_Isa._ So to the house of death the mourner goes, That is bereft of what his soul desired, As I to bed--I to my nuptial bed, The heaven on earth: so to thought-slaughters went The pale Andromeda, bedew'd with tears. 250 When every minute she expected gripes Of a fell monster, and in vain bewail'd The act of her creation. Sullen Night, That look'st with sunk eyes on my nuptial bed, With ne'er a star that smiles upon the end, Mend thy slack pace, and lend the malcontent, The hoping lover, and the wishing bride, Beams that too long thou shadowest: or, if not, In spite of thy fix'd front, when my loath'd mate Shall struggle in due pleasure for his right, 260 I'll think 't my love, and die in that delight! [_Exit._ [182] Not marked in old eds. [183] Omitted in ed. 1631. [184] Seemingly, here, a sort of apron.--The word is used in a variety of senses: see Nares' _Glossary_. [185] Properly a military expression, meaning--fear no enemy. [186] Used with a quibble: (1) reason, (2) raisin. [187] Old eds. "Count of Arsena;" and so below "_to_ Isabella, Gvido Count of Arsena."--It was Guido who prepared the masque (see p. 149), and he ought certainly to be one of the masquers; but if we suppose that he is the masquer with whom Isabella falls in love, we are involved at once in wild confusion. Throughout this scene the prefixes are constantly wrong. The masquer who is now called Guido is frequently transformed into Rogero: see p. 157, "The second change, ISABELLA fals in loue with Rogero" and what follows. Later in the scene Isabella sends her waiting-woman Anna to discover the unknown masquer's name; and Anna returns with the announcement, "Madam, it was the worthy Count Massino." In the third scene she sends her page to summon the stranger to her presence. When the page returns with him, the stage-direction is "_Enter_ Count ARSENA and a Page." She flies with her paramour, and the first man to proffer his advice to Roberto is this same Guido, Count of Arsena, who--according to the old copies--is flying with the Countess to Pavia! In iii. 11 the stage-direction is "_Enter_ Count GUIDO, ISABELLA," &c., and presently Isabella addresses her paramour as Rogero. Isabella pretends that she is sick and Guido goes to fetch a doctor: when he returns the stage direction is "_Enter_ ROGERO, ANNA, _and_ Doctor." So the changes are rung through several scenes. In iv. 3 Isabella speaks of-- "False Count Guido, treacherous Gniaca, Counties of Gazia and of rich Massino."