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VALINGFORD.

My Lord, this gentleman, when time was,

Stood some-thing in our light,

And now I think it not amiss

To laugh at him that sometime scorned at us.

MOUNTNEY.

Content my Lord, invent the form.

VALINGFORD.

Then thus.—

WILLIAM.

I see that women are not general evils,

Blanch is fair: Methinks I see in her

A modest countenance, a heavenly blush.

Zweno, receive a reconciled for,

Not as thy friend, but as thy son in law,

If so that thou be thus content.

ZWENO.

I joy to see your grace so tractable.

Here, take my daughter Blanch;

And after my decease the Denmark crown.

WILLIAM.

Now, sir, how stands the case with you?

MANVILLE.

I partly am persuaded as your grace is,

My lord, he is best at ease that medleth least.

VALINGFORD.

Sir, may a man

Be so bold as to crave a word with you?

MANVILLE.

Yea, two or three: what are they?

VALINGFORD.

I say, this maid will have thee to her husband.

MOUNTNEY.

And I say this: and thereof will I lay

An hundred pound.

VALINGFORD.

And I say this: whereon I will lay as much.

MANVILLE.

And I say neither: what say you to that?

MOUNTNEY.

If that be true, then are we both deceived.

MANVILLE.

Why, it is true, and you are both deceived.

MARQUES.

In mine eyes this is the proprest wench;

Might I advise thee, take her unto thy wife.

ZWENO.

It seems to me, she hath refused him.

MARQUES.

Why, theres the spite.

ZWENO.

If one refuse him, yet may he have the other.

MARQUES.

He will ask but her good will, and all her friends.

ZWENO.

Might I advise thee, let them both alone.

MANVILLE.

Yea, thats the course, and thereon will I stand.

Such idle love hencefoorth I will detest.

VALINGFORD.

The Fox will eat no grapes, and why?

MOUNTNEY.

I know full well, because they hand too high.

WILLIAM.

And may it be a Millers daughter by her birth?

I cannot think but she is better borne.

VALINGFORD.

Sir Thomas Goddard hight this reverent man

Famed for his vertues, and his good success:

Whose fame hath been renowmed through the world.

WILLIAM.

Sir Thomas Goddard, welcome to thy Prince;

And, fair Em, frolic with thy good father;

As glad am I to find Sir Thomas Goddard,

As good Sir Edmund Treford, on the plains:

He like a sheepheard, and thou our country Miller.

MILLER.

And longer let not Goddard live a day

Then he in honour loves his soveraigne.

WILLIAM.

But say, Sir Thomas, shall I give thy daughter?

MILLER.

Goddard, and all that he hath,

Doth rest at the pleasure of your Majesty.

WILLIAM.

And what says Em to lovely Valingford?

It seemed he loved you well, that for your sake

Durst leave his King.

EM.

Em rests at the pleasure of your highness:

And would I were a wife for his desert.

WILLIAM.

Then here, Lord Valingford, receive fair Em.

Here take her, make her thy espoused wife.

Then go we in, that preparation may be made,

To see these nuptials solemnly performed.

[Exeunt all. Sound drums and Trumpets.]

FINIS

MUCEDORUS

Surviving in seventeen quartos, this was the most widely printed extant play of its time. It has been attributed to Shakespeare, but this theory is generally not accepted by scholars and Mucedorus is generally classified as apocryphal. The play was revised and expanded in 1610 with additional scenes, and was performed before King James I.

The play opens with a contest of insults between the abstract characters Comedy and Envy. Envy declares that she will turn this pleasant comedy into a tragedy. Comedy challenges Envy to do so and claims that mirth will triumph in the end. Mucedorus goes on to tell the tale of the Prince of Valencia, who has heard that Amadine, the daughter of the king of Aragon, is extraordinarily beautiful, and therefore he has decided to disguise himself as a shepherd so that he can sneak into Aragon to see her himself. Meanwhile, Amadine and her arranged fiancé Segasto are being chased through the woods by a bear. Segasto flees and leaves Amadine to fend for herself, but Mucedorus kills the bear off stage and saves her. She