SCENE IV.—A monastery near Milan. Night. Enter two monks,Brun,a fat little monk, andWast,a tall, lean one, with an extremely ugly face.Brun.How he doth take on, this new Friar Gerbhert. I had not thought a man would lose his appetite for any woman.Wast.Ah, Brun, you gluttonous men know not of love. Such dangerous passions are beyond thy ken, lacking the attractive, the magnetic, you descend to lower pleasures. Now look on me a victim to woman’s fancy. Within those walls I find a haven from woman’s importunities.Brun.Verily, Brother, thou must have slain hearts.Wast.It was my daily sorrow, so many beauties sought me. I could not walk the streets, but I were pestered. It did sorrow me much, I could not pity all the passions I awoke, so fled me here, sacrificing my prospects, my youth, my person, rather than light fires I could not quench. (Eyeing himself in a metal hand-mirror.) Alas, alas, Brun, my beauty falleth off sadly of late.Brun.Yea, thou hast a haggard cast to thy looks. It wonders me much where all thy provender goeth, it doth thee so little service.Wast.Ah, Brun, Brun, so many broken hearts, so many tender reminiscences. But thou canst not touch my feelings. Yea, Brun, didst thou but know the former dignity, the port, the carriage of my person; the flash, the majesty of my eye; the symmetry, the moulding of my form; thou wouldst but marvel at this ruin I am.Brun.I doubt it not old Sucker, but let not thy former beauty fret thy present comliness out o’ countenance.Wast.Nay Brother, I will so endeavor, but I am ever on the tremble lest some one of those former victims, in cruel desperation maddened, may find me here and seize my person. Brun, wilt thou protect me in such extremity, wilt thou, Brother?Brun.Yea, that I will, thou Wreck of former perfection. If any misguided person of that unfortunate sex be so seized by distraction as to make formidable attack upon thy classic person, she doth so on her peril, I promise thee, old much-afflicted, my hand upon it. Be the bottle finished? (A knocking is heard without.)Wast.What be that sound? ’Tis she, ’tis she, at last! O me, O me, what will I do? (Gets behindBrun.) Brun! Brother! wilt thou protect me?Brun.Confusion take thee, Wast, now be a man.Wast.Yea, yea, I be a man, that be my sorrow, ah, oh, what sh—all I do? (Tries to hide himself in his cowl.)Enter other monks in great confusion.All.What be that noise? what be th—at no—ise?One M.(Peers through the wicket and starts back in horror.) ’Tis a—oh blessed Peter, ’tis a woman!All.What shall we do? O blessed Peter! what shall we do?Wast.I am undone, undone, my fatal beauty assails me even here.Brun.Wast, quit thy folly, go close to the gate and question her wants.Wast.Not me, not me, not for all heaven’s riches.All M’s.Nay, nay, let her not in. (Knocking continues.) Let us pray, Brothers, let us pray. (All huddle together.)Brun.Then if ye will not, then I must ere the Abbot comes.Monks fleeing.Nay, nay, let her not in, a woman, a woman, a woman![Enter Abbot.Abb.Stop, Fools! (All stop.) Be it the Devil at your heels, ye flee so quickly?All M’s.A woman, a woman! (Exit monks.)Abb.(ToBrun.) Open the gate. (Brunopens gate.—EnterMargaret,worn by illness and starvation.)Abb.Woman, what want you here?Marg.I want my husband. (At the back of the stage, in a dimly-lit cell, behind a grating,Gerbhertis seen kneeling. He rises, at sound ofMargaret’svoice, aMonkholds a crucifix before him and he sinks back.)Abb.Whom do you call by so profane a title within these holy walls?Marg.My husband, Gerbhert, vicar at Milan. O let me see him, our little one is dying. Where doth he linger aliened from his home? (Gerbhertcomes forward again, theMonklifts the crucifix and he goes back wringing his hands.)Abb.This is his home, he knows no wife nor children,You must go hence.Marg.If I called out unto these barren wallsAnd had they but a heart to hear my prayer,Beneath their stony hardness they would openTo let me see him.Abb.You must go forth, you blaspheme these pure precincts.Woman, go.Marg.Nay, drive me not forth, O holy Abbot,By all you love, revere and hope on earth,Drive me not forth, tear down this hideous wallThat hides me from my husband, let him know,’Tis only for a little, little while,Did he but know our little one was ill,He’d hasten in the first impulse of sorrow,At its slight cry, he’d be all shook with pity,And now its dying. Gerbhert! Gerbhert! come!Where are you Gerbhert?Abb.You must go hence, or I will force you hence.Marg.I have no soul to curse you, your own soulBe its own Hell for this unnaturalness.[Goes out.I come, my fatherless one, to die with thee.To die with thee.(Gerbhertbounds forth.)Gerb.Margaret! (Shakes the grating.) Margaret! (TheMonkraises the crucifix, andGerbhertfollows it slowly out.)[Curtain.
Brun.How he doth take on, this new Friar Gerbhert. I had not thought a man would lose his appetite for any woman.
Wast.Ah, Brun, you gluttonous men know not of love. Such dangerous passions are beyond thy ken, lacking the attractive, the magnetic, you descend to lower pleasures. Now look on me a victim to woman’s fancy. Within those walls I find a haven from woman’s importunities.
Brun.Verily, Brother, thou must have slain hearts.
Wast.It was my daily sorrow, so many beauties sought me. I could not walk the streets, but I were pestered. It did sorrow me much, I could not pity all the passions I awoke, so fled me here, sacrificing my prospects, my youth, my person, rather than light fires I could not quench. (Eyeing himself in a metal hand-mirror.) Alas, alas, Brun, my beauty falleth off sadly of late.
Brun.Yea, thou hast a haggard cast to thy looks. It wonders me much where all thy provender goeth, it doth thee so little service.
Wast.Ah, Brun, Brun, so many broken hearts, so many tender reminiscences. But thou canst not touch my feelings. Yea, Brun, didst thou but know the former dignity, the port, the carriage of my person; the flash, the majesty of my eye; the symmetry, the moulding of my form; thou wouldst but marvel at this ruin I am.
Brun.I doubt it not old Sucker, but let not thy former beauty fret thy present comliness out o’ countenance.
Wast.Nay Brother, I will so endeavor, but I am ever on the tremble lest some one of those former victims, in cruel desperation maddened, may find me here and seize my person. Brun, wilt thou protect me in such extremity, wilt thou, Brother?
Brun.Yea, that I will, thou Wreck of former perfection. If any misguided person of that unfortunate sex be so seized by distraction as to make formidable attack upon thy classic person, she doth so on her peril, I promise thee, old much-afflicted, my hand upon it. Be the bottle finished? (A knocking is heard without.)
Wast.What be that sound? ’Tis she, ’tis she, at last! O me, O me, what will I do? (Gets behindBrun.) Brun! Brother! wilt thou protect me?
Brun.Confusion take thee, Wast, now be a man.
Wast.Yea, yea, I be a man, that be my sorrow, ah, oh, what sh—all I do? (Tries to hide himself in his cowl.)
Enter other monks in great confusion.
All.What be that noise? what be th—at no—ise?
One M.(Peers through the wicket and starts back in horror.) ’Tis a—oh blessed Peter, ’tis a woman!
All.What shall we do? O blessed Peter! what shall we do?
Wast.I am undone, undone, my fatal beauty assails me even here.
Brun.Wast, quit thy folly, go close to the gate and question her wants.
Wast.Not me, not me, not for all heaven’s riches.
All M’s.Nay, nay, let her not in. (Knocking continues.) Let us pray, Brothers, let us pray. (All huddle together.)
Brun.Then if ye will not, then I must ere the Abbot comes.
Monks fleeing.Nay, nay, let her not in, a woman, a woman, a woman!
[Enter Abbot.
Abb.Stop, Fools! (All stop.) Be it the Devil at your heels, ye flee so quickly?
All M’s.A woman, a woman! (Exit monks.)
Abb.(ToBrun.) Open the gate. (Brunopens gate.—EnterMargaret,worn by illness and starvation.)
Abb.Woman, what want you here?
Marg.I want my husband. (At the back of the stage, in a dimly-lit cell, behind a grating,Gerbhertis seen kneeling. He rises, at sound ofMargaret’svoice, aMonkholds a crucifix before him and he sinks back.)
Abb.Whom do you call by so profane a title within these holy walls?
Marg.My husband, Gerbhert, vicar at Milan. O let me see him, our little one is dying. Where doth he linger aliened from his home? (Gerbhertcomes forward again, theMonklifts the crucifix and he goes back wringing his hands.)
Abb.This is his home, he knows no wife nor children,
You must go hence.
Marg.If I called out unto these barren walls
And had they but a heart to hear my prayer,
Beneath their stony hardness they would open
To let me see him.
Abb.You must go forth, you blaspheme these pure precincts.
Woman, go.
Marg.Nay, drive me not forth, O holy Abbot,
By all you love, revere and hope on earth,
Drive me not forth, tear down this hideous wall
That hides me from my husband, let him know,
’Tis only for a little, little while,
Did he but know our little one was ill,
He’d hasten in the first impulse of sorrow,
At its slight cry, he’d be all shook with pity,
And now its dying. Gerbhert! Gerbhert! come!
Where are you Gerbhert?
Abb.You must go hence, or I will force you hence.
Marg.I have no soul to curse you, your own soul
Be its own Hell for this unnaturalness.
[Goes out.
I come, my fatherless one, to die with thee.
To die with thee.
(Gerbhertbounds forth.)
Gerb.Margaret! (Shakes the grating.) Margaret! (TheMonkraises the crucifix, andGerbhertfollows it slowly out.)
[Curtain.