PROLOGUE
Enter Chorus
Chorus
Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,
And young affection gapes to be his heir;
That fair for which love groan'd for and would die,
With tender Maddie match'd, is now not fair.
Now Loki is beloved and loves again,
Alike betwitched by the charm of looks,
But to his foe supposed he must complain,
And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks:
Being held a foe, he may not have access
To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear;
And she as much in love, her means much less
To meet her new-beloved any where:
But passion lends them power, time means, to meet
Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.
Exit
SCENE I. A lane by the wall of Odin's orchard.
Enter LOKI
LOKI
Can I go forward when my heart is here?
Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.
He climbs the wall, and leaps down within it
Enter ANDREW and MARK
ANDREW
Loki! my cousin Loki!
MARK
He is wise;
And, on my lie, hath stol'n him home to bed.
ANDREW
He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall:
Call, good Mark.
MARK
Nay, I'll conjure too.
Loki! humours! madman! passion! lover!
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh:
Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied;
Cry but 'Ay me!' pronounce but 'love' and 'dove;'
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nick-name for her purblind son and heir,
Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim,
When King Sean loved the beggar-maid!
He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not;
The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.
I conjure thee by Elsa's bright eyes,
By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,
By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh
And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,
That in thy likeness thou appear to us!
ANDREW
And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.
MARK
This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him
