Act I
Scene i
Lodowick Sir, methinks I much grieve for your sake that the ancient Roman triumphs are now left off; that such as have bravely deserved of their country should not at their returns in triumphant chariots enter the city, since, by your valour, our country is not only freed from fear, but dignified by fame.
Galeas Oh Sir, you speak me much above my merit. 5
Lodowick To do that, Sir, were to study words and neglect the matter; to pursue the shadow, and neglect the substance. But let this be your honour, Sir: the world will freely speak though we should be silent.
Galeas The victories were heaven’s, the endeavours mine, which, if it be but grateful to the Prince and modestly entertained of the people, my pains are sufficiently rewarded. 10
Lodowick But pray, Sir, resolve me; of what condition was that proud insulting
Duke of Parma that by you had so certain and fearful an overthrow?
Galeas He was a man much given to melancholy;
Of leaden spirit and of dull aspect, 15
Who, finding in his own breast nothing good,
Thought all men evil; of such jealousy that
Whom he knew had but the power to offend,
His prejudice made guilty of offence;
Who, in much feeling to be terrible, 20
Did leave off to be noble, never building
But upon others’ ruins; in whom suspicion
Still bred cruelty, and vigour new suspicion;
One whose favours none could attain
But by being miserable. For whom he raised 25
He reined, never making but whom he meant to spoil;
That hated others, and could not love his own;
To foreign princes a burden, and to his own dominions
No better than a tyrant.°
Lodowick You have given
Him, sir, a wondrous free and true description, 30
For, not contented to be bounded in
His own free limits, his usurping powers
Encroach upon our confines.
Galeas But that title
He then pretended he hath since renounced;
Not willingly, but by compulsive arms. 35
Those paces, which he of late so proudly trod
Within our confines, he has measured back
With runaway and most disgraceful steps,
And he that faced and outfaced at the first,
After some few hours fight, gave us the fight 40
Returning vanquished: we victorious,
Thanks to the god of battle.
Lodowick For which
Service, Sir, the duke shall owe you grateful
Honours, and his subjects much applause.
Galeas Unto the Prince it was my loyalty, 45
And to them my love.
Lodowick [To Galeas] Best attend him; he’s now upon his entrance;
And proffer to the Duke your victories.
Duke Noble Galeas, since, by thy valour,
Our enemies° are subdued and we at rest, 50
Let us embrace thee as the chief support
Of this, our crown and country’s dignity.
Galeas This staff, the ensign of my late command,
That armed me with the power of general,
And given me by your own authority, 55
The wars being done, I here surrender up,
And myself prostrate as a private man,
Now fellow subject unto these your lords.
My power resignèd, I’m your vassal still,
All attributes set off. 60
Duke Thou hast demeaned thee like a noble soldier
And a valiant subject. ’Tis contention in us
To find in which thou hast behaved thee best;
The first asks favours, the last rewards,
Both which thou shalt partake in eminence. 65
We need not now stand to relate the manner
Of your brave conquest, since the fame thereof
Flew all the way before you to the court,
Nor to what strict compulsive articles
Thou hast enjoined the public enemy; 70
All which we know, and shall remember them
As purchased by thy sword.
Lodowick And warlike Sir,
If ever he should dare to re-attain
These his dissevered forces, myself in person
Would be your pupil in this school of arms. 75
Galeas O let Piacenza’s hope live to succeed
His royal father and command our lives:
To all such desperate hazards princes they
Are born to command, we subjects to obey.
Duke But let us not detain you, worthy soldier, 80
From visiting your many noble friends,
Especially your mother, to whose years
This victory and your renown will add
Many a fair season. You were ever hers
In love, but now in admiration, I know 85
She longs to embrace you.
Galeas I no less long
To be blessed by her chaste, virtuous hand,
Whose I am° still in all obedience.
Duke O she’s a noble matron, and has been
A fair Court-pattern° to our younger dames. 90
We’ll now detain ye no longer from that° blessing;
I know she’s big withal, and longs to see it
Dischargèd upon your fortunate head.
Galeas Your highness’ favour I take at fair advantage.
Exit
Galeas.
Duke [Aside]That we should prove thus fortunate abroad 95
And so distressed at home; end foreign broils
To nurse domestic discords; to make conquest
Upon a fierce and open foe, and be
Subdued amongst our friends at home;
Amongst our subjects find pure loyalty, 100
And treason midst our children! Our marshal?
Marshal Sir?
Duke The Prince; forbear ’till we call, but be
Not out of hearing, for anon we shall
Have occasions for you.
Lodowick Sir, I shall not.
[Aside]Now shall we have some tedious business or other, the cause I 105 hardly suspect. I never could endure these fatherly instructions; they
are as hard to me as when I was a scholar first in the lame heteroclites°,
or when my tutor first entered me into possum°.
Duke Jaspero and Laura,
Take you the other part of the chamber. 110
Laura Willingly.
[Aside]I have suspicion we are both betrayed;
Our love is come to knowledge.
Let us° profess an equal constancy;
T’will overcome fear and dangers.
Duke Marshal, 115
I never found thee false in many years
That I have tried thy faith. Shouldst now thou fail me,
All that former good were in this one blemished,
And our favours all turned to thy disgraces.
Marshal I wonder, Sir, and it much troubles me, 120
That my known loyalty, which in my age
I chiefly thought to have crownèd, should now
Come in suspense. Sir, I should be sorry
To merit these suspicions.
Duke I more sorry,
If that one ill should shipwreck all the good 125
Which we have so oft tasted.
Marshal These doubts, my liege,
Affright me more than danger itself can;
I’m no way guilty, therefore cannot fear;
Good Sir, be open-breasted.
Duke Thou shouldst love
Me.
Marshal Should any man doubt it save yourself, 130
I would not leave one drop of loyal blood
In these shrunk veins till I had made him know
The falseness of his error. Royal Sir,
You deal not with me as my faith deserves;
I take it most unkindly.
Duke Nay, spare those tears, 135
Good man, I do believe thee.
Marshal Should you not,
I’d forswear food, and shelter keep no more
Than what nature lent me, that’s my nakedness,
But I would clear your fears.
Duke Thou hast confirmed me,
And now I’ll doubt no longer. Tell me, then, 140
If any passage of affection
Betwixt thy son and that incontinent girl
Be known to thee.
Marshal I smother it! I made
A breaker of forbidden laws? I wink
At such ambitions!
Duke Nay, nay! Have patience. 145
Marshal Did I but know the boy lodged such a thought,
I’d let it out at a wide gaping wound
Made with my sword! I’ll to him, he shall know’t;
My allegiance shall be found!
Duke Then on that allegiance,
Which thou so much dost labour to confirm, 150
And we give credit to, cease thy passions.
Marshal My duty sways me, and I’m charmed to silence,
But if he…
Duke Shall I prevail or no?
Marshal My liege, I have done. 155
Duke Laura.
Laura My royal father?
Duke Methinks, fair daughter, you are changed of late,
And that fresh blood was wont to grace your cheeks
Is gone I know not which way.
Laura Sir, my glass 160
Informs me no such matter.
Duke Those glasses
Flatter thee worse than courtiers. Come, I see’t,
How sayest° thou, Marshal? Are not those fresh roses
Late changed into faint paleness? View her well.
Marshal She looks something bleak, my lord. 165
Duke Observe thy son; is not he altered too?
His looks distracted, nay, his very face
Shows a perplexed mind like one late fallen° in love!
Jaspero In love, my lord?
Duke In love.
Marshal Which, if I knew…
Duke Have patience; we intend ’em all the good 170
That man can do. Daughter, I see you’re grown
To mature ripeness, and like a provident
Father, knowing the weakness incident
To children, I would prevent all danger,
And provide ahusband for your liking. 175
Laura A husband, Sir?
Duke A man, I make no question,
You oft have dreamt of; noble and valiant;
Such, and so great, has been thy loyalty
And service to the state, that I would gladly
Requite thee in thy son, a toward° gentleman, 180
And of many hopeful parts.
Jaspero Your Highness is still royal.
Duke Jaspero,
Look on that lady well: is she not fair,
The brightest star in court?
Jaspero Incomparable.
Duke Observe him, lady, and with a judging eye, 185
Is not young Jaspero, the marshal’s son,
One of our primest° gallants, and, indeed,
The very flower in court?
Laura Sir, not to
Dissemble, I still esteemèd him so.
Duke Thou pleasest us to be thus plain 190
Couldst thou not love him dearly; nay, dost thou
Not already, and thou her?
Jaspero She’s a lady I have still admired,
But dare not say I love.
Duke So, you love, then, but dare not say so? 195
You affect him too, nay, speak without evasion.
Jaspero Sir, I do.
Duke Confessed on both sides.
Marshal Why, what intends your grace
To give my son in marriage to your daughter, 200
A match I never dreamt of?
Duke Know my spleen I can no longer hide;
What you thus join, behold I divide!
Marshal Ha, how, what’s that?
Duke Strumpet! 205
Marshal Traitor!
Duke Base degenerate!
Marshal Disloyal to thy liege!
Duke False to thy blood!
I’ll find ye out a husband!
Marshal Thou shalt have a wife!
Duke I’ll marry thee to some strong citadel, 210
Where thou shalt live in durance°, excellent minion.°
Marshal Precious knave indeed.
Duke What, are ye both mute,
Whose tongues, so late, were ready to confess
Your most apparent treasons? Can ye speak
The language of thy knee?°
Jaspero Your pardon, Sir. 215
Laura Pardon, dread liege and father.
Duke Upstart wretch!
How darest thou gaze the bright sun in the face
Without an eagle’s eyes?
Marshal Princess, ’twas ill done,
And nothing like a lady of your blood
To train my son to this.
Duke Thy life’s forfeit, 220
And, were it not for the love I bear thy father,
I now should take thy head.
Marshal Had I the power the Duke, your father, has
I should do more than chide, ungentle lady;
Thus to seek the ruining of my house. 225
Duke Marshal, to counsel: what shall we do in this?
Marshal My lord, confine her close, I’ll mew° him up.
You look to her; I’ll have a care of him.
Duke We are resolved to take a milder course,
And, first, by fair means, both enjoy 230
Your wonted liberty, but conditionally:
If ever you be known to interchange
The least discourse, to parley by your letters,
By your own tongues or mouths of others,
We confine ye both into perpetual durance. 235
Marshal A mild doom, and gentler far than my bad
Son deserves.
Duke Lord Marshal, be it your charge,
With a strict and careful eye, to observe
Their looks and gestures, and to keep ’em still
From any private meetings; 'tis a charge 240
We only impose on you.
Marshal Which if I fail in, brand me with name of traitor.
Duke But this is our least care; the greater lies
Upon our hare-brained son. Call in the prince.
(If ever father were unfortunate 245
in his hoped issue, ’tis Piacenza’s duke).
Marshal The prince attends your pleasure.
Duke The woodman and his daughter
We gave in charge; they should be both at hand.
Marshal They are, my lord.
Duke Lodowick.°
Lodowick My Lord. 250
Duke A forester to have free partnership
In this, our crown and state, shame ye not?
Sirrah, come hither you.
Clown Alla, comando vostro siniora.°
Duke You wait upon the prince, my son. 255
Clown Your grace says true; ’tis fitter I should wait upon him than he upon
me, but if it please your grace to alter the property, I shall be soon
persuaded.
Duke Resolve me sirrah, but truly on thy life,
When was the prince last at the woodman’s house? 260
Clown Not to be so brief as to dissemble with your grace, let me see, not
since yesterday.
Duke Not since? As if his absence thence one day
Were not without an accent to be spoke? Not since?
Clown No, Sir, not since. 265
Lodowick Pray, Sir, if of me you speak
Duke Of thee, and thy ignoble base designs,
And what I shame to publish to the world.
I’ll talk with you in private.
Lodowick At your pleasure.
Marshal Ha, what was that? I’ll tell the Duke.
Laura Tell him 270
Of what? I hope an o’ercharged heart may sigh
Before it break, and no offence unto
The Duke or you.
Marshal Now I remember me,
Sighing was not in my charge. Well ye may
Sigh on.
Laura Why so, Sir.
Marshal Well then.
Lodowick Yet I love 275
Her so dearly, Sir, I’ll not deny it,
Nor were it princely in me to stain my mouth
With any base untruth, but whereas you
Upbraid her with the name of strumpet or
Temptress unto lust, therein, with pardon Sir, 280
You blot a clear and spotless innocent.
Duke So let yet innocent abide unstained
To him whose birth and fortunes suits with hers,
But thou that art a prince of such great blood,
Of so high fortunes that mayest command 285
The bosom of the royallest heir in Italy -
We’ll deal mildly with you. Pray walk.
Marshal Madam, I saw and I’ll tell.
Laura Tell what, I pray?
Can ye call this a meeting or a glance?
Was this a cast o’the eye, good busybody? 290
You stir beyond your limit.
Marshal Why, what do thee call it then?
Laura Sir, ’twas a leer.
Search your commission, pray, and see if there
The Duke gave charge for leering.
Marshal Mas,° now I
Remember me, leering was not in my charge. 295
Laura I hope, then, we may leer our bellies full
And not offend at all.
Marshal You may; leer on.
Clown Do hear, you nice peasant, the Duke will never be angry with
the music, as long as they have the cunning to play leero fashion!°
Duke One word more and we have done. 300
Call in the woodman and the maid.
Marshal I shall, my lord, but, i’th meantime, pry you
A little into my charge.
Duke I warrant thee.
Marshal One question,° my liege, before I go,
May I suffer them to sigh and leer one 305
At another?
Duke Oh, by no means!
Marshal Princess
And primcock, henceforth no sigh, nor leering.
Clown They may wink at one another.
Duke Oh Prince, that you should mix your royalty
With peasant’s blood, why, you should rather add 310
Unto your royalty; oh be not, then,
The means to ruin it.° We hope will be swayed.°
Woodman/ Heaven bless your highness
Isabella
Isabella And strengthen your estate and dignity
With all the royal honours fate can yield. 315
Duke Then be not thou the means to eclipse those
Honours for whose increase you pray. Friend, we
Should question you whether your knowledge have
Given free consent to the suspected
Meeting of the prince and this, your daughter. 320
Woodman I disclaim’t my liege, only, I must confess,
Her suitors visit her, but to what end
I know not.
Duke Henceforth take notice on’t, and
Hinder all free recourse of free recourse;
If thou canst not do it, complain to us, 325
And deal with us as justly
As we with thee do mildly.
Woodman Henceforth, prince, I make myself engaged in’t.
Duke For you, fair virgin,
We will not stand to rip up what has past; 330
Our aim is to prevent what is to come.
From henceforth we divide you; your next meeting
Incurs our high displeasure: death to thee,
And disgrace to him.
Isabella My royal prince, I
Neither dare presume to excuse myself, 335
Nor to accuse the prince, yet dare protest,
E’en from my very heart, I never thought
Of him but honourable, nor he of me
But chaste; but, since your highness has divorced
Us with so strict a charge, I’ll study to. 340
Observe it.
Duke So doing, expect preferment
From us; find a husband fitting thy estate,
And claim a dowry from us.
Lodowick [Aside] The best in Piacenza, or I’ll want my will.
Duke Sirrah, you, if the prince, your master, send you to 345
The lodge at any time with letters, tokens
Or gifts, bring them to me and I’ll reward
Thee for it, else punish thee severely.
Clown A pretty trick, i’faith; my master sends me with letters to one, and
he would have me carry ’em to another! If my master send after his 350
hearty commendations to her, I shall deliver, in what health he was
at the making thereof,° to him, as if I could not distinguish a young
maid from an old man; yes, when can you tell?
Duke Sirrah, have a care. Marshal, you know your charge,
Jaspero yours and Laura yours. Lodowick, 355
’Tis in your free elect or to be raised
Or ruined; make us still a father or
A public enemy. Look to’t, all, if
Ever ye make a tempest of this calm,
The deluge will confound ye. Think upon’t: 360
Our peace domestic thus at home concluded,
Pastimes and sports be ’mongst our tears intruded.
Leonora Welcome, victorious son, whose noble fame
Has filled these withered veins with youthful blood
And made me young again! My over joy
Makes me I scarce give credit to my eyes°
Or touches! Had thy father lived to 5
Have seen thee add such honours to our house,
It would have called back his departing soul,
And to his body married it anew,
And if, as I believe, here hangs a stone, thou
Hast added to his lustre,° beautifying 10
His bright sphere with increase of light!
Oh, all my joys on Earth; how are my fears
Of wounds of death, disgrace and overthrow
Changed into raptures and glad ecstasies!
Welcome, oh, ten times welcome! 15
They
embrace.
Galeas Madam, your love and your maternal care
Confirms my duty in so strict a limit
No fate can alter it.
I must confess that I have merited,
Or added to the honours of our house. 20
I have been guided by your orisons°
And strengthened in the battle by your prayers.
Man, of himself, is nothing, but what’s mine
Came by the assistance of the powers divine.
Leonora To them be all ascribed, but henceforth, son, 25
My purpose is to hazard you no more,
Nor would I, for a world, once more do over
The jealous fears I have so finely passed.
I tell thee, Galeas, though I live in court,
Far from the terror of your thund’ring drums, 30
Yet have I suffered for these wounds you, in the
Battle, ’scaped; and if, again, necessity
Should put our land in arms, it should spare you.
Galeas You now speak like a mother to a son;
You have more pity on this tender flesh 35
Than on that during and perspicuous fame
That outlasts Earth and claims eternity.
We are not born all for parents’ love,
But for our country’s service, and the duke’s;
For our natural parents, only they 40
In such designs as these we must obey.
Leonora You first were mine, you’ve been your country’s since;
From henceforth be your own; you have gained honour,
Now study profit; live by fruitful peace,
And hang them up as sacred monuments. 45
Give up the soldier now; he gains respect no
Longer than employment; follow merchandise
(The strength and sinew of a peaceful state).
It was his father’s raising; make it your rest,
For, in a flourishing kingdom, such live best. 50
Galeas Madam, my armour was not so late on,
Nor to my shoulders fast riveted; my
Sword not so loud warned by the thund’ring drum,
But, at their silence, it hath leave to rest;
My plume not to my helmet so invest,° 55
But, that thrown down, I can comprise my brow
Within a civil bonnet. But propose
Me, and I’m yours in duty.
Leonora You know, son,
That, since my last unhappy widowhood,
I have received much loss by creditors 60
In Parma, the next provinces joining this,
Signor Giovanni was a man much decayed,
But now enriched by many fair returns.
What sums he owes you know, which, if demanded
By you in person, might have quick return. 65
Traffic we have had by letters oftentimes,
But those nourish delays, only your presence
Might have it.°
Galeas I understand you, mother,
Where’s Jacomo? I’ll thither° instantly.
Jacomo Sir, did ye call? 70
Galeas We must turn merchants, Jacomo;
We must for Parma. How does’t
Brook° with thy temper, Jacomo?
Jacomo As a warm tent after a tedious watch;
Repose after long travel, or repast° 75
After a tedious journey! Welcome, sir,
I am for any humours; where there’s mirth
I can be merry; quaff with them that drink;
Be pleasant with a man that’s sociable;
And, if I come in a place where brawls are 80
Stirring, lay on,° too, for a need!
Galeas I know
Th’art blunt, but, honest Jacomo, thou in
War follow’st me; peace shall not part us now.
Jacomo If it should, I’d pray for more combustion.
When do we ride,° sir?
Galeas Early tomorrow, 85
By the first of day.
Jacomo I’ll break my rest to call you.
Galeas Your blessing, mother.
Leonora All that can be in mother meet in one
To make thee blessed, renownèd, though on one.
Galeas Your blessing I have tasted with full hands; 90
If peace still smile I then shall be blessed
With a white silver head, and prosperous rest.
Jaspero Darkness, assist me. Thou art foe to goodness;
Recompense that by being friend to love,
Else, as the sable° darkness shades the night,
Let the Earth henceforth curse thee. Thus far, by
Thy help, having attainèd unto the
Garden wall that fronts the princess’s window, 5
Where she waiting stays the approach with the
Expectation° of a longing soul.
Still shadow me, O thou auspicious night,
And I’ll prefer thy darkness ’fore daylight.
Marshal Jaspero, fast, son, boy;
Dull sleep hath ceasèd him with his strong charms.
Had he been still in love, passions, fears, cares,
Co-mixed with deep despair, would have disturbed
Him with half waking dream, and not have suffered 5
This deep soundness. This I know, since I was
First a lover. Jaspero, Jaspero,
I’ll see how sweetly he becomes his rest,
Then leave him to his rest. Ha! What is° here?
A bed new tossed, and naught but empty sheets? 10
What may this mean? I see him roosted safe,
Fast locked into his lodging; what may this mean?
I suspect some treason ’twixt him and the
Princess, which, if I find…I’ll take this way
And see if craft their cunning betray.° 15
Enter
Jaspero to Laura, above.
Jaspero This is the place the princess called me to,
And, thus far, undiscovered have I passed,
Compassed with night and silence. Madam?
Laura Jaspero!
Jaspero Your servant, lady.
Laura Oh, you speak too loud, 5
For there are many waking ears and eyes
Placed by the duke about me. But were Argus°
By love himself employed to be my guardian,
Yet would I play the subtle Mercury
To charm him blind.
Jaspero Oh, you were ever gracious. 10
Laura Dear love, ascend as near me as thou canst
That we may speak in private.
Jaspero Had I wings,
I’d borrow art from apprehension
To perch me on that casement, but I’ll climb
As high as power can bear me! 15
Marshal ’Twas a bustling! I hear the tread of some
Suspicious foot near to the princess’s lodging!
Laura Jaspero, art thou the same th’ast° ’fore protested?
Marshal ’Twas her voice!
Jaspero The firm centre is not more
Constant to the Earth, the poles more steadfast 20
To the glorious frame of heaven, than
I to your affections.
Marshal That his tongue!
I’ve heard too much; the duke shall know my faith,
Although it cost the best blood of my son.
This is decreed above your sighs and leers, 25
Or interchange of kisses. You shall know
Howe’er ye wake, my care shall take ye napping.
Laura Methought I heard one speak…
Jaspero ’Twas your fear, madam;
The dear respect of your honour, and care of me.
Y’are round girt° with safety, and boldly may proceed. 30
Laura Then I’m confident, because thou speakst it.
Marshal Come my lord,
Take it not from me, but from yourself. Let
Me be no reporter.
Duke Oh, my impatient
Rage, swell it not beyond humanity, 35
Lest I incur censure of tyranny,
And I, still noted for a clement prince,
May now appear too bloody.
Laura Jaspero, as our vows are fixed in Heaven,
So let the earth confirm them.
Duke [Aside] Excellent lass. 40
Jaspero When I fail, or falsify my vow, fail
Me my breath and vitals.
Marshal [Aside] Notable lad.
Laura How couldst thou steal from thy chamber, and thy
Father not suspect it?°
Jaspero Sweet, I’ll tell° thee:
Because his course was still to lock me up, 45
In wax I got the pattern of his key,
And forged, by that, another.
Laura Thou mak’st me smile to think on’t.
Jaspero But I shall turn your laughter into sorrow:°
No sooner did he see me, as he thought, 50
Safe lodged, but straight he steps to bed, himself,
And when, by snorting, I perceived him safe…
Marshal [Aside]He makes a horse of me.
Jaspero On went my clothes, betook me to my legs,
Unlocked the doors and left him to his dreams, 55
Where the good man lies, pillowed in his rest,
And never thinks on us.
Laura And now my father’s in his slumber too,
Wallowing in down, and little thinks on us
Fast may he sleep, and soundly may he rest, 60
While we wake to delight!
Duke [Aside] Rather to torment!
Laura Here we may meet, some twice or thrice a week,
And they (no whit° the wiser) ne’er think on’t!
Marshal [Aside to Duke] We never dream on’t, my lord, we!
Laura Discourse of pleasure and discourse of love, 65
And they no whit the wiser!
Duke [Aside to Marshal] Fool us both,
Excellent witty faith!Surprise him, seize her
In her chamber; we’ll interchange with you.
Marshal We’ll tickle you!
Jaspero Hath my mishap betrayed me? Cursèd night, 70
Thou hast played the traitoress with me!
Duke Thou the traitor with with me! Oh justice, I’ll [...]
Thee no longer; thou diest by my own hand!
Marshal Nay, pause good duke, I do entreat you; 75
Fright, but hurt him not; alas, he is my son.
Duke Thy loyalty prevails,
Duke
sheathes his sword.
Else, by the ancient honours of our house,
Thou now hadst breathed thy last.
Marshal My lord, I’ll fright him more with words 80
Than you can with your sword.
Jaspero And so you do:
A death would be more welcome from his hand,
Than scolding from that tongue. I could prevent° ye
Of what you do intend. You’ll chide me: first,
For my neglect of duty to yourself, 85
Next, for my known disloyalty to you;
You’ll say ’twas great ambition in me
To aim so high as to the princess’s love,
And that it merits death. ’Tis true, I grant it free,
That I have mocked his patience, scoffed his love, 90
Infringed, towards him, a subject’s loyalty,
Transgressed, towards you, the duty of a son.
Marshal The boy has all my part by rote,°
And speaks it as distinctly as myself;
Just so should I have said! 95
Duke We’ll be as short as thou art resolute.
Oh, that incontinent girl;
It were justice in us to prune our stock
And cut that bastard branch from whence it first
Was grafted!
Marshal Justice? Nay, ’twere mere charity! 100
Duke How, to spare thine and cut off my own?
If he thy son, then is she my daughter,
And dear to me as thine can.
Marshal Nay, my lord,
I say ’twere more charity than justice
To grant ’em both their pardons.
Laura Dismiss him, 105
And all that justice can impose on me.
Duke For thee to speak is but to punish him.
Away with her, confine her to her chamber.
Laura Jaspero, though here deprived of speech, to heaven I’ll cry in my close durance for thy liberty; 110
He cannot this debar me.
Duke Bear her hence!
Her sight fills us with much impatience.
And for you, wild young man, nay’t shall be so;
Bear him to our strongest prison, there
To remain till we further determine 115
Of his offence.
Marshal [Aside]A better office I could wish my son,
But princes must have their wills. Be’t our fame
To curb the headstrong and the wild to tame.
Exeunt.
Galeas You spoke with him as I commanded you?
Jacomo And had his promise to meet you presently.
Galeas I have heard much fame of him since my arrive;°
His generous nature, hospitable love,
His good to all men, enemy to none. 5
Indeed, he has that perfect character,
Before I see him I’m in love with him!
Jacomo He has the fame few citizens deserve.
Galeas Why, sir, few citizens?
Jacomo His word’s his bond, and does not break that bond 10
To bankrupt others. He makes you not a
Library of large monopoly to
Cozen all men subintelligitur.
He hates to deal with such portentous oaths,
As fur° his mouth in the deliverance. 15
Galeas He comes himself.
Giovanni Sir Galeas, if I mistake not.
Galeas I wear my father’s name, sir.
Giovanni And ’tis a dignity to wear that name.
What’s your affairs in Parma? 20
Galeas To visit you, sir.
Giovanni Gladness nor sorrow never paid man’s debts.
Your pleasure, sir?
Galeas The livery° of my grief.
My father’s dead, and me hath made his poor
Executor.
Giovanni What, ought he ten thousand 25
Ducat, thy father’s face fixed in thy front
Should be the paymaster, though, from my hand.
Galeas I do not come to borrow; please ye read.
Giovanni Read, and with good regards, for sorrow pays
No debts. 30
Galeas [Aside to Jacomo] The sum’s so great, I fear, once read by him
My seeming friend will prove my enemy.
Jacomo [Aside to Galeas] Faith, if he do,
He proves like your french galoshes°
That promise fair to the feet, yet twice 35
A day leave a man in the dirt.
Giovanni Was this your father’s pleasure?
Galeas It was his hand.
Giovanni It was his writing, I know it as my own,
Wherein he has wronged me beyond measure.
Galeas How my father wronged ye? I’m his son. 40
Giovanni Wert thou his father, I’m wronged,
Injured, calumniated,° baffled to my teeth;
And, were it not that these grey hairs of mine
Were privileged and enemy to valour,
I have a heart could see your father’s wrong. 45
Galeas What, rail you, sir?
Jacomo Challenge a half pint pot?
Giovanni Therein a saw-pit, knave; to quit myself
Of such an injury, he writes me here
That I should pay to you ten thousand crowns.
Galeas As being due to him.
Giovanni But that is° not 50
My quarrel, sir, for I did owe to him
Millions of crowns, millions of my love,
And but to send a note here for his own;
Is’t not a quarrel for an honest man?
Galeas With very few, I think.
Giovanni Why, look ye, sir, 55
When, after many a storm and dreadful blow
Struck from fire belching clouds, bankrupt of life
I have home returnèd; when all my friends
Denied their thresholds to me, and my creditors
Desired to sink me in a prisoner’s grave, 60
He gave my dying life his helpful hand;
Sent me to sea, and kept me safe on land.
Is’t not a quarrel, then, to seek but his own?
Galeas Oh pray, sir…
Giovanni When all the talents of oppression, 65
Of usurers, lawyers and my creditors,
Had fanged upon my wife and family,
He gave my dying life his helpful hand;
Sent me to sea, and kept me safe on land.
Ist not a quarrel, then, to seek but his own.° 70
Galeas Good sir…
Giovanni Come in, sir, where I’ll pay all that you can
Demand; no other quarrel shall pass your hand.
Galeas If every should pay as well as you,
The world were good; we’d have bankrupts few! 75
Jacomo I’m of your mind for that.
Lucretia Hast thou, good honest Curio, seen all fit?
The clock hath struck the minute of return
My father promised me.
Curio The utmost diligence.
Lucretia He’s sure some wondrous guest he entertains;
His care’s so great that we provide for him 5
With infinite care, diligence, attendance;
Observance from myself and all respect
Unto a man of worth be given to him.
Giovanni Lucrece.
Lucretia Signor. 10
Giovanni As after a long voyage made at sea,
Thy father hath returned, or after victory
Hath told a history that I was dead
I’th' sea, or in some strange mould encoffined,
Reviewing but my face thy soul has skipped 15
With gladness to my eye. Meet thou this man
With such a gladsome joy.
Lucretia Sir.
Giovanni Child, I have tied unto my field of life
That which thou owest me: obedience, 20
Which give this man; ’tis his inheritance.
Galeas Oh, y’are extreme!
Giovanni But, sorrow pays no debts, nor this no dream.
Galeas Struck with amazement at this glorious sight.
Lucretia Honoured, sir. 25
Galeas [Aside to Lucretia] Bounded from head to foot in my desires!
I kiss your cheek, fair creature, and to praise
Your fairest beauty I should that dispraise,
For you are infinite! Within your eyes
Are saints to which my heart doth sacrifice. 30
Lucretia Oh, sir…
Galeas [Aside to Lucretia] Lovers coin words oft, when dissembling’s near;
You are a maid, I a man, and both have
Cause to fear their jealous parents’ ire.
Giovanni Tut, girl, here’s in this civility, 35
But hadst thou seen him in’s glittering arms,
Brandishing his sword above his soldier’s crest,
’Twould have yielded wonder and amazement, girl.
Galeas You drown me, sir, with your hyperboles;
Pray, but your sufferance for some serious breath 40
With Jacomo, my man, and I’ll attend you.
Giovanni I chide myself I not discern your thoughts,
And his, your friend and servant’s.
Galeas Jacomo,
I have a task I must impose on thee. 45
Jacomo You have power in your voice, and I’ll obey.
Galeas Couldst thou this cabinet that holds my heart
Unlock to view, thy judgement should survey
That all the conduits of my life are dry,
But this that speaks to thee.
Jacomo I’m sorry for’t. 50
Galeas Nay, that’s stopped too; if thy helping hand
To me thou hopes to gain thy being by,
Do not give help; I must beneath the earth,
And thou must bow to tread the grassy groves.
Jacomo Sir, what I must, I must. 55
Galeas Wilt thou do anything to save my life?
Jacomo Anything valour doth command;
Spit at the rack or spurn against the wheel;
Fight with the devil, or call torment bliss;
Challenge the dangerous tempest warfare brings, 60
And beat it to retreat; what’s mine is mine,
And mine, to the utmost of my soul, is yours.
Galeas Hark, thou must strike a woman for me.
Jacomo How, be your bawd?
Galeas One I must lie withall,
Or, listen, this shall strike eternal deafness 65
If denied!
Jacomo Do, do, do strike;
Is’t such a wonder to be bored to death,
When in a minute life bores out itself?
Strike, sir, strike! 70
I would not have you be more feared to kill
Than I to die; the blow once given
I shall have quiet amongst dead men’s bones;
Be hugged by angels, whilst hell laughs at you.
I am your servant and I owe you life, 75
But will not be your bawd to win the world.
Galeas I do not ask thee that.
Jacomo What would you, then? Show it.
Galeas Wilt thou be my procurer for a wife?
Jacomo If I like your choice, perhaps I will. 80
Galeas Thou shalt swear to it.
Jacomo By anything which you shall question me.
Galeas By thy religion.
Jacomo ’Tis granted.
Galeas The blow has struck his force. Art thou now mine? 85
Jacomo The centre is no more to be removed
Than is my faith, once given. But, look ye sir,
You wore a weapon to command my bosom,
And here’s the same to exact an oath from you!
Look, d’ye see, sir? 90
Galeas What dost thou seek?
Jacomo To make you good, or kill you, being ill.
Swear that you’ll marry her that I must court,
Or this shall court your bosom. I have heard
The fire of love is hot; in that pure zeal 95
Swear, or I’ll strike.
Galeas Ha.
Jacomo Speak and ye fall, unless you answer this:
The maid that I must steal, your heart shall wed.
Galeas That’s my intent. 100
Jacomo You shall not act with her defiled thoughts?
Galeas As I hope for heaven, this oath observed,
Do what your pleasure can.
He
sheathes the sword.
Jacomo You are a faithful master. I, your man,
Perform it, or one must die. I follow you.° 105
Exeunt.
Enter
Clown, with a whimwham,°
then Jacomo and Lucretia.
Lucretia Ha ha, this fellow talks words more ridiculous
Than does your talking courtier for a kiss.
Jacomo A knight’s like your baffoons, or like your whelps;
They hop from lip to lip, yet in your bed
Afford ’em play from want of company. 5
Lucretia Is’t possible that any man whose feet
Hath trod the ascent
Of honour’s stairs, even to the highest top,
Should bear his thoughts to love civility?
Jacomo You’ll say as doth my master. 10
Lucretia A man who, in the field, by power of sword,
Commanded thousands to attend on him,
And when his eye but wheeled itself about
All his whole armies were led by him,
But when his sword…
Jacomo Aye, mistress, when his sword 15
Unmasked the face of wrath; the daring show,
Like flashing lightning, struck amazèd fear
To the eyes of all his soldiers.
Lucretia But when he struck…
Jacomo Aye, mistress, when he struck,
Death showed his dreadful face, and trembling men 20
Struck to their mother earth for shelter.
Lucretia And thou’lt make me believe this?
Jacomo No; your fox can but believe.
Baboons bear glasses, impostered fools eat fire,
That horse runs upon the top of Paul's, 25
And cats cry 'Bacon, mistress!'°
Lucretia This is thy
Scurvy humour, soldier, now.
Jacomo Scurvy him
Whom frost and fire could never yet anape?
Whose hands have beat off flames as wind the dust?
Whose valour conquered towns, besiegèd forts 30
And trod on men as beasts do tread on grass
For food and life and humane services,
And be called scurvy?
Lucretia Prithee, soldier,
Jacomo I yet have saved virginity; kept married wives
As sacred as a temple undefiled, 35
And be called scurvy?
Lucretia Tell me but out the story of his life;
The forune of his wars, his grace at home
And I’ll believe thee all, ere thou shalt chide.
Jacomo Why make me curtsey then?
Lucretia With all observance. 40
Jacomo Why so.
The lamb’s no milder than the soldier is
When he’s pleased. Attend me, then:
The ensign of his conquest being displayed,
His armour gilded o’er with blood and dust, 45
Homeward he rid, the fortunable way,
Being sided by a thronging multitude,
And all the ground whereon his horse did pace,
Being hallowed by prayers and wonderment
When thronging people stood, pinned to each other’s cheeks, 50
And every tongue cried ‘Fortunate young man,
Blessed be the womb brought forth that face for us
To gaze upon!’ Near to the city gates
Saluted him the beauties of the dukedom,
Whose sparkling eyes drew admiration from 55
The eyes of all men but from him. The Duke,
When he in duty offered him his knee,
A kiss upheaved him, and, his princely arms
Buckling his soldier’s sides, said ‘Fortunate sir,
These knees to me no duty shall resign’. 60
Now you’ll no more believe all this
Than that he loves you.
Lucretia Oh, such a man, found in the spacious world,
My heart and knee would bow to.
Jacomo What said you, mistress?
Lucretia Oh, such a man, found in the spacious world, 65
My heart and knee should bow to.
Jacomo And all your love, fair beauty?
Lucretia All that’s mine.
Jacomo Observe me, then; posts we have ready laid to
Bear you hence.
Lucretia Me? 70
Jacomo Chaste beauty, you.
Lucretia By thy religious faith to heav’n and men;
By reverence thou ow’st to agèd years,
Such as my father wears -
Jacomo Tush, my oath hath made an armoury ’gainst tears; 75
Now the rape’s made!
He
seizes her.
Lucretia Help! Help! Help!
Jacomo And yet a marriage glove,
Whose seams are sewed with riches, honour, love,
Which all the world would wed to.° 80
Exeunt.
Giovanni Now sir, report that honesty pays debts
Before a full exchequer, of purse crammed.
Now, sir, our accounts are even.
Galeas [Aside] I would they were; I’m now in debt to him
Against all honesty, wit, fear or conscience; 5
I have enforced a richer treasure from him
Than Parma’s custom comes to by the year!
What a thief have I been to this true man.
Giovanni Our accounts summed and reckonings discharged
Should make us merry, but methinks y’are sad; 10
Do but consort° me to my house; my cellar
Yields a Spanish grape untouched, noble soldier,
Or warlike merchant, choose which name you please,
Take this of me: let’s, while we live, be merry,
For sorrow pays no owings. That honest knave, 15
Your man, I miss him too.
Galeas Posted before
To inform my mother of my quick despatch.
Giovanni There’s, in needs must, no law;
Men that want money can pay no debts.
I pray, sir, commend me to that good old lady; 20
First my love, and next my commends;
I need not teach you the words. Farewell,
I’ll in and see my daughter.
Galeas And, missing such a precious wealth, run mad.
What father of so rich a wealth possessed, 25
And, at an instant, beggar, could do less?
What’s my offence, theft, piracy or rape,
Or all these black, facinorous° acts in one?
Robbers and thieves have ever spared their friends,
’Gainst whom I only trespass! Monster Galeas, 30
That hast rebelled against the laws of nature,
The laws of hospitality and nations!
But love has don’t; O, the strong power of love,
And that, if any, be my just excuse.
But I forget the father’s hue and cry° 35
Of this, my, what is’t, more than felony,
Will be on foot before I take my horse.
I’ll shun his frightful clamours, which I know
Will shake a rock of marble; good old man, I
Will have to pity, but want power to aid. 40
Was never friend thus, by a friend, betrayed.
Lodowick Slave of all slaves, to me most ominous,
Was this discreetly managed?
Clown Why, your grace knows, I was never brought up to the misery of wenching; had you employed me in anything I had been practised in, I could have hit it in the right cue, as eating and drinking and things, 5 but for your wenching; you that best know what belongs to it, go
about it yourself.
Lodowick Why thou couldst not keep thyself from being known?
Clown Grown to these years, and to make a mole on me now.
Lodowick And then the tell-tale, to discover me 10
Unto the duke, in whose suspicious thoughts
I stand disgraced, she lastingly confined.
Clown And I put into a terrible fear of whipping. Everything goes ill on
our sides!
Lodowick Thou, that hast hindered all, help me now. 15
Clown I was never porter to help at a dead lift.
Lodowick Hast thou no brain at all?
Clown Not so much as in a buzzard; of all the deaths my wit gives me,
I shall never be in danger of braining!
Lodowick Thy want of wit hath made me past my sense! 20
Here’s like to be a counsel sweetly called
Betwixt a fool and a madman for my head.
I have been diverse times told I might have been
A counsellor, but here comes one of more
Gravity; deal with him. 25
Woodman My suit’s to you, my lord.
Lodowick Father, to me.
Woodman I never yet had aim at such a son;
Then do not call me father.
Clown Then good son, or godson, freely speak thy mind.
Woodman You have undone me; robbed me of a child, 30
My dearest child.
Lodowick Impose not that on me,
Wherein I trespassed most unwillingly.
Clown You are deceived, sir, we have lost no child. She’s safe enough.
Woodman Unsafe in her most safety; she’s now sick,
And ready for the grave.
Lodowick Now by my royalty, 35
Hope of succession, and what honours else
The world may, in fit time, bestow on me,
I greatly her lament, much pity thee.
Woodman Pity’s no help; by you the sickness came,
And you must study to relieve the same. 40
Lodowick Teach me the means; I’ll do it.
Woodman I come not now to sue° for her release,
Only I plead to have a living daughter;
Rather prisoner to stony walls than to a grave;
There’s hope in those, but in the other none. 45
Gracious prince, beg of the duke this for me.
Lodowick Why, this is granted by the duke himself.
Woodman Spared from one death to suffer by another.
Lodowick Attend, and I’ll solicit for thee.
Duke So now we are at rest; our son and daughter
Seem quite to have abjured their foolish love
And study reformation; you in special, Laura,
Whose changes of passions we do much commend.
Laura Alas, my Lord, that love was but a foolish burden, and I had the wit 5
to shake it off. A man, why, what’s one man more than another but
to fill number? I now esteem them all alike, and, indeed, excepting
whom I must except,° your grace, not one good amongst them.
Duke Now speaks my daughter to her father's mind,
And as he would instruct her were she now 10
Rapt in her first obstinate errors.
Laura Me, a husband? Not four and twenty team of horse and oxen can
draw me to the motion! I can describe the misery of a wife; if we
be fair they think us false, if witty wanton, if merry light, if sad sour,
if curious cunning, if not over-wise wearisome; if we speak they say 15
we scold, be we silent we are sullen; a husband, Marshal?
Marshal Good princess, now she pleases!
Duke For this change,
Ask anything within Piacenza 's gift;
’Tis thine as we are royal.
Laura Say ye so, sir?
Then to confirm me better in your thought, 20
I am so far from begging a release for Jaspero,
That here I crave his lasting banishment.
I would not breathe the air that he resides,
Nor live where he has being.
Duke Should we deny this,
We were no father.
Marshal Grant it, good my liege; 25
I rather wish him spend his time abroad,
In travel and experience of the world,
Than live at home in discontented bonds,
Void of all earthly comfort.
Duke Take our signet and see him straight discharged. 30
To enter here without our free consent
Is most disgraceful death.
Laura Then happy me;
This if I see not to the full performed,
Disclaim me for thy daughter.
Woodman Gracious liege, peruse this small petition. 35
Duke What contains it?
Woodman That the contents will, at the full, illustrate;
A father’s pleading for a daughter’s life.
Duke You here pretend the virgin late fall’n sick,
In extreme danger of a fearful death. 40
You would have leave to visit her; there
May be danger in’t.
Woodman I’ll bind myself in body, life and goods;
My suit’s just and honest.
Duke Next that° some doctor of our best trust 45
May take charge of her health,
There’s nothing can be motioned for her good
But fills us with distaste.
Lodowick It were not royal, with pardon, of your highness
Not to yield to this, so just a motion. Will you 50
Bestow a life and take’t away again? Where
You not help you mainly hinder, where you
Not save you murder and destroy!
Marshal The prince speaks sense, my lord.
Duke Thy counsels are
Discreet, and have none° of that edge of violence 55
Which was too sharp against her. Th’ast° leave
To visit thy sick daughter; we’ll appoint
One of our trustiest artists to study for her health,
But her release no suit shall ever gain.
Woodman I beg it not; thanks, gracious sovereign; 60
Thanks, noble prince, live ever blessed.
Duke What, is your friend despatched for banishment?
Laura My friend, my lord? None can deserve that name
From Laura but that rivals her in birth,
Or equals her in state. He that is less, 65
We hold him enemy, as to our royalty
One most opposed.
Duke While thou art such, thou art for ever ours.
What, is he past the city?
Laura Quite discharged.
Duke That fear’s, then, passed;° the other to prevent. 70
Marshal, provide a strict and careful watch
Placed on both sides the bridge that gives entrance
Into the castle, where she lies enclosed.
If any but the woodman have access,
And that, our trustiest artist, we’ll ascribe it 75
To thy neglect of duty.
Marshal Royal sir,
Argus himself had not more eyes about him,
Nor, without music,° less inclined to sleep.
Then I’ll employ in her safe custody;
You know my faith. 80
Duke And we build upon’t.
What’s he?
Laura Sure, some Virginia stranger,
Or remoted Indian fall’n upon these coasts!
Duke Question him, Marshal!
Marshal Sir, you seem a stranger,
What’s your business in Piacenza’s court? 85
Would you sojourn in these parts of Christendom?
Jaspero Sib, a re, Crib a re, bunck a me tod, lethe, tu: hoc vnge, hungarion siped ley:
Duke What’s that he says?
Marshal Greek, he speaks Greek, my lord; what language soever ’tis, ’tis 90 Greek to me, I’m sure!
Duke Command him nearer.
Marshal
urges Jaspero towards Duke.
Friend, what business wouldst thou be employed in?
Jaspero Quisquim Kin, bolsanin Kin.
Marshal My lord, I understand his action better than his speech; I take it he 95
would serve your grace, would’st not, friend?
Jaspero Ya far boone Mariscall.
Marshal But entertain him not, good my lord, he
Calls me rascal!
Duke Sure, you mistake him; ’tis his kind of speech. 100
Laura If’t please you not to accept his service,
Bestow him, sir, I do entreat, on me;
I’ll make him of my train; he may, in time, 105
Perfect another language.
Duke Take him to thee.
Wert thou, as I not fear, deprived of modesty,
I dare securely trust thee with that face.
Sirra, attend the princess; Marshal, your charge,
And be’t, henceforth, we may your cares commend, 110
And, be’t your pride, in you our fears have end.
Exeunt.
Scene ii
Enter
Jacomo and Lucretia.
Jacomo You are not weary?
Lucretia I must not say so.
Jacomo But yet y’are so.
Lucretia Where are we now?
Jacomo Where you must be, and be most nobly welcome.
This is Piacenza, and this house the place
Where you must be, as in a labyrinth; 5
Safe and unseen to any but myself,
And those I give in charge to give attendance.
Lucretia Thanks, but I must conjure ye, Jacomo;
Whisper not Lucrece’s name; fame’s quick of hearing
And loud of tongue; ’tis ten to one my father 10
Is straggling hither like a man distracted
To find me out.
Jacomo Tut, he cannot find ye
If you but take reciprocal advice
To charm your tongue as you bid me charm mine;
Keep in your clapdish,° let’s have no enquiring 15
What men and who the properest in Piacenza.
No open casement to let beauty out;
To call in custom or exchange kind looks.
Curtain your chamber like a cloistered cell;
Collatine had a Lucrece would have done’t.° 20
Lucretia And Galeas hath a Lucrece that will do’t.
Exit
Lucretia.
Jacomo In, then. I’ll not be long, Lord Galeas, I wonder his hot love’s not at our heels.
Enter
Galeas.
Galeas Ha, Jacomo. My love?
Jacomo She’s still your love.
Galeas But where bestowed, and how provided for? 25
Jacomo I’th mew, I’th mew; marry she’s full sum’d° and
Ready to be drawn,° even when you please.
Galeas No, Jacomo; remove her by no means.
I hear the churl her father’s° newly lighted
To inform the Duke and to make privy search, 30
And threatens me.
Jacomo ’Twere best you get you gone
To keep out of suspicion till he’s gone;
Then to your love may securely come.
Galeas And so I will go. Get thee to my Lucrece,
And say by thee, I send to her my heart. 35
Jacomo And you live heartless?
Galeas Lovers can live so,
And ’tis no miracle. Go, prithee, go.
Exit
Jacomo; Enter Leonora.
Leonora Welcome from Parma, my dear Galeas.
Galeas Madam, my duty.
Leonora Met you with your merchant?
Galeas Yes, and was meet° with him.
Leonora How mean you that, son? 40
Galeas Why, did you not send me to be meet with him?
Leonora Then you were at his house?
Galeas Where I was bold,
I can assure ye; I was my own carver.°
Leonora He bade you fairly welcome?
Galeas Wondrous fair.
Leonora And used you kindly?
Galeas Oh, the kindest wretch, 45
And bears the truest, exemplary name
Of fair and chaste in all the world again.
Leonora Boy, art thou well? Thou lookst and talkst so wildly,
And all thy answers so impertinent!
The money, man, hast thou received the money? 50
Galeas Paid to a penny with fair interest,
And that I’ll keep.
Leonora That and the principal;
’Tis all thy own, and all thy mother has.
But art thou well, boy?
Galeas Yes, madam, but somewhat weary. My horse 55
Seat’s hard; I had a simple journey on’t,
I rode in post° from Parma hither.
Leonora Go and take rest.
Galeas I go not to take rest°
Till I may free embrace where I love best.
Exit
Galeas; Enter Giovanni.
Giovanni [To offstage] Not speak with her? Sir, but I must and will! 60
[To Leonora]Are you not Leonora?
Leonora Sir, that’s my name.
Giovanni You have thy son?
Leonora I thank my stars, I have.
Giovanni He was at Parma.
Leonora True, sir, I sent him thither.
Giovanni And is a villain.
Leonora But that I know thee well
A man whom my late husband much conversed with - 65
Giovanni Your husband was a noble gentleman,
But, let me tell you, he has a knave to his son.
Leonora Thou art privileged for my late husband’s love,
Else thy bad tongue, bad man, would be thy bane!
Giovanni I say thou hast a son.
Leonora I don’t deny it. 70
Giovanni And I have a daughter.
Leonora In good time, sir.
Giovanni I lie; I had a daughter.
Leonora What’s all this, sir?
Giovanni Why, that my daughter, that same son of thine,
Who, in my house, I kindly entertained,
Discharged my debts to the utmost farthing; 75
Yet this same daughter, that same son of thine,
Against all rules of hospitality,
And clean contrary to humanity,
Hath ravished, stol’n, conveyed I know not where!
Leonora He, steal thy daughter? He convey her? Dotard!° 80
Too well my son doth understand his birth
To match in such disparity of blood.
Who ever knew the eagle catch at fleas,
The lion seize upon a silly mouse?
Giovanni S’death! There’s no such inequality 85
Nor proportion ’twixt our bloods and births!
But where’s thy son, that ravisher?
Leonora Thou liest!
Giovanni Where is he? Bring us face to face, he
Cannot have the face to say I lie! Do so or
I’ll to the duke, if there be law. 90
Leonora Within there, ho! One take this madman hence!
Giovanni She and her son, there is no simple rule,
Have made of me a madman and a fool.
Enter
guards.
Leonora Out a’doors with him!
Giovanni I’ll to the duke and vow, if law will do it, 95
To be revenged; thou and thy son shall rue it!
Exit
guards with Giovanni.
Leonora I am afraid my boy has been to blame.
Rest and dull peace beget adulterate thoughts; 100
If his be such I would he had placed ’em higher.
But I must sound this doubt, yet whether sift° my
Son or sound his servant, there lies the question.
I’ll to Jacomo;°
Though from his master nothing can decline him, 105
It shall go hard but I will undermine him.
Exit.
Scene iii
Enter
Marshal with watchmen.
Marshal Come on, my masters, you know your charge; saving the doctor and the ranger, which well you may distinguish by their habits, let no man pass.
Watchman 1 If any man pass her they had better pass the pikes!°
Watchman 2 We’ll show ’em bills° of our hands to their contrary!
Marshal Egress and regress we to them allow. 5
Watchman 3 We’ll charge with ’em, nay, we’ll discharge upon them for making any passage this way!
Marshal The night grows old, and my attendance on the duke must not be wanting. Be careful and remain respective in our favour.
Exit Marshal.
Watchman 4 I warrant ye, my lord. D’ye hear, my masters? We are to 10 stay, comprehend, and retach all vagrum men that shall set foot
upon this bridge this night, more than the doctor and the ranger.
Watchman 3 True neighbour.
Enter
Lodowick, Clown and Galeas, all disguised, to the side.
Lodowick What, am I fitted well?
Clown Excellently, master; on this side ye look like a man of art, and on this 15 like a madman!°
Lodowick How like a madman?
Clown Like a woodman, I should say.
Galeas Are we well fitted for watchmen?
Clown Rarely; I’m as perfect in the part of a watchman as he that has 20 served seven year prentice for 3d a night to a bill and lantern!
Lodowick Well, you two, shift in amongst ’em. O noble Galeas, this plot was thine; if I speed well, be thine the praise.
Galeas We are gone, my lord.
Lodowick Away! 25
Galeas
and Clown approach the watchmen.
Galeas [Aside to Clown] You know your cue?
Clown [Aside to Galeas] Or else I’ll give you leave to eat me.
[Aloud] How now, neighbours!
Watchman 1 Stand, who goes there?
Clown A friend, a friend; the Marshal sent us to resist° ye here in the 30 watch.
Watchman 2 Oh, welcome, welcome, seat yourselves.
Lodowick
approaches footbridge, towards the castle.
Lodowick Hum hum him.
Watchmen Who goes there?
Clown The doctor; let him pass, he’s free at all hours. 35
Lodowick Hum hum.
Galeas Stand! Oh, ’tis the ranger; my masters, he’s free.
Lodowick [Aside to Galeas] May my return as prosperous prove, and then
I shall applaud thee, Galeas.
Clown D’ye hear, my masters? Methinks the wind blows very cold on 40
this side; would you would change places with us for an hour or
two?
Watchman 1 Let’s accept the motion, neighbours, for I do hold this to be the
colder side!
Clown Come on, neighbours. 45
They
swap to opposite side of the bridge.
Enter
Lodowick and Isabella, to the side.
Lodowick Here seat thee, love, before the castle gate; out I have brought thee,
now could we but ’scape these.
Isabella Oh, that’s impossible!
Lodowick Nothing is impossible, my love! Stay here till I relieve you.
Isabella I’m yours, fair prince, wholly and solely. 50
Lodowick
approaches footbridge, away from the castle.
Lodowick Hum hum.
Clown Who goes there? Oh, ’tis the doctor has been casting of the maid’s
water. Let him pass.
Lodowick Hum hum.
Galeas Who goes there? 55
Lodowick A friend, a friend.
Galeas The ranger’s come back again.
Lodowick Goodnight, my friends.
Watchman 2 Goodnight, honest ranger.
Clown D’ye hear my masters, you on t’other side the way; how many has 60 passed by since we set the watch?
[Aside to his watchmen] I would laugh if° they could not tell!
Galeas That’s an easy question; none but the ranger.°
Clown Ha ha ha ha! None but the doctor, they° would say!
Galeas Doctor, what doctor? 65
Watchman 3 Why, none but the doctor passed by here.
Watchman 2 We say none but the ranger!
Clown We say none but the doctor!
Watchman 4 The doctor? He lies in’s throat that says any doctor went by here!
Clown How lies? Down with ’em! 70
Galeas Down with ’em, down with ’em!
Watchmen
fight. Exit Galeas and Clown, leaving their disguises.
Enter
Marshal.
Marshal How now, what stirs this part, knaves?
Watchman 2 We say the doctor!
Watchman 3 The doctor? Again! Down with ’em!
Marshal Part, knaves, on your allegiance! What Doctor, what ranger? 75
Watchman 2 We say the doctor and none but he!
Watchman 3 We the doctor and none but he!°
Enter
Duke.
Duke What uproar’s this, which frights us from our rest
And fills this place with tumult?
Marshal A strange quarrel; 80
These men affirm the doctor passed the bridge,
And none but he; these that the ranger did,
And none but he, in arguing about which,
They fell to blows.
Duke Some plot to free the prisoner and cheat us.
Marshal, go see if she be safe in hold, 85
And know if Lodowick can be found in court.
Marshal I shall do both, my lord.
Exit
Marshal.
Watchman 4 We have peppered some of ’em; here’s two of ’em, in Erebus° by
this time, own these bills and gowns.
Duke Ha, habits!° More then known; the party’s fled. 90
It hath begot new fear and greater doubt.
Enter
Marshal.
Marshal, how’s all within?
Marshal My lord, I found the prison doors wide ope;
The virgin fled!
Duke Is Lodowick to be found in court?
Marshal We made search, but he’s nowhere to be found. 95
Duke A plot to free the prisoner and cheat us!
Marshal [To watchmen] Villains! Was this the charge I imposed on you?
Is this your care and trust?
Duke Condemn not them, for, by such subtleties,
We, in our height of care, may be o’er reached;° 100
Though we should take the charge upon ourselves
But shall they ’scape us thus.
Marshal Best send posts after
Them, and ransack every place to find them out.
Duke It shall be so, and what is here begot
Shall stand immoved. Marshal, take you the manage 105
Of the state; the ranger summon hither,
And, for known causes formerly decreed,
Detain him prisoner. If them we take, they bleed.
Exeunt.
Scene iv
Enter
Leonora.
Leonora He’s in love, sure; would I surely knew the
Beauteous object of his heart; but lovers can,
Proteus°like, put on such various shapes
As shall delude the wisest. The old fox,
Lucretia’s father, notwithstanding all 5
His subtle windings, did I send so far
As my firm thoughts suggest; yet it may be
No other than a settled melancholy
Grounded on this: that, from a noble soldier,
He’s turned a civil merchant bootless. ’Tis 10
To make these sad enigmas to myself
Which only Jacomo can best resolve,
And here he comes.
Enter
Jacomo.
Morrow, Jacomo.
Jacomo My duty, lady.
Leonora Where’s your master?
Jacomo Abroad i’th city, lady. 15
Leonora Y’are deceived. He’s there.
Shows
him a purse of gold.
Jacomo Here?
Leonora There.
Jacomo My master?
Leonora Your master. 20
Jacomo In this purse?
Leonora In that gold.
Jacomo He?
Leonora Yes, or his heart, sir. I must find it there,
And you must needs present it to my view; 25
Do’t: the gold’s thine, and my heart to boot.
Thy answer, Jacomo.
Jacomo My master’s heart?
Leonora Look, sir, dally not; if ye do, I have tricks
Old Machiavelli,° the Florentine, taught me
Shall stop your wind pipe straight.° 30
Jacomo Tell me of tricks, lady, unriddle me;
Make yourself plain, what would you have me do?
Leonora Show me your master’s heart.
Jacomo I cannot, lady; If I could, I would not.
You only this propose but to make trial of 35
That which he’d not question: my true faith.
My master’s heart; Oh, madam, ’tis a dear,°
A dear so precious that all the golden arrows
In the world shall never wound so long as
I can shield it; my master’s heart. Madam, I vow 40
By heaven; command what may not concern
His life: ’tis yours at the first syllable.
Leonora Keep the gold on that condition, but make good
Thy oath. I’ll study thy preferment; come, be
Plain: who loves your master? 45
Jacomo Who loves him, lady? That’s easily answered:
You love him, lady; I and all the world
That honest are. Save villains, none can hate him.
Is there no way to redeem’t?
Leonora Yes, by confession.
Jacomo But I have sworn… 50
Leonora That anything which not concerns his life
Thou freely wilt lay open.
Jacomo Then freely take it: he loves Lucretia.
Leonora The old man’s daughter?
Jacomo The same. 55
Leonora Why, then, I have my fears, which made me think
To wind about thy faith. By circumstance
Thou hast now given me thy master’s heart;
Who knows the heart does not the same heart possess?
Jacomo [Aside] I think the devil that first spake i’th' serpent° 60
To tempt the woman did now speak in the woman
To tempt me subtlely!
Leonora Jacomo, this but the bark and outside
Of the business; the sap is yet untasted.°
Think’st thou Lucretia, the old dotard’s daughter, 65
A match worthy thy master? Or would it
Grieve thee to have him leave her, and, by taking
One at my direction, to see him grafted
Into a noble stock? To match below,
’Tis under nature; but who looks above her, 70
He lifts his birth by a more eminent lover.
Jacomo You touch me deeply; now I well consider
Lucretia’s father never bad goodmorrow
On equal terms to my old master! Lady,
What would you have me do in this? 75
Leonora Yield me thy assistance
To prosecute what I have firmly plotted.
Jacomo If for the advancement of my master’s love,
I’ll fly through all the management as speedily
As you’ll desire; come to the purpose, lady. 80
Leonora Thou hast lodged Lucretia somewhere privately?
Jacomo I have.
Leonora Whereabout?
Jacomo Here in this house.
Leonora And dost expect him here to visit her?
Jacomo Instantly.
Leonora Fly, good Jacomo. Bear her hence; convey her
To the next monastery, where I’ll conceal 85
Her from thy dear master. Fly, good Jacomo!
Jacomo I’m gone, lady.
Exit
Jacomo.
Leonora The coals of his hot love thus being quenched
By her obscurity, I shall perceive
How his affections stand, and with more ease, 90
If greater flames begin, their rage appease,
When, Jacomo, shall I not be delivered?
Away with her, Jacomo. So
Thus dangers, well foreseen, are soon prevented;
Lucretia’s beauty, nor her ravishing tongue, 95
Shall not so play the siren as to charm my
Galeas faster to her. Then, this brain
Hath power to loose again; when women fling
Their wits toward the invention of a thing,
They still effect it. For witty writers say: 100
Women divert things ill to a good way.
Exit.
Act IV
Scene i
Enter
Lodowick, Isabella and Clown.
Lodowick Sweet, we are past some dangers, but not all.
Your prison I have changed to liberty,
Although your freedom have respect to fear.
Isabella Oh sir, your father is severe and harsh;
Should he surprise us, ’twere beyond pardon; 5
I should no more enjoy your wishèd sight,
Nor you my being.
Clown Nay sir, if once your father hear of us, there will be no more
left of me, a bare servingman, but my livery; the rest is forfeit to
the halter° or the whipping post! 10
Lodowick Sirrah, post you to the neighbouring villages,
Thence bring such victuals as the place affords.
Clown I warrant ye, sir, I’ll bring ye flesh to a hair and poultry to a
feather. Shall I bring no wine?
Isabella Oh, yes, in any case, but make quick speed, 15
For we grow faint with travel.
Clown I hope you are not so near travail but you may stay till I come
back again! If ye be, my master has played the part of a man; for
my own part, I travail too; marry, ’tis upon a hungry stomach, and
long to be delivered on’t. The very thought makes me, I’m gone! 20
Exit
Clown.
Lodowick Now sit, fair love, and let us freely take
That which the prison obdurately denied;
That’s sight of thee.
They kiss.
Never did nymph so beautify a grove;
Venus, in her full pride, when Paris first 25
Beheld her in the Idaean mount,
Looked not so lovely.° Had I come by chance,
And found you, fairest in these leafy groves,
A javelin in this hand, in that a bow,
A baldric° ’thwart° thy shoulders, at thy back 30
A golden quiver full of feathered shafts,
I should have took thee for the queen of maids,
Diana, bright Diana.°
Isabella Oh, you flatter, sir,
But had I passed these shadows unawares,
And spied you like a huntsman clad in green, 35
I should have thought of young Hippolytus,
Whom Phaedra, in her fire of love, pursued,°
Or young Adonis, when he laid his head
On Venus’s lap on the mount Helicon,
Where, pillowèd, she kissed him oft to sleep, 40
Apparelled like a woodman.°
Lodowick How came ye
By all this reading, gentle love? Forcèd
Leisure bred it in you, I’m sure, nor could
So base a lodge be dignified to foster
Such rare beauty.
Isabella Oh, my lord, my father 45
Was not altogether so basely bred
As he appears, but born to better means,
And I was entered in his first estate.
Lodowick Of this we’ll more hereafter; in the meantime,
I love thee, Isabella. 50
They
kiss. Enter Duke, disguised.
Duke [Aside] By strict enquiry I have backed their steps
Even to the forest side; by the break of day
I met a man that just described them to me;
The rather I think ’twas they because they leave
The beaten way and tread untrodden paths. 55
Oh, see where they are; had I weapons now
Would I pierce them through.They shall not ’scape me.
And, to surprise ’em!
He
moves to surprise them, but hesitates.
The boy is armed, and may, in this disguise,
Lay violent hands upon me, though his father; 60
He that would break his love and loyalty,
Why should I trust his spleen? Help me, disguise,
If this transhape my body, for my voice:
I have art to alter that. I’ll board ’em
Presently [Aloud] Bless ye, fair pair of creatures. 65
Lodowick Rise, fair love, we are betrayed; but do not
Fear surprise, I’ll guard thee from all danger.
Draws
sword.
Isabella His salute
Has chased away my blood and frighted me
So that my heart still trembles!
Duke Nay, fair pair! 70
Be not affrighted at the benisons°
Of one that’s old and lame, bearing no arms
Save orisons° and this to prop me up!
Pray tell me, are you of these neighbour villages?
Lodowick
sheathes his sword.
Lodowick Why ask ye, father? 75
Duke Marry, because ’tis strange to see a couple
Of your fair persons, habits, private, alone;
By'rlady,° should some see it they’d suspect
Your purposes were scarce honest.
Lodowick They should much mistake us then, but I hope 80
Your censure° will be much more charitable.
Duke I’ll think as you would have me.
Lodowick Pray, sir, is your dwelling nigh?
Duke At the next cote.°
Lodowick And what cause drew you hither? 85
Duke I’ll tell ye, sir. I had a young wild colt,
A young indeed, whom I did foster up
In my own house. A fair beast was he, marry,
Aye, and I can tell ye of the best breed
In all the town. Only he had one fault; 90
He was too headstrong. Though I tendered him
Above all other cattle, suffered him
To do no labour, but have liberty,
He, not withstanding all my love and care,
Hath, with a neighbour's filly, wantonly 95
Broke out of my grounds and left me. Saw ye none
Such?
Isabella No, I’ll assure ye.
Duke They have so vexed me.
Lodowick ’Las,° they do their kind;
The fault is in the liberty, not them. 100
Duke But if I can catch ’em…
Lodowick What then?
Duke I’d cut off their heads!
Lodowick Oh, that were tyranny,
For, being beasts, they are not capable
Of reason, such as is infused in man! 105
Duke I care not, I should do’t.
Lodowick Well, leaving this, what’s the best news abroad?
Duke Oh sir, ’tis rumoured that the prince is fled
From the court with the woodman’s daughter.
Lodowick [Aside] 'Sdeath! Is that talked of here? 110
Duke At which the Duke’s so mightily incensed
That he hath sworn , by all his royalties,
If he can catch ’em they both shall die for’t,
And this, his vowed revenge, no prayers nor tears
Can alter. 115
Isabella [To Lodowick]My lord, what shall we do? These habits are
Not safe; if we be took, we die.
Lodowick [Aside to Isabella] ’Tis well advised, but show no signs of fear.
[Aloud] Father, wilt thou change habits with a gentleman
That, for some reasons, would live obscured? 120
This cloak I’ll give thee for thy gown,
This hat for thine, aye, and some gold to boot.
Duke Pray mock me not, though I be old and poor.
Lodowick I protest, father, I speak seriously.
Duke Say so, sir, marry, with all my heart, sure 125
I rose betime and said my prayers with zeal
This morning to light on such good hap!
How shall I strut it to my neighbours, by then
Will not know me! Who can say I’m old,
This habit has infused fresh blood into me! 130
Had I but a sword I soon should talk of valour;
Sir, let me have that and all.
Lodowick What, my sword? No, friend, I’ll not part with my sword.
Duke Nay, then, ’tis no match. I shall not show a
Gallant to the life without a sword, ha. 135
Lodowick No, friend, not my sword, by no means.
Duke Then give me back my hat and gown again.
Lodowick Ha!
Duke Or else I’ll follow ye to the village
And say ye robbed me; I’ll be complete or 140
not at all.
Isabella Prithee, sweet, give’t him; we have
No use for steel.
Lodowick At thy request he shall have’t;
Here, fellow, take my sword.
He
gives him the sword.
I’m loath to part with it, I tell thee; ’twas
My father’s, and he loved it dearly. 145
Duke I love’t the better!
Lodowick Now, Isabella, fear not; this disguise
Will keep us from all danger.
Duke Now know your stol’n
Sword is in his hand yet owns it, and knows
Best to your ruins, not his own, to use it! 150
Now my strayed colt and filly have I found,
I’ll prove the faithful master of my word;
Off shall your heads! Nay, spare your knee;
Your legs owe him more service.
Isabella Spare his life,
And let the justice of the law take mine. 155
Lodowick Dispense with her, whose guilt’s no more than truth,
And make mine capital ransom.
Duke If that in beasts
That have nor sense nor reason, this be punishable,
What is’t in human creatures? Your own tongues
Shall be your sentences; rise, and get on with mildness 160
And with patience, or, degenerate to us, here shall see
Leave her blood and breathless body to the rapine
Wolves and tigers. We’ll first begin with her, and
After, deal with thee.
Lodowick You deal with me, sir, upon advantages, 165
Else, remembering her, I should forget
I had a father here, and tug with you
For mastery.
Duke Go, get you on! Yet stay…
Enter
Clown.
Clown I can neither get pig, goose nor capon° for my lord, nor for my lady.
Here’s a savoury crust for myself, and a piece of beef, as good as 170
e’er catched cold and was stuffed with parsley; but what an ass was
I to forget mustard and vinegar; I must back again.
Duke [Aside] Here’s another traitor. I must have him in the
Compass of my drove.
Clown Yet now I remember myself, for want of other sauce hunger must 175
serve, yonder walks my master; little does he know what news I
heard in the village. There’s rods in piss for somebody!
Duke Well, sir, what’s the best news?
Clown Such news, that if we get not quickly out of the dukedom, we shall
be peppered° I’faith; your father swears by nothing but noblemen 180
and courtiers that he’ll powder° us; aye, when he can catch us!
Master, be ruled by me; here we will live as merry as the day’s long
in the country, and laugh at the old fool, your father, whilst he frets
his heart out in the court! Look ye, sir, here’s a piece of beef, I durst undertake, and’t were a neat’s tongue° ’twould say “come eat me”! 185
Then, here’s a bottle of sack,° ten times better that that we had for
mistress Isabell when we met with your father! Troth, now I think
on’t I cannot choose but laugh to think what an ass we made on him
t’other day!
Duke How, how, I prithee? 190
Clown Why, when you went half like a doctor and half like a woodman,
and that night did I set the watch together, and then you know you
stole the lady out of prison. As wise as your father takes himself to
be, I made a gull on him that night!
Duke A precious villain! Sirrah, d’ye know me? 195
Clown Oh, lord! Now will I give my head for hanging; any man that will
take the pains shall have’t for his labour! Oh master, how came you in
this case?
Duke Well, sirrah, does all this villainy rest in you.
Get you on together; he dies that steps aside. 200
Clown Oh, old Jeronimo, now do
I think on thee when thou was alive;
Needs must they go, which the devil drive.
Exeunt.
Scene ii
Enter
Galeas and Jacomo.
Galeas Gone, sayest thou? ’Tis not possible! What’s he
Draws breath dares rob, or rival Galeas in
His love?
Jacomo What’s he? Nay, a whole company
’Tis said like ruffins° came and hurried her.
Galeas To Hell! Has Pluto yet more marrow left? 5
But, ere my Lucrece be his Proserpine,
I’ll make all Tartary too hot for him!°
Jacomo So you may have hot doings?
Galeas Why not I?
Why not as well as Hercules to hell?°
Jacomo Rather, as Orpheus, you could harp so well, 10
And better hope of bringing back your love,
But she’s not there.°
Galeas A company, said’st thou?
What company so saucy to intrude
On my fair purchase? Was not my great name
Enough to scare ’em and secure my Lucrece? 15
Jacomo Yes, very likely, had they known her yours.
Galeas Oh, Jacomo, that we two had been there,
And they had been a region!° Thou know’st
I have encountered with no simple odds
And gone untouched. Even for my Lucrece’s sake 20
I would have ventured through a field of pikes,°
And passed a troop of best resolvèd spirits
To disengage her from an host of men,
But they are villains contemptible and base!
Jacomo For ought you know, they may be gentlemen. 25
Galeas For all I know too, thou may’st be a villain,
And my false friend and their confederate!
Jacomo Have you had so long trial of my truth,
And now grow jealous of your Jacomo?
Galeas Why shouldst thou, then, have the least thought 30
That they were men yet wronged thy master so,
Much less of gentle blood!
Jacomo I have been yours.
Galeas Thou hast been hitherto.
Jacomo And ever shall.
Galeas But thou to see me angry and then add
Unto my colour?°
Jacomo Ill done, I confess. 35
Galeas Have no good thought, much less good word, of such.
Jacomo The worst they shall be, sure.
Galeas That’s some revenge;
Though they have ’scaped the rigour of our swords,
Let ’em not ’scape the rancour of our words!
Let’s rail at ’em an hour together! 40
Jacomo Sir, till tomorrow morning, if you please!
Galeas Such cozening caitiffs,° close cunning slaves!
Jacomo Barbarous, base begotten, busy knaves!
Galeas Nay, for the letter, miscreants misbegot
Thus to contrive!
Jacomo Worse to achieve their plot! 45
Galeas ’Twas a deed of darkness!
Jacomo ’Twas a work of hell’s!
Galeas For Jews!
Jacomo Turks!
Galeas Pagans! 50
Jacomo And infidels. You rail at ’em, let me put
A dog trick on ’em and rattle ’em a little.
Galeas Do, good Jacomo.
Jacomo Rapscallion rascals, ragamuffins, rinnagadoes,
You riffraffrorers; had we met with you 55
You should have felt our thick thwack terlery bounce!°
Galeas Bravely discharged!
Jacomo [Aside] But gave no good report;
Thus must I, to sooth his humour,
Confess, against all reason, truth and right,
The swan’s a crow and say the crow is white. 60
[Aloud] Leave, leave to rail; this gets me no relief.
Galeas I had thought to have chid° some part of grief,
And it will not be; no, I must be mad.
Jacomo See, his mother.
Enter
Leonora.
Leonora Troth, I was to blame 65
To take the old man up so short, good man.
He had cause to do’t; but one only daughter,
And all the hope of his surviving blood,
And that bereft him. ’Twas not for nothing;
My son so slightly answered the other day 70
His mind was carried quite another way.
Jacomo [Aside to Leonora] Madam, we are undone, my master’s frantic!
Leonora [Aside] Blessed heavens defend!
[Aloud] Come son, your dinner will be cold.
Galeas So let it!
My heart’s cold, my comfort cold, my dinner cold; 75
All’s cold with me!
Leonora Nay, come, good son.
Galeas What to do?
To eat and drink my stomach is too full,
And has too much already to digest,
For other food I utterly forswear.
I’ll fly my country, kindred, and abjure 80
More to converse with man or woman kind.
I’ll call for death, and, if he will not come,
I’ll rather live ’mongst savages than men,
For no such savages on Earth as men.
Leonora Why, what’s the matter?
Jacomo Madam, as I told you. 85
Leonora And is it love hath such a hand of him?
A merchant’s daughter to bring thee to this?
Son, I have matches of more eminence,
And fitter for thy greatness, promised me;
What say’st thou to the duke of Urbin’s° neice, 90
The fair Gonzaga, or Ferrara’s° heir?
Galeas I’ll to the deserts of Arabia
Or kill myself, Aye, that’s the nearest way.
Leonora What say’st thou, Galeas?
Galeas That thou art a woman.
Leonora Art thou turned devil?
Galeas Yes, and thou my dame! 95
And so farewell.
Leonora Stay, thy Lucretia comes.
Galeas What, mock me too?
Leonora Dear son, I mock thee not.
Send but thy man to the monastery,
And he shall bring her.
Galeas Jacomo, away!
Exit
Jacomo.
This very news is new Promethean fire,° 100
And gives me life!
Leonara And long enjoy that life;
Do what thou wilt; thy mother condescends.
But let me see the white sails waving out,°
Or I’ll anticipate, see here, thy Lucrece comes!
Enter
Jacomo with Lucretia.
Jacomo Here’s your Lucretia. 105
Galeas Behold my beauteous Lucrece once again!
[Aside to Lucrece] But soft; my schoolmistress, my mother’s here.°
Sweet, not a word; reserve our woes till soon,
Then we’ll discourse and end ’em both at once!
Back to thy cell, now I know where to find thee. 110
I will not rest till I be with my dear!
[Aloud] Jacomo, conduct her back again.
Exit
Jacomo with Lucretia.
Leonora Parted so soon? I hope hot love’s soon cold!
Galeas Ah ha, my blind archer, did ye make me
Blind! Why, there’s nothing in this wench to like!° 115
Leonora Nay, that’s most certain.
Galeas She has a hanging lip!
Leonora A tender ferret eye.
Galeas An Austrian nose!°
Leonora A chin too prominent.
Galeas A curtailed brow!
Leonora Indeed, what good?
Galeas Why, nothing, nothing mother!
Hang her foot, let her home again. Mother, 120
You talked of matches; even when you please,
The sooner done the better.
Leonora Fear not my speed;
I’ll presently despatch a man for Urbin.
Galeas Do, do, good mother.
Exit
Leonora.
To fob° this old beldame,° how I have profaned 125
Lucretia’s beauty, but I’ll tell her soon
And we shall laugh to think the old woman’s gone
To seek a love for him that needeth none.
Oh, ’twas the only way, and not such another,
For me to get the wench and gull° my mother. 130
Exit.
Scene iii
Enter
Jaspero and Laura.
Jaspero Oh, let me ever your invention praise,
And this, your plot, to perpetuity
Be still remembered!
Laura ’Twas a woman’s wit.
Jaspero Nor can we make appointment at our pleasure,
But here we’ll meet sometimes, and harbour us 5
Close from suspicious eyes.
Laura Kiss and embrace,
Both privileged by the good luck of fate.
Jaspero But, madam, is the duke so much incensed
Against the prince and his sweet favourite,
That he hath vowed their deaths?
Laura No intercession° 10
Can plead ’gainst his incensements but their ends,
The grief whereof would kill me,
But that comfort lives in thee.
Jaspero Well, leaving this, come to our first discourse.
Laura As I was speaking. 15
They
kiss. Enter Duke and Marshal, apart.
Marshal It will be censured° nearer tyranny
Than justice; that I hear already by
Every tongue in court! If the prince die, who
Shall succeed you?
Duke Have I not a daughter,
In whose fair reformation I have now 20
Stored all my hopes? Fair Laura shall succeed,
Whose sunshine of affection being eclipsed
Since Jaspero’s departure hath in her breast°
Room for all royal virtues.
Marshal Yet the prince…
Duke But to name him is more to incense our wrath! 25
We are immoved and our red actions
Are dyed in blood and death!
Laura [To Jaspero] And if I succeed,
By all my hopes and happiness thou shalt reign,
Which, if I fail, I wish the Earth may make me
A loathèd burden, and the glorious Sun 30
A despised object!
Duke That’s her voice!
Marshal The princess, I take it?
Laura Let majesty be mad and power incensed;
Authority be moved and sovereignty 35
Swell to the height of indignation,
E’en to the worst that death or torture can;
Maugré° all these that can our lives withstand
Make mine thy heart, thine is my constant hand.
Duke Oh, harsher discords than the pangs of Hell! 40
Cease ’em, Marshal! Is our too gentle
Usage made a slave? I’m all rage and fury!
Marshal Good princess, what have you done?
Laura That which, since
Choleric fate hath in my best of hopes
Betrayed me in, I’ll stand in e’en to death. 45
Duke An Indian slave, worse than the furies’ offspring?°
Yet thy son, though most unworthy, he had better been!
’Twere of two ills the least! Nay, since the heavens
Have made my issue so unfortunate,
To vengeance wholly I’ll myself apply: 50
Away with them, tomorrow all shall die!
Marshal The woodman too?
Duke E’en him we will not spare;
They all shall perish, since all guilty are.
Exeunt.
Act V
Scene i
Enter
Galeas.
Galeas He that can tell me why I strew these flowers,
What this branch rosemary shows, or what rue
Is prologue to, why this neglected time
I have made choice of time to spread with these;
Which of you can but resolve me this 5
Knows more than I myself, I’ll make it plain;
My mother, not so natural as noble,
Grasps at an air° I not desire to breathe in,
Nor wish to kiss; my lips be blistered when they
With hers I love not.° 10
I’ll not abjure the marriage,° though. Therefore
I spread the ground with this sweet tapestry,
But the sad end of this enforcèd match
Is coffined here already. Dear Lucretia,
If I have plotted this, thy tragedy, 15
Oh, may one fatal hearse contain us both,
And these sweet garden dwellers furnish out
Our funeral coffins.
Enter
Leonora.
Leonora How now, son, Galeas.
Galeas Beware the fairy
Circle; if you touch the selvedge° on’t y’are 20
Blasted!
Leonora What means this preparation?
Galeas It has a double meaning, noble mother.
I’ll render you the first; these flowers are prepared
For the marriage of a gentleman raised by his friends
Into the bosom of such noble kindred, 25
As grasp him with unvaluèd honours
To this so well compilèd history
These are the flourishing exordium,°
And of my own composing.
Leonora But, Galeas,
What poet is the author of this story 30
To which you make this preface?
Galeas A poetess, dear mother; ’tis yourself.
Is not Giovanni’s daughter, hapless Lucrece,
For beauty termed the second of that name,
But for her virtue to be styled the first, 35
Cloistered within a sullen monastery,
Wherein love’s edge and the spark of beauty
Both will be eclipsed and baited, whilst one
Of your providing is, with post haste, sent for,
And knowing not how soon she will appear 40
In all her glories? ’Cause she should not think there
Is not wondrous expectation cast on her
Greatness, and the marriage pomp not furnished out,
With all additions nobleness can challenge
I have thought good to make this preparation. 45
Leonora But Galeas, I suppose these are herbs
Ominous rather, and predictions to
Subsequent disasters.
Galeas Not so, not so;
Here’s rosemary, though bridegrooms of our pace
For horns do title it, and bear these branches 50
As emblems of their fortunes, mother know
I not be that way guilty, no. I’ll ruffle
It like an incorporate may gamist.
Then here is° rue, to witness I should rue
This hour. This minute should our masters come 55
And take us unprovided, then here’s thyme,
The herb of herbs. By this I moralise
The prize I make of time not to neglect it.
Against this great solemnity, last of all,
Here’s grace, which should have been the first, for, mother, 60
I’d not have our marriage, like an oyster feast,
Unprologued. Without grace, if I have said,
Or if these be predictions ominous,
Mother, I crave your pardon.
Leonora But tell me, son,
Art thou resolved to marry Urbin’s niece, 65
As I proposed to thee?
Galeas She’s noble?
Leonora Is rich,
Has a large dowry,
Galeas And fair?
Leonora As any.
Galeas As Lucretia?°
Leonora Still harping on that string?
Galeas Pray, pardon me. Virtuous?
Leonora Ha.
Galeas D’ye pause
At that? Look ye, be she not virtuous, 70
Were she a constellation, I’d not wish her
With Ariadne’s wealth° my bed fellow.
Leonora Why
Son, ’tis not in a woman of salvation
To swear another’s virtue.
Galeas I believe ye;
I’d not swear, as the old proverb is, for 75
My own…
Leonora Mother?
Galeas [Aside] No, by my father’s soul
Would I not, for I’m sick of the mother.
Now, at this very instant, all my parts
Tremble at her very presence!
Enter
Jacomo.
Jacomo Madam, you’re expected. 80
Worthy sir, your lady is arrivèd.
Galeas She is not, Jacomo; the land she walks in
Is an enchanted island, hard to touch.
But, honest, faithful, trusty Jacomo,
As th’ast been all thy life, continue still 85
The same in this last voyage; fly from hence
To the next monastery, and bring me hither
My dear Lucretia. To question why
Were to neglect thy duty, for I stand
Upon a minute’s point.
Jacomo I’m gone, sir. 90
Exit
Jacomo.
Galeas Will’t please you madam, to commend my service
To that bright lady, and withal to excuse
My absence for a while? I protest
Soldiers are not extemporal° courtiers;
I’d not come as a man unfurnishèd, 95
Either of phrase or gesture.
Leonora Well, son, take
Your own time; I’ll, for this once, speak all delays,
But be not absent long.
Exit
Leonora.
Galeas If I outstrip my time, here ye shall find me.
Here, here Lucretia, shall I live, bosomed with another,° 100
To be forever with her curses blasted,
Defend it, heaven; what shall I then resolve?
To sacrifice my own blood on the altar
Of loyalty and truth, and leave Lucretia
A willow-wearing and disconsolate virgin, 105
The mockery of ladies, the court scoff,
Perhaps the in this disgrace the lustful prey
Of some o’er-hot Italian? Somewhat lies here
Yet an embryo, which must come to form
By her approach.
Enter
Jacomo with Lucretia.
Jacomo Here’s your Lucretia, sir. 110
Galeas Welcome, Oh welcome! Jacomo, your absence.
Exit
Jacomo.
But stay,
Lucretia How is’t with you?
Galeas Well, exceeding well.
Lucretia Pray, look up then.
Galeas So I will. Oh…
Lucretia Whence came that sound of horror? From your heart?
If so it did, I’ll fetch the like from mine! 115
Why look you so distracted?
Galeas I, who I?
Y’are deceivèd; see you this bed of flowers?
They are of my providing.
Lucretia To what purpose?
Galeas The ground thou see’st thus mantlèd° serves
Either for a funeral or bridal. 120
A bridal is at hand, Lucretia;
What would thou give or spend, what wouldst thou lose,
Rather than see me thy betrothèd friend,
Enforced to give this hand, already thine,
Unto a second mistress.
Lucretia I had rather 125
Lose this hand.
They kiss.
Galeas I know thou hadst. With me thou’lt not dissemble?
Lucretia Never, O, never; life and all fly from me
Ere I behold that minute, Galeas;
Heat to the sun is not more firmly wedded 130
Than is my heart to thee.
They
kiss.
Galeas Accursèd be, then, that malignant heart
That plots our separation, mother, tigress!°
Lucretia, twenty minutes may deprive us
The fame of constant lovers, briefly thus: 135
My mother would inforce and has prepared
Another match. She’s here in the next room.
I want time to tell it - a pox of such post haste -
The Earl of Urbin’s niece; would love’s fire
Had melted and consumed her to a negro 140
Or brown tartar, ere my mother sent to
Treat a marriage.
Enter
Jacomo.
Jacomo Sir, your mother expects ye.
Galeas I come; I lie! I’ll never come to her
And leave my Lucrece!
Jacomo My lord…
Galeas Desist thy ill; 145
Timed language, speak not! That killing embassage,
To entreat my faith to Urbin’s niece were
Ever to steal a soul once deified,
And place it ’mongst the furies!
Jacomo My lord…
Galeas Ha, Jacomo, I’m bound for travel. 150
Jacomo How, for travel?
Galeas Yes, Jacomo,
The everlasting pilgrimage of men
And I must force thy attendance, Jacomo;
Then, prithee, this accept for thy last voyage 155
To the monastery.
He
stabs him.
Jacomo Oh, my lord,
A little warning would have done well, before
So long a voyage; it had been manhood
If you had led the way.
Galeas Let it suffice 160
I’ll follow. Now, Lucretia, if thou’lt wed
Thy blood to mine, thou art a second Lucrece,
For constancy and virtue, she of Rome
Was forced from her love’s faith and so polluted;
Forced hast thou been from me, and yet may’st live, 165
If live thou wilt to be polluted so.
But if thou dost, shame and my curse live with thee,
For thus I’ll seat my faith.
Lucretia And thus I mine!
Galeas, strike!
Effeminate fear at sight of death to shriek 170
Is quite exiled, and every vein swoll’n full
Of an heroic spirit!
Galeas Say’st thou So?
Art thou provided that propitious fate
That seated love betwixt us hath decreed,
A correspondancy? In death strike fearless; 175
And let us set a period to our woe,
By falling with our servant, Jacomo.
Lucretia Thus, then!
She
stabs herself.
Galeas And thus!
He
stabs himself.
Lucretia We die 180
To consecrate a tomb of constancy,
And I, that Lucrece, with my latest breath,
Utter this maxim: “true love outlasts death.”
Galeas Yet this we’ll add unto the mouth of fame;
A Lucrece loved and died to prove the same. 185
They
die.
Scene ii
Enter
Marshal, with sword, before Lodowick, Laura, Isabella,
Jaspero,
the Woodman and the Clown.
Marshal The exile of my son moves not like this,
Of Jaspero, my son; this is a fatal day,
More ominous than the Romans’ Allia.°
Lodowick Why courage, Marshal, art thou more afraid
To strike than we to die? Tut, death’s a sport, 5
A sport to that which I have suffered!
Laura But for
My faithful Indian, that he must die, I
Would meet death with alacrity° and laughter!
Jaspero Oh royal masters, these tears are not my own;
Or if they be, your speeches draw ‘em from me! 10
Clown Is’t possible a man may see heaven through a halter? The duke
has vowed to take away my head, but I’ll be hanged before I’ll
endure it!
Marshal We stay but the duke’s presence,° who hath vowed
Himself to see the execution done.
And here he comes! 15
Enter
Duke.
Have pity on their youths, as of your age,
The hopes yet you have stored up in the prince,
And the glad issue that may proceed from her!
Duke All these are motives of no consequence,
And might with some prevail, but abuse makes 20
Us still constant in our vowèd revenge.
Lodowick I cannot call you father, but sovereign,
And, not as son, but subject, I entreat;
Pity this harmless maid.
He
kneels.
Isabella My lord, he is no subject, but a son; 25
Oh, do not do your people so much wrong
To quench those hopes, which they have stored in him!
Laura As he for her, oh let me plead for him,
This honest faithful Moor!
Isabella
and Laura kneel.
Jaspero Take me, then, that prodigious monster, hence, 30
And spare your own in her.
He
kneels.
Duke We are inexorable.
Woodman Dread sir, my innocence may suffice to
Raze° out my daughter’s error.
Clown Sure, everyone speaks for themselves, but ne’er a word for me; but if 35
these cannot prevail, you and I may hold down our heads and say
nothing.
Woodman
and Clown kneel.
Duke Shall we strangers spare,
And doom our own to death? Marshal, the hour?
Marshal ’Tis nine, my sovereign.
Duke Then, on thy life, 40
Unless thou mean to breathe thy latest breath,
All, saving one, see headless before ten.
Exit
Duke.
Marshal All saving one? That’s worse than all the rest!
What one amongst you will behead the rest?
That one shall live. Ranger, wilt thou?
Woodman Be a 45
Headsman? I was better bred. That office
First shall be imposed on thee than on myself,
Howe’er thou censure me!
Marshal Sirrah, wilt thou?
Clown Who, I? I think it were the best way to save my own stake; by
that means I shall save my own life? 50
Marshal Upon my honour, thou shalt.
Clown Give me the sword; their lives are indebted to the law, and I’ll
serve an execution upon ’em presently! Where shall I begin?
Lodowick With me.
Isabella And I, the offender. 55
Laura Strike here first!
Jaspero And I survive to see it?
Clown Nay, my masters, do not quarrel about it; there’s time enough for
you all. I’ll begin with the best bit first, and, as I like that, conclude
with the rest. Ha, who’s this, my lord and master the prince. Kill him? 60
D’ye hear, Marshal, if t’were but a dog that belong to my master, he
shall not die by my hand.
Marshal Villain, despatch; the hour draws on!
Clown Let it draw. Mistress Isabell, hold down your head and let me see
your white neck. Who’s this, mistress Isabell, she whom my master 65
loves? I have no maw° to that either!
Marshal Villain, despatch, I say!
Clown Not too much haste to hang true folks, now, forsooth to you…who’s
this, mistress Laura, the duke’s daughter and my master’s sister? Oh
villain, thou hadst better kill thy grandfather, thy grandmother and all 70
thy generation than offer it! Sirrah, for you, I’ll see whether your blood
be as black as your face. Yet he’s one whom my mistress Laura loves;
troth, I will not kill him, for I think I know…
Marshal Well, if no man else will to the block, I’ll
To’t myself! But soft, the Duke. Stand aside. 75
Enter
Duke.
Duke The fatal hour hath struck his minutes out,
And they extinct, their glasses° are quite run.
I am no more a father; that name’s lost,
Then wherefore should I longer breathe a prince?
Marshal My gracious lord…
Duke I am no lord, unless a 80
Tyrant, that feeds upon the entrails of
His own; nay, worse, a turk! An infidel!
Clown [Aside] He thinks we are all dead!
Duke What said my son? Did he not rail and rave,
And call me tyrant? What said Laura, too, 85
When the relentless stroke first touched her skin?
Did she not call me tyrant and unnat’ral;
A monster amongst men?
Marshal There’s no such thing, my lord, they all still live.
Clown Yes, we are all alive! 90
Marshal My lord, you sentenced all but one, but who
That one was you would have preserved; you left
It still in doubt.
Duke Then let us take our state
And, with our own eyes, see our will performed!
Sirrah, hand that sword.° 95
Clown I have given over the office, sir.
Duke Hand it, slave!
Clown
draws the sword.
Laura, kneel, since your contempt is greatest,
Your punishment shall, to the rest, be most
Remarkable. Sirrah, strike off her head. 100
Laura Do! Life’s not worth the begging;
At that rate I set it.
Clown Why then, have at it!
Jaspero Oh!
He
faints.
Marshal The Indian’s sounded.° 105
Duke Help to recover him to perish by the law,
For such his sentence was!
Marshal A counterfeit, my lord!
His hands are white, his neck and breast like ours;
The tawny that soiled over his face comes off! 110
You’ll find him an imposter!
Jaspero Y’are deceived;°
I love too truly to deserve that name,
Jasp’ro was never such.
All Ha, how, Jaspero?
Clown [To Marshal]Yes, your son. Here, cut off his head. 115
Marshal My lord, it wonders me, and for my part
I know not what to say to’t.
Duke Since neither watches, guards, nor prisons strong
Can keep you two divided; fear of our wrath,
Doom of our rage, nor awe of our command; 120
Since nothing can separate your hearts,
Attend your doom. Since nothing can divide you,
Long live, still love, and may the blessed heavens
Guide you.
Laura Your highness is still royal!
Marshal Says
Your grace so? Then here my commission ends, 125
And, since the duke so wills, sit fearless,
Love, embrace and kiss your fills.
Duke Now, Lodowick,
To you I come. I do entreat you by
Filial duty and paternal love,
Care of your honour and the dukedoms. We’ll 130
Nay further, then, entreat; I beg of thee
To change thy affection.
Lodowick I’m fixed and constant.
Duke Do you resolve the like?
Isabella Not to be changed.
Duke Hold forth your hands; since you dare conspire
Against our honour you shall taste our ire, 135
Nay, constantly.
Lodowick Strike!
Isabella Strike!
Duke Good lack! I will,
But not, where love so constant is, to kill.
Enjoy her, and, ranger, this is no small grace
To you, being so mean a subject, to be
Styled brother to your prince!
Woodman Your clemency, 140
And grace beyond dimension, makes me now
Publish what I have laboured to conceal;
Then know I am no subject but of Parma,
And that Ferdinand which once owned Piacenza,
But when my fame and eminence in court 145
Made Parma jealous of my loyalty,
Fain was I then to fly and live concealed,
Because, in many of our frontier towns,
So many stones and pillars yet remain
Of my known valour.
Duke Thrice noble Ferdinand, 150
No subject, but a friend and brother now!
Now are ye not dishonoured, but preferred,
In Isabella being nobly born!°
Enter
men bearing Galeas and Lucretia, Leonora and Giovanni
following.
What means this?
Lodowick Ha! Noble Galeas, the sinew of the state? 155
Good madam, Leonora, but relate
The manner of his death.
Leonora Grief makes me tongue-tied;
I cannot relate the manner of his death.
That paper shows my thought.
Laura To you belonged
This beauteous bride?
Giovanni I was her hapless father, 160
But, by this lifeless image of a man,
Disastrously made childless.
Duke Wretched parents,
In this most equally unfortunate,
For Galeas we could weep, and mourn for her,
But now’s a time of nuptial jubilee, 165
Which, to this time, we mean to consecrate.
Thou hast lost a daughter?
Giovanni Royal sir, I have.
Duke And thou a son?
Leonora To this sad spectacle my tears are witness. 170
Duke Thou lay’st no blame on him?
Leonora ’Las no, my liege.
Duke Nor thou on her?
Giovanni ’Las, I cannot, my liege.
Duke Will ye by us be sentenced?
Both ’Tis that we crave.
Duke Thou hast lost a man, for him this man receive.
Nay, be not coy; a woman thou hast lost, 175
For her this woman take. Y’are man and wife.
Marshal An oracle could not have judged it better.
Leonora Since it must be, I’m pleased.
Giovanni And I content.
Duke These matches we’ll see performed incontinent.
Yours, beauteous Isabella, with the prince, 180
And Jaspero, yours with Laura, but first these funerals
We’ll see performed with all solemnity. That
Done, we’ll proclaim a truce, and think it good,
To end in mirth what was begun in blood.
Anon. The Fatal Marriage transcribed by S. Brigid Younghughes, Harold Jenkins and F.P. Wilson (Oxford University Press 1958).
Boas, Frederick S. Shakespeare and the Universities, and Other Studies in Elizabethan Drama. (New York: D. Appleton, 1923).
Bowle, John. Charles the First (London: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1975).
Brooke, Iris. A History of English Footwear (London: St Giles, 1949).
Donaldson, Ian. The Rapes of Lucretia; A Myth and its Transformations (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982).
Nash, Thomas. To the Gentleman Students of both Uniuersities, in Menaphon, by Robert Greene, printed by T.O. for Sampson Clarke (Cambridge: Chadwyck Healey, 1997). Online: http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk
Heywood, Thomas. The Rape of Lvcrece, London: Printed by Iohn Raworth, for Nathaniel Butter, 1638. (Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1994). Online: http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk
Hopkins, Lisa. The Shakespearean Marriage; Merry Wives and Heavy Husbands (Hampshire: Macmillan Press, 1998).
Jonson, Ben. Volpone or The Fox in Three Comedies, edited by Michael Jamieson (London: Penguin Classics, 1985).
Shakespeare, William. Lucrece in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions) pp. 1207-1224.
Shakespeare, William. The Winter’s Tale (London: Arden, 1963).
Webster, John. The Duchess of Malfi in The Duchess of Malfi and Other Plays (Oxford University Press 1996) pp. 103-200.
° He was…a tyrant - This is an example of a Character, a trend in Jacobean drama whereby a lengthy and exhaustive description of a character is given in response to a request early in the play. For a similar example of this see Antonio’s summation of the cardinal in The Duchess Of Malfi: I, i, 149-158.
° enemies - The meter here suggests an abbreviated pronunciation of the word, perhaps missing out the second syllable: en’mies.
° I am – Ms reads ‘I’m’. I have altered this to make the line metrical.
° Court-pattern – the definition of the word pattern as an example of excellence or an ideal gives this term meaning: Galeas’s mother plays this exemplary role in Court for the ‘younger dames’.
° that – the manuscript here reads ‘yt’ which could easily be construed as ‘yet’. The letter ‘y’, however, is commonly mistaken for the phonetic symbol for ‘th’ in copying, and I believe this makes more sense here.
° heteroclites – irregularly derived words.
° possum – Latin for ‘I can’. One of the first forms a student of Latin would learn.
° let us – manuscript reads ‘letes’. I have chosen ‘let us’ over ‘let’s’ as it is rhythmically more sound.
° sayest – Ms reads ‘saist’; I have chosen to alter this to ‘sayest’, but it is worth noting that, to make the line scan, it is necessary to voice this word monosylabically.
° fallen – Ms reads ‘falne’. As in the previous note, modernising the word has added an extra syllable to the line, and, as with the previous case, it must be voiced monosylabically to maintain the meter of the line.
° toward – here meaning ‘promising, auspicious’.
° primest – most at the forefront.
° durance – imprisonment.
° The lineation between 208-215 is particualrly erratic. Also, line 211 is split; Ms has ‘liue in durance’ on one line, and ‘exlent mynion’ on the next, for which the Duke is given a fresh speech header, implying that there should, perhaps, be contribution from another character here.
° The language of thy knee – The Duke is here both demanding that they grovel for forgiveness, and referring to their expressed desire to marry one another; two situations in which one might speak on one’s knees.
° Mew – To shut up; confine.
° Lodowick – Ms here reads ‘Lodwicke n’. It is possible that the intended line could be ‘Lodowick, in’, but, as Lodowick is already on stage at this point, I have treated the ‘n’ as an error and removed it.
° Alla, comando vostro siniora – Translates from Italian as ‘At last, your command, sir.’
° Mas – ‘by the mass’. A common exclamation surviving from Catholic England.
° Play Leero Fashion – The clown’s musical pun on ‘leer’ refers to ‘Leero way’, a tuning used on 17th century viols.
° question – this line scans perfectly as iambic pentameter if this word is pronounce with three syllables, i.e. ques-ti-on.
° Oh Prince…ruin it – This speech is reminiscent of that, delivered by Polixenes to his son Florizel in The Winter’s Tale: ‘thou a sceptre’s heir,/That thus affects a sheep-hook!’, IV, iv, 420-1.
° will – the meaning of this passage in the manuscript is somewhat confused, but makes sense if we consider ‘will’ as a noun; i.e. the will of Lodowick, and ‘swayed’ as the verb.
° in what health… thereof – The Clown is saying here that he will deliver the letter with the same level of passionate enthusiasm with which Lodowick writes it, perhaps to convince his own conscience that he has surrendered it to the duke purely in a case of mistaken identity.
° Makes me scarce give credit to my eyes – Ms here reads ‘make mee I scarce giue credit giue to me eies’. I have treated the second ‘give’ as an accidental repetition, and removed it, giving the passage some coherence. The ‘I’ is also slightly problematic, but I have left it in to maintain the meter.
° Lustre – Splendour and distinction. Also here, a prismatic glass pendant on a chandelier. This adds meaning to ‘here hangs a stone’ of the previous line, and to the beautifying of ‘His bright sphere with increase of light’, a prismatic object being one that separates light into a spectrum. The implication is that there is such an object hanging in the house in memory of Galeas’s late father.
° orisons – prayers.
° invest – Variant of’invested’; meaning attached as a garment, and also dedicated; inseperable.
° Might have it – the whole of line 68 is attributed to Galeas in the manuscript, but the passage clearly makes more sense if ‘might have it’ is attributed to Leonora at the end of her speech.
° thither – go there.
° Brook – tolerate, allow.
° repast – a meal / food and drink.
° Lay on – inflict blows / fight.
° When do we ride – manuscript here reads ‘when dee rid?’.
° sable – black.
° expectation – This line is metrical if this is pronounced with five syllables, i.e. ex-pec-ta-ti-on.
° what is – Ms reads ‘whattes’, which clearly could be interpreted as ‘what’s’. I have chosen this interpretation as a bisyllabic pronunciation fits the meter correctly.
° And see…betray – This line seems to be missing a word, as it both lacks coherence and is a syllable too short. A possible correction of the line would be ‘And see if craft their cunning can betray’, but I have chosen not to insert a correction as speculative as this one.
° Argus – Greek mythological giant with one hundred eyes. Argus was sent by Zeus’s wife, Hera, to guard lo, with whom Zeus had been having an affair. Argus was able to sleep with only a few of his eyes closed and, thus, it was impossible to escape his gaze. He was slain, however, when Zeus sent Hermes to rectify the situation, which he did by sending all hundred eyes to sleep with music and then severing the giant’s head.
° th’ast – thou hast. I have chosen not to alter this in order to maintain the meter of the line.
° girt – enclosed / encircled.
° How couldst…suspect it – I have moved ‘and thy’ from line 43 to line 44, as this creates a consistent iambic pentameter.
° tell – I have inserted this word for two reasons, firstly, ‘sweet, I’ll thee’ doesn’t seem to make sense on its own, and in the context of the passage, i.e. him being about to tell her how he escaped his chamber, the addition seems necessary, secondly, the addition of the syllable makes the line fit the meter perfectly.
° But I…sorrow – this line is attributed to Laura in the manuscript. I have re-attributed it to Jaspero, as I believe it makes more sense as a precursor to the rest of his tale; Jaspero is sarcastically foreseeing the pity that the recounting of the Marshal’s foolishness will inspire in Laura.
° whit – least possible amount.
° prevent – here serves as a double meaning; in its archaic form the word ‘prevent’ means to precede. By ‘preceding’ his father’s scolding he is preventing it from actually taking place.
° by rote – learnt by heart.
° arrive – Here meaning ‘arrival’. I have not changed this, as it would create an extra-metrical syllable.
° fur – In this instance the coating on the tongue caused by sickness. The implication is that it would make Giovanni sick to deal with ‘portentious oaths’.
° livery – The legal delivery of property, or a writ enabling this.
° french galoshes – a kind of waterproof overshoe which can be dated to the 1620’s. See introduction.
° calumniated – slandered.
° that is – Ms reads ‘thattes’. I have chosen ‘that is’ over ‘that’s’ for metrical reasons.
° He gave…but his own - It could be argued that the repetition in these two speeches is down to accidental replication somewhere along the writing/printing process. I have left it in, however, as I think it is intentionally comic; Giovanni has already shown his penchant for repetition with his ‘sorrow pays no debts’ catch-phrase, and extra comic weight is provided by Jacomo’s earlier assurance (lines 10-15) that Giovanni is not a man given to pompous rhetoric.
° You are a…I follow you – these two lines are attributed to Galeas in the manuscript; I have re-attributed them to Jacomo mainly due to the references of subservience, e.g. ‘You are a faithful master, I, your man’, ‘I follow you’. These would seem incongruous if spoken by Galeas to his servant.
° whimwham – a toy or plaything.
° Your fox…mistress – This passage contains several reference which are discussed further in the introduction. ‘Your fox’ is a reference to Jonson’s Volpone, in which one character mocks another’s untruths by talking of baboons as spies. The ‘horse that runs on top of poles’ refers to the horse running atop St Paul’s Cathedral.
° cursee – the recipient of a curse, as in ‘employee’.
° And yet a marriage glove…wed to – Refers to Shakespeare’s Lucrece; when Sextus Tarquinus finds Lucretia’s glove with a sewing needle stuck in it, on which he pricks his finger, this symbol of Lucretia’s virtue brings on an attack of conscience, and he reconsiders his planned rape. In this case, Jacomo seems feel more vindicated by it, perhaps because he takes her for marriage, and not just for rape. (See introduction).
° consort – Accompany.
° facinorous – extremely wicked.
° hue and cry – a loud cry raised for the pursuit of a wrong-doer.
° sue – entreat.
° except – pun on ‘accept’; she must except the Duke from her debasement of men, as she is forced to accept him.
° next that – other than.
° none – Ms reads ‘tane’. I have altered this to none, but ‘tame’ could also barely make sense here. It is also feasible that ‘tane of’ could be a variation of ‘taken off’, which would also make sense here.
° Th’ast – thou hast.
° That fear’s, then, passed – the manuscript here reads ‘that ffeare then’s past’. The sentence, in this form, is grammatically incorrect, as ‘then’ should be subordinated. This cannot be achieved, however, without expanding ‘then’s’ to ‘then is’, as one can’t place a comma between ‘then’ and ‘ ’s’. Unfortunately this is also unsatisfactory as a solution, as it creates an extra syllable and corrupts the meter of the line. The alteration I have made retains the meter and, fundamentally, the sense, making the slight switch from ‘that fear, then, is’ to ‘that fear is, then,’.
° Argus…without music – see note on II, iii, 7.
° clapdish – A wooden pot which was clapped to gain attention.
° Collatine…done’t – Collatine was the husband of the ‘first Lucretia’. She was noted for her virtue, and Jacomo is here imploring Lucretia to emulate her namesake. See A Second Lucretia? in the introduction for discussion.
° sum’d – satiated.
° drawn – here refers to her being ready to be removed from hiding at any time, and this is how Galeas interprets it, judging by his response in the next line. The word carries suggestive undertones, though; Jacomo is implying that she is ready to have Galeas’s will imposed upon her.
° I hear…lighted – Ideally, her father should be subordinated here, but this is made problematic by the abbreviated is in father’s; to make the sentence grammatically correct, ‘s would need to be extended to is, in turn sacrificing the rythmical integrity of the line. I have chosen meter over grammar here, as the above alteration gives the line an awkwardly trochaic feel, and is more detrimental to the text than the grammatical ommission.
° meet – evens / quits.
° my own carver – meaning ‘I cut my own portion as I liked’. Also possibly a reference to John Carver, who, before sailing to the Netherlands in the early 1600’s, and later to Virginia to found the Plymouth colony, was a famously wealthy London merchant. The obvious way of assessing whether this is the case would be to see if the first letter of the name is capitalised; this is impossible, however, as the letter ‘c’ is capitalised throughout Ms.
° in post – with haste.
° Go…not to take rest – In the manuscript the whole of line 59 is attributed to Leonora, but printed as two separate lines. I have attributed the second part of the line to Galeas, as this both makes the passage more coherent, and allows Galeas to mark his exit with a rhyming couplet.
° Dotard – An insult, meaning a feeble minded person.
° sift – examine, interrogate.
° I’ll to Jacomo – In the manuscript this appears at the beginning of the next line, giving it an excessive length, and corrupting the balance of the final rhyming couplet. By moving it to its own line, the couplet reads correctly, and the short line implies a pause for thought to consider the question she has posed herself in the previous line.
° pikes – spears.
° bills – weapons similar to halberds, with hooks in place of blades.
° Excellently…madman – Lodowick is in a disguise that is different on either side of his body; on one side ‘a man of art’, i.e. a doctor, and on the other ‘a madman’, (this is the clown’s joke at the expense of the woodman; ‘wood’ also meaning ‘mad’). The plan is that, when he walks across the bridge, the guards on one side will think the doctor has arrived, and those on the other will think the woodman has.
° resist – very different in meaning, but similar in sound, to the word that seemingly should be here, i.e. ‘assist’. This could be a copying error, but more likely is that the clown is having a laugh at the watchmen’s expense; he has already mocked them with his assertion that he is as good a watchman for wearing a disguise as they are for seven years of apprenticeship on a miserly salary, and here he is confident enough in their ignorance to effectively warn them of the upcoming sabotage, knowing they will not understand the difference between the two words. The enthusiasm with which the are accepted consummates the comic effect.
° if – the manuscript here reads ‘and’. I have altered it to give the passage more sense.
° That’s…ranger – this line is attributed to the clown in the manuscript. I have re-attributed it for two reasons: 1. The speaker of the line asserts that the visitor was the ranger, but the clown is on the side that has seen Lodowick as the doctor, and goes on to argue that it was the doctor who had passed. 2. The manuscript has the clown speaking next, but with a new speech tag, indicating that another character has been speaking. I have attributed the line to Galeas, as it is he and the clown that are attempting to instigate an argument to distract the rest of the watchmen; it is Galeas who responds to the clown’s next taunt.
° they – The watchmen on the clown’s side of the bridge.
° We the…he! – The watchmen seem, by this point, to have become a little confused as to which side of the argument they are on, with Watchmen 2 & 3 both switching sides towards the end. It is possible that this is due to errors with the speech tags during printing or copying, particularly as this is a particularly repetitious passage, and because the watchmen are denoted in the manuscript merely by their number (the lack of nominal identity for each individual watchman would make it easy for a copier or printer to mix them up), but I have left them as they appear in Ms, as I believe this is another comic exposition of the watchmen’s incompetence; after a brief bout they can no longer remember who they saw, nor why they were fighting.
° Erebus – Hell.
° Habits – disguises.
° o’er-reached – out-witted.
° Proteus – In Greek mythology, Proteus was the omniscient son of Poseidon, who would escape the chore of delivering prophecies to people by changing his shape at will.
° Machiavelli – florentine statesman and writer, author of The Prince, an influential blueprint for state leadership, which endorses despotic and duplicitous behaviour in a ruler.
° Shall stop…straight – shall make you watch your mouth, also, more brutally, strangle and stop the breathing.
° dear – Here a pun on ‘deer’.
° I think…serpent – this line is mistakenly attributed to Leonora in the manuscript.
° The sap…untasted – Leonora’s use of the image of the tree, and tasting its produce, is telling, after Jacomo’s reference to the serpent.
° halter – hanging noose.
° Venus…looked not so lovely – These lines refer to the legend of Troy, (although Aphrodite’s place is taken by Venus, her equivalent in Roman mythology), when Paris was made to choose the most beautiful of Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. After receiving offers of bribes from all three, Paris accepted Aphrodite’s offer of Helen of Troy, and elected her the most beautious. The theft of Helen and the anger of the spurned goddesses went on to be the major causes of the Trojan War. The ‘Idaean mount’ mentioned in line 25 is Mount Gargaraus, one the Ida mountain range south-east of Troy (also known as Mount Ida), where the gods made their base during the Trojan war, and where Paris made his judgement.
° baldric – a belt for carrying a large weapon, such as a sword, worn across the shoulder.
° ’thwart – an abbreviation of ‘athwart’, which means ‘across’.
° Diana – Roman virgin goddess of the hunt, often depicted in art carrying bows and arrows. I have made alterations to the lineation in this speech t make it scan. Other alterations to this end include changing ‘Idean’ to ‘Idaean’ (this is a spelling of the word that was used, and its tri-syllabic nature corrects the meter for the majority of the speech), and the removal of ‘and’ from line 30 (the manuscript read ‘and at thy back).
° I should…pursued – Hippolytus was, in Greek mythology, son of Theseus and Hippolyte, queen of the amazons. A master huntsman, and a servant to Artemis (Greek mythological equivelant to Diana), Hippolytus had little interest in the advances of women, and rejected his stepmother Phaedra, who had fallen in love with him. Mortified by his dissaproval, she committed suicide, leaving a note accusing him of raping her. Theseus, upon reading the letter, summoned Poseidon, his father, to kill Hippolytus. He achieved this by using a sea-monster to scare Hippolytus’s horses, causing his chariot to crash. Theseus was reconciled with his dying son, however, when Artemis informed him of his innocence.
° Young Adonis…woodman – Venus, Roman goddess of Love and beauty, fell in love with Adonis after being accidentally wounded by one of Cupid’s arrows, and took to roaming the woods with him, dressed in hunting clothes. Isabella’s reference to this - ‘Apparelled like a woodman’ – carries extra significance when one remembers that her father is, indeed, a man of greatness disguised as a woodman. This hint is expanded by Lodowick’s response, where he suggests that he finds it difficult to believe that one so learned could not be of the highest birth.
° benisons – blessings.
° orisons – prayers.
° By'rlady – common early modern slang meaning ‘By our lady’.
° censure – judgement / opinion.
° cote – shelter.
° ’Las – alas.
° capon – a domestic cock fattened for eating.
° peppered – punished severely. Also a pun on the food theme which the clown has so far been using.
° powder – as ‘peppered’
° neat’s tongue – ‘Neat’ is an archaic term for ‘cattle’.
° sack – white wine.
° ruffins – ruffians. I decided against changing this, as it would have corrupted the metre of the line.
° To Hell…for him – In Roman mythology Pluto, god of the underworld, abducted Proserpine as his wife, after being shot in the heart by one of Cupid’s arrows. Tartary is a reference to ‘Tartarus’, the deepest part of the underworld, but also a name for Turkistan, and areas of central Europe under Turkish control at the time.
° Why not…to hell – Hercules is the Roman name for Heracles, hero of Greek mythology. The last of Hercules’s twelve labours saw him travel to the underworld and capture Cerberus, the three headed dog of the lower world, without the use of weapons.
° Rather…not there – Orpheus, a figure in Greek Mythology whose skills of musicianship were unrivalled amongst mortals, became the first mortal to travel to the underworld, were he played to Hades, its ruler, in an attempt to reclaim his wife, Eurydice, who had been killed by a viper. Hades was moved enough by Orpheus’s playing to grant his wish, on the condition that he not look back before reaching the upper world. Orpheus failed to meet this condition, as his curiosity got the better of him at the final moment, causing Eurydice to vanish forever. Jacomo is saying here that he Galeas could emulate any of the mythological heroes here mentioned, whose adcentures have taken them to the unerworld, but that it would do him no good, as Lucretia is not there.
° region – in this case, the military force of a region.
° pikes – spears, or, here, men bearing them.
° add unto my colour – to make his face more red; to increase his anger.
° caitiffs – despicable people.
° Rapscallion…bounce – Mockery of the description of a storm in Stanyhurst’s 1582 translation of Virgil’s Æneid. The translation was the subject of much ridicule amongst the academics of the early seventeenth century, particularly for it’s excessive use of alliteration, and, in his preface to Robert Greene’s Menaphon, Thomas Nash takes the lead: ‘Which strange language of the firmament never subject before to our common phrase, makes us that are not vsed to terminate heauens moueings, in the accents of any voice, esteeme their triobulare inerpreter, as of some Thrasonical huffe snuffe, for so terrible was his stile, to all milde ears, as would have affrighted our peacable Poets, from intermedling hereafter, with that quarreling kind of verse.’
° chid – archaic past tense of ‘chide’.
° Urbin – Urbino, a town in the marche region of central Italy, prolific in its production of ‘maiolica’ earthenware during the renaissance. The copy text here reads ‘Orbin’. I was unable to fully alter this to the modern name for metrical reasons, but have replaced the ‘O’ with a ‘U’ to suggest the root of the town’s real name. Also, it is feasible that this is the intended interpretation of the manuscript, as, for large sections of it, the letters ‘o’ and ‘u’ are indistinguishable, and later in the scene the name appears as ‘vrbin’.
° Ferrara – Northern Italian city and capital of the Ferrara Province. This reference raises some fascinating thematic and and chronological questions. A famous person who did see out an arranged marriage to a Ferraran heir was, perhaps significantly, Lucrezia Borgia, when, on the orders of her father, Pope Alexander VI, she was espoused to Alfonso I, Duke of Este, who became the Duke of Ferrara in 1505. Is Leonora here urging Galeas to become a second Lucrezia? Interesting for another reason, is the temporal implication of the reference to Ferrara’s heir’. The rule of Ferrara was taken over by the Este family in 1208, and during the renaissance their court was a major base for learning in the fields of art and literature. In 1598, however, they lost control of the city, due to the lack of a male heir, and it was declared a papal state. This means that any post 1598 reference to a Ferraran heir would be anachronistic, as from this date onwards the city was in complete control of the Pope, and that there is reason to challenge the accepted 1620’s date given the play.
° Promethean fire – In Greek mythology, Prometheus was the creator of man. His gift of fire, brought in the shape of a torch which he lit from the sun, was that which would make humans superior to animals.
° white sails waving out – A reference to the story of Theseus and the Minotaur; after defeating the Minotaur, Theseus returned home safely, but, forgetting an arrangement to erect white sails on his ship to announce his safe homecoming, he raised black ones instead. His father, Aegeus, thinking that this signified the death of his son, threw himself from a cliff into what is now known as the Aegean sea.
° my school…here – A grammaticaly sound version of this line would be ‘But soft, my school mistress, my mother, is here’. This, unfortunately, necessitates the addition of an extra-metrical ‘is’; I have chosen to leave the line as it stands, favouring meter over grammar, as I have done earlier in the play.
° Ah ha…like – These lines are attributed to Leonora in the manuscript. I have changed this because the manuscript has two consecutive speech headers attributed to Leonora, implying an error, and because it clearly makes more sense when attributed to Galeas.
° Austrian nose – Probably a reference to the Habsburgs, the royal family that controlled large areas of Europe, including Parma. Upon the death of Charles V, in 1558, his division of inheritance between his son and brother split the family into Spanish and Austrian branches, the latter holding the imperial title. It is said that inbreeding gave the family abnormal features, as described in this passage.
° fob – deceive.
° beldame – archaic form of ‘beldam’ meaning old woman or hag.
° gull – Dupe.
° That he…intecession – This line in the manuscript contains an extra-metrical ‘both’, which I have removed: ‘That he hath vowed both their deaths / No intercession’.
° censured – criticised.
° breast – The manuscript initially reads ‘bosom’, but, when the passage is accidentally repeated in the next scene, it is replaced with ‘breast’. I have chosen that reading, as it is metrically superior.
° Maugré – French, meaning ‘in spite of’.
° furies’ offspring – In Greek mythology, the furies were three vengeful goddesses, Tisiphone, Magaera and Alecto. They were hideous in appearance, with snakes for hair and eyes that dripped blood.
° air – here a pun on ‘heir’.
° Nor wish..love not – damage to the manuscript here has caused a loss of material here, particularly at the end of line 9, and thus corrupted the lineation and coherence of the passage. To rectify this I have been forced to reduce line 10 to a half line in order to maintain the meter of the rest of the passage. I have not, however, acted upon the missing material at the end of line 9; a possible suggestion would be the insertion of ‘meet’, but I feel this would be too conjectural an intervention.
° marriage – In Ms only ‘ma’ is distinguishable, due to overwriting.
° selvedge – border.
° exordium – prologue.
° here is – Ms ‘heres’.
° Lucretia – Ms ‘Lucrece’.
° Ariadne’s wealth – Ariadne, in Greek mythology, was presented, by Bacchus, with a crown enriched with gems. Upon her death, Bacchus threw the crown in the sky, where it remained and the gems became stars in a constellation.
° extemporal - extemporaneous; unprepared.
° Here…another – there is some damage to the manuscript here; this line is followed by words, of which only ‘seen’ is distinguishable. I have erased this, but left the line with is extra length, in order to maintain the meter of the rest of the speech.
° mantlèd – covered.
° mother, tigress – Ms ‘mother a tigresse’. I have removed the extra-metrical ‘a’.
° More ominous…Allia – The Battle Of The Allia ranks amongst the darkest days in early Roman history. Around 390 BC, the Roman forces defending the city of Veii were outnumbered and overwhelmed by roving Celts from along the Danube, who went on to plunder the city, before accepting a wealth of gold to leave. See www.xenophongi.org/milhist/rome/allia.htm.
° alacrity – briskness.
° We stay…presence – ‘we only await the duke’s presence’.
° Raze – erase / obliterate.
° maw – stomach / appetite.
° glasses – hour glasses.
° hand that sword – as in ‘put that sword in your hand’ or ‘draw that sword’.
° sounded – fallen into a sound sleep; fainted.
° Y’are deceived – Ms has this full line attributed to Marshal, but it is clear from the context that it should be spoken by Jaspero.
° Then know…being nobly born – This is, again, reminiscent of The Winter’s Tale, in which Polixenes, King of Bohemia, staunchly opposes Florizel’s desired match with the shepherd’s daughter, until it is revealed that she is the long lost princess of neighbouring Sicilia.