Page 2702 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1
P. 2702
T HESEUS
And we will hear it.
PHILOST RAT E
No, my noble lord,
It is not for you: I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
Unless you can find sport in their intents,
Extremely stretch’d and conn’d with cruel pain [80]
To do you service.
T HESEUS
I will hear that play;
For never anything can be amiss
When simpleness and duty tender it.
Go bring them in; and take your places, ladies.
(Exit Philostrate.)
HIPPOLY T A
I love not to see wretchedness o’er-charg’d, [85]
And duty in his service perishing.
T HESEUS
Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.
HIPPOLY T A
He says they can do nothing in this kind.
T HESEUS
The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
Our sport shall be to take what they mistake: [90]
And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
Takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, [95]
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practis’d accent in their fears,
And, in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
