(As 'twill be no small labour) thy hopes are I know, there is a labour'd match now follow'd, Now at this time, for which he was sent for home too: [ters, Be not abus'd; Nantolet has two fair daughAnd he must take his choice. Ori. Let him take freely: For all this I despair not; my mind tells me That I, and only I, must make him perfect; And in that hope I rest. De Ga. Since you're so confident, Prosper your hope! I'll be no adversary! Keep yourself fair and right, he shall not As if a cup of full wine leap'd to kiss me; Pinac. They're ill built! Mir. There's nothing good or handsome bred amongst us: Till we are travell'd, and live abroad, we're coxcombs. You talk of France; a slight unseason'd country, [blockheads! Abundance of gross food, which makes us We're fair set out indeed, and so are forehorses: [us! Men say, we are great courtiers; men abuse We are wise, and valiant too; non credo, signior! [rots; Our women the best linguists; they are parO'this side the Alps they're nothing but mere drolleries 4. Ha! Roma la Santa, Italy for my money! Their policies, their customs, their frugalities, Their courtesies so open, yet so reserv'd too, As, when you think you're known best, you're a stranger 5; [we do, Their very pick-teeth speak more man than And season of more salt! Pinac. Tis a brave country; [pies, Not pester'd with your stubborn precise pupThat turn all useful and allow'd contentments To scabs and scruples: Hang 'em, caponworshippers! Bel. I like that freedom well, and like their women too, [bashfal, And would fain do as others do; but I'm so So naturally an ass-Look ye, I can look upon And very willingly I go to see 'em, ['em, (There's no man willinger) and I can kiss 'em, And make a shift Mir. But if they chance to flout you, Yet, where I fasten well, I am a tyrant. - Bel. Yes, certainly, I dare fight, And fight with any man at any weapon; 'Would, the other were no more! but a pox on't, When I am sometimes in my height of hope, And reasonable valiant that way, my heart harden'd, Some scornful jest or other chops between me And my desire: What would you have me to do then, gentlemon? Mir. Belleur, you must be bolder: Travel And bring home such a baby to betray you [ment; And of Pinac: No doubt you'll find employLadies will look for courtship. Pinac. 'Tis but fleshing, But standing one good brunt or two. Hast thou any mind to marriage? We'll provide thee some soft-natur'd wench, that's dumb too. Mir. Or an old woman that cannot refuse thee in charity. Bel. A dumb woman, or an old woman, that were eager, 4 Mere drolleries.] This countenances, and perhaps confirms, our conjectural reading of drolleries for dralleries in the Tragedy of Valentinian. It is there as well as here applied towomen: Dralieries too is, as far as we can discover, absolute nonsense; and the corruption is easy. If the reader has any curiosity to refer to the passage in question, he will find it in p. 43. 5 You're known best.] i. e, are most acquainted with them. And car'd not for discourse, I were excellent at. Mir. You must now put on boldness (there's no avoiding it) And stand all hazards, fly at all games bravely; They'll say, you went out like an ox, and returu'd like an ass else. Bel. I shall make danger sure. Mir. I am sent for none now, [pardon me: I know it is to marry; but my father shall Altho' it be a weighty ceremony", And may concern me hereafter in my gravity, [eyes? Shall I make divers suits to shew to the same 'Tis dull and home-spun! study several plea[first! And want employments for 'em? I'll be hang'd Tie me to one smock ? make my travels fruitless? sures, Beshrew my blood they're fair ones! Welcome, beauties, Welcome, sweet birds! tesies. Nant. They're bound much to your cour [ed. La Ca. I hope we shall be nearer acquaintNant. That's my hope too; For, certain, sir, I much desire your alliance. You see 'em; they're no gypsies; for their breeding, It has not been so coarse, but they are able To rank themselves with women of fair fashion. Indeed, they have been trained well”. Nant. Fit for the heirs of that state I shall [son, To say more, is to sell 'em. They say, your Now he has traveli'd, must be wondrous curious, And choice in what he takes; these are no coarse ones. Sir, here's a merry wench-let him look to himself; All heart, i' faith!—may chance to startle him; Else I would tell you, sir, she is a mistress Yet she can dance, and has studied the court elements, And sings, as some say, handsomely; if a A witty ceremony.] Where the wit of the matrimonial ceremony lies, will, I believe, puzzle, at this time of the day, any of our wits to discover. Mr. Seward saw with me that the true reading ought to be, a weight ceremony.' Sympson. The old reading, however, is not entirely indefensible: Wit and wisdom, as the late learned Editor of Evelyn's Silva observes, were, at the time when his Author wrote, and long before, synonymous terms, of which he gives the following instance: then might I by councell help my trouth, which by mine own witt I am not able againste such a prepared thynge.' Sir Thomas Wyatt's Defence, No. ii. Walpole's Miscell. Ant. 22. Mr. Evelyn's words are, Rather, therefore, we should take notice how many great wits and ingenious persons, who have leisure, and faculty, are in pain for improvements of their heaths and barren hills, &c.' Other examples might be produced. R. 7 A kind of bæboes to be married.] As this is a word I do not remember any where to be found, I have altered it, with Mr. Seward and Mr. Theobald, into one, which, as it is congruous to the sense of the place, might very probably have been the original. bilboes to be married.' Sympson. 8 To rank themselves with women of fuir fushion; Indeed, they have been trained well.] Nantolet had expressed himself modestly and genteelly of his daughters' education, in the former part of his speech, and the last line will be equally proper and genteel when given to La Castre, to whom it seems therefore evidently to belong. Seward. We think the old reading best. Yes, they are handsome women, they have handsome parts too, Pretty becoming parts. La Ca. Tis like they have, sir. Lug. Yes, yes, and handsome education Had it abundantly; they need not blush at it: La Cu. You say well, sir. Lug. I know what I say, sir, and I say but I am no trumpet of their commendations A man well bred and learn'd, but blunt and Lug. I have put it to 'em, that's my part, It seems, they are of years now to take hold Nant. He's wondrous blunt. La Ca. By my faith I was afraid of him: Does he not fall out with the gentlewomen sometimes? Naut. No, no; he's that way moderate and discrete, sir. [him. Ros. If he did, we should be too hard for Too hard for thy husband's head, if he wear not armour. Enter Mirabell, Pinac, Belleur, De Gard, and Oriana. Nant. Many of these bick'rings, sir. La Ca. I'm glad, they are no oracles! I know thou art a pretty wench; I know thou Thou seest, I have much to do now. And these fair ladies. Nant. Monsieur Mirabell, I am much affected with your fair return, sir; Mir. I bring you service, Nant. Welcome home, gentlemen! Bel. Pinac. We thank you, sir. [too. La Ca. Your friends will have their share [gers. They'll look upon us, tho' we shew like stranNant. Monsieur De Gard, I must salute you also, And this fair gentlewoman: You're welcome from your travel too! All welcome, all! De Ga. We render you our loves, sir, The best wealth we bring home. By your favours, beauties! One of these two": You know my meaning. [fess it; They're fair and handsome, I must needs conAnd, let it prove the worst, I shall live after it: 9 I have put it to 'em, that's my part, I have urg'd it, It seems, they are of years now to take hold on't. He's wondrous blunt.] A small degree of attention will shew us that the two first lines can properly belong to no one but Lugier. Sympson. 10 The best wealth, &c.] Mr. Sympson has made a strange piece of work here; he puts no part of this line into the text of his edition, and yet has quoted the latter part of it in the following note. "One of these two: You know my meaning, &c.] This De Gard speaks aside to his sister, as the text stands at present, and seemingly her answer that follows fixes it here; but what is there left then to introduce and make way for Mirabell's To marry, sir?' To remove all difficulties, it would perhaps be the best to make the whole run thus; by your favours, beauties. La Ca. One of these two: You know my meaning. [Aside to Mir. Oriana.' Well Mira. Aside to herself. They are fair and handsome, I must needs confess it; And let it prove the worst, I shall live after it; And worthy to be buried with my heels upward. To marry, sir?' Sympson. During the dialogue in the text, La Castre has been talking apart to Mirabell, and it is their supposed conversation which is to introduce and make way for Mirabell's To marry, sir?' We do not see how Sympson's arrangement removes the difficulty he has created. Whilst I have meat and drink, love cannot starve ine; For, if I die o' th' first fit, I'm unhappy, La Ca. You know, I am an old man, In you lies all my hope, and all my name, The making good or wretched of my memory, The safety of my state. Mir. And you've provided, Out of this tenderness, these handsome gentlewomen, Tof? Daughters to this rich man, to take my choice La Ca. I have, dear son. Mir. 'Tis true, you're old, and feebled; 'Would you were young again, and in full vigour! I love a bounteous father's life, a long one; I'm none of those, that, when they shoot to [grew on; ripeness, Do what they can to break the boughs they La Ca. You'll render me your reasons? You would have me marry a maid? La Ca. A maid? what else? Mir. Yes, there be things called widows, dead men's wills, I never lov'd to prove those; nor never long'd yet [monument. To be buried alive in another man's cold Only the world, to cozen misty eyes, [fortune; If he have neither fear before his eyes, nor And let him take heed how he gather these too; [lons, For look you, father, they are just like meMusk-melons are the emblems of these maids; Now they are ripe, now cut 'em they taste pleasantly, And are a dainty fruit, digested easily; Neglect this present time, and come tomorrow, They are so ripe, they're rotten-gone 12 ! their sweetness Run into humour, and their taste to surfeit! 12 They are rotten gone.] Probably, We think rotten gone 'better than They are so ripe, La Ca. Why, these are now ripe, son. Mir. I'll try them presently, And, if I like their taste tain it. La Ca. 'Pray you please yourself, sir. Mir. That liberty is my due, and I'll main[now? Lady, what think you of a handsome/man Ros. A wholesome too, sir? Mir. That's as you make your bargain. A handsome, wholesome man then, and a kind man, To cheer your heart up, to rejoice you, lady? Close as a cockle? keep the cold nights from you? [ask it. Ros. That will be look'd for too; our bodies Mir. And get two boys at every birth? Ros. That's nothing; I've known a cobler do it, a poor thin cobler, A cobler out of mouldy cheese perform it, Cabbage, and coarse black bread; methinks, a gentleman Should take foul scorn to have an awl outname him. Two at a birth? Why, every house-dove has it: [too, That man that feeds well, promises as well I should expect indeed something of worth You talk of two? [from, Mir. She would have me get two dozen, Like buttons, at a birth. Ros. You love to brag, sir; If you proclaim these offers at your marriage, (You are a pretty-timber'd man; take heed!) They may be taken hold of, and expected, Yes, if not hop'd for at a higher rate too. Mir. I will take heed, and thank you for your counsel.- Father, what think you? La Ca. 'Tis a merry gentlewoman; Will make, no doubt, a good wife. Mir. Not for me: I marry her, and, happily, get nothing; In what a state am I then, father? I shall suffer, For any thing I hear to th' contrary, more majorum; I were as sure to be a cuckold, father, La Ca. Away, away, fool! Mir. As I am sure to fail her expectation. I had rather get the pox than get her babies! La Ca. You're much to blame! If this do not affect you, 'Pray try the other; she's of a more demure way. [thus! Bel. That I had but the audacity to talk I love that plain-spoken gentlewoman adinirably; And, certain, I could go as near to please her, rotten grown.' Sympson. rotten grown ;' but a stop renders it still better: they are rotten-gone ! &c. I never own'd an anger to lose poorly. For all your set austerity, to hear Lil. You say true, sir; [years, For, by my troth, I've heard of none these ten They are so rare; and there are so many, sir, So many longing women on their knees too, That pray the dropping-down of these good husbands The dropping-down from Heav'n; for they're not bred here That you may guess at all my hope, but hearing Mir. Why may not I be one? Lil. You were near 'em ouce, sir, When ye came o'er the Alps; those are pear Heaven; But since you miss'd that happiness, there is no hope of you. Mir. Can ye love a man? Lil. Yes, if the man be lovely; That is, be honest, modest. I would have him valiant, His anger slow, but certain for his honour; For 'tis fairer to know manners well than wanderer, Of one finds no retreat for fair behaviour, Would you learn more? Mir. Yes. Lil. Learn to hold your peace then : Fond girls are got with tongues, women with tempers. Mir. Women, with I know what; but let that vanish: [band Go thy way, good wife Bias! Sure, thy husMust have a strong philosopher's stone, he will ne'er please thee else. Here's a starcht piece of austerity! Do you hear, father? Do you hear this moral lecture? Mir. Why, there's your judgment now; This thing must have the strangest observation, (Do you mark me, father?) when she is mar ried once, The strangest custom too of admiration On all she does and speaks, 'twill be past sufferance; I must not lie with her in common language, Nor cry, Have at thee, Kate!' I shall be hiss'd then; Nor eat my meat without the sauce of sen tences, [diet! Your powder'd beef and problems, a rare My first son monsieur Aristotle, I know it, Great master of the metaphysicks, or so; The second, Solon, and the best law-setter; And I must look Egyptian god-fathers, Which will be no small trouble: My eldest daughter Sappho, or such a fidling kind of poetess, And brought up, invitá Minervá, at her needle; My dogs must look their names too, and all Spartan, Lelaps, Melampus! no more Fox and Baudiface. I married to a sullen set of sentences? To one that weighs her words and her beha viours In the gold weights of discretion? I'll be hang'd first. La Ca. Prithee reclaim thyself. Mir. 'Pray ye, give me time then : If they can set me any thing to play at, That seems fit for a gamester, have at the fairest ! "Till then see more, and try more 13! La Ca. Take your time then; I'll bar you no fair liberty. Come, gentlemen; And, ladies, come; to all, once more a welcome! And now let's in to supper. Mir. How dost like 'em? [Exit. 13 'Till I see more, and try more.] The sense here seems to indicate a slight corruption; which, however, makes a material difference: We would read, 'Pray ye, give me time then : If they can set me any thing to play at, That seems fit for a gainester, have at the fairest! *Till then see more, and try more! La Ca. Take your time then.' |