A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02

English drama

HUSBAND. I think that a man might spend a whole day,
Declaring the joys and endless bliss,
Which married persons receive alway,
If they love faithfully, as meet it is.

WIFE. Wives cannot choose but love earnestly,
If that their husbands do all things well;
Or else, my sweetheart, we shall espy,
That in quietness they cannot dwell.

HUSBAND. If they do not, it may be a shame,
For I love you heartily, I you assure:
Or else I were truly greatly to blame,
Ye are so loving, so kind and demure.

WIFE. I trust that with neither hand or foot
Ye shall see any occasion by me:
But that I love you even from the heart-root,
And during my life so intend to be.

HUSBAND. Who then merry marriage can discommend,
And will not with Aristotle in his Ethics[346] agree?
But will say, that misery is the end,
When otherwise I find it to be:
A politic man will marry a wife,
As the philosopher makes declaration,
Not only to have children by his life,
But also for living, help, and sustentation.

WIFE. Who will not with H'erocles plainly confess,
That mankind to society is wholly adjoining,
And in this society nevertheless
Of worthy wedlock took the beginning:
Without the which no city can stand,
Nor household be perfect in any land?

HUSBAND. Pythagoras, Socrates, and Crates also,
Which truly were men of very small substance,
As I heard my father tell long ago,
Did take them wives with a safe conscience;
And dwelled together, supposing that they
Were unto philosophy nother stop nor stay.

WIFE. Yea, what can be more according to kind,
Than a man to a woman himself to bind?

HUSBAND. Away with those therefore, that marriage despise,
And of dangers thereof invent many lies!

WIFE. But what is he that cometh yonder?
Do ye not think it is our man?
Somewhat there is that he hasteth hither,
For he makes as much speed as he can.

    [_Here the servant of the Rich Man's Son
    cometh in, with an errand to his master_.

SERVANT.
Master, there is a stranger at home,
He would very fain with you talk:
For until that to him ye do come,
Forth of the doors he will not walk.

HUSBAND. Come on then, my wife, if it be so,
Let us depart hence for a season:
For I am not well, till I do know
Of that man's coming the very reason.

    [_Here they both go out, and their Servant doth
    tarry behind alone_.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

General

A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02

English drama

HUSBAND. I think that a man might spend a whole day,
Declaring the joys and endless bliss,
Which married persons receive alway,
If they love faithfully, as meet it is.

WIFE. Wives cannot choose but love earnestly,
If that their husbands do all things well;
Or else, my sweetheart, we shall espy,
That in quietness they cannot dwell.

HUSBAND. If they do not, it may be a shame,
For I love you heartily, I you assure:
Or else I were truly greatly to blame,
Ye are so loving, so kind and demure.

WIFE. I trust that with neither hand or foot
Ye shall see any occasion by me:
But that I love you even from the heart-root,
And during my life so intend to be.

HUSBAND. Who then merry marriage can discommend,
And will not with Aristotle in his Ethics[346] agree?
But will say, that misery is the end,
When otherwise I find it to be:
A politic man will marry a wife,
As the philosopher makes declaration,
Not only to have children by his life,
But also for living, help, and sustentation.

WIFE. Who will not with H'erocles plainly confess,
That mankind to society is wholly adjoining,
And in this society nevertheless
Of worthy wedlock took the beginning:
Without the which no city can stand,
Nor household be perfect in any land?

HUSBAND. Pythagoras, Socrates, and Crates also,
Which truly were men of very small substance,
As I heard my father tell long ago,
Did take them wives with a safe conscience;
And dwelled together, supposing that they
Were unto philosophy nother stop nor stay.

WIFE. Yea, what can be more according to kind,
Than a man to a woman himself to bind?

HUSBAND. Away with those therefore, that marriage despise,
And of dangers thereof invent many lies!

WIFE. But what is he that cometh yonder?
Do ye not think it is our man?
Somewhat there is that he hasteth hither,
For he makes as much speed as he can.

    [_Here the servant of the Rich Man's Son
    cometh in, with an errand to his master_.

SERVANT.
Master, there is a stranger at home,
He would very fain with you talk:
For until that to him ye do come,
Forth of the doors he will not walk.

HUSBAND. Come on then, my wife, if it be so,
Let us depart hence for a season:
For I am not well, till I do know
Of that man's coming the very reason.

    [_Here they both go out, and their Servant doth
    tarry behind alone_.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02

A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02

No reviews yet