_Mar._ Being laid upon her bed, she grasp'd my hand, And kissing it, spake thus: "Thou very poor, Why dost not weep? The jewel of thy brow, The rich adornment that enchased thy breast, Is lost: thy son, my love, is lost, is dead. And do I live to say Antonio's dead? And have I lived to see his virtues blurr'd With guiltless blots? O world, thou art too subtle For honest natures to converse withal, 300 Therefore I'll leave thee; farewell, mart of woe, I fly to clip my love, Antonio!" With that her head sunk down upon her breast; Her cheek changed earth, her senses slept in rest, Until my fool, that press'd unto the bed, Screech'd out so loud that he brought back her soul, Call'd her again, that her bright eyes gan ope, And stared upon him. He, audacious fool, Dared kiss her hand, wish'd her "soft rest, loved bride;" She fumbled out, "thanks, good;" and so she died. 310 _Pier._ And so she died! I do not use to weep; But by thy love (out of whose fertile sweet I hope for as fair fruit) I am deep sad.-- I will not stay my marriage for all this.-- Castilio, Forobosco, all, Strain all your wits, wind up invention Unto his highest bent, to sweet this night; Make us drink Lethe by your quaint conceits, That for two days oblivion smother grief. But when my daughter's exequies approach, 320 Let's all turn sighers. Come, despite of fate, Sound loudest music, let's pace out in state! [_The cornets sound.--Exeunt._ [285] "Bable" was the old form of "bauble." [286] "Wisards" = wise men. In the _Ode on the Nativity_ Milton styles the wise men from the East _wisards_:-- "The star-led _wisards_ hasten with odours sweet." [287] Nobles. [288] _I.e._, there has been no question asked about him. [289] Affections. [290] Old eds. "by." [291] Old form of _digest_. [292] Old eds. "Come hither (_ficto_)." The bracketed word is, I suppose, a direction to the actor; Piero is to talk in an affected voice to Antonio,--treat him as a simpleton. [293] Nobles. [294] "The word _siddow_ is of very unusual occurrence in early English, but it is preserved in the provincial dialect of the West of England. In Gloucestershire peas which become pulpy soft by boiling are then said to be _siddow_."--_Halliwell._ [295] Large galleon. [296] "_Unnookt_ simplicity" (if the reading is right) must mean "simplicity in which no guile is hidden." [297] A mangled quotation from _Æn._ ix. 427-8. [298] The "threefold guard of dreadest power" is, I suppose, "tergemina Hecate." Cf. p. 176 "By the d[r]ead brow of triple Hecate." [299] High-peaked.--_Nol_ = head, top. [300] Full of _knurs_, _i.e._ knotted, gnarled.