A Select Collection of Old English Plays Part 52

[_He starts._

KING. Though thou hast thrown all nature off, I cannot what's my duty. Ungracious boy!

Hadst been the offspring of a sinful bed, Thou might'st have claim'd adult'ry as inheritance; l.u.s.t would have been thy kinsman, And what enormity thy looser life Could have been guilty of had found excuse In an unnatural conception.

Prythee, hereafter seek another father: Ephorbas cannot call him son that makes l.u.s.t his deity. Had I but known (But we are hoodwink'd still to all mischances) I should have had a son that would make it His study to embrace corruption, and Take delight in unlawful sheets. I would Have hugg'd a monster in mine arms Before thy mother. Good, O heavens!

What will this world come to at last?

When princes, that should be the patterns Of all virtue, lead up the dance to vice!

What shall we call our own, when our own wives Banish their faith, and prove false to us?

Have I with so much care promis'd myself So pleasing a spring of comfort, and are all Those blossoms nipp'd, and buds burnt up by th' fire Of l.u.s.t and sin?-- Have I thus long laboured against the billows, That did oppose my growing hopes, And must I perish in the haven's mouth?

No gulf but this to be devoured in?

Could not youth's inclination find out Another rock to split itself upon?

Hadst thou hugg'd drunkenness, the wit Or mirth of company might have excus'd it.

Prodigality had been a sin a prince Might have been proud in compared to this.

Or had thy greener years incited thee To treason and attempt a doubting father's crown, T' had been a n.o.ble vice. Ambition Runs through the veins of princes; it brings forth Acts [as] great as themselves and it; spurs on To honour, and resolves great things.

But this--this lechery is such a thing, sin is Too brave a name for it. A prince (I might say son,[83]

But let that pa.s.s), and dare to show himself To nought but darkness and black chambers, Whose motions, like some planet, are all eccentric: Not two hours together in his own sphere, The court?--but I am tame to talk thus; Begone, with as much speed as a coward would Avoid his death; and never more presume To look upon this woman, [upon] this wh.o.r.e: Thou losest both thy eyes and me else.

[PLANGUS _is going out, but comes again._

PLAN. [O] sir, the reverence that I owe my father, And the injury I have done this gentlewoman, Had charm'd me up to silence; but I must Speak something for her honour: When I have done, command me to the altar.

Whilst (I confess) you tainted me with sin, I did applaud you, and condemn myself-- It looked like a father's care--but when You us'd that term of wh.o.r.e to her that stands there, I would have given ten thousand kingdoms, You had had no more relation to me Than hath the northern to the southern pole. I should Have flown to my revenge swifter than lightning.

But I forbear; and pray, imagine not What I had done----

KING. Upon my life, she's very handsome.

[_Aside._

PLAN. To be a wh.o.r.e is more unknown to her, Than what is done in the Antipodes; She is so pure she cannot think a sin, Nor ever heard the name to understand it.

KING. No doubt, these private meetings were to read Her moral lectures, and teach her chast.i.ty!

PLAN. Nay, give me leave, sir. I do not say My addresses have been all so virtuous; For whatsoever base desires a flaming Beauty could kindle in a heart, were all alive In me, and prompted me to seek some ease By quenching burnings hotter than ?tna.

Imagine but a man that had drunk mercury, And had a fire within his bones, Whose blood was hotter than the melted ore!

If he should wish for drink, nay, steal it too, Could you condemn him?

EPH. Marri'd, do they say?

[_Aside._

PLAN. I did endure a heat seas could not cool; It would have kill'd a salamander.

Then, taught both impudence and wit, I singled out my foe, us'd all the arts That love could think upon, and in the end Found a most absolute repulse.

KING. Well, Plangus, youth excuses the first fault; But a relapse exceeds all pardon.

[_Exeunt_ KING _and_ PLANGUS.

SCENE VI.

AND. Curs'd be old age, and he that first Number'd fourscore!

What devil has betray'd us to a doating fool?

Did I but now promise myself, what hopes Ambitious thoughts could reach; and shall I sink Down to my first foundation without the pleasure of A tasted greatness? Death and disgrace!

I dare provoke the utmost of your malice, After the sweetness of some sharp revenge.

_Enter_ LIBACER _in haste_.

LIB. Madam, my master.

AND. You may both hang together.

LIB. Why, this it is, if a man should kill his father For you, he should be thus rewarded; as soon as Your turn's served, I may be hang'd that did it.

AND. Since he is dead, how was it done?

LIB. Why, nothing; only as he was taking water At the Rialto, his foot slipp'd a little, And he came tumbling in the sea; Whence he was taken up, but not alive.

AND. Heav'n prospers not these courses, I see it plainly; let them be acted with as much closeness, Or to what end soever, they never thrive. Libacer, We are undone, undone; the king hath found His son here, and I have lost him to eternity.

LIB. You women are the shallowest creatures; You never look beyond the present.

Rome was not built in one day, madam; Greatness is never sweet that comes too easily.

Should Plangus be a fool now, and obey his father-- Pox o' this virtue, it spoils most men living.

We have hopes yet: revenge is something; And if my old trade fail not.

Princes are mortal as well as other men; Yet my soul inspires me with half a confidence That Leon hath not died in vain. I use to see As far into mischief as another: I'll go to him, And if I bring him not within this half hour, As hot and eager on the scent as e'er he was, Take me and hang me at my coming home-- Madam, here is a messenger from court.

[_As he is going out he meets_ ARTESIO.

AND. If from thence, I may be bold to ask How Plangus, the n.o.blest prince alive, doth?

ART. Madam, as well as soldiers can That are sick for honour; I suppose by this time H' hath left the court, and is gone in quest for glory, Which h' intends to ravish from young Argo's brow, The valiant leader of the Argives' army.

AND. I'm confident then, sir, Your business is not to me; if anybody else Hath sent you, sir, be pleas'd to spare the message, And tell them, I neither have learned the tricks O' th' court, nor yet intend it; I want no new gowns, And have heard men forswear themselves In better language and to better purpose Than gaining of a lady's honour.

ART. Madam, my business is from the king, Who doth entreat you would be pleas'd to bless The court this afternoon with your fair presence, And bring an answer; I must not stay for one.

[_Exit_ ARTESIO.

AND. Now we do see an end of all our mischiefs; The prince hath gone from court, and the king Hath sent for us. Doth not the name Strike terror to thy curdling blood?

LIB. No, by my troth, not at all.

As far as I see, you're better than you were.

I'll lay my life the old man would turn gamester.

Take my counsel, play deep, or not at all: Not an ace under a kingdom. Your grace, I hope, will remember your poor friends.

AND. If I do find any such thing, Let me alone to melt his ice.

Go, get me mourning with all haste.

[_Exit_ LIBACER.

Let froward Fortune do her worst; I shall Create my greatness, or attempting fall: And when I fall, I will deserve my ruin.