---

Скачать книгу

---

thy wife,

      For with that name I never shall content thee.

      If sad, thou sayest the sullens trouble me;

      If well attired, thou tninks I will be gadding;

      If homely, I seem sluttish in thine eye.

      Thus am I still, and shall be while I die.

      Poor wench abused by thy misgovernment!

      ARDEN

      But is it for truth that neither thou nor he,

      Intendedst malice in your misdemeanor?

      ALICE

      The heavens can witness of our harmless thoughts.

      ARDEN

      Then pardon me, sweet Alice,

      And forgive this fault!

      Forget but this and never see the like.

      Impose me penance, and I will perform it,

      For in thy discontent I find a death,

      A death tormenting more than death itself.

      ALICE

      Nay, had’st thou loved me as thou dost pretend,

      Thou wouldst have marked the speeches of thy friend,

      Who going wounded from the place, he said

      His skin was pierced only through my device;

      And if sad sorrow taint thee for this fault,

      Thou would’st have followed him, and seen him dress’d

      And cried him mercy whom thou hast misdone:

      Ne’er shall my heart be eased till this be done.

      ARDEN

      Content thee, sweet Alice, thou shalt have thy will

      Whate’er it be, for that I injured thee,

      And wronged my friend, shame scourgeth my offence;

      Come thou thy self, and go along with with me,

      And be a mediator ‘twixt us two.

      FRANKLIN

      Why, master Arden! Know you what you do?

      Will you follow him that hath dishonored you?

      ALICE

      Why, canst thou prove I have been disloyal?

      FRANKLIN

      Why, Mosbie taunted your husband with the horn.

      ALICE

      Ay, after he had reviled him,

      by the injurious name of perjured beast:

      He knew no wrong could spite a jealous man

      More than the hateful naming of the horn.

      FRANKLIN

      Suppose ‘tis true, yet is it dangerous,

      To follow him whom he hath lately hurt.

      ALICE

      A fault confessed is more than half amends;

      But men of such ill spirit as yourself

      ARDEN

      I pray thee, gentle Franklin, hold thy peace:

      in killing a man?

      GREENE

      I think we shall never do it;

      Let us give it over.

      SHAKEBAG

      Hay, zounds! We’ll kill him,

      Though we be hanged at his door for our labor.

      WILL

      Thou knowest, Greene, that I have lived in

      London this twelve years,

      Where I have made some go upon wooden legs,

      For taking the wall on me;

      Divers with silver noses for saying

      ‘there goes Black WILL

      ‘

      2 have cracked as many blades,

      As thou hast done nuts.

      GREENE

      O monstrous lie!

      WILL

      Faith, in a manner I have.

      The bawdy houses have paid me tribute;

      There durst not a whore set up, unless she have agreed

      With me first for opening her shop windows.

      For a cross word of a tapster,

      I have pierced one barrel after another, with my dagger,

      And held him by the ears till all his beer hath run out.

      In thames street a brewer’s cart was like to have run

      Over me: I made no more ado, but went to the clerk

      And cut all the notches off his tallies

      And beat them about his head.

      I and my company have taken the constable from his watch,

      And carried him about the fields on a coltstaff.

      I have broken a sergeant’s head with his own mace,

      And bailed whom I list with my sword and buckler.

      All the temporary alehouses’ men would stand every morning,

      With a quart pot in his hand,

      Saying, ‘Will it please your worship drink?

      He that had not done so, had been sure to have had his

      Sign pulled down and his lattice borne away the next night.

      To conclude, what have I not done? Yet cannot do this;

      Doubtless he is preserved by miracle.

      (here enters Alice and MICHAEL

      GREENE

      Hence, Will, here comes mistress ARDEN

      ALICE

      Ah, gentle Michael, art thou sure they’re friends?

      MICHAEL

      Why, I saw them both when they both shook hands.

      And railed on Frankiin that was cause of all.

      No sooner came the surgeon in at doors,

      But my master took to his purse and gave him money.

      And, to conclude, sent me to bring you word

      That Mosbie, Franklin, Bradshaw, Adam Fowl,

      With divers of his neighbors and his friends,

      Will come and sup with you at our house this night.

      ALICE

      Ah, gentle Michael, run thou back again,

      And, when my husband walks into the fair,

      Bid Mosbie steal from him and come to me;

      And this night shall thou and Susan be made sure.

      MICHAEL

      I’ll go tell him.

      ALICE

      And as thou goest, tell john cook of our guests,

      And bid him lay it on, spare for no cost. (Exit MICHAEL

      WILL

      Nay, and there be such cheer, we will bid ourselves.

      Mistress

---

Скачать книгу