Amet.

Enter AMETHUS and MENAPHON.

MET. Dote on a stranger?

Men. Court him; plead, and sue
to him.

Amet. Affectionately?

Men.

Servilely; and pardon me

Women, in their passions,

If I say basely.

Like false fires, flash, to fright our trembling senses,
Yet in themselves contain nor light nor heat.
My sister do this! she, whose pride did scorn
All thoughts that were not busied on a crown,
To fall so far beneath her fortunes now!--

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
Have sunk her fame in.

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.
Amet. I will esteem him dearly.

Men.

Enter THAMASTA and KALA.
Sir, your sister.

Tha. Servant, I have employment for ye.
Amet.

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,
Impute that to a coyness or neglect,

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
Of any least desert that might entitle

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,
Without offence or danger, he may cherish,

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,
Is sacred and inviolable; secrets

Of every nature are in common to you.

I have trespassed, and I have been faulty;
Let not too rude a censure deem me guilty,
Or judge my error wilful without pardon.

Men. Gracious and virtuous mistress !
Amet.
'Tis a trick;
There is no trust in female cunning, friend.
Let her first purge her follies past, and clear
The wrong done to her honour, by some sure
Apparent testimony of her constancy;
Or we will not believe these childish plots:
As you respect my friendship, lend no ear
To a reply. Think on't!

Men.

Pray, love your fame. [Exeunt MENAPHON and AMETHUS,

Tha. Gone! I am sure awaked. Kala, I find
You have not been so trusty as the duty
You owed required.

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-
Close-griping grief and anguish of the soul—
That torture him; he carries hell on earth
Within his bosom: 'twas a prince's tyranny
Caused his distraction; and a prince's sweetness
Must qualify that tempest of his mind.

1 Dog-doctors.

1

Rhe. Corax, to praise thy art were to assure
The misbelieving world that the sun shines
When 'tis i' the full meridian of his beauty:
No cloud of black detraction can eclipse

The light of thy rare knowledge. Henceforth, casting
All poor disguises off, that play in rudeness,
Call me your servant; only for the present,

I wish a happy blessing to your labours.

Heaven crown your undertakings! and believe me,
Ere many hours can pass, at our next meeting,
The bonds my duty owes shall be full cancelled.
Cor. Farewell.

[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,