660Lady,

8.2Since that occasion, forward in our good,

8.3661Presenteth place and opportunity,

8.4662Let me entreat your wonted kind consent

8.5663And friendly furtherance in a suit I have.

My lord, you know you need not to entreat,

8.7665But may command Mariana to her power,

8.8666Be it no impeachment to my honest fame.

Free are my thoughts from such base villainy

8.10668As may in question, lady, call your name.

8.11669Yet is the matter of such consequence,

8.12670Standing upon my honourable credit

8.13671To be effected with such zeal and secrecy,

8.14672As should I speak and fail my expectation

8.15673ʼTwould redound greatly to my prejudice.

My lord, wherein hath Mariana

8.17Given you occasion 675that you should mistrust,

8.18Or else be jealous of my secrecy?

Mariana, do not misconster of me:

8.20677I not mistrust thee, nor thy secrecy;

8.21678Nor let my love misconster my intent,

8.22679Nor think thereof but well and honourable.

8.23680Thus stands the case:

8.24Thou knowʼst from England 681hither came with me

8.25Robert of Windsor, a nobleman at arms,

8.26682Lusty and valiant, in springtime of his years;

8.27683No marvel then though he prove amorous.

True, my lord, he came to see fair Blanche.

685No, Mariana, that is not it. 686His love to Blanche

8.30Was then extinct 687when first he saw thy face.

8.31688ʼTis thee he loves, yea, thou art only she

8.32689That is mistress and commander of his thoughts.

690Well, well, my lord, I like you, for such drifts

8.34691Put silly ladies often to their shifts.

8.35692Oft have I heard you say you loved me well,

8.36693Yea, sworn the same, and I believed you, too.

8.37694Can this be found an action of good faith,

8.38695Thus to dissemble where you found true love?

Mariana,

8.40I not dissemble, on mine honour,

8.41697Nor fails my faith to thee. But for my friend,

8.42698For princely William, by whom thou shalt possess

8.43699The title of estate and majesty,

8.44700Fitting thy love and virtues of thy mind –

8.45701For him I speak, for him I do entreat,

8.46702And with thy favour fully do resign

8.47703To him the claim and interest of my love.

8.48704Sweet Mariana, then, deny me not.

8.49705Love William, love my friend, and honour me,

8.50706Who else is clean dishonoured by thy means.

Born to mishap, myself am only she

8.52708On whom the sun of Fortune never shined,

8.53709But planets ruled by retrograde aspect

8.54710Foretold mine ill in my nativity.

Sweet lady, cease. Let my entreaty serve

8.56712To pacify the passion of thy grief,

8.57713Which well I know proceeds of ardent love.

But Lübeck now regards not Mariana.

715Even as my life, so love I Mariana.

Why do you post me to another then?

He is my friend, and I do love the man.

Then will Duke William rob me of my love?

No, as his life Mariana he doth love.

720Speak for yourself, my lord; let him alone.

So do I, madam, for he and I am one.

Then loving you I do content you both.

In loving him you shall content us both:

8.68724Me, for I crave that favour at your hands,

8.69725He, for [he] hopes that comfort at your hands.

Leave off, my lord; here comes the lady Blanche.

Hard hap to break us of our talk so soon;

8.72729Sweet Mariana, do remember me.

730Thy Mariana cannot choose but remember thee.

Mariana, well met. You are very forward in your love?

Madam, be it in secret spoken to yourself, 733if you will but follow the complot I have invented, 734you will not think me so forward, 735as yourself shall prove fortunate.

As how?

Madam, as thus. It is not unknown to you 738that Sir Robert of Windsor, 739a man that you do not little esteem, 740hath long importuned me of love; 741but rather than I will be found false 742or unjust to the Marquis Lübeck, 743I will – as did the constant lady Penelope – 744undertake to effect some great task.

745What of all this?

The next time that Sir Robert shall come 747in his wonted sort to solicit me with love, 748I will seem to agree and like of anything 749that the knight shall demand, so far forth 750as it be no impeachment to my chastity. 751And, to conclude, ʼpoint some place for to meet the man 752for my conveyance from the Denmark court; 753which determined upon, he will appoint some certain time 754for our departure, whereof you having intelligence, 755you may soon set down a plot to wear the English crown. 756And then—

What then?

If Sir Robert prove a king, and you his queen, 759how then?

760Were I assured of the one, as I am persuaded 761of the other, there were some possibility in it. 762But here comes the man.

Madam, begone, and you shall see 764I will work to your desire and my content.

765Lady, this is well and happily met.

8.85766Fortune hitherto hath been my foe,

8.86767And though I have oft sought to speak with you,

8.87768Yet still I have been crossed with sinister haps.

8.88769I cannot, madam, tell a loving tale,

8.89770Or court my mistress with fabulous discourses,

8.90771That am a soldier sworn to follow arms;

8.91775Nor may I make my love the siege of Troy

8.92776That am a stranger in this country.

8.93772But this I bluntly let you understand:

8.94773I honour you with such religious zeal

8.95774As may become an honourable mind.

8.96777First, what I am, I know you are resolved,

8.97778For that my friend hath let you that to understand,

8.98779The Marquis Lübeck, to whom I am so bound,

8.99780That, whilst I live, I count me only his.

Surely you are beholding to the Marquis,

8.101782For he hath been an earnest spokesman in your cause.

And yields my lady then at his request,

8.103784To grace Duke William with her gracious love?

785My lord, I am a prisoner,

8.105And hard it were 786to get me from the court.

An easy matter to get you from the court,

8.107788If case that you will thereto give consent.

Put case I should, how would you use me then?

790Not otherwise but well and honourably.

8.110791I have at sea a ship that doth attend,

8.111792Which shall forthwith conduct us into England,

8.112793Where, when we are, I straight will marry thee.

8.113794We may not stay deliberating long,

8.114795Lest that suspicion, envious of our weal,

8.115796Set in a foot to hinder our pretence.

[Producing a veil] But this I think were most convenient,

8.117798To mask my face the better to ʼscape unknown.

A good device. Till then, farewell, fair love.

800But this I must entreat your grace:

8.120801You would not seek by lust unlawfully

8.121802To wrong my chaste determinations.

I hold that man most shameless in his sin

8.123804That seeks to wrong an honest ladyʼs name,

8.124805Whom he thinks worthy of his marriage bed.

In hope your oath is true,

8.126807I leave your grace till the appointed time.

O happy William, blessèd in thy love,

8.128810Most fortunate in Marianaʼs love!

8.129811Well, Lübeck, well, this courtesy of thine

8.130812I will requite if God permit me life.