Category: Plays/Films/Dramas
ALER. But you appear fresh as a city bridegroom, That has sign'd his wife a warrant for the Grafting of horns; how fares Belinda After the weight of so much sin? you lay with her To-night; come, speak, did you take up on trust, Or have you pawn'd a colony of oaths? Or an embro...
PAR. Master Jolly, I find I am naturally inclined to mirth this day, and methinks my corns ache more than my horns; and to a man that has read Seneca, a cuckold ought to be no g...
4. ACT IV., SCENE 1.Not find Evadne! sure, some wanton wind Has snatch'd her from the earth into the air! Smooth Zephyr fans the tresses of her hair, Whilst slick[30] Favonius plays the fawning sla...
108. SCENE VII.WID. Nay, then we have a party, niece: claim quickly, now is the time, according to the proverb, keep a thing seven years, and then if thou hast no use on't, throw't away.
113. SCENE V.WILD. As thou lov'st me, let's keep him here till he comes, and make him valiant with sack, that he may urge him till he beats him. We shall have the sport, and be revenged upon...
76. SCENE V.FRI. Should I discover my misfortunes, consuls, They would enforce compassion, even in strangers, Who know not my extraction. My descent, Besides the fortunes I deriv'd from the...
5. ACT V., SCENE 1.KING. For this discovery be still Antonio; The frowning law may with a furrowed face Hereafter look upon, but ne'er shall touch Thy condemn'd body. Here from a king's hand Take...
2. ACT II., SCENE 1.GOV. Hell take their spacious throats! we shall ere long Be pointed as a prodigy! Antonio is the man they load with praise, And we stand as a cypher to advance Him by a number h...
125. act iv.--[204] This custom, strange as it would now appear, was the constant practice of gentlemen in the 17th century. When on visits, either of ceremony or business, or even in company...
101. SCENE III.JOLLY. Remember our covenants, get them that can all friends; and be sure to despatch the plot to carry them into the country, lest the brace of newcome monsieurs get them.
1. ACT I., SCENE 1.ALER. But you appear fresh as a city bridegroom, That has sign'd his wife a warrant for the Grafting of horns; how fares Belinda After the weight of so much sin? you lay with he...
122. SCENE II.[_The_ FIDDLERS _play in the tiring-room; and the stage curtains are drawn, and discover a chamber, as it were, with two beds, and the ladies asleep in them_, MASTER WILD _being...
3. ACT III., SCENE 1.GIO. Raymond, y' are now my prisoner: Blind chance has favour'd, where your thoughts Had hope she meant to ruin From our discord, which Heaven has made victorious, You meant to...
99. ACT I., SCENE 1.CAPT. No more; I'll sooner be reconciled to want or sickness than that rascal: a thing that my charity made sociable; one that when I smiled would fawn upon me, and wag his ster...
106. SCENE V.CARE. No; but I'm so full of that resolution to dislike the sex, that I will allow none honest, none handsome. I tell thee, we must beat down the price with ourselves; court non...
98. SCENE VI.DUKE. As we have view'd and clear'd our foreign coasts, We're now to prune those wild luxurious sprays, Which give impede unto this spreading vine, Our flow'ry Seville, whose su...
114. ACT IV., SCENE 1.WAN. By all that a longing bride hopes for, which I am not, I am better pleased with this revenge than mine own plot, which takes as I could wish. I have so anointed my high pri...
120. SCENE VII.WAN. Yes, and have so admired you and Master Careless, and abused the lovers! Well, gentlemen, you are the wits of the time; but if I might counsel--well, they might lie alone t...
100. SCENE II.WID. Faith, wench, so wilt thou, and thou be'st wise, from him and all of them; and, be ruled by me, we'll abuse all the sex, till they put a true value upon us.
32. SCENE VI.ELE. I laugh, because you jest: Laugh at a jest. Who, I imprison them? I prize their lives with weights, their necks with chains, Their hands with manacles! do I all this? Becau...
103. SCENE II.CAPT. A pox upon you, are you earthed? The rogue has got her necklace of pearl; but I hope he will leave the rope to hang me in. How the pox came they so great? I must have some...
77. SCENE VI._Upon these Platonics' private parlance, dalliance, and embraces of the Ladies, Enter_ SIR AMADIN PUNY, SIR JASPER SIMPLETON, SIR ARTHUR HEARTLESS, SIR GREGORY SHAPELESS, SIR TR...
27. ACT V., SCENE I.CAR. Alvero, 'tis the pleasure of the king, Of the queen-mother, and these honoured states, To ease you of Philippo; there's a warrant Sent to remove him to a stronger guard.
83. SCENE VI.From the Cinnerian depth here am I come Leaving an Erra Pater in my tomb, To take a view, which of my fellows be The thriving'st artists in astronomy. Rank one by one in astrolo...
37. SCENE V.PLAN. Indeed, methinks a certain mist, Like darkness, hangeth[81] on my eyelids. But too great lustre may undo the sight: A man may stare so long upon the sun That he may look h...
8. SCENE III.QUEEN-M. Whose was that screech-owl's voice that, like the sound Of a hell-tortur'd soul, rung through mine ears Nothing but horrid shrieks, nothing but death? Whilst I, vailing...
110. SCENE II.WILD. As I live, captain, I subscribe, and am content to hold my wit as a tenant to thee; and to-night I'll invite you to supper, where it shall not be lawful to speak till thou...
69. SCENE II.But, sure, he has some high design in hand; he pores so fixedly upon the ground, as on my life he has some swingeing stuff for our fresh Dabrides, who have invested themselves i...
46. ACT III., SCENE 1.PLAN. O dear Inophilus! Let earth and heav'n forget there are such things; Or if they ever name them, let it be With a curse heavy as are the ills they act. A mandrake's note Wo...
117. SCENE IV.CAPT. And welcome. Anything but anger is sufferable, and all is jest, when you laugh; and I will hug thee for abusing me with thy eyes in their scabbards; but when you rail with...
6. ACT I., SCENE 1.QUEEN-M. Why is my love's aspA"ct so grim and horrid? Look smoothly on me; Chime out your softest strains of harmony, And on delicious music's silken wings Send ravishing deligh...
31. SCENE V.ELE. By what? Is't not rare walking here? Methinks this stage shows like a tennis-court; Does it not, Isabel? I'll show thee how-- Suppose that iron chain to be the line, The pr...
115. SCENE II.WAN. In bed with her, and do you raise him to punish him? Master constable, if you would afflict him, command them to lie together again. Is not the man mad?
44. SCENE VI.RIN. Would there were not a woman in the world, So we had our prince again! Sir, are you mad? Or have forgot you are a father? You Have undone us all.
26. SCENE V.PHIL. For that then, O, [_Touching his sword_] that it had nail'd thy heart Up to the pommel to the earth; come, arm me. Ha! 'sfoot! when all our swords were royally gilt with b...
43. SCENE V.KING. So riseth Phoebus from the gloomy night, While pale-fac'd Dian maketh haste to hide Her borrow'd glory in some neighb'ring cloud, Envying the beauty of the new-born day, W...
48. SCENE III.PLAN. Heaven, how she's alter'd! I, that once swore Jove from the well-tun'd sphere Ne'er heard such harmony as I did when She spake: methinks I can now, in comparison Of her vo...
25. SCENE IV.QUEEN-M. By all those sighs which thou, like passionate tunes, Hast often to my dull ears offered, By all thy hopes to enjoy my royal bed, By all those mourning lines which thou...
59. SCENE VII.EPH. Sit down, my lords, we have business with you Requires your hands and hearts, both speed and counsel. Our danger's such, that I could wish't had flown Upon us without warni...
24. SCENE III.ELE. O, for more work, more souls to post to hell, That I might pile up Charon's boat so full, Until it topple o'er! O, 'twould be sport To see them sprawl through the black sli...
102. ACT II., SCENE 1.JOLLY. No, 'tis you are unworthy, and deserve not those truths of love I have paid here; else you would not believe every report that envy brings, and condemn, without hearing m...
14. SCENE V.ELE. Escap'd! escap'd away! I am glad, it's good; I would their arms may turn to eagles' wings, To fly as swift as time. Sweet air, give way: Winds, leave your two-and-thirty pa...
19. SCENE IV.ELE. Bar up my castle gates! fire and confusion Shall girt these Spanish curs. Was I for this Sent to raise power against a fugitive? To have my wife deflower'd? Zounds! where's...
29. SCENE III.ELE. Do, do, my jocund spleen It does, it will, it shall. I have at one throw Rifled away the diadem of Spain; 'Tis gone, and there's no more to set but this At all. Then, at th...
74. SCENE III.CAR. No conceit Struck more on fancy than the tale you told me; 'Tis so attractive, Madam Caveare. It acts delight without a passive object, And forms an embryo in the phantasy...
70. SCENE III.TRIL. With what a scurvy, screwed look the myrmidon eyes him! He will surely bastinado our comedian out of his laureate periwig. Hold him tug, poet, or thou runs thy poetical pi...
10. ACT II., SCENE 1.ELE. Who spurns the Moor, Were better set his foot upon the devil. Do spurn me, and this confounding arm of wrath Shall, like a thunderbolt breaking the clouds, Divide his body...
11. SCENE II.ELE. How! a thousand ways: By poison, or by this [_Points to his sword_]; but every groom Has skill in such base traffic; no, our policies Must look more strange, must fly with...
61. SCENE IX.INO. Unhand the prince, or else by heav'n he treads Into his grave that moves a foot to touch him. Madam, though Plangus' noble self was blind, And could not see the deep black...
17. SCENE II.KING. My hand holds death; but love sits in mine eye. Exclaim not, dear Maria; do but hear me. Though thus in dead of night, as I do now, The lustful Tarquin stole to the chaste...
80. SCENE III.3D TRE. I'll tell thee the short and long on't. Before, if any of us had been so valiant (as few of us were) as to borrow money on the highway, we were sometimes forced to repay...
9. SCENE IV.ELE. If I digest this gall--O my Maria, I am whipp'd, and rack'd, and torn upon the wheel Of giddy Fortune; she and her minions Have got me down, and treading on my bosom, They...
40. SCENE II.INO. Sir, I am mad to see your tameness: A man bound up by magic is not so still as you; Nothing was ever precipitated thus, And yet refus'd to see its ruin.
20. SCENE V.ZAR. My cock stands perching like a cock o' the game, with a red coal for his crest, instead of a comb; and for my powder, 'tis but touch and take.
33. ACT I., SCENE 1.NIC. As like as may be: We soldiers are all given that way; especially, When our blood boils high, and [our] pulses beat Alarms to Cupid's battles; we are apter To sally on a yo...
45. SCENE VII.RIN. O cowardly boy! for that base word includes All baseness, doth not shame kill thee, Or fear chill thy dastard blood to an ice, At sight of that most noble injur'd ghost? 'T...
73. SCENE II._Enter six Ladies fantastically habited, in a wanton and pleasant posture: passing over the stage, they are encountered by six amorous complimental Servants, every one singling...
75. SCENE IV.1ST BOY. What! so soon returned? upon my life, there's some amorous design on foot, either in displaying of the weakness of those rams'-heads whom they have deserted, or some pa...
38. SCENE VI.AND. Curs'd be old age, and he that first Number'd fourscore! What devil has betray'd us to a doating fool? Did I but now promise myself, what hopes Ambitious thoughts could rea...
86. SCENE II.VIN. Not any, madam; but gallants are men of their words; they will stand to their tacking upon occasion: will you be pleased, noble ladies, in their absence to bestow yourselve...
34. SCENE II.EPH. See the ambassadors entertain'd With such an evenness as should be us'd to men We neither fear nor love; let neither Too much obsequiousness teach them insolency, Nor any i...
78. ACT III., SCENE 1.2D CIT. No doubt on't; his resolution is so firmly fixed no motion can decline it; and if we may credit Fame (which seldom errs in all, though it exceed in many), never was flee...
104. SCENE III.WAN. Why, ay; now I have but one to please, and if I please him, who dares offend me? and that wife's a fool that cannot make her husband one.
12. SCENE III.COLE. Your son a bastard? say, we do; But how then shall we deal with you? I tell you, as I said before, His being a bastard, you are so poor In honour and in name, that time Ca...
95. SCENE III.WIFE. Yes, surely, that's a trim word; but when, trow you, had I it? As I am an honest woman, I have been this goodman Fumbler's wife so many years, and he never yet gave me con...
55. SCENE III.LIB. I heard some such words as these: My rival in the kingdom----There's evidence against him---- The people's love----Deserving is a crime---- And somewhat else my fear made m...
71. SCENE IV.TIM. And just so must all our tavern tarmagons be used, or they'll trepan you, as they did that old scarified friar, whose bitter experiences furnished with ability enough to di...
60. SCENE VIII.RIN. As sure as death, this is one of the rogues That hath his roguery to act, and comes in like Something that hath brought news in th' latter end Of a play. Now shall we have...
87. SCENE III._What shall we poor ladies do, Match'd to shallops without brains, Whose demains_[168] _are in grains, And their wits in madding veins, Stor'd with Neapolitan mains? Give us spr...
109. ACT III., SCENE 1.PLEA. Rid of them! why, they are but now in season. As I live, I would do as little to give mine content as any she in town, and yet I do not grudge him the happiness of carryin...
18. SCENE III.ALV. Thou'rt no child of mine. Hadst thou been owner of Alvero's spirit, Thy heart would not have entertain'd a thought That had convers'd with murder: yet mine eyes, Howe'er my...
121. ACT V., SCENE 1.CAPT. Give the fiddlers their ribands, and carry the rest in. Mistress Wanton, you must play my lady's woman to-day, and mince it to all that come, and hold up your head finely...
51. SCENE VI.EPH. How fares Andromana? I'm glad this greatness sits so well about thee; My court was bless'd that hour I knew thee first. We'll live and still grow happy; we shall flourish L...
91. SCENE VII.[_The Favourites, as they appeared to their half-bodies in the preceding scene: so the deserted Knights become spectators of those public affronts done them by their Ladies: onl...
23. SCENE II.PHIL. Lie! a pox upon't, cardinal, come on, Second the desperate vanguard which is mine, And where I'll die or win. Follow my sword The bloody way I lead it, or, by heaven, I'll...
35. SCENE III.The blessing of an honest servant! This Rinatus is truer unto me. He loves the king as well as I Ephorbas; And may I live but to reward him, For he's too honest for a court.
123. SCENE III.CAPT. I know not where the fault lies directly: they say the wits of the town would not consent to't; they claim a right in the ladies as orphan wits.
105. SCENE IV.LOVE. Go, you are a naughty man. Do you come hither to rail against an honest gentleman? I have heard how you fell out: you may be ashamed on't, a man of your coat.
36. SCENE IV.INO. What is become of this young prince? or where Doth he bestow himself? Doth he walk invisible? Where have I [not] been to look him? the horses Are in the stables, his page a...
7. SCENE II.ELE. Queen with me! Because, my lord, I'm married to your daughter, You, like your daughter, will grow jealous: The queen with me! with me a Moor, a devil, A slave of Barbary, a...
50. SCENE V.My better genius, thou art welcome as A draught of water to a thirsty man: I ne'er had need of thee till now. Muster those devils dwell within thy breast, And let them counsel m...
107. SCENE VI.WAN. Have you no gall? be abused and laughed at by a dull captain, that a strict muster would turn fool! You had wit, and could rail when I offended you; and none so sudden, non...
66. SCENE V.PLAN. I bore whil[e]st I could; but now 'tis grown Too great to be contain'd in human breast, And it shall out, though hoop'd with walls of brass. Are they at it? I stood once l...
67. SCENE VI.RIN. Heav'n defend us! what a sight is here? The king, The prince, both slain? what, and my son too? Only this woman living? Speak out, [thou] Screech-owl, witch, how came they...
93. ACT V., SCENE 1.ALL. Conquest and affability contend Which to his count'nance may pretend most right. His spirit's too evenly poised to be transported With the success of fortune. Let us hear him.
15. SCENE VI.ELE. Or undermine the chamber where they lie, And by the violent strength of gunpowder Blow up the castle and th' incestuous couch, In which lust wallows; but my labouring thoug...
57. SCENE V.INO. An honest fellow call you him? If he have not rogue writ in great letters in's face, I have no physnomy.[97] Pray, sir, what was His business to you?
21. SCENE VI.ELE. So shall they perish that lay countermines To cross our high designments: by their habits The cardinal and Philip 'scap'd our nets, And by your hands they tasted our revenge.
90. SCENE VI.CAR. We trench too much upon these ladies' patience: Better too late than never; let us haste To crown their longing hopes with our attendance: Delays in visits quicken our desi...
22. ACT IV., SCENE 1.K. OF PORT. Poor Spain! how is the body of thy peace Mangled and torn by an ambitious Moor. How is thy prince and councillors abus'd, And trodden under the base foot of scorn. W...
16. ACT III., SCENE 1.QUEEN-M. Fair eldest child of love, thou spotless night, Empress of silence, and the queen of sleep, Who with thy black cheeks' pure complexion, Mak'st lovers' eyes enamour'd of...
62. ACT V., SCENE 1.LIB. What politician was there ever yet Who, swimming through a sea of plots and treasons, Sank not at last i' th' very haven's mouth? And shall I do so too? No, my thoughts pro...
72. ACT II., SCENE 1.2D BOY. Thou styles them rightly, Tim; for they have played the snakes, and put off their old slough. New brooms sweep clean. Frosty age and youth suit not well together. These...
82. SCENE V.CON. Come along with your horns, my lads of metal. It was the duke's pleasure before his departure, that we should be appointed the sinks and sentinels of the city, and that non...
119. SCENE VI._The tiring-room, curtains drawn, and they discourse. His chamber, two beds, two tables, looking-glasses, night-clothes, waistcoats, sweet-bags, sweetmeats, and wine:_ WANTON _d...
116. SCENE III.PLEA. And I'm glad I'm come home, for I am e'en a-weary with this walking. For God's sake, whereabouts does the pleasure of walking lie? I swear I have often sought it till I wa...
28. SCENE II.ELE. To advance virtue thus, and thus to tread On lust, on murder, on adultery's head. Look, lords, upon your sovereign Isabel; Though all may doubt the fruits of such a womb, I...
30. SCENE IV.HOR. You damned ministers of villany, Sworn to damnation by the book of hell; You maps of night, you element of devils, Why do you yoke my neck with iron chains?
97. SCENE V.JUL. I see well the court can do nothing without our city revellers. Trust me, I am with child till I get to't: but my desires are enlivened for a sight of my lord especially.
63. SCENE II.PLAN. I can no longer hold; 'tis not i' th' power Of fate to make me less. Bid me outstare The sun, outrun a falling star, Feed upon flames, or pocket up the clouds; Or if there...
84. SCENE VII.SIR REU. They are brought to our lodgings already. To try a conclusion, I have most fortunately made their pages our 'coys by the influence of a white powder, which has wrought...
13. SCENE IV.PHIL. Agreed. A pox upon these lousy gabardines. Agreed; I am for you, Moor; stand side by side; Come, hands off; leave your ducking.[58] Hell cannot fright Their spirits that d...
39. ACT II., SCENE 1.NIC. What, sir, and are you melancholy, when fate Hath shower'd a happiness so unexpected on us? This ugly, sneaking peace is the soldier's rock He splits his fortunes on. Bawdr...
41. SCENE III.NIC. Yonder's the bones o' th' army ralli'd up Together, but they look'd rather as if They came home from being soundly beaten. Methinks such tatter'd rogues should never conque...
118. SCENE V.WILD. The plague, as I live; and all my relation is truth, every syllable. But, Mistress Wanton, now must you play your masterpiece: be sure to blush, and appear but simple enou...
94. SCENE II.3D OFF. Tara-tantara. Thus far from the Isle of Canary. Is not this better, my boys, than trepanning an old drolling friar for a sequestered bond?--Hey boys, here be those India...
92. SCENE VIII.2D MER. Those Hectors, too, who launched forth for Tunis, Have shown their valour, and enrich'd their fortunes, Which languish'd in despair before this voyage, Above expectance;...
79. SCENE II.DUKE. Thus far on our address![146] May prosperous gales Breathe on our sails: sails, on our just designs In vindicating of our country's fame, Too long impair'd by suffering in...
81. SCENE IV.2D TRE. Go to, holy Benhadad; stand you to your calling as we to our arms. Thou art for converting the Great Turk, and we for lining our pockets with Tunis gold. Where if we get...
96. SCENE IV.MOR. Honour! what may that be in this age, but an airy title? These _bona-robas_ have not lost the art of ingratiating, nor deluding their servants. There be chimneys enough at...
88. SCENE IV.SIR ART. Or when I Engage my person, like a profess'd bolt, To vindicate a mistress, who for sale Would set her soul at hazard, may my grave Be in the kennel, and the scavenger...
68. ACT I., SCENE 1.TRIL. Hey, boys! never did my spirit chirp more cheerfully since I had one. Here is work for Platonics. Never did ladies, brave buxom girls, dispense at easier rates with their...
64. SCENE III.EPH. Riddle on[104] riddle! I have dream'd this night Plangus was cloth'd, like innocence, all white; And Andromana then methought was grown So black, nothing but all one guilt...
53. ACT IV., SCENE 1.EPH. For aught I know, my bed may be the next; Men are not bad by halves, nor doth one mischief Stop a man in his career of sin. There's as much reason i' th' one as th' other....
47. SCENE II.PLAN. Lord! how this spirit of revenge still haunts me, And tempts me with such promis'd opportunity, And magnifies my injuries! Sometimes It calls me coward, and tells me consc...
85. ACT IV., SCENE 1.JUL. Desires cannot endure protractive hours; The poet has confirm'd our thoughts in this, Placing our action far below our wish: "Sooner quenched is love's fire With fruition t...
65. SCENE IV.AND. So badgers dig the holes, and foxes live in them. Of all factors, state-factors are the worst, And get least to themselves of all their labour. This Libacer Is wading to th...
58. SCENE VI.LIB. Nobody; But I met going to him young Inophilus; And heard one servant tell another in great haste, Their lord would speak with some o' the captains o' the army.
89. SCENE V.JUL. From the too much freedom Of our affection: had we kept them still, At a discreeter distance, we had play'd The wiser falc'ners, and caus'd them stoop Unto our lure with ea...
111. SCENE III.WANTON. Bid them ply him close, and flatter him, and rail upon the old lady and the captain: and, do you hear, give him some hints to begin the story of his life. Do it handsome...
42. SCENE IV.KING. Her husband dead too! Fates, let me die, I am too happy to remain long thus Without a ruin, great as the height I fell from. Plangus was my only obstacle; but him I have R...
49. SCENE IV.AND. And is my love then scorn'd? The chaos of eternal night possess my breast, That it may not see to startle at any Undertakings, though they would make Medusa's snakes curl i...
52. SCENE VII.LIB. Nay, spare your pains, I know it all; I saw him Drink it with as great greediness as usurers Do unthrifts' lands, or jealous husbands confirm Their cuckoldships by ocular t...
112. SCENE IV.CAPT. 'Tis no matter. Here, carry this letter, and bring an answer to the Devil quickly; and tell her we'll stay there till the time be fit for the design.
126. Scene VIII of the FOURTH ACT of this play. ACT V. begins on the56. SCENE IV.PLAN. Whence should this kindness come? and on a sudden too? A strange alteration! She who a day ago Forgot the vows her soul was fetter'd in, And but this morning tempted me to...
54. SCENE II.