The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Israel Gollancz William Shakespeare [1097]
MARINA.
If you were born to honour, show it now;
If put upon you, make the judgement good
That thought you worthy of it.
LYSIMACHUS.
How 's this? how 's this? Some more; be sage.
MARINA.
For me,
That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune
Have placed me in this sty, where, since I came,
Diseases have been sold dearer than physic,
O, that the gods
Would set me free from this unhallow'd place,
Though they did change me to the meanest bird
That flies i' the purer air!
LYSIMACHUS.
I did not think
Thou couldst have spoke so well; ne'er dream'd thou couldst.
Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,
Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here 's gold for thee:
Persever in that clear way thou goest,
And the gods strengthen thee!
MARINA.
The good gods preserve you!
LYSIMACHUS.
For me, be you thoughten
That I came with no ill intent; for to me
The very doors and windows savour vilely.
Fare thee well. Thou art a piece of virtue, and
I doubt not but thy training hath been noble.
Hold, here's more gold for thee.
A curse upon him, die he like a thief,
That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou dost
Hear from me, it shall be for thy good.
[Re-enter Boult.]
BOULT.
I beseech your honour, one piece for me.
LYSIMACHUS.
Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper!
Your house but for this virgin that doth prop it,
Would sink and overwhelm you. Away!
[Exit.]
BOULT.
How's this? We must take another course with you. If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope, shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways.
MARINA.
Whither would you have me?
BOULT.
I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. Come your ways. We'll have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say.
[Re-enter Bawd.]
BAWD.
How now! what's the matter?
BOULT.
Worse and worse, mistress; she has here spoken holy words to the
Lord Lysimachus.
BAWD.
O Abominable!
BOULT.
She makes our profession as it were to stink afore the face of the gods.
BAWD.
Marry, hang her up for ever!
BOULT.
The nobleman would have dealt with her like a nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a snowball; saying his prayers too.
BAWD.
Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure: crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable.
BOULT.
An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she is, she shall be ploughed.
MARINA.
Hark, hark, you gods!
BAWD.
She conjures: away with her! Would she had never come within my doors! Marry, hang you! She's born to undo us. Will you not go the way of women-kind? Marry, come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays!
[Exit.]
BOULT.
Come, mistress; come your ways with me.
MARINA.
Whither wilt thou have me?
BOULT.
To take from you the jewel you hold so dear.
MARINA.
Prithee, tell me one thing first.
BOULT.
Come now, your one thing.
MARINA.
What canst thou wish thine enemy to be?
BOULT.
Why, I could wish him to he my master, or rather, my mistress.
MARINA.
Neither of these are so had as thou art,
Since they do better thee in their command.
Thou hold'st a place, for which the pained'st fiend
Of hell would not in reputation change:
Thou art the damned doorkeeper to every
Coistrel that comes inquiring for his Tib;
To the choleric fisting of every rogue
Thy ear is liable, thy food is such
As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs.
BOULT.
What would you have me do? go to the wars, would you? where a man may serve seven years for the loss of a leg, and have not money enough in the end to buy him a wooden one?
MARINA.
Do any thing but this thou doest. Empty
Old receptacles, or common shores, of filth;
Serve by indenture to the common hangman:
Any of these