Such gentle rape thou act'st upon my soul,
And with such pleasing violence dost force it still,
That, when it should resist, it tamely yields,
Making a kind of haste to be undone,25
As if the way to victory were loss,
And conquest came by overthrow.
Enter an Express, delivering a packet upon his knee. The King reads
Queen [looking upon a flower in one of the Ladies' heads]. Pretty!
Is it the child of nature, or of some fair hand?
La. 'Tis as the beauty, madam, of some faces,30
Art's issue only.
King. Thersames, this concerns you most. Brought
you her picture?
Exp. Something made up for her in haste I have.
King. If she does owe no part of this fair dower
Unto the painter, she is rich enough.35
Agl. A kind of merry sadness in this face
Becomes it much.
King. There is indeed, Aglaura,
A pretty sullenness dress'd up in smiles,
That says this beauty can both kill and save.
How like you her, Thersames?40
Ther. As well as any man can do a house
By seeing of the portal: here's but a face;
And faces, sir, are things I have not studied.
I have my duty, and may boldly swear,
What you like best will ever please me most.45
King. Spoke like Thersames and my son!
Come: the day holds fair.
Let all the huntsmen meet us in the vale;
We will uncouple there.
Ari. How odd a thing a crowd is unto me!50
Sure, nature intended I should be alone.
Had not that old doting man-midwife Time
Slept when he should have brought me forth, I had
Been so too. [Studies and scratches his head
To be born near, and only near, a crown!55
