A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09
English drama
BUT. They are yours, and you are theirs; meet me beneath, I say.
[_Exeunt_ WENTLOE _and_ BARTLEY.
By this they are wed; ay, and perhaps have bedded.
Now follows whether, knowing she is poor,
He'll swear he lov'd her, as he swore before.
[_Exit_ BUTLER.
ACT V.
_Enter_ ILFORD _with_ SCARBOROW'S SISTER.
ILF. Ho, sirrah, who would have thought it? I perceive now a woman may
be a maid, be married, and lose her maidenhead, and all in half an hour.
And how dost like me now, wench?
SIS. As doth befit your servant and your wife,
That owe you love and duty all my life.
ILF. And there shall be no love lost, nor service neither; I'll do thee
service at board, and thou shalt do me service a-bed: now must I, as
young married men use to do, kiss my portion out of my young wife. Thou
art my sweet rogue, my lamb, my pigsny, my playfellow, my pretty-pretty
anything. Come, a buss, prythee, so 'tis my kind heart; and wots thou
what now?
SIS. Not till you tell me, sir.
ILF. I have got thee with child in my conscience, and, like a kind
husband, methinks I breed it for thee. For I am already sick at my
stomach, and long extremely. Now must thou be my helpful physician, and
provide for me.
SIS. Even to my blood,
What's mine is yours, to gain your peace or good.
ILF. What a kind soul is this! Could a man have found a greater content
in a wife, if he should have sought through the world for her? Prythee,
heart, as I said, I long, and in good troth I do, and methinks thy first
child will be born without a nose, if I lose my longing: 'tis but for a
trifle too; yet methinks it will do me no good, unless thou effect it
for me. I could take thy keys myself, go into thy closet, and read over
the deeds and evidences of thy land, and in reading over them, rejoice I
had such blessed fortune to have so fair a wife with so much endowment,
and then open thy chests, and survey thy plate, jewels, treasure; but a
pox on't, all will do me no good, unless thou effect it for me.
SIS. Sir, I will show you all the wealth I have
Of coin, of jewels, and possessions.
ILF. Good gentle heart, I'll give thee another buss for that: for that,
give thee a new gown to-morrow morning by this hand; do thou but dream
what stuff and what fashion thou wilt have it on to-night.
SIS. The land I can endow you with's my Love:
The riches I possess for you is Love,
A treasure greater than is land or gold,
It cannot be forfeit, and it shall ne'er be sold.
ILF. Love, I know that; and I'll answer thee love for love in abundance:
but come, prythee, come, let's see these deeds and evidences--this
money, plate, and jewels. Wilt have thy child born without a nose? if
thou be'st so careless, spare not: why, my little frappet, you, I heard
thy uncles talk of thy riches, that thou hadst hundreds a year, several
lordships, manors, houses, thousands of pounds in your great chest;
jewels, plate, and rings in your little box.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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