Pericles

Pericles

ACT IV SCENE VI	The same. A room in the brothel.
	Enter Pandar, Bawd, and BOULT
Pandar	Well, I had rather than twice the worth of her she
	had ne'er come here.
Bawd	Fie, fie upon her! she's able to freeze the god
	Priapus, and undo a whole generation. We must	5
	either get her ravished, or be rid of her. When she
	should do for clients her fitment, and do me the
	kindness of our profession, she has me her quirks,
	her reasons, her master reasons, her prayers, her
	knees; that she would make a puritan of the devil,	10
	if he should cheapen a kiss of her.
BOULT	'Faith, I must ravish her, or she'll disfurnish us
	of all our cavaliers, and make our swearers priests.
Pandar	Now, the pox upon her green-sickness for me!
Bawd	'Faith, there's no way to be rid on't but by the	15
	way to the pox. Here comes the Lord Lysimachus disguised.
BOULT	We should have both lord and lown, if the peevish
	baggage would but give way to customers.
	Enter LYSIMACHUS
LYSIMACHUS	How now! How a dozen of virginities?
Bawd	Now, the gods to-bless your honour!	20
BOULT	I am glad to see your honour in good health.
LYSIMACHUS	You may so; 'tis the better for you that your
	resorters stand upon sound legs. How now!
	wholesome iniquity have you that a man may deal
	withal, and defy the surgeon?	25
Bawd	We have here one, sir, if she would--but there never
	came her like in Mytilene.
LYSIMACHUS	If she'ld do the deed of darkness, thou wouldst say.
Bawd	Your honour knows what 'tis to say well enough.
LYSIMACHUS	Well, call forth, call forth.	30
BOULT	For flesh and blood, sir, white and red, you shall
	see a rose; and she were a rose indeed, if she had but--
LYSIMACHUS	What, prithee?
BOULT	O, sir, I can be modest.
LYSIMACHUS	That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no less than it	35
	gives a good report to a number to be chaste.
	Exit BOULT
Bawd	Here comes that which grows to the stalk; never
	plucked yet, I can assure you.
	Re-enter BOULT with MARINA
	Is she not a fair creature?
LYSIMACHUS	'Faith, she would serve after a long voyage at sea.	40
	Well, there's for you: leave us.
Bawd	I beseech your honour, give me leave: a word, and
	I'll have done presently.
LYSIMACHUS	I beseech you, do.
Bawd	To MARINA
	an honourable man.	45
MARINA	I desire to find him so, that I may worthily note him.
Bawd	Next, he's the governor of this country, and a man
	whom I am bound to.
MARINA	If he govern the country, you are bound to him
	indeed; but how honourable he is in that, I know not.	50
Bawd	Pray you, without any more virginal fencing, will
	you use him kindly? He will line your apron with gold.
MARINA	What he will do graciously, I will thankfully receive.
LYSIMACHUS	Ha' you done?
Bawd	My lord, she's not paced yet: you must take some	55
	pains to work her to your manage. Come, we will
	leave his honour and her together. Go thy ways.
	Exeunt Bawd, Pandar, and BOULT
LYSIMACHUS	Now, pretty one, how long have you been at this trade?
MARINA	What trade, sir?
LYSIMACHUS	Why, I cannot name't but I shall offend.	60
MARINA	I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it.
LYSIMACHUS	How long have you been of this profession?
MARINA	E'er since I can remember.
LYSIMACHUS	Did you go to 't so young? Were you a gamester at
	five or at seven?	65
MARINA	Earlier too, sir, if now I be one.
LYSIMACHUS	Why, the house you dwell in proclaims you to be a
	creature of sale.
MARINA	Do you know this house to be a place of such resort,
	and will come into 't? I hear say you are of	70
	honourable parts, and are the governor of this place.
LYSIMACHUS	Why, hath your principal made known unto you who I am?
MARINA	Who is my principal?
LYSIMACHUS	Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seeds and roots
	of shame and iniquity. O, you have heard something	75
	of my power, and so stand aloof for more serious
	wooing. But I protest to thee, pretty one, my
	authority shall not see thee, or else look friendly
	upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place:
	come, come.	80
MARINA	If you were born to honour, show it now;
	If put upon you, make the judgment good
	That thought you worthy of it.
LYSIMACHUS	How's this? how's this? Some more; be sage.
MARINA	For me,	85
	That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune
	Have placed me in this sty, where, since I came,
	Diseases have been sold dearer than physic,
	O, that the gods
	Would set me free from this unhallow'd place,	90
	Though they did change me to the meanest bird
	That flies i' the purer air!
LYSIMACHUS	I did not think
	Thou couldst have spoke so well; ne'er dream'd thou couldst.
	Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,	95
	Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for thee:
	Persever in that clear way thou goest,
	And the gods strengthen thee!
MARINA	The good gods preserve you!
LYSIMACHUS	For me, be you thoughten	100
	That I came with no ill intent; for to me
	The very doors and windows savour vilely.
	Fare thee well. Thou art a piece of virtue, and
	I doubt not but thy training hath been noble.
	Hold, here's more gold for thee.	105
	A curse upon him, die he like a thief,
	That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou dost
	Hear from me, it shall be for thy good.
	Re-enter BOULT
BOULT	I beseech your honour, one piece for me.
LYSIMACHUS	Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper!	110
	Your house, but for this virgin that doth prop it,
	Would sink and overwhelm you. Away!
	Exit
BOULT	How's this? We must take another course with you.
	If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a
	breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope,	115
	shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded like
	a spaniel. Come your ways.
MARINA	Whither would you have me?
BOULT	I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common
	hangman shall execute it. Come your ways. We'll	120
	have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say.
	Re-enter Bawd
Bawd	How now! what's the matter?
BOULT	Worse and worse, mistress; she has here spoken holy
	words to the Lord Lysimachus.
Bawd	O abominable!	125
BOULT	She makes our profession as it were to stink afore
	the face of the gods.
Bawd	Marry, hang her up for ever!
BOULT	The nobleman would have dealt with her like a
	nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a	130
	snowball; saying his prayers too.
Bawd	Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure:
	crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable.
BOULT	An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she
	is, she shall be ploughed.	135
MARINA	Hark, hark, you gods!
Bawd	She conjures: away with her! Would she had never
	come within my doors! Marry, hang you! She's born
	to undo us. Will you not go the way of women-kind?
	Marry, come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays!	140
	Exit
BOULT	Come, mistress; come your ways with me.
MARINA	Whither wilt thou have me?
BOULT	To take from you the jewel you hold so dear.
MARINA	Prithee, tell me one thing first.
BOULT	Come now, your one thing.	145
MARINA	What canst thou wish thine enemy to be?
BOULT	Why, I could wish him to be my master, or rather, my mistress.
MARINA	Neither of these are so bad as thou art,
	Since they do better thee in their command.
	Thou hold'st a place, for which the pained'st fiend	150
	Of hell would not in reputation change:
	Thou art the damned doorkeeper to every
	Coistrel that comes inquiring for his Tib;
	To the choleric fisting of every rogue
	Thy ear is liable; thy food is such	155
	As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs.
BOULT	What would you have me do? go to the wars, would
	you? where a man may serve seven years for the loss
	of a leg, and have not money enough in the end to
	buy him a wooden one?	160
MARINA	Do any thing but this thou doest. Empty
	OLD receptacles, or common shores, of filth;
	Serve by indenture to the common hangman:
	Any of these ways are yet better than this;
	For what thou professest, a baboon, could he speak,	165
	Would own a name too dear. O, that the gods
	Would safely deliver me from this place!
	Here, here's gold for thee.
	If that thy master would gain by thee,
	Proclaim that I can sing, weave, sew, and dance,	170
	With other virtues, which I'll keep from boast:
	And I will undertake all these to teach.
	I doubt not but this populous city will
	Yield many scholars.
BOULT	But can you teach all this you speak of?	175
MARINA	Prove that I cannot, take me home again,
	And prostitute me to the basest groom
	That doth frequent your house.
BOULT	Well, I will see what I can do for thee: if I can
	place thee, I will.	180
MARINA	But amongst honest women.
BOULT	'Faith, my acquaintance lies little amongst them.
	But since my master and mistress have bought you,
	there's no going but by their consent: therefore I
	will make them acquainted with your purpose, and I	185
	doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough.
	Come, I'll do for thee what I can; come your ways.
	Exeunt