Part 52 (1/2)

[_He starts._

KING. Though thou hast thrown all nature off, I cannot what's my duty. Ungracious boy!

Hadst been the offspring of a sinful bed, Thou might'st have claim'd adult'ry as inheritance; l.u.s.t would have been thy kinsman, And what enormity thy looser life Could have been guilty of had found excuse In an unnatural conception.

Prythee, hereafter seek another father: Ephorbas cannot call him son that makes l.u.s.t his deity. Had I but known (But we are hoodwink'd still to all mischances) I should have had a son that would make it His study to embrace corruption, and Take delight in unlawful sheets. I would Have hugg'd a monster in mine arms Before thy mother. Good, O heavens!

What will this world come to at last?

When princes, that should be the patterns Of all virtue, lead up the dance to vice!

What shall we call our own, when our own wives Banish their faith, and prove false to us?

Have I with so much care promis'd myself So pleasing a spring of comfort, and are all Those blossoms nipp'd, and buds burnt up by th' fire Of l.u.s.t and sin?-- Have I thus long laboured against the billows, That did oppose my growing hopes, And must I perish in the haven's mouth?

No gulf but this to be devoured in?

Could not youth's inclination find out Another rock to split itself upon?

Hadst thou hugg'd drunkenness, the wit Or mirth of company might have excus'd it.

Prodigality had been a sin a prince Might have been proud in compared to this.

Or had thy greener years incited thee To treason and attempt a doubting father's crown, T' had been a n.o.ble vice. Ambition Runs through the veins of princes; it brings forth Acts [as] great as themselves and it; spurs on To honour, and resolves great things.

But this--this lechery is such a thing, sin is Too brave a name for it. A prince (I might say son,[83]

But let that pa.s.s), and dare to show himself To nought but darkness and black chambers, Whose motions, like some planet, are all eccentric: Not two hours together in his own sphere, The court?--but I am tame to talk thus; Begone, with as much speed as a coward would Avoid his death; and never more presume To look upon this woman, [upon] this wh.o.r.e: Thou losest both thy eyes and me else.

[PLANGUS _is going out, but comes again._

PLAN. [O] sir, the reverence that I owe my father, And the injury I have done this gentlewoman, Had charm'd me up to silence; but I must Speak something for her honour: When I have done, command me to the altar.

Whilst (I confess) you tainted me with sin, I did applaud you, and condemn myself-- It looked like a father's care--but when You us'd that term of wh.o.r.e to her that stands there, I would have given ten thousand kingdoms, You had had no more relation to me Than hath the northern to the southern pole. I should Have flown to my revenge swifter than lightning.

But I forbear; and pray, imagine not What I had done----

KING. Upon my life, she's very handsome.

[_Aside._

PLAN. To be a wh.o.r.e is more unknown to her, Than what is done in the Antipodes; She is so pure she cannot think a sin, Nor ever heard the name to understand it.

KING. No doubt, these private meetings were to read Her moral lectures, and teach her chast.i.ty!

PLAN. Nay, give me leave, sir. I do not say My addresses have been all so virtuous; For whatsoever base desires a flaming Beauty could kindle in a heart, were all alive In me, and prompted me to seek some ease By quenching burnings hotter than ?tna.

Imagine but a man that had drunk mercury, And had a fire within his bones, Whose blood was hotter than the melted ore!

If he should wish for drink, nay, steal it too, Could you condemn him?

EPH. Marri'd, do they say?

[_Aside._

PLAN. I did endure a heat seas could not cool; It would have kill'd a salamander.

Then, taught both impudence and wit, I singled out my foe, us'd all the arts That love could think upon, and in the end Found a most absolute repulse.

KING. Well, Plangus, youth excuses the first fault; But a relapse exceeds all pardon.

[_Exeunt_ KING _and_ PLANGUS.

SCENE VI.