Bel. Pray you no more
As you respect me.
Euph. That charm is too powerful
For me to disobey it: 'Tis your pleasure,
And not my boldness Madam.
Bel. Good Euphanes,
Believe I am not one of those weak Ladies,
That (barren of all inward worth) are proud
Of what they cannot truly call their own,
Their birth or fortune, which are things without them:
Nor in this will I imitate the world,
Whose greater part of men think when they give
They purchase bondmen, not make worthy friends:
By all that's good I swear, I never thought
My great estate was an addition to me,
Or that your wants took from you.
Euph. There are few
So truly understanding or themselves
Or what they do possess.
Be[l]. Good Euphanes,
Where benefits
Are ill conferr'd, as to unworthy men,
That turn them to bad uses, the bestower
For wanting judgement how, and on whom to place them,
Is partly guilty: but when we do favours
To such as make them grounds on which they build
Their noble actions, there we improve our fortunes
To the most fair advantage. If I speak
Too much, though I confess I speak well,
Prethee remember 'tis a womans weakness,
And then thou wilt forgive it.
Euph. You speak nothing
But what would well become the wisest man:
And that by you deliver'd is so pleasing
That I could hear you ever.
Bel. Fly not from
Your word, for I arrest it: and will now
Express my self a little more, and prove
That whereas you profess your self my debtor,
That I am yours.
Euph. Your Ladyship then must use
Some Sophistry I ne'r heard of.
Bel. By plain reasons,
For look you, had you never sunk beneath
Your wants, or if those wants had found supply
From Crates, your unkind and covetous brother,
Or any other man, I then had miss'd
A subject upon which I worthily
Might exercise my bounty: whereas now
By having happy opportunity
To furnish you before, and in your travels,
With all conveniencies that you thought useful,
That Gold which would have rusted in my Coffers
Being thus imploy'd, has rendred me a partner
In all your glorious actions. And whereas
Had you not been, I should have dy'd a thing
Scarce known, or soon forgotten: there's no Trophy
In which Euphanes for his worth is mentioned,
But there you have been careful to remember,
That all the good you did came from Beliza.
Euph. That was but thankfulness.