Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 10 of 10Fletcher, John
General
Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 10 of 10
Fletcher, John
English drama
_Clow._ To conclude,
I'm bursten Sir: my belly will hold no meat.
_Lap._ No? that makes amends for all.
_Clow._ Unless 't be puddings,
Or such fast food, any loose thing beguiles me, I'm ne'er the better
for't.
_Lap._ Sheeps-heads will stay with thee?
_Clo._ Yes Sir, or Chaldrons.
_Lap._ Very well sir:
Your bursten fellows must take heed of surfets:
Strange things it seems, you have endur'd;
_Clo._ Too true Sir.
_Lap._ But now the question is, what you will endure
Hereafter in my service?
_Clo._ Anything
That shall be reason Sir, for I'm but froth;
Much like a thing new calv'd, or come more nearer Sir,
Y'ave seen a cluster of Frog-spawns in _April_,
E'en such a starch am I, as weak and tender
As a green woman yet.
_Lap._ Now I know this,
I will be very gently angry with thee,
And kick thee carefully.
_Clow._ Oh I, sweet Sir.
_Lap._ Peace, when thou art offer'd well, lest I begin now.
Your friends and mine have writ here for your truth,
They'll pass their words themselves, and I must meet 'em.
_Clow._ Then have you all: [_Exit._
As for my honesty, there is no fear of that,
For I have ne'er a whole bone about me. [_Exit._
_Musick. Enter the passionate Cosin, rudely, and carelesly apparrell'd,_
_unbrac'd, and untruss'd. The_ Cupid _following_.
_Cup._ Think upon love, which makes all creatures handsome,
Seemly for eye-sight; goe not so diffusedly,
There are great Ladies purpose Sir to visit you.
_Pas._ Grand plagues, shut in my casements, that the breaths
Of their Coach-mares reek not into my nostrils;
Those beasts are but a kind of bawdy fore-runners.
_Cup._ It is not well with you,
When you speak ill of fair Ladies.
_Pas._ Fair mischiefs, give me a nest of Owls and take 'em;
Happy is he, say I, whose window opens
To a brown Bakers chimney, he shall be sure there
To hear the Bird sometimes after twilight:
What a fine thing 'tis methinks to have our garments
Sit loose upon us thus, thus carelesly,
It is more manly, and more mortifying;
For we're so much the readier for our shrouds:
For how ridiculous wer't, to have death come,
And take a fellow, pinn'd up like a Mistriss!
About his neck a Ruff, like a pinch'd Lanthorn,
Which School-boys make in winter; and his doublet
So close and pent, as if he fear'd one prison
Would not be strong enough, to keep his soul in;
But's Tailor makes another:
And trust me; (for I know't when I lov'd _Cupid_,)
He does endure much pain, for the poor praise
Of a neat sitting suit.
_Cup._ One may be handsome, Sir,
And yet not pain'd, nor proud.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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