Lady. I am not to be alter'd.
Tyr. How!
Lady. I have a mind
That must be shifted, ere I cast off these,
Or I shall wear strange colours. 'Tis not titles,
Nor all the bastard honours of this frame,
That I am taken with; I come not hither
To please the eye of glory, but of goodness,
And that concerns[451] not you, sir; you're for greatness.
I dare not deal with you: I have found my match,
And I will never lose him.
Gov. If there be man
Above a king in fortunes, read my story,
And you shall find him there. Farewell, poor kingdom!
Take it to help thee; thou hast need on't now;
I see thee in distress, more miserable
Than some thou lay'st taxations on, poor subjects
Thou'rt all beset with storms, more overcast
Than ever any man that brightness flatter'd.
'Tis only wretchedness to be there with thee,
And happiness to be here.
Tyr. Sure, some dream crown'd me,
If it were possible to be less than nothing,
I wake the man you seek for. There's the kingdom
Within yon valley fix'd; while I stand here,
Kissing false hopes upon a frozen mountain
Without the confines. I am he, that's banish'd;
The king walks yonder, chose by her affections,
Which is the surer side; for when she goes,
Her eye removes the court; what is he here
Can spare a look? They're all employed on her.
Helvetius!—thou art not worth the waking neither;
I lose but time in thee; go, sleep again—
Like an old man, thou can'st do nothing;
Thou tak'st no pains at all to earn thine honours:
Which way shall we be able to pay thee
To thy content, when we receive not ours?
The master of the work must needs decay,
When he wants means, and sees his servants play.
Hel. [To his Daughter.] Have I bestowed so many blessings on thee,
And do they all return to me in curses?
Is that the use I've for them? be not to me
A burden ten times heavier than my years!
Thou'dst wont to be kind to me and observe,
What I thought pleasing; go, entreat the king!
Lady. I will do more for you, sir, you're my father;
I'll kiss him too. [She kisses Govianus.
Hel. How am I dealt withal?
Lady. Why, that's the usurper, sir, this is the king;
I happen'd righter than you thought I had;
And were all kingdoms of the earth his own,
As sure as this is not, and this dear gentleman
As poor as virtue and almost as friendless,
I would not change this misery for that sceptre,
Wherein I'd part with him; sir, be cheerful,
'Tis not the reeling fortune of great state
Or low condition, that I cast mine eye at,
It is the man I seek, the rest I lose,
As things unworthy to be kept or noted;
Fortunes are but the outsides of true worth,
It is the mind that sets his master forth.
Tyr. Have there so many bodies been hewn down,
Like trees, in progress to cut out a way
That was ne'er known, for us and our affections,
And is our game[452] so cross'd? There stands the first
Of all her kind, that e'er refused greatness!
A[453] woman to set light by sovereignty!
What age can bring her forth, and bide that shock![454]
'Tis their desire most commonly to rule
More than their part comes to—sometimes their husbands.