bottled spider, into thy primitive earth,
Unless thou swear thy very thought's a lie.

_Mal._ I stand in adamant, and thus defy thee!
Nay, draw, and with the edge betwixt my lips,
Even while thou rak'st it through my teeth, I'll swear
All I have said is true, as thou art honest,
Or I a villain.

_Gril._ Damned infamous wretch!
So much below my scorn, I dare not kill thee;
And yet so much my hate, that I must fear thee.
For should it be as thou hast said, not all
The trophies of my laurelled honesty
Should bar me from forsaking this bad world,
And never draw my sword for Henry more.

_Mal._ Ha! 'tis well, and now I am revenged.
I was in hopes thou wouldst have uttered treason,
And forfeited thy head, to pay me fully.

_Gril._ Hast thou compacted for a lease of years
With hell, that thus thou ventured to provoke me?

_Mal._ Perhaps I have: (How right the blockhead hits!)
Yet more to rack thy heart, and break thy brain,
Thy niece has been before the Guise's mistress.

_Gril._ Hell-hound, avaunt!

_Mal._ Forgive my honest meaning. [_Exit._

_Gril._ 'Tis hatched beneath, a plot upon mine honour;
And thus he lays his baits to catch my soul:--
Ha! but the presence opens; who comes here?
By heaven, my niece! led by Alphonso Corso!
Ha, Malicorn! is't possible? truth from thee!
'Tis plain! and I, in justifying woman,
Have done the devil wrong.

_Enter_ ALPHONSO CORSO, _leading in_ MARMOUTIERE.

_Alph._ Madam, the king
(Please you to sit) will instantly attend you. [_Exit._

_Gril._ Death, hell, and furies! ha! she comes to seek him!--
O prostitute!--and, on her prodigal flesh,
She has lavished all the diamonds of the Guise,
To set her off, and sell her to the king.

_Mar._ O heavens! did ever virgin yet attempt
An enterprise like mine? I, that resolved
Never to leave those dear delightful shades,
But act the little part that nature gave me,
On the green carpets of some guiltless grove,
And having finished it, forsake the world;
Unless sometimes my heart might entertain
Some small remembrance of the taking Guise:
But that far, far from any darkening thought,
To cloud my honour, or eclipse my virtue.

_Gril._ Thou liest! and if thou hadst not glanced aside,
And spied me coming, I had had it all.

_Mar._ By heaven! by all that's good--

_Gril._ Thou hast lost thy honour.
Give me this hand, this hand by which I caught thee
From the bold ruffian in the massacr