A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
English drama
I prythee, smile on me, if but awhile,
Then frown on me, I'll die: I prythee, smile.
Smile on me, and these two wanton boys,
These pretty lads that do attend on me,
Shall call thee Jove, shall wait upon thy cup,
And fill thee nectar: their enticing eyes
Shall serve as crystal, wherein thou may'st see
To dress thyself, if thou wilt smile on me.
Smile on me, and with coronets of pearl
And bells of gold, circling their pretty arms,
In a round ivory fount these two shall swim,
And dive to make thee sport:
Bestow one smile, one little, little smile,
And in a net of twisted silk and gold
In my all-naked arms thyself shall lie.
ELE. Why, what to do? Lust's arms do stretch so wide
That none can fill them. I lie there? away![53]
QUEEN-M. Where hast thou learn'd this language, that can say
No more but two rude words, _away, away_?
Am I grown ugly now?
ELE. Ugly as hell.
QUEEN-M. Thou lov'dst me once.
ELE. That can thy bastards tell.
QUEEN-M. What is my sin? I will amend the same.
ELE. Hence, strumpet! use of sin makes thee past shame.
QUEEN-M. Strumpet!
ELE. Ay, strumpet.
QUEEN-M. Too true 'tis, woe is me;
I am a strumpet, but made so by thee.
ELE. By me!
No, no, by these young bawds: fetch thee a glass,
And thou shalt see the balls of both thine eyes
Burning in fire of lust. By me! There's here,
Within this hollow cistern of thy breast,
A spring of hot blood: have not I, to cool it,
Made an extraction to the quintessence
Even of my soul: melted all my spirits,
Ravish'd my youth, deflow'r'd my lovely cheeks,
And dried this, this to an anatomy,
Only to feed your lust?--these boys have ears--
[_In a whisper._]
Yet wouldst thou murder me.
QUEEN-M. I murder thee!
ELE. I cannot ride through the Castilian streets
But thousand eyes, through windows and through doors,
Throw killing looks at me; and every slave
At Eleazar darts a finger out,
And every hissing tongue cries, "There's the Moor;
That's he that makes a cuckold of our king;
There goes the minion of the Spanish queen;
That's the black prince of devils; there goes he
That on smooth boys, on masques and revellings,
Spend[s] the revenues of the King of Spain."
Who arms this many-headed beast but you?
Murder and lust are twins, and both are thine.
Being weary of me, thou wouldst worry me,
Because some new love makes thee loathe thine old.
QUEEN-M. Eleazar!
ELE. Harlot, I'll not hear thee speak.
QUEEN-M. I'll kill myself unless thou hear'st me speak.
My husband-king upon his deathbed lies,
Yet have I stol'n from him to look on thee:
A queen hath made herself thy concubine,
Yet dost thou now abhor me; hear me speak,
Else shall my sons plague thy adult'rous wrongs,
And tread upon thy heart for murdering me:
This tongue hath murder'd me. Cry murder, boys.
[_The_ QUEEN _shouts_.]
TWO BOYS. Murder! the queen's murder'd!
ELE. Love, slaves, peace!
TWO BOYS. Murder! the queen's murder'd!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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