_Countess._ Oh! were it painted, I would wipe it off, And dispossess myself to give it thee. But, sov’reign, it is soldered to my life. Take one and both; for, like an humble shadow, It haunts the sunshine of my summer’s life. _Edward._ But thou mayst lend it me in sport withal. _Countess._ As easy may my intellectual soul Be lent away, and yet my body live, As lend my body (palace to my soul) Away from her, and yet retain my soul. My body is her bower, her court, her abbey, And she an angel, pure, divine, unspotted. If I should lend her house, my lord, to thee, I kill my poor soul, and my poor soul me. _Edward._ Didst thou not swear to give me what I would? _Countess._ I did, my liege; so what you would I could. _Edward._ I wish no more of thee than thou mayst give. Nor beg I do not, but I rather buy; That is thy love; and for that love of thine, In rich exchange I tender to thee mine. _Countess._ But that your lips were sacred, my good lord, You would profane the holy name of love. That love you offer me, you can not give; For Cæsar owes that tribute to his queen. That love you beg of me I can not give; For Sarah owes that duty to her lord. He that doth clip or counterfeit your stamp Shall die, my lord; and shall your sacred self Commit high treason ’gainst the King of Heav’n, To stamp his image in forbidden metal, Forgetting your allegiance and your oath? In violating marriage’ sacred law You break a greater honor than yourself. _To be a king_ is of a younger house Than _to be married_; your progenitor, Sole-reigning Adam on the universe, By God was honored for a married man, But not by Him anointed for a king. It is a penalty to break your statutes, Though not enacted with your highness’ hand; How much more to infringe the holy act Made by the mouth of God, sealed with his hand? I know my sovereign in my husband’s love Doth but to try the wife of Salisbury, Whether she will hear a wanton’s tale or no; Lest, being guilty therein, by my stay, From that, not from my liege, I turn away. The countess, naturally, has the best of the argument, and shames the king. In this pleasant light is she presented by both chronicler and poet, and the lady, chiefly to honor whom the Order of the Garter was constructed upon the basis of the Order of the Blue Thong, was worthy of all the distinctive homage that could be rendered to her by knight or king.