Law. If it can be proved they have but kissed one another—
Flam. What then?
Law. My lord cardinal will ferret them.
Flam. A cardinal, I hope, will not catch conies.
Law. For to sow kisses (mark what I say), to sow kisses is to reap lechery; and, I am sure, a woman that will endure kissing is half won.
Flam. True, her upper part, by that rule: if you will win her nether part too, you know what follows.
Law. Hark; the ambassadors are lighted.
Flam. [Aside]. I do put on this feignèd garb of mirth
To gull suspicion.
Mar. O my unfortunate sister!
I would my dagger-point had cleft her heart
When she first saw Brachiano: you, 'tis said,
Were made his engine and his stalking-horse,
To undo my sister.
Flam. I am a kind of path
To her and mine own preferment.
Mar. Your ruin.
Flam. Hum! thou art a soldier,
Follow'st the great duke, feed'st his victories,
As witches do their serviceable spirits,
Even with thy prodigal blood: what hast got,
But, like the wealth of captains, a poor handful,
Which in thy palm thou bear'st as men hold water?
Seeking to gripe it fast, the frail reward
Steals through thy fingers.
Mar. Sir!
Flam. Thou hast scarce maintenance
To keep thee in fresh shamois.[45]
Mar. Brother!
Flam. Hear me:—
And thus, when we have even poured ourselves
Into great fights, for their ambition
Or idle spleen, how shall we find reward?
But as we seldom find the misletoe
Sacred to physic, or the builder oak,
Without a mandrake by it; so in our quest of gain,
Alas, the poorest of their forced dislikes
At a limb proffers, but at heart it strikes!
This is lamented doctrine.
Mar. Come, come.
Flam. When age shall turn thee
White as a blooming hawthorn—
Mar. I'll interrupt you:—
For love of virtue bear an honest heart,
And stride o'er every politic respect,
Which, where they most advance, they most infect.
Were I your father, as I am your brother,
I should not be ambitious to leave you
A better patrimony.
Flam. I'll think on't.—
The lord ambassadors.
[The Ambassadors pass over the stage severally.
Law. O my sprightly Frenchman!—Do you know him? he's an admirable tilter.