Page 1410 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

Had I kenned all that were; I never practised [100]
Upon man’s wife, nor would the libels read
Of liberal wits; I never at great feasts
Sought to betray a beauty, but have blushed

At simpering sirs that did; I have been harsh
To large confessors, and have hotly asked them [105]
If they had mothers − I had one, a woman,
And women ’twere they wronged. I knew a man

Of eighty winters − this I told them − who
A lass of fourteen brided. ’Twas thy power
To put life into dust; the agèd cramp [110]
Had screwed his square foot round,

The gout had knit his fingers into knots,
Torturing convulsions from his globy eyes
Had almost drawn their spheres, that what was life
In him seemed torture. This anatomy [115]

Had by his young fair fere a boy, and I
Believed it was his, for she swore it was,
And who would not believe her? Brief, I am
To those that prate and have done, no companion;

To those that boast and have not, a defier; [120]
To those that would and cannot, a rejoicer.
Yea, him I do not love that tells close offices
The foulest way, nor names concealments in

The boldest language; such a one I am,
And vow that lover never yet made sigh [125]
Truer than I. O then, most soft sweet goddess,
Give me the victory of this question, which

Is true love’s merit, and bless me with a sign
Of thy great pleasure.
Here music is heard and doves are seen to flutter. They fall again upon
their faces, then on their knees.

O thou that from eleven to ninety reignest [130]
In mortal bosoms, whose chase is this world
And we in herds thy game, I give thee thanks
For this fair token, which, being laid unto

Mine innocent true heart, arms in assurance
My body to this business. Let us rise [135]