Lys. Why, the house you dwell in proclaims you to be a creature of sale. MAR. Do you know this house to be a place of such resort, and will come into it? I hear say, you are of honourable parts, and are the governor of this place. Lys. Why, hath your principal made known unto you who I am? MAR. Who is my principal? Lys. Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seeds and roots of shame and iniquity. O, you have heard something of my power, and so stand aloof for more serious wooing. But I protest to thee, pretty one, my authority shall not see thee, or else, look friendly upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place. Come, come. MAR. If you were born to honour, show it now; If put upon you, make the judgment good That thought you worthy of it. Lys. How's this? how 's this ?-Some more ;-be sage. Fortune hath plac'd me in this loathsome sty, Thou couldst have spoke so well; ne'er dream'd thou couldst. Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here 's gold for thee: And the gods strengthen thee! MAR. The good gods preserve you! For me, be you thoughten That I came with no ill intent; for to me The very doors and windows savour vilely. And I doubt not but thy training hath been noble. A curse upon him, die he like a thief, That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou hear'st from me It shall be for thy good. [As LYSIMACHUS is putting up his purse, BOULT enters. BOULT. I beseech your honour, one piece for me. Lys. Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper! Your house, but for this virgin that doth prop it, [Earit. BOULT. How's this? We must take another course with you. If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope, shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways. MAR. Whither would you have me? BOULT. I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. Come your way. We'll have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say. Re-enter Bawd. BAWD. How now! what's the matter? BOULT. Worse and worse, mistress; she has here spoken holy words to the lord Lysimachus. BAWD. O abominable ! BOULT. She makes our profession as it were to stink afore the face of the gods. BAWD. Marry, hang her up for ever! BOULT. The nobleman would have dealt with her like a nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a snow-ball; saying his prayers too. BAWD. Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure: crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable. BOULT. An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she is, she shall be ploughed. MAR. Hark, hark, ye gods! She 's BAWD. She conjures: away with her. Would she had never come within my doors! Marry hang you! born to undo us. Will you not go the way of womankind? Marry come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays! [Exit Bawd. BOULT. Come, mistress; come your way with me. MAR. Whither would you have me? BOULT. To take from you the jewel you hold so dear. BOULT. Come now, your one thing? MAR. What canst thou wish thine enemy to be? BOULT. Why, I could wish him to be my master, or, ra ther, my mistress. MAR. Neither of these are yet so bad as thou art, Since they do better thee in their command. Thou hold'st a place, for which the pained'st fiend Thou art the damn'd door-keeper to every coyst'rel To the choleric fisting of every rogue thy ear As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs. BOULT. What would you have me do? go to the wars, would you? where a man may serve seven years for the loss of a leg, and have not money enough in the end to buy him a wooden one? MAR. Do anything but this thou doest. Empty I doubt not but this populous city will BOULT. But can you teach all this you speak of? That doth frequent your house. BOULT. Well, I will see what I can do for thee: if I car place thee, I will. MAR. But amongst honest women? BOULT. 'Faith, my acquaintance lies little amongst them. But since my master and mistress have bought you, there's no going but by their consent: therefore I will make them acquainted with your purpose, and I doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough. Come, I'll do for thee what I can; come your ways. [Exeunt. ACT V. Enter GOWER. Gow. Marina thus the brothel scapes, and chances Into an honest house, our story says. She sings like one immortal, and she dances As goddess-like to her admired lays : Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her neeld composes His banners sable, trimm'd with rich expense; [Exit. SCENE I.-On board PERICLES' ship off Mitylene. A close Pavilion on deck, with a Curtain before it; PERICLES within it, reclined on a couch. A barge lying beside the Tyrian vessel. Enter two Sailors, one belonging to the Tyrian vessel, the other to the barge; to them HELICANUS. TYR. SAIL. Where is the lord Helicanus? He can resolve you. [To the Sailor of Mitylene.] O, here he is. Sir, there is a barge put off from Mitylene, and in it is Lysimachus the governor, who craves to come aboard. What is your will? HEL. That he have his. Call up some gentlemen. Enter two Gentlemen. 1 GENT. Doth your lordship call? HEL. Gentlemen, there is some one of worth would come aboard; I pray, greet him fairly. [The Gentlemen and the two Sailors descend, and go on board the barge. Enter from thence LYSIMACHUS, attended; the Tyrian Gentlemen, and the two Sailors. TYR. SAIL. Sir, this is the man that can, in aught you would, resolve you. Lys. Hail, reverend sir! The gods preserve you! HEL. And you, sir, to outlive the age I am, And die as I would do. Lys. You wish me well. Being on shore, honouring of Neptune's triumphs, I made to it, to know of whence you are. HEL. First, what is your place? Lys. I am the governor of this place you lie before. A man, who for this three months hath not spoken But to prorogue his grief. |