University of Virginia Library

Scene II. Twilight. On the road to the Castle. Bridal Guests and Kinsmen passing.
Country Kinsman.
I say, good men should choose good wives.

Town Kinsman.
Good Cousin,
Were I about to choose a lackey, now,
I'd choose him, Coz, for his good looks: because
There's nothing you can absolutely know
About your lackey, but the looks of him,
Until you've hired him. But, were I to choose
A wife, I'd choose her for her fortune, Coz,
Because there's nothing else a man can know
About a maiden, till he has married her.
Our fair new Cousin . .

Country Kinsman.
With brown woodland eyes,
Shy as a forest creature freshly caught—
Zounds, Cousin! if Orval's not the lovingest spouse,
As she's the loveliest, the world has seen
Since Adam married Eve among the roses,
The devil take him!

A Priest.
Son, I have known this lady,
Since when she was the sweetest child, whom now
I know the sweetest woman, in Christendom;
Nor ever in the simple saintliness
Of her most innocent soul, have I known aught
To wish away.

Country Kinsman.
I am glad to hear it, Father;
For patience is the strength of Saints: and much
I fear that Orval's bride may need that virtue.
Young is he yet; and youth in him was ever
More full of whims and wanderings than the wind.

Old Kinsman.
Ay, our old House should have an older Head:
And more than ever in this swaggering age,
Whose starts and turns make sound experience seem
A stubborn ass. But this wild nephew of mine
Is wilder than a young unhooded hawk,
And cramm'd with crazy thoughts: the flatter'd fool
Of the new-fangled time's pernicious prate,
Which no saue man can sanction.

Young Kinsman.
Uncle, Uncle,
You wrong my cousin Orval! I and he
Were schoolmates. What the boy was, I believe
The man is yet. Rash, choleric, if you will,
But not less proud of his old name is he
Because more proud, justly more proud, dear Uncle,
Of his own power to add new value to it:
Nor yet unmanly vain of gifts the gods
Give no man that is ignorant of their worth:
To him all noble names are trumpet notes
Sounding his spirit to arms: and his full mind
Is stored with every kind of generous fuel
That's quick to kindle to whatever spark
Time, as he passes, from his torch shakes out.

Old Kinsman.
Green wood! green wood! all smoke and splutter, boy.
Who was that Priest?

Country Kinsman.
His name is Father Adam.

Town Kinsman.
Not the first man in the world? Eh, Coz?

Poor Kinsman.
Well, I,
For my part, say that I most cordially
Applaud this marriage: which not only links
Two lordly lines in one, but also mends
What in the solid substance of our House
A somewhat too close contact with the Court
Hath here and there rubb'd shabby.

Town Kinsman.
How he'll cringe
To the new Countess, with his lap-dog looks!
Already is he hankering, look at him,
After his platter.

Country Kinsman.
For all that, he's right.
I scorn the Court. No king shall ever hang
His key between two buttons on my back.
I'll be no lackey, who was born a lord.
And as for Orval, youth's a fault time mends.
I like his generous wildness well enough.

Old Kinsman.
'Faith, all these greatly-gifted youths begin
By taking out a patent of their own
For the creation of the world: and end
By selling it for something they find still
Worth having in the world, just as it is,
As soon as they grow wiser.

Country Kinsman.
Certainly.
And good wives make good husbands ...

Town Kinsman.
Good books say.
And I say, Coz, a sweetheart's cream: a bride
Butter: a wife ... stale cheese. Yonder's the gate.

Old Kinsman.
And the sun's down. Boy, lift the link this way.
Come, gentlemen; we 're not an hour too soon.