As to a hatted dame, if her love answer: THE DEVIL'S LAW CASE; OR, WHEN WOMEN GO TO LAW, THE DEVIL IS FULL OF BUSINESS. A TRAGI-COMEDY. BY JOHN WEBSTER. Contarino challenges Ercole to fight him for the possession of Jolenta, whom they both love. Con. Sir; my love to you has proclaim'd you one, Erc. Unfained. Con. You are false To the good thought I held of you; and now, That you should love her. Erc. Compare her beauty and my youth together, And you will find the fair effects of love No miracle at all. Con. Yes, it will prove Prodigious to you: I must stay your voyage. Con. 'Tis a seal From heaven to do it, since you'd ravish from me By practice that had giv'n you now for dead You must fight with me. Erc. I will, Sir. Con. And instantly. Ere. I will haste before you. Point whither. Con. Why, you speak nobly; and, for this fair dealing, Were the rich jewel (which we vary for) A thing to be divided, by my life, I would be well content to give you half: But since 'tis vain to think we can be friends, Tis needful one of us be tane away From being the other's enemy. Erc. Yet, methinks, This looks not like a quarrel. Erc. You have not apparelled your fury well; Con. It is an ornament, Makes it more terrible; and you shall find it By discreet valor; because I do not strike you, Erc. You promise well to yourself. Con. None, for fear of prevention. So whether our time calls us to live or die, Erc. For that, let me embrace you. Con. Methinks, being an Italian, I trust you But your jealousy gave that embrace, to try Erc. No, believe me. I take your heart to be sufficient proof I am arm'd with. Con. You deal equally.* Sitting for a picture. Must you have my Picture? You will enjoin me to a strange punishment. It has not been the same: I have known others I were devoutly kneeling at my prayers ; • I have selected this scene as the model of a well managed and gentlemanlike difference. Honorable Employment. Oh, my lord, lie not idle : The chiefest action for a man of great spirit Is never to be out of action. We should think; Virtue is over sowing of her seeds: In the trenches for the soldier; in the wakeful study For the scholar; in the furrows of the sea For men of our profession: of all which Arise and spring up honor. Selling of Land, I could wish That noblemen would ever live in the country, Dirge in a Funeral Pageant. All the flowers of the spring Sweetest breath and clearest eye To leave a living name behind, And weave but nets to catch the wind. APPIUS AND VIRGINIA: A TRAGEDY. BY JOHN WEBSTER. Appius, the Roman Decemvir; not being able to corrupt the Innocence of Virginia, Daughter to Virginius the Roman General, and newly mar ried to leilius, a young and noble Gentleman; to get possession of her person, suborns one Clodius to claim her as the Daughter of a deceased bondwoman of his, on the testimony of certain forged writings, pretended to be the Deposition of that Woman, on her deathbed, confess ing that the Child had been spuriously passed upon l'irginius for his own: the Cause is tried at Rome before Appius. APPIUS. VIRGINIA. VIRGINIUS, her Father. ICILIUS, her Hus As smooth a tale on our side. Appius. Give us leave. Virginius. He deals in formal glosses, cunning shows, And cares not greatly which way the case goes. Examine I beseech you this old woman, Who is the truest witness of her birth. Appius. Soft you, is she your only witness? Virginius. She is, my Lord. Appius. Why, is it possible, Such a great Lady in her time of child birth Should have no other witness but a nurse? Virginius. For aught I know, the rest are dead, my Lord. Appius. Dead? no, my Lord, belike they were of counsel With your deceased Lady, and so shamed Twice to give color to so vile an act. Thou nurse, observe me, thy offence already • Counsel for Clodius. |