_Griz._ Ha! dost thou own thy falsehood to my face? Think'st thou that I will share thy husband's place? Since to that office one cannot suffice, And since you scorn to dine one single dish on, Go, get your husband put into commission. Commissioners to discharge (ye gods! it fine is) The duty of a husband to your highness. Yet think not long I will my rival bear, Or unrevenged the slighted willow wear; The gloomy, brooding tempest, now confined Within the hollow caverns of my mind, In dreadful whirl shall roll along the coasts, Shall thin the land of all the men it boasts, And cram up ev'ry chink of hell with ghosts.[160] So have I seen, in some dark winter's day,[161] A sudden storm rush down the sky's highway, Sweep through the streets with terrible ding-dong, Gush through the spouts, and wash whole clouds along. The crowded shops the thronging vermin screen, Together cram the dirty and the clean, And not one shoe-boy in the street is seen. _Hunc._ Oh, fatal rashness! should his fury slay My hapless bridegroom on his wedding-day, I, who this morn of two chose which to wed, May go again this night alone to bed. So have I seen some wild unsettled fool,[162] Who had her choice of this and that joint-stool, To give the preference to either loth, And fondly coveting to sit on both, While the two stools her sitting-part confound, Between 'em both fall squat upon the ground. * * * * * ACT III. SCENE I.--KING ARTHUR'S _Palace._ _Ghost_[163] (_solus_). Hail! ye black horrors of midnight's midnoon! Ye fairies, goblins, bats, and screech-owls, hail! And, oh! ye mortal watchmen, whose hoarse throats Th' immortal ghosts dread croakings counterfeit, All hail!--Ye dancing phantoms, who, by day, Are some condemn'd to fast, some feast in fire, Now play in churchyards, skipping o'er the graves, To the loud music of the silent bell,[164] All hail! SCENE II. KING, GHOST. _King_. What noise is this? What villain dares, At this dread hour, with feet and voice profane, Disturb our royal walls? _Ghost_. One who defies Thy empty power to hurt him; one who dares[165] Walk in thy bedchamber. _King_. Presumptuous slave! Thou diest. _Ghost_. Threaten others with that word: I am a ghost, and am already dead.[166]