Act 4, Scene 6: The same. A room in the brothel

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
    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,
    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
    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!

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?

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.

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
    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.
    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] First, I would have you note, this is
    an honourable man.

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.

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
    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.

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?

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
    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
    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.

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,
    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,
    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,
    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
    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.
    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!
    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,
    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
    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!

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
    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.

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!

    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.

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
    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
    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?

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,
    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,
    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?

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.

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
    doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough.
    Come, I'll do for thee what I can; come your ways.

    Exeunt

        Enter GOWER

    GOWER

        Marina thus the brothel 'scapes, and chances
        Into an honest house, our story says.
        She sings like one immortal, and she dances
        As goddess-like to her admired lays;
        Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her needle composes
        Nature's own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry,
        That even her art sisters the natural roses;
        Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry:
        That pupils lacks she none of noble race,
        Who pour their bounty on her; and her gain
        She gives the cursed bawd. Here we her place;
        And to her father turn our thoughts again,
        Where we left him, on the sea. We there him lost;
        Whence, driven before the winds, he is arrived
        Here where his daughter dwells; and on this coast
        Suppose him now at anchor. The city strived
        God Neptune's annual feast to keep: from whence
        Lysimachus our Tyrian ship espies,
        His banners sable, trimm'd with rich expense;
        And to him in his barge with fervor hies.
        In your supposing once more put your sight
        Of heavy Pericles; think this his bark:
        Where what is done in action, more, if might,
        Shall be discover'd; please you, sit and hark.

        Exit