[From “Sir Giles Goosecap,” a Comedy, Author Unknown, 1606.]
Friendship in a Lord; modesty in a Gentleman.
Clarence, (to some musicians). Thanks, gentle friends;
Is your good lord, and mine, gone up to bed yet?
Momford. I do assure you not, Sir, not yet, nor yet,
my deep and studious friend, not yet, musical Clarence.
Clar. My Lord—
Mom. Nor yet, then sole divider of my Lordship.
Clar. That were a most unfit division,
And far above the pitch of my low plumes.
I am your bold and constant guest, my Lord.
Mom. Far, far from bold, for thou hast known me long,
Almost these twenty years, and half those years
Hast been my bedfellow, long time before
This unseen thing, this thing of nought indeed,
Or atom, call’d my Lordship, shined in me;
And yet thou mak’st thyself as little bold
To take such kindness, as becomes the age
And truth of our indissoluble love,
As our acquaintance sprong but yesterday;
Such is thy gentle and too tender spirit.
Clar. My Lord, my want of courtship makes me fear
I should be rude; and this my mean estate
Meets with such envy and detraction,
Such misconstructions and resolv’d misdooms
Of my poor worth, that should I be advanced
Beyond my unseen lowness but one hair,
I should be torn in pieces by the spirits
That fly in ill-lung’d tempests thro’ the world,
Tearing the head of virtue from her shoulders,
If she but look out of the ground of glory;
’Twixt whom, and me, and every worldly fortune,
There fights such sour and curst antipathy,
So waspish and so petulant a star,
That all things tending to my grace and good
Are ravish’d from their object, as I were
A thing created for a wilderness,
And must not think of any place with men.
[From the “English Monsieur,” a Comedy by the Hon. James Howard, 1674.]
The humour of a conceited Traveller, who is taken with every thing that is French.
English Monsieur. Gentlemen, if you please, let us dine together.
Vaine. I know a cook’s shop, has the best boiled and roast beef in town.
Eng. Mons. Sir, since you are a stranger to me, I only ask you what you mean; but, were you acquainted with me, I should take your greasy proposition as an affront to my palate.
Vaine. Sir, I only meant, by the consent of this company, to dine well together.