A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Ix Part 97

Then he will be here forthwith: you, Master Baxter, Go usher hither straight young Katherine, Sir William here and I will keep this room, Till you return.

[_Exit_ DOCTOR.

_Enter_ SCARBOROW.

SCAR. My honourable[354] lord.

LORD. 'Tis well-done, Scarborow.

SCAR. Kind uncle.

WIL. Thanks, my good coz.

LORD. You have been welcome in your country Yorkshire?

SCAR. The time that I spent there, my lord, was merry.

LORD. 'Twas well, 'twas very well! and in your absence Your uncle here and I have been bethinking, What gift 'twixt us we might bestow on you, That to your house large dignity might bring, With fair increase, as from a crystal spring.

_Enter_ DOCTOR _and_ KATHERINE.

SCAR. My name is bound to your benificence, Your hands have been to me like bounty's purse, Never shut up, yourself my foster nurse: Nothing can from your honour come, prove me so rude, But I'll accept, to shun ingrat.i.tude.

LORD. We accept thy promise, now return thee this, A virtuous wife: accept her with a kiss.

SCAR. My honourable lord!

LORD. Fear not to take her, man: she will fear neither, Do what thou canst, being both abed together.

SCAR. O, but my lord--

LORD. But me? dog of wax! come kiss, and agree, Your friends have thought it fit, and it must be.

SCAR. I have no hands to take her to my wife.

LORD. How, sauce-box?

SCAR. O, pardon me, my lord; the unripeness of my years, Too green for government, is old in fears To undertake that charge.

LORD. Sir, sir, and sir knave, then here is a mellowed experience knows how to teach you.

SCAR. O G.o.d.

LORD. O Jack, Have[355] both our cares, your uncle and myself, Sought, studied, found out, and for your good, A maid, a niece of mine, both fair and chaste; And must we stand at your discretion?

SCAR. O good my lord, Had I two souls, then might I have two wives: Had I two faiths, then had I one for her; Having of both but one, that one is given To Sir John Harcop's daughter.

LORD. Ha, ha! what's that? let me hear that again.

SCAR. To Sir John Harcop's Clare I have made an oath: Part me in twain, yet she's one-half of both.

This hand the which I wear, it is half hers: Such power hath faith and troth 'twixt couples young, Death only cuts that knot tied with the tongue.

LORD. And have you knit that knot, sir?

SCAR. I have done so much that, if I wed not her, My marriage makes me an adulterer: In which black sheets I wallow all my life, My babes being b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and a wh.o.r.e my wife.

_Enter_ SECRETARY.

LORD. Ha, is't even so? my secretary there, Write me a letter straight to Sir John Harcop, I'll see, sir Jack, and if that Harcop dare, Being my ward, contract you to his daughter.

[_Exit_ SECRETARY.

_Enter_ STEWARD.

My steward too, post you to Yorkshire, Where lies my youngster's land; and, sirrah, Fell me his wood, make havoc, spoil and waste. [_Exit_ STEWARD.

Sir, you shall know that you are ward to me, I'll make you poor enough: then mend yourself.

WIL. O cousin!

SCAR. O uncle!

LORD. Contract yourself, and where you list?

I'll make you know me, sir, to be your guard.

SCAR. World, now thou seest what 'tis to be a ward.

LORD. And where I meant myself to have disburs'd Four thousand pounds, upon this marriage Surrendered up your land to your own use, And compa.s.s'd other portions to your hands, Sir, I'll now yoke you still.

SCAR. A yoke indeed.

LORD. And, spite of them[356] dare contradict my will, I'll make thee marry to my chambermaid. Come, coz.

[_Exit_.

BAX. Faith, sir, it fits you to be more advis'd.

SCAR, Do not you flatter for preferment, sir?

WIL. O, but, good coz!

SCAR. O, but, good uncle, could I command my love, Or cancel oaths out of heaven's brazen book, Engross'd by G.o.d's own finger, then you might speak.

Had men that law to love, as most have tongues To love a thousand women with, then you might speak.

Were love like dust, lawful for every wind To bear from place to place; were oaths but puffs, Men might forswear themselves; but I do know, Though, sin being pa.s.s'd with us, the act's forgot, The poor soul groans, and she forgets it not.

WIL. Yet hear your own case.

SCAR. O, 'tis too miserable!

That I, a gentleman, should be thus torn From mine own right, and forc'd to be forsworn.

WIL. Yet, being as it is, it must be your care, To salve it with advice, not with despair; You are his ward: being so, the law intends He is to have your duty, and in his rule Is both your marriage and your heritage.

If you rebel 'gainst these injunctions, The penalty takes hold on you; which for himself He straight thus prosecutes; he wastes your land, Weds you where he thinks fit:[357] but if yourself Have of some violent humour match'd yourself Without his knowledge, then hath he power To merce[358] your purse, and in a sum so great, That shall for ever keep your fortunes weak, Where otherwise, if you be rul'd by him, Your house is rais'd by matching to his kin.