As thine own jealousies from others' tongues
May not intrude a guilt, though undeservid.
Admit of visits as of physic forced,
Not to procure health, but for safe prevention
Against a growing sickness; in thy use
of time and of discourse be found so thrifty,
As no remembrance may impeach thy rest.
Appear not in a fashion that can prompt
The gazer's eye, or holla, to report
Some' widowed neglect of handsome value:
In recreations be both wise and free;
Live still at home, home to thyself, howe'er
Enrich'd with noble company ; remember,
A woman's virtue, in her lifetime, writes
The epitaph all covet on their tombs :
In short, I know thou never wilt forget
Whose wife thou art, or how upon thy lips
Thy husband at his parting seal'd this kiss.-
No more.
[Kisses her. Spi. Dear heaven! go, sister, go.
Must have denied all pardon. Not to hold
Dispute with reputations, why, before
This present instant, I conceald the stealth
Of my adventures from thy counsels,-know,
My wants do drive me hence.
Aurel. Wants ! so you said,
And 't was not friendly spoken.
Aur. Hear me further.
Aurel. Auria, take heed the covert of a folly
Willing to range, be not, without excuse,
Discover'd in the coinage of untruths;
I use no harder language. Thou art near
Already on a shipwreck, in forsaking
The holy land of friendship, [and forbearing]
To talk your wants.-Fy!
Aur. By that sacred thing
Last issued from the temple where it dwelt,
I mean our friendship, I am sunk so low
In my estate, that, bid me live in Genoa
But six months longer, I survive the remnant
Of all my store.
Aurel. Umph!
Aur. In my country, friend,
Where I have sided my superior, friend,
Sway'd opposition, friend; friend, here to fall
Subject to scorn, or rarely-found compassion,
Were more than man that hath a soul could bear,
A soul not stoop'd to servitude.
Aurel. You show
Nor certainty, nor weak assurance yet
Of reparation in this course, in case
Command be proffer'd.
Aur. He who cannot merit
Preferment by employments, let him bare
His throat unto the Turkish cruelty,
Or die, or live a slave without redemption !
Aurel. For that, so ! but you have a wife, a young, A fair wife; she, though she could never claim Right in prosperity, was never tempted
By trial of extremes; to youth and beauty
Baits for dishonour, and a perish'd fame.
Aur. Show me the man that lives, and to my face
Dares speak, scarce think, such tyranny against
Spinella's constancy, except Aurelio-
He is my friend.
Aurel. There lives not then a friend
Dares love you like Aurelio; that Aurelio,
Who, late and early, often said, and truly,
Your marriage with Spinella would entangle
As much the opinion due to your discretion,
As your estate; it hath done so to both.
Aur. I find it hath.
Aurel. He who prescribes no law,
No limits of condition to the objects
Of his affection, but will merely wed
A face, because 't is round, or limn'd by nature
In purest red and white; or, at the best,
For that his mistress owes' an excellence
Of qualities, knows when and how to speak,
Where to keep silence, with fit reasons why ;
Whose virtues are her only dower (else (none,]
In either kind), ought of himself to master
Such fortunes as add fuel to their loves ;
For otherwise—but herein I am idle,
Have fool'd to little purpose.
Aur. She's my wife.
Aurel. And being so, it is not manly done
To leave her to the trial of her wits,
Her modesty, her innocence, her vows:
This is the way that points her out an art
Of wanton life.
Aur. Sir, said ye?
Aurel. You form reasons,
Just ones, for your abandoning the storms
Which threaten your own ruin; but propose
No shelter for her honour: what my tongue
Hath utter'd, Auria, is but honest doubt,
And you are wise enough in the construction.
Aur. Necessity must arm my confidence,
Which, if I live to triumph over, friend,
And e'er come back in plenty, I pronounce
Aurelio heir of what I can bequeath;
Some fit deduction for a worthy widow
Allow'd, with caution she be like to prove so.
Aurel. Who? I your heir! your wife being yet so
young, In every probability so forward To make you a father ? leave such thoughts.
Aur. Believe it, Without replies, Aurelio: keep this note, A warrant for receiving from Martino Two hundred ducats: as you find occasion Dispose them in my absence to Spinella: I would not trust her uncle, he, good man, Is at an ebb himself; another hundred I left with her, a fourth I carry with me. Am I not poor, Aurelio, now ? Exchange Of more debates between us would undo My resolution; walk a little, prithee, Friends we are, and will embrace; but let's not speak Another word.
Aurel. I'll follow you to your horse. [Exeunt.
A Room in the House of ADURNI. Enter ADURNI, and FUTELLI, with a letter, which he pre
sents to ADURNI. Adur. With her own hand ?
Fut. She never used, my lord, .
A second means, but kiss'd the letter first,
O’erlook'd the superscription; then let fall
Some amorous drops, kiss'd it again, talk'd to it
For when the holy churchman join'd our hands,
Our vows were real then; the ceremony
Was not in apparition, but in act.
Be what these people term thee, I am certain
Thou art my husband, no divorce in heaven
Has been sued out between us; 't is injustice
For any earthly power to divide us.
Or we will live, or let us die together.
There is a cruel mercy.
War. Spite of tyranny
We reign in our affections, blessed woman!
Read in my destiny the wreck of honour;
Point out, in my contempt of death, to memory,
Some miserable happiness; since, herein,
Even when I fell, I stood enthroned a monarch
Of one chaste wife's troth, pure and uncorrupted.
Fair angel of perfection, immortality
Shall raise thy name up to an adoration,
Court every rich opinion of true merit,
And saint it in the calendar of virtue,
When I am turn'd into the self-same dust
Of which I was first form’d.
Oxf. The lord ambassador, Huntley, your father, madam, should he look on Your strange subjection, in a gaze so public, Would blush on your behalf, and wish his country Unleft, for entertainment to such sorrow.
Kath. Why art thou angry, Oxford ? I must be
More peremptory in my duty.-Sir,
Impute it not unto immodesty,
That I presume to press you to a legacy,
Before we part for ever.
War. Let it be then
My heart, the rich remains of all my fortunes.
Kath. Confirm it with a kiss, pray.
War. Oh! with that
I wish to breathe my last ; upon thy lips,
| Those equal twins of comeliness, I seal
The testament of honourable vows :
[Kisses her.
|