I had as lieve trace this good action with you,

As that whereto I'm going, and never yet

Went I so willing 'way. My lord is taken
Heart-deep with your distress; let him consider;
I'll speak anon.

3rd. Qu. to Emil. O my petition was

Set down in ice, which by hot grief uncandied
Melts into drops, so sorrow wanting form
Is prest with deeper matter.

Emil. Pray stand up,

Your grief is written in your cheek.

3rd. Qu. Oh woe,

You cannot read it there; there through my tears,
Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream,

You may behold them. Lady, lady, alack!
He that will all the treasures know o'th' earth,
Must know the centre too: he that will fish
For my
least minnow, let him lead his line
To catch one at my heart. O pardon me ;
Extremity that sharpens sundry wits
Makes me a fool.

Emil. Pray you say nothing, pray you;
Who cannot feel, nor see the rain, being in't,
Knows neither wet, nor dry; if that you were
The ground-piece of some painter, 1 would buy you
T' instruct me 'gainst a capital grief indeed,
Such heart-pierc'd demonstration; but alas
Being a natural sister of our sex,

Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me,

That it shall make a counter-reflect 'gainst

My brother's heart, and warm it to some pity,`

Though it were made of stone: pray have good comfort. Thes. Forward to th' temple, leave not out a jot

O'th' sacred ceremony.

1st. Qu. Oh this celebration

Will longer last, and be more costly than

Your suppliants war. Remember that your fame
Knolls in the ear o'th' world: what you do quickly,
Is not done rashly; your first thought is more
Than others' labour'd meditance; your premeditating
More than their actions; but oh Jove, your actions,
Soon as they move, as Asprays do the fish,

Subdue before they touch. Think, dear duke, think,
What beds our slain kings have.

2nd. Qu. What griefs our beds,

That our dear lords have none.

3rd. Qu. None fit for the dead:

Those that with cords, knives, drams, precipitance,
Weary of this world's light, have to themselves
Been death's most horrid agents, human grace
Affords them dust and shadow.

1st. Qu. But our lords

Lie blistering 'fore the visitating sun,
And were good kings when living,

Thes. It is true, and I will give you comfort,

To give your dead lords graves:

The which to do must make some work with Creon.

1st. Qu. And that work presents itself to th' doing: Now 'twill take form, the heats are gone to-morrow, Then bootless toil must recompence itself

With its own sweat; now he's secure,
Not dreams we stand before your puissance,
Rincing our holy begging in our eyes
To make petition clear.

2nd. Qu. Now you may take him Drunk with his victory.

3rd. Qu. And his army full

Of bread and sloth.

Thes. Artesis, that best knowest

How to draw out, fit to this enterprize

The prim'st for this proceeding, and the number
To carry such a business forth; and levy
Our worthiest instruments, whilst we dispatch
This grand act of our life, this daring deed
Of fate in wedlock.

1st. Qu. Dowagers, take hands;

Let us be widows to our woes, delay
Commends us to a famishing hope.

All. Farewell.

2nd. Qu. We come unseasonably. But when could grief

Cull forth, as unpang'd judgment can, fit'st time
For best solicitation ?

Thes. Why good ladies,

This is a service, whereto I am going,
Greater than any was; it more imports me
Than all the actions that I have foregone,

Or futurely can cope.

1st. Qu. The more proclaiming

Our suit shall be neglected, when her arms,
Able to lock Jove from a synod, shall

By warranting moon-light corslet thee. Oh when
Her twining cherries shall their sweetness fall
Upon thy tasteful lips, what wilt thou think

Of rotten kings, or blubber'd queens? what care

For what thou feel'st not? what thou feel'st being able To make Mars spurn his drum. Oh if thou couch

But one night with her, every hour in't will

Take hostage of thee for a hundred, and

Thou shalt remember nothing more, than what
That banquet bids thee to.

Hip. Though much unliking

You should be so transported, as much sorry

I should be such a suitor, yet I think

Did I not by th' abstaining of my joy

Which breeds a deeper longing, cure their surfeit
That craves a present med'cine, I should pluck
All ladies' scandal on me. Therefore, sir,
As I shall here make trial of my prayers,
Either presuming them to have some force,
Or sentencing for aye their vigour dumb,
Prorogue this business we are going about, and hang
Your shield afore your heart, about that neck
Which is my fee, and which I freely lend

To do these poor queens service.

All Qu's. to Emil. Oh help now,

Our cause cries for your knee.
Emil. If you grant not

My sister her petition in that force,
With that celerity and nature which

She makes it in, from henceforth I'll not dare
To ask you any thing, nor be so hardy
Ever to take a husband.

Thes. Pray stand up.

I am entreating of myself to do

That which you kneel to have me: Perithous,
Lead on the bride; get you and pray the gods
For success and return; omit not any thing
In the pretended celebration; queens,
Follow your soldier (as before); hence you,
And at the banks of Anly meet us with
The forces you can raise, where we shall find
The moiety of a number, for a business

More bigger look't. Since that our theme is haste,
I stamp this kiss upon thy currant lip;

Sweet, keep it as my token. Set you forward,
For I will see you gone.

Hippolita and Emilia discoursing of the friendship between Perithous and Theseus, Emilia relates a parallel instance of the love between herself and Flavia, being girls.

Emil. I was acquainted

Once with a time, when I enjoy'd a play-fellow;

You were at wars, when she the grave enrich'd,

Who made too proud the bed, took leave o'th' moon (Which then look'd pale at parting) when our count Was each eleven.

Hip. "Twas Flavia.

Emil. Yes.

You talk of Perithous and Theseus' love;

Theirs has more ground, is more maturely season'd,
More buckled with strong judgment, and their needs
The one of th' other may be said to water

Their intertangled roots of love; but I

And she (I sigh and spoke of) were things innocent,
Loved for we did, and like the elements,

That know not what, nor why, yet do effect
Rare issues by their operance, our souls

Did so to one another; what she liked,

Was then of me approved; what not condemned,
No more arraignment; the flower that I would pluck,
And put between my breasts, (Oh then but beginning
To swell about the bosom) she would long
Till she had such another, and commit it
To the like innocent cradle, where phoenix-like
They died in perfume: on my head no toy
But was her pattern; her affections pretty,
Though happily hers careless were, I followed
For my most serious decking; had mine ear
Stolen some new air, or at adventure humm'd on
From musical coinage, why it was a note