And the gods strengthen thee! For me, be you thoughten That I came with no ill intent; for to me I doubt not but thy training hath been noble.- 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 up, Would sink, and overwhelm you all. Away! [Exit Lysimachus. 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 cope, shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded, like a spaniel. Come your ways. Mar. Whither would you have me? Come Boult. I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. 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 gods. 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 snowball; saying his prayers too. Bawd. Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure: crack the glass of her viginity, and make the rest malleable. Boult. An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she is, she shall be plough'd. Mar. Hark, hark, you 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 women-kind? Marry come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays! [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. 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, Thou'rt the damn'd door-keeper to every coystrel As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs. Boult. What would you have me? 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? Mar. Do any thing but this thou doest. Empty I doubt not but this populous city will 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 G 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. ACT V Enter Gower. Gow. Marina thus the brothel scapes, and chances Into an honest house, our story says. She sings like one immortal, and she dances 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; lost; We there him 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 expence; |