omewhat; that's no matter now.

PHA. Nay, good Moria, be not angry. Put case, that we four now
had the grant from Juno, to wish ourselves into what happy estate
we could, what would you wish to be, Moria?

MOR. Who, I! let me see now. I would wish to be a wise woman,
and know all the secrets of court, city, and country. I would know
what were done behind the arras, what upon the stairs, what in the
garden, what in the nymphs' chamber, what by barge, and what by
coach. I would tell you which courtier were scabbed and which not;
which lady had her own face to lie with her a-nights and which not;
who put off their teeth with their clothes in court, who their
hair, who their complexion; and in which box they put it. There
should not a nymph, or a widow, be got with child in the verge, but
I would guess, within one or two, who was the right father, and in
what month it was gotten; with what words, and which way. I would
tell you which madam loved a monsieur, which a player, which a
page; who slept with her husband, who with her friend, who with her
gentleman-usher, who with her horse-keeper, who with her monkey,
and who with all; yes, and who jigg'd the cock too.

PHA. Fie, you'd tell all, Moria! If I should wish now, it should
be to have your tongue out. But what says Philautia? Who should
she be?

PHI. Troth, the very same I am. Only I would wish myself a little
more command and sovereignty; that all the court were subject to my
absolute beck, and all things in it depending on my look; as if
there were no other heaven but in my smile, nor other hell but in
my frown; that I might send for any man I list, and have his head
cut off when I have done with him, or made an eunuch if he denied
me; and if I saw a better face than mine own, I might have my
doctor to poison it. What would you wish, Phantaste?

PHA. Faith, I cannot readily tell you what: but methinks I should
wish myself all manner of creatures. Now I would be an empress,
and by and by a duchess; then a great lady of state, then one of
your miscellany madams, then a waiting-woman, then your citizen's
wife, then a coarse country gentlewoman, then a dairy-maid, then a
shepherd's lass, then an empress again, or the queen of fairies:
and thus I would prove the vicissitudes and whirl of pleasures
about and again. As I were a shepherdess, I w