Mal. ’Tis a dog, man.
Bil. Believe me, a she-bitch: O, ’tis a good creature! thou shalt be her servant. I’ll make thee acquainted with my young wife too: what! I keep her not at court for nothing. ’Tis grown to supper-time; come to my table: that, anything I have, stands open to thee.
Mal. [aside to Celso] How smooth to him that is in state of grace,
How servile is the rugged’st courtier’s face!
What profit, nay, what nature would keep down, 290
Are heav’d to them are minions to a crown.
Envious ambition never sates his thirst,
Till sucking all, he swells and swells, and burst.[382]
Bil. I shall now leave you with my always-best wishes; only let’s hold betwixt us a firm correspondence, a mutual friendly-reciprocal kind of steady-unanimous-heartily-leagued——
Mal. Did your signiorship ne’er see a pigeon-house that was smooth, round, and white without, and full of holes and stink within? ha’ ye not, old courtier? 300
Bil. O, yes, ’tis the form, the fashion of them all.
Mal. Adieu, my true court-friend; farewell, my dear Castilio.[383]
[Exit Bilioso.
Celso. Yonder’s Mendoza.
Mal. True, the privy-key.