Page:Works of Sir John Suckling.djvu/301

] The brinish water turns them all to salt.

Where there's an ocean of ingratitude,

Favours must needs be lost.

King. Thou speak'st but truth. Who does to merit trust,

But writes an obligation in the dust.

Your counsels now my faithful life preserve,

Is there a way for pardon?

Fid. Faith, sir,

It would pollute mercy to use it here.

The fact's so foul, it calls itself for death.

King. And it shall have it.

Traitor's enough; but, when ungrateful comes,

It stops the mouth of pity.

Go, take our guards, and apprehend him straight.

Flo. Soft, great sir! 'Twere fit

Your justice should consider what way is made:

If you shall apprehend him for treason unborn,

And which he only did intend,

Foolish report, which never was i' th' right,

May clear his guiltiness, and censure majesty.

If you'd permit him to approach the chamber,

(Yet who'ld advise treason should come so near?)

You would take him in the act, and leave no place

For foul suspicion. Then, if your grace

Sent for his father,

And kept him with pretence of business by you,

Till he became the witness of th' attempt,

Envy itself could have no cause to bark.

King. Thou art my oracle: I cannot tell

Whether my debt be greater to thy faith

Or to thy counsel. Go and watch abroad,

And let these cares wait upon fate and me.

The captain of the guard 'twere fit you sounded;

He may do mischief. Florelio, you

Shall to his father: the rest is mine to manage.

These men are honest, and must be rewarded;

They do deserve it. 'Tis most rare to find

A greatness that enjoys true friends;

For commonly it makes us fear'd and hated.

The one doth breed offence: th' other leaves naked.

Let the impartial eye but look upon

All we call ours, and then again behold