 | The Deuils Law-case. Or, When Women goe to Law, the Deuill is full of Businesse |  |
Actvs Tertivs
Scena Prima.
Enter Ariosto, Crispiano.Ariost.
Well sir, now, I must claime your promise,
To reueale to me the cause why you liue thus clouded.
Crisp.
Sir, the King of Spaine
Suspects, that your Romelio here, the Merchant
Has discouer'd some Gold-myne to his owne vse,
In the West Indies, and for that employes me,
To discouer in what part of Christendome
He vents this Treasure: Besides, he is informed
What mad tricks has bin plaid of late by Ladies.
Ari.
Most true, and I am glad the King has heard on't:
Why they vse their Lords, as if they were their Wards;
And as your Dutchwomen in the Low-Countries,
Take all and pay all, and doe keepe their Husbands
So silly all their liues of their owne estates,
That when they are sicke, and come to make their Will,
They know not precisely what to giue away
From their wiues, because they know not what they are worth:
So heare should I repeat what factions,
What Bat-fowling for Offices,
As you must conceiue their Game is all i'th night,
What calling in question one anothers honesties
Withall what sway they beare i'th Viceroyes Court,
You'd wonder at it:
Twill doe well shortly, can we keepe them off
From being of our Councell of Warre.
Crisp.
Well, I haue vowed,
That I will neuer sit vpon the Bench more,
Vnlesse it be to curbe the insolencies
Of these women.
Ario.
Well, take it on my word then,
Your place will not long be emptie.
Exeunt.
Enter Romelio in the habit of a Iew.
Rom.
Excellently well habited, why me thinks,
That I could play with mine owne shaddow now,
To haue as many seuerall change of faces,
As I haue seene caru'd vpon on Cherry stone;
To winde about a man like rotten Iuie,
Eate into him like Quicksiluer, poyson a friend
with pulling but a loose haire frō's beard, or giue a drēch,
He should linger of't nine yeares, and nere complaine,
But in the Spring and Fall, and so the cause
Imputed to the disease naturall, for sleight villanies,
As to coyne money, corrupt Ladies Honours,
Betray a Towne to' th Turke, or make a Bonefire
A'th Christian Nauy, I could settle too 't,
As if I had eate a Politician,
And disgested him to nothing but pure blood.
But stay, I loose my selfe, this is the house.
Within there.
Enter two Surgeons.
1. Sur.
Now sir.
Rom.
You are the men of Art, that as I heare,
Haue the Lord Contarino vnder cure.
2. Sur.
Yes sir, we are his Surgeons,
But he is past all Cure.
Rom.
Why, is he dead?
1. Sur.
He is speechlesse sir, and we doe find his wound
So fester'd neere the vitals, all our Art
By warme drinks, cannot cleare th'impostumation,
And hee's so weake, to make,
By the Orifix were present death to him.
Rom.
He has made a Will I heare.
1. Sur.
Yes sir.
Rom.
And deputed Iolenta his heyre.
2. Sur.
He has, we are witnesse too't.
Rom.
Has not Romelio been with you yet,
To giue you thanks, and ample recompence
For the paines you haue tane.
1. Sur.
Not yet.
Rom.
Listen to me Gentlemen, for I protest,
If you will seriously mind your owne good,
I am come about a businesse shall conuey
Large legacies from Contarino's Will
To both of you.
How sir?
Why Rom. has the wil, & in that he has giuen vs nothing.
Rom.
I play attend me: I am a Phisician.
2. Sur.
A Phisician? where doe you practise?
Rom.
In Rome.
1. Sur.
O then you haue store of Patients.
Rom.
Store? why looke you, I can kill my 20. a month
And worke but i'th forenoones: you will giue me leaue
To iest and be merry with you; but as I said,
All my study has been Phisicke, I am sent
From a noble Roman that is neere a kinne
To Contarino, and that ought indeed,
By the Law of alliance, be his onely heyre,
To practise his good and yours.
Both.
How, I pray sir?
Rom.
I can by an Extraction which I haue,
Tho he were speechlesse, his eyes set in's head,
His pulses without motion, restore to him
For halfe an houres space, the vse of sense,
And perhaps a little speech: hauing done this,
If we can worke him, as no doubt we shall,
To make another Will, and there in assigne
This Gentleman his Heyre, I will assure you,
Fore I depart this house, ten thousand Duckets,
And then weele pull the pillow from his head,
And let him eene goe whither the Religion sends him
That he died in.
1. Sur.
Will you giue's ten thousand Duckets?
Rom.
Vpon my Iewisme.
Contarino in a bed.
2. Sur.
Tis a bargaine sir, we are yours:
Here is the Subiect you must worke on.
Rom.
Well said, you are honest men,
And goe to the businesse roundly: but Gentlemen,
I must vse my Art singly.
1 Sur.
Oh sir, you shall haue all priuacy,
Rom.
And the doores lockt to me.
2. Sur.
At your best pleasure.
Yet for all this, I will not trust this Iew.
Faith, to say truth,
I doe not like him neither, he looks like a rogue
This is a fine toy fetch a man to life,
To make a new Will, there's some tricke in't.
Ile be neere you Iew.
Exeunt Surgeons.
Rom.
Excellent as I would wish: these credulous fooles
Haue giuen me freely what I would haue bought
With a great deale of money.—Softly, her's breath yet;
Now Ercole, for part of the Reuenge,
Which I haue vow'd for thy vntimely death:
Besides, this politique working of my owne,
That scornes President, why should this great man liue,
And not enioy my sister, as I haue vowed
He neuer shall? Oh, he may alters will
Euery New Moone if he please; to preuent which,
I must put in a strong Caueat. Come forth then
My desperate Steeletto, that may be worne
In a womans haire, and nere discouer'd,
And either would be taken for a Bodkin,
Or a curling yron at most; why tis an engine,
That's onely fit to put in execution Barmotho Pigs,
A most vnmanly weapon,
That steales into a mans life he knowes not how:
O great Cæsar, he that past the shocke
Of so many armed Pikes, and poyson'd Darts,
Swords, Slings, and Battleaxes, should at length
Sitting at ease on a cushion, come to dye
By such a Shoo makers aule as this, his soule let forth
At a hole, no bigger then the incision
Made for a wheales vds foot, I am horribly angry,
That he should dye so scuruily: yet wherefore
Doe I condemne thee thereof so cruelly?
Yet shake him by the hand, tis to expresse,
That I would neuer haue such weapons vsed,
But in a plot like this, that's treacherous:
Yet this shall prooue most mercifull to thee,
For it shall preserue thee
From dying on a publique Scaffold, and withall
Stabs him.
So, tis done: and now for my escape.
Enter Surgeons.
1. Sur.
You Rogue Mountebanke,
I will try whether your inwards can indure
To be washt in scalding lead.
Rom.
Hold, I turne Christian.
2. Sur.
Nay prethee bee a Iew still;
I would not haue a Christian be guiltie
Of such a villanous act as this is.
Rom.
I am Romelio the Marchant.
1 Sur.
Romelio! you haue prooued your selfe
A cunning Marchant indeed.
Rom.
You may reade why I came hither.
2 Sur.
Yes, in a bloudy Roman Letter.
Rom.
I did hate this man, each minute of his breath
Was torture to me.
1 Sur.
Had you forborne this act, he had not liu'd
This two houres.
Rom.
But he had died then,
And my reuenge vnsatisfied: here's gold;
Neuer did wealthy man purchase the silence
Of a terrible scolding wife at a dearer rate,
Then I will pay for yours: here's your earnest
In a bag of double Duckets.
2. Sur.
Why looke you sir, as I do weigh this busines,
This cannot be counted murder in you by no meanes.
Why tis no more, then should I goe and choke
An Irish man, that were three quarters drownd,
With powring Vsquebath in's throat.
Ro.
You will be secret.
1. Su.
As your soule.
Rom.
The west Indies shall sooner want gold, then you then.
2. Su.
That protestation has the musick of the Mint in't.
Ro.
How vnfortunatly was I surpriz'd, I haue made my
selfe a slaue perpetually to these two beggars.
Exit.
1. Su.
Excellent; by this act he has made his estate ours.
2. Su.
Ile presently grow a lazy Surgeon, & ride on my
foot-cloth; Ile fetch from him euery eight dayes a policy
for a hundred double Duckets; if hee grumble, Ile peach.
But let's take heed he doe not poyson vs.
2 Sur.
Oh, I will neuer eate nor drinke with him,
Without Vnicornes Horne in a hollow rooth.
Cont.
Oh.
1. Sur.
Did he not groane?
2. Sur.
Is the wind in that doore still?
1. Sur.
Ha! come hither, note a strange accident:
His Steele has lighted in the former wound,
And made free passage for the congealed blood;
Obserue in what abundance it deliuers the putrifaction.
2. Sur.
Me thinks he fetches his breath very liuely.
1. Sur.
The hand of heauen is in't,
That his entent to kill him should become
The very direct way to saue his life.
2 Sur.
Why this is like one I haue heard of in England,
Was cured a'th Gowt, by being rackt i'th Tower.
Well, if we can recouer him, here's reward
On both sides: howsoeuer we must be secret.
1 Sur.
We are tyde too't,
When we cure Gentlemen of foule diseases,
They giue vs so much for the cure, and twice as much,
That we doe not blab on't. Come lets to worke roundly,
Heat the Lotion, and bring the Searing.
Exeunt.
A Table set forth with two Tapers, a Deaths head, a Booke, Iolenta in mourning, Romelio sits by her.
Rom.
Why do you grieue thus? take a Looking-glasse,
And see if this sorrow become you; that pale face
Will make men thinke you vsde some Art before,
Some odious painting: Contarino's dead.
Iol.
Oh that he should dye so soone.
Rom.
Why, I pray tell me,
Is not the shortest feuer the best? and are not bad Playes
The worse for their length?
Iolen.
Adde not to'th ill y'aue done
An odious slander; he stuck i'th eyes a'th Court,
As the most choyce iewell there.
Rom.
Oh be not angry;
Indeed the Court to well composed nature
As a bright Christall Mirrour to the world,
To dresse it selfe; but I must tell you sister,
If th'excellency of the place could haue wroght saluation,
The Deuill had nere falne from heauen; he was proud,
Leaue vs, leaue vs?
Come, take your seat agen, I haue a plot,
If you will listen to it seriously,
That goes beyond example, it shall breed
Out of the death of these two Noble men,
The aduancement of our House.
Iol.
Oh take heed, a graue is a rotten foundation.
Rom.
Nay, nay, heare me.
Tis somewhat indirectly, I confesse:
But there is much aduauncement in the world,
That comes in indirectly. I pray mind me:
You are already made by absolute Will,
Contarino's heyre: now, if it can be prooued,
That you haue issue by Lord Ercole,
I will make you inherite his Land too.
Iol.
How's this? issue by him, he dead, and I a Virgin!
Rom.
I know you would wonder how it could be done,
But I haue layd the case so radically,
Not all the Lawyers in Christendome,
Shall finde any the least flaw in't: I haue a Mistris
Of the Order of Saint Clare, a beautious Nun,
Who being cloystred ere she knew the heat,
Her blood would arriue to, had onely time enough
To repent, and idlenesse sufficient
To fall in loue with mee; and to be short,
I haue so much disordered the holy Order,
I haue got this Nun with child.
Jol.
Excellent worke made for a dumbe Mid-wife.
Rom.
I am glad you grow thus pleasant.
Now will I haue you presently giue out,
That you are full two moneths quickned with child
By Ercole, which rumour can beget
No scandall to you, since we will affirme,
By the same words vsde in the forme of mariage,
That with a little Dispensation,
A money matter, it shall be registred
Absolute Matrimony.
Iol.
So then I conceaue you,
My conceaued child must proue your Bastard.
Rom.
Right: for at such time
My Mistris fals in labour, you must faine the like.
Iol.
Tis a pretty feat this, but I am not capable of it.
Rom.
Not capable?
Jol.
No for the thing you would haue me counterfet,
Is most essentially put in practise: nay, tis done,
I am with child already.
Rom.
Ha by whom?
Iol.
By Contarino, doe not knit the brow,
The Precontract shall iustifie it, it shall:
Nay, I will get some singular fine Churchman,
Or tho he be a plurall one, shall affirme,
He coupled vs together.
Rom.
Oh misfortune!
Your child must then be reputed Ercoles.
Iol.
Your hopes are dasht then, since your Votaries issue
Must not inherit the land.
Rom.
No matter for that,
So I preserue her fame. I am strangely puzled:
Why, suppose that she be brought abed before you,
And we conceale her issue till the time
Of your deliuery, and then giue out,
That you haue two at a birth, ha, wert not excellent?
Iol.
And what resemblance think you, would they haue
To one another? Twinnes are still alike:
But this is not your ayme, you would haue your child
Inherite Ercoles Land,—Oh my sad soule,
Haue you not made me yet wretched ynough,
But after all this frostie age in youth,
Which you haue witcht vpon me, you will seeke
To poyson my Fame.
Rom.
That's done already.
No sir, I did but faine it,
To a fatall purpose, as I thought.
Rom.
What purpose?
Iol.
If you had lou'd or tendred my deare honour,
You would haue lockt your ponyard in my heart,
When I nam'd I was with child; but I must liue
To linger out, till the consumption of my owne
Sorrow kill me.
Rom.
This will not doe; the Deuill has on the sudden
furnisht mee with a rare charme, yet a most vnnaturall
falshood: no matter so 'twill take.
But I am very loath: a thing indeed,
Nature would haue compassionately conceal'd,
Till my mothers eyes be closed.
Iol.
Pray what's that sir?
Rom.
You did obserue,
With what a deare regard our mother tendred
The Lord Contarino, yet how passionately
Shee sought to crosse the match: why this was meerely
To blind the eye o'th world; for she did know
That you would marry him, and he was capable
My mother doated vpon him, and it was plotted
Cunningly betweene them, after you were married,
Liuing all three together in one house,
A thing I cannot whisper without horrour:
Why, the malice scarse of Deuils would suggest,
Incontinence 'tweene them two.
Iol.
I remember since his hurt,
Shee has bene very passionately enquiring,
After his health.
Rom.
Vpon my soule, this Iewell,
With a piece of the holy Crosse in't, this relicke,
Vallewed at many thousand crownes, she would haue sent
him, lying vpon his death-bed.
Iol.
Professing as you say,
Loue to my mother: wherefore did he make
Me his heyre?
His Will was made afore he went to fight,
When he was first a Suitor to you.
Iol.
To fight: oh well remembred,
If he lou'd my mother, wherefore did he loose
His life in my quarrell?
Rom.
For the affront sake a word you vnderstand not,
Because Ercole was pretended Riuall to him,
To cleare your suspition; I was gulld in't too:
Should he not haue fought vpon't,
He had vndergone the censure of a Coward.
Iol.
How came you by this wretched knowledge?
Rom.
His Surgeon ouer-heard it,
As he did sigh it out to his Confessor,
Some halfe houre fore hee died.
Jol.
I would haue the Surgeon hang'd
For abusing Confession, and for making me
So wretched by'th report. Can this be truth?
Rom.
No, but direct falshood,
As euer was banisht the Court: did you euer heare
Of a mother that has kept her daughters husband
For her owne tooth? He fancied you in one kind,
For his lust, and he loued
Our mother in another kind, for her money,
The Gallants fashion right. But come, nere thinke on't,
Throw the fowle to the Deuill that hatcht it, and let this
Bury all ill that's in't, shee is our mother.
Iol.
I neuer did find any thing ith world,
Turne my blood so much as this: here's such a conflict,
Betweene apparant presumption, and vnbeleefe,
That I shall dye in't.
Oh, if there be another world i'th Moone,
As some fantasticks dreame, I could wish all men,
The whole race of them, for their inconstancy,
Sent thither to people that. Why, I protest,
I now affect the Lord Ercoles memory,
Better then the others.
Rom.
But were Contarino liuing.
Iol.
I doe call any thing to witnesse,
To strengthen an oath, were he liuing and in health,
I would neuer mary with him.
Nay, since I haue found the world
So false to me, Ile be as false to it;
I will mother this child for you.
Rom.
Ha?
Iol.
Most certainly it will beguile part of my sorrow.
Rom.
Oh most assuredly, make you smile to thinke,
How many times ith world Lordships descend
To diuers men, that might and truth were knowne
Be heyre, for any thing belongs to'th flesh,
As well to the Turkes richest Eunuch.
Iol.
But doe you not thinke
I shall haue a horrible strong breath now.
Rom.
Why?
Iol.
Oh, with keeping your counsel, tis so terrible foule,
Rom.
Come, come, come,
You must leaue these bitter flashes.
Iol.
Must I dissemble dishonestie? you haue diuers
Counterfeit honestie: but I hope here's none
Will take exceptions; I now must practise
The art of a great bellyed woman, and goe faine
Their qualmes and swoundings.
Rom.
Eat vnripe fruit, and Oatmeale, to take away your colour.
Iol.
Dine in my bed some two houres after noone.
Rom.
And when you are vp,
Make to your petticoat a quilted preface,
To aduance your belly.
Iol.
I haue a strange conceit now.
I haue knowen some women when they were with child,
Haue long'd to beat their Husbands: what if I,
To keepe decorum, exercise my longing
Vpon my Taylor that way, and noddle him soundly,
Heele make the larger Bill for't.
Rom.
Ile get one shall be as tractable too't as Stockfish.
Iol.
Oh my phantasticall sorrow,
Cannot I now be miserable enough,
Nay worse, for when our passions
Such giddy and vncertaine changes breed,
We are neuer well, till we are mad indeed.
Exit.
Rom.
So, nothing in the world could haue done this,
But to beget in her a strong distaste
Of the Lord Contarino: oh Ielousie,
How violent, especially in women,
How often has it raisd the deuil vp in forme of a law case!
My especiall care must be, to nourish craftily this fiend,
Tweene the mother and the daughter, that the deceit
Be not perceiued. My next taske, that my sister,
After this supposed child birth, be perswaded
To enter into Religion: tis concluded,
Shee must neuer marry; so I am left guardian
To her estate: and lastly, that my two Surgeons
Be waged to the East Indies: let them prate,
When they are beyond the Lyne; the Callenture,
Or the Scuruy, or the Indian Pox, I hope,
Will take order for their comming backe.
Enter Leon.
Oh heere's my mother: I ha strange newes for you,
My sister is with child.
Leo.
I doe looke now for some great misfortunes
To follow: for indeed mischiefes,
Are like the Visits of Franciscan Fryers,
They neuer come to pray vpon vs single.
In what estate left you Contarino?
Rom.
Strange, that you can skip
From the former sorrow to such a question!
Ile tell you, in the absence of his Surgeon,
My charitie did that for him in a trice,
They would haue done at leasure, and been paid for't.
I haue killed him.
Leon.
I am twentie yeares elder since you last opened
your lips.
Rom.
Ha?
Leon.
You haue giuen him the wound you speake of,
Quite thorow your mothers heart.
Rom.
I will heale it presently mother: for this sorrow
Because you thinke hee's father of the child;
But Iolenta vowes by all the rights of Truth,
Tis Ercole's: it makes me smile to thinke,
How cunningly my sister could be drawen
To the Contract, and yet how familiarly
To his bed. Doues neuer couple
Without a kind of murmur.
Leo.
Oh, I am very sicke.
Rom.
Your old disease, when you are grieu'd,
You are troubled with the Mother.
Leo.
I am rapt with the Mother indeed,
That I euer bore such a sonne.
Rom.
Pray tend my sister,
I am infinitely full of businesse.
Leo.
Stay, you will mourne for Contarino.
Ro.
Oh by all meanes, tis fit, my sister is his heire.
Exit.
Leo.
I will make you chiefe mourner, beleeue it.
Neuer was woe like mine: oh that my care,
And absolute study to preserue his life,
Should be his absolute ruine. Is he gone then?
There is no plague i'th world can be compared
To impossible desire, for they are plagued
In the desire it selfe: neuer, oh neuer
Shall I behold him liuing, in whose life
I liued farre sweetlier then in mine owne.
A precise curiositie has vndone me; why did I not
Make my loue knowne directly? t'had not been
Beyond example, for a Matron
To affect i'th honourable way of Marriage,
So youthfull a person: oh I shall runne mad,
For as we loue our youngest children best:
So the last fruit of our affection,
Where euer we bestow it, is most strong,
Most violent, most vnresistable,
Since tis indeed our latest Haruest-home,
Last merryment fore Winter; and we widdowes,
As men report, of our best Picture-makers,
We loue the piece we are in hand with better,
And my sonne has depriu'd me of all this. Ha my sonne,
Ile be a fury to him, like an Amazon Lady,
Ide cut off his right pap, that gaue him sucke,
To shoot him dead. Ile no more tender him,
Then had a Wolfe stolne to my tear i'th night,
And robb'd me of my milke: nay, such a creature
I should loue better farre.—Ha, ha, what say you?
I doe talke to somewhat, me thinks; it may be
My euill Genius. Doe not the Bells ring?
I haue a strange noyse in my head: oh, fly in pieces,
Come age, and wither me into the malice
Of those that haue been happy; let me haue
One propertie more then the Deuill of Hell,
Let me enuy the pleasure of youth heartily,
Let me in this life feare no kinde of ill,
That haue no good to hope for: let me dye
In the distraction of that worthy Princesse,
Who loathed food, and sleepe, and ceremony,
For thought of loosing that braue Gentleman,
She would faine haue saued, had not a false countenance.
Let me sinke, where neither man,
Nor memory may euer find me.
Falls downe.
Cap.
This is a priuate way which I command,
As her Confessor. I would not haue you seene yet,
Till I prepare her. Peace to you Lady.
Leo.
Ha?
Cap.
You are wel imployd, I hope; the best pillow i'th
World for this your contemplation, is the earth,
And the best obiect heauen.
Leo.
I am whispering to a dead friend.
Cap.
And I am come
To bring you tidings of a friend not dead,
Reserued to life againe.
Leo.
Say sir.
Cap.
One whom I dare presume, next to your children,
You tendred aboue life.
Leo.
Heauen will not suffer me vtterly to be lost.
Cap.
For hee should haue been
Your sonne in Law, miraculously saued,
Leon.
Oh, may you liue
To winne many soules to heauen, worthy sir,
That your crowne may be the greater. Why my sonne
made me beleeue he stole into his chamber,
And ended that which Ercole began
By a deadly stabb in's heart.
Erco.
Alas, shee mistakes,
Tis Contarino she wishes liuing; but I must fasten
On her last words, for my owne safetie.
Leo.
Where, oh where shall I meet this comfort?
Erco.
Here in the vowed comfort of your daughter.
Leo.
Oh I am dead agen, instead of the man, you present me the graue swallowed him.
Erco.
Collect your selfe, good Lady,
Would you behold braue Contarino liuing?
There cannot be a nobler Chronicle
Of his good then my selfe: if you would view him dead,
I will present him to you bleeding fresh,
In my penitency.
Leo.
Sir, you doe onely liue,
To redeeme another ill you haue committed,
That my poore innocent daughter perish not,
By your vild sinne, whom you haue got with child.
Erco.
Here begin all my compassion: oh poore soule!
Shee is with child by Contarino, and he dead,
By whom should she preserue her fame to 'th world,
But by my selfe that loued her boue the world?
There neuer was a way more honourable,
To exercise my vertue, then to father it,
And preserue her credit, and to marry her.
Ile suppose her Contarino's widdow, bequeath'd to me
Vpon his Death: for sure shee was his wife,
But that the Ceremony a'th Church was wanting.
Report this to her, Madam, and withall,
That neuer father did conceaue more ioy
For the birth of an heyre, then I to vnderstand,
Shee had such confidence in me. I will not now
Presse a Visit vpon her, till you haue prepar'd her:
Should I be brought a'th sudden to her presence,
Either the hastie fright, or else the shame
May blast the fruit within her. I will leaue you,
To commend as loyall faith and seruice to her,
As ere heart harbour'd; by my hope of blisse,
I neuer liu'd to doe good act but this.
Cap.
Withall and you be wise,
Remember what the mother has reueal'd
Of Romelio's treachery.
Exeunt Ercole, Capuchin.
Leon.
A most noble fellow in his loyaltie.
I read what worthy comforts I haue lost
In my deare Contarino, and all addes
To my dispayre.—Within there.
Enter Winifrid.
Fetch the picture hangs in my inner closet. I remember,
I let a word slip of Romelio's practise
Exit Win.
At the Surgeons: no matter I can salue it,
I haue deeper vengeance that's preparing for him,
To let him liue and kill him that's reuenge
I meditate vpon.
Enter Win and the Picture.
Leo.
So, hang it vp.
I was enioyned by the partie ought that picture,
Fortie yeares since, euer when I was vext,
To looke vpon that: what was his meaning in't,
I know not, but me thinkes vpon the sudden,
It has furnisht me with mischiefe such a plot,
As neuer mother dreamt of Here begines
My part i'th play: my sonnes estate is sunke,
By losse at sea and he has nothing left,
But the Land his father left him. Tis concluded,
The Law shall vndoe him. Come hither,
I haue a weightie secret to impart,
But I would haue thee first confirme to mee,
How I may trust, that thou canst keepe my counsell,
Beyond death.
Win.
Why Mistris, tis your onely way,
To enioyne me first that I reueale to you
The worst act I ere did in all my life:
Leo.
Thou instru'st me
Most ingenuously, for indeed it is not fit,
Where any act is plotted, that is nought,
Any of counsell to it should be good,
And in a thousand ils haue hapt i'th world,
The intelligence of one anothers shame,
Haue wrought farre more effectually then the tye
Of Conscience, or Religion.
Win.
But thinke not, Mistris,
That any sinne which euer I committed,
Did concerne you, for proouing false in one thing,
You were a foole, if euer you would trust me
In the least matter of weight.
Leo.
Thou hast liued with me
These fortie yeares; we haue growne old together,
As many Ladies and their women doe,
With talking nothing, and with doing lesse:
We haue spent our life in that which least concernes life,
Only in putting on our clothes; and now I thinke on't,
I haue been a very courtly Mistriss to thee,
I haue giuen thee good words, but no deeds, now's the time,
To requite all; my sonne has sixe Lordships left him.
Win.
Tis truth.
Leo.
But he cannot liue foure dayes to enioy them.
Win.
Haue you poysoned him?
Leo.
No, the poyson is yet but brewing.
Win.
You must minister it to him with all priuacie.
Leo.
Priuacie? It shall be giuen him
In open Court, Ile make him swallow it
Before the Iudges face: if he be Master
Of poore ten arpines of land fortie houres longer,
Let the world repute me an honest woman.
Win.
So 'twill I hope.
Leo.
Oh thou canst not conceiue
My vnimitable plot; let's to my ghostly Father,
Were first I will haue thee make a promise
To keepe my counsell, and then I will employ thee
Which will require to make the practise fit,
Foure Deuils, fiue Aduocates to a womans wit.
Exeunt.
Explicit Acts Tertij.
| The Deuils Law-case. Or, When Women goe to Law, the Deuill is full of Businesse | |