SCENE I.
Tharsus.
An open place near the sea-shore.
Enter Dionyza and Leonine.
Dion.
Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do it3 note
:
-- 98 --
'Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.
Thou canst not do a thing in the world so soon,
To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience,
Which is but cold, inflame love in thy bosom4 note
,
Enflame note too nicely; nor let pity, which
Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be
A soldier to thy purpose.
Leon.
I'll do't; but yet she is a goodly creature.
Dion.
The fitter then the gods above should have her5 note
.
Here she comes weeping for her only mistress.
-- 99 --
Death—thou art resolv'd6 note
?
Leon.
I am resolv'd.
Enter Marina, with a basket of flowers.
Mar.
No, no, I will rob Tellus of her weed,
To strew thy grave with flowers7 note
: the yellows, blues,
-- 100 --
The purple violets, and marigolds,
Shall as a chaplet hang upon thy grave,
While summer days do last8 note
. Ah me! poor maid,
Born in a tempest, when my mother dy'd,
This world to me is like a lasting storm9Q1329* note,
Whirring me from my friends9 note
.
Dion.
How now, Marina! why do you keep alone1 note
?
-- 101 --
How chance my daughter is not with you2 note? Do not
Consume your blood with sorrowing3 note; you have
A nurse of me. Lord! how your favour's chang'd
With this unprofitable woe! Come, come,
Give me your wreath of flowers, ere the sea
Mar it* note
. Walk with Leonine; the air's quick there,
And it pierces and sharpens the stomach. Come,
Leonine, take her by the arm, walk with her.
Mar.
No, I pray you;
I'll not bereave you of your servant.
Dion.
Come, come;
I love the king your father, and yourself,
With more than foreign heart4 note. We every day
Expect him here: when he shall come, and find
Our paragon to all reports5 note
, thus blasted,
He will repent the breadth of his great voyage;
Blame both my lord and me, that we have ta'en
No care to your best courses. Go, I pray you,
Walk, and be chearful once again; reserve
That excellent complexion6 note
which did steal
-- 102 --
The eyes of young and old.9Q1330 Care not for me;
I can go home alone.
Mar.
Well, I will go;
But yet I have no desire to it7 note
.
Dion.
Come, come, I know 'tis good for you.
Walk half an hour, Leonine, at the least;
Remember what I have said.
Leon.
I warrant you, madam.
Dion.
I'll leave you, my sweet lady, for a while;
Pray you walk softly, do not heat your blood:
What! I must have a care of you.
Mar.
My thanks, sweet madam.
[Exit Dionyza.
Is this wind westerly that blows?
Leon.
South-west.
Mar.
When I was born, the wind was north.
Leon.
Was't so?
Mar.
My father, as nurse said, did never fear,
But cry'd, good seamen, to the sailors, galling
His kingly hands with hauling of the ropes;
And, clasping to the mast, endur'd a sea
That almost burst the deck8 note.
Leon.
When was this?
Mar.
When I was born.
Never was waves nor wind more violent;
-- 103 --
And from the ladder-tackle washes off9 note
A canvas-climber: ha, says one, wilt out?
And with a dropping industry they skip
From stem to stern1 note
: the boat-swain whistles, and
The master calls, and trebles their confusion2 note
.
Leon.
Come, say your prayers.
Mar.
What mean you?
Leon.
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.
Mar.
Why, will you kill me3 note
?
-- 104 --
Leon.
To satisfy my lady.
Mar.
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 it4 note
. How have I offended,
Wherein my death might yield her any profit,
Or my life imply her any danger?
Leon.
My commission
Is not to reason of the deed, but do it.
Mar.
You will not do't for all the world, I hope.
You are well-favour'd, and your looks fore-shew
You have a gentle heart. I saw you lately,
When you caught hurt in parting two that fought:
Good sooth, it shew'd well in you; do so now:
Your lady seeks my life;—come you between,
And save poor me, the weaker.
Leon.
I am sworn,
And will dispatch.
Enter Pirates, whilst she is struggling.
1 Pirate.
Hold, villain!
[Leonine runs away.
2 Pirate.
A prize! a prize!
3 Pirate.
Half-part, mates, half-part. Come, let's
have her aboard suddenly.
[Exeunt Pirates with Marina.
-- 105 --
SCENE II.
The same. Re-enter Leonine.
Leon.
These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes5 note;
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.
[Exit.
SCENE III.
Mitylene. A room in a brothel.
Enter Pander, Bawd, and Boult.
Pand.
Boult.
Boult.
Sir.
Pand.
Search the market narrowly; Mitylene is
full of gallants. We lost too much money this mart
by being too wenchless.
Bawd.
We were never so much out of creatures.
We have but poor three, and they can do no more
than they can do; and with continual action are
even as good as rotten.
Pand.
Therefore let's have fresh ones whate'er we
pay for them. If there be not a conscience to be us'd
in every trade, we shall never prosper6 note
.
-- 106 --
Bawd.
Thou say'st true: 'tis not our bringing up
of poor bastards7 note, as I think, I have brought up
some eleven—
Boult.
Ay, to eleven, and brought them down
again8 note
. But shall I search the market?
Bawd.
What else, man? The stuff we have, a
strong wind will blow it to pieces, they are so pitifully
sodden.
Pand.
Thou say'st true; they're too unwholesome
o' conscience. The poor Transilvanian is dead that
lay with the little baggage9 note.
Boult.
Ay, she quickly poop'd him1 note
; she made
him roast-meat for worms:—but I'll go search the
market.
[Exit Boult.
Pand.
Three or four thousand chequins were as
pretty a proportion to live quietly, and so give over.
-- 107 --
Bawd.
Why, to give over, I pray you? Is it a
shame to get when we are old?
Pand.
O, our credit comes not in like the commodity;
nor the commodity wages not with the
danger2 note
: therefore, if in our youths we could pick
up some pretty estate, 'twere not amiss to keep our
door hatch'd3 note. Besides, the sore terms we stand upon
with the gods, will be strong with us for giving over.
Bawd.
Come, other sorts offend as well as we4 note.
Pand.
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.
Enter the Pirates, and Boult dragging in Marina.
Boult.
Come your ways. [To Marina.] My masters,
you say she's a virgin?
1 Pirat.
O sir, we doubt it not.
Boult.
Master, I have gone thorough5 note for this piece,
you see: if you like her, so; if not, I have lost my
earnest.
Bawd.
Boult, has she any qualities?
Boult.
She has a good face, speaks well, and hath
excellent good cloaths; there's no farther necessity
of qualities can make her be refused.
-- 108 --
Bawd.
What's her price, Boult?
Boult.
I cannot be bated one doit of a thousand
pieces6 note.
Pand.
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 entertainment7 note.
[Exeunt Pander and Pirates.
Bawd.
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 first8 note. Such a maiden-head were no
cheap thing, if men were as they have been. Get
this done as I command you.
Boult.
Performance shall follow.
[Exit Boult.
Mar.
Alack, that Leonine was so slack, so slow!
(He should have struck, not spoke;) or that these pirates,
Not enough barbarous, had but over-board
Thrown me9 note
, to seek my mother!
Bawd.
Why lament you, pretty one?
Mar.
That I am pretty.
Bawd.
Come, the gods have done their part in
you.
-- 109 --
Mar.
I accuse them not.
Bawd.
You are lit into my hands, where you are
like to live.
Mar.
The more my fault, to 'scape his hands, where I
Was like to die.
Bawd.
Ay, and you shall live in pleasure.
Mar.
No.
Bawd.
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?
Mar.
Are you a woman?
Bawd.
What would you have me be, an I be
not a woman?
Mar.
An honest woman, or not a woman.
Bawd.
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.
Mar.
The gods defend me!
Bawd.
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 return'd.
Enter Boult.
Now, sir, hast thou cry'd her through the market?
Boult.
I have cry'd her almost to the number of her
hairs; I have drawn her picture with my voice.
Bawd.
And I pr'ythee tell me, how dost thou find
the inclination of the people, especially of the
younger sort?
Boult.
'Faith they listen'd to me, as they would
have hearken'd to their father's testament. There
was a Spaniard's mouth so water'd, that he went to
bed to her very description.
Bawd.
We shall have him here to-morrow with
his best ruff on.
-- 110 --
Boult.
To-night, to-night. But, mistress, do you
know the French knight that cowers i'the hams1 note
?
Bawd.
Who? monsieur Veroles?
Boult.
Ay; he offered to cut a caper at the proclamation;
but he made a groan at it, and swore he
would see her to-morrow2 note
.
Bawd.
Well, well; as for him, he brought his
disease hither: here he doth but repair it* note
. I know
he will come in our shadow, to scatter his crowns in
the sun3 note
.
Boult.
Well, if we had of every nation a traveller,
we should lodge them with this sign4 note
.
-- 111 --
Bawd.
Pray you, come hither a while. 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 you do, makes pity in
your lovers: Seldom, but that pity begets you a
good opinion, and that opinion a meer profit5 note
.
Mar.
I understand you not.
Boult.
O take her home, mistress, take her home:
these blushes of her's must be quench'd with some
present practice.
Bawd.
Thou say'st true i'faith, so they must; for
your bride goes to that with shame, which is her way
to go with warrant6 note.
Boult.
'Faith some do, and some do not. But,
mistress, if I have bargain'd for the joint,—
Bawd.
Thou may'st cut a morsel off the spit.
Boult.
I may so.
Bawd.
Who should deny it? Come young one, I
like the manner of your garments well.
-- 112 --
Boult.
Ay, by my faith, they shall not be chang'd
yet.
Bawd.
Boult, spend thou that in the town: report
what a sojourner we have; you'll lose nothing
by custom. When Nature fram'd this piece, she
meant thee a good turn7 note
; therefore say what a paragon
she is, and thou hast the harvest out of thine
own report.
Boult.
I warrant you, mistress, thunder shall not
so awake the beds of eels8 note, as my giving out of her
beauty stir up the lewdly-inclined. I'll bring home
some to night.
Bawd.
Come your ways; follow me.
Mar.
If fires be hot, knives sharp, or waters deep9 note
,
Untied I still my virgin knot will keep.9Q1332
Diana, aid my purpose!
Bawd.
What have we to do with Diana? Pray you,
will you go with us?
[Exeunt.
SCENE IV.
A room in Cleon's house at Tharsus.
Enter Cleon and Dionyza.
Dion.
Why, are you foolish? Can it be undone?
Cle.
O Dionyza, such a piece of slaughter
The sun and moon ne'er look'd upon!
Dion.
I think you'll turn a child again.
-- 113 --
Cle.
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, it had been a kindness
Becoming well thy face1 note
: what canst thou say,
When noble Pericles shall demand his child2 note
?
Dion.
That she is dead. Nurses are not the fates,
To foster it, nor ever to preserve3 note
.
She died at night4 note
; I'll say so. Who can cross it5 note
?
-- 114 --
Unless you play the impious innocent6 note
,
And for an honest attribute, cry out,
She died by foul play.
Cle.
O, go to. Well, well,
Of all the faults beneath the heavens, the gods
Do like this worst.
Dion.
Be one of those that think
The pretty wrens of Tharsus will fly hence,9Q1333
And open this to Pericles. I do shame
To think of what a noble strain you are,
And of how coward a spirit7 note
.
Cle.
To such proceeding
Who ever but his approbation added,
-- 115 --
Though not his pre-consent8 note
, he did not flow
From honourable courses.
Dion.
Be it so then:
Yet none doth know, but you, how she came dead,
Nor none can know, Leonine being gone.
She did disdain 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 at9 note
, and held a malkin
Not worth the time of day1 note
. It pierc'd me thorough;
And though you call my course unnatural2 note
,
-- 116 --
You not your child well loving, yet I find,
It greets me, as an enterprize of kindness,
Perform'd to your sole daughter3 note
.
Cle.
Heavens forgive it!
Dion.
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 expence 'tis done.
Cle.
Thou art like the harpy,
Which, to betray, dost, with thine angel's face,
Seize with thine eagle's talons4 note
.
Dion.
You are like one, that superstitiously
-- 117 --
Doth swear to the gods, that winter kills the flies5 note;
But yet I know you'll do as I advise.
[Exeunt.
Enter Gower, before the Monument of Marina at Tharsus.
Gow.
Thus time we waste, and longest leagues make short,
Sail seas in cockles6 note, have and wish but for't;
Making, (to take your imagination)
From bourn to bourn7 note
, 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,
-- 118 --
The stages of our story8 note
. Pericles
Is now again thwarting the wayward seas9 note
,
(Attended on by many a lord and knight)
To see his daughter, all his life's delight.
Old Escanes, whom Helicanus late1 note
Advanc'd in time to great and high estate,
-- 119 --
Is left to govern. Bear you it in mind,
Old Helicanus goes along behind.
Well-sailing ships, and bounteous winds have brought
This king to Tharsus, (think his pilot thought2 note
;
So with his steerage shall your thoughts grow on)
To fetch his daughter home, who first is gone3 note.
Like motes and shadows see them move a while;
Your ears unto your eyes I'll reconcile.
Dumb show.
Enter at one door, Pericles with his train; Cleon and
Dionyza at the other. Cleon shews Pericles the tomb
of Marina; whereat Pericles makes lamentation, puts
on sackcloth, and in a mighty passion departs.
-- 120 --
Gow.
See how belief may suffer by foul show!
This borrow'd passion stands for true old woe4 note
;
And Pericles, in sorrow all devour'd,
With sighs shot through, and biggest tears o'er-show'r'd,
Leaves Tharsus, 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 wit5 note
The epitaph is for Marina writ
By wicked Dionyza.
[Reads the inscription on Marina's monument.
The fairest, sweetest, 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 earth6 note
:
-- 121 --
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 flint7 note
.
No vizor does become black villainy,
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 tears must play8 note
His daughter's woe and heavy well-a-day,
In her unholy service. Patience then,
And think you now are all in Mitylene.
[Exit.
SCENE V.
Mitylene. A Street before the Brothel.
Enter, from the Brothel, two Gentlemen.
1 Gent.
Did you ever hear the like?
2 Gent.
No, nor never shall do in such a place as
this, she being once gone.
-- 122 --
1 Gent.
But to have divinity preach'd there! did
you ever dream of such a thing?
2 Gent.
No, no. Come, I am for no more bawdy-houses:
shall we go hear the vestals sing?
1 Gent.
I'll do any thing now that is virtuous, but
I am out of the road of rutting, for ever.
[Exeunt.
SCENE VI.
The same. A room in the Brothel.
Enter Pander, Bawd, and Boult.
Pand.
Well, I had rather than twice the worth of
her, she had ne'er come here.
Bawd.
Fie, fie upon her; she is able to freeze the
god Priapus, and undo a whole generation. We must
either get her ravish'd, 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.
Boult.
'Faith I must ravish her, or she'll disfurnish
us of all our cavaliers, and make all our swearers
priests.
Pand.
Now, the pox upon her green-sickness
for me!
Bawd.
'Faith, there's no way to be rid on't, but by
the way to the pox. Here comes the lord Lysimachus,
disguis'd9 note
.
-- 123 --
Boult.
We should have both lord and lown, if
the peevish baggage would but give way to customers.
Enter Lysimachus.
Lys.
How now? How a dozen of virginities1 note
?
Bawd.
Now, the gods to-bless your honour2 note!
Boult.
I am glad to see your honour in good
health.
Lys.
You may so; 'tis the better for you that
your resorters stand upon sound legs. How now,
wholesome iniquity3 note? Have you that a man may
deal withal and defy the surgeon?
Bawd.
We have here one, sir, if she would—
but there never came her like in Mitylene.
Lys.
If she'd do the deed of darkness, thou would'st
say.
Bawd.
Your honour knows what 'tis to say, well
enough.
Lys.
Well; call forth, call forth.
Boult.
For flesh and blood, sir, white and red, you
shall see a rose; and she were a rose indeed, if she
had but—
Lys.
What, pr'ythee?
Boult.
O, sir, I can be modest.
-- 124 --
Lys.
That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no less
than it gives a good report to a number to be chaste4 note
.
Enter Marina.
Bawd.
Here comes that which grows to the stalk;
—never pluck'd yet, I can assure you. Is she not a
fair creature?
Lys.
'Faith she would serve after a long voyage at
sea. Well, there's for you;—leave us.
Bawd.
I beseech your honour, give me leave: a
word, and I'll have done presently.
Lys.
I beseech you, do.
Bawd.
First, I would have you note, this is an honourable
man.
[To Marina, whom she takes aside.
Mar.
I desire to find him so, that I may worthily
note him.
Bawd.
Next, he's the governor of this country,
and a man whom I am bound to.
Mar.
If he govern the country, you are bound to
him indeed; but how honourable he is in that, I
know not.
Bawd.
Pray you, without any more virginal fencing,
will you use him kindly?9Q1334 He will line your apron
with gold.
Mar.
What he will do graciously, I will thankfully
receive.
-- 125 --
Lys.
Have you done?
Bawd.
My lord, she's not pac'd yet5 note; you must
take some pains to work her to your manage. Come,
we will leave his honour and her together6 note.
[Exeunt Bawd, Pander, and Boult.
Lys.
Go thy ways.—Now, pretty one, how long
have you been at this trade?
Mar.
What trade, sir?
Lys.
What I cannot name but I shall offend7 note
.
Mar.
I cannot be offended with my trade. Please
you to name it.
Lys.
How long have you been of this profession?
Mar.
Ever since I can remember.
Lys.
Did you go to it so young? Were you a
gamester at five, or at seven8 note
?
Mar.
Earlier too, sir, if now I be one.
Lys.
Why, the house you dwell in proclaims you
to be a creature of sale.
Mar.
Do you know this house to be a place of
such resort, and will come into it? I hear say, you
are of honourable parts, and are the governor of this
place.
Lys.
Why, hath your principal made known unto
you who I am?
-- 126 --
Mar.
Who is my principal?
Lys.
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.
Mar.
If you were born to honour, shew it now9 note
;
If put upon you, make the judgment good
That thought you worthy of it.
Lys,
How's this? how's this?—Some more;—be
sage1 note.
Mar.
For me, that am a maid, though most ungentle
Fortune have plac'd me in this lothsome stie,
Where since I came, diseases have been sold
Dearer than physick,—O that the good 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!
Lys.
I did not think
Thou could'st have spoke so well; ne'er dream'd thou could'st.
Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,
-- 127 --
Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for thee:
Persever in that clear way thou goest2 note
, and
The gods strengthen thee!
Mar
The good gods preserve you!
Lys.
For me, be you thoughten
That I came with no ill intent; for to me
The very doors and windows savour vilely.
Fare thee well. Thou art a piece of virtue3 note
, 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 hear'st
From me, it shall be for thy good.
[As Lysimachus is putting up his purse, Boult enters.
Boult.
I beseech your honour, one piece for me.
Lys.
Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper!
Your house, but for this virgin that doth prop it,
Would sink and overwhelm you. Away.
[Exit.
Boult.
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
cope4 note, shall undo a whole houshold, let me be
gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways.
Mar.
Whither would you have me?
-- 128 --
Boult.
I must have your maidenhead taken off, or
the common hangman shall execute it. Come your
way. We'll have no more gentlemen driven away.
Come your ways, I say.
Re-enter Bawd.
Bawd.
How now! what's the matter?
Boult.
Worse and worse, mistress; she has here
spoken holy words to the lord Lysimachus.
Bawd.
O abominable!
Boult.
She makes our profession as it were to stink
afore the face of the gods5 note
.
Bawd.
Marry, hang her up for ever!
Boult.
The nobleman would have dealt with her
like a nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a
snow-ball; saying his prayers too.
Bawd.
Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure:
crack the glass of her virginity, and make the
rest malleable6 note.
Boult.
An if she were a thornier piece of ground
than she is, she shall be ploughed.
Mar.
Hark, hark, ye gods!
Bawd.
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
-- 129 --
women-kind? Marry come up, my dish of chastity
with rosemary and bays7 note!
[Exit Bawd.
Boult.
Come, mistress; come your way with me.
Mar.
Whither would you have me?
Boult.
To take from you the jewel you hold so dear.
Mar.
Pr'ythee, tell me one thing first.
Boult.
Come now, your one thing* note
?
Mar.
What canst thou wish thine enemy to be?
Boult.
Why, I could wish him to be my master, or
rather, my mistress.
Mar.
Neither of these are yet 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
Coyst'rel that comes enquiring for his tib8 note
;
To the cholerick fisting of every rogue
Thy ear is liable; thy food is such
As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs.
Boult.
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?
-- 130 --
Mar.
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 better yet than this:
For what thou professest, a baboon, could he
Speak, would own a name too dear9 note
. That the gods
Would safely from this place deliver me!
Here, here's gold for thee.
If that thy master would gain aught 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 scholars1 note
.
Boult.
But can you teach all this you speak of?
Mar.
Prove that I cannot, take me home again,
And prostitute me to the basest groom
That doth frequent your house.
Boult.
Well, I will see what I can do for thee: if
I can place thee, I will.
Mar.
But amongst honest women?
Boult.
'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.
[Exeunt.
-- 131 --
Edmond Malone [1780], Supplement to the edition of Shakspeare's plays published in 1778 By Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. In two volumes. Containing additional observations by several of the former commentators: to which are subjoined the genuine poems of the same author, and seven plays that have been ascribed to him; with notes By the editor and others (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10911].
