A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12Dodsley, Robert
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12
Dodsley, Robert
English drama
CLOWN. 'Tis hard of digestion. Yes, my master is within. He
masters you; therefore I must be content. You have longed for
crosses a good while, and now you are like to be farther off
them than e'er you were; for I'm afraid your good husband will
leave you ne'er a cross i' th' house to bless you with.
WIFE. Well, sir, I shall be bless'd in't. But where is he?
CLOWN. Where he has mistaken the place a little, being his
wedding-day; he is in _nomine_, when he should be in _re_.
WIFE. And where's that?
CLOWN. In your counting-house: if he were a kind husband, he
would have been in another counting-house by this time: he's
tumbling over all his money-bags yonder; you shall hear of him
in the bowling-alley again.
WIFE. Why, sir, all is his, and at his dispose; Who shall dare
to thwart him?
_Enter_ STEPHEN _with bills and bonds_.
CLOWN. Look where he comes.
WIFE. How now, sweetheart? what hast thou there?
STEPH. I find much debts belonging to you, sweet;
And my care must be now to fetch them in.
WIFE. Ha, ha! prythee, do not mistake thyself,
Nor my true purpose; I did not wed to thrall,
Or bind thy large expense, but rather to add
A plenty to that liberty. I thought by this,
Thou wouldst have stuff'd thy pockets full of gold,
And thrown it at a hazard; made ducks and drakes,
And baited fishes with thy silver flies;
Lost, and fetch'd more: why, this had been my joy!
Perhaps at length thou wouldst have wasted my store:
Why, this had been a blessing too good for me.
STEPH. Content thee, sweet, those days are gone--
Ay, even from my memory;
I have forgot that e'er I had such follies,
And I'll not call 'em back: my cares[88] are bent
To keep your state, and give you all content.
Roger, go, call your fellow-servants up to me,
And to my chamber bring all books of debt;
I will o'erlook and cast up all accounts,
That I may know the weight of all my cares,
And once a year give up my stewardship.
CLOWN. [_Aside to the_ WIFE.] Now you may see what hasty
matching is. You had thought to have been vexed, and now you
cannot; you have married a husband, that (sir reverence of
the title) now being my master-in-law, I do think he'll prove
the miserablest covetous rascal that ever beat beggar from
his gate. But 'tis no matter. Time was when you were fairly
offered, if you would have took it. You might have had other
matches, i' faith, if it had pleased you; and those that would
have crossed you. I would have sold away all that ever you had
had; have kept two or three whores at livery under your nose;
have turned you out in your smock, and have used you like a
woman: whereas now, if you'd hang yourself, you can have none
of these blessings. But 'tis well enough--now you must take
what follows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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