he be
False or unkind to me,
Let me die, ere I see
That I'm forsaken._

_Duke_ [_After the dance._] My curiosity redoubles; I must needs hail
that unknown vessel, and enquire whither she's bound, and what freight
she carries.

_Fred._ She's not worth your trouble, sir: She'll either prove some
common courtezan in disguise, or, at best, some homely person of
honour, that only dances well enough to invite a sight of herself, and
would look ill enough to fright you.

_Duke._ That's maliciously said; all I see of her is charming, and I
have reason to think her face is of the same piece; at least I'll try
my fortune.

_Fred._ What an unlucky accident is this! If my father should discover
her, she's ruined: If he does not, yet I have lost her conversation
to-night.

_Duke approaches_ LUCRETIA.

_Asca._ 'Tis the duke himself, who comes to court you.

_Luc._ Peace, I'll fit him; for I have been informed, to the least
tittle, of his actions since he came to town.

_Duke._ [_To_ Luc.] Madam, the duke of Mantua, whom you must needs
imagine to be in this company, has sent me to you, to know what kind
of face there is belonging to that excellent shape, and to those
charming motions, which he observed so lately in your dancing.

_Luc._ Tell his highness, if you please, that there is a face within
the mask, so very deformed, that, if it were discovered, it would
prove the worst visor of the two; and that, of all men, he ought not
to desire it should be exposed, because then something would be found
amiss in an entertainment, which he has made so splendid and
magnificent.

_Duke._ The duke, I am sure, would be very proud of your compliment,
but it would leave him more unsatisfied than before; for, he will find
in it so much of gallantry, as, being added to your other graces, will
move him to a strange temptation of knowing you.

_Luc._ I should still have the same reason to refuse him; for 'twere a
madness, when I had charmed him by my motion and converse, to hazard
the loss of that conquest by my eyes.

_Duke._ I am on fire 'till I discover her. [_Aside._]--At least,
madam, tell me of what family you are.

_Luc._ Will you be satisfied, if I tell you I am of the Colonne? You
have seen Julia of that house?

_Duke._ Then you are she.

_Luc._ Have I not her stature most exactly?

_Duke._ As near as I remember.

_Luc._ But, by your favour, I have nothing of her shape; for, if I may
be so vain to pra