Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LIKE UNTO LIKE. ACT I. SCENE I. A Room in Roberto's House. Enter Roberto. Rob. A dukedom for my daughter, and myself Gonfalonier of Florence :—this bedwarfs The very giants of ambition's dream. Enter Berto. Ha! Berto, comes my friend 1 Berto. On the instant, signer. Rob. Now will I make Ernesto's critic frown Unwrinkle to a smooth applausive smile. Berto !—Berto, with all thy wilful ways, Thou'rt true as apt, and lov'st my house and me. Now tell me; —for thy greedy eyes devour What 'tis not meant that stranger looks should feed on— Tell me, if 'mong the burnished cavaliers, Who make my old walls laugh with their young talk, There's one whose absence Cecil quickest marks, Whose voice to her is singly musical, Whose brow her eye becrowns with lingering looks. Thou understandst; — Berto. Siguor, not one, not one. Florence, rich as she is in men, is yet Too poor, too poor. Bob. And Leonora. Seldom Doth now griefs shadow rest upon her cheek; And then so briefly, that 'tis scarcely seen. My poor son is more dead to her than me. Berto. Grief feeds on want: its crib is emptiness. A child's loss leaves a void, wherein for ever Grief thrusts his pallid fingers for his food. A husband gone, there too's a void; but that, Hope to the young soon fills with bearded visions, Looking at which the blushing mourner's eyes Forget, or with a new warmth dry, their tears. Young widows, signor Hob. 'Tis well. Here comes Ernesto. Enter Ernesto. [Exit Berto. I know, Ernesto, that a friend's success Can pour no selfish wormwood in your cup. Be glad then with me at my pregnant prospects. Ern. A false friend or an enemy might be that. Prospects are sirens, heard through knavish mists, Singing us ofttimes from a founded safety To... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.