King Edward the Third [6]
as the sun,
That she doth thaw cold winter like the sun,
That she doth cheer fresh summer like the sun,
The she doth dazzle gazers like the sun;
And, in this application to the sun,
Bid her be free and general as the sun,
Who smiles upon the basest weed that grows
As lovingly as on the fragrant rose.
Let's see what follows that same moonlight line.
LODOWICK.
'More fair and chaste than is the queen of shades,
More bold in constance'--
KING EDWARD.
In constance! than who?
LODOWICK.
'Than Judith was.'
KING EDWARD.
O monstrous line! Put in the next a sword,
And I shall woo her to cut of my head.
Blot, blot, good Lodowick! Let us hear the next.
LODOWICK.
There's all that yet is done.
KING EDWARD.
I thank thee then; thou hast done little ill,
But what is done, is passing, passing ill.
No, let the Captain talk of boisterous war,
The prisoner of emured dark constraint,
The sick man best sets down the pangs of death,
The man that starves the sweetness of a feast,
The frozen soul the benefit of fire,
And every grief his happy opposite:
Love cannot sound well but in lover's tongues;
Give me the pen and paper, I will write.
[Enter Countess.]
But soft, here comes the treasurer of my spirit.--
Lodowick, thou knowst not how to draw a battle;
These wings, these flankers, and these squadrons
Argue in thee defective discipline:
Thou shouldest have placed this here, this other here.
COUNTESS.
Pardon my boldness, my thrice gracious Lords;
Let my intrusion here be called my duty,
That comes to see my sovereign how he fares.
KING EDWARD.
Go, draw the same, I tell thee in what form.
LODOWICK.
I go.
[Exit Lodowick.]
COUNTESS.
Sorry I am to see my liege so sad:
What may thy subject do to drive from thee
Thy gloomy consort, sullome melancholy?
KING EDWARD.
Ah, Lady, I am blunt and cannot straw
The flowers of solace in a ground of shame:--
Since I came hither, Countess, I am wronged.
COUNTESS.
Now God forbid that any in my house
Should think my sovereign wrong! Thrice gentle King,
Acquaint me with your cause of discontent.
KING EDWARD.
How near then shall I be to remedy?
COUNTESS.
As near, my Liege, as all my woman's power
Can pawn it self to buy thy remedy.
KING EDWARD.
If thou speakst true, then have I my redress:
Engage thy power to redeem my Joys,
And I am joyful, Countess; else I die.
COUNTESS.
I will, my Liege.
KING EDWARD.
Swear, Countess, that thou wilt.
COUNTESS.
By heaven, I will.
KING EDWARD.
Then take thy self a little way a side,
And tell thy self, a King doth dote on thee;
Say that within thy power it doth lie
To make him happy, and that thou hast sworn
To give him all the Joy within thy power:
Do this, and tell me when I shall be happy.
COUNTESS.
All this is done, my thrice dread sovereign:
That power of love, that I have power to give,
Thou hast with all devout obedience;
Employ me how thou wilt in proof thereof.
KING EDWARD.
Thou hearst me say that I do dote on thee.
COUNTESS.
If on my beauty, take it if thou canst;
Though little, I do prize it ten times less;
If on my virtue, take it if thou canst,
For virtue's store by giving doth augment;
Be it on what it will, that I can give
And thou canst take away, inherit it.
KING EDWARD.
It is thy beauty that I would enjoy.
COUNTESS.
O, were it painted, I would wipe it off
And dispossess my self, to give it thee.
But, sovereign, it is soldered to my life:
Take one and both; for, like an humble shadow,
It haunts the sunshine of my summer's life.
KING EDWARD.
But thou maist lend it me to sport with all.
COUNTESS.
As easy may my intellectual soul
Be lent away, and yet my body live,
As lend my body, palace to my soul,
Away from her, and yet retain my soul.
My body is her bower, her Court, her abbey,
And she an Angel, pure, divine, unspotted:
If I should leave her house, my Lord, to thee,
I kill my poor soul and my poor soul me.
KING EDWARD.
Didst thou not swear to give me what I would?
COUNTESS.
I did, my liege,
That she doth thaw cold winter like the sun,
That she doth cheer fresh summer like the sun,
The she doth dazzle gazers like the sun;
And, in this application to the sun,
Bid her be free and general as the sun,
Who smiles upon the basest weed that grows
As lovingly as on the fragrant rose.
Let's see what follows that same moonlight line.
LODOWICK.
'More fair and chaste than is the queen of shades,
More bold in constance'--
KING EDWARD.
In constance! than who?
LODOWICK.
'Than Judith was.'
KING EDWARD.
O monstrous line! Put in the next a sword,
And I shall woo her to cut of my head.
Blot, blot, good Lodowick! Let us hear the next.
LODOWICK.
There's all that yet is done.
KING EDWARD.
I thank thee then; thou hast done little ill,
But what is done, is passing, passing ill.
No, let the Captain talk of boisterous war,
The prisoner of emured dark constraint,
The sick man best sets down the pangs of death,
The man that starves the sweetness of a feast,
The frozen soul the benefit of fire,
And every grief his happy opposite:
Love cannot sound well but in lover's tongues;
Give me the pen and paper, I will write.
[Enter Countess.]
But soft, here comes the treasurer of my spirit.--
Lodowick, thou knowst not how to draw a battle;
These wings, these flankers, and these squadrons
Argue in thee defective discipline:
Thou shouldest have placed this here, this other here.
COUNTESS.
Pardon my boldness, my thrice gracious Lords;
Let my intrusion here be called my duty,
That comes to see my sovereign how he fares.
KING EDWARD.
Go, draw the same, I tell thee in what form.
LODOWICK.
I go.
[Exit Lodowick.]
COUNTESS.
Sorry I am to see my liege so sad:
What may thy subject do to drive from thee
Thy gloomy consort, sullome melancholy?
KING EDWARD.
Ah, Lady, I am blunt and cannot straw
The flowers of solace in a ground of shame:--
Since I came hither, Countess, I am wronged.
COUNTESS.
Now God forbid that any in my house
Should think my sovereign wrong! Thrice gentle King,
Acquaint me with your cause of discontent.
KING EDWARD.
How near then shall I be to remedy?
COUNTESS.
As near, my Liege, as all my woman's power
Can pawn it self to buy thy remedy.
KING EDWARD.
If thou speakst true, then have I my redress:
Engage thy power to redeem my Joys,
And I am joyful, Countess; else I die.
COUNTESS.
I will, my Liege.
KING EDWARD.
Swear, Countess, that thou wilt.
COUNTESS.
By heaven, I will.
KING EDWARD.
Then take thy self a little way a side,
And tell thy self, a King doth dote on thee;
Say that within thy power it doth lie
To make him happy, and that thou hast sworn
To give him all the Joy within thy power:
Do this, and tell me when I shall be happy.
COUNTESS.
All this is done, my thrice dread sovereign:
That power of love, that I have power to give,
Thou hast with all devout obedience;
Employ me how thou wilt in proof thereof.
KING EDWARD.
Thou hearst me say that I do dote on thee.
COUNTESS.
If on my beauty, take it if thou canst;
Though little, I do prize it ten times less;
If on my virtue, take it if thou canst,
For virtue's store by giving doth augment;
Be it on what it will, that I can give
And thou canst take away, inherit it.
KING EDWARD.
It is thy beauty that I would enjoy.
COUNTESS.
O, were it painted, I would wipe it off
And dispossess my self, to give it thee.
But, sovereign, it is soldered to my life:
Take one and both; for, like an humble shadow,
It haunts the sunshine of my summer's life.
KING EDWARD.
But thou maist lend it me to sport with all.
COUNTESS.
As easy may my intellectual soul
Be lent away, and yet my body live,
As lend my body, palace to my soul,
Away from her, and yet retain my soul.
My body is her bower, her Court, her abbey,
And she an Angel, pure, divine, unspotted:
If I should leave her house, my Lord, to thee,
I kill my poor soul and my poor soul me.
KING EDWARD.
Didst thou not swear to give me what I would?
COUNTESS.
I did, my liege,