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110
SIR JOHN SUCKLING
[Act III., Sc. 2

Keep 't for yourself, or lend it to the prince:
There is a dearth of that commodity;
And you have made it, sir.85
Now,
What is the next mad thing you mean to do?
Will you stay here? when all the court's beset,
Like to a wood at a great hunt, and busy mischief hastes
To be in view, and have you in her power——90

Ther. To me all this?
For great grief's deaf, as well as it is dumb,
And drives no trade at all with counsel. Sir,
Why do you not tutor one that has the plague,
And see if he will fear an after-ague-fit;95
Such is all mischief now to me, there is none left
Is worth a thought: death is the worst I know;
And that, compar'd to shame, does look more lovely now
Than a chaste mistress set by common woman;
And I must court it, sir?

Zir. No wonder, if100
That heav'n forsake us when we leave ourselves:
What is there done should feed such high despair?
Were you but safe——

Agl. Dear sir, be rul'd;
If love be love, and magic too,105
As sure it is, where it is true;
We then shall meet in absence, and, in spite
Of all divorce, freely enjoy together
What niggard fate thus peevishly denies.

Ther. Yea: but, if pleasures be themselves but dreams,110
What then are the dreams of these to men?
That monster, Expectation, will devour
All that is within our hope or power,
And ere we once can come to show how rich
We are, we shall be poor, shall we not, Zorannes?115

Zir. I understand not this.
In times of envious penury, such as these are,
To keep but love alive is fair; we should
Not think of feasting him. Come, sir:
Here in these lodgings is a little door,120
That leads unto another; that again
Unto a vault that has his passage under
The little river, opening into the wood;
From thence 'tis but some few minutes' easy business
Unto a servant's house of mine, who, for125