A SELECT COLLECTION
OF
OLD ENGLISH PLAYS.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY ROBERT DODSLEY
IN THE YEAR 1744.
_FOURTH EDITION,_
NOW FIRST CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, REVISED AND ENLARGED
WITH THE NOTES OF ALL THE COMMENTATORS,
AND NEW NOTES
BY
W. CAREW HAZLITT.
BENJAMIN BLOM, INC.
[Illustration: New York]
First published 1874-1876
Reissued 1964 by Benjamin Blom, Inc.
L.C. Catalog Card No. 64-14702
_Printed in U.S.A. by_
NOBLE OFFSET PRINTERS, INC.
New York 3, N. Y.
THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY.
_For a notice of the Edition, see the next page._
INTRODUCTION.
Cyril Torneur is known only as an author, none of the dramatic
biographers giving any account of him. Winstanley quotes the following
distich from a contemporary poet, by which it appears that he was not
held in much estimation for his writings--
"His fame unto that pitch was only rais'd,
As not to be despis'd, nor over-prais'd."
He was the author of--
[(1.) The Transformed Metamorphosis, a Poem. 8o, London, 1600.[1]]
(2.) The Revengers Tragoedie. As it hath beene sundry times Acted
by the Kings Maiesties Seruants. At London. Printed by G. Eld, and
are to be sold at his house in Fleete-lane at the signe of the
Printers-Presse. 1607, 4o. Again (a new date only) 1608, 4o.[2]
(3.) "The Atheists Tragedie: Or The honest Mans Reuenge. As in diuers
places it hath often beene Acted. Written by Cyril Tourneur. At London
Printed for John Stepneth and Richard Redmer, and are to be sold at
their shop, at the West end of Paules. 1611,"[3] 4o. Again, 1612, 4o.
(4.) A Traji-Comedy, called The Nobleman, never printed, and which
Oldys says was destroyed by ignorance.[4]
(5.) A Funerall Poeme. Vpon the Death of the most Worthie and Trve
Sovldier: Sir Francis Vere, Knight, Captaine of Portsmouth, L.
Gouernour of his Maiesties Cautionarie Towne of Briell in Holland, &c.,
4o, 1609.
(6.) A Griefe on the Death of Prince Henrie. Expressed in a broken
Elegie, according to the nature of such a sorrow, 4o, 1613.[5]
[A MS. note in one of the former editions says: "This is
a most splendid work. The character of _Vendice_ surpasses
anything else of the kind. The power with which it is conceived
and conducted is appalling. The quaint way that accompanies
it adds to its fearful effect. The whole is perfectly
tremendous."]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] [See Hazlitt's "Handbook," 1867, _art._ Tourneur, in Appendix.]
[2] "The Revenger's Tragedy" was entered on the Stationers' Books, with
"A Trick to Catch the Old One," on the 7th October 1607.
[3] There are some good passages in this play, but upon the whole it
is considerably inferior to "The Revenger's Tragedy." The plot is
unnatural, and the manner in which the catastrophe is brought about
ludicrous.--_Collier_.
[4] It is very probable that Tourneur was concerned in other dramatic
productions, which are either anonymous, or have been lost. He is
mentioned in the following terms by Robert Daborne in a letter to P.
Henslowe, dated 5th June 1613: "I have not only laboured my own play,
which shall be ready before they (the company) come over, but given
Cyrill Tourneur an act of the 'Arraignment of London' to write, yt we
may have that likewise ready for them."--_Collier_.
[5] [This is part of a volume entitled, "Three Elegies on the most
Lamented Death of Prince Henrie," 1613. The others are by John Webster
and T. Heywood.] After the title comes a prose dedication, "To my noble
Maister George Carie," and four lines "To the Reader." At the end of
the "Griefe" are verses "On the representation of the Prince at his
funeralle," and "On the succession," each in eight lines.--_Gilchrist_.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.[6]
DUKE.
DUCHESS.
VENDICE, _disguised as Piato_, } _Brothers to Castiza_.
HIPPOLITO, _also called Carlo_, }
LUSURIOSO, _the Duke's Son_.
SPURIO, _a Bastard_.
AMBITIOSO, _The Duchess's eldest Son_.
SUPERVACUO, _second Son to the Duchess_.
_A third Son to the Duchess._
ANTONIO.
PIERO.
DONDOLO.
JUDGES.
CASTIZA.
GRATIANA, _Mother of Catiza_.
_The Scene, Italy._
FOOTNOTES:
[6] [Not in the old copy.]
THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY.
ACTUS I., SCÆNA 1.[7]
_Enter_ VENDICE. _The_ DUKE, DUCHESS, LUSURIOSO
_the Duke's son_, SPURIO _the bastard, with_
_a train, pass over the stage with torchlight_.
VEN.[8] Duke! royal lecher! go, grey-hair'd adultery!
And thou his son, as impious steep'd as he:
And thou his bastard, true begot in evil:
And thou his duchess, that will do with devil:
Four exc'llent characters! O, that marrowless age
Should stuff the hollow bones with damn'd desires!
And, 'stead of heat, kindle infernal fires
Within the spendthrift veins of a dry duke,
A parch'd and juiceless luxur.[9] O God! one,
That has scarce blood enough to live upon;
And he to riot it, like a son and heir!
O, the thought of that
Turns my abused heart-strings into fret.
Thou sallow picture of my poison'd love,
[_Views the skull in his hand._
My study's ornament, thou shell of death,
Once the bright face of my betrothed lady,
When life and beauty naturally fill'd out
These ragged imperfections;
When two heaven-pointed diamonds were set
In those unsightly rings--then 'twas a face
So far beyond the artificial shine
Of any woman's bought complexion,
That the uprightest man (if such there be,
That sin but seven times a day) broke custom,
And made up eight with looking after her.
O, she was able to ha' made a usurer's son
Melt all his patrimony in a kiss;
And what his father [in] fifty years told,
To have consum'd, and yet his suit been cold.
But, O accursed palace!
Thee, when thou wert apparell'd in thy flesh,
The old duke poison'd,
Because thy purer part would not consent
Unto his palsied[10] lust; for old men lustful
Do show like young men angry: eager, violent,
Outbid, [be]like, their limited performances.
O, 'ware an old man hot and vicious!
"Age, as in gold, in lust is covetous."
Vengeance, thou murder's quit-rent, and whereby
Thou show'st thyself tenant to tragedy;
O, keep thy day, hour, minute, I beseech,
For those thou hast determin'd. Hum! whoe'er knew
Murder unpaid? faith, give revenge her due,
Sh' has kept touch hitherto: be merry, merry,
Advance thee, O thou terror to fat folks!
To have their costly three-pil'd flesh worn off
As bare as this; for banquets, ease, and laughter
Can make great men, as greatness goes by clay;
But wise men little are more great than they.
_Enter_ HIPPOLITO.
HIP. Still sighing o'er death's vizard?
VEN. Brother, welcome!
What comfort bring'st thou? how go things at court?
HIP. In silk and silver, brother: never braver.
VEN. Puh!
Thou play'st upon my meaning. Prythee, say,
Has that bald madman, opportunity,
Yet thought upon's? speak, are we happy yet?
Thy wrongs and mine are for one scabbard fit.
HIP. It may prove happiness.
VEN. What is't may prove?
Give me to taste.
HIP. Give me your hearing, then.
You know my place at court?
VEN. Ay, the duke's chamber!
But 'tis a marvel thou'rt not turn'd out yet!
HIP. Faith, I've been shov'd at; but 'twas still my hap
To hold by th' duchess' skirt: you guess at that:
Whom such a coat keeps up, can ne'er fall flat.
But to the purpose--
Last evening, predecessor unto this,
The duke's son warily inquir'd for me,
Whose pleasure I attended: he began
By policy to open and unhusk me
About the fame[11] and common rumour:
But I had so much wit to keep my thoughts
Up in their built houses; yet afforded him
An idle satisfaction without danger.
But the whole aim and scope of his intent
Ended in this: conjuring me in private
To seek some strange-digested fellow forth,
Of ill-contented nature; either disgrac'd
In former times, or by new grooms displac'd,
Since his step-mother's nuptials; such a blood,
A man that were for evil only good--
To give you the true word, some base-coin'd pander.
VEN. I reach you; for I know his heat is such,
Were there as many concubines as ladies,
He would not be contain'd; he must fly out.
I wonder how ill-featur'd, vile-proportion'd,
That one should be, if she were made for woman
Whom, at the insurrection of his lust,
He would refuse for once. Heart! I think none.
Next to a skull, though more unsound than one,
Each face he meets he strongly doats upon.
HIP. Brother, y' have truly spoke him.
He knows not you, but I will swear you know him.
VEN. And therefore I'll put on that knave for once,
And be a right man then, a man o' th' time;
For to be honest is not to be i' th' world.
Brother, I'll be that strange-composed fellow.
HIP. And I'll prefer you, brother.
VEN. Go to, then:
The smallest advantage fattens wronged men:
It may point out occasion, if I meet her,
I'll hold her by the foretop fast enough;
Or, like the French Mole,[12] heave up hair and all.
I have a habit that will fit it quaintly.
Here comes our mother.
HIP. And sister.
VEN. We must coin:
Women are apt, you know, to take false money;
But I dare stake my soul for these two creatures,
Only excuse excepted, that they'll swallow,
Because their sex is easy in belief.
_Enter_ GRATIANA _and_ CASTIZA.
GRA. What news from court, son Carlo?
HIP. Faith, mother,
Tis whisper'd there the duchess' youngest son
Has play'd a rape on Lord Antonio's wife.
GRA. On that religious lady!
CAS. Royal blood! monster, he deserves to die,
If Italy had no more hopes but he.
VEN. Sister, y'have sentenc'd most direct and true,
The law's a woman, and would she were you.
Mother, I must take leave of you.
GRA. Leave! for what?
VEN. I intend speedy travel.
HIP. That he does, madam.
GRA. Speedy indeed!
VEN. For since my worthy father's funeral,
My life's unnatural[13] to me, even compell'd;
As if I liv'd now, when I should be dead.
GRA. Indeed, he was a worthy gentleman,
Had his estate been fellow to his mind.
VEN. The duke did much deject him.
GRA. Much?
VEN. Too much:
And though disgrace oft smother'd in his spirit,
When it would mount, surely I think he died
Of discontent, the noble man's consumption.
GRA. Most sure he did.
VEN. Did he? 'lack! you know all:
You were his midnight secretary.
GRA. No,
He was too wise to trust me with his thoughts.
VEN. I' faith, then, father, thou wast wise indeed;
"Wives are but made to go to bed and feed."
Come, mother, sister: you'll bring me onward,[14] brother?
HIP. I will.
VEN. I'll quickly turn into another. [_Aside. Exeunt._
_Enter the old_ DUKE, LUSURIOSO _his son, the_
DUCHESS: _the Bastard, the Duchess's two_
_sons_ AMBITIOSO _and_ SUPERVACUO; _the third,_
_her youngest, brought out with Officers for the_
_rape. Two_ JUDGES.
DUKE. Duchess, it is your youngest son, we're sorry,
His violent act has e'en drawn blood of honour,
And stain'd our honours;
Thrown ink upon the forehead of our state;
Which envious spirits will dip their pens into
After our death; and blot us in our tombs:
For that which would seem treason in our lives
Is laughter, when we're dead. Who dares now whisper,
That dares not then speak out, and e'en proclaim
With loud words and broad pens our closest shame?
JUDGE. Your grace hath spoke like to your silver years,
Full of confirmed gravity; for what is it to have
A flattering false insculption[15] on a tomb,
And in men's hearts reproach? the bowell'd corpse
May be sear'd in, but (with free tongue I speak)
The faults of great men through their sear-cloths break.
DUKE. They do; we're sorry for't: it is our fate
To live in fear, and die to live in hate.
I leave him to your sentence; doom him, lords--
The fact is great--whilst I sit by and sigh.
DUCH. My gracious lord, I pray be merciful:
Although his trespass far exceed his years,
Think him to be your own, as I am yours;
Call him not son-in-law: the law, I fear,
Will fall too soon upon his name and him:
Temper his fault with pity.
LUS. Good my lord,
Then 'twill not taste so bitter and unpleasant
Upon the judges' palate; for offences,
Gilt o'er with mercy, show like fairest women,
Good only for their beauties, which wash'd off,
No sin is uglier.[16]
AMB. I beseech your grace,
Be soft and mild; let not relentless law
Look with an iron forehead on our brother.
SPU. He yields small comfort yet [or] hope he shall die;
And if a bastard's wish might stand in force,
Would all the court were turn'd into a corse! [_Aside._
DUCH. No pity yet? must I rise fruitless then?
A wonder in a woman! are my knees
Of such low metal, that without respect----
1ST JUDGE. Let the offender stand forth:
'Tis the duke's pleasure, that impartial doom
Shall take fast hold of his unclean attempt.
A rape! why 'tis the very core of lust--
Double adultery.
JUN. So, sir.
2D JUDGE. And which was worse,
Committed on the Lord Antonio's wife,
That general honest lady. Confess, my lord,
What mov'd you to't?
JUN. Why, flesh and blood, my lord;
What should move men unto a woman else?
LUS. O, do not jest thy doom! trust not an axe
Or sword too far: the law is a wise serpent,
And quickly can beguile thee of thy life.
Though marriage only has made thee my brother,
I love thee so far, play not with thy death.
JUN, I thank you, troth; good admonitions, faith,
If I'd the grace now to make use of them.
1ST JUDGE. That lady's name has spread such a fair wing
Over all Italy, that if our tongues
Were sparing toward the fact, judgment itself
Would be condemn'd, and suffer in men's thoughts.
JUN. Well then, 'tis done; and it would please me well,
Were it to do again: sure, she's a goddess,
For I'd no power to see her, and to live.
It falls out true in this, for I must die;
Her beauty was ordain'd to be my scaffold.
And yet, methinks, I might be easier 'sess'd:
My fault being sport, let me but die in jest.
1ST JUDGE. This be the sentence----
DUCH. O, keep't upon your tongue; let it not slip;
Death too soon steals out of a lawyer's lip.
Be not so cruel-wise!
1ST JUDGE. Your grace must pardon us;
'Tis but the justice of the law.
DUCH. The law
Is grown more subtle than a woman should be.
SPU. Now, now he dies! rid 'em away. [_Aside._
DUCH. O, what it is to have an old cool duke,
To be as slack in tongue as in performance! [_Aside._
1ST JUDGE. Confirm'd, this be the doom irrevocable.
DUCH. O!
1ST JUDGE. To-morrow early----
DUCH. Pray be abed, my lord.
1ST JUDGE. Your grace much wrongs yourself.
AMB. No, 'tis that tongue:
Your too much right does do us too much wrong.
1ST JUDGE. Let that offender----
DUCH. Live, and be in health.
1ST JUDGE. Be on a scaffold-----
DUKE. Hold, hold, my lord!
SPU. Pox on't,
What makes my dad speak now?
DUKE. We will defer the judgment till next sitting:
In the meantime, let him be kept close prisoner.
Guard, bear him hence.
AMB. Brother, this makes for thee;
Fear not, we'll have a trick to set thee free. [_Aside._
JUN. Brother, I will expect it from you both;
And in that hope I rest. [_Aside._
SUP. Farewell, be merry. [_Exit with a guard._
SPU. Delay'd! deferr'd! nay then, if judgment have cold blood,
Flattery and bribes will kill it.
DUKE. About it, then, my lords, with your best powers:
More serious business calls upon our hours.
[_Exeunt, manet_ DUCHESS.
DUCH. Was't ever known step-duchess was so mild
And calm as I? some now would plot his death
With easy doctors, those loose-living men,
And make his wither'd grace fall to his grave,
And keep church better.
Some second wife would do this, and despatch
Her double-loathed lord at meat or sleep.
Indeed, 'tis true, an old man's twice a child;
Mine cannot speak; one of his single words
Would quite have freed my youngest dearest son
From death or durance, and have made him walk
With a bold foot upon the thorny law,
Whose prickles should bow under him; but 'tis not,
And therefore wedlock-faith shall be forgot:
I'll kill him in his forehead; hate, there feed;
That wound is deepest, though it never bleed.
And here comes he whom my heart points unto,
His bastard son, but my love's true-begot;
Many a wealthy letter have I sent him,
Swell'd up with jewels, and the timorous man
Is yet but coldly kind.
That jewel's mine that quivers in his ear,
Mocking his master's dullness and vain fear.
H' has spied me now!
_Enter_ SPURIO.[17]
SPU. Madam, your grace so private?
My duty on your hand.
DUCH. Upon my hand, sir! troth, I think you'd fear
To kiss my hand too, if my lip stood there.
SPU. Witness I would not, madam. [_Kisses her._
DUCH. 'Tis a wonder,
For ceremony has made many fools![18]
It is as easy way unto a duchess,
As to a hatted dame,[19] if her love answer:
But that by timorous humours,[20] pale respects,
Idle degrees of fear, men make their ways
Hard of themselves. What, have you thought of me?
SPU. Madam, I ever think of you in duty,
Regard, and----
DUCH. Puh! upon my love, I mean.
SPU. I would 'twere love; but 'tis a fouler name
Than lust: you are my father's wife--your grace may guess now
What I could call it.
DUCH. Why, th' art his son but falsely;
'Tis a hard question whether he begot thee.
SPU. I' faith, 'tis true: I'm an uncertain man
Of more uncertain woman. Maybe, his groom
O' th' stable begot me; you know I know not;
He could ride a horse well, a shrewd suspicion, marry!--
He was wondrous tall: he had his length, i' faith;
For peeping over half-shut holyday windows,
Men would desire him light, when he was afoot.
He made a goodly show under a pent-house;
And when he rid, his hat would check the signs,
And clatter barbers' basons.
DUCH. Nay, set you a-horseback once,
You'll ne'er light off.[21]
SPU. Indeed, I am a beggar.
DUCH. That's the more sign thou'rt great.--
But to our love:
Let it stand firm both in thy thought and mind,
That the duke was thy father, as no doubt
He bid fair for't---thy injury is the more;
For had he cut thee a right diamond,
Thou had'st been next set in the dukedom's ring,
When his worn self, like age's easy slave,
Had dropp'd out of the collet[22] into th' grave.
What wrong can equal this? canst thou be tame,
And think upon't?
SPU. No, mad, and think upon't.
DUCH. Who would not be reveng'd of such a father,
E'en in the worst way? I would thank that sin,
That could most injure him, and be in league with it.
O, what a grief 'tis that a man should live
But once i' th' world, and then to live a bastard!
The curse o' the womb, the thief of nature,
Begot against the seventh commandment,
Half-damn'd in the conception by the justice
Of that unbribed, everlasting law.
SPU. O, I'd a hot-back'd devil to my father.
DUCH. Would not this mad e'en patience, make blood rough?
Who but an eunuch would not sin? his bed,
By one false minute disinherited.
SPU. Ay, there's the vengeance that my birth was wrapp'd in!
I'll be reveng'd for all: now, hate, begin;
I'll call foul incest but a venial sin.
DUCH. Cold still! in vain then must a duchess woo?
SPU. Madam, I blush to say what I will do.
DUCH. Thence flew sweet comfort. Earnest, and farewell.
[_Kisses him._
SPU. O, one incestuous kiss picks open hell.
DUCH. Faith now, old duke, my vengeance shall reach high,
I'll arm thy brow with woman's heraldry. [_Exit._
SPU. Duke, thou didst do me wrong; and, by thy act
Adultery is my nature.
Faith, if the truth were known, I was begot
After some gluttonous dinner; some stirring dish
Was my first father, when deep healths went round,
And ladies' cheeks were painted red with wine,
Their tongues, as short and nimble as their heels,
Uttering words sweet and thick; and when they rose,
Were merrily dispos'd to fall again.
In such a whisp'ring and withdrawing hour,
When base male-bawds kept sentinel at stair-head,
Was I stol'n softly. O damnation meet![23]
The sin of feasts, drunken adultery!
I feel it swell me; my revenge is just!
I was begot in impudent wine and lust.
Step-mother, I consent to thy desires;
I love thy mischief well; but I hate thee
And those three cubs thy sons, wishing confusion,
Death and disgrace may be their epitaphs.
As for my brother, the duke's only son,
Whose birth is more beholding to report
Than mine, and yet perhaps as falsely sown
(Women must not be trusted with their own),
I'll loose my days upon him, hate-all-I;
Duke, on thy brow I'll draw my bastardy:
For indeed a bastard by nature should make cuckolds,
Because he is the son of a cuckold-maker. [_Exit._
_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO. VENDICE _in disguise,_
_to attend_ L. LUSURIOSO, _the duke's son_.
VEN. What, brother, am I far enough from myself?
HIP. As if another man had been sent whole
Into the world, and none wist how he came.
VEN. It will confirm me bold--the child o' th' court;
Let blushes dwell i' th' country. Impudence!
Thou goddess of the palace, mistress of mistresses,
To whom the costly perfum'd people pray,
Strike thou my forehead into dauntless marble,
Mine eyes to steady sapphires. Turn my visage;
And, if I must needs glow, let me blush inward,
That this immodest season may not spy
That scholar in my cheeks, fool bashfulness;
That maid in the old time, whose flush of grace
Would never suffer her to get good clothes.
Our maids are wiser, and are less asham'd;
Save Grace the bawd, I seldom hear grace nam'd!
HIP. Nay, brother, you reach out o' th' verge now----
'Sfoot, the duke's son! settle your looks.
VEN. Pray, let me not be doubted.
HIP. My lord----
_Enter_ LUSURIOSO.
LUS. Hippolito--be absent, leave us!
HIP. My lord, after long search, wary inquiries,
And politic siftings, I made choice of yon fellow,
Whom I guess rare for many deep employments:
This our age swims within him; and if Time
Had so much hair, I should take him for Time,
He is so near kin to this present minute.
LUS. 'Tis enough;
We thank thee: yet words are but great men's blanks;
Gold, though it be dumb, does utter the best thanks.
[_Gives him money._
HIP. Your plenteous honour! an excellent fellow, my lord.
LUS. So, give us leave--[_Exit_ HIPPOLITO.] welcome, be not far
off; we must be better acquainted: pish, be bold with us--thy
hand.
VEN. With all my heart, i' faith: how dost, sweet musk-cat?
When shall we lie together?
LUS. Wondrous knave,
Gather him into boldness! 'sfoot, the slave's
Already as familiar as an ague,
And shakes me at his pleasure. Friend, I can
Forget myself in private; but elsewhere
I pray do you remember me.
VEN. O, very well, sir--I conster myself saucy.
LUS. What hast been?
Of what profession?
VEN. A bone-setter.
LUS. A bone-setter!
VEN. A bawd, my lord--
One that sets bones together.
LUS. Notable bluntness!
Fit, fit for me; e'en train'd up to my hand:
Thou hast been scrivener to much knavery, then?
VEN. Fool to abundance, sir: I have been witness
To the surrenders of a thousand virgins;
And not so little
I have seen patrimonies wash'd a-pieces,
Fruit-fields turn'd into bastards,
And in a world of acres
Not so much dust due to the heir 'twas left to
As would well gravel[24] a petition.
LUS. Fine villain! troth, I like him wondrously:
He's e'en shap'd for my purpose. [_Aside._] Then thou know'st
I' th' world strange lust?
VEN. O Dutch lust! fulsome lust!
Drunken procreation! which begets so many drunkards:
Some fathers dread not (gone to bed in wine) to slide from the mother,
And cling the daughter-in-law;[25]
Some uncles are adulterous with their nieces:
Brothers with brothers' wives. O hour of incest!
Any kin now, next to the rim o' th' sister,[26]
Is man's meat in these days; and in the morning,
When they are up and dress'd, and their mask on,
Who can perceive this, save that eternal eye,
That sees through flesh and all? Well, if anything be damn'd,
It will be twelve o'clock at night; that twelve
Will never 'scape;
It is the Judas of the hours, wherein
Honest salvation is betray'd to sin.
LUS. In troth, it is true; but let this talk glide.
It is our blood to err, though hell gape wide.[27]
Ladies know Lucifer fell, yet still are proud.
Now, sir, wert thou as secret as thou'rt subtle,
And deeply fathom'd into all estates,
I would embrace thee for a near employment;
And thou shouldst swell in money, and be able
To make lame beggars crouch to thee.
VEN. My lord.
Secret! I ne'er had that disease o' th' mother,
I praise my father: why are men made close,
But to keep thoughts in best? I grant you this,
Tell but some women a secret over night,
Your doctor may find it in the urinal i' th' morning.
But, my lord----
LUS. So thou'rt confirm'd in me,
And thus I enter thee. [_Gives him money._
VEN. This Indian devil
Will quickly enter any man but a usurer;
He prevents that by entering the devil first.
LUS. Attend me. I am past my depth in lust,
And I must swim or drown. All my desires
Are levell'd at a virgin not far from court,
To whom I have convey'd by messenger
Many wax'd lines, full of my neatest spirit,
And jewels that were able to ravish her
Without the help of man; all which and more
She (foolish chaste) sent back, the messengers
Receiving frowns for answers.
VEN. Possible!
'Tis a rare Phoenix, whoe'er she be.
If your desires be such, she so repugnant,
In troth, my lord, I'd be reveng'd, and marry her.
LUS. Pish! the dowry of her blood and of her fortunes
Are both too mean--good enough to be bad withal.
I'm one of that number can defend
Marriage as good;[28] yet rather keep a friend.
Give me my bed by stealth--there's true delight;
What breeds a loathing in't, but night by night!
VEN. A very fine religion!
LUS. Therefore, thus
I'll trust thee in the business of my heart;
Because I see thee well-experienc'd
In this luxurious day, wherein we breathe.
Go thou, and with a smooth, enchanting tongue
Bewitch her ears, and cosen her of all grace:
Enter upon the portico[29] of her soul--
Her honour, which she calls her chastity,
And bring it into expense; for honesty
Is like a stock of money laid to sleep
Which, ne'er so little broke, does never keep.
VEN. You have gi'n 't the tang, i' faith, my lord:
Make known the lady to me, and my brain
Shall swell with strange invention: I will move it,
Till I expire with speaking, and drop down
Without a word to save me--but I'll work----
LUS. We thank thee, and will raise thee--
Receive her name; it is the only daughter to
Madam Gratiana, the late widow.
VEN. O my sister, my sister! [_Aside._
LUS. Why dost walk aside?
VEN. My lord, I was thinking how I might begin:
As thus, O lady--or twenty hundred devices--
Her very bodkin will put a man in.
LUS. Ay, or the wagging of her hair.
VEN. No, that shall put you in, my lord.
LUS. Shall't? why, content. Dost know the daughter, then?
VEN. O, excellent well by sight.
LUS. That was her brother,
That did prefer thee to us.
VEN. My lord, I think so;
I knew I had seen him somewhere----
LUS. And therefore, prythee, let thy heart to him
Be (as a virgin) close.
VEN. O my good lord.
LUS. We may laugh at that simple age within him.
VEN. Ha, ha, ha!
LUS. Himself being made the subtle instrument,
To wind up a good fellow.
VEN. That's I, my lord.
LUS. That's thou,
To entice and work his sister.
VEN. A pure novice!
LUS. 'Twas finely manag'd.
VEN. Gallantly carried!
A pretty perfum'd villain!
LUS. I've bethought me,
If she prove chaste still and immovable,
Venture upon the mother; and with gifts,
As I will furnish thee, begin with her.
VEN. O, fie, fie! that's the wrong end, my lord. 'Tis mere
impossible that a mother, by any gifts, should become a bawd to
her own daughter!
LUS. Nay, then, I see thou'rt but a puisne
In the subtle mystery of a woman.
Why, 'tis held now no dainty dish: the name
Is so in league with age, that nowadays
It does eclipse three quarters of a mother.
VEN. Does it so, my lord?
Let me alone, then, to eclipse the fourth.
LUS. Why, well-said--come, I'll furnish thee; but first
Swear to be true in all.
VEN. True!
LUS. Nay, but swear.
VEN. Swear?--I hope your honour little doubts my faith.
LUS. Yet, for my humour's sake, 'cause I love swearing----
VEN. 'Cause you love swearing, 'slud, I will.
LUS. Why, enough!
Ere long look to be made of better stuff.
VEN. That will do well indeed, my lord.
LUS. Attend me. [_Exit._
VEN. O!
Now let me burst. I've eaten noble poison;
We are made strange fellows, brother, innocent villains!
Wilt not be angry, when thou hear'st on't, think'st thou?
I' faith, thou shalt: swear me to foul my sister!
Sword, I durst make a promise of him to thee;
Thou shalt disheir him; it shall be thine honour.
And yet, now angry froth is down in me,
It would not prove the meanest policy,
In this disguise, to try the faith of both.
Another might have had the selfsame office;
Some slave that would have wrought effectually,
Ay, and perhaps o'erwrought 'em; therefore I,
Being thought-travell'd, will apply myself
Unto the selfsame form, forget my nature,
As if no part about me were kin to 'em,
So touch 'em;--though I durst almost for good
Venture my lands in heaven upon their blood.[30] [_Exit._
_Enter the discontented_ LORD ANTONIO, _whose wife_
_the Duchess's youngest son ravished: he discovering_
_the body of her dead to certain Lords_
_and_ HIPPOLITO.
ANT. Draw nearer, lords, and be sad witnesses
Of a fair comely building newly fall'n,
Being falsely undermin'd. Violent rape
Has play'd a glorious act: behold, my lords,
A sight that strikes man out of me.
PIERO. That virtuous lady!
ANT. President for wives!
HIP. The blush of many women, whose chaste presence
Would e'en call shame up to their cheeks, and make
Pale wanton sinners have good colours----
ANT. Dead!
Her honour first drank poison, and her life,
Being fellows in one house, did pledge her honour.
PIERO. O, grief of many!
ANT. I mark'd not this before--
A prayer-book, the pillow to her cheek:
This was her rich confection; and another
Plac'd in her right hand, with a leaf tuck'd up,
Pointing to these words--
_Melius virtute mori, quam per dedecus vivere:_
True and effectual it is indeed.
HIP. My lord, since you invite us to your sorrows,
Let's truly taste 'em, that with equal comfort,
As to ourselves, we may relieve your wrongs:
We have grief too, that yet walks without tongue;
_Curæ leves loquuntur, majores stupent._
ANT. You deal with truth, my lord,
Lend me but your attentions, and I'll cut
Long grief into short words. Last revelling night,
When torch-light made an artificial noon
About the court, some courtiers in the masque,
Putting on better faces than their own,
Being full of fraud and flattery--amongst whom
The duchess' youngest son (that moth to honour)
Fill'd up a room, and with long lust to eat
Into my warren,[31] amongst all the ladies
Singled out that dear form, who ever liv'd
As cold in lust as she is now in death,
(Which that step-duchess monster knew too well)
And therefore in the height of all the revels,
When music was heard loudest, courtiers busiest,
And ladies great with laughter--O vicious minute!
Unfit but for relation to be spoke of:
Then with a face more impudent than his vizard,
He harri'd[32] her amidst a throng of panders,
That live upon damnation of both kinds,
And fed the ravenous vulture of his lust.
O death to think on't! She, her honour forc'd,
Deem'd it a nobler dowry for her name,
To die with poison, than to live with shame.
HIP. A wondrous lady! of rare fire compact;
Sh' has made her name an empress by that act.
PIERO. My lord, what judgment follows the offender?
ANT. Faith, none, my lord; it cools, and is deferr'd.
PIERO. Delay the doom for rape!
ANT. O, you must note who 'tis should die,
The duchess' son! she'll look to be a saver:
"Judgment, in this age, is near kin to favour."
HIP. Nay, then, step forth, thou bribeless officer:
[_Draws._
I'll bind you all in steel, to bind you surely;
Here let your oaths meet, to be kept and paid,
Which else will stick like rust, and shame the blade;
Strengthen my vow that if, at the next sitting,
Judgment speak all in gold, and spare the blood
Of such a serpent e'en before their seats
To let his soul out, which long since was found
Guilty in heaven--
ALL. We swear it, and will act it.
ANT. Kind gentlemen, I thank you in mine heart.[33]
HIP. 'Twere pity
The ruins of so fair a monument
Should not be dipp'd in the defacer's blood.
PIERO. Her funeral shall be wealthy; for her name
Merits a tomb of pearl. My Lord Antonio,
For this time wipe your lady from your eyes;
No doubt our grief and yours may one day court it,
When we are more familiar with revenge.
ANT. That is my comfort, gentlemen, and I joy
In this one happiness above the rest,
Which will be call'd a miracle at last
That, being an old man, I'd a wife so chaste. [_Exeunt._
FOOTNOTES:
[7] ["There is some confusion in the arrangement of this scene. From
the duke, &c., passing over the stage, it should be some open part of
the duke's palace; but from the reflections on the _skull_, &c., it
would appear to be Vendice's private study. But perhaps it was intended
to represent _two_ scenes, one _above_ the other, as was frequently
done at the period of this play."--_MS. note in one of the former_
_edits._]
[8] With a skull in his hand. That he has the skull of his mistress is
evident from the whole of the scene. He makes use of it afterwards in
act iii.--_Collier._
[9] Luxury was the ancient appropriate term for incontinence. Hence
this wanton old duke was called a _luxur_. See Mr Collins's note on
"Troilus and Cressida," edit. 1778, ix. 166.--_Steevens._
[10] [Old copy, _palsy_.]
[11] [Old copy, _time_.]
[12] This is not a name of the _Lues Venerea_, but a comparison only
of it to a _mole_, on account of the effects it sometimes produces in
occasioning the loss of hair.--_Pegge._
[13] [Old copy, _unnaturally--e'en_.]
[14] A phrase in common use, signifying to accompany one.
[15] Hitherto [formerly] misprinted _inscription_: _insculption_ is the
word in the old quartos.--_Collier._
[16] [Out of place in the mouth of housewives.--_MS. note in one of the
former edits._]
[17] The entrances and _exits_ of the various characters are very
defectively noticed in the old copies, and Mr Reed accurately supplied
most of them.--_Collier._
[18] Tourneur has urged this doctrine at greater length in the second
act of his "Atheist's Tragedy," 1612.--_Gilchrist._
[19] She means from the highest to the lowest of her sex. At this
time women of the inferior order wore _hats_. See Hollar's "Ornatus
Muliebris Anglicanus," 1640.
[20] [Old copy, _honors_.]
[21] "Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride a gallop. _Asperius
nihil est humili cum surgit in altum._--Claudian. _Il n'est orgueil
qui de pauvre enrichi._--Fr. There is no pride to the enriched
beggar's. _Il villan nobilitado non conosce il parentado._--Ital. The
villain ennobled will not own his kindred or parentage."--[Hazlitt's
"Proverbs," 1869, p. 331.]
[22] That part of a ring in which the stone is set.--Johnson's
"Dictionary."
[23] [Old copy, _met_]
[24] _i.e._, Sand it, to prevent it from blotting, while the ink was
wet.--_Steevens._
[25] _i.e._, compress, embrace her. See Mr Steevens's note on
"Macbeth," act v. sc. 5.
[26] That is, no degree of relationship is sufficient to restrain the
appetite of lust, scarce that of sister; they even approach to the
_rim_ or _verge_ of what is the most prohibited.
[27] The quarto reads, _lowde_.
[28] The quarto reads, _is good_.--_Steevens._
[29] [Old copy, _portion_.]
[30] _Upon their good_ is the misreading of one old copy.--_Collier._
[31] [Old copy, _wearing_.]
[32] To _harry_, Mr Steevens observes, is to use roughly. See note
to "Antony and Cleopatra," act iii. sc. 3. See also Fuller's "Church
History," lib. x. p. 19.--_Gilchrist._
[33] [Old copy, _ire_.]
ACTUS II, SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ CASTIZA, _the sister_.
CAS. How hardly shall that maiden be beset,
Whose only fortunes are her constant thoughts!
That has no other child's part but her honour,
That keeps her low and empty in estate;
Maids and their honours are like poor beginners;
Were not sin rich, there would be fewer sinners;
Why had not virtue a revenue? Well,
I know the cause, 'twould have impoverish'd hell.
_Enter_ DONDOLO.
How now, Dondolo?
DON. Madonna, there is one as they say, a thing of flesh
and blood--a man, I take him by his beard, that would very
desirously mouth to mouth with you.
CAS. What's that?
DON. Show his teeth in your company.
CAS. I understand thee not.
DON. Why, speak with you, madonna.
CAS. Why, say so, madman, and cut off a great deal of dirty
way; had it not been better spoke in ordinary words, that one
would speak with me?
DON. Ha, ha! that's as ordinary as two shillings. I would
strive a little to show myself in my place; a gentleman-usher
scorns to use the phrase and fancy of a serving-man.
CAS. Yours be your own, sir; go, direct him hither;
[_Exit_ DONDOLO.
I hope some happy tidings from my brother,
That lately travell'd, whom my soul affects.
Here he comes.
_Enter_ VENDICE, _her brother, disguised_.
VEN. Lady, the best of wishes to your sex.
Fair skins and new gowns.
CAS. O, they shall thank you, sir.
Whence this?
VEN. Mighty--O, from a dear and worthy friend;
CAS. From whom?
VEN. The duke's son!
CAS. Receive that.
[_A box o' the ear to her brother._
I swore I would put anger in my hand,
And pass the virgin limits of my sex,[34]
To him that next appear'd in that base office,
To be his sin's attorney. Bear to him
That figure of my hate upon thy cheek,
Whilst 'tis yet hot, and I'll reward thee for't;
Tell him my honour shall have a rich name,
When several harlots shall share his with shame.
Farewell; commend me to him in my hate. [_Exit._
VEN. It is the sweetest box,
That e'er my nose came nigh;
The finest drawn-work cuff that e'er was worn;
I'll love this blow for ever, and this cheek
Shall still henceforward take the wall of this.
O, I'm above my tongue: most constant sister,
In this thou hast right honourable shown;
Many are call'd their[35] honour, that have none;
Thou art approv'd for ever in my thoughts.
It is not in the power of words to taint thee.
And yet for the salvation of my oath,
As my resolve in that point, I will lay
Hard siege unto my mother, though I know
A syren's tongue could not bewitch her so.
Mass, fitly here she comes! thanks, my disguise--
Madam, good afternoon.
_Enter_ GRATIANA.
GRA. Y' are welcome, sir.
VEN. The next[36] of Italy commends him to you,
Our mighty expectation, the duke's son.
GRA. I think myself much honour'd that he pleases
To rank me in his thoughts.
VEN. So may you, lady:
One that is like to be our sudden duke;
The crown gapes for him every tide, and then
Commander o'er us all; do but think on him.
How bless'd were they, now that could pleasure him--
E'en with anything almost?
GRA. Ay, save their honour.
VEN. Tut, one would let a little of that go too,
And ne'er be seen in't--ne'er be seen in't, mark you;
I'd wink, and let it go.
GRA. Marry, but I would not.
VEN. Marry, but I would, I hope; I know you would too,
If you'd that blood now, which you gave your daughter.
To her indeed 'tis this wheel[37] comes about;
That man that must be all this, perhaps ere morning,
(For his white father does but mould away),
Has long desir'd your daughter.
GRA. Desir'd?
VEN. Nay, but hear me,
He desires now, that will command hereafter:
Therefore be wise. I speak as more a friend
To you than him: madam, I know you're poor,
And, 'lack the day!
There are too many poor ladies already;
Why should you wax the number? 'tis despis'd.
Live wealthy, rightly understand the world,
And chide away that foolish country girl
Keeps company with your daughter--Chastity.
GRA. O fie, fie! the riches of the world cannot hire a mother
to such a most unnatural task.
VEN. No, but a thousand angels can.
[If] men have no power, angels must work you to't:
The world descends into such baseborn evils,
That forty angels can make fourscore devils.
There will be fools still, I perceive--still fools.[38]
Would I be poor, dejected, scorn'd of greatness,
Swept from the palace, and see others' daughters
Spring with the dew o' the court, having mine own
So much desir'd and lov'd by the duke's son?
No, I would raise my state upon her breast;
And call her eyes my tenants; I would count
My yearly maintenance upon her cheeks;
Take coach upon her lip; and all her parts
Should keep men after men, and I would ride
In pleasure upon pleasure.
You took great pains for her, once when it was;
Let her requite it now, though it be but some.
You brought her forth: she may well bring you home.
GRA. O heavens! this o'ercomes me!
VEN. Not, I hope, already? [_Aside._
GRA. It is too strong for me; men know that know us,
We are so weak their words can overthrow us;
He touch'd me nearly, made my virtues bate,[39]
When his tongue struck upon my poor estate. [_Aside._
VEN. I e'en quake to proceed, my spirit turns edge.
I fear me she's unmother'd; yet I'll venture.
"That woman is all male, whom none can enter."
[_Aside._
What think you now, lady? speak, are you wiser?
What said advancement to you? thus it said:
The daughter's fall lifts up the mother's head.
Did it not, madam? but I'll swear it does
In many places: tut, this age fears no man.
"'Tis no shame to be bad, because 'tis common."
GRA. Ay, that's the comfort on't.
VEN. The comfort on't!
I keep the best for last--can these persuade you
To forget heaven--and---- [_Gives her money._
GRA. Ay, these are they----
VEN. O!
GRA. That enchant our sex. These are
The means that govern our affections--that woman
Will not be troubled with the mother long,
That sees the comfortable shine of you:
I blush to think what for your sakes I'll do.
VEN. O sovereign[40] heaven, with thy invisible finger,
E'en at this instant turn the precious side
Of both mine eyeballs inward, not to see myself.
[_Aside._[41]
GRA. Look you, sir.
VEN. Hollo.
GRA. Let this thank your pains.
VEN. O, you're a kind madam.
GRA. I'll see how I can move.
VEN. Your words will sting.
GRA. If she be still chaste, I'll ne'er call her mine.
VEN. Spoke truer than you meant it.
GRA. Daughter Castiza.
_Enter_ CASTIZA.
CAS. Madam.
VEN. O, she's yonder;
Meet her: troops of celestial soldiers guard her heart.
Yon dam has devils enough to take her part.
CAS. Madam, what makes yon evil-offic'd man
In presence of you?
GRA. Why?
CAS. He lately brought
Immodest writing sent from the duke's son,
To tempt me to dishonourable act.
GRA. Dishonourable act!--good honourable fool,
That wouldst be honest, 'cause thou wouldst be so,
Producing no one reason but thy will.
And't has a good report, prettily commended,
But pray, by whom? poor people, ignorant people;
The better sort, I'm sure, cannot abide it.
And by what rule should we square out our lives,
But by our betters' actions? O, if thou knew'st
What 'twere to lose it, thou would never keep it!
But there's a cold curse laid upon all maids,
Whilst others clip the sun,[42] they clasp the shades.
Virginity is paradise lock'd up.
You cannot come by yourselves without fee;
And 'twas decreed, that man should keep the key!
Deny advancement! treasure! the duke's son!
CAS. I cry you mercy! lady, I mistook you!
Pray did you see my mother? which way went she?[43]
Pray God, I have not lost her.
VEN. Prettily put by! [_Aside._
GRA. Are you as proud to me, as coy to him?
Do you not know me now?
CAS. Why, are you she?
The world's so chang'd one shape into another,
It is a wise child now that knows her mother.
VEN. Most right, i' faith. [_Aside._
GRA. I owe your cheek my hand
For that presumption now; but I'll forget it.
Come, you shall leave those childish 'haviours,
And understand your time. Fortunes flow to you;
What, will you be a girl?
If all fear'd drowning that spy waves ashore,
Gold would grow rich, and all the merchants poor.
CAS. It is a pretty saying of a wicked one;
But methinks now it does not show so well
Out of your mouth--better in his!
VEN. Faith, bad enough in both,
Were I in earnest, as I'll seem no less. [_Aside._
I wonder, lady, your own mother's words
Cannot be taken, nor stand in full force.
'Tis honesty you urge; what's honesty?
'Tis but heaven's beggar; and what woman is
So foolish to keep honesty,
And be not able to keep herself? No,
Times are grown wiser, and will keep less charge.
A maid that has small portion now intends
To break up house, and live upon her friends;
How bless'd are you! you have happiness alone;
Others must fall to thousands, you to one,
Sufficient in himself to make your forehead
Dazzle the world with jewels, and petitionary people
Start at your presence.
GRA. O, if I were young, I should be ravish'd.
CAS. Ay, to lose your honour!
VEN. 'Slid, how can you lose your honour
To deal with my lord's grace?
He'll add more honour to it by his title;
Your mother will tell you how.
GRA. That I will.
VEN. O, think upon the pleasure of the palace!
Secured ease and state! the stirring meats,
Ready to move out of the dishes, that e'en now
Quicken when they are eaten!
Banquets abroad by torchlight! music! sports!
Bareheaded vassals, that had ne'er the fortune
To keep on their own hats, but let horns[44] wear 'em!
Nine coaches waiting--hurry, hurry, hurry----
CAS. Ay, to the devil.
VEN. Ay, to the devil! [_Aside._] To the duke, by my faith.
GRA. Ay, to the duke: daughter, you'd scorn to think o' the
devil, and you were there once.
VEN. True, for most there are as proud as he for his heart, i'
faith. [_Aside._
Who'd sit at home in a neglected room,
Dealing her short-liv'd beauty to the pictures,
That are as useless as old men, when those
Poorer in face and fortune than herself
Walk with a hundred acres on their backs,[45]
Fair meadows cut into green foreparts? O,
It was the greatest blessing ever happen'd to women:
When farmers' sons agreed to mete their gain,[46]
To wash their hands, and come up gentlemen!
The commonwealth has flourished ever since:
Lands that were mete[47] by the rod, that labour's spar'd:
Tailors ride down, and measure 'em by the yard.
Fair trees, those comely foretops of the field,
Are cut to maintain head-tires--much untold--
All thrives but chastity; she lies a-cold.
Nay, shall I come nearer to you? mark but this:
Why are there so few honest women, but because tis the poorer
profession? that's accounted best that's best followed; least
in trade, least in fashion; and that's not honesty, believe it;
and do but note the love and dejected price of it--
_Lose but a pearl, we search, and cannot brook it:_
_But that,[48] once gone, who is so mad to look it?_
GRA. Troth, he says true.
CAS. False! I defy you both:
I have endur'd you with an ear of fire;
Your tongues have struck hot irons on my face.
Mother, come from that poisonous woman there.[49]
GRA. Where?
CAS. Do you not see her? she's too inward,[50] then:
Slave, perish in thy office! you heavens, please
Henceforth to make the mother a disease,
Which first begins with me: yet I've outgone you. [_Exit._
VEN. O angels, clap your wings upon the skies,
And give this virgin crystal plaudites!
GRA. Peevish, coy, foolish!--but return this answer,
My lord shall be most welcome, when his pleasure
Conducts him this way. I will sway mine own:
Women with women can work best alone. [_Exit._
VEN. Indeed, I'll tell him so.
O, more uncivil, more unnatural,
Than those base-titled creatures that look downward;
Why does not heaven turn black, or with a frown
Undo the world? Why does not earth start up,
And strike the sins that tread upon't? O,
Were't not for gold and women, there would be no damnation.
Hell would look like a lord's great kitchen without fire in't.
But 'twas decreed, before the world began,
That they should be the hooks to catch at man. [_Exit._
_Enter_ LUSURIOSO, _with_ HIPPOLITO.
LUS. I much applaud
Thy judgment; thou art well-read in thy fellows,[51]
And 'tis the deepest art to study man.
I know this, which I never learnt in schools,
The world's divided into knaves and fools.
HIP. Knave in your face--my lord behind your back. [_Aside._
LUS. And I much thank thee, that thou hast preferr'd
A fellow of discourse, well-mingled,
And whose brain time hath season'd.
HIP. True, my lord,
We shall find season once, I hope. O villain!
To make such an unnatural slave of me--but----
[_Aside._
LUS. Mass, here he comes.
HIP. And now shall I have free leave to depart.
[_Aside._
LUS. Your absence, leave us.
HIP. Are not my thoughts true? [_Aside._
I must remove; but, brother, you may stay.
Heart! we are both made bawds a new-found way! [_Exit._
_Enter_ VENDICE.
LUS. Now we're an even number, a third man's dangerous,
Especially her brother;--say, be free,
Have I a pleasure toward------
VEN. O my lord!
LUS. Ravish me in thine answer; art thou rare?
Hast thou beguil'd her of salvation,
And rubb'd hell o'er with honey? Is she a woman?
VEN. In all but in desire.
LUS. Then she's in nothing--I bate[52] in courage now.
VEN. The words I brought
Might well have made indifferent honest naught.
A right good woman in these days is chang'd
Into white money with less labour far:
Many a maid has turn'd to Mahomet
With easier working: I durst undertake,
Upon the pawn and forfeit of my life,
With half those words to flat a Puritan's wife.
But she is close and good;--yet 'tis a doubt
By this time. O, the mother, the mother!
LUS. I never thought their sex had been a wonder,
Until this minute. What fruit from the mother?
VEN. Now must I blister my soul, be forsworn,
Or shame the woman that receiv'd me first.
I will be true: thou liv'st not to proclaim.
Spoke to a dying man, shame has no shame.
[_Aside._
My lord.
LUS. Who's that?
VEN. Here's none but I, my lord.
LUS. What should thy haste utter?
VEN. Comfort.
LUS. Welcome.
VEN. The maid being dull, having no mind to travel
Into unknown lands, what did I[53] straight,
But set spurs to the mother; golden spurs
Will put her to a false gallop in a trice.
LUS. Is't possible that in this
The mother should be damn'd before the daughter?
VEN. O, that's good manners, my lord; the mother for her age
must go foremost, you know.
LUS. Thou'st spoke that true! but where comes in this comfort?
VEN. In a fine place, my lord,--the unnatural mother
Did with her tongue so hard beset her honour,
That the poor fool was struck to silent wonder;
Yet still the maid, like an unlighted taper,
Was cold and chaste, save that her mother's breath
Did blow fire on her cheeks. The girl departed;
But the good ancient madam, half mad, threw me
These promising words, which I took deeply note of:
My lord shall be most welcome----
LUS. Faith, I thank her.
VEN. When his pleasure conducts him this way----
LUS. That shall be soon, i' faith.
VEN. I will sway mine own----
LUS. She does the wiser: I commend her for't.
VEN. Women with women can work best alone.
LUS. By this light, and so they can; give 'em their due, men
are not comparable to 'em.
VEN. No, that's true; for you shall have one woman knit more in
an hour, than any man can ravel again in seven-and-twenty years.
LUS. Now my desires are happy; I'll make 'em freemen now.
Thou art a precious fellow; faith, I love thee;
Be wise and make it thy revenue; beg, beg;
What office couldst thou be ambitious for?
VEN. Office, my lord! marry, if I might have my wish, I would
have one that was never begged yet.
LUS. Nay, then, thou canst have none.
VEN. Yes, my lord, I could pick out another office yet; nay,
and keep a horse and drab upon't.
LUS. Prythee, good bluntness, tell me.
VEN. Why, I would desire but this, my lord--to have all the
fees behind the arras, and all the farthingales that fall plump
about twelve o'clock at night upon the rushes.
LUS. Thou'rt a mad, apprehensive[54] knave; dost think to make
any great purchase of that?
VEN. O, 'tis an unknown thing, my lord; I wonder 't has been
missed so long.
LUS. Well, this night I'll visit her, and 'tis till then
A year in my desires--farewell, attend:
Trust me with thy preferment.
VEN. My lov'd lord!
O, shall I kill him o' th' wrong side now? no!
Sword, thou wast never a backbiter yet.
I'll pierce him to his face; he shall die looking upon me.
Thy veins are swell'd with lust, this shall unfill 'em.
Great men were gods, if beggars could not kill 'em.
Forgive me, heaven, to call my mother wicked!
O, lessen not my days upon the earth,[55]
I cannot honour her. By this, I fear me,
Her tongue has turn'd my sister into use.
I was a villain not to be forsworn
To this our lecherous hope, the duke's son;
For lawyers, merchants, some divines, and all,
Count beneficial perjury a sin small.
It shall go hard yet, but I'll guard her honour,
And keep the ports sure.
_Enter_ HIPPOLITO.
HIP. Brother, how goes the world? I would know news of you.
But I have news to tell you.
VEN. What, in the name of knavery?
HIP. Knavery, faith;
This vicious old duke's worthily abused,
The pen of his bastard writes him cuckold?
VEN. His bastard?
HIP. Pray, believe it; he and the duchess
By night meet in their linen;[56] they have been seen
By stair-foot panders.
VEN. O, sin foul and deep!
Great faults are wink'd at, when the duke's asleep.
See, see, here comes the Spurio.
HIP. Monstrous luxur!
VEN. Unbrac'd! two of his valiant bawds with him!
O, there's a wicked whisper; hell's in his ear.
Stay, let's observe his passage--
_Enter_ SPURIO _and Servants_.
SPU. O, but are you sure on't?
SER. My lord, most sure on't; for 'twas spoke by one,
That is most inward with the duke's son's lust,
That he intends within this hour to steal
Unto Hippolito's sister, whose chaste life
The mother has corrupted for his use.
SPU. Sweet word! sweet occasion! faith, then, brother,
I'll disinherit you in as short time,
As I was when I was begot in haste.
I'll damn you at your pleasure: precious deed!
After your lust, O, 'twill be fine to bleed.
Come, let our passing out be soft and wary. [_Exeunt._
VEN. Mark! there, there, that step! now to the duchess--
This their second meeting writes the duke cuckold
With new additions--his horns newly reviv'd.
Night! thou that look'st like funeral heralds' fees,
Torn down betimes i' th' morning, thou hang'st fitly
To grace those sins that have no grace at all.
Now 'tis full sea abed over the world:
There's juggling of all sides; some that were maids
E'en at sunset, are now perhaps i' th' toll-book.[57]
This woman in immodest thin apparel
Lets in her friend by water; here a dame
Cunning nails leather hinges to a door,
To avoid proclamation,
Now cuckolds are coining, apace, apace, apace, apace!
And careful sisters spin that thread i' th' night,
That does maintain them and their bawds i' th' day.
HIP. You flow well, brother.
VEN. Pish![58] I'm shallow yet;
Too sparing and too modest; shall I tell thee?
If every trick were told that's dealt by night,
There are few here that would not blush outright.
HIP. I am of that belief too. Who's this comes?
VEN.[59] The duke's son up so late? Brother, fall back,
And you shall learn some mischief. My good lord!
_Enter_ LUSURIOSO.
LUS. Piato! why, the man I wished for! Come,
I do embrace this season for the fittest
To taste of that young lady.
VEN. Heart and hell.
HIP. Damn'd villain! [_Aside._
VEN. I have no way now to cross it, but to kill him. [_Aside._
LUS. Come, only thou and I.
VEN. My lord! my lord!
LUS. Why dost thou start us?
VEN. I'd almost forgot--the bastard!
LUS. What of him?
VEN. This night, this hour, this minute, now----
LUS. What? what?
VEN. Shadows the duchess----
LUS. Horrible word!
VEN. And (like strong poison) eats
Into the duke your father's forehead.
LUS. O!
VEN. He makes horn-royal.
LUS. Most ignoble slave!
VEN. This is the fruit of two beds.
LUS. I am mad.
VEN. That passage he trod warily.
LUS. He did.
VEN. And hush'd his villains every step he took.
LUS. His villains? I'll confound them.
VEN. Take 'em finely--finely, now.
LUS. The duchess' chamber-door shall not control me. [_Exeunt._
HIP. Good, happy, swift: there's gunpowder i' th' court,
Wildfire at midnight. In this heedless fury
He may show violence to cross himself.
I'll follow the event.
_Re-enter_ LUSURIOSO _and_ VENDICE.
LUS. Where is that villain?
VEN. Softly, my lord, and you may take 'em twisted.
LUS. I care not how.
VEN. O! 'twill be glorious
To kill 'em doubled, when they're heap'd. Be soft, my lord.
LUS. Away! my spleen is not so lazy: thus and thus
I'll shake their eyelids ope, and with my sword
Shut 'em again for ever. Villain! strumpet!
DUKE. You upper guard, defend us!
DUCH. Treason! treason!
DUKE. O, take me not in sleep!
I have great sins; I must have days,
Nay, months, dear son, with penitential heaves
To lift 'em out, and not to die unclear.
O, thou wilt kill me both in heaven and here.
LUS. I am amaz'd to death.
DUKE. Nay, villain, traitor,
Worse than the foulest epithet; now I'll gripe thee
E'en with the nerves of wrath, and throw thy head
Amongst the loyal[60] guard.
_Enter_ NOBLES _and [Duchess's] Sons_.
1ST NOBLE. How comes the quiet of your grace disturb'd?
DUKE. This boy, that should be myself after me,
Would be myself before me; and in heat
Of that ambition bloodily rush'd in,
Intending to depose me in my bed.
2D NOBLE. Duty and natural loyalty forfend!
DUCH. He call'd his father villain, and me strumpet,
A word that I abhor to file[61] my lips with.
AMB. That was not so well-done, brother.
LUS. I am abus'd--I know there's no excuse can do me good. [_Aside._
VEN. 'Tis now good policy to be from sight;
His vicious purpose to our sister's honour
I cross'd beyond our thought. [_Aside._
HIP. You little dreamt his father slept here.
VEN. O, 'twas far beyond me:
But since it fell so--without frightful words,
Would he had kill'd him, 'twould have eas'd our swords.
DUKE. Be comforted, our duchess, he shall die.
[_Dissemble a fright._[62]
LUS. Where's this slave-pander now? out of mine eye,
Guilty of this abuse.
_Enter_ SPURIO _with his villains_.
SPU. Y' are villains, fablers![63]
You have knaves' chins and harlots' tongues; you lie;
And I will damn you with one meal a day.
1ST SER. O good my lord!
SPU. 'Sblood, you shall never sup.
2D SER. O, I beseech you, sir!
SPU. To let my sword catch cold so long, and miss him!
1ST SER. Troth, my lord, 'twas his intent to meet there.
SPU. 'Heart! he's yonder.
Ha, what news here? is the day out o' th' socket,
That it is noon at midnight? the court up!
How comes the guard so saucy with his elbows?
LUS. The bastard here?
Nay, then the truth of my intent shall out;
My lord and father, hear me.
DUKE. Bear him hence.
LUS. I can with loyalty excuse.
DUKE. Excuse? to prison with the villain!
Death shall not long lag after him.
SPU. Good, i' faith: then 'tis not much amiss.
LUS. Brothers, my best release lies on your tongues;
I pray, persuade for me.
AMB. It is our duties; make yourself sure of us.
SUP. We'll sweat in pleading.
LUS. And I may live to thank you. [_Exit._
AMB. No, thy death shall thank me better.
SPU. He's gone; I'll after him,
And know his trespass; seem to bear a part
In all his ills, but with a puritan heart. [_Exit._
AMB. Now, brother, let our hate and love be woven
So subtlely together, that in speaking one word for his life,
We may make three for his death:
The craftiest pleader gets most gold for breath.
SUP. Set on, I'll not be far behind you, brother.
DUKE. Is't possible a son should be disobedient as far as the
sword? It is the highest: he can go no farther.
AMB. My gracious lord, take pity--
DUKE. Pity, boys!
AMB. Nay, we'd be loth to move your grace too much;
We know the trespass is unpardonable,
Black, wicked, and unnatural.
SUP. In a son? O, monstrous!
AMB. Yet, my lord,
A duke's soft hand strokes the rough head of law,
And makes it lie [more] smooth.
DUKE. But my hand shall ne'er do't.
AMB. That, as you please, my lord.
SUP. We must needs confess.
Some fathers would have entered into hate
So deadly-pointed, that before his eyes
He would ha' seen the execution sound[64]
Without corrupted favour.
AMB. But, my lord,
Your grace may live the wonder of all times,
In pard'ning that offence, which never yet
Had face to beg a pardon.
DUKE. How's this?
AMB. Forgive him, good my lord; he's your own son:
And I must needs say, 'twas the viler done.
SUP. He's the next heir: yet this true reason gathers,
None can possess that dispossess their fathers.
Be merciful!--
DUKE. Here's no step-mother's wit;
I'll try them both upon their love and hate.
[_Aside._
AMB. Be merciful--although--
DUKE. You have prevailed.
My wrath, like flaming wax, hath spent itself;
I know 'twas but some peevish moon[65] in him;
Go, let him be releas'd.
SUP. 'Sfoot, how now, brother?
AMB. Your grace doth please to speak beside your spleen;
I would it were so happy.
DUKE. Why, go, release him.
SUP. O my good lord! I know the fault's too weighty
And full of general loathing: too inhuman,
Rather by all men's voices worthy death.
DUKE. 'Tis true too, here, then, receive this signet.
Doom shall pass;
Direct it to the judges; he shall die
Ere many days. Make haste.
AMB. All speed that may be.
We could have wish'd his burden not so sore:
We knew your grace did but delay before. [_Exeunt._
DUKE. Here's envy[66] with a poor thin cover o'er't;
Like scarlet hid in lawn, easily spied through.
This their ambition by the mother's side
Is dangerous, and for safety must be purg'd,
I will prevent their envies; sure it was
But some mistaken fury in our son,
Which these aspiring boys would climb upon:
He shall be releas'd suddenly.
_Enter_ NOBLES.
1ST NOBLE. Good morning to your grace.
DUKE. Welcome, my lords.
2D NOBLE. Our knees shall take
Away the office of our feet for ever,
Unless your grace bestow a father's eye
Upon the clouded fortunes of your son,
And in compassionate virtue grant him that,
Which makes e'en mean men happy--liberty.
DUKE. How seriously their loves and honours woo
For that which I am about to pray them do!
Arise,[67] my lords; your knees sign his release.
We freely pardon him.
1ST NOBLE. We owe your grace much thanks, and he much duty.
[_Exeunt._
DUKE. It well becomes that judge to nod at crimes,
That does commit greater himself, and lives.
I may forgive a disobedient error,
That expect pardon for adultery,
And in my old days am a youth in lust.
Many a beauty have I turn'd to poison
In the denial, covetous of all.
Age hot is like a monster to be seen;
My hairs are white, and yet my sins are green.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] [Edits., _myself_. Gilchrist's correction.]
[35] [Old copy, _by their_.]
[36] [_i.e._, Next heir.]
[37] [Query, wheel of fortune. Perhaps we should read _weal_.]
[38] [Edits., _fool_.]
[39] See note on p. 40.
[40] [Old copy, _suffering_.]
[41] [A MS. note in one of the former edits., refers us to the closet
scene in "Hamlet."]
[42] _i.e._, Embrace it. So again in this play--
"Here in this lodge they meet for damned _clips_."
_i.e._, cursed embraces.--_Steevens._
[43] [Copies, _you_. This emendation was suggested by a MS. note in one
of the former edits.]
[44] Alluding to the custom of hanging _hats_ in ancient halls upon
_stags' horns_.--_Steevens._
[45] So in Lodge's "Wit's Miserie," p. 24: "What think you to a tender
faire young, nay a weakling of womankind _to wear whole Lordships and
Manor-houses on her backe without sweating_?" See also note to "The
Miseries of Enforced Marriage," [ix. 490.]
[46] [Old copy, _and met again_. The word _mete_ occurs again a little
lower down. The meaning may be that they calculated their savings.]
[47] _i.e._, Measured. Petruchio, in "The Taming of the Shrew," calls
the tailor's measuring-yard his _mete_-yard.--_Steevens._
[48] _i.e._, Honesty.--_Gilchrist._
[49] ["What splendid power of passion and imagery there is in
this!"--_MS. note in one of the former edits._]
[50] _i.e._, Intimate. See note to "The Spanish Tragedy," [v. 168]
[51] [Old copy, _a fellow_.]
[52] I decline, or lessen in courage. So Falstaff says: "Do I not
_bate_? Do I not dwindle?" &c.
[53] [Edits., _did me I_.]
[54] _i.e._, Quick to understand. See Mr Steevens's note on "The Second
Part of King Henry IV.," act iv. sc. 3.
[55] Alluding to the promise in the Fifth Commandment.
[56] [In their night-clothes.]
[57] Alluding to the custom of entering horses sold at fairs in a book
called the "Toll-book." See note to "All's Well that Ends Well," edit.
1766, of Shakespeare, iv. 141.--_Steevens._
[58] [Edits., _Push_.]
[59] Mr Reed assigned these two lines to Hippolito, a decided error,
both by the sense and according to the old copy, which gives them to
Vendice. He makes his brother stand back, while he addresses Lusurioso:
_My good lord_; and Lusurioso naturally observes: _Piato! why, the man
I wished for,_ &c.--_Collier_.
[60] [Edits., _lawyer's_.]
[61] [Defile.] See note to "The Miseries of Enforced Marriage," [ix.
511.]
[62] The quarto reads, _flight_.
[63] [Liars.]
[64] [See at p. 53 the passage, _our office shall be sound_. In both
places the word means, constant, true.]
[65] Some sudden fit of frenzy. Cotgrave translates "_Avoir un
quartier de la_ lune _en la teste_," to be half frantic, or have a
spice of lunacy.
[66] [Hatred.]
ACTUS III., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ AMBITIOSO _and_ SUPERVACUO.
SUP. Brother, let my opinion sway you once;
I speak it for the best, to have him die;
Surest and soonest, if the signet come
Unto the judge's hand, why then his doom
Will be deferr'd till sittings and court-days,
Juries, and farther. Faiths are bought and sold;
Oaths in these days are but the skin of gold.
AMB. In troth, 'tis true too,
SUP. Then let's set by the judges,
And fall to the officers; 'tis but mistaking
The duke our father's meaning; and where he nam'd
Ere many days--'tis but forgetting that,
And have him die i' th' morning.
AMB. Excellent!
Then am I heir! duke in a minute!
SUP. [_Aside._] Nay,
And he were once puff'd out, here is a pin
Should quickly prick your bladder.
AMB. Bless'd occasion!
He being pack'd, we'll have some trick and wile
To wind our younger brother out of prison,
That lies in for the rape. The lady's dead,
And people's thoughts will soon be buried.
SUP. We may with safety do't, and live and feed:
The duchess' sons are too proud to bleed.
AMB. We are, i' faith, to say true--come let's not linger:
I'll to the officers; go you before,
And set an edge upon the executioner.
SUP. Let me alone to grind him. [_Exit._
AMB. Farewell!
I am next now; I rise just in that place,
Where thou'rt out off; upon thy neck, kind brother;
The falling of one head lifts up another. [_Exit._
_Enter, with the_ NOBLES, LUSURIOSO _from prison_.
LUS. My lords, I am so much indebted to your loves
For this, O, this delivery--
1ST NOBLE. But our duties, my lord, unto the hopes that grow in
you.
LUS. If e'er I live to be myself, I'll thank you.
O liberty, thou sweet and heavenly dame!
But hell for prison is too mild a name. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ AMBITIOSO _and_ SUPERVACUO, _with_ OFFICERS.
AMB. Officers, here's the duke's signet, your firm warrant,
Brings the command of present death along with it
Unto our brother, the duke's son; we are sorry
That we are so unnaturally employ'd
In such an unkind office, fitter far
For enemies than brothers.
SUP. But, you know,
The duke's command must be obey'd.
1ST OFFICER. It must and shall, my lord. This morning, then--
So suddenly?
AMB. Ay, alas! poor, good soul!
He must breakfast betimes; the executioner
Stands ready to put forth his cowardly valour.
2D OFFICER. Already?
SUP. Already, i' faith. O sir, destruction hies,
And that is least imprudent,[68] soonest dies.
1ST OFFICER. Troth, you say true. My lord, we take our leaves:
Our office shall be sound; we'll not delay
The third part of a minute.
AMB. Therein you show
Yourselves good men and upright officers.
Pray, let him die as private as he may;
Do him that favour; for the gaping people
Will but trouble him at his prayers,
And make him curse and swear, and so die black.
Will you be so far kind?
1ST OFFICER. It shall be done, my lord.
AMB. Why, we do thank you; if we live to be--
You shall have a better office.
2D OFFICER. Your good lordship--
SUP. Commend us to the scaffold in our tears.
1ST OFFICER. We'll weep, and do your commendations. [_Exeunt._
AMB. Fine fools in office!
SUP. Things fall out so fit!
AMB. So, happily come, brother! ere next clock,
His head will be made serve a bigger block.[69] [_Exeunt._
_Enter in prison_ JUNIOR BROTHER _and_ KEEPER.
JUN. Keeper!
KEEPER. My lord.
JUN. No news lately from our brothers?
Are they unmindful of us?
KEEPER. My lord, a messenger came newly in,
And brought this from 'em.
JUN. Nothing but paper-comforts?
I look'd for my delivery before this,
Had they been worth their oaths.--Prythee, be from us.
[_Exit_ KEEPER.
Now what say you, forsooth? speak out, I pray.
[_Reads the letter._] _Brother, be of good cheer_;
'Slud, it begins like a whore with good cheer.
_Thou shalt not be long a prisoner._
Not five-and-thirty years, like a bankrupt--I think so.
_We have thought upon a device to get thee out by a trick._
By a trick! pox o' your trick, an' it be so long a playing.
_And so rest comforted, be merry, and expect it suddenly!_
Be merry! hang _merry_, draw and quarter _merry_;
I'll be mad. Is't not strange that a man should lie-in a whole
month for a woman? Well, we shall see how sudden our brothers
will be in their promise. I must expect still a trick: I shall
not be long a prisoner. How now, what news?
_Enter_ KEEPER.
KEEPER. Bad news, my lord; I am discharged of you.
JUN. Slave! call'st thou that bad news? I thank you, brothers.
KEEPER. My lord, 'twill prove so. Here come the officers,
Into whose hands I must commit you.
JUN. Ha, officers! what? why?
_Enter_ OFFICERS.
1ST OFFICER. You must pardon us, my lord:
Our office must be sound: here is our warrant,
The signet from the duke; you must straight suffer.
JUN. Suffer! I'll suffer you to begone; I'll suffer you
To come no more; what would you have me suffer?
2D OFFICER. My lord, those words were better chang'd to prayers.
The time's but brief with you: prepare to die.
JUN. Sure, 'tis not so!
3D OFFICER. It is too true, my lord.
JUN. I tell you 'tis not; for the duke my father
Deferr'd me till next sitting; and I look,
E'en every minute, threescore times an hour,
For a release, a trick wrought by my brothers.
1ST OFFICER. A trick, my lord! if you expect such comfort,
Your hope's as fruitless as a barren woman:
Your brothers were the unhappy messengers,
That brought this powerful token for your death.
JUN. My brothers? no, no.
2D OFFICER. 'Tis most true, my lord.
JUN. My brothers to bring a warrant for my death!
How strange this shows!
3D OFFICER. There's no delaying time.
JUN. Desire 'em hither: call 'em up--my brothers!
They shall deny it to your faces.
1ST OFFICER. My lord,
They're far enough by this; at least at court;
And this most strict command they left behind 'em.
When grief swam in their eyes, they show'd like brothers,
Brimful of heavy sorrow--but the duke
Must have his pleasure.
JUN. His pleasure!
1ST OFFICER. These were the last words, which my memory bears,
_Commend us to the scaffold in our tears_.
JUN. Pox dry their tears! what should I do with tears?
I hate 'em worse than any citizen's son
Can hate salt water. Here came a letter now,
New-bleeding from their pens, scarce stinted[70] yet:
Would I'd been torn in pieces when I tore it:
Look, you officious whoresons, words of comfort,
_Not long a prisoner_.
1ST OFFICER. It says true in that, sir; for you must suffer presently.
JUN. A villainous Duns upon the letter,[71] knavish exposition!
Look you then here, sir: _we'll get thee out by a trick_, says he.
2D OFFICER. That may hold too, sir; for you know a trick is
commonly four cards, which was meant by us four officers.
JUN. Worse and worse dealing.
1ST OFFICER. The hour beckons us.
The headsman waits: lift up your eyes to heaven.
JUN. I thank you, faith; good pretty wholesome counsel!
I should look up to heaven, as you said,
Whilst he behind me cosens me of my head.
Ay, that's the trick.
3D OFFICER. You delay too long, my lord.
JUN. Stay, good authority's bastards; since I must,
Through brothers' perjury, die, O, let me venom
Their souls with curses.
3D OFFICER. Come, 'tis no time to curse.
JUN. Must I bleed then without respect of sign? well--
My fault was sweet sport, which the world approves,
I die for that which every woman loves. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO.[72]
VEN. O, sweet, delectable, rare, happy, ravishing!
HIP. Why, what's the matter, brother?
VEN. O, 'tis able to make a man spring up and knock his forehead
Against yon silver ceiling.
HIP. Prythee, tell me;
Why may not I partake with you? you vow'd once
To give me share to every tragic thought.[73]
VEN. By th' mass, I think I did too;
Then I'll divide it to thee. The old duke,
Thinking my outward shape and inward heart
Are cut out of one piece (for he that prates his secrets,
His heart stands o' th' outside), hires me by price
To greet him with a lady
In some fit place, veil'd from the eyes o' th' court,
Some darken'd, blushless angle,[74] that is guilty
Of his forefathers' lust and great folks' riots;
To which I easily (to maintain my shape)
Consented, and did wish his impudent grace
To meet her here in this unsunned lodge,
Wherein 'tis night at noon: and here the rather
Because, unto the torturing of his soul,
The bastard and the duchess have appointed
Their meeting too in this luxurious circle;
Which most afflicting sight will kill his eyes,
Before we kill the rest of him.
HIP. 'Twill, i' faith! Most dreadfully digested!
I see not how you could have miss'd me, brother.
VEN. True; but the violence of my joy forgot it.
HIP. Ay, but where's that lady now?
VEN. O! at that word
I'm lost again; you cannot find me yet:
I'm in a throng of happy apprehensions.
He's suited for a lady; I have took care
For a delicious lip, a sparkling eye--
You shall be witness, brother:
Be ready; stand with your hat off. [_Exit._
HIP. Troth, I wonder what lady it should be!
Yet 'tis no wonder, now I think again,
To have a lady stoop to a duke, that stoops unto his men.
'Tis common to be common through the world:
And there's more private common shadowing vices,
Than those who are known both by their names and prices.
'Tis part of my allegiance to stand bare
To the duke's concubine; and here she comes.
_Enter_ VENDICE, _with the skull of his love dressed up_
_in tires_.
VEN. Madam, his grace will not be absent long.[75]
Secret! ne'er doubt us, madam; 'twill be worth
Three velvet gowns to your ladyship. Known!
Few ladies respect that disgrace: a poor thin shell!
'Tis the best grace you have to do it well.
I'll save your hand that labour: I'll unmask you!
HIP. Why, brother, brother!
VEN. Art thou beguil'd now? tut, a lady can,
As thus all hid, beguile a wiser man.
Have I not fitted the old surfeiter
With a quaint piece of beauty? Age and bare bone
Are e'er allied in action. Here's an eye,
Able to tempt a great man--to serve God:
A pretty hanging lip, that has forgot now to dissemble.
Methinks this mouth should make a swearer tremble;
A drunkard clasp his teeth, and not undo 'em,
To suffer wet damnation to run through 'em.
Here's a cheek keeps her colour, let the wind go whistle:
Spout, rain, we fear thee not: be hot or cold,
All's one with us; and is not he absurd,
Whose fortunes are upon their faces set,
That fear no other god but wind and wet?
HIP. Brother, you've spoke that right:
Is this the form that (living) shone so bright?
VEN. The very same.
And now methinks I could e'en chide myself
For doating on her beauty, though her death
Shall be reveng'd after no common action.
Does the silkworm expend her yellow labours
For thee? For thee does she undo herself?
Are lordships sold to maintain ladyships,
For the poor benefit of a bewitching minute?
Why does yon fellow falsify highways,
And put his life between the judge's lips:
To refine such a thing, keeps horse and men
To beat their valours for her?
Surely we are all mad people, and they
Whom we think are, are not: we mistake those;
'Tis we are mad in sense, they but in clothes.
HIP. Faith, and in clothes too we, give us our due.
VEN. Does every proud and self-affecting dame
Camphire her face for this, and grieve her maker
In sinful baths of milk, when many an infant starves
For her superfluous outside--all for this?
Who now bids twenty pounds a night? prepares
Music, perfumes, and sweetmeats? All are hush'd.
Thou may'st lie chaste now! it were fine, methinks,
To have thee seen at revels, forgetful feasts,
And unclean brothels: sure, 'twould fright the sinner,
And make him a good coward: put a reveller
Out of his antic amble,
And cloy an epicure with empty dishes.
Here might a scornful and ambitious woman
Look through and through herself. See, ladies, with false forms
You deceive men, but cannot deceive worms.
Now to my tragic business. Look you, brother,
I have not fashion'd this only for show
And useless property; no, it shall bear a part
E'en in its own revenge. This very skull,
Whose mistress the duke poison'd with this drug,
The mortal curse of the earth shall be reveng'd
In the like strain, and kiss his lips to death.
As much as the dumb thing can, he shall feel:
What fails in poison, we'll supply in steel.
HIP. Brother, I do applaud thy constant vengeance--
The quaintness of thy malice--above thought.
VEN. So, 'tis laid on [He poisons the lips of the skull]: now
come and welcome, duke,
I have her for thee. I protest it, brother,
Methinks she makes almost as fair a sin,[76]
As some old gentlewoman in a periwig.
Hide thy face now for shame; thou hadst need have a mask now:
'Tis vain when beauty flows; but when it fleets,
This would become graves better than the streets.
HIP. You have my voice in that: hark, the duke's come.
VEN. Peace, let's observe what company he brings,
And how he does absent 'em; for you know
He'll wish all private. Brother, fall you back a little
With the bony lady.
HIP. That I will.
VEN. So, so; now nine years' vengeance crowd into a minute!
_Enter_ DUKE _and_ GENTLEMEN.
DUKE. You shall have leave to leave us, with this charge
Upon your lives, if we be missed by th' duchess
Or any of the nobles, to give out,
We're privately rid forth.
VEN. O happiness!
DUKE. With some few honourable gentlemen, you may say--
You may name those that are away from court.
GEN. Your will and pleasure shall be done, my lord. [Exeunt.
VEN. Privately rid forth!
He strives to make sure work on't. Your good grace!
DUKE. Piato, well-done, hast brought her! what lady is't?
VEN. Faith, my lord, a country lady, a little bashful at first,
as most of them are; but after the first kiss, my lord, the
worst is past with them. Your grace knows now what you have to
do; she has somewhat a grave look with her--but--
DUKE. I love that best; conduct her.
VEN. Have at all. [_Aside._
DUKE. In gravest looks the greatest faults seem less.
Give me that sin that's rob'd in holiness.
VEN. Back with the torch! brother, raise the perfumes.
DUKE. How sweet can a duke breathe! Age has no fault.
Pleasure should meet in a perfumed mist.
Lady, sweetly encountered: I came from court,
I must be bold with you. O, what's this? O!
VEN. Royal villain! white devil!
DUKE. O!
VEN. Brother, place the torch here, that his affrighted eyeballs
May start into those hollows. Duke, dost know
Yon dreadful vizard? View it well; 'tis the skull
Of Gloriana, whom thou poisonedst last.
DUKE. O! 't has poisoned me.
VEN. Didst not know that till now?
DUKE. What are you two?
VEN. Villains all three! the very ragged bone
Has been sufficiently reveng'd.
DUKE. O, Hippolito, call treason!
HIP. Yes, my lord; treason! treason! treason!
[_Stamping on him._
DUKE. Then I'm betray'd.
VEN. Alas! poor lecher: in the hands of kraves,
A slavish duke is baser than his slaves.
DUKE. My teeth are eaten out.
VEN. Hadst any left?
HIP. I think but few.
VEN. Then those that did eat are eaten.
DUKE. O my tongue!
VEN. Your tongue? 'twill teach yon to kiss closer,
Not like a slobbering Dutchman. You have eyes still:
Look, monster, what a lady hast thou made me!
[_Discovers himself._
My once betrothed wife.
DUKE. Is it thou, villain? nay, then--
VEN. Tis I, 'tis Vendice, 'tis I.
HIP. And let this comfort thee: our lord and father
Fell sick upon the infection of thy frowns,
And died in sadness: be that thy hope of life.
DUKE. O!
VEN. He had his tongue, yet grief made him die speechless.
Puh! 'tis but early yet; now I'll begin
To stick thy soul with ulcers. I will make
Thy spirit grievous sore; it shall not rest,
But like some pestilent man toss in thy breast.
Mark me, duke:
Thou'rt a renowned, high and mighty cuckold.
DUKE. O!
VEN. Thy bastard--thy bastard rides a-hunting in thy brow.
DUKE. Millions of deaths!
VEN. Nay, to afflict thee more,
Here in this lodge they meet for damned clips.[77]
Those eyes shall see the incest of their lips.
DUKE. Is there a hell besides this, villains?
VEN. Villain!
Nay, heaven is just; scorns are the hires of scorns:
I ne'er knew yet adulterer without horns.
HIP. Once, ere they die, 'tis quitted.
VEN. Hark! the music:
Their banquet is prepar'd, they're coming--
DUKE. O, kill me not with that sight!
VEN. Thou shalt not lose that sight for all thy dukedom.
DUKE. Traitors! murderers!
VEN. What! is not thy tongue eaten out yet?
Then we'll invent a silence. Brother, stifle the torch.
DUKE. Treason! murder!
VEN. Nay, faith, we'll have you hush'd. Now with thy dagger
Nail down his tongue, and mine shall keep possession
About his heart; if he but gasp, he dies;
We dread not death to quittance injuries.
Brother, if he but wink, not brooking the foul object,
Let our two other hands tear up his lids,
And make his eyes like comets shine through blood
When the bad bleeds, then is the tragedy good.
HIP. Whist, brother! music's at our ear; they come.
_Enter the_ BASTARD, _meeting the_ DUCHESS.
SPU. Had not that kiss a taste of sin, 'twere sweet.
DUCH. Why, there's no pleasure sweet, but it is sinful.
SPU. True, such a bitter sweetness fate hath given;
Best side to us is the worst side to heaven.
DUCH. Pish! come: 'tis the old duke, thy doubtful father:
The thought of him rubs heaven in thy way.
But I protest by yonder waxen fire,
Forget him, or I'll poison him.
SPU. Madam, you urge a thought which ne'er had life.
So deadly do I loathe him for my birth,
That if he took me hasp'd within his bed,
I would add murder to adultery,
And with my sword give up his years to death.
DUCH. Why, now thou'rt sociable; let's in and feast:
Loud'st music sound; pleasure is banquet's guest. [_Exeunt._
DUKE. I cannot brook--
VEN. The brook is turn'd to blood.
HIP. Thanks to loud music.
VEN. 'Twas our friend, indeed.
'Tis state in music for a duke to bleed.
The dukedom wants a head, though yet unknown;
As fast as they peep up, let's cut 'em down. [_Exeunt._
_Enter the Duchess's two sons_, AMBITIOSO _and_ SUPERVACUO.
AMB. Was not his execution rarely plotted?
We are the duke's sons now.
SUP. Ay, you may thank my policy for that.
AMB. Your policy for what?
SUP. Why, was't not my invention, brother,
To slip the judges? and in lesser compass
Did not I draw the model of his death;
Advising you to sudden officers
And e'en extemporal execution?
AMB. Heart! 'twas a thing I thought on too.
SUP. You thought on't too! 'sfoot, slander not your thoughts
With glorious untruth; I know 'twas from you.
AMB. Sir, I say, 'twas in my head.
SUP. Ay, like your brains then,
Ne'er to come out as long as you liv'd.
AMB. You'd have the honour on't, forsooth, that your wit
Led him to the scaffold.
SUP. Since it is my due,
I'll publish't, but I'll ha't in spite of you.
AMB. Methinks, y' are much too bold; you should a little
Remember us, brother, next to be honest duke.
SUP. Ay, it shall be as easy for you to be duke
As to be honest; and that's never, i' faith.
AMB. Well, cold he is by this time; and because
We're both ambitious, be it our amity,
And let the glory be shar'd equally.
SUP. I am content to that.
AMB. This night our younger brother shall out of prison:
I have a trick.
SUP. A trick! prythee, what is't?
AMB. We'll get him out by a wile.
SUP. Prythee, what wile?
AMB. No, sir; you shall not know it, till it be done;
For then you'd swear 'twere yours.
_Enter an_ OFFICER.
SUP. How now, what's he?
AMB. One of the officers.
SUP. Desired news.
AMB. How now, my friend?
OFFICER. My lords, under your pardon, I am allotted
To that desertless office, to present you
With the yet bleeding head--
SUP. Ha, ha! excellent.
AMB. All's sure our own: brother, canst weep, think'st thou?
'Twould grace our flattery much; think of some dame:
'Twill teach thee to dissemble.
SUP. I have thought;--now for yourself.
AMB. Our sorrows are so fluent,
Our eyes o'erflow our tongues; words spoke in tears
Are like the murmurs of the waters--the sound
Is loudly heard, but cannot be distinguish'd.
SUP. How died he, pray?
OFFICER. O, full of rage and spleen.
SUP. He died most valiantly, then; we're glad to hear it.
OFFICER. We could not woo him once to pray.
AMB. He show'd himself a gentleman in that:
Give him his due.
OFFICER. But, in the stead of prayer,
He drew forth oaths.
SUP. Then did he pray, dear heart,
Although you understood him not?
OFFICER. My lords,
E'en at his last, with pardon be it spoke,
He curs'd you both.
SUP. He curs'd us? 'las, good soul!
AMB. It was not in our powers, but the duke's pleasure.
Finely dissembled a both sides, sweet fate;
O happy opportunity! [_Aside._
_Enter_ LUSURIOSO.
LUS. Now, my lords.
BOTH. O!------
LUS. Why do you shun me, brothers?
You may come nearer now;
The savour of the prison has forsook me.
I thank such kind lords as yourselves, I'm free.
AMB. Alive!
SUP. In health!
AMB. Releas'd!
We were both e'en amaz'd with joy to see it.[78]
LUS. I am much to thank to you.
SUP. Faith, we spar'd no tongue unto my lord the duke.
AMB. I know your delivery, brother,
Had not been half so sudden but for us.
SUP. O, how we pleaded!
LUS. Most deserving brothers!
In my best studies I will think of it. [_Exit_ LUSURIOSO.
AMB. O death and vengeance!
SUP. Hell and torment!
AMB. Slave, cam'st thou to delude us?
OFFICER. Delude you, my lords?
SUP. Ay, villain, where's his head now?
OFFICER. Why here, my lord;
Just after his delivery, you both came
With warrant from the duke to behead your brother.
AMB. Ay, our brother, the duke's son.
OFFICER. The duke's son, my lord, had his release before you came.
AMB. Whose head's that, then?
OFFICER. His whom you left command for, your own brother's.
AMB. Our brother's? O furies!
SUP. Plagues!
AMB. Confusions!
SUP. Darkness!
AMB. Devils!
SUP. Fell it out so accursedly?
AMB. So damnedly?
SUP. Villain, I'll brain thee with it.
OFFICER. O my good lord!
SUP. The devil overtake thee!
AMB. O fatal!
SUP. O prodigious to our bloods!
AMB. Did we dissemble?
SUP. Did we make our tears women for thee?
AMB. Laugh and rejoice for thee?
SUP. Bring warrant for thy death.?
AMB. Mock off thy head?
SUP. You had a trick: you had a wile, forsooth.
AMB. A murrain meet 'em; there's none of these wiles that ever
come to good: I see now, there's nothing sure in mortality, but
mortality.
Well, no more words: shalt be revenged, i' faith.
Come, throw off clouds; now, brother, think of vengeance,
And deeper-settled hate; sirrah, sit fast,
We'll pull down all, but thou shalt down at last. [_Exeunt._
FOOTNOTES:
[67] The 4o reads, _Which arise_, &c.--_Collier._
[68] [Edits., _impudent_. _The least imprudent_ is equivalent to the
most farsighted or wary.]
[69] _i.e._, Hat.
[70] Stopped. See several instances of the use of this word in Mr
Steevens's note on "Romeo and Juliet," act i. sc. 3.
[71] Alluding, I think, to _Duns Scotus_, who commented upon "The
Master of the Sentences."--_Pegge._
Duns Scotus was an English Franciscan Friar who, differing from Thomas
Aquinas, occasioned a famous scholastic division, known by the titles
of Thomists and Scotists. He died at Paris in 1308. Erasmus, who had a
very low opinion of this writer, in his "Praise of Folie," 1549, sig.
N 3, says: "Lykewise not longe agone I was present at the sermon of an
other famous doctour being almost 80 yeres old, and thereto so doctour
lyke, as if _Duns_ were new arisen in him, who entending to disclose
the mistery of the name of Jesu, with great subtiltie shewed, how evin
in the _verie letters was muche pithe included, and might be gathered
thereof_."
[72] ["A splendid scene."--_MS. note._]
[73] ["This, I think, is very fine, where we ... words that precede
it...."--_MS, note (partly illegible) in one of the former edits._]
[74] It stood in the last edition [1780]: "_Some darken'd blushless
angel_," &c., which renders the passage utter nonsense.--_Collier._
[75] ["He imagines her speaking, and answers her."--_MS. note in one
of the former edits._]
[76] [Sinner.]
[77] See note at p. 35.
[78] This passage and the preceding exclamation have been restored
from the old copy of 1607, having been omitted both by Dodsley and
Reed.--_Collier._
ACTUS IV., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ LUSURIOSO, _with_ HIPPOLITO.
LUS. Hippolito!
HIP. My lord,
Has your good lordship aught to command me in?
LUS. I prythee, leave us.
HIP. How's this? come, and leave us!
LUS. Hippolito!
HIP. Your honour, I stand ready for any duteous employment.
LUS. Heart! what mak'st thou here?
HIP. A pretty lordly humour!
He bids me be present to depart; something
Has stung his honour.
LUS. Be nearer; draw nearer:
Ye're not so good, methinks; I'm angry with you.
HIP. With me, my lord? I'm angry with myself for't.
LUS. You did prefer a goodly fellow to me:
'Twas wittily elected; 'twas. I thought
H' had been a villain, and he proves a knave--
To me a knave.
HIP. I chose him for the best, my lord:
'Tis much my sorrow, if neglect in him
Breed discontent in you.
LUS. Neglect! 'twas will. Judge of it.
Firmly to tell of an incredible act,
Not to be thought, less to be spoken of,
'Twixt my step-mother and the bastard; of
Incestuous sweets between 'em.
HIP. Fie, my lord!
LUS. I, in kind loyalty to my father's forehead,
Made this a desperate arm; and in that fury
Committed treason on the lawful bed,
And with my sword e'en ras'd my father's bosom,
For which I was within a stroke of death.
HIP. Alack! I'm sorry. 'Sfoot, just upon the stroke,
Jars in my brother; 'twill be villainous music.
_Enter_ VENDICE.
VEN. My honour'd lord.
LUS. Away! prythee, forsake us: hereafter we'll not know thee.
VEN. Not know me, my lord! your lordship cannot choose.
LUS. Begone. I say: thou art a false knave.
VEN. Why, the easier to be known, my lord.
LUS. Pish! I shall prove too bitter, with a word
Make thee a perpetual prisoner,
And lay this iron age upon thee.
VEN. Mum!
For there's a doom would make a woman dumb.
Missing the bastard--next him--the wind's come about:
Now 'tis my brother's turn to stay, mine to go out. [_Aside. Exit._
LUS. H' has greatly mov'd me.
HIP. Much to blame, i' faith.
LUS. But I'll recover, to his ruin. 'Twas told me lately,
I know not whether falsely, that you'd a brother.
HIP. Who, I? yes, my good lord, I have a brother.
LUS. How chance the court ne'er saw him? of what nature?
How does he apply his hours?
HIP. Faith, to curse fates
Who, as he thinks, ordain'd him to be poor--
Keeps at home, full of want and discontent.
LUS. There's hope in him; for discontent and want
Is the best clay to mould a villain of. [_Aside._
Hippolito, wish him repair to us:
If there be aught in him to please our blood,
For thy sake we'll advance him, and build fair
His meanest fortunes; for it is in us
To rear up towers from cottages.
HIP. It is so, my lord: he will attend your honour;
But he's a man in whom much melancholy dwells.
LUS. Why, the better; bring him to court.
HIP. With willingness and speed:
Whom he cast off e'en now, must now succeed.
Brother, disguise must off;
In thine own shape now I'll prefer thee to him:
How strangely does himself work to undo him! [_Aside. Exit._
LUS. This fellow will come fitly; he shall kill
That other slave, that did abuse my spleen,
And made it swell to treason. I have put
Much of my heart into him; he must die.
He that knows great men's secrets, and proves slight,[79]
That man ne'er lives to see his beard turn white.
Ay, he shall speed him: I'll employ the brother;
Slaves are but nails to drive out one another.
He being of black condition, suitable
To want and ill-content, hope of preferment
Will grind him to an edge.[80]
_Enter_ NOBLES.
1ST NOBLE. Good days unto your honour.
LUS. My kind lords, I do return the like.
2D NOBLE. Saw you my lord the duke?
LUS. My lord and father! is he from court?
1ST NOBLE. He's sure from court;
But where--which way his pleasure took, we know not,
Nor can we hear on't.
LUS. Here come those should tell.
Saw you my lord and father?
3D NOBLE. Not since two hours before noon my lord,
And then he privately rode forth.
LUS. O, he's rid forth.
1ST NOBLE. 'Twas wondrous privately.
2D NOBLE. There's none i' th' court had any knowledge on't.
LUS. His grace is old and sudden: 'tis no treason
To say the duke, my father, has a humour,
Or such a toy about him; what in us
Would appear light, in him seems virtuous.
3D NOBLE. 'Tis oracle, my lord. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO. VENDICE _out of_
_his disguise._
HIP. So, so, all's as it should be, y' are yourself.
VEN. How that great villain puts me to my shifts!
HIP. He that did lately in disguise reject thee,
Shall, now thou art thyself, as much respect thee.
VEN. 'Twill be the quainter fallacy. But, brother,
'Sfoot, what use will he put me to now, think'st thou?
HIP. Nay, you must pardon me in that: I know not.
H' has some employment for you: but what 'tis,
He and his secretary (the devil) know best.
VEN. Well, I must suit my tongue to his desires,
What colour soe'er they be; hoping at last
To pile up all my wishes on his breast.
HIP. Faith, brother, he himself shows the way.
VEN. Now the duke is dead, the realm is clad in clay.
His death being not yet known, under his name
The people still are govern'd. Well, thou his son
Art not long-liv'd: thou shalt not joy his death;
To kill thee, then, I should most honour thee;
For 'twould stand firm in every man's belief,
Thou'st a kind child, and only died'st with grief.
HIP. You fetch about well; but let's talk in present.
How will you appear in fashion different,
As well as in apparel, to make all things possible?
If you be but once tripp'd, we fall for ever.
It is not the least policy to be double;
You must change tongue: familiar was your first.
VEN. Why, I'll bear me in some strain of melancholy,
And string myself with heavy-sounding wire,
Like such an instrument, that speaks merry things sadly.
HIP. That is as I meant;
I gave you out at first in discontent.
VEN. I'll tune myself, and then------
HIP. 'Sfoot, here he comes. Hast thought upon't?
VEN. Salute him; fear not me.
_Enter_ LUSURIOSO.
LUS. Hippolito!
HIP. Your lordship------
LUS. What's he yonder?
HIP. 'Tis Vendice, my discontented brother,
Whom, 'cording to your will, I've brought to court.
LUS. Is that thy brother? Beshrew me, a good presence;
I wonder h' has been from the court so long.
Come nearer.
HIP. Brother! Lord Lusurioso, the duke's son.
LUS. Be more to us; welcome; nearer yet.
VEN. How don you? gi'[81] you good den.
[_Snatches off his hat, and makes legs to him._
LUS. We thank thee.
How strangely such a coarse homely salute
Shows in the palace, where we greet in fire--
Nimble and desperate tongues: should we name
God in a salutation, 'twould ne'er be stood on,[82] heaven!
Tell me, what has made thee so melancholy?
VEN. Why, going to law.
LUS. Why, will that make a man melancholy?
VEN. Yes, to look long upon ink and black buckram. I went me to
law in _anno quadragesimo secundo_, and I waded out of it in
_anno sexagesimo tertio_.
LUS. What, three-and-twenty years in law?
VEN. I have known those that have been five-and-fifty, and all
about pullen[83] and pigs.
LUS. May it be possible such men should breathe, To vex the
terms so much?
VEN. Tis food to some, my lord. There are old men at the
present, that are so poisoned with the affectation of law-words
(having had many suits canvassed), that their common talk is
nothing but Barbary Latin. They cannot so much as pray but in
law, that their sins may be removed with a writ of error, and
their souls fetched up to heaven with a sasarara.[84]
HIP.[85] It seems most strange to me;
Yet all the world meets round in the same bent:
Where the heart's set, there goes the tongue's consent.
How dost apply thy studies, fellow?
VEN. Study? why, to think how a great rich man lies a-dying,
and a poor cobbler tolls the bell for him. How he cannot
depart the world, and see the great chest stand before him,
when he lies speechless. How he will point you readily to all
the boxes; and when he is past all memory, as the gossips
guess, then thinks he of forfeitures and obligations; nay, when
to all men's hearings he whurls and rattles in the throat,
he's busy threatening his poor tenants. And this would last me
now some seven years' thinking, or thereabouts. But I have a
conceit a-coming in picture upon this; I draw it myself, which,
i' faith, la, I'll present to your honour; you shall not choose
but like it, for your honour shall give me nothing for it.
LUS. Nay, you mistake me, then,
For I am publish'd bountiful enough.
Let's taste of your conceit.
VEN. In picture, my lord?
LUS. Ay, in picture.
VEN. Marry, this it is--_A usuring father to be boiling in
hell, and his son and heir with a whore dancing over him._
HIP. H' has par'd him to the quick. [_Aside._
LUS. The conceit's pretty, i' faith;
But, take't upon my life, 'twill ne'er be lik'd.
VEN. No? why I'm sure the whore will be lik'd well enough.
HIP. If she were out o' the picture, he'd like her then himself.
[_Aside._
VEN. And as for the son and heir, he shall be an eyesore to
no young revellers, for he shall be drawn in cloth-of-gold
breeches.
LUS. And thou hast put my meaning in the pockets,
And canst not draw that out? My thought was this:
To see the picture of a usuring father
Boiling in hell--our rich men would never like it.
VEN. O, true, I cry you heartily mercy.
I know the reason, for some of them had rather
Be damned in deed than damned in colours.
LUS. A parlous melancholy! h' has wit enough
To murder any man, and I'll give him means.
[_Aside._
I think thou art ill-moneyed?
VEN. Money! ho, ho![86]
'T has been my want so long, 'tis now my scoff:
I've e'en forgot what colour silver's of.
LUS. It hits as I could wish. [_Aside._
VEN. I get good clothes
Of those that dread my humour; and for table-room
I feed on those that cannot be rid of me.
LUS. Somewhat to set thee up withal.
[_Gives him money._
VEN. O mine eyes!
LUS. How now, man?
VEN. Almost struck blind;
This bright unusual shine to me seems proud;
I dare not look till the sun be in a cloud.
LUS. I think I shall affect[87] his melancholy.
How are they now?[88]
VEN. The better for your asking.
LUS. You shall be better yet, if you but fasten
Truly on my intent. Now y' are both present,
I will unbrace such a close private villain
Unto your vengeful swords, the like ne'er heard of,
Who hath disgrac'd you much, and injur'd us.
HIP. Disgrac'd us, my lord?
LUS. Ay, Hippolito.
I kept it here till now, that both your angers
Might meet him at once.
VEN. I'm covetous
To know the villain.
LUS. You know him: that slave-pander
Piato, whom we threaten'd last
With irons in perpetual 'prisonment.
VEN. All this is I. [_Aside._
HIP. Is't he, my lord?
LUS. I'll tell you, you first preferr'd him to me.
VEN. Did you, brother? [_Aside._
HIP. I did indeed.
LUS. And the ungrateful villain,
To quit that kindness, strongly wrought with me--
Being, as you see, a likely man for pleasure--
With jewels to corrupt your virgin sister.
HIP. O villain!
VEN. He shall surely die that did it. [_Aside._
LUS. I, far from thinking any virgin harm,
Especially knowing her to be as chaste
As that part which scarce suffers to be touch'd--
The eye--would not endure him.
VEN. Would you not, my lord?
'Twas wondrous honourably done.
LUS. But with some few[89] frowns kept him out.
VEN. Out, slave! [_Aside._
LUS. What did me he, but in revenge of that,
Went of his own free will to make infirm
Your sister's honour (whom I honour with my soul
For chaste respect) and not prevailing there,
(As 'twas but desperate folly to attempt it)
In mere spleen, by the way, waylays your mother,
Whose honour being a coward as it seems,
Yielded by little force.
VEN. Coward indeed! [_Aside._
LUS. He, proud of this advantage (as he thought),
Brought me this news for happy. But I, heaven forgive me for't!----
VEN. What did your honour?
LUS. In rage push'd him from me,
Trampled beneath his throat, spurn'd him, and bruis'd:
Indeed I was too truel, to say troth.
HIP. Most nobly manag'd!
VEN. Has not heaven an ear? is all the lightning wasted? [_Aside._
LUS. If I now were so impatient in a modest cause,
What should you be?
VEN. Full mad: he shall not live
To see the moon change.
LUS. He's about the palace;
Hippolito, entice him this way, that thy brother
May take full mark of him.
HIP. Heart! that shall not need, my lord:
I can direct him so far.
LUS. Yet for my hate's sake,
Go, wind him this way. I'll see him bleed myself.
HIP. What now, brother? [_Aside._
VEN. Nay, e'en what you will--y' are put to't, brother. [_Aside._
HIP. An impossible task, I'll swear,
To bring him hither, that's already here. [_Aside._
[_Exit_ HIPPOLITO.
LUS. Thy name? I have forgot it.
VEN. Vendice, my lord.
LUS. 'Tis a good name that.
VEN. Ay, a revenger. [_Aside._
LUS. It does betoken courage; thou shouldst be valiant,
And kill thine enemies.
VEN. That's my hope, my lord.
LUS. This slave is one.
VEN. I'll doom him.
LUS. Then I'll praise thee.
Do thou observe me best, and I'll best raise thee.
_Enter_ HIPPOLITO.
VEN. Indeed, I thank you.
LUS. Now, Hippolito, where's the slave-pander?
HIP. Your good lordship
Would have a loathsome sight of him, much offensive.
He's not in case now to be seen, my lord.
The worst of all the deadly sins is in him--
That beggarly damnation, drunkenness.
LUS. Then he's a double slave.
VEN. 'Twas well convey'd upon a sudden wit.
LUS. What, are you both
Firmly resolv'd? I'll see him dead myself.
VEN. Or else let not us live.
LUS. You may direct your brother to take note of him.
HIP. I shall.
LUS. Rise but in this, and you shall never fall.
VEN. Your honour's vassals.
LUS. This was wisely carried. [_Aside._
Deep policy in us makes fools of such:
Then must a slave die, when he knows too much. [_Exit_ LUSURIOSO.
VEN. O thou almighty patience! 'tis my wonder
That such a fellow, impudent and wicked,
Should not be cloven as he stood;
Or with a secret wind burst open!
Is there no thunder left:[90] or is't kept up
In stock for heavier vengeance? there it goes!
HIP. Brother, we lose ourselves.
VEN. But I have found it;
'Twill hold, 'tis sure; thanks, thanks to any spirit,
That mingled it 'mongst my inventions.
HIP. What is't?
VEN. Tis sound and good; thou shalt partake it;
I'm hir'd to kill myself.
HIP. True.
VEN. Prythee, mark it;
And the old duke being dead, but not convey'd,
For he's already miss'd too, and you know,
Murder will peep out of the closest husk.
HIP. Most true.
VEN. What say you then to this device?
If we dress'd up the body of the duke?
HIP. In that disguise of yours?
VEN. Y' are quick, y' have reach'd it.
HIP. I like it wondrously.
VEN. And being in drink, as you have publish'd him.
To lean him on his elbow, as if sleep had caught him,
Which claims most interest in such sluggy men?
HIP. Good yet; but here's a doubt;
We, thought[91] by th' duke's son to kill that pander,
Shall, when he is known, be thought to kill the duke.
VEN. Neither; O thanks, it is substantial:
For that disguise being on him which I wore,
It will be thought I, which he calls the pander, did kill the
duke, and fled away in his apparel, leaving him so disguised to
avoid swift pursuit.
HIP. Firmer and firmer.
VEN. Nay, doubt not, 'tis in grain: I warrant it holds colour.
HIP. Let's about it.
VEN. By the way, too, now I think on't, brother,
Let's conjure that base devil out of our mother. [_Exeunt._
FOOTNOTES:
[79] [Weak, treacherous.]
[80] _The Nobles enter_ is printed in the 4o, as if it were a part of
the speech of Lusurioso.--_Collier._
[81] [Edits., _god_.]
[82] [Edits., _on't_.]
[83] Poultry.
[84] A vulgar corruption of _certiorari_.--_Pegge._
[85] Mr Gilchrist would substitute _Lusurioso_ for _Hippolito_ here;
but the change is not necessary to the sense, and is not supported by
the quartos.--_Collier._
[86] ["Mark the transition from prose to verse."--_MS. note in former
edit._]
[87] [Like.]
[88] _How art thou now?_ the inquiry has stood in previous editions,
but _How are they now?_ is the correct reading restored from the old
copy. The words have reference to Vendice's eyes.--_Collier._
[89] [Edits., _five_.]
[90] The same thought occurs in "Othello," act v. sc. 2--
"Are there no stones in heaven.
But what serve for the thunder?"
[91] The 4o reads, _methought_.--_Collier._
ACTUS V.[92]
_Enter the_ DUCHESS, _arm in arm with_ SPURIO: _he_
_seemeth lasciviously to look on her. After them,_
_enter_ SUPERVACUO _running, with a rapier;_
AMBITIOSO _stops him_.
SPU. Madam, unlock yourself;
Should it be seen, your arm would be suspected.
DUCH. Who is't that dares suspect or this or these?
May not we deal our favours where we please?
SPU. I'm confident you may. [_Exeunt._
AMB. 'Sfoot, brother, hold.
SUP. Woult let the bastard shame us?
AMB. Hold, hold, brother! there's fitter time than now.
SUP. Now, when I see it!
AMB. 'Tis too much seen already.
SUP. Seen and known;
The nobler she's, the baser is she grown.
AMB. If she were bent lasciviously (the fault
Of mighty women, that sleep soft)--O death!
Must she needs choose such an unequal sinner,
To make all worse?--
SUP. A bastard! the duke's bastard! shame heap'd on shame!
AMB. O our disgrace!
Most women have small waists the world throughout;
But their desires are thousand miles about.
SUP. Come, stay not here, let's after, and prevent,
Or else they'll sin faster than we'll repent. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO, _bringing out their_
_mother, one by one shoulder, and the other by_
_the other, with daggers in their hands._
VEN. O thou, for whom no name is bad enough!
GRA. What mean my sons? what, will you murder me?
VEN. Wicked, unnatural parent!
HIP. Fiend of women!
GRA. O! are sons turn'd monsters? help!
VEN. In vain.
GRA. Are you so barbarous to set iron nipples
Upon the breast that gave you suck?
VEN. That breast
Is turn'd to quarled poison.[93]
GRA. Cut not your days for't! am not I your mother?[94]
VEN. Thou dost usurp that title now by fraud,
For in that shell of mother breeds a bawd.
GRA. A bawd! O name far loathsomer than hell!
HIP. It should be so, knew'st thou thy office well.
GRA. I hate it.
VEN. Ah! is't possible, you powers on high,
That women should dissemble when they die?
GRA. Dissemble!
VEN. Did not the duke's son direct
A fellow of the worst[95] condition hither,
That did corrupt all that was good in thee?
Made thee uncivilly forget thyself,
And work our sister to his lust?
GRA. Who, I?
That had been monstrous. I defy that man
For any such intent! none lives so pure,
But shall be soil'd with slander. Good son, believe it not.
VEN. O, I'm in doubt,
Whether I am myself, or no---- [_Aside._
Stay, let me look again upon this face.
Who shall be sav'd, when mothers have no grace?
HIP. 'Twould make one half despair.
VEN. I was the man.
Defy me now; let's see, do't modestly.
GRA. O hell unto my soul!
VEN. In that disguise, I, sent from the duke's son,
Tried you, and found you base metal,
As any villain might have done.
GRA. O, no,
No tongue but yours could have bewitch'd me so.
VEN. O nimble in damnation, quick in ru'n![96]
There is no devil could strike fire so soon:
I am confuted in a word.
GRA. O sons, forgive me! to myself I'll prove more true;
You that should honour me, I kneel to you. [_Kneels and weeps._
VEN. A mother to give aim to her own daughter![97]
HIP. True, brother; how far beyond nature 'tis,
Though many mothers do't!
VEN. Nay, and you draw tears once, go you to bed;
Wet will make iron blush and change to red.
Brother, it rains. 'Twill spoil your dagger: house it.
HIP. 'Tis done.
VEN. I'faith, 'tis a sweet shower, it does much good.
The fruitful grounds and meadows of her soul
Have been long dry: pour down, thou blessed dew!
Rise, mother; troth, this shower has made you higher!
GRA. O you heavens! take this infectious spot out of my soul,
I'll rinse it in seven waters of mine eyes!
Make my tears salt enough to taste of grace.
To weep is to our sex naturally given:
But to weep truly, that's a gift from heaven.
VEN. Nay, I'll kiss you now. Kiss her, brother:
Let's marry her to our souls, wherein's no lust,
And honourably love her.
HIP. Let it be.
VEN. For honest women are so seld[98] and rare,
'Tis good to cherish those poor few that are.
O you of easy wax! do but imagine
Now the disease has left you, how leprously
That office would have cling'd unto your forehead!
All mothers that had any graceful hue
Would have worn masks to hide their face at you:
It would have grown to this--at your foul name,
Green-colour'd maids would have turned red with shame.
HIP. And then our sister, full of hireling[99] baseness----
VEN. There had been boiling lead again,
The duke's son's great concubine!
A drab of state, a cloth-o'-silver slut,
To have her train borne up, and her soul trail i' th' dirt![100]
HIP. Great, to be miserably great; rich, to be eternally wretched.
VEN. O common madness!
Ask but the thrivingest harlot in cold blood,
She'd give the world to make her honour good.
Perhaps you'll say, but only to the duke's son
In private; why she first begins with one,
Who afterward to thousands proves a whore:
"Break ice in one place, it will crack in more."
GRA. Most certainly applied!
HIP. O brother, you forget our business.
VEN. And well-remember'd; joy's a subtle elf,
I think man's happiest when he forgets himself,
Farewell, once dry, now holy-water'd mead;
Our hearts wear feathers, that before wore lead.
GRA. I'll give you this--that one I never knew
Plead better for and 'gainst the devil than you.
VEN. You make me proud on't.
HIP. Commend us in all virtue to our sister.
VEN. Ay, for the love of heaven, to that true maid.
GRA. With my best words.
VEN. Why, that was motherly said.[101] [_Exeunt._
GRA. I wonder now, what fury did transport me!
I feel good thoughts begin to settle in me.
O, with what forehead can I look on her,
Whose honour I've so impiously beset?
And here she comes--
_Enter_ CASTIZA.
CAS. Now, mother, you have wrought with me so strongly,
That what for my advancement, as to calm
The trouble of your tongue, I am content.
GRA. Content, to what?
CAS. To do as you have wish'd me;
To prostitute my breast to the duke's son;
And put myself to common usury.
GRA. I hope you will not so!
CAS. Hope you I will not?
That's not the hope you look to be sav'd in.
GRA. Truth, but it is.
CAS. Do not deceive yourself,
I am as you, e'en out of marble wrought.
What would you now? are ye not pleas'd yet with me?
You shall not wish me to be more lascivious
Than I intend to be.
GRA. Strike not me cold.
CAS. How often have you charg'd me on your blessing
To be a cursed woman? When you knew
Your blessing had no force to make me lewd,
You laid your curse upon me; that did more,
The mother's curse is heavy; where that lights,
Suns set in storm, and daughters lose their rights.[102]
GRA. Good child, dear maid, if there be any spark
Of heavenly intellectual fire within thee,
O, let my breath revive it to a flame!
Put not all out with woman's wilful follies.
I am recover'd of that foul disease,
That haunts too many mothers; kind, forgive me,
Make me not sick in health! If then
My words prevail'd, when they were wickedness,
How much more now, when they are just and good?
CAS. I wonder what you mean! are not you she,
For whose infect persuasions I could scarce
Kneel out my prayers, and had much ado
In three hours' reading to untwist so much
Of the black serpent as you wound about me?
GRA. 'Tis unfruitful, child,[103] [and] tedious to repeat
What's past; I'm now your present mother.
CAS. Pish! now 'tis too late.
GRA. Bethink again: thou know'st not what thou say'st.
CAS. No! deny advancement! treasure! the duke's son!
GRA. O, cease![104] I spoke those words, and now they poison me!
What will the deed do then?
Advancement? true; as high as shame can pitch!
For treasure! who e'er knew a harlot rich?
Or could build by the purchase of her sin
An hospital to keep her[105] bastards in?
The duke's son! O, when women are young courtiers,
They are sure to be old beggars;
To know the miseries most harlots taste,
Thou'dst wish thyself unborn, when thou art unchaste.
CAS. O mother, let me twine about your neck,
And kiss you, till my soul melt on your lips!
I did but this to try you.
GRA. O, speak truth!
CAS. Indeed I did but;[106] for no tongue has force
To alter me from honest.
If maidens would, men's words could have no power;
A virgin's honour is a crystal tower
Which (being weak) is guarded with good spirits;
Until she basely yields, no ill inherits.
GRA. O happy child! faith, and thy birth hath sav'd me.
'Mong thousand daughters, happiest of all others:
Be[107] thou a glass for maids, and I for mothers. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO.
VEN. So, so, he leans well; take heed you wake him not, brother.
HIP. I warrant you my life for yours.
VEN. That's a good lay, for I must kill myself. Brother, that's
I, that sits for me: do you mark it? And I must stand ready
here to make away myself yonder. I must sit to be killed,
and stand to kill myself. I could vary it not so little as
thrice over again; 't has some eight returns, like Michaelmas
term.[108]
HIP. That's enou', o' conscience.
VEN. But, sirrah, does the duke's son come single?
HIP. No; there's the hell on't: his faith's too feeble to go
alone. He brings flesh-flies after him, that will buzz against
supper-time, and hum for his coming out.
VEN. Ah, the fly-flap of vengeance beat 'em to pieces! Here
was the sweetest occasion, the fittest hour, to have made
my revenge familiar with him; show him the body of the duke
his father, and how quaintly he died, like a politician, in
hugger-mugger,[109] made no man acquainted with it; and in
catastrophe slain him over his father's breast. O, I'm mad to
lose such a sweet opportunity!
HIP. Nay, pish! prythee, be content! there's no remedy present;
may not hereafter times open in as fair faces as this?
VEN. They may, if they can paint so well.
HIP. Come now: to avoid all suspicion, let's forsake this room,
and be going to meet the duke's son.
VEN. Content: I'm for any weather. Heart! step close: here he
comes.
_Enter_ LUSURIOSO.
HIP. My honour'd lord!
LUS. O me! you both present?
VEN. E'en newly, my lord, just as your lordship entered now:
about this place we had notice given he should be, but in some
loathsome plight or other.
HIP. Came your honour private?
LUS. Private enough for this; only a few
Attend my coming out.
HIP. Death rot those few! [_Aside._
LUS. Stay, yonder's the slave.
VEN. Mass, there's the slave indeed, my lord.
'Tis a good child: he calls his father slave! [_Aside._
LUS. Ay, that's the villain, the damn'd villain.
Softly. Tread easy.
VEN. Puh! I warrant you, my lord, we'll stifle-in our breaths.
LUS. That will do well:
Base rogue, thou sleepest thy last; 'tis policy
To have him kill'd in's sleep; for, if he wak'd,
He would betray all to them.
VEN. But, my lord----
LUS. Ha, what say'st?
VEN. Shall we kill him now he's drunk?
LUS. Ay, best of all.
VEN. Why, then he will ne'er live to be sober.
LUS. No matter, let him reel to hell.
VEN. But being so full of liquor, I fear he will put out all
the fire.
LUS. Thou art a mad beast.[110]
VEN. And leave none to warm your lordship's golls[111] withal;
for he that dies drunk falls into hell-fire like a bucket of
water--qush, qush!
LUS. Come, be ready: nake your swords:[112] think of your
wrongs; this slave has injured you.
VEN. Troth, so he has, and he has paid well for't.
LUS. Meet with him now.
VEN. You'll bear us out, my lord?
LUS. Puh! am I a lord for nothing, think you? quickly now!
VEN. Sa, sa, sa, thump--there he lies.
LUS. Nimbly done.--Ha! O villains! murderers!
'Tis the old duke my father.
VEN. That's a jest.
LUS. What, stiff and cold already!
O, pardon me to call you from your names:
'Tis none of your deed: that villain Piato,
Whom you thought now to kill, has murdered
And left him thus disguis'd.
HIP. And not unlikely.
VEN. O rascal! was he not asham'd
To put the duke into a greasy doublet?
LUS. He has been cold and stiff--who knows how long?
VEN. Marry, that I do. [_Aside._
LUS. No words, I pray, of anything intended.
VEN. O my lord.
HIP. I would fain have your lordship think that we have small
reason to prate.
LUS. Faith, thou say'st true; I'll forthwith send to court
For all the nobles, bastard, duchess; tell,
How here by miracle we found him dead,
And in his raiment that foul villain fled.
VEN. That will be the best way, my lord,
To clear us all; let's cast about to be clear.
LUS. Ho! Nencio, Sordido, and the rest!
_Enter_ ALL.
1ST NOBLE. My lord.
2D NOBLE. My lord.
LUS. Be witnesses of a strange spectacle.
Choosing for private conference that sad room,
We found the duke my father geal'd in blood.
1ST NOBLE. My lord the duke! run, hie thee, Nencio,
Startle the court by signifying so much.
VEN. This much by wit a deep revenger can:
When murder's known, to be the clearest man.
We're farthest off, and with as bold an eye
Survey his body as the standers-by. [_Aside._
LUS. My royal father, too basely let blood
By a malevolent slave!
HIP. Hark! he calls thee slave again. [_Aside._
VEN. He has lost: he may. [_Aside._
LUS. O sight! look hither, see, his lips are gnawn
With poison.
VEN. How! his lips? by the mass, they be.
O villain! O rogue! O slave! O rascal!
HIP. O good deceit! he quits him with like terms.
AMB. [_Within._] Where?
SUP. [_Within._] Which way?
_Enter_ AMBITIOSO _and_ SUPERVACUO.
AMB. Over what roof hangs this prodigious comet
In deadly fire?
LUS. Behold, behold, my lords, the duke my father's murdered by
a vassal that owes this habit, and here left disguised.
_Enter_ DUCHESS _and_ SPURIO.
DUCH. My lord and husband?
2D NOBLE. Reverend majesty!
1ST NOBLE. I have seen these clothes often attending on him.
VEN. That nobleman has been i' th' country, for he does not lie.
[_Aside._
SUP. Learn of our mother; let's dissemble too:
I am glad he's vanish'd; so, I hope, are you.
AMB. Ay, you may take my word for't.
SPU. Old dad dead?
I, one of his cast sins, will send the Fates
Most hearty commendations by his own son;
I'll tug in the new stream, till strength be done.
LUS. Where be those two that did affirm to us,
My lord the duke was privately rid forth?
1ST NOBLE. O, pardon us, my lords; he gave that charge--
Upon our lives, if he were miss'd at court,
To answer so; he rode not anywhere;
We left him private with that fellow here.
VEN. Confirmed. [_Aside._
LUS. O heavens! that false charge was his death.
Impudent beggars! durst you to our face
Maintain such a false answer? Bear him straight
To execution.
1ST NOBLE. My lord!
LUS. Urge me no more.
In this the excuse may be call'd half the murder.
VEN. You've sentenc'd well. [_Aside._
LUS. Away; see it be done.
VEN. Could you not stick? See what confession doth!
Who would not lie, when men are hang'd for truth? [_Aside._
HIP. Brother, how happy is our vengeance!
[_Aside._
VEN. Why, it hits past the apprehension of
Indifferent wits. [_Aside._
LUS. My lord, let post-horses be sent
Into all places to entrap the villain.
VEN. Post-horses, ha, ha! [_Aside._
NOBLE. My lord, we're something bold to know our duty.
Your father's accidentally departed;
The titles that were due to him meet you.
LUS. Meet me! I'm not at leisure, my good lord.
I've many griefs to despatch out o' th' way.
Welcome, sweet titles!-- [_Aside._
Talk to me, my lords,
Of sepulchres and mighty emperors' bones;
That's thought for me.
VEN. So one may see by this
How foreign markets go;
Courtiers have feet o' th' nines, and tongues o' th' twelves;
They flatter dukes, and dukes flatter themselves.
[_Aside._
NOBLE. My lord, it is your shine must comfort us.
LUS. Alas! I shine in tears, like the sun in April.
NOBLE. You're now my lord's grace.
LUS. My lord's grace! I perceive you'll have it so.
NOBLE. 'Tis but your own.
LUS. Then, heavens, give me grace to be so!
VEN. He prays well for himself. [_Aside._
NOBLE. Madam, all sorrows
Must run their circles into joys. No doubt but time
Will make the murderer bring forth himself.
VEN. He were an ass then, i' faith. [_Aside._
NOBLE. In the mean season,
Let us bethink the latest funeral honours
Due to the duke's cold body. And withal,
Calling to memory our new happiness
Speed[113] in his royal son: lords, gentlemen,
Prepare for revels.
VEN. Revels. [_Aside._
NOBLE. Time hath several falls.
Griefs lift up joys: feasts put down funerals.
LUS. Come then, my lords, my favour's to you all.
The duchess is suspected foully bent;
I'll begin dukedom with her banishment.
HIP. Revels!
VEN. Ay, that's the word: we are firm yet;
Strike one strain more, and then we crown our wit.
[_Exeunt_ HIPPOLITO _and_ VENDICE.
SPU. Well, have at the fairest mark[114]--so said the duke when
he begot me;
And if I miss his heart, or near about,
Then have at any; a bastard scorns to be out.
SUP. Note'st thou that Spurio, brother?
ANT. Yes, I note him to our shame.
SUP. He shall not live: his hair shall not grow much longer.
In this time of revels, tricks may be set afoot. See'st thou
yon new moon? it shall outlive the new duke by much; this hand
shall dispossess him. Then we're mighty.
A mask is treason's licence, that build upon:
'Tis murder's best face, when a vizard's on. [_Exit._
AMB. Is't so? 'tis very good!
And do you think to be duke then, kind brother?
I'll see fair play; drop one, and there lies t'other.
[_Aside. Exit._
_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO, _with_ PIERO
_and other Lords_.
VEN. My lords, be all of music, strike old griefs into other countries
That flow in too much milk, and have faint livers,
Not daring to stab home their discontents.
Let our hid flames break out as fire, as lightning,
To blast this villainous dukedom, vex'd with sin;
Wind up your souls to their full height again.
PIERO. How?
1ST LORD. Which way?
3D LORD. Any way: our wrongs are such,
We cannot justly be reveng'd too much.
VEN. You shall have all enough. Revels are toward,
And those few nobles that have long suppress'd you,
Are busied to the furnishing of a masque,
And do affect to make a pleasant tale on't;
The masquing suits are fashioning: now comes in
That which must glad us all. We too take pattern
Of all those suits, the colour, trimming, fashion,
E'en to an undistinguish'd hair almost:
Then entering first, observing the true form,
Within a strain or two we shall find leisure
To steal our swords out handsomely;
And when they think their pleasure sweet and good,
In midst of all their joys they shall sigh blood.
PIERO. Weightily, effectually!
THIRD. Before the t'other masquers come----
VEN. We're gone, all done and past.
PIERO. But how for the duke's guard?
VEN. Let that alone,
By one and one their strengths shall be drunk down.
HIP. There are five hundred gentlemen in the action,
That will apply themselves, and not stand idle.
PIERO. O, let us hug your bosoms!
VEN. Come, my lords,
Prepare for deeds: let other times have words.[115] [_Exeunt._
_In a dumb show, the procession[116] of the young duke,_
_with all his nobles; then sounding music. A_
_furnished table is brought forth; then enter the_
_duke and his nobles to the banquet. A blazing_
_star appeareth._
1ST NOBLE. Many harmonious hours and choicest pleasures
Fill up the royal number of your years!
LUS. My lords, we're pleas'd to thank you, though we know
'Tis but your duty now to wish it so.
1ST NOBLE. That shine makes us all happy.
3D NOBLE. His grace frowns.
2D NOBLE. Yet we must say he smiles.
1ST NOBLE. I think we must.
LUS. That foul incontinent duchess we have banish'd;
The bastard shall not live. After these revels,
I'll begin strange ones: he and the step-sons
Shall pay their lives for the first subsidies;
We must not frown so soon, else't had been now.
[_Aside._
1ST NOBLE. My gracious lord, please you prepare for pleasure.
The masque is not far off.
LUS. We are for pleasure.
Beshrew thee, what art thou'? [thou] mad'st me start!
Thou hast committed treason. A blazing star!
1ST NOBLE. A blazing star! O, where, my lord?
LUS. Spy out.
2D NOBLE. See, see, my lords, a wondrous dreadful one!
LUS. I am not pleas'd at that ill-knotted fire,
That bushing, flaring star. Am not I duke?
It should not quake me now. Had it appear'd
Before, I might then have justly fear'd;
But yet they say, whom art and learning weds,
When stars wear locks, they threaten great men's heads:
Is it so? you are read, my lords.
1ST NOBLE. May it please your grace,
It shows great anger.
LUS. That does not please our grace.
2D NOBLE. Yet here's the comfort, my lord: many times,
When it seems most near, it threatens farthest off.
LUS. Faith, and I think so too.
1ST NOBLE. Beside, my lord,
You're gracefully establish'd with the loves
Of all your subjects; and for natural death,
I hope it will be threescore years a-coming.
LUS. Do you?[117] no more but threescore years?
1ST NOBLE. Fourscore, I hope, my lord.
2D NOBLE. And fivescore, I.
3D NOBLE. But 'tis my hope, my lord, you shall ne'er die.
LUS. Give me thy hand; these others I rebuke:
He that hopes so is fittest for a duke:
Thou shalt sit next me; take your places, lords;
We're ready now for sports; let 'em set on:
You thing! we shall forget you quite anon!
3D NOBLE. I hear 'em coming, my lord.
_Enter the masque of Revengers, the two brothers, and_
_two Lords more._
[_The Revengers' dance: at the end steal out their_
_swords, and these four kill the four at the_
_table, in their chairs. It thunders._
VEN. Mark, thunder!
Dost know thy cue, thou big-voic'd crier?
Dukes' groans are thunder's watchwords.
HIP. So, my lords, you have enough.
VEN. Come, let's away, no lingering.
HIP. Follow! go! [_Exeunt._
VEN. No power is angry when the lustful die;
When thunder claps, heaven likes the tragedy.
[_Exit_ VENDICE.
LUS. O, O!
_Enter the other masque of intended murderers, step-sons,_
_Bastard, and a fourth man, coming in_
_dancing. The duke recovers a little in voice, and_
_groans, calls_, A guard! treason! _at which_
_they all start out of their measure, and, turning_
_towards the table, they find them all to be murdered_.
SPU. Whose groan was that?
LUS. Treason! a guard!
AMB. How now? all murder'd!
SUP. Murder'd!
4TH NOBLE. And those his nobles?
AMB. Here's a labour sav'd;
I thought to have sped him. 'Sblood, how came this?
SPU. Then I proclaim myself; now I am duke.
AMB. Thou duke! brother, thou liest.
SPU. Slave! so dost thou.
4TH NOBLE. Base villain! hast thou slain my lord and master?
_Enter the first men._
VEN. Pistols! treason! murder! Help! guard my lord the duke!
HIP. Lay hold upon these traitors.
LUS. O!
VEN. Alas! the duke is murder'd.
HIP. And the nobles.
VEN. Surgeons! surgeons! Heart! does he breathe so long? [_Aside._
ANT. A piteous tragedy! able to make[118]
An old man's eyes bloodshot.
LUS. O!
VEN. Look to my lord the duke. A vengeance throttle him! [_Aside._
Confess, thou murd'rous and unhallow'd man,
Didst thou kill all these?
4TH NOBLE. None but the bastard, I.
VEN. How came the duke slain, then?
4TH NOBLE. We found him so.
LUS. O villain!
VEN. Hark!
LUS. Those in the masque did murder us.
VEN. La you now, sir--
O marble impudence! will you confess now?
4TH NOBLE. 'Sblood, 'tis all false.
ANT. Away with that foul monster,
Dipp'd in a prince's blood.
4TH NOBLE. Heart! 'tis a lie.
ANT. Let him have bitter execution.
VEN. New marrow! no, it cannot be express'd.[119]
How fares my lord the duke?
LUS. Farewell to all;
He that climbs highest has the greatest fall.
My tongue is out of office.
VEN. Air, gentlemen, air.
Now thou'lt not prate on't, 'twas Vendice murder'd thee.
[_Whispers in his ear._
LUS. O!
VEN. Murder'd thy father. [_Whispers._
LUS. O! [_Dies._
VEN. And I am he: tell nobody--so, so, the duke's departed.
ANT. It was a deadly hand that wounded him.
The rest, ambitious who should rule and sway
After his death, were so made all away.
VEN. My lord was unlikely----
HIP. Now the hope
Of Italy lies in your reverend years.
VEN. Your hair will make the silver age again,
When there were fewer, but more honest men.
ANT. The burthen's weighty, and will press age down;
May I so rule, that heaven may keep the crown!
VEN. The rape of your good lady has been quitted
With death on death.
ANT. Just is the law above.
But of all things it put me most to wonder
How the old duke came murder'd!
VEN. O my lord!
ANT. It was the strangeliest carried: I not heard of the like.
HIP. 'Twas all done for the best, my lord.
VEN. All for your grace's good. We may be bold to speak it now,
'Twas somewhat witty carried, though we say it--
'Twas we two murder'd him.
ANT. You two?
VEN. None else, i' faith, my lord. Nay, 'twas well-manag'd.
ANT. Lay hands upon those villains!
VEN. How! on us?
ANT. Bear 'em to speedy execution.
VEN. Heart! was't not for your good, my lord?
ANT. My good! Away with 'em: such an old man as he!
You, that would murder him, would murder me.
VEN. Is't come about?
HIP. 'Sfoot, brother, you begun.
VEN. May not we set as well as the duke's son?[120]
Thou hast no conscience, are we not reveng'd?
Is there one enemy left alive amongst those?
'Tis time to die, when we ourselves our foes:[121]
When murderers shut deeds close, this curse does seal 'em:
If none disclose 'em, they themselves reveal 'em!
This murder might have slept in tongueless brass
But for ourselves, and the world died an ass.
Now I remember too, here was Piato
Brought forth a knavish sentence once;
No doubt (said he), but time
Will make the murderer bring forth himself.
'Tis well he died; he was a witch.
And now, my lord, since we are in for ever,
This work was ours, which else might have been slipp'd!
And if we list, we could have nobles clipp'd,
And go for less than beggars; but we hate
To bleed so cowardly: we have enough,
I' faith, we're well, our mother turn'd, our sister true,
We die after a nest of dukes. Adieu. [_Exeunt._
ANT. How subtlely was that murder clos'd![122] Bear up
Those tragic bodies: 'tis a heavy season;
Pray heaven their blood may wash away all treason! [_Exit._
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES:
[92] In the 4o this play consists but of four acts. But as that
division probably arose from the carelessness of the printer, I have
made an alteration here, which appears to be a necessary one.
[93] Perhaps we should read _quarell'd poison_; _i.e._, such poison as
arrows are imbued with. Quarels are square arrows. So in the "Romaunt
of the Rose," v. 1823--
"Ground _quarelis_ sharpe of steele."
--_Steevens._
[The two words are the same, _quarled_ being a contracted form of
_quarell'd_.]
[94] Alluding to the Fifth Commandment.--_Gilchrist._
[95] [Edits., _world's_.]
[96] [Edits., _tune_.]
[97] _i.e._, incite, encourage her.
[98] Seldom to be met with. In Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" we have
"_seld_ seen flamens."--_Steevens._
[99] [Old copy, _hire and_.]
[100] The word _great_ is added in the 4o to this line, but it belongs
to Hippolito, and what he says has been hitherto misprinted.--_Collier._
[101] ["The reality and life of this dialogue passes any scenical
illusion I ever felt. I never read it but my ears tingle, and I feel a
hot flush spread my cheeks, as if I were presently about to 'proclaim'
some such 'malefactions' of myself as the brothers here rebuke in this
unnatural parent, in words more keen and dagger-like than those which
Hamlet speaks to his mother. Such power has the passion of shame, truly
personated, not only to 'strike guilty creatures unto the soul,' but to
'appal' even those that are 'free.'"--_Lamb._]
[102] [Old copy, _lights_, and in the line before, _Sons--fights_.]
[103] [Edits., _held_.]
[104] [Edits., _see_.]
[105] [Edits., _their_.]
[106] [Edits., _not_.]
[107] The 4o reads, _Buy_.--_Steevens._
[108] Michaelmas term now has but four returns. By the Statute 16 Car.
I. c. vi. it was abridged of two; and again, by 24 Geo. II. c. xlviii.
of the like number.
[109] In secret. This uncouth expression occurs in "Hamlet," act iv.
sc. 5, which many modern editors have altered to the more modern phrase
of _in private_; but as Dr Johnson observes, "if phraseology is to be
changed as words grow uncouth by disuse, or gross by vulgarity, the
history of every language will be lost; we shall no longer have the
words of any author; and as these alterations will often be unskilfully
made, we shall in time have very little of his meaning." Mr Steevens,
by several instances, has shown that the terms were in common use, and
conveyed no low or vulgar ideas, and several others might be added: as
in Ascham's "Toxophilus," 1571: "If shootinge fault at anye time, it
hydes it not, it lurkes not in corners and _budder mother_."
[110] The 4o reads _breast_.--_Steevens._
[111] Hands.
[112] _i.e._, unsheathe them, let them be _naked_ swords.--_Steevens._
[113] [Edits., _spread_.]
[114] The 4o reads, _Well, have the fairest mark_.--_Collier._
[115] [A MS. note in one of the former edits., suggests, _to other
times leave words_].
[116] [Old copy, _possessing_.]
[117] [Old copy, _True_.]
[118] The 4o reads, _wake_.
[119] The 4o reads, _I cannot be express'd_.--_Collier._
[120] [Edits., _so_.]
[121] ["Mark this--it was his intention from the first to die when his
revenge had been consummated."--_MS. note in former edition._]
[122] _Clos'd_ for _disclos'd_.--_Gilchrist._
THE DUMB KNIGHT.
_EDITIONS._
_The dumbe Knight. A historicall Comedy, acted sundry times
by the children of his Maiesties Reuels. London, Printed by
Nicholas Okes, for Iohn Bache, and are to be sold at his
shop in Popes-head Palace, neere to the Royall Exchange._
1608. 4o.[123]
_The Dumbe Knight. An Historicall Comedy, acted sundry times
by the children of his Majesties Revells. London, Printed
by A.M. for William Sheares, and are to be sold at his
shoppe in Chancery Lane, near Seriants Inne._ 1633. 4o.
[MR COLLIER'S PREFACE.[124]]
Lewes Machin was assisted, as he states, in writing this play, by
one "whose worth hath been often approved," and it is singular that
until very recently the name of his coadjutor should have remained
unknown, when in the Garrick Collection, always accessible in the
British Museum, is a copy of "The Dumb Knight," edition of 1608, with
the name of his "partner in the wrong" on the title-page, viz., Jervis
or Gervase Markham. Another copy, with the same distinction, was sold
in Mr Rhodes' collection. Why it was afterwards altered cannot now be
ascertained; perhaps Markham wished to avoid the consequences of the
"strange constructions" on the play to which Machin in his epistle
refers, and therefore withdrew his name. Nevertheless the address of
Machin "to the understanding reader" is prefixed to the copies with and
without the name of his assistant.
Although Markham was a voluminous writer, little or nothing is known
regarding the events of his life. A curious anecdote of a Gervase
Markham is quoted by Sir E. Brydges, in his edition of Phillips's
"Theatrum Poetarum," p. 279; but in all probability it is not the same
individual, as that person was high sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1625,
and was robbed of £5000. Gervase Markham the poet and book-maker never
could have possessed any such sum. He is said to have been the son
of Robert Markham of Cotham; but this is very questionable. When and
where he was born, and died, yet remains to be discovered. He began his
career of authorship late in the reign of Elizabeth, viz., in 159[3,
when his "Thyrsis and Daphne," a piece no longer known, was revised for
the press. In the same year he produced "A Discourse of Horsemanship;"
and] in 1595 he published "The Most Honourable Tragedie of Sir Richard
Grinvile (Grenville), Knight." By this work he seems to have acquired
much reputation.[125] Though called a _tragedy_, it is only a narrative
and elegiac poem in the octave rhyme.
Ritson also assigns to Markham a translation of Solomon's Song, in
the same year, but it has only the initials L.M. on the title-page.
In 1597, he printed a translation from the French, called "Devoreux,
Vertues Tears for the Loss of the Most Christian King Henry III." In
1608 appeared a translation of Ariosto's "Satires," with his name on
the title-page, but the work was subsequently claimed by Robert Tofte.
The blame belonged, perhaps, to some knavish bookseller who, having
obtained the MS., availed himself of Markham's popularity. [Barnaby
Rich's "Alarm to England," was reprinted in 1625 under the title of
"Vox Militis," with a poem by Markham prefixed, and without any mention
of the true writer.] He continued to write various works, some on
agriculture and farriery, [during the reign of James I.[126]] His only
other dramatic performance was a tragedy called "Herod and Antipater,"
which was printed in 1622, and in the composition of which he was
joined by W. Sampson.
Of Lewis Machin merely the name has come down to us in connection with
Markham and William Barkstead. The latter in 1607 printed "Mirrha, the
Mother of Adonis," and at the end of it were placed "three Eglogs" by
Lewis Machin. The first of "Menalcas and Daphnis," and the two others
of "Apollo and Hyacinth." It is impossible now to ascertain what share
he had in "The Dumb Knight," which appears to have been a successful
play, although its merits are by no means conspicuous. It is mentioned
in the following terms in Shirley's "Example," 1637, sig. A 4:--
"VAINMAN. You will give me leave to answer you,
If you should ask me anything?
"JACINTHA. Not a syllable,
Though I desir'd to know what o'clock 'tis;
There's your obedience: at six months' end
I may reward your silence.
"PUMICE-STONE. She'll make him the Dumb Knight.
"JACINTHA. I will not engage you to be a mute so long."
"The Dumb Knight" was entered on the stationers' books on the 6th
October 1608, in which year it was first printed. It was reprinted
in 1633, perhaps on its revival at one of the theatres, which led
Shirley to allude to it in 1637. The edition of 1633 is a copy of
that of 1608, with all the original errors, and the addition of some
others. It sometimes happens that an obscure reading is explained or
a misprint corrected in later copies, even if the mistakes generally
are multiplied; but this is not the case with "The Dumb Knight." Mr
Reed seems to have used the edition of 1633, and therefore included
most of the errors of both of the old copies. He also introduced
several conjectural alterations of his own, and in a manner not easily
justified, since he gave no intimation of the liberty he had taken with
the author. The play has now been carefully collated, and the more
important variations pointed out in the notes.[127]
TO THE UNDERSTANDING READER.
Rumour, that Hydra-headed monster, with more tongues than eyes, by help
of his intelligencer Envy, hath made strange constructions on this
Dumb Knight, which then could not answer for himself; but now this
publication doth untie his tongue, to answer the objections of all
sharp critical censures, which here-to-fore have undeservedly passed
upon him. And for my part, I protest the wrongs I have received by some
(whose worths I will not traduce), with a mild neglect I have laughed
at their follies; for I think myself happy, because I have been envied,
since the best now in grace have been subject to some slanderous
tongues that want worth themselves, and think it great praise to them
to detract praise from others that deserve it; yet having a partner in
the wrong, whose worth hath been often approved, I count the wrong but
half a wrong, because he knows best how to answer for himself; but I
now in his absence make this apology, both for him and me. Thus leaving
you and the book together, I ever rest yours,
LEWIS MACHIN.
FOOTNOTES:
[123] This edition had a different title-page to some of the copies,
but in all other respects they were similar: it was as follows--
"The dumbe Knight. A pleasant Comedy, acted sundry times by the
children of his Maiesties Reuels. Written by Iaruis Markham." [Imprint
the same as above.]--_Collier._
[124] [To the play, as printed in the last edition of Dodsley's "Old
Plays."]
[125] Charles Fitzgeoffry, writing a similar poem on Sir Francis Drake,
in 1596, thus mentions Markham's work--
"Well hath this poet royalis'd his facts
And curiouslie describ'd his tragedie;
Quaintlie he hath eternized his acts
In lasting characters of memorie,
Even co-eternal with eternitie:
So that the world envies his happie state,
That he should live when it is ruinate."
[126] A person of the name of Robert Markham wrote and printed in 1628
"A description of that ever-to-be-famed knight Sir John Burgh." Whether
he was in any way related to Gervase Markham is not known.
[127] [Yet many errors and misprints remained in the former edition, of
which some were readily set right, while others seem to bid defiance to
a revising hand. It is not even easy, in every case, to detect where
the corruption lies.]
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
MEN.
KING OF CYPRUS.
PHILOCLES, _his favourite, the Dumb Knight_.
DUKE OF EPIRE.
ALPHONSO.
FLORIO.
PRATE, _an Orator [lawyer]_.
MECHANT, }
VELOURS, } _Clients to Prate_.
DRAP, }
PRECEDENT, _Clerk to Prate_.
CÆLIO, _Marshal for the Queen_.
CHIP _and_ SHAVINGS, _Carpenters_.
_Heralds, Watchmen, Gentleman-Usher, Physician, Executioner, &c._
WOMEN.
QUEEN OF SICILY.
MARIANA, _her Companion, and Sister to the Duke of Epire_.
LOLLIA, _Wife to the Orator_.
COLLAQUINTIDA, _a Bawd_.
_Attendants, &c._
_Scene, Sicily._
THE DUMB KNIGHT.[128]
ACTUS I, SCÆNA 1.[129]
_Enter the_ KING OF CYPRUS, PHILOCLES, FLORIO,
_and Attendants in arms_. [_Music._
Enough; these loud sounds deaf my passions:
How long shall love make me a slave to hope,
And mix my calm desires with tyranny?
O Philocles! this[130] heresy I hold,
Thought and affection cannot be controll'd.
PHIL. Yet may't be bent and suppled with extremes,
Sith few foresee[131] the end of violence.
What makes the skilful leech[132] to use the fire,
Or war her engines, or states policy,
But to recover things most desperate?
Revolt is recreant, when pursuit is brave,
Never to faint doth purchase what we crave.
CYP. True, my Philocles, yet my recreant soul,
Slav'd to her beauty, would renounce all war,
And yield her right to love, did not thy spirit,
Mix'd with my longing, fortify these arms.
But I am now resolv'd, and this sad hour
Shall give an end to my distemperature.
Summon a parley.
_Enter aloft the_ QUEEN OF SICILY, MARIANA,[133] _the_
DUKE OF EPIRE, ALPHONSO, _and Attendants_.
QUEEN. What says our tyrant suitor, our disease in love,
That makes our thoughts a slave unto his sword:
What says my lord?
CYP. Madam, attend me, this is my latest summons:
The many suns my sorrows have beheld,
And my sad nights of longings, all through hope
T' enjoy the joy of earth (your own dear self),
Are grown so infinite in length and weight,
That like to wearied Atlas I enforce
These wars, as Hercules, to bear my load:
Briefly, I must enjoy you, or else lose
The breath of life which to prevent, behold
My sword must be my Cupid, and with feather'd steel
Force pity from your breast. Your city's walls,
Chidden with my cannons, have set ope a path,
And boldly bid me enter: all your men of war,
Feebled with famine and a weary siege,
Take danger from mine actions: only yourself,
Strong in your will, oppose even destiny,
And like the giants' war offend the heavens.
Which to prevent, do but descend and give
Peace to my love-suit, and as o'ercome thereby
I'll yield myself your prisoner, and be drawn
A thrall in your triumphant victory.
If otherwise, behold these fatal swords
Shall ne'er be sheath'd till we be conquerors:
And, not respecting innocence nor sex,
The cries of infants, nor the prayers of age,
All things shall perish, till within my arms
I fold yourself, my thrall and conqueror.
QUEEN. Thou may'st be master of my body's tomb;
But for my soul and mind they are as free
As their creation, and with angel's wings
Can soar beyond thy reach: trust me, King of Cyprus,
Those coals the Roman Portia did devour
Are not burnt out, nor have th' Egyptian worms[134]
Yet lost their stings; steel holds his temper still,
And these are ransoms from captivity.
But art thou noble? hast thou one royal thought?
CYP. Approve me by your question.
QUEEN. Then briefly thus:
To shun the great effusion of their bloods,
Who feel no touch in mine affections,
Dare you to single combat, two to two,
Refer your right in love?
CYP. Who are your combatants? we love equality.
QUEEN. This is the first, the Epire duke, a man
Sprung from the line of famous Scanderbeg.
The next Alphonso, sprung from noble blood;
Who, laden with rich Lusitanian prize,
Hath rode through Syracuse twice in pomp.
CYP. Their likings to the motion?
EPIRE. They are like wrath,
Never unarm'd to beat weak injury.
ALPH. Nay more, we are the sons of destiny:
Virtue's our guide, our aim is dignity.
PHIL. 'Sfoot, king, shalt not forsake 'em: this I see,
Love, fight, and death are rul'd by destiny.
CYP. My spirit speaks thy motion,
Madam, although advantage might evade,
And give my love more hope, yet my bent will,
Bow'd to your pleasure, doth embrace your law.
We do accept the combat, and ourself
Will with that duke try fortunes; this my friend,
The more[135] part of myself, my dearest Philocles,
One of an angel's temper, shall with that lord
Try best and worst. The place? the time? the sword?
EPIRE. They are your rights, we claim as challengers.
CYP. And we would lose that 'vantage; but since fame
Makes virtue dullard,[136] we embrace our rights:
The place before these walls, the hour next sun,
The pole-axe and the hand-axe for the fight.
QUEEN. It is enough;
My hostage is my person and my love,
CYP. And mine my hope, my faith, and royalty.
EPIRE. They are of poise sufficient, and one light
Shall at one instant give us day and night.
[_Exeunt_ QUEEN, MARIANA, EPIRE, ALPHONSO, _&c._
CYP. She's gone, my Philocles: and as she goes, even so
The sun forsakes the heavens to kiss the sea;
Day in her beauty leaves us, and me thinks
Her absence doth exile all happiness.
Tell me, my Philocles, nay, prythee,
Tell me true, even from that love
Which to us both should blend one sympathy,
Discharge an open breast: dost thou not think
She is the mirror of her beauteous sex,
Unparallel'd and uncompanioned?
PHIL. Envy will say she's rare; then truth must vow
She is beyond compare, sith in her looks
Each motion hath a speaking majesty;
She is herself compared with herself:
For, but herself, she hath no companion.[137]
But when I think of beauty, wit and grace,
The elements of native[138] delicacy,
Those all-eye-pleasing harmonies of sight,
Which do enchant men's fancies, and stir up
The life-blood of dull earth--O, then methinks
Fair Mariana hath an equal place,
And if not outshine, shows[139] more beautiful.
CYP. More than my queen?
PHIL. More in the gloss of beauty; less in worth,
In wisdom and great thoughts: the one I find
Was made for wonder, the other for admire.
CYP. Thine equal praises make my fancies rich:
And I am pleas'd with thy comparisons;
Things of like nature live in best concent,
Beauty with subjects, majesty with kings.
Then let those two ideas lively move
Spirit beyond all spirit in our breasts,
That in the end of our great victory
We may attain both love and majesty.
PHIL. Although my first creation and my birth,
My thoughts and other tempers of my soul,
Took all their noble beings from the sword,
And made me only for the use of wars;
Yet in this combat, something (methinks) appears,
Greater than the greatest glory, and doth raise
My mind beyond herself:
'Sfoot, methinks Cæsar's Pharsalia,
Nor Scipio's Carthage, nor Emilius' acts,
Were worthy chairs of triumph: they o'er men's
Poor mangled bodies, and fire-wasted climes,
Made their triumphant passage; but we two
Must conquer thoughts and love more than the gods can do.
CYP. True, and therein
Consists the glorious garland of our praise--
But we neglect th' affairs of preparation.
Florio, be it your charge
To see th' erection of the squared lists,
Fit ground for either army, and what else
Belongs unto such royal eminence.
FLO. How near will your majesty have[140] the lists extend
Unto the city walls?
CYP. So as the dullest eye
May see the heedfull'st passage in the fight.
FLO. What square or circuit?
CYP. Threescore pace each way.
FLO. Your majesty shall have your will perform'd.
PHIL. Do, and you do us grace. And now, thou sun,
That art the eye of heaven, whose pure sight
Shall be our guide and Jove's great chronicler,
Look from thy sphere!
No guilt of pride, of malice, or of blood,
Puts on our armour; only pure naked love
Tutors our hopes, and doth our actions move.
CYP. Enough, my Philocles, thine orisons are heard.
Come, let's away. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ LOLLIA, _the wife of Prate the Orator._[141]
LOL. Now fie upon't, who would be an orator's wife, and not
a gentlewoman, if she could choose? A lady is the most sweet
lascivious life, congies and kisses--the tire, O the tire,
made castle upon castle, jewel upon jewel, knot upon knot;
crowns, garlands, gardings,[142] and what not? the hood, the
rebato,[143] the French fall,[144] the loose-bodied gown, the
pin in the hair; no clawing the pate, then picking the teeth,
and every day change; when we poor souls must come and go for
every man's pleasure: and what's a lady more than another body?
we have legs and hands, and rolling eyes, hanging lips, sleek
brows, cherry cheeks, and other things as ladies have--but the
fashion carries it away.
_Enter Mistress_ COLLAQUINTIDA.
COL. Why how now, Mistress Prate? i' th' old disease still?
will it never be better? cannot a woman find one kind man
amongst twenty? O the days that I have seen, when the law of a
woman's wit could have put her husband's purse to execution!
LOL. O Mistress Collaquintida, mine is even the unnaturallest
man to his wife----
COL. Faith, for the most part, all scholars are so, for they
take so upon them to know all things, that indeed they know
nothing; and besides, they are with study and ease grown so
unwieldy, that a woman shall ne'er want a sore stomach that's
troubled with them.
LOL. And yet they must have the government of all.
COL. True, and great reason they have for it: but a wise man
will put it in a woman's hand: what! she'll save what he
spends.
LOL. You have a pretty ruff, how deep is it?
COL. Nay this is but shallow; marry, I have a ruff is a quarter
deep, measured by the yard?
LOL. Indeed! by the yard?
COL. By the standard, I assure you: you have a pretty set too!
how big is the steel you set with?
LOL. As big as is[145] reasonable sufficient:--pity of my life,
I have forgot myself; if my husband should rise from his study,
and miss me, we should have such a coil.
COL. A coil, why what coil? if he were my husband, and did but
thwart me, I would ring him so many alarums, sound him so many
brass trumpets, beat him so many drums to his confusion, and
thunder him such a peal of great-shot, that I would turn his
brain in the pan, and make him mad with an eternal silence.
LOL. O Mistress Collaquintida, but my husband's anger is the
worst-favouredst, without all conscience, of any man's in all
Sicily; he is even as peevish as a sick monkey, and as waspish
as an ill-pleas'd bride the second morning.
COL. Let your wrath be reciprocal, and pay him at his own
weapon--but to the purpose for which I came. The party you wot
of commends him to you in this diamond; he that met the party
you know, and said the party's party was a party of a partly
pretty understanding.
LOL. O, the Lord Alphonso.
COL. The very same, believe it: he loves you, and swears he so
loves you, that if you do not credit him, you are worse than an
infidel.
LOL. Indeed, Mistress Collaquintida, he hath the right garb
for apparel, the true touch with the tongue in the kiss, and
he dances well but falls heavily: but my husband, woman, my
husband!--if we could put out his cat's eyes, there were
something to be said; but they are ever peeping and prying,
that they are able to pierce through a millstone: besides, I
may say to you, he is a little jealous too; and see where he
comes! We shall have a coil now.
_Enter_ PRATE _the Orator_.
COL. Begin you to pout first; for that's a woman's prevention.
PRATE. What, Lollia, I say, where are you? my house looks you,
my men lack you, I seek you, and a whole quest of inquiry
cannot find you; fie, fie, fie! idleness is the whip of thrift:
a good housewife should ever be occupied.
LOL. Indeed I have much joy to be occupied in anybody's company.
PRATE. Why, what's the matter?
LOL. Why, orators' wives shortly will be known like images
on water-stairs, ever in one weather-beaten suit, as if none
wore hoods but monks and ladies: nor feathers, but fore-horses
and waiting gentlewomen; nor chains, but prisoners and lords'
officers; nor periwigs, but players and hot-brains--but the
weakest must to the wall still.[146]
PRATE. Go to, you shall have what you will.
LOL. Nay, nay, 'twas my hard fortune to be your wife; time was
I might have done otherwise. But it matters not: you esteem
me, as you do yourself, and think all things costly enough
that cover shame, and that a pair of silken fore-sleeves to a
satin breastplate is a garment good enough for a capitol; but
is Master Wrangle, Master Tangle, or Master Trolbear, of that
opinion? in faith, sir, no.
There's never a gallant in our state
That goes more rich in gaudy bravery:
And yet (I hope) for quality of speech,
Audacious words, or quirks or quiddities,
You are not held their much inferior.
Fie, fie! I am ashamed to see your baseness.
COL. Indeed, Master Prate, she tells you truly; I wonder that
you, being a proper man and an orator, will not go brave,[147]
according to the custom of the country.
PRATE. Go to, neighbour; he that will rise to the top of a high
ladder must go up, not leap up: but be patient, wench, and thou
shalt shortly see me gallant it with the best, and for thyself,
my Lollia--
Not Lollia Paulina, nor those blazing stars,
Which make the world the apes of Italy,
Shall match thyself in sun-bright splendency.
LOL. Nay, verily, for myself I care not, 'tis you that are my
pride; if you would go like yourself, I were appeased.
PRATE. Believe it, wench, so I will:--but to the purpose for
which I came. The end of this great war is now brought to a
combat, two to two, the Duke of Epire and Alphonso for our
queen, against the king and Prince Philocles: now, wench, if
thou wilt go see the fight, I will send and provide thee of a
good standing.
LOL. Indeed, for you have ne'er a good one of your own. [_Aside._
PRATE. What! Precedent, I say!
PRE. [_Within._] Anon, anon, sir.
PRATE. Why, when, I say? the villain's belly is like a
bottomless pit--ever filling, and yet empty; at your leisure,
sir.
_Enter_ PRECEDENT, PRATE'S _man, eating_.
PRE. I can make no more haste than my teeth will give me leave.
PRATE. Well, sir, get you without the town to the place of the
combat, and provide me for my wife some good standing to see
the conflict.
PRE. How, master, how! must I provide a good standing for you
for my mistress? truly, master, I think a marrow-bone pie,
candied eringoes, preserved dates, marmalade of cantharides,
were much better harbingers; cock-sparrow stewed, doves'
brains, or swans' pizzles, are very provocative; roasted
potatoes[148] or boiled skirrets[149] are your only lofty
dishes; methinks these should fit you better than I can do.
PRATE. What's this, what's this? I say, provide me a standing
for my wife upon a scaffold.
PRE. And truly, master, I think a private chamber were better.
PRATE. I grant you--if there were a chamber convenient.
PRE. Willing minds will make shift in a simple hole; close
windows, strong locks, hard bed, and sure posts, are your only
ornaments.
PRATE. I think the knave be mad; sirrah, you chop-logic
blockhead, you that have your brain-pan made of dry leather,
and your wit ever wetshod, pack about your business, or I'll
pack your pen and inkhorn about your ears.
PRE. Well, sir, I may go or so, but would my mistress take a
standing of my preferment, I would so mount her, she should
love strange things the better all her life after. [_Aside._
PRATE. Why, when, sir? [_Exit_ PRECEDENT.
And come, sweet wife; and, neighbour,
Let us have your company too. [_Exeunt._
_Enter at one door a Herald, and_ FLORIO, _marshal_
_for the King, with officers bearing the lists; at_
_the other door a Herald, and_ CÆLIO, _marshal_
_for the Queen_.
CAE. Holla! what are you?
FLO. High marshal for the king. Your character?
CAE. I likewise for the queen; where lies your equal ground?
FLO. Here underneath these walls, and there and there
Ground for the battles.
CAE. Place there the queen's seat,
And there and there chairs for the combatants.
FLO. Place here the lists; fix every joint as strong,
As 'twere a wall; for on this foot of earth
This day shall stand two famous monuments;
The one a throne of glory bright as gold,
Burnish'd with angels' lustre, and with stars
Pluck'd from the crown of conquest, in which shall sit
Men made half-gods through famous victory:
The other a rich tomb of memorable fame,
Built by the curious thoughts of noble minds,
In which shall sleep these valiant souls in peace,
Whom fortune's hand shall only overthrow.
Heaven, in thy palm this day the balance hings,[150]
Which makes kings gods, or men more great than kings.
CAE. So, now let the heralds give the champions sign
Of ready preparations. [_Exeunt Heralds._
_The cornets sound; and enter at one end of the stage_
_a Herald, two Pages, one with pole-axes, the_
_other with hand-axes, the_ DUKE OF EPIRE _and_
ALPHONSO, _like combatants; the_ QUEEN _and_
MARIANA; PRATE, LOLLIA, COLLAQUINTIDA,
_and_ PRECEDENT _aloft_.
FLO. What are you that appear, and what devoir
Draws you within these lists?
EPIRE. I am the Duke of Epire, and the mine,[151]
Which doth attract my spirit to run this marshal[152] course
Is the fair guard of a distressed queen, would wed
To hate and inequality, and brutish force;
Which to withstand I boldly enter thus,
And will defail,[153] or else prove recreant.
FLO. And what are you, or your intendiments?
ALPH. I am Alphonso, marshal of this realm,
Who of like-temper'd thoughts and like desires
Have grounded this my sanctimonious zeal,
And will approve the duke's assertions,
Or in this field lie slain and recreant.
FLO. Enter and prosper, as your cause deserves.
_The cornets sound; and enter at the other end of the_
_stage a Herald, two Pages with [hand-]axes and_
_pole-axes; then the_ KING OF CYPRUS _and_
PHILOCLES, _like combatants, and their array._[154]
CAE. What are you that appear, and what devoir
Draws you within these lists?
CYP. I am the King of Cyprus who, led on
By the divine instinct of heavenly love,
Come with my sword to beg that royal maid,
And to approve by gift of heaven and fate
She is alone to me appropriate:
Which to maintain, I challenge entrance here,
Where I will live a king or recreant.
CAE. And what are you or your intendiments?
PHIL. I am less than my thoughts, more than myself,
Yet nothing but the creature of my fate;
By name my nature only is obscur'd,
And yet the world baptiz'd me Philocles;
My entrance here is proof of holy zeal,
And to maintain that, no severe disdain,
False shape of chastity, nor woman's will,
Neglective petulance or uncertain hope,
Foul-visor'd coyness, nor seducing fame,
Should rob the royal temper of true love
From the desired aim of his desires,
Which my best blood shall witness, or this field
Entomb my body, made a recreant.
CAE. Enter and prosper, as your cause deserves.
[_Draws two swords._
FLO. Princes, lay your hands on these swords' points.
Here you shall swear[155] by hope, by heaven, by Jove,
And by the right you challenge in true fame,
That here you stand not arm'd with any guile,
Malignant hate, or usurpation
Of philters, charms, or night-spells; characters,
Or other black infernal vantages;
But even with thoughts as pure
As your pure valours or the sun's pure beams,
T' approve the right of your[156] affection;
And howsoe'er your fortunes rise or fall,
To break no faith in your conditions.
So help you Jove!
ALL. We swear!
QUEEN. How often do my maiden thoughts correct
And chide my froward will for this extreme
Pursuit of blood! believe me, fain I would
Recall mine oath's vow, did not my shame
Hold fast my cruelty, by which is taught
Those gems are prized best are dearest bought,
Sleep, my love's softness then, waken my flame,
Which guards a vestal sanctity! Princes, behold,
Upon those weapons sits my god of love,
And in their powers my love's security[157].
If them you conquer, we are all your slaves:
If they triumph, we'll mourn upon your graves.
MAR. Now, by my maiden modesty, I wish
Good fortune to that Philocles: my mind
Presages virtue in his eaglet's eyes.
'Sfoot, he looks like a sparrow-hawk or a wanton fire,
A flash of lightning or a glimpse of day:
His eye steals to my heart, and lets it see
More than it would: peace! blab no secrecy;
He must have blows.
FLO. Sound cornets, princes, respect your guards.
[_Here they fight, and_ PHILOCLES _overthrows_
ALPHONSO, _and_ EPIRE _overthrows_ CYPRUS.
PHIL. I crave the queen's conditions, or this blow
Sends this afflicted soul to heaven or hell.
Speak, madam, will you yield, or shall he die?
EPIRE. Neither, bold prince; if thou but touch a hair,
The king's breath shall redeem it: madam, your love
Is safe in angels' guarding; let no fear
Shake hands with doubtfulness: you are as safe
As in a tower of diamonds.
PHIL. O, 'tis but glass,
And cannot bear this axe's massiness.
Duke, thy brave words, that second thy brave deeds,
Fill me with emulation: only we two
Stand equal victors; then if thou hast that tie
And bond of well-knit valour, which unites
Virtue and fame together, let us restore
Our captives unto freedom, and we two
In single combat try out the mastery.
Where whoso falls, each other shall subscribe
To every clause in each condition.
EPIRE. Thou art the index of mine ample thought,
And I am pleas'd with thine election.
Speak, madam, if ever I deserved grace,
Grace me with your consent.
QUEEN. 'Tis all my will.
Thy noble hand erect and perfect me.
PHIL. What says his majesty?
My stars are writ in heaven: nor death nor fate
Are slaves to fear, to hope, or human state.
CYP. I neither fear thy fortune nor my ruin;
But hold them all beyond all prophecy.
Thou hast my free consent, and on thy power
Lies my life's date or my death's hour.
EPIRE. Then rise and live with safety.
PHIL. Alphonso, here my hand,
Thy fortune lends thy peace no infamy.
And now, thou glorious issue of Jove's brain[158],
That burnt the Telamonian ravisher,
Look from thy sphere, and if my heart contain
An impure thought of lust, send thy monsters forth
And make me more than earthly miserable.
[_Here the cornets sound, they fight, and_ PHILOCLES
_overcomes the_ DUKE. _The_ QUEEN
_descends_[159].
PHIL. Yield, recreant[160], or die!
EPIRE. Thine axe hath not the power to wound my thought,
And yields a word my tongue could never sound.
I say thou'rt worthy, valiant, for my death:
Let the queen speak it--'tis an easy breath.
QUEEN. Not for the world's large circuit; hold, gentle prince,
Thus I do pay his ransom: low as the ground,
I tender my unspotted virgin love
To thy great will's commandment: let not my care,
My woman tyranny, or too strict guard,
In bloody purchase take away those sweets
Till now have govern'd your amaz'd desires;
For trust me, king, I will redeem my blame
With as much love as Philocles hath fame.
CYP. Thus comes a calm unto a sea-wreck'd soul,
Ease to the pained, food unto the starv'd,
As you to me, my best creation.
Trust me, my queen; my love's large chronicle
Thou never shalt o'erread, because each day
It shall beget new matter of amaze,
And live to do thee grace eternally.
Next whom my Philocles, my bounteous friend,
Author of life, and sovereign of my love,
My heart shall be thy throne, thy breast the shrine,
Where I will sit to study gratefulness.
To you, and you, my lords, my best of thoughts,
Whose loves have show'd a duteous carefulness;
To all, free thanks and graces. This unity
Of love and kingdoms is a glorious sight.
Mount up the royal champion, music and cornets sound:
Let shouts and cries make heaven and earth rebound. [_Exeunt._
EPIRE. How like the sun's great bastard o'er the world
Rides this man-mounted engine, this proud prince,
And with his breath singes our continents.
Sit fast, proud Phaeton, or[161] by heaven I'll kick
And plunge thee in the sea; if thou'lt needs ride,
Thou shouldst have made thy seat upon a slave,
And not upon mine honour's firmament.
Thou hast not heard the god of wisdom's tale,
Nor can thy youth curb greatness, till my hate
Confound thy life with villain policy.
I am resolv'd, since virtue hath disdain'd
To clothe me in her riches, henceforth to prove
A villain fatal, black and ominous.
Thy virtue is the ground of my dislike;
And my disgrace, the edge of envy's sword,
Which like a razor shall unplume thy crest,
And rob thee of thy native excellence.
When great thoughts give their homage to disgrace,
There's no respect of deeds, time, thoughts, or place.
FOOTNOTES:
[128] Langbaine observes that several incidents in this play are
borrowed from novels, as the story of Mariana swearing Philocles to
be dumb, from Bandello's Novels; Alfonso cuckolding Prate the orator,
and the latter appearing before the council, from the same book. The
English reader may see the same story in, "The Complaisant Companion,"
8o, 1674.
[129] The word _music_ is here inserted in the 4o, 1608, and is
repeated at the commencement of each act.
[130] _'Tis heresy I hold_--edit. of 1608.
[131] [Old copies, _fare see_.]
[132] An old word used by Chaucer, Spenser, Fairfax, and other writers,
signifying a physician.
[133] The entrance of Mariana with the queen, &c., is not mentioned,
though her _exit_ is noticed: by the dialogue, which follows their
departure from the walls, it is evident that she ought to be named,
though hitherto omitted.--_Collier._
[134] Dr Johnson observes that worm is the Teutonic word for serpent;
and Dr Percy, that in the northern counties the same word is still used
in that sense. See their several notes, and also Mr Tollet's to "Antony
and Cleopatra," act v. sc. 2.
[135] [Greater, better.]
[136] [Former edits., _dulat_, which can surely have no meaning.]
[137] If Theobald had been as well read in our ancient dramatic
writers as he pretended to be, he would have produced this passage in
justification of the celebrated line in "The Double Falshood"--
"None but himself can be his parallel."
It is certain, if authorities would sanctify absurdity, he might have
made a better defence against Mr Pope than that which he published. He
might also have quoted the following line from Massinger's "Duke of
Milan," act iv. sc. 3--
"And, but herself, admits no parallel."
[138] [Former edits., _active_.]
[139] [Former edits., _it shows_.]
[140] [Edits., _Majesty's hand_. The emendation was suggested by
Collier.]
[141] There seems no reason for omitting these explanatory matters,
which save a reference to the _Dramatis Personæ_.--_Collier._
[142] [Former edits., _gardens_.]
[143] An ornament for the neck, a collar-band, or kind of ruff. Fr.
_Rabat_.
[144] [Allusively to the enormously high headdress worn by ladies.]
[145] [Old copy, _a_.]
[146] This proverb is also quoted in "The Bloody Banquet," by T.D.,
1639, which Mr Malone [wrongly] gives to R. Davenport--
CLOWN. O, always _the weakest goes to the wall_.
There was a play first printed in 1600, under the title of "The Weakest
goeth to the Wall," the plot of which is taken with much servility
from B. Rich's "Farewell to the Militarie Profession," 1581 and 1606,
which book also furnished Shakespeare with the plot of his "Twelfth
Night."--_Collier._
[147] Fine.
[148] See Mr Collins's note to "Troilus and Cressida," [or Dyce's
"Shakespeare Glossary," art. _Potato_.]
[149] "Skirret, Sisarum, quasi skirwort, _i.e._, sisar-wort.
Tiberii Aug. deliciæ: credo potius a Belg. _suycker-wortel_, idem
signante...."--_Skinner._ Compare Hofman and C. Plinii "Nat. Hist."
lib. xix. c. 5.
[150] [An old form of] _hangs_. See the Glossary to Douglas's "Virgil,"
voce _Hingare_ [or Halliwell's "Dict." in _v._]
[151] The magnet, for in Kent they call the ironstone _mine_, quasi
_mineral_.--_Pegge._
[152] [Martial.]
[153] _i.e._, Prove defective, fail in my strength: _defailler_,
Fr.--_Steevens._
[154] [Edits., _army_; but the king would scarcely bring an army to
such an encounter, even a stage-army.]
[155] When the combat was demanded and allowed, it was the custom for
each party to take an oath to the following purport, viz., "that they
had not brought into the lists other armour or weapon than was allowed,
neither any engine, instrument, _herbe, charm_, or _enchantment_, and
that neither of them should put affiance or trust in anything other
than God and their own valours, as God and the holy Evangelists should
help them."--Segar's "Honour Military, &c.," p. 134.
See also Mr Steevens's note on "Macbeth," act v. sc. 7.
[156] [Old copy, _pure_.]
[157] [Former edits., _severity_.]
[158] _i.e._, Minerva, who killed Ajax Oïleus with a thunderbolt for
ravishing Cassandra in her temple.--_Steevens._
[159] [Both the edits., _defends_.]
[160] [Edits., _recant_.]
[161] [Old copy, _for_.]
ACTUS II., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ PRATE, LOLLIA, COLLAQUINTIDA, _and_
PRECEDENT.
PRATE. Come, wife, methought our party stood stifly to it.
PRE. Indeed they were stiff, whilst they stood; but when they
were down, they were like men of a low world. A man might have
wound their worst anger about his finger.
LOL. Go to, sirrah, you must have your fool's bolt in
everybody's quiver.
PRE. Indeed, mistress, if my master should break his arrow with
foul shooting or so, I would be glad if mine might supply the
hole[162].
PRATE. I find you kind, sir.
PRE. True, sir, according to my kind, and to pleasure my kind
mistress.
PRATE. Go to, sirrah, I will not have your kindness to
intermeddle with her kind; she is meat for your master.
PRE. And your man, sir, may lick your foul trencher.
COL. Ay, but not eat of his mutton.
PRE. Yet I may dip my bread in the wool, Mistress Collaquintida.
PRATE. Go to, sirrah, you will be obscene, and then I shall
knock you. But to the combat. Methought our side were the most
proper men.
LOL. True, and therefore they had the worse fortune: but see,
here's the Lord Florio.
_Enter_ FLORIO.
FLO. Master Orator, it is the king and queen's majesties'
pleasure that you presently repair unto the court, touching the
drawing out of certain articles for the benefit of both the
kingdoms.
PRATE. My lord, I will instantly attend their majesties.
FLO. Do, for they expect you seriously. [_Exit_ FLORIO.
PRATE. Wife, you can have my service no longer. Sirrah
Precedent, attend you upon your mistress home; and, wife, I
would have you to hold your journey directly homeward, and
not to imitate princes in their progress; step not out of
your way to visit a new gossip, to see a new garden-house, to
smell the perfumes of court jerkins, or to handle other tools
than may be fit for your modesty. I would not have you to step
into the suburbs, and acquaint yourself either with monsters
or motions[163], but holding your way directly homeward, show
yourself still to be a rare housewife.
LOL. I' faith, i' faith, your black outside will have a yellow
lining[164].
PRATE. Content thee, wife, it is but my love that gives thee
good counsel. But here comes one of my clients.
_Enter_ DRAP, _a country gentleman_.
DRAP. Sir, master orator, I am bold to trouble you about my
suit.
PRATE. Sir, master country gentleman, I am now for present
business of the king's.
DRAP. You may the better remember me.
PRATE. Heyday! I shall mix your business with the king's?
DRAP. No, but you may let his majesty know my necessity.
PRATE. Sir, sir, you must not confine me to your seasons. I
tell you, I will select[165] mine own leisures.
_Enter_ VELOURS, _a citizen_.
VEL. Master orator, is it your pleasure I attend you about my
despatches?
PRATE. Sir, it is my pleasure you despatch yourself from mine
encumbrance; I tell you, I am for instant business of the
king's.
VEL. Sir, I have borne my attendance long.
PRATE. Bear it till your bones ache, I tell you; I cannot bear
it now, I am for new business.
DRAP _and_ VEL. Yet the old should be despatched; it was first
paid for.
PRATE. If you be gentlemen, do not make me mad.
DRAP _and_ VEL. Sir, our suits are of great weight.
PRATE. If you be Christians, do not make me an atheist. I shall
profane if you vex me thus.
_Enter the_ LORD MECHANT.
What, more vexation? My lord, my lord, save your breath for
your broth; I am not now at leisure to attend you.
MECH. A word, good master orator.
PRATE. Not a word, I beseech your lordship. I am for the king's
business; you must attend me at my chamber. [_Exit_ PRATE.
MECH., DRAP, _and_ VEL. And everywhere else: we will not leave
you. [_Exeunt._
PRE. Now (methinks) my master is like a horse-leech, and these
suitors so many sick of the gout, that come to have him suck
their blood. O, 'tis a mad world!
LOL. Go to, sirrah, you will never leave your crabtree similes;
but, pity of me, whom have we here?
_Enter_ ALPHONSO.
O, 'tis the Lord Alphonso.
ALPH. Mistress, God save: nay, your lip, am I[166] a stranger,
and how doth Mistress Collaquintida? O, you are an excellent
seasoner of city stomachs.
COL. Faith, my lord, I have done my best to make somebody
relish your sweetmeats. But harkee you, my lord, I have struck
the stroke, I have done the deed; there wants nothing but time,
place, and her consent.
ALPH. Call you that nothing?
COL. A trifle, a trifle; upon her, my lord; she may seem a
little rough at the first, but if you stand stiffly to her,
she'll fall. A word with you, Master Precedent. [_They whisper._
ALPH. Mistress Prate, I am a soldier, and can better act my
love than speak it. My suit you know by your neighbour, my love
you shall prove by my merit; to both which my tokens have been
petty witnesses; and my body shall seal and deliver upon thee
such a brave confirmation, that not all the orators in Sicily
shall be able to cancel the deed.
LOL. Truly, my lord, methinks you, being witty, should be
honest.
ALPH. Nay, wench, if I were a fool, there's no question but I
would be honest; but to the purpose; say, wench, shall I enjoy,
shall I possess?
LOL. To enjoy my love, is not to possess my body.
ALPH. Tut, wench, they be words of one signification, and
cannot be separated.
LOL. Nay, then, I should wrong my husband.
ALPH. 'Sfoot, thou shouldst but do for him as he does for the
whole world. Why, an orator were a needless name, if it were
not to defend wrong; then, wench, do as he doth, write by a
precedent.
LOL. O, my lord, I have a husband,
A man whose waking jealousy survives,
And like a lion, sleeps with open eyes;
That not a minute of mine hours are free
From the intelligence of his secret spies.
I am a very covert[167] Danae,
Thorough whose roof suspicion will not let
Gold showers have passage, nor can I deceive
His Argus eyes with any policy:
And yet I swear I love you.
ALPH. Dearest[168] affection! if thou lov'st me, as thou say'st
thou dost,
Thou canst invent some means for our delight.
The rather sith it ever hath been said
That walls of brass withstand not willing minds:
And women, when they're prone, make love admir'd
For quaint endeavours: come, instruct thy wit,
And find some scale to our high height of bliss.
LOL. Then briefly thus, my lord.
To-morrow doth the senate sit to judge
Causes both criminal and of the state;
Where of necessity my husband's place
Must be fill'd by himself, because his tongue
Must gild his clients' causes. Now if you please
All that self-hour, when he is turmoiled
About those serious trifles, to vouchsafe
To visit me, his absence and my care
Shall give us liberty of more delight.
You know my meaning, and I am asham'd
My love should thus betray my modesty;
But make the use according to your fancy.
ALPH. What hour assures his absence?
LOL. Eight is the latest time.
ALPH. This kiss [shall] leave[169] my faith with thee: farewell.
Thou hast given me double glory from thy breath,
Nothing shall lose me time but certain death.
[_Exit_ ALPHONSO.
PRE. Truly, Mistress Collaquintida, you are an excellent piece
of sweet gall.
LOL. Well, sir, will you lead the way homeward?
PRE. To your bed-chamber, mistress, or your privy lodging?
[_Exeunt._
_Enter_ PHILOCLES _alone_.
PHIL. Night clad in black mourns for the loss of day,
And hides the silver spangles of the air,
That not a spark is left to light the world;
Whilst quiet sleep, the nourisher of life,
Takes full possession of mortality.
All creatures take their rest in soft repose,
Save malcontents and we accursed lovers,
Whose thoughts perturbed make us passion's slaves,
And rob us of the juice of happiness.
Dear Mariana, shap'd in an angel's mould,
Thou thrall'st my senses, and inflam'st my blood:
Love's power by wisdom cannot be withstood.
But see, the morning-star breaks from the east,
To tell the world her great eye[170] is awak'd,
To take his journey to the western vales:
And now the court begins to rise with him.
[_Here pass over the stage a physician,
a gentleman-usher, and a waiting-maid._
There goes the physician, the waiting-maid,
And a fine, straight-legg'd gentleman-usher.
The preface to a kirtle all puff-paste;
One that writes sonnets in his lady's praise,
And hides her crimes with flattering poesy.
_Enter_ MARIANA.
But peace! amazement! see the day of life,
Nature's best work, the world's chief paragon!
Madam, one word.
MAR. Ay; so now, farewell.
PHIL. You do mistake me.
MAR. That yourself can tell.
You ask'd me one word, which I gave, said _ay_;
A word of least use in a virgin's breath,[171]
Urge not my patience then with fond reply.
PHIL. Dear lady, lend an ear unto my voice,
Since each were made for other's happiness:
My tongue's not oil'd with courtly flatterings,
Nor can I paint my passions to the life;
But by that power which shap'd this heavenly form,
I am your bondslave forc'd by love's command;
Then let soft pity with such beauty dwell,
Madam, I love you.
MAR. As I am a virgin, so do I.
PHIL. But, madam, whom?
MAR. Myself no lady better.
PHIL. But will you love me?
MAR. No, by my chastity.
PHIL. I hope you do but jest.
MAR. Nay, I'll keep mine oath,
Men shall abandon pride and jealousy
Ere I'll be bound to their captivity:
They shall live continent, and leave to range,
But men (like to the moon) each month must change;
Yet we must seek that nought their sight displeases,
And mix our wedlock sweets with loath'd diseases;
When we consume ourselves and our best beauty,
All our reward is--why, 'twas but our duty.
PHIL. Judge not so hard of all for some offenders;
For you are subject to the selfsame crimes,
Of men and women always have been had
Some good of each----
MAR. But for the most part bad:
Therefore I'll have none at all, but die a perfect maid.
PHIL. That humour like a flower soon will fade;
Once did mine own thoughts sing to that delight,
Till love and you reform'd my barbarousness:
Therefore, dear lady, pity my wounded heart.
MAR. A surgeon here for this love-wounded man!
How deep's your ulcer'd orifice, I pray you tell?
PHIL. Quite thorough my heart.
MAR. 'Tis strange, and look so well!
Yet ladies' eyes have power to murder men,
And with one smile to make them whole again.
Achilles' lance to a hair; but do you love me, prince?
PHIL. Dearer than my soul.
MAR. Would I could love you!
PHIL. Madam, so you may.
MAR. As yet I cannot: therefore let me go.
PHIL. O, do not leave me, grant me but one request,
And here I vow by that divinest power,
The salt-sea's glorious issue, whose bright sphere
Rules my sick heart, and knows my chaste intent,
That if you please to impose on me that task
Which neither man nor monster can achieve,
Which even angels have a dread to touch,
Deeds which outstretch all possibility,
'Sfoot, more than can be thought--and I'll effect,
Or else I'll perish in th' accomplishment.
MAR. Let your request fit virgin-modesty,
And you obey your vow, I am content
To give your thoughts contented happiness.
PHIL. 'Tis but a kiss I ask, a minute's joy.
MAR. Now Cupid help thee; is thy grief for this?
Keep thy strong vow, and freely take a kiss. [_He kisses her._
PHIL. I have obtain'd my heaven, and in this touch
I feel the breath of all deliciousness:
Then freely give the sentence of my work,
Muster up all the engines of your wit,
Teach Juno rules beyond maliciousness;
Whate'er it be, I'll die but I'll perform it.
MAR. Thou shalt not kill thyself, nor fight with monsters,
Nor bring the great Turk's beard[172] to show thy zeal:
Thy life thou shalt not hazard for my love,
Nor will I tie thee to an endless task:
But even with ease and gentle-tangled knots,
Thou shalt entwine thy clue of miseries.
PHIL. Let it have passage, madam: give me my doom.
MAR. Then, Philocles, knit silence to my words,
And mark thy doom; for thus my stricter will
Loads grief upon thy vainer levity.
Hence, for the space and compass of one year,
Thou shalt abjure the liberty of speech;
Thou shalt not speak for fully twelvemonth's space,
For friend nor foe, for danger nor for death;
But live, like air, with silent emptiness.
Break thou this vow, I'll hold thee for a villain:
And all the world shall know thy perjury.
PHIL. Be heaven and earth a witness of my vow
And mine eternal silence!--I am dumb.
MAR. Why so, now shall I not be troubled with vain chat
Or idle prate of idle wantonness:
For love I cannot, therefore 'tis in vain;
Would all my suitors' tongues I thus could rein!
Then should I live free from feign'd sighs and groans,
With, _O, take pity, 'tis your servant moans_,
And such harsh stuff, that frets me to the heart;
And sonnets made of Cupid's burning dart,
Of Venus' lip, and Juno's majesty;
Then were I freed from fools and foolery.
In May the cuckoo sings: then she'll come hither.
Her voice and yours will rarely tune together.
[_Exit_ MARIANA.
_Enter_ FLORIO.
FLO. Prince Philocles, the king would speak with you.
[_Speaks louder and louder._
Prince Philocles, the king would speak with you.
Prince Philocles, the king would speak with you.
[PHILOCLES _strikes_ FLORIO, _and fells him_.
FLO. The pox rot off your fingers for this blow!
It is coronation-day thorough all my skull,
There's such a fatal ringing in my brain:
H' has won the set, has laid five fingers on:
But 'twas a knavish part of him to play so.
Hear me, ye gods: for this my open wrong,
Make short his fingers, as you have his tongue.
[_Exit_ FLORIO.
_Enter_ MECHANT _alone_.
MECH. 'Tis not man's fortune, envy, or neglect,
Which makes him miserable; but 'tis mean fate,
Even sole predestination, a firm gift
Fix'd to his birth, before the world was made.
For were it otherwise, then within our lives
We should find some distractions, various[173] change.
And other toys of much uncertainty:
But my mishaps are fix'd so to my blood,
They have no sire but my creation:
The queen, out of suspicion that my love
First set an edge upon the king's desires,
And made him woo her with a victor's sword.
Cast me from favour, seizes all my lands,
And turns my naked fortunes to the cold.
The king, made proud with purchase of his wish,
Neglects my sufferance for him, and o'erlooks
The low tide of my fortunes; lest my woes
Should speak my wrongs to his ingratitude:
The whilst those lords, whose supple hams have bow'd
To do me formal reverence, now despise
And slight me in their meanest compliments.
O, 'tis a torment more than hell yet knows,
To be an honest flatterer, or to live
A saint in limbo, which that I may prevent,
I'll be nor best nor worst, but all indifferent,
But here comes a nobleman; I must turn petitioner.
_Enter_ FLORIO.
My lord, may I not see the king?
FLO. You may not.
His majesty is now down-press'd with seriousness:
As for your suit, it is with Prate the orator,
I heard his highness give him a special charge
For your despatch with favour.
MECH. O, but he doth neglect,
And slights me like his weak orations:
And by your lordship's leave I do not think
His wisdom worthy of the conference.
FLO. Nay, if you will correct the king's coin, you are not for
my conference, farewell.
[_Exit_ FLORIO.
MECH. Why, and fare you well! sfoot, this is more than strange,
That, being griev'd, I may not say I'm pain'd.
_Enter_ ALPHONSO.
But here comes another: mine honourable lord,
May I not have some conference with the king?
ALPH. You may not; business of greater weight
Imports both him and us: nay, pray you cease;
As for your suit, 'tis with the orator.
MECH. Yet, methinks, 'twere meet------
ALPH. That you would rather trouble him than me.
MECH. It's strange.
ALPH. It's strange, indeed, to see you wrong your ease.
I am not now for idle conferences. Adieu.
[_Exit_ ALPHONSO.
MECH. Why this is court-grace[174] to men in misery,
And thus these tail-less lions with their roar
Affright the simple herd: O, I could now
Turn rebel 'gainst their pride.
_Enter_ EPIRE.
But here comes the duke:
My gracious lord, vouchsafe to hear my griefs.
EPIRE. For God's love, cease your trouble, we are all
Troubled with griefs of stranger qualities.
MECH. Words are no heavy burthen.
EPIRE. No, had I no other weight;
But we are all press'd down with other poise:
As for your suit, it is referr'd to Prate:
And he must give you fair despatch with favour;
Which if he slight for envy or for bribe,
Repair to me, and I will not forget
To give you ease, and chide his negligence;
Mean space, I pray you leave me, for we all
Are troubled now with greatest miracles.[175]
MECH. Your grace doth do me comfort, and I will
Study with service to deserve your favours,
And so I take my leave. [_Exit_ MECHANT.
_Enter two_ DOCTORS.
EPIRE. Your own contentments follow you.
Now, gentlemen,
What news within? can this dumb wonder speak?
Have you cut off those lets that tied his speech,
And made your fames to sound through Sicily?
1ST DOC. All hopeful means that man or art can find
Have we made trial of, but 'tis in vain:
For still, my lord, the cure's invincible.
2D DOC. Those organs nature gave to move the tongue,
He fully doth possess as well as we:
Which makes us think his sudden apoplexy
Is either will, vow, or a miracle.
EPIRE. I should think strangely, had we not stranger things
On earth; but wonders[176] now are most familiar:
But here comes his majesty. Now we shall see
If this dumb beast can speak before the king.
_Cornets, and enter_ CYPRUS, QUEEN, PHILOCLES,
MARIANA, _and attendants_.
CYP. My best of friends, my dearest Philocles,
Thy griefs run in my spirit, make me sad,
And dull my sense with thine affliction.
My soul with thine doth sympathise in woe,
And passion governs him that should rule all,
[PHILOCLES _does not reply_.
What say you, doctors, is there no hope of help?
1ST DOC. No hope, my lord; the cure is desperate.
CYP. Then I am king of grief; for in his words
Found I more music than in choirs of angels.
It was as silver, as the chime of spheres,
The breath of lutes, or love's deliciousness:
Next to my queen, he is my joy on earth:
Nor shall the world contain that happy good,
Which with my tears I will not woo for him.
My Lord of Epire, let it be straight proclaim'd
Through all the cities in our kingdom's verge,
That whoso will avow to cure this prince,
And bring his work to wish'd effectualness,
Shall have ten thousand crowns and our best love;
But if he fail in his great enterprise,
His daring is the loss of present life.
Since no man hitherto could do him good,
The next shall help him, or else lose his blood.
EPIRE. Your majesty shall have your will perform'd.
MAR. Not all so soon, dear brother; what, if a woman
Now should turn Æsculapius, and restore
This dumb Hippolitus? Nay, do not look strange,
I dare avow and undertake the cure.
EPIRE. You, sister! are you in your wits?
MAR. Faith, of the outside of them, brother; yet a woman's tongue,
Whose burthen still is superfluity,
May lend a man an age's complement.
CYP. Madam, I would not have you, with the lark,
Play yourself into dare-net;[177] this great cure,
I fear, is far beyond your physic's help.
MAR. My lord, you know not how Apollo loves me;
I have been thought as fair as Oenon was,
And dare be bold to claim this miracle.
CYP. Mariana, attend;
Glory and ruin compass thee about.
This hand shall raise thee to a golden throne,
And grace thee with all styles of dignity:
This cast thee down
Lower than life's misfortune, and overwhelm
Thy beauties with thy grave. Perform--be great:
Fail, and be worse than worst calamity.
QUEEN. Stay, gentle friend, my love doth bid thee stay;
Attempt not, and be safe from misery.
EPIRE. Sister, you shall not grasp with mischief thus;
My blood doth challenge interest in your ill,
And I conjure you from this desperateness.
MAR. Brother, content yourself, words but augment our strife;
I will perform, or else my pawn's my life.
CYP. Proceed, fair virgin.
MAR. Vouchsafe me privacy: now Venus bespeed.
[_She walks aside with_ PHILOCLES.
Speak, gentle Philocles, thine oath's bond I untie,
And give thy vows a free enfranchisement;
Thy well-kept league hath show'd thy strength of truth,
And doth confirm me in thy[178] virtuousness:
Thy martyrdom and sufferance is too long,
And I restore it to new liberty.
Then speak, my Philocles, speak, gentle prince,
To her whose love respects and honours thee.
CYP. How now, what virtue from thy charms?
MAR. No hope is left!
Dear Philocles, regard my miseries,
Untie that wilful let which holds in speech,
And make me happy through thy noble pity.
I see the face of mine ill-shaped contempt,
Where like with like hath quit most injury:
Then speak, my lord: utter one angel breath
To give me joy, and save me from strange death.
What, not a word! hath this small silence brought
An utter detestation to thy speech?
Wilt thou not hear, nor speak, nor pity me?
The gentle gods move thee to more remorse.
CYP. What, wilt not be?
Fond maid, thou hast drawn affliction on thy head,
And thrall'd thyself to worse calamity:
Till morrow's sun thy incantations use,
But, then effectless, all hope's desperate:
Wert thou my bosom-love, thou di'st the death;
Best ease for madness is the loss of breath.
[_Exeunt all but_ PHILOCLES _and_ MARIANA.
MAR. O Philocles, I am no court's disgrace,
No city's prostitution, country's shame,
Nor one shall bring Troy's fire unto thy house:
Turn not away, hard-hearted myrmidon.
See, on my knees I'll follow thee in court,
And make the world condemn thy cruelty.
Yet if my tears may mollify thy heart,
Receive them as the flood of strangest tides;
Turn not thy face from her that doats on thee.
Love now hath made me subject to thy will,
And pale disdain hath ta'en revenge on me.
Behold, my knees[179] I'll wear upon this earth,
And fill this roof with lamentations.
What! dost thou smile I hath fury so much sway
As even to banish poor civility?
Then be thyself, and break thine itching spleen;
For I disdain thy ransom's victory.
Life, thou art weary brought: welcome my death,
Sweet, because wish'd-for, good, because my choice:]
Yet when I am dead, this of me shall be said,
A cruel prince murder'd a loving maid;
And after-ages to th' unborn shall tell
Thy hate, my love: thy envy and my hell.
Nay, do not speak, I charge thee: go, let nothing move thee,
Death is my glory, since thou wilt not love me. [_Exeunt._
FOOTNOTES:
[162] [Edits., _whole_.]
[163] _i.e._, Puppet-shows.
[164] [Alluding to his jealousy.]
[165] [Old copy, _collect_.]
[166] [Edits., _I am_. He kisses her.]
[167] The edition of 1608 reads _toward_, which may be right. The
edition of 1633 reads _coward_; but probably _covert_ is the correct
word.--_Collier._
[168] [Edits., _death of_, which is assuredly nonsense.]
[169] The metre, and sense also, would be improved could any warrant be
found for reading, _This kiss shall leave_, &c.--_Collier._
[170] [The sun, the eye of the world.]
[171] [In reference to the saying that maidens always say _nay_.]
[172] _Bird_ in the first edit., showing how the word was then
pronounced.--_Collier._
[173] [Edits., _errors_.]
[174] [A play on the double meaning of the word.]
[175] [The speaker refers, as we shall presently see, to the
newly-feigned dumbness of Philocles.]
[176] [Edits. read--
"I should think strangely, had we strange things on earth.
But wonders now," &c.]
[177] The quartos, _day-net_, we should read _dare net_. Surrey, in
"Henry VIII," act iii. sc. 3, says: "And _dare_ us with his cap-like
larks." See Blome's "Gentleman's Recreation."--_Pegge._ [See also
Dyce's "Shakespeare Glossary," _v._ Dare.]
[178] [Edits., _my_.]
[179] [Edits., _nerves_.]
ACTUS III., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter the_ DUKE OF EPIRE _and_ ALPHONSO.
EPIRE. Grief, which controls the motions of our thoughts,
Reigns in my blood, and makes me passion's slave.
My sister's misery torments my soul,
And breaks my gall, when I but think of her:
She was bewitch'd with spells to her misfortune,
Or else born hapless under a low'ring star,
And 'tis her fate to be thus miserable.
O Philocles, hadst thou no other scale
To mount thy heaven but by our miseries?
Must all the noble fame of our great house
Waste down her royal pillars, to make steps
For thee to climb to glory? Well, I see
Thou plott'st our shames in thy great dignity.
ALPH. Patience, great lord; methinks these ill-rais'd
storms Have not more violence than may be borne:
Come, we will both go sue unto the king,
We there will kneel and pray eternally,
And never rise till he remit his doom.
It shall be so, I will unto the king,
To beg great favour for a small offence:
But if she die for this, then, king, take heed:
Thou[180] and thy fortunes by this hand shall bleed. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ CHIP, SHAVING, _and others with a scaffold_.
CHIP. Come, my hearts, let's make all things ready for the
execution; here's a maidenhead must be cut off without a
feather-bed.
SHA. It's a sign she deals with sharp tools and a cruel
headsman.
CHIP. If I had been her judge, she should have been tossed to
death in a blanket.
SHA. No, I would have had her smothered in a feather-bed.
CHIP. They say she would not plead at her trial.
SHA. No, that's true, for she had a great desire to be
pressed.[181]
CHIP. And I have known some of her sex have got that favour to
be pressed for speaking.
SHA. Then she was unwise to hold her tongue, being a woman.
CHIP. What is her crime, that she must lose her head?
SHA. Because she lived honest, contrary to the statute.
CHIP. There is a great number of my neighbours will never
suffer for that fault.
SHA. No, nor thou neither, if the truth were known; for my part
I shun that danger.
CHIP. I think we are all out of danger of the law for that
crime.
SHA. I know I am free, for I am a knave, if I have not forgot
what wench had my maidenhead.
_Enter_ FLORIO.
FLO. Make room there: his majesty is coming to the execution.
CHIP. Come, now all things are ready, let's away. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ EPIRE _and_ ALPHONSO.
EPIRE. Mercy is banish'd courts; the king, like flint,
Hardens his royal temper 'gainst our 'plaints,
And makes our woes most unavoidable.
What inauspicious star reign'd at her birth,
That heaven thus frowns upon her misery?
And, my good lord, now innocence must die,
As white as untrod snow or culver down.[182]
Kings' words are laws, and cannot be withstood;
Yet 'tis false greatness, which delights in blood.
ALPH. Patience, my lord; I do not think this ill
Is yet so big, as [to be] unrecoverable.
The king doth hold you in most choice respect,
And whom kings love, they study to oblige;
Then call your reason home, make not this civil war,
To suffer makes woes lesser than they are.
EPIRE. How well the sound can salve[183] the sick man's grief!
But O, how ill he can digest his pills![184]
O my good lord, you shall not lose a sister,
That is the joy and comfort of your breath;
Tis not your blood shall issue from her wound;
But mine that runs in rivers from her tears,
And drown my face in her calamity.
Well, let her perish, since her soul is clear,
And for her death I'll make a massacre.
_Enter_ CYPRUS, QUEEN, PHILOCLES, MARIANA
_bound, a guard of halberts, and an executioner_.
CYP. Your suits are bootless: for my vows have glued
And clos'd mine ears, that they retain no sound
Of your entreaties; and even now the time
Doth run upon his latest minutes, and
Save but by speech, there's no recovery.
QUEEN. Have mercy, good my lord: O, let my tears intrude
Betwixt your vows and her calamity:
In her you take from me my best of life,
My joy, my comfort, and my playfellow.
CYP. Content you, madam, for my vow is past,
And is like fate still unrevocable:
Ascend, poor model of calamity.
MAR. As lightly burden'd with the weight of crimes,
As spotless infants or poor harmless lambs,
Thus I ascend my heaven. This first step lower
Mounts to this next; this thus and thus[185] hath brought
My body's frame unto its highest throne:
Here doth her office end, and hence my soul
With golden wings of thought shall mount the sky,
And reach a palace[186] of pure sanctity.
Farewell, my sovereign! Madam, within your thoughts
Make me a tomb, and love my memory.
Brother, farewell; nay, do not mourn my death,
It is not I that die to spot our house,
Or make you live in after-obloquy.
Then weep no more, but take my last adieu:
My virtues, not my faults, preserve with you.
Lastly, to you that are my last of hope--
Nay, do not hide your eyes, I love them still,
To part friends now is greatest charity.
O, be thy days as fruitful in delights,
As Eden in choice flowers: thine honours such
As all the world may strive to imitate.
Be master of thy wishes: only this,
When the sad nurse, to still the wrangling babe,
Shall sing the careful story of my death,
Give me a sigh from thy heart's purest breath:
And so farewell.
EXE. Madam, kneel here; forgive me for your death.
MAR. With all my heart, thou art but law's poor hand.
Thus to my death I bow, and yet arise;
Angels, protect my spirit in the skies. [_He offers to strike._
PHIL. Hold, or thine hand shall be thine own destruction!
CYP. Never did music sound with better voice!
Unbind the lady.
FLO. The fear of death hath brought her to a swoon.
CYP. Endeavour her recovery.
EPIRE. Sister, dear sister, call thy spirits back:
Sister, O sister! hearken to my woes,
Recover breath, and live with happiness.
QUEEN. She stirs; give way to air, that she may breathe:
Speak, Mariana, thy woes are cancelled.
MAR. You are not charitable unto my moans,
Thus to afflict me with a double punishment.
One death for one poor fault might well suffice:
They are most wretched who twice live and die.
PHIL. Madam, to save your life, I kill my soul,
And speckle that which was immaculate.
Black perjury, that open-ey'd disease,
Which is the plague-sore of society,
Brands me with mischief, and protests I hold
Nothing within me but unworthiness:
And all these ills are your creation.
MAR. Which to wash off, lo, here I yield myself
An humble sacrifice to love and thee:
All my best hopes, my fortunes and my love,
My faith, my service, and my loyalty,
Shall as thy slaves attend on thy commands,
And make me famous in thy[187] suffrages.
CYP. Receive her, Philocles, for it pleaseth us.
PHIL. But not me, my thrice-royal sovereign;
I'd rather wed a sooty blackamore,
A leper, monster, incubus, or hag:
A wretch deform'd in nature, loath'd of men.
Than her that hath bemonster'd my pure soul.
Her scorn and pride had almost lost her life;
A maid so faulted seldom proves good wife.
QUEEN. What is the reason you not love her now,
And were so passionate in love before?
PHIL. Not that I love her less, but rather more,
Run I this backward course; only my vow
Sith unperform'd craves satisfaction:
Which thus I reconcile: when this fair maid
Shall with as strong a love, as firm a zeal,
A faith as constant, and a shame as strong,
Requite my care, and show as ample proof
In mine extremes, as I have in her death,
Then will I love, enjoy, and honour her;
Till when I will not think a loving thought,
Or give the easy temper of my mind
To lovesick passion or deliciousness;
Only with those which do adore the sun,
I'll give her all respect and reverence.
MAR. I am well pleas'd, and with a doubtful foe
You have good reason thus to capitulate:
Then hang your colours forth, extend your thought.
Muster your strongest powers of strictest wit;
And when your reason's best artillery's bent,
Love not my love, if't be not excellent.
CYP. I have not seen a war breed better wit.
Or passion draw on more delightfulness:
Proceed in your contention, for we boast,
That love is best which is approved most.
But now to revels, since our tragic scene
Is turn'd to comic mirthful constancy;
Instead of mourning, we will dance and banquet,
And fill our empty veins with all delights:
For oft we find that storms and sorrows prove
The best forerunners of a happy love.
[_Exeunt all but_ EPIRE.
EPIRE. He will, but he will not: loves, but cannot like.
Will and affection in this prince are like
Two buckets, which do never both ascend;
Or those star-twins which shine out in one sphere.
O Philocles, I see thy soul grows fat,
And feeds upon the glories of thy[188] fame;
But I'll forestall thine epileptic fits;
And by my plots breed thy destruction.
Revenge now rules as sovereign of my blood,
And others' ruins shall advance my good,
Which once attain'd to, I will prove ambitious,
Great men, like gods, are ne'er thought vicious.
Now, Philocles, stand fast; king, guard thy crown,
For by this brain you both shall tumble down. [_Exit._
_Enter_ VELOURS _and_ DRAP, PRECEDENT _sitting at_
_his desk_.
VEL. This is his chamber; let's enter, here's his clerk.
PRE. _Fondling, said she, since I have hemm'd thee here,_
_Within the circuit of this ivory pale._[189]
DRAP. I pray you, sir, help us to the speech of your master.
PRE. _I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer:_
He is very busy in his study.
_Feed where thou wilt, in mountain or on dale:_
Stay awhile, he will come out anon.
_Graze on my lips, and when those mounts are dry,_
_Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie._
Go thy way, thou best book in the world!
VEL. I pray you, sir, what book do you read?
PRE. A book that never an orator's clerk in this kingdom but is
beholden unto; it is called "Maids' Philosophy, or Venus and
Adonis." Look you, gentlemen, I have divers other pretty books.
DRAP. You are very well-stored, sir; but I hope your master
will not stay long.
PRE. No, he will come presently.
_Enter_ MECHANT.
VEL. Whom have we here? another client, sure.
Crows flock to carcases: O, 'tis the Lord Mechant.
MECH. Save you, gentlemen; sir, is your master at any leisure?
PRE. _Here sit thee down, where never serpent hisses,_
_And being set, I'll smother thee with kisses._[190]
His businesses yet are many, you must needs attend awhile.
MECH. We must attend; umph! even snails keep state,
When with slow thrust their horns peep forth the gate.
We must attend! 'tis custom's fault, not mine,
To make men proud, on whom great favours shine:
Tis somewhat 'gainst my nature to attend,
But when we must, we must be patient;
A man may have admittance to the king
As soon as to these long-robes, and as cheap.
Come, gentlemen, shall we walk?
Thus are the pavement-stones before the doors
Of these great tongue-gilt orators worn smooth
With clients dancing 'fore[191] them.
VEL. It's strange to see how the world waits upon them: therein
they are the only men now.
MECH. O, only; they of all men in request.
Your physician is the lawyer for your health,
And moderates unruly humours best.
Others are nobody compar'd with him:
For all men neglect their health in regard of their profit.
DRAP. True, and that's it makes these men grow so fat--
Swell with rich purchases?
MECH. Yea, with golden fees
And golden titles too; they can work miracles,
And, like creators, even of empty nothing
Erect a world of goodly livings, fair demesnes
And gallant manors, heap'd one on another.
VEL. They gain indeed excessively, and are not like us citizens,
Expos'd to hazard of the seas and traffic.
MECH. Why, here's a fellow now, this orator,
Even Prate--you would little think it, his father was
An honest proiner[192] of our country vines;
Yet he's shot to his foot-cloth[193].
DRAP. O, he is! he proined him well, and brought him up to learning.
MECH. Faith, reasonable learning; a smattering in the Latin tongue.
A little rhetoric, with wrangling sophistry,
Were his preparatives unto his art.
VEL. After these preparatives (if you call them so)
The physic wrought well; for a few years' practice
Brought him in wondrous credit, and preferments
Came tumbling in: O, such a sudden rise
Hath Fortune for her minions! blame him not then,
Though he look high on't.
MECH. Nay, for his pride, of weaker souls term'd state,
It hurts none but himself.
DRAP. Yet to my seeming it is very strange,
That from so base beginning men can breathe
Such soaring fames.
MECH. Strange! it's not strange a whit,
Dunghills and marish bogs dart store of vapours
And viscous exhalations against heaven,
Which borrowing lustre there (though basely bred)
Seem yet like glorious planets, fairest stars,
To the weak eyes of wond'ring ignorance,
When wise men know they are but meteors.
But here comes the orator.
_Enter_ PRATE.
PRATE. What, Precedent, I say!
Come and attend me to the senate-house.
PRE. I am ready, sir; if you have _copia verborum_,
I have _copia rerum_, in a buckram bag here.
PRATE. Your lordship's pleasure!
MECH. Master orator, 'tis not unknown--my suit--
PRATE. Nay, your lordship must be brief, I'll not attend
The shallow sleight of words--your suit, your suit.
MECH. The restoration of my lands and honours.
PRATE. They are confiscate.
MECH. My lands confiscate, and my body free?
PRATE. My lord, my lord, the queen's more merciful.
MECH. Sir, you forget my place.
PRATE. Sir, you forget your faith:
'Twas known unto the queen, the state, and us,
Your malcontented spirit, your disease in duty,
Your diligent perturbance of the peace!
Your passages, occurrences, and--
MECH. Sir!
PRATE. Sir me no sirs,
Do not I know you were the chief of those,
Which rais'd the war in Sicil? and long since
Wrought in the king's laws[194] bloody business?
Did not you hold fair quarter and commerce
With all the spies of Cyprus? fie, I am asham'd
Blind impudence should make you be so bold,
To bear your face before authority.
MECH. But hear me.
PRATE. I will hear no reply;
Go home, repent, pray, and die.
Come, gentlemen, what's your businesses?
VEL. Your confirmation to his highness' grant touching our
trade with Spain, in which if it please you to assist us, we
have a thousand crowns which shall attend you.
PRATE. O, I have you in my memory: the suit is great, and I
must squeeze forth more than a thousand crowns. [_Aside._]
Well, attend me to the senate; you shall have fair despatches.
[_Exeunt all but_ MECHANT.
MECH. _I'll not attend the shallow sleight of words,_
_Go home, repent, pray, and die!_
Excellent precepts for an orator's chamber.
Where speech must bathe a handful deep in gold,
Till, the poor giver's conduit being dry,
The wretch goes home, doth curse, repent, and die.
It is thy counsel, orator, thy stale[195] breath,
Good only but to season infamy,
But[196] this reproach, this uncaressing humour
Hath taught my soul a new philosophy.
I will go home, and there repent all good
Done to thy name or thy profession;
I will go home, and there new-frame myself
More thirstily pernicious to thy state
Than war or unabated mutiny.
As for my prayers, orator, they are for thee.
Thou hast a pretty, lovely, witty wife:
O, may'st thou live both to be known and know
Thyself the greatest cuckold in our land;
And yet not dare to amend or grieve at it!
May'st thou embrace thy shame with thankful arms,
Hug thy disgrace, make thy black poison wine,
And cap and crouch to thy dishonour!
May thy remembrance live, upon my knees I pray,
All night in bellmen's mouths, with Pasquil[197] in the day!
[_Retires._
_Enter_ ALPHONSO _unbraced_.
ALPH. Day be my speed, night shall not cloak my sin,
If I have nought to do, it's by the sun,
The light gives leave to all mine idleness.
Quick business and ope eyes seize on mine orator,
Whilst I create him horny precedents.
_Enter_ COLLAQUINTIDA.
But here's my bed-broker. Now, my great armful of good
intelligence, where is my mistress?
COL. Fast locked in her bed, with a close ward to devour thee,
my brave Paraquito:[198] but hush! no words; there is a calm
before the tempest.
ALPH. Tut, tell me of no storms; but direct me to her
bed-chamber, my noble firelock of a flesh pistol.
COL. Follow thy colours, my brave worthy, mount up thy
standard: so enter and prosper.
[_She puts_ ALPHONSO _into the orator's house_.
Thou hast a rich room, safe locks, sweet sheets, a choice
armful, with, O, the rare, rare thought of imagination.
MECH. What's this, what's this? Doth this Lord Alphonso turn
the orator to an antelope? 'Tis more than excellent,
And from the juice of this despite I suck
Delight more great than all my miseries.
Observe, dear eyes, observe. [_Aside._
COL. Nay, go thy way for a camel or a camelion; thou mayest
compare with all Europe, Afric, and Asia; and one that will
change tricks, though thou wert worthy to be schoolmaster
either to Proteus or Aretine: what an excellent gift did God
give unto man when he gave him woman; but how much more when
that woman was made fair! But O, the most of all when she had
wit to use every member of her creation. Well, I'll stand to't,
there's nothing but beauty, use, and old age that puts women of
my rank out of request; and yet like old bucklers, though few
of your gallant cavaliers will wear us, yet many of your stale
ruffians will employ us, and that's our comfort still.
MECH. Was ever heard a bawd more damnable!
A very mountebank of wench-flesh, an empiric,
A dog-leech for the putrified sores
Of these lust-canker'd great ones. O, I could
Even mad myself with railing at their vices.
[_Aside._ PRATE _knocks at the door_.
But hark! one knocks: O, for the orator!
Heavens, I beseech thee, O, for the orator!
COL. How now, who knocks so rudely at the door?
PRATE. 'Tis I, I say: open the door: I am in haste.
MECH. 'Tis he, just heavens, 'tis he, 'fore God, the orator.
[_Aside._
COL. Soul of my bawdy office; how are we betray'd!
Anon, anon, sir. What, Mistress Prate, I say;
Arise for shame, your husband's at the door,
I come, I come; Lord God, how dull you are
When danger's at your heels! rise quickly.
PRATE. Open the door, or I will break it ope.
COL. I come, I come; I think he's mad with haste.
What, John; what, Thomas, Robert, where's these knaves?
What, Julian, Mary, Cicely, ne'er a maid within?
LOL. For God's love, stay; I'll find the key straightway.
_Enter_ LOLLIA, _and_ ALPHONSO _in his shirt_.
O Mistress Collaquintida, what shall become of us?
COL. Nay, I'm at my wit's end, and am made
Duller than any spur-gall'd, tired jade.
ALPH. 'Sfoot, if he enter, I will break his neck.
LOL. Not for a world, dear love, step into my closet.
ALPH. Did ever slave come thus unluckily?
LOL. Nay, now's no time for passion; good lord, in.
[_Exit_ ALPHONSO.
_Enter_ PRATE.
COL. Fie! I have almost broke my heart with running.
LOL. How now, dear husband, what hath mov'd this haste?
PRATE. I think I was not bless'd this morning when I rose; for
through my forgetfulness I have left behind me in my study the
breviates of all my causes, and now the senate is fain to dance
attendance on my leisure; fie, fie, fie! [_Exit_ PRATE.
LOL. Nay, if he smell nothing but papers, I care not for his
dry foot-hunting,[199] nor shall I need to puff pepper in his
nostrils; but see, he comes again.
_Enter_ PRATE, _and, stumbling at his wife's bed, sees_
ALPHONSO'S _rich apparel lying thereon_.
PRATE. I think the devil hath laid his horns in my way.
MECH. Yes, and if you had wit, you might conjure him out of
your wife's closet. [_Aside._
PRATE. _Sancte Benedicite_, what have we here?
Hath the golden snake cast his skin upon our bed?
Go to, wife; I smell, I smell! methinks your plain rug should
not agree with this rich counter-point.
LOL. Husband, either I have fitted you now, or else I shall
never fit you, whilst I breathe.
You oft have told me, that like those of your rank,
Who both adorn their credits and themselves,
Yea, even their causes with their costly clothes,
Yourself in like sort would strive to imitate;
And now my neighbour here hath brought this suit,
Which if you please to buy, 'tis better cheap
Than e'er 'twas made by full five thousand crowns.
PRATE. Say'st thou me so, wench? a kiss for that, i' faith;
'Fore God, it is a delicate fine suit,
Rich stuff, rare work, and of the newest fashion:
Nay, if the senate's business were never so hasty,
I will stay to try it on; come, help;
Good wenches, help. So, there, there, there.
[_The orator puts on_ ALPHONSO'S _apparel_.
MECH. 'Sfoot, will the ox put on the lion's hide!
He will, he will, 'tis more than excellent;
So gild the tomb that holds but rottenness!
Laughter, I fear, will burst me; look how he struts.
O God, that ever man should look
Upon this maumet,[200] and not laugh at him!
[_Aside._
PRATE. Fit, fit, excellent fit, as though
The body it was made for wore my mould.
Wife, I will have it: we'll dispute no price.
_Enter_ VELOURS.
VEL. Master orator, the senate are set, and can despatch no
causes through your absence; therefore they earnestly entreat
your presence.
PRATE. I come, I come; good friend, go, say I come.
And, wife, see that
You pay for this suit, whatsoe'er it cost. [_Exit_ PRATE.
MECH. Not above making you cuckold: that's the most.
LOL. What, is he gone?
COL. He is.
_Enter_ ALPHONSO _in his shirt_.
LOL. Why, then, come forth, poor naked lord.
ALPH. What, is he gone? May the devil and his horns both follow
him!
LOL. He is gone; but yet he hath discover'd your treason.
ALPH. How?
COL. Yes, and in revenge thereof hath vowed that in this naked
sort as you are you shall do penance through the city for your
sin of unchastity.
ALPH. I pray thee, leave thy woman's phrase, and speak, like a
man, plainly, plainly.
LOL. Then plainly thus--he is gone, and hath taken away your
apparel.
ALPH. Upon what accident?
LOL. This: when your negligence had left your clothes upon my
bed, he espied them, tasked me for the owner; I, in excuse,
told him it was a suit brought by my gossip to be sold; he
straight, like a child proud of a new coat, presently puts it
on, presently is sent for to the senate, and at this present
hath left you, that the world may behold your naked doings.
ALPH. I would it were washed in the blood of a centaur,[201]
that when he puts it off, his skin might follow it: but how
shall I get to my chamber?
LOL. Truly, I know not, except you will wear a smock's upper
coat.
ALPH. What, a petticoat? you mad me with your mirth.
LOL. Then seriously thus: as he hath ta'en your clothes, you
must take his; and let the world know you have had more than
fiddler's fare, for you have meat, money, and cloth.
ALPH. 'Sfoot, how shall I look in this devil's suit? sure, I
shall grow sick to see my shape.
LOL. Well, extremity must then be your physic; but come, you
shall attire yourself in my chamber.
[_Exeunt_ ALPHONSO, LOLLIA, _and_ COLLAQUINTIDA.
MECH. Are these the winding turns of female shames,
Loose woman's gambols, and the tricks of sin?
And are we born to bear these suffrages?
O, he that's tied unto a brothel bed
Feels his worst hell on earth, and may presume
There is no sickness like his pestilence.
Well, what the issue of this jest will prove,
My wit but yet conceives, and aftertime
Shall perfect it and give it liberty,
In such sort that, if it true fire strike,
A world of apes shall study for the like. [_Exit._
_Enter the_ DUKE OF EPIRE _alone_.
EPIRE. My thoughts are troubled, joy forsakes me quite,
And all my meditations are revenge:
Ambition and fell murder join in one,
And aid each other to untwine a state,
And make whole millions prove unfortunate.
Now must I practise court-art, flattery,
And wisely temporise with blackest deeds:
I'll smile and stab: now weep, then laugh, then frown,
And with sly tricks of state kill all suspicion;
Devils must seem like angels, saith ambition.
The blackest thoughts I'll study to excel;
Crowns and revenge have made men dive to hell.
My plot is current, and it cannot miss,
Whilst wisdom winds me on the clue of bliss.
The king shall kill the queen; that acted right,
I soon will turn his brightest day to night.
He's simple, honest, and loves downy rest;
Then he must fall: 'tis policy in state
To hurl them down are bless'd with happy fate.
Thus each shall scourge himself with his own rod;
Who is all policy avows no God--
Who is within there, ho?
_Enter_ FLORIO.
FLO. Did your grace call?
EPIRE. I did; where's the king?
FLO. He's in his privy chamber playing at chess.
EPIRE. Go straight, and tell him I must speak with him,
And say my business doth import great haste.
FLO. I go, my lord. [_Exit._
EPIRE. Be a bless'd Mercury: now mount thee up, my spirit,
And show thyself a politician;
Let slander rule thy tongue, envy thy heart,
And let destruction be the[202] period
Of what thou speak'st; for this my maxim is:
But rule no heaven, and but revenge no bliss.
_Enter_ CYPRUS, FLORIO, _and Attendants_.
Here comes the king. My lord, we must be private[203].
CYP. Remove your hearings from our conference.
[_Exeunt_ FLORIO, _&c._
Now speak, my lord, speak freely, as to heaven.
EPIRE. First with my knee I kiss this prostrate earth,
And humbly beg that which my tongue shall speak,
So it proceed from love and vassalage,
May bear a pardon or forgetfulness.
CYP. You have it; rise, discharge an open breast.
EPIRE. O my dread liege, my speech will make you sad--
And kings do seldom relish their distastes--
And from that sadness such a storm will rise
As will even drown up all credulity.
O, that my loyal heart could cover sin,
Or that my tongue, inured unto grief,
Might lose its spleen, ere it distemper you!
But love and mine allegiance bid me speak.
CYP. Then speak, and do not rack me with delay.
EPIRE. Women, why were you made for man's affliction?
The first that ever made us taste of grief,
And last of whom in torments we complain:
You devils shap'd like angels, through whose deeds
Our forked shames are made most visible!
No soul of sense would wrong bright majesty,
Nor stain their blood with such impurity.
CYP. Nay, good lord, leave this allegoric speech,
And give me knowledge from a plainer phrase.
EPIRE. Then plainly thus: your bed is press'd with lust,
I know you do not credit--nay, what's more,
I know you hate me for my virtuousness:
Your queen behaves her like a courtesan:
I know you hold me for a vile impostor!
O foolish zeal, that makes me be so fond
To leave my faith unto black censuring.
O, she hath sinn'd, and done a double wrong
To you and to her[204] sacred chastity.
CYP. Duke, thou art valiant, and with a valiant mind
Slander is worse than theft or sacrilege,
Nay more, than murder or the height of treason--
A step beyond the utmost plagues in hell.
Then thou, which in that nature wrong'st a queen,
Deserv'st a scourge beyond their punishments;
Virtue should kill thee now.
EPIRE. Nay, do: my breast is bare unto thy steel.
Kill me, because I love thee and speak true.
Is this the merit of a Roman faith?
For this have I observ'd, pry'd in unto,
And search'd each secret shift of vanity?
Nay, pray you kill me; faith, I'll patient stand.
Live still a monster, hold shame in your hand.
CYP. Speak a word more! a king shall be thy death.
EPIRE. Death is a slave to him that is resolv'd,
And my soul loathes this servile flattery,
Nor will I cover such intemperate sin,
But to the world make them and that transparent,
Unless yourself will seek to right yourself.
CYP. Thou hast awak'd me, and thy piercing words
Have split my sense in sunder: yet what ground
Remains whereon to ground suspicion?
A cuckold, cuckold, ha!
EPIRE. Your absence is the bawd to her desires,
For their masques, dancings, gaming, banquetting,
Strange private meetings, and all toils in love,
As wanton speeches to stir appetite,
And all enchantments that inflame desire:
When you return, then all is hush'd and still,
And she demurely walks like virtue's ghost.
Before your face she's like a puritan:
Behind your back a blushless courtesan.
CYP. O, I have drank in poison at mine ears,
Which makes my blood boil with unquenched flames.
But speak, who is it that dishonours me?
EPIRE. He that you prize a line before your life;
I know you will not credit--faith you will not.
CYP. Nay, if thou cease to speak, thou hat'st my life;
Tak'st thou delight to kill me? then forbear:
'Sfoot, I am mortal man, kill me, do, do![205]
EPIRE. Your best of friends, your dearest Philocles,
Usurps your bed, and makes you a cornute.
A creature uncreate in paradise,
And one that's only of a woman's making.
CYP. Is't possible! can I give faith to this?
EPIRE. Nay, be but patient, smooth your brow a little,
And you shall take them, as they clip each other,
Even in their height of sin[206], then damn them both,
And let them sink before they ask God pardon,
That your revenge may stretch unto their souls.
CYP. To be a cuckold doth exceed all grief.
EPIRE. To have a pleasant scoff at majesty.
CYP. To taste the fruit forbidden from my tree!
EPIRE. But he shall lose his paradise for that.
CYP. The slave will make base songs in my disgrace.
EPIRE. And wound your reputation in strange lands.
CYP. This injury sads all my joys on earth.
EPIRE. Horns are not shunn'd by wisdom, wealth, or birth.
CYP. Watch their close meetings, and then give us notice;
Mean space, my love shall in thy bosom rest.
My grief is like my birth, great--great and high.
Give close intelligence: till then farewell.
Lust is the broadest path which leads to hell.
[_Exit_ CYPRUS.
IRE. He's gone with black suspicion in his heart:
And his soul made a slave to jealousy,
My plots shall drive him to his own destruction;
And I gain both revenge and dignity.
He shall no sooner put his queen to death,
But I'll proclaim her spotless innocence;
All men will hate him for so vile an act,
And mad with rage depose him from his crown.
Then I will be his death: his state doth give:
Kings once depos'd long after must not live.
For, like a ph[oe]nix rare in jealousy,
He shall consume himself in scorching flames,
Whilst from his ashes I a phoenix spring.
Many renounce their God to be a king,
And I'll be one to kill men with a frown,
None dare dispute the actions of a crown. [_Exit._
FOOTNOTES:
[180] [Edits., _thee_.]
[181] Alluding to the old law for pressing prisoners who refused to
plead.
[182] _i.e._, Dove's down.--_Steevens._
[183] Another allusion to the book mentioned in "Eastward Hoe!" Since
the note on that passage was written, I have discovered that there
were two books with titles nearly similar: one of them, "The Seckman's
Salve," by Thomas Becon, 8o, 1591: and the other: "The Salve of a
Sickman; or, A treatise concerning the nature, difference, and kinds
of death," by William Perking, 8o, 1595. [It does not appear at all
necessary to conclude that any partcular look is referred to.]
[184] Mr Reed, without any authority from the old copies, and without
the slightest notice, gave the lines that follow to Alphonso, and
inserted his name accordingly: they are most clearly a continuation
of Epire's speech: he draws the distinction between their
situations.--_Collier._
[185] The omission of this repetition of the words _and thus_, has
hitherto spoiled the measure.--_Collier._
[186] _Reap a palace_ in both quartos.--_Collier._
[187] [Edits., _my_.]
[188] [Edits., _my_.]
[189] These lines are the 39th stanza of "Venus and Adonis," by
Shakespeare.
[190] Two lines from the third stanza of "Venus and Adonis."
[191] [Edits., _for_. Reed's emendation.]
[192] _i.e._, Pruner. Chaucer, in the "Merchant's Tale," says of
Damian, that
"He kembeth him, he _proineth_ him, and piketh."
--_Steevens._
[193] Horse with housings.--_Steevens._
[194] [Edits., _loves_.]
[195] [Edits., _tale_.]
[196] [Old copy, _From_.]
[197] The name of an image on a post in Rome, to which defamatory
libels are affixed.--_Steevens._
[198] A parroquet, or small sort of parrot. See Altieri's "Italian
Dictionary," in the English part. She gives him this name on account of
his prating.--_Pegge._
[199] To draw _dry foot_, as Dr Gray observes, is when the dog pursues
the game by the scent of the foot, for which the bloodhound is famed.
See Mr Steevens's note to the "Comedy of Errors," act iv. sc. 2.
[200] A puppet. Mr Tollet supposes it to be a corruption of Mahomet.
See several instances of the use of this word in Mr Steevens's note on
"The First Part of King Henry IV.," act ii. sc. 3.
Again, in Hall's "Chronicle," fol. 20, Henry IV.: "By the deviacion,
and not devinacion of that _mawmet_ Merlyn."
[201] Alluding to the poisoned garment given by Dejanira to Hercules.
See Ovid's "Metamorphoses," b. ix.
[202] [Edits., _thy_.]
[203] In the quartos of 1608 and of 1633, this line is by mistake
assigned to Cyprus. The _exit_ of Florio, who obviously withdraws, is
also not marked.--_Collier._
[204] [Edits., _you, to her, and_.]
[205] [Edits., _do, do, do_.]
[206] This horrid sentiment is to be found in too many of our ancient
poets. See [Ford's "Works," by Dyce, i. 143.]
ACTUS IV., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ FLORIO _and_ MECHANT.
FLO. The queen is all for revels; her light heart,
Unladen from the heaviness of state,
Bestows itself upon delightfulness.
MECH. She follows her creation and her sex.
In my conceit it is as vile a thing
To see the worthy model of a woman,
Who had not been at all but to give life
And stirring spleen to man's alacrity,
To sit o'erwhelm'd with thought, with dark amuse,
And the sad sullenness of griev'd dislike;[207]
As to behold an old man in his furs,
Whose well-spent youth hath given his age full strength,
To be his country's best physician,
To caper to his grave, and with vain gauds
Trick up his coffin, and upon his tomb
To leave no knowledge but his levity.
FLO. 'Tis true indeed, and Nature in herself
Doth give us still distaste in contraries.
And in my thoughts
It is as base to see a woman man,
As see a man a long-rob'd feminine.
MECH. Well, we forget ourselves, my lord;
What, is the music ready? I pray you,
Command the guard to take their halberts in their hands;
The ushers should have seen this room perfumed.
In faith, they are too negligent: here comes the queen.
_Enter the_ QUEEN, MARIANA, _and waiting-women_:
PHILOCLES, _and other lords: the_ KING _disguised_
_like one of the guard at the one end of the stage,_
_and the duke so likewise disguised at the other_
_end of the stage_.
QUEEN. Loud music there, and let the god of harmony
Ravish our senses with delightful airs,
Tun'd to the music of the higher sphere;
And with that mortal sign most rarely show
The joys in Jove's high court, to feast the gods,
Making that place abound in happiness.
Come, noble Philocles, I seize you first--
Mariana, there are choice of other lords--
In gracing you, it is the king I grace.
MAR. Come, honest lord, 'tis you must stand to me,
The queen in mine doth challenge interest,
And I must fly for shelter to my friends.
MECH. And I'll be glad to be your coverture.
MAR. O no, my lord, not till the weather change.
MECH. Well, when you please--meantime you do me grace.
QUEEN. Nay, my lord, there's a lady worth the handling:
Sound music then; fill earth with heaven's pleasure.
CYP. My queen is out of time, though she keep measure.
[_Here they dance the first strain._
EPIRE. Be lucky, villany: hit now the mark[208]
That mine ambition aims at; methinks I see
That lean Italian devil, jealousy,
Dance in his eyes. Possess him, spirit of rage:
Muffle his understanding with black thoughts,
Let passion govern reason, falsehood truth,
Oblivion hide his age, hate kill his youth.
CYP. Thou dancest on my heart, lascivious queen,
Even as upon these rushes, which thou treadest:[209]
See how her motions wind about his eyes,
And doth present to him her passions:
Now doth her moistening palm glow in his hand,
And courts him unto dalliance. She dies: 'tis just.
She's slave to murder that is slave to lust.
EPIRE. Thou curse of greatness, waking-ey'd suspicion,
Now help thy poor friends, murder and ambition.
[_The first strain ends._
QUEEN. This strain contain'd a pretty change.
Proceed unto the next. [_They dance the second._
CYP. Sin follows sin, and change on change doth wait;
Thy change doth change my love to cruel hate.
[_In this strain_ MARIANA _came to_ PHILOCLES.
PHIL. Madam, methinks this chance is better than the first.
MAR. Ay, if the music would not alter it.
QUEEN. Methinks 'tis worse; come, we will have
Another strain. [_They dance again._
PHIL. I'm pleas'd;[210] let us proceed.
CYP. Rivals in crowns and beds of kings must bleed.
Can that fair house contain so foul a guest
As lust, or cloak inordinate base desires,[211]
Under so fair a coverture? O yes,
Women can blind our sense when we see best,
And set fair landskips on inconstancy,
Making us blind with seeing. The dance ends:
Your sins are blackest, breach of love and friends.
EPIRE. Now to the king; blow, rage, till it flame hate;
A politician thrives the best in state.
[_Exit_ EPIRE, _and enters to the_ KING _again_.
QUEEN. Come, sweet Prince Philocles,
Devise some new delights to shorten time;
This dulness hath no relish in my sense,
It hath no pith; and sloth in my conceit
Is but a type of pride in best constructions.[212]
MAR. Madam, I'll stand, that a fair woman
Must be proud, or else a fool.
PHIL. I would fain hear that, i' faith.
QUEEN. Thy reason, wench, I pray thee: come, disburse.
MAR. A woman fair is like a full-blown rose.
QUEEN. Which holds the fair no longer than it grows.
MAR. A woman fair is like the finest gold.
PHIL. Which kept from use is good, though ne'er so old.
MAR. Nay, good lord, leave a little:
She that is fair is wise, and ought to know it,
For to that end did nature first bestow it.
Now of this knowledge if we be not proud,
We wrong the author, and we are allow'd
To rank with senseless beasts, sith careless we
For want of pride detract our dignity.
Now knowing it, we know truth in the same,
Not to be proud of truth asks folly's name.
This lesson still is read in beauty's school:
She that is fair and humble is a fool.
For neither knows she how to hold her good,
Or to keep safe the treasure of her blood.
QUEEN. A notable declamation.
MAR. Nay, madam, by your leave,
Pride gives a lustre to a woman's fair,[213]
Things that are highest priz'd are ever dear.
Why is the diamond the sapphire's king,
But for esteem and rareness? both which spring
From the stone's pride, which is so chaste and hard,
Nothing can pierce it, itself is itself's guard.
Now what is pride? self-love, our own esteem,
A strength to make us of ourselves well deem:
From whence this maxim I collect 'mongst other,
Who hates herself can never love another.
And, to conclude, man's appetite grows dull
To what it may have: empty hope's a fool.[214]
So[215] all our sex on earth, maid, widow, wife, and bride,
They happy live, when they live with chaste pride.
CYP. [_Aside._] My queen will speak as much for lust, as she
For pride, if the toy take her.
MECH. Your ladyship sows dangerous seed abroad.
MAR. But I hope, my lord, all grounds are not fruitful.
QUEEN. Well, wench, shalt be the proud woman's champion.
MAR. And I'll defend them against all men, as at single tongue.
MECH. I had rather fight with a giant than you at that weapon.
CYP. [_To_ EPIRE.] My lord, go forth, return in your own shape,
Say I am coming.
EPIRE. I go, my lord. [_Exit_ EPIRE.
CYP. [_Aside._] I'll note their countenance when they hear of me:
Kings often see that which they would not see.
QUEEN. Dancing hath made me weary. What sport is next?
PHIL. What your highness will command.
CYP. [_Aside._] She will command you, sir, to play with her.
_Enter_ EPIRE.
EPIRE. Madam, his majesty is return'd to court.
QUEEN. Nay, then, away with revels and with sports;
Lie hush'd and still this vainer idleness,
It now hath lost his spleen; come, lords, away,
My sun is risen brings a brighter day.
[_Exeunt all but_ CYPRUS _and_ EPIRE.
CYP. Darkness is thy delight, lascivious queen,
And thou wouldst have thy sun pent-up in clouds,
If I be he. O falseness, did I for this
In single opposition, hand to hand,
Hazard my royal blood for thee to be
My greatest shame, the scandal of my blood,
Whilst rumour crowns me king of infamy?
But I will be reveng'd. Watch, gentle lord
When next I see them, they shall taste of death,
Such power hath baseness over great defame,
That monarchs cannot cover their own shame.
[_Exit_ CYPRUS.
EPIRE. My plot yet holds a true proportion,
And I do see an even way to rule.
A crown, like a bold champion, bids me on,
And fame shall chronicle mine enterprise:
The queen being dead, I must oppose myself
Against her tyrant husband--that's my claim,--
And with strong courage stand the shock of war:
If of myself I can withstand the king,
Then all the land will flock unto mine aid; if not,
The king is God's anointed, my head fits the block,
And that's the worst: yet future times will tell,
I sunk not slightly; for a crown I fell. [_Exit_ EPIRE.
_Enter_ MECHANT, _and a guard of_ WATCHMEN.
MECH. Come on, my masters,
You know the tenor of the king's command.
And what in this great business you must do,
Which is to keep him safe, and not vouchsafe
That any creature speak or visit him,
Till he be brought to th' presence of the king.
You must not start for bounty, nor for threats,
No, though he say he is a nobleman,
As it may be, he may prove mighty born,
Yet what for that? you must perform your office,
Or else expect to taste sharp punishment.
1ST WATCH. Tut, fear not, my lord, we that have had Cerberus'
office so many years under a gate, are not to learn now to play
either devils or tyrants; let us but see him, and then take no
care for his safety.
2D WATCH. Nay, he shall be put into safe keeping, for my wife
shall take charge of him.
_Enter_ ALPHONSO _in the Orator's clothes_.
MECH. 'Tis well-devis'd, see where he comes;
He may not see my presence; think upon't,
[_To the Watch._
Your charge is trusty, and of mighty weight.
Farewell. [_Exit_ MECHANT.
1ST WATCH. Fear not; come, my hearts, compass him about, and
seize on him all at once, like so many ravens on a dead horse.
ALPH. Now an eternal sleep, an apoplex, a swoon,
Seize on their senses, who in this disguise
Shall view or note my vile deformity.
I was bewitch'd by spells to my misfortune,
Or else star-cross'd with some hag's hellishness.
Sure, I said my prayers, ris'd on my right side,
Wash'd hands and eyes, put on my girdle last.
Sure, I met no spay-footed baker:
No hare did cross me, nor no bearded witch,
Nor other ominous sign. O, then, why
Should I be thus damm'd in the devil's nets?
Is't possible this habit that I wear
Should become any man? now of my soul,
I loathe to see myself, and willingly
I would even vomit at my countenance.
1ST WATCH. Stand, sir; we arrest you.
ALPH. Arrest me! why,
I injure no man but myself.
2D WATCH. You're the more unkind; he that wrongs himself will
not stick to wrong the whole world also.
1ST WATCH. Nay, strive not, for we arrest you by virtue of the
king's commission.
ALPH. Well, my masters, be careful; you may mistake me.
2D WATCH. Indeed it is no marvel, you are so like other men.
ALPH. Indeed at this time I am hardly like one of God's making.
1ST WATCH. Faith, and I am sure you are no man of a good
tailor's making, you are but pieced-work.
ALPH. Well, yet I may hap to prove a nobleman.
2D WATCH. A whoremaster or an unthrift! away with him, and let
no man catechise him upon pain of my displeasure. [_Exeunt._
_Enter the_ DUKE OF EPIRE _alone_.
EPIRE. Roll on, the chariot-wheels of my dear plots,
And bear mine ends to their desired marks.
As yet there's not a rub of wit, a gulf of thought,
No rocky misconstruction, thorny maze,
Or other let of any doubtfulness.
As yet thy way is smooth and plain,
Like the green ocean in a silent calm.
Blessed credulity, thou great God of error,
Thou art the strong foundation of huge wrongs,
To thee give I my vows and sacrifice;
By thy great deity he doth believe
Falsehoods, that falsehood's self could not invent,
And from that misbelief doth draw a course
To overwhelm even virtue, truth, and sanctity.
Let him go on, bless'd stars, 'tis meet he fall,
Whose blindfold judgment hath no guide at all.
But O, these shadows have bewitched long:
To threat and not to do doth malice wrong.
And see, here comes the queen.
_Enter the_ QUEEN, MARIANA, _and other ladies_.
QUEEN. My lord the duke, your presence and my wish
Jump in an even line together: come,
We must to cards:
I have some crowns
I needs must lose to you.
EPIRE. I humbly beseech your highness pardon me:
I have important business of the king's,
Which doth command mine instant diligence.
MAR. Brother, indeed you shall attend the queen;
Another time will serve those state despatches.
EPIRE. Sister, content you, the affairs of state
Must give their best attendance on the times;
And great occurrents must not lose their minutes.
MAR. Now I'll stand to it, that to be a statesman or a lawyer
is to be of the most thankless occupation that ever was derived
from human invention.
QUEEN. Why, I pray thee, wench?
MAR. Because they bestow all the laborious toil of the mind
until they be forty, that they may live imprisoned in a
study-chamber till they be fourscore, only for this world's
mammon, a great name and riches, which, like a string between a
galley-slave's legs, is the only ease of their fetters.[216]
QUEEN. A notable construction of a noble labour: but shall we
not have your company, my lord?
EPIRE. My service, madam, but my presence the king hath
employed; only, if you please, I will send Prince Philocles to
your majesty.
QUEEN. No creature better; for his skill in play
Is equal with our knowledge. Good my lord,
Send him to my privy-chamber presently.
[_Exeunt_ QUEEN, MARIANA, _&c._
_Enter_ PHILOCLES.
EPIRE. I will, and send affliction after him;
And see where he comes. My lord, your presence hath
Saved me much labour and a little care,
I was in quest for your fair company:
The queen, my lord, entreats you earnestly
You will attend her in her privy-chamber.
PHIL. Unto what end?
EPIRE. Only to waste some time at cards with her,
The lazy hours stick heavy on her thoughts,
Which she would lose with some forgetfulness.
PHIL. Faith, and play ne'er relish'd worse
Within my thoughts.
I know not how, but leaden[217] heaviness
Draws me to be in love with melancholy.
EPIRE. The fitter for you with more light sports
To chase that blood-consumer from your breast,
Who with a honey-poison doth devour,
And kill the very life of livelihood.
PHIL. 'Tis true, and therefore shall your counsel tutor me;
Where is her majesty?
EPIRE. Gone
To her privy-chamber, where she doth expect you.
PHIL. I will attend her presently.
[_Exit_ PHILOCLES.
EPIRE. Do, and I will attend thee to thy grave,
Poor shallow lord, by much too virtuous.
Ho! who's within there?
_Enter_ FLORIO.
FLO. Your grace's pleasure?
EPIRE. Go tell his majesty that I must speak with him.
FLO. I go. [_Exit._
_Enter aloft to cards the_ QUEEN _and_ PHILOCLES.
QUEEN. Come, my lord, take your place, here are cards, and here
are my crowns.
PHIL. And here are mine; at what game will your majesty play?
QUEEN. At Mount-saint.[218]
PHIL. A royal game, and worthy of the name,
And meetest even for saints to exercise.
Sure, it was of a woman's first invention.
QUEEN. It is not saint, but cent, taken from hundreds.
PHIL. True, for 'mongst millions hardly is found one saint.
QUEEN. Indeed you may allow a double game;
But come, lift for the dealing; it is my chance to deal.
PHIL. An action most-most proper to your sex.
_Enter_ CYPRUS.
CYP. How now, my waking dragon, thou whose eyes
Do never fall or close through Lethean sleep:
What, is there a Hercules that dare to touch
Or enter the Hesperian rosaries?[219]
EPIRE. Speak softly, gentle lord; behold, behold,
The silly birds are tangled in your snare,
And have no way to 'scape your punishment.
See, how her eyes do court him, and his looks
Pay to her love a double interest.
Fie, fie! they are to blame.
QUEEN. What are you, my lord?
PHIL. Your highness' servant, but misfortune's slave.
QUEEN. Your game, I mean.
PHIL. Nothing in show, yet somewhat in account;
Madam, I am blank.
QUEEN. You are a double game, and I am no less; there's an
hundred, and all cards made, but one knave.
EPIRE. Mark that! of my life, she means your majesty.
CYP. True, I know she holds me as her varlet,
And that I am imperfect in her game;
But my revenge shall give me better place,
Beyond the hate of her foul impudence.
EPIRE. Nay, good my lord, observe: they will confirm you better.
QUEEN. What's your game now?
PHIL. Four kings, as I imagine.
QUEEN. Nay, I have two, yet one doth me little good.
PHIL. Indeed, mine are two queens, and one I'll throw away.
EPIRE. Doth your majesty mark that?
You are the king that she is weary of,
And my sister the queen that he will cast away.
PHIL. Can you decard,[220] madam?
QUEEN. Hardly, but I must do hurt.[221]
PHIL. But spare not any to confirm your game.
EPIRE. Would you have more plain proof of their foul treason?
They do not plot your highness' death alone.
CYP. But others, which they think depend on me.
EPIRE. Myself, and those which do you services:
They are bloody-minded; yet for myself,
Were it not for your safety, I could wish
You would remit and blot these errors out,
In hope that time would bring them to more virtue.
CYP. O, then thou didst not love me, nor thy faith
Took hold upon my scandals; fie, I'm mad,
Sham'd and disgrac'd, all wit-stung, wisdomless.
Within there, ho!
_Enter_ FLORIO.
FLO. Did your majesty call?
CYP. Go instantly--(nay,
Do not look sad or pale, neither dispute with me
Nor with thy thoughts; but as thou lov'st thy life,
Effect my will)--call all my guard.
Ascend the queen's privy-chamber, and in my name
Arrest her and Prince Philocles of treason.
Make no delay, but in thy diligence
Show how thou dost respect me. Arrested once,
Convey them unto straitest prison: away. [_Exit_ FLORIO.
For you, my lord, go instantly prepare,
And summon all the princes of our land
Unto an instant parliament, where we
Will have them both condemn'd immediately,
Without their answers, plaints, or piteousness.
Since women's tears do blunt revenge's sword.
I will not see, nor hear them speak one word.
[_Exeunt_ CYPRUS _and_ EPIRE.
_Enter_ FLORIO, _and a guard aloft, to the_ QUEEN _and_ PHILOCLES.
FLO. Madam and Prince Philocles, in the king's name I arrest
you both of high treason.
PHIL. He lies that saith I ever knew the word.
QUEEN. I pray thee, do not affright me, gentle lord,
Thy words do carry death even in their sound.
FLO. Madam, I am most sorry 'tis my fortune,
But what I do is by the king's commission.
QUEEN. Whence is that warrant grounded, or what's our treason?
FLO. I am his instrument, but not his councillor.
PHIL. Madam, be patient; that we do not know,
We have no cause to grieve at. As for envy's toil,
Let her even break her own gall with desire,
Our innocence is our prevention.
Be cheerful, madam, 'tis but some villain's sound,
Made only to amaze, not to confound.
And what must we do, my lord?
FLO. To prison are the words of my commission.
PHIL. Then lead the way; he hath of grief no sense,
Whose conscience doth not know of his offence.
FOOTNOTES:
[207] _And the sad sullenness of a griev'd dislike_ is the reading
of the 4o. The article was omitted by Mr Reed for the sake of the
measure.--_Collier._
[208] _Be lucky villany_ is necessary for the measure, and is
conformable to the old copies. Mr Reed permitted the misprint to stand,
and did not regulate the verse as it required.--_Collier._
[209] See the present vol., p. 213, and Mr Steevens's note on "Romeo
and Juliet," act i. sc. 4.
[210] The 4o, 1608, has it, _I pleas'd_, and the reprint of 1633
implicitly follows all blunders, and adds others peculiar to
itself.--_Collier._
[211] _Inordinate and base desires_--both quartos.
[212] In the last edition it was printed--
"And sloth in my conceit
Is but a type or pride in best _constitutions_."
which is neither sense nor metre. The old copies are uniform for the
restored reading.--_Collier._
[213] [Fairness.]
[214] [Old copy, _is full_]
[215] [Edits., _To_.]
[216] In the two 4o copies of this play the latter part of the speech
stands thus:--_Only for this world's mammon, which is great name and
riches, like a string between a galley-slave's legs, is the only ease
of their fetters._ Mr. Reed introduced the improvement.--_Collier._
[217] [Old copies, _loaden_.]
[218] This game is often mentioned in our ancient writers, and what
immediately follows sufficiently explains the nature of it.
[219] Places where roses grow in great abundance.
"Biferique _rosaria_ Pæsti."--VIRG.
--_Steevens._
[220] _i.e._, Throw away a card.--_Steevens._
[221] [Without injuring my hand.]
ACTUS V., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter at one door_ EPIRE, _at another_ MARIANA.
EPIRE. How now, mad sister, your dear love is condemned?
A sweet adulterer!
MAR. How! condemn'd before their trial?
EPIRE. No, they were condemn'd by act of parliament.
MAR. I do not hold thee, brother, for a man,
For it is reasonless to mock calamity:
If he die innocent, thrice-happy soul;
If guilty, weep that man should so transgress:
Nature of reason thus much doth importune,
Man should partake in grief with man's misfortune.
EPIRE. For him, if e'er mine eyes weep, may they drop out,
And leave my body blinder than my sense:
Pity my foe, the ruin of my house,
My valour's scandal, and mine honour's poison!
No, let him fall, for blood must still quench lust,
Law hath condemn'd him, then his death is just.
MAR. Spit out that monster envy, it corrupts you,
And mildly hear me answer for my love.
What did he 'gainst you was not honourable,
Which you 'gainst him would not have gladly done?
Will you hate him for acting your own thoughts?
Can it be ill in him, yet good in you?
Let reason weigh this difference, then you'll find
His honour poises down his infamy.
EPIRE. Canst thou love him that brought thee to thy death?
MAR. No, like a God he made me with his breath.
EPIRE. Did he not win thy love, and then reject thee?
MAR. His honour, not his love doth now neglect me.
EPIRE. Fond maid, thy foolish dotage doth mistake him.
MAR. Hell shall have mercy, ere I will forsake him.
EPIRE. Farewell then, sister, friend to my greatest foe:
Revenge strikes home, being ended with one blow.
[_Exit_ EPIRE.
MAR. Prevention, thou best midwife to misfortune,
Unfold this ugly monster's treachery;
And let his birth be ominous--struck dead,
Ere it have being in this open world.
Love commands nature. Brother, pardon me:
Thine envy dies by my love's liberty.
Invention, heart of wit, possess my brain,
For treason is to treason her own bane.
And you, bright heav'ns, now aid me in my plots,
That truth may shine through falsehood's leprous spots;
My life I'll hazard to redeem my love,
Firm constancy like rocks can never move.
Be bold then, maiden-heart, in his defence.
He saved thy life: thy life's his recompense:
My wit and hopes have furnish'd me with all
The helps of art to bring forth treason's fall.
Now to the means. Some say that gold hath power
To enter without force a gateless tower:
And I'll try that, which if it take fast hold,
I'll never blame them more that doat on gold.
Ho! who's within there?
_Enter_ JAILER.
JAILER. Who calls, what would you have? I thought you were a
woman, you were so hasty: O, madam, is it you? I cry you mercy.
MAR. My grief speaks loud, sir, and my swift desire
O'errules my tongue, makes it keep time with thought;
I long to see a prisoner in this ill-built house.
JAILER. What prisoner, madam?
MAR. The worthy prince, the famous Philocles.
JAILER. Madam, I dare not, without especial warrant.
MAR. I have my brother's strong commission; hold, there is gold.
JAILER. This golden calf is an excellent idol, and few of my
profession but serve it: this dumb god gives tongue to all
men, wit to all men, honour to any man, but honesty to no man:
and therefore as for honesty, I mean not to deal with so dear
a commodity, but leave it to my better. Madam, those stairs
direct you to his lodging.
MAR. I thank you, sir. [_Exit_ MARIANA.
JAILER. This is a worthy lady, to give thus much for the bare
sight of a man in affliction; if he were at liberty, it were
nothing; but being as it is, it is most bountiful: but it may
be it is for the past hours of former recreations: well, let it
be what it shall be, I am sure it was not that I should hold
this disputation: but see, here she comes again.
_Enter_ PHILOCLES _in_ MARIANA'S _attire, and_
MARIANA _in his_.
PHIL. Madam, my soul cannot consent to leave
Your life in this great hazard, nor can death
Carry such ugly shape, as doth the thought,
That you are left in this extremity:
Indeed, I will not leave you.
MAR. Will you grow mad? what, shall your nobler spirit,
Which is the school of wisdom, grow so fond[222]
As to revolt from all our happiness?
Our plots you know, and how to manage cares,
Whose true events have true proportions;
Then, dear lord, rest resolv'd--the jailer overhears--
Live you with safety. Most worthy maid, farewell.
PHIL. Farewell, fair prince: thanks, master jailer, and a kind
commend.
JAILER. As much unto your ladyship. So now I'll lock my doors.
[_Exeunt_ MARIANA, PHILOCLES, _and_ JAILER.
_Enter_ CYPRUS, MECHANT, FLORIO, _and Attendants_.
CYP. Is our commission, as we gave in charge,
Delivered o'er to the corregidors?
MECH. It is, and with such strictness and advice
For speedy execution of the same,
That by this time I know they are in the way
Unto their execution; for the hour
Of death doth run upon his latest minutes.
CYP. 'Tis well: for till their shameless lives have end,
There can no comfort creep into my thoughts,
Or aught save mischief keep me company.
Why was I born to this malignity
And lowness of base fortune, yet my place
Above the level of the vulgars' sight?
O, it is but to let me know thus much,
That those which lie within the richest graves
Were at the best but fortune's glorious slaves.
But see, here comes my shame.
_Enter corregidors_, QUEEN _and_ MARIANA _disguised_
_like_ PHILOCLES, _both bound, and a guard of_
_halberts with the executioner_.
QUEEN. My dearest lord.
CYP. Pass, and respect me not, lascivious woman!
Thy tears are like the tears of crocodiles.[223]
See how I stop mine ears against thy plaints,
And glue mine understanding from thy charms.
Nay, call on him thou hast offended most;
Mercy from me were worse than cruelty.
QUEEN My dearest, dreadest, my best[224] sovereign,
Whom I have ne'er offended, but with zeal
And constant love, loyal and honourable,
Vouchsafe me, though a queen, a subject's right,
And let me know for what offence I perish.
CYP. For thine adulterate and monstrous lust,
Shameful and gross, and most unsufferable.
QUEEN. Who doth accuse us?
CYP. Ourself and our own soul, that have beheld
Your vile and most lascivious passages.[225]
MAR. O, that my tongue would not betray my knowledge!
Then would I amaze them all with mine assertions.
Madam, challenge the law. [_Whispers._
QUEEN. My gracious lord, since no desert in me
Can merit your belief, nor that your eye
Can rightly judge my pure complexion:
Yet as your handmaid let me beg the right,
Due unto wretches from our country's laws.
CYP. The tenor of the law you do demand?
QUEEN. That in the case of slander, where the proof
Proceeds as much from envy as from truth,
We are allow'd our champions to defend
Our innocence with a well-ordered sword.
CYP. I look'd for this objection, and allow it;
Nor am I unprovided for your best
And strongest hope in any victory:
Lords, attend in my champion.
_Here the noble-men go forth, and bring in the_ DUKE
OF EPIRE _like a combatant_.
QUEEN. Will you, my lord, approve the king's assertion?
EPIRE. Madam, although against the nature of my spirit,
And my first duty bound to your allegiance,
Yet now compell'd by duty and by truth,
I must of force become your opposite.
QUEEN. Thou art no true Italian, nor true gentleman,
Thus to confound the glory of thy judgment.
Hath not that arm which now is arm'd against me--
That valour, spirit, judgment, and that worth,
Which only makes you worthy--stood t' approve
More than myself will challenge to my virtues?
And are you now basely turn'd retrograde?
Well, I perceive there's nought in you but spleen
And time's observance, still to hold the best--
Still I demand the law.
CYP. And you shall have it in the amplest manner.
Sound, cornets.
_Here the cornets sound thrice, and at the third sound_
_enters_ PHILOCLES, _disguised like a combatant_.
FLO. There is a combatant on the defendant's part;
Your majesty's pleasure?
CYP. Give him his oath according to the laws.
FLO. Are the fair ends of this your warlike posture
To prove the innocence of these two condemn'd?
So help you Jove!
PHIL. They are.
CYP. Then give the warlike signal to the fight.
_Here the combat being fought_, PHILOCLES _overcomes_
_the_ DUKE.
PHIL. Thou art my slave, either confess or die.
EPIRE. Didst thou speak true, I would not sound a word
To save the world from cinders; yet that thou may'st
With more resolv'd fury murder me,
This I confess: 'twas I that only stirr'd,
Out of strong falsehood's hate and jealousy,
The king's eternal wrath, and made him think
Untruths, that even untruth would not suggest:
And all my malice sprung from that Prince Philocles.
PHIL. No, 'twas from me, that still am Philocles.
CYP. My Philocles, my queen! O, double pardon me,
My jealousy, his envy, and your virtues,
Are sprung from such impatient contraries,
I cannot reconcile them; yet, O, pardon me:
My faith in life shall make you recompense.
For thee, rare Mariana, thou hast wrought
A work of noble constant magnitude.
As for this monster, this my tempting devil,
Whose forfeit life is witness to his shame,
I give his life and fortunes to the queen,
She, whom his malice would have brought to death,
Shall now be judge and juror of his breath.
MAR. In which commission, madam, let it be enroll'd,
He is my brother and my next[226] of blood.
QUEEN. And only that is charter for his life--
Live, envious lord, more envious than thou'rt great,
Live to lament thy worst of wretchedness,
Live to repent, since this I certain know,
Thine own gall'd conscience will be thy worst woe.
_Enter a guard of_ WATCHMEN _with_ ALPHONSO.
1ST WATCHMAN. Come, bring away, thrust him forward, though
favour and a great purse were against him.
CYP. How now, what tumult have we there?
2D WATCH. An't please your majesty, we have brought you here a
slip,[227] a piece of false coin: one that is neither stamped
with true coin for his excuse, nor with good clothes for his
redemption.
CYP. Alphonso! in the name of madness, how comes this
metamorphosis? Nay, stand forth, discourse: if thou dost lie,
thou art mine enemy.
MECH. Nay more, if thou stick in any bog, and by a trick seek
to wind out, I will discover you.
ALPH. This conjuration (believe it, my lord), shall make me
leap out of all fetters, and briefly thus: I have long time
loved the fair wife of the orator, and, having no opportunity
but his absence at the senate, I took that season; he, out of
negligence, omitting his papers, returned unseasonably, found
me [clothed] insufficiently, and forced to take sanctuary
strangely, which, however, I purchased; yet he found mine
apparel, and mistaken in the tenure, reached it presently, put
it on immediately; and now in the senate-house is pleading in
it seriously.
CYP. I cannot blame him, you having got so much within his
inward garment.
MECH. Of all which, my lord, I being, in a strict conceit, a
bawdy witness, and having, both from the orator's scorns and
delays received many indignities, thought by this discovery to
cry quittance with my proud enemy.
CYP. And you have amply done it; yet this jest
So perfect doth deserve more memory.
Florio, go bid the orator attend us presently.
[_Exit_ FLORIO.
And now to you, Drap and Velours, I did
Refer you long since to the orator.
Yet I note your attention: come, there is
Some too close-fisted hardness in your hearts:
You gripe too hard, your bribes will not disburse:
Come, tell me truly, as you look for heaven,
What must you pay for your despatches?
DRAP _and_ VEL. A thousand crowns we oft'er'd willingly.
CYP. And will your suit avail with such disbursement?
DRAP _and_ VEL. It will, and we most richly satisfied.
CYP. We'll see the business perfected.
DRAP _and_ VEL. With all our hearts, and be full-joy'd thereat;
Here are the crowns.
CYP. You shall have your despatches.
_Enter_ PRATE _and_ FLORIO.
See, here comes the orator. Prate, come hither;
These gentlemen, whom long since I referr'd
To your despatches, are yet unsatisfied.
PRATE. Alas! my lord, the state----
CYP. ----I know, employs you, yet there's many minutes
May give your best cares leisure; come, there is
Some odd disburse, some bribe, some gratulance,
Which makes you lock up leisure; come, tell true,
What bribe must they give, what is your utmost price?
PRATE. But five hundred crowns, of my best conscience.
CYP. Tut, it is nothing, hold, here's the coin,
And let them have their patents presently:
Or look to lose both place and sovereignty.
PRATE. Legions of devils haunt their diligence!
CYP. Fie! I would not have a man of your high place,
Or for respect of wealth or base observance,
In smallest things thus to neglect your credit,
Why, look you, my lords,
This orator is not like others of his rank,
Who from their garish[228] and fantastic humours
Go through the streets, spotted with peacock's plumes,
Wearing all colours, laces, broideries,
Satins and silks, so antic-garnished,
That when their gowns are off, you cannot find
In Italy a master shap'd more nice.
But this fellow Prate here's of another sort,
Cloth'd like himself, demure and soberly:
Nay, you shall see him for a precedent. [_Ungowns the orator._
Passion of mine eyesight' who have we here?
This is Alphonso, there's the orator.
PRATE. Heart of impatience, I am then a cuckold!
A scorn, a byword, and a laughing-stock.
What, is my wife turn'd whore? and must her depth
Be sounded by the plumbs[229] of foreigners?
Well, the revenge that I will take for this my shame
Shall make all whores hereafter dread my name.
CYP. Not for thy life, not for my love, I charge thee:
Thy wife is honest, chaste, and virtuous:
Only this wanton lord with lust and coin
Hath much attempted, but prevail'd in nought.
For proof, see here the crowns 'he would have given
To have purchas'd her bed's honour, but she would not;
Which I bestow on you for recompense.
Therefore, as thou dost hope my grace to find,
So to thy wife be loving, gentle, kind.
PRATE. Your majesty may mould me to your pleasure.
CYP. I thank you, and will quittance it.
Now, Mechant, we restore you to your lands,
Your honours and near places, next ourself:
To all that feel distaste in any sore,
We give to cure them all our grace and favour.
Thus storms bring gentle sunshine; and our hands
May, after shipwreck, bring us to safe lands.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES:
[222] Foolish.
[223] _Thy tears are of the spears of crocodiles_, are the
words in both the quartos; probably the amendment of Mr Reed is
correct.--_Collier._
[224] [Old copies, _My dearest dread, my best best_.]
[225] _i.e._, What hath passed between you. See notes of Dr Johnson and
Mr Steevens to "All's Well that Ends Well," act i. sc. 1.
[226] [Old copies, _best_.]
[227] Again, in Day's "Law Tricks," 1608, act iii.--
"A gilded _slip_ carries as fair a show
As perfect gold, gilt honour may do so.
But put your _slip_ to trial, the slight gold
Is soon rubb'd of."
[228] [Edits., _gainish_.]
[229] _i.e._, The plummets.--_Steevens._
THE MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON.
_EDITIONS._
(1.) _The Merry Deuill of Edmonton. As it hath beene sundry
times Acted, by his Maiesties Seruants at the Globe on the
banke-side. London Printed by Henry Ballard for Arthur
Iohnson, dwelling at the signe of the White-horse in Paules
Churchyard, ouer against the great North doore of Paules._
1608. 4o.
(2.) _The Merry Devill of Edmonton. As it hath bene sundry
times Acted by his Maiesties Seruants at the Globe on the
Bancke side. London, Printed by Thomas Creede for Arthur
Iohnson, dwelling &c._ 1612. 4o.
(3.) _The Merry Divel of Edmonton. As it hath beene sundry
times acted by his Maiesties Seruants, at the Globe on
the Banke-side. At London. Printed by G. Eld, for Arthur
Iohnson, dwelling at the signe of the white-Horse in Paules
Churchyard, ouer against the great North Doore of Paules._
1617. 4o.
(4.) _The Merry Deuill of Edmonton. As it hath been sundry
times Acted by his Maiesties Seruants, at the Globe, on the
Banke-side. London printed by A.M. for Francis Falkner, and
are to be sold at his Shoppe neere vnto S. Margarites-hill,
in Southwarke._ 1626. 4o.
(5.) _The Merry Deuill of Edmonton. As it hath been sundry
times Acted by his Maiesties Seruants, at the Globe,
on the Bancke-side. London. Printed by T.P. for Francis
Falkner, and are to be sold at his Shoppe neere vnto S.
Margarites-hill, in Southwarke._ 1631. 4o.
(6.) _The Merry Devil of Edmonton.... London. Printed for
William Gilbertson, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the
Sign of the Bible, in Giltspur-street, without Newgate_,
1655. 4o.[230]
INTRODUCTION.
[This play is anonymous, although some of our earlier antiquaries,
such as Coxeter and Oldys, have attributed it to this or that author
without the slightest authority. It was originally licensed by Sir
George Buc to Joseph Hunt and Thomas Archer on the 22d October 1607.
As neither of these stationers'[231] names is to the first edition,
there was probably a transfer, or possibly an earlier impression than
any now known. This drama was suggested by, rather than founded on,
the traditional account handed down in print of Peter Fabel, popularly
known as the "Merry Devil of Edmonton." In 1631 Thomas Brewer published
a prose tract on the same subject.[232] "The Merry Devil of Edmonton"
had been acted before 1608], being mentioned in the "Blacke Booke" by
T.M., 1604. "Give him leave to see 'The Merry Devil of Edmunton, or A
Woman kill'd with Kindness;'" and that it was a favourite performance,
may be concluded from the following lines in Ben Jonson's Prologue to
"The Devil is an Ass"--
"If you'll come
To see new plays, pray you afford us room,
And show this but the game face you have done
_Your dear delight_, THE DEVIL OF EDMONTON. "[233]
A MS. note in Sir W. Tite's catalogue may be copied here with
advantage:--"This is a dear little drama In manner it is broad and
real; in situation, full of interest. The action, which is very
bustling, is propelled merrily on by characters which are varied
without end, and touched, the most inconsiderable of them, by strong
individuality. _It has been ascribed to Shakespeare, and it reminds
one constantly of the Merry Wives: it is decidedly in his manner, and
though there is nothing that shows his greatest strength, there is
certainly nothing unworthy of him._ We read it with gratification,
and we rise from it with feelings of kindness towards human nature. How
delightful, after the filth and atrocity which form the groundwork of
so many contemporary publications!"
Hazlitt also speaks very highly of this play,[234] which he describes
as "perhaps the first example of sentimental comedy we have." He adds:
"'The Merry Devil of Edmonton,' which has been sometimes attributed
to Shakespeare, is assuredly not unworthy of him. It is more likely,
however, both from the style and subject-matter, to have been Heywood's
than any other person's.... Romantic, sweet, tender, it expresses the
feelings of honour, of love, and friendship in their utmost delicacy,
enthusiasm, and purity."
FOOTNOTES:
[230] [In the centre is a large woodcut of a man on horseback, with two
others looking at him, alluding probably to the incident regarding the
sign in the latter end of the play.--_Collier._]
[231] According to the Stationer's Registers (as quoted in Chalmer's
"Supp. Apol." 201), this play was licensed by Sir George Buc, Master of
the Revels, on the 22d October 1607.--_Gilchrist._
[232] [See Hazlitt's "Handbook," 1867, pp. 61, 191, 471. Also Warton's
"History of Poetry," by Hazlitt, iv. 76, 77.]
[233] It went through various editions (the titles of which are
inserted above) in 1608, [1612], 1617, 1626, 1631, and 1655. The first
of these is the most rare, and was not long since sold by auction
for eight guineas. Mr Reed states that, the last edition of 1655 is
"unworthy of any notice from the number of errors it contains;" but
these errors are chiefly literal, and some corrections of considerable
importance are made in it, of which Mr Reed availed himself without
acknowledgment.
It seems to have been revived before 1692, but at what precise date is
not known. The following cast of parts is written on the back of a copy
of the edition of 1655, in the Garrick Collection, in a hand no doubt
of the time when it was again brought upon the stage:--
Sir Arthur Clare Mr Sandford.
Sir R. Mounchensey Mr Freeman.
Sir R. Jerningham Mr Betterton.
Henry Clare Mr Hudgson.
Raymond Mounchensey Mr Mountfort.
Frank Jerningham Mr Alexander.
Sir John Mr Noakes.
Banks Mr Bright.
Smug Mr Underhill.
Bilbo Mr Bower.
Host Mr Leigh.
Brian Mr Bowman.
Fabel Mr Kingston.
Lady Clare Mrs Leigh.
Millicent Mrs Bracegirdle.
Abbess Mrs Cory.
--_Collier._
[234] ["Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth," 1820, p. 221.]
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
SIR ARTHUR CLARE.
SIR RICHARD MOUNCHENSEY.
SIR RALPH JERNINGHAM.
HENRY CLARE.
RAYMOND MOUNCHENSEY.
FRANK JERNINGHAM.
SIR JOHN, _a Priest_.
BANKS.
SMUG.
BILBO.
BLAGUE, _the Host_.
BRIAN.
RALPH.
SEXTON.
FRIAR HILDERSHAM.
BENEDIC.
CHAMBERLAIN.
FABEL, _the Merry Devil_.
COREB, _a Spirit_.
LADY CLARE.
MILLICENT.
ABBESS _of Cheston Nunnery_.
NUNS _and_ ATTENDANTS.
THE MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON
THE PROLOGUE.
Your silence and attention, worthy friends,
That your free spirits may with more pleasing sense
Relish the life of this our active scene:
To which intent, to calm this murmuring breath,
We ring this round with our invoking spells;
If that your list'ning ears be yet prepar'd
To entertain the subject of our play,
Lend us your patience.
'Tis Peter Fabel,[235] a renowned scholar,
Whose fame hath still been hitherto forgot
By all the writers of this latter age.
In Middlesex his birth and his abode:
Not full seven miles from this great famous city;
That, for his fame in sleights and magic won,
Was call'd the merry fiend of Edmonton.
If any here make doubt of such a name,
In Edmonton yet fresh unto this day,
Fix'd in the wall of that old ancient church,
His monument remaineth to be seen:
His memory yet in the mouths of men,[236]
That whil'st he liv'd he could deceive the devil.
Imagine now, that whilst he is retir'd
From Cambridge back unto his native home,
Suppose the silent sable-visag'd night
Casts her black curtain over all the world;
And whilst he sleeps within his silent bed,
Toil'd with the studies of the passed day,
The very time and hour wherein that spirit,
That many years attended his command,
And oftentimes 'twixt Cambridge and that town
Had in a minute borne him through the air,
By composition 'twixt the fiend and him,
Comes now to claim the scholar for his due. [_Draws the curtain._
Behold him here laid on his restless couch!
His fatal chime prepared at his head,
His chamber guarded with these sable sleights,
And by him stands that necromantic chair,
In which he makes his direful invocations,
And binds the fiends that shall obey his will.
Sit with a pleased eye, until you know
The comic end of our sad tragic show.
_The chime goes, in which time_ FABEL _is oft seen to_
_stare about him, and hold up his hands_.
FAB. What means the tolling of this fatal chime?
O, what a trembling horror strikes my heart!
My stiffen'd hair stands upright on my head,
As do the bristles of a porcupine.[237]
_Enter_ COREB, _a spirit_.
COR. Fabel, awake! for[238] I will bear thee hence
Headlong to hell.
FAB. Ha, ha! why dost thou wake me?
Coreb, is it thou?
COR. Tis I.
FAB. I know thee well; I hear the watchful dogs
With hollow howling tell of thy approach:
The lights burn dim, affrighted with thy presence;
And this distemper'd and tempestuous night
Tells me the air is troubled with some devil.
COR. Come, art thou ready?
FAB. Whither, or to what?
COR. Why, scholar, this the hour my date expires:[239]
I must depart, and come to claim my due.
FAB. Ha! what is thy due?
COR. Fabel, thyself.
FAB. O, let not darkness hear thee speak that word,
Lest that with force it hurry hence amain,
And leave the world to look upon my woe:
Yet overwhelm me with this globe of earth,
And let a little sparrow with her bill
Take but so much as she can bear away,
That, every day thus losing of my load,
I may again in time yet hope to rise.
COR. Didst thou not write thy name with thine own blood?
And drew'st the formal deed 'twixt thee and me?
And is it not recorded now in hell?
FAB. Why com'st thou in this stern and horrid shape:
Not in familiar sort, as thou wast wont?
COR. Because the date of thy command is out,
And I am master of thy skill and thee.
FAB. Coreb, thou angry and impatient spirit,
I have earnest business for a private friend:
Reserve me, spirit, until some farther time.
COR. I will not for the mines of all the earth.
FAB. Then let me rise, and ere I leave the world,
Despatch[240] some business that I have to do;
And in meantime repose thee in that chair.
COR. Fabel, I will.
[_Sits down in the necromantic chair._
FAB. O, that this soul, that cost so dear a price
As the dear precious blood of her Redeemer,
Inspir'd with knowledge, should by that alone,
Which makes a man so mean unto the powers,
Ev'n lead him down into the depth of hell;
When men in their own pride strive to know more
Than man should know!
For this alone God cast the angels down.
The infinity of arts is like a sea,
Into which when man will take in hand to sail
Farther than reason (which should be his pilot)
Hath skill to guide him--losing once his compass,
He falleth to such deep and dangerous whirlpools,
As he doth lose the very sight of heaven:
The more he strives to come to quiet harbour,
The farther still he finds himself from land.
Man, striving still to find the depth of evil--
Seeking to be a god, becomes a devil.
COR. Come, Fabel, hast thou done?
FAB. Yes, yes, come hither.
COR. Fabel, I cannot.
FAB. Cannot! what ails your hollowness?
COR. Good Fabel, help me.
FAB. Alas! where lies your grief?--Some _aqua vitæ_!
The devil's very sick, I fear he'll die;
For he looks very ill.
COR. Dar'st thou deride the minister of darkness?
In Lucifer's great name, Coreb conjures thee
To set him free.
FAB. I will not for the mines of all the earth,
Unless thou give me liberty to see
Seven years more, before thou seize on me.
COR. Fabel, I give it thee.
FAB. Swear, damned fiend.
COR. Unbind me, and by hell I will not touch thee,
Till seven years from this hour be full expir'd.
FAB. Enough, come out.
COR. A vengeance take thy art!
Live and convert all piety to evil:
Never did man thus overreach the devil.
No time on earth, like Phaetonic flames,
Can have perpetual being. I'll return
To my infernal mansion: but be sure,
Thy seven years done, no trick shall make me tarry;
But, Coreb, thou to hell shalt Fabel carry.
FAB. Then thus between us two this variance ends;
Thou to thy fellow-fiends, I to my friends. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ SIR ARTHUR CLARE, DORCAS _his lady_,
MILLICENT _his daughter, young_ HARRY CLARE;
_the men booted, the gentlewomen in cloaks and_
_safeguards;_[241] BLAGUE, _the merry host of the_
_George, comes in with them_.
HOST. Welcome, good knight, to the George at Waltham: my
freehold, my tenements, goods and chattels. Madam, here's a
room is[242] the very Homer and Iliads of a lodging, it hath
none of the four elements in it; I built it out of the centre,
and I drink ne'er the less sack. Welcome, my little waste of
maidenheads: what? I serve the good Duke of Norfolk.[243]
CLARE. God-a-mercy, my good host Blague!
Thou hast a good seat here.
HOST. 'Tis correspondent or so: there's not a Tartarian[244]
nor a carrier shall breathe upon your geldings: they have
villanous rank feet, the rogues, and they shall not sweat in my
linen. Knights and lords, too, have been drunk in my house, I
thank the Destinies.
H. CLARE. Prythee, good sinful innkeeper, will that corruption,
thine ostler, to look well to my gelding. Ha! a pox of these
rushes.[245]
HOST. You, St Denis, your gelding shall walk without doors,
and cool his feet for his master's sake. By the body of Saint
George, I have an excellent intellect to go steal some venison:
now, when wast thou in the forest?
H. CLARE. Away, you stale mess of white broth! Come hither,
sister, let me help you.
CLARE. Mine host, is not Sir Richard Mounchensey come yet,
according to our appointment, when we last dined here?
HOST. The knight's not yet apparent. Marry, here's a forerunner
that summons a parley, and, faith, he'll be here top and
top-gallant presently.
CLARE. 'Tis well; good mine host, go down and see breakfast be
provided.
HOST. Knight, thy breath hath the force of a woman, it takes me
down; I am for the baser element of the kitchen: I retire like
a valiant soldier, face point-blank to the foeman, or, like a
courtier, that must not show his prince his posteriors: vanish
to know my canvasadoes and my interrogatories, for I serve the
good Duke of Norfolk. [_Exit._
CLARE. How doth my lady? are you not weary, madam?
Come hither, I must talk in private with you;
My daughter Millicent must not overhear. [_Speaking low._
MIL. Ay, whispering? pray God it tend to my good!
Strange fear assails my heart, usurps my blood.
[_Aside._
CLARE. You know our meeting with the knight Mounchensey
Is to assure our daughter to his heir.
DOR. 'Tis without question. [_Speaking low._
CLARE. Two tedious winters have pass'd o'er, since first
These couple lov'd each other, and in passion
Glued first their naked hands with youthful moisture--
Just so long, on my knowledge.
DOR. And what of this?
CLARE. This morning should my daughter lose her name,
And to Mounchensey's house convey our arms,
Quartered within his 'scutcheon: the affiance made
'Twixt him and her this morning should be seal'd.
DOR. I know it should.
CLARE. But there are crosses,[246] wife; here's one in Waltham,
Another at the Abbey, and a third
At Cheston;[247] and it is ominous to pass
Any of these without a pater-noster.
Crosses of love still thwart this marriage,
Whilst that we two (like spirits) walk in night
About those stony and hard-hearted plots.
MIL. O God! what means my father? [_Aside._
CLARE. For look you, wife, the riotous old knight
Hath overrun his annual revenue,
In keeping jolly Christmas all the year:
The nostrils of his chimneys are still stuff'd
With smoke, more chargeable than cane-tobacco;
His hawks devour his fattest hogs,[248] whilst Simple,
His leanest cur, eats his hounds' carrion.
Besides, I heard of late his younger brother,
A Turkey merchant, hath sore[249] suck'd the knight,
By means of some great losses on the sea;
That (you conceive me), before God, all's naught,
His seat is weak: thus, each thing rightly scann'd,
You'll see a flight, wife, shortly of his land.
MIL. Treason to my heart's truest sovereign:
How soon is love smothered in foggy gain! [_Aside._
DOR. But how shall we prevent this dangerous match?
CLARE. I have a plot, a trick; and this it is.
Under this colour I'll break off the match--
I'll tell the knight, that now my mind is chang'd
For marrying of my daughter; for I intend
To send her unto Cheston nunnery.[250]
MIL. O me accurs'd! [_Aside._
CLARE. There to become a most religious nun.
MIL. I'll first be buried quick. [_Aside._
CLARE. To spend her beauty in most private prayers.
MIL. I'll sooner be a sinner in forsaking
Mother and father. [_Aside._
CLARE. How dost like my plot?
DOR. Exceeding well: but is it your intent
She shall continue there?
CLARE. Continue there? ha, ha! that were a jest:
You know a virgin may continue there
A twelvemonth and a day on trial.
There shall my daughter sojourn some three months,
And in meantime I'll compass a fair match
'Twixt youthful Jerningham, the lusty heir
Of Sir Ralph Jerningham, dwelling in the forest.
I think they'll both come hither with Mounchensey.
DOR. Your care argues the love your bear our child;
I will subscribe to anything you'll have me.
[_Exeunt_ SIR ARTHUR _and_ DORCAS.[251]
MIL. You will subscribe to it?--good, good,[252] 'tis well;
Love hath two chairs of state, heaven and hell.
My dear Mounchensey, thou my death shalt rue,
Ere to thy heart Millicent prove untrue. [_Exit._
_Enter_ BLAGUE.
HOST. Ostlers, you knaves and commanders, take the horses of
the knights and competitors: your honourable hulks have put
into harbour, they'll take in fresh water here, and I have
provided clean chamber-pots. _Via!_[253] they come.
_Enter_ SIR RICHARD MOUNCHENSEY, SIR RALPH
JERNINGHAM, _young_ FRANK JERNINGHAM,
RAYMOND MOUNCHENSEY, PETER FABEL, _and_
BILBO.
HOST. The destinies be most neat chamberlains to these
swaggering puritans, knights of the subsidy.
SIR RICH. God-a-mercy, good mine host.
SIR RALPH. Thanks, good host Blague.
HOST. Room for my case of pistols, that have Greek and Latin
bullets in them: let me cling to your flanks, my nimble
giberalters, and blow wind in your calves to make them swell
bigger. Ha! I'll caper in mine own fee-simple. Away with
punctilios and orthography! I serve the good Duke of Norfolk.
BIL. _Tityre, tu patulæ recubans sub tegmine fagi.[254]_ Truly,
mine host, Bilbo, though he be somewhat out of fashion, will be
your only blade[255] still; I have a villainous sharp stomach
to slice a breakfast.
HOST. Thou shalt have it without any more discontinuance,
release, or attournment. What! we know our terms of hunting and
the sea-card.
BIL. And do you serve the good Duke of Norfolk still?
HOST. Still and still, and still, my soldier of Saint
Quintin's. Come follow me. I have Charles's-wain[256] below in
a butt of sack: 'twill[257] glister like your crab-fish.
BIL. You have fine scholar-like terms: your Cooper's
Dictionary[258] is your only book to study in a cellar, a man
shall find very strange words in it. Come, my host, let's serve
the good Duke of Norfolk.
HOST. And still, and still, and still, my boy, I'll serve the
good Duke of Norfolk.
_Enter_ SIR ARTHUR CLARE, HARRY CLARE, _and_
MILLICENT.[259]
SIR RALPH. Good Sir Arthur Clare!
CLARE. What gentleman is that? I know him not.
SIR RICH. 'Tis Master Fabel, sir, a Cambridge scholar,
My son's dear friend.
CLARE. Sir, I entreat you know me.
FAB. Command me, sir, I am affected to you
For your Mounchensey's sake.
CLARE. Alas! for him,
I not respect whether he sink or swim! [_Aside._
A word in private, Sir Ralph Jerningham.
RAY. Methinks your father looketh strangely on me:
Say, love, why are you sad?
MIL. I am not, sweet;
Passion is strong, when woe with woe doth meet.
CLARE. Shall's in to breakfast? After, we'll conclude
The cause of this our coming: in and feed,
And let that usher a more serious deed. [_Exit._
MIL. Whilst you desire his grief, my heart shall bleed. [_Exit._
Y. CLARE. Raymond Mounchensey, come, be frolic, friend;
This is the day thou hast expected long.
RAY. Pray God, dear Harry Clare, it prove so happy!
Y. CLARE. There's nought can alter it; be merry, lad.
FAB. There's nought shall alter it; be lively, Raymond:
Stand any opposition 'gainst thy hope,
Art shall confront it with her largest scope.
[_Exeunt, save_ FABEL.
PETER FABEL _solus_.
FAB. Good old Mounchensey, is thy hap so ill,
That for thy bounty and thy royal parts
Thy kind alliance should be held in scorn,
And after all these promises, my[260] Clare,
Refuse to give his daughter to thy son,
Only because thy revenues cannot reach
To make her dowage of so rich a jointure
As can the heir of wealthy Jerningham?
And therefore is the false fox now in hand
To strike a match betwixt her and the other;
And the old grey-beards now are close together,
Plotting it in the garden. Is't even so?
Raymond Mounchensey, boy, have thou and I
Thus long at Cambridge read the liberal arts,
The metaphysics, magic, and those parts
Of the most secret deep philosophy?
Have I so many melancholy nights
Watch'd on the top of Peter-house highest tower,
And come we back unto our native home,
For want of skill to lose the wench thou lov'st?
I'll first hang Enfield[261] in such rings of mist
As never rose from any dampish fen:
I'll make the brined sea to rise at Ware,
And drown the marshes unto Stratford Bridge:
I'll drive the deer from Waltham in their walks,
And scatter them (like sheep) in every field.
We may perhaps be cross'd; but, if we be,
He shall cross the devil, that but crosses me.
_Enter_ RAYMOND _and_ YOUNG JERNINGHAM.
But here comes Raymond, disconsolate and sad;
And here's the gallant that must have the wench.
JER. I prythee, Raymond, leave these solemn dumps:
Revive thy spirits. Thou, that before hast been
More watchful than the day-proclaiming cock:
As sportive as a kid, as frank and merry
As mirth herself!
If aught in me may thy content procure,
It is thine own, thou mayst thyself assure.
RAY. Ha! Jerningham, if any but thyself
Had spoke that word, it would have come as cold
As the bleak northern winds upon the face
Of winter. From thee they have some power
Upon my blood; yet being from thee,
Had but that hollow sound come from the lips
Of any living man, it might have won
The credit of mine ear; from thee it cannot.
JER. If I understand thee, I am a villain:
What! dost thou speak in parables to thy friend?
_Enter_ YOUNG CLARE.
Come, boy, and make me this same groaning love,
Troubled with stitches and the cough o' th' lungs,
That wept his eyes out, when he was a child,
And ever since hath shot at hoodman-blind:[262]
Make her leap, caper, jerk, and laugh, and sing,
And play me horse tricks.
Make Cupid wanton as his mother's dove;
But in this sort, boy, I would have thee love.
FAB. Why, how now, madcap? what, my lusty Frank,
So near a wife, and will not tell your friend?
But you will to this gear in hugger-mugger:[263]
Art thou turn'd miser, rascal, in thy loves?
JER. Who, I? s'blood, what should all you see in me, that I
should look like a married man, ha? Am I bald? Are my legs too
little for my hose? If I feel anything in my forehead, I am a
villain. Do I wear a nightcap? do I bend in the hams? what dost
thou see in me, that I should be towards marriage, ha?
Y. CLARE. What, thou married? let me look upon thee; rogue, who
has given this out of thee? how cam'st thou into this ill-name?
what company hast thou been in, rascal?
FAB. You are the man, sir, must have Millicent,
The match is making in the garden now;
Her jointure is agreed on, and the old men,
Your fathers, mean to launch their busy bags;[264]
But in the meantime to thrust Mounchensey off.
For colour of this new-intended match,
Fair Millicent to Cheston must be sent,
To take the approbation for a nun.
Ne'er look upon me, lad: the match is done.
JER. Raymond Mounchensey, now I touch thy grief
With the true feeling of a zealous friend.
And as for fair and beauteous Millicent,
With my vain breath I will not seek to slubber[265]
Her angel-like perfections: but thou know'st
That Essex hath the saint that I adore:
Where-e'er didst meet me, that we two were jovial,
But like a wag thou hast not laugh'd at me,
And with regardless jesting mock'd my love?
How[266] many a sad and weary summer night
My sighs have drunk the dew from off the earth,
And I have taught the nightingale to wake,
And from the meadows sprung the early lark
An hour before she should have list to sing:
I have loaded the poor minutes with my moans,
That I have made the heavy slow-pac'd hours
To hang like heavy clogs upon the day.
But, dear Mouncheusey, had not my affection
Seiz'd on the beauty of another dame,
Before I'd wrong the chase, and leave the love
Of one so worthy and so true a friend,
I will abjure both beauty and her sight,
And will in love become a counterfeit.
MOUN. Dear Jerningham, thou hast begot my life,
And from the mouth of hell, where now I sat,
I feel my spirit rebound against the stars,
Thou hast conquer'd me, dear friend, in my free soul,
There time nor death can by their power control.
FAB. Frank Jerningham, thou art a gallant boy;
And were he not my pupil, I would say
He were as fine a metall'd gentleman,
Of as free spirit and of as fine a temper,
As is in England; and he is a man
That very richly may deserve thy love.
But, noble Clare, this while of our discourse,
What may Mounchensey's honour to thyself
Exact upon the measure of thy grace?
Y. CLARE. Raymond Mounchensey, I would have thee know,
He does not breathe this air, whose love I cherish,
And whose soul I love more than Mounchensey's:
Nor ever in my life did see the man
Whom, for his wit and many virtuous parts,
I think more worthy of my sister's love.
But since the matter grows unto this pass,
I must not seem to cross my father's will;
But when thou list to visit her by night,
My horse is saddled, and the stable door
Stands ready for thee; use them at thy pleasure.
In honest marriage wed her frankly, boy,
And if thou gett'st her, lad, God give thee joy.
MOUN. Then, care away! let fate my fall pretend,
Back'd with the favours of so true a friend!
FAB. Let us alone, to bustle for the set;
For age and craft with wit and art have met.
I'll make my spirits to dance such nightly jigs
Along the way 'twixt this and Tot'nam Cross,
The carriers' jades shall cast their heavy packs,
And the strong hedges scarce shall keep them in:
The milkmaids' cuts[267] shall turn the wenches off,
And lay their dossers[268] tumbling in the dust:
The frank and merry London 'prentices,
That come for cream and lusty country cheer,
Shall lose their way; and, scrambling in the ditches
All night shall whoop and hallo, cry and call,
Yet none to other find the way at all.
MOUN. Pursue the project, scholar: what we can do
To help endeavour, join our lives thereto. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ BANKS, SIR JOHN, _and_ SMUG.
BANKS. Take me with you,[269] good Sir John:[270] a plague
on thee, Smug, and thou touchest liquor, thou art foundered
straight. What! are your brains always watermills? must they
ever run round?
SMUG. Banks, your ale is as a Philistine fox; nouns! there's
fire i' th' tail on't; you are a rogue to charge us with mugs
i' th' rearward; a plague of this wind! O, it tickles our
catastrophe![271]
SIR JOHN. Neighbour Banks of Waltham, and goodman Smug, the
honest smith of Edmonton, as I dwell betwixt you both at
Enfield, I know the taste of both your ale-houses; they are
good both, smart both. Hem! grass and hay! we are all mortal;
let's live till we die, and be merry; and there's an end.
BANKS. Well said, Sir John, you are of the same humour still;
and doth the water run the same way still, boy?
SMUG. Vulcan was a rogue to him; Sir John, lock, lock, lock
fast, Sir John; so, Sir John. I'll one' of these years, when it
shall please the goddesses and the destinies, be drunk in your
company; that's all now, and God send us health. Shall I swear
I love you?
SIR JOHN. No oaths, no oaths, good neighbour Smug. We'll wet
our lips together, and hug; Carouse in private, and elevate
the heart, and the liver, and the lights--and the lights, mark
you me--within us: for, hem! grass and hay! we are all mortal;
let's live till we die, and be merry; and there's an end.
BANKS. But to our former motion about stealing some venison;
whither go we?
SIR JOHN. Into the forest, neighbour Banks: into Brian's walk,
the mad-keeper.
SMUG. Blood! I'll tickle your keeper.
BANKS. I' faith, thou art always drunk when we have need of
thee.
SMUG. Need of me! heart! you shall have need of me always,
while there is iron in an anvil.
BANKS. Master Parson, may the smith go (think you), being in
this taking?
SMUG. Go! I'll go, in spite of all the bells in Waltham.
SIR JOHN. The question is good, neighbour Banks--let me see:
the moon shines to-night,--there's not a narrow bridge betwixt
this and the forest,--his brain may be settled ere night: he
may go, he may go, neighbour Banks. Now we want none but the
company of mine host Blague, of the George at Waltham: if he
were here, our consort were full. Look where comes my good
host, the Duke of Norfolk's man! And how? and how? Ahem! grass
and hay! we are not yet mortal; let us live till we die, and be
merry; and there's an end.
_Enter_ HOST.
HOST. Ha! my Castilian dialogues; and art thou in breath still,
boy? Miller, doth the match hold? Smith, I see by thy eyes
thou hast been reading a little Geneva print: but wend[272]
we merrily to the forest, to steal some of the king's deer?
I'll meet you at the time appointed. Away, I have knights and
colonels at my house, and must tend the Hungarians.[273] If
we be scared in the forest, we'll meet in the church-porch at
Enfield: is't correspondent?
BANKS. 'Tis well; but how, if any of us should be taken?
SMUG. He shall have ransom, by my sword.
HOST. Tush, the knave keepers are my bona socias[274] and my
pensioners. Nine o'clock! Be valiant, my little Gogmagogs;
I'll fence with all the justices in Hertfordshire. I'll have a
buck, till I die; I'll slay a doe, while I live. Hold your bow
straight and steady: I serve the good Duke of Norfolk.
SMUG. O rare! who-ho-ho, boy!
SIR JOHN. Peace, neighbour Smug. You see this boor, a boor
of the country, an illiterate boor, and yet the citizen of
good-fellows. Come, let's provide: ahem! grass and hay! we are
not yet all mortal; we'll live till we die, and be merry; and
there's an end. Come, Smug.
SMUG. Good night, Waltham--who-ho-ho, boy! [_Exeunt._
_Enter the Knights and Gentlemen from breakfast again._
O. MOUN. Nor I for thee, Clare, not of this:
What! hast thou fed me all this while with shalls[275]
And com'st to tell me now, thou lik'st it not?
CLARE. I do not hold thy offer competent:
Nor do I like the assurance of thy land,
The title is so brangled with thy debts.
O. MOUN. Too good for thee: and, knight, thou know'st it well,
I fawn'd not on thee for thy goods, not I,
'Twas thine own motion; that thy wife doth know.
L. CLARE. Husband, it was so; he lies not in that.
CLARE. Hold thy chat, quean.
O. MOUN. To which I hearkened willingly, and the rather,
Because I was persuaded it proceeded
From love thou bor'st to me and to my boy;
And gav'st him free access unto thy house.
Where he hath not behav'd him to thy child,
But as befits a gentleman to do:
Nor is my poor distressed state so low,
That I'll shut up my doors, I warrant thee.
CLARE. Let it suffice, Mounchensey. I mislike it;
Nor think thy son a match fit for my child.
O. MOUN. I tell thee, Clare, his blood is good and clear,
As the best drop that panteth in thy veins:
But for this maid, thy fair and virtuous child,
She is no more disparag'd by thy baseness,
Than the most orient and most[276] precious jewel,
Which still retains his lustre and his beauty.
Although a slave were owner of the same.
CLARE. She is the last is left me to bestow;
And her I mean to dedicate to God.
O. MOUN. You do, sir?
CLARE. Sir, sir, I do; she is mine own.
O. MOUN. And pity she is so:
Damnation dog thee and thy wretched pelf! [_Aside._
CLARE. Not thou, Mounchensey, shalt bestow my child.
O. MOUN. Neither shall'st[277] thou bestow her where thou meanest.
CLARE. What wilt thou do?
O. MOUN. No matter, let that be;
I will do that, perhaps, shall anger thee:
Thou hast wrong'd my love, and, by God's blessed angel,
Thou shalt well know it.
CLARE. Tut, brave not me.
O. MOUN. Brave thee, base churl! were't not for manhood sake--
I say no more, but that there be some by
Whose blood is hotter than ours is,
Which, being stirr'd might make us both repent
This foolish meeting. But, Harry Clare,
Although thy father hath abus'd my friendship,
Yet I love thee--I do, my noble boy,
I do, i' faith.
L. CLARE. Ay, do, do: fill all the world with talk of us, man;
man, I never looked for better at your hands.
FAB. I hop'd your great experience and your years
Would have prov'd patience rather to your soul,
Than with this frantic and untamed passion
To whet their skeins;[278] and, but for that
I hope their friendships are too well confirm'd.
And their minds temper'd with more kindly heat,
Than for their forward parent's frowardness,
That they should break forth into public brawls.
Howe'er the rough hand of the untoward world
Hath moulded your proceedings in this matter,
Yet I am sure the first intent was love:
Then since the first spring was so sweet and warm,
Let it die gently: ne'er kill it with scorn.
RAY. O, thou base world! how leprous is that soul,
That is once lim'd in that polluted mud!
O Sir Arthur! you have startled his free active spirit
With a too sharp spur for his mind to bear.
Have patience, sir; the remedy to woe
Is to leave that of force we must forego.
MIL. And I must take a twelvemonth's approbation,
That in the meantime this sole and private life
At the year's end may fashion me a wife.
But, sweet Mounchensey, ere this year be done,
Thou'st be a friar, if that I be a nun.
And, father, ere young Jerningham's I'll be.
I will turn mad to spite both him and thee. [_Aside._
CLARE. Wife, come to horse; and, huswife, make you ready:
For if I live, I swear by this good light,
I'll see you lodg'd in Cheston House to-night. [_Exeunt._
O. MOUN. Raymond, away; thou see'st how matters fall.
Churl, hell consume thee, and thy pelf and all!
FAB. Now, Master Clare, you see how matters fadge;[279]
Your Millicent must needs be made a nun.
Well, sir, we are the men must ply the match:
Hold you your peace, and be a looker-on:
And send her unto Cheston, when[280] he will,
I'll send me fellows of a handful high
Into the cloisters, where the nuns frequent,
Shall make them skip like does about the dale;
And make the lady prioress of the house
To play at leap-frog naked in her smock,[281]
Until the merry wenches at their mass
Cry teehee, weehee;
And tickling these mad lasses in their flanks,
Shall sprawl and squeak, and pinch their fellow-nuns.
Be lively, boys, before the wench we lose,
I'll make the abbess wear the canon's hose. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ HARRY CLARE, FRANK JERNINGHAM.
PETER FABEL, _and_ MILLICENT.
H. CLARE. Spite now hath done her worst; sister, be patient.
JER. Forewarn'd poor Raymond's company! O heaven!
When the composure of weak frailty meet[s]
Upon this mart of dirt, O, then weak love
Must in her own unhappiness be silent,
And wink on all deformities.
MIL. 'Tis well:
Where's Raymond, brother? Where's my dear Mounchensey?
Would we might weep together, and then part,
One[282] sighing parley would much ease my heart.
FAB. Sweet beauty, fold your sorrows in the thought
Of future reconcilement: let your tears
Show you a woman, but no[283] farther spent
Than from the eyes: for sweet experience says
That love is firm, that's flatter'd with delays.
MIL. Alas! sir, think you I shall e'er be his?
FAB. As sure as parting smiles on future bliss.
Yond comes my friend; see, he hath doated
So long upon your beauty, that your want
Will with a pale retirement waste his blood:
For in true love music doth sweetly dwell:
Sever'd, these less worlds bear within them hell.
_Enter_ MOUNCHENSEY.
MOUN. Harry and Frank, you are enjoined to wean
Your friendship from me: we must part; the breath
Of ill[284] advis'd corruption, pardon me.
Faith, I must say so; you may think I love you,
I breathe not rougher spite to sever us;
We'll meet by stealth, sweet friend, by stealth you twain;
Kisses are sweetest got by struggling pain.
JER. Our friendship dies not, Raymond.
MOUN. Pardon me:
I am busied; I have lost my faculties,
And buried them in Millicent's clear eyes.
MIL. Alas! sweet love, what shall become of me?
I must to Cheston to the nunnery,
I shall ne'er see thee more.
MOUN. How, sweet!
I'll be thy votary, we'll often meet:
This kiss divides us, and breathes soft adieu--
This be a double charm to keep both true.
FAB. Have done: your fathers may chance spy your parting.
Refuse not you by any means, good sweetness,
To go into the nunnery, for from hence
Must we beget your love's sweet happiness.
You shall not stay there long: your harder bed
Shall be more soft, when nun and maid are dead.
_Enter_ BILBO.
MOUN. Now, sirrah, what's the matter?
BIL. Marry, you must to horse presently; that villanous old
gouty churl, Sir Arthur Clare, longs till he be at the nunnery.
H. CLARE. How, sir?
BIL.[285] O, I cry you mercy, he is your father, sir, indeed;
but I am sure that there's less affinity betwixt your two
natures than there is between a broker and a cutpurse.
MOUN. Bring me my gelding, sirrah.
BIL. Well, nothing grieves me, but for the poor wench; she must
now cry _vale_ to lobster-pies, artichokes, and all such meats
of mortality. Poor gentlewoman! the sign must not be in _virgo_
any longer with her, and that me grieves: farewell.
Poor Millicent
Must pray and repent:
O fatal wonder!
She'll now be no fatter,
Love must not come at her,
Yet she shall be kept under. [_Exit._
JER. Farewell, dear Raymond.
H. CLARE. Friend, adieu.
MIL. Dear sweet.
No joy enjoys my heart till we next meet. [_Exeunt._
FAB. Well, Raymond, now the tide of discontent
Beats in thy face; but, ere't be long, the wind
Shall turn the flood. We must to Waltham Abbey.
And as fair Millicent in Cheston lives
A most unwilling nun, so thou shalt there
Become a beardless novice, to what end,
Let time and future accidents declare.
Taste thou my sleights: thy love I'll only share.
MOUN. Turn friar? Come, my good counsellor, let's go,
Yet that disguise will hardly shroud my woe. [_Exeunt._
_Enter the_ PRIORESS OF CHESTON, _with a nun or_
_two_, SIR ARTHUR CLARE, SIR RALPH JERNINGHAM,
HENRY _and_ FRANK, LADY CLARE,
BILBO, _with_ MILLICENT.
L. CLARE. Madam,
The love unto this holy sisterhood
And our confirm'd opinion of your zeal
Hath truly won us to bestow our child
Rather on this than any neighbouring cell.
PRI. Jesus' daughter, Mary's child,
Holy matron, woman mild,
For thee a mass shall still be said,
Every sister drop a bead;
And those again succeeding them
For you shall sing a _Requiem_.
FRANK. The wench is gone, Harry; she is no more a woman of
this world. Mark her well, she looks like a nun already: what
think'st on her?
HAR. By my faith, her face comes handsomely to't.
But peace, let's hear the rest.
SIR ARTH. Madam, for a twelvemonth's approbation,
We mean to make this trial of our child.
Your care and our dear blessing, in meantime,
We pray may prosper this intended work.
PRI. May your happy soul be blithe,
That so truly pay your tithe:
He that many children gave,
'Tis fit that he one child should have.
Then, fair virgin, hear my spell,
For I must your duty tell.
MIL. Good men and true, stand together,
And hear your charge. [_Aside._
PRI. First, a-mornings take your book,
The glass wherein yourself must look;
Your young thoughts, so proud and jolly,
Must be turn'd to motions holy;
For your busk attires and toys,
Have your thoughts on heavenly joys:
And for all your follies past,
You must do penance, pray and fast.
BIL. Let her take heed of fasting; and if ever she hurt herself
with praying, I'll ne'er trust beast.
[_Aside._
MIL. This goes hard, by'r Lady!
PRI. You shall ring the sacring-bell,[286]
Keep your hours and toll[287] your knell,
Rise at midnight to your matins,
Read your psalter, sing your latins;
And when your blood shall kindle pleasure,
Scourge yourself in plenteous measure.
MIL. Worse and worse, by Saint Mary! [_Aside._
FRANK. Sirrah Hal, how does she hold her countenance? Well,
go thy ways, if ever thou prove a nun, I'll build an abbey.
[_Aside._
HAR. She may be a nun; but if ever she prove an anchoress,
I'll dig her grave with my nails.
[_Aside._
FRANK. To her again, mother. [_Aside._
HAR. Hold thine own, wench. [_Aside._
PRI. You must read the morning mass,
You must creep unto the cross,[288]
Put cold ashes on your head,
Have a hair-cloth for your bed.
BIL. She had rather have a man in her bed.
PRI. Bind your beads, and tell your needs,
Your holy _aves_ and your creeds:
Holy maid, this must be done,
If you mean to live a nun.
MIL. The holy maid will be no nun. [_Aside._
SIR ARTH. Madam, we have some business of import,
And must be gone;
Will't please you take my wife into your closet,
Who farther will acquaint you with my mind:
And so, good madam, for this time adieu.
[_Exeunt women and_ SIR ARTHUR.
SIR RALPH. Well now, Frank Jerningham, how sayest thou?[289]
To be brief--
What wilt thou say for all this, if we two,
Her father and myself, can bring about,
That we convert this nun to be a wife,
And thou the husband to this pretty nun?
How then, my lad, ha? Frank, it may be done.
HAR. Ay, now it works.
FRANK. O God, sir! you amaze me at your words;
Think with yourself, sir, what a thing it were
To cause a recluse to remove her vow:
A sainted,[290] contrite, and repentant soul,
Ever mortified with fasting and with prayer,
Whose thoughts, even as her eyes, are fix'd on heaven.
To draw a virgin thus devout with zeal
Back to the world: O impious deed!
Nor by the canon-law can it be done
Without a dispensation from the church;
Besides, she is so prone unto this life,
As she'll even shriek to hear a husband nam'd.
BIL. Ay, a poor innocent, she! Well, here's no knavery;
He flouts the old fools to their teeth. [_Aside._
SIR RALPH. Boy, I am glad to hear
Thou mak'st such scruple of thy[291] conscience;
And in a man so young as is yourself,
I promise you 'tis very seldom seen.
But, Frank, this is a trick, a mere device--
A sleight plotted betwixt her father and myself
To thrust Mounchensey's nose beside the cushion;[292]
That being thus debarr'd of all access.
Time yet may work him from her thoughts,
And give thee ample scope to thy desires.
BIL. A plague on you both for a couple of Jews.
[_Aside._
HAR. How now, Frank, what say you to that?
FRANK. Let me alone, I warrant thee.
[_To_ HARRY.
Sir, assured that this motion doth proceed
From your most kind and fatherly affection.
I do dispose my liking to your pleasure:
But for it is a matter of such moment
As holy marriage, I must crave thus much,
To have some conference with my ghostly father,
Friar Hildersham hereby at Waltham Abbey,
To be absolv'd of things, that it is fit
None only but my confessor should know.
SIR RALPH. With all my heart. He is a reverend man.
And to-morrow morning we will meet all at the abbey,
Where by the opinion of that reverend man
We will proceed; I like it passing well.
Till then we part, boy. Ay, think of it; farewell.
A parent's care no mortal tongue can tell. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ SIR ARTHUR CLARE, _and_ RAYMOND MOUNCHENSEY
_like a friar_.
SIR ARTH. Holy young novice, I have told you now
My full intent, and do refer the rest
To your professed secrecy and care:
And see,
Our serious speech hath stolen upon the way,
That we are come unto the abbey gate.
Because I know Mounchensey is a fox,
That craftily doth overlook my doings,
I'll not be seen, not I; tush, I have done,
I had a daughter, but she's now a nun.
Farewell, dear son, farewell. [_Exit._
MOUN. Fare you well. Ay, you have done?
Your daughter, sir, shall not be long a nun.
O my rare tutor! never mortal brain
Plotted out such a mesh[293] of policy;
And my dear bosom is so great with laughter,
Begot by his simplicity and error,
My soul is fall'n in labour with her joy.
O my friends, Frank Jerningham and Clare!
Did you but know but how this jest takes fire--
That good Sir Arthur, thinking me a novice,
Hath even pour'd himself into my bosom,
O, you would vent your spleens with tickling mirth!
But, Raymond, peace, and have an eye about,
For fear perhaps some of the nuns look out.
Peace and charity within,
Never touch'd with deadly sin;
I cast holy water pure
On this wall and on this door,
That from evil shall defend,
And keep you from the ugly fiend:
Evil sprite, by night nor day,
Shall approach or come this way;
Elf nor fairy, by this grace,
Day nor night shall haunt this place.
Holy maidens--[294] [_Knocks._
[_Answer within._] Who's that which knocks? ha, who's there?
MOUN. Gentle nun, here is a friar.
_Enter_ NUN.
NUN. A friar without? now Christ us save!
Holy man, what wouldst thou have?
MOUN. Holy maid, I hither come
From friar and father Hildersham,
By the favour and the grace
Of the prioress of this place,
Amongst you all to visit one
That's come for approbation;
Before she was as now you are,
The daughter of Sir Arthur Clare,
But since she now became a nun,
Call'd Millicent of Edmonton.[295]
NUN. Holy man, repose you there;
This news I'll to our abbess bear,
To tell her what a man is sent,
And your message and intent.
MOUN. Benedicite.
NUN. Benedicite. [_Exit._
MOUN. Do, my good plump wench; if all fall right,
I'll make your sisterhood one less by night.
Now, happy fortune, speed this merry drift,
I like a wench comes roundly to her shrift.
_Enter_ LADY _and_ MILLICENT.
LADY. Have friars recourse then to the house of nuns?
MIL. Madam, it is the order of this place,
When any virgin comes for approbation
(Lest that for fear or such sinister practice
She should be forc'd to undergo this veil,
Which should proceed from conscience and devotion),
A visitor is sent from Waltham House,
To take the true confession of the maid.
LADY. Is that the order? I commend it well:
You to your shrift, I'll back unto the cell. [_Exit._
MOUN. Life of my soul! bright angel!
MIL. What means the friar?
MOUN. O Millicent, 'tis I.
MIL. My heart misgives me: I should know that voice.
You? who are you? the holy virgin bless me!
Tell me your name: you shall, ere you confess me.
MOUN. Mounchensey, thy true friend.
MIL. My Raymond! my dear heart!
Sweet life, give leave to my distracted soul
To wake a little from this swoon of joy.
By what means cam'st thou to assume this shape?
MOUN. By means of Peter Fabel, my kind tutor,
Who in the habit of friar Hildersham,
Frank Jerningham's old friend and confessor,
Plotted by Frank, by Fabel, and myself,
And so delivered to Sir Arthur Clare,
Who brought me here unto the abbey-gate,
To be his nun-made daughter's visitor.
MIL. You are all sweet traitors to my poor old father.
O my dear life! I was a-dreamed to-night
That, as I was praying in my psalter,
There came a spirit unto me as I kneel'd,
And by his strong persuasions tempted me
To leave this nunnery: and methought
He came in the most glorious angel-shape,
That mortal eye did ever look upon.
Ha! thou art sure that spirit, for there's no form
Is in mine eye so glorious as thine own.
MOUN. O thou idolatress, that dost this worship
To him whose likeness is but praise of thee!
Thou bright unsetting star, which through this veil
For very envy mak'st the sun look pale.
MIL. Well, visitor, lest that perhaps my mother
Should think the friar too strict in his decrees,
I this confess to my sweet ghostly father;
If chaste pure love be sin, I must confess,
I have offended three years now with thee.
MOUN. But do you yet repent you of the same?
MIL. I' faith, I cannot.
MOUN. Nor will I absolve thee
Of that sweet sin, though it be venial:
Yet have the penance of a thousand kisses;
And I enjoin you to this pilgrimage:--
That in the evening you bestow yourself
Here in the walk near to the willow ground,
Where I'll be ready both with men and horse
To wait your coming, and convey you hence
Unto a lodge I have in Enfield Chase:
No more reply, if that you yield consent--
I see more eyes upon our stay are bent.
MIL. Sweet life, farewell, 'tis done, let that suffice;
What my tongue fails, I send thee by mine eyes. [_Exit._
_Enter_ FABEL,[296] YOUNG CLARE, _and_ JERNINGHAM.
JER. Now, visitor, how does this new-made nun?
Y. CLARE. Come, come, how does she, noble capuchin?
MOUN. She may be poor in spirit, but for the flesh,
'Tis fat and plump, boys. Ah! rogues, there is
A company of girls would turn you all friars.
FAB. But how, Mounchensey, how, lad, for the wench?
MOUN. Zounds, lads, i'faith I thank my holy habit--
I have confess'd her, and the lady prioress
Hath given me ghostly counsel with her blessing.
And how say ye, boys,
If I be chose the weekly visitor?
Y. CLARE. Blood! she'll have ne'er a nun unbagg'd to sing mass
then.
JER. The Abbot of Waltham will have as many children to put to
nurse as he has calves in the marsh.
MOUN. Well, to be brief, the nun will soon at night turn
tippet;[297] if I can but devise to quit her cleanly of the
nunnery, she is mine own.
FAB. But, sirrah Raymond, what news of Peter Fabel at the house?
MOUN. Tush, he is the only man, a necromancer and a conjuror,
that works for young Mounchensey altogether; and if it be not
for friar Benedic, that he can cross him by his learned skill,
the wench is gone, Fabel will fetch her out by very magic.
FAB. Stands the wind there, boy? keep them in that key,
The wench is ours before to-morrow day.
Well, Harry[298] and Frank, as ye are gentlemen,
Stick to us close this once; you know your fathers
Have men and horse lie ready still at Cheston,
To watch the coast be clear, to scout about,
And have an eye unto Mounchensey's walks:
Therefore you two may hover thereabouts,
And no man will suspect you for the matter:
Be ready but to take her at our hands,
Leave us to scamble[299] for her getting out.
JER. Blood! if all Hertfordshire were at our heels, we'll
carry her away in spite of them.
Y. CLARE. But whither, Raymond?
MOUN. To Brian's upper lodge in Enfield Chase;
He is mine honest friend, and a tall keeper;
I'll send my man unto him presently,
To acquaint him with your coming and intent.
FAB. Be brief and secret.
MOUN. Soon at night remember
You bring your horses to the willow ground.
JER. 'Tis done, no more.
Y. CLARE. We will not fail the hour:
My life and fortune now lie in your power.
FAB. About our business! Raymond, let's away,
Think of your hour: it draws well off the day. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ BLAGUE, BANKS, SMUG, _and_ SIR JOHN.
BLAGUE. Come, ye Hungarian[300] pilchers, we are once more
come under the Zona Torrida of the forest; let's be resolute;
let's fly to and again; and the devil come, we'll put him to
his interrogatories, and not budge a foot. What! foot, I'll
put fire into you, ye shall all three serve the good Duke of
Norfolk.
SMUG. Mine host, my bully, my precious consul, my noble
Holofernes, I have been drunk in thy house twenty times and
ten; all's one for that: I was last night in the third heaven,
my brain was poor, it had yeast in't, but now I am a man of
action; is't not so, lad?
BANKS. Why, now, thou hast two of the liberal sciences about
thee, wit and reason, thou mayest serve the Duke of Europe.
SMUG. I will serve the Duke of Christendom, and do him more
credit in his cellar than all the plate in his buttery; is't
not so, lad?
SIR JOHN. Mine host and Smug, stand there: Banks, you and your
horse keep together, but lie close, show no tricks for fear of
the keeper. If we be scared, we'll meet in the church-porch at
Enfield.
SMUG. Content, Sir John.
BANKS. Smug, dost not thou remember the tree thou fellest out
of last night?
SMUG. Tush, and't had been as high as an abbey, I should ne'er
have hurt myself; I have fallen into the river coming home from
Waltham, and 'scaped drowning.
SIR JOHN. Come, sever, fear no spirits, we'll have a buck
presently; we have watched later than this for a doe, mine host.
HOST. Thou speakest as true as velvet.
SIR JOHN. Why then come, grass and hay! &c.[301] [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ YOUNG CLARE, JERNINGHAM, _and_
MILLICENT.
Y. CLARE. Frank Jerningham!
JER. Speak softly; rogue, how now?
Y. CLARE. 'Sfoot, we shall lose our way, it's so dark:
whereabouts are we?
JER. Why, man, at Porter's gate, the way lies right: hark! the
clock strikes at Enfield: what's the hour?
Y. CLARE. Ten, the bell says.
JER. A lie's in's throat, it was but eight when we set out of
Cheston; Sir John and his sexton are at their ale to-night, the
clock runs at random.
Y. CLARE. Nay, as sure as thou liv'st, the villanous vicar is
abroad in the chase this dark night: the stone priest steals
more venison than half the country.
JER. Millicent, now dost thou?
MIL. Sir, very well.
I would to God we were at Brian's lodge.
Y. CLARE. We shall anon; nouns! hark!
What means this noise?
JER. Stay, I hear horsemen.
Y. CLARE. I hear footmen too.
JER. Nay, then I have it: we have been discovered,
And we are followed by our fathers' men.
MIL. Brother and friend, alas! what shall we do?
Y. CLARE. Sister, speak softly, or we are descried,
They are hard upon us, whatsoe'er they be;
Shadow yourself behind this brake of fern,
We'll get into the wood, and let them pass.
_Enter_ SIR JOHN, BLAGUE, SMUG, _and_ BANKS;
_one after another_.
SIR JOHN. Grass and hay! we are all mortal: the keeper's
abroad, and there's an end.
BANKS. Sir John!
SIR JOHN. Neighbour Banks, what news?
BANKS. Zounds, Sir John, the keepers are abroad; I was hard by
'em.
SIR JOHN. Grass and hay! where's mine host Blague?
BLAGUE. Here, metropolitan; the Philistines are upon us, be
silent: let us serve the good Duke of Norfolk. But where is
Smug?
SMUG. Here: a pox on you all, dogs; I have killed the greatest
buck in Brian's walk: shift for yourselves, all the keepers are
up; let's meet in Enfield church-porch. Away, we are all taken
else. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ BRIAN, _with his man_ RALPH _and his hound_.
BRIAN. Ralph, hear'st thou any stirring?
RALPH. I heard one speak here hard by in the bottom. Peace,
master, speak low; nouns! if I did not hear a bow go off and
the buck bray, I never heard deer in my life.
BRIAN. When went your fellows into their walks?
RALPH. An hour ago.
BRIAN. Life! is there stealers abroad, and we cannot hear of them?
Where the devil are my men to-night?
Sirrah, go up and wind toward Buckley's lodge:
I'll cast about the bottom with my hound,
And I will meet thee under Cony-oak.
RALPH. I will, sir. [_Exit._
BRIAN. How now! by the mass, my hound stays upon something;
hark, hark, Bowman! hark, hark there!
MIL. Brother, Frank Jerningham, brother Clare!
BRIAN. Peace; that a woman's voice! Stand! who's there? Stand,
or I'll shoot.
MIL. O lord! hold your hands, I mean no harm, sir.
BRIAN. Speak, who are you?
MIL. I am a maid, sir. Who? Master Brian?
BRIAN. The very same: sure, I should know her voice? Mistress
Millicent!
MIL. Ay, it is I, sir.
BRIAN. God for his passion! what make you here alone? I looked
for you at my lodge an hour ago. What means your company to
leave you thus? Who brought you hither?
MIL. My brother, sir, and Master Jerningham who, hearing folks
about us in the Chase, feared it had been Sir Arthur my father,
who had pursued us, and thus dispersed ourselves, till they
were past us.
BRIAN. But where be they?
MIL. They be not far off--here about the grove.
_Enter_ YOUNG CLARE _and_ JERNINGHAM.
Y. CLARE. Be not afraid, man; I hear Brian's tongue, that's
certain.
JER. Call softly for your sister.
Y. CLARE. Millicent!
MIL. Ay, brother, here.
BRIAN. Master Clare!
Y. CLARE. I told you it was Brian.
BRIAN. Who is that, Master Jerningham? You are a couple of
hot-shots: does a man commit his wench to you, to put her to
grass at this time of night?
JER. We heard a noise about us in the Chase,
And fearing that our fathers had pursu'd us,
Severed ourselves.
Y. CLARE. Brian, how happedst thou on her?
BRIAN. Seeking for stealers that are abroad tonight,
My hound stay'd on her, and so found her out.
Y. CLARE They were these stealers that affrighted us;
I was hard upon them when they hors'd their deer,
And I perceive they took me for a keeper.
BRIAN. Which way took they?
JER. Towards Enfield.
BRIAN. A plague upon't, that's the damned priest and Blague of
the George--he that serves the good Duke of Norfolk.
[_A noise within._] Follow, follow, follow!
Y. CLARE. Peace; that's my father's voice.
BRIAN. Nouns! you suspected them, and now they are here indeed.
MIL. Alas! what shall we do?
BRIAN. If you go to the lodge, you are surely taken:
Strike down the wood to Enfield presently,
And if Mounchensey come, I'll send him to you.
Let me alone to bustle with your fathers;
I warrant you that I will keep them play
Till you have quit the Chase; away, away. [_Exeunt._
Who's there?
_Enter the Knights._
SIR RALPH. In the king's name, pursue the ravisher.
BRIAN. Stand, or I'll shoot.
SIR ARTH. Who's there?
BRIAN. I am the keeper, that do charge you stand;
You have stolen my deer.
SIR ARTH. We stolen thy deer? we do pursue a thief.
BRIAN. You are arrant thieves, and ye have stolen my deer.
SIR ARTH. We are knights; Sir Arthur Clare and Sir Ralph
Jerningham.
BRIAN. The more your shame, that knights should bo such thieves.
SIR ARTH. Who or what art thou?
BRIAN. My name is Brian, keeper of this walk.
SIR ARTH. O Brian, a villain!
Thou hast receiv'd my daughter to thy lodge.
BRIAN. You have stolen the best deer in my walk to-night: my
deer--
SIR ARTH. My daughter--Stop not my way.
BRIAN. What make you in my walk? you have stolen the best buck
in my walk to-night.
SIR ARTH. My daughter--
BRIAN. My deer--
SIR RALPH. Where is Mounchensey?
BRIAN. Where is my buck?
SIR ARTH. I will complain me of thee to the king.
BRIAN. I'll complain unto the king you spoil his game: 'tis
strange that men of your account and calling will offer it. I
tell you true, Sir Arthur and Sir Ralph, that none but you have
only spoiled my game.
SIR ARTH. I charge you stop us not.
BRIAN. I charge you both get out of my ground. Is this a time
for such as you, men of place and of your gravity, to be abroad
a-thieving? 'tis a shame; and afore God, if I had shot at you,
I had served you well enough. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ BANKS _the miller, wet on his legs_.
BANKS. Foot, here's a dark night indeed: I think I have
been in fifteen ditches between this and the forest. Soft,
here's Enfield church: I am so wet with climbing over into an
orchard for to steal some filberts. Well, here I'll sit in the
church-porch, and wait for the rest of my consorts.
_Enter_ SEXTON.
SEX. Here's a sky as black as Lucifer, God bless us! Here was
goodman Theophilus buried: he was the best nut-cracker that
ever dwelt in England. Well, 'tis nine o'clock, 'tis time to
ring curfew.[302] Lord bless us, what a white thing is that
in the church-porch![303] O lord, my legs are too weak for my
body, my hair is too stiff for my nightcap, my heart fails;
this is the ghost of Theophilus. O Lord, it follows me! I
cannot say my prayers, and one would give me a thousand pound.
Good spirit! I have bowled and drunk, and followed the hounds
with you, a thousand times, though I have not the spirit now to
deal with you. O Lord!
_Enter_ SIR JOHN.
SIR JOHN. Grass and hay! we are all mortal; who's there?
SEX. We are grass and hay indeed: I know you to be master
parson by your phrase.
PRIEST. Sexton!
SEX. Ay, sir.
PRIEST. For mortality's sake, what's the matter?
SEX. O Lord, I am a man of another element; Master Theophilus's
ghost is in the church-porch. There was an hundred cats, all
fire, dancing even now, and they are clomb up to the top of the
steeple; I'll not into the belfry for a world.
PRIEST. O goodman Solomon, I have been about a deed of darkness
to-night: O Lord! I saw fifteen spirits in the forest like
white bulls; if I lie, I am an arrant thief: mortality haunts
us--grass and hay! the devil's at our heels, and let's hence to
the parsonage. [_Exeunt._
_The_ MILLER _comes out very softly_.
MILLER. What noise was that? 'tis the watch; sure, that
villanous unlucky rogue Smug is ta'en; upon my life, and then
all our knavery comes out! I heard one cry, sure.
_Enter host_ BLAGUE.
HOST. If I go steal any more venison, I am a paradox: foot, I
can scarce bear the sin of my flesh in the day, 'tis so heavy:
if I turn not honest, and serve the good Duke of Norfolk as a
true mareterraneum skinker[304] should do, let me never look
higher than the element of a constable.
MILLER. By the mass, there are some watchmen; I hear them name
master constable: I would my mill were an eunuch, and wanted
her stones, so I were hence.
HOST. Who's there?
MILLER. Tis the constable, by this light: I'll steal hence,
and if I can meet mine host Blague, I'll tell him how Smug is
ta'en, and will him to look to himself. [_Exit._
HOST. What the devil is that white thing? this same is a
churchyard, and I have heard that ghosts and villanous goblins
have been seen here.
_Enter_ SEXTON _and_ PRIEST.
PRIEST. Grass and hay! O, that I could conjure! we saw a spirit
here in the churchyard; and in the fallow field there's the
devil with a man's body upon his back in a white sheet.
SEX. It may be a woman's body, Sir John.
PRIEST. If she be a woman, the sheets damn her.
Lord bless us, what a night of mortality is this!
HOST. Priest!
PRIEST. Mine host!
HOST. Did you not see a spirit all in white cross you at the
stile?
SEX. O no, mine host; but there sat one in the porch: I have
not breath enough left to bless me from the devil.
HOST. Who's that?
PRIEST. The sexton, almost frightened out of his wits. Did you
see Banks or Smug?
HOST. No, they are gone to Waltham, sure. I would fain hence;
come, let's to my house: I'll ne'er serve the Duke of Norfolk
in this fashion again whilst I breathe. If the devil be
among us, it's time to hoist sail, and cry roomer.[305] Keep
together; sexton, thou art secret. What! let's be comfortable
one to another.
PRIEST. We are all mortal, mine host.
HOST. True; and I'll serve God in the night hereafter afore the
Duke of Norfolk. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ SIR ARTHUR CLARE _and_ SIR RALPH JERNINGHAM,[306]
_trussing their points, as newly up._
SIR RALPH. Good-morrow, gentle knight;
A happy day after your short night's rest.
SIR ARTH. Ha, ha! Sir Ralph, stirring so soon indeed?
By'r Lady, sir, rest would have done right well:
Our riding late last night has made me drowsy.
Go to, go to, those days are gone with us.
SIR RALPH. Sir Arthur, Sir Arthur, care go with those days!
Let 'em even go together, let 'em go;
'Tis time, i' faith, that we were in our graves,
When children leave obedience to their parents
When there's no fear of God, no care, no duty.
Well, well--nay, it shall not do, it shall not:
No, Mounchensey, thou'lt hear on't, thou shalt,
Thou shalt, i' faith; I'll hang thy son,
If there be law in England. A man's child
Ravish'd from a nunnery! This is rare!
Well, there's one gone for friar Hildersham.
SIR ARTH. Nay, gentle knight, do not vex thus, it will but hurt
your heat. You cannot grieve more than I do; but to what end?
But hark you, Sir Ralph, I was about to say something--it makes
no matter. But hark you in your ear; the friar's a knave: but
God forgive me, a man cannot tell, neither. 'Sfoot, I am so out
of patience, I know not what to say.
SIR RALPH. There's one went for the friar an hour ago. Comes
he not yet? 'Sfoot, if I do find knavery under's cowl, I'll
tickle him, I'll ferk him. Here, here, he's here, he's here.
Good-morrow, friar; good-morrow, gentle friar.
_Enter_ HILDERSHAM.
SIR ARTH. Good-morrow, father Hildersham, good-morrow.
HIL. Good-morrow, reverend knights, unto you both.
SIR ARTH. Father, how now? You hear how matters go;
I am undone, my child is cast away;
You did your best, at least I think the best:
But we are all cross'd; flatly, all is dash'd.
HIL. Alas! good knights, how might the matter be?
Let me understand your grief for charity.
SIR ARTH. Who does not understand my grief?
Alas! alas!
And yet you do not: will the church permit
A nun in approbation of her habit
To be ravished?
HIL. A holy woman, benedicite!
Now God forfend,[307] that any should presume
To touch the sister of a holy house.
SIR ARTH. Jesus deliver me!
SIR RALPH. Why, Millicent, the daughter of this knight,
Is out of Cheston taken this last night.
HIL. Was that fair maiden late become a nun?
SIR RALPH. Was she, quoth a? Knavery, knavery, knavery,
knavery; I smell it, I smell it. I' faith, is the wind in that
door? Is it even so? Dost thou ask me that now?
HIL. It is the first time that e'er I heard of it.
SIR ARTH. That's very strange.
SIR RALPH. Why, tell me, friar, tell me: thou art counted a
holy man? Do not play the hypocrite with me, nor[308] bear with
me: I cannot dissemble. Did I aught but by thy own consent, by
thy allowance--nay, further, by thy warrant?
HIL. Why, reverend knight--
SIR RALPH. Unreverend friar--
HIL. Nay, then give me leave, sir, to depart in quiet:
I had hop'd you had sent for me to some other end.
SIR ARTH. Nay, stay, good friar, if anything hath happ'd
About this matter in thy love to us,
That thy strict order cannot justify,
Admit it to be so, we will cover it;
Take no care, man:
Disclaim not yet my counsel and advice,
The wisest man that is may be o'erreach'd.
HIL. Sir Arthur, by my order and my faith, I know not what you
mean.
SIR RALPH. By your order and by your faith? This is most
strange of all. Why, tell me, friar, are not you confessor to
my son Frank?
HIL. Yes, that I am.
SIR RALPH. And did not this good knight here and myself
Confess with you, being his ghostly father,
To deal with him about th' unbanded marriage
Betwixt him and that fair young Millicent?
HIL. I never heard of any match intended.
SIR ARTH. Did not we break our minds that very time,
That our device in making her a nun
Was but a colour and a very plot
To put by young Mounchensey? Is't not true?
HIL. The more I strive to know what you should mean,
The less I understand you.
SIR RALPH. Did not you tell us still, how Peter Fabel
At length would cross us, if we took not heed?
HIL. I have heard of one that is a great magician;
But he's about the university.
SIR RALPH. Did not you send your novice Benedic
To persuade the girl to leave Mounchensey's love,
To cross that Peter Fabel in his art,
And to that purpose made him visitor?
HIL. I never sent my novice from my house,
Nor have we made our visitation yet.
SIR ARTH. Never sent him! Nay, did he not go? and did not I
direct him to the house, and confer with him by the way? and
did not he tell me what charge he had received from you, word
by word, as I requested at your hands?
HIL. That you shall know; he came along with me,
And stays without. Come hither, Benedic.
_Enter_ BENEDIC.
Young Benedic, were you e'er sent by me
To Cheston nunnery for a visitor?
BEN. Never, sir, truly.
SIR RALPH. Stranger than all the rest!
SIR ARTH. Did not I direct you to the house:
Confer with you from Waltham Abbey
Unto Cheston wall?
BEN. I never saw you, sir, before this hour.
SIR RALPH. The devil thou didst not! Ho, chamberlain!
_Enter_ CHAMBERLAIN.
CHAM. Anon, anon.
SIR RALPH. Call mine host Blague hither.
CHAM. I will send one over, sir, to see if he be up. I think he
be scarce stirring yet.
SIR RALPH. Why, knave, didst thou not tell me an hour ago mine
host was up!
CHAM. Ay, sir, my master's up.
SIR RALPH. You knave, is he up, and is he not up? Dost thou
mock me?
CHAM. Ay, sir, my master is up; but I think Master Blague
indeed be not stirring.
SIR RALPH. Why, who's thy master? Is not the master of the
house thy master?
CHAM. Yes, sir; but Master Blague dwells over the way.
SIR ARTH. Is not this the George? Before Jove, there's some
villany in this.
CHAM. Foot, our sign's removed; this is strange!
_Enter_ BLAGUE, _trussing his points_.
HOST. Chamberlain, speed[309] up to the new lodgings;
Bid Nell look well to the bak'd meat--
How now, my old jennet's back?[310] my house
[Is] my castle: lie in Waltham all night, and
Not under the canopy of your host Blague's house?
SIR ARTH. Mine host, mine host, we lay all night at the George
in Waltham; but whether the George be your fee-simple or no,
'tis a question. Look upon your sign.
HOST. Body of St George, this is mine over-thwart neighbour
hath done this to seduce my blind customers. I'll tickle his
catastrophe for this; if I do not indict him at the next
assizes for burglary, let me die of the yellows;[311] for I see
it is no boot in these days to serve the good Duke of Norfolk.
The villanous world is turned mangy;[312] one jade deceives
another, and your ostler plays his part commonly for the fourth
share. Have we comedies in hand, you whoreson, villanous male
London lecher?
SIR ARTH. Mine host, we have had the moilingest night of it
that ever we had in our lives.
HOST. Is it certain?
SIR ARTH. We have been in the forest all night almost.
HOST. Foot, how did I miss you? Heart! I was stealing of a buck
there.
SIR ARTH. A plague on you; we were stayed for you.
HOST. Were you, my noble Romans? Why, you shall share; the
venison is a-footing. _Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus_,
that is, there is a good breakfast provided for a marriage that
is in my house this morning.
SIR ARTH. A marriage, mine host!
HOST. A conjunction copulative; a gallant match between your
daughter and Raymond Mounchensey, young juventus.
SIR ARTH. How?
HOST. Tis firm; 'tis done.
We'll show you a precedent in the civil law fort.
SIR RALPH. How! married?
HOST. Leave tricks and admiration; there's a cleanly pair of
sheets on the bed in the Orchard-chamber, and they shall lie
there. What? I'll do it. I serve the good Duke of Norfolk.
SIR ARTH. Thou shalt repent this, Blague.
SIR RALPH. If any law in England will make thee smart for this,
expect it with all severity.
HOST. I renounce your defiance; if you parley so roughly, I'll
barricado my gates against you. Stand fair, bully; priest,
come off from the rearward. What can you say now? 'Twas done
in my house. I have shelter in the court for't. Do you see yon
bay-window? I serve the good Duke of Norfolk, and 'tis his
lodging. Storm, I care not, serving the good Duke of Norfolk.
Thou art an actor in this, and thou shalt carry fire in thy
face eternally.
_Enter_ SMUG, MOUNCHENSEY, HARRY CLARE, _and_
MILLICENT.
SMUG. Fire! nouns, there's no fire in England like your
Trinidado sack.[313] Is any man here humorous?[314] We stole
the venison, and we'll justify it: say you now?
HOST. In good sooth, Smug, there's more sack on the fire, Smug.
SMUG. I do not take any exceptions against your sack: but if
you lend me a pike-staff, I'll cudgel them all hence, by this
hand.
HOST. I say thou shalt into the cellar.
SMUG. 'Sfoot, mine host, shall's not grapple? Pray you, pray
you; I could fight now for all the world like a cockatrice's
egg. Shall's not serve the Duke of Norfolk? [_Exit._
HOST. In, skipper, in.
SIR ARTH. Sirrah, hath young Mounchensey married your sister?
H. CLARE. 'Tis certain, sir; here's the priest that coupled
them, the parties joined, and the honest witness that cried
amen.
MOUN. Sir Arthur Clare, my new-created father, I beseech you
hear me.
SIR ARTH. Sir, sir, you are a foolish boy; you have done that
you cannot answer; I dare be bold to seize her from you, for
she's a professed nun.
MIL. With pardon, sir, that name is quite undone;
This true-love knot cancels both maid and nun.
When first you told me, I should act that part,
How cold and bloody it crept o'er my heart.
To Cheston with a smiling brow I went,
But yet, dear sir, it was to this intent,
That my sweet Raymond might find better means,
To steal me thence. In brief, disguis'd he came,
Like novice to old father Hildersham;
His tutor here did act that cunning part,
And in our love hath join'd much wit to art.
SIR ARTH. Is it even so?
MIL. With pardon therefore we entreat your smiles!
Love (thwarted) turns itself to thousand wiles.
SIR ARTH. Young Master Jerningham, were you an actor
In your own love's abuse?
JER. My thoughts, good sir,
Did labour seriously unto this end--
To wrong myself, ere I'd abuse my friend.
HOST. He speaks like a bachelor of music; all in numbers.
Knights, if I had known you would have let this covey of
partridges sit thus long upon their knees under my signpost. I
would have spread my door with coverlids.
SIR ARTH. Well, sir, for this your sign was removed, was it?
HOST. Faith, we followed the directions of the devil, Master
Peter Fabel; and Smug (lord bless us!) could never stand
upright since.
SIR ARTH. You, sir--'twas you was his minister, that married
them?
SIR JOHN. Sir, to prove myself an honest man, being that I
was last night in the forest stealing venison--now, sir, to
have you stand my friend, if the matter should be called in
question, I married your daughter to this worthy gentleman.
SIR ARTH. I may chance to requite you, and make your neck crack
for't.
SIR JOHN. If you do, I am as resolute as my neighbour-vicar of
Waltham Abbey; ahem! grass and hay! we are all mortal; let's
live till we be hanged, mine host, and be merry; and there's an
end.
_Enter_ FABEL.[315]
FAB. Now, knights, I enter: now my part begins.
To end this difference, know, at first I knew
What you intended, ere your love took flight
From old Mounchensey: you, Sir Arthur Clare,
Were minded to have married this sweet beauty
To young Frank Jerningham: to cross this match,
I us'd some pretty sleights; but I protest
Such as but sat upon the skirts of art:
No conjurations, nor such weighty spells
As tie the soul to their performancy.
These for his love, who once was my dear pupil,
Have I effected. Now (methinks) 'tis strange
That you, being old in wisdom, should thus knit
Your forehead on this match; since reason fails,
No law can curb the lover's rash attempt;
Years, in resisting this, are sadly spent.
Smile then upon your daughter and kind son;
And let our toil to future ages prove,
The Devil of Edmonton did good in love.
SIR ARTH. Well, 'tis in vain to cross thee, Providence:
Dear son, I take thee up into my heart;
Rise, daughter.
MIL. This is a kind father's part.
HOST. Why, Sir John.[316] send for Spindle's noise[317] presently:
Ha! ere't be night, I'll serve the good Duke of Norfolk.
SIR JOHN. Grass and hay! mine host, let's live till we die, and
be merry; and there's an end.
SIR ARTH. What, is breakfast ready, mine host?
HOST. 'Tis, my little Hebrew.
SIR ARTH. Sirrah! ride straight to Cheston nunnery,
Fetch thence my lady; the house, I know,
By this time misses their young votary.
Come, knights, let's in.
BIL. I will to horse presently, sir. A plague on my lady,
I shall miss a good breakfast. Smug, how chance you cut so
plaguely behind, Smug?
SMUG. Stand away, I'll founder you else.
BIL. Farewell, Smug, thou art in another element.
SMUG. I will be by and by; I will be Saint George again.
SIR ARTH. Take heed the fellow do not hurt himself.
SIR RALPH. Did we not last night find two Saint Georges here?
FAB. Yes, knights, this martialist was one of them.
CLARE. Then thus conclude your night of merriment.
[_Exeunt omnes._
FINIS.
RAM-ALLEY
OR
MERRY TRICKS.
_EDITIONS._
(1.) _Ram-Alley: Or Merrie Trickes. A Comedy Divers times
here-to-fore acted by the Children of the Kings Reuels.
Written by Lo: Barrey. At London Printed by G. Eld, for
Robert Wilson, and are to be sold at his shop in Holborne,
at the new yate of Grayes-Inne._ 1611. 4.
(2.) _Ram-Alley; Or Merry-Trickes. A Comedy. Divers times
here-to-fore acted by the Children of the Kings Revels.
Written by Lo. Barrey. London. Printed by John Norton, for
Robert Wilson._ 1636. 4.
INTRODUCTION.
Lodowick Barry is said to have been a gentleman of Irish birth, and
Anthony Wood is pleased to compliment him with the title of Lord, which
is very probably a mistake. No circumstances concerning him remain,
not even the times of his birth and death; though the latter was not
unlikely to be soon after the publication of the following play, the
only one which he wrote. The writer of his article in the "Biographia
Dramatica" says that "the plot in this play of William Small-shanks
decoying the Widow Taffata into marriage is the same with that in
Kiligrew's 'Parson's Wedding,' _and both taken from the 'English
Rogue._'" The latter part of this assertion is entirely without
foundation, and the least attention to dates would have prevented the
writer's falling into so gross an error. Both plays were published
before "The English Rogue" appeared; "Ram-Alley"[318] above fifty
years; and "The Parson's Wedding" about ten or twelve.
FOOTNOTES:
[235] "Here (_i.e._, at Edmonton) lieth interred vnder a seemlie Tombe
without Inscription, the Body of _Peter Fabell_ (as the report goes)
vpon whom this fable was fathered, that he by his wittie deuises
beguiled the deuil: belike he was some ingenious conceited gentleman,
who did vse some sleightie trickes for his owne disports. He liued and
died in the raigne of Henry the Seuenth, saith the booke of his merry
pranks."--Weever's "Funeral Monuments," fol. 1631, p. 534. Norden
says: "There is a fable of one _Peter Fabell_ that lyeth in the same
church also, who is saide to have beguiled the Devill by pollicie for
Money."--"Speculum Britanniæ" (Middlesex), p. 18.
[236] A monosyllable (perhaps _is_ or _lives_) has dropt out here, and
rendered the line imperfect.--_Collier._ [The metre is quite correct.]
[237] So in "Hamlet," act i. sc. 5.
"And each particular hair to stand on end
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine."
[238] [Old copies, _or_.]
[239] The measure was injured by the needless insertion of _is_ in this
line, not supported by any of the old copies.--_Collier._
[240] The [later] quartos read, _I'll despatch_, &c.--_Collier._
[241] _Safeguards_ are outward petticoats, still worn by the wives of
farmers, &c., who ride on horseback to market.--_Steevens._
They are called so, says Minsheu, _voce Saveguard_, because they guard
the other clothes from soiling. They are mentioned several times in
"The Roaring Girl."
Again, in "Ram Alley," act i. sc. 1.
"On with _your cloak and safeguard_, you arrant drab."
[242] The quartos of 1626 and 1631 read, _Here's a room in the very
Homer and Illiads of a lodging_, which may be right.--_Collier._ [Most
probably _not._]
[243] [Compare Chappell's "Pop. Music," 8o edit., p. 118.]
[244] _Tartarian_ seems to have been a cant word for a thief. In "The
Wandering Jew," 1640, p. 3, the Hangman says, "I pray (Mr Jew) bestow
a cast of your office upon me (a poor member of the Law), by telling
me my fortune, whether I shall die in my bed or no, or what else shall
happen to me; and if any thieving _Tartarian_ shall break in upon you,
I will with both hands nimbly lend a cast of my office to him."
[245] Before the use of carpets was introduced into England, it was
customary to strew the floors of rooms with rushes. This practice is
often mentioned.
So in "Arden of Feversham," 1592--
ALES. In vaine we strive, for here his blood remains.
Mos. Why, strew rushes on it, can you not?
Again, in Ben Jonson's "Cynthia's Revels," act ii. sc. 5: "That all the
ladies and gallants lye languishing _upon the rushes_, like so many
pounded cattle i' the midst of harvest," &c.
And in Dekker's "Bel-man of London," sig. B 4: "The windowes were
spread with hearbs, the chimney drest up with greene boughes, and the
_floore strewed with bulrushes_, as if some lasse were that morning to
be married."
See also Holinshed's "Chronicle," vol. ii. p. 1706, [and compare a
passage at p. 177 of present vol.]
[246] So in "The Merchant of Venice" Stephano says of Portia--
"My mistress will before the break of day
Be here at Belmont: she doth stray about
_By holy crosses, where she kneds and prays_
_For happy wedlock hours"_
[247] In Hertfordshire, now called Cheshunt.
[248] [Old copies, _dogs--simple_, and in the next line, _curs eat_.]
[249] [Old copies, _or--sure_.]
[250] At Cheshunt there was a Benedictine nunnery dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. It was founded before the year 1183, and augmented with
lands and tenements of the Canons of Cathale, in the twenty-fourth year
of King Henry the Third; but yet upon the general dissolution it was
valued only at £14, 1s. per annum. See "England Illustrated," 1764, i.
318.
[251] The departure of Sir Arthur and his wife is not mentioned in the
old copies.--_Collier._
[252] The line was spoilt by the omission of the repetition of the word
_good_ by Mr Reed.--_Collier._
[253] This cant phrase is common in the old plays. Mr Tollet supposes
it taken from the Italian _via,_ and to be used on occasions to quicken
or pluck up courage. See note to the "Merry Wives of Windsor," act ii.
sc. 2. It here [and elsewhere] signifies _away_! So, in "Edward the
Third," act ii. sc. 2--
"Then _via_ for the spacious bounds of France."
In Jonson's "Devil is an Ass," act ii. sc. 1--
"Let her go:
_Via, pecunia_."
Again, in "Eastward Hoe! "--
"Avaunt. dull flat-cap then!
_Via_, the curtain that shadowed Borgia!
There lie, thou husk of my envassall'd state."
And in Marston's "What you Will," act ii.--
"Come now, _via,_ aloune to Celia."
See also "Mons. Thomas," act ii. sc. 2.
[254] The first line of Virgil's first "Eclogue."
[255] [A _jeu d'esprit_ allusive to the old Bilboa sword-blades.]
[256] In astronomy, seven stars in the constellation Ursa Minor.
[257] [Old copies, _I will_.]
[258] A quibble alluding to Thomas Cooper's "Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ,"
printed in 1548.
[259] Their entrance is not noticed in the quartos, and Mr Reed omitted
Millicent.--_Collier._
[260] [Old copies, _by_.]
[261] [Old copies, _We'll--Envil_.]
[262] That is, as Mr Steevens supposes, blind man's buff. See note on
"Hamlet," act iii. sc. 4, edit. 1778.
[263] See note to "The Revenger's Tragedy," _suprá_, p. 90.
[264] So the quartos: Mr Dodsley read _pursy_.
[265] See note to "The First Part of Jeronimo," [iv. 374.]
[266] The quartos, without exception, erroneously read
_Now_.--_Collier_.
[267] _i.e._, Horses.
[268] _i.e._, Panniers.
[269] Let me understand you. So Falstaff says, "I would your grace
_would take me with you_; whom means your grace?"--"First Part of King
Henry IV.," act ii. sc. 2, and Dr Johnson's and Dr Farmer's notes.
[270] This is one of the many instances which might be given where a
parson is called _Sir_. "Upon which," says Sir John Hawkins, "it may
be observed, that anciently it was the common designation both of one
in holy orders and a knight." Fuller somewhere in his "Church History"
says, that anciently there were in England more _sirs_ than _knights;_
and so lately as temp. William and Mary, in a deposition in the
Exchequer, in a case of tithes, the witness, speaking of the curate,
whom he remembers, styles him _Sir Gyles_. Vide Gibson's "View of the
State of the Churches of Door, Home-Lacey," &c., p. 36. Note to "The
Merry Wives of Windsor," act i. sc. 1, edit. 1778.
So in the "New Trick to Cheat the Devil," 1639: "_Sir_ me no _Sirs_; I
am no knight nor _Churchman."--Collier_.
[271] This expression is used by Falstaff, in the "Second Part of King
Henry IV.," act ii. sc. 1.
[272] Go.
[273] The Host's conversation is wholly made up of puns and quibbles.
He means here his hungry guests. [See p. 244.] His address to the smith
before, on reading the _little Geneva print_, was [an equivoque on
the redness of his eyes from having drunk too much, and the small type
in which the Scriptures were printed in the common Genevan version.]
[274] The 4o of 1617 reads _bosonians_; that of 1631, _bonasosis_.
[275] [A play on _shall_ and _shale_ (or shell).] Churchyard, in his
"Challenge," 1593, says--
"Thus all with _shall; or shalles ye shal be fed_."
The old editions spell it _shales_, and it is not a very forced
construction to suppose that Mounchensey, complaining of Clare's
want of faith, uses the word _shalls_ in the sense of _promises_;
and this seems to be the real meaning of the quotation from
Churchyard.--_Collier._
[276] [Old copies, _the_.]
[277] [Old copies, _shouldst_.]
[278] Knives or daggers. _Skein_ is the [Erse or Highland] word for a
knife.
[See a long note in Nares, edit. 1859, art. Skain.]
[279] _i.e._, Go, proceed, succeed. The word is used in Nash's "Lenten
Stuff," 1599: "It would not _fadge_, for then the market was raised to
three hundred."
Again, in "The Old Law," by Massiuger, &c., act iv. sc. 4--
"Now it begins to _fadge_."
And in the following quotation from Haughton's "Englishmen for my
Money," 1616, sig. B--
"But, sirra Ned. what sayes Mathea to thee Wilt _fadge?_ wilt _fadge?_
what, will it be a match?"--_Collier._
[280] Old copies, _where_.
[281] [Old copies, _their smocks_]
[282] [Old copies, _Our_.]
[283] [Old copies, _be no_.]
[284] [Old copies, _all_.]
[285] The older copies made this speech part of what was said
by Harry Clare, and the edition of 1655 first introduced the
correction.--_Collier._
[286] "The little bell which is rung to give notice of the _Host_
approaching, when it is carried in procession, as also in other offices
of the Romish Church, is called the _sacring_ or _consecration_ bell,
from the French word _sacrer_,"--Mr Theobald's note to "Henry VIII.,"
act iii. sc. 2.
[287] [Former eds., _tell_.]
[288] This Popish ceremony is particularly described in an ancient
book of the "Ceremonial of the Kings of England," purchased by the
Duchess of Northumberland, at the sale of the MSS. of Mr Anstis,
Garter King-at-arms. It appears from this curious treatise that the
Bishop and the Dean brought a crucifix out of the vestry, and placed
it on a cushion before the altar. A carpet was then laid "for the
Kinge to _creepe to the crosse_ upon." See Dr Percy's note to the
"Northumberland Household Book," p. 436.--_Steevens._
_Creeping to the Cross_ is mentioned in Warner's "Albion's England,"
1602, p. 115--
"We offer tapers, pay our tythes and vowes; we pilgrims goe
To every sainct, at every shrine we offerings doe bestow;
We kiss the pix, we _creepe the crosse,_ oar beades we over-runne,
The convent hath a legacie, who so is left undone."
[See also "Pop. Antiq. of Great Brit." i. 86.]
[289] The copies of 1626 and 1631 read, _Well now, Frank Clare, how
say'st thou?_ which is clearly wrong: the error was corrected in the
reprint of 1655, to which Mr Reed was again indebted.--_Collier._
[290] [Old copies, _maimed_.]
[291] [Old copies, _that_.]
[292] [A figure borrowed from archery.]
[293] [Edits., _masse_.]
[294] In all the copies _Holy maidens_ is made, absurdly enough, part
of the stage direction.--_Collier._
[295] Monks and nuns always changed their names when they entered into
the religious houses.--_Pegge._
[296] Every copy mentions Fabel as entering at this time, and just
afterwards he speaks; but Mr Reed by some accident omitted his name in
the proper place.--_Collier._
[297] _Lippit_. But see Nares, 1859, _v._ Tippet.
[298] Mr Reed was again indebted to the "unworthy" copy of 1655 for the
introduction of the name of Harry instead of Ralph, as it is found in
the previous editions.--_Collier._
[299] Instances of this word, which means almost the same as
_scramble_, are given in a note on Shakespeare's "King Henry V.," sc.
1, edit. 1778.--_Steevens._
[300] Hungarian was a cant term then frequently in use. See Mr
Steevens's note on "The Merry Wives of Windsor," act i. sc. 3. Mr
Tollet ohserves that "the _Hungarians_, when infidels, overran Germany
and France, and would have invaded England if they could have come to
it. See Stowe in the year 930, and Holinshed's 'Invasions of Ireland,'
p. 56. Hence their name might become a proverb of baseness." [Compare
p. 227 _ante_.]
[301] The &c., means, of course, that Sir John repeats his old
saying--"We are all mortal; we'll live till we die, and be merry, and
there's an end."--_Collier._
[302] _Curfew_ is derived from two French words, _couvrir_, _i.e._,
_tegere_, and _feu_, _i.e._, _ignis_. William the Conqueror, in the
first year of his reign, commanded that in every town and village a
bell should be rung every night at eight o'clock, and that all people
should put out their fire and candle and go to bed. The ringing of a
bell in the evening is in many places till called ringing the Curfew
Bell.
[303] [Compare "Old English Jest Books," i. 31.]
[304] See note to "Grim the Collier of Croydon," [vii. 426.]
[305] [A nautical term for tacking about. See Halliwell's "Dict.," in
v.]
[306] The edits., of 1617, 1626, 1631, call them Sir _Ralph_ Clare and
Sir _Arthur_ Jerningham.--_Collier._
[307] Forbid, prevent.
[308] Probably we ought to read, _Now bear with me_.--_Collier_. This
is hardly satisfactory, yet the true reading is difficult to guess at.
[309] [Edits., _speak_.]
[310] [Edits., _Jenert's bank_, which Steevens defends and explains.
Mine Host, it should be observed, talks much at random; but surely
_Jenert's bank_ is rank nonsense.]
"I once suspected this passage of corruption, but have found reason
to change my opinion. The merry Host seems willing to assemble ideas
expressive of _trust and confidence_. The old quartos begin the word
_jenert_ with a capital letter, and therefore we may suppose _Jenert's
bank_ to have been the shop of some banker, in whose possession money
could be deposited with security. The Irish still say, as sure as
_Burton's Bank_; and our own countrymen, as safe as the _Bank of
England_. We might read my _house_, instead of my _horse_, as the
former agrees better with _castle_. The services of a _horse_ are of
all things the most uncertain."--_Steevens._
[311] _i.e._, Of a disease peculiar to horses. So in Shakespeare's
"Taming of the Shrew"--
"His horse sped with spavins, rayed with the _yellows_."
--_Steevens._ [See Dyce's Shakesp. Gloss. in v.]
[312] Edits., _manger_.
[313] [Tobacco.]
[314] See note to "The Spanish Tragedy," [v. 31].
[315] Misprinted _Fabian_ in edits. 1626, 1631, but corrected in that
of 1655.
[316] [Former edits., _Sir George_.]
[317] [A band of fiddlers.] See a long note to "The Ordinary," act iv.,
sc. 1 (vol. xii.)
[318] There are, as will be seen opposite, two editions of "Ram-Alley,"
the first in 1611, and the other in 1636; the latter printed from
the former with a number of additional errors. From the more corrupt
of the two copies this play has been, hitherto reprinted, without
any comparison of the two; they have now for the first time been
accurately collated, and in many instances the correct reading has been
restored.--_Collier._ [A few trifling corrections were introduced by Mr
Collier, but the most serious corruptions and errors were overlooked,
and all the faulty pointing retained. Such is the case with all the
plays.
"Ram-Alley" may be characterised as a strongly-written and
well-constructed domestic drama, valuable as a social monument of the
times, and interesting as the author's only known production. But it is
full of gross passages, allusions, and innuendoes. In "The Return from
Parnassus," 1606 (ix. 117), occurs the phrase "Ram-Alley meditations,"
the saying having become proverbial, perhaps, for ruffianly language,
as the locality was, no doubt, notorious for its bad characters.]
ACTORUM NOMINA
SIR OLIVER SMALL-SHANKS.
JUSTICE TUTCHIN.
THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS.
WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS.
BOUTCHER.
LIEUTENANT BEARD.
THROAT.
CAPTAIN FACE.[319]
DASH.
THREE GENTLEMEN.
A DRAWER.
CONSTABLE _and_ OFFICERS.
WOMEN.
LADY SOMMERFIELD.
CONSTANTIA SOMMERFIELD.
FRANCES.
TAFFATA.
ADRIANA.
CHAMBERMAID.
FOOTNOTES:
[319] This character is sometimes called Captain _Face_ and sometimes
Captain _Puff_ in the body of the play, and probably the former is
according to the intention of the author, as it so stands in the
_Dramatis Personæ_, and as he is spoken of by the widow Taffata
as Captain Face. Ben Jonson names the housekeeper in his Alchymist
_Face_.--_Collier._
PROLOGUE.
Home-bred mirth our Muse doth sing;
The satyr's tooth and waspish sting,
Which most do hurt, when least suspected,
By this play are not affected.
But if conceit with quick-turn'd scenes,
Observing all those ancient streams,
Which from the Horse-foot fount do flow,[320]
As time, place, person: and to show
Things never done with that true life,
That thoughts and wits should stand at strife.
Whether the things now shown be true,
Or whether we ourselves now do
The tilings we but present: if these,
Free from the loathsome stage disease,
(So overworn, so tir'd and stale,
Not satirising but to rail)
May win your favours, and inherit
But calm acceptance for his merit:
He vows by Paper, Pen, and Ink,
And by the learned Sisters' drink,
To spend his time, his lamps, his oil,
And never cease his brain to toil,
Till from the silent hours of night
He doth produce for your delight
Conceits so new, so harmless free,
That Puritans themselves may see
A play, yet not in public preach,
That players such lewd doctrine teach,
That their pure joints do quake and tremble,
When they do see a man resemble
The picture of a villain: this,
As he a friend to Muses is,
To you by me he gives his word;
Is all his play doth now afford.
FOOTNOTES:
[320] [Hippocrene.]
RAM-ALLEY[321]; OR, MERRY TRICKS.
ACTUS I, SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ CONSTANTIA _sola, with a letter in her hand_.
CON. In this disguise, ere scarce my mourning robes
Could have a general note, I have forsook
My shape, my mother, and those rich demesnes,
Of which I am sole heir; and now resolve
In this disguise of page to follow him,
Whose love first caus'd me to assume this shape.
Lord, how my feminine blood stirs at the sight
Of these same breeches! methinks this codpiece[322]
Should betray me: well, I will try the worst.
Hither they say he usually doth come,
Whom I so much affect: what makes he here?
In the skirts of Holborn, so near the field,
And at a garden-house? he has some punk
Upon my life! No more: here he comes.
_Enter_ BOUTCHER.
God save you, sir: your name, unless I err,
Is Master Thomas Boutcher.
BOUT. 'Tis, sweet boy.
CON. I have a letter for you.
[CONSTANTIA _delivers the letter; he reads it_.
BOUT. From whom is't?
CON. The inside, sir, will tell you; I shall see
What love he bears me now. [_Aside._
BOUT. Th' art welcome, boy.
How does the fair Constantia Sommerfield,
Thy[323] noble mistress?
CON. I left her in health.
BOUT. She gives thee here good words; and for her sake
Thou shalt not want a master: be mine for ever.
CON. I thank you, sir. Now shall I see the punk.
[_He knocks._
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS.
W. SMALL. Who knocks so fast? I thought 'twas you; what news?
BOUT. You know my business well; I sing one song.
W. SMALL. 'Sfoot, what would you have me do? my land is gone,
My credit of less trust than courtiers' words
To men of judgment; and for my debts
I might deserve a knighthood:[324] what's to be done?
The knight my father will not once vouchsafe
To call me son: that little land he gave,
Throat the lawyer swallowed at one gob
For less than half the worth; and for the city
There be so many rascals and tall yeomen,
Would hang upon me for their maintenance,
Should I but peep or step within the gates,
That I am forc'd, only to ease my charge,
To live here in the suburbs; or in the town
To walk _in tenebris_. I tell you, sir,
Your best retired life is an honest punk
In a thatch'd house with garlic: tell not me:
My punk's my punk, and noble lechery
Sticks by a man when all his friends forsake him.
BOUT. The pox, it will: art thou so senseless grown,
So much endeared to thy bestial lust,
That thy original worth should lie extinct
And buried in thy shame? Far be such thoughts
From spirits free and noble! Begin to live:
Know thyself, and whence thou art deriv'd.
I know that competent state thy father gave
Cannot be yet consum'd.
W. SMALL. 'Tis gone, by heaven!
Not a denier is left.
BOUT. 'Tis impossible.
W. SMALL. Impossible! s'heart! I have had two suckers
Able to spend the wealthy Croesus' store.
_Enter_ FRANCES.
BOUT. What are they?
W. SMALL. Why, a lawyer and a whore:
See, here comes one. Dost think this petticoat,
A perfum'd smock, and twice a week a bath,
Can be maintain'd with half a year's revenues?
No, by heaven! we annual younger brothers
Must go to't by wholesale; by wholesale, man,[325]
These creatures are maintained: her very face
Has cost a hundred pounds.
FRAN. Sir, thank yourself. [_Coming forward._
CON. They keep this whore betwixt them. [_Aside._
FRAN. You know, sir,
I did enjoy a quiet country life,
Spotless and free, till you corrupted me,
And brought me to the court. I never knew
What sleeking, glazing, or what pressing meant:
Till you preferr'd me to your aunt the lady.
I knew no ivory teeth, no caps of hair,
No Mercury water, fucus[326] or perfumes,
To help a lady's breath, until your aunt
Learnt me the common trick.
W. SMALL. The common trick,
Say you? a pox upon such common tricks!
They will undo us all.
BOUT. And knowing this,
Art thou so wilful-blind still to persist
In ruin and defame?
W. SMALL. What should I do?
I've pass'd my word to keep this gentlewoman,
Till I can place her to her own content.
And what is a gentleman but his word?
BOUT. Why, let her go to service.
W. SMALL. To service!
Why, so she does; she is my laundress,[327]
And by this light, no puisne Inn-a-Court
But keeps a laundress at his command
To do him service; and shall not I, ha?
FRAN. Sir, you are his friend (I love him too);
Propound a course which may advantage him,
And you shall find such real worth in me,
That rather than I'll live his hindrance,
I will assume the most penurious state
The city yields, to give me means of life.
W. SMALL. Why, there's it: you hear her what she says;
Would not he be damn'd that should forsake her?
Says she not well? can you propound a course,
To get my forfeit land from yonder rogue:
Parcel-lawyer, parcel-devil, all knave,
Throat, Throat?
BOUT. Not I.
W. SMALL. Why, so: I thought as much;
You are like our citizens to men in need,
Which cry, 'tis pity a proper gentleman
Should want money; yet not an usuring slave
Will lend him a denier to help his wants.
Will you lend me forty shillings?
BOUT. I will.
W. SMALL. Why, God-a-mercy, there's some goodness in thee:
You'll not repent?
BOUT. I will not.
W. SMALL. With that money
I will redeem my forfeit land, and wed
My cockatrice to a man of worship--
To a man of worship, by this light!
BOUT. But how?
W. SMALL. Thus: in Ram-Alley lies a fellow, by name
Throat: one that professeth law, but indeed
Has neither law nor conscience; a fellow
That never saw the bar, but when his life
Was call'd in question for a cosenage.
The rogue is rich; to him go you, tell him
That rich Sir John Sommerfield--
CON. How's that? [_Aside._
W. SMALL. Is lately dead, and that my hopes stand fair
To get his only daughter. If I speed,[328]
And have but means to steal away the wench,
Tell him I reckon him my chiefest friend
To entertain us, till our nuptial rites
May be accomplish'd: and could you but procure
My elder brother meet me on the way,
And but associate me unto his house,
'Twere hit, i' faith; I'd give my cunning Throat
An honest slit for all his tricks in law.
BOUT. Why this shall be perform'd; take; there's my store.
To friends all things are common.
W. SMALL. Then at the court
There are none foes, for all things there are common. [_Aside._
BOUT. I will as carefully perform thy wish,
As if my fortunes lay upon th' attempt.
W. SMALL. When shall I hear from you?
BOUT. Within this hour.
W. SMALL. Let me alone for the rest: if I gull not
And go beyond my open-throated lawyer,
For all his book-cases of _Tricesimo nono_
And _Quadragesima octavo_, let me,
Like waiting gentlewomen, be ever bound
To sit upon my heels, and pick rushes.
Will you about this gear?
BOUT. With my best speed.
W. SMALL. Then fare you well; you'll meet me?
BOUT. Without fail.
[_Exeunt_ BOUTCHER _and_ PAGE.[329]
W. SMALL. Adieu. Now, you pernicious cockatrice,[330]
You see how I must skelder for your good:
I'll bring you where you shall have means to cheat,
If you have grace enough to apprehend it.
FRAN. Believe me, love, howe'er some stricter wits
Condemn all women which are prone to love,
And think that if their favour fall on any,
By consequence they must be naught with many,
And hold a false position: that a woman,
False to herself, can trusty be to no man--
Yet no, I say: howe'er my life hath, lost
The fame which my virginity aspir'd,
I will be true to thee: my deed shall move
To win from all men pity, if not love.
W. SMALL. Tut, I know thee a good rascal; lets in,
And on with all your neat and finest rags:
On with your cloak, and safeguard,[331] you arrant drab!
You must cheat without all conscience, filch for thee and me.
Do but thou act what I shall well contrive,
We'll teach my lawyer a new way to thrive. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ MISTRESS TAFFATA _and_ ADRIANA _her maid,_
_above_.
TAF. Come, lov'd Adriana, here let us sit,
And mark who passes. Now, for a wager,
What colour'd beard comes next by the window?
ADRI. A black, madam,[332] I think.
TAF. I think not so:
I think a red, for that is most in fashion.
Lord! how scarce is the world of proper men
And gallants! sure, we never more shall see
A good leg worn in a long silk stocking
With a long codpiece: of all fashions,
That carried it, i' faith. What's he goes by?
_Enter a Citizen._
ADRI. A snivelling citizen: he is carrying ware [_Exit._
Unto some lady's chamber: but who's this?
_Enter_ THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS _reading a letter_.
TAF. I know him not; he looks just like a fool.
ADRI. He's very brave, he may be a courtier:
What's that he reads?
TAF. Ah! how light he treads,
For dirting his silk stockings! I'll tell thee what,
A witty woman may with ease distinguish
All men by their noses, as thus: your nose
Tuscan is lovely, large and broad,
Much like a goose: your valiant generous nose,
A crooked, smooth and a great puffing nose;
Your scholar's nose is very fresh and raw,
For want of fire in winter, and quickly smells
His chops of mutton in his dish of porridge;
Your puritan nose is very sharp and long
(Much like your widow's!)[333] and with ease can smell
An edifying capon some few[334] streets off.
_Enter_ BOUTCHER _and_ CONSTANTIA.
ADRI.[335] O mistress! a very proper gentleman.
TAF. And trust me, so he is; I never saw
A man that sooner could captive my thoughts
(Since I writ widow) than this gentleman.
I would he would look up!
ADRI. I'll laugh so loud,
That he may hear me.
TAF. That's not so good.
BOUT. And spake you with Master Small-shanks?
CON. I did.
BOUT. Will he meet his brother?
CON. He said he would,
And I believed him. I tell you, master,
I have done that for many of these gallants
That no man in this town would do but I.
BOUT. What is that, boy?
CON. Why, trust them on their words?
But will you hear the news, which now supplies
The city with discourse?
BOUT. What is it, wag?
CON. This, sir: they say some of our city dames
Were much desirous to see the baboons
Do their newest tricks: went, saw them, came home:
Went to bed, slept; next morning one of them,
Being to shift a smock, sends down her maid
To warm her one; meanwhile, she gins to think
On the baboons' tricks, and (naked in her bed)
Begins to practise some: at last she strove
To get her right leg over her head thus;
And by her activity she got it
'Cross her shoulder; but not with all her power
Could she reduce[336] it: at last [she, with] much struggling,
Tumbles quite from the bed upon the floor.
The maid by this return'd with the warm smock,
And seeing her mistress thrown on the ground,
Truss'd up like a football, exclaims, calls help,
Runs down amaz'd, swears that her mistress' neck
Is broke: up comes her husband and neighbours.
And finding her thus truss'd, some flatly said
She was bewitch'd--others she was possess'd:
A third said for her pride the devil had set
Her face where her rump should stand; but at last
Her valiant husband steps me boldly to her,
Helps her: she ashamed, her husband amazed,
The neighbours laughing, as none forbear,
She tells them of the fatal accident.
To which one answers that, if her husband
Would leave his trade, and carry his wife about
To do this trick in public, she'd get more gold
Than all the baboons, calves with two tails,
Or motions[337] whatsoever.
BOUT. You are a wag.
TAF. [_Above._] He will be gone if we neglect to stay him.
ADRI. Shall I cough or sneeze?
TAF. No, I ha't; stand aside.
Ah me, my handkerchief! Adrian, Fabian!
ADRI. Mistress!
TAF. Run, run, I have let my handkerchief fall.
Gentleman, shall I entreat a courtesy?
BOUT. Within my power your beauty shall command.
What courtesy is't?
TAF. To stoop, and take up
My handkerchief.
BOUT. Your desire is performed.
TAF. Sir, most hearty thanks: please you come in,
Your welcome shall transcend your expectation.
BOUT. I accept your courtesy: ha! what's this?
Assailed by fear and hope in a moment:
Boutcher, this womanish passion fits not men,
Who know the worth of freedom: shall smiles and eyes
With their lascivious glances conquer him,
Hath still been lord of his affections?
Shall simp'ring niceness, loadstones but to fools,
Attract a knowing spirit! it shall, it does.
Not Phoebus, rising from Aurora's lap,
Spreads his bright rays with more majestic grace
Than came the glances from her quick'ning eye.
And what of this?
CON. By my troth, I know not.
BOUT. I will not enter: continued flames burn strong.
I yet am free, and reason keeps her seat
Above all fond affections--yet is she fair.
_Enter_ ADRIANA [_from above_].
ADRI. Sir, I bring you thanks for this great courtesy:
And if you please to enter, I dare presume
My mistress will afford you gracious welcome.
BOUT. How do men call your mistress?
CON. The man's in love. [_Aside._
ADRI. Her name, sir, is Mistress Changeable, late wife
To Master Taffata, mercer, deceas'd.
BOUT. I have heard she is both rich and beautiful.
ADRI. In th' eyes of such as love her; judge yourself;
Please you but prick forward, and enter. [_Exit_ BOUTCHER.
CON. Now will I fall aboard the waiting-maid.
ADRI. Fall aboard of me! dost take me for a ship?
CON. Ay, and will shoot you betwixt wind and water.
ADRI. Blurt! master gunner, your linstock's[338] too short.
CON. Foot! how did she know that I dost hear, sweetheart,
Should not the page be doing with the maid,
Whilst the master is busy with the mistress?
Please you, prick forwards; thou art a wench
Likely to go the way of all flesh shortly.
ADRI. Whose witty knave art thou?
CON. At your service.
ADRI. At mine, faith! I should breech thee.
CON. How, breech me?
ADRI. Ay, breech thee;[339] I have breech'd a taller man
Than you in my time: come in, and welcome. [_Exit._
CON. Well, I see now a rich well-practis'd bawd
May purse more fees in a summer's progress
Than a well-traded lawyer in a whole term.
Pandarism! why, 'tis grown a liberal science,
Or a new sect, and the good professors
Will (like the Brownist) frequent gravel-pits shortly,
For they use woods and obscure holes already. [_Exit._
_Enter_ TAFFATA _and_ BOUTCHER.
TAF. Not marry a widow?
BOUT. No.
TAF. And why?
Belike, you think it base and servant-like
To feed upon reversion: you hold us widows,
But as a pie thrust to the lower end,
That hath had many fingers in't before,
And is reserv'd for gross and hungry stomachs.
BOUT. You much mistake me.
TAF. Come, in faith, you do:
And let me tell you that's but ceremony;
For though the pie be broken up before,
Yet, says the proverb, the deeper is the sweeter.
And though a capon's wings and legs be carv'd,
The flesh left with the rump, I hope, is sweet.
I tell you, sir, I have been woo'd and sued to
By worthy knights of fair demesnes: nay, more,
They have been out of debt; yet till this hour
I neither could endure to be in love
Or be beloved; but proffer'd ware is cheap.
What's lawful, that is loath'd, and things denied
Are with more stronger appetite pursu'd.
I am too yielding.
BOUT. You mistake my thoughts.
But know, thou wonder of this continent,
By one more skill'd in unknown fate than was
The blind Achaian Prophet,[340] 'twas foretold,
A widow should endanger both my life,
My soul, my lands, and reputation.
This checks my thoughts, and cools th' essential fire
Of sacred love, more ardent in my breast
Than speech can utter.
TAF. A trivial idle jest!
Is't[341] for a man of your repute and note
To credit fortune-tellers? A petty rogue,
That never saw five shillings in a heap,
Will take upon him to divine men's fate,
Yet never knows himself shall die a beggar,
Or be hanged up for pilfering table-cloths,
Shirts and smocks, hang'd out to dry on hedges.
Tis merely[342] base to trust them: or if there be
A man in whom the Delphic god hath breath'd
His true divining fire, that can foretell
The fix'd decree of fate--he likewise knows
What is within the everlasting book
Of destiny decreed, cannot by wit
Or man's invention be dissolv'd or shunn'd.
Then give thy love free scope, embrace and kiss,
And to the distaff-sisters leave th' event.
BOUT. How powerful are their words whom we affect!
Small force shall need to win the strongest fort,
If to his state the captain be perfidious.
I must entreat you license my depart
For some few hours.
TAF. Choose what you will of time:
There lies your way. [_Moves away._
BOUT. I will entreat her [_aside._] Stay.
TAF. Did you call, sir?
BOUT. No.
TAF. Then fare you well.
BOUT. Who 'gins to love, needs not a second hell.
[_Exit_ BOUTCHER.
_Enter_ ADRIANA.
TAF. Adriana, makes he no stay?
ADRI. Mistress?
TAF. I pray thee see if he have left the house.
Peep close; see, but be not seen: is he gone?
ADRI. No; he has made a stand.
TAF. I prythee, keep close.
ADRI. Nay, keep you close, y' had best.
TAF. What does he now?
ADRI. Now he retires.[343]
_Re-enter_ BOUTCHER [_below_].
BOUT. O you much partial gods!
Why gave you men affections, and not[344] power
To govern them? what I by fate should shun,
I most affect--a widow, a widow.
TAF. Blows the wind there?
ADRI. Ha, ha! he's in, i' faith:
Y' have drawn him now within your purlieus, mistress.
BOUT. Tut, I will not love! my rational
And better parts shall conquer blind affections:
Let passion children or weak women sway.
My love shall to my judgment still obey. [_Exit._
TAF. What does he now?
ADRI. He's gone.
TAF. Gone! Adriana?
ADRI. He went his way, and never look'd behind him.
TAF. Sure, he's taken?
ADRI. A little sing'd or so:
Each thing must have beginning; men must prepare,
Before they can come on, and show their loves
In pleasing sorts: the man must do in time;
For love, good mistress, is much like to wax--
The more 'tis rubb'd, it sticks the faster to;
Or, like a bird in bird-lime or a pit-fall,
The more he labours, still the deeper in.
TAF. Come, thou must help me now; I have a trick
To second this beginning, and in the nick
To strike it dead, i' faith. Women must woo,
When men forget what nature leads them to. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ THROAT _the lawyer from his study; books and_
_bags of money on a table, a chair and cushion_.
THROAT. Chaste Phoebe, _splende_; there's that left yet,
Next to my book, _claro micante auro_.
Ay, that's the soul of law; that's it, that's it,
For which the buckram-bag must trudge all weathers,
Though scarcely fill'd with one poor replication.
How happy are we, that we joy the law
So freely as we do: not bought and sold,
But clearly given, without all base extorting:
Taking but bare ten angels for a fee,
Or upward. To this renown'd estate
Have I by indirect and cunning means
Enwoven myself, and now can scratch it out:
Thrust at a bar, and cry _My lord_ as loud
As e'er a listed gownman of them all.
I never plead before the honour'd bench:
But _bench right-worshipful of peaceful justices_
_And country gentlemen_: and yet I've found
Good gettings, by the mass; besides odd cheats,
Will Small-shank's lands, and many garboils[345] more,
Dash!
_Enter_ DASH.
DASH. Sir.
THROAT. Is that rejoinder done?
DASH. Done, sir.
THROAT. Have you drawn't at length, have you dash'd it out--
According to your name?
DASH. Some sevenscore sheets.
THROAT. Is the demurrer drawn 'twixt Snipe and Woodcock?
And what do you say to Peacock's pitiful bill?
DASH. I have drawn his answer negative to all.
THROAT. Negative to all! The plaintiff says
That William Goose was son to Thomas Goose;
And will he swear the general bill is false?
DASH. He will.
THROAT. Then he forswears his father: 'tis well,
Some of our clients will go prig[346] to hell
Before ourselves. Has he paid all his fees?
DASH. He left them all with me.
THROAT. Then truss my points:
And how think'st thou of law?
DASH. Most reverently,
Law is the world's great light: a second sun
To this terrestrial globe: by which all things
Have life and being, and without which
Confusion and disorder soon would seize
The general state of men: wars, outrages.
The ulcerous deeds of peace it curbs and cures;
It is the kingdom's eye, by which she sees
The acts and thoughts of men.
THROAT. The kingdom's eye!
I tell thee, fool, it is the kingdom's nose,
By which she smells out all these rich transgressors:
Nor is't of flesh, but merely made of wax,
And 'tis within the power of us lawyers
To wrest this nose of wax which way we please:
Or it may be, as thou say'st, an eye indeed;
But if it be, 'tis (sure) a woman's eye, [_Knock within._
That's ever rolling.
DASH. One knocks.
THROAT. Go, see who 'tis--
Stay, my chair and gown; and then go see who knocks.
Thus must I seem a lawyer, which am indeed
But merely dregs and off scum of the law.
Ay, _tricesimo primo Alberti Magni_,
'Tis very clear.
BOUT. God save you, sir.
THROAT. The place is very pregnant. Master Boutcher,
Most hearty welcome, sir.
BOUT. You ply this gear,
You are no truant in the law, I see?
THROAT. Faith, some hundred books in folio I have
Turn'd over to better my own knowledge;
But that is nothing for a studient.[347]
BOUT. Or a stationer--they turn them over too,
But not as you do, gentle Master Throat.
And what? the law speaks profit, does it not?
THROAT. Faith, some bad angels haunt us now and then;
But what brought you hither?
BOUT. Why, these small legs?
THROAT. You are conceited, sir.
BOUT. I am in law,
But let that go, and tell me how you do:
How does Will Small-shanks and his lovely bride?
THROAT. In troth, you make me blush; I should have ask'd
His health of you; but 'tis not yet too late.
BOUT. Nay, good Sir Throat,[348] forbear your quillets[349] now.
THROAT. By heaven, I deal most plain! I saw him not,
Since last I took his mortgage.
BOUT. Sir, be not nice--
Yet I must needs herein commend your love--
To let me see him; for (know) I know him wed,
And that he stole away Sommerfield's heir.
Therefore suspect me not: I am his friend.
THROAT. How! wed to rich Sommerfield's only heir!
Is old Sommerfield dead?
BOUT. Do you make it strange?
THROAT. By heav'n, I know it not.
BOUT. Then am I griev'd
I spake so much; but that I know you love him,
I should entreat your secrecy, sir; fare you well.
THROAT. Nay, good sir, stay; if ought you can disclose
Of Master Small-shanks' good, let me partake,
And make me glad in knowing his good hap.
BOUT. You much endear him, sir; and from your love
I dare presume you make yourself a fortune,
If his fair hopes proceed.
THROAT. Say on, good sir.
BOUT. You will be secret?
THROAT. Or be my tongue torn out.
BOUT. [Fair] measure for a lawyer. [_Aside._] But to the point,
He has stole Sommerfield's heir, hither brings her,
As to a man on whom he may rely
His life and fortunes: you hath he named
Already for the steward of his lands:
To keep his courts, and to collect his rent;
To let out leases, and to raise his fines:
Nothing that may or love or profit bring,
But you are named the man.
THROAT. I am his slave,
And bound unto his noble courtesy
Even with my life; I ever said he would thrive,
And I protest I kept his forfeit mortgage
To let him know what 'tis to live in want.
BOUT. I think no less. One word more in private. [_Walk aside._
CON. Good Master Dash, shall I put you now a case?
DASH. Speak on, good master page.
CON. Then thus it is:
Suppose I am a page, he is my master,
My master goes to bed, and cannot tell
What money's in his hose; I, ere next day,
Have filch'd out some, what action lies for this?
DASH. An action, boy, call'd firking the posteriors.
With us your action seldom comes in question;
For that 'tis known that most of your gallants
Are seldom so well-stor'd, that they forget
What money's in their hose; but if they have,
There is no other help than swear the page,
And put him to his oath.
CON. Then, firk o' law,[350]
Dost think, he that has conscience to steal,
Has not a conscience likewise to deny?
Then hang him up, i' faith?
[BOUTCHER _and_ THROAT
_come forward again_.
BOUT. I must meet him.
THROAT. Commend me to them; come, when they will,
My doors stand open, and all within is theirs;
And though Ram-Alley stinks with cooks and ale,
Yet say there's many a worthy lawyer's chamber,
'Buts upon Ram-Alley. I have still an open throat,
If aught I have which may procure his good,
Bid him command--ay, though it be my blood. [_Exeunt._
FOOTNOTES:
[321] _Ram-Alley_ is one of the avenues into the Temple from Fleet
Street. It formerly, among other places, claimed to be exempt from the
process of the Courts of Law, a privilege which was taken from it by
the Stat. of 9 & 10 William III. c. xxvii. s. 15.
[322] [Compare Dyce's Middleton, iii. 81.]
[323] [Old copies, _my_.]
[324] [A contemptuous allusion--one of many--to the profusion with
which James I. created this dignity for the sake of raising money.]
[325] [Edits., wholesale-men.]
[326] A paint or composition used by the ladies to beautify the face
and heighten the complexion. It is mentioned in Ben Jonson's "Sejanus,"
act ii. sc. 1--
"To-morrow morning
I'll send you a perfume, first to resolve
And procure sweat, and then prepare a bath
To cleanse and clear the cutis; against when
I'll have an excellent new _fucus_ made,
Resistive 'gainst the sun, the rain, or wind,
Which you shall lay on with a breath or oil,
As you best like, and last some fourteen hours."
["Works," by Gifford, 1816, iii. 45, where _breath_ seems to be an
error--forsaw, _brush_.]
[327] A _laundress_ is the name still preserved at the Inns of Court
for the women, who attend to the men in chambers.
[328] The 4o of 1636 has it _If I spend_, which was followed by
Mr Reed, but the first 4o of 1611 gives the true reading, _If I
speed_.--_Collier_.
[329] Meaning Constantia, so disguised.--_Collier._
[330] See note to "The Antiquary," act iv. sc. I (vol. 13.)
[331] See note at p. 277 _suprá_.
[332] [Old copies, _man's_.]
[333] [Edits., _and much_. This seems to have been introduced as a
playful allusion by Widow Taffata to herself], unless these words
should be given to Adriana.
[334] [Edits., _five_.]
[335] [This part of the dialogue is conducted by Adriana and Taffata
above, while the other persons enter and converse below.]
[336] Bring it back.
[337] _i.e._, Puppet-shows. See note to "The Antiquary," act i. sc. I
(vol. 13.)
[338] [Properly the stick to hold the gunner's match; but here the
meaning is _figurative_.]
[339] _i.e._, Whip thee.
[340] Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes. Sec "The OEdipus" of
Sophocles, and that of Dryden and Lee.
[341] [Edits., '_Tis_.]
[342] Absolutely. So in "The Honest Man's Fortune," by Beaumont and
Fletcher--
"I am as happy In my friend's good, as if 'twere _merely_ mine."
[343] Perhaps we ought to read _Now he returns_, and not _Now
he retires_; but both the old copies are uniform in favour of
_retires_.--_Collier_. [_Retire_ may be right, as it is justifiable to
interpret it in its original sense of draw back, in which it is almost
equivalent to _return_.]
[344] [Old copies, _a power_.]
[345] Barry uses this word _garboils_ in a sense to which it was not
usually applied. The Rev. Mr Todd, in his edition of Dr Johnson's
Dictionary, says, "Bishop Hall has rendered Virgil's _arma_, _i.e._,
_battles_, by the word _garboil_." This is a mistake, for Hall is
laughing at Stanihurst for having so done in his attempted _hexameter_
translation of the Æneid--
"Give me the number'd verse that Virgil sung,
And Virgil's self shall speak the English tongue;
Manhood and _garboiles_ shall he chaunt with changed feet," &c.
--B. i. sat. 6.
But there are many authorities besides Shakespeare, in his "Antony and
Cleopatra," for its employment. Gascoigne inserts it in the speech of
Hercules in the "Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth": "A _garboyel_ this
in deede," ["Works" by Hazlitt, ii. 93]. Drayton also uses it in [his
"Mortimeriados," 1596,] quoted in "England's Parnassus," p. 444--
"Such is the _garboyle_ of this conflict then;
Brave Englishmen encountering Englishmen."
and T. Heywood, in his "Rape of Lucrece," 1608, talks of "the head of
all these garboyles, the chief actor of that black sin," &c.--_Collier._
[346] [Ride, perhaps a form of _prick_.]
[347] Formerly printed _studient_, and for the measure it must be read
so.--_Collier._ [The form _studient_ is legitimate, though uncommon,
and has been restored.]
[348] [This form of address was borrowed from the university.]
[349] _i.e._, Subtleties. So in "Every Woman in her Humour," 1609, sig.
H 4: "He has his pols and his oedypols, his times and his tricks, his
quirks, and _his quilits_," &c.
Again, in Lyly's "Euphues," 1581, p. 56: "Not only the, quirks and
_quiddities_ of the Logicians, but also," &c.
See also Mr Steevens's note on "Hamlet," act v. sc. I.
[350] [Edits., _fecks-law_, of which I fail to comprehend the meaning,
if any. Tha phrase _firk of law_ occurs again at p. 329, and in the
sense of a trick or sleight.]
ACTUS II., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ OLIVER SMALL-SHANKS, THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS.
O. SMALL. Is this the place you were appointed to meet him?
T. SMALL. So Boutcher sent me word.
O. SMALL. I find it true,
That wine, good news, and a young wholesome wench
Cheer up an old man's blood. I tell thee, boy,
I am right hearty glad to hear thy brother
Hath got so great an heir: now were myself
So well bestow'd, I should rejoice, i' faith.
T. SMALL. I hope you shall do well.
O. SMALL. No doubt, no doubt;
Ah, sirrah! has a' borne the wench away!
My son, i' faith, my very son, i' faith!
When I was young, and had an able back,
And wore the bristle on my upper-lip,
In good decorum I had as good conveyance,
And could have ferk'd, and ferk'd y' away a wench,
As soon as e'er a man alive. Tut, boy,
I had my winks, my becks, treads on the toe,
Wrings by the fingers, smiles, and other quirks--
No courtier like me; your courtiers all are fools,
To that which I could do. I could have done it, boy,
Even to a hair, and that some ladies know.
T. SMALL. Sir, I am glad this match may reconcile
Your love unto my brother.
O. SMALL. O, 'tis more than so. [Yet]
I'll seem offended still, though I am glad [_Aside._
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS, FRANCES, BEARD,
_booted_.
H' has got rich Sommerfield's heir,
W. SMALL. Come, wench of gold!
For thou shalt get me gold, besides odd ends
Of silver: we'll purchase house and land
By thy bare gettings, wench, by thy bare gettings.
How say'st, Lieutenant Beard; does she not look
Like a wench newly stole from a window?
BEARD. Exceeding well she carries it, by Jove;
And if she can forbear her rampant tricks,
And but hold close a while, 'twill take, by Mars.
FRAN. How now, you slave? my rampant tricks, you rogue!
Nay, fear not me: my only fear is still,
Thy filthy face betrays us; for all men know,
Thy nose stands compass like a bow,
Which is three quarters drawn; thy head
Which is with greasy hair o'erspread,
And being uncurl'd and black as coal,
Doth show some scullion in a hole
Begot thee on a gipsy, or
Thy mother was some collier's whore:
My rampant tricks, you rogue! thou'lt be descried,
Before our plot be ended.
W. SMALL. What should descry him,
Unless it be his nose? and as for that,
Thou may'st protest he was thy father's butler,
And for thy love is likewise run away.
Nay, sweet lieutenant, now forbear to puff,
And let the bristles of thy beard grow downward:
Reverence my punk, and pandarise a little,
There's many of thy rank that do profess it,
Yet hold it no disparagement.
BEARD. I shall do
What fits an honest man.
W. SMALL. Why, that's enough:
'Foot, my father and the goose my brother:--
Back you two.--
BEARD. Back.
[_Enter_ WILLIAM _and_ OLIVER SMALL-SHANKS.]
W. SMALL. Retire, sweet lieutenant,
And come not on till I shall wave you on.
O. SMALL. Is not that he?
T. SMALL. 'Tis he.
O. SMALL. But where's the wench![351]
W. SMALL. It shall be so, I'll cheat him, that's flat.
O. SMALL. You are well met: know ye me, good sir?
Belike you think I have no eyes, no ears,
No nose to smell, and wind out all your tricks,
Y' have stole Sir Sommerfield's heir: nay, we can find
Your wildest parts, your turnings and returns,
Your traces, squats, the mussers, forms, and holes[352]
You young men use, if once our sagest wits
Be set a-hunting. Are you now crept forth?
Have you hid your head within a suburb-hole
All this while, and are you now crept forth?
W. SMALL. 'Tis a stark lie.
O. SMALL. How?
W. SMALL. Who told you so did lie;
'Foot! a gentleman cannot leave the city,
And keep the suburbs to take a little physic,
But straight some slave will say he hides his head.
I hide my head within a suburb-hole!
I could have holes at court to hide my head,
Were I but so dispos'd.
O. SMALL. Thou varlet knave,
Th' hast stolen away Sir John Sommerfield's heir;
But never look for countenance from me,
Carry her whither thou wilt.
W. SMALL. Father, father,
Heart! will you undo your posterity?
Will you, sir, undo your posterity?
I can but kill my brother, then hang myself,
And where is then your house? Make me not despair,
'Foot, now I have got a wench, worth by the year
Two thousand pound and upwards, to cross my hopes!
Would e'er a clown in Christendom do't but you?
T. SMALL. Good father, let him leave this thundering,
And give him grace.
W. SMALL. Why, la, my brother knows
Reason, and what an honest man should do.
O. SMALL. Well, where's your wife?
W. SMALL. She's coming here behind.
O. SMALL. I'll give her somewhat, though I love not thee.
W. SMALL. My father, right: I knew you could not hold
Out long with a woman; but give something
Worthy your gift and her acceptance, father.
This chain were excellent, by this good light,
She shall give you as good, if once her lands
_Enter_ FRANCES _and_ BEARD.
Come to my fingering.
O. SMALL. Peace, knave! what, 's she your wife?
W. SMALL. That shall be, sir.
O. SMALL. And what's he?
W. SMALL. My man.
O. SMALL. A ruffian knave he is.
W. SMALL. A ruffian, sir!
By heaven! as tall a man[353] as e'er drew sword,
Not being counted of the damned crew.
He was her father's butler, his name is Beard;
Off with your mask, now shall you find me true,
And that I am a son unto a knight:
This is my father. [To FRANCES.
O. SMALL. I am indeed, fair maid;
My style is knight: come, let me kiss your lips.
W. SMALL. That kiss shall cost your chain.
[_Aside._
O. SMALL. It smacks, i' faith:
I must commend your choice.
FRAN. Sir, I have given
A larger venture than true modesty
Will well allow, or your more graver wit Commend.
W. SMALL. I dare be sworn she has.
O. SMALL. Not so.
The foolish knave has been accounted wild,
And so have I; but I am now come home,
And so will he.
FRAN. I must believe it now.
W. SMALL. Beg his chain, wench. [Aside.
BEARD. Will you cheat your father?
W. SMALL. Ay, by this light, will I.
O. SMALL. Nay, sigh not;
For you shall find him loving and me thankful;
And were it not a scandal to my honour
To be consenting to my son's attempt,
You should unto my house: meanwhile, take this
[_To_ FRANCES.
As pledge and token of my after-love!
[_Gives her a chain._
How long since died your father?
FRAN. Some six weeks since------
W. SMALL. We cannot stay to talk, for slaves pursue.
I have a house shall lodge us, till the priest
May make us sure.
O. SMALL. Well, sirrah, love this woman,
And when you are man and wife, bring her to me:
She shall be welcome.
W. SMALL. I humbly thank you, sir.
O. SMALL. I must be gone; I must a-wooing too.
W. SMALL. Jove and Priapus speed you!
You'll return?
T. SMALL. Instantly.
[_Exeunt_ SIR OLIVER _and_ THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS.
W. SMALL. Why, this came cleanly off,
Give me the chain, you little cockatrice;
Why, this was luck; 'foot! four hundred crowns
Got at a clap! hold still your own, you whore,
And we shall thrive.
BEARD. 'Twas bravely fetch'd about.
W. SMALL. Ay, when will your nose and beard perform as much?
FRAN. I am glad he is gone; he put me to the blush
When he did ask me of rich Sommerfield's death.
W. SMALL. And took not I my cue?[354] was't not good?
Did I not bring you off, you arrant drab,
Without a counter-buff?[355] look who comes here--
[_Sings._] _And three merry men, and three merry men,_
_And three merry men be we-a._[356]
_Enter_ BOUTCHER _and_ CONSTANTIA.
BOUT. Still in this vein? I have done you service;
The lawyer's house will give you entertainment,
Bountiful and free.
W. SMALL. O my second self!
Come, let me buss thy beard, we are all made!
Why art so melancholy, dost want money?
Look, here's gold, and as we pass along,
I'll tell thee how I got it: not a word,
But that she's Sommerfield's heir; my brother
Swallows it with more ease than a Dutchman
Does flap-dragons: he comes; now to my lawyers.
_Enter_ THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS.
Kiss my wife, good brother; she is a wench
Was born to make us all.
T. SMALL. I hope no less,
You are welcome, sister, into these our parts,
As I may say.
FRAN. Thanks, gentle brother.
W. SMALL. Come now to Ram Alley.
There shalt thou lie,
Till I provide a priest.
BOUT. O villany!
I think he will gull his whole generation;
I must make one, since 'tis so well begun:
I'll not forsake him, till his hopes be won. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ THROAT _and two Citizens_.
THROAT. Then y' are friends?
BOTH. We are, so please your worship.
THROAT. 'Tis well, I am glad: keep your money, for law
Is like a butler's box:[357] while you two strive,
That picks up all your money. You are friends?
BOTH. We are, so please you, perfect friends.
THROAT. Why so.
Now to the next tap-house; there drink down this,
And by the operation of the third pot
Quarrel again, and come to me for law: [_Aside._
Fare you well.
BOTH. The gods conserve your wisdom. [_Exeunt Citizens._
THROAT. Why so: these are tricks[358] of the long fifteens:[359]
To give counsel, and to take fees on both sides;
To make 'em friends, and then to laugh at them!
Why, this thrives well, this is a common trick.
When men have spent a deal of money in law,
Then lawyers make them friends. I have a trick
To go beyond all these. If Small-shanks come,
And bring rich Somerfield's heir ---- I say no more;
But 'tis within this sconce[360] to go beyond them.
_Enter_ DASH.
DASH. Here are gentlemen in haste would speak with you.
THROAT. What are they?
DASH. I cannot know them, sir,
They are so wrapp'd in cloaks.
THROAT. Have they a woman?
DASH. Yes, sir; but she's mask'd, and in her riding suit.
THROAT. Go, make haste, bring them up with reverence.
Who[361] are they, i' faith? h' has brought the wealthy heir?
These stools and cushions stand not handsomely.
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS, BOUTCHER,
THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS, FRANCES, _and_ BEARD.
W. SMALL. Bless thee, Throat.
THROAT. Master Small-shanks, welcome.
W. SMALL. Welcome, love; kiss this gentle woman, Throat.
THROAT. Your worship shall command me.
W. SMALL. Art not weary?
BOUT. Can you blame her, since she has rid so hard?
THROAT. You are welcome, gentlemen. Dash!
DASH. Sir.
THROAT. A fire in the great chamber quickly.
W. SMALL. Ay, that's well-said; we are almost weary.
But, Master Throat, if any come to inquire
For me, my brother, or this gentlewoman,
We are not here, nor have you heard of us.
THROAT. Not a word, sir; here you are as safe
As in your father's house.
T. SMALL. And he shall thank you.
W. SMALL. Th' art not merry, love? Good Master Throat,
Bid this gentlewoman welcome: she is one,
Of whom you may receive some courtesy
In time.
THROAT. She is most hearty welcome.
Wilt please you walk into another room,
Where is both bed and fire?
W. SMALL. Ay, ay, that, that.
Good brother, lead her in: Master Throat and I
Will follow instantly. Now, Master Throat,
[_Exeunt_ THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS, FRANCES, _and_ BEARD.
It rests within your power to pleasure me:
Know that this same is Sir John Sommerfield's heir;
Now if she chance to question what I am,
Say, son unto a lord: I pray thee, tell her
I have a world of land, and stand in hope
To be created baron; for I protest
I was constrain'd to swear it forty times,
And yet she'll scarce believe me.
THROAT. _Pauca sapienti_:
Let me alone to set you out in length
And breadth.
W. SMALL. I prythee, do't effectually;
Shalt have a quarter share, by this good light,
In all she has. I prythee, forget not
To tell her the Small-shanks have been dancers,
Tilters, and very ancient courtiers,
And in request at court since Sir John Short-hose
With his long silk stockings was beheaded.
Wilt thou do this?
THROAT. Refer it to my care.
W. SMALL. Excellent! I'll but shift my boots, and then
Go seek a priest; this night I will be sure.
If we be sure, it cannot be undone;
Can it, Master Throat?
THROAT. O, sir, not possible;
You have many precedents and book-cases for't,
Be you but sure, and then let me alone.
_Vivat Rex, currat Lex_; and I'll defend you.
W. SMALL. Nay, then, hang care: come, let's in.
[_Exit_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS.
THROAT. Ha, ha!
Have you stole her? _fallere fallentem non est fraus_.
It shall go hard but I will strip you, boy:
You stole the wench, but I must her enjoy. [_Exit._
_Enter_ MISTRESS TAFFATA _and_ ADRIANA, _below_.
TAF. Come, Adriana, tell me what thou think'st.
I am tickled with conceit of marriage,
And whom think'st thou for me the fittest husband?
What say'st thou to young Boutcher?
ADRI. A pretty fellow;
But that his back is weak.
TAF. What dost thou say
To Throat the lawyer?
ADRI. I like that well,
Were the rogue a lawyer; but he is none.
He never was of any inn-of-court,
But [of an] inn-of-chancery, where a' was known
But only for a swaggering whiffler,
To keep out rogues and prentices: I saw him,
When he was stock'd for stealing the cook's fees.
A lawyer I could like, for 'tis a thing
Used by your citizens' wives. Your husband's dead:
To get French hoods you straight must lawyers wed.
TAF. What say'st thou then to nimble Sir
Oliver Small-shanks?
ADRI. Faith, he must hit the hair; a fellow fit
To make a pretty cuckold. Take an old man:
'Tis now the newest fashion: better be
An old man's darling than a young man's warling.[362]
Take me the old brisk knight: the fool is rich,
And will be strong enough to father children,
Though not to get them.
TAF. 'Tis true: he is the man.
Yet will I bear some dozen more in hand,[363]
And make them all my gulls.
ADRI. Mistress, stand aside.
_Enter_ BOUTCHER _and_ CONSTANTIA.
Young Boutcher comes: let me alone to touch him.
BOUT. This is the house.
CON. And that's the chamber-maid.
BOUT. Where's the widow, gentle Adriana?
ADRI. The widow, sir, is not to be spoken to.
BOUT. Not spoke to? I must speak with her.
ADRI. Must you?
Come you with authority, or do you come
To sue her with a warrant, that you must speak with her?
BOUT. I would entreat it.
ADRI. O, you would entreat it?
May not I serve your turn? may not I unfold
Your secrets to my mistress? Love is your suit?
BOUT. It is, fair creature.
ADRI. And why did you fall off,
When you perceived my mistress was so coming?[364]
D' you think she is still the same?
BOUT. I do.
ADRI. Why so!
I took you for a novice: and I must think
You know not yet the inwards of a woman.
Do you not know that women are like fish,
Which must be struck, when they are prone to bite,
Or all your labour's lost? But, sir, walk here;
And I'll inform my mistress your desires. [_Exit._
CON. Master.
BOUT. Boy.
CON. Come not you for love?
BOUT. I do, boy.
CON. And you would have the widow?
BOUT. I would.
CON. By Jove,
I never saw one go about his business
More untowardly: why, sir, do not you know,
That he which would be inward[365] with the mistress,
Must make a way first through the waiting-maid?
If you will know the widow's affections,
Feel first the waiting gentlewoman; do it, master:
Some half a dozen kisses were not lost
Upon this gentlewoman; for you must know,
These waiting-maids are to their mistresses,
Like porches unto doors; you pass the one,
Before you can have entrance at the other.
Or like your mustard to your piece of brawn,
If you'll have one taste well, you must not scorn
To be dipping in the other. I tell you, master.
'Tis not a few men's tales which they prefer
Unto their mistresses in compass of a year.
Be rul'd by me; untruss yourself to her,
Out with all your lovesick thoughts to her,
Kiss her, and give her an angel to buy pins,
And this shall sooner win her mistress' love,
Than all your protestations, sighs, and tears.
_Enter_ TAFFATA _and_ ADRIANA.
Here they come. To her boldly, master.
Do, but dally not; that's the widow's phrase.[366]
BOUT. Most worthy fair, such is the power of love,
That now I come t'accept your proffer'd grace;
And with submissive thoughts t'entreat a pardon
For my so gross neglect.
TAF. There's no offence;
My mind is changed.
ADRI. I told you as much before.
CON. With a hey-pass--with a repass.[367] [_Aside._
BOUT. Dearest of women!
The constant virtue of your nobler mind
Speaks in your looks: nor can you entertain
Both love and hate at once.
TAF. 'Tis all in vain.
ADRI. You strive against the stream.
CON. Fee the waiting-maid, master! [_Whispers._
BOUT. Stand thou propitious; endear me to my love.
[BOUTCHER _gives_ ADRIANA _his purse secretly_.
ADRI. Dear mistress, turn to this gentleman;
I protest
I have some feeling of his constant love.
Cast him not away; try his love.
TAF. Why, sir,
With what audacious front can you entreat
To enjoy my love, which yet not two hours since
You scornfully refus'd?
CON. Well fare the waiting-maid. [_Aside._
BOUT. My fate compell'd me; but now farewell, fond fear:
My soul, my life, my lands, and reputation--
I'll hazard all, and prize them all beneath thee.
TAF. Which I shall put to trial; lend me thy ear.
[_They talk apart._
ADRI. Can you love, boy?
CON. Yes.
ADRI. What or whom?
CON. My victuals.
ADRI. A pretty knave, i' faith! come home tonight,
Shalt have a posset and candied eringoes.
A bed, if need be, too: I love, a' [my] life,
To play with such baboons as thou.
CON. Indeed!
But dost thou think the widow will have my master?
ADRI. I'll tell thee then: wo't come?
CON. I will.
ADRI. Remember!
TAF. Will you perform so much?
BOUT. Or lose my blood.
TAF. Make him subscribe it; and then I vow,
By sacred Vesta's ever-hallowed fire,
To take thee to my bed.
BOUT. Till then, farewell.
TAF. He's worthy love, whose virtues most excel.
ADRI. Remember! [_to_ CON.] What, is't a match betwixt you, mistress?
[_Exit_ BOUTCHER _and_ CONSTANTIA.
TAF. I have set the fool in hope: h' has undertook
To rid me of that fleshly Captain Face;
Which swears in taverns and all ordinaries
I am his lawful wife. He shall allay
The fury of the captain, and I (secure)
Will laugh at the disgrace they both endure. [_Exeunt._
THROAT. Open your case, and I shall soon resolve you.
FRAN. But will you do it, truly?
THROAT. As I am honest.
FRAN. This gentleman, whom I so much affect,
I scarce yet do know; so blind is love
In things which most concerns it. As y' are honest,
Tell me his birth, his state, and farthest hopes.
THROAT. He is my friend, and I will speak him truly.
He is by birth son to a foolish knight;
His present state, I think, will be the prison,
And farthest hope, to be bail'd out again
By sale of all your land.
FRAN. O me accurs'd!
Has he no credit, lands, and manors?
THROAT. That land he has lies in a fair churchyard;
And for his manners, they are so rude and vile,
That scarce an honest man will keep him company.
FRAN. I am abus'd, cosen'd, and deceived.
THROAT. Why, that's his occupation: he will cheat
In a cloak lin'd with velvet: he will prate
Faster than five barbers and a tailor;
Lie faster than ten city occupiers[368]
Or cunning tradesmen: goes a-trust
In every tavern, where h' has spent a fagot;
Swears love to every whore, squires bawds,
And takes up houses for them as their husband:
He is a man I love, and have done much
To bring him to preferment.
FRAN. Is there no trust, no honesty in men?
THROAT. Faith, some there is,
And 'tis all in the hands of us lawyers
And women: and those women which have it,
Keep their honesty so close, that not one
Amongst a hundred is perceiv'd to have it.
FRAN. Good sir, may I not by law forsake him,
And wed another, though my word be pass'd
To be his wife?
THROAT. O, questionless, you may!
You have many precedents and bookcases for't:
Nay, though you were married by a bookcase
Of _Millesimo sexcentessimo_, &c.
You may forsake your husband, and wed another,
Provided that some fault be in the husband,
As none of them are clear.
FRAN. I am resolv'd.
I will not wed him, though I beg my bread.
THROAT. All that I have is yours; and were I worthy
To be your husband------
FRAN. I thank you, sir;
I will rather wed a most perfidious Red-shanks
A noted Jew, or some mechanic slave,
Than let him joy my sheets.
THROAT. He comes, he comes.
_Enter_ W. SMALL-SHANKS, BOUTCHER, T. SMALL-SHANKS,
BEARD.
W. SMALL. Now, my virago, 'tis done: all's cock-sure.
I have a priest will mumble up a marriage
Without bell, book, or candle:[369] a nimble slave,
An honest Welshman, that was a tailor,
But now is made a curate.
BEARD. Nay, y' are fitted.
BOUT. Now, Master Throat.
T. SMALL. Where's your spirit, sister?
W. SMALL. What, all amort?[370] what's the matter? do you hear?
BOUT. What's the reason of this melancholy?
THROAT. By heaven, I know not?
W. SMALL. Has the gudgeon bit? [_Aside._
FRAN. He has been nibbling. [_Aside._
W. SMALL. Hold him to it, wench,
And it will hit, by heaven. [_Aside._] Why art so sad?
'Foot, wench, we will be married to-night,
We'll sup at th' Mitre, and from thence
My brother and we three will to the Savoy;
Which done, I tell thee, girl, we'll, hand o'er head,
Go to it pell-mell for a maidenhead.
Come, you are lusty: you wenches are like bells,
You give no music till you feel the clapper.
Come, Throat: a torch. We must be gone. [_Exit._
FRAN. Servant.
BEARD. Mistress.
FRAN. We are undone.
BEARD. Now Jove forfend![371]
FRAN. This fellow has no land; and which is worse,
He has no credit.
BEARD. How! are we outstripp'd?
Blown up by wit of man? Let us be gone
Home again, home again: our market now is done.
FRAN. That were too great a scandal.
THROAT. Most true!
Better to wed another, than to return
With scandal and defame: wed me a man,
Whose wealth may reconcile your mother's love.
And make the action lawful.
BEARD. But where's the man?
I like your counsel, could you show the man.
THROAT. Myself am he, might I but dare aspire
Unto so high a fortune.
BEARD. Mistress, take the man:
Shall we be baffled with fair promises.
Or shall we trudge like beggars back again?
No, take this wise and virtuous man
Who, should he lose his legs, his arms, his ears,
His nose, and all his other members,
Yet if his tongue be left, 'twill get his living.
Take me this man.
THROAT. Thanks, gentle Master Beard.
FRAN. 'Tis impossible; this night he means to wed me.
THROAT. If not by law, we will with pow'r prevent it,
So you but give consent.
FRAN. Let's hear the means.
THROAT. I'll muster up my friends, and thus I cast it:[372]
Whilst they are busy, you and I will hence
Directly to a chapel, where a priest
Shall knit the nuptial knot, ere they pursue us.
BEARD. O rare invention! I will act my part;
He owes me thirteen pound, I say no more,
But there be catchpoles [_Aside_]; speak, is't a match?[373]
FRAN. I give my liking.
THROAT. Dash!
DASH. Sir.
THROAT. Get your sword,
[_Exeunt_ FRANCES _and_ BEARD.
And me my buckler: nay, you shall know
We are _Tam Marti quam Mercurio_.
Bring my cloak: you shall thither: I'll for friends.
Worship and wealth the lawyer's state attends.
Dash, we must bear some brain[374] to Saint John's Street,
Go, run, fly: and afar off inquire,
If that the Lady Sommerfield be there,
If there, know what news; and meet me straight
At the Mitre door,[375] in Fleet Street. Away!
"To get rich wives, men must not use delay."
FOOTNOTES:
[351] The edition of this play in 1636 omits the word _wench_, and
therefore it was not found in the last reprint under the care of Mr
Reed. It is now inserted from the copy of 1611.--_Collier._
[352] Terms of the chase. _Mussers_ are hiding-holes, or
lurking-places; from the Fr. _musser_, to hide, conceal, &c.
[353] _i.e._, As brave a man.
[354] [Edits., Q, the letter having been written probably by the
transcriber of the play for press to save trouble. A Q is a farthing in
the old college books.]
[355] I imagine an allusion is here intended to the _buff_ coats of the
Serjeants belonging to the Counter. See p. 330.
[356] These lines are the conclusion of many old songs. Several
instances are produced by Mr Steevens, Sir John Hawkins, and Mr
Tyrwhit, in their notes on "Twelfth Night," act ii. sc. 3.
Again, in "Laugh and Lie Downe," 1605, sig. E 4: "He plaied such a
song of the _three merry men_, that had the dittie beene in a strange
language, I should have been puzzled in the musick."
[357] [This allusion occurs also in Wybarne's "New Age of Old Names,"
1609, p. 12, and in "The Return from Parnassus," 1606, (ix. 103).]
[358] Another proof that the edit. of 1636 only was followed by Mr
Reed. The first 4o has it--"Why so: _these_ are tricks," &c., and not
"_there_ are tricks," as in the second 4o.--_Collier._
[359] [See Dyce's Shakespeare, 1868, v. 178, and "Glossary," _v._
Fifteens. A _fifteen_ was a levy made in subsidies, amounting to a
fifteenth of the personalty; but here the phrase almost seems to be
used loosely, in the sense of extortion.]
[360] _i.e._, Head.
[361] [Old copies, _O_.]
[362] This is proverbial. [See Hazlitt'e "Proverbs," 1869, p. 84],
The Scots say, a young man's _wonderling_. See "Collection of Scots
Proverbs," 8o, 1721, by James Kelly, who observes it is used as an
argument to induce a young girl to marry an old man.
[363] _To bear in hand_ was a common phrase, signifying _to keep in
expectation or dependence_. In Dr Walter Pope's "Life of Bishop Seth
Ward," 1697, p. 104, is the following passage: "My Lord, I _might
bear you in hand_; a western phrase, signifying _to delay or keep in
expectation_, and feed you with promises, or at least hopes, that I
should cure you in some competent time," &c.
Again, in Fennor's "Compter's Commonwealth," p. 47: "I have seen divers
gentlemen come into prison (after they have laine a fortnight or three
weekes at some of their houses, at an excessive rate) without either
cloake, sword, or hat, which the sergeants have got from them, onely
_bearing them in hand_ that they will get them baile."
And in Ben Jonson's "Volpone," act i. sc. 1--
"_Still bearing them in hand_,
Letting the cherry knock against their lips.
And draw it by their mouths and back again."
The phrase frequently occurs in Shakespeare.
[364] [So forward.]
[365] Intimate, on familiar terms. See note to "The Spanish Tragedy"
[v. 168]
[366] An allusion, seemingly, to a popular saying. See Hazlitt's"
Proverbs," p. 190.
[367] Terms of legerdemain.
[368] [Merchants.]
[369] These words, _bell, book, and candle_, refer to the mode of
excommunication in the Romish Church. In "King John," act iii. sc. 3,
the Bastard says--
"_Bell, book, and candle_ shall not drive me back,
When gold and silver becks me to come on."
Dr Grey, in his "Notes on Shakespeare," i. 284, has given the
ceremonial on pronouncing an excommunication, by which it appears that
in the performance of this office three candles were to be extinguished
in the different parts of it. In Archbishop Winchelsea's sentences of
excommunication, anno 1298 (see Johnson's "Ecclesiastical Laws," vol.
ii.), it is directed that the sentence against infringers of certain
articles should be "throughout explained _in order in English_, with
_bells tolling and candles lighted_, that it may cause the greater
dread; for Laymen have greater regard to this solemnity than to the
effect of such sentences."
[370] _All amort_ here and in other places signifies _melancholy_. So
in Greene's "History of Friar Bacon," 1594--
"Shall he thus _all amort_ live malecontent."
Again, in "Wily Beguiled," 1606--
"Why, how now, Sophos, _all amort_? still languish in love?"
[ix. 305]. And in the "Contention between Liberality and Prodigality,"
1602, the author makes an addition to this French expression not
usually found in English--
"What, is there none that answers? _Tout a-la-mort?_"
[viii. 335.]--_Collier._
[371] [Prevent. See note at p. 18 of vol. vii.]
[372] _i.e._, Contrive it. The word is still sometimes used in the same
sense.
[373] All after the words _O rare invention_ has been hitherto given
to Throat without any notice, and although both the quartos assign
it to Beard, who, as appears subsequently, had advanced the sum he
mentions.--_Collier._
[374] So in "The Country Captain," by the Duke of Newcastle, 1649, p.
51: "When these wordes of command are rotten, we will sow some other
military seedes; _you beare a braine_ and memory."
Again, the Nurse, in "Romeo and Juliet," says--
"Well _I do bear a brain_."
See Mr Steevens's note on this last passage.
ACTUS III., SCÆNA 1.
Enter SIR OLIVER SMALL-SHANKS, JUSTICE
TUTCHIN.
JUS. TUT. A-hunting, Sir Oliver, and dry-foot too!
O. SMALL. We old men have our crotchets, our conundrums.
Our figaries, quirks, and quibbles,
As well as youth. Justice Tutchin, I go
To hunt no buck, but prick a lusty doe.
I go, in truth, a-wooing.
JUS. TUT. Then ride with me,
I'll bring you to my sister Sommerfield.
O. SMALL. Justice, not so; by her there hangs a tale.
JUS. TUT. That's true indeed.
O. SMALL. She has a daughter.
JUS. TUT. And what of that?
O. SMALL. I likewise have a son,
A villanous boy, his father up and down;[376]
What should I say? these velvet-bearded boys
Will still be doing, say what we old men can.
JUS. TUT. And what of this, Sir Oliver? be plain.
O. SMALL. A nimble-spirited knave, the villain boy
Has one trick of his sire, has got the wench,
Stol'n your rich sister's heir.
JUS. TUT. Sommerfield's heir?
O. SMALL. Has done the deed, has pierc'd the vessel's head,
And knows by this the vintage.
JUS. TUT. When should this be?
O. SMALL. As I am by my counsel well-informed,
This very day.
JUS. TUT. Tut, it cannot be,
Some ten miles hence I saw the maid last night.
O. SMALL. Maids may be maids to-night, and not to-morrow.
Women are free, and sell their maidenheads,
As men sell cloth by yard and handful;
But if you chance to see your sister widow,
Comfort her tears, and say her daughter's match'd
With one that has a knocker to his father--
An honest, noble knight.
JUS. TUT. Stand close, knight, close,
And mark this captain's humour. His name is Puff.
He dreams as he walks, and thinks no woman
_Enter_ CAPTAIN PUFF.
Sees, him, but is in love with him.
PUFF. 'Twere brave,
If some great lady through a window spied me,
And straight should love me. Say, she should send
Five thousand pound unto my lodging,
And crave my company! with that money
I would make three several cloaks, and line them
With black, crimson, and tawny three-pil'd velvet;
I would eat at Chare's ordinary, and dice
At Antony's: then would I keep my whore
In beaten velvet, and have two slaves to tend her.
O. SMALL. Ha, ha, ha!
PUFF. What, my case of Justices?
What, are you eavesdropping? or do you think
Your tawny coats with greasy facings here
Shall carry it? Sir Oliver Small-shanks,
Know my name is Puff, knight; thee have I sought
To fright thee from thy wits.
JUS. TUT. Nay, good Sir Puff,
We have too many madmen already.
PUFF. How? I tell thee, Justice Tutchin, not all
Thy bailiffs, serjeants, busy constables,
Defeasants, warrants, or thy mittimuses,
Shall save his throat from cutting, if he presume
To woo the widow yclipped[377] Taffata:
She is my wife by oath. Therefore, take heed:
Let me not catch thee in the widow's house:
If I do, I'll pick thy head upon my sword,
And piss in thy very visnomy; beware, beware!
Come there no more; a captain's word
Flies not so fierce as doth his fatal sword. [_Exit_ PUFF.
O. SMALL. How like you this? shall we endure this thunder,
Or go no further?
JUS. TUT. We will on, Sir Oliver,
We will on; let me alone to touch him.
I wonder how my spirit did forbear
To strike him on the face: had this been spoke
Within my liberties, h' had died for it.
_Re-enter_ CAPTAIN PUFF.
O. SMALL. I was about to draw.
PUFF. If you come there,
Thy beard shall serve to stuff those balls, by which
I get me heat at tennis.
JUS. TUT. Is he gone? [_Exit_ PUFF.
I would he durst ha' stood to this a while.
Well, I shall catch him in a narrow room,
Where neither of us can flinch: if I do,
I'll make him dance-a trenchmoor[378] to my sword.
Come, I'll along with you to the widow.
We will not be outbraved, take my word,
We'll not be wrong'd, while I can draw a sword. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ THROAT _and two other_ GENTLEMEN.
THROAT. Let the coach stay at Shoe Lane end; be ready.
Let the boot stand open; and when she's in,
Hurry towards Saint Giles's in the Fields,
As if the devil himself were waggoner.
Now for an arm of oak and heart of steel,
To bear away the wench, to get a wife,
A gentlewoman, a maid--nay, which is more,
An honest maid and, which is most of all,
A rich and honest maid: O Jove! O Jove!
For a man to wed such a wife as this
Is to dwell in the suburbs of heaven.
1ST GENT. Is she so exquisite?
THROAT. Sir, she is rich,
And a great heir.
2D GENT. 'Tis the more dangerous.
THROAT. Dangerous? Lord! where be those gallant spirits?
The time has been, when scarce an honest woman,
Much less a wench, could pass an inn-of-court,
But some of the fry would have been doing
With her. I knew the day, when Shreds, a tailor,
Coming once late by an inn-of-chancery,
Was laid along, and muffled in his cloak,
His wife took in, stitch'd-up, turn'd out again,
And he persuaded all was but in jest.
Tut, those brave boys are gone; these which are left
Are wary lads, live poring on their books,
And give their linen to their laundresses;
By tail they now can save their purses:[379]
I knew, when every gallant had his man,
But now a twelvepenny weekly laundress
Will serve the turn to half a dozen of them.
_Enter_ DASH.
Here comes my man; what news?
DASH. As you would wish;
The Lady Sommerfield is come to town.
Her horses yet are walking, and her men say
Her only daughter is conveyed away--
No man knows how. Now to it, master!
You and your servant Dash are made for ever,
If you but stick to it now.
THROAT. Gentlemen,
Now show yourselves at full, and not a man
But shares a fortune with me, if I speed.
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS, BOUTCHER, THOMAS
SMALL-SHANKS, FRANCES, _and_ BEARD _with_
_a torch_.
1ST GENT. Tut, fear not us; be sure you run away,
And we'll perform the quarrel.
THROAT. Stand close: they come.
W. SMALL. Art sure he will be here?
FRAN. Most sure.
W. SMALL. Beard.
BEARD. Sir.
W. SMALL. Bear up the torch, and keep your way apace
Directly to the Savoy.
T. SMALL. Have you a licence?
Look to that, brother, before you marry,
For fear the parson lose his benefice.
W. SMALL. Tut, our curate craves no licence; he swears
His living came to him by a miracle.
BOUT. How by [a] miracle?
W. SMALL. Why, he paid nothing for't:
He swears that few be free from simony,
But only Welshmen, and those he says, too,
Are but mountain priests.
BOUT. But hang him, fool, he lies:
What's his reason?
W. SMALL. His reason is this;
That all their livings are so rude and bare,
That not a man will venture his damnation
By giving money for them: he does protest,
There is but two pair of hose and shoes
In all his parish.
1ST GENT. Hold up your light, sir.
BEARD. Shall I be taught how to advance my torch?
W. SMALL. What's the matter, lieutenant?
2D GENT. Your lieutenant's an ass.
BEARD. How, an ass? die, men, like dogs?[380] [_Draws._
W. SMALL. Hold, gentlemen.
BEARD. An ass! an ass!
THROAT. Hold, brother, hold! lieutenant.
Put up, as you are men; your wife is gone.
W. SMALL. Gone?
BOUT. Gone.
W. SMALL. How? which way? this is some plot.
T. SMALL. Down toward Fleet Bridge.
ALL. Follow, follow, follow!
1ST GENT. So has the wench; let us pursue aloof,[381]
And see the event. This will prove good mirth,
When things unshap'd shall have a perfect birth. [_Exit._
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS, BOUTCHER, THOMAS
SMALL-SHANKS, _and_ BEARD, _their swords drawn_.
W. SMALL. 'Tis a thing impossible they should be gone
Thus far, and we not see them.
T. SMALL. Upon my life,
They went in by the Greyhound, and so struck
Into Bridewell.
BOUT. What should she make there?
T. SMALL. Take water at the dock.
BEARD. Water at dock!
A fico for her dock! you'll not be rul'd,
You'll still be obstinate, I'll pawn my fate,
She took along Shoe Lane, and so went home.
W. SMALL. Home?
BEARD. Ay, home; how could she choose but go,
Seeing so many naked tools at once
Drawn in the street?
T. SMALL. What scurvy luck was this?
W. SMALL. Come, we will find her, or we'll fire the suburbs.
Put up your tools; let's first along Shoe Lane,
Then straight up Holborn; if we find her not,
We'll thence direct to Throat's; if she be lost,
I am undone, and all your hopes are cross'd. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ SIR OLIVER SMALL-SHANKS, JUSTICE TUTCHIN,
MISTRESS TAFFATA, ADRIANA.
O. SMALL. Widow, I must be short.
JUS. TUT. Sir Oliver,
Will you shame yourself, ha? you must be short!
Why, what a word was that to tell a widow?
O. SMALL. I meant I must be brief.
JUS. TUT. Why say so, then,
Yet that's almost as ill; go to, speak on.
O. SMALL. Widow, I must be brief; what old men do,
They must do quickly.
TAF. Then, good sir, do it;
Widows are seldom slow to put men to it.
O. SMALL. And old men know their cues: my love, you know,
Has been protested long, and now I come
To make my latest tender; an old-grown oak
Can keep you from the rain, and stands as fair
And portly as the best.
TAF. Yet search him well,
And we shall find no pith or hearty timber
To underlay a building. [_Aside._
JUS. TUT. I would that oak
Had been a-fire: forward, good Sir Oliver,
Your oak is nought: stick not too much to that.
[_Aside._
O. SMALL. If you can like, you shall be ladyfied,
Live at the court, and soon be got with child.
What, do you think we old men can do nothing?
JUS. TUT. This was somewhat like.
O. SMALL. You shall have jewels,
A baboon, parrot, and an Iceland[382] dog,
And I myself to bear you company.
Your jointure is five hundred pound by year,
Besides your plate, your chains, and household-stuff,
When envious fate shall change this mortal life.
TAF. But shall I not be overcloy'd with love?
Will you not be too busy? shall I keep
My chamber by the month, if I be pleas'd
To take physic, to send for visitants,
To have my maid read Amadis de Gaul
Or Donzel del Phoebo[383] to me I shall I have
A coach of the last edition--
The coachman's seat a good way from the coach,
That, if some other ladies and myself
Chance to talk bawdy, he may not o'erhear us?
O. SMALL. All this, and more.
TAF. Shall we have two chambers?
And will you not presume unto my bed,
Till I shall call you by my waiting-maid?
O. SMALL. Not I, by heaven!
TAF. And when I send her,
Will you not entice her to your lust,
Nor tumble her, before you come to me?
ADRI. Nay, let him do his worst, make your match sure,
And fear not me; I never yet did fear [_Aside._
Anything my master could do to me. [_Knock._
TAF. What noise is that? go, see, Adriana,
And bring me word: I am so haunted
With a swaggering captain, that swears, God bless us,
_Enter_ ADRIANA.
Like a very termagant:[384]--a rascal knave,
That says he will kill all men which seek to wed me.
ADRI. O mistress! Captain Puff, half-drunk, is now
Coming up-stairs.
O. SMALL. O God! have you no room
Beyond this chamber? h' has sworn to kill me,
And piss in my very visnomy.
TAF. What, are you afraid, Sir Oliver?
O. SMALL. Not afraid;
But of all men I love not to meddle with a drunkard:
Have you any room backwards?
TAF. None, sir.
JUS. TUT. Is there ne'er a trunk or cupboard for him?
Is there ne'er a hole backwards to hide him in?
CAPT. PUFF [_without_]. I must speak with her.
O. SMALL. O God! he comes!
ADRI. Creep under my mistress's farthingale, knight.
That's the best and safest place in the chamber.
Jus. TUT. Ay, there, there--that lie will never mistrust.
ADRI. Enter, knight, keep close; gather yourself
Round like a hedgehog; stir not, whate'er you hear
See, or smell, knight. God bless us! here he comes.
_Enter_ CAPTAIN PUFF.
CAPT. PUFF. Bless thee, widow and wife.
TAF. Sir, get you gone,
Leave my house, or I will have you conjur'd
With such a spell you never yet have heard of.
Have you no other place to vent your froth
But in my house? is this the fittest place
Your captainship can find to puff in, ha?
CAPT. PUFF. How? am I not thy spouse? didst thou not say
These arms should clip[385] thy naked body fast
Betwixt two linen sheets, and be sole lord
Of all thy pewter-work? Thy word is pass'd:
And know, that man is powder, dust and earth,
That shall once dare to think thee for his wife!
TAF. How now, you slave? One call the constable.
CAPT. PUFF. No constable with all his halberdiers
Dare once advance his head or peep up stairs,
If I cry but, keep down: have I not liv'd,
And march'd on sieged walls,
In thunder, lightning, rain, and snow,
And eke in shot of powdered balls,
Whose costly marks are yet to show?
TAF. Captain Puff, for my last husband's sake,
With whom you were so familiarly acquainted,
I am content to wink at these rude tricks;
But hence! trouble me no more; if you do,
I shall lay you fast, where you shall see
No sun or moon.
CAPT. PUFF. Nor yet the northern pole!
A fico for the sun and moon: let me live in a hole,
So these two stars may shine.
TAF. Sir, get you gone,
You swaggering cheating Turnbull Street[386] rogue,
Or I will hale you to the common gaol,
Where lice shall eat you.
CAPT. PUFF. Go to, I shall spurn
And flesh[387] your petticoat.
TAF. Run to the Counter,
Fetch me a red-bearded Serjeant:[388] I'll make
You, captain, think the devil of hell is come
To fetch you, if he once fasten on you.
CAPT. PUFF. Damn thee and thy Serjeants, thou mercer's punk,
Thus will I kick thee and thy farthingales.
[_Kicks at her petticoat._]
O. SMALL. Hold, captain!
CAPT. PUFF. What, do you cast your whelps?
What, have I found you, sir? have not I plac'd
My sakers, culverings, demi-culverings,
My cannons, demi-cannons, basilisks,
Upon her breach, and do I not stand
Ready with my pike to make my entry,
And are you come to man her?
O. SMALL. Good captain, hold.
CAPT. PUFF. Are not her bulwarks, parapets, trenches,
Scarps, counter-scarps,[389] fortifications,
Curtains, shadows, mines, counter-mines,
Rampiers,[390] forts, ditches, works, water-works,
And is not her half-moon mine? and do you bring
A rescue, goodman knight?
TAF. Call up my men.
_Enter_ O. SMALL, _and two or three others with clubs_.
Where be these knaves? bare they no ears or hearts?
Bear hence this rascal; some other fetch a warrant:
I'll teach him to know himself.
JUS. TUT. Down with the slave.
O. SMALL. Tis not your beard shall carry it; down with the rogue.
CAPT. PUFF. Not Hercules 'gainst twenty.
[_Exit_ PUFF.
JUS. TUT. Ah, sirrah!
I knew[391] my hands no longer could forbear him:
Why did you not strike the knave, Sir Oliver?
O. SMALL. Why, so I did.
JUS. TUT. But then it was too late.
O. SMALL. What would you have me do, when I was down,
And he stood thundering with his weapon drawn,
_Enter_ ADRIANA.
Ready to cut my throat?
ADRI. The rogue is gone,
And here's one from the lady Sommerfield.
To intreat you come with all the speed you can
To Saint John's Street.
JUS. TUT. Which I will do.
TAF. Gentlemen,
I am sorry you should be thus disturb'd
Within my house; but now all fear is pass'd,
You are most welcome: supper ended,
I'll give a gracious answer to your suit;
Meanwhile, let nought dismay or keep you mute. [_Exit._
_Enter_ THROAT, FRANCES, _and_ DASH.
THROAT. Pay the coachman, Dash, pay him well,
And thank him for his speed. Now _Vivat Rex_,
The knot is knit, which not the law itself,
With all his Hydra-heads and strongest nerves.
Is able to disjoin: now let him hang,
Fret out his guts, and swear the stars from heaven--
He never shall enjoy you; you shall be rich.
Your lady-mother this day came to town
In your pursuit: we will but shift some rags,
And straight go take her blessing.
FRAN. That must not be;
Furnish me with jewels, and then myself,
Attended by your man and honest Beard,
Will thither first, and with my lady-mother
Crave a peace for you.
THROAT. I like that well;
Her anger somewhat calm'd, I brisk and fine,
Some half hour after will present myself
As son-in-law unto her, which she must needs
Accept with gracious looks.
FRAN. Ay, when she knows
Before by me, from what an eminent plague
Your wisdom has preserv'd me.
THROAT. Ay, that, that--
That will strike it dead. But here comes Beard.
_Enter_ BEARD.
BEARD. What, are you sure I tied fast by heart and hand?
THROAT. I now do call her wife, she now is mine,
Seal'd and deliver'd by an honest priest
At Saint Giles's in the Fields.
BEARD. God give you joy, sir.
THROAT. But where's mad Small-shanks?
BEARD. O, hard at hand,
And almost mad with loss of his fair bride;
Let not my lovely mistress be seen;
And see, if you can draw him to compound
For all his title to her: I have serjeants,
Ready to do the feat, when time shall serve.
THROAT. Stand you aside, dear love[392]; nay, I will firk
My silly novice, as he was never firk'd,
Since midwives bound his noddle: here they come.
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS, THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS,
_and_ BOUTCHER.
W. SMALL. O Master Throat, unless you speak good news,
My hopes are cross'd, and I undone for ever!
THROAT. I never thought you'd come to other end;
Your courses have been always so profane,
Extravagant and base.
W. SMALL. Nay, good sir, hear:
Did not my love return? came she not hither?
For Jove's love, speak.
THROAT. Sir, will you get you gone,
And seek your love elsewhere? for know, my house
Is not to entertain such customers
As you and your comrades.
W. SMALL. Is the man mad
Or drunk? Why, Master Throat, know you to whom
You talk so saucily?
THROAT. Why, unto you
And to your brother Small-shanks: will you be gone?
BOUT. Nay, good sir, hold us not in this suspense;
Answer directly: came not the virgin hither?
THROAT. Will you be gone directly? are you mad?
Come you to seek a virgin in Ram-Alley,
So near an inn-of-court, and amongst cooks,
Ale-men, and laundresses? why, are you fools?
W. SMALL. Sir, leave this firk of law, or, by this light,
I'll give your throat a slit. Came she not hither?
Answer to that point.
THROAT. What, have you lost her?
Come, do not gull your friends.
W. SMALL. By heaven, she's gone,
Unless she be return'd since we last left you.
THROAT. Nay, then, I cry you mercy; she came not hither,
As I am an honest man: is't possible,
A maid so lovely fair, so well-demean'd,
Should be took from you? what, you three--
So young, so brave, and valiant gentlemen--
Sure, it cannot be!
T. SMALL. Afore God, 'tis true.
W. SMALL. To our perpetual shame, 'tis now too true.
THROAT. Is she not left behind you in the tavern?
Are you sure you brought her out? were you not drunk,
And so forgot her?
W. SMALL. A pox on all such luck!
I will find her, or, by this good light,
I'll fire all the city. Come, let's go:
Whoever has her shall not long enjoy her,
I'll prove a contract; let us walk the round.
I'll have her, if she keep above the ground. [_Exit._
THROAT. Ha, ha, ha! he makes me sport, i' faith.
The gull is mad, stark-mad. Dash, draw the bond,
And a release of all his interest
In this my loved wife.
BEARD. Ay, be sure of that,
For I have certain goblins in buff jerkins[393]
_Re-enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS _with the Serjeants_.
Lie in ambuscado for him.
OFFICER. I arrest you, sir.
W. SMALL. Rescue! rescue!
THROAT. O, he is caught.
W. SMALL. I'll give you bail:
Hang off, honest catchpoles. Master Throat, good, wise,
Learned and honest Master Throat, now, now--
Now or never, help me.
THROAT. What's the matter?
W. SMALL. Here are two retainers, hangers-on, sir,
Which will consume more than ten liveries;
If by your means they be not straight shook off--
I am arrested.
THROAT. Arrested! what's the sum?
W. SMALL. But thirteen pounds, due to Beard the butler:
Do but bail me, and I will save you harmless.
THROAT. Why, here's the end of it[394]: I know the law;
If you be bail'd by me, the debt is mine,
Which I will undertake--
W. SMALL. La[395] there, rogues:
Foot! I knew he would not let me want
For thirteen pounds.
THROAT. Provided you seal a release
Of all your claim to Mistress Sommerfield.
W. SMALL. Serjeants, do your kind: hale me to the hole.
Seal a release? Serjeants, come: to prison!
Seal a release for Mistress Sommerfield?
First I will stink in jail, be eat with lice,
Endure an object worse than the devil himself,
And that's ten Serjeants peeping through the grates
Upon my lousy linen. Come to jail:
Foot, a release!
T. SMALL. There's no conscience in it.
BOUT. 'Tis a demand uncharitable.
THROAT. Nay, choose.
_Enter_ FRANCES.
FRAN. I can hold no longer; impudent man--
W. SMALL. My wife! foot! my wife! let me go, serjeants.
FRAN. O thou perfidious man! dar'st thou presume
To call her wife, whom thou so much hast wrong'd?
What conquest hast thou got to wrong a maid,
A silly harmless maid? what glory is't,
That thou hast thus deceived a simple virgin,
And brought her from her friends? what honour was't
For thee to make the butler lose his office,
And run away with thee! Your tricks are known;
Didst thou not swear thou shouldst be baronis'd?
And hadst both lands and fortunes, both which thou want'st?
W. SMALL. Foot, that's not my fault: I would have lands,
If I could get 'em.
FRAN. I know your tricks;
And know I now am wife unto this man.
OMNES. How?
THROAT. I thank her, sir, she has now vouchsaf'd
To cast herself on me.
FRAN. Therefore subscribe;
Take somewhat of him for a full release,
And pray to God to make you an honest man:
If not, I do protest by earth and heaven,
Although I starve, thou never shalt enjoy me.
BEARD. Her vow is pass'd, nor will she break her word;
Look to it, micher.
FRAN. I hope he will compound.
W. SMALL. Foot, shall I give two thousand pounds a year
For nothing?
T. SMALL. Brother, come: be rul'd by me.
Better to take a little than lose all.
BOUT. You see she's resolute; y'had best compound.
W. SMALL. I'll first be damn'd, ere I will lose my right,
Unless he give me up my forfeit mortgage,
And bail me of this action.
FRAN. Sir, you may choose:
What is the mortgage worth?
W. SMALL. Let's have no whispering.
THROAT. Some forty pounds a year.
FRAN. Do it, do it.
Come, you shall do it, we will be rid of him
At any rate.
THROAT. Dash, go fetch his mortgage. [_Exit_ DASH.
So that your friends be bound, you shall not claim
Title, right, possession, in part or whole,
In time to come, in this my loved wife:
I will restore the mortgage, pay this debt,
And set you free.
W. SMALL. They shall not.
BOUT. We will.
Come, draw the bonds, and we will soon subscribe them.
_Enter_ DASH.
THROAT. They're ready-drawn; here's his release:
Serjeants, let him go.
DASH. Here's the mortgage, sir.
W. SMALL. Was ever man thus cheated of a wife!
Is this my mortgage?
THROAT. The very same, sir.
W. SMALL. Well, I will subscribe. God give you joy,
Although I have but little cause to wish it,
My heart will scarce consent unto my hand.
'Tis done.
THROAT. You give this as your deed?
OMNES. We do.
THROAT. Certify them, Dash.
W. SMALL. What! am I free?
THROAT. You are: serjeants, I discharge you.
There's your fees.
BEARD. Not so; I must have money.
THROAT. I'll pass my word.
BEARD. _Foutre!_ words are wind:
I say, I must have money.
THROAT. How much, sir?
BEARD. Three pounds in hand, and all the rest to-morrow.
THROAT. There's your sum. Now, officers, be gone,
Each take his way; I must to Saint John's Street,
And see my lady-mother: she's now in town,
And we to her shall straight present our duties.
T. SMALL. O Jove! shall we lose the wench thus?
W. SMALL. Even thus.
Throat, farewell: since 'tis thy luck to have her,
I still shall pray you long may live together.
Now each to his affairs.
THROAT. Good night to all.
[_Exeunt_ W.S., T.S., _and_ BOUT.
Dear wife, step in. Beard and Dash, come hither:
Here take this money: go borrow jewels
Of the next goldsmith: Beard, take thou these books,
Go both to the broker's in Fetter Lane,
Lay them in pawn for a velvet jerkin
And a double ruff: tell him, he shall have
As much for a loan to-night, as I do give
Usury for a whole circuit; which done,
You two shall man her to her mother's: go.
[_Exeunt_ BEARD _and_ DASH.
My fate looks big! methinks I see already
Nineteen gold chains, seventeen great beards, and ten
Reverend bald heads, proclaim my way before me.
My coach shall now go prancing through Cheapside,
And not be forc'd to hurry through the streets
For fear of serjeants; nor shall I need to try,
Whether my well-grass'd tumbling foot-cloth nag
Be able to outrun a well-breath'd catch-pole.
I now in pomp will ride, for 'tis most fit,
He should have state, that riseth by his wit. [_Exit._
FOOTNOTES:
[375] [The Mitre Tavern in Bread Street, Cheapside, was a celebrated
tavern at this time. From the present passage we learn that there was a
second house so called in Fleet Street thus early.]
[376] [The image of his father.]
[377] _i.e._, Called.
[378] _Trenchmore_ was a dance, of which (says Sir John Hawkins, in
his "History of Music," iv. 391) "frequent mention is made by our
old dramatic writers. Thus, in the 'Island Princess' of Beaumont and
Fletcher, act v., one of the Townsmen says--
'All the windows of the town dance a new _trenchmore._'
In the 'Table Talk' of Selden, title _King of England_, is the
following humorous passage:--'The Court of England is much altered.
At a solemn dancing, first, you had the grave measures, then the
corantoes and the galliards, and this is kept up with ceremony; at
length to _trenchmore_ and the cushion-dance: and then all the company
dance, lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. So in
our Court ... in King Charles's time, there has been nothing but
_trenchmore_ and the cushion-dance, omnium gatherum, tolly polly, hoite
cum toite.' And in the comedy of 'The Rehearsal,' the earth, sun, and
moon are made to dance the hey to the tune of _trenchmore_. From all
which it may be inferred that the _trenchmore_ was a lively movement."
The _trenchmore_ is also mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher's
"Pilgrim," act iv. sc. 3.
[379] [A double meaning is intended here, as the laundresses of the
inns were not always very remarkable for chastity.]
[380] This expression is used by Pistol in the "Second Part of Henry
IV.," act ii. sc. 4--
"_Die men like dogs_; give crowns like pins,
Have we not Hiren here?"
[381] [At a distance.]
[382] Or, as it was sometimes called, an _Island_, or _Isling_. So in
"The Queen of Corinth," act iv. sc. 1--
"Hang, hair, like hemp, or like the _Isling cur's_."
Again, in Massinger's "Picture," act v. sc. 1--
"Would I might lie
Like a dog under her table, and serve for a footstool,
So I might have my belly full of that
Her _Iceland cur_ refuses."
Abraham Fleming, in his tract "Of Englishe Dogges, the diversities,
the names, the natures, and the properties," 1576, speaks of the
introduction of _Iceland dogs_, and describes them. "Use and custome
hath intertained other dogges of an outlandish kinde, but a few, and
the same being of a pretty bygnesse, I meane _Iseland dogges_, curled
and rough al over, which by reason of the length of their heare, make
showe neither of face nor of body. And yet these curres, forsoothe,
because they are so straunge, are greatly set by, esteemed, taken
vp, and made of, many times in the roome of the Spaniell, gentle or
comforter."--_Collier._ [Sig. F 4. Fleming's book is, however, only a
translation from Caius, "De Canibus Britannicis."]
[383] Heroes of romance. [By "Donzel del Phoebo" the lady intends, I
conclude, the "Knight of the Sun," or the "Mirror of Knighthood."]
[384] Tarmagant or Termagant was, as Dr Percy observes, a Saracen
deity, very clamorous and violent in the old moralities. He is
frequently mentioned and alluded to in our ancient dramas and poems.
Bishop Hall's "Satires" begin thus--
"Not Ladies' wanton love, nor wand'ring knight,
Legend I out in rhimes all richly dight;
Nor fright the reader with the Pagan vaunt
Of mightie _Mahound_ and great _Termagaunt_."
Mr Tyrwhitt says, the character is to be met with in an old romance,
MSS. Bod. 1624, where it is constantly spelt _Tervagan_. (See notes to
Chaucer, v. 13,741.)
See also "King and no King," act iv., and "Rule a Wife and have a
Wife," act v.
Again, Hamlet says, "I would have such a fellow whipt for o'erdoing
_Termagant_."
See notes on this passage, edit. 1778; also Warton's Observations on
Spenser, ii. 226; [Bishop Percy's folio MS., ii. 467; and Nares, 1859,
arts. Termagant and Trivigant.]
[385] Embrace.
[386] [A locality notorious for bad characters.]
[387] [Pierce it with my sword. Edits., _slash_.]
[388] See note to "The Spanish Tragedy," [v. 121.]
[389] [Edits., _scarfs, counter-scarfs_.]
[390] [Ramparts. A common form.]
[391] Before printed _know_, adhering to the error of the edition of
1636.--_Collier._
[392] To Frances, who probably places herself out of view, or perhaps
makes her _exit_, which, however, is not marked.--_Collier._
[393] The dress of the serjeants at that time.
[394] [Edits., _riot_.]
[395] [Edits., _Law_.]
ACTUS IV., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ SIR OLIVER, JUSTICE TUTCHIN, TAFFATA,
_and_ ADRIANA.
OLIVER. Good meat the belly fills, good wine the brain;
Women please men, men pleasure them again:
Ka me, ka thee: one thing must rub another:
English love Scots, Welshmen love each other.
JUS. TUT. You say very right, Sir Oliver, very right;
I have't in my noddle, i' faith. That's all the fault
Old justices have; when they are at feasts,
They will bib[396] hard; they will be fine sunburnt,
Sufficient fox'd or columber'd, now and then.
Now could I sit in my chair at home, and nod
A drunkard to the stocks by virtue of
The last statute rarely[397].
TAF. Sir, you are merry.
JUS. TUT. I am indeed.
TAF. Your supper, sir, was light;
But I hope you think you're welcome.
JUS. TUT. I do.
A light supper; quoth you? pray God it be,
Pray God I carry it cleanly, I am sure it lies
As heavy in my belly as molt lead;
Yet I'll go see my sister Sommerfield.
OLIVER. So late, good Justice?
JUS. TUT. Aye, even so late.
Night is the mother of wit, as you may see
By poets or rather constables
In their examinations at midnight.
We'll lie together without marrying,
Save the curate's fees[398] and the parish a labour;
'Tis a thriving course.
OLIVER. That may not be,
For excommunications then will flee.
JUS. TUT. That's true, they fly indeed like wild geese
In flocks, one in the breech of another;
But the best is, a small matter stays them.
And so farewell.
OLIVER. Farewell, good Justice Tutchin.
[_Exit_ JUSTICE TUTCHIN.
Alas, good gentleman, his brains are crazed,
But let that pass. Speak, widow, is't a match?
Shall we clap it up?
ADRI. Nay, if't come to clapping,
Good night, i' faith. Mistress, look before you,
There's nothing more dangerous to maid or widow
Than sudden clappings-up; nothing hath spoiled
So many proper ladies as clappings-up.
Your shittle-cock, striding from tables to ground,
Only to try the strength of the back:
Your riding a hunting--ay, though they fall
With their heels upward, and lay as if
They were taking the height of some high star
With a cross-staff; no, nor your jumblings
In horselitters, coaches or carouches[399],
Have spoiled so many women as clappings-up.
OLIVER. Why, then, we'll chop it up.
TAF. That's not allowed,
Unless you were son to a Welsh curate.
But faith, sir knight, I have a kind of itching
To be a lady; that, I can tell you, wooes,
And can persuade with better rhetoric
Than oaths, wit, wealth, valour, lands, or person:
I have some debts at Court, and, marrying you,
I hope the courtiers will not stick to pay me.
OLIVER. Never fear thy payment. This I will say
For courtiers, they'll be sure to pay each other,
Howe'er they deal with citizens.
TAF. Then here's my hand;
I am your wife, condition we be joined
Before to-morrow's sun.
OLIVER. Nay, even to-night,
So you be pleas'd. With little warning, widow,
We old men can be ready, and thou shalt see,
Before the time that chanticleer
Shall call, and tell the day is near:
When wenches, lying on their backs,
Receive with joy their love-stol'n smacks;
When maids, awak'd from their first sleep,
Deceiv'd with dreams, begin to weep,
And think, if dreams such pleasure know,
What sport the substance them would show;
When a lady 'gins[400] white limbs to spread,
Her love but new-stol'n to her bed,
His cotton shoes yet scarce put off,
And dares not laugh, speak, sneeze, or cough;
When precise dames begin to think,
Why their gross louring[401] husbands stink;
What pleasure 'twere then to enjoy,
A nimble vicar or a boy;
Before this time thou shalt behold
Me quaffing out our bridal bowl[402].
ADRI. Then, belike, before the morning sun
You will be coupled?
TAF. Yes, faith, Adriana.
ADRI. Well, I will look you shall have a clean smock,
Provided that you pay the fee, Sir Oliver.
Since my mistress, sir, will be a lady,
I'll lose no fees due to the waiting-maid.
OLIVER. Why, is there a fee belonging to it?
ADRI. A knight, and never heard of smock-fees?
I would I had the monopoly of them,
So there were no impost set upon them.
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS.
OLIVER. Whom have we here? what, my mad-headed son;
What makes he here so late? Say I am gone;
And I the whilst will step behind the hangings.
W. SMALL. God bless thee, parcel of man's flesh.
TAF. How, sir?
W. SMALL. Why, parcel of man's flesh! art not a woman?
But, widow, where's the old stinkard my father?
They say, widow, you dance altogether
After his pipe.
TAF. What then?
W. SMALL. Th' art a fool,
I'll assure thee there's no music in it.
TAF. Can you play better?
W. SMALL. Better, widow?
Blood, dost think I have not learnt my prick-song?
What, not the court prick-song? One up and another down:
Why, I have't to a hair; by this light,
I hope thou lovest him not.
TAF. I'll marry him, sir.
W. SMALL. How? marry him! foot, art mad, widow?
Woo't marry an old crazed man
With meagre looks, with visage wan,
With little legs and crinkled thighs,
With chap-fall'n gums and deep-sunk eyes?
Why, a dog, seiz'd on ten days by death,
Stinks not so loathsome as his breath;
Nor can a city common jakes,
Which all mens' breeches undertakes,
Yield fasting stomachs such a savour,
As doth his breath and ugly favour.
OLIVER. Rogue! [_Aside._
ADRI. That's all one, sir; she means to be a lady.
W. SMALL. Does she so? and thou must be her waiting-woman?
Faith, thou wilt make a fine dainty creature,
To sit at a chamber-door, and look fleas
In my lady's dog, while she is shewing
Some slippery-breech'd courtier rare faces
In a bay[403]-window. Foot, widow,
Marry me--a young and complete gallant.
TAF. How a complete gallant? what? a fellow
With a hat tuck'd up behind, and, what we use
About our hips to keep our coats from dabbling,
He wears about his neck--a farthingale!
A standing collar to keep his neat band clean,
The whilst his shirt doth stink, and is more foul
Than an inn-of-chancery table-cloth:
His breeches must be plaited, as if he had
Some thirty pockets, when one poor half-penny purse
Will carry all his treasure; his knees all points,
As if his legs and hams were tied together;
A fellow that has no inside, but prates
By rote, as players and parrots use to do,
And, to define a complete gallant right,
A mercer form'd him, a tailor makes him,
A player gives him spirit.
W. SMALL. Why, so in my conscience to be a countess
Thou wouldst marry a hedge-hog: I must confess,
'Tis state to have a coxcomb kiss your hands,
While yet the chamber-lie[404] is scarce wip'd off;
To have an upright usher march before you
Bare-headed in a tuftafata jerkin,
Made of your old cast gown, shows passing well,
But when you feel your husband's pulse, that's hell;
Then you fly out, and bid strait smocks farewell.
TAF. I hope, sir, whate'er our husbands be,
We may be honest.
W. SMALL. May be! may, y' are:
Women and honesty are so near allied,
As parsons' lives are to their doctrines--
One and the same. But, widow, now be rul'd;
I hope the heavens will give thee better grace
Than to accept the father, and I yet live
To be bestowed: if you wed the stinkard,
You shall find the tale of Tantalus
To be no fable, widow.
OLIVER. How I sweat! [_Aside._
I can hold no longer. [_Comes out._] Degenerate bastard!
I here disclaim thee, cashier thee; nay, more,
I disinherit thee both of my love
And living: get thee a grey cloak and hat,
And walk in Paul's[405] among thy cashier'd mates
As melancholy as the best.
TAF. Come not near me,
I forbid thee my house, my out-houses,
My garden, orchard, and my back-side[406];
Thou shalt not harbour near me.
[_Exeunt_ TAFFATA _and_ ADRIANA.
OLIVER. Nay, to thy grief
Know, varlet, I will be wed this morning,
Thou shalt not be there, nor once be grac'd
With a piece of rosemary[407]. I[408] cashier thee.
Do not reply: I will not stay to hear thee.
[_Exit_ SIR OLIVER.
W. SMALL. Now may I go put me on a clean shirt,
And hang myself. Foot, who would have thought
The fox had earth'd so near me; what's to be done?
What miracle shall I now undertake
To win respective[409] grace with God and men?
What, if I turn'd courtier and liv'd honest?
Sure, that would do: I dare not walk the streets,
For I dwindle at a serjeant in buff
Almost as much as a new player does
At a plague-bill certified forty.[410]
Well, I like this widow: a lusty plump drab:
Has substance both in breech and purse,
And pity and sin it were she should be wed
To a furr'd cloak and a night-cap. I'll have her:
This widow I will have: her money
Shall pay my debts, and set me up again.
'Tis here, 'tis almost forg'd, which if it take,
The world shall praise my wit, admire my fate. [_Exit._
_Enter_ BEARD, DASH, FRANCES, SERJEANT,
DRAWER.
BEARD. Serjeants, beware; be sure you not mistake,
For if you do--
DASH. She shall be quickly bail'd,
She shall _corpus cum causa_ be remov'd;
Your action entered first below shall shrink,
And you shall find, sir serjeant, she has friends
Will stick to her in the common place.
SER. Sir,
Will you procure her bail?
BEARD. She shall be bail'd.
Drawer, bring up some wine, use her well,
Her husband is a gentleman of sort.
SER. A gentleman of sort! why, what care I?
A woman of her fashion shall find
More kindness at a lusty serjeant's hand
Than ten of your gentlemen of sort.
DASH. Sir, use her well: she's wife to Master Throat.
SER. I'll use her, sir, as if she were my wife:
Would you have any more?
BEARD. Drink upon that,
Whilst we go fetch her bail. Dash, fellow Dash,
With all the speed thou hast, run for our master;
Make haste, lest he be gone, before thou comest,
To Lady Sommerfield's: I'll fetch another;
She shall have bail.
DASH. And a firking writ
Of false imprisonment; she shall be sure
Of twelvepence damage, and five-and-twenty pound
For suits in law: I'll go fetch my master.
BEARD. And I another.
[_Exeunt_ BEARD _and_ DASH.
SER. Drawer, leave the room.
Here, mistress, a health!
FRAN. Let it come, sweet rogue.
[_The_ DRAWER _stands aside_.
DRAWER. Ay, say you so? then must I have an eye;
These serjeants feed on very good reversions,
On capons, teals, and sometimes on a woodcock,
Hot from the shrieve's own table[411]; the knaves feed well,
Which makes them horrid lechers.
FRAN. This health is pledg'd;
And, honest serjeant, how does Master Gripe,
The keeper of the Counter? I do protest,
I found him always favourable to me,
He is an honest man; has often stood to me,
And been my friend; and let me go o' trust
For victual, when he has denied it knights. But come,
Let's pay, and then be gone: th' arrest, you know,
Was but a trick to get from nimble Dash,
My husband's man.
SER. True: but I have an action
At suit of Mistress Smell-smock, your quondam bawd:
The sum is eight good pound for six weeks' board,
And five weeks' loan for a red taffata gown,
Bound with a silver lace.
FRAN. I do protest,
By all the honesty 'twixt thee and me,
I got her in that gown in six weeks' space
Four pound, and fourteen pence given by a clerk
Of an inn-of-chancery that night I came
Out of her house; and does the filthy jade
Send to me for money?[412] But, honest serjeant,
Let me go, and say thou didst not see me,
I'll do thee as great a pleasure shortly.
SER. Shall we embrace to-night?
FRAN. With all my heart.
SER. Sit on my knee, and kiss.
_Enter_ BEARD.
BEARD. What news, boy? why stand you sentinel?
DRAWER. Do but conceal yourself, and we shall catch
My serjeant napping.
BEARD. Shall maids be here deflowered?
SER. Now kiss again.
DRAWER. Now, now.
_Enter_ CAPTAIN, _and seeing the hurly-burly, runs away_.
BEARD. Deflower virgins! rogue I avaunt, ye slave,
Are maids fit subjects for a serjeant's mace?
So now are we once more free: there's for the wine.
[_Exit_ SERJEANT.
Now to our rendezvous: three pounds in gold
These slops[413] contain; we'll quaff in Venice glasses[414],
And swear some lawyers are but silly asses.
[_Exeunt_ BEARD _and_ FRANCES.
_Enter_ CAPTAIN FACE.
CAPT. FACE. Is the coast clear? Are these combustions ceas'd?
And may we drink canary sack in peace?
Shall we have no attendance here, you rogues?
Where be these rascals that skip up and down
Faster than virginal jacks?[415] Drawers!
DRAWER. Sir!
CAPT. FACE. On whom wait you, sir rogue?
DRAWER. Faith, captain,
I attend a conventicle of players.
CAPT. FACE. How, players? what is there e'er a cuckold among them?
DRAWER. Jove defend else; it stands with policy,
That one should be a notorious cuckold,
If it be but for the better keeping
The rest of his company together.
CAPT. FACE. When did you see Sir Theophrastus Slop,
The city dog-master?
DRAWER. Not to-day, sir.
CAPT. FACE. What have you for my supper?
DRAWER. Nothing ready,
Unless you please to stay the dressing, captain.
CAPT. FACE. Zounds! stay the dressing! you damned rogue,
What, shall I wait upon your greasy cook,
And wait his leisure? go down stairs, rogue;
Now all her other customers be serv'd,
Ask, if your mistress have a snip of mutton
Yet left for me.
DRAWER. Yes, sir.
CAPT. FACE. And, good-man rogue,
See what good thing your kitchen-maid has left
For me to work upon; my barrow-guttlings grumble
And would have food: [_Exit Drawer._] Say now, the vintner's wife
Should bring me up a pheasant, partridge, quail;
A pleasant banquet, and extremely love me,
Desire me to eat, kiss, and protest,
I should pay nothing for it; say she should drink
Herself three-quarters drunk to win my love,
Then give me a chain worth some three score pounds;
Say 'twere worth but forty--say, but twenty,
For citizens do seldom in their wooing
Give above twenty pounds--say then, 'tis twenty,
I'll go sell some fifteen pounds' worth of the chain
To buy some clothes, and shift my lousy linen.
And wear the rest as a perpetual favour
About my arm in fashion of a bracelet.
Say then her husband should grow jealous,
I'd make him drunk, and then I'll cuckold him.
But then a vintner's wife, some rogue will say,
Which sits at bar for the receipt of custom,
That smells of chippings and of broken fish,
Is love to Captain Face; which to prevent,
I'll never come but when her best-stitch'd hat,
Her bugle-gown, and best-wrought smock is on;
Then does she neither smell of bread, of meat,
Or droppings of the tap; it shall be so.
_Enter_ BOUTCHER, WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS, _and_ CONSTANTIA.
BOUT. Now leave us, boy; bless you, Captain Face.
CAPT. FACE. I'll have no music[416].
W. SMALL. Foot, dost take us for fiddlers?
CAPT. FACE. Then turn straight. Drawer, run down the stairs,
And thank the gods a gave me that great patience
Not to strike you.
BOUT. Your patience, sir, is great:
For you dare seldom strike. Sirrah, they say,
You needs will wed the widow Taffata,
_Nolens volens?_
CAPT. FACE. Do not urge my patience,
Awake not fury new-rak'd up in embers!
I give you leave to live.
W. SMALL. Men say y'have tricks,
Y'are an admirable ape, and you can do
More feats than three baboons: we must have some.
CAPT. FACE. My patience yet is great; I say, begone,
My tricks are dangerous.
BOUT. That's nothing,
I have brought you furniture. Come, get up
Upon this table: do your feats,
Or I will whip you to them; do not I know
You are a lousy knave?
CAPT. FACE. How! lousy knave;
Are we not English bred?
BOUT. Y'are a coward rogue,
That dares not look a kitling in the face,
If she but stare or mew.
CAPT. FACE. My patience yet is great:
Do you bandy tropes? by Dis, I will be knight,
Wear a blue coat on great Saint George's day,[417]
And with my fellows drive you all from Paul's
For this attempt.
BOUT. Will you yet get up?
I must lash you to it.
CAPT. FACE. By Pluto, gentlemen,
To do you pleasure, and to make you sport,
I'll do't.
W. SMALL. Come, get up then quick.
BOUT. I'll dress you, sir.
CAPT. FACE. By Jove, 'tis not for fear,
But for a love I bear unto these tricks,
That I perform it.
BOUT. Hold up your snout, sir:
Sit handsomely; by heaven, sir, you must do it.
Come, boy.
W. SMALL. No, by this good light, I'll play
Him that goes with the motions.
DRAWER. Where's the captain, gentlemen?
W. SMALL. Stand back, boy, and be a spectator.
Gentlemen,
You shall see the strange nature of an outlandish beast,
That has but two legs, bearded like a man,
Nosed like a goose, and tongued like a woman,
Lately brought from the land of Cataia.[418]
A beast of much understanding, were it not given
Too much to the love of venery. Do I not do it well?
BOUT. Admirably!
W. SMALL. Remember, noble captain,
You skip, when I shall shake my whip. Now, sir,
What can you do for the great Turk?
What can you do for the Pope of Rome?
Hark! he stirreth not, he moveth not, he waggeth not;
What can you do for the town of Geneva, sirrah?
[_He holds up his hands instead of praying._
CON. Sure, this baboon is a great Puritan,
BOUT. Is not this strange?
W. SMALL. Not a whit; by this light
Banks[419] his horse and he were taught both in a stable.
DRAWER. O, rare!
CAPT. FACE. Zounds! I'll first be damn'd: shall [my] sport
Be laugh'd at? by Dis, by Pluto, and great Proserpine,
My fatal blade, once drawn, falls but with death:
Yet if you'll let me go, I vow, by Jove,
No widow, maid, wife, punk, or cockatrice,
Shall make me haunt your ghosts.
BOUT. 'Twill not serve, sir,
You must show more.
CAPT. FACE. I'll first be hang'd and damn'd.[420]
W. SMALL. Foot, can he jump so well?
BOUT. Is he so quick?
I hope the slave will haunt no more the widow.
W. SMALL. As for that take no care, for by this light
She'll not have thee.
BOUT. Not have me?
W. SMALL. No, not have thee.
By this hand, flesh, and blood, she is resolv'd
To make my father a most fearful cuckold,
And he's resolv'd to save his soul by her.
BOUT. How, by her?
W. SMALL. Thus: all old men, which marry
Young wives, shall questionless be sav'd,
For while they're young, they keep other men's wives,
And when they're old, they keep wives for other men,
And so by satisfaction procure salvation.
Why, thou dejected tail of a crab!
Does not the fair Constantia Sommerfield[421]
Doat on thy filthy face? and wilt thou wed
A wanton widow? what can'st thou see,
To doat on her?
BOUT. Only this--I love her.
W. SMALL. Dost love her? then take a purgation,
For love, I'll assure thee, is a binder.
Of all things under heaven, there's no fitter
Parallels than a drunkard and a lover;
For a drunkard loses his senses, so does your lover;
Your drunkard is quarrelsome, so is your lover;
Your drunkard will swear, lie, and speak great
Words--so will your lover; your drunkard is most
Desirous of his lechery, and so is your lover.
Well, the night grows old; farewell.
I am so much thy friend, that none shall bed thee,
While fair Constantia is resolv'd to wed thee. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS, _and others_.
T. SMALL. Foot, shall we let the wench go thus?
My masters, now show yourselves gentlemen,
And take away the lawyer's wife.
Foot, though I have no wit, yet I can
Love a wench, and choose a wife.
GENT. Why, sir, what should you do with a wife, that are held
none of the wisest? you'll get none but fools.
T. SMALL. How! fools? why may not I, a fool, get a wise child,
as well as wise men get fools[422]; all lies but in the agility
of the woman. In troth, I think all fools are got when their
mothers sleep; therefore I'll never lie with my wife, but when
she is broad waking. Stand to't, honest friends; knock down the
lieutenant, and then hurry the wench to Fleet Street; there my
father and I will this morning be married.
_Enter_ BEARD _and_ FRANCES.
GENT. Stand close: they come.
BEARD. By Jove, the night grows dark, and Luna looks
As if this hour some fifty cuckolds were making.
Then let us trudge.
GENT. Down with 'em, down with 'em: away with her, Master
Small-shanks, to Fleet Street; go, the curate there stays for
you. [_Exeunt._
BEARD. And stays the curate?
What's here? knock'd down, and blood of men let out?
Must men in darkness bleed? then, Erebus, look big,
And, Boreas, blow the fire of all my rage
Into his nose. Night, thou art a whore,
Small-shanks a rogue; and is my wench took from me?
Sure, I am gull'd; this was no cockatrice.
I never saw her, before this daylight peep'd:
What, dropp'st thou, head? this surely is the heir,
And mad Will Small-shanks lay in ambuscado,
To get her now from me. Beard! Lieutenant Beard,
Thou art an ass; what a dull slave was I,
That all this while smelt not her honesty!
Pate, I do not pity thee: hadst thou brains,
Lieutenant Beard had got this wealthy heir
From all these rogues. Blood! to be thus o'er-reach'd,
In pate and wench! revenge! revenge! come up,
And with thy curled locks cling to my beard.
Small-shanks, I will betray thee. I will[423] trudge
To Saint John Street, to inform the Lady Sommerfield,
Where thou art; I will prevent the match.
Thou art to Fleet Street gone, revenge shall follow;
And my incensed wrath shall, like great thunder,
Disperse thy hopes and thy brave wife asunder. [_Exit._
_Enter_ LADY SOMMERFIELD _and_ JUSTICE TUTCHIN.
JUS. TUT. Say as I say, widow; the wench is gone,
But I know whither stol'n she is; well--
I know by whom; say as I say, widow.
I have been drinking hard--why, say so too,
Old men they can be fine with small ado.
The law is not offended. I had no punk;
Nor in an alehouse have I made me drunk.
The statute is not broke[424], I have the skill
To drink by law; then say as I say still.
LADY SOM. To what extremes doth this licentious time
Hurry unstayed youth! Nor gods nor laws,
Whose penal scourges are enough to save
Ev'n damn'd fiends, can in this looser age
Confine unbounded youth. Who durst presume
To steal my youth's delight, my age's hope,
Her father's heir and the last noble stem
Of all her ancestors? fear they or gods or laws?
JUS. TUT. I say as you say, sister; but for the laws,
There are so many, that men do stand in awe
Of none at all. Take heed they steal not you.
Who woos a widow with a fair full moon
Shall surely speed; beware of full moons, widow:
Will Small-shanks has your daughter--no word but mum?
My warrant you shall have, when time shall come.
LADY SOM. Your warrant?
JUS. TUT. Aye, my warrant, widow;
My warrant can stretch far; no more, but so,
'Twill serve to catch a knave or fetch a doe.
_Enter_ SERVING-MAN.
SERV.-MAN. Here's a gentleman much desirous to see you, madam.
LADY SOM. What is he for a man?
SERV.-MAN. Nothing for a man, but much for a beast.
I think him lunatic; for he demands
What plate of his is stirring i' the house!
He calls your men his butlers, cooks, and stewards:
Kisses your women, and makes exceeding much
Of your coachman's wife.
JUS. TUT. Then he's a gentleman, for 'tis a true note of a
gentleman to make much of other men's wives: bring him up. Ah,
sirrah, makes he much of your coachman's wife? This gear will
run a-wheels then shortly: a man may make much more of another
man's wife than he can do of's own.
LADY SOM. How much, brother?
JUS. TUT. A man may make with ease a punk, a child, a bastard,
a cuckold, of another man's wife all at a clap; and that is
much, I think.
_Enter_ SERVING-MAN _and_ THROAT.
SERV.-MAN. That's my lady.
THROAT. For that thou first hast brought me to her sight,
I here create thee clerk of the kitchen:
No man shall beg it from thee.
SERV.-MAN. Sure, the fellow's mad.
LADY SOM. What would you, sir? I guess your long profession[425]
By your scant suit; your habit seems to turn
Your inside outward to me; y'are, I think,
Some turner of the law.
THROAT. Law is my living,
And on that ancient mould I wear this outside:
Suit upon suit wastes some, yet makes me thrive,
First law, then gold, then love; and then we wive.
JUST. TUT. A man of form, like me. But what's your business?
LADY SOM. Be brief, good sir; what makes this bold intrusion?
THROAT. Intrude I do not, for I know the law;
It is the rule that squares out all our actions,
Those actions bring in coin, coin gets me friends,
Your son-in-law hath law at's fingers' ends.
LADY SOM. My son-in-law!
THROAT. Madam, your son-in-law.
Mother, I come (be glad I call you so),
To make a gentle breach into your favour,
And win your approbation of my choice:
Your cherry-ripe sweet daughter (so renown'd
For beauty, virtue and a wealthy dower)
I have espous'd.
LADY SOM. How? you espouse my daughter?
THROAT. _Noverint universi_, the laws of heaven,
Of nature, church, and chance, have made her mine;
Therefore deliver her by these presents.
JUST. TUT. How's this? made her yours, sir, _per quam regulam_?
Nay, we are letter'd, sir, as well as you,
_Redde rationem; per quam regulam?_
THROAT. _Fæminæ[426] ludificantur viros:_
By that same rule these lips have taken seizin:
Tut, I do all by statute-law and reason.
LADY SOM. Hence, you base knave! you petty-fogging groom!
Clad in old ends, and piec'd with brokery:
You wed my daughter!
JUST. TUT. You, sir Ambi-dexter!
A sumner's[427] son, and learn'd in Norfolk wiles:
Some common bail or counter-lawyer,
Marry my niece! your half-sleeves shall not carry her.
THROAT. These storms will be dissolv'd in tears of joy,
Mother, I doubt it not. Justice, to you,
That jerk at my half-sleeves, and yet yourself
Do never wear but buckram out of sight:
A flannel waist-coat or a canvas truss,
A shift of thrift, I use it: let's be friends,
You know the law has tricks--ka me, ka thee!
_Viderit utilitas_, the mot to these half-arms,
_Corpus cum causa_, need no bumbasting:
We wear small hair, yet have we tongue and wit,
Lawyers close-breech'd have bodies politic.
LADY SOM. Speak, answer me, sir Jack: stole you my daughter?
THROAT. Short tale to make, I fingered have your daughter:
I have ta'en livery and seisin of the wench.
Deliver her then: you know the statute-laws;
She's mine without exception, bar, or clause;
Come, come, restore.
LADY SOM. The fellow's mad, I think.
THROAT. I was not mad before I married;
But, _ipso facto_, what the act may make me,
That know I not.
JUST. TUT. Fellows, come in there.
_Enter two or three_ SERVANTS.
By this, sir, you confess you stole my niece,
And I attach you here of felony.
Lay hold on him! I'll make my mittimus,
And send him to the gaol; have we no bar
Nor clause to hamper you? away with him,
Those claws shall claw you to a bar of shame,
Where thou shalt show thy goll[428]. I'll bar your claim,
If I be Justice Tutchin.
THROAT. Hands off, you slaves!
O, favour my jerkin, though you tear my flesh.
I set more store by that: my _Audita_
_Querela_ shall be heard, and with a _Certiorari_
I'll fetch her from you with a pox.
_Enter_ BEARD.
BEARD. What's here to do? is all the world in arms?
More tumults, brawls, and insurrections?
Is blood the theme, whereon our time must treat?
THROAT. Here's Beard your butler: a rescue, Beard; draw.
BEARD. Draw I not so: my blade's as ominously drawn
Unto the death of nine or ten such grooms,
As is a knife unsheath'd, with th' hungry maw,
Threat'ning the ruin of a chine of beef:
But for the restless toil it took of late,
My blade shall sleep awhile.
THROAT. Help.
BEARD. Stop thy throat.
And hear me speak, whose bloody characters
Will show I have been scuffling. Briefly thus:
Thy wife, your daughter, and your lovely niece,
Is hurri'd now to Fleet Street: the damn'd crew
With glaves and clubs have rapt her from these arms.
Throat, thou art bobb'd; although thou bought'st the heir,
Yet hath the slave made a re-entry.
JUS. TUT. Sirrah, what are you?
THROAT. My lady's butler, sir.
BEARD. Not I, by heaven!
THROAT. By this good light, he swore it,
And for your daughter's love he ran away.
BEARD. By Jove, I gull'd thee, Throat.
JUS. TUT. More knavery yet?
Lay hands on him, pinion them both,
And guard them hence towards Fleet Street: come away!
BEARD. Must we be led like thieves, and pinion'd walk?
Spent I my blood for this? is this my hire?
Why then burn, rage: set Beard and Nose on fire.
JUS. TUT. On, on, I say.
THROAT. Justice, the law shall firk you.
FOOTNOTES:
[396] These are cant phrases for being intoxicated.
[397] The statute here referred to is the 4th of James the First, 1606,
which directs that any persons convicted of being drunk shall pay five
shillings, or be set in the stocks during the space of six hours for
the first offence; and for the second be bound in a recognizance for
his good behaviour.
[398] The word _fees_ was till now accidentally omitted, though
inserted in both the old copies.--_Collier._
[399] These names, which are generally considered as synonymous, appear
from this passage to signify different kinds of vehicles, or different
sizes of the same. About this time they were come into general use.
Dr Percy, in his Notes to the "Northumberland Household Book," p.
448, says, from Anderson's "Origin of Commerce," that coaches were
introduced into England by Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, A.D. 1580; but
from the following passage in the works of Taylor the Water-Poet, 1630,
p. 240, they appear to have been used some years earlier:--"For in the
yeere 1564, one William Boonen, a Dutchman, brought first the use of
coaches hither, and the said Boonen was Queene Elizabeth's coachman;
for indeede a coach was a strange monster in those days, and the sight
of them put both horse and man into amazement: some said it was a great
crabshell brought out of China, and some imagin'd it to be one of the
pagan temples, in which the cannibals adored the divell: but at last
those doubts were cleared, and coach-making became a substantial trade:
so that now all the world may see they are as common as whores, and may
be hired as easie as knights of the post." Dr Percy observes, they were
first drawn with two horses, and that it was the favourite Buckingham
who, about 1619, began to draw with six horses which, Wilson tells us
("Life of King James," 1653, fol. p. 130), "was wondered at then as a
novelty, and imputed to him as a mastering pride." About the same time,
he introduced sedan chairs.
[400] [Edits., _ladies 'gin_.]
[401] The 4to of 1611 reads--
"Why their gross _souring_ husbands stink;"
which is perhaps right.--_Collier._
[402] _Bridal bowl_ is the reading of 1611, and not _bride alebowl_, as
Mr Reed gave it.--_Collier._
[403] [Edits., _by_.]
[404] [_Lie_ is strictly a mixture of water and alkaline salt; see the
"Merie Tales of Skelton," No. 2 (Old English Jest-Books ii. 6). But
here it signifies the water of the _pot de chambre_.]
[405] St Paul's Cathedral, which at this period was open all day, and
the resort of all the idle, profligate, or necessitous people in town.
Bishop Carleton tells us ("Thankful Deliverance," 1625, p. 101), that
Babington'a and Ballard's Conspiracy was "conferred upon in Paul's
Church."--_Gilchrist._
[406] [Back-yard.]
[407] See ["Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," ii. 71.]
[408] [Old copies, _I'll_.]
[409] _i.e._, Respectful. So, in "The Second Part of Amonio and
Mellida," act iii. sc. 4--
"I give the noble duke _respective_ thankes."
In "Every Man out of his Humour," act v. sc. 4--
"I am bound to pledge it _respectively_, sir,"
and in "Cynthia's Revels"--
"Methinks he did not this _respectively_ enough."
[410] Meaning a bill announcing that the plague had occasioned forty
deaths. During the plague, the theatres were closed; and, to a _new
player_ such an event was doubly calamitous.--_Collier._
[411] It was formerly customary for the counters in London to receive
the remains of the sheriffs' dinners, for the use of the prisoners
confined there.--See Stow's "Survey," vol. i. b. iii. p. 51. edit. 1720.
[412] [Mistress Smell-smock advanced Frances the dress, the cost of
which was to be repaid, and Frances says that she made up the money in
six weeks.]
[413] Breeches. The term occurs in almost every writer of the times.
[414] In "Philocothonista," 1635, p. 46, it is said: "Of glasses to
qnaffe in, the fashions and sizes be almost without number, some
transported hither from _Venice_ and other places, some made in the
Citie by strangers." The manufactory of glass at _Venice_ was then very
considerable. See Howell's "Letters," 1754, p. 56.
[415] [See Nares, edit. 1859, p. 923.]
[416] Formerly there were a set of itinerant musicians who used to
earn a scanty pittance by going about in winter evenings to taverns
and inns, playing for the entertainment of the company they found
there. Sir John Hawkins ("History of Music," v. 66) mentions a person
who was an excellent performer, and yet submitted to get his living by
this practice so late as the year 1735. It is said that some musicians
attended the greater inns so constantly that they might in some sort
be styled retainers to the houses. A very curious and rare tract, with
the title of "The Actors Remonstrance or Complaint for the Silencing
of their Profession," 1643, has the following apposite passage:--"Our
Musike that was held so delectable and precious that they scorned to
come to a Taverne under twenty shillings salary for two houres, now
wander with their Instruments under their cloaks, I meane such as haue
any, into all houses of good fellowship, saluting every roome where
there is company with _Will you have any musike, Gentlemen?_" Such was
one consequence of the severity of Puritan discipline.--_Collier._
[Hazlitt's "English Drama and Stage," 1869, p. 263.]
[417] I find _blue coats_ used to be worn on St George's day, but what
order of people the fashion was confined to, I have not been able to
discover. It is mentioned in epigram 33 of _Rubbe and a great cast. The
second bowle, by Thomas Freeman_, 4to, 1614.
"With's coram nomine keeping greater sway,
Then a _court blue coat_ on _Saint George's day_."
[Blue coats were worn by beadles. See Dyce's Middleton, i. 485.]
[418] Both the old copies name this country Catita, but the change is
probably right.--_Collier._
[419] See note to "The Parson's Wedding," act v. sc. 2.
[420] Here the Captain most likely jumped from the table, and made his
escape; but we are left to infer it.--_Collier._
[421] The metre of this line was spoiled by the omission of the
article in it, arising from a non-attention to the old copy.--_Collier._
[422] Till now it ran "Why may not I, a fool, get a wise child, as a
wise man get fools," according to the corrupt reading of the copy of
1636.--_Collier._
[423] [Old copies, _now will_.]
[424] In the statute of 4 James I., cap. 5, sect. 4, is a penalty on
any person continuing drinking or tippling in inns, victualling-houses,
or ale-houses, &c.
[425] [Lawyers are still called gentlemen of the long-robe.]
[426] [Edits., _Femini_.]
[427] [Edits., _summer's_; but compare p. 378.]
[428] Hand.
ACTUS V., SCÆNA 1.
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS.
W. SMALL. On this one hour depends my hopes and fortunes.
Foot, I must have this widow: what should my dad
Make with a wife that scarce can wipe his nose,
Untruss his points, or hold a chamber-pot
Steady, till he pisses? the doors are fast;
'Tis now the midst of night; yet shall this chain
Procure access, and conference with the widow.
What, though I cheat my father; all men have sins,
Though in their several kinds: all ends in this--
So they get gold, they care not whose it is.
Begging the court, use bears the city out,
Lawyers their quirks: thus goes the world about.
So that our villainies have but different shapes,
Th' effects all one, and poor men are but apes
To imitate their betters: this is the difference--
All great men's sins must still be humoured,
And poor men's vices largely punished.
The privilege that great men have in evil,
Is this, they go unpunish'd to the devil.
Therefore I'll in; this chain I know will move;
Gold and rich stones win coyest ladies' love. [_Knocks._
_Enter_ ADRIANA [_above_].
ADR. What would you, sir, that you do knock so boldly?
W. SMALL. I must come in to the widow.
ADR. How! come in?
The widow has no entrance for such mates.
W. SMALL. Dost hear, sweet chambermaid? by heaven, I come
With letters from my father; I have brought her stones,
Jewels and chains, which she must use to-morrow.
ADR. Y'are a needy knave, and will lie:
Your father has cashier'd you, nor will he trust you,
Be gone, lest I do wash you hence[429].
W. SMALL. Dost hear?
By this good night, my father and I are friends,
Take but this chain for token, give her that,
And tell her I have other things for her,
Which by my father's will I am commanded
To give to her own hands.
ADR. Say you so?
In troth, I think you'll prove an honest man,
Had you once got a beard; let me see the chain.
W. SMALL. Dost think I lie? By this light, Adriana,
I love her with my soul; here's letters
And other jewels sent her from my father.
Is she a-bed?
ADR. By my virginity,
She is uncas'd, and ready to slip in
Betwixt the sheets; but I will bear her this,
And tell her what you say. [_Exit._
W. SMALL. But make some haste.
Why so, 'twill take: heart! how a waiting-maid
Can shake a fellow up, that is cashier'd,
And has no money? Foot, should she keep the chain,
And not come down, I must turn citizen,
Be bankrout, and crave the king's protection.
But here she comes.
_Enter_ TAFFATA [_in her smock_] _and_ ADRIANA.
TAF. What would you, sir, with us,
That on the sudden and so late you come?
W. SMALL. I have some secrets to acquaint you with;
Please you to let the chamber-maid shake off,
And stand as sentinel.
TAF. It shall not need.
I hope I have not brought her up so ill,
But that she knows how to contain your secrets,
As well as I her mistress: therefore on.
W. SMALL. It is not fit, forsooth, that I should on,
Before she leave the room.
ADR. 'Tis not indeed,
Therefore I'll wait in the with-drawing room,
Until you call. [_Exit._
TAF. Now, sir, what's your will?
W. SMALL. Dear widow, pity the state of a young,
Poor, yet proper gentleman: by Venus' pap,
Upon my knees I'd creep unto your lap
For one small drop of favour: and though this face
Is not the finest face, yet t'as been prais'd
By ladies of good judgment in faces.
TAF. Are these your secrets?
W. SMALL. You shall have secrets
More pleasing: nay hear, sweet widow;
Some wantons do delight to see men creep,
And on their knees to woo them.
TAF. I am none of those;
Stand up, I more desire a man should stand,
Than cringe and creep, that means to win my love:
I say, stand up, and let me go, ye had best.
W. SMALL. For ever let me creep upon the ground,
Unless you hear my suit.
TAF. How now, sir sauce?
Would you be cap'ring in your father's saddle?
Away, you cashier'd younger brother, be gone!
Do not I know the fashions of you all?
When a poor woman has laid open all
Her thoughts to you, then you grow proud and coy;
But when wise maids dissemble, and keep close,
Then you poor snakes come creeping on your bellies,
And with all oiled looks prostrate yourselves
Before our beauties' sun where, once but warm,
Like hateful snakes you strike us with your stings,
And then forsake us. I know your tricks--be gone!
W. SMALL. Foot, I'll first be hang'd: nay, if you go,
You shall leave your smock behind you, widow;
Keep close your womanish weapon, hold your tongue,
Nor speak, cough, sneeze, or stamp; for, if you do,
By this good blade I'll cut your throat directly.
Peace! stir not, by heaven I'll cut your throat
If you but stir; speak not, stand still, go to,
I'll teach coy widows a new way to woe.
Come, you shall kiss; why so; I'll stab, by heaven,
If you but stir; now hear--first kiss again.
Why so; stir not. Now come I to the point.
My hopes are past, nor can my present state
Afford a single halfpenny: my father
Hates me deadly; to beg, my birth forbids;
To steal, the law, the hangman and the rope
With one consent deny: to go o'trust,
The city common-council has forbid it,
Therefore my state is desperate--stir not--
And I by much will rather choose to hang,
Than in a ditch or prison-hole to starve.
Resolve, wed me, and take me to your bed,
Or by my soul I'll straight cut off your head,
Then kill myself; for I had rather die,
Than in a street live poor and lousily.
You don't--I know, you cannot[430]--love my father?
A widow that has known the _quid_ of things,
To doat upon an old and crazed man,
That stinks at both ends worse than an elder-pipe!
Who, when his blood and spirit are at the height,
Hath not a member to his palsy body,
But is more limber than a King's-head pudding,
Took from the pot half-sod; do I not know this?
Have you not wealth enough to serve us both?
And am not I a pretty handsome fellow
To do your drudgery? Come, come, resolve.
For, by my blood, if you deny your bed,
I'll cut your throat without equivocation.
If you be pleas'd, hold up your finger; if not,
By heaven I'll gar my whinyard[431] through your womb!
Is't a match?
TAF. Hear me but speak.
W. SMALL. You'll prate too loud.
TAF. No.
W. SMALL. Nor speak one word against my honest suit?
TAF. No, by my worth.
W. SMALL. Kiss upon that, and speak.
TAF. I dare not wed; men say y'are naught, you'll cheat,
And you do keep a whore.
W. SMALL. That is a lie;
She keeps herself and me; yet I protest,
She's not dishonest.
TAF. How could she maintain you?
W. SMALL. Why, by her comings-in; a little thing
Her friends have left her, which with putting to best use,
And often turning, yields her a poor living.
But what of that? she's now shook off; to thee
I'll only cleave: I'll be thy merchant,
And to this wealthy fair I'll bring my ware,
And here set up my standing: therefore resolve.
Nought but my sword is left: if't be a match,
Clap hands, contract, and straight to bed:
If not, pray, forgive, and straight goes off your head.
TAF. I take thy love.
W. SMALL. Then straight let's both to bed.
TAF. I'll wed to-morrow.
W. SMALL. You shall not sleep upon't.
An honest contract is as good as marriage.
A bird in hand--you know the proverb, widow.
TAF. O[432], let me tell thee, I'll love thee, while I live,
For this attempt; give me that lusty lad,
That wins his widow with his well-drawn blade,
And not with oaths and words: a widow's wooing,
Not in bare words, but should consist in doing--
I take thee to my husband--
SMALL. I thee to wife.
Now to thy bed, and there we'll end this strife. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ SIR OLIVER _and Fiddlers_.
OLIVER. Warm blood, the young man's slave, the old man's god,
Makes me to stir thus soon; it stirs, i' faith,
And with a kind of itching pricks me on
To bid my bride _bon jour_; O, this desire
Is even another filch'd Promethean fire,
By which we old men live; performance, then,
Is that poor old men's bane, that in old men
Comes limping off more lame, God knows, than he
Which in a close, a hot, and dangerous fight,
Has been dismembered, and craves by letters patents.
Yet scarce a woman that considers this,
Women have tricks, firks and farthingales:
A generation are they full of subtlety,
And all most honest, where they want the means
To be otherwise. Therefore, I'll have an eye,
My widow goes not oft to visit kinsfolk:
By birth she is a Ninny; and that I know
Is not in London held the smallest kindred.
I must have wits and brains; come on, my friends.
Out with your tools, and to't! a strain of mirth,
And a pleasant song to wake the widow.
_Enter_ WILLIAM SMALL-SHANKS _above, in his shirt_.
W. SMALL. Musicians! minstrels! foot, rogues,
For God's love, leave your filthy squeaking noise,
And get you gone: the widow and myself
Will scamble out the shaking of the sheets[433]
Without music; we have no need of fiddlers
To our dancing. Foot, have you no manners?
Cannot a man take his natural rest
For your scraping? I shall wash your gut-strings,
If you but stay a while: yet, honest rascals,
If you'll let us have t'other crash,
The widow and I'll keep time; there's for your pains.
[_Throws them down money._
OLIVER. How's this? will the widow and you keep time?
What trick? what quiddit? what fegary is this?
My cashier'd son speak from the widow's chamber,
And in his shirt? ha! sure she is not there!
'Tis so; she has took him in for pity,
And now removes her chamber. I will home,
On with my neatest robes, perfume my beard,
Eat cloves, eringoes, and drink some _aqua vitæ_
To sweeten breath, and keep my weam from wambling;
Then, like the month of March, come blust'ring in,
Marry the widow, shake up this springal,
And then, as quiet as a sucking lamb,
Close by the widow will I rest all night[434].
As for my breath I have crotches and devices,
"Ladies' rank breaths are often help'd with spices."
_Enter_ ADRIANA _and another, strawing herbs_.[435]
ADR. Come, straw apace; Lord, shall I never live
To walk to church on flowers? O, 'tis fine,
To see a bride trip it to church so lightly,
As if her new chopines[436] would scorn to bruise
A silly flower: and now, I pr'ythee, tell me,
What flower thinkest thou is likest to a woman?
1ST WOMAN. A mary-gold, I think.
ADR. Why a mary-gold?
1ST WOMAN. Because a little heat makes it to spread,
And open wide his leaves.
ADR. Th'art quite wide:
A mary-gold doth open wide all day,
And shuts most close at night: I hope thou knowest
All wenches do the contrary: but, sirrah,
How does thy uncle the old doctor?
Dost think he'll be a bishop?
1ST WOMAN. O, questionless!
For h'as got him a young wife, and carried her
To court already: but now, I pr'ythee, say,
Why will the widow wed so old a knight?
ADR. Why? for his riches.
1ST WOMAN. For riches only?
Why, riches cannot give her her delight.
ADR. Riches, I hope, can soon procure her one
Shall give her her delight: that's the devil.
That's it, i'faith, makes us waiting-gentlewomen
Live maids so long.
1ST WOMAN. Think you so?
ADR. Yes, in faith.
Married women quite have spoiled the market,
By having secret friends besides their husbands;
For if these married wives would be content
To have but one a piece, I think, in troth,
There would be doings enough for us all;
And, till we get an act of parliament
For that, our states are desperate.
_Enter_ BOUTCHER _and_ CONSTANTIA.
Come, straw apace.
CON. So-ho-ho, master.
BOUT. Boy.
CON. In troth, I thought y' had been more fast asleep
Than a midwife or a Puritan tailor
At a Sunday evening's lecture: but, sir,
Why do you rise so soon?
BOUT. To see the widow.
CON. The weaker you; you are forbid a widow,
And 'tis the first thing you will fall into.
Me thinks a young clear-skinn'd country gentlewoman,
That never saw baboons, lions, or courtiers,
Might prove a handsome wife; or what do you say
To a citizen's daughter, that never was in love
With a player, that never learnt to dance,
That never dwelt near any inn-of-court--
Might not she in time prove an honest wife?
Faith, take a maid, and leave the widow, master:
Of all meats I love not a gaping oyster.
BOUT. God speed your works, fair maids.
ADR. You much mistake:
'Tis no work.
BOUT. What then?
ADR. A preparation
To a work, sir.
BOUT. What work, sweet ladies?
ADR. Why, to a marriage; that's a work, I think.
BOUT. How? a preparation to a marriage?
Of whom, kind maids, of whom?
ADR. And why kind maids?
I hope you have had no kindness at our hand
To make you say so: but, sir, understand
That Sir Oliver Small-shanks, the noble knight,
And Mistress Taffata, the rich widow,
Must this day be coupled, conjoined,
Married, espoused, wedded, contracted.
Or, as the Puritan says, put together;
And so, sir, to the shifting of our clean smocks
We leave you.
[_Exeunt_ ADRIANA _and the other women_.
BOUT. Married! and to-day?
Dissension, jealousy, hate, beggary,
With all the dire events which breed dislike
In nuptial beds, attend her bridal steps!
Can vows and oaths with such protesting action,
As if their hearts were spit forth with their words,
As if their souls were darted through their eyes,
Be of no more validity with women?
Have I for her contemn'd my fixéd fate,
Neglected my fair hopes, and scorn'd the love
Of beauteous, virtuous, and honour'd Constantia?
CON. Now works it with my wish: my hopes are full. [_Aside._
BOUT. And I engag'd my worth, and ventur'd life
On yonder buffling[437] face, to have men scorn,
And point at my disgrace? first will I leave to live!
There take my purse, live thou to better fate,
[BOUTCHER _hangs himself_.
Better thus die than live unfortunate.
CON. Ay me accurs'd! help, help, murther! murther!
Curs'd be the day and hour that gave me breath!
Murther, murther! if any gentleman
Can hear my plaints, come forth, and assist me.
W. SMALL.[438] _What out-cries call me from my naked bed?_
_Who calls Jeronimo?_ speak, here I am.
CON. Good sir, leave your struggling and acting,
And help to save the life of a distressed man;
O, help, if you be gentlemen!
W. SMALL. _What's here?_
_A man hang'd up, and all the murtherers gone,_
_And at my door, to lay the guilt on me?_
_This place was made to pleasure citizens' wives,_
And not to hang up honest gentlemen.
_Enter_ TAFFATA.
TAF. Where be these lazy knaves? some raise the house.
What meant the cry of murther? where's my love?
W. SMALL. _Come, Isabella, help me to lament,_
_For sighs are stopp'd, and all my tears are spent._
_These clothes I oft have seen, ay me, my friend!_
Pursue the murtherers, raise all the street.
CON. It shall not need; he stirs; give him breath.
W. SMALL. _Is there yet life? Horatio, my dear boy:_
_Horatio, Horatio, what hast thou misdone,_
_To lose thy life, when life was new-begun?_
BOUT. 'S heart! a man had as good be hang'd outright,
As to endure this clapping. Shame to thy sex,
Perfidious perjur'd woman, where's thy shame?
How can thy modesty forbear to blush,
And know'st I know thee an adulteress?
Have not thy vows made thee my lawful wife
Before the face of heaven? where is thy shame?
But why speak I of shame to thee, whose face
Is steel'd with custom'd sin; whose thoughts want grace,
The custom of thy sin so lulls thy sense.
Women ne'er blush, though ne'er so foul th' offence.
To break thy vow to me, and straight to wed
A doating stinkard!
W. SMALL. But hold your tongue,
Or by this light I'll truss you up again.
'Heart! rail on my wife! am I[439] a stinkard,
Or do I doat? speak such another word,
And up you truss again. Am I a stinkard?
BOUT. The knight your father is.
W. SMALL. Why, who denies it?
He supplanted[440] thee, and I supplanted him.
Come, come, you shall be friends: come, forgive her;
For by this light there is no remedy,
Unless you will betake you to my leavings.
CON. Rather than so, I'll help you to a wife,
Rich, well-born, and by some accounted fair;
And for the worth of her virginity,
I dare presume to pawn my honesty:
What say you to Constantia Sommerfield?
W. SMALL. Dost know where she is, boy?
CON. I do; nay more,
If he but swear to embrace her constant love,
I'll fetch her to this place.
W. SMALL. He shall do it, boy.
_Enter_ Sir OLIVER _and fiddlers_.
He shall do it, go fetch her, boy. Foot, my father.
[_Exit_ CONSTANTIA.
Stand to't now, old wench, stand to't now.
OLIVER. Now fresh and youthful as the month of May,
I'll bid my bride good-morrow. Musicians, on:
Lightly, lightly; and by my knighthood-spurs,
This year you shall have my protection,
And yet not buy your livery coat yourselves.
Good morrow, bride, fresh[441] as the month of May,
I come to kiss thee on thy wedding-day.
W. SMALL. Saving your tale, sir, I'll show you how
April showers bring May flowers,
So merrily sings the cuckoo.
The truth is, I have laid my knife aboard.
The widow, sir, is wedded.
OLIVER. Ha!
W. SMALL. Bedded.
OLIVER. Ha!
W. SMALL. Why, my good father, what should you do with a wife?
Would you be crested? Will you needs thrust your head
In one of Vulcan's helmets? Will you perforce
Wear a city cap and a court feather?
OLIVER. Villain, slave, thou hast wrong'd my wife.
W. SMALL. Not so;
Speak, my good wench, have I not done thee right?
TAF. I find no fault; and I protest, Sir Oliver,
I'd not have lost the last two hours' sleep
I had by him for all the wealth you have.
OLIVER. Villain--slave, I'll hang thee by the statute;
Thou hast two wives.
W. SMALL. Be not so furious, sir.
I have but this: the other was my whore,
Which now is married to an honest lawyer.
OLIVER. Thou villain--slave, thou hast abus'd thy father.
BOUT. "Your son, i' faith, your very son, i' faith!
The villain-boy has one trick of his sire,
Has firk'd away the wench, has pierc'd the hogshead,
And knows by this the vintage."[442]
OLIVER. I am undone.
BOUT. You could not love the widow, but her wealth.
OLIVER. The devil take my soul, but I did love her.
TAF. That oath doth show you are a Northern knight,
And of all men alive, I'll never trust
A northern man in love.
OLIVER. And why, and why, slut?
TAF. Because the first word he speaks is, the devil
Take his soul; and who will give him trust,
That once has given his soul unto the devil?
W. SMALL. She says most true, father; the soul once gone,
The best part of man is gone.
TAF. And, i' faith,
If the best part of a man is gone,
The rest of the body is not worth a rush,
Though it be ne'er so handsome.
_Enter_ LADY SOMMERFIELD, THROAT _and_ BEARD
_bound, and_ JUSTICE TUTCHIN.
LADY SOM. Bring them away.
W. SMALL. How now?
My lawyer pinion'd! I begin to stink
Already.
LADY SOM. Cheater, my daughter!
W. SMALL. She's mad.
THROAT. My wife, sir, my wife!
W. SMALL. They're mad, stark mad:
I am sorry, sir, you have lost those happy wits,
By which you liv'd so well. The air grows cold:
Therefore I'll take my leave.
LADY SOM. So, stay him, officers.
Sir, 'tis not your tricks of wit can carry it.
Officers, attach him and this gentleman
For stealing away my heir.
W. SMALL. You do me wrong;
Heart! I never saw your heir.
THROAT. That's a lie:
You stole her, and by chance I married her.
W. SMALL. God give you joy, sir.
THROAT. Ask the butler else.
Therefore, widow, release me; for by no law,
Statute, or book-case of _Vicesimo_
_Edwardi secundi_, nor by the statute
Of _Tricesimo Henrici sexti_,
Nor by any book-case of _decimo_
Of the late queen, am I accessory,
Part, or party-confederate, abettor,
Helper, seconder, persuader, forwarder,
Principal, or maintainer of this late theft,
But by law. I forward, and she willing,
Clapp'd up the match, and by a good statute
Of _Decimo tertio Richardi quarti_,
She is my leeful, lawful, and my true
Married wife, _teste_ Lieutenant Beard.
W. SMALL. Who lives would think that you could prate so fast,
Your hands being bound behind you? foot, he talks
With as much ease, as if he were in's shirt.
OLIVER. I am witness thou hadst the heir.
JUS. TUT. So am I.
THROAT. And so is my man Dash.
BOUT. Hear me but speak;
Sit you as judges. Undo the lawyer's hands,
That he may freely act, and I'll be bound
That William Small-shanks shall put your throat to silence,
And overthrow him at his own weapon.
JUS. TUT. Agreed: take each his place, and hear the case
Argued betwixt them two.
OMNES. Agreed, agreed.
JUS. TUT. Now, Throat, or never, stretch yourself.
THROAT. Fear not.
W. SMALL. Here stand I for my client this gentleman.
THROAT. I for the widow.
W. SMALL. Begin.
THROAT. Right worshipful,
I say that William Small-shanks, madman,
Is by a statute made in Octavo
Of Richard Cordelion guilty to the law
Of felony for stealing this lady's heir.
That he stole her, the proof is most pregnant--
He brought her to my house, confessed himself
He made great means to steal her. I lik'd her,
And finding him a novice (truth to tell),
Married her myself, and (as I said),
By a statute Richardi Quarti,
She is my lawful wife.
W. SMALL. For my client
I say, the wench I brought unto your house
Was not the daughter to rich Sommerfield.
OLIVER. What proof of that?
W. SMALL. This gentleman.
THROAT. Tut, tut,
He is a party in the cause. But, sir,
If't were not the daughter to this good widow,
Who was it? answer that.
W. SMALL. An arrant whore,
Which you have married, and she is run
Away with all your jewels--this is true;
And this Lieutenant Beard can testify:
It was the wench I kept in Hosier Lane.
BEARD. What, was it she?
W. SMALL. The very same.
JUS. TUT. Speak, sirrah Beard, if all he says be true?
BEARD. She said she was a punk, a rampant whore,
Which in her time had been the cause of parting
Some fourteen bawds; he kept her in the suburbs.
Yet I do think this wench was not the same.
BOUT. The case is clear with me.
OMNES. O strange!
THROAT. Sir, sir.
This is not true: how liv'd you in the suburbs,
And scap'd so many searches?
W. SMALL. I answer,
That most constables in our out-parishes
Are bawds themselves, by which we scap'd the searches.
OLIVER. This is most strange!
LADY SOM. What's become of this woman?
BEARD. That know not I. As I was squiring her
Along the street, Master Small-shanks set upon me,
Beat me down, and took away the maid,
Which I suppose was daughter to the widow.
W. SMALL. He lies; let me be hanged, if he lie not.
OLIVER. What confusion is this?
_Enter_ CONSTABLE.
CON. Bring them forward.
_Enter_ THOMAS SMALL-SHANKS _and_ FRANCES.
[443]God preserve your worship. [_To_ L. SOM.] And it like you, madam?
[_To_ SIR O.] We were commanded by your[443] deputy
That, if we took a woman in the watch,
To bring her straight to you: and hearing there
You were come hither, hither we brought them.
OLIVER. The one is my son; I do acknowledge him.
What woman's that?
T. SMALL. The widow's daughter, sir.
W. SMALL. Blood! is he gull'd too.
T. SMALL. My brother stole her first,
Throat cosen'd him, and I had cosen'd Throat,
Had not the constable took us in the watch.
She is the widow's daughter, had I had luck.
THROAT. And my espoused wife.
LADY SOM. Unmask her face.
My daughter? I defy her.
W. SMALL. Your worship's wife.
THROAT. I am gull'd and abus'd; and by a statute
Of _Tricesimo_ of the late Queen
I will star-chamber you all for cosenage,
And be by law divorc'd.
W. SMALL. Sir, 'twill not hold:
She's your leeful, lawful, and true-wedded wife,
_Teste_ Lieutenant Beard.
BEARD. Was't you that brake my head?
W. SMALL. But why shouldst think much to die a cuckold,
Being born a knave? As good lawyers as you
Scorn not horns.
THROAT. I am gull'd, ay me accurs'd!
Why should the harmless men be vex'd with horns,
When women most deserve them?
W. SMALL. I'll show you, sir:
The husband is the wife's head, and, I pray,
Where should the horns stand but upon the head?
Why, wert not thou begot (thou foolish knave)
By a poor sumner on a serjeant's widow?
Wert not thou a Puritan, and put in trust
To gather relief for the distress'd Geneva[ns]?
And didst not thou leave thy poor brethren,
And run away with all the money? Speak,
Was not that thy first rising? Go,
Y' are well-coupled: by Jove, ye are. She is
But a younger sister newly come to town:
She's current metal, not a penny the worse
For a little use: whole within the ring,
By my soul.
BEARD. Will he take her, think'st thou?
BOUT. Yes, faith upon her promise of amendment.
JUS. TUT. The lawyer is gull'd.
THROAT. Am I thus over-reach'd to have a wife,
And not of the best neither?
FRANCES. Good sir, be content,
A lawyer should make all things right and straight;
All lies but in the handling; I may prove
A wife that shall deserve your best of love.
OLIVER. Take her, Throat, you have a better jewel now
Than ever. Kiss her, kiss her, man; all friends.
LADY SOM. Yet, in this happy close, I still have lost
My only daughter.
W. SMALL. Where's thy page, Boutcher?
_Enter_ CONSTANTIA.
CON. Here I present the page: and that all doubt
May here be cleared, here in my proper shape,
That all your joys may be complete and full,
I must make one. With pardon, gentle mother,
Since all our friends so happily are met,
Here will I choose a husband: this be the man
Whom, since I left your house in shape of page,
I still have followed.
W. SMALL. Foot, would I had known so much,
I would have been bold to have lain with your page.
CON. Say, am I welcome?
BOUT. As is my life and soul.
LADY SOM. Heaven give you joy,
Since all so well succeeds, take my consent.
W. SMALL. Then are we all pair'd: I and my lass;
You and your wife; the lawyer and his wench;
And, father, fall you aboard of the widow:
But then my brother----
T. SMALL. Faith, I am a fool.
W. SMALL. That's all one: if God had not made
Some elder brothers fools, how should witty
Younger brothers be maintain'd?
Strike up, music; let's have an old song:
Since all my tricks have found so good success,
We'll sing, dance, dice, and drink down heaviness.
FOOTNOTES:
[429] [Meaning that she will throw something on his head.]
[430] [Edits., _Do not, I know you cannot._]
[431] Sword.
[432] [Edits., _To._]
[433] _The shaking of the sheets_ was a dance. A _double-entendre_ is
designed here, and the same is often to be found in old plays. See "How
to choose a good Wife from a bad," 1602; Massinger's "City Madam," act
ii. sc. 1; "A Woman kill'd with Kindness," act i. sc. 1.
[434] The copy of 1636 makes nonsense of these two lines, thus--
"And then _lie_ as quiet as a sucking lamb,
Close by the widow _will I rest_ all night:"
and thus it stood till now.--_Collier._
[435] It was formerly a custom to strew herbs and flowers from the
house where persons betrothed resided to the church where they were
married. See ["Popular Antiquities of Great Britain," ii. 69, 70.]
[436] A _choppine_, or _chioppine_, was a high shoe worn by the
Italians. Tom Coriate calls them _chapineys_, and gives the following
account of them: "There is one thing used of the Venetian women, and
some others dwelling in the cities and townes subject to the Signiory
of Venice, that is not to be observed (I thinke) amongst any other
women in Christendome; which is so common in Venice, that no woman
whatsoever goeth without it, either in her house or abroad, _a thing
made of wood, and covered with leather of sundry colors, some with
white, some redde, some yellow. It is called a chapiney, which they
wears under their shoes._ Many of them are curiously painted; some
also I have seene fairly gilt; so uncomely a thing (in my opinion)
that it is pitty this foolish custom is not cleane banished and
exterminated out of the citie. _There are many of these chapineys of
a great heighth, even half a yard high_, which maketh many of their
women that are very short seeme much taller than the tallest women we
have in England. Also I have heard that this is observed among them,
that by how much the nobler a women is, by so much the higher are her
chapineys. All their gentlewomen, and most of their wives and widowes
that are of any wealth, are assisted and supported eyther by men or
women when they walke abroad, to the end they may not fall. They are
borne up most commonly by the left arme, otherwise they might quickly
take a fall."--"Crudities," 1611, p. 262. See also Mr Steevens's note
on "Hamlet," act ii. sc. 2, [and Hazlitt's "Venice," iv. 284.]
[437] [Edits., _buffolne_.]
[438] The lines printed in italics are taken from "The Spanish
Tragedy," [v. 54.]
[439] [Not in Edits.]
[440] [Edits., _supplants_.]
[441] [Edits. unnecessarily repeat _fresh_, to the injury of the metre.]
[442] [He quotes Sir Oliver's own words against him. See p. 314.]
[443] [Edits., _our_.]
EPILOGUS.
Thus two hours have brought to end
What many tedious hours have penn'd:
He dares not glory nor distrust;
But he (as other writers must)
Submits the tensures[444] of his pains
To those, whose wit and nimble brains
Are able best to judge: and as for some
Who, filled with malice, hither come
To belch their poison on his labour,
Of them he doth entreat no favour;
But bids them hang or soon amend,
For worth shall still itself defend.
And for ourselves we do desire,
You'll breathe on us that glowing[445] fire,
By which in time we may obtain
Like favours which some others gain;
For be assur'd our loves shall tend
To equal theirs, if not transcend.
FOOTNOTES:
[444] [Exertions.]
[445] [Old copies, _growing_.]
THE SECOND MAIDEN'S TRAGEDY.
PREFACE TO THE FORMER EDITION[446].
This is one of the MSS. plays which escaped the fatal hands of
Warburton's cook, and is printed from a manuscript book of that
gentleman in the Lansdowne Collection. No title page is prefixed to
the manuscript, nor is the name of "The Second Maiden's Tragedy" in
the same handwriting as the play. From the tenor of the licence to
act, indeed, it is probable that this name was given to it by the
Master of the Revels; that licence is in the following words: "This
Second Maiden's Tragedy (for it hath no name inscribed) may, with the
reformations, bee acted publickly. 31 October, 1611, G. Buc." Why it is
called "The Second Maiden's Tragedy" does not appear; there is no trace
of any drama having the title of "The First Maiden's Tragedy," and it
does not bear any resemblance to the "Maid's Tragedy" of Beaumont and
Fletcher. There is reason therefore to believe that the name, by which
it is now known, was adopted merely for the purpose of distinguishing
it from other plays licensed to be acted, as the words, "for it hath
no name inscribed," can hardly be supposed to refer to the want of the
author's name, which is as difficult to be ascertained as that of his
play. At the back of the manuscript, it is said to be by a person whose
name, on a close inspection, appears to have been William (afterwards
altered to Thomas) Goughe. This name has been nearly obliterated, and
that of "George Chapman" substituted, which in its turn has been scored
through, for the purpose of making room for "Will. Shakspear." That it
does not belong to Thomas Goff,[447] the author of the "Raging Turk,"
is abundantly obvious. He was at the time it was licensed not more than
nineteen years of age, and besides was totally incapable of producing
anything of the kind; nor has Chapman, in our opinion, a better title
to it. Many of the scenes are distinguished by a tenderness and pathos
which are not to be found in the productions of either of those
authors; but although it possesses merits of no ordinary kind, it
cannot be pretended that it approaches the character of the dramas
of Shakespeare, whose name indeed is written in a much more modern
hand. The subordinate plot is founded upon the story of the _Curious
Impertinent_ in "Don Quixote," from which it differs very little,
except in the catastrophe. Various parts of the play have been struck
out, some for the purpose of being omitted in the representation,
and others, which were probably considered dangerous or offensive to
royalty, apparently by Sir George Buc; for example, in the second scene
of the last act, the exclamation of the Tyrant, "Your King's poisoned!"
is altered to "I am poisoned;" the _propriety_ of which reformation is
manifest from the answer of Memphonius, viz., "The King of Heaven be
praised for it!" In both cases the original text has been restored in
the present publication.
FOOTNOTES:
[446] [This piece was first printed (very incorrectly) from Lansdowne
MS., 807, in Baldwin's "Old English Drama," 1824-5, 2 vols. 12o.]
[447] Mr Robert Goughe appears from the MS. to have acted the part
of the Tyrant in this play. [John Gough, author of the "Strange
Discovery," 1640, and, according to Bliss, editor of the "Academy of
Compliments," 1640, is not known to have written so early as 1611.]
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.[448]
THE USURPING TYRANT.
GOVIANUS, _the deposed King_.
ANSELMUS, _his Brother_.
VOTARIUS, _the friend of Anselmus_.
HELVETIUS, }
MEMPHONIUS, } _Nobles_.
SOPHONIRUS, }
BELLARIUS, _the lover of Leonella_.
THE LADY, _the Daughter of Helvetius_.
THE WIFE OF VOTARIUS.
LEONELLA, _her Woman_.
_Nobles, Soldiers, and Attendants._
FOOTNOTES:
[448] [Not in the MS.]
THE SECOND MAIDEN'S TRAGEDY.
ACT I, SCENE I.
_Enter the new usurping_ TYRANT; _the nobles of his_
_faction_, MEMPHONIUS, SOPHONIRUS, HELVETIUS,
_with others, the right heir_ GOVIANUS,
_deposed_.
TYR. Thus high, my lords, your powers and constant loves
Have fix'd our glories like unmoved stars,
That know not what it is to fall or err.
We're now the kingdom's love: and he, that was
Flatter'd awhile so, stands before us now
Readier for doom than dignity.
GOV. So much
Can the adulterate friendship of mankind,
False Fortune's sister, bring to pass in kings,
And lay usurpers sunning in their glories,
Like adders in warm beams.
TYR. There was but one,
In whom my heart took pleasure amongst women;
One in the whole creation, and in her
You dar'd to be my rival! Was't not bold?
Now we are king, she'll leave the lower path
And find the way to us. Helvetius!
It is thy daughter. Happier than a king--
And far above him, for she kneels to thee
Whom we have kneel'd to--richer in one smile
That came from her, than she in all thy blessings;
If thou be'st proud, thou art to be forgiven.
'Tis no deadly sin in thee; while she lives,
High lust is not more natural to youth
Than that to thee; be not afraid to die in't.
'Tis but the sign of joy; there is no gladness,
But has a pride it lives by; that's the oil
That feeds it into flames. Let her be sent for,
And honourably attended, as beseems
Her that we make our queen. My lords Memphonius
And Sophonirus, take into your care
The royal business of my heart; conduct her
With a respect equal with that to us--
If more, it shall be pardon'd; so still err.
You honour us, but ourself honours her.
MEM. Strange fortune! does he make his queen of her?
[_Exit_ MEMPH.
SOPH. I have a wife; would she were so preferr'd!
I could be but her subject, so I'm now;
I allow her her own friend to stop her mouth,
And keep her quiet, quit him his table free,
And the huge feeding of his great stone horse,
On which he rides in pomp about the city,
Only to speak to gallants in bay-windows;
Marry, his lodging he pays dearly for:
He gets me all my children, there I save by't:
Beside, I draw my life out by the bargain
Some twelve years longer than the times appointed;
When my young prodigal gallant kicks up's heels
At one-and-thirty, and lies dead and rotten
Some five-and-forty years, before I'm coffin'd.
'Tis the right way to keep a woman honest,
One friend is barricado to a hundred,
And keeps 'em out: nay, more--a husband's sure
To have his children all of one man's getting,
And he that performs best, can have no better.
I'm e'en as happy then, that save a labour.
[_Exit_ SOPHONIRUS.
TYR. Thy honours with thy daughters love shall rise,
I shall read thy deservings in her eyes.
HEL. O, may they be eternal books of pleasure.
To show you all delight!
GOV. The loss of her sits closer to my heart
Than that of kingdom or the whorish pomp
Of this world's titles, that with flattery swells us,
And makes us die like beasts fat for destruction.
O, she's a woman, and her eye will stand
Upon advancement, never weary wonder[449].
But when she turns her head by chance, and sees
The fortunes that are my companions,
She'll snatch her eyes off, and repent the looking.
TYR. 'Tis well-advis'd; we doom thee, Govianus,
To banishment for ever from our kingdom.
GOV. What could be worse to one whose heart is lock'd
Up in another's bosom? Banishment!
And why not death? Is that too easy for me?
TYR. But that the world would call our way to dignity
A path of blood, it should be the first act in all our reign.
GOV. She's lost for ever; farewell, virtuous men,
Too honest for your greatness! now you're mightier
Than when we knew the kingdom; your style's heavier
Than ponderous nobility. Farewell!
3D NOB. How's that, sir?
GOV. O sir! is it you?
I knew you one-and-twenty and a lord,
When your discretion[450] suck'd; is't come from nurse yet?
You scorn to be a scholar: you were born better.
You have good lands--that's the best grounds of learning.
If you can construe but your doctor's bill,
Parse your wife's waiting-women, and decline your tenants,
Till they're all beggars, with new fines and rackings;
You're scholar good enough for a lady's son,
That's born to living; if you list to read,
Ride but to th' city and bestow your looks
On the court library, the mercer's books,
They'll quickly furnish you; do but entertain
A tailor for your tutor, to expound
All the hard stuff to you, by what name and title
Soever they be call'd.
3D NOB. I thank you, sir.
GOV. 'Tis happy you have learnt so much manners,
Since you have so little wit. Fare you well, sir!
TYR. Let him be stay'd awhile!
4TH NOB. Stay!
3D NOB. You must stay, sir.
GOV. He's not so honest, sure, to change his mind,
Revoke his doom; hell has more hope on him.
TYR. We have not ended yet, the worst part's coming,
Thy banishment were gentle, were that all;
But, to afflict thy soul before thou goest,
Thou shalt behold the heav'n that thou must lose
In her that must be mine.
Then to be banish'd, then to be depriv'd,
Shows the full torment we provide for thee.
GOV. He's a right tyrant now, he will not bate me
Th' affliction of my soul; he'll have all parts
_Enter the_ LADY _clad in black, with attendants_.
Suffer together; now I see my loss:
I never shall recover 't; my mind's beggar'd.
TYR. Whence rose that cloud? Can such a thing be seen
In honour's glorious day, the sky so clear?
Why mourns the kingdom's mistress? Does she come
To meet advancement in a funeral garment?
Back! [_To the attendants._] She forgot herself, 'twas too much joy,
That bred this error, and we heartily pardon't.
Go, bring her hither like an illustrious bride
With her best beams about her; let her jewels
Be worth ten cities: that beseems our mistress,
And not a widow's case--a suit to weep in.
LADY. I am not to be alter'd.
TYR. How!
LADY. I have a mind
That must be shifted, ere I cast off these,
Or I shall wear strange colours. 'Tis not titles,
Nor all the bastard honours of this frame,
That I am taken with; I come not hither
To please the eye of glory, but of goodness,
And that concerns[451] not you, sir; you're for greatness.
I dare not deal with you: I have found my match,
And I will never lose him.
GOV. If there be man
Above a king in fortunes, read my story,
And you shall find him there. Farewell, poor kingdom!
Take it to help thee; thou hast need on't now;
I see thee in distress, more miserable
Than some thou lay'st taxations on, poor subjects
Thou'rt all beset with storms, more overcast
Than ever any man that brightness flatter'd.
'Tis only wretchedness to be there with thee,
And happiness to be here.
TYR. Sure, some dream crown'd me,
If it were possible to be less than nothing,
I wake the man you seek for. There's the kingdom
Within yon valley fix'd; while I stand here,
Kissing false hopes upon a frozen mountain
Without the confines. I am he, that's banish'd;
The king walks yonder, chose by her affections,
Which is the surer side; for when she goes,
Her eye removes the court; what is he here
Can spare a look? They're all employed on her.
Helvetius!--thou art not worth the waking neither;
I lose but time in thee; go, sleep again--
Like an old man, thou can'st do nothing;
Thou tak'st no pains at all to earn thine honours:
Which way shall we be able to pay thee
To thy content, when we receive not ours?
The master of the work must needs decay,
When he wants means, and sees his servants play.
HEL. [_To his Daughter._] Have I bestowed so many blessings on thee,
And do they all return to me in curses?
Is that the use I've for them? be not to me
A burden ten times heavier than my years!
Thou'dst wont to be kind to me and observe,
What I thought pleasing; go, entreat the king!
LADY. I will do more for you, sir, you're my father;
I'll kiss him too. [_She kisses_ GOVIANUS.
HEL. How am I dealt withal?
LADY. Why, that's the usurper, sir, this is the king;
I happen'd righter than you thought I had;
And were all kingdoms of the earth his own,
As sure as this is not, and this dear gentleman
As poor as virtue and almost as friendless,
I would not change this misery for that sceptre,
Wherein I'd part with him; sir, be cheerful,
'Tis not the reeling fortune of great state
Or low condition, that I cast mine eye at,
It is the man I seek, the rest I lose,
As things unworthy to be kept or noted;
Fortunes are but the outsides of true worth,
It is the mind that sets his master forth.
TYR. Have there so many bodies been hewn down,
Like trees, in progress to cut out a way
That was ne'er known, for us and our affections,
And is our game[452] so cross'd? There stands the first
Of all her kind, that e'er refused greatness!
A[453] woman to set light by sovereignty!
What age can bring her forth, and bide that shock![454]
'Tis their desire most commonly to rule
More than their part comes to--sometimes their husbands.
HEL. 'Tis in your pow'r, my lord, to force her to you,
And pluck her from his arms.
TYR. Thou talk'st unkindly;
That had been done, before thy thought begot it,
If my affection could be so hard-hearted,
To stand upon such payment; it must come
Gently and kindly, like a debt of love,
Or 'tis not worth receiving. [_Aside to_ HELVETIUS.
GOV. Now, usurper!
I wish no happier freedom than the banishment
That thou hast laid upon me.
TYR. O! he kills me
At mine own weapon; 'tis I that live in exile,
Should she forsake the land; I'll feign some cause
Far from the grief itself, to call it back.--
[_Aside to_ GOVIANUS.
That doom of banishment was but lent to thee
To make a trial of thy factious spirit,
Which flames in thy desire; thou wouldst be gone?
There is some combination betwixt thee
And foreign plots; thou hast some powers to raise,
Which to prevent thy banishment we revoke,
Confine thee to thy house nearest the court,
And place a guard about thee. Lord Memphonius,
See it effected.
MEM. With best care, my lord.
GOV. Confine me? here's my liberty in mine arms,
I wish no better to bring me content,
Lovers' best freedom is imprisonment.
[_Exeunt_ LADY _and_ GOVIANUS.
TYR. Methinks the day e'en darkens at her absence,
I stand as in a shade, when a great cloud
Muffles the sun, whose beauties shine far off
On tow'rs and mountains; but I keep the vallies,
The place that is last serv'd.
HEL. My lord!
[TYRANT _and_ HELVETIUS _converse apart_.
TYR. Your reason, sir?
HEL. Your Grace is mild to all but your own bosom;
They should have both been sent to several prisons,
And not committed to each other's arms.
There's a hot durance: he'll ne'er wish more freedom.
TYR. Tis true; let 'em be both forc'd back!
[_To the Officers._
Stay, we command you.
Thou talk'st not like a statesman; had my wrath
Took hold of such extremity at first,
They'd liv'd suspectful still, warn'd by their fears,
When now, that liberty makes them more secure,
I'll take them at my pleasure; it gives thee
Freer access to play the father for us,
And ply her to our will.
Nay, more: to vex his soul, give command straight
They be divided into several rooms,
Where he may only have a sight of her
To his mind's torment, but his arms and lips
Lock'd up, like felons, from her.
HEL. Now you win me.
I like that cruelty passing well, my lord.
TYR. Give order with all speed.
HEL. Though I be old,
I need no spur, my lord; honour pricks me.
I do beseech your majesty, look cheerful,
You shall not want content, if it be lock'd
In any blood of mine; the key's your own,
You shall command the wards.
TYR. Say'st thou so, sir?
I were ungrateful, then, should I see thee
Want power, that provides content for me. [_Exeunt._
SCENE II.
_Enter_ L. ANSELMUS, _the deposed King's brother,_
_with his friend_ VOTARIUS.
VOT. Pray, sir, confine your thoughts and excuse me,
Methinks the depos'd king your brother's sorrow,
Should find you business enough.
ANS. How, Votarius!
Sorrow for him? weak ignorance talks not like thee.
Why, he was never happier.
VOT. Pray, prove that, sir.
ANS. He's lost the kingdom, but his mind's restor'd;
Which is the larger empire? prythee, tell me:
Dominions have their limits; the whole earth
Is but a prisoner, as[455] the sea her jailor,
That with a silver hoop locks in her body.
They're fellow-prisoners, though the sea looks bigger,
Because it is in office; and pride swells him.
But the unbounded kingdom of the mind
Is as unlimitable as heav'n, that glorious court of spirits.
Sir, if thou lov'st me, turn thine eye to me,
And look not after him that needs thee not:
My brother's well-attended; peace and pleasure
Are never from his sight; he has his mistress.
She brought those servants, and bestow'd them on him;
But who brings mine?
VOT. Had you not both long since
By a kind worthy lady, your chaste wife?
ANS. That's it that I take pains with thee to be sure of.
What true report can I send to my soul
Of that I know not? We must only think
Our ladies are good people, and so live with 'em:
A fine security for them! our own thoughts
Make the best fools of us: next to them, our wives.
But say she's all chaste, yet is that her goodness?
What labour is't for woman to keep constant,
That's never tried or tempted? Where's her fight?
The war's within her breast, her honest anger
Against the impudence of flesh and hell:
So let me know the lady of my rest,
Or I shall never sleep well; give not me
The thing that is thought good, but what's approv'd so.
So wise men choose. O, what a lazy virtue
Is chastity in a woman, if no sin
Should lay temptation to't! prythee, set to her,
And bring my peace along with thee.
VOT. You put to me
A business that will do my words more shame,
Than ever they got honour among women.
Lascivious courtings among sinful mistresses
Come ever seasonable, please best.
But let the boldest ruffian touch the ear
Of modest ladies with adulterous sounds,
Their very looks confound him, and force grace
Into that cheek, where impudence sets her seal;
That work is never undertook with courage,
That makes his master blush. However, sir,
What profit can return to you by knowing
That which you do already with more toil?
Must a man needs, in having a rich diamond.
Put it between a hammer and an anvil,
And not believing the true worth and value,
Break it in pieces to find out the goodness,
And in the finding lose it? Good sir, think on't--
Nor does it taste of wit to try their strengths
That are created sickly, nor of manhood.
We ought not to put blocks in women's ways,
For some too often fall upon plain ground.
Let me dissuade you, sir!
ANS. Have I a friend,
And has my love so little interest in him,
That I must trust some stranger with my heart,
And go to seek him out!
VOT. Nay, hark you, sir!
I am so jealous of your weaknesses,
That rather than you should lie prostituted
Before a stranger's triumph, I would venture
A whole hour's shaming for you.
ANS. Be worth thy word then.
_Enter_ WIFE.
Yonder she comes. I'll have an ear to you both;
I love to have such things at the first hand.
[_Aside and Exit._
VOT. I'll put him off with somewhat; guile in this
Falls in with honest dealing. O, who would move
Adultery to yon face! so rude a sin
May not come near the meekness of her eye;
My client's cause looks so dishonestly,
I'll ne'er be seen to plead in't. [_Aside._
WIFE. What, Votarius!
VOT. Good morrow, virtuous madam.
WIFE. Was my Lord
Seen lately here?
VOT. He's newly walked forth, lady.
WIFE. How was he attended.
VOT. Faith, I think with none, madam.
WIFE. That sorrow for the king his brother's fortune
Prevails too much with him, and leads him strangely
From company and delight.
VOT. How she's beguiled in him!
There's no such natural touch, search all his bosom. [_Aside._
That griefs too bold with him, indeed, sweet madam,
And draws him from the pleasure of his time,
But 'tis a business of affection,
That must be done. We owe a pity, madam,
To all men's misery, but especially
To those afflictions that claim kindred of us;
We're forc'd to feel 'em; all compassion else
Is but a work of charity: this of nature,
And ties our pity in a bond of blood.
WIFE. Yet there is a date set to all sorrows;
Nothing is everlasting in this world.
Your counsel will prevail: persuade him, good sir,
To fall into life's happiness again,
And leave the desolate path. I want his company.
He walks at midnight in thick shady woods,
Where scarce the moon is starlight; I have watch'd him
In silent nights, when all the earth was dress'd
Up like a virgin, in white innocent beams:
Stood in my window, cold and thinly clad,
T' observe him through the bounty of the moon,
That liberally bestow'd her graces on me,
And when the morning dew began to fall,
Then was my time to weep; h' has lost his kindness,
Forgot the way of wedlock, and become
A stranger to the joys and rites of love.
He's not so good as a lord ought to be.
Pray tell him so from me, sir. [_Exit_ WIFE.
VOT. That will I, madam.
Now must I dress a strange dish for his honour.
ANS. Call you this courting? 'life! not one word near it.
There was no syllable but was twelve score off.
My faith, [a] hot temptation! woman's chastity
In such a conflict had great need of one
To keep the bridge; 'twas dangerous for the time.
Why, what fantastic faiths are in these days
Made without substance; whom should a man trust
In matters about love?
VOT. Mass! here he comes too.
_Enter_ ANSELMUS.
ANS. How now, Votarius! what's the news for us?
VOT. You set me to a task, sir, that will find
Ten ages work enough, and then unfinish'd.
Bring sin before her! why, it stands more quaking,
Than if a judge should frown on't; three such fits
Would shake it into goodness, and quite beggar
The under kingdom. Not the art of man,
Woman, or devil--
ANS. O, peace, man! prythee, peace!--
VOT. Can make her fit for lust.
ANS. Yet again, sir?
Where lives that mistress of thine, Votarius?
That taught thee to dissemble: I'd fain learn.
She makes good scholars.
VOX. How, my lord!
ANS. Thou art the son of falsehood: prythee, leave me.
How truly constant, charitable and helpful
Is woman unto woman in affairs,
That touch affection and the peace of spirit!
But man to man how crooked and unkind!
I thank my jealousy, I heard thee all,
For I heard nothing: now thou'rt sure I did.
VOT. Now, by this light, then, wipe but off this score,
Since you're so bent, and if I ever run
In debt again to falsehood and dissemblance,
For want of better means, tear the remembrance of me
From your best thoughts.
ANS. For thy vows' sake, I pardon thee.
Thy oath is now sufficient watch itself
Over thy actions: I discharge my jealousy:
I've no more use for't now; to give thee way,
I'll have an absence made purposely for thee,
And presently take horse. I'll leave behind me
An opportunity, that shall fear no starting,
Let but thy pains deserve it.
VOT. I am bound to't.
ANS. For a small time farewell, then. Hark thee!
[ANSELMUS _whispers to him; and Exit_.
VOT. O good sir!
It will do wondrous well. What a wild seed
Suspicion sows in him, and takes small ground for't!
How happy were this lord, if he would leave
To tempt his fate, and be resolved he were so!
He would be but too rich.
Man has some enemy still, that keeps him back
In all his fortunes, and his mind it is;[456]
And that's a mighty adversary. I had rather
Have twenty kings my enemies than that part,
For let me be at war with earth and hell,
So that be friends with me. I've sworn to make
A trial of her faith; I must put on
A brazen face, and do't--
_Enter_ WIFE.
Mine own will shame me.
WIFE. This is most strange of all! how one distraction
Seconds another!
VOT. What's the news, sweet madam?
WIFE. He's took his horse, but left his leave untaken.
What should I think on't, sir? did ever lord
Depart so rudely from his lady's presence!
VOT. Did he forget your lip?
WIFE. He forgot all,
That nobleness remembers.
VOT. I'm asham'd of him.
Let me help, madam, to repair his manners,
And mend that unkind fault.
WIFE, Sir! pray, forbear!
You forget worse than he.
VOT. So virtue save me,
I have enough already. [_Aside._
WIFE. 'Tis himself
Must make amends, good sir, for his own faults.
VOT. I would he'd do't then, and ne'er trouble me in't; [_Aside._
But, madam, you perceive he takes the course
To be far off from that, he's rode from home;
But his unkindness stays, and keeps with you;
Let who will please his wife, he rides his horse:
That's all the care he takes. I pity you, madam,
You've an unpleasing lord; would 'twere not so;
I should rejoice with you.
You're young; the very spring's upon you now.
The roses on your cheeks are but new-blown.
Take you together, you're a pleasant garden,
Where all the sweetness of man's comfort breathes.
But what is it to be a work of beauty,
And want the part, that should delight in you.
You still retain your goodness in yourself,
But then you lose your glory, which is all.
The grace of every benefit is the use,
And is't not pity you should want your grace?
Look you like one, whose lord should walk in groves
About the place[457] of midnight? Alas! madam,
'Tis to me wondrous, how you should spare the day
From amorous clips, much less the general season,
When all the world's a gamester!
That face deserves a friend of heart and spirit,
Discourse and motion, indeed such a one
That should observe you, madam, without ceasing,
And not a weary lord.
WIFE. Sure, I was married, sir,
In a dear year of love; when scarcity
And famine of affection vex'd poor ladies,
Which makes my heart so needy, it ne'er knew
Plenty of comfort yet.
VOT. Why, that's your folly,
To keep your mind so miserably, madam:
Change into better times, I'll lead you to 'em.
What bounty shall your friend expect for this?
O you, that can be hard to your own heart,
How would you use your friend's? If I thought, kindly,
I'd be the man myself should serve your pleasure.
WIFE. How, sir!
VOT. Nay, and ne'er miss you too. I'd not come sneaking
Like a retainer once a week or so,
To show myself before you for my livery;
I'd follow business like a household servant,
Carry my work before me, and despatch
Before my lord be up, and make no words on't--
The sign of a good servant.
WIFE. 'Tis not friendly done, sir,
To take a lady at advantage thus;
Set all her wrongs before her, and then tempt her.
VOT. Heart! I grow fond myself! 'twas well she wak'd me,
Before the dead sleep of adultery took me;
'Twas stealing on me; up, you honest thoughts,
And keep watch for your master! I must hence;
I do not like my health, 't has a strange relish:
Pray heav'n I pluck'd mine eyes back time enough.
I'll never see her more: I prais'd the garden,
But little thought a bed of snakes lay hid in't.
WIFE. I know not how I am! I'll call my woman--
Stay! for I fear thou art too far gone already.
VOT. I'll see her but once more; do thy worst, love!
Thou art too young, fond boy, to master me.
[_Aside._
VOTARIUS _returns_.
I come to tell you, madam, and that plainly,
I'll see your face no more, take't how you please.
WIFE. You will not offer violence to me, sir,
In my lord's absence? what, does that touch you,
If I want comfort?
VOT. Will you take your answer?
WIFE. It is not honest in you to tempt woman;
When her distresses take away her strength.
How is she able to withstand her enemy?
VOT. I would fain leave your sight, an' I could possibly.
WIFE. What is't to you, good sir, if I be pleased
To weep myself away; and run thus violently
Into the arms of death, and kiss destruction:
Does this concern you now?
VOT. Ay, marry, does it.
What serve these arms for, but to pluck you back?
These lips but to prevent all other tasters,
And keep that cup of nectar for themselves?
I'm[458] beguil'd again, forgive me, heaven?
My lips have been naught with her,
I will be master once, and whip the boy
Home to his mother's lap. [_Aside._] Fare, fare thee well!
[_Exit_ VOTARIUS.
WIFE. Votarius! Sir! my friend!--thank heaven, he's gone.
And he shall never come so near again,
I'll have my frailty watch'd ever; henceforward
I'll no more trust it single; it betrays me
Into the hands of folly. Where's my woman?
_Enter_ LEONELLA.
My trusty Leonella!
LEO. Call you, madam?
WIFE. Call I? I want attendance, where are you?
LEO. Never far from you, madam.
WIFE. Pray be nearer,
Or there is some that will, and thank you too,
Nay, perhaps bribe you to be absent from me.
LEO. How, madam?
WIFE. Is that strange to a lady's woman,
There are such things i' the world, many such buyers
And sellers of a woman's name and honour,
Though you be young in bribes, and never came
To the flesh market yet. Beshrew your heart
For keeping so long from me!
LEO. What ail you, madam?
WIFE. Somewhat commands me, and takes all the power
Of myself from me.
LEO. What should that be, lady?
WIFE. When did you see Votarius?
LEO. Is that next?
Nay, then I have your ladyship in the wind.
[_Aside._
I saw him lately, madam.
WIFE. Whom didst see?
LEO. Votarius.
WIFE. What have I to do with him
More than another man? Say he be fair,
And has parts proper both of mind and body,
You praise him but in vain in telling me so.
LEO. Yes, madam; are you prattling in your sleep?
'Tis well my lord and you lie in two beds. [_Aside._
WIFE. I was ne'er so ill, I thank you, Leonella,
My negligent woman, here you show'd your service!
LEO. Have I power or means to stop a sluice
At a high water? what would sh' have me do in't?
[_Aside._
WIFE. I charge thee, while thou liv'st with me henceforward,
Use not an hour's absence from my sight. [_Exit_ LADY.
LEO. By my faith, madam, you shall pardon me;
I have a love of mine own to look to,
And he must have his breakfast.
_Enter_ BELLARIUS, _muffled in his cloak_.
BEL. Leonella?
LEO. Come forth, and show yourself a gentleman,
Although most commonly they hide their heads,
As you do there, methinks! And why a taffaty muffler?
Show your face, man! I'm not asham'd on you.
BEL. I fear the servants.
LEO. And they fear their mistress, and ne'er think on you,
Their thoughts are upon dinner and great dishes.
If one thing hap--impossible to fail too
(I can see so far in't)--you shall walk boldly, sir,
And openly in view through every room
About the house; and let the proudest meet thee,
I charge you give no way to 'em.
BEL. How thou talk'st!
LEO. I can avoid the fool, and give you reason for't.
BEL. 'Tis more than I should do, if I asked more
On thee. I prythee, tell me how?
LEO. With ease, i' faith, sir,
My lady's heart is wondrous busy, sir!
About the entertainment of a friend too,
And she and I must bear with one another,
Or we shall make but a mad-house betwixt us.
BEL. I'm bold to throw my cloak off at this news,
Which I ne'er durst before, and kiss thee freelier.
What is he, sirrah?
LEO. Faith, an indifferent fellow
With good long legs, a near friend of my lord's.
BEL. A near friend of my lady's, you would say;
His name, I prythee?
LEO. One Votarius, sir.
BEL. What say'st thou?
LEO. He walks under the same title.
BEL. The only enemy that my life can show me.
LEO. Your enemy? Let my spleen then alone with him.
Stay you your anger: I'll confound him for you.
BEL. As how, I prythee?
LEO. I'll prevent his venery;
He shall ne'er lie with my lady.
BEL. Troth, I thank you.
Life! that's the way to save him; art thou mad?
Whereas the other way he confounds himself,
And lies more naked to revenge and mischief.
LEO. Then let him lie with her, and the devil go with him,
He shall have all my furtherance.
BEL. Why, now you pray heartily and speak to purpose.
[_Exeunt._
FOOTNOTES:
[449] [MS. and former edit., _yonder_.]
[450] [So MS. The former edit. printed _destruction_.]
[451] [Former edit., reads, with the MS., _concern'd_.]
[452] [So MS. Former edit., _gain_.]
[453] [This and the next three lines have been lightly struck through
in the MS.]
[454] [MS. and former edit., have _hide--book_; which appears to be
nonsense; nor is the text, as amended, satisfactory.]
[455] [The MS. reads _nor_, with the edition of 1824.]
[456] [MS. and former edit., _is his_.]
[457] [Former edit., _peace_.]
[458] [The metre halts much here, in consequence of alterations having
been made, and passages scored out, without proper care.]
ACT II.[459], SCENE I.
_Enter the_ LADY OF GOVIANUS _with a Servant_.
LADY. Who is't would speak with us?
SERV. My lord your father.
LADY. Pray make haste; he waits too long.
Entreat him hither. In despite of all [_Exit Servant._
The tyrant's cruelties, we have got the[460] friendship
E'en of the guard that he has plac'd about us,
My lord and I have free access together,
As much as I would ask of liberty;
They'll trust us largely now, and keep sometimes
Three hours from us, a rare courtesy
In jailers' children; some mild news, I hope,
Comes with my father.
_Enter_ HELVETIUS.
No, his looks are sad;
There is some further tyranny; let it fall!
Our constant sufferings shall amaze it all. [_She kneels._
HEL. Rise.
I will not bless thee: thy obedience
Is after custom, as most rich men pray,
Whose saint is only fashion and vainglory;
So 'tis with thee in thy dissembled duty,
There's no religion in't, no reverent love:
Only for fashion and the praise of men.
LADY. Why should you think so, sir?
HEL. Think? I know't and see't.
I'll sooner give my blessing to a drunkard,
Whom the ridiculous power of wine makes humble,
As foolish use makes thee. Base-spirited girl,
That can'st not think above disgrace and beggary,
When glory is set for thee and thy seed,
Advancement for thy father, beside joy
Able to make a latter spring in me
In this my fourscore-summer, and renew me
With a reversion yet of heat and youth!
But the dejection of thy mind and spirit
Makes me (thy father) guilty of a fault
That draws thy birth in question, and e'en wrongs
Thy mother in her ashes, being at peace
With heav'n and man. Had not her life and virtues
Been seals unto her faith, I should think thee now
The work of some hir'd servant, some house-tailor,
And no one part of my endeavour in thee.
Had I neglected greatness; or not rather
Pursu'd ['t] almost to my eternal hazard,
Thou'dst ne'er been a lord's daughter!
LADY. Had I been
A shepherd's, I'd been happier and more peaceful.
HEL. Thy very seed will curse thee in thy age,
When they shall hear the story of thy weakness:
How in thy youth thy fortunes tender'd thee
A kingdom for thy servant, which thou left'st
Basely to serve thyself; what dost thou in this,
But merely cosen thy posterity
Of royalty and succession, and thyself
Of dignity present?
LADY. Sir, your king did well
'Mongst all his nobles to pick out yourself,
And send you with these words: his politic grace
Knew what he did, for well he might imagine
None else should have been heard; they'd had their answer,
Before the question had been half-way through.
But, dearest sir, I owe to you a reverence,
A debt which both begins and ends with life:
Never till then discharg'd, 'tis so long lasting.
Yet could you be more precious than a father,
(Which next a husband is the richest treasure
Mortality can show us) you should pardon me,
And yet confess too that you found me kind
To hear your words, though I withstood your mind.
HEL. Say you so, daughter? Troth, I thank you kindly.
I am in hope to rise well by your means,
Or you to raise yourself; we're both beholding to you.
Well, since I cannot win you, I commend you:
I praise your constancy, and pardon you.
Take Govianus to you, make the most of him,
Pick out your husband there, so you'll but grant me
One light request that follows.
LADY. Heaven forbid else, sir!
HEL. Give me the choosing of your friend, that's all.
LADY. How, sir, my friend?--a light request indeed!
Somewhat too light, sir, either for my wearing
Or your own gravity, an' you look on't well!
HEL. Pish! Talk like a woman, girl, not like a fool!
Thou knowest the end of greatness, and hast wit.
Above the flight of twenty feather'd mistresses,
That glister in the sun of princes' favours.
Thou hast discourse in thee fit for a king's fellowship,
A princely carriage and astonishing presence.
What should a husband do with all this goodness?
Alas! one end on't is too much for him,
Nor is it fit a subject should be master
Of such a jewel. Tis in the king's power
To take it for the forfeit; but I come
To bear thee gently to his bed of honours,
All force forgotten. The king commends him to thee
With more than the humility of a servant,
That since thou wilt not yield to be his queen,
Be yet his mistress; he shall be content
With that or nothing--he shall ask no more;
And with what easiness that is perform'd.
Most of you women know, having a husband.
That kindness costs thee nothing, you've that in,
All over and above to your first bargain,
And that's a brave advantage for a woman,
If she be wise, as I suspect not thee.
And having youth and beauty, and a husband,
Thou'st all the wish of woman. Take thy time, then:
Make thy best market.
LADY. Can you assure me, sir,
Whether my father spake this, or some spirit
Of evil-wishing, that has for a time
Hir'd his voice of him to beguile me that way,
Presuming on his power and my obedience?
I'd gladly know, that I might frame an answer
According to the speaker.
HEL. How now, baggage!
Am I in question with thee? Does thy scorn cast
So thick an ignorance before thine eyes,
That I'm forgotten too? Who is't speaks to thee,
But I, thy father?
_Enter_ GOVIANUS, _discharging a pistol_.
GOV. The more monstrous he! [HELVETIUS _falls_.
Art down but with the bare voice of my fury?
Up, ancient sinner! thou'rt but mock'd with death,
I miss'd thee purposely, thank this dear creature.
O, hadst thou been anything beside her father,
I'd made a fearful reparation[461] on thee;
I would have sent thy soul to a darker prison
Than any made of clay, and thy dead body
As a token to the lustful king thy master.
Art thou struck down so soon with the short sound
Of this small earthly instrument, and dost thou
So little fear the eternal noise of hell?
What's she? Does she not bear thy daughter's name?
How stirs thy blood, sir? Is there a dead feeling
Of all things fatherly and honest in thee?
Say, thou couldst be content, for greatness' sake,
To end the last act of thy life in pandrism,
Must it needs follow that unmanly sin
Can work upon the weakness of no woman
But her, whose name and honour natural love
Bids thee preserve more charily than eyesight,
Health, or thy senses? Can promotion's thirst
Make such a father? turn a grave old lord
To a white-headed squire? make him so base
To buy his honours with his daughter's soul
And the perpetual shaming of his blood?
Hast thou the leisure, thou forgetful man,
To think upon advancement at these years?
What wouldst thou do with greatness? dost thou hope
To fray death with't? or hast thou that conceit,
That honour will restore thy youth again?
Thou art but mock'd, old fellow! 'tis not so;
Thy hopes abuse thee, follow thine own business.
And list not to the syren of the world.
Alas! thou hadst more need kneel at an altar
Than to a chair of state,
And search thy conscience for thy sins of youth:
That's work enough for age, it needs no greater.
Thou'rt call'd within, thy very eyes look inward,
To teach thy thoughts the way; and thy affections
But miserable notes that conscience sings,
That cannot truly pray for flattering kings.
HEL. This was well-search'd indeed, and without favouring;
Blessing reward thee! such a wound as mine
Did need a pitiless surgeon. Smart on, soul!
Thou'lt feel the less hereafter. Sir, I thank you,
I ever saw myself in a false glass
Until this friendly hour. With what fair faces
My sins would look on me! but now truth shows 'em,
How loathsome and how monstrous are their forms!
Be you my king and master still! henceforward
My knee shall know no other earthly lord.
Well may I spend this life to do you service,
That sets my soul in her eternal path!
GOV. Rise, rise, Helvetius!
HEL. I'll see both your hands
Set to my pardon first.
GOV. Mine shall bring her's.
LADY. Now, sir, I honour you for your goodness chiefly,
You're my most worthy father, you speak like him;
The first voice was not his; my joy and reverence
Strive which should be most seen; let our hands, sir,
Raise you from earth thus high, and may it prove
[_They raise him up._
The first ascent of your immortal rising,
Never to fall again!
HEL. A spring of blessings
Keep ever with thee, and the fruit thy lord's!
GOV. I have lost an enemy, and have found a father. [_Exeunt._
_Enter_ VOTARIUS, _sadly_.
VOT. All's gone; there's nothing but the prodigal left;
I have played away my soul at one short game,
Where e'en the winner loses.
Pursuing sin, how often did I shun thee!
How swift art thou afoot, beyond man's goodness,
Which has a lazy pace! so was I catch'd--
curse upon the cause; man in these days
Is not content to have his lady honest,
And so rest pleased with her without more toil,
But he must have her try'd, forsooth, and tempted;
And when she proves a quean, then he lies quiet,
Like one that has a watch of curious making,
Thinking to be more cunning than the workman,
Never gives over tampering with the wheels,
'Till either spring be weaken'd, balance bow'd,
Or some wrong pin put in, and so spoils all.
How I could curse myself! most business else
Delights in the despatch, that's the best grace to't,
Only this work of blind repented lust
Hangs shame and sadness on his master's cheek:
Yet wise men take no warning.
_Enter_ WIFE.
Nor can I now:
Her very sight strikes my repentance backward.
It cannot stand against her. Chamber-thoughts
And words that have sport in 'em--they're for ladies!
WIFE. My best and dearest servant!
VOT. Worthiest mistress.
_Enter_ LEONELLA.
Madam----
WIFE. Who's that? my woman--
Proceed, sir----
LEO. Not if you love your honour, madam,
I came to give you warning my lord's come----
VOT. How!
WIFE. My lord?
LEO. Alas! poor vessels, how this tempest tosses 'em,
They're driven both asunder in a twinkling.
Down goes the sails here, and the main-mast yonder,
Here rides a bark with better fortune: yet
I fear no tossing, come what weather will,
I have a trick to hold on water still. [_Aside._
VOT. His very name shoots like a fever through me,
Now hot, now cold: which cheek shall I turn toward him,
For fear he should read guiltiness in my looks?
I would he would keep from hence, like a wise man:
'Tis no place for him now; I would not see him
Of any friend alive! it is not fit
We two should come together, we have abus'd
Each other mightily; he used me ill
T'employ me thus, and I have used him worse;
I'm too much even with him----
_Enter_ ANSELMUS.
Yonder's a sight of him.
WIFE. My lov'd and honour'd lord? Most welcome, sir.
LEO. O, there's a kiss! methinks my lord might taste
Dissimulation rank in't, if he had wit.
He takes but of the breath of his friend's life,
A second kiss is hers, but that she keeps
For her first friend: we women have no cunning!
[_Aside._
WIFE. You parted strangely from me.
ANS. That's forgotten!
Votarius, I make speed to be in thine arms.
VOT. You never 'come too soon, sir.
ANS. How goes business? [_Aside._
VOT. Pray, think upon some other subject, sir.
What news at court?
ANS. Pish! answer me. [_Aside._
VOT. Alas! sir, would you have me work my wonders,
To strike fire out of ye? y' are a strange lord, sir;
Put me to possible things, and find 'em finish'd
At your return to me; I can say no more. [_Aside._
ANS. I see by this thou didst not try her throughly. [_Aside._
VOT. How, sir, not throughly! by this light, he lives not,
That could make trial of a woman better. [_Aside._
ANS. I fear thou wast too slack. [_Aside._
VOT. Good faith, you wrong me, sir.
She never found it so. [_Aside._
ANS. Then I've a jewel,
And nothing shall be thought too precious for her.
I may advance my forehead, and breathe[462] purely:
Methinks I see her worth with clear eyes now.
O, when a man's opinion is at peace,
'Tis a fine life to marry! no state's like it. [_Aside._
My worthy lady, freely I confess
To thy wrong'd heart my passion had a-late
Put rudeness on me, which I now put off:
I will no more seem so unfashionable
For pleasure and the chamber of a lady.
WIFE. I'm glad you're chang'd so well, sir.
[_Exeunt_ WIFE _and_ ANSELMUS.
VOT. Thank himself for't.
LEO. This comes like physic, when the party's dead.
Flows kindness now, when 'tis so ill-deserv'd?
This is the fortune still: well, for this trick
I'll save my husband and his friend a labour:
I'll never marry as long as I am honest,
For commonly queans have the kindest husbands.
[_Exit_ LEONELLA, _manet_ VOTARIUS.
VOT. I do not like his company now, 'tis irksome:
His eye offends me; methinks it is not kindly,
We two should live together in one house;
And 'tis impossible to remove me hence:
I must not give way first, she is my mistress,
And that's a degree kinder than a wife;
Women are always better to their friends
Than to their husbands, and more true to them;
Then let the worst give place, whom she's least need on--
He that can best be spar'd--and that's her husband.
I do not like his overboldness with her;
He's too familiar with the face I love.
I fear the sickness of affection;
I feel a grudging on't: I shall grow jealous
E'en of that pleasure which she has by law.
I shall go so near with her;--
_Enter_ BELLARIUS, _passing over the stage_.
Ha! what's he!
'Tis Bellarius, my rank enemy;
Mine eye snatch'd so much sight of him. What's his business?
His face half-darkened: stealing through the house
With a whoremaster's pace--I like it not.
This lady will be serv'd, like a great woman,
With more attendants, I perceive, than one.
She has her shift of friends--my enemy one!
Do we both shun each other's company
In all assemblies public, at all meetings,
And drink to one another in one mistress?
My very thought's my poison; 'tis high time
To seek for help. Where is our head physician,
A doctor of my making and that lecher's?
O woman! when thou once leav'st to be good,
Thou car'st not who stands next thee; every sin
Is a companion for thee: for thy once-crack'd honesty
Is like the breaking of whole money:
It never comes to good, but wastes away.
_Enter_ ANSELMUS.
ANS. Votarius!
VOT. Ha!
ANS. We miss'd you, sir, within.
VOT. I miss'd you more without. Would you had come sooner, sir!
ANS. Why, what's the business I
VOT. You should have seen a fellow,
A common bawdy-house ferret, one Bellarius,
Steal through this room, his whorish barren face
Three quarters muffled: he is somewhere hid
About the house, sir.
ANS. Which way took the villain,
That marriage felon--one that robs the mind
Twenty times worse than any highway-striker,
Speak, which way took he?
VOT. Marry, my lord, I think,--
Let me see, which way wast now? up yon stairs--
ANS. The way to chamb'ring; did not I say still
All thy temptations were too faint and lazy;
Thou didst not play 'em home.
VOT. To tell you true, sir,
I found her yielding, 'ere I left her last,
And wav'ring in her faith.
ANS. Did not I think so?
VOT. That makes me suspect him.
ANS. Why, partial man,
Couldst thou hide this from me, so dearly sought for,
And rather waste thy pity upon her?
Thou'rt not so kind as my heart prais'd thee to me. Hark!
VOT. 'Tis his footing, certain.
ANS. Are you chamber'd?
I'll fetch you from aloft. [_Exit_ ANSELMUS.
VOT. He takes my work,
And toils to bring me ease: this use I'll make of him;
His care shall watch to keep all strange thieves out,
Whilst I familiarly go in and rob him,
Like one that knows the house.
But how has rashness and my jealousy us'd me!
Out of my vengeance to mine enemy,
Confess'd her yielding: I have lock'd myself
From mine own liberty with that key; revenge
Does no man good, but to his greater harm;
Suspect and malice, like a mingled cup,
Made me soon drunk; I knew not what I spoke;
And that may get me pardon. [_Exit._
_Enter_ ANSELMUS, _a dagger in his hand, with_ LEONELLA.
LEO. Why, my lord!
ANS. Confess, thou mystical panderess! Run, Votarius,
To the back gate, the guilty slave leap'd out,
And 'scap'd me so; this strumpet lock'd him up
In her own chamber. [_Exit_ VOTARIUS.
LEO. Hold, my lord--I might.
He is my husband, sir!
ANS. O soul of cunning!
Came that arch subtlety from thy lady's counsel
Or thine own sudden craft? Confess to me,
How oft thou hast been a bawd to their close actions,
Or all thy light goes out?
LEO. My lord, believe me--
In truth, I love a man too well myself
To bring him to my mistress.
ANS. Leave thy sporting!
Or my next offer makes thy heart weep blood.
LEO. O, spare that strength, my lord, and I'll reveal
A secret that concerns you; for this does not.
ANS. Back, back, my fury, then!
It shall not touch thy breast; speak freely, what is't?
LEO. Votarius and my lady are false gamesters;
They use foul play, my lord.
ANS. Thou liest.
LEO. Reward me then for altogether; if it prove not so,
I'll never bestow time to ask your pity.
ANS. Votarius and thy lady? 'twill ask days
Ere it be settled in belief. So, rise!
Go, get thee to thy chamber! [_Exit._
LEO. A pox on you!
You hind'red me of better business: thank you.
He's fray'd a secret from me; would he were whipp'd!
Faith, from a woman a thing's quickly slipp'd. [_Exit._
SCENE II.
_Enter the_ TYRANT _with_ SOPHONIRUS, MEMPHONIUS,
_and other nobles. A flourish_.
TYR. My joys have all false parts, there's nothing true to me,
That's either kind or pleasant. I'm hardly dealt withal;
I must not miss her, I want her sight too long.
Where's this old fellow?
SOPH. Here's one, my lord, of threescore and seventeen.
TYR. Pish! That old limber ass puts in his head still.
Helvetius! where is he?
MEM. Not yet return'd, my lord.
_Enter_ HELVETIUS.
TYR. Your lordship lies;
Here comes the kingdom's father. Who amongst you
Dares say this worthy man has not made speed?
I would fain hear that fellow!
SOPH. I'll not be he;
I like the standing of my head too well
To have it mended!
TYR. Thy sight quickens me.
I find a better health when thou art present,
Than all times else can bring me. Is the answer
As pleasing as thyself?
HEL. Of what, my lord?
TYR. Of what? fie now! He did not say so, did he?
SOPH. O, no, my lord, not he; he spoke no such word.
I'll say, as he would have't, for I'd be loth
To have my body used like butchers' meat. [_Aside._
TYR. When comes she to our bed?
HEL. Who, my lord?
TYR. Hark! You heard that plain amongst you?
SOPH. O my lord, as plain as my wife's tongue,
That drowns a saunce bell.[463]
Let me alone to lay about for honour:
I'll shift for one.
TYR. When comes the lady, sir,
That Govianus keeps?
HEL. Why, that's my daughter!
TYR. O, is it so! Have you unlock'd your memory?
What says she to us?
HEL. Nothing.
TYR. How thou tempt'st us!
What didst thou say to her, being sent from us?
HEL. More than was honest, yet it was but little.
TYR. How cruelly thou work'st upon our patience,
Saving advantage, 'cause thou art her father!
But be not bold too far; if duties leave thee,
Kespect will fall from us.
HEL. Have I kept life
So long, till it looks white upon my head;
Been threescore years a courtier; and a flatterer
Not above threescore hours, which time's reputed
Amongst my greatest follies; and am I at these days
Fit for no place but bawd to mine own flesh?
You'll prefer all your old courtiers to good services.
If your lust keep but hot some twenty winters,
We are like to have a virtuous world of wives,
Daughters and sisters, besides kinswomen
And cousin-germans remov'd up and down,
Where'er you please to have 'em! Are white hairs
A colour fit for panders and flesh-brokers,
Which are the honour'd ornaments of age,
To which e'en kings owe reverence, as they're men.
And greater in their goodness than their greatness?
And must I take my pay all in base money?
I was a lord born, set by all court grace:
And am I thrust now to a squire's place?
TYR. How comes the moon to change so in this manner.
That was in full, but now, of all performance,
And swifter than our wishes? I beshrew that virtue,
That busied herself with him: she might have found
Some other work. The man was fit for me,
Before she spoil'd him. She has wrong'd my heart in't,
And marr'd me a good workman. Now his art fails him,
What makes the man at court? This is no place
For fellows of no parts; he lives not here,
That puts himself from action, when we need him
[_Aside._
I take off all thy honours, and bestow 'em
On any of this rank that will deserve 'em.
SOPH. My lord, that's I: trouble your grace no further.
I'll undertake to bring her to your bed
With some ten words. Marry, they're special charms:
No lady can withstand 'em--a witch taught me 'em.
If you doubt me, I'll leave my wife in pawn
For my true loyalty, and your majesty
May pass away the time, till I return.
I have a care in all things.
TYR. That may thrive best,
Which the least hope looks after; but, however,
Force shall help nature; I'll be so sure now
Thy willingness may be fortunate. We employ thee.
SOPH. Then I'll go fetch my wife, and take my journey.
TYR. Stay! we require no pledge: we think thee honest.
SOPH. Troth, the worse luck for me; we had both been made by't;
It was the way to make my wife great too.
TYR. [_to_ HELVETIUS.] I'll teach thee to be wide and strange to me--
I'll not leave thee
A title to put on, but the bare name
That man must call thee by, and know thee miserable.
HEL. 'Tis miserable, king, to be of thy making,
And leave a better workman; if thy honours
Only keep life in baseness, take 'em to thee,
And give them to the hungry; there's one gapes.
SOPH. One that will swallow you, sir, for that jest,
And all your titles after.
HEL. The devil follow them!
There's room enough for him too. Leave me, thou king,
As poor as Truth, the mistress I now serve,
And never will forsake her for her plainness,
That shall not alter me.
TYR. No? Our guard within there!
_Enter_ GUARD.
GUARD. My lord!
TYR. Bear that old fellow to our castle, prisoner;
Give charge he be kept close.
HEL. Close prisoner!
Why, my heart thanks thee; I shall have more time
And liberty to virtue in one hour,
Than all those threescore years I was a courtier.
So by imprisonment I sustain great loss;
Heav'n opens to that man the world keeps close. [_Exit with_ GUARD.
SOPH. But I'll not go to prison to try that,
Give me the open world: there's a good air!
TYR. I would fain send death after him, but I dare not--
He knows I dare not; that would give just cause
Of her unkindness everlasting to me.
His life may thank his daughter. Sophonirus!
Here, take this jewel, bear it as a token
To our heart's saint, 'twill do thy words no harm;
Speech may do much, but wealth's a greater charm
Than any made of words; and to be sure,
If one or both should fail, I provide farther.
Call forth those resolute fellows, whom our clemency
Sav'd from a death of shame in time of war
For field offences: give them charge from us
They arm themselves with speed, beset the house
Of Govianus round; that if thou fail'st,
Or stay'st beyond the time thou leav'st with them,
They may with violence break in themselves,
And seize her for our use.
[_Exeunt. Manet_ SOPHONIRUS.
SOPH. They're not so savage
To seize her for their own, I hope,
As there are many knaves will begin first,
And bring their lords the bottom; I have been serv'd so
A hundred times myself by a scurvy page
That I kept once; but my wife lov'd him,
And I could not help it. [_Exit._
FOOTNOTES:
[459] The beginning of this act, down to the line _Comes with my
father_, is inserted, like some other passages further on, on a
separate slip in the MS., as if it were an afterthought.
[460] [The MS. reads _that_.]
[461] [Former edit., _separation._]
[462] [MS. reads _boast_.]
[463] [Saunce bell, soul bell, or parting bell. See "Popular
Antiquities of Great Britain," ii. 159, 160.]
ACT III., SCENE I.
_Enter_ GOVIANUS, _with his_ LADY _and a servant. A_
_flourish_.
GOV. What is he?
SER. An old lord come from the court.
GOV. He should be wise by's years; he will not dare
To come about such business; 'tis not man's work.
Art sure he desir'd to speak with thy lady?
SER. Sure, sir.
GOV. Faith, thou'rt mistook, 'tis with me certain.
Let's do the man no wrong: go, know it truly, sir!
SER. This is a strange humour, we must know things twice.
[_Aside. Exit._
GOV. There's no man is so dull, but he will weigh
The work he undertakes, and set about it
E'en in the best sobriety of his judgment,
With all his senses watchful; then his guilt
Does equal his for whom 'tis undertaken.
_Enter_ SERVANT.
What says he now?
SER. E'en as he said at first, sir.
He's business with my lady from the king.
GOV. Still from the king! he will not come near, will he?
SER. Yes, when he knows he shall, sir.
GOV. I cannot think it,
Let him be tried!
SER. Small trial will serve him, I warrant you, sir.
GOV. Sure, honesty has left man; has fear forsook him?
Yes, faith, there is no fear, where there's no grace.
LADY. What way shall I devise to giv'm his answer?
Denial is not strong enough to serve, sir.
GOV. No, 't must have other helps.--
_Enter_ SOPHONIRUS.
I see, he dares!
O patience, I shall lose a friend of thee!
SOPH. I bring thee, precious lady, this dear stone
And commendations from the king my master.
GOV. I set before thee, panderous lord, this steel,
And much good do't thy heart; fall to, and spare not!
[_He stabs_ SOPHONIRUS.
LADY. 'Las! what have you done, my lord?
GOV. Why, sent a bawd
Home to his lodging; nothing else, sweetheart.
SOPH. Well! you have kill'd me, sir, and there's an end:
But you'll get nothing by the hand, my lord,
When all your cards are counted; there be gamesters
Not far off will set upon the winner,
And make a poor lord of you, ere they've left you.
I'm fetch'd in like a fool to pay the reckoning,
Yet you'll save nothing by't.
GOV. What riddle's this?
SOPH. There she stands by thee now, who yet ere midnight
Must lie by the king's side!
GOV. Who speaks that lie?
SOPH. One hour will make it true, she cannot 'scape
No more than I from death: you've a great game on't,
An' you look well about you--that's my comfort.
The house is round-beset with armed men,
That know their time when to break in and seize her.
LADY. My lord!
GOV. Tis boldly done to trouble me
When I've such business to despatch. Within there!
_Enter_ SERVANT.
SER. My lord!
GOV. Look out, and tell me what thou see'st!
SOPH. How quickly now my death will be revenged!
Before the king's first sleep! I depart laughing
To think upon the deed. [_Dies._
GOV. 'Tis thy banquet;
Down, villain, to thy everlasting weeping,
That canst rejoice so in the rape of virtue,
And sing light tunes in tempests, when near ship-wreck'd,
And have no plank to save you!
_Enter_ SERVANT.
Now, sir, quickly.
SER. Which way soe'er I cast mine eye, my lord,
Out of all parts o' th' house, I may see fellows
Gather'd in companies, and all whispering,
Like men for treachery busy.
LADY. 'Tis confirm'd.
SER. Their eyes still fix'd upon the doors and windows.
GOV. I think thou'st never done, thou lov'st to talk on't.
'Tis fine discourse: prythee, find other business.
SER. Nay, I am gone, I'm a man quickly sneap'd.[464] [_Exit._
GOV. H' has flatter'd me with safety for this hour.
LADY. Have you leisure to stand idle? why, my lord,
It is for me they come.
GOV. For thee, my glory,
The riches of my youth--it is for thee!
LADY. Then is your care so cold? will you be robb'd,
And have such warning of the thieves? Come on, sir!
Fall to your business, lay your hands about you:
Do not think scorn to work; a resolute captain
Will rather fling the treasure of his bark
Into whales' throats, than pirates should be gorg'd with't.
Be not less man than he; thou art master yet,
And all's at thy disposing; take thy time,
Prevent mine enemy, away with me,
Let me no more be seen. I'm like that treasure,
Dangerous to him that keeps it--rid thy hands on't!
GOV. I cannot lose thee so.
LADY. Shall I be taken,
And lost the cruellest way? then wouldst thou curse
That love that sent forth pity to my life!
Too late thou wouldst!
GOV. O this extremity!
Hast thou no way to 'scape them, but in soul?
Must I meet peace in thy destruction,
Or will it ne'er come at me?
'Tis a most miserable way to get it!
I had rather be content to live without it,
Than pay so dear for't, and yet lose it too.
LADY. Sir, you do nothing: there's no valour in you!
You're the worst friend to a lady in affliction,
That ever love made his companion:
For honour's sake, despatch me! thy own thoughts
Should stir thee to this act more than my weakness.
The sufferer should not do't: I speak thy part,
Dull and forgetful man, and all to help thee!
Is it thy mind to have me seized upon,
And borne with violence to the tyrant's bed?
There forc'd unto the lust of all his days.
GOV. O no, thou liv'st no longer, now I think on't:
I take thee at all hazard.
LADY. O, stay--hold, sir!
GOV. Lady, what had you made me done now?
You never cease, till you prepare me cruel
'Gainst my heart,
And then you turn't upon my hand,
And mock me.
LADY. Cowardly flesh!
Thou show'st thy faintness still: I felt thee shake,
E'en when the storm came near thee; thou'rt the same:
But 'twas not for thy fear I put death by;
I had forgot a chief and worthy business,
Whose strange neglect--would have made me forgotten.
I will be ready straight, sir. [_She kneels in prayer._
GOV. O poor lady!
Why might not she expire now in that prayer,
Since she must die, and never try worse ways;
'Tis not so happy, for we often see
Condemn'd men sick to death, yet 'tis their fortune
To recover to their execution,
And rise again in health to set in shame.
What, if I steal a death unseen of her now,
And close up all my miseries, with mine eyes! O, fie,
And leave her here alone! that were unmanly.
LADY. My lord, be now as sudden as you please, sir!
I am ready for your hand.
GOV. But that's not ready.
'Tis the hardest work that ever man was put to;
I know not which way to begin to come to't.
Believe me, I shall never kill thee well:
I shall but shame myself; it were but folly,
Dear soul, to boast of more than I can perform.
I shall not have the power to do thee right in't:
Thou deserv'st death with speed, a quick despatch,
The pain but of a twinkling, and so sleep.
If I do't, I shall make thee live too long,
And so spoil all that way; I prythee, excuse me.
LADY. I should not be disturb'd, an' you did well, sir:
I have prepar'd myself for rest and silence,
And took my leave of words; I am like one
Removing from her house, that locks up all;
And rather than she would displace her goods,
Makes shift with anything for the time she stays;
Then look not for more speech, th' extremity speaks
Enough to serve us both, had we no tongues.
Hark! [_Knocking within._
WITHIN. Lord Sophonirus!
GOV. Which hand shall I take?
LADY. Art thou yet ignorant! There is no way
But through my bosom.
GOV. Must I lose thee, then?
LADY. They're but thine enemies, that tell thee so.
His lust may part me from thee, but death never;
Thou canst not lose me then; for, dying thine,
Thou dost enjoy me still. Kings cannot rob thee. [_Knocking._
WITHIN. Do you hear, my lord?
LADY. Is it yet time, or no?
Honour, remember thee!
GOV. I must--come, prepare thyself!--
LADY. Never more dearly welcome,--
[_He runs at her, and falls by the way in a swoon._
Alas, sir!
My lord, my love!--O thou poor-spirited man!
He's gone before me; did I trust to thee,
And hast thou serv'd me so? left all the work
Upon my hand, and stole away so smoothly?
There was not equal suffering shown in this,
And yet I cannot blame thee; every man
Would seek his rest; eternal peace sleep with thee!
[_She takes up the sword of_ GOVIANUS.
Thou art my servant now; come! thou hast lost
A fearful master, but art now preferr'd
Unto the service of a resolute lady,
One that knows how t' employ thee, and scorns death
As much as some men fear it. Where's hell's ministers,
The tyrant's watch and guard? 'tis of much worth,
When with this key the prisoner can slip forth.--
[_Kills herself. Knocking._
GOV. How now! What noise is this? I heard doors beaten.
[_A great knocking again._
Where are my servants let men knock so loud,
Their master cannot sleep!
WITHIN. The time's expir'd,
And we'll break in, my lord!
GOV. Ha! where's my sword?
I had forgot my business. O, 'tis done,
And never was beholding to my hand!
Was I so hard to thee? so respectless of thee,
To put all this to thee I why, it was more
Than I was able to perform myself.
With all the courage that I could take to me.
It tir'd me; I was fain to fall and rest;
And hast thou, valiant woman, overcome
Thy honour's en'mies with thine own white hand,
Where virgin-victory sits, all without help?
Eternal praise go with thee! Spare not now,
Make all the haste you can. I'll plant this bawd
Against the door, the fittest place for him;
That when with ungovern'd weapons they rush in,
Blinded with fury, they may take his death
Into the purple number of their deeds,
And wipe it off from mine;--
[_Places the corpse of_ SOPHONIRUS
_against the door_.[465] _Knocking within._
How now, forbear,
My lord's at hand!
WITHIN. My lord, and ten lords more:
I hope the king's officers are above them all.
_Enter the_ FELLOWS, _well-weaponed_.
GOV. Life! what do you do, take heed! Bless the old man!--
My Lord All-ass, my lord, he's gone!
1ST OFFICER. Farewell he then.
We have no eyes to pierce thorough inch boards.
'Twas his own folly; the king must be serv'd,
And shall; the best is, we shall ne'er be hang'd for't,
There's such a number guilty.
GOV. Poor my lord!
He went some twice embassador, and behav'd himself
So wittily in all his actions.
2D OFFICER. My lord! what's she?
GOV. Let me see!
What should she be? Now I remember her--
O, she was a worthy creature,
Before destruction grew so inward[466] with her!
1ST OFFICER. Well, for her worthiness, that's no work of ours--
You have a lady, sir; the king commands her
To court with speed, and we must force her thither.
GOV. Alas! she'll never strive with you, she was born
E'en with the spirit of meekness; is't for the king?
1ST OFFICER. For his own royal and most gracious lust,
Or let me ne'er be trusted.
GOV. Take her, then!
2D OFFICER. Spoke like an honest subject, by my troth!
I'd do the like myself to serve my prince.
Where is she, sir?
GOV. Look but upon yon face,
Then do but tell me where you think she is?
2D OFFICER. She's not here.
GOV. She's yonder.
1ST OFFICER. Faith, she's gone
Where we shall ne'er come at her, I see that.
GOV. No, nor thy master neither; now I praise
Her resolution: 'tis a triumph to me,
When I see those about her.
2D OFFICER. How came this, sir?
The king must know.
GOV. From yon old fellow's prattling
All your intents; he reveal'd largely to her,
And she was troubled with a foolish pride
To stand upon her honour, and so died.
1ST OFFICER. We have done the king good service to kill him--
More than we were aware of; but this news
Will make a mad court: 'twill be a hard office
To be a flatterer now, his grace will run
Into so many moods, there'll be no finding of him:
As good seek a wild hare without a hound now.
A vengeance of your babbling! these old fellows
Will hearken after secrets as their lives,
But keep 'em in, e'en as they keep their wives.
FEL. We have watch'd fairly.
[_Exeunt. Manet_ GOVIANUS.
GOV. What a comfort 'tis
To see 'em gone without her; faith, she told me
Her everlasting sleep would bring me joy,
Yet I was still unwilling to believe her,
Her life was so sweet to me, like some man
In time of sickness, that would rather wish
(To please his fearful flesh) his former health
Restor'd to him than death, when after trial,
If it were possible, ten thousand worlds
Could not entice him to return again,
And walk upon the earth from whence he flew:
So stood my wish, joy'd in her life and breath,
Now gone, there is no heav'n but after death.
Come, thou delicious treasure of mankind,
To him that knows what virtuous woman is,
And can discreetly love her! the whole world
Yields not a jewel like her, ransack rocks
And caves beneath the deep! O thou fair spring
Of honest and religious desires,
Fountain of weeping honour, I will kiss thee
After death's marble lip! thou'rt cold enough
To lie entomb'd now by thy[467] father's side
Without offence in kindred; there I'll place thee
With one I lov'd the dearest next to thee;
Help me to mourn, all that love chastity. [_Exit._
FOOTNOTES:
[464] [Checked, rebuked.]
[465] [Compare Hazlitt's "Popular Poetry," iii. 131.]
[466] [Familiar.]
[467] [MS. and former edit., _my_.]
ACT IV., SCENE I.
_Enter_ VOTARIUS, _with_ ANSELMUS'S _Lady_.
VOT. Pray, forgive me, madam; come, thou shalt!
WIFE. I' faith, 'twas strangely done, sir.
VOT. I confess it.
WIFE. Is that enough to help it, sir? 'tis easy
To draw a lady's honour in suspicion,
But not so soon recover'd, and confirm'd
To the first faith again, from whence you brought it:
Your wit was fetch'd out about other business,
Or such forgetfulness had never seiz'd you.
VOT. 'Twas but an overflowing, a spring tide
In my affection, rais'd by too much love;
And that's the worst words you can give it, madam.
WIFE. Jealous of me?
VOT. You'd 've sworn yourself, madam,
Had you been in my body, and chang'd cases,
To see a fellow with a guilty pace
Glide through the room, his face three-quarters nighted,
As if a deed of darkness had hung on him.
WIFE. I tell you twice, 'twas my bold woman's friend:
Hell take her impudence!
VOT. Why, I have done, madam.
WIFE. You've done too late, sir. Who shall do the rest now?
Confess'd me yielding! was thy way too free?
Why, didst thou long to be restrain'd? Pray, speak, sir!
VOT. A man cannot cosen you of the sin of weakness,
Or borrow it of a woman for one hour,
But how he's wonder'd at! when search your lives,
We shall ne'er find it from you; we can suffer you
To play away your days in idleness,
And hide your imperfections with our loves,
Or the most part of you would appear strange creatures;
And now 'tis but our chance to make an offer,
And snatch at folly running: yet to see,
How earnest you're against us, as if we'd robb'd you
Of the best gift your natural mother left you.
WIFE. Tis worth a kiss, i' faith, and thou shalt hav't,
Were there not one more left for my lord's supper:
And now, sir, I've bethought myself.
VOT. That's happy!
WIFE. You say we're weak; but the best wits of you all
Are glad of our advice, for ought I see
And hardly thrive without us.
VOT. I'll say so too,
To give you encouragement, and advance your virtues.
'Tis not good always to keep down a woman.
WIFE. Well, sir, since you've begun to make my lord
A doubtful man of me, keep on that course,
And ply his faith still with that poor belief,
That I'm inclining unto wantonness,
Take heed you pass no further now.
VOT. Why, dost think
I'll be twice mad together in one moon?
That were too much for any freeman's son
After his father's funeral.
WIFE. Well then thus, sir:
Upholding still the same, as being embolden'd
By some loose glance of mine, you shall attempt,
After you've plac'd my lord in some near closet,
To thrust yourself into my chamber rudely,
As if the game went forward to your thinking,
Then leave the rest to me. I'll so reward thee
With bitterness of words, but (prythee, pardon me)
My lord shall swear me into honesty
Enough to serve his mind all his life after;
Nay, for a need, I'll draw some rapier forth,
That shall come near my hand as 'twere by chance,
And set a lively face upon my rage;
But fear thou nothing: I too dearly love thee
To let harm touch thee.
VOT. O, it likes me rarely,
I'll choose a precious time for it. [_Exit_ VOTARIUS.
WIFE. Go thy ways; I'm glad I had it for thee.
_Enter_ LEONELLA.
LEO. Madam, my lord entreats your company.
WIFE. Pshaw, ye!
LEO. Pshaw, ye! My lord entreats your company.
WIFE. What now?
Are ye so short-heel'd?
LEO. I am as my betters are, then.
WIFE. How came you by such impudence a-late, minion?
You're not content to entertain your playfellow
In your own chamber closely, which I think
Is large allowance for a lady's woman;
There's many a good man's daughter is in service,
And cannot get such favour of her mistress,
But what she has by stealth; she and the chambermaid
Are glad of one between them, and must you
Give such bold freedom to your long-nos'd fellow,
That every room must take a taste of him?
LEO. Does that offend your ladyship?
WIFE. How think you, forsooth?
LEO. Then he shall do't again.
WIFE. What?
LEO. And again, madam:
So often, till it please your ladyship;
And when you like it, he shall do't no more.
WIFE. What's this?
LEO. I know no difference, virtuous madam,
But in love all have privilege alike.
WIFE. You're a bold quean.
LEO. And are not you my mistress?
WIFE. This is well, i' faith.
LEO. You spare not your own flesh, no more than I;
Hell take me, an' I spare you.
WIFE. O, the wrongs
That ladies do their honours, when they make
Their slaves familiar with their weaknesses;
They're ever thus rewarded for that deed;
They stand in fear e'en of the grooms they feed.
I must he forc'd to speak my woman fair now,
And be first[468] friends with her--nay, all too little.
She may undo me at her pleasure else;
She knows the way so well, myself not better,
My wanton folly made a key for her
To all the private treasure of my heart;
She may do what she list [_Aside_]. Come, Leonella.
I am not angry with thee.
LEO. Pish!
WIFE. Faith, I am not.
LEO. Why, what care I, an' you be!
WIFE. Prythee, forgive me?
LEO. I have nothing to say to you.
WIFE. Come, thou shalt wear this jewel for my sake,
A kiss and friends: we'll never quarrel more.
LEO. Nay, choose you, faith; the best is, an' you do,
You know who'll have the worst on't.
WIFE. True, myself. [_Aside._
LEO. Little thinks she, I have set her forth already;
I please my lord, yet keep her in awe too. [_Aside._
WIFE. One thing I had forgot; I prythee, wench,
Steal to Votarius closely, and remember him
To wear some privy armour then about him,
That I may feign a fury without fear.
LEO. Armour! when, madam?
WIFE. See now, I chid thee
When I least thought upon thee; thou'rt my best hand;
I cannot be without thee. Thus then, sirrah:
To beat away suspicion from the thoughts
Of under-listening servants 'bout the house,
I have advis'd Votarius at fit time
Boldly to force his way into my chamber,
The admittance being denied him, and the passage
Kept strict by thee, my necessary woman.
(La! there I should have miss'd thy help again!)
At which attempt I'll take occasion
To dissemble such an anger, that the world
Shall ever after swear us to their thoughts
As clear and free from any fleshly knowledge,
As nearest kindred are, or ought to be,
Or what can more express it, if that fail'd.
LEO. You know I'm always at your service, madam,
But why some privy armour?
WIFE. Marry, sweetheart,
The best is yet forgotten; thou shalt have
A weapon in some corner of the chamber,
Yonder, or there--
LEO. Or anywhere: why, i' faith, madam,
Do you think I'm to learn how[469] to hang a weapon?
As much as I'm incapable of what follows!
I've all your mind without book: think it done, madam.
WIFE. Thanks, my good wench, I'll never call thee worse.
[_Exit_ WIFE.
LEO. Faith, you're like to have't again, an' you do, madam.
_Enter_ BELLARIUS.
BEL. What, art alone?
LEO. Curse me, what makes you here, sir?
You're a bold long-nos'd fellow.
BEL. How!
LEO. So my lady says.
Faith, she and I have had a bout for you, sir,
But she got nothing by't.
BEL. Did not I say still, thou wouldst be too adventurous!
LEO. Ne'er a whit, sir. I made her glad to seek my friendship first.
BEL. By my faith, that show'd well; if you come off
So brave a conqueress, to't again, and spare not,
I know not which way you should get more honour.
LEO. She trusts me now to cast a mist, forsooth,
Before the servants' eyes. I must remember
Votarius to come once with privy armour
Into her chamber, when with a feign'd fury
And rapier drawn, which I must lay a-purpose
Ready for her dissemblance, she will seem
T' act wonders for her juggling honesty.
BEL. I wish no riper vengeance! can'st conceive me?
Votarius is my enemy.
LEO. That's stale news, sir.
BEL. Mark what I say to thee! forget of purpose
That privy armour; do not bless his soul
With so much warning, nor his hated body
With such sure safety. Here express thy love;
Lay some empoisoned weapon next her hand,
That in that play he may be lost for ever;
I'd have him kept no longer, away with him.
One touch will set him flying: let him go.
LEO. Bribe me but with a kiss; it shall be so. [_Exeunt._
SCENE II.
_Enter_ TYRANT, _wondrous discontentedly_. NOBLES _afar off_.
1ST NOBLE. My lord!
TYR. Begone, or never see life more!
I'll send thee far enough from court. Memphonius!
Where's he now?
MEM. Ever at your highness' service.
TYR. How dar'st thou be so near, when we have threaten'd
Death to thy fellow? Have we lost our power,
Or thou thy fear? Leave us in time of grace:
'Twill be too late anon.
MEM. I think 'tis so with thee already. [_Aside._
TYR. Dead! And I so healthful!
There's no equality in this. Stay!
MEM. Sir!
TYR. Where is that fellow brought the first report to us?
MEM. He waits without.
TYR. I charge thee give command,
That he be executed speedily,
As thou'lt stand firm thyself.
MEM. Now, by my faith,
His tongue has help'd his neck to a sweet bargain.
[_Exit_ MEMPHONIUS.
TYR. Her own fair hand so cruel! Did she choose
Destruction before me? was I no better?
How much am I exalted to my face,
And when I would be grac'd, how little worthy!
There's few kings know how rich they are in goodness,
Or what estate they have in grace and virtue:
There is so much deceit in glosers' tongues,
The truth is taken from us; we know nothing
But what is for their purpose. That's our stint;
We are allow'd no more. O wretched greatness!
I'll cause a sessions for my flatterers,
And have them all hang'd up. 'Tis done too late.
O, she's destroy'd, married to death and silence,
Which nothing can divorce--riches nor laws,
Nor all the violence that this frame can raise.
I've lost the comfort of her sight for ever,
I cannot call this life that flames within me,
But everlasting torment lighted up,
To show my soul her beggary. A new joy
Is come to visit me in spite of death!
It takes me of that sudden, I'm asham'd
Of my provision, but a friend will bear. Within there!
_Enter_ SOLDIERS.
1ST SOL. Sir?
2D SOL. My lord!
TYR. The men I wish'd for for secresy and employment.
Go, give order that Govianus be releas'd.
4TH SOL. Releas'd, sir?
TYR. Set free; and then I trust he will fly the kingdom,
And never know my purpose. Run, sir!
[_Exit_ 4TH SOLDIER.
You
Bring me the keys of the cathedral.
1ST SOL. Are you so holy now, do you curse all day,
And go to pray at midnight? [_Aside and Exit._
TYR. Provide you, sirs, close lanthorns and a pickaxe.
Away: be speedy.
2D SOL. Lanthorns and a pickaxe?
Does he mean to bury himself alive too?
[_Exeunt_ 2D _and_ 3D SOLDIERS.
TYR. Death nor the marble prison my love sleeps in,
Shall keep her body lock'd up from mine arms,
I must not be so cosen'd; though her life
Was like a widow's state, made o'er in policy
To defeat me and my too confident heart;
'Twas a most cruel wisdom to herself,
As much to me that lov'd her. What, return'd?
_Enter_ 1ST SOLDIER.
1ST SOL. There be the keys, my lord.
TYR. I thank thy speed;
Here comes the rest full-furnish'd. Follow me,
And wealth shall follow you.
_Enter_ 2D _and_ 3D SOLDIERS.
1ST SOL. Wealth! by this light,
We go to rob a church; I hold my life
The money will ne'er thrive; that's a sure saw:
What's got from grace, is ever spent in law.
2D SOL. What strange fits grow upon him here a-late!
His soul has got a very dreadful leader.
What should he make in the cathedral now,
The hour so deep in night? all his intents
Are contrary to man in spirit or blood.
He, waxes heavy in his noble mind;
His moods are such they cannot bear the weight,
Nor will not long, if there be truth in whispers?
The honourable father of the state,
Noble Helvetius, all the lords agree
By some close policy shortly to set free. [_Exeunt._