I know, you would be prouder of the work, Por. I never did repent for doing good, Until her husband and my lord's return : There is a monastery two miles off, And there we will abide. I do desire you, Not to deny this imposition; The which my love, and some necessity, Now lays upon you. Lor. Madam, with all my heart; I shall obey you in all fair commands. Por. My people do already know my mind, And will acknowledge you and Jessica Lor. Fair thoughts, and happy hours, attend you. Jes. I wish your ladyship all heart's content. Por. I thank you for your wish, and am w pleas'd To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica.[Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO Now, Balthazar, As I have ever found thee honest, true, So let me find thee still: Take this same letter, And use thou all the endeavour of a man, In speed to Padua ; see thou render this Into my cousin's hand, doctor Bellario; And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee, Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit. Por. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand, That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands, Before they think of us. Ner. Shall they see us? Por. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit, I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, Like a fine bragging youth: and tell quaint lies, That men shall swear, I have discontinued school Ner. Why, shall we turn to men? Por. Fye! what a question's that, If thou wert near a lewd interpreter? But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device, When I am in my coach, which stays for us At the park gate; and therefore haste away, For we must measure twenty miles to-day. [Exeunt. SCENE V. The same. A Garden. Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA. Laun. Yes, truly:-for, look you, the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore, I promise you, I fear you. I was always plain with F2 you, and so now I speak my agitation of the matter: Therefore, be of good cheer; for, truly, I think, you are damn'd. There is but one hope, in it that can do you any good; and that is but a kind of bastard hope neither. Jes. And what hope is that, I pray thee? Laun. Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you not, that you are not the Jew's daughter. Jes. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed; so the sins of my mother should be visited upon me. Laun. Truly then I fear you are damn'd both by father and mother: thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are gone both ways. Jes. I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a Christian. Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were Christians enough before; e'en as many as could well live, one by another: This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money. Enter LORENZO. ! Jes. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say; here he comes. Lor. I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners. Jes. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; Launcelot and I are out: he tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he says, you are no good member of the commonwealth; for, in converting Jews to Christians, you raise the price of pork. Lor. I shall answer that better to the commonwealth, than you can the getting up of the negro's belly: the Moor is with child by you, Launcelot. Laun. It is much, that the Moor should be more than reason: but if she be less than an honest woman, she is, indeed, more than I took her for. Lor. How every fool can play upon the word! I think, the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence; and discourse grow commendable in none only but parrots.-Go in, sirrah; bid them prepare for dinner. Laun. That is done, sir; they have all stomachs. Lor. Goodly lord, what a wit-snapper are you! then bid them prepare dinner. Laun. That is done too, sir; only, cover is the word. Lor. Will you cover then, sir? 1 Laun. Not so, sir, neither; I know my duty. Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occasion! Wilt thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray thee, understand a plain man in his plain meaning: go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner. : Laun, 'For the table, sir, it shall be served in; for the meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your coming in to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits shall govern. [Erit LAUNCELOT. Lor. O dear discretion, how his words are suited! The fool hath planted in his memory 1 |