Deserving memory, when I forget

Adurni's love and favour.

For my own part,

Kill or be kill'd, (for there's the short and long on't,) Call me your shadow's hinch-boy'.

Aur.

Gentlemen,

My business urging on a present haste,
Enforceth short reply.

Adur.

We dare not hinder

Your resolution wing'd with thoughts so constant. All happiness!

Piero and Fut. Contents !

[Exeunt ADURNI, PIERO, FUTELLI, and FULGOSO.

Aur. So leave the wintered people of the north, The minutes of their summer, when the sun Departing leaves them in cold robes of ice, As I leave Genoa.

Enter TRELCATIO, SPINELLA, and CASTANNA. Now appears the object

Of my apprentic'd heart; thou bring'st, Spinella, A welcome in a farewell, souls and bodies

1

Hinch-boy.] This word is generally spelt hench-boy, and is of very common occurrence in old plays. Henchmen were originally a kind of pages of honour at the court, but their or der was abolished by Queen Elizabeth. Afterwards the term came to be applied to any domestic servant. The word was probably derived from the Teutonic and Saxon word hengst, a stallion, as Sir William Spelman observes, having served originally on horseback. The latest use of the term for a particular kind of servants, was amongst the Scotish Highlanders, where the henchman of a chieftain was his first and favourite servant. See the Notes to Scott's Lady of the Lake, p. 331.

Are severed for a time, a span of time,
To join again, without all separation,
In a confirmed unity for ever:

Such will our next embraces be for life;
And then to take the wrack of our divisions.
Will sweeten the remembrance of past dangers,
Will fasten love in perpetuity,

Will force our sleeps to steal upon our stories.
These days must come, and shall, without a cloud,
Or night of fear, or envy. To your charge,
Trelcatio, our good uncle, and the comfort
Of my Spinella's sister, fair Castanna,
I do entrust this treasure.

Trel,

I dare promise,

My husbanding that trust with truth and care. Cast. My sister shall to me stand an example, Of pouring free devotions for your safety.

Aur. Gentle Castanna, thou'rt a branch of good

ness

Grown on the self-same stock with my Spinnella.
But why, my dear, hast thou lock'd up thy speech
In so much silent sadness! Oh! at parting
Belike one private whisper must be sigh'd.
Uncle, the best of peace enrich your family!
I take my leave.

Trel. Blessings and health preserve ye. [Exit. Aur. Nay, nay, Castanna, you may hear our counsels;

A while, you are design'd your sister's husband.
Give me thy hand, Spinella; you did promise,
To send me from you with more cheerful looks,
Without a grudge or tear; 'deed, love, you did.

And then to take the wrack of our divisions.] This is very obscure, but the intended meaning is probably to recal to our minds the rack or torment which we endured during the time of our being separated.

Spi. What friend have I left in your absence?
Aur.

Many:
Thy virtues are such friends they cannot fail thee;
Faith, purity of thoughts, and such a meekness,
As would force scandal to a blush.

Spi.
Admit, sir,
The patent of your life should be call'd in,
How am I then left to account with griefs;
More slav'd to pity than a broken heart?
Auria! soul of my comforts, I let fall
No eye on breach of fortune; I contemn
No entertainment to divided hopes;
I urge no pressures by the scorn of change:
And yet, my Auria, when I but conceive
How easy 'tis (without impossibility)
Never to see thee more, forgive me then,
If I conclude I may be miserable,

Most miserable.

Cast.

And such conclusion, sister, Argues effects of a distrust more voluntary, Than cause by likelihood.

Aur.

'Tis truth, Castanna.

Spi. I grant it truth; yet, Auria, I'm a woman, And therefore apt to fear. To shew my duty, And not to take heart from you, I'll walk from ye, At your command, and not as much as trouble Your thought with one poor looking back.

Aur.

I thank thee, My worthy wife! Before we kiss, receive This caution from thine Auria-First, Castanna, Let us bid farewell.

Spi.

Aur.

Speak, good, speak.

The steps

Young ladies tread left to their own discretion,
However wisely printed, are observed
And construed as the lookers-on presume:
Point out thy ways then in such even paths,

As thine own jealousies from others' tongues
May not intrude a guilt, tho' undeserved.
Admit of visits as of physic forc'd,

Not to procure health, but for safe prevention
Against a growing sickness; in thy use
Of time and of discourse be found so thrifty,
As no remembrance may impeach thy rest;
Appear not in a fashion that can prompt
The gazer's eye, or holla' to report ;

Some widowed neglect of hand, some value 2;
In recreations be both wise and free;

Live still at home, home to thyself, howe'er
Enrich'd with noble company; remember
A woman's virtue, in her lifetime, writes
The epitaph all covet on their tombs :
In short, I know thou never wilt forget
Whose wife thou art, nor how upon thy lips
Thy husband at his parting seal'd 3 this kiss.-
No more.

Spi. Dear heaven! go, sister, go.

Aur.

[Exeunt SPINELLA and CASTANNA.
Done bravely,

And like the choice of glory to know mine
One of earth's best: I have forgone-

Enter AURELIO.

See, see,

Holla to report.] Holla is a term of horsemanship, and is generally used for restraining and stopping the horse. Here it evidently means exactly the reverse, as it stands for---incitement, urging on.

* Some widowed neglect of hand, some value.] If a line has not been lost after this, which I strongly suspect, the text must mean,---some value a degree of neglect towards their husbands in women who have been left by them alone, or in a state of widowhood.

3 Stald.] So the quarto reads. The corruption is obvious.

Yet in another I am rich, a friend,

A perfect one, Aurelio.

Aurel.

Had I been,

No stranger to your bosom, sir, ere now
You might have sorted' me in your resolves,
Companion of your fortunes.

Aur.

So the wrongs
I should have ventur'd on against thy fate
Must have denied all pardon. Not to hold
Dispute with reputations, why before
This present instant I conceal'd the stealth
Of my adventures from thy counsels, know,
My wants do drive me hence.

Aurel.

Wants? So you said,

And 'twas not friendly spoken.

Aur.

Hear me further.

Aurel. Auria, take heed; the covert of a folly Willing to range, be not, without excuse, Discover'd in the coinage of untruths : I use no harder language. Thou art near Already on a shipwreck, in forsaking The holy land of friendship, in forsaking 3 To talk your wants.—Fie!

'Sorted.] Amongst the various significations of the verb to 'sort that which best suits the text is,---to choose or select,

3

The counsels.] So the quarto corruptedly reads.

thou art near

Already on a shipwreck, in forsaking

The holy land of friendship, in forsaking

❝ in forsak

To talk your wants. Fie!] This may mean, ing or omitting to mention or talk before of your wants to your friend;" and as this meaning, though not clearly expressed, is not a bad one, the text has not been disturbed. But as the only old edition of this play is remarkably incorrect, I strongly suspect that either a line has been entirely lost, or that the last words, "in forsaking," the second time of their occurrence, are corrupt, and were caught from the preceding line by the composi