Venus. I’ll woo thee with a kiss to come away.
Thetis. And I with forty for to stay.
Venus. I’ll give to thee the fair Adonis’ spear,
So thou wilt rise.
Thetis. And I, to keep thee here,
Will give a wreath of pearl as fair
As ever sea-nymph yet did wear.
‘Tis Thetis woos thee stay: O stay, O stay!
Venus. ‘Tis Venus woos thee rise: O come away!
Phoebus. To which of these shall I mine ear incline?
Peter Hausted, The Rival Friends (1631).
Peter Hausted was at Queen’s College, Cambridge when his only play in English, The Rival Friends, was performed before the King and Queen in March 1931. In classical mythology Thetis is a sea-nymph, one of the Nereids, and the mother of Achilles.
Diving for Pearls 