Page images
PDF
EPUB

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.

Stew.

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.

Count.

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.

20

30

40

[Exeunt.

SCENE V. Florence. Without the walls. A tucket afar off. Enter an old Widow of Florence, DIANA, VIOLENTA, and MARIANA, with other Citizens.

Wid. Nay, come; for if they do approach the city, we shall lose all the sight.

Dia. They say the French count has done most honourable service.

Wid. It is reported that he has taken their greatest commander; and that with his own hand he slew the duke's brother. [Tucket] We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way: hark! you may know by their trumpets.

9

Mar. 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.

[ocr errors]

Wid. I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited by a gentleman his companion.

Mar. 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 wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope I need not 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.

Dia. You shall not need to fear me.

Wid. I hope so.

Enter HELENA, disguised like a Pilgrim.

30

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?

Hel. To Saint Jaques le Grand.

Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you?

Wid. At the Saint Francis here beside the port.
Hel. Is this the way?

40

Wid. Ay, marry, is't. [A march afar.] 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 lodged;

The rather, for I think I know your hostess

As ample as myself.

Hel.

Is it yourself?

Wid. If you shall please so, pilgrim.

Hel. I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure.
Wid. You came, I think, from France?
Hel.
Wid. Here you shall see a countryman of yours
That has done worthy service.

I did so.

50

His name, pray you.

Hel.
Dia. The Count Rousillon: know you such a one?
Hel. But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him:
His face I know not.

[blocks in formation]

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?

Hel. Ay, surely, mere the truth: I know his lady.
Dia. There is a gentleman that serves the count

Reports but coarsely of her.

Hel.

Dia. Monsieur Pavolles.
Hel.

What's his name?

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 examined.

Dia.

Alas, poor lady!

'Tis a hard bondage to become the wife

Of a detesting lord.

Wid. I warrant, good creature, wheresoe'er she is,

Her heart weighs sadly this young maid might do her 70 A shrewd turn, if she pleased.

Hel.

How do you mean?

May be the amorous count solicits her

In the unlawful purpose.

Wid.

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.

Mar.

Wid. So, now they come :

The gods forbid else!

Drum and Colours.

Enter BERTRAM, PAROLLES, and the whole army. That is Antonio, the duke's eldest son;

That, Escalus.

Hel.
Dia.

Which is the Frenchman?

He;

That with the plume: 'tis a most gallant fellow.

I would he loved his wife: if he were honester
He were much goodlier: is't not a handsome gentleman?
Hel. I like him well.

80

Dia. '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.

Hel.

Which is he?

Dia. That jack-an-apes with scarfs: why is he melancholy?

Hel. Perchance he's hurt i' the battle.

Par. Lose our drum ! well.

90

Mar. He's shrewdly vexed at something: look, he has spied us.

[graphic]

Wid. Marry, hang you!

Mar. And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier!

[Exeunt Bertram, Parolles, and army. Wid. 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.

Hel.
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 require you further,
I will bestow some precepts of this virgin
Worthy the note.

Both.

We'll take your offer kindly.

SCENE VI. Camp before Florence.

Enter BERTRAM and the two French Lords.

100

[Exeunt

Sec. Lord. Nay, good my lord, put him to't; let him have his way.

First Lord. If your lordship find him not a hilding, hold me no more in your respect.

Sec. Lord. On my life, my lord, a bubble.

Ber. Do you think I am so far deceived in him?

Sec. Lord. 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.

First Lord. 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.

Ber. I would I knew in what particular action to try him.

9

First Lord. None better than to let him fetch off his drum, which you hear him so confidently undertake to lo.

Sec. Lord. I, with a troop of Florentines, will suddenly surprise him; such as I will have, whom I am sure he knows not from the enemy: we will bind and hoodwink 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 judgement in any thing.

First Lord. 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.

Enter PAROLLES.

Sec. Lord. [Aside to Ber.] 0, for the love of laughter, hinder not the honour of his design : let him fetch off his drum in any hand.

Ber. How now, monsieur ! this drum sticks sorely in your disposition.

First Lord. A pox on't, let it go; 'tis but a drum.

Par. "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 !

First Lord. That was not to be blamed in the command of the service: it was a disaster of war that Cæsar himself could not have prevented, if he had been there to command.

Ber. Well, we cannot greatly condemn our success: some dishonour we had in the loss of that drum; but it is not to be recovered.

Par. It might have been recovered.
Ber. It might; but it is not now.

60

Par. 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 of another, or hic jacet."

Ber. Why, if you have a stomach, to't, mounsieur; if you think your mystery in stratagem can bring this instrument of honour again into his 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 worthi

ness.

Par. By the hand of a soldier, I will undertake it.
Ber. But you must not now slumber in it.

:

Par. 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.

« PreviousContinue »