Bru. Hear me, for I will speak.

Must I give way and room to your rash *choler?

Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

Cas. O ye gods! ye gods! must I endure all this?

Bru. All this? Ay, more; fret till your proud heart break; Go, show your slaves how choleric you are,

And make your *bondmen tremble. Must I budge?

Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humor? By the gods,
You shall digest the venom of your spleen,
Though it do split you; for, from this day forth,
I'll use you for my mirth, yea for my laughter,
When you are waspish.

Cas. Is it come to this?

Bru. You say you are a better soldier:

Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,
And it shall please me well; for mine own part

I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

Cas. You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus;

I said, an elder soldier, not a better:

Did I say 'better' ?

I

Bru. If you did, I care not.

Cas.

When Cæsar lived, he durst not so have moved me. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him. Cas. I durst not!

Bru.

Bru. No.

Cas.

What? Durst not tempt him?

Bru. For your life, you durst not.

Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love;

may

do that I shall be sorry for.

Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for.
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats;

For I am armed so strong in honesty
That they pass by me as the idle wind,

Which I respect not. I did send to you

For certain sums of gold, which you denied me;
For I can raise no money by vile means:

Ye gods! I had rather coin my heart,

And drop my blood for *drachmas, than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
By any +indirection. I did send

To you for gold to pay my legions,

Which you denied me:

was that done like Cassius?

Should I have answered Caius Cassius so?

When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,

To lock such rascal counters from his friends,

Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts;

Dash him to pieces!

Cas. I denied you not.

Bru. You did.

Cas. I did not: he was but a fool

That brought my answer back. Brutus hath rived my heart.

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Bru. I do not, till you practice them on me.
Cas.
You love me not.

Bru. I do not like your faults.

Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults.
Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear
As huge as high +Olympus.

Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,
Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,

For Cassius is aweary of the world:

Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
Checked like a bondman; all his faults observed,
Set in a note-book, learned, and *conned by rote,
To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep

My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger,
And here my naked breast; within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold:
If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth;

I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:

Strike, as thou didst at Cæsar; for, I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.

Bru. Sheathe your dagger:

Be angry when you will, it shall have *scope;

Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor.
O Cassius, you are yokèd with a lamb
That carries anger as the flint bears fire:
Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
And straight is cold again.

Cas. Hath Cassius lived

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,
When grief or blood ill-tempered vexeth him?
Bru. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered, too.
Cas. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.
And my heart, too.

Bru.

Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humor which my mother gave me, Makes me forgetful?

Bru. Yes, Cassius; and, from henceforth,

When you are over-earnest with your Brutus,
He'll think your mother *chides, and leave you so.

CXLVI.-THE QUACK.

SCENE-The Inn.

Enter HOSTESS followed by LAMPEDO, a Quack Doctor.

Hostess. Nay, nay; another fortnight.

Lampedo. It can't be.

The man's as well as I am: have some mercy!

He hath been here almost three weeks already.

Host. Well, then, a week.

Lamp. We may detain him a week. [Enter BALTHAZAR, the patient, from behind, in his night-gown, with a drawn sword.] You talk now like a reasonable thostess,

That sometimes has a reckoning with her conscience.
Host. He still believes he has an inward bruise.
Lamp. I would to heaven he had! or that he'd slipped
His shoulder-blade, or broke a leg or two,

(Not that I bear his person any malice,)

Or fluxed an arm, or even sprained his ankle!
Host. Ay, broken any thing except his neck.
Lamp. However, for a week I'll manage him;
Though he had the constitution of a horse.

+

A farrier shall prescribe for him.

Balthazar. A farrier! [Aside.]

Lamp. To-morrow, we *phlebotomize again; Next day, my new-invented, patent draught;

Then, I have some pills prepared;

On Thursday, we throw in the bark; on Friday

Balth. [Coming forward.] Well, sir, on Friday-what, on

Friday? Come, proceed.

Lamp. Discovered!

Host. Mercy, noble sir!

Lamp. We crave your mercy!

Balth. On your knees? 't is well!

Pray! for your time is short.

They fall on their knees.

Host. Nay, do not kill us.

Balth. You have been tried, condemned, and only wait For execution. Which shall I begin with?

Lamp. The lady, by all means, sir.

Balth. Come, prepare. [To the hostess.]

Host. Have pity on the weakness of my sex!

Balth. Tell me, thou quaking mountain of gross flesh,
Tell me, and in a breath, how many poisons-
If you attempt it-[To LAMPEDO, who is making off]
you have cooked up for me?

Host. None, as I hope for mercy!
Balth. Is not thy wine a poison?
Host. No, indeed, sir;

"Tis not, I own, of the first quality;
But-

Balth. Rise, if thou canst, and hear me.

Host. Your commands, sir?

Balth. If, in five minutes, all things are prepared

For my departure, you may yet survive.

Host. It shall be done in less.

Balth. Away, thou lump-fish!

[Exit hostess.]

Lamp. So now comes my turn! 't is all over with me!

There's dagger, rope, and tratsbane in his look!

Balth.

And now, thou sketch and outline of a man!

Thou thing that hast no shadow in the sun!

Thou eel in a consumption, eldest born
Of Death and Famine! thou *anatomy

Of a starved *pilchard!

Lamp. I do confess my leanness. I am spare,

And, therefore, spare me.

Balth. Why wouldst thou not have made me

A thoroughfare, for thy whole shop to pass through?

Lamp. Man, you know, must live.

Balth. Yes: he must die, too.

Lamp. For my patients' sake—

Balth. I'll send you to the major part of them.

The window, sir, is open; come, prepare.

Lamp. Pray, consider;

I may hurt some one in the street.

Balth. Why, then,

I'll rattle thee to pieces in a dice-box,

Or grind thee in a coffee-mill to powder,

For thou must sup with Pluto: so, make ready;
While I, with this good small-sword for a lancet,
Let thy starved spirit out, (for blood thou hast none,)
And nail thee to the wall, where thou shalt look
Like a dried beetle with a pin stuck through him.
Lamp. Consider my poor wife.

Balth. Thy wife!

Lamp. My wife, sir.

Balth. Hast thou dared think of matrimony, too? Thou shadow of a man, and base as lean!

Lamp. O spare me for her sake!

I have a wife, and three angelic babes,

Who, by those looks, are well nigh fatherless.

Balth. Well, well! your wife and children shall plead

for you.

Come, come; the pills! where are the pills? produce them. Lamp. Here is the box.

Balth. Were it +Pandora's, and each single pill

Had ten diseases in it, you should take them.

Lamp. What, all?

Balth. Ay, all; and quickly, too. Come, sir, begin—that's

well! Another.

Lamp. One's a dose.

Balth. Proceed, sir.

Lamp. What will become of me?

Let me go home, and set my shop to rights,

And, like immortal Cæsar, die with decency.

Balth. Away! and thank thy lucky star I have not
Brayed thee in thine own mortar, or exposed thee
For a large specimen of the lizard genus.

Lamp. Would I were one! for they can feed on air.
Balth. Home, sir, and be more honest.

Lamp. If I am not,

I'll be more wise, at least.

[Exit.]

[Exit.]