Iach.

Change you, madam?

The worthy Leonatus is in safety,

And greets your highness dearly.

Imo.

You are kindly welcome.

[Presents a Letter. Thanks, good sir:

Iach. 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

[Aside.

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.

Imo. [Reads.] He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindness I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your truest LEONATUS.

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.

Iach.
Thanks, fairest lady.-
What! are men mad? Hath nature given them
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?

Imo.

eyes

What makes your admiration? Iach. 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 the appetite;
Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos'd,
Should make desire vomit emptiness,
Not so allur'd to feed.

Ima. What is the matter, trow?
Iach.

(That satiate yet unsatisfied desire,

The cloyed will,

That tub both fill'd and running,) ravening first
The lamb, longs after for the garbage.

Imo.

Thus raps you? Are you well?

What, dear sir,

Iach. Thanks, madam; well :-'Beseech you, dir

[To PISANI

My man's abode where I did leave him: he

Is strange and peevish.2

Pis.

To give him welcome.

seech you?

I was going, sir,

[Exit PISANIO.

Imo. Continues well my lord? His health, 'be

Iach. Well, madam.

Imo. Is he dispos'd to mirth? I hope, he is.

Iach. Exceeding pleasant; none a stranger there

So merry and so gamesome: he is call'd

The Briton reveller.

Imo.

He did incline to sadness; and oft-times

Not knowing why.

Iach.

When he was here,

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

Is strange and peevish.] He is a foreigner and easily fretted: but strange may signify shy or backward; and peevish anciently meant-weak, silly.

(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?

Imo.

Will my lord say so?

Iach. 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.

Imo.

Not he, I hope.

Iach. Not he: But yet heaven's bounty towards

him might

Be us'd more thankfully. In himself, 'tis much
In you,-which I count his, beyond all talents,-
Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound

To pity too.

Imo.

What do you pity, sir? Iach. Two creatures, heartily.

Imo.

Am I one, sir?

You look on me; What wreck discern you in me, Deserves your pity?

Iach.

Lamentable! What!

To hide me from the radiant sun, and solace

I'the dungeon by a snuff?

Imo.

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

Imo.

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.3

eye,

Iach. 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 Fixing 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 lie peeping in an eye, Base and unlustrous 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.

Imo.

Has forgot Britain.

Iach.

My lord, I fear,

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.

Imo.

Let me hear no more.

Iach. 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,*

3 What both you spur and stop.] What it is that at once incites you to speak, and restrains you from it. JOHNSON.

4 to an empery,] Empery is a word signifying sovereign command; now obsolete.

Would make the great'st king double! to be part

ner'd

With tomboys," 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
Recoil from your great stock.

Imo.

you

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?

Iach.

Should he 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.

Imo.

What ho, Pisanio!

Iach. Let me my service tender on your lips.
Imo. Away!-I do condemn mine ears, that have
So long attended thee.-If thou wert honourable,
Thou would'st 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

5 With tomboys,] We still call a masculine, a forward girl, tomboy. hir'd with that self-exhibition, &c.] Gross strumpets, hired with the very pension which you allow your husband.