A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12Dodsley, Robert
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12
Dodsley, Robert
English drama
EUPH. But I doubt
He'll play the tyrant; make her doat too long,
Wear the green-sickness as his livery,
And pine a year or two.
DOT. She's not the first
That has done so for me.
EUPH. But if you use
My cousin so, I shall not take it well.
DOT. O, I protest I have no such meaning, sir.
See, here she comes! the Lady Whimsey too.
_Enter_ LADY WHIMSEY, _with_ ARTEMIA.
LADY W. I thought, sweetheart, th' hadst wanted company.
ART. Why, so I did--yours, madam.
LADY W. Had I known
Your house had been so full of gallants now,
I would have spar'd my visit. But 'tis all one,
I have met a friend here.
EUPH. Your poor servant, madam.
LADY W. I was confessing of your cousin here
About th' affairs of love.
EUPH. Your ladyship, I hope, will shrieve her gently.[6]
LADY W. But I tell her
She shall not thank me now for seeing her;
For I have business hard by. I am going
A suitor to your old rich neighbour here--
Earthworm.
EUPH. A suitor! He is very hard
In granting anything, especially
If it be money.
LADY W. Yes, my suit's for money;
Nay, all his money, and himself to boot.
BAR. His money would do well without himself.
LADY W. And with himself.
BAR. Alas! your ladyship
Should too much wrong your beauty, to bestow it
Upon one that cannot use it, and debar
More able men their wishes.
EUPH. That's true, Barnet,
If she should bar all other men: but that
Would be too great a cruelty.
ART. Do you hear my cousin, madam?
LADY W. Yes, he will be heard:
Rather than fail, he'll give himself the hearing.
But, prythee, Euphues, tell me plainly now,
What thou dost think of me? I love thy freeness
Better than any flattery in the world.
EUPH. I think you wondrous wise.
LADY W. In what?
EUPH. In that
That makes or mars a woman--I mean love.
LADY W. Why, prythee?
EUPH. I think you understand so well
What the true use of man is, that you'll ne'er
Trouble your thoughts with care, or spoil your beauty
With the green-sickness, to obtain a thing
Which you can purchase a discreeter way.
ART. How do you like this, madam?
LADY W. Wondrous well;
'Tis that I look'd for. But what entertainment
Would old rich Earthworm give us, do you think?
BAR. Unless your presence, madam, could infuse
A nobler soul into him, 'tis much fear'd
'Twould be but mean.
LADY W. Because (you'll say) he's covetous?
Tut! I can work a change in any man.
If I were married to him, you should see
What I would make him.
EUPH. I believe we should,
If cuckold's horns were visible.
ART. But could
Your ladyship be pleas'd with such a husband?
LADY W. Who could not well be pleas'd with such a fortune?
ART. Wealth cannot make a man.
LADY W. But his wealth, lady,
Can make a woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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