ACT THE SECOND
SCENE I.—The Palace of Rasni.
Enter Remilia, with Alvida and a train of Ladies, in all royalty.
Remil. Fair queens, yet handmaids unto Rasni's love,
Tell me, is not my state as glorious
As Juno's pomp, when tir'd with heaven's despoil,
Clad in her vestments spotted all with stars,
She cross'd the silver path unto her Jove?
Is not Remilia far more beauteous,
Rich'd with the pride of nature's excellence,
Than Venus in the brightest of her shine?
My hairs, surpass they not Apollo's locks?
Are not my tresses curlèd with such art
As love delights to hide him in their fair?
Doth not mine eye shine like the morning lamp
That tells Aurora when her love will come?
Have I not stol'n the beauty of the heavens,
And plac'd it on the feature of my face?
Can any goddess make compare with me,
Or match her with the fair Remilia?
Alvi. The beauties that proud Paris saw from Troy,
Mustering in Ida for the golden ball,
Were not so gorgeous as Remilia.
Remil. I have trick'd my trammels up with richest balm,
And made my perfumes of the purest myrrh:
The precious drugs that Ægypt's wealth affords,
The costly paintings fetch'd from curious Tyre,
Have mended in my face what nature miss'd.
Am I not the earth's wonder in my looks?
Alvi. The wonder of the earth, and pride of heaven.
Remil. Look, Alvida, a hair stands not amiss;
For women's locks are trammels of conceit,
Which do entangle Love for all his wiles.
Alvi. Madam, unless you coy it trick and trim,
And play the civil[72] wanton ere you yield,
Smiting disdain of pleasures with your tongue,
Patting your princely Rasni on the cheek
When he presumes to kiss without consent,
You mar the market: beauty naught avails:
You must be proud; for pleasures hardly got
Are sweet if once attain'd.
Remil. Fair Alvida,
Thy counsel makes Remilia passing wise.
Suppose that thou wert Rasni's mightiness,
And I Remilia, prince of excellence.
Alvi. I would be master then of love and thee.
Remil. "Of love and me! Proud and disdainful king,
Dar'st thou presume to touch a deity,
Before she grace thee with a yielding smile?"[73]
Alvi. "Tut, my Remilia, be not thou so coy;
Say nay, and take it."[74]
Remil. "Careless and unkind!
Talks Rasni to Remilia in such sort
As if I did enjoy a human form?
Look on thy love, behold mine eyes divine,
And dar'st thou twit me with a woman's fault?
Ah Rasni, thou art rash to judge of me.
I tell thee, Flora oft hath woo'd my lips,
To lend a rose to beautify her spring;
The sea-nymphs fetch their lilies from my cheeks:
Then thou unkind!"—and hereon would I weep.
Alvi. And here would Alvida resign her charge;
For were I but in thought th' Assyrian king,
I needs must 'quite thy tears with kisses sweet,
And crave a pardon with a friendly touch:
You know it, madam, though I teach it not,
The touch I mean, you smile whenas you think it.
Remil. How am I pleas'd to hear thy pretty prate,
According to the humour of my mind!
Ah, nymphs, who fairer than Remilia?
The gentle winds have woo'd me with their sighs,
The frowning air hath clear'd when I did smile;
And when I trac'd upon the tender grass,
Love, that makes warm the centre of the earth,
Lift up his crest to kiss Remilia's foot;
Juno still entertains her amorous Jove
With new delights, for fear he look on me;
The phœnix' feathers are become my fan,
For I am beauty's phœnix in this world.
Shut close these curtains straight, and shadow me,
For fear Apollo spy me in his walks,
And scorn all eyes, to see Remilia's eyes.
Nymphs, eunuchs, sing, for Mavors draweth nigh:
Hide me in closure, let him long to look:
For were a goddess fairer than am I,
I'll scale the heavens to pull her from the place.
[They draw the curtains, and music plays.
Alvi. Believe me, though she say that she is fairest,
I think my penny silver by her leave.
Enter Rasni and Radagon, with Lords in pomp, who make a ward about Rasni; with them the Magi in great pomp.
Rasni. Magi, for love of Rasni, by your art,
By magic frame an arbour out of hand,
For fair Remilia to disport her in.
Meanwhile, I will bethink me on further pomp. [Exit.
[The Magi with their rods beat the ground, and from under the same rises a brave arbour;[75] Rasni returns in another suit, while the trumpets sound.
Rasni. Blest be ye, men of art, that grace me thus,
And blessèd be this day where Hymen hies
To join in union pride of heaven and earth!
[Lightning and thunder, wherewith Remilia is strucken.
What wondrous threatening noise is this I hear?
What flashing lightnings trouble our delights?
When I draw near Remilia's royal tent,
I waking dream of sorrow and mishap.
Radag. Dread not, O king, at ordinary chance;
These are but common exhalations,
Drawn from the earth, in substance hot and dry,
Or moist and thick, or meteors combust,
Matters and causes incident to time,
Enkindled in the fiery region first.
Tut, be not now a Roman augurer:
Approach the tent, look on Remilia.
Rasni. Thou hast confirm'd my doubts, kind Radagon.—
Now ope, ye folds, where queen of favour sits,
Carrying a net within her curlèd locks,
Wherein the Graces are entangled oft;
Ope like th' imperial gates where Phœbus sits,
Whenas he means to woo his Clytia.
Nocturnal cares, ye blemishers of bliss,
Cloud not mine eyes whilst I behold her face.—
Remilia, my delight!—she answereth not.
[He draws the curtains, and finds her strucken black with thunder.
How pale! as if bereav'd in fatal meads,
The balmy breath hath left her bosom quite:
My Hesperus by cloudy death is blent.[76]—
Villains, away, fetch syrups of the Inde,
Fetch balsomo, the kind preserve of life,
Fetch wine of Greece, fetch oils, fetch herbs, fetch all,
To fetch her life, or I will faint and die.
[They bring in all these, and offer; naught prevails.
Herbs, oils of Inde, alas, there naught prevails!
Shut are the day-bright eyes that made me see;
Lock'd are the gems of joy in dens of death.
Yet triumph I on fate, and he on her:
Malicious mistress of inconstancy,
Damn'd be thy name, that hast obscur'd my joy.—
Kings, viceroys, princes, rear a royal tomb
For my Remilia; bear her from my sight,
Whilst I in tears weep for Remilia.
[They bear Remilia's body out.
Radag. What maketh Rasni moody? loss of one?
As if no more were left so fair as she.
Behold a dainty minion for the nonce,—
Fair Alvida, the Paphlagonian queen:
Woo her, and leave this weeping for the dead.
Rasni. What, woo my subject's wife that honoureth me!
Radag. Tut, kings this meum, tuum should not know:
Is she not fair? is not her husband hence?
Hold, take her at the hands of Radagon;
A pretty peat[77] to drive your mourn away.
Rasni. She smiles on me, I see she is mine own.—
Wilt thou be Rasni's royal paramour?
Radag. She blushing yields consent.—Make no dispute:
The king is sad, and must be gladded straight;
Let Paphlagonian king go mourn meanwhile.
[Thrusts Rasni and Alvida out; and so they all exeunt.]
Oseas. Pride hath his judgment: London, look about;
'Tis not enough in show to be devout.
A fury now from heaven to lands unknown
Hath made the prophet speak, not to his own.
Fly, wantons, fly this pride and vain attire,
The seals to set your tender hearts on fire.
Be faithful in the promise you have past,
Else God will plague and punish at the last.
When lust is hid in shroud of wretched life,
When craft doth dwell in bed of married wife,
Mark but the prophet's word that shortly shows.[78]
After death expect for many woes.
SCENE II.—A Court of Justice in Nineveh.
Enter Alcon and Thrasybulus, with their Lawyer.
Thras. I need not, sir, discourse unto you the duty of lawyers in tendering the right cause of their clients, nor the conscience you are tied unto by higher command. Therefore suffice, the Usurer hath done me wrong; you know the case; and, good sir, I have strained myself to give you your fees.
Lawyer. Sir, if I should any way neglect so manifest a truth, I were to be accused of open perjury, for the case is evident.
Alc. And truly, sir, for my case, if you help me not for my matter, why, sir, I and my wife are quite undone; I want my mease[79] of milk when I go to my work, and my boy his bread and butter when he goes to school. Master Lawyer, pity me, for surely, sir, I was fain to lay my wife's best gown to pawn for your fees: when I looked upon it, sir, and saw how handsomely it was daubed with statute-lace,[80] and what a fair mockado[81] cape it had, and then thought how handsomely it became my wife,—truly, sir, my heart is made of butter, it melts at the least persecution,—I fell on weeping; but when I thought on the words the Usurer gave me, "no cow," then, sir, I would have stript her into her smock, but I would make him deliver my cow ere I had done: therefore, good Master Lawyer, stand my friend.
Lawyer. Trust me, father, I will do for thee as much as for myself.
Alc. Are you married, sir?
Lawyer. Ay, marry, am I, father.
Alc. Then good's benison light on you and your good wife, and send her that she be never troubled with my wife's disease.
Lawyer. Why, what's thy wife's disease.
Alc. Truly, sir, she hath two open faults, and one privy fault. Sir, the first is, she is too eloquent for a poor man, and hath the words of art, for she will call me rascal, rogue, runagate, varlet, vagabond, slave, knave: why, alas, sir, and these be but holiday-terms, but if you heard her working-day words, in faith, sir, they be rattlers like thunder, sir; for after the dew follows a storm, for then am I sure either to be well buffeted, my face scratched, or my head broken: and therefore, good Master Lawyer, on my knees I ask it, let me not go home again to my wife with this word "no cow"; for then she will exercise her two faults upon me with all extremity.
Lawyer. Fear not, man. But what is thy wife's privy fault?
Alc. Truly, sir, that's a thing of nothing; alas, she, indeed, sir-reverence of your mastership, doth use to break wind in her sleep.—O, sir, here comes the Judge, and the old caitiff the Usurer.
Enter the Judge, attended, and the Usurer.
Usurer. Sir, here is forty angels for you, and if at any time you want a hundred pound or two, 'tis ready at your command, or the feeding of three or four fat bullocks: whereas these needy slaves can reward with nothing but a cap and a knee; and therefore I pray you, sir, favour my case.
Judge. Fear not, sir, I'll do what I can for you.
Usurer. What, Master Lawyer, what make you here? mine adversary for these clients?
Lawyer. So it chanceth now, sir.
Usurer. I know you know the old proverb, "He is not wise that is not wise for himself": I would not be disgraced in this action; therefore here is twenty angels; say nothing in the matter, or what you say, say to no purpose, for the Judge is my friend.
Lawyer. Let me alone, I'll fit your purpose.
Judge. Come, where are these fellows that are the plaintiffs? what can they say against this honest citizen our neighbour, a man of good report amongst all men?
Alc. Truly, Master Judge, he is a man much spoken of; marry, every man's cries are against him, and especially we; and therefore I think we have brought our Lawyer to touch him with as much law as will fetch his lands and my cow with a pestilence.
Thras. Sir, I am the other plaintiff, and this is my counsellor: I beseech your honour be favourable to me in equity.
Judge. O, Signor Mizaldo, what can you say in this gentleman's behalf?
Lawyer. Faith, sir, as yet little good.—Sir, tell you your own case to the Judge, for I have so many matters in my head, that I have almost forgotten it.
Thras. Is the wind in that door? Why then, my lord, thus. I took up of this cursed Usurer, for so I may well term him, a commodity of forty pounds, whereof I received ten pound in money, and thirty pound in lute-strings, whereof I could by great friendship make but five pounds: for the assurance of this bad commodity I bound him my land in recognisance: I came at my day, and tendered him his money, and he would not take it: for the redress of my open wrong I crave but justice.
Judge. What say you to this, sir?
Usurer. That first he had no lute-strings of me; for, look you, sir, I have his own hand to my book for the receipt of forty pound.
Thras. That was, sir, but a device of him to colour the statute.
Judge. Well, he hath thine own hand, and we can crave no more in law.—But now, sir, he says his money was tendered at the day and hour.
Usurer. This is manifest contrary, sir, and on that I will depose; for here is the obligation, "to be paid between three and four in the afternoon," and the clock struck four before he offered it, and the words be "between three and four," therefore to be tendered before four.
Thras. Sir, I was there before four, and he held me with brabbling[82] till the clock struck, and then for the breach of a minute he refused my money, and kept the recognisance of my land for so small a trifle.—Good Signor Mizaldo, speak what is law; you have your fee, you have heard what the case is, and therefore do me justice and right: I am a young gentleman, and speak for my patrimony.
Lawyer. Faith, sir, the case is altered; you told me it before in another manner: the law goes quite against you, and therefore you must plead to the Judge for favour.
Thras. [Aside]. O execrable bribery!
Alc. Faith, Sir Judge, I pray you let me be the gentleman's counsellor, for I can say thus much in his defence, that the Usurer's clock is the swiftest clock in all the town: 'tis, sir, like a woman's tongue, it goes ever half-an-hour before the time; for when we were gone from him, other clocks in the town struck four.
Judge. Hold thy prating, fellow:—and you, young gentleman, this is my ward: look better another time both to your bargains and to the payments; for I must give flat sentence against you, that, for default of tendering the money between the hours, you have forfeited your recognisance, and he to have the land.
Thras. [Aside]. O inspeakable injustice!
Alc. [Aside]. O monstrous, miserable, moth-eaten Judge!
Judge. Now you, fellow, what have you to say for your matter?
Alc. Master Lawyer, I laid my wife's gown to pawn for your fees: I pray you, to this gear.[83]
Lawyer. Alas, poor man, thy matter is out of my head, and therefore, I pray thee, tell it thyself.
Alc. I hold my cap to a noble,[84] that the Usurer hath given him some gold, and he, chewing it in his mouth, hath got the toothache that he cannot speak.
Judge. Well, sirrah, I must be short, and therefore say on.
Alc. Master Judge, I borrowed of this man thirty shillings, for which I left him in pawn my good cow; the bargain was, he should have eighteen-pence a week, and the cow's milk for usury: now, sir, as soon as I had gotten the money, I brought it him, and broke but a day, and for that he refused his money, and keeps my cow, sir.
Judge. Why, thou hast given sentence against thyself, for in breaking thy day thou hast lost thy cow.
Alc. Master Lawyer, now for my ten shillings.
Lawyer. Faith, poor man, thy case is so bad, I shall but speak against thee.
Alc. 'Twere good, then, I should have my ten shillings again.
Lawyer. 'Tis my fee, fellow, for coming: wouldst thou have me come for nothing?
Alc. Why, then, am I like to go home, not only with no cow, but no gown: this gear goes hard.
Judge. Well, you have heard what favour I can show you: I must do justice.—Come, Master Mizaldo,—and you, sir, go home with me to dinner.
Alc. Why, but, Master Judge, no cow!—and, Master Lawyer, no gown!
Then must I clean run out of the town.
[Exeunt Judge, Lawyer, Usurer, and Attendants.
How cheer you, gentleman? you cry "no lands" too; the Judge hath made you a knight for a gentleman, hath dubbed you Sir John Lack-land.
Thras. O miserable time, wherein gold is above God!
Alc. Fear not, man; I have yet a fetch to get thy lands and my cow again, for I have a son in the court, that is either a king or a king's fellow, and to him will I go and complain on the Judge and the Usurer both.
Thras. And I will go with thee, and entreat him for my case.
Alc. But how shall I go home to my wife, when I shall have nothing to say unto her but "no cow"? alas, sir, my wife's faults will fall upon me!
Thras. Fear not; let's go; I'll quiet her, shalt see. [Exeunt.
Oseas. Fly, judges, fly corruption in your court;
The judge of truth hath made your judgment short.
Look so to judge that at the latter day
Ye be not judg'd with those that wend astray.
Who passeth judgment for his private gain,
He well may judge he is adjudg'd to pain.
SCENE III.—A Street near the King's Palace.
Enter Adam and his crew of Ruffians drunk.
Adam. Farewell, gentle tapster.—Masters, as good ale as ever was tapt; look to your feet, for the ale is strong.—Well, farewell, gentle tapster.
First Ruf. [to Second Ruf.] Why, sirrah slave, by heaven's maker, thinkest thou the wench loves thee best because she laughed on thee? give me but such another word, and I will throw the pot at thy head.
Adam. Spill no drink, spill no drink, the ale is good: I'll tell you what, ale is ale, and so I'll commend me to you with hearty commendations.—Farewell, gentle tapster.
Second Ruf. Why, wherefore, peasant, scornest thou that the wench should love me? look but on her, and I'll thrust my dagger in thy bosom.
First Ruf. Well, sirrah, well, tha'rt as tha'rt, and so I'll take thee.
Second Ruf. Why, what am I?
First Ruf. Why, what thou wilt; a slave.
Second Ruf. Then take that, villain, and learn how thou use me another time. [Stabs First Ruf.
First Ruf. O, I am slain! [Dies.
Second Ruf. That's all one to me, I care not. Now will I in to my wench, and call for a fresh pot. [Exit: followed by all except Adam.
Adam. Nay, but hear ye, take me with ye, for the ale is ale.—Cut a fresh toast, tapster, fill me a pot; here is money, I am no beggar, I'll follow thee as long as the ale lasts.—A pestilence on the blocks for me, for I might have had a fall: well, if we shall have no ale, I'll sit me down: and so farewell, gentle tapster. [Here he falls over the dead man.
Enter Rasni, Alvida, the King of Cilicia, Lords, and Attendants.
Rasni. What slaughter'd wretch lies bleeding here his last,
So near the royal palace of the king?
Search out if any one be biding nigh,
That can discourse the manner of his death.—
Seat thee, fair Alvida, the fair of fairs;
Let not the object once offend thine eyes.
First Lord. Here's one sits here asleep, my lord.
Rasni. Wake him, and make inquiry of this thing.
First Lord. Sirrah, you! hearest thou, fellow?
Adam. If you will fill a fresh pot, here's a penny, or else farewell, gentle tapster.
First Lord. He is drunk, my lord.
Rasni. We'll sport with him, that Alvida may laugh.
First Lord. Sirrah, thou fellow, thou must come to the king.
Adam. I will not do a stroke of work to-day, for the ale is good ale, and you can ask but a penny for a pot, no more by the statute.
First Lord. Villain, here's the king; thou must come to him.
Adam. The king come to an ale-house!—Tapster, fill me three pots.—Where's the king? is this he?—Give me your hand, sir: as good ale as ever was tapt; you shall drink while your skin crack.
Rasni. But hearest thou, fellow, who killed this man?
Adam. I'll tell you, sir,—if you did taste of the ale,—all Nineveh hath not such a cup of ale, it flowers in the cup, sir; by my troth, I spent eleven pence, beside three races of ginger—
Rasni. Answer me, knave, to my question, how came this man slain?
Adam. Slain! why [the] ale is strong ale, 'tis huffcap;[85] I warrant you, 'twill make a man well.—Tapster, ho! for the king a cup of ale and a fresh toast; here's two races more.
Alvi. Why, good fellow, the king talks not of drink; he would have thee tell him how this man came dead.
Adam. Dead! nay, I think I am alive yet, and will drink a full pot ere night: but hear ye, if ye be the wench that filled us drink, why, so, do your office, and give us a fresh pot; or if you be the tapster's wife, why, so, wash the glass clean.
Alvi. He is so drunk, my lord, there is no talking with him.
Adam. Drunk! nay, then, wench, I am not drunk: th'art shitten quean to call me drunk; I tell thee I am not drunk, I am a smith, I.
Enter the Smith.
First Lord. Sir, here comes one perhaps that can tell.
Smith. God save you, master.
Rasni. Smith, canst thou tell me how this man came dead?
Smith. May it please your highness, my man here and a crew of them went to the ale-house, and came out so drunk that one of them killed another; and now, sir, I am fain to leave my shop, and come to fetch him home.
Rasni. Some of you carry away the dead body: drunken men must have their fits; and, sirrah smith, hence with thy man.
Smith. Sirrah, you, rise, come go with me.
Adam. If we shall have a pot of ale, let's have it; here's money; hold, tapster, take my purse.
Smith. Come, then, with me, the pot stands full in the house.
Adam. I am for you, let's go, th'art an honest tapster: we'll drink six pots ere we part. [Exeunt Smith, Adam; and Attendants with the dead body.]
Rasni. Beauteous, more bright than beauty in mine eyes,
Tell me, fair sweeting, want'st thou anything
Contain'd within the threefold circle of the world,
That may make Alvida live full content?
Alvi. Nothing, my lord; for all my thoughts are pleas'd,
Whenas mine eye surfeits with Rasni's sight.
Enter the King of Paphlagonia malcontent.
Rasni. Look how thy husband haunts our royal court,
How still his sight breeds melancholy storms.
O, Alvida, I am passing passionate,
And vex'd with wrath and anger to the death!
Mars, when he held fair Venus on his knee,
And saw the limping smith come from his forge,
Had not more deeper furrows in his brow
Than Rasni hath to see this Paphlagon.
Alvi. Content thee, sweet, I'll salve thy sorrow straight;
Rest but the ease of all thy thoughts on me,
And if I make not Rasni blithe again,
Then say that women's fancies have no shifts.
K. of Paph. Sham'st thou not, Rasni, though thou be'st a king,
To shroud adultery in thy royal seat?
Art thou arch-ruler of great Nineveh,
Who shouldst excel in virtue as in state,
And wrong'st thy friend by keeping back his wife?
Have I not battled in thy troops full oft,
'Gainst Ægypt, Jewry, and proud Babylon,
Spending my blood to purchase thy renown,
And is the guerdon of my chivalry
Ended in this abusing of my wife?
Restore her me, or I will from thy court,
And make discourse of thy adulterous deeds.
Rasni. Why, take her, Paphlagon, exclaim not, man;
For I do prize mine honour more than love.—
Fair Alvida, go with thy husband home.
Alvi. How dare I go, sham'd with so deep misdeed?
Revenge will broil within my husband's breast,
And when he hath me in the court at home,
Then Alvida shall feel revenge for all.
Rasni. What say'st thou, King of Paphlagon, to this?
Thou hear'st the doubt thy wife doth stand upon.
If she hath done amiss, it is my fault;
I prithee, pardon and forget [it] all.
K. of Paph. If that I meant not, Rasni, to forgive,
And quite forget the follies that are past,
I would not vouch her presence in my court;
But she shall be my queen, my love, my life,
And Alvida unto her Paphlagon,
And lov'd, and more belovèd than before.
Rasni. What say'st thou, Alvida, to this?
Alvi. That, will he swear it to my lord the king,
And in a full carouse of Greekish wine
Drink down the malice of his deep revenge,
I will go home and love him new again.
Rasni. What answers Paphlagon?
K. of Paph. That what she hath requested I will do.
Alvi. Go, damosel, fetch me that sweet wine
That stands within my closet on the shelf;
Pour it into a standing-bowl of gold,
But, on thy life, taste not before the king:
Make haste.
[Exit Female Attendant.
Why is great Rasni melancholy thus?
If promise be not kept, hate all for me.
[Wine brought in by Female Attendant.
Here is the wine, my lord: first make him swear.
K. of Paph. By Nineveh's great gods, and Nineveh's great king,
My thoughts shall never be to wrong my wife!
And thereon here's a full carouse to her. [Drinks.
Alvi. And thereon, Rasni, here's a kiss for thee;
Now may'st thou freely fold thine Alvida.
K. of Paph. O, I am dead! obstruction's of my breath!
The poison is of wondrous sharp effect.
Cursèd be all adulterous queans, say I!
And cursing so, poor Paphlagon doth die. [Dies.
Alvi. Now, have I not salv'd the sorrows of my lord?
Have I not rid a rival of thy loves?
What say'st thou, Rasni, to thy paramour?
Rasni. That for this deed I'll deck my Alvida
In sendal and in costly sussapine,[86]
Border'd with pearl and India diamond.
I'll cause great Æol perfume all his winds
With richest myrrh and curious ambergris.
Come, lovely minion, paragon for fair,
Come, follow me, sweet goddess of mine eye,
And taste the pleasures Rasni will provide.
[Exeunt.
Oseas. Where whoredom reigns, there murder follows fast,
As falling leaves before the winter blast.
A wicked life, train'd up in endless crime,
Hath no regard unto the latter time,
When lechers shall be punish'd for their lust,
When princes plagu'd because they are unjust.
Foresee in time, the warning bell doth toll;
Subdue the flesh, by prayer to save the soul:
London, behold the cause of others' wrack,
And see the sword of justice at thy back:
Defer not off, to-morrow is too late;
By night he comes perhaps to judge thy state.