Volpone and Other Plays

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Authors: Ben Jonson
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hermaphrodite?
    Now, prithee, sweet soul, in all thy variation,
    Which body wouldst thou choose to take up thy station?
    ANDROGYNO : Troth, this I am in, even here would I tarry.
    NANO : ’Cause here the delight of each sex thou canst vary?
    ANDROGYNO : Alas, those pleasures be stale and forsaken;
    No, ’tis your Fool wherewith I am so taken,
    The only one creature that I can call blessèd,
    For all other forms I have proved most distressèd.
    NANO : Spoke true, as thou wert in Pythagoras still.
    60        This learnèd opinion we celebrate will,
    Fellow eunuch, as behoves us, with all our wit and art,
    To dignify that whereof ourselves are so great and special a part.
    VOLPONE : Now, very, very pretty! Mosca, this
    Was thy invention?
    MOSCA :                              If it please my patron,
    Not else.
    VOLPONE : It doth, good Mosca.
    MOSCA :                                                   Then it was, sir.
    SONG
    Fools, they are the only nation
    Worth men’s envy or admiration;
    Free from care or sorrow-taking,
    Selves and others merry making,
    70                            All they speak or do is sterling.
    Your Fool, he is your great man’s dearling,
    And your ladies’sport and pleasure;
    Tongue and babble are his treasure.
    E’en his face begetteth laughter,
    And he speaks truth free from slaughter;
    He’s the grace of every feast,
    And, sometimes, the chiefest guest;
    Hath his trencher and his stool,
    When wit waits upon the Fool.
    80                               O, who would not be
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â He, he, he?
    One knocks without
.
    VOLPONE : Who’s that? Away! Look, Mosca.
    MOSCA :                                                           Fool, begone!
    [
Exeunt
NANO , CASTRONS ,
and
ANDROGYNO .]
    â€™Tis Signior Voltore, the advocate;
    I know him by his knock.
    VOLPONE :                      Fetch me my gown,
    My furs, and night-caps; say my couch is changing ,
    And let him entertain himself awhile
    Without i’th’gallery.
    [
Exit
MOSCA .]
    Now, now, my clients
    Begin their visitation! Vulture, kite,
    Raven, and gorcrow , all my birds of prey,
    90       That think me turning carcass, now they come.
    I am not for ’em yet.
    [
Enter
MOSCA
with the gown
,
furs
,
etc
.]
    How now? the news?
    MOSCA : A piece of plate, sir.
    VOLPONE :                Of what bigness?
    MOSCA :                                                          Huge,
    Massy, and antique, with your name inscribed,
    And arms engraven.
    VOLPONE :                Good! and not a Fox
    Stretched on the earth, with fine delusive sleights
    Mocking a gaping Crow – ha, Mosca?
    MOSCA :                                                         Sharp, sir.
    VOLPONE : Give me my furs. Why dost thou laugh so, man?
    MOSCA : I cannot

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