Good Charomonte hath broken, in his care
To build me up a man, you must confess
Chiron, the tutor to the great Achilles,
Compared with him, deserves not to be named.
And if my gracious uncle, the great duke,
Still holds me worthy his consideration,
Or finds in me aught worthy to be loved,
That little rivulet flowed from this spring;
And so from me report him.

Con. Fame already

Hath filled his highness' ears with the true story
Of what you are, and how much bettered by him.
And 'tis his purpose to reward the travail
Of this grave sir, with a magnificent hand.
For, though his tenderness hardly could consent
To have you one hour absent from his sight,
For full three years he did deny himself`
The pleasure he took in you, that you, here,
From this great master, might arrive unto
The theory of those high mysteries

Which you by action must make plain in court. 'Tis, therefore, his request (and that, from him, Your excellence must grant a strict command), That instantly (it being not five hours riding) You should take horse, and visit him. These his letters

Will yield you further reasons.

Cal. To the court?

His much unwillingness to leave your house
Contended with his duty.

Cur. Now he appears
Collected and resolved
Giov. It is the duke!

The duke, upon whose favour all my hopes
And fortunes do depend. Nor must I check
At his commands, for any private motives
That do invite my stay here, though they are
Alinost not to be mastered. My obedience,
In my departing suddenly, shall confirm
I am his highness's creature. Yet, I hope
A little stay, to take a solemn farewell
For all those ravishing pleasures I have tasted
In this my sweet retirement from my guardian,
And his incomparable daughter, cannot meet
An ill construction?

Con. I will answer that;

Use your own will.

Giov. I would speak to you, sir,

In such a phrase as might express the thanks My heart would gladly pay; but ·

Car. I conceive you:

And something I would say; but I must do it In that dumb rhetoric which you make use of; VOL. II.

For I do wish you all I know not how, My toughness melts, and, spite of my discretion, I must turn woman.

Con. What a sympathy There is between them!

Cal. Were I on the rack,

I could not shed a tear.-But I am mad,
And, ten to one, shall hang myself for sorrow,
Before I shift my shirt. But hear you, sir,
I'll separate you: When you are gone, what
will

Become of me?

Giov. Why thou shalt to court with me.
Cal. To see you worried?

Con. Worried, Calandrino?

Cal. Yes, sir. For, bring this sweet face to the court,

There will be such longing among the madams, Who shall ingross it first, nay, fight and scratch for it,

That, if they be not stopped, for entertainment
They'll kiss his lips off. Nay, if you'll scape so,
And not be tempted to a farther danger,
These succuba are so sharp set, that you must
Give out you are an cunuch.

Con. Have a better

Opinion of court-ladies, and take care
Of your own stake.

Čal. For my stake, 'tis past caring;

I would not have a bird of unclean feathers Handsel his lime-twig-and so much for him: There's something else that troubles me.

Con. What's that?

Cal. Why, how to behave myself in court, and tightly.

I have been told the very place transforms men, And that not one of a thousand, that, before, Lived honestly in the country, on plain sallads, But bring him thither, mark me that, and feed

him

The only free men, are the only slaves.
Happy the golden mean! had I been born
In a poor sordid cottage, not nursed up
With expectation to command a court,
I might, like such of your condition, sweetest,
Have took a safe and middle course, and not,
As I am now, against my choice compelled,
Or to lie grovelling on the earth, or raised
So high upon the pinnacles of state,

That I must either keep my height with danger,
Or fall with certain ruin.

Lyd. Your own goodness

Will be your faithful guard.
Giov. O Lydia!

Con. So passionate?

Giov. For, had I been your equal,

I might have seen and liked with mine own eyes, And not, as now, with other's; I might still, And without observation or envy,

you,

As I have done, continued my delights
With that are alone, in my esteem,
The abstract of society: We might walk
In solitary groves, or in choice gardens;
From the variety of curious flowers
Contemplate Nature's workmanship and won-
ders;

And then, for change, near to the murmur of
Some bubbling fountain, I might hear you sing,
And, from the well-tuned accents of your tongue,
In my imagination conceive

With what melodious harmony a quire
Of angels sing, above, their maker's praises.
And then, with chaste discourse, as we returned,
Imp feathers to the broken wings of time;
And all this I must part from!

Con. You forget

The haste imposed upon us.

Giov. One word more,

And, then, I come. And, after this, when with
Continued innocence of love and service,
I had grown ripe for hymeneal joys,
Embracing you, but with a lawful flame,
I might have been your husband!
Lyd. Sir, I was,

And ever am, your servant; but it was,
And 'tis, far from me, in a thought, to cherish
Such saucy hopes. If I had been the heir

Of all the globes and sceptres mankind bows to,
At
had deserved me; as I am,
best
my you
Howe'er unworthy, in my virgin zeal

I wish you, as a partner of your bed,
A princess equal to you; such a one
That may make it the study of her life,

With all the obedience of a wife, to please you.
May you have happy issue, and I live
To be their humblest handmaid.

Giov. I am dumb,

And can make no reply.

Con. Your excellence

ALPHONSO, HIPPOLITO, HIERONIMO, with a petition.

Alph. His highness cannot take it ill.
Hip. However,

We, with our duties, shall express our care
For the safety of his dukedom.
Hier. And our loves

Enter Cozimo, the Duke.

To his person. Here he comes: Present it boldly.

Coz. What needs this form? We are not grown so proud

As to disdain familiar conference
With such as are to counsel and direct us.
This kind of adoration shewed not well
In the old Roman emperors, who, forgetting
That they were flesh and blood, would be styled
gods:

In us to suffer it, were worse. Pray you, rise.
Still the old suit? With too much curiousness
[Reads.

You have too often searched this wound, which

yields

Security and rest, not trouble to me.
For here you grieve, that my firm resolution
Continues me a widower; and that

My want of issue to succeed me in

My government, when I am dead, may breed
Distraction in the state, and make the name
And family of the Medicis, now admired,
Contemptible.

Hip. And, with strong reasons, sir.

Alph. For, were you old, and past hope to beget

The model of yourself, we should be silent.
Hier. But, being in your height and pride of
years,

As you are now, great sir, and having too
In your possession the daughter of
The deceased duke of Urbin, and his heir,
Whose guardian you are made, were you but

pleased

To think her worthy of you, besides children, The dukedom she brings with her for a dower, Will yield a large increase of strength and power To these fair territories, which already

The service I should pay.

Acknowledge you their absolute lord.

Coz. You press us

With solid arguments, we grant; and, though
We stand not bound to yield account to any,
Why we do this or that (the full consent
Of our subjects being included in our will),
We, out of our free bounties, will deliver
The motives that divert us. You well know,
That three years since, to our much grief, we
lost

Our dutchess; such a dutchess, that the world,
In her whole course of life, yields not a lady
That can, with imitation, deserve

To be her second. In her grave we buried
All thoughts of women: Let this satisfy
For any second marriage. Now, whereas
You name the heir of Urbin, as a princess
Of great revenues, 'tis confessed she is so :
But for some causes, private to ourself,
We have disposed her otherwise. Yet despair
not;

For you, ere long, with joy, shall understand,
That, in our princely care, we have provided
One worthy to succeed us.

Hip. We submit,

And hold the counsels of great Cozimo Oraculous.

Enter LODOVICO and SANAZARRO.

Coz. My Sanazarro-Nay,

For bear all ceremony. You look sprightly, friend, And promise, in your clear aspect, some novel That may delight us.

San. O sir, I would not be

The harbinger of aught that might distaste you.
And, therefore, know (for 'twere a sin to torture
Your highness' expectation) your vice-admiral,
By my directions, hath surprised the gallies
Appointed to transport the Asian tribute
Of the great Turk; a richer prize was never
Brought into Florence.

Coz. Still my nightingale,

That with sweet accents dost assure me, that
My spring of happiness comes fast upon me.
Embrace me boldly, I pronounce that wretch
An enemy to brave and thriving action,
That dares believe, but in a thought, we are
Too prodigal in our favours to this man,
Whose merits, though with him we should divide
Our dukedom, still continue us his debtor.
Hip. Tis far from me.
Alph. We all applaud it.

Coz. Nay, blush not, Sanazarro; we are proud
Of what we build up in thee; nor can our
Election be disparaged, since we have not
Received into our bosom and our grace
A glorious lazy drone, grown fat with feeding
On other's toil, but an industrious bee,
That crops the sweet flowers of our enemies,
And every happy evening returns
Loaden with wax and honey to our hive.

San. My best endeavours never can discharge

Coz. Thou art too modest;

But we will study how to give, and when,

Enter GIOVANNI and CONTARINO,
Giovanni!

Before it be demanded.

My nephew! Let me eye thee better, boy.
In thee, methinks, my sister lives again:
For her love I will be a father to thee,
For thou art my adopted son.

Giov. Your servant,
And humblest subject.

Coz. Thy hard travel, nephew,
Requires soft rest; and, therefore, we forbear,
For the present, an account how thou hast spent
Thy absent hours. See, signiors, see, our care,
Without a second bed, provides you of

A hopeful prince! Carry him to his lodgings,
And, for his farther honour, Sanazarro,
With the rest, do you attend him.
Giov. All true pleasures
Circle your highness.

San. As the rising sun,
We do receive you.

Giov. May this never set, But shine upon you ever.

[Exeunt GIOVANNI, SANAZARRO, HIERO NIMO, ALPHONSO, LODOVICO.

Coz. Contarino!

Con. My gracious lord.

Coz. What entertainment found you From Carolo de Charamonte?

Coz. She is delivered,

And feelingly, to us by Contarino,

For a master-piece in nature. I would have you
Ride suddenly thither, to behold this wonder:
But not as sent by us, that's our first caution.
The second is, and carefully observe it,
That, though you are a bachelor, and endowed
with

All those perfections that may take a virgin,
On forfeit of our favour, do not tempt her.
It may be her fair graces do concern us.
Pretend what business you think fit, to gain
Access into her father's house, and there
Make full discovery of her, and return me
A true relation. I have some ends in it,
With which we will acquaint you.

San. This is, sir,

An easy task.

Coz. Yet, one that must exact Your secrecy and diligence. Let not Your stay be long.

San. It shall not, sir.

Coz. Farewell,

And be, as you would keep our favour, careful. [Exeunt,