DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
- Count Frederick.
- Sir John Worldly.
- Nevill.
- Scudmore.
- Strange.
- Pendant.
- Captain Pouts.
- Sir Innocent Ninny.
- Sir Abraham Ninny.
- Bellafront.
- Katherine.
- Lucida.
- Lady Ninny.
- Mistress Wagtail
- A Priest.
- A Page.
- Servants.
A WOMAN IS A WEATHERCOCK.
ACT I., SCENE 1.
Enter Scudmore, as in his chamber in a morning, half-ready, reading a letter.
Scud. legit. "Whereas you write, my fortune and my birth,
Made above yours, may be a real cause
That I must leave you, know, thou worthiest man,
Thou hast a soul whose plenteous wealth supplies
All the lean wants blind chance hath dealt to thee.
Yet could I think the gods from all their store,
Who ne'er knew indigence unto their will,
Would out of all their stock of virtue left,
Or out of all new graces they can make,
Make such another piece as Scudmore is,
Then might he justly fear; but otherwise
Sooner the masculine element of fire
Shall flame his pyramids down to the earth;
Sooner her mountains shall swell up to heaven,
Or softest April showers quench fires in hell:
Sooner shall stars from this circumference
Drop like false fiery exhalation,
Than I be false to vows made unto thee,
In whom aught near a fault I ne'er could see,
But that you doubted once my constancy.
Yours through the world, and to the end of time.
Bellafront."