Spi. What friend have I left in your absence?
Aur. Many:
Thy virtues are such friends they cannot fail
Faith, purity of thoughts, and such a meekness
As would force scandal to a blush.
The patent of your life should be call'd in:
How am I then left to account with griefs,
More slav'd to pity than a broken heart?
Auria! soul of my comforts, I let fall
No eye on breach of fortune; I contemn
No entertainment to divided hopes,
I urge no pressures by the scorn of change;
And yet, my Auria, when I but conceive
How easy 'tis (without impossibility)
Never to see thee more, forgive me then,
If I conclude I may be miserable,
Most miserable.
Cast. And such conclusion, sister,
Argues effects of a distrust more voluntary,
Than cause by likelihood.
Aur. '"T is truth, Castanna.
Spi. I grant it truth; yet, Auria, I 'm a woman,
And therefore apt to fear: to show my duty,
And not to take heart from you, I'll walk from
At your command, and not so much as trouble
Your thought with one poor looking back.
My worthy wife! Before we kiss, receive
This caution from thine Auria: first-Castanna,
Let us bid farewell.
Spi. Speak, good, speak.
Aur. The steps
Young ladies tread, left to their own discretion,
However wisely printed, are observed,
And construed as the lookers-on presume:
Point out thy ways then in such even paths,
As thine own jealousies from others' tongues
May not intrude a guilt, though undeserv'd.
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
Some1 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.
Spi. Dear heaven! go, sister, go.
[Exeunt SPINELLA and CASTANNA.
And like the choice of glory, to know mine
One of earth's best I have forgone
Yet in another I am rich, a friend,
A perfect one, Aurelio.
Aurel. Had I been
No stranger to your bosom, sir, ere now,
You might have sorted me in your resolves,
Companion of your fortunes.
I should have ventured on against thy fate
Must have denied all pardon. Not to hold
Dispute with reputations, why, before
This present instant, I conceal'd 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.
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
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.
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
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