A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02
English drama
EULALIA. Well, Xantippe, better in time than too late,
Seeing ye take it so, here my leave I take.
[_Exit_.
XANTIPPE. Marry, good leave have ye, the great God be with you!
My children or I be cursed, I think;
They be complained on, wherever they go,
That for their pleasure they might drink.
Nay, by this the poor souls be come from school weary;
I will go get them meat to make them merry.
INIQUITY, ISMAEL, _and_ DALILAH _come in together_.
INIQUITY. _Lo, lo, here I bring-a_.
ISMAEL. _What is she, now ye have her?_
DALILAH. _A lusty minion loner_.[222]
INIQUITY. _For no gold will I give her_--
ALL TOGETHER. _Welcome, my honey-a!_
INIQUITY. O my heart! [_Here he speaketh_.
This wench can sing,
And play her part.
DALILAH. I am yours, and you mine, with all my heart.
INIQUITY. By the mass, it is well sung;
Were ye not sorry ye were a maid so long?
DALILAH. Fie, master Iniquity, fie, I am a maid yet.
ISMAEL. No, sister, no, your maidenhead is sick.
INIQUITY. That knave your brother will be a blab still,
I-wis, Dalilah, ye can say as much by him, if ye will.
DALILAH. By him, quod-a? he hath whores two or three,
But ich tell your minion doll,[223] by Gog's body:
It skilleth not she doth hold you as much.
ISMAEL. Ye lie falsely, she will play me no such touch.
DALILAH. Not she? Yes, to do your heart good,
I could tell you who putteth a bone in your hood!
ISMAEL. Peace, whore, or ye bear me a box on[224] there--
DALILAH. Here is mine ear, knave; strike, and thou dare!
To suffer him thus ye be no man,
If ye will not revenge me, I will find one;
To set so little by me ye were not wont--
Well, it is no matter;
Though ye do, _ceteri nolunt_.
INIQUITY. Peace, Dalilah; speak ye Latin, poor fool?
DALILAH. No, no, but a proverb I learned at school--
ISMAEL. Yea, sister, you went to school, till ye were past grace;--
DALILAH. Yea, so didst thou, by thy knave's face!
INIQUITY. Well, no more a-do, let all this go,
We kinsfolk must be friends, it must be so.
Come on, come on, come on,
[_He casteth dice on the board_.
Here they be that will do us all good.
ISMAEL. If ye use it long, your hair will grow through your hood.
INIQUITY. Come on, knave, with Christ's curse,
I must have some of the money
Thou hast picked out of thy father's purse!
DALILAH. He, by the mass, if he can get his purse,
Now and then he maketh it by half the worse.
ISMAEL. I defy you both, whore and knave--
INIQUITY. What, ye princocks, begin ye to rave? Come on--
DALILAH. Master Iniquity, by your leave,
I will play a crown or two here by your sleeve.
ISMAEL. Then be ye servant to a worshipful man,
Master Iniquity--a right name, by Saint John!
DALILAH. What can ye say by Master Iniquity?
I love him and his name most heartily.
INIQUITY. God-a-mercy, Dalilah, good luck, I warrant thee,
I will shrive you both by and by.
[_He kisseth her_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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