Mucedorus

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.

[Calling.]

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!

[Exit Mouse.]

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!

[Mucedorus kills him.]

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.

[Exeunt Segasto and Mouse.]

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.

[Exit.]