Ith. The meaning of this rudeness?
Pro. He's distracted.

Pen. Oh, my griev❜ď lord.

Grau. Sweet lady, come not near him; He holds his perilous weapon in his hand To prick he cares not whom, nor where,-see, see, see!

Bass. My birth is noble: though the popular

blast

Of vanity, as giddy as thy youth,

Hath rear'd thy name up to bestride a cloud,
Or progress in the chariot of the sun;

I am no clod of trade, to lackey pride,
Nor, like your slave of expectation, wait
The baudy hinges of your doors, or whistle
For mystical conveyance to your bed-sports.
Gron. Fine humours! they become him.
Hem. How he stares,

Struts, puffs, and sweats! most admirable lunacy!
Ith. But that I may conceive the spirit of wine
Has took possession of your soberer custom,
I'd say you were unmannerly.

Pen. Dear brother!

Bass. Unmannerly!-mew, kitling!-smooth formality.

Is usher to the rankness of the blood,

But impudence bears up the train. Indeed, sir,
Your fiery metal, or your springal blaze
Of huge renown, is no sufficient royalty

To print upon my forehead the scorn, "cuckold."

Ith. His jealousy hath robb'd him of his wits; He talks he knows not what.

Bass. Yes, and he knows

To whom he talks; to one that franks his lust
In swine-security of bestial incest."

Ith. Ha, devil!

Bass. I will haloo't; though I blush more To name the filthiness, than thou to act it.

Ith. Monster!

Pro. Sir, by our friendship

Pen. By our bloods!

[Draws his sword.

Will you quite both undo us, brother?

Grau. Out on him!

These are his megrims, firks, and melancholies. Hem. Well said, old touch-hole.

to one who franks his lust

In swine-security, &c.] In this coarse speech Bassanes alludes to the small inclosures, (franks, as distinguished from styes,) in which boars were fattened. As these animals were dangerous when fullfed, it was necessary to shut them up alone. The distinction is not always observed by our old dramatists; but, in general, the extreme of grossness and sensuality is conveyed by the words franked up.

It is not easy to comprehend the character of Bassanes, as the poet has drawn him; and, in truth, it may almost be doubted whether, when he sat down to write, he had fully embodied in his own mind, the person he intended to produce. The gloomy discontent of Penthea at her ill-assorted marriage is evidently not calculated to tranquillize the suspicious terrors of her doting husband; and his sudden transitions from the most frantic jealousy to all the impotence of childish fondness, from wanton outrage to whining and nauseous repentance, may not therefore be thought altogether unnatural: but Ford has also represented him as shrewd, sentimental, and even impassioned: at one period with a mind habitually weak and unsound, and at another, with a vigorous understanding, broken indeed and disjointed, but occasionally exhibiting in its fragments traits of its original strength.

Gron. Kick him out at doors.

Pen. With favour, let me speak.-My lord, what slackness

In my obedience hath deserv'd this rage?
Except humility and silent duty

Have drawn on your unquiet, my simplicity
Ne'er studied your vexation.

Bass. Light of beauty,

Deal not ungently with a desperate wound!
No breach of reason dares make war with her
Whose looks are sovereignty, whose breath is
balm :

Oh, that I could preserve thee in fruition
As in devotion!

Pen. Sir, may every evil,

Lock'd in Pandora's box, show'r, in your pre

sence,

On my unhappy head, if, since you made me
A partner in your bed, I have been faulty
In one unseemly thought, against your honour.
Ith. Purge not his griefs, Penthea.

Bass. Yes, say on,

Excellent creature!-Good, be not a hinderance To peace, and praise of virtue. [to ITH.]-Oh, my

senses

Are charm'd with sounds celestial.-On, dear, on: I never gave you one ill word; say, did I? Indeed I did not.

Pen. Nor, by Juno's forehead,

Was I e'er guilty of a wanton error.

X

Bass. A goddess! let me kneel.
Grau. Alas, kind animal!
Ith. No; but for penance.

Bass. Noble sir, what is it?

With gladness I embrace it; yet, pray let not
My rashness teach you to be too unmerciful.
Ith. When you shall shew good proof, that
manly wisdom,

Not oversway'd by passion or opinion,

Knows how to lead [your] judgment, then this

lady,

Your wife, my sister, shall return in safety
Home, to be guided by you; but, till first
I can, out of clear evidence, approve it,
She shall be my care.

Bass. Rip my bosom up,

I'll stand the execution with a constancy;
This torture is insufferable.

Ith. Well, sir,

I dare not trust her to your fury.

Bass. But

Penthea says not so.

Pen. She needs no tongue

To plead excuse, who never purposed wrong.

[Exit with ITH. and PRO.

Hem. Virgin of reverence and antiquity,

Stay you behind.

[To GRAU. who is following PEN.

Gron. The court wants not your diligence.

[Exeunt HEM. and GRON.

Grau. What will you do, my lord? my lady's

gone;

I am denied to follow.

Bass. I may see her,

Or speak to her once more?

Grau. And feel her too, man;

Be of good cheer, she's your own flesh and bone. Bass. Diseases desperate must find cures alike; She swore she has been true.

Grau. True, on my modesty.

Bass. Let him want truth who credits not her

Vows!

Much wrong I did her, but her brother infinite;
Rumour will voice me the contempt of manhood,
Should I run on thus; some way I must try
To outdo art, and jealousy decry."

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

A Room in the Palace.

Flourish. Enter AMYCLAS, NEARCHUS leading CALANTHA, ARMOSTES, CROTOLON, EUPHRANEA, CHRISTALLA, PHILEMA, and AMELUS.

Amyc. Cousin of Argos, what the heavens have pleas'd,

In their unchanging counsels, to conclude

To outdo art, and jealousy decry.] The old copy reads, "To outdo art, and cry a jealousy." This is undoubtedly corrupt. I have, I believe, by a slight transposition of the dislocated words, restored the meaning, if not the expression, of the author.