I will do my best. But I am glad I’m not on the stage. I hate the public show: I am in no mood to play bear or dog.
[The clock strikes one.]
Jonson:
Well, I must be gone or my vixen will bite. Good luck, Will, and don’t forget you must be our Master under the Lord Chamberlain. Your friends expect it of you. [Exit Jonson.]
Shakespeare:
[Takes out a copy of “The Merry Wives,” reads it for a few moments, then throws it down.] It is all sickening to me. I can write nothing. The love of the work has left me: the love of life, too: when she went, all went—ambition, hope, everything.... Damn her! How maimed and sore I am!...
[After a few moments the clock strikes two; a moment later the door opens and Miss Fitton comes in; he starts up as she enters.]
Miss Fitton:
Have you heard? Herbert’s in the Tower.
Shakespeare: