_Enter_ BERTRAM _and_ DIANA.
_Ber._ They told me that your name was Fontibell.
_Dia._ No, my good lord, Diana.
_Ber._ Titled goddess;
And worth it, with addition! But, fair soul,
In your fine frame hath love no quality?
If the quick fire of youth light not your mind, 5
You are no maiden, but a monument:
When you are dead, you should be such a one
As you are now, for you are cold and stern;
And now you should be as your mother was
When your sweet self was got. 10
_Dia._ She then was honest.
_Ber._ So should you be.
_Dia._ No:
My mother did but duty; such, my lord,
As you owe to your wife.
_Ber._ No more o' that;
I prithee, do not strive against my vows:
I was compell'd to her; but I love thee 15
By love's own sweet constraint, and will for ever
Do thee all rights of service.
_Dia._ Ay, so you serve us
Till we serve you; but when you have our roses,
You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves,
And mock us with our bareness.
_Ber._ How have I sworn! 20
_Dia._ 'Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth,
But the plain single vow that is vow'd true.
What is not holy, that we swear not by,
But take the High'st to witness: then, pray you, tell me,
If I should swear by Jove's great attributes, 25
I loved you dearly, would you believe my oaths,
When I did love you ill? This has no holding,
To swear by him whom I protest to love,
That I will work against him: therefore your oaths
Are words and poor conditions, but unseal'd, 30
At least in my opinion.
_Ber._ Change it, change it;
Be not so holy-cruel: love is holy;
And my integrity ne'er knew the crafts
That you do charge men with. Stand no more off,
But give thyself unto my sick desires, 35
Who then recover: say thou art mine, and ever
My love as it begins shall so persever.
_Dia._ I see that men make rope's in such a scarre
That we'll forsake ourselves. Give me that ring.
_Ber._ I'll lend it thee, my dear; but have no power 40
To give it from me.
_Dia._ Will you not, my lord?
_Ber._ It is an honour 'longing to our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors;
Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world
In me to lose.
_Dia._ Mine honour's such a ring: 45
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors;
Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world
In me to lose: thus your own proper wisdom
Brings in the champion Honour on my part, 50
Against your vain assault.
_Ber._ Here, take my ring:
My house, mine honour, yea, my life, be thine,
And I'll be bid by thee.
_Dia._ When midnight comes, knock at my chamber-window:
I'll order take my mother shall not hear. 55
Now will I charge you in the band of truth,
When you have conquer'd my yet maiden bed,
Remain there but an hour, nor speak to me:
My reasons are most strong; and you shall know them
When back again this ring shall be deliver'd: 60
And on your finger in the night I 'll put
Another ring, that what in time proceeds
May token to the future our past deeds.
Adieu, till then; then, fail not. You have won
A wife of me, though there my hope be done. 65
_Ber._ A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee. [_Exit._
_Dia._ For which live long to thank both heaven and me!
You may so in the end.
My mother told me just how he would woo,
As if she sat in's heart; she says all men 70
Have the like oaths: he had sworn to marry me
When his wife's dead; therefore I'll lie with him
When I am buried. Since Frenchmen are so braid,
Marry that will, I live and die a maid:
Only in this disguise I think't no sin 75
To cozen him that would unjustly win. [_Exit._
LINENOTES:
Enter....] Enter Bertram and the Maid called Diana. Ff.
[2] _Titled goddess_] _Titl'd, goddess_ Capell.
[8] _stern_] F3 F4. _sterne_ F1 F2. _stone_ Collier (Collier MS.).
[13] _o'_] Rowe. _a'_ Ff.
[14] _strive ... vows:_] _drive against my vows:_ Johnson conj.
_shrive--against my voice_ Id. conj.
[19] _barely_] _basely_ Rowe (ed. 2).
[21-31] Dia. _'Tis not ... opinion_] Dia. _'Tis not ... witness._ Ber.
_Then ... ill?_ Dia. _This ... opinion_ Staunton conj.
[21] _makes_] F1. _make_ F2 F3 F4.
[23, 24] _What ... me,_] _But ... by?_ Jackson conj. (inverting the
lines).
_What ... witness: then, pray_] Bert. _What ... witness._ Diana.
_Then, pray_ Johnson conj.
[23-29] _What ... against him_] Erased in Collier MS.
[23] _swear not by,_] _swear, not 'bides,_ Warburton.
[24] _pray you_] _pray_ Pope.
[25] _Jove's_] _Joves_ F3 F4. _Ioues_ F1 F2. _love's_ Grant White
(Johnson conj.). _God's_ Edd. conj. See note (xv).
_attributes_] F1. _attribute_ F2 F3 F4.
[28] _by_] _to_ Johnson conj.
_whom_] _when_ Singer.
[28, 29] _whom I ... him_] _and to protest I love Whom I will work
against_ Becket conj.
[32] _holy-cruel_] Theobald. _holy cruel_ Ff.
_love_] _my love_ Staunton conj.
[35, 36] _desires, Who then recover_] Rowe (ed. 2). _desires, Who then
recovers_ Ff. _desires, Which then recover_ Pope. _desire, Who then
recovers_ Capell.
[38] _rope's ... scarre_] F1 F2. _ropes ... scarre_ F3. _ropes ...
scar_ F4. _hopes ... affairs_ Rowe. _hopes ... scene_ Malone. _mopes
in ... scar_ or _japes of ... scathe_ Becket conj. _hopes ... scare_
Henley conj. _hopes ... cause_ Mitford conj. _hopes ... war_ Singer
(ed. 1). _hopes ... scarre_ Singer (Knight conj.). _slopes ... scarre_
Collier conj. _ropes ... staire_ Id. conj. _hopes ... case_ Dyce.
_hopes ... snare_ Staunton. _hopes ... suit_ Collier (Collier MS.).
_may cope's ... sorte_ Williams conj.
[44] _were_] _'twere_ Collier (Collier MS.).
[53] _And I'll_] _An I_ Collier conj.
[65] _done_] _none_ Collier MS.
[66] _I have_] F1 F2. _I've_ F3 F4.
[71] _had_] _hath_ Capell conj. _has_ Grant White.
[73] _Frenchmen_] _men_ Hanmer.
[74] _Marry_] _Marry 'em_ Theobald (Warburton).
[74] _I_] F1 F2. _I'le_ F3 F4. _I'd_ Theobald (Warburton).
Lords] Captains Ff.