CAMBER.
O Locrine, hath she not a cause for to be sad?
LOCRINE.
[At one side of the stage.]
If she have cause to weep for Humber’s death,
And shed salt tears for her overthrow,
Locrine may well bewail his proper grief,
Locrine may move his own peculiar woe.
He, being conquered, died a speedy death,
And felt not long his lamentable smart:
I, being conqueror, live a lingering life,
And feel the force of Cupid’s sudden stroke.
I gave him cause to die a speedy death,
He left me cause to wish a speedy death.
Oh that sweet face painted with nature’s dye,
Those roseall cheeks mixed with a snowy white,
That decent neck surpassing ivory,
Those comely breasts which Venus well might spite,
Are like to snares which wily fowlers wrought,
Wherein my yielding heart is prisoner caught.
The golden tresses of her dainty hair,
Which shine like rubies glittering with the sun,
Have so entrapt poor Locrine’s lovesick heart,
That from the same no way it can be won.
How true is that which oft I heard declared,
One dram of joy, must have a pound of care.
ESTRILD.
Hard is their fall who, from a golden crown,
Are cast into a sea of wretchedness.
LOCRINE.
Hard is their thrall who by Cupid’s frown
Are wrapt in waves of endless carefulness.
ESTRILD.
Oh kingdom, object to all miseries.
LOCRINE.
Oh love, the extremest of all extremities.
[Let him go into his chair.]
FIRST SOLDIER.
My lord, in ransacking the Scithian tents,
I found this Lady, and to manifest
That earnest zeal I bear unto your grace,
I here present her to your majesty.
SECOND SOLDIER.
He lies, my Lord; I found the Lady first,
And here present her to your majesty.
FIRST SOLDIER.
Presumptuous villain, wilt thou take my prize?