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  • Title: The Honest Whore, Part 1 (Modern)
  • Editor: Joost Daalder
  • ISBN: 978-1-55058-490-5

    Copyright Digital Renaissance Editions. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Authors: Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton
    Editor: Joost Daalder
    Peer Reviewed

    The Honest Whore, Part 1 (Modern)

    736.1[2.1]
    Enter Roger with a stool, cushion, looking-glass, and chafing-dish. Those being set down, he pulls out of his pocket a vial with white colour in it, and two boxes, one with white, another red 740painting. He places all things in order, and a candle by them, singing with the ends of old ballads as he does it. At last Bellafront, as he rubs his cheek with the colours, whistles within.
    Roger
    Anon, forsooth.
    745Bellafront
    [Within] What are you playing the rogue about?
    Roger
    About you, forsooth; I始m drawing up a hole in your white silk stocking.
    Bellafront
    Is my glass there? And my boxes of complexion?
    Roger
    Yes, forsooth. Your boxes of complexion are 750here, I think. Yes, 始tis here; here始s your two complexions. [Aside] An if I had all the four complexions, I should ne始er set a good face upon始t. Some men, I see, are born under hard-favoured planets as well as women. Zounds, I look worse now than I did before; and it makes her face glister most 755damnably. There始s knavery in daubing, I hold my life; or else this is only female pomatum.
    Enter Bellafront not full ready, without a gown. She sits down, with her bodkin curls her hair, colours her lips [etc.].
    Bellafront
    Where始s my ruff and poker, you blockhead?
    760Roger
    Your ruff and your poker are engendering together upon the cupboard of the court, or the court-cupboard.
    Bellafront
    Fetch 始em! Is the pox in your hams, you can go no faster?
    [She throws something at him.]
    Roger
    Would the pox were in your fingers, unless you could 765leave flinging. Catch!
    [He throws back the object.]
    Bellafront
    I始ll catch you, you dog, by and by. Do you grumble?
    Exit [Roger].
    She sings:
    Cupid is a god
    As naked as my nail;
    I始ll whip him with a rod
    If he my true love fail.
    [Enter Roger with ruff and poker.]
    Roger
    There始s your ruff. Shall I poke it?
    770Bellafront
    Yes, honest Roger – no, stay. Prithee, good boy, hold here.
    [Roger holds the looking-glass and candle for her. She sings:]
    Down, down, down, down; I fall down, and arise I never shall.
    Roger
    Troth, mistress, then leave the trade, if you shall never rise.
    Bellafront
    What trade, Goodman Abram?
    775Roger
    Why, that of down and arise, or the falling trade.
    Bellafront
    I始ll fall with you, by and by.
    Roger
    If you do, I know who shall smart for始t. Troth, mistress, what do I look like now?
    Bellafront
    Like as you are: a panderly sixpenny rascal.
    780Roger
    I may thank you for that. No, faith, I look like an old proverb, ‘Hold the candle before the devil.始
    Bellafront
    Ud始s life, I始ll stick my knife in your guts an you prate to me so! – What?
    She sings:
    Well met, pug, the pearl of beauty, umm, umm.
    785How now, Sir Knave, you forget your duty, umm, umm.
    Marry-muff, sir, are you grown so dainty? Fa, la, la, leera, la.
    Is it you, sir? The worst of twenty, fa, la, la, leera, la.
    Pox on you, how dost thou hold my glass?
    Roger
    Why, as I hold your door: with my fingers.
    790Bellafront
    Nay, prithee, sweet honey Roger, hold up handsomely. (Sings ‘Pretty wantons, warble始, etc.) We shall ha始 guests today, I lay my little maidenhead, my nose itches so.
    Roger
    I said so too, last night, when our fleas twinged me.
    Bellafront
    [Completing her make-up] So. Poke my ruff now. My gown, my gown! Have I my fall? 795Where始s my fall, Roger?
    Roger
    Your fall, forsooth, is behind.
    One knocks.
    Bellafront
    God始s my pitikins! Some fool or other knocks.
    Roger
    Shall I open to the fool, mistress?
    Bellafront
    And all these baubles lying thus? Away with it 800quickly!
    [They tidy up. More knocking.]
    – Ay, ay, knock and be damned, whosoever you be. – So. Give the fresh salmon line now; let him come ashore. He shall serve for my breakfast, though he go against my stomach.
    Roger fetches in Fluello, Castruccio, and Pioratto.
    [He brings in some stools.]
    Fluello
    [To Bellafront] Morrow, coz.
    805Castruccio
    How does my sweet acquaintance?
    Pioratto
    Save thee, little marmoset. How dost thou, good pretty rogue?
    Bellafront
    Well, God-a-mercy, good pretty rascal.
    Fluello
    [Producing tobacco] Roger, some light, I prithee.
    810Roger
    You shall, signor; for we that live here in this vale of misery are as dark as hell.
    Exit for a candle.
    Castruccio
    Good tobacco, Fluello?
    Fluello
    Smell.
    Pioratto
    It may be tickling gear, for it plays with my nose already.
    Enter Roger [with candle].
    815Roger
    [To Fluello] Here始s another light angel, signor.
    [Fluello lights a pipe, which afterwards he passes to Castruccio.]
    Bellafront
    What, you pied curtal? What始s that you are neighing?
    Roger
    I say, ‘God send us the light of heaven, or some more angels始.
    Bellafront
    Go fetch some wine; [Aside, to him]and drink half of it.
    820Roger
    I must fetch some wine, gentlemen, [Aside to her] and drink half of it.
    Fluello
    [Offering him money] Here, Roger.
    Castruccio
    No, let me send, prithee.
    Fluello
    [To Roger] Hold, you cankerworm.
    Roger
    You shall send both, if you please, signors. [Castruccio gives him money.]
    825Pioratto
    Stay, what始s best to drink a-mornings?
    Roger
    Hippocras, sir, for my mistress, if I fetch it, is most dear to her.
    Fluello
    Hippocras? [Giving Roger more money] There, then; here始s a teston for you, you snake.
    Roger
    Right, sir; here始s three shillings sixpence for a pottle and a manchet.
    Exit.
    Castruccio
    [Smoking] Here始s most Herculean tobacco. [Offering the pipe to Bellafront] Ha始 some, acquaintance?
    830Bellafront
    Faugh, not I – makes your breath stink like the piss of a fox. Acquaintance, where supped you last night?
    Castruccio
    At a place, sweet acquaintance, where your health danced the canaries, i始faith; you should ha始 been there.
    Bellafront
    I there, among your punks? Marry faugh, hang 始em! 835Scorn始t. Will you never leave sucking of eggs in other folks始 hens始 nests?
    Castruccio
    Why, in good troth, if you始ll trust me, acquaintance, there was not one hen at the board. Ask Fluello.
    Fluello
    No, faith, coz, none but cocks. Signor Malavolta 840drunk to thee.
    Bellafront
    O, a pure beagle! That horseleech there?
    Fluello
    And the knight, Sir Oliver Lollio, swore he would bestow a taffeta petticoat on thee, but to break his fast with thee.
    Bellafront
    With me? I始ll choke him then. Hang him, mole-catcher! It始s the dreamingest snotty-nose.
    845Pioratto
    Well, many took that Lollio for a fool; but he始s a subtle fool.
    Bellafront
    Ay, and he has fellows; of all filthy, dry-fisted knights, I cannot abide that he should touch me.
    Castruccio
    Why, wench, is he scabbed?
    Bellafront
    Hang him! He始ll not live to be so honest, nor to the 850credit to have scabs about him; his betters have 始em. But I hate to wear out any of his coarse knighthood, because he始s made like an alderman始s nightgown, faced all with cony before, and within nothing but fox. This sweet Oliver will eat mutton till he be ready to burst, but the 855lean-jawed slave will not pay for the scraping of his trencher.
    Pioratto
    Plague him; set him beneath the salt, and let him not touch a bit till everyone has had his full cut.
    Fluello
    Sordello, the gentleman-usher, came in to us too. Marry, 始twas in our cheese, for he had been to borrow money 860for his lord, of a citizen.
    Castruccio
    What an ass is that lord, to borrow money of a citizen!
    Bellafront
    Nay, God始s my pity, what an ass is that citizen to lend money to a lord!
    865Enter Mattheo and Hippolito, who, saluting the company as a stranger, walks off. Roger comes in sadly behind them, with a pottle pot, and stands aloof off.
    Mattheo
    Save you, gallants. Signor Fluello, exceedingly well met, as I may say.
    870Fluello
    Signor Mattheo, exceedingly well met too, as I may say.
    Mattheo
    And how fares my little pretty mistress?
    Bellafront
    E始en as my little pretty servant; sees three court dishes before her, and not one good bit in them. [To Roger] How now? 875Why the devil standst thou so? Art in a trance?
    Roger
    Yes, forsooth.
    Bellafront
    Why dost not fill out their wine?
    Roger
    Forsooth, 始tis filled out already: all the wine that the signors has bestowed upon you is cast away. A porter ran a tilt at me, and so faced me down that I had not a drop.
    880Bellafront
    I始m accurst to let such a withered artichoke-faced rascal grow under my nose! Now you look like an old he-cat, going to the gallows. I始ll be hanged if he ha始 not put up the money to cony-catch us all.
    Roger
    No, truly, forsooth, 始tis not put up [Aside to her] yet.
    885Bellafront
    How many gentlemen hast thou served thus?
    Roger
    None [Aside] but five hundred, besides prentices and servingmen.
    Bellafront
    Dost think I始ll pocket it up at thy hands?
    Roger
    Yes, forsooth, [Aside to her] I fear you will pocket it up.
    Bellafront
    [To Mattheo] Fie, fie, cut my lace, good servant; I shall ha始 the 890mother presently, I始m so vexed at this horse-plum!
    Fluello
    Plague, not for a scald pottle of wine!
    Mattheo
    Nay, sweet Bellafront, for a little pig始s wash!
    Castruccio
    Here, Roger, fetch more. [He gives him more money.] – A mischance, i始faith, acquaintance.
    895Bellafront
    [To Roger] Out of my sight, thou ungodly puritanical creature!
    Roger
    For the tother pottle? Yes, forsooth.
    Bellafront
    [Aside to him] Spill that too!
    Exit [Roger].
    [Observing Hippolito] What gentleman is that, servant? Your friend?
    Mattheo
    Godso! A stool, a stool! If you love me, mistress, 900entertain this gentleman respectively, and bid him welcome.
    Bellafront
    He始s very welcome. [To Hippolito] Pray, sir, sit.
    Hippolito
    Thanks, lady.
    Fluello
    [Moving towards him] Count Hippolito, is始t not? Cry you mercy, signor; you walk here all this while, and we not heed you? Let me 905bestow a stool upon you, beseech you. You are a stranger here; we know the fashions o始th始 house.
    [He offers Hippolito a stool.]
    Castruccio
    Please you be here, my lord. [He offers Hippolito] tobacco.
    Hippolito
    [Declining the offer] No, good Castruccio.
    Fluello
    You have abandoned the court, I see, my lord, since 910the death of your mistress. Well, she was a delicate piece – [Aside to Bellafront] Beseech you, sweet, come, let us serve under the colours of your acquaintance still, for all that. [Aloud to Hippolito] Please you to meet here at the lodging of my coz; I shall bestow a banquet upon you.
    [Bellafront and Mattheo speak privately without hearing the others, who converse aloud with one another.]
    Hippolito
    [To Fluello] I never can deserve this kindness, sir.
    915What may this lady be, whom you call coz?
    Fluello
    Faith, sir, a poor gentlewoman, of passing good carriage; one that has some suits in law, and lies here in an attorney始s house.
    Hippolito
    Is she married?
    920Fluello
    Ha, as all your punks are, a captain始s wife or so. Never saw her before, my lord?
    Hippolito
    Never, trust me. A goodly creature.
    Fluello
    By gad, when you know her as we do, you始ll swear she is the prettiest, kindest, sweetest, most bewitching honest ape 925under the pole. A skin – your satin is not more soft, nor lawn whiter.
    Hippolito
    Belike, then, she始s some sale courtesan.
    Fluello
    Troth, as all your best faces are; a good wench.
    Hippolito
    Great pity that she始s a good wench. [They whisper.]
    930Mattheo
    [Aloud to Bellafront] Thou shalt have it i始faith, mistress. – How now, signors? What? Whispering? [Talking apart to Hippolito] Did not I lay a wager I should take you within seven days in a house of vanity?
    Hippolito
    You did, and, I beshrew your heart, you have won.
    Mattheo
    How do you like my mistress?
    935Hippolito
    Well, for such a mistress. Better, if your mistress be not your master. [Aloud] I must break manners, gentlemen; fare you well.
    Mattheo
    始Sfoot, you shall not leave us.
    Bellafront
    The gentleman likes not the taste of our company.
    940All Gentlemen
    Beseech you, stay.
    Hippolito
    Trust me, my affairs beckon for me. Pardon me.
    Mattheo
    Will you call for me half an hour hence here?
    Hippolito
    Perhaps I shall.
    Mattheo
    Perhaps? Faugh! I know you can; swear to me you will.
    945Hippolito
    Since you will press me, on my word I will.
    Exit.
    Bellafront
    What sullen picture is this, servant?
    Mattheo
    It始s Count Hippolito, the brave count.
    Pioratto
    As gallant a spirit as any in Milan, you sweet Jew.
    Fluello
    O, he始s a most essential gentleman, coz.
    950Castruccio
    Did you never hear of Count Hippolito, acquaintance?
    Bellafront
    Marry-muff o始your counts, an be no more life in 始em.
    Mattheo
    He始s so malcontent! Sirrah Bellafront – [To the others] An you be honest gallants, let始s sup together, and have the count dine with us. [To her] 955Thou shalt sit at the upper end, punk.
    Bellafront
    ‘Punk始, you soused gurnet?
    Mattheo
    King始s truce! Come, I始ll bestow the supper to have him but laugh.
    Castruccio
    He betrays his youth too grossly to that tyrant, melancholy.
    960Mattheo
    All this is for a woman.
    Bellafront
    A woman? Some whore! What sweet jewel is始t?
    Pioratto
    Would she heard you.
    Fluello
    Troth, so would I.
    Castruccio
    And I, by heaven.
    Bellafront
    Nay, good servant, what woman?
    Mattheo
    Pah!
    965Bellafront
    Prithee, tell me; a buss, and tell me! I warrant he始s an honest fellow, if he take on thus for a wench. Good rogue, who?
    Mattheo
    By th始Lord, I will not, must not, faith, mistress. – Is始t a match, sirs? This night, at th始Antelope; for there始s best wine, and good boys.
    970All Gentlemen
    It始s done; at th始Antelope.
    Bellafront
    I cannot be there tonight.
    Mattheo
    ‘Cannot始? By th始Lord, you shall.
    Bellafront
    By the Lady, I will not. ‘Shall始!
    Fluello
    Why then, put it off till Friday. Wu始t come then, coz?
    975Bellafront
    Well –
    Enter Roger.
    Mattheo
    You始re the waspishest ape. – Roger, put your mistress in mind, your scurvy mistress here, to sup with us on Friday next. [To her] You始re best come like a madwoman, without a band, in your waistcoat, and the linings of your kirtle outward, like 980every common hackney that steals out at the back gate of her sweet knight始s lodging.
    Bellafront
    Go, go, hang yourself!
    Castruccio
    It始s dinner-time, Mattheo; shall始s hence?
    All Gentlemen
    Yes, yes. – Farewell, wench.
    Bellafront
    Farewell, boys.
    Exeunt [Fluello, Castruccio, Pioratto, and Mattheo].
    Roger, what wine sent they for?
    Bastard wine; for if it had been truly begotten, it would not ha始 been ashamed to come in. Here始s six shillings, to pay for nursing the bastard.
    Bellafront
    A company of rooks! O good sweet Roger, run to the poulter始s and buy me some fine larks.
    990Roger
    No woodcocks?
    Bellafront
    Yes, faith, a couple, if they be not dear.
    I始ll buy but one: there始s one already here.
    Exit.
    Enter Hippolito.
    Hippolito
    Is the gentleman my friend departed, mistress?
    995Bellafront
    His back is but new turned, sir.
    Hippolito
    [Going] Fare you well.
    Bellafront
    I can direct you to him.
    Hippolito
    Can you, pray?
    Bellafront
    If you please, stay; he始ll not be absent long.
    Hippolito
    I care not much.
    1000Bellafront
    Pray sit, forsooth.
    Hippolito
    [Putting down his rapier] I始m hot;
    If I may use your room, I始ll rather walk.
    Bellafront
    At your best pleasure. Whew!
    [Offering towels] Some rubbers, there.
    Hippolito
    Indeed, I始ll none – indeed, I will not. Thanks.
    Pretty fine lodging. I perceive my friend
    1005Is old in your acquaintance.
    Bellafront
    Troth, sir, he comes
    As other gentlemen, to spend spare hours.
    If yourself like our roof, such as it is,
    Your own acquaintance may be as old as his.
    Hippolito
    Say I did like, what welcome should I find?
    1010Bellafront
    Such as my present fortunes can afford.
    Hippolito
    But would you let me play Mattheo始s part?
    Bellafront
    What part?
    Hippolito
    Why, embrace you, dally with you, kiss.
    Faith, tell me: will you leave him, and love me?
    1015Bellafront
    I am in bonds to no man, sir.
    Hippolito
    Why then,
    You始re free for any man; if any, me.
    But I must tell you, lady, were you mine,
    You should be all mine. I could brook no sharers;
    I should be covetous, and sweep up all.
    1020I should be pleasure始s usurer; faith, I should.
    Bellafront
    O fate!
    Hippolito
    Why sigh you, lady? May I know?
    Bellafront
    始T has never been my fortune yet to single
    Out that one man whose love could fellow mine,
    1025As I have ever wished it. O my stars!
    Had I but met with one kind gentleman
    That would have purchased sin alone, to himself,
    For his own private use, although scarce proper
    (Indifferent handsome, meetly legged and thighed),
    1030And my allowance reasonable (i始faith,
    According to my body), by my troth
    I would have been as true unto his pleasures
    Yea, and as loyal to his afternoons,
    As ever a poor gentlewoman could be.
    1035Hippolito
    This were well now to one but newly fledged
    And scarce a day old in this subtle world;
    始Twere pretty art, good bird-lime, cunning net.
    But come, come, faith, confess: how many men
    Have drunk this self-same protestation
    1040From that red 始ticing lip?
    Bellafront
    Indeed, not any.
    Hippolito
    ‘Indeed始? And blush not?
    Bellafront
    No, in truth, not any.
    Hippolito
    ‘Indeed始! ‘In truth始! How warily you swear!
    1045始Tis well, if ill it be not. Yet had I
    The ruffian in me, and were drawn before you
    But in light colours, I do know indeed
    You would not swear ‘indeed始, but thunder oaths
    That should shake heaven, drown the harmonious spheres,
    1050And pierce a soul that loved her maker始s honour
    With horror and amazement.
    Bellafront
    Shall I swear?
    Will you believe me then?
    Hippolito
    Worst then of all;
    1055Our sins by custom seem at last but small.
    Were I but o始er your threshold, a next man,
    And after him a next, and then a fourth,
    Should have this golden hook and lascivious bait
    Thrown out to the full length. Why, let me tell you
    1060I ha始 seen letters, sent from that white hand,
    Tuning such music to Mattheo始s ear.
    Bellafront
    Mattheo! That始s true. But if you始ll believe
    My honest tongue, my eyes no sooner met you
    But they conceived and led you to my heart.
    1065Hippolito
    O, you cannot feign with me! Why, I know, lady,
    This is the common fashion of you all,
    To hook in a kind gentleman, and then
    Abuse his coin, conveying it to your lover;
    And in the end you show him a French trick,
    1070And so you leave him that a coach may run
    Between his legs for breadth.
    Bellafront
    O, by my soul,
    Not I! Therein I始ll prove an honest whore –
    In being true to one and to no more.
    1075Hippolito
    If any be disposed to trust your oath,
    Let him; I始ll not be he. I know you feign
    All that you speak, I; for a mingled harlot
    Is true in nothing but in being false.
    What, shall I teach you how to loathe yourself?
    1080And mildly too, not without sense or reason?
    Bellafront
    I am content; I would fain loathe myself
    If you not love me.
    Hippolito
    Then if your gracious blood
    Be not all wasted, I shall assay to do始t.
    1085Lend me your silence and attention.
    You have no soul; that makes you weigh so light.
    Heaven始s treasure bought it,
    And half a crown hath sold it. For your body,
    It始s like the common shore, that still receives
    All the town始s filth. The sin of many men
    1090Is within you; and thus much I suppose,
    That, if all your committers stood in rank,
    They始d make a lane, in which your shame might dwell,
    And with their spaces reach from hence to hell.
    Nay, shall I urge it more? There has been known
    1095As many by one harlot maimed and dismembered
    As would ha始 stuffed an hospital. This I might
    Apply to you, and perhaps do you right.
    O, you始re as base as any beast that bears;
    Your body is e始en hired, and so are theirs.
    1100For gold and sparkling jewels, if he can,
    You始ll let a Jew get you with Christian.
    Be he a Moor, a Tartar, though his face
    Look uglier than a dead man始s skull,
    Could the devil put on a human shape,
    1105If his purse shake out crowns, up then he gets;
    Whores will be rid to hell with golden bits.
    So that you始re crueller than Turks, for they
    Sell Christians only; you sell yourselves away.
    Why, those that love you, hate you, and will term you
    1110Lickerish damnation, wish themselves half sunk
    After the sin is laid out, and e始en curse
    Their fruitless riot. For what one begets,
    Another poisons. Lust and murder hit;
    A tree being often shook, what fruit can knit?
    1115Bellafront
    O me unhappy!
    Hippolito
    I can vex you more.
    A harlot is like Dunkirk, true to none;
    Swallows both English, Spanish, fulsome Dutch,
    Back-doored Italian, last of all the French.
    1120And he sticks to you, faith; gives you your diet,
    Brings you acquainted, first with Monsieur Doctor,
    And then you know what follows.
    Bellafront
    Misery.
    Rank, stinking, and most loathsome misery.
    1125Hippolito
    Methinks a toad is happier than a whore:
    That with one poison swells, with thousands more
    The other stocks her veins. Harlot? Fie, fie!
    You are the miserablest creatures breathing.
    The very slaves of nature. Mark me else:
    1130You put on rich attires, others始 eyes wear them;
    You eat but to supply your blood with sin.
    And this strange curse e始en haunts you to your graves:
    From fools you get, and spend it upon slaves.
    Like bears and apes, you始re baited and show tricks
    1135For money, but your bawd the sweetness licks.
    Indeed, you are their journey-women, and do
    All base and damned works they list set you to,
    So that you ne始er are rich. For do but show me,
    In present memory or in ages past,
    1140The fairest and most famous courtesan –
    Whose flesh was dear始st, that raised the price of sin,
    And held it up; to whose intemperate bosom
    Princes, earls, lords (the worst has been a knight,
    The mean始st a gentleman) have offered up
    1145Whole hecatombs of sighs, and rained in show始rs
    Handfuls of gold – yet, for all this, at last
    Diseases sucked her marrow; then grew so poor
    That she has begged, e始en at a beggar始s door.
    And – wherein heav始n has a finger – when this idol
    1150From coast to coast has lept on foreign shores,
    And had more worship than th始outlandish whores;
    When several nations have gone over her;
    When for each several city she has seen
    Her maidenhead has been new, and been sold dear;
    1155Did live well there, and might have died unknown
    And undefamed – back comes she to her own,
    And there both miserably lives and dies,
    Scorned even of those that once adored her eyes,
    As if her fatal-circled life thus ran
    1160Her pride should end there where it first began.
    [She weeps.]
    What, do you weep to hear your story read?
    Nay, if you spoil your cheeks, I始ll read no more.
    Bellafront
    [Weeping] O yes, I pray, proceed.
    Indeed, 始twill do me good to weep, indeed.
    1165Hippolito
    To give those tears a relish, this I add:
    You始re like the Jews, scattered, in no place certain.
    Your days are tedious, your hours burdensome;
    And were始t not for full suppers, midnight revels,
    Dancing, wine, riotous meetings, which do drown
    1170And bury quite in you all virtuous thoughts,
    And on your eyelids hang so heavily
    They have no power to look so high as heaven,
    You始d sit and muse on nothing but despair,
    Curse that devil Lust, that so burns up your blood,
    1175And in ten thousand shivers break your glass
    For his temptation. Say you taste delight
    To have a golden gull from rise to set,
    To mete you in his hot luxurious arms,
    Yet your nights pay for all: I know you dream
    1180Of warrants, whips, and beadles, and then start
    At a door始s windy creak, think every weasel
    To be a constable and every rat
    A long-tailed officer. Are you now not slaves?
    O, you have damnation without pleasure for it!
    1185Such is the state of harlots. To conclude,
    When you are old and can well paint no more,
    You turn bawd, and are then worse than before.
    Make use of this. Farewell.
    [He starts to go.]
    Bellafront
    O, I pray, stay!
    1190Hippolito
    I see Mattheo comes not. Time hath barred me.
    Would all the harlots in the town had heard me.
    Exit.
    Bellafront
    [Calling after him] Stay yet a little longer! No? Quite gone!
    Curst be that minute – for it was no more,
    So soon a maid is changed into a whore –
    1195Wherein I first fell; be it for ever black!
    Yet why should sweet Hippolito shun mine eyes,
    For whose true love I would become pure-honest,
    Hate the world始s mixtures and the smiles of gold?
    Am I not fair? Why should he fly me, then?
    1200Fair creatures are desired, not scorned of men.
    How many gallants have drunk healths to me
    Out of their daggered arms, and thought them blest
    Enjoying but mine eyes at prodigal feasts?
    And does Hippolito detest my love?
    1205O, sure their heedless lusts but flattered me;
    I am not pleasing, beautiful, nor young.
    Hippolito has spied some ugly blemish,
    Eclipsing all my beauties. I am foul.
    Harlot! Ay, that始s the spot that taints thy soul.
    1210[Finding Hippolito始s rapier] His weapon left here? O, fit instrument
    To let forth all the poison of my flesh!
    Thy master hates me 始cause my blood hath ranged;
    But when 始tis forth, then he始ll believe I始m changed.
    [As she is about to stab herself], enter Hippolito.
    Hippolito
    Mad woman, what art doing?
    1215Bellafront
    Either love me,
    Or cleave my bosom on thy rapier始s point.
    Yet do not neither, for thou then destroyst
    That which I love thee for – thy virtues. Here, here!
    [She gives him his sword.]
    Thou始rt crueller, and killst me with disdain;
    1220To die so sheds no blood, yet 始tis worse pain.
    Exit Hippolito.
    Not speak to me! Not look! Not bid farewell!
    Hated! This must not be; some means I始ll try.
    Would all whores were as honest now as I.
    Exit.