Exacts your present care, and can admit
Of no delay. If, ere my cause be heard,
In favour of your brother you go on, sir,
Your sceptre cannot right me. He's the man,
The guilty man, whom I accuse; and you
Stand bound in duty, as you are supreme,
To be impartial. Since you are a judge,
As a delinquent look on him, and not
As on a brother: Justice painted blind,
Infers her ministers are obliged to hear

The cause, and truth, the judge, determine of it;
And not sway'd or by favour or affection,
By a false gloss, or wrested comment, alter
The true intent and letter of the law.

Rob. Nor will I, madam.

Aurel. You seem troubled, sir.

Gonz. His colour changes too.
Cam. The alteration

Grows from his guilt. The goodness of my cause
Begets such confidence in me, that I bring
No hired tongue to plead for me, that with gay
Rhetorical flourishes may palliate

That which, stripp'd naked, will appear deform'd.
I stand here mine own advocate; and my truth,
Deliver'd in the plainest language, will
Make good itself; nor will I, if the king
Give suffrage to it, but admit of you,

My greatest enemy, and this stranger prince,
To sit assistants with him.

Aurel. I ne'er wrong'd you.

Cam. In your knowledge of the injury, I believe Nor will you, in your justice, when you are [it; Acquainted with my interest in this man, Which I lay claim to.

Rob. Let us take our seats.

What is your title to him?

Cam. By this contract,

Seal'd solemnly before a reverend man,

Aurel. But, done in heat of blood,

Charm'd by her flatteries, as, no doubt, he was, To be dispens'd with.

Fer. Add this, if you please,

The distance and disparity between
Their births and fortunes.

Cam. What can Innocence hope for,
When such as sit her judges are corrupted!
Disparity of birth or fortune, urge you?

Or Syren charms? or, at his best, in me
Wants to deserve him? Call some few days back,
And, as he was, consider him, and you
Must grant him my inferior. Imagine
You saw him now in fetters, with his honour,
His liberty lost; with her black wings Despair
Circling his miseries, and this Gonzaga
Trampling on his afflictions; the great sum
Proposed for his redemption; the king
Forbidding payment of it; his near kinsmen,
With his protesting followers and friends,
Falling off from him; by the whole world forsaken;
Dead to all hope, and buried in the grave
Of his calamities; and then weigh duly

What she deserv'd, whose merits now are doubted,
That, as his better angel, in her bounties
Appear'd unto him, his great ransome paid,
His wants, and with a prodigal hand, supplied;
Whether, then, being my manumised slave,
He owed not himself to me?

Aurel. Is this true?

Rob. In his silence 'tis acknowledged.
Gonz. If you want

A witness to this purpose, I'll depose it.

Cam. If I have dwelt too long on my deservings
To this unthankful man, pray you pardon me;
The cause required it. And though now I add
A little, in my painting to the life
His barbarous ingratitude, to deter
Others from imitation, let it meet with
A fair interpretation. This serpent,
Frozen to numbness, was no sooner warm'd
In the bosom of my pity and compassion,
But, in return, he ruin'd his preserver,
The prints the irons had made in his flesh
Still ulcerous; but all that I had done,
My benefits, in sand or water written,

As they had never been, no more remember'd!
And on what ground, but his ambitious hopes
To gain this dutchess' favour?

Aurel. Yes; the object,

Look on it better, lady, may excuse
The change of his affection.

Cam. The object!

In what? forgive me, modesty, if I say
You look upon your form in the false glass
Of flattery and self-love, and that deceives you.
That you were a dutchess, as I take it, was not
Character'd on your face; and, that not seen,
For other feature, make all these, that are
Experienced in women, judges of them,
And, if they are not parasites, they must grant,
For beauty without art, though you storm at it,
I may take the right-hand file.

Gonz. Well said, i'faith!

I see fair women on no terms will yield
Priority in beauty.

Cam. Down, proud heart!

Why do I rise up in defence of that,

Which, in my cherishing of it, hath undone me! No, madam, I recant,-you are all beauty,

I feel all fires of love quench'd in the water
Of my compassion.-Make your peace; you have
My free consent; for here I do disclaim
All interest in you: and, to further your

Desires, fair maid, composed of worth and honour,
The dispensation procured by me,

Freeing Bertoldo from his vow, makes way
To your embraces.

Bert. Oh, how have I stray'd,

And wilfully, out of the noble track

Mark'd me by virtue! till now, I was never
Truly a prisoner. To excuse my late
Captivity, I might allege the malice

Of Fortune; you, that conquer'd me, confessing
Courage in my defence was no way wanting.
But now I have surrender'd up my strengths
Into the power of Vice, and on my forehead
Branded, with mine own hand, in capital letters,
DISLOYAL and INGRATEFUL. Though barr'd from
Human society, and hiss'd into

Some desart ne'er yet haunted with the curses
Of men and women, sitting as a judge

Upon my guilty self, I must confess

It justly falls upon me; and one tear,

Shed in compassion of my sufferings, more
Than I can hope for.

Cam. This compunction

By the favour of the dutchess, seconded
With your submission, is offer'd to me;
Let not the reason I allege for't grieve you,
You have been false once.--I have done: and if,
When I am married, as this day I will be,

As a perfect sign of your atonement with me,
You wish me joy, I will receive it for
Full satisfaction of all obligations

In which you stand bound to me.
Bert. I will do it,

And, what's more, in despite of sorrow, live
To see myself undone, beyond all hope
To be made up again.

Syl. My blood begins

To come to my heart again.

Cam. Pray you, signior Sylli,

Call in the holy friar; he's prepared For finishing the work.

Syl. I knew I was

And with all speed you can, you may dispatch us. Paul. Thus, as a principal ornament to the I seize her.

All. How!

Rob. So young, and so religious!

Paul. She has forsook the world.

Syl. And Sylli too!

I shall run mad.

[church,

Rob. Hence with the fool!-[SYLLI is thrust

off]-Proceed, sir.

This fair hair

Paul. Look on this MAID OF HONOUR, now
Truly honour'd in her vow
She pays to heaven: vain delight
By day, or pleasure of the night,
She no more thinks of.
(Favours for great kings to wear)
Must now be shorn; her rich array
Changed into a homely gray:
The dainties with which she was fed,
And her proud flesh pampered,
Must not be tasted; from the spring,
For wine, cold water we will bring;
And with fasting mortify
The feasts of sensuality.

Her jewels, beads; and she must look
Not in a glass, but holy book,
To teach her the ne'er-erring way
To immortality. O may
She, as she purposes to be
A child new-born to piety,

Perséver in it, and good men,

With saints and angels, say, Amen!

Cam. This is the marriage! this the port to which My vows must steer me! Fill my spreading sails With the pure wind of your devotions for me, That I may touch the secure haven, where Eternal happiness keeps her residence, Temptations to frailty never entering ! I am dead to the world, and thus dispose Of what I leave behind me; and, dividing My state into three parts, I thus bequeath it: The first to the fair nunnery, to which

I dedicate the last and better part

Of my frail life; a second portion

To pious uses; and the third to thee,

Adorni, for thy true and faithful service.
And, ere I take my last farewell, with hope
To find a grant, my suit to you is, that
You would, for my sake, pardon this young man,
And to his merits love him, and no further.
Rob. I thus confirm it.

[Gives his hand to FULGENTIO.
Cam. And, as e'er you hope, [TO BERTOLDO.
Like me, to be made happy, I conjure you
To reassume your order; and in fighting

We must not live such dotards on our pleasures,
As still to hug them, to the certain loss
Of profit and preferment. Competent means
Maintains a quiet bed; want breeds dissention,
Even in good women.

Soph. Have you found in me, sir,
Any distaste, or sign of discontent,
For want of what's superfluous?

Math. No, Sophia;

Nor shalt thou ever have cause to repent

Thy constant course in goodness, if heaven bless
My honest undertakings. 'Tis for thee
That I turn soldier, and put forth, dearest,
Upon this sea of action, as a factor,
To trade for rich materials to adorn

Thy noble parts, and shew them in full lustre.
I blush that other ladies, less in beauty
And outward form, but in the harmony
Of the soul's ravishing music, the same age

Not to be named with thee, should so outshine thee
In jewels, and variety of wardrobes;

While you, to whose sweet innocence both Indies
Compared are of no value, wanting these,
Pass unregarded.

Soph. If I am so rich, or

In your opinion, why should you borrow
Additions for me?

Math. Why! I should be censured
Of ignorance, possessing such a jewel
Above all price, if I forbear to give it
The best of ornaments: therefore, Sophia,
In few words know my pleasure, and obey me,
As you have ever done. To your discretion
I leave the government of my family,
And our poor fortunes; and from these command
Obedience to you, as to myself:

To the utmost of what's mine, live plentifully;
And, ere the remnant of our store be spent,
With my good sword I hope I shall reap for you
A harvest in such full abundance, as
Shall make a merry winter.

Soph. Since you are not

To be diverted, sir, from what you purpose,
All arguments to stay you here are useless:

Go when you please, sir. Eyes, I charge you waste
One drop of sorrow; look you hoard all up [not
Till in my widow'd bed I call upon you,
But then be sure you fail not. You blest angels,
Guardians of human life, I at this instant
Forbear t'invoke you: at our parting, 'twere
To personate devotion. My soul
Shall go along with you, and, when you are
Circled with death and horror, seek and find you;
And then I will not leave a saint unsued to
For your protection. To tell you what
I will do in your absence, would shew poorly;
My actions shall speak for me: 'twere to doubt you,
To beg I may hear from you; where you are
You cannot live obscure, nor shall one post,
By night or day, pass unexamined by me.-
If I dwell long upon your lips, consider,

[Kisses him.

Coris. Though you are my lord, Yet being her gentlewoman, by my place

I may take my leave; your hand, or, if you please
To have me fight so high, I'll not be coy,
But stand a-tip-toe for't.
Math. O, farewell, girl.

Hil. A kiss well begg'd, Corisca.
Coris. 'Twas my fee;

[Kisses her.

Love, how he melts! I cannot blame my lady's
Unwillingness to part with such marmalade lips.
There will be scrambling for them in the camp;
And were it not for my honesty, I could wish now
I were his leaguer laundress; I would find
Soap of mine own, enough to wash his linen,
Or I would strain hard for't.

Hil. How the mammet twitters!
Come, come; my lady stays for us.

Coris. Would I had been

Her ladyship the last night!

Hil. No more of that, wench.

[Exeunt HILARIO, CORISCA, and the rest.

[nourish

Math. I am strangely troubled, yet why I should A fury here, and with imagined food, Having no real grounds on which to raise A building of suspicion she was ever Or can be false hereafter. I in this But foolishly enquire the knowledge of A future sorrow, which, if I find out, My present ignorance were a cheap purchase, Though with my loss of being. I have already Dealt with a friend of mine, a general scholar, One deeply read in nature's hidden secrets, And, though with much unwillingness, have won To do as much as art can, to resolve me [him My fate that follows-To my wish, he's come. Enter BAPTISTA.

Julio Baptista, now I may affirm

Your promise and performance walk together; And therefore, without circumstance, to the point: Instruct me what I am.

Bapt. I could wish you had

Made trial of my love some other way.
Math. Nay, this is from the purpose.
Bapt. If you can

Proportion your desire to any mean,

I do pronounce you happy; I have found,
By certain rules of art, your matchless wife
Is to this present hour from all pollution
Free and untainted.

'Tis not in me to master so my passions;
I must know further, or you have made good
But half your promise. While my love stood by,
Holding her upright, and my presence was
A watch upon her, her desires being met too
With equal ardour from me, what one proof
Could she give of her constancy, being untempted?
But when I am absent, and my coming back
Uncertain, and those wanton heats in women,
Not to be quench'd by lawful means, and she
The absolute disposer of herself,

Without control or curb; nay, more, invited
By opportunity, and all strong temptations,
If then she hold out-

Bapt. As, no doubt, she will.