Page:Works of Sir John Suckling.djvu/175

] Was false, lov'd him and him; and, had I not

Begun revenge, till she had made an end

Of changing, I had had the kingdom to have killed.

What does this deserve?

Ther. A punishment he best can make,

That suffered the wrong.

Zir. I thank you, sir.

For him I will not trouble you: his life

Is mine—I won it fairly—and his is yours—

He lost it foully to you. To him, sir, now!

A man so wicked that he knew no good,

But so as't made his sins the greater for't.

Those ills, which, singly acted, bred despair

In others, he acted daily, and ne'er thought

Upon them.

The grievance each particular has against him,

I will not meddle with: it were to give him

A long life to give them hearing. I'll only speak

My own: first, then, the hopes of all my youth,

And a reward which Heav'n hath settled on me

(If holy contracts can do anything)

He ravish'd from me, kill'd my father—

Aglaura's father, sir—would have whor'd my sister,

And murthered my friend. This is all! And now

Your sentence, sir.

Ther. We have no punishment can reach these crimes:

Therefore 'tis justest, sure, to send him, where

They're wittier to punish than we are here;

And, 'cause repentance oft stops that proceeding,

A sudden death is sure the greatest punishment.

Zir. I humbly thank you, sir.

King. What a strange glass th' have showed me now myself in!

Our sins, like to our shadows, when our day

Is in its glory, scarce appear'd: towards

Our evening how great and monstrous they are!

Zir. Is this all you have to say?

Ther. Hold!

Now go you up.

Zir. What mean you, sir?

Ther. Nay, I denied not you.

That all these accusations are just,

I must acknowledge;

And to these crimes I have but this t'oppose—