Philaster; Or, Love Lies a Bleeding. Beaumont Francis

must confess

                      I owe a reverence: but wer't the Church,

                      I, at the Altar, there's no place so safe,

                      Where thou dar'st injure me, but I dare kill thee:

                      And for your greatness; know Sir, I can grasp

                      You, and your greatness thus, thus into nothing:

                      Give not a word, not a word back: Farewell.

      [Exit Phi.

      Pha. 'Tis an odd fellow Madam, we must stop His mouth with some Office, when we are married.

      Are. You were best make him your Controuler.

      Pha. I think he would discharge it well. But Madam,

                      I hope our hearts are knit; and yet so slow

                      The Ceremonies of State are, that 'twill be long

                      Before our hands be so: If then you please,

                      Being agreed in heart, let us not wait

                      For dreaming for me, but take a little stoln

                      Delights, and so prevent our joyes to come.

      Are. If you dare speak such thoughts,

                      I must withdraw in honour.

      [Exit Are.

      Pha. The constitution of my body will never hold out till the wedding; I must seek elsewhere.

[Exit Pha

      Actus Secundus. Scena Prima

      Enter Philaster and Bellario.

      Phi. And thou shalt find her honourable boy,

                      Full of regard unto thy tender youth,

                      For thine own modesty; and for my sake,

                      Apter to give, than thou wilt be to ask, I, or deserve.

      Bell. Sir, you did take me up when I was nothing;

                      And only yet am something, by being yours;

                      You trusted me unknown; and that which you are apt

                      To conster a simple innocence in me,

                      Perhaps, might have been craft; the cunning of a boy

                      Hardened in lies and theft; yet ventur'd you,

                      To part my miseries and me: for which,

                      I never can expect to serve a Lady

                      That bears more honour in her breast than you.

      Phi. But boy, it will prefer thee; thou art young,

                      And bearest a childish overflowing love

                      To them that clap thy cheeks, and speak thee fair yet:

                      But when thy judgment comes to rule those passions,

                      Thou wilt remember best those careful friends

                      That plac'd thee in the noblest way of life;

                      She is a Princess I prefer thee to.

      Bell. In that small time that I have seen the world,

                      I never knew a man hasty to part

                      With a servant he thought trusty; I remember

                      My Father would prefer the boys he kept

                      To greater men than he, but did it not,

                      Till they were grown too sawcy for himself.

      Phi. Why gentle boy, I find no fault at all in thy behaviour.

      Bell. Sir, if I have made

                      A fault of ignorance, instruct my youth;

                      I shall be willing, if not apt to learn;

                      Age and experience will adorn my mind

                      With larger knowledge: And if I have done

                      A wilful fault, think me not past all hope

                      For once; what Master holds so strict a hand

                      Over his boy, that he will part with him

                      Without one warning? Let me be corrected

                      To break my stubbornness if it be so,

                      Rather than turn me off, and I shall mend.

      Phi. Thy love doth plead so prettily to stay,

                      That (trust me) I could weep to part with thee.

                      Alas! I do not turn thee off; thou knowest

                      It is my business that doth call thee hence,

                      And when thou art with her thou dwel'st with me:

                      Think so, and 'tis so; and when time is full,

                      That thou hast well discharged this heavy trust,

                      Laid on so weak a one, I will again

                      With joy receive thee; as I live, I will;

                      Nay weep not, gentle boy; 'Tis more than time

                      Thou didst attend the Princess.

      Bell. I am gone;

                      But since I am to part with you my Lord,

                      And none knows whether I shall live to do

                      More service for you; take this little prayer;

                      Heaven bless your loves, your fights, all your designs.

                      May sick men, if they have your wish, be