A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Vii Part 33

CLOWN. Why, how now, what's the matter?

I thought you would be calling before I had done.

SEGASTO. Come, help, away with my friend.

CLOWN. Why, is he drunk? cannot he stand on his feet?

SEGASTO. No, he is not drunk; he is slain.

CLOWN. Flain! no, by['r] Lady, he is not flain.

SEGASTO. He's killed, I tell thee.

CLOWN. What, do you use to kill your friends?

I will serve you no longer.

SEGASTO. I tell thee the shepherd kill'd him.

CLOWN. O, did a so?

But, master, I will have all his apparel If I carry him away.

SEGASTO. Why, so thou shalt.

CLOWN. Come, then, I will help; ma.s.s, master, I think His mother sang _looby_ to him, he is so heavy.

[_Exeunt_.

MUCEDORUS. Behold the fickle state of man, always mutable; Never at one.

Sometimes we feed on fancies With the sweet of our desires: sometimes again We feel the heat of extreme miseries.

Now am I in favour about the court and country, To-morrow those favours will turn to frowns, To-day I live revenged on my foe, To-morrow I die, my foe revenged on me.

[_Exit.

Enter_ BREMO, _a wild man_.

BREMO. No pa.s.senger this morning? what, not one?

A chance that seldom doth befall.

What, not one? then lie thou there, And rest thyself, till I have further need.

[_Lays down his club_.

Now, Bremo, sith thy leisure so affords, An endless thing. Who knows not Bremo's strength, Who like a king commands within these woods.

The bear, the boar, dares not abide my sight, But hastes away to save themselves by flight.

The crystal waters in the bubbling brooks, When I come by, doth swiftly slide away, And claps themselves in closets under banks, Afraid to look bold Bremo in the face: The aged oaks at Bremo's breath do bow, And all things else are still at my command, Else what would I?

Rend them in pieces, and pluck them from the earth, And each way else I would revenge myself.

Why, who comes here, with whom I dare not fight?

Who fights with me, and doth not die the death?

Not one. What favour shows this st.u.r.dy stick to those, that here Within these woods are combatants with me?

Why, death, and nothing else but present death.

With restless rage I wander through these woods; No creature here but feareth Bremo's force, Man, woman, child; beast and bird, And everything that doth approach my sight, Are forc'd to fall, if Bremo once do frown.

Come, cudgel, come, my partner in my spoils, For here I see this day it will not be.

But when it falls, that I encounter any, One pat sufficeth for to work my will.

What, comes not one? Then let's begone; A time will serve, when we shall better speed.

[_Exit.

Enter the_ KING, SEGASTO, _the_ SHEPHERD, _and the_ CLOWN, _with others_.

KING. Shepherd, Thou hast heard thine accusers. Murther Is laid to thy charge; what canst thou say?

Thou hast deserved death.

MUCEDORUS. Dread sovereign, I must needs confess I slew this captain in mine own defence, Not of any malice, but by chance; But mine accuser hath a further meaning.

SEGASTO. Words will not here prevail, I seek for justice, and justice craves his death.

KING. Shepherd, thine own confession hath condemned thee.

Sirrah, take him away, and do him to execution straight.

CLOWN. So he shall, I warrant him. But do you hear, Master King, he is kin to a monkey; his neck is bigger than his head.

SEGASTO. Sirrah, away with him, and hang him about the middle.

CLOWN. Yes, forsooth, I warrant you. Come on, sir, a so like a sheep-biter a looks.

_Enter_ AMADINE, _and a boy with a bear's head_.

AMADINE. Dread sovereign and well-beloved sire, On benden knees I crave the life of this Condemn'd shepherd, which heretofore preserved The life of thy sometime distressed daughter.

KING. Preserved the life of my sometime distressed daughter?

How can that be? I never knew the time, Wherein thou wast distress'd. I never knew the day But that I have maintained thy estate, As best beseem'd the daughter of a king: I never saw the shepherd until now.

How comes it then, that he preserv'd thy life?

AMADINE. Once walking with Segasto in the woods, Further than our accustom'd manner was, Right before us down a steep-fall hill, A monstrous ugly bear did hie him fast To meet us both--now whether this be true, I refer it to the credit of Segasto.

SEGASTO. Most true, an't like your majesty.

KING. How then?

AMADINE. The bear, being eager to obtain his prey, Made forward to us with an open mouth, As if he meant to swallow us both at once.

The sight whereof did make us both to dread, But specially your daughter Amadine, Who for I saw no succour incident, But in Segasto's valour, I grew desperate, And he most coward-like began to fly.

Left me distress'd to be devour'd of him-- How say you, Segasto? is it not true?

KING. His silence verifies it to be true. What then?

AMADINE. Then I amaz'd, distressed, all alone, Did hie me fast to 'scape that ugly bear.

But all in vain; for why he reached after me, And oft I hardly did[174] escape his paws, Till at the length this shepherd came, And brought to me his head.

Come hither, boy; lo, here it is, Which I present unto your majesty.

KING. The slaughter of this bear deserves great fame.

SEGASTO. The slaughter of a man deserves great blame.

KING. Indeed occasion oftentimes so falls out.