Shakespeare

“ AMADINE.
Ah, father! what of him?
KING OF ARAGON.
As sure as I am a king, and wear the crown,
I will revenge on that accursed wretch.
MUCEDORUS.
Yet, worthy prince, work not thy will in wrath,
Show favour—
KING OF ARAGON.
Ay, such favour thou deserv’st.
MUCEDORUS.
I do deserve the daughter of a king.
KING OF ARAGON.
Oh, impudent! A shepherd and so insolent!
MUCEDORUS.
No shepherd am I, but a worthy prince.
KING OF ARAGON.
In fair conceit, not princely born.
MUCEDORUS.
Yes, princely born, my father is a king,
My mother queen, and of Valencia both. ”

“ MUCEDORUS.
A shepherd, lady? Sure, a man unfit
To match with you!
AMADINE.
Ay, hermit, this is true,
And when we had—
MUCEDORUS.
Stay there, the wild man comes;
Defer the rest until another time.
Enter Bremo.
BREMO.
What secret tale is this? What whispering have we here?
Villain, I charge thee tell thy tale again.
MUCEDORUS.
If needs I must, lo! here it is again:
Whenas we both had lost the sight of thee,
It griev’d us both, but specially thy queen,
Who in thy absence ever fears the worst,
Lest some mischance befall your royal grace. ”

“ AMADINE.
Yet like enough, where there is no dislike.
MUCEDORUS.
Yet great dislike, or else no banishment.
AMADINE.
Shepherd, it only is
Segasto that procures thy banishment.
MUCEDORUS.
Unworthy wights are most in jealousy.
AMADINE.
Would God, they would free thee from banishment,
Or likewise banish me.
MUCEDORUS.
Amen, I say, to have your company.
AMADINE.
Well, shepherd, sith thou sufferest this for my sake,
With thee in exile also let me live,
On this condition, shepherd, thou canst love.
MUCEDORUS.
No longer love, no longer let me live. ”

“ Come, shepherd, come,
Sweet Mucedorus, come and set me free,
When Mucedorus present stands her by!
But here she comes.
Enter Amadine.
What news, fair lady, as you walk these woods?
AMADINE.
Ah, hermit! none but bad and such as thou know’st.
MUCEDORUS.
How do you like your Bremo and his woods?
AMADINE.
Oh, not my Bremo, nor my Bremo’s woods.
MUCEDORUS.
And why not yours? Methinks he loves you well.
AMADINE.
I like him not, his love to me is nothing worth.
MUCEDORUS.
Lady, in this, methinks, you offer wrong,
To hate the man that ever loves you best. ”

“ Erewhiles assaulted with an ugly bear,
With Amadine in company all alone,
Forthwith by flight I thought to save myself,
Leaving my Amadine unto her shifts;
For death it was for to resist the bear,
And death no less of Amadine’s harms to hear.
Accursed I, in ling’ring life thus long!
In living thus, each minute of an hour
Doth pierce my heart with darts of thousand deaths.
If she by flight her fury do escape,
What will she think?
Will she not say, yea, flatly to my face,
Accusing me of mere disloyalty:
A trusty friend is tried in time of need. ”

“ MUCEDORUS.
My former heaven is now become my hell.
MOUSE.
The worst alehouse that I ever came in, in all my life.
MUCEDORUS.
What shall I do?
MOUSE.
Even go hang thyself half an hour.
MUCEDORUS.
Can Amadine so churlishly command,
To banish th’ shepherd from her father’s court?
MESSENGER.
What should shepherds do in the court?
MOUSE.
What should shepherds do amongst us? Have we not lords enough o’er us in the court?
MUCEDORUS.
Why, shepherds are men, and kings are no more.
MESSENGER.
Shepherds are men, and masters o’er their flock. ”

“ RODERIGO.
Let your strings sleep, have done there.
[Music ceases.]
KING OF VALENCIA.
Mirth to a soul disturb’d are embers turn’d
Which sudden gleam with molestation,
But sooner lose their light for it.
’Tis gold bestow’d upon a rioter,
Which not relieves but murders him; a drug
Given to the healthful, which infects, not cures.
How can a father that hath lost his son,
A prince both virtuous, wise, and valiant,
Take pleasure in the idle acts of time?
No, no; till Mucedorus I shall see again,
All joy is comfortless, all pleasure pain.
ANSELMO.
Your son, my lord, is well. ”

“ All we are bound to do the shepherd good.
Shepherd,
Whereas it was my sentence thou shouldst die,
So shall my sentence stand, for thou shalt die.
SEGASTO.
Thanks to your majesty.
KING OF ARAGON.
[To Segasto.] But soft, Segasto, not for this offence.
[To Mucedorus.] Long may’st thou live; [to Segasto.] and when the Sisters shall decree
To cut in twain the twisted thread of life,
Then let him die: for this I set thee free;
[To Mucedorus.] And for thy valour I will honour thee.
AMADINE.
Thanks to your majesty. ”

“ Enter Anselmo with a Shepherd’s coat, which he gives to Mucedorus.
MUCEDORUS.
So!
Let our respect command thy secrecy,
And let us take at once a brief farewell;
Delay to lovers is a second hell.
[Exit Mucedorus.]
ANSELMO.
Prosperity forerun thee; awkward chance
Never be neighbour to thy wishes’ venture;
Content and Fame advance thee; ever thrive,
And glory thy mortality survive!
[Exit.]
SCENE II. A Forest in Aragon Enter Mouse with a bottle of hay.
MOUSE.
O horrible, terrible! Was ever poor gentleman so scar’d out of his seven senses? A bear? ”

“ The shepherd’s virtue Amadine esteems.
But what, methinks my shepherd is not come;
I muse at that, the hour is sure at hand.
Well, here I’ll rest, till Mucedorus come.
[She sits down.]
Enter Bremo, looking about; hastily taketh hold of her.
BREMO.
A happy prey! now, Bremo, feed on flesh:
Dainties, Bremo, dainties, thy hungry paunch to fill:
Now glut thy greedy guts with lukewarm blood.
Come, fight with me, I long to see thee dead.
AMADINE.
How can she fight, that weapons cannot wield?
BREMO.
What, canst not fight? Then lie thou down and die.
AMADINE.
What, must I die? ”

“ SCENE II. The same Enter Segasto and the Clown, with weapons about him.
SEGASTO.
Tell me, sirrah, how do you like your weapons?
MOUSE.
O, very well, very well, they keep my sides warm.
SEGASTO.
They keep the dogs from your shins very well, do they not?
MOUSE.
How, keep the dogs from my shins? I would scorn but my shins could keep the dogs from them.
SEGASTO.
Well, sirrah, leaving idle talk, tell me, dost thou know Captain Tremelio’s chamber?
MOUSE.
Ay, very well, it hath a door.
SEGASTO.
I think so; for so hath every chamber. But dost thou know the man? ”

“ I tell thee, the shepherd killed him.
MOUSE.
O, did a so? But, master, I will have all his apparel, if I carry him away.
SEGASTO.
Why, so thou shalt.
MOUSE.
Come, then, I will help; mass, master, I think his mother song looby to him, he is so heavy.
[Exeunt Segasto and Mouse.]
MUCEDORUS.
Behold the fickle state of man,
That’s 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. ”

“ SCENE III. The same Enter Segasto running, and Amadine after him, being pursued with a bear.
SEGASTO.
Oh fly, madam, fly or else we are but dead!
AMADINE.
Help, sweet Segasto, help, or else I die!
SEGASTO.
Alas, madam! there is no way but flight;
Then haste and save yourself.
[Segasto runs away.]
AMADINE.
Why then I die; ah! help me in distress!
Enter Mucedorus, like a Shepherd, with a sword drawn, and a Bear’s head in his hand.
MUCEDORUS.
Stay, lady, stay; and be no more dismay’d. ”

“ That dares control the pleasures of our will?
Vaunt, churlish cur, besmear’d with gory blood,
That seemst to check the blossoms of delight,
And stifle the sound of sweet Bellona’s breath;
Blush, monster, blush, and post away with shame,
That seekest disturbance of a goddess’ deeds.
ENVY.
Post hence thyself, thou counterchecking trull;
I will possess this habit, spite of thee,
And gain the glory of thy wished sport. ”

“ The slaughter of this bear deserves great fame.
SEGASTO.
The slaughter of a man deserves great blame.
KING OF ARAGON.
Indeed, occasion ofttimes so falls out.
SEGASTO.
Tremelio in the wars, O King, preserved thee.
AMADINE.
The shepherd in the woods, O King, preserved me.
SEGASTO.
Tremelio fought, when many men did yield.
AMADINE.
So would the shepherd, had he been in field.
MOUSE.
[Aside.] So would my master, had he not run away.
SEGASTO.
Tremelio’s force sav’d thousands from the foe.
AMADINE.
The shepherd’s force hath saved thousands more. ”

“ Enter the King of Valencia, Anselmo, Roderigo, Lord Borachius, with others.
KING OF VALENCIA.
Enough of music, it but adds to torment,
Delights to vexed spirits are as dates
Set to a sickly man, which rather cloy than comfort ”

“ Some one or other is pursued, no doubt,
Perhaps some search for me; ’tis good
To doubt the worst, therefore I’ll be gone.
[Exit.]
SCENE V. The same Cry within ‘Hold him, hold him!’ Enter Mouse, the Clown, with a pot.
MOUSE.
Hold him, hold him, hold him! Here’s a stir indeed; here came hue after the crier, and I was set close at mother Nip’s house, and there I called for three pots of ale, as ’tis the manner of us courtiers. Now, sirrah, I had taken the maidenhead of two of them—now as I was lifting up the third to my mouth, there came: Hold him, hold him! ”

“ 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 be gone;
A time will serve, when we shall better speed.
[Exit.]
SCENE IV. Aragon. a Room of State in the Court Enter the King, Segasto, the Shepherd, and the Clown with others.
KING OF ARAGON.
Shepherd, thou hast heard thine accusers; murther
Is laid unto thy charge; what canst thou say?
Thou hast deserved death. ”

“ This seems to be a merry fellow;
I care not if I take him home with me.
Mirth is a comfort to a troubled mind,
A merry man a merry master makes.
[To Mouse.] How say’st thou, sirrah, wilt thou dwell with me? ”