Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 01 of 10: the Custom of the CountryFletcher, John
General
Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 01 of 10: the Custom of the Country
Fletcher, John
Brothers -- Drama; English drama -- 17th century; Sex customs -- Drama; Tragicomedy
_Doct._ That I wish too;
For till you have more strength, I would not have you
To be too bold.
_Dua._ Fear not, I will be carefull. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ Leopold, Zabulon, Bravo.
_Zab._ I have brought him Sir, a fellow that will do it
Though Hell stood in his way, ever provided
You pay him for't.
_Leop._ He has a strange aspect,
And looks much like the figure of a hang-man
In a table of the Passion.
_Zab._ He transcends
All precedents, believe it, a flesh'd ruffian,
That hath so often taken the Strappado,
That 'tis to him but as a lofty trick
Is to a tumbler: he hath perused too
All Dungeons in _Portu[g]al_, thrice seven years
Rowed in the Galleys for three several murthers,
Though I presume that he has done a hundred,
And scap't unpunisht.
_Leop._ He is much in debt to you,
You set him off so well. What will you take Sir
To beat a fellow for me, that thus wrong'd me?
_Bra._ To beat him say you?
_Leop._ Yes, beat him to lameness,
To cut his lips or nose off; any thing,
That may disfigure him.
_Bra._ Let me consider?
Five hundred pistolets for such a service
I think were no dear penniworth.
_Zab._ Five hundred!
Why there are of your Brother-hood in the City,
I'le undertake, shall kill a man for twenty.
_Bra._ Kill him? I think so; I'le kill any man
For half the mony.
_Leop._ And will you ask more
For a sound beating than a murther?
_Bra._ I Sir,
And with good reason, for a dog that's dead,
The Spanish proverb says, will never bite:
But should I beat or hurt him only, he may
Recover, and kill me.
_Leo._ A good conclusion,
The obduracie of this rascal makes me tender.
I'le run some other course, there's your reward
Without the employment.
_Bra._ For that as you please Sir;
When you have need to kill a man, pray use me,
But I am out at beating. [_Exit._
_Zab._ What's to be done then?
_Leop._ I'le tell thee _Zabulon_, and make thee privy
To my most near designs: this stranger, which
_Hippolyta_ so dotes on, was my prisoner
When the last Virgin, I bestowed upon her,
Was made my prize; how he escaped, hereafter
I'le let thee know; and it may be the love
He bears the servant, makes him scorn the Mistris.
_Zab._ 'Tis not unlike; for the first time he saw her
His looks exprest so much, and for more proof
Since he came to my Ladys house, though yet
He never knew her, he hath practis'd with me
To help him to a conference, without
The knowledge of _Hippolyta_; which I promis'd.
_Leop._ And by all means perform it for their meeting,
But work it so, that my disdainful Mistris
(Whom, notwithstanding all her injuries,
'Tis my hard fate to love) may see and hear them.
_Zab._ To what end Sir?
_Leop._ This _Zabulon_: when she sees
Who is her rival, and her Lovers baseness
To leave a Princess for her bondwoman,
The sight will make her scorn, what now she dotes on,
I'le double thy reward.
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