Spa. Not so terrible as a cross-tree that never grows, to a wag-halter page. Nit. Good! witty rascal, thou'rt a Satire, I protest, but that the nymphs' need not fear the evidence of thy mortality:-go, put on a clean bib, and spin amongst the nuns, sing 'em a bawdy song: all the children thou gett'st, shall be christened in wassel-bowls, and turned into a college of men-midwives. Farewell, night-mare! Spa. Very, very well; if I die in thy debt for this, crack-rope, let-me be buried in a coal-sack. I'll fit ye, ape's-face! look for't. Nit. [Sings.] And still the urchin would, but could not do. Spa. Mark the end on't, and laugh at last. SCENE III. [Exeunt. A Room in the House of LIVIO. Enter ROMANELLO and CASTAMELA. Rom. Tell me you cannot love me. Too strict a resolution: as a gentleman 3 But that the nymphs.] i. e. except that, &c. This would have called for no notice, had I not ventured to alter the pointing of the former editions, which deprived the passage of all meaning. Ford plays on the similarity of the words satyr and satire. + Shall be christened in wassel-bowls.] i. e. in ale or wine, instead of water. Nitido is still jesting with the incapacity of Spadone. Of commendable parts, and fair deserts, Th' example of your youth; but, sir, our fortunes, Move you to construe gently my forbearance, Rom. Why, Castamela, I have shaped thy virtues, Even from our childish years, into a dowry You'd marry pomp and plenty: 'tis the idol, Your own prosperity; I am resolv'd 'Tis rarely cherish'd with the love of want." Labours to fall into the gulf of riot.] The old copy has guilt, which the whole context shews to be a misprint. 6 want of love. 'Tis rarely cherish'd with the love of want.] I have adopted the pointing of the old copy, simply because I could not satisfy myself with any new arrangement. It is not easy to guess at the speaker's meaning; she appears to consider poverty and want of love, Rom. Sure some dotage Of living stately, richly, lends a cunning Rom. A devil of pride Ranges in airy thoughts to catch a star, Cast. Worse and worse, I vow. Rom. But that some remnant of an honest sense Ebbs a full tide of blood to shame, all women Would prostitute all honour to the luxury Of ease and titles. Cast. Romanello, know You have forgot the nobleness of truth, Rom. A dog, a parrot, A monkey, a caroch, a garded lackey, Cast. This is uncivil; I am not, sir, your charge. as synonimous; with a reference, perhaps, to the insinuation of the old proverb, that the latter is a necessary consequence of the former. In the next line, she seems to say-It (love) is rarely cherished by those, who, like Romanello, embrace a voluntary poverty. But this is all conjecture. The reader must decide whether the play on words has led the poet into this perplexed expression, or whether any part of it has been corrupted at the press. Rom. My grief you are; For all my services are lost and ruin'd. Cast. So is my chief opinion of your worthiness, When such distractions tempt you; you would prove A cruel lord, who dare, being yet a servant, Possess your freedom, Enter LIVIO, richly habited. Liv. Sister! look ye, How by a new creation of my tailor's, Of home-spun gentry-prithee, sister, mark it- Cast. True, good brother, For my well-doing must consist in yours. Of an advancement; else a bachelor Rom. Is't a mystery, You've lately found out, Livio, or a cunning Liv. Pish! believe it, Endeavours and an active brain are better Are game knaves only fly at: then a fellow 8 7 A single life's no burden.] For a the quarto reads, as single life's, &c. Another, 8 Reputed valiant, lives by the sword, &c.] Thus Fletcher : "Your high offers Taught by the Masters of Dependencies, That, by compounding differencies 'tween others, Will never carry it." These "masters of dependencies," as they called themselves, were a set of low bullies and bravoes, who undertook to instruct such country novices, as aspired to the reputation of valour, in the fashionable mode of getting up a quarrel; and, if need were, submitted to be beaten by them. They are noticed with ridicule and contempt by most of our old dramatists. |