Scene III
Enter Clarimont and Francelia
Fran. Think not, good sir,
Your elegant enforcements can seduce
My weaker innocence:
It's a resolution grounded; and sooner
Shall the fixed orbs be lifted off their hinges,5
Than I be mov'd to any act that bears
The name of foul. You know the way you came, sir.
Clar. Is this all the respect the king shall have?
No, you would do well to clothe this harsh denial
In better language.10
Fran. You may please to say,
I owe my life unto my sovereign,
And should be proud to pay it in at any
Warning, were it ne'er so short. But, for my chastity,
It doth so much concern another, I can15
By no means part with it. So, fare you well, sir.[Exit
Clar. By heaven, a saint, no woman!
Sure, she was born o' th' virtues of her mother,
Not of her vices. The whole sex may come
To be thought well of for her sake. I long20
To meet Florelio:
My joy is not complete, till I have cured
His jealousies as well as mine.[Exit
Enter Florelio and a Boy
Flor. There was
A time when snakes and adders had no being;25
When the poor infant-world had no worse reptiles
Than were the melon and the strawberry!
Those were the golden times of innocence.
There were no kings then, nor no lustful peers,
No smooth-fac'd favourites, nor no cuckolds, sure.30
O,
How happy is that man, whose humbler thoughts
Kept him from court; who never yet was taught
The glorious way unto damnation!
Who never did aspire35
Further than the cool shades of quiet rest!
How have the heavens his lower wishes bless'd!
Sleep makes his labours sweet, and innocence
