clean : -You have in manner with your sinful hours -Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him , -Broke the possession of a royal bed , -And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks -With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs . -Myself , a prince by fortune of my birth , -Near to the king in blood , and near in love -Till you did make him misinterpret me , -Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries , -And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds , -Eating the bitter bread of banishment ; -Whilst you have fed upon my signories , -Dispark'd my parks , and felled my forest woods , -From mine own windows torn my household coat , -Raz'd out my impress , leaving me no sign , -Save men's opinions and my living blood , -To show the world I am a gentleman . -This and much more , much more than twice all this , -Condemns you to the death . See them deliver'd over -To execution and the hand of death . - -More welcome is the stroke of death to me -Than Bolingbroke to England . Lords , farewell . - -My comfort is , that heaven will take our souls -And plague injustice with the pains of hell . - -My Lord Northumberland , see them dispatch'd . - -Uncle , you say the queen is at your house ; -For God's sake , fairly let her be entreated : -Tell her I send to her my kind commends ; -Take special care my greetings be deliver'd . - -A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd -With letters of your love to her at large . - -Thanks , gentle uncle . Come , lords , away , -To fight with Glendower and his complices : -Awhile to work , and after holiday . - - -Barkloughly Castle call they this at hand ? - -Yea , my lord . How brooks your Grace the air , -After your late tossing on the breaking seas ? - -Needs must I like it well : I weep for joy -To stand upon my kingdom once again . -Dear earth , I do salute thee with my hand , -Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs : -As a long-parted mother with her child -Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting , -So , weeping , smiling , greet I thee , my earth , -And do thee favour with my royal hands . -Feed not thy sovereign's foe , my gentle earth , -Nor with thy sweets comfort his revenous sense ; -But let thy spiders , that suck up thy venom , -And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way , -Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet -Which with usurping steps do trample thee . -Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies ; -And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower , -Guard it , I pray thee , with a lurking adder -Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch -Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies . -Mock not my senseless conjuration , lords : -This earth shall have a feeling and these stones -Prove armed soldiers , ere her native king -Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms . - -Fear not , my lord : that power that made you king -Hath power to keep you king in spite of all . -The means that heaven yields must be embrac'd , -And not neglected ; else , if heaven would , -And we will not , heaven's offer we refuse , -The proffer'd means of succour and redress . - -He means , my lord , that we are too remiss ; -Whilst Bolingbroke , through our security , -Grows strong and great in substance and in friends . - -Discomfortable cousin ! know'st thou not -That when the searching eye of heaven is hid -Behind the globe , and lights the lower world , -Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen , -In murders and in outrage bloody here ; -But when , from under this terrestrial ball -He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines -And darts his light through every guilty hole , -Then murders , treasons , and detested sins , -The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs , -Stand bare and naked , trembling at themselves ? -So when this thief , this traitor , Bolingbroke , -Who all this while hath revell'd in the night -Whilst we were wandering with the antipodes , -Shall see us rising in our throne , the east , -His treasons will sit blushing in his face , -Not able to endure the sight of day , -But self-affrighted tremble at his sin . -Not all the water in the rough rude sea -Can wash the balm from an anointed king ; -The breath of worldly men cannot depose -The deputy elected by the Lord . -For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd -To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown , -God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay -A glorious angel : then , if angels fight , -Weak men must fall , for heaven still guards the right . - -Welcome , my lord : how far off lies your power ? - -Nor near nor further off , my gracious lord , -Than this weak arm : discomfort guides my tongue -And bids me speak of nothing but despair . -One day too late , I fear me , noble lord , -Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth . -O ! call back yesterday , bid time return , -And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men : -To-day , to-day , unhappy day too late , -O'erthrows thy joys , friends , fortune , and thy state ; -For all the Welshmen , hearing thou wert dead , -Are gone to Bolingbroke , dispers'd , and fled . - -Comfort , my liege ! why looks your Grace so pale ? - -But now , the blood of twenty thousand men -Did triumph in my face , and they are fled ; -And till so much blood thither come again -Have I not reason to look pale and dead ? -All souls that will be safe , fly from my side ; -For time hath set a blot upon my pride . - -Comfort , my liege ! remember who you are . - -I had forgot myself . Am I not king ? -Awake , thou sluggard majesty ! thou sleepest . -Is not the king's name twenty thousand names ? -Arm , arm , my name ! a puny subject strikes -At thy great glory . Look not to the ground , -Ye favourites of a king : are we not high ? -High be our thoughts : I know my uncle York -Hath power enough to serve our turn . But who comes here ? - - -More health and happiness betide my liege -Than can my care-tun'd tongue deliver him ! - -Mine ear is open and my heart prepar'd : -The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold . -Say , is my kingdom lost ? why , 'twas my care ; -And what loss is it to be rid of care ? -Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we ? -Greater he shall not be : if he serve God -We'll serve him too , and be his fellow so : -Revolt our subjects ? that we cannot mend ; -They break their faith to God as well as us : -Cry woe , destruction , ruin , loss , decay ; -The worst is death , and death will have his day . - -Glad am I that your highness is so arm'd -To bear the tidings of calamity . -Like an unseasonable stormy day -Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores , -As if the world were all dissolv'd to tears , -So high above his limits swells the rage -Of Bolingbroke , covering your fearful land -With hard bright steel and hearts harder than steel . -White-beards have arm'd their thin and hairless scalps -Against thy majesty ; and boys , with women's voices , -Strive to speak big , and clap their female joints -In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown ; -Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bows -Of double-fatal yew against thy state ; -Yea , distaff-women manage rusty bills -Against thy seat : both young and old rebel , -And all goes worse than I have power to tell . - -Too well , too well thou tell'st a tale so ill . -Where is the Earl of Wiltshire ? where is Bagot ? -What is become of Bushy ? where is Green ? -That they have let the dangerous enemy -Measure our confines with such peaceful steps ? -If we prevail , their heads shall pay for it . -I warrant they have made peace with Bolingbroke . - -Peace have they made with him , indeed , my lord . - -O villains , vipers , damn'd without redemption ! -Dogs , easily won to fawn on any man ! -Snakes , in my heart-blood warm'd , that sting my heart ! -Three Judases , each one thrice worse than Judas ! -Would they make peace ? terrible hell make war -Upon their spotted souls for this offence ! - -Sweet love , I see , changing his property , -Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate . -Again uncurse their souls ; their peace is made -With heads and not with hands : those whom you curse -Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound -And lie full low , grav'd in the hollow ground . - -Is Bushy , Green , and the Earl of Wiltshire dead ? - -Yea , all of them at Bristol lost their heads . - -Where is the duke my father with his power ? - -No matter where . Of comfort no man speak : -Let's talk of graves , of worms , and epitaphs ; -Make dust our paper , and with rainy eyes -Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth ; -Let's choose executors and talk of wills : -And yet not so for what can we bequeath -Save our deposed bodies to the ground ? -Our lands , our lives , and all are Bolingbroke's , -And nothing can we call our own but death , -And that small model of the barren earth -Which serves as paste and cover to our bones . -For God's sake , let us sit upon the ground -And tell sad stories of the death of kings : -How some have been depos'd , some slain in war , -Some haunted by the ghosts they have depos'd , -Some poison'd by their wives , some sleeping kill'd ; -All murder'd : for within the hollow crown -That rounds the mortal temples of a king -Keeps Death his court , and there the antick sits , -Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp ; -Allowing him a breath , a little scene , -To monarchize , be fear'd , and kill with looks , -Infusing him with self and vain conceit -As if this flesh which walls about our life -Were brass impregnable ; and humour'd thus -Comes at the last , and with a little pin -Bores through his castle wall , and farewell king ! -Cover your heads , and mock not flesh and blood -With solemn reverence : throw away respect , -Tradition , form , and ceremonious duty , -For you have but mistook me all this while : -I live with bread like you , feel want , -Taste grief , need friends : subjected thus , -How can you say to me I am a king ? - -My lord , wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes , -But presently prevent the ways to wail . -To fear the foe , since fear oppresseth strength , -Gives in your weakness strength unto your foe , -And so your follies fight against yourself . -Fear and be slain ; no worse can come to fight : -And fight and die is death destroying death ; -Where fearing dying pays death servile breath . - -My father hath a power ; inquire of him -And learn to make a body of a limb . - -Thou chid'st me well . Proud Boling broke , I come -To change blows with thee for our day of doom . -This ague-fit of fear is over-blown ; -An easy task it is , to win our own . -Say , Scroop , where lies our uncle with his power ? -Speak sweetly , man , although thy looks be sour . - -Men judge by the complexion of the sky -The state and inclination of the day ; -So may you by my dull and heavy eye , -My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say . -I play the torturer , by small and small -To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken . -Your uncle York is join'd with Bolingbroke , -And all your northern castles yielded up , -And all your southern gentlemen in arms -Upon his party . - -Thou hast said enough . - - -Beshrew thee , cousin , which didst lead me forth -Of that sweet way I was in to despair ! -What say you now ? What comfort have we now ? -By heaven , I'll hate him everlastingly -That bids me be of comfort any more . -Go to Flint Castle : there I'll pine away ; -A king , woe's slave , shall kingly woe obey . -That power I have , discharge ; and let them go -To ear the land that hath some hope to grow , -For I have none : let no man speak again -To alter this , for counsel is but vain . - -My liege , one word . - -He does me double wrong , -That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue . -Discharge my followers : let them hence away , -From Richard's night to Bolingbroke's fair day . - - -So that by this intelligence we learn -The Welshmen are dispers'd and Salisbury -Is gone to meet the king , who lately landed -With some few private friends upon this coast . - -The news is very fair and good , my lord : -Richard not far from hence hath hid his head . - -It would beseem the Lord Northumberland -To say , 'King Richard :' alack the heavy day -When such a sacred king should hide his head ! - -Your Grace mistakes ; only to be brief -Left I his title out . - -The time hath been , -Would you have been so brief with him , he would -Have been so brief with you , to shorten you , -For taking so the head , your whole head's length . - -Mistake not , uncle , further than you should . - -Take not , good cousin , further than you should , -Lest you mistake the heavens are o'er our heads . - -I know it , uncle ; and oppose not myself -Against their will . But who comes here ? - -Welcome , Harry : what , will not this castle yield ? - -The castle royally is mann'd , my lord , -Against thy entrance . - -Royally ! -Why , it contains no king ? - -Yes , my good lord , -It doth contain a king : King Richard lies -Within the limits of yon lime and stone ; -And with him are the Lord Aumerle , Lord Salisbury , -Sir Stephen Scroop ; besides a clergyman -Of holy reverence ; who , I cannot learn . - -O ! belike it is the Bishop of Carlisle . - -Noble lord , -Go to the rude ribs of that ancient castle , -Through brazen trumpet send the breath of parley -Into his ruin'd ears , and thus deliver : -Henry Bolingbroke -On both his knees doth kiss King Richard's hand , -And sends allegiance and true faith of heart -To his most royal person ; hither come -Even at his feet to lay my arms and power , -Provided that my banishment repeal'd , -And lands restor'd again be freely granted . -If not , I'll use the advantage of my power , -And lay the summer's dust with showers of blood -Rain'd from the wounds of slaughter'd Englishmen : -The which , how far off from the mind of Bolingbroke -It is , such crimson tempest should bedrench -The fresh green lap of fair King Richard's land , -My stooping duty tenderly shall show . -Go , signify as much , while here we march -Upon the grassy carpet of this plain . -Let's march without the noise of threat'ning drum , -That from the castle's totter'd battlements -Our fair appointments may be well perus'd . -Methinks King Richard and myself should meet -With no less terror than the elements -Of fire and water , when their thundering shock -At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven . -Be he the fire , I'll be the yielding water : -The rage be his , while on the earth I rain -My waters ; on the earth , and not on him . -March on , and mark King Richard how he looks . - - -See , see , King Richard doth himself appear , -As doth the blushing discontented sun -From out the fiery portal of the east , -When he perceives the envious clouds are bent -To dim his glory and to stain the track -Of his bright passage to the occident . - -Yet looks he like a king : behold , his eye , -As bright as is the eagle's , lightens forth -Controlling majesty : alack , alack , for woe , -That any harm should stain so fair a show ! - -We are amaz'd ; and thus long have we stood -To watch the fearful bending of thy knee , -Because we thought ourself thy lawful king : -And if we be , how dare thy joints forget -To pay their awful duty to our presence ? -If we be not , show us the hand of God -That hath dismiss'd us from our stewardship ; -For well we know , no hand of blood and bone -Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre , -Unless he do profane , steal , or usurp . -And though you think that all , as you have done , -Have torn their souls by turning them from us , -And we are barren and bereft of friends ; -Yet know , my master , God omnipotent , -Is mustering in his clouds on our behalf -Armies of pestilence ; and they shall strike -Your children yet unborn and unbegot , -That lift your vassal hands against my head -And threat the glory of my precious crown . -Tell Bolingbroke ,for yond methinks he is , -That every stride he makes upon my land -Is dangerous treason : he is come to open -The purple testament of bleeding war ; -But ere the crown he looks for live in peace , -Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons -Shall ill become the flower of England's face , -Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace -To scarlet indignation , and bedew -Her pastures' grass with faithful English blood . - -The king of heaven forbid our lord the king -Should so with civil and uncivil arms -Be rush'd upon ! Thy thrice-noble cousin , -Harry Bolingbroke , doth humbly kiss thy hand ; -And by the honourable tomb he swears , -That stands upon your royal grandsire's bones , -And by the royalties of both your bloods , -Currents that spring from one most gracious head , -And by the buried hand of war-like Gaunt , -And by the worth and honour of himself , -Comprising all that may be sworn or said , -His coming hither hath no further scope -Than for his lineal royalties and to beg -Enfranchisement immediate on his knees : -Which on thy royal party granted once , -His glittering arms he will commend to rust , -His barbed steeds to stables , and his heart -To faithful service of your majesty . -This swears he , as he is a prince , is just ; -And , as I am a gentleman , I credit him . - -Northumberland , say , thus the king returns : -His noble cousin is right welcome hither ; -And all the number of his fair demands -Shall be accomplish'd without contradiction : -With all the gracious utterance thou hast -Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends . - -We do debase ourself , cousin , do we not , -To look so poorly and to speak so fair ? -Shall we call back Northumberland and send -Defiance to the traitor , and so die ? - -No , good my lord ; let's fight with gentle words , -Till time lend friends and friends their helpful swords . - -O God ! O God ! that e'er this tongue of mine , -That laid the sentence of dread banishment -On yond proud man , should take it off again -With words of sooth . O ! that I were as great -As is my grief , or lesser than my name , -Or that I could forget what I have been , -Or not remember what I must be now . -Swell'st thou , proud heart ? I'll give thee scope to beat , -Since foes have scope to beat both thee and me . - -Northumberland comes back from Bolingbroke . - -What must the king do now ? Must he submit ? -The king shall do it : must he be depos'd ? -The king shall be contented : must he lose -The name of king ? o' God's name , let it go : -I'll give my jewels for a set of beads , -My gorgeous palace for a hermitage , -My gay apparel for an almsman's gown , -My figur'd goblets for a dish of wood , -My sceptre for a palmer's walking-staff , -My subjects for a pair of carved saints , -And my large kingdom for a little grave , -A little little grave , an obscure grave ; -Or I'll be buried in the king's highway , -Some way of common trade , where subjects' feet -May hourly trample on their sovereign's head ; -For on my heart they tread now whilst I live ; -And buried once , why not upon my head ? -Aumerle , thou weep'st , my tender-hearted cousin ! -We'll make foul weather with despised tears ; -Our sighs and they shall lodge the summer corn , -And make a dearth in this revolting land . -Or shall we play the wantons with our woes , -And make some pretty match with shedding tears ? -As thus ; to drop them still upon one place , -Till they have fretted us a pair of graves -Within the earth ; and , there inlaid : 'There lies -Two kinsmen digg'd their graves with weeping eyes .' -Would not this ill do well ? Well , well , I see -I talk but idly and you laugh at me . -Most mighty prince , my Lord Northumberland , -What says King Bolingbroke ? will his majesty -Give Richard leave to live till Richard die ? -You make a leg , and Bolingbroke says ay . - -My lord , in the base court he doth attend -To speak with you ; may't please you to come down ? - -Down , down , I come ; like glistering Phaethon , -Wanting the manage of unruly jades . -In the base court ? Base court , where kings grow base , -To come at traitors' calls and do them grace . -In the base court ? Come down ? Down , court ! down , king ! -For night-owls shriek where mounting larks should sing . - - -What says his majesty ? - -Sorrow and grief of heart -Makes him speak fondly , like a frantic man : -Yet he is come . - - -Stand all apart , -And show fair duty to his majesty . - -My gracious lord , - -Fair cousin , you debase your princely knee -To make the base earth proud with kissing it : -Me rather had my heart might feel your love -Than my unpleas'd eye see your courtesy . -Up , cousin , up ; your heart is up , I know , -Thus high at least , although your knee be low . - -My gracious lord , I come but for mine own . - -Your own is yours , and I am yours , and all . - -So far be mine , my most redoubted lord , -As my true service shall deserve your love . - -Well you deserve : they well deserve to have -That know the strong'st and surest way to get . -Uncle , give me your hand : nay , dry your eyes ; -Tears show their love , but want their remedies . -Cousin , I am too young to be your father , -Though you are old enough to be my heir . -What you will have I'll give , and willing too ; -For do we must what force will have us do . -Set on towards London . Cousin , is it so ? - -Yea , my good lord . - -Then I must not say no . - - -What sport shall we devise here in this garden , -To drive away the heavy thought of care ? - -Madam , we'll play at bowls . - -'Twill make me think the world is full of rubs ; -And that my fortune runs against the bias . - -Madam , we'll dance . - -My legs can keep no measure in delight -When my poor heart no measure keeps in grief : -Therefore , no dancing , girl ; some other sport . - -Madam , we'll tell tales . - -Of sorrow or of joy ? - -Of either , madam . - -Of neither , girl : -For if of joy , being altogether wanting , -It doth remember me the more of sorrow ; -Or if of grief , being altogether had , -It adds more sorrow to my want of joy : -For what I have I need not to repeat , -And what I want it boots not to complain . - -Madam , I'll sing . - -'Tis well that thou hast cause ; -But thou shouldst please me better wouldst thou weep . - -I could weep , madam , would it do you good . - -And I could sing would weeping do me good , -And never borrow any tear of thee . -But stay , here come the gardeners : -Let's step into the shadow of these trees . -My wretchedness unto a row of pins , -They'll talk of state ; for every one doth so -Against a change : woe is forerun with woe . - -Go , bind thou up yon dangling apricocks , -Which , like unruly children , make their sire -Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight : -Give some supportance to the bending twigs . -Go thou , and like an executioner , -Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays , -That look too lofty in our commonwealth : -All must be even in our government . -You thus employ'd , I will go root away -The noisome weeds , that without profit suck -The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers . - -Why should we in the compass of a pale -Keep law and form and due proportion , -Showing , as in a model , our firm estate , -When our sea-walled garden , the whole land , -Is full of weeds , her fairest flowers chok'd up , -Her fruit-trees all unprun'd , her hedges ruin'd , -Her knots disorder'd , and her wholesome herbs -Swarming with caterpillars ? - -Hold thy peace : -He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring -Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf ; -The weeds that his broad-spreading leaves did shelter , -That seem'd in eating him to hold him up , -Are pluck'd up root and all by Bolingbroke ; -I mean the Earl of Wiltshire , Bushy , Green . - -What ! are they dead ? - -They are ; and Bolingbroke -Hath seiz'd the wasteful king . O ! what pity is it -That he hath not so trimm'd and dress'd his land -As we this garden . We at time of year -Do wound the bark , the skin of our fruit-trees , -Lest , being over-proud with sap and blood , -With too much riches it confound itself : -Had he done so to great and growing men , -They might have liv'd to bear and he to taste -Their fruits of duty : superfluous branches -We lop away that bearing boughs may live : -Had he done so , himself had borne the crown , -Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down . - -What ! think you then the king shall be depos'd ? - -Depress'd he is already , and depos'd -'Tis doubt he will be : letters came last night -To a dear friend of the good Duke of York's , -That tell black tidings . - -O ! I am press'd to death through want of speaking . - -Thou , old Adam's likeness , set to dress this garden , -How dares thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news ? -What Eve , what serpent , hath suggested thee -To make a second fall of cursed man ? -Why dost thou say King Richard is depos'd ? -Dar'st thou , thou little better thing than earth , -Divine his downfall ? Say , where , when , and how -Cam'st thou by these ill tidings ? speak , thou wretch . - -Pardon me , madam : little joy have I -To breathe these news , yet what I say is true . -King Richard , he is in the mighty hold -Of Bolingbroke ; their fortunes both are weigh'd : -In your lord's scale is nothing but himself , -And some few vanities that make him light ; -But in the balance of great Bolingbroke , -Besides himself , are all the English peers , -And with that odds he weighs King Richard down . -Post you to London and you'll find it so ; -I speak no more than every one doth know . - -Nimble mischance . that art so light of foot , -Doth not thy embassage belong to me , -And am I last that knows it ? O ! thou think'st -To serve me last , that I may longest keep -Thy sorrow in my breast . Come , ladies , go , -To meet at London London's king in woe . -What ! was I born to this , that my sad look -Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke ? -Gardener , for telling me these news of woe , -Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow . - - -Poor queen ! so that thy state might be no worse , -I would my skill were subject to thy curse . -Here did she fall a tear ; here , in this place , -I'll set a bank of rue , sour herb of grace ; -Rue , even for ruth , here shortly shall be seen , -In the remembrance of a weeping queen . - -Call forth Bagot . -Now , Bagot , freely speak thy mind ; -What thou dost know of noble Gloucester's death , -Who wrought it with the king , and who perform'd -The bloody office of his timeless end . - -Then set before my face the Lord Aumerle . - -Cousin , stand forth , and look upon that man . - -My Lord Aumerle , I know your daring tongue -Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver'd . -In that dead time when Gloucester's death was plotted , -I heard you say , 'Is not my arm of length , -That reacheth from the restful English court -As far as Calais , to my uncle's head ?' -Amongst much other talk , that very time , -I heard you say that you had rather refuse -The offer of a hundred thousand crowns -Than Bolingbroke's return to England ; -Adding withal , how blest this land would be -In this your cousin's death . - -Princes and noble lords , -What answer shall I make to this base man ? -Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars , -On equal terms to give him chastisement ? -Either I must , or have mine honour soil'd -With the attainder of his slanderous lips . -There is my gage , the manual seal of death , -That marks thee out for hell : I say thou liest , -And will maintain what thou hast said is false -In thy heart-blood , though being all too base -To stain the temper of my knightly sword . - -Bagot , forbear ; thou shalt not take it up . - -Excepting one , I would he were the best -In all this presence that hath mov'd me so . - -If that thy valour stand on sympathies , -There is my gage , Aumerle , in gage to thine : -By that fair sun which shows me where thou stand'st , -I heard thee say , and vauntingly thou spak'st it , -That thou wert cause of noble Gloucester's death . -If thou deny'st it twenty times , thou liest ; -And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart , -Where it was forged , with my rapier's point . - -Thou dar'st not , coward , live to see that day . - -Now , by my soul , I would it were this hour . - -Fitzwater , thou art damn'd to hell for this . - -Aumerle , thou liest ; his honour is as true -In this appeal as thou art all unjust ; -And that thou art so , there I throw my gage , -To prove it on thee to the extremest point -Of mortal breathing : seize it if thou dar'st . - -And if I do not may my hands rot off -And never brandish more revengeful steel -Over the glittering helmet of my foe ! - -I task the earth to the like , forsworn Aumerle ; -And spur thee on with full as many lies -As may be holla'd in thy treacherous ear -From sun to sun : there is my honour's pawn ; -Engage it to the trial if thou dar'st . - -Who sets me else ? by heaven , I'll throw at all : -I have a thousand spirits in one breast , -To answer twenty thousand such as you . - -My Lord Fitzwater , I do remember well -The very time Aumerle and you did talk . - -'Tis very true : you were in presence then ; -And you can witness with me this is true . - -As false , by heaven , as heaven itself is true . - -Surrey , thou best . - -Dishonourable boy ! -That he shall lie so heavy on my sword -That it shall render vengeance and revenge , -Till thou the lie-giver and that lie do lie -In earth as quiet as thy father's skull . -In proof whereof , there is my honour's pawn : -Engage it to the trial if thou dar'st . - -How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse ! -If I dare eat , or drink , or breathe , or live , -I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness , -And spit upon him , whilst I say he lies , -And lies , and lies : there is my bond of faith -To tie thee to my strong correction . -As I intend to thrive in this new world , -Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal : -Besides , I heard the banish'd Norfolk say -That thou , Aumerle , didst send two of thy men -To execute the noble duke at Calais . - -Some honest Christian trust me with a gage . -That Norfolk lies , here do I throw down this , -If he may be repeal'd to try his honour . - -These differences shall all rest under gage -Till Norfolk be repeal'd : repeal'd he shall be , -And though mine enemy , restor'd again -To all his lands and signories ; when he's return'd , -Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial . - -That honourable day shall ne'er be seen . -Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought -For Jesu Christ in glorious Christian field , -Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross -Against black pagans , Turks , and Saracens ; -And toil'd with works of war , retir'd himself -To Italy ; and there at Venice gave -His body to that pleasant country's earth , -And his pure soul unto his captain Christ , -Under whose colours he had fought so long . - -Why , bishop , is Norfolk dead ? - -As surely as I live , my lord . - -Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the bosom -Of good old Abraham ! Lords appellants , -Your differences shall all rest under gage -Till we assign you to your days of trial . - - -Great Duke of Lancaster , I come to thee -From plume-pluck'd Richard ; who with willing soul -Adopts thee heir , and his high sceptre yields -To the possession of thy royal hand . -Ascend his throne , descending now from him ; -And long live Henry , of that name the fourth ! - -In God's name , I'll ascend the regal throne . - -Marry , God forbid ! -Worst in this royal presence may I speak , -Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth . -Would God that any in this noble presence -Were enough noble to be upright judge -Of noble Richard ! then , true noblesse would -Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong . -What subject can give sentence on his king ? -And who sits here that is not Richard's subject ? -Thieves are not judg'd but they are by to hear , -Although apparent guilt be seen in them ; -And shall the figure of God's majesty , -His captain , steward , deputy elect , -Anointed , crowned , planted many years , -Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath , -And he himself not present ? O ! forfend it , God , -That in a Christian climate souls refin'd -Should show so heinous , black , obscene a deed . -I speak to subjects , and a subject speaks , -Stirr'd up by God thus boldly for his king . -My Lord of Hereford here , whom you call king , -Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king ; -And if you crown him , let me prophesy , -The blood of English shall manure the ground -And future ages groan for this foul act ; -Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels , -And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars -Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound ; -Disorder , horror , fear and mutiny -Shall here inhabit , and this land be call'd -The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls . -O ! if you rear this house against this house , -It will the woefullest division prove -That ever fell upon this cursed earth . -Prevent it , resist it , let it not be so , -Lest child , child's children , cry against you 'woe !' - -Well have you argu'd , sir ; and , for your pains , -Of capital treason we arrest you here . -My Lord of Westminster , be it your charge -To keep him safely till his day of trial . -May it please you , lords , to grant the commons' suit ? - -Fetch hither Richard , that in common view -He may surrender ; so we shall proceed -Without suspicion . - -I will be his conduct . - - -Lords , you that here are under our arrest , -Procure your sureties for your days of answer . - - -Little are we beholding to your love , -And little look'd for at your helping hands . - - -Alack ! why am I sent for to a king -Before I have shook off the regal thoughts -Wherewith I reign'd ? I hardly yet have learn'd -To insinuate , flatter , bow , and bend my limbs : -Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me -To this submission . Yet I well remember -The favours of these men : were they not mine ? -Did they not sometime cry , 'All haill' to me ? -So Judas did to Christ : but he , in twelve , -Found truth in all but one ; I , in twelve thousand , none . -God save the king ! Will no man say , amen ? -Am I both priest and clerk ? well then , amen . -God save the king ! although I be not he ; -And yet , amen , if heaven do think him me . -To do what service am I sent for hither ? - -To do that office of thine own good will -Which tired majesty did make thee offer , -The resignation of thy state and crown -To Henry Bolingbroke . - -Give me the crown . Here , cousin , seize the crown ; -Here cousin , -On this side my hand and on that side thine . -Now is this golden crown like a deep well -That owes two buckets filling one another ; -The emptier ever dancing in the air , -The other down , unseen and full of water : -That bucket down and full of tears am I , -Drinking my griefs , whilst you mount up on high . - -I thought you had been willing to resign . - -My crown , I am ; but still my griefs are mine . -You may my glories and my state depose , -But not my griefs ; still am I king of those . - -Part of your cares you give me with your crown . - -Your cares set up do not pluck my cares down . -My care is loss of care , by old care done ; -Your care is gain of care , by new care won . -The cares I give I have , though given away ; -They tend the crown , yet still with me they stay . - -Are you contented to resign the crown ? - -Ay , no ; no , ay ; for I must nothing be ; -Therefore no no , for I resign to thee . -Now mark me how I will undo myself : -I give this heavy weight from off my head , -And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand , -The pride of kingly sway from out my heart ; -With mine own tears I wash away my balm , -With mine own hands I give away my crown , -With mine own tongue deny my sacred state , -With mine own breath release all duteous rites : -All pomp and majesty I do forswear ; -My manors , rents , revenues , I forego ; -My acts , decrees , and statutes I deny : -God pardon all oaths that are broke to me ! -God keep all vows unbroke are made to thee ! -Make me , that nothing have , with nothing griev'd , -And thou with all pleas'd , that hast all achiev'd ! -Long mayst thou live in Richard's seat to sit , -And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit ! -God save King Henry , unking'd Richard says , -And send him many years of sunshine days ! -What more remains ? - -No more , but that you read -These accusations and these grievous crimes -Committed by your person and your followers -Against the state and profit of this land ; -That , by confessing them , the souls of men -May deem that you are worthily depos'd . - -Must I do so ? and must I ravel out -My weav'd-up follies ? Gentle Northumberland , -If thy offences were upon record , -Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop -To read a lecture of them ? If thou wouldst , -There shouldst thou find one heinous article , -Containing the deposing of a king , -And cracking the strong warrant of an oath , -Mark'd with a blot , damn'd in the book of heaven . -Nay , all of you that stand and look upon me , -Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself , -Though some of you with Pilate wash your hands , -Showing an outward pity ; yet you Pilates -Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross , -And water cannot wash away your sin . - -My lord , dispatch ; read o'er these articles . - -Mine eyes are full of tears , I cannot see : -And yet salt water blinds them not so much -But they can see a sort of traitors here . -Nay , if I turn mine eyes upon myself , -I find myself a traitor with the rest ; -For I have given here my soul's consent -To undeck the pompous body of a king ; -Made glory base and sovereignty a slave , -Proud majesty a subject , state a peasant , - -My lord , - -No lord of thine , thou haught insulting man , -Nor no man's lord ; I have no name , no title , -No , not that name was given me at the font , -But 'tis usurp'd : alack the heavy day ! -That I have worn so many winters out , -And know not now what name to call myself . -O ! that I were a mockery king of snow , -Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke , -To melt myself away in water-drops . -Good king , great king ,and yet not greatly good , -An if my word be sterling yet in England , -Let it command a mirror hither straight , -That it may show me what a face I have , -Since it is bankrupt of his majesty . - -Go some of you and fetch a looking-glass . - - -Read o'er this paper while the glass doth come . - -Fiend ! thou torment'st me ere I come to hell . - -Urge it no more , my Lord Northumberland . - -The commons will not then be satisfied . - -They shall be satisfied : I'll read enough -When I do see the very book indeed -Where all my sins are writ , and that's myself . - - -Give me the glass , and therein will I read . -No deeper wrinkles yet ? Hath sorrow struck -So many blows upon this face of mine -And made no deeper wounds ? O , flattering glass ! -Like to my followers in prosperity , -Thou dost beguile me . Was this face the face -That every day under his household roof -Did keep ten thousand men ? Was this the face -That like the sun did make beholders wink ? -Was this the face that fac'd so many follies , -And was at last out-fac'd by Bolingbroke ? -A brittle glory shineth in this face : -As brittle as the glory is the face ; - -For there it is , crack'd in a hundred shivers . -Mark , silent king , the moral of this sport , - -How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face . - -The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd -The shadow of your face . - -Say that again . -The shadow of my sorrow ! Ha ! let's see : -'Tis very true , my grief lies all within ; -And these external manners of laments -Are merely shadows to the unseen grief -That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul ; -There lies the substance : and I thank thee , king , -For thy great bounty , that not only giv'st -Me cause to wail , but teachest me the way -How to lament the cause . I'll beg one boon , -And then be gone and trouble you no more . -Shall I obtain it ? - -Name it , fair cousin . - -'Fair cousin !' I am greater than a king ; -For when I was a king , my flatterers -Were then but subjects ; being now a subject , -I have a king here to my flatterer . -Being so great , I have no need to beg . - -Yet ask . - -And shall I have ? - -You shall . - -Then give me leave to go . - -Whither ? - -Whither you will , so I were from your sights . - -Go , some of you convey him to the Tower . - -O , good ! convey ? conveyers are you all , -That rise thus nimbly by a true king's fall . - - -On Wednesday next we solemnly set down -Our coronation : lords , prepare yourselves . - - -A woeful pageant have we here beheld . - -The woe's to come ; the children yet unborn -Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn . - -You holy clergymen , is there no plot -To rid the realm of this pernicious blot ? - -My lord , -Before I freely speak my mind herein , -You shall not only take the sacrament -To bury mine intents , but also to effect -Whatever I shall happen to devise . -I see your brows are full of discontent , -Your hearts of sorrow , and your eyes of tears : -Come home with me to supper ; I will lay -A plot shall show us all a merry day . - -This way the king will come ; this is the way -To Julius C sar's ill-erected tower , -To whose flint bosom my condemned lord -Is doom'd a prisoner by proud Bolingbroke . -Here let us rest , if this rebellious earth -Have any resting for her true king's queen . - - -But soft , but see , or rather do not see , -My fair rose wither : yet look up , behold , -That you in pity may dissolve to dew , -And wash him fresh again with true-love tears . -Ah ! thou , the model where old Troy did stand , -Thou map of honour , thou King Richard's tomb , -And not King Richard ; thou most beauteous inn , -Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodg'd in thee , - -When triumph is become an alehouse guest ? - -Join not with grief , fair woman , do not so , -To make my end too sudden : learn , good soul , -To think our former state a happy dream ; -From which awak'd , the truth of what we are -Shows us but this . I am sworn brother , sweet , -To grim Necessity , and he and I -Will keep a league till death . Hie thee to France , -And cloister thee in some religious house : -Our holy lives must win a new world's crown , -Which our profane hours here have stricken down . - -What ! is my Richard both in shape and mind -Transform'd and weaken'd ! Hath Bolingbroke depos'd -Thine intellect ? hath he been in thy heart ? -The lion dying thrusteth forth his paw -And wounds the earth , if nothing else , with rage -To be o'erpower'd ; and wilt thou , pupil-like , -Take thy correction mildly , kiss the rod , -And fawn on rage with base humility , -Which art a lion and a king of beasts ? - -A king of beasts indeed ; if aught but beasts , -I had been still a happy king of men . -Good sometime queen , prepare thee hence for France , -Think I am dead , and that even here thou tak'st , -As from my death-bed , my last living leave . -In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire -With good old folks , and let them tell thee tales -Of woeful ages , long ago betid ; -And ere thou bid good night , to quit their grief , -Tell thou the lamentable tale of me , -And send the hearers weeping to their beds : -For why the senseless brands will sympathize -The heavy accent of thy moving tongue , -And in compassion weep the fire out ; -And some will mourn in ashes , some coal-black , -For the deposing of a rightful king . - - -My lord , the mind of Bolingbroke is chang'd ; -You must to Pomfret , not unto the Tower . -And , madam , there is order ta'en for you ; -With all swift speed you must away to France . - -Northumberland , thou ladder wherewithal -The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne , -The time shall not be many hours of age -More than it is , ere foul sin gathering head -Shall break into corruption . Thou shalt think , -Though he divide the realm and give thee half , -It is too little , helping him to all ; -And he shall think that thou , which know'st the way -To plant unrightful kings , wilt know again , -Being ne'er so little urg'd , another way -To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne . -The love of wicked friends converts to fear ; -That fear to hate , and hate turns one or both -To worthy danger and deserved death . - -My guilt be on my head , and there an end . -Take leave and part ; for you must part forthwith . - -Doubly divorc'd ! Bad men , ye violate -A two-fold marriage ; 'twixt my crown and me , -And then , betwixt me and my married wife . -Let me unkiss the oath 'twixt thee and me ; -And yet not so , for with a kiss 'twas made . -Part us , Northumberland : I towards the north , -Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime ; -My wife to France : from whence , set forth in pomp , -She came adorned hither like sweet May , -Sent back like Hallowmas or short'st of day . - -And must we be divided ? must we part ? - -Ay , hand from hand , my love , and heart from heart . - -Banish us both and send the king with me . - -That were some love but little policy . - -Then whither he goes , thither let me go . - -So two , together weeping , make one woe . -Weep thou for me in France , I for thee here ; -Better far off , than near , be ne'er the near . -Go , count thy way with sighs , I mine with groans . - -So longest way shall have the longest moans . - -Twice for one step I'll groan , the way being short , -And piece the way out with a heavy heart . -Come , come , in wooing sorrow let's be brief , -Since , wedding it , thero is such length in grief . -One kiss shall stop our mouths , and dumbly part ; -Thus give I mine , and thus take I thy heart . - - -Give me mine own again ; 'twere no good part -To take on me to keep and kill thy heart . - -So , now I have mine own again , be gone , -That I may strive to kill it with a groan . - -We make woe wanton with this fond delay : -Once more , adieu ; the rest let sorrow say . - - -My lord , you told me you would tell the rest , -When weeping made you break the story off , -Of our two cousins coming into London . - -Where did I leave ? - -At that sad stop , my lord , -Where rude misgovern'd hands , from windows' tops , -Threw dust and rubbish on King Richard's head . - -Then , as I said , the duke , great Bolingbroke , -Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed , -Which his aspiring rider seem'd to know , -With slow but stately pace kept on his course , -While all tongues cried , 'God save thee , Bolingbroke !' -You would have thought the very windows spake , -So many greedy looks of young and old -Through casements darted their desiring eyes -Upon his visage , and that all the walls -With painted imagery had said at once -'Jesu preserve thee ! welcome , Bolingbroke !' -Whilst he , from one side to the other turning , -Bare-headed , lower than his proud steed's neck , -Bespake them thus , 'I thank you , countrymen :' -And thus still doing , thus he pass'd along . - -Alack , poor Richard ! where rode he the whilst ? - -As in a theatre , the eyes of men , -After a well-grac'd actor leaves the stage , -Are idly bent on him that enters next , -Thinking his prattle to be tedious ; -Even so , or with much more contempt , men's eyes -Did scowl on Richard : no man cried , 'God save him ;' -No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home ; -But dust was thrown upon his sacred head , -Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off , -His face still combating with tears and smiles , -The badges of his grief and patience , -That had not God , for some strong purpose , steel'd -The hearts of men , they must perforce have melted , -And barbarism itself have pitied him . -But heaven hath a hand in these events , -To whose high will we bound our calm contents . -To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now , -Whose state and honour I for aye allow . - -Here comes my son Aumerle . - -Aumerle that was ; -But that is lost for being Richard's friend , -And , madam , you must call him Rutland now . -I am in parliament pledge for his truth -And lasting fealty to the new-made king . - - -Welcome , my son : who are the violets now -That strew the green lap of the new come spring ? - -Madam , I know not , nor I greatly care not : -God knows I had as lief be none as one . - -Well , bear you well in this new spring of time , -Lest you be cropp'd before you come to prime . -What news from Oxford ? hold those justs and triumphs ? - -For aught I know , my lord , they do . - -You will be there , I know . - -If God prevent it not , I purpose so . - -What seal is that that hangs without thy bosom ? -Yea , look'st thou pale ? let me see the writing . - -My lord , 'tis nothing . - -No matter then , who sees it : -I will be satisfied ; let me see the writing . - -I do beseech your Grace to pardon me : -It is a matter of small consequence , -Which for some reasons I would not have seen . - -Which for some reasons , sir , I mean to see . -I fear , I fear , - -What should you fear ? -'Tis nothing but some bond he's enter'd into -For gay apparel 'gainst the triumph day . - -Bound to himself ! what doth he with a bond -That he is bound to ? Wife , thou art a fool . -Boy , let me see the writing . - -I do beseech you , pardon me ; I may not show it . - -I will be satisfied ; let me see it , I say . - -Treason ! foul treason ! villain ! traitor ! slave ! - -What is the matter , my lord ? - -Ho ! who is within there ? - - -Saddle my horse . - -God for his mercy ! what treachery is here ! - -Why , what is it , my lord ? - -Give me my boots , I say ; saddle my horse . -Now , by mine honour , by my life , my troth , -I will appeach the villain . - - -What's the matter ? - -Peace , foolish woman . - -I will not peace . What is the matter , Aumerle ? - -Good mother , be content ; it is no more -Than my poor life must answer . - -Thy life answer ! - -Bring me my boots : I will unto the king . - - -Strike him , Aumerle . Poor boy , thou art amaz'd . - - -Hence , villain ! never more come in my sight . - - -Give me my boots , I say . - -Why , York , what wilt thou do ? -Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine own ? -Have we more sons , or are we like to have ? -Is not my teeming date drunk up with time ? -And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age , -And rob me of a happy mother's name ? -Is he not like thee ? is he not thine own ? - -Thou fond , mad woman , -Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy ? -A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament , -And interchangeably set down their hands , -To kill the king at Oxford . - -He shall be none ; -We'll keep him here : then , what is that to him ? - -Away , fond woman ! were he twenty times -My son , I would appeach him . - -Hadst thou groan'd for him -As I have done , thou'dst be more pitiful . -But now I know thy mind : thou dost suspect -That I have been disloyal to thy bed , -And that he is a bastard , not thy son : -Sweet York , sweet husband , be not of that mind : -He is as like thee as a man may be , -Not like to me , nor any of my kin , -And yet I love him . - -Make way , unruly woman ! - - -After , Aumerle ! Mount thee upon his horse ; -Spur post , and get before him to the king , -And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee . -I'll not be long behind ; though I be old , -I doubt not but to ride as fast as York : -And never will I rise up from the ground -Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee . Away ! be gone . - - -Can no man tell of my unthrifty son ? -'Tis full three months since I did see him last . -If any plague hang over us , 'tis he . -I would to God , my lords , he might be found : -Inquire at London , 'mongst the taverns there , -For there , they say , he daily doth frequent , -With unrestrained loose companions , -Even such , they say , as stand in narrow lanes -And beat our watch and rob our passengers ; -While he , young wanton and effeminate boy , -Takes on the point of honour to support -So dissolute a crew . - -My lord , some two days since I saw the prince , -And told him of these triumphs held at Oxford . - -And what said the gallant ? - -His answer was : he would unto the stews , -And from the common'st creature pluck a glove , -And wear it as a favour ; and with that -He would unhorse the lustiest challenger . - -As dissolute as desperate ; yet , through both , -I see some sparkles of a better hope , -Which elder days may happily bring forth . -But who comes here ? - - -Where is the king ? - -What means -Our cousin , that he stares and looks so wildly ? - -God save your Grace ! I do beseech your majesty , -To have some conference with your Grace alone . - -Withdraw yourselves , and leave us here alone . - -What is the matter with our cousin now ? - -For ever may my knees grow to the earth , -My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth , -Unless a pardon ere I rise or speak . - -Intended or committed was this fault ? -If on the first , how heinous e'er it be , -To win thy after-love I pardon thee . - -Then give me leave that I may turn the key , -That no man enter till my tale be done . - -Have thy desire . - - -My liege , beware ! look to thyself ; -Thou hast a traitor in thy presence there . - -Villain , I'll make thee safe . - -Stay thy revengeful hand ; thou hast no cause to fear . - -Open the door , secure , foolhardy king : -Shall I for love speak treason to thy face ? -Open the door , or I will break it open . - -What is the matter , uncle ? speak ; -Recover breath ; tell us how near is danger , -That we may arm us to encounter it . - -Peruse this writing here , and thou shalt know -The treason that my haste forbids me show . - -Remember , as thou read'st , thy promise pass'd : -I do repent me ; read not my name there ; -My heart is not confederate with my hand . - -'Twas , villain , ere thy hand did set it down . -I tore it from the traitor's bosom , king ; -Fear , and not love , begets his penitence . -Forget to pity him , lest thy pity prove -A serpent that will sting thee to the heart . - -O heinous , strong , and bold conspiracy ! -O loyal father of a treacherous son ! -Thou sheer , immaculate , and silver fountain , -From whence this stream through muddy passages -Hath held his current and defil'd himself ! -Thy overflow of good converts to bad , -And thy abundant goodness shall excuse -This deadly blot in thy digressing son . - -So shall my virtue be his vice's bawd , -And he shall spend mine honour with his shame , -As thriftless sons their scraping fathers' gold . -Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies , -Or my sham'd life in his dishonour lies : -Thou kill'st me in his life ; giving him breath , -The traitor lives , the true man's put to death . - -What ho , my liege ! for God's sake let me in . - -What shrill-voic'd suppliant makes this eager cry ? - -A woman , and thine aunt , great king ; 'tis I . -Speak with me , pity me , open the door : -A beggar begs , that never begg'd before . - -Our scene is alter'd from a serious thing , -And now chang'd to 'The Beggar and the King .' -My dangerous cousin , let your mother in : -I know she's come to pray for your foul sin . - - -If thou do pardon , whosoever pray , -More sins , for this forgiveness , prosper may . -This fester'd joint cut off , the rest rests sound ; -This , let alone , will all the rest confound . - - -O king ! believe not this hard-hearted man : -Love , loving not itself , none other can . - -Thou frantic woman , what dost thou make here ? -Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear ? - -Sweet York , be-patient . - -Hear me , gentle liege . - -Rise up , good aunt . - -Not yet , I thee beseech . -For ever will I walk upon my knees , -And never see day that the happy sees , -Till thou give joy ; until thou bid me joy , -By pardoning Rutland , my transgressing boy . - -Unto my mother's prayers I bend my knee . - - -Against them both my true joints bended be . - -Ill mayst thou thrive if thou grant any grace ! - -Pleads he in earnest ? look upon his face ; -His eyes do drop no tears , his prayers are in jest ; -His words come from his mouth , ours from our breast : -He prays but faintly and would be denied ; -We pray with heart and soul and all beside : -His weary joints would gladly rise , I know ; -Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow : -His prayers are full of false hypocrisy ; -Ours of true zeal and deep integrity . -Our prayers do out-pray his ; then let them have -That mercy which true prayer ought to have . - -Good aunt , stand up . - -Nay , do not say 'stand up ;' -But 'pardon' first , and afterwards 'stand up .' -An if I were thy nurse , thy tongue to teach , -'Pardon' should be the first word of thy speech . -I never long'd to hear a word till now ; -Say 'pardon ,' king ; let pity teach thee how : -The word is short , but not so short as sweet ; -No word like 'pardon ,' for kings' mouths so meet . - -Speak it in French , king ; say , 'pardonnez moy .' - -Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy ? -Ah ! my sour husband , my hard-hearted lord , -That sett'st the word itself against the word . -Speak 'pardon' as 'tis current in our land ; -The chopping French we do not understand . -Thine eye begins to speak , set thy tongue there , -Or in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear , -That hearing how our plants and prayers do pierce , -Pity may move thee pardon to rehearse . - -Good aunt , stand up . - -I do not sue to stand ; -Pardon is all the suit I have in hand . - -I pardon him , as God shall pardon me . - -O happy vantage of a kneeling knee ! -Yet am I sick for fear : speak it again ; -Twice saying 'pardon' doth not pardon twain , -But makes one pardon strong . - -With all my heart -I pardon him . - -A god on earth thou art . - -But for our trusty brother-in-law and the abbot , -With all the rest of that consorted crew , -Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels . -Good uncle , help to order several powers -To Oxford , or where'er these traitors are : -They shall not live within this world , I swear , -But I will have them , if I once know where . -Uncle , farewell : and cousin too , adieu : -Your mother well hath pray'd , and prove you true . - -Come , my old son : I pray God make thee new . - - -Didst thou not mark the king , what words he spake ? -'Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear ?' -Was it not so ? - -Those were his very words . - -'Have I no friend ?' quoth he : he spake it twice , -And urg'd it twice together , did he not ? - -He did . - -And speaking it , he wistly looked on me , -As who should say , 'I would thou wert the man -That would divorce this terror from my heart ;' -Meaning the king at Pomfret . Come , let's go : -I am the king's friend , and will rid his foe . - - -I have been studying how I may compare -This prison where I live unto the world : -And for because the world is populous , -And here is not a creature but myself , -I cannot do it ; yet I'll hammer it out . -My brain I'll prove the female to my soul ; -My soul the father : and these two beget -A generation of still-breeding thoughts , -And these same thoughts people this little world -In humours like the people of this world , -For no thought is contented . The better sort , -As thoughts of things divine , are intermix'd -With scruples , and do set the word itself -Against the word : -As thus , 'Come , little ones ;' and then again , -'It is as hard to come as for a camel -To thread the postern of a needle's eye .' -Thoughts tending to ambition , they do plot -Unlikely wonders ; how these vain weak nails -May tear a passage through the flinty ribs -Of this hard world , my ragged prison walls ; -And , for they cannot , die in their own pride . -Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves -That they are not the first of fortune's slaves , -Nor shall not be the last ; like silly beggars -Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame , -That many have and others must sit there : -And in this thought they find a kind of ease , -Bearing their own misfortune on the back -Of such as have before endur'd the like . -Thus play I in one person many people , -And none contented : sometimes am I king ; -Then treason makes me wish myself a beggar , -And so I am : then crushing penury -Persuades me I was better when a king ; -Then am I king'd again ; and by and by -Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke , -And straight am nothing : but whate'er I be , -Nor I nor any man that but man is -With nothing shall be pleas'd , till he be eas'd -With being nothing . Music do I hear ? - -Ha , ha ! keep time . How sour sweet music is -When time is broke and no proportion kept ! -So is it in the music of men's lives . -And here have I the daintiness of ear -To check time broke in a disorder'd string ; -But for the concord of my state and time -Had not an ear to hear my true time broke . -I wasted time , and now doth time waste me ; -For now hath time made me his numbering clock : -My thoughts are minutes , and with sighs they jar -Their watches on unto mine eyes , the outward watch , -Whereto my finger , like a dial's point , -Is pointing still , in cleansing them from tears . -Now sir , the sound that tells what hour it is -Are clamorous groans , that strike upon my heart -Which is the bell : so sighs and tears and groans -Show minutes , times , and hours ; but my time -Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy , -While I stand fooling here , his Jack o' the clock . -This music mads me : let it sound no more ; -For though it have holp madmen to their wits , -In me it seems it will make wise men mad . -Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me ! -For 'tis a sign of love , and love to Richard -Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world . - - -Hail , royal prince ! - -Thanks , noble peer ; -The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear . -What art thou ? and how comest thou hither , man , -Where no man never comes but that sad dog -That brings me food to make misfortune live ? - -I was a poor groom of thy stable , king , -When thou wert king ; who , travelling towards York , -With much ado at length have gotten leave -To look upon my sometimes royal master's face . -O ! how it yearn'd my heart when I beheld -In London streets , that coronation day -When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary , -That horse that thou so often hast bestrid , -That horse that I so carefully have dress'd . - -Rode he on Barbary ? Tell me , gentle friend , -How went he under him ? - -So proudly as if he disdain'd the ground . - -So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back ! -That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand ; -This hand hath made him proud with clapping him . -Would he not stumble ? Would he not fall down , -Since pride must have a fall ,and break the neck -Of that proud man that did usurp his back ? -Forgiveness , horse ! why do I rail on thee , -Since thou , created to be aw'd by man , -Wast born to bear ? I was not made a horse ; -And yet I bear a burden like an ass , -Spur-gall'd and tir'd by jauncing Bolingbroke . - - -Fellow , give place ; here is no longer stay . - -If thou love me , 'tis time thou wert away . - -What my tongue dares not , that my heart shall say . - - -My lord , will't please you to fall to ? - -Taste of it first , as thou art wont to do . - -My lord , I dare not : Sir Pierce of Exton , who lately came from the king , commands the contrary . - -The devil take Henry of Lancaster , and thee ! -Patience is stale , and I am weary of it . - - -Help , help , help ! - - -How now ! what means death in this rude assault ? -Villain , thine own hand yields thy death's instrument . - -Go thou and fill another room in hell . - -That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire -That staggers thus my person . Exton , thy fierce hand -Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land . -Mount , mount , my soul ! thy seat is up on high , -Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward , here to die . - - -As full of valour as of royal blood : -Both have I spilt ; O ! would the deed were good ; -For now the devil , that told me I did well , -Says that this deed is chronicled in hell . -This dead king to the living king I'll bear . -Take hence the rest and give them burial here . - - -Kind uncle York , the latest news we hear -Is that the rebels have consum'd with fire -Our town of Cicester in Gloucestershire ; -But whether they be ta'en or slain we hear not . - -Welcome , my lord . What is the news ? - -First , to thy sacred state wish I all happiness . -The next news is : I have to London sent -The heads of Salisbury , Spencer , Blunt , and Kent . -The manner of their taking may appear -At large discoursed in this paper here . - -We thank thee , gentle Percy , for thy pains , -And to thy worth will add right worthy gains . - - -My lord , I have from Oxford sent to London -The heads of Brocas and Sir Bennet Seely , -Two of the dangerous consorted traitors -That sought at Oxford thy dire overthrow . - -Thy pains , Fitzwater , shall not be forgot ; -Right noble is thy merit , well I wot . - - -The grand conspirator , Abbot of Westminster , -With clog of conscience and sour melancholy , -Hath yielded up his body to the grave ; -But here is Carlisle living , to abide -Thy kingly doom and sentence of his pride . - -Carlisle , this is your doom : -Choose out some secret place , some reverend room , -More than thou hast , and with it joy thy life ; -So , as thou livest in peace , die free from strife : -For though mine enemy thou hast ever been , -High sparks of honour in thee have I seen . - - -Great king , within this coffin I present -Thy buried fear : herein all breathless lies -The mightiest of thy greatest enemies , -Richard of Bordeaux , by me hither brought . - -Exton , I thank thee not ; for thou hast wrought -A deed of slander with thy fatal hand -Upon my head and all this famous land . - -From your own mouth , my lord , did I this deed . - -They love not poison that do poison need , -Nor do I thee : though I did wish him dead , -I hate the murderer , love him murdered . -The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour , -But neither my good word nor princely favour : -With Cain go wander through the shade of night , -And never show thy head by day nor light . -Lords , I protest , my soul is full of woe , -That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow : -Come , mourn with me for that I do lament , -And put on sullen black incontinent . -I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land , -To wash this blood off from my guilty hand . -March sadly after ; grace my mournings here , -In weeping after this untimely bier . - -THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD III - -Now is the winter of our discontent -Made glorious summer by this sun of York ; -And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house -In the deep bosom of the ocean buried . -Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths ; -Our bruised arms hung up for monuments ; -Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings ; -Our dreadful marches to delightful measures . -Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front ; -And now ,instead of mounting barbed steeds , -To fright the souls of fearful adversaries , -He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber -To the lascivious pleasing of a lute . -But I , that am not shap'd for sportive tricks , -Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass ; -I , that am rudely stamp'd , and want love's majesty -To strut before a wanton ambling nymph ; -I , that am curtail'd of this fair proportion , -Cheated of feature by dissembling nature , -Deform'd , unfinish'd , sent before my time -Into this breathing world , scarce half made up , -And that so lamely and unfashionable -That dogs bark at me , as I halt by them ; -Why , I , in this weak piping time of peace , -Have no delight to pass away the time , -Unless to see my shadow in the sun -And descant on mine own deformity : -And therefore , since I cannot prove a lover , -To entertain these fair well-spoken days , -I am determined to prove a villain , -And hate the idle pleasures of these days . -Plots have I laid , inductions dangerous , -By drunken prophecies , libels , and dreams , -To set my brother Clarence and the king -In deadly hate the one against the other : -And if King Edward be as true and just -As I am subtle , false , and treacherous , -This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up , -About a prophecy , which says , that G -Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be . -Dive , thoughts , down to my soul : here Clarence comes . - - -Brother , good day : what means this armed guard - -That waits upon your Grace ? - -His majesty , -Tendering my person's safety , hath appointed -This conduct to convey me to the Tower . - -Upon what cause ? - -Because my name is George . - -Alack ! my lord , that fault is none of yours ; -He should , for that , commit your godfathers . -O ! belike his majesty hath some intent -That you should be new-christen'd in the Tower . -But what's the matter , Clarence ? may I know ? - -Yea , Richard , when I know ; for I protest -As yet I do not : but , as I can learn , -He hearkens after prophecies and dreams ; -And from the cross-row plucks the letter G , -And says a wizard told him that by G -His issue disinherited should be ; -And , for my name of George begins with G , -It follows in his thought that I am he . -These , as I learn , and such like toys as these , -Have mov'd his highness to commit me now . - -Why , this it is , when men are rul'd by women : -'Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower ; -My Lady Grey , his wife , Clarence , 'tis she -That tempers him to this extremity . -Was it not she and that good man of worship , -Antony Woodville , her brother there , -That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower , -From whence this present day he is deliver'd ? -We are not safe , Clarence ; we are not safe . - -By heaven , I think there is no man secure -But the queen's kindred and night-walking heralds -That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore . -Heard you not what a humble suppliant -Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery ? - -Humbly complaining to her deity -Got my lord chamberlain his liberty . -I'll tell you what ; I think it is our way , -If we will keep in favour with the king , -To be her men and wear her livery : -The jealous o'er-worn widow and herself , -Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen , -Are mighty gossips in our monarchy . - -I beseech your Graces both to pardon me ; -His majesty hath straitly given in charge -That no man shall have private conference , -Of what degree soever , with your brother . - -Even so ; an please your worship , Brakenbury , -You may partake of anything we say : -We speak no treason , man : we say the king -Is wise and virtuous , and his noble queen -Well struck in years , fair , and not jealous ; -We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot , -A cherry lip , a bonny eye , a passing pleasing tongue ; -And that the queen's kindred are made gentlefolks . -How say you , sir ? can you deny all this ? - -With this , my lord , myself have nought to do . - -Naught to do with Mistress Shore ! I tell thee , fellow , -He that doth naught with her , excepting one , -Were best to do it secretly , alone . - -What one , my lord ? - -Her husband , knave . Wouldst thou betray me ? - -I beseech your Grace to pardon me ; and withal -Forbear your conference with the noble duke . - -We know thy charge , Brakenbury , and will obey . - -We are the queen's abjects , and must obey . -Brother , farewell : I will unto the king ; -And whatsoe'er you will employ me in , -Were it to call King Edward's widow sister , -I will perform it to enfranchise you . -Meantime , this deep disgrace in brotherhood -Touches me deeper than you can imagine . - -I know it pleaseth neither of us well . - -Well , your imprisonment shall not be long ; -I will deliver you , or else lie for you : -Meantime , have patience . - -I must perforce : farewell . - - -Go , tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return , -Simple , plain Clarence ! I do love thee so -That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven , -If heaven will take the present at our hands . -But who comes here ? the new-deliver'd Hastings ! - - -Good time of day unto my gracious lord ! - -As much unto my good lord chamberlain ! -Well are you welcome to this open air . -How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment ? - -With patience , noble lord , as prisoners must : -But I shall live , my lord , to give them thanks -That were the cause of my imprisonment . - -No doubt , no doubt ; and so shall Clarence too ; -For they that were your enemies are his , -And have prevail'd as much on him as you . - -More pity that the eagles should be mew'd , -While kites and buzzards prey at liberty . - -What news abroad ? - -No news so bad abroad as this at home ; -The king is sickly , weak , and melancholy , -And his physicians fear him mightily . - -Now by Saint Paul , this news is bad indeed . -O ! he hath kept an evil diet long , -And over-much consum'd his royal person : -'Tis very grievous to be thought upon . -What , is he in his bed ? - -He is . - -Go you before , and I will follow you . - -He cannot live , I hope ; and must not die -Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven . -I'll in , to urge his hatred more to Clarence , -With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments ; -And , if I fail not in my deep intent , -Clarence hath not another day to live : -Which done , God take King Edward to his mercy , -And leave the world for me to bustle in ! -For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter . -What though I kill'd her husband and her father , -The readiest way to make the wench amends -Is to become her husband and her father : -The which will I ; not all so much for love -As for another secret close intent , -By marrying her , which I must reach unto . -But yet I run before my horse to market : -Clarence still breathes ; Edward still lives and reigns : -When they are gone , then must I count my gains . - -Set down , set down your honourable load , -If honour may be shrouded in a hearse , -Whilst I a while obsequiously lament -The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster . -Poor key-cold figure of a holy king ! -Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster ! -Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood ! -Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost , -To hear the lamentations of poor Anne , -Wife to thy Edward , to thy slaughter'd son , -Stabb'd by the self-same hand that made these wounds ! -Lo , in these windows that let forth thy life , -I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes . -O ! cursed be the hand that made these holes ; -Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it ! -Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence ! -More direful hap betide that hated wretch , -That makes us wretched by the death of thee , -Than I can wish to adders , spiders , toads , -Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives ! -If ever he have child , abortive be it , -Prodigious , and untimely brought to light , -Whose ugly and unnatural aspect -May fright the hopeful mother at the view ; -And that be heir to his unhappiness ! -If ever he have wife , let her be made -More miserable by the death of him -Than I am made by my young lord and thee ! -Come , now toward Chertsey with your holy load , -Taken from Paul's to be interred there ; -And still , as you are weary of the weight , -Rest you , whiles I lament King Henry's corse . - -Stay , you that bear the corse , and set it down . - -What black magician conjures up this fiend , -To stop devoted charitable deeds ? - -Villains ! set down the corse ; or , by Saint Paul , -I'll make a corse of him that disobeys . - -My lord , stand back , and let the coffin pass . - -Unmanner'd dog ! stand thou when I command : -Advance thy halberd higher than my breast , -Or , by Saint Paul , I'll strike thee to my foot , -And spurn upon thee , beggar , for thy boldness . - - -What ! do you tremble ? are you all afraid ? -Alas ! I blame you not ; for you are mortal , -And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil . -Avaunt ! thou dreadful minister of hell , -Thou hadst but power over his mortal body , -His soul thou canst not have : therefore , be gone . - -Sweet saint , for charity , be not so curst . - -Foul devil , for God's sake hence , and trouble us not ; -For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell , -Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims . -If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds , -Behold this pattern of thy butcheries . -O ! gentlemen ; see , see ! dead Henry's wounds -Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh . -Blush , blush , thou lump of foul deformity , -For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood -From cold and empty veins , where no blood dwells : -Thy deed , inhuman and unnatural , -Provokes this deluge most unnatural . -O God ! which this blood mad'st , revenge his death ; -O earth ! which this blood drink'st , revenge his death ; -Either heaven with lightning strike the murderer dead , -Or earth , gape open wide , and eat him quick , -As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood , -Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered ! - -Lady , you know no rules of charity , -Which renders good for bad , blessings for curses . - -Villain , thou know'st no law of God nor man : -No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity . - -But I know none , and therefore am no beast . - -O ! wonderful , when devils tell the truth . - -More wonderful when angels are so angry . -Vouchsafe , divine perfection of a woman , -Of these supposed evils , to give me leave , -By circumstance , but to acquit myself . - -Vouchsafe , diffus'd infection of a man , -For these known evils , but to give me leave , -By circumstance , to curse thy cursed self . - -Fairer than tongue can name thee , let me have -Some patient leisure to excuse myself . - -Fouler than heart can think thee , thou canst make -No excuse current , but to hang thyself . - -By such despair I should accuse myself . - -And by despairing shouldst thou stand excus'd -For doing worthy vengeance on thyself , -Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others . - -Say that I slew them not . - -Then say they were not slain : -But dead they are , and , devilish slave , by thee . - -I did not kill your husband . - -Why , then he is alive . - -Nay , he is dead ; and slain by Edward's hand . - -In thy foul throat thou liest : Queen Margaret saw -Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood ; -The which thou once didst bend against her breast , -But that thy brothers beat aside the point . - -I was provoked by her sland'rous tongue , -That laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders . - -Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind , -That never dreamt on aught but butcheries . -Didst thou not kill this king ? - -I grant ye . - -Dost grant me , hedge-hog ? Then , God grant me too -Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed ! -O ! he was gentle , mild , and virtuous . - -The fitter for the King of heaven , that hath him . - -He is in heaven , where thou shalt never come . - -Let him thank me , that help'd to send him thither ; -For he was fitter for that place than earth . - -And thou unfit for any place but hell . - -Yes , one place else , if you will bear me name it . - -Some dungeon . - -Your bed-chamber . - -Ill rest betide the chamber where thou liest ! - -So will it , madam , till I lie with you . - -I hope so . - -I know so . But , gentle Lady Anne , -To leave this keen encounter of our wits , -And fall somewhat into a slower method , -Is not the causer of the timeless deaths -Of these Plantagenets , Henry and Edward , -As blameful as the executioner ? - -Thou wast the cause , and most accurs'd effect . - -Your beauty was the cause of that effect ; -Your beauty , that did haunt me in my sleep -To undertake the death of all the world , -So might I live one hour in your sweet bosom . - -If I thought that , I tell thee , homicide , -These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks . - -These eyes could not endure that beauty's wrack ; -You should not blemish it if I stood by : -As all the world is cheered by the sun , -So I by that ; it is my day , my life . - -Black night o'ershade thy day , and death thy life ! - -Curse not thyself , fair creature ; thou art both . - -I would I were , to be reveng'd on thee . - -It is a quarrel most unnatural , -To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee . - -It is a quarrel just and reasonable , -To be reveng'd on him that kill'd my husband . - -He that bereft thee , lady , of thy husband , -Did it to help thee to a better husband . - -His better doth not breathe upon the earth . - -He lives that loves thee better than he could . - -Name him . - -Plantagenet . - -Why , that was he . - -The self-same name , but one of better nature . - -Where is he ? - -Here . - -Why dost thou spit at me ? - -Would it were mortal poison , for thy sake ! - -Never came poison from so sweet a place . - -Never hung poison on a fouler toad . -Out of my sight ! thou dost infect mine eyes . - -Thine eyes , sweet lady , have infected mine . - -Would they were basilisks , to strike thee dead ! - -I would they were , that I might die at once ; -For now they kill me with a living death . -Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears , -Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops ; -These eyes , which never shed remorseful tear ; -No , when my father York and Edward wept -To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made -When black-fac'd Clifford shook his sword at him ; -Nor when thy war-like father like a child , -Told the sad story of my father's death , -And twenty times made pause to sob and weep , -That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks , -Like trees bedash'd with rain : in that sad time , -My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear ; -And what these sorrows could not thence exhale , -Thy beauty hath , and made them blind with weeping . -I never su'd to friend , nor enemy ; -My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing words ; -But , now thy beauty is propos'd my fee , -My proud heart sues , and prompts my tongue to speak . - -Teach not thy lip such scorn , for it was made -For kissing , lady , not for such contempt . -If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive , -Lo ! here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword ; -Which if thou please to hide in this true breast , -And let the soul forth that adoreth thee , -I lay it open to the deadly stroke , -And humbly beg the death upon my knee . - -Nay , do not pause ; for I did kill King Henry ; -But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me . -Nay , now dispatch ; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward ; - -But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on . - -Take up the sword again , or take up me . - -Arise , dissembler : though I wish thy death , -I will not be thy executioner . - -Then bid me kill myself , and I will do it . - -I have already . - -That was in thy rage : -Speak it again , and , even with the word , -This hand , which for thy love did kill thy love , -Shall , for thy love , kill a far truer love : -To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary . - -I would I knew thy heart . - -'Tis figur'd in my tongue . - -I fear me both are false . - -Then never man was true . - -Well , well , put up your sword . - -Say , then , my peace is made . - -That shalt thou know hereafter . - -But shall I live in hope ? - -All men , I hope , live so . - -Vouchsafe to wear this ring . - -To take is not to give . - - -Look , how my ring encompasseth thy finger , -Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart ; -Wear both of them , for both of them are thine . -And if thy poor devoted servant may -But beg one favour at thy gracious hand , -Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever . - -What is it ? - -That it may please you leave these sad designs -To him that hath most cause to be a mourner , -And presently repair to Crosby-place ; -Where , after I have solemnly interr'd -At Chertsey monastery this noble king , -And wet his grave with my repentant tears , -I will with all expedient duty see you : -For divers unknown reasons , I beseech you , -Grant me this boon . - -With all my heart ; and much it joys me too -To see you are become so penitent . -Tressel and Berkeley , go along with me . - -Bid me farewell . - -'Tis more than you deserve ; -But since you teach me how to flatter you , -Imagine I have said farewell already . - - -Sirs , take up the corse . - -Toward Chertsey , noble lord ? - -No , to White-Friars ; there attend my coming . - -Was ever woman in this humour woo'd ? -Was ever woman in this humour won ? -I'll have her ; but I will not keep her long . -What ! I , that kill'd her husband , and his father , -To take her in her heart's extremest hate ; -With curses in her mouth , tears in her eyes , -The bleeding witness of her hatred by ; -Having God , her conscience , and these bars against me , -And nothing I to back my suit withal -But the plain devil and dissembling looks , -And yet to win her , all the world to nothing ! -Ha ! -Hath she forgot already that brave prince , -Edward , her lord , whom I , some three months since , -Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury ? -A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman , -Fram'd in the prodigality of nature , -Young , valiant , wise , and , no doubt , right royal , -The spacious world cannot again afford : -And will she yet abase her eyes on me , -That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince , -And made her widow to a woeful bed ? -On me , whose all not equals Edward's moiety ? -On me , that halt and am misshapen thus ? -My dukedom to a beggarly denier -I do mistake my person all this while : -Upon my life , she finds , although I cannot , -Myself to be a marvellous proper man . -I'll be at charges for a looking-glass , -And entertain a score or two of tailors , -To study fashions to adorn my body : -Since I am crept in favour with myself , -I will maintain it with some little cost . -But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave , -And then return lamenting to my love . -Shine out , fair sun , till I have bought a glass , -That I may see my shadow as I pass . - - -Have patience , madam : there's no doubt his majesty -Will soon recover his accustom'd health . - -In that you brook it ill , it makes him worse : -Therefore , for God's sake , entertain good comfort , -And cheer his Grace with quick and merry words . - -If he were dead , what would betide on me ? - -No other harm but loss of such a lord . - -The loss of such a lord includes all harms . - -The heavens have bless'd you with a goodly son , -To be your comforter when he is gone . - -Ah ! he is young ; and his minority -Is put into the trust of Richard Gloucester , -A man that loves not me , nor none of you . - -Is it concluded he shall be protector ? - -It is determin'd , not concluded yet : -But so it must be if the king miscarry . - - -Here come the Lords of Buckingham and Stanley . - -Good time of day unto your royal Grace ! - -God make your majesty joyful as you have been ! - -The Countess Richmond , good my Lord of Stanley , -To your good prayer will scarcely say amen . -Yet , Stanley , notwithstanding she's your wife , -And loves not me , be you , good lord , assur'd -I hate not you for her proud arrogance . - -I do beseech you , either not believe -The envious slanders of her false accusers ; -Or , if she be accus'd on true report , -Bear with her weakness , which , I think , proceeds -From wayward sickness , and no grounded malice . - -Saw you the king to-day , my Lord of Stanley ? - -But now the Duke of Buckingham and I , -Are come from visiting his majesty . - -What likelihood of his amendment , lords ? - -Madam , good hope ; his Grace speaks cheerfully . - -God grant him health ! did you confer with him ? - -Ay , madam : he desires to make atonement -Between the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers , -And between them and my lord chamberlain ; -And sent to warn them to his royal presence . - -Would all were well ! But that will never be . -I fear our happiness is at the highest . - - -They do me wrong , and I will not endure it : -Who are they that complain unto the king , -That I , forsooth , am stern and love them not ? -By holy Paul , they love his Grace but lightly -That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours . -Because I cannot flatter and speak fair , -Smile in men's faces , smooth , deceive , and cog , -Duck with French nods and apish courtesy , -I must be held a rancorous enemy . -Cannot a plain man live and think no harm , -But thus his simple truth must be abus'd -By silken , sly , insinuating Jacks ? - -To whom in all this presence speaks your Grace ? - -To thee , that hast nor honesty nor grace . -When have I injur'd thee ? when done thee wrong ? -Or thee ? or thee ? or any of your faction ? -A plague upon you all ! His royal person , -Whom God preserve better than you would wish ! -Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing-while , -But you must trouble him with lewd complaints . - -Brother of Gloucester , you mistake the matter . -The king , on his own royal disposition , -And not provok'd by any suitor else , -Aiming , belike , at your interior hatred , -That in your outward action shows itself -Against my children , brothers , and myself , -Makes him to send ; that thereby he may gather -The ground of your ill-will , and so remove it . - -I cannot tell ; the world is grown so bad -That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch : -Since every Jack became a gentleman -There's many a gentle person made a Jack . - -Come , come , we know your meaning , brother Gloucester ; -You envy my advancement and my friends' . -God grant we never may have need of you ! - -Meantime , God grants that we have need of you : -Our brother is imprison'd by your means , -Myself disgrac'd , and the nobility -Held in contempt ; while great promotions -Are daily given to ennoble those -That scarce , some two days since , were worth a noble . - -By him that rais'd me to this careful height -From that contented hap which I enjoy'd , -I never did incense his majesty -Against the Duke of Clarence , but have been -An earnest advocate to plead for him . -My lord , you do me shameful injury , -Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects . - -You may deny that you were not the mean -Of my Lord Hastings' late imprisonment . - -She may , my lord ; for - -She may , Lord Rivers ! why , who knows not so ? -She may do more , sir , than denying that : -She may help you to many fair preferments , -And then deny her aiding hand therein , -And lay those honours on your high deserts . -What may she not ? She may ,ay , marry , may she , - -What , marry , may she ? - -What , marry , may she ! marry with a king , -A bachelor , a handsome stripling too . -I wis your grandam had a worser match . - -My Lord of Gloucester , I have too long borne -Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs ; -By heaven , I will acquaint his majesty -Of those gross taunts that oft I have endur'd . -I had rather be a country servantmaid -Than a great queen , with this condition , -To be so baited , scorn'd , and stormed at : -Small joy have I in being England's queen . - - -And lessen'd be that small , God , I beseech him ! -Thy honour , state , and seat is due to me . - -What ! threat you me with telling of the king ? -Tell him , and spare not : look , what I have said -I will avouch in presence of the king : -I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower . -'Tis time to speak ; my pains are quite forgot . - -Out , devil ! I remember them too well : -Thou kill'dst my husband Henry in the Tower , -And Edward , my poor son , at Tewksbury . - -Ere you were queen , ay , or your husband king , -I was a pack-horse in his great affairs , -A weeder-out of his proud adversaries , -A liberal rewarder of his friends ; -To royalize his blood I split mine own . - -Ay , and much better blood than his , or thine . - -In all which time you and your husband Grey -Were factious for the house of Lancaster ; -And , Rivers , so were you . Was not your husband -In Margaret's battle at Saint Alban's slain ? -Let me put in your minds , if you forget , -What you have been ere now , and what you are ; -Withal , what I have been , and what I am . - -A murderous villain , and so still thou art . - -Poor Clarence did forsake his father , Warwick , -Ay , and forswore himself ,which Jesu pardon ! - -Which God revenge ! - -To fight on Edward's party for the crown ; -And for his meed , poor lord , he is mew'd up . -I would to God my heart were flint , like Edward's ; -Or Edward's soft and pitiful , like mine : -I am too childish-foolish for this world . - -Hie thee to hell for shame , and leave this world , -Thou cacodemon ! there thy kingdom is . - -My Lord of Gloucester , in those busy days -Which here you urge to prove us enemies , -We follow'd then our lord , our lawful king ; -So should we you , if you should be our king . - -If I should be ! I had rather be a pedlar . -Far be it from my heart the thought thereof ! - -As little joy , my lord , as you suppose -You should enjoy , were you this country's king , -As little joy you may suppose in me -That I enjoy , being the queen thereof . - -As little joy enjoys the queen thereof ; -For I am she , and altogether joyless . -I can no longer hold me patient . - -Hear me , you wrangling pirates , that fall out -In sharing that which you have pill'd from me ! -Which of you trembles not that looks on me ? -If not , that , I being queen , you bow like subjects , -Yet that , by you depos'd , you quake like rebels ? -Ah ! gentle villain , do not turn away . - -Foul wrinkled witch , what mak'st thou in my sight ? - -But repetition of what thou hast marr'd ; -That will I make before I let thee go . - -Wert thou not banished on pain of death ? - -I was ; but I do find more pain in banishment -Than death can yield me here by my abode . -A husband and a son thou ow'st to me ; -And thou , a kingdom ; all of you , allegiance : -This sorrow that I have by right is yours , -And all the pleasures you usurp are mine . - -The curse my noble father laid on thee , -When thou didst crown his war-like brows with paper , -And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes ; -And then , to dry them , gav'st the duke a clout -Steep'd in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland ; -His curses , then from bitterness of soul -Denounc'd against thee , are all fall'n upon thee ; -And God , not we , hath plagu'd thy bloody deed . - -So just is God , to right the innocent - -O ! 'twas the foulest deed to slay that babe , -And the most merciless , that e'er was heard of . - -Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported . - -No man but prophesied revenge for it . - -Northumberland , then present , wept to see it . - -What ! were you snarling all before I came , -Ready to catch each other by the throat , -And turn you all your hatred now on me ? -Did York's dread curse prevail so much with heaven -That Henry's death , my lovely Edward's death , -Their kingdom's loss , my woeful banishment , -Should all but answer for that peevish brat ? -Can curses pierce the clouds and enter heaven ? -Why then , give way , dull clouds , to my quick curses ! -Though not by war , by surfeit die your king , -As ours by murder , to make him a king ! -Edward , thy son , that now is Prince of Wales , -For Edward , my son , which was Prince of Wales , -Die in his youth by like untimely violence ! -Thyself a queen , for me that was a queen , -Outlive thy glory , like my wretched self ! -Long mayst thou live to wail thy children's loss , -And see another , as I see thee now , -Deck'd in thy rights , as thou art stall'd in mine ! -Long die thy happy days before thy death ; -And , after many lengthen'd hours of grief , -Die neither mother , wife , nor England's queen ! -Rivers , and Dorset , you were standers by , -And so wast thou , Lord Hastings ,when my son -Was stabb'd with bloody daggers : God , I pray him , -That none of you may live your natural age , -But by some unlook'd accident cut off . - -Have done thy charm , thou hateful wither'd hag ! - -And leave out thee ? stay , dog , for thou shalt hear me . -If heaven have any grievous plague in store -Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee , -O ! let them keep it till thy sins be ripe , -And then hurl down their indignation -On thee , the troubler of the poor world's peace . -The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul ! -Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv'st -And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends ! -No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine , -Unless it be while some tormenting dream -Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils ! -Thou elvish-mark'd , abortive , rooting hog ! -Thou that wast seal'd in thy nativity -The slave of nature and the son of hell ! -Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb ! -Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins ! -Thou rag of honour ! thou detested - -Margaret ! - -Richard ! - -Ha ! - -I call thee not . - -I cry thee mercy then , for I did think -That thou hadst call'd me all these bitter names . - -Why , so I did ; but look'd for no reply . -O ! let me make the period to my curse . - -'Tis done by me , and ends in 'Margaret .' - -Thus have you breath'd your curso against yourself . - -Poor painted queen , vain flourish of my fortune ! -Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider , -Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about ? -Fool , fool ! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself . -The day will come that thou shalt wish for me -To help thee curse this pois'nous bunch-back'd toad . - -False-boding woman , end thy frantic curse , -Lest to thy harm thou move our patience . - -Foul shame upon you ! you have all mov'd mine . - -Were you well serv'd , you would be taught your duty . - -To serve me well , you all should do me duty , -Teach me to be your queen , and you my subjects : -O ! serve me well , and teach yourselves that duty . - -Dispute not with her , she is lunatic . - -Peace ! Master marquess , you are malapert : -Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current . -O ! that your young nobility could judge -What 'twere to lose it , and be miserable ! -They that stand high have many blasts to shake them , -And if they fall , they dash themselves to pieces . - -Good counsel , marry : learn it , learn it , marquess . - -It touches you , my lord , as much as me . - -Ay , and much more ; but I was born so high , -Our aery buildeth in the cedar's top , -And dallies with the wind , and scorns the sun . - -And turns the sun to shade ; alas ! alas ! -Witness my son , now in the shade of death ; -Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath -Hath in eternal darkness folded up . -Your aery buildeth in our aery's nest : -O God ! that seest it , do not suffer it ; -As it was won with blood , lost be it so ! - -Peace , peace ! for shame , if not for charity . - -Urge neither charity nor shame to me : -Uncharitably with me have you dealt , -And shamefully my hopes by you are butcher'd . -My charity is outrage , life my shame ; -And in that shame still live my sorrow's rage ! - -Have done , have done . - -O princely Buckingham ! I'll kiss thy hand , -In sign of league and amity with thee : -Now fair befall thee and thy noble house ! -Thy garments are not spotted with our blood , -Nor thou within the compass of my curse . - -Nor no one here ; for curses never pass -The lips of those that breathe them in the air . - -I will not think but they ascend the sky , -And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace . -O Buckingham ! take heed of yonder dog : -Look , when he fawns , he bites ; and when he bites -His venom tooth will rankle to the death : -Have not to do with him , beware of him ; -Sin , death and hell have set their marks on him , -And all their ministers attend on him . - -What doth she say , my Lord of Buckingham ? - -Nothing that I respect , my gracious lord . - -What ! dost thou scorn me for my gentle counsel , -And soothe the devil that I warn thee from ? -O ! but remember this another day , -When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow , -And say poor Margaret was a prophetess . -Live each of you the subject to his hate , -And he to yours , and all of you to God's ! - - -My hair doth stand on end to hear her curses . - -And so doth mine . I muse why she's at liberty . - -I cannot blame her : by God's holy mother , -She hath had too much wrong , and I repent -My part thereof that I have done to her . - -I never did her any , to my knowledge . - -Yet you have all the vantage of her wrong . -I was too hot to do somebody good , -That is too cold in thinking of it now . -Marry , as for Clarence , he is well repaid ; -He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains : -God pardon them that are the cause thereof ! - -A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion , -To pray for them that have done scath to us . - -So do I ever - -being well-advis'd ; -For had I curs'd now , I had curs'd myself . - - -Madam , his majesty doth call for you ; -And for your Grace ; and you , my noble lords . - -Catesby , I come . Lords , will you go with me ? - -We wait upon your Grace . - - -I do the wrong , and first begin to brawl . -The secret mischiefs that I set abroach -I lay unto the grievous charge of others . -Clarence , whom I , indeed , have cast in darkness , -I do beweep to many simple gulls ; -Namely , to Stanley , Hastings , Buckingham ; -And tell them 'tis the queen and her allies -That stir the king against the duke my brother . -Now they believe it ; and withal whet me -To be reveng'd on Rivers , Vaughan , Grey ; -But then I sigh , and , with a piece of scripture , -Tell them that God bids us do good for evil : -And thus I clothe my naked villany -With odd old ends stol'n forth of holy writ , -And seem a saint when most I play the devil . - - -But soft ! here come my executioners . -How now , my hardy , stout resolved mates ! - -Are you now going to dispatch this thing ? - -We are , my lord ; and come to have the warrant , -That we may be admitted where he is . - -Well thought upon ; I have it here about me : - -When you have done , repair to Crosby-place . -But , sirs , be sudden in the execution , -Withal obdurate , do not hear him plead ; -For Clarence is well-spoken , and perhaps -May move your hearts to pity , if you mark him . - -Tut , tut , my lord , we will not stand to prate ; -Talkers are no good doers : be assur'd -We go to use our hands and not our tongues . - -Your eyes drop millstones , when fools' eyes fall tears : -I like you , lads ; about your business straight ; -Go , go , dispatch . - -We will , my noble lord . - - -Why looks your Grace so heavily to-day ? - -O , I have pass'd a miserable night , -So full of ugly sights , of ghastly dreams , -That , as I am a Christian faithful man , -I would not spend another such a night , -Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days , -So full of dismal terror was the time . - -What was your dream , my lord ? I pray you , tell me . - -Methought that I had broken from the Tower , -And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy ; -And in my company my brother Gloucester , -Who from my cabin tempted me to walk -Upon the hatches : thence we look'd toward England , -And cited up a thousand heavy times , -During the wars of York and Lancaster , -That had befall'n us . As we pac'd along -Upon the giddy footing of the hatches , -Methought that Gloucester stumbled ; and , in falling , -Struck me , that thought to stay him , overboard , -Into the tumbling billows of the main . -Lord , Lord ! methought what pain it was to drown : -What dreadful noise of water in mine ears ! -What sights of ugly death within mine eyes ! -Methought I saw a thousand fearful wracks ; -A thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon ; -Wedges of gold , great anchors , heaps of pearl , -Inestimable stones , unvalu'd jewels , -All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea . -Some lay in dead men's skulls ; and in those holes -Where eyes did once inhabit , there were crept , -As 'twere in scorn of eyes , reflecting gems , -That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep , -And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by . - -Had you such leisure in the time of death -To gaze upon those secrets of the deep ? - -Methought I had ; and often did I strive -To yield the ghost ; but still the envious flood -Stopt in my soul , and would not let it forth -To find the empty , vast , and wandering air ; -But smother'd it within my panting bulk , -Which almost burst to belch it in the sea . - -Awak'd you not with this sore agony ? - -No , no , my dream was lengthen'd after life ; -O ! then began the tempest to my soul . -I pass'd , methought , the melancholy flood , -With that grim ferryman which poets write of , -Unto the kingdom of perpetual night . -The first that there did greet my stranger soul , -Was my great father-in-law , renowned Warwick ; -Who cried aloud , 'What scourge for perjury -Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence ?' -And so he vanish'd : then came wandering by -A shadow like an angel , with bright hair -Dabbled in blood ; and he shriek'd out aloud , -'Clarence is come ,false , fleeting , perjur'd Clarence , -That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury ; -Seize on him ! Furies , take him unto torment .' -With that , methought , a legion of foul fiends -Environ'd me , and howled in mine ears -Such hideous cries , that , with the very noise -I trembling wak'd , and , for a season after -Could not believe but that I was in hell , -Such terrible impression made my dream . - -No marvel , lord , though it affrighted you ; -I am afraid , methinks , to hear you tell it . - -O Brakenbury ! I have done these things -That now give evidence against my soul , -For Edward's sake ; and see how he requites me . -O God ! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee , -But thou wilt be aveng'd on my misdeeds , -Yet execute thy wrath on me alone : -O ! spare my guiltless wife and my poor children . -I pray thee , gentle keeper , stay by me ; -My soul is heavy , and I fain would sleep . - -I will , my lord . God give your Grace good rest ! - -Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours , -Makes the night morning , and the noon-tide night . -Princes have but their titles for their glories , -An outward honour for an inward toil ; -And , for unfelt imaginations , -They often feel a world of restless cares : -So that , between their titles and low names , -There's nothing differs but the outward fame . - - -Ho ! who's here ? - -What wouldst thou , fellow ? and how cam'st thou hither ? - -I would speak with Clarence , and I came hither on my legs . - -What ! so brief ? - -'Tis better , sir , than to be tedious . -Let him see our commission , and talk no more . - - -I am , in this , commanded to deliver -The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands : -I will not reason what is meant hereby , -Because I will be guiltless of the meaning . -There lies the duke asleep , and there the keys . -I'll to the king ; and signify to him -That thus I have resign'd to you my charge . - -You may , sir ; 'tis a point of wisdom : fare you well . - - -What ! shall we stab him as he sleeps ? - -No ; he'll say 'twas done cowardly , when he wakes . - -When he wakes ! why , fool , he shall never wake till the judgment-day . - -Why , then he'll say we stabbed him sleeping . - -The urging of that word 'judgment' hath bred a kind of remorse in me . - -What ! art thou afraid ? - -Not to kill him , having a warrant for it ; but to be damn'd for killing him , from the which no warrant can defend me . - -I thought thou hadst been resolute . - -So I am , to let him live . - -I'll back to the Duke of Gloucester , and tell him so . - -Nay , I prithee , stay a little : I hope my holy humour will change ; it was wont to hold me but while one tells twenty . - -How dost thou feel thyself now ? - -Some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me . - -Remember our reward when the deed's done . - -'Zounds ! he dies : I had forgot the reward . - -Where's thy conscience now ? - -In the Duke of Gloucester's purse . - -So when he opens his purse to give us our reward , thy conscience flies out . - -'Tis no matter ; let it go : there's few or none will entertain it . - -What if it come to thee again ? - -I'll not meddle with it ; it makes a man a coward ; a man cannot steal , but it accuseth him ; a man cannot swear , but it checks him ; a man cannot lie with his neighbour's wife , but it detects him : 'tis a blushing shamefast spirit , that mutinies in a man's bosom ; it fills one full of obstacles ; it made me once restore a purse of gold that I found ; it beggars any man that keeps it ; it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing ; and every man that means to live well , endeavours to trust to himself and live without it . - -'Zounds ! it is even now at my elbow , persuading me not to kill the duke . - -Take the devil in thy mind , and believe him not : he would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh . - -Tut , I am strong-framed ; he cannot prevail with me . - -Spoke like a tall fellow that respects his reputation . Come , shall we to this gear ? - -Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword , and then throw him into the malmsey-butt in the next room . - -O , excellent device ! make a sop of him . - -Soft ! he wakes . - -Strike ! - -No , we'll reason with him . - -Where art thou , keeper ? give me a cup of wine . - -You shall have wine enough , my lord , anon . - -In God's name , what art thou ? - -A man , as you are . - -But not , as I am , royal . - -Nor you , as we are , loyal . - -Thy voice is thunder , but thy looks are humble . - -My voice is now the king's , my looks mine own . - -How darkly , and how deadly dost thou speak ! -Your eyes do menace me : why look you pale ? -Who sent you hither ? Wherefore do you come ? - -To , to , to - -To murder me ? - -Ay , ay . - -You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so , -And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it . -Wherein , my friends , have I offended you ? - -Offended us you have not , but the king . - -I shall be reconcil'd to him again . - -Never , my lord ; therefore prepare to die . - -Are you call'd forth from out a world of men -To slay the innocent ? What is my offence ? -Where is the evidence that doth accuse me ? -What lawful quest have given their verdict up -Unto the frowning judge ? or who pronounc'd -The bitter sentence of poor Clarence' death ? -Before I be convict by course of law , -To threaten me with death is most unlawful . -I charge you , as you hope to have redemption -By Christ's dear blood shed for our grievous sins , -That you depart and lay no hands on me ; -The deed you undertake is damnable . - -What we will do , we do upon command . - -And he that hath commanded is our king . - -Erroneous vassal ! the great King of kings -Hath in the table of his law commanded -That thou shalt do no murder : will you , then , -Spurn at his edict and fulfil a man's ? -Take heed ; for he holds vengeance in his hand , -To hurl upon their heads that break his law . - -And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee , -For false forswearing and for murder too : -Thou didst receive the sacrament to fight -In quarrel of the house of Lancaster . - -And , like a traitor to the name of God , -Didst break that vow , and , with thy treacherous blade -Unripp'dst the bowels of thy sovereign's son . - -Whom thou wast sworn to cherish and defend . - -How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us , -When thou hast broke it in such dear degree ? - -Alas ! for whose sake did I that ill deed ? -For Edward , for my brother , for his sake : -He sends you not to murder me for this ; -For in that sin he is as deep as I . -If God will be avenged for the deed , -O ! know you yet , he doth it publicly : -Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm ; -He needs no indirect or lawless course -To cut off those that have offended him . - -Who made thee then a bloody minister , -When gallant-springing , brave Plantagenet , -That princely novice , was struck dead by thee ? - -My brother's love , the devil , and my rage . - -Thy brother's love , our duty , and thy fault , -Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee . - -If you do love my brother , hate not me ; -I am his brother , and I love him well . -If you are hir'd for meed , go back again , -And I will send you to my brother Gloucester , -Who shall reward you better for my life -Than Edward will for tidings of my death . - -You are deceiv'd , your brother Gloucester hates you . - -O , no ! he loves me , and he holds me dear : -Go you to him from me . - -Ay , so we will . - -Tell him , when that our princely father York -Bless'd his three sons with his victorious arm , -And charg'd us from his soul to love each other , -He little thought of this divided friendship : -Bid Gloucester think on this , and he will weep . - -Ay , millstones ; as he lesson'd us to weep . - -O ! do not slander him , for he is kind . - -Right ; -As snow in harvest . Thou deceiv'st thyself : -'Tis he that sends us to destroy you here . - -It cannot be ; for he bewept my fortune , -And hugg'd me in his arms , and swore , with sobs , -That he would labour my delivery . - -Why , so he doth , when he delivers you -From this earth's thraldom to the joys of heaven . - -Make peace with God , for you must die , my lord . - -Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soul , -To counsel me to make my peace with God , -And art thou yet to thy own soul so blind , -That thou wilt war with God by murdering me ? -O ! sirs , consider , he that set you on -To do this deed , will hate you for the deed . - -What shall we do ? - -Relent and save your souls . - -Relent ! 'tis cowardly , and womanish . - -Not to relent , is beastly , savage , devilish . -Which of you , if you were a prince's son , -Being pent from liberty , as I am now , -If two such murd'rers as yourselves came to you , -Would not entreat for life ? -My friend , I spy some pity in thy looks ; -O ! if thine eye be not a flatterer , -Come thou on my side , and entreat for me , -As you would beg , were you in my distress : -A begging prince what beggar pities not ? - -Look behind you , my lord . - -Take that , and that : if all this will not do , -I'll drown you in the malmsey-butt within . - - -A bloody deed , and desperately dispatch'd ! -How fain , like Pilate , would I wash my hands -Of this most grievous murder . - - -How now ! what mean'st thou , that thou help'st me not ? -By heaven , the duke shall know how slack you have been . - -I would he knew that I had sav'd his brother ! -Take thou the fee , and tell him what I say ; -For I repent me that the duke is slain . - - -So do not I : go , coward as thou art . -Well , I'll go hide the body in some hole , -Till that the duke give order for his burial : -And when I have my meed , I will away ; -For this will out , and here I must not stay . - -Why , so : now have I done a good day's work . -You peers , continue this united league : -I every day expect an embassage -From my Redeemer to redeem me hence ; -And more in peace my soul shall part to heaven , -Since I have made my friends at peace on earth . -Rivers and Hastings , take each other's hand ; -Dissemble not your hatred , swear your love . - -By heaven , my soul is purg'd from grudging hate ; -And with my hand I seal my true heart's love . - -So thrive I , as I truly swear the like ! - -Take heed , you dally not before your king ; -Lest he that is the supreme King of kings -Confound your hidden falsehood , and award -Either of you to be the other's end . - -So prosper I , as I swear perfect love ! - -And I , as I love Hastings with my heart ! - -Madam , yourself are not exempt in this , -Nor you , son Dorset , Buckingham , nor you ; -You have been factious one against the other . -Wife , love Lord Hastings , let him kiss your hand ; -And what you do , do it unfeignedly . - -There , Hastings ; I will never more remember -Our former hatred , so thrive I and mine ! - -Dorset , embrace him ; Hastings , love lord marquess . - -This interchange of love , I here protest , -Upon my part shall be inviolable . - -And so swear I . - - -Now , princely Buckingham , seal thou this league -With thy embracements to my wife's allies , -And make me happy in your unity . - -Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate -Upon your Grace , but with all duteous love -Doth cherish you and yours , God punish me -With hate in those where I expect most love ! -When I have most need to employ a friend , -And most assured that he is a friend , -Deep , hollow , treacherous , and full of guile , -Be he unto me ! This do I beg of God , -When I am cold in love to you or yours . - - -A pleasing cordial , princely Buckingham , -Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart . -There wanteth now our brother Gloucester here -To make the blessed period of this peace . - -And , in good time , here comes the noble duke . - - -Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen ; -And princely peers , a happy time of day ! - -Happy , indeed , as we have spent the day . -Gloucester , we have done deeds of charity ; -Made peace of enmity , fair love of hate , -Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers . - -A blessed labour , my most sovereign lord . -Among this princely heap , if any here , -By false intelligence , or wrong surmise , -Hold me a foe ; -If I unwittingly , or in my rage , -Have aught committed that is hardly borne -By any in this presence , I desire -To reconcile me to his friendly peace : -'Tis death to me to be at enmity ; -I hate it , and desire all good men's love . -First , madam , I entreat true peace of you , -Which I will purchase with my duteous service ; -Of you , my noble cousin Buckingham , -If ever any grudge were lodg'd between us ; -Of you , Lord Rivers , and Lord Grey , of you , -That all without desert have frown'd on me ; -Of you , Lord Woodvile , and Lord Scales , of you ; -Dukes , earls , lords , gentlemen ; indeed , of all . -I do not know that Englishman alive -With whom my soul is any jot at odds -More than the infant that is born to-night : -I thank my God for my humility . - -A holy day shall this be kept hereafter : -I would to God all strifes were well compounded . -My sov'reign lord , I do beseech your highness -To take our brother Clarence to your grace . - -Why , madam , have I offer'd love for this , -To be so flouted in this royal presence ? -Who knows not that the gentle duke is dead ? - -You do him injury to scorn his corse . - -Who knows not he is dead ! who knows he is ? - -All-seeing heaven , what a world is this ! - -Look I so pale , Lord Dorset , as the rest ? - -Ay , my good lord ; and no man in the presence -But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks . - -Is Clarence dead ? the order was revers'd . - -But he , poor man , by your first order died , -And that a winged Mercury did bear ; -Some tardy cripple bore the countermand , -That came too lag to see him buried . -God grant that some , less noble and less loyal , -Nearer in bloody thoughts , and not in blood , -Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did , -And yet go current from suspicion . - - -A boon , my sov'reign , for my service done ! - -I prithee , peace : my soul is full of sorrow . - -I will not rise , unless your highness hear me . - -Then say at once , what is it thou request'st . - -The forfeit , sovereign , of my servant's life ; -Who slew to-day a riotous gentleman -Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk . - -Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death , -And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave ? -My brother kill'd no man , his fault was thought ; -And yet his punishment was bitter death . -Who su'd to me for him ? who , in my wrath , -Kneel'd at my feet , and bade me be advis'd ? -Who spoke of brotherhood ? who spoke of love ? -Who told me how the poor soul did forsake -The mighty Warwick , and did fight for me ? -Who told me , in the field at Tewksbury , -When Oxford had me down , he rescu'd me , -And said , 'Dear brother , live , and be a king ?' -Who told me , when we both lay in the field -Frozen almost to death , how he did lap me -Even in his garments ; and did give himself , -All thin and naked , to the numb cold night ? -All this from my remembrance brutish wrath -Sinfully pluck'd , and not a man of you -Had so much grace to put it in my mind . -But when your carters or your waiting-vassals -Have done a drunken slaughter , and defac'd -The precious image of our dear Redeemer , -You straight are on your knees for pardon , pardon ; -And I , unjustly too , must grant it you ; -But for my brother not a man would speak , -Nor I , ungracious , speak unto myself -For him , poor soul . The proudest of you all -Have been beholding to him in his life , -Yet none of you would once beg for his life . -O God ! I fear , thy justice will take hold -On me and you and mine and yours for this . -Come , Hastings , help me to my closet . O ! poor Clarence ! - - -This is the fruit of rashness . Mark'd you not -How that the guilty kindred of the queen -Look'd pale when they did hear of Clarence' death ? -O ! they did urge it still unto the king : -God will revenge it . Come , lords ; will you go -To comfort Edward with our company ? - -We wait upon your Grace . - - -Good grandam , tell us , is our father dead ? - -No , boy . - -Why do you wring your hands , and beat your breast , -And cry 'O Clarence , my unhappy son ?' - -Why do you look on us , and shake your head , -And call us orphans , wretches , castaways , -If that our noble father be alive ? - -My pretty cousins , you mistake me much ; -I do lament the sickness of the king , -As loath to lose him , not your father's death ; -It were lost sorrow to wail one that's lost . - -Then , grandam , you conclude that he is dead . -The king mine uncle is to blame for it : -God will revenge it ; whom I will importune -With earnest prayers all to that effect . - -And so will I . - -Peace , children , peace ! the king doth love you well : -Incapable and shallow innocents , -You cannot guess who caus'd your father's death . - -Grandam , we can ; for my good uncle Gloucester -Told me , the king , provok'd to't by the queen , -Devis'd impeachments to imprison him : -And when my uncle told me so , he wept , -And pitied me , and kindly kiss'd my cheek ; -Bade me rely on him , as on my father , -And he would love me dearly as his child . - -Ah ! that deceit should steal such gentle shape , -And with a virtuous vizard hide deep vice . -He is my son , ay , and therein my shame , -Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit . - -Think you my uncle did dissemble , grandam ? - -Ay , boy . - -I cannot think it . Hark ! what noise is this ? - - -Oh ! who shall hinder me to wail and weep , -To chide my fortune , and torment myself ? -I'll join with black despair against my soul , -And to myself become an enemy . - -What means this scene of rude impatience ? - -To make an act of tragic violence : -Edward , my lord , thy son , our king , is dead ! -Why grow the branches now the root is wither'd ? -Why wither not the leaves that want their sap ? -If you will live , lament : if die , be brief , -That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's ; -Or , like obedient subjects , follow him -To his new kingdom of perpetual rest . - -Ah ! so much interest have I in thy sorrow -As I had title in thy noble husband . -I have bewept a worthy husband's death , -And liv'd with looking on his images ; -But now two mirrors of his princely semblance -Are crack'd in pieces by malignant death , -And I for comfort have but one false glass , -That grieves me when I see my shame in him . -Thou art a widow ; yet thou art a mother , -And hast the comfort of thy children left thee : -But death hath snatch'd my husband from mine arms , -And pluck'd two crutches from my feeble limbs , -Clarence and Edward . O ! what cause have I -Thine being but a moiety of my grief -To overgo thy plaints , and drown thy cries ! - -Ah , aunt , you wept not for our father's death ; -How can we aid you with our kindred tears ? - -Our fatherless distress was left unmoan'd ; -Your widow-dolour likewise be unwept . - -Give me no help in lamentation ; -I am not barren to bring forth complaints : -All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes , -That I , being govern'd by the wat'ry moon , -May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world ! -Ah ! for my husband , for my dear Lord Edward ! - -Ah ! for our father , for our dear Lord Clarence ! - -Alas ! for both , both mine , Edward and Clarence ! - -What stay had I but Edward ? and he's gone . - -What stay had we but Clarence ? and he's gone . - -What stays had I but they ? and they are gone . - -Was never widow had so dear a loss . - -Were never orphans had so dear a loss . - -Was never mother had so dear a loss . -Alas ! I am the mother of these griefs : -Their woes are parcell'd , mine are general . -She for an Edward weeps , and so do I ; -I for a Clarence weep , so doth not she : -These babes for Clarence weep , and so do I ; -I for an Edward weep , so do not they : -Alas ! you three , on me , threefold distress'd , -Pour all your tears ; I am your sorrow's nurse , -And I will pamper it with lamentation . - -Comfort , dear mother : God is much displeas'd -That you take with unthankfulness his doing . -In common worldly things 'tis call'd ungrateful -With dull unwillingness to repay a debt -Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent ; -Much more to be thus opposite with heaven , -For it requires the royal debt it lent you . - -Madam , bethink you , like a careful mother , -Of the young prince your son : send straight for him ; -Let him be crown'd ; in him your comfort lives . -Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward's grave , -And plant your joys in living Edward's throne . - - -Sister , have comfort : all of us have cause -To wail the dimming of our shining star ; -But none can cure their harms by wailing them . -Madam , my mother , I do cry you mercy ; -I did not see your Grace : humbly on my knee -I crave your blessing . - -God bless thee ! and put meekness in thy mind , -Love , charity , obedience , and true duty . - -Amen ; - -and make me die a good old man ! -That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing ; -I marvel that her Grace did leave it out . - -You cloudy princes and heart-sorrowing peers , -That bear this heavy mutual load of moan , -Now cheer each other in each other's love : -Though we have spent our harvest of this king , -We are to reap the harvest of his son . -The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts , -But lately splinter'd , knit , and join'd together , -Must gently be preserv'd , cherish'd , and kept : -Me seemeth good , that , with some little train , -Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd -Hither to London , to be crown'd our king . - -Why with some little train , my Lord of Buckingham ? - -Marry , my lord , lest , by a multitude , -The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out ; -Which would be so much the more dangerous , -By how much the estate is green and yet ungovern'd ; -Where every horse bears his commanding rein , -And may direct his course as please himself , -As well the fear of harm , as harm apparent , -In my opinion , ought to be prevented . - -I hope the king made peace with all of us ; -And the compact is firm and true in me . - -And so in me ; and so , I think , in all : -Yet , since it is but green , it should be put -To no apparent likelihood of breach , -Which haply by much company might be urg'd : -Therefore I say with noble Buckingham , -That it is meet so few should fetch the prince . - -And so say I . - -Then be it so ; and go we to determine -Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow . -Madam , and you my mother , will you go -To give your censures in this business ? - - -My lord , whoever journeys to the prince , -For God's sake , let not us two stay at home : -For by the way I'll sort occasion , -As index to the story we late talk'd of , -To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince . - -My other self , my counsel's consistory , -My oracle , my prophet ! My dear cousin , -I , as a child , will go by thy direction . -Towards Ludlow then , for we'll not stay behind . - - -Good morrow , neighbour : whither away so fast ? - -I promise you , I scarcely know myself : -Hear you the news abroad ? - -Ay ; that the king is dead . - -Ill news , by'r lady ; seldom comes the better : -I fear , I fear , 'twill prove a giddy world . - - -Neighbours , God speed ! - -Give you good morrow , sir . - -Doth the news hold of good King Edward's death ? - -Ay , sir , it is too true ; God help the while ! - -Then , masters , look to see a troublous world . - -No , no ; by God's good grace , his son shall reign . - -Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child ! - -In him there is a hope of government , -That in his nonage council under him , -And in his full and ripen'd years himself , -No doubt , shall then and till then govern well . - -So stood the state when Henry the Sixth -Was crown'd at Paris but at nine months old . - -Stood the state so ? no , no , good friends , God wot ; -For then this land was famously enrich'd -With politic grave counsel ; then the king -Had virtuous uncles to protect his Grace . - -Why , so hath this , both by his father and mother . - -Better it were they all came by his father , -Or by his father there were none at all ; -For emulation , who shall now be nearest , -Will touch us all too near , if God prevent not . -O ! full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester ! -And the queen's sons and brothers haught and proud ; -And were they to be rul'd , and not to rule , -This sickly land might solace as before . - -Come , come , we fear the worst , all will be well . - -When clouds are seen , wise men put on their cloaks ; -When great leaves fall , then winter is at hand ; -When the sun sets , who doth not look for night ? -Untimely storms make men expect a dearth . -All may be well ; but , if God sort it so , -'Tis more than we deserve , or I expect . - -Truly , the hearts of men are full of fear : -You cannot reason almost with a man -That looks not heavily and full of dread . - -Before the days of change , still is it so : -By a divine instinct men's minds mistrust -Ensuing danger ; as , by proof , we see -The waters swell before a boisterous storm . -But leave it all to God . Whither away ? - -Marry , we were sent for to the justices . - -And so was I : I'll bear you company . - - -Last night , I hear , they lay at Northampton ; -At Stony-Stratford they do rest to-night : -To-morrow , or next day , they will be here . - -I long with all my heart to see the prince . -I hope he is much grown since last I saw him . - -But I hear , no ; they say my son of York -Hath almost overta'en him in his growth . - -Ay , mother , but I would not have it so . - -Why , my young cousin , it is good to grow . - -Grandam , one night , as we did sit at supper , -My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow -More than my brother : 'Ay ,' quoth my uncle Gloucester , -'Small herbs have grace , great weeds do grow apace :' -And since , methinks , I would not grow so fast , -Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste . - -Good faith , good faith , the saying did not hold -In him that did object the same to thee : -He was the wretched'st thing when he was young , -So long a-growing , and so leisurely , -That , if his rule were true , he should be gracious . - -And so , no doubt , he is , my gracious madam . - -I hope he is ; but yet let mothers doubt . - -Now , by my troth , if I had been remember'd , -I could have given my uncle's grace a flout , -To touch his growth nearer than he touch'd mine . - -How , my young York ? I prithee , let me hear it . - -Marry , they say my uncle grew so fast , -That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old : -'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth . -Grandam , this would have been a biting jest . - -I prithee , pretty York , who told thee this ? - -Grandam , his nurse . - -His nurse ! why , she was dead ere thou wast born . - -If 'twere not she , I cannot tell who told me . - -A parlous boy : go to , you are too shrewd . - -Good madam , be not angry with the child . - -Pitchers have ears . - - -Here comes a messenger . What news ? - -Such news , my lord , as grieves me to report . - -How doth the prince ? - -Well , madam , and in health . - -What is thy news ? - -Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret , -With them Sir Thomas Vaughan , prisoners . - -Who hath committed them ? - -The mighty dukes , -Gloucester and Buckingham . - -For what offence ? - -The sum of all I can I have disclos'd : -Why or for what the nobles were committed -Is all unknown to me , my gracious lord . - -Ah me ! I see the ruin of my house ! -The tiger now hath seiz'd the gentle hind ; -Insulting tyranny begins to jet -Upon the innocent and aweless throne : -Welcome , destruction , death , and massacre ! -I see , as in a map , the end of all . - -Accursed and unquiet wrangling days , -How many of you have mine eyes beheld ! -My husband lost his life to get the crown , -And often up and down my sons were toss'd , -For me to joy and weep their gain and loss : -And being seated , and domestic broils -Clean over-blown , themselves , the conquerors , -Make war upon themselves ; brother to brother , -Blood to blood , self against self : O ! preposterous -And frantic outrage , end thy damned spleen ; -Or let me die , to look on death no more . - -Come , come , my boy ; we will to sanctuary . -Madam , farewell . - -Stay , I will go with you . - -You have no cause . - -My gracious lady , go ; -And thither bear your treasure and your goods . -For my part , I'll resign unto your Grace -The seal I keep : and so betide to me -As well I tender you and all of yours ! -Come ; I'll conduct you to the sanctuary . - - -Welcome , sweet prince , to London , to your chamber . - -Welcome , dear cousin , my thoughts' sovereign ; -The weary way hath made you melancholy . - -No , uncle ; but our crosses on the way -Have made it tedious , wearisome , and heavy : -I want more uncles here to welcome me . - -Sweet prince , the untainted virtue of your years -Hath not yet div'd into the world's deceit : -No more can you distinguish of a man -Than of his outward show ; which , God he knows , -Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart . -Those uncles which you want were dangerous ; -Your Grace attended to their sugar'd words , -But look'd not on the poison of their hearts : -God keep you from them , and from such false friends ! - -God keep me from false friends ! but they were none . - -My lord , the Mayor of London comes to greet you . - - -God bless your Grace with health and happy days ! - -I thank you , good my lord ; and thank you all . -I thought my mother and my brother York -Would long ere this have met us on the way : -Fie ! what a slug is Hastings , that he comes not -To tell us whether they will come or no . - - -And in good time here comes the sweating lord . - -Welcome , my lord . What , will our mother come ? - -On what occasion , God he knows , not I , -The queen your mother , and your brother York , -Have taken sanctuary : the tender prince -Would fain have come with me to meet your Grace , -But by his mother was perforce withheld . - -Fie ! what an indirect and peevish course -Is this of hers ! Lord Cardinal , will your Grace -Persuade the queen to send the Duke of York -Unto his princely brother presently ? -If she deny , Lord Hastings , go with him , -And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce . - -My Lord of Buckingham , if my weak oratory -Can from his mother win the Duke of York , -Anon expect him here ; but if she be obdurate -To mild entreaties , God in heaven forbid -We should infringe the holy privilege -Of blessed sanctuary ! not for all this land -Would I be guilty of so great a sin . - -You are too senseless-obstinate , my lord , -Too ceremonious and traditional : -Weigh it but with the grossness of this age , -You break not sanctuary in seizing him . -The benefit thereof is always granted -To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place -And those who have the wit to claim the place : -This prince hath neither claim'd it , nor deserv'd it ; -And therefore , in mine opinion , cannot have it : -Then , taking him from thence that is not there , -You break no privilege nor charter there . -Oft have I heard of sanctuary men , -But sanctuary children ne'er till now . - -My lord , you shall o'er-rule my mind for once . -Come on , Lord Hastings , will you go with me ? - -I go , my lord . - -Good lords , make all the speedy haste you may . - -Say , uncle Gloucester , if our brother come , -Where shall we sojourn till our coronation ? - -Where it seems best unto your royal self . -If I may counsel you , some day or two -Your highness shall repose you at the Tower : -Then where you please , and shall be thought most fit -For your best health and recreation . - -I do not like the Tower , of any place : -Did Julius C sar build that place , my lord ? - -He did , my gracious lord , begin that place , -Which , since , succeeding ages have re-edified . - -Is it upon record , or else reported -Successively from age to age , he built it ? - -Upon record , my gracious lord . - -But say , my lord , it were not register'd , -Methinks the truth should live from age to age , -As 'twere retail'd to all posterity , -Even to the general all-ending day . - -So wise so young , they say , do never live long . - -What say you , uncle ? - -I say , without characters , fame lives long . - - -Thus , like the formal Vice , Iniquity , -I moralize two meanings in one word . - -That Julius C sar was a famous man ; -With what his valour did enrich his wit , -His wit set down to make his valour live : -Death makes no conquest of this conqueror , -For now he lives in fame , though not in life . -I'll tell you what , my cousin Buckingham , - -What , my gracious lord ? - -An if I live until I be a man , -I'll win our ancient right in France again , -Or die a soldier , as I liv'd a king . - -Short summers lightly have a forward spring . - - -Now , in good time , here comes the Duke of York . - -Richard of York ! how fares our loving brother ? - -Well , my dread lord ; so must I call you now . - -Ay , brother , to our grief , as it is yours : -Too late he died that might have kept that title , -Which by his death hath lost much majesty . - -How fares our cousin , noble Lord of York ? - -I thank you , gentle uncle . O , my lord , -You said that idle weeds are fast in growth : -The prince my brother hath outgrown me far . - -He hath , my lord . - -And therefore is he idle ? - -O , my fair cousin , I must not say so . - -Then he is more beholding to you than I . - -He may command me as my sovereign ; -But you have power in me as in a kinsman . - -I pray you , uncle , give me this dagger . - -My dagger , little cousin ? with all my heart . - -A beggar , brother ? - -Of my kind uncle , that I know will give ; -And , being but a toy , which is no grief to give . - -A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin . - -A greater gift ! O , that's the sword to it . - -Ay , gentle cousin , were it light enough . - -O , then , I see , you'll part but with light gifts ; -In weightier things you'll say a beggar nay . - -It is too weighty for your Grace to wear . - -I weigh it lightly , were it heavier . - -What ! would you have my weapon , little lord ? - -I would , that I might thank you , as you call me . - -How ? - -Little . - -My Lord of York will still be cross in talk . -Uncle , your Grace knows how to bear with him . - -You mean , to bear me , not to bear with me : -Uncle , my brother mocks both you and me . -Because that I am little , like an ape , -He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders . - -With what a sharp provided with he reasons ! -To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle , -He prettily and aptly taunts himself : -So cunning and so young is wonderful . - -My lord , will't please you pass along ? -Myself and my good cousin Buckingham -Will to your mother , to entreat of her -To meet you at the Tower and welcome you . - -What ! will you go unto the Tower , my lord ? - -My Lord Protector needs will have it so . - -I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower . - -Why , what would you fear ? - -Marry , my uncle Clarence' angry ghost : -My grandam told me he was murder'd there . - -I fear no uncles dead . - -Nor none that live , I hope . - -An if they live , I hope , I need not fear . -But come , my lord ; and , with a heavy heart , -Thinking on them , go I unto the Tower . - - -Think you , my lord , this little prating York -Was not incensed by his subtle mother -To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously ? - -No doubt , no doubt : O ! 'tis a parlous boy ; -Bold , quick , ingenious , forward , capable : -He's all the mother's , from the top to toe . - -Well , let them rest . Come hither , Catesby ; thou art sworn -As deeply to effect what we intend -As closely to conceal what we impart . -Thou know'st our reasons urg'd upon the way : -What think'st thou ? is it not an easy matter -To make William Lord Hastings of our mind , -For the instalment of this noble duke -In the seat royal of this famous isle ? - -He for his father's sake so loves the prince -That he will not be won to aught against him . - -What think'st thou then of Stanley ? what will he ? - -He will do all in all as Hastings doth . - -Well then , no more but this : go , gentle Catesby , -And , as it were far off , sound thou Lord Hastings , -How he doth stand affected to our purpose ; -And summon him to-morrow to the Tower , -To sit about the coronation . -If thou dost find him tractable to us , -Encourage him , and tell him all our reasons : -If he be leaden , icy-cold , unwilling , -Be thou so too , and so break off the talk , -And give us notice of his inclination ; -For we to-morrow hold divided councils , -Wherein thyself shalt highly be employ'd . - -Commend me to Lord William : tell him , Catesby , -His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries -To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret Castle ; -And bid my lord , for joy of this good news , -Give Mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more . - -Good Catesby , go , effect this business soundly . - -My good lords both , with all the heed I can . - -Shall we hear from you , Catesby , ere we sleep ? - -You shall , my lord . - -At Crosby-place , there shall you find us both . - - -Now , my lord , what shall we do if we perceive -Lord Hastings will not yield to our complots ? - -Chop off his head ; something we will determine : -And , look , when I am king , claim thou of me -The earldom of Hereford , and all the moveables -Whereof the king my brother stood possess'd . - -I'll claim that promise at your Grace's hand . - -And look to have it yielded with all kindness . -Come , let us sup betimes , that afterwards -We may digest our complots in some form . - - -My lord ! my lord ! - -Who knocks ? - -One from the Lord Stanley . - -What is't o'clock ? - -Upon the stroke of four . - - -Cannot my Lord Stanley sleep these tedious nights ? - -So it appears by that I have to say . -First , he commends him to your noble self . - -What then ? - -Then certifies your lordship , that this night -He dreamt the boar had razed off his helm : -Besides , he says there are two councils held ; -And that may be determin'd at the one -Which may make you and him to rue at the other . -Therefore he sends to know your lordship's pleasure , -If you will presently take horse with him , -And with all speed post with him towards the north , -To shun the danger that his soul divines . - -Go , fellow , go , return unto thy lord ; -Bid him not fear the separated councils : -His honour and myself are at the one , -And at the other is my good friend Catesby ; -Where nothing can proceed that toucheth us -Whereof I shall not have intelligence . -Tell him his fears are shallow , wanting instance : -And for his dreams , I wonder he's so fond -To trust the mockery of unquiet slumbers . -To fly the boar before the boar pursues , -Were to incense the boar to follow us -And make pursuit where he did mean no chase . -Go , bid thy master rise and come to me ; -And we will both together to the Tower , -Where , he shall see , the boar will use us kindly . - -I'll go , my lord , and tell him what you say . - -Many good morrows to my noble lord ! - -Good morrow , Catesby ; you are early stirring . -What news , what news , in this our tottering state ? - -It is a reeling world , indeed , my lord ; -And I believe will never stand upright -Till Richard wear the garland of the realm . - -How ! wear the garland ! dost thou mean the crown ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -I'll have this crown of mine cut from my shoulders -Before I'll see the crown so foul misplac'd . -But canst thou guess that he doth aim at it ? - -Ay , on my life ; and hopes to find you forward -Upon his party for the gain thereof : -And thereupon he sends you this good news , -That this same very day your enemies , -The kindred of the queen , must die at Pomfret . - -Indeed , I am no mourner for that news , -Because they have been still my adversaries ; -But that I'll give my voice on Richard's side , -To bar my master's heirs in true descent , -God knows I will not do it , to the death . - -God keep your lordship in that gracious mind ! - -But I shall laugh at this a twelve-month hence , -That they which brought me in my master's hate , -I live to look upon their tragedy . -Well , Catesby , ere a fortnight make me older , -I'll send some packing that yet think not on't . - -'Tis a vile thing to die , my gracious lord , -When men are unprepar'd and look not for it . - -O monstrous , monstrous ! and so falls it out -With Rivers , Vaughan , Grey ; and so 'twill do -With some men else , who think themselves as safe -As thou and I ; who , as thou know'st , are dear -To princely Richard and to Buckingham . - -The princes both make high account of you ; - - -For they account his head upon the bridge . - -I know they do , and I have well deserv'd it . - - -Come on , come on ; where is your boar-spear , man ? - -Fear you the boar , and go so unprovided ? - -My lord , good morrow ; good morrow Catesby : -You may jest on , but by the holy rood , -I do not like these several councils , I . - -My lord , I hold my life as dear as you do yours ; -And never , in my days , I do protest , -Was it so precious to me as 'tis now . -Think you , but that I know our state secure , -I would be so triumphant as I am ? - -The lords at Pomfret , when they rode from London , -Were jocund and suppos'd their state was sure , -And they indeed had no cause to mistrust ; -But yet you see how soon the day o'ercast . -This sudden stab of rancour I misdoubt ; -Pray God , I say , I prove a needless coward ! -What , shall we toward the Tower ? the day is spent . - -Come , come , have with you . Wot you what , my lord ? -To-day the lords you talk of are beheaded . - -They , for their truth , might better wear their heads , -Than some that have accus'd them wear their hats . -But come , my lord , let's away . - - -Go on before ; I'll talk with this good fellow . - -How now , sirrah ! how goes the world with thee ? - -The better that your lordship please to ask . - -I tell thee , man , 'tis better with me now -Than when I met thee last where now we meet : -Then was I going prisoner to the Tower , -By the suggestion of the queen's allies ; -But now , I tell thee ,keep it to thyself , -This day those enemies are put to death , -And I in better state than e'er I was . - -God hold it to your honour's good content ! - -Gramercy , fellow : there , drink that for me . - - -God save your lordship . - -Well met , my lord ; I am glad to see your honour . - -I thank thee , good Sir John , with all my heart . -I am in your debt for your last exercise ; -Come the next Sabbath , and I will content you . - - -What , talking with a priest , lord chamberlain ? -Your friends at Pomfret , they do need the priest : -Your honour hath no shriving work in hand . - -Good faith , and when I met this holy man , -The men you talk of came into my mind . -What , go you toward the Tower ? - -I do , my lord ; but long I shall not stay : -I shall return before your lordship thence . - -Nay , like enough , for I stay dinner there . - -And supper too , although thou know'st it not . -Come , will you go ? - -I'll wait upon your lordship . - - -Sir Richard Ratcliff , let me tell thee this : -To-day shalt thou behold a subject die -For truth , for duty , and for loyalty . - -God bless the prince from all the pack of you ! -A knot you are of damned blood suckers . - -You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter . - -Dispatch ; the limit of your lives is out . - -O Pomfret , Pomfret ! O thou bloody prison ! -Fatal and ominous to noble peers ! -Within the guilty closure of thy walls -Richard the Second here was hack'd to death ; -And , for more slander to thy dismal seat , -We give thee up our guitless blood to drink . - -Now Margaret's curse is fall'n upon our heads , -When she exclaim'd on Hastings , you , and I , -For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son . - -Then curs'd she Richard , then curs'd she Buckingham , -Then curs'd she Hastings : O ! remember , God , -To hear her prayer for them , as now for us ; -And for my sister and her princely sons , -Be satisfied , dear God , with our true blood , -Which , as thou know'st , unjustly must be spilt . - -Make haste ; the hour of death is expiate . - -Come , Grey , come , Vaughan ; let us here embrace : -And take our leave until we meet in heaven . - -My lords , at once : the cause why we are met -Is to determine of the coronation : -In God's name , speak , when is the royal day ? - -Are all things ready for that royal time ? - -It is ; and wants but nomination . - -To-morrow then I judge a happy day . - -Who knows the Lord Protector's mind herein ? -Who is most inward with the noble duke ? - -Your Grace , we think , should soonest know his mind . - -We know each other's faces ; for our hearts , -He knows no more of mine than I of yours ; -Nor I of his , my lord , than you of mine . -Lord Hastings , you and he are near in love . - -I thank his Grace , I know he loves me well ; -But , for his purpose in the coronation , -I have not sounded him , nor he deliver'd -His gracious pleasure any way therein : -But you , my noble lords , may name the time ; -And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice , -Which , I presume , he'll take in gentle part . - - -In happy time , here comes the duke himself . - -My noble lords and cousins all , good morrow . -I have been long a sleeper ; but , I trust , -My absence doth neglect no great design , -Which by my presence might have been concluded . - -Had you not come upon your cue , my lord , -William Lord Hastings had pronounc'd your part , -I mean , your voice , for crowning of the king . - -Than my Lord Hastings no man might be bolder : -His lordship knows me well , and loves me well . -My Lord of Ely , when I was last in Holborn , -I saw good strawberries in your garden there ; -I do beseech you send for some of them . - -Marry , and will , my lord , with all my heart . - - -Cousin of Buckingham , a word with you . - -Catesby hath sounded Hastings in our business , -And finds the testy gentleman so hot , -That he will lose his head ere give consent -His master's child , as worshipfully he terms it , -Shall lose the royalty of England's throne . - -Withdraw yourself a while ; I'll go with you . - - -We have not yet set down this day of triumph . -To-morrow , in my judgment , is too sudden ; -For I myself am not so well provided -As else I would be , were the day prolong'd . - - -Where is my lord , the Duke of Gloucester ? -I have sent for these strawberries . - -His Grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning : -There's some conceit or other likes him well , -When that he bids good morrow with such spirit . -I think there's never a man in Christendom -Can lesser hide his hate or love than he ; -For by his face straight shall you know his heart . - -What of his heart perceiv'd you in his face -By any livelihood he show'd to-day ? - -Marry , that with no man here he is offended ; -For , were he , he had shown it in his looks . - - -I pray you all , tell me what they deserve -That do conspire my death with devilish plots -Of damned witchcraft , and that have prevail'd -Upon my body with their hellish charms ? - -The tender love I bear your Grace , my lord , -Makes me most forward in this princely presence -To doom th' offenders , whosoe'er they be : -I say , my lord , they have deserved death . - -Then be your eyes the witness of their evil . -Look how I am bewitch'd ; behold mine arm -Is like a blasted sapling , wither'd up : -And this is Edward's wife , that monstrous witch -Consorted with that harlot strumpet Shore , -That by their witchcraft thus have marked me . - -If they have done this thing , my noble lord , - -If ! thou protector of this damned strumpet , -Talk'st thou to me of ifs ? Thou art a traitor : -Off with his head ! now , by Saint Paul , I swear , -I will not dine until I see the same . -Lovel and Ratcliff , look that it be done : -The rest , that love me , rise , and follow me . - - -Woe , woe , for England ! not a whit for me ; -For I , too fond , might have prevented this . -Stanley did dream the boar did raze his helm ; -And I did scorn it , and disdain'd to fly . -Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble , -And startled when he looked upon the Tower , -As loath to bear me to the slaughter-house . -O ! now I need the priest that spake to me : -I now repent I told the pursuivant , -As too triumphing , how mine enemies -To-day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd -And I myself secure in grace and favour . -O Margaret , Margaret ! now thy heavy curse -Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head . - -Come , come , dispatch ; the duke would be at dinner : -Make a short shrift , he longs to see your head . - -O momentary grace of mortal man , -Which we more hunt for than the grace of God ! -Who builds his hope in air of your good looks , -Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast ; -Ready with every nod to tumble down -Into the fatal bowels of the deep . - -Come , come , dispatch ; 'tis bootless to exclaim . - -O bloody Richard ! miserable England ! -I prophesy the fearfull'st time to thee -That ever wretched age hath look'd upon . -Come , lead me to the block ; bear him my head : -They smile at me who shortly shall be dead . - - -Come , cousin , canst thou quake , and change thy colour , -Murder thy breath in middle of a word , -And then again begin , and stop again , -As if thou wert distraught and mad with terror ? - -Tut ! I can counterfeit the deep tragedian , -Speak and look back , and pry on every side , -Tremble and start at wagging of a straw , -Intending deep suspicion : ghastly looks -Are at my service , like enforced smiles ; -And both are ready in their offices , -At any time , to grace my stratagems . -But what ! is Catesby gone ? - -He is ; and , see , he brings the mayor along . - - -Lord Mayor , - -Look to the drawbridge there ! - -Hark ! a drum . - -Catesby , o'erlook the walls . - -Lord Mayor , the reason we have sent , - -Look back , defend thee ; here are enemies . - -God and our innocency defend and guard us ! - - -Be patient , they are friends , Ratcliff and Lovel . - -Here is the head of that ignoble traitor , -The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings . - -So dear I lov'd the man , that I must weep . -I took him for the plainest harmless creature -That breath'd upon the earth a Christian ; -Made him my book , wherein my soul recorded -The history of all her secret thoughts : -So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue , -That , his apparent open guilt omitted , -I mean his conversation with Shore's wife , -He liv'd from all attainder of suspect . - -Well , well , he was the covert'st shelter'd traitor -That ever liv'd . -Would you imagine , or almost believe , -Were't not that by great preservation -We live to tell it , that the subtle traitor -This day had plotted , in the council-house , -To murder me and my good Lord of Gloucester ? - -Had he done so ? - -What ! think you we are Turks or infidels ? -Or that we would , against the form of law , -Proceed thus rashly in the villain's death , -But that the extreme peril of the case , -The peace of England and our person's safety , -Enforc'd us to this execution ? - -Now , fair befall you ! he deserv'd his death ; -And your good Graces both have well proceeded , -To warn false traitors from the like attempts . -I never look'd for better at his hands , -After he once fell in with Mistress Shore . - -Yet had we not determin'd he should die , -Until your lordship came to see his end ; -Which now the loving haste of these our friends , -Something against our meaning , hath prevented : -Because , my lord , we would have had you heard -The traitor speak , and timorously confess -The manner and the purpose of his treason ; -That you might well have signified the same -Unto the citizens , who haply may -Misconster us in him , and wail his death . - -But , my good lord , your Grace's word shall serve , -As well as I had seen and heard him speak : -And do not doubt , right noble princes both , -But I'll acquaint our duteous citizens -With all your just proceedings in this cause . - -And to that end we wish'd your lordship here , -To avoid the censures of the carping world . - -But since you come too late of our intent , -Yet witness what you hear we did intend : -And so , my good Lord Mayor , we bid farewell . - - -Go , after , after , cousin Buckingham . -The mayor towards Guildhall hies him in all post : -There , at your meetest vantage of the time , -Infer the bastardy of Edward's children : -Tell them how Edward put to death a citizen , -Only for saying he would make his son -Heir to the crown ; meaning indeed his house , -Which by the sign thereof was termed so . -Moreover , urge his hateful luxury -And bestial appetite in change of lust ; -Which stretch'd unto their servants , daughters , wives , -Even where his raging eye or savage heart -Without control lusted to make a prey . -Nay , for a need , thus far come near my person : -Tell them , when that my mother went with child -Of that insatiate Edward , noble York -My princely father then had wars in France ; -And , by true computation of the time , -Found that the issue was not his begot ; -Which well appeared in his lineaments , -Being nothing like the noble duke my father . -Yet touch this sparingly , as 'twere far off ; -Because , my lord , you know my mother lives . - -Doubt not , my lord , I'll play the orator -As if the golden fee for which I plead -Were for myself : and so , my lord , adieu . - -If you thrive well , bring them to Baynard's Castle ; -Where you shall find me well accompanied -With reverend fathers and well-learned bishops . - -I go ; and towards three or four o'clock -Look for the news that the Guildhall affords . - - -Go , Lovel , with all speed to Doctor Shaw ; - - -Go thou to Friar Penker ; bid them both -Meet me within this hour at Baynard's Castle . - -Now will I in , to take some privy order , -To draw the brats of Clarence out of sight ; -And to give notice that no manner person -Have any time recourse unto the princes . - - -Here is the indictment of the good Lord Hastings ; -Which in a set hand fairly is engross'd , -That it may be to-day read o'er in Paul's : -And mark how well the sequel hangs together . -Eleven hours I have spent to write it over , -For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me . -The precedent was full as long a-doing ; -And yet within these five hours Hastings liv'd , -Untainted , unexamin'd , free , at liberty . -Here's a good world the while ! Who is so gross -That cannot see this palpable device ? -Yet who so bold but says he sees it not ? -Bad is the world ; and all will come to naught , -When such ill dealing must be seen in thought . - - -How , now , how now ! what say the citizens ? - -Now , by the holy mother of our Lord , -The citizens are mum , say not a word . - -Touch'd you the bastardy of Edward's children ? - -I did ; with his contract with Lady Lucy , -And his contract by deputy in France ; -The insatiate greediness of his desires , -And his enforcement of the city wives ; -His tyranny for trifles ; his own bastardy , -As being got , your father then in France , -And his resemblance , being not like the duke : -Withal I did infer your lineaments , -Being the right idea of your father , -Both in your form and nobleness of mind ; -Laid open all your victories in Scotland , -Your discipline in war , wisdom in peace , -Your bounty , virtue , fair humility ; -Indeed , left nothing fitting for your purpose -Untouch'd or slightly handled in discourse ; -And when my oratory drew toward end , -I bade them that did love their country's good -Cry 'God save Richard , England's royal king !' - -And did they so ? - -No , so God help me , they spake not a word ; -But , like dumb statuas or breathing stones , -Star'd each on other , and look'd deadly pale . -Which when I saw , I reprehended them ; -And ask'd the mayor what meant this wilful silence : -His answer was , the people were not wont -To be spoke to but by the recorder . -Then he was urg'd to tell my tale again : -'Thus saith the duke , thus hath the duke inferr'd ;' -But nothing spoke in warrant from himself . -When he had done , some followers of mine own , -At lower end of the hall , hurl'd up their caps , -And some ten voices cried , 'God save King Richard !' -And thus I took the vantage of those few , -'Thanks , gentle citizens and friends ,' quoth I ; -'This general applause and cheerful shout -Argues your wisdom and your love to Richard :' -And even here brake off , and came away . - -What tongueless blocks were they ! would they not speak ? -Will not the mayor then and his brethren come ? - -The mayor is here at hand . Intend some fear ; -Be not you spoke with but by mighty suit : -And look you get a prayer-book in your hand , -And stand between two churchmen , good my lord : -For on that ground I'll make a holy descant : -And be not easily won to our requests ; -Play the maid's part , still answer nay , and take it . - -I go ; and if you plead as well for them -As I can say nay to thee for myself , -No doubt we bring it to a happy issue . - -Go , go , up to the leads ! the Lord Mayor knocks . - -Welcome , my lord : I dance attendance here ; -I think the duke will not be spoke withal . - - -Now , Catesby ! what says your lord to my request ? - -He doth entreat your Grace , my noble lord , -To visit him to-morrow or next day . -He is within , with two right reverend fathers , -Divinely bent to meditation ; -And in no worldly suit would he be mov'd , -To draw him from his holy exercise . - -Return , good Catesby , to the gracious duke : -Tell him , myself , the mayor and aldermen , -In deep designs in matter of great moment , -No less importing than our general good , -Are come to have some conference with his Grace . - -I'll signify so much unto him straight . - - -Ah , ha , my lord , this prince is not an Edward ! -He is not lolling on a lewd day-bed , -But on his knees at meditation ; -Not dallying with a brace of courtezans , -But meditating with two deep divines ; -Not sleeping , to engross his idle body , -But praying , to enrich his watchful soul . -Happy were England , would this virtuous prince -Take on his Grace the sovereignty thereof : -But sore , I fear , we shall not win him to it . - -Marry , God defend his Grace should say us nay ! - -I fear he will . Here Catesby comes again . - -Now , Catesby , what says his Grace ? - -He wonders to what end you have assembled -Such troops of citizens to come to him , -His Grace not being warn'd thereof before : -My lord , he fears you mean no good to him . - -Sorry I am my noble cousin should -Suspect me that I mean no good to him . -By heaven , we come to him in perfect love ; -And so once more return , and tell his Grace . - -When holy and devout religious men -Are at their beads , 'tis much to draw them thence ; -So sweet is zealous contemplation . - - -See , where his Grace stands 'tween two clergymen ! - -Two props of virtue for a Christian prince , -To stay him from the fall of vanity ; -And , see , a book of prayer in his hand ; -True ornament to know a holy man . -Famous Plantagenet , most gracious prince , -Lend favourable ear to our requests , -And pardon us the interruption -Of thy devotion , and right Christian zeal . - -My lord , there needs no such apology ; -I do beseech your Grace to pardon me , -Who , earnest in the service of my God , -Deferr'd the visitation of my friends . -But , leaving this , what is your Grace's pleasure ? - -Even that , I hope , which pleaseth God above , -And all good men of this ungovern'd isle . - -I do suspect I have done some offence -That seems disgracious in the city's eye ; -And that you come to reprehend my ignorance . - -You have , my lord : would it might please your Grace , -On our entreaties to amend your fault ! - -Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land ? - -Know then , it is your fault that you resign -The supreme seat , the throne majestical , -The sceptred office of your ancestors , -Your state of fortune and your due of birth , -The lineal glory of your royal house , -To the corruption of a blemish'd stock ; -Whiles , in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts , -Which here we waken to our country's good , -This noble isle doth want her proper limbs ; -Her face defac'd with scars of infamy , -Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants , -And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf -Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion . -Which to recure we heartily solicit -Your gracious self to take on you the charge -And kingly government of this your land ; -Not as protector , steward , substitute , -Or lowly factor for another's gain ; -But as successively from blood to blood , -Your right of birth , your empery , your own . -For this , consorted with the citizens , -Your very worshipful and loving friends , -And by their vehement instigation , -In this just cause come I to move your Grace . - -I cannot tell , if to depart in silence -Or bitterly to speak in your reproof , -Best fitteth my degree or your condition : -If not to answer , you might haply think -Tongue-tied ambition , not replying , yielded -To bear the golden yoke of sov'reignty , -Which fondly you would here impose on me ; -If to reprove you for this suit of yours , -So season'd with your faithful love to me , -Then , on the other side , I check'd my friends . -Therefore , to speak , and to avoid the first , -And then , in speaking , not to incur the last , -Definitively thus I answer you . -Your love deserves my thanks ; but my desert -Unmeritable shuns your high request . -First , if all obstacles were cut away , -And that my path were even to the crown , -As the ripe revenue and due of birth , -Yet so much is my poverty of spirit , -So mighty and so many my defects , -That I would rather hide me from my greatness , -Being a bark to brook no mighty sea , -Than in my greatness covet to be hid , -And in the vapour of my glory smother'd . -But , God be thank'd , there is no need of me ; -And much I need to help you , were there need ; -The royal tree hath left us royal fruit , -Which , mellow'd by the stealing hours of time , -Will well become the seat of majesty , -And make , no doubt , us happy by his reign . -On him I lay that you would lay on me , -The right and fortune of his happy stars ; -Which God defend that I should wring from him ! - -My lord , this argues conscience in your Grace ; -But the respects thereof are nice and trivial , -All circumstances well considered . -You say that Edward is your brother's son : -So say we too , but not by Edward's wife ; -For first was he contract to Lady Lucy , -Your mother lives a witness to his vow , -And afterward by substitute betroth'd -To Bona , sister to the King of France . -These both put by , a poor petitioner , -A care-craz'd mother to a many sons , -A beauty-waning and distressed widow , -Even in the afternoon of her best days , -Made prize and purchase of his wanton eye , -Seduc'd the pitch and height of his degree -To base declension and loath'd bigamy : -By her , in his unlawful bed , he got -This Edward , whom our manners call the prince . -More bitterly could I expostulate , -Save that , for reverence to some alive , -I give a sparing limit to my tongue . -Then , good my lord , take to your royal self -This proffer'd benefit of dignity ; -If not to bless us and the land withal , -Yet to draw forth your noble ancestry -From the corruption of abusing times , -Unto a lineal true-derived course . - -Do , good my lord ; your citizens entreat you . - -Refuse not , mighty lord , this proffer'd love . - -O ! make them joyful : grant their lawful suit : - -Alas ! why would you heap those cares on me ? -I am unfit for state and majesty : -I do beseech you , take it not amiss , -I cannot nor I will not yield to you . - -If you refuse it , as , in love and zeal , -Loath to depose the child , your brother's son ; -As well we know your tenderness of heart -And gentle , kind , effeminate remorse , -Which we have noted in you to your kindred , -And egally , indeed , to all estates , -Yet whether you accept our suit or no , -Your brother's son shall never reign our king ; -But we will plant some other in the throne , -To the disgrace and downfall of your house : -And in this resolution here we leave you . -Come , citizens , we will entreat no more . - - -Call them again , sweet prince ; accept their suit : -If you deny them , all the land will rue it . - -Will you enforce me to a world of cares ? -Call them again : I am not made of stone , -But penetrable to your kind entreats , - -Albeit against my conscience and my soul . - - -Cousin of Buckingham , and sage , grave men , -Since you will buckle fortune on my back , -To bear her burden , whe'r I will or no , -I must have patience to endure the load : -But if black scandal or foul-fac'd reproach -Attend the sequel of your imposition , -Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me -From all the impure blots and stains thereof ; -For God doth know , and you may partly see , - -How far I am from the desire of this . - -God bless your Grace ! we see it , and will say it . - -In saying so , you shall but say the truth . - -Then I salute you with this royal title : -Long live King Richard , England's worthy king ! - -Amen . - -To-morrow may it please you to be crown'd ? - -Even when you please , for you will have it so . - -To-morrow then we will attend your Grace : -And so most joyfully we take our leave . - -Come , let us to our holy work again . -Farewell , my cousin ;farewell , gentle friends . - -Who meets us here ? my niece Plantagenet , -Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloucester ? -Now , for my life , she's wand'ring to the Tower , -On pure heart's love , to greet the tender princes . -Daughter , well met . - -God give your Graces both -A happy and a joyful time of day ! - -As much to you , good sister ! whither away ? - -No further than the Tower ; and , as I guess , -Upon the like devotion as yourselves , -To gratulate the gentle princes there . - -Kind sister , thanks : we'll enter all together : - - -And , in good time , here the lieutenant comes . -Master lieutenant , pray you , by your leave , - -How doth the prince , and my young son of York ? - -Right well , dear madam . By your patience , -I may not suffer you to visit them : -The king hath strictly charg'd the contrary . - -The king ! who's that ? - -I mean the Lord Protector . - -The Lord protect him from that kingly title ! -Hath he set bounds between their love and me ? -I am their mother ; who shall bar me from them ? - -I am their father's mother ; I will see them . - -Their aunt I am in law , in love their mother : -Then bring me to their sights ; I'll bear thy blame , -And take thy office from thee , on my peril . - -No , madam , no , I may not leave it so : -I am bound by oath , and therefore pardon me . - -Let me but meet you , ladies , one hour hence , -And I'll salute your Grace of York as mother , -And reverend looker-on of two fair queens . - - -Come , madam , you must straight to Westminster , -There to be crowned Richard's royal queen . - -Ah ! cut my lace asunder , -That my pent heart may have some scope to beat , -Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news . - -Despiteful tidings ! O ! unpleasing news ! - -Be of good cheer : mother , how fares your Grace ? - -O , Dorset ! speak not to me , get thee gone ; -Death and destruction dog thee at the heels : -Thy mother's name is ominous to children . -If thou wilt outstrip death , go cross the seas , -And live with Richmond , from the reach of hell : -Go , hie thee , hie thee , from this slaughter-house , -Lest thou increase the number of the dead , -And make me die the thrall of Margaret's curse , -Nor mother , wife , nor England's counted queen . - -Full of wise care is this your counsel , madam . - - -Take all the swift advantage of the hours ; -You shall have letters from me to my son -In your behalf , to meet you on the way : -Be not ta'en tardy by unwise delay . - -O ill-dispersing wind of misery ! -O ! my accursed womb , the bed of death , -A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world , -Whose unavoided eye is murderous ! - -Come , madam , come ; I in all haste was sent . - -And I with all unwillingness will go . -O ! would to God that the inclusive verge -Of golden metal that must round my brow -Were red-hot steel to sear me to the brain . -Anointed let me be with deadly venom ; -And die , ere men can say 'God save the queen !' - -Go , go , poor soul , I envy not thy glory ; -To feed my humour , wish thyself no harm . - -No ! why ? When he , that is my husband now -Came to me , as I follow'd Henry's corse ; -When scarce the blood was well wash'd from his hands , -Which issu'd from my other angel husband , -And that dead saint which then I weeping follow'd ; -O ! when I say , I look'd on Richard's face , -This was my wish , 'Be thou ,' quoth I , 'accurs'd , -For making me so young , so old a widow ! -And , when thou wedd'st , let sorrow haunt thy bed ; -And be thy wife if any be so mad -More miserable by the life of thee -Than thou hast made me by my dear lord's death !' -Lo ! ere I can repeat this curse again , -Within so small a time , my woman's heart -Grossly grew captive to his honey words , -And prov'd the subject of mine own soul's curse : -Which hitherto hath held mine eyes from rest ; -For never yet one hour in his bed -Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep , -But with his timorous dreams was still awak'd . -Besides , he hates me for my father Warwick , -And will , no doubt , shortly be rid of me . - -Poor heart , adieu ! I pity thy complaining . - -No more than with my soul I mourn for yours . - -Farewell ! thou woeful welcomer of glory ! - -Adieu , poor soul , that tak'st thy leave of it ! - -Go thou to Richmond , and good fortune guide thee ! - - -Go thou to Richard , and good angels tend thee ! - - -Go thou to sanctuary , and good thoughts possess thee ! -I to my grave , where peace and rest lie with me ! -Eighty odd years of sorrow have I seen , -And each hour's joy wrack'd with a week of teen . - -Stay yet , look back with me unto the Tower . -Pity , you ancient stones , those tender babes -Whom envy hath immur'd within your walls , -Rough cradle for such little pretty ones ! -Rude ragged nurse , old sullen playfellow -For tender princes , use my babies well . -So foolish sorrow bids your stones farewell . - - -Stand all apart . Cousin of Buckingham . - -My gracious sovereign ! - -Give me thy hand . - -Thus high , by thy advice , -And thy assistance , is King Richard seated : -But shall we wear these glories for a day ? -Or shall they last , and we rejoice in them ? - -Still live they , and for ever let them last ! - -Ah ! Buckingham , now do I play the touch , -To try if thou be current gold indeed : -Young Edward lives : think now what I would speak . - -Say on , my loving lord . - -Why , Buckingham , I say , I would be king . - -Why , so you are , my thrice-renowned liege . - -Ha ! am I king ? 'Tis so : but Edward lives . - -True , noble prince . - -O bitter consequence , -That Edward still should live ! 'True , noble prince !' -Cousin , thou wast not wont to be so dull : -Shall I be plain ? I wish the bastards dead ; -And I would have it suddenly perform'd . -What sayst thou now ? speak suddenly , be brief . - -Your Grace may do your pleasure . - -Tut , tut ! thou art all ice , thy kindness freezes : -Say , have I thy consent that they shall die ? - -Give me some little breath , some pause , dear lord , -Before I positively speak in this : -I will resolve you herein presently . - - -The king is angry : see , he gnaws his lip . - -I will converse with iron-witted fools -And unrespective boys : none are for me -That look into me with considerate eyes . -High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect . -Boy ! - -My lord ! - -Know'st thou not any whom corrupting gold -Will tempt unto a close exploit of death ? - -I know a discontented gentleman , -Whose humble means match not his haughty spirit : -Gold were as good as twenty orators , -And will , no doubt , tempt him to anything . - -What is his name ? - -His name , my lord , is Tyrrell . - -I partly know the man : go , call him hither . - -The deep-revolving witty Buckingham -No more shall be the neighbour to my counsel . -Hath he so long held out with me untir'd , -And stops he now for breath ? well , be it so . - -How now , Lord Stanley ! what's the news ? - -Know , my loving lord , -The Marquess Dorset , as I hear , is fled -To Richmond , in the parts where he abides . - -Come hither , Catesby : rumour it abroad , -That Anne my wife is very grievous sick ; -I will take order for her keeping close . -Inquire me out some mean poor gentleman , -Whom I will marry straight to Clarence' daughter : -The boy is foolish , and I fear not him . -Look , how thou dream'st ! I say again , give out -That Anne my queen is sick , and like to die : -About it ; for it stands me much upon , -To stop all hopes whose growth may damage me . - -I must be married to my brother's daughter , -Or else my kingdom stands on brittle glass . -Murder her brothers , and then marry her ! -Uncertain way of gain ! But I am in -So far in blood , that sin will pluck on sin : -Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye . - -Is thy name Tyrrell ? - -James Tyrrell , and your most obedient subject . - -Art thou , indeed ? - -Prove me , my gracious lord . - -Dar'st thou resolve to kill a friend of mine ? - -Please you ; but I had rather kill two enemies . - -Why , then thou hast it : two deep enemies , -Foes to my rest , and my sweet sleep's disturbers , -Are they that I would have thee deal upon . -Tyrrell , I mean those bastards in the Tower . - -Let me have open means to come to them , -And soon I'll rid you from the fear of them . - -Thou sing'st sweet music . Hark , come hither , Tyrrell : -Go , by this token : rise , and lend thine ear . - -There is no more but so : say it is done , -And I will love thee , and prefer thee for it . - -I will dispatch it straight . - -My lord , I have consider'd in my mind -The late demand that you did sound me in . - -Well , let that rest . Dorset is fled to Richmond . - -I hear the news , my lord . - -Stanley , he is your wife's son : well , look to it . - -My lord , I claim the gift , my due by promise , -For which your honour and your faith is pawn'd ; -The earldom of Hereford and the moveables -Which you have promised I shall possess . - -Stanley , look to your wife : if she convey -Letters to Richmond , you shall answer it . - -What says your highness to my just request ? - -I do remember me , Henry the Sixth -Did prophesy that Richmond should be king , -When Richmond was a little peevish boy . -A king ! perhaps - -My lord ! - -How chance the prophet could not at that time -Have told me , I being by , that I should kill him ? - -My lord , your promise for the earldom , - -Richmond ! When last I was at Exeter , -The mayor in courtesy show'd me the castle , -And call'd it Rougemont : at which name I started , -Because a bard of Ireland told me once -I should not live long after I saw Richmond . - -My lord ! - -Ay , what's o'clock ? - -I am thus bold to put your Grace in mind -Of what you promis'd me . - -Well , but what is't o'clock ? - -Upon the stroke of ten . - -Well , let it strike . - -Why let it strike ? - -Because that , like a Jack , thou keep'st the stroke -Betwixt thy begging and my meditation . -I am not in the giving vein to-day . - -Why , then resolve me whe'r you will , or no . - -Thou troublest me : I am not in the vein . - - -And is it thus ? repays he my deep service -With such contempt ? made I him king for this ? -O , let me think on Hastings , and be gone -To Brecknock , while my fearful head is on . - - -The tyrannous and bloody act is done ; -The most arch deed of piteous massacre -That ever yet this land was guilty of . -Dighton and Forrest , whom I did suborn -To do this piece of ruthless butchery , -Albeit they were flesh'd villains , bloody dogs , -Melting with tenderness and mild compassion , -Wept like to children in their death's sad story . -'Oh ! thus ,' quoth Dighton , 'lay the gentle babes :' -'Thus , thus ,' quoth Forrest , 'girdling one another -Within their alabaster innocent arms : -Their lips were four red roses on a stalk , -Which in their summer beauty kiss'd each other . -A book of prayers on their pillow lay ; -Which once ,' quoth Forrest , 'almost chang'd my mind ; -But , O , the devil' there the villain stopp'd ; -When Dighton thus told on : 'We smothered -The most replenished sweet work of nature , -That from the prime creation e'er she fram'd .' -Hence both are gone with conscience and remorse ; -They could not speak ; and so I left them both , -To bear this tidings to the bloody king : -And here he comes . - -All health , my sovereign lord ! - -Kind Tyrrell , am I happy in thy news ? - -If to have done the thing you gave in charge -Beget your happiness , be happy then , -For it is done . - -But didst thou see them dead ? - -I did , my lord . - -And buried , gentle Tyrrell ? - -The chaplain of the Tower hath buried them ; -But how or in what place I do not know . - -Come to me , Tyrrell , soon at after-supper , -When thou shalt tell the process of their death . -Meantime , but think how I may do thee good , -And be inheritor of thy desire . -Farewell till then . - -I humbly take my leave . - - -The son of Clarence have I pent up close ; -His daughter meanly have I match'd in marriage ; -The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom , -And Anne my wife hath bid the world good night . -Now , for I know the Breton Richmond aims -At young Elizabeth , my brother's daughter , -And , by that knot , looks proudly on the crown , -To her go I , a jolly thriving wooer . - - -My lord ! - -Good or bad news , that thou com'st in so bluntly ? - -Bad news , my lord : Morton is fled to Richmond ; -And Buckingham , back'd with the hardy Welshmen , -Is in the field , and still his power increaseth . - -Ely with Richmond troubles me more near -Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength . -Come ; I have learn'd that fearful commenting -Is leaden servitor to dull delay : -Delay leads impotent and snail-pac'd beggary : -Then fiery expedition be my wing , -Jove's Mercury , and herald for a king ! -Go , muster men : my counsel is my shield ; -We must be brief when traitors brave the field . - - -So , now prosperity begins to mellow -And drop into the rotten mouth of death . -Here in these confines slily have I lurk'd -To watch the waning of mine enemies . -A dire induction am I witness to , -And will to France , hoping the consequence -Will prove as bitter , black , and tragical . -Withdraw thee , wretched Margaret : who comes here ? - - -Ah ! my poor princes ! ah , my tender babes , -My unblown flowers , new-appearing sweets , -If yet your gentle souls fly in the air -And be not fix'd in doom perpetual , -Hover about me with your airy wings , -And hear your mother's lamentation . - -Hover about her ; say , that right for right -Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night . - -So many miseries have craz'd my voice , -That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute . -Edward Plantagenet , why art thou dead ? - -Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet ; -Edward for Edward pays a dying debt . - -Wilt thou , O God ! fly from such gentle lambs , -And throw them in the entrails of the wolf ? -When didst thou sleep when such a deed was done ? - -When holy Harry died , and my sweet son . - -Dead life , blind sight , poor mortal living ghost , -Woe's scene , world's shame , grave's due by life usurp'd , -Brief abstract and record of tedious days , -Rest thy unrest on England's lawful earth , - -Unlawfully made drunk with innocent blood ! - -Ah ! that thou wouldst as soon afford a grave -As thou canst yield a melancholy seat ; -Then would I hide my bones , not rest them here . -Ah ! who hath any cause to mourn but I ? - - -If ancient sorrow be most reverend , -Give mine the benefit of seniory , -And let my griefs frown on the upper hand , -If sorrow can admit society . - -Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine : -I had an Edward , till a Richard kill'd him ; -I had a Harry , till a Richard kill'd him : -Thou hadst an Edward , till a Richard kill'd him ; -Thou hadst a Richard , till a Richard kill'd him . - -I had a Richard too , and thou didst kill him ; -I had a Rutland too , thou holp'st to kill him . - -Thou hadst a Clarence too , and Richard kill'd him . -From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept -A hellhound that doth hunt us all to death : -That dog , that had his teeth before his eyes , -To worry lambs , and lap their gentle blood , -That foul defacer of God's handiwork , -That excellent grand-tyrant of the earth , -That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls , -Thy womb let loose , to chase us to our graves . -O ! upright , just , and true-disposing God , -How do I thank thee that this carnal cur -Preys on the issue of his mother's body , -And makes her pew-fellow with others' moan . - -O ! Harry's wife , triumph not in my woes : -God witness with me , I have wept for thine . - -Bear with me ; I am hungry for revenge , -And now I cloy me with beholding it . -Thy Edward he is dead , that kill'd my Edward ; -Thy other Edward dead , to quit my Edward ; -Young York he is but boot , because both they -Match not the high perfection of my loss : -Thy Clarence he is dead that stabb'd my Edward ; -And the beholders of this tragic play , -The adulterate Hastings , Rivers , Vaughan , Grey , -Untimely smother'd in their dusky graves . -Richard yet lives , hell's black intelligencer , -Only reserv'd their factor , to buy souls -And send them thither ; but at hand , at hand , -Ensues his piteous and unpitied end : -Earth gapes , hell burns , fiends roar , saints pray , -To have him suddenly convey'd from hence . -Cancel his bond of life , dear God ! I pray , -That I may live to say , The dog is dead . - -O ! thou didst prophesy the time would come -That I should wish for thee to help me curse -That bottled spider , that foul bunchback'd toad . - -I call'd thee then vain flourish of my fortune ; -I call'd thee then poor shadow , painted queen ; -The presentation of but what I was ; -The flattering index of a direful pageant ; -One heav'd a-high to be hurl'd down below ; -A mother only mock'd with two fair babes ; -A dream of what thou wert , a breath , a bubble , -A sign of dignity , a garish flag , -To be the aim of every dangerous shot ; -A queen in jest , only to fill the scene . -Where is thy husband now ? where be thy brothers ? -Where are thy children ? wherein dost thou joy ? -Who sues and kneels and cries God save the queen ? -Where be the bending peers that flatter'd thee ? -Where be the thronging troops that follow'd thee ? -Decline all this , and see what now thou art : -For happy wife , a most distressed widow ; -For joyful mother , one that wails the name ; -For one being su'd to , one that humbly sues ; -For queen , a very caitiff crown'd with care ; -For one that scorn'd at me , now scorn'd of me ; -For one being fear'd of all , now fearing one ; -For one commanding all , obey'd of none . -Thus hath the course of justice whirl'd about , -And left thee but a very prey to time ; -Having no more but thought of what thou wert , -To torture thee the more , being what thou art . -Thou didst usurp my place , and dost thou not -Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow ? -Now thy proud neck bears half my burden'd yoke ; -From which even here , I slip my wearied head , -And leave the burden of it all on thee . -Farewell , York's wife , and queen of sad mischance : -These English woes shall make me smile in France . - -O thou , well skill'd in curses , stay awhile , -And teach me how to curse mine enemies . - -Forbear to sleep the night , and fast the day ; -Compare dead happiness with living woe ; -Think that thy babes were fairer than they were , -And he that slew them fouler than he is : -Bettering thy loss makes the bad causer worse : -Revolving this will teach thee how to curse . - -My words are dull ; O ! quicken them with thine ! - -Thy woes will make them sharp , and pierce like mine . - - -Why should calamity be full of words ? - -Windy attorneys to their client woes , -Airy succeeders of intestate joys , -Poor breathing orators of miseries ! -Let them have scope : though what they do impart -Help nothing else , yet do they ease the heart . - -If so , then be not tongue-tied : go with me , -And in the breath of bitter words let's smother -My damned son , that thy two sweet sons smother'd . - -The trumpet sounds : be copious in exclaims . - - -Who intercepts me in my expedition ? - -O ! she that might have intercepted thee , -By strangling thee in her accursed womb , -From all the slaughters , wretch , that thou hast done ! - -Hid'st thou that forehead with a golden crown , -Where should be branded , if that right were right , -The slaughter of the prince that ow'd that crown , -And the dire death of my poor sons and brothers ? -Tell me , thou villain slave , where are my children ? - -Thou toad , thou toad , where is thy brother Clarence -And little Ned Plantagenet , his son ? - -Where is the gentle Rivers , Vaughan , Grey ? - -Where is kind Hastings ? - -A flourish , trumpets ! strike alarum , drums ! -Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women -Rail on the Lord's anointed . Strike , I say ! - -Either be patient , and entreat me fair , -Or with the clamorous report of war -Thus will I drown your exclamations . - -Art thou my son ? - -Ay ; I thank God , my father , and yourself . - -Then patiently hear my impatience . - -Madam , I have a touch of your condition , -That cannot brook the accent of reproof . - -O , let me speak ! - -Do , then ; but I'll not hear . - -I will be mild and gentle in my words . - -And brief , good mother ; for I am in haste . - -Art thou so hasty ? I have stay'd for thee , -God knows , in torment and in agony . - -And came I not at last to comfort you ? - -No , by the holy rood , thou know'st it well , -Thou cam'st on earth to make the earth my hell . -A grievous burden was thy birth to me ; -Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy ; -Thy school-days frightful , desperate , wild and furious ; -Thy prime of manhood daring , bold , and venturous ; -Thy age confirm'd , proud , subtle , sly , and bloody , -More mild , but yet more harmful , kind in hatred : -What comfortable hour canst thou name -That ever grac'd me in thy company ? - -Faith , none , but Humphrey Hour , that call'd your Grace -To breakfast once forth of my company . -If I be so disgracious in your eye , -Let me march on , and not offend you , madam . -Strike up the drum ! - -I prithee , hear me speak . - -You speak too bitterly . - -Hear me a word ; -For I shall never speak to thee again . - -So ! - -Either thou wilt die by God's just ordinance , -Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror ; -Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish -And never look upon thy face again . -Therefore take with thee my most grievous curse , -Which , in the day of battle , tire thee more -Than all the complete armour that thou wear'st ! -My prayers on the adverse party fight ; -And there the little souls of Edward's children -Whisper the spirits of thine enemies -And promise them success and victory . -Bloody thou art , bloody will be thy end ; -Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend . - - -Though far more cause , yet much less spirit to curse -Abides in me : I say amen to her . - - -Stay , madam ; I must talk a word with you . - -I have no moe sons of the royal blood -For thee to slaughter : for my daughters , Richard , -They shall be praying nuns , not weeping queens ; -And therefore level not to hit their lives . - -You have a daughter call'd Elizabeth , -Virtuous and fair , royal and gracious . - -And must she die for this ? O ! let her live , -And I'll corrupt her manners , stain her beauty ; -Slander myself as false to Edward's bed ; -Throw over her the veil of infamy : -So she may live unscarr'd of bleeding slaughter , -I will confess she was not Edward's daughter . - -Wrong not her birth ; she is of royal blood . - -To save her life , I'll say she is not so . - -Her life is safest only in her birth . - -And only in that safety died her brothers . - -Lo ! at their births good stars were opposite ! - -No , to their lives ill friends were contrary . - -All unavoided is the doom of destiny . - -True , when avoided grace makes destiny . -My babes were destin'd to a fairer death , -If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life . - -You speak as if that I had slain my cousins . - -Cousins , indeed ; and by their uncle cozen'd -Of comfort , kingdom , kindred , freedom , life . -Whose hands soever lanc'd their tender hearts -Thy head , all indirectly , gave direction : -No doubt the murderous knife was dull and blunt -Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart , -To revel in the entrails of my lambs . -But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame , -My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys -Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes ; -And I , in such a desperate bay of death , -Like a poor bark , of sails and tackling reft , -Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom . - -Madam , so thrive I in my enterprise -And dangerous success of bloody wars , -As I intend more good to you and yours -Than ever you or yours by me were harm'd . - -What good is cover'd with the face of heaven , -To be discover'd , that can do me good ? - -The advancement of your children , gentle lady . - -Up to some scaffold , there to lose their heads ? - -No , to the dignity and height of fortune , -The high imperial type of this earth's glory . - -Flatter my sorrow with report of it : -Tell me what state , what dignity , what honour , -Canst thou demise to any child of mine ? - -Even all I have ; ay , and myself and all , -Will I withal endow a child of thine ; -So in the Lethe of thy angry soul -Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs -Which thou supposest I have done to thee . - -Be brief , lest that the process of thy kindness -Last longer telling than thy kindness' date . - -Then know , that from my soul I love thy daughter . - -My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul . - -What do you think ? - -That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul : -So from thy soul's love didst thou love her brothers ; -And from my heart's love I do thank thee for it . - -Be not too hasty to confound my meaning : -I mean , that with my soul I love thy daughter , -And do intend to make her Queen of England . - -Well then , who dost thou mean shall be her king ? - -Even he that makes her queen : who else should be ? - -What ! thou ? - -Even so : what think you of it ? - -How canst thou woo her ? - -That I would learn of you , -As one being best acquainted with her humour . - -And wilt thou learn of me ? - -Madam , with all my heart . - -Send to her , by the man that slew her brothers , -A pair of bleeding hearts ; thereon engrave -Edward and York ; then haply will she weep : -Therefore present to her , as sometime Margaret -Did to thy father , steep'd in Rutland's blood , -A handkerchief , which , say to her , did drain -The purple sap from her sweet brother's body , -And bid her wipe her weeping eyes withal . -If this inducement move her not to love , -Send her a letter of thy noble deeds ; -Tell her thou mad'st away her uncle Clarence , -Her uncle Rivers ; ay , and for her sake , -Mad'st quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne . - -You mock me , madam ; this is not the way -To win your daughter . - -There is no other way -Unless thou couldst put on some other shape , -And not be Richard that hath done all this . - -Say , that I did all this for love of her ? - -Nay , then indeed , she cannot choose but hate thee , -Having bought love with such a bloody spoil . - -Look , what is done cannot be now amended : -Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes , -Which after-hours give leisure to repent . -If I did take the kingdom from your sons , -To make amends I'll give it to your daughter . -If I have kill'd the issue of your womb , -To quicken your increase , I will beget -Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter : -A grandam's name is little less in love -Than is the doting title of a mother ; -They are as children but one step below , -Even of your mettle , of your very blood ; -Of all one pain , save for a night of groans -Endur'd of her for whom you bid like sorrow . -Your children were vexation to your youth , -But mine shall be a comfort to your age . -The loss you have is but a son being king , -And by that loss your daughter is made queen . -I cannot make you what amends I would , -Therefore accept such kindness as I can . -Dorset your son , that with a fearful soul -Leads discontented steps in foreign soil , -This fair alliance quickly shall call home -To high promotions and great dignity : -The king that calls your beauteous daughter wife , -Familiarly shall call thy Dorset brother ; -Again shall you be mother to a king , -And all the ruins of distressful times -Repair'd with double riches of content . -What ! we have many goodly days to see : -The liquid drops of tears that you have shed -Shall come again , transform'd to orient pearl , -Advantaging their loan with interest -Of ten times double gain of happiness . -Go then , my mother ; to thy daughter go : -Make bold her bashful years with your experience ; -Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale ; -Put in her tender heart the aspiring flame -Of golden sovereignty ; acquaint the princess -With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys : -And when this arm of mine hath chastised -The petty rebel , dull-brain'd Buckingham , -Bound with triumphant garlands will I come , -And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed ; -To whom I will retail my conquest won , -And she shall be sole victress , C sar's C sar . - -What were I best to say ? her father's brother -Would be her lord ? Or shall I say , her uncle ? -Or , he that slew her brothers and her uncles ? -Under what title shall I woo for thee , -That God , the law , my honour , and her love -Can make seem pleasing to her tender years ? - -Infer fair England's peace by this alliance . - -Which she shall purchase with still lasting war . - -Tell her , the king , that may command , entreats . - -That at her hands which the king's King forbids . - -Say , she shall be a high and mighty queen . - -To wail the title , as her mother doth . - -Say , I will love her everlastingly . - -But how long shall that title 'ever' last ? - -Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end . - -But how long fairly shall her sweet life last ? - -As long as heaven and nature lengthens it . - -As long as hell and Richard likes of it . - -Say , I , her sovereign , am her subject low . - -But she , your subject , loathes such sovereignty . - -Be eloquent in my behalf to her . - -An honest tale speeds best being plainly told . - -Then plainly to her tell my loving tale . - -Plain and not honest is too harsh a style . - -Your reasons are too shallow and too quick . - -O , no ! my reasons are too deep and dead ; -Too deep and dead , poor infants , in their graves . - -Harp not on that string , madam ; that is past . - -Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break . - -Now , by my George , my garter , and my crown , - -Profan'd , dishonour'd , and the third usurp'd . - -I swear , - -By nothing ; for this is no oath . -Thy George , profan'd , hath lost his holy honour ; -Thy garter , blemish'd , pawn'd his knightly virtue ; -Thy crown , usurp'd , disgrac'd his kingly glory . -If something thou wouldst swear to be believ'd , -Swear , then , by something that thou hast not wrong'd . - -Now , by the world , - -'Tis full of thy foul wrongs . - -My father's death , - -Thy life hath that dishonour'd . - -Then , by myself , - -Thyself is self-misus'd . - -Why , then , by God , - -God's wrong is most of all . -If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by him , -The unity the king my husband made -Had not been broken , nor my brothers died : -If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by him , -The imperial metal , circling now thy head , -Had grac'd the tender temples of my child , -And both the princes had been breathing here , -Which now , too tender bed-fellows for dust , -Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms . -What canst thou swear by now ? - -The time to come . - -That thou hast wronged in the time o'erpast ; -For I myself have many tears to wash -Hereafter time for time past wrong'd by thee . -The children live , whose parents thou hast slaughter'd , -Ungovern'd youth , to wail it in their age : -The parents live , whose children thou hast butcher'd , -Old barren plants , to wail it with their age . -Swear not by time to come ; for that thou hast -Misus'd ere us'd , by times ill-us'd o'erpast . - -As I intend to prosper , and repent , -So thrive I in my dangerous affairs -Of hostile arms ! myself myself confound ! -Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours ! -Day , yield me not thy light ; nor , night , thy rest ! -Be opposite all planets of good luck -To my proceeding , if , with pure heart's love , -Immaculate devotion , holy thoughts , -I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter ! -In her consists my happiness and thine ; -Without her , follows to myself , and thee , -Herself , the land , and many a Christian soul , -Death , desolation , ruin , and decay : -It cannot be avoided but by this ; -It will not be avoided but by this . -Therefore , dear mother ,I must call you so , -Be the attorney of my love to her : -Plead what I will be , not what I have been ; -Not my deserts , but what I will deserve : -Urge the necessity and state of times , -And be not peevish-fond in great designs . - -Shall I be tempted of the devil thus ? - -Ay , if the devil tempt thee to do good . - -Shall I forget myself to be myself ? - -Ay , if your self's remembrance wrong yourself . - -Yet thou didst kill my children . - -But in your daughter's womb I bury them : -Where , in that nest of spicery , they shall breed -Selves of themselves , to your recomforture . - -Shall I go win my daughter to thy will ? - -And be a happy mother by the deed . - -I go . Write to me very shortly , -And you shall understand from me her mind . - -Bear her my true love's kiss ; and so farewell . - -Relenting fool , and shallow changing woman ! - -How now ! what news ? - -Most mighty sovereign , on the western coast -Rideth a puissant navy ; to the shores -Throng many doubtful hollow-hearted friends , -Unarm'd , and unresolv'd to beat them back . -'Tis thought that Richmond is their admiral ; -And there they hull , expecting but the aid -Of Buckingham to welcome them ashore . - -Some light-foot friend post to the Duke of Norfolk : -Ratcliff , thyself , or Catesby ; where is he ? - -Here , my good lord . - -Catesby , fly to the duke . - -I will , my lord , with all convenient haste . - -Ratcliff , come hither . Post to Salisbury : -When thou com'st thither , - -Dull , unmindful villain , -Why stay'st thou here , and go'st not to the duke ? - -First , mighty liege , tell me your highness' pleasure , -What from your Grace I shall deliver to him . - -O ! true , good Catesby : bid him levy straight -The greatest strength and power he can make , -And meet me suddenly at Salisbury . - -I go . - - -What , may it please you , shall I do at Salisbury ? - -Why , what wouldst thou do there before I go ? - -Your highness told me I should post before . - - -My mind is chang'd . Stanley , what news with you ? - -None good , my liege , to please you with the hearing ; -Nor none so bad but well may be reported . - -Hoyday , a riddle ! neither good nor bad ! -What need'st thou run so many miles about , -When thou mayst tell thy tale the nearest way ? -Once more , what news ? - -Richmond is on the seas . - -There let him sink , and be the seas on him ! -White-liver'd runagate ! what doth he there ? - -I know not , mighty sovereign , but by guess . - -Well , as you guess ? - -Stirr'd up by Dorset , Buckingham , and Morton , -He makes for England , here to claim the crown . - -Is the chair empty ? is the sword unsway'd ? -Is the king dead ? the empire unpossess'd ? -What heir of York is there alive but we ? -And who is England's king but great York's heir ? -Then , tell me , what makes he upon the seas ? - -Unless for that , my liege , I cannot guess . - -Unless for that he comes to be your liege , -You cannot guess wherefore the Welshman comes . -Thou wilt revolt and fly to him I fear . - -No , my good lord ; therefore mistrust me not . - -Where is thy power then to beat him back ? -Where be thy tenants and thy followers ? -Are they not now upon the western shore , -Safe-conducting the rebels from their ships ? - -No , my good lord , my friends are in the north . - -Cold friends to me : what do they in the north -When they should serve their sovereign in the west ? - -They have not been commanded , mighty king : -Pleaseth your majesty to give me leave , -I'll muster up my friends , and meet your Grace , -Where and what time your majesty shall please . - -Ay , ay , thou wouldst be gone to join with Richmond : -But I'll not trust thee . - -Most mighty sovereign , -You have no cause to hold my friendship doubtful . -I never was nor never will be false . - -Go then and muster men : but leave behind -Your son , George Stanley : look your heart be firm , -Or else his head's assurance is but frail . - -So deal with him as I prove true to you . - -My gracious sovereign , now in Devonshire , -As I by friends am well advertised , -Sir Edward Courtney , and the haughty prelate , -Bishop of Exeter , his brother there , -With many moe confederates are in arms . - - -In Kent , my liege , the Guildfords are in arms ; -And every hour more competitors -Flock to the rebels , and their power grows strong . - - -My lord , the army of great Buckingham - -Out on ye , owls ! nothing but songs of death ? - -There , take thou that , till thou bring better news . - -The news I have to tell your majesty -Is , that by sudden floods and fall of waters , -Buckingham's army is dispers'd and scatter'd ; -And he himself wander'd away alone , -No man knows whither . - -I cry thee mercy : -There is my purse , to cure that blow of thine . -Hath any well-advised friend proclaim'd -Reward to him that brings the traitor in ? - -Such proclamation hath been made , my liege . - - -Sir Thomas Lovel , and Lord Marquess Dorset , -'Tis said , my liege , in Yorkshire are in arms : -But this good comfort bring I to your highness , -The Breton navy is dispers'd by tempest . -Richmond , in Dorsetshire , sent out a boat -Unto the shore to ask those on the banks -If they were his assistants , yea or no ; -Who answer'd him , they came from Buckingham -Upon his party : he , mistrusting them , -Hois'd sail , and made away for Brittany . - -March on , march on , since we are up in arms ; -If not to fight with foreign enemies , -Yet to beat down these rebels here at home . - - -My liege , the Duke of Buckingham is taken , -That is the best news : that the Earl of Richmond -Is with a mighty power landed at Milford -Is colder news , but yet they must be told . - -Away towards Salisbury ! while we reason here , -A royal battle might be won and lost . -Some one take order Buckingham be brought -To Salisbury ; the rest march on with me . - - -Sir Christopher , tell Richmond this from me : -That in the sty of this most bloody boar -My son George Stanley is frank'd up in hold : -If I revolt , off goes young George's head ; -The fear of that holds off my present aid . -So , get thee gone : commend me to thy lord . -Withal , say that the queen hath heartily consented -He should espouse Elizabeth her daughter . -But , tell me , where is princely Richmond now ? - -At Pembroke , or at Ha'rford-west , in Wales . - -What men of name resort to him ? - -Sir Walter Herbert , a renowned soldier , -Sir Gilbert Talbot , Sir William Stanley , -Oxford , redoubted Pembroke , Sir James Blunt , -And Rice ap Thomas , with a valiant crew ; -And many other of great name and worth : -And towards London do they bend their power , -If by the way they be not fought withal . - -Well , hie thee to thy lord ; I kiss his hand : -My letter will resolve him of my mind . -Farewell . - -Will not King Richard let me speak with him ? - -No , my good lord ; therefore be patient . - -Hastings , and Edward's children , Grey and Rivers , -Holy King Henry , and thy fair son Edward , -Vaughan , and all that have miscarried -By underhand corrupted foul injustice , -If that your moody discontented souls -Do through the clouds behold this present hour , -Even for revenge mock my destruction ! -This is All-Souls' day , fellows , is it not ? - -It is , my lord . - -Why , then All-Souls' day is my body's doomsday . -This is the day that , in King Edward's time , -I wish'd might fall on me , when I was found -False to his children or his wife's allies ; -This is the day wherein I wish'd to fall -By the false faith of him whom most I trusted ; -This , this All-Souls' day to my fearful soul -Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs . -That high All-Seer which I dallied with -Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head , -And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest . -Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men -To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms : -Thus Margaret's curse falls heavy on my neck : -'When he ,' quoth she , 'shall split thy heart with sorrow , -Remember Margaret was a prophetess .' -Come , lead me , officers , to the block of shame : -Wrong hath but wrong , and blame the due of blame . - -Fellows in arms , and my most loving friends , -Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny , -Thus far into the bowels of the land -Have we march'd on without impediment : -And here receive we from our father Stanley -Lines of fair comfort and encouragement . -The wretched , bloody , and usurping boar , -That spoil'd your summer fields and fruitful vines , -Swills your warm blood like wash , and makes his trough -In your embowell'd bosoms , this foul swine -Is now even in the centre of this isle , -Near to the town of Leicester , as we learn : -From Tamworth thither is but one day's march . -In God's name , cheerly on , courageous friends , -To reap the harvest of perpetual peace -By this one bloody trial of sharp war . - -Every man's conscience is a thousand men , -To fight against this guilty homicide . - -I doubt not but his friends will turn to us . - -He hath no friends but what are friends for fear , -Which in his dearest need will fly from him . - -All for our vantage : then , in God's name , march : -True hope is swift , and flies with swallow's wings ; -Kings it makes gods , and meaner creatures kings . - - -Here pitch our tent , even here in Bosworth field . -My Lord of Surrey , why look you so sad ? - -My heart is ten times lighter than my looks . - -My Lord of Norfolk , - -Here , most gracious liege . - -Norfolk , we must have knocks ; ha ! must we not ? - -We must both give and take , my loving lord . - -Up with my tent ! here will I lie to-night ; - -But where to-morrow ? Well , all's one for that . -Who hath descried the number of the traitors ? - -Six or seven thousand is their utmost power . - -Why , our battalia trebles that account ; -Besides , the king's name is a tower of strength , -Which they upon the adverse faction want . -Up with the tent ! Come , noble gentlemen , -Let us survey the vantage of the ground ; -Call for some men of sound direction : -Let's lack no discipline , make no delay ; -For , lords , to-morrow is a busy day . - - -The weary sun hath made a golden set , -And , by the bright track of his fiery car , -Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow . -Sir William Brandon , you shall bear my standard . -Give me some ink and paper in my tent : -I'll draw the form and model of our battle , -Limit each leader to his several charge , -And part in just proportion our small power . -My Lord of Oxford , you , Sir William Brandon , -And you , Sir Walter Herbert , stay with me . -The Earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment : -Good Captain Blunt , bear my good-night to him , -And by the second hour in the morning -Desire the earl to see me in my tent . -Yet one thing more , good captain , do for me ; -Where is Lord Stanley quarter'd , do you know ? - -Unless I have mista'en his colours much , -Which , well I am assur'd , I have not done , -His regiment lies half a mile at least -South from the mighty power of the king . - -If without peril it be possible , -Good Captain Blunt , bear my good-night to him , -And give him from me this most needful note . - -Upon my life , my lord , I'll undertake it ; -And so , God give you quiet rest to-night ! - -Good-night , good Captain Blunt . Come , gentlemen , -Let us consult upon to-morrow's business ; -In to my tent , the air is raw and cold . - -What is 't o'clock ? - -It's supper-time , my lord ; -It's nine o'clock . - -I will not sup to-night . -Give me some ink and paper . -What , is my beaver easier than it was , -And all my armour laid into my tent ? - -It is , my liege ; and all things are in readiness . - -Good Norfolk , hie thee to thy charge ; -Use careful watch ; choose trusty sentinels . - -I go , my lord . - -Stir with the lark to-morrow , gentle Norfolk . - -I warrant you , my lord . - - -Ratcliff ! - -My lord ? - -Send out a pursuivant at arms -To Stanley's regiment ; bid him bring his power -Before sun-rising , lest his son George fall -Into the blind cave of eternal night . -Fill me a bowl of wine . Give me a watch . -Saddle white Surrey for the field to-morrow . -Look that my staves be sound , and not too heavy . -Ratcliff ! - -My lord ! - -Saw'st thou the melancholy Lord Northumberland ? - -Thomas the Earl of Surrey , and himself , -Much about cock-shut time , from troop to troop -Went through the army , cheering up the soldiers . - -So , I am satisfied . Give me a bowl of wine : -I have not that alacrity of spirit , -Nor cheer of mind , that I was wont to have . -Set it down . Is ink and paper ready ? - -It is , my lord . - -Bid my guard watch ; leave me . -Ratcliff , about the mid of night come to my tent -And help to arm me . Leave me , I say . - - -Fortune and victory sit on thy helm ! - -All comfort that the dark night can afford -Be to thy person , noble father-in-law ! -Tell me , how fares our loving mother ? - -I , by attorney , bless thee from thy mother , -Who prays continually for Richmond's good : -So much for that . The silent hours steal on , -And flaky darkness breaks within the east . -In brief , for so the season bids us be , -Prepare thy battle early in the morning , -And put thy fortune to the arbitrement -Of bloody strokes and mortal-staring war . -I , as I may ,that which I would I cannot , -With best advantage will deceive the time , -And aid thee in this doubtful shock of arms : -But on thy side I may not be too forward , -Lest , being seen , thy brother , tender George , -Be executed in his father's sight . -Farewell : the leisure and the fearful time -Cuts off the ceremonious vows of love -And ample interchange of sweet discourse , -Which so long sunder'd friends should dwell upon : -God give us leisure for these rites of love ! -Once more , adieu : be valiant , and speed well ! - -Good lords , conduct him to his regiment . -I'll strive , with troubled thoughts , to take a nap , -Lest leaden slumber peise me down to-morrow , -When I should mount with wings of victory . -Once more , good-night , kind lords and gentlemen . - -O ! thou , whose captain I account myself , -Look on my forces with a gracious eye ; -Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath , -That they may crush down with a heavy fall -The usurping helmets of our adversaries ! -Make us thy ministers of chastisement , -That we may praise thee in thy victory ! -To thee I do commend my watchful soul , -Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes : -Sleeping and waking , O ! defend me still ! - -Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow ! -Think how thou stab'dst me in my prime of youth -At Tewksbury : despair , therefore , and die ! -Be cheerful , Richmond ; for the wronged souls -Of butcher'd princes fight in thy behalf : -King Henry's issue , Richmond , comforts thee . - - -When I was mortal , my anointed body -By thee was punched full of deadly holes : -Think on the Tower and me ; despair and die ! -Henry the Sixth bids thee despair and die . - - -Virtuous and holy , be thou conqueror ! -Harry , that prophesied thou shouldst be the king , -Doth comfort thee in thy sleep : live thou and flourish ! - - -Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow ! -I , that was wash'd to death with fulsome wine , -Poor Clarence , by thy guile betray'd to death ! -To-morrow in the battle think on me , -And fall thy edgeless sword : despair , and die ! - - -Thou offspring of the house of Lancaster , -The wronged heirs of York do pray for thee : -Good angels guard thy battle ! live , and flourish ! - - -Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow ! -Rivers , that died at Pomfret ! despair , and die ! - -Think upon Grey , and let thy soul despair . - -Think upon Vaughan , and with guilty fear -Let fall thy pointless lance : despair , and die ! - -Awake ! and think our wrongs in Richard's bosom -Will conquer him : awake , and win the day ! - - -Bloody and guilty , guiltily awake ; -And in a bloody battle end thy days ! -Think on Lord Hastings , so despair , and die ! - - -Quiet , untroubled soul , awake , awake ! -Arm , fight , and conquer , for fair England's sake ! - - -Dream on thy cousins smother'd in the Tower : -Let us be lead within thy bosom , Richard , -And weigh thee down to ruin , shame , and death ! -Thy nephews' souls bid thee despair , and die ! - - -Sleep , Richmond , sleep in peace , and wake in joy ; -Good angels guard thee from the boar's annoy ! -Live , and beget a happy race of kings ! -Edward's unhappy sons do bid thee flourish . - - -Richard , thy wife , that wretched Anne thy wife , -That never slept a quiet hour with thee , -Now fills thy sleep with perturbations : -To-morrow in the battle think on me , -And fall thy edgeless sword : despair , and die ! - - -Thou quiet soul , sleep thou a quiet sleep ; -Dream of success and happy victory ! -Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee . - - -The first was I that help'd thee to the crown ; -The last was I that felt thy tyranny . -O ! in the battle think on Buckingham , -And die in terror of thy guiltiness ! -Dream on , dream on , of bloody deeds and death : -Fainting , despair ; despairing , yield thy breath ! - - -I died for hope ere I could lend thee aid : -But cheer thy heart , and be thou not dismay'd : -God and good angels fight on Richmond's side ; -And Richard falls in height of all his pride . - - -Give me another horse ! bind up my wounds ! -Have mercy , Jesu ! Soft ! I did but dream . -O coward conscience , how dost thou afflict me ! -The lights burn blue . It is now dead midnight . -Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh . -What ! do I fear myself ? there's none else by : -Richard loves Richard , that is , I am I . -Is there a murderer here ? No . Yes , I am : -Then fly : what ! from myself ? Great reason why : -Lest I revenge . What ! myself upon myself ? -Alack ! I love myself . Wherefore ? for any good -That I myself have done unto myself ? -O ! no : alas ! I rather hate myself -For hateful deeds committed by myself . -I am a villain . Yet I lie ; I am not . -Fool , of thyself speak well : fool , do not flatter . -My conscience hath a thousand several tongues , -And every tongue brings in a several tale , -And every tale condemns me for a villain . -Perjury , perjury , in the high'st degree : -Murder , stern murder , in the dir'st degree ; -All several sins , all us'd in each degree , -Throng to the bar , crying all , 'Guilty ! guilty !' -I shall despair . There is no creature loves me ; -And if I die , no soul will pity me : -Nay , wherefore should they , since that I myself -Find in myself no pity to myself ? -Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd -Came to my tent ; and every one did threat -To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard . - - -My lord ! - -'Zounds ! who's there ? - -Ratcliff , my lord ; 'tis I . The early village cock -Hath twice done salutation to the morn ; -Your friends are up , and buckle on their armour . - -O Ratcliff ! I have dream'd a fearful dream . -What thinkest thou , will our friends prove all true ? - -No doubt , my lord . - -O Ratcliff ! I fear , I fear , - -Nay , good my lord , be not afraid of shadows . - -By the apostle Paul , shadows to-night -Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard -Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers -Armed in proof , and led by shallow Richmond . -It is not yet near day . Come , go with me ; -Under our tents I'll play the eaves-dropper , -To hear if any mean to shrink from me . - -Good morrow , Richmond ! - -Cry mercy , lords , and watchful gentlemen , -That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here . - -How have you slept , my lord ? - -The sweetest sleep , the fairest-boding dreams -That ever enter'd in a drowsy head , -Have I since your departure had , my lords . -Methought their souls , whose bodies Richard murder'd , -Came to my tent and cried on victory : -I promise you , my heart is very jocund -In the remembrance of so fair a dream . -How far into the morning is it , lords ? - -Upon the stroke of four . - -Why , then 'tis time to arm and give direction . -His oration to his Soldiers . -More than I have said , loving countrymen , -The leisure and enforcement of the time -Forbids to dwell on : yet remember this , -God and our good cause fight upon our side ; -The prayers of holy saints and wronged souls , -Like high-rear'd bulwarks , stand before our faces ; -Richard except , those whom we fight against -Had rather have us win than him they follow . -For what is he they follow ? truly , gentlemen , -A bloody tyrant and a homicide ; -One rais'd in blood , and one in blood establish'd ; -One that made means to come by what he hath , -And slaughter'd those that were the means to help him ; -A base foul stone , made precious by the foil -Of England's chair , where he is falsely set ; -One that hath ever been God's enemy . -Then , if you fight against God's enemy , -God will in justice , ward you as his soldiers ; -If you do sweat to put a tyrant down , -You sleep in peace , the tyrant being slain ; -If you do fight against your country's foes , -Your country's fat shall pay your pains the hire ; -If you do fight in safeguard of your wives , -Your wives shall welcome home the conquerors ; -If you do free your children from the sword , -Your children's children quit it in your age . -Then , in the name of God and all these rights , -Advance your standards , draw your willing swords . -For me , the ransom of my bold attempt -Shall be this cold corse on the earth's cold face ; -But if I thrive , the gain of my attempt -The least of your shall share his part thereof . -Sound drums and trumpets , boldly and cheerfully ; -God and Saint George ! Richmond and victory ! - -What said Northumberland as touching Richmond ? - -That he was never trained up in arms . - -He said the truth : and what said Surrey then ? - -He smil'd , and said , 'The better for our purpose .' - -He was i' the right ; and so , indeed , it is . - -Tell the clock there . Give me a calendar . -Who saw the sun to-day ? - -Not I , my lord . - -Then he disdains to shine ; for by the book -He should have brav'd the east an hour ago : -A black day will it be to somebody . -Ratcliff ! - -My lord ? - -The sun will not be seen to-day ; -The sky doth frown and lower upon our army . -I would these dewy tears were from the ground . -Not shine to-day ! Why , what is that to me -More than to Richmond ? for the self-same heaven -That frowns on me looks sadly upon him . - - -Arm , arm , my lord ! the foe vaunts in the field . - -Come , bustle , bustle ; caparison my horse . -Call up Lord Stanley , bid him bring his power : -I will lead forth my soldiers to the plain , -And thus my battle shall be ordered : -My foreward shall be drawn out all in length -Consisting equally of horse and foot ; -Our archers shall be placed in the midst : -John Duke of Norfolk , Thomas Earl of Surrey , -Shall have the leading of this foot and horse . -They thus directed , we will follow -In the main battle , whose puissance on either side -Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse . -This , and Saint George to boot ! What think'st thou , Norfolk ? - -A good direction , war-like sovereign . -This found I on my tent this morning . - - -Jockey of Norfolk , be not too bold , -For Dickon thy master is bought and sold . -A thing devised by the enemy . -Go , gentlemen ; every man to his charge : -Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls ; -Conscience is but a word that cowards use , -Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe : -Our strong arms be our conscience , swords our law . -March on , join bravely , let us to 't pell-mell ; -If not to heaven , then hand in hand to hell . -His oration to his Army . -What shall I say more than I have inferr'd ? -Remember whom you are to cope withal : -A sort of vagabonds , rascals , and run-aways , -A scum of Bretons and base lackey peasants , -Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth -To desperate adventures and assur'd destruction . -You sleeping safe , they bring you to unrest ; -You having lands , and bless'd with beauteous wives , -They would restrain the one , distain the other . -And who doth lead them but a paltry fellow , -Long kept in Britaine at our mother's cost ? -A milksop , one that never in his life -Felt so much cold as over shoes in snow ? -Let's whip these stragglers o'er the sea again ; -Lash hence these overweening rags of France , -These famish'd beggars , weary of their lives ; -Who , but for dreaming on this fond exploit , -For want of means , poor rats , had hang'd themselves : -If we be conquer'd , let men conquer us , -And not these bastard Bretons ; whom our fathers -Have in their own land beaten , bobb'd , and thump'd , -And , on record , left them the heirs of shame . -Shall these enjoy our lands ? lie with our wives ? -Ravish our daughters ? - -Hark ! I hear their drum . -Fight , gentlemen of England ! fight , bold yeomen ! -Draw , archers , draw your arrows to the head ! -Spur your proud horses hard , and ride in blood ; -Amaze the welkin with your broken staves ! - -What says Lord Stanley ? will he bring his power ? - -My lord , he doth deny to come . - -Off with his son George's head ! - -My lord , the enemy is pass'd the marsh : -After the battle let George Stanley die . - -A thousand hearts are great within my bosom : -Advance our standards ! set upon our foes ! -Our ancient word of courage , fair Saint George , -Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons ! -Upon them ! Victory sits upon our helms . - - -Rescue , my Lord of Norfolk ! rescue , rescue ! -The king enacts more wonders than a man , -Daring an opposite to every danger : -His horse is slain , and all on foot he fights , -Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death . -Rescue , fair lord , or else the day is lost ! - - -A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse ! - -Withdraw , my lord ; I'll help you to a horse . - -Slave ! I have set my life upon a cast , -And I will stand the hazard of the die . -I think there be six Richmonds in the field ; -Five have I slain to-day , instead of him . -A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse ! - -God and your arms be prais'd , victorious friends ; -The day is ours , the bloody dog is dead . - -Courageous Richmond , well hast thou acquit thee ! -Lo ! here , this long-usurped royalty -From the dead temples of this bloody wretch -Have I pluck'd off , to grace thy brows withal : -Wear it , enjoy it , and make much of it . - -Great God of heaven , say amen to all ! -But , tell me , is young George Stanley living ? - -He is , my lord , and safe in Leicester town ; -Whither , if you please , we may withdraw us . - -What men of name are slain on either side ? - -John Duke of Norfolk , Walter Lord Ferrers , -Sir Robert Brakenbury , and Sir William Brandon . - -Inter their bodies as becomes their births : -Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fied -That in submission will return to us ; -And then , as we have ta'en the sacrament , -We will unite the white rose and the red : -Smile , heaven , upon this fair conjunction , -That long hath frown'd upon their enmity ! -What traitor hears me , and says not amen ? -England hath long been mad , and scarr'd herself ; -The brother blindly shed the brother's blood , -The father rashly slaughter'd his own son , -The son , compell'd , been butcher to the sire : -All this divided York and Lancaster , -Divided in their dire division , -O ! now , let Richmond and Elizabeth , -The true succeeders of each royal house , -By God's fair ordinance conjoin together ; -And let their heirs God , if thy will be so , -Enrich the time to come with smooth-fac'd peace , -With smiling plenty , and fair prosperous days ! -Abate the edge of traitors , gracious Lord , -That would reduce these bloody days again , -And make poor England weep in streams of blood ! -Let them not live to taste this land's increase , -That would with treason wound this fair land's peace ! -Now civil wounds are stopp'd , peace lives again : -That she may long live here , God say amen ! - -ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA - -Nay , but this dotage of our general's -O'erflows the measure ; those his goodly eyes , -That o'er the files and musters of the war -Have glow'd like plated Mars , now bend , now turn -The office and devotion of their view -Upon a tawny front ; his captain's heart , -Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst -The buckles on his breast , reneges all temper , -And is become the bellows and the fan -To cool a gipsy's lust . Look ! where they come . - - -Take but good note , and you shall see in him -The triple pillar of the world transform'd - -Into a strumpet's fool ; behold and see . - -If it be love indeed , tell me how much . - -There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd . - -I'll set a bourn how far to be belov'd . - -Then must thou needs find out new heaven , new earth . - - -News , my good lord , from Rome . - -Grates me ; the sum . - -Nay , hear them , Antony : -Fulvia , perchance , is angry ; or , who knows -If the scarce-bearded C sar have not sent -His powerful mandate to you , 'Do this , or this ; -Take in that kingdom , and enfranchise that ; -Perform 't , or else we damn thee .' - -How , my love ! - -Perchance ! nay , and most like ; -You must not stay here longer ; your dismission -Is come from C sar ; therefore hear it , Antony . -Where's Fulvia's process ? C sar's I would say ? both ? -Call in the messengers . As I am Egypt's queen , -Thou blushest , Antony , and that blood of thine -Is C sar's homager ; else so thy cheek pays shame -When shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds . The messengers ! - -Let Rome in Tiber melt , and the wide arch -Of the rang'd empire fall ! Here is my space . -Kingdoms are clay ; our dungy earth alike -Feeds beast as man ; the nobleness of life -Is to do thus ; when such a mutual pair - -And such a twain can do 't , in which I bind , -On pain of punishment , the world to weet -We stand up peerless . - -Excellent falsehood ! -Why did he marry Fulvia and not love her ? -I'll seem the fool I am not ; Antony -Will be himself . - -But stirr'd by Cleopatra . -Now , for the love of Love and her soft hours , -Let's not confound the time with conference harsh : -There's not a minute of our lives should stretch -Without some pleasure now . What sport to-night ? - -Hear the ambassadors . - -Fie , wrangling queen ! -Whom every thing becomes , to chide , to laugh , -To weep ; whose every passion fully strives -To make itself , in thee , fair and admir'd . -No messenger , but thine ; and all alone , -To-night we'll wander through the streets and note -The qualities of people . Come , my queen ; -Last night you did desire it : speak not to us . - - -Is C sar with Antonius priz'd so slight ? - -Sir , sometimes , when he is not Antony , -He comes too short of that great property -Which still should go with Antony . - -I am full sorry -That he approves the common liar , who -Thus speaks of him at Rome ; but I will hope -Of better deeds to-morrow . Rest you happy ! - - -Lord Alexas , sweet Alexas , most any thing Alexas , almost most absolute Alexas , where's the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen ? O ! that I knew this husband , which , you say , must charge his horns with garlands . - -Soothsayer ! - -Your will ? - -Is this the man ? Is't you , sir , that know things ? - -In nature's infinite book of secrecy -A little I can read . - -Show him your hand . - - -Bring in the banquet quickly ; wine enough -Cleopatra's health to drink . - -Good sir , give me good fortune . - -I make not , but foresee . - -Pray then , foresee me one . - -You shall be yet far fairer than you are . - -He means in flesh . - -No , you shall paint when you are old . - -Wrinkles forbid ! - -Vex not his prescience ; be attentive . - -Hush ! - -You shall be more beloving than belov'd . - -I had rather heat my liver with drinking . - -Nay , hear him . - -Good now , some excellent fortune ! Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon , and widow them all ; let me have a child at fifty , to whom Herod of Jewry may do homage ; find me to marry me with Octavius C sar , and companion me with my mistress . - -You shall outlive the lady whom you serve . - -O excellent ! I love long life better than figs . - -You have seen and prov'd a fairer former fortune -Than that which is to approach . - -Then , belike , my children shall have no names ; prithee , how many boys and wenches must I have ? - -If every of your wishes had a womb , -And fertile every wish , a million . - -Out , fool ! I forgive thee for a witch . - -You think none but your sheets are privy to your wishes . - -Nay , come , tell Iras hers . - -We'll know all our fortunes . - -Mine , and most of our fortunes , to-night , shall be ,drunk to bed . - -There's a palm presages chastity , if nothing else . - -E'en as the overflowing Nilus presageth famine . - -Go , you wild bedfellow , you cannot soothsay . - -Nay , if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognostication , I cannot scratch mine ear . -Prithee , tell her but a worky-day fortune . - -Your fortunes are alike . - -But how ? but how ? give me particulars . - -I have said . - -Am I not an inch of fortune better than she ? - -Well , if you were but an inch of fortune better than I , where would you choose it ? - -Not in my husband's nose . - -Our worser thoughts heaven mend ! Alexas ,come , his fortune , his fortune . O ! let him marry a woman that cannot go , sweet Isis , I beseech thee ; and let her die too , and give him a worse ; and let worse follow worse , till the worst of all follow him laughing to his grave , fifty-fold a cuckold ! Good Isis , hear me this prayer , though thou deny me a matter of more weight ; good Isis , I beseech thee ! - -Amen . Dear goddess , hear that prayer of the people ! for , as it is a heart-breaking to see a handsome man loose-wived , so it is a deadly sorrow to behold a foul knave uncuckolded : therefore , dear Isis , keep decorum , and fortune him accordingly ! - -Amen . - -Lo , now ! if it lay in their hands to make me acuckold , they would make themselves whores , but they'd do't ! - -Hush ! here comes Antony . - -Not he ; the queen . - - -Saw you my lord ? - -No , lady . - -Was he not here ? - -No , madam . - -He was dispos'd to mirth ; but on the sudden -A Roman thought hath struck him . Enobarbus ! - -Madam ! - -Seek him , and bring him hither . Where's Alexas ? - -Here , at your service . My lord approaches . - - -We will not look upon him ; go with us . - - -Fulvia thy wife first came into the field . - -Against my brother Lucius ? - -Ay : -But soon that war had end , and the time's state -Made friends of them , jointing their force 'gainst C sar , -Whose better issue in the war , from Italy -Upon the first encounter drave them . - -Well , what worst ? - -The nature of bad news infects the teller . - -When it concerns the fool , or coward . On ; -Things that are past are done with me . 'Tis thus : -Who tells me true , though in his tale lay death , -I hear him as he flatter'd . - -Labienus -This is stiff news hath , with his Parthian force -Extended Asia ; from Euphrates -His conquering banner shook from Syria -To Lydia and to Ionia : whilst - -Antony , thou wouldst say , - -O ! my lord . - -Speak to me home , mince not the general tongue ; -Name Cleopatra as she is call'd in Rome ; -Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase ; and taunt my faults -With such full licence as both truth and malice -Have power to utter . O ! then we bring forth weeds -When our quick winds lie still ; and our ills told us -Is as our earing . Fare thee well awhile . - -At your noble pleasure . - - -From Sicyon , ho , the news ! Speak there ! - -The man from Sicyon , is there such an one ? - -He stays upon your will . - -Let him appear . -These strong Egyptian fetters I must break , -Or lose myself in dotage . - -What are you ? - -Fulvia thy wife is dead . - -Where died she ? - -In Sicyon : -Her length of sickness , with what else more serious -Importeth thee to know , this bears . - - -Forbear me . - -There's a great spirit gone ! Thus did I desire it : -What our contempts do often hurl from us -We wish it ours again ; the present pleasure , -By revolution lowering , does become -The opposite of itself : she's good , being gone ; -The hand could pluck her back that shov'd her on . -I must from this enchanting queen break off ; -Ten thousand harms , more than the ills I know , -My idleness doth hatch . How now ! Enobarbus ! - - -What's your pleasure , sir ? - -I must with haste from hence . - -Why , then , we kill all our women . We see how mortal an unkindness is to them ; if they suffer our departure , death's the word . - -I must be gone . - -Under a compelling occasion let women die ; it were pity to cast them away for nothing ; though between them and a great cause they should be esteemed nothing . Cleopatra , catching but the least noise of this , dies instantly ; I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment . I do think there is mettle in death which commits some loving act upon her , she hath such a celerity in dying . - -She is cunning past man's thought . - -Alack ! sir , no ; her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love . We cannot call her winds and waters sighs and tears ; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacs can report : this cannot be cunning in her ; if it be , she makes a shower of rain as well as Jove . - -Would I had never seen her ! - -O , sir ! you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work which not to have been blessed withal would have discredited your travel . - -Fulvia is dead . - -Sir ? - -Fulvia is dead . - -Fulvia ! - -Dead . - -Why , sir , give the gods a thankful sacrifice . When it pleaseth their de ties to take the wife of a man from him , it shows to man the tailors of the earth ; comforting therein , that when old robes are worn out , there are members to make new . If there were no more women but Fulvia , then had you indeed a cut , and the case to be lamented : this grief is crowned with consolation ; your old smock brings forth a new petticoat ; and indeed the tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow . - -The business she hath broached in the state -Cannot endure my absence . - -And the business you have broached here cannot be without you ; especially that of Cleopatra's , which wholly depends on your abode . - -No more light answers . Let our officers Have notice what we purpose . I shall break -The cause of our expedience to the queen , -And get her leave to part . For not alone -The death of Fulvia , with more urgent touches , -Do strongly speak to us , but the letters too -Of many our contriving friends in Rome -Petition us at home . Sextus Pompeius -Hath given the dare to C sar , and commands -The empire of the sea ; our slippery people -Whose love is never link'd to the deserver -Till his deserts are past begin to throw -Pompey the Great and all his dignities -Upon his son ; who , high in name and power , -Higher than both in blood and life , stands up -For the main soldier , whose quality , going on , -The sides o' the world may danger . Much is breeding , -Which , like the courser's hair , hath yet but life , -And not a serpent's poison . Say , our pleasure , -To such whose place is under us , requires -Our quick remove from hence . - -I shall do it . - - -Where is he ? - -I did not see him since . - -See where he is , who's with him , what he does ; -I did not send you : if you find him sad , -Say I am dancing ; if in mirth , report -That I am sudden sick : quick , and return . - - -Madam , methinks , if you did love him dearly , -You do not hold the method to enforce -The like from him . - -What should I do I do not ? - -In each thing give him way , cross him in nothing . - -Thou teachest like a fool ; the way to lose him . - -Tempt him not so too far ; I wish , forbear : -In time we hate that which we often fear . -But here comes Antony . - - -I am sick and sullen . - -I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose , - -Help me away , dear Charmian , I shall fall : -It cannot be thus long , the sides of nature -Will not sustain it . - -Now , my dearest queen , - -Pray you , stand further from me . - -What's the matter ? - -I know , by that same eye , there's some good news . -What says the married woman ? You may go : -Would she had never given you leave to come ! -Let her not say 'tis I that keep you here ; -I have no power upon you ; hers you are . - -The gods best know , - -O ! never was there queen -So mightily betray'd ; yet at the first -I saw the treasons planted . - -Cleopatra , - -Why should I think you can be mine and true , -Though you in swearing shake the throned gods , -Who have been false to Fulvia ? Riotous madness , -To be entangled with those mouth-made vows , -Which break themselves in swearing ! - -Most sweet queen , - -Nay , pray you , seek no colour for your going , -But bid farewell , and go : when you su'd staying -Then was the time for words ; no going then : -Eternity was in our lips and eyes , -Bliss in our brows bent ; none our parts so poor -But was a race of heaven ; they are so still , -Or thou , the greatest soldier of the world , -Art turn'd the greatest liar . - -How now , lady ! - -I would I had thy inches ; thou shouldst know -There were a heart in Egypt . - -Hear me , queen : -The strong necessity of time commands -Our services awhile , but my full heart -Remains in use with you . Our Italy -Shines o'er with civil swords ; Sextus Pompeius -Makes his approaches to the port of Rome ; -Equality of two domestic powers -Breeds scrupulous faction . The hated , grown to strength , -Are newly grown to love ; the condemn'd Pompey , -Rich in his father's honour , creeps apace -Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd -Upon the present state , whose numbers threaten ; -And quietness , grown aick of rest , would purge -By any desperate change . My more particular , -And that which most with you should safe my going , -Is Fulvia's death . - -Though age from folly could not give me freedom , -It does from childishness : can Fulvia die ? - -She's dead , my queen : -Look here , and at thy sovereign leisure read -The garboils she awak'd ; at the last , best , -See when and where she died . - -O most false love ! -Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill -With sorrowful water ? Now I see , I see , -In Fulvia's death , how mine receiv'd shall be . - -Quarrel no more , but be prepar'd to know -The purposes I bear , which are or cease -As you shall give the advice . By the fire -That quickens Nilus' slime , I go from hence -Thy soldier , servant , making peace or war -As thou affect'st . - -Cut my lace , Charmian , come ; -But let it be : I am quickly ill , and well ; -So Antony loves . - -My precious queen , forbear , -And give true evidence to his love which stands -An honourable trial . - -So Fulvia told me . -I prithee , turn aside and weep for her ; -Then bid adieu to me , and say the tears -Belong to Egypt : good now , play one scene -Of excellent dissembling , and let it look -Like perfect honour . - -You'll heat my blood ; no more . - -You can do better yet , but this is meetly . - -Now , by my sword , - -And target . Still he mends ; -But this is not the best . Look , prithee , Charmian , -How this Herculean Roman does become -The carriage of his chafe . - -I'll leave you , lady . - -Courteous lord , one word . -Sir , you and I must part , but that 's not it : -Sir , you and I have lov'd , but there 's not it ; -That you know well : something it is I would , -O ! my oblivion is a very Antony , -And I am all forgotten . - -But that your royalty -Holds idleness your subject , I should take you -For idleness itself . - -'Tis sweating labour -To bear such idleness so near the heart -As Cleopatra this . But , sir , forgive me ; -Since my becomings kill me when they do not -Eye well to you : your honour calls you hence ; -Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly , -And all the gods go with you ! Upon your sword -Sit laurel victory ! and smooth success -Be strew'd before your feet ! - -Let us go . Come ; -Our separation so abides and flies , -That thou , residing here , go'st yet with me , -And I , hence fleeting , here remain with thee . -Away ! - - -You may see , Lepidus , and henceforth know , -It is not C sar's natural vice to hate -Our great competitor . From Alexandria -This is the news : he fishes , drinks , and wastes -The lamps of night in revel ; is not more manlike -Than Cleopatra , nor the queen of Ptolemy -More womanly than he ; hardly gave audience , or -Vouchsaf'd to think he had partners : you shall find there -A man who is the abstract of all faults -That all men follow . - -I must not think there are -Evils enow to darken all his goodness ; -His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven , -More fiery by night's blackness ; hereditary -Rather than purchas'd ; what he cannot change -Than what he chooses . - -You are too indulgent . Let us grant it is not -Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy , -To give a kingdom for a mirth , to sit -And keep the turn of tippling with a slave , -To reel the streets at noon , and stand the buffet -With knaves that smell of sweat ; say this becomes him , -As his composure must be rare indeed -Whom these things cannot blemish ,yet must Antony -No way excuse his soils , when we do bear -So great weight in his lightness . If he fill'd -His vacancy with his voluptuousness , -Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones -Call on him for 't ; but to confound such time -That drums him from his sport , and speaks as loud -As his own state and ours , 'tis to be chid -As we rate boys , who , being mature in knowledge , -Pawn their experience to their present pleasure , -And so rebel to judgment . - - -Here's more news . - -Thy biddings have been done , and every hour , -Most noble C sar , shalt thou have report -How 'tis abroad . Pompey is strong at sea , -And it appears he is belov'd of those -That only have fear'd C sar ; to the ports -The discontents repair , and men's reports -Give him much wrong'd . - -I should have known no less . -It hath been taught us from the primal state , -That he which is was wish'd until he were ; -And the ebb'd man , ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love , -Comes dear'd by being lack'd . This common body , -Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream , -Goes to and back , lackeying the varying tide , -To rot itself with motion . - -C sar , I bring thee word , -Menecrates and Menas , famous pirates , -Make the sea serve them , which they ear and wound -With keels of every kind : many hot inroads -They make in Italy ; the borders maritime -Lack blood to think on't , and flush youth revolt ; -No vessel can peep forth , but 'tis as soon -Taken as seen ; for Pompey's name strikes more -Than could his war resisted . - -Antony , -Leave thy lascivious wassails . When thou once -Wast beaten from Modena , where thou slew'st -Hirtius and Pansa , consuls , at thy heel -Did famine follow , whom thou fought'st against , -Though daintily brought up , with patience more -Than savages could suffer ; thou didst drink -The stale of horses and the gilded puddle -Which beasts would cough at ; thy palate then did deign -The roughest berry on the rudest hedge ; -Yea , like the stag , when snow the pasture sheets , -The barks of trees thou browsed'st ; on the Alps -It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh , -Which some did die to look on ; and all this -It wounds thy honour that I speak it now -Was borne so like a soldier , that thy cheek -So much as lank'd not . - -'Tis pity of him . - -Let his shames quickly -Drive him to Rome . 'Tis time we twain -Did show ourselves i' the field ; and to that end -Assemble me immediate council ; Pompey -Thrives in our idleness . - -To-morrow , C sar , -I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly -Both what by sea and land I can be able -To front this present time . - -Till which encounter , -It is my business too . Farewell . - -Farewell , my lord . What you shall know meantime -Of stirs abroad , I shall beseech you , sir , -To let me be partaker . - -Doubt not , sir ; -I knew it for my bond . - - -Charmian ! - -Madam ! - -Ha , ha ! -Give me to drink mandragora . - -Why , madam ? - -That I might sleep out this great gap of time -My Antony is away . - -You think of him too much . - -O ! 'tis treason . - -Madam , I trust , not so . - -Thou , eunuch Mardian ! - -What 's your highness' pleasure ? - -Not now to hear thee sing ; I take no pleasure -In aught a eunuch has . 'Tis well for thee , -That , being unseminar'd , thy freer thoughts -May not fly forth of Egypt . Hast thou affections ? - -Yes , gracious madam . - -Indeed ! - -Not in deed , madam ; for I can do nothing -But what in deed is honest to be done ; -Yet have I fierce affections , and think -What Venus did with Mars . - -O Charmian ! -Where think'st thou he is now ? Stands he , or sits he ? -Or does he walk ? or is he on his horse ? -O happy horse , to bear the weight of Antony ! -Do bravely , horse , for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st ? -The demi-Atlas of this earth , the arm -And burgonet of men . He's speaking now , -Or murmuring 'Where's my serpent of old Nile ?' -For so he calls me . Now I feed myself -With most delicious poison . Think on me , -That am with Ph bus' amorous pinches black , -And wrinkled deep in time ? Broad-fronted C sar , -When thou wast here above the ground I was -A morsel for a monarch , and great Pompey -Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow ; -There would he anchor his aspect and die -With looking on his life . - - -Sovereign of Egypt , hail ! - -How much unlike art thou Mark Antony ! -Yet , coming from him , that great medicine hath -With his tinct gilded thee . -How goes it with my brave Mark Antony ? - -Last thing he did , dear queen , -He kiss'd , the last of many doubled kisses , -This orient pearl . His speech sticks in my heart . - -Mine ear must pluck it thence . - -'Good friend ,' quoth he , -'Say , the firm Roman to great Egypt sends -This treasure of an oyster ; at whose foot , -To mend the petty present , I will piece -Her opulent throne with kingdoms ; all the east , -Say thou , shall call her mistress .' So he nodded , -And soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed , -Who neigh'd so high that what I would have spoke -Was beastly dumb'd by him . - -What ! was he sad or merry ? - -Like to the time o' the year between the extremes -Of hot and cold ; he was nor sad nor merry . - -O well-divided disposition ! Note him , -Note him , good Charmian , 'tis the man ; but note him : -He was not sad , for he would shire on those -That make their looks by his ; he was not merry , -Which seem'd to tell them his remembrance lay -In Egypt with his joy ; but between both : -O heavenly mingle ! Be'st thou sad or merry , -The violence of either thee becomes , -So does it no man else . Mett'st thou my posts ? - -Ay , madam , twenty several messengers . -Why do you send so thick ? - -Who's born that day -When I forget to send to Antony , -Shall die a beggar . Ink and paper , Charmian . -Welcome , my good Alexas . Did I , Charmian , -Ever love C sar so ? - -O ! that brave C sar . - -Be chok'd with such another emphasis ! -Say the brave Antony . - -The valiant C sar ! - -By Isis , I will give thee bloody teeth , -If thou with C sar paragon again -My man of men . - -By your most gracious pardon , -I sing but after you . - -My salad days , -When I was green in judgment , cold in blood , -To say as I said then ! But come , away ; -Get me ink and paper : -He shall have every day a several greeting , -Or I'll unpeople Egypt . - -If the great gods be just , they shall assist -The deeds of justest men . - -Know , worthy Pompey , -That what they do delay , they not deny . - -Whiles we are suitors to their throne , decays -The thing we sue for . - -We , ignorant of ourselves , -Beg often our own harms , which the wise powers -Deny us for our good ; so find we profit -By losing of our prayers . - -I shall do well : -The people love me , and the sea is mine ; -My powers are crescent , and my auguring hope -Says it will come to the full . Mark Antony -In Egypt sits at dinner , and will make -No wars without doors ; C sar gets money where -He loses hearts ; Lepidus flatters both , -Of both is flatter'd ; but he neither loves , -Nor either cares for him . - -C sar and Lepidus -Are in the field ; a mighty strength they carry . - -Where have you this ? 'tis false . - -From Silvius , sir . - -He dreams ; I know they are in Rome together , -Looking for Antony . But all the charms of love , -Salt Cleopatra , soften thy wan'd lip ! -Let witchcraft join with beauty , lust with both ! -Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts , -Keep his brain fuming ; Epicurean cooks -Sharpen with cloyless sance his appetite , -That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour -Even till a Lethe'd dulness ! - -How now , Varrius ! - -This is most certain that I shall deliver : -Mark Antony is every hour in Rome -Expected ; since he went from Egypt 'tis -A space for further travel . - -I could have given less matter -A better ear . Menas , I did not think -This amorous surfeiter would have donn'd his helm -For such a petty war ; his soldiership -Is twice the other twain . But let us rear -The higher our opinion , that our stirring -Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck -The ne'er-lust-wearied Antony . - -I cannot hope -C sar and Antony shall well greet together ; -His wife that's dead did trespasses to C sar , -His brother warr'd upon him , although I think -Not mov'd by Antony . - -I know not , Menas , -How lesser enmities may give way to greater . -Were 't not that we stand up against them all -'Twere pregnant they should square between themselves , -For they have entertained cause enough -To draw their swords ; but how the fear of us -May cement their divisions and bind up -The petty difference , we yet not know . -Be it as our gods will have 't ! It only stands -Our lives upon , to use our strongest hands . -Come , Menas . - - -Good Enobarbus , 'tis a worthy deed , -And shall become you well , to entreat your captain -To soft and gentle speech . - -I shall entreat him -To answer like himself : if C sar move him , -Let Antony look over C sar's head , -And speak as loud as Mars . By Jupiter , -Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard , -I would not shave 't to-day . - -'Tis not a time -For private stomaching . - -Every time -Serves for the matter that is then born in 't . - -But small to greater matters must give way . - -Not if the small come first . - -Your speech is passion ; -But , pray you , stir no embers up . Here comes -The noble Antony . - - -And yonder , C sar . - - -If we compose well here , to Parthia : -Hark ye , Ventidius . - -I do not know , -Mec nas ; ask Agrippa . - -Noble friends , -That which combin'd us was most great , and let not -A leaner action rend us . What's amiss , -May it be gently heard ; when we debate -Our trivial difference loud , we do commit -Murder in healing wounds ; then , noble partners , -The rather for I earnestly beseech , -Touch you the sourest points with sweetest terms , -Nor curstness grow to the matter . - -'Tis spoken well . -Were we before our armies , and to fight , -I should do thus . - -Welcome to Rome . - -Thank you . - -Sit . - -Sit , sir . - -Nay , then . - -I learn , you take things ill which are not so , -Or being , concern you not . - -I must be laugh'd at -If , or for nothing or a little , I -Should say myself offended , and with you -Chiefly i' the world ; more laugh'd at that I should -Once name you derogately , when to sound your name -It not concern'd me . - -My being in Egypt , C sar , -What was 't to you ? - -No more than my residing here at Rome -Might be to you in Egypt ; yet , if you there -Did practise on my state , your being in Egypt -Might be my question . - -How intend you , practis'd ? - -You may be pleas'd to catch at mine intent -By what did here befall me . Your wife and brother -Made wars upon me , and their contestation -Was theme for you , you were the word of war . - -You do mistake your business ; my brother never -Did urge me in his act : I did inquire it ; -And have my learning from some true reports , -That drew their swords with you . Did he not rather -Discredit my authority with yours , -And make the wars alike against my stomach , -Having alike your cause ? Of this my letters -Before did satisfy you . If you'll patch a quarrel , -As matter whole you n' have to make it with , -It must not be with this . - -You praise yourself -By laying defects of judgment to me , but -You patch'd up your excuses . - -Not so , not so ; -I know you could not lack , I am certain on 't , -Very necessity of this thought , that I , -Your partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought , -Could not with graceful eyes attend those wars -Which fronted mine own peace . As for my wife , -I would you had her spirit in such another : -The third o' the world is yours , which with a snaffle -You may pace easy , but not such a wife . - -Would we had all such wives , that the men might go to wars with the women ! - -So much uncurbable , her garboils , C sar , -Made out of her impatience ,which not wanted -Shrewdness of policy too ,I grieving grant -Did you too much disquiet ; for that you must -But say I could not help it . - -I wrote to you -When rioting in Alexandria ; you -Did pocket up my letters , and with taunts -Did gibe my missive out of audience . - -Sir , -He fell upon me , ere admitted : then -Three kings I had newly feasted , and did want -Of what I was i' the morning ; but next day -I told him of myself , which was as much -As to have ask'd him pardon . Let this fellow -Be nothing of our strife ; if we contend , -Out of our question wipe him . - -You have broken -The article of your oath , which you shall never -Have tongue to charge me with . - -Soft , C sar ! - -No , -Lepidus , let him speak : -The honour's sacred which he talks on now , -Supposing that I lack'd it . But on , C sar ; -The article of my oath . - -To lend me arms and aid when I requir'd them , -The which you both denied . - -Neglected , rather ; -And then , when poison'd hours had bound me up -From mine own knowledge . As nearly as I may , -I'll play the penitent to you ; but mine honesty -Shall not make poor my greatness , nor my power -Work without it . Truth is , that Fulvia , -To have me out of Egypt , made wars here ; -For which myself , the ignorant motive , do -So far ask pardon as befits mine honour -To stoop in such a case . - -'Tis noble spoken . - -If it might please you , to enforce no further -The griefs between ye : to forget them quite -Were to remember that the present need -Speaks to atone you . - -Worthily spoken , Mec nas . - -Or , if you borrow one another's love for the instant , you may , when you hear no more words of Pompey , return it again : you shall have time to wrangle in when you have nothing else to do . - -Thou art a soldier only ; speak no more . - -That truth should be silent I had almost forgot . - -You wrong this presence ; therefore speak no more . - -Go to , then ; your considerate stone . - -I do not much dislike the matter , but -The manner of his speech ; for it cannot be -We shall remain in friendship , our conditions -So differing in their acts . Yet , if I knew -What hoop should hold us stanch , from edge to edge -O' the world I would pursue it . - -Give me leave , C sar . - -Speak , Agrippa . - -Thou hast a sister by the mother's side , -Admir'd Octavia ; great Mark Antony -Is now a widower . - -Say not so , Agrippa : -If Cleopatra heard you , your reproof -Were well deserv'd of rashness . - -I am not married , C sar ; let me hear -Agrippa further speak . - -To hold you in perpetual amity , -To make you brothers , and to knit your hearts -With an unslipping knot , take Antony -Octavia to his wife ; whose beauty claims -No worse a husband than the best of men , -Whose virtue and whose general graces speak -That which none else can utter . By this marriage , -All little jealousies which now seem great , -And all great fears which now import their dangers , -Would then be nothing ; truths would be but tales -Where now half tales be truths ; her love to both -Would each to other and all loves to both -Draw after her . Pardon what I have spoke , -For 'tis a studied , not a present thought , -By duty ruminated . - -Will C sar speak ? - -Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd -With what is spoke already . - -What power is in Agrippa , -If I would say , 'Agrippa , be it so ,' -To make this good ? - -The power of C sar , and -His power unto Octavia . - -May I never -To this good purpose , that so fairly shows , -Dream of impediment ! Let me have thy hand ; -Further this act of grace , and from this hour -The heart of brothers govern in our loves -And sway our great designs ! - -There is my hand . -A sister I bequeath you , whom no brother -Did ever love so dearly ; let her live -To join our kingdoms and our hearts , and never -Fly off our loves again ! - -Happily , amen ! - -I did not think to draw my sword 'gainst Pompey , -For he hath laid strange courtesies and great -Of late upon me ; I must thank him only , -Lest my remembrance suffer ill report ; -At heel of that , defy him . - -Time calls upon 's : -Of us must Pompey presently be sought , -Or else he seeks out us . - -Where lies he ? - -About the Mount Misenum . - -What's his strength -By land ? - -Great and increasing ; but by sea -He is an absolute master . - -So is the fame . -Would we had spoke together ! Haste we for it ; -Yet , ere we put ourselves in arms , dispatch we -The business we have talk'd of . - -With most gladness ; -And do invite you to my sister's view , -Whither straight I'll lead you . - -Let us , Lepidus , -Not lack your company . - -Noble Antony , -Not sickness should detain me . - - -Welcome from Egypt , sir . - -Half the heart of C sar , worthy Mec nas ! My honourable friend , Agrippa ! - -Good Enobarbus ! - -We have cause to be glad that matters are so well digested . You stayed well by 't in -Egypt . - -Ay , sir ; we did sleep day out of countenance , and made the night light with drinking . - -Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast , and but twelve persons there ; is this true ? - -This was but as a fly by an eagle ; we had much more monstrous matter of feast , which worthily deserved noting . - -She's a most triumphant lady , if report be square to her . - -When she first met Mark Antony she pursed up his heart , upon the river of Cydnus . - -There she appeared indeed , or my reporter devised well for her . - -I will tell you . -The barge she sat in , like a burnish'd throne , -Burn'd on the water ; the poop was beaten gold , -Purple the sails , and so perfumed , that -The winds were love-sick with them , the oars were silver , -Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke , and made -The water which they beat to follow faster , -As amorous of their strokes . For her own person , -It beggar'd all description ; she did lie -In her pavilion ,cloth-of-gold of tissue , -O'er-picturing that Venus where we see -The fancy outwork nature ; on each side her -Stood pretty-dimpled boys , like smiling Cupids , -With divers-colour'd fans , whose wind did seem -To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool , -And what they undid did . - -O ! rare for Antony . - -Her gentlewomen , like the Nereides , -So many mermaids , tended her i' the eyes , -And made their bends adornings ; at the helm -A seeming mermaid steers ; the silken tackle -Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands , -That yarely frame the office . From the barge -A strange invisible perfume hits the sense -Of the adjacent wharfs . The city cast -Her people out upon her , and Antony , -Enthron'd i' the market-place , did sit alone , -Whistling to the air ; which , but for vacancy , -Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too -And made a gap in nature . - -Rare Egyptian ! - -Upon her landing , Antony sent to her , -Invited her to supper ; she replied -It should be better he became her guest , -Which she entreated . Our courteous Antony , -Whom ne'er the word of 'No' woman heard speak , -Being barber'd ten times o'er , goes to the feast , -And , for his ordinary pays his heart -For what his eyes eat only . - -Royal wench ! -She made great C sar lay his sword to bed ; -He plough'd her , and she cropp'd . - -I saw her once -Hop forty paces through the public street ; -And having lost her breath , she spoke , and panted -That she did make defect perfection , -And , breathless , power breathe forth . - -Now Antony must leave her utterly . - -Never ; he will not : -Age cannot wither her , nor custom stale -Her infinite variety ; other women cloy -The appetites they feed , but she makes hungry -Where most she satisfies ; for vilest things -Become themselves in her , that the holy priests -Bless her when she is riggish . - -If beauty , wisdom , modesty , can settle -The heart of Antony , Octavia is -A blessed lottery to him . - -Let us go . -Good Enobarbus , make yourself my guest -Whilst you abide here . - -Humbly , sir , I thank you . - - -The world and my great office will sometimes -Divide me from your bosom . - -All which time -Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers -To them for you . - -Good night , sir . My Octavia , -Read not my blemishes in the world's report ; -I have not kept my square , but that to come -Shall all be done by the rule . Good night , dear lady . - -Good night , sir . - -Good night . - -Now , sirrah ; you do wish yourself in Egypt ? - -Would I had never come from thence , nor you -Thither ! - -If you can , your reason ? - -I see it in -My motion , have it not in my tongue : but yet -Hie you to Egypt again . - -Say to me , -Whose fortunes shall rise higher , C sar's or mine ? - -C sar's . -Therefore , O Antony ! stay not by his side ; -Thy demon that's thy spirit which keeps thee ,is -Noble , courageous , high , unmatchable , -Where C sar's is not ; but near him thy angel -Becomes a fear , as being o'erpower'd ; therefore -Make space enough between you . - -Speak this no more . - -To none but thee ; no more but when to thee . -If thou dost play with him at any game -Thou art sure to lose , and , of that natural luck , -He beats thee 'gainst the odds ; thy lustre thickens -When he shines by . I say again , thy spirit -Is all afraid to govern thee near him , -But he away , 'tis noble . - -Get thee gone : -Say to Ventidius I would speak with him . - -He shall to Parthia . Be it art or hap -He hath spoken true ; the very dice obey him . -And in our sports my better cunning faints -Under his chance ; if we draw lots he speeds , -His cocks do win the battle still of mine -When it is all to nought , and his quails ever -Beat mine , inhoop'd , at odds . I will to Egypt ; -And though I make this marriage for my peace , -I' the east my pleasure lies . - - -O ! come , Ventidius , -You must to Parthia ; your commission's ready ; -Follow me , and receive 't . - -Trouble yourselves no further ; pray you hasten -Your generals after . - -Sir , Mark Antony -Will e'en but kiss Octavia , and we'll follow . - -Till I shall see you in your soldier's dress , -Which will become you both , farewell . - -We shall , -As I conceive the journey , be at the Mount -Before you , Lepidus . - -Your way is shorter ; -My purposes to draw me much about : -You 'll win two days upon me . - -Sir , good success ! - -Sir , good success ! - -Farewell . - - -Give me some music ; music , moody food -Of us that trade in love . - -The music , ho ! - - -Let it alone ; let 's to billiards : come , Charmian . - -My arm is sore ; best play with Mardian . - -As well a woman with a eunuch play'd -As with a woman . Come , you 'll play with me , sir ? - -As well as I can , madam . - -And when good will is show'd , though't come too short , -The actor may plead pardon . I 'll none now . -Give me mine angle ; we'll to the river : there -My music playing far off I will betray -Tawny-finn'd fishes ; my bended hook shall pierce -Their slimy jaws ; and , as I draw them up , -I'll think them every one an Antony , -And say , 'Ah , ha !' you're caught . - -'Twas merry when -You wager'd on your angling ; when your diver -Did hang a salt-fish on his hook , which he -With fervency drew up . - -That time O times ! -I laugh'd him out of patience ; and that night -I laugh'd him into patience : and next morn , -Ere the ninth hour , I drunk him to his bed ; -Then put my tires and mantles on him , whilst -I wore his sword Philippan . - - -O ! from Italy ; -Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears , - -That long time have been barren . - -Madam , madam , - -Antony's dead ! if thou say so , villain , -Thou kill'st thy mistress ; but well and free , -If thou so yield him , there is gold , and here -My bluest veins to kiss ; a hand that kings -Have lipp'd , and trembled kissing . - -First , madam , he is well . - -Why , there's more gold . -But , sirrah , mark , we use -To say the dead are well : bring it to that , -The gold I give thee will I melt , and pour -Down thy ill-uttering throat . - -Good madam , hear me . - -Well , go to , I will ; -But there's no goodness in thy face ; if Antony -Be free and healthful , so tart a favour -To trumpet such good tidings ! if not well , -Thou shouldst come like a Fury crown'd with snakes , -Not like a formal man . - -Will't please you hear me ? - -I have a mind to strike thee ere thou speak'st : -Yet , if thou say Antony lives , is well , -Or friends with C sar , or not captive to him , -I'll set thee in a shower of gold , and hail -Rich pearls upon thee . - -Madam , he's well . - -Well said . - -And friends with C sar . - -Thou'rt an honest man . - -C sar and he are greater friends than ever . - -Make thee a fortune from me . - -But yet , madam , - -I do not like 'but yet ,' it does allay -The good precedence ; fie upon 'but yet !' -'But yet' is as a gaoler to bring forth -Some monstrous malefactor . Prithee , friend , -Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear , -The good and bad together . He's friends with C sar ; -In state of health , thou sayst ; and thou sayst , free . - -Free , madam ! no ; I made no such report : -He's bound unto Octavia . - -For what good turn ? - -For the best turn i' the bed . - -I am pale , Charmian ! - -Madam , he's married to Octavia . - -The most infectious pestilence upon thee ! - - -Good madam , patience . - -What say you ? Hence , - -Horrible villain ! or I'll spurn thine eyes -Like balls before me ; I'll unhair thy head : - -Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire , and stew'd in brine , -Smarting in lingering pickle . - -Gracious madam , -I , that do bring the news made not the match . - -Say 'tis not so , a province I will give thee , -And make thy fortunes proud ; the blow thou hadst -Shall make thy peace for moving me to rage , -And I will boot thee with what gift beside -Thy modesty can beg . - -He's married , madam . - -Rogue ! thou hast liv'd too long . - - -Nay , then I'll run . -What mean you , madam ? I have made no fault . - - -Good madam , keep yourself within yourself ; -The man is innocent . - -Some innocents 'scape not the thunderbolt . -Melt Egypt into Nile ! and kindly creatures -Turn all to serpents ! Call the slave again : -Though I am mad , I will not bite him . Call . - -He is afeard to come . - -I will not hurt him . - -These hands do lack nobility , that they strike -A meaner than myself ; since I myself -Have given myself the cause . - - -Come hither , sir . -Though it be honest , it is never good -To bring bad news ; give to a gracious message -A host of tongues , but let ill tidings tell - -Themselves when they be felt . - -I have done my duty . - -Is he married ? -I cannot hate thee worser than I do -If thou again say 'Yes .' - -He's married , madam . - -The gods confound thee ! dost thou hold there still ? - -Should I lie , madam ? - -O ! I would thou didst , -So half my Egypt were submerg'd and made -A cistern for scal'd snakes . Go , get thee hence ; -Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face , to me -Thou wouldst appear most ugly . He is married ? - -I crave your highness' pardon . - -He is married ? - -Take no offence that I would not offend you ; -To punish me for what you make me do -Seems much unequal ; he's married to Octavia . - -O ! that his fault should make a knave of thee , -That art not what thou'rt sure of . Get thee hence ; -The merchandise which thou hast brought from Rome -Are all too dear for me ; lie they upon thy hand -And be undone by 'em ! - - -Good your highness , patience . - -In praising Antony I have disprais'd C sar . - -Many times , madam . - -I am paid for 't now . -Lead me from hence ; -I faint . O Iras ! Charmian ! 'Tis no matter . -Go to the fellow , good Alexas ; bid him -Report the feature of Octavia , her years , -Her inclination , let him not leave out -The colour of her hair : bring me word quickly . - -Let him forever go :let him not Charmian ! -Though he be painted one way like a Gorgon , -The other way's a Mars . - -Bid you Alexas -Bring me word how tall she is . Pity me , Charmian , -But do not speak to me . Lead me to my chamber . - - -Your hostages I have , so have you mine ; -And we shall talk before we fight . - -Most meet -That first we come to words , and therefore have we -Our written purposes before us sent ; -Which if thou hast consider'd , let us know -If 'twill tie up thy discontented sword , -And carry back to Sicily much tall youth -That else must perish here . - -To you all three , -The senators alone of this great world , -Chief factors for the gods , I do not know -Wherefore my father should revengers want , -Having a son and friends ; since Julius C sar , -Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted , -There saw you labouring for him . What was 't -That mov'd pale Cassius to conspire ? and what -Made the all-honour'd , honest Roman , Brutus , -With the arm'd rest , courtiers of beauteous freedom , -To drench the Capitol , but that they would -Have one man but a man ? And that is it -Hath made me rig my navy , at whose burden -The anger'd ocean foams , with which I meant -To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome -Cast on my noble father . - -Take your time . - -Thou canst not fear us , Pompey , with thy sails ; -We 'll speak with thee at sea : at land , thou know'st -How much we do o'er-count thee . - -At land , indeed , -Thou dost o'er-count me of my father's house ; -But , since the cuckoo builds not for himself , -Remain in 't as thou mayst . - -Be pleas'd to tell us -For this is from the present how you take -The offers we have sent you . - -There's the point . - -Which do not be entreated to , but weigh -What it is worth embrac'd . - -And what may follow , -To try a larger fortune . - -You have made me offer -Of Sicily , Sardinia ; and I must -Rid all the sea of pirates ; then , to send -Measures of wheat to Rome ; this 'greed upon , -To part with unhack'd edges , and bear back -Our targets undinted . - -That's our offer . - -That's our offer . - -That's our offer . - -Know , then , -I came before you here a man prepar'd -To take this offer ; but Mark Antony -Put me to some impatience . Though I lose -The praise of it by telling , you must know , -When C sar and your brother were at blows , -Your mother came to Sicily and did find -Her welcome friendly . - -I have heard it , Pompey ; -And am well studied for a liberal thanks -Which I do owe you . - -Let me have your hand : -I did not think , sir , to have met you here . - -The beds i' the east are soft ; and thanks to you , -That call'd me timelier than my purpose hither , -For I have gain'd by 't . - -Since I saw you last , -There is a change upon you . - -Well , I know not -What counts harsh Fortune casts upon my face , -But in my bosom shall she never come -To make my heart her vassal . - -Well met here . - -I hope so , Lepidus . Thus we are agreed . -I crave our composition may be written -And seal'd between us . - -That 's the next to do . - -We'll feast each other ere we part ; and let's -Draw lots who shall begin . - -That will I , Pompey . - -No , Antony , take the lot : -But , first or last , your fine Egyptian cookery -Shall have the fame . I have heard that Julius C sar -Grew fat with feasting there . - -You have heard much . - -I have fair meanings , sir . - -And fair words to them . - -Then , so much have I heard ; -And I have heard Apollodorus carried - -No more of that : he did so . - -What , I pray you ? - -A certain queen to C sar in a mattress . - -I know thee now ; how far'st thou , soldier ? - -Well ; -And well am like to do ; for I perceive -Four feasts are toward . - -Let me shake thy hand ; -I never hated thee . I have seen thee fight , -When I have envied thy behaviour . - -Sir , -I never lov'd you much , but I ha' prais'd ye -When you have well deserv'd ten times as much -As I have said you did . - -Enjoy thy plainness , -It nothing ill becomes thee . -Aboard my galley I invite you all : -Will you lead , lords ? - -Show us the way , sir . - -Show us the way , sir . - -Show us the way , sir . - -Come . - - -Thy father , Pompey , would ne'er have made this treaty . You and I have known , sir . - -At sea , I think . - -We have , sir . - -You have done well by water . - -And you by land . - -I will praise any man that will praise me ; though it cannot be denied what I have done by land . - -Nor what I have done by water . - -Yes , something you can deny for your own safety ; you have been a great thief by sea . - -And you by land . - -There I deny my land service . But give me your hand , Menas ; if our eyes had authority , here they might take two thieves kissing . - -All men's faces are true , whatsoe'er their hands are . - -But there is never a fair woman has a true face . - -No slander ; they steal hearts . - -We came hither to fight with you . - -For my part , I am sorry it is turned to a drinking . Pompey doth this day laugh away his fortune . - -If he do , sure , he cannot weep it back again . - -You have said , sir . We looked not for Mark Antony here : pray you , is he married to Cleopatra ? - -C sar's sister is called Octavia . - -True , sir ; she was the wife of Caius Marcellus . - -But she is now the wife of Marcus Antonius . - -Pray ye , sir ? - -'Tis true . - -Then is C sar and he for ever knit together . - -If I were bound to divine of this unity , I would not prophesy so . - -I think the policy of that purpose made more in the marriage than the love of the parties . - -I think so too ; but you shall find the band that seems to tie their friendship together will be the very strangler of their amity . Octavia is of a holy , cold , and still conversation . - -Who would not have his wife so ? - -Not he that himself is not so ; which is Mark Antony . He will to his Egyptian dish again ; then , shall the sighs of Octavia blow the fire up in C sar , and , as I said before , that which is the strength of their amity shall prove the immediate author of their variance . Antony will use his affection where it is ; he married but his occasion here . - -And thus it may be . Come , sir , will you aboard ? I have a health for you . - -I shall take it , sir : we have used our throats in Egypt . - -Come ; let 's away . - - -Here they'll be , man . Some o' their plants are ill-rooted already ; the least wind i' the world will blow them down . - -Lepidus is high-coloured . - -They have made him drink alms-drink . - -As they pinch one another by the disposition , he cries out , 'No more ;' reconciles them to his entreaty , and himself to the drink . - -But it raises the greater war between him and his discretion . - -Why , this it is to have a name in great men's fellowship ; I had as lief have a reed that will do me no service as a partisan I could not heave . - -To be called into a huge sphere , and not to be seen to move in't , are the holes where eyes should be , which pitifully disaster the cheeks . - -Thus do they , sir . They take the flow o' the Nile -By certain scales i' the pyramid ; they know -By the height , the lowness , or the mean , if dearth -Or foison follow . The higher Nilus swells -The more it promises ; as it ebbs , the seedsman -Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain , -And shortly comes to harvest . - -You've strange serpents there . - -Ay , Lepidus . - -Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun ; so is your crocodile . - -They are so . - -Sit ,and some wine ! A health to Lepidus ! - -I am not so well as I should be , but I'll ne'er out . - -Not till you have slept ; I fear me you'll be in till then . - -Nay , certainly , I have heard the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things ; without contradiction , I have heard that . - -Pompey , a word . - -Say in mine ear ; what is't ? - -Forsake thy seat , I do beseech thee , captain , -And bear me speak a word . - -Forbear me till anon . -This wine for Lepidus ! - -What manner o' thing is your crocodile ? - -It is shaped , sir , like itself , and it is as broad as it hath breadth ; it is just so high as it is , and moves with it own organs ; it lives by that which nourisheth it ; and the elements once out of it , it transmigrates . - -What colour is it of ? - -Of it own colour too . - -'Tis a strange serpent . - -'Tis so ; and the tears of it are wet . - -Will this description satisfy him ? - -With the health that Pompey gives him , else he is a very epicure . - -Go hang , sir , hang ! Tell me of that ? away ! -Do as I bid you . Where's this cup I call'd for ? - -If for the sake of merit thou wilt hear me , -Rise from thy stool . - -I think thou'rt mad . The matter ? - - -I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes . - -Thou hast serv'd me with much faith . What 's else to say ? -Be jolly , lords . - -These quick-sands , Lepidus , -Keep off them , for you sink . - -Wilt thou be lord of all the world ? - -What sayst thou ? - -Wilt thou be lord of the whole world ? That 's twice . - -How should that be ? - -But entertain it , -And though thou think me poor , I am the man -Will give thee all the world . - -Hast thou drunk well ? - -No , Pompey , I have kept me from the cup . -Thou art , if thou dar'st be , the earthly Jove : -Whate'er the ocean pales , or sky inclips , -Is thine , if thou wilt ha 't . - -Show me which way . - -These three world-sharers , these competitors , -Are in thy vessel : let me cut the cable ; -And , when we are put off , fall to their throats : -All there is thine . - -Ah ! this thou shouldst have done , -And not have spoke on 't . In me 'tis villany ; -In thee 't had been good service . Thou must know -'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour ; -Mine honour it . Repent that e'er thy tongue -Hath so betray'd thine act ; being done unknown , -I should have found it afterwards well done , -But must condemn it now . Desist , and drink . - -For this , -I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more . -Who seeks , and will not take when once 'tis offer'd , -Shall never find it more . - -This health to Lepidus ! - -Bear him ashore . I'll pledge it for him , Pompey . - -Here's to thee , Menas ! - -Enobarbus , welcome ! - -Fill till the cup be hid . - -There's a strong fellow , Menas . - - -Why ? - -A' bears the third part of the world , man ; see'st not ? - -The third part then is drunk ; would it were all , -That it might go on wheels ! - -Drink thou ; increase the reels . - -Come . - -This is not yet an Alexandrian feast . - -It ripens towards it . Strike the vessels , ho ! -Here is to C sar ! - -I could well forbear't . -It's monstrous labour , when I wash my brain , -And it grows fouler . - -Be a child o' the time . - -Possess it , I'll make answer ; -But I had rather fast from all four days -Than drink so much in one . - -Ha ! my brave emperor ; -Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals , -And celebrate our drink ? - -Let 's ha 't , good soldier . - -Come , let 's all take hands , -Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense -In soft and delicate Lethe . - -All take hands . -Make battery to our ears with the loud music ; -The while I'll place you ; then the boy shall sing , -The holding every man shall bear as loud -As his strong sides can volley . - - -Come , thou monarch of the vine , -Plumpy Bacchus , with pink eyne ! -In thy fats our cares be drown'd , -With thy grapes our hairs be crown'd : -Cup us , till the world go round , -Cup us , till the world go round ! - -What would you more ? Pompey , good night . Good brother , -Let me request you off ; our graver business -Frowns at this levity . Gentle lords , let's part ; -You see we have burnt our cheeks ; strong Enobarb -Is weaker than the wine , and mine own tongue -Splits what it speaks ; the wild disguise hath almost -Antick'd us all . What needs more words ? Good night . -Good Antony , your hand . - -I'll try you on the shore . - -And shall , sir . Give's your hand . - -O , Antony ! -You have my father s house ,But , what ? we are friends . -Come down into the boat . - -Take heed you fall not . - -Menas , I'll not on shore . - -No , to my cabin . -These drums ! these trumpets , flutes ! what ! -Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell -To these great fellows : sound and be hang'd ! sound out ! - - -Hoo ! says a' . There's my cap . - -Hoo ! noble captain ! come . - - -Now , darting Parthia , art thou struck ; and now -Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death -Make me revenger . Bear the king's son's body -Before our army . Thy Pacorus , Orodes , -Pays this for Marcus Crassus . - -Noble Ventidius , -Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm , -The fugitive Parthians follow ; spur through Media , -Mesopotamia , and the shelters whither -The routed fly ; so thy grand captain Antony -Shall set thee on triumphant chariots and -Put garlands on thy head . - -O Silius , Silius ! -I have done enough ; a lower place , note well , -May make too great an act ; for learn this , Silius , -Better to leave undone than by our deed -Acquire too high a fame when him we serve's away . -C sar and Antony have ever won -More in their officer than person ; Sossius , -One of my place in Syria , his lieutenant , -For quick accumulation of renown , -Which he achiev'd by the minute , lost his favour . -Who does i' the wars more than his captain can -Becomes his captain's captain ; and ambition , -The soldier's virtue , rather makes choice of loss -Than gain which darkens him . -I could do more to do Antonius good , -But 'twould offend him ; and in his offence -Should my performance perish . - -Thou hast , Ventidius , that -Without the which a soldier , and his sword , -Grants scarce distinction . Thou wilt write to Antony ? - -I'll humbly signify what in his name , -That magical word of war , we have effected ; -How , with his banners and his well-paid ranks , -The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia -We have jaded out o' the field . - -Where is he now ? - -He purposeth to Athens ; whither , with what haste -The weight we must convey with 's will permit , -We shall appear before him . On , there ; pass along . - - -What ! are the brothers parted ? - -They have dispatch'd with Pompey ; he is gone ; -The other three are sealing . Octavia weeps -To part from Rome ; C sar is sad ; and Lepidus , -Since Pompey's feast , as Menas says , is troubled -With the green sickness . - -'Tis a noble Lepidus . - -A very fine one . O ! how he loves C sar . - -Nay , but how dearly he adores Mark Antony ! - -C sar ? Why , he's the Jupiter of men . - -What's Antony ? The god of Jupiter . - -Spake you of C sar ? How ! the non-pareil ! - -O , Antony ! O thou Arabian bird ! - -Would you praise C sar , say , 'C sar ,' go no further . - -Indeed , he plied them both with excellent praises . - -But he loves C sar best ; yet he loves Antony . -Hoo ! hearts , tongues , figures , scribes , bards , poets , cannot -Think , speak , cast , write , sing , number ; hoo ! -His love to Antony . But as for C sar , -Kneel down , kneel down , and wonder . - -Both he loves . - -They are his shards , and he their beetle . - - -So ; -This is to horse . Adieu , noble Agrippa . - -Good fortune , worthy soldier , and farewell . - - -No further , sir . - -You take from me a great part of myself ; -Use me well in't . Sister , prove such a wife -As my thoughts make thee , and as my furthest band -Shall pass on thy approof . Most noble Antony , -Let not the piece of virtue , which is set -Betwixt us as the cement of our love -To keep it builded , be the ram to batter -The fortress of it ; for better might we -Have lov'd without this mean , if on both parts -This be not cherish'd . - -Make me not offended -In your distrust . - -I have said . - -You shall not find , -Though you be therein curious , the least cause -For what you seem to fear . So , the gods keep you , -And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends ! -We will here part . - -Farewell , my dearest sister , fare thee well : -The elements be kind to thee , and make -Thy spirits all of comfort ! fare thee well . - -My noble brother ! - -The April's in her eyes ; it is love's spring , -And these the showers to bring it on . Be cheerful . - -Sir , look well to my husband's house ; and - -What , -Octavia ? - -I'll tell you in your ear . - -Her tongue will not obey her heart , nor can -Her heart obey her tongue ; the swan's downfeather , -That stands upon the swell at full of tide , -And neither way inclines . - -Will C sar weep ? - -He has a cloud in's face . - -He were the worse for that were he a horse ; -So is he , being a man . - -Why , Enobarbus , -When Antony found Julius C sar dead -He cried almost to roaring ; and he wept -When at Philippi he found Brutus slain . - -That year , indeed , he was troubled with a rheum ; -What willingly he did confound he wail'd , -Believe 't , till I wept too . - -No , sweet Octavia , -You shall hear from me still ; the time shall not -Out-go my thinking on you . - -Come , sir , come ; -I'll wrestle with you in my strength of love : -Look , here I have you ; thus I let you go , -And give you to the gods . - -Adieu ; be happy ! - -Let all the number of the stars give light -To thy fair way ! - -Farewell , farewell ! - - -Farewell ! - - -Where is the fellow ? - -Half afeard to come . - -Go to , go to . - -Come hither , sir . - -Good majesty , -Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you -But when you are well pleas'd . - -That Herod's head -I'll have ; but how , when Antony is gone -Through whom I might command it ? Come thou near . - -Most gracious majesty ! - -Didst thou behold -Octavia ? - -Ay , dread queen . - -Where ? - -Madam , in Rome ; -I look'd her in the face , and saw her led -Between her brother and Mark Antony . - -Is she as tall as me ? - -She is not , madam . - -Didst hear her speak ? is she shrill-tongu'd , or low ? - -Madam , I heard her speak ; she is low-voic'd . - -That's not so good . He cannot like her long . - -Like her ! O Isis ! 'tis impossible . - -I think so , Charmian : dull of tongue , and dwarfish ! -What majesty is in her gait ? Remember , -If e'er thou look'dst on majesty . - -She creeps ; -Her motion and her station are as one ; -She shows a body rather than a life , -A statue than a breather . - -Is this certain ? - -Or I have no observance . - -Three in Egypt -Cannot make better note . - -He's very knowing , -I do perceive 't . There's nothing in her yet . -The fellow has good judgment . - -Excellent . - -Guess at her years , I prithee . - -Madam , -She was a widow , - -Widow ! Charmian , hark . - -And I do think she's thirty . - -Bear'st thou her face in mind ? is't long or round ? - -Round even to faultiness . - -For the most part , too , they are foolish that are so . -Her hair , what colour ? - -Brown , madam ; and her forehead -As low as she would wish it . - -There's gold for thee : -Thou must not take my former sharpness ill . -I will employ thee back again ; I find thee -Most fit for business . Go , make thee ready ; -Our letters are prepar'd . - - -A proper man . - -Indeed , he is so ; I repent me much -That so I harried him . Why , methinks , by him , -This creature's no such thing . - -Nothing , madam . - -The man hath seen some majesty , and should know . - -Hath he seen majesty ? Isis else defend , -And serving you so long ! - -I have one thing more to ask him yet , good Charmian : -But 'tis no matter ; thou shalt bring him to me -Where I will write . All may be well enough . - -I warrant you , madam . - - -Nay , nay , Octavia , not only that , -That were excusable , that , and thousands more -Of semblable import , but he hath wag'd -New wars 'gainst Pompey ; made his will , and read it -To public ear : -Spoke scantly of me ; when perforce he could not -But pay me terms of honour , cold and sickly -He vented them ; most narrow measure lent me ; -When the best hint was given him , he not took 't , -Or did it from his teeth . - -O my good lord ! -Believe not all ; or , if you must believe , -Stomach not all . A more unhappy lady , -If this division chance , ne'er stood between , -Praying for both parts : -The good gods will mock me presently , -When I shall pray , 'O ! bless my lord and husband ;' -Undo that prayer , by crying out as loud , -'O ! bless my brother !' Husband win , win brother , -Prays , and destroys the prayer ; no midway -'Twixt these extremes at all . - -Gentle Octavia , -Let your best love draw to that point which seeks -Best to preserve it . If I lose mine honour -I lose myself ; better I were not yours -Than yours so branchless . But , as you requested , -Yourself shall go between's ; the mean time , lady , -I'll raise the preparation of a war -Shall stain your brother ; make your soonest haste , -So your desires are yours . - -Thanks to my lord . -The Jove of power make me most weak , most weak , -Your reconciler ! Wars 'twixt you twain would be -As if the world should cleave , and that slain men -Should solder up the rift . - -When it appears to you where this begins , -Turn your displeasure that way ; for our faults -Can never be so equal that your love -Can equally move with them . Provide your going ; -Choose your own company , and command what cost -Your heart has mind to . - - -How now , friend Eros ! - -There's strange news come , sir . - -What , man ? - -C sar and Lepidus have made wars upon Pompey . - -This is old : what is the success ? - -C sar , having made use of him in the wars 'gainst Pompey , presently denied him rivality , would not let him partake in the glory of the action ; and not resting here , accuses him of letters he had formerly wrote to Pompey ; upon his own appeal , seizes him : so the poor third is up , till death enlarge his confine . - -Then , world , thou hast a pair of chaps , no more ; -And throw between them all the food thou hast , -They'll grind the one the other . Where's Antony ? - -He's walking in the garden thus : and spurns -The rush that lies before him ; cries , 'Fool , Lepidus !' -And threats the throat of that his officer -That murder'd Pompey . - -Our great navy's rigg'd . - -For Italy and C sar . More , Domitius ; -My lord desires you presently : my news -I might have told hereafter . - -'Twill be naught ; -But let it be . Bring me to Antony . - -Come , sir . - - -Contemning Rome , he has done all this and more -In Alexandria ; here's the manner of 't ; -I' the market-place , on a tribunal silver'd , -Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold -Were publicly enthron'd ; at the feet sat -C sarion , whom they call my father's son , -And all the unlawful issue that their lust -Since then hath made between them . Unto her -He gave the 'stablishment of Egypt ; made her -Of Lower Syria , Cyprus , Lydia , -Absolute queen . - -This in the public eye ? - -I' the common show-place , where they exercise . -His sons he there proclaim'd the kings of kings ; -Great Media , Parthia , and Armenia -He gave to Alexander ; to Ptolemy he assign'd -Syria , Cilicia , and Ph nicia . She -In the habiliments of the goddess Isis -That day appear'd ; and oft before gave audience , -As 'tis reported , so . - -Let Rome be thus -Informed . - -Who , queasy with his insolence -Already , will their good thoughts call from him . - -The people know it ; and have now receiv'd -His accusations . - -Whom does he accuse ? - -C sar ; and that , having in Sicily -Sextus Pompeius spoil'd , we had not rated him -His part o' the isle ; then does he say , he lent me -Some shipping unrestor'd ; lastly , he frets -That Lepidus of the triumvirate -Should be depos'd ; and , being , that we detain -All his revenue . - -Sir , this should be answer'd . - -'Tis done already , and the messenger gone . -I have told him , Lepidus was grown too cruel ; -That he his high authority abus'd , -And did deserve his change : for what I have conquer'd , -I grant him part ; but then , in his Armenia , -And other of his conquer'd kingdoms , I -Demand the like . - -He'll never yield to that . - -Nor must not then be yielded to in this . - - -Hail , C sar , and my lord ! hail , most dear C sar ! - -That ever I should call thee cast-away ! - -You have not call'd me so , nor have you cause . - -Why have you stol'n upon us thus ? You come not -Like C sar's sister ; the wife of Antony -Should have an army for an usher , and -The neighs of horse to tell of her approach -Long ere she did appear ; the trees by the way -Should have borne men ; and expectation fainted , -Longing for what it had not ; nay , the dust -Should have ascended to the roof of heaven , -Rais'd by your populous troops . But you are come -A market-maid to Rome , and have prevented -The ostentation of our love , which , left unshown , -Is often left unlov'd : we should have met you -By sea and land , supplying every stage -With an augmented greeting . - -Good my lord , -To come thus was I not constrain'd , but did it -On my free-will . My lord , Mark Antony , -Hearing that you prepar'd for war , acquainted -My grieved ear withal ; whereon , I begg'd -His pardon for return . - -Which soon he granted , -Being an obstruct 'tween his lust and him . - -Do not say so , my lord . - -I have eyes upon him , -And his affairs come to me on the wind . -Where is he now ? - -My lord , in Athens . - -No , my most wrong'd sister ; Cleopatra -Hath nodded him to her . He hath given his empire -Up to a whore ; who now are levying -The kings o' the earth for war . He hath assembled -Bocchus , the King of Libya ; Archelaus , -Of Cappadocia ; Philadelphos , King -Of Paphlagonia ; the Thracian king , Adallas ; -King Malchus of Arabia ; King of Pont ; -Herod of Jewry ; Mithridates , King -Of Comagene ; Polemon and Amintas , -The Kings of Mede and Lycaonia , -With a more larger list of sceptres . - -Ay me , most wretched , -That have my heart parted betwixt two friends -That do afflict each other ! - -Welcome hither : -Your letters did withhold our breaking forth , -Till we perceiv'd both how you were wrong led -And we in negligent danger . Cheer your heart ; -Be you not troubled with the time , which drives -O'er your content these strong necessities , -But let determin'd things to destiny -Hold unbewail'd their way . Welcome to Rome ; -Nothing more dear to me . You are abus'd -Beyond the mark of thought , and the high gods , -To do you justice , make their ministers -Of us and those that love you . Best of comfort , -And ever welcome to us . - -Welcome , lady . - -Welcome , dear madam . -Each heart in Rome does love and pity you ; -Only the adulterous Antony , most large -In his abominations , turns you off , -And gives his potent regiment to a trull , -That noises it against us . - -Is it so , sir ? - -Most certain . Sister , welcome ; pray you , -Be ever known to patience ; my dearest sister ! - - -I will be even with thee , doubt it not . - -But why , why , why ? - -Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars , -And sayst it is not fit . - -Well , is it , is it ? - -If not denounc'd against us , why should not we -Be there in person ? - -Well , I could reply : -If we should serve with horse and mares together , -The horse were merely lost ; the mares would bear -A soldier and his horse . - -What is 't you say ? - -Your presence needs must puzzle Antony ; -Take from his heart , take from his brain , from 's time , -What should not then be spar'd . He is already -Traduc'd for levity , and 'tis said in Rome -That Photinus a eunuch and your maids -Manage this war . - -Sink Rome , and their tongues rot -That speak against us ! A charge we bear i' the war , -And , as the president of my kingdom , will -Appear there for a man . Speak not against it ; -I will not stay behind . - -Nay , I have done . -Here comes the emperor . - - -Is it not strange , Canidius , -That from Tarentum and Brundusium -He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea , -And take in Toryne ? You have heard on 't , sweet ? - -Celerity is never more admir'd -Than by the negligent . - -A good rebuke , -Which might have well becom'd the best of men , -To taunt at slackness . Canidius , we -Will fight with him by sea . - -By sea ! What else ? - -Why will my lord do so ? - -For that he dares us to 't . - -So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight . - -Ay , and to wage his battle at Pharsalia , -Where C sar fought with Pompey ; but these offers , -Which serve not for his vantage , he shakes off ; -And so should you . - -Your ships are not well mann'd ; -Your mariners are muleters , reapers , people -Ingross'd by swift impress ; in C sar's fleet -Are those that often have gainst Pompey fought : -Their ships are yare ; yours , heavy . No disgrace -Shall fall you for refusing him at sea , -Being prepar'd for land . - -By sea , by sea . - -Most worthy sir , you therein throw away -The absolute soldiership you have by land ; -Distract your army , which doth most consist -Of war-mark'd footmen ; leave unexecuted -Your own renowned knowledge ; quite forego -The way which promises assurance ; and -Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard -From firm security . - -I'll fight at sea . - -I have sixty sails , C sar none better . - -Our overplus of shipping will we burn ; -And with the rest , full-mann'd , from the head of Actium -Beat the approaching C sar . But if we fail , -We then can do 't at land . - -Thy business ? - -The news is true , my lord ; he is descried ; -C sar has taken Toryne . - -Can he be there in person ? 'tis impossible ; -Strange that his power should be . Canidius , -Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land , -And our twelve thousand horse . We'll to our ship : -Away , my Thetis ! - -How now , worthy soldier ! - -O noble emperor ! do not fight by sea ; -Trust not to rotten planks : do you misdoubt -This sword and these my wounds ? Let the Egyptians -And the Ph nicians go a-ducking ; we -Have used to conquer , standing on the earth , -And fighting foot to foot . - -Well , well : away ! - - -By Hercules , I think I am i' the right . - -Soldier , thou art ; but his whole action grows -Not in the power on 't : so our leader's led , -And we are women's men . - -You keep by land -The legions and the horse whole , do you not ? - -Marcus Octavius , Marcus Justeius , -Publicola , and C lius , are for sea ; -But we keep whole by land . This speed of C sar's -Carries beyond belief . - -While he was yet in Rome -His power went out in such distractions as -Beguil'd all spies . - -Who's his lieutenant , hear you ? - -They say , one Taurus . - -Well I know the man . - - -The emperor calls Canidius . - -With news the time's with labour , and throes forth -Each minute some . - - -Taurus ! - -My lord ? - -Strike not by land ; keep whole : provoke not battle . -Till we have done at sea . Do not exceed -The prescript of this scroll : our fortune lies -Upon this jump . - -Set we our squadrons on yond side o' the hill , -In eye of C sar's battle ; from which place -We may the number of the ships behold , -And so proceed accordingly . - - -Naught , naught , all naught ! I can behold no longer . -The Antoniad , the Egyptian admiral , -With all their sixty , fly , and turn the rudder ; -To see 't mine eyes are blasted . - - -Gods and goddesses , -All the whole synod of them ! - -What's thy passion ? - -The greater cantle of the world is lost -With very ignorance ; we have kiss'd away -Kingdoms and provinces . - -How appears the fight ? - -On our side like the token'd pestilence , -Where death is sure . Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt , -Whom leprosy o'ertake ! i' the midst o' the fight , -When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd , -Both as the same , or rather ours the elder , -The breese upon her , like a cow in June , -Hoists sails and flies . - -That I beheld : -Mine eyes did sicken at the sight , and could not -Endure a further view . - -She once being loof'd , -The noble ruin of her magic , Antony , -Clapson his sea-wing , and like a doting mallard , -Leaving the fight in height , flies after her . -I never saw an action of such shame ; -Experience , manhood , honour , ne'er before -Did violate so itself . - -Alack , alack ! - - -Our fortune on the sea is out of breath , -And sinks most lamentably . Had our general -Been what he knew himself , it had gone well : -O ! he has given example for our flight -Most grossly by his own . - -Ay , are you thereabouts ? -Why , then , good night , indeed . - -Towards Peloponnesus are they fled . - -'Tis easy to 't ; and there I will attend -What further comes . - -To C sar will I render -My legions and my horse ; six kings already -Show me the way of yielding . - -I'll yet follow -The wounded chance of Antony , though my reason -Sits in the wind against me . - - -Hark ! the land bids me tread no more upon 't ; -It is asham'd to bear me . Friends , come hither : -I am so lated in the world that I -Have lost my way for ever . I have a ship -Laden with gold ; take that , divide it ; fly , -And make your peace with C sar . - -Fly ! not we . - -I have fled myself , and have instructed cowards -To run and show their shoulders . Friends , be gone ; -I have myself resolv'd upon a course -Which has no need of you ; be gone : -My treasure's in the harbour , take it . O ! -I follow'd that I blush to look upon : -My very hairs do mutiny , for the white -Reprove the brown for rashness , and they them -For fear and doting . Friends , be gone ; you shall -Have letters from me to some friends that will -Sweep your way for you . Pray you , look not sad , -Nor make replies of loathness ; take the hint -Which my despair proclaims ; let that be left -Which leaves itself ; to the sea-side straightway ; -I will possess you of that ship and treasure . -Leave me , I pray , a little ; pray you now : -Nay , do so ; for , indeed , I have lost command , -Therefore I pray you . I'll see you by and by . - -Nay , gentle madam , to him , comfort him . - -Do , most dear queen . - -Do ! Why , what else ? - -Let me sit down . O Juno ! - -No , no , no , no , no . - -See you here , sir ? - -O fie , fie , fie ! - -Madam ! - -Madam ; O good empress ! - -Sir , sir ! - -Yes , my lord , yes . He , at Philippi kept -His sword e'en like a dancer , while I struck -The lean and wrinkled Cassius ; and 'twas I -That the mad Brutus ended : he alone -Dealt on lieutenantry , and no practice had -In the brave squares of war : yet now No matter . - -Ah ! stand by . - -The queen , my lord , the queen . - -Go to him , madam , speak to him ; -He is unqualitied with very shame . - -Well then , sustain me : O ! - -Most noble sir , arise ; the queen approaches : -Her head's declin'd , and death will seize her , but -Your comfort makes the rescue . - -I have offended reputation , -A most unnoble swerving . - -Sir , the queen . - -O ! whither hast thou led me , Egypt ? See , -How I convey my shame out of thine eyes -By looking back what I have left behind -'Stroy'd in dishonour . - -O my lord , my lord ! -Forgive my fearful sails : I little thought -You would have follow'd . - -Egypt , thou knew'st too well -My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings , -And thou shouldst tow me after ; o'er my spirit -Thy full supremacy thou knew'st , and that -Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods -Command me . - -O ! my pardon . - -Now I must -To the young man send humble treaties , dodge -And palter in the shifts of lowness , who -With half the bulk o' the world play'd as I pleas'd , -Making and marring fortunes . You did know -How much you were my conqueror , and that -My sword , made weak by my affection , would -Obey it on all cause . - -Pardon , pardon ! - -Fall not a tear , I say ; one of them rates -All that is won and lost . Give me a kiss ; -Even this repays me . We sent our schoolmaster ; -Is he come back ? Love , I am full of lead . -Some wine , within there , and our viands ! Fortune knows , -We scorn her most when most she offers blows . - -Let him appear that's come from Antony . -Know you him ? - -C sar , 'tis his schoolmaster : -An argument that he is pluck'd , when hither -He sends so poor a pinion of his wing , -Which had superfluous kings for messengers -Not many moons gone by . - - -Approach , and speak . - -Such as I am , I come from Antony : -I was of late as petty to his ends -As is the morn-dew on the myrtle-leaf -To his grand sea . - -Be 't so . Declare thine office . - -Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee , and -Requires to live in Egypt ; which not granted , -He lessens his requests , and to thee sues -To let him breathe between the heavens and earth , -A private man in Athens ; this for him . -Next , Cleopatra does confess thy greatness , -Submits her to thy might , and of thee craves -The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs , -Now hazarded to thy grace . - -For Antony , -I have no ears to his request . The queen -Of audience nor desire shall fail , so she -From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend , -Or take his life there ; this if she perform , -She shall not sue unheard . So to them both . - -Fortune pursue thee ! - -Bring him through the bands . - -From Antony win Cleopatra ; promise , -And in our name , what she requires ; add more , -From thine invention , offers . Women are not -In their best fortunes strong , but want will perjure -The ne'er-touch'd vestal . Try thy cunning , Thyreus ; -Make thine own edict for thy pains , which we - -Will answer as a law . - -C sar , I go . - -Observe how Antony becomes his flaw , -And what thou think'st his very action speaks -In every power that moves . - -C sar , I shall . - -What shall we do , Enobarbus ? - -Think , and die . - -Is Antony or we , in fault for this ? - -Antony only , that would make his will -Lord of his reason . What though you fled -From that great face of war , whose several ranges -Frighted each other , why should he follow ? -The itch of his affection should not then -Have nick'd his captainship ; at such a point , -When half to half the world oppos'd , he being -The mered question . 'Twas a shame no less -Than was his loss , to course your flying flags , -And leave his navy gazing . - -Prithee , peace . - - -Is that his answer ? - -Ay , my lord . - -The queen shall then have courtesy , so she -Will yield us up ? - -He says so . - -Let her know't . -To the boy C sar send this grizzled head , -And he will fill thy wishes to the brim -With principalities . - -That head , my lord ? - -To him again . Tell him he wears the rose -Of youth upon him , from which the world should note -Something particular ; his coin , ships , legions , -May be a coward's , whose ministers would prevail -Under the service of a child as soon -As i' the command of C sar : I dare him therefore -To lay his gay comparisons apart , -And answer me declin'd , sword against sword , -Ourselves alone . I'll write it : follow me . - - -Yes , like enough , high-battled C sar will -Unstate his happiness , and be stag'd to the show -Against a sworder ! I see men's judgments are -A parcel of their fortunes , and things outward -Do draw the inward quality after them , -To suffer all alike . That he should dream , -Knowing all measures , the full C sar will -Answer his emptiness ! C sar , thou hast subdu'd -His judgment too . - - -A messenger from C sar . - -What ! no more ceremony ? See ! my women ; -Against the blown rose may they stop their nose , -That kneel'd unto the buds . Admit him , sir . - - -Mine honesty and I begin to square . -The loyalty well held to fools does make -Our faith mere folly ; yet he that can endure -To follow with allegiance a fall'n lord , -Does conquer him that did his master conquer , -And earns a place i' the story . - - -C sar's will ? - -Hear it apart . - -None but friends ; say boldly . - -So , haply , are they friends to Antony . - -He needs as many , sir , as C sar has , -Or needs not us . If C sar please , our master -Will leap to be his friend ; for us , you know -Whose he is we are , and that is C sar's . - -So . -Thus then , thou most renown'd : C sar entreats , -Not to consider in what case thou stand'st , -Further than he is C sar . - -Go on ; right royal . - -He knows that you embrace not Antony -As you did love , but as you fear'd him . - -O ! - -The scars upon your honour therefore he -Does pity , as constrained blemishes , -Not as deserv'd . - -He is a god , and knows -What is most right . Mine honour was not yielded , -But conquer'd merely . - -To be sure of that , -I will ask Antony . Sir , sir , thou'rt so leaky , -That we must leave thee to thy sinking , for -Thy dearest quit thee . - - -Shall I say to C sar -What you require of him ? for he partly begs -To be desir'd to give . It much would please him , -That of his fortunes you should make a staff -To lean upon ; but it would warm his spirits -To hear from me you had left Antony , -And put yourself under his shroud , -The universal landlord . - -What's your name ? - -My name is Thyreus . - -Most kind messenger , -Say to great C sar this : in deputation -I kiss his conqu'ring hand ; tell him , I am prompt -To lay my crown at 's feet , and there to kneel ; -Tell him , from his all-obeying breath I hear -The doom of Egypt . - -'Tis your noblest course . -Wisdom and fortune combating together , -If that the former dare but what it can , -No chance may shake it . Give me grace to lay -My duty on your hand . - -Your C sar's father oft , -When he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in , -Bestow'd his lips on that unworthy place , -As it rain'd kisses . - - -Favours , by Jove that thunders ! -What art thou , fellow ? - -One that but performs -The bidding of the fullest man , and worthiest -To have command obey'd . - -You will be whipp'd . - -Approach there ! Ah , you kite ! Now , gods and devils ! -Authority melts from me : of late , when I cried 'Ho !' -Like boys unto a muss , kings would start forth , -And cry , 'Your will ?' Have you no ears ? I am -Antony yet . - -Take hence this Jack and whip him . - -'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp -Than with an old one dying . - -Moon and stars ! -Whip him . Were't twenty of the greatest tributaries -That do acknowledge C sar , should I find them -So saucy with the hand of she here , what's her name , -Since she was Cleopatra ? Whip him , fellows , -Till , like a boy , you see him cringe his face -And whine aloud for mercy ; take him hence . - -Mark Antony , - -Tug him away ; being whipp'd , -Bring him again ; this Jack of C sar's shall -Bear us an errand to him . - -You were half blasted ere I knew you : ha ! -Have I my pillow left unpress'd in Rome , -Forborne the getting of a lawful race , -And by a gem of women , to be abus'd -By one that looks on feeders ? - -Good my lord , - -You have been a boggler ever : -But when we in our viciousness grow hard , -O misery on 't !the wise gods seel our eyes ; -In our own filth drop our clear judgments ; make us -Adore our errors ; laugh at 's while we strut -To our confusion . - -O ! is't come to this ? - -I found you as a morsel , cold upon -Dead C sar's trencher ; nay , you were a fragment -Of Cneius Pompey's ; besides what hotter hours , -Unregister'd in vulgar fame , you have -Luxuriously pick'd out ; for , I am sure , -Though you can guess what temperance should be , -You know not what it is . - -Wherefore is this ? - -To let a fellow that will take rewards -And say 'God quit you !' be familiar with -My playfellow , your hand ; this kingly seal -And plighter of high hearts . O ! that I were -Upon the hill of Basan , to outroar -The horned herd ; for I have savage cause ; -And to proclaim it civilly were like -A halter'd neck , which does the hangman thank -For being yare about him . - -Is he whipp'd ? - -Soundly , my lord . - -Cried he ? and begg'd a' pardon ? - -He did ask favour . - -If that thy father live , let him repent -Thou wast not made his daughter ; and be thou sorry -To follow C sar in his triumph , since -Thou hast been whipp'd for following him : henceforth , -The white hand of a lady fever thee , -Shake thou to look on 't . Get thee back to C sar , -Tell him thy entertainment ; look , thou say -He makes me angry with him ; for he seems -Proud and disdainful , harping on what I am , -Not what he knew I was : he makes me angry ; -And at this time most easy 'tis to do 't , -When my good stars , that were my former guides , -Have empty left their orbs , and shot their fires -Into the abysm of hell . If he mislike -My speech and what is done , tell him he has -Hipparchus , my enfranched bondman , whom -He may at pleasure whip , or hang , or torture , -As he shall like , to quit me : urge it thou : -Hence with thy stripes ; be gone ! - - -Have you done yet ? - -Alack ! our terrene moon -Is now eclips'd ; and it portends alone -The fall of Antony . - -I must stay his time . - -To flatter C sar , would you mingle eyes -With one that ties his points ? - -Not know me yet ? - -Cold-hearted toward me ? - -Ah ! dear , if I be so , -From my cold heart let heaven engender hail , -And poison it in the source ; and the first stone -Drop in my neck : as it determines , so -Dissolve my life . The next C sarion smite , -Till by degrees the memory of my womb , -Together with my brave Egyptians all , -By the discandying of this pelleted storm , -Lie graveless , till the flies and gnats of Nile -Have buried them for prey ! - -I am satisfied . -C sar sits down in Alexandria , where -I will oppose his fate . Our force by land -Hath nobly held ; our sever'd navy too -Have knit again , and fleet , threat'ning most sea-like . -Where hast thou been , my heart ? Dost thou hear , lady ? -If from the field I shall return once more -To kiss these lips , I will appear in blood ; -I and my sword will earn our chronicle : -There's hope in 't yet . - -That's my brave lord ! - -I will betreble-sinew'd , hearted , breath'd , -And fight maliciously ; for when mine hours -Were nice and lucky , men did ransom lives -Of me for jests ; but now I'll set my teeth , -And send to darkness all that stop me . Come , -Let's have one other gaudy night : call to me -All my sad captains ; fill our bowls once more ; -Let's mock the midnight bell . - -It is my birth-day : -I had thought to have held it poor ; but , since my lord -Is Antony again , I will be Cleopatra . - -We will yet do well . - -Call all his noble captains to my lord . - -Do so , we'll speak to them ; and to-night I'll force -The wine peep through their scars . Come on , my queen ; -There's sap in 't yet . The next time I do fight -I'll make death love me , for I will contend -Even with his pestilent scythe . - - -Now he'll outstare the lightning . To be furious -Is to be frighted out of fear , and in that mood -The dove will peck the estridge ; and I see still , -A diminution in our captain's brain -Restores his heart . When valour preys on reason -It eats the sword it fights with . I will seek -Some way to leave him . - -He calls me boy , and chides as he had power -To beat me out of Egypt ; my messenger -He hath whipp'd with rods ; dares me to personal combat , -C sar to Antony . Let the old ruffian know -I have many other ways to die ; meantime -Laugh at his challenge . - -C sar must think , -When one so great begins to rage , he's hunted -Even to falling . Give him no breath , but now -Make boot of his distraction : never anger -Made good guard for itself . - -Let our best heads -Know that to-morrow the last of many battles -We mean to fight . Within our files there are , -Of those that serv'd Mark Antony but late , -Enough to fetch him in . See it done ; -And feast the army ; we have store to do 't , -And they have earn'd the waste . Poor Antony ! - - -He will not fight with me , Domitius . - -No . - -Why should he not ? - -He thinks , being twenty times of better fortune , -He is twenty men to one . - -To-morrow , soldier , -By sea and land I'll fight : or I will live , -Or bathe my dying honour in the blood -Shall make it live again . Woo't thou fight well ? - -I'll strike , and cry , 'Take all .' - -Well said ; come on . -Call forth my household servants ; let's to-night -Be bounteous at our meal . - - -Give me thy hand , -Thou hast been rightly honest ; so hast thou ; -Thou ; and thou , and thou : you have serv'd me well , - -And kings have been your fellows . - -What means this ? - -'Tis one of those odd tricks which sorrow shoots -Out of the mind . - -And thou art honest too . -I wish I could be made so many men , -And all of you clapp'd up together in -An Antony , that I might do you service -So good as you have done . - -The gods forbid ! - -Well , my good fellows , wait on me to-night , -Scant not my cups , and make as much of me -As when mine empire was your fellow too , -And suffer'd my command . - -What does he mean ? - -To make his followers weep . - -Tend me to-night ; -May be it is the period of your duty : -Haply , you shall not see me more ; or if , -A mangled shadow : perchance to-morrow -You'll serve another master . I look on you -As one that takes his leave . Mine honest friends , -I turn you not away ; but , like a master -Married to your good service , stay till death . -Tend me to-night two hours , I ask no more , -And the gods yield you for 't ! - -What mean you , sir , -To give them this discomfort ? Look , they weep ; -And I , an ass , am onion-ey'd : for shame , -Transform us not to women . - -Ho , ho , ho ! -Now , the witch take me , if I meant it thus ! -Grace grow where those drops fall ! My hearty friends , -You take me in too dolorous a sense , -For I spake to you for your comfort ; did desire you -To burn this night with torches . Know , my hearts , -I hope well of to-morrow ; and will lead you -Where rather I'll expect victorious life -Than death and honour . Let's to supper , come , -And drown consideration . - - -Brother , good night ; to-morrow is the day . - -It will determine one way ; fare you well . -Heard you of nothing strange about the streets ? - -Nothing . What news ? - -Belike , 'tis but a rumour . Good night to you . - -Well , sir , good night . - - -Soldiers , have careful watch . - -And you . Good night , good night . - - -Here we : - -And if to-morrow -Our navy thrive , I have an absolute hope -Our landmen will stand up . - -'Tis a brave army , -And full of purpose . - - -Peace ! what noise ? - -List , list ! - -Hark ! - -Music i' the air . - -Under the earth . - -It signs well , does it not ? - -No . - -Peace , I say ! -What should this mean ? - -'Tis the god Hercules , whom Antony lov'd , -Now leaves him . - -Walk ; let's see if other watchmen -Do hear what we do . - - -How now , masters ! - -How now ! -How now !do you hear this ? - -Ay ; is 't not strange ? - -Do you hear , masters ? do you hear ? - -Follow the noise so far as we have quarter ; -Let's see how 't will give off . - -Content .'Tis strange . - - -Eros ! mine armour , Eros ! - -Sleep a little . - -No , my chuck . Eros , come ; mine armour , Eros ! - -Come , good fellow , put mine iron on : -If Fortune be not ours to-day , it is -Because we brave her . Come . - -Nay , I'll help too . -What's this for ? - -Ah ! let be , let be ; thou art -The armourer of my heart : false , false ; this , this . - -Sooth , la ! I'll help : thus it must be . - -Well , well ; -We shall thrive now . Seest thou , my good fellow ? -Go put on thy defences . - -Briefly , sir . - -Is not this buckled well ? - -Rarely , rarely : -He that unbuckles this , till we do please -To daff 't for our repose , shall hear a storm . -Thou fumblest , Eros ; and my queen's a squire -More tight at this than thou : dispatch . O love ! -That thou couldst see my wars to-day , and knew'st -The royal occupation , thou shouldst see -A workman in 't . - - -Good morrow to thee ; welcome ; -Thou look'st like him that knows a war-like charge : -To business that we love we rise betime , - -And go to 't with delight . - -A thousand , sir , -Early though 't be , have on their riveted trim , -And at the port expect you . - -The morn is fair . Good morrow , general . - -Good morrow , general . - -'Tis well blown , lads . -This morning , like the spirit of a youth -That means to be of note , begins betimes . -So , so ; come , give me that : this way ; well said . -Fare thee well , dame , whate'er becomes of me ; -This is a soldier's kiss . - -Rebukeable -And worthy shameful check it were , to stand -On more mechanic compliment ; I'll leave thee -Now , like a man of steel . You that will fight , -Follow me close ; I'll bring you to 't . Adieu . - - -Please you , retire to your chamber . - -Lead me . -He goes forth gallantly . That he and C sar might -Determine this great war in single fight ! -Then , Antony ,but now .Well , on . - - -The gods make this a happy day to Antony ! - -Would thou and those thy scars had once prevail'd -To make me fight at land ! - -Hadst thou done so , -The kings that have revolted , and the soldier -That has this morning left thee , would have still -Follow'd thy heels . - -Who's gone this morning ? - -Who ! -One ever near thee : call for Enobarbus , -He shall not hear thee ; or from C sar's camp -Say , 'I am none of thine .' - -What sayst thou ? - -Sir , -He is with C sar . - -Sir , his chests and treasure -He has not with him . - -Is he gone ? - -Most certain . - -Go , Eros , send his treasure after ; do it ; -Detain no jot , I charge thee . Write to him -I will subscribe gentle adieus and greetings ; -Say that I wish he never find more cause -To change a master . O ! my fortunes have -Corrupted honest men . Dispatch . Enobarbus ! - - -Go forth , Agrippa , and begin the fight : -Our will is Antony be took alive ; -Make it so known . - -C sar , I shall . - - -The time of universal peace is near : -Prove this a prosperous day , the three-nook'd world -Shall bear the olive freely . - - -Antony -Is come into the field . - -Go charge Agrippa -Plant those that have revolted in the van , -That Antony may seem to spend his fury -Upon himself . - - -Alexas did revolt , and went to Jewry on -Affairs of Antony ; there did persuade -Great Herod to incline himself to C sar , -And leave his master Antony : for this pains -C sar hath hang'd him . Canidius and the rest -That fell away have entertainment , but -No honourable trust . I have done ill , -Of which I do accuse myself so sorely -That I will joy no more . - - -Enobarbus , Antony -Hath after thee sent all thy treasure , with -His bounty overplus : the messenger -Came on my guard ; and at thy tent is now -Unloading of his mules . - -I give it you . - -Mock not , Enobarbus . -I tell you true : best you saf'd the bringer -Out of the host ; I must attend mine office -Or would have done 't myself . Your emperor -Continues still a Jove . - - -I am alone the villain of the earth , -And feel I am so most . O Antony ! -Thou mine of bounty , how wouldst thou have paid -My better service , when my turpitude -Thou dost so crown with gold ! This blows my heart : -If swift thought break it not , a swifter mean -Shall outstrike thought ; but thought will do 't , I feel . -I fight against thee ! No : I will go seek -Some ditch , wherein to die ; the foul'st best fits -My latter part of life . - - -Retire , we have engag'd ourselves too far . -C sar himself has work , and our oppression -Exceeds what we expected . - -O my brave emperor , this is fought indeed ! -Had we done so at first , we had droven them home -With clouts about their heads . - -Thou bleed'st apace . - -I had a wound here that was like a T , -But now 'tis made an H . - -They do retire . - -We'll beat 'em into bench-holes : I have yet -Room for six scotches more . - - -They are beaten , sir ; and our advantage serves -For a fair victory . - -Let us score their backs , -And snatch 'em up , as we take hares , behind : -'Tis sport to maul a runner . - -I will reward thee -Once for thy sprightly comfort , and ten-fold -For thy good valour . Come thee on . - -I'll halt after . - - -We have beat him to his camp ; run one before -And let the queen know of our gests . To-morrow , -Before the sun shall see 's , we'll spill the blood -That has to-day escap'd . I thank you all ; -For doughty-handed are you , and have fought -Not as you serv'd the cause , but as 't had been -Each man's like mine ; you have shown all Hectors . -Enter the city , clip your wives , your friends , -Tell them your feats ; whilst they with joyful tears -Wash the congealment from your wounds , and kiss -The honour'd gashes whole . - -Give me thy hand : - - -To this great fairy I'll commend thy acts , -Make her thanks bless thee . O thou day o' the world ! -Chain mine arm'd neck ; leap thou , attire and all , -Through proof of harness to my heart , and there - -Ride on the pants triumphing . - -Lord of lords ! -O infinite virtue ! com'st thou smiling from -The world's great snare uncaught ? - -My nightingale , -We have beat them to their beds . What , girl ! though grey -Do something mingle with our younger brown , yet ha' we -A brain that nourishes our nerves , and can -Get goal for goal of youth . Behold this man ; -Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand : -Kiss it , my warrior : he hath fought to-day -As if a god , in hate of mankind , had -Destroy'd in such a shape . - -I'll give thee , friend , -An armour all of gold ; it was a king's . - -He has deserv'd it , were it carbuncled -Like holy Ph bus' car . Give me thy hand : -Through Alexandria make a jolly march ; -Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them : -Had our great palace the capacity -To camp this host , we all would sup together -And drink carouses to the next day's fate , -Which promises royal peril . Trumpeters , -With brazen din blast you the city's ear , -Make mingle with our rattling tabourines , -That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together , -Applauding our approach . - - -If we be not reliev'd within this hour , -We must return to the court of guard : the night -Is shiny , and they say we shall embattle -By the second hour i' the morn . - -This last day was -A shrewd one to 's . - - -O ! bear me witness , night , - -What man is this ? - -Stand close and list him . - -Be witness to me , O thou blessed moon , -When men revolted shall upon record -Bear hateful memory , poor Enobarbus did -Before thy face repent ! - -Enobarbus ! - -Peace ! -Hark further . - -O sovereign mistress of true melancholy , -The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me , -That life , a very rebel to my will , -May hang no longer on me ; throw my heart -Against the flint and hardness of my fault , -Which , being dried with grief , will break to powder , -And finish all foul thoughts . O Antony ! -Nobler than my revolt is infamous , -Forgive me in thine own particular ; -But let the world rank me in register -A master-leaver and a fugitive . -O Antony ! O Antony ! - - -Let's speak to him . - -Let's hear him , for the things he speaks -May concern C sar . - -Let's do so . But he sleeps . - -Swounds rather ; for so bad a prayer as his -Was never yet for sleep . - -Go we to him . - -Awake , sir , awake ! speak to us . - -Hear you , sir ? - -The Land of death hath raught him . - -Hark ! the drums -Demurely wake the sleepers . Let us bear him -To the court of guard ; he is of note : our hour -Is fully out . - -Come on , then ; -He may recover yet . - -Their preparation is to-day by sea ; -We please them not by land . - -For both , my lord . - -I would they'd fight i' the fire or i' the air ; -We'd fight there too . But this it is ; our foot -Upon the hills adjoining to the city -Shall stay with us ; order for sea is given , -They have put forth the haven , -Where their appointment we may best discover -And look on their endeavour . - -But being charg'd , we will be still by land , -Which , as I take 't , we shall ; for his best force -Is forth to man his galleys . To the vales , -And hold our best advantage ! - -Yet they are not join'd . Where yond pine does stand -I shall discover all ; I'll bring thee word -Straight how 'tis like to go . - - -Swallows have built -In Cleopatra's sails their nests ; the augurers -Say they know not , they cannot tell ; look grimly , -And dare not speak their knowledge . Antony -Is valiant , and dejected ; and , by starts , -His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear -Of what he has and has not . - -All is lost ! -This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me ; -My fleet hath yielded to the foe , and yonder -They cast their caps up and carouse together -Like friends long lost . Triple-turn'd whore ! 'tis thou -Hast sold me to this novice , and my heart -Makes only wars on thee . Bid them all fly ; -For when I am reveng'd upon my charm , -I have done all . Bid them all fly ; be gone . - -O sun ! thy uprise shall I see no more ; -Fortune and Antony part here ; even here -Do we shake hands . All come to this ? The hearts -That spaniel'd me at heels , to whom I gave -Their wishes , do discandy , melt their sweets -On blossoming C sar ; and this pine is bark'd , -That overtopp'd them all . Betray'd I am . -O this false soul of Egypt ! this grave charm , -Whose eyes beck'd forth my wars , and call'd them home , -Whose bosom was my crownet , my chief end , -Like a right gipsy , hath , at fast and loose , -Beguil'd me to the very heart of loss . -What , Eros ! Eros ! - -Ah ! thou spell . Avaunt ! - -Why is my lord enrag'd against his love ? - -Vanish , or I shall give thee thy deserving , -And blemish C sar's triumph . Let him take thee , -And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians ; -Follow his chariot , like the greatest spot -Of all thy sex ; most monster-like , be shown -For poor'st diminutives , for doits ; and let -Patient Octavia plough thy visage up -With her prepared nails . - -'Tis well thou'rt gone , -If it be well to live ; but better 'twere -Thou fell'st into my fury , for one death -Might have prevented many . Eros , ho ! -The shirt of Nessus is upon me ; teach me , -Alcides , thou mine ancestor , thy rage ; -Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon ; -And with those hands , that grasp'd the heaviest club , -Subdue my worthiest self . The witch shall die : -To the young Roman boy she hath sold me , and I fall -Under this plot ; she dies for 't . Eros , ho ! - -Help me , my women ! O ! he is more mad -Than Telamon for his shield ; the boar of Thessaly -Was never so emboss'd . - -To the monument ! -There lock yourself , and send him word you are dead . -The soul and body rive not more in parting -Than greatness going off . - -To the monument ! -Mardian , go tell him I have slain myself ; -Say that the last I spoke was 'Antony ,' -And word it , prithee , piteously . Hence , -Mardian , and bring me how he takes my death . -To the monument ! - -Eros , thou yet behold'st me ? - -Ay , noble lord . - -Sometimes we see a cloud that's dragonish ; -A vapour sometime like a bear or lion , -A tower'd citadel , a pendant rock , -A forked mountain , or blue promontory -With trees upon 't , that nod unto the world -And mock our eyes with air : thou hast seen these signs ; -They are black vesper's pageants . - -Ay , my lord . - -That which is now a horse , even with a thought -The rack dislimns , and makes it indistinct , -As water is in water . - -It does , my lord . - -My good knave , Eros , now thy captain is -Even such a body : here I am Antony ; -Yet cannot hold this visible shape , my knave . -I made these wars for Egypt ; and the queen , -Whose heart I thought I had , for she had mine , -Which whilst it was mine had annex'd unto 't -A million more , now lost ; she , Eros , has -Pack'd cards with C sar , and false-play'd my glory -Unto an enemy's triumph . -Nay , weep not , gentle Eros ; there is left us -Ourselves to end ourselves . - - -O ! thy vile lady ; - -She has robb'd me of my sword . - -No , Antony ; -My mistress lov'd thee , and her fortunes mingled -With thine entirely . - -Hence , saucy eunuch ; peace ! -She hath betray'd me and shall die the death . - -Death of one person can be paid but once , -And that she has discharg'd . What thou wouldst do -Is done unto thy hand ; the last she spake -Was , 'Antony ! most noble Antony !' -Then in the midst a tearing groan did break -The name of Antony ; it was divided -Between her heart and lips . She render'd life , -Thy name so buried in her . - -Dead , then ? - -Dead . - -Unarm , Eros ; the long day's task is done , -And we must sleep . - -That thou depart'st hence safe , -Does pay thy labour richly ; go . - -Off , pluck off : -The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep -The battery from my heart . O ! cleave , my sides ; -Heart , once be stronger than thy continent , -Crack thy frail case ! Apace , Eros , apace . -No more a soldier ; bruised pieces , go ; -You have been nobly borne . From me awhile . - -I will o'ertake thee , Cleopatra , and -Weep for my pardon . So it must be , for now -All length is torture ; since the torch is out , -Lie down , and stray no further . Now all labour -Mars what it does ; yea , very force entangles -Itself with strength ; seal then , and all is done . -Eros !I come , my queen .Eros !Stay for me : -Where souls do couch on flowers , we'll hand in hand , -And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze ; -Dido and her neas shall want troops , -And all the haunt be ours . Come , Eros ! Eros ! - - -What would my lord ? - -Since Cleopatra died , -I have liv'd in such dishonour , that the gods -Detest my baseness . I , that with my sword -Quarter'd the world , and o'er green Neptune's back -With ships made cities , condemn myself to lack -The courage of a woman ; less noble mind -Than she , which by her death our C sar tells -'I am conqueror of myself .' Thou art sworn , Eros , -That , when the exigent should come ,which now -Is come indeed ,when I should see behind me -The inevitable prosecution of -Disgrace and horror , that , on my command , -Thou then wouldst kill me : do 't ; the time is come . -Thou strik'st not me , 'tis C sar thou defeat'st . -Put colour in thy cheek . - -The gods withhold me ! -Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts , -Though enemy , lost aim and could not ? - -Eros , -Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome , and see -Thy master thus with pleach'd arms , bending down -His corrigible neck , his face subdu'd -To penetrative shame , whilst the wheel'd seat -Of fortunate C sar , drawn before him , branded -His baseness that ensu'd ? - -I would not see't . - -Come , then ; for with a wound I must be cur'd . -Draw that thy honest sword , which thou hast worn -Most useful for thy country . - -O , sir ! pardon me . - -When I did make thee free , swor'st thou not then -To do this when I bade thee ? Do it at once , -Or thy precedent services are all -But accidents unpurpos'd . Draw , and come . - -Turn from me then that noble countenance , -Wherein the worship of the whole world lies . - -Lo thee ! - - -My sword is drawn . - -Then let it do at once -The thing why thou hast drawn it . - -My dear master , -My captain , and my emperor , let me say , -Before I strike this bloody stroke , farewell . - -'Tis said , man ; and farewell . - -Farewell , great chief . Shall I strike now ? - -Now , Eros . - -Why , there then ; thus do I escape the sorrow - -Of Antony's death . - -Thrice-nobler than myself ! -Thou teachest me , O valiant Eros , what -I should , and thou couldst not . My queen and Eros -Have by their brave instruction got upon me -A nobleness in record ; but I will be -A bridegroom in my death , and run into 't -As to a lover's bed . Come , then ; and , Eros , -Thy master dies thy scholar : to do thus - -I learn'd of thee . How ! not dead ? not dead ? -The guard , ho ! O ! dispatch me . - - -What's the noise ? - -I have done my work ill , friends : O ! make an end -Of what I have begun . - -The star is fallen . - -And time is at his period . - -Alas , and woe ! - -Let him that loves me strike me dead . - -Not I . - -Nor I . - -Nor any one . - - -Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers fly . -This sword but shown to C sar , with this tidings , -Shall enter me with him . - - -Where's Antony ? - -There , Diomed , there . - -Lives he ? -Wilt thou not answer , man ? - - -Art thou there , Diomed ? Draw thy sword , and give me -Sufficing strokes for death . - -Most absolute lord , -My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee . - -When did she send thee ? - -Now , my lord . - -Where is she ? - -Lock'd in her monument . She had a prophesying fear -Of what hath come to pass ; for when she saw -Which never shall be found you did suspect -She had dispos'd with C sar , and that your rage -Would not be purg'd , she sent you word she was dead ; -But , fearing since how it might work , hath sent -Me to proclaim the truth ; and I am come , -I dread , too late . - -Too late , good Diomed . Call my guard , I prithee . - -What , ho ! the emperor's guard ! The guard , what , ho ! -Come , your lord calls ! - - -Bear me , good friends , where Cleopatra bides ; -'Tis the last service that I shall command you . - -Woe , woe are we , sir , you may not live to wear -All your true followers out . - -Most heavy day ! - -Nay , good my fellows , do not please sharp fate -To grace it with your sorrows ; bid that welcome -Which comes to punish us , and we punish it -Seeming to bear it lightly . Take me up ; -I have led you oft ; carry me now , good friends , -And have my thanks for all . - -O Charmian ! I will never go from hence . - -Be comforted , dear madam . - -No , I will not . -All strange and terrible events are welcome , -But comforts we despise ; our size of sorrow , -Proportion'd to our cause , must be as great -As that which makes it . - -How now ! is he dead ? - -His death's upon him , but not dead . -Look out o' the other side your monument ; -His guard have brought him thither . - - -O sun ! -Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in ; darkling stand -The varying star o' the world . O Antony , -Antony , Antony ! Help , Charmian , help , Iras , help ; -Help , friends below ! let's draw him hither . - -Peace ! -Not C sar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony , -But Antony's hath triumph'd on itself . - -So it should be , that none but Antony -Should conquer Antony ; but woe 'tis so ! - -I am dying , Egypt , dying ; only -I here importune death awhile , until -Of many thousand kisses the poor last -I lay upon thy lips . - -I dare not , dear , -Dear my lord , pardon ,I dare not , -Lest I be taken : not the imperious show -Of the full-fortun'd C sar ever shall -Be brooch'd with me ; if knife , drugs , serpents , have -Edge , sting , or operation , I am safe : -Your wife Octavia , with her modest eyes -And still conclusion , shall acquire no honour -Demuring upon me . But come , come , Antony , -Help me , my women ,we must draw thee up . -Assist , good friends . - -O ! quick , or I am gone . - -Here's sport indeed ! How heavy weighs my lord ! -Our strength is all gone into heaviness , -That makes the weight . Had I great Juno's power , -The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up , -And set thee by Jove's side . Yet come a little , -Wishers were ever fools . O ! come , come , come ; - -And welcome , welcome ! die where thou hastliv'd ; -Quicken with kissing ; had my lips that power , -Thus would I wear them out . - -A heavy sight ! - -I am dying , Egypt , dying : -Give me some wine , and let me speak a little . - -No , let me speak ; and let me rail so high , -That the false housewife Fortune break her wheel , -Provok'd by my offence . - -One word , sweet queen . -Of C sar seek your honour with your safety . O ! - -They do not go together . - -Gentle , hear me : -None about C sar trust , but Proculeius . - -My resolution and my hands I'll trust ; -None about C sar . - -The miserable change now at my end -Lament nor sorrow at ; but please your thoughts -In feeding them with those my former fortunes -Wherein I liv'd , the greatest prince o' the world , -The noblest ; and do now not basely die , -Not cowardly put off my helmet to -My countryman ; a Roman by a Roman -Valiantly vanquish'd . Now my spirit is going ; -I can no more . - -Noblest of men , woo 't die ? -Hast thou no care of me ? shall I abide -In this dull world , which in thy absence is -No better than a sty ? O ! see my women , - -The crown o' the earth doth melt . My lord ! -O ! wither'd is the garland of the war , -The soldier's pole is fall'n ; young boys and girls -Are level now with men ; the odds is gone , -And there is nothing left remarkable -Beneath the visiting moon . - - -O , quietness , lady ! - -She is dead too , our sovereign . - -Lady ! - -Madam ! - -O madam , madam , madam ! - -Royal Egypt ! -Empress ! - -Peace , peace , Iras ! - -No more , but e'en a woman , and commanded -By such poor passion as the maid that milks -And does the meanest chares . It were for me -To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods ; -To tell them that this world did equal theirs -Till they had stol'n our jewel . All's but naught ; -Patience is sottish , and impatience does -Become a dog that's mad ; then is it sin -To rush into the secret house of death , -Ere death dare come to us ? How do you , women ? -What , what ! good cheer ! Why , how now , Charmian ! -My noble girls ! Ah , women , women , look ! -Our lamp is spent , it's out . Good sirs , take heart ; -We'll bury him ; and then , what's brave , what's noble , -Let's do it after the high Roman fashion , -And make death proud to take us . Come , away ; -This case of that huge spirit now is cold ; -Ah ! women , women . Come ; we have no friend -But resolution , and the briefest end . - -Go to him , Dolabella , bid him yield ; -Being so frustrate , tell him he mocks -The pauses that he makes . - -C sar , I shall . - -Wherefore is that ? and what art thou that dar'st -Appear thus to us ? - -I am call'd Dercetas ; -Mark Antony I serv'd , who best was worthy -Best to be serv'd ; whilst he stood up and spoke -He was my master , and I wore my life -To spend upon his haters . If thou please -To take me to thee , as I was to him -I'll be to C sar ; if thou pleasest not , -I yield thee up my life . - -What is 't thou sayst ? - -I say , O C sar , Antony is dead . - -The breaking of so great a thing should make -A greater crack ; the round world -Should have shook lions into civil streets , -And citizens to their dens . The death of Antony -Is not a single doom ; in the name lay -A moiety of the world . - -He is dead , C sar ; -Not by a public minister of justice , -Nor by a hired knife ; but that self hand , -Which writ his honour in the acts it did , -Hath , with the courage which the heart did lend it , -Splitted the heart . This is his sword ; -I robb'd his wound of it ; behold it stain'd -With his most noble blood . - -Look you sad , friends ? -The gods rebuke me , but it is tidings -To wash the eyes of kings . - -And strange it is , -That nature must compel us to lament -Our most persisted deeds . - -His taints and honours -Wag'd equal with him . - -A rarer spirit never -Did steer humanity ; but you , gods , will give us -Some faults to make us men . C sar is touch'd . - -When such a spacious mirror's set before him , -He needs must see himself . - -O Antony ! -I have follow'd thee to this ; but we do lance -Diseases in our bodies : I must perforce -Have shown to thee such a declining day , -Or look on thine ; we could not stall together -In the whole world . But yet let me lament , -With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts , -That thou , my brother , my competitor -In top of all design , my mate in empire , -Friend and companion in the front of war , -The arm of mine own body , and the heart -Where mine his thoughts did kindle , that our stars , -Unreconciliable , should divide -Our equalness to this . Hear me , good friends , - - -But I will tell you at some meeter season : -The business of this man looks out of him ; - -We'll hear him what he says . Whence are you ? - -A poor Egyptian yet . The queen my mistress , -Confin'd in all she has , her monument , -Of thy intents desires instruction , -That she preparedly may frame herself -To the way she's forc'd to . - -Bid her have good heart ; -She soon shall know of us , by some of ours , -How honourable and how kindly we -Determine for her ; for C sar cannot live -To be ungentle . - -So the gods preserve thee ! - - -Come hither , Proculeius . Go and say , -We purpose her no shame ; give her what comforts -The quality of her passion shall require , -Lest , in her greatness , by some mortal stroke -She do defeat us ; for her life in Rome -Would be eternal in our triumph . Go , -And with your speediest bring us what she says , -And how you find of her . - -C sar , I shall . - - -Gallus , go you along . - -To second Proculeius ? - -Dolabella ! - -Dolabella ! - -Let him alone , for I remember now -How he's employ'd , he shall in time be ready . -Go with me to my tent ; where you shall see -How hardly I was drawn into this war ; -How calm and gentle I proceeded still -In all my writings . Go with me , and see -What I can show in this . - - -My desolation does begin to make -A better life . 'Tis paltry to be C sar ; -Not being Fortune , he's but Fortune's knave , -A minister of her will ; and it is great -To do that thing that ends all other deeds , -Which shackles accidents , and bolts up change , -Which sleeps , and never palates more the dug , -The beggar's nurse and C sar's . - - -C sar sends greeting to the Queen of Egypt ; -And bids thee study on what fair demands -Thou mean'st to have him grant thee . - -What's thy name ? - -My name is Proculeius . - -Antony -Did tell me of you , bade me trust you ; but -I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd , -That have no use for trusting . If your master -Would have a queen his beggar , you must tell him , -That majesty , to keep decorum , must -No less beg than a kingdom ; if he please -To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son , -He gives me so much of mine own as I -Will kneel to him with thanks . - -Be of good cheer ; -You're fall'n into a princely hand , fear nothing . -Make your full reference freely to my lord , -Who is so full of grace , that it flows over -On all that need ; let me report to him -Your sweet dependancy , and you shall find -A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness -Where he for grace is kneel'd to . - -Pray you , tell him -I am his fortune's vassal , and I send him -The greatness he has got . I hourly learn -A doctrine of obedience , and would gladly -Look him i' the face . - -This I'll report , dear lady : -Have comfort , for I know your plight is pitied -Of him that caus'd it . - -You see how easily she may be surpris'd . - - -Guard her till C sar come . - -Royal queen ! - -O Cleopatra ! thou art taken , queen . - -Quick , quick , good hands . - - -Hold , worthy lady , hold ! - -Do not yourself such wrong , who are in this -Reliev'd , but not betray'd . - -What , of death too , -That rids our dogs of languish ? - -Cleopatra , -Do not abuse my master's bounty by -The undoing of yourself ; let the world see -His nobleness well acted , which your death -Will never let come forth . - -Where art thou , death ? -Come hither , come ! come , come , and take a queen -Worth many babes and beggars ! - -O ! temperance , lady . - -Sir , I will eat no meat , I'll not drink , sir ; -If idle talk will once be necessary , -I'll not sleep neither . This mortal house I'll ruin , -Do C sar what he can . Know , sir , that I -Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court , -Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye -Of dull Octavia . Shall they hoist me up -And show me to the shouting varletry -Of censuring Rome ? Rather a ditch in Egypt -Be gentle grave unto me ! rather on Nilus' mud -Lay me stark nak'd , and let the water-flies -Blow me into abhorring ! rather make -My country's high pyramides my gibbet , -And hang me up in chains ! - -You do extend -These thoughts of horror further than you shall -Find cause in C sar . - - -Proculeius , -What thou hast done thy master C sar knows , -And he hath sent for thee ; as for the queen , -I'll take her to my guard . - -So , Dolabella , -It shall content me best ; be gentle to her . - - -To C sar I will speak what you shall please , -If you'll employ me to him . - -Say , I would die . - - -Most noble empress , you have heard of me ? - -I cannot tell . - -Assuredly you know me . - -No matter , sir , what I have heard or known . -You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams ; -Is 't not your trick ? - -I understand not , madam . - -I dream'd there was an Emperor Antony : -O ! such another sleep , that I might see -But such another man . - -If it might please ye , - -His face was as the heavens , and therein stuck -A sun and moon , which kept their course , and lighted -The little O , the earth . - -Most sovereign creature , - -His legs besfrid the ocean ; his rear'd arm -Crested the world ; his voice was propertied -As all the tuned spheres , and that to friends ; -But when he meant to quail and shake the orb , -He was as rattling thunder . For his bounty , -There was no winter in 't , an autumn 'twas -That grew the more by reaping ; his delights -Were dolphin-like , they show'd his back above -The element they liv'd in ; in his livery -Walk'd crowns and crownets , realms and islands were -As plates dropp'd from his pocket . - -Cleopatra , - -Think you there was , or might be , such a man -As this I dream'd of ? - -Gentle madam , no . - -You lie , up to the hearing of the gods . -But , if there be , or ever were , one such , -It's past the size of dreaming ; nature wants stuff -To vie strange forms with fancy ; yet to imagine -An Antony were nature's piece 'gainst fancy , -Condemning shadows quite . - -Hear me , good madam . -Your loss is as yourself , great ; and you bear it -As answering to the weight : would I might never -O'ertake pursu'd success , but I do feel , -By the rebound of yours , a grief that smites -My very heart at root . - -I thank you , sir . -Know you what C sar means to do with me ? - -I am loath to tell you what I would you knew . - -Nay , pray you , sir , - -Though he be honourable , - -He'll lead me then in triumph ? - -Madam , he will ; I know 't . - -Which is the Queen of Egypt ? - -It is the emperor , madam . - - -Arise , you shall not kneel . -I pray you , rise ; rise , Egypt . - -Sir , the gods -Will have it thus ; my master and my lord -I must obey . - -Take to you no hard thoughts ; -The record of what injuries you did us , -Though written in our flesh , we shall remember -As things but done by chance . - -Sole sir o' the world , -I cannot project mine own cause so well -To make it clear ; but do confess I have -Been laden with like frailties which before -Have often sham'd our sex . - -Cleopatra , know , -We will extenuate rather than enforce : -If you apply yourself to our intents , -Which towards you are most gentle ,you shall find -A benefit in this change ; but if you seek -To lay on me a cruelty , by taking -Antony's course , you shall bereave yourself -Of my good purposes , and put your children -To that destruction which I'll guard them from , -If thereon you rely . I'll take my leave . - -And may through all the world : 'tis yours ; and we , -Your scutcheons , and your signs of conquest , shall -Hang in what place you please . Here , my good lord . - -You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra . - -This is the brief of money , plate , and jewels , -I am possess'd of : 'tis exactly valued ; -Not petty things admitted . Where's Seleucus ? - -Here , madam . - -This is my treasurer ; let him speak , my lord , -Upon his peril , that I have reserv'd -To myself nothing . Speak the truth , Seleucus . - -Madam , -I had rather seal my lips , than , to my peril , -Speak that which is not . - -What have I kept back ? - -Enough to purchase what you have made known . - -Nay , blush not , Cleopatra ; I approve -Your wisdom in the deed . - -See ! C sar ! O , behold , -How pomp is follow'd ; mine will now be yours ; -And , should we shift estates , yours would be mine . -The ingratitude of this Seleucus does -Even make me wild . O slave ! of no more trust -Than love that's hir'd . What ! goest thou back ? thou shalt -Go back , I warrant thee ; but I'll catch thine eyes , -Though they had wings : slave , soulless villain , dog ! -O rarely base ! - -Good queen , let us entreat you . - -O C sar ! what a wounding shame is this , -That thou , vouchsafing here to visit me , -Doing the honour of thy lordliness -To one so meek , that mine own servant should -Parcel the sum of my disgraces by -Addition of his envy . Say , good C sar , -That I some lady trifles have reserv'd , -Immoment toys , things of such dignity -As we greet modern friends withal ; and say , -Some nobler token I have kept apart -For Livia and Octavia , to induce -Their mediation ; must I be unfolded -With one that I have bred ? The gods ! it smites me -Beneath the fall I have . - -Prithee , go hence ; -Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits -Through the ashes of my chance . Wert thou a man , -Thou wouldst have mercy on me . - -Forbear , Seleucus . - - -Be it known that we , the greatest , are misthought -For things that others do ; and , when we fall , -We answer others' merits in our name , -Are therefore to be pitied . - -Cleopatra , -Not what you have reserv'd , nor what acknowledg'd , -Put we i' the roll of conquest : still be 't yours , -Bestow it at your pleasure ; and believe , -C sar's no merchant , to make prize with you -Of things that merchants sold . Therefore be cheer'd ; -Make not your thoughts your prisons : no , dear queen ; -For we intend so to dispose you as -Yourself shall give us counsel . Feed , and sleep : -Our care and pity is so much upon you , -That we remain your friend ; and so , adieu . - -My master , and my lord ! - -Not so . Adieu . - - -He words me , girls , he words me , that I should not -Be noble to myself : but , hark thee , Charmian . - - -Finish , good lady ; the bright day is done , -And we are for the dark . - -Hie thee again : -I have spoke already , and it is provided ; -Go , put it to the haste . - -Madam , I will . - - -Where is the queen ? - -Behold , sir . - - -Dolabella ! - -Madam , as thereto sworn by your command , -Which my love makes religion to obey , -I tell you this : C sar through Syria -Intends his journey ; and within three days -You with your children will be send before . -Make your best use of this ; I have perform'd -Your pleasure and my promise . - -Dolabella , -I shall remain your debtor . - -I your servant . -Adieu , good queen ; I must attend on C sar . - -Farewell , and thanks . - -Now , Iras , what think'st thou ? -Thou , an Egyptian puppet , shall be shown -In Rome , as well as I ; mechanic slaves -With greasy aprons , rules and hammers , shall -Uplift us to the view ; in their thick breaths , -Rank of gross diet , shall we be enclouded , -And forc'd to drink their vapour . - -The gods forbid ! - -Nay , 'tis most certain , Iras . Saucy lictors -Will catch at us , like strumpets , and scald rimers -Ballad us out o' tune ; the quick comedians -Extemporally will stage us , and present -Our Alexandrian revels . Antony -Shall be brought drunken forth , and I shall see -Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness -I' the posture of a whore . - -O , the good gods ! - -Nay , that's certain . - -I'll never see it ; for , I am sure my nails -Are stronger than mine eyes . - -Why , that's the way -To fool their preparation , and to conquer -Their most absurd intents . - - -Now , Charmian , -Show me , my women , like a queen ; go fetch -My best attires ; I am again for Cydnus , -To meet Mark Antony . Sirrah Iras , go . -Now , noble Charmian , we'll dispatch indeed ; -And , when thou hast done this chare , I'll give thee leave -To play till doomsday . Bring our crown and all . - -Wherefore's this noise ? - -Here is a rural fellow -That will not be denied your highness' presence : -He brings you figs . - -Let him come in . - -What poor an instrument -May do a noble deed ! he brings me liberty . -My resolution's plac'd , and I have nothing -Of woman in me ; now from head to foot -I am marble-constant , now the fleeting moon -No planet is of mine . - - -This is the man . - -Avoid , and leave him . - -Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there , -That kills and pains not ? - -Truly , I have him ; but I would not be the party that should desire you to touch him , for his biting is immortal ; those that do die of it do seldom or never recover . - -Remember'st thou any that have died on 't ? - -Very many , men and women too . I heard of one of them no longer than yesterday ; a very honest woman , but something given to lie , as a woman should not do but in the way of honesty , how she died of the biting of it , what pain she felt . Truly , she makes a very good report o' the worm ; but he that will believe all that they say shall never be saved by half that they do . But this is most fallible , the worm's an odd worm . - -Get thee hence ; farewell . - -I wish you all joy of the worm . - - -Farewell . - -You must think this , look you , that the worm will do his kind . - -Ay , ay ; farewell . - -Look you , the worm is not to be trusted but in the keeping of wise people ; for indeed there is no goodness in the worm . - -Take thou no care ; it shall be heeded . - -Very good . Give it nothing , I pray you , for it is not worth the feeding . - -Will it eat me ? - -You must not think I am so simple but I know the devil himself will not eat a woman ; I know that a woman is a dish for the gods , if the devil dress her not . But , truly , these same whoreson devils do the gods great harm in their women , for in every ten that they make , the devils mar five . - -Well , get thee gone ; farewell . - -Yes , forsooth ; I wish you joy of the worm . - -Give me my robe , put on my crown ; I have -Immortal longings in me ; now no more -The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip . -Yare , yare , good Iras ; quick . Methinks I hear -Antony call ; I see him rouse himself -To praise my noble act ; I hear him mock -The luck of C sar , which the gods give men -To excuse their after wrath : husband , I come : -Now to that name my courage prove my title ! -I am fire , and air ; my other elements -I give to baser life . So ; have you done ? -Come then , and take the last warmth of my lips . -Farewell , kind Charmian ; Iras , long farewell . - -Have I the aspic in my lips ? Dost fall ? -If thou and nature can so gently part , -The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch , -Which hurts , and is desir'd . Dost thou lie still ? -If thus thou vanishest , thou tell'st the world -It is not worth leave-taking . - -Dissolve , thick cloud , and rain ; that I may say , -The gods themselves do weep . - -This proves me base : -If she first meet the curled Antony , -He'll make demand of her , and spend that kiss -Which is my heaven to have . Come , thou mortal wretch , - -With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate -Of life at once untie ; poor venomous fool , -Be angry , and dispatch . O ! couldst thou speak , -That I might hear thee call great C sar ass -Unpolicied . - -O eastern star ! - -Peace , peace ! -Dost thou not see my baby at my breast , -That sucks the nurse asleep ? - -O , break ! O , break ! - -As sweet as balm , as soft as air , as gentle , -O Antony !Nay , I will take thee too . - -What should I stay - - -In this vile world ? So , fare thee well . -Now boast thee , death , in thy possession lies -A lass unparallel'd . Downy windows , close ; -And golden Ph bus never be beheld -Of eyes again so royal ! Your crown's awry ; -I'll mend it , and then play . - - -Where is the queen ? - -Speak softly , wake her not . - -C sar hath sent - -Too slow a messenger . - -O ! come apace , dispatch ; I partly feel thee . - -Approach , ho ! All's not well ; C sar's beguil'd . - -There's Dolabella sent from C sar ; call him . - -What work is here ! Charmian , is this well done ? - -It is well done , and fitting for a princess -Descended of so many royal kings . -Ah ! soldier . - -How goes it here ? - -All dead . - -C sar , thy thoughts -Touch their effects in this ; thyself art coming -To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou -So sought'st to hinder . - -O ! sir , you are too sure an augurer ; -That you did fear is done . - -Bravest at the last , -She levell'd at our purposes , and , being royal , -Took her own way . The manner of their deaths ? -I do not see them bleed . - -Who was last with them ? - -A simple countryman that brought her figs : -This was his basket . - -Poison'd then . - -O C sar ! -This Charmian liv'd but now ; she stood , and spake : -I found her trimming up the diadem -On her dead mistress ; tremblingly she stood , -And on the sudden dropp'd . - -O noble weakness ! -If they had swallow'd poison 'twould appear -By external swelling ; but she looks like sleep , -As she would catch another Antony -In her strong toil of grace . - -Here , on her breast , -There is a vent of blood , and something blown ; -The like is on her arm . - -This is an aspic's trail ; and these fig-leaves -Have slime upon them , such as the aspic leaves -Upon the caves of Nile . - -Most probable -That so she died ; for her physician tells me -She hath pursu'd conclusions infinite -Of easy ways to die . Take up her bed ; -And bear her women from the monument . -She shall be buried by her Antony : -No grave upon the earth shall clip in it -A pair so famous . High events as these -Strike those that make them ; and their story is -No less in pity than his glory which -Brought them to be lamented . Our army shall , -In solemn show , attend this funeral , -And then to Rome . Come , Dolabella , see -High order in this great solemnity . - -CORIOLANUS - -Before we proceed any further , hear me speak . - -Speak , speak . - -You are all resolved rather to die than to famish ? - -Resolved , resolved . - -First , you know Caius Marcius is chief enemy to the people . - -We know't , we know't . - -Let us kill him , and we'll have corn at our own price . Is't a verdict ? - -No more talking on't ; let it be done . -Away , away ! - -One word , good citizens . - -We are accounted poor citizens , the patricians good . What authority surfeits on would relieve us . If they would yield us but the superfluity , while it were wholesome , we might guess they relieved us humanely ; but they think we are too dear : the leanness that afflicts us , the object of our misery , is as an inventory to particularise their abundance ; our sufferance is a gain to them . Let us revenge this with our pikes , ere we become rakes : for the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread , not in thirst for revenge . - -Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius ? - -Against him first : he's a very dog to the commonalty . - -Consider you what services he has done for his country ? - -Very well ; and could be content to give him good report for't , but that he pays himself with being proud . - -Nay , but speak not maliciously . - -I say unto you , what he hath done famously , he did it to that end : though soft-conscienced men can be content to say it was for his country , he did it to please his mother , and to be partly proud ; which he is , even to the altitude of his virtue . - -What he cannot help in his nature , you account a vice in him . You must in no way say he is covetous . - -If I must not , I need not be barren of accusations : he hath faults , with surplus , to tire in repetition . - -What shouts are these ? The other side o' the city is risen : why stay we prating here ? to the Capitol ! - -Come , come . - -Soft ! who comes here ? - - -Worthy Menenius Agrippa ; one that hath always loved the people . - -He's one honest enough : would all the rest were so ! - -What work's , my countrymen , in hand ? Where go you -With bats and clubs ? The matter ? Speak , I pray you . - -Our business is not unknown to the senate ; they have had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do , which now we'll show 'em in deeds . They say poor suitors have strong breaths : they shall know we have strong arms too . - -Why , masters , my good friends , mine honest neighbours , -Will you undo yourselves ? - -We cannot , sir ; we are undone already . - -I tell you , friends , most charitable care -Have the patricians of you . For your wants , -Your suffering in this dearth , you may as well -Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them -Against the Roman state , whose course will on -The way it takes , cracking ten thousand curbs -Of more strong link asunder than can ever -Appear in your impediment . For the dearth , -The gods , not the patricians , make it , and -Your knees to them , not arms , must help . Alack ! -You are transported by calamity -Thither where more attends you ; and you slander -The helms o' the state , who care for you like fathers , -When you curse them as enemies . - -Care for us ! True , indeed ! They ne'er cared for us yet : suffer us to famish , and their storehouses crammed with grain ; make edicts for usury , to support usurers ; repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich , and provide more piercing statutes daily to chain up and restrain the poor . If the wars eat us not up , they will ; and there's all the love they bear us . - -Either you must -Confess yourselves wondrous malicious , -Or be accus'd of folly . I shall tell you -A pretty tale : it may be you have heard it ; -But , since it serves my purpose , I will venture -To scale't a little more . - -Well , I'll hear it , sir ; yet you must not think to fob off our disgrace with a tale ; but , an't please you , deliver . - -There was a time when all the body's members -Rebell'd against the belly ; thus accus'd it : -That only like a gulf it did remain -I' the midst o' the body , idle and unactive , -Still cupboarding the viand , never bearing -Like labour with the rest , where the other instruments -Did see and hear , devise , instruct , walk , feel , -And , mutually participate , did minister -Unto the appetite and affection common -Of the whole body . The belly answer'd , - -Well , sir , what answer made the belly ? - -Sir , I shall tell you .With a kind of smile , -Which ne'er came from the lungs , but even thus -For , look you , I may make the belly smile -As well as speak it tauntingly replied -To the discontented members , the mutinous parts -That envied his receipt ; even so most fitly -As you malign our senators for that -They are not such as you . - -Your belly's answer ? What ! -The kingly crowned head , the vigilant eye , -The counsellor heart , the arm our soldier , -Our steed the leg , the tongue our trumpeter , -With other muniments and petty helps -In this our fabric , if that they - -What then ? -'Fore me , this fellow speaks ! what then ? what then ? - -Should by the cormorant belly be restrain'd , -Who is the sink o' the body , - -Well , what then ? - -The former agents , if they did complain , -What could the belly answer ? - -I will tell you ; -If you'll bestow a small , of what you have little , -Patience a while , you'll hear the belly's answer . - -You're long about it . - -Note me this , good friend ; -Your most grave belly was deliberate , -Not rash like his accusers , and thus answer'd : -'True is it , my incorporate friends ,' quoth he , -'That I receive the general food at first , -Which you do live upon ; and fit it is ; -Because I am the store-house and the shop -Of the whole body : but , if you do remember , -I send it through the rivers of your blood , -Even to the court , the heart , to the seat o' the brain ; -And , through the cranks and offices of man , -The strongest nerves and small inferior veins -From me receive that natural competency -Whereby they live . And though that all at once , -You , my good friends ,' this says the belly , mark me , - -Ay , sir ; well , well . - -'Though all at once cannot -See what I do deliver out to each , -Yet I can make my audit up , that all -From me do back receive the flour of all , -And leave me but the bran .' What say you to't ? - -It was an answer : how apply you this ? - -The senators of Rome are this good belly , -And you the mutinous members ; for , examine -Their counsels and their cares , digest things rightly -Touching the weal o' the common , you shall find -No public benefit which you receive -But it proceeds or comes from them to you , -And no way from yourselves . What do you think , -You , the great toe of this assembly ? - -I the great toe ? Why the great toe ? - -For that , being one o' the lowest , basest , poorest , -Of this most wise rebellion , thou go'st foremost : -Thou rascal , that art worst in blood to run , -Lead'st first to win some vantage . -But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs : -Rome and her rats are at the point of battle ; -The one side must have bale . - -Hail , noble Marcius ! - -Thanks .What's the matter , you dissentious rogues , -That , rubbing the poor itch of your opinion , -Make yourselves scabs ? - -We have ever your good word . - -He that will give good words to thee will flatter -Beneath abhorring . What would you have , you curs , -That like nor peace nor war ? the one affrights you , -The other makes you proud . He that trusts to you , -Where he should find you lions , finds you hares ; -Where foxes , geese : you are no surer , no , -Than is the coal of fire upon the ice , -Or hailstone in the sun . Your virtue is , -To make him worthy whose offence subdues him , -And curse that justice did it . Who deserves greatness -Deserves your hate ; and your affections are -A sick man's appetite , who desires most that -Which would increase his evil . He that depends -Upon your favours swims with fins of lead -And hews down oaks with rushes . Hang ye ! Trust ye ? -With every minute you do change a mind , -And call him noble that was now your hate , -Him vile that was your garland . What's the matter , -That in these several places of the city -You cry against the noble senate , who , -Under the gods , keep you in awe , which else -Would feed on one another ? What's their seeking ? - -For corn at their own rates ; whereof they say -The city is well stor'd . - -Hang 'em ! They say ! -They'll sit by the fire , and presume to know -What's done i' the Capitol ; who's like to rise , -Who thrives , and who declines ; side factions , and give out -Conjectural marriages ; making parties strong , -And feebling such as stand not in their liking , -Below their cobbled shoes . They say there's grain enough ! -Would the nobility lay aside their ruth , -And let me use my sword , I'd make a quarry -With thousands of these quarter'd slaves , as high -As I could pick my lance . - -Nay , these are almost thoroughly persuaded ; -For though abundantly they lack discretion , -Yet are they passing cowardly . But , I beseech you , -What says the other troop ? - -They are dissolv'd : hang 'em ! -They said they were an-hungry ; sigh'd forth proverbs : -That hunger broke stone walls ; that dogs must eat ; -That meat was made for mouths ; that the gods sent not -Corn for the rich men only . With these shreds -They vented their complainings ; which being answer'd , -And a petition granted them , a strange one , -To break the heart of generosity , -And make bold power look pale ,they threw their caps -As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon , -Shouting their emulation . - -What is granted them ? - -Five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms , -Of their own choice : one's Junius Brutus , -Sicinius Velutus , and I know not 'Sdeath ! -The rabble should have first unroof'd the city , -Ere so prevail'd with me ; it will in time -Win upon power , and throw forth greater themes -For insurrection's arguing . - -This is strange . - -Go ; get you home , you fragments ! - - -Where's Caius Marcius ? - -Here : what's the matter ? - -The news is , sir , the Volsces are in arms . - -I am glad on't ; then we shall ha' means to vent -Our musty superfluity . See , our best elders . - - -Marcius , 'tis true that you have lately told us ; -The Volsces are in arms . - -They have a leader , -Tullus Aufidius , that will put you to't . -I sin in envying his nobility , -And were I anything but what I am , -I would wish me only he . - -You have fought together . - -Were half to half the world by the ears , and he -Upon my party , I'd revolt , to make -Only my wars with him : he is a lion -That I am proud to hunt . - -Then , worthy Marcius , -Attend upon Cominius to these wars . - -It is your former promise . - -Sir , it is ; -And I am constant . Titus Lartius , thou -Shalt see me once more strike at Tullus' face . -What ! art thou stiff ? stand'st out ? - -No , Caius Marcius ; -I'll lean upon one crutch and fight with t'other , -Ere stay behind this business . - -O ! true-bred . - -Your company to the Capitol ; where I know -Our greatest friends attend us . - -Lead you on : - - -Follow Cominius ; we must follow you ; -Right worthy you priority . - -Noble Marcius ! - -Hence ! to your homes ! be gone . - -Nay , let them follow : -The Volsces have much corn ; take these rats thither -To gnaw their garners . Worshipful mutiners , -Your valour puts well forth ; pray , follow . - - -Was ever man so proud as is this Marcius ? - -He has no equal . - -When we were chosen tribunes for the people , - -Mark'd you his lip and eyes ? - -Nay , but his taunts . - -Being mov'd , he will not spare to gird the gods . - -Bemock the modest moon . - -The present wars devour him ; he is grown -Too proud to be so valiant . - -Such a nature , -Tickled with good success , disdains the shadow -Which he treads on at noon . But I do wonder -His insolence can brook to be commanded -Under Cominius . - -Fame , at the which he aims , -In whom already he is well grac'd , cannot -Better be held nor more attain'd than by -A place below the first ; for what miscarries -Shall be the general's fault , though he perform -To the utmost of a man ; and giddy censure -Will then cry out of Marcius 'O ! if he -Had borne the business .' - -Besides , if things go well , -Opinion , that so sticks on Marcius , shall -Of his demerits rob Cominius . - -Come : -Half all Cominius' honours are to Marcius , -Though Marcius earn'd them not ; and all his faults -To Marcius shall be honours , though indeed -In aught he merit not . - -Let's hence and hear -How the dispatch is made ; and in what fashion , -More than his singularity , he goes -Upon this present action . - -Let's along . - - -So , your opinion is , Aufidius , -That they of Rome are enter'd in our counsels , -And know how we proceed . - -Is it not yours ? -What ever have been thought on in this state , -That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome -Had circumvention ? 'Tis not four days gone -Since I heard thence ; these are the words : I think -I have the letter here ; yes , here it is . -They have press'd a power , but it is not known -Whether for east , or west : the dearth is great ; -The people mutinous ; and it is rumour'd , -Cominius , Marcius , your old enemy , -Who is of Rome worse hated than of you , -And Titus Lartius , a most valiant Roman , -These three lead on this preparation -Whither 'tis bent : most likely 'tis for you : -Consider of it . - -Our army's in the field : -We never yet made doubt but Rome was ready -To answer us . - -Nor did you think it folly -To keep your great pretences veil'd till when -They needs must show themselves ; which in the hatching , -It seem'd , appear'd to Rome . By the discovery -We shall be shorten'd in our aim , which was -To take in many towns ere almost Rome -Should know we were afoot . - -Noble Aufidius , -Take your commission ; hie you to your bands ; -Let us alone to guard Corioli : -If they set down before's , for the remove -Bring up your army ; but , I think you'll find -They've not prepared for us . - -O ! doubt not that ; -I speak from certainties . Nay , more ; -Some parcels of their power are forth already , -And only hitherward . I leave your honours . -If we and Caius Marcius chance to meet , -'Tis sworn between us we shall ever strike -Till one can do no more . - -The gods assist you ! - -And keep your honours safe ! - -Farewell . - -Farewell . - -Farewell . - - -I pray you , daughter , sing ; or express yourself in a more comfortable sort . If my son were my husband , I would freelier rejoice in that absence wherein he won honour than in the embracements of his bed where he would show most love . When yet he was but tender-bodied and the only son of my womb , when youth with comeliness plucked all gaze his way , when for a day of kings' entreaties a mother should not sell him an hour from her beholding , I , considering how honour would become such a person , that it was no better than picture-like to hang by the wall , if renown made it not stir , was pleased to let him seek danger where he was like to find fame . To a cruel war I sent him ; from whence he returned , his brows bound with oak . I tell thee , daughter , I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child than now in first seeing he had proved himself a man . - -But had he died in the business , madam ; how then ? - -Then , his good report should have been my son ; I therein would have found issue . Hear me profess sincerely : had I a dozen sons , each in my love alike , and none less dear than thine and my good Marcius , I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action . - - -Madam , the Lady Valeria is come to visit you . - -Beseech you , give me leave to retire myself . - -Indeed , you shall not . -Methinks I hear hither your husband's drum , -See him pluck Aufidius down by the hair , -As children from a bear , the Volsces shunning him : -Methinks I see him stamp thus , and call thus : -'Come on , you cowards ! you were got in fear , -Though you were born in Rome .' His bloody brow -With his mail'd hand then wiping , forth he goes , -Like to a harvestman that's task'd to mow -Or all or lose his hire . - -His bloody brow ! O Jupiter ! no blood . - -Away , you fool ! it more becomes a man -Than gilt his trophy : the breasts of Hecuba , -When she did suckle Hector , look'd not lovelier -Than Hector's forehead when it spit forth blood -At Grecian swords , contemning . Tell Valeria -We are fit to bid her welcome . - - -Heavens bless my lord from fell Aufidius ! - -He'll beat Aufidius' head below his knee , -And tread upon his neck . - - -My ladies both , good day to you . - -Sweet madam . - -I am glad to see your ladyship . - -How do you both ? you are manifest housekeepers . What are you sewing here ? A fine spot , in good faith . How does your little son ? - -I thank your ladyship ; well , good madam . - -He had rather see the swords and hear a drum , than look upon his schoolmaster . - -O' my word , the father's son ; I'll swear 'tis a very pretty boy . O' my troth , I looked upon him o' Wednesday half an hour together : he has such a confirmed countenance . I saw him run after a gilded butterfly ; and when he caught it , he let it go again ; and after it again ; and over and over he comes , and up again ; catched it again : or whether his fall enraged him , or how 'twas , he did so set his teeth and tear it ; O ! I warrant , how he mammocked it ! - -One on's father's moods . - -Indeed , la , 'tis a noble child . - -A crack , madam . - -Come , lay aside your stitchery ; I must have you play the idle huswife with me this afternoon . - -No , good madam ; I will not out of doors . - -Not out of doors ! - -She shall , she shall . - -Indeed , no , by your patience ; I'll not over the threshold till my lord return from the wars . - -Fie ! you confine yourself most unreasonably . Come ; you must go visit the good lady that lies in . - -I will wish her speedy strength , and visit her with my prayers ; but I cannot go thither . - -Why , I pray you ? - -'Tis not to save labour , nor that I want love . - -You would be another Penelope ; yet , they say , all the yarn she spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths . Come ; I would your cambric were sensible as your finger , that you might leave pricking it for pity . Come , you shall go with us . - -No , good madam , pardon me ; indeed , I will not forth . - -In truth , la , go with me ; and I'll tell you excellent news of your husband . - -O , good madam , there can be none yet . - -Verily , I do not jest with you ; there came news from him last night . - -Indeed , madam ? - -In earnest , it's true ; I heard a senator speak it . Thus it is : The Volsces have an army forth ; against whom Cominius the general is gone , with one part of our Roman power : your lord and Titus Lartius are set down before their city Corioli ; they nothing doubt prevailing and to make it brief wars . This is true , on mine honour ; and so , I pray , go with us . - -Give me excuse , good madam ; I will obey you in every thing hereafter . - -Let her alone , lady : as she is now she will but disease our better mirth . - -In troth , I think she would . Fare you well then . Come , good sweet lady . Prithee , Virgilia , turn thy solemness out o' door , and go along with us . - -No , at a word , madam ; indeed I must not . I wish you much mirth . - -Well then , farewell . - - -Yonder comes news : a wager they have met . - -My horse to yours , no . - -'Tis done . - -Agreed . - -Say , has our general met the enemy ? - -They lie in view , but have not spoke as yet . - -So the good horse is mine . - -I'll buy him of you . - -No , I'll nor sell nor give him ; lend you him I will -For half a hundred years . Summon the town . - -How far off lie these armies ? - -Within this mile and half . - -Then shall we hear their 'larum , and they ours . -Now , Mars , I prithee , make us quick in work , -That we with smoking swords may march from hence , -To help our fielded friends ! Come , blow thy blast . - -Tullus Aufidius , is he within your walls ? - -No , nor a man that fears you less than he , -That's lesser than a little . Hark , our drums - -Are bringing forth our youth : we'll break our walls , -Rather than they shall pound us up : our gates , -Which yet seem shut , we have but pinn'd with rushes ; -They'll open of themselves . Hark you , far off ! - -There is Aufidius : list , what work he makes -Amongst your cloven army . - -O ! they are at it ! - -Their noise be our instruction . Ladders , ho ! - - -They fear us not , but issue forth their city . -Now put your shields before your hearts , and fight -With hearts more proof than shields . Advance , brave Titus : -They do disdain us much beyond our thoughts , -Which makes me sweat with wrath . Come on , my fellows : -He that retires , I'll take him for a Volsce , -And he shall feel mine edge . - - -All the contagion of the south light on you , -You shames of Rome ! you herd of Boils and plagues -Plaster you o'er , that you may be abhorr'd -Further than seen , and one infect another -Against the wind a mile ! You souls of geese , -That bear the shapes of men , how have you run -From slaves that apes would beat ! Pluto and hell ! -All hurt behind ; backs red , and faces pale -With flight and agu'd fear ! Mend and charge home , -Or , by the fires of heaven , I'll leave the foe -And make my wars on you ; look to 't : come on ; -If you'll stand fast , we'll beat them to their wives , -As they us to our trenches follow'd . - - -So , now the gates are ope : now prove good seconds : -'Tis for the followers Fortune widens them , -Not for the fliers : mark me , and do the like . - - -Foolhardiness ! not I . - -Nor I . - - -See , they have shut him in . - -To the pot , I warrant him . - -What is become of Marcius ? - -Slain , sir , doubtless . - -Following the fliers at the very heels , -With them he enters ; who , upon the sudden , -Clapp'd-to their gates ; he is himself alone , -To answer all the city . - -O noble fellow ! -Who , sensibly , outdares his senseless sword , -And , when it bows , stands up . Thou art left , Marcius : -A carbuncle entire , as big as thou art , -Were not so rich a jewel . Thou wast a soldier -Even to Cato's wish , not fierce and terrible -Only in strokes ; but , with thy grim looks and -The thunder-like percussion of thy sounds , -Thou mad'st thine enemies shake , as if the world -Were feverous and did tremble . - - -Look , sir ! - -O ! 'tis Marcius ! -Let's fetch him off , or make remain alike . - - -This will I carry to Rome . - -And I this . - -A murrain on't ! I took this for silver . - -See here these movers that do prize their hours -At a crack'd drachme ! Cushions , leaden spoons , -Irons of a doit , doublets that hangmen would -Bury with those that wore them , these base slaves , -Ere yet the fight be done , pack up . Down with them ! -And hark , what noise the general makes ! To him ! -There is the man of my soul's hate , Aufidius , -Piercing our Romans : then , valiant Titus , take -Convenient numbers to make good the city , -Whilst I , with those that have the spirit , will haste -To help Cominius . - -Worthy sir , thou bleed'st ; -Thy exercise hath been too violent -For a second course of fight . - -Sir , praise me not ; -My work hath yet not warm'd me : fare you well : -The blood I drop is rather physical -Than dangerous to me : to Aufidius thus -I will appear , and fight . - -Now the fair goddess , Fortune , -Fall deep in love with thee ; and her great charms -Misguide thy opposers' swords ! Bold gentleman , -Prosperity be thy page ! - -Thy friend no less -Than those she places highest ! So , farewell . - -Thou worthiest Marcius ! - -Go , sound thy trumpet in the market-place ; -Call thither all the officers of the town , -Where they shall know our mind . Away ! - - -Breathe you , my friends : well fought ; we are come off -Like Romans , neither foolish in our stands , -Nor cowardly in retire : believe me , sirs , -We shall be charg'd again . Whiles we have struck , -By interims and conveying gusts we have heard -The charges of our friends . Ye Roman gods ! -Lead their successes as we wish our own , -That both our powers , with smiling fronts encountering , -May give you thankful sacrifice . - -Thy news ? - -The citizens of Corioli have issu'd , -And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle : -I saw our party to their trenches driven , -And then I came away . - -Though thou speak'st truth , -Methinks thou speak'st not well . How long is't since ? - -Above an hour , my lord . - -'Tis not a mile ; briefly we heard their drums : -How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour , -And bring thy news so late ? - -Spies of the Volsces -Held me in chase , that I was forc'd to wheel -Three or four miles about ; else had I , sir , -Half an hour since brought my report . - -Who's yonder , -That does appear as he were flay'd ? O gods ! -He has the stamp of Marcius ; and I have -Before-time seen him thus . - -Come I too late ? - -The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabor , -More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue -From every meaner man . - - -Come I too late ? - -Ay , if you come not in the blood of others , -But mantled in your own . - -O ! let me clip ye -In arms as sound as when I woo'd , in heart -As merry as when our nuptial day was done , -And tapers burn'd to bedward . - -Flower of warriors . -How is't with Titus Lartius ? - -As with a man busied about decrees : -Condemning some to death , and some to exile ; -Ransoming him , or pitying , threat'ning the other ; -Holding Corioli in the name of Rome , -Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash , -To let him slip at will . - -Where is that slave -Which told me they had beat you to your trenches ? -Where is he ? Call him hither . - -Let him alone ; -He did inform the truth : but for our gentlemen , -The common file a plague ! tribunes for them ! -The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat as they did budge -From rascals worse than they . - -But how prevail'd you ? - -Will the time serve to tell ? I do not think . -Where is the enemy ? Are you lords o' the field ? -If not , why cease you till you are so ? - -Marcius , we have at disadvantage fought , -And did retire to win our purpose . - -How lies their battle ? Know you on which side -They have plac'd their men of trust ? - -As I guess , Marcius , -Their bands i' the vaward are the Antiates , -Of their best trust ; o'er them Aufidius , -Their very heart of hope . - -I do beseech you , -By all the battles wherein we have fought , -By the blood we have shed together , by the vows -We have made to endure friends , that you directly -Set me against Aufidius and his Antiates ; -And that you not delay the present , but , -Filling the air with swords advanc'd and darts , -We prove this very hour . - -Though I could wish -You were conducted to a gentle bath , -And balms applied to you , yet dare I never -Deny your asking : take your choice of those -That best can aid your action . - -Those are they -That most are willing . If any such be here -As it were sin to doubt that love this painting -Wherein you see me smear'd ; if any fear -Lesser his person than an ill report ; -If any think brave death outweighs bad life , -And that his country's dearer than himself ; -Let him , alone , or so many so minded , -Wave thus , to express his disposition , -And follow Marcius . - -O ! me alone ? Make you a sword of me ? -If these shows be not outward , which of you -But is four Volsces ? None of you but is -Able to bear against the great Aufidius -A shield as hard as his . A certain number , -Though thanks to all , must I select from all : the rest -Shall bear the business in some other fight , -As cause will be obey'd . Please you to march ; -And four shall quickly draw out my command , -Which men are best inclin'd . - -March on , my fellows : -Make good this ostentation , and you shall -Divide in all with us . - - -So ; let the ports be guarded : keep your duties , -As I have set them down . If I do send , dispatch -Those centuries to our aid ; the rest will serve -For a short holding : if we lose the field , -We cannot keep the town . - -Fear not our care , sir . - -Hence , and shut your gates upon us . -Our guider , come ; to the Roman camp conduct us . - - -I'll fight with none but thee ; for I do hate thee -Worse than a promise-breaker . - -We hate alike : -Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor -More than thy fame and envy . Fix thy foot . - -Let the first budger die the other's slave , -And the gods doom him after ! - -If I fly , Marcius , -Halloo me like a hare . - -Within these three hours , Tullus , -Alone I fought in your Corioli walls , -And made what work I pleas'd ; 'tis not my blood -Wherein thou seest me mask'd ; for thy revenge -Wrench up thy power to the highest . - -Wert thou the Hector -That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny , -Thou shouldst not 'scape me here . - -Officious , and not valiant , you have sham'd me -In your condemned seconds . - - -If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work , -Thou'lt not believe thy deeds : but I'll report it -Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles , -Where great patricians shall attend and shrug , -I' the end , admire ; where ladies shall be frighted , -And , gladly quak'd , hear more ; where the dull Tribunes , -That , with the fusty plebeians , hate thine honours , -Shall say , against their hearts , -'We thank the gods our Rome hath such a soldier !' -Yet cam'st thou to a morsel of this feast , -Having fully din'd before . - - -O general , -Here is the steed , we the caparison : -Hadst thou beheld - -Pray now , no more : my mother , -Who has a charter to extol her blood , -When she does praise me grieves me . I have done -As you have done ; that's what I can ; induc'd -As you have been ; that's for my country : -He that has but effected his good will -Hath overta'en mine act . - -You shall not be -The grave of your deserving ; Rome must know -The value of her own : 'twere a concealment -Worse than a theft , no less than a traducement , -To hide your doings ; and to silence that , -Which , to the spire and top of praises vouch'd , -Would seem but modest . Therefore , I beseech you , -In sign of what you are , not to reward -What you have done ,before our army hear me . - -I have some wounds upon me , and they smart -To hear themselves remember'd . - -Should they not . -Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude , -And tent themselves with death . Of all the horses , -Whereof we have ta'en good , and good store , of all -The treasure , in this field achiev'd and city , -We render you the tenth ; to be ta'en forth , -Before the common distribution , -At your only choice . - -I thank you , general ; -But cannot make my heart consent to take -A bribe to pay my sword : I do refuse it ; -And stand upon my common part with those -That have beheld the doing . - -May these same instruments , which you profane , -Never sound more ! When drums and trumpets shall -I' the field prove flatterers , let courts and cities be -Made all of false-fac'd soothing ! -When steel grows soft as is the parasite's silk , -Let him be made a coverture for the wars ! -No more , I say ! For that I have not wash'd -My nose that bled , or foil'd some debile wretch , -Which , without note , here's many else have done , -You shout me forth -In acclamations hyperbolical ; -As if I lov'd my little should be dieted -In praises sauc'd with lies . - -Too modest are you ; -More cruel to your good report than grateful -To us that give you truly . By your patience , -If 'gainst yourself you be incens'd , we'll put you , -Like one that means his proper harm , in manacles , -Then reason safely with you . Therefore , be it known , -As to us , to all the world , that Caius Marcius -Wears this war's garland ; in token of the which , -My noble steed , known to the camp , I give him , -With all his trim belonging ; and from this time , -For what he did before Corioli , call him , -With all the applause and clamour of the host , -The addition nobly ever ! - -Caius Marcius Coriolanus ! - - -I will go wash ; -And when my face is fair , you shall perceive -Whether I blush , or no : howbeit , I thank you . -I mean to stride your steed , and at all times -To undercrest your good addition -To the fairness of my power . - -So , to our tent ; -Where , ere we do repose us , we will write -To Rome of our success . You , Titus Lartius , -Must to Corioli back : send us to Rome -The best , with whom we may articulate , -For their own good and ours . - -I shall , my lord . - -The gods begin to mock me . I , that now -Refus'd most princely gifts , am bound to beg -Of my lord general . - -Take it ; 'tis yours . What is't ? - -I sometime lay here in Corioli -At a poor man's house ; he us'd me kindly : -He cried to me ; I saw him prisoner ; -But then Aufidius was within my view , -And wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity : I request you -To give my poor host freedom . - -O ! well begg'd ! -Were he the butcher of my son , he should -Be free as is the wind . Deliver him , Titus . - -Marcius , his name ? - -By Jupiter ! forgot . -I am weary ; yea , my memory is tir'd . -Have we no wine here ? - -Go we to our tent : -The blood upon your visage dries ; 'tis time -It should be look'd to : come . - -The town is ta'en ! - -'Twill be deliver'd back on good condition . - -Condition ! -I would I were a Roman ; for I cannot , -Being a Volsce , be that I am . Condition ! -What good condition can a treaty find -I' the part that is at mercy ? Five times , Marcius , -I have fought with thee ; so often hast thou beat me , -And wouldst do so , I think , should we encounter -As often as we eat . By the elements , -If e'er again I meet him beard to beard , -He is mine , or I am his : mine emulation -Hath not that honour in't it had ; for where -I thought to crush him in an equal force -True sword to sword I'll potch at him some way -Or wrath or craft may get him . - -He's the devil . - -Bolder , though not so subtle . My valour's poison'd -With only suffering stain by him ; for him -Shall fly out of itself . Nor sleep nor sanctuary , -Being naked , sick , nor fane nor Capitol , -The prayers of priests , nor times of sacrifice , -Embarquements all of fury , shall lift up -Their rotten privilege and custom 'gainst -My hate to Marcius . Where I find him , were it -At home , upon my brother's guard , even there -Against the hospitable canon , would I -Wash my fierce hand in 's heart . Go you to the city ; -Learn how 'tis held , and what they are that must -Be hostages for Rome . - -Will not you go ? - -I am attended at the cypress grove : I pray you -'Tis south the city mills bring me word thither -How the world goes , that to the pace of it -I may spur on my journey . - -I shall , sir . - -The augurer tells me we shall have news to-night . - -Good or bad ? - -Not according to the prayer of the people , for they love not Marcius . - -Nature teaches beasts to know their friends . - -Pray you , who does the wolf love ? - -The lamb . - -Ay , to devour him ; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius . - -He's a lamb indeed , that baes like a bear . - -He's a bear indeed , that lives like a lamb . You two are old men ; tell me one thing that I shall ask you . - -Well , sir . - -Well , sir . - -In what enormity is Marcius poor in , that you two have not in abundance ? - -He's poor in no one fault , but stored with all . - -Especially in pride . - -And topping all others in boasting . - -This is strange now : do you two know how you are censured here in the city , I mean of us o' the right hand file ? Do you ? - -Why , how are we censured ? - -Because you talk of pride now ,Will you not be angry ? - -Well , well , sir ; well . - -Why , 'tis no great matter ; for a very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience : give your dispositions the reins , and be angry at your pleasures ; at the least , if you take it as a pleasure to you in being so . You blame Marcius for being proud ? - -We do it not alone , sir . - -I know you can do very little alone ; for your helps are many , or else your actions would grow wondrous single : your abilities are too infant-like , for doing much alone . You talk of pride : O ! that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks , and make but an interior survey of your good selves . O ! that you could . - -What then , sir ? - -Why , then you should discover a brace of unmeriting , proud , violent , testy magistrates alias fools as any in Rome . - -Menenius , you are known well enough too . - -I am known to be a humorous patrician , and one that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying Tiber in't ; said to be something imperfect in favouring the first complaint ; hasty and tinder-like upon too trivial motion ; one that converses more with the buttock of the night than with the forehead of the morning . What I think I utter , and spend my malice in my breath . Meeting two such wealsmen as you are ,I cannot call you Lycurguses ,if the drink you give me touch my palate adversely , I make a crooked face at it . I cannot say your worships have delivered the matter well when I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables ; and though I must be content to bear with those that say you are reverend grave men , yet they lie deadly that tell you have good faces . If you see this in the map of my microcosm , follows it that I am known well enough too ? What harm can your bisson conspectuities glean out of this character , if I be known well enough too ? - -Come , sir , come , we know you well enough . - -You know neither me , yourselves , nor anything . You are ambitious for poor knaves' caps and legs : you wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a cause between an orange-wife and a fosset-seller , and then rejourn the controversy of three-pence to a second day of audience . When you are hearing a matter between party and party , if you chance to be pinched with the colic , you make faces like mummers , set up the bloody flag against all patience , and , in roaring for a chamber-pot , dismiss the controversy bleeding , the more entangled by your hearing : all the peace you make in their cause is , calling both the parties knaves . You are a pair of strange ones . - -Come , come , you are well understood to be a perfecter giber for the table than a necessary bencher in the Capitol . - -Our very priests must become mockers if they shall encounter such ridiculous subjects as you are . When you speak best unto the purpose it is not worth the wagging of your beards ; and your beards deserve not so honourable a grave as to stuff a botcher's cushion , or to be entombed in an ass's pack-saddle . Yet you must be saying Marcius is proud ; who , in a cheap estimation , is worth all your predecessors since Deucalion , though peradventure some of the best of 'em were hereditary hangmen . Good den to your worships : more of your conversation would infect my brain , being the herdsmen of the beastly plebeians : I will be bold to take my leave of you . - - -How now , my as fair as noble ladies ,and the moon , were she earthly , no nobler ,whither do you follow your eyes so fast ? - -Honourable Menenius , my boy Marcius approaches ; for the love of Juno , let's go . - -Ha ! Marcius coming home ? - -Ay , worthy Menenius ; and with most prosperous approbation . - -Take my cap , Jupiter , and I thank thee . Hoo ! Marcius coming home ! - -Nay , 'tis true . - -Nay , 'tis true . - -Look , here's a letter from him : the state hath another , his wife another ; and , I think , there's one at home for you . - -I will make my very house reel to-night . A letter for me ! - -Yes , certain , there's a letter for you ; I saw it . - -A letter for me ! It gives me an estate of seven years' health ; in which time I will make a lip at the physician : the most sovereign prescription in Galen is but empiricutic , and , to this preservative , of no better report than a horse-drench . Is he not wounded ? he was wont to come home wounded . - -O ! no , no , no . - -O ! he is wounded , I thank the gods for't . - -So do I too , if it be not too much . Brings a' victory in his pocket ? The wounds become him . - -On 's brows , Menenius ; he comes the third time home with the oaken garland . - -Has he disciplined Aufidius soundly ? - -Titus Lartius writes they fought together , but Aufidius got off . - -And 'twas time for him too , I'll warrant him that : an he had stayed by him I would not have been so fidiused for all the chests in Corioli , and the gold that's in them . Is the senate possessed of this ? - -Good ladies , let's go . Yes , yes , yes ; the senate has letters from the general , wherein he gives my son the whole name of the war . He hath in this action outdone his former deeds doubly . - -In troth there's wondrous things spoke of him . - -Wondrous ! ay , I warrant you , and not without his true purchasing . - -The gods grant them true ! - -True ! pow , wow . - -True ! I'll be sworn they are true . Where is he wounded ? - - -Where is he wounded ? - -I' the shoulder , and i' the left arm : there will be large cicatrices to show the people when he shall stand for his place . He received in the repulse of Tarquin seven hurts i' the body . - -One i' the neck , and two i' the thigh , there's nine that I know . - -He had , before this last expedition , twenty-five wounds upon him . - -Now , it's twenty-seven : every gash was an enemy's grave . - -Hark ! the trumpets . - -These are the ushers of Marcius : before him he carries noise , and behind him he leaves tears : -Death , that dark spirit , in 's nervy arm doth lie ; -Which , being advanc'd , declines , and then men die . - - -Know , Rome , that all alone Marcius did fight -Within Corioli gates : where he hath won , -With fame , a name to Caius Marcius ; these -In honour follows Coriolanus . -Welcome to Rome , renowned Coriolanus ! - - -Welcome to Rome , renowned Coriolanus ! - -No more of this ; it does offend my heart : -Pray now , no more . - -Look , sir , your mother ! - -O ! -You have , I know , petition'd all the gods -For my prosperity . - - -Nay , my good soldier , up ; -My gentle Marcius , worthy Caius , and -By deed-achieving honour newly nam'd , -What is it ?Coriolanus must I call thee ? -But O ! thy wife ! - -My gracious silence , hail ! -Wouldst thou have laugh'd had I come coffin'd home , -That weep'st to see me triumph ? Ah ! my dear , -Such eyes the widows in Corioli wear , -And mothers that lack sons . - -Now , the gods crown thee ! - -And live you yet ? - -O my sweet lady , pardon . - -I know not where to turn : O ! welcome home ; -And welcome , general ; and ye're welcome all . - -A hundred thousand welcomes : I could weep , -And I could laugh ; I am light , and heavy . Welcome . -A curse begnaw at very root on 's heart -That is not glad to see thee ! You are three -That Rome should dote on ; yet , by the faith of men , -We have some old crab-trees here at home that will not -Be grafted to your relish . Yet , welcome , warriors ! -We call a nettle but a nettle , and -The faults of fools but folly . - -Ever right . - -Menenius , ever , ever . - -Give way there , and go on ! - -Your hand , and yours : -Ere in our own house I do shade my head , -The good patricians must be visited ; -From whom I have receiv'd not only greetings , -But with them change of honours . - -I have liv'd -To see inherited my very wishes , -And the buildings of my fancy : only -There's one thing wanting , which I doubt not but -Our Rome will cast upon thee . - -Know , good mother , -I had rather be their servant in my way -Than sway with them in theirs . - -On , to the Capitol ! - - -All tongues speak of him , and the bleared sights -Are spectacled to see him : your prattling nurse -Into a rapture lets her baby cry -While she chats him : the kitchen malkin pins -Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck , -Clambering the walls to eye him : stalls , bulks , windows , -Are smother'd up , leads fill'd , and ridges hors'd -With variable complexions , all agreeing -In earnestness to see him : seld-shown flamens -Do press among the popular throngs , and puff -To win a vulgar station : our veil'd dames -Commit the war of white and damask in -Their nicely-gawded cheeks to the wanton spoil -Of Ph bus' burning kisses : such a pother -As if that whatsoever god who leads him -Were slily crept into his human powers , -And gave him graceful posture . - -On the sudden -I warrant him consul . - -Then our office may , -During his power , go sleep . - -He cannot temperately transport his honours -From where he should begin and end , but will -Lose those he hath won . - -In that there's comfort . - -Doubt not , the commoners , for whom we stand , -But they upon their ancient malice will -Forget with the least cause these his new honours , -Which that he'll give them , make I as little question -As he is proud to do't . - -I heard him swear , -Were he to stand for consul , never would he -Appear i' the market-place , nor on him put -The napless vesture of humility ; -Nor , showing , as the manner is , his wounds -To the people , beg their stinking breaths . - -'Tis right . - -It was his word . O ! he would miss it rather -Than carry it but by the suit o' the gentry to him -And the desire of the nobles . - -I wish no better -Than have him hold that purpose and to put it -In execution . - -'Tis most like he will . - -It shall be to him then , as our good wills , -A sure destruction . - -So it must fall out -To him or our authorities . For an end , -We must suggest the people in what hatred -He still hath held them ; that to his power he would -Have made them mules , silenc'd their pleaders , and -Dispropertied their freedoms ; holding them , -In human action and capacity , -Of no more soul nor fitness for the world -Than camels in the war ; who have their provand -Only for bearing burdens , and sore blows -For sinking under them . - -This , as you say , suggested -At some time when his soaring insolence -Shall teach the people which time shall not want , -If he be put upon 't ; and that's as easy -As to set dogs on sheep will be his fire -To kindle their dry stubble ; and their blaze -Shall darken him for ever . - - -What's the matter ? - -You are sent for to the Capitol . 'Tis thought -That Marcius shall be consul . -I have seen the dumb men throng to see him , and -The blind to hear him speak : matrons flung gloves , -Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchers -Upon him as he pass'd ; the nobles bended , -As to Jove's statue , and the commons made -A shower and thunder with their caps and shouts : -I never saw the like . - -Let's to the Capitol ; -And carry with us ears and eyes for the time , -But hearts for the event . - -Have with you . - - -Come , come , they are almost here . -How many stand for consulships ? - -Three , they say ; but 'tis thought of every one Coriolanus will carry it . - -That's a brave fellow ; but he's vengeance proud , and loves not the common people . - -Faith , there have been many great men that have flattered the people , who ne'er loved them ; and there be many that they have loved , they know not wherefore : so that if they love they know not why , they hate upon no better a ground . Therefore , for Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate him manifests the true knowledge he has in their disposition ; and out of his noble carelessness lets them plainly see't . - -If he did not care whether he had their love or no , he waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm ; but he seeks their hate with greater devotion than they can render it him ; and leaves nothing undone that may fully discover him their opposite . Now , to seem to affect the malice and displeasure of the people is as bad as that which he dislikes , to flatter them for their love . - -He hath deserved worthily of his country ; and his ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who , having been supple and courteous to the people , bonneted , without any further deed to have them at all into their estimation and report ; but he hath so planted his honours in their eyes , and his actions in their hearts , that for their tongues to be silent , and not confess so much , were a kind of ingrateful injury ; to report otherwise , were a malice , that , giving itself the lie , would pluck reproof and rebuke from every ear that heard it . - -No more of him ; he is a worthy man : make way , they are coming . - -Having determin'd of the Volsces , and -To send for Titus Lartius , it remains , -As the main point of this our after-meeting , -To gratify his noble service that -Hath thus stood for his country : therefore , please you , -Most reverend and grave elders , to desire -The present consul , and last general -In our well-found successes , to report -A little of that worthy work perform'd -By Caius Marcius Coriolanus , whom -We meet here both to thank and to remember -With honours like himself . - -Speak , good Cominius : -Leave nothing out for length , and make us think -Rather our state's defective for requital , -Than we to stretch it out . - -Masters o' the people , -We do request your kindest ears , and , after , -Your loving motion toward the common body , -To yield what passes here . - -We are convented -Upon a pleasing treaty , and have hearts -Inclinable to honour and advance -The theme of our assembly . - -Which the rather -We shall be bless'd to do , if he remember -A kinder value of the people than -He hath hereto priz'd them at . - -That's off , that's off ; -I would you rather had been silent . Please you -To hear Cominius speak ? - -Most willingly ; -But yet my caution was more pertinent -Than the rebuke you give it . - -He loves your people ; -But tie him not to be their bedfellow . -Worthy Cominius , speak . - -Nay , keep your place . - -Sit , Coriolanus ; never shame to hear -What you have nobly done . - -Your honours' pardon : -I had rather have my wounds to heal again -Than hear say how I got them . - -Sir , I hope -My words disbench'd you not . - -No , sir : yet oft , -When blows have made me stay , I fled from words . -You sooth'd not , therefore hurt not . But your people , -I love them as they weigh . - -Pray now , sit down . - -I had rather have one scratch my head i' the sun -When the alarum were struck than idly sit -To hear my nothings monster'd . - - -Masters of the people , -Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter , -That's thousand to one good one ,when you now see -He had rather venture all his limbs for honour -Than one on 's ears to hear it . Proceed , Cominius . - -I shall lack voice : the deeds of Coriolanus -Should not be utter'd feebly . It is held -That valour is the chiefest virtue , and -Most dignifies the haver : if it be , -The man I speak of cannot in the world -Be singly counterpois'd . At sixteen years , -When Tarquin made a head for Rome , he fought -Beyond the mark of others ; our then dictator , -Whom with all praise I point at , saw him fight , -When with his Amazonian chin he drove -The bristled lips before him . He bestrid -An o'er-press'd Roman , and i' the consul's view -Slew three opposers : Tarquin's self he met , -And struck him on his knee : in that day's feats , -When he might act the woman in the scene , -He prov'd best man i' the field , and for his meed -Was brow-bound with the oak . His pupil age -Man-enter'd thus , he waxed like a sea , -And in the brunt of seventeen battles since -He lurch'd all swords of the garland . For this last , -Before and in Corioli , let me say , -I cannot speak him home : he stopp'd the fliers , -And by his rare example made the coward -Turn terror into sport : as weeds before -A vessel under sail , so men obey'd , -And fell below his stem : his sword , death's stamp , -Where it did mark , it took ; from face to foot -He was a thing of blood , whose every motion -Was tim'd with dying cries : alone he enter'd -The mortal gate of the city , which he painted -With shunless destiny ; aidless came off , -And with a sudden re-enforcement struck -Corioli like a planet . Now all's his : -When by and by the din of war 'gan pierce -His ready sense ; then straight his doubled spirit -Re-quicken'd what in flesh was fatigate , -And to the battle came he ; where he did -Run reeking o'er the lives of men , as if -'Twere a perpetual spoil ; and till we call'd -Both field and city ours , he never stood -To ease his breast with panting . - -Worthy man ! - -He cannot but with measure fit the honours -Which we devise him . - -Our spoils he kick'd at , -And look'd upon things precious as they were -The common muck o' the world : he covets less -Than misery itself would give ; rewards -His deeds with doing them , and is content -To spend the time to end it . - -He's right noble : -Let him be call'd for . - -Call Coriolanus . - -He doth appear . - - -The senate , Coriolanus , are well pleas'd -To make thee consul . - -I do owe them still -My life and services . - -It then remains -That you do speak to the people . - -I do beseech you , -Let me o'erleap that custom , for I cannot -Put on the gown , stand naked , and entreat them , -For my wounds' sake , to give their suffrage : please you , -That I may pass this doing . - -Sir , the people -Must have their voices ; neither will they bate -One jot of ceremony . - -Put them not to 't : -Pray you , go fit you to the custom , and -Take to you , as your predecessors have , -Your honour with your form . - -It is a part -That I shall blush in acting , and might well -Be taken from the people . - -Mark you that ? - -To brag unto them , thus I did , and thus ; -Show them the unaching scars which I should hide , -As if I had receiv'd them for the hire -Of their breath only ! - -Do not stand upon't . -We recommend to you , tribunes of the people , -Our purpose to them ; and to our noble consul -Wish we all joy and honour . - -To Coriolanus come all joy and honour ! - - -You see how he intends to use the people . - -May they perceive 's intent ! He will require them , -As if he did contemn what he requested -Should be in them to give . - -Come ; we'll inform them -Of our proceedings here : on the market-place -I know they do attend us . - - -Once , if he do require our voices , we ought not to deny him . - -We may , sir , if we will . - -We have power in ourselves to do it , but it is a power that we have no power to do ; for if he show us his wounds , and tell us his deeds , we are to put our tongues into those wounds and speak for them ; so , if he tell us his noble deeds , we must also tell him our noble acceptance of them . Ingratitude is monstrous , and for the multitude to be ingrateful were to make a monster of the multitude ; of the which , we being members , should bring ourselves to be monstrous members . - -And to make us no better thought of , a little help will serve ; for once we stood up about the corn , he himself stuck not to call us the many-headed multitude . - -We have been called so of many ; not that our heads are some brown , some black , some abram , some bald , but that our wits are so diversely coloured : and truly I think , if all our wits were to issue out of one skull , they would fly east , west , north , south ; and their consent of one direct way should be at once to all the points o' the compass . - -Think you so ? Which way do you judge my wit would fly ? - -Nay , your wit will not so soon out as another man's will ; 'tis strongly wedged up in a block-head ; but if it were at liberty , 'twould , sure , southward . - -Why that way ? - -To lose itself in a fog ; where being three parts melted away with rotten dews , the fourth would return for conscience' sake , to help to get thee a wife . - -You are never without your tricks . you may , you may . - -Are you all resolved to give your voices ? But that's no matter , the greater part carries it . I say , if he would incline to the people , there was never a worthier man . - -Here he comes , and in a gown of humility mark his behaviour . We are not to stay all together , but to come by him where he stands , by ones , by twos , and by threes . He's to make his requests by particulars ; wherein every one of us has a single honour , in giving him our own voices with our own tongues : therefore follow me , and I'll direct you how you shall go by him . - -Content , content . - - -O , sir , you are not right : have you not known -The worthiest men have done't ? - -What must I say ? -'I pray , sir ,' Plague upon't ! I cannot bring -My tongue to such a pace . 'Look , sir , my wounds ! -I got them in my country's service , when -Some certain of your brethren roar'd and ran -From the noise of our own drums .' - -O me ! the gods ! -You must not speak of that : you must desire them -To think upon you . - -Think upon me ! Hang 'em ! -I would they would forget me , like the virtues -Which our divines lose by 'em . - -You'll mar all : -I'll leave you . Pray you , speak to 'em , I pray you , -In wholesome manner . - -Bid them wash their faces , -And keep their teeth clean . - -So , here comes a brace . - -You know the cause , sir , of my standing here ? - -We do , sir ; tell us what hath brought you to 't . - -Mine own desert . - -Your own desert ! - -Ay , not mine own desire . - -How ! not your own desire ? - -No , sir , 'twas never my desire yet to trouble the poor with begging . - -You must think , if we give you any thing , we hope to gain by you . - -Well , then , I pray , your price o' the consulship ? - -The price is , to ask it kindly . - -Kindly ! sir , I pray , let me ha 't : I have wounds to show you , which shall be yours in private . Your good voice , sir ; what say you ? - -You shall ha 't , worthy sir . - -A match , sir . There is in all two worthy voices begged . I have your alms : adieu . - -But this is something odd . - -An 'twere to give again ,but 'tis no matter . - -Pray you now , if it may stand with the tune of your voices that I may be consul , I have here the customary gown . - -You have deserved nobly of your country , and you have not deserved nobly . - -Your enigma ? - -You have been a scourge to her enemies , you have been a rod to her friends ; you have not indeed loved the common people . - -You should account me the more virtuous that I have not been common in my love . I will , sir , flatter my sworn brother the people , to earn a dearer estimation of them ; 'tis a condition they account gentle : and since the wisdom of their choice is rather to have my hat than my heart , I will practise the insinuating nod , and be off to them most counterfeitly ; that is , sir , I will counterfeit the bewitchment of some popular man , and give it bountifully to the desirers . Therefore , beseech you , I may be consul . - -We hope to find you our friend , and therefore give you our voices heartily . - -You have received many wounds for your country . - -I will not seal your knowledge with showing them . I will make much of your voices , and so trouble you no further . - -The gods give you joy , sir , heartily ! - - -Most sweet voices ! -Better it is to die , better to starve , -Than crave the hire which first we do deserve . -Why in this woolvish toge should I stand here , -To beg of Hob and Dick , that do appear , -Their needless vouches ? Custom calls me to 't : -What custom wills , in all things should we do 't , -The dust on antique time would lie unswept , -And mountainous error be too highly heap'd -For truth to o'er-peer . Rather than fool it so , -Let the high office and the honour go -To one that would do thus . I am half through ; -The one part suffer'd , the other will I do . -Here come more voices . - - -Your voices : for your voices I have fought ; -Watch'd for your voices ; for your voices bear -Of wounds two dozen odd ; battles thrice six -I have seen and heard of ; for your voices have -Done many things , some less , some more ; your voices : - -Indeed , I would be consul . - -He has done nobly , and cannot go without any honest man's voice . - -Therefore let him be consul . The gods give him joy , and make him good friend to the people ! - -Amen , amen . -God save thee , noble consul ! - - -Worthy voices ! - - -You have stood your limitation ; and the tribunes -Endue you with the people's voice : remains -That , in the official marks invested , you -Anon do meet the senate . - -Is this done ? - -The custom of request you have discharg'd : -The people do admit you , and are summon'd -To meet anon , upon your approbation . - -Where ? at the senate-house ? - -There , Coriolanus . - -May I change these garments ? - -You may , sir . - -That I'll straight do ; and , knowing myself again , -Repair to the senate-house . - -I'll keep you company . Will you along ? - -We stay here for the people . - -Fare you well . - -He has it now ; and by his looks , methinks , -'Tis warm at's heart . - -With a proud heart he wore -His humble weeds . Will you dismiss the people ? - - -How now , my masters ! have you chose this man ? - -He has our voices , sir . - -We pray the gods he may deserve your love . - -Amen , sir . To my poor unworthy notice , -He mock'd us when he begg'd our voices . - -Certainly , -He flouted us downright . - -No , 'tis his kind of speech ; he did not mock us . - -Not one amongst us , save yourself , but says -He used us scornfully : he should have show'd us -His marks of merit , wounds receiv'd for's country . - -Why , so he did , I am sure . - -No , no ; no man saw 'em . - -He said he had wounds , which he could show in private ; -And with his hat , thus waving it in scorn , -'I would be consul ,' says he : 'aged custom , -But by your voices , will not so permit me ; -Your voices therefore :' when we granted that , -Here was , 'I thank you for your voices , thank you , -Your most sweet voices : now you have left your voices -I have no further with you .' Was not this mockery ? - -Why , either were you ignorant to see 't , -Or , seeing it , of such childish friendliness -To yield your voices ? - -Could you not have told him -As you were lesson'd , when he had no power , -But was a petty servant to the state , -He was your enemy , ever spake against -Your liberties and the charters that you bear -I' the body of the weal ; and now , arriving -A place of potency and sway o' the state , -If he should still malignantly remain -Fast foe to the plebeii , your voices might -Be curses to yourselves ? You should have said -That as his worthy deeds did claim no less -Than what he stood for , so his gracious nature -Would think upon you for your voices and -Translate his malice towards you into love , -Standing your friendly lord . - -Thus to have said , -As you were fore-advis'd , had touch'd his spirit -And tried his inclination ; from him pluck'd -Either his gracious promise , which you might , -As cause had call'd you up , have held him to ; -Or else it would have gall'd his surly nature , -Which easily endures not article -Tying him to aught ; so , putting him to rage , -You should have ta'en the advantage of his choler , -And pass'd him unelected . - -Did you perceive -He did solicit you in free contempt -When he did need your loves , and do you think -That his contempt shall not be bruising to you -When he hath power to crush ? Why , had your bodies -No heart among you ? or had you tongues to cry -Against the rectorship of judgment ? - -Have you -Ere now denied the asker ? and now again -Of him that did not ask , but mock , bestow -Your su'd-for tongues ? - -He's not confirm'd ; we may deny him yet . - -And will deny him : -I'll have five hundred voices of that sound . - -Ay , twice five hundred and their friends to piece 'em . - -Get you hence instantly , and tell those friends , -They have chose a consul that will from them take -Their liberties ; make them of no more voice -Than dogs that are as often beat for barking -As therefore kept to do so . - -Let them assemble ; -And , on a safer judgment , all revoke -Your ignorant election . Enforce his pride , -And his old hate unto you ; besides , forget not -With what contempt he wore the humble weed ; -How in his suit he scorn'd you ; but your loves , -Thinking upon his services , took from you -The apprehension of his present portance , -Which most gibingly , ungravely , he did fashion -After the inveterate hate he bears you . - -Lay -A fault on us , your tribunes ; that we labour'd , -No impediment between ,but that you must -Cast your election on him . - -Say , you chose him -More after our commandment than as guided -By your own true affections ; and that , your minds , -Pre-occupied with what you rather must do -Than what you should , made you against the grain -To voice him consul : lay the fault on us . - -Ay , spare us not . Say we read lectures to you , -How youngly he began to serve his country , -How long continu'd , and what stock he springs of , -The noble house o' the Marcians , from whence came -That Ancus Marcius , Numa's daughter's son , -Who , after great Hostilius , here was king ; -Of the same house Publius and Quintus were , -That our best water brought by conduits hither ; -And Censorinus , that was so surnam'd , -And nobly nam'd so , twice being censor , -Was his great ancestor . - -One thus descended , -That hath , beside , well in his person wrought -To be set high in place , we did commend -To your remembrances : but you have found , -Scaling his present bearing with his past , -That he's your fixed enemy , and revoke -Your sudden approbation . - -Say you ne'er had done 't -Harp on that still but by our putting on ; -And presently , when you have drawn your number , -Repair to the Capitol . - -We will so ; almost all -Repent in their election . - - -Let them go on ; -This mutiny were better put in hazard -Than stay , past doubt , for greater . -If , as his nature is , he fall in rage -With their refusal , both observe and answer -The vantage of his anger . - -To the Capitol , come : -We will be there before the stream o' the people ; -And this shall seem , as partly 'tis , their own , -Which we have goaded onward . - -Tullus Aufidius then had made new head ? - -He had , my lord ; and that it was which caus'd -Our swifter composition . - -So then the Volsces stand but as at first , -Ready , when time shall prompt them , to make road -Upon 's again . - -They are worn , lord consul , so , -That we shall hardly in our ages see -Their banners wave again . - -Saw you Aufidius ? - -On safe-guard he came to me ; and did curse -Against the Volsces , for they had so vilely -Yielded the town : he is retir'd to Antium . - -Spoke he of me ? - -He did , my lord . - -How ? what ? - -How often he had met you , sword to sword ; -That of all things upon the earth he hated -Your person most , that he would pawn his fortunes -To hopeless restitution , so he might -Be call'd your vanquisher . - -At Antium lives he ? - -At Antium . - -I wish I had a cause to seek him there , -To oppose his hatred fully . Welcome home . - - -Behold ! these are the tribunes of the people , -The tongues o' the common mouth : I do despise them ; -For they do prank them in authority - -Against all noble sufferance . - -Pass no further . - -Ha ! what is that ? - -It will be dangerous to go on : no further . - -What makes this change ? - -The matter ? - -Hath he not pass'd the noble and the common ? - -Cominius , no . - -Have I had children's voices ? - -Tribunes , give way ; he shall to the market-place . - -The people are incens'd against him . - -Stop , -Or all will fall in broil . - -Are these your herd ? -Must these have voices , that can yield them now , -And straight disclaim their tongues ? What are your offices ? -You being their mouths , why rule you not their teeth ? -Have you not set them on ? - -Be calm , be calm . - -It is a purpos'd thing , and grows by plot , -To curb the will of the nobility : -Suffer't , and live with such as cannot rule -Nor ever will be rul'd . - -Call't not a plot : -The people cry you mock'd them , and of late , -When corn was given them gratis , you repin'd ; -Scandall'd the suppliants for the people , call'd them -Time-pleasers , flatterers , foes to nobleness . - -Why , this was known before . - -Not to them all . - -Have you inform'd them sithence ? - -How ! I inform them ! - -You are like to do such business . - -Not unlike , -Each way , to better yours . - -Why then should I be consul ? By yond clouds , -Let me deserve so ill as you , and make me -Your fellow tribune . - -You show too much of that -For which the people stir ; if you will pass -To where you are bound , you must inquire your way , -Which you are out of , with a gentler spirit ; -Or never be so noble as a consul , -Nor yoke with him for tribune . - -Let's be calm . - -The people are abus'd ; set on . This paltering -Becomes not Rome , nor has Coriolanus -Deserv'd this so dishonour'd rub , laid falsely -I' the plain way of his merit . - -Tell me of corn ! -This was my speech , and I will speak't again , - -Not now , not now . - -Not in this heat , sir , now . - -Now , as I live , I will . My nobler friends , -I crave their pardons : -For the mutable , rank-scented many , let them -Regard me as I do not flatter , and -Therein behold themselves : I say again , -In soothing them we nourish 'gainst our senate -The cockle of rebellion , insolence , sedition , -Which we ourselves have plough'd for , sow'd and scatter'd , -By mingling them with us , the honour'd number ; -Who lack'd not virtue , no , nor power , but that -Which they have given to beggars . - -Well , no more . - -No more words , we beseech you . - -How ! no more ! -As for my country I have shed my blood , -Not fearing outward force , so shall my lungs -Coin words till they decay against those measles , -Which we disdain should tetter us , yet sought -The very way to catch them . - -You speak o' the people , -As if you were a god to punish , not -A man of their infirmity . - -'Twere well -We let the people know't . - -What , what ? his choler ? - -Choler ! -Were I as patient as the midnight sleep , -By Jove , 'twould be my mind ! - -It is a mind -That shall remain a poison where it is , -Not poison any further . - -Shall remain ! -Hear you this Triton of the minnows ? mark you -His absolute 'shall ?' - -'Twas from the canon . - -'Shall !' -O good but most unwise patricians ! why , -You grave but reckless senators , have you thus -Given Hydra here to choose an officer , -That with his peremptory 'shall ,' being but -The horn and noise o' the monster's , wants not spirit -To say he'll turn your current in a ditch , -And make your channel his ? If he have power , -Then vail your ignorance ; if none , awake -Your dangerous lenity . If you are learned , -Be not as common fools ; if you are not , -Let them have cushions by you . You are plebeians -If they be senators ; and they are no less , -When , both your voices blended , the great'st taste -Most palates theirs . They choose their magistrate , -And such a one as he , who puts his 'shall ,' -His popular 'shall ,' against a graver bench -Than ever frown'd in Greece . By Jove himself ! -It makes the consuls base ; and my soul aches -To know , when two authorities are up ; -Neither supreme , how soon confusion -May enter 'twixt the gap of both and take -The one by the other . - -Well , on to the market-place . - -Whoever gave that counsel , to give forth -The corn o' the store-house gratis , as 'twas us'd -Sometime in Greece , - -Well , well ; no more of that . - -Though there the people had more absolute power , -I say , they nourish'd disobedience , fed -The ruin of the state . - -Why , shall the people give -One that speaks thus their voice ? - -I'll give my reasons , -More worthier than their voices . They know the corn -Was not our recompense , resting well assur'd -They ne'er did service for 't . Being press'd to the war , -Even when the navel of the state was touch'd , -They would not thread the gates : this kind of service -Did not deserve corn gratis . Being i' the war , -Their mutinies and revolts , wherein they show'd -Most valour , spoke not for them . The accusation -Which they have often made against the senate , -All cause unborn , could never be the motive -Of our so frank donation . Well , what then ? -How shall this bisson multitude digest -The senate's courtesy ? Let deeds express -What's like to be their words : 'We did request it ; -We are the greater poll , and in true fear -They gave us our demands .' Thus we debase -The nature of our seats , and make the rabble -Call our cares , fears ; which will in time break ope -The locks o' the senate , and bring in the crows -To peck the eagles . - -Come , enough . - -Enough , with over-measure . - -No , take more : -What may be sworn by , both divine and human , -Seal what I end withal ! This double worship , -Where one part does disdain with cause , the other -Insult without all reason ; where gentry , title , wisdom , -Cannot conclude , but by the yea and no -Of general ignorance ,it must omit -Real necessities , and give way the while -To unstable slightness : purpose so barr'd , it follows -Nothing is done to purpose . Therefore , beseech you , -You that will be less fearful than discreet , -That love the fundamental part of state -More than you doubt the change on 't , that prefer -A noble life before a long , and wish -To jump a body with a dangerous physic -That's sure of death without it , at once pluck out -The multitudinous tongue ; let them not lick -The sweet which is their poison . Your dishonour -Mangles true judgment , and bereaves the state -Of that integrity which should become it , -Not having the power to do the good it would , -For the ill which doth control 't . - -He has said enough . - -He has spoken like a traitor , and shall answer -As traitors do . - -Thou wretch ! despite o'erwhelm thee ! -What should the people do with these bald tribunes ? -On whom depending , their obedience fails -To the greater bench . In a rebellion , -When what's not meet , but what must be , was law , -Then were they chosen : in a better hour , -Let what is meet be said it must be meet , -And throw their power i' the dust . - -Manifest treason ! - -This a consul ? no . - -The diles , ho ! Let him be apprehended . - - -Go , call the people ; - -in whose name , myself -Attach thee as a traitorous innovator , -A foe to the public weal : obey , I charge thee , -And follow to thine answer . - -Hence , old goat ! - -We'll surety him . - -Aged sir , hands off . - -Hence , rotten thing ! or I shall shake thy bones -Out of thy garments . - -Help , ye citizens ! - - -On both sides more respect . - -Here's he that would take from you all your power . - -Seize him , diles ! - -Down with him !down with him ! - -Weapons !weapons !weapons ! - -What is about to be ?I am out of breath ; -Confusion's near ; I cannot speak . You , tribunes -To the people ! Coriolanus , patience ! -Speak , good Sicinius . - -Hear me , people ; peace ! - -Let's hear our tribune :Peace !Speak , speak , speak . - -You are at point to lose your liberties : -Marcius would have all from you ; Marcius , -Whom late you have nam'd for consul . - -Fie , fie , fie ! -This is the way to kindle , not to quench . - -To unbuild the city and to lay all flat . - -What is the city but the people ? - -True , -The people are the city . - -By the consent of all , we were establish'd -The people's magistrates . - -You so remain . - -And so are like to do . - -That is the way to lay the city flat ; -To bring the roof to the foundation , -And bury all , which yet distinctly ranges , -In heaps and piles of ruin . - -This deserves death . - -Or let us stand to our authority , -Or let us lose it . We do here pronounce , -Upon the part o' the people , in whose power -We were elected theirs , Marcius is worthy -Of present death . - -Therefore lay hold of him ; -Bear him to the rock Tarpeian , and from thence -Into destruction cast him . - -diles , seize him ! - -Yield , Marcius , yield ! - -Hear me one word ; -Beseech you , tribunes , hear me but a word . - -Peace , peace ! - -Be that you seem , truly your country's friends , -And temperately proceed to what you would -Thus violently redress . - -Sir , those cold ways , -That seem like prudent helps , are very poisonous -Where the disease is violent . Lay hands upon him , -And bear him to the rock . - -No , I'll die here . - -There's some among you have beheld me fighting : -Come , try upon yourselves what you have seen me . - -Down with that sword ! Tribunes , withdraw awhile . - -Lay hands upon him . - -Help Marcius , help , -You that be noble ; help him , young and old ! - -Down with him !down with him ! - - -Go , get you to your house ; be gone , away ! -All will be naught else . - -Get you gone . - -Stand fast ; -We have as many friends as enemies . - -Shall it be put to that ? - -The gods forbid ! -I prithee , noble friend , home to thy house ; -Leave us to cure this cause . - -For 'tis a sore upon us , -You cannot tent yourself : be gone , beseech you . - -Come , sir , along with us . - -I would they were barbarians ,as they are , -Though in Rome litter'd ,not Romans ,as they are not , -Though calv'd i' the porch o' the Capitol , - -Be gone ; -Put not your worthy rage into your tongue ; -One time will owe another . - -On fair ground -I could beat forty of them . - -I could myself -Take up a brace o' the best of them ; yea , the two tribunes . - -But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic ; -And manhood is call'd foolery when it stands -Against a falling fabric . Will you hence , -Before the tag return ? whose rage doth rend -Like interrupted waters and o'erbear -What they are us'd to bear . - -Pray you , be gone . -I'll try whether my old wit be in request -With those that have but little : this must be patch'd -With cloth of any colour . - -Nay , come away . - - -This man has marr'd his fortune . - -His nature is too noble for the world : -He would not flatter Neptune for his trident , -Or Jove for 's power to thunder . His heart's his mouth : -What his breast forges , that his tongue must vent ; -And , being angry , does forget that ever -He heard the name of death . - -Here's goodly work ! - -I would they were a-bed ! - -I would they were in Tiber ! What the vengeance ! -Could he not speak 'em fair ? - - -Where is this viper -That would depopulate the city and -Be every man himself ? - -You worthy tribunes , - -He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock -With rigorous hands : he hath resisted law , -And therefore law shall scorn him further trial -Than the severity of the public power , -Which he so sets at nought . - -He shall well know -The noble tribunes are the people's mouths , -And we their hands . - -He shall , sure on't . - -Sir , sir , - -Peace ! - -Do not cry havoc , where you should but hunt -With modest warrant . - -Sir , how comes 't that you -Have holp to make this rescue ? - -Hear me speak : -As I do know the consul's worthiness , -So can I name his faults . - -Consul ! what consul ? - -The Consul Coriolanus . - -He consul ! - -No , no , no , no , no . - -If , by the tribunes' leave , and yours , good people , -I may be heard , I would crave a word or two , -The which shall turn you to no further harm -Than so much loss of time . - -Speak briefly then ; -For we are peremptory to dispatch -This viperous traitor . To eject him hence -Were but one danger , and to keep him here -Our certain death ; therefore it is decreed -He dies to-night . - -Now the good gods forbid -That our renowned Rome , whose gratitude -Towards her deserved children is enroll'd -In Jove's own book , like an unnatural dam -Should now eat up her own ! - -He's a disease that must be cut away . - -O ! he's a limb that has but a disease ; -Mortal to cut it off ; to cure it easy . -What has he done to Rome that's worthy death ? -Killing our enemies , the blood he hath lost , -Which , I dare vouch , is more than that he hath -By many an ounce ,he dropp'd it for his country ; -And what is left , to lose it by his country , -Were to us all , that do't and suffer it , -A brand to th' end o' the world . - -This is clean kam . - -Merely awry : when he did love his country -It honour'd him . - -The service of the foot -Being once gangren'd , is not then respected -For what before it was . - -We'll hear no more . -Pursue him to his house , and pluck him thence , -Lest his infection , being of catching nature , -Spread further . - -One word more , one word . -This tiger-footed rage , when it shall find -The harm of unscann'd swiftness , will , too late , -Tie leaden pounds to's heels . Proceed by process ; -Lest parties as he is belov'd break out , -And sack great Rome with Romans . - -If 'twere so , - -What do ye talk ? -Have we not had a taste of his obedience ? -Our diles smote ? ourselves resisted ? Come ! - -Consider this : he has been bred i' the wars -Since he could draw a sword , and is ill school'd -In bolted language ; meal and bran together -He throws without distinction . Give me leave , -I'll go to him , and undertake to bring him -Where he shall answer by a lawful form , -In peace ,to his utmost peril . - -Noble tribunes , -It is the humane way : the other course -Will prove too bloody , and the end of it -Unknown to the beginning . - -Noble Menenius , -Be you then as the people's officer . -Masters , lay down your weapons . - -Go not home . - -Meet on the market-place . We'll attend you there : -Where , if you bring not Marcius , we'll proceed -In our first way . - -I'll bring him to you . - - -Let me desire your company . He must come , -Or what is worst will follow . - -Pray you , let's to him . - - -Let them pull all about mine ears ; present me -Death on the wheel , or at wild horses' heels ; -Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock , -That the precipitation might down stretch -Below the beam of sight ; yet will I still -Be thus to them . - -You do the nobler . - -I muse my mother -Does not approve me further , who was wont -To call them woollen vassals , things created -To buy and sell with groats , to show bare heads -In congregations , to yawn , be still , and wonder , -When one but of my ordinance stood up -To speak of peace or war . - - -I talk of you : -Why did you wish me milder ? Would you have me -False to my nature ? Rather say I play - -The man I am . - -O ! sir , sir , sir , -I would have had you put your power well on -Before you had worn it out . - -Let go . - -You might have been enough the man you are -With striving less to be so : lesser had been -The thwarting of your dispositions if -You had not show'd them how you were dispos'd , -Ere they lack'd power to cross you . - -Let them hang . - -Ay , and burn too . - - -Come , come ; you have been too rough , something too rough ; -You must return and mend it . - -There's no remedy ; -Unless , by not so doing , our good city -Cleave in the midst , and perish . - -Pray be counsell'd . -I have a heart of mettle apt as yours , -But yet a brain that leads my use of anger -To better vantage . - -Well said , noble woman ! -Before he should thus stoop to the herd , but that -The violent fit o' the time craves it as physic -For the whole state , I would put mine armour on , -Which I can scarcely bear . - -What must I do ? - -Return to the tribunes . - -Well , what then ? what then ? - -Repent what you have spoke . - -For them ! I cannot do it to the gods ; -Must I then do't to them ? - -You are too absolute ; -Though therein you can never be too noble , -But when extremities speak . I have heard you say , -Honour and policy , like unsever'd friends , -I' the war do grow together : grant that , and tell me , -In peace what each of them by th' other lose , -That they combine not there . - -Tush , tush ! - -A good demand . - -If it be honour in your wars to seem -The same you are not ,which , for your best ends , -You adopt your policy ,how is it less or worse , -That it shall hold companionship in peace -With honour , as in war , since that to both -It stands in like request ? - -Why force you this ? - -Because that now it lies you on to speak -To the people ; not by your own instruction , -Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you , -But with such words that are but rooted in -Your tongue , though but bastards and syllables -Of no allowance to your bosom's truth . -Now , this no more dishonours you at all -Than to take in a town with gentle words , -Which else would put you to your fortune and -The hazard of much blood . -I would dissemble with my nature where -My fortunes and my friends at stake requir'd -I should do so in honour : I am in this , -Your wife , your son , these senators , the nobles ; -And you will rather show our general louts -How you can frown than spend a fawn upon 'em , -For the inheritance of their loves and safeguard -Of what that want might ruin . - -Noble lady ! -Come , go with us ; speak fair ; you may salve so , -Not what is dangerous present , but the loss -Of what is past . - -I prithee now , my son , -Go to them , with this bonnet in thy hand ; -And thus far having stretch'd it ,here be with them , -Thy knee bussing the stones ,for in such business -Action is eloquence , and the eyes of the ignorant -More learned than the ears ,waving thy head , -Which often , thus , correcting thy stout heart , -Now humble as the ripest mulberry -That will not hold the handling : or say to them , -Thou art their soldier , and being bred in broils -Hast not the soft way which , thou dost confess , -Were fit for thee to use as they to claim , -In asking their good loves ; but thou wilt frame -Thyself , forsooth , hereafter theirs , so far -As thou hast power and person . - -This but done , -Even as she speaks , why , their hearts were yours ; -For they have pardons , being ask'd , as free -As words to little purpose . - -Prithee now , -Go , and be rul'd ; although I know thou hadst rather -Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf -Than flatter him in a bower . Here is Cominius . - - -I have been i' the market-place ; and , sir , 'tis fit -You make strong party , or defend yourself -By calmness or by absence : all's in anger . - -Only fair speech . - -I think 'twill serve if he -Can thereto frame his spirit . - -He must , and will . -Prithee now , say you will , and go about it . - -Must I go show them my unbarbed sconce ? -Must I with my base tongue give to my noble heart -A lie that it must bear ? Well , I will do't : -Yet , were there but this single plot to lose , -This mould of Marcius , they to dust should grind it , -And throw 't against the wind . To the market-place ! -You have put me now to such a part which never -I shall discharge to the life . - -Come , come , we'll prompt you . - -I prithee now , sweet son , as thou hast said -My praises made thee first a soldier , so , -To have my praise for this , perform a part -Thou hast not done before . - -Well , I must do 't : -Away , my disposition , and possess me -Some harlot's spirit ! My throat of war be turn'd , -Which quired with my drum , into a pipe -Small as a eunuch , or the virgin voice -That babies lulls asleep ! The smiles of knaves -Tent in my cheeks , and school-boys' tears take up -The glasses of my sight ! A beggar's tongue -Make motion through my lips , and my arm'd knees , -Who bow'd but in my stirrup , bend like his -That hath receiv'd an alms ! I will not do 't , -Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth , -And by my body's action teach my mind -A most inherent baseness . - -At thy choice then : -To beg of thee it is my more dishonour -Than thou of them . Come all to ruin ; let -Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear -Thy dangerous stoutness , for I mock at death -With as big heart as thou . Do as thou list , -Thy valiantness was mine , thou suck'dst it from me , -But owe thy pride thyself . - -Pray , be content : -Mother , I am going to the market-place ; -Chide me no more . I'll mountebank their loves , -Cog their hearts from them , and come home belov'd -Of all the trades in Rome . Look , I am going : -Commend me to my wife . I'll return consul , -Or never trust to what my tongue can do -I' the way of flattery further . - -Do your will . - - -Away ! the tribunes do attend you : arm yourself -To answer mildly ; for they are prepar'd -With accusations , as I hear , more strong -Than are upon you yet . - -The word is 'mildly .' - -Pray you , let us go : -Let them accuse me by invention , I -Will answer in mine honour . - -Ay , but mildly . - -Well , mildly be it then . Mildly ! - - -In this point charge him home , that he affects -Tyrannical power : if he evade us there , -Enforce him with his envy to the people , -And that the spoil got on the Antiates -Was ne'er distributed . - -What , will he come ? - -He's coming . - -How accompanied ? - -With old Menenius , and those senators -That always favour'd him . - -Have you a catalogue -Of all the voices that we have procur'd , -Set down by the poll ? - -I have ; 'tis ready . - -Have you collected them by tribes ? - -I have . - -Assemble presently the people hither ; -And when they hear me say , 'It shall be so , -I' the right and strength o' the commons ,' be it either -For death , for fine , or banishment , then let them , -If I say , fine , cry 'fine ,' if death , cry 'death ,' -Insisting on the old prerogative -And power i' the truth o' the cause . - -I shall inform them . - -And when such time they have begun to cry , -Let them not cease , but with a din confus'd -Enforce the present execution -Of what we chance to sentence . - -Very well . - -Make them be strong and ready for this hint , -When we shall hap to give 't them . - -Go about it . - -Put him to choler straight . He hath been us'd -Ever to conquer , and to have his worth -Of contradiction : being once chaf'd , he cannot -Be rein'd again to temperance ; then he speaks -What's in his heart ; and that is there which looks -With us to break his neck . - -Well , here he comes . - - -Calmly , I do beseech you . - -Ay , as an ostler , that for the poorest piece -Will bear the knave by the volume . The honour'd gods -Keep Rome in safety , and the chairs of justice -Supplied with worthy men ! plant love among us ! -Throng our large temples with the shows of peace , -And not our streets with war ! - -Amen , amen . - -A noble wish . - - -Draw near , ye people . - -List to your tribunes ; audience ; peace ! I say . - -First , hear me speak . - -Well , say . Peace , ho ! - -Shall I be charg'd no further than this present ? -Must all determine here ? - -I do demand , -If you submit you to the people's voices , -Allow their officers , and are content -To suffer lawful censure for such faults -As shall be prov'd upon you ? - -I am content . - -Lo ! citizens , he says he is content : -The war-like service he has done , consider ; think -Upon the wounds his body bears , which show -Like graves i' the holy churchyard . - -Scratches with briers , -Scars to move laughter only . - -Consider further , -That when he speaks not like a citizen , -You find him like a soldier : do not take -His rougher accents for malicious sounds , -But , as I say , such as become a soldier , -Rather than envy you . - -Well , well ; no more . - -What is the matter , -That being pass'd for consul with full voice -I am so dishonour'd that the very hour -You take it off again ? - -Answer to us . - -Say , then : 'tis true , I ought so . - -We charge you , that you have contriv'd to take -From Rome all season'd office , and to wind -Yourself into a power tyrannical ; -For which you are a traitor to the people . - -How ! Traitor ! - -Nay , temperately ; your promise . - -The fires i' the lowest hell fold-in the people ! -Call me their traitor ! Thou injurious tribune ! -Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths , -In thy hands clutch'd as many millions , in -Thy lying tongue both numbers , I would say -'Thou liest' unto thee with a voice as free -As I do pray the gods . - -Mark you this , people ! - -To the rock !to the rock with him ! - -Peace ! -We need not put new matter to his charge : -What you have seen him do , and heard him speak , -Beating your officers , cursing yourselves , -Opposing laws with strokes , and here defying -Those whose great power must try him ; even this , -So criminal and in such capital kind , -Deserves the extremest death . - -But since he hath -Serv'd well for Rome , - -What do you prate of service ? - -I talk of that , that know it . - -You ! - -Is this the promise that you made your mother ? - -Know , I pray you , - -I'll know no further : -Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death , -Vagabond exile , flaying , pent to linger -But with a grain a day , I would not buy -Their mercy at the price of one fair word , -Nor check my courage for what they can give , -To have 't with saying 'Good morrow .' - -For that he has , -As much as in him lies ,from time to time -Envied against the people , seeking means -To pluck away their power , as now at last -Given hostile strokes , and that not in the presence -Of dreaded justice , but on the ministers -That do distribute it ; in the name o' the people , -And in the power of us the tribunes , we , -Even from this instant , banish him our city , -In peril of precipitation -From off the rock Tarpeian , never more -To enter our Rome gates : i' the people's name , -I say , it shall be so . - -It shall be so ,It shall be so ,Let him away . -He's banish'd , and it shall be so . - -Hear me , my masters , and my common friends , - -He's sentenc'd ; no more hearing . - -Let me speak : -I have been consul , and can show for Rome -Her enemies' marks upon me . I do love -My country's good with a respect more tender , -More holy , and profound , than mine own life , -My dear wife's estimate , her womb's increase , -And treasure of my loins ; then if I would -Speak that - -We know your drift : speak what ? - -There's no more to be said , but he is banish'd , -As enemy to the people and his country : -It shall be so . - -It shall be so ,it shall be so . - -You common cry of curs ! whose breath I hate -As reek o' the rotten fens , whose loves I prize -As the dead carcases of unburied men -That do corrupt my air , I banish you ; -And here remain with your uncertainty ! -Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts ! -Your enemies , with nodding of their plumes , -Fan you into despair ! Have the power still -To banish your defenders ; till at length -Your ignorance ,which finds not , till it feels , -Making but reservation of yourselves , -Still your own foes ,deliver you as most -Abated captives to some nation -That won you without blows ! Despising , -For you , the city , thus I turn my back : -There is a world elsewhere . - - -The people's enemy is gone , is gone ! - -Our enemy is banish'd !he is gone !Hoo ! hoo ! - - -Go , see him out at gates , and follow him , -As he hath follow'd you , with all despite ; -Give him deserv'd vexation . Let a guard -Attend us through the city . - -Come , come ,let us see him out at gates ! come ! -The gods preserve our noble tribunes ! Come ! - -Come , leave your tears : a brief farewell : the beast -With many heads butts me away . Nay , mother , -Where is your ancient courage ? you were us'd , -To say extremity was the trier of spirits ; -That common chances common men could bear ; -That when the sea was calm all boats alike -Show'd mastership in floating ; fortune's blows , -When most struck home , being gentle wounded , craves -A noble cunning : you were us'd to load me -With precepts that would make invincible -The heart that conn'd them . - -O heavens ! O heavens ! - -Nay , I prithee , woman , - -Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome , -And occupations perish ! - -What , what , what ! -I shall be lov'd when I am lack'd . Nay , mother , -Resume that spirit , when you were wont to say , -If you had been the wife of Hercules , -Six of his labours you'd have done , and sav'd -Your husband so much sweat . Cominius , -Droop not ; adieu . Farewell , my wife ! my mother ! -I'll do well yet . Thou old and true Menenius , -Thy tears are salter than a younger man's . -And venomous to thine eyes . My sometime general , -I have seen thee stern , and thou hast oft beheld -Heart-hardening spectacles ; tell these sad women -'Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes -As 'tis to laugh at them . My mother , you wot well -My hazards still have been your solace ; and -Believe 't not lightly ,though I go alone -Like to a lonely dragon , that his fen -Makes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen ,your son -Will or exceed the common or be caught -With cautelous baits and practice . - -My first son , -Whither wilt thou go ? Take good Cominius -With thee awhile : determine on some course , -More than a wild exposture to each chance -That starts i' the way before thee . - -O the gods ! - -I'll follow thee a month , devise with thee -Where thou shalt rest , that thou mayst hear of us , -And we of thee : so , if the time thrust forth -A cause for thy repeal , we shall not send -O'er the vast world to seek a single man , -And lose advantage , which doth ever cool -I' the absence of the needer . - -Fare ye well : -Thou hast years upon thee ; and thou art too full -Of the wars' surfeits , to go rove with one -That's yet unbruis'd : bring me but out at gate . -Come , my sweet wife , my dearest mother , and -My friends of noble touch , when I am forth , -Bid me farewell , and smile . I pray you , come . -While I remain above the ground you shall -Hear from me still ; and never of me aught -But what is like me formerly . - -That's worthily -As any ear can hear . Come , let's not weep . -If I could shake off but one seven years -From these old arms and legs , by the good gods , -I'd with thee every foot . - -Give me thy hand : -Come . - - -Bid them all home ; he's gone , and we'll no further . -The nobility are vex'd , whom we see have sided -In his behalf . - -Now we have shown our power , -Let us seem humbler after it is done -Than when it was a-doing . - -Bid them home ; -Say their great enemy is gone , and they -Stand in their ancient strength . - -Dismiss them home . - - -Here comes his mother . - -Let's not meet her . - -Why ? - -They say she's mad . - -They have ta'en note of us : keep on your way . - -O ! you're well met . The hoarded plague o' the gods -Requite your love ! - -Peace , peace ! be not so loud . - -If that I could for weeping , you should hear , -Nay , and you shall hear some . - -Will you be gone ? - -You shall stay too . I would I had the power -To say so to my husband . - -Are you mankind ? - -Ay , fool ; is that a shame ? Note but this fool . -Was not a man my father ? Hadst thou foxship -To banish him that struck more blows for Rome -Than thou hast spoken words ? - -O blessed heavens ! - -More noble blows than ever thou wise words ; -And for Rome's good . I'll tell thee what ; yet go : -Nay , but thou shalt stay too : I would my son -Were in Arabia , and thy tribe before him , -His good sword in his hand . - -What then ? - -What then ! -He'd make an end of thy posterity . - -Bastards and all . -Good man , the wounds that he does bear for Rome ! - -Come , come : peace ! - -I would he had continu'd to his country -As he began , and not unknit himself -The noble knot he made . - -I would he had . - -'I would he had !' 'Twas you incens'd the rabble : -Cats , that can judge as fitly of his worth -As I can of those mysteries which heaven -Will not have earth to know . - -Pray , let us go . - -Now , pray , sir , get you gone : -You have done a brave deed . Ere you go , hear this : -As far as doth the Capitol exceed -The meanest house in Rome , so far my son , -This lady's husband here , this , do you see , -Whom you have banish'd , does exceed you all . - -Well , well , we'll leave you . - -Why stay we to be baited -With one that wants her wits ? - -Take my prayers with you . - -I would the gods had nothing else to do -But to confirm my curses ! Could I meet 'em -But once a day , it would unclog my heart -Of what lies heavy to 't . - -You have told them home , -And , by my troth , you have cause . You'll sup with me ? - -Anger's my meat ; I sup upon myself , -And so shall starve with feeding . Come , let's go . -Leave this faint puling and lament as I do , -In anger , Juno-like . Come , come , come . - -Fie , fie , fie ! - - -I know you well , sir , and you know me : your name I think is Adrian . - -It is so , sir : truly , I have forget you . - -I am a Roman ; and my services are , as you are , against 'em : know you me yet ? - -Nicanor ? No . - -The same , sir . - -You had more beard , when I last saw you ; but your favour is well approved by your tongue . What's the news in Rome ? I have a note from the Volscian state to find you out there : you have well saved me a day's journey . - -There hath been in Rome strange insurrections : the people against the senators , patricians , and nobles . - -Hath been ! Is it ended then ? Our state thinks not-so ; they are in a most war-like preparation , and hope to come upon them in the heat of their division . - -The main blaze of it is past , but a small thing would make it flame again . For the nobles receive so to heart the banishment of that worthy Coriolanus , that they are in a ripe aptness to take all power from the people and to pluck from them their tribunes for ever . This lies glowing , I can tell you , and is almost mature for the violent breaking out . - -Coriolanus banished ! - -Banished , sir . - -You will be welcome with this intelligence , Nicanor . - -The day serves well for them now . I have heard it said , the fittest time to corrupt a man's wife is when she's fallen out with her husband . Your noble Tullus Aufidius will appear well in these wars , his great opposer , Coriolanus , being now in no request of his country . - -He cannot choose . I am most fortunate , thus accidentally to encounter you : you have ended my business , and I will merrily accompany you home . - -I shall , between this and supper , tell you most strange things from Rome ; all tending to the good of their adversaries . Have you an army ready , say you ? - -A most royal one : the centurions and their charges distinctly billeted , already in the entertainment , and to be on foot at an hour's warning . - -I am joyful to hear of their readiness , and am the man , I think , that shall set them in present action . So , sir , heartily well met , and most glad of your company . - -You take my part from me , sir ; I have the most cause to be glad of yours . - -Well , let us go together . - - -A goodly city is this Antium . City , -'Tis I that made thy widows : many an heir -Of these fair edifices 'fore my wars -Have I heard groan and drop : then , know me not , -Lest that thy wives with spits and boys with stones -In puny battle slay me . - -Save you , sir . - -And you . - -Direct me , if it be your will , -Where great Aufidius lies . Is he in Antium ? - -He is , and feasts the nobles of the state -At his house this night . - -Which is his house , beseech you ? - -This , here before you . - -Thank you , sir . Farewell . - -O world ! thy slippery turns . Friends now fast sworn , -Whose double bosoms seem to wear one heart , -Whose hours , whose bed , whose meal , and exercise , -Are still together , who twin , as 'twere , in love -Unseparable , shall within this hour , -On a dissension of a doit , break out -To bitterest enmity : so , fellest foes , -Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep -To take the one the other , by some chance , -Some trick not worth an egg , shall grow dear friends -And interjoin their issues . So with me : -My birth-place hate I , and my love's upon -This enemy town . I'll enter : if he slay me , -He does fair justice ; if he give me way , -I'll do his country service . - - -Wine , wine , wine ! What service is here ! I think our fellows are asleep . - -Where's Cotus ? my master calls for him . Cotus ! - -A goodly house : the feast smells well ; but I -Appear not like a guest . - - -What would you have , friend ? Whence are you ? Here's no place for you : pray , go to the door . - - -I have deserv'd no better entertainment , -In being Coriolanus . - - -Whence are you , sir ? Has the porter his eyes in his head , that he gives entrance to such companions ? Pray , get you out . - -Away ! - -'Away !' Get you away . - -Now , thou art troublesome . - -Are you so brave ? I'll have you talked with anon . - - -What fellow's this ? - -A strange one as ever I looked on : -I cannot get him out o' the house : prithee , call my master to him . - -What have you to do here , fellow ? Pray you , avoid the house . - -Let me but stand ; I will not hurt your hearth . - -What are you ? - -A gentleman . - -A marvellous poor one . - -True , so I am . - -Pray you , poor gentleman , take up some other station ; here's no place for you ; pray you , avoid : come . - -Follow your function ; go , and batten on cold bits . - - -What , you will not ? Prithee , tell my master what a strange guest he has here . - -And I shall . - - -Where dwell'st thou ? - -Under the canopy . - -'Under the canopy !' - -Ay . - -Where's that ? - -I' the city of kites and crows . - -'I' the city of kites and crows !' What an ass it is ! Then thou dwell'st with daws too ? - -No ; I serve not thy master . - -How sir ! Do you meddle with my master ? - -Ay ; 'tis an honester service than to meddle with thy mistress . -Thou prat'st , and prat'st : serve with thy trencher . Hence . - -Where is this fellow ? - -Here , sir : I'd have beaten him like a dog , but for disturbing the lords within . - -Whence com'st thou ? what wouldst thou ? Thy name ? -Why speak'st not ? Speak , man : what's thy name ? - -If , Tullus , -Not yet thou know'st me , and , seeing me , dost not -Think me for the man I am , necessity -Commands me name myself . - -What is thy name ? - - -A name unmusical to the Volscians' ears , -And harsh in sound to thine . - -Say , what's thy name ? -Thou hast a grim appearance , and thy face -Bears a command in 't ; though thy tackle's torn , -Thou show'st a noble vessel . What's thy name ? - -Prepare thy brow to frown . Know'st thou me yet ? - -I know thee not . Thy name ? - -My name is Caius Marcius , who hath done -To thee particularly , and to all the Volsces , -Great hurt and mischief ; thereto witness may -My surname , Coriolanus : the painful service , -The extreme dangers , and the drops of blood -Shed for my thankless country , are requited -But with that surname ; a good memory , -And witness of the malice and displeasure -Which thou shouldst bear me : only that name remains ; -The cruelty and envy of the people , -Permitted by our dastard nobles , who -Have all forsook me , hath devour'd the rest ; -And suffer'd me by the voice of slaves to be -Whoop'd out of Rome . Now this extremity -Hath brought me to thy hearth ; not out of hope , -Mistake me not , to save my life ; for if -I had fear'd death , of all the men i' the world -I would have 'voided thee ; but in mere spite , -To be full quit of those my banishers , -Stand I before thee here . Then if thou hast -A heart of wreak in thee , that will revenge -Thine own particular wrongs and stop those maims -Of shame seen through thy country , speed thee straight , -And make my misery serve thy turn : so use it , -That my revengeful services may prove -As benefits to thee , for I will fight -Against my canker'd country with the spleen -Of all the under fiends . But if so be -Thou dar'st not this , and that to prove more fortunes -Thou art tir'd , then , in a word , I also am -Longer to live most weary , and present -My throat to thee and to thy ancient malice ; -Which not to cut would show thee but a fool , -Since I have ever follow'd thee with hate , -Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast , -And cannot live but to thy shame , unless -It be to do thee service . - -O Marcius , Marcius ! -Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart -A root of ancient envy . If Jupiter -Should from yond cloud speak divine things , -And say , ''Tis true ,' I'd not believe them more -Than thee , all noble Marcius . Let me twine -Mine arms about that body , where against -My grained ash a hundred times hath broke , -And scarr'd the moon with splinters : here I clip -The anvil of my sword , and do contest -As hotly and as nobly with thy love -As ever in ambitious strength I did -Contend against thy valour . Know thou first , -I lov'd the maid I married ; never man -Sigh'd truer breath ; but that I see thee here , -Thou noble thing ! more dances my rapt heart -Than when I first my wedded mistress saw -Bestride my threshold . Why , thou Mars ! I tell thee , -We have a power on foot ; and I had purpose -Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn , -Or lose mine arm for 't . Thou hast beat me out -Twelve several times , and I have nightly since -Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself and me ; -We have been down together in my sleep , -Unbuckling helms , fisting each other's throat , -And wak'd half dead with nothing . Worthy Marcius , -Had we no quarrel else to Rome , but that -Thou art thence banish'd , we would muster all -From twelve to seventy , and , pouring war -Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome , -Like a bold flood o'er-bear . O ! come ; go in , -And take our friendly senators by the hands , -Who now are here , taking their leaves of me , -Who am prepar'd against your territories , -Though not for Rome itself . - -You bless me , gods ! - -Therefore , most absolute sir , if thou wilt have -The leading of thine own revenges , take -The one half of my commission , and set down , -As best thou art experienc'd , since thou know'st -Thy country's strength and weakness , thine own ways ; -Whether to knock against the gates of Rome , -Or rudely visit them in parts remote , -To fright them , ere destroy . But come in : -Let me commend thee first to those that shall -Say yea to thy desires . A thousand welcomes ! -And more a friend than e'er an enemy ; -Yet , Marcius , that was much . Your hand : most welcome ! - - -Here's a strange alteration ! - -By my hand , I had thought to have strucken him with a cudgel ; and yet my mind gave me his clothes made a false report of him . - -What an arm he has ! He turned me about with his finger and his thumb , as one would set up a top . - -Nay , I knew by his face that there was something in him : he had , sir , a kind of face , methought ,I cannot tell how to term it . - -He had so ; looking as it were , would I were hanged but I thought there was more in him than I could think . - -So did I , I'll be sworn : he is simply the rarest man i' the world . - -I think he is ; but a greater soldier than he you wot on . - -Who ? my master ? - -Nay , it's no matter for that . - -Worth six on him . - -Nay , not so neither ; but I take him to be the greater soldier . - -Faith , look you , one cannot tell how to say that : for the defence of a town our general is excellent . - -Ay , and for an assault too . - - -O slaves ! I can tell you news ; news , you rascals . - -What , what , what ? let's partake . - -What , what , what ? let's partake . - -I would not be a Roman , of all nations ; I had as lief be a condemned man . - -Wherefore ? wherefore ? - -Wherefore ? wherefore ? - -Why , here's he that was wont to thwack our general , Caius Marcius . - -Why do you say 'thwack our general ?' - -I do not say , 'thwack our general ;' but he was always good enough for him . - -Come , we are fellows and friends : he was ever too hard for him ; I have heard him say so himself . - -He was too hard for him ,directly to say the truth on 't : before Corioli he scotched him and notched him like a carbonado . - -An he had been cannibally given , he might have broiled and eaten him too . - -But , more of thy news . - -Why , he is so made on here within , as if he were son and heir to Mars ; set at upper end o' the table ; no question asked him by any of the senators , but they stand bald before him . Our general himself makes a mistress of him ; sanctifies himself with 's hand , and turns up the white o' the eye to his discourse . But the bottom of the news is , our general is out i' the middle , and but one half of what he was yesterday , for the other has half , by the entreaty and grant of the whole table . He'll go , he says , and sowle the porter of Rome gates by the ears : he will mow down all before him , and leave his passage polled . - -And he's as like to do 't as any man I can imagine . - -Do 't ! he will do 't for look you , sir he has as many friends as enemies ; which friends , sir as it were durst not look you , sir show themselves as we term it his friends , whilst he's in directitude . - -Directitude ! what's that ? - -But when they shall see , sir , his crest up again , and the man in blood , they will out of their burrows , like comes after rain , and revel all with him . - -But when goes this forward ? - -To-morrow ; to-day ; presently . You shall have the drum struck up this afternoon ; 'tis , as it were , a parcel of their feast , and to be executed ere they wipe their lips . - -Why , then we shall have a stirring world again . This peace is nothing but to rust iron , increase tailors , and breed ballad-makers . - -Let me have war , say I ; it exceeds peace as far as day does night ; it's spritely , waking , audible , and full of vent . Peace is a very apoplexy , lethargy ; mulled , deaf , sleepy , insensible ; a getter of more bastard children than war's a destroyer of men . - -'Tis so : and as war , in some sort , may be said to be a ravisher , so it cannot be denied but peace is a great maker of cuckolds . - -Ay , and it makes men hate one another . - -Reason : because they then less need one another . The wars for my money . I hope to see Romans as cheap as Volscians . They are rising , they are rising . - -In , in , in , in ! - - -We hear not of him , neither need we fear him ; -His remedies are tame i' the present peace -And quietness o' the people , which before -Were in wild hurry . Here do we make his friends -Blush that the world goes well , who rather had , -Though they themselves did suffer by 't , behold -Dissentious numbers pestering streets , than see -Our tradesmen singing in their shops and going -About their functions friendly . - - -We stood to 't in good time . Is this Menenius ? - -'Tis he , 'tis he O ! he is grown most kind -Of late . Hail , sir ! - -Hail to you both ! - -Your Coriolanus is not much miss'd -But with his friends : the commonwealth doth stand , -And so would do , were he more angry at it . - -All's well ; and might have been much better , if -He could have temporiz'd . - -Where is he , hear you ? - -Nay , I hear nothing : his mother and his wife -Hear nothing from him . - - -The gods preserve you both ! - -Good den , our neighbours . - -Good den to you all , good den to you all . - -Ourselves , our wives , and children , on our knees , -Are bound to pray for you both . - -Live , and thrive ! - -Farewell , kind neighbours : we wish'd Coriolanus -Had lov'd you as we did . - -Now the gods keep you ! - -Farewell , farewell . - - -Farewell , farewell . - -This is a happier and more comely time -Than when these fellows ran about the streets -Crying confusion . - -Caius Marcius was -A worthy officer i' the war ; but insolent , -O'ercome with pride , ambitious past all thinking , -Self-loving , - -And affecting one sole throne . -Without assistance . - -I think not so . - -We should by this , to all our lamentation , -If he had gone forth consul , found it so . - -The gods have well prevented it , and Rome -Sits safe and still without him . - - -Worthy tribunes , -There is a slave , whom we have put in prison , -Reports , the Volsces with two several powers -Are enter'd in the Roman territories , -And with the deepest malice of the war -Destroy what lies before them . - -'Tis Aufidius , -Who , hearing of our Marcius' banishment , -Thrusts forth his horns again into the world ; -Which were inshell'd when Marcius stood for Rome , -And durst not once peep out . - -Come , what talk you of Marcius ? - -Go see this rumourer whipp'd . It cannot be -The Volsces dare break with us . - -Cannot be ! -We have record that very well it can , -And three examples of the like have been -Within my age . But reason with the fellow , -Before you punish him , where he heard this , -Lest you shall chance to whip your information , -And beat the messenger who bids beware -Of what is to be dreaded . - -Tell not me : -I know this cannot be . - -Not possible . - - -The nobles in great earnestness are going -All to the senate-house : some news is come , -That turns their countenances . - -'Tis this slave . -Go whip him 'fore the people's eyes : his raising ; -Nothing but his report . - -Yes , worthy sir , -The slave's report is seconded ; and more , -More fearful , is deliver'd . - -What more fearful ? - -It is spoke freely out of many mouths -How probable I do not know that Marcius , -Join'd with Aufidius , leads a power 'gainst Rome , -And vows revenge as spacious as between -The young'st and oldest thing . - -This is most likely . - -Rais'd only , that the weaker sort may wish -Good Marcius home again . - -The very trick on 't . - -This is unlikely : -He and Aufidius can no more atone , -Than violentest contrariety . - - -You are sent for to the senate : -A fearful army , led by Caius Marcius , -Associated with Aufidius , rages -Upon our territories ; and have already -O'erborne their way , consum'd with fire , and took -What lay before them . - - -O ! you have made good work ! - -What news ? what news ? - -You have holp to ravish your own daughters ; and -To melt the city leads upon your pates . -To see your wives dishonour'd to your noses , - -What's the news ? what's the news ? - -Your temples burned in their cement , and -Your franchises , whereon you stood , confin'd -Into an auger's bore . - -Pray now , your news ? -You have made fair work , I fear me . Pray , your news ? -If Marcius should be join'd with Volscians , - -If ! -He is their god : he leads them like a thing -Made by some other deity than Nature , -That shapes man better ; and they follow him , -Against us brats , with no less confidence -Than boys pursuing summer butterflies , -Or butchers killing flies . - -You have made good work , -You , and your apron-men ; you that stood so much -Upon the voice of occupation and -The breath of garlic-eaters ! - -He will shake -Your Rome about your ears . - -As Hercules -Did shake down mellow fruit . You have made fair work ! - -But is this true , sir ? - -Ay ; and you'll look pale -Before you find it other . All the regions -Do smilingly revolt ; and who resist -Are mock'd for valiant ignorance , -And perish constant fools . Who is't can blame him ? -Your enemies , and his , find something in him . - -We are all undone unless -The noble man have mercy . - -Who shall ask it ? -The tribunes cannot do't for shame ; the people -Deserve such pity of him as the wolf -Does of the shepherds : for his best friends , if they -Should say , 'Be good to Rome ,' they charg'd him even -As those should do that had deserv'd his hate , -And therein show'd like enemies . - -'Tis true : -If he were putting to my house the brand -That should consume it , I have not the face -To say , 'Beseech you , cease .' You have made fair hands , -You and your crafts ! you have crafted fair ! - -You have brought -A trembling upon Rome , such as was never -So incapable of help . - -Say not we brought it . - -Say not we brought it . - -How ! Was it we ? We lov'd him ; but , like beasts -And cowardly nobles , gave way unto your clusters , -Who did hoot him out o' the city . - -But I fear -They'll roar him in again . Tullus Aufidius , -The second name of men , obeys his points -As if he were his officer : desperation -Is all the policy , strength , and defence , -That Rome can make against them . - - -Here come the clusters . -And is Aufidius with him ? You are they -That made the air unwholesome , when you cast -Your stinking greasy caps in hooting at -Coriolanus' exile . Now he's coming ; -And not a hair upon a soldier's head -Which will not prove a whip : as many coxcombs -As you threw caps up will he tumble down , -And pay you for your voices . 'Tis no matter ; -If he could burn us all into one coal , -We have deserv'd it . - -Faith , we hear fearful news . - -For mine own part , -When I said banish him , I said 'twas pity . - -And so did I . - -And so did I ; and , to say the truth , so did very many of us . That we did we did for the best ; and though we willingly consented to his banishment , yet it was against our will . - -You're goodly things , you voices ! - -You have made -Good work , you and your cry ! Shall's to the Capitol ? - -O ! ay ; what else ? - - -Go , masters , get you home ; be not dismay'd : -These are a side that would be glad to have -This true which they so seem to fear . Go home , -And show no sign of fear . - -The gods be good to us ! Come , masters , let's home . I ever said we were i' the wrong when we banished him . - -So did we all . But come , let's home . - - -I do not like this news . - -Nor I . - -Let's to the Capitol . Would half my wealth -Would buy this for a lie ! - -Pray let us go . - - -Do they still fly to the Roman ? - -I do not know what witchcraft's in him , but -Your soldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat , -Their talk at table , and their thanks at end ; -And you are darken'd in this action , sir , -Even by your own . - -I cannot help it now , -Unless , by using means , I lame the foot -Of our design . He bears himself more proudlier , -Even to my person , than I thought he would -When first I did embrace him ; yet his nature -In that's no changeling , and I must excuse -What cannot be amended . - -Yet , I wish , sir , -I mean for your particular ,you had not -Join'd in commission with him ; but either -Had borne the action of yourself , or else -To him had left it solely . - -I understand thee well ; and be thou sure , -When he shall come to his account , he knows not -What I can urge against him . Although it seems , -And so he thinks , and is no less apparent -To the vulgar eye , that he bears all things fairly , -And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state , -Fights dragon-like , and does achieve as soon -As draw his sword ; yet he hath left undone -That which shall break his neck or hazard mine , -Whene'er we come to our account . - -Sir , I beseech you , think you he'll carry Rome ? - -All places yield to him ere he sits down ; -And the nobility of Rome are his : -The senators and patricians love him too : -The tribunes are no soldiers ; and their people -Will be as rash in the repeal as hasty -To expel him thence . I think he'll be to Rome -As is the osprey to the fish , who takes it -By sovereignty of nature . First he was -A noble servant to them , but he could not -Carry his honours even ; whether 'twas pride , -Which out of daily fortune ever taints -The happy man ; whether defect of judgment , -To fail in the disposing of those chances -Which he was lord of ; or whether nature , -Not to be other than one thing , not moving -From the casque to the cushion , but commanding peace -Even with the same austerity and garb -As he controll'd the war ; but one of these , -As he hath spices of them all , not all , -For I dare so far free him , made him fear'd , -So hated , and so banish'd : but he has a merit -To choke it in the utterance . So our virtues -Lie in the interpretation of the time ; -And power , unto itself most commendable , -Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair -To extol what it hath done . -One fire drives out one fire ; one nail , one nail ; -Rights by rights falter , strengths by strengths do fail . -Come , let's away . When , Caius , Rome is thine , -Thou art poor'st of all ; then shortly art thou mine . - -No , I'll not go : you hear what he hath said -Which was sometime his general ; who lov'd him -In a most dear particular . He call'd me father : -But what o' that ? Go , you that banish'd him ; -A mile before his tent fall down , and knee -The way into his mercy . Nay , if he coy'd -To hear Cominius speak , I'll keep at home . - -He would not seem to know me . - -Do you hear ? - -Yet one time he did call me by my name . -I urg'd our old acquaintance , and the drops -That we have bled together . Coriolanus -He would not answer to ; forbad all names ; -He was a kind of nothing , titleless , -Till he had forg'd himself a name o' the fire -Of burning Rome . - -Why , so : you have made good work ! -A pair of tribunes that have rack'd for Rome , -To make coals cheap : a noble memory ! - -I minded him how royal 'twas to pardon -When it was less expected : he replied , -It was a bare petition of a state -To one whom they had punish'd . - -Very well . -Could he say less ? - -I offer'd to awaken his regard -For's private friends : his answer to me was , -He could not stay to pick them in a pile -Of noisome musty chaff : he said 'twas folly , -For one poor grain or two , to leave unburnt , -And still to nose the offence . - -For one poor grain or two ! -I am one of those ; his mother , wife , his child , -And this brave fellow too , we are the grains : -You are the musty chaff , and you are smelt -Above the moon . We must be burnt for you . - -Nay , pray , be patient : if you refuse your aid -In this so-never-needed help , yet do not -Upbraid's with our distress . But , sure , if you -Would be your country's pleader , your good tongue , -More than the instant army we can make , -Might stop our countryman . - -No ; I'll not meddle . - -Pray you , go to him . - -What should I do ? - -Only make trial what your love can do -For Rome , towards Marcius . - -Well ; and say that Marcius -Return me , as Cominius is return'd , -Unheard ; what then ? -But as a discontented friend , grief-shot -With his unkindness ? say 't be so ? - -Yet your good will -Must have that thanks from Rome , after the measure -As you intended well . - -I'll undertake it : -I think he'll hear me . Yet , to bite his lip , -And hum at good Cominius , much unhearts me . -He was not taken well ; he had not din'd : -The veins unfill'd , our blood is cold , and then -We pout upon the morning , are unapt -To give or to forgive ; but when we have stuff'd -These pipes and these conveyances of our blood -With wine and feeding , we have suppler souls -Than in our priest-like fasts : therefore , I'll watch him -Till he be dieted to my request , -And then I'll set upon him . - -You know the very road into his kindness , -And cannot lose your way . - -Good faith , I'll prove him , -Speed how it will . I shall ere long have knowledge -Of my success . - - -He'll never hear him . - -Not ? - -I tell you he does sit in gold , his eye -Red as 'twould burn Rome , and his injury -The gaoler to his pity . I kneel'd before him ; -'Twas very faintly he said 'Rise ;' dismiss'd me -Thus , with his speechless hand : what he would do -He sent in writing after me ; what he would not , -Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions : -So that all hope is vain -Unless his noble mother and his wife , -Who , as I hear , mean to solicit him -For mercy to his country . Therefore let's hence , -And with our fair entreaties haste them on . - - -Stay ! whence are you ? - -Stand ! and go back . - -You guard like men ; 'tis well ; but , by your leave , -I am an officer of state , and come -To speak with Coriolanus . - -From whence ? - -From Rome . - -You may not pass ; you must return : our general -Will no more hear from thence . - -You'll see your Rome embrac'd with fire before -You'll speak with Coriolanus . - -Good my friends , -If you have heard your general talk of Rome , -And of his friends there , it is lots to blanks -My name hath touch'd your ears : it is Menenius . - -Be it so ; go back : the virtue of your name -Is not here passable . - -I tell thee , fellow , -Thy general is my lover : I have been -The book of his good acts , whence men have read -His fame unparallel'd , haply amplified ; -For I have ever glorified my friends -Of whom he's chief with all the size that verity -Would without lapsing suffer : nay , sometimes , -Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground , -I have tumbled past the throw , and in his praise -Have almost stamp'd the leasing . Therefore , fellow , -I must have leave to pass . - -Faith , sir , if you had told as many lies in his behalf as you have uttered words in your own , you should not pass here ; no , though it were as virtuous to lie as to live chastely . Therefore go back . - -Prithee , fellow , remember my name is Menenius , always factionary on the party of your general . - -Howsoever you have been his liar as you say you have I am one that , telling true under him , must say you cannot pass . Therefore go back . - -Has he dined , canst thou tell ? for I would not speak with him till after dinner . - -You are a Roman , are you ? - -I am as thy general is . - -Then you should hate Rome , as he does . Can you , when you have pushed out your gates the very defender of them , and , in a violent popular ignorance , given your enemy your shield , think to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women , the virginal palms of your daughters , or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as you seem to be ? Can you think to blow out the intended fire your city is ready to flame in with such weak breath as this ? No , you are deceived ; therefore , back to Rome , and prepare for your execution : you are condemned , our general has sworn you out of reprieve and pardon . - -Sirrah , if thy captain know I were here , he would use me with estimation . - -Come , my captain knows you not . - -I mean , thy general . - -My general cares not for you . -Back , I say : go , lest I let forth your half-pint of blood ; back , that's the utmost of your having : back . - -Nay , but , fellow , fellow , - - -What's the matter ? - -Now , you companion , I'll say an errand for you : you shall know now that I am in estimation ; you shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus : guess , but by my entertainment with him , if thou standest not i' the state of hanging , or of some death more long in spectatorship , and crueller in suffering ; behold now presently , and swound for what's to come upon thee . - -The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity , and love thee no worse than thy old father Menenius does ! O my son ! my son ! thou art preparing fire for us ; look thee , here's water to quench it . I was hardly moved to come to thee ; but being assured none but myself could move thee , I have been blown out of your gates with sighs ; and conjure thee to pardon Rome , and thy petitionary countrymen . The good gods assuage thy wrath , and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet here ; this , who , like a block , hath denied my access to thee . - -Away ! - -How ! away ! - -Wife , mother , child , I know not . My affairs -Are servanted to others : though I owe -My revenge properly , my remission lies -In Volscian breasts . That we have been familiar , -Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison , rather -Than pity note how much . Therefore , be gone : -Mine ears against your suits are stronger than -Your gates against my force . Yet , for I lov'd thee , -Take this along ; I writ it for thy sake , - -And would have sent it . Another word , Menenius , -I will not hear thee speak . This man , Aufidius , -Was my belov'd in Rome : yet thou behold'st ! - -You keep a constant temper . - - -Now , sir , is your name Menenius ? - -'Tis a spell , you see , of much power . You know the way home again . - -Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your greatness back ? - -What cause , do you think , I have to swound ? - -I neither care for the world , nor your general : for such things as you , I can scarce think there's any , ye're so slight . He that hath a will to die by himself fears it not from another . Let your general do his worst . For you , be that you are , long ; and your misery increase with your age ! I say to you , as I was said to , Away ! - - -A noble fellow , I warrant him . - -The worthy fellow is our general : he is the rock , the oak not to be wind-shaken . - - -We will before the walls of Rome to-morrow -Set down our host . My partner in this action , -You must report to the Volscian lords , how plainly -I have borne this business . - -Only their ends -You have respected ; stopp'd your ears against -The general suit of Rome ; never admitted -A private whisper ; no , not with such friends -That thought them sure of you . - -This last old man , -Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome , -Lov'd me above the measure of a father ; -Nay , godded me indeed . Their latest refuge -Was to send him ; for whose old love I have , -Though I show'd sourly to him , once more offer'd -The first conditions , which they did refuse , -And cannot now accept , to grace him only -That thought he could do more . A very little -I have yielded to ; fresh embassies and suits , -Nor from the state , nor private friends , hereafter -Will I lend ear to . - -Ha ! what shout is this ? -Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow -In the same time 'tis made ? I will not . - - -My wife comes foremost ; then the honour'd mould -Wherein this trunk was fram'd , and in her hand -The grandchild to her blood . But out , affection ! -All bond and privilege of nature , break ! -Let it be virtuous to be obstinate . -What is that curtsy worth ? or those doves' eyes , -Which can make gods forsworn ? I melt , and am not -Of stronger earth than others . My mother bows , -As if Olympus to a molehill should -In supplication nod ; and my young boy -Hath an aspect of intercession , which -Great nature cries , 'Deny not .' Let the Volsces -Plough Rome , and harrow Italy ; I'll never -Be such a gosling to obey instinct , but stand -As if a man were author of himself - -And knew no other kin . - -My lord and husband ! - -These eyes are not the same I wore in Rome . - -The sorrow that delivers us thus chang'd -Makes you think so . - -Like a dull actor now , -I have forgot my part , and I am out , -Even to a full disgrace . Best of my flesh , -Forgive my tyranny ; but do not say -For that , 'Forgive our Romans .' O ! a kiss -Long as my exile , sweet as my revenge ! -Now , by the jealous queen of heaven , that kiss -I carried from thee , dear , and my true lip -Hath virgin'd it e'er since . You gods ! I prate , -And the most noble mother of the world -Leave unsaluted . Sink , my knee , i' the earth ; - -Of thy deep duty more impression show -Than that of common sons . - -O ! stand up bless'd ; -Whilst , with no softer cushion than the flint , -I kneel before thee , and unproperly -Show duty , as mistaken all this while -Between the child and parent . - - -What is this ? -Your knees to me ! to your corrected son ! -Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach -Fillip the stars ; then let the mutinous winds -Strike the proud cedars 'gainst the fiery sun , -Murd'ring impossibility , to make -What cannot be , slight work . - -Thou art my warrior ; -I holp to frame thee . Do you know this lady ? - -The noble sister of Publicola , -The moon of Rome ; chaste as the icicle -That's curdied by the frost from purest snow , -And hangs on Dian's temple : dear Valeria ! - -This is a poor epitome of yours , - -Which by the interpretation of full time -May show like all yourself . - -The god of soldiers , -With the consent of supreme Jove , inform -Thy thoughts with nobleness ; that thou mayst prove -To shame unvulnerable , and stick i' the wars -Like a great sea-mark , standing every flaw , -And saving those that eye thee ! - -Your knee , sirrah . - -That's my brave boy ! - -Even he , your wife , this lady , and myself , -Are suitors to you . - -I beseech you , peace : -Or , if you'd ask , remember this before : -The things I have forsworn to grant may never -Be held by you denials . Do not bid me -Dismiss my soldiers , or capitulate -Again with Rome's mechanics : tell me not -Wherein I seem unnatural : desire not -To allay my rages and revenges with -Your colder reasons . - -O ! no more , no more ; -You have said you will not grant us any thing ; -For we have nothing else to ask but that -Which you deny already : yet we will ask ; -That , if you fail in our request , the blame -May hang upon your hardness . Therefore , hear us . - -Aufidius , and you Volsces , mark ; for we'll -Hear nought from Rome in private . Your request ? - -Should we be silent and not speak , our raiment -And state of bodies would bewray what life -We have led since thy exile . Think with thyself -How more unfortunate than all living women -Are we come hither : since that thy sight , which should -Make our eyes flow with joy , hearts dance with comforts , -Constrains them weep and shake with fear and sorrow ; -Making the mother , wife , and child to see -The son , the husband , and the father tearing -His country's bowels out . And to poor we -Thine enmity's most capital : thou barr'st us -Our prayers to the gods , which is a comfort -That all but we enjoy ; for how can we , -Alas ! how can we for our country pray , -Whereto we are bound , together with thy victory , -Whereto we are bound ? Alack ! or we must lose -The country , our dear nurse , or else thy person , -Our comfort in the country . We must find -An evident calamity , though we had -Our wish , which side should win ; for either thou -Must , as a foreign recreant , be led -With manacles through our streets , or else -Triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin , -And bear the palm for having bravely shed -Thy wife and children's blood . For myself , son , -I purpose not to wait on Fortune till -These wars determine : if I cannot persuade thee -Rather to show a noble grace to both parts -Than seek the end of one , thou shalt no sooner -March to assault thy country than to tread -Trust to't , thou shalt not on thy mother's womb , -That brought thee to this world . - -Ay , and mine , -That brought you forth this boy , to keep your name -Living to time . - -A' shall not tread on me : -I'll run away till I am bigger , but then I'll fight . - -Not of a woman's tenderness to be , -Requires nor child nor woman's face to see . -I have sat too long . - - -Nay , go not from us thus . -If it were so , that our request did tend -To save the Romans , thereby to destroy -The Volsces whom you serve , you might condemn us , -As poisonous of your honour : no ; our suit -Is , that you reconcile them : while the Volsces -May say , 'This mercy we have show'd ;' the Romans , -'This we receiv'd ;' and each in either side -Give the all-hail to thee , and cry , 'Be bless'd -For making up this peace !' Thou know'st , great son , -The end of war's uncertain ; but this certain , -That , if thou conquer Rome , the benefit -Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name -Whose repetition will be dogg'd with curses ; -Whose chronicle thus writ : 'The man was noble , -But with his last attempt he wip'd it out , -Destroy'd his country , and his name remains -To the ensuing age abhorr'd .' Speak to me , son ! -Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour , -To imitate the graces of the gods ; -To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o' the air , -And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt -That should but rive an oak . Why dost not speak ? -Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man -Still to remember wrongs ? Daughter , speak you : -He cares not for your weeping . Speak thou , boy : -Perhaps thy childishness will move him more -Than can our reasons . There is no man in the world -More bound to 's mother ; yet here he lets me prate -Like one i' the stocks . Thou hast never in thy life -Show'd thy dear mother any courtesy ; -When she poor hen ! fond of no second brood -Has cluck'd thee to the wars , and safely home , -Loaden with honour . Say my request's unjust , -And spurn me back ; but if it be not so , -Thou art not honest , and the gods will plague thee , -That thou restrain'st from me the duty which -To a mother's part belongs . He turns away : -Down , ladies ; let us shame him with our knees . -To his surname Coriolanus 'longs more pride -Than pity to our prayers . Down : an end ; -This is the last : so we will home to Rome , -And die among our neighbours . Nay , behold us . -This boy , that cannot tell what he would have , -But kneels and holds up hands for fellowship , -Does reason our petition with more strength -Than thou hast to deny 't . Come , let us go : -This fellow had a Volscian to his mother ; -His wife is in Corioli , and his child -Like him by chance . Yet give us our dispatch : -I am hush'd until our city be a-fire , -And then I'll speak a little . - - -O , mother , mother ! -What have you done ? Behold ! the heavens do ope , -The gods look down , and this unnatural scene -They laugh at . O my mother ! mother ! O ! -You have won a happy victory to Rome ; -But , for your son , believe it , O ! believe it , -Most dangerously you have with him prevail'd , -If not most mortal to him . But let it come . -Aufidius , though I cannot make true wars , -I'll frame convenient peace . Now , good Aufidius , -Were you in my stead , would you have heard -A mother less , or granted less , Aufidius ? - -I was mov'd withal . - -I dare be sworn you were : -And , sir , it is no little thing to make -Mine eyes to sweat compassion . But , good sir , -What peace you'll make , advise me : for my part , -I'll not to Rome , I'll back with you ; and pray you , -Stand to me in this cause . O mother ! wife ! - -I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and thy honour -At difference in thee : out of that I'll work -Myself a former fortune . - - -Ay , by and by ; -But we will drink together ; and you shall bear -A better witness back than words , which we , -On like conditions , would have counter-seal'd . -Come , enter with us . Ladies , you deserve -To have a temple built you : all the swords -In Italy , and her confederate arms , -Could not have made this peace . - - -See you yond coign o' the Capitol , yond corner-stone ? - -Why , what of that ? - -If it be possible for you to displace it with your little finger , there is some hope the ladies of Rome , especially his mother , may prevail with him . But I say , there is no hope in 't . Our throats are sentenced and stay upon execution . - -Is't possible that so short a time can alter the condition of a man ? - -There is differency between a grub and a butterfly ; yet your butterfly was a grub . This Marcius is grown from man to dragon : he has wings ; he's more than a creeping thing . - -He loved his mother dearly . - -So did he me ; and he no more remembers his mother now than an eight-year-old horse . The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes : when he walks , he moves like an engine , and the ground shrinks before his treading : he is able to pierce a corslet with his eye ; talks like a knell , and his hum is a battery . He sits in his state , as a thing made for Alexander . What he bids be done is finished with his bidding . He wants nothing of a god but eternity and a heaven to throne in . - -Yes , mercy , if you report him truly . - -I paint him in the character . Mark what mercy his mother shall bring from him : there is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger ; that shall our poor city find : and all this is 'long of you . - -The gods be good unto us ! - -No , in such a case the gods will not be good unto us . When we banished him , we respected not them ; and , he returning to break our necks , they respect not us . - - -Sir , if you'd save your life , fly to your house : -The plebeians have got your fellow-tribune , -And hale him up and down ; all swearing , if -The Roman ladies bring not comfort home , -They'll give him death by inches . - - -What's the news ? - -Good news , good news ! the ladies have prevail'd , -The Volscians are dislodg'd , and Marcius gone . -A merrier day did never yet greet Rome , -No , not the expulsion of the Tarquins . - -Friend , -Art thou certain this is true ? is it most certain ? - -As certain as I know the sun is fire : -Where have you lurk'd that you make doubt of it ? -Ne'er through an arch so hurried the blown tide , -As the recomforted through the gates . Why , hark you ! - -The trumpets , sackbuts , psalteries , and fifes , -Tabors , and cymbals , and the shouting Romans , -Make the sun dance . Hark you ! - - -This is good news : -I will go meet the ladies . This Volumnia -Is worth of consuls , senators , patricians , -A city full ; of tribunes , such as you , -A sea and land full . You have pray'd well to-day : -This morning for ten thousand of your throats -I'd not have given a doit . Hark , how they joy ! - - -First , the gods bless you for your tidings ; next , -Accept my thankfulness . - -Sir , we have all -Great cause to give great thanks . - -They are near the city ? - -Almost at point to enter . - -We will meet them , -And help the joy . - -Behold our patroness , the life of Rome ! -Call all your tribes together , praise the gods , -And make triumphant fires ; strew flowers before them : -Unshout the noise that banish'd Marcius ; -Repeal him with the welcome of his mother ; -Cry , 'Welcome , ladies , welcome !' - -Welcome , ladies , -Welcome ! - - -Go tell the lords o' the city I am here : -Deliver them this paper : having read it , -Bid them repair to the market-place ; where I , -Even in theirs and in the commons' ears , -Will vouch the truth of it . Him I accuse -The city ports by this hath enter'd , and -Intends to appear before the people , hoping -To purge himself with words : dispatch . - - -Most welcome ! - -How is it with our general ? - -Even so -As with a man by his own alms empoison'd , -And with his charity slain . - -Most noble sir , -If you do hold the same intent wherein -You wish'd us parties , we'll deliver you -Of your great danger . - -Sir , I cannot tell : -We must proceed as we do find the people . - -The people will remain uncertain whilst -'Twixt you there's difference ; but the fall of either -Makes the survivor heir of all . - -I know it ; -And my pretext to strike at him admits -A good construction . I rais'd him , and I pawn'd -Mine honour for his truth : who being so heighten'd , -He water'd his new plants with dews of flattery , -Seducing so my friends ; and , to this end , -He bow'd his nature , never known before -But to be rough , unswayable , and free . - -Sir , his stoutness -When he did stand for consul , which he lost -By lack of stooping , - -That I would have spoke of : -Being banish'd for't , he came unto my hearth ; -Presented to my knife his throat : I took him ; -Made him joint-servant with me ; gave him way -In all his own desires ; nay , let him choose -Out of my files , his projects to accomplish , -My best and freshest men ; serv'd his designments -In mine own person ; holp to reap the fame -Which he did end all his ; and took some pride -To do myself this wrong : till , at the last , -I seem'd his follower , not partner ; and -He wag'd me with his countenance , as if -I had been mercenary . - -So he did , my lord : -The army marvell'd at it ; and , in the last , -When we had carried Rome , and that we look'd -For no less spoil than glory , - -There was it ; -For which my sinews shall be stretch'd upon him . -At a few drops of women's rheum , which are -As cheap as lies , he sold the blood and labour -Of our great action : therefore shall he die , -And I'll renew me in his fall . But , hark ! - - -Your native town you enter'd like a post , -And had no welcomes home ; but he returns , -Splitting the air with noise . - -And patient fools , -Whose children he hath slain , their base throats tear -With giving him glory . - -Therefore , at your vantage , -Ere he express himself , or move the people -With what he would say , let him feel your sword , -Which we will second . When he lies along , -After your way his tale pronounc'd shall bury -His reasons with his body . - -Say no more : -Here come the lords . - - -You are most welcome home . - -I have not deserv'd it . -But , worthy lords , have you with heed perus'd -What I have written to you ? - -We have . - -And grieve to hear 't . -What faults he made before the last , I think -Might have found easy fines ; but there to end -Where he was to begin , and give away -The benefit of our levies , answering us -With our own charge , making a treaty where -There was a yielding , this admits no excuse . - -He approaches : you shall hear him . - - -Hail , lords ! I am return'd your soldier ; -No more infected with my country's love -Than when I parted hence , but still subsisting -Under your great command . You are to know , -That prosperously I have attempted and -With bloody passage led your wars even to -The gates of Rome . Our spoils we have brought home -Do more than counterpoise a full third part -The charges of the action . We have made peace -With no less honour to the Antiates -Than shame to the Romans ; and we here deliver , -Subscrib'd by the consuls and patricians , -Together with the seal o' the senate , what -We have compounded on . - -Read it not , noble lords ; -But tell the traitor in the highest degree -He hath abus'd your powers . - -Traitor ! How now ? - -Ay , traitor , Marcius . - -Marcius ! - -Ay , Marcius , Caius Marcius . Dost thou think -I'll grace thee with that robbery , thy stol'n name -Coriolanus in Corioli ? -You lords and heads of the state , perfidiously -He has betray'd your business , and given up , -For certain drops of salt , your city Rome , -I say 'your city ,' to his wife and mother ; -Breaking his oath and resolution like -A twist of rotten silk , never admitting -Counsel o' the war , but at his nurse's tears -He whin'd and roar'd away your victory , -That pages blush'd at him , and men of heart -Look'd wondering each at other . - -Hear'st thou , Mars ? - -Name not the god , thou boy of tears . - -Ha ! - -No more . - -Measureless liar , thou hast made my heart -Too great for what contains it . Boy ! O slave ! -Pardon me , lords , 'tis the first time that ever -I was forc'd to scold . Your judgments , my grave lords , -Must give this cur the lie : and his own notion -Who wears my stripes impress'd upon him , that -Must bear my beating to his grave shall join -To thrust the lie unto him . - -Peace , both , and hear me speak . - -Cut me to pieces , Volsces ; men and lads , -Stain all your edges on me . Boy ! False hound ! -If you have writ your annals true , 'tis there , -That , like an eagle in a dove-cote , I -Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli : -Alone I did it . Boy ! - -Why , noble lords , -Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune , -Which was your shame , by this unholy braggart , -'Fore your own eyes and ears ? - -Let him die for 't . - -Tear him to pieces .Do it presently .He killed my son .My daughter .He killed my cousin Marcus .He killed my father . - -Peace , ho ! no outrage : peace ! -The man is noble and his fame folds in -This orb o' the earth . His last offences to us -Shall have judicious hearing . Stand , Aufidius , -And trouble not the peace . - -O ! that I had him , -With six Aufidiuses , or more , his tribe , -To use my lawful sword ! - -Insolent villain ! - -Kill , kill , kill , kill , kill him ! - - -Hold , hold , hold , hold ! - -My noble masters , hear me speak . - -O Tullus ! - -Thou hast done a deed whereat valour will weep . - -Tread not upon him . Masters all , be quiet . -Put up your swords . - -My lords , when you shall know ,as in this rage , -Provok'd by him , you cannot ,the great danger -Which this man's life did owe you , you'll rejoice -That he is thus cut off . Please it your honours -To call me to your senate , I'll deliver -Myself your loyal servant , or endure -Your heaviest censure . - -Bear from hence his body ; -And mourn you for him ! Let him be regarded -As the most noble corse that ever herald -Did follow to his urn . - -His own impatience -Takes from Aufidius a great part of blame . -Let's make the best of it . - -My rage is gone , -And I am struck with sorrow . Take him up : -Help , three o' the chiefest soldiers ; I'll be one . -Beat thou the drum , that it speak mournfully ; -Trail your steel pikes . Though in this city he -Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one , -Which to this hour bewail the injury , -Yet he shall have a noble memory . -Assist . - -HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK - -Ghost of Hamlet's Father . - - -Who's there ? - -Nay , answer me ; stand , and unfold yourself . - -Long live the king ! - -Bernardo ? - -He . - -You come most carefully upon your hour . - -'Tis now struck twelve ; get thee to bed , Francisco . - -For this relief much thanks ; 'tis bitter cold , -And I am sick at heart . - -Have you had quiet guard ? - -Not a mouse stirring . - -Well , good-night . -If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus , -The rivals of my watch , bid them make hasie . - -I think I hear them . Stand , ho ! Who's there ? - - -Friends to this ground . - -And liegemen to the Dane . - -Give you good-night . - -O ! farewell , honest soldier : -Who hath reliev'd you ? - -Bernardo has my place . -Give you good-night . - - -Holla ! Bernardo ! - -Say , -What ! is Horatio there ? - -A piece of him . - -Welcome , Horatio ; welcome , good Marcellus . - -What ! has this thing appear'd again to-night ? - -I have seen nothing . - -Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy , -And will not let belief take hold of him -Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us : -Therefore I have entreated him along -With us to watch the minutes of this night ; -That if again this apparition come , -He may approve our eyes and speak to it . - -Tush , tush ! 'twill not appear . - -Sit down awhile , -And let us once again assail your ears , -That are so fortified against our story , -What we two nights have seen . - -Well , sit we down , -And let us hear Bernardo speak of this . - -Last night of all , -When yond same star that's westward from the pole -Had made his course to illume that part of heaven -Where now it burns , Marcellus and myself , -The bell then beating one , - -Peace ! break thee off ; look , where it comes again ! - - -In the same figure , like the king that's dead . - -Thou art a scholar ; speak to it , Horatio . - -Looks it not like the king ? mark it , Horatio . - -Most like : it harrows me with fear and wonder . - -It would be spoke to . - -Question it , Horatio . - -What art thou that usurp'st this time of night , -Together with that fair and war-like form -In which the majesty of buried Denmark -Did sometimes march ? by heaven I charge thee , speak ! - -It is offended . - -See ! it stalks away . - -Stay ! speak , speak ! I charge thee , speak ! - - -'Tis gone , and will not answer . - -How now , Horatio ! you tremble and look pale : -Is not this something more than fantasy ? -What think you on 't ? - -Before my God , I might not this believe -Without the sensible and true avouch -Of mine own eyes . - -Is it not like the king ? - -As thou-art to thyself : -Such was the very armour he had on -When he the ambitious Norway combated ; -So frown'd he once , when , in an angry parle , -He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice . -'Tis strange . - -Thus twice before , and jump at this dead hour , -With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch . - -In what particular thought to work I know not ; -But in the gross and scope of my opinion , -This bodes some strange eruption to our state . - -Good now , sit down , and tell me , he that knows , -Why this same strict and most observant watch -So nightly toils the subject of the land ; -And why such daily cast of brazen cannon , -And foreign mart for implements of war ; -Why such impress of shipwrights , whose sore task -Does not divide the Sunday from the week ; -What might be toward , that this sweaty haste -Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day : -Who is 't that can inform me ? - -That can I ; -At least , the whisper goes so . Our last king , -Whose image even but now appear'd to us , -Was , as you know , by Fortinbras of Norway , -Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride , -Dar'd to the combat ; in which our valiant Hamlet -For so this side of our known world esteem'd him -Did slay this Fortinbras ; who , by a seal'd compact , -Well ratified by law and heraldry , -Did forfeit with his life all those his lands -Which he stood seiz'd of , to the conqueror ; -Against the which , a moiety competent -Was gaged by our king ; which had return'd -To the inheritance of Fortinbras , -Had he been vanquisher ; as , by the same covenant , -And carriage of the article design'd , -His fell to Hamlet . Now , sir , young Fortinbras , -Of unimproved mettle hot and full , -Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there -Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes , -For food and diet , to some enterprise -That hath a stomach in 't ; which is no other -As it doth well appear unto our state -But to recover of us , by strong hand -And terms compulsative , those foresaid lands -So by his father lost . And this , I take it , -Is the main motive of our preparations , -The source of this our watch and the chief head -Of this post-haste and romage in the land . - -I think it be no other but e'en so ; -Well may it sort that this portentous figure -Comes armed through our watch , so like the king -That was and is the question of these wars . - -A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye . -In the most high and palmy state of Rome , -A little ere the mightiest Julius fell , -The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead -Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets ; -As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood , -Disasters in the sun ; and the moist star -Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands -Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse ; -And even the like precurse of fierce events , -As harbingers preceding still the fates -And prologue to the omen coming on , -Have heaven and earth together demonstrated -Unto our climatures and countrymen . -But , soft ! behold ! lo ! where it comes again . - - -I'll cross it , though it blast me . Stay , illusion ! -If thou hast any sound , or use of voice , -Speak to me : -If there be any good thing to be done , -That may to thee do ease and grace to me , -Speak to me : -If thou art privy to thy country's fate , -Which happily foreknowing may avoid , -O ! speak ; -Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life -Extorted treasure in the womb of earth , -For which , they say , you spirits oft walk in death , - - -Speak of it : stay , and speak ! Stop it , Marcellus . - -Shall I strike at it with my partisan ? - -Do , if it will not stand . - -'Tis here ! - -'Tis here ! - - -'Tis gone ! -We do it wrong , being so majestical , -To offer it the show of violence ; -For it is , as the air , invulnerable , -And our vain blows malicious mockery . - -It was about to speak when the cock crew . - -And then it started like a guilty thing -Upon a fearful summons . I have heard , -The cock , that is the trumpet to the morn , -Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat -Awake the god of day ; and at his warning , -Whether in sea or fire , in earth or air , -The extravagant and erring spirit hies -To his confine ; and of the truth herein -This present object made probation . - -It faded on the crowing of the cock . -Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes -Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated , -The bird of dawning singeth all night long ; -And then , they say , no spirit can walk abroad ; -The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike , -No fairy takes , nor witch hath power to charm , -So hallow'd and so gracious is the time . - -So have I heard and do in part believe it . -But , look , the morn in russet mantle clad , -Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill ; -Break we our watch up ; and by my advice -Let us impart what we have seen to-night -Unto young Hamlet ; for , upon my life , -This spirit , dumb to us , will speak to him . -Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it , -As needful in our loves , fitting our duty ? - -Let's do't , I pray ; and I this morning know -Where we shall find him most conveniently . - - -Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death -The memory be green , and that it us befitted -To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom -To be contracted in one brow of woe , -Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature -That we with wisest sorrow think on him , -Together with remembrance of ourselves . -Therefore our sometime sister , now our queen , -The imperial jointress of this war-like state , -Have we , as 'twere with a defeated joy , -With one auspicious and one dropping eye , -With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage , -In equal scale weighing delight and dole , -Taken to wife : nor have we herein barr'd -Your better wisdoms , which have freely gone -With this affair along : for all , our thanks . -Now follows , that you know , young Fortinbras , -Holding a weak supposal of our worth , -Or thinking by our late dear brother's death -Our state to be disjoint and out of frame , -Colleagued with the dream of his advantage , -He hath not fail'd to pester us with message , -Importing the surrender of those lands -Lost by his father , with all bands of law , -To our most valiant brother . So much for him . -Now for ourself and for this time of meeting . -Thus much the business is : we have here writ -To Norway , uncle of young Fortinbras , -Who , impotent and bed-rid , scarcely hears -Of this his nephew's purpose , to suppress -His further gait herein ; in that the levies , -The lists and full proportions , are all made -Out of his subject ; and we here dispatch -You , good Cornelius , and you , Voltimand , -For bearers of this greeting to old Norway , -Giving to you no further personal power -To business with the king more than the scope -Of these delated articles allow . -Farewell and let your haste commend your duty . - -In that and all things will we show our duty . - -In that and all things will we show our duty . - -We doubt it nothing : heartily farewell . - -And now , Laertes , what's the news with you ? -You told us of some suit ; what is't , Laertes ? -You cannot speak of reason to the Dane , -And lose your voice ; what wouldst thou beg , Laertes , -That shall not be my offer , not thy asking ? -The head is not more native to the heart , -The hand more instrumental to the mouth , -Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father . -What wouldst thou have , Laertes ? - -Dread my lord , -Your leave and favour to return to France ; -From whence though willingly I came to Denmark , -To show my duty in your coronation , -Yet now , I must confess , that duty done , -My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France -And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon . - -Have you your father's leave ? What says Polonius ? - -He hath , my lord , wrung from me my slow leave -By laboursome petition , and at last -Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent : -I do beseech you , give him leave to go . - -Take thy fair hour , Laertes ; time be thine , -And thy best graces spend it at thy will . -But now , my cousin Hamlet , and my son , - -A little more than kin , and less than kind . - -How is it that the clouds still hang on you ? - -Not so , my lord ; I am too much i' the sun . - -Good Hamlet , cast thy nighted colour off , -And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark . -Do not for ever with thy vailed lids -Seek for thy noble father in the dust : -Thou know'st 'tis common ; all that live must die , -Passing through nature to eternity . - -Ay , madam , it is common . - -If it be , -Why seems it so particular with thee ? - -Seems , madam ! Nay , it is ; I know not 'seems .' -'Tis not alone my inky cloak , good mother , -Nor customary suits of solemn black , -Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath , -No , nor the fruitful river in the eye , -Nor the dejected haviour of the visage , -Together with all forms , modes , shows of grief , -That can denote me truly ; these indeed seem , -For they are actions that a man might play : -But I have that within which passeth show ; -These but the trappings and the suits of woe . - -'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature , Hamlet , -To give these mourning duties to your father : -But , you must know , your father lost a father ; -That father lost , lost his ; and the survivor bound -In filial obligation for some term -To do obsequious sorrow ; but to persever -In obstinate condolement is a course -Of impious stubbornness ; 'tis unmanly grief : -It shows a will most incorrect to heaven , -A heart unfortified , a mind impatient , -An understanding simple and unschool'd : -For what we know must be and is as common -As any the most vulgar thing to sense , -Why should we in our peevish opposition -Take it to heart ? Fie ! 'tis a fault to heaven , -A fault against the dead , a fault to nature , -To reason most absurd , whose common theme -Is death of fathers , and who still hath cried , -From the first corse till he that died to-day , -'This must be so .' We pray you , throw to earth -This unprevailing woe , and think of us -As of a father ; for let the world take note , -You are the most immediate to our throne ; -And with no less nobility of love -Than that which dearest father bears his son -Do I impart toward you . For your intent -In going back to school in Wittenberg , -It is most retrograde to our desire ; -And we beseech you , bend you to remain -Here , in the cheer and comfort of our eye , -Our chiefest courtier , cousin , and our son . - -Let not thy mother lose her prayers , Hamlet : -I pray thee , stay with us ; go not to Wittenberg . - -I shall in all my best obey you , madam . - -Why , 'tis a loving and a fair reply : -Be as ourself in Denmark . Madam , come ; -This gentle and unforc'd accord of Hamlet -Sits smiling to my heart ; in grace whereof , -No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day , -But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell , -And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again , -Re-speaking earthly thunder . Come away . - - -O ! that this too too solid flesh would melt , -Thaw and resolve itself into a dew ; -Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd -His canon 'gainst self-slaughter ! O God ! O God ! -How weary , stale , flat , and unprofitable -Seem to me all the uses of this world . -Fie on 't ! O fie ! 'tis an unweeded garden , -That grows to seed ; things rank and gross in nature -Possess it merely . That it should come to this ! -But two months dead : nay , not so much , not two : -So excellent a king ; that was , to this , -Hyperion to a satyr ; so loving to my mother -That he might not beteem the winds of heaven -Visit her face too roughly . Heaven and earth ! -Must I remember ? why , she would hang on him , -As if increase of appetite had grown -By what it fed on ; and yet , within a month , -Let me not think on't : Frailty , thy name is woman ! -A little month ; or ere those shoes were old -With which she follow'd my poor father's body , -Like Niobe , all tears ; why she , even she , -O God ! a beast , that wants discourse of reason , -Would have mourn'd longer ,married with mine uncle , -My father's brother , but no more like my father -Than I to Hercules : within a month , -Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears -Had left the flushing in her galled eyes , -She married . O ! most wicked speed , to post -With such dexterity to incestuous sheets . -It is not nor it cannot come to good ; -But break , my heart , for I must hold my tongue ! - - -Hail to your lordship ! - -I am glad to see you well : -Horatio , or I do forget myself . - -The same , my lord , and your poor servant ever . - -Sir , my good friend ; I'll change that name with you . -And what make you from Wittenberg , Horatio ? -Marcellus ? - -My good lord , - -I am very glad to see you . - -Good even , sir . -But what , in faith , make you from Wittenberg ? - -A truant disposition , good my lord . - -I would not hear your enemy say so , -Nor shall you do mine ear that violence , -To make it truster of your own report -Against yourself ; I know you are no truant . -But what is your affair in Elsinore ? -We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart . - -My lord , I came to see your father's funeral . - -I pray thee , do not mock me , fellow-student ; -I think it was to see my mother's wedding . - -Indeed , my lord , it follow'd hard upon . - -Thrift , thrift , Horatio ! the funeral bak'd meats -Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables . -Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven -Ere I had ever seen that day , Horatio ! -My father , methinks I see my father . - -O ! where , my lord ? - -In my mind's eye , Horatio . - -I saw him once ; he was a goodly king . - -He was a man , take him for all in all , -I shall not look upon his like again . - -My lord , I think I saw him yesternight . - -Saw who ? - -My lord , the king your father . - -The king , my father ! - -Season your admiration for a while -With an attent ear , till I may deliver , -Upon the witness of these gentlemen , -This marvel to you . - -For God's love , let me hear . - -Two nights together had these gentlemen , -Marcellus and Bernardo , on their watch , -In the dead vast and middle of the night , -Been thus encounter'd : a figure like your father , -Armed at points exactly , cap-a-pe , -Appears before them , and with solemn march -Goes slow and stately by them : thrice he walk'd -By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes , -Within his truncheon's length ; whilst they , distill'd -Almost to jelly with the act of fear , -Stand dumb and speak not to him . This to me -In dreadful secrecy impart they did , -And I with them the third night kept the watch ; -Where , as they had deliver'd , both in time , -Form of the thing , each word made true and good , -The apparition comes . I knew your father ; -These hands are not more like . - -But where was this ? - -My lord , upon the platform where we watch'd . - -Did you not speak to it ? - -My lord , I did ; -But answer made it none ; yet once methought -It lifted up its head and did address -Itself to motion , like as it would speak ; -But even then the morning cock crew loud , -And at the sound it shrunk in haste away -And vanish'd from our sight . - -'Tis very strange . - -As I do live , my honour'd lord , 'tis true ; -And we did think it writ down in our duty -To let you know of it . - -Indeed , indeed , sirs , but this troubles me . -Hold you the watch to-night ? - -We do , my lord . - -We do , my lord . - -Arm'd , say you ? - -Arm'd , my lord . - -Arm'd , my lord . - -From top to toe ? - -My lord , from head to foot . - -My lord , from head to foot . - -Then saw you not his face ? - -O yes ! my lord ; he wore his beaver up . - -What ! look'd he frowningly ? - -A countenance more in sorrow than in anger . - -Pale or red ? - -Nay , very pale . - -And fix'd his eyes upon you ? - -Most constantly . - -I would I had been there . - -It would have much amaz'd you . - -Very like , very like . Stay'd it long ? - -While one with moderate haste might tell a hundred . - -Longer , longer . - -Longer , longer . - -Not when I saw it . - -His beard was grizzled , no ? - -It was , as I have seen it in his life , -A sable silver'd . - -I will watch to-night ; -Perchance 'twill walk again . - -I warrant it will . - -If it assume my noble father's person , -I'll speak to it , though hell itself should gape -And bid me hold my peace . I pray you all , -If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight , -Let it be tenable in your silence still ; -And whatsoever else shall hap to-night , -Give it an understanding , but no tongue : -I will requite your loves . So , fare you well . -Upon the platform , 'twixt eleven and twelve , -I'll visit you . - -Our duty to your honour . - -Your loves , as mine to you . Farewell . - -My father's spirit in arms ! all is not well ; -I doubt some foul play : would the night were come ! -Till then sit still , my soul : foul deeds will rise , -Though all the earth o'erwhelm them , to men's eyes . - - -My necessaries are embark'd ; farewell : -And , sister , as the winds give benefit -And convoy is assistant , do not sleep , -But let me hear from you . - -Do you doubt that ? - -For Hamlet , and the trifling of his favour , -Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood , -A violet in the youth of primy nature , -Forward , not permanent , sweet , not lasting , -The perfume and suppliance of a minute ; -No more . - -No more but so ? - -Think it no more : -For nature , crescent , does not grow alone -In thews and bulk ; but , as this temple waxes , -The inward service of the mind and soul -Grows wide withal . Perhaps he loves you now , -And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch -The virtue of his will ; but you must fear , -His greatness weigh'd , his will is not his own , -For he himself is subject to his birth ; -He may not , as unvalu'd persons do , -Carve for himself , for on his choice depends -The safety and the health of the whole state ; -And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd -Unto the voice and yielding of that body -Whereof he is the head . Then if he says he loves you , -It fits your wisdom so far to believe it -As he in his particular act and place -May give his saying deed ; which is no further -Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal . -Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain , -If with too credent ear you list his songs , -Or lose your heart , or your chaste treasure open -To his unmaster'd importunity . -Fear it , Ophelia , fear it , my dear sister ; -And keep you in the rear of your affection , -Out of the shot and danger of desire . -The chariest maid is prodigal enough -If she unmask her beauty to the moon ; -Virtue herself 'scapes not calumnious strokes ; -The canker galls the infants of the spring -Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd , -And in the morn and liquid dew of youth -Contagious blastments are most imminent . -Be wary then ; best safety lies in fear : -Youth to itself rebels , though none else near . - -I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep , -As watchman to my heart . But , good my brother , -Do not , as some ungracious pastors do , -Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven , -Whiles , like a puff'd and reckless libertine , -Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads , -And recks not his own rede . - -O ! fear me not . -I stay too long ; but here my father comes . - - -A double blessing is a double grace ; - -Occasion smiles upon a second leave . - -Yet here , Laertes ! aboard , aboard , for shame ! -The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail , -And you are stay'd for . There , my blessing with thee ! -And these few precepts in thy memory -Look thou character . Give thy thoughts no tongue , -Nor any unproportion'd thought his act . -Be thou familiar , but by no means vulgar ; -The friends thou hast , and their adoption tried , -Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel ; -But do not dull thy palm with entertainment -Of each new-hatch'd , unfledg'd comrade . Beware -Of entrance to a quarrel , but , being in , -Bear 't that th' opposed may beware of thee . -Give every man thine ear , but few thy voice ; -Take each man's censure , but reserve thy judgment . -Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy , -But not express'd in fancy ; rich , not gaudy ; -For the apparel oft proclaims the man , -And they in France of the best rank and station -Are most select and generous , chief in that . -Neither a borrower , nor a lender be ; -For loan oft loses both itself and friend , -And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry . -This above all : to thine own self be true , -And it must follow , as the night the day , -Thou canst not then be false to any man . -Farewell ; my blessing season this in thee ! - -Most humbly do I take my leave , my lord . - -The time invites you ; go , your servants tend . - -Farewell , Ophelia ; and remember well -What I have said to you . - -'Tis in my memory lock'd , -And you yourself shall keep the key of it . - -Farewell . - - -What is 't , Ophelia , he hath said to you ? - -So please you , something touching the Lord Hamlet . - -Marry , well bethought : -'Tis told me , he hath very oft of late -Given private time to you ; and you yourself -Have of your audience been most free and bounteous . -If it be so ,as so 'tis put on me , -And that in way of caution ,I must tell you , -You do not understand yourself so clearly -As it behoves my daughter and your honour . -What is between you ? give me up the truth . - -He hath , my lord , of late made many tenders -Of his affection to me . - -Affection ! pooh ! you speak like a green girl , -Unsifted in such perilous circumstance . -Do you believe his tenders , as you call them ? - -I do not know , my lord , what I should think . - -Marry , I'll teach you : think yourself a baby , -That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay , -Which are not sterling . Tender yourself more dearly ; -Or ,not to crack the wind of the poor phrase , -Running it thus ,you'll tender me a fool . - -My lord , he hath importun'd me with love -In honourable fashion . - -Ay , fashion you may call it : go to , go to . - -And hath given countenance to his speech , my lord , -With almost all the holy vows of heaven . - -Ay , springes to catch woodcocks . I do know , -When the blood burns , how prodigal the soul -Lends the tongue vows : these blazes , daughter , -Giving more light than heat , extinct in both , -Even in their promise , as it is a-making , -You must not take for fire . From this time -Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence ; -Set your entreatments at a higher rate -Than a command to parley . For Lord Hamlet , -Believe so much in him , that he is young , -And with a larger tether may he walk -Than may be given you : in few , Ophelia , -Do not believe his vows , for they are brokers , -Not of that dye which their investments show , -But mere implorators of unholy suits , -Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds , -The better to beguile . This is for all : -I would not , in plain terms , from this time forth , -Have you so slander any moment's leisure , -As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet . -Look to 't , I charge you ; come your ways . - -I shall obey , my lord . - - -The air bites shrewdly ; it is very cold . - -It is a nipping and an eager air . - -What hour now ? - -I think it lacks of twelve . - -No , it is struck . - -Indeed ? I heard it not : then it draws near the season -Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk . - -What does this mean , my lord ? - -The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse , -Keeps wassail , and the swaggering up-spring reels ; -And , as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down , -The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out -The triumph of his pledge . - -Is it a custom ? - -Ay , marry , is 't : -But to my mind ,though I am native here -And to the manner born ,it is a custom -More honour'd in the breach than the observance . -This heavy-headed revel east and west -Makes us traduc'd and tax'd of other nations ; -They clepe us drunkards , and with swinish phrase -Soil our addition ; and indeed it takes -From our achievements , though perform'd at height , -The pith and marrow of our attribute . -So , oft it chances in particular men , -That for some vicious mole of nature in them , -As , in their birth ,wherein they are not guilty , -Since nature cannot choose his origin , -By the o'ergrowth of some complexion , -Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason , -Or by some habit that too much o'er-leavens -The form of plausive manners ; that these men , -Carrying , I say , the stamp of one defect , -Being nature's livery , or fortune's star , -Their virtues else , be they as pure as grace , -As infinite as man may undergo , -Shall in the general censure take corruption -From that particular fault : the dram of eale -Doth all the noble substance of a doubt , -To his own scandal . - - -Look , my lord , it comes . - -Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! -Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd , -Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell , -Be thy intents wicked or charitable , -Thou com'st in such a questionable shape -That I will speak to thee : I'll call thee Hamlet , -King , father ; royal Dane , O ! answer me : -Let me not burst in ignorance ; but tell -Why thy canoniz'd bones , hearsed in death , -Have burst their cerements ; why the sepulchre , -Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd , -Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws , -To cast thee up again . What may this mean , -That thou , dead corse , again in complete steel -Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon , -Making night hideous ; and we fools of nature -So horridly to shake our disposition -With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls ? -Say , why is this ? wherefore ? what should we do ? - - -It beckons you to go away with it , -As if it some impartment did desire -To you alone . - -Look , with what courteous action -It waves you to a more removed ground : -But do not go with it . - -No , by no means . - -It will not speak ; then , will I follow it . - -Do not , my lord . - -Why , what should be the fear ? -I do not set my life at a pin's fee ; -And for my soul , what can it do to that , -Being a thing immortal as itself ? -It waves me forth again ; I'll follow it . - -What if it tempt you toward the flood , my lord , -Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff -That beetles o'er his base into the sea , -And there assume some other horrible form , -Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason -And draw you into madness ? think of it ; -The very place puts toys of desperation , -Without more motive , into every brain -That looks so many fathoms to the sea -And hears it roar beneath . - -It waves me still . Go on , I'll follow thee . - -You shall not go , my lord . - -Hold off your hands ! - -Be rul'd ; you shall not go . - -My fate cries out , -And makes each petty artery in this body -As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve . - -Still am I call'd . Unhand me , gentlemen , - -By heaven ! I'll make a ghost of him that lets me : -I say , away ! Go on , I'll follow thee . - - -He wares desperate with imagination . - -Let's follow ; 'tis not fit thus to obey him . - -Have after . To what issue will this come ? - -Something is rotten in the state of Denmark . - -Heaven will direct it . - -Nay , let's follow him . - - -Whither wilt thou lead me ? speak ; I'll go no further . - -Mark me . - -I will . - -My hour is almost come , -When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames -Must render up myself . - -Alas ! poor ghost . - -Pity me not , but lend thy serious hearing -To what I shall unfold . - -Speak ; I am bound to hear . - -So art thou to revenge , when thou shalt hear . - -What ? - -I am thy father's spirit ; -Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night , -And for the day confin'd to fast in fires , -Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature -Are burnt and purg'd away . But that I am forbid -To tell the secrets of my prison-house , -I could a tale unfold whose lightest word -Would harrow up thy soul , freeze thy young blood , -Make thy two eyes , like stars , start from their spheres , -Thy knotted and combined locks to part , -And each particular hair to stand an end , -Like quills upon the fretful porpentine : -But this eternal blazon must not be -To ears of flesh and blood . List , list , O list ! -If thou didst ever thy dear father love - -O God ! - -Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder . - -Murder ! - -Murder most foul , as in the best it is ; -But this most foul , strange , and unnatural . - -Haste me to know't , that I , with wings as swift -As meditation or the thoughts of love , -May sweep to my revenge . - -I find thee apt ; -And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed -That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf , -Wouldst thou not stir in this . Now , Hamlet , hear : -'Tis given out that , sleeping in mine orchard , -A serpent stung me ; so the whole ear of Denmark -Is by a forged process of my death -Rankly abus'd ; but know , thou noble youth , -The serpent that did sting thy father's life -Now wears his crown . - -O my prophetic soul ! -My uncle ! - -Ay , that incestuous , that adulterate beast , -With witchcraft of his wit , with traitorous gifts , -O wicked wit and gifts , that have the power -So to seduce !won to his shameful lust -The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen . -O Hamlet ! what a falling-off was there ; -From me , whose love was of that dignity -That it went hand in hand even with the vow -I made to her in marriage ; and to decline -Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor -To those of mine ! -But virtue , as it never will be mov'd , -Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven , -So lust , though to a radiant angel link'd , -Will sate itself in a celestial bed , -And prey on garbage . -But , soft ! methinks I scent the morning air ; -Brief let me be . Sleeping within mine orchard , -My custom always in the afternoon , -Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole , -With juice of cursed hebona in a vial , -And in the porches of mine ears did pour -The leperous distilment ; whose effect -Holds such an enmity with blood of man -That swift as quicksilver it courses through -The natural gates and alleys of the body , -And with a sudden vigour it doth posset -And curd , like eager droppings into milk , -The thin and wholesome blood : so did it mine ; -And a most instant tetter bark'd about , -Most lazar-like , with vile and loathsome crust , -All my smooth body . -Thus was I , sleeping , by a brother's hand , -Of life , of crown , of queen , at once dispatch'd ; -Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin , -Unhousel'd , disappointed , unanel'd , -No reckoning made , but sent to my account -With all my imperfections on my head : -O , horrible ! O , horrible ! most horrible ! -If thou hast nature in thee , bear it not ; -Let not the royal bed of Denmark be -A couch for luxury and damned incest . -But , howsoever thou pursu'st this act , -Taint not thy mind , nor let thy soul contrive -Against thy mother aught ; leave her to heaven , -And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge , -To prick and sting her . Fare thee well at once ! -The glow-worm shows the matin to be near , -And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire ; -Adieu , adieu ! Hamlet , remember me . - - -O all you host of heaven ! O earth ! What else ? -And shall I couple hell ? O fie ! Hold , hold , my heart ! -And you , my sinews , grow not instant old , -But bear me stiffly up ! Remember thee ! -Ay , thou poor ghost , while memory holds a seat -In this distracted globe . Remember thee ! -Yea , from the table of my memory -I'll wipe away all trivial fond records , -All saws of books , all forms , all pressures past , -That youth and observation copied there ; -And thy commandment all alone shall live -Within the book and volume of my brain , -Unmix'd with baser matter : yes , by heaven ! -O most pernicious woman ! -O villain , villain , smiling , damned villain ! -My tables ,meet it is I set it down , -That one may smile , and smile , and be a villain ; -At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark : - -So , uncle , there you are . Now to my word ; -It is , 'Adieu , adieu ! remember me . -I have sworn 't . - -My lord ! my lord ! - -Lord Hamlet ! - -Heaven secure him ! - -So be it ! - -Hillo , ho , ho , my lord ! - -Hillo , ho , ho , boy ! come , bird , come . - - -How is't , my noble lord ? - -What news , my lord ? - -O ! wonderful . - -Good my lord , tell it . - -No ; you will reveal it . - -Not I , my lord , by heaven ! - -Nor I , my lord . - -How say you , then ; would heart of man once think it ? -But you'll be secret ? - -Ay , by heaven , my lord . - -Ay , by heaven , my lord . - -There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark , -But he's an arrant knave . - -There needs no ghost , my lord , come from the grave , -To tell us this . - -Why , right ; you are i' the right ; -And so , without more circumstance at all , -I hold it fit that we shake hands and part ; -You , as your business and desire shall point you , -For every man hath business and desire , -Such as it is ,and , for mine own poor part , -Look you , I'll go pray . - -These are but wild and whirling words , my lord . - -I am sorry they offend you , heartily ; -Yes , faith , heartily . - -There's no offence , my lord . - -Yes , by Saint Patrick , but there is , Horatio , -And much offence , too . Touching this vision here , -It is an honest ghost , that let me tell you ; -For your desire to know what is between us , -O'ermaster't as you may . And now , good friends , -As you are friends , scholars , and soldiers , -Give me one poor request . - -What is't , my lord ? we will . - -Never make known what you have seen to-night . - -My lord , we will not . - -My lord , we will not . - -Nay , but swear't . - -In faith , -My lord , not I . - -Nor I , my lord , in faith . - -Upon my sword . - -We have sworn , my lord , already . - -Indeed , upon my sword , indeed . - -Swear . - -Ah , ha , boy ! sayst thou so ? art thou there , true-penny ? -Come on ,you hear this fellow in the cellar-age , -Consent to swear . - -Propose the oath , my lord . - -Never to speak of this that you have seen , -Swear by my sword . - -Swear . - -Hic et ubique ? then we'll shift our ground . -Come hither , gentlemen , -And lay your hands again upon my sword : -Never to speak of this that you have heard , -Swear by my sword . - -Swear . - -Well said , old mole ! canst work i' the earth so fast ? -A worthy pioner ! once more remove , good friends . - -O day and night , but this is wondrous strange ! - -And therefore as a stranger give it welcome . -There are more things in heaven and earth , Horatio , -Than are dreamt of in your philosophy . -But come ; -Here , as before , never , so help you mercy , -How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself , -As I perchance hereafter shall think meet -To put an antic disposition on , -That you , at such times seeing me , never shall , -With arms encumber'd thus , or this head-shake , -Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase , -As , 'Well , well , we know ,' or , 'We could , an if we would ;' -Or , 'If we list to speak ,' or , 'There be , an if they might ;' -Or such ambiguous giving out , to note -That you know aught of me : this not to do , -So grace and mercy at your most need help you , -Swear . - -Swear . - - -Rest , rest , perturbed spirit ! So , gentlemen , -With all my love I do commend me to you : -And what so poor a man as Hamlet is -May do , to express his love and friending to you , -God willing , shall not lack . Let us go in together ; -And still your fingers on your lips , I pray . -The time is out of joint ; O cursed spite , -That ever I was born to set it right ! -Nay , come , let's go together . - -Give him this money and these notes , Reynaldo . - -I will , my lord . - -You shall do marvellous wisely , good Reynaldo , -Before you visit him , to make inquiry -Of his behaviour . - -My lord , I did intend it . - -Marry , well said , very well said . Look you , sir , -Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris ; -And how , and who , what means , and where they keep , -What company , at what expense ; and finding -By this encompassment and drift of question -That they do know my son , come you more nearer -Than your particular demands will touch it : -Take you , as 'twere , some distant knowledge of him ; -As thus , 'I know his father , and his friends , -And , in part , him ;' do you mark this , Reynaldo ? - -Ay , very well , my lord . - -'And , in part , him ; but ,' you may say , 'not well : -But if't be he I mean , he's very wild , -Addicted so and so ;' and there put on him -What forgeries you please ; marry , none so rank -As may dishonour him ; take heed of that ; -But , sir , such wanton , wild , and usual slips -As are companions noted and most known -To youth and liberty . - -As gaming , my lord ? - -Ay , or drinking , fencing , swearing , quarrelling , -Drabbing ; you may go so far . - -My lord , that would dishonour him . - -Faith , no ; as you may season it in the charge . -You must not put another scandal on him , -That he is open to incontinency ; -That's not my meaning ; but breathe his faults so quaintly -That they may seem the taints of liberty , -The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind , -A savageness in unreclaimed blood , -Of general assault . - -But , my good lord , - -Wherefore should you do this ? - -Ay , my lord , -I would know that . - -Marry , sir , here's my drift ; -And , I believe , it is a fetch of warrant : -You laying these slight sullies on my son , -As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working , -Mark you , -Your party in converse , him you would sound , -Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes -The youth you breathe of guilty , be assur'd , -He closes with you in this consequence ; -'Good sir ,' or so ; or 'friend ,' or 'gentleman ,' -According to the phrase or the addition -Of man and country . - -Very good , my lord . - -And then , sir , does he this ,he does ,what was I about to say ? By the mass I was about to say something : where did I leave ? - -At 'closes in the consequence .' -At 'friend or so ,' and 'gentleman .' - -At 'closes in the consequence ,' ay , marry ; -He closes with you thus : 'I know the gentleman ; -I saw him yesterday , or t' other day , -Or then , or then ; with such , or such ; and , as you say , -There was a' gaming ; there o'ertook in 's rouse ; -There falling out at tennis ;' or perchance , -'I saw him enter such a house of sale ,' -Videlicet , a brothel , or so forth . -See you now ; -Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth ; -And thus do we of wisdom and of reach , -With windlasses , and with assays of bias , -By indirections find directions out : -So by my former lecture and advice -Shall you my son . You have me , have you not ? - -My lord , I have . - -God be wi' you ; fare you well . - -Good my lord ! - -Observe his inclination in yourself . - -I shall , my lord . - -And let him ply his music . - -Well , my lord . - -Farewell ! - - -How now , Ophelia ! what's the matter ? - -Alas ! my lord , I have been so affrighted . - -With what , in the name of God ? - -My lord , as I was sewing in my closet , -Lord Hamlet , with his doublet all unbrac'd ; -No hat upon his head ; his stockings foul'd , -Ungarter'd , and down-gyved to his ancle ; -Pale as his shirt ; his knees knocking each other ; -And with a look so piteous in purport -As if he had been loosed out of hell -To speak of horrors , he comes before me . - -Mad for thy love ? - -My lord , I do not know ; -But truly I do fear it . - -What said he ? - -He took me by the wrist and held me hard , -Then goes he to the length of all his arm , -And , with his other hand thus o'er his brow , -He falls to such perusal of my face -As he would draw it . Long stay'd he so ; -At last , a little shaking of mine arm , -And thrice his head thus waving up and down , -He rais'd a sigh so piteous and profound -That it did seem to shatter all his bulk -And end his being . That done , he lets me go , -And , with his head over his shoulder turn'd , -He seem'd to find his way without his eyes ; -For out o' doors he went without their help , -And to the last bended their light on me . - -Come , go with me ; I will go seek the king . -This is the very ecstasy of love , -Whose violent property fordoes itself -And leads the will to desperate undertakings -As oft as any passion under heaven -That does afflict our natures . I am sorry . -What ! have you given him any hard words of late ? - -No , my good lord ; but , as you did command , -I did repel his letters and denied -His access to me . - -That hath made him mad . -I am sorry that with better heed and judgment -I had not quoted him ; I fear'd he did but trifle , -And meant to wrack thee ; but , beshrew my jealousy ! -By heaven , it is as proper to our age -To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions -As it is common for the younger sort -To lack discretion . Come , go we to the king : -This must be known ; which , being kept close , might move -More grief to hide than hate to utter love . -Come . - - -Welcome , dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ! -Moreover that we much did long to see you , -The need we have to use you did provoke -Our hasty sending . Something have you heard -Of Hamlet's transformation ; so I call it , -Since nor the exterior nor the inward man -Resembles that it was . What it should be -More than his father's death , that thus hath put him -So much from the understanding of himself , -I cannot dream of : I entreat you both , -That , being of so young days brought up with him , -And since so neighbour'd to his youth and humour , -That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court -Some little time ; so by your companies -To draw him on to pleasures , and to gather , -So much as from occasion you may glean , -Whe'r aught to us unknown afflicts him thus , -That , open'd , lies within our remedy . - -Good gentlemen , he hath much talk'd of you ; -And sure I am two men there are not living -To whom he more adheres . If it will please you -To show us so much gentry and good will -As to expend your time with us awhile , -For the supply and profit of our hope , -Your visitation shall receive such thanks -As fits a king's remembrance . - -Both your majesties -Might , by the sovereign power you have of us , -Put your dread pleasures more into command -Than to entreaty . - -But we both obey , -And here give up ourselves , in the full bent , -To lay our service freely at your feet , -To be commanded . - -Thanks , Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern . - -Thanks , Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz ; -And I beseech you instantly to visit -My too much changed son . Go , some of you , -And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is . - -Heavens make our presence , and our practices -Pleasant and helpful to him ! - -Ay , amen ! - -The ambassadors from Norway , my good lord , -Are joyfully return'd . - -Thou still hast been the father of good news . - -Have I , my lord ? Assure you , my good liege , -I hold my duty , as I hold my soul , -Both to my God and to my gracious king ; -And I do think or else this brain of mine -Hunts not the trail of policy so sure -As it hath us'd to do that I have found -The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy . - -O ! speak of that ; that do I long to hear . - -Give first admittance to the ambassadors ; -My news shall be the fruit to that great feast . - -Thyself do grace to them , and bring them in . - -He tells me , my sweet queen , that he hath found -The head and source of all your son's distemper . - -I doubt it is no-other but the main ; -His father's death , and our o'erhasty marriage . - -Well , we shall sift him . - - -Welcome , my good friends ! - -Say , Voltimand , what from our brother Norway ? - -Most fair return of greetings , and desires . -Upon our first , he sent out to suppress -His nephew's levies , which to him appear'd -To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack ; -But , better look'd into , he truly found -It was against your highness : whereat griev'd , -That so his sickness , age , and impotence -Was falsely borne in hand , sends out arrests -On Fortinbras ; which he , in brief , obeys , -Receives rebuke from Norway , and , in fine , -Makes vow before his uncle never more -To give the assay of arms against your majesty . -Whereon old Norway , overcome with joy , -Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee , -And his commission to employ those soldiers , -So levied as before , against the Polack ; -With an entreaty , herein further shown , - -That it might please you to give quiet pass -Through your dominions for this enterprise , -On such regards of safety and allowance -As therein are set down . - -It likes us well ; -And at our more consider'd time we'll read , -Answer , and think upon this business : -Meantime we thank you for your well-took labour . -Go to your rest ; at night we'll feast together : -Most welcome home . - - -This business is well ended . -My liege , and madam , to expostulate -What majesty should be , what duty is , -Why day is day , night night , and time is time , -Were nothing but to waste night , day , and time . -Therefore , since brevity is the soul of wit , -And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes , -I will be brief . Your noble son is mad : -Mad call I it ; for , to define true madness , -What is 't but to be nothing else but mad ? -But let that go . - -More matter , with less art . - -Madam , I swear I use no art at all . -That he is mad , 'tis true ; 'tis true 'tis pity ; -And pity 'tis 'tis true : a foolish figure ; -But farewell it , for I will use no art . -Mad let us grant him , then ; and now remains -That we find out the cause of this effect , -Or rather say , the cause of this defect , -For this effect defective comes by cause ; -Thus it remains , and the remainder thus . -Perpend . -I have a daughter , have while she is mine ; -Who , in her duty and obedience , mark , -Hath given me this : now , gather , and surmise . -"To the celestial , and my soul's idol , the most beautified Ophelia ." -That's an ill phrase , a vile phrase ; 'beautified' -is a vile phrase ; but you shall hear . Thus : -In her excellent white bosom , these , &c . - -Came this from Hamlet to her ? - -Good madam , stay awhile ; I will be faithful . - -"Doubt thou the stars are fire ; -Doubt that the sun doth move ; -Doubt truth to be a liar ; -But never doubt I love . - -O dear Ophelia ! I am ill at these numbers : I have not art to reckon my groans ; but that I love thee best , O most best ! believe it . Adieu . -Thine evermore , most dear lady , whilst this machine is to him ,HAMLET ." - -This in obedience hath my daughter shown me ; -And more above , hath his solicitings , -As they fell out by time , by means , and place , -All given to mine ear . - -But how hath she -Receiv'd his love ? - -What do you think of me ? - -As of a man faithful and honourable . - -I would fain prove so . But what might you think , -When I had seen this hot love on the wing , -As I perceiv'd it , I must tell you that , -Before my daughter told me ,what might you , -Or my dear majesty , your queen here , think , -If I had play'd the desk or table-book , -Or given my heart a winking , mute and dumb , -Or look'd upon this love with idle sight ; -What might you think ? No , I went round to work , -And my young mistress thus I did bespeak : -'Lord Hamlet is a prince , out of thy star ; -This must not be :' and then I precepts gave her , -That she should lock herself from his resort , -Admit no messengers , receive no tokens . -Which done , she took the fruits of my advice ; -And he , repulsed ,a short tale to make , -Fell into a sadness , then into a fast , -Thence to a watch , thence into a weakness , -Thence to a lightness ; and by this declension -Into the madness wherein now he raves , -And all we wail for . - -Do you think 'tis this ? - -It may be , very likely . - -Hath there been such a time ,I'd fain know that , -That I have positively said , ''Tis so ,' -When it prov'd otherwise ? - -Not that I know . - -Take this from this , if this be otherwise : - -If circumstances lead me , I will find -Where truth is hid , though it were hid indeed -Within the centre . - -How may we try it further ? - -You know sometimes he walks four hours together -Here in the lobby . - -So he does indeed . - -At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him ; -Be you and I behind an arras then ; -Mark the encounter ; if he love her not , -And be not from his reason fallen thereon , -Let me be no assistant for a state , -But keep a farm , and carters . - -We will try it . - -But look , where sadly the poor wretch comes reading . - -Away ! I do beseech you , both away . -I'll board him presently . - -O ! give me leave . - -How does my good Lord Hamlet ? - -Well , God a-mercy . - -Do you know me , my lord ? - -Excellent well ; you are a fishmonger . - -Not I , my lord . - -Then I would you were so honest a man . - -Honest , my lord ! - -Ay , sir ; to be honest , as this world goes , is to be one man picked out of ten thousand . - -That's very true , my lord . - -For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog , being a good kissing carrion ,Have you a daughter ? - -I have , my lord . - -Let her not walk i' the sun : conception is a blessing ; but not as your daughter may conceive . Friend , look to 't . - -How say you by that ? Still harping on my daughter : yet he knew me not at first ; he said I was a fishmonger : he is far gone , far gone : and truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love ; very near this . I'll speak to him again . What do you read , my lord ? - -Words , words , words . - -What is the matter , my lord ? - -Between who ? - -I mean the matter that you read , my lord . - -Slanders , sir : for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards , that their faces are wrinkled , their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum , and that they have a plentiful lack of wit , together with most weak hams : all which , sir , though I most powerfully and potently believe , yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down ; for you yourself , sir , should be old as I am , if , like a crab , you could go backward . - -Though this be madness , yet there is method in 't . Will you walk out of the air , my lord ? - -Into my grave ? - -Indeed , that is out o' the air . - -How pregnant sometimes his replies are ! a happiness that often madness hits on , which reason and sanity could not so prosperously be delivered of . I will leave him , and suddenly contrive the means of meeting between him and my daughter . My honourable lord , I will most humbly take my leave of you . - -You cannot , sir , take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal ; except my life , except my life , except my life . - -Fare you well , my lord . - - -These tedious old fools ! - - -You go to seek the Lord Hamlet ; there he is . - -God save you , sir ! - - -Mine honoured lord ! - -My most dear lord ! - -My excellent good friends ! How dost thou , Guildenstern ? Ah , Rosencrantz ! Good lads , how do ye both ? - -As the indifferent children of the earth . - -Happy in that we are not over happy ; On Fortune's cap we are not the very button . - -Nor the soles of her shoe ? - -Neither , my lord . - -Then you live about her waist , or in the middle of her favours ? - -Faith , her privates we . - -In the secret parts of Fortune ? O ! most true ; she is a strumpet . What news ? - -None , my lord , but that the world's grown honest . - -Then is doomsday near ; but your news is not true . Let me question more in particular : what have you , my good friends , deserved at the hands of Fortune , that she sends you to prison hither ? - -Prison , my lord ! - -Denmark's a prison . - -Then is the world one . - -A goodly one ; in which there are many confines , wards , and dungeons , Denmark being one o' the worst . - -We think not so , my lord . - -Why , then , 'tis none to you ; for there is nothing either good or bad , but thinking makes it so : to me it is a prison . - -Why , then your ambition makes it one ; 'tis too narrow for your mind . - -O God ! I could be bounded in a nutshell , and count myself a king of infinite space , were it not that I have bad dreams . - -Which dreams , indeed , are ambition , for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream . - -A dream itself is but a shadow . - -Truly , and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality that it is but a shadow's shadow . - -Then are our beggars bodies , and our monarchs and outstretched heroes the beggars' shadows . Shall we to the court ? for , by my fay , I cannot reason . - -We'll wait upon you . - -We'll wait upon you . - -No such matter ; I will not sort you with the rest of my servants , for , to speak to you like an honest man , I am most dreadfully attended . But , in the beaten way of friendship , what make you at Elsinore ? - -To visit you , my lord ; no other occasion . - -Beggar that I am , I am even poor in thanks ; but I thank you : and sure , dear friends , my thanks are too dear a halfpenny . Were you not sent for ? Is it your own inclining ? Is it a free visitation ? Come , come , deal justly with me : come , come ; nay , speak . - -What should we say , my lord ? - -Why anything , but to the purpose . You were sent for ; and there is a kind of confession in your looks which your modesties have not craft enough to colour : I know the good king and queen have sent for you . - -To what end , my lord ? - -That you must teach me . But let me conjure you , by the rights of our fellowship , by the consonancy of our youth , by the obligation of our ever-preserved love , and by what more dear a better proposer could charge you withal , be even and direct with me , whether you were sent for or no ! - -What say you ? - -Nay , then , I have an eye of you . If you love me , hold not off . - -My lord , we were sent for . - -I will tell you why ; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery , and your secrecy to the king and queen moult no feather . I have of late ,but wherefore I know not ,lost all my mirth , forgone all custom of exercises ; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame , the earth , seems to me a sterile promontory ; this most excellent canopy , the air , look you , this brave o'erhanging firmament , this majestical roof fretted with golden fire , why , it appears no other thing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours . What a piece of work is a man ! How noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! in form , in moving , how express and admirable ! in action how like an angel ! in apprehension how like a god ! the beauty of the world ! the paragon of animals ! And yet , to me , what is this quintessence of dust ? man delights not me ; no , nor woman neither , though , by your smiling , you seem to say so . - -My lord , there was no such stuff in my thoughts . - -Why did you laugh then , when I said , 'man delights not me ?' - -To think , my lord ; if you delight not in man , what lenten entertainment the players shall receive from you : we coted them on the way ; and hither are they coming , to offer you service . - -He that plays the king shall be welcome ; his majesty shall have tribute of me ; the adventurous knight shall use his foil and target ; the lover shall not sigh gratis ; the humorous man shall end his part in peace ; the clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle o' the sere ; and the lady shall say her mind freely , or the blank verse shall halt for't . What players are they ? - -Even those you were wont to take delight in , the tragedians of the city . - -How chances it they travel ? their residence , both in reputation and profit , was better both ways . - -I think their inhibition comes by the means of the late innovation . - -Do they hold the same estimation they did when I was in the city ? Are they so followed ? - -No , indeed they are not . - -How comes it ? Do they grow rusty ? - -Nay , their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace : but there is , sir , an aery of children , little eyases , that cry out on the top of question , and are most tyrannically clapped for't : these are now the fashion , and so berattle the common stages ,so they call them ,that many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills , and dare scarce come thither . - -What ! are they children ? who maintains 'em ? how are they escoted ? Will they pursue the quality no longer than they can sing ? will they not say afterwards , if they should grow themselves to common players ,as it is most like , if their means are no better ,their writers do them wrong , to make them exclaim against their own succession ? - -Faith , there has been much to-do on both sides : and the nation holds it no sin to tarre them to controversy : there was , for a while , no money bid for argument , unless the poet and the player went to cuffs in the question . - -Is it possible ? - -O ! there has been much throwing about of brains . - -Do the boys carry it away ? - -Ay , that they do , my lord ; Hercules and his load too . - -It is not very strange ; for my uncle is King of Denmark , and those that would make mows at him while my father lived , give twenty , forty , fifty , a hundred ducats a-piece for his picture in little . 'Sblood , there is something in this more than natural , if philosophy could find it out . - - -There are the players . - -Gentlemen , you are welcome to Elsinore . Your hands , come then ; the appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony : let me comply with you in this garb , lest my extent to the players which , I tell you , must show fairly outward should more appear like entertainment than yours . You are welcome ; but my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived . - -In what , my dear lord ? - -I am but mad north-north-west : when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw . - - -Well be with you , gentlemen ! - -Hark you , Guildenstern ; and you too ; at each ear a hearer : that great baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling-clouts . - -Happily he's the second time come to them ; for they say an old man is twice a child . - -I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the players ; mark it . You say right , sir ; o' Monday morning ; 'twas so indeed . - -My lord , I have news to tell you . - -My lord , I have news to tell you . When Roscius was an actor in Rome , - -The actors are come hither , my lord . - -Buzz , buzz ! - -Upon my honour , - -Then came each actor on his ass , - -The best actors in the world , either for tragedy , comedy , history , pastoral , pastoral-comical , historical-pastoral , tragical-historical , tragical-comical-historical-pastoral , scene individable , or poem unlimited : Seneca cannot be too heavy , nor Plautus too light . For the law of writ and the liberty , these are the only men . - -O Jephthah , judge of Israel , what a treasure hadst thou ! - -What a treasure had he , my lord ? - -Why - -One fair daughter and no more , -The which he loved passing well . - - -Still on my daughter . - -Am I not i' the right , old Jephthah ? - -If you call me Jephthah , my lord , I have a daughter that I love passing well . - -Nay , that follows not . - -What follows , then , my lord ? - -Why , -As by lot , God wot . -And then , you know , -It came to pass , as most like it was . -The first row of the pious chanson will show you more ; for look where my abridgment comes . - -You are welcome , masters ; welcome , all . I am glad to see thee well : welcome , good friends . O , my old friend ! Thy face is valanced since I saw thee last : comest thou to beard me in Denmark ? What ! my young lady and mistress ! By 'r lady , your ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw you last , by the altitude of a chopine . Pray God , your voice , like a piece of uncurrent gold , be not cracked within the ring . Masters , you are all welcome . We'll e'en to't like French falconers , fly at anything we see : we'll have a speech straight . Come , give us a taste of your quality ; come , a passionate speech . - -What speech , my good lord ? - -I heard thee speak me a speech once , but it was never acted ; or , if it was , not above once ; for the play , I remember , pleased not the million ; 'twas caviare to the general : but it was as I received it , and others , whose judgments in such matters cried in the top of mine an excellent play , well digested in the scenes , set down with as much modesty as cunning . I remember one said there were no sallets in the lines to make the matter savoury , nor no matter in the phrase that might indict the author of affectation ; but called it an honest method , as wholesome as sweet , and by very much more handsome than fine . One speech in it I chiefly loved ; 'twas neas' tale to Dido ; and thereabout of it especially , where he speaks of Priam's slaughter . If it live in your memory , begin at this line : let me see , let me see : -Therugged Pyrrhus , like the Hyrcanian beast , -'tis not so , it begins with Pyrrhus : -The rugged Pyrrhus , he whose sable arm , -Black as his purpose , did the night resemble -When he lay couched in the ominous horse , -Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd -With heraldry more dismal ; head to foot -Now is he total gules ; horridly trick'd -With blood of fathers , mothers , daughters , sons , -Bak'd and impasted with the parching streets , -That lend a tyrannous and damned light -To their vile murders : rousted in wrath and fire , -And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore , -With eyes like carbuncles , the hellish Pyrrhus -Old grandsire Priam seeks . -So proceed you . - -'Fore God , my lord , well spoken ; with good accent and good discretion . - -Anon , he finds him -Striking too short at Greeks ; his antique sword , -Rebellious to his arm , lies where it falls , -Repugnant to command . Unequal match'd , -Pyrrhus at Priam drives ; in rage strikes wide ; -But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword -The unnerved father falls . Then senseless Ilium , -Seeming to feel this blow , with flaming top -Stoops to his base , and with a hideous crash -Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear : for lo ! his sword , -Which was declining on the milky head -Of rever end Priam , seem'd i' the air to stick : -So , as a painted tyrant , Pyrrhus stood , -And like a neutral to his will and matter , -Did nothing . -But , as we often see , against some storm , -A silence in the heavens , the rack stand still , -The bold winds speechless and the orb below -As hush as death , anon the dreadful thunder -Doth rend the region ; so , after Pyrrhus' pause , -Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work ; -And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall -On Mars's armour , forg'd for proof eterne , -With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword -Now falls on Priam . -Out , out , thou strumpet , Fortune ! All you gods , -In general synod , take away her power ; -Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel , -And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven , -As low as to the fiends ! - -This is too long . - -It shall to the barber's , with your beard . Prithee , say on : he's for a jig or a tale of bawdry , or he sleeps . Say on ; come to Hecuba . - -But who , O ! who had seen the mobled queen - -'The mobled queen ?' - -That's good ; 'mobled queen' is good . - -Run barefoot up and down , threat'ning the flames -With bisson rheum ; a clout upon that head -Where late the diadem stood ; and , for a robe , -About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins , -A blanket , in the alarm of fear caught up ; -Who this had seen , with tongue in venom steep'd , -'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounc'd : -But if the gods themselves did see her then , -When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport -In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs , -The instant burst of clamour that she made -Unless things mortal move them not at all -Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven , -And passion in the gods . - -Look ! wh'er he has not turned his colour and has tears in's eyes . Prithee , no more . - -'Tis well ; I'll have thee speak out the rest soon . Good my lord , will you see the players well bestowed ? Do you hear , let them be well used ; for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time : after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live . - -My lord , I will use them according to their desert . - -God's bodikins , man , much better ; use every man after his desert , and who should 'scape whipping ? Use them after your own honour and dignity : the less they deserve , the more merit is in your bounty . Take them in . - -Come , sirs . - -Follow him , friends : we'll hear a play to-morrow . - -Dost thou hear me , old friend ; can you play the Murder of Gonzago ? - -Ay , my lord . - -We'll ha't to-morrow night . You could , for a need , study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines , which I would set down and insert in't , could you not ? - -Ay , my lord . - -Very well . Follow that lord ; and look you mock him not . - -My good friends , I'll leave you till night ; you are welcome to Elsinore . - -Good my lord ! - - -Ay , so , God be wi' ye ! Now I am alone . -O ! what a rogue and peasant slave am I : -Is it not monstrous that this player here , -But in a fiction , in a dream of passion , -Could force his soul so to his own conceit -That from her working all his visage wann'd , -Tears in his eyes , distraction in 's aspect , -A broken voice , and his whole function suiting -With forms to his conceit ? and all for nothing ! -For Hecuba ! -What 's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba -That he should weep for her ? What would he do -Had he the motive and the cue for passion -That I have ? He would drown the stage with tears , -And cleave the general ear with horrid speech , -Make mad the guilty and appal the free , -Confound the ignorant , and amaze indeed -The very faculties of eyes and ears . -Yet I , -A dull and muddy-mettled rascal , peak , -Like John-a-dreams , unpregnant of my cause , -And can say nothing ; no , not for a king , -Upon whose property and most dear life -A damn'd defeat was made . Am I a coward ? -Who calls me villain ? breaks my pate across ? -Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face ? -Tweaks me by the nose ? gives me the lie i' the throat , -As deep as to the lungs ? Who does me this ? -Ha ! -Swounds , I should take it , for it cannot be -But I am pigeon-liver'd , and lack gall -To make oppression bitter , or ere this -I should have fatted all the region kites -With this slave's offal . Bloody , bawdy villain ! -Remorseless , treacherous , lecherous , kindless villain ! -O ! vengeance ! -Why , what an ass am I ! This is most brave -That I , the son of a dear father murder'd , -Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell , -Must , like a whore , unpack my heart with words , -And fall a-cursing , like a very drab , -A scullion ! -Fie upon't ! foh ! About , my brain ! I have heard , -That guilty creatures sitting at a play -Have by the very cunning of the scene -Been struck so to the soul that presently -They have proclaim'd their malefactions ; -For murder , though it have no tongue , will speak -With most miraculous organ . I'll have these players -Play something like the murder of my father -Before mine uncle ; I'll observe his looks ; -I'll tent him to the quick : if he but blench -I know my course . The spirit that I have seen -May be the devil : and the devil hath power -To assume a pleasing shape ; yea , and perhaps -Out of my weakness and my melancholy -As he is very potent with such spirits -Abuses me to damn me . I'll have grounds -More relative than this : the play 's the thing -Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king . - -And can you , by no drift of circumstance , -Get from him why he puts on this confusion , -Grating so harshly all his days of quiet -With turbulent and dangerous lunacy ? - -He does confess he feels himself distracted ; -But from what cause he will by no means speak . - -Nor do we find him forward to be sounded , -But , with a crafty madness , keeps aloof , -When we would bring him on to some confession -Of his true state . - -Did he receive you well ? - -Most like a gentleman . - -But with much forcing of his disposition . - -Niggard of question , but of our demands -Most free in his reply . - -Did you assay him -To any pastime ? - -Madam , it so fell out that certain players -We o'er-raught on the way ; of these we told him , -And there did seem in him a kind of joy -To hear of it : they are about the court , -And , as I think , they have already order -This night to play before him . - -'Tis most true ; -And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties -To hear and see the matter . - -With all my heart ; and it doth much content me -To hear him so inclin'd . -Good gentlemen , give him a further edge , -And drive his purpose on to these delights . - -We shall , my lord . - - -Sweet Gertrude , leave us too ; -For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither , -That he , as 'twere by accident , may here -Affront Ophelia . -Her father and myself , lawful espials , -Will so bestow ourselves , that , seeing , unseen , -We may of their encounter frankly judge , -And gather by him , as he is behav'd , -If 't be the affliction of his love or no -That thus he suffers for . - -I shall obey you . -And for your part , Ophelia , I do wish -That your good beauties be the happy cause -Of Hamlet's wildness ; so shall I hope your virtues -Will bring him to his wonted way again , -To both your honours . - -Madam , I wish it may . - - -Ophelia , walk you here . Gracious , so please you , -We will bestow ourselves . - -Read on this book ; -That show of such an exercise may colour -Your loneliness . We are oft to blame in this , -'Tis too much prov'd , that with devotion's visage -And pious action we do sugar o'er -The devil himself . - -O ! 'tis too true ; -How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience ! -The harlot's cheek , beautied with plastering art , -Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it -Than is my deed to my most painted word : -O heavy burden ! - -I hear him coming ; let's withdraw , my lord . - -To be , or not to be : that is the question : -Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer -The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune , -Or to take arms against a sea of troubles , -And by opposing end them ? To die : to sleep ; -No more ; and , by a sleep to say we end -The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks -That flesh is heir to , 'tis a consummation -Devoutly to be wish'd . To die , to sleep ; -To sleep : perchance to dream : ay , there's the rub ; -For in that sleep of death what dreams may come -When we have shuffled off this mortal coil , -Must give us pause . There's the respect -That makes calamity of so long life ; -For who would bear the whips and scorns of time , -The oppressor's wrong , the proud man's contumely , -The pangs of dispriz'd love , the law's delay , -The insolence of office , and the spurns -That patient merit of the unworthy takes , -When he himself might his quietus make -With a bare bodkin ? who would fardels bear , -To grunt and sweat under a weary life , -But that the dread of something after death , -The undiscover'd country from whose bourn -No traveller returns , puzzles the will , -And makes us rather bear those ills we have -Than fly to others that we know not of ? -Thus conscience does make cowards of us all ; -And thus the native hue of resolution -Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought , -And enterprises of great pith and moment -With this regard their currents turn awry , -And lose the name of action . Soft you now ! -The fair Ophelia ! Nymph , in thy orisons -Be all my sins remember'd . - -Good my lord , -How does your honour for this many a day ? - -I humbly thank you ; well , well , well . - -My lord , I have remembrances of yours , -That I have longed long to re-deliver ; -I pray you , now receive them . - -No , not I ; -I never gave you aught . - -My honour'd lord , you know right well you did ; -And , with them , words of so sweet breath compos'd -As made the things more rich : their perfume lost , -Take these again ; for to the noble mind -Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind . -There , my lord . - -Ha , ha ! are you honest ? - -My lord ! - -Are you fair ? - -What means your lordship ? - -That if you be honest and fair , your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty . - -Could beauty , my lord , have better commerce than with honesty ? - -Ay , truly ; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness : this was sometime a paradox , but now the time gives it proof . I did love thee once . - -Indeed , my lord , you made me believe so . - -You should not have believed me ; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it : I loved you not . - -I was the more deceived . - -Get thee to a nunnery : why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners ? I am myself indifferent honest ; but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me . I am very proud , revengeful , ambitious ; with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in , imagination to give them shape , or time to act them in . What should such fellows as I do crawling between heaven and earth ? We are arrant knaves , all ; believe none of us . Go thy ways to a nunnery . Where's your father ? - -At home , my lord . - -Let the doors be shut upon him , that he may play the fool nowhere but in's own house . Farewell . - -O ! help him , you sweet heavens ! - -If thou dost marry , I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry : be thou as chaste as ice , as pure as snow , thou shalt not escape calumny . Get thee to a nunnery , go ; farewell . Or , if thou wilt needs marry , marry a fool ; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them . To a nunnery , go ; and quickly too . Farewell . - -O heavenly powers , restore him ! - -I have heard of your paintings too , well enough ; God hath given you one face , and you make yourselves another : you jig , you amble , and you lisp , and nickname God's creatures , and make your wantonness your ignorance . Go to , I'll no more on't ; it hath made me mad . I say , we will have no more marriages ; those that are married already , all but one , shall live ; the rest shall keep as they are . To a nunnery , go . - - -O ! what a noble mind is here o'erthrown : -The courtier's , soldier's , scholar's , eye , tongue , sword ; -The expectancy and rose of the fair state , -The glass of fashion and the mould of form , -The observ'd of all observers , quite , quite down ! -And I , of ladies most deject and wretched , -That suck'd the honey of his music vows , -Now see that noble and most sovereign reason , -Like sweet bells jangled , out of tune and harsh ; -That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth -Blasted with ecstasy : O ! woe is me , -To have seen what I have seen , see what I see ! - - -Love ! his affections do not that way tend ; -Nor what he spake , though it lack'd form a little , -Was not like madness . There's something in his soul -O'er which his melancholy sits on brood ; -And , I do doubt , the hatch and the disclose -Will be some danger ; which for to prevent , -I have in quick determination -Thus set it down : he shall with speed to England , -For the demand of our neglected tribute : -Haply the seas and countries different -With variable objects shall expel -This something-settled matter in his heart , -Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus -From fashion of himself . What think you on't ? - -It shall do well : but yet do I believe -The origin and commencement of his grief -Sprung from neglected love . How now , Ophelia ! -You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said ; -We heard it all . My lord , do as you please ; -But , if you hold it fit , after the play , -Let his queen mother all alone entreat him -To show his griefs : let her be round with him ; -And I'll be plac'd , so please you , in the ear -Of all their conference . If she find him not , -To England send him , or confine him where -Your wisdom best shall think . - -It shall be so : -Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go . - - -Speak the speech , I pray you , as I pronounced it to you , trippingly on the tongue ; but if you mouth it , as many of your players do , I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines . Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand , thus ; but use all gently : for in the very torrent , tempest , and as I may say whirlwind of passion , you must acquire and beget a temperance , that may give it smoothness . O ! it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwigpated fellow tear a passion to tatters , to very rage , to split the ears of the groundlings , who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb-shows and noise : I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er-doing Termagant ; it out-herods Herod : pray you , avoid it . - -I warrant your honour . - -Be not too tame neither , but let your own discretion be your tutor : suit the action to the word , the word to the action ; with this special observance , that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature ; for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing , whose end , both at the first and now , was and is , to hold , as 'twere , the mirror up to nature ; to show virtue her own feature , scorn her own image , and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure . Now , this overdone , or come tardy off , though it make the unskilful laugh , cannot but make the judicious grieve ; the censure of which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others . O ! there be players that I have seen play , and heard others praise , and that highly , not to speak it profanely , that , neither having the accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian , pagan , nor man , have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well , they imitated humanity so abominably . - -I hope we have reformed that indifferently with us . - -O ! reform it altogether . And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them ; for there be of them that will themselves laugh , to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too , though in the mean time some necessary question of the play be then to be considered ; that's villanous , and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it . Go , make you ready . - - -How now , my lord ! will the king hear this piece of work ? - -And the queen too , and that presently . - -Bid the players make haste . - -Will you two help to hasten them ? - -We will , my lord . - -We will , my lord . - - -What , ho ! Horatio ! - - -Here , sweet lord , at your service . - -Horatio , thou art e'en as just a man -As e'er my conversation cop'd withal . - -O ! my dear lord , - -Nay , do not think I flatter ; -For what advancement may I hope from thee , -That no revenue hast but thy good spirits -To feed and clothe thee ? Why should the poor be flatter'd ? -No ; let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp , -And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee -Where thrift may follow fawning . Dost thou hear ? -Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice -And could of men distinguish , her election -Hath seal'd thee for herself ; for thou hast been -As one , in suffering all , that suffers nothing , -A man that fortune's buffets and rewards -Hast ta'en with equal thanks ; and bless'd are those -Whose blood and judgment are so well comingled -That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger -To sound what stop she please . Give me that man -That is not passion's slave , and I will wear him -In my heart's core , ay , in my heart of heart , -As I do thee . Something too much of this . -There is a play to-night before the king ; -One scene of it comes near the circumstance -Which I have told thee of my father's death : -I prithee , when thou seest that act afoot , -Even with the very comment of thy soul -Observe mine uncle ; if his occulted guilt -Do not itself unkennel in one speech , -It is a damned ghost that we have seen , -And my imaginations are as foul -As Vulcan's stithy . Give him heedful note ; -For I mine eyes will rivet to his face , -And after we will both our judgments join -In censure of his seeming . - -Well , my lord : -If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing , -And 'scape detecting , I will pay the theft . - -They are coming to the play ; I must be idle : -Get you a place . - -How fares our cousin Hamlet ? - -Excellent , i' faith ; of the chameleon's dish : I eat the air , promise-crammed ; you cannot feed capons so . - -I have nothing with this answer , Hamlet ; these words are not mine . - -No , nor mine now . - -My lord , you played once i' the university , you say ? - -That did I , my lord , and was accounted a good actor . - -And what did you enact ? - -I did enact Julius C sar : I was killed i' the Capitol ; Brutus killed me . - -It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there . Be the playcrs ready ? - -Ay , my lord ; they stay upon your patience . - -Come hither , my good Hamlet , sit by me . - -No , good mother , here's metal more attractive . - -O ho ! do you mark that ? - -Lady , shall I lie in your lap ? - - -No , my lord . - -I mean , my head upon your lap ? - -Ay , my lord . - -Do you think I meant country matters ? - -I think nothing , my lord . - -That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs . - -What is , my lord ? - -Nothing . - -You are merry , my lord . - -Who , I ? - -Ay , my lord . - -O God , your only jig-maker . What should a man do but be merry ? for , look you , how cheerfully my mother looks , and my father died within's two hours . - -Nay , 'tis twice two months , my lord . - -So long ? Nay , then , let the devil wear black , for I'll have a suit of sables . O heavens ! die two months ago , and not forgotten yet ? Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year ; but , by'r lady , he must build churches then , or else shall he suffer not thinking on , with the hobby-horse , whose epitaph is , 'For , O ! for , O ! the hobby-horse is forgot .' - - -What means this , my lord ? - -Marry , this is miching mallecho ; it means mischief . - -Belike this show imports the argument of the play . - - -We shall know by this fellow : the players cannot keep counsel ; they'll tell all . - -Will he tell us what this show meant ? - -Ay , or any show that you'll show him ; be not you ashamed to show , he'll not shame to tell you what it means . - -You are naught , you are naught . I'll mark the play . - - -For us and for our tragedy , -Here stooping to your clemency , -We beg your hearing patiently . - - -Is this a prologue , or the posy of a ring ? - -'Tis brief , my lord . - -As woman's love . - - -Full thirty times hath Ph bus' cart gone round -Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground , -And thirty dozen moons with borrow'd sheen -About the world have times twelve thirties been , -Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands -Unite commutual in most sacred bands . - -So many journeys may the sun and moon -Make us again count o'er ere love be done ! -But , woe is me ! you are so sick of late , -So far from cheer and from your former state , -That I distrust you . Yet , though I distrust , -Discomfort you , my lord , it nothing must ; -For women's fear and love holds quantity , -In neither aught , or in extremity . -Now , what my love is , proof hath made you know ; -And as my love is siz'd , my fear is so . -Where love is great , the littlest doubts are fear ; -Where little fears grow great , great love grows there . - -Faith , I must leave thee , love , and shortly too ; -My operant powers their functions leave to do : -And thou shall live in this fair world behind , -Honour'd , belov'd ; and haply one as kind -For husband shalt thou - -O ! confound the rest ; -Such love must needs be treason in my breast : -In second husband let me be accurst : -None wed the second but who kill'd the first . - -Wormwood , wormwood . - -The instances that second marriage move , -Are base respects of thrift , but none of love ; -A second time I kill my husband dead , -When second husband kisses me in bed . - -I do believe you think what now you speak ; -But what we do determine oft we break . -Purpose is but the slave to memory , -Of violent birth , but poor validity ; -Which now , like fruit unripe , sticks on the tree , -But fall unshaken when they mellow be . -Most necessary 'tis that we forget -To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt ; -What to ourselves in passion we propose , -The passion ending , doth the purpose lose . -The violence of either grief or joy -Their own enactures with themselves destroy ; -Where joy most revels grief doth most lament , -Grief joys , joy grieves , on slender accident . -This world is not for aye , nor 'tis not strange , -That even our love should with our fortunes change ; -For 'tis a question left us yet to prove -Whe'r love lead fortune or else fortune love . -The great man down , you mark his favourite flies ; -The poor advanc'd makes friends of enemies . -And hitherto doth love on fortune tend , -For who not needs shall never lack a friend ; -And who in want a hollow friend doth try -Directly seasons him his enemy . -But , orderly to end where I begun , -Our wills and fates do so contrary run -That our devices still are overthrown , -Our thoughts are ours , their ends none of our own : -So think thou wilt no second husband wed ; -But die thy thoughts when thy first lord is dead - -Nor earth to me give food , nor heaven light ! -Sport and repose lock from me day and night ! -To desperation turn my trust and hope ! -An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope ! -Each opposite that blanks the face of joy -Meet what I would have well , and it destroy ! -Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife , -If , once a widow , ever I be wife ! - -If she should break it now ! - -'Tis deeply sworn . Sweet , leave me here awhile ; -My spirits grow dull , and fain I would beguile -The tedious day with sleep . - - -Sleep rock thy brain ; -And never come mischance between us twain ! - - -Madam , how like you this play ? - -The lady doth protest too much , methinks . - -O ! but she'll keep her word . - -Have you heard the argument ? Is there no offence in 't ? - -No , no , they do but jest , poison in jest ; no offence i' the world . - -What do you call the play ? - -The Mouse-trap . Marry , how ? Tropically . This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna : Gonzago is the duke's name ; his wife , Baptista . You shall see anon ; 'tis a knavish piece of work : but what of that ? your majesty and we that have free souls , it touches us not : let the galled jade wince , our withers are unwrung . - -This is one Lucianus , nephew to the king . - -You are a good chorus , my lord . - -I could interpret between you and your love , if I could see the puppets dallying . - -You are keen , my lord , you are keen . - -It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge . - -Still better , and worse . - -So you must take your husbands . Begin , murderer ; pox , leave thy damnable faces , and begin . Come ; the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge . - -Thoughts black , hands apt , drugs fit , and time agreeing ; -Confederate season , else no creature seeing ; -Thou mixture rank , of midnight weeds collected , -With Hecate's ban thrice blasted , thrice infected , -Thy natural magic and dire property , -On wholesome life usurp immediately . - - -He poisons him i' the garden for's estate . Hisname's Gonzago ; the story is extant , and writ in very choice Italian . You shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife . - -The king rises . - -What ! frighted with false fire ? - -How fares my lord ? - -Give o'er the play . - -Give me some light : away ! - -Lights , lights , lights ! - -Why , let the stricken deer go weep , -The hart ungalled play ; -For some must watch , while some must sleep : -So runs the world away . - -Would not this , sir , and a forest of feathers , if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me , with two Provincial roses on my razed shoes , get me a fellowship in a cry of players , sir ? - -Half a share . - -A whole one , I . - -For thou dost know , O Damon dear , -This realm dismantled was -Of Jove himself ; and now reigns here -A very , very pajock . - - -You might have rimed . - -O good Horatio ! I'll take the ghost's word for a thousand pound . Didst perceive ? - -Very well , my lord . - -Upon the talk of the poisoning ? - -I did very well note him . - -Ah , ha ! Come , some music ! come , the recorders ! - -For if the king like not the comedy , -Why then , belike he likes it not , perdy . - -Come , some music ! - - -Good my lord , vouchsafe me a word with you . - -Sir , a whole history . - -The king , sir , - -Ay , sir , what of him ? - -Is in his retirement marvellous distempered . - -With drink , sir ? - -No , my lord , rather with choler . - -Your wisdom should show itself more richer to signify this to his doctor ; for , for me to put him to his purgation would perhaps plunge him into far more choler . - -Good my lord , put your discourse into some frame , and start not so wildly from my affair . - -I am tame , sir ; pronounce . - -The queen , your mother , in most great affliction of spirit , hath sent me to you . - -You are welcome . - -Nay , good my lord , this courtesy is not of the right breed . If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer , I will do your mother's commandment ; if not , your pardon and my return shall be the end of my business . - -Sir , I cannot . - -What , my lord ? - -Make you a wholesome answer ; my wit's diseased ; but , sir , such answer as I can make , you shall command ; or , rather , as you say , my mother : therefore no more , but to the matter : my mother , you say , - -Then , thus she says : your behaviour hath struck her into amasement and admiration . - -O wonderful son , that can so astonish a mother ! But is there no sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration ? Impart . - -She desires to speak with you in her closet ere you go to bed . - -We shall obey , were she ten times our mother . Have you any further trade with us ? - -My lord , you once did love me . - -So I do still , by these pickers and stealers . - -Good my lord , what is your cause of distemper ? you do surely bar the door upon your own liberty , if you deny your griefs to your friend . - -Sir , I lack advancement . - -How can that be when you have the voice of the king himself for your succession in Denmark ? - -Ay , sir , but 'While the grass grows ,' the proverb is something musty . - -O ! the recorders : let me see one . To withdraw with you : why do you go about to recover the wind of me , as if you would drive me into a toil ? - -O ! my lord , if my duty be too bold , my love is too unmannerly . - -I do not well understand that . Will you play upon this pipe ? - -My lord , I cannot . - -I pray you . - -Believe me , I cannot . - -I do beseech you . - -I know no touch of it , my lord . - -'Tis as easy as lying ; govern these ventages with your finger and thumb , give it breath with your mouth , and it will discourse most eloquent music . Look you , these are the stops . - -But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony ; I have not the skill . - -Why , look you now , how unworthy a thing you make of me . You would play upon me ; you would seem to know my stops ; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery ; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass ; and there is much music , excellent voice , in this little organ , yet cannot you make it speak . 'Sblood , do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe ? Call me what instrument you will , though you can fret me , you cannot play upon me . - -God bless you , sir ! - -My lord , the queen would speak with you , and presently . - -Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel ? - -By the mass , and 'tis like a camel , indeed . - -Methinks it is like a weasel . - -It is backed like a weasel . - -Or like a whale ? - -Very like a whale . - -Then I will come to my mother by and by - -They fool me to the top of my bent . [Aloud .] I will come by and by . - -I will say so . - - -By and by is easily said . Leave me , friends . - -'Tis now the very witching time of night , -When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out -Contagion to this world : now could I drink hot blood , -And do such bitter business as the day -Would quake to look on . Soft ! now to my mother . -O heart ! lose not thy nature ; let not ever -The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom ; -Let me be cruel , not unnatural ; -I will speak daggers to her , but use none ; -My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites ; -How in my words soever she be shent , -To give them seals never , my soul , consent ! - - -I like him not , nor stands it safe with us -To let his madness range . Therefore prepare you ; -I your commission will forth with dispatch , -And he to England shall along with you . -The terms of our estate may not endure -Hazard so dangerous as doth hourly grow -Out of his lunacies . - -We will ourselves provide . -Most holy and religious fear it is -To keep those many many bodies safe -That live and feed upon your majesty . - -The single and peculiar life is bound -With all the strength and armour of the mind -To keep itself from noyance ; but much more -That spirit upon whose weal depend and rest -The lives of many . The cease of majesty -Dies not alone , but , like a gulf doth draw -What's near it with it ; it is a massy wheel , -Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount , -To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things -Are mortis'd and adjoin'd ; which , when it falls , -Each small annexment , petty consequence , -Attends the boisterous ruin . Never alone -Did the king sigh , but with a general groan . - -Arm you , I pray you , to this speedy voyage ; -For we will fetters put upon this fear , -Which now goes too free-footed . - -We will haste us . - -We will haste us . - -My lord , he's going to his mother's closet : -Behind the arras I'll convey myself -To hear the process ; I'll warrant she'll tax him home ; -And , as you said , and wisely was it said , -'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother , -Since nature makes them partial , should o'erhear -The speech , of vantage . Fare you well , my liege : -I'll call upon you ere you go to bed -And tell you what I know . - -Thanks , dear my lord . - -O ! my offence is rank , it smells to heaven ; -It hath the primal eldest curse upon't ; -A brother's murder ! Pray can I not , -Though inclination be as sharp as will : -My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent ; -And , like a man to double business bound , -I stand in pause where I shall first begin , -And both neglect . What if this cursed hand -Were thicker than itself with brother's blood , -Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens -To wash it white as snow ? Whereto serves mercy -But to confront the visage of offence ? -And what's in prayer but this two-fold force , -To be forestalled , ere we come to fall , -Or pardon'd , being down ? Then , I'll look up ; -My fault is past . But , O ! what form of prayer -Can serve my turn ? 'Forgive me my foul murder ?' -That cannot be ; since I am still possess'd -Of those effects for which I did the murder , -My crown , mine own ambition , and my queen . -May one be pardon'd and retain the offence ? -In the corrupted currents of this world -Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice , -And oft 'tis seen the wicked prise itself -Buys out the law ; but 'tis not so above ; -There is no shuffling , there the action lies -In his true nature , and we ourselves compell'd -Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults -To give in evidence . What then ? what rests ? -Try what repentance can : what can it not ? -Yet what can it , when one can not repent ? -O wretched state ! O bosom black as death ! -O limed soul , that struggling to be free -Art more engaged ! Help , angels ! make assay ; -Bow , stubborn knees ; and heart with strings of steel -Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe . -All may be well . - -Now might I do it pat , now he is praying ; -And now I'll do't : and so he goes to heaven ; -And so am I reveng'd . That would be scann'd : -A villain kills my father ; and for that , -I , his sole son , do this same villain send -To heaven . -Why , this is hire and salary , not revenge . -He took my father grossly , full of bread , -With all his crimes broad blown , as flush as May ; -And how his audit stands who knows save heaven ? -But in our circumstance and course of thought -'Tis heavy with him . And am I then reveng'd , -To take him in the purging of his soul , -When he is fit and season'd for his passage ? -No . -Up , sword , and know thou a more horrid hent ; -When he is drunk asleep , or in his rage , -Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed , -At gaming , swearing , or about some act -That has no relish of salvation in't ; -Then trip him , that his heels may kick at heaven , -And that his soul may be as damn'd and black -As hell , whereto it goes . My mother stays : -This physic but prolongs thy sickly days . - -My words fly up , my thoughts remain below : -Words without thoughts never to heaven go . - - -He will come straight . Look you lay home to him ; -Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with , -And that your Grace hath screen'd and stood between -Much heat and him . I'll silence me e'en here . -Pray you , be round with him . - -Mother , mother , mother ! - -I'll warrant you ; -Fear me not . Withdraw , I hear him coming . - - -Now , mother , what's the matter ? - -Hamlet , thou hast thy father much offended . - -Mother , you have my father much offended . - -Come , come , you answer with an idle tongue . - -Go , go , you question with a wicked tongue . - -Why , how now , Hamlet ! - -What's the matter now ? - -Have you forgot me ? - -No , by the rood , not so : -You are the queen , your husband's brother's wife ; -And ,would it were not so !you are my mother . - -Nay then , I'll set those to you that can speak . - -Come , come , and sit you down ; you shall not budge ; -You go not , till I set you up a glass -Where you may see the inmost part of you . - -What wilt thou do ? thou wilt not murder me ? -Help , help , ho ! - -What , ho ! help ! help ! help ! - -How now ! a rat ? Dead , for a ducat , dead ! - - -O ! I am slain . - -O me ! what hast thou done ? - -Nay , I know not : is it the king ? - -O ! what a rash and bloody deed is this ! - -A bloody deed ! almost as bad , good mother , -As kill a king , and marry with his brother . - -As kill a king ! - -Ay , lady , 'twas my word . - -Thou wretched , rash , intruding fool , farewell ! -I took thee for thy better ; take thy fortune ; -Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger . -Leave wringing of your hands : peace ! sit you down , -And let me wring your heart ; for so I shall -If it be made of penetrable stuff , -If damned custom have not brass'd it so -That it is proof and bulwark against sense - -What have I done that thou dar'st wag thy tongue -In noise so rude against me ? - -Such an act -That blurs the grace and blush of modesty , -Calls virtue hypocrite , takes off the rose -From the fair forehead of an innocent love -And sets a blister there , makes marriage vows -As false as dicers' oaths ; O ! such a deed -As from the body of contraction plucks -The very soul , and sweet religion makes -A rhapsody of words ; heaven's face doth glow , -Yea , this solidity and compound mass , -With tristful visage , as against the doom , -Is thought-sick at the act . - -Ay me ! what act , -That roars so loud and thunders in the index ? - -Look here , upon this picture , and on this ; -The counterfeit presentment of two brothers . -See , what a grace was seated on this brow ; -Hyperion's curls , the front of Jove himself , -An eye like Mars , to threaten and command , -A station like the herald Mercury -New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill , -A combination and a form indeed , -Where every god did seem to set his seal , -To give the world assurance of a man . -This was your husband : look you now , what follows . -Here is your husband ; like a mildew'd ear , -Blasting his wholesome brother . Have you eyes ? -Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed , -And batten on this moor ? Ha ! have you eyes ? -You cannot call it love , for at your age -The hey-day in the blood is tame , it's humble , -And waits upon the judgment ; and what judgment -Would step from this to this ? Sense , sure , you have , -Else could you not have motion ; but sure , that sense -Is apoplex'd ; for madness would not err , -Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd -But it reserv'd some quantity of choice , -To serve in such a difference . What devil was 't -That thus hath comen'd you at hoodman-blind ? -Eyes without feeling , feeling without sight , -Ears without hands or eyes , smelling sans all , -Or but a sickly part of one true sense -Could not so mope . -O shame ! where is thy blush ? Rebellious hell , -If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones , -To flaming youth let virtue be as wax , -And melt in her own fire : proclaim no shame -When the compulsive ardour gives the charge , -Since first itself as actively doth burn , -And reason panders will . - -O Hamlet ! speak no more ; -Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul ; -And there I see such black and grained spots -As will not leave their tinct . - -Nay , but to live -In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed , -Stew'd in corruption , honeying and making love -Over the nasty sty , - -O ! speak to me no more ; -These words like daggers enter in mine ears ; -No more , sweet Hamlet ! - -A murderer , and a villain ; -A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe -Of your precedent lord ; a vice of kings ; -A cut-purse of the empire and the rule , -That from a shelf the precious diadem stole , -And put it in his pocket ! - -No more ! - -A king of shreds and patches , - - -Save me , and hover o'er me with your wings , - -You heavenly guards ! What would your gracious figure ? - -Alas ! he's mad ! - -Do you not come your tardy son to chide , -That , laps'd in time and passion , lets go by -The important acting of your dread command ? -O ! say . - -Do not forget : this visitation -Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose . -But , look ! amazement on thy mother sits ; -O ! step between her and her fighting soul ; -Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works : -Speak to her , Hamlet . - -How is it with you , lady ? - -Alas ! how is't with you , -That you do bend your eye on vacancy -And with the incorporal air do hold discourse ? -Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep ; -And , as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm , -Your bedded hair , like life in excrements , -Starts up and stands an end . O gentle son ! -Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper -Sprinkle cool patience . Whereon do you look ? - -On him , on him ! Look you , how pale he glares ! -His form and cause conjoin'd , preaching to stones , -Would make them capable . Do not look upon me ; -Lest with this piteous action you convert -My stern effects : then what I have to do -Will want true colour ; tears perchance for blood . - -To whom do you speak this ? - -Do you see nothing there ? - -Nothing at all ; yet all that is I see . - -Nor did you nothing hear ? - -No , nothing but ourselves . - -Why , look you there ! look , how it steals away ; -My father , in his habit as he liv'd ; -Look ! where he goes , even now , out at the portal . - - -This is the very coinage of your brain : -This bodiless creation ecstasy -Is very cunning in . - -Ecstasy ! -My pulse , as yours , doth temperately keep time , -And makes as healthful music . It is not madness -That I have utter'd : bring me to the test , -And I the matter will re-word , which madness -Would gambol from . Mother , for love of grace , -Lay not that flattering unction to your soul , -That not your trespass but my madness speaks ; -It will but skin and film the ulcerous place , -Whiles rank corruption , mining all within , -Infects unseen . Confess yourself to heaven ; -Repent what's past ; avoid what is to come ; -And do not spread the compost on the weeds -To make them ranker . Forgive me this my virtue ; -For in the fatness of these pursy times -Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg , -Yea , curb and woo for leave to do him good . - -O Hamlet ! thou hast cleft my heart in twain . - -O ! throw away the worser part of it , -And live the purer with the other half . -Good night ; but go not to mine uncle's bed ; -Assume a virtue , if you have it not . -That monster , custom , who all sense doth eat , -Of habits devil , is angel yet in this , -That to the use of actions fair and good -He likewise gives a frock or livery , -That aptly is put on . Refrain to-night ; -And that shall lend a kind of easiness -To the next abstinence : the next more easy ; -For use almost can change the stamp of nature , -And master ev'n the devil or throw him out -With wondrous potency . Once more , goodnight : -And when you are desirous to be bless'd , -I'll blessing beg of you . For this same lord , - -I do repent : but heaven hath pleas'd it so , -To punish me with this , and this with me , -That I must be their scourge and minister . -I will bestow him , and will answer well -The death I gave him . So , again , good-night . -I must be cruel only to be kind : -Thus bad begins and worse remains behind . -One word more , good lady . - -What shall I do ? - -Not this , by no means , that I bid you do : -Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed ; -Pinch wanton on your cheek ; call you his mouse ; -And let him , for a pair of reechy kisses , -Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers , -Make you to ravel all this matter out , -That I essentially am not in madness , -But mad in craft . 'Twere good you let him know ; -For who that's but a queen , fair , sober , wise , -Would from a paddock , from a bat , a gib , -Such dear concernings hide ? who would do so ? -No , in despite of sense and secrecy , -Unpeg the basket on the house's top , -Let the birds fly , and , like the famous ape , -To try conclusions , in the basket creep , -And break your own neck down . - -Be thou assur'd , if words be made of breath , -And breath of life , I have no life to breathe -What thou hast said to me . - -I must to England ; you know that ? - -Alack ! -I had forgot : 'tis so concluded on . - -There's letters seal'd ; and my two schoolfellows , -Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd , -They bear the mandate ; they must sweep my way , -And marshal me to knavery . Let it work ; -For 'tis the sport to have the enginer -Hoist with his own petar : and it shall go hard -But I will delve one yard below their mines , -And blow them at the moon . O ! 'tis most sweet , -When in one line two crafts directly meet . -This man shall set me packing ; -I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room . -Mother , good-night . Indeed this counsellor -Is now most still , most secret , and most grave , -Who was in life a foolish prating knave . -Come , sir , to draw toward an end with you . -Good-night , mother . - -There's matter in these sighs , these profound heaves : -You must translate ; 'tis fit we understand them . -Where is your son ? - -Bestow this place on us a little while . - -Ah ! my good lord , what have I seen to-night . - -What , Gertrude ? How does Hamlet ? - -Mad as the sea and wind , when both contend -Which is the mightier . In his lawless fit , -Behind the arras hearing something stir , -Whips out his rapier , cries , 'A rat ! a rat !' -And , in his brainish apprehension , kills -The unseen good old man . - -O heavy deed ! -It had been so with us had we been there . -His liberty is full of threats to all ; -To you yourself , to us , to every one . -Alas ! how shall this bloody deed be answer'd ? -It will be laid to us , whose providence -Should have kept short , restrain'd , and out of haunt , -This mad young man : but so much was our love , -We would not understand what was most fit , -But , like the owner of a foul disease , -To keep it from divulging , let it feed -Even on the pith of life . Where is he gone ? - -To draw apart the body he hath kill'd ; -O'er whom his very madness , like some ore -Among a mineral of metals base , -Shows itself pure : he weeps for what is done . - -O Gertrude ! come away . -The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch -But we will ship him hence ; and this vile deed -We must , with all our majesty and skill , -Both countenance and excuse . Ho ! Guildenstern ! - - -Friends both , go join you with some further aid : -Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain , -And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd him : -Go seek him out ; speak fair , and bring the body -Into the chapel . I pray you , haste in this . - -Come , Gertrude , we'll call up our wisest friends ; -And let them know both what we mean to do , -And what's untimely done : so , haply , slander , -Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter , -As level as the cannon to his blank -Transports his poison'd shot , may miss our name , -And hit the woundless air . O ! come away ; -My soul is full of discord and dismay . - -Safely stowed . - -Hamlet ! Lord Hamlet ! - -Hamlet ! Lord Hamlet ! - -What noise ? who calls on Hamlet ? -O ! here they come . - - -What have you done , my lord , with the dead body ? - -Compounded it with dust , whereto 'tis kin . - -Tell us where 'tis , that we may take it thence -And bear it to the chapel . - -Do not believe it . - -Believe what ? - -That I can keep your counsel and not mine own . Besides , to be demanded of a sponge ! what replication should be made by the son of a king ? - -Take you me for a sponge , my lord ? - -Ay , sir , that soaks up the king's countenance , his rewards , his authorities . But such officers do the king best service in the end : he keeps them , like an ape , in the corner of his jaw ; first mouthed , to be last swallowed : when he needs what you have gleaned , it is but squeezing you , and , sponge , you shall be dry again . - -I understand you not , my lord . - -I am glad of it : a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear . - -My lord , you must tell us where the body is , and go with us to the king . - -The body is with the king , but the king is not with the body . The king is a thing - -A thing , my lord ! - -Of nothing : bring me to him . Hide fox , and all after . - - -I have sent to seek him , and to find the body . -How dangerous is it that this man goes loose ! -Yet must not we put the strong law on him : -He's lov'd of the distracted multitude , -Who like not in their judgment , but their eyes ; -And where 'tis so , the offender's scourge is weigh'd , -But never the offence . To bear all smooth and even , -This sudden sending him away must seem -Deliberate pause : diseases desperate grown -By desperate appliance are reliev'd , -Or not at all . - -How now ! what hath befall'n ? - -Where the dead body is bestow'd , my lord , -We cannot get from him . - -But where is he ? - -Without , my lord ; guarded , to know your pleasure . - -Bring him before us . - -Ho , Guildenstern ! bring in my lord . - - -Now , Hamlet , where's Polonius ? - -At supper . - -At supper ! Where ? - -Not where he eats , but where he is eaten : a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him . Your worm is your only emperor for diet : we fat all creatures else to fat us , and we fat ourselves for maggots : your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service ; two dishes , but to one table : that's the end . - -Alas , alas ! - -A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king , and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm . - -What dost thou mean by this ? - -Nothing , but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar . - -Where is Polonius ? - -In heaven ; send thither to see : if your messenger find him not there , seek him i' the other place yourself . But , indeed , if you find him not within this month , you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby . - -Go seek him there . - -He will stay till you come . - - -Hamlet , this deed , for thine especial safety , -Which we do tender , as we dearly grieve -For that which thou hast done , must send thee hence -With fiery quickness : therefore prepare thyself ; -The bark is ready , and the wind at help , -The associates tend , and every thing is bent -For England . - -For England ! - -Ay , Hamlet . - -Good . - -So is it , if thou knew'st our purposes . - -I see a cherub that sees them . But , come ; for England ! Farewell , dear mother . - -Thy loving father , Hamlet . - -My mother : father and mother is man and wife , man and wife is one flesh , and so , my mother . Come , for England ! - - -Follow him at foot ; tempt him with speed aboard : -Delay it not , I'll have him hence to-night . -Away ! for every thing is seal'd and done -That else leans on the affair : pray you , make haste . - -And , England , if my love thou hold'st at aught , -As my great power thereof may give thee sense , -Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red -After the Danish sword , and thy free awe -Pays homage to us ,thou mayst not coldly set -Our sovereign process , which imports at full , -By letters conjuring to that effect , -The present death of Hamlet . Do it , England ; -For like the hectic in my blood he rages , -And thou must cure me . Till I know 'tis done , -Howe'er my haps , my joys were ne'er begun . - - -Go , captain , from me greet the Danish king ; -Tell him that , by his licence , Fortinbras -Claims the conveyance of a promis'd march -Over his kingdom . You know the rendezvous . -If that his majesty would aught with us , -We shall express our duty in his eye , -And let him know so . - -I will do 't , my lord . - -Go softly on . - -Good sir , whose powers are these ? - -They are of Norway , sir . - -How purpos'd , sir , I pray you ? - -Against some part of Poland . - -Who commands them , sir ? - -The nephew to old Norway , Fortinbras . - -Goes it against the main of Poland , sir , -Or for some frontier ? - -Truly to speak , and with no addition , -We go to gain a little patch of ground -That hath in it no profit but the name . -To pay five ducats , five , I would not farm it ; -Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole -A ranker rate , should it be sold in fee . - -Why , then the Polack never will defend it . - -Yes , 'tis already garrison'd . - -Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats -Will not debate the question of this straw : -This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace , -That inward breaks , and shows no cause without -Why the man dies . I humbly thank you , sir . - -God be wi' you , sir . - - -Will 't please you go , my lord ? - -I'll be with you straight . Go a little before . - -How all occasions do inform against me , -And spur my dull revenge ! What is a man , -If his chief good and market of his time -Be but to sleep and feed ? a beast , no more . -Sure he that made us with such large discourse , -Looking before and after , gave us not -That capability and god-like reason -To fust in us unus'd . Now , whe'r it be -Bestial oblivion , or some craven scruple -Of thinking too precisely on the event , -A thought , which , quarter'd , hath but one part wisdom , -And ever three parts coward , I do not know -Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do ;' -Sith I have cause and will and strength and means -To do 't . Examples gross as earth exhort me : -Witness this army of such mass and charge -Led by a delicate and tender prince , -Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd -Makes mouths at the invisible event , -Exposing what is mortal and unsure -To all that fortune , death and danger dare , -Even for an egg-shell . Rightly to be great -Is not to stir without great argument , -But greatly to find quarrel in a straw -When honour's at the stake . How stand I then , -That have a father kill'd , a mother stain'd , -Excitements of my reason and my blood , -And let all sleep , while , to my shame , I see -The imminent death of twenty thousand men , -That , for a fantasy and trick of fame , -Go to their graves like beds , fight for a plot -Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause , -Which is not tomb enough and continent -To hide the slaim ? O ! from this time forth , -My thoughts be bloody , or be nothing worth ! - - -I will not speak with her . - -She is importunate , indeed distract : -Her mood will needs be pitied . - -What would she have ? - -She speaks much of her father ; says she hears -There's tricks i' the world ; and hems , and beats her heart ; -Spurns enviously at straws ; speaks things in doubt , -That carry but half sense : her speech is nothing , -Yet the unshaped use of it doth move -The hearers to collection ; they aim at it , -And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts ; -Which , as her winks , and nods , and gestures yield them , -Indeed would make one think there might be thought , -Though nothing sure , yet much unhappily . - -'Twere good she were spoken with , for she may strew -Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds . - -Let her come in . - -To my sick soul , as sin's true nature is , -Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss : -So full of artless jealousy is guilt , -It spills itself in fearing to be spilt . - - -Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark ? - -How now , Ophelia ! - - -How should I your true love know -From another one ? -By his cockle hat and staff , -And his sandal shoon . - - -Alas ! sweet lady , what imports this song ? - -Say you ? nay , pray you , mark . - -He is dead and gone , lady , -He is dead and gone ; -At his head a grass-green turf ; -At his heals a stone . - -O , ho ! - -Nay , but Ophelia , - -Pray you , mark . - -White his shroud as the mountain snow , - -Alas ! look here , my lord . - - -Larded with sweet flowers ; -Which bewept to the grave did go -With true-love showers . - - -How do you , pretty lady ? - -Well , God 'ild you ! They say the owl was a baker's daughter . Lord ! we know what we are , but know not what we may be . God be at your table ! - -Conceit upon her father . - -Pray you , let's have no words of this ; but when they ask you what it means , say you this : - -To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day , -All in the morning betime , -And I a maid at your window , -To be your Valentine : -Then up he rose , and donn'd his clothes , -And dupp'd the chamber door ; -Let in the maid , that out a maid -Never departed more . - - -Pretty Ophelia ! - -Indeed , la ! without an oath , I'll make an end on 't : - -By Gis and by Saint Charity , -Alack , and fie for shame ! -Young men will do't , if they come to't ; -By Cock they are to blame . -Quoth she , before you tumbled me , -You promis'd me to wed : -So would I ha' done , by yonder sun , -An thou hadst not come to my bed . - - -How long hath she been thus ? - -I hope all will be well . We must be patient : but I cannot choose but weep , to think they should lay him i' the cold ground . My brother shall know of it : and so I thank you for your good counsel . Come , my coach ! Good-night , ladies ; good-night , sweet ladies ; good-night , good-night . - - -Follow her close ; give her good watch , I pray you . - -O ! this is the poison of deep grief ; it springs -All from her father's death . O Gertrude , Gertrude ! -When sorrows come , they come not single spies , -But in battalions . First , her father slain ; -Next , your son gone ; but he most violent author -Of his own just remove : the people muddied , -Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers , -For good Polonius' death ; and we have done but greenly , -In hugger-mugger to inter him : poor Ophelia -Divided from herself and her fair judgment , -Without the which we are pictures , or mere beasts : -Last , and as much containing as all these , -Her brother is in secret come from France , -Feeds on his wonder , keeps himself in clouds , -And wants not buzzers to infect his ear -With pestilent speeches of his father's death ; -Wherein necessity , of matter beggar'd , -Will nothing stick our person to arraign -In ear and ear . O my dear Gertrude ! this , -Like to a murdering-piece , in many places -Gives me superfluous death . - - -Alack ! what noise is this ? - - -Where are my Switzers ? Let them guard the door . -What is the matter ? - -Save yourself , my lord ; -The ocean , overpeering of his list , -Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste -Than young Laertes , in a riotous head , -O'erbears your officers . The rabble call him lord ; -And , as the world were now but to begin , -Antiquity forgot , custom not known , -The ratifiers and props of every word , -They cry , 'Choose we ; Laertes shall be king !' -Caps , hands , and tongues , applaud it to the clouds , -'Laertes shall be king , Laertes king !' - -How cheerfully on the false trail they cry ! -O ! this is counter , you false Danish dogs ! - -The doors are broke . - -Where is the king ? Sirs , stand you all without . - -No , let's come in . - -I pray you , give me leave . - -We will , we will . - - -I thank you : keep the door . O thou vile king ! -Give me my father . - -Calmly , good Laertes . - -That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard , -Cries cuckold to my father , brands the harlot -Even here , between the chaste unsmirched brow -Of my true mother . - -What is the cause , Laertes , -That thy rebellion looks so giant-like ? -Let him go , Gertrude ; do not fear our person : -There's such divinity doth hedge a king , -That treason can but peep to what it would , -Acts little of his will . Tell me , Laertes , -Why thou art thus incens'd . Let him go , Gertrude . -Speak , man . - -Where is my father ? - -Dead . - -But not by him . - -Let him demand his fill . - -How came he dead ? I'll not be juggled with . -To hell , allegiance ! vows , to the blackest devil ! -Conscience and grace , to the profoundest pit ! -I dare damnation . To this point I stand , -That both the worlds I give to negligence , -Let come what comes ; only I'll be reveng'd -Most throughly for my father . - -Who shall stay you ? - -My will , not all the world : -And , for my means , I'll husband them so well , -They shall go far with little . - -Good Laertes , -If you desire to know the certainty -Of your dear father's death , is't writ in your revenge , -That , swoopstake , you will draw both friend and foe , -Winner and loser ? - -None but his enemies . - -Will you know them then ? - -To his good friends thus wide I'll ope my arms ; -And like the kind life-rendering pelican , -Repast them with my blood . - -Why , now you speak -Like a good child and a true gentleman . -That I am guiltless of your father's death , -And am most sensibly in grief for it , -It shall as level to your judgment pierce -As day does to your eye . - -Let her come in . - -How now ! what noise is that ? - - -O heat , dry up my brains ! tears seven times salt , -Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye ; -By heaven , thy madness shall be paid by weight , -Till our scale turn the beam . O rose of May ! -Dear maid , kind sister , sweet Ophelia ! -O heavens ! is't possible a young maid's wits -Should be as mortal as an old man's life ? -Nature is fine in love , and where 'tis fine -It sends some precious instance of itself - -After the thing it loves . - - -They bore him barefac'd on the bier ; -Hey non nonny , nonny , hey nonny ; -And in his grave rain'd many a tear ; - -Fare you well , my dove ! - -Hadst thou thy wits , and didst persuade revenge , -It could not move thus . - - -You must sing , a-down a-down , -And you call him a-down-a . - -O how the wheel becomes it ! It is the false steward that stole his master's daughter . - -This nothing's more than matter . - -There's rosemary , that's for remembrance ; brance ; pray , love , remember : and there is pansies , that's for thoughts . - -A document in madness , thoughts and remembrance fitted . - -There's fennel for you , and columbines ; there's rue for you ; and here's some for me ; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays . O ! you must wear your rue with a difference . There's a daisy ; I would give you some violets , but they withered all when my father died . They say he made a good end , - -For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy . - - -Thought and affliction , passion , hell itself , -She turns to favour and to prettiness . - - -And will he not come again ? -And will he not come again ? -No , no , he is dead ; -Go to thy death-bed , -He never will come again . -His beard was as white as snow -All fiaxen was his poll , -He is gone , he is gone , -And we cast away moan : -God ha' mercy on his soul ! - -And of all Christian souls ! I pray God . God be wi' ye ! - - -Do you see this , O God ? - -Laertes , I must common with your grief , -Or you deny me right . Go but apart , -Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will , -And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me . -If by direct or by collateral hand -They find us touch'd , we will our kingdom give , -Our crown , our life , and all that we call ours , -To you in satisfaction ; but if not , -Be you content to lend your patience to us , -And we shall jointly labour with your soul -To give it due content . - -Let this be so : -His means of death , his obscure burial , -No trophy , sword , nor hatchment o'er his bones , -No noble rite nor formal ostentation , -Cry to be heard , as 'twere from heaven to earth , -That I must call 't in question . - -So you shall ; -And where the offence is let the great axe fall . -I pray you go with me . - - -What are they that would speak with me ? - -Sailors , sir : they say , they have letters for you . - -Let them come in . - -I do not know from what part of the world -I should be greeted , if not from Lord Hamlet . - - -God bless you , sir . - -Let him bless thee too . - -He shall , sir , an't please him . There's a letter for you , sir ;it comes from the ambassador that was bound for England ;if your name be Horatio , as I am let to know it is . - -Horatio , when thou shalt have overlooked this , give these fellows some means to the king : they have letters for him . Ere we were two days old at sea , a pirate of very war-like appointment gave us chase . Finding ourselves too slow of sail , we put on a compelled valour ; in the grapple I boarded them : on the instant they got clear of our ship , so I alone became their prisoner . They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy , but they knew what they did ; I am to do a good turn for them . Let the king have the letters I have sent ; and repair thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst fly death . I have words to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb ; yet are they much too light for the bore of the matter . These good fellows will bring thee where I am . Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their course for England : of them I have much to tell thee . Farewell . -He that thou knowest thine , -Come , I will give you way for these your letters ; -And do 't the speedier , that you may direct me -To him from whom you brought them . - - -Now must your conscience my acquittance seal , -And you must put me in your heart for friend , -Sith you have heard , and with a knowing ear , -That he which hath your noble father slain -Pursu'd my life . - -It well appears : but tell me -Why you proceeded not against these feats , -So crimeful and so capital in nature , -As by your safety , wisdom , all things else , -You mainly were stirr'd up . - -O ! for two special reasons ; -Which may to you , perhaps , seem much unsinew'd , -But yet to me they are strong . The queen his mother -Lives almost by his looks , and for myself , -My virtue or my plague , be it either which , -She's so conjunctive to my life and soul , -That , as the star moves not but in his sphere , -I could not but by her . The other motive , -Why to a public count I might not go , -Is the great love the general gender bear him ; -Who , dipping all his faults in their affection , -Would , like the spring that turneth wood to stone , -Convert his gyves to graces ; so that my arrows , -Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind , -Would have reverted to my bow again , -And not where I had aim'd them . - -And so have I a noble father lost ; -A sister driven into desperate terms , -Whose worth , if praises may go back again , -Stood challenger on mount of all the age -For her perfections . But my revenge will come . - -Break not your sleeps for that ; you must not think -That we are made of stuff so flat and dull -That we can let our beard be shook with danger -And think it pastime . You shortly shall hear more ; -I lov'd your father , and we love ourself , -And that , I hope , will teach you to imagine , - -How now ! what news ? - -Letters , my lord , from Hamlet : -This to your majesty ; this to the queen . - -From Hamlet ! who brought them ? - -Sailors , my lord , they say ; I saw them not : -They were given me by Claudio , he receiv'd them -Of him that brought them . - -Laertes , you shall hear them . -Leave us . - -High and mighty , you shall know I am set naked on your kingdom . To-morrow shall I beg leave to see your kingly eyes ; when I shall , first asking your pardon thereunto , recount the occasions of my sudden and more strange return -What should this mean ? Are all the rest come back ? -Or is it some abuse and no such thing ? - -Know you the hand ? - -'Tis Hamlet's character . 'Naked ,' -And in a postscript here , he says , 'alone .' -Can you advise me ? - -I'm lost in it , my lord . But let him come : -It warms the very sickness in my heart , -That I shall live and tell him to his teeth , -'Thus diddest thou .' - -If it be so , Laertes , -As how should it be so ? how otherwise ? -Will you be rul'd by me ? - -Ay , my lord ; -So you will not o'er-rule me to a peace . - -To thine own peace . If he be now return'd , -As checking at his voyage , and that he means -No more to undertake it , I will work him -To an exploit , now ripe in my device , -Under the which he shall not choose but fall ; -And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe , -But even his mother shall uncharge the practice -And call it accident . - -My lord , I will be rul'd ; -The rather , if you could devise it so -That I might be the organ . - -It falls right . -You have been talk'd of since your travel much , -And that in Hamlet's hearing , for a quality -Wherein , they say , you shine ; your sum of parts -Did not together pluck such envy from him -As did that one , and that , in my regard , -Of the unworthiest siege . - -What part is that , my lord ? - -A very riband in the cap of youth , -Yet needful too ; for youth no less becomes -The light and careless livery that it wears -Than settled age his sables and his weeds , -Importing health and graveness . Two months since -Here was a gentleman of Normandy : -I've seen myself , and serv'd against , the French , -And they can well on horseback ; but this gallant -Had witchcraft in 't , he grew unto his seat , -And to such wondrous doing brought his horse , -As he had been incorps'd and demi-natur'd -With the brave beast ; so far he topp'd my thought , -That I , in forgery of shapes and tricks , -Come short of what he did . - -A Norman was 't ? - -A Norman . - -Upon my life , Lamord . - -The very same . - -I know him well ; he is the brooch indeed -And gem of all the nation . - -He made confession of you , -And gave you such a masterly report -For art and exercise in your defence , -And for your rapier most especially , -That he cried out , 'twould be a sight indeed -If one could match you ; the scrimers of their nation , -He swore , had neither motion , guard , nor eye , -If you oppos'd them . Sir , this report of his -Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy -That he could nothing do but wish and beg -Your sudden coming o'er , to play with him . -Now , out of this , - -What out of this , my lord ? - -Laertes , was your father dear to you ? -Or are you like the painting of a sorrow , -A face without a heart ? - -Why ask you this ? - -Not that I think you did not love your father , -But that I know love is begun by time , -And that I see , in passages of proof , -Time qualifies the spark and fire of it . -There lives within the very flame of love -A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it , -And nothing is at a like goodness still , -For goodness , growing to a plurisy , -Dies in his own too-much . That we would do , -We should do when we would , for this 'would' changes , -And hath abatements and delays as many -As there are tongues , are hands , are accidents ; -And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh , -That hurts by easing . But , to the quick o' the ulcer ; -Hamlet comes back ; what would you undertake -To show yourself your father's son in deed -More than in words ? - -To cut his throat i' the church . - -No place , indeed , should murder sanctuarize ; -Revenge should have no bounds . But , good Laertes , -Will you do this , keep close within your chamber . -Hamlet return'd shall know you are come home ; -We'll put on those shall praise your excellence , -And set a double varnish on the fame -The Frenchman gave you , bring you , in fine , together , -And wager on your heads : he , being remise , -Most generous and free from all contriving , -Will not peruse the foils ; so that , with ease -Or with a little shuffling , you may choose -A sword unbated , and , in a pass of practice -Requite him for your father . - -I will do 't ; -And , for that purpose , I'll anoint my sword . -I bought an unction of a mountebank , -So mortal that , but dip a knife in it , -Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare , -Collected from all simples that have virtue -Under the moon , can save the thing from death -That is but scratch'd withal ; I'll touch my point -With this contagion , that , if I gall him slightly , -It may be death . - -Let's further think of this ; -Weigh what convenience both of time and means -May fit us to our shape . If this should fail , -And that our drift look through our bad performance -'Twere better not assay'd ; therefore this project -Should have a back or second , that might hold , -If this should blast in proof . Soft ! let me see ; -We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings : -I ha't : -When in your motion you are hot and dry , -As make your bouts more violent to that end , -And that he calls for drink , I'll have prepar'd him -A chalice for the nonce , whereon but sipping , -If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck , -Our purpose may hold there . But stay ! what noise ? - -How now , sweet queen ! - -One woe doth tread upon another's heel , -So fast they follow : your sister's drown'd , Laertes . - -Drown'd ! O , where ? - -There is a willow grows aslant a brook , -That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ; -There with fantastic garlands did she come , -Of crow-flowers , nettles , daisies , and long purples , -That liberal shepherds give a grosser name , -But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them : -There , on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds -Clambering to hang , an envious sliver broke , -When down her weedy trophies and herself -Fell in the weeping brook . Her clothes spread wide , -And , mermaid-like , awhile they bore her up ; -Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes , -As one incapable of her own distress , -Or like a creature native and indu'd -Unto that element ; but long it could not be -Till that her garments , heavy with their drink , -Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay -To muddy death . - -Alas ! then , she is drown'd ? - -Drown'd , drown'd . - -Too much of water hast thou , poor Ophelis , -And therefore I forbid my tears ; but yet -It is our trick , nature her custom holds , -Let shame say what it will ; when these are gone -The woman will be out . Adieu , my lord ! -I have a speech of fire , that fain would blaze , -But that this folly douts it . - - -Let's follow , Gertrude . -How much I had to do to calm his rage ! -Now fear I this will give it start again ; -Therefore let's follow . - -Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wilfully seeks her own salvation ? - -I tell thee she is ; and therefore make her grave straight : the crowner hath sat on her , and finds it Christian burial . - -How can that be , unless she drowned herself in her own defence ? - -Why , 'tis found so . - -It must be se offendendo ; it cannot be else . For here lies the point : if I drown myself wittingly it argues an act ; and an act hath three branches ; it is , to act , to do , and to perform : argal , she drowned herself wittingly . - -Nay , but hear you , goodman delver , - -Give me leave . Here lies the water ; good : here stands the man ; good : if the man go to this water , and drown himself , it is , will he , nill he , he goes ; mark you that ? but if the water come to him , and drown him , he drowns not himself : argal , he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life . - -But is this law ? - -Ay , marry , is 't ; crowner's quest law . - -Will you ha' the truth on 't ? If this had not been a gentlewoman she should have been buried out o' Christian burial . - -Why , there thou sayest ; and the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even Christian . Come , my spade . There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners , ditchers , and grave-makers ; they hold up Adam's profession . - -Was he a gentleman ? - -A' was the first that ever bore arms . - -Why , he had none . - -What ! art a heathen ? How dost thou understand the Scripture ? The Scripture says , Adam digged ; could be dig without arms ? -I'll put another question to thee ; if thou answerest me not to the purpose , confess thyself - -Go to . - -What is he that builds stronger than either the mason , the shipwright , or the carpenter ? - -The gallows-maker ; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants . - -I like thy wit well , in good faith ; the gallows does well , but how does it well ? it does well to those that do ill ; now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church : argal , the gallows may do well to thee . -To 't again ; come . - -Who builds stronger than a mason , a shipwright , or a carpenter ? - -Ay , tell me that , and unyoke . - -Marry , now I can tell . - -To 't . - -Mass , I cannot tell . - - -Cudgel thy brains no more about it , for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating ; and , when you are asked this question next , say , 'a grave-maker :' the houses that he makes last till doomsday . Go , get thee to Yaughan ; fetch me a stoup of liquor . - -First Clown digs , and sings . - -In youth , when I did love , did love , -Methought it was very sweet , -To contract , O ! the time , for-a my behove , -O ! methought there was nothing meet . - - -Has this fellow no feeling of his business , that he sings at grave-making ? - -Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness . - -'Tis e'en so ; the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense . - - -But age , with his stealing steps , -Hath claw'd me in his clutch , -And hath shipped me intil the land , -As if I had never been such . - -That skull had a tongue in it , and could sing once ; how the knave jowls it to the ground , as if it were Cain's jaw-bone , that did the first murder ! This might be the pate of a politician , which this ass now o'er-offices , one that would circumvent God , might it not ? - -It might , my lord . - -Or of a courtier , which could say , 'Good morrow , sweet lord ! How dost thou , good lord ?' This might be my Lord Such-a-one , that praised my Lord Such-a-one's horse , when he meant to beg it , might it not ? - -Ay , my lord . - -Why , e'en so , and now my Lady Worm's ; chapless , and knocked about the mazzard with a sexton's spade . Here's fine revolution , an we had the trick to see 't . Did these bones cost no more the breeding but to play at loggats with 'em ? mine ache to think on 't . - - -A pick-axe , and a spade , a spade , -For and a shrouding sheet ; -O ! a pit of clay for to be made -For such a guest is meet . - -There's another ; why may not that be the skull of a lawyer ? Where be his quiddities now , his quillets , his cases , his tenures , and his tricks ? why does he suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel , and will not tell him of his action of battery ? Hum ! This fellow might be in 's time a great buyer of land , with his statutes , his recognizances , his fines , his double vouchers , his recoveries ; is this the fine of his fines , and the recovery of his recoveries , to have his fine pate full of fine dirt ? will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases , and double ones too , than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures ? The very conveyance of his lands will hardly lie in this box , and must the inheritor himself have no more , ha ? - -Not a jot more , my lord . - -Is not parchment made of sheep-skins ? - -Ay , my lord , and of calf-skins too . - -They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance in that . I will speak to this fellow . Whose grave's this , sir ? - -Mine , sir , - -O ! a pit of clay for to be made -For such a guest is meet . - - -I think it be thine , indeed ; for thou liest in 't . - -You lie out on 't , sir , and therefore it is not yours ; for my part , I do not lie in 't , and yet it is mine . - -Thou dost lie in 't , to be in 't and say it is thine : 'tis for the dead , not for the quick ; therefore thou liest . - -'Tis a quick lie , sir ; 'twill away again , from me to you . - -What man dost thou dig it for ? - -For no man , sir . - -What woman , then ? - -For none , neither . - -Who is to be buried in 't ? - -One that was a woman , sir ; but , rest her soul , she's dead . - -How absolute the knave is ! we must speak by the card , or equivocation will undo us . By the Lord , Horatio , these three years I have taken note of it ; the age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier , he galls his kibe . How long hast thou been a grave-maker ? - -Of all the days i' the year , I came to 't that day that our last King Hamlet overcame Fortinbras . - -How long is that since ? - -Cannot you tell that ? every fool can tell that ; it was the very day that young Hamlet was born ; he that is mad , and sent into England . - -Ay , marry ; why was he sent into England ? - -Why , because he was mad : he shall recover his wits there ; or , if he do not , 'tis no great matter there - -Why ? - -'Twill not be seen in him there ; there the men are as mad as he . - -How came he mad ? - -Very strangely , they say . - -How strangely ? - -Faith , e'en with losing his wits . - -Upon what ground ? - -Why , here in Denmark ; I have been sexton here , man and boy , thirty years . - -How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot ? - -Faith , if he be not rotten before he die ,as we have many pocky corses now-a-days , that will scarce hold the laying in ,he will last you some eight year or nine year ; a tanner will last you nine year . - -Why he more than another ? - -Why , sir , his hide is so tanned with his trade that he will keep out water a great while , and your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body . Here's a skull now ; this skull hath lain you i' the earth three-and-twenty years . - -Whose was it ? - -A whoreson mad fellow's it was : whose do you think it was ? - -Nay , I know not . - -A pestilence on him for a mad rogue ! a' poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once . This same skull , sir , was Yorick's skull , the king's jester . - -This ! - -E'en that . - -Let me see . - -Alas ! poor Yorick . I knew him , Horatio ; a fellow of infinite jest , of most excellent fancy ; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times ; and now , how abhorred in my imagination it is ! my gorge rises at it . Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft . Where be your gibes now ? your gambols ? your songs ? your flashes of merriment , that were wont to set the table on a roar ? Not one now , to mock your own grinning ? quite chapfallen ? Now get you to my lady's chamber , and tell her , let her paint an inch thick , to this favour she must come ; make her laugh at that . Prithee , Horatio , tell me one thing . - -What's that , my lord ? - -Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i' the earth ? - -E'en so . - -And smelt so ? pah ! - - -E'en so , my lord . - -To what base uses we may return , Horatio ! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander , till he find it stopping a bung-hole ? - -'Twere to consider too curiously , to consider so . - -No , faith , not a jot ; but to follow him thither with modesty enough , and likelihood to lead it ; as thus : Alexander died , Alexander was buried , Alexander returneth into dust ; the dust is earth ; of earth we make loam , and why of that loam , whereto he was converted , might they not stop a beer-barrel ? - -Imperious C sar , dead and turn'd to clay , -Might stop a hole to keep the wind away : -O ! that that earth , which kept the world in awe , -Should patch a wall to expal the winter's flaw . - -But soft ! but soft ! aside : here comes the king . - -The queen , the courtiers : who is that they follow ? -And with such maimed rites ? This doth betoken -The corse they follow did with desperate hand -Fordo its own life ; 'twas of some estate . -Couch we awhile , and mark . - -What ceremony else ? - -That is Laertes , -A very noble youth : mark . - -What ceremony else ? - -Her obsequies have been as far enlarg'd -As we have warrantise : her death was doubtful , -And , but that great command o'ersways the order , -She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd -Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers , -Shards , flints , and pebbles should be thrown on her ; -Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants , -Her maiden strewments , and the bringing home -Of bell and burial . - -Must there no more be done ? - -No more be done : -We should profane the service of the dead , -To sing a requiem , and such rest to her -As to peace-parted souls . - -Lay her i' the earth ; -And from her fair and unpolluted flesh -May violets spring ! I tell thee , churlish priest , -A ministering angel shall my sister be , -When thou liest howling . - -What ! the fair Ophelia ? - -Sweets to the sweet : farewell ! - -I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife ; -I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd , sweet maid , -And not have strew'd thy grave . - -O ! treble woe -Fall ten times treble on that cursed head -Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense -Depriv'd thee of . Hold off the earth awhile , -Till I have caught her once more in mine arms . - -Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead , -Till of this flat a mountain you have made , -To o'er-top old Pelion or the skyish head -Of blue Olympus . - -What is he whose grief -Bears such an emphasis ? whose phrase of sorrow -Conjures the wandering stars , and makes them stand -Like wonder-wounded hearers ? this is I , -Hamlet the Dane . - - -The devil take thy soul ! - - -Thou pray'st not well . -I prithee , take thy fingers from my throat ; -For though I am not splenetive and rash -Yet have I in me something dangerous , -Which let thy wisdom fear . Away thy hand ! - -Pluck them asunder . - -Hamlet ! Hamlet ! - -Gentlemen , - -Good my lord , be quiet . - - -Why , I will fight with him upon this theme -Until my eyelids will no longer wag . - -O my son ! what theme ? - -I lov'd Ophelia : forty thousand brothers -Could not , with all their quantity of love , -Make up my sum . What wilt thou do for her ? - -O ! he is mad , Laertes . - -For love of God , forbear him . - -'Swounds , show me what thou'lt do : -Woo't weep ? woo't fight ? woo't fast ? woo't tear thyself ? -Woo't drink up eisel ? eat a crocodile ? -I'll do't . Dost thou come here to whine ? -To outface me with leaping in her grave ? -Be buried quick with her , and so will I : -And , if thou prate of mountains , let them throw -Millions of acres on us , till our ground , -Singeing his pate against the burning zone , -Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay , an thou'lt mouth , -I'll rant as well as thou . - -This is mere madness : -And thus a while the fit will work on him ; -Anon , as patient as the female dove , -When that her golden couplets are disclos'd , -His silence will sit drooping . - -Hear you , sir ; -What is the reason that you use me thus ? -I lov'd you ever : but it is no matter ; -Let Hercules himself do what he may , -The cat will mew and dog will have his day . - - -I pray you , good Horatio , wait upon him . - -Strengthen your patience in our last night's speech ; -We'll put the matter to the present push . -Good Gertrude , set some watch over your son . -This grave shall have a living monument : -An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ; -Till then , in patience our proceeding be . - - -So much for this , sir : now shall you see the other ; -You do remember all the circumstance ? - -Remember it , my lord ? - -Sir , in my heart there was a kind of fighting -That would not let me sleep ; methought I lay -Worse than the mutines in the bilboes . Rashly , -And prais'd be rashness for it , let us know , -Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well -When our deep plots do pall ; and that should teach us -There's a divinity that shapes our ends , -Rough-hew them how we will . - -That is most certain . - -Up from my cabin , -My sea-gown scarf'd about me , in the dark -Grop'd I to find out them , had my desire , -Finger'd their packet , and in fine withdrew -To mine own room again ; making so bold -My fears forgetting manners to unseal -Their grand commission ; where I found , Horatio , -O royal knavery ! an exact command , -Larded with many several sorts of reasons -Importing Denmark's health , and England's too , -With , ho ! such bugs and goblins in my life , -That , on the supervise , no leisure bated , -No , not to stay the grinding of the axe , -My head should be struck off . - -Is 't possible ? - -Here's the commission : read it at more leisure . -But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed ? - -I beseech you . - -Being thus be-netted round with villanies , -Ere I could make a prologue to my brains -They had begun the play ,I sat me down , -Devis'd a new commission , wrote it fair ; -I once did hold it , as our statists do , -A baseness to write fair , and labour'd much -How to forget that learning ; but , sir , now -It did me yeoman's service . Wilt thou know -The effect of what I wrote ? - -Ay , good my lord . - -An earnest conjuration from the king , -As England was his faithful tributary , -As love between them like the palm should flourish , -As peace should still her wheaten garland wear , -And stand a comma 'tween their amities , -And many such-like 'As'es of great charge , -That , on the view and knowing of these contents , -Without debatement further , more or less , -He should the bearers put to sudden death , -Not shriving-time allow'd . - -How was this seal'd ? - -Why , even in that was heaven ordinant . -I had my father's signet in my purse , -Which was the model of that Danish seal ; -Folded the writ up in form of the other , -Subscrib'd it , gave't th' impression , plac'd it safely , -The changeling never known . Now , the next day -Was our sea-fight , and what to this was sequent -Thou know'st already . - -So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to 't . - -Why , man , they did make love to this employment ; -They are not near my conscience ; their defeat -Does by their own insinuation grow . -'Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes -Between the pass and fell-incensed points -Of mighty opposites . - -Why , what a king is this ! - -Does it not , thinks't thee , stand me now upon -He that hath kill'd my king and whor'd my mother , -Popp'd in between the election and my hopes , -Thrown out his angle for my proper life , -And with such cozenage is 't not perfect conscience -To quit him with this arm ? and is 't not to be damn'd -To let this canker of our nature come -In further evil ? - -It must be shortly known to him from England -What is the issue of the business there . - -It will be short : the interim is mine ; -And a man's life's no more than to say 'One .' -But I am very sorry , good Horatio , -That to Laertes I forgot myself ; -For , by the image of my cause , I see -The portraiture of his : I'll count his favours : -But , sure , the bravery of his grief did put me -Into a towering passion . - -Peace ! who comes here ? - - -Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark . - -I humbly thank you , sir . - -Dost know this water-fly ? - -No , my good lord . - -Thy state is the more gracious ; for 'tis a vice to know him . He hath much land , and fertile : let a beast be lord of beasts , and his crib shall stand at the king's mess : 'tis a chough ; but , as I say , spacious in the possession of dirt . - -Sweet lord , if your lordship were at leisure , I should impart a thing to you from his majesty . - -I will receive it , sir , with all diligence of spirit . Your bonnet to his right use ; 'tis for the head . - -I thank your lordship , 'tis very hot . - -No , believe me , 'tis very cold ; the wind is northerly . - -It is indifferent cold , my lord , indeed . - -But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for my complexion . - -Exceedingly , my lord ; it is very sultry , as 'twere , I cannot tell how . But , my lord , his majesty bade me signify to you that he has laid a great wager on your head . Sir , this is the matter , - -I beseech you , remember - - -Nay , good my lord ; for mine ease , in good faith . Sir , here is newly come to court Laertes ; believe me , an absolute gentleman , full of most excellent differences , of very soft society and great showing ; indeed , to speak feelingly of him , he is the card or calendar of gentry , for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see . - -Sir , his definement suffers no perdition in you ; though , I know , to divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory , and yet but yaw neither , in respect of his quick sail . But , in the verity of extolment , I take him to be a soul of great article ; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness , as , to make true diction of him , his semblable is his mirror ; and who else would trace him , his umbrage , nothing more . - -Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him . - -The concernancy , sir ? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath ? - -Sir ? - -Is 't not possible to understand in another tongue ? You will do 't , sir , really . - -What imports the nomination of this gentleman ? - -Of Laertes ? - -His purse is empty already ; all 's golden words are spent . - -Of him , sir . - -I know you are not ignorant - -I would you did , sir ; in faith , if you did , it would not much approve me . Well , sir . - -You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is - -I dare not confess that , lest I should compare with him in excellence ; but , to know a man well , were to know himself . - -I mean , sir , for his weapon ; but in the imputation laid on him by them , in his meed he's unfellowed . - -What's his weapon ? - -Rapier and dagger . - -That's two of his weapons ; but , well . - -The king , sir , hath wagered with him six Barbary horses ; against the which he has imponed , as I take it , six French rapiers and poniards , with their assigns , as girdle , hangers , and so : three of the carriages , in faith , are very dear to fancy , very responsive to the hilts , most delicate carriages , and of very liberal conceit . - -What call you the carriages ? - -I knew you must be edified by the margent , ere you had done . - -The carriages , sir , are the hangers . - -The phrase would be more german to the matter , if we could carry cannon by our sides ; I would it might be hangers till then . But , on ; six Barbary horses against six French swords , their assigns , and three liberal-conceited carriages ; that's the French bet against the Danish . Why is this 'imponed ,' as you call it ? - -The king , sir , hath laid , that in a dozen passes between yourself and him , he shall not exceed you three hits ; he hath laid on twelve for nine , and it would come to immediate trial , if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer . - -How if I answer no ? - -I mean , my lord , the opposition of your person in trial . - -Sir , I will walk here in the hall ; if it please his majesty , 'tis the breathing time of day with me ; let the foils be brought , the gentleman willing , and the king hold his purpose , I will win for him an I can ; if not , I will gain nothing but my shame and the odd hits . - -Shall I re-deliver you so ? - -To this effect , sir ; after what flourish your nature will . - -I commend my duty to your lordship . - -Yours , yours . - -He does well to commend it himself ; there are no tongues else for 's turn . - -This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head . - -He did comply with his dug before he sucked it . Thus has he and many more of the same bevy , that I know the drossy age dotes on only got the tune of the time and outward habit of encounter , a kind of yesty collection which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions ; and do but blow them to their trial , the bubbles are out . - - -My lord , his majesty commended him to you by young Osric , who brings back to him , that you attend him in the hall ; he sends to know if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes , or that you will take longer time . - -I am constant to my purposes ; they follow the king's pleasure : if his fitness speaks , mine is ready ; now , or whensoever , provided I be so able as now . - -The king , and queen , and all are coming down . - -In happy time . - -The queen desires you to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes before you fall to play . - -She well instructs me . - - -You will lose this wager , my lord . - -I do not think so ; since he went into France , I have been in continual practice ; I shall win at the odds . But thou wouldst not think how ill all 's here about my heart ; but it is no matter . - -Nay , good my lord , - -It is but foolery ; but it is such a kind of gain-giving as would perhaps trouble a woman . - -If your mind dislike any thing , obey it ; I will forestal their repair hither , and say you are not fit . - -Not a whit , we defy augury ; there's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow . If it be now , 'tis not to come ; if it be not to come , it will be now ; if it be not now , yet it will come : the readiness is all . Since no man has aught of what he leaves , what is 't to leave betimes ? Let be . - - -Come , Hamlet , come , and take this hand from me . - - -Give me your pardon , sir ; I've done you wrong ; -But pardon 't , as you are a gentleman . -This presence knows , -And you must needs have heard , how I am punish'd -With sore distraction . What I have done , -That might your nature , honour and exception -Roughly awake , I here proclaim was madness . -Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes ? Never Hamlet : -If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away , -And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes , -Then Hamlet does it not ; Hamlet denies it . -Who does it then ? His madness . If 't be so , -Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd ; -His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy . -Sir , in this audience , -Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil -Free me so far in your most generous thoughts , -That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house , -And hurt my brother . - -I am satisfied in nature , -Whose motive , in this case , should stir me most -To my revenge ; but in my terms of honour -I stand aloof , and will no reconcilement , -Till by some elder masters , of known honour , -I have a voice and precedent of peace , -To keep my name ungor'd . But till that time , -I do receive your offer'd love like love , -And will not wrong it . - -I embrace it freely ; -And will this brother's wager frankly play . -Give us the foils . Come on . - -Come , one for me . - -I'll be your foil , Laertes ; in mine ignorance -Your skill shall , like a star i' the darkest night , -Stick fiery off indeed . - -You mock me , sir . - -No , by this hand . - -Give them the foils , young Osric . Cousin Hamlet , -You know the wager ? - -Very well , my lord ; -Your Grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side . - -I do not fear it ; I have seen you both ; -But since he is better'd , we have therefore odds . - -This is too heavy ; let me see another . - -This likes me well . These foils have all a length ? - -Ay , my good lord . - - -Set me the stoups of wine upon that table . -If Hamlet give the first or second hit , -Or quit in answer of the third exchange , -Let all the battlements their ordnance fire ; -The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath ; -And in the cup an union shall he throw , -Richer than that which four successive kings -In Denmark's crown have worn . Give me the cups ; -And let the kettle to the trumpet speak , -The trumpet to the cannoneer without , -The cannons to the heavens , the heavens to earth , -'Now the king drinks to Hamlet !' Come , begin ; -And you , the judges , bear a wary eye . - -Come on , sir . - -Come , my lord . - - -One . - -No . - -Judgment . - -A hit , a very palpable hit . - -Well ; again . - -Stay ; give me drink . Hamlet , this pearl is thine ; -Here's to thy health . Give him the cup . - - -I'll play this bout first ; set it by awhile . -Come . - -Another hit ; what say you ? - -A touch , a touch , I do confess . - -Our son shall win . - -He's fat , and scant of breath . -Here , Hamlet , take my napkin , rub thy brows ; -The queen carouses to thy fortune , Hamlet . - -Good madam ! - -Gertrude , do not drink . - -I will , my lord ; I pray you , pardon me . - -It is the poison'd cup ! it is too late . - -I dare not drink yet , madam ; by and by . - -Come , let me wipe thy face . - -My lord , I'll hit him now . - -I do not think 't - -And yet 'tis almost 'gainst my conscience . - -Come , for the third , Laertes . You but dally ; -I pray you , pass with your best violence . -I am afeard you make a wanton of me . - -Say you so ? come on . - - -Nothing , neither way . - -Have at you now . - - -Part them ! they are incens'd - -Nay , come , again . - - -Look to the queen there , ho ! - -They bleed on both sides . How is it , my lord ? - -How is it , Laertes ? - -Why , as a woodcock to mine own springe , Osric ; -I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery . - -How does the queen ? - -She swounds to see them bleed . - -No , no , the drink , the drink ,O my dear Hamlet ! -The drink , the drink ; I am poison'd . - - -O villany ! Ho ! let the door be lock'd : -Treachery ! seek it out . - - -It is here , Hamlet . Hamlet , thou art slain ; -No medicine in the world can do thee good ; -In thee there is not half an hour of life ; -The treacherous instrument is in thy hand , -Unbated and envenom'd . The foul practice -Hath turn'd itself on me ; lo ! here I lie , -Never to rise again . Thy mother's poison'd . -I can no more . The king , the king's to blame . - -The point envenom'd tool . -Then , venom , to thy work . - - -Treason ! treason ! - -O ! yet defend me , friends ; I am but hurt . - -Here , thou incestuous , murderous , damned Dane , -Drink off this potion ;is thy union here ? -Follow my mother . - - -He is justly serv'd ; -It is a poison temper'd by himself . -Exchange forgiveness with me , noble Hamlet : -Mine and my father's death come not upon thee , -Nor thine on me ! - - -Heaven make thee free of it ! I follow thee . -I am dead , Horatio . Wretched queen , adieu ! -You that look pale and tremble at this chance , -That are but mutes or audience to this act , -Had I but time ,as this fell sergeant , death , -Is strict in his arrest ,O ! I could tell you -But let it be . Horatio , I am dead ; -Thou liv'st ; report me and my cause aright -To the unsatisfied . - -Never believe it ; -I am more an antique Roman than a Dane : -Here's yet some liquor left . - -As thou'rt a man , -Give me the cup : let go ; by heaven , I'll have 't . -O God ! Horatio , what a wounded name , -Things standing thus unknown , shall live behind me . -If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart , -Absent thee from felicity awhile , -And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain , -To tell my story . - -What war-like noise is this ? - -Young Fortinbras , with conquest come from Poland , -To the ambassadors of England gives -This war-like volley . - -O ! I die , Horatio ; -The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit : -I cannot live to hear the news from England , -But I do prophesy the election lights -On Fortinbras : he has my dying voice ; -So tell him , with the occurrents , more and less , -Which have solicited The rest is silence . - - -Now cracks a noble heart . Good-night , sweet prince , -And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest ! -Why does the drum come hither ? - -Where is this sight ? - -What is it ye would see ? -If aught of woe or wonder , cease your search . - -This quarry cries on havoc . O proud death ! -What feast is toward in thine eternal cell , -That thou so many princes at a shot -So bloodily hast struck ? - -The sight is dismal ; -And our affairs from England come too late : -The ears are senseless that should give us hearing , -To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd , -That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead . -Where should we have our thanks ? - -Not from his mouth , -Had it the ability of life to thank you : -He never gave commandment for their death . -But since , so jump upon this bloody question , -You from the Polack wars , and you from England , -Are here arriv'd , give order that these bodies -High on a stage be placed to the view ; -And let me speak to the yet unknowing world -How these things came about : so shall you hear -Of carnal , bloody , and unnatural acts , -Of accidental judgments , casual slaughters ; -Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause , -And , in this upshot , purposes mistook -Fall'n on the inventors' heads ; all this can I -Truly deliver . - -Let us haste to hear it , -And call the noblest to the audience . -For me , with sorrow I embrace my fortune ; -I have some rights of memory in this kingdom , -Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me . - -Of that I shall have also cause to speak , -And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more : -But let this same be presently perform'd , -Even while men's minds are wild , lest more mischance -On plots and errors happen . - -Let four captains -Bear Hamlet , like a soldier , to the stage ; -For he was likely , had he been put on , -To have prov'd most royally : and , for his passage , -The soldiers' music and the rites of war -Speak loudly for him . -Take up the bodies : such a sight as this -Becomes the field , but here shows much amiss . -Go , bid the soldiers shoot . - -JULIUS CAESAR - -Hence ! home , you idle creatures , get you home : -Is this a holiday ? What ! know you not , -Being mechanical , you ought not walk -Upon a labouring day without the sign -Of your profession ? Speak , what trade art thou ? - -Why , sir , a carpenter . - -Where is thy leather apron , and thy rule ? -What dost thou with thy best apparel on ? -You , sir , what trade are you ? - -Truly , sir , in respect of a fine workman , I am but , as you would say , a cobbler . - -But what trade art thou ? Answer me directly . - -A trade , sir , that , I hope , I may use with a safe conscience ; which is , indeed , sir , a mender of bad soles . - -What trade , thou knave ? thou naughty knave , what trade ? - -Nay , I beseech you , sir , be not out with me : yet , if you be out , sir , I can mend you . - -What meanest thou by that ? Mend me , thou saucy fellow ! - -Why , sir , cobble you . - -Thou art a cobbler , art thou ? - -Truly , sir , all that I live by is with the awl : I meddle with no tradesman's matters , nor women's matters , but with awl . I am , indeed , sir , a surgeon to old shoes ; when they are in great danger , I recover them . As proper men as ever trod upon neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork . - -But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day ? -Why dost thou lead these men about the streets ? - -Truly , sir , to wear out their shoes , to get myself into more work . But , indeed , sir , we make holiday to see C sar and to rejoice in his triumph . - -Wherefore rejoice ? What conquest brings he home ? -What tributaries follow him to Rome -To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels ? -You blocks , you stones , you worse than senseless things ! -O you hard hearts , you cruel men of Rome , -Knew you not Pompey ? Many a time and oft -Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements , -To towers and windows , yea , to chimney-tops , -Your infants in your arms , and there have sat -The livelong day , with patient expectation , -To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome : -And when you saw his chariot but appear , -Have you not made a universal shout , -That Tiber trembled underneath her banks , -To hear the replication of your sounds -Made in her concave shores ? -And do you now put on your best attire ? -And do you now cull out a holiday ? -And do you now strew flowers in his way , -That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood ? -Be gone ! -Run to your houses , fall upon your knees , -Pray to the gods to intermit the plague -That needs must light on this ingratitude . - -Go , go , good countrymen , and , for this fault -Assemble all the poor men of your sort ; -Draw them to Tiber banks , and weep your tears -Into the channel , till the lowest stream -Do kiss the most exalted shores of all . - -See whe'r their basest metal be not mov'd ; -They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness . -Go you down that way towards the Capitol ; -This way will I . Disrobe the images -If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies . - -May we do so ? -You know it is the feast of Lupercal . - -It is no matter ; let no images -Be hung with C sar's trophies . I'll about -And drive away the vulgar from the streets : -So do you too where you perceive them thick . -These growing feathers pluck'd from C sar's wing -Will make him fly an ordinary pitch , -Who else would soar above the view of men -And keep us all in servile fearfulness . - - -Calphurnia ! - -Peace , ho ! C sar speaks . - - -Calphurnia ! - -Here , my lord . - -Stand you directly in Antonius' way -When he doth run his course . Antonius ! - -C sar , my lord . - -Forget not , in your speed , Antonius , -To touch Calphurnia ; for our elders say , -The barren , touched in this holy chase , -Shake off their sterile curse . - -I shall remember : -When C sar says 'Do this ,' it is perform'd . - -Set on ; and leave no ceremony out . - - -C sar ! - -Ha ! Who calls ? - -Bid every noise be still : peace yet again ! - - -Who is it in the press that calls on me ? -I hear a tongue , shriller than all the music , -Cry 'C sar .' Speak ; C sar is turn'd to hear . - -Beware the ides of March . - -What man is that ? - -A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March . - -Set him before me ; let me see his face . - -Fellow , come from the throng ; look upon C sar . - -What sayst thou to me now ? Speak once again . - -Beware the ides of March . - -He is a dreamer ; let us leave him : pass . - - -Will you go see the order of the course ? - -Not I . - -I pray you , do . - -I am not gamesome : I do lack some part -Of that quick spirit that is in Antony . -Let me not hinder , Cassius , your desires ; -I'll leave you . - -Brutus , I do observe you now of late : -I have not from your eyes that gentleness -And show of love as I was wont to have : -You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand -Over your friend that loves you . - -Cassius , -Be not deceiv'd : if I have veil'd my look , -I turn the trouble of my countenance -Merely upon myself . Vexed I am -Of late with passions of some difference , -Conceptions only proper to myself , -Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviours ; -But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd , -Among which number , Cassius , be you one , -Nor construe any further my neglect , -Than that poor Brutus , with himself at war , -Forgets the shows of love to other men . - -Then , Brutus , I have much mistook your passion ; -By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried -Thoughts of great value , worthy cogitations . -Tell me , good Brutus , can you see your face ? - -No , Cassius ; for the eye sees not itself , -But by reflection , by some other things . - -'Tis just : -And it is very much lamented , Brutus , -That you have no such mirrors as will turn -Your hidden worthiness into your eye , -That you might see your shadow . I have heard , -Where many of the best respect in Rome , -Except immortal C sar ,speaking of Brutus , -And groaning underneath this age's yoke , -Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes . - -Into what dangers would you lead me , Cassius , -That you would have me seek into myself -For that which is not in me ? - -Therefore , good Brutus , be prepar'd to hear ; -And , since you know you cannot see yourself -So well as by reflection , I , your glass , -Will modestly discover to yourself -That of yourself which you yet know not of . -And be not jealous on me , gentle Brutus : -Were I a common laugher , or did use -To stale with ordinary oaths my love -To every new protester ; if you know -That I do fawn on men and hug them hard , -And after scandal them ; or if you know -That I profess myself in banqueting -To all the rout , then hold me dangerous . - - -What means this shouting ? I do fear the people -Choose C sar for their king . - -Ay , do you fear it ? -Then must I think you would not have it so . - -I would not , Cassius ; yet I love him well . -But wherefore do you hold me here so long ? -What is it that you would impart to me ? -If it be aught toward the general good , -Set honour in one eye and death i' the other , -And I will look on both indifferently ; -For let the gods so speed me as I love -The name of honour more than I fear death . - -I know that virtue to be in you , Brutus , -As well as I do know your outward favour . -Well , honour is the subject of my story . -I cannot tell what you and other men -Think of this life ; but , for my single self , -I had as lief not be as live to be -In awe of such a thing as I myself . -I was born free as C sar ; so were you : -We both have fed as well , and we can both -Endure the winter's cold as well as he : -For once , upon a raw and gusty day , -The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores , -C sar said to me , 'Dar'st thou , Cassius , now -Leap in with me into this angry flood , -And swim to yonder point ?' Upon the word , -Accoutred as I was , I plunged in -And bade him follow ; so , indeed he did . -The torrent roar'd , and we did buffet it -With lusty sinews , throwing it aside -And stemming it with hearts of controversy ; -But ere we could arrive the point propos'd , -C sar cried , 'Help me , Cassius , or I sink !' -I , as neas , our great ancestor , -Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder -The old Anchises bear , so from the waves of Tiber -Did I the tired C sar . And this man -Is now become a god , and Cassius is -A wretched creature and must bend his body -If C sar carelessly but nod on him . -He had a fever when he was in Spain , -And when the fit was on him , I did mark -How he did shake ; 'tis true , this god did shake ; -His coward lips did from their colour fly , -And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world -Did lose his lustre ; I did hear him groan ; -Ay , and that tongue of his that bade the Romans -Mark him and write his speeches in their books , -Alas ! it cried , 'Give me some drink , Titinius ,' -As a sick girl . Ye gods , it doth amaze me , -A man of such a feeble temper should -So get the start of the majestic world , -And bear the palm alone . - - -Another general shout ! -I do believe that these applauses are -For some new honours that are heaped on C sar . - -Why , man , he doth bestride the narrow world -Like a Colossus ; and we petty men -Walk under his huge legs , and peep about -To find ourselves dishonourable graves . -Men at some time are masters of their fates : -The fault , dear Brutus , is not in our stars , -But in ourselves , that we are underlings . -Brutus and C sar : what should be in that 'C sar ?' -Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? -Write them together , yours is as fair a name ; -Sound them , it doth become the mouth as well ; -Weigh them , it is as heavy ; conjure with 'em , -'Brutus' will start a spirit as soon as 'C sar .' -Now , in the names of all the gods at once , -Upon what meat doth this our C sar feed , -That he is grown so great ? Age , thou art sham'd ! -Rome , thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods ! -When went there by an age , since the great flood , -But it was fam'd with more than with one man ? -When could they say , till now , that talk'd of Rome , -That her wide walls encompass'd but one man ? -Now is it Rome indeed and room enough , -When there is in it but one only man . -O ! you and I have heard our fathers say , -There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd -Th' eternal devil to keep his state in Rome -As easily as a king . - -That you do love me , I am nothing jealous ; -What you would work me to , I have some aim : -How I have thought of this and of these times , -I shall recount hereafter ; for this present , -I would not , so with love I might entreat you , -Be any further mov'd . What you have said -I will consider ; what you have to say -I will with patience hear , and find a time -Both meet to hear and answer such high things . -Till then , my noble friend , chew upon this : -Brutus had rather be a villager -Than to repute himself a son of Rome -Under these hard conditions as this time -Is like to lay upon us . - -I am glad -That my weak words have struck but thus much show -Of fire from Brutus . - -The games are done and C sar is returning . - -As they pass by , pluck Casca by the sleeve , -And he will , after his sour fashion , tell you -What hath proceeded worthy note to-day . - - -I will do so . But , look you , Cassius , -The angry spot doth glow on C sar's brow , -And all the rest look like a chidden train : -Calphurnia's cheek is pale , and Cicero -Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes -As we have seen him in the Capitol , -Being cross'd in conference by some senators . - -Casca will tell us what the matter is . - -Antonius ! - -C sar . - -Let me have men about me that are fat ; -Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights . -Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ; -He thinks too much : such men are dangerous : - -Fear him not , C sar , he's not dangerous ; -He is a noble Roman , and well given . - -Would he were fatter ! but I fear him not : -Yet if my name were liable to fear , -I do not know the man I should avoid -So soon as that spare Cassius . He reads much ; -He is a great observer , and he looks -Quite through the deeds of men ; he loves no plays , -As thou dost , Antony ; he hears no music ; -Seldom he smiles , and smiles in such a sort -As if he mock'd himself , and scorn'd his spirit -That could be mov'd to smile at any thing . -Such men as he be never at heart's ease -Whiles they behold a greater than themselves , -And therefore are they very dangerous . -I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd -Than what I fear , for always I am C sar . -Come on my right hand , for this ear is deaf , -And tell me truly what thou think'st of him . - - -You pull'd me by the cloak ; would you speak with me ? - -Ay , Casca ; tell us what hath chanc'd to-day , -That C sar looks so sad . - -Why , you were with him , were you not ? - -I should not then ask Casca what had chanc'd . - -Why , there was a crown offered him ; and , being offered him , he put it by with the back of his hand , thus ; and then the people fell a-shouting . - -What was the second noise for ? - -Why , for that too . - -They shouted thrice : what was the last cry for ? - -Why , for that too . - -Was the crown offered him thrice ? - -Ay , marry , was 't , and he put it by thrice , everytime gentler than other ; and at every putting-by mine honest neighbours shouted . - -Who offered him the crown ? - -Why , Antony . - -Tell us the manner of it , gentle Casca . - -I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it : it was mere foolery ; I did not mark it . I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown ; yet 'twas not a crown neither , 'twas one of these coronets ; and , as I told you , he put it by once ; but , for all that , to my thinking , he would fain have had it . Then he offered it to him again ; then he put it by again ; but , to my thinking , he was very loath to lay his fingers off it . And then he offered it the third time ; he put it the third time by ; and still as he refused it the rabblement shouted and clapped their chopped hands , and threw up their sweaty night-caps , and uttered such a deal of stinking breath because C sar refused the crown , that it had almost choked C sar ; for he swounded and fell down at it : and for mine own part , I durst not laugh , for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air . - -But soft , I pray you : what ! did C sar swound ? - -He fell down in the market-place , and foamed at mouth , and was speechless . - -'Tis very like : he hath the falling-sickness . - -No , C sar hath it not ; but you , and I , And honest Casca , we have the falling-sickness . - -I know not what you mean by that ; but I am sure C sar fell down . If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him , according as he pleased and displeased them , as they use to do the players in the theatre , I am no true man . - -What said he , when he came unto himself ? - -Marry , before he fell down , when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refused the crown , he plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his throat to cut . An I had been a man of any occupation , if I would not have taken him at a word , I would I might go to hell among the rogues . And so he fell . When he came to himself again , he said , if he had done or said any thing amiss , he desired their worships to think it was his infirmity . Three or four wenches , where I stood , cried , 'Alas ! good soul ,' and forgave him with all their hearts : but there's no head to be taken of them ; if C sar had stabbed their mothers , they would have done no less . - -And after that he came , thus sad , away ? - -Ay . - -Did Cicero say any thing ? - -Ay , he spoke Greek . - -To what effect ? - -Nay , an I tell you that , I'll ne'er look you i' the face again ; but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads ; but , for mine own part , it was Greek to me . I could tell you more news too ; Marullus and Flavius , for pulling scarfs off C sar's images , are put to silence . Fare you well . There was more foolery yet , if I could remember it . - -Will you sup with me to-night , Casca ? - -No , I am promised forth . - -Will you dine with me to-morrow ? - -Ay , if I be alive , and your mind hold , and your dinner worth the eating . - -Good ; I will expect you . - -Do so . Farewell , both . - - -What a blunt fellow is this grown to be ! -He was quick mettle when he went to school . - -So is he now in execution -Of any bold or noble enterprise , -However he puts on this tardy form . -This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit , -Which gives men stomach to digest his words -With better appetite . - -And so it is . For this time I will leave you : -To-morrow , if you please to speak with me , -I will come home to you ; or , if you will , -Come home to me , and I will wait for you . - -I will do so : till then , think of the world . - -Well , Brutus , thou art noble ; yet , I see , -Thy honourable metal may be wrought -From that it is dispos'd : therefore 'tis meet -That noble minds keep ever with their likes ; -For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd ? -C sar doth bear me hard ; but he loves Brutus : -If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius -He should not humour me . I will this night , -In several hands , in at his windows throw , -As if they came from several citizens , -Writings all tending to the great opinion -That Rome holds of his name ; wherein obscurely -C sar's ambition shall be glanced at : -And after this let C sar seat him sure ; -For we will shake him , or worse days endure . - - -Good even , Casca : brought you C sar home ? -Why are you breathless ? and why stare you so ? - -Are not you mov'd , when all the sway of earth -Shakes like a thing unfirm ? O Cicero ! -I have seen tempests , when the scolding winds -Have riv'd the knotty oaks ; and I have seen -The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam , -To be exalted with the threat'ning clouds : -But never till to-night , never till now , -Did I go through a tempest dropping fire . -Either there is a civil strife in heaven , -Or else the world , too saucy with the gods , -Incenses them to send destruction . - -Why , saw you any thing more wonderful ? - -A common slave you know him well by sight -Held up his left hand , which did flame and burn -Like twenty torches join'd ; and yet his hand , -Not sensible of fire , remain'd unscorch'd . -Besides ,I have not since put up my sword , -Against the Capitol I met a hon , -Who glar'd upon me , and went surly by , -Without annoying me ; and there were drawn -Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women , -Transformed with their fear , who swore they saw -Men all in fire walk up and down the streets . -And yesterday the bird of night did sit , -Even at noon-day , upon the market-place , -Hooting and shrieking . When these prodigies -Do so conjointly meet , let not men say -'These are their reasons , they are natural ;' -For , I believe , they are portentous things -Unto the climate that they point upon . - -Indeed , it is a strange-disposed time : -But men may construe things after their fashion , -Clean from the purpose of the things themselves . -Comes C sar to the Capitol to-morrow ? - -He doth ; for he did bid Antonius -Send word to you he would be there to-morrow . - -Good-night then , Casca : this disturbed sky -Is not to walk in . - -Farewell , Cicero . - -Who's there ? - -A Roman . - -Casca , by your voice . - -Your ear is good . Cassius , what night is this ! - -A very pleasing night to honest men . - -Who ever knew the heavens menace so ? - -Those that have known the earth so full of faults . -For my part , I have walk'd about the streets , -Submitting me unto the perilous night , -And , thus unbraced , Casca , as you see , -Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone ; -And , when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open -The breast of heaven , I did present myself -Even in the aim and very flash of it . - -But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens ? -It is the part of men to fear and tremble -When the most mighty gods by tokens send -Such dreadful heralds to astonish us . - -You are dull , Casca , and those sparks of life -That should be in a Roman you do want , -Or else you use not . You look pale , and gaze , -And put on fear , and cast yourself in wonder , -To see the strange impatience of the heavens ; -But if you would consider the true cause -Why all these fires , why all these gliding ghosts , -Why birds and beasts , from quality and kind ; -Why old men , fools , and children calculate ; -Why all these things change from their ordinance , -Their natures , and pre-formed faculties , -To monstrous quality , why , you shall find -That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits -To make them instruments of fear and warning -Unto some monstrous state . -Now could I , Casca , name to thee a man -Most like this dreadful night , -That thunders , lightens , opens graves , and roars -As doth the lion in the Capitol , -A man no mightier than thyself or me -In personal action , yet prodigious grown -And fearful as these strange eruptions are . - -'Tis C sar that you mean ; is it not , Cassius ? - -Let it be who it is : for Romans now -Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors ; -But , woe the while ! our fathers' minds are dead , -And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits ; -Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish . - -Indeed , they say the senators to-morrow -Mean to establish C sar as a king ; -And he shall wear his crown by sea and land , -In every place , save here in Italy . - -I know where I will wear this dagger then ; -Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius : -Therein , ye gods , you make the weak most strong ; -Therein , ye gods , you tyrants do defeat : -Nor stony tower , nor walls of beaten brass , -Nor airless dungeon , nor strong links of iron , -Can be retentive to the strength of spirit ; -But life , being weary of those worldly bars , -Never lacks power to dismiss itself . -If I know this , know all the world besides , -That part of tyranny that I do bear -I can shake off at pleasure . - - -So can I : -So every bondman in his own hand bears -The power to cancel his captivity . - -And why should C sar be a tyrant then ? -Poor man ! I know he would not be a wolf -But that he sees the Romans are but sheep ; -He were no lion were not Romans hinds . -Those that with haste will make a mighty fire -Begin it with weak straws ; what trash is Rome , -What rubbish , and what offal , when it serves -For the base matter to illuminate -So vile a thing as C sar ! But , O grief ! -Where hast thou led me ? I , perhaps , speak this -Before a willing bondman ; then I know -My answer must be made : but I am arm'd , -And dangers are to me indifferent . - -You speak to Casca , and to such a man -That is no fleering tell-tale . Hold , my hand : -Be factious for redress of all these griefs , -And I will set this foot of mine as far -As who goes furthest . - -There's a bargain made . -Now know you , Casca , I have mov'd already -Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans -To undergo with me an enterprise -Of honourable-dangerous consequence ; -And I do know by this they stay for me -In Pompey's porch : for now , this fearful night , -There is no stir , or walking in the streets ; -And the complexion of the element -In favour's like the work we have in hand , -Most bloody , fiery , and most terrible . - -Stand close awhile , for here comes one in haste . - -'Tis Cinna ; I do know him by his gait : -He is a friend . - -Cinna , where haste you so ? - -To find out you . Who's that ? Metellus Cimber ? - -No , it is Casca ; one incorporate -To our attempts . Am I not stay'd for , Cinna ? - -I am glad on 't . What a fearful night is this ! -There's two or three of us have seen strange sights . - -Am I not stay'd for ? Tell me . - -Yes , you are . -O Cassius ! if you could -But win the noble Brutus to our party - -Be you content . Good Cinna , take this paper , -And look you lay it in the pr tor's chair , -Where Brutus may but find it ; and throw this -In at his window ; set this up with wax -Upon old Brutus' statue : all this done , -Repair to Pompey's porch , where you shall find us . -Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there ? - -All but Metellus Cimber ; and he's gone -To seek you at your house . Well , I will hie , -And so bestow these papers as you bade me . - -That done , repair to Pompey's theatre . - -Come , Casca , you and I will yet ere day -See Brutus at his house : three parts of him -Is ours already , and the man entire -Upon the next encounter yields him ours . - -O ! he sits high in all the people's hearts : -And that which would appear offence in us , -His countenance , like richest alchemy , -Will change to virtue and to worthiness . - -Him and his worth and our great need of him -You have right well conceited . Let us go , -For it is after midnight ; and ere day -We will awake him and be sure of him . - -What , Lucius ! ho ! -I cannot , by the progress of the stars , -Give guess how near to day . Lucius , I say ! -I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly . -When , Lucius , when ! Awake , I say ! what , Lucius ! - - -Call'd you , my lord ? - -Get me a taper in my study , Lucius : -When it is lighted , come and call me here . - -I will , my lord . - - -It must be by his death : and , for my part , -I know no personal cause to spurn at him , -But for the general . He would be crown'd : -How that might change his nature , there's the question : -It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; -And that craves wary walking . Crown him ?that ! -And then , I grant , we put a sting in him , -That at his will he may do danger with . -The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins -Remorse from power ; and , to speak truth of C sar , -I have not known when his affections sway'd -More than his reason . But 'tis a common proof , -That lowliness is young ambition's ladder , -Whereto the climber-upward turns his face ; -But when he once attains the upmost round , -He then unto the ladder turns his back , -Looks in the clouds , scorning the base degrees -By which he did ascend . So C sar may : -Then , lest he may , prevent . And , since the quarrel -Will bear no colour for the thing he is , -Fashion it thus ; that what he is , augmented , -Would run to these and these extremities ; -And therefore think him as a serpent's egg -Which , hatch'd , would , as his kind , grow mischievous , -And kill him in the shell . - - -The taper burneth in your closet , sir . -Searching the window for a flint , I found -This paper , thus seal'd up ; and I am sure -It did not lie there when I went to bed . - -Get you to bed again ; it is not day . -Is not to-morrow , boy , the ides of March ? - -I know not , sir . - -Look in the calendar , and bring me word . - -I will , sir . - - -The exhalations whizzing in the air -Give so much light that I may read by them . - -Brutus , thou sleep'st : awake and see thyself . -Shall Rome , &c . Speak , strike , redress ! -Brutus , thou sleep'st : awake ! -Such instigations have been often dropp'd -Where I have took them up . -'Shall Rome , &c .' Thus must I piece it out : -Shall Rome stand under one man's awe ? What , Rome ? -My ancestors did from the streets of Rome -The Tarquin drive , when he was call'd a king . -'Speak , strike , redress !' Am I entreated -To speak , and strike ? O Rome ! I make thee promise ; -If the redress will follow , thou receiv'st -Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus ! - - -Sir , March is wasted fourteen days . - - -'Tis good . Go to the gate : somebody knocks . - -Since Cassius first did whet me against C sar , -I have not slept . -Between the acting of a dreadful thing -And the first motion , all the interim is -Like a phantasma , or a hideous dream : -The genius and the mortal instruments -Are then in council ; and the state of man , -Like to a little kingdom , suffers then -The nature of an insurrection . - - -Sir , 'tis your brother Cassius at the door , -Who doth desire to see you . - -Is he alone ? - -No , sir , there are more with him . - -Do you know them ? - -No , sir ; their hats are pluck'd about their ears , -And half their faces buried in their cloaks , -That by no means I may discover them -By any mark of favour . - -Let 'em enter . - -They are the faction . O conspiracy ! -Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night , -When evils are most free ? O ! then by day -Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough -To mask thy monstrous visage ? Seek none , conspiracy ; -Hide it in smiles and affability : -For if thou path , thy native semblance on , -Not Erebus itself were dim enough -To hide thee from prevention . - - -I think we are too bold upon your rest : -Good morrow , Brutus ; do we trouble you ? - -I have been up this hour , awake all night . -Know I these men that come along with you ? - -Yes , every man of them ; and no man here -But honours you ; and every one doth wish -You had but that opinion of yourself -Which every noble Roman bears of you . -This is Trebonius . - -He is welcome hither . - -This , Decius Brutus . - -He is welcome too . - -This , Casca ; this , Cinna ; -And this , Metellus Cimber . - -They are all welcome . -What watchful cares do interpose themselves -Betwixt your eyes and night ? - -Shall I entreat a word ? - - -Here lies the east : doth not the day break here ? - -No . - -O ! pardon , sir , it doth ; and yon grey lines -That fret the clouds are messengers of day . - -You shall confess that you are both deceiv'd . -Here , as I point my sword , the sun arises ; -Which is a great way growing on the south , -Weighing the youthful season of the year . -Some two months hence up higher toward the north -He first presents his fire ; and the high east -Stands , as the Capitol , directly here . - -Give me your hands all over , one by one . - -And let us swear our resolution . - -No , not an oath : if not the face of men , -The sufferance of our souls , the time's abuse , -If these be motives weak , break off betimes , -And every man hence to his idle bed ; -So let high-sighted tyranny range on , -Till each man-drop by lottery . But if these , -As I am sure they do , bear fire enough -To kindle cowards and to steel with valour -The melting spirits of women , then , countrymen , -What need we any spur but our own cause -To prick us to redress ? what other bond -Than secret Romans , that have spoke the word -And will not palter ? and what other oath -Than honesty to honesty engag'd , -That this shall be , or we will fall for it ? -Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous , -Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls -That welcome wrongs ; unto bad causes swear -Such creatures as men doubt ; but do not stain -The even virtue of our enterprise , -Nor th' insuppressive mettle of our spirits , -To think that or our cause or our performance -Did need an oath ; when every drop of blood -That every Roman bears , and nobly bears , -Is guilty of a several bastardy , -If he do break the smallest particle -Of any promise that hath pass'd from him . - -But what of Cicero ? Shall we sound him ? -I think he will stand very strong with us . - -Let us not leave him out . - -No , by no means . - -O ! let us have him ; for his silver hairs -Will purchase us a good opinion -And buy men's voices to commend our deeds : -It shall be said his judgment rul'd our hands ; -Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear , -But all be buried in his gravity . - -O ! name him not : let us not break with him ; -For he will never follow any thing -That other men begin . - -Then leave him out . - -Indeed he is not fit . - -Shall no man else be touch'd but only C sar ? - -Decius , well urg'd . I think it is not meet , -Mark Antony , so well belov'd of C sar , -Should outlive C sar : we shall find of him -A shrewd contriver ; and , you know , his means , -If he improve them , may well stretch so far -As to annoy us all ; which to prevent , -Let Antony and C sar fall together . - -Our course will seem too bloody , Caius Cassius , -To cut the head off and then hack the limbs , -Like wrath in death and envy afterwards ; -For Antony is but a limb of C sar . -Let us be sacrificers , but not butchers , Caius . -We all stand up against the spirit of C sar ; -And in the spirit of men there is no blood : -O ! then that we could come by C sar's spirit , -And not dismember C sar . But , alas ! -C sar must bleed for it . And , gentle friends , -Let's kill him boldly , but not wrathfully ; -Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods , -Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds : -And let our hearts , as subtle masters do , -Stir up their servants to an act of rage , -And after seem to chide 'em . This shall make -Our purpose necessary and not envious ; -Which so appearing to the common eyes , -We shall be call'd purgers , not murderers . -And , for Mark Antony , think not of him ; -For he can do no more than C sar's arm -When C sar's head is off . - -Yet I fear him ; -For in the engrafted love he bears to C sar - -Alas ! good Cassius , do not think of him : -If he love C sar , all that he can do -Is to himself , take thought and die for C sar : -And that were much he should ; for he is given -To sports , to wildness , and much company . - -There is no fear in him ; let him not die : -For he will live , and laugh at this hereafter . - - -Peace ! count the clock . - -The clock hath stricken three . - -'Tis time to part . - -But it is doubtful yet -Whether C sar will come forth to-day or no ; -For he is superstitious grown of late , -Quite from the main opinion he held once -Of fantasy , of dreams , and ceremonies . -It may be , these apparent prodigies , -The unaccustom'd terror of this night , -And the persuasion of his augurers , -May hold him from the Capitol to-day . - -Never fear that : if he be so resolv'd , -I can o'ersway him ; for he loves to hear -That unicorns may be betray'd with trees , -And bears with glasses , elephants with holes , -Lions with toils , and men with flatterers ; -But when I tell him he hates flatterers , -He says he does , being then most flattered . -Let me work ; -For I can give his humour the true bent , -And I will bring him to the Capitol . - -Nay , we will all of us be there to fetch him . - -By the eighth hour : is that the uttermost ? - -Be that the uttermost , and fail not then . - -Caius Ligarius doth bear C sar hard , -Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey : -I wonder none of you have thought of him . - -Now , good Metellus , go along by him : -He loves me well , and I have given him reasons ; -Send him but hither , and I'll fashion him . - -The morning comes upon 's : we'll leave you , Brutus . -And , friends , disperse yourselves ; but all remember -What you have said , and show yourselves true Romans . - -Good gentlemen , look fresh and merrily ; -Let not our looks put on our purposes , -But bear it as our Roman actors do , -With untir'd spirits and formal constancy : -And so good morrow to you every one . - -Boy ! Lucius ! Fast asleep ? It is no matter ; -Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber : -Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies -Which busy care draws in the brains of men ; -Therefore thou sleep'st so sound . - - -Brutus , my lord ! - -Portia , what mean you ? Wherefore rise you now ? -It is not for your health thus to commit -Your weak condition to the raw cold morning . - -Nor for yours neither . You've ungently , Brutus , -Stole from my bed ; and yesternight at supper -You suddenly arose , and walk'd about , -Musing and sighing , with your arms across , -And when I ask'd you what the matter was , -You star'd upon me with ungentle looks . -I urg'd you further ; then you scratch'd your head , -And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot ; -Yet I insisted , yet you answer'd not , -But , with an angry wafture of your hand . -Gave sign for me to leave you . So I did , -Fearing to strengthen that impatience -Which seem'd too much enkindled , and withal -Hoping it was but an effect of humour , -Which sometime hath his hour with every man . -It will not let you eat , nor talk , nor sleep , -And could it work so much upon your shape -As it hath much prevail'd on your condition , -I should not know you , Brutus . Dear my lord , -Make me acquainted with your cause of grief . - -I am not well in health , and that is all . - -Brutus is wise , and were he not in health , -He would embrace the means to come by it . - -Why , so I do . Good Portia , go to bed . - -Is Brutus sick , and is it physical -To walk unbraced and suck up the humours -Of the dank morning ? What ! is Brutus sick , -And will he steal out of his wholesome bed -To dare the vile contagion of the night , -And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air -To add unto his sickness ? No , my Brutus ; -You have some sick offence within your mind , -Which , by the right and virtue of my place , -I ought to know of ; and , upon my knees , -I charm you , by my once-commended beauty , -By all your vows of love , and that great vow -Which did incorporate and make us one , -That you unfold to me , your self , your half , -Why are you heavy , and what men to-night -Have had resort to you ; for here have been -Some six or seven , who did hide their faces -Even from darkness . - -Kneel not , gentle Portia . - -I should not need , if you were gentle Brutus . -Within the bond of marriage , tell me , Brutus , -Is it excepted , I should know no secrets -That appertain to you ? Am I yourself -But , as it were , in sort of limitation , -To keep with you at meals , comfort your bed , -And talk to you sometimes ? Dwell I but in the suburbs -Of your good pleasure ? If it be no more , -Portia is Brutus' harlot , not his wife . - -You are my true and honourable wife , -As dear to me as are the ruddy drops -That visit my sad heart . - -If this were true then should I know this secret . -I grant I am a woman , but , withal , -A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife ; -I grant I am a woman , but , withal , -A woman well-reputed , Cato's daughter . -Think you I am no stronger than my sex , -Being so father'd and so husbanded ? -Tell me your counsels , I will not disclose 'em . -I have made strong proof of my constancy , -Giving myself a voluntary wound -Here , in the thigh : can I bear that with patience -And not my husband's secrets ? - -O ye gods ! -Render me worthy of this noble wife . - -Hark , hark ! one knocks . Portia , go in awhile ; -And by and by thy bosom shall partake -The secrets of my heart . -All my engagements I will construe to thee , -All the charactery of my sad brows . -Leave me with haste . - -Lucius , who's that knocks ? - - -Here is a sick man that would speak with you . - -Caius Ligarius , that Metellus spoke of . -Boy , stand aside . Caius Ligarius ! how ? - -Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue . - -O ! what a time have you chose out , brave Caius , -To wear a kerchief . Would you were not sick . - -I am not sick if Brutus have in hand -Any exploit worthy the name of honour . - -Such an exploit have I in hand , Ligarius , -Had you a healthful ear to hear of it . - -By all the gods that Romans bow before -I here discard my sickness . Soul of Rome ! -Brave son , deriv'd from honourable loins ! -Thou , like an exorcist , hast conjur'd up -My mortified spirit . Now bid me run , -And I will strive with things impossible ; -Yea , get the better of them . What's to do ? - -A piece of work that will make sick men whole . - -But are not some whole that we must make sick ? - -That must we also . What it is , my Caius , -I shall unfold to thee as we are going -To whom it must be done . - -Set on your foot , -And with a heart new-fir'd I follow you , -To do I know not what ; but it sufficeth -That Brutus leads me on . - -Follow me then . - - -Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night : -Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out , -'Help , ho ! They murder C sar !' Who's within ? - - -My lord ! - -Go bid the priests do present sacrifice , -And bring me their opinions of success . - -I will , my lord . - -What mean you , C sar ? Think you to walk forth ? -You shall not stir out of your house to-day . - -C sar shall forth : the things that threaten'd me -Ne'er look'd but on my back ; when they shall see -The face of C sar , they are vanished . - -C sar , I never stood on ceremonies , -Yet now they fright me . There is one within , -Besides the things that we have heard and seen , -Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch . -A lioness hath whelped in the streets ; -And graves have yawn'd and yielded up their dead ; -Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds , -In ranks and squadrons and right form of war , -Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol ; -The noise of battle hurtled in the air , -Horses did neigh , and dying men did groan , -And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets . -O C sar ! these things are beyond all use , -And I do fear them . - -What can be avoided -Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty gods ? -Yet C sar shall go forth ; for these predictions -Are to the world in general as to C sar . - -When beggars die there are no comets seen ; -The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes . - -Cowards die many times before their deaths ; -The valiant never taste of death but once . -Of all the wonders that I yet have heard , -It seems to me most strange that men should fear ; -Seeing that death , a necessary end , -Will come when it will come . - -What say the augurers ? - -They would not have you to stir forth to-day . -Plucking the entrails of an offering forth , -They could not find a heart within the beast . - -The gods do this in shame of cowardice : -C sar should be a beast without a heart -If he should stay at home to-day for fear . -No , C sar shall not ; danger knows full well -That C sar is more dangerous than he : -We are two lions litter'd in one day , -And I the elder and more terrible : -And C sar shall go forth . - -Alas ! my lord , -Your wisdom is consum'd in confidence . -Do not go forth to-day : call it my fear -That keeps you in the house , and not your own . -We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house , -And he shall say you are not well to-day : -Let me , upon my knee , prevail in this . - -Mark Antony shall say I am not well ; -And , for thy humour , I will stay at home . - -Here's Decius Brutus , he shall tell them so . - -C sar , all hail ! Good morrow , worthy C sar : -I come to fetch you to the senate-house . - -And you are come in very happy time -To bear my greeting to the senators , -And tell them that I will not come to-day : -Cannot , is false , and that I dare not , falser ; -I will not come to-day : tell them so , Decius . - -Say he is sick . - -Shall C sar send a lie ? -Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far -To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth ? -Decius , go tell them C sar will not come . - -Most mighty C sar , let me know some cause , -Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so . - -The cause is in my will : I will not come ; -That is enough to satisfy the senate : -But for your private satisfaction , -Because I love you , I will let you know : -Calphurnia here , my wife , stays me at home : -She dreamt to-night she saw my statua , -Which , like a fountain with a hundred spouts , -Did run pure blood ; and many lusty Romans -Came smiling , and did bathe their hands in it : -And these does she apply for warnings and portents , -And evils imminent ; and on her knee -Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day . - -This dream is all amiss interpreted ; -It was a vision fair and fortunate : -Your statue spouting blood in many pipes , -In which so many smiling Romans bath'd , -Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck -Reviving blood , and that great men shall press -For tinctures , stains , relics , and cognizance . -This by Calphurnia's dream is signified . - -And this way have you well expounded it . - -I have , when you have heard what I can say : -And know it now : the senate have concluded -To give this day a crown to mighty C sar . -If you shall send them word you will not come , -Their minds may change . Besides , it were a mock -Apt to be render'd , for some one to say -'Break up the senate till another time , -When C sar's wife shall meet with better dreams .' -If C sar hide himself , shall they not whisper -'Lo ! C sar is afraid ?' -Pardon me , C sar ; for my dear dear love -To your proceeding bids me tell you this , -And reason to my love is liable . - -How foolish do your fears seem now , Calphurnia ! -I am ashamed I did yield to them . -Give me my robe , for I will go : - -And look where Publius is come to fetch me . - -Good morrow , C sar . - -Welcome , Publius . -What ! Brutus , are you stirr'd so early too ? -Good morrow , Casca . Caius Ligarius , -C sar was ne'er so much your enemy -As that same ague which hath made you lean . -What is't o'clock ? - -C sar , 'tis strucken eight . - -I thank you for your pains and courtesy . - - -See ! Antony , that revels long o' nights , - -Is notwithstanding up . Good morrow , Antony . - -So to most noble C sar . - -Bid them prepare within : -I am to blame to be thus waited for . -Now , Cinna ; now , Metellus ; what , Trebonius ! -I have an hour's talk in store for you ; -Remember that you call on me to-day : -Be near me , that I may remember you . - -C sar , I will : - -and so near will I be , -That your best friends shall wish I had been further . - -Good friends , go in , and taste some wine with me ; -And we , like friends , will straightway go together . - -That every like is not the same , O C sar ! -The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon . - - -C sar , beware of Brutus ; take heed of Cassius ; come not near Casca ; have an eye to Cinna ; trust not Trebonius ; mark well Metellus Cimber ; Decius Brutus loves thee not ; thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius . There is but one mind in all these men , and it is bent against C sar . If thou be'st not immortal , look about you : security gives way to conspiracy . The mighty gods defend thee ! Thy lover , -Here will I stand till C sar pass along , -And as a suitor will I give him this . -My heart laments that virtue cannot live -Out of the teeth of emulation . -If thou read this , O C sar ! thou mayst live ; -If not , the Fates with traitors do contrive . - - -I prithee , boy , run to the senate-house ; -Stay not to answer me , but get thee gone . -Why dost thou stay ? - -To know my errand , madam . - -I would have had thee there , and here again , -Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there . -O constancy ! be strong upon my side ; -Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue ; -I have a man's mind , but a woman's might . -How hard it is for women to keep counsel ! -Art thou here yet ? - -Madam , what shall I do ? -Run to the Capitol , and nothing else ? -And so return to you , and nothing else ? - -Yes , bring me word , boy , if thy lord look well , -For he went sickly forth ; and take good note -What C sar doth , what suitors press to him . -Hark , boy ! what noise is that ? - -I hear none , madam . - -Prithee , listen well : -I heard a bustling rumour , like a fray , -And the wind brings it from the Capitol . - -Sooth , madam , I hear nothing . - - -Come hither , fellow : which way hast thou been ? - -At mine own house , good lady . - -What is 't o'clock ? - -About the ninth hour , lady . - -Is C sar yet gone to the Capitol ? - -Madam , not yet : I go to take my stand , -To see him pass on to the Capitol . - -Thou hast some suit to C sar , hast thou not ? - -That I have , lady : if it will please C sar -To be so good to C sar as to hear me , -I shall beseech him to befriend himself . - -Why , know'st thou any harm's intended towards him ? - -None that I know will be , much that I fear may chance . -Good morrow to you . Here the street is narrow : -The throng that follows C sar at the heels , -Of senators , of pr tors , common suitors , -Will crowd a feeble man almost to death : -I'll get me to a place more void , and there -Speak to great C sar as he comes along . - - -I must go in . Ay me ! how weak a thing -The heart of woman is . O Brutus ! -The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise . -Sure , the boy heard me : Brutus hath a suit -That C sar will not grant . O ! I grow faint . -Run , Lucius , and commend me to my lord ; -Say I am merry : come to me again , -And bring me word what he doth say to thee . - -The idea of March are come . - -Ay , C sar ; but not gone . - -Hail , C sar ! Read this schedule . - -Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read , -At your best leisure , this his humble suit . - -O C sar ! read mine first ; for mine's a suit -That touches C sar nearer . Read it , great C sar . - -What touches us ourself shall be last serv'd - -Delay not , C sar ; read it instantly . - -What ! is the fellow mad ? - -Sirrah , give place . - -What ! urge you your petitions in the street ? -Come to the Capitol . - - -I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive . - -What enterprise , Popilius ? - -Fare you well . - - -What said Popilius Lena ? - -He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive . -I fear our purpose is discovered . - -Look , how he makes to C sar : mark him . - -Casca , be sudden , for we fear prevention . -Brutus , what shall be done ? If this be known , -Cassius or C sar never shall turn back , -For I will slay myself . - -Cassius , be constant : -Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes ; -For , look , he smiles , and C sar doth not change . - -Trebonius knows his time ; for , look you , Brutus , -He draws Mark Antony out of the way . - - -Where is Metellus Cimber ? Let him go , -And presently prefer his suit to C sar . - -He is address'd ; press near and second him . - -Casca , you are the first that rears your hand . - -Are we all ready ? What is now amiss , -That C sar and his senate must redress ? - -Most high , most mighty , and most puissant C sar , -Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat -A humble heart , - - -I must prevent thee , Cimber . -These couchings and these lowly courtesies , -Might fire the blood of ordinary men , -And turn pre-ordinance and first decree -Into the law of children . Be not fond , -To think that C sar bears such rebel blood -That will be thaw'd from the true quality -With that which melteth fools ; I mean sweet words , -Low-crooked curtsies , and base spaniel fawning . -Thy brother by decree is banished : -If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him , -I spurn thee like a cur out of my way . -Know , C sar doth not wrong , nor without cause -Will he be satisfied . - -Is there no voice more worthy than my own , -To sound more sweetly in great C sar's ear -For the repealing of my banish'd brother ? - -I kiss thy hand , but not in flattery , C sar ; -Desiring thee , that Publius Cimber may -Have an immediate freedom of repeal . - -What , Brutus ! - -Pardon , C sar ; C sar , pardon : -As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall , -To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber . - -I could be well mov'd if I were as you ; -If I could pray to move , prayers would move me ; -But I am constant as the northern star , -Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality -There is no fellow in the firmament . -The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks , -They are all fire and every one doth shine , -But there's but one in all doth hold his place : -So , in the world ; 'tis furnish'd well with men , -And men are flesh and blood , and apprehensive ; -Yet in the number I do know but one -That unassailable holds on his rank , -Unshak'd of motion : and that I am he , -Let me a little show it , even in this , -That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd , -And constant do remain to keep him so . - -O C sar , - -Hence ! Wilt thou lift up Olympus ! - -Great C sar , - -Doth not Brutus bootless kneel ? - -Speak , hands , for me ! - - -Et tu , Brute ? Then fall , C sar ! - - -Liberty ! Freedom ! Tyranny is dead ! -Run hence , proclaim , cry it about the streets . - -Some to the common pulpits , and cry out , -'Liberty , freedom , and enfranchisement !' - -People and senators be not affrighted ; -Fly not ; stand still ; ambition's debt is paid . - -Go to the pulpit , Brutus . - -And Cassius too . - -Where's Publius ? - -Here , quite confounded with this mutiny . - -Stand fast together , lest some friend of C sar's -Should chance - -Talk not of standing . Publius , good cheer ; -There is no harm intended to your person , -Nor to no Roman else ; so tell them , Publius . - -And leave us , Publius ; lest that the people , -Rushing on us , should do your age some mischief . - -Do so ; and let no man abide this deed -But we the doers . - - -Where's Antony ? - -Fled to his house amaz'd . -Men , wives and children stare , cry out and run -As it were doomsday . - -Fates , we will know your pleasures . -That we shall die , we know ; 'tis but the time -And drawing days out , that men stand upon . - -Why , he that cuts off twenty years of life -Cuts off so many years of fearing death . - -Grant that , and then is death a benefit : -So are we C sar's friends , that have abridg'd -His time of fearing death . Stoop , Romans , stoop , -And let us bathe our hands in C sar's blood -Up to the elbows , and besmear our swords : -Then walk we forth , even to the market-place ; -And waving our red weapons o'er our heads , -Let's all cry , 'Peace , freedom , and liberty !' - -Stoop , then , and wash . How many ages hence -Shall this our lofty scene be acted o'er , -In states unborn and accents yet unknown ! - -How many times shall C sar bleed in sport , -That now on Pompey's basis lies along -No worthier than the dust ! - -So oft as that shall be , -So often shall the knot of us be call'd -The men that gave their country liberty . - -What ! shall we forth ? - -Ay , every man away : -Brutus shall lead ; and we will grace his heels -With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome . - - -Soft ! who comes here ? A friend of Antony's . - -Thus , Brutus , did my master bid me kneel ; -Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down ; -And , being prostrate , thus he bade me say : -Brutus is noble , wise , valiant , and honest ; -C sar was mighty , bold , royal , and loving : -Say I love Brutus , and I honour him ; -Say I fear'd C sar , honour'd him , and lov'd him . -If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony -May safely come to him , and be resolv'd -How C sar hath deserv'd to lie in death , -Mark Antony shall not love C sar dead -So well as Brutus living ; but will follow -The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus -Thorough the hazards of this untrod state -With all true faith . So says my master Antony . - -Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman ; -I never thought him worse . -Tell him , so please him come unto this place , -He shall be satisfied ; and , by my honour , -Depart untouch'd . - -I'll fetch him presently . - - -I know that we shall have him well to friend . - -I wish we may : but yet have I a mind -That fears him much ; and my misgiving still -Falls shrewdly to the purpose . - - -But here comes Antony . Welcome , Mark Antony . - -O mighty C sar ! dost thou lie so low ? -Are all thy conquests , glories , triumphs , spoils , -Shrunk to this little measure ? Fare thee well . -I know not , gentlemen , what you intend , -Who else must be let blood , who else is rank : -If I myself , there is no hour so fit -As C sar's death's hour , nor no instrument -Of half that worth as those your swords , made rich -With the most noble blood of all this world . -I do beseech ye , if ye bear me hard , -Now , whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke , -Fulfil your pleasure . Live a thousand years , -I shall not find myself so apt to die : -No place will please me so , no mean of death , -As here by C sar , and by you cut off , -The choice and master spirits of this age . - -O Antony ! beg not your death of us . -Though now we must appear bloody and cruel , -As , by our hands and this our present act , -You see we do , yet see you but our hands -And this the bleeding business they have done : -Our hearts you see not ; they are pitiful ; -And pity to the general wrong of Rome -As fire drives out fire , so pity pity -Hath done this deed on C sar . For your part , -To you our swords have leaden points , Mark Antony ; -Our arms , in strength of malice , and our hearts -Of brothers' temper , do receive you in -With all kind love , good thoughts , and reverence . - -Your voice shall be as strong as any man's -In the disposing of new dignities . - -Only be patient till we have appeas'd -The multitude , beside themselves with fear , -And then we will deliver you the cause -Why I , that did love C sar when I struck him , -Have thus proceeded . - -I doubt not of your wisdom . -Let each man render me his bloody hand : -First , Marcus Brutus , will I shake with you ; -Next , Caius Cassius , do I take your hand ; -Now , Decius Brutus , yours ; now yours , Metellus ; -Yours , Cinna ; and , my valiant Casca , yours ; -Though last , not least in love , yours , good Trebonius . -Gentlemen all ,alas ! what shall I say ? -My credit now stands on such slippery ground , -That one of two bad ways you must conceit me , -Either a coward or a flatterer . -That I did love thee , C sar , O ! 'tis true : -If then thy spirit look upon us now , -Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death , -To see thy Antony making his peace , -Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes , -Most noble ! in the presence of thy corse ? -Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds , -Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood , -It would become me better than to close -In terms of friendship with thine enemies . -Pardon me , Julius ! Here wast thou bay'd , brave hart ; -Here didst thou fall ; and here thy hunters stand , -Sign'd in thy spoil , and crimson'd in thy leth -O world ! thou wast the forest to this hart ; -And this , indeed , O world ! the heart of thee . -How like a deer , strucken by many princes , -Dost thou here lie ! - -Mark Antony , - -Pardon me , Caius Cassius : -The enemies of C sar shall say this ; -Then , in a friend , it is cold modesty . - -I blame you not for praising C sar so ; -But what compact mean you to have with us ? -Will you be prick'd in number of our friends , -Or shall we on , and not depend on you ? - -Therefore I took your hands , but was indeed -Sway'd from the point by looking down on C sar . -Friends am I with you all , and love you all , -Upon this hope , that you shall give me reasons -Why and wherein C sar was dangerous . - -Or else were this a savage spectacle . -Our reasons are so full of good regard -That were you , Antony , the son of C sar , -You should be satisfied . - -That's all I seek : -And am moreover suitor that I may -Produce his body to the market place ; -And in the pulpit , as becomes a friend , -Speak in the order of his funeral . - -You shall , Mark Antony . - -Brutus , a word with you . - - -You know not what you do ; do not consent -That Antony speak in his funeral : -Know you how much the people may be mov'd -By that which he will utter ? - -By your pardon ; -I will myself into the pulpit first , -And show the reason of our C sar's death : -What Antony shall speak , I will protest -He speaks by leave and by permission , -And that we are contented C sar shall -Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies . -It shall advantage more than do us wrong . - -I know not what may fall ; I like it not . - -Mark Antony , here , take you C sar's body . -You shall not in your funeral speech blame us , -But speak all good you can devise of C sar , -And say you do 't by our permission ; -Else shall you not have any hand at all -About his funeral ; and you shall speak -In the same pulpit whereto I am going , -After my speech is ended . - -Be it so ; -I do desire no more . - -Prepare the body then , and follow us . - - -O ! pardon me , thou bleeding piece of earth , -That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ; -Thou art the ruins of the noblest man -That ever lived in the tide of times . -Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood ! -Over thy wounds now do I prophesy , -Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips , -To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue , -A curse shall light upon the limbs of men ; -Domestic fury and fierce civil strife -Shall cumber all the parts of Italy ; -Blood and destruction shall be so in use , -And dreadful objects so familiar , -That mothers shall but smile when they behold -Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war ; -All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds : -And C sar's spirit , ranging for revenge , -With Ate by his side come hot from hell , -Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice -Cry 'Havoc !' and let slip the dogs of war ; -That this foul deed shall smell above the earth -With carrion men , groaning for burial . - -You serve Octavius C sar , do you not ? - -I do , Mark Antony . - -C sar did write for him to come to Rome . - -He did receive his letters , and is coming ; -And bid me say to you by word of mouth - -O C sar ! - -Thy heart is big , get thee apart and weep . -Passion , I see , is catching ; for mine eyes , -Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine , -Began to water . Is thy master coming ? - -He lies to-night within seven leagues of Rome . - -Post back with speed , and tell him what hath chanc'd : -Hare is a mourning Rome , a dangerous Rome , -No Rome of safety for Octavius yet ; -Hie hence and tell him so . Yet , stay awhile ; -Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corpse -Into the market-place ; there shall I try , -In my oration , how the people take -The cruel issue of these bloody men ; -According to the which thou shalt discourse -To young Octavius of the state of things . -Lead me your hand . - - -We will be satisfied : let us be satisfied . - -Then follow me , and give me audience , friends . -Cassius , go you into the other street , -And part the numbers . -Those that will hear me speak , let 'em stay here ; -Those that will follow Cassius , go with him ; -And public reasons shall be rendered -Of C sar's death . - -I will hear Brutus speak . - -I will hear Cassius ; and compare their reasons , -When severally we hear them rendered . - - -The noble Brutus is ascended : silence ! - -Be patient till the last . -Romans , countrymen , and lovers ! hear me for my cause ; and be silent , that you may hear : believe me for mine honour , and have respect to mine honour , that you may believe : censure me in your wisdom , and awake your senses , that you may the better judge . If there be any in this assembly , any dear friend of C sar's , to him I say , that Brutus' love to C sar was no less than his . If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against C sar , this is my answer : Not that I loved C sar less , but that I loved Rome more . Had you rather C sar were living , and die all slaves , than that C sar were dead , to live all free men ? As C sar loved me , I weep for him ; as he was fortunate , I rejoice at it ; as he was valiant , I honour him ; but , as he was ambitious , I slew him . There is tears for his love ; joy for his fortune ; honour for his valour ; and death for his ambition . Who is here so base that would be a bondman ? If any , speak ; for him have I offended . Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman ? If any , speak ; for him have I offended . Who is here so vile that will not love his country ? If any , speak ; for him have I offended . I pause for a reply . - -None , Brutus , none . - -Then none have I offended . I have done no more to C sar , than you shall do to Brutus . The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol ; his glory not extenuated , wherein he was worthy , nor his offences enforced , for which he suffered death . - -Here comes his body , mourned by Mark Antony : who , though he had no hand in his death , shall receive the benefit of his dying , a place in the commonwealth ; as which of you shall not ? With this I depart : that , as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome , I have the same dagger for myself , when it shall please my country to need my death . - -Live , Brutus ! live ! live ! - -Bring him with triumph home unto his house . - -Give him a statue with his ancestors . - -Let him be C sar . - -C sar's better parts -Shall be crown'd in Brutus . - -We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamours . - -My countrymen , - -Peace ! silence ! Brutus speaks . - -Peace , ho ! - -Good countrymen , let me depart alone , -And , for my sake , stay here with Antony . -Do grace to C sar's corpse , and grace his speech -Tending to C sar's glories , which Mark Antony , -By our permission , is allow'd to make . -I do entreat you , not a man depart , -Save I alone , till Antony have spoke . - - -Stay , ho ! and let us hear Mark Antony . - -Let him go up into the public chair ; -We'll hear him . Noble Antony , go up . - -For Brutus' sake , I am beholding to you . - - -What does he say of Brutus ? - -He says , for Brutus' sake , -He finds himself beholding to us all . - -'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here . - -This C sar was a tyrant . - -Nay , that's certain : -We are bless'd that Rome is rid of him . - -Peace ! let us hear what Antony can say . - -You gentle Romans , - -Peace , ho ! let us hear him . - -Friends , Romans , countrymen , lend me your ears ; -I come to bury C sar , not to praise him . -The evil that men do lives after them , -The good is oft interred with their bones ; -So let it be with C sar . The noble Brutus -Hath told you C sar was ambitious ; -If it were so , it was a grievous fault , -And grievously hath C sar answer'd it . -Here , under leave of Brutus and the rest , -For Brutus is an honourable man ; -So are they all , all honourable men , -Come I to speak in C sar's funeral . -He was my friend , faithful and just to me : -But Brutus says he was ambitious ; -And Brutus is an honourable man . -He hath brought many captives home to Rome , -Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill : -Did this in C sar seem ambitious ? -When that the poor have cried , C sar hath wept ; -Ambition should be made of sterner stuff : -Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ; -And Brutus is an honourable man . -You all did see that on the Lupercal -I thrice presented him a kingly crown , -Which he did thrice refuse : was this ambition ? -Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ; -And , sure , he is an honourable man . -I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke , -But here I am to speak what I do know , -You all did love him once , not without cause : -What cause withholds you then to mourn for him ? -O judgment ! thou art fled to brutish beasts , -And men have lost their reason . Bear with me ; -My heart is in the coffin there with C sar , -And I must pause till it come back to me . - -Methinks there is much reason in his sayings . - -If thou consider rightly of the matter , -C sar has had great wrong . - -Has he , masters ? -I fear there will a worse come in his place . - -Mark'd ye his words ? He would not take the crown ; -Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious . - -If it be found so , some will dear abide it . - -Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with weeping . - -There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony . - -Now mark him ; he begins again to speak . - -But yesterday the word of C sar might -Have stood against the world ; now lies he there , -And none so poor to do him reverence . -O masters ! if I were dispos'd to stir -Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage , -I should do Brutus wrong , and Cassius wrong , -Who , you all know , are honourable men . -I will not do them wrong ; I rather choose -To wrong the dead , to wrong myself , and you , -Than I will wrong such honourable men -But here's a parchment with the seal of C sar ; -I found it in his closet , 'tis his will . -Let but the commons hear this testament -Which , pardon me , I do not mean to read -And they would go and kiss dead C sar's wounds , -And dip their napkins in his sacred blood , -Yea , beg a hair of him for memory , -And , dying , mention it within their wills , -Bequeathing it as a rich legacy -Unto their issue . - -We'll hear the will : read it , Mark Antony . - -The will , the will ! we will hear C sar's will . - -Have patience , gentle friends ; I must not read it : -It is not meet you know how C sar lov'd you . -You are not wood , you are not stones , but men ; -And , being men , hearing the will of C sar , -It will inflame you , it will make you mad . -'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs ; -For if you should , O ! what would come of it . - -Read the will ! we'll hear it , Antony ; -You shall read us the will , C sar's will . - -Will you be patient ? Will you stay awhile ? -I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it . -I fear I wrong the honourable men -Whose daggers have stabb'd C sar ; I do fear it . - -They were traitors : honourable men ! - -The will ! the testament ! - -They were villains , murderers . The will ! read the will . - -You will compel me then to read the will ? -Then make a ring about the corpse of C sar , -And let me show you him that made the will . -Shall I descend ? and will you give me leave ? - -Come down . - -Descend . - - -You shall have leave . - -A ring ; stand round . - -Stand from the hearse ; stand from the body . - -Room for Antony ; most noble Antony . - -Nay , press not so upon me ; stand far off . - -Stand back ! room ! bear back ! - -If you have tears , prepare to shed them now . -You all do know this mantle : I remember -The first time ever C sar put it on ; -'Twas on a summer's evening , in his tent , -That day he overcame the Nervii . -Look ! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through : -See what a rent the envious Casca made : -Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd ; -And , as he pluck'd his cursed steel away , -Mark how the blood of C sar follow'd it , -As rushing out of doors , to be resolv'd -If Brutus so unkindly knock'd or no ; -For Brutus , as you know , was C sar's angel : -Judge , O you gods ! how dearly C sar lov'd him . -This was the most unkindest cut of all ; -For when the noble C sar saw him stab , -Ingratitude , more strong than traitors' arms , -Quite vanquish'd him : then burst his mighty heart ; -And , in his mantle muffling up his face , -Even at the base of Pompey's status , -Which all the while ran blood , great C sar fell . -O ! what a fall was there , my countrymen ; -Then I , and you , and all of us fell down , -Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us . -O ! now you weep , and I perceive you feel -The dint of pity ; these are gracious drops . -Kind souls , what ! weep you when you but behold -Our C sar's vesture wounded ? Look you here , -Here is himself , marr'd , as you see , with traitors . - -O piteous spectacle ! - -O noble C sar ! - -O woeful day ! - -O traitors ! villains ! - -O most bloody sight ! - -We will be revenged . - -Revenge !About !Seek !Burn ! -Fire !Kill !Slay ! Let not a traitor live . - -Stay , countrymen ! - -Peace there ! Hear the noble Antony . - -We'll hear him , we'll follow him , we'll die with him . - -Good friends , sweet friends , let me not stir you up -To such a sudden flood of mutiny . -They that have done this deed are honourable : -What private griefs they have , alas ! I know not , -That made them do it ; they are wise and honourable , -And will , no doubt , with reasons answer you . -I come not , friends , to steal away your hearts : -I am no orator , as Brutus is ; -But , as you know me all , a plain blunt man , -That love my friend ; and that they know full well -That gave me public leave to speak of him . -For I have neither wit , nor words , nor worth , -Action , nor utterance , nor the power of speech , -To stir men's blood : I only speak right on ; -I tell you that which you yourselves do know , -Show you sweet C sar's wounds , poor poor dumb mouths , -And bid them speak for me : but were I Brutus , -And Brutus Antony , there were an Antony -Would ruffle up your spirits , and put a tongue -In every wound of C sar , that should move -The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny . - -We'll mutiny . - -We'll burn the house of Brutus . - -Away , then ! come , seek the conspirators . - -Yet hear me , countrymen ; yet hear me speak . - -Peace , ho !Hear Antony ,most noble Antony . - -Why , friends , you go to do you know not what . -Wherein hath C sar thus deserv'd your loves ? -Alas ! you know not : I must tell you then . -You have forgot the will I told you of . - -Most true . The will ! let's stay and hear the will . - -Here is the will , and under C sar's seal . -To every Roman citizen he gives , -To every several man , seventy-five drachmas . - -Most noble C sar ! we'll revenge his death . - -O royal C sar ! - -Hear me with patience . - -Peace , ho ! - -Moreover , he hath left you all his walks , -His private arbours , and new-planted orchards , -On this side Tiber ; he hath left them you , -And to your heirs for ever ; common pleasures , -To walk abroad , and recreate yourselves . -Here was a C sar ! when comes such another ? - -Never , never ! Come , away , away ! -We'll burn his body in the holy place , -And with the brands fire the traitors' houses . -Take up the body . - -Go fetch fire . - -Pluck down benches . - -Pluck down forms , windows , any thing . - - -Now let it work : mischief , thou art afoot , -Take thou what course thou wilt ! - -How now , fellow ! - -Sir , Octavius is already come to Rome . - -Where is he ? - -He and Lepidus are at C sar's house . - -And thither will I straight to visit him . -He comes upon a wish . Fortune is merry , -And in this mood will give us any thing . - -I heard him say Brutus and Cassius -Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome . - -Belike they had some notice of the people , -How I had mov'd them . Bring me to Octavius . - - -I dreamt to-night that I did feast with C sar , -And things unlucky charge my fantasy : -I have no will to wander forth of doors , -Yet something leads me forth . - - -What is your name ? - -Whither are you going ? - -Where do you dwell ? - -Are you a married man , or a bachelor ? - -Answer every man directly . - -Ay , and briefly . - -Ay , and wisely . - -Ay , and truly , you were best . - -What is my name ? Whither am I going ? Where do I dwell ? Am I a married man , or a bachelor ? Then , to answer every man directly and briefly , wisely and truly : wisely I say , I am a bachelor . - -That's as much as to say , they are fools that marry ; you'll bear me a bang for that , I fear . Proceed ; directly . - -Directly , I am going to C sar's funeral . - -As a friend or an enemy ? - -As a friend . - -That matter is answered directly . - -For your dwelling , briefly . - -Briefly , I dwell by the Capitol . - -Your name , sir , truly . - -Truly , my name is Cinna . - -Tear him to pieces ; he's a conspirator . - -I am Cinna the poet , I am Cinna the poet . - -Tear him for his bad verses , tear him for his bad verses . - -I am not Cinna the conspirator . - -It is no matter , his name's Cinna ; pluck but his name out of his heart , and turn him going . - -Tear him , tear him ! Come , brands , ho ! firebrands ! To Brutus' , to Cassius' ; burn all . Some to Decius' house , and some to Casca's ; some to Ligarius' . Away ! go ! - -These many then shall die ; their names are prick'd . - -Your brother too must die ; consent you , Lepidus ? - -I do consent . - -Prick him down , Antony . - -Upon condition Publius shall not live , -Who is your sister's son , Mark Antony . - -He shall not live ; look , with a spot I damn him . -But , Lepidus , go you to C sar's house ; -Fetch the will hither , and we shall determine -How to cut off some charge in legacies . - -What ! shall I find you here ? - -Or here or at the Capitol . - - -This is a slight unmeritable man , -Meet to be sent on errands : is it fit , -The three-fold world divided , he should stand -One of the three to share it ? - -So you thought him ; -And took his voice who should be prick'd to die , -In our black sentence and proscription . - -Octavius , I have seen more days than you : -And though we lay these honours on this man , -To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads , -He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold , -To groan and sweat under the business , -Either led or driven , as we point the way ; -And having brought our treasure where we will , -Then take we down his load , and turn him off , -Like to the empty ass , to shake his ears , -And graze in commons . - -You may do your will ; -But he's a tried and valiant soldier . - -So is my horse , Octavius ; and for that -I do appoint him store of provender . -It is a creature that I teach to fight , -To wind , to stop , to run directly on , -His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit . -And , in some taste , is Lepidus but so ; -He must be taught , and train'd , and bid go forth ; -A barren-spirited fellow ; one that feeds -On abject orts , and imitations , -Which , out of use and stal'd by other men , -Begin his fashion : do not talk of him -But as a property . And now , Octavius , -Listen great things : Brutus and Cassius -Are levying powers ; we must straight make head ; -Therefore let our alliance be combin'd , -Our best friends made , and our best means stretch'd out ; -And let us presently go sit in council , -How covert matters may be best disclos'd , -And open perils surest answered . - -Let us do so : for we are at the stake , -And bay'd about with many enemies ; -And some that smile have in their hearts , I fear , -Millions of mischiefs . - - -Stand , ho ! - -Give the word , ho ! and stand . - -What now , Lucilius ! is Cassius near ? - -He is at hand ; and Pindarus is come -To do you salutation from his master . - - -He greets me well . Your master , Pindarus , -In his own change , or by ill officers , -Hath given me some worthy cause to wish -Things done , undone ; but , if he be at hand , -I shall be satisfied . - -I do not doubt -But that my noble master will appear -Such as he is , full of regard and honour . - -He is not doubted . A word , Lucilius ; -How he receiv'd you , let me be resolv'd . - -With courtesy and with respect enough ; -But not with such familiar instances , -Nor with such free and friendly conference , -As he hath us'd of old . - -Thou hast describ'd -A hot friend cooling . Ever note , Lucilius , -When love begins to sicken and decay , -It useth an enforced ceremony . -There are no tricks in plain and simple faith ; -But hollow men , like horses hot at hand , -Make gallant show and promise of their mettle ; -But when they should endure the bloody spur , -They fall their crests , and , like deceitful jades , -Sink in the trial . Comes his army on ? - -They mean this night in Sardis to be quarter'd ; -The greater part , the horse in general , -Are come with Cassius . - -Hark ! he is arriv'd . - -March gently on to meet him . - - -Stand , ho ! - -Stand , ho ! Speak the word along . - -Stand ! - -Stand ! - -Stand ! - -Most noble brother , you have done me wrong . - -Judge me , you gods ! Wrong I mine enemies ? -And , if not so , how should I wrong a brother ? - -Brutus , this sober form of yours hides wrongs ; -And when you do them - -Cassius , be content ; -Speak your griefs softly : I do know you well . -Before the eyes of both our armies here , -Which should perceive nothing but love from us , -Let us not wrangle : bid them move away ; -Then in my tent , Cassius , enlarge your griefs , -And I will give you audience . - -Pindarus , -Bid our commanders lead their charges off -A little from this ground . - -Lucilius , do you the like ; and let no man -Come to our tent till we have done our conference . -Let Lucius and Titinius guard our door . - - -That you have wrong'd me doth appear in this : -You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella -For taking bribes here of the Sardians ; -Wherein my letters , praying on his side , -Because I knew the man , were slighted off . - -You wrong'd yourself to write in such a case . - -In such a time as this it is not meet -That every nice offence should bear his comment . - -Let me tell you , Cassius , you yourself -Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm ; -To sell and mart your offices for gold -To undeservera . - -I an itching palm ! -You know that you are Brutus that speak this , -Or , by the gods , this speech were else your last . - -The name of Cassius honours this corruption , -And chastisement doth therefore hide his head . - -Chastisement ! - -Remember March , the ides of March remember : -Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake ? -What villain touch'd his body , that did stab , -And not for justice ? What ! shall one of us , -That struck the foremost man of all this world -But for supporting robbers , shall we now -Contaminate our fingers with base bribes , -And sell the mighty space of our large honours -For so much trash as may be grasped thus ? -I had rather be a dog , and bay the moon , -Than such a Roman . - -Brutus , bay not me ; -I'll not endure it : you forget yourself , -To hedge me in . I am a soldier , I , -Older in practice , abler than yourself -To make conditions . - -Go to ; you are not , Cassius . - -I am . - -I say you are not . - -Urge me no more , I shall forget myself ; -Have mind upon your health ; tempt me no further . - -Away , slight man ! - -Is 't possible ? - -Hear me , for I will speak . -Must I give way and room to your rash choler ? -Shall I be frighted when a madman stares ? - -O ye gods ! ye gods ! Must I endure all this ? - -All this ! ay , more : fret till your proud heart break ; -Go show your slaves how choleric you are , -And make your bondmen tremble . Must I budge ? -Must I observe you ? Must I stand and crouch -Under your testy humour ? By the gods , -You shall digest the venom of your spleen , -Though it do split you ; for , from this day forth , -I'll use you for my mirth , yea , for my laughter , -When you are waspish . - -Is it come to this ? - -You say you are a better soldier : -Let it appear so ; make your vaunting true , -And it shall please me well . For mine own part , -I shall be glad to learn of noble men . - -You wrong me every way ; you wrong me , Brutus ; -I said an elder soldier , not a better : -Did I say , 'better ?' - -If you did , I care not . - -When C sar liv'd , he durst not thus have mov'd me . - -Peace , peace ! you durst not so have tempted him . - -I durst not ! - -No . - -What ! durst not tempt him ! - -For your life you durst not . - -Do not presume too much upon my love ; -I may do that I shall be sorry for . - -You have done that you should be sorry for . -There is no terror , Cassius , in your threats ; -For I am arm'd so strong in honesty -That they pass by me as the idle wind , -Which I respect not . I did send to you -For certain sums of gold , which you denied me ; -For I can raise no money by vile means : -By heaven , I had rather coin my heart , -And drop my blood for drachmas , than to wring -From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash -By any indirection . I did send -To you for gold to pay my legions , -Which you denied me : was that done like Cassius ? -Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so ? -When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous , -To lock such rascal counters from his friends , -Be ready , gods , with all your thunderbolts ; -Dash him to pieces ! - -I denied you not . - -You did . - -I did not : he was but a fool -That brought my answer back . Brutus hath riv'd my heart . -A friend should bear his friend's infirmities , -But Brutus makes mine greater than they are . - -I do not , till you practise them on me . - -You love me not . - -I do not like your faults . - -A friendly eye could never see such faults . - -A flatterer's would not , though they do appear -As huge as high Olympus . - -Come , Antony , and young Octavius , come , -Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius , -For Cassius is aweary of the world ; -Hated by one he loves ; brav'd by his brother ; -Check'd like a bondman ; all his faults observ'd , -Set in a note-book , learn'd , and conn'd by rote , -To cast into my teeth . O ! I could weep -My spirit from mine eyes . There is my dagger , -And here my naked breast ; within , a heart -Dearer than Plutus' mine , richer than gold : -If that thou be'st a Roman , take it forth ; -I , that denied thee gold , will give my heart : -Strike , as thou didst at C sar ; for , I know , -When thou didst hate him worst , thou lov'dst him better -Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius . - -Sheathe your dagger : -Be angry when you will , it shall have scope ; -Do what you will , dishonour shall be humour . -O Cassius ! you are yoked with a lamb -That carries anger as the flint bears fire , -Who , much enforced , shows a hasty spark , -And straight is cold again . - -Hath Cassius liv'd -To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus , -When grief and blood ill-temper'd vexeth him ? - -When I spoke that I was ill-temper'd too . - -Do you confess so much ? Give me your hand . - -And my heart too . - -O Brutus ! - -What's the matter ? - -Have not you love enough to bear with me , -When that rash humour which my mother gave me -Makes me forgetful ? - -Yes , Cassius ; and from henceforth -When you are over-earnest with your Brutus , -He'll think your mother chides , and leave you so . - - -Let me go in to see the generals ; -There is some grudge between 'em , 'tis not meet -They be alone . - -You shall not come to them . - -Nothing but death shall stay me . - - -How now ! What's the matter ? - -For shame , you generals ! What do you mean ? -Love , and be friends , as two such men should be ; -For I have seen more years , I'm sure , than ye . - -Ha , ha ! how vilely doth this cynic rime ! - -Get you hence , sirrah ; saucy fellow , hence ! - -Bear with him , Brutus ; 'tis his fashion . - -I'll know his humour , when he knows his time : -What should the wars do with these jigging fools ? -Companion , hence ! - -Away , away ! be gone . - - -Lucilius and Titinius , bid the commanders -Prepare to lodge their companies to-night . - -And come yourselves , and bring Messala with you , -Immediately to us . - - -Lucius , a bowl of wine ! - - -I did not think you could have been so angry . - -O Cassius ! I am sick of many griefs . - -Of your philosophy you make no use -If you give place to accidental evils . - -No man bears sorrow better : Portia is dead . - -Ha ! Portia ! - -She is dead . - -How 'scap'd I killing when I cross'd you so ? -O insupportable and touching loss ! -Upon what sickness ? - -Impatient of my absence , -And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony -Have made themselves so strong ;for with her death -That tidings came :with this she fell distract , -And , her attendants absent , swallow'd fire . - -And died so ? - -Even so . - -O ye immortal gods ! - - -Speak no more of her . Give me a bowl of wine . -In this I bury all unkindness , Cassius . - - -My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge . -Fill , Lucius , till the wine o'erswell the cup ; -I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love . - - -Come in , Titinius . - -Welcome , good Messala . -Now sit we close about this taper here , - -And call in question our necessities . - -Portia , art thou gone ? - -No more , I pray you . -Messala , I have here received letters , -That young Octavius and Mark Antony -Come down upon us with a mighty power , -Bending their expedition towards Philippi . - -Myself have letters of the self-same tenour . - -With what addition ? - -That by proscription and bills of outlawry , -Octavius , Antony , and Lepidus , -Have put to death an hundred senators . - -Therein our letters do not well agree ; -Mine speak of seventy senators that died -By their proscriptions , Cicero being one . - -Cicero one ! - -Cicero is dead , -And by that order of proscription . -Had you your letters from your wife , my lord ? - -No , Messala . - -Nor nothing in your letters writ of her ? - -Nothing , Messala . - -That , methinks , is strange . - -Why ask you ? Hear you aught of her in yours ? - -No , my lord . - -Now , as you are a Roman , tell me true . - -Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell : -For certain she is dead , and by strange manner . - -Why , farewell , Portia . We must die , Messala : -With meditating that she must die once , -I have the patience to endure it now . - -Even so great men great losses should endure . - -I have as much of this in art as you , -But yet my nature could not bear it so . - -Well , to our work alive . What do you think -Of marching to Philippi presently ? - -I do not think it good . - -Your reason ? - -This is it : -'Tis better that the enemy seek us : -So shall he waste his means , weary his soldiers , -Doing himself offence ; whilst we , lying still , -Are full of rest , defence , and nimbleness . - -Good reasons must , of force , give place to better , -The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground -Do stand but in a forc'd affection ; -For they have grudg'd us contribution : -The enemy , marching along by them , -By them shall make a fuller number up , -Come on refresh'd , new-added , and encourag'd ; -From which advantage shall we cut him off , -If at Philippi we do face him there , -These people at our back . - -Hear me , good brother . - -Under your pardon . You must note beside , -That we have tried the utmost of our friends , -Our legions are brim-full , our cause is ripe : -The enemy increaseth every day ; -We , at the height , are ready to decline . -There is a tide in the affairs of men , -Which , taken at the flood , leads on to fortune ; -Omitted , all the voyage of their life -Is bound in shallows and in miseries . -On such a full sea are we now afloat ; -And we must take the current when it serves , -Or lose our ventures . - -Then , with your will , go on ; -We'll along ourselves , and meet them at Philippi . - -The deep of night is crept upon our talk , -And nature must obey necessity , -Which we will niggard with a little rest . -There is no more to say ? - -No more . Good-night : -Early to-morrow will we rise , and hence . - -Lucius ! - - -My gown . - -Farewell , good Messala : -Good-night , Titinius . Noble , noble Cassius , - -Good-night , and good repose . - -O my dear brother ! -This was an ill beginning of the night : -Never come such division 'tween our souls ! -Let it not , Brutus . - -Every thing is well . - -Good-night , my lord . - -Good-night , good brother . - -Good-night , Lord Brutus . - -Good-night , Lord Brutus . - -Farewell , every one . - - -Give me the gown . Where is thy instrument ? - -Here in the tent . - -What ! thou speak'st drowsily ? -Poor knave , I blame thee not ; thou art o'erwatch'd . -Call Claudius and some other of my men ; -I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent . - -Varro ! and Claudius ! - - -Calls my lord ? - -I pray you , sirs , lie in my tent and sleep : -It may be I shall raise you by and by -On business to my brother Cassius . - -So please you , we will stand and watch your pleasure . - -I will not have it so ; lie down , good sirs ; -It may be I shall otherwise bethink me . -Look , Lucius , here's the book I sought for so ; -I put it in the pocket of my gown . - - -I was sure your lordship did not give it me . - -Bear with me , good boy , I am much forgetful . -Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile , -And touch thy instrument a strain or two ? - -Ay , my lord , an 't please you . - -It does , my boy : -I trouble thee too much , but thou art willing . - -It is my duty , sir . - -I should not urge thy duty past thy might ; -I know young bloods look for a time of rest . - -I have slept , my lord , already . - -It was well done , and thou shalt sleep again ; -I will not hold thee long : if I do live , -I will be good to thee . - -This is a sleepy tune : O murderous slumber ! -Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy , -That plays thee music ? Gentle knave , good-night ; -I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee . -If thou dost nod , thou break'st thy instrument ; -I'll take it from thee ; and , good boy , good-night . -Let me see , let me see ; is not the leaf turn'd down -Where I left reading ? Here it is , I think . - - -How ill this taper burns ! Ha ! who comes here ? -I think it is the weakness of mine eyes -That shapes this monstrous apparition . -It comes upon me . Art thou any thing ? -Art thou some god , some angel , or some devil , -That mak'st my blood cold and my hair to stare ? - -Speak to me what thou art . - -Thy evil spirit , Brutus . - -Why com'st thou ? - -To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi . - -Well ; then I shall see thee again ? - -Ay , at Philippi . - -Why , I will see thee at Philippi then . - -Now I have taken heart thou vanishest : -Ill spirit , I would hold more talk with thee . -Boy , Lucius ! Varro ! Claudius ! Sirs , awake ! -Claudius ! - -The strings , my lord , are false . - -He thinks he still is at his instrument . -Lucius , awake ! - -My lord ! - -Didst thou dream , Lucius , that thou so criedst out ? - -My lord , I do not know that I did cry . - -Yes , that thou didst . Didst thou see any thing ? - -Nothing , my lord . - -Sleep again , Lucius . Sirrah , Claudius ! -Fellow thou ! awake ! - -My lord ! - -My lord ! - -Why did you so cry out , sirs , in your sleep ? - -Did we , my lord ? - -Did we , my lord ? - -Ay : saw you any thing ? - -No , my lord , I saw nothing . - -Nor I , my lord . - -Go , and commend me to my brother Cassius . -Bid him set on his powers betimes before , -And we will follow . - -It shall be done , my lord . - -It shall be done , my lord . - -Now , Antony , our hopes are answered : -You said the enemy would not come down , -But keep the hills and upper regions ; -It proves not so ; their battles are at hand ; -They mean to warn us at Philippi here , -Answering before we do demand of them . - -Tut ! I am in their bosoms , and I know -Wherefore they do it : they could be content -To visit other places ; and come down -With fearful bravery , thinking by this face -To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage ; -But 'tis not so . - - -Prepare you , generals : -The enemy comes on in gallant show ; -Their bloody sign of battle is hung out , -And something to be done immediately . - -Octavius , lead your battle softly on , -Upon the left hand of the even field . - -Upon the right hand I ; keep thou the left . - -Why do you cross me in this exigent ? - -I do not cross you ; but I will do so . - -They stand , and would have parley . - -Stand fast , Titinius : we must out and talk . - -Mark Antony , shall we give sign of battle ? - -No , C sar , we will answer on their charge . -Make forth ; the generals would have some words . - -Stir not until the signal . - -Words before blows : is it so , countrymen ? - -Not that we love words better , as you do . - -Good words are better than bad strokes , Octavius . - -In your bad strokes , Brutus , you give good words : -Witness the hole you made in C sar's heart , -Crying , 'Long live ! hail , C sar !' - -Antony , -The posture of your blows are yet unknown ; -But for your words , they rob the Hybla bees , -And leave them honeyless . - -Not stingless too . - -O ! yes , and soundless too ; -For you have stol'n their buzzing , Antony , -And very wisely threat before you sting . - -Villains ! you did not so when your vile daggers -Hack'd one another in the sides of C sar : -How show'd your teeth like apes , and fawn'd like hounds , -And bow'd like bondmen , kissing C sar's feet ; -Whilst damned Casca , like a cur , behind -Struck C sar on the neck . O you flatterers ! - -Flatterers ! Now , Brutus , thank yourself : -This tongue had not offended so to-day , -If Cassius might have rul'd . - -Come , come , the cause : if arguing make us sweat , -The proof of it will turn to redder drops . -Look ; -I draw a sword against conspirators ; -When think you that the sword goes up again ? -Never , till C sar's three-and-thirty wounds -Be well aveng'd ; or till another C sar -Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors . - -C sar , thou canst not die by traitors' hands , -Unless thou bring'st them with thee . - -So I hope ; -I was not born to die on Brutus' sword . - -O ! if thou wert the noblest of thy strain , -Young man , thou couldst not die more honourable . - -A peevish schoolboy , worthless of such honour , -Join'd with a masquer and a reveller . - -Old Cassius still ! - -Come , Antony ; away ! -Defiance , traitors , hurl we in your teeth . -If you dare fight to-day , come to the field ; -If not , when you have stomachs . - - -Why now , blow wind , swell billow , and swim bark ! -The storm is up , and all is on the hazard . - -Ho ! -Lucilius ! hark , a word with you . - -My lord ? - - -Messala ! - -What says my general ? - -Messala , -This is my birth-day ; as this very day -Was Cassius born . Give me thy hand , Messala : -Be thou my witness that against my will , -As Pompey was , am I compell'd to set -Upon one battle all our liberties . -You know that I held Epicurus strong , -And his opinion ; now I change my mind , -And partly credit things that do presage . -Coming from Sardis , on our former ensign -Two mighty eagles fell , and there they perch'd , -Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands ; -Who to Philippi here consorted us : -This morning are they fled away and gone , -And in their stead do ravens , crows , and kites -Fly o'er our heads , and downward look on us , -As we were sickly prey : their shadows seem -A canopy most fatal , under which -Our army lies , ready to give up the ghost . - -Believe not so . - -I but believe it partly , -For I am fresh of spirit and resolv'd -To meet all perils very constantly . - -Even so , Lucilius . - -Now , most noble Brutus , -The gods to-day stand friendly , that we may , -Lovers in peace , lead on our days to age ! -But since the affairs of men rest still incertain , -Let's reason with the worst that may befall . -If we do lose this battle , then is this -The very last time we shall speak together : -What are you then , determined to do ? - -Even by the rule of that philosophy -By which I did blame Cato for the death -Which he did give himself ; I know not how , -But I do find it cowardly and vile , -For fear of what might fall , so to prevent -The time of life : arming myself with patience , -To stay the providence of some high powers -That govern us below . - -Then , if we lose this battle , -You are contented to be led in triumph -Thorough the streets of Rome ? - -No , Cassius , no : think not , thou noble Roman , -That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome ; -He bears too great a mind : but this same day -Must end that work the ides of March begun ; -And whether we shall meet again I know not . -Therefore our everlasting farewell take : -For ever , and for ever , farewell , Cassius ! -If we do meet again , why , we shall smile ; -If not , why then , this parting was well made . - -For ever , and for ever , farewell , Brutus ! -If we do meet again , we'll smile indeed ; -If not , 'tis true this parting was well made . - -Why , then , lead on . O ! that a man might know -The end of this day's business , ere it come ; -But it sufficeth that the day will end , -And then the end is known . Come , ho ! away ! - - -Ride , ride , Messala , ride , and give these bills -Unto the legions on the other side . - -Let them set on at once , for I perceive -But cold demeanour in Octavius' wing , -And sudden push gives them the overthrow . -Ride , ride , Messala : let them all come down . - - -O ! look , Titinius , look , the villains fly : -Myself have to mine own turn'd enemy ; -This ensign here of mine was turning back ; -I slew the coward , and did take it from him . - -O Cassius ! Brutus gave the word too early ; -Who , having some advantage on Octavius , -Took it too eagerly : his soldiers fell to spoil , -Whilst we by Antony are all enclos'd . - - -Fly further off , my lord , fly further off ; -Mark Antony is in your tents , my lord : -Fly , therefore , noble Cassius , fly far off . - -This hill is far enough . Look , look , Titinius ; -Are those my tents where I perceive the fire ? - -They are , my lord . - -Titinius , if thou lov'st me , -Mount thou my horse , and hide thy spurs in him , -Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops -And here again ; that I may rest assur'd -Whether yond troops are friend or enemy . - -I will be here again , even with a thought . - - -Go , Pindarus , get higher on that hill ; -My sight was ever thick ; regard Titinius , -And tell me what thou not'st about the field . - -This day I breathed first ; time is come round , -And where I did begin , there shall I end ; -My life is run his compass . Sirrah , what news ? - -O my lord ! - -What news ? - -Titinius is enclosed round about -With horsemen , that make to him on the spur ; -Yet he spurs on : now they are almost on him ; -Now , Titinius ! now some light ; O ! he lights too : -He's ta'en ; - -and , hark ! they shout for joy . - -Come down ; behold no more . -O , coward that I am , to live so long , -To see my best friend ta'en before my face ! - -Come hither , sirrah : -In Parthia did I take thee prisoner ; -And then I swore thee , saving of thy life , -That whatsoever I did bid thee do , -Thou shouldst attempt it . Come now , keep thine oath ; -Now be a freeman ; and with this good sword , -That ran through C sar's bowels , search this bosom . -Stand not to answer ; here , take thou the hilts ; -And , when my face is cover'd , as 'tis now , -Guide thou the sword . C sar , thou art reveng'd , -Even with the sword that kill'd thee . - - -So , I am free ; yet would not so have been ; -Durst I have done my will . O Cassius , -Far from this country Pindarus shall run , -Where never Roman shall take note of him . - -It is but change , Titinius ; for Octavius -Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power , -As Cassius' legions are by Antony . - -These tidings will well comfort Cassius . - -Where did you leave him ? - -All disconsolate , -With Pindarus his bondman , on this hill . - -Is not that he that lies upon the ground ? - -He lies not like the living . O my heart ! - -Is not that he ? - -No , this was he , Messala , -But Cassius is no more . O setting sun ! -As in thy red rays thou dost sink to-night , -So in his red blood Cassius' day is set ; -The sun of Rome is set . Our day is gone ; -Clouds , dews , and dangers come ; our deeds are done . -Mistrust of my success hath done this deed . - -Mistrust of good success hath done this deed . -O hateful error , melancholy's child ! -Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men -The things that are not ? O error ! soon conceiv'd , -Thou never com'st unto a happy birth , -But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee . - -What , Pindarus ! Where art thou , Pindarus ? - -Seek him , Titinius , whilst I go to meet -The noble Brutus , thrusting this report -Into his ears ; I may say , thrusting it ; -For piercing steel and darts envenomed -Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus -As tidings of this sight . - -Hie you , Messala , -And I will seek for Pindarus the while . - -Why didst thou send me forth , brave Cassius ? -Did I not meet thy friends ? and did not they -Put on my brows this wreath of victory , -And bid me give it thee ? Didst thou not hear their shouts ? -Alas ! thou hast misconstru'd every thing . -But , hold thee , take this garland on thy brow ; -Thy Brutus bid me give it thee , and I -Will do his bidding . Brutus , come apace , -And see how I regarded Caius Cassius . -By your leave , gods : this is a Roman's part : -Come , Cassius' sword , and find Titinius' heart . - -Where , where , Messala , doth his body lie ? - -Lo , yonder : and Titinius mourning it . - -Titinius' face is upward . - -He is slain . - -O Julius C sar ! thou art mighty yet ! -Thy spirit walks abroad , and turns our swords -In our own proper entrails . - - -Brave Titinius ! -Look whe'r he have not crown'd dead Cassius ! - -Are yet two Romans living such as these ? -The last of all the Romans , fare thee well ! -It is impossible that ever Rome -Should breed thy fellow . Friends , I owe more tears -To this dead man than you shall see me pay . -I shall find time , Cassius , I shall find time . -Come therefore , and to Thassos send his body : -His funerals shall not be in our camp , -Lest it discomfort us . Lucilius , come ; -And come , young Cato ;let us to the field . -Labeo and Flavius , set our battles on : -'Tis three o'clock ; and , Romans , yet ere night -We shall try fortune in a second fight . - - -Yet , countrymen , O ! yet hold up your heads ! - -What bastard doth not ? Who will go with me ? -I will proclaim my name about the field : -I am the son of Marcus Cato , ho ! -A foe to tyrants , and my country's friend ; -I am the son of Marcus Cato , ho ! - -And I am Brutus , Marcus Brutus , I ; -Brutus , my country's friend ; know me for Brutus ! - - -O young and noble Cato , art thou down ? -Why , now thou diest as bravely as Titinius , -And mayst be honour'd being Cato's son . - -Yield , or thou diest . - -Only I yield to die : -There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight . - -Kill Brutus , and be honour'd in his death . - -We must not . A noble prisoner ! - -Room , ho ! Tell Antony , Brutus is ta'en . - -I'll tell the news : here comes the general . - -Brutus is ta'en , my lord . - -Where is he ? - -Safe , Antony ; Brutus is safe enough : -I dare assure thee that no enemy -Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus : -The gods defend him from so great a shame ! -When you do find him , or alive or dead , -He will be found like Brutus , like himself . - -This is not Brutus , friend ; but , I assure you , -A prize no less in worth . Keep this man safe , -Give him all kindness : I had rather have -Such men my friends than enemies . Go on , -And see whe'r Brutus be alive or dead ; -And bring us word unto Octavius' tent , -How every thing is chanc'd . - - -Come , poor remains of friends , rest on this rock . - -Statilius show'd the torch-light ; but , my lord , -He came not back : he is or ta'en or slain . - -Sit thee down , Clitus : slaying is the word ; -It is a deed in fashion . Hark thee , Clitus . - - -What , I , my lord ? No , not for all the world . - -Peace , then ! no words . - -I'll rather kill myself . - -Hark thee , Dardanius . - - -Shall I do such a deed ? - -O , Dardanius ! - -O , Clitus ! - -What ill request did Brutus make to thee ? - -To kill him , Clitus . Look , he meditates . - -Now is that noble vessel full of grief , -That it runs over even at his eyes . - -Come hither , good Volumnius : list a word . - -What says my lord ? - -Why this , Volumnius : -The ghost of C sar hath appear'd to me -Two several times by night ; at Sardis once , -And this last night here in Philippi fields . -I know my hour is come . - -Not so , my lord . - -Nay , I am sure it is , Volumnius . -Thou seest the world , Volumnius , how it goes ; -Our enemies have beat us to the pit : -It is more worthy to leap in ourselves , -Than tarry till they push us . Good Volumnius , -Thou know'st that we two went to school together : -Even for that our love of old , I prithee , -Hold thou my sword-hilts , whilst I run on it . - -That's not an office for a friend , my lord . - - -Fly , fly , my lord ! there is no tarrying here . - -Farewell to you ; and you ; and you , Volumnius . -Strato , thou hast been all this while asleep ; -Farewell to thee too , Strato . Countrymen , -My heart doth joy that yet , in all my life , -I found no man but he was true to me . -I shall have glory by this losing day , -More than Octavius and Mark Antony -By this vile conquest shall attain unto . -So fare you well at once ; for Brutus' tongue -Hath almost ended his life's history : -Night hangs upon mine eyes ; my bones would rest , -That have but labour'd to attain this hour . - - -Fly , my lord , fly . - -Hence ! I will follow . - -I prithee , Strato , stay thou by thy lord : -Thou art a fellow of a good respect ; -Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it : -Hold then my sword , and turn away thy face , -While I do run upon it . Wilt thou , Strato ? - -Give me your hand first : fare you well , my lord . - -Farewell , good Strato . - -C sar , now be still ; -I kill'd not thee with half so good a will . - -What man is that ? - -My master's man . Strato , where is thy master ? - -Free from the bondage you are in , Messala ; -The conquerors can but make a fire of him ; -For Brutus only overcame himself , -And no man else hath honour by his death . - -So Brutus should be found . I thank thee , Brutus , -That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true . - -All that serv'd Brutus , I will entertain them . -Fellow , wilt thou bestow thy time with me ? - -Ay , if Messala will prefer me to you . - -Do so , good Messala . - -How died my master , Strato ? - -I held the sword , and he did run on it . - -Octavius , then take him to follow thee , -That did the latest service to my master . - -This was the noblest Roman of them all ; -All the conspirators save only he -Did that they did in envy of great C sar ; -He only , in a general honest thought -And common good to all , made one of them . -His life was gentle , and the elements -So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up -And say to all the world , 'This was a man !' - -According to his virtue let us use him , -With all respect and rites of burial . -Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie , -Most like a soldier , order'd honourably . -So , call the field to rest ; and let's away , -To part the glories of this happy day . - -KING LEAR - -I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall . - -It did always seem so to us ; but now , in the division of the kingdom , it appears not which of the dukes he values most ; for equalities are so weighed that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety . - -Is not this your son , my lord ? - -His breeding , sir , hath been at my charge : I have so often blushed to acknowledge him , that now I am brazed to it . - -I cannot conceive you . - -Sir , this young fellow's mother could ; whereupon she grew round-wombed , and had , indeed , sir , a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed . Do you smell a fault ? - -I cannot wish the fault undone , the issue of it being so proper . - -But I have a son , sir , by order of law , some year elder than this , who yet is no dearer in my account : though this knave came somewhat saucily into the world before he was sent for , yet was his mother fair ; there was good sport at his making , and the whoreson must be acknowledged . Do you know this noble gentleman , Edmund ? - -No , my lord . - -My Lord of Kent : remember him hereafter as my honourable friend . - -My services to your lordship . - -I must love you , and sue to know you better . - -Sir , I shall study deserving . - -He hath been out nine years , and away he shall again . The king is coming . - - -Attend the Lords of France and Burgundy , Gloucester . - -I shall , my liege . - - -Meantime we shall express our darker purpose . -Give me the map there . Know that we have divided -In three our kingdom ; and 'tis our fast intent -To shake all cares and business from our age , -Conferring them on younger strengths , while we -Unburden'd crawl toward death . Our son of Cornwall , -And you , our no less loving son of Albany , -We have this hour a constant will to publish -Our daughters' several dowers , that future strife -May be prevented now . The princes , France and Burgundy , -Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love , -Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn , -And here are to be answer'd . Tell me , my daughters , -Since now we will divest us both of rule , -Interest of territory , cares of state , -Which of you shall we say doth love us most ? -That we our largest bounty may extend -Where nature doth with merit challenge . Goneril , -Our eldest-born , speak first . - -Sir , I love you more than words can wield the matter ; -Dearer than eye-sight , space , and liberty ; -Beyond what can be valu'd , rich or rare ; -No less than life , with grace , health , beauty , honour ; -As much as child e'er lov'd , or father found ; -A love that makes breath poor and speech unable ; -Beyond all manner of so much I love you . - -What shall Cordelia do ? Love , and be silent . - -Of all these bounds , even from this line to this , -With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd , -With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads , -We make thee lady : to thine and Albany's issue -Be this perpetual . What says our second daughter , -Our dearest Regan , wife to Cornwall ? Speak . - -I am made of that self metal as my sister , -And prize me at her worth . In my true heart -I find she names my very deed of love ; -Only she comes too short : that I profess -Myself an enemy to all other joys -Which the most precious square of sense possesses -And find I am alone felicitate -In your dear highness' love . - -Then , poor Cordelia ! -And yet not so ; since , I am sure , my love's -More richer than my tongue . - -To thee and thine , hereditary ever , -Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom , -No less in space , validity , and pleasure , -Than that conferr'd on Goneril . Now , our joy , -Although our last , not least ; to whose young love -The vines of France and milk of Burgundy -Strive to be interess'd ; what can you say to draw -A third more opulent than your sisters ? Speak . - -Nothing , my lord . - -Nothing ? - -Nothing . - -Nothing will come of nothing : speak again . - -Unhappy that I am , I cannot heave -My heart into my mouth : I love your majesty -According to my bond ; nor more nor less . - -How , how , Cordelia ! mend your speech a little , -Lest you may mar your fortunes . - -Good my lord , -You have begot me , bred me , lov'd me : I -Return those duties back as are right fit , -Obey you , love you , and most honour you . -Why have my sisters husbands , if they say -They love you all ? Haply , when I shall wed , -That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry -Half my love with him , half my care and duty : -Sure I shall never marry like my sisters , -To love my father all . - -But goes thy heart with this ? - -Ay , good my lord . - -So young , and so untender ? - -So young , my lord , and true . - -Let it be so ; thy truth then be thy dower : -For , by the sacred radiance of the sun , -The mysteries of Hecate and the night , -By all the operation of the orbs -From whom we do exist and cease to be , -Here I disclaim all my paternal care , -Propinquity and property of blood , -And as a stranger to my heart and me -Hold thee from this for ever . The barbarous Scythian , -Or he that makes his generation messes -To gorge his appetite , shall to my bosom -Be as well neighbour'd , pitied , and reliev'd , -As thou my sometime daughter . - -Good my liege , - -Peace , Kent ! -Come not between the dragon and his wrath . -I lov'd her most , and thought to set my rest -On her kind nursery . Hence , and avoid my sight ! -So be my grave my peace , as here I give -Her father's heart from her ! Call France . Who stirs ? -Call Burgundy . Cornwall and Albany , -With my two daughters' dowers digest the third ; -Let pride , which she calls plainness , marry her . -I do invest you jointly with my power , -Pre-eminence , and all the large effects -That troop with majesty . Ourself by monthly course , -With reservation of a hundred knights , -By you to be sustain'd , shall our abode -Make with you by due turn . Only we shall retain -The name and all th' addition to a king ; -The sway , revenue , execution of the rest , -Beloved sons , be yours : which to confirm , -This coronet part between you . - -Royal Lear , -Whom I have ever honour'd as my king , -Lov'd as my father , as my master follow'd , -As my great patron thought on in my prayers , - -The bow is bent and drawn ; make from the shaft . - -Let it fall rather , though the fork invade -The region of my heart : be Kent unmannerly -When Lear is mad . What wouldst thou do , old man ? -Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak -When power to flattery bows ? To plainness honour's bound -When majesty falls to folly . Reserve thy state ; -And , in thy best consideration , check -This hideous rashness : answer my life my judgment , -Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least ; -Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound -Reverbs no hollowness . - -Kent , on thy life , no more . - -My life I never held but as a pawn -To wage against thine enemies ; nor fear to lose it , -Thy safety being the motive . - -Out of my sight ! - -See better , Lear ; and let me still remain -The true blank of thine eye . - -Now , by Apollo , - -Now , by Apollo , king , -Thou swear'st thy gods in vain . - -O vassal ! miscreant ! - - -Dear sir , forbear . - -Dear sir , forbear . - -Do ; -Kill thy physician , and the fee bestow -Upon the foul disease . Revoke thy gift ; -Or , whilst I can vent clamour from my throat , -I'll tell thee thou dost evil . - -Hear me , recreant ! -On thine allegiance , hear me ! -Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow , -Which we durst never yet ,and , with strain'd pride -To come betwixt our sentence and our power , -Which nor our nature nor our place can hear , -Our potency made good , take thy reward . -Five days we do allot thee for provision -To shield thee from diseases of the world ; -And , on the sixth , to turn thy hated back -Upon our kingdom : if , on the tenth day following -Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions , -The moment is thy death . Away ! By Jupiter , -This shall not be revok'd . - -Fare thee well , king ; sith thus thou wilt appear , -Freedom lives hence , and banishment is here . - - -The gods to their dear shelter take thee , maid , -That justly think'st , and hast most rightly said ! - - -And your large speeches may your deeds approve , -That good effects may spring from words of love . -Thus Kent , O princes ! bids you all adieu ; -He'll shape his old course in a country new . - -Here's France and Burgundy , my noble lord . - -My Lord of Burgundy , -We first address toward you , who with this king -Hath rivall'd for our daughter . What , in the least , -Will you require in present dower with her , -Or cease your quest of love ? - -Most royal majesty , -I crave no more than hath your highness offer'd , -Nor will you tender less . - -Right noble Burgundy , -When she was dear to us we did hold her so , -But now her price is fall'n . Sir , there she stands : -If aught within that little-seeming substance , -Or all of it , with our displeasure piec'd , -And nothing more , may fitly like your Grace , -She's there , and she is yours . - -I know no answer . - -Will you , with those infirmities she owes , -Unfriended , new-adopted to our hate , -Dower'd with our curse , and stranger'd with our oath , -Take her , or leave her ? - -Pardon me , royal sir ; -Election makes not up on such conditions . - -Then leave her , sir ; for , by the power that made me , -I tell you all her wealth . - -For you , great king , -I would not from your love make such a stray -To match you where I hate ; therefore , beseech you -To avert your liking a more worthier way -Than on a wretch whom nature is asham'd -Almost to acknowledge hers . - -This is most strange , -That she , who even but now was your best object , -The argument of your praise , balm of your age , -The best , the dearest , should in this trice of time -Commit a thing so monstrous , to dismantle -So many folds of favour . Sure , her offence -Must be of such unnatural degree -That monsters it , or your fore-vouch'd affection -Fall into taint ; which to believe of her , -Must be a faith that reason without miracle -Could never plant in me . - -I yet beseech your majesty -If for I want that glib and oily art -To speak and purpose not ; since what I well intend , -I'll do 't before I speak that you make known -It is no vicious blot nor other foulness , -No unchaste action , or dishonour'd step , -That hath depriv'd me of your grace and favour , -But even for want of that for which I am richer , -A still-soliciting eye , and such a tongue -That I am glad I have not , though not to have it -Hath lost me in your liking . - -Better thou -Hadst not been born than not to have pleas'd me better . - -Is it but this ? a tardiness in nature -Which often leaves the history unspoke -That it intends to do ? My Lord of Burgundy , -What say you to the lady ? Love is not love -When it is mingled with regards that stand -Aloof from the entire point . Will you have her ? -She is herself a dowry . - -Royal Lear , -Give but that portion which yourself propos'd , -And here I take Cordelia by the hand , -Duchess of Burgundy . - -Nothing : I have sworn ; I am firm . - -I am sorry , then , you have so lost a father -That you must lose a husband . - -Peace be with Burgundy ! -Since that respects of fortune are his love , -I shall not be his wife . - -Fairest Cordelia , that art most rich , being poor ; -Most choice , forsaken ; and most lov'd , despis'd ! -Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon : -Be it lawful I take up what's cast away . -Gods , gods ! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect -My love should kindle to inflam'd respect . -Thy dowerless daughter , king , thrown to my chance , -Is queen of us , of ours , and our fair France : -Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy -Shall buy this unpriz'd precious maid of me . -Bid them farewell , Cordelia , though unkind : -Thou losest here , a better where to find . - -Thou hast her , France ; let her be thine , for we -Have no such daughter , nor shall ever see -That face of hers again , therefore be gone -Without our grace , our love , our benison . -Come , noble Burgundy . - - -Bid farewell to your sisters . - -The jewels of our father , with wash'd eyes -Cordelia leaves you : I know you what you are ; -And like a sister am most loath to call -Your faults as they are nam'd . Use well our father : -To your professed bosoms I commit him : -But yet , alas ! stood I within his grace , -I would prefer him to a better place . -So farewell to you both . - -Prescribe not us our duties . - -Let your study -Be to content your lord , who hath receiv'd you -At fortune's alms ; you have obedience scanted , -And well are worth the want that you have wanted . - -Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides ; -Who covers faults , at last shame them derides . -Well may you prosper ! - -Come , my fair Cordelia . - - -Sister , it is not little I have to say of what most nearly appertains to us both . I think our father will hence to-night . - -That's most certain , and with you ; next month with us . - -You see how full of changes his age is ; the observation we have made of it hath not been little : he always loved our sister most ; and with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off appears too grossly . - -'Tis the infirmity of his age ; yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself . - -The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash ; then , must we look to receive from his age , not alone the imperfections of long-engraffed condition , but , therewithal the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them . - -Such unconstant starts are we like to have from him as this of Kent's banishment . - -There is further compliment of leave-taking between France and him . Pray you , let us hit together : if our father carry authority with such dispositions as he bears , this last surrender of his will but offend us . - -We shall further think on't . - -We must do something , and i' the heat . - - -Thou , Nature , art my goddess ; to thy law -My services are bound . Wherefore should I -Stand in the plague of custom , and permit -The curiosity of nations to deprive me , -For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines -Lag of a brother ? Why bastard ? wherefore base ? -When my dimensions are as well compact , -My mind as generous , and my shape as true , -As honest madam's issue ? Why brand they us -With base ? with baseness ? bastardy ? base , base ? -Who in the lusty stealth of nature take -More composition and fierce quality -Than doth , within a dull , stale , tired bed , -Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops , -Got 'tween asleep and wake ? Well then , -Legitimate Edgar , I must have your land : -Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund -As to the legitimate . Fine word , 'legitimate !' -Well , my legitimate , if this letter speed , -And my invention thrive , Edmund the base -Shall top the legitimate :I grow , I prosper ; -Now , gods , stand up for bastards ! - - -Kent banished thus ! And France in choler parted ! -And the king gone to-night ! subscrib'd his power ! -Confin'd to exhibition ! All this done -Upon the gad ! Edmund , how now ! what news ? - -So please your lordship , none . - - -Why so earnestly seek you to put up that letter ? - -I know no news , my lord . - -What paper were you reading ? - -Nothing , my lord . - -No ? What needed then that terrible dispatch of it into your pocket ? the quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself . Let's see ; come ; if it be nothing , I shall not need spectacles . - -I beseech you , sir , pardon me ; it is a letter from my brother that I have not all o'er-read , and for so much as I have perused , I find it not fit for your o'er-looking . - -Give me the letter , sir . - -I shall offend , either to detain or give it . The contents , as in part I understand them , are to blame . - -Let's see , let's see . - -I hope , for my brother's justification , he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue . - -This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times ; keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them . I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny , who sways , not as it hath power , but as it is suffered . Come to me , that of this I may speak more . If our father would sleep till I waked him , you should enjoy half his revenue for ever , and live the beloved of your brother , - -It was not brought me , my lord ; there's the cunning of it ; I found it thrown in at the casement of my closet . - -You know the character to be your brother's ? - -If the matter were good , my lord , I durst swear it were his ; but , in respect of that , I would fain think it were not . - -It is his . - -It is his hand , my lord ; but I hope his heart is not in the contents . - -Hath he never heretofore sounded you in this business ? - -Never , my lord : but I have often heard him maintain it to be fit that , sons at perfect age , and fathers declined , the father should be as ward to the son , and the son manage his revenue . - -O villain , villain ! His very opinion in the letter ! Abhorred villain ! Unnatural , detested , brutish villain ! worse than brutish ! Go , sirrah , seek him ; I'll apprehend him . Abominable villain ! Where is he ? - -I do not well know , my lord . If it shall please you to suspend your indignation against my brother till you can derive from him better testimony of his intent , you shall run a certain course ; where , if you violently proceed against him , mistaking his purpose , it would make a great gap in your own honour , and shake in pieces the heart of his obedience . I dare pawn down my life for him , that he hath writ this to feel my affection to your honour , and to no other pretence of danger . - -Think you so ? - -If your honour judge it meet , I will place you where you shall hear us confer of this , and by an auricular assurance have your satisfaction ; and that without any further delay than this very evening . - -He cannot be such a monster - -Nor is not , sure . - -to his father , that so tenderly and entirely loves him . Heaven and earth ! Edmund , seek him out ; wind me into him , I pray you : frame the business after your own wisdom . I would unstate myself to be in a due resolution . - -I will seek him , sir , presently ; convey the business as I shall find means , and acquaint you withal . - -These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us : though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus , yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects . Love cools , friendship falls off , brothers divide : in cities , mutinies ; in countries , discord ; in palaces , treason ; and the bond cracked between son and father . This villain of mine comes under the prediction ; there's son against father : the king falls from bias of nature ; there's father against child . We have seen the best of our time : machinations , hollowness , treachery , and all ruinous disorders , follow us disquietly to our graves . Find out this villain , Edmund ; it shall lose thee nothing : do it carefully . And the noble and true-hearted Kent banished ! his offence , honesty ! 'Tis strange ! - - -This is the excellent foppery of the world , that , when we are sick in fortune ,often the surfeit of our own behaviour ,we make guilty of our disasters the sun , the moon , and the stars ; as if we were villains by necessity , fools by heavenly compulsion , knaves , thieves , and treachers by spherical predominance , drunkards , liars , and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence ; and all that we are evil in , by a divine thrusting on : an admirable evasion of whoremaster man , to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star ! My father compounded with my mother under the dragon's tail , and my nativity was under ursa major ; so that it follows I am rough and lecherous . 'Sfoot ! I should have been that I am had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing . Edgar - -and pat he comes , like the catastrophe of the old comedy : my cue is villanous melancholy , with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam . O , these eclipses do portend these divisions ! Fa , sol , la , mi . - -How now , brother Edmund ! What serious contemplation are you in ? - -I am thinking , brother , of a prediction I read this other day , what should follow these eclipses . - -Do you busy yourself with that ? - -I promise you the effects he writes of succeed unhappily ; as of unnaturalness between the child and the parent ; death , dearth , dissolutions of ancient amities ; divisions in state ; menaces and maledictions against king and nobles ; needless diffidences , banishment of friends , dissipation of cohorts , nuptial breaches , and I know not what . - -How long have you been a sectary astronomical ? - -Come , come ; when saw you my father last ? - -The night gone by . - -Spake you with him ? - -Ay , two hours together . - -Parted you in good terms ? Found you no displeasure in him by word or countenance ? - -None at all . - -Bethink yourself wherein you may have offended him ; and at my entreaty forbear his presence till some little time hath qualified the heat of his displeasure , which at this instant so rageth in him that with the mischief of your person it would scarcely allay . - -Some villain hath done me wrong . - -That's my fear . I pray you have a continent forbearance till the speed of his rage goes slower , and , as I say , retire with me to my lodging , from whence I will fitly bring you to hear my lord speak . Pray you , go ; there's my key . If you do stir abroad , go armed . - -Armed , brother ! - -Brother , I advise you to the best ; go armed ; I am no honest man if there be any good meaning toward you ; I have told you what I have seen and heard ; but faintly , nothing like the image and horror of it ; pray you , away . - -Shall I hear from you anon ? - -I do serve you in this business . - -A credulous father , and a brother noble , -Whose nature is so far from doing harms -That he suspects none ; on whose foolish honesty -My practices ride easy ! I see the business . -Let me , if not by birth , have lands by wit : -All with me's meet that I can fashion fit . - - -Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding of his fool ? - -Ay , madam . - -By day and night he wrongs me ; every hour -He flashes into one gross crime or other , -That sets us all at odds : I'll not endure it : -His knights grow riotous , and himself upbraids us -On every trifle . When he returns from hunting -I will not speak with him ; say I am sick : -If you come slack of former services , -You shall do well ; the fault of it I'll answer . - -He's coming , madam ; I hear him . - - -Put on what weary negligence you please , -You and your fellows ; I'd have it come to question : -If he distaste it , let him to my sister , -Whose mind and mine , I know , in that are one , -Not to be over-rul'd . Idle old man , -That still would manage those authorities -That he hath given away ! Now , by my life , -Old fools are babes again , and must be us'd -With cheeks as flatteries , when they are seen abus'd . -Remember what I have said . - -Well , madam . - -And let his knights have colder looks among you ; -What grown of it , no matter ; advise your fellows so : -I would breed from hence occasions , and I shall , -That I may speak : I'll write straight to my sister -To hold my very source . Prepare for dinner . - - -If but as well I other accents borrow , -That can my speech diffuse , my good intent -May carry through itself to that full issue -For which I raz'd my likeness . Now , banish'd Kent , -If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemn'd , -So may it come , thy master , whom thou lov'st , -Shall find thee full of labours . - - -Let me not stay a jot for dinner : go , get it ready . - -How now ! what art thou ? - -A man , sir . - -What dost thou profess ? What wouldst thou with us ? - -I do profess to be no less than I seem ; to serve him truly that will put me in trust ; to love him that is honest ; to converse with him that is wise , and says little ; to fear judgment ; to fight when I cannot choose ; and to eat no fish . - -What art thou ? - -A very honest-hearted fellow , and as poor as the king . - -If thou be as poor for a subject as he is for a king , thou art poor enough . What wouldst thou ? - -Service . - -Whom wouldst thou serve ? - -You . - -Dost thou know me , fellow ? - -No , sir ; but you have that in your countenance which I would fain call master . - -What's that ? - -Authority . - -What services canst thou do ? - -I can keep honest counsel , ride , run , mar a curious tale in telling it , and deliver a plain message bluntly ; that which ordinary men are fit for , I am qualified in , and the best of me is diligence . - -How old art thou ? - -Not so young , sir , to love a woman for singing , nor so old to dote on her for any thing ; I have years on my back forty-eight . - -Follow me ; thou shalt serve me ; if I like thee no worse after dinner I will not part from thee yet . Dinner , ho ! dinner ! Where's my knave ? my fool ? Go you and call my fool hither . - - -You , you , sirrah , where's my daughter ? - -So please you , - - -What says the fellow there ? Call the clotpoll back . - -Where's my fool , ho ? I think the world's asleep . How now ! where's that mongrel ? - - -He says , my lord , your daughter is not well . - -Why came not the slave back to me when I called him ? - -Sir , he answered me in the roundest manner , he would not . - -He would not ! - -My lord , I know not what the matter is ; but , to my judgment , your highness is not entertained with that ceremonious affection as you were wont ; there's a great abatement of kindness appears as well in the general dependants as in the duke himself also and your daughter . - -Ha ! sayest thou so ? - -I beseech you , pardon me , my lord , if I be mistaken ; for my duty cannot be silent when I think your highness wronged . - -Thou but rememberest me of mine own conception : I have perceived a most faint neglect of late ; which I have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity than as a very pretence and purpose of unkindness : I will look further into 't . But where's my fool ? I have not seen him this two days . - -Since my young lady's going into France , sir , the fool hath much pined him away . - -No more of that ; I have noted it well . -Go you and tell my daughter I would speak with her . - -Go you , call hither my fool . - -O ! you sir , you , come you hither , sir . Who am - -I , sir ? - -My lady's father . - -'My lady's father !' my lord's knave : you whoreson dog ! you slave ! you cur ! - -I am none of these , my lord ; I beseech your pardon . - -Do you bandy looks with me , you rascal ? - - -I'll not be struck , my lord . - -Nor tripped neither , you base football player . - - -I thank thee , fellow ; thou servest me , and I'll love thee . - -Come , sir , arise , away ! I'll teach you differences : away , away ! If you will measure your lubber's length again , tarry ; but away ! -Go to ; have you wisdom ? so . - - -Now , my friendly knave , I thank thee : there's earnest of thy service . - -Let me hire him too : here's my coxcomb . - - -How now , my pretty knave ! how dost thou ? - -Sirrah , you were best take my coxcomb . - -Why , fool ? - -Why ? for taking one's part that's out of favour . Nay , an thou canst not smile as the wind sits , thou'lt catch cold shortly : there , take my coxcomb . Why , this fellow has banished two on 's daughters , and did the third a blessing against his will : if thou follow him thou must needs wear my coxcomb . How now , nuncle ! Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters ! - -Why , my boy ? - -If I gave them all my living , I'd keep my coxcombs myself . There's mine ; beg another of thy daughters . - -Take heed , sirrah ; the whip . - -Truth's a dog must to kennel ; he must be whipped out when Lady the brach may stand by the fire and stink . - -A pestilent gall to me ! - -Sirrah , I'll teach' thee a speech . - -Do . - -Mark it , nuncle : - -Have more than thou showest , -Speak less than thou knowest , -Lend less than thou owest , -Ride more than thou goest , -Learn more than thou trowest , -Set less than thou throwest ; -Leave thy drink and thy whore , -And keep in-a-door , -And thou shalt have more -Than two tens to a score . - - -This is nothing , fool . - -Then 'tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer , you gave me nothing for 't . Can you make no use of nothing , nuncle ? - -Why , no , boy ; nothing can be made out of nothing . - -Prithee , tell him , so much the rent of his land comes to : he will not believe a fool . - -A bitter fool ! - -Dost thou know the difference , my boy , between a bitter fool and a sweet fool ? - -No , lad ; teach me . - - -That lord that counsell'd thee -To give away thy land , -Come place him here by me , -Do thou for him stand : -The sweet and bitter fool -Will presently appear ; -The one in motley here , -The other found out there . - - -Dost thou call me fool , boy ? - -All thy other titles thou hast given away ; that thou wast born with . - -This is not altogether fool , my lord . - -No , faith , lords and great men will not let me ; if I had a monopoly out , they would have part on 't , and ladies too : they will not let me have all fool to myself ; they'll be snatching . Nuncle , give me an egg , and I'll give thee two crowns . - -What two crowns shall they be ? - -Why , after I have cut the egg i' the middle and eat up the meat , the two crowns of the egg . When thou clovest thy crown i' the middle , and gavest away both parts , thou borest thine ass on thy back o'er the dirt : thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou gavest thy golden one away . If I speak like myself in this , let him be whipped that first finds it so . - -Fools had ne'er less grace in a year ; -For wise men are grown foppish , -And know not how their wits to wear , -Their manners are so apish . - - -When were you wont to be so full of songs , sirrah ? - -I have used it , nuncle , ever since thou madest thy daughters thy mothers ; for when thou gavest them the rod and puttest down thine own breeches , - -Then they for sudden joy did weep , -And I for sorrow sung , -That such a king should play bo-peep , -And go the fools among . - -Prithee , nuncle , keep a schoolmaster that can teach thy fool to lie : I would fain learn to lie . - -An you lie , sirrah , we'll have you whipped . - -I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are : they'll have me whipped for speaking true , thou'lt have me whipped for lying ; and sometimes I am whipped for holding my peace . I had rather be any kind o' thing than a fool ; and yet I would not be thee , nuncle ; thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides , and left nothing i' the middle : here comes one o' the parings . - - -How now , daughter ! what makes that frontlet on ? Methinks you are too much of late i' the frown . - -Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou hadst no need to care for her frowning ; now thou art an O without a figure . I am better than thou art now ; I am a fool , thou art nothing . - -Yes , forsooth , I will hold my tongue ; so your face bids me , though you say nothing . - -Mum , mum ; -He that keeps nor crust nor crumb , -Weary of all , shall want some . - -That's a shealed peascod . - - -Not only , sir , this your all-licens'd fool , -But other of your insolent retinue -Do hourly carp and quarrel , breaking forth -In rank and not-to-be-endured riots . Sir , -I had thought , by making this well known unto you , -To have found a safe redress ; but now grow fearful , -By what yourself too late have spoke and done . -That you protect this course , and put it on -By your allowance ; which if you should , the fault -Would not 'scape censure , nor the redresses sleep , -Which , in the tender of a wholesome weal , -Might in their working do you that offence , -Which else were shame , that then necessity -Will call discreet proceeding . - -For you trow , nuncle , - -The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long , -That it had it head bit off by it young . - -So out went the candle , and we were left darkling . - -Are you our daughter ? - -I would you would make use of your good wisdom , -Whereof I know you are fraught ; and put away -These dispositions which of late transform you -From what you rightly are . - -May not an ass know when the cart draws the horse ? Whoop , Jug ! I love thee . - -Does any here know me ? This is not Lear : -Does Lear walk thus ? speak thus ? Where are his eyes ? -Either his notion weakens , his discernings -Are lethargied . Ha ! waking ? 'tis not so . -Who is it that can tell me who I am ? - -Lear's shadow . - -I would learn that ; for , by the marks of sovereignty , knowledge and reason , I should be false persuaded I had daughters . - -Which they will make an obedient father . - -Your name , fair gentlewoman ? - -This admiration , sir , is much o' the favour -Of other your new pranks . I do beseech you -To understand my purposes aright : -As you are old and reverend , should be wise . -Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires ; -Men so disorder'd , so debosh'd , and bold , -That this our court , infected with their manners , -Shows like a riotous inn : epicurism and lust -Make it more like a tavern or a brothel -Than a grac'd palace . The shame itself doth speak -For instant remedy ; be then desir'd -By her that else will take the thing she begs , -A little to disquantity your train ; -And the remainder , that shall still depend , -To be such men as may besort your age , -Which know themselves and you . - -Darkness and devils ! -Saddle my horses ; call my train together . -Degenerate bastard ! I'll not trouble thee : -Yet have I left a daughter . - -You strike my people , and your disorder'd rabble -Make servants of their betters . - - -Woe , that too late repents ; - - -O ! sir , are you come ? -Is it your will ? Speak , sir . Prepare my horses . -Ingratitude , thou marble-hearted fiend , -More hideous , when thou show'st thee in a child , -Than the sea-monster . - -Pray , sir , be patient . - -Detested kite ! thou liest : -My train are men of choice and rarest parts , -That all particulars of duty know , -And in the most exact regard support -The worships of their name . O most small fault , -How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show ! -Which , like an engine , wrench'd my frame of nature -From the fix'd place , drew from my heart all love , -And added to the gall . O Lear , Lear , Lear ! -Beat at this gate , that let thy folly in , - -And thy dear judgment out ! Go , go , my people . - -My lord , I am guiltless , as I am ignorant -Of what hath mov'd you . - -It may be so , my lord . -Hear , Nature , hear ! dear goddess , hear ! -Suspend thy purpose , if thou didst intend -To make this creature fruitful ! -Into her womb convey sterility ! -Dry up in her the organs of increase , -And from her derogate body never spring -A babe to honour her ! If she must teem , -Create her child of spleen , that it may live -And be a thwart disnatur'd torment to her ! -Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth , -With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks , -Turn all her mother's pains and benefits -To laughter and contempt , that she may feel -How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is -To have a thankless child ! Away , away ! - - -Now , gods that we adore , whereof comes this ? - -Never afflict yourself to know the cause ; -But let his disposition have that scope -That dotage gives it . - - -What ! fifty of my followers at a clap , -Within a fortnight ? - -What's the matter , sir ? - -I'll tell thee . - -Life and death ! I am asham'd -That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus , -That these hot tears , which break from me perforce , -Should make thee worth them . Blasts and fogs upon thee ! -Th' untented woundings of a father's curse -Pierce every sense about thee ! Old fond eyes , -Beweep this cause again , I'll pluck ye out , -And cast you , with the waters that you lose , -To temper clay . Yea , is it come to this ? -Let it be so : I have another daughter , -Who , I am sure , is kind and comfortable : -When she shall hear this of thee , with her nails -She'll flay thy wolvish visage . Thou shalt find -That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think -I have cast off for ever ; thou shalt , I warrant thee . - - -Do you mark that ? - -I cannot be so partial , Goneril , -To the great love I bear you . - -Pray you , content . What , Oswald , ho ! - - -You , sir , more knave than fool , after your master . - -Nuncle Lear , nuncle Lear ! tarry , and take the fool with thee . - -A fox , when one has caught her , -And such a daughter , -Should sure to the slaughter , -If my cap would buy a halter ; -So the fool follows after . - -This man hath had good counsel . A hundred knights ! -'Tis politic and safe to let him keep -At point a hundred knights ; yes , that on every dream , -Each buzz , each fancy , each complaint , dislike , -He may enguard his dotage with their powers , -And hold our lives in mercy . Oswald , I say ! - -Well , you may fear too far . - -Safer than trust too far . -Let me still take away the harms I fear , -Not fear still to be taken : I know his heart . -What he hath utter'd I have writ my sister ; -If she sustain him and his hundred knights , -When I have show'd the unfitness , - - -How now , Oswald ! - -What ! have you writ that letter to my sister ? - -Ay , madam . - -Take you some company , and away to horse : -Inform her full of my particular fear ; -And thereto add such reasons of your own -As may compact it more . Get you gone , -And hasten your return . - -No , no , my lord , -This milky gentleness and course of yours -Though I condemn not , yet , under pardon , -You are much more attask'd for want of wisdom -Than prais'd for harmful mildness . - -How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell : -Striving to better , oft we mar what's well . - -Nay , then - -Well , well ; the event . - - -Go you before to Gloucester with these letters . Acquaint my daughter no further with any thing you know than comes from her demand out of the letter . If your diligence be not speedy I shall be there before you . - -I will not sleep , my lord , till I have delivered your letter . - - -If a man's brains were in 's heels , were't not in danger of kibes ? - -Ay , boy . - -Then , I prithee , be merry ; thy wit shall not go slip-shod . - -Ha , ha , ha ! - -Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee kindly ; for though she's as like this as a crab is like an apple , yet I can tell what I can tell . - -What canst tell , boy ? - -She will taste as like this as a crab does to a crab . Thou canst tell why one's nose stands i' the middle on 's face ? - -No . - -Why , to keep one's eyes of either side's nose , that what a man cannot smell out , he may spy into . - -I did her wrong , - -Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell ? - -No . - -Nor I neither ; but I can tell why a snail has a house . - -Why ? - -Why , to put his head in ; not to give it away to his daughters , and leave his horns without a case . - -I will forget my nature . So kind a father ! Be my horses ready ? - -Thy asses are gone about 'em . The reason why the seven stars are no more than seven is a pretty reason . - -Because they are not eight ? - -Yes , indeed : thou wouldst make a good fool . - -To take it again perforce ! Monster ingratitude ! - -If thou wert my fool , nuncle , I'd have thee beaten for being old before thy time . - -How's that ? - -Thou shouldst not have been old before thou hadst been wise . - -O ! let me not be mad , not mad , sweet heaven ; -Keep me in temper ; I would not be mad ! - -How now ! Are the horses ready ? - -Ready , my lord . - -Come , boy . - -She that's a maid now , and laughs at my departure , -Shall not be a maid long , unless things be cut shorter . - -Save thee , Curan . - -And you , sir . I have been with your father , and given him notice that the Duke of Cornwall and Regan his duchess will be here with him to-night . - -How comes that ? - -Nay , I know not . You have heard of the news abroad ? I mean the whispered ones , for they are yet but ear-kissing arguments ? - -Not I : pray you , what are they ? - -Have you heard of no likely wars toward , 'twixt the Dukes of Cornwall and Albany ? - -Not a word . - -You may do then , in time . Fare you well , sir . - - -The duke be here to-night ! The better ! best ! -This weaves itself perforce into my business . -My father hath set guard to take my brother ; -And I have one thing , of a queasy question , -Which I must act . Briefness and fortune , work ! -Brother , a word ; descend : brother , I say ! - - -My father watches : O sir ! fly this place ; -Intelligence is given where you are hid ; -You have now the good advantage of the night . -Have you not spoken 'gainst the Duke of Cornwall ? -He's coming hither , now , i' the night , i' the haste , -And Regan with him ; have you nothing said -Upon his party 'gainst the Duke of Albany ? - -Advise yourself . - -I am sure on 't , not a word . - -I hear my father coming ; pardon me ; -In cunning I must draw my sword upon you ; -Draw ; seem to defend yourself ; now 'quit you well . -Yield ;come before my father . Light , ho ! here ! -Fly , brother . Torches ! torches ! So , farewell . - -Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion - -Of my more fierce endeavour : I have seen drunkards -Do more than this in sport . Father ! father ! -Stop , stop ! No help ? - - -Now , Edmund , where's the villain ? - -Here stood he in the dark , his sharp sword out , -Mumbling of wicked charms , conjuring the moon -To stand auspicious mistress . - -But where is he ? - -Look , sir , I bleed . - -Where is the villain , Edmund ? - -Fled this way , sir . When by no means he could - -Pursue him , ho ! Go after . - -'By no means' what ? - -Persuade me to the murder of your lordship ; -But that I told him , the revenging gods -'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend ; -Spoke with how manifold and strong a bond -The child was bound to the father ; sir , in fine , -Seeing how loathly opposite I stood -To his unnatural purpose , in fell motion , -With his prepared sword he charges home -My unprovided body , lanc'd mine arm : -But when he saw my best alarum'd spirits -Bold in the quarrel's right , rous'd to the encounter , -Or whether gasted by the noise I made , -Full suddenly he fled . - -Let him fly far : -Not in this land shall he remain uncaught ; -And found dispatch . The noble duke my master , -My worthy arch and patron , comes to-night : -By his authority I will proclaim it , -That he which finds him shall deserve our thanks , -Bringing the murderous coward to the stake ; -He that conceals him , death . - -When I dissuaded him from his intent , -And found him pight to do it , with curst speech -I threaten'd to discover him : he replied , -'Thou unpossessing bastard ! dost thou think , -If I would stand against thee , would the reposal -Of any trust , virtue , or worth , in thee -Make thy words faith'd ? No : what I should deny , -As this I would ; ay , though thou didst produce -My very character ,I'd turn it all -To thy suggestion , plot , and damned practice : -And thou must make a dullard of the world , -If they not thought the profits of my death -Were very pregnant and potential spurs -To make thee seek it .' - -Strong and fasten'd villain ! -Would he deny his letter ? I never got him . - -Hark ! the duke's trumpets . I know not why he comes . -All ports I'll bar ; the villain shall not 'scape ; -The duke must grant me that : besides , his picture -I will send far and near , that all the kingdom -May have due note of him ; and of my land , -Loyal and natural boy , I'll work the means -To make thee capable . - - -How now , my noble friend ! since I came hither , -Which I can call but now ,I have heard strange news . - -If it be true , all vengeance comes too short -Which can pursue the offender . How dost , my lord ? - -O ! madam , my old heart is crack'd , it's crack'd . - -What ! did my father's godson seek your life ? -He whom my father nam'd ? your Edgar ? - -O ! lady , lady , shame would have it hid . - -Was he not companion with the riotous knights -That tend upon my father ? - -I know not , madam ; 'tis too bad , too bad . - -Yes , madam , he was of that consort . - -No marvel then though he were ill affected ; -'Tis they have put him on the old man's death , -To have the expense and waste of his revenues . -I have this present evening from my sister -Been well-inform'd of them , and with such cautions -That if they come to sojourn at my house , -I'll not be there . - -Nor I , assure thee , Regan . -Edmund , I hear that you have shown your father -A child-like office . - -'Twas my duty , sir . - -He did bewray his practice ; and receiv'd -This hurt you see , striving to apprehend him . - -Is he pursu'd ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -If he be taken he shall never more -Be fear'd of doing harm ; make your own purpose , -How in my strength you please . For you , Edmund , -Whose virtue and obedience doth this instant -So much commend itself , you shall be ours : -Natures of such deep trust we shall much need ; -You we first seize on . - -I shall serve you , sir , -Truly , however else . - -For him I thank your Grace . - -You know not why we came to visit you , - -Thus out of season , threading dark-ey'd night : -Occasions , noble Gloucester , of some prize , -Wherein we must have use of your advice . -Our father he hath writ , so hath our sister , -Of differences , which I best thought it fit -To answer from our home ; the several messengers -From hence attend dispatch . Our good old friend , -Lay comforts to your bosom , and bestow -Your needful counsel to our businesses , -Which craves the instant use . - -I serve you , madam . -Your Graces are right welcome . - - -Good dawning to thee , friend : art of this house ? - -Ay . - -Where may we set our horses ? - -I' the mire . - -Prithee , if thou lovest me , tell me . - -I love thee not . - -Why , then I care not for thee . - -If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold , I would make thee care for me . - -Why dost thou use me thus ? I know thee not . - -Fellow , I know thee . - -What dost thou know me for ? - -A knave , a rascal , an eater of broken meats ; a base , proud , shallow , beggarly , three-suited , hundred-pound , filthy , worsted-stocking knave ; a lily-liver'd , action-taking knave ; a whoreson , glass-gazing , superserviceable , finical rogue ; one-trunk-inheriting slave ; one that wouldst be a bawd , in way of good service , and art nothing but the composition of a knave , beggar , coward , pandar , and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch : one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition . - -Why , what a monstrous fellow art thou , thus to rail on one that is neither known of thee nor knows thee ! - -What a brazen-faced varlet art thou , to deny thou knowest me ! Is it two days since I tripped up thy heels and beat thee before the king ? Draw , you rogue ; for , though it be night , yet the moon shines : I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you . - -Draw , you whoreson , cullionly , barber-monger , draw . - -Away ! I have nothing to do with thee . - -Draw , you rascal ; you come with letters against the king , and take vanity the pupet's part against the royalty of her father . Draw , you rogue , or I'll so carbonado your shanks : draw , you rascal ; come your ways . - -Help , ho ! murder ! help ! - -Strike , you slave ; stand , rogue , stand ; you neat slave , strike . - - -Help , oh ! murder ! murder ! - - -How now ! What's the matter ? - - -With you , goodman boy , if you please : come , -I'll flesh ye ; come on , young master . - - -Weapons ! arms ! What's the matter here ? - -Keep peace , upon your lives : -He dies that strikes again . What is the matter ? - -The messengers from our sister and the king . - -What is your difference ? speak . - -I am scarce in breath , my lord . - -No marvel , you have so bestirred your valour . You cowardly rascal , nature disclaims in thee : a tailor made thee . - -Thou art a strange fellow ; a tailor make a man ? - -Ay , a tailor , sir : a stone-cutter or a painter could not have made him so ill , though they had been but two hours o' the trade . - -Speak yet , how grew your quarrel ? - -This ancient ruffian , sir , whose life I have spar'd at suit of his grey beard , - -Thou whoreson zed ! thou unnecessary letter ! My lord , if you will give me leave , I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar , and daub the wall of a jakes with him . Spare my grey beard , you wagtail ? - -Peace , sirrah ! -You beastly knave , know you no reverence ? - -Yes , sir ; but anger hath a privilege . - -Why art thou angry ? - -That such a slave as this should wear a sword , -Who wears no honesty . Such smiling rogues as these , -Like rats , oft bite the holy cords a-twain -Which are too intrinse t' unloose ; smooth every passion -That in the natures of their lords rebel ; -Bring oil to fire , snow to their colder moods ; -Renege , affirm , and turn their halcyon beaks -With every gale and vary of their masters , -Knowing nought , like dogs , but following . -A plague upon your epileptic visage ! -Smile you my speeches , as I were a fool ? -Goose , if I had you upon Sarum plain , -I'd drive ye cackling home to Camelot . - -What ! art thou mad , old fellow ? - -How fell you out ? say that . - -No contraries hold more antipathy -Than I and such a knave . - -Why dost thou call him knave ? What is his fault ? - -His countenance likes me not . - -No more , perchance , does mine , nor his , nor hers . - -Sir , 'tis my occupation to be plain : -I have seen better faces in my time -Than stands on any shoulder that I see -Before me at this instant . - -This is some fellow , -Who , having been prais'd for bluntness , doth affect -A saucy roughness , and constrains the garb -Quite from his nature : he cannot flatter , he , -An honest mind and plain , he must speak truth : -An they will take it , so ; if not , he's plain . -These kind of knaves I know , which in this plainness -Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends -Than twenty silly-ducking observants , -That stretch their duties nicely . - -Sir , in good sooth , in sincere verity , -Under the allowance of your grand aspect , -Whose influence , like the wreath of radiant fire -On flickering Ph bus' front , - -What mean'st by this ? - -To go out of my dialect , which you discommend so much . I know , sir , I am no flatterer : he that beguiled you in a plain accent was a plain knave ; which for my part I will not be , though I should win your displeasure to entreat me to 't . - -What was the offence you gave him ? - -I never gave him any : -It pleas'd the king his master very late -To strike at me , upon his misconstruction ; -When he , conjunct , and flattering his displeasure , -Tripp'd me behind ; being down , insulted , rail'd , -And put upon him such a deal of man , -That worthied him , got praises of the king -For him attempting who was self-subdu'd ; -And , in the fleshment of this dread exploit , -Drew on me here again . - -None of these rogues and cowards -But Ajax is their fool . - -Fetch forth the stocks ! -You stubborn ancient knave , you reverend braggart , -We'll teach you . - -Sir , I am too old to learn , -Call not your stocks for me ; I serve the king , -On whose employment I was sent to you ; -You shall do small respect , show too bold malice -Against the grace and person of my master , -Stocking his messenger . - -Fetch forth the stocks ! As I have life and honour , -There shall he sit till noon . - -Till noon ! Till night , my lord ; and all night too . - -Why , madam , if I were your father's dog , -You should not use me so . - -Sir , being his knave , I will . - -This is a fellow of the self-same colour -Our sister speaks of . Come , bring away the stocks . - - -Let me beseech your Grace not to do so . -His fault is much , and the good king his master -Will check him for't : your purpos'd low correction -Is such as basest and contemned'st wretches -For pilferings and most common trespasses -Are punish'd with : the king must take it ill , -That he , so slightly valu'd in his messenger , -Should have him thus restrain'd . - -I'll answer that . - -My sister may receive it much more worse -To have her gentleman abus'd , assaulted , -For following her affairs . Put in his legs . - -Come , my good lord , away . - - -I am sorry for thee , friend ; 'tis the duke's pleasure , -Whose disposition , all the world well knows , -Will not be rubb'd nor stopp'd ; I'll entreat for thee . - -Pray , do not , sir . I have watch'd and travell'd hard ; -Some time I shall sleep out , the rest I'll whistle . -A good man's fortune may grow out at heels : -Give you good morrow ! - -The duke's to blame in this ; 'twill be ill taken . - - -Good king , that must approve the common saw , -Thou out of heaven's benediction com'st -To the warm sun . -Approach , thou beacon to this under globe , -That by thy comfortable beams I may -Peruse this letter . Nothing almost sees miracles -But misery : I know 'tis from Cordelia , -Who hath most fortunately been inform'd -Of my obscured course ; and shall find time -From this enormous state , seeking to give -Losses their remedies . All weary and o'erwatch'd , -Take vantage , heavy eyes , not to behold -This shameful lodging . -Fortune , good night , smile once more ; turn thy wheel ! - - -I heard myself proclaim'd ; -And by the happy hollow of a tree -Escap'd the hunt . No port is free ; no place , -That guard , and most unusual vigilance , -Does not attend my taking . While I may 'scape -I will preserve myself ; and am bethought -To take the basest and most poorest shape -That ever penury , in contempt of man , -Brought near to beast ; my face I'll grime with filth , -Blanket my loins , elf all my hair in knots , -And with presented nakedness outface -The winds and persecutions of the sky . -The country gives me proof and precedent -Of Bedlam beggars , who with roaring voices , -Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms -Pins , wooden pricks , nails , sprigs of rosemary ; -And with this horrible object , from low farms , -Poor pelting villages , sheep-cotes , and mills , -Sometime with lunatic bans , sometime with prayers , -Enforce their charity . Poor Turlygood ! poor Tom ! -That's something yet : Edgar I nothing am . - - -'Tis strange that they should so depart from home , -And not send back my messenger . - -As I learn'd , -The night before there was no purpose in them -Of this remove . - -Hail to thee , noble master ! - -Ha ! -Mak'st thou this shame thy pastime ? - -No , my lord . - -Ha , ha ! he wears cruel garters . Horses are tied by the head , dogs and bears by the neck , monkeys by the loins , and men by the legs : when a man is over-lusty at legs , then he wears wooden nether-stocks . - -What's he that hath so much thy place mistook -To set thee here ? - -It is both he and she , -Your son and daughter . - -No . - -Yes . - -No , I say . - -I say , yea . - -No , no ; they would not . - -Yes , they have . - -By Jupiter , I swear , no . - -By Juno , I swear , ay . - -They durst not do't ; -They could not , would not do 't ; 'tis worse than murder , -To do upon respect such violent outrage . -Resolve me , with all modest haste , which way -Thou mightst deserve , or they impose , this usage , -Coming from us . - -My lord , when at their home -I did commend your highness' letters to them , -Ere I was risen from the place that show'd -My duty kneeling , there came a reeking post , -Stew'd in his haste , half breathless , panting forth -From Goneril his mistress salutations ; -Deliver'd letters , spite of intermission , -Which presently they read : on whose contents -They summon'd up their meiny , straight took horse ; -Commanded me to follow , and attend -The leisure of their answer ; gave me cold looks : -And meeting here the other messenger , -Whose welcome , I perceiv'd , had poison'd mine , -Being the very fellow which of late -Display'd so saucily against your highness , -Having more man than wit about me ,drew : -He rais'd the house with loud and coward cries . -Your son and daughter found this trespass worth -The shame which here it suffers . - -Winter's not gone yet , if the wild geese fly that way . - -Fathers that wear rags -Do make their children blind , -But fathers that bear bags -Shall see their children kind . -Fortune , that arrant whore , -Ne'er turns the key to the poor . - -But for all this thou shalt have as many dolours for thy daughters as thou canst tell in a year . - -O ! how this mother swells up toward my heart ; -Hysterica passio ! down , thou climbing sorrow ! -Thy element's below . Where is this daughter ? - -With the earl , sir : here within . - -Follow me not ; stay here . - - -Made you no more offence than what you speak of ? - -None . -How chance the king comes with so small a number ? - -An thou hadst been set i' the stocks for that question , thou hadst well deserved it . - -Why , fool ? - -We'll set thee to school to an ant , to teach thee there's no labouring i' the winter . All that follow their noses are led by their eyes but blind men ; and there's not a nose among twenty but can smell him that's stinking . Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill , lest it break thy neck with following it ; but the great one that goes up the hill , let him draw thee after . When a wise man gives thee better counsel , give me mine again : I would have none but knaves follow it , since a fool gives it . - -That sir which serves and seeks for gain , -And follows but for form , -Will pack when it begins to rain , -And leave thee in the storm . -But I will tarry ; the fool will stay , -And let the wise man fly : -The knave turns fool that runs away ; -The fool no knave , perdy . - - -Where learn'd you this , fool ? - -Not i' the stocks , fool . - - -Deny to speak with me ! They are sick ! they are weary , -They have travell'd hard to-night ! Mere fetches , -The images of revolt and flying off . -Fetch me a better answer . - -My dear lord , -You know the fiery quality of the duke ; -How unremovable and fix'd he is -In his own course . - -Vengeance ! plague ! death ! confusion ! -Fiery ! what quality ? Why , Gloucester , Gloucester , -I'd speak with the Duke of Cornwall and his wife . - -Well , my good lord , I have inform'd them so . - -Inform'd them ! Dost thou understand me , man ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -The king would speak with Cornwall ; the dear father -Would with his daughter speak , commands her service : -Are they inform'd of this ? My breath and blood ! -Fiery ! the fiery duke ! Tell the hot duke that -No , but not yet ; may be he is not well : -Infirmity doth still neglect all office -Whereto our health is bound ; we are not ourselves -When nature , being oppress'd , commands the mind -To suffer with the body . I'll forbear ; -And am fall'n out with my more headier will , -To take the indispos'd and sickly fit -For the sound man . Death on my state ! - -Wherefore -Should he sit here ? This act persuades me -That this remotion of the duke and her -Is practice only . Give me my servant forth . -Go , tell the duke and's wife I'd speak with them , -Now , presently : bid them come forth and hear me , -Or at their chamber-door I'll beat the drum -Till it cry sleep to death . - -I would have all well betwixt you . - - -O , me ! my heart , my rising heart ! but , down ! - -Cry to it , nuncle , as the cockney did to the eels when she put 'em i' the paste alive ; she knapped 'em o' the coxcombs with a stick , and cried , 'Down , wantons , down !' 'Twas her brother that , in pure kindness to his horse , buttered his hay . - - -Good morrow to you both . - -Hail to your Grace ! - - -I am glad to see your highness . - -Regan , I think you are ; I know what reason -I have to think so : if thou shouldst not be glad , -I would divorce me from thy mother's tomb , -Sepulchring an adult'ress . - -O ! are you free ? -Some other time for that . Beloved Regan , -Thy sister's naught : O Regan ! she hath tied -Sharp-tooth'd unkindness , like a vulture , here : - -I can scarce speak to thee ; thou'lt not believe -With how deprav'd a quality O Regan ! - -I pray you , sir , take patience . I have hope -You less know how to value her desert -Than she to scant her duty . - -Say , how is that ? - -I cannot think my sister in the least -Would fail her obligation : if , sir , perchance -She have restrain'd the riots of your followers , -'Tis on such ground , and to such wholesome end , -As clears her from all blame . - -My curses on her ! - -O , sir ! you are old ; -Nature in you stands on the very verge -Of her confine : you should be rul'd and led -By some discretion that discerns your state -Better than you yourself . Therefore I pray you -That to our sister you do make return ; -Say , you have wrong'd her , sir . - -Ask her forgiveness ? -Do you but mark how this becomes the house : -'Dear daughter , I confess that I am old ; -Age is unnecessary : on my knees I beg - -That you'll vouchsafe me raiment , bed , and food .' - -Good sir , no more ; these are unsightly tricks : -Return you to my sister . - -Never , Regan . -She hath abated me of half my train ; -Look'd black upon me ; struck me with her tongue , -Most serpent-like , upon the very heart . -All the stor'd vengeances of heaven fall -On her ingrateful top ! Strike her young bones , -You taking airs , with lameness ! - -Fie , air , fie ! - -You nimble lightnings , dart your blinding flames -Into her scornful eyes ! Infect her beauty , -You fen-suck'd fogs , drawn by the powerful sun , -To fall and blast her pride ! - -O the blest gods ! So will you wish on me , -When the rash mood is on . - -No , Regan , thou shalt never have my curse : -Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give -Thee o'er to harshness : her eyes are fierce , but thine -Do comfort and not burn . 'Tis not in thee -To grudge my pleasures , to cut off my train , -To bandy hasty words , to scant my sizes , -And , in conclusion , to oppose the bolt -Against my coming in : thou better know'st -The offices of nature , bond of childhood , -Effects of courtesy , dues of gratitude ; -Thy half o' the kingdom hast thou not forgot , -Wherein I thee endow'd . - -Good sir , to the purpose . - -Who put my man i' the stocks ? - - -What trumpet's that ? - -I know't , my sister's ; this approves her letter , -That she would soon be here . Is your lady come ? - - -This is a slave , whose easy-borrow'd pride -Dwells in the fickle grace of her he follows . -Out , varlet , from my sight ! - -What means your Grace ? - -Who stock'd my servant ? Regan , I have good hope -Thou didst not know on 't . Who comes here ? O heavens , - - -If you do love old men , if your sweet sway -Allow obedience , if yourselves are old , -Make it your cause ; send down and take my part ! - - -Art not asham'd to look upon this beard ? - -O Regan , wilt thou take her by the hand ? - -Why not by the hand , sir ? How have I offended ? -All's not offence that indiscretion finds -And dotage terms so . - -O sides ! you are too tough ; -Will you yet hold ? How came my man i' the stocks ? - -I set him there , sir : but his own disorders -Deserv'd much less advancement . - -You ! did you ? - -I pray you , father , being weak , seem so . -If , till the expiration of your month , -You will return and sojourn with my sister , -Dismissing half your train , come then to me : -I am now from home , and out of that provision -Which shall be needful for your entertainment . - -Return to her ? and fifty men dismiss'd ! -No , rather I abjure all roofs , and choose -To wage against the enmity o' the air ; -To be a comrade with the wolf and owl , -Necessity's sharp pinch ! Return with her ! -Why , the hot-blooded France , that dowerless took -Our youngest born , I could as well be brought -To knee his throne , and , squire-like , pension beg -To keep base life afoot . Return with her ! -Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter -To this detested groom . - - -At your choice , sir . - -I prithee , daughter , do not make me mad : -I will not trouble thee , my child ; farewell . -We'll no more meet , no more see one another ; -But yet thou art my flesh , my blood , my daughter ; -Or rather a disease that's in my flesh , -Which I must needs call mine : thou art a boil , -A plague-sore , an embossed carbuncle , -In my corrupted blood . But I'll not chide thee ; -Let shame come when it will , I do not call it : -I do not bid the thunder-bearer shoot , -Nor tell tales of thee to high-judging Jove . -Mend when thou canst ; be better at thy leisure : -I can be patient ; I can stay with Regan , -I and my hundred knights . - -Not altogether so : -I look'd not for you yet , nor am provided -For your fit welcome . Give ear , sir , to my sister ; -For those that mingle reason with your passion -Must be content to think you old , and so -But she knows what she does . - -Is this well spoken ? - -I dare avouch it , sir : what ! fifty followers ? -Is it not well ? What should you need of more ? -Yea , or so many , sith that both charge and danger -Speak 'gainst so great a number ? How , in one house , -Should many people , under two commands , -Hold amity ? 'Tis hard ; almost impossible . - -Why might not you , my lord , receive attendance -From those that she calls servants , or from mine ? - -Why not , my lord ? If then they chanc'd to slack you -We could control them . If you will come to me , -For now I spy a danger ,I entreat you -To bring but five-and-twenty ; to no more -Will I give place or notice . - -I gave you all - -And in good time you gave it - -Made you my guardians , my depositaries , -But kept a reservation to be follow'd -With such a number . What ! must I come to you -With five-and-twenty ? Regan , said you so ? - -And speak't again , my lord ; no more with me . - -Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favour'd , -When others are more wicked ; not being the worst -Stands in some rank of praise . - -I'll go with thee : -Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty , -And thou art twice her love . - -Hear me , my lord . -What need you five-and-twenty , ten , or five , -To follow in a house , where twice so many -Have a command to tend you ? - -What need one ? - -O ! reason not the need ; our basest beggars -Are in the poorest thing superfluous : -Allow not nature more than nature needs , -Man's life is cheap as beast's . Thou art a lady ; -If only to go warm were gorgeous , -Why , nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st , -Which scarcely keeps thee warm . But , for true need , -You heavens , give me that patience , patience I need ! -You see me here , you gods , a poor old man , -As full of grief as age ; wretched in both ! -If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts -Against their father , fool me not so much -To bear it tamely ; touch me with noble anger , -And let not women's weapons , water-drops , -Stain my man's cheeks ! No , you unnatural hags , -I will have such revenges on you both -That all the world shall I will do such things , -What they are yet I know not ,but they shall be -The terrors of the earth . You think I'll weep ; -No , I'll not weep : -I have full cause of weeping , but this heart -Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws -Or ere I'll weep . O fool ! I shall go mad . - - -Let us withdraw ; 'twill be a storm . - - -This house is little : the old man and his people -Cannot be well bestow'd . - -'Tis his own blame ; hath put himself from rest , -And must needs taste his folly . - -For his particular , I'll receive him gladly , -But not one follower . - -So am I purpos'd . -Where is my Lord of Gloucester ? - -Follow'd the old man forth . He is return'd . - - -The king is in high rage . - -Whither is he going ? - -He calls to horse ; but will I know not whither . - -'Tis best to give him way ; he leads himself . - -My lord , entreat him by no means to stay . - -Alack ! the night comes on , and the bleak winds -Do sorely ruffle ; for many miles about -There's scarce a bush . - -O ! sir , to wilful men , -The injuries that they themselves procure -Must be their schoolmasters . Shut up your doors ; -He is attended with a desperate train , -And what they may incense him to , being apt -To have his ear abus'd , wisdom bids fear . - -Shut up your doors , my lord ; 'tis a wild night : -My Regan counsels well : come out o' the storm . - -Who's here , beside foul weather ? - -One minded like the weather , most unquietly . - -I know you . Where's the king ? - -Contending with the fretful elements ; -Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea , -Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main , -That things might change or cease ; tears his white hair , -Which the impetuous blasts , with eyeless rage , -Catch in their fury , and make nothing of ; -Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn -The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain . -This night , wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch , -The lion and the belly-pinched wolf -Keep their fur dry , unbonneted he runs , -And bids what will take all . - -But who is with him ? - -None but the fool , who labours to out-jest -His heart-struck injuries . - -Sir , I do know you ; -And dare , upon the warrant of my note , -Commend a dear thing to you . There is division , -Although as yet the face of it be cover'd -With mutual cunning , 'twixt Albany and Cornwall ; -Who have as who have not , that their great stars -Thron'd and set high servants , who seem no less , -Which are to France the spies and speculations -Intelligent of our state ; what hath been seen , -Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes , -Or the hard rein which both of them have borne -Against the old kind king ; or something deeper , -Whereof perchance these are but furnishings ; -But , true it is , from France there comes a power -Into this scatter'd kingdom ; who already , -Wise in our negligence , have secret feet -In some of our best ports , and are at point -To show their open banner . Now to you : -If on my credit you dare build so far -To make your speed to Dover , you shall find -Some that will thank you , making just report -Of how unnatural and bemadding sorrow -The king hath cause to plain . -I am a gentleman of blood and breeding , -And from some knowledge and assurance offer -This office to you . - -I will talk further with you . - -No , do not . -For confirmation that I am much more -Than my out-wall , open this purse , and take -What it contains . If you shall see Cordelia , -As doubt not but you shall ,show her this ring , -And she will tell you who your fellow is -That yet you do not know . Fie on this storm ! -I will go seek the king . - -Give me your hand . Have you no more to say ? - -Few words , but , to effect , more than all yet ; -That , when we have found the king ,in which your pain -That way , I'll this ,he that first lights on him -Holla the other . - - -Blow , winds , and crack your cheeks ! rage ! blow ! -You cataracts and hurricanoes , spout -Till you have drench'd our steeples , drown'd the cocks ! -You sulphurous and thought-executing fires , -Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts , -Singe my white head ! And thou , all-shaking thunder , -Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world ! -Crack nature's moulds , all germens spill at once -That make ingrateful man ! - -O nuncle , court holy-water in a dry house is better than this rain-water out o' door . Good nuncle , in , and ask thy daughters' blessing ; here's a night pities neither wise man nor fool . - -Rumble thy bellyfull Spit , fire ! spout , rain ! -Nor rain , wind , thunder , fire , are my daughters : -I tax not you , you elements , with unkindness ; -I never gave you kingdom , call'd you children , -You owe me no subscription : then , let fall -Your horrible pleasure ; here I stand , your slave , -A poor , infirm , weak , and despis'd old man . -But yet I call you servile ministers , -That have with two pernicious daughters join'd -Your high-engender'd battles 'gainst a head -So old and white as this . O ! O ! 'tis foul . - -He that has a house to put his head in has a good head-piece . - -The cod-piece that will house -Before the head has any , -The head and he shall louse ; -So beggars marry many . -The man that makes his toe -What he his heart should make , -Shall of a corn cry woe , -And turn his sleep to wake . - -For there was never yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass . - - -No , I will be the pattern of all patience ; I will say nothing . - -Who's there ? - -Marry , here's grace and a cod-piece ; that's a wise man and a fool . - -Alas ! sir , are you here ? things that love night -Love not such nights as these ; the wrathful skies -Gallow the very wanderers of the dark , -And make them keep their caves . Since I was man -Such sheets of fire , such bursts of horrid thunder , -Such groans of roaring wind and rain , I never -Remember to have heard ; man's nature cannot carry -The affliction nor the fear . - -Let the great gods , -That keep this dreadful pother o'er our heads , -Find out their enemies now . Tremble , thou wretch , -That hast within thee undivulged crimes , -Unwhipp'd of justice ; hide thee , thou bloody hand ; -Thou perjur'd , and thou simular of virtue -That art incestuous ; caitiff , to pieces shake , -That under covert and convenient seeming -Hast practis'd on man's life ; close pent-up guilts , -Rive your concealing continents , and cry -These dreadful summoners grace . I am a man -More sinn'd against than sinning . - -Alack ! bare-headed ! -Gracious my lord , hard by here is a hovel ; -Some friendship will it lend you 'gainst the tempest ; -Repose you there while I to this hard house , -More harder than the stone whereof 'tis rais'd , -Which even but now , demanding after you , -Denied me to come in , return and force -Their scanted courtesy . - -My wits begin to turn . -Come on , my boy . How dost , my boy ? Art cold ? -I am cold myself . Where is this straw , my fellow ? -The art of our necessities is strange , -That can make vile things precious . Come , your hovel . -Poor fool and knave , I have one part in my heart -That's sorry yet for thee . - - -He that has a little tiny wit , -With hey , ho , the wind and the rain , -Must make content with his fortunes fit , -Though the rain it raineth every day . - - -True , my good boy . Come , bring us to this hovel . - - -This is a brave night to cool a courtezan . -I'll speak a prophecy ere I go : - -When priests are more in word than matter ; -When brewers mar their malt with water ; -When nobles are their tailors' tutors ; -No heretics burn'd , but wenches' suitors ; -When every case in law is right ; -No squire in debt , nor no poor knight ; -When slanders do not live in tongues ; -Nor cutpurses come not to throngs ; -When usurers tell their gold i' the field ; -And bawds and whores do churches build ; -Then shall the realm of Albion -Come to great confusion : -Then comes the time , who lives to see 't , -That going shall be us'd with feet . - -This prophecy Merlin shall make ; for I live before his time . - - -Alack , alack ! Edmund , I like not this unnatural dealing . When I desired their leave that I might pity him , they took from me the use of mine own house ; charged me , on pain of their perpetual displeasure , neither to speak of him , entreat for him , nor any way sustain him . - -Most savage , and unnatural ! - -Go to ; say you nothing . There is division between the dukes , and a worse matter than that . I have received a letter this night ; 'tis dangerous to be spoken ; I have locked the letter in my closet . These injuries the king now bears will be revenged home ; there's part of a power already footed ; we must incline to the king . I will seek him and privily relieve him ; go you and maintain talk with the duke , that my charity be not of him perceived . If he ask for me , I am ill and gone to bed . If I die for it , as no less is threatened me , the king , my old master , must be relieved . There is some strange thing toward , Edmund ; pray you , be careful . - - -This courtesy , forbid thee , shall the duke -Instantly know ; and of that letter too : -This seems a fair deserving , and must draw me -That which my father loses ; no less than all : -The younger rises when the old doth fall . - - -Here is the place , my lord ; good my lord , enter : -The tyranny of the open night's too rough -For nature to endure . - - -Let me alone . - -Good my lord , enter here . - -Wilt break my heart ? - -I'd rather break mine own . Good my lord , enter . - -Thou think'st 'tis much that this contentious storm -Invades us to the skin : so 'tis to thee ; -But where the greater malady is fix'd , -The lesser is scarce felt . Thou'dst shun a bear ; -But if thy flight lay toward the roaring sea , -Thou'dst meet the bear i' the mouth . When the mind's free -The body's delicate ; the tempest in my mind -Doth from my senses take all feeling else -Save what beats there . Filial ingratitude ! -Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand -For lifting food to 't ? But I will punish home : -No , I will weep no more . In such a night -To shut me out ! Pour on ; I will endure . -In such a night as this ! O Regan , Goneril ! -Your old kind father , whose frank heart gave all , -O ! that way madness lies ; let me shun that ; -No more of that . - -Good , my lord , enter here . - -Prithee , go in thyself ; seek thine own ease : -This tempest will not give me leave to ponder -On things would hurt me more . But I'll go in . - - -In , boy ; go first . You houseless poverty , -Nay , get thee in . I'll pray , and then I'll sleep . - -Poor naked wretches , wheresoe'er you are , -That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm , -How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides , -Your loop'd and window'd raggedness , defend you -From seasons such as these ? O ! I have ta'en -Too little care of this . Take physic , pomp ; -Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel , -That thou mayst shake the superflux to them , -And show the heavens more just . - -Fathom and half , fathom and half ! Poor Tom ! - - -Come not in here , nuncle ; here's a spirit . -Help me ! help me ! - -Give me thy hand . Who's there ? - -A spirit , a spirit : he says his name's poor Tom . - -What art thou that dost grumble there i' the straw ? -Come forth . - - -Away ! the foul fiend follows me ! -Through the sharp hawthorn blow the winds . -Hum ! go to thy cold bed and warm thee . - -Didst thou give all to thy two daughters ? -And art thou come to this ? - -Who gives anything to poor Tom ? whom the foul fiend hath led through fire and through flame , through ford and whirlpool , o'er bog and quagmire ; that hath laid knives under his pillow , and halters in his pew ; set ratsbane by his porridge ; made him proud of heart , to ride on a bay trotting-horse over four-inched bridges , to course his own shadow for a traitor . Bless thy five wits ! Tom's a-cold . O ! do de , do de , do de . Bless thee from whirlwinds , starblasting , and taking ! Do poor Tom some charity , whom the foul fiend vexes . There could I have him now , and there , and there again , and there . - - -What ! have his daughters brought him to this pass ? -Couldst thou save nothing ? Didst thou give them all ? - -Nay , he reserved a blanket , else we had been all shamed . - -Now all the plagues that in the pendulous air -Hang fated o'er men's faults light on thy daughters ! - -He hath no daughters , sir . - -Death , traitor ! nothing could have subdu'd nature -To such a lowness , but his unkind daughters . -Is it the fashion that discarded fathers -Should have thus little mercy on their flesh ? -Judicious punishment ! 'twas this flesh begot -Those pelican daughters . - -Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill : -Halloo , halloo , loo , loo ! - -This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen . - -Take heed o' the foul fiend . Obey thy parents ; keep thy word justly ; swear not ; commit not with man's sworn spouse ; set not thy sweet heart on proud array . Tom's a-cold . - -What hast thou been ? - -A servingman , proud in heart and mind ; that curled my hair , wore gloves in my cap , served the lust of my mistress's heart , and did the act of darkness with her ; swore as many oaths as I spake words , and broke them in the sweet face of heaven ; one that slept in the contriving of lust , and waked to do it . Wine loved I deeply , dice dearly , and in woman out-paramoured the Turk : false of heart , light of ear , bloody of hand ; hog in sloth , fox in stealth , wolf in greediness , dog in madness , lion in prey . Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks betray thy poor heart to woman : keep thy foot out of brothels , thy hand out of plackets , thy pen from lenders' books , and defy the foul fiend . Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind ; says suum , mun ha no nonny . Dolphin my boy , my boy ; sessa ! let him trot by . - - -Why , thou wert better in thy grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies . Is man no more than this ? Consider him well . Thou owest the worm no silk , the beast no hide , the sheep no wool , the cat no perfume . Ha ! here's three on's are sophisticated ; thou art the thing itself ; unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor , bare , forked animal as thou art . Off , off , you lendings ! Come ; unbutton here . - - -Prithee , nuncle , be contented ; 'tis a naughty night to swim in . Now a little fire in a wide field were like an old lecher's heart ; a small spark , all the rest on's body cold . Look ! here comes a walking fire . - - -This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet : he begins at curfew , and walks till the first cock ; he gives the web and the pin , squints the eye , and makes the harelip ; mildews the white wheat , and hurts the poor creature of earth . - -Swithold footed thrice the old ; -He met the night-mare , and her nine-fold ; -Bid her alight , -And her troth plight , -And aroint thee , witch , aroint thee ! - - -How fares your Grace ? - -What's he ? - -Who's there ? What is't you seek ? - -What are you there ? Your names ? - -Poor Tom ; that eats the swimming frog ; the toad , the tadpole , the wall-newt , and the water ; that in the fury of his heart , when the foul fiend rages , eats cow-dung for sallets ; swallows the old rat and the ditch-dog ; drinks the green mantle of the standing pool ; who is whipped from tithing to tithing , and stock-punished , and imprisoned ; who hath had three suits to his back , six shirts to his body , horse to ride , and weapon to wear ; - -But mice and rats and such small deer -Have been Tom's food for seven long year . - -Beware my follower . Peace , Smulkin ! peace , thou fiend . - -What ! hath your Grace no better company ? - -The prince of darkness is a gentleman ; -Modo he's call'd , and Mahu . - -Our flesh and blood , my lord , is grown so vile , -That it doth hate what gets it . - -Poor Tom's a-cold . - -Go in with me . My duty cannot suffer -To obey in all your daughters' hard commands : -Though their injunction be to bar my doors , -And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you , -Yet have I ventur'd to come seek you out -And bring you where both fire and food is ready . - -First let me talk with this philosopher . -What is the cause of thunder ? - -Good my lord , take his offer ; go into the house . - -I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban . -What is your study ? - -How to prevent the fiend , and to kill vermin . - -Let me ask you one word in private . - -Importune him once more to go , my lord ; -His wits begin to unsettle . - -Canst thou blame him ? - -His daughters seek his death . Ah ! that good Kent ; -He said it would be thus , poor banish'd man ! -Thou sayst the king grows mad ; I'll tell thee , friend , -I am almost mad myself . I had a son , -Now outlaw'd from my blood ; he sought my life , -But lately , very late ; I lov'd him , friend , -No father his son dearer ; true to tell thee , - -The grief hath craz'd my wits . What a night's this ! -I do beseech your Grace , - -O ! cry you mercy , sir . -Noble philosopher , your company . - -Tom's a-cold . - -In , fellow , there , into the hovel : keep thee warm . - -Come , let's in all . - -This way , my lord . - -With him ; -I will keep still with my philosopher . - -Good my lord , soothe him ; let him take the fellow . - -Take him you on . - -Sirrah , come on ; go along with us . - -Come , good Athenian . - -No words , no words : hush . - - -Child Rowland to the dark tower came , -His word was still , Fie , foh , and fum , -I smell the blood of a British man . - -I will have my revenge ere I depart his house . - -How , my lord , I may be censured , that nature thus gives way to loyalty , something fears me to think of . - -I now perceive it was not altogether your brother's evil disposition made him seek his death ; but a provoking merit , set a-work by a reproveable badness in himself . - -How malicious is my fortune , that I must repent to be just ! This is the letter he spoke of , which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France . O heavens ! that this treason were not , or not I the detector ! - -Go with me to the duchess . - -If the matter of this paper be certain , you have mighty business in hand . - -True , or false , it hath made thee Earl of Gloucester . Seek out where thy father is , that he may be ready for our apprehension . - -If I find him comforting the king , it will stuff his suspicion more fully . I will persever in my course of loyalty , though the conflict be sore between that and my blood . - -I will lay trust upon thee ; and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love . - - -Here is better than the open air ; take it thankfully . I will piece out the comfort with what addition I can : I will not be long from you . - -All the power of his wits has given way to his impatience . The gods reward your kindness ! - - -Frateretto calls me , and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness . Pray , innocent , and beware the foul fiend . - -Prithee , nuncle , tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman ! - -A king , a king ! - -No ; he's a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son ; for he's a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him . - -To have a thousand with red burning spits -Come hizzing in upon 'em , - -The foul fiend bites my back . - -He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf , a horse's health , a boy's love , or a whore's oath . - -It shall be done ; I will arraign them straight . - - -Come , sit thou here , most learned justicer ; - - -Thou , sapient sir , sit here . Now , you she foxes ! - -Look , where he stands and glares ! wantest thou eyes at trial , madam ? -Come o'er the bourn , Bessy , to me , - - -Her boat hath a leak , -And she must not speak -Why she dares not come over to thee . - - -The foul fiend haunts poor Tom in the voice of a nightingale . Hopdance cries in Tom's belly for two white herring . Croak not , black angel ; I have no food for thee . - -How do you , sir ? Stand you not so amaz'd : -Will you lie down and rest upon the cushions ? - -I'll see their trial first . Bring in their evidence . - - -Thou robed man of justice , take thy place ; - - -And thou , his yoke-fellow of equity , -Bench by his side . - -You are o' the commission , -Sit you too . - -Let us deal justly . - -Sleepest or wakest thou , jolly shepherd ? -Thy sheep be in the corn , -And for one blast of thy minikin mouth , -Thy sheep shall take no harm . - -Purr ! the cat is grey . - -Arraign her first ; 'tis Goneril . I here take my oath before this honourable assembly , she kicked the poor king her father . - -Come hither , mistress . Is your name Goneril ? - -She cannot deny it . - -Cry you mercy , I took you for a joint-stool . - -And here's another , whose warp'd looks proclaim -What store her heart is made on . Stop her there ! -Arms , arms , sword , fire ! Corruption in the place ! -False justicer , why hast thou let her 'scape ? - -Bless thy five wits ! - -O pity ! Sir , where is the patience now -That you so oft have boasted to retain ? - -My tears begin to take his part so much , -They'll mar my counterfeiting . - -The little dogs and all , -Tray , Blanch , and Sweet-heart , see , they bark at me . - -Tom will throw his head at them . -Avaunt , you curs ! - -Be thy mouth or black or white , -Tooth that poisons if it bite ; -Mastiff , greyhound , mongrel grim , -Hound or spaniel , brach or lym ; -Or bobtail tike or trundle-tail ; -Tom will make them weep and wail : -For , with throwing thus my head , -Dogs leap the hatch , and all are fled . - -Do de , de , de . Sessa ! Come , march to wakes and fairs and market-towns . Poor Tom , thy horn is dry . - -Then let them anatomize Regan , see what breeds about her heart . Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts ? - -You , sir , I entertain you for one of my hundred ; only I do not like the fashion of your garments : you will say , they are Persian attire ; but let them be changed . - -Now , good my lord , lie here and rest awhile . - -Make no noise , make no noise ; draw the curtains : so , so , so . We'll go to supper i' the morning : so , so , so . - -And I'll go to bed at noon . - - -Come hither , friend : where is the king my master ? - -Here , sir ; but trouble him not , his wits are gone . - -Good friend , I prithee , take him in thy arms ; -I have o'erheard a plot of death upon him . -There is a litter ready ; lay him in 't , -And drive toward Dover , friend , where thou shalt meet -Both welcome and protection . Take up thy master : -If thou shouldst dally half an hour , his life , -With thine , and all that offer to defend him , -Stand in assured loss . Take up , take up ; -And follow me , that will to some provision -Give thee quick conduct . - -Oppress'd nature sleeps : -This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken sinews , -Which , if convenience will not allow , -Stand in hard cure . - -Come , help to bear thy master ; -Thou must not stay behind . - -Come , come , away . - - -When we our betters see bearing our woes , -We scarcely think our miseries our foes . -Who alone suffers suffers most i' the mind , -Leaving free things and happy shows behind ; -But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip , -When grief hath mates , and bearing fellowship . -How light and portable my pain seems now , -When that which makes me bend makes the king bow ; -He childed as I father'd ! Tom , away ! -Mark the high noises , and thyself bewray -When false opinion , whose wrong thought defiles thee , -In thy just proof repeals and reconciles thee . -What will hap more to-night , safe 'scape the king ! -Lurk , lurk . - - -Post speedily to my lord your husband ; show him this letter : the army of France is landed . Seek out the traitor Gloucester . - - -Hang him instantly . - -Pluck out his eyes . - -Leave him to my displeasure . Edmund , keep you our sister company : the revenges we are bound to take upon your traitorous father are not fit for your beholding . Advise the duke , where you are going , to a most festinate preparation : we are bound to the like . Our posts shall be swift and intelligent betwixt us . Farewell , dear sister : farewell , my Lord of Gloucester . - -How now ? Where's the king ? - -My Lord of Gloucester hath convey'd him hence : -Some five or six and thirty of his knights , -Hot questrists after him , met him at gate ; -Who , with some other of the lord's dependants , -Are gone with him toward Dover , where they boast -To have well-armed friends . - -Get horses for your mistress . - -Farewell , sweet lord , and sister . - -Edmund , farewell . - -Go seek the traitor Gloucester , -Pinion him like a thief , bring him before us . - -Though well we may not pass upon his life -Without the form of justice , yet our power -Shall do a courtesy to our wrath , which men -May blame but not control . Who's there ? The traitor ? - - -Ingrateful fox ! 'tis he . - -Bind fast his corky arms . - -What mean your Graces ? Good my friends , consider -You are my guests : do me no foul play , friends - -Bind him , I say . - - -Hard , hard . O filthy traitor ! - -Unmerciful lady as you are , I'm none . - -To this chair bind him . Villain , thou shalt find - - -By the kind gods , 'tis most ignobly done -To pluck me by the beard . - -So white , and such a traitor ! - -Naughty lady , -These hairs , which thou dost ravish from my chin , -Will quicken , and accuse thee : I am your host : -With robbers' hands my hospitable favours -You should not ruffle thus . What will you do ? - -Come , sir , what letters had you late from France ? - -Be simple-answer'd , for we know the truth . - -And what confederacy have you with the traitors -Late footed in the kingdom ? - -To whose hands have you sent the lunatic king ? -Speak . - -I have a letter guessingly set down , -Which came from one that's of a neutral heart , -And not from one oppos'd . - -Cunning . - -And false . - -Where hast thou sent the king ? - -To Dover . - -Wherefore to Dover ? Wast thou not charg'd at peril - -Wherefore to Dover ? Let him answer that . - -I am tied to the stake , and I must stand the course . - -Wherefore to Dover ? - -Because I would not see thy cruel nails -Pluck out his poor old eyes ; nor thy fierce sister -In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs . -The sea , with such a storm as his bare head -In hell-black night endur'd , would have buoy'd up , -And quench'd the stelled fires ; -Yet , poor old heart , he holp the heavens to rain . -If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that dern time , -Thou shouldst have said , 'Good porter , turn the key ,' -All cruels else subscrib'd : but I shall see -The winged vengeance overtake such children . - -See 't shalt thou never . Fellows , hold the chair . -Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot . - -He that will think to live till he be old , -Give me some help ! O cruel ! O ye gods ! - - -One side will mock another ; the other too . - -If you see vengeance . - -Hold your hand , my lord : -I have serv'd you ever since I was a child , -But better service have I never done you -Than now to bid you hold . - -How now , you dog ! - -If you did wear a beard upon your chin , -I'd shake it on this quarrel . What do you mean ? - -My villain ! - - -Nay then , come on , and take the chance of anger . - - -Give me thy sword . A peasant stand up thus ! - - -O ! I am slain . My lord , you have one eye left -To see some mischief on him . O ! - - -Lest it see more , prevent it . Out , vile jelly ! -Where is thy lustre now ? - -All dark and comfortless . Where's my son Edmund ? -Edmund , enkindle all the sparks of nature -To quit this horrid act . - -Out , treacherous villain ! -Thou call'st on him that hates thee ; it was he -That made the overture of thy treasons to us , -Who is too good to pity thee . - -O my follies ! Then Edgar was abus'd . -Kind gods , forgive me that , and prosper him ! - -Go thrust him out at gates , and let him smell -His way to Dover . - -How is 't , my lord ? How look you ? - -I have receiv'd a hurt . Follow me , lady . -Turn out that eyeless villain ; throw this slave -Upon the dunghill . Regan , I bleed apace : -Untimely comes this hurt . Give me your arm . - - -I'll never care what wickedness I do -If this man come to good . - -If she live long , -And , in the end , meet the old course of death , -Women will all turn monsters . - -Let's follow the old earl , and get the Bedlam -To lead him where he would : his roguish madness -Allows itself to any thing . - -Go thou ; I'll fetch some flax , and whites of eggs , -To apply to his bleeding face . Now , heaven help him ! - -Yet better thus , and known to be contemn'd , -Than still contemn'd and flatter'd . To be worst , -The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune , -Stands still in esperance , lives not in fear : -The lamentable change is from the best ; -The worst returns to laughter . Welcome , then , -Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace : -The wretch that thou hast blown unto the worst -Owes nothing to thy blasts . But who comes here ? - - -My father , poorly led ? World , world , O world ! -But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee , - -Life would not yield to age . - -O my good lord ! -I have been your tenant , and your father's tenant , -These fourscore years . - -Away , get thee away ; good friend , be gone ; -Thy comforts can do me no good at all ; -Thee they may hurt . - -You cannot see your way . - -I have no way , and therefore want no eyes ; -I stumbled when I saw . Full oft 'tis seen , -Our means secure us , and our mere defects -Prove our commodities . Ah ! dear son Edgar . -The food of thy abused father's wrath ; -Might I but live to see thee in my touch , -I'd say I had eyes again . - -How now ! Who's there ? - -O gods ! Who is 't can say , 'I am at the worst ?' -I am worse than e'er I was . - -'Tis poor mad Tom . - -And worse I may be yet ; the worst is not , -So long as we can say , 'This is the worst .' - -Fellow , where goest ? - -Is it a beggar-man ? - -Madman and beggar too . - -He has some reason , else he could not beg . -I' the last night's storm I such a fellow saw , -Which made me think a man a worm : my son -Came then into my mind ; and yet my mind -Was then scarce friends with him : I have heard more since . -As flies to wanton boys , are we to the gods ; -They kill us for their sport . - -How should this be ? -Bad is the trade that must play fool to sorrow , -Angering itself and others . - -Bless thee , master ! - -Is that the naked fellow ? - -Ay , my lord . - -Then , prithee , get thee gone . If , for my sake , -Thou wilt o'ertake us , hence a mile or twain , -I' the way toward Dover , do it for ancient love ; -And bring some covering for this naked soul -Who I'll entreat to lead me . - -Alack , sir ! he is mad . - -'Tis the times' plague , when madmen lead the blind . -Do as I bid thee , or rather do thy pleasure ; -Above the rest , be gone . - -I'll bring him the best 'parel that I have , -Come on 't what will . - - -Sirrah , naked fellow , - -Poor Tom's a-cold . - -I cannot daub it further . - -Come hither , fellow . - -And yet I must . Bless thy sweet eyes , they bleed . - -Know'st thou the way to Dover ? - -Both stile and gate , horse-way and footpath . Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits : bless thee , good man's son , from the foul fiend ! Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once ; of lust , as Obidicut ; Hobbididance , prince of dumbness ; Mahu , of stealing ; Modo , of murder ; and Flibbertigibbet , of mopping and mowing ; who since possesses chambermaids and waiting-women . So , bless thee , master ! - -Here , take this purse , thou whom the heavens' plagues -Have humbled to all strokes : that I am wretched -Makes thee the happier : heavens , deal so still ! -Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man , -That slaves your ordinance , that will not see -Because he doth not feel , feel your power quickly ; -So distribution should undo excess , -And each man have enough . Dost thou know Dover ? - -Ay , master . - -There is a cliff , whose high and bending head -Looks fearfully in the confined deep ; -Bring me but to the very brim of it , -And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear ; -With something rich about me ; from that place -I shall no leading need . - -Give me thy arm : -Poor Tom shall lead thee . - - -Welcome , my lord ; I marvel our mild husband -Not met us on the way . - -Now , where's your master ? - -Madam , within ; but never man so chang'd . -I told him of the army that was landed ; -He smil'd at it : I told him you were coming ; -His answer was , 'The worse :' of Gloucester's treachery , -And of the loyal service of his son , -When I inform'd him , then he call'd me sot , -And told me I had turn'd the wrong side out : -What most he should dislike seems pleasant to him ; -What like , offensive . - -Then , shall you go no further . -It is the cowish terror of his spirit -That dares not undertake ; he'll not feel wrongs -Which tie him to an answer . Our wishes on the way -May prove effects . Back , Edmund , to my brother ; -Hasten his musters and conduct his powers : -I must change arms at home , and give the distaff -Into my husband's hands . This trusty servant -Shall pass between us ; ere long you are like to hear , -If you dare venture in your own behalf , -A mistress's command . Wear this ; spare speech ; - -Decline your head : this kiss , if it durst speak , -Would stretch thy spirits up into the air . -Conceive , and fare thee well . - -Yours in the ranks of death . - -My most dear Gloucester ! - -O ! the difference of man and man ! -To thee a woman's services are due : -My fool usurps my bed . - -Madam , here comes my lord . - -I have been worth the whistle . - -O Goneril ! -You are not worth the dust which the rude wind -Blows in your face . I fear your disposition : -That nature , which contemns its origin , -Cannot be border'd certain in itself ; -She that herself will sliver and disbranch -From her material sap , perforce must wither -And come to deadly use . - -No more ; the text is foolish . - -Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile ; -Filths savour but themselves . What have you done ? -Tigers , not daughters , what have you perform'd ? -A father , and a gracious aged man , -Whose reverence the head-lugg'd bear would lick , -Most barbarous , most degenerate ! have you madded . -Could my good brother suffer you to do it ? -A man , a prince , by him so benefited ! -If that the heavens do not their visible spirits -Send quickly down to tame these vile offences , -It will come , -Humanity must perforce prey on itself , -Like monsters of the deep . - -Milk-liver'd man ! -That bear'st a cheek for blows , a head for wrongs ; -Who hast not in thy brows an eye discerning -Thine honour from thy suffering ; that not know'st -Fools do those villains pity who are punish'd -Ere they have done their mischief . Where's thy drum ? -France spreads his banners in our noiseless land , -With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats , -Whilst thou , a moral fool , sitt'st still , and criest -'Alack ! why does he so ?' - -See thyself , devil ! -Proper deformity seems not in the fiend -So horrid as in woman . - -O vain fool ! - -Thou changed and self-cover'd thing , for shame , -Be-monster not thy feature . Were 't my fitness -To let these hands obey my blood , -They are apt enough to dislocate and tear -Thy flesh and bones ; howe'er thou art a fiend , -A woman's shape doth shield thee . - -Marry , your manhood .Mew ! - - -What news ? - -O ! my good lord , the Duke of Cornwall's dead ; -Slain by his servant , going to put out -The other eye of Gloucester . - -Gloucester's eyes ! - -A servant that he bred , thrill'd with remorse , -Oppos'd against the act , bending his sword -To his great master ; who , thereat enrag'd , -Flew on him , and amongst them fell'd him dead ; -But not without that harmful stroke , which since -Hath pluck'd him after . - -This shows you are above , -You justicers , that these our nether crimes -So speedily can venge ! But , O poor Gloucester ! -Lost he his other eye ? - -Both , both , my lord . -This letter , madam , craves a speedy answer ; -'Tis from your sister . - -One way I like this well ; -But being widow , and my Gloucester with her , -May all the building in my fancy pluck -Upon my hateful life : another way , -This news is not so tart . - -I'll read and answer . - - -Where was his son when they did take his eyes ? - -Come with my lady hither . - -He is not here . - -No , my good lord ; I met him back again . - -Knows he the wickedness ? - -Ay , my good lord ; 'twas he inform'd against him , -And quit the house on purpose that their punishment -Might have the freer course . - -Gloucester , I live -To thank thee for the love thou show'dst the king , -And to revenge thine eyes . Come hither , friend : -Tell me what more thou knowest . - - -Why the King of France is so suddenly gone back know you the reason ? - -Something he left imperfect in the state , which since his coming forth is thought of ; which imports to the kingdom so much fear and danger , that his personal return was most required and necessary . - -Who hath he left behind him general ? - -The Marshal of France , Monsieur la Far . - -Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief ? - -Ay , sir ; she took them , read them in my presence ; -And now and then an ample tear trill'd down -Her delicate cheek ; it seem'd she was a queen -Over her passion ; who , most rebel-like , -Sought to be king o'er her . - -O ! then it mov'd her . - -Not to a rage ; patience and sorrow strove -Who should express her goodliest . You have seen -Sunshine and rain at once ; her smiles and tears -Were like a better way ; those happy smilets -That play'd on her ripe lip seem'd not to know -What guests were in her eyes ; which parted thence , -As pearls from diamonds dropp'd . In brief , -Sorrow would be a rarity most belov'd , -If all could so become it . - -Made she no verbal question ? - -Faith , once or twice she heav'd the name of 'father' -Pantingly forth , as if it press'd her heart ; -Cried , 'Sisters ! sisters ! Shame of ladies ! sisters ! -Kent ! father ! sisters ! What , i' the storm ? i' the night ? -Let pity not be believed !' There she shook -The holy water from her heavenly eyes , -And clamour-moisten'd , then away she started -To deal with grief alone . - -It is the stars , -The stars above us , govern our conditions ; -Else one self mate and make could not beget -Such different issues . You spoke not with her since ? - -No . - -Was this before the king return'd ? - -No , since . - -Well , sir , the poor distress'd Lear's i' the town , -Who sometime , in his better tune , remembers -What we are come about , and by no means -Will yield to see his daughter . - -Why , good sir ? - -A sovereign shame so elbows him : his own unkindness , -That stripp'd her from his benediction , turn'd her -To foreign casualties , gave her dear rights -To his dog-hearted daughters ,these things sting -His mind so venomously that burning shame -Detains him from Cordelia . - -Alack ! poor gentleman . - -Of Albany's and Cornwall's powers you heard not ? - -'Tis so , they are afoot . - -Well , sir , I'll bring you to our master Lear , -And leave you to attend him . Some dear cause -Will in concealment wrap me up awhile ; -When I am known aright , you shall not grieve -Lending me this acquaintance . I pray you , go -Along with me . - - -Alack ! 'tis he : why , he was met even now -As mad as the vex'd sea ; singing aloud ; -Crown'd with rank fumiter and furrow weeds , -With burdocks , hemlock , nettles , cuckoo-flowers , -Darnel , and all the idle weeds that grow -In our sustaining corn . A century send forth ; -Search every acre in the high-grown field , -And bring him to our eye . - -What can man's wisdom -In the restoring his bereaved sense ? -He that helps him take all my outward worth . - -There is means , madam ; -Our foster-nurse of nature is repose , -The which he lacks ; that to provoke in him , -Are many simples operative , whose power -Will close the eye of anguish . - -All bless'd secrets , -All you unpublish'd virtues of the earth , -Spring with my tears ! be aidant and remediate -In the good man's distress ! Seek , seek for him , -Lest his ungovern'd rage dissolve the life -That wants the means to lead it . - - -News , madam ; -The British powers are marching hitherward . - -'Tis known before ; our preparation stands -In expectation of them . O dear father ! -It is thy business that I go about ; -Therefore great France -My mourning and important tears hath pitied , -No blown ambition doth our arms incite , -But love , dear love , and our ag'd father's right , -Soon may I hear and see him ! - - -But are my brother's powers set forth ? - -Ay , madam . - -Himself in person there ? - -Madam , with much ado : -Your sister is the better soldier . - -Lord Edmund spake not with your lord at home ? - -No , madam . - -What might import my sister's letter to him ? - -I know not , lady . - -Faith , he is posted hence on serious matter . -It was great ignorance , Gloucester's eyes being out , -To let him live ; where he arrives he moves -All hearts against us . Edmund , I think , is gone , -In pity of his misery , to dispatch -His nighted life ; moreover , to descry -The strength o' the enemy . - -I must needs after him , madam , with my letter . - -Our troops set forth to-morrow ; stay with us , -The ways are dangerous . - -I may not , madam ; -My lady charg'd my duty in this business . - -Why should she write to Edmund ? Might not you -Transport her purposes by word ? Belike , -Something I know not what . I'll love thee much , -Let me unseal the letter . - -Madam , I had rather - -I know your lady does not love her husband ; -I am sure of that : and at her late being here -She gave strange ceilliades and most speaking looks -To noble Edmund . I know you are of her bosom . - -I , madam ! - -I speak in understanding ; you are , I know't : -Therefore I do advise you , take this note : -My lord is dead ; Edmund and I have talk'd , -And more convenient is he for my hand -Than for your lady's . You may gather more . -If you do find him , pray you , give him this , -And when your mistress hears thus much from you , -I pray desire her call her wisdom to her : -So , fare you well . -If you do chance to hear of that blind traitor , -Preferment falls on him that cuts him off . - -Would I could meet him , madam : I would show -What party I do follow . - -Fare thee well . - - -When shall I come to the top of that same hill ? - -You do climb up it now ; look how we labour . - -Methinks the ground is even . - -Horrible steep : -Hark ! do you hear the sea ? - -No , truly . - -Why , then you other senses grow imperfect -By your eyes' anguish . - -So may it be , indeed . -Methinks thy voice is alter'd , and thou speak'st -In better phrase and matter than thou didst . - -Y'are much deceiv'd ; in nothing am I chang'd -But in my garments . - -Methinks you're better spoken . - -Come on , sir ; here's the place : stand still . -How fearful -And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! -The crows and choughs that wing the midway air -Show scarce so gross as beetles ; half way down -Hangs one that gathers samphire , dreadful trade ! -Methinks he seems no bigger than his head . -The fishermen that walk upon the beach -Appear like mice , and yond tall anchoring bark -Diminish'd to her cock , her cock a buoy -Almost too small for sight . The murmuring surge , -That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes , -Cannot be heard so high . I'll look no more , -Lest my brain turn , and the deficient sight -Topple down headlong . - -Set me where you stand . - -Give me your hand ; you are now within a foot -Of the extreme verge : for all beneath the moon -Would I not leap upright . - -Let go my hand . -Here , friend , 's another purse ; in it a jewel -Well worth a poor man's taking : fairies and gods -Prosper it with thee ! Go thou further off ; -Bid me farewell , and let me hear thee going . - -Now fare you well , good sir . - - -With all my heart . - -Why I do trifle thus with his despair -Is done to cure it . - -O you mighty gods ! -This world I do renounce , and , in your sights , -Shake patiently my great affliction off ; -If I could bear it longer , and not fall -To quarrel with your great opposeless wills , -My snuff and loathed part of nature should -Burn itself out . If Edgar live , O , bless him ! -Now , fellow , fare thee well . - - -Gone , sir : farewell . - - -And yet I know not how conceit may rob -The treasury of life when life itself -Yields to the theft ; had he been where he thought -By this had thought been past . Alive or dead ? - - -Ho , you sir ! friend ! Hear you , sir ? speak ! -Thus might he pass indeed ; yet he revives . -What are you , sir ? - -Away and let me die . - -Hadst thou been aught but gossamer , feathers , air , -So many fathom down precipitating , -Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg ; but thou dost breathe , -Hast heavy substance , bleed'st not , speak'st , art sound . -Ten masts at each make not the altitude -Which thou hast perpendicularly fell : -Thy life's a miracle . Speak yet again . - -But have I fallen or no ? - -From the dread summit of this chalky bourn . -Look up a-height ; the shrill-gorg'd lark so far -Cannot be seen or heard : do but look up . - -Alack ! I have no eyes . -Is wretchedness depriv'd that benefit -To end itself by death ? 'Twas yet some comfort , -When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage , -And frustrate his proud will . - -Give me your arm : -Up : so . How is 't ? Feel you your legs ? You stand . - -Too well , too well . - -This is above all strangeness . -Upon the crown o' the cliff , what thing was that -Which parted from you ? - -A poor unfortunate beggar . - -As I stood here below methought his eyes -Were two full moons ; he had a thousand noses , -Horns whelk'd and wav'd like the enridged sea : -It was some fiend ; therefore , thou happy father , -Think that the clearest gods , who make them honours -Of men's impossibilities , have preserv'd thee . - -I do remember now ; henceforth I'll bear -Affliction till it do cry out itself -'Enough , enough ,' and die . That thing you speak of -I took it for a man ; often 'twould say -'The fiend , the fiend :' he led me to that place . - -Bear free and patient thoughts . But who comes here ? - - -The safer sense will ne'er accommodate - -His master thus . - -No , they cannot touch me for coining ; -I am the king himself . - -O thou side-piercing sight ! - -Nature's above art in that respect . There's your press-money . That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper : draw me a clothier's yard . Look , look ! a mouse . Peace , peace ! this piece of toasted cheese will do 't . There's my gauntlet ; I'll prove it on a giant . Bring up the brown bills . O ! well flown , bird ; i' the clout , i' the clout : hewgh ! Give the word . - -Sweet marjoram . - -Pass . - -I know that voice . - -Ha ! Goneril , with a white beard ! They flatter'd me like a dog , and told me I had white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there . To say 'ay' and 'no' to everything I said ! 'Ay' and 'no' too was no good divinity . When the rain came to wet me once and the wind to make me chatter , when the thunder would not peace at my bidding , there I found 'em , there I smelt 'em out . Go to , they are not men o' their words : they told me I was every thing ; 'tis a lie , I am not ague-proof . - -The trick of that voice I do well remember : -Is 't not the king ? - -Ay , every inch a king : -When I do stare , see how the subject quakes . -I pardon that man's life . What was thy cause ? -Adultery ? -Thou shalt not die : die for adultery ! No : -The wren goes to 't , and the small gilded fly -Does lecher in my sight . -Let copulation thrive ; for Gloucester's bastard son -Was kinder to his father than my daughters -Got 'tween the lawful sheets . -To 't luxury , pell-mell ! for I lack soldiers . -Behold yond simpering dame , -Whose face between her forks presageth snow ; -That minces virtue , and does shake the head -To hear of pleasure's name ; -The fitchew nor the soiled horse goes to 't -With a more riotous appetite . -Down from the waist they are Centaurs , -Though women all above : -But to the girdle do the gods inherit , -Beneath is all the fiends' : -There's hell , there's darkness , there is the sulphurous pit , -Burning , scalding , stench , consumption ; fie , fie , fie ! pah , pah ! Give me an ounce of civet , good apothecary , to sweeten my imagination : there's money for thee . - -O ! let me kiss that hand ! - -Let me wipe it first ; it smells of mortality . - -O ruin'd piece of nature ! This great world -Shall so wear out to nought . Dost thou know me ? - -I remember thine eyes well enough . -Dost thou squiny at me ? No , do thy worst , blind Cupid ; I'll not love . Read thou this challenge ; mark but the penning of it . - -Were all the letters suns , I could not see . - -I would not take this from report ; it is , -And my heart breaks at it . - -Read . - -What ! with the case of eyes ? - -O , ho ! are you there with me ? No eyes in your head , nor no money in your purse ? Your eyes are in a heavy case , your purse in a light : yet you see how this world goes . - -I see it feelingly . - -What ! art mad ? A man may see how this world goes with no eyes . Look with thine ears : see how yound justice rails upon yon simple thief . Hark , in thine ear : change places ; and , handy-dandy , which is the justice , which is the thief ? Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar ? - -Ay , sir . - -And the creature run from the cur ? There thou mightst behold the great image of authority ; a dog's obey'd in office . -Thou rascal beadle , hold thy bloody hand ! -Why dost thou lash that whore ? Strip thine own back ; -Thou hotly lust'st to use her in that kind -For which thou whipp'st her . The usurer hangs the cozener . -Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear ; -Robes and furr'd gowns hide all . Plate sin with gold , -And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks ; -Arm it in rags , a pigmy's straw doth pierce it . -None does offend , none , I say none ; I'll able 'em : -Take that of me , my friend , who have the power -To seal the accuser's lips . Get thee glass eyes ; -And , like a scurvy politician , seem -To see the things thou dost not . Now , now , now , now ; -Pull off my boots ; harder , harder ; so . - -O ! matter and impertinency mix'd ; -Reason in madness ! - -If thou wilt weep my fortunes , take my eyes ; -I know thee well enough ; thy name is Gloucester : -Thou must be patient ; we came crying hither : -Thou know'st the first time that we smell the air -We waul and cry . I will preach to thee : mark . - -Alack ! alack the day ! - -When we are born , we cry that we are come -To this great stage of fools . This' a good block ! -It were a delicate stratagem to shoe -A troop of horse with felt ; I'll put it in proof , -And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in-law , -Then , kill , kill , kill , kill , kill , kill ! - - -O ! here he is ; lay hand upon him . Sir , -Your most dear daughter - -No rescue ? What ! a prisoner ? I am even -The natural fool of fortune . Use me well ; -You shall have ransom . Let me have surgeons ; -I am cut to the brains . - -You shall have any thing . - -No seconds ? All myself ? -Why this would make a man a man of salt , -To use his eyes for garden water-pots , -Ay , and laying autumn's dust . - -Good sir , - -I will die bravely as a bridegroom . What ! -I will be jovial : come , come ; I am a king , -My masters , know you that ? - -You are a royal one , and we obey you . - -Then there's life in it . Nay , an you get it , you shall get it by running . Sa , sa , sa , sa - - -A sight most pitiful in the meanest wretch , -Past speaking of in a king ! Thou hast one daughter , -Who redeems nature from the general curse -Which twain have brought her to . - -Hail , gentle sir ! - -Sir , speed you : what's your will ? - -Do you hear aught , sir , of a battle toward ? - -Most sure and vulgar ; every one hears that , -Which can distinguish sound . - -But , by your favour , -How near's the other army ? - -Near , and on speedy foot ; the main descry -Stands on the hourly thought . - -I thank you , sir : that's all - -Though that the queen on special cause is here , -Her army is mov'd on . - -I thank you , sir . - - -You ever-gentle gods , take my breath from me : -Let not my worser spirit tempt me again -To die before you please ! - -Well pray you , father . - -Now , good sir , what are you ? - -A most poor man , made tame to fortune's blows ; -Who , by the art of known and feeling sorrows , -Am pregnant to good pity . Give me your hand , -I'll lead you to some biding . - -Hearty thanks : -The bounty and the benison of heaven -To boot , and boot ! - - -A proclaim'd prize ! Most happy ! -That eyeless head of thine was first fram'd flesh -To raise my fortunes . Thou old unhappy traitor , -Briefly thyself remember : the sword in out -That must destroy thee . - -Now let thy friendly hand -Put strength enough to 't . - - -Wherefore , bold peasant , -Dar'st thou support a publish'd traitor ? Hence ; -Lest that infection of his fortune take -Like hold on thee . Let go his arm . - -Chill not let go , zur , without vurther 'casion . - -Let go , slave , or thou diest . - -Good gentleman , go your gait , and let poor volk pass . An chud ha' bin zwaggered out of my life , 'twould not ha' bin zo long as 'tis by a vortnight . Nay , come not near th' old man ; keep out , che vor ye , or ise try whether your costard or my ballow be the harder . Chill be plain with you . - -Out , dunghill ! - -Chill pick your teeth , zur . Come ; no matter vor your foins . - - -Slave , thou hast slain me . Villain , take my purse . -If ever thou wilt thrive , bury my body ; -And give the letters which thou find'st about me -To Edmund Earl of Gloucester ; seek him out -Upon the English party : O ! untimely death . - - -I know thee well : a serviceable villain ; -As duteous to the vices of thy mistress -As badness would desire . - -What ! is he dead ? - -Sit you down , father ; rest you . -Let's see his pockets : these letters that he speaks of -May be my friends . He's dead ; I am only sorry -He had no other deaths-man . Let us see : -Leave , gentle wax ; and , manners , blame us not : -To know our enemies' minds , we'd rip their hearts ; -Their papers , is more lawful . -Let our reciprocal vows be remembered . You have many opportunities to cut him off ; if your will want not , time and place will be fruitfully offered . There is nothing done if he return the conqueror ; then am I the prisoner , and his bed my gaol ; from the loathed warmth whereof deliver me , and supply the place for your labour . -Your wife , so I would say -Affectionate servant , -O undistinguish'd space of woman's will ! -A plot upon her virtuous husband's life , -And the exchange my brother ! Here , in the sands , -Thee I'll rake up , the post unsanctified -Of murderous lechers ; and in the mature time -With this ungracious paper strike the sight -Of the death-practis'd duke . For him 'tis well -That of thy death and business I can tell . - -The king is mad : how stiff is my vile sense , -That I stand up , and have ingenious feeling -Of my huge sorrows ! Better I were distract : -So should my thoughts be sever'd from my griefs , -And woes by wrong imaginations lose -The knowledge of themselves . - - -Give me your hand : -Far off , methinks , I hear the beaten drum . -Come , father , I'll bestow you with a friend . - - -O thou good Kent ! how shall I live and work -To match thy goodness ? My life will be too short , -And every measure fail me . - -To be acknowledg'd , madam , is o'erpaid . -All my reports go with the modest truth , -Nor more nor clipp'd , but so . - -Be better suited : -These weeds are memories of those worser hours : -I prithee , put them off . - -Pardon me , dear madam ; -Yet to be known shortens my made intent : -My boon I make it that you know me not -Till time and I think meet . - -Then be 't so , my good lord . - -How does the king ? - -Madam , sleeps still . - -O you kind gods , -Cure this great breach in his abused nature ! -The untun'd and jarring senses , O ! wind up -Of this child-changed father ! - -So please your majesty -That we may wake the king ? he hath slept long . - -Be govern'd by your knowledge , and proceed -I' the sway of your own will . Is he array'd ? - - -Ay , madam ; in the heaviness of sleep , -We put fresh garments on him . - -Be by , good madam , when we do awake him ; -I doubt not of his temperance . - -Very well . - - -Please you , draw near . Louder the music there . - -O my dear father ! Restoration , hang -Thy medicine on my lips , and let this kiss -Repair those violent harms that my two sisters -Have in thy reverence made ! - -Kind and dear princess ! - -Had you not been their father , these white flakes -Had challeng'd pity of them . Was this a face -To be expos'd against the warring winds ? -To stand against the deep dread-bolted thunder ? -In the most terrible and nimble stroke -Of quick cross lightning ? to watch poor perdu ! -With this thin helm ? Mine enemy's dog , -Though he had bit me , should have stood that night -Against my fire . And wast thou fain , poor father , -To hovel thee with swine and rogues forlorn , -In short and musty straw ? Alack , alack ! -'Tis wonder that thy life and wits at once -Had not concluded all . He wakes ; speak to him . - -Madam , do you ; 'tis fittest . - -How does my royal lord ? How fares your majesty ? - -You do me wrong to take me out o' the grave ; -Thou art a soul in bliss ; but I am bound -Upon a wheel of fire , that mine own tears -Do scald like molten lead . - -Sir , do you know me ? - -You are a spirit , I know ; when did you die ? - -Still , still , far wide . - -He's scarce awake ; let him alone awhile . - -Where have I been ? Where am I ? Fair day-light ? -I am mightily abus'd . I should even die with pity -To see another thus . I know not what to say . -I will not swear these are my hands : let's see ; -I feel this pin prick . Would I were assur'd -Of my condition ! - -O ! look upon me , sir , -And hold your hands in benediction o'er me . -No , sir , you must not kneel . - -Pray , do not mock me : -I am a very foolish fond old man , -Fourscore and upward , not an hour more or less ; -And , to deal plainly , -I fear I am not in my perfect mind . -Methinks I should know you and know this man ; -Yet I am doubtful : for I am mainly ignorant -What place this is , and all the skill I have -Remembers not these garments ; nor I know not -Where I did lodge last night . Do not laugh at me ; -For , as I am a man , I think this lady -To be my child Cordelia . - -And so I am , I am . - -Be your tears wet ? Yes , faith . I pray , weep not : -If you have poison for me , I will drink it . -I know you do not love me ; for your sisters -Have , as I do remember , done me wrong : -You have some cause , they have not . - -No cause , no cause . - -Am I in France ? - -In your own kingdom , sir . - -Do not abuse me . - -Be comforted , good madam ; the great rage , -You see , is kill'd in him ; and yet it is danger -To make him even o'er the time he has lost . -Desire him to go in ; trouble him no more -Till further settling . - -Will 't please your highness walk ? - -You must bear with me . -Pray you now , forget and forgive : I am old and foolish . - - -Holds it true , sir , that the Duke of Cornwall was so slain ? - -Most certain , sir . - -Who is conductor of his people ? - -As 'tis said , the bastard son of Gloucester . - -They say Edgar , his banished son , is with the Earl of Kent in Germany . - -Report is changeable . 'Tis time to look about ; the powers of the kingdom approach apace . - -The arbitrement is like to be bloody . -Fare you well , sir . - - -My point and period will be throughly wrought , -Or well or ill , as this day's battle's fought . - -Know of the duke if his last purpose hold , -Or whether since he is advis'd by aught -To change the course ; he's full of alteration -And self-reproving ; bring his constant pleasure . - - -Our sister's man is certainly miscarried . - -'Tis to be doubted , madam . - -Now , sweet lord , -You know the goodness I intend upon you : -Tell me , but truly , but then speak the truth , -Do you not love my sister ? - -In honour'd love . - -But have you never found my brother's way -To the forefended place ? - -That thought abuses you . - -I am doubtful that you have been conjunct -And bosom'd with her , as far as we call hers . - -No , by mine honour , madam . - -I never shall endure her : dear my lord , -Be not familiar with her . - -Fear me not . -She and the duke her husband ! - - -I had rather lose the battle than that sister -Should loosen him and me . - -Our very loving sister , well be-met . -Sir , this I heard , the king is come to his daughter , -With others ; whom the rigour of our state -Forc'd to cry out . Where I could not be honest -I never yet was valiant : for this business , -It toucheth us , as France invades our land , -Not bolds the king , with others , whom , I fear , -Most just and heavy causes make oppose . - -Sir , you speak nobly . - -Why is this reason'd ? - -Combine together 'gainst the enemy ; -For these domestic and particular broils -Are not the question here . - -Let's then determine -With the ancient of war on our proceeding . - -I shall attend you presently at your tent . - -Sister , you'll go with us ? - -No . - -'Tis most convenient ; pray you , go with us . - -O , ho ! I know the riddle . [Aloud .] I will go . - - -If e'er your Grace had speech with man so poor , -Hear me one word . - -I'll overtake you . Speak . - - -Before you fight the battle , ope this letter . -If you have victory , let the trumpet sound -For him that brought it : wretched though I seem , -I can produce a champion that will prove -What is avouched there . If you miscarry , -Your business of the world hath so an end , -And machination ceases . Fortune love you ! - -Stay till I have read the letter . - -I was forbid it . -When time shall serve , let but the herald cry , -And I'll appear again . - -Why , fare thee well : I will o'erlook thy paper . - -The enemy's in view ; draw up your powers . -Here is the guess of their true strength and forces -By diligent discovery ; but your haste -Is now urg'd on you . - -We will greet the time . - - -To both these sisters have I sworn my love ; -Each jealous of the other , as the stung -Are of the adder . Which of them shall I take ? -Both ? one ? or neither ? Neither can be enjoy'd -If both remain alive : to take the widow -Exasperates , makes mad her sister Goneril ; -And hardly shall I carry out my side , -Her husband being alive . Now then , we'll use -His countenance for the battle ; which being done -Let her who would be rid of him devise -His speedy taking off . As for the mercy -Which he intends to Lear , and to Cordelia , -The battle done , and they within our power , -Shall never see his pardon ; for my state -Stands on me to defend , not to debate . - -Here , father , take the shadow of this tree -For your good host ; pray that the right may thrive . -If ever I return to you again , -I'll bring you comfort . - -Grace go with you , sir ! - -Away , old man ! give me thy hand : away ! -King Lear hath lost , he and his daughter ta'en . -Give me thy hand ; come on . - -No further , sir ; a man may rot even here . - -What ! in ill thoughts again ? Men must endure -Their going hence , even as their coming hither : -Ripeness is all . Come on . - -And that's true too . - -Some officers take them away : good guard , -Until their greater pleasures first be known -That are to censure them . - -We are not the first -Who , with best meaning , have incurr'd the worst . -For thee , oppressed king , am I cast down ; -Myself could else out-frown false Fortune's frown . -Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters ? - -No , no , no , no ! Come , let's away to prison ; -We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage : -When thou dost ask me blessing , I'll kneel down , -And ask of thee forgiveness : so we'll live , -And pray , and sing , and tell old tales , and laugh -At gilded butterflies , and hear poor rogues -Talk of court news ; and we'll talk with them too , -Who loses and who wins ; who's in , who's out ; -And take upon's the mystery of things , -As if we were God's spies : and we'll wear out , -In a wall'd prison , packs and sets of great ones -That ebb and flow by the moon . - -Take them away . - -Upon such sacrifices , my Cordelia , -The gods themselves throw incense . Have I caught thee ? -He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven , -And fire us hence like foxes . Wipe thine eyes ; -The goujeres shall devour them , flesh and fell , -Ere they shall make us weep : we'll see 'em starve first . -Come . - - -Come hither , captain ; hark , -Take thou this note ; - -go follow them to prison : -One step I have advanc'd thee ; if thou dost -As this instructs thee , thou dost make thy way -To noble fortunes ; know thou this , that men -Are as the time is ; to be tender-minded -Does not become a sword ; thy great employment -Will not bear question ; either say thou'lt do't , -Or thrive by other means . - -I'll do't , my lord . - -About it ; and write happy when thou hast done . -Mark ,I say , instantly , and carry it so -As I have set it down . - -I cannot draw a cart nor eat dried oats ; -If it be man's work I will do it . - -Sir , you have show'd to-day your valiant strain , -And fortune led you well ; you have the captives -Who were the opposites of this day's strife ; -We do require them of you , so to use them -As we shall find their merits and our safety -May equally determine . - -Sir , I thought it fit -To send the old and miserable king -To some retention , and appointed guard ; -Whose age has charms in it , whose title more , -To pluck the common bosom on his side , -And turn our impress'd lances in our eyes -Which do command them . With him I sent the queen ; -My reason all the same ; and they are ready -To-morrow , or at further space , to appear -Where you shall hold your session . At this time -We sweat and bleed ; the friend hath lost his friend , -And the best quarrels , in the heat , are curs'd -By those that feel their sharpness ; -The question of Cordelia and her father -Requires a fitter place . - -Sir , by your patience , -I hold you but a subject of this war , -Not as a brother . - -That's as we list to grace him : -Methinks our pleasure might have been demanded , -Ere you had spoke so far . He led our powers , -Bore the commission of my place and person ; -The which immediacy may well stand up , -And call itself your brother . - -Not so hot ; -In his own grace he doth exalt himself -More than in your addition . - -In my rights , -By me invested , he compeers the best . - -That were the most , if he should husband you . - -Jesters do oft prove prophets . - -Holla , holla ! -That eye that told you so look'd but a-squint . - -Lady , I am not well ; else I should answer -From a full-flowing stomach . General , -Take thou my soldiers , prisoners , patrimony ; -Dispose of them , of me ; the walls are thine ; -Witness the world , that I create thee here -My lord and master . - -Mean you to enjoy him ? - -The let-alone lies not in your good will . - -Nor in thine , lord . - -Half-blooded fellow , yes . - -Let the drum strike , and prove my title thine . - -Stay yet ; hear reason . Edmund , I arrest thee -On capital treason ; and , in thy arrest , -This gilded serpent . - -For your claim , fair sister , -I bar it in the interest of my wife ; -'Tis she is sub-contracted to this lord , -And I , her husband , contradict your bans . -If you will marry , make your love to me , -My lady is bespoke . - -An interlude ! - -Thou art arm'd , Gloucester ; let the trumpet sound : -If none appear to prove upon thy person -Thy heinous , manifest , and many treasons , -There is my pledge ; - -I'll prove it on thy heart , -Ere I taste bread , thou art in nothing less -Than I have here proclaim'd thee . - -Sick ! O sick ! - -If not , I'll ne'er trust medicine . - -There's my exchange : - -what in the world he is -That names me traitor , villain-like be lies . -Call by thy trumpet : he that dares approach , -On him , on you , who not ? I will maintain -My truth and honour firmly . - -A herald , ho ! - -A herald , ho ! a herald ! - -Trust to thy single virtue ; for thy soldiers , -All levied in my name , have in my name -Took their discharge . - -My sickness grows upon me . - -She is not well ; convey her to my tent . - -Come hither , herald , - - -Let the trumpet sound , - -And read out this . - -Sound , trumpet ! - - -If any man of quality or degree within the lists of the army will maintain upon Edmund , supposed Earl of Gloucester , that he is a manifold traitor , let him appear at the third sound of the trumpet . He is bold in his defence . - -Sound ! - - -Again ! - - -Again ! - - -Ask him his purposes , why he appears -Upon this call o' the trumpet . - -What are you ? -Your name ? your quality ? and why you answer -This present summons ? - -Know , my name is lost ; -By treason's tooth bare-gnawn and canker-bit : -Yet am I noble as the adversary -I come to cope . - -Which is that adversary ? - -What's he that speaks for Edmund Earl of Gloucester ? - -Himself : what sayst thou to him ? - -Draw thy sword , -That , if my speech offend a noble heart , -Thy arm may do thee justice ; here is mine : -Behold , it is the privilege of mine honours , -My oath , and my profession : I protest , -Maugre thy strength , youth , place , and eminence , -Despite thy victor sword and fire-new fortune , -Thy valour and thy heart , thou art a traitor , -False to thy gods , thy brother , and thy father , -Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince , -And , from the extremest upward of thy head -To the descent and dust below thy foot , -A most toad-spotted traitor . Say thou 'No ,' -This sword , this arm , and my best spirits are bent -To prove upon thy heart , whereto I speak , -Thou liest . - -In wisdom I should ask thy name ; -But since thy outside looks so fair and war-like , -And that thy tongue some say of breeding breathes , -What safe and nicely I might well delay -By rule of knighthood , I disdain and spurn ; -Back do I toss these treasons to thy head , -With the hell-hated lie o'erwhelm thy heart , -Which , for they yet glance by and scarcely bruise , -This sword of mine shall give them instant way , -Where they shall rest for ever . Trumpets , speak ! - - -Save him , save him ! - -This is practice , Gloucester : -By the law of arms thou wast not bound to answer -An unknown opposite ; thou art not vanquish'd , -But cozen'd and beguil'd . - -Shut your mouth , dame , -Or with this paper shall I stop it . Hold , sir ; -Thou worse than any name , read thine own evil : -No tearing , lady ; I perceive you know it . - - -Say , if I do , the laws are mine , not thine : -Who can arraign me for 't ? - - -Most monstrous ! -Know'st thou this paper ? - -Ask me not what I know . - -Go after her : she's desperate ; govern her . - - -What you have charg'd me with , that have I done , -And more , much more ; the time will bring it out : -'Tis past , and so am I . But what art thou -That hast this fortune on me ? If thou'rt noble , -I do forgive thee . - -Let's exchange charity . -I am no less in blood than thou art , Edmund ; -If more , the more thou hast wrong'd me . -My name is Edgar , and thy father's son . -The gods are just , and of our pleasant vices -Make instruments to plague us : -The dark and vicious place where thee he got -Cost him his eyes . - -Thou hast spoken right , 'tis true ; -The wheel is come full circle ; I am here . - -Methought thy very gait did prophesy -A royal nobleness : I must embrace thee : -Let sorrow split my heart , if ever I -Did hate thee or thy father . - -Worthy prince , I know 't . - -Where have you hid yourself ? -How have you known the miseries of your father ? - -By nursing them , my lord . List a brief tale ; -And , when 'tis told , O ! that my heart would burst , -The bloody proclamation to escape -That follow'd me so near ,O ! our lives' sweetness , -That we the pain of death would hourly die -Rather than die at once !taught me to shift -Into a madman's rags , to assume a semblance -That very dogs disdain'd : and in this habit -Met I my father with his bleeding rings , -Their precious stones new lost ; became his guide , -Led him , begg'd for him , sav'd him from despair ; -Never ,O fault !reveal'd myself unto him , -Until some half hour past , when I was arm'd ; -Not sure , though hoping , of this good success , -I ask'd his blessing , and from first to last -Told him my pilgrimage : but his flaw'd heart , -Alack ! too weak the conflict to support ; -'Twixt two extremes of passion , joy and grief , -Burst smilingly . - -This speech of yours hath mov'd me , -And shall perchance do good ; but speak you on ; -You look as you had something more to say . - -If there be more , more woeful , hold it in ; -For I am almost ready to dissolve , -Hearing of this . - -This would have seem'd a period -To such as love not sorrow ; but another , -To amplify too much , would make much more , -And top extremity . -Whilst I was big in clamour came there a man , -Who , having seen me in my worst estate , -Shunn'd my abhorr'd society ; but then , finding -Who 'twas that so endur'd , with his strong arms -He fasten'd on my neck , and bellow'd out -As he'd burst heaven ; threw him on my father ; -Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him -That ever ear receiv'd ; which in recounting -His grief grew puissant , and the strings of life -Began to crack : twice then the trumpet sounded , -And there I left him tranc'd . - -But who was this ? - -Kent , sir , the banish'd Kent ; who in disguise -Follow'd his enemy king , and did him service -Improper for a slave . - - -Help , help ! O help ! - -What kind of help ? - -Speak , man . - -What means that bloody knife ? - -'Tis hot , it smokes ; -It came even from the heart of O ! she's dead . - -Who dead ? speak , man . - -Your lady , sir , your lady : and her sister -By her is poison'd ; she confesses it . - -I was contracted to them both : all three -Now marry in an instant . - -Here comes Kent . - -Produce the bodies , be they alive or dead : -This judgment of the heavens , that makes us tremble , -Touches us not with pity . - -O ! is this he ? -The time will not allow the compliment - -Which very manners urges . - -I am come -To bid my king and master aye good-night ; -Is he not here ? - -Great thing of us forgot ! -Speak , Edmund , where's the king ? and where's Cordelia ? -Seest thou this object , Kent ? - - -Alack ! why thus ? - -Yet Edmund was belov'd : -The one the other poison'd for my sake , -And after slew herself . - -Even so . Cover their faces . - -I pant for life : some good I mean to do -Despite of mine own nature . Quickly send , -Be brief in it , to the castle ; for my writ -Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia . -Nay , send in time . - -Run , run ! O run ! - -To whom , my lord ? Who has the office ? send -Thy token of reprieve . - -Well thought on : take my sword , -Give it the captain . - -Haste thee , for thy life . - - -He hath commission from my wife and me -To hang Cordelia in the prison , and -To lay the blame upon her own despair , -That she fordid herself . - -The gods defend her ! Bear him hence awhile . - -Howl , howl , howl , howl ! O ! you are men of stones : -Had I your tongues and eyes , I'd use them so -That heaven's vaults should crack . She's gone for ever . -I know when one is dead , and when one lives ; -She's dead as earth . Lend me a looking-glass ; -If that her breath will mist or stain the stone , -Why , then she lives . - -Is this the promis'd end ? - -Or image of that horror ? - -Fall and cease ? - -This feather stirs ; she lives ! if it be so , -It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows -That ever I have felt . - -O , my good master ! - -Prithee , away . - -'Tis noble Kent , your friend . - -A plague upon you , murderers , traitors all ! -I might have sav'd her ; now , she's gone for ever ! -Cordelia , Cordelia ! stay a little . Ha ! -What is 't thou sayst ? Her voice was ever soft , -Gentle and low , an excellent thing in woman . -I kill'd the slave that was a hanging thee . - -'Tis true , my lord , he did . - -Did I not , fellow ? -I have seen the day , with my good biting falchion -I would have made them skip : I am old now , -And these same crosses spoil me . Who are you ? -Mine eyes are not o' the best : I'll tell you straight . - -If fortune brag of two she lov'd and hated , -One of them we behold . - -This is a dull sight . Are you not Kent ? - -The same , -Your servant Kent . Where is your servant Caius ? - -He's a good fellow , I can tell you that ; -He'll strike , and quickly too . He's dead and rotten . - -No , my good lord ; I am the very man - -I'll see that straight . - -That , from your first of difference and decay , -Have follow'd your sad steps . - -You are welcome hither . - -Nor no man else ; all's cheerless , dark , and deadly : -Your eldest daughters have fordone themselves , -And desperately are dead . - -Ay , so I think . - -He knows not what he says , and vain it is -That we present us to him . - -Very bootless . - - -Edmund is dead , my lord . - -That's but a trifle here . -You lords and noble friends , know our intent ; -What comfort to this great decay may come -Shall be applied : for us , we will resign , -During the life of this old majesty , -To him our absolute power : - -You , to your rights ; -With boot and such addition as your honours -Have more than merited . All friends shall taste -The wages of their virtue , and all foes -The cup of their deservings . O ! see , see ! - -And my poor fool is hang'd ! No , no , no life ! -Why should a dog , a horse , a rat , have life , -And thou no breath at all ? Thou'lt come no more , -Never , never , never , never , never ! -Pray you , undo this button : thank you , sir . -Do you see this ? Look on her , look , her lips , -Look there , look there ! - - -He faints !my lord , my lord ! - -Break , heart ; I prithee , break . - -Look up , my lord . - -Vex not his ghost : O ! let him pass ; he hates him -That would upon the rack of this tough world -Stretch him out longer . - -He is gone , indeed . - -The wonder is he hath endur'd so long : -He but usurp'd his life . - -Bear them from hence . Our present business -Is general woe . - -Friends of my soul , you twain -Rule in this realm , and the gor'd state sustain . - -I have a journey , sir , shortly to go ; -My master calls me , I must not say no . - -The weight of this sad time we must obey ; -Speak what we feel , not what we ought to say . -The oldest hath borne most : we that are young , -Shall never see so much , nor live so long . - -MACBETH - -When shall we three meet again -In thunder , lightning , or in rain ? - -When the hurlyburly's done , -When the battle's lost and won . - -That will be ere the set of sun . - -Where the place ? - -Upon the heath . - -There to meet with Macbeth . - -I come , Graymalkin ! - -Paddock calls . - -Anon . - -Fair is foul , and foul is fair : -Hover through the fog and filthy air . - -What bloody man is that ? He can report , -As seemeth by his plight , of the revolt -The newest state . - -This is the sergeant -Who , like a good and hardy soldier fought -'Gainst my captivity . Hail , brave friend ! -Say to the king the knowledge of the broil -As thou didst leave it . - -Doubtful it stood ; -As two spent swimmers , that do cling together -And choke their art . The merciless Macdonwald -Worthy to be a rebel , for to that -The multiplying villanies of nature -Do swarm upon him from the western isles -Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied ; -And fortune , on his damned quarrel smiling , -Show'd like a rebel's whore : but all's too weak ; -For brave Macbeth ,well he deserves that name , -Disdaining fortune , with his brandish'd steel , -Which smok'd with bloody execution , -Like valour's minion carv'd out his passage -Till he fac'd the slave ; -Which ne'er shook hands , nor bade farewell to him , -Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps , -And fix'd his head upon our battlements . - -O valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman ! - -As whence the sun 'gins his reflection -Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break , -So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come -Discomfort swells . Mark , King of Scotland , mark : -No sooner justice had with valour arm'd -Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels , -But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage , -With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men -Began a fresh assault . - -Dismay'd not this -Our captains , Macbeth and Banquo ? - -Yes ; -As sparrows eagles , or the hare the lion . -If I say sooth , I must report they were -As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks ; -So they -Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe : -Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds , -Or memorize another Golgotha , -I cannot tell -But I am faint , my gashes cry for help . - -So well thy words become thee as thy wounds ; -They smack of honour both . Go , get him surgeons . - - -Who comes here ? - -The worthy Thane of Ross . - -What a haste looks through his eyes ! So should he look -That seems to speak things strange . - -God save the king ! - -Whence cam'st thou , worthy thane ? - -From Fife , great king ; -Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky -And fan our people cold . Norway himself , -With terrible numbers , -Assisted by that most disloyal traitor , -The Thane of Cawdor , began a dismal conflict ; -Till that Bellona's bridegroom , lapp'd in proof , -Confronted him with self-comparisons , -Point against point , rebellious arm 'gainst arm , -Curbing his lavish spirit : and , to conclude , -The victory fell on us . - -Great happiness ! - -That now -Sweno , the Norways' king , craves composition ; -Nor would we deign him burial of his men -Till he disbursed , at Saint Colme's Inch , -Ten thousand dollars to our general use . - -No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive -Our bosom interest . Go pronounce his present death , -And with his former title greet Macbeth . - -I'll see it done . - -What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won . - - -Where hast thou been , sister ? - -Killing swine . - -Sister , where thou ? - -A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap , -And munch'd , and munch'd , and munch'd : 'Give me ,' quoth I : -'Aroint thee , witch !' the rump-fed ronyon cries . -Her husband's to Aleppo gone , master o' the Tiger : -But in a sieve I'll thither sail , -And , like a rat without a tail , -I'll do , I'll do , and I'll do . - -I'll give thee a wind . - -Thou'rt kind . - -And I another . - -I myself have all the other ; -And the very ports they blow , -All the quarters that they know -I' the shipman's card . -I'll drain him dry as hay : -Sleep shall neither night nor day -Hang upon his pent-house lid ; -He shall live a man forbid . -Weary se'nnights nine times nine -Shall he dwindle , peak and pine : -Though his bark cannot be lost , -Yet it shall be tempest-tost . -Look what I have . - -Show me , show me . - -Here I have a pilot's thumb , -Wrack'd as homeward he did come . - - -A drum ! a drum ! -Macbeth doth come . - -The weird sisters , hand in hand , -Posters of the sea and land , -Thus do go about , about : -Thrice to thine , and thrice to mine , -And thrice again , to make up nine . -Peace ! the charm's wound up . - - -So foul and fair a day I have not seen . - -How far is 't call'd to Forres ? What are these , -So wither'd and so wild in their attire , -That look not like th' inhabitants o' the earth , -And yet are on 't ? Live you ? or are you aught -That man may question ? You seem to understand me , -By each at once her choppy finger laying -Upon her skinny lips : you should be women , -And yet your beards forbid me to interpret -That you are so . - -Speak , if you can : what are you ? - -All hail , Macbeth ! hail to thee , Thane of Glamis ! - -All hail , Macbeth ! hail to thee , Thane of Cawdor ! - -All hail , Macbeth ! that shalt be king hereafter . - -Good sir , why do you start , and seem to fear -Things that do sound so fair ? I' the name of truth , -Are ye fantastical , or that indeed -Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner -You greet with present grace and great prediction -Of noble having and of royal hope , -That he seems rapt withal : to me you speak not . -If you can look into the seeds of time , -And say which grain will grow and which will not , -Speak then to me , who neither beg nor fear -Your favours nor your hate . - -Hail ! - -Hail ! - -Hail ! - -Lesser than Macbeth , and greater . - -Not so happy , yet much happier . - -Thou shalt get kings , though thou be none : -So , all hail , Macbeth and Banquo ! - -Banquo and Macbeth , all hail ! - -Stay , you imperfect speakers , tell me more : -By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis ; -But how of Cawdor ? the Thane of Cawdor lives , -A prosperous gentleman ; and to be king -Stands not within the prospect of belief -No more than to be Cawdor . Say , from whence -You owe this strange intelligence ? or why -Upon this blasted heath you stop our way -With such prophetic greeting ? Speak , I charge you . - - -The earth hath bubbles , as the water has , -And these are of them . Whither are they vanish'd ? - -Into the air , and what seem'd corporal melted -As breath into the wind . Would they had stay'd ! - -Were such things here as we do speak about ? -Or have we eaten on the insane root -That takes the reason prisoner ? - -Your children shall be kings . - -You shall be king . - -And Thane of Cawdor too ; went it not so ? - -To the self-same tune and words . Who's here ? - - -The king hath happily receiv'd , Macbeth , -The news of thy success ; and when he reads -Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight , -His wonders and his praises do contend -Which should be thine or his . Silenc'd with that , -In viewing o'er the rest o' the self-same day , -He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks , -Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make , -Strange images of death . As thick as hail -Came post with post , and every one did bear -Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence , -And pour'd them down before him . - -We are sent -To give thee from our royal master thanks ; -Only to herald thee into his sight , -Not pay thee . - -And , for an earnest of a greater honour , -He bade me , from him , call thee Thane of Cawdor : -In which addition , hail , most worthy thane ! -For it is thine . - -What ! can the devil speak true ? - -The Thane of Cawdor lives : why do you dress me -In borrow'd robes ? - -Who was the thane lives yet ; -But under heavy judgment bears that life -Which he deserves to lose . Whether he was combin'd -With those of Norway , or did line the rebel -With hidden help or vantage , or that with both -He labour'd in his country's wrack , I know not ; -But treasons capital , confess'd and prov'd , -Have overthrown him . - -Glamis , and Thane of Cawdor : -The greatest is behind . - -Thanks for your pains . - - -Do you not hope your children shall be kings , -When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me -Promis'd no less to them ? - -That , trusted home , -Might yet enkindle you unto the crown , -Besides the Thane of Cawdor . But 'tis strange : -And oftentimes , to win us to our harm , -The instruments of darkness tell us truths , -Win us with honest trifles , to betray's -In deepest consequence . -Cousins , a word , I pray you . - -Two truths are told , -As happy prologues to the swelling act -Of the imperial theme . I thank you , gentlemen . - - -This supernatural soliciting -Cannot be ill , cannot be good ; if ill , -Why hath it given me earnest of success , -Commencing in a truth ? I am Thane of Cawdor : -If good , why do I yield to that suggestion -Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair -And make my seated heart knock at my ribs , -Against the use of nature ? Present fears -Are less than horrible imaginings ; -My thought , whose murder yet is but fantastical , -Shakes so my single state of man that function -Is smother'd in surmise , and nothing is -But what is not . - -Look , how our partner's rapt . - -If chance will have me king , why , chance may crown me , -Without my stir . - -New honours come upon him , -Like our strange garments , cleave not to their mould -But with the aid of use . - -Come what come may , -Time and the hour runs through the roughest day . - -Worthy Macbeth , we stay upon your leisure . - -Give me your favour : my dull brain was wrought -With things forgotten . Kind gentlemen , your pains -Are register'd where every day I turn -The leaf to read them . Let us toward the king . -Think upon what hath chanc'd ; and , at more time , -The interim having weigh'd it , let us speak -Our free hearts each to other . - -Very gladly . - -Till then , enough . Come , friends . - - -Is execution done on Cawdor ? Are not -Those in commission yet return'd ? - -My liege , -They are not yet come back ; but I have spoke -With one that saw him die ; who did report -That very frankly he confess'd his treasons , -Implor'd your highness' pardon and set forth -A deep repentance . Nothing in his life -Became him like the leaving it ; he died -As one that had been studied in his death -To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd , -As 'twere a careless trifle . - -There's no art -To find the mind's construction in the face : -He was a gentleman on whom I built -An absolute trust . - - -O worthiest cousin ! -The sin of my ingratitude even now -Was heavy on me . Thou art so far before -That swiftest wing of recompense is slow -To overtake thee ; would thou hadst less deserv'd , -That the proportion both of thanks and payment -Might have been mine ! only I have left to say , - -More is thy due than more than all can pay . - -The service and the loyalty I owe , -In doing it , pays itself . Your highness' part -Is to receive our duties : and our duties -Are to your throne and state , children and servants ; -Which do but what they should , by doing everything -Safe toward your love and honour . - -Welcome hither : -I have begun to plant thee , and will labour -To make thee full of growing . Noble Banquo , -That hast no less deserv'd , nor must be known -No less to have done so , let me infold thee -And hold thee to my heart . - -There if I grow , -The harvest is your own . - -My plenteous joys -Wanton in fulness , seek to hide themselves -In drops of sorrow . Sons , kinsmen , thanes , -And you whose places are the nearest , know -We will establish our estate upon -Our eldest , Malcolm , whom we name hereafter -The Prince of Cumberland ; which honour must -Not unaccompanied invest him only , -But signs of nobleness , like stars , shall shine -On all deservers . From hence to Inverness , -And bind us further to you . - -The rest is labour , which is not us'd for you : -I'll be myself the harbinger , and make joyful -The hearing of my wife with your approach ; -So , humbly take my leave . - -My worthy Cawdor ! - -The Prince of Cumberland ! that is a step -On which I must fall down , or else o'er-leap , -For in my way it lies . Stars , hide your fires ! -Let not light see my black and deep desires ; -The eye wink at the hand ; yet let that be -Which the eye fears , when it is done , to see . - - -True , worthy Banquo ; he is full so valiant , -And in his commendations I am fed ; -It is a banquet to me . Let's after him , -Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome : -It is a peerless kinsman . - -They met me in the day of success ; and I have learned by the perfectest report , they have more in them than mortal knowledge . When I burned in desire to question them further , they made themselves air , into which they vanished . Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it , came missives from the king , who all-hailed me , 'Thane of Cawdor ;' by which title , before , these weird sisters saluted me , and referred me to the coming on of time , with , 'Hail , king that shall be !' This have I thought good to deliver thee , my dearest partner of greatness , that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing , by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee . Lay it to thy heart , and farewell . -Glamis thou art , and Cawdor ; and shalt be -What thou art promis'd . Yet do I fear thy nature ; -It is too full o' the milk of human kindness -To catch the nearest way ; thou wouldst be great , -Art not without ambition , but without -The illness should attend it ; what thou wouldst highly , -That thou wouldst holily ; wouldst not play false , -And yet wouldst wrongly win ; thou'dst have , great Glamis , -That which cries , 'Thus thou must do , if thou have it ;' -And that which rather thou dost fear to do -Than wishest should be undone . Hie thee hither , -That I may pour my spirits in thine ear , -And chastise with the valour of my tongue -All that impedes thee from the golden round , -Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem -To have thee crown'd withal . - -What is your tidings ? - -The king comes here to-night . - -Thou'rt mad to say it . -Is not thy master with him ? who , were't so , -Would have inform'd for preparation . - -So please you , it is true : our thane is coming ; -One of my fellows had the speed of him , -Who , almost dead for breath , had scarcely more -Than would make up his message . - -Give him tending ; -He brings great news . - -The raven himself is hoarse -That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan -Under my battlements . Come , you spirits -That tend on mortal thoughts ! unsex me here , -And fill me from the crown to the toe top full -Of direst cruelty ; make thick my blood , -Stop up the access and passage to remorse , -That no compunctious visitings of nature -Shake my fell purpose , nor keep peace between -The effect and it ! Come to my woman's breasts , -And take my milk for gall , you murdering ministers , -Wherever in your sightless substances -You wait on nature's mischief ! Come , thick night , -And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell , -That my keen knife see not the wound it makes , -Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark , -To cry , 'Hold , hold !' - - -Great Glamis ! worthy Cawdor ! -Greater than both , by the all-hail hereafter ! -Thy letters have transported me beyond -This ignorant present , and I feel now - -The future in the instant . - -My dearest love , -Duncan comes here to-night . - -And when goes hence ? - -To-morrow , as he purposes . - -O ! never -Shall sun that morrow see . -Your face , my thane , is as a book where men -May read strange matters . To beguile the time , -Look like the time ; bear welcome in your eye , -Your hand , your tongue : look like the innocent flower , -But be the serpent under't . He that's coming -Must be provided for ; and you shall put -This night's great business into my dispatch ; -Which shall to all our nights and days to come -Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom . - -We will speak further . - -Only look up clear ; -To alter favour ever is to fear . -Leave all the rest to me . - -This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air -Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself -Unto our gentle senses . - -This guest of summer , -The temple-haunting martlet , does approve -By his lov'd mansionry that the heaven's breath -Smells wooingly here : no jutty , frieze , -Buttress , nor coign of vantage , but this bird -Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle : -Where they most breed and haunt , I have observ'd -The air is delicate . - - -See , see , our honour'd hostess ! -The love that follows us sometime is our trouble , -Which still we thank as love . Herein I teach you -How you shall bid God 'eyld us for your pains , -And thank us for your trouble . - -All our service , -In every point twice done , and then done double , -Were poor and single business , to contend -Against those honours deep and broad wherewith -Your majesty loads our house : for those of old , -And the late dignities heap'd up to them , -We rest your hermits . - -Where's the Thane of Cawdor ? -We cours'd him at the heels , and had a purpose -To be his purveyor ; but he rides well , -And his great love , sharp as his spur , hath holp him -To his home before us . Fair and noble hostess , -We are your guest to-night . - -Your servants ever -Have theirs , themselves , and what is theirs , in compt , -To make their audit at your highness' pleasure , -Still to return your own . - -Give me your hand ; -Conduct me to mine host : we love him highly , -And shall continue our graces towards him . -By your leave , hostess . - -If it were done when 'tis done , then 'twere well -It were done quickly ; if the assassination -Could trammel up the consequence , and catch -With his surcease success ; that but this blow -Might be the be-all and the end-all here , -But here , upon this bank and shoal of time , -We'd jump the life to come . But in these cases -We still have judgment here ; that we but teach -Bloody instructions , which , being taught , return -To plague the inventor ; this even-handed justice -Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice -To our own lips . He's here in double trust : -First , as I am his kinsman and his subject , -Strong both against the deed ; then , as his host , -Who should against his murderer shut the door , -Not bear the knife myself . Besides , this Duncan -Hath borne his faculties so meek , hath been -So clear in his great office , that his virtues -Will plead like angels trumpet-tongu'd against -The deep damnation of his taking-off ; -And pity , like a naked new-born babe , -Striding the blast , or heaven's cherubin , hors'd -Upon the sightless couriers of the air , -Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye , -That tears shall drown the wind . I have no spur -To prick the sides of my intent , but only -Vaulting ambition , which o'er-leaps itself -And falls on the other . - -How now ! what news ? - -He has almost supp'd : why have you left the chamber ? - -Hath he ask'd for me ? - -Know you not he has ? - -We will proceed no further in this business : -He hath honour'd me of late ; and I have bought -Golden opinions from all sorts of people , -Which would be worn now in their newest gloss , -Not cast aside so soon . - -Was the hope drunk , -Wherein you dress'd yourself ? hath it slept since , -And wakes it now , to look so green and pale -At what it did so freely ? From this time -Such I account thy love . Art thou afeard -To be the same in thine own act and valour -As thou art in desire ? Wouldst thou have that -Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life , -And live a coward in thine own esteem , -Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would ,' -Like the poor cat i' the adage ? - -Prithee , peace . -I dare do all that may become a man ; -Who dares do more is none . - -What beast was't , then , -That made you break this enterprise to me ? -When you durst do it then you were a man ; -And , to be more than what you were , you would -Be so much more the man . Nor time nor place -Did then adhere , and yet you would make both : -They have made themselves , and that their fitness now -Does unmake you . I have given suck , and know -How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me : -I would , while it was smiling in my face , -Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums , -And dash'd the brains out , had I so sworn as you -Have done to this . - -If we should fail , - -We fail ! -But screw your courage to the sticking-place , -And we'll not fail . When Duncan is asleep , -Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey -Soundly invite him , his two chamberlains -Will I with wine and wassail so convince -That memory , the warder of the brain , -Shall be a fume , and the receipt of reason -A limbeck only ; when in swinish sleep -Their drenched natures lie , as in a death , -What cannot you and I perform upon -The unguarded Duncan ? what not put upon -His spongy officers , who shall bear the guilt -Of our great quell ? - -Bring forth men-children only ; -For thy undaunted mettle should compose -Nothing but males . Will it not be receiv'd , -When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two -Of his own chamber and us'd their very daggers , -That they have done't ? - -Who dares receive it other , -As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar -Upon his death ? - -I am settled , and bend up -Each corporal agent to this terrible feat . -Away , and mock the time with fairest show : -False face must hide what the false heart doth know . - -How goes the night , boy ? - -The moon is down ; I have not heard the clock . - -And she goes down at twelve . - -I take't , 'tis later , sir . - -Hold , take my sword . There's husbandry in heaven ; -Their candles are all out . Take thee that too . -A heavy summons lies like lead upon me , -And yet I would not sleep : merciful powers ! -Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature -Gives way to in repose . - - -Give me my sword . - -Who's there ? - -A friend . - -What , sir ! not yet at rest ? The king's a-bed : -He hath been in unusual pleasure , and -Sent forth great largess to your offices . -This diamond he greets your wife withal , -By the name of most kind hostess ; and shut up -In measureless content . - -Being unprepar'd , -Our will became the servant to defect , -Which else should free have wrought . - -All's well . -I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters : -To you they have show'd some truth . - -I think not of them : -Yet , when we can entreat an hour to serve , -We would spend it in some words upon that business , -If you would grant the time . - -At your kind'st leisure . - -If you shall cleave to my consent , when 'tis , -It shall make honour for you . - -So I lose none -In seeking to augment it , but still keep -My bosom franchis'd and allegiance clear , -I shall be counsell'd . - -Good repose the while ! - -Thanks , sir : the like to you . - - -Go bid thy mistress , when my drink is ready -She strike upon the bell . Get thee to bed . - -Is this a dagger which I see before me , -The handle toward my hand ? Come , let me clutch thee : -I have thee not , and yet I see thee still . -Art thou not , fatal vision , sensible -To feeling as to sight ? or art thou but -A dagger of the mind , a false creation , -Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain ? -I see thee yet , in form as palpable -As this which now I draw . -Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going ; -And such an instrument I was to use . -Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses , -Or else worth all the rest : I see thee still ; -And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood , -Which was not so before . There's no such thing : -It is the bloody business which informs -Thus to mine eyes . Now o'er the one half-world -Nature seems dead , and wicked dreams abuse -The curtain'd sleep ; witchcraft celebrates -Pale Hecate's offerings ; and wither'd murder , -Alarum'd by his sentinel , the wolf , -Whose howl's his watch , thus with his stealthy pace , -With Tarquin's ravishing strides , toward his design -Moves like a ghost . Thou sure and firm-set earth , -Hear not my steps , which way they walk , for fear -Thy very stones prate of my whereabout , -And take the present horror from the time , -Which now suits with it . Whiles I threat he lives : -Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives . - -I go , and it is done ; the bell invites me . -Hear it not , Duncan ; for it is a knell -That summons thee to heaven or to hell . - - -That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold , -What hath quench'd them hath given me fire . Hark ! -Peace ! -It was the owl that shriek'd , the fatal bellman , -Which gives the stern'st good-night . He is about it : -The doors are open , and the surfeited grooms -Do mock their charge with snores : I have drugg'd their possets , -That death and nature do contend about them , -Whether they live or die . - -Who's there ? what , ho ! - -Alack ! I am afraid they have awak'd , -And 'tis not done ; the attempt and not the deed -Confounds us . Hark ! I laid their daggers ready ; -He could not miss them . Had he not resembled -My father as he slept I had done 't . My husband ! - - -I have done the deed . Didst thou not hear a noise ? - -I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry . -Did not you speak ? - -When ? - -Now . - -As I descended ? - -Ay . - -Hark ! -Who lies i' the second chamber ? - -Donalbain . - -This is a sorry sight . - -A foolish thought to say a sorry sight . - -There's one did laugh in 's sleep , and one cried 'Murder !' -That they did wake each other : I stood and heard them ; -But they did say their prayers , and address'd them -Again to sleep . - -There are two lodg'd together . - -One cried 'God bless us !' and 'Amen' the other : -As they had seen me with these hangman's hands . -Listening their fear , I could not say 'Amen ,' -When they did say 'God bless us !' - -Consider it not so deeply . - -But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen ?' -I had most need of blessing , and 'Amen' -Stuck in my throat . - -These deeds must not be thought -After these ways ; so , it will make us mad . - -Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more ! -Macbeth does murder sleep ,' the innocent sleep , -Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care , -The death of each day's life , sore labour's bath , -Balm of hurt minds , great nature's second course , -Chief nourisher in life's feast , - -What do you mean ? - -Still it cried , 'Sleep no more !' to all the house : -'Glamis hath murder'd sleep , and therefore Cawdor -Shall sleep no more , Macbeth shall sleep no more !' - -Who was it that thus cried ? Why , worthy thane , -You do unbend your noble strength to think -So brainsickly of things . Go get some water , -And wash this filthy witness from your hand . -Why did you bring these daggers from the place ? -They must lie there : go carry them , and smear -The sleepy grooms with blood . - -I'll go no more : -I am afraid to think what I have done ; -Look on 't again I dare not . - -Infirm of purpose ! -Give me the daggers . The sleeping and the dead -Are but as pictures ; 'tis the eye of childhood -That fears a painted devil . If he do bleed , -I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal ; -For it must seem their guilt . - - -Whence is that knocking ? -How is't with me , when every noise appals me ? -What hands are here ! Ha ! they pluck out mine eyes . -Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood -Clean from my hand ? No , this my hand will rather -The multitudinous seas incarnadine , -Making the green one red . - - -My hands are of your colour , but I shame -To wear a heart so white . - -I hear a knocking -At the south entry ; retire we to our chamber ; -A little water clears us of this deed ; -How easy is it , then ! Your constancy -Hath left you unattended . - -Hark ! more knocking . -Get on your night-gown , lest occasion call us , -And show us to be watchers . Be not lost -So poorly in your thoughts . - -To know my deed 'twere best not know myself . - -Wake Duncan with thy knocking ! I would thou couldst ! - - -Here's a knocking , indeed ! If a man were porter of hell-gate he should have old turning the key . - -Knock , knock , knock ! Who's there , i' the name of Beelzebub ? Here's a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty : come in time ; have napkins enough about you ; here you'll sweat for 't . [Knocking within .] Knock , knock ! Who's there i' the other devil's name ! Faith , here's an equivocator , that could swear in both the scales against either scale ; who committed treason enough for God's sake , yet could not equivocate to heaven : O ! come in , equivocator . [Knocking within .] Knock , knock , knock ! Who's there ? Faith , here's an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a French hose : come in , tailor ; here you may roast your goose . [Knocking within .] Knock , knock ; never at quiet ! What are you ? But this place is too cold for hell . I'll devil-porter it no further : I had thought to have let in some of all professions , that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire . [Knocking within .] Anon , anon ! I pray you , remember the porter . - -Was it so late , friend , ere you went to bed , -That you do lie so late ? - -Faith , sir , we were carousing till the second cock ; and drink , sir , is a great provoker of three things . - -What three things does drink especially provoke ? - -Marry , sir , mose-painting , sleep , and urine . Lechery , sir , it provokes , and unprovokes ; it provokes the desire , but it takes away the performance . Therefore much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery ; it makes him , and it mars him ; it sets him on , and it takes him off ; it persuades him , and disheartens him ; makes him stand to , and not stand to ; in conclusion , equivocates him in a sleep , and , giving him the lie , leaves him . - -I believe drink gave thee the lie last night . - -That it did , sir , i' the very throat o' me : but I requited him for his lie ; and , I think , being too strong for him , though he took up my legs sometime , yet I made a shift to cast him . - -Is thy master stirring ? - -Our knocking has awak'd him ; here he comes . - -Good morrow , noble sir . - -Good morrow , both . - -Is the king stirring , worthy thane ? - -Not yet . - -He did command me to call timely on him : -I have almost slipp'd the hour . - -I'll bring you to him . - -I know this is a joyful trouble to you ; -But yet 'tis one . - -The labour we delight in physics pain . -This is the door . - -I'll make so bold to call , -For 'tis my limited service . - - -Goes the king hence to-day ? - -He does : he did appoint so . - -The night has been unruly : where we lay , -Ourchimneys were blown down ; and , as they say , -Lamentings heard i' the air ; strange screams of death , -And prophesying with accents terrible -Of dire combustion and confus'd events -New hatch'd to the woeful time . The obscure bird -Clamour'd the livelong night : some say the earth -Was feverous and did shake . - -'Twas a rough night . - -My young remembrance cannot parallel -A fellow to it . - - -O horror ! horror ! horror ! Tongue nor heart -Cannot conceive nor name thee ! - -What's the matter ? - -What's the matter ? - -Confusion now hath made his masterpiece ! -Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope -The Lord's anointed temple , and stole thence -The life o' the building ! - -What is 't you say ? the life ? - -Mean you his majesty ? - -Approach the chamber , and destroy your sight -With a new Gorgon : do not bid me speak ; -See , and then speak yourselves . - -Awake ! awake ! -Ring the alarum-bell . Murder and treason ! -Banquo and Donalbain ! Malcolm ! awake ! -Shake off this downy sleep , death's counterfeit , -And look on death itself ! up , up , and see -The great doom's image ! Malcolm ! Banquo ! -As from your graves rise up , and walk like sprites , -To countenance this horror ! Ring the bell . - -What's the business , -That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley -The sleepers of the house ? speak , speak ! - -O gentle lady ! -'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak ; -The repetition in a woman's ear -Would murder as it fell . - - -O Banquo ! Banquo ! - -Our royal master's murder'd ! - -Woe , alas ! -What ! in our house ? - -Too cruel any where . -Dear Duff , I prithee , contradict thyself , -And say it is not so . - - -Had I but died an hour before this chance -I had liv'd a blessed time ; for , from this instant , -There's nothing serious in mortality , -All is but toys ; renown and grace is dead , -The wine of life is drawn , and the mere lees -Is left this vault to brag of . - - -What is amiss ? - -You are , and do not know 't : -The spring , the head , the fountain of your blood -Is stopp'd ; the very source of it is stopp'd . - -Your royal father's murder'd . - -O ! by whom ? - -Those of his chamber , as it seem'd , had done 't : -Their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood ; -So were their daggers , which unwip'd we found -Upon their pillows : they star'd , and were distracted ; no man's life -Was to be trusted with them . - -O ! yet I do repent me of my fury , -That I did kill them . - -Wherefore did you so ? - -Who can be wise , amaz'd , temperate and furious , -Loyal and neutral , in a moment ? No man : -The expedition of my violent love -Outran the pauser , reason . Here lay Duncan , -His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood ; -And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature -For ruin's wasteful entrance : there , the murderers , -Steep'd in the colours of their trade , their daggers -Unmannerly breech'd with gore : who could refrain , -That had a heart to love , and in that heart -Courage to make 's love known ? - -Help me hence , ho ! - -Look to the lady . - -Why do we hold our tongues , -That most may claim this argument for ours : - -What should be spoken -Here where our fate , hid in an auger-hole , -May rush and seize us ? Let's away : our tears -Are not yet brew'd . - -Nor our strong sorrow -Upon the foot of motion . - -Look to the lady : - -And when we have our naked frailties hid , -That suffer in exposure , let us meet , -And question this most bloody piece of work , -To know it further . Fears and scruples shake us : -In the great hand of God I stand , and thence -Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight -Of treasonous malice . - -And so do I . - -So all . - -Let's briefly put on manly readiness , -And meet i' the hall together . - -Well contented . - - -What will you do ? Let's not consort with them : -To show an unfelt sorrow is an office -Which the false man does easy . I'll to England . - -To Ireland , I ; our separated fortune -Shall keep us both the safer : where we are , -There's daggers in men's smiles : the near in blood , -The nearer bloody . - -This murderous shaft that's shot -Hath not yet lighted , and our safest way -Is to avoid the aim : therefore , to horse ; -And let us not be dainty of leave-taking , -But shift away : there's warrant in that theft -Which steals itself when there's no mercy left . - - -Threescore and ten I can remember well ; -Within the volume of which time I have seen -Hours dreadful and things strange , but this sore night -Hath trifled former knowings . - -Ah ! good father , -Thou seest , the heavens , as troubled with man's act , -Threaten his bloody stage : by the clock 'tis day , -And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp . -Is 't night's predominance , or the day's shame , -That darkness does the face of earth entomb , -When living light should kiss it ? - -'Tis unnatural , -Even like the deed that's done . On Tuesday last , -A falcon , towering in her pride of place , -Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd . - -And Duncan's horses ,a thing most strange and certain , -Beauteous and swift , the minions of their race , -Turn'd wild in nature , broke their stalls , flung out , -Contending 'gainst obedience , as they would -Make war with mankind . - -'Tis said they eat each other . - -They did so ; to the amazement of mine eyes , -That look'd upon 't . Here comes the good Macduff . - -How goes the world , sir , now ? - -Why , see you not ? - -Is 't known who did this more than bloody deed ? - -Those that Macbeth hath slain . - -Alas , the day ! -What good could they pretend ? - -They were suborn'd . -Malcolm and Donalbain , the king's two sons , -Are stol'n away and fled , which puts upon them -Suspicion of the deed . - -'Gainst nature still ! -Thriftless ambition , that wilt ravin up -Thine own life's means ! Then 'tis most like -The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth . - -He is already nam'd , and gone to Scone -To be invested . - -Where is Duncan's body ? - -Carried to Colmekill ; -The sacred storehouse of his predecessors -And guardian of their bones . - -Will you to Scone ? - -No , cousin , I'll to Fife . - -Well , I will thither . - -Well , may you see things well done there : adieu ! -Lest our old robes sit easier than our new ! - -Farewell , father . - -God's benison go with you ; and with those -That would make good of bad , and friends of foes ! - -Thou hast it now : King , Cawdor , Glamis , all , -As the weird women promis'd ; and , I fear , -Thou play'dst most foully for 't ; yet it was said -It should not stand in thy posterity , -But that myself should be the root and father -Of many kings . If there come truth from them , -As upon thee , Macbeth , their speeches shine , -Why , by the verities on thee made good , -May they not be my oracles as well , -And set me up in hope ? But , hush ! no more . - -Here's our chief guest . - -If he had been forgotten -It had been as a gap in our great feast , -And all-thing unbecoming . - -To-night we hold a solemn supper , sir , -And I'll request your presence . - -Let your highness -Command upon me ; to the which my duties -Are with a most indissoluble tie -For ever knit . - -Ride you this afternoon ? - -Ay , my good lord . - -We should have else desir'd your good advice -Which still hath been both grave and prosperous -In this day's council ; but we'll take to-morrow . -Is 't far you ride ? - -As far , my lord , as will fill up the time -'Twixt this and supper ; go not my horse the better , -I must become a borrower of the night -For a dark hour or twain . - -Fail not our feast . - -My lord , I will not . - -We hear our bloody cousins are bestow'd -In England and in Ireland , not confessing -Their cruel parricide , filling their hearers -With strange invention ; but of that to-morrow , -When therewithal we shall have cause of state -Craving us jointly . Hie you to horse ; adieu -Till you return at night . Goes Fleance with you ? - -Ay , my good lord : our time does call upon 's . - -I wish your horses swift and sure of foot ; -And so I do commend you to their backs . -Farewell . - -Let every man be master of his time -Till seven at night ; to make society -The sweeter welcome , we will keep ourself -Till supper-time alone ; while then , God be with you ! - -Sirrah , a word with you . Attend those men -Our pleasure ? - -They are , my lord , without the palace gate . - -Bring them before us . - -To be thus is nothing ; -But to be safely thus . Our fears in Banquo -Stick deep , and in his royalty of nature -Reigns that which would be fear'd : 'tis much he dares , -And , to that dauntless temper of his mind , -He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour -To act in safety . There is none but he -Whose being I do fear ; and under him -My genius is rebuk'd , as it is said -Mark Antony's was by C sar . He chid the sisters -When first they put the name of king upon me , -And bade them speak to him ; then , prophet-like , -They hail'd him father to a line of kings . -Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown , -And put a barren sceptre in my gripe , -Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand , -No son of mine succeeding . If 't be so , -For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind ; -For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd ; -Put rancours in the vessel of my peace -Only for them ; and mine eternal jewel -Given to the common enemy of man , -To make them kings , the seed of Banquo kings ! -Rather than so , come fate into the list , -And champion me to the utterance ! Who's there ? - - -Now go to the door , and stay there till we call . - - -Was it not yesterday we spoke together ? - -It was , so please your highness . - -Well then , now -Have you consider'd of my speeches ? Know -That it was he in the times past which held you -So under fortune , which you thought had been -Our innocent self . This I made good to you -In our last conference , pass'd in probation with you , -How you were borne in hand , how cross'd , the instruments , -Who wrought with them , and all things else that might -To half a soul and to a notion craz'd -Say , 'Thus did Banquo .' - -You made it known to us . - -I did so ; and went further , which is now -Our point of second meeting . Do you find -Your patience so predominant in your nature -That you can let this go ? Are you so gospell'd -To pray for this good man and for his issue , -Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave -And beggar'd yours for ever ? - -We are men , my liege . - -Ay , in the catalogue ye go for men ; -As hounds and greyhounds , mongrels , spaniels , curs , -Shoughs , water-rugs , and demi-wolves , are clept -All by the name of dogs : the valu'd file -Distinguishes the swift , the slow , the subtle , -The housekeeper , the hunter , every one -According to the gift which bounteous nature -Hath in him clos'd ; whereby he does receive -Particular addition , from the bill -That writes them all alike : and so of men . -Now , if you have a station in the file , -Not i' the worst rank of manhood , say it ; -And I will put that business in your bosoms , -Whose execution takes your enemy off , -Grapples you to the heart and love of us , -Who wear our health but sickly in his life , -Which in his death were perfect . - -I am one , my liege , -Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world -Have so incens'd that I am reckless what -I do to spite the world . - -And I another , -So weary with disasters , tugg'd with fortune , -That I would set my life on any chance , -To mend it or be rid on 't . - -Both of you -Know Banquo was your enemy . - -True , my lord . - -So is he mine ; and in such bloody distance -That every minute of his being thrusts -Against my near'st of life : and though I could -With bare-fac'd power sweep him from my sight -And bid my will avouch it , yet I must not , -For certain friends that are both his and mine , -Whose loves I may not drop , but wail his fall -Whom I myself struck down ; and thence it is -That I to your assistance do make love , -Masking the business from the common eye -For sundry weighty reasons . - -We shall , my lord , -Perform what you command us . - -Though our lives - -Your spirits shine through you . Within this hour at most -I will advise you where to plant yourselves , -Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time , -The moment on 't ; for 't must be done to-night , -And something from the palace ; always thought -That I require a clearness : and with him -To leave no rubs nor botches in the work -Fleance his son , that keeps him company , -Whose absence is no less material to me -Than is his father's , must embrace the fate -Of that dark hour . Resolve yourselves apart ; -I'll come to you anon . - -We are resolv'd , my lord . - -I'll call upon you straight : abide within . - -It is concluded : Banquo , thy soul's flight , -If it find heaven , must find it out to-night . - - -Is Banquo gone from court ? - -Ay , madam , but returns again to-night . - -Say to the king , I would attend his leisure -For a few words . - -Madam , I will . - - -Nought's had , all's spent , -Where our desire is got without content : -'Tis safer to be that which we destroy -Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy . - - -How now , my lord ! why do you keep alone , -Of sorriest fancies your companions making , -Using those thoughts which should indeed have died -With them they think on ? Things without all remedy - -Should be without regard : what's done is done . - -We have scotch'd the snake , not kill'd it : -She'll close and be herself , whilst our poor malice -Remains in danger of her former tooth . -But let the frame of things disjoint , both the worlds suffer , -Ere we will eat our meal in fear , and sleep -In the affliction of these terrible dreams -That shake us nightly . Better be with the dead , -Whom we , to gain our peace , have sent to peace , -Than on the torture of the mind to lie -In restless ecstasy . Duncan is in his grave ; -After life's fitful fever he sleeps well ; -Treason has done his worst : nor steel , nor poison , -Malice domestic , foreign levy , nothing -Can touch him further . - -Come on ; -Gentle my lord , sleek o'er your rugged looks ; -Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night . - -So shall I , love ; and so , I pray , be you . -Let your remembrance apply to Banquo ; -Present him eminence , both with eye and tongue : -Unsafe the while , that we -Must lave our honours in these flattering streams , -And make our faces vizards to our hearts , -Disguising what they are . - -You must leave this . - -O ! full of scorpions is my mind , dear wife ; -Thou know'st that Banquo and his Fleance lives . - -But in them nature's copy's not eterne . - -There's comfort yet ; they are assailable ; -Then be thou jocund . Ere the bat hath flown -His cloister'd flight , ere , to black Hecate's summons -The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums -Hath rung night's yawning peal , there shall be done -A deed of dreadful note . - -What's to be done ? - -Be innocent of the knowledge , dearest chuck , -Till thou applaud the deed . Come , seeling night , -Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day , -And with thy bloody and invisible hand -Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond -Which keeps me pale ! Light thickens , and the crow -Makes wing to the rooky wood ; -Good things of day begin to droop and drowse , -Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse . -Thou marvell'st at my words : but hold thee still ; -Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill : -So , prithee , go with me . - - -But who did bid thee join with us ? - -Macbeth . - -He needs not our mistrust , since he delivers -Our offices and what we have to do -To the direction just . - -Then stand with us . -The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : -Now spurs the lated traveller apace -To gain the timely inn ; and near approaches -The subject of our watch . - -Hark ! I hear horses . - -Give us a light there , ho ! - -Then 'tis he : the rest -That are within the note of expectation -Already are i' the court . - -His horses go about . - -Almost a mile ; but he does usually , -So all men do , from hence to the palace gate -Make it their walk . - -A light , a light ! - -'Tis he . - -Stand to 't . - - -It will be rain to-night . - -Let it come down . - - -O , treachery ! Fly , good Fleance , fly , fly , fly ! -Thou mayst revenge . O slave ! - - -Who did strike out the light ? - -Was 't not the way ? - -There's but one down ; the son is fled . - -We have lost -Best half of our affair . - -Well , let's away , and say how much is done . - - -You know your own degrees ; sit down : at first and last , -The hearty welcome . - -Thanks to your majesty . - -Ourself will mingle with society -And play the humble host . -Our hostess keeps her state , but in best time -We will require her welcome . - -Pronounce it for me , sir , to all our friends ; -For my heart speaks they are welcome . - - -See , they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks ; -Both sides are even : here I'll sit i' the midst : -Be large in mirth ; anon , we'll drink a measure -The table round . - -There's blood upon thy face . - -'Tis Banquo's , then . - -'Tis better thee without than he within . -Is he dispatch'd ? - -My lord , his throat is cut ; that I did for him . - -Thou art the best o' the cut-throats ; yet he's good -That did the like for Fleance : if thou didst it , -Thou art the nonpareil . - -Most royal sir , -Fleance is 'scap'd . - -Then comes my fit again : I had else been perfect ; -Whole as the marble , founded as the rock , -As broad and general as the casing air : -But now I am cabin'd , cribb'd , confin'd , bound in -To saucy doubts and fears . But Banquo's safe ? - -Ay , my good lord ; safe in a ditch he bides , -With twenty trenched gashes on his head ; -The least a death to nature . - -Thanks for that . -There the grown serpent lies : the worm that's fled -Hath nature that in time will venom breed , -No teeth for the present . Get thee gone ; to-morrow -We'll hear ourselves again . - - -My royal lord , -You do not give the cheer : the feast is sold -That is not often vouch'd , while 'tis a-making , -'Tis given with welcome : to feed were best at home ; -From thence , the sauce to meat is ceremony ; -Meeting were bare without it . - -Sweet remembrancer ! -Now good digestion wait on appetite , -And health on both ! - -May it please your highness sit ? - - -Here had we now our country's honour roof'd , -Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present ; -Who may I rather challenge for unkindness -Than pity for mischance ! - -His absence , sir , -Lays blame upon his promise . Please 't your highness -To grace us with your royal company . - -The table's full . - -Here is a place reserv'd , sir . - -Where ? - -Here , my good lord . What is 't that moves your highness ? - -Which of you have done this ? - -What , my good lord ? - -Thou canst not say I did it : never shake -Thy gory locks at me . - -Gentlemen , rise ; his highness is not well . - -Sit , worthy friends : my lord is often thus , -And hath been from his youth : pray you , keep seat ; -The fit is momentary ; upon a thought -He will again be well . If much you note him -You shall offend him and extend his passion : -Feed and regard him not . Are you a man ? - -Ay , and a bold one , that dare look on that -Which might appal the devil . - -O proper stuff ! -This is the very painting of your fear ; -This is the air-drawn dagger which , you said , -Led you to Duncan . O ! these flaws and starts -Impostors to true fear would well become -A woman's story at a winter's fire , -Authoriz'd by her grandam . Shame itself ! -Why do you make such faces ? When all's done -You look but on a stool . - -Prithee , see there ! behold ! look ! lo ! how say you ? -Why , what care I ? If thou canst nod , speak too . -If charnel-houses and our graves must send -Those that we bury back , our monuments -Shall be the maws of kites . - - -What ! quite unmann'd in folly ? - -If I stand here , I saw him . - -Fie , for shame ! - -Blood hath been shed ere now , i' the olden time , -Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal ; -Ay , and since too , murders have been perform'd -Too terrible for the ear : the times have been , -That , when the brains were out , the man would die , - -And there an end ; but now they rise again , -With twenty mortal murders on their crowns , -And push us from our stools : this is more strange -Than such a murder is . - -My worthy lord , -Your noble friends do lack you . - -I do forget . -Do not muse at me , my most worthy friends ; -I have a strange infirmity , which is nothing -To those that know me . Come , love and health to all ; -Then , I'll sit down . Give me some wine ; fill full . -I drink to the general joy of the whole table , -And to our dear friend Banquo , whom we miss ; -Would he were here ! to all , and him , we thirst , -And all to all . - -Our duties , and the pledge . - - -Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! Let the earth hide thee ! -Thy bones are marrowless , thy blood is cold ; -Thou hast no speculation in those eyes -Which thou dost glare with . - -Think of this , good peers , -But as a thing of custom : 'tis no other ; -Only it spoils the pleasure of the time . - -What man dare , I dare : -Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear , -The arm'd rhinoceros , or the Hyrcan tiger ; -Take any shape but that , and my firm nerves -Shall never tremble : or be alive again , -And dare me to the desart with thy sword ; -If trembling I inhabit then , protest me -The baby of a girl . Hence , horrible shadow ! -Unreal mockery , hence ! - -Why , so ; being gone , -I am a man again . Pray you , sit still . - -You have displac'd the mirth , broke the good meeting , -With most admir'd disorder . - -Can such things be -And overcome us like a summer's cloud , -Without our special wonder ? You make me strange -Even to the disposition that I owe , -When now I think you can behold such sights , -And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks , -When mine are blanch'd with fear . - -What sights , my lord ? - -I pray you , speak not ; he grows worse and worse ; -Question enrages him . At once , good-night : -Stand not upon the order of your going , -But go at once . - -Good-night ; and better health -Attend his majesty ! - -A kind good-night to all ! - - -It will have blood , they say ; blood will have blood : -Stones have been known to move and trees to speak ; -Augurs and understood relations have -By maggot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth -The secret'st man of blood . What is the night ? - -Almost at odds with morning , which is which . - -How sayst thou , that Macduff denies his person -At our great bidding ? - -Did you send to him , sir ? - -I hear it by the way ; but I will send . -There's not a one of them but in his house -I keep a servant fee'd . I will to-morrow -And betimes I will to the weird sisters : -More shall they speak ; for now I am bent to know , -By the worst means , the worst . For mine own good -All causes shall give way : I am in blood -Stepp'd in so far , that , should I wade no more , -Returning were as tedious as go o'er . -Strange things I have in head that will to hand , -Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd . - -You lack the season of all natures , sleep . - -Come , we'll to sleep . My strange and self-abuse -Is the initiate fear that wants hard use : -We are yet but young in deed . - - -Why , how now , Hecate ! you look angerly . - -Have I not reason , beldams as you are , -Saucy and overbold ? How did you dare -To trade and traffic with Macbeth -In riddles and affairs of death ; -And I , the mistress of your charms , -The close contriver of all harms , -Was never call'd to bear my part , -Or show the glory of our art ? -And , which is worse , all you have done -Hath been but for a wayward son , -Spiteful and wrathful ; who , as others do , -Loves for his own ends , not for you . -But make amends now : get you gone , -And at the pit of Acheron -Meet me i' the morning : thither he -Will come to know his destiny : -Your vessels and your spells provide , -Your charms and every thing beside . -I am for the air ; this night I'll spend -Unto a dismal and a fatal end : -Great business must be wrought ere noon : -Upon the corner of the moon -There hangs a vaporous drop profound ; -I'll catch it ere it come to ground : -And that distill'd by magic sleights -Shall raise such artificial sprites -As by the strength of their illusion -Shall draw him on to his confusion : -He shall spurn fate , scorn death , and bear -His hopes 'bove wisdom , grace , and fear ; -And you all know security -Is mortals' chiefest enemy . - -Hark ! I am call'd ; my little spirit , see , -Sits in a foggy cloud , and stays for me . - - -Come , let's make haste ; she'll soon be back again . - - -My former speeches have but hit your thoughts , -Which can interpret further : only , I say , -Things have been strangely borne . The gracious Duncan -Was pitied of Macbeth : marry , he was dead : -And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late ; -Whom , you may say , if 't please you , Fleance kill'd , -For Fleance fled : men must not walk too late . -Who cannot want the thought how monstrous -It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain -To kill their gracious father ? damned fact ! -How it did grieve Macbeth ! did he not straight -In pious rage the two delinquents tear , -That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep ? -Was not that nobly done ? Ay , and wisely too ; -For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive -To hear the men deny 't . So that , I say , -He has borne all things well ; and I do think -That , had he Duncan's sons under his key , -As , an 't please heaven , he shall not ,they should find -What 'twere to kill a father ; so should Fleance . -But , peace ! for from broad words , and 'cause he fail'd . -His presence at the tyrant's feast , I hear , -Macduff lives in disgrace . Sir , can you tell -Where he bestows himself ? - -The son of Duncan , -From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth , -Lives in the English court , and is receiv'd -Of the most pious Edward with such grace -That the malevolence of fortune nothing -Takes from his high respect . Thither Macduff -Is gone to pray the holy king , upon his aid -To wake Northumberland and war-like Siward : -That , by the help of these with him above -To ratify the work we may again -Give to our tables meat , sleep to our nights , -Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives , -Do faithful homage and receive free honours ; -All which we pine for now . And this report -Hath so exasperate the king that he -Prepares for some attempt at war . - -Sent he to Macduff ? - -He did : and with an absolute , 'Sir , not I ,' -The cloudy messenger turns me his back , -And hums , as who should say , 'You'll rue the time -That clogs me with this answer .' - -And that well might -Advise him to a caution to hold what distance -His wisdom can provide . Some holy angel -Fly to the court of England and unfold -His message ere he come , that a swift blessing -May soon return to this our suffering country -Under a hand accurs'd ! - -I'll send my prayers with him ! - -Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd . - -Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin'd . - -Harper cries : 'Tis time , 'tis time . - - -Round about the cauldron go , -In the poison'd entrails throw . -Toad , that under cold stone -Days and nights hast thirty-one -Swelter'd venom sleeping got , -Boil thou first i' the charmed pot . - -Double , double toil and trouble ; -Fire burn and cauldron bubble . - -Fillet of a fenny snake , -In the cauldron boil and bake ; -Eye of newt , and toe of frog , -Wool of bat , and tongue of dog , -Adder's fork , and blind-worm's sting , -Lizard's leg , and howlet's wing , -For a charm of powerful trouble , -Like a hell-broth boil and bubble . - -Double , double toil and trouble ; -Fire burn and cauldron bubble . - -Scale of dragon , tooth of wolf , -Witches' mummy , maw and gulf -Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark , -Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark , -Liver of blaspheming Jew , -Gall of goat , and slips of yew -Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse , -Nose of Turk , and Tartar's lips , -Finger of birth-strangled babe -Ditch-deliver'd by a drab , -Make the gruel thick and slab : -Add thereto a tiger's chaudron , -For the ingredients of our cauldron . - -Double , double toil and trouble ; -Fire burn and cauldron bubble . - -Cool it with a baboon's blood , -Then the charm is firm and good . - - -O ! well done ! I commend your pains , -And every one shall share i' the gains . -And now about the cauldron sing , -Like elves and fairies in a ring , -Enchanting all that you put in . - - -By the pricking of my thumbs , -Something wicked this way comes . -Open , locks , -Whoever knocks . - -How now , you secret , black , and mid-night hags ! -What is 't you do ? - -A deed without a name . - -I conjure you , by that which you profess , -Howe'er you come to know it ,answer me : -Though you untie the winds and let them fight -Against the churches ; though the yesty waves -Confound and swallow navigation up ; -Though bladed corn be lodg'd and trees blown down ; -Though castles topple on their warders' heads ; -Though palaces and pyramids do slope -Their heads to their foundations ; though the treasure -Of Nature's germens tumble all together , -Even till destruction sicken ; answer me -To what I ask you . - -Speak . - -Demand . - -We'll answer . - -Say if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths , -Or from our masters' ? - -Call 'em : let me see 'em . - - -Pour in sow's blood , that hath eaten -Her nine farrow ; grease , that's sweaten -From the murderer's gibbet throw -Into the flame . - -Come , high or low ; -Thyself and office deftly show . - -Tell me , thou unknown power , - -He knows thy thought : -Hear his speech , but say thou nought . - -Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! beware Macduff ; -Beware the Thane of Fife . Dismiss me . Enough . - - -Whate'er thou art , for thy good caution thanks ; -Thou hast harp'd my fear aright . But one word more , - -He will not be commanded : here's another , -More potent than the first . - - -Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! - -Had I three ears , I'd hear thee . - -Be bloody , bold , and resolute ; laugh to scorn -The power of man , for none of woman born -Shall harm Macbeth . - -Then live , Macduff : what need I fear of thee ? -But yet I'll make assurance double sure , -And take a bond of fate : thou shalt not live ; -That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies , -And sleep in spite of thunder . - -What is this , -That rises like the issue of a king , -And wears upon his baby brow the round - -And top of sovereignty ? - -Listen , but speak not to 't . - -Be lion-mettled , proud , and take no care -Who chafes , who frets or where conspirers are : -Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until -Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill -Shall come against him . - - -That will never be : -Who can impress the forest , bid the tree -Unfix his earth-bound root ? Sweet bodements ! good ! -Rebellion's head , rise never till the wood -Of Birnam rise , and our high-plac'd Macbeth -Shall live the lease of nature , pay his breath -To time and mortal custom . Yet my heart -Throbs to know one thing : tell me if your art -Can tell so much ,shall Banquo's issue ever -Reign in this kingdom ? - -Seek to know no more . - -I will be satisfied : deny me this , -And an eternal curse fall on you ! Let me know . -Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this ? - - -Show ! - -Show ! - -Show ! - -Show his eyes , and grieve his heart ; -Come like shadows , so depart . - - -Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo ; down ! -Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs : and thy hair , -Thou other gold-bound brow , is like the first : -A third is like the former . Filthy hags ! -Why do you show me this ? A fourth ! Start , eyes ! -What ! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ? -Another yet ? A seventh ! I'll see no more : -And yet the eighth appears , who bears a glass -Which shows me many more ; and some I see -That two-fold balls and treble sceptres carry . -Horrible sight ! Now , I see , 'tis true ; -For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me , -And points at them for his . - -What ! is this so ? - -Ay , sir , all this is so : but why -Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ? -Come , sisters , cheer we up his sprites , -And show the best of our delights . -I'll charm the air to give a sound , -While you perform your antick round , -That this great king may kindly say , -Our duties did his welcome pay . - - -Where are they ? Gone ? Let this pernicious hour -Stand aye accursed in the calendar ! -Come in , without there ! - - -What's your Grace's will ? - -Saw you the weird sisters ? - -No , my lord . - -Came they not by you ? - -No indeed , my lord . - -Infected be the air whereon they ride , -And damn'd all those that trust them ! I did hear -The galloping of horse : who was 't came by ? - -'Tis two or three , my lord , that bring you word -Macduff is fled to England . - -Fled to England ! - -Ay , my good lord . - -Time , thou anticipat'st my dread exploits ; -The flighty purpose never is o'ertook -Unless the deed go with it ; from this moment -The very firstlings of my heart shall be -The firstlings of my hand . And even now , -To crown my thoughts with acts , be it thought and done : -The castle of Macduff I will surprise ; -Seize upon Fife ; give to the edge of the sword -His wife , his babes , and all unfortunate souls -That trace him in his line . No boasting like a fool ; -This deed I'll do , before this purpose cool : -But no moresights ! Where are these gentlemen ? -Come , bring me where they are . - - -What had he done to make him fly the land ? - -You must have patience , madam . - -He had none : -His flight was madness : when our actions do not , -Our fears do make us traitors . - -You know not -Whether it was his wisdom or his fear . - -Wisdom ! to leave his wife , to leave his babes , -His mansion and his titles in a place -From whence himself does fly ? He loves us not ; -He wants the natural touch ; for the poor wren , -The most diminutive of birds , will fight -Her young ones in her nest against the owl . -All is the fear and nothing is the love ; -As little is the wisdom , where the flight -So runs against all reason . - -My dearest coz , -I pray you , school yourself : but , for your husband , -He is noble , wise , judicious , and best knows -The fits o' the season . I dare not speak much further : -But cruel are the times , when we are traitors -And do not know ourselves , when we hold rumour -From what we fear , yet know not what we fear , -But float upon a wild and violent sea -Each way and move . I take my leave of you : -Shall not be long but I'll be here again . -Things at the worst will cease , or else climb upward -To what they were before . My pretty cousin , -Blessing upon you ! - -Father'd he is , and yet he's fatherless . - -I am so much a fool , should I stay longer , -It would be my disgrace , and your discomfort : -I take my leave at once . - - -Sirrah , your father's dead : -And what will you do now ? How will you live ? - -As birds do , mother . - -What ! with worms and flies ? - -With what I get , I mean ; and so do they . - -Poor bird ! thou'dst never fear the net nor lime , -The pit-fall nor the gin . - -Why should I , mother ? Poor birds they are not set for . -My father is not dead , for all your saying . - -Yes , he is dead : how wilt thou do for a father ? - -Nay , how will you do for a husband ? - -Why , I can buy me twenty at any market . - -Then you'll buy 'em to sell again . - -Thou speak'st with all thy wit ; and yet , i' faith , -With wit enough for thee . - -Was my father a traitor , mother ? - -Ay , that he was . - -What is a traitor ? - -Why , one that swears and lies . - -And be all traitors that do so ? - -Every one that does so is a traitor , and must be hanged . - -And must they all be hanged that swear and lie ? - -Every one . - -Who must hang them ? - -Why , the honest men . - -Then the liars and swearers are fools , for there are liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men , and hang up them . - -Now God help thee , poor monkey ! -But how wilt thou do for a father ? - -If he were dead , you'd weep for him : if you would not , it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new father . - -Poor prattler , how thou talk'st ! - - -Bless you , fair dame ! I am not to you known , -Though in your state of honour I am perfect . -I doubt some danger does approach you nearly : -If you will take a homely man's advice , -Be not found here ; hence , with your little ones . -To fright you thus , methinks , I am too savage ; -To do worse to you were fell cruelty , -Which is too nigh your person . Heaven preserve you ! -I dare abide no longer . - - -Whither should I fly ? -I have done no harm . But I remember now -I am in this earthly world , where , to do harm -Is often laudable , to do good sometime -Accounted dangerous folly ; why then , alas ! -Do I put up that womanly defence , -To say I have done no harm ? - -What are these faces ? - -Where is your husband ? - -I hope in no place so unsanctified -Where such as thou mayst find him . - -He's a traitor . - -Thou liest , thou shag-hair'd villain . - -What ! you egg . -Young fry of treachery ! - - -He has killed me , mother : -Run away , I pray you ! - -Let us seek out some desolate shade , and there -Weep our sad bosoms empty . - -Let us rather -Hold fast the mortal sword , and like good men -Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom ; each new morn -New widowshowl , new orphans cry , new sorrows -Strike heaven on the face , that it resounds -As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out -Like syllable of dolour . - -What I believe I'll wail , -What know believe , and what I can redress , -As I shall find the time to friend , I will . -What you have spoke , it may be so perchance . -This tyrant , whosesole name blisters our tongues , -Was once thought honest : you have lov'd him well ; -He hath not touch'd you yet . I am young ; but something -You may deserve of him through me , and wisdom -To offer up a weak , poor , innocent lamb -To appease an angry god . - -I am not treacherous . - -But Macbeth is . -A good and virtuous nature may recoil -In an imperial charge . But I shall crave your pardon ; -That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose ; -Angels are bright still , though the brightest fell ; -Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace , -Yet grace must still look so . - -I have lost my hopes . - -Perchance even there where I did find my doubts . -Why in that rawness left you wife and child -Those precious motives , those strong knots of love -Without leave-taking ? I pray you , -Let not my jealousies be your dishonours , -But mine own safeties : you may be rightly just , -Whatever I shall think . - -Bleed , bleed , poor country ! -Great tyranny , lay thou thy basis sure , -For goodness dares not check thee ! wear thou thy wrongs ; -The title is affeer'd ! Fare thee well , lord : -I would not be the villain that thou think'st -For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp , -And the rich East to boot . - -Be not offended : -I speak not as in absolute fear of you . -I think our country sinks beneath the yoke ; -It weeps , it bleeds , and each new day a gash -Is added to her wounds : I think withal , -There would be hands uplifted in my right ; -And here from gracious England have I offer -Of goodly thousands : but , for all this , -When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head , -Or wear it on my sword , yet my poor country -Shall have more vices than it had before , -More suffer , and more sundry ways than ever , -By him that shall succeed . - -What should he be ? - -It is myself I mean ; in whom I know -All the particulars of vice so grafted , -That , when they shall be open'd , black Macbeth -Will seem as pure as snow , and the poor state -Esteem him as a lamb , being compar'd -With my confineless harms . - -Not in the legions -Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd -In evils to top Macbeth . - -I grant him bloody , -Luxurious , avaricious , false , deceitful , -Sudden , malicious , smacking of every sin -That has a name ; but there's no bottom , none , -In my voluptuousness : your wives , your daughters , -Your matrons , and your maids , could not fill up -The cistern of my lust ; and my desire -All continent impediments would o'erbear -That did oppose my will ; better Macbeth -Than such an one to reign . - -Boundless intemperance -In nature is a tyranny ; it hath been -Th' untimely emptying of the happy throne , -And fall of many kings . But fear not yet -To take upon you what is yours ; you may -Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty , -And yet seem cold , the time you may so hoodwink . -We have willing dames enough ; there cannot be -That vulture in you , to devour so many -As will to greatness dedicate themselves , -Finding it so inclin'd . - -With this there grows -In my most ill-compos'd affection such -A stanchless avarice that , were I king , -I should cut off the nobles for their lands , -Desire his jewels and this other's house ; -And my more-having would be as a sauce -To make me hunger more , that I should forge -Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal , -Destroying them for wealth . - -This avarice -Sticks deeper , grows with more pernicious root -Than summer-seeming lust , and it hath been -The sword of our slain kings : yet do not fear ; -Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will , -Of your mere own ; all these are portable , -With other graces weigh'd . - -But I have none : the king-becoming graces , -As justice , verity , temperance , stableness , -Bounty , perseverance , mercy , lowliness , -Devotion , patience , courage , fortitude , -I have no relish of them , but abound -In the division of each several crime , -Acting it many ways . Nay , had I power , I should -Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell , -Uproar the universal peace , confound -All unity on earth . - -O Scotland , Scotland ! - -If such a one be fit to govern , speak : -I am as I have spoken . - -Fit to govern ! -No , not to live . O nation miserable , -With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd , -When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again , -Since that the truest issue of thy throne -By his own interdiction stands accurs'd , -And does blaspheme his breed ? Thy royal father -Was a most sainted king ; the queen that bore thee , -Oft'ner upon her knees than on her feet , -Died every day she liv'd . Fare thee well ! -These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself -Have banish'd me from Scotland . O my breast , -Thy hope ends here ! - -Macduff , this noble passion , -Child of integrity , hath from my soul -Wip'd the black scruples , reconcil'd my thoughts -To thy good truth and honour . Devilish Macbeth -By many of these trains hath sought to win me -Into his power , and modest wisdom plucks me -From over-credulous haste ; but God above -Deal between thee and me ! for even now -I put myself to thy direction , and -Unspeak mine own detraction , here abjure -The taints and blames I laid upon myself , -For strangers to my nature . I am yet -Unknown to woman , never was forsworn , -Scarcely have coveted what was mine own ; -At no time broke my faith , would not betray -The devil to his fellow , and delight -No less in truth than life ; my first false speaking -Was this upon myself . What I am truly , -Is thine and my poor country's to command ; -Whither indeed , before thy here-approach , -Old Siward , with ten thousand war-like men , -Already at a point , was setting forth . -Now we'll together , and the chance of goodness -Be like our warranted quarrel . Why are you silent ? - -Such welcome and unwelcome things at once -'Tis hard to reconcile . - - -Well ; more anon . Comes the king forth , I pray you ? - -Ay , sir ; there are a crew of wretched souls -That stay his cure ; their malady convinces -The great assay of art ; but , at his touch , -Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand , -They presently amend . - -I thank you , doctor . - - -What's the disease he means ? - -'Tis call'd the evil : -A most miraculous work in this good king , -Which often , since my here-remain in England , -I have seen him do . How he solicits heaven , -Himself best knows ; but strangely-visited people , -All swoln and ulcerous , pitiful to the eye , -The mere despair of surgery , he cures ; -Hanging a golden stamp about their necks , -Put on with holy prayers ; and 'tis spoken -To the succeeding royalty he leaves -The healing benediction . With this strange virtue , -He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy , -And sundry blessings hang about his throne -That speak him full of grace . - -See , who comes here ? - -My countryman ; but yet I know him not . - - -My ever-gentle cousin , welcome hither . - -I know him now . Good God , betimes remove -The means that make us strangers ! - -Sir , amen . - -Stands Scotland where it did ? - -Alas ! poor country ; -Almost afraid to know itself . It cannot -Be call'd our mother , but our grave ; where nothing , -But who knows nothing , is once seen to smile ; -Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rent the air -Are made , not mark'd ; where violent sorrow seems -A modern ecstasy ; the dead man's knell -Is there scarce ask'd for who ; and good men's lives -Expire before the flowers in their caps , -Dying or ere they sicken . - -O ! relation -Too nice , and yet too true ! - -What's the newest grief ? - -That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker ; -Each minute teems a new one . - -How does my wife ? - -Why , well . - -And all my children ? - -Well too . - -The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace ? - -No ; they were well at peace when I did leave 'em . - -Be not a niggard of your speech : how goes 't ? - -When I came hither to transport the tidings , -Which I have heavily borne , there ran a rumour -Of many worthy fellows that were out ; -Which was to my belief witness'd the rather -For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot . -Now is the time of help ; your eye in Scotland -Would create soldiers , make our women fight , -To doff their dire distresses . - -Be 't their comfort , -We are coming thither . Gracious England hath -Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men ; -An older and a better soldier none -That Christendom gives out . - -Would I could answer -This comfort with the like ! But I have words -That would be howl'd out in the desert air , -Where hearing should not latch them . - -What concern they ? -The general cause ? or is it a fee-grief -Due to some single breast ? - -No mind that's honest -But in it shares some woe , though the main part -Pertains to you alone . - -If it be mine -Keep it not from me ; quickly let me have it . - -Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever , -Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound -That ever yet they heard . - -Hum ! I guess at it . - -Your castle is surpris'd ; your wife and babes -Savagely slaughter'd ; to relate the manner , -Were , on the quarry of these murder'd deer , -To add the death of you . - -Merciful heaven ! -What ! man ; ne'er pull your hat upon your brows ; -Give sorrow words ; the grief that does not speak -Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break . - -My children too ? - -Wife , children , servants , all -That could be found . - -And I must be from thence ! -My wife kill'd too ? - -I have said . - -Be comforted : -Let's make us medicine of our great revenge , -To cure this deadly grief . - -He has no children . All my pretty ones ? -Did you say all ? O hell-kite ! All ? -What ! all my pretty chickens and their dam -At one fell swoop ? - -Dispute it like a man . - -I shall do so ; -But I must also feel it as a man : -I cannot but remember such things were , -That were most precious to me . Did heaven look on , -And would not take their part ? Sinful Macduff ! -They were all struck for thee . Naught that I am , -Not for their own demerits , but for mine , -Fell slaughter on their souls . Heaven rest them now ! - -Be this the whetstone of your sword : let grief -Convert to anger ; blunt not the heart , enrage it . - -O ! I could play the woman with mine eyes , -And braggart with my tongue . But , gentle heavens , -Cut short all intermission ; front to front -Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself ; -Within my sword's length set him ; if he 'scape , -Heaven forgive him too ! - -This tune goes manly . -Come , go we to the king ; our power is ready ; -Our lack is nothing but our leave . Macbeth -Is ripe for shaking , and the powers above -Put on their instruments . Receive what cheer you may ; -The night is long that never finds the day . - -I have two nights watched with you , but can perceive no truth in your report . When was it she last walked ? - -Since his majesty went into the field , I have seen her rise from her bed , throw her night-gown upon her , unlock her closet , take forth paper , fold it , write upon 't , read it , afterwards seal it , and again return to bed ; yet all this while in a most fast sleep . - -A great perturbation in nature , to receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching ! In this slumbery agitation , besides her walking and other actual performances , what , at any time , have you heard her say ? - -That , sir , which I will not report after her . - -You may to me , and 'tis most meet you should . - -Neither to you nor any one , having no witness to confirm my speech . - -Lo you ! here she comes . This is her very guise ; and , upon my life , fast asleep . Observe her ; stand close . - -How came she by that light ? - -Why , it stood by her : she has light by her continually ; 'tis her command . - -You see , her eyes are open . - -Ay , but their sense is shut . - -What is it she does now ? Look , how she rubs her hands . - -It is an accustomed action with her , to seem thus washing her hands . I have known her to continue in this a quarter of an hour . - -Yet here's a spot . - -Hark ! she speaks . I will set down what comes from her , to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly . - -Out , damned spot ! out , I say ! One ; two : why , then , 'tis time to do't . Hell is murky ! Fie , my lord , fie ! a soldier , and afeard ? What need we fear who knows it , when none can call our power to account ? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him ? - -Do you mark that ? - -The Thane of Fife had a wife : where is she now ? What ! will these hands ne'er be clean ? No more o' that , my lord , no more o' that : you mar all with this starting . - -Go to , go to ; you have known what you should not . - -She has spoke what she should not , I am sure of that : Heaven knows what she has known . - -Here's the smell of the blood still : all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand . Oh ! oh ! oh ! - -What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely charged . - -I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body . - -Well , well , well . - -Pray God it be , sir . - -This disease is beyond my practice : yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep who have died holily in their beds . - -Wash your hands , put on your night-gown ; look not so pale . I tell you yet again , Banquo's buried ; he cannot come out on 's grave . - -Even so ? - -To bed , to bed : there's knocking at the gate . Come , come , come , come , give me your hand . What's done cannot be undone . -To bed , to bed , to bed . - - -Will she go now to bed ? - -Directly . - -Foul whisperings are abroad . Unnatural deeds -Do breed unnatural troubles ; infected minds -To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets ; -More needs she the divine than the physician . -God , God forgive us all ! Look after her ; -Remove from her the means of all annoyance , -And still keep eyes upon her . So , good-night : -My mind she has mated , and amaz'd my sight . -I think , but dare not speak . - -Good-night , good doctor . - - -The English power is near , led on by Malcolm , -His uncle Siward , and the good Macduff . -Revenges burn in them ; for their dear causes -Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm -Excite the mortified man . - -Near Birnam wood -Shall we well meet them ; that way are they coming . - -Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother ? - -For certain , sir , he is not : I have a file -Of all the gentry : there is Siward's son , -And many unrough youths that even now -Protest their first of manhood . - -What does the tyrant ? - -Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies . -Some say he's mad ; others that lesser hate him -Do call it valiant fury ; but , for certain , -He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause -Within the belt of rule . - -Now does he feel -His secret murders sticking on his hands ; -Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach ; -Those he commands move only in command , -Nothing in love ; now does he feel his title -Hang loose about him , like a giant's robe -Upon a dwarfish thief . - -Who then shall blame -His pester'd senses to recoil and start , -When all that is within him does condemn -Itself for being there ? - -Well , march we on , -To give obedience where 'tis truly ow'd ; -Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal , -And with him pour we in our country's purge -Each drop of us . - -Or so much as it needs -To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds . -Make we our march towards Birnam . - - -Bring me no more reports ; let them fly all : -Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane -I cannot taint with fear . What's the boy Malcolm ? -Was he not born of woman ? The spirits that know -All mortal consequences have pronounc'd me thus : -'Fear not , Macbeth ; no man that's born of woman -Shall e'er have power upon thee .' Then fly , false thanes , -And mingle with the English epicures : -The mind I sway by and the heart I bear -Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear . - - -The devil damn thee black , thou cream-fac'd loon ! - -Where gott'st thou that goose look ? - -There is ten thousand - -Geese , villain ? - -Soldiers , sir . - -Go , prick thy face , and over-red thy fear , -Thou lily-liver'd boy . What soldiers , patch ? -Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine -Are counsellors to fear . What soldiers , wheyface ? - -The English force , so please you . - -Take thy face hence . - -Seyton !I am sick at heart -When I behold Seyton , I say !This push -Will cheer me ever or disseat me now . -I have liv'd long enough : my way of life -Is fall'n into the sear , the yellow leaf ; -And that which should accompany old age , -As honour , love , obedience , troops of friends , -I must not look to have ; but , in their stead , -Curses , not loud but deep , mouth-honour , breath , -Which the poor heart would fain deny , and dare not . -Seyton ! - - -What is your gracious pleasure ? - -What news more ? - -All is confirm'd , my lord , which was reported . - -I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd . -Give me my armour . - -'Tis not needed yet . - -I'll put it on . -Send out more horses , skirr the country round ; -Hang those that talk of fear . Give me mine armour . -How does your patient , doctor ? - -Not so sick , my lord , -As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies , -That keep her from her rest . - -Cure her of that : -Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd , -Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow , -Raze out the written troubles of the brain , -And with some sweet oblivious antidote -Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff -Which weighs upon the heart ? - -Therein the patient -Must minister to himself . - -Throw physic to the dogs ; I'll none of it . -Come , put mine armour on ; give me my staff . -Seyton , send out .Doctor , the thanes fly from me . -Come , sir , dispatch .If thou couldst , doctor , cast -The water of my land , find her disease , -And purge it to a sound and pristine health , -I would applaud thee to the very echo , -That should applaud again .Pull 't off , I say . -What rhubarb , senna , or what purgative drug -Would scour these English hence ? Hear'st thou of them ? - -Ay , my good lord ; your royal preparation -Makes us hear something . - -Bring it after me . -I will not be afraid of death and bane -Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane . - -Were I from Dunsinane away and clear , -Profit again should hardly draw me here . - -Cousins , I hope the days are near at hand -That chambers will be safe . - -We doubt it nothing . - -What wood is this before us ? - -The wood of Birnam . - -Let every soldier hew him down a bough -And bear 't before him : thereby shall we shadow -The numbers of our host , and make discovery -Err in report of us . - -It shall be done . - -We learn no other but the confident tyrant -Keeps still in Dunsinane , and will endure -Our setting down before 't . - -'Tis his main hope ; -For where there is advantage to be given , -Both more and less have given him the revolt , -And none serve with him but constrained things -Whose hearts are absent too . - -Let our just censures -Attend the true event , and put we on -Industrious soldiership . - -The time approaches -That will with due decision make us know -What we shall say we have and what we owe . -Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate , -But certain issue strokes must arbitrate , -Towards which advance the war . - - -Hang out our banners on the outward walls ; -The cry is still , 'They come ;' our castle's strength -Will laugh a siege to scorn ; here let them lie -Till famine and the ague eat them up ; -Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours , -We might have met them dareful , beard to beard , -And beat them backward home . - -What is that noise ? - -It is the cry of women , my good lord . - - -I have almost forgot the taste of fears . -The time has been my senses would have cool'd -To hear a night-shriek , and my fell of hair -Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir -As life were in 't . I have supp'd full with horrors ; -Direness , familiar to my slaughterous thoughts , -Cannot once start me . - -Wherefore was that cry ? - -The queen , my lord , is dead . - -She should have died hereafter ; -There would have been a time for such a word . -To-morrow , and to-morrow , and to-morrow , -Creeps in this petty pace from day to day , -To the last syllable of recorded time ; -And all our yesterdays have lighted fools -The way to dusty death . Out , out , brief candle ! -Life's but a walking shadow , a poor player -That struts and frets his hour upon the stage , -And then is heard no more ; it is a tale -Told by an idiot , full of sound and fury , -Signifying nothing . - -Thou com'st to use thy tongue ; thy story quickly . - -Gracious my lord , -I should report that which I say I saw , -But know not how to do it . - -Well , say , sir . - -As I did stand my watch upon the hill , -I look'd towards Birnam , and anon , methought , -The wood began to move . - -Liar and slave ! - -Let me endure your wrath if't be not so : -Within this three mile may you see it coming ; -I say , a moving grove . - -If thou speak'st false , -Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive , -Till famine cling thee ; if thy speech be sooth , -I care not if thou dost for me as much . -I pull in resolution and begin -To doubt the equivocation of the fiend -That lies like truth ; 'Fear not , till Birnam wood -Do come to Dunsinane ;' and now a wood -Comes toward Dunsinane . Arm , arm , and out ! -If this which he avouches does appear , -There is nor flying hence , nor tarrying here . -I 'gin to be aweary of the sun , -And wish the estate o' the world were now undone . -Ring the alarum-bell ! Blow , wind ! come , wrack ! -At least we'll die with harness on our back . - - -Now near enough ; your leavy screens throw down , -And show like those you are . You , worthy uncle , -Shall , with my cousin , your right-noble son , -Lead our first battle ; worthy Macduff and we -Shall take upon 's what else remains to do , -According to our order . - -Fare you well . -Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night , -Let us be beaten , if we cannot fight . - -Make all our trumpets speak ; give them all breath , -Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death . - - -They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly , -But bear-like I must fight the course . What's he -That was not born of woman ? Such a one -Am I to fear , or none . - - -What is thy name ? - -Thou'lt be afraid to hear it . - -No ; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name -Than any is in hell . - -My name's Macbeth . - -The devil himself could not pronounce a title -More hateful to mine ear . - -No , nor more fearful . - -Thou liest , abhorred tyrant ; with my sword -I'll prove the lie thou speak'st . - - -Thou wast born of woman : -But swords I smile at , weapons laugh to scorn , -Brandish'd by man that's of a woman born . - -That way the noise is . Tyrant , show thy face : -If thou be'st slain and with no stroke of mine , -My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still . -I cannot strike at wretched kerns , whose arms -Are hir'd to bear their staves : either thou , Macbeth , -Or else my sword with an unbatter'd edge -I sheathe again undeeded . There thou shouldst be ; -By this great clatter , one of greatest note -Seems bruited . Let me find him , fortune ! -And more I beg not . - -This way , my lord ; the castle's gently render'd : -The tyrant's people on both sides do fight ; -The noble thanes do bravely in the war ; -The day almost itself professes yours , -And little is to do . - -We have met with foes -That strike beside us . - -Enter , sir , the castle . - -Why should I play the Roman fool , and die -On mine own sword ? whiles I see lives , the gashes -Do better upon them . - - -Turn , hell-hound , turn ! - -Of all men else I have avoided thee : -But get thee back , my soul is too much charg'd -With blood of thine already . - -I have no words ; -My voice is in my sword , thou bloodier villain -Than terms can give thee out ! - - -Thou losest labour : -As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air -With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed : -Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ; -I bear a charmed life , which must not yield -To one of woman born . - -Despair thy charm ; -And let the angel whom thou still hast serv'd -Tell thee , Macduff was from his mother's womb -Untimely ripp'd . - -Accursed be that tongue that tells me so , -For it hath cow'd my better part of man : -And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd , -That palter with us in a double sense ; -That keep the word of promise to our ear , -And break it to our hope . I'll not fight with thee . - -Then yield thee , coward , -And live to be the show and gaze o' the time : -We'll have thee , as our rarer monsters are , -Painted upon a pole , and underwrit , -'Here may you see the tyrant .' - -I will not yield , -To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet , -And to be baited with the rabble's curse . -Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane , -And thou oppos'd , being of no woman born , -Yet I will try the last : before my body -I throw my war-like shield . Lay on , Macduff , -And damn'd be him that first cries , 'Hold , enough !' - - -I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd . - -Some must go off ; and yet , by these I see , -So great a day as this is cheaply bought . - -Macduff is missing , and your noble son . - -Your son , my lord , has paid a soldier's debt : -He only liv'd but till he was a man ; -The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd -In the unshrinking station where he fought , -But like a man he died . - -Then he is dead ? - -Ay , and brought off the field . Your cause of sorrow -Must not be measur'd by his worth , for then -It hath no end . - -Had he his hurts before ? - -Ay , on the front . - -Why then , God's soldier be he ! -Had I as many sons as I have hairs , -I would not wish them to a fairer death : -And so , his knell is knoll'd . - -He's worth more sorrow , -And that I'll spend for him . - -He's worth no more ; -They say , he parted well , and paid his score : -And so , God be with him ! Here comes newer comfort . - - -Hail , king ! for so thou art . Behold , where stands -The usurper's cursed head : the time is free : -I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl , -That speak my salutation in their minds ; -Whose voices I desire aloud with mine ; -Hail , King of Scotland ! - -Hail , King of Scotland ! - - -We shall not spend a large expense of time -Before we reckon with your several loves , -And make us even with you . My thanes and kinsmen , -Henceforth be earls , the first that ever Scotland -In such an honour nam'd . What's more to do , -Which would be planted newly with the time , -As calling home our exil'd friends abroad -That fled the snares of watchful tyranny ; -Producing forth the cruel ministers -Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen , -Who , as 'tis thought , by self and violent hands -Took off her life ; this , and what needful else -That calls upon us , by the grace of Grace -We will perform in measure , time , and place : -So , thanks to all at once and to each one , -Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone . - -OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE - -Tush ! Never tell me ; I take it much unkindly -That thou , Iago , who hast had my purse -As if the strings were thine , shouldst know of this . - -'Sblood , but you will not hear me : -If ever I did dream of such a matter , -Abhor me . - -Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate . - -Despise me if I do not . Three great ones of the city , -In personal suit to make me his lieutenant , -Off-capp'd to him ; and , by the faith of man . -I know my price , I am worth no worse a place ; -But he , as loving his own pride and purposes , -Evades them , with a bombast circumstance -Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war ; -And , in conclusion , -Nonsuits my mediators ; for , 'Certes ,' says he , -'I have already chose my officer .' -And what was he ? -Forsooth , a great arithmetician , -One Michael Cassio , a Florentine , -A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife ; -That never set a squadron in the field , -Nor the division of a battle knows -More than a spinster ; unless the bookish theoric , -Wherein the toged consuls can propose -As masterly as he : mere prattle , without practice , -Is all his soldiership . But he , sir , had the election ; -And I of whom his eyes had seen the proof -At Rhodes , at Cyprus , and on other grounds -Christian and heathen must be be-lee'd and calm'd -By debitor and creditor ; this counter caster , -He , in good time , must his lieutenant be , -And I God bless the mark !his Moorship's ancient . - -By heaven , I rather would have been his hangman . - -Why , there's no remedy : 'tis the curse of the service , -Preferment goes by letter and affection , -Not by the old gradation , where each second -Stood heir to the first . Now , sir , be judge yourself , -Whe'r I in any just term am affin'd -To love the Moor . - -I would not follow him then . - -O ! sir , content you ; -I follow him to serve my turn upon him ; -We cannot all be masters , nor all masters -Cannot be truly follow'd . You shall mark -Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave , -That , doting on his own obsequious bondage , -Wears out his time , much like his master's ass , -For nought but provender , and when he's old , cashier'd ; -Whip me such honest knaves . Others there are -Who , trimm'd in forms and visages of duty , -Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves , -And , throwing but shows of service on their lords , -Do well thrive by them , and when they have lin'd their coats -Do themselves homage : these fellows have some soul ; -And such a one do I profess myself . For , sir , -It is as sure as you are Roderigo , -Were I the Moor , I would not be Iago : -In following him , I follow but myself ; -Heaven is my judge , not I for love and duty , -But seeming so , for my peculiar end : -For when my outward action doth demonstrate -The native act and figure of my heart -In compliment extern , 'tis not long after -But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve -For daws to peck at : I am not what I am . - -What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe , -If he can carry 't thus ! - -Call up her father ; -Rouse him , make after him , poison his delight , -Proclaim him in the streets , incense her kinsmen , -And , though he in a fertile climate dwell , -Plague him with flies ; though that his joy be joy , -Yet throw such changes of vexation on 't -As it may lose some colour . - -Here is her father's house ; I'll call aloud . - -Do ; with like timorous accent and dire yell -As when , by night and negligence , the fire -Is spied in populous cities . - -What , ho ! Brabantio ! Signior Brabantio , ho ! - -Awake ! what , ho ! Brabantio ! thieves ! thieves ! thieves ! -Look to your house , your daughter , and your bags ! -Thieves ! thieves ! - - -What is the reason of this terrible summons ? -What is the matter there ? - -Signior , is all your family within ? - -Are your doors lock'd ? - -Why ? wherefore ask you this ? - -'Zounds ! sir , you're robb'd ; for shame , put on your gown ; -Your heart is burst , you have lost half your soul ; -Even now , now , very now , an old black ram -Is tupping your white ewe . Arise , arise ! -Awake the snorting citizens with the bell , -Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you . -Arise , I say . - -What ! have you lost your wits ? - -Most reverend signior , do you know my voice ? - -Not I , what are you ? - -My name is Roderigo . - -The worser welcome : -I have charg'd thee not to haunt about my doors : -In honest plainness thou hast heard me say -My daughter is not for thee ; and now , in madness , -Being full of supper and distempering draughts , -Upon malicious knavery dost thou come -To start my quiet . - -Sir , sir , sir ! - -But thou must needs be sure -My spirit and my place have in them power -To make this bitter to thee . - -Patience , good sir . - -What tell'st thou me of robbing ? this is Venice ; -My house is not a grange . - -Most grave Brabantio , -In simple and pure soul I come to you . - -'Zounds ! sir , you are one of those that will not serve God if the devil bid you . Because we come to do you service and you think we are ruffians , you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse ; you'll have your nephews neigh to you ; you'll have coursers for cousins and gennets for germans . - -What profane wretch art thou ? - -I am one , sir , that comes to tell you , your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs . - -Thou art a villain . - -You are a senator . - -This thou shalt answer ; I know thee , Roderigo . - -Sir , I will answer any thing . But , I beseech you , -If 't be your pleasure and most wise consent , -As partly , I find , it is ,that your fair daughter , -At this odd-even and dull-watch o' the night , -Transported with no worse nor better guard -But with a knave of common hire , a gondolier , -To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor , -If this be known to you , and your allowance , -We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs ; -But if you know not this , my manners tell me -We have your wrong rebuke . Do not believe , -That , from the sense of all civility , -I thus would play and trifle with your reverence : -Your daughter , if you have not given her leave , -I say again , hath made a gross revolt ; -Tying her duty , beauty , wit and fortunes -In an extravagant and wheeling stranger -Of here and every where . Straight satisfy yourself : -If she be in her chamber or your house , -Let loose on me the justice of the state -For thus deluding you . - -Strike on the tinder , ho ! -Give me a taper ! call up all my people ! -This accident is not unlike my dream ; -Belief of it oppresses me already . -Light , I say ! light ! - - -Farewell , for I must leave you : -It seems not meet nor wholesome to my place -To be produc'd , as , if I stay , I shall , -Against the Moor ; for , I do know the state , -However this may gall him with some check , -Cannot with safety cast him ; for he's embark'd -With such loud reason to the Cyprus wars , -Which even now stand in act ,that , for their souls , -Another of his fathom they have none , -To lead their business ; in which regard , -Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains , -Yet , for necessity of present life , -I must show out a flag and sign of love , -Which is indeed but sign . That you shall surely find him , -Lead to the Sagittary the raised search ; -And there will I be with him . So , farewell . - -It is too true an evil : gone she is , -And what's to come of my despised time -Is nought but bitterness . Now , Roderigo , -Where didst thou see her ? O , unhappy girl ! -With the Moor , sayst thou ? Who would be a father ! -How didst thou know 'twas she ? O , she deceives me -Past thought . What said she to you ? Get more tapers ! -Raise all my kindred ! Are they married , think you ? - -Truly , I think they are . - -O heaven ! How got she out ? O , treason of the blood : -Fathers , from hence trust not your daughters' minds -By what you see them act . Are there not charms -By which the property of youth and maidhood -May be abus'd ? Have you not read , Roderigo , -Of some such thing ? - -Yes , sir , I have indeed . - -Call up my brother . O ! that you had had her . -Some one way , some another ! Do you know -Where we may apprehend her and the Moor ? - -I think I can discover him , if you please -To get good guard and go along with me . - -Pray you , lead on . At every house I'll call ; -I may command at most . Get weapons , ho ! -And raise some special officers of night . -On , good Roderigo ; I'll deserve your pains . - - -Though in the trade of war I have slain men , -Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience -To do no contriv'd murder : I lack iniquity -Sometimes to do me service . Nine or ten times -I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the ribs . - -'Tis better as it is . - -Nay , but he prated , -And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms -Against your honour -That , with the little godliness I have , -I did full hard forbear him . But , I pray , sir , -Are you fast married ? Be assur'd of this , -That the magnifico is much belov'd , -And hath in his effect a voice potential -As double as the duke's ; he will divorce you , -Or put upon you what restraint and grievance -The law with all his might to enforce it on -Will give him cable . - -Let him do his spite : -My services which I have done the signiory -Shall out-tongue his complaints . 'Tis yet to know , -Which when I know that boasting is an honour -I shall promulgate , I fetch my life and being -From men of royal siege , and my demerits -May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune -As this that I have reach'd ; for know , Iago , -But that I love the gentle Desdemona , -I would not my unhoused free condition -Put into circumscription and confine -For the sea's worth . But , look ! what lights come yond ? - -Those are the raised father and his friends : -You were best go in . - -Not I ; I must be found : -My parts , my title , and my perfect soul -Shall manifest me rightly . Is it they ? - -By Janus , I think no . - - -The servants of the duke , and my lieutenant . -The goodness of the night upon you , friends ! -What is the news ? - -The duke does greet you , general , -And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance , -Even on the instant . - -What is the matter , think you ? - -Something from Cyprus , as I may divine . -It is a business of some heat ; the galleys -Have sent a dozen sequent messengers -This very night at one another's heels , -And many of the consuls , rais'd and met , -Are at the duke's already . You have been hotly call'd for ; -When , being not at your lodging to be found , -The senate hath sent about three several quests -To search you out . - -'Tis well I am found by you . -I will but spend a word here in the house , -And go with you . - - -Ancient , what makes he here ? - -Faith , he to-night hath boarded a land carrack ; -If it prove lawful prize , he's made for ever . - -I do not understand . - -He's married . - -To who ? - - -Marry , to Come , captain , will you go ? - -Have with you . - -Here comes another troop to seek for you . - -It is Brabantio . General , be advis'd ; -He comes to bad intent . - - -Holla ! stand there ! - -Signior , it is the Moor . - -Down with him , thief ! - - -You , Roderigo ! come , sir , I am for you . - -Keep up your bright swords , for the dew will rust them . -Good signior , you shall more command with years -Than with your weapons . - -O thou foul thief ! where hast thou stow'd my daughter ? -Damn'd as thou art , thou hast enchanted her ; -For I'll refer me to all things of sense , -If she in chains of magic were not bound , -Whether a maid so tender , fair , and happy , -So opposite to marriage that she shunn'd -The wealthy curled darlings of our nation , -Would ever have , to incur a general mock , -Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom -Of such a thing as thou ; to fear , not to delight . -Judge me the world , if 'tis not gross in sense -That thou hast practis'd on her with foul charms , -Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs or minerals -That weaken motion : I'll have 't disputed on ; -'Tis probable , and palpable to thinking . -I therefore apprehend and do attach thee -For an abuser of the world , a practiser -Of arts inhibited and out of warrant . -Lay hold upon him : if he do resist , -Subdue him at his peril . - -Hold your hands , -Both you of my inclining , and the rest : -Were it my cue to fight , I should have known it -Without a prompter . Where will you that I go -To answer this your charge ? - -To prison ; till fit time -Of law and course of direct session -Call thee to answer . - -What if I do obey ? -How may the duke be therewith satisfied , -Whose messengers are here about my side , -Upon some present business of the state -To bring me to him ? - -'Tis true , most worthy signior ; -The duke's in council , and your noble self , -I am sure , is sent for . - -How ! the duke in council ! -In this time of the night ! Bring him away . -Mine's not an idle cause : the duke himself , -Or any of my brothers of the state , -Cannot but feel this wrong as 'twere their own ; -For if such actions may have passage free , -Bond-slaves and pagans shall our statesmen be . - -There is no composition in these news -That gives them credit . - -Indeed , they are disproportion'd ; -My letters say a hundred and seven galleys . - -And mine , a hundred and forty . - -And mine , two hundred : -But though they jump not on a just account , -As in these cases , where the aim reports , -'Tis oft with difference ,yet do they all confirm -A Turkish fleet , and bearing up to Cyprus . - -Nay , it is possible enough to judgment : -I do not so secure me in the error , -But the main article I do approve -In fearful sense . - -What , ho ! what , ho ! what , ho ! - -A messenger from the galleys . - - -Now , what's the business ? - -The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes ; -So was I bid report here to the state -By Signior Angelo . - -How say you by this change ? - -This cannot be , -By no assay of reason ; 'tis a pageant -To keep us in false gaze . When we consider -The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk , -And let ourselves again but understand , -That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes , -So may he with more facile question bear it , -For that it stands not in such war-like brace , -But altogether lacks the abilities -That Rhodes is dress'd in : if we make thought of this , -We must not think the Turk is so unskilful -To leave that latest which concerns him first , -Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain , -To wake and wage a danger profitless . - -Nay , in all confidence , he's not for Rhodes . - -Here is more news . - - -The Ottomites , reverend and gracious , -Steering with due course toward the isle of Rhodes , -Have there injointed them with an after fleet . - -Ay , so I thought . How many , as you guess ? - -Of thirty sail ; and now they do re-stem -Their backward course , bearing with frank appearance -Their purposes toward Cyprus . Signior Montano , -Your trusty and most valiant servitor , -With his free duty recommends you thus , -And prays you to believe him . - -'Tis certain then , for Cyprus . -Marcus Luccicos , is not he in town ? - -He's now in Florence . - -Write from us to him ; post-post-haste dispatch . - -Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor . - - -Valiant Othello , we must straight employ you -Against the general enemy Ottoman . - - -I did not see you ; welcome , gentle signior ; -We lack'd your counsel and your help to-night . - -So did I yours . Good your grace , pardon me ; -Neither my place nor aught I heard of business -Hath rais'd me from my bed , nor doth the general care -Take hold of me , for my particular grief -Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature -That it engluts and swallows other sorrows -And it is still itself . - -Why , what's the matter ? - -My daughter ! O ! my daughter . - -Dead ? - -Dead ? - -Ay , to me ; -She is abus'd , stol'n from me , and corrupted -By spells and medicines bought of mounte-banks ; -For nature so preposterously to err , -Being not deficient , blind , or lame of sense , -Sans witchcraft could not . - -Whoe'er he be that in this foul proceeding -Hath thus beguil'd your daughter of herself -And you of her , the bloody book of law -You shall yourself read in the bitter letter -After your own sense ; yea , though our proper son -Stood in your action . - -Humbly I thank your Grace . -Here is the man , this Moor ; whom now , it seems , -Your special mandate for the state affairs , -Hath hither brought . - -We are very sorry for it . - -We are very sorry for it . - -What , in your own part , can you say to this ? - -Nothing , but this is so . - -Most potent , grave , and reverend signiors , -My very noble and approv'd good masters , -That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter , -It is most true ; true , I have married her : -The very head and front of my offending -Hath this extent , no more . Rude am I in my speech , -And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace ; -For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith , -Till now some nine moons wasted , they have us'd -Their dearest action in the tented field ; -And little of this great world can I speak , -More than pertains to feats of broil and battle ; -And therefore little shall I grace my cause -In speaking for myself . Yet , by your gracious patience , -I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver -Of my whole course of love ; what drugs , what charms , -What conjuration , and what mighty magic , -For such proceeding I am charg'd withal , -I won his daughter . - -A maiden never bold ; -Of spirit so still and quiet , that her motion -Blush'd at herself ; and she , in spite of nature , -Of years , of country , credit , every thing , -To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on ! -It is a judgment maim'd and most imperfect -That will confess perfection so could err -Against all rules of nature , and must be driven -To find out practices of cunning hell , -Why this should be . I therefore vouch again -That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood , -Or with some dram conjur'd to this effect , -He wrought upon her . - -To vouch this , is no proof , -Without more certain and more overt test -Than these thin habits and poor likelihoods -Of modern seeming do prefer against him . - -But , Othello , speak : -Did you by indirect and forced courses -Subdue and poison this young maid's affections ; -Or came it by request and such fair question -As soul to soul affordeth ? - -I do beseech you , -Send for the lady to the Sagittary , -And let her speak of me before her father : -If you do find me foul in her report , -The trust , the office I do hold of you , -Not only take away , but let your sentence -Even fall upon my life . - -Fetch Desdemona hither . - -Ancient , conduct them ; you best know the place . - -And , till she come , as truly as to heaven -I do confess the vices of my blood , -So justly to your grave ears I'll present -How I did thrive in this fair lady's love , -And she in mine . - -Say it , Othello . - -Her father lov'd me ; oft invited me ; -Still question'd me the story of my life -From year to year , the battles , sieges , fortunes -That I have pass'd . -I ran it through , even from my boyish days -To the very moment that he bade me tell it ; -Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances , -Of moving accidents by flood and field , -Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach , -Of being taken by the insolent foe -And sold to slavery , of my redemption thence -And portance in my travel's history ; -Wherein of antres vast and desarts idle , -Rough quarries , rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven , -It was my hint to speak , such was the process ; -And of the Cannibals that each other eat , -The Anthropophagi , and men whose heads -Do grow beneath their shoulders . This to hear -Would Desdemona seriously incline ; -But still the house-affairs would draw her thence ; -Which ever as she could with haste dispatch , -She'd come again , and with a greedy ear -Devour up my discourse . Which I observing , -Took once a pliant hour , and found good means -To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart -That I would all my pilgrimage dilate , -Whereof by parcels she had something heard , -But not intentively : I did consent ; -And often did beguile her of her tears , -When I did speak of some distressful stroke -That my youth suffer'd . My story being done , -She gave me for my pains a world of sighs : -She swore , in faith , 'twas strange , 'twas passing strange ; -'Twas pitiful , 'twas wondrous pitiful : -She wish'd she had not heard it , yet she wish'd -That heaven had made her such a man ; she thank'd me , -And bade me , if I had a friend that lov'd her , -I should but teach him how to tell my story , -And that would woo her . Upon this hint I spake : -She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd , -And I lov'd her that she did pity them . -This only is the witchcraft I have us'd : -Here comes the lady ; let her witness it . - - -I think this tale would win my daughter too . -Good Brabantio , -Take up this mangled matter at the best ; -Men do their broken weapons rather use -Than their bare hands . - -I pray you , hear her speak : -If she confess that she was half the wooer , -Destruction on my head , if my bad blame -Light on the man ! Come hither , gentle mistress : -Do you perceive in all this noble company -Where most you owe obedience ? - -My noble father , -I do perceive here a divided duty : -To you I am bound for life and education ; -My life and education both do learn me -How to respect you ; you are the lord of duty , -I am hitherto your daughter : but here's my husband ; -And so much duty as my mother show'd -To you , preferring you before her father , -So much I challenge that I may profess -Due to the Moor my lord . - -God be with you ! I have done . -Please it your Grace , on to the state affairs : -I had rather to adopt a child than get it . -Come hither , Moor : -I here do give thee that with all my heart -Which , but thou hast already , with all my heart -I would keep from thee . For your sake , jewel , -I am glad at soul I have no other child ; -For thy escape would teach me tyranny , -To hang clogs on them . I have done , my lord . - -Let me speak like yourself and lay a sentence , -Which as a grize or step , may help these lovers -Into your favour . -When remedies are past , the griefs are ended -By seeing the worst , which late on hopes depended . -To mourn a mischief that is past and gone -Is the next way to draw new mischief on . -What cannot be preserv'd when Fortune takes , -Patience her injury a mockery makes . -The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief ; -He robs himself that spends a bootless grief . - -So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile ; -We lose it not so long as we can smile . -He bears the sentence well that nothing bears -But the free comfort which from thence he hears ; -But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow -That , to pay grief , must of poor patience borrow . -These sentences , to sugar , or to gall , -Being strong on both sides , are equivocal : -But words are words ; I never yet did hear -That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear . -I humbly beseech you , proceed to the affairs of state . - -The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for Cyprus . Othello , the fortitude of the place is best known to you ; and though we have there a substitute of most allowed sufficiency , yet opinion , a sovereign mistress of effects , throws a more safer voice on you : you must therefore be content to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition . - -The tyrant custom , most grave senators , -Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war -My thrice-driven bed of down : I do agnize -A natural and prompt alacrity -I find in hardness , and do undertake -These present wars against the Ottomites . -Most humbly therefore bending to your state , -I crave fit disposition for my wife , -Due reference of place and exhibition , -With such accommodation and besort -As levels with her breeding . - -If you please , -Be 't at her father's . - -I'll not have it so . - -Nor I . - -Nor I ; I would not there reside , -To put my father in impatient thoughts -By being in his eye . Most gracious duke , -To my unfolding lend your gracious ear ; -And let me find a charter in your voice -To assist my simpleness . - -What would you , Desdemona ? - -That I did love the Moor to live with him , -My downright violence and storm of fortunes -May trumpet to the world ; my heart's subdu'd -Even to the very quality of my lord ; -I saw Othello's visage in his mind , -And to his honours and his valiant parts -Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate . -So that , dear lords , if I be left behind , -A moth of peace , and he go to the war , -The rites for which I love him are bereft me , -And I a heavy interim shall support -By his dear absence . Let me go with him . - -Let her have your voices . -Vouch with me , heaven , I therefore beg it not -To please the palate of my appetite , -Nor to comply with heat ,the young affects -In me defunct ,and proper satisfaction , -But to be free and bounteous to her mind ; -And heaven defend your good souls that you think -I will your serious and great business scant -For she is with me . No , when light-wing'd toys -Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dulness -My speculative and offic'd instruments , -That my disports corrupt and taint my business , -Let housewives make a skillet of my helm , -And all indign and base adversities -Make head against my estimation ! - -Be it as you shall privately determine , -Either for her stay or going . The affair cries haste , -And speed must answer it . - -You must away to-night . - -With all my heart . - -At nine i' the morning here we'll meet again . -Othello , leave some officer behind , -And he shall our commission bring to you ; -With such things else of quality and respect -As doth import you . - -So please your Grace , my ancient ; -A man he is of honesty and trust : -To his conveyance I assign my wife , -With what else needful your good grace shall think -To be sent after me . - -Let it be so . -Good night to every one . - -And , noble signior , -If virtue no delighted beauty lack , -Your son-in-law is far more fair than black . - -Adieu , brave Moor ! use Desdemona well . - -Look to her , Moor , if thou hast eyes to see : -She has deceiv'd her father , and may thee . - - -My life upon her faith ! Honest Iago , -My Desdemona must I leave to thee : -I prithee , let thy wife attend on her ; -And bring them after in the best advantage . -Come , Desdemona ; I have but an hour -Of love , of worldly matters and direction , -To spend with thee : we must obey the time . - - -Iago ! - -What sayst thou , noble heart ? - -What will I do , think'st thou ? - -Why , go to bed , and sleep . - -I will incontinently drown myself . - -Well , if thou dost , I shall never love thee after . Why , thou silly gentleman ! - -It is silliness to live when to live is torment ; and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician . - -O ! villanous ; I have looked upon the world for four times seven years , and since I could distinguish betwixt a benefit and an injury , I never found man that knew how to love himself . Ere I would say , I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen , I would change my humanity with a baboon . - -What should I do ? I confess it is my shame to be so fond ; but it is not in my virtue to amend it . - -Virtue ! a fig ! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus , or thus . Our bodies are our gardens , to the which our wills are gardeners ; so that if we will plant nettles or sow lettuce , set hyssop and woed up thyme , supply it with one gender of herbs or distract it with many , either to have it sterile with idleness or manured with industry , why , the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills . If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality , the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions ; but we have reason to cool our raging motions , our carnal stings , our unbitted lusts , whereof I take this that you call love to be a sect or scion . - -It cannot be . - -It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will . Come , be a man . Drown thyself ! drown cats and blind puppies . I have professed me thy friend , and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness ; I could never better stead thee than now . Put money in thy purse ; follow these wars ; defeat thy favour with a usurped beard ; I say , put money in thy purse . It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor ,put money in thy purse ,nor he his to her . It was a violent commencement in her , and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration ; put but money in thy purse . These Moors are changeable in their wills ;fill thy purse with money :the food that to him now is as luscious as locusts , shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida . She must change for youth : when she is sated with his body , she will find the error of her choice . She must have change , she must : therefore put money in thy purse . If thou wilt needs damn thyself , do it a more delicate way than drowning . Make all the money thou canst . If sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt an erring barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian be not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell , thou shalt enjoy her ; therefore make money . A pox of drowning thyself ! it is clean out of the way : seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy than to be drowned and go without her . - -Wilt thou be fast to my hopes , if I depend on the issue ? - -Thou art sure of me : go , make money . I have told thee often , and I re-tell thee again and again , I hate the Moor : my cause is hearted : thine hath no less reason . Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him ; if thou canst cuckold him , thou dost thyself a pleasure , me a sport . There are many events in the womb of time which will be delivered . Traverse ; go : provide thy money . We will have more of this to-morrow . Adieu . - -Where shall we meet i' the morning ? - -At my lodging . - -I'll be with thee betimes . - -Go to ; farewell . Do you hear , Roderigo ? - -What say you ? - -No more of drowning , do you hear ? - -I am changed . I'll sell all my land . - -Go to ; farewell ! put money enough in your purse . - -Thus do I ever make my fool my purse ; -For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane , -If I would time expend with such a snipe -But for my sport and profit . I hate the Moor , -And it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets -He has done my office : I know not if 't be true , -But I , for mere suspicion in that kind , -Will do as if for surety . He holds me well ; -The better shall my purpose work on him . -Cassio's a proper man ; let me see now : -To get his place ; and to plume up my will -In double knavery ; how , how ? Let's see : -After some time to abuse Othello's ear -That he is too familiar with his wife : -He hath a person and a smooth dispose -To be suspected ; framed to make women false . -The Moor is of a free and open nature , -That thinks men honest that but seem to be so , -And will as tenderly be led by the nose -As asses are . -I have 't ; it is engender'd : hell and night -Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light . - -What from the cape can you discern at sea ? - -Nothing at all : it is a high-wrought flood ; -I cannot 'twixt the heaven and the main -Descry a sail . - -Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land ; -A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements ; -If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea , -What ribs of oak , when mountains melt on them , -Can hold the mortise ? what shall we hear of this ? - -A segregation of the Turkish fleet ; -For do but stand upon the foaming shore , -The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds ; -The wind-shak'd surge , with high and monstrous mane , -Seems to cast water on the burning bear -And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole : -I never did like molestation view -On the enchafed flood . - -If that the Turkish fleet -Be not enshelter'd and embay'd , they are drown'd ; -It is impossible they bear it out . - - -News , lads ! our wars are done . -The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks -That their designment halts ; a noble ship of Venice -Hath seen a grievous wrack and sufferance -On most part of their fleet . - -How ! is this true ? - -The ship is here put in , -A Veronesa ; Michael Cassio , -Lieutenant to the war-like Moor Othello , -Is come on shore : the Moor himself's at sea , -And is in full commission here for Cyprus . - -I am glad on 't ; 'tis a worthy governor . - -But this same Cassio , though he speak of comfort -Touching the Turkish loss , yet he looks sadly -And prays the Moor be safe ; for they were parted -With foul and violent tempest . - -Pray heaven he be ; -For I have serv'd him , and the man commands -Like a full soldier . Let's to the sea-side , ho ! -As well to see the vessel that's come in -As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello , -Even till we make the main and the aerial blue -An indistinct regard . - -Come , let's do so ; -For every minute is expectancy -Of more arrivance . - - -Thanks , you the valiant of this war-like isle , -That so approve the Moor . O ! let the heavens -Give him defence against the elements , -For I have lost him on a dangerous sea . - -Is he well shipp'd ? - -His bark is stoutly timber'd , and his pilot -Of very expert and approv'd allowance ; -Therefore my hopes , not surfeited to death , -Stand in bold cure . - -What noise ? - -The town is empty ; on the brow o' the sea -Stand ranks of people , and they cry , 'A sail !' - -My hopes do shape him for the governor . - - -They do discharge their shot of courtesy ; -Our friends at least . - -I pray you , sir , go forth , -And give us truth who 'tis that is arriv'd . - -I shall . - - -But , good lieutenant , is your general wiv'd ? - -Most fortunately : he hath achiev'd a maid -That paragons description and wild fame ; -One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens , -And in th' essential vesture of creation -Does tire the ingener . - -How now ! who has put in ? - -'Tis one Iago , ancient to the general . - -He has had most favourable and happy speed : -Tempests themselves , high seas , and howling winds , -The gutter'd rocks , and congregated sands , -Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel , -As having sense of beauty , do omit -Their mortal natures , letting go safely by -The divine Desdemona . - -What is she ? - -She that I spake of , our great captain's captain , -Left in the conduct of the bold Iago , -Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts -A se'nnight's speed . Great Jove , Othello guard , -And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath , -That he may bless this bay with his tall ship , -Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms , -Give renew'd fire to our extinc'ed spirits , -And bring all Cyprus comfort ! - - -O ! behold , -The riches of the ship is come on shore . -Ye men of Cyprus , let her have your knees . -Hail to thee , lady ! and the grace of heaven , -Before , behind thee , and on every hand , - -Enwheel thee round ! - -I thank you , valiant Cassio . -What tidings can you tell me of my lord ? - -He is not yet arriv'd ; nor know I aught -But that he's well , and will be shortly here . - -O ! but I fear How lost you company ? - -The great contention of the sea and skies -Parted our fellowship . But hark ! a sail . - - -They give their greeting to the citadel : -This likewise is a friend . - -See for the news ! - -Good ancient , you are welcome : - -welcome , mistress . -Let it not gall your patience , good Iago , -That I extend my manners ; 'tis my breeding -That gives me this bold show of courtesy . - - -Sir , would she give you so much of her lips -As of her tongue she oft bestows on me , -You'd have enough . - -Alas ! she has no speech . - -In faith , too much ; -I find it still when I have list to sleep : -Marry , before your ladyship , I grant , -She puts her tongue a little in her heart , -And chides with thinking . - -You have little cause to say so . - -Come on , come on ; you are pictures out of doors , -Bells in your parlours , wild cats in your kitchens , -Saints in your injuries , devils being offended , -Players in your housewifery , and housewives in your beds . - -O ! fie upon thee , slanderer . - -Nay , it is true , or else I am a Turk : -You rise to play and go to bed to work . - -You shall not write my praise . - -No , let me not . - -What wouldst thou write of me , if thou shouldst praise me ? - -O gentle lady , do not put me to 't , -For I am nothing if not critical . - -Come on ; assay . There's one gone to the harbour ? - -Ay , madam . - -I am not merry , but I do beguile -The thing I am by seeming otherwise . -Come , how wouldst thou praise me ? - -I am about it ; but indeed my invention -Comes from my pate as birdlime does from frize ; -It plucks out brains and all : but my muse labours , -And thus she is deliver'd . -If she be fair and wise , fairness and wit , -The one's for use , the other useth it . - -Well prais'd ! How if she be black and witty ? - -If she be black , and thereto have a wit , -She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit . - -Worse and worse . - -How if fair and foolish ? - -She never yet was foolish that was fair , -For even her folly help'd her to an heir . - -These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i' the alehouse . What miserable praise hast thou for her that's foul and foolish ? - -There's none so foul and foolish thereunto -But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do . - -O heavy ignorance ! thou praisest the worst best . But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving woman indeed , one that , in the authority of her merit , did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself ? - -She that was ever fair and never proud , -Had tongue at will and yet was never loud , -Never lack'd gold and yet went never gay , -Fled from her wish and yet said 'Now I may ,' -She that being anger'd , her revenge being nigh , -Bade her wrong stay and her displeasure fly , -She that in wisdom never was so frail -To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail , -She that could think and ne'er disclose her mind , -See suitors following and not look behind , -She was a wight , if ever such wight were , - -To do what ? - -To suckle fools and chronicle small beer . - -O most lame and impotent conclusion ! Do not learn of him , Emilia , though he be thy husband . How say you , Cassio ? is he not a most profane and liberal counsellor ? - -He speaks home , madam ; you may relish him more in the soldier than in the scholar . - -He takes her by the palm ; ay , well said , whisper ; with as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio . Ay , smile upon her , do ; I will gyve thee in thine own courtship . You say true , 'tis so , indeed . If such tricks as these strip you out of your lieutenantry , it had been better you had not kissed your three fingers so oft , which now again you are most apt to play the sir in . Very good ; well kissed ! an excellent courtesy ! 'tis so , indeed . Yet again your fingers to your lips ? would they were clyster-pipes for your sake ! [A trumpet heard .] The Moor ! I know his trumpet . - -'Tis truly so . - -Let's meet him and receive him . - -Lo ! where he comes . - - -O my fair warrior ! - -My dear Othello ! - -It gives me wonder great as my content -To see you here before me . O my soul's joy ! -If after every tempest come such calms , -May the winds blow till they have waken'd death ! -And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas -Olympus-high , and duck again as low -As hell's from heaven ! If it were now to die , -'Twere now to be most happy , for I fear -My soul hath her content so absolute -That not another comfort like to this -Succeeds in unknown fate . - -The heavens forbid -But that our loves and comforts should increase -Even as our days do grow ! - -Amen to that , sweet powers ! -I cannot speak enough of this content ; -It stops me here ; it is too much of joy : -And this , and this , the greatest discords be , - -That e'er our hearts shall make ! - -O ! you are well tun'd now , -But I'll set down the pegs that make this music , -As honest as I am . - -Come , let us to the castle . -News , friends ; our wars are done , the Turks are drown'd . -How does my old acquaintance of this isle ? -Honey , you shall be well desir'd in Cyprus ; -I have found great love amongst them . O my sweet , -I prattle out of fashion , and I dote -In mine own comforts . I prithee , good Iago , -Go to the bay and disembark my coffers . -Bring thou the master to the citadel ; -He is a good one , and his worthiness -Does challenge much respect . Come , Desdemona , -Once more well met at Cyprus . - - -Do thou meet me presently at the harbour . Come hither . If thou be'st valiant , as they say base men being in love have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them , list me . The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard : first , I must tell thee this , Desdemona is directly in love with him . - -With him ! why , 'tis not possible . - -Lay thy finger thus , and let thy soul be instructed . Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies ; and will she love him still for prating ? let not thy discreet heart think it . Her eye must be fed ; and what delight shall she have to look on the devil ? When the blood is made dull with the act of sport , there should be , again to inflame it , and to give satiety a fresh appetite , loveliness in favour , sympathy in years , manners , and beauties ; all which the Moor is defective in . Now , for want of these required conveniences , her delicate tenderness will find itself abused , begin to heave the gorge , disrelish and abhor the Moor ; very nature will instruct her in it , and compel her to some second choice . Now , sir , this granted , as it is a most pregnant and unforced position , who stands so eminently in the degree of this fortune as Cassio does ? a knave very voluble , no further conscionable than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane seeming , for the better compassing of his salt and most hidden loose affection ? why , none ; why , none : a slipper and subtle knave , a finder-out of occasions , that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages , though true advantage never present itself ; a devilish knave ! Besides , the knave is handsome , young , and hath all those requisites in him that folly and green minds look after ; a pestilent complete knave ! and the woman hath found him already . - -I cannot believe that in her ; she is full of most blessed condition . - -Blessed fig's end ! the wine she drinks is made of grapes ; if she had been blessed she would never have loved the Moor ; blessed pudding ! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand ? didst not mark that ? - -Yes , that I did ; but that was but courtesy . - -Lechery , by this hand ! an index and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts . They met so near with their lips , that their breaths embraced together . Villanous thoughts , Roderigo ! when these mutualities so marshal the way , hard at hand comes the master and main exercise , the incorporate conclusion . Pish ! But , sir , be you ruled by me : I have brought you from Venice . Watch you to-night ; for the command , I'll lay 't upon you : Cassio knows you not . I'll not be far from you : do you find some occasion to anger Cassio , either by speaking too loud , or tainting his discipline ; or from what other course you please , which the time shall more favourably minister . - -Well . - -Sir , he is rash and very sudden in choler , and haply may strike at you : provoke him , that he may ; for even out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny , whose qualification shall come into no true taste again but by the displanting of Cassio . So shall you have a shorter journey to your desires by the means I shall then have to prefer them ; and the impediment most profitably removed , without the which there were no expectation of our prosperity . - -I will do this , if I can bring it to any opportunity . - -I warrant thee . Meet me by and by at the citadel : I must fetch his necessaries ashore . -Farewell . - -Adieu . - - -That Cassio loves her , I do well believe it ; -That she loves him , 'tis apt , and of great credit : -The Moor , howbeit that I endure him not , -Is of a constant , loving , noble nature ; -And I dare think he'll prove to Desdemona -A most dear husband . Now , I do love her too ; -Not out of absolute lust ,though peradventure -I stand accountant for as great a sin , -But partly led to diet my revenge , -For that I do suspect the lusty Moor -Hath leap'd into my seat ; the thought whereof -Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards ; -And nothing can or shall content my soul -Till I am even'd with him , wife for wife ; -Or failing so , yet that I put the Moor -At least into a jealousy so strong -That judgment cannot cure . Which thing to do , -If this poor trash of Venice , whom I trash -For his quick hunting , stand the putting on , -I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip ; -Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb , -For I fear Cassio with my night-cap too , -Make the Moor thank me , love me , and reward me -For making him egregiously an ass -And practising upon his peace and quiet -Even to madness . 'Tis here , but yet confus'd : -Knavery's plain face is never seen till us'd . - - -It is Othello's pleasure , our noble and valiant general , that , upon certain tidings now arrived , importing the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet , every man put himself into triumph ; some to dance , some to make bonfires , each man to what sport and revels his addiction leads him ; for , besides these beneficial news , it is the celebration of his nuptial . So much was his pleasure should be proclaimed . All offices are open , and there is full liberty of feasting from this present hour of five till the bell have told eleven . Heaven bless the isle of Cyprus and our noble general Othello ! - - -Good Michael , look you to the guard to-night : -Let's teach ourselves that honourable stop , -Not to outsport discretion . - -Iago hath direction what to do ; -But , notwithstanding , with my personal eye -Will I look to 't . - -Iago is most honest . -Michael , good night ; to-morrow with your earliest -Let me have speech with you . - -Come , my dear love , -The purchase made , the fruits are to ensue ; -That profit's yet to come 'twixt me and you . -Good night . - -Welcome , Iago ; we must to the watch . - -Not this hour , lieutenant ; 'tis not yet ten o' the clock . Our general cast us thus early for the love of his Desdemona , who let us not therefore blame ; he hath not yet made wanton the night with her , and she is sport for Jove . - -She's a most exquisite lady . - -And , I'll warrant her , full of game . - -Indeed , she is a most fresh and delicate creature . - -What an eye she has ! methinks it sounds a parley of provocation . - -An inviting eye ; and yet methinks right modest . - -And when she speaks , is it not an alarum to love ? - -She is indeed perfection . - -Well , happiness to their sheets ! Come , lieutenant , I have a stoup of wine , and here without are a brace of Cyprus gallants that would fain have a measure to the health of black Othello . - -Not to-night , good Iago : I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking : I could well wish courtesy would invent some other custom of entertainment . - -O ! they are our friends ; but one cup : I'll drink for you . - -I have drunk but one cup to-night , and that was craftily qualified too , and , behold , what innovation it makes here : I am unfortunate in the infirmity , and dare not task my weakness with any more . - -What , man ! 'tis a night of revels ; the gallants desire it . - -Where are they ? - -Here at the door ; I pray you , call them in . - -I'll do 't ; but it dislikes me . - - -If I can fasten but one cup upon him , -With that which he hath drunk to-night already , -He'll be as full of quarrel and offence -As my young mistress' dog . Now , my sick fool Roderigo , -Whom love has turn'd almost the wrong side out , -To Desdemona hath to-night carous'd -Potations pottle deep ; and he's to watch . -Three lads of Cyprus , noble swelling spirits , -That hold their honours in a wary distance , -The very elements of this war-like isle , -Have I to-night fluster'd with flowing cups , -And they watch too . Now , 'mongst this flock of drunkards , -Am I to put our Cassio in some action -That may offend the isle . But here they come . -If consequence do but approve my dream , -My boat sails freely , both with wind and stream . - - -'Fore God , they have given me a rouse already . - -Good faith , a little one ; not past a pint , as I am a soldier . - -Some wine , ho ! - -And let me the canakin clink , clink ; -And let me the canakin clink : -A soldier's a man ; -A life's but a span ; -Why then let a soldier drink . - -Some wine , boys ! - -'Fore God , an excellent song . - -I learned it in England , where indeed they are most potent in potting ; your Dane , your German , and your swag-bellied Hollander , drink , ho !are nothing to your English . - -Is your Englishman so expert in his drinking ? - -Why , he drinks you with facility your Dane dead drunk ; he sweats not to overthrow your Almain ; he gives your Hollander a vomit ere the next pottle can be filled . - -To the health of our general ! - -I am for it , lieutenant ; and I'll do you justice . - -O sweet England ! - -King Stephen was a worthy peer , -His breeches cost him but a crown ; -He held them sixpence all too dear , -With that he call'd the tailor lown . -He was a wight of high renown , -And thou art but of low degree : -'Tis pride that pulls the country down , -Then take thine auld cloak about thee . - -Some wine , ho ! - -Why , this is a more exquisite song than the other . - -Will you hear 't again ? - -No ; for I hold him to be unworthy of his place that does those things . Well , God's above all ; and there be souls must be saved , and there be souls must not be saved . - -It's true , good lieutenant . - -For mine own part ,no offence to the general , nor any man of quality ,I hope to be saved . - -And so do I too , lieutenant . - -Ay ; but , by your leave , not before me ; the lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient . Let's have no more of this ; let's to our affairs . God forgive us our sins ! Gentlemen , let's look to our business . Do not think , gentlemen , I am drunk : this is my ancient ; this is my right hand , and this is my left hand . I am not drunk now ; I can stand well enough , and speak well enough . - -Excellent well . - -Why , very well , then ; you must not think then that I am drunk . - - -To the platform , masters ; come , let's set the watch . - -You see this fellow that is gone before ; -He is a soldier fit to stand by C sar -And give direction ; and do but see his vice ; -'Tis to his virtue a just equinox , -The one as long as the other ; 'tis pity of him . -I fear the trust Othello puts him in , -On some odd time of his infirmity , -Will shake this island . - -But is he often thus ? - -'Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep : -He'll watch the horologe a double set , -If drink rock not his cradle . - -It were well -The general were put in mind of it . -Perhaps he sees it not ; or his good nature -Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio , -And looks not on his evils . Is not this true ? - - -How now , Roderigo ! -I pray you , after the lieutenant ; go . - - -And 'tis great pity that the noble Moor -Should hazard such a place as his own second -With one of an ingraft infirmity ; -It were an honest action to say -So to the Moor . - -Not I , for this fair island : -I do love Cassio well , and would do much -To cure him of this evil . But hark ! what noise ? - -You rogue ! you rascal ! - -What's the matter , lieutenant ? - -A knave teach me my duty ! -I'll beat the knave into a twiggen bottle . - -Beat me ! - -Dost thou prate , rogue ? - - -Nay , good lieutenant ; -I pray you , sir , hold your hand . - -Let me go , sir , -Or I'll knock you o'er the mazzard . - -Come , come ; you're drunk . - -Drunk ! - - -Away , I say ! go out , and cry a mutiny . - -Nay , good lieutenant ! God's will , gentlemen ! -Help , ho ! Lieutenant ! sir ! Montano ! sir ! -Help , masters ! Here's a goodly watch indeed ! - -Who's that that rings the bell ? Diablo , ho ! -The town will rise : God's will ! lieutenant , hold ! -You will be sham'd for ever . - - -What is the matter here ? - -'Zounds ! I bleed still ; I am hurt to the death . - -Hold , for your lives ! - -Hold , ho , lieutenant ! Sir ! Montano ! gentlemen ! -Have you forgot all sense of place and duty ? -Hold ! the general speaks to you ; hold for shame ! - -Why , how now , ho ! from whence ariseth this ? -Are we turn'd Turks , and to ourselves do that -Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites ? -For Christian shame put by this barbarous brawl ; -He that stirs next to carve for his own rage -Holds his soul light ; he dies upon his motion . -Silence that dreadful bell ! it frights the isle -From her propriety . What is the matter , masters ? -Honest Iago , that look'st dead with grieving , -Speak , who began this ? on thy love , I charge thee . - -I do not know ; friends all but now , even now , -In quarter and in terms like bride and groom -Devesting them for bed ; and then , but now , -As if some planet had unwitted men , -Swords out , and tilting one at other's breast , -In opposition bloody . I cannot speak -Any beginning to this peevish odds , -And would in action glorious I had lost -Those legs that brought me to a part of it ! - -How comes it , Michael , you are thus forgot ? - -I pray you , pardon me ; I cannot speak . - -Worthy Montano , you were wont be civil ; -The gravity and stillness of your youth -The world hath noted , and your name is great -In mouths of wisest censure : what's the matter , -That you unlace your reputation thus -And spend your rich opinion for the name -Of a night-brawler ? give me answer to it . - -Worthy Othello , I am hurt to danger ; -Your officer , Iago , can inform you , -While I spare speech , which something now offends me , -Of all that I do know ; nor know I aught -By me that's said or done amiss this night , -Unless self-charity be sometimes a vice , -And to defend ourselves it be a sin -When violence assails us . - -Now , by heaven , -My blood begins my safer guides to rule , -And passion , having my best judgment collied , -Assays to lead the way . If I once stir , -Or do but lift this arm , the best of you -Shall sink in my rebuke . Give me to know -How this foul rout began , who set it on ; -And he that is approv'd in this offence , -Though he had twinn'd with me both at a birth -Shall lose me . What ! in a town of war , -Yet wild , the people's hearts brimful of fear , -To manage private and domestic quarrel , -In night , and on the court and guard of safety ! -'Tis monstrous . Iago , who began 't ? - -If partially affin'd , or leagu'd in office , -Thou dost deliver more or less than truth , -Thou art no soldier . - -Touch me not so near ; -I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth -Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio ; -Yet , I persuade myself , to speak the truth -Shall nothing wrong him . Thus it is , general . -Montano and myself being in speech , -There comes a fellow crying out for he'p , -And Cassio following with determin'd sword -To execute upon him . Sir , this gentleman -Steps in to Cassio , and entreats his pause ; -Myself the crying fellow did pursue , -Lest by his clamour , as it so fell out , -The town might fall in fright ; he , swift of foot , -Outran my purpose , and I return'd the rather -For that I heard the clink and fall of swords , -And Cassio high in oath , which till to-night -I ne'er might say before . When I came back , -For this was brief ,I found them close together , -At blow and thrust , even as again they were -When you yourself did part them . -More of this matter can I not report : -But men are men ; the best sometimes forget : -Though Cassio did some little wrong to him , -As men in rage strike those that wish them best , -Yet , surely Cassio , I believe , receiv'd -From him that fled some strange indignity , -Which patience could not pass . - -I know , Iago , -Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter , -Making it light to Cassio . Cassio , I love thee ; -But never more be officer of mine . - - -Look ! if my gentle love be not rais'd up ; - -I'll make thee an example . - -What's the matter ? - -All's well now , sweeting ; come away to bed . -Sir , for your hurts , myself will be your surgeon . -Lead him off . - -Iago , look with care about the town , -And silence those whom this vile brawl distracted . -Come , Desdemona ; 'tis the soldiers' life , -To have their balmy slumbers wak'd with strife . - - -What ! are you hurt , lieutenant ? - -Ay ; past all surgery . - -Marry , heaven forbid ! - -Reputation , reputation , reputation ! O ! I have lost my reputation . I have lost the immortal part of myself , and what remains is bestial . My reputation , Iago , my reputation ! - -As I am an honest man , I thought you had received some bodily wound ; there is more offence in that than in reputation . Reputation is an idle and most false imposition ; oft got without merit , and lost without deserving : you have lost no reputation at all , unless you repute yourself such a loser . What ! man ; there are ways to recover the general again ; you are but now cast in his mood , a punishment more in policy than in malice ; even so as one would beat his offenceless dog to affright an imperious lion . Sue to him again , and he is yours . - -I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander with so slight , so drunken , and so indiscreet an officer . Drunk ! and speak parrot ! and squabble , swagger , swear , and discourse fustian with one's own shadow ! O thou invisible spirit of wine ! if thou hast no name to be known by , let us call thee devil ! - -What was he that you followed with your sword ? What had he done to you ? - -I know not . - -Is 't possible ? - -I remember a mass of things , but nothing distinctly ; a quarrel , but nothing wherefore . O God ! that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains ; that we should , with joy , pleasance , revel , and applause , transform ourselves into beasts . - -Why , but you are now well enough ; how came you thus recovered ? - -It hath pleased the devil drunkenness to give place to the devil wrath ; one unperfectness shows me another , to make me frankly despise myself . - -Come , you are too severe a moraler . As the time , the place , and the condition of this country stands , I could heartily wish this had not befallen , but since it is as it is , mend it for your own good . - -I will ask him for my place again ; he shall tell me I am a drunkard ! Had I as many mouths as Hydra , such an answer would stop them all . To be now a sensible man , by and by a fool , and presently a beast ! O strange ! Every inordinate cup is unblessed and the ingredient is a devil . - -Come , come ; good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used ; exclaim no more against it . And , good lieutenant , I think you think I love you . - -I have well approved it , sir . I drunk ! - -You or any man living may be drunk at some time , man . I'll tell you what you shall do . Our general's wife is now the general : I may say so in this respect , for that he hath devoted and given up himself to the contemplation , mark , and denotement of her parts and graces : confess yourself freely to her ; importune her ; she'll help to put you in your place again . She is of so free , so kind , so apt , so blessed a disposition , that she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested . This broken joint between you and her husband entreat her to splinter ; and my fortunes against any lay worth naming , this crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was before . - -You advise me well . - -I protest , in the sincerity of love and honest kindness . - -I think it freely ; and betimes in the morning I will beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me . I am desperate of my fortunes if they check me here . - -You are in the right . Good night , lieutenant ; I must to the watch . - -Good night , honest Iago ! - - -And what's he then that says I play the villain ? -When this advice is free I give and honest , -Probal to thinking and indeed the course -To win the Moor again ? For 'tis most easy -The inclining Desdemona to subdue -In any honest suit ; she's fram'd as fruitful -As the free elements . And then for her -To win the Moor , were 't to renounce his baptism , -All seals and symbols of redeemed sin , -His soul is so enfetter'd to her love , -That she may make , unmake , do what she list , -Even as her appetite shall play the god -With his weak function . How am I then a villain -To counsel Cassio to this parallel course , -Directly to his good ? Divinity of hell ! -When devils will the blackest sins put on , -They do suggest at first with heavenly shows , -As I do now ; for while this honest fool -Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes , -And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor , -I'll pour this pestilence into his ear -That she repeals him for her body's lust ; -And , by how much she strives to do him good , -She shall undo her credit with the Moor . -So will I turn her virtue into pitch , -And out of her own goodness make the net -That shall enmesh them all . - -How now , Roderigo ! - -I do follow here in the chase , not like a hound that hunts , but one that fills up the cry . My money is almost spent ; I have been to-night exceedingly well cudgelled ; and I think the issue will be , I shall have so much experience for my pains ; and so , with no money at all and a little more wit , return again to Venice . - -How poor are they that have not patience ! -What wound did ever heal but by degrees ? -Thou know'st we work by wit and not by witchcraft , -And wit depends on dilatory time . -Does 't not go well ? Cassio hath beaten thee , -And thou by that small hurt hast cashiered Cassio . -Though other things grow fair against the sun , -Yet fruits that blossom first will first be ripe : -Content thyself awhile . By the mass , 'tis morning ; -Pleasure and action make the hours seem short . -Retire thee ; go where thou art billeted : -Away , I say ; thou shalt know more hereafter : -Nay , get thee gone . - -Two things are to be done , -My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress ; -I'll set her on ; -Myself the while to draw the Moor apart , -And bring him jump when he may Cassio find -Soliciting his wife : ay , that's the way : -Dull not device by coldness and delay . - -Masters , play here , I will content your pains ; -Something that's brief ; and bid 'Good morrow , general .' - -Why , masters , have your instruments been in Naples , that they speak i' the nose thus ? - -How , sir , how ? - -Are these , I pray you , wind-instruments ? - -Ay , marry , are they , sir . - -O ! thereby hangs a tail . - -Whereby hangs a tale , sir ? - -Marry , sir , by many a wind-instrument that I know . But , masters , here's money for you ; and the general so likes your music , that he desires you , for love's sake , to make no more noise with it . - -Well , sir , we will not . - -If you have any music that may not be heard , to 't again ; but , as they say , to hear music the general does not greatly care . - -We have none such , sir . - -Then put up your pipes in your bag , for -I'll away . Go ; vanish into air ; away ! - - -Dost thou hear , mine honest friend ? - -No , I hear not your honest friend ; I hear you . - -Prithee , keep up thy quillets . There's a poor piece of gold for thee . If the gentlewoman that attends the general's wife be stirring , tell her there's one Cassio entreats her a little favour of speech : wilt thou do this ? - -She is stirring , sir : if she will stir hither , -I shall seem to notify unto her . - -Do , good my friend . - - -In happy time , Iago . - -You have not been a-bed , then ? - -Why , no ; the day had broke -Before we parted . I have made bold , Iago , -To send in to your wife ; my suit to her -Is , that she will to virtuous Desdemona -Procure me some access . - -I'll send her to you presently ; -And I'll devise a mean to draw the Moor -Out of the way , that your converse and business -May be more free . - -I humbly thank you for 't . - -I never knew -A Florentine more kind and honest . - - -Good morrow , good lieutenant : I am sorry -For your displeasure ; but all will soon be well . -The general and his wife are talking of it , -And she speaks for you stoutly : the Moor replies -That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus -And great affinity , and that in wholesome wisdom -He might not but refuse you ; but he protests he loves you , -And needs no other suitor but his likings -To take the saf'st occasion by the front -To bring you in again . - -Yet , I beseech you , -If you think fit , or that it may be done , -Give me advantage of some brief discourse -With Desdemona alone . - -Pray you , come in : -I will bestow you where you shall have time -To speak your bosom freely . - -I am much bound to you . - - -These letters give , Iago , to the pilot , -And by him do my duties to the senate ; -That done , I will be walking on the works ; -Repair there to me . - -Well , my good lord , I'll do t . - -This fortification , gentlemen , shall we see 't ? - -We'll wait upon your lordship . - - -Be thou assur'd , good Cassio , I will do -All my abilities in thy behalf . - -Good madam , do : I warrant it grieves my husband , -As if the case were his . - -O ! that's an honest fellow . Do not doubt , Cassio , -But I will have my lord and you again -As friendly as you were . - -Bounteous madam , -Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio , -He's never anything but your true servant . - -I know 't ; I thank you . You do love my lord ; -You have known him long ; and be you well assur'd -He shall in strangeness stand no further off -Than in a politic distance . - -Ay , but , lady , -That policy may either last so long , -Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet , -Or breed itself so out of circumstance , -That , I being absent and my place supplied , -My general will forget my love and service . - -Do not doubt that ; before Emilia here -I give thee warrant of thy place . Assure thee , -If I do vow a friendship , I'll perform it -To the last article ; my lord shall never rest ; -I'll watch him tame , and talk him out of patience ; -His bed shall seem a school , his board a shrift ; -I'll intermingle every thing he does -With Cassio's suit . Therefore be merry , Cassio ; -For thy solicitor shall rather die -Than give thy cause away . - - -Madam , here comes my lord . - -Madam , I'll take my leave . - -Why , stay , and hear me speak . - -Madam , not now ; I am very ill at ease , -Unfit for mine own purposes . - -Well , do your discretion . - - -Ha ! I like not that . - -What dost thou say ? - -Nothing , my lord : or if I know not what . - -Was not that Cassio parted from my wife ? - -Cassio , my lord ? No , sure , I cannot think it -That he would steal away so guilty-like , -Seeing you coming . - -I do believe 'twas he . - -How now , my lord ! -I have been talking with a suitor here , -A man that languishes in your displeasure . - -Who is 't you mean ? - -Why , your lieutenant , Cassio . Good my lord , -If I have any grace or power to move you , -His present reconciliation take ; -For if he be not one that truly loves you , -That errs in ignorance and not in cunning , -I have no judgment in an honest face . -I prithee call him back . - -Went he hence now ? - -Ay , sooth ; so humbled , -That he hath left part of his grief with me , -To suffer with him . Good love , call him back . - -Not now , sweet Desdemona ; some other time . - -But shall 't be shortly ? - -The sooner , sweet , for you . - -Shall 't be to-night at supper ? - -No , not to-night . - -To-morrow dinner then ? - -I shall not dine at home ; -I meet the captains at the citadel . - -Why then , to-morrow night ; or Tuesday morn ; -On Tuesday noon , or night ; on Wednesday morn : -I prithee name the time , but let it not -Exceed three days : in faith , he's penitent ; -And yet his trespass , in our common reason , -Save that they say , the wars must make examples -Out of their best ,is not almost a fault -To incur a private check . When shall he come ? -Tell me , Othello : I wonder in my soul , -What you could ask me that I should deny , -Or stand so mammering on . What ! Michael Cassio , -That came a wooing with you , and so many a time , -When I have spoke of you dispraisingly , -Hath ta'en your part ; to have so much to do -To bring him in ! Trust me , I could do much . - -Prithee , no more ; let him come when he will ; -I will deny thee nothing . - -Why , this is not a boon ; -'Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves , -Or feed on nourishing dishes , or keep you warm , -Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit -To your own person ; nay , when I have a suit -Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed , -It shall be full of poise and difficult weight , -And fearful to be granted . - -I will deny thee nothing : -Whereon , I do beseech thee , grant me this , -To leave me but a little to myself . - -Shall I deny you ? no : farewell , my lord . - -Farewell , my Desdemona : I'll come to thee straight . - -Emilia , come . Be as your fancies teach you ; -Whate'er you be , I am obedient . - - -Excellent wretch ! Perdition catch my soul -But I do love thee ! and when I love thee not , -Chaos is come again . - -My noble lord , - -What dost thou say , Iago ? - -Did Michael Cassio , when you woo'd my lady , -Know of your love ? - -He did , from first to last : why dost thou ask ? - -But for a satisfaction of my thought ; -No further harm . - -Why of thy thought , Iago ? - -I did not think he had been acquainted with her . - -O ! yes ; and went between us very oft . - -Indeed ! - -Indeed ! ay , indeed ; discern'st thou aught in that ? -Is he not honest ? - -Honest , my lord ? - -Honest ! ay , honest . - -My lord , for aught I know . - -What dost thou think ? - -Think , my lord ! - -Think , my lord ! -By heaven , he echoes me , -As if there were some monster in his thought -Too hideous to be shown . Thou dost mean something : -I heard thee say but now , thou lik'dst not that , -When Cassio left my wife ; what didst not like ? -And when I told thee he was of my counsel -In my whole course of wooing , thou criedst , 'Indeed !' -And didst contract and purse thy brow together , -As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain -Some horrible conceit . If thou dost love me , -Show me thy thought . - -My lord , you know I love you . - -I think thou dost ; -And , for I know thou art full of love and honesty , -And weigh'st thy words before thou giv'st them breath , -Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more ; -For such things in a false disloyal knave -Are tricks of custom , but in a man that's just -They are close delations , working from the heart -That passion cannot rule . - -For Michael Cassio , -I dare be sworn I think that he is honest . - -I think so too . - -Men should be what they seem ; -Or those that be not , would they might seem none ! - -Certain , men should be what they seem . - -Why then , I think Cassio 's an honest man . - -Nay , yet there's more in this . -I pray thee , speak to me as to thy thinkings , -As thou dost ruminate , and give thy worst of thoughts -The worst of words . - -Good my lord , pardon me ; -Though I am bound to every act of duty , -I am not bound to that all slaves are free to . -Utter my thoughts ? Why , say they are vile and false ; -As where's that palace whereinto foul things -Sometimes intrude not ? who has a breast so pure -But some uncleanly apprehensions -Keep leets and law days , and in session sit -With meditations lawful ? - -Thou dost conspire against thy friend , Iago , -If thou but think'st him wrong'd , and mak'st his ear -A stranger to thy thoughts . - -I do beseech you , -Though I perchance am vicious in my guess , -As , I confess , it is my nature's plague -To spy into abuses , and oft my jealousy -Shapes faults that are not ,that your wisdom yet , -From one that so imperfectly conceits , -Would take no notice , nor build yourself a trouble -Out of his scattering and unsure observance . -It were not for your quiet nor your good , -Nor for my manhood , honesty , or wisdom , -To let you know my thoughts . - -What dost thou mean ? - -Good name in man and woman , dear my lord , -Is the immediate jewel of their souls : -Who steals my purse steals trash ; 'tis something , nothing ; -'Twas mine , 'tis his , and has been slave to thousands ; -But he that filches from me my good name -Robs me of that which not enriches him , -And makes me poor indeed . - -By heaven , I'll know thy thoughts . - -You cannot , if my heart were in your hand ; -Nor shall not , whilst 'tis in my custody . - -Ha ! - -O ! beware , my lord , of jealousy ; -It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock -The meat it feeds on ; that cuckold lives in bliss -Who , certain of his fate , loves not his wronger ; -But , O ! what damned minutes tells he o'er -Who dotes , yet doubts ; suspects , yet soundly loves ! - -O misery ! - -Poor and content is rich , and rich enough , -But riches fineless is as poor as winter -To him that ever fears he shall be poor . -Good heaven , the souls of all my tribe defend -From jealousy ! - -Why , why is this ? -Think'st thou I'd make a life of jealousy , -To follow still the changes of the moon -With fresh suspicions ? No ; to be once in doubt -Is once to be resolved . Exchange me for a goat -When I shall turn the business of my soul -To such exsufflicate and blown surmises , -Matching thy inference . 'Tis not to make me jealous -To say my wife is fair , feeds well , loves company , -Is free of speech , sings , plays , and dances well ; -Where virtue is , these are more virtuous : -Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw -The smallest fear , or doubt of her revolt ; -For she had eyes , and chose me . No , Iago ; -I'll see before I doubt ; when I doubt , prove ; -And , on the proof , there is no more but this , -Away at once with love or jealousy ! - -I am glad of it ; for now I shall have reason -To show the love and duty that I bear you -With franker spirit ; therefore , as I am bound , -Receive it from me ; I speak not yet of proof . -Look to your wife ; observe her well with Cassio ; -Wear your eye thus , not jealous nor secure : -I would not have your free and noble nature -Out of self-bounty be abus'd ; look to 't : -I know our country disposition well ; -In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks -They dare not show their husbands ; their best conscience -Is not to leave 't undone , but keep 't unknown . - -Dost thou say so ? - -She did deceive her father , marrying you : -And when she seem'd to shake and fear your looks , -She lov'd them most . - -And so she did . - -Why , go to , then ; -She that so young could give out such a seeming , -To seel her father's eyes up close as oak , -He thought 'twas witchcraft ; but I am much to blame ; -I humbly do beseech you of your pardon -For too much loving you . - -I am bound to thee for ever . - -I see , this hath a little dash'd your spirits . - -Not a jot , not a jot . - -I' faith , I fear it has . -I hope you will consider what is spoke -Comes from my love . But , I do see you're mov'd ; -I am to pray you not to strain my speech -To grosser issues nor to larger reach -Than to suspicion . - -I will not . - -Should you do so , my lord , -My speech should fall into such vile success -As my thoughts aim not at . Cassio's my worthy friend -My lord , I see you're mov'd . - -No , not much mov'd : -I do not think but Desdemona's honest . - -Long live she so ! and long live you to think so ! - -And , yet , how nature erring from itself , - -Ay , there's the point : as , to be bold with you , -Not to affect many proposed matches -Of her own clime , complexion , and degree , -Whereto , we see , in all things nature tends ; -Foh ! one may smell in such , a will most rank , -Foul disproportion , thoughts unnatural . -But pardon me ; I do not in position -Distinctly speak of her , though I may fear -Her will , recoiling to her better judgment , -May fail to match you with her country forms -And happily repent . - -Farewell , farewell : -If more thou dost perceive , let me know more ; -Set on thy wife to observe . Leave me , Iago . - -My lord , I take my leave . - - -Why did I marry ? This honest creature , doubtless , -Sees and knows more , much more , than he unfolds . - -My lord , I would I might entreat your honour -To scan this thing no further ; leave it to time . -Although 'tis fit that Cassio have his place , -For , sure he fills it up with great ability , -Yet , if you please to hold him off awhile , -You shall by that perceive him and his means : -Note if your lady strain his entertainment -With any strong or vehement importunity ; -Much will be seen in that . In the mean time , -Let me be thought too busy in my fears , -As worthy cause I have to fear I am , -And hold her free , I do beseech your honour . - -Fear not my government . - -I once more take my leave . - - -This fellow's of exceeding honesty , -And knows all qualities , with a learned spirit , -Of human dealings ; if I do prove her haggard , -Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings , -I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind , -To prey at fortune . Haply , for I am black , -And have not those soft parts of conversation -That chamberers have , or , for I am declin'd -Into the vale of years yet that's not much -She's gone , I am abus'd ; and my relief -Must be to loathe her . O curse of marriage ! -That we can call these delicate creatures ours , -And not their appetites . I had rather be a toad , -And live upon the vapour of a dungeon , -Than keep a corner in the thing I love -For others' uses . Yet , 'tis the plague of great ones ; -Prerogativ'd are they less than the base ; -'Tis destiny unshunnable , like death : -Even then this forked plague is fated to us -When we do quicken . -Look ! where she comes . -If she be false , O ! then heaven mocks itself . -I'll not believe it . - - -How now , my dear Othello ! -Your dinner and the generous islanders -By you invited , do attend your presence . - -I am to blame . - -Why do you speak so faintly ? -Are you not well ? - -I have a pain upon my forehead here . - -Faith , that's with watching ; 'twill away again : -Let me but bind it hard , within this hour -It will be well . - -Your napkin is too little : - -Let it alone . Come , I'll go in with you . - -I am very sorry that you are not well . - - -I am glad I have found this napkin ; -This was her first remembrance from the Moor ; -My wayward husband hath a hundred times -Woo'd me to steal it , but she so loves the token , -For he conjur'd her she should ever keep it , -That she reserves it evermore about her -To kiss and talk to . I'll have the work ta'en out , -And give 't Iago : -What he will do with it heaven knows , not I ; -I nothing but to please his fantasy . - - -How now ! what do you here alone ? - -Do not you chide ; I have a thing for you . - -A thing for me ? It is a common thing - -Ha ! - -To have a foolish wife . - -O ! is that all ? What will you give me now -For that same handkerchief ? - -What handkerchief ? - -What handkerchief ! -Why , that the Moor first gave to Desdemona : -That which so often you did bid me steal . - -Hast stol'n it from her ? - -No , faith ; she let it drop by negligence , -And , to the advantage , I , being there , took't up . -Look , here it is . - -A good wench ; give it me . - -What will you do with 't , that you have been so earnest -To have me filch it ? - -Why , what's that to you ? - - -If it be not for some purpose of import -Give 't me again ; poor lady ! she'll run mad -When she shall lack it . - -Be not acknown on 't ; I have use for it . -Go , leave me . - -I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin , -And let him find it ; trifles light as air -Are to the jealous confirmations strong -As proofs of holy writ ; this may do something . -The Moor already changes with my poison : -Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons , -Which at the first are scarce found to distaste , -But with a little act upon the blood , -Burn like the mines of sulphur . I did say so : -Look ! where he comes ! - - -Not poppy , nor mandragora , -Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world , -Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep - -Which thou ow'dst yesterday . - -Ha ! ha ! false to me ? - -Why , how now , generall no more of that . - -Avaunt ! be gone ! thou hast set me on the rack ; -I swear 'tis better to be much abus'd -Than but to know 't a little . - -How now , my lord ! - -What sense had I of her stol'n hours of lust ? -I saw 't not , thought it not , it harm'd not me ; -I slept the next night well , was free and merry ; -I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips ; -He that is robb'd , not wanting what is stol'n , -Let him not know 't and he's not robb'd at all . - -I am sorry to hear this . - -I had been happy , if the general camp , -Pioners and all , had tasted her sweet body , -So I had nothing known . O ! now , for ever -Farewell the tranquil mind ; farewell content ! -Farewell the plumed troop and the big wars -That make ambition virtue ! O , farewell ! -Farewell the neighing steed , and the shrill trump , -The spirit-stirring drum , the ear-piercing fife , -The royal banner , and all quality , -Pride , pomp , and circumstance of glorious war ! -And , O you mortal engines , whose rude throats -The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit , -Farewell ! Othello's occupation's gone ! - -Is it possible , my lord ? - -Villain , be sure thou prove my love a whore , -Be sure of it ; give me the ocular proof ; -Or , by the worth of mine eternal soul , -Thou hadst been better have been born a dog -Than answer my wak'd wrath . - -Is 't come to this ? - -Make me to see 't ; or , at the least , so prove it , -That the probation bear no hinge nor loop -To hang a doubt on ; or woe upon thy life ! - -My noble lord , - -If thou dost slander her and torture me , -Never pray more ; abandon all remorse ; -On horror's head horrors accumulate ; -Do deeds to make heaven weep , all earth amaz'd ; -For nothing canst thou to damnation add -Greater than that . - -O grace ! O heaven forgive me ! -Are you a man ! have you a soul or sense ? -God be wi' you ; take mine office . O wretched fool ! -That liv'st to make thine honesty a vice . -O monstrous world ! Take note , take note , O world ! -To be direct and honest is not safe . -I thank you for this profit , and , from hence -I'll love no friend , sith love breeds such offence . - -Nay , stay ; thou shouldst be honest . - -I should be wise ; for honesty's a fool , -And loses that it works for . - -By the world , -I think my wife be honest and think she is not ; -I think that thou art just and think thou art not . -I'll have some proof . Her name , that was as fresh -As Dian's visage , is now begrim'd and black -As mine own face . If there be cords or knives , -Poison or fire or suffocating streams , -I'll not endure it . Would I were satisfied ! - -I see , sir , you are eaten up with passion . -I do repent me that I put it to you . -You would be satisfied ? - -Would ! nay , I will . - -And may ; but how ? how satisfied , my lord ? -Would you , the supervisor , grossly gape on ; -Behold her tupp'd ? - -Death and damnation ! O ! - -It were a tedious difficulty , I think , -To bring them to that prospect ; damn them then , -If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster -More than their own ! What then ? how then ? -What shall I say ? Where's satisfaction ? -It is impossible you should see this , -Were they as prime as goats , as hot as monkeys , -As salt as wolves in pride , and fools as gross -As ignorance made drunk ; but yet , I say , -If imputation , and strong circumstances , -Which lead directly to the door of truth , -Will give you satisfaction , you may have it . - -Give me a living reason she's disloyal . - -I do not like the office ; -But , sith I am enter'd in this cause so far , -Prick'd to 't by foolish honesty and love , -I will go on . I lay with Cassio lately ; -And , being troubled with a raging tooth , -I could not sleep . -There are a kind of men so loose of soul -That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs ; -One of this kind is Cassio . -In sleep I heard him say , 'Sweet Desdemona , -Let us be wary , let us hide our loves !' -And then , sir , would he gripe and wring my hand , -Cry , 'O , sweet creature !' and then kiss me hard , -As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots , -That grew upon my lips ; then laid his leg -Over my thigh , and sigh'd , and kiss'd ; and then -Cried , 'Cursed fate , that gave thee to the Moor !' - -O monstrous ! monstrous ! - -Nay , this was but his dream . - -But this denoted a foregone conclusion : -'Tis a shrewd doubt , though it be but a dream . - -And this may help to thicken other proofs -That do demonstrate thinly . - -I'll tear her all to pieces . - -Nay , but be wise ; yet we see nothing done ; -She may be honest yet . Tell me but this : -Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief -Spotted with strawberries in your wife's hand ? - -I gave her such a one ; 'twas my first gift . - -I know not that ; but such a handkerchief -I am sure it was your wife's did I to-day -See Cassio wipe his beard with . - -If it be that , - -If it be that , or any that was hers , -It speaks against her with the other proofs . - -O ! that the slave had forty thousand lives ; -One is too poor , too weak for my revenge . -Now do I see 'tis true . Look here , Iago ; -All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven : -'Tis gone . -Arise , black vengeance , from the hollow hell ! -Yield up , O love ! thy crown and hearted throne -To tyrannous hate . Swell , bosom , with thy fraught , -For 'tis of aspics' tongues ! - -Yet be content . - -O ! blood , blood , blood ! - -Patience , I say ; your mind , perhaps , may change . - -Never , Iago . Like to the Pontick sea , -Whose icy current and compulsive course -Ne'er feels retiring ebb , but keeps due on -To the Propontic and the Hellespont , -Even so my bloody thoughts , with violent pace , -Shall ne'er look back , ne'er ebb to humble love , -Till that a capable and wide revenge -Swallow them up . - -Now , by yond marble heaven , -In the due reverence of a sacred vow -I here engage my words . - -Do not rise yet . - -Witness , you ever-burning lights above ! -You elements that clip us round about ! -Witness , that here Iago doth give up -The execution of his wit , hands , heart , -To wrong'd Othello's service ! Let him command , -And to obey shall be in me remorse , -What bloody business ever . - -I greet thy love , -Not with vain thanks , but with acceptance bounteous , -And will upon the instant put thee to 't : -Within these three days let me hear thee say -That Cassio's not alive . - -My friend is dead ; 'tis done at your request : -But let her live . - -Damn her , lewd minx ! O , damn her ! -Come , go with me apart ; I will withdraw -To furnish me with some swift means of death -For the fair devil . Now art thou my lieutenant . - -I am your own for ever . - - -Do you know , sirrah , where Lieutenant Cassio lies ? - -I dare not say he lies any where . - -Why , man ? - -He is a soldier ; and for one to say a soldier lies , is stabbing . - -Go to ; where lodges he ? - -To tell you where he lodges is to tell you where I lie . - -Can anything be made of this ? - -I know not where he lodges , and for me to devise a lodging , and say he lies here or he lies there , were to lie in mine own throat . - -Can you inquire him out , and be edified by report ? - -I will catechize the world for him ; that is , make questions , and by them answer . - -Seek him , bid him come hither ; tell him I have moved my lord in his behalf , and hope all will be well . - -To do this is within the compass of man's wit , and therefore I will attempt the doing it . - - -Where should I lose that handkerchief , Emilia ? - -I know not , madam . - -Believe me , I had rather have lost my purse -Full of cruzadoes ; and , but my noble Moor -Is true of mind , and made of no such baseness -As jealous creatures are , it were enough -To put him to ill thinking . - -Is he not jealous ? - -Who ! he ? I think the sun where he was born -Drew all such humours from him . - -Look ! where he comes . - -I will not leave him now till Cassio -Be call'd to him . - -How is 't with you , my lord ? - -Well , my good lady . - -O ! hardness to dissemble . -How do you , Desdemona ? - -Well , my good lord . - -Give me your hand . This hand is moist , my lady . - -It yet has felt no age nor known no sorrow . - -This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart ; -Hot , hot , and moist ; this hand of yours requires -A sequester from liberty , fasting and prayer , -Much castigation , exercise devout ; -For here's a young and sweating devil here , -That commonly rebels . 'Tis a good hand , -A frank one . - -You may , indeed , say so ; -For 'twas that hand that gave away my heart . - -A liberal hand ; the hearts of old gave hands , -But our new heraldry is hands not hearts . - -I cannot speak of this . Come now , your promise . - -What promise , chuck ? - -I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you . - -I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me . -Lend me thy handkerchief . - -Here , my lord . - -That which I gave you . - -I have it not about me . - -Not ? - -No , indeed , my lord . - -That is a fault . -That handkerchief -Did an Egyptian to my mother give ; -She was a charmer , and could almost read -The thoughts of people ; she told her , while she kept it , -'Twould make her amiable and subdue my father -Entirely to her love , but if she lost it -Or made a gift of it , my father's eye -Should hold her loathed , and his spirits should hunt -After new fancies . She dying gave it me ; -And bid me , when my fate would have me wive , -To give it her . I did so : and take heed on 't ; -Make it a darling like your precious eye ; -To lose't or give't away , were such perdition -As nothing else could match . - -Is 't possible ? - -'Tis true ; there's magic in the web of it ; -A sibyl , that had number'd in the world -The sun to course two hundred compasses , -In her prophetic fury sew'd the work ; -The worms were hallow'd that did breed the silk , -And it was dy'd in mummy which the skilful -Conserv'd of maidens' hearts . - -Indeed ! is 't true ? - -Most veritable ; therefore look to 't well . - -Then would to heaven that I had never seen it ! - -Ha ! wherefore ? - -Why do you speak so startingly and rash ? - -Is 't lost ? is 't gone ? speak , is it out o' the way ? - -Heaven bless us ! - -Say you ? - -It is not lost : but what an if it were ? - -How ! - -I say , it is not lost . - -Fetch 't , let me see 't . - -Why , so I can , sir , but I will not now . -This is a trick to put me from my suit : -Pray you let Cassio be receiv'd again . - -Fetch me the handkerchief ; my mind misgives . - -Come , come ; -You'll never meet a more sufficient man . - -The handkerchief ! - -I pray , talk me of Cassio . - -The handkerchief ! - -A man that all his time -Hath founded his good fortunes on your love , -Shar'd dangers with you , - -The handkerchief ! - -In sooth you are to blame . - -Away ! - - -Is not this man jealous ? - -I ne'er saw this before . -Sure , there's some wonder in this handkerchief ; -I am most unhappy in the loss of it . - -'Tis not a year or two shows us a man ; -They are all but stomachs , and we all but food ; -They eat us hungerly , and when they are full -They belch us . Look you ! Cassio and my husband . - - -There is no other way ; 'tis she must do 't : -And , lo ! the happiness : go and importune her . - -How now , good Cassio ! what's the news with you ? - -Madam , my former suit : I do beseech you -That by your virtuous means I may again -Exist , and be a member of his love -Whom I with all the office of my heart -Entirely honour ; I would not be delay'd . -If my offence be of such mortal kind -That nor my service past , nor present sorrows , -Nor purpos'd merit in futurity , -Can ransom me into his love again , -But to know so must be my benefit ; -So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content , -And shut myself up in some other course -To fortune's alms . - -Alas ! thrice-gentle Cassio ! -My advocation is not now in tune ; -My lord is not my lord ; nor should I know him , -Were he in favour as in humour alter'd . -So help me every spirit sanctified , -As I have spoken for you all my best -And stood within the blank of his displeasure -For my free speech . You must awhile be patient ; -What I can do I will , and more I will -Than for myself I dare : let that suffice you . - -Is my lord angry ? - -He went hence but now , -And , certainly in strange unquietness . - -Can he be angry ? I have seen the cannon , -When it hath blown his ranks into the air , -And , like the devil , from his very arm -Puff'd his own brother ; and can he be angry ? -Something of moment then ; I will go meet him ; -There's matter in 't indeed , if he be angry . - -I prithee , do so . - -Something , sure , of state , -Either from Venice , or some unhatch'd practice -Made demonstrable here in Cyprus to him , -Hath puddled his clear spirit ; and , in such cases -Men's natures wrangle with inferior things , -Though great ones are their object . 'Tis even so ; -For let our finger ache , and it indues -Our other healthful members ev'n to that sense -Of pain . Nay , we must think men are not gods , -Nor of them look for such observancy -As fits the bridal . Beshrew me much , Emilia , -I was unhandsome warrior as I am -Arraigning his unkindness with my soul ; -But now I find I had suborn'd the witness , -And he's indicted falsely . - -Pray heaven it be state-matters , as you think , -And no conception , nor no jealous toy -Concerning you . - -Alas the day ! I never gave him cause . - -But jealous souls will not be answer'd so ; -They are not ever jealous for the cause , -But jealous for they are jealous ; 'tis a monster -Begot upon itself , born on itself . - -Heaven keep that monster from Othello's mind ! - -Lady , amen . - -I will go seek him . Cassio , walk hereabout ; -If I do find him fit , I'll move your suit -And seek to effect it to my uttermost . - -I humbly thank your ladyship . - -Save you , friend Cassio ! - -What make you from home ? -How is it with you , my most fair Bianca ? -I' faith , sweet love , I was coming to your house . - -And I was going to your lodging , Cassio . -What ! keep a week away ? seven days and nights ? -Eight score eight hours ? and lovers' absent hours , -More tedious than the dial eight score times ? -O weary reckoning ! - -Pardon me , Bianca , -I have this while with leaden thoughts been press'd , -But I shall , in a more continuate time , -Strike off this score of absence . Sweet Bianca . - -Take me this work out . - -O Cassio ! whence came this ? -This is some token from a newer friend ; -To the felt absence now I feel a cause ; -Is 't come to this ? Well , well . - -Go to , woman ! -Throw your vile guesses in the devil's teeth , -From whence you have them . You are jealous now -That this is from some mistress , some remembrance : -No , in good troth , Bianca . - -Why , whose is it ? - -I know not , sweet ; I found it in my chamber . -I like the work well ; ere it be demanded , -As like enough it will ,I'd have it copied ; -Take it and do 't ; and leave me for this time . - -Leave you ! wherefore ? - -I do attend here on the general , -And think it no addition nor my wish -To have him see me woman'd . - -Why , I pray you ? - -Not that I love you not . - -But that you do not love me . -I pray you , bring me on the way a little -And say if I shall see you soon at night . - -'Tis but a little way that I can bring you , -For I attend here ; but I'll see you soon . - -'Tis very good ; I must be circumstanc'd . - -Will you think so ? - -Think so , Iago ! - -What ! -To kiss in private ? - -An unauthoriz'd kiss . - -Or to be naked with her friend a-bed -An hour or more , not meaning any harm ? - -Naked a-bed , Iago , and not mean harm ? -It is hypocrisy against the devil : -They that mean virtuously , and yet do so , -The devil their virtue tempts , and they tempt heaven . - -If they do nothing , 'tis a venial slip ; -But if I give my wife a handkerchief , - -What then ? - -Why , then , 'tis hers , my lord ; and , being hers , -She may , I think , bestow 't on any man . - -She is protectress of her honour too ; -May she give that ? - -Her honour is an essence that's not seen ; -They have it very oft that have it not : -But for the handkerchief , - -By heaven , I would most gladly have forgot it : -Thou said'st ,O ! it comes o'er my memory , -As doth the raven o'er the infected house , -Boding to all ,he had my handkerchief . - -Ay , what of that ? - -That's not so good now . - -What , -If I had said I had seen him do you wrong ? -Or heard him say , as knaves be such abroad , -Who having , by their own importunate suit , -Or voluntary dotage of some mistress , -Convinced or supplied them , cannot choose -But they must blab . - -Hath he said any thing ? - -He hath , my lord ; but be you well assur'd , -No more than he'll unswear . - -What hath he said ? - -Faith , that he did I know not what he did . - -What ? what ? - -Lie - -With her ? - -With her , on her ; what you will . - -Lie with her ! lie on her ! We say , lie on her , when they belie her . Lie with her ! that's fulsome . Handkerchief ,confessions ,handkerchief ! To confess , and be hanged for his labour . First , to be hanged , and then to confess : I tremble at it . Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction . It is not words that shake me thus . Pish ! Noses , ears , and lips . Is it possible ?Confess !Handkerchief !O devil ! - - -Work on , -My medicine , work ! Thus credulous fools are caught ; -And many worthy and chaste dames even thus , -All guitless , meet reproach . What , ho ! my lord ! -My lord , I say ! Othello ! - -How now , Cassio ! - -What's the matter ? - -My lord is fallen into an epilepsy ; -This is his second fit ; he had one yesterday . - -Rub him about the temples . - -No , forbear ; -The lethargy must have his quiet course , -If not he foams at mouth , and by and by -Breaks out to savage madness . Look ! he stirs ; -Do you withdraw yourself a little while , -He will recover straight ; when he is gone , -I would on great occasion speak with you . - -How is it , general ? have you not hurt your head ? - -Dost thou mock me ? - -I mock you ! no , by heaven . -Would you would bear your fortune like a man ! - -A horned man's a monster and a beast . - -There's many a beast then , in a populous city , -And many a civil monster . - -Did he confess it ? - -Good sir , be a man ; -Think every bearded fellow that's but yok'd -May draw with you ; there's millions now alive -That nightly lie in those unproper beds -Which they dare swear peculiar ; your case is better . -O ! 'tis the spite of hell , the fiend's arch-mock , -To lip a wanton in a secure couch , -And to suppose her chaste . No , let me know ; -And knowing what I am I know what she shall be . - -O ! thou art wise ; 'tis certain . - -Stand you awhile apart ; -Confine yourself but in a patient list . -Whilst you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief , -A passion most unsuiting such a man , -Cassio came hither ; I shifted him away , -And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy ; -Bade him anon return and here speak with me ; -The which he promis'd . Do but encave yourself , -And mark the fleers , the gibes , and notable scorns , -That dwell in every region of his face ; -For I will make him tell the tale anew , -Where , how , how oft , how long ago , and when -He hath , and is again to cope your wife : -I say , but mark his gesture . Marry , patience ; -Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen , -And nothing of a man . - -Dost thou hear , Iago ? -I will be found most cunning in my patience ; -But dost thou hear ?most bloody . - -That's not amiss ; -But yet keep time in all . Will you withdraw ? - -Now will I question Cassio of Bianca , -A housewife that by selling her desires -Buys herself bread and clothes ; it is a creature -That dotes on Cassio ; as 'tis the strumpet's plague -To beguile many and be beguil'd by one . -He , when he hears of her , cannot refrain -From the excess of laughter . Here he comes : - - -As he shall smile , Othello shall go mad ; -And his unbookish jealousy must construe -Poor Cassio's smiles , gestures , and light behaviour - -Quite in the wrong . How do you now , lieutenant ? - -The worser that you give me the addition -Whose want even kills me . - -Ply Desdemona well , and you are sure on 't . - - -Now , if this suit lay in Bianca's power , -How quickly should you speed ! - -Alas ! poor caitiff ! - -Look ! how he laughs already ! - -I never knew woman love man so . - -Alas ! poor rogue , I think , i' faith , she loves me . - -Now he denies it faintly , and laughs it out . - -Do you hear , Cassio ? - -Now he importunes him -To tell it o'er : go to ; well said , well said . - -She gives it out that you shall marry her ; -Do you intend it ? - -Ha , ha , ha ! - -Do you triumph , Roman ? do you triumph ? - -I marry her ! what ? a customer ? I prithee , bear some charity to my wit ; do not think it so unwholesome . Ha , ha , ha ! - -So , so , so , so . They laugh that win . - -Faith , the cry goes that you shall marry her . - -Prithee , say true . - -I am a very villain else . - -Have you scored me ? Well . - -This is the monkey's own giving out : she is persuaded I will marry her , out of her own love and flattery , not out of my promise . - -Iago beckons me ; now he begins the story . - -She was here even now ; she haunts me in every place . I was the other day talking on the sea bank with certain Venetians , and thither come this bauble , and , by this hand , she falls me thus about my neck ; - -Crying , 'O dear Cassio !' as it were ; his gesture imports it . - -So hangs and lolls and weeps upon me ; so hales and pulls me ; ha , ha , ha ! - -Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber . O ! I see that nose of yours , but not the dog I shall throw it to . - -Well , I must leave her company . - -Before me ! look , where she comes . - -'Tis such another fitchew ! marry , a perfumed one . - -What do you mean by this haunting of me ? - -Let the devil and his dam haunt you ! What did you mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now ? I was a fine fool to take it . I must take out the work ! A likely piece of work , that you should find it in your chamber , and not know who left it there ! This is some minx's token , and I must take out the work ! There , give it your hobby-horse ; wheresoever you had it I'll take out no work on 't . - -How now , my sweet Bianca ! how now , how now ! - -By heaven , that should be my handkerchief ! - -An you'll come to supper to-night , you may ; an you will not , come when you are next prepared for . - - -After her , after her . - -Faith , I must ; she'll rail in the street else . - -Will you sup there ? - -Faith , I intend so . - -Well , I may chance to see you , for I would very fain speak with you . - -Prithee , come ; will you ? - -Go to ; say no more . - - -How shall I murder him , Iago ? - -Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice ? - -O ! Iago ! - -And did you see the handkerchief ? - -Was that mine ? - -Yours , by this hand ; and to see how he prizes the foolish woman your wife ! she gave it him , and he hath given it his whore . - -I would have him nine years a-killing . -A fine woman ! a fair woman ! a sweet woman ! - -Nay , you must forget that . - -Ay , let her rot , and perish , and be damned to-night ; for she shall not live . No , my heart is turned to stone ; I strike it , and it hurts my hand . O ! the world hath not a sweeter creature ; she might lie by an emperor's side and command him tasks . - -Nay , that's not your way . - -Hang her ! I do but say what she is . So delicate with her needle ! An admirable musician ! O , she will sing the savageness out of a bear . Of so high and plenteous wit and invention ! - -She's the worse for all this . - -O ! a thousand , a thousand times . And then , of so gentle a condition ! - -Ay , too gentle . - -Nay , that's certain ;but yet the pity of it , Iago ! O ! Iago , the pity of it , Iago ! - -If you are so fond over her iniquity , give her patent to offend ; for , if it touch not you , it comes near nobody . - -I will chop her into messes . Cuckold me ! - -O ! 'tis foul in her . - -With mine officer ! - -That's fouler . - -Get me some poison , Iago ; this night : I'll not expostulate with her , lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again . This night , Iago . - -Do it not with poison , strangle her in her bed , even the bed she hath contaminated . - -Good , good ; the justice of it pleases ; very good . - -And for Cassio , let me be his undertaker ; you shall hear more by midnight . - -Excellent good . - -What trumpet is that same ? - -Something from Venice , sure . 'Tis Lodovico , -Come from the duke ; and see , your wife is with him . - - -God save you , worthy general ! - -With all my heart , sir . - -The duke and senators of Venice greet you . - - -I kiss the instrument of their pleasures . - - -And what's the news , good cousin Lodovico ? - -I am very glad to see you , signior ; -Welcome to Cyprus . - -I thank you . How does Lieutenant Cassio ? - -Lives , sir . - -Cousin , there's fall'n between him and my lord -An unkind breach ; but you shall make all well . - -Are you sure of that ? - -My lord ? - -This fail you not to do , as you will - -He did not call ; he's busy in the paper . -Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio ? - -A most unhappy one ; I would do much -To atone them , for the love I bear to Cassio . - -Fire and brimstone ! - -My lord ? - -Are you wise ? - -What ! is he angry ? - -May be the letter mov'd him ; -For , as I think , they do command him home , -Deputing Cassio in his government . - -Trust me , I am glad on 't . - -Indeed ! - -My lord ? - -I am glad to see you mad . - -Why , sweet Othello ? - -Devil ! - - -I have not deserved this . - -My lord , this would not be believ'd in Venice , -Though I should swear I saw 't : 'tis very much ; -Make her amends , she weeps . - -O devil , devil ! -If that the earth could teem with woman's tears , -Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile . -Out of my sight ! - -I will not stay to offend you . - - -Truly , an obedient lady ; -I do beseech your lordship , call her back . - -Mistress ! - -My lord ? - -What would you with her , sir ? - -Who , I , my lord ? - -Ay ; you did wish that I would make her turn : -Sir , she can turn , and turn , and yet go on , -And turn again ; and she can weep , sir , weep ; -And she's obedient , as you say , obedient , -Very obedient . Proceed you in your tears . -Concerning this , sir ,O well-painted passion ! -I am commanded home . Get you away ; -I'll send for you anon . Sir , I obey the mandate , -And will return to Venice . Hence ! avaunt ! - -Cassio shall have my place . And , sir , to-night , -I do entreat that we may sup together ; -You are welcome , sir , to Cyprus . Goats and monkeys ! - - -Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate -Call all-in-all sufficient ? is this the noble nature -Whom passion could not shake ? whose solid virtue -The shot of accident nor dart of chance -Could neither graze nor pierce ? - -He is much chang'd . - -Are his wits safe ? is he not light of brain ? - -He's that he is ; I may not breathe my censure . -What he might be , if , what he might , he is not , -I would to heaven he were ! - -What ! strike his wife ! - -Faith , that was not so well ; yet would I knew -That stroke would prove the worst ! - -Is it his use ? -Or did the letters work upon his blood , -And new-create this fault ? - -Alas , alas ! -It is not honesty in me to speak -What I have seen and known . You shall observe him , -And his own courses will denote him so -That I may save my speech . Do but go after -And mark how he continues . - -I am sorry that I am deceiv'd in him . - - -You have seen nothing , then ? - -Nor ever heard , nor ever did suspect . - -Yes , you have seen Cassio and her together . - -But then I saw no harm , and then I heard -Each syllable that breath made up between them . - -What ! did they never whisper ? - -Never , my lord . - -Nor send you out o' the way ? - -Never . - -To fetch her fan , her gloves , her mask , nor nothing ? - -Never , my lord . - -That's strange . - -I durst , my lord , to wager she is honest , -Lay down my soul at stake : if you think other , -Remove your thought ; it doth abuse your bosom . -If any wretch have put this in your head , -Let heaven requite it with the serpent's curse ! -For , if she be not honest , chaste , and true , -There's no man happy ; the purest of their wives -Is foul as slander . - -Bid her come hither ; go . - -She says enough ; yet she's a simple bawd -That cannot say as much . This is a subtle whore , -A closet lock and key of villanous secrets ; -And yet she'll kneel and pray ; I have seen her do 't . - - -My lord , what is your will ? - -Pray , chuck , come hither . - -What is your pleasure ? - -Let me see your eyes ; -Look in my face . - -What horrible fancy's this ? - -Some of your function , mistress ; -Leave procreants alone and shut the door ; -Cough or cry 'hem' if any body come ; -Your mystery , your mystery ; nay , dispatch . - - -Upon my knees , what doth your speech import ? -I understand a fury in your words , -But not the words . - -Why , what art thou ? - -Your wife , my lord ; your true -And loyal wife . - -Come , swear it , damn thyself ; -Lest , being like one of heaven , the devils themselves -Should fear to seize thee ; therefore be double-damn'd ; -Swear thou art honest . - -Heaven doth truly know it . - -Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell . - -To whom , my lord ? with whom ? how am I false ? - -Ah ! Desdemona ; away , away , away ! - -Alas , the heavy day !Why do you weep ? -Am I the motive of these tears , my lord ? -If haply you my father do suspect -An instrument of this your calling back , -Lay not your blame on me ; if you have lost him , -Why , I have lost him too . - -Had it pleas'd heaven -To try me with affliction , had he rain'd -All kinds of sores , and shames , on my bare head , -Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips , -Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes , -I should have found in some part of my soul -A drop of patience ; but , alas ! to make me -The fixed figure for the time of scorn -To point his slow and moving finger at ; -Yet could I bear that too ; well , very well : -But there , where I have garner'd up my heart , -Where either I must live or bear no life , -The fountain from the which my current runs -Or else dries up ; to be discarded thence ! -Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads -To knot and gender in ! Turn thy complexion there , -Patience , thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubin ; -Ay , there , look grim as hell ! - -I hope my noble lord esteems me honest . - -O ! ay ; as summer flies are in the shambles , -That quicken even with blowing . O thou weed ! -Who art so lovely fair and smell'st so sweet -That the sense aches at thee , would thou hadst ne'er been born . - -Alas ! what ignorant sin have I committed ? - -Was this fair paper , this most goodly book , -Made to write 'whore' upon ? What committed ! -Committed ! O thou public commoner ! -I should make very forges of my cheeks , -That would to cinders burn up modesty , -Did I but speak thy deeds . What committed ! -Heaven stops the nose at it and the moon winks , -The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets -Is hush'd within the hollow mine of earth , -And will not hear it . What committed ! -Impudent strumpet ! - -By heaven , you do me wrong . - -Are not you a strumpet ? - -No , as I am a Christian . -If to preserve this vessel for my lord -From any other foul unlawful touch -Be not to be a strumpet , I am none . - -What ! not a whore ? - -No , as I shall be sav'd . - -Is it possible ? - -O ! heaven forgive us . - -I cry you mercy , then ; -I took you for that cunning whore of Venice -That married with Othello . You , mistress , -That have the office opposite to Saint Peter , -And keep the gate of hell ! - - -You , you , ay , you ! -We have done our course ; there's money for your pains . -I pray you , turn the key and keep our counsel . - -Alas ! what does this gentleman conceive ? -How do you , madam ? how do you , my good lady ? - -Faith , half asleep . - -Good madam , what's the matter with my lord ? - -With who ? - -Why , with my lord , madam . - -Who is thy lord ? - -He that is yours , sweet lady . - -I have none ; do not talk to me , Emilia ; -I cannot weep , nor answer have I none , -But what should go by water . Prithee , to-night -Lay on my bed my wedding sheets : remember : -And call thy husband hither . - -Here is a change indeed ! - - -'Tis meet I should be us'd so , very meet . -How have I been behav'd , that he might stick -The small'st opinion on my least misuse ? - - -What is your pleasure , madam ? How is it with you ? - -I cannot tell . Those that do teach young babes -Do it with gentle means and easy tasks ; -He might have chid me so ; for , in good faith , -I am a child to chiding . - -What's the matter , lady ? - -Alas ! Iago , my lord hath so bewhor'd her , -Thrown such despite and heavy terms upon her , -As true hearts cannot bear . - -Am I that name , Iago ? - -What name , fair lady ? - -Such as she says my lord did say I was . - -He call'd her whore ; a beggar in his drink -Could not have laid such terms upon his callat . - -Why did he so ? - -I do not know ; I am sure I am none such . - -Do not weep , do not weep . Alas the day ! - -Has she forsook so many noble matches , -Her father and her country and her friends , -To be call'd whore ? would it not make one weep ? - -It is my wretched fortune . - -Beshrew him for it ! -How comes this trick upon him ? - -Nay , heaven doth know . - -I will be hang'd , if some eternal villain , -Some busy and insinuating rogue , -Some cogging cozening slave , to get some office , -Have not devis'd this slander ; I'll be hang'd else . - -Fie ! there is no such man ; it is impossible . - -If any such there be , heaven pardon him ! - -A halter pardon him , and hell gnaw his bones ! -Why should he call her whore ? who keeps her company ? -What place ? what time ? what form ? what likelihood ? -The Moor's abus'd by some most villanous knave , -Some base notorious knave , some scurvy fellow . -O heaven ! that such companions thou'dst unfold , -And put in every honest hand a whip -To lash the rascals naked through the world , -Even from the east to the west ! - -Speak within door . - -O ! fie upon them . Some such squire he was -That turn'd your wit the seamy side without , -And made you to suspect me with the Moor . - -You are a fool ; go to . - -O good Iago , -What shall I do to win my lord again ? -Good friend , go to him ; for , by this light of heaven , -I know not how I lost him . Here I kneel : -If e'er my will did trespass 'gainst his love , -Either in discourse of thought or actual deed , -Or that mine eyes , mine ears , or any sense , -Delighted them in any other form ; -Or that I do not yet , and ever did , -And ever will , though he do shake me off -To beggarly divorcement , love him dearly , -Comfort forswear me ! Unkindness may do much ; -And his unkindness may defeat my life , -But never taint my love . I cannot say 'whore :' -It does abhor me now I speak the word ; -To do the act that might the addition earn -Not the world's mass of vanity could make me . - -I pray you be content , 'tis but his humour ; -The business of the state does him offence , -And he does chide with you . - -If 'twere no other , - -'Tis but so , I warrant . - -Hark ! how these instruments summon to supper ; -The messengers of Venice stay the meat : -Go in , and weep not ; all things shall be well . - - -How now , Roderigo ! - -I do not find that thou dealest justly with me . - -What in the contrary ? - -Every day thou daffest me with some device , Iago ; and rather , as it seems to me now , keepest from me all conveniency , than suppliest me with the least advantage of hope . I will indeed no longer endure it , nor am I yet persuaded to put up in peace what already I have foolishly suffered . - -Will you hear me , Roderigo ? - -Faith , I have heard too much , for your words and performances are no kin together . - -You charge me most unjustly . - -With nought but truth . I have wasted myself out of my means . The jewels you have had from me to deliver to Desdemona would half have corrupted a votarist ; you have told me she has received them , and returned me expectations and comforts of sudden respect and acquaintance , but I find none . - -Well ; go to ; very well . - -Very well ! go to ! I cannot go to , man ; nor 'tis not very well : by this hand , I say , it is very scurvy , and begin to find myself fobbed in it . - -Very well . - -I tell you 'tis not very well . I will make myself known to Desdemona ; if she will return me my jewels , I will give over my suit and repent my unlawful solicitation ; if not , assure yourself I will seek satisfaction of you . - -You have said now . - -Ay , and said nothing , but what I protest intendment of doing . - -Why , now I see there's mettle in thee , and even from this instant do build on thee a better opinion than ever before . Give me thy hand , Roderigo ; thou hast taken against me a most just exception ; but yet , I protest , I have dealt most directly in thy affair . - -It hath not appeared . - -I grant indeed it hath not appeared , and your suspicion is not without wit and judgment . But , Roderigo , if thou hast that in thee indeed , which I have greater reason to believe now than ever , I mean purpose , courage , and valour , this night show it : if thou the next night following enjoy not Desdemona , take me from this world with treachery and devise engines for my life . - -Well , what is it ? is it within reason and compass ? - -Sir , there is especial commission come from Venice to depute Cassio in Othello's place . - -Is that true ? why , then Othello and Desdemona return again to Venice . - -O , no ! he goes into Mauritania , and takes away with him the fair Desdemona , unless his abode be lingered here by some accident ; wherein none can be so determinate as the removing of Cassio . - -How do you mean , removing of him ? - -Why , by making him uncapable of Othello's place ; knocking out his brains . - -And that you would have me do ? - -Ay ; if you dare do yourself a profit and a right . He sups to-night with a harlotry , and thither will I go to him ; he knows not yet of his honourable fortune . If you will watch his going thence ,which I will fashion to fall out between twelve and one ,you may take him at your pleasure ; I will be near to second your attempt , and he shall fall between us . Come , stand not amazed at it , but go along with me ; I will show you such a necessity in his death that you shall think yourself bound to put it on him . It is now high supper-time , and the night grows to waste ; about it . - -I will hear further reason for this . - -And you shall be satisfied . - - -I do beseech you , sir , trouble yourself no further . - -O ! pardon me ; 'twill do me good to walk . - -Madam , good night ; I humbly thank your ladyship . - -Your honour is most welcome . - -Will you walk , sir ? -O ! Desdemona , - -My lord ? - -Get you to bed on the instant ; I will be returned forthwith ; dismiss your attendant there ; look it be done . - -I will , my lord . - - -How goes it now ? he looks gentler than he did . - -He says he will return incontinent ; -He hath commanded me to go to bed , -And bade me to dismiss you . - -Dismiss me ! - -It was his bidding ; therefore , good Emilia , -Give me my nightly wearing , and adieu : -We must not now displease him . - -I would you had never seen him . - -So would not I ; my love doth so approve him , -That even his stubbornness , his checks and frowns , -Prithee , unpin me ,have grace and favour in them . - -I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed . - -All's one . Good faith ! how foolish are our minds ! -If I do die before thee , prithee , shroud me -In one of those same sheets . - -Come , come , you talk . - -My mother had a maid call'd Barbara ; -She was in love , and he she lov'd prov'd mad -And did forsake her ; she had a song of 'willow ;' -An old thing 'twas , but it express'd her fortune , -And she died singing it ; that song to-night -Will not go from my mind ; I have much to do -But to go hang my head all at one side , -And sing it like poor Barbara . Prithee , dispatch . - -Shall I go fetch your night-gown ? - -No , unpin me here . -This Lodovico is a proper man . - -A very handsome man . - -He speaks well . - -I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip . - - -The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree , -Sing all a green willow ; -Her hand on her bosom , her head on her knee , -Sing willow , willow , willow : -The fresh streams ran by her , and murmur'd her moans ; -Sing willow , willow , willow : -Her salt tears fell from her , and soften'd the stones ; - -Lay by these : - -Sing willow , willow , willow : - -Prithee , hie thee ; he'll come anon . - -Sing all a green willow must be my garland . -Let nobody blame him , his scorn I approve , - -Nay , that's not next . Hark ! who is it that knocks ? - -It is the wind . - - -I call'd my love false love ; but what said he then ? -Sing willow , willow , willow : -If I court moe women , you'll couch with moe men . - -So , get thee gone ; good night . Mine eyes do itch ; -Doth that bode weeping ? - -'Tis neither here nor there . - -I have heard it said so . O ! these men , these men ! -Dost thou in conscience think , tell me , Emilia , -That there be women do abuse their husbands -In such gross kind ? - -There be some such , no question . - -Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world ? - -Why , would not you ? - -No , by this heavenly light ! - -Nor I neither by this heavenly light ; might do 't as well i' the dark . - -Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world ? - -The world is a huge thing ; 'tis a great price -For a small vice . - -In troth , I think thou wouldst not . - -In troth , I think I should , and undo 't when I had done . Marry , I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring , nor measures of lawn , nor for gowns , petticoats , nor caps , nor any petty exhibition ; but for the whole world , who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch ? I should venture purgatory for 't . - -Beshrew me , if I would do such a wrong -For the whole world . - -Why , the wrong is but a wrong i' the world ; and having the world for your labour , 'tis a wrong in your own world , and you might quickly make it right . - -I do not think there is any such woman . - -Yes , a dozen ; and as many to the vantage , as would store the world they played for . -But I do think it is their husbands' faults -If wives do fall . Say that they slack their duties , -And pour our treasures into foreign laps , -Or else break out in peevish jealousies , -Throwing restraint upon us ; or , say they strike us , -Or scant our former having in despite ; -Why , we have galls , and though we have some grace , -Yet have we some revenge . Let husbands know -Their wives have sense like them ; they see and smell , -And have their palates both for sweet and sour , -As husbands have . What is it that they do -When they change us for others ? Is it sport ? -I think it is ; and doth affection breed it ? -I think it doth : is 't frailty that thus errs ? -It is so too ; and have not we affections , -Desires for sport , and frailty , as men have ? -Then , let them use us well ; else let them know , -The ills we do , their ills instruct us so . - -Good night , good night ; heaven me such usage send , -Not to pick bad from bad , but by bad mend ! - -Here , stand behind this bulk ; straight will he come : -Wear thy good rapier bare , and put it home . -Quick , quick ; fear nothing ; I'll be at thy elbow . -It makes us , or it mars us ; think on that , -And fix most firm thy resolution . - -Be near at hand ; I may miscarry in 't . - -Here , at thy hand : be bold , and take thy stand . - - -I have no great devotion to the deed ; -And yet he has given me satisfying reasons : -'Tis but a man gone : forth , my sword ; he dies . - -I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense , -And he grows angry . Now , whether he kill Cassio , -Or Cassio him , or each do kill the other , -Every way makes my gain : live Roderigo , -He calls me to a restitution large -Of gold and jewels that I bobb'd from him , -As gifts to Desdemona ; -It must not be : if Cassio do remain , -He hath a daily beauty in his life -That makes me ugly ; and , besides , the Moor -May unfold me to him ; there stand I in much peril . -No , he must die . But so ; I hear him coming . - - -I know his gait ; 'tis he . Villain , thou diest ! - - -That thrust had been mine enemy indeed -But that my coat is better than thou know'st ; -I will make proof of thine . - - -O ! I am slain . - - -I am maim'd for ever . Help , ho ! murder ! murder ! - -The voice of Cassio : Iago keeps his word . - -O ! villain that I am ! - -It is e'en so . - -O , help , ho ! light ! a surgeon ! - -'Tis he : O brave Iago , honest and just ! -That hast such noble sense of thy friend's wrong ; -Thou teachest me . Minion , your dear lies dead , -And your unblest fate hies ; strumpet , I come ! -Forth of my heart those charms , thine eyes , are blotted ; -Thy bed lust-stain'd shall with lust's blood be spotted . - -What ho ! no watch ? no passage ? murder ! murder ! - -'Tis some mischance ; the cry is very direful . - -O , help ! - -Hark ! - -O wretched villain ! - -Two or three groan : it is a heavy night ; -These may be counterfeits ; let's think 't unsafe -To come in to the cry without more help . - -Nobody come ? then shall I bleed to death . - -Hark ! - - -Here's one comes in his shirt , with light and weapons . - -Who's there ? whose noise is this that cries on murder ? - -We do not know . - -Did not you hear a cry ? - -Here , here ! for heaven's sake , help me . - -What's the matter ? - -This is Othello's ancient , as I take it . - -The same indeed ; a very valiant fellow . - -What are you here that cry so grievously ? - -Iago ? O ! I am spoil'd , undone by villains ! -Give me some help . - -O me , lieutenant ! what villains have done this ? - -I think that one of them is hereabout , -And cannot make away . - -O treacherous villains ! - - -What are you there ? come in , and give some help . - -O ! help me here . - -That's one of them . - -O murderous slave ! O villain ! - - -O damn'd Iago ! O inhuman dog ! - -Kill men i' the dark ! Where be these bloody thieves ? -How silent is this town ! Ho ! murder ! murder ! -What may you be ? are you of good or evil ? - -As you shall prove us , praise us . - -Signior Lodovico ? - -He , sir . - -I cry you mercy . Here's Cassio hurt by villains . - -Cassio ! - -How is it , brother ? - -My leg is cut in two . - -Marry , heaven forbid , -Light , gentlemen ; I'll bind it with my shirt . - - -What is the matter , ho ? who is 't that cried ? - -Who is 't that cried ! - -O my dear Cassio ! my sweet Cassio ! -O Cassio , Cassio , Cassio ! - -O notable strumpet ! Cassio , may you suspect -Who they should be that have thus mangled you ? - -No . - -I am sorry to find you thus ; I have been to seek you . - -Lend me a garter . So . O ! for a chair , -To bear him easily hence ! - -Alas ! he faints ! O Cassio , Cassio , Cassio ! - -Gentlemen all , I do suspect this trash -To be a party in this injury . -Patience awhile , good Cassio . Come , come . -Lend me a light . Know we this face , or no ? -Alas ! my friend and my dear countryman , -Roderigo ? no : yes , sure , O heaven ! Roderigo . - -What ! of Venice ? - -Even he , sir : did you know him ? - -Know him ! ay . - -Signior Gratiano ? I cry you gentle pardon ; -These bloody accidents must excuse my manners , -That so neglected you . - -I am glad to see you . - -How do you , Cassio ? O ! a chair , a chair ! - -Roderigo ! - - -He , he , 'tis he .O ! that's well said ; the chair : -Some good men bear him carefully from hence ; -I'll fetch the general's surgeon . - -For you , mistress , -Save you your labour . He that lies slain here , Cassio , -Was my dear friend . What malice was between you ? - -None in the world ; nor do I know the man . - -What ! look you pale ? O ! bear him out o' the air - -Stay you , good gentlemen . Look you pale , mistress ? -Do you perceive the gastness of her eye ? -Nay , if you stare , we shall hear more anon . -Behold her well ; I pray you , look upon her : -Do you see , gentlemen ? nay , guiltiness will speak -Though tongues were out of use . - - -'Las ! what's the matter ? what's the matter , husband ? - -Cassio hath here been set on in the dark -By Roderigo and fellows that are 'scap'd : -He's almost slain , and Roderigo dead . - -Alas ! good gentleman ; alas ! good Cassio ! - -This is the fruit of whoring . Prithee , Emilia , -Go know of Cassio where he supp'd to-night . -What ! do you shake at that ? - -He supp'd at my house ; but I therefore shake not . - -O ! did he so ? I charge you , go with me . - -Fie , fie upon thee , strumpet ! - -I am no strumpet , but of life as honest -As you that thus abuse me . - -As I ! foh ! fie upon thee ! - -Kind gentlemen , let's go see poor Cassio dress'd . -Come , mistress , you must tell 's another tale . -Emilia , run you to the citadel , -And tell my lord and lady what hath happ'd . -Will you go on afore ? - -This is the night -That either makes me or fordoes me quite . - - -It is the cause , it is the cause , my soul ; -Let me not name it to you , you chaste stars ! -It is the cause . Yet I'll not shed her blood , -Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow , -And smooth as monumental alabaster . -Yet she must die , else she'll betray more men . -Put out the light , and then put out the light : -If I quench thee , thou flaming minister , -I can again thy former light restore , -Should I repent me ; but once put out thy light , -Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature , -I know not where is that Promethean heat -That can thy light relume . When I have pluck'd the rose , -I cannot give it vital growth again , -It needs must wither : I'll smell it on the tree . - -O balmy breath , that dost almost persuade -Justice to break her sword ! One more , one more . -Be thus when thou art dead , and I will kill thee , -And love thee after . One more , and this the last : -So sweet was ne'er so fatal . I must weep , -But they are cruel tears ; this sorrow's heavenly , -It strikes where it doth love . She wakes . - -Who's there ? Othello ? - -Ay , Desdemona . - -Will you come to bed , my lord ? - -Have you pray'd to-night , Desdemona ? - -Ay , my lord . - -If you bethink yourself of any crime -Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace , -Solicit for it straight . - -Alas ! my lord , what may you mean by that ? - -Well , do it , and be brief ; I will walk by : -I would not kill thy unprepared spirit ; -No ; heaven forfend ! I would not kill thy soul . - -Talk you of killing ? - -Ay , I do . - -Then heaven -Have mercy on me ! - -Amen ! with all my heart . - -If you say so , I hope you will not kill me . - -Hum ! - -And yet I fear you ; for you are fatal then -When your eyes roll so . Why I should fear I know not , -Since guiltiness I know not ; but yet I feel I fear . - -Think on thy sins . - -They are loves I bear to you . - -Ay , and for that thou diest . - -That death's unnatural that kills for loving . -Alas ! why gnaw you so your nether lip ? -Some bloody passion shakes your very frame ; -These are portents , but yet , I hope , I hope -They do not point on me . - -Peace , and be still ! - -I will so . What's the matter ? - -That handkerchief which I so lov'd and gave thee -Thou gav'st to Cassio . - -No , by my life and soul ! -Send for the man and ask him . - -Sweet soul , take heed , -Take heed of perjury ; thou'rt on thy death-bed . - -Ay , but not yet to die . - -Yes , presently ; -Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin ; -For to deny each article with oath -Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception -That I do groan withal . Thou art to die . - -Then Lord have mercy on me ! - -I say , amen . - -And have you mercy too ! I never did -Offend you in my life ; never lov'd Cassio -But with such general warranty of heaven -As I might love ; I never gave him token . - -By heaven , I saw my handkerchief in 's hand . -O perjur'd woman ! thou dost stone my heart , -And mak'st me call what I intend to do -A murder , which I thought a sacrifice : -I saw the handkerchief . - -He found it then ; -I never gave it him . Send for him hither ; -Let him confess a truth . - -He hath confess'd . - -What , my lord ? - -That he hath us'd thee . - -How ? unlawfully ? - -Ay . - -He will not say so . - -No ; his mouth is stopp'd : -Honest Iago hath ta'en order for 't . - -O ! my fear interprets . What ! is he dead ? - -Had all his hairs been lives , my great revenge -Had stomach for them all . - -Alas ! he is betray'd and I undone . - -Out , strumpet ! Weep'st thou for him to my face ? - -O ! banish me , my lord , but kill me not ! - -Down , strumpet ! - -Kill me to-morrow ; let me live to-night ! - -Nay , if you strive , - -But half an hour ! - -Being done , there is no pause . - -But while I say one prayer ! - -It is too late . - - -My lord , my lord ! what , ho ! my lord , my lord ! - -What noise is this ? Not dead ? not yet quite dead ? -I that am cruel am yet merciful ; -I would not have thee linger in thy pain . -So , so . - -What , ho ! my lord , my lord ! - -Who's there ? - -O ! good my lord , I would speak a word with you ! - -Yes ; 'tis Emilia : by and by . She's dead . -'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death ; -The noise was high . Ha ! no more moving ? -Still as the grave . Shall she come in ? Were 't good ? -I think she stirs again : no . What's best to do ? -If she come in she'll sure speak to my wife : -My wife ! my wife ! what wife ? I have no wife : -O , insupportable ! O heavy hour ! -Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse -Of sun and moon , and that the affrighted globe -Should yawn at alteration . - -I do beseech you -That I may speak with you , O ! good my lord . - -I had forgot thee : O ! come in , Emilia : -Soft , by and by : let me the curtains draw . -Where art thou ? - - -What's the matter with thee now ? - -O ! my good lord , yonder's foul murder done . - -What ! now ? - -But now , my lord . - -It is the very error of the moon ; -She comes more near the earth than she was wont , -And makes men mad . - -Cassio , my lord , has kill'd a young Venetian -Call'd Roderigo . - -Roderigo kill'd ! -And Cassio kill'd ? - -No , Cassio is not kill'd . - -Not Cassio kill'd ! then murder's out of tune , -And sweet revenge grows harsh . - -O ! falsely , falsely murder'd . - -Alas ! what cry is that ? - -That ! what ? - -Out , and alas ! that was my lady's voice : -Help ! Help , ho ! help ! O lady , speak again ! -Sweet Desdemona ! O ! sweet mistress , speak . - -A guiltless death I die . - -O ! who hath done this deed ? - -Nobody ; I myself ; farewell : -Commend me to my kind lord . O ! farewell ! - - -Why , how should she be murder'd ? - -Alas ! who knows ? - -You heard her say herself it was not I . - -She said so ; I must needs report the truth . - -She's like a liar gone to burning hell ; -'Twas I that kill'd her . - -O ! the more angel she , -And you the blacker devil . - -She turn'd to folly , and she was a whore . - -Thou dost belie her , and thou art a devil . - -She was false as water . - -Thou art rash as fire to say -That she was false : O ! she was heavenly true . - -Cassio did tup her ; ask thy husband else . -O ! I were damn'd beneath all depth in bell -But that I did proceed upon just grounds -To this extremity . Thy husband knew it all . - -My husband ! - -Thy husband . - -That she was false to wedlock ? - -Ay , with Cassio . Nay , had she been true , -If heaven would make me such another world -Of one entire and perfect chrysolite , -I'd not have sold her for it . - -My husband ! - -Ay , 'twas he that told me first : -An honest man he is , and hates the slime -That sticks on filthy deeds . - -My husband ! - -What needs this iterance , woman ? I say thy husband . - -O mistress ! villany hath made mocks with love . -My husband say that she was false ! - -He , woman ; -I say , thy husband : dost understand the word ? -My friend , thy husband , honest , honest Iago . - -If he say so , may his pernicious soul -Rot half a grain a day ! he lies to the heart : -She was too fond of her most filthy bargain . - -Ha ! - -Do thy worst : -This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven -Than thou wast worthy her . - -Peace ! you were best . - -Thou hast not half the power to do me harm -As I have to be hurt . O gull ! O dolt ! -As ignorant as dirt ! thou hast done a deed , -I care not for thy sword ; I'll make thee known , -Though I lost twenty lives . Help ! help , ho ! help ! -The Moor has kill'd my mistress ! Murder ! murder ! - - -What is the matter ? How now , general ! - -O ! are you come , Iago ? you have done well , -That men must lay their murders on your neck . - -What is the matter ? - -Disprove this villain if thou be'st a man : -He says thou told'st him that his wife was false . -I know thou didst not , thou'rt not such a villain , -Speak , for my heart is full . - -I told him what I thought , and told no more -Than what he found himself was apt and true . - -But did you ever tell him she was false ? - -I did . - -You told a lie , an odious damned lie ; -Upon my soul , a lie , a wicked lie . -She false with Cassio ! Did you say with Cassio ? - -With Cassio , mistress . Go to , charm your tongue . - -I will not charm my tongue ; I am bound to speak . -My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed . - -O heavens forfend ! - -And your reports have set the murder on . - -Nay , stare not , masters ; it is true , indeed . - -'Tis a strange truth . - -O monstrous act ! - -Villany ! villany ! villany ! -I think upon 't , I think , I smell 't ; O villany ! -I thought so then ; I'll kill myself for grief . -O ! villany , villany ! - -What ! are you mad ? I charge you , get you home . - -Good gentlemen , let me have leave to speak : -'Tis proper I obey him , but not now . -Perchance , Iago , I will ne'er go home . - -O ! O ! O ! - - -Nay , lay thee down and roar , -For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent -That e'er did lift up eye . - -O ! she was foul . -I scarce did know you , uncle . There lies your niece , -Whose breath , indeed , these hands have newly stopp'd : -I know this act shows terrible and grim . - -Poor Desdemona ! I am glad thy father's dead . -Thy match was mortal to him , and pure grief -Shore his old thread in twain : did he live now , -This sight would make him do a desperate turn , -Yea , curse his better angel from his side , -And fall to reprobation . - -'Tis pitiful ; but yet Iago knows -That she with Cassio hath the act of shame -A thousand times committed ; Cassio confess'd it : -And she did gratify his amorous works -With that recognizance and pledge of love -Which I first gave her . I saw it in his hand : -It was a handkerchief , an antique token -My father gave my mother . - -O heaven ! O heavenly powers ! - -Come , hold your peace . - -'Twill out , 'twill out ; I hold my peace , air ? no ; -No , I will speak as liberal as the north ; -Let heaven and men and devils , let them all , -All , all , cry shame against me , yet I'll speak . - -Be wise , and get you home . - -I will not . - - -Fie ! -Your sword upon a woman ? - -O thou dull Moor ! that handkerchief thou speak'st of -I found by fortune and did give my husband ; -For often , with a solemn earnestness , -More than , indeed , belong'd to such a trifle , -He begg'd of me to steal it . - -Villanous whore ! - -She give it Cassio ! no , alas ! I found it , -And I did give 't my husband . - -Filth , thou liest ! - -By heaven , I do not , I do not , gentlemen . -O murderous coxcomb ! what should such a fool -Do with so good a wife ? - -Are there no stones in heaven -But what serve for the thunder ? Precious villain ! - - -The woman falls : sure , he has kill'd his wife . - -Ay , ay ; O ! lay me by my mistress' side . - -He's gone ; but his wife's kill'd . - -'Tis a notorious villain . Take you this weapon , -Which I have here recover'd from the Moor . -Come , guard the door without ; let him not pass , -But kill him rather . I'll after that same villain , -For 'tis a damned slave . - - -I am not valiant neither , -But every puny whipster gets my sword . -But why should honour outlive honesty ? -Let it go all . - -What did thy song bode , lady ? -Hark , canst thou hear me ? I will play the swan , -And die in music : -Willow , willow , willow . -Moor , she was chaste ; she lov'd thee , cruel Moor ; -So come my soul to bliss as I speak true ; -So speaking as I think , I die , I die . - - -I have another weapon in this chamber ; -It is a sword of Spain , the ice brook's temper . -O ! here it is . Uncle , I must come forth . - -If thou attempt it , it will cost thee dear : -Thou hast no weapon , and perforce must suffer . - -Look in upon me then , and speak with me , -Or , naked as I am , I will assault thee . - - -What is the matter ? - -Behold ! I have a weapon ; -A better never did itself sustain -Upon a soldier's thigh : I have seen the day , -That with this little arm , and this good sword , -I have made my way through more impediments -Than twenty times your stop : but , O vain boast ! -Who can control his fate ? 'tis not so now . -Be not afraid , though you do see me weapon'd ; -Here is my journey's end , here is my butt , -And very sea-mark of my utmost sail . -Do you go back dismay'd ? 'tis a lost fear ; -Man but a rush against Othello's breast , -And he retires . Where should Othello go ? -Now how dost thou look now ? O ill-starr'd wench ! -Pale as thy smock ! when we shall meet at compt , -This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven , -And fiends will snatch at it . Cold , cold , my girl ! -Even like thy chastity . -O ! cursed , cursed slave . Whip me , ye devils , -From the possession of this heavenly sight ! -Blow me about in winds ! roast me in sulphur ! -Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire ! -O Desdemona ! Desdemona ! dead ! -Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! - - -Where is this rash and most unfortunate man ? - -That's he that was Othello ; here I am . - -Where is that viper ? bring the villain forth . - -I look down towards his feet ; but that's a fable . -If that thou be'st a devil , I cannot kill thee . - - -Wrench his sword from him . - -I bleed , sir ; but not kill'd . - -I am not sorry neither ; I'd have thee live ; -For , in my sense , 'tis happiness to die . - -O thou Othello ! that wert once so good , -Fall'n in the practice of a damned slave , -What shall be said to thee ? - -Why , any thing : -An honourable murderer , if you will ; -For nought did I in hate , but all in honour . - -This wretch hath part confess'd his villany : -Did you and he consent in Cassio's death ? - -Ay . - -Dear general , I never gave you cause . - -I do believe it , and I ask your pardon . -Will you , I pray , demand that demi-devil -Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body ? - -Demand me nothing : what you know , you know : -From this time forth I never will speak word . - -What ! not to pray ? - -Torments will ope your lips . - -Well , thou dost best . - -Sir , you shall understand what hath befall'n , -Which , as I think , you know not . Here is a letter -Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo , -And here another ; the one of them imports -The death of Cassio to be undertook -By Roderigo . - -O villain ! - -Most heathenish and most gross ! - -Now here's another discontented paper , -Found in his pocket too ; and this , it seems , -Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain , -But that , belike , Iago in the interim -Came in and satisfied him . - -O the pernicious caitiff ! -How came you , Cassio , by that handkerchief -That was my wife's ? - -I found it in my chamber ; -And he himself confess'd but even now -That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose -Which wrought to his desire . - -O fool ! fool ! fool ! - -There is besides in Roderigo's letter -How he upbraids Iago that he made him -Brave me upon the watch ; whereon it came -That I was cast : and even but now he spake , -After long seeming dead , Iago hurt him , -Iago set him on . - -You must forsake this room and go with us ; -Your power and your command is taken off , -And Cassio rules in Cyprus . For this slave , -If there be any cunning cruelty -That can torment him much and hold him long , -It shall be his . You shall close prisoner rest . -Till that the nature of your fault be known -To the Venetian state . Come , bring him away . - -Soft you ; a word or two before you go . -I have done the state some service , and they know't ; -No more of that . I pray you , in your letters , -When you shall these unlucky deeds relate , -Speak of me as I am ; nothing extenuate , -Nor set down aught in malice : then , must you speak -Of one that lov'd not wisely but too well ; -Of one not easily jealous , but , being wrought , -Perplex'd in the extreme ; of one whose hand , -Like the base Indian , threw a pearl away -Richer than all his tribe ; of one whose subdu'd eyes -Albeit unused to the melting mood , -Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees -Their med'cinable gum . Set you down this ; -And say besides , that in Aleppo once , -Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk -Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state , -I took by the throat the circumcised dog , -And smote him thus . - - -O bloody period ! - -All that's spoke is marr'd . - -I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee ; no way but this , - -Killing myself to die upon a kiss . - - -This did I fear , but thought he had no weapon ; -For he was great of heart . - -O Spartan dog ! -More fell than anguish , hunger , or the sea . -Look on the tragic loading of this bed ; -This is thy work ; the object poisons sight ; -Let it be hid . Gratiano , keep the house , -And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor , -For they succeed on you . To you , lord governor , -Remains the censure of this hellish villain , -The time , the place , the torture ; O ! enforce it . -Myself will straight aboard , and to the state -This heavy act with heavy heart relate . - -ROMEO AND JULIET - -Two households , both alike in dignity , -In fair Verona , where we lay our scene , -From ancient grudge break to new mutiny , -Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean . -From forth the fatal loins of these two foes -A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life ; -Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows -Do with their death bury their parents' strife . -The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love , -And the continuance of their parents' rage , -Which , but their children's end , nought could remove , -Is now the two hours' traffick of our stage ; -The which if you with patient ears attend , -What here shall miss , our toil shall strive to mend . - -Gregory , o' my word , we'll not carry coals . - -No . for then we should be colliers . - -I mean , an we be in choler , we'll draw . - -Ay , while you live , draw your neck out o' the collar . - -I strike quickly , being moved . - -But thou art not quickly moved to strike . - -A dog of the house of Montague moves me . - -To move is to stir , and to be valiant is to stand ; therefore , if thou art moved , thou runnest away . - -A dog of that house shall move me to stand : I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's . - -That shows thee a weak slave ; for the weakest goes to the wall . - -'Tis true ; and therefore women , being the weaker vessels , are ever thrust to the wall : therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall , and thrust his maids to the wall . - -The quarrel is between our masters and us their men . - -'Tis all one , I will show myself a tyrant : when I have fought with the men , I will be cruel with the maids ; I will cut off their heads . - -The heads of the maids ? - -Ay , the heads of the maids , or their maidenheads ; take it in what sense thou wilt . - -They must take it in sense that feel it . - -Me they shall feel while I am able to stand ; and 'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh . - -'Tis well thou art not fish ; if thou hadst , thou hadst been poor John . Draw thy tool ; here comes two of the house of the Montagues . - - -My naked weapon is out ; quarrel , I will back thee . - -How ! turn thy back and run ? - -Fear me not . - -No , marry ; I fear thee ! - -Let us take the law of our sides ; let them begin . - -I will frown as I pass by , and let them take it as they list . - -Nay , as they dare . I will bite my thumb at them ; which is a disgrace to them , if they bear it . - -Do you bite your thumb at us , sir ? - -I do bite my thumb , sir . - -Do you bite your thumb at us , sir ? - -Is the law of our side if I say ay ? - -No . - -No , sir , I do not bite my thumb at you , sir ; but I bite my thumb , sir . - -Do you quarrel , sir ? - -Quarrel , sir ! no , sir . - -If you do , sir , I am for you : I serve as good a man as you . - -No better . - -Well , sir . - -Say , 'better ;' here comes one of my master's kinsmen . - -Yes , better , sir . - -You lie . - -Draw , if you be men . Gregory , remember thy swashing blow . - -Part , fools ! -Put up your swords ; you know not what you do . - -What ! art thou drawn among these heartless hinds ? -Turn-thee , Benvolio , look upon thy death . - -I do but keep the peace : put up thy sword , -Or manage it to part these men with me . - -What ! drawn , and talk of peace ? I hate the word , -As I hate hell , all Montagues , and thee . -Have at thee , coward ! - - -Clubs , bills , and partisans ! strike ! beat them down ! -Down with the Capulets ! down with the Montagues ! - - -What noise is this ? Give me my long sword , ho ! - -A crutch , a crutch ! Why call you for a sword ? - -My sword , I say ! Old Montague is come , -And flourishes his blade in spite of me . - - -Thou villain Capulet ! Hold me not ; let me go . - -Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe . - - -Rebellious subjects , enemies to peace , -Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel , -Will they not hear ? What ho ! you men , you beasts , -That quench the fire of your pernicious rage -With purple fountains issuing from your veins , -On pain of torture , from those bloody hands -Throw your mis-temper'd weapons to the ground , -And hear the sentence of your moved prince . -Three civil brawls , bred of an airy word , -By thee , old Capulet , and Montague , -Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets , -And made Verona's ancient citizens -Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments , -To wield old partisans , in hands as old , -Canker'd with peace , to part your canker'd hate . -If ever you disturb our streets again -Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace . -For this time , all the rest depart away : -You , Capulet , shall go along with me ; -And , Montague , come you this afternoon -To know our further pleasure in this case , -To old Free-town , our common judgment-place . -Once more , on pain of death , all men depart . - - -Who set this ancient quarrel new a-broach ? -Speak , nephew , were you by when it began ? - -Here were the servants of your adversary -And yours close fighting ere I did approach : -I drew to part them ; in the instant came -The fiery Tybalt , with his sword prepar'd , -Which , as he breath'd defiance to my ears , -He swung about his head , and cut the winds , -Who , nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn . -While we were interchanging thrusts and blows , -Came more and more , and fought on part and part , -Till the prince came , who parted either part . - -O ! where is Romeo ? saw you him to-day ? -Right glad I am he was not at this fray . - -Madam , an hour before the worshipp'd sun -Peer'd forth the golden window of the east , -A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad ; -Where , underneath the grove of sycamore -That westward rooteth from the city's side , -So early walking did I see your son : -Towards him I made ; but he was ware of me , -And stole into the covert of the wood : -I , measuring his affections by my own , -That most are busied when they're most alone , -Pursu'd my humour not pursuing his , -And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me . - -Many a morning hath he there been seen , -With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew , -Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs : -But all so soon as the all-cheering sun -Should in the furthest east begin to draw -The shady curtains from Aurora's bed , -Away from light steals home my heavy son , -And private in his chamber pens himself , -Shuts up his windows , locks fair daylight out , -And makes himself an artificial night . -Black and portentous must this humour prove -Unless good-counsel may the cause remove . - -My noble uncle , do you know the cause ? - -I neither know it nor can learn of him . - -Have you importun'd him by any means ? - -Both by myself and many other friends : -But he , his own affections' counsellor , -Is to himself , I will not say how true , -But to himself so secret and so close , -So far from sounding and discovery , -As is the bud bit with an envious worm , -Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air , -Or dedicate his beauty to the sun . -Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow , -We would as willingly give cure as know . - -See where he comes : so please you , step aside ; -I'll know his grievance , or be much denied . - -I would thou wert so happy by thy stay , -To hear true shrift . Come , madam , let's away . - -Good morrow , cousin . - -Is the day so young ? - -But new struck nine . - -Ay me ! sad hours seem long . -Was that my father that went hence so fast ? - -It was . What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours ? - -Not having that , which having , makes them short . - -In love ? - -Out - -Of love ? - -Out of her favour , where I am in love . - -Alas ! that love , so gentle in his view , -Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof . - -Alas ! that love , whose view is muffled still , -Should , without eyes , see pathways to his will . -Where shall we dine ? O me ! What fray was here ? -Yet tell me not , for I have heard it all . -Here's much to do with hate , but more with love : -Why then , O brawling love ! O loving hate ! -O any thing ! of nothing first create . -O heavy lightness ! serious vanity ! -Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms ! -Feather of lead , bright smoke , cold fire , sick health ! -Still-waking sleep , that is not what it is ! -This love feel I , that feel no love in this . -Dost thou not laugh ? - -No , coz , I rather weep . - -Good heart , at what ? - -At thy good heart's oppression . - -Why , such is love's transgression . -Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast , -Which thou wilt propagate to have it press'd -With more of thine : this love that thou hast shown -Doth add more grief to too much of mine own . -Love is a smoke rais'd with the fume of sighs ; -Being purg'd , a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes ; -Being vex'd , a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears : -What is it else ? a madness most discreet , -A choking gall , and a preserving sweet . -Farewell , my coz . - - -Soft , I will go along ; -An if you leave me so , you do me wrong . - -Tut ! I have lost myself ; I am not here ; -This is not Romeo , he's some other where . - -Tell me in sadness , who is that you love . - -What ! shall I groan and tell thee ? - -Groan ! why , no ; -But sadly tell me who . - -Bid a sick man in sadness make his will ; -Ah ! word ill urg'd to one that is so ill . -In sadness , cousin , I do love a woman . - -I aim'd so near when I suppos'd you lov'd . - -A right good mark-man ! And she's fair I love . - -A right fair mark , fair coz , is soonest hit . - -Well , in that hit you miss : she'll not be hit -With Cupid's arrow ; she hath Dian's wit ; -And , in strong proof of chastity well arm'd , -From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd . -She will not stay the siege of loving terms , -Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes , -Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold : -O ! she is rich in beauty ; only poor -That , when she dies , with beauty dies her store . - -Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste ? - -She hath , and in that sparing makes huge waste ; -For beauty , starv'd with her severity , -Cuts beauty off from all posterity . -She is too fair , too wise , wisely too fair , -To merit bliss by making me despair : -She hath forsworn to love , and in that vow -Do I live dead that live to tell it now . - -Be rul'd by me ; forget to think of her . - -O ! teach me how I should forget to think . - -By giving liberty unto thine eyes : -Examine other beauties . - -'Tis the way -To call hers exquisite , in question more . -These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows -Being black put us in mind they hide the fair ; -He , that is strucken blind cannot forget -The precious treasure of his eyesight lost : -Show me a mistress that is passing fair , -What doth her beauty serve but as a note -Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair ? -Farewell : thou canst not teach me to forget . - -I'll pay that doctrine , or else die in debt . - - -But Montague is bound as well as I , -In penalty alike ; and 'tis not hard , I think , -For men so old as we to keep the peace . - -Of honourable reckoning are you both ; -And pity 'tis you liv'd at odds so long . -But now , my lord , what say you to my suit ? - -But saying o'er what I have said before : -My child is yet a stranger in the world , -She hath not seen the change of fourteen years ; -Let two more summers wither in their pride -Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride . - -Younger than she are happy mothers made . - -And too soon marr'd are those so early made . -Earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she , -She is the hopeful lady of my earth : -But woo her , gentle Paris , get her heart , -My will to her consent is but a part ; -An she agree , within her scope of choice -Lies my consent and fair according voice . -This night I hold an old accustom'd feast , -Whereto I have invited many a guest -Such as I love ; and you , among the store , -One more , most welcome , makes my number more . -At my poor house look to behold this night -Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light : -Such comfort as do lusty young men feel -When well-apparel'd April on the heel -Of limping winter treads , even such delight -Among fresh female buds shall you this night -Inherit at my house ; hear all , all see , -And like her most whose merit most shall be : -Which on more view , of many mine being one -May stand in number , though in reckoning none . -Come , go with me . - -Go , sirrah , trudge about -Through fair Verona ; find those persons out -Whose names are written there , and to them say , -My house and welcome on their pleasure stay . - - -Find them out whose names are written here ! It is written that the shoemaker should meddle with his yard , and the tailor with his last , the fisher with his pencil , and the painter with his nets ; but I am sent to find those persons , whose names are here writ , and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ . I must to the learned . In good time . - - -Tut ! man , one fire burns out another's burning , -One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish ; -Turn giddy , and be holp by backward turning ; -One desperate grief cures with another's languish : -Take thou some new infection to thy eye , -And the rank poison of the old will die . - -Your plantain leaf is excellent for that . - -For what , I pray thee ? - -For your broken shin . - -Why , Romeo , art thou mad ? - -Not mad , but bound more than a madman is ; -Shut up in prison , kept without my food , -Whipp'd and tormented , and Good den , good fellow . - -God gi' good den . I pray , sir , can you read ? - -Ay , mine own fortune in my misery . - -Perhaps you have learn'd it without book : but , I pray , can you read any thing you see ? - -Ay , if I know the letters and the language . - -Ye say honestly ; rest you merry ! - - -Stay , fellow ; I can read . -Signior Martino and his wife and daughters ; County Anselme and his beauteous sisters ; the lady widow of Vitruvio ; Signior Placentio , and his lovely nieces ; Mercutio and his brother Valentine ; mine uncle Capulet , his wife and daughters ; my fair niece Rosaline ; Livia ; Signior Valentio and his cousin Tybalt ; Lucio and the lively Helena . -A fair assembly : whither should they come ? - -Up . - -Whither ? - -To supper ; to our house . - -Whose house ? - -My master's . - -Indeed , I should have asked you that before . - -Now I'll tell you without asking . My master is the great rich Capulet ; and if you be not of the house of Montagues , I pray , come and crush a cup of wine . Rest you merry ! - - -At this same ancient feast of Capulet's , -Sups the fair Rosaline , whom thou so lov'st , -With all the admired beauties of Verona : -Go thither ; and , with unattainted eye -Compare her face with some that I shall show , -And I will make thee think thy swan a crow . - -When the devout religion of mine eye -Maintains such falsehood , then turn tears to fires ! -And these , who often drown'd could never die , -Transparent heretics , be burnt for liars ! -One fairer than my love ! the all-seeing sun -Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun . - -Tut ! you saw her fair , none else being by , -Herself pois'd with herself in either eye ; -But in that crystal scales let there be weigh'd -Your lady's love against some other maid -That I will show you shining at this feast , -And she shall scant show well that now shows best . - -I'll go along , no such sight to be shown , -But to rejoice in splendour of mine own . - - -Nurse , where's my daughter ? call her forth to me . - -Now , by my maidenhead , at twelve year old , -I bade her come . What , lamb ! what , ladybird ! -God forbid ! where's this girl ? what , Juliet ! - - -How now ! who calls ? - -Your mother . - -Madam , I am here . -What is your will ? - -This is the matter . Nurse , give leave awhile . -We must talk in secret : nurse , come back again ; -I have remember'd me , thou's hear our counsel . -Thou know'st my daughter's of a pretty age . - -Faith , I can tell her age unto an hour . - -She's not fourteen . - -I'll lay fourteen of my teeth -And yet to my teen be it spoken I have but four -She is not fourteen . How long is it now -To Lammas-tide ? - -A fortnight and odd days . - -Even or odd , of all days in the year , -Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen . -Susan and she God rest all Christian souls ! -Were of an age . Well , Susan is with God ; -She was too good for me . But , as I said , -On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen ; -That shall she , marry ; I remember it well . -'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years ; -And she was wean'd , I never shall forget it , -Of all the days of the year , upon that day ; -For I had then laid wormwood to my dug , -Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall ; -My lord and you were then at Mantua . -Nay , I do bear a brain :but , as I said , -When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple -Of my dug and felt it bitter , pretty fool ! -To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug . -'Shake ,' quoth the dove-house : 'twas no need , I trow , -To bid me trudge : -And since that time it is eleven years ; -For then she could stand high lone ; nay , by the rood , -She could have run and waddled all about ; -For even the day before she broke her brow : -And then my husband God be with his soul ! -A' was a merry man took up the child : -'Yea ,' quoth he , 'dost thou fall upon thy face ? -Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit ; -Wilt thou not , Jule ?' and , by my halidom , -The pretty wretch left crying , and said 'Ay .' -To see now how a jest shall come about ! -I warrant , an I should live a thousand years , -I never should forget it : 'Wilt thou not , Jule ?' quoth he ; -And , pretty fool , it stinted and said 'Ay .' - -Enough of this ; I pray thee , hold thy peace . - -Yes , madam . Yet I cannot choose but laugh , -To think it should leave crying , and say 'Ay .' -And yet , I warrant , it had upon its brow -A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone ; -A parlous knock ; and it cried bitterly : -'Yea ,' quoth my husband , 'fall'st upon thy face ? -Thou wilt fall backward when thou com'st to age ; -Wilt thou not , Jule ?' it stinted and said 'Ay .' - -And stint thou too , I pray thee , nurse , say I . - -Peace , I have done . God mark thee to his grace ! -Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed : -An I might live to see thee married once , -I have my wish . - -Marry , that 'marry' is the very theme -I came to talk of . Tell me , daughter Juliet , -How stands your disposition to be married ? - -It is an honour that I dream not of . - -An honour ! were not I thine only nurse , -I would say thou hadst suck'd wisdom from thy teat . - -Well , think of marriage now ; younger than you , -Here in Verona , ladies of esteem , -Are made already mothers : by my count , -I was your mother much upon these years -That you are now a maid . Thus then in brief , -The valiant Paris seeks you for his love . - -A man , young lady ! lady , such a man -As all the world why , he's a man of wax . - -Verona's summer hath not such a flower . - -Nay , he's a flower ; in faith , a very flower . - -What say you ? can you love the gentleman ? -This night you shall behold him at our feast ; -Read o'er the volume of young Paris' face -And find delight writ there with beauty's pen ; -Examine every married lineament , -And see how one another lends content ; -And what obscur'd in this fair volume lies -Find written in the margent of his eyes . -This precious book of love , this unbound lover , -To beautify him , only lacks a cover : -The fish lives in the sea , and 'tis much pride -For fair without the fair within to hide : -That book in many eyes doth share the glory , -That in gold clasps locks in the golden story : -So shall you share all that he doth possess , -By having him making yourself no less . - -No less ! nay , bigger ; women grow by men . - -Speak briefly , can you like of Paris' love ? - -I'll look to like , if looking liking move ; -But no more deep will I endart mine eye -Than your consent gives strength to make it fly . - - -Madam , the guests are come , supper served up , you called , my young lady asked for , the nurse cursed in the pantry , and everything in extremity . I must hence to wait ; I beseech you , follow straight . - -We follow thee . Juliet , the county stays . - -Go , girl , seek happy nights to happy days . - - -What ! shall this speech be spoke for our excuse , -Or shall we on without apology ? - -The date is out of such prolixity : -We'll have no Cupid hood-wink'd with a scarf , -Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath , -Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper ; -Nor no without-book prologue , faintly spoke -After the prompter , for our entrance : -But , let them measure us by what they will , -We'll measure them a measure , and be gone . - -Give me a torch : I am not for this ambling ; -Being but heavy , I will bear the light . - -Nay , gentle Romeo , we must have you dance . - -Not I , believe me : you have dancing shoes -With nimble soles ; I have a soul of lead -So stakes me to the ground I cannot move . - -You are a lover ; borrow Cupid's wings , -And soar with them above a common bound . - -I am too sore enpierced with his shaft -To soar with his light feathers ; and so bound -I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe : -Under love's heavy burden do I sink . - -And , to sink in it , should you burden love ; -Too great oppression for a tender thing . - -Is love a tender thing ? it is too rough , -Too rude , too boisterous ; and it pricks like thorn . - -If love be rough with you , be rough with love ; -Prick love for pricking , and you beat love down . -Give me a case to put my visage in : - -A visor for a visor ! what care I , -What curious eye doth quote deformities ? -Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me . - -Come , knock and enter ; and no sooner in , -But every man betake him to his legs . - -A torch for me ; let wantons , light of heart , -Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels , -For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase ; -I'll be a candle holder , and look on . -The game was ne'er so fair , and I am done . - -Tut ! dun's the mouse , the constable's own word . -If thou art Dun , we'll draw thee from the mire , -Of save your reverence love , wherein thou stick'st -Up to the ears . Come , we burn daylight , ho ! - -Nay , that's not so . - -I mean , sir , in delay -We waste our lights in vain , like lamps by day . -Take our good meaning , for our judgment sits -Five times in that ere once in our five wits . - -And we mean well in going to this masque ; -But 'tis no wit to go . - -Why , may one ask ? - -I dream'd a dream to-night . - -And so did I . - -Well , what was yours ? - -That dreamers often lie . - -In bed asleep , while they do dream things true . - -O ! then , I see , Queen Mab hath been with you . - -Queen Mab ! What's she ? - -She is the fairies' midwife , and she comes -In shape no bigger than an agate-stone -On the fore-finger of an alderman , -Drawn with a team of little atomies -Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep : -Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners' legs ; -The cover , of the wings of grasshoppers ; -The traces , of the smallest spider's web ; -The collars , of the moonshine's watery beams ; -Her whip , of cricket's bone ; the lash , of film ; -Her waggoner , a small grey-coated gnat , -Not half so big as a round little worm -Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid ; -Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut , -Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub , -Time out o' mind the fairies' coach-makers . -And in this state she gallops night by night -Through lovers' brains , and then they dream of love ; -O'er courtiers' knees , that dream on curtsies straight ; -O'er lawyers' fingers , who straight dream on fees ; -O'er ladies' lips , who straight on kisses dream ; -Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues , -Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are . -Sometimes she gallops o'er a courtier's nose , -And then dreams he of smelling out a suit ; -And sometimes comes she with a tithe pig's tail , -Tickling a parson's nose as a' lies asleep , -Then dreams he of another benefice ; -Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck , -And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats , -Of breaches , ambuscadoes , Spanish bladed , -Of healths five fathom deep ; and then anon -Drums in his ear , at which he starts and wakes ; -And , being thus frighted , swears a prayer or two , -And sleeps again . This is that very Mab -That plats the manes of horses in the night ; -And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs , -Which once untangled much misfortune bodes ; -This is the hag , when maids lie on their backs , -That presses them and learns them first to bear , -Making them women of good carriage : -This is she - -Peace , peace ! Mercutio , peace ! -Thou talk'st of nothing . - -True , I talk of dreams , -Which are the children of an idle brain , -Begot of nothing but vain fantasy ; -Which is as thin of substance as the air , -And more inconstant than the wind , who woos -Even now the frozen bosom of the north , -And , being anger'd , puffs away from thence , -Turning his face to the dew-dropping south . - -This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves ; -Supper is done , and we shall come too late . - -I fear too early ; for my mind misgives -Some consequence yet hanging in the stars -Shall bitterly begin his fearful date -With this night's revels , and expire the term -Of a despised life clos'd in my breast -By some vile forfeit of untimely death . -But he , that hath the steerage of my course , -Direct my sail !, On , lusty gentlemen . - -Strike , drum . - - -Where's Potpan , that he helps not to take away ? he shift a trencher ! he scrape a trencher ! - -When good manners shall lie all in one or two men's hands , and they unwashed too , 'tis a foul thing . - -Away with the joint-stools , remove the court-cupboard , look to the plate . Good thou , save me a piece of marchpane ; and , as thou lovest me , let the porter let in Susan Grindstone and Nell . Antony ! and Potpan ! - -Ay , boy ; ready . - -You are looked for and called for , asked for and sought for in the great chamber . - -We cannot be here and there too . - -Cheerly , boys ; be brisk awhile , and the longer liver take all . - -Welcome , gentlemen ! ladies that have their toes -Unplagu'd with corns will walk a bout with you . -Ah ha ! my mistresses , which of you all -Will now deny to dance ? she that makes dainty , she , -I'll swear , hath corns ; am I come near ye now ? -Welcome , gentlemen ! I have seen the day -That I have worn a visor , and could tell -A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear -Such as would please ; 'tis gone , 'tis gone , 'tis gone . -You are welcome , gentlemen ! Come , musicians , play . -A hall ! a hall ! give room , and foot it , girls . - -More light , ye knaves ! and turn the tables up , -And quench the fire , the room has grown too hot . -Ah ! sirrah , this unlook'd-for sport comes well . -Nay , sit , nay , sit , good cousin Capulet , -For you and I are past our dancing days ; -How long is 't now since last yourself and I -Were in a mask ? - -By'r Lady , thirty years . - -What , man ! 'tis not so much , 'tis not so much : -'Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio , -Come Pentecost as quickly as it will , -Some five and twenty years ; and then we mask'd . - -'Tis more , 'tis more ; his son is older , sir . -His son is thirty . - -Will you tell me that ? -His son was but a ward two years ago . - -What lady is that which doth enrich the hand -Of yonder knight ? - -I know not , sir . - -O ! she doth teach the torches to burn bright . -It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night -Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear ; -Beauty too rich for use , for earth too dear ! -So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows , -As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows . -The measure done , I'll watch her place of stand , -And , touching hers , make blessed my rude hand . -Did my heart love till now ? forswear it , sight ! -For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night . - -This , by his voice , should be a Montague . -Fetch me my rapier , boy . What ! dares the slave -Come hither , cover'd with an antick face , -To fleer and scorn at our solemnity ? -Now , by the stock and honour of my kin , -To strike him dead I hold it not a sin . - -Why , how now , kinsman ! wherefore storm you so ? - -Uncle , this is a Montague , our foe ; -A villain that is hither come in spite , -To scorn at our solemnity this night . - -Young Romeo , is it ? - -'Tis he , that villain Romeo . - -Content thee , gentle coz , let him alone : -He bears him like a portly gentleman ; -And , to say truth , Verona brags of him -To be a virtuous and well-govern'd youth . -I would not for the wealth of all this town -Here in my house do him disparagement ; -Therefore be patient , take no note of him : -It is my will ; the which if thou respect , -Show a fair presence and put off these frowns , -An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast . - -It fits , when such a villain is a guest : -I'll not endure him . - -He shall be endur'd : -What ! goodman boy ; I say , he shall , go to ; -Am I the master here , or you ? go to . -You'll not endure him ! God shall mend my soul ! -You'll make a mutiny among my guests ! -You will set cock-a-hoop ! you'll be the man ! - -Why , uncle , 'tis a shame . - -Go to , go to ; -You are a saucy boy is't so indeed ? -This trick may chance to scathe you .I know what : -You must contrary me ! marry , 'tis time . -Well said , my hearts ! You are a princox ; go : -Be quiet , or More light , more light !For shame ! -I'll make you quiet . What ! cheerly , my hearts ! - -Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting -Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting . -I will withdraw ; but this intrusion shall -Now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall . - - -If I profane with my unworthiest hand -This holy shrine , the gentle sin is this ; -My lips , two blushing pilgrims , ready stand -To smooth that rough touch with a tenderkiss . - -Good pilgrim , you do wrong your hand too much , -Which mannerly devotion shows in this ; -For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch , -And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss . - -Have not saints lips , and holy palmers too ? - -Ay , pilgrim , lips that they must use in prayer . - -O ! then , dear saint , let lips do what hands do ; -They pray , grant thou , lest faith turn to despair . - -Saints do not move , though grant for prayers' sake . - -Then move not , while my prayers' effect I take . -Thus from my lips , by thine , my sin is purg'd . - - -Then have my lips the sin that they have took . - -Sin from my lips ? O trespass sweetly urg'd ! -Give me my sin again . - -You kiss by the book . - -Madam , your mother craves a word with you . - -What is her mother ? - -Marry , bachelor , -Her mother is the lady of the house , -And a good lady , and a wise , and virtuous : -I nurs'd her daughter , that you talk'd withal ; -I tell you he that can lay hold of her -Shall have the chinks . - -Is she a Capulet ? -O dear account ! my life is my foe's debt . - -Away , be gone ; the sport is at the best . - -Ay , so I fear ; the more is my unrest . - -Nay , gentlemen , prepare not to be gone ; -We have a trifling foolish banquet towards . -Is it e'en so ? Why then , I thank you all ; -I thank you , honest gentlemen ; good-night . -More torches here ! Come on then , let's to bed . -Ah ! sirrah , by my fay , it waxes late ; -I'll to my rest . - - -Come hither , nurse . What is yond gentleman ? - -The son and heir of old Tiberio . - -What's he that now is going out of door ? - -Marry , that , I think , be young Petruchio . - -What's he , that follows there , that would not dance ? - -I know not . - -Go , ask his name .If he be married , -My grave is like to be my wedding bed . - -His name is Romeo , and a Montague ; -The only son of your great enemy . - -My only love sprung from my only hate ! -Too early seen unknown , and known too late ! -Prodigious birth of love it is to me , -That I must love a loathed enemy . - -What's this , what's this ? - -A rime I learn'd even now -Of one I danc'd withal . - - -Anon , anon ! -Come , let's away ; the strangers are all gone . - -Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie , -And young affection gapes to be his heir ; -That fair for which love groan'd for and would die , -With tender Juliet match'd , is now not fair . -Now Romeo is belov'd and loves again , -Alike bewitched by the charm of looks , -But to his foe suppos'd he must complain , -And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks : -Being held a foe , he may not have access -To breathe such vows as lovers us'd to swear ; -And she as much in love , her means much less -To meet her new-beloved any where : -But passion lends them power , time means , to meet , -Tempering extremity with extreme sweet . - -Can I go forward when my heart is here ? -Turn back , dull earth , and find thy centre out . - -Romeo ! my cousin Romeo ! - -He is wise ; -And , on my life , hath stol'n him home to bed . - -He ran this way , and leap'd this orchard wall : -Call , good Mercutio . - -Nay , I'll conjure too . -Romeo ! humours ! madman ! passion ! lover ! -Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh : -Speak but one rime and I am satisfied ; -Cry but 'Ay me !' couple but 'love' and 'dove ;' -Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word . -One nickname for her purblind son and heir , -Young Adam Cupid , he that shot so trim -When King Cophetua lov'd the beggar-maid . -He heareth not , he stirreth not , he moveth not ; -The ape is dead , and I must conjure him . -I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes , -By her high forehead , and her scarlet lip , -By her fine foot , straight leg , and quivering thigh , -And the demesnes that there adjacent lie , -That in thy likeness thou appear to us . - -An if he hear thee , thou wilt anger him . - -This cannot anger him : 'twould anger him -To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle -Of some strange nature , letting it there stand -Till she had laid it , and conjur'd it down ; -That were some spite : my invocation -Is fair and honest , and in his mistress' name -I conjure only but to raise up him . - -Come , he hath hid himself among these trees , -To be consorted with the humorous night : -Blind is his love and best befits the dark . - -If love be blind , love cannot hit the mark . -Now will he sit under a medlar tree , -And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit -As maids call medlars , when they laugh alone . -O Romeo ! that she were , O ! that she were -An open et c tera , thou a poperin pear . -Romeo , good night : I'll to my truckle-bed ; -This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep : -Come , shall we go ? - -Go , then ; for 'tis in vain -To seek him here that means not to be found . - - -He jests at scars , that never felt a wound . - -But , soft ! what light through yonder window breaks ? -It is the east , and Juliet is the sun ! -Arise , fair sun , and kill the envious moon , -Who is already sick and pale with grief , -That thou her maid art far more fair than she : -Be not her maid , since she is envious ; -Her vestal livery is but sick and green , -And none but fools do wear it ; cast it off . -It is my lady ; O ! it is my love : -O ! that she knew she were . -She speaks , yet she says nothing : what of that ? -Her eye discourses ; I will answer it . -I am too bold , 'tis not to me she speaks : -Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven , -Having some business , do entreat her eyes -To twinkle in their spheres till they return . -What if her eyes were there , they in her head ? -The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars -As daylight doth a lamp ; her eyes in heaven -Would through the airy region stream so bright -That birds would sing and think it were not night . -See ! how she leans her cheek upon her hand : -O ! that I were a glove upon that hand , -That I might touch that cheek . - -Ay me ! - -She speaks : -O ! speak again , bright angel ; for thou art -As glorious to this night , being o'er my head , -As is a winged messenger of heaven -Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes -Of mortals , that fall back to gaze on him -When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds , -And sails upon the bosom of the air . - -O Romeo , Romeo ! wherefore art thou Romeo ? -Deny thy father , and refuse thy name ; -Or , if thou wilt not , be but sworn my love , -And I'll no longer be a Capulet . - -Shall I hear more , or shall I speak at this ? - -'Tis but thy name that is my enemy ; -Thou art thyself though , not a Montague . -What's Montague ? it is nor hand , nor foot , -Nor arm , nor face , nor any other part -Belonging to a man . O ! be some other name : -What's in a name ? that which we call a rose -By any other name would smell as sweet ; -So Romeo would , were he not Romeo call'd , -Retain that dear perfection which he owes -Without that title . Romeo , doff thy name ; -And for that name , which is no part of thee , -Take all myself . - -I take thee at thy word . -Call me but love , and I'll be new baptiz'd ; -Henceforth I never will be Romeo . - -What man art thou , that , thus bescreen'd in night , -So stumblest on my counsel ? - -By a name -I know not how to tall thee who I am : -My name , dear saint , is hateful to myself , -Because it is an enemy to thee : -Had I it written , I would tear the word . - -My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words -Of that tongue's uttering , yet I know the sound : -Art thou not Romeo , and a Montague ? - -Neither , fair maid , if either thee dislike . - -How cam'st thou hither , tell me , and wherefore ? -The orchard walls are high and hard to climb , -And the place death , considering who thou art , -If any of my kinsmen find thee here . - -With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls ; -For stony limits cannot hold love out , -And what love can do that dares love attempt ; -Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me . - -If they do see thee they will murder thee . - -Alack ! there lies more peril in thine eye -Than twenty of their swords : look thou but sweet , -And I am proof against their enmity . - -I would not for the world they saw thee here . - -I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes ; -And but thou love me , let them find me here ; -My life were better ended by their hate , -Than death prorogued , wanting of thy love . - -By whose direction found'st thou out this place ? - -By Love , that first did prompt me to inquire ; -He lent me counsel , and I lent him eyes . -I am no pilot ; yet , wert thou as far -As that vast shore wash'd with the furthest sea , -I would adventure for such merchandise . - -Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face , -Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek -For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night . -Fain would I dwell on form , fain , fain deny -What I have spoke : but farewell compliment ! -Dost thou love me ? I know thou wilt say 'Ay ;' -And I will take thy word ; yet , if thou swear'st , -Thou mayst prove false ; at lovers' perjuries , -They say , Jove laughs . O gentle Romeo ! -If thou dost love , pronounce it faithfully : -Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won , -I'll frown and be perverse and say thee nay , -So thou wilt woo ; but else , not for the world . -In truth , fair Montague , I am too fond , -And therefore thou mayst think my haviour light : -But trust me , gentleman , I'll prove more true -Than those that have more cunning to be strange . -I should have been more strange , I must confess , -But that thou over-heard'st , ere I was 'ware , -My true love's passion : therefore pardon me , -And not impute this yielding to light love , -Which the dark night hath so discovered . - -Lady , by yonder blessed moon I swear -That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops , - -O ! swear not by the moon , the inconstant moon , -That monthly changes in her circled orb , -Lest that thy love prove likewise variable . - -What shall I swear by ? - -Do not swear at all ; -Or , if thou wilt , swear by thy gracious self , -Which is the god of my idolatry , -And I'll believe thee . - -If my heart's dear love - -Well , do not swear . Although I joy in thee , -I have no joy of this contract to-night : -It is too rash , too unadvis'd , too sudden ; -Too like the lightning , which doth cease to be -Ere one can say it lightens . Sweet , good-night ! -This bud of love , by summer's ripening breath , -May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet . -Good-night , good-night ! as sweet repose and rest -Come to thy heart as that within my breast ! - -O ! wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied ? - -What satisfaction canst thou have to-night ? - -The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine . - -I gave thee mine before thou didst request it ; -And yet I would it were to give again . - -Wouldst thou withdraw it ? for what purpose , love ? - -But to be frank , and give it thee again . -And yet I wish but for the thing I have : -My bounty is as boundless as the sea , -My love as deep ; the more I give to thee , -The more I have , for both are infinite . - -I hear some noise within ; dear love , adieu ! -Anon , good nurse ! Sweet Montague , be true . -Stay but a little , I will come again . - - -O blessed , blessed night ! I am afeard , -Being in night , all this is but a dream , -Too flattering-sweet to be substantial . - - -Three words , dear Romeo , and good-night indeed . -If that thy bent of love be honourable , -Thy purpose marriage , send me word to-morrow , -By one that I'll procure to come to thee , -Where , and what time , thou wilt perform the rite ; -And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay , -And follow thee my lord throughout the world . - -Madam ! - -I come , anon .But if thou mean'st not well , -I do beseech thee , - -Madam ! - -By and by ; I come : -To cease thy suit , and leave me to my grief : -To-morrow will I send . - -So thrive my soul , - -A thousand times good-night ! - - -A thousand times the worse , to want thy light . -Love goes toward love , as schoolboys from their books ; -But love from love , toward school with heavy looks . - -Hist ! Romeo , hist ! O ! for a falconer's voice , -To lure this tassel-gentle back again . -Bondage is hoarse , and may not speak aloud , -Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies , -And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine , -With repetition of my Romeo's name . - -It is my soul that calls upon my name : -How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night , -Like softest music to attending ears ! - -Romeo ! - -My dear ! - -At what o'clock to-morrow -Shall I send to thee ? - -At the hour of nine . - -I will not fail ; 'tis twenty years till then . -I have forgot why I did call thee back . - -Let me stand here till thou remember it . - -I shall forget , to have thee still stand there , -Remembering how I love thy company . - -And I'll still stay , to have thee still forget , -Forgetting any other home but this . - -'Tis almost morning ; I would have thee gone ; -And yet no further than a wanton's bird , -Who lets it hop a little from her hand , -Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves , -And with a silk thread plucks it back again , -So loving-jealous of his liberty . - -I would I were thy bird . - -Sweet , so would I : -Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing . -Good-night , good-night ! parting is such sweet sorrow -That I shall say good-night till it be morrow . - - -Sleep dwell upon thine eyes , peace in thy breast ! -Would I were sleep and peace , so sweet to rest ! -Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell , -His help to crave , and my dear hap to tell . - - -The grey-ey'd morn smiles on the frowning night , -Chequering the eastern clouds with streaks of light , -And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels -From forth day's path and Titan's fiery wheels : -Now , ere the sun advance his burning eye -The day to cheer and night's dank dew to dry , -I must up-fill this osier cage of ours -With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers . -The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb ; -What is her burying grave that is her womb , -And from her womb children of divers kind -We sucking on her natural bosom find , -Many for many virtues excellent , -None but for some , and yet all different . -O ! mickle is the powerful grace that lies -In herbs , plants , stones , and their true qualities : -For nought so vile that on the earth doth live -But to the earth some special good doth give , -Nor aught so good but strain'd from that fair use -Revolts from true birth , stumbling on abuse : -Virtue itself turns vice , being misapplied , -And vice sometime's by action dignified . -Within the infant rind of this weak flower -Poison hath residence and medicine power : -For this , being smelt , with that part cheers each part ; -Being tasted , slays all senses with the heart . -Two such opposed foes encamp them still -In man as well as herbs , grace and rude will ; -And where the worser is predominant , -Full soon the canker death eats up that plant . - - -Good morrow , father ! - -Benedicite ! -What early tongue so sweet saluteth me ? -Young son , it argues a distemper'd head -So soon to bid good morrow to thy bed : -Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye , -And where care lodges , sleep will never lie ; -But where unbruised youth with unstuff'd brain -Doth couch his limbs , there golden sleep doth reign : -Therefore thy earliness doth me assure -Thou art up-rous'd by some distemperature ; -Or if not so , then here I hit it right , -Our Romeo hath not been in bed to-night . - -That last is true ; the sweeter rest was mine . - -God pardon sin ! wast thou with Rosaline ? - -With Rosaline , my ghostly father ? no ; -I have forgot that name , and that name's woe . - -That's my good son : but where hast thou been , then ? - -I'll tell thee , ere thou ask it me again . -I have been feasting with mine enemy , -Where on a sudden one hath wounded me , -That's by me wounded : both our remedies -Within thy help and holy physic lies : -I bear no hatred , blessed man ; for , lo ! -My intercession likewise steads my foe . - -Be plain , good son , and homely in thy drift ; -Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift . - -Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set -On the fair daughter of rich Capulet : -As mine on hers , so hers is set on mine ; -And all combin'd , save what thou must combine -By holy marriage : when and where and how -We met we woo'd and made exchange of vow , -I'll tell thee as we pass ; but this I pray , -That thou consent to marry us to-day . - -Holy Saint Francis ! what a change is here ; -Is Rosaline , whom thou didst love so dear , -So soon forsaken ? young men's love then lies -Not truly in their hearts , but in their eyes . -Jesu Maria ! what a deal of brine -Hath wash'd thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline ; -How much salt water thrown away in waste , -To season love , that of it doth not taste ! -The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears , -Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears ; -Lo ! here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit -Of an old tear that is not wash'd off yet . -If e'er thou wast thyself and these woes thine , -Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline : -And art thou chang'd ? pronounce this sentence then : -Women may fall , when there's no strength in men . - -Thou chidd'st me oft for loving Rosaline . - -For doting , not for loving , pupil mine . - -And bad'st me bury love . - -Not in a grave , -To lay one in , another out to have . - -I pray thee , chide not ; she , whom I love now -Doth grace for grace and love for love allow ; -The other did not so . - -O ! she knew well -Thy love did read by rote and could not spell . -But come , young waverer , come , go with me , -In one respect I'll thy assistant be ; -For this alliance may so happy prove , -To turn your households' rancour to pure love . - -O ! let us hence ; I stand on sudden haste . - -Wisely and slow ; they stumble that run fast . - - -Where the devil should this Romeo be ? -Came he not home to-night ? - -Not to his father's ; I spoke with his man . - -Why that same pale hard-hearted wench , that Rosaline , -Torments him so , that he will sure run mad . - -Tybalt , the kinsman of old Capulet , -Hath sent a letter to his father's house . - -A challenge , on my life . - -Romeo will answer it . - -Any man that can write may answer a letter . - -Nay , he will answer the letter's master , how he dares , being dared . - -Alas ! poor Romeo , he is already dead ; stabbed with a white wench's black eye ; shot through the ear with a love-song ; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's butt-shaft ; and is he a man to encounter Tybalt ? - -Why , what is Tybalt ? - -More than prince of cats , I can tell you . O ! he is the courageous captain of compliments . He fights as you sing prick-song , keeps time , distance , and proportion ; rests me his minim rest , one , two , and the third in your bosom ; the very butcher of a silk button , a duellist , a duellist ; a gentleman of the very first house , of the first and second cause . Ah ! the immortal passado ! the punto reverso ! the hay ! - -The what ? - -The pox of such antick , lisping , affecting fantasticoes , these new tuners of accents !'By Jesu , a very good blade !a very tall man ! a very good whore .' Why , is not this a lamentable thing , grandsire , that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies , these fashion-mongers , these pardonnez-mois , who stand so much on the new form that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench ? O , their bons , their bons ! - - -Here comes Romeo , here comes Romeo . - -Without his roe , like a dried herring . O flesh , flesh , how art thou fishified ! Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in : Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-wench ; marry , she had a better love to be-rime her ; Dido a dowdy ; Cleopatra a gipsy ; Helen and Hero hildings and harlots ; Thisbe , a grey eye or so , but not to the purpose . Signior Romeo , bon jour ! there's a French salutation to your French slop . You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night . - -Good morrow to you both . What counterfeit did I give you ? - -The slip , sir , the slip ; can you not conceive ? - -Pardon , good Mercutio , my business was great ; and in such a case as mine a man may strain courtesy . - -That's as much as to say , such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams . - -Meaning to curtsy . - -Thou hast most kindly hit it . - -A most courteous exposition . - -Nay , I am the very pink of courtesy . - -Pink for flower . - -Right . - -Why , then , is my pump well flowered . - -Well said ; follow me this jest now till thou hast worn out the pump , that , when the single sole of it is worn , the jest may remain after the wearing sole singular . - -O single-soled jest ! solely singular for the singleness . - -Come between us , good Benvolio ; my wit faints . - -Switch and spurs , switch and spurs ; or I'll cry a match . - -Nay , if thy wits run the wild-goose chase , I have done , for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than , I am sure , I have in my whole five . Was I with you there for the goose ? - -Thou wast never with me for anything when thou wast not here for the goose . - -I will bite thee by the ear for that jest . - -Nay , good goose , bite not . - -Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting ; it is a most sharp sauce . - -And is it not then well served in to a sweet goose ? - -O ! here's a wit of cheveril , that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad . - -I stretch it out for that word 'broad ;' which added to the goose , proves thee far and wide a broad goose . - -Why , is not this better now than groaning for love ? now art thou sociable , now art thou Romeo ; now art thou what thou art , by art as well as by nature : for this drivelling love is like a great natural , that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole . - -Stop there , stop there . - -Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair . - -Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large . - -O ! thou art deceived ; I would have made it short ; for I was come to the whole depth of my tale , and meant indeed to occupy the argument no longer . - -Here's goodly gear ! - - -A sail , a sail ! - -Two , two ; a shirt and a smock . - -Peter ! - -Anon ! - -My fan , Peter . - -Good Peter , to hide her face ; for her fan's the fairer face . - -God ye good morrow , gentlemen . - -God ye good den , fair gentlewoman . - -Is it good den ? - -'Tis no less , I tell you ; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon . - -Out upon you ! what a man are you ! - -One , gentlewoman , that God hath made for himself to mar . - -By my troth , it is well said ; 'for himself to mar ,' quoth a' ?Gentlemen , can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo ? - -I can tell you ; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him than he was when you sought him : I am the youngest of that name , for fault of a worse . - -You say well . - -Yea ! is the worst well ? very well took , i' faith ; wisely , wisely . - -If you be he , sir , I desire some confidence with you . - -She will indite him to some supper . - -A bawd , a bawd , a bawd ! So ho ! - -What hast thou found ? - -No hare , sir ; unless a hare , sir , in a lenten pie , that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent . - - -An old hare hoar , and an old hare hoar , -Is very good meat in Lent : -But a hare that is hoar , is too much for a score , -When it hoars ere it be spent . - -Romeo , will you come to your father's ? we'll to dinner thither . - -I will follow you . - -Farewell , ancient lady ; farewell , Lady , lady , lady . - - -Marry , farewell ! I pray you , sir , what saucy merchant was this , that was so full of his ropery ? - -A gentleman , nurse , that loves to hear himself talk , and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month . - -An a' speak anything against me , I'll take him down , an a' were lustier than he is , and twenty such Jacks ; and if I cannot , I'll find those that shall . Scurvy knave ! I am none of his flirt-gills ; I am none of his skeins-mates . - -And thou must stand by too , and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure ! - -I saw no man use you at his pleasure ; if I had , my weapon should quickly have been out , I warrant you . I dare draw as soon as another man , if I see occasion in a good quarrel , and the law on my side . - -Now , afore God , I am so vexed , that every part about me quivers . Scurvy knave ! Pray you , sir , a word ; and as I told you , my young lady bade me inquire you out ; what she bid me say I will keep to myself ; but first let me tell ye , if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise , as they say , it were a very gross kind of behaviour , as they say : for the gentlewoman is young ; and , therefore , if you should deal double with her , truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman , and very weak dealing . - -Nurse , commend me to thy lady and mistress . I protest unto thee , - -Good heart ! and i' faith , I will tell her as much . Lord , Lord ! she will be a joyful woman . - -What wilt thou tell her , nurse ? thou dost not mark me . - -I will tell her , sir , that you do protest ; which , as I take it , is a gentlemanlike offer . - -Bid her devise -Some means to come to shrift this afternoon ; -And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell , -Be shriv'd and married . Here is for thy pains . - -No , truly , sir ; not a penny . - -Go to ; I say , you shall . - -This afternoon , sir ? well , she shall be there . - -And stay , good nurse ; behind the abbey wall : -Within this hour my man shall be with thee , -And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair ; -Which to the high top-gallant of my joy -Must be my convoy in the secret night . -Farewell ! Be trusty , and I'll quit thy pains . -Farewell ! Commend me to thy mistress . - -Now God in heaven bless thee ! Hark you , sir . - -What sayst thou , my dear nurse ? - -Is your man secret ? Did you ne'er hear say , -Two may keep counsel , putting one away ? - -I warrant thee my man's as true as steel . - -Well , sir ; my mistress is the sweetest lady Lord , Lord !when 'twas a little prating thing ,O ! there's a nobleman in town , one Paris , that would fain lay knife aboard ; but she , good soul , had as lief see a toad , a very toad , as see him . I anger her sometimes and tell her that Paris is the properer man ; but , I'll warrant you , when I say so , she looks as pale as any clout in the versal world . Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter ? - -Ay , nurse : what of that ? both with an R . - -Ah ! mocker ; that's the dog's name . R is for the No ; I know it begins with some other letter : and she had the prettiest sententious of it , of you and rosemary , that it would do you good to hear it . - -Commend me to thy lady . - -Ay , a thousand times . - -Peter ! - -Anon ! - -Before , and apace . - - -The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse ; -In half an hour she promis'd to return . -Perchance she cannot meet him : that's not so . -O ! she is lame : love's heralds should be thoughts , -Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams , -Driving back shadows over lowering hills : -Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw Love , -And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings . -Now is the sun upon the highmost hill -Of this day's journey , and from nine till twelve -Is three long hours , yet she is not come . -Had she affections , and warm youthful blood , -She'd be as swift in motion as a ball ; -My words would bandy her to my sweet love , -And his to me : -But old folks , many feign as they were dead ; -Unwieldy , slow , heavy and pale as lead . - - -O God ! she comes . O honey nurse ! what news ? - -Hast thou met with him ? Send thy man away . - -Peter , stay at the gate . - - -Now , good sweet nurse ; O Lord ! why look'st thou sad ? -Though news be sad , yet tell them merrily ; -If good , thou sham'st the music of sweet news -By playing it to me with so sour a face . - -I am aweary , give me leave awhile : -Fie , how my bones ache ! What a jaunce have I had ! - -I would thou hadst my bones , and I thy news . -Nay , come , I pray thee , speak ; good , good nurse , speak . - -Jesu ! what haste ? can you not stay awhile ? -Do you not see that I am out of breath ? - -How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath -To say to me that thou art out of breath ? -The excuse that thou dost make in this delay -Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse . -Is thy news good , or bad ? answer to that ; -Say either , and I'll stay the circumstance : -Let me be satisfied , is 't good or bad ? - -Well , you have made a simple choice ; you know not how to choose a man : Romeo ! no , not he ; though his face be better than any man's , yet his leg excels all men's ; and for a hand , and a foot , and a body , though they be not to be talked on , yet they are past compare . He is not the flower of courtesy , but , I'll warrant him , as gentle as a lamb . Go thy ways , wench ; serve God . What ! have you dined at home ? - -No , no : but all this did I know before . -What says he of our marriage ? what of that ? - -Lord ! how my head aches ; what a head have I ! -It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces . -My back o' t'other side ; O ! my back , my back ! -Beshrew your heart for sending me about , -To catch my death with jauncing up and down . - -I' faith , I am sorry that thou art not well . -Sweet , sweet , sweet nurse , tell me , what says my love ? - -Your love says , like an honest gentleman , and a courteous , and a kind , and a handsome , and , I warrant , a virtuous ,Where is your mother ? - -Where is my mother ! why , she is within ; -Where should she be ? How oddly thou repliest : -'Your love says , like an honest gentleman , -Where is your mother ?' - -O ! God's lady dear , -Are you so hot ? Marry , come up , I trow ; -Is this the poultice for my aching bones ? -Henceforward do your messages yourself . - -Here's such a coil ! come , what says Romeo ? - -Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day ? - -I have . - -Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell , -There stays a husband to make you a wife : -Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks , -They'll be in scarlet straight at any news . -Hie you to church ; I must another way , -To fetch a ladder , by the which your love -Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark ; -I am the drudge and toil in your delight , -But you shall bear the burden soon at night . -Go ; I'll to dinner : hie you to the cell . - -Hie to high fortune ! Honest nurse , farewell . - - -So smile the heaven upon this holy act , -That after hours with sorrow chide us not ! - -Amen , amen ! but come what sorrow can , -It cannot countervail the exchange of joy -That one short minute gives me in her sight : -Do thou but close our hands with holy words , -Then love-devouring death do what he dare ; -It is enough I may but call her mine . - -These violent delights have violent ends , -And in their triumph die , like fire and powder , -Which , as they kiss consume : the sweetest honey -Is loathsome in his own deliciousness -And in the taste confounds the appetite : -Therefore love moderately ; long love doth so ; -Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow . - - -Here comes the lady : O ! so light a foot -Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint : -A lover may bestride the gossamer -That idles in the wanton summer air , - -And yet not fall ; so light is vanity . - -Good even to my ghostly confessor . - -Romeo shall thank thee , daughter , for us both . - -As much to him , else are his thanks too much . - -Ah ! Juliet , if the measure of thy joy -Be heap'd like mine , and that thy skill be more -To blazon it , then sweeten with thy breath -This neighbour air , and let rich music's tongue -Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both -Receive in either by this dear encounter . - -Conceit , more rich in matter than in words , -Brags of his substance , not of ornament : -They are but beggars that can count their worth ; -But my true love is grown to such excess -I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth . - -Come , come with me , and we will make short work ; -For , by your leaves , you shall not stay alone -Till holy church incorporate two in one . - - -I pray thee , good Mercutio , let's retire : -The day is hot , the Capulets abroad , -And , if we meet , we shall not 'scape a brawl ; -For now , these hot days , is the mad blood stirring . - -Thou art like one of those fellows that when he enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword upon the table and says , 'God send me no need of thee !' and by the operation of the second cup draws him on the drawer , when , indeed , there is no need . - -Am I like such a fellow ? - -Come , come , thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy ; and as soon moved to be moody , and as soon moody to be moved . - -And what to ? - -Nay , an there were two such , we should have none shortly , for one would kill the other . Thou ! why , thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou hast . Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts , having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes . What eye , but such an eye , would spy out such a quarrel ? Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat , and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling . Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street , because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun . Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter ? with another , for tying his new shoes with old riband ? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling ! - -An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art , any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter . - -The fee-simple ! O simple ! - -By my head , here come the Capulets . - -By my heel , I care not . - - -Follow me close , for I will speak to them . Gentlemen , good den ! a word with one of you . - -And but one word with one of us ? Couple it with something ; make it a word and a blow . - -You shall find me apt enough to that , sir , an you will give me occasion . - -Could you not take some occasion without giving ? - -Mercutio , thou consort'st with Romeo , - -Consort ! What ! dost thou make us minstrels ? an thou make minstrels of us , look to hear nothing but discords : here's my fiddlestick ; here's that shall make you dance . 'Zounds ! consort ! - -We talk here in the public haunt of men : -Either withdraw unto some private place , -Or reason coldly of your grievances , -Or else depart ; here all eyes gaze on us . - -Men's eyes were made to look , and let them gaze ; -I will not budge for no man's pleasure , I . - - -Well , peace be with you , sir . Here comes my man . - -But I'll be hang'd , sir , if he wear your livery : -Marry , go before to field , he'll be your follower ; -Your worship in that sense may call him 'man .' - -Romeo , the hate I bear thee can afford -No better term than this ,thou art a villain . - -Tybalt , the reason that I have to love thee -Doth much excuse the appertaining rage -To such a greeting ; villain am I none , -Therefore farewell ; I see thou know'st me not . - -Boy , this shall not excuse the injuries -That thou hast done me ; therefore turn and draw . - -I do protest I never injur'd thee , -But love thee better than thou canst devise , -Till thou shalt know the reason of my love : -And so , good Capulet , which name I tender -As dearly as my own , be satisfied . - -O calm , dishonourable , vile submission ! -Alla stoccata carries it away . - -Tybalt , you rat-catcher , will you walk ? - -What wouldst thou have with me ? - -Good king of cats , nothing but one of your nine lives , that I mean to make bold withal , and , as you shall use me hereafter , dry-beat the rest of the eight . Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears ? make haste , lest mine be about your ears ere it be out . - -I am for you . - -Gentle Mercutio , put thy rapier up . - -Come , sir , your passado . - - -Draw , Benvolio ; beat down their weapons . -Gentlemen , for shame , forbear this outrage ! -Tybalt , Mercutio , the prince expressly hath -Forbidden bandying in Verona streets . -Hold , Tybalt ! good Mercutio ! - - -I am hurt . -A plague o' both your houses ! I am sped . -Is he gone , and hath nothing ? - -What ! art thou hurt ? - -Ay , ay , a scratch , a scratch ; marry , 'tis enough . -Where is my page ? Go , villain , fetch a surgeon . - - -Courage , man ; the hurt cannot be much . - -No , 'tis not so deep as a well , nor so wide as a church door ; but 'tis enough , 'twill serve : ask for me to-morrow , and you shall find me a grave man . I am peppered , I warrant , for this world . A plague o' both your houses ! 'Zounds , a dog , a rat , a mouse , a cat , to scratch a man to death ! a braggart , a rogue , a villain , that fights by the book of arithmetic ! Why the devil came you between us ? I was hurt under your arm . - -I thought all for the best . - -Help me into some house , Benvolio , -Or I shall faint . A plague o' both your houses ! -They have made worms' meat of me : I have it , -And soundly too :your houses ! - - -This gentleman , the prince's near ally , -My very friend , hath got his mortal hurt -In my behalf ; my reputation stain'd -With Tybalt's slander , Tybalt , that an hour -Hath been my kinsman . O sweet Juliet ! -Thy beauty hath made me effeminate , -And in my temper soften'd valour's steel ! - - -O Romeo , Romeo ! brave Mercutio's dead ; -That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds , -Which too untimely here did scorn the earth . - -This day's black fate on more days doth depend ; -This but begins the woe others must end . - - -Here comes the furious Tybalt back again . - -Alive ! in triumph ! and Mercutio slain ! -Away to heaven , respective lenity , -And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now ! -Now , Tybalt , take the villain back again -That late thou gav'st me ; for Mercutio's soul -Is but a little way above our heads , -Staying for thine to keep him company : -Either thou , or I , or both , must go with him . - -Thou wretched boy , that didst consort him here , -Shalt with him hence . - -This shall determine that . - - -Romeo , away ! be gone ! -The citizens are up , and Tybalt slain . -Stand not amaz'd : the prince will doom thee death -If thou art taken : hence ! be gone ! away ! - -O ! I am Fortune's fool . - -Why dost thou stay ? - -Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio ? -Tybalt , that murderer , which way ran he ? - -There lies that Tybalt . - -Up , sir , go with me . -I charge thee in the prince's name , obey . - - -Where are the vile beginners of this fray ? - -O noble prince ! I can discover all -The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl : -There lies the man , slain by young Romeo , -That slew thy kinsman , brave Mercutio . - -Tybalt , my cousin ! O my brother's child ! -O prince ! O cousin ! husband ! O ! the blood is spill'd -Of my dear kinsman . Prince , as thou art true , -For blood of ours shed blood of Montague . -O cousin , cousin ! - -Benvolio , who began this bloody fray ? - -Tybalt , here slain , whom Romeo's hand did slay : -Romeo , that spoke him fair , bade him bethink -How nice the quarrel was , and urg'd withal -Your high displeasure : all this , uttered -With gentle breath , calm look , knees humbly bow'd , -Could not take truce with the unruly spleen -Of Tybalt deaf to peace , but that he tilts -With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast , -Who , all as hot , turns deadly point to point , -And , with a martial scorn , with one hand beats -Cold death aside , and with the other sends -It back to Tybalt , whose dexterity -Retorts it : Romeo he cries aloud , -'Hold , friends ! friends , part !' and , swifter than his tongue , -His agile arm beats down their fatal points , -And 'twixt them rushes ; underneath whose arm -An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life -Of stout Mercutio , and then Tybalt fled ; -But by and by comes back to Romeo , -Who had but newly entertain'd revenge , -And to 't they go like lightning , for , ere I . -Could draw to part them , was stout Tybalt slain , -And , as he fell , did Romeo turn and fly . -This is the truth , or let Benvolio die . - -He is a kinsman to the Montague ; -Affection makes him false , he speaks not true : -Some twenty of them fought in this black strife -And all those twenty could but kill one life . -I beg for justice , which thou , prince , must give ; -Romeo slew Tybalt , Romeo must not live . - -Romeo slew him , he slew Mercutio ; -Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe ? - -Not Romeo , prince , he was Mercutio's friend , -His fault concludes but what the law should end , -The life of Tybalt . - -And for that offence -Immediately we do exile him hence : -I have an interest in your hate's proceeding , -My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding ; -But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine -That you shall all repent the loss of mine . -I will be deaf to pleading and excuses ; -Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses ; -Therefore use none ; let Romeo hence in haste , -Else , when he's found , that hour is his last . -Bear hence this body and attend our will : -Mercy but murders , pardoning those that kill . - - -Gallop apace , you fiery-footed steeds , -Towards Ph bus' lodging ; such a waggoner -As Ph thon would whip you to the west , -And bring in cloudy night immediately . -Spread thy close curtain , love-performing night ! -That runaway's eyes may wink , and Romeo -Leap to these arms , untalk'd of and unseen ! -Lovers can see to do their amorous rites -By their own beauties ; or , if love be blind , -It best agrees with night . Come , civil night , -Thou sober-suited matron , all in black , -And learn me how to lose a winning match , -Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods : -Hood my unmann'd blood , bating in my cheeks , -With thy black mantle ; till strange love , grown bold , -Think true love acted simple modesty . -Come , night ! come , Romeo ! come , thou day in night ! -For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night , -Whiter than new snow on a raven's back . -Come , gentle night ; come , loving , black-brow'd night , -Give me my Romeo : and , when he shall die , -Take him and cut him out in little stars , -And he will make the face of heaven so fine -That all the world will be in love with night , -And pay no worship to the garish sun . -O ! I have bought the mansion of a love , -But not possess'd it , and , though I am sold , -Not yet enjoy'd . So tedious is this day -As is the night before some festival -To an impatient child that hath new robes -And may not wear them . O ! here comes my nurse , - - -And she brings news ; and every tongue that speaks -But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence . -Now nurse , what news ? What hast thou there ? the cords - -That Romeo bade thee fetch ? - -Ay , ay , the cords . - - -Ah me ! what news ? why dost thou wring thy hands ? - -Ah well-a-day ! he's dead , he's dead , he's dead ! -We are undone , lady , we are undone ! -Alack the day ! he's gone , he's killed , he's dead ! - -Can heaven be so envious ? - -Romeo can , -Though heaven cannot . O ! Romeo , Romeo ; -Who ever would have thought it ? Romeo ! - -What devil art thou that dost torment me thus ? -This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell . -Hath Romeo slain himself ? say thou but 'I ,' -And that bare vowel , 'I ,' shall poison more -Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice : -I am not I , if there be such an 'I ;' -Or those eyes shut that make thee answer 'I .' -If he be slain , say 'I ;' or if not 'no :' -Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe . - -I saw the wound , I saw it with mine eyes , -God save the mark ! here on his manly breast : -A piteous corse , a bloody piteous corse ; -Pale , pale as ashes , all bedaub'd in blood , -All in gore blood ; I swounded at the sight . - -O break , my heart !poor bankrupt , break at once ! -To prison , eyes , ne'er look on liberty ! -Vile earth , to earth resign ; end motion here ; -And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier ! - -O Tybalt , Tybalt ! the best friend I had : -O courteous Tybalt ! honest gentleman ! -That ever I should live to see thee dead ! - -What storm is this that blows so contrary ? -Is Romeo slaughter'd , and is Tybalt dead ? -My dearest cousin , and my dearer lord ? -Then , dreadful trumpet , sound the general doom ! -For who is living if those two are gone ? - -Tybalt is gone , and Romeo banished ; -Romeo , that kill'd him , he is banished . - -O God ! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood ? - -It did , it did ; alas the day ! it did . - -O serpent heart , hid with a flowering face ! -Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave ? -Beautiful tyrant ! fiend angelical ! -Dove-feather'd raven ! wolvish-ravening lamb ! -Despised substance of divinest show ! -Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st ; -A damned saint , an honourable villain ! -O , nature ! what hadst thou to do in hell -When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend -In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh ? -Was ever book containing such vile matter -So fairly bound ? O ! that deceit should dwell -In such a gorgeous palace . - -There's no trust , -No faith , no honesty in men ; all naught , -All perjur'd , all dissemblers , all forsworn . -Ah ! where's my man ? give me some aqua vit : -These griefs , these woes , these sorrows make me old . -Shame come to Romeo ! - -Blister'd be thy tongue -For such a wish ! he was not born to shame : -Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit ; -For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd -Sole monarch of the universal earth . -O ! what a beast was I to chide at him . - -Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin ? - -Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband ? -Ah ! poor my lord , what tongue shall smooth thy name , -When I , thy three-hours wife , have mangled it ? -But , wherefore , villain , didst thou kill my cousin ? -That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband : -Back , foolish tears , back to your native spring ; -Your tributary drops belong to woe , -Which you , mistaking , offer up to joy . -My husband lives , that Tybalt would have slain ; -And Tybalt's dead , that would have slain my husband : -All this is comfort ; wherefore weep I then ? -Some word there was , worser than Tybalt's death , -That murder'd me : I would forget it fain ; -But O ! it presses to my memory , -Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds . -'Tybalt is dead , and Romeo banished !' -That 'banished ,' that one word 'banished ,' -Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts . Tybalt's death -Was woe enough , if it had ended there : -Or , if sour woe delights in fellowship , -And needly will be rank'd with other griefs , -Why follow'd not , when she said 'Tybalt's dead ,' -Thy father , or thy mother , nay , or both , -Which modern lamentation might have mov'd ? -But with a rearward following Tybalt's death , -'Romeo is banished !' to speak that word -Is father , mother , Tybalt , Romeo , Juliet , -All slain , all dead : 'Romeo is banished !' -There is no end , no limit , measure , bound -In that word's death ; no words can that woe sound . -Where is my father and my mother , nurse ? - -Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse : -Will you go to them ? I will bring you thither . - -Wash they his wounds with tears : mine shall be spent , -When theirs are dry , for Romeo's banishment . -Take up those cords . Poor ropes , you are beguil'd , -Both you and I , for Romeo is exil'd : -He made you for a highway to my bed , -But I , a maid , die maiden-widowed . -Come , cords ; come , nurse ; I'll to my wedding bed ; -And death , not Romeo , take my maidenhead ! - -Hie to your chamber ; I'll find Romeo -To comfort you : I wot well where he is . -Hark ye , your Romeo will be here to-night : -I'll to him ; he is hid at Laurence' cell . - -O ! find him ; give this ring to my true knight , -And bid him come to take his last farewell . - - -Romeo , come forth ; come forth , thou fearful man : -Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts , -And thou art wedded to calamity . - - -Father , what news ? what is the prince's doom ? -What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand , -That I yet know not ? - -Too familiar -Is my dear son with such sour company : -I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom . - -What less than doomsday is the prince's doom ? - -A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips , -Not body's death , but body's banishment . - -Ha ! banishment ! be merciful , say 'death ;' -For exile hath more terror in his look , -Much more than death : do not say 'banishment .' - -Hence from Verona art thou banished . -Be patient , for the world is broad and wide . - -There is no world without Verona walls , -But purgatory , torture , hell itself . -Hence banished is banish'd from the world , -And world's exile is death ; then 'banished ,' -Is death mis-term'd . Calling death 'banished ,' -Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe , -And smil'st upon the stroke that murders me . - -O deadly sin ! O rude unthankfulness ! -Thy fault our law calls death ; but the kind prince , -Taking thy part , hath rush'd aside the law , -And turn'd that black word death to banishment : -This is dear mercy , and thou seest it not . - -'Tis torture , and not mercy : heaven is here , -Where Juliet lives ; and every cat and dog -And little mouse , every unworthy thing , -Live here in heaven and may look on her ; -But Romeo may not : more validity , -More honourable state , more courtship lives -In carrion flies than Romeo : they may seize -On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand , -And steal immortal blessing from her lips , -Who , even in pure and vestal modesty , -Still blush , as thinking their own kisses sin ; -Flies may do this , but I from this must fly : -They are free men , but I am banished . -And sayst thou yet that exile is not death ? -Hadst thou no poison mix'd , no sharp-ground knife , -No sudden mean of death , though ne'er so mean , -But 'banished' to kill me ? 'Banished !' -O friar ! the damned use that word in hell ; -Howlings attend it : how hast thou the heart , -Being a divine , a ghostly confessor , -A sin-absolver , and my friend profess'd , -To mangle me with that word 'banished ?' - -Thou fond mad man , hear me but speak a word . - -O ! thou wilt speak again of banishment . - -I'll give thee armour to keep off that word ; -Adversity's sweet milk , philosophy , -To comfort thee , though thou art banished . - -Yet 'banished !' Hang up philosophy ! -Unless philosophy can make a Juliet , -Displant a town , reverse a prince's doom , -It helps not , it prevails not : talk no more . - -O ! then I see that madmen have no ears . - -How should they , when that wise men have no eyes ? - -Let me dispute with thee of thy estate . - -Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel : -Wert thou as young as I , Juliet thy love , -An hour but married , Tybalt murdered , -Doting like me , and like me banished , -Then mightst thou speak , then mightst thou tear thy hair , -And fall upon the ground , as I do now , -Taking the measure of an unmade grave . - - -Arise ; one knocks : good Romeo , hide thyself . - -Not I ; unless the breath of heart-sick groans , -Mist-like , infold me from the search of eyes . - - -Hark ! how they knock . Who's there ? Romeo arise ; -Thou wilt be taken . Stay awhile ! Stand up ; - -Run to my study . By and by ! God's will ! -What wilfulness is this ! I come , I come ! - -Who knocks so hard ? whence come you ? what's your will ? - -Let me come in , and you shall know my errand : -I come from Lady Juliet . - -Welcome , then . - - -O holy friar ! O ! tell me , holy friar , -Where is my lady's lord ? where's Romeo ? - -There on the ground , with his own tears made drunk . - -O ! he is even in my mistress' case , -Just in her case ! - -O woeful sympathy ! -Piteous predicament ! Even so lies she , -Blubbering and weeping , weeping and blubbering . -Stand up , stand up ; stand , an you be a man : -For Juliet's sake , for her sake , rise and stand ; -Why should you fall into so deep an O ? - -Nurse ! - -Ah , sir ! ah , sir ! Well , death's the end of all . - -Spak'st thou of Juliet ? how is it with her ? -Doth she not think me an old murderer , -Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy . -With blood remov'd but little from her own ? -Where is she ? and how doth she ? and what says -My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love ? - -O ! she says nothing , sir , but weeps and weeps ; -And now falls on her bed ; and then starts up , -And Tybalt calls , and then on Romeo cries , -And then down falls again . - -As if that name , -Shot from the deadly level of a gun , -Did murder her ; as that name's cursed hand -Murder'd her kinsman . O ! tell me , friar , tell me , -In what vile part of this anatomy -Doth my name lodge ? tell me , that I may sack -The hateful mansion . - - -Hold thy desperate hand : -Art thou a man ? thy form cries out thou art : -Thy tears are womanish ; thy wild acts denote -The unreasonable fury of a beast : -Unseemly woman in a seeming man ; -Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both ! -Thou hast amaz'd me : by my holy order , -I thought thy disposition better temper'd . -Hast thou slain Tybalt ? wilt thou slay thyself ? -And slay thy lady that in thy life lives , -By doing damned hate upon thyself ? -Why rail'st thou on thy birth , the heaven , and earth ? -Since birth , and heaven , and earth , all three do meet -In thes at once , which thou at once wouldst lose . -Fie , fie ! thou sham'st thy shape , thy love , thy wit , -Which , like a usurer , abound'st in all , -And usest none in that true use indeed -Which should bedeck thy shape , thy love , thy wit . -Thy noble shape is but a form of wax , -Digressing from the valour of a man ; -Thy dear love , sworn , but hollow perjury , -Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish ; -Thy wit , that ornament to shape and love , -Misshapen in the conduct of them both , -Like powder in a skilless soldier's flask , -To set a-fire by thine own ignorance , -And thou dismember'd with thine own defence . -What ! rouse thee , man ; thy Juliet is alive , -For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead ; -There art thou happy : Tybalt would kill thee , -But thou slew'st Tybalt ; there art thou happy too : -The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend , -And turns it to exile ; there art thou happy : -A pack of blessings light upon thy back ; -Happiness courts thee in her best array ; -But , like a misbehav'd and sullen wench , -Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love . -Take heed , take heed , for such die miserable . -Go , get thee to thy love , as was decreed , -Ascend her chamber , hence and comfort her ; -But look thou stay not till the watch be set , -For then thou canst not pass to Mantua ; -Where thou shalt live , till we can find a time -To blaze your marriage , reconcile your friends , -Beg pardon of the prince , and call thee back -With twenty hundred thousand times more joy -Than thou went'st forth in lamentation . -Go before , nurse : commend me to thy lady ; -And bid her hasten all the house to bed , -Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto : -Romeo is coming . - -O Lord ! I could have stay'd here all the night -To hear good counsel : O ! what learning is . -My lord , I'll tell my lady you will come . - -Do so , and bid my sweet prepare to chide . - -Here , sir , a ring she bid me give you , sir . -Hie you , make haste , for it grows very late . - - -How well my comfort is reviv'd by this ! - -Go hence ; good-night ; and here stands all your state : -Either be gone before the watch be set , -Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence : -Sojourn in Mantua ; I'll find out your man , -And he shall signify from time to time -Every good hap to you that chances here . -Give me thy hand ; 'tis late : farewell ; goodnight . - -But that a joy past joy calls out on me , -It were a grief so brief to part with thee : -Farewell . - - -Things have fall'n out , sir , so unluckily , -That we have had no time to move our daughter : -Look you , she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly , -And so did I : well , we were born to die . -'Tis very late , she'll not come down to night : -I promise you , but for your company , -I would have been a-bed an hour ago . - -These times of woe afford no time to woo . -Madam , good-night : commend me to your daughter . - -I will , and know her mind early to-morrow ; -To-night she's mew'd up to her heaviness . - -Sir Paris , I will make a desperate tender -Of my child's love : I think she will be rul'd -In all respects by me ; nay , more , I doubt it not . -Wife go you to her ere you go to bed ; -Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love ; -And bid her , mark you me , on Wednesday next -But , soft ! what day is this ? - -Monday , my lord . - -Monday ! ha , ha ! Well , Wednesday is too soon ; -O' Thursday let it be : o' Thursday , tell her , -She shall be married to this noble earl . -Will you be ready ? do you like this haste ? -We'll keep no great ado ; a friend or two ; -For , hark you , Tybalt being slain so late , -It may be thought we held him carelessly , -Being our kinsman , if we revel much . -Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends , -And there an end . But what say you to Thursday ? - -My lord , I would that Thursday were to-morrow . - -Well , get you gone : o' Thursday be it then . -Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed , -Prepare her , wife , against this wedding-day . -Farewell , my lord . Light to my chamber , ho ! -Afore me ! it is so very very late , -That we may call it early by and by . -Good-night . - - -Wilt thou be gone ? it is not yet near day : -It was the nightingale , and not the lark , -That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear ; -Nightly she sings on you pomegranate tree : -Believe me , love , it was the nightingale . - -It was the lark , the herald of the morn , -No nightingale : look , love , what envious streaks -Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east : -Night's candles are burnt out , and jocund day -Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops : -I must be gone and live , or stay and die . - -Yon light is not daylight , I know it , I : -It is some meteor that the sun exhales , -To be to thee this night a torch-bearer , -And light thee on thy way to Mantua : -Therefore stay yet ; thou need'st not to be gone . - -Let me be ta'en , let me be put to death ; -I am content , so thou wilt have it so . -I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye , -'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow ; -Nor that is not the lark , whose notes do beat -The vaulty heaven so high above our heads : -I have more care to stay than will to go : -Come , death , and welcome ! Juliet wills it so . -How is't , my soul ? let's talk ; it is not day . - -It is , it is ; hie hence , be gone , away ! -It is the lark that sings so out of tune , -Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps . -Some say the lark makes sweet division ; -This doth not so , for she divideth us : -Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes ; -O ! now I would they had chang'd voices too , -Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray , -Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day . -O ! now be gone ; more light and light it grows . - -More light and light ; more dark and dark our woes . - - -Madam ! - -Nurse ! - -Your lady mother is coming to your chamber : -The day is broke ; be wary , look about . - - -Then , window , let day in , and let life out . - -Farewell , farewell ! one kiss , and I'll descend . - - -Art thou gone so ? my lord , my love , my friend ! -I must hear from thee every day in the hour , -For in a minute there are many days : -O ! by this count I shall be much in years -Ere I again behold my Romeo . - -Farewell ! -I will omit no opportunity -That may convey my greetings , love , to thee . - -O ! think'st thou we shall ever meet again ? - -I doubt it not ; and all these woes shall serve -For sweet discourses in our time to come . - -O God ! I have an ill-divining soul : -Methinks I see thee , now thou art so low , -As one dead in the bottom of a tomb : -Either my eyesight fails , or thou look'st pale . - -And trust me , love , in my eye so do you : -Dry sorrow drinks our blood . Adieu ! adieu ! - - -O fortune , fortune ! all men call thee fickle : -If thou art fickle , what dost thou with him -That is renown'd for faith ? Be fickle , fortune ; -For then , I hope , thou wilt not keep him long , -But send him back . - -Ho , daughter ! are you up ? - -Who is't that calls ? is it my lady mother ? -Is she not down so late , or up so early ? -What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither ? - - -Why , how now , Juliet ! - -Madam , I am not well . - -Evermore weeping for your cousin's death ? -What ! wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears ? -And if thou couldst , thou couldst not make him live ; -Therefore , have done : some grief shows much of love ; -But much of grief shows still some want of wit . - -Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss . - -So shall you feel the loss , but not the friend -Which you weep for . - -Feeling so the loss , -I cannot choose but ever weep the friend . - -Well , girl , thou weep'st not so much for his death , -As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him . - -What villain , madam ? - -That same villain , Romeo . - -Villain and he be many miles asunder . -God pardon him ! I do , with all my heart ; -And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart . - -That is because the traitor murderer lives . - -Ay , madam , from the reach of these my hands . -Would none but I might venge my cousin's death ! - -We will have vengeance for it , fear thou not : -Then weep no more . I'll send to one in Mantua , -Where that same banish'd runsgate doth live ; -Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram -That he shall soon keep Tybalt company : -And then , I hope , thou wilt be satisfied . - -Indeed , I never shall be satisfied -With Romeo , till I behold him dead -Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd : -Madam , if you could find out but a man -To bear a poison , I would temper it , -That Romeo should , upon receipt thereof , -Soon sleep in quiet . O ! how my heart abhors -To hear him nam'd , and cannot come to him , -To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt -Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him . - -Find thou the means , and I'll find such a man . -But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings , girl . - -And joy comes well in such a needy time : -What are they , I beseech your ladyship ? - -Well , well , thou hast a careful father , child ; -One who , to put thee from thy heaviness , -Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy -That thou expect'st not , nor I look'd not for . - -Madam , in happy time , what day is that ? - -Marry , my child , early next Thursday morn -The gallant , young , and noble gentleman , -The County Paris , at Saint Peter's church , -Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride . - -Now , by Saint Peter's church , and Peter too , -He shall not make me there a joyful bride . -I wonder at this haste ; that I must wed -Ere he that should be husband comes to woo . -I pray you , tell my lord and father , madam , -I will not marry yet ; and , when I do , I swear , -It shall be Romeo , whom you know I hate , -Rather than Paris . These are news indeed ! - -Here comes your father ; tell him so yourself , -And see how he will take it at your hands . - - -When the sun sets , the air doth drizzle dew ; -But for the sunset of my brother's son -It rains downright . -How now ! a conduit , girl ? what ! still in tears ? -Evermore showering ? In one little body -Thou counterfeit'st a bark , a sea , a wind ; -For still thy eyes , which I may call the sea , -Do ebb and flow with tears ; the bark thy body is , -Sailing in this salt flood ; the winds , thy sighs ; -Who , raging with thy tears , and they with them , -Without a sudden calm , will overset -Thy tempest-tossed body . How now , wife ! -Have you deliver'd to her our decree ? - -Ay , sir ; but she will none , she gives you thanks . -I would the fool were married to her grave ! - -Soft ! take me with you , take me with you , wife . -How ! will she none ? doth she not give us thanks ? -Is she not proud ? doth she not count her bless'd , -Unworthy as she is , that we have wrought -So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom ? - -Not proud , you have ; but thankful , that you have : -Proud can I never be of what I hate ; -But thankful even for hate , that is meant love . - -How now ! how now , chop-logic ! What is this ? -'Proud ,' and 'I thank you ,' and 'I thank you not ;' -And yet 'not proud ;' mistress minion , you , -Thank me no thankings , nor proud me no prouds , -But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next , -To go with Paris to Saint Peter's church , -Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither . -Out , you green-sickness carrion ! out , you baggage ! -You tallow face ! - -Fie , fie ! what , are you mad ? - -Good father , I beseech you on my knees , -Hear me with patience but to speak a word . - -Hang thee , young baggage ! disobedient wretch ! -I tell thee what , get thee to church o' Thursday , -Or never after look me in the face . -Speak not , reply not , do not answer me ; -My fingers itch .Wife , we scarce thought us bless'd -That God had lent us but this only child ; -But now I see this one is one too much , -And that we have a curse in having her . -Out on her , hilding ! - -God in heaven bless her ! -You are to blame , my lord , to rate her so . - -And why , my lady wisdom ? hold your tongue , -Good prudence ; smatter with your gossips , go . - -I speak no treason . - -O ! God ye good den . - -May not one speak ? - -Peace , you mumbling fool ; -Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl ; -For here we need it not . - -You are too hot . - -God's bread ! it makes me mad . -Day , night , hour , tide , time , work , play , -Alone , in company , still my care hath been -To have her match'd ; and having now provided -A gentleman of noble parentage , -Of fair demesnes , youthful , and nobly train'd , -Stuff'd , as they say , with honourable parts , -Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man ; -And then to have a wretched puling fool , -A whining mammet , in her fortune's tender , -To answer 'I'll not wed ,' 'I cannot love ,' -'I am too young ,' 'I pray you , pardon me ;' -But , an you will not wed , I'll pardon you : -Graze where you will , you shall not house with me : -Look to't , think on't , I do not use to jest . -Thursday is near ; lay hand on heart , advise . -An you be mine , I'll give you to my friend ; -An you be not , hang , beg , starve , die in the streets , -For , by my soul , I'll ne'er acknowledge thee , -Nor what is mine shall never do thee good . -Trust to't , bethink you ; I'll not be forsworn . - - -Is there no pity sitting in the clouds , -That sees into the bottom of my grief ? -O ! sweet my mother , cast me not away : -Delay this marriage for a month , a week ; -Or , if you do not , make the bridal bed -In that dim monument where Tybalt lies . - -Talk not to me , for I'll not speak a word . -Do as thou wilt , for I have done with thee . - - -O God ! O nurse ! how shall this be prevented ? -My husband is on earth , my faith in heaven ; -How shall that faith return again to earth , -Unless that husband send it me from heaven -By leaving earth ? comfort me , counsel me . -Alack , alack ! that heaven should practise stratagems -Upon so soft a subject as myself ! -What sayst thou ? hast thou not a word of joy ? -Some comfort , nurse ? - -Faith , here it is . Romeo -Is banished ; and all the world to nothing -That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you ; -Or , if he do , it needs must be by stealth . -Then , since the case so stands as now it doth , -I think it best you married with the county . -O ! he's a lovely gentleman ; -Romeo's a dishclout to him : an eagle , madam , -Hath not so green , so quick , so fair an eye -As Paris hath . Beshrew my very heart , -I think you are happy in this second match , -For it excels your first : or if it did not , -Your first is dead ; or 'twere as good he were , -As living here and you no use of him . - -Speakest thou from thy heart ? - -And from my soul too ; -Or else beshrew them both . - -Amen ! - -What ! - -Well , thou hast comforted me marvellous much . -Go in ; and tell my lady I am gone , -Having displeas'd my father , to Laurence' cell , -To make confession and to be absolv'd . - -Marry , I will ; and this is wisely done . - - -Ancient damnation ! O most wicked fiend ! -Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn , -Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue -Which she hath prais'd him with above compare -So many thousand times ? Go , counsellor ; -Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain . -I'll to the friar , to know his remedy : -If all else fail , myself have power to die . - - -On Thursday , sir ? the time is very short . - -My father Capulet will have it so ; -And I am nothing slow to slack his haste . - -You say you do not know the lady's mind : -Uneven is the course , I like it not . - -Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death , -And therefore have I little talk'd of love ; -For Venus smiles not in a house of tears . -Now , sir , her father counts it dangerous -That she doth give her sorrow so much sway , -And in his wisdom hastes our marriage -To stop the inundation of her tears ; -Which , too much minded by herself alone , -May be put from her by society . -Now do you know the reason of this haste . - -I would I knew not why it should be slow'd . -Look , sir , here comes the lady towards my cell . - - -Happily met , my lady and my wife ! - -That may be , sir , when I may be a wife . - -That may be must be , love , on Thursday next . - -What must be shall be . - -That's a certain text . - -Come you to make confession to this father ? - -To answer that , I should confess to you . - -Do not deny to him that you love me . - -I will confess to you that I love him . - -So will ye , I am sure , that you love me . - -If I do so , it will be of more price , -Being spoke behind your back , than to your face . - -Poor soul , thy face is much abus'd with tears . - -The tears have got small victory by that ; -For it was bad enough before their spite . - -Thou wrong'st it , more than tears , with that report . - -That is no slander , sir , which is a truth ; -And what I spake , I spake it to my face . - -Thy face is mine , and thou hast slander'd it . - -It may be so , for it is not mine own . -Are you at leisure , holy father , now ; -Or shall I come to you at evening mass ? - -My leisure serves me , pensive daughter , now : -My lord , we must entreat the time alone . - -God shield , I should disturb devotion ! -Juliet , on Thursday early will I rouse you : -Till then , adieu ; and keep this holy kiss . - - -O ! shut the door ! and when thou hast done so , -Come weep with me ; past hope , past cure , past help ! - -Ah ! Juliet , I already know thy grief ; -It strains me past the compass of my wits : -I hear thou must , and nothing may prorogue it , -On Thursday next be married to this county . - -Tell me not , friar , that thou hear'st of this , -Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it : -If , in thy wisdom , thou canst give no help , -Do thou but call my resolution wise , -And with this knife I'll help it presently , -God join'd my heart and Romeo's , thou our hands ; -And ere this hand , by thee to Romeo seal'd , -Shall be the label to another deed , -Or my true heart with treacherous revolt -Turn to another , this shall slay them both . -Therefore , out of thy long-experienc'd time , -Give me some present counsel ; or behold , -'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife -Shall play the umpire , arbitrating that -Which the commission of thy years and art -Could to no issue of true honour bring . -Be not so long to speak ; I long to die , -If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy . - -Hold , daughter ; I do spy a kind of hope , -Which craves as desperate an execution -As that is desperate which we would prevent . -If , rather than to marry County Paris , -Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself , -Then is it likely thou wilt undertake -A thing like death to chide away this shame , -That cop'st with death himself to 'scape from it ; -And , if thou dar'st , I'll give thee remedy . - -O ! bid me leap , rather than marry Paris , -From off the battlements of yonder tower ; -Or walk in thievish ways ; or bid me lurk -Where serpents are ; chain me with roaring bears ; -Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house , -O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones , -With reeky shanks , and yellow chapless skulls ; -Or bid me go into a new-made grave -And hide me with a dead man in his shroud ; -Things that , to hear them told , have made me tremble ; -And I will do it without fear or doubt , -To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love . - -Hold , then ; go home , be merry , give consent -To marry Paris : Wednesday is to-morrow ! -To-morrow night look that thou lie alone , -Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber : -Take thou this vial , being then in bed , -And this distilled liquor drink thou off ; -When presently through all thy veins shall run -A cold and drowsy humour , for no pulse -Shall keep his native progress , but surcease ; -No warmth , no breath , shall testify thou liv'st ; -The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade -To paly ashes ; thy eyes' windows fall , -Like death , when he shuts up the day of life ; -Each part , depriv'd of supple government , -Shall , stiff and stark and cold , appear like death ; -And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death -Thou shalt continue two-and-forty hours , -And then awake as from a pleasant sleep . -Now , when the bridegroom in the morning comes -To rouse thee from thy bed , there art thou dead : -Then as the manner of our country is -In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier , -Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault -Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie . -In the mean time , against thou shalt awake , -Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift , -And hither shall he come ; and he and I -Will watch thy waking , and that very night -Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua . -And this shall free thee from this present shame ; -If no unconstant toy , nor womanish fear , -Abate thy valour in the acting it . - -Give me , give me ! O ! tell me not of fear ! - -Hold ; get you gone , be strong and prosperous -In this resolve . I'll send a friar with speed -To Mantua , with my letters to thy lord . - -Love , give me strength ! and strength shall help afford . -Farewell , dear father ! - - -So many guests invite as here are writ . - -Sirrah , go hire me twenty cunning cooks . - -You shall have none ill , sir ; for -I'll try if they can lick their fingers . - -How canst thou try them so ? - -Marry , sir , 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers : therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me . - -Go , be gone . - -We shall be much unfurnish'd for this time . -What ! is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence ? - -Ay , forsooth . - -Well , he may chance to do some good on her : -A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is . - -See where she comes from shrift with merry look . - - -How now , my headstrong ! where have you been gadding ? - -Where I have learn'd me to repent the sin -Of disobedient opposition -To you and your behests ; and am enjoin'd -By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here , -And beg your pardon . Pardon , I beseech you ! -Henceforward I am ever rul'd by you . - -Send for the county ; go tell him of this : -I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning . - -I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell ; -And gave him what becomed love I might , -Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty . - -Why , I'm glad on't ; this is well : stand up : -This is as't should be . Let me see the county ; -Ay , marry , go , I say , and fetch him hither . -Now , afore God ! this reverend holy friar , -All our whole city is much bound to him . - -Nurse , will you go with me into my closet , -To help me sort such needful ornaments -As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow ? - -No , not till Thursday ; there is time enough . - -Go , nurse , go with her . We'll to church to-morrow . - - -We shall be short in our provision : -'Tis now near night . - -Tush ! I will stir about , -And all things shall be well , I warrant thee , wife : -Go thou to Juliet , help to deck up her ; -I'll not to bed to-night ; let me alone ; -I'll play the housewife for this once . What , ho ! -They are all forth : well , I will walk myself -To County Paris ; to prepare him up -Against to-morrow . My heart is wondrous light , -Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd . - - -Ay , those attires are best ; but , gentle nurse , -I pray thee , leave me to myself to-night ; -For I have need of many orisons -To move the heavens to smile upon my state , -Which , well thou know'st , is cross and full of sin . - - -What ! are you busy , ho ? need you my help ? - -No , madam ; we have cull'd such necessaries -As are behoveful for our state to-morrow : -So please you , let me now be left alone , -And let the nurse this night sit up with you ; -For , I am sure , you have your hands full all -In this so sudden business . - -Good-night : -Get thee to bed , and rest ; for thou hast need . - - -Farewell ! God knows when we shall meet again . -I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins , -That almost freezes up the heat of life : -I'll call them back again to comfort me : -Nurse ! What should she do here ? -My dismal scene I needs must act alone . -Come , vial . -What if this mixture do not work at all ? -Shall I be married then to-morrow morning ? -No , no ; this shall forbid it : lie thou there . - -What if it be a poison , which the friar -Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead , -Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd -Because he married me before to Romeo ? -I fear it is : and yet , methinks , it should not , -For he hath still been tried a holy man . -I will not entertain so bad a thought . -How if , when I am laid into the tomb , -I wake before the time that Romeo -Come to redeem me ? there's a fearful point ! -Shall I not then be stifled in the vault , -To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in , -And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes ? -Or , if I live , is it not very like , -The horrible conceit of death and night , -Together with the terror of the place , -As in a vault , an ancient receptacle , -Where , for these many hundred years , the bones -Of all my buried ancestors are pack'd ; -Where bloody Tybalt , yet but green in earth , -Lies festering in his shroud ; where , as they say , -At some hours in the night spirits resort : -Alack , alack ! is it not like that I , -So early waking , what with loathsome smells , -And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth , -That living mortals , hearing them , run mad : -O ! if I wake , shall I not be distraught , -Environed with all these hideous fears , -And madly play with my forefathers' joints , -And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud ? -And , in this rage , with some great kinsman's bone , -As with a club , dash out my desperate brains ? -O , look ! methinks I see my cousin's ghost -Seeking out Romeo , that did spit his body -Upon a rapier's point . Stay , Tybalt , stay ! -Romeo , I come ! this do I drink to thee . - - -Hold , take these keys , and fetch more spices , nurse . - -They call for dates and quinces in the pastry . - - -Come , stir , stir , stir ! the second cock hath crow'd , -The curfew bell hath rung , 'tis three o'clock : -Look to the bak'd meats , good Angelica : -Spare not for cost . - -Go , go , you cot-quean , go ; -Get you to bed ; faith , you'll be sick to-morrow -For this night's watching . - -No , not a whit ; what ! I have watch'd ere now -All night for lesser cause , and ne'er been sick . - -Ay , you have been a mouse-hunt in your time ; -But I will watch you from such watching now . - - -A jealous-hood , a jealous-hood ! - - -Now , fellow , - -What's there ? - -Things for the cook , sir ; but I know not what . - -Make haste , make haste . - -Sirrah , fetch drier logs : -Call Peter , he will show thee where they are . - -I have a head , sir , that will find out logs , -And never trouble Peter for the matter . - - -Mass , and well said ; a merry whoreson , ha ! -Thou shalt be logger-head . Good faith ! 'tis day : -The county will be here with music straight , -For so he said he would . - -I hear him near . -Nurse ! Wife ! what , ho ! What , nurse , I say ! - - -Go waken Juliet , go and trim her up ; -I'll go and chat with Paris . Hie , make haste , -Make haste ; the bridegroom he is come already : -Make haste , I say . - -Mistress ! what , mistress ! Juliet ! fast , I warrant her , she : -Why , lamb ! why , lady ! fie , you slug-a-bed ! -Why , love , I say ! madam ! sweet-heart ! why , bride ! -What ! not a word ? you take your pennyworths now : -Sleep for a week ; for the next night , I warrant , -The County Paris hath set up his rest , -That you shall rest but little . God forgive me , -Marry , and amen , how sound is she asleep ! -I needs must wake her . Madam , madam , madam ! -Ay , let the county take you in your bed ; -He'll fright you up , i' faith . Will it not be ? -What , dress'd ! and in your clothes ! and down again ! -I must needs wake you . Lady ! lady ! lady ! -Alas ! alas ! Help ! help ! my lady's dead ! -O ! well-a-day , that ever I was born . -Some aqua-vit , ho ! My lord ! my lady ! - - -What noise is here ? - -O lamentable day ! - -What is the matter ? - -Look , look ! O heavy day ! - -O me , O me ! my child , my only life , -Revive , look up , or I will die with thee ! -Help , help ! Call help . - - -For shame ! bring Juliet forth ; her lord is come . - -She's dead , deceas'd , she's dead ; alack the day ! - -Alack the day ! she's dead , she's dead ! she's dead ! - -Ha ! let me see her . Out , alas ! she's cold ; -Her blood is settled , and her joints are stiff ; -Life and these lips have long been separated : -Death lies on her like an untimely frost -Upon the sweetest flower of all the field . - -O lamentable day ! - -O woeful time ! - -Death , that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail , -Ties up my tongue , and will not let me speak . - - -Come , is the bride ready to go to church ? - -Ready to go , but never to return . -O son ! the night before thy wedding-day -Hath Death lain with thy wife . There she lies , -Flower as she was , deflowered by him . -Death is my son-in-law , Death is my heir ; -My daughter he hath wedded : I will die , -And leave him all ; life , living , all is Death's ! - -Have I thought long to see this morning's face , -And doth it give me such a sight as this ? - -Accurs'd , unhappy , wretched , hateful-day ! -Most miserable hour , that e'er time saw -In lasting labour of his pilgrimage ! -But one , poor one , one poor and loving child , -But one thing to rejoice and solace in , -And cruel death hath catch'd it from my sight ! - -O woe ! O woeful , woeful , woeful day ! -Most lamentable day , most woeful day , -That ever , ever , I did yet behold ! -O day ! O day ! O day ! O hateful day ! -Never was seen so black a day as this : -O woeful day , O woeful day ! - -Beguil'd , divorced , wronged , spited , slain ! -Most detestable death , by thee beguil'd , -By cruel cruel thee quite overthrown ! -O love ! O life ! not life , but love in death ! - -Despis'd , distressed , hated , martyr'd , kill'd ! -Uncomfortable time , why cam'st thou now -To murder , murder our solemnity ? -O child ! O child ! my soul , and not my child ! -Dead art thou ! dead ! alack , my child is dead ; -And with my child my joys are buried ! - -Peace , ho ! for shame ! confusion's cure lives not -In these confusions . Heaven and yourself -Had part in this fair maid ; now heaven hath all , -And all the better is it for the maid : -Your part in her you could not keep from death , -But heaven keeps his part in eternal life . -The most you sought was her promotion , -For 'twas your heaven she should be advanc'd ; -And weep ye now , seeing she is advanc'd -Above the clouds , as high as heaven itself ? -O ! in this love , you love your child so ill , -That you run mad , seeing that she is well : -She's not well married that lives married long ; -But she's best married that dies married young . -Dry up your tears , and stick your rosemary -On this fair corse ; and , as the custom is , -In all her best array bear her to church ; -For though fond nature bids us all lament , -Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment . - -All things that we ordained festival , -Turn from their office to black funeral ; -Our instruments to melancholy bells , -Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast , -Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change , -Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse , -And all things change them to the contrary . - -Sir , go you in ; and , madam , go with him ; -And go , Sir Paris ; every one prepare -To follow this fair corse unto her grave . -The heavens do lower upon you for some ill ; -Move them no more by crossing their high will . - - -Faith , we may put up our pipes , and be gone . - -Honest good fellows , ah ! put up , put up , for , well you know , this is a pitiful case . - - -Ay , by my troth , the case may be amended . - - -Musicians ! O ! musicians , 'Heart's ease , Heart's ease :' O ! an ye will have me live , play 'Heart's ease .' - -Why 'Heart's ease ?' - -O ! musicians , because my heart itself plays 'My heart is full of woe ;' O ! play me some merry dump , to comfort me . - -Not a dump we ; 'tis no time to play now . - -You will not then ? - -No . - -I will then give it you soundly . - -What will you give us ? - -No money , on my faith ! but the gleek ; -I will give you the minstrel . - -Then will I give you the serving-creature . - -Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger on your pate , I will carry no crotchets : -I'll re you , I'll fa you . Do you note me ? - -An you re us , and fa us , you note us . - -Pray you , put up your dagger , and put out your wit . - -Then have at you with my wit ! I will dry-beat you with an iron wit , and put up my iron dagger . Answer me like men : - -When griping grief the heart doth wound , -And doleful dumps the mind oppress , -Then music with her silver sound - -Why 'silver sound ?' why 'music with her silver sound ?' What say you , Simon Catling ? - -Marry , sir , because silver hath a sweet sound . - -Pretty ! What say you , Hugh Rebeck ? - -I say 'silver sound ,' because musicians sound for silver . - -Pretty too ! What say you , James Soundpost ? - -Faith , I know not what to say . - -O ! I cry you mercy ; you are the singer ; -I will say for you . It is , 'music with her silver sound ,' because musicians have no gold for sounding : - -Then music with her silver sound -With speedy help doth lend redress . - -What a pestilent knave is this same ! - -Hang him , Jack ! Come , we'll in here ; tarry for the mourners , and stay dinner . - - -If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep , -My dreams presage some joyful news at hand : -My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne ; -And all this day an unaccustom'd spirit -Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts . -I dreamt my lady came and found me dead ; -Strange dream , that gives a dead man leave to think , -And breath'd such life with kisses in my lips , -That I reviv'd , and was an emperor . -Ah me ! how sweet is love itself possess'd , -When but love's shadows are so rich in joy ! - - -News from Verona ! How now , Balthasar ? -Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar ? -How doth my lady ? Is my father well ? -How fares my Juliet ? That I ask again ; - -For nothing can be ill if she be well . - -Then she is well , and nothing can be ill ; -Her body sleeps in Capel's monument , -And her immortal part with angels lives . -I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault , -And presently took post to tell it you . -O ! pardon me for bringing these ill news , -Since you did leave it for my office , sir . - -Is it even so ? then I defy you , stars ! -Thou know'st my lodging : get me ink and paper , -And hire post-horses ; I will hence to-night . - -I do beseech you , sir , have patience : -Your looks are pale and wild , and do import -Some misadventure . - -Tush , thou art deceiv'd ; -Leave me , and do the thing I bid thee do . -Hast thou no letters to me from the friar ? - -No , my good lord . - -No matter ; get thee gone , -And hire those horses : I'll be with thee straight . - -Well , Juliet , I will he with thee to-night . -Let's see for means : O mischief ! thou art swift -To enter in the thoughts of desperate men . -I do remember an apothecary , -And hereabouts he dwells , which late I noted -In tatter'd weeds , with overwhelming brows , -Culling of simples ; meagre were his looks , -Sharp misery had worn him to the bones : -And in his needy shop a tortoise hung , -An alligator stuff'd , and other skins -Of ill-shap'd fishes ; and about his shelves -A beggarly account of empty boxes , -Green earthen pots , bladders , and musty seeds , -Remnants of packthread , and old cakes of roses , -Were thinly scatter'd , to make up a show . -Noting this penury , to myself I said -An if a man did need a poison now , -Whose sale is present death in Mantua , -Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him . -O ! this same thought did but fore-run my need , -And this same needy man must sell it me . -As I remember , this should be the house : -Being holiday , the beggar's shop is shut . -What , ho ! apothecary ! - - -Who calls so loud ? - -Come hither , man . I see that thou art poor ; -Hold , there is forty ducats ; let me have -A dram of poison , such soon-speeding gear -As will disperse itself through all the veins -That the life-weary taker may fall dead , -And that the trunk may be discharg'd of breath -As violently as hasty powder fir'd -Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb . - -Such mortal drugs I have ; but Mantua's law -Is death to any he that utters them . - -Art thou so bare , and full of wretchedness , -And fear'st to die ? famine is in thy cheeks , -Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes , -Contempt and beggary hang upon thy back ; -The world is not thy friend nor the world's law : -The world affords no law to make thee rich ; -Then be not poor , but break it , and take this . - -My poverty , but not my will , consents . - -I pay thy poverty , and not thy will . - -Put this in any liquid thing you will , -And drink it off ; and , if you had the strength -Of twenty men , it would dispatch you straight . - -There is thy gold , worse poison to men's souls , -Doing more murders in this loathsome world -Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell : -I sell thee poison , thou hast sold me none . -Farewell ; buy food , and get thyself in flesh . -Come , cordial and not poison , go with me -To Juliet's grave , for there must I use thee . - - -Holy Franciscan friar ! brother , ho ! - - -This same should be the voice of Friar John . -Welcome from Mantua : what says Romeo ? -Or , if his mind be writ , give me his letter . - -Going to find a bare-foot brother out , -One of our order , to associate me , -Here in this city visiting the sick , -And finding him , the searchers of the town , -Suspecting that we both were in a house -Where the infectious pestilence did reign , -Seal'd up the doors , and would not let us forth ; -So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd . - -Who bare my letter then to Romeo ? - -I could not send it , here it is again , -Nor get a messenger to bring it thee , -So fearful were they of infection . - -Unhappy fortune ! by my brotherhood , -The letter was not nice , but full of charge -Of dear import ; and the neglecting it -May do much danger . Friar John , go hence ; -Get me an iron crow , and bring it straight -Unto my cell . - -Brother , I'll go and bring it thee . - - -Now must I to the monument alone ; -Within these three hours will fair Juliet wake : -She will beshrew me much that Romeo -Hath had no notice of these accidents ; -But I will write again to Mantus , -And keep her at my cell till Romeo come : -Poor living corse , clos'd in a dead man's tomb ! - - -Give me thy torch , boy : hence , and stand aloof ; -Yet put it out , for I would not be seen . -Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along , -Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground : -So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread , -Being loose , unfirm with digging up of graves , -But thou shalt hear it : whistle then to me , -As signal that thou hear'st something approach . -Give me those flowers . Do as I bid thee ; go . - -I am almost afraid to stand alone -Here in the churchyard ; yet I will adventure . - - -Sweet flower , with flowers thy bridal bed I strew , -O woe ! thy canopy is dust and stones ; -Which with sweet water nightly I will dew , -Or , wanting that , with tears distill'd by moans : -The obsequies that I for thee will keep -Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep . - -The boy gives warning something doth approach . -What cursed foot wanders this way to-night , -To cross my obsequies and true love's rite ? -What ! with a torch ?muffle me , night , awhile . - -Give me that mattock , and the wrenching iron . -Hold , take this letter ; early in the morning -See thou deliver it to my lord and father . -Give me the light : upon thy life I charge thee , -Whate'er thou hear'st or seest , stand all aloof , -And do not interrupt me in my course . -Why I descend into this bed of death , -Is partly , to behold my lady's face ; -But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger -A precious ring , a ring that I must use -In dear employment : therefore hence , be gone : -But , if thou , jealous , dost return to pry -In what I further shall intend to do , -By heaven , I will tear thee joint by joint , -And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs . -The time and my intents are savage-wild , -More fierce and more inexorable far -Than empty tigers or the roaring sea . - -I will be gone , sir , and not trouble you . - -So shalt thou show me friendship . Take thou that : -Live , and be prosperous ; and farewell , good fellow . - -For all this same , I'll hide me here about : -His looks I fear , and his intents I doubt . - - -Thou detestable maw , thou womb of death , -Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth , -Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open , - -And , in despite , I'll cram thee with more food ! - -This is that banish'd haughty Montague , -That murder'd my love's cousin , with which grief -It is supposed the fair creature died ; -And here is come to do some villanous shame -To the dead bodies : I will apprehend him . - -Stop thy unhallow'd toil , vile Montague , -Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death ? -Condemned villain , I do apprehend thee : -Obey , and go with me ; for thou must die . - -I must , indeed ; and therefore came I hither . -Good gentle youth , tempt not a desperate man ; -Fly hence and leave me : think upon these gone ; -Let them affright thee . I beseech thee , youth , -Put not another sin upon my head -By urging me to fury : O ! be gone : -By heaven , I love thee better than myself . -For I come hither arm'd against myself : -Stay not , be gone ; live , and hereafter say -A madman's mercy bade thee run away . - -I do defy thy conjurations , -And apprehend thee for a felon here . - -Wilt thou provoke me ? then have at thee , boy ! - - -O Lord ! they fight : I will go call the watch . - - -O , I am slain !If thou be merciful , -Open the tomb , lay me with Juliet . - - -In faith , I will . Let me peruse this face : -Mercutio's kinsman , noble County Paris ! -What said my man when my betossed soul -Did not attend him as we rode ? I think -He told me Paris should have married Juliet : -Said he not so ? or did I dream it so ? -Or am I mad , hearing him talk of Juliet , -To think it was so ? O ! give me thy hand , -One writ with me in sour misfortune's book : -I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave ; -A grave ? O , no ! a lanthorn , slaughter'd youth , -For here lies Juliet , and her beauty makes -This vault a feasting presence full of light . -Death , lie thou there , by a dead man interr'd , - -How oft when men are at the point of death -Have they been merry ! which their keepers call -A lightning before death : O ! how may I -Call this a lightning ? O my love ! my wife ! -Death , that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath , -Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty : -Thou art not conquer'd ; beauty's ensign yet -Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks , -And death's pale flag is not advanced there . -Tybalt , liest thou there in thy bloody sheet ? -O ! what more favour can I do to thee , -Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain -To sunder his that was thine enemy ? -Forgive me , cousin ! Ah ! dear Juliet , -Why art thou yet so fair ? Shall I believe -That unsubstantial Death is amorous , -And that the lean abhorred monster keeps -Thee here in dark to be his paramour ? -For fear of that I still will stay with thee , -And never from this palace of dim night -Depart again : here , here will I remain -With worms that are thy chambermaids ; O ! here -Will I set up my everlasting rest , -And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars -From this world-wearied flesh . Eyes , look your last ! -Arms , take your last embrace ! and , lips , O you -The doors of breath , seal with a righteous kiss -A dateless bargain to engrossing death ! -Come , bitter conduct , come , unsavoury guide ! -Thou desperate pilot , now at once run on -The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark ! -Here's to my love ! - -O true apothecary ! -Thy drugs are quick . Thus with a kiss I die . - -Saint Francis be my speed ! how oft to-night -Have my old feet stumbled at graves ! Who's there ? - -Here's one , a friend , and one that knows you well . - -Bliss be upon you ! Tell me , good my friend , -What torch is yond , that vainly lends his light -To grubs and eyeless skulls ? as I discern , -It burneth in the Capel's monument . - -It doth so , holy sir ; and there's my master , -One that you love . - -Who is it ? - -Romeo . - -How long hath he been there ? - -Full half an hour . - -Go with me to the vault . - -I dare not , sir . -My master knows not but I am gone hence ; -And fearfully did menace me with death -If I did stay to look on his intents . - -Stay then , I'll go alone . Fear comes upon me ; -O ! much I fear some ill unlucky thing . - -As I did sleep under this yew-tree here , -I dreamt my master and another fought , -And that my master slew him . - -Romeo ! -Alack , alack ! what blood is this which stains -The stony entrance of this sepulchre ? -What mean these masterless and gory swords -To lie discolour'd by this place of peace ? - -Romeo ! O , pale ! Who else ? what ! Paris too ? -And steep'd in blood ? Ah ! what an unkind hour -Is guilty of this lamentable chance . -The lady stirs . - - -O , comfortable friar ! where is my lord ? -I do remember well where I should be , -And there I am . Where is my Romeo ? - - -I hear some noise . Lady , come from that nest -Of death , contagion , and unnatural sleep : -A greater power than we can contradict -Hath thwarted our intents : come , come away . -Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead ; -And Paris too : come , I'll dispose of thee -Among a sisterhood of holy nuns . -Stay not to question , for the watch is coming ; -Come , go , good Juliet . - -I dare no longer stay . - -Go , get thee hence , for I will not away . - -What's here ? a cup , clos'd in my true love's hand ? -Poison , I see , hath been his timeless end . -O churl ! drunk all , and left no friendly drop -To help me after ! I will kiss thy lips ; -Haply , some poison yet doth hang on them , -To make me die with a restorative . - -Thy lips are warm ! - -Lead , boy : which way ? - -Yea , noise ? then I'll be brief . O happy dagger ! - -This is thy sheath ; - -there rest , and let me die . - -This is the place ; there where the torch doth burn . - -The ground is bloody ; search about the churchyard . -Go , some of you ; whoe'er you find , attach . - -Pitiful sight ! here lies the county slain , -And Juliet bleeding , warm , and newly dead , -Who here hath lain these two days buried . -Go , tell the prince , run to the Capulets , -Raise up the Montagues , some others search : - -We see the ground whereon these woes do lie ; -But the true ground of all these piteous woes -We cannot without circumstance descry . - - -Here's Romeo's man ; we found him in the churchyard . - -Hold him in safety , till the prince come hither . - - -Here is a friar , that trembles , sighs , and weeps ; -We took this mattock and this spade from him , -As he was coming from this churchyard side . - -A great suspicion : stay the friar too . - - -What misadventure is so early up , -That calls our person from our morning's rest ? - - -What should it be , that they so shriek abroad ? - -The people in the street cry Romeo , -Some Juliet , and some Paris ; and all run -With open outcry toward our monument . - -What fear is this which startles in our ears ? - -Sovereign , here lies the County Paris slain ; -And Romeo dead ; and Juliet , dead before , -Warm and new kill'd . - -Search , seek , and know how this foul murder comes . - -Here is a friar , and slaughter'd Romeo's man ; -With instruments upon them , fit to open -These dead men's tombs . - -O , heaven !O wife ! look how our daughter bleeds ! -This dagger hath mista'en !for , lo , his house -Is empty on the back of Montague -And is mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom . - -O me ! this sight of death is as a bell , -That warns my old age to a sepulchre . - - -Come , Montague : for thou art early up , -To see thy son and heir more early down . - -Alas ! my liege , my wife is dead to-night ; -Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath . -What further woe conspires against mine age ? - -Look , and thou shalt see . - -O thou untaught ! what manners is in this , -To press before thy father to a grave ? - -Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while , -Till we can clear these ambiguities , -And know their spring , their head , their true descent ; -And then will I be general of your woes , -And lead you even to death : meantime forbear , -And let mischance be slave to patience . -Bring forth the parties of suspicion . - -I am the greatest , able to do least , -Yet most suspected , as the time and place -Doth make against me , of this direful murder ; -And here I stand , both to impeach and purge -Myself condemned and myself excus'd . - -Then say at once what thou dost know in this . - -I will be brief , for my short date of breath -Is not so long as is a tedious tale . -Romeo , there dead , was husband to that Juliet ; -And she , there dead , that Romeo's faithful wife : -I married them ; and their stolen marriage-day -Was Tybalt's doomsday , whose untimely death -Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city ; -For whom , and not for Tybalt , Juliet pin'd . -You , to remove that siege of grief from her , -Betroth'd , and would have married her perforce , -To County Paris : then comes she to me , -And , with wild looks bid me devise some mean -To rid her from this second marriage , -Or in my cell there would she kill herself . -Then gave I her ,so tutor'd by my art , -A sleeping potion ; which so took effect -As I intended , for it wrought on her -The form of death : meantime I writ to Romeo -That he should hither come as this dire night , -To help to take her from her borrow'd grave , -Being the time the potion's force should cease . -But he which bore my letter , Friar John , -Was stay'd by accident , and yesternight -Return'd my letter back . Then , all alone , -At the prefixed hour of her waking , -Came I to take her from her kindred's vault , -Meaning to keep her closely at my cell , -Till I conveniently could send to Romeo : -But , when I came ,some minute ere the time -Of her awakening ,here untimely lay -The noble Paris and true Romeo dead . -She wakes ; and I entreated her come forth , -And bear this work of heaven with patience ; -But then a noise did scare me from the tomb , -And she , too desperate , would not go with me , -But , as it seems , did violence on herself . -All this I know ; and to the marriage -Her nurse is privy : and , if aught in this -Miscarried by my fault , let my old life -Be sacrific'd , some hour before his time , -Unto the rigour of severest law . - -We still have known thee for a holy man . -Where's Romeo's man ? what can he say in this ? - -I brought my master news of Juliet's death ; -And then in post he came from Mantua -To this same place , to this same monument . -This letter he early bid me give his father , -And threaten'd me with death , going in the vault , -If I departed not and left him there . - -Give me the letter ; I will look on it . -Where is the county's page that rais'd the watch ? -Sirrah , what made your master in this place ? - -He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave , -And bid me stand aloof , and so I did ; -Anon , comes one with light to ope the tomb ; -And by and by my master drew on him ; -And then I ran away to call the watch . - -This letter doth make good the friar's words , -Their course of love , the tidings of her death : -And here he writes that he did buy a poison -Of a poor 'pothecary , and therewithal -Came to this vault to die , and lie with Juliet . -Where be these enemies ?Capulet ! Montague ! -See what a scourge is laid upon your hate , -That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love ; -And I , for winking at your discords too , -Have lost a brace of kinsmen : all are punish'd . - -O brother Montague ! give me thy hand : -This is my daughter's jointure , for no more -Can I demand . - -But I can give thee more ; -For I will raise her statue in pure gold ; -That while Verona by that name is known . -There shall no figure at such rate be set -As that of true and faithful Juliet . - -As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie ; -Poor sacrifices of our enmity ! - -A glooming peace this morning with it brings ; -The sun , for sorrow , will not show his head : -Go hence , to have more talk of these sad things : -Some shall be pardon'd , and some punished : -For never was a story of more woe -Than this of Juliet and her Romeo . - -TIMON OF ATHENS - -Good day , sir . - -I am glad you're well . - -I have not seen you long . How goes the world ? - -It wears , sir , as it grows . - -Ay , that's well known ; -But what particular rarity ? what strange , -Which manifold record not matches ? See , -Magic of bounty ! all these spirits thy power -Hath conjur'd to attend . I know the merchant . - -I know them both ; th' other's a jeweller . - -O ! 'tis a worthy lord . - -Nay , that's most fix'd . - -A most incomparable man , breath'd , as it were , -To an untirable and continuate goodness : -He passes . - -I have a jewel here - -O ! pray , let's see 't : for the Lord Timon , sir ? - -If he will touch the estimate : but , for that - -When we for recompense have prais'd the vile , -It stains the glory in that happy verse -Which aptly sings the good . - -'Tis a good form . - -And rich : here is a water , look ye . - -You are rapt , sir , in some work , some dedication -To the great lord . - -A thing slipp'd idly from me . -Our poesy is as a gum , which oozes -From whence 'tis nourish'd : the fire i' the flint -Shows not till it be struck ; our gentle flame -Provokes itself , and , like the current flies -Each bound it chafes . What have you there ? - -A picture , sir . When comes your book forth ? - -Upon the heels of my presentment , sir . -Let's see your piece . - -'Tis a good piece . - -So 'tis : this comes off well and excellent . - -Indifferent . - -Admirable ! How this grace -Speaks his own standing ! what a mental power -This eye shoots forth ! how big imagination -Moves in this lip ! to the dumbness of the gesture -One might interpret . - -It is a pretty mocking of the life . -Here is a touch ; is 't good ? - -I'll say of it , -It tutors nature : artificial strife -Lives in these touches , livelier than life . - - -How this lord is follow'd ! - -The senators of Athens : happy man ! - -Look , more ! - -You see this confluence , this great flood of visitors . -I have , in this rough work , shap'd out a man , -Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug -With amplest entertainment : my free drift -Halts not particularly , but moves itself -In a wide sea of wax : no levell'd malice -Infects one comma in the course I hold ; -But flies an eagle flight , bold and forth on , -Leaving no tract behind . - -How shall I understand you ? - -I will unbolt to you . -You see how all conditions , how all minds -As well of glib and slippery creatures as -Of grave and austere quality tender down -Their services to Lord Timon : his large fortune , -Upon his good and gracious nature hanging , -Subdues and properties to his love and tendance -All sorts of hearts ; yea , from the glass-fac'd flatterer -To Apemantus , that few things loves better -Than to abhor himself : even he drops down -The knee before him and returns in peace -Most rich in Timon's nod . - -I saw them speak together . - -Sir , I have upon a high and pleasant hill -Feign'd Fortune to be thron'd : the base o' the mount -Is rank'd with all deserts , all kind of natures , -That labour on the bosom of this sphere -To propagate their states : amongst them all , -Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fix'd , -One do I personate of Lord Timon's frame , -Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her ; -Whose present grace to present slaves and servants -Translates his rivals . - -'Tis conceiv'd to scope . -This throne , this Fortune , and this hill , methinks , -With one man beckon'd from the rest below , -Bowing his head against the steepy mount -To climb his happiness , would be well express'd -In our condition . - -Nay , sir , but hear me on . -All those which were his fellows but of late , -Some better than his value , on the moment -Follow his strides , his lobbies fill with tendance , -Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear , -Make sacred even his stirrup , and through him -Drink the free air . - -Ay , marry , what of these ? - -When Fortune in her shift and change of mood -Spurns down her late belov'd , all his dependants -Which labour'd after him to the mountain's top -Even on their knees and hands , let him slip down , -Not one accompanying his declining foot . - -'Tis common : -A thousand moral paintings I can show -That shall demonstrate these quick blows of Fortune's -More pregnantly than words . Yet you do well -To show Lord Timon that mean eyes have seen -The foot above the head . - - -Imprison'd is he , say you ? - -Ay , my good lord : five talents is his debt , -His means most short , his creditors most strait : -Your honourable letter he desires -To those have shut him up ; which , failing , -Periods his comfort . - -Noble Ventidius ! Well ; -I am not of that feather to shake off -My friend when he must need me . I do know him -A gentleman that well deserves a help , -Which he shall have : I'll pay the debt and free him . - -Your lordship ever binds him . - -Commend me to him . I will send his ransom ; -And being enfranchis'd , bid him come to me . -'Tis not enough to help the feeble up , -But to support him after . Fare you well . - -All happiness to your honour . - -Lord Timon , hear me speak . - -Freely , good father . - -Thou hast a servant nam'd Lucilius . - -I have so : what of him ? - -Most noble Timon , call the man before thee . - -Attends be here or no ? Lucilius ! - -Here , at your lordship's service . - -This fellow here , Lord Timon , this thy creature , -By night frequents my house . I am a man -That from my first have been inclin'd to thrift , -And my estate deserves an heir more rais'd -Than one which holds a trencher . - -Well ; what further ? - -One only daughter have I , no kin else , -On whom I may confer what I have got : -The maid is fair , o' the youngest for a bride , -And I have bred her at my dearest cost -In qualities of the best . This man of thine -Attempts her love : I prithee , noble lord , -Join with me to forbid him her resort ; -Myself have spoke in vain . - -The man is honest . - -Therefore he will be , Timon : -His honesty rewards him in itself ; -It must not bear my daughter . - -Does she love him ? - -She is young and apt : -Our own precedent passions do instruct us -What levity's in youth . - -Love you the maid ? - -Ay , my good lord , and she accepts of it . - -If in her marriage my consent be missing , -I call the gods to witness , I will choose -Mine heir from forth the beggars of the world , -And dispossess her all . - -How shall she be endow'd , -If she be mated with an equal husband ? - -Three talents on the present ; in future , all . - -This gentleman of mine hath serv'd me long : -To build his fortune I will strain a little , -For 'tis a bond in men . Give him thy daughter ; -What you bestow , in him I'll counterpoise , -And make him weigh with her . - -Most noble lord , -Pawn me to this your honour , she is his . - -My hand to thee ; mine honour on my promise . - -Humbly I thank your lordship : never may -That state or fortune fall into my keeping -Which is not ow'd to you ! - - -Vouchsafe my labour , and long live your lordship ! - -I thank you ; you shall hear from me anon : -Go not away . What have you there , my friend ? - -A piece of painting , which I do beseech -Your lordship to accept . - -Painting is welcome . -The painting is almost the natural man ; -For since dishonour traffics with man's nature , -He is but outside : these pencil'd figures are -Even such as they give out . I like your work ; -And you shall find I like it : wait attendance -Till you hear further from me . - -The gods preserve you ! - -Well fare you , gentleman : give me your hand ; -We must needs dine together . Sir , your jewel -Hath suffer'd under praise . - -What , my lord ! dispraise ? - -A mere satiety of commendations . -If I should pay you for 't as 'tis extoll'd , -It would unclew me quite . - -My lord , 'tis rated -As those which sell would give : but you well know , -Things of like value , differing in the owners , -Are prized by their masters . Believe 't , dear lord , -You mend the jewel by the wearing it . - -Well mock'd . - -No , my good lord ; he speaks the common tongue , -Which all men speak with him . - -Look , who comes here . Will you be chid ? - - -We'll bear , with your lordship . - -He'll spare none . - -Good morrow to thee , gentle Apemantus ! - -Till I be gentle , stay thou for thy good morrow ; -When thou art Timon's dog , and these knaves honest . - -Why dost thou call them knaves ? thou know'st them not . - -Are they not Athenians ? - -Yes . - -Then I repent not . - -You know me , Apemantus ? - -Thou know'st I do ; I call'd thee by thy name . - -Thou art proud , Apemantus . - -Of nothing so much as that I am not like Timon . - -Whither art going ? - -To knock out an honest Athenian's brains . - -That's a deed thou'lt die for . - -Right , if doing nothing be death by the law . - -How likest thou this picture , Apemantus ? - -The best , for the innocence . - -Wrought he not well that painted it ? - -He wrought better that made the painter ; and yet he's but a filthy piece of work . - -You're a dog . - -Thy mother's of my generation : what's she , if I be a dog ? - -Wilt dine with me , Apemantus ? - -No ; I eat not lords . - -An thou shouldst , thou'dst anger ladies . - -O ! they eat lords ; so they come by great bellies . - -That's a lascivious apprehension . - -So thou apprehendest it , take it for thy labour . - -How dost thou like this jewel , Apemantus ? - -Not so well as plain-dealing , which will not cost a man a doit . - -What dost thou think 'tis worth ? - -Not worth my thinking . How now , poet ! - -How now , philosopher ! - -Thou liest . - -Art not one ? - -Yes . - -Then I lie not . - -Art not a poet ? - -Yes . - -Then thou liest : look in thy last work , where thou hast feigned him a worthy fellow . - -That's not feigned ; he is so . - -Yes , he is worthy of thee , and to pay thee for thy labour : he that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer . Heavens , that I were a lord ! - -What wouldst do then , Apemantus ? - -Even as Apemantus does now ; hate a lord with my heart . - -What , thyself ? - -Ay . - -Wherefore ? - -That I had no angry wit to be a lord . -Art not thou a merchant ? - -Ay , Apemantus . - -Traffic confound thee , if the gods will not ! - -If traffic do it , the gods do it . - -Traffic's thy god , and thy god confound thee ! - - -What trumpet's that ? - -'Tis Alcihiades , and some twenty horse , -All of companionship . - -Pray , entertain them ; give them guide to us . - -You must needs dine with me . Go not you hence -Till I have thanked you ; when dinner's done , -Show me this piece . I am joyful of your sights . - -Most welcome , sir ! - -So , so , there ! -Aches contract and starve your supple joints ! -That there should be small love 'mongst these sweet knaves , -And all this courtesy ! The strain of man's bred out -Into baboon and monkey . - -Sir , you have sav'd my longing , and I feed -Most hungerly on your sight . - -Right welcome , sir ! -Ere we depart , we'll share a bounteous time -In different pleasures . Pray you , let us in . - -What time o'day is't , Apemantus ? - -Time to be honest . - -That time serves still . - -The more accursed thou , that still omitt'st it . - -Thou art going to Lord Timon's feast ? - -Ay ; to see meat fill khaves and wine heat fools . - -Fare thee well , fare thee well . - -Thou art a fool to bid me farewell twice . - -Why , Apemantus ? - -Shouldst have kept one to thyself , for I mean to give thee none . - -Hang thyself ! - -No , I will do nothing at thy bidding : make thy requests to thy friend . - -Away , unpeaceable dog ! or I'll spurn thee hence . - -I will fly , like a dog , the heels of an ass . - - -He's opposite to humanity . Come , shall we in , -And taste Lord Timon's bounty ? he outgoes -The very heart of kindness . - -He pours it out ; Plutus , the god of gold , -Is but his steward : no meed but he repays -Sevenfold above itself ; no gift to him -But breeds the giver a return exceeding -All use of quittance . - -The noblest mind he carries -That ever govern'd man . - -Long may he live in fortunes ! -Shall we in ? - -I'll keep you company . - -Most honour'd Timon , -It hath pleas'd the gods to remember my father's age , -And call him to long peace . -He is gone happy , and has left me rich : -Then , as in grateful virtue I am bound -To your free heart , I do return those talents , -Doubled with thanks and service , from whose help -I deriv'd liberty . - -O ! by no means , -Honest Ventidius ; you mistake my love ; -I gave it freely ever ; and there's none -Can truly say he gives , if he receives : -If our betters play at that game , we must not dare -To imitate them ; faults that are rich are fair . - -A noble spirit . - - -Nay , my lords , ceremony was but devis'd at first -To set a gloss on faint deeds , hollow welcomes , -Recanting goodness , sorry ere 'tis shown ; -But where there is true friendship , there needs none . -Pray , sit ; more welcome are ye to my fortunes -Than my fortunes to me . - - -My lord , we always have confess'd it . - -Ho , ho ! confess'd it ; hang'd it , have you not ? - -O ! Apemantus , you are welcome . - -No , -You shall not make me welcome : -I come to have thee thrust me out of doors . - -Fie ! thou'rt a churl ; ye've got a humour there -Does not become a man ; 'tis much to blame . -They say , my lords , Ira furor brevis est ; -But yond man is ever angry . -Go , let him have a table by himself , -For he does neither affect company , -Nor is he fit for it , indeed . - -Let me stay at thine apperil , Timon : -I come to observe ; I give thee warning on't . - -I take no heed of thee ; thou'rt an Athenian , therefore , welcome . I myself would have no power ; prithee , let my meat make thee silent . - -I scorn thy meat ; 'twould choke me , for I should -Ne'er flatter thee . O you gods ! what a number -Of men eat Timon , and he sees them not . -It grieves me to see so many dip their meat -In one man's blood ; and all the madness is , -He cheers them up too . -I wonder men dare trust themselves with men : -Methinks they should invite them without knives ; -Good for their meat , and safer for their lives . -There's much example for't ; the fellow that -Sits next him now , parts bread with him , and pledges -The breath of him in a divided draught , -Is the readiest man to kill him : 't has been prov'd . -If I were a huge man , I should fear to drink at meals ; -Lest they should spy my wind-pipe's dangerous notes : -Great men should drink with harness on their throats . - -My lord , in heart ; and let the health go round . - -Let it flow this way , my good lord . - -Flow this way ! A brave fellow ! he keeps his tides well . Those healths will make thee and thy state look ill , Timon . -Here's that which is too weak to be a sinner , -Honest water , which ne'er left man i' the mire : -This and my food are equals , there's no odds : -Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods . - -Immortal gods , I crave no pelf ; -I pray for no man but myself : -Grant I may never prove so fond , -To trust man on his oath or bond ; -Or a harlot for her weeping ; -Or a dog that seems a-sleeping ; -Or a keeper with my freedom ; -Or my friends , if I should need 'em . -Amen . So fall to't : -Rich men sin , and I eat root . - - -Much good dich thy good heart , Apemantus ! - -Captain Alcibiades , your heart's in the field now . - -My heart is ever at your service , my lord . - -You had rather be at a breakfast of enemies than a dinner of friends . - -So they were bleeding-new , my lord , there's no meat like 'em : I could wish my best friend at such a feast . - -'Would all those flatterers were thine enemies then , that then thou mightst kill 'em and bid me to 'em . - -Might we but have that happiness , my lord , that you would once use our hearts , whereby we might express some part of our zeals , we should think ourselves for ever perfect . - -O ! no doubt , my good friends , but the gods themselves have provided that I shall have much help from you : how had you been my friends else ? why have you that charitable title from thousands , did not you chiefly belong to my heart ? I have told more of you to myself than you can with modesty speak in your own behalf ; and thus far I confirm you . O you gods ! think I , what need we have any friends , if we should ne'er have need of 'em ? they were the most needless creatures living should we ne'er have use for 'em , and would most resemble sweet instruments hung up in cases , that keep their sounds to themselves . Why , I have often wished myself poorer that I might come nearer to you . We are born to do benefits ; and what better or properer can we call our own than the riches of our friends ? O ! what a precious comfort 'tis , to have so many , like brothers , commanding one another's fortunes . O joy ! e'en made away ere it can be born . Mine eyes cannot hold out water , methinks : to forget their faults , I drink to you . - -Thou weepest to make them drink , Timon . - -Joy had the like conception in our eyes , -And , at that instant , like a babe , sprung up . - -Ho , ho ! I laugh to think that babe a bastard . - -I promise you , my lord , you mov'd me much . - -Much ! - - -What means that trump ? - -How now ! - -Please you , my lord , there are certain ladies most desirous of admittance . - -Ladies ? What are their wills ? - -There comes with them a forerunner , my lord , which bears that office , to signify their pleasures . - -I pray , let them be admitted . - - -Hail to thee , worthy Timon ; and to all -That of his bounties taste ! The five best senses -Acknowledge thee their patron ; and come freely -To gratulate thy plenteous bosom . Th' ear , -Taste , touch , smell , pleas'd from thy table rise ; -They only now come but to feast thine eyes . - -They are welcome all ; let 'em have kind admittance : -Music , make their welcome ! - - -You see , my lord , how ample you're belov'd . - -Hoy-day ! what a sweep of vanity comes this way : -They dance ! they are mad women . -Like madness is the glory of this life , -As this pomp shows to a little oil and root . -We make ourselves fools to disport ourselves ; -And spend our flatteries to drink those men -Upon whose age we void it up again , -With poisonous spite and envy . -Who lives that's not depraved or depraves ? -Who dies that bears not one spurn to their graves -Of their friend's gift ? -I should fear those that dance before me now -Would one day stamp upon me : it has been done ; -Men shut their doors against a setting sun . - - -You have done our pleasures much grace , fair ladies , -Set a fair fashion on our entertainment , -Which was not half so beautiful and kind ; -You have added worth unto 't and lustre , -And entertain'd me with mine own device ; -I am to thank you for 't . - -My lord , you take us even at the best . - -Faith , for the worst is filthy ; and would not hold taking , I doubt me . - -Ladies , there is an idle banquet -Attends you : please you to dispose yourselves . - -Most thankfully , my lord . - - -Flavius ! - -My lord ! - -The little casket bring me hither . - -Yes , my lord . - -More jewels yet ! -There is no crossing him in 's humour ; -Else I should tell him well , i' faith , I should , -When all's spent , he'd be cross'd then , an he could . -'Tis pity bounty had not eyes behind , -That man might ne'er be wretched for his mind . - - -Where be our men ? - -Here , my lord , in readiness . - -Our horses ! - - -O , my friends ! I have one word to say to you ; -Look you , my good lord , -I must entreat you , honour me so much -As to advance this jewel ; accept it and wear it , -Kind my lord . - -I am so far already in your gifts - -So are we all . - - -My lord , there are certain nobles of the senate -Newly alighted , and come to visit you . - -They are fairly welcome . - -I beseech your honour , -Vouchsafe me a word ; it does concern you near . - -Near ! why then another time I'll hear thee . -I prithee , let's be provided to show them entertainment . - -I scarce know how . - - -May it please your honour , Lord Lucius , -Out of his free love , hath presented to you -Four milk-white horses , trapp'd in silver . - -I shall accept them fairly ; let the presents -Be worthily entertain'd . - -How now ! what news ? - -Please you , my lord , that honourable gentleman , Lord Lucullus , entreats your company to-morrow to hunt with him , and has sent your honour two brace of greyhounds . - -I'll hunt with him ; and let them be receiv'd , -Not without fair reward . - -What will this come to ? -He commands us to provide , and give great gifts , -And all out of an empty coffer : -Nor will he know his purse , or yield me this , -To show him what a beggar his heart is , -Being of no power to make his wishes good . -His promises fly so beyond his state -That what he speaks is all in debt ; he owes -For every word : he is so kind that he now -Pays interest for't ; his land's put to their books . -Well , would I were gently put out of office -Before I were forc'd out ! -Happier he that has no friend to feed -Than such as do e'en enemies exceed . -I bleed inwardly for my lord . - - -You do yourselves -Much wrong , you bate too much of your own merits : -Here , my lord , a trifle of our love . - -With more than common thanks I will receive it . - -O ! he's the very soul of bounty . - -And now I remember , my lord , you gave -Good words the other day of a bay courser -I rode on : it is yours , because you lik'd it . - -O ! I beseech you , pardon me , my lord , in that . - -You may take my word , my lord ; I know no man -Can justly praise but what he does affect : -I weigh my friend's affection with mine own ; -I'll tell you true . I'll call to you . - -O ! none so welcome . - -I take all and your several visitations -So kind to heart , 'tis not enough to give ; -Methinks , I could deal kingdoms to my friends , -And ne'er be weary . Alcibiades , -Thou art a soldier , therefore seldom rich ; -It comes in charity to thee ; for all thy living -Is 'mongst the dead , and all the lands thou hast -Lie in a pitch'd field . - -Ay , defil'd land , my lord . - -We are so virtuously bound , - -And so -Am I to you . - -So infinitely endear'd , - -All to you . Lights , more lights ! - -The best of happiness , -Honour , and fortunes , keep with you , Lord Timon ! - -Ready for his friends . - - -What a coil's here ! -Serving of becks and jutting out of bums ! -I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums -That are given for 'em . Friendship's full of dregs : -Methinks , false hearts should never have sound legs . -Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on curtsies . - -Now , Apemantus , if thou wert not sullen , -I would be good to thee . - -No , I'll nothing ; for if I should be bribed too , there would be none left to rail upon thee , and then thou wouldst sin the faster . Thou givest so long , Timon , I fear me thou wilt give away thyself in paper shortly : what need these feasts , pomps , and vain-glories ? - -Nay , an you begin to rail on society once , I am sworn not to give regard to you . Farewell ; and come with better music . - - -So : -Thou wilt not hear me now ; thou shalt not then ; -I'll lock thy heaven from thee . -O ! that men's ears should be -To counsel deaf , but not to flattery . - -And late , five thousand : to Varro and to Isidore -He owes nine thousand ; besides my former sum , -Which makes it five-and-twenty . Still in motion -Of raging waste ! It cannot hold ; it will not . -If I want gold , steal but a beggar's dog -And give it Timon , why , the dog coins gold ; -If I would sell my horse , and buy twenty more -Better than he , why , give my horse to Timon , -Ask nothing , give it him , it foals me , straight , -And able horses . No porter at his gate , -But rather one that smiles and still invites -All that pass by . It cannot hold ; no reason -Can found his state in safety . Caphis , ho ! -Caphis , I say ! - - -Here , sir ; what is your pleasure ? - -Get on your cloak , and haste you to Lord Timon ; -Importune him for my moneys ; be not ceas'd -With slight denial , nor then silenc'd when -'Commend me to your master' and the cap -Plays in the right hand , thus ;but tell him , -My uses cry to me ; I must serve my turn -Out of mine own ; his days and times are past , -And my reliances on his fracted dates -Have smit my credit : I love and honour him , -But must not break my back to heal his finger ; -Immediate are my needs , and my relief -Must not be toss'd and turn'd to me in words , -But find supply immediate . Get you gone : -Put on a most importunate aspect , -A visage of demand ; for , I do fear , -When every feather sticks in his own wing , -Lord Timon will be left a naked gull , -Which flashes now a ph nix . Get you gone . - -I go , sir . - -'I go , sir !' Take the bonds along with you , -And have the dates in compt . - -I will , sir . - -Go . - - -No care , no stop ! so senseless of expense , -That he will neither know how to maintain it , -Nor cease his flow of riot : takes no account -How things go from him , nor resumes no care -Of what is to continue : never mind -Was to be so unwise , to be so kind . -What shall be done ? He will not hear , till feel : -I must be round with him , now he comes from hunting . -Fie , fie , fie , fie ! - - -Good even , Varro . What ! -You come for money ? - -Is't not your business too ? - -It is : and yours too , Isidore ? - -It is so . - -Would we were all discharg'd ! - -I fear it . - -Here comes the lord ! - - -So soon as dinner's done , we'll forth again , -My Alcibiades . With me ? what is your will ? - -My lord , here is a note of certain dues . - -Dues ! Whence are you ? - -Of Athens here , my lord . - -Go to my steward . - -Please it your lordship , he hath put me off -To the succession of new days this month : -My master is awak'd by great occasion -To call upon his own ; and humbly prays you -That with your other noble parts you'll suit -In giving him his right . - -Mine honest friend , -I prithee , but repair to me next morning . - -Nay , good my lord , - -Contain thyself , good friend . - -One Varro's servant , my good lord , - -From Isidore ; -He humbly prays your speedy payment . - -If you did know , my lord , my master's wants , - -'Twas due on forfeiture , my lord , six weeks -And past . - -Your steward puts me off , my lord ; -And I am sent expressly to your lordship . - -Give me breath . -I do beseech you , good my lords , keep on ; -I'll wait upon you instantly . - -Come hither : pray you , -How goes the world , that I am thus encounter'd -With clamorous demands of date-broke bonds , -And the detention of long-since-due debts , -Against my honour ? - -Please you , gentlemen , -The time is unagreeable to this business : -Your importunacy cease till after dinner , -That I may make his lordship understand -Wherefore you are not paid . - -Do so , my friends . -See them well entertained . - - -Pray , draw near . - -Stay , stay ; here comes the fool with -Apemantus : let's ha' some sport with 'em . - -Hang him , he'll abuse us . - -A plague upon him , dog ! - -How dost , fool ? - -Dost dialogue with thy shadow ? - -I speak not to thee . - -No ; 'tis to thyself . - -Come away . - -There's the fool hangs on your back already . - -No , thou stand'st single ; thou'rt not on him yet . - -Where's the fool now ? - -He last asked the question . Poor rogues , and usurers' men ! bawds between gold and want ! - -What are we , Apemantus ? - -Asses . - -Why ? - -That you ask me what you are , and do not know yourselves . Speak to 'em , fool . - -How do you , gentlemen ? - -Gramercies , good fool . How does your mistress ? - -She's e'en setting on water to scald such chickens as you are . Would we could see you at Corinth ! - -Good ! gramercy . - - -Look you , here comes my mistress' page . - -Why , how now , captain ! what do you in this wise company ? How dost thou , Apemantus ? - -Would I had a rod in my mouth , that I might answer thee profitably . - -Prithee , Apemantus , read me the superscription of these letters : I know not which is which . - -Canst not read ? - -No . - -There will little learning die then that day thou art hanged . This is to Lord Timon ; this to Alcibiades . Go ; thou wast born a bastard , and thou'lt die a bawd . - -Thou wast whelped a dog , and thou shalt famish a dog's death . Answer not ; I am gone . - - -E'en so thou outrunn'st grace . -Fool , I will go with you to Lord Timon's . - -Will you leave me there ? - -If Timon stay at home . You three serve three usurers ? - -Ay ; would they served us ! - -So would I , as good a trick as ever hangman served thief . - -Are you three usurers' men ? - -Ay , fool . - -I think no usurer but has a fool to his servant : my mistress is one , and I am her fool . When men come to borrow of your masters , they approach sadly , and go away merry ; but they enter my mistress' house merrily , and go away sadly : the reason of this ? - -I could render one . - -Do it , then , that we may account thee a whoremaster and a knave ; which , notwithstanding , thou shalt be no less esteemed . - -What is a whoremaster , fool ? - -A fool in good clothes , and something like thee . 'Tis a spirit : sometime 't appears like a lord ; sometime like a lawyer ; sometime like a philosopher , with two stones more than 's artificial one . He is very often like a knight ; and generally in all shapes that man goes up and down in from fourscore to thirteen , this spirit walks in . - -Thou art not altogether a fool . - -Nor thou altogether a wise man : as much foolery as I have , so much wit thou lackest . - -That answer might have become Apemantus . - -Aside , aside ; here comes Lord Timon . - - -Come with me , fool , come . - -I do not always follow lover , elder brother and woman ; sometime the philosopher . - - -Pray you , walk near : I'll speak with you anon . - - -You make me marvel : wherefore , ere this time , -Had you not fully laid my state before me , -That I might so have rated my expense -As I had leave of means ? - -You would not hear me , -At many leisures I propos'd . - -Go to : -Perchance some single vantages you took , -When my indisposition put you back ; -And that unaptness made your minister , -Thus to excuse yourself . - -O my good lord ! -At many times I brought in my accounts , -Laid them before you ; you would throw them off , -And say you found them in mine honesty . -When for some trifling present you have bid me -Return so much , I have shook my head , and wept ; -Yea , 'gainst the authority of manners , pray'd you -To hold your hand more close : I did endure -Not seldom , nor no slight checks , when I have -Prompted you in the ebb of your estate -And your great flow of debts . My loved lord , -Though you hear now , too late , yet now's a time , -The greatest of your having lacks a half -To pay your present debts . - -Let all my land be sold . - -'Tis all engag'd , some forfeited and gone ; -And what remains will hardly stop the mouth -Of present dues ; the future comes apace : -What shall defend the interim ? and at length -How goes our reckoning ? - -To Laced mon did my land extend . - -O my good lord ! the world is but a word ; -Were it all yours to give it in a breath , -How quickly were it gone ! - -You tell me true . - -If you suspect my husbandry or falsehood , -Call me before the exactest auditors , -And set me on the proof . So the gods bless me , -When all our offices have been oppress'd -With riotous feeders , when our vaults have wept -With drunken spilth of wine , when every room -Hath blaz'd with lights and bray'd with minstrelsy , -I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock , -And set mine eyes at flow . - -Prithee , no more . - -Heavens ! have I said , the bounty of this lord ! -How many prodigal bits have slaves and peasants -This night englutted ! Who is not Timon's ? -What heart , head , sword , force , means , but is Lord Timon's ? -Great Timon , noble , worthy , royal Timon ! -Ah ! when the means are gone that buy this praise , -The breath is gone whereof this praise is made : -Feast-won , fast-lost ; one cloud of winter showers , -These flies are couch'd . - -Come , sermon me no further ; -No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart ; -Unwisely , not ignobly , have I given . -Why dost thou weep ? Canst thou the conscience lack , -To think I shall lack friends ? Secure thy heart ; -If I would broach the vessels of my love , -And try the argument of hearts by borrowing , -Men and men's fortunes could I frankly use -As I can bid thee speak . - -Assurance bless your thoughts ! - -And , in some sort , these wants of mine are crown'd , -That I account them blessings ; for by these -Shall I try friends . You shall perceive how you -Mistake my fortunes ; I am wealthy in my friends . -Within there ! Flaminius ! Servilius ! - - -My lord ! my lord ! - -I will dispatch you severally : you , to Lord Lucius ; to Lord Lucullus you : I hunted with his honour to-day ; you , to Sempronius . Commend me to their loves ; and I am proud , say , that my occasions have found time to use them toward a supply of money : let the request be fifty talents . - -As you have said , my lord . - -Lord Lucius , and Lucullus ? hum ! - -Go you , sir , to the senators , -Of whom , even to the state's best health , I have -Deserv'd this hearing ,bid 'em send o' the instant -A thousand talents to me . - -I have been bold , -For that I knew it the most general way , -To them to use your signet and your name ; -But they do shake their heads , and I am here -No richer in return . - -Is't true ? can't be ? - -They answer , in a joint and corporate voice , -That now they are at fall , want treasure , cannot -Do what they would ; are sorry ; you are honourable ; -But yet they could have wish'd ; they know not ; -Something hath been amiss ; a noble nature -May catch a wrench ; would all were well ; 'tis pity ; -And so , intending other serious matters , -After distasteful looks and these hard fractions , -With certain half-caps and cold-moving nods -They froze me into silence . - -You gods , reward them ! -Prithee , man , look cheerly . These old fellows -Have their ingratitude in them hereditary ; -Their blood is cak'd , 'tis cold , it seldom flows ; -'Tis lack of kindly warmth they are not kind ; -And nature , as it grows again toward earth , -Is fashion'd for the journey , dull and heavy . - - -Prithee , be not sad , -Thou art true and honest ; ingenuously I speak , -No blame belongs to thee . - -Ventidius lately -Buried his father ; by whose death he's stepp'd -Into a great estate ; when he was poor , -Imprison'd and in scarcity of friends , -I clear'd him with five talents ; greet him from me ; -Bid him suppose some good necessity -Touches his friend , which craves to be remember'd -With those five talents . - -That had , give't these fellows -To whom 'tis instant due . Ne'er speak , or think -That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink . - -I would I could not think it : that thought is bounty's foe ; -Being free itself , it thinks all others so . - -I have told my lord of you ; he is coming down to you . - -I thank you , sir . - - -Here's my lord . - -One of Lord Timon's men ! a gift , I warrant . Why , this hits right ; I dreamt of a silver bason and ewer to-night . Flaminius , honest Flaminius , you are very respectively welcome , sir . Fill me some wine . [Exit Servant .] And how does that honourable , complete , free-hearted gentleman of Athens , thy very bountiful good lord and master ? - -His health is well , sir . - -I am right glad that his health is well , sir . And what hast thou there under thy cloak , pretty Flaminius ? - -Faith , nothing but an empty box , sir ; which , in my lord's behalf , I come to entreat your honour to supply ; who , having great and instant occasion to use fifty talents , hath sent to your lordship to furnish him , nothing doubting your present assistance therein . - -La , la , la , la ! 'nothing doubting ,' says he ? Alas ! good lord ; a noble gentleman 'tis , if he would not keep so good a house . Many a time and often I ha' dined with him , and told him on't ; and come again to supper to him , of purpose to have him spend less ; and yet he would embrace no counsel , take no warning by my coming . Every man has his fault , and honesty is his ; I ha' told him on't , but I could ne'er get him from it . - - -Please your lordship , here is the wine . - -Flaminius , I have noted thee always wise . Here's to thee . - -Your lordship speaks your pleasure . - -I have observed thee always for a towardly prompt spirit , give thee thy due , and one that knows what belongs to reason ; and canst use the time well , if the time use thee well : good parts in thee . - -Get you gone , sirrah .[Exit Servant .] Draw nearer , honest Flaminius . Thy lord's a bountiful gentleman ; but thou art wise , and thou knowest well enough , although thou comest to me , that this is no time to lend money , especially upon bare friendship , without security . Here's three solidares for thee : good boy , wink at me , and say thou sawest me not . Fare thee well . - -Is't possible the world should so much differ , -And we alive that liv'd ? Fly , damned baseness , -To him that worships thee . - - -Ha ! now I see thou art a fool , and fit for thy master . - - -May these add to the number that may scald thee ! -Let molten coin be thy damnation , -Thou disease of a friend , and not himself ! -Has friendship such a faint and milky heart -It turns in less than two nights ? O you gods ! -I feel my master's passion . This slave unto his honour -Has my lord's meat in him : -Why should it thrive and turn to nutriment -When he is turn'd to poison ? -O ! may diseases only work upon 't , -And , when he's sick to death , let not that part of nature -Which my lord paid for , be of any power -To expel sickness , but prolong his hour . - - -Who , the Lord Timon ? he is my very good friend , and an honourable gentleman . - -We know him for no less , though we are but strangers to him . But I can tell you one thing , my lord , and which I hear from common rumours : now Lord Timon's happy hours are done and past , and his estate shrinks from him . - -Fie , no , do not believe it ; he cannot want for money . - -But believe you this , my lord , that , not long ago , one of his men was with the Lord Lucullus , to borrow so many talents , nay , urged extremely for 't , and showed what necessity belonged to 't , and yet was denied . - -How ! - -I tell you , denied , my lord . - -What a strange case was that ! now , before the gods , I am ashamed on 't . Denied that honourable man ! there was very little honour showed in 't . For my own part , I must needs confess , I have received some small kindnesses from him , as money , plate , jewels , and such like trifles , nothing comparing to his ; yet , had he mistook him , and sent to me , I should ne'er have denied his occasion so many talents . - - -See , by good hap , yonder's my lord ; I have sweat to see his honour . - -My honoured lord ! - -Servilius ! you are kindly met , sir . Fare thee well : commend me to thy honourable virtuous lord , my very exquisite friend . - -May it please your honour , my lord hath sent - -Ha ! what has he sent ? I am so much endeared to that lord ; he's ever sending : how shall I thank him , thinkest thou ? And what has he sent now ? - -He has only sent his present occasion now , my lord ; requesting your lordship to supply his instant use with so many talents . - -I know his lordship is but merry with me ; -He cannot want fifty-five hundred talents . - -But in the mean time he wants less , my lord . -If his occasion were not virtuous , -I should not urge it half so faithfully . - -Dost thou speak seriously , Servilius ? - -Upon my soul , 'tis true , sir . - -What a wicked beast was I to disfurnish myself against such a good time , when I might ha' shown myself honourable ! how unluckily it happened , that I should purchase the day before for a little part , and undo a great deal of honour ! Servilius , now , before the gods , I am not able to do ; the more beast , I say ; I was sending to use Lord Timon myself , these gentlemen can witness ; but I would not , for the wealth of Athens , I had done it now . Commend me bountifully to his good lordship ; and I hope his honour will conceive the fairest of me , because I have no power to be kind : and tell him this from me , I count it one of my greatest afflictions say , that I cannot pleasure such an honourable gentleman . Good Servilius , will you befriend me so far as to use mine own words to him ? - -Yes , sir , I shall . - -I'll look you out a good turn , Servilius . - -True , as you said , Timon is shrunk indeed ; -And he that's once denied will hardly speed . - - -Do you observe this , Hostilius ? - -Ay , too well . - -Why this is the world's soul ; and just of the same piece -Is every flatterer's spirit . Who can call him -His friend that dips in the same dish ? for , in -My knowing , Timon has been this lord's father , -And kept his credit with his purse , -Supported his estate ; nay , Timon's money -Has paid his men their wages : he ne'er drinks -But Timon's silver treads upon his lip ; -And yet , O ! see the monstrousness of man , -When he looks out in an ungrateful shape , -He does deny him , in respect of his , -What charitable men afford to beggars . - -Religion groans at it . - -For mine own part , -I never tasted Timon in my life , -Nor came any of his bounties over me , -To mark me for his friend ; yet , I protest , -For his right noble mind , illustrious virtue , -And honourable carriage , -Had his necessity made use of me , -I would have put my wealth into donation , -And the best half should have return'd to him , -So much I love his heart . But , I perceive , -Men must learn now with pity to dispense ; -For policy sits above conscience . - - -Must he needs trouble me in 't . Hum ! 'bove all others ? -He might have tried Lord Lucius , or Lucullus ; -And now Ventidius is wealthy too , -Whom he redeem'd from prison : all these -Owe their estates unto him . - -My lord , -They have all been touch'd and found base metal , for -They have all denied him . - -How ! have they denied him ? -Have Ventidius and Lucullus denied him ? -And does he send to me ? Three ? hum ! -It shows but little love or judgment in him : -Must I be his last refuge ? His friends , like physicians , -Thrice give him over ; must I take the cure upon me ? -He has much disgrac'd me in 't ; I'm angry at him , -That might have known my place . I see no sense for 't , -But his occasions might have woo'd me first ; -For , in my conscience , I was the first man -That e'er received gift from him : -And does he think so backwardly of me now , -That I'll requite it last ? No : -So it may prove an argument of laughter -To the rest , and I 'mongst lords be thought a fool . -I had rather than the worth of thrice the sum , -He had sent to me first , but for my mind's sake ; -I'd such a courage to do him good . But now return , -And with their faint reply this answer join ; -Who bates mine honour shall not know my coin . - - -Excellent ! Your lordship's a goodly villain . The devil knew not what he did when he made man politic ; he crossed himself by 't : and I cannot think but in the end the villanies of man will set him clear . How fairly this lord strives to appear foul ! takes virtuous copies to be wicked , like those that under hot ardent zeal would set whole realms on fire : -Of such a nature is his politic love . -This was my lord's best hope ; now all are fled -Save only the gods . Now his friends are dead , -Doors , that were ne'er acquainted with their wards -Many a bounteous year , must be employ'd -Now to guard sure their master : -And this is all a liberal course allows ; -Who cannot keep his wealth must keep his house . - -Well met ; good morrow , Titus and Hortensius . - -The like to you , kind Varro . - -Lucius ! -What ! do we meet together ! - -Ay , and I think -One business does command us all ; for mine -Is money . - -So is theirs and ours . - - -And Sir Philotus too ! - -Good day at once . - -Welcome , good brother . -What do you think the hour ? - -Labouring for nine . - -So much ? - -Is not my lord seen yet ? - -Not yet . - -I wonder on 't ; he was wont to shine at seven . - -Ay , but the days are waxed shorter with him : -You must consider that a prodigal course -Is like the sun's ; but not , like his , recoverable . -I fear , -'Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon's purse ; -That is , one may reach deep enough , and yet -Find little . - -I am of your fear for that . - -I'll show you how to observe a strange event . -Your lord sends now for money . - -Most true , he does . - -And he wears jewels now of Timon's gift , -For which I wait for money . - -It is against my heart . - -Mark , how strange it shows , -Timon in this should pay more than he owes : -And e'en as if your lord should wear rich jewels , -And send for money for 'em . - -I'm weary of this charge , the gods can witness : -I know my lord hath spent of Timon's wealth , -And now ingratitude makes it worse than stealth . - -Yes , mine's three thousand crowns ; what's yours ? - -Five thousand mine . - -'Tis much deep : and it should seem by the sum , -Your master's confidence was above mine ; -Else , surely , his had equall'd . - - -One of Lord Timon's men . - -Flaminius ! Sir , a word . Pray , is my lord ready to come forth ? - -No , indeed , he is not . - -We attend his lordship ; pray , signify so much . - -I need not tell him that ; he knows you are too diligent . - -Ha ! is not that his steward muffled so ? -He goes away in a cloud : call him , call him . - -Do you hear , sir ? - -By your leave , sir . - -What do you ask of me , my friend ? - -We wait for certain money here , sir . - -Ay , -If money were as certain as your waiting , -'Twere sure enough . -Why then preferr'd you not your sums and bills , -When your false masters eat of my lord's meat ? -Then they could smile and fawn upon his debts , -And take down the interest into their gluttonous maws . -You do yourselves but wrong to stir me up ; -Let me pass quietly : -Believe't , my lord and I have made an end ; -I have no more to reckon , he to spend . - -Ay , but this answer will not serve . - -If 'twill not serve , 'tis not so base as you ; -For you serve knaves . - - -How ! what does his cashiered worship mutter ? - -No matter what ; he's poor , and that's revenge enough . Who can speak broader than he that has no house to put his head in ? such may rail against great buildings . - - -O ! here's Servilius ; now we shall know some answer . - -If I might beseech you , gentlemen , to repair some other hour , I should derive much from 't ; for , take 't of my soul , my lord leans wondrously to discontent . His comfortable temper has forsook him ; he's much out of health , and keeps his chamber . - -Many do keep their chambers are not sick : -And , if it be so far beyond his health , -Methinks he should the sooner pay his debts , -And make a clear way to the gods . - -Good gods ! - -We cannot take this for answer , sir . - -Servilius , help ! my lord ! my lord ! - - -What ! are my doors oppos'd against my passage ? -Have I been ever free , and must my house -Be my retentive enemy , my gaol ? -The place which I have feasted , does it now , -Like all mankind , show me an iron heart ? - -Put in now , Titus . - -My lord , here is my bill . - -Here's mine . - -And mine , my lord . - -And ours , my lord . - -All our bills . - -Knock me down with 'em : cleave me to the girdle . - -Alas ! my lord , - -Cut my heart in sums . - -Mine , fifty talents . - -Tell out my blood . - -Five thousand crowns , my lord . - -Five thousand drops pays that . What yours ? and yours ? - -My lord , - -My lord , - -Tear me , take me ; and the gods fall upon you ! - - -Faith , I perceive our masters may throw their caps at their money : these debts may well be called desperate ones , for a madman owes 'em . - -They have e'en put my breath from me , the slaves : -Creditors ? devils ! - -My dear lord , - -What if it should be so ? - -My lord , - -I'll have it so . My steward ! - -Here , my lord . - -So fitly ! Go , bid all my friends again , -Lucius , Lucullus , and Sempronius ; all : -I'll once more feast the rascals . - -O my lord ! -You only speak from your distracted soul ; -There is not so much left to furnish out -A moderate table . - -Be't not in thy care : go . -I charge thee , invite them all : let in the tide -Of knaves once more ; my cook and I'll provide . - - -My lord , you have my voice to it ; the fault's -Bloody ; 'tis necessary he should die ; -Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy . - -Most true ; the law shall bruise him . - - -Honour , health , and compassion to the senate ! - -Now , captain . - -I am a humble suitor to your virtues ; -For pity is the virtue of the law , -And none but tyrants use it cruelly . -It pleases time and fortune to lie heavy -Upon a friend of mine , who , in hot blood , -Hath stepp'd into the law , which is past depth -To those that without heed to plunge into 't . -He is a man , setting his fate aside , -Of comely virtues ; -Nor did he soil the fact with cowardice , -An honour in him which buys out his fault , -But , with a noble fury and fair spirit , -Seeing his reputation touch'd to death , -He did oppose his foe ; -And with such sober and unnoted passion -He did behave his anger , ere 'twas spent , -As if he had but prov'd an argument . - -You undergo too strict a paradox , -Striving to make an ugly deed look fair : -Your words have took such pains as if they labour'd -To bring manslaughter into form , and set quarrelling -Upon the head of valour ; which indeed -Is valour misbegot , and came into the world -When sects and factions were newly born . -He's truly valiant that can wisely suffer -The worst that man can breathe , and make his wrongs -His outsides , to wear them like his raiment , carelessly , -And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart , -To bring it into danger . -If wrongs be evils and enforce us kill , -What folly 'tis to hazard life for ill ! - -My lord , - -You cannot make gross sins look clear ; -To revenge is no valour , but to bear . - -My lords , then , under favour , pardon me , -If I speak like a captain . -Why do fond men expose themselves to battle , -And not endure all threats ? sleep upon't , -And let the foes quietly cut their throats -Without repugnancy ? If there be -Such valour in the bearing , what make we -Abroad ? why then , women are more valiant -That stay at home , if bearing carry it , -And the ass more captain than the lion , the felon -Loaden with irons wiser than the judge , -If wisdom be in suffering . O my lords ! -As you are great , be pitifully good : -Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood ? -To kill , I grant , is sin's extremest gust ; -But , in defence , by mercy , 'tis most just . -To be in anger is impiety ; -But who is man that is not angry ? -Weigh but the crime with this . - -You breathe in vain . - -In vain ! his service done -At Laced mon and Byzantium -Were a sufficient briber for his life . - -What's that ? - -I say , my lords , he has done fair service , -And slain in fight many of your enemies . -How full of valour did he bear himself -In the last conflict , and made plenteous wounds ! - -He has made too much plenty with 'em ; -He's a sworn rioter ; he has a sin that often -Drowns him and takes his valour prisoner ; -If there were no foes , that were enough -To overcome him ; in that beastly fury -He has been known to commit outrages -And cherish factions ; 'tis inferr'd to us , -His days are foul and his drink dangerous . - -He dies . - -Hard fate ! he might have died in war . -My lords , if not for any parts in him , -Though his right arm might purchase his own time , -And be in debt to none ,yet , more to move you , -Take my deserts to his , and join 'em both ; -And , for I know your reverend ages love -Security , I'll pawn my victories , all -My honour to you , upon his good returns . -If by this crime he owes the law his life , -Why , let the war receive't in valiant gore ; -For law is strict , and war is nothing more . - -We are for law ; he dies : urge it no more , -On height of our displeasure . Friend , or brother , -He forfeits his own blood that spills another . - -Must it be so ? it must not be . My lords , -I do beseech you , know me . - -How ! - -Call me to your remembrances . - -What ! - -I cannot think but your age has forgot me ; -It could not else be I should prove so base , -To sue , and be denied such common grace . -My wounds ache at you . - -Do you dare our anger ? -'Tis in few words , but spacious in effect ; -We banish thee for ever . - -Banish me ! -Banish your dotage ; banish usury , -That makes the senate ugly . - -If , after two days' shine , Athens contain thee , -Attend our weightier judgment . And , not to swell our spirit , -He shall be executed presently . - - -Now the gods keep you old enough ; that you may live -Only in bone , that none may look on you ! -I am worse than mad : I have kept back their foes , -While they have told their money and let out -Their coin upon large interest ; I myself -Rich only in large hurts : all those for this ? -Is this the balsam that the usuring senate -Pours into captains' wounds ? Banishment ! -It comes not ill ; I hate not to be banish'd ; -It is a cause worthy my spleen and fury , -That I may strike at Athens . I'll cheer up -My discontented troops , and lay for hearts . -'Tis honour with most lands to be at odds ; -Soldiers should brook as little wrongs as gods . - -The good time of day to you , sir . - -I also wish it you . I think this honourable lord did but try us this other day . - -Upon that were my thoughts tiring when we encountered : I hope it is not so low with him as he made it seem in the trial of his several friends . - -It should not be , by the persuasion of his new feasting . - -I should think so : he hath sent me an earnest inviting , which many my near occasions did urge me to put off ; but he hath conjured me beyond them , and I must needs appear . - -In like manner was I in debt to my importunate business , but he would not hear my excuse . I am sorry , when he sent to borrow of me , that my provision was out . - -I am sick of that grief too , as I understand how all things go . - -Every man here's so . What would he have borrowed you ? - -A thousand pieces . - -A thousand pieces ! - -What of you ? - -He sent to me , sir ,Here he comes . - - -With all my heart , gentlemen both ; and how fare you ? - -Ever at the best , hearing well of your lordship . - -The swallow follows not summer more willing than we your lordship . - -Nor more willingly leaves winter ; such summer-birds are men . Gentlemen , our dinner will not recompense this long stay : feast your ears with the music awhile , if they will fare so harshly o' the trumpet's sound ; we shall to 't presently . - -I hope it remains not unkindly with your lordship that I returned you an empty messenger . - -O ! sir , let it not trouble you . - -My noble lord , - -Ah ! my good friend , what cheer ? - -My most honourable lord , I am e'en sick of shame , that when your lordship this other day sent to me I was so unfortunate a beggar . - -Think not on 't , sir . - -If you had sent but two hours before , - -Let it not cumber your better remembrance . - -Come , bring in all together . - -All covered dishes ! - -Royal cheer , I warrant you . - -Doubt not that , if money and the season can yield it . - -How do you ? What's the news ? - -Alcibiades is banished : hear you of it ? - -Alcibiades banished ! - -Alcibiades banished ! - -'Tis so , be sure of it . - -How ? how ? - -I pray you , upon what ? - -My worthy friends , will you draw near ? - -I'll tell you more anon . Here's a noble feast toward . - -This is the old man still . - -Will't hold ? will't hold ? - -It does ; but time will and so - -I do conceive . - -Each man to his stool , with that spur as he would to the lip of his mistress ; your diet shall be in all places alike . Make not a city feast of it , to let the meat cool ere we can agree upon the first place : sit , sit . The gods require our thanks . -You great benefactors sprinkle our society with thankfulness . For your own gifts , make yourselves praised : but reserve still to give , lest your deities be despised . Lend to each man enough , that one need not lend to another ; for , were your godheads to borrow of men , men would forsake the gods . Make the meat be beloved more than the man that gives it . Let no assembly of twenty be without a score of villains : if there sit twelve women at the table , let a dozen of them be as they are . The rest of your fees , O gods ! the senators of Athens , together with the common lag of people , what is amiss in them , you gods , make suitable for destruction . For these my present friends , as they are to me nothing , so in nothing bless them , and to nothing are they welcome . -Uncover , dogs , and lap . - - -What does his lordship mean ? - -I know not . - -May you a better feast never behold , -You knot of mouth-friends ! smoke and lukewarm water -Is your perfection . This is Timon's last ; -Who , stuck and spangled with your flatteries , -Washes it off , and sprinkles in your faces - -Your reeking villany . Live loath'd , and long , -Most smiling , smooth , detested parasites , -Courteous destroyers , affable wolves , meek bears , -You fools of fortune , trencher-friends , time's flies , -Cap and knee slaves , vapours , and minute-jacks ! -Of man and beast the infinite malady -Crust you quite o'er ! What ! dost thou go ? -Soft ! take thy physic first ,thou too ,and thou ; -Stay , I will lend thee money , borrow none . - -What ! all in motion ? Henceforth be no feast , -Whereat a villain's not a welcome guest . -Burn , house ! sink , Athens ! henceforth hated be -Of Timon man and all humanity ! - -How now , my lords ! - -Know you the quality of Lord Timon's fury ? - -Push ! did you see my cap ? - -I have lost my gown . - -He's but a mad lord , and nought but humour sways him . He gave me a jewel th' other day , and now he has beat it out of my hat : did you see my jewel ? - -Did you see my cap ? - -Here 'tis . - -Here lies my gown . - -Let's make no stay . - -Lord Timon's mad . - -I feel 't upon my bones . - -One day he gives us diamonds , next day stones . - -Let me look back upon thee . O thou wall , -That girdlest in those wolves , dive in the earth . -And fence not Athens ! Matrons , turn incontinent ! -Obedience fail in children ! slaves and fools , -Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench , -And minister in their steads ! To general filths -Convert , o'the instant , green virginity ! -Do't in your parents' eyes ! Bankrupts , hold fast ; -Rather than render back , out with your knives , -And cut your trusters' throats ! Bound servants , steal ! -Large-handed robbers your grave masters are , -And pill by law . Maid , to thy master's bed ; -Thy mistress is o' the brothel ! Son of sixteen , -Pluck the lin'd crutch from thy old limping sire , -With it beat out his brains ! Piety , and fear , -Religion to the gods , peace , justice , truth , -Domestic awe , night-rest and neighbourhood , -Instruction , manners , mysteries and trades , -Degrees , observances , customs and laws , -Decline to your confounding contraries , -And let confusion live ! Plagues incident to men , -Your potent and infectious fevers heap -On Athens , ripe for stroke ! Thou cold sciatica , -Cripple our senators , that their limbs may halt -As lamely as their manners ! Lust and liberty -Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth , -That'gainst the stream of virtue they may strive , -And drown themselves in riot ! Itches , blains , -Sow all the Athenian bosoms , and their crop -Be general leprosy ! Breath infect breath , -That their society , as their friendship , may -Be merely poison ! Nothing I'll bear from thee -But nakedness , thou detestable town ! -Take thou that too , with multiplying bans ! -Timon will to the woods ; where he shall find -The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind . -The gods confound hear me , you good gods all -The Athenians both within and out that wall ! -And grant , as Timon grows , his hate may grow -To the whole race of mankind , high and low ! -Amen . - - -Hear you , Master steward ! where's our master ? -Are we undone ? cast off ? nothing remaining ? - -Alack ! my fellows , what should I say to you ? -Let me be recorded by the righteous gods , -I am as poor as you . - -Such a house broke ! -So noble a master fall'n ! All gone ! and not -One friend to take his fortune by the arm , -And go along with him ! - -As we do turn our backs -From our companion thrown into his grave , -So his familiars to his buried fortunes -Slink all away , leave their false vows with him , -Like empty purses pick'd ; and his poor self , -A dedicated beggar to the air , -With his disease of all-shunn'd poverty , -Walks , like contempt , alone . More of our fellows . - - -All broken implements of a ruin'd house . - -Yet do our hearts wear Timon's livery , -That see I by our faces ; we are fellows still , -Serving alike in sorrow . Leak'd is our bark , -And we , poor mates , stand on the dying deck , -Hearing the surges threat : we must all part -Into this sea of air . - -Good fellows all , -The latest of my wealth I'll share amongst you . -Wherever we shall meet , for Timon's sake -Let's yet be fellows ; let's shake our heads , and say , -As 'twere a knell unto our master's fortunes , -'We have seen better days .' Let each take some ; - -Nay , put out all your hands . Not one word more : -Thus part we rich in sorrow , parting poor . - -O ! the fierce wretchedness that glory brings us . -Who would not wish to be from wealth exempt , -Since riches point to misery and contempt ? -Who would be so mock'd with glory ? or so live , -But in a dream of friendship ? -To have his pomp and all what state compounds -But only painted , like his varnish'd friends ? -Poor honest lord ! brought low by his own heart , -Undone by goodness . Strange , unusual blood , -When man's worst sin is he does too much good ! -Who then dares to be half so kind agen ? -For bounty , that makes gods , does still mar men . -My dearest lord , bless'd , to be most accurs'd , -Rich , only to be wretched , thy great fortunes -Are made thy chief affictions . Alas ! kind lord , -He's flung in rage from this ingrateful seat -Of monstrous friends ; -Nor has he with him to supply his life , -Or that which can command it . -I'll follow and inquire him out : -I'll ever serve his mind with my best will ; -Whilst I have gold I'll be his steward still . - - -O blessed breeding sun ! draw from the earth -Rotten humidity ; below thy sister's orb -Infect the air ! Twinn'd brothers of one womb , -Whose procreation , residence and birth , -Scarce is dividant , touch them with several fortunes ; -The greater scorns the lesser : not nature , -To whom all sores lay siege , can bear great fortune , -But by contempt of nature . -Raise me this beggar , and deny't that lord ; -The senator shall bear contempt hereditary , -The beggar native honour . -It is the pasture lards the rother's sides , -The want that makes him lean . Who dares , who dares , -In purity of manhood stand upright , -And say , 'This man's a flatterer ?' if one be , -So are they all ; for every grize of fortune -Is smooth'd by that below : the learned pate -Ducks to the golden fool : all is oblique ; -There's nothing level in our cursed natures -But direct villany . Therefore , be abhorr'd -All feasts , societies , and throngs of men ! -His semblable , yea , himself , Timon disdains : -Destruction fang mankind ! Earth , yield me roots ! - -Who seeks for better of thee , sauce his palate -With thy most operant poison ! What is here ? -Gold ! yellow , glittering , precious gold ! No , gods , -I am no idle votarist . Roots , you clear heavens ! -Thus much of this will make black white , foul fair , -Wrong right , base noble , old young , coward valiant . -Ha ! you gods , why this ? What this , you gods ? Why , this -Will lug your priests and servants from your sides , -Pluck stout men's pillows from below their head : -This yellow slave -Will knit and breah religions ; bless the accurs'd ; -Make the hoar leprosy ador'd ; place thieves , -And give them title , knee , and approbation , -With senators on the bench ; this is it -That makes the wappen'd widow wed again ; -She , whom the spital-house and ulcerous sores -Would cast the gorge at , this embalms and spices -To the April day again . Come , damned earth , -Thou common whore of mankind , that putt'st odds -Among the rout of nations , I will make thee -Do thy right nature . - -Ha ! a drum ? thou'rt quick , -But yet I'll bury thee : thou'lt go , strong theif , -When gouty keepers of thee cannot stand : -Nay , stay thou out for earnest . - -What art thou there ? speak . - -A beast , as thou art . The canker gnaw thy heart , -For showing me again the eyes of man ! - -What is thy name ? Is man so hateful to thee , -That art thyself a man ? - -I am Misanthropos , and hate mankind . -For thy part , I do wish thou wert a dog , -That I might love thee something . - -I know thee well , -But in thy fortunes am unlearn'd and strange . - -I know thee too ; and more than that I know thee -I not desire to know . Follow thy drum ; -With man's blood paint the ground , gules , gules ; -Religious canons , civil laws are cruel ; -Then what should war be ? This fell whore of thine -Hath in her more destruction than thy sword -For all her cherubin look . - -Thy lips rot off ! - -I will not kiss thee ; then the rot returns -To thine own lips again . - -How came the noble Timon to this change ? - -As the moon does , by wanting light to give : -But then renew I could not like the moon ; -There were no suns to borrow of . - -Noble Timon , what friendship may I do thee ? - -None , but to maintain my opinion . - -What is it , Timon ? - -Promise me friendship , but perform none : if thou wilt not promise , the gods plague thee , for thou art a man ! if thou dost perform , confound thee , for thou art a man ! - -I have heard in some sort of thy miseries . - -Thou saw'st them , when I had prosperity . - -I see them now ; then was a blessed time . - -As thine is now , held with a brace of harlots . - -Is this the Athenian minion , whom the world -Voic'd so regardfully ? - -Art thou Timandra ? - -Yes . - -Be a whore still ; they love thee not that use thee ; -Give them diseases , leaving with thee their lust . -Make use of thy salt hours ; season the slaves -For tubs and baths ; bring down rose-cheeked youth -To the tub-fast and the diet . - -Hang thee , monster ! - -Pardon him , sweet Timandra , for his wits -Are drown'd and lost in his calamities . -I have but little gold of late , brave Timon , -The want whereof doth daily make revolt -In my penurious band : I have heard and griev'd -How cursed Athens , mindless of thy worth , -Forgetting thy great deeds , when neighbour states , -But for thy sword and fortune , trod upon them , - -I prithee , beat thy drum , and get thee gone . - -I am thy friend , and pity thee , dear Timon . - -How dost thou pity him whom thou dost trouble ? -I had rather be alone . - -Why , fare thee well : -Here is some gold for thee . - -Keep it , I cannot eat it . - -When I have laid proud Athens on a heap , - -Warr'st thou 'gainst Athens ? - -Ay , Timon , and have cause . - -The gods confound them all in thy conquest ; and -Thee after , when thou hast conquer'd ! - -Why me , Timon ? - -That , by killing of villains , thou wast born to conquer -My country . -Put up thy gold : go on ,here's gold ,go on ; -Be as a planetary plague , when Jove -Will o'er some high-vic'd city hang his poison -In the sick air : let not thy sword skip one . -Pity not honour'd age for his white beard ; -He is a usurer . Strike me the counterfeit matron ; -It is her habit only that is honest , -Herself's a bawd . Let not the virgin's cheek -Make soft thy trenchant sword ; for those milkpaps , -That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes , -Are not within the leaf of pity writ , -But set them down horrible traitors . Spare not the babe , -Whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust their mercy ; -Think it a bastard , whom the oracle -Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat shall cut , -And mince it sans remorse . Swear against objects ; -Put armour on thine ears and on thine eyes , -Whose proof nor yells of mothers , maids , nor babes , -Nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding , -Shall pierce a jot . There's gold to pay thy soldiers : -Make large confusion ; and , thy fury spent , -Confounded be thyself ! Speak not , be gone . - -Hast thou gold yet ? I'll take the gold thou giv'st me , -Not all thy counsel . - -Dost thou , or dost thou not , heaven's curse upon thee ! - -Give us some gold , good Timon : hast thou more ? - -Give us some gold , good Timon : hast thou more ? - -Enough to make a whore forswear her trade , -And to make whores a bawd . Hold up , you sluts , -Your aprons mountant : you are not oathable , -Although , I know , you'll swear , terribly swear -Into strong shudders and to heavenly agues -The immortal gods that hear you , spare your oaths , -I'll trust to your conditions : be whores still ; -And he whose pious breath seeks to convert you , -Be strong in whore , allure him , burn him up ; -Let your close fire predominate his smoke , -And be no turncoats : yet may your pains , six months , -Be quite contrary : and thatch your poor thin roofs -With burdens of the dead ; some that were hang'd , -No matter ; wear them , betray with them : whore still ; -Paint till a horse may mire upon your face : -A pox of wrinkles ! - -Well , more gold . What then ? - -Well , more gold . What then ? -Believe't , that we'll do anything for gold . - -Consumptions sow -In hollow bones of man ; strike their sharp shins , -And mar men's spurring . Crack the lawyer's voice , -That he may never more false title plead , -Nor sound his quillets shrilly : hoar the flamen , -That scolds against the quality of flesh , -And not believes himself : down with the nose , -Down with it flat ; take the bridge quite away -Of him that , his particular to foresee , -Smells from the general weal : make curl'd-pate ruffians bald , -And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war -Derive some pain from you : plague all , -That your activity may defeat and quell -The source of all erection . There's more gold ; -Do you damn others , and let this damn you , -And ditches grave you all ! - -More counsel with more money , bounteous Timon . - -More counsel with more money , bounteous Timon . - -More whore , more mischief first ; I have given you earnest . - -Strike up the drum towards Athens ! Farewell , Timon : -If I thrive well , I'll visit thee again . - -If I hope well , I'll never see thee more . - -I never did thee harm . - -Yes , thou spok'st well of me . - -Call'st thou that harm ? - -Men daily find it . Get thee away , and take -Thy beagles with thee . - -We but offend him . Strike ! - - -That nature , being sick of man's unkindness , -Should yet be hungry ! Common mother , thou , - -Whose womb unmeasurable , and infinite breast , -Teams , and feeds all ; whose self-same mettle , -Whereof thy proud child , arrogant man , is puff'd , -Engenders the black toad and adder blue , -The gilded newt and eyeless venom'd worm , -With all the abhorred births below crisp heaven -Whareon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine ; -Yield him , who all thy human sons doth hate , -From forth thy plenteous bosom , one poor root ! -Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb , -Let it no more bring out ingrateful man ! -Go great with tigers , dragons , wolves , and bears ; -Teem with new monsters , whom thy upward face -Hath to the marbled mansion all above -Never presented ! O ! a root ; dear thanks : -Dry up thy marrows , vines and plough-torn leas ; -Whereof ingrateful man , with liquorish draughts -And morsels unctuous , greases his pure mind , -That from it all consideration slips ! - -More man ! Plague ! plague ! - -I was directed hither : men report -Thou dost affect my manners , and dost use them . - -'Tis , then , because thou dost not keep a dog -Whom I would imitate : consumption catch thee ! - -This is in thee a nature but infected ; -A poor unmanly melancholy sprung -From change of fortune . Why this spade ? this place ? -This slave-like habit ? and these looks of care ? -Thy flatterers yet wear silk , drink wine , lie soft , -Hug their diseas'd perfumes , and have forgot -That ever Timon was . Shame not these woods -By putting on the cunning of a carper . -Be thou a flatterer now , and seak to thrive -By that which has undone thee : hinge thy knee , -And let his very breath , whom thou'lt observe , -Blow off thy cap ; praise his most vicious strain , -And call it excellent . Thou wast told thus ; -Thou gav'st thine ears , like tapsters that bid welcome , -To knaves and all approachers : 'tis most just -That thou turn rascal ; hadst thou wealth again , -Rascals should have't . Do not assume my likeness . - -Were I like thee I'd throw away myself . - -Thou hast cast away thyself , being like thyself ; -A madman so long , now a fool . What ! think'st -That the bleak air , thy boisterous chamberlain , -Will put thy shirt on warm ? will these moss'd trees , -That have outliv'd the eagle , page thy heels -And skip when thou point'st out ? will the cold brook , -Candied with ice , caudle thy morning taste -To cure the o'er-night's surfeit ? Call the creatures -Whose naked natures live in all the spite -Of wreakful heaven , whose bare unhoused trunks -To the conflicting elements expos'd , -Answer mere nature ; bid them flatter thee ; -O ! thou shalt find - -A fool of thee . Depart . - -I love thee better now than e'er I did . - -I hate thee worse . - -Why ? - -Thou flatter'st misery . - -I flatter not , but say thou art a caitiff . - -Why dost thou seek me out ? - -To vex thee . - -Always a villain's office , or a fool's . -Dost please thyself in 't ? - -Ay . - -What ! a knave too ? - -If thou didst put this sour-cold habit on -To castigate thy pride , 'twere well ; but thou -Dost it enforcedly ; thou'dst courtier be again -Wert thou not beggar . Willing misery -Outlives incertain pomp , is crown'd before ; -The one is filling still , never complete ; -The other , at high wish : best state , contentless , -Hath a distracted and most wretched being , -Worse than the worst , content . -Thou shouldst desire to die , being miserable . - -Not by his breath that is more miserable . -Thou art a slave , whom Fortune's tender arm -With favour never clasp'd , but bred a dog . -Hadst thou , like us from our first swath , proceeded -The sweet degrees that this brief world affords -To such as may the passive drudges of it -Freely command , thou wouldst have plung'd thyself -In general riot ; melted down thy youth -In different beds of lust ; and never learn'd -The icy precepts of respect , but follow'd -The sugar'd game before thee . But myself , -Who had the world as my confectionary , -The mouths , the tongues , the eyes , and hearts of men -At duty , more than I could frame employment , -That numberless upon me stuck as leaves -Do on the oak , have with one winter's brush -Fell from their boughs and left me open , bare -For every storm that blows ; I , to bear this , -That never knew but better , is some burden : -Thy nature did commence in sufferance , time -Hath made thee hard in 't . Why shouldst thou hate men ? -They never flatter'd thee : what hast thou given ? -If thou wilt curse , thy father , that poor rag , -Must be thy subject , who in spite put stuff -To some she beggar and compounded thee -Poor rogue hereditary . Hence ! be gone ! -If thou hadst not been born the worst of men , -Thou hadst been a knave and flatterer . - -Art thou proud yet ? - -Ay , that I am not thee . - -I , that I was -No prodigal . - -I , that I am one now : -Were all the wealth I have shut up in thee , -I'd give thee leave to hang it . Get thee gone . -That the whole life of Athens were in this ! -Thus would I eat it . - - -Here ; I will mend thy feast . - -First mend my company , take away thyself . - -So I shall mend mine own , by the lack of thine . - -'Tis not well mended so , it is but botch'd ; -If not , I would it were . - -What wouldst thou have to Athens ? - -Thee thither in a whirlwind . If thou wilt , -Tell them there I have gold ; look , so I have . - -Here is no use for gold . - -The best and truest ; -For here it sleeps , and does no hired harm . - -Where liest o' nights , Timon ? - -Under that's above me . -Where feed'st thou o' days , Apemantus ? - -Where my stomach finds meat ; or , rather , where I eat it . - -Would poison were obedient and knew my mind ! - -Where wouldst thou send it ? - -To sauce thy dishes . - -The middle of humanity thou never knewest , but the extremity of both ends . When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume , they mocked thee for too much curiosity ; in thy rags thou knowest none , but art despised for the contrary . There's a medlar for thee ; eat it . - -On what I hate I feed not . - -Dost hate a medlar ? - -Ay , though it look like thee . - -An thou hadst hated meddlers sooner , thou shouldst have loved thyself better now . What man didst thou ever know unthrift that was beloved after his means ? - -Who , without those means thou talkest of , didst thou ever know beloved ? - -Myself . - -I understand thee ; thou hadst some means to keep a dog . - -What things in the world canst thou nearest compare to thy flatterers ? - -Women nearest ; but men , men are the things themselves . What wouldst thou do with the world , Apemantus , if it lay in thy power ? - -Give it the beasts , to be rid of the men . - -Wouldst thou have thyself fall in the confusion of men , and remain a beast with the beasts ? - -Ay , Timon . - -A beastly ambition , which the gods grant thee to attain to . If thou wert the lion , the fox would beguile thee ; if thou wert the lamb , the fox would eat thee ; if thou wert the fox , the lion would suspect thee , when peradventure thou wert accused by the ass ; if thou wert the ass , thy dulness would torment thee , and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf ; if thou wert the wolf , thy greediness would afflict thee , and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner ; wert thou the unicorn , pride and wrath would confound thee and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury ; wert thou a bear , thou wouldst be killed by the horse ; wert thou a horse , thou wouldst be seized by the leopard ; wert thou a leopard , thou wert german to the lion , and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life ; all thy safety were remotion , and thy defence absence . What beast couldst thou be , that were not subject to a beast ? and what a beast art thou already , that seest not thy loss in transformation ! - -If thou couldst please me with speaking to me , thou mightst have hit upon it here ; the commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts . - -How has the ass broke the wall , that thou art out of the city ? - -Yonder comes a poet and a painter : the plague of company light upon thee ! I will fear to catch it , and give way . When I know not what else to do , I'll see thee again . - -When there is nothing living but thee , thou shalt be welcome . I had rather be a beggar's dog than Apemantus . - -Thou art the cap of all the fools alive . - -Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon ! - -A plague on thee ! thou art too bad to curse ! - -All villains that do stand by thee are pure . - -There is no leprosy but what thou speak'st . - -If I name thee . -I'll beat thee , but I should infect my hands . - -I would my tongue could rot them off ! - -Away , thou issue of a mangy dog ! -Choler does kill me that thou art alive ; -I swound to see thee . - -Would thou wouldst burst ! - -Away , -Thou tedious rogue ! I am sorry I shall lose -A stone by thee . - - -Beast ! - -Slave ! - -Toad ! - -Rogue , rogue , rogue ! -I am sick of this false world , and will love nought -But even the mere necessities upon 't . -Then , Timon , presently prepare thy grave ; -Lie where the light foam of the sea may beat -Thy grave-stone daily : make thine epitaph , -That death in me at others' lives may laugh . - -O thou sweet king-killer , and dear divorce -'Twixt natural son and sire ! thou bright defiler -Of Hymen's purest bed ! thou valiant Mars ! -Thou ever young , fresh , lov'd , and delicate wooer , -Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow -That lies on Dian's lap ! thou visible god , -That solder'st close impossibilities , -And mak'st them kiss ! that speak'st with every tongue , -To every purpose ! O thou touch of hearts ! -Think , thy slave man rebels , and by thy virtue -Set them into confounding odds , that beasts -May have the world in empire . - -Would 'twere so : -But not till I am dead ; I'll say thou'st gold : -Thou wilt be throng'd to shortly . - -Throng'd to ? - -Ay . - -Thy back , I prithee . - -Live , and love thy misery ! - -Long live so , and so die ! - -I am quit . -More things like men ! Eat , Timon , and abhor them . - - -Where should he have this gold ? It is some poor fragment , some slender ort of his remainder . The mere want of gold , and the falling-from of his friends , drove him into this melancholy . - -It is noised he hath a mass of treasure . - -Let us make the assay upon him : if he care not for 't , he will supply us easily ; if he covetously reserve it , how shall's get it ? - -True ; for he bears it not about him , 'tis hid . - -Is not this he ? - -Where ? - -'Tis his description . - -He ; I know him . - -Save thee , Timon . - -Now , thieves ? - -Soldiers , not thieves . - -Both too ; and women's sons . - -We are not thieves , but men that much do want . - -Your greatest want is , you want much of meat . -Why should you want ? Behold , the earth hath roots ; -Within this mile break forth a hundred springs ; -The oaks bear mast , the briers scarlet hips ; -The bounteous housewife , nature , on each bush -Lays her full mess before you . Want ! why want ? - -We cannot live on grass , on berries , water , -As beasts , and birds , and fishes . - -Nor on the beasts themselves , the birds , and fishes ; -You must eat men . Yet thanks I must you con -That you are thieves profess'd , that you work not -In holier shapes ; for there is boundless theft -In limited professions . Rascal thieves , -Here's gold . Go , suck the subtle blood o' the grape , -Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth , -And so 'scape hanging : trust not the physician ; -His antidotes are poison , and he slays -More than you rob : take wealth and lives together ; -Do villany , do , since you protest to do't , -Like workmen . I'll example you with thievery : -The sun's a thief , and with his great attraction -Robs the vast sea ; the moon's an arrant thief , -And her pale fire she snatches from the sun ; -The sea's a thief , whose liquid surge resolves -The moon into salt tears ; the earth's a thief , -That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen -From general excrement , each thing's a thief ; -The laws , your curb and whip , in their rough power -Have uncheck'd theft . Love not yourselves ; away ! -Rob one another . There's more gold : cut throats ; -All that you meet are thieves . To Athens go , -Break open shops ; nothing can you steal -But thieves do lose it : steal no less for this -I give you ; and gold confound you howsoe'er ! -Amen . - -He has almost charmed me from my profession , by persuading me to it . - -'Tis in the malice of mankind that he thus advises us ; not to have us thrive in our mystery . - -I'll believe him as an enemy , and give over my trade . - -Let us first see peace in Athens ; there is no time so miserable but a man may be true . - -O you gods ! -Is yond despised and ruinous man my lord ? -Full of decay and failing ? O monument -And wonder of good deeds evilly bestow'd ! -What an alteration of honour -Has desperate want made ! -What viler thing upon the earth than friends -Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends ! -How rarely does it meet with this time's guise , -When man was wish'd to love his enemies ! -Grant I may ever love , and rather woo -Those that would mischief me than those that do ! -He hath caught me in his eye : I will present -My honest grief unto him ; and , as my lord , -Still serve him with my life . My dearest master ! - - -Away ! what art thou ? - -Have you forgot me , sir ? - -Why dost ask that ? I have forgot all men ; -Then , if thou grant'st thou'rt a man , I have forgot thee . - -An honest poor servant of yours . - -Then I know thee not : -I never had an honest man about me ; ay all -I kept were knaves , to serve in meat to villains . - -The gods are witness , -Ne'er did poor steward wear a truer grief -For his undone lord than mine eyes for you . - -What ! dost thou weep ? Come nearer . Then I love thee , -Because thou art a woman , and disclaim'st -Flinty mankind ; whose eyes do never give , -But thorough lust and laughter . Pity's sleeping : -Strange times , that weep with laughing , not with weeping ! - -I beg of you to know me , good my lord , -To accept my grief and whilst this poor wealth lasts -To entertain me as your steward still . - -Had I a steward -So true , so just , and now so comfortable ? -It almost turns my dangerous nature mild . -Let me behold thy face . Surely , this man -Was born of woman . -Forgive my general and exceptless rashness , -You perpetual sober gods ! I do proclaim -One honest man , mistake me not , but one ; -No more , I pray , and he's a steward . -How fain would I have hated all mankind ! -And thou redeem'st thyself : but all , save thee , -I fell with curses . -Methinks thou art more honest now than wise ; -For , by oppressing and betraying me , -Thou mightst have sooner got another service : -For many so arrive at second masters -Upon their first lord's neck . But tell me true , -For I must ever doubt , though ne'er so sure , -Is not thy kindness subtle , covetous , -If not a usuring kindness and as rich men deal gifts , -Expecting in return twenty for one ? - -No , my most worthy master ; in whose breast -Doubt and suspect , alas ! are plac'd too late . -You should have fear'd false times when you did feast ; -Suspect still comes when an estate is least . -That which I show , heaven knows , is merely love , -Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind , -Care of your food and living ; and , believe it , -My most honour'd lord , -For any benefit that points to me , -Either in hope , or present , I'd exchange -For this one wish , that you had power and wealth -To requite me by making rich yourself . - -Look thee , 'tis so . Thou singly honest man , -Here , take : the gods out of my misery , -Have sent thee treasure . Go , live rich and happy ; -But thus condition'd : thou shalt build from men ; -Hate all , curse all , show charity to none , -But let the famish'd flesh slide from the bone , -Ere thou relieve the beggar ; give to dogs -What thou deny'st to men ; let prisons swallow 'em , -Debts wither 'em to nothing ; be men like blasted woods , -And may diseases lick up their false bloods ! -And so , farewell and thrive . - -O ! let me stay -And comfort you , my master . - -If thou hatest -Curses , stay not ; fly , whilst thou'rt bless'd and free : -Ne'er see thou man , and let me ne'er see thee . - -As I took note of the place , it cannot be far where he abides . - -What's to be thought of him ? Does the rumour hold for true that he is so full of gold ? - -Certain : Alcibiades reports it ; Phrynia and Timandra had gold of him : he likewise enriched poor straggling soldiers with great quantity . 'Tis said he gave unto his steward a mighty sum . - -Then this breaking of his has been but a try for his friends . - -Nothing else ; you shall see him a palm in Athens again , and flourish with the highest . Therefore 'tis not amiss we tender our loves to him , in this supposed distress of his : it will show honestly in us , and is very likely to load our purposes with what they travel for , if it be a just and true report that goes of his having . - -What have you now to present unto him ? - -Nothing at this time but my visitation ; only , I will promise him an excellent piece . - -I must serve him so too ; tell him of an intent that's coming towards him . - -Good as the best . Promising is the very air o' the time ; it opens the eyes of expectation ; performance is ever the duller for his act ; and , but in the plainer and simpler kind of people , the deed of saying is quite out of use . To promise is most courtly and fashionable ; performance is a kind of will or testament which argues a great sickness in his judgment that makes it . - - -Excellent workman ! Thou canst not paint a man so bad as is thyself . - -I am thinking what I shall say I have provided for him : it must be a personating of himself ; a satire against the softness of prosperity , with a discovery of the infinite flatteries that follow youth and opulency . - -Must thou needs stand for a villain in thine own work ? Wilt thou whip thine own faults in other men ? Do so , I have gold for thee . - -Nay , let's seek him : -Then do we sin against our own estate , -When we may profit meet , and come too late . - -True ; -When the day serves , before black-corner'd night , -Find what thou want'st by free and offer'd light . -Come . - -I'll meet you at the turn . What a god's gold , -That he is worshipp'd in a baser temple -Than where swine feed ! -'Tis thou that rigg'st the bark and plough'st the foam , -Settlest admired reverence in a slave : -To thee be worship ; and thy saints for aye -Be crown'd with plagues that thee alone obey . -Fit I meet them . - - -Hail , worthy Timon ! - -Our late noble master ! - -Have I once liv'd to see two honest men ? - -Sir , -Having often of your open bounty tasted , -Hearing you were retir'd , your friends fall'n off , -Whose thankless natures O abhorred spirits ! -Not all the whips of heaven are large enough -What ! to you , -Whose star-like nobleness gave life and influence -To their whole being ! I am rapt , and cannot cover -The monstrous bulk of this ingratitude -With any size of words . - -Let it go naked , men may see 't the better : -You , that are honest , by being what you are , -Make them best seen and known . - -He and myself -Have travell'd in the great shower of your gifts , -And sweetly felt it . - -Ay , you are honest men . - -We are hither come to offer you our service . - -Most honest men ! Why , how shall I requite you ? -Can you eat roots and drink cold water ? no . - -What we can do , we'll do , to do you service . - -Ye're honest men . Ye've heard that I have gold ; -I am sure you have : speak truth ; ye're honest men . - -So it is said , my noble lord ; but therefore -Came not my friend nor I . - -Good honest men ! Thou draw'st a counterfeit -Best in all Athens : thou'rt , indeed , the best ; -Thou counterfeit'st most lively . - -So , so , my lord . - -E'en so , sir , as I say . And , for thy fiction , -Why , thy verse swells with stuff so fine and smooth -That thou art even natural in thine art . -But for all this , my honest-natur'd friends , -I must needs say you have a little fault : -Marry , 'tis not monstrous in you , neither wish I -You take much pains to mend . - -Beseech your honour -To make it known to us . - -You'll take it ill . - -Most thankfully , my lord . - -Will you indeed ? - -Doubt it not , worthy lord . - -There's never a one of you but trusts a knave , -That mightily deceives you . - -Do we , my lord ? - -Ay , and you hear him cog , see him dissemble , -Know his gross patchery , love him , feed him , -Keep in your bosom ; yet remain assur'd -That he's a made-up villain . - -I know none such , my lord . - -Nor I . - -Look you , I love you well ; I'll give you gold , -Rid me these villains from your companies : -Hang them or stab them , drown them in a draught , -Confound them by some course , and come to me , -I'll give you gold enough . - -Name them , my lord ; let's know them . - -You that way and you this , but two in company ; -Each man apart , all single and alone , -Yet an arch villain keeps him company . -If , where thou art two villains shall not be , -Come not near him . - -If thou would not reside -But where one villain is , then him abandon . -Hence ! pack ! there's gold ; ye came for gold , ye slaves : -You have done work for me , there's payment : hence ! -You are an alchemist , make gold of that . -Out , rascal dogs ! - -It is in vain that you would speak with Timon ; -For he is set so only to himself -That nothing but himself , which looks like man , -Is friendly with him . - -Bring us to his cave : -It is our part and promise to the Athenians -To speak with Timon . - -At all times alike -Men are not still the same : 'twas time and griefs -That fram'd him thus : time , with his fairer hand , -Offering the fortunes of his former days , -The former man may make him . Bring us to him , -And chance it as it may . - -Here is his cave . -Peace and content be here ! Lord Timon ! Timon ! -Look out , and speak to friends . The Athenians , -By two of their most reverend senate , greet thee : -Speak to them , noble Timon . - - -Thousun , that comfort'st , burn ! Speak , and be hang'd : -For each true word , a blister ! and each false -Be as a cauterizing to the root o'the tongue , -Consuming it with speaking ! - -Worthy Timon , - -Of none but such as you , and you of Timon . - -The senators of Athens greet thee , Timon . - -I thank them ; and would send them back the plague , -Could I but catch it for them . - -O ! forget -What we are sorry for ourselves in thee . -The senators with one consent of love -Entreat thee back to Athens ; who have thought -On special dignities , which vacant lie -For thy best use and wearing . - -They confess -Toward thee forgetfulness to general , gross ; -Which now the public body , which doth seldom -Play the recanter , feeling in itself -A lack of Timon's aid , hath sense withal -Of its own fail , restraining aid to Timon ; -And send forth us , to make their sorrow'd render , -Together with a recompense more fruitful -Than their offence can weigh down by the dram ; -Ay , even such heaps and sums of love and wealth -As shall to thee block out what wrongs were theirs , -And write in thee the figures of their love , -Ever to read them thine . - -You witch me in it ; -Surprise me to the very brink of tears : -Lend me a fool's heart and a woman's eyes , -And I'll beweep these comforts , worthy senators . - -Therefore so please thee to return with us , -And of our Athens thine and ours to take -The captainship , thou shalt be met with thanks , -Allow'd with absolute power , and thy good name -Live with authority : so soon we shall drive back -Of Alcibiades the approaches wild ; -Who , like a boar too savage , doth root up -His country's peace . - -And shakes his threat'ning sword -Against the walls of Athens . - -Therefore , Timon , - -Well , sir , I will ; therefore , I will , sir ; thus : -If Alcibiades kill my countrymen , -Let Alcibiades know this of Timon , -That Timon cares not . But if he sack fair Athens , -And take our goodly aged men by the beards , -Giving our holy virgins to the stain -Of contumelious , beastly , mad-brain'd war ; -Then let him know , and tell him Timon speaks it , -In pity of our aged and our youth -I cannot choose but tell him , that I care not , -And let him take't at worst ; for their knives care not -While you have throats to answer : for myself , -There's not a whittle in the unruly camp -But I do prize it at my love before -The reverend'st throat in Athens . So I leave you -To the protection of the prosperous gods , -As thieves to keepers . - -Stay not ; all's in vain . - -Why , I was writing of my epitaph ; -It will be seen to-morrow . My long sickness -Of health and living now begins to mend , -And nothing brings me all things . Go ; live still : -Be Alcibiades your plague , you his , -And last so long enough ! - -We speak in vain . - -But yet I love my country , and am not -One that rejoices in the common wrack , -As common bruit doth put it . - -That's well spoke . - -Commend me to my loving countrymen , - -These words become your lips as they pass through them . - -And enter in our ears like great triumphers -In their applauding gates . - -Commend me to them ; -And tell them , that , to ease them of their griefs , -Their fears of hostile strokes , their aches , losses , -Their pangs of love , with other incident throes -That nature's fragile vessel doth sustain -In life's uncertain voyage , I will some kindness do them : -I'll teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades' wrath . - -I like this well ; he will return again . - -I have a tree which grows here in my close , -That mine own use invites me to cut down , -And shortly must I fell it ; tell my friends , -Tell Athens , in the sequence of degree , -From high to low throughout , that whoso please -To stop affliction , let him take his haste , -Come hither , ere my tree hath felt the axe , -And hang himself . I pray you , do my greeting . - -Trouble him no further ; thus you still shall find him . - -Come not to me again ; but say to Athans , -Timon hath made his everlasting mansion -Upon the beached verge of the salt flood ; -Who once a day with his embossed froth -The turbulent surge shall cover : thither come , -And let my grave-stone be your oracle . -Lips , let sour words go by and language end : -What is amiss plague and infection mend ! -Graves only be men's works and death their gain ! -Sun , hide thy beams ! Timon hath done his reign . - - -His discontents are unremovably Coupled to nature . - -Our hope in him is dead : let us return , -And strain what other means is left unto us -In our dear peril . - -It requires swift foot . - - -Thou hast painfully discover'd : are his files -As full as thy report ? - -I have spoke the least ; -Besides , his expedition promises -Present approach . - -We stand much hazard if they bring not Timon . - -I met a courier , one mine ancient friend , -Whom , though in general part we were oppos'd , -Yet our old love made a particular force , -And made us speak like friends : this man was riding -From Alcibiades to Timon's cave , -With letters of entreaty , which imported -His fellowship i' the cause against your city , -In part for his sake mov'd . - -Here come our brothers . - - -No talk of Timon , nothing of him expect . -The enemies' drum is heard , and fearful scouring -Doth choke the air with dust . In , and prepare : -Ours is the fall , I fear ; our foes the snare . - - -By all description this should be the place . -Who's here ? speak , ho ! No answer ! What is this ? -Timon is dead , who hath outstretch'd his span : -Some beast rear'd this ; here does not live a man . -Dead , sure ; and this his grave . What's on this tomb -I cannot read ; the character I'll take with wax : -Our captain hath in every figure skill ; -An ag'd interpreter , though young in days . -Before proud Athens he's set down by this , -Whose fall the mark of his ambition is . - - -Sound to this coward and lascivious town -Our terrible approach . - -Till now you have gone on , and fill'd the time -With all licentious measure , making your wills -The scope of justice ; till now myself and such -As slept within the shadow of your power -Have wander'd with our travers'd arms , and breath'd -Our sufferance vainly . Now the time is flush , -When crouching marrow , in the bearer strong , -Cries of itself , 'No more :' now breathless wrong -Shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease , -And pursy insolence shall break his wind - -With fear and horrid flight . - -Noble and young , -When thy first griefs were but a mere conceit , -Ere thou hadst power or we had cause of fear , -We sent to thee , to give thy rages balm , -To wipe out our ingratitude with loves -Above their quantity . - -So did we woo -Transformed Timon to our city's love -By humble message and by promis'd means : -We were not all unkind , nor all deserve -The common stroke of war . - -These walls of ours -Were not erected by their hands from whom -You have receiv'd your grief ; nor are they such -That these great towers , trophies , and schools should fall -For private faults in them . - -Nor are they living -Who were the motives that you first went out ; -Shame that they wanted cunning in excess -Hath broke their hearts . March , noble lord , -Into our city with thy banners spread : -By decimation , and a tithed death , -If thy revenges hunger for that food -Which nature loathes ,take thou the destin'd tenth , -And by the hazard of the spotted die -Let die the spotted . - -All have not offended ; -For those that were , it is not square to take -On those that are , revenges : crimes , like lands , -Are not inherited . Then , dear countryman , -Bring in thy ranks , but leave without thy rage : -Spare thyAthenian cradle , and those kin -Which in the bluster of thy wrath must fall -With those that have offended : like a shepherd , -Approach the fold and cull th' infected forth , -But kill not all together . - -What thou wilt , -Thou rather shalt enforce it with thy smile -Thank hew to't with thy sword . - -Set but thy foot -Against our rampir'd gates , and they shall ope , -So thou wilt send thy gentle heart before , -To say thou'lt enter friendly . - -Throw thy glove , -Or any token of thine honour else , -That thou wilt use the wars as thy redress -And not as our confusion , all thy powers -Shall make their harbour in our town , till we -Have seal'd thy full desire . - -Then there's my glove ; -Descend , and open your uncharged ports : -Those enemies of Timon's and mine own -Whom you yourselves shall set out for reproof , -Fall , and no more ; and , to atone your fears -With my more noble meaning , not a man -Shall pass his quarter , or offend the stream -Of regular justice in your city's bounds , -But shall be render'd to your public laws -At heaviest answer . - -'Tis most nobly spoken . - -Descend , and keep your words . - -My noble general , Timon is dead ; -Entomb'd upon the very hem o' the sea : -And on his grave-stone this insculpture , which -With wax I brought away , whose soft impression -Interprets for my poor ignorance . - -Here lies a wretched corse , of wretched soul bereft : -Seek not my name : a plague consume you wicked caitiffs left ! -Here lie I , Timon ; who , alive , all living men did hate : -Pass by , and curse thy fill ; but pass and stay not here thy gait . -These well express in thee thy latter spirits : -Though thou abhorr'dst in us our human griefs , -Scorn'dst our brain's flow and those our droplets which -From niggard nature fall , yet rich conceit -Taught thee to make vast Neptune weep for aye -On thy low grave , on faults forgiven . Dead -Is noble Timon ; of whose memory -Hereafter more . Bring me into your city , -And I will use the olive with my sword ; -Make war breed peace ; make peace stint war ; make each -Prescribe to other as each other's leech . -Let our drums strike . - -TITUS ANDRONICUS - - -Noble patricians , patrons of my right , -Defend the justice of my cause with arms ; -And , countrymen , my loving followers , -Plead my successive title with your swords : -I am his first-born son that was the last -That wore the imperial diadem of Rome ; -Then let my father's honours live in me , -Nor wrong mine age with this indignity . - -Romans , friends , followers , favourers of my right , -If ever Bassianus , C sar's son , -Were gracious in the eyes of royal Rome , -Keep then this passage to the Capitol , -And suffer not dishonour to approach -The imperial seat , to virtue consecrate , -To justice , continence , and nobility ; -But let desert in pure election shine , -And , Romans , fight for freedom in your choice . - - -Princes , that strive by factions and by friends -Ambitiously for rule and empery , -Know that the people of Rome , for whom we stand -A special party , have , by common voice , -In election for the Roman empery , -Chosen Andronicus , surnamed Pius , -For many good and great deserts to Rome : -A nobler man , a braver warrior , -Lives not this day within the city walls : -He by the senate is accited home -From weary wars against the barbarous Goths ; -That , with his sons , a terror to our foes , -Hath yok'd a nation , strong , train'd up in arms . -Ten years are spent since first he undertook -This cause of Rome , and chastised with arms -Our enemies' pride : five times he hath return'd -Bleeding to Rome , bearing his valiant sons -In coffins from the field ; -And now at last , laden with honour's spoils , -Returns the good Andronicus to Rome , -Renowned Titus , flourishing in arms . -Let us entreat , by honour of his name , -Whom worthily you would have now succeed , -And in the Capitol and senate's right , -Whom you pretend to honour and adore , -That you withdraw you and abate your strength ; -Dismiss your followers , and , as suitors should , -Plead your deserts in peace and humbleness . - -How fair the tribune speaks to calm my thoughts ! - -Marcus Andronicus , so I do affy -In thy uprightness and integrity , -And so I love and honour thee and thine , -Thy noble brother Titus and his sons , -And her to whom my thoughts are humbled all , -Gracious Lavinia , Rome's rich ornament , -That I will here dismiss my loving friends , -And to my fortunes and the people's favour -Commit my cause in balance to be weigh'd . - - -Friends , that have been thus forward in my right , -I thank you all and here dismiss you all ; -And to the love and favour of my country -Commit myself , my person , and the cause . - -Rome , be as just and gracious unto me -As I am confident and kind to thee . -Open the gates , and let me in . - -Tribunes , and me , a poor competitor . - -Romans , make way ! the good Andronicus , -Patron of virtue , Rome's best champion , -Successful in the battles that he fights , -With honour and with fortune is return'd -From where he circumscribed with his sword , -And brought to yoke , the enemies of Rome . - -Hail , Rome , victorious in thy mourning weeds ! -Lo ! as the bark , that hath discharg'd her fraught , -Returns with precious lading to the bay -From whence at first she weigh'd her anchorage , -Cometh Andronicus , bound with laurel boughs , -To re-salute his country with his tears , -Tears of true joy for his return to Rome . -Thou great defender of this Capitol , -Stand gracious to the rites that we intend ! -Romans , of five-and-twenty valiant sons , -Half of the number that King Priam had , -Behold the poor remains , alive , and dead ! -These that survive let Rome reward with love ; -These that I bring unto their latest home . -With burial among their ancestors : -Here Goths have given me leave to sheathe my sword . -Titus , unkind and careless of thine own , -Why suffer'st thou thy sons , unburied yet -To hover on the dreadful shore of Styx ? -Make way to lay them by their brethren . - -There greet in silence , as the dead are wont , -And sleep in peace , slain in your country's wars ! -O sacred receptacle of my joys , -Sweet cell of virtue and nobility , -How many sons of mine hast thou in store , -That thou wilt never render to me more ! - -Give us the proudest prisoner of the Goths , -That we may hew his limbs , and on a pile -Ad manes fratrum sacrifice his flesh , -Before this earthy prison of their bones ; -That so the shadows be not unappeas'd , -Nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth . - -I give him you , the noblest that survives -The eldest son of this distressed queen . - -Stay , Roman brethren ! Gracious conqueror , -Victorious Titus , rue the tears I shed , -A mother's tears in passion for her son : -And if thy sons were ever dear to thee , -O ! think my son to be as dear to me . -Sufficeth not that we are brought to Rome , -To beautify thy triumphs and return , -Captive to thee and to thy Roman yoke ; -But must my sons be slaughter'd in the streets -For valiant doings in their country's cause ? -O ! if to fight for king and commonweal -Were piety in thine , it is in these . -Andronicus , stain not thy tomb with blood : -Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods ? -Draw near them then in being merciful ; -Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge : -Thrice-noble Titus , spare my first-born son . - -Patient yourself , madam , and pardon me . -These are their brethren , whom your Goths beheld -Alive and dead , and for their brethren slain -Religiously they ask a sacrifice : -To this your son is mark'd , and die he must , -To appease their groaning shadows that are gone . - -Away with him ! and make a fire straight ; -And with our swords , upon a pile of wood , -Let's hew his limbs till they be clean consum'd . - - -O cruel , irreligious piety ! - -Was ever Scythia half so barbarous ? - -Oppose not Scythia to ambitious Rome . -Alarbus goes to rest , and we survive -To tremble under Titus' threatening look . -Then , madam , stand resolv'd ; but hope withal -The self-same gods , that arm'd the Queen of Troy -With opportunity of sharp revenge -Upon the Thracian tyrant in his tent , -May favour Tamora , the Queen of Goths -When Goths were Goths , and Tamora was queen -To quit the bloody wrongs upon her foes . - - -See , lord and father , how we have perform'd -Our Roman rites . Alarbus' limbs are lopp'd , -And entrails feed the sacrificing fire , -Whose smoke , like incense , doth perfume the sky . -Remaineth nought but to inter our brethren , -And with loud 'larums welcome them to Rome . - -Let it be so ; and let Andronicus -Make this his latest farewell to their souls . - -In peace and honour rest you here , my sons ; -Rome's readiest champions , repose you here in rest , -Secure from worldly chances and mishaps ! -Here lurks no treason , here no envy swells , -Here grow no damned drugs , here are no storms , -No noise , but silence and eternal sleep : -In peace and honour rest you here , my sons ! - - -In peace and honour live Lord Titus long ; -My noble lord and father , live in fame ! -Lo ! at this tomb my tributary tears -I render for my brethren's obsequies ; -And at thy feet I kneel , with tears of joy -Shed on the earth for thy return to Rome . -O ! bless me here with thy victorious hand , -Whose fortunes Rome's best citizens applaud . - -Kind Rome , that hast thus lovingly reserv'd -The cordial of mine age to glad my heart ! -Lavinia , live ; outlive thy father's days , -And fame's eternal date , for virtue's praise ! - - -Long live Lord Titus , my beloved brother , -Gracious triumpher in the eyes of Rome ! - -Thanks , gentle Tribune , noble brother Marcus . - -And welcome , nephews , from successful wars , -You that survive , and you that sleep in fame ! -Fair lords , your fortunes are alike in all , -That in your country's service drew your swords ; -But safer triumph is this funeral pomp , -That hath aspir'd to Solon's happiness , -And triumphs over chance in honour's bed . -Titus Andronicus , the people of Rome , -Whose friend in justice thou hast ever been , -Send thee by me , their tribune and their trust , -This palliament of white and spotless hue ; -And name thee in election for the empire , -With these our late-deceased emperor's sons : -Be candidatus then , and put it on , -And help to set a head on headless Rome . - -A better head her glorious body fits -Than his that shakes for age and feebleness . -What should I don this robe , and trouble you ? -Be chosen with proclamations to-day , -To-morrow yield up rule , resign my life , -And set abroad new business for you all ? -Rome , I have been thy soldier forty years , -And led my country's strength successfully , -And buried one-and-twenty valiant sons , -Knighted in field , slain manfully in arms , -In right and service of their noble country . -Give me a staff of honour for mine age , -But not a sceptre to control the world : -Upright he held it , lords , that held it last . - -Titus , thou shalt obtain and ask the empery . - -Proud and ambitious tribune , canst thou tell ? - -Patience , Prince Saturninus . - -Romans , do me right : -Patricians , draw your swords , and sheathe them not -Till Saturninus be Rome's emperor . -Andronicus , would thou wert shipp'd to hell , -Rather than rob me of the people's hearts ! - -Proud Saturnine , interrupter of the good -That noble-minded Titus means to thee ! - -Content thee , prince ; I will restore to thee -The people's hearts , and wean them from themselves . - -Andronicus , I do not flatter thee , -But honour thee , and will do till I die : -My faction if thou strengthen with thy friends , -I will most thankful be ; and thanks to men -Of noble minds is honourable meed . - -People of Rome , and people's tribunes here , -I ask your voices and your suffrages : -Will you bestow them friendly on Andronicus ? - -To gratify the good Andronicus , -And gratulate his safe return to Rome , -The people will accept whom he admits . - -Tribunes , I thank you ; and this suit I make , -That you create your emperor's eldest son , -Lord Saturnine ; whose virtues will , I hope , -Reflect on Rome as Titan's rays on earth , -And ripen justice in this commonweal : -Then , if you will elect by my advice , -Crown him , and say , 'Long live our emperor !' - -With voices and applause of every sort , -Patricians and plebeians , we create -Lord Saturninus Rome's great emperor , -And say , 'Long live our Emperor Saturnine !' - - -Titus Andronicus , for thy favours done -To us in our election this day , -I give thee thanks in part of thy deserts , -And will with deeds requite thy gentleness : -And , for an onset , Titus , to advance -Thy name and honourable family , -Lavinia will I make my empress , -Rome's royal mistress , mistress of my heart , -And in the sacred Pantheon her espouse . -Tell me , Andronicus , doth this motion please thee ? - -It doth , my worthy lord ; and in this match -I hold me highly honour'd of your Grace : -And here in sight of Rome to Saturnine , -King and commander of our commonweal , -The wide world's emperor , do I consecrate -My sword , my chariot , and my prisoners ; -Presents well worthy Rome's imperious lord : -Receive them then , the tribute that I owe , -Mine honour's ensigns humbled at thy feet . - -Thanks , noble Titus , father of my life ! -How proud I am of thee and of thy gifts -Rome shall record , and , when I do forget -The least of these unspeakable deserts , -Romans , forget your fealty to me . - -Now , madam , are you prisoner to an emperor ; -To him that , for your honour and your state , -Will use you nobly and your followers . - -A goodly lady , trust me ; of the hue -That I would choose , were I to choose anew . -Clear up , fair queen , that cloudy countenance : -Though chance of war hath wrought this change of cheer , -Thou com'st not to be made a scorn in Rome : -Princely shall be thy usage every way . -Rest on my word , and let not discontent -Daunt all your hopes : madam , he comforts you -Can make you greater than the Queen of Goths . -Lavinia , you are not displeas'd with this ? - -Not I , my lord ; sith true nobility -Warrants these words in princely courtesy . - -Thanks , sweet Lavinia . Romans , let us go ; -Ransomless here we set our prisoners free : -Proclaim our honours , lords , with trump and drum . - - -Lord Titus , by your leave , this maid is mine . - - -How , sir ! Are you in earnest then , my lord ? - -Ay , noble Titus ; and resolv'd withal -To do myself this reason and this right . - -Suum cuique is our Roman justice : -This prince in justice seizeth but his own . - -And that he will , and shall , if Lucius live . - -Traitors , avaunt ! Where is the emperor's guard ? -Treason , my lord ! Lavinia is surpris'd . - -Surpris'd ! By whom ? - -By him that justly may -Bear his betroth'd from all the world away . - - -Brothers , help to convey her hence away , -And with my sword I'll keep this door safe . - - -Follow , my lord , and I'll soon bring her back . - -My lord , you pass not here . - -What ! villain boy ; -Barr'st me my way in Rome ? - - -Help , Lucius , help ! - -My lord , you are unjust ; and , more than so , -In wrongful quarrel you have slain your son . - -Nor thou , nor he , are any sons of mine ; -My sons would never so dishonour me . -Traitor , restore Lavinia to the emperor . - -Dead , if you will ; but not to be his wife -That is another's lawful promis'd love . - - -No , Titus , no ; the emperor needs her not , -Nor her , nor thee , nor any of thy stock : -I'll trust , by leisure , him that mocks me once ; -Thee never , nor thy traitorous haughty sons , -Confederates all thus to dishonour me . -Was none in Rome to make a stale -But Saturnine ? Full well , Andronicus , -Agreed these deeds with that proud brag of thine , -That saidst I begg'd the empire at thy hands . - -O monstrous ! what reproachful words are these ! - -But go thy ways ; go , give that changing piece -To him that flourish'd for her with his sword . -A valiant son-in-law thou shalt enjoy ; -One fit to bandy with thy lawless sons , -To ruffle in the commonwealth of Rome . - -These words are razors to my wounded heart . - -And therefore , lovely Tamora , Queen of Goths , -That like the stately Ph be 'mongst her nymphs , -Dost overshine the gallant'st dames of Rome , -If thou be pleas'd with this my sudden choice , -Behold , I choose thee , Tamora , for my bride , -And will create thee Empress of Rome . -Speak , Queen of Goths , dost thou applaud my choice ? -And here I swear by all the Roman gods , -Sith priest and holy water are so near , -And tapers burn so bright , and every thing -In readiness for Hymen us stand , -I will not re-salute the streets of Rome , -Or climb my palace , till from forth this place -I lead espous'd my bride along with me . - -And here , in sight of heaven , to Rome I swear , -If Saturnine advance the Queen of Goths , -She will a handmaid be to his desires , -A loving nurse , a mother to his youth . - -Ascend , fair queen , Pantheon . Lords , accompany -Your noble emperor , and his lovely bride , -Sent by the heavens for Prince Saturnine , -Whose wisdom hath her fortune conquered : -There shall we consummate our spousal rights . - - -I am not bid to wait upon this bride . -Titus , when wert thou wont to walk alone , -Dishonour'd thus , and challenged of wrongs ? - - -O ! Titus , see , O ! see what thou hast done ; -In a bad quarrel slain a virtuous son . - -No , foolish tribune , no ; no son of mine , -Nor thou , nor these , confederates in the deed -That hath dishonour'd all our family : -Unworthy brother , and unworthy sons ! - -But let us give him burial , as becomes ; -Give Mutius burial with our brethren . - -Traitors , away ! he rests not in this tomb . -This monument five hundred years hath stood , -Which I have sumptuously re-edified : -Here none but soldiers and Rome's servitors -Repose in fame ; none basely slain in brawls . -Bury him where you can ; he comes not here . - -My lord , this is impiety in you . -My nephew Mutius' deeds do plead for him ; -He must be buried with his brethren . - -And shall , or him we will accompany . - -And shall , or him we will accompany . - -And shall ! What villain was it spake that word ? - -He that would vouch it in any place but here . - -What ! would you bury him in my despite ? - -No , noble Titus ; but entreat of thee -To pardon Mutius , and to bury him . - -Marcus , even thou hast struck upon my crest , -And , with these boys , mine honour thou hast wounded : -My foes I do repute you every one ; -So , trouble me no more , but get you gone . - -He is not with himself ; let us withdraw . - -Not I , till Mutius' bones be buried . - - -Brother , for in that name doth nature plead , - -Father , and in that name doth nature speak , - -Speak thou no more , if all the rest will speed . - -Renowned Titus , more than half my soul , - -Dear father , soul and substance of us all , - -Suffer thy brother Marcus to inter -His noble nephew here in virtue's nest , -That died in honour and Lavinia's cause . -Thou art a Roman ; be not barbarous : -The Greeks upon advice did bury Ajax -That slew himself ; and wise Laertes' son -Did graciously plead for his funerals . -Let not young Mutius then , that was thy joy , -Be barr'd his entrance here . - -Rise , Marcus , rise . -The dismall'st day is this that e'er I saw , -To be dishonour'd by my sons in Rome ! -Well , bury him , and bury me the next . - - -There lie thy bones , sweet Mutius , with thy friends , -Till we with trophies do adorn thy tomb . - -No man shed tears for noble Mutius ; -He lives in fame that died in virtue's cause . - -My lord ,to step out of these dreary dumps , -How comes it that the subtle Queen of Goths -Is of a sudden thus advanc'd in Rome ? - -I know not , Marcus ; but I know it is , -Whether by device or no , the heavens can tell . -Is she not , then , beholding to the man -That brought her for this high good turn so far ? - -Yes , and will nobly him remunerate . - -So , Bassianus , you have play'd your prize : -God give you joy , sir , of your gallant bride . - -And you of yours , my lord ! I say no more , -Nor wish no less ; and so I take my leave . - -Traitor , if Rome have law or we have power , -Thou and thy faction shall repent this rape . - -Rape call you it , my lord , to seize my own , -My true-betrothed love and now my wife ? -But let the laws of Rome determine all ; -Meanwhile , I am possess'd of that is mine . - -'Tis good , sir : you are very short with us ; -But , if we live , we'll be as sharp with you . - -My lord , what I have done , as best I may , -Answer I must and shall do with my life . -Only thus much I give your Grace to know : -By all the duties that I owe to Rome , -This noble gentleman , Lord Titus here , -Is in opinion and in honour wrong'd ; -That , in the rescue of Lavinia , -With his own hand did slay his youngest son , -In zeal to you and highly mov'd to wrath -To be controll'd in that he frankly gave : -Receive him then to favour , Saturnine , -That hath express'd himself in all his deeds -A father and a friend to thee and Rome . - -Prince Bassianus , leave to plead my deeds : -'Tis thou and those that have dishonour'd me . -Rome and the righteous heavens be my judge , -How I have lov'd and honour'd Saturnine ! - -My worthy lord , if ever Tamora -Were gracious in those princely eyes of thine , -Then hear me speak indifferently for all ; -And at my suit , sweet , pardon what is past . - -What , madam ! be dishonour'd openly , -And basely put it up without revenge ? - -Not so , my lord ; the gods of Rome forfend -I should be author to dishonour you ! -But on mine honour dare I undertake -For good Lord Titus' innocence in all , -Whose fury not dissembled speaks his griefs . -Then , at my suit , look graciously on him ; -Lose not so noble a friend on vain suppose , -Nor with sour looks afflict his gentle heart . - - -My lord , be rul'd by me , be won at last ; -Dissemble all your griefs and discontents : -You are but newly planted in your throne ; -Lest then , the people , and patricians too , -Upon a just survey , take Titus' part , -And so supplant you for ingratitude , -Which Rome reputes to be a heinous sin , -Yield at entreats , and then let me alone . -I'll find a day to massacre them all , -And raze their faction and their family , -The cruel father , and his traitorous sons , -To whom I sued for my dear son's life ; -And make them know what 'tis to let a queen -Kneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain . - - -Come , come , sweet emperor ; come , Andronicus ; -Take up this good old man , and cheer the heart -That dies in tempest of thy angry frown : - -Rise , Titus , rise ; my empress hath prevail'd . - -I thank your majesty , and her , my lord . -These words , these looks , infuse new life in me . - -Titus , I am incorporate in Rome , -A Roman now adopted happily , -And must advise the emperor for his good . -This day all quarrels die , Andronicus ; -And let it be mine honour , good my lord , -That I have reconcil'd your friends and you . -For you , Prince Bassianus , I have pass'd -My word and promise to the emperor , -That you will be more mild and tractable . -And fear not , lords , and you , Lavinia , -By my advice , all humbled on your knees , -You shall ask pardon of his majesty . - -We do ; and vow to heaven and to his highness , -That what we did was mildly , as we might , -Tendering our sister's honour and our own . - -That on mine honour here I do protest . - -Away , and talk not ; trouble us no more . - -Nay , nay , sweet emperor , we must all be friends : -The tribune and his nephews kneel for grace ; -I will not be denied : sweet heart , look back . - -Marcus , for thy sake , and thy brother's here , -And at my lovely Tamora's entreats , -I do remit these young men's heinous faults : -Stand up . -Lavinia , though you left me like a churl , -I found a friend , and sure as death I swore -I would not part a bachelor from the priest . -Come ; if the emperor's court can feast two brides , -You are my guest , Lavinia , and your friends . -This day shall be a love-day , Tamora . - -To-morrow , an it please your majesty -To hunt the panther and the hart with me , -With horn and hound we'll give your Grace bon jour . - -Be it so , Titus , and gramercy too . - - -Now climbeth Tamora Olympus' top , -Safe out of Fortune's shot ; and sits aloft , -Secure of thunder's crack or lightning flash , -Advanc'd above pale envy's threat'ning reach . -As when the golden sun salutes the morn , -And , having gilt the ocean with his beams , -Gallops the zodiac in his glistering coach , -And overlooks the highest-peering hills ; -So Tamora . -Upon her wit doth earthly honour wait -And virtue stoops and trembles at her frown . -Then , Aaron , arm thy heart , and fit thy thoughts -To mount aloft with thy imperial mistress , -And mount her pitch , whom thou in triumph long -Hast prisoner held , fetter'd in amorous chains , -And faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes -Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus . -Away with slavish weeds and servile thoughts ! -I will be bright , and shine in pearl and gold , -To wait upon this new-made empress . -To wait , said I ? to wanton with this queen , -This goddess , this Semiramis , this nymph , -This siren , that will charm Rome's Saturnine , -And see his shipwrack and his commonweal's . -Holla ! what storm is this ? - - -Chiron , thy years want wit , thy wit wants edge -And manners , to intrude where I am grac'd , -And may , for aught thou know'st , affected be . - -Demetrius , thou dost over-ween in all -And so in this , to bear me down with braves . -'Tis not the difference of a year or two -Makes me less gracious or thee more fortunate : -I am as able and as fit as thou -To serve , and to deserve my mistress' grace ; -And that my sword upon thee shall approve , -And plead my passions for Lavinia's love . - -Clubs , clubs ! these lovers will not keep the peace . - -Why , boy , although our mother , unadvis'd , -Gave you a dancing-rapier by your side , -Are you so desperate grown , to threat your friends ? -Go to ; have your lath glu'd within your sheath -Till you know better how to handle it . - -Meanwhile , sir , with the little skill I have , -Full well shalt thou perceive how much I dare . - -Ay , boy , grow ye so brave ? - - -Why , how now , lords ! -So near the emperor's palace dare you draw , -And maintain such a quarrel openly ? -Full well I wot the ground of all this grudge : -I would not for a million of gold -The cause were known to them it most concerns ; -Nor would your noble mother for much more -Be so dishonour'd in the court of Rome . -For shame , put up . - -Not I , till I have sheath'd -My rapier in his bosom , and withal -Thrust those reproachful speeches down his throat -That he hath breath'd in my dishonour here . - -For that I am prepar'd and full resolv'd , -Foul-spoken coward , that thunder'st with thy tongue , -And with thy weapon nothing dar'st perform ! - -Away , I say ! -Now , by the gods that war-like Goths adore , -This petty brabble will undo us all . -Why , lords , and think you not how dangerous -It is to jet upon a prince's right ? -What ! is Lavinia then become so loose , -Or Bassianus so degenerate , -That for her love such quarrels may be broach'd -Without controlment , justice , or revenge ? -Young lords , beware ! an should the empress know -This discord's ground , the music would not please . - -I care not , I , knew she and all the world : -I love Lavinia more than all the world . - -Youngling , learn thou to make some meaner choice : -Lavinia is thine elder brother's hope . - -Why , are ye mad ? or know ye not in Rome -How furious and impatient they be , -And cannot brook competitors in love ? -I tell you , lords , you do but plot your deaths -By this device . - -Aaron , a thousand deaths -Would I propose , to achieve her whom I love . - -To achieve her ! how ? - -Why mak'st thou it so strange ? -She is a woman , therefore may be woo'd ; -She is a woman , therefore may be won ; -She is Lavinia , therefore must be lov'd . -What , man ! more water glideth by the mill -Than wots the miller of ; and easy it is -Of a cut loaf to steal a shive , we know : -Though Bassianus be the emperor's brother , -Better than he have worn Vulcan's badge . - -Ay , and as good as Saturninus may . - -Then why should he despair that knows to court it -With words , fair looks , and liberality ? -What ! hast thou not full often struck a doe , -And borne her cleanly by the keeper's nose ? - -Why , then , it seems , some certain snatch or so -Would serve your turns . - -Ay , so the turn were serv'd . - -Aaron , thou hast hit it . - -Would you had hit it too ! -Then should not we be tir'd with this ado . -Why , hark ye , hark ye ! and are you such fools -To square for this ? Would it offend you then -That both should speed ? - -Faith , not me . - -Nor me , so I were one . - -For shame , be friends , and join for that you jar : -'Tis policy and stratagem must do -That you affect ; and so must you resolve , -That what you cannot as you would achieve , -You must perforce accomplish as you may . -Take this of me : Lucrece was not more chaste -Than this Lavinia , Bassianus' love . -A speedier course than lingering languishment -Must we pursue , and I have found the path . -My lords , a solemn hunting is in hand ; -There will the lovely Roman ladies troop : -The forest walks are wide and spacious , -And many unfrequented plots there are -Fitted by kind for rape and villany : -Single you thither then this dainty doe , -And strike her home by force , if not by words : -This way , or not at all , stand you in hope . -Come , come , our empress , with her sacred wit -To villany and vengeance consecrate , -Will we acquaint with all that we intend ; -And she shall file our engines with advice , -That will not suffer you to square yourselves , -But to your wishes' height advance you both . -The emperor's court is like the house of Fame , -The palace full of tongues , of eyes , and ears : -The woods are ruthless , dreadful , deaf , and dull ; -There speak , and strike , brave boys , and take your turns ; -There serve your lusts , shadow'd from heaven's eye , -And revel in Lavinia's treasury . - -Thy counsel , lad , smells of no cowardice . - -Sit fas aut nefas , till I find the stream -To cool this heat , a charm to calm these fits , -Per Styga , per manes vehor . - -The hunt is up , the morn is bright and grey , -The fields are fragrant and the woods are green . -Uncouple here and let us make a bay , -And wake the emperor and his lovely bride , -And rouse the prince and ring a hunter's peal , -That all the court may echo with the noise . -Sons , let it be your charge , as it is ours , -To attend the emperor's person carefully : -I have been troubled in my sleep this night , -But dawning day new comfort hath inspir'd . - -Many good morrows to your majesty ; -Madam , to you as many and as good ; - -I promised your Grace a hunter's peal . - -And you have rung it lustily , my lord ; -Somewhat too early for new-married ladies . - -Lavinia , how say you ? - -I say , no ; -I have been broad awake two hours and more . - -Come on , then ; horse and chariots let us have , -And to our sport . - -Madam , now shall ye see -Our Roman hunting . - -I have dogs , my lord , -Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase , -And climb the highest promontory top . - -And I have horse will follow where the game -Makes way , and run like swallows o'er the plain . - -Chiron , we hunt not , we , with horse nor hound , -But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground . - - -He that had wit would think that I had none , -To bury so much gold under a tree , -And never after to inherit it . -Let him that thinks of me so abjectly -Know that this gold must coin a stratagem , -Which , cunningly effected , will beget -A very excellent piece of villany : -And so repose , sweet gold , for their unrest -That have their alms out of the empress' chest . - -My lovely Aaron , wherefore look'st thou sad , -When every thing doth make a gleeful boast ? -The birds chant melody on every bush , -The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun , -The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind , -And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground . -Under their sweet shade , Aaron , let us sit , -And , whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds , -Replying shrilly to the well-tun'd horns , -As if a double hunt were heard at once , -Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise ; -And after conflict , such as was suppos'd -The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy'd , -When with a happy storm they were surpris'd , -And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave , -We may , each wreathed in the other's arms , -Our pastimes done , possess a golden slumber ; -Whiles hounds and horns and sweet melodious birds -Be unto us as is a nurse's song -Of lullaby to bring her babe asleep . - -Madam , though Venus govern your desires , -Saturn is dominator over mine : -What signifies my deadly-standing eye , -My silence and my cloudy melancholy ; -My fleece of woolly hair that now uncurls -Even as an adder when she doth unroll -To do some fatal execution ? -No , madam , these are no venereal signs : -Vengeance is in my heart , death in my hand , -Blood and revenge are hammering in my head . -Hark , Tamora , the empress of my soul , -Which never hopes more heaven than rests in thee , -This is the day of doom for Bassianus ; -His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day , -Thy sons make pillage of her chastity , -And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood . -Seest thou this letter ? take it up , I pray thee , -And give the king this fatal-plotted scroll . -Now question me no more ; we are espied ; -Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty , -Which dreads not yet their lives' destruction . - -Ah ! my sweet Moor , sweeter to me than life . - -No more , great empress ; Bassianus comes : -Be cross with him ; and I'll go fetch thy sons -To back thy quarrels , whatsoe'er they be . - -Who have we here ? Rome's royal empress , -Unfurnish'd of her well-beseeming troop ? -Or is it Dian , habited like her , -Who hath abandoned her holy groves , -To see the general hunting in this forest ? - -Saucy controller of our private steps ! -Had I the power that some say Dian had , -Thy temples should be planted presently -With horns , as was Act on's ; and the hounds -Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs , -Unmannerly intruder as thou art ! - -Under your patience , gentle empress , -'Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning ; -And to be doubted that your Moor and you -Are singled forth to try experiments . -Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day ! -'Tis pity they should take him for a stag . - -Believe me , queen , your swarth Cimmerian -Doth make your honour of his body's hue , -Spotted , detested , and abominable . -Why are you sequester'd from all your train , -Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed , -And wander'd hither to an obscure plot , -Accompanied but with a barbarous Moor , -If foul desire had not conducted you ? - -And , being intercepted in your sport , -Great reason that my noble lord be rated -For sauciness . I pray you , let us hence , -And let her joy her raven-colour'd love ; -This valley fits the purpose passing well . - -The king my brother shall have note of this . - -Ay , for these slips have made him noted long : -Good king , to be so mightily abus'd ! - -Why have I patience to endure all this ? - - -How now , dear sovereign , and our gracious mother ! -Why doth your highness look so pale and wan ? - -Have I not reason , think you , to look pale ? -These two have 'tic'd me hither to this place : -A barren detested vale , you see , it is ; -The trees , though summer , yet forlorn and lean , -O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe : -Here never shines the sun ; here nothing breeds , -Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven : -And when they show'd me this abhorred pit , -They told me , here , at dead time of the night , -A thousand fiends , a thousand hissing snakes , -Ten thousand swelling toads , as many urchins , -Would make such fearful and confused cries , -As any mortal body hearing it -Should straight fall mad , or else die suddenly . -No sooner had they told this hellish tale , -But straight they told me they would bind me here -Unto the body of a dismal yew , -And leave me to this miserable death : -And then they called me foul adulteress , -Lascivious Goth , and all the bitterest terms -That ever ear did hear to such effect ; -And , had you not by wondrous fortune come , -This vengeance on me had they executed . -Revenge it , as you love your mother's life , -Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children . - -This is a witness that I am thy son . - - -And this for me , struck home to show my strength . - - -Ay , come , Semiramis , nay , barbarous Tamora ; -For no name fits thy nature but thy own . - -Give me thy poniard ; you shall know , my boys , -Your mother's hand shall right your mother's wrong . - -Stay , madam ; here is more belongs to her : -First thrash the corn , than after burn the straw . -This minion stood upon her chastity , -Upon her nuptial vow , her loyalty , -And with that painted hope she braves your mightiness : -And shall she carry this unto her grave ? - -An if she do , I would I were an eunuch . -Drag hence her husband to some secret hole , -And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust . - -But when ye have the honey ye desire , -Let not this wasp outlive , us both to sting . - -I warrant you , madam , we will make that sure . -Come , mistress , now perforce we will enjoy -That nice-preserved honesty of yours . - -O Tamora ! thou bear'st a woman's face , - -I will not hear her speak ; away with her ! - -Sweet lords , entreat her hear me but a word . - -Listen , fair madam : let it be your glory -To see her tears ; but be your heart to them -As unrelenting flint to drops of rain . - -When did the tiger's young ones teach the dam ? -O ! do not learn her wrath ; she taught it thee ; -The milk thou suck'dst from her did turn to marble ; -Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny . -Yet every mother breeds not sons alike : - - -Do thou entreat her show a woman pity . - -What ! wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard ? - -'Tis true ! the raven doth not hatch a lark : -Yet have I heard , O ! could I find it now , -The lion mov'd with pity did endure -To have his princely paws par'd all away . -Some say that ravens foster forlorn children , -The whilst their own birds famish in their nests : -O ! be to me , though thy hard heart say no , -Nothing so kind , but something pitiful . - -I know not what it means ; away with her ! - -O , let me teach thee ! for my father's sake , -That gave thee life when well he might have slain thee , -Be not obdurate , open thy deaf ears . - -Hadst thou in person ne'er offended me , -Even for his sake am I pitiless . -Remember , boys , I pour'd forth tears in vain -To save your brother from the sacrifice ; -But fierce Andronicus would not relent : -Therefore , away with her , and use her as you will : -The worse to her , the better lov'd of me . - -O Tamora ! be call'd a gentle queen , -And with thine own hands kill me in this place ; -For 'tis not life that I have begg'd so long ; -Poor I was slain when Bassianus died . - -What begg'st thou then ? fond woman , let me go . - -'Tis present death I beg ; and one thing more -That womanhood denies my tongue to tell . -O ! keep me from their worse than killing lust , -And tumble me into some loathsome pit , -Where never man's eye may behold my body : -Do this , and be a charitable murderer . - -So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee : -No , let them satisfy their lust on thee . - -Away ! for thou hast stay'd us here too long . - -No grace ! no womanhood ! Ah , beastly creature , -The blot and enemy to our general name . -Confusion fall - -Nay , then I'll stop your mouth . Bring thou her husband : -This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him . - -Farewell , my sons : see that you make her sure . -Ne'er let my heart know merry cheer indeed -Till all the Andronici be made away . -Now will I hence to seek my lovely Moor , -And let my spleenful sons this trull deflower . - -Come on , my lords , the better foot before : -Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit -Where I espied the panther fast asleep . - -My sight is very dull , whate'er it bodes . - -And mine , I promise you : were't not for shame , -Well could I leave our sport to sleep awhile . - - -What ! art thou fall'n ? What subtle hole is this , -Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing briers , -Upon whose leaves are drops of new-shed blood -As fresh as morning's dew distill'd on flowers ? -A very fatal place it seems to me . -Speak , brother , hast thou hurt thee with the fall ? - -O brother ! with the dismall'st object hurt -That ever eye with sight made heart lament . - -Now will I fetch the king to find them here , -That he thereby may give a likely guess -How these were they that made away his brother . - - -Why dost not comfort me , and help me out -From this unhallow'd and blood-stained hole ? - -I am surprised with an uncouth fear ; -A chilling sweat o'erruns my trembling joints : -My heart suspects more than mine eye can see . - -To prove thou hast a true-divining heart , -Aaron and thou look down into this den , -And see a fearful sight of blood and death . - -Aaron is gone ; and my compassionate heart -Will not permit mine eyes once to behold -The thing whereat it trembles by surmise . -O ! tell me how it is ; for ne'er till now -Was I a child , to fear I know not what . - -Lord Bassianus lies embrewed here , -All on a heap , like to a slaughter'd lamb , -In this detested , dark , blood-drinking pit . - -If it be dark , how dost thou know 'tis he ? - -Upon his bloody finger he doth wear -A precious ring , that lightens all the hole , -Which , like a taper in some monument , -Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks , -And shows the ragged entrails of the pit : -So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus -When he by night lay bath'd in maiden blood . -O brother ! help me with thy fainting hand , -If fear hath made thee faint , as me it hath , -Out of this fell devouring receptacle , -As hateful as Cocytus' misty mouth . - -Reach me thy hand , that I may help thee out ; -Or , wanting strength to do thee so much good -I may be pluck'd into the swallowing womb -Of this deep pit , poor Bassianus' grave . -I have no strength to pluck thee to the brink . - -Nor I no strength to climb without thy help . - -Thy hand once more ; I will not loose again , -Till thou art here aloft , or I below . -Thou canst not come to me : I come to thee . - -Along with me : I'll see what hole is here , -And what he is that now is leap'd into it . -Say , who art thou that lately didst descend -Into this gaping hollow of the earth ? - -The unhappy son of old Andronicus ; -Brought hither in a most unlucky hour , -To find thy brother Bassianus dead . - -My brother dead ! I know thou dost but jest : -He and his lady both are at the lodge , -Upon the north side of this pleasant chase ; -'Tis not an hour since I left him there . - -We know not where you left him all alive ; -But , out alas ! here have we found him dead . - - -Where is my lord , the king ? - -Here , Tamora ; though griev'd with killing grief . - -Where is thy brother Bassianus ? - -Now to the bottom dost thou search my wound : -Poor Bassianus here lies murdered . - -Then all too late I bring this fatal writ , - -The complot of this timeless tragedy ; -And wonder greatly that man's face can fold -In pleasing smiles such murderous tyranny . - -And if we miss to meet him handsomely , -Sweet huntsman , Bassianus 'tis we mean , -Do thou so much as dig the grave for him : -Thou know'st our meaning . Look for thy reward -Among the nettles at the elder-tree -Which overshades the mouth of that same pit -Where we decreed to bury Bassianus : -Do this , and purchase us thy lasting friends . -O Tamora ! was ever heard the like ? -This is the pit , and this the elder-tree . -Look , sirs , if you can find the huntsman out -That should have murder'd Bassianus here . - -My gracious lord , here is the bag of gold . - -Two of thy whelps , fell curs of bloody kind , -Have here bereft my brother of his life . -Sirs , drag them from the pit unto the prison : -There let them bide until we have devis'd -Some never-heard-of torturing pain for them . - -What ! are they in this pit ? O wondrous thing ! -How easily murder is discovered ! - -High emperor , upon my feeble knee -I beg this boon with tears not lightly shed ; -That this fell fault of my accursed sons , -Accursed , if the fault be prov'd in them , - -If it be prov'd ! you see it is apparent . -Who found this letter ? Tamora , was it you ? - -Andronicus himself did take it up . - -I did , my lord : yet let me be their bail ; -For , by my father's reverend tomb , I vow -They shall be ready at your highness' will -To answer their suspicion with their lives . - -Thou shalt not bail them : see thou follow me . -Some bring the murder'd body , some the murderers : -Let them not speak a word ; the guilt is plain ; -For , by my soul , were there worse end than death , -That end upon them should be executed . - -Andronicus , I will entreat the king : -Fear not thy sons , they shall do well enough . - -Come , Lucius , come ; stay not to talk with them . - - -So , now go tell , an if thy tongue can speak , -Who 'twas that cut thy tongue and ravish'd thee . - -Write down thy mind , bewray thy meaning so ; -An if thy stumps will let thee play the scribe . - -See , how with signs and tokens she can scrowl . - -Go home , call for sweet water , wash thy hands . - -She hath no tongue to call , nor hands to wash ; -And so let's leave her to her silent walks . - -An 'twere my case , I should go hang myself . - -If thou hadst hands to help thee knit the cord . - -Who's this ? my niece , that flies away so fast ? -Cousin , a word ; where is your husband ? -If I do dream , would all my wealth would wake me ! -If I do wake , some planet strike me down , -That I may slumber in eternal sleep ! -Speak , gentle niece , what stern ungentle hands -Have lopp'd and hew'd and made thy body bare -Of her two branches , those sweet ornaments , -Whose circling shadows kings have sought to sleep in , -And might not gain so great a happiness -As have thy love ? Why dost not speak to me ? -Alas ! a crimson river of warm blood , -Like to a bubbling fountain stirr'd with wind , -Doth rise and fall between thy rosed lips , -Coming and going with thy honey breath . -But , sure , some Tereus hath deflower'd thee , -And , lest thou shouldst detect him , cut thy tongue . -Ah ! now thou turn'st away thy face for shame ; -And , notwithstanding all this loss of blood , -As from a conduit with three issuing spouts , -Yet do thy cheeks look red as Titan's face -Blushing to be encounter'd with a cloud . -Shall I speak for thee ? shall I say 'tis so ? -O ! that I knew thy heart ; and knew the beast , -That I might rail at him to ease my mind . -Sorrow concealed , like to an oven stopp'd , -Doth burn the heart to cinders where it is . -Fair Philomela , she but lost her tongue , -And in a tedious sampler sew'd her mind : -But , lovely niece , that mean is cut from thee ; -A craftier Tereus hast thou met withal , -And he hath cut those pretty fingers off , -That could have better sew'd than Philomel . -O ! had the monster seen those lily hands -Tremble , like aspen-leaves , upon a lute , -And make the silken strings delight to kiss them , -He would not , then , have touch'd them for his life ; -Or had he heard the heavenly harmony -Which that sweet tongue hath made , -He would have dropp'd his knife , and fell asleep , -As Cerberus at the Thracian poet's feet . -Come , let us go , and make thy father blind ; -For such a sight will blind a father's eye : -One hour's storm will drown the fragrant meads ; -What will whole months of tears thy father's eyes ? -Do not draw back , for we will mourn with thee : -O ! could our mourning ease thy misery . - -Hear me , grave fathers ! noble tribunes , stay ! -For pity of mine age , whose youth was spent -In dangerous wars , whilst you securely slept ; -For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed ; -For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd ; -And for these bitter tears , which now you see -Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks ; -Be pitiful to my condemned sons , -Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought . -For two and twenty sons I never wept , -Because they died in honour's lofty bed . -For these , these , tribunes , in the dust I write - -My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears . -Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite ; -My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush . - -O earth ! I will befriend thee more with rain , -That shall distil from these two ancient urns , -Than youthful April shall with all his showers : -In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still ; -In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow , -And keep eternal spring-time on thy face , -So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood . - - -O reverend tribunes ! O gentle , aged men ! -Unbind my sons , reverse the doom of death : -And let me say , that never wept before , - -My tears are now prevailing orators . - -O noble father , you lament in vain : -The tribunes hear you not , no man is by ; -And you recount your sorrows to a stone . - -Ah ! Lucius , for thy brothers let me plead . -Grave tribunes , once more I entreat of you , - -My gracious lord , no tribune hears you speak . - -Why , 'tis no matter , man : if they did hear , -They would not mark me , or if they did mark , -They would not pity me , yet plead I must , -All bootless unto them . -Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones , -Who , though they cannot answer my distress , -Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes , -For that they will not intercept my tale . -When I do weep , they humbly at my feet -Receive my tears , and seem to weep with me ; -And , were they but attired in grave weeds , -Rome could afford no tribune like to these . -A stone is soft as wax , tribunes more hard than stones ; -A stone is silent , and offendeth not , -And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death . - -But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn ? - -To rescue my two brothers from their death ; -For which attempt the judges have pronounc'd -My everlasting doom of banishment . - -O happy man ! they have befriended thee . -Why , foolish Lucius , dost thou not perceive -That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers ? -Tigers must prey ; and Rome affords no prey -But me and mine : how happy art thou then , -From these devourers to be banished ! -But who comes with our brother Marcus here ? - - -Titus , prepare thy aged eyes to weep ; -Or , if not so , thy noble heart to break : -I bring consuming sorrow to thine age . - -Will it consume me ? let me see it then . - -This was thy daughter . - -Why , Marcus , so she is . - -Ay me ! this object kills me . - -Faint-hearted boy , arise , and look upon her . -Speak , Lavinia , what accursed hand -Hath made thee handless in thy father's sight ? -What fool hath added water to the sea , -Or brought a faggot to bright-burning Troy ? -My grief was at the height before thou cam'st ; -And now , like Nilus , it disdaineth bounds . -Give me a sword , I'll chop off my hands too ; -For they have fought for Rome , and all in vain ; -And they have nurs'd this woe , in feeding life ; -In bootless prayer have they been held up , -And they have serv'd me to effectless use : -Now all the service I require of them -Is that the one will help to cut the other . -'Tis well , Lavinia , that thou hast no hands , -For hands , to do Rome service , are but vain . - -Speak , gentle sister , who hath martyr'd thee ? - -O ! that delightful engine of her thoughts , -That blabb'd them with such pleasing eloquence , -Is torn from forth that pretty hollow cage , -Where , like a sweet melodious bird , it sung -Sweet varied notes , enchanting every ear . - -O ! say thou for her , who hath done this deed ? - -O ! thus I found her straying in the park , -Seeking to hide herself , as doth the deer , -That hath receiv'd some unrecuring wound . - -It was my dear ; and he that wounded her -Hath hurt me more than had he kill'd me dead : -For now I stand as one upon a rock -Environ'd with a wilderness of sea , -Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave , -Expecting ever when some envious surge -Will in his brinish bowels swallow him . -This way to death my wretched sons are gone ; -Here stands my other son , a banish'd man , -And here my brother , weeping at my woes : -But that which gives my soul the greatest spurn , -Is dear Lavinia , dearer than my soul . -Had I but seen thy picture in this plight -It would have madded me : what shall I do -Now I behold thy lively body so ? -Thou hast no hands to wipe away thy tears , -Nor tongue to tell me who hath martyr'd thee : -Thy husband he is dead , and for his death -Thy brothers are condemn'd , and dead by this . -Look ! Marcus ; ah ! son Lucius , look on her : -When I did name her brothers , then fresh tears -Stood on her cheeks , as doth the honey-dew -Upon a gather'd lily almost wither'd . - -Perchance she weeps because they kill'd her husband ; -Perchance because she knows them innocent . - -If they did kill thy husband , then be joyful , -Because the law hath ta'en revenge on them . -No , no , they would not do so foul a deed ; -Witness the sorrow that their sister makes . -Gentle Lavinia , let me kiss thy lips ; -Or make some sign how I may do thee ease . -Shall thy good uncle , and thy brother Lucius , -And thou , and I , sit round about some fountain , -Looking all downwards , to behold our cheeks -How they are stain'd , like meadows yet not dry , -With miry alime left on them by a flood ? -And in the fountain shall we gaze so long -Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness , -And made a brine-pit with our bitter tears ? -Or shall we cut away our hands , like thine ? -Or shall we bite our tongues , and in dumb shows -Pass the remainder of our hateful days ? -What shall we do ? let us , that have our tongues , -Plot some device of further misery , -To make us wonder'd at in time to come . - -Sweet father , cease your tears ; for at your grief -See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps . - -Patience , dear niece . Good Titus , dry thine eyes . - -Ah ! Marcus , Marcus , brother ; well I wot -Thy napkin cannot drink a tear of mine , -For thou , poor man , hast drown'd it with thine own . - -Ah ! my Lavinia , I will wipe thy cheeks . - -Mark , Marcus , mark ! I understand her signs : -Had she a tongue to speak , now would she say -That to her brother which I said to thee : -His napkin , with his true tears all bewet , -Can do no service on her sorrowful cheeks . -O ! what a sympathy of woe is this ; -As far from help as limbo is from bliss . - - -Titus Andronicus , my lord the emperor -Sends thee this word : that , if thou love thy sons , -Let Marcus , Lucius , or thyself , old Titus , -Or any one of you , chop off your hand , -And send it to the king : he for the same -Will send thee hither both thy sons alive ; -And that shall be the ransom for their fault . - -O gracious emperor ! O gentle Aaron ! -Did ever raven sing so like a lark , -That gives sweet tidings of the sun's uprise ? -With all my heart , I'll send the emperor my hand : -Good Aaron , wilt thou help to chop it off ? - -Stay , father ! for that noble hand of thine , -That hath thrown down so many enemies , -Shall not be sent ; my hand will serve the turn : -My youth can better spare my blood than you ; -And therefore mine shall save my brothers' lives . - -Which of your hands hath not defended Rome , -And rear'd aloft the bloody battle-axe , -Writing destruction on the enemy's castle ? -O ! none of both but are of high desert : -My hand hath been but idle ; let it serve -To ransom my two nephews from their death ; -Then have I kept it to a worthy end . - -Nay , come , agree whose hand shall go along , -For fear they die before their pardon come . - -My hand shall go . - -By heaven , it shall not go ! - -Sirs , strive no more : such wither'd herbs as these -Are meet for plucking up , and therefore mine . - -Sweet father , if I shall be thought thy son , -Let me redeem my brothers both from death . - -And for our father's sake , and mother's care , -Now let me show a brother's love to thee . - -Agree between you ; I will spare my hand . - -Then I'll go fetch an axe . - -But I will use the axe . - - -Come hither , Aaron ; I'll deceive them both : -Lend me thy hand , and I will give thee mine . - -If that be call'd deceit , I will be honest , -And never , whilst I live , deceive men so : -But I'll deceive you in another sort , -And that you'll say , ere half an hour pass . - -Now stay your strife : what shall be is dispatch'd . -Good Aaron , give his majesty my hand : -Tell him it was a hand that warded him -From thousand dangers ; bid him bury it ; -More hath it merited ; that let it have . -As for my sons , say I account of them -As jewels purchas'd at an easy price ; -And yet dear too , because I bought mine own . - -I go , Andronicus ; and for thy hand , -Look by and by to have thy sons with thee . - - -Their heads , I mean . O ! how this villany -Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it . -Let fools do good , and fair men call for grace , -Aaron will have his soul black like his face . - - -O ! here I lift this one hand up to heaven , -And how this feeble ruin to the earth : -If any power pities wretched tears , -To that I call ! - -What ! wilt thou kneel with me ? -Do , then , dear heart ; for heaven shall hear our prayers , -Or with our sighs we'll breathe the welkin dim , -And stain the sun with fog , as sometime clouds -When they do hug him in their melting bosoms . - -O ! brother , speak with possibilities , -And do not break into these deep extremes . - -Is not my sorrow deep , having no bottom ? -Then be my passions bottomless with them . - -But yet let reason govern thy lament . - -If there were reason for these miseries , -Then into limits could I bind my woes . -When heaven doth weep , doth not the earth o'erflow ? -If the winds rage , doth not the sea wax mad , -Threat'ning the welkin with his big-swoln face ? -And wilt thou have a reason for this coil ? -I am the sea ; hark ! how her sighs do blow ; -She is the weeping welkin , I the earth : -Then must my sea be moved with her sighs ; -Then must my earth with her continual tears -Become a deluge , overflow'd and drown'd ; -For why my bowels cannot hide her woes , -But like a drunkard must I vomit them . -Then give me leave , for losers will have leave -To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues . - - -Worthy Andronicus , ill art thou repaid -For that good hand thou sent'st the emperor . -Here are the heads of thy two noble sons , -And here's thy hand , in scorn to thee sent back : -Thy griefs their sports , thy resolution mock'd ; -That woe is me to think upon thy woes , -More than remembrance of my father's death . - - -Now let hot tna cool in Sicily , -And be my heart an ever burning hell ! -These miseries are more than may be borne . -To weep with them that weep doth ease some deal , -But sorrow flouted at is double death . - -Ah ! that this sight should make so deep a wound , -And yet detested life not shrink thereat , -That ever death should let life bear his name , -Where life hath no more interest but to breathe . - - -Alas ! poor heart ; that kiss is comfortless -As frozen water to a starved snake . - -When will this fearful slumber have an end ? - -Now , farewell , flattery : die , Andronicus ; -Thou dost not slumber : see , thy two sons' heads , -Thy war-like hand , thy mangled daughter here ; -Thy other banish'd son , with this dear sight -Struck pale and bloodless ; and thy brother , I , -Even like a stony image , cold and numb . -Ah ! now no more will I control thy griefs . -Rent off thy silver hair , thy other hand -Gnawing with thy teeth ; and be this dismal sight -The closing up of our most wretched eyes ! -Now is a time to storm ; why art thou still ? - -Ha , ha , ha ! - -Why dost thou laugh ? it fits not with this hour . - -Why , I have not another tear to shed : -Besides , this sorrow is an enemy , -And would usurp upon my watery eyes , -And make them blind with tributary tears : -Then which way shall I find Revenge's cave ? -For these two heads do seem to speak to me , -And threat me I shall never come to bliss -Till all these mischiefs be return'd again -Even in their throats that have committed them . -Come , let me see what task I have to do . -You heavy people , circle me about , -That I may turn me to each one of you , -And swear unto my soul to right your wrongs . -The vow is made . Come , brother , take a head ; -And in this hand the other will I bear . -Lavinia , thou shalt be employ'd in these things : -Bear thou my hand , sweet wench , between thy teeth . -As for thee , boy , go get thee from my sight ; -Thou art an exile , and thou must not stay : -Hie to the Goths , and raise an army there : -And if you love me , as I think you do , -Let's kiss and part , for we have much to do . - - -Farewell , Andronicus , my noble father ; -The woefull'st man that ever liv'd in Rome : -Farewell , proud Rome ; till Lucius come again , -He leaves his pledges dearer than his life . -Farewell , Lavinia , my noble sister ; -O ! would thou wert as thou tofore hast been ; -But now nor Lucius nor Lavinia lives -But in oblivion and hateful griefs . -If Lucius live , he will requite your wrongs , -And make proud Saturnine and his empress -Beg at the gates like Tarquin and his queen . -Now will I to the Goths , and raise a power , -To be reveng'd on Rome and Saturnine . - - -So , so ; now sit ; and look you eat no more -Than will preserve just so much strength in us -As will revenge these bitter woes of ours . -Marcus , unknit that sorrow-wreathen knot : -Thy niece and I , poor creatures , want our hands , -And cannot passionate our ten-fold grief -With folded arms . This poor right hand of mine -Is left to tyrannize upon my breast ; -And when my heart , all mad with misery , -Beats in this hollow prison of my flesh , -Then thus I thump it down . - - -Thou map of woe , that thus dost talk in signs ! -When thy poor heart beats with outrageous beating -Thou canst not strike it thus to make it still . -Wound it with sighing , girl , kill it with groans ; -Or get some little knife between thy teeth , -And just against thy heart make thou a hole ; -That all the tears that thy poor eyes let fall -May run into that sink , and , soaking in , -Drown the lamenting fool in sea-salt tears . - -Fie , brother , fie ! teach her not thus to lay -Such violent hands upon her tender life . - -How now ! has sorrow made thee dote already ? -Why , Marcus , no man should be mad but I . -What violent hands can she lay on her life ? -Ah ! wherefore dost thou urge the name of hands ; -To bid aeas tell the tale twice o'er , -How Troy was burnt and he made miserable ? -O ! handle not the theme , to talk of hands , -Lest we remember still that we have none . -Fie , fie ! how franticly I square my talk , -As if we should forget we had no hands , -If Marcus did not name the word of hands . -Come , let's fall to ; and , gentle girl , eat this : -Here is no drink . Hark , Marcus , what she says ; -I can interpret all her martyr'd signs : -She says she drinks no other drink but tears , -Brew'd with her sorrow , mash'd upon her cheeks . -Speechless complainer , I will learn thy thought ; -In thy dumb action will I be as perfect -As begging hermits in their holy prayers : -Thou shalt not sigh , nor hold thy stumps to heaven , -Nor wink , nor nod , nor kneel , nor make a sign , -But I of these will wrest an alphabet , -And by still practice learn to know thy meaning . - -Good grandsire , leave these bitter deep laments : -Make my aunt merry with some pleasing tale . - -Alas ! the tender boy , in passion mov'd , -Doth weep to see his grandsire's heaviness . - -Peace , tender sapling ; thou art made of tears , -And tears will quickly melt thy life away . - -What dost thou strike at , Marcus , with thy knife ? - -At that that I have kill'd , my lord ; a fly . - -Out on thee , murderer ! thou kill'st my heart ; -Mine eyes are cloy'd with view of tyranny : -A deed of death , done on the innocent , -Becomes not Titus' brother . Get thee gone ; -I see , thou art not for my company . - -Alas ! my lord , I have but kill'd a fly . - -But how if that fly had a father and a mother ? -How would he hang his slender gilded wings -And buzz lamenting doings in the air ! -Poor harmless fly , -That , with his pretty buzzing melody , -Came here to make us merry ! and thou hast kill'd him . - -Pardon me , sir ; it was a black ill-favour'd fly , -Like to the empress' Moor ; therefore I kill'd him . - -O , O , O ! -Then pardon me for reprehending thee , -For thou hast done a charitable deed . -Give me thy knife , I will insult on him ; -Flattering myself , as if it were the Moor -Come hither purposely to poison me . -There's for thyself , and that's for Tamora . -Ah ! sirrah . -Yet I think we are not brought so low , -But that between us we can kill a fly -That comes in likeness of a coal-black Moor . - -Alas ! poor man ; grief has so wrought on him , -He takes false shadows for true substances . - -Come , take away . Lavinia , go with me : -I'll to thy closet ; and go read with thee -Sad stories chanced in the times of old . -Come , boy , and go with me : thy sight is young , -And thou shalt read when mine begins to dazzle . - -Help , grandsire , help ! my aunt Lavinia -Follows me everywhere , I know not why : -Good uncle Marcus , see how swift she comes : -Alas ! sweet aunt , I know not what you mean . - -Stand by me , Lucius ; do not fear thine aunt . - -She loves thee , boy , too well to do thee harm . - -Ay , when my father was in Rome , she did . - -What means my niece Lavinia by these signs ? - -Fear her not , Lucius : somewhat doth she mean . -See , Lucius , see how much she makes of thee ; -Somewhither would she have thee go with her . -Ah ! boy ; Cornelia never with more care -Read to her sons , than she hath read to thee -Sweet poetry and Tully's Orator . - -Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus ? - -My lord , I know not , I , nor can I guess , -Unless some fit or frenzy do possess her ; -For I have heard my grandsire say full oft , -Extremity of griefs would make men mad ; -And I have read that Hecuba of Troy -Ran mad through sorrow ; that made me to fear , -Although , my lord , I know my noble aunt -Loves me as dear as e'er my mother did , -And would not , but in fury , fright my youth ; -Which made me down to throw my books and fly , -Causeless , perhaps . But pardon me , sweet aunt ; -And , madam , if my uncle Marcus go , -I will most willingly attend your ladyship . - -Lucius , I will . - - -How now , Lavinia ! Marcus , what means this ? -Some book there is that she desires to see . -Which is it , girl , of these ? Open them , boy . -But thou art deeper read , and better skill'd ; -Come , and take choice of all my library , -And so beguile thy sorrow , till the heavens -Reveal the damn'd contriver of this deed . -Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus ? - -I think she means that there was more than one -Confederate in the fact : ay , more there was ; -Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge . - -Lucius ; what book is that she tosseth so ? - -Grandsire , 'tis Ovid's Metamorphoses ; -My mother gave it me . - -For love of her that's gone , -Perhaps , she cull'd it from among the rest . - -Soft ! see how busily she turns the leaves ! - -What would she find ? Lavinia , shall I read ? -This is the tragic tale of Philomel , -And treats of Tereus' treason and his rape ; -And rape , I fear , was root of thine annoy . - -See , brother , see ! note how she quotes the leaves . - -Lavinia , wert thou thus surpris'd , sweet girl , -Ravish'd and wrong'd , as Philomela was , -Forc'd in the ruthless , vast , and gloomy woods ? -See , see ! -Ay , such a place there is , where we did hunt , -O ! had we never , never hunted there , -Pattern'd by that the poet here describes , -By nature made for murders and for rapes . - -O ! why should nature build so foul a den , -Unless the gods delight in tragedies ? - -Give signs , sweet girl , for here are none but friends , -What Roman lord it was durst do the deed : -Or slunk not Saturnine , as Tarquin erst , -That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed ? - -Sit down , sweet niece : brother , sit down by me . -Apollo , Pallas , Jove , or Mercury , -Inspire me , that I may this treason find ! -My lord , look here ; look here , Lavinia : -This sandy plot is plain ; guide , if thou canst , -This after me . - -I have writ my name -Without the help of any hand at all . -Curs'd be that heart that forc'd us to this shift ! -Write thou , good niece , and here display at last -What God will have discover'd for revenge . -Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows plain , -That we may know the traitors and the truth ! - - -O ! do you read , my lord , what she hath writ ? -Stuprum , Chiron , Demetrius . - -What , what ! the lustful sons of Tamora -Performers of this heinous , bloody deed ? - -Magni dominator poli , -Tam lentus audis scelera ? tam lentus vides ? - -O ! calm thee , gentle lord ; although I know -There is enough written upon this earth -To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts -And arm the minds of infants to exclaims . -My lord , kneel down with me ; Lavinia , kneel ; -And kneel , sweet boy , the Roman Hector's hope ; -And swear with me , as , with the woeful fere -And father of that chaste dishonour'd dame , -Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape , -That we will prosecute by good advice -Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths , -And see their blood , or die with this reproach . - -'Tis sure enough , an you knew how ; -But if you hunt these bear-whelps , then beware : -The dam will wake , an if she wind you once : -She's with the lion deeply still in league , -And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back , -And when he sleeps will she do what she list . -You're a young huntsman , Marcus ; let it alone ; -And , come , I will go get a leaf of brass , -And with a gad of steel will write these words , -And lay it by : the angry northern wind -Will blow these sands like Sibyl's leaves abroad , -And where's your lesson then ? Boy , what say you ? - -I say , my lord , that if I were a man , -Their mother's bed-chamber should not be safe -For these bad bondmen to the yoke of Rome . - -Ay , that's my boy ! thy father hath full oft -For his ungrateful country done the like . - -And , uncle , so will I , an if I live . - -Come , go with me into mine armoury : -Lucius , I'll fit thee ; and withal my boy -Shall carry from me to the empress' sons -Presents that I intend to send them both : -Come , come ; thou'lt do thy message , wilt thou not ? - -Ay , with my dagger in their bosoms , grandsire . - -No , boy , not so ; I'll teach thee another course . -Lavinia , come . Marcus , look to my house ; -Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court : -Ay , marry , will we , sir ; and we'll be waited on . - - -O heavens ! can you hear a good man groan , -And not relent or not compassion him ? -Marcus , attend him in his ecstasy , -That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart -Than foemen's marks upon his batter'd shield ; -But yet so just that he will not revenge . -Revenge , ye heavens , for old Andronicus ! - - -Demetrius , here's the son of Lucius ; -He hath some message to deliver us . - -Ay , some mad message from his mad grandfather . - -My lords , with all the humbleness I may , -I greet your honours from Andronicus ; - - -And pray the Roman gods , confound you both ! - -Gramercy , lovely Lucius : what's the news ? - -That you are both decipher'd , that's the news , -For villains mark'd with rape . - -May it please you , -My grandsire , well advis'd , hath sent by me -The goodliest weapons of his armoury , -To gratify your honourable youth , -The hope of Rome , for so he bade me say ; -And so I do , and with his gifts present -Your lordships , that whenever you have need , -You may be armed and appointed well . -And so I leave you both : - -like bloody villains . - - -What's here ? A scroll ; and written round about ? -Let's see : - -'Integer vit , scelerisque purus , -Non eget Mauri jaculis , nec arcu . - - -O ! 'tis a verse in Horace ; I know it well : -I read it in the grammar long ago . - -Ay just , a verse in Horace ; right , you have it . - - -Now , what a thing it is to be an ass ! -Here's no sound jest ! the old man hath found their guilt -And sends them weapons wrapp'd about with lines , -That wound , beyond their feeling , to the quick ; -But were our witty empress well afoot , -She would applaud Andronicus' conceit : -But let her rest in her unrest awhile . - - -And now , young lords , was't not a happy star -Led us to Rome , strangers , and more than so , -Captives , to be advanced to this height ? -It did me good before the palace gate -To brave the tribune in his brother's hearing . - -But me more good , to see so great a lord -Basely insinuate and send us gifts . - -Had he not reason , Lord Demetrius ? -Did you not use his daughter very friendly ? - -I would we had a thousand Roman dames -At such a bay , by turn to serve our lust . - -A charitable wish and full of love . - -Here lacks but your mother for to say amen . - -And that would she for twenty thousand more . - -Come , let us go and pray to all the gods -For our beloved mother in her pains . - -Pray to the devils ; the gods have given us over . - - -Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus ? - -Belike , for joy the emperor hath a son . - -Soft ! who comes here ? - - -Good morrow , lords . O ! tell me , did you see -Aaron the Moor ? - -Well , more or less , or ne'er a whit at all , -Here Aaron is ; and what with Aaron now ? - -O gentle Aaron ! we are all undone . -Now help , or woe betide thee evermore ! - -Why , what a caterwauling dost thou keep ! -What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms ? - -O ! that which I would hide from heaven's eye , -Our empress' shame , and stately Rome's disgrace ! -She is deliver'd , lords , she is deliver'd . - -To whom ? - -I mean , she's brought a-bed . - -Well , God give her good rest ! What hath he sent her ? - -A devil . - -Why , then she's the devil's dam : a joyful issue . - -A joyless , dismal , black , and sorrowful issue . -Here is the babe , as loathsome as a toad -Amongst the fairest breeders of our clime . -The empress sends it thee , thy stamp , thy seal , -And bids thee christen it with thy dagger's point . - -'Zounds , ye whore ! is black so base a hue ? -Sweet blowse , you are a beauteous blossom , sure . - -Villain , what hast thou done ? - -That which thou canst not undo . - -Thou hast undone our mother . - -Villain , I have done thy mother . - -And therein , hellish dog , thou hast undone . -Woe to her chance , and damn'd her loathed choice ! -Accurs'd the offspring of so foul a fiend ! - -It shall not live . - -It shall not die . - -Aaron , it must ; the mother wills it so . - -What ! must it , nurse ? then let no man but I -Do execution on my flesh and blood . - -I'll broach the tadpole on my rapier's point : -Nurse , give it me ; my sword shall soon dispatch it . - -Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up . - -Stay , murderous villains ! will you kill your brother ? -Now , by the burning tapers of the sky , -That shone so brightly when this boy was got , -He dies upon my scimitar's sharp point -That touches this my first-born son and heir . -I tell you , younglings , not Enceladus , -With all his threatening band of Typhon's brood , -Nor great Alcides , nor the god of war , -Shall seize this prey out of his father's hands . -What , what , ye sanguine , shallow-hearted boys ! -Ye white-lim'd walls ! ye alehouse painted signs ! -Coal-black is better than another hue , -In that it scorns to bear another hue ; -For all the water in the ocean -Can never turn the swan's black legs to white , -Although she lave them hourly in the flood . -Tell the empress from me , I am of age -To keep mine own , excuse it how she can . - -Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus ? - -My mistress is my mistress ; this myself ; -The vigour , and the picture of my youth : -This before all the world do I prefer ; -This maugre all the world will I keep safe , -Or some of you shall smoke for it in Rome . - -By this our mother is for ever sham'd . - -Rome will despise her for this foul escape . - -The emperor in his rage will doom her death . - -I blush to think upon this ignomy . - -Why , there's the privilege your beauty bears . -Fie , treacherous hue ! that will betray with blushing -The close enacts and counsels of the heart : -Here's a young lad fram'd of another leer : -Look how the black slavesmiles upon the father , -As who should say , 'Old lad , I am thine own .' -He is your brother , lords , sensibly fed -Of that self blood that first gave life to you ; -And from that womb where you imprison'd were -He is enfranchised and come to light : -Nay , he is your brother by the surer side , -Although my seal be stamped in his face . - -Aaron , what shall I say unto the empress ? - -Advise thee , Aaron , what is to be done , -And we will all subscribe to thy advice : -Save thou the child , so we may all be safe . - -Then sit we down , and let us all consult , -My son and I will have the wind of you : -Keep there ; now talk at pleasure of your safety . - - -How many women saw this child of his ? - -Why , so , brave lords ! when we join in league , -I am a lamb ; but if you brave the Moor , -The chafed boar , the mountain lioness , -The ocean swells not so as Aaron storms . -But say , again , how many saw the child ? - -Cornelia the midwife , and myself , -And no one else but the deliver'd empress . - -The empress , the midwife , and yourself : -Two may keep counsel when the third's away . -Go to the empress ; tell her this I said : - -'Weke , weke !' -So cries a pig prepared to the spit . - -What mean'st thou , Aaron ? Wherefore didst thou this ? - -O lord , sir , 'tis a deed of policy : -Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours , -A long-tongu'd babbling gossip ? no , lords , no . -And now be it known to you my full intent . -Not far , one Muli lives , my countryman ; -His wife but yesternight was brought to bed . -His child is like to her , fair as you are : -Go pack with him , and give the mother gold , -And tell them both the circumstance of all , -And how by this their child shall be advanc'd , -And be received for the emperor's heir , -And substituted in the place of mine , -To calm this tempest whirling in the court ; -And let the emperor dandle him for his own . -Hark ye , lords ; you see , I have given her physic , - -And you must needs bestow her funeral ; -The fields are near , and you are gallant grooms . -This done , see that you take no longer days , -But send the midwife presently to me . -The midwife and the nurse well made away , -Then let the ladies tattle what they please . - -Aaron , I see thou wilt not trust the air -With secrets . - -For this care of Tamora , -Herself and hers are highly hound to thee . - - -Now to the Goths , as swift as swallow flies : -There to dispose this treasure in mine arms , -And secretly to greet the empress' friends . -Come on , you thick-lipp'd slave , I'll bear you hence ; -For it is you that puts us to our shifts : -I'll make you feed on berries and on roots , -And feed on curds and whey , and suck the goat , -And cabin in a cave , and bring you up -To be a warrior , and command a camp . - - -Come , Marcus , come ; kinsmen , this is the way . -Sir boy , now let me see your archery : -Look ye draw home enough , and 'tis there straight . -Terras Astr a reliquit : -Be you remember'd , Marcus , she's gone , she's fled . -Sirs , take you to your tools . You , cousins , shall -Go sound the ocean , and cast your nets ; -Happily you may find her in the sea ; -Yet there's as little justice as at land . -No ; Publius and Sempronius , you must do it ; -'Tis you must dig with mattock and with spade , -And pierce the inmost centre of the earth : -Then , when you come to Pluto's region , -I pray you , deliver him this petition ; -Tell him , it is for justice and for aid , -And that it comes from old Andronicus , -Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome . -Ah ! Rome . Well , well ; I made thee miserable -What time I threw the people's suffrages -On him that thus doth tyrannize o'er me . -Go , get you gone ; and pray be careful all , -And leave you not a man-of-war unsearch'd : -This wicked emperor may have shipp'd her hence ; -And , kinsmen , then we may go pipe for justice . - -O Publius ! is not this a heavy case , -To see thy noble uncle thus distract ? - -Therefore , my lord , it highly us concerns -By day and night to attend him carefully , -And feed his humour kindly as we may , -Till time beget some careful remedy . - -Kinsmen , his sorrows are past remedy . -Join with the Goths , and with revengeful war -Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude , -And vengeance on the traitor Saturnine . - -Publius , how now ! how now , my masters ! -What ! have you met with her ? - -No , my good lord ; but Pluto sends you word , -If you will have Revenge from hell , you shall : -Marry , for Justice , she is so employ'd , -He thinks , with Jove in heaven , or somewhere else , -So that perforce you must needs stay a time . - -He doth me wrong to feed me with delays . -I'll dive into the burning lake below , -And pull her out of Acheron by the heels . -Marcus , we are but shrubs , no cedars we ; -No big-bon'd men fram'd of the Cyclops' size ; -But metal , Marcus , steel to the very back , -Yet wrung with wrongs more than our backs can bear : -And sith there's no justice in earth nor hell , -We will solicit heaven and move the gods -To send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs . -Come , to this gear . You are a good archer , Marcus . - -Ad Javem , that's for you : here , ad Apollinem : -Ad Martem , that's for myself : -Here , boy , to Pallas : here , to Mercury : -To Saturn , Caius , not to Saturnine ; -You were as good to shoot against the wind . -To it , boy ! Marcus , loose when I bid . -Of my word , I have written to effect ; -There's not a god left unsolicited . - -Kinsmen , shoot all your shafts into the court : -We will afflict the emperor in his pride . - -Now , masters , draw . - -O ! well said , Lucius ! -Good boy , in Virgo's lap : give it Pallas . - -My lord , I aim a mile beyond the moon ; -Your letter is with Jupiter by this . - -Ha ! Publius , Publius , what hast thou done ? -See , see ! thou hast shot off one of Taurus' horns . - -This was the sport , my lord : when Publius shot , -The Bull , being gall'd , gave Aries such a knock -That down fell both the Ram's horns in the court ; -And who should find them but the empress' villain ? -She laugh'd , and told the Moor , he should not choose -But give them to his master for a present . - -Why , there it goes : God give his lordship joy ! - - -News ! news from heaven ! Marcus , the post is come . -Sirrah , what tidings ? have you any letters ? - -Shall I have justice ? what says Jupiter ? - -O ! tho gibbet-maker ? He says that he hath taken them down again , for the man must not be hanged till the next week . - -But what says Jupiter , I ask thee ? - -Alas ! sir , I know not Jupiter ; I never drank with him in all my life . - -Why , villain , art not thou the carrier ? - -Ay , of my pigeons , sir ; nothing else . - -Why , didst thou not come from heaven ? - -From heaven ! alas ! sir , I never came there . God forbid I should be so bold to press to heaven in my young days . Why , I am going with my pigeons to the tribunal plebs , to take up a matter of brawl betwixt my uncle and one of the emperial's men . - -Why , sir , that is as fit as can be to serve for your oration ; and let him deliver the pigeons to the emperor from you . - -Tell me , can you deliver an oration to the emperor with a grace ? - -Nay , truly , sir , I could never say grace in all my life . - -Sirrah , come hither : make no more ado , -But give your pigeons to the emperor : -By me thou shalt have justice at his hands . -Hold , hold ; meanwhile , here's money for thy charges . -Give me pen and ink . -Sirrah , can you with a grace deliver a supplication ? - -Ay , sir . - -Then here is a supplication for you . And when you come to him , at the first approach you must kneel ; then kiss his foot ; then deliver up your pigeons ; and then look for your reward . I'll be at hand , sir ; see you do it bravely . - -I warrant you , sir ; let me alone . - -Sirrah , hast thou a knife ? Come , let me see it . -Here , Marcus , fold it in the oration ; -For thou hast made it like a humble suppliant : -And when thou hast given it to the emperor , -Knock at my door , and tell me what he says . - -God be with you , sir ; I will . - -Come , Marcus , let us go . Publius , follow me . - -Why , lords , what wrongs are these ! Was ever seen -An emperor of Rome thus overborne , -Troubled , confronted thus ; and , for the extent -Of egal justice , us'd in such contempt ? -My lords , you know , as do the mightful gods , -However these disturbers of our peace -Buzz in the people's ears ,there nought hath pass'd , -But even with law , against the wilful sons -Of old Andronicus . And what an if -His sorrows have so overwhelm'd his wits , -Shall we be thus afflicted in his wreaks , -His fits , his frenzy , and his bitterness ? -And now he writes to heaven for his redress : -See , here's to Jove , and this to Mercury ; -This to Apollo ; this to the god of war ; -Sweet scrolls to fly about the streets of Rome ! -What's this but libelling against the senate , -And blazoning our injustice every where ? -A goodly humour , is it not , my lords ? -As who would say , in Rome no justice were . -But if I live , his feigned ecstasies -Shall be no shelter to these outrages ; -But he and his shall know that justice lives -In Saturninus' health ; whom , if she sleep , -He'll so awake , as she in fury shall -Cut off the proud'st conspirator that lives . - -My gracious lord , my lovely Saturnine , -Lord of my life , commander of my thoughts , -Calm thee , and bear the faults of Titus' age , -The effects of sorrow for his valiant sons , -Whose loss hath pierc'd him deep and scarr'd his heart ; -And rather comfort his distressed plight -Than prosecute the meanest or the best -For these contempts . - -Why , thus it shall become -High-witted Tamora to gloze with all : -But , Titus , I have touch'd thee to the quick , -Thy life-blood out : if Aaron now be wise , -Then is all safe , the anchor's in the port . - -How now , good fellow ! wouldst thou speak with us ? - -Yea , forsooth , an your mistership be emperial . - -Empress I am , but yonder sits the emperor . - -'Tis he . God and Saint Stephen give you good den . -I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here . - - -Go , take him away , and hang him presently . - -How much money must I have ? - -Come , sirrah , you must be hanged . - -Hanged ! By 'r , lady , then I have brought up a neck to a fair end . - - -Despiteful and intolerable wrongs ! -Shall I endure this monstrous villany ? -I know from whence this same device proceeds : -May this be borne ? As if his traitorous sons , -That died by law for murder of our brother , -Have by my means been butcher'd wrongfully ! -Go , drag the villain hither by the hair ; -Nor age nor honour shall shape privilege . -For this proud mock I'll be thy slaughterman ; -Sly frantic wretch , that holp'st to make me great , -In hope thyself should govern Rome and me . - -What news with thee , milius ? - -Arm , arm , my lord ! Rome never had more cause . -The Goths have gather'd head , and with a power -Of high-resolved men , bent to the spoil , -They hither march amain , under conduct -Of Lucius , son to old Andronicus ; -Who threats , in course of this revenge , to do -As much as ever Coriolanus did . - -Is war-like Lucius general of the Goths ? -These tidings nip me , and I hang the head -As flowers with frost or grass beat down with storms . -Ay , now begin our sorrows to approach : -'Tis he the common people love so much ; -Myself hath often heard them say , -When I have walked like a private man , -That Lucius' banishment was wrongfully , -And they have wish'd that Lucius were their emperor . - -Why should you fear ? is not your city strong ? - -Ay , but the citizens favour Lucius , -And will revolt from me to succour him . - -King , be thy thoughts imperious , like thy name . -Is the sun dimm'd , that gnats do fly in it ? -The eagle suffers little birds to sing , -And is not careful what they mean thereby , -Knowing that with the shadow of his wings -He can at pleasure stint their melody ; -Even so mayst thou the giddy men of Rome . -Then cheer thy spirit ; for know , thou emperor , -I will enchant the old Andronicus -With words more sweet , and yet more dangerous , -Than baits to fish , or honey-stalks to sheep , -Whenas the one is wounded with the bait , -The other rotted with delicious feed . - -But he will not entreat his son for us . - -If Tamora entreat him , then he will : -For I can smooth and fill his aged ear -With golden promises , that , were his heart -Almost impregnable , his old ears deaf , -Yet should both ear and heart obey my tongue . - - -Go thou before , be our ambassador : -Say that the emperor requests a parley -Of war-like Lucius , and appoint the meeting , -Even at his father's house , the old Andronicus . - -milius , do this message honourably : -And if he stand on hostage for his safety , -Bid him demand what pledge will please him best . - -Your bidding shall I do effectually . - - -Now will I to that old Andronicus , -And temper him with all the art I have , -To pluck proud Lucius from the war-like Goths . -And now , sweet emperor , be blithe again , -And bury all thy fear in my devices . - -Then go successantly , and plead to him . - -Approved warriors , and my faithful friends , -I have received letters from great Rome , -Which signify what hate they bear their emperor , -And how desirous of our sight they are . -Therefore , great lords , be , as your titles witness , -Imperious and impatient of your wrongs ; -And wherein Rome hath done you any scath , -Let him make treble satisfaction . - -Brave slip , sprung from the great Andronicus , -Whose name was once our terror , now our comfort ; -Whose high exploits and honourable deeds -Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt , -Be bold in us : we'll follow where thou lead'st , -Like stinging bees in hottest summer's day -Led by their master to the flower'd fields , -And be aveng'd on cursed Tamora . - -And , as he saith , so say we all with him . - -I humbly thank him , and I thank you all . -But who comes here , led by a lusty Goth ? - - -Renowned Lucius , from our troops I stray'd , -To gaze upon a ruinous monastery ; -And as I earnestly did fix mine eye -Upon the wasted building , suddenly -I heard a child cry underneath a wall . -I made unto the noise ; when soon I heard -The crying babe controll'd with this discourse : -'Peace , tawny slave , half me and half thy dam ! -Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art , -Had nature lent thee but thy mother's look , -Villain , thou mightst have been an emperor : -But where the bull and cow are both milk-white , -They never do beget a coal-black calf . -Peace , villain , peace !' even thus he rates the babe , -'For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth ; -Who , when he knows thou art the empress' babe , -Will hold thee dearly for thy mother's sake .' -With this , my weapon drawn , I rush'd upon him , -Surpris'd him suddenly , and brought him hither , -To use as you think needful of the man . - -O worthy Goth , this is the incarnate devil -That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand : -This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye , -And here's the base fruit of his burning lust . -Say , wall-ey'd slave , whither wouldst thou convey -This growing image of thy fiend-like face ? -Why dost not speak ? What ! deaf ? not a word ? -A halter , soldiers ! hang him on this tree , -And by his side his fruit of bastardy . - -Touch not the boy ; he is of royal blood . - -Too like the sire for ever being good . -First hang the child , that he may see it sprawl ; -A sight to vex the father's soul withal . -Get me a ladder . - - -Lucius , save the child ; -And bear it from me to the empress . -If thou do this , I'll show thee wondrous things , -That highly may advantage thee to hear : -If thou wilt not , befall what may befall , -I'll speak no more but 'Vengeance rot you all !' - -Say on ; and if it please me which thou speak'st , -Thy child shall live , and I will see it nourish'd . - -An if it please thee ! why , assure thee , Lucius , -'Twill vex'thy soul to hear what I shall speak ; -For I must talk of murders , rapes , and massacres , -Acts of black night , abominable deeds , -Complots of mischief , treason , villanies -Ruthful to hear , yet piteously perform'd : -And this shall all be buried by my death , -Unless thou swear to me my child shall live . - -Tell on thy mind : I say , thy child shall live . - -Swear that he shall , and then I will begin . - -Who should I swear by ? thou believ'st no god : -That granted , how canst thou believe an oath ? - -What if I do not ? as , indeed , I do not ; -Yet , for I know thou art religious , -And hast a thing within thee called conscience , -With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies , -Which I have seen thee careful to observe , -Therefore I urge thy oath ; for that I know -An idiot holds his bauble for a god , -And keeps the oath which by that god he swears , -To that I'll urge him : therefore thou shalt vow -By that same god , what god soe'er it be , -That thou ador'st and hast in reverence , -To save my boy , to nourish and bring him up : -Or else I will discover nought to thee . - -Even by my god I swear to thee I will . - -First , know thou , I begot him on the empress . - -O most insatiate and luxurious woman ! - -Tut ! Lucius , this was but a deed of charity -To that which thou shalt hear of me anon . -'Twas her two sons that murder'd Bassianus ; -They cut thy sister's tongue and ravish'd her , -And cut her hands and trimm'd her as thou saw'st . - -O detestable villain ! call'st thou that trimming ? - -Why , she was wash'd , and cut , and trimm'd , and 'twas -Trim sport for them that had the doing of it . - -O barbarous , beastly villains , like thyself ! - -Indeed , I was their tutor to instruct them . -That codding spirit had they from their mother , -As sure a card as ever won the set ; -That bloody mind , I think , they learn'd of me -As true a dog as ever fought at head . -Well , let my deeds be witness of my worth . -I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole -Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay ; -I wrote the letter that thy father found , -And hid the gold within the letter mention'd , -Confederate with the queen and her two sons : -And what not done , that thou hast cause to rue , -Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it ? -I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand , -And , when I had it , drew myself apart , -And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter . -I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall -When , for his hand , he had his two sons' heads ; -Beheld his tears , and laugh'd so heartily , -That both mine eyes were rainy like to his : -And when I told the empress of this sport , -She swounded almost at my pleasing tale , -And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses . - -What ! canst thou say all this , and never blush ? - -Ay , like a black dog , as the saying is . - -Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds ? - -Ay , that I had not done a thousand more . -Even now I curse the day , and yet , I think , -Few come within the compass of my curse , -Wherein I did not some notorious ill : -As kill a man , or else devise his death ; -Ravish a maid , or plot the way to do it ; -Accuse some innocent , and forswear myself ; -Set deadly enmity between two friends ; -Make poor men's cattle break their necks ; -Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night , -And bid the owners quench them with their tears , -Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves , -And set them upright at their dear friends' doors , -Even when their sorrows almost were forgot ; -And on their skins , as on the bark of trees , -Have with my knife carved in Roman letters , -'Let not your sorrow die , though I am dead .' -Tut ! I have done a thousand dreadful things -As willingly as one would kill a fly , -And nothing grieves me heartily indeed -But that I cannot do ten thousand more . - -Bring down the devil , for he must not die -So sweet a death as hanging presently . - -If there be devils , would I were a devil , -To live and burn in everlasting fire , -So I might have your company in hell , -But to torment you with my bitter tongue ! - -Sirs , stop his mouth , and let him speak no more . - - -My lord , there is a messenger from Rome -Desires to be admitted to your presence . - -Let him come near . - -Welcome , milius ! what's the news from Rome ? - -Lord Lucius , and you princes of the Goths , -The Roman emperor greets you all by me ; -And , for he understands you are in arms , -He craves a parley at your father's house , -Willing you to demand your hostages , -And they shall be immediately deliver'd . - -What says our general ? - -milius , let the emperor give his pledges -Unto my father and my uncle Marcus , -And we will come . March away . - - -Thus , in this strange and sad habiliment , -I will encounter with Andronicus , -And say I am Revenge , sent from below -To join with him and right his heinous wrongs . -Knock at his study , where , they say , he keeps , -To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge ; -Tell him , Revenge is come to join with him , -And work confusion on his enemies . - -Who doth molest my contemplation ? -Is it your trick to make me ope the door , -That so my sad decrees may fly away , -And all my study be to no effect ? -You are deceiv'd ; for what I mean to do , -See here , in bloody lines I have set down ; -And what is written shall be executed . - -Titus , I am come to talk with thee . - -No , not a word ; how can I grace my talk , -Wanting a hand to give it action ? -Thou hast the odds of me ; therefore no more . - -If thou didst know me , thou wouldst talk with me . - -I am not mad ; I know thee well enough : -Witness this wretched stump , witness these crimson lines ; -Witness these trenches made by grief and care ; -Witness the tiring day and heavy night ; -Witness all sorrow , that I know thee well -For our proud empress , mighty Tamora . -Is not thy coming for my other hand ? - -Know , thou sad man , I am not Tamora ; -She is thy enemy , and I thy friend : -I am Revenge , sent from the infernal kingdom , -To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind , -By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes . -Come down , and welcome me to this world's light ; -Confer with me of murder and of death . -There's not a hollow cave or lurking-place , -No vast obscurity or misty vale , -Where bloody murder or detested rape -Can couch for fear , but I will find them out ; -And in their ears tell them my dreadful name , -Revenge , which makes the foul offender quake . - -Art thou Revenge ? and art thou sent to me , -To be a torment to mine enemies ? - -I am ; therefore come down , and welcome me . - -Do me some service ere I come to thee . -Lo , by thy side where Rape and Murder stands ; -Now give some surance that thou art Revenge : -Stab them , or tear them on thy chariot-wheels , -And then I'll come and be thy waggoner , -And whirl along with thee about the globe . -Provide two proper palfreys , black as jet , -To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away , -And find out murderers in their guilty caves : -And when thy car is loaden with their heads , -I will dismount , and by the waggon-wheel -Trot like a servile footman all day long , -Even from Hyperion's rising in the east -Until his very downfall in the sea : -And day by day I'll do this heavy task , -So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there . - -These are my ministers , and come with me . - -Are these thy ministers ? what are they call'd ? - -Rapine and Murder ; therefore called so , -Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men . - -Good Lord , how like the empress' sons they are , -And you the empress ! but we worldly men -Have miserable , mad , mistaking eyes . -O sweet Revenge ! now do I come to thee ; -And , if one arm's embracement will content thee , -I will embrace thee in it by and by . - - -This closing with him fits his lunacy . -Whate'er I forge to feed his brain-sick fits , -Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches , -For now he firmly takes me for Revenge ; -And , being credulous in this mad thought , -I'll make him send for Lucius his son ; -And , whilst I at a banquet hold him sure , -I'll find some cunning practice out of hand -To scatter and disperse the giddy Goths , -Or , at the least , make them his enemies . -See , here he comes , and I must ply my theme . - - -Long have I been forlorn , and all for thee : -Welcome , dread Fury , to my woeful house : -Rapine and Murder , you are welcome too . -How like the empress and her sons you are ! -Well are you fitted had you but a Moor : -Could not all hell afford you such a devil ? -For well I wot the empress never wags -But in her company there is a Moor ; -And would you represent our queen aright , -It were convenient you had such a devil . -But welcome as you are . What shall we do ? - -What wouldst thou have us do , Andronicus ? - -Show me a murderer , I'll deal with him . - -Show me a villain that hath done a rape , -And I am sent to be reveng'd on him . - -Show me a thousand that have done thee wrong , -And I will be revenged on them all . - -Look round about the wicked streets of Rome , -And when thou find'st a man that's like thyself , -Good Murder , stab him ; he's a murderer . -Go thou with him ; and when it is thy hap -To find another that is like to thee , -Good Rapine , stab him ; he's a ravisher . -Go thou with them ; and in the emperor's court -There is a queen attended by a Moor ; -Well mayst thou know her by thy own proportion , -For up and down she doth resemble thee : -I pray thee , do on them some violent death ; -They have been violent to me and mine . - -Well hast thou lesson'd us ; this shall we do . -But would it please thee , good Andronicus , -To send for Lucius , thy thrice-valiant son , -Who leads towards Rome a band of war-like Goths , -And bid him come and banquet at thy house : -When he is here , even at thy solemn feast , -I will bring in the empress and her sons , -The emperor himself , and all thy foes , -And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel , -And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart . -What says Andronicus to this device ? - -Marcus , my brother ! 'tis sad Titus calls . - - -Go , gentle Marcus , to thy nephew Lucius ; -Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths : -Bid him repair to me , and bring with him -Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths ; -Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are : -Tell him , the emperor and the empress too -Feast at my house , and he shall feast with them . -This do thou for my love ; and so let him , - -As he regards his aged father's life . - -This will I do , and soon return again . - - -Now will I hence about thy business , -And take my ministers along with me . - -Nay , nay , let Rape and Murder stay with me ; -Or else I'll call my brother back again , -And cleave to no revenge but Lucius . - -What say you , boys ? will you abide with him , -Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor -How I have govern'd our determin'd jest ? -Yield to his humour , smooth and speak him fair , -And tarry with him till I turn again . - -I know them all , though they suppose me mad ; -And will o'er-reach them in their own devices ; -A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam . - -Madam , depart at pleasure ; leave us here . - -Farewell , Andronicus : Revenge now goes -To lay a complot to betray thy foes . - - -I know thou dost ; and , sweet Revenge , farewell . - -Tell us , old man , how shall we be employ'd ? - -Tut ! I have work enough for you to do . -Publius , come hither , Caius , and Valentine ! - - -What is your will ? - -Know you these two ? - -The empress' sons , -I take them , Chiron and Demetrius . - -Fie , Publius , fie ! thou art too much deceiv'd ; -The one is Murder , Rape is the other's name ; -And therefore bind them , gentle Publius ; -Caius and Valentine , lay hands on them ; -Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour , -And now I find it : therefore bind them sure , -And stop their mouths , if they begin to cry . - - -Villains , forbear ! we are the empress' sons . - -And therefore do we what we are commanded . -Stop close their mouths , let them not speak a word . -Is he sure bound ? look that you bind them fast . - - -Come , come , Lavinia ; look , thy foes are bound . -Sirs , stop their mouths , let them not speak to me , -But let them hear what fearful words I utter . -O villains , Chiron and Demetrius ! -Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with mud , -This goodly summer with your winter mix'd . -You kill'd her husband , and for that vile fault -Two of her brothers were condemn'd to death , -My hand cut off and made a merry jest : -Both her sweet hands , her tongue , and that more dear -Than hands or tongue , her spotless chastity , -Inhuman traitors , you constrain'd and forc'd . -What would you say if I should let you speak ? -Villains ! for shame you could not beg for grace . -Hark , wretches ! how I mean to martyr you . -This one hand yet is left to cut your throats , -Whilst that Levinia 'tween her stumps doth hold -The basin that receives your guilty blood . -You know your mother means to feast with me , -And calls herself Revenge , and thinks me mad . -Hark ! villains , I will grind your bones to dust , -And with your blood and it I'll make a paste ; -And of the paste a coffin I will rear , -And make two pasties of your shameful heads ; -And bid that strumpet , your unhallow'd dam , -Like to the earth swallow her own increase . -This is the feast that I have bid her to , -And this the banquet she shall surfeit on ; -For worse than Philomel you us'd my daughter , -And worse than Procne I will be reveng'd . -And now prepare your throats . Lavinia , come . - -Receive the blood : and when that they are dead , -Let me go grind their bones to powder small , -And with this hateful liquor temper it ; -And in that paste let their vile heads be bak'd . -Come , come , be every one officious -To make this banquet , which I wish may prove -More stern and bloody than the Centaurs' feast . -So , now bring them in , for I will play the cook , -And see them ready 'gainst their mother comes . - - -Uncle Marcus , since it is my father's mind -That I repair to Rome , I am content . - -And ours with thine , befall what fortune will . - -Good uncle , take you in this barbarous Moor , -This ravenous tiger , this accursed devil ; -Let him receive no sustenance , fetter him , -Till he be brought unto the empress' face , -For testimony of her foul proceedings : -And see the ambush of our friends be strong ; -I fear the emperor means no good to us . - -Some devil whisper curses in mine ear , -And prompt me , that my tongue may utter forth -The venomous malice of my swelling heart ! - -Away , inhuman dog ! unhallow'd slave ! -Sirs , help our uncle to convey him in . - -The trumpets show the emperor is at hand . - - -What ! hath the firmament more suns than one ? - -What boots it thee , to call thyself a sun ? - -Rome's emperor , and nephew , break the parle ; -These quarrels must be quietly debated . -The feast is ready which the careful Titus -Hath ordain'd to an honourable end , -For peace , for love , for league , and good to Rome : -Please you , therefore , draw nigh , and take your places . - -Marcus , we will . - - -Welcome , my gracious lord ; welcome , dread queen ; -Welcome , ye war-like Goths ; welcome , Lucius ; -And welcome , all . Although the cheer be poor , -'Twill fill your stomachs ; please you eat of it . - -Why art thou thus attir'd , Andronicus ? - -Because I would be sure to have all well -To entertain your highness , and your empress . - -We are beholding to you , good Andronicus . - -An if your highness knew my heart , you were . -My lord the emperor , resolve me this : -Was it well done of rash Virginius -To slay his daughter with his own right hand , -Because she was enforced , stain'd , and deflower'd ? - -It was , Andronicus . - -Your reason , mighty lord ? - -Because the girl should not survive her shame , -And by her presence still renew his sorrows . - -A reason mighty , strong , and effectual ; -A pattern , precedent , and lively warrant , -For me most wretched , to perform the like . -Die , die . Lavinia , and thy shame with thee ; -And with thy shame thy father's sorrow die ! - - -What hast thou done , unnatural and unkind ? - -Kill'd her , for whom my tears have made me blind . -I am as woeful as Virginius was , -And have a thousand times more cause than he -To do this outrage : and it is now done . - -What ! was she ravish'd ? tell who did the deed . - -Will 't please you eat ? will 't please your highness feed ? - -Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus ? - -Not I ; 'twas Chiron and Demetrius : -They ravish'd her , and cut away her tongue : -And they , 'twas they , that did her all this wrong . - -Go fetch them hither to us presently . - -Why , there they are both , baked in that pie ; -Whereof their mother daintily hath fed , -Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred . -'Tis true , 'tis true ; witness my knife's sharp point . - - -Die , frantic wretch , for this accursed deed ! - - -Can the son's eye behold his father bleed ? -There's meed for meed , death for a deadly deed ! - -You sad-fac'd men , people and sons of Rome , -By uproar sever'd , like a flight of fowl -Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts , -O ! let me teach you how to knit again -This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf , -These broken limbs again into one body , -Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself , -And she whom mighty kingdoms curtsy to , -Like a forlorn and desperate castaway , -Do shameful execution on herself . -But if my frosty signs and chaps of age , -Grave witnesses of true experience , -Cannot induce you to attend my words , - - -Speak , Rome's dear friend , as erst our ancestor , -When with his solemn tongue he did discourse -To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear -The story of that baleful burning night -When subtle Greeks surpris'd King Priam's Troy ; -Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears , -Or who hath brought the fatal engine in -That gives our Troy , our Rome , the civil wound . -My heart is not compact of flint nor steel , -Nor can I utter all our bitter grief , -But floods of tears will drown my oratory , -And break my very utterance , even in the time -When it should move you to attend me most , -Lending your kind commiseration . -Here is a captain , let him tell the tale ; -Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak . - -Then , noble auditory , be it known to you , -That cursed Chiron and Demetrius -Were they that murdered our emperor's brother ; -And they it was that ravished our sister . -For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded , -Our father's tears despis'd , and basely cozen'd -Of that true hand that fought Rome's quarrel out , -And sent her enemies unto the grave : -Lastly , myself unkindly banished , -The gates shut on me , and turn'd weeping out , -To beg relief among Rome's enemies ; -Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears , -And op'd their arms to embrace me as a friend : -And I am the turn'd forth , be it known to you , -That have preserv'd her welfare in my blood , -And from her bosom took the enemy's point , -Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body . -Alas ! you know I am no vaunter , I ; -My scars can witness , dumb although they are , -That my report is just and full of truth . -But , soft ! methinks I do digress too much , -Citing my worthless praise : O ! pardon me ; -For when no friends are by , men praise themselves . - -Now is my turn to speak . Behold this child ; -Of this was Tamora delivered , -The issue of an irreligious Moor , -Chief architect and plotter of these woes . -The villain is alive in Titus' house , -Damn'd as he is , to witness this is true . -Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge -These wrongs , unspeakable , past patience , -Or more than any living man could bear . -Now you have heard the truth , what say you Romans ? -Have we done aught amiss , show us wherein , -And , from the place where you behold us now , -The poor remainder of Andronici -Will , hand in hand , all headlong cast us down , -And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains , -And make a mutual closure of our house . -Speak , Romans , speak ! and if you say we shall , -Lo ! hand in hand , Lucius and I will fall . - -Come , come , thou reverend man of Rome , -And bring our emperor gently in thy hand , -Lucius , our emperor ; for well I know -The common voice do cry it shall be so . - -Lucius , all hail ! Rome's royal emperor ! - -Go , go into old Titus' sorrowful house , -And hither , hale that misbelieving Moor , -To be adjudg'd some direful slaughtering death , -As punishment for his most wicked life . - -Lucius , all hail ! Rome's gracious governor ! - -Thanks , gentle Romans : may I govern so , -To heal Rome's harms , and wipe away her woe ! -But , gentle people , give me aim awhile , -For nature puts me to a heavy task . -Stand all aloof ; but , uncle , draw you near , -To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk . -O ! take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips , - -These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd face , -The last true duties of thy noble son ! - -Tear for tear , and loving kiss for kiss , -Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips : -O ! were the sum of these that I should pay -Countless and infinite , yet would I pay them . - -Come hither , boy ; come , come , and learn of us -To melt in showers : thy grandsire lov'd thee well : -Many a time he danc'd thee on his knee , -Sung thee asleep , his loving breast thy pillow ; -Many a matter hath he told to thee , -Meet and agreeing with thine infancy ; -In that respect , then , like a loving child , -Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring , -Because kind nature doth require it so : -Friends should associate friends in grief and woe . -Bid him farewell ; commit him to the grave ; -Do him that kindness , and take leave of him . - -O grandsire , grandsire ! even with all my heart -Would I were dead , so you did live again . -O Lord ! I cannot speak to him for weeping ; -My tears will choke me if I ope my mouth . - - -You sad Andronici , have done with woes : -Give sentence on this execrable wretch , -That hath been breeder of these dire events . - -Set him breast-deep in earth , and famish him ; -There let him stand , and rave , and cry for food : -If any one relieves or pities him , -For the offence he dies . This is our doom : -Some stay to see him fasten'd in the earth . - -O ! why should wrath be mute , and fury dumb ? -I am no baby , I , that with base prayers -I should repent the evils I have done . -Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did -Would I perform , if I might have my will : -If one good deed in all my life I did , -I do repent it from my very soul . - -Some loving friends convey the emperor hence , -And give him burial in his father's grave . -My father and Lavinia shall forthwith -Be closed in our household's monument . -As for that heinous tiger , Tamora , -No funeral rite , nor man in mournful weeds , -No mournful bell shall ring her burial ; -But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey . -Her life was beast-like , and devoid of pity ; -And , being so , shall have like want of pity . -See justice done on Aaron , that damn'd Moor , -By whom our heavy haps had their beginning : -Then , afterwards , to order well the state , -That like events may ne'er it ruinate . -