Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 06 of 10Fletcher, John
General
Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 06 of 10
Fletcher, John
English drama
_Heng._ Weary, Uncle?
I have heard you say you have march'd all day in Armour.
_Car._ I have, boy.
_Heng._ Am not I your Kinsman?
_Car._ Yes.
_Heng._ And am not I as fully allyed unto you
In those brave things, as blood?
_Car._ Thou art too tender.
_Heng._ To go upon my legs? they were made to bear me.
I can play twenty mile a day, I see no reason
But to preserve my Countrey and my self,
I should march forty.
_Car._ What, wouldst thou be
Living to wear a mans strength?
_Heng._ Why a _Caratach_,
A _Roman_-hater, a scourge sent from Heaven [_Drum._
To whip these proud theeves from our Kingdom. Heark,
Heark, Uncle, heark, I hear a Drum.
_Enter_ Judas _and his people to the door_.
_Jud._ Beat softly,
Softly, I say; they are here: who dare charge?
_1. Sold._ He
That dares be knockt o'th' head: I'll not come near him.
_Jud._ Retire again, and watch then. How he stares!
H'as eyes would kill a dragon: mark the boy well;
If we could take or kill him. A ---- on ye,
How fierce ye look! see how he broods the boy;
The devil dwels in's scabbard. Back, I say,
Apace, apace, h'as found us. [_They retire._
_Car._ Do ye hunt us?
_Heng._ Uncle, good Uncle see, the thin starv'd Rascal,
The eating _Roman_, see where he thrids the thickets:
Kill him, dear Uncle, kill him; one good blow
To knock his brains into his breech; strike's head off,
That I may piss in's face.
_Car._ Do ye make us Foxes?
Here, hold my charging staff, and keep the place boy.
I'am at bay, and like a bull I'll bear me.
Stand, stand, ye Rogues, ye Squirrels. [_Exit._
_Heng._ Now he pays 'em:
O that I had a mans strength.
_Enter_ Judas, _&c._
_Jud._ Here's the boy;
Mine own, I thank my Fortune.
_Heng._ Uncle, uncle;
Famine is faln upon me, uncle.
_Jud._ Come, Sir,
Yield willingly, your Uncle's out of hearing,
I'll ticle your young tail else.
_Heng._ I defie thee,
Thou mock-made man of mat: charge home, sirha:
Hang thee, base slave, thou shak'st.
_Jud._ Upon my conscience
The boy will beat me: how it looks, how bravely,
How confident the worm is: a scabb'd boy
To handle me thus? yield or I cut thy head off.
_Heng._ Thou dar'st not cut my finger: here't is, touch it.
_Jud._ The boy speaks sword and buckler, Prethee yield, boy:
Come, here's an apple, yield.
_Heng._ By ---- he fears me.
I'll give you sharper language: When, ye coward,
When come ye up?
_Jud._ If he should beat me--
_Heng._ When, Sir?
I long to kill thee; come, thou can'st not scape me.
I have twenty ways to charge thee; twenty deaths
Attend my bloody staff.
_Jud._ Sure 'tis the devil,
A dwarf, devil in a doublet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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