Amet. Enter AMETHUS and MENAPHON. MET. Dote on a stranger? Men. Court him; plead, and sue Amet. Affectionately? Men. Servilely; and pardon me Women, in their passions, If I say basely. Like false fires, flash, to fright our trembling senses, You are my friend. You were as changeable in vows of friendship As is Thamasta in her choice of love: That sin is double, running in a blood, Which justifies another being worse. Amet. My Menaphon, excuse me; I grow wild, T ,, Of my dishonour: she shall know how much I am a debtor to thy noble goodness By checking the contempt her poor desires Prithee tell me, friend, How did the youth receive her? Men. With a coldness As modest and as hopeless as the trust I did repose in him could wish or merit. Men. Enter THAMASTA and KALA. Tha. Servant, I have employment for ye. The mask of your ambition is fall'n off; Hark ye! Your pride hath stooped to such an abject lowness, That you have now discovered to report Your nakedness in virtue, honours, shame,-. Tha. You are turned satire.1 Amet. All the flatteries Of greatness have exposed ye to contempt. Tha. This is mere railing. Tha. If, Menaphon, I hitherto have strove To keep a wary guard about my fame; 1 Satirist. If I have used a woman's skill to sift The constancy of your protested love; You cannot, in the justice of your judgment, Which my discretion and your service aimed For noble purposes. Men. Great mistress, no. I rather quarrel with mine own ambition, That durst to soar so high as to feed hope My duty to a pension from your favours. Amet. And therefore, lady,-pray, observe him well,— He henceforth covets plain equality; Endeavouring to rank his fortunes low, With some fit partner, whom, without presumption, Yes, and command too, as a wife,—a wife, A wife, my most great lady! Kal. [Aside] All will out. Tha. Now I perceive the league of amity, Which you have long between ye vowed and kept, Of every nature are in common to you. I have trespassed, and I have been faulty; Men. Gracious and virtuous mistress ! Men. Pray, love your fame. [Exeunt MENAPHON and AMETHUS, Tha. Gone! I am sure awaked. Kala, I find Kal. I have been, madam. Tha. Not I? I do protest Be-no matter what, I'm paid in my own coin; something I must, And speedily. So !-Seek out Cuculus ; Bid him attend me instantly. Kal. That antic! The trim old youth shall wait ye. Tha. Wounds may be mortal, which are wounds indeed; But no wound's deadly till our honours bleed. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-A Room in the Castle. Enter RHETIAS and CORAX. Rhe. Thou'rt an excellent fellow. Diabolo! O these lousy close-stool empirics, that will undertake all cures, yet know not the causes of any disease! Dog-leeches! 1 By the four elements, I honour thee; could find in my heart to turn knave, and be thy flatterer. Cor. Sirrah, 'tis pity thou'st not been a scholar; Thou'rt honest, blunt, and rude enough, o' conscience. But for thy lord now, I have put him to't. Rhe. He chafes hugely, fumes like a stew-pot: is he not monstrously overgone in frenzy? Cor. Rhetias, 'tis not a madness, but his sorrows- 1 Dog-doctors. 1 Rhe. Corax, to praise thy art were to assure The light of thy rare knowledge. Henceforth, casting I wish a happy blessing to your labours. Heaven crown your undertakings! and believe me, [Exit RHETIAS. A shrewd-brained whoreson; there is pith In his untoward plainness. Enter TROLLIO, with a morion 1 on. Now, the news? Trol. Worshipful Master Doctor, I have a great deal of I cannot tell what to say t'ye. My lord thunders; every word that comes out of his mouth roars like a cannon; the house shook once:-my young lady dares not be seen. Cor. We will roar with him, Trollio, if he roar. Trol. He has got a great poleaxe in his hand, and fences it up and down the house, as if he were to make room for the pageants. I have provided me a morion for fear of a clap on the coxcomb. Cor. No matter for the morion; here's my cap: Thus I will pull it down, and thus outstare him. [He produces a frightful mask and headpiece. Trol. Aside] The physician is got as mad as my lord. -O brave! a man of worship. Cor. Let him come, Trollio. I will firk his trangdido, and bounce and bounce in metal, honest Trollio. Trol. [Aside] He vapours like a tinker, and struts like a juggler. 1 A helmet, |