Vir. I confess
This tenderness argues a loving Wife,
And more deserves my hearts best thanks, than anger.
Yet I must tell ye Sweet, you do exceed
In your affection, if you would ingross me
To your delights alone.
Jul. I am not jealous,
If my embraces have distasted you,
As I must grant you every way so worthy
That 'tis not in weak woman to deserve you,
Much less in miserable me, that want
Those graces, some more fortunate are stor'd with.
Seek any whom you please, and I will study
With my best service to deserve those favors,
That shall yield you contentment.
Vir. You are mistaken.
Jul. No, I am patient Sir, and so good morrow;
I will not be offensive.
Vir. Hear my reasons.
Jul. Though in your life a widdows bed receives me,
For your sake I must love it. May she prosper
That shall succeed me in it, and your ardor
Last longer to her.
Vir. By the love I bear,
First to my Countreys peace; next to thy self
To whom compar'd, my life I rate at nothing;
Stood here a Lady that were the choice abstract
Of all the beauties nature ever fashion'd,
Or Art gave ornament to, compar'd to thee,
Thus as thou art obedient and loving,
I should contemn and loath her.
Jul. I doe believe.
How I am blest
In my assur'd belief! this is unfeign'd;
And why this sadness then?
Vir. Why Juliana,
Believe me, these my sad and dull retirements,
My often, nay almost continued Fasts,
Sleep banisht from my eyes, all pleasures, strangers,
Have neither root nor growth from any cause
That may arrive at Woman. Shouldst thou be,
As chastity forbid, false to my bed,
I should lament my fortune, perhaps punish
Thy falshood, and then study to forget thee:
But that which like a never-emptied spring,
Feeds high the torrent of my swelling grief,
Is what my Countrey suffers; there's a ground
Where sorrow may be planted, and spring up,
Through yielding rage, and womanish despair,
And yet not shame the owner.
Jul. I do believe it true,
Yet I should think my self a happy woman,
If, in this general and timely mourning,
I might or give to you, or else receive
A little lawful comfort.