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As you are now, for you are cold and stern;
And now you should be as your Mother was,
When your sweet felf was got.

Dia. She then was honeft.

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 strive against my vows:
I was compell'd to her, but I love thee
By love's own fweet conftraint, and will for ever
Do thee all rights of fervice.

Dia. Ay, fo you serve us,

"Till we ferve you: but when you have our roses, You barely leave our thorns to prick our felves, 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 witness: then, pray tell me,
If I fhould 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 protest to love,

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

At leaft, 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 thy felf unto my fick defires,

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

Dia. I fee, that men make hopes in fuch affairs That we'll forfake our felves. 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 me to lose.

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.

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Ber. Here, take my ring.

My Houfe, my Honour, yea, my life be thine,
And I'll be bid by thee.

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

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 reafons are moft ftrong, 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 lye with him, When I am buried. (32) Since Frenchmen are fo braid, Marry 'em that will, I'd live and die a maid

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Only,

Marry that will, I'll live and dje a Maid.] This is certainly the

moft

Only, in this disguise, 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 Soldiers. OU have not given him his Mother's letter?

1 Lord.

Y

2 Lord. I have deliver'd it an hour fince; there is fomething in't, that ftings his nature; for, on the reading it, he chang'd almost into another man.

I 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 incurred the everlafting difpleasure 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.

I 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 fpoil of her honour; he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchafte compofition.

I Lord. Now God delay our rebellion; as we are our felves, what things are we!

moft cruel Refolution, that ever poor Wench made. What! because Frenchmen were falfe, She, that was an Italian, would marry Nobody. But it is plain, as refin'd as this Reasoning is, her Mother did not underftand the Delicacy of the Conclufion; for afterwards She 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 fhould read it thus.

Since Frenchmen are fo braid,

Marry 'em that will, I'de live and dye 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 appear'd fo fond of her Husband, and went thro' fo many Difficulties to obtain him. I dare fay, the fair Sex will think this Emendation moft agreeable to the Rules of Logic, as well as to the lefs erring Dictates of Nature.

Mr. Warburton.

2 Lord.

2 Lord. Meerly our own traitors; and as in the common course of all treasons, we ftill fee them reveal themselves, 'till they attain to their abhorr'd ends; fo he, that in this action contrives against his own Nobility, in his proper ftream o'erflows himself.

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

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

I Lord. That approaches apace: I would gladly have him fee his company anatomiz'd, that he might take a 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.

I Lord. In the mean time, what hear you of these Wars?

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

I 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! so should I be a great deal of his act.

1 Lord, Sir, his Wife fome two months fince fled from his House, her pretence is a Pilgrimage to St. Jaques le Grand, which holy Undertaking, with moft auftere fanctimony, the 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 justified?

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 it felf (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?

! 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 fometimes 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 shame as ample.

I 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 Lordship will next morning for France. The Duke hath offered him letters of commendations to the King.

a Lord. They fhall be no more than needful there, if they were more than they can commend.

Enter Bertram.

I 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 businesses, a month's length a-piece, by an abstract of fuccefs; I have congied with the Duke, done my adieu with his nearest; buried a wife, mourn'd for her; writ to my lady mother, I am returning; entertain'd my convoy; and, between thefe maia parcels of difpatch, effected many nicer needs: the laft was the greateft, but That I have not ended yet..

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

Ber.

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