The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Уильям Шекспир

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       He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so

       He might have bought me at a common price:

       Do not believe him. O, behold this ring,

       Whose high respect and rich validity

       Did lack a parallel; yet, for all that,

       He gave it to a commoner o’ the camp,

       If I be one.

       COUNTESS.

       He blushes, and ‘tis it:

       Of six preceding ancestors, that gem,

       Conferr’d by testament to the sequent issue,

       Hath it been ow’d and worn. This is his wife;

       That ring’s a thousand proofs.

       KING.

       Methought you said

       You saw one here in court could witness it.

       DIANA.

       I did, my lord, but loath am to produce

       So bad an instrument; his name’s Parolles.

       LAFEU.

       I saw the man to-day, if man he be.

       KING.

       Find him, and bring him hither.

       [Exit an Attendant.]

       BERTRAM.

       What of him?

       He’s quoted for a most perfidious slave,

       With all the spots o’ the world tax’d and debauch’d:

       Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth:

       Am I or that or this for what he’ll utter,

       That will speak anything?

       KING.

       She hath that ring of yours.

       BERTRAM.

       I think she has: certain it is I lik’d her,

       And boarded her i’ the wanton way of youth:

       She knew her distance, and did angle for me,

       Madding my eagerness with her restraint,

       As all impediments in fancy’s course

       Are motives of more fancy; and, in fine,

       Her infinite cunning with her modern grace,

       Subdu’d me to her rate: she got the ring;

       And I had that which any inferior might

       At market-price have bought.

       DIANA.

       I must be patient:

       You that have turn’d off a first so noble wife

       May justly diet me. I pray you yet,—

       Since you lack virtue, I will lose a husband,—

       Send for your ring, I will return it home,

       And give me mine again.

       BERTRAM.

       I have it not.

       KING.

       What ring was yours, I pray you?

       DIANA.

       Sir, much like

       The same upon your finger.

       KING.

       Know you this ring? this ring was his of late.

       DIANA.

       And this was it I gave him, being a-bed.

       KING.

       The story, then, goes false you threw it him

       Out of a casement.

       DIANA.

       I have spoke the truth.

       BERTRAM.

       My lord, I do confess the ring was hers.

       KING.

       You boggle shrewdly; every feather starts you.—

       [Re-enter Attendant, with PAROLLES.]

       Is this the man you speak of?

       DIANA.

       Ay, my lord.

       KING.

       Tell me, sirrah, but tell me true I charge you,

       Not fearing the displeasure of your master,—

       Which, on your just proceeding, I’ll keep off,—

       By him and by this woman here what know you?

       PAROLLES. So please your majesty, my master hath been an honourable gentleman; tricks he hath had in him, which gentlemen have.

       KING.

       Come, come, to the purpose: did he love this woman?

       PAROLLES.

       Faith, sir, he did love her; but how?

       KING.

       How, I pray you?

       PAROLLES.

       He did love her, sir, as a gentleman loves a woman.

       KING.

       How is that?

       PAROLLES.

       He loved her, sir, and loved her not.

       KING.

       As thou art a knave and no knave.—

       What an equivocal companion is this!

       PAROLLES.

       I am a poor man, and at your majesty’s command.

       LAFEU.

       He’s a good drum, my lord, but a naughty orator.

       DIANA.

       Do you know he promised me marriage?

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