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Ber. So fhould you be.

Dia. No.

My mother did but duty; fuch, my Lord,
As you owe to your wife.

Ber. No more o' that!

I pr'ythee, do not ftrive againft my vows:
I was compell'd to her, but I love thee

By love's own fweet constraint, and will for ever
Do thee all rights of fervice.

Dia. Ay, fo you ferve us,

'Till we ferve you: but when you have our rofes, You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves, And mock us with our bareness.

Ber. How have I fworn!

Dia. 'Tis not the many oaths, that make the truth; But the plain fingle vow, that is vow'd true; What is not holy, that we fwear not by,

But take the High'ft to witnefs: then, pray tell me,
If I should fwear by Jove's great attributes

I lov'd you dearly, would you believe my oaths,
When I did love you ill? this has no holding,

To fwear by him whom I proteft to love,

That I will work against him. Therefore your oaths
Are words, and poor conditions but unfeal'd;
At least, in my opinion.

Ber. Change it, change it:

Be not fo holy-cruel. Love is holy,

And my integrity ne'er knew the crafts,

That you do charge men with: ftand no more off,
But give thyfelf unto my fick defires,

Which then recover. Say, thou art mine; and ever
My love, as it begins, fhall fo perfevere.

Dia. I fee, that men make hope in fuch affairs That we'll forfake ourselves. Give me that ring. Ber. I'll lend it thee, my dear, but have no power To give it from me.

Dia. Will you not, my Lord?

Ber. It is an honour 'longing to our house, Bequeathed down from many ancestors; Which were the greatest obloquy i'th' world

In

In me to lofe. '

Dia. Mine honour's fuch a ring;
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors;
Which were the greatest obloquy i'th' world
In me to lofe. Thus your own proper wisdom
Brings in the champion honour on my part,
Against your vain affault.

Ber. Here, take my ring.

My houfe, my honour, yea, my life be thine,
And I'll be bid by thee.

[window; Dia. When midnight comes, knock at my chamber

I'll order take, my mother fhall not hear.

Now will I charge you in the band of truth,
When you have conquer'd my yet maiden bed,
Remain there but an hour, nor speak to me:
My reasons are most strong, and you fhall know them,
When back again this ring fhall be deliver'd;
And on your finger, in the night, I'll put
Another ring, that, what in time proceeds,
May token to the future our paft deeds.
Adieu, 'till then; then, fail not: you have won
A wife of me, tho' there my hope be done.

Ber. A heav'n on earth I've won by wooing thee.

[Exit. Dia. For which live long to thank both heav'n and me. You may fo in the end.

My mother told me juft how he would woo,

As if the fate in's heart; fhe fays, all men

Have the like oaths: he had fworn to marry me,
When his wife's dead: therefore I'll lie with him,

When I am buried. (32) Since Frenchmen are fo braid,
Marry 'em that will, I'd live and die a maid;

-Since Frenchmen are fo braid,

Only,

(32) Marry that will, I'll live and die a maid.] This is certainly the most cruel refolution, that ever poor wench made. What! becaufe Frenchmen were falfe, fhe, that was an Italian, would marry nobody. But it is plain, as refin'd as this reafoning is, her mother did not understand the delicacy of the conclufion; for afterwards

The

Only, in this difguife, I think't no fin
To cozen him, that would unjustly win.

[Exit.

SCENE changes to the French Camp in
Florence.

Enter the two French Lords, and two or three foldiers.

You

2

1 Lord. Lord. I have deliver'd it an hour fince; OU have not given him his mother's letter? there is fomething in't, that flings his nature; for, on the reading it, he chang'd almoft into another man.

1 Lord. He has much worthy blame laid upon him for fhaking off fo good a wife, and fo fweet a Lady. 2 Lord. Efpecially, he hath incurr'd the everlasting dipleasure of the King, who had even tun'd his bounty to fing happiness to him. I will tell you a thing, but you shall let it dwell darkly with you.

1 Lord. When you have spoken it, 'tis dead, and I am the grave of it..

2 Lord. He hath perverted a young gentlewoman. here in Florence, of a moft chafte renown; and this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of her honour; he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchafte compofition,

1 Lord. Now God delay our rebellion, as we are ourfelves, what things are we!

2 Lord. Merely our own traitors; as in the common

fhe comes into Helen's project, on the promife of a good round dow'ry of 3000 crowns, to help her daughter to a husband. In fhort, the text is, without all queftion, corrupted: and we should read it thus.

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Since Frenchmen are fo braid,

Marry 'em that will, I'd live and die a maid.

i. e. fince Frenchmen prove fo crooked and perverfe in their manners, let who will marry them, I had rather live and die a maid than venture upon them. This fhe fays with a view to Helen, who ap-. pear'd fo fond of her husband, and went through so many difficulties to obtain him. I dare fay, the fair fex will think this emendation most agreeable to the rules of logic, as well as to the lefs erring dictates of nature, Mr. Warburton.

courfe

courfe of all treafons, we ftill fee them, reveal themfelves, 'till they attain to their abhorr'd ends; so he, that in this action contrives against his own nobility, in his proper ftream o'erflows himself.

1 Lord. Is it not meant damnable in us to be the trumpeters of our unlawful intents? we fhall not then have his company to-night?

2 Lord. Not'till after midnight; for he is dieted to his hour.

1 Lord. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him fee his company anatomiz'd, that he might take measure of his own judgment, wherein fo curiously he had fet this counterfeit.

2 Lord. We will not meddle with him 'till he come; for his presence must be the whip of the other.

1 Lord. In the mean time, what hear you of these wars?

2 Lord. I hear, there is an overture of peace.

1 Lord. Nay, I affure you, a peace concluded. 2 Lord. What will Count Roufillon do then? will he travel higher, or return again into France?

1 Lord. I perceive by this demand, you are not altogether of his council.

2 Lord. Let it be forbid, Sir! fo fhould I be a great deal of his act.

I Lord. Sir, his wife fome two months fince fled from his houfe, her pretence is a pilgrimage to St. Jacques le Grand; which holy undertaking, with most auftere fanctimony, fhe accomplish'd; and there refiding, the tenderness of her nature became as a prey to her grief; in fine, made a groan of her last breath, and now the fings in heaven.

2 Lord. How is this juftified?

1 Lord. The ftronger part of it by her own letters, which makes her ftory true, even to the point of her death; her death itself (which could not be her office to fay, is come) was faithfully confirm'd by the rector of the place.

2 Lord. Hath the Count all this intelligence?

1 Lord.

I Lord. Ay, and the particular confirmations, point from point, to the full arming of the verity.

2 Lord. I am heartily forry, that he'll be glad of

this.

1 Lord. How mightily sometimes we make us comforts of our loffes!

2 Lord. And how mightily fome other times we drown our gain in tears! the great dignity, that his valour hath here acquired for him, fhall at home be encounter'd with a fhame as ample.

1 Lord The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipt them not; and our crimes would defpair, if they were not cherish'd by our virtues.

Enter a Servant.

How now? where's your mafter ?

Ser. He met the Duke in the street, Sir, of whom he hath taken a folemn leave: his Lordfhip will next morning for France. The Duke hath offered him letters of commendations to the King.

2 Lord. They shall be no more than needful there, if they were more than they can commend.

Enter Bertram.

1 Lord. They cannot be too fweet for the King's tartnefs: here's his Lordship now. How now, my Lord, is't not after midnight?

Ber. I have to-night difpatch'd fixteen búfineffes, a month's length a-piece, by an abftract of fuccefs; 1 have congied with the Duke, done my adieu with his neareft; buried a wife, mourn'd for her; writ to my lady mother, I am returning; entertain'd my convoy; and, between these main parcels of dispatch, effected many nicer needs: the last was the greatest, but that I have not ended yet.

2 Lord. If the bufinefs be of any difficulty, and this morning your departure hence, it requires hafte of your Lordship.

Ber. I mean, the bufinefs is not ended, as fearing to
VOL. III

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