William Shakespeare - The Complete Apocryphal Works of William Shakespeare - All 17 Rare Plays in One Edition

And matched already with a gentleman

Whose servant thou may’st be! - and so farewell.

MOSBIE

Ungentle and unkind Alice, now I see

That which I ever feared, and find too true:

A woman’s love is as the lightning flame,

Which even in bursting forth consumes itself.

To try thy constancy have I been strange;

Would I had never tried, but lived in hope!

MOSBIE

Yet pardon me, for love is jealous.

ALICE

So lists the sailor to the mermaid’s song,

So looks the traveller to the basilisk.

I am content for to be reconciled,

And that I know, will be mine overthrow.

MOSBIE

Thine overthrow? First let the world dissolve.

ALICE

Nay, Mosbie, let me still enjoy thy love,

And happen what will, I am resolute.

My saving husband hoards up bags of gold

To make our children rich, and now is he

Gone to unload the goods that shall be thine,

And he and Franklin will to London straight.

MOSBIE

To London, Alice? It thou’lt be rul’d by me

We’ll make him sure enough for coming there.

ALICE

Ah, would we could!

MOSBIE

I happened on a painter yesternight,

The only cunning man of Christendom;

For he can temper poison with his oil,

That whoso looks upon the work he draws

Shall, with the beams that issue from his sight,

Suck venom to his breast and slay himself.

Sweet Alice he shall draw thy counterfeit,

That Arden may by gazing on it perish.

ALICE

Ay, but Mosbie that is dangerous,

For thou or i, or any other else,

Coming into the chamber where it hangs may die.

MOSBIE

Ay, but we’ll have it covered with a cloth,

And hung up in the study for himself.

ALICE

It may not be, for when the picture’s drawn,

Arden, I know, will come and show it me.

MOSBIE

Fear not; we’ll have that shall serve the turn.

This is the painter’s house; I’ll call him forth.

ALICE

But Mosbie, I’ll have no such picture, I.

Use humble promise to their sacred muse,

So we that are the poets’ favorites

Must have a love: ay, love is the painter’s muse,

That makes him frame a speaking countenance,

A weeping eye that witnesses heart’s grief.

Then tell me, master Mosbie, shall I have her?

ALICE

‘tis pity but he should; he’ll use her well.

CLARKE

Then, brother, to requite this courtesy,

You shall command my life, my skill, and all.

ALICE

Ah, that thou couldst be secret.

MOSBIE

Fear him not; leave; I have talked sufficient.

CLARKE

You know not me that ask such questions.

Let it suffice I know you love him well,

And fain would have your husband made away;

Wherein, trust me, you show a noble mind,

That rather than you’ll live with him you hate,

You’ll venture life, and die with him you love.

The like will I do for my Susan’s sake.

ALICE

Yet nothing could inforce me to the deed

But Mosbie’s love. Might I without control,

Enjoy thee still, then Arden should not die:

But seeing I cannot, therefore let him die.

MOSBIE

Enough, sweet Alice; thy kind words make me melt.

Your trick of poisoned pictures we dislike;

Some other poison would do better far.

ALICE

Ay, such as might be put into his broth,

And yet in taste not to be found at all.

CLARKE

I know your mind, and here I have it for you.

Put but a dram of this into his drink,

Or any kind of broth that he shall eat,

And he shall die within an hour after.

ALICE

As I am a gentlewoman, clarke, next day

Thou and Susan shall be married.

MOSBIE

And I’ll make her dowry more than I’ll talk of, CLARKE

CLARKE

Yonder’s your husband. Mosbie, I’ll be gone.

(here enters Arden and FRANKLIN

ALICE

In good time; see where my huskand comes,

master Mosbie, ask him the question yourself. Exit clarke

MOSBIE

Master Arden, being at London yesternight,

The abbey lands, whereof you are now possessed,

Were offered me on some occasion

by Greene, one of sir antony ager’s men:

I pray you, sir, tell me, are not the lands yours?

Hath any other interest herein?

ARDEN

Mosbie, that question we’ll decide anon.

As for the lands, Mosbie, they are mine

by letters patent from his majesty.

But I must have a mandate for my wife;

They say you seek to rob me of her love:

Villain, what makes thou in her company?

She’s no companion for so base a groom.

MOSBIE

Arden, I thought not on her, I came to thee,

But rather than I pocket up this wrong.

FRANKLIN

What will you do, sir?

MOSBIE

Revenge it on the proudest of you both.

(then Arden draws forth Mosbie’s sword.

ARDEN

So, sirrah, you may not wear a sword,

The statute makes against artificers.

I warrant that I do. Now use your bodkin,

Your spanish needle, and your pressing iron,

For this shall go with me; and mark my words,

You goodman butcher, ‘tis to you I speak:

The next time that I take thee near my house,

Instead of legs I’ll make thee crawl on stumps.

MOSBIE

Ah, master Arden, you have injured me:

I do appeal to God and to the world.

FRANKLIN

Why, canst thou deny thou wert a butcher once?