Locrine / Mucedorus | Page 6

work?thy bale. Ah, Strumbo, hast thou heard? not the voice?of the Nightingale, but a voice sweeter than hers. Yea,?with these ears hast thou heard it, and therefore cut them?off, for they have caused thy sorrow. Nay, Strumbo, kill?thy self, drown thy self, hang thy self, starve thy self. Oh, but then I shall leave my sweet heart. Oh my heart! Now,?pate, for thy master! I will dite an eloquent love-pistle to her, and then she hearing the grand verbosity of my?scripture, will love me presently.
[Let him write a little and then read.]
My pen is naught; gentlemen, lend me a knife. I think?the more haste the worst speed.
[Then write again, and after read.]
So it is, mistress Dorothy, and the sole essence of my?soul, that the little sparkles of affection kindled in me?towards your sweet self hath now increased to a great?flame, and will ere it be long consume my poor heart,?except you, with the pleasant water of your secret?fountain, quench the furious heat of the same. Alas, I?am a gentleman of good fame and name, majestical, in?parrel comely, in gate portly. Let not therefore your?gentle heart be so hard as to despise a proper tall, young?man of a handsome life, and by despising him, not only,?but also to kill him. Thus expecting time and tide, I bid?you farewell. Your servant, Signior Strumbo.
Oh wit! Oh pate! O memory! O hand! O ink! O paper!?Well, now I will send it away. Trompart, Trompart! what a?villain is this? Why, sirra, come when your master calls?you. Trompart!
[Trompart, entering, saith:]
TROMPART.?Anon, sir.
STRUMBO.?Thou knowest, my pretty boy, what a good mast I have been?to thee ever since I took thee into my service.
TROMPART.?Aye, sir.
STRUMBO.?And how I have cherished thee always, as if you had been?the fruit of my loins, flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone.
TROMPART.?Aye, sir.
STRUMBO.?Then show thy self herein a trusty servant, and carry this?letter to mistress Dorothy, and tell her--
[Speaking in his ear. Exit Trompart.]
Nay, masters, you shall see a marriage by and by. But here she comes. Now must I frame my amorous passions.
[Enter Dorothy and Trompart.]
DOROTHY.?Signior Strumbo, well met. I received your letters by your man here, who told me a pitiful story of your anguish, and?so understanding your passions were so great, I came?hither speedily.
STRUMBO.?Oh my sweet and pigsney, the fecundity of my ingenie is?not so great, that may declare unto you the sorrowful sobs?and broken sleeps, that I suffered for your sake; and?therefore I desire you to receive me into your familiarity.
For your love doth lie,?As near and as nigh?Unto my heart within,?As mine eye to my nose,?My leg unto my hose,?And my flesh unto my skin.
DOROTHY.?Truly, Master Strumbo, you speak too learnedly for me?to understand the drift of your mind, and therefore tell?your tale in plain terms, and leave off your dark riddles.
STRUMBO.?Alas, mistress Dorothy, this is my luck, that when I most?would, I cannot be understood; so that my great learning?is an inconvenience unto me. But to speak in plain terms,?I love you, mistress Dorothy, if you like to accept me into your familiarity.
DOROTHY.?If this be all, I am content.
STRUMBO.?Sayest thou so, sweet wench; let me lick thy toes. Farewell, mistress.
[Turning to the people.]
If any of you be in love, provide ye a capcase full of new?coined words, and then shall you soon have the succado?de labres, and something else.
[Exeunt.]
ACT I. SCENE 3. An apartment in the palace.
[Enter Locrine, Gwendoline, Camber, Albanact, Corineius,?Assarachus, Debon, Thrasimachus.]
LOCRINE.?Uncle, and princes of brave Britany,?Since that our noble father is entombed,?As best beseemed so brave a prince as he,?If so you please, this day my love and I,?Within the temple of Concordia,?Will solemnize our royal marriage.
THRASIMACHUS.?Right noble Lord, your subjects every one,?Must needs obey your highness at command;?Especially in such a cause as this,?That much concerns your highness great content.
LOCRINE.?Then frolic, lordings, to fair Concord's walls,?Where we will pass the day in knightly sports,?The night in dancing and in figured masks,?And offer to God Risus all our sports
[Exeunt.]
ACT II. PROLOGUE.
[Enter Ate as before. After a little lightning and?thundering, let there come forth this show:--Perseus?and Andromeda, hand in hand, and Cepheus also,?with swords and targets. Then let there come out of an?other door, Phineus, all black in armour, with Aethiopians?after him, driving in Perseus, and having taken away?Andromeda, let them depart, Ate remaining, saying:]
ATE.?Regit omnia numen.?When Perseus married fair Andromeda,?The only daughter of king Cepheus,?He thought he had established well his Crown,?And that his kingdom should for aie endure.?But, lo, proud Phineus with a band of men,?Contrived of sun-burnt Aethiopians,?By force of arms the bride he took from him,?And turned their joy into a flood of tears.?So fares it with young Locrine and his love,?He thinks this marriage tendeth to his weal;?But this foul day, this foul accursed day,?Is the beginning of his miseries.?Behold where Humber and his Scithians?Approacheth nigh with all his