Reede. What, wilt thou do me wrong and threat me too,
Nay, then, I’ll tempt thee, Arden, do thy worst.
God, I beseech thee, show some miracle 30
On thee or thine, in plaguing thee for this.
That plot of ground which thou detains from me,
I speak it in an agony of spirit,
Be ruinous and fatal unto thee!
Either there be butchered by thy dearest friends,
Or else be brought for men to wonder at,
Or thou or thine miscarry in that place,
Or there run mad and end thy cursèd days!
Franklin. Fie, bitter knave, bridle thine envious tongue;
For curses are like arrows shot upright, 40
Which falling down light on the shooter’s head.
Reede. Light where they will! Were I upon the sea,
As oft I have in many a bitter storm,
And saw a dreadful southern flaw at hand,
The pilot quaking at the doubtful storm,
And all the sailors praying on their knees,
Even in that fearful time would I fall down,
And ask of God, whate’er betide of me,
Vengeance on Arden or some misevent
To show the world what wrong the carle hath done.
This charge I’ll leave with my distressful wife, 51
My children shall be taught such prayers as these;
And thus I go, but leave my curse with thee.
[Exeunt Reede and Sailor.
Arden. It is the railingest knave in Christendom,
And oftentimes the villain will be mad;
It greatly matters not what he says,
But I assure you I ne’er did him wrong.
Franklin. I think so, Master Arden.
Arden. Now that our horses are gone home before,
My wife may haply meet me on the way. 60
For God knows she is grown passing kind of late,
And greatly changed from
The old humour of her wonted frowardness,
And seeks by fair means to redeem old faults.
Franklin. Happy the change that alters for the best!
But see in any case you make no speech
Of the cheer we had at my Lord Cheiny’s,
Although most bounteous and liberal,
For that will make her think herself more wronged,
In that we did not carry her along; 70
For sure she grieved that she was left behind.
Arden. Come, Franklin, let us strain to mend our pace,
And take her unawares playing the cook;
Here enters Alice and Mosbie.