Yet will the English think their own is nothing
Compared with you a stranger; in their habits
They are not more fantastic than uncertain;
In short, their fair abundance, manhood, beauty,
No nation can disparage but itself.

Ros. My lord, you have much eased me; I resolve.
Fern. And whither are you bent?
Ros. My lord, for travel;

To speed for England.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

The DUKE, BIANCA, FIORMONDA, and D'AVOLOS.
Duke. Come, my Bianca, revel in mine arms;
While I, wrapt in my admiration, view

Lilies and roses growing in thy cheeks.
Fernando! oh, thou half myself! no joy

Could make my pleasures full without thy presence:
I am a monarch of felicity,1

Proud in a pair of jewels, rich and beautiful;

A perfect friend, a wife above compare.

Fern. Sir, if a man so low in rank may hope,

By loyal duty and devoted zeal,

To hold a correspondency in friendship
With one so mighty as the Duke of Pavy,
My uttermost ambition is to climb

To those deserts may give the style of servant.
Duke. Of partner in my dukedom, in my heart,
As freely as the privilege of blood

Hath made them mine ;-Philippo and Fernando
Shall be without distinction. Look, Bianca,
On this good man; in all respects to him
Be as to me; only the name of husband,
And reverent observance of our bed,
Shall differ us in persons, else in soul
We are all one.

1 i. e. I command happiness.

Bian. I shall, in best of love, Regard the bosom-partner of my lord.

Duke. Sister!

Fior. My lord and brother.

Duke. You are too silent, Quicken your sad remembrance:

though the loss

Of your dead husband be of more account
Than slight neglect, yet 't is a sin against
The state of princes, to exceed a mean
In mourning for the dead.

Fior. Should form, my lord,

Prevail above affection? no, it cannot.

You have yourself here a right noble dutchess, Virtuous at least; and should your grace now pay, Which Heaven forbid! the debt you owe to nature, I dare presume she'd not so soon forget

A prince that thus advanced her.-Madam, could -you?

D'Av. Bitter and shrewd.

[Aside. Bian. Sister, I should too much bewray my weakness,

To give a resolution on a passion

I never felt nor fear'd.

Fern. If credit may be given to a face, My lord, I'll undertake on her behalf;

Her words are trusty heralds to her mind.

Fior. [Aside to D'Av.] Exceeding good; the man will" undertake!"

Observe it, D'Avolos.

D'Av. Lady, I do; 'Tis smooth praise.

Duke. Friend, in thy judgment I approve thy love, And love thee better for thy judging mine. Though my gray-headed senate, in the laws

1 Quicken your sad remembrance,] i. e. enliven your melancholy recollections by the admission of pleasanter thoughts.-GIFFORD.

2 i. e. to speak decisively on a passion

I never felt nor fear'd,] i. e. ingratitude. It is well answered:"but she'll keep her word!"-GIFFORD.

Of strict opinion and severe dispute,

Would tie the limits of our free affects1

(Like superstitious Jews, to match with none But in a tribe of princes like ourselves),

Gross nurtur'd slaves, who force their wretched souls

To crouch to profit; nay, for trash and wealth,
Dote on some crooked or misshapen form;
Hugging wise nature's lame deformity,
Begetting creatures ugly as themselves:-
But why should princes do so, that command
The storehouse of the earth's hid minerals?—
No, my Bianca, thou art to me as dear
As if thy portion had been Europe's riches;
Since in thine eyes lies more than these are worth.
Set on they shall be strangers to my heart,
That envy thee thy fortunes.-Come, Fernando,
My but divided self; what we have done

We are only debtor to Heaven for.-On! [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

FERNANDO alone and musing; to him FIORMONDA. Fior. My lord Fernando, what, so hard at study! You are a kind companion to yourself,

That love to be alone so.

Fern. Madam, no;

I rather chose this leisure to admire

The glories of this little world, the court,
Where, like so many stars, on several thrones,
Beauty and greatness shine in proper orbs;
Sweet matter for my meditation.

Fior. So, so, sir! your own proof,

By travel and prompt observation,

Instructs you how to place the use of speech.-
But since you are at leisure, pray let's sit:

1-i. e. affections.

We'll pass the time a little in discourse:

What have you seen abroad?

Fern. No wonders, lady,

Like these I see at home.

Fior. At home! as how?

Fern. Your pardon, if my tongue, the voice of truth,

Report but what is warranted by sight.

Fior. What sight?

Fern. Look in your glass, and you shall see A miracle.

Fior. What miracle?

Fern. Your beauty,

So far above all beauties else abroad,
As you are, in your own, superlative.

Or

Fior. Fy, fy! your wit hath too much edge.
Fern. Would that,

any thing, that I could challenge mine, Were but of value to express how much

I serve, in love, the sister of my prince!

Fior. "Tis for your prince's sake then, not for mine? Fern. For you in him, and much for him in you:

I must acknowledge, madam, I observe,

In

your affects,' a thing to me most strange, Which makes me so much honour you the more. Fior. Pray tell it.

Fern. Gladly, lady:

I see how opposite to youth and custom,
You set before you, in the tablature

Of your remembrance, the becoming griefs
Of a most loyal lady, for the loss

Of so renown'd a prince as was your lord.
Fior. Now, good my lord, no more of him.
Fern. Of him!

I know it is a needless task in me

To set him forth in his deserved praise,
You better can record it;

for you find

1 Affections.

How much more he exceeded other men
In most heroic virtues of account,

So much more was your loss in losing him.
Of him! his praise should be a field too large,
Too spacious, for so mean an orator

As I to range in.

Fior. Sir, enough; 't is true

He well deserv'd your labour; on his death-bed
This ring he gave me, bade me never part
With this, but to the man I lov'd as dearly
As I lov'd him; yet since you know which way
To blaze his worth so rightly, in return

To your deserts, wear this for him and me.

Fern. Madam?

Fior. 'Tis yours.

[Offers him the ring.

Fern. Methought you said, he charged you
Not to impart it but to him you loved
As dearly as you loved him.

Fior. True, I said so.

Fern. Oh, then, far be it my unhallow'd hand, With any rude intrusion, should unveil

A testament enacted by the dead.

Fior. Why, man, that testament is disannull'd,
And cancell'd quite by us that live. Look here,
My blood is not yet freez'd; for better instance,
Be judge yourself; experience is no danger-
Cold are my sighs; but feel, my lips are warm.
[Kisses him.
Fern. What means the virtuous marquess?

Fior. To new-kiss
The oath to thee, which while he lived was his:
Hast thou yet power to love?

Fern. To love!

1 Virtuous marquess.] The title of marquis is the newest in this country and it was not till after some time that marchioness was introduced, to distinguish the lady from her lord. She was in Ford's time usually "my lady marquis or marquess." The Italian marchese and marchesa are hardly different in sound; and in old French marquis and marchise were probably little more so.