By wicked Dionyza. [Reads the inscription on MARINA'S Monument. She was of Tyrus, the king's daughter, Thetis, being proud, swallow'd some part o'the Therefore the earth, fearing to be o'erflow'd, Make raging battery upon shores of flint. SCENE V. Mitylene. A Street before the Brothel. Enter, from the Brothel, Two Gentlemen. 1 Gent. Did you ever hear the like? 2 Gent. No, nor never shall do in such a place as this, she being once gone. 1 Gent. But to have divinity preached there! did you ever dream of such a thing? 3 (and swears she'll never stint,)] She'll never cease. 2 Gent. No, no. Come, I am for no more bawdy-houses: Shall we go hear the vestals sing? 1 Gent. I'll do any thing now that is virtuous; but I am out of the road of rutting, for ever. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. The same. A Room in the Brothel. Enter PANDER, Bawd, and BOULT. Pand. Well, I had rather than twice the worth of her, she had ne'er come here. Bawd. Fye, fye upon her; she is able to freeze the god Priapus, and undo a whole generation. We must either get her ravished, or be rid of her. When she should do for clients her fitment, and do me the kindness of our profession, she has me her quirks, her reasons, her master-reasons, her prayers, her knees; that she would make a puritan of the devil, if he should cheapen a kiss of her. Boult. 'Faith, I must ravish her, or she'll disfurnish us of all our cavaliers, and make all our swearers priests. Pand. Now, the pox upon her green-sickness for me! Bawd. 'Faith, there's no way to be rid on't, but by the way to the pox. Here comes the lord Lysimachus, disguised. Boult. We should have both lord and lown, if the peevish baggage would but give way to customers. Enter LYSIMACHUS. Lys. How now? How a dozen of virginities? Bawd. Now, the gods to-bless your honour!4 Boult. I am glad to see your honour in good health. Lys. You may so; 'tis the better for you that your resorters stand upon sound legs. How now, wholesome iniquity? Have you that a man may deal withal, and defy the surgeon? Bawd. We have here one, sir, if she wouldbut there never came her like in Mitylene. Lys. If she'd do the deeds of darkness, thou would'st say. Bawd. Your honour knows what 'tis to say, well enough. Lys. Well; call forth, call forth. Boult. For flesh and blood, sir, white and red, you shall see a rose; and she were a rose indeed, if she had but Lys. What, pr'ythee? Boult. O, sir, I can be modest. Lys. That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no less than it gives a good report to a number to be chaste. Enter MARINA. Bawd. Here comes that which grows to the stalk;-never plucked yet, I can assure you. Is she not a fair creature? at sea. Lys. 'Faith, she would serve after a long voyage Well, there's for you;-leave us. Bawd. I beseech your honour, give me leave: a word, and I'll have done presently. Lys. I beseech you, do. 4 Now, the gods to-bless your honour !] This use of to in composition with verbs (as Mr. Tyrwhitt remarks) is very common in Gower and Chaucer. Bawd. First, I would have you note, this is an honourable man. [To MARINA, whom she takes aside. Mar. I desire to find him so, that I may worthily note him. Bawd. Next, he's the governor of this country, and a man whom I am bound to. Mar. If he govern the country, you are bound to him indeed; but how honourable he is in that, I know not. Bawd. 'Pray you, without any more virginal fencing, will you use him kindly? He will line your apron with gold. Mar. What he will do graciously, I will thank fully receive. Lys. Have you done? Bawd. My lord, she's not paced yet; you must take some pains to work her to your manage. Come, we will leave his honour and her together. [Exeunt Bawd, PANDER, and BOULT. Lys. Go thy ways.-Now, pretty one, how long have you been at this trade? Mar. What trade, sir? Lys. What I cannot name but I shall offend. Mar. I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it. Lys. How long have you been of this profession? Mar. Ever since I can remember. Lys. Did you go to it so young? Were you a gamester at five, or at seven ?5 Mar. Earlier too, sir, if now I be one. 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 Were you a gamester, &c.] A gamester was formerly used to signify a wanton. 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.° Mar. For me, That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune Hath plac'd me here within this loathsome stie, Where, since I came, diseases have been sold Dearer than physick,-O that the good gods Would set me free from this unhallow'd place, Though they did change me to the meanest bird That flies i'the purer air! Lys. I did not think Thou could'st have spoke so well; ne'er dream'd thou could'st. Had I brought hither a corrupted mind, Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for thee: Perséver still in that clear way thou And the gods strengthen thee! goest, 6 Some more;-be sage.] Lysimachus says this with a sneer.-Proceed with your fine moral discourse. |