A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 11
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 11
English drama
SPEND. You seem a gentleman, and you may perceive
I have some respect unto your credit
To take you thus aside. Will you restore
What you have drawn from me unlawfully?
STAINES. Sirrah, by your outside you seem a citizen,
Whose cock's-comb I were apt enough to break,
But for the law. Go, y' are a prating jack:
Nor is't your hopes of crying out for clubs
Can save you from my chastisement, if once
You shall but dare to utter this again.
SPEND. You lie; you dare not.
STAINES. Lie! nay, villain, now
Thou tempt'st me to thy death.
SPEND. Soft, you must buy it dearer;
The best blood flows within you is the price.
STAINES. Dar'st thou resist? thou art no citizen.
SPEND. I am a citizen.
STAINES. Say thou art a gentleman, and I am satisfied;
For then I know thou'lt answer me in field.
SPEND. I'll say directly what I am, a citizen;
And I will meet thee in the field as fairly
As the best gentleman that wears a sword.[181]
STAINES. I accept it: the meeting-place?
SPEND. Beyond the Maze in Tuttle.[182]
STAINES. What weapon?
SPEND. Single rapier.
STAINES. The time?
SPEND. To-morrow.
STAINES. The hour?
SPEND. 'Twixt nine and ten.
STAINES. 'Tis good; I shall expect you. Farewell.
SPEND. Farewell, sir. [_Exeunt omnes._
_Enter_ WILL RASH, LONGFIELD, _and_ JOYCE.
W. RASH. Why, I commend thee, girl; thou speak'st as thou think'st. Thy
tongue and thy heart are relatives; and thou wert not my sister, I
should at this time fall in love with thee.
JOYCE. You should not need, for, and you were not my brother, I should
fall in love with you, for I love a proper man with my heart, and so
does all the sex of us, let my sister dissemble never so much. I am out
of charity with these nice and squeamish tricks. We were born for men,
and men for us; and we must together.
W. RASH. This same plain-dealing is a jewel in thee.
JOYCE. And let me enjoy that jewel, for I love plain-dealing with my
heart.
W. RASH. Th' art a good wench, i' faith. I should never be ashamed to
call thee sister, though thou shouldst marry a broom-man. But your
lover, methinks, is over-tedious.
_Enter_ GERALDINE.
JOYCE. No, look ye, sir; could you wish a man to come better upon his
cue?[183] Let us withdraw.
W. RASH. Close, close, for the prosecution of the plot, wench. See, he
prepares.
JOYCE. Silence.
GERA. The sun is yet wrapp'd in Aurora's arms,
And, lull'd with her delight, forgets us[184] creatures.
Awake, thou god of heat,
I call thee up, and task[185] thee for thy slowness.
Point all thy beams through yonder flaring glass,
And raise a beauty brighter than thyself. [_Music._
Musicians, give each instrument a tongue,
To breathe sweet music in the ears of her
To whom I send it as a messenger.
_Enter_ GERTRUDE _aloft_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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