2093King. This tedious iourney all on foot, sweet Loue,

2094Cannot be pleasing to your tender ioynts,

2095Which ne're were vsed to these toylesome walks.

2096Cord. I neuer in my life tooke more delight

2097In any iourney, then I do in this:

2098It did me good, when as we hapt to light

2099Amongst the merry crue of country folke,

2100To see what industry and paynes they tooke,

2101To win them commendations 'mongst their friends.

2102Lord, how they labour to bestir themselues,

2103And in their quirks to go beyond the Moone,

2104And so take on them with such antike fits,

2105That one would think they were beside their wits!

2106Come away, Roger, with your basket.

2107Mum. Soft, Dame, here comes a couple of old youthes,

2108I must needs make my selfe fat with iesting at them.

2109Cor. Nay, prithy do not, they do seeme to be

Enter Leir

& Perillus

very faintly.

2110Men much o'regone with griefe and misery.

2111Let's stand aside, and harken what they say.

2112Leir. Ah, my Perillus, now I see we both

2113Shall end our dayes in this vnfruitfull soyle.

2114Oh, I do faint for want of sustenance:

2115And thou, I know, in little better case.

2116No gentle tree affords one taste of fruit,

2117To comfort vs, vntill we meet with men:

2118No lucky path conducts our lucklesse steps

2119Vnto a place where any comfort dwels.

2120Sweet rest betyde vnto our happy soules;

2121For here I see our bodies must haue end.

2122Per. Ah, my deare Lord, how doth my heart lament,

2123To see you brought to this extremity!

2124O, if you loue me, as you do professe,

2125Or euer thought well of me in my life, He strips up his arme.

2126Feed on this flesh, whose veynes are not so dry,

2127But there is vertue left to comfort you.

2128O, feed on this, if this will do you good

2129Ile smile for ioy, to see you suck my bloud.

2130Leir. I am no Caniball, that I should delight

2131To slake my hungry iawes with humane flesh:

2132I am no deuill, or ten times worse then so,

2133To suck the bloud of such a peerelesse friend.

2134O, do not think that I respect my life

2135So dearely, as I do thy loyall loue.

2136Ah, Brittayne, I shall neuer see thee more,

2137That hast vnkindly banished thy King:

2138And yet not thou dost make me to complayne,

2139But they which were more neere to me then thou.

2140Cor. What do I heare? this lamentable voyce,

2141Me thinks, ere now I oftentimes haue heard.

2142Leir. Ah, Gonorill, was halfe my Kingdomes gift

2143The cause that thou didst seeke to haue my life?

2144Ah, cruell Ragan, did I giue thee all,

2145And all could not suffice without my bloud?

2146Ah, poore Cordella, did I giue thee nought,

2147Nor neuer shall be able for to giue?

2148O, let me warne all ages that insueth,

2149How they trust flattery, and reiect the trueth.

2150Well, vnkind Girles, I here forgiue you both,

2151Yet the iust heauens will hardly do the like;

2152And only craue forgiuenesse at the end

2153Of good Cordella, and of thee, my friend;

2154Of God, whose Maiesty I haue offended,

2155By my transgression many thousand wayes:

2156Of her, deare heart, whom I for no occasion

2157Turn'd out of all, through flatters persuasion:

2158Of thee, kind friend, who but for me, I know,

2159Hadst neuer come vnto this place of wo.

2160Cor. Alack, that euer I should liue to see

2161My noble father in this misery.

2162King. Sweet Loue, reueale not what thou art as yet,

2163Vntill we know the ground of all this ill.

H2 Cor. O,

2164Cor.O, but some meat, some meat: do you not see,

2165How neere they are to death for want of food?

2166Per.Lord, which didst help thy seruants at their need,

2167Or now or neuer send vs helpe with speed.

2168Oh, comfort, comfort! yonder is a banquet,

2169And men and women, my Lord: be of good cheare;

2170For I see comfort comming very neere.

2171O my Lord, a banquet, and men and women!

2172Leir. O, let kind pity mollify their hearts,

2173That they may helpe vs in our great extreames.

2174Per.God saue you, friends; & if this blessed banquet

2175Affordeth any food or sustenance,

2176Euen for his sake that saued vs all from death,

2177Vouchsafe to saue vs from the gripe of famine. She bringeth him to the table

2178Cor. Here father, sit and eat, here, sit & drink:

2179And would it were far better for your sakes.

2181Per. Ile giue you thanks anon: my friend doth faynt,

2182And needeth present comfort. Leir drinks.

2183Mum. I warrant, he ne're stayes to say grace:

2184O, theres no sauce to a good stomake.

2185Per.The ble}}d God of heauen hath thought vpon vs.

2186Leir. The thanks be his, and these kind courteous folke,

2187By whose humanity we are preserued. They eat hungerly, Leirdrinkes.

2188Cor.And may that draugh tbe vnto him, as was

2189That which old Eson dranke, which did renue

2190His withered age, and made him young againe.

2191And may that meat be vnto him, as was

2192That which Elias ate, in strength whereof

2193He walked fourty dayes, and neuer faynted.

2194Shall I conceale me longer from my father?

2195Or shall I manifest my selfe to him?

2196King. Forbeare a while, vntill his strength returne,

2197Lest being ouer ioyed with seeing thee,

2198His poore weake sences should forsake their office,

2199And so our cause of ioy be turnd to sorrow.

2200Per.What chere, my Lord? how do you feele your selfe?

2201Leir. Me thinks, I neuer ate such sauory meat:

2202It is as pleasant as the blessed Manna,

2203That raynd from heauen amongst the Israelites:

2204It hath recall'd my spirits home agayne,

2205And made me fresh, as earst I was before.

2206But how shall we congratulate their kindnesse?

2207Per. Infayth, I know not how sufficiently;

2208But the best meane that I can think on, is this:

2209Ile offer them my dublet in requitall;

2210For we haue nothing else to spare.

2211Leir. Nay, stay, Perillus, for they shall haue mine.

2212Per. Pardon, my Lord, I sweare they shall haue mine.

2214Leir. Ah, who would think such kindnes should remayne

2215Among such strange and vnacquainted men:

2216And that such hate should harbour in the brest

2217Of those, which haue occasion to be best?

2218Cor. Ah, good old father, tell to me thy griefe,

2219Ile sorrow with thee, if not adde reliefe.

2220Leir. Ah, good young daughter, I may call thee so;

2221For thou art like a daughter I did owe.

2222Cor. Do you not owe her still? what, is she dead?

2223Leir. No, God forbid: but all my interest's gone,

2224By shewing my selfe too much vnnaturall:

2225So haue I lost the title of a father,

2226And may be call'd a stranger to her rather.

2227Cor. Your title's good still; for tis alwayes knowne,

2228A man may do as him list with his owne.

2229But haue you but one daughter then in all?

2230Leir. Yes, I haue more by two, then would I had.

2231Cor. O, say not so, but rather see the end:

2232They that are bad, may haue the grace to mend:

2233But how haue they offended you so much?

2234Leir. If from the first I should relate the cause,

2235 'Twould make a heart of Adamant to weepe;

2236and thou, poore soule, kind-hearted as thou art,

2237Dost weepe already, ere I do begin.

2238Cor. For Gods loue tell it, and when you haue done,

2239Ile tell the reason why I weepe so soone.

2240Leir. Then know this first, I am a Brittayne borne,

2241And had three daughters by one louing wife:

H3 And

2242And though I say it, of beauty they were sped;

2243Especially the youngest of the three,

2244For her perfections hardly matcht could be:

2245On these I doted with a ielous loue,

2246And thought to try which of them lou'd me best,

2247By asking them, which would do most for me?

2248The first and second flattred me with words,

2249And vowd they lou'd me better then their liues:

2250The youngest sayd, she loued me as a child

2251Might dō: her answere I esteem'd most vild,

2252And presently in an outragious mood,

2253I turned her from me to go sinke or swym:

2254And all I had, euen to the very clothes,

2255I gaue in dowry with the other two:

2256And she that best deseru'd the greatest share,

2257I gaue her nothing, but disgrace and care.

2258Now mark the sequell: When I had done thus,

2259I soiournd in my eldest daughters house,

2260Where for a time I was intreated well,

2261And liu'd in state sufficing my content:

2262But euery day her kindnesse did grow cold,

2263Which I with patience put vp well ynough,

2264And seemed not to see the things I saw:

2265But at the last she grew so far incenst

2266With moody fury, and with causlesse hate,

2267That in most vild and contumelious termes,

2268She bade me pack, and harbour somewhere else.

2269Then was I fayne for refuge to repayre

2270Vnto my other daughter for reliefe,

2271Who gaue me pleasing and most courteous words;

2272But in her actions shewed her selfe so sore,

2273As neuer any daughter did before:

2274She prayd me in a morning out betime,

2275To go to a thicket two miles from the Court,

2276Poynting that there she would come talke with me:

2277There she had set a shaghayrd murdring wretch,

2278To massacre my honest friend and me.

2279Then iudge your selfe, although my tale be briefe,

2280If euer man had greater cause of griefe.

2281King. Nor neuer like impiety was done,

2282Since the creation of the world begun.

2283Leir. And now I am constraind to seeke reliefe

2284Of her, to whom I haue bin so vnkind;

2285Whose censure, if it do award me death,

2286I must confesse she payes me but my due:

2287But if she shew a louing daughters part,

2288It comes of God and her, not my desert.

2289Cor. No doubt she will, I dare be sworne she will.

2290Leir. How know you that, not knowing what she is?

2291Cor. My selfe a father haue a great way hence,

2292Vsde me as ill as euer you did her;

2293Yet, that his reuerend age I once might see,

2294Ide creepe along, to meet him on my knee.

2295Leir. O, no mens children are vnkind but mine.

2296Cor. Condemne not all, because of others crime:

2297But looke, deare father, looke, behold and see

2298Thy louing daughter speaketh vnto thee. She kneeles.

2299Leir. O, stand thou vp, it is my part to kneele,

2300And aske forgiuenesse for my former faults. he kneeles.

2301Cor. O, if you wish I should inioy my breath,

2302Deare father rise, or I receiue my death. he riseth.

2303Leir. Then I will rise, to satisfy your mind,

2304But kneele againe, til pardon be resignd. he kneeles.

2305Cor. I pardon you: the word beseemes not me:

2306But I do say so, for to ease your knee.

2307You gaue me life, you were the cause that I

2308Am what I am, who else had neuer bin.

2309Leir. But you gaue life to me and to my friend,

2310Whose dayes had else, had an vntimely end.

2311Cor. You brought me vp, when as I was but young,

2312And far vnable for to helpe my selfe.

2313Leir. I cast thee forth, when as thou wast but young,

2314And far vnable for to helpe thy selfe.

2315Cor. God, world and nature say I do you wrong,

2316That can indure to see you kneele so long.

2317King. Let me breake off this louing controuersy,

2318Which doth reioyce my very soule to see.

2319Good father, rise, she is your louing daughter, He riseth.

H4 And

2320And honours you with as respectiue duty,

2321As if you were the Monarch of the world.

2322Cor. But I will neuer rise from off my knee, She kneeles.

2323Vntill I haue your blessing, and your pardon

2324Of all my faults committed any way,

2325From my first birth vnto this present day.

2326Leir. The blessing, which the God of Abraham gaue

2327Vnto the trybe of Iuda, light on thee,

2328And multiply thy dayes, that thou mayst see

2329Thy childrens children prosper after thee.

2330Thy faults, which are iust none that I do know,

2331God pardon on high, and I forgiue below. she riseth.

2332Cor. Now is my heart at quiet, and doth leape

2333Within my brest, for ioy of this good hap:

2334And now (deare father) welcome to our Court,

2335And welcome (kind Perillus) vnto me,

2336Myrrour of vertue and true honesty.

2337Leir. O, he hath bin the kindest friend to me,

2338That euer man had in aduersity.

2339Per. My toung doth faile, to say what heart doth think,

2340I am so rauisht with exceeding ioy.

2341King. All you haue spoke: now let me speak my mind,

2342And in few words much matter here conclude: he kneeles.

2343If ere my heart do harbour any ioy,

2344Or true content repose within my brest,

2345Till I haue rooted out this viperous sect,

2346And repossest my father of his Crowne,

2347Let me be counted for the periurdst man,

2348That euer spake word since the world began. rise.

2349Mum. Let me pray to, that neuer pray'd before; Mumfordkneeles.

2350If ere I resalute the Brittish earth,

2351(As (ere't be long) I do presume I shall)

2352And do returne from thence without my wench,

2353Let me be gelded for my recompence. rise.

2354King. Come, let's to armes for to redresse this wrong:

2355Till I am there, me thinks, the time seemes long. Exeunt.