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Act The FourthScene I. [Before the palace]
Scene I. [Before the palace]
Enter King, Pharamond, Arethusa, Galatea, Megra, Dion, Cleremont,
Thrasiline, and Attendants
King. What, are the hounds before and all the woodmen, Our horses ready
and our bows bent?
Dion. All, sir.
King [to Pharamond.] You are cloudy, sir. Come, we have forgotten
Your venial trespass; let not that sit heavy
Upon your spirit; here`s none dare utter it.
Dion. He looks like an old surfeited stallion, dull as a dormouse. See
how he sinks!
Thra. He needs no teaching, he strikes sure enough. His greatest fault
is, he hunts too much in the purlieus; would he would leave off poaching!
Dion. And for his horn, h`as left it at the lodge where he lay late. Oh,
he`s a precious limehound!^1 Turn him loose upon the pursuit of a lady, and if
se lose her, hang him up i` the slip. When my foxbitch Beauty grows proud,
I`ll borrow him.
[Footnote 1: A hunting dog. Lyme=leash.]
King. Is your boy turn`d away?
Are. You did command, sir, and I obey`d you.
King. `Tis well done. Hark ye further. [They talk apart.]
Cle. Is`t possible this fellow should repent? Methinks, that were not
noble in him; and yet he looks like a mortified member, as if he had a sick
man`s salve^2 in`s mouth. If a worse man had done this fault now, some
physical^3 justice or other would presently (without the help of an
almanack^4) have opened the obstructions of his liver, and let him blood with
a dog-whip.
[Footnote 2: An allusion to a religious work, Thomas Bacon`s "The Sick Man`s
Salve," 1561.]
[Footnote 3: Acting as a doctor.]
[Footnote 4: Almanacs gave the proper seasons for blood-letting.]
Dion. See, see how modestly yon lady looks, as if she came from churching
with her neighbour! Why, what a devil can a man see in her face but that she`s
honest!^5
[Footnote 5: chaste.]
Thra. Faith, no great matter to speak of; a foolish twinkling with the
eye, that spoils her coat;^6 but he must be a cunning herald that finds it.
[Footnote 6: Coat of arms. Mason explains that the reference is to the
introduction of stars into a coat of arms, denoting a younger branch.]
Dion. See how they muster one another! Oh, there`s a rank regiment where
the devil carries the colours and his dam drummajor! Now the world and the
flesh come behind with the carriage.^7
[Footnote 7: Baggage.]
Cle. Sure this lady has a good turn done her against her will; before she
was common talk, now none dare say cantharides^8 can stir her. Her face looks
like a warrant, willing and commanding all tongues, as they will answer it, to
be tied up and bolted when this lady means to let herself loose. As I live,
she has got her a goodly protection and a gracious; and may use her body
discreetly for her health`s sake, once a week, excepting Lent and dog-days.
Oh, if they were to be got for money, what a great sum would come out of the
city for these licences!
[Footnote 8: Spanish fly, used as a provocative.]
King. To horse, to horse! we lose the morning, gentlemen.
Exeunt.
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