[ SCENE I.]

Charinus alone.

Is this to be believ’d, or to be told?

Can then such inbred malice live in man,

To joy in ill, and from another’s woes

To draw his own delight?—Ah, is’t then so?

—Yes, such there are, the meanest of mankind,

Who, from a sneaking bashfulness, at first

Dare not refuse; but when the time comes on

To make their promise good, then force perforce