A WOMAN KILDE with Kindnesse Written by Tho: Heywood LONDON Printed by William Iaggard dwelling in Barbican and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard by Iohn Hodgets 1607 The Prologue I Come but like a Harbenger being sent To tell you what these preparations meane Looke for no glorious state our muse is bent Vpon a barrein subiect a bare sceane We could afford this twig a Timber tree Whose strength might boldly on your fauours build Our Russet Tissew Drone a Hony-Bee Our barrein plot a large and spacious fielde Our course fare banquets our thin Water Wine Our Brooke a Sea our Bats eyes Eagles sight Our Poets dull and earthy muse Diuine Our Rauens Doues our Crowes blacke fethers white But gentle thoughts when they may giue the foyle Saue them that yeeld and spare where they may spoyle Enter maister Iohn Frankeford Sir Francis Acton Mistris Acton sir Charles Mountford Maister Malbie Maister Wendoll and Maister Cranwell Francis SOme musicke there none lead the Bride a dance Charles Yes would she dance the shaking of the sheetes But that 's the dance her Husband meanes to lead her Wen. That 's not the dance that euery man must dance According to the Ballad Francis Musick ho By your leaue Sister by your Husbands leaue I should haue said the hand that but this day Was giuen you in the Church I le borrow Sound This marriage musicke hoists me from the ground Frank. I you may caper you are light and free Marriage hath yoakt my heeles pray then pardon me Francis I le haue you dance to Brother Charles Maister Frankford You are a happy man sir and much ioy Succeede your marriage mirth you haue a wife So qualified and with such ornaments Both of the mind and body First her Birth Is Noble and her education such As might become the Daughter of a Prince Her owne tongue speakes all tongues and her owne hand Can teach all strings to speake in their best grace From the shrill treble to the hoarsest base To end her many praises in one word She s beauty and perfections eldest Daughter Onely found by yours though many a hart hath sought her Frank. But that I know your vertues and chast thoughts I should be ielous of your praise sir Charles Cran. He speakes no more then you approue Malbie Nor flatters he that giues to her her due Anne I would your praise could find a fitter theame Then my imperfect beauty to speake on Such as they be if they my Husband please They suffice me now I am married His sweet content is like a flattering Glasse To make my face seeme fairer to mine eye But the least wrinckle from his stormy brow Will blast the Roses in my cheekes that grow Francis A perfect wife already meeke and patient How strangely the word husband fits your mouth Not married three houres since sister t is good You that beginne betimes thus must needs proue Plyant and dutious in your husbands loue Godamercies Brother wrought her to it already Sweete Husband and a curtesie the first day Marke this marke this you that are Bachelers And neuer tooke the grace of honest man Marke this against you marry this one phrase In a good time that man both wins and woes That takes his wife downe in her wedding shooes Frank. Your sister takes not after you sir Francis All his wilde bloud your father spent on you He got her in his age when he grew ciuill All his mad tricks were to his land intaild And you are heire to al your sister she Hath to her dower her mothers modesty Charles Lord sir in what a happy state liue you This morning which to many seemes a burden too Heauy to beare is vnto you a pleasure This Lady is no clog as many are She doth become you like a well made suite In which the Taylor hath vsd all his art Not like a thicke Coate of vnseasond freeze Forst on your backe in summer shee s no chaine To ty your necke and curbe you to the yoake But shee s a chaine of gold to adorne your neck You both adore each other and your hands Methinkes are matches there 's equality In this faire combination you are both Schollers Both young both being descended nobly There 's musick in this simpathy it caries Comfort and expectation of much ioy Which God bestow on you from this first day Vntill your dissolution that 's for aye Francis We keepe you here to long good brother Franckford Into the hal Away go cheare your guests What Bride and Bride-groom both withdrawne at once If you be mist the guests wil doubt their welcome And charge you with vnkindnes Frank. To preuent it I le leaue you here to see the dance within Anne And so wil I Fran. To part you it were sin Frank Now gallants while the Towne Musitians Finger their frets within and the mad lads And country lasses euery mothers child With nose-gaies and Bridelaces in their hats Dance al their Country measures rounds and Iigges What shall we do Harke they are all on the hoygh They toile like Mil-horsses and turne as round Marry not on the toe I and they Caper But without cutting you shall see to morrow The hall floure peckt and dinted like a Milstone Made with their high shooes though their skill be small Yet they tread heauy where their Hob-nailes fall Char. Well leaue them to their sports Sir Francis Acton I le make a match with you meet me to morrow At Cheuy-chase I le flie my Hawke with yours Fran. For what for what Char. Why for a hundred pound Fran. Pawne me some gold of that Char. Here are ten angels I le make them good a hundred pound to morrow Vpon my Hawkes wing Fran. T is a match t is done An other hundred pound vpon your Dogs Dare you Sir Charles Char. I dare were I sure to loose I durst do more then that heere 's my hand The first course for a hundred pound Fran. A match Wend. Ten Angels on sir Francis Actons Hawk As much vpon his Dogs Cran. I am for Sir Charles Mountford I haue seene His hawke and Dog both tride What clap you hands Or i st no bargaine Wendoll Yes and stake them downe Were they fiue hundred they were all my owne Fran. Be stirring early with the Larke to morrow I le rise into my saddle ere the sunne Rise from his bed Char. If there you misse me say I am no Gentleman I le hold my day Fran. It holds on all sides come to night le ts dance Early to morow le ts prepare to ride We had neede be three houres vp before the Bride Enter Nick and Ierking Iacks slime Roger Brickbat With countrie Wenches and two or three Musitians Ienk. Come Nick take you Ioune Miniuer to trace withal Iacke slime trauerse you with Sisly Milke-pale I will take Iane trubkin Roger Brikbat shall haue Isbell Motly and now that they are busie in the parlor come strike vp wee le haue a crash
the pore remainder Of al the wealth I haue my heauy foes Haue made my purse light but alas to me T is wealth inough that you haue set me free Mal. God giue you ioy of your deliuery I am glad to see you abroad Sir Charles Char. The poorest knight in England M. Malby My life hath cost me al the patrimony My father left his sonne wel God forgiue them That are the Authors of my pennury Enter Shafton Shaf, Sir Charles a hand a hand at liberty Now by the faith I owe I am glad to see it What want you wherein may I pleasure you Char. Oh me oh most vnhappy Gentleman I am not worthy to haue friends stird vp Whose hands may helpe me in this plunge of want I would I were in heauen to inherit there Th imortal birth-right which my sauior keeps And by no vnthrift can be bought and sold For here on earth what pleasures should we trust Shaf. To rid you from these contemplations Three hundred pounds you shal receiue of me Nay fiue for faile come sir the sight of Gold Is the most sweet receipt for melancholy And wil reuiue your spirits you shal hold law With your proud aduersaries Tush let Franke Acton Wage with Knighthood like expence with me And he wil sinke he wil nay good Sir Charles Applaud your Fortune and your faire escape From al these perils Charles Oh Sir they haue vndone me Two thousand and fiue hundred pound a yeare My father at his death possest me of All which the enuious Acton made me spend And notwithstanding all this large expence I had much ado to gaine my liberty And I haue now onely a house of pleasure With some fiue hundred pounds reserued Both to maintaine me and my louing sister Shaf. That must I haue it lies conuenient for me If I can fasten but one finger on him With my ful hand I le gripe him to the hart T is not for loue I proferd him this coyne But for my gaine and pleasure come Sir Charles I know you haue need of mony take my offer Char. Sir I accept it and remaine indebted Euen to the best of my vnable power Come Gentlemen and see it tendred downe Exeunt Enter Wendol melancholy Wend. I am a villan if I apprehend But such a thought then to attempt the deed Slaue thou art damnd without redemption I le driue away this passion with a song A song ha ha a song as if fond man Thy eies could swim in laughter when thy soule Lies drencht and drownd in red teares of blood I le pray and see if God within my hart Plant better thoughts why prayers are meditations And when I meditate oh God forgiue me It is on her diuine perfections I will forget hir I wil arme my selfe Not to entertaine a thought of loue to her And when I come by chance into hir presence I le haue these bals vntil my eye-strings cracke From being puld and drawne to looke that way Enter ouer the stage Franckeford his wife and Nicke O God O God with what a violence I am hurried to my owne destruction There goest thou the most perfectst man That euer England bred a Gentleman And shal I wrong his bed thou God of Thunder Stay in thy thoughts of vengeance and of wrath Thy great Almighty and all Iudging hand From speedy execution on a villain A villain and a Traitor to his friend Entor Ienkin Ienk. Did your worship cal Wend. He doth maintaine me he allowes me largely Mony to spend Ien. By my faith so do not you me I canot get a crosse of you Wen, My gelding and my man Ienk. That 's Sorrel and I Wend. This kindnes growes of no alliance twixt vs Ienk. Nor is my seruice of any great acquaintance Wend. I neuer bond him to be by desert Of a meere stranger a poore Gentleman A man by whom in no kind he could gaine He hath placst me in the height of al his thoughts Made me companion with the best and chiefest In Yorke-shire he cannot eat without me Nor laugh without me I am to his body As necessary as his digestion And equally do make him whole or sicke And shal I wrong this man base man ingrate Hast thou the power straite with thy gory hands To rip thy Image from his bleeding hart To scratch thy name from out the holy booke Of his remembrance and to wound his name That holds thy name so deere or rend his hart To whom thy hart was ioynd and knit together And yet I must then Wendol be content Thus villains when they would cannot repent Ienk. What a strange humor is my new maister in pray God he be not mad if he should be so I shold neuer haue any mind to serue him in Bedlam It may bee he is madde for missing of me Wend. What Ienkin where 's your Mistris Ienk. Is your worship married Wend. Why dost thou aske Ionk Because you are my M. and if I haue a mistris I wold be glad like a good seruant to do my duty to her Wend. I meane where 's Mistris Frankeford Ienk. Marry sir her husband is riding out of Towne and shee went very louingly to bring him on his way to horse doe you see sir here she comes and here I go Wen. Vanish Enter Mistris Frankeford Anne You are wel met sir now introth my husband Before he tooke horse had a great desire To speake with you we sought about the house Hallowed into the fields sent euery way But could not meet you therefore he inioyned me To do vnto you his most kinds commends Nay more he wils you as you prize his loue Or hold in estimation his kind friendship To make bold in his absence and command Euen as himselfe were present in the house For you must keepe his table vse his Seruants And be a present Frankeford in his absence Wend. I thanke him for his loue Giue me a name you whose infectious tongues Are tipt with gall and poison as you would Thinke on a man that had your father slaine Murdered thy children made your wiues base strumpets So cal me cal me so print in my face The most stigmaticke title of a villaine For hatching treason to so true a friend Anne Sir you are much beholding to my husbande You are a man most deere in his regard Wend. I am bound vnto your husband and you to I will not speake to wrong a Gentleman Of that good estimation my kind friend I will not Zounds I wil not I may chuse And I wil chose Shall I be so missed Or shal I purchase to my fathers crest The Motto of a villaine If I say I will not do it what thing can inforce me Who can compell me What sad desteny Hath such command vpon my yeilding thoughts I wil not Ha some fury pricks me on The swift fates drag me at their chariot wheele And hurry me to mischiefe speake I must Iniure my selfe wrong hir deceiue his trust
Anne Are you not well sir that you seeme thus troubled There is sedition in your countenance Wend. And in my hart faire Angel chast and wise I loue you start not speake not answere not I loue you nay let we speake the rest Bid me to sweare and I wil cal to record the hoast of Heauen Anne The hoast of heauen forbid Wendol should hatch such a disloyall thought wend. Such is my fate to this sute I was borne To weare rich pleasures Crowne or fortunes scorne Anne My husband loues you wend. I know it Anne He esteemes you Euen as his braine his eye-bal or his hart Wen. I haue tried it Anne His purse is you exchequer and his table Doth freely serue you wen. So I haue found it Anne Oh with what face of brasse what brow of steele Can you vnblushing speake this to the face Of the espoused wife of so deare a friend It is my husband that maintaines your state Wil you dishonor him I am his wife That in your power hath left his whole affaires It is to me you speake Wend. O speake no more For more than this I know and haue recorded Within the red-leau'd table of my hart Faire and of al belou'd I was not feareful Bluntly to giue my life into your hand And at one hazard al my earthly meanes Go tel your husband he wil turne me off And I am then vndone I care not I T was for your sake perchance in rage heel kil me I care not t was for you say I incurre The general name of villain through the world Of traitor to my friend I care not I Beggery shame death scandal and reproach For you I le hazard all what care I For you I le liue and in your loue I le dy Anne you moue me sir to passion and to pitty The loue I beare my husband is as pretious As my soules health Wend. I loue your husband to And for his loue I wil ingage my life Mistake me not the augmentation Of my sincere affection borne to you Doth no whit lessen my regard of him I will bee secret Lady close as night And not the light of one smal glorious star Shal shine heer in my forehead to bewray That act of night Anne What shal I say My soule is wandring and hath lost her way Oh maister Wendol oh Wend. Sigh not sweet saint For euery sigh you breath drawes from my hart A drop of blood Anne I nere offended yet My fault I feare wil in brow be writ Women that fal not quite bereft of grace Haue their offences noted in their face I blush and am asham'd oh maister Wendol Pray God I be not borne to curse your tongue That hath inchanted me This maze I am in I feare will proue the laborinth of sin Enter Nick Wend. The path of pleasure and the gate to blisse Which on your lips I knocke at with a kisse Nick I le kil the rogue Wend. your husband is from home your beds no blab Nay looke not downe and blush Nick Zounds I le stab I Nick was it thy chance to come Iust in the nicke I loue my maister and I hate that slaue I loue my mistris but these tricks I like not My Master shal not pocket vp this wrong I le eat my fingers first what saist thou mettle Dos not the rascall Wendol go on legs That thou must cut off hath he not Hamstrings That thou must hough Nay mettal thou shalt stand To al I say I le henceforth turne a spy And watch them in their close conueyances I neuer lookt for better of that Rascal Since he came miching first into our house It is that Sathan hath currupted her For she was faire and chast I le haue an eie In al their gestures thus I thinke of them If they proceed as they haue done before Wendols a knaue my Mistris is a c. Exit Enter Charles and Susan Char. Sister you see we are driuen to hard shift To keepe this poore house we haue left vnsold I am now inforcst to follow husbandry And you to milke and do we not liue wel Wel I thanke God Susan O brother heere 's a change Since old Sir Charles died in our fathers house Char. Al thinges on earth thus change some vp some downe Contents a kingdome and I weare that Crowne Enter Shafton with a Sargeant Shaf. God morrow god morrow sir Charls what with your sister Plying your husbandry Sergeant stand off You haue a pretty house here and a garden And goodly ground about it since it lies So neare a Lordship that I lately bought I would faine buy it of you I will giue you Char. O pardon me this house successiuely Hath long'd to me and my progenitors Three hundred yeare my great great Grandfather He in whom first our gentle stile began Dwelt here and in this ground increast this Molehil Vnto that mountaine which my father left me Where he the first of all our house begun I now the last will end and keepe this house This Virgin title neuer yet deflourd By any vnthrift of the Mountfords line In breefe I will not sel it for more gold Then you could hide or paue the ground withall Shaf. Ha ha a proud mind and a Beggers purse Where 's my three hundred pounds beside the vse I haue brought it to an execution By course of Law what is my money ready Char. An execution sir and neuer tell me You put my bond in suite you deale extreamely Shaf. Sell me the land and I le acquit you straight Char. Alas alas T is all trouble hath left me To cherrish me and my poore sisters life If this were sold our meanes should then be quite Raced from the Bed roule of gentility You see what hard shift we haue made to keepe it Allied still to our owne name this palme you see Labor hath gloud within her siluer brow That neuer tasted a rough winters blast Without a Maske or Fan doth with a grace Defie cold winter and his stormes outface Susan Sir we feed sparing and we labor hard We lie vneasie to reserue to vs And our succession this small plot of ground Char. I haue so bent my thoughts to husbandry That I protest I scarcely can remember What a new fashion is how silke or satten Feeles in my hand why pride is growne to vs A meere meere stranger I haue quite forgot The names of all that euer waited on me I cannot name ye any of my hounds Once from whose echoing mouths I hard al the musicke That ere my hart desired what should I say To keepe this place I haue chang'd my selfe away Shaf. Arest him at my suit actions and actions Shall keepe thee in perpetuall bondage fast Nay more I le sue thee by a laite appeale And call thy former life in question The keeper is my friend thou shalt haue yrons And vsage such as I le deny to dogs Away with him Char. You are