Act Ii

SCENE I. The Camp of the King of Aragon

Enter the King with a young Prince prisoner, Amadine, Tremelio, with Collen and Councillors.

KING OF ARAGON. Now, brave Lords, our wars are brought to end, Our foes to foil, and we in safety rest, It us behoves to use such clemency In peace, as valour in the wars. It is As great an honour to be bountiful At home, as to be conquerors in the field. Therefore, my lords, the more to my content, Your liking, and your country’s safeguard, We are dispos’d in marriage for to give Our daughter to Lord Segasto here, Who shall succeed the diadem after me, And reign hereafter as tofore I’ve done, Your sole and lawful King of Aragon. What say you, lordings, like you of my advice?

COLLEN. An’t please your majesty, we do not only allow of your highness’ pleasure, but also vow faithfully in what we may to further it.

KING OF ARAGON. Thanks, good my lords, if long Adrostus live He will at full requite your courtesies. Tremelio, In recompense of thy late valour done, Take unto thee the Catalonian prince, Our prisoner, lately taken in the wars. Be thou his keeper, his ransom shall be thine; We’ll think of it, when leisure shall afford. Meanwhile, do use him well; his father is a king.

TREMELIO. Thanks to your majesty, his usage shall be such, As he thereat shall think no cause to grutch.

KING OF ARAGON. Then march we on to court, and rest our wearied limbs! But, Collen, I’ve a tale in secret kept for thee: When thou shalt hear a watchword from thy king, Think then some weighty matter is at hand, That highly shall concern our state, Then, Collen, look thou be not far from me, And for thy service thou tofore hast done, Thy truth and valour prov’d in every point, I shall with bounties thee enlarge therefore. So guard us to the court.

COLLEN. What so my sovereign doth command me do, With willing mind I gladly yield consent.

SCENE II. The same

Enter Segasto and the Clown, with weapons about him.

SEGASTO. Tell me, sirrah, how do you like your weapons?

MOUSE. O, very well, very well, they keep my sides warm.

SEGASTO. They keep the dogs from your shins very well, do they not?

MOUSE. How, keep the dogs from my shins? I would scorn but my shins could keep the dogs from them.

SEGASTO. Well, sirrah, leaving idle talk, tell me, dost thou know Captain Tremelio’s chamber?

MOUSE. Ay, very well, it hath a door.

SEGASTO. I think so; for so hath every chamber. But dost thou know the man?

MOUSE. Ay, forsooth, he hath a nose on his face.

SEGASTO. Why, so hath every one.

MOUSE. That’s more than I know.

SEGASTO. But dost thou remember the captain that was here with the king even now, that brought the young prince prisoner?

MOUSE. O, very well.

SEGASTO. Go unto him, and bid him come to me. Tell him I have a matter in secret to impart to him.

MOUSE. I will, master; master, what’s his name?

SEGASTO. Why, Captain Tremelio, man

MOUSE. O, the meal-man; I know him very well; he brings meal every Saturday; but hark you, master, must I bid him come to you, or must you come to him?

SEGASTO. No, sirrah, he must come to me.

MOUSE. Hark you, master; how, if he be not at home? What shall I do then?

SEGASTO. Why, then leave word with some of his folks.

MOUSE. O, master, if there be nobody within, I will leave word with his dog.

SEGASTO. Why, can his dog speak?

MOUSE. I cannot tell; wherefore doth he keep his chamber else?

SEGASTO. To keep out such knaves as thou art.

MOUSE. Nay, by’r Lady, then go yourself.

SEGASTO. You will go, sir; will ye not?

MOUSE. Yes, marry, will I. O, ’tis come to my head, an a be not within, I’ll bring his chamber to you.

SEGASTO. What, wilt thou pluck down the king’s house?

MOUSE. Nay, by’r Lady, I’ll know the price of it first. Master, it is such a hard name, I have forgotten it again. I pray you, tell me his name.

SEGASTO. I tell thee, Captain Tremelio, knave.

MOUSE. Oh, Captain Treble-knave, Captain Treble-knave.

Enter Tremelio.

TREMELIO. How now, sirrah, dost thou call me?

MOUSE. You must come to my master, Captain Treble-knave.

TREMELIO. My lord Segasto, did you send for me?

SEGASTO. I did, Tremelio. Sirrah, about your business!

MOUSE. Ay, marry, what’s that, can you tell?

SEGASTO. No, not well.

MOUSE. Marry, then, I can; straight to the kitchen-dresser, to John the cook, and get me a good piece of beef and brewis; and then to the buttery-hatch, to Thomas the butler for a jack of beer, and there for an hour I’ll so belabour myself; and therefore, I pray you call me not till you think I have done, I pray you, good master.

SEGASTO. Well, sir, away. Tremelio, this it is!

Thou know’st the valour of Segasto spread Through all the kingdom of great Aragon, Such as hath triumph found and favours, never Daunted at any time, but now a shepherd Admired is at in court for worthiness, And lord Segasto’s honour laid aside; My will therefore is this, that thou dost find Some means to work the shepherd’s death: I know Thy strength sufficient to perform my wish, Thy love no other than to ’venge my injuries.

TREMELIO. ’Tis not the shepherd’s frowns Tremelio fears, Therefore, ’count it accomplish’d what I take in hand.

SEGASTO. Thanks, good Tremelio, and assure thyself, What I promise, that will I perform.

TREMELIO. Thanks, my good lord, and in good time see where He cometh. Stand by awhile, and you shall see Me put in practice your intended drifts.

Enter Mucedorus.

Have at thee, swain, if that I hit thee right!

MUCEDORUS. Vile coward, so without cause to strike a man— Turn, coward, turn; now strike, and do thy worst!

SEGASTO. Hold, shepherd, hold! O spare him, kill him not! Accursed villain, tell me, what thou’st done? Tremelio, ah, trusty Tremelio! I sorrow for thy death, and since that thou Living didst faithful prove unto Segasto, So now Segasto living with revenge Will honour th’ dead corpse of Tremelio. Bloodthirsty villain, born and bred to merciless murther, Tell me, how durst thou be so bold, as once To lay thy hands upon the least of mine? Assure thee, thou’lt be used according to the law!

MUCEDORUS. Segasto, cease! these threats are needless. Accuse not me of murther, that have done Nothing but in mine own defence.

SEGASTO. Nay, shepherd, reason not with me; I’ll manifest thy fact unto the King, Whose doom will be thy death, as thou deserv’st. What ho, Mouse, come away!

Enter Mouse.

MOUSE. Why, how now, what’s the matter? I thought you would be calling before I had done.

SEGASTO. Come, help, away with my friend.

MOUSE. Why, is he drunk? Cannot he stand on his feet?

SEGASTO. No, he is not drunk, he is slain.

MOUSE. Flain? No, by’r Lady, he is not flain.

SEGASTO. He’s killed, I tell thee.

MOUSE. What do you use to kill your friends? I will serve you no longer.

SEGASTO. I tell thee, the shepherd killed him.

MOUSE. O, did a so? But, master, I will have all his apparel, if I carry him away.

SEGASTO. Why, so thou shalt.

MOUSE. Come, then, I will help; mass, master, I think his mother song looby to him, he is so heavy.

MUCEDORUS. Behold the fickle state of man, That’s always mutable, never at one! Sometimes we feed on fancies with the sweet Of our desires, sometimes again We feel the heat of extreme miseries. Now I’m in favour ’bout the court and country; Tomorrow will those favours turn to frowns. Today I live, revenged on my foe, Tomorrow I die, my foe reveng’d on me.

SCENE III. The Forest

Enter Bremo, a wild man.

BREMO. No passenger this morning? What, not one? A chance that seldom doth befall. What, not one? Then lie thou there, And rest thyself till I have further need.

Now, Bremo, sit, thy leisure so affords, An needless thing. [Sits down.] Who knows not Bremo’s strength, That like a king commands within these woods? The bear, the boar dare not abide my sight, But haste away to save themselves by flight. The crystal waters in the bubbling brooks, When I come by, doth swiftly slide away, And clap themselves in closets under banks, Afraid to look bold Bremo in the face. The aged oaks at Bremo’s breath do bow, And all things else are still at my command. Else what would I? Rend them in pieces, pluck them from the earth, And each way else I would revenge myself. Why, who comes here with whom I dare not fight? Who fights with me and doth not die the death? Not one! What favour shows this sturdy stick to those, That here within these woods are combatants with me? Why, death, and nothing else but present death. With restless rage I wander through these woods, No creature here, but feareth Bremo’s force: Man, woman, child, and beast, and bird, And everything that doth approach my sight, Are forc’d to fall if Bremo once do frown. Come, cudgel, come, my partner in my spoils, For here I see this day it will not be; But when it falls that I encounter any, One pat sufficeth for to work my will. What, comes not one? Then let’s be gone; A time will serve, when we shall better speed.

SCENE IV. Aragon. a Room of State in the Court

Enter the King, Segasto, the Shepherd, and the Clown with others.

KING OF ARAGON. Shepherd, thou hast heard thine accusers; murther Is laid unto thy charge; what canst thou say? Thou hast deserved death.

MUCEDORUS. Dread sovereign, I must needs confess, I slew this captain in mine own defence, Not of any malice, but by chance; But mine accuser hath a further meaning.

SEGASTO. Words will not here prevail: I seek for justice, and justice craves his death.

KING OF ARAGON. Shepherd, thine own confession hath condemned thee. Sirrah, take him away, And do him straight to execution.

MOUSE. So he shall, I warrant him. But do you hear, master king, he is kin to a monkey; his neck is bigger than his head.

SEGASTO. Sirrah, away with him, and hang him ’bout the middle.

MOUSE. Yes, forsooth, I warrant you. Come on, sir; ah, so like a sheepbiter a looks.

Enter Amadine and a boy with a Bear’s Head.

AMADINE. Dread sovereign and well beloved sire, On benden knees I crave the life of this Condemned shepherd, which tofore preserved The life of thy sometime distressed daughter.

KING OF ARAGON. Preserved the life of my sometime distressed daughter? How can that be? I never knew the time Wherein thou wast distress’d: I never knew the day But that I have maintained thy estate, As best beseem’d the daughter of a king; I never saw the shepherd until now. How comes it then, that he preserv’d thy life?

AMADINE. Once walking with Segasto in the woods, Further than our accustom’d manner was, Aright before us down a steep-fall hill, A monstrous ugly bear did hie him fast, To meet us both: now whether this be true, I refer it to the credit of Segasto.

SEGASTO. Most true, an’t like your majesty.

KING OF ARAGON. How then?

AMADINE. The bear being eager to obtain his prey, Made forward to us with an open mouth, As if he meant to swallow us both at once; The sight whereof did make us both to dread, But specially your daughter Amadine, Who—for I saw no succour incident But in Segasto’s valour—desperate grew, And he most coward-like began to flie, Left me distress’d to be devour’d of him— Segasto, how say you? Is it not true?

KING OF ARAGON. His silence verifies it to be true. What then?

AMADINE. Then I amaz’d, distressed, all alone, Did hie me fast to ’scape that ugly bear, But all in vain; for why, he reached after me, And oft I hardly did escape his paws, Till at the length this shepherd came and brought To me his head. Come hither, boy; lo, here it is, Which I present unto your majesty.

KING OF ARAGON. The slaughter of this bear deserves great fame.

SEGASTO. The slaughter of a man deserves great blame.

KING OF ARAGON. Indeed, occasion ofttimes so falls out.

SEGASTO. Tremelio in the wars, O King, preserved thee.

AMADINE. The shepherd in the woods, O King, preserved me.

SEGASTO. Tremelio fought, when many men did yield.

AMADINE. So would the shepherd, had he been in field.

MOUSE. [Aside.] So would my master, had he not run away.

SEGASTO. Tremelio’s force sav’d thousands from the foe.

AMADINE. The shepherd’s force hath saved thousands more.

MOUSE. [Aside.] Ay, shipsticks, nothing else.

KING OF ARAGON. Segasto, cease the shepherd to accuse, His worthiness deserves a recompense, All we are bound to do the shepherd good. Shepherd, Whereas it was my sentence thou shouldst die, So shall my sentence stand, for thou shalt die.

SEGASTO. Thanks to your majesty.

KING OF ARAGON. [To Segasto.] But soft, Segasto, not for this offence. [To Mucedorus.] Long may’st thou live; [to Segasto.] and when the Sisters shall decree To cut in twain the twisted thread of life, Then let him die: for this I set thee free; [To Mucedorus.] And for thy valour I will honour thee.

AMADINE. Thanks to your majesty.

KING OF ARAGON. Come, daughter, let us now depart to honour The worthy valour of the shepherd with rewards.

MOUSE. O master, hear you, you have made a fresh hand now, I thought you would, beshrew you! Why, what will you do now? You have lost me a good occupation by the means. Faith, master, now I cannot hang the shepherd, I pray you, let me take the pains to hang you, it is but half an hour’s exercise.

SEGASTO. You are still in your knavery, but sith I cannot have his life, I will procure His banishment for ever. Come one, sirrah.

MOUSE. Yes, forsooth, I come. [Aside.] Laugh at him, I pray you.