Fort. For still in all the regions I have seen,
I scorned to crowd among the muddy throng
Of the rank multitude, whose thickened breath,
Like to condensèd fogs, do choke that beauty,
Which else would dwell in every kingdom’s cheek.
No, I still boldly stept into their courts,
For there to live ’tis rare, O ’tis divine;
There shall you see faces angelical,
There shall you see troops of chaste goddesses,
Whose star-like eyes have power, might they still shine,
To make night day, and day more crystalline.
Near these you shall behold great heroes,
White-headed counsellors and jovial spirits,
Standing like fiery cherubims to guard
The monarch, who in god-like glory sits
In midst of these, as if this deity
Had with a look created a new world,
The standers by being the fair workmanship.
Andel. Oh how my soul is rapt to a third heaven. I’ll travel sure, and live with none but kings.
Shad. Then Shadow must die among knaves; and yet why so? In a bunch of cards, knaves wait upon the kings.
Andel. When I turn king, then shalt thou wait on me.
Shad. Well, there’s nothing impossible: a dog has his day, and so have you.
Amp. But tell me, father, have you in all courts
Beheld such glory, so majestical
In all perfection, no way blemishèd?
Fort. In some courts shall you see ambition
Sit piercing Dedalus’ old waxen wings,
But being clapped on, and they about to fly,
Even when their hopes are busied in the clouds,
They melt against the sun of majesty,
And down they tumble to destruction:
For since the Heaven’s strong arms teach kings to stand,
Angels are placed about their glorious throne,
To guard it from the strokes of trait’rous hands.
By travel, boys, I have seen all these things.
Fantastic compliment stalks up and down,
Tricked in outlandish feathers, all his words,
His looks, his oaths, are all ridiculous,
All apish, childish, and Italianate.[375]
Enter Fortune in the background: after her The Three Destinies,[376] working.
Shad. I know a medicine for that malady.