All gaping here for legacies; but I,

Taking the vantage of his naming you,

(Signior Corvino, Signior Corvino) took

Paper, and pen, and ink, and there I ask'd him,
Whom he would have his heir?

Should be executor? Corvino.
To any question he was silent to,

Corvino.

And

I still interpreted the nods, he made

Who

Through weakness, for consent; and sent home the others,
Nothing bequeath'd them, but to cry, and curse.

Corv. O, my dear Mosca! Does he not perceive us?
Mos. No more than a blind harper. He knows no man,

No face of friend, nor name of any servant,

Who't was that fed him last, or gave him drink;

Not those he hath begotten, or brought up,

Can he remember.

Corv. Has he children?

Mos. Bastards,

Some dozen, or more, that he begot on beggars,

Gypsies, and Jews, and black-moors, when he was drunk :

Knew you not that, sir? "Tis the common fable,

The dwarf, the fool, the eunuch, are all his :

He's the true father of his family,

In all, save me: but he has given 'em nothing.

Corv. That's well, that's well. Art sure he does not hear us? Mos. Sure, sir? why look you, credit your own sense. The pox approach, and add to your diseases, If it would send you hence the sooner, sir, For your incontinence, it hath deserv'd it Throughly, and throughly, and the plague to boot. (You may come near, sir) would you would once close Those filthy eyes of yours that flow with slime, Like two frog-pits: and those same hanging cheeks, Cover'd with hide, instead of skin, (nay help, sir) That look like frozen dish-clouts set on end.

Corv. Or, like an old smok'd wall, on which the rain Ran down in streaks.

Mos. Excellent, sir, speak out;

You may be louder yet: a culvering

Discharged in his ear, would hardly bore it.

Corv. His nose is like a common sewer, still running.

Mos. "Tis good; and what his mouth?

Corv. A very draught.

Mos. O, stop it up

Corv. By no means.

let me.

Mos. Pray you
Faith I could stifle him rarely with a pillow,
As well as any woman that should keep him.
Corv. Do as you will, but I'll begone.
Mos. Be so;

It is your presence makes him last so long.
Corv. I pray you use no violence.
Mos. No, sir; why?

Why should you be thus scrupulous? Pray you, sir.
Corv. Nay, at your discretion.

Mos. Well, good sir, be gone.

Corv. I will not trouble him now to take my pearl.

Mos. Puh, nor your diamond. What a needless care
Is this afflicts you? Is not all here yours?

Am not I here, whom you have made your creature,
That owe my being to you?

Corv. Grateful Mosca!

Thou art my friend, my fellow, my companion,
My partner, and shall share in all my fortunes.
Volp. My divine Mosca !

Thou hast to-day out gone thyself.

[Exit.

[Act i., Sc. 1.]

THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE: BEING THE SECOND OF FOUR PLAYS, OR MORAL REPRESENTATIONS, IN ONE. [PUBLISHED 1647: DATING PROBABLY FROM ABOUT 1608]. BY FRANCIS BEAUMONT [1584-1616]

Violanta, Daughter to a Nobleman of Milan, is with child by Gerrard, supposed to be of mean descent; an offence, which by the laws of Milan is made capital to both parties.

Viol. Why does my Gerrard grieve?
Ger. O my sweet mistress,

It is not life (which by our Milan law

My fact hath forfeited) makes me thus pensive;
That I would lose to save the little finger
Of this your noble burthen from least hurt,
Because your blood is in it. But since your love
Made poor incompatible me the parent

(Being we are not married) your dear blood Falls under the same cruel penalty:

And can heaven think fit ye die for me?

For Heaven's sake say I ravish'd you; I'll swear it,
To keep your life and repute unstain'd.

Viol. Ŏ Gerrard, thou art my life and faculties,
And if I lose thee, I'll not keep mine own;
The thought of whom sweetens all miseries.
Would'st have me murder thee beyond thy death?
Unjustly scandal thee with ravishment?

It was so far from rape, that heaven doth know,
If ever the first lovers, ere they fell,

Knew simply in the state of innocence,
Such was this act, this, that doth ask no blush.
Ger. Oh! but my rarest Violanta, when
My lord Randulpho, brother to your father,
Shall understand this, how will he exclaim,
That my poor aunt and me, which his free alms
Hath nurs'd, since Milan by the duke of Mantua,
Who now usurps it, was surpriz'd—that time
My father and my mother both were slain,
With my aunt's husband, as she says; their states
Despoil'd and seiz'd; 'tis past my memory,
But thus she told me: only thus I know,
Since I could understand, your honour'd uncle
Hath giv'n me all the liberal education
That his own son might look for, had he one ;
Now will he say, dost thou requite me thus ?
O the thought kills me.

Viol. Gentle, gentle Gerrard,

Be cheer'd, and hope the best. My mother, father,
And uncle, love me most indulgently,

Being the only branch of all their stocks:

But neither they, nor he thou would'st not grieve
With this unwelcome news, shall ever hear

Violanta's tongue reveal, much less accuse
Gerrard to be the father of his own.

I'll rather silent die, that thou may'st live

To see thy little offspring grow and thrive.

[Sc. 1.1]

Violanta is attended in Childbed by her mother Angelina.

Viol. Mother, I'd not offend you; might not Gerrard

Steal in and see me in the evening?

1[Darley's ed., 1840, vol. ii.]

Angel. Well,

Bid him do so.

Viol. Heaven's blessing on your heart.
Do ye not call child-bearing travel, mother?
Angel. Yes.

Viol. It well may be.

The bare-foot traveller

That's born a prince, and walks his pilgrimage,

Whose tender feet kiss the remorseless stones

Only, ne'er felt a travel like to it.

Alas, dear mother, you groan'd thus for me,

And yet how disobedient have I been!

Angel. Peace, Violanta: thou hast always been

Gentle and good.

Viol. Gerrard is better, mother:

O if you knew the implicit innocency

Dwells in his breast, you'd love him like your prayers.

I see no reason but my father might

Be told the truth, being pleas'd for Ferdinand

To wooe himself: and Gerrard ever was

His full comparative; my uncle loves him,
As he loves Ferdinand.

Angel. No, not for the world,

Since his intent is cross'd: lov'd Ferdinand

Thus ruin'd, and a child got out of wedlock,

His madness would pursue ye both to death.

Viol. As you please, mother. I am now, methinks, Even in the land of ease; I'll sleep.

Angel. Draw in

The bed nearer the fire: silken rest

Tie all thy cares up.1

[Sc. 4.]

Violanta describes how her Love for Gerrard began.

Viol. Gerrard's and my affection began

In infancy: my uncle brought him oft

In long coats hither.

The little boy would kiss me, being a child,
And say he lov'd me; give me all his toys,
Bracelets, rings, sweetmeats, all his rosy smiles:
I then would stand and stare upon his eyes,
Play with his locks, and swear I loved him too;

1 Violanta's prattle is so very pretty and so natural in her situation, that I could not resist giving it a place. Juno Lucina was never invoked with more elegance. Pope has been praised for giving dignity to a game of cards. It required at least as much address to ennoble a lying-in.

For sure methought he was a little Love,
He wooed so prettily in innocence,

That then he warm'd my fancy.

[Sc. 7.]

THE MAID'S TRAGEDY [PUBLISHED 1619: PRODUCED NOT LATER THAN 1611]. BY FRANCIS BEAUMONT AND JOHN FLETCHER [1579-1625]

Amintor, a noble Gentleman, promises Marriage to Aspatia, and forsakes her by the king's command to wed Evadne.The grief of Aspatia at being forsaken described.

This lady

Walks discontented, with her wat❜ry eyes
Bent on the earth: the unfrequented woods
Are her delight; and when she seeks a bank
Stuck full of flowers, she with a sigh will tell
Her servants what a pretty place it were
To bury lovers in; and make her maids
Pluck 'em, and strew her over like a corse.
She carries with her an infectious grief
That strikes all her beholders, she will sing
The mournfull'st things that ever ear hath1 heard.
And sigh, and sing again; and when the rest
Of our young ladies in their wanton blood,
Tell mirthful tales in course that fill the room
With laughter, she will with so sad a look
Bring forth a story of the silent death
Of some forsaken virgin, which her grief
Will put in such a phrase, that, ere she end,
She'll send them weeping one by one away.

[Act i., Sc. 1.2]

The marriage-night of Amintor and Evadne.
EVADNE. ASPATIA. DULA, and other Ladies.

Evad. Would thou couldst instill
Some of thy mirth into Aspatia.3

(To Dula.)

Asp. It were a timeless smile should prove my cheek;
It were a fitter hour for me to laugh,
When at the altar the religious priest
Were pacifying the offended powers

[Lamb gives "have".]

[Mermaid Series, ed. Strachey, 1887.] [Five lines omitted.]