[408]Lantern.[409]Some copies ofed.1. “the Dutches pages.”[410]Wholly.[411]See note 1,p.49.
[408]Lantern.
[409]Some copies ofed.1. “the Dutches pages.”
[410]Wholly.
[411]See note 1,p.49.
SCENEII.
Chamber in the Duke’s Palace.
EnterMalevoleat one door;Bianca,Emilia,andMaquerelleat the other door.
Mal.Bless ye, cast o’ ladies![412]—Ha, dipsas![413]how dost thou, old coal?
Maq.Old coal!
Mal.Ay, old coal: methinks thou liest like a brand under these[414]billets of green wood. He that will inflame a young wench’s heart, let him lay close to her an old coal that hath first been fired, a panderess, my half-burnt lint, who though thou canst not flame thyself, yet art able to set a thousand virgin’s tapers afire.—And how does[415]Janivere thy husband, my little periwinkle? is he troubled with the cough o’ the lungs still? does he hawk o’ nights still? he will not bite.12
Bian.No, by my troth, I took him with his mouth empty of old teeth.
Mal.And he took thee with thy belly full of young bones: marry, he took his maim by the stroke of his enemy.
Bian.And I mine by the stroke of my friend.
Mal.The close stock![416]O mortal wench! Lady, ha’ ye now no restoratives for your decayed Jasons?[417]look ye, crab’s guts baked,[418]distilled ox-pith,[419]the pulverised hairs of a lion’s upper-lip, jelly of cock-sparrows, he-monkey’s marrow, or powder of fox-stones?—And whither are all[420]you ambling now?24
Bian.Why,[421]to bed, to bed.
Mal.Do your husbands lie with ye?
Bian.That were country fashion, i’faith.
Mal.Ha’ ye no foregoers about you? come, whither in good deed, la, now?
Maq.[422]In good indeed, la, now, to eat the mostmiraculously, admirably, astonishable composed posset with three curds, without any drink. Will ye help me with a he-fox?—Here’s the duke.33
Mal.[423]Fried frogs are very good, and French-like, too.
[Exeunt Ladies.
EnterPietro, Celso, Equato, Bilioso, Ferrardo,andMendoza.
Pietro.The night grows deep and foul: what hour is’t?
Celso.Upon the stroke of twelve.
Mal.Save ye, duke!
Pietro.From thee: begone, I do not love thee; let me see thee no more; we are displeased.
Mal.Why, God b’wi’ thee![424]Heaven hear my curse,—may thy wife and thee live long together!41
Pietro.Begone, sirrah!
Mal.When Arthur first in court began,[425]—Agamemnon—Menelaus—was ever any duke a cornuto?
Pietro.Begone, hence!
Mal.What religion wilt thou be of next?
Men.Out with him!
Mal.With most servile patience.—Time will comeWhen wonder of thy error will strike dumbThy bezzled[426]sense.—50Slaves! ay, favour: ay, marry, shall he rise:[427]Good God! how subtle hell doth flatter vice!Mounts[428]him aloft, and makes him seem to fly,As fowl the tortoise mock’d, who to the skyThe ambitious shell-fish rais’d! the end of allIs only, that from height he might dead fall.
Bil.[429]Why, when?[430]out, ye rogue! begone, ye rascal!
Mal.I shall now leave ye with all my best wishes.
Bil.Out, ye cur!
Mal.Only let’s hold together a firm correspondence.
Bil.Out!61
Mal.A mutual-friendly-reciprocal-perpetual kind of steady-unanimous-heartily-leagued—
Bil.Hence, ye gross-jawed, peasantly—out, go!
Mal.Adieu, pigeon-house; thou burr, that only stickest to nappy fortunes. The serpigo, the strangury, an eternal uneffectual priapism seize thee!
Bil.Out, rogue!
Mal.May’st thou be a notorious wittolly pander to thine own wife, and yet get no office, but live to be the utmost misery of mankind, a beggarly cuckold!71
[Exit.
Pietro.It shall be so.
Men.It must be so, for where great states revenge,’Tis requisite the parts be closely dogg’d,[431](Which piety and soft respect forbears).Lay one into his breast shall sleep with him,Feed in the same dish, run in self-faction,Who may discover[432]any shape of danger;For once disgrac’d, displayèd[433]in offence,It makes man blushless, and man is (all confess)80More prone to vengeance than to gratefulness.Favours are writ in dust; but stripes we feelDepravèd nature stamps in lasting steel.
Pietro.You shall be leagu’d with the duchess.
Equato.The plot is very good.
Pietro.[434]You shall both kill, and seem the corse to save.
Fer.A most fine brain-trick.
Celso.[aside] Of a most cunning knave.
Pietro.My lords, the heavy action we intendIs death and shame, two of the ugliest shapesThat can confound a soul; think, think of it:90I strike, but yet, like him that ’gainst stone wallsDirects, his shafts rebound in his own face;My lady’s shame is mine, O God, ’tis mine!Therefore I do conjure all secrecy:Let it be as very little as may be,Pray ye, as may be.Make frightless entrance, salute her with soft eyes,Stain naught with blood; only Ferneze dies,But not before her brows. O gentlemen,God knows I love her! Nothing else, but this:—100I am not well: if grief, that sucks veins dry,Rivels[435]the skin, casts ashes in men’s faces,Be-dulls the eye, unstrengthens all the blood,Chance to remove me to another world,As sure I once must die, let him succeed:I have no child; all that my youth begotHath been your loves, which shall inherit me:Which as it ever shall, I do conjure it,Mendoza may succeed: he’s nobly[436]born;With me of much desert.
Celso.[aside] Much![437]110
Pietro.Your silence answers, “Ay:”I thank you. Come on now. O, that I might dieBefore her shame’s display’d! would I were forc’dTo burn my father’s tomb, unheal[438]his bones,And dash them in the dirt, rather than this!This both the living and the dead offends:Sharp surgery where naught but death amends.
[Exeunt.
[412]“Cast o’ ladies”—couple of ladies.[413]A very venomous little serpent. “A man or beast wounded with this serpent,” says Topsel in hisHist.of Serpents(ed.1658,p.699), “is afflicted with intolerable thirst, insomuch as it is easier for him to break his belly than to quench his thirst with drinking; always gaping like a bull, casteth himself down into the water and maketh no spare of the cold liquor, but continually sucketh it in till either the belly break or the poison drive out the life by overcoming the vital spirits.”[414]Omitted ined.2.—“A maquerela, in plain English a bawd,” says Overbury in hisCharacters, “is an old charcoal that hath been burnt herself, and therefore is able to kindle a whole green coppice.”[415]Ed.2. “dooth.”[416]Stockado—a thrust in fencing.[417]Ed.1. “Jason.”[418]So in theScourge of Villainy:“A crab’s baked guts and lobster’s butter’d thigh,I hear them swear is blood for venery.”[419]Ox-pith is mentioned among other provocatives in John Taylor’sThe Sculler, ep. 32:—“Look how yon lecher’s legs are worn away,With haunting of the whore-house every day!He knows more greasy panders, bawds and drabs,And eats more lobsters, artichokes and crabs,Blue roasted eggs, potatoes, muscadine,Oysters, andpith that grows i’ the ox’s chine,With many drugs, compounds, and simples store,Which makes him have a stomach to a whore.”[420]Omitted ined.2.[421]Omitted ined.2.[422]This speech is given to Bianca ined.2.[423]This speech was added ined.2.[424]Ed.2. “be with thee.”[425]The first line of an old ballad (printed in Percy’sReliques). Falstaff is introduced humming a snatch of it in2 HenryIV.,ii.4.[426]Drunken.[427]The line is corrupt. Oldeds.“slaues I fauour, I marry shall he rise.”—Dyce reads “The slave’s in favour: ay, marry, shall he rise.”[428]Ed.1. “mount.”[429]“Why, when? ... cuckold” (ll.57-71).—This passage was added ined.2.[430]A common exclamation of impatience.[431]The passage is very corrupt. Oldeds.read:—“’Tis requisite, the parts [ed.2.partes] with piety,And soft [ed.2. and some copies ofed.1.loft] respect forbeares, be closely dogg’d,”&c.Dyce’s emendation is:—“’Tis requisite the parties with pietyAnd soft respect ever be closely dogg’d.”W. N. Lettsom proposed:—“It must be so, for whereGreat states revenge, ’tis requisite the partiesWith spy of close respect be closely dogg’d.”[432]Ed.1. “disseuer.”[433]Ed.1. “discouered.”[434]Oldeds.“Mend.”[435]Wrinkles.[436]Ed.2. “noble.”[437]Ironical exclamation.[438]Uncover.—“Descouvrir. To discover, uncover,unhill, denude,&c.”—Cotgrave.
[412]“Cast o’ ladies”—couple of ladies.
[413]A very venomous little serpent. “A man or beast wounded with this serpent,” says Topsel in hisHist.of Serpents(ed.1658,p.699), “is afflicted with intolerable thirst, insomuch as it is easier for him to break his belly than to quench his thirst with drinking; always gaping like a bull, casteth himself down into the water and maketh no spare of the cold liquor, but continually sucketh it in till either the belly break or the poison drive out the life by overcoming the vital spirits.”
[414]Omitted ined.2.—“A maquerela, in plain English a bawd,” says Overbury in hisCharacters, “is an old charcoal that hath been burnt herself, and therefore is able to kindle a whole green coppice.”
[415]Ed.2. “dooth.”
[416]Stockado—a thrust in fencing.
[417]Ed.1. “Jason.”
[418]So in theScourge of Villainy:
“A crab’s baked guts and lobster’s butter’d thigh,I hear them swear is blood for venery.”
[419]Ox-pith is mentioned among other provocatives in John Taylor’sThe Sculler, ep. 32:—
“Look how yon lecher’s legs are worn away,With haunting of the whore-house every day!He knows more greasy panders, bawds and drabs,And eats more lobsters, artichokes and crabs,Blue roasted eggs, potatoes, muscadine,Oysters, andpith that grows i’ the ox’s chine,With many drugs, compounds, and simples store,Which makes him have a stomach to a whore.”
[420]Omitted ined.2.
[421]Omitted ined.2.
[422]This speech is given to Bianca ined.2.
[423]This speech was added ined.2.
[424]Ed.2. “be with thee.”
[425]The first line of an old ballad (printed in Percy’sReliques). Falstaff is introduced humming a snatch of it in2 HenryIV.,ii.4.
[426]Drunken.
[427]The line is corrupt. Oldeds.“slaues I fauour, I marry shall he rise.”—Dyce reads “The slave’s in favour: ay, marry, shall he rise.”
[428]Ed.1. “mount.”
[429]“Why, when? ... cuckold” (ll.57-71).—This passage was added ined.2.
[430]A common exclamation of impatience.
[431]The passage is very corrupt. Oldeds.read:—
“’Tis requisite, the parts [ed.2.partes] with piety,And soft [ed.2. and some copies ofed.1.loft] respect forbeares, be closely dogg’d,”&c.
Dyce’s emendation is:—
“’Tis requisite the parties with pietyAnd soft respect ever be closely dogg’d.”
W. N. Lettsom proposed:—
“It must be so, for whereGreat states revenge, ’tis requisite the partiesWith spy of close respect be closely dogg’d.”
[432]Ed.1. “disseuer.”
[433]Ed.1. “discouered.”
[434]Oldeds.“Mend.”
[435]Wrinkles.
[436]Ed.2. “noble.”
[437]Ironical exclamation.
[438]Uncover.—“Descouvrir. To discover, uncover,unhill, denude,&c.”—Cotgrave.
SCENEIII.
A chamber in the Duke’s Palace.
EnterMaquerelle,Emilia,andBianca,with a posset.
Maq.Even here it is, three curds in three regions individually distinct, most methodically[439]according to art compos’d, without any drink.
Bian.Without any drink!
Maq.Upon my honour. Will ye sit and eat?
Emil.Good, the composure: the receipt, how is’t?
Maq.’Tis a pretty pearl; by this pearl (how does’t with me?) thus it is. Seven and thirty yolks of Barbary hens’ eggs; eighteen spoonfuls and a half of the juice of cock-sparrow bones; one ounce, three drams, four scruples, and one quarter of the syrup of Ethiopian dates; sweetened with three quarters of a pound of pure candied Indian eringoes; strewed over with the powder of pearl of America, amber of Cataia, and lamb-stones of Muscovia.15
Bian.Trust me, the ingredients are very cordial, and, no question, good, and most powerful in restauration.[440]
Maq.I know not what you mean by restauration; but this it doth,—it purifieth the blood, smootheth the skin, enliveneth the eye, strengtheneth the veins, mundifieth the teeth, comforteth the stomach, fortifieth the back, and quickeneth the wit; that’s all.22
Emil.By my troth, I have eaten but two spoonfuls, and methinks I could discourse most swiftly and wittily already.
Maq.Have you the art to seem honest?
Bian.Ay, thank advice and practice.27
Maq.Why, then, eat me o’ this posset, quicken your blood, and preserve your beauty. Do you know Doctor Plaster-face? by this curd, he is the most exquisite in forging of veins, sprightening of eyes, dying of hair, sleeking of skins, blushing of cheeks, surphling[441]of breasts, blanching and bleaching of teeth, that ever made an old lady gracious by torchlight; by this curd, la.
Bian.Well,[442]we are resolved, what God has given us we’ll cherish.36
Maq.Cherish anything saving your husband; keep him not too high, lest he leap the pale: but, for your beauty, let it be your saint; bequeath two hours to it every morning in your closet. I ha’ been young, and yet, in my conscience, I am not above five-and-twenty: but, believe me, preserve and use your beauty; for youth and beauty once gone, we are like bee-hives without honey, out-o’-fashion apparel that no man will wear: therefore use me your beauty.45
Emil.Ay, but men say—
Maq.Men say! let men say what they will: life o’ woman! they are ignorant of our[443]wants. The more in years, the more in perfection they grow; if they lose youth and beauty, they gain wisdom and discretion: but when our beauty fades, good-night with us. There cannot be an uglier thing than to see an old woman: from which, O pruning, pinching, and painting, deliver all sweet beauties!54
[Music within.
Bian.Hark! music!
Maq.Peace, ’tis i’ the duchess’ bed-chamber.Good rest, most prosperously-graced ladies.
Emil.Good night, sentinel.
Bian.Night, dear Maquerelle.
Maq.May my posset’s operation send you my wit and honesty; and me, your youth and beauty: the pleasingest rest!62
[Exeunt, at one door,BiancaandEmilia;at anotherMaquerelle.
A Song within.
Whilst the song is singing, enterMendozawith his sword drawn, standing ready to murderFernezeas he flies from the duchess’ chamber.—Tumult within.
[Within.] Strike, strike!
[Aur.within.] Save my Ferneze! O, save my Ferneze!
[Within.] Follow, pursue!
[Aur.within.] O, save Ferneze!
EnterFernezein his shirt, and is received uponMendoza’ssword.
Men.Pierce, pierce!—Thou shallow fool, drop there!
[Thrusts his rapier inFerneze.
He that attempts a princess’ lawless loveMust have broad hands, close heart, with Argus’ eyes,And back of Hercules, or else he dies.70
EnterAurelia, Pietro, Ferrardo, Bilioso, Celso,andEquato.
All.Follow, follow!
Men.Stand off, forbear, ye most uncivil lords!
Pietro.Strike!
Men.Do not; tempt not a man resolv’d:
[Mendozabestrides the wounded body ofFerneze,and seems to save him.
Would you, inhuman murderers, more than death?
Aur.O poor Ferneze!
Men.Alas, now all defence too late!
Aur.He’s dead.
Pietro.I am sorry for our shame.—Go to your bed:Weep not too much, but leave some tears to shedWhen I am dead.81
Aur.What, weep for thee! my soul no tears shall find.
Pietr.Alas, alas, that women’s souls are blind!
Men.Betray such beauty!Murder such youth! contemn civility!He loves him not that rails not at him.
Pietro.Thou canst not move us: we have blood enough.—And please you, lady, we have quite forgotAll your defects: if not, why, then—
Aur.Not.
Pietro.Not: the best of rest: good-night.90
[ExeuntPietro, Ferrardo, Bilioso, Celso,andEquato.
Aur.Despite go with thee!
Men.Madam, you ha’ done me foul disgrace; you have wronged him much loves you too much: go to, your soul knows you have.
Aur.I think I have.
Men.Do you but think so?
Aur.Nay, sure, I have: my eyes have witnessed thy love: thou hast stood too firm for me.
Men.Why, tell me, fair-cheeked lady, who even in tears art powerfully beauteous, what unadvised passion struck ye into such a violent heat against me? Speak, what mischief wronged us? what devil injured us? speak.103
Aur.The thing ne’er worthy of the name of man, Ferneze; Ferneze swore thou lov’[d]st Emilia; Which to advance, with most reproachful breath Thou both didst blemish and denounce my love.
Men.Ignoble villain! did I for this bestrideThy wounded limbs? for[444]this, rank oppositeEven to my sovereign? for this, O God, for this,110Sunk all my hopes, and with my hopes my life?Ripp’d bare my throat unto the hangman’s axe?—Thou most dishonoured trunk!—Emilia!By life, I know her not—Emilia!—Did you believe him?
Aur.Pardon me, I did.
Men.Did you? and thereupon you gracèd him?
Aur.I did.
Men.Took him to favour, nay, even clasp’d with him?
Aur.Alas, I did!
Men.This night?120
Aur.This night.
Men.And in your lustful twines the duke took you?
Aur.A most sad truth.
Men.O God, O God! how we dull honest souls,Heavy-brain’d men, are swallow’d in the bogsOf a deceitful ground! whilst nimble bloods,Light-jointed spirits speed;[445]cut good men’s throats,And ’scape. Alas, I am too honest for this age,Too full of fleam and heavy steadiness;Stood still whilst this slave cast a noose about me;130Nay, then to stand in honour of him and her,Who had even slic’d my heart!
Aur.Come, I did err,And am most sorry I did err.
Men.Why, we are both but dead: the duke hates us;And those whom princes do once groundly hate,Let them provide to die, as sure as fate.Prevention is the heart of policy.
Aur.Shall we murder him?
Men.Instantly?
Aur.Instantly; before he casts a plot,140Or further blaze my honour’s much-known blot,Let’s murder him.
Men.I would do much for you: will ye marry me?
Aur.I’ll make thee duke. We are of Medicis;Florence our friend; in court my factionNot meanly strengthful; the duke then dead;We well prepar’d for change; the multitudeIrresolutely reeling; we in force;Our party seconded; the kingdom maz’d;No doubt of swift success all shall be grac’d.150
Men.You do confirm me; we are resolute:To-morrow look for change; rest confident.’Tis now about the immodest waist of night:The mother of moist dew with pallid lightSpreads gloomy shades about the numbèd earth.Sleep, sleep, whilst we contrive our mischief’s birth.This man I’ll get inhum’d. Farewell: to bed;Ay, kiss thy[446]pillow, dream the duke is dead.So, so, good night.
[ExitAurelia.
How fortune dotes on impudence!I am in private the adopted son160Of yon good prince:I must be duke; why, if I must, I must.Most silly lord, name me! O heaven! I seeGod made honest fools to maintain crafty knaves.The duchess is wholly mine too; must kill her husbandTo quit her shame; much![447]then marry her: ay.O, I grow proud in prosperous treachery!As wrestlers clip, so I’ll embrace you all,Not to support, but to procure your fall.
EnterMalevole.
Mal.God arrest thee!170
Men.At whose suit?
Mal.At the devil’s. Ah, you treacherous, damnable monster, how dost? how dost, thou treacherous rogue? Ah, ye rascal! I am banished the court, sirrah.
Men.Prithee, let’s be acquainted; I do love thee, faith.
Mal.At your service, by the Lord, la: shall’s go to supper? Let’s be once drunk together, and so unite a most virtuously-strengthened friendship: shall’s, Huguenot? shall’s?180
Men.Wilt fall upon my chamber to-morrow morn?
Mal.As a raven to a dunghill. They say there’s one dead here; pricked for the pride of the flesh.
Men.Ferneze: there he is; prithee, bury him.
Mal.O, most willingly: I mean to turn pure Rochelle[448]churchman, I.
Men.Thou churchman! why, why?
Mal.Because I’ll live lazily, rail upon authority, deny kings’ supremacy in things indifferent, and be a pope in mine own parish.190
Men.Wherefore dost thou think churches were made?
Mal.To scour plough-shares: I ha’[449]seen oxen plough up altars;et nunc seges ubi Sion fuit.[450]
Men.Strange!
Mal.Nay, monstrous! I ha’ seen a sumptuous steeple turned to a stinking privy; more beastly, the sacredest place made a dogs’ kennel; nay, most inhuman, the stoned coffins of long-dead Christians burst up, and made hogs’ troughs:hic finis Priami.[451]Shall I ha’ some sack and cheese at thy chamber? Good night, good mischievous incarnate devil; good night, Mendoza; ah, ye inhuman villain, good night! night, fub.202
Men.Goodnight: to-morrow morn?
Mal.Ay, I will come, friendly damnation, I will come. [ExitMendoza.] I do descry cross-points; honesty and courtship straddle as far asunder as a true Frenchman’s legs.
Fer.O!
Mal.Proclamations! more proclamations!
Fer.O! a surgeon!210
Mal.Hark! lust cries for a surgeon. What news from Limbo? how does[452]the grand cuckold, Lucifer?
Fer.O, help, help! conceal and save me.
[Fernezestirs, andMalevolehelps him up.
Mal.Thy shame more than thy wounds do grieve me far:Thy wounds but leave upon thy flesh some scar;But fame ne’er heals, still rankles worse and worse;Such is of uncontrollèd lust the curse.Think what it is in lawless sheets to lie;But, O Ferneze, what in lust to die!Then thou that shame respect’st, O, fly converse220With women’s eyes and lisping wantonness!Stick candles ’gainst a virgin wall’s white back,If they not burn, yet at the least they’ll black.Come, I’ll convey thee to a private port,Where thou shalt live (O happy man!) from court.The beauty of the day begins to rise,From whose bright form night’s heavy shadow flies.Now ’gin close plots to work; the scene grows full,And craves his eyes who hath a solid skull.
[Exit, conveyingFernezeaway.