As well as, I am doubtless, I can purge
Myself of many I am charged withal:
Yet such extenuation let me beg,

As, in reproof of many tales devised,

By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers,
I may, for some things true, wherein my youth
Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,

Find pardon on my true submission.

40

They answer, in a joint and corporate voice,

C

18-iii. 2.

That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are sorry-—you are honourable,

But yet they could have wish'd-they know not-but Something hath been amiss-a noble nature

e

May catch a wrench-would all were well-'tis pity—
And 30, intending other serious matters,
After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps, and cold-moving nods,
They froze me into silence.

41

27-ii. 2.

I can no other answer make, but, thanks,
And thanks, and ever thanks: Often good turns
Are shuffled off with such uncurrent pay:

But, were my worth," as is my conscience, firm,
You should find better dealing.

42

You are liberal in offers;

4-iii. 3.

You taught me first to beg; and now, methinks,
You teach me how a beggar should be answer’d.

43

9-iv. 1.

By the pattern of mine own thoughts I cut out
The purity of his.

44

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

b Officious parasites.

13-iv. 3.

9-v. 1.

ci. e. At an ebb.

d Intending had anciently the same meaning as attending.
* Broken hints, abrupt remarks.

A half-cap, is a cap slightly moved, not put off.

8 Wealth.

45

O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword:
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,

The glass of fashion, and the mould" of form,
The observed of all observers! quite, quite down!
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth,
Blasted with ecstasy.i

46

36-iii. 1.

What, are my doors opposed against my passage?
Have I been ever free, and must my house
Be my retentive enemy, my gaol?

The place, which I have feasted, does it now,
Like all mankind, shew me an iron heart? 27-iii. 4.

47

Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low.

48

O, sick to death:

18-iv. 3.

My legs, like loaden branches, bow to the earth,
Willing to leave their burden.

49

I may be negligent, foolish, and fearful;
In every one of these no man is free,
But that his negligence, his folly, fear,
Amongst the infinite doings of the world,
Sometimes puts forth: In your affairs,
If ever I were wilful negligent,
It was my folly; if industriously
I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
Whereof the execution did cry out
Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear
Which oft affects the wisest: these,

25-iv. 2.

h The model by whom all endeavoured to form themselves.
i Alienation of mind.

This world to me is like a lasting storm,
Whirring me from my friends.

51

13-i. 2.

33-iv. 1.

Good stars, that were my former guides,
Have empty left their orbs, and shot their fires
Into the abysm of hell.

52

30-iii. 11.

My eye's too quick, my heart o'erweens too much, Unless my hand and strength could equal them.

53

There is no terror in your threats;

For I am arm'd so strong in honesty,
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not.

23-iii. 2.

29-iv. 3.

54

I ask, that I might waken reverence,

And bid the cheek be ready with a blush,
Modest as Morning when she coldly eyes

The youthful Phœbus.j

57

36-iii. 1.

26-i. 3.

Have I lived thus long-(let me speak myself, Since virtue finds no friends)—a wife, a true one? A woman (I dare say, without vain-glory)

Never yet branded with suspicion?

Have I with all my full affections

loved him next heaven? obey'd him?

Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him?k
Almost forgot my prayers to content him?
And am I thus rewarded? 'tis not well.-

To perceive the beauty of this passage, view it in its connection in the play. * Served him with superstitious attention.

Bring me a constant woman to her husband;
One, that ne'er dream'd a joy beyond his pleasure;
And to that woman, when she has done most,
Yet will I add an honour,-a great patience.

58

Those, that do teach young babes,

25-iii. 1.

Do it with gentle means, and easy tasks:
He might have chid me so; for, in good faith,
I am a child to chiding.

59

Heaven witness,

I have been to you a true and humble wife,
At all times to your will conformable :

Ever in fear to kindle your dislike,

37-iv. 2.

Yea, subject to your countenance; glad, or sorry,
As I saw it inclined. When was the hour,

I ever contradicted your desire,

Or made it not mine too? Or which of your friends
Have I not strove to love, although I knew
He were mine enemy? what friend of mine,
That had to him derived your anger, did I
Continue in my liking? nay, gave notice
He was from thence discharged? Sir, call to mind,
That I have been your wife, in this obedience,
Upward of twenty years, and have been blest
With many children by you: If, in the course
And process of this time, you can report,
And prove it too, against mine honour aught,
My bond to wedlock, or my love and duty,
Against your sacred person, in God's name,
Turn me away; and let the foul'st contempt
Shut door upon me, and so give me up
To the sharpest kind of justice.

60

I was of late as petty to his ends,

As is the morn-dew on the myrtle leaf

To his grand sea.1

61

25-ii. 4.

30-iii, 10.

Your changed complexions are to me a mirror,

Which shews me mine changed too: for I must be

1 As is the dew to the sea.

Of whose soft grace, I have her sovereign aid,
And rest myself content.

63

13-i. 2.

1-v. 1.

Left her in her tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending in her discoveries of dishonour: in few, bestowedm her on her own lamentation, which she yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not. 5-iii. 1.

64

He that commends me to my own content,
Commends me to the thing I cannot get.
I to the world am like a drop of water,
That in the ocean seeks another drop;
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,
Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself.

65

Wherefore weep you?

14-i. 2.

At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer
What I desire to give; and much less take,
What I shall die to want: But this is trifling;
And all the more it seeks to hide itself,

The bigger bulk it shews. Hence, bashful cunning!
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!

I am your wife, if you will marry me;

If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow"
You may deny me; but I'll be your servant,
Whether you will or no.

66

When maidens sue,

1 —iii. 1.

Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel, All their petitions are as freely theirs

As they themselves would owe them.

5-i. 5.

n Companion.

P Have.