Flo. A match insufferable!
Car. Opposing nature!
Pal. Nay, what in time would quite depopulate,
And make the world a desert.
Sal. Higher wrongs
Cannot inflicted be on womankind.
Til. Nor aspersing more dishonour on that sex,
That most endearèd sex, to which we owe
Ourselves and fortunes; for should their choice beauties
Suffer a pillage by desertless hands,
Forc'd to a loathed bed, and made a prey
To seared age, or to unripen'd youth:
How soon might these unparallel'd deities,
By fixing their affections on strange faces
And their more graceful posture, which they valued
Above their churlish consorts, become strangers
To their due spousal rites? How soon engage
Their honour to th' embraces of a servant
Of brave deportment, sprightly eyes, neat limbs:
A virile presence and a countenance
'Twixt Ajax and Adonis; neither fierce
Nor too effeminate, but mix'd 'twixt both:
Neither too light to scorn, nor stern to loathe.
'Twas this brought Troy to ruin; for had Helen
Espous'd where she had lov'd, poor Menelaus
Had ne'er been branch'd, nor Troy reduc'd to flames;
Nor Priam and his Hecuba [been] the grounds
Of sad succeeding stories.
1st Boy. A gallant consult, trust me; he has got by heart the ballad of "The Destruction of Troy" to a syllable.
[Aside.
Flo. Honour'd colleague,
You show yourself both learn'd and eloquent.
Madam, be pleased to solace discontent
With a retir'd repose. We have discuss'd
And balanced the grandeur of your wrongs
In a judicious scale, and shall apply
Proper receipts to your aggrievances,
When we have heard the rest.
1st Boy. Receipts of their own application, I warrant thee.
[Aside.