me that I spent there, my lord, was merry.

LORD. 'Twas well, 'twas very well! and in your absence
Your uncle here and I have been bethinking,
What gift 'twixt us we might bestow on you,
That to your house large dignity might bring,
With fair increase, as from a crystal spring.

_Enter_ DOCTOR _and_ KATHERINE.

SCAR. My name is bound to your benificence,
Your hands have been to me like bounty's purse,
Never shut up, yourself my foster nurse:
Nothing can from your honour come, prove me so rude,
But I'll accept, to shun ingratitude.

LORD. We accept thy promise, now return thee this,
A virtuous wife: accept her with a kiss.

SCAR. My honourable lord!

LORD. Fear not to take her, man: she will fear neither,
Do what thou canst, being both abed together.

SCAR. O, but my lord--

LORD. But me? dog of wax! come kiss, and agree,
Your friends have thought it fit, and it must be.

SCAR. I have no hands to take her to my wife.

LORD. How, sauce-box?

SCAR. O, pardon me, my lord; the unripeness of my years,
Too green for government, is old in fears
To undertake that charge.

LORD. Sir, sir, and sir knave, then here is a mellowed experience knows
how to teach you.

SCAR. O God.

LORD. O Jack,
Have[355] both our cares, your uncle and myself,
Sought, studied, found out, and for your good,
A maid, a niece of mine, both fair and chaste;
And must we stand at your discretion?

SCAR. O good my lord,
Had I two souls, then might I have two wives:
Had I two faiths, then had I one for her;
Having of both but one, that one is given
To Sir John Harcop's daughter.

LORD. Ha, ha! what's that? let me hear that again.

SCAR. To Sir John Harcop's Clare I have made an oath:
Part me in twain, yet she's one-half of both.
This hand the which I wear, it is half hers:
Such power hath faith and troth 'twixt couples young,
Death only cuts that knot tied with the tongue.

LORD. And have you knit that knot, sir?

SCAR. I have done so much that, if I wed not her,
My marriage makes me an adulterer:
In which black sheets I wallow all my life,
My babes being bastards, and a whore my wife.

_Enter_ SECRETARY.

LORD. Ha, is't even so? my secretary there,
Write me a letter straight to Sir John Harcop,
I'll see, sir Jack, and if that Harcop dare,
Being my ward, contract you to his daughter.

[_Exit_ SECRETARY.

_Enter_ STEWARD.

My steward too, post you to Yorkshire,
Where lies my you