Bawd. Now, the gods to-bless your honour! Boult. I am glad to see your honour in good health. Lys. You may so; 'tis the better for you that your resorters stand upon sound legs. How now, wholesome iniquity! Have you that a man may a man may deal withal, and defy the surgeon? Bawd. We have here one, sir, if she would-but there never came her like in Mytilene. Lys. If she'd do the deed of darkness, thou wouldst say. Bawd. Your honour knows what 'tis to say well enough. Lys. Well, call forth, call forth. Boult. For flesh and blood, sir, white and red, you shall see a rose; and she were a rose indeed, if she had but Lys. What, prithee? Boult. O, sir, I can be modest. Lys. That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no less than it gives a good report to a member to be chaste. [Exit BOULT. Bawd. Here comes that which grows to the stalk,— never pluckt yet, I can assure you. Enter BOULT with MARINA. Is she not a fair creature? Lys. Faith, she would serve after a long voyage at sea. Well, there's for you :-leave us. Bawd. I beseech your honour, give me leave: a word, and I'll have done presently. Lys. I beseech you, do. Bawd. [to MARINA] First, I would have you note, this is an honourable man. Mar. I desire to find him so, that I may worthily note him. Bawd. Next, he's the governor of this country, and a man whom I am bound to. 20 30 40 50 Mar. If he govern the country, you are bound to him indeed; but how honourable he is in that, I know not. Bawd. Pray you, without any more virginal fencing, will you use him kindly? He will line your apron with gold. Mar. What he will do graciously, I will thankfully receive. Lys. Ha' you done? Bawd. My lord, she's not paced yet: you must take some pains to work her to your manage.-Come, we will leave his honour and her together.-Go thy ways. [Exeunt Bawd, Pander, and BoULT. Lys. Now, pretty one, how long have you been at this trade? Mar. What trade, sir? Lys. Why, I cannot name 't but I shall offend. Mar. I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it. Lys. How long have you been of this profession? Lys. Did you go to't so young? Were you a gamester at five or at seven? Mar. Earlier too, sir, if now I be one. Lys. Why, the house you dwell in proclaims you to be a creature of sale. 60 70 Mar. Do you know this house to be a place of such resort, and will come into 't? I hear say you are of honourable parts, and are the governor of this place. 80 Lys. Why, hath your principal made known unto you who I am? Mar. Who is my principal? Lys. Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seeds and roots of shame and iniquity. O, you have heard something of my power, and so stand aloof for more serious wooing. But I protest to thee, pretty one, my authority shall not see thee, or else look friendly upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place: come, come. If Mar. If you were born to honour, show it now; put upon you, make the judgement good That thought you worthy of it. Lys. How's this? how's this?-Some more;―be sage. Mar. For me, That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune Would set me free from this unhallow'd place, Lys. I did not think Thou couldst have spoke so well; ne'er dreamt thou couldst. Had I brought hither a corrupted mind, Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for thee: Persever in that clear way The good gods preserve you! Lys. For me, be you thoughten That I came with no ill intent; for to me A curse upon him, die he like a thief, That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou dost Enter BOULT. Boult. I beseech your honour, one piece for me. Your house, but for this virgin that doth prop it, [Exit. Boult. How's this? We must take another course 120 with you. If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope, shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways. Mar. Whither would you have me? Boult. I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. Come your ways. We'll have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say. Enter Bawd. Bawd. How now! what's the matter? Boult. Worse and worse, mistress; she has here spoken holy words to the Lord Lysimachus. Bawd. O abhominable! Boult. She makes our profession as it were to stink afore the face of the gods. Bawd. Marry, hang her up for ever! Boult. The nobleman would have dealt with her like a nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a snowball; saying his prayers too. 130 Bawd. Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure: 140 crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable. Boult. An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she is, she shall be plough'd. Mar. Hark, hark, you gods! Bawd. She conjures: away with her! Would she had never come within my doors!-Marry, hang you !— She's born to undo us.-Will you not go the way of women-kind? Marry, come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays! [Exit. 150 Boult. Come, mistress; come your ways with me. Boult. To take from you the jewel you hold so dear. Boult. Come now, your one thing. Mar. What canst thou wish thine enemy to be? Boult. Why, I could wish him to be my master, or rather, my mistress. Mar. Neither of these are so bad as thou art, Thou hold'st a place, for which the pained'st fiend As hath been belcht on by infected lungs. 160 Boult. What would you have me do? go to the wars, would you? where a man may serve seven years for the loss of a leg, and have not money enough in the end 170 to buy him a wooden one? Mar. Do any thing but this thou doest. Empty For what thou professest, a baboon, could he speak, If that thy master would gain by me, Proclaim that I can sing, weave, sew, and dance, I doubt not but this populous city will Boult. But can you teach all this you speak of? That doth frequent your house. Boult. Well, I will see what I can do for thee: if I can place thee, I will. 180 190 |