Chapter XVIII: Act V: Scene I.528

_A room in the Palace._

_Enter_ BILIOSO _and_ PASSARELLO.

_Bil._ Fool, how dost thou like my calf in a long
stocking?

_Pass._ An excellent calf, my lord.

_Bil._ This calf hath been a reveller this twenty year.
When Monsieur Gundi lay here ambassador, I could
have carried a lady up and down at arm's end in a
platter; and I can tell you, there were those at that time
who, to try the strength of a man's back and his arm,
would be coistered.[529] I have measured calves with most
of the palace, and they come nothing near me; besides,
I think there be not many armours in the arsenal will
fit me, especially for the headpiece. I'll tell thee-- 12

_Pass._ What, my lord?

_Bil._ I can eat stewed broth as it comes seething off
the fire; or a custard as it comes reeking out of the
oven; and I think there are not many lords can do it.
A good pomander,[530] a little decayed in the scent; but
six grains of musk, ground with rose-water, and tempered
with a little civet, shall fetch her again presently.

_Pass._ O, ay, as a bawd with aqua-vitæ. 20

_Bil._ And, what, dost thou rail upon the ladies as thou
wert wont?

_Pass._ I were better roast a live cat, and might do it
with more safety. I am as secret to [the] thieves as
their painting. There's Maquerelle, oldest bawd and a
perpetual beggar--did you never hear of her trick to
be known in the city?

_Bil._ Never.

_Pass._ Why, she gets all the picture-makers to draw
her picture; when they have done, she most courtly
finds fault with them one after another, and never
fetcheth them: they, in revenge of this, execute her in
pictures as they do in Germany, and hang her in their
shops: by this means is she better known to the stinkards
than if she had been five times carted. 35

_Bil._ 'Fore God, an excellent policy.

_Pass._ Are there any revels to-night, my lord?

_Bil._ Yes.

_Pass._ Good my lord, give me leave to break a fellow's
pate that hath abused me. 40

_Bil._ Whose pate?

_Pass._ Young Ferrardo, my lord.

_Bil._ Take heed, he's very valiant; I have known him
fight eight quarrels in five days, believe it.

_Pass._ O, is he so great a quarreller? why, then, he's an
arrant coward.

_Bil._ How prove you that?

_Pass._ Why, thus. He that quarrels seeks to fight;
and he that seeks to fight seeks to die; and he that seeks
to die seeks never to fight more; and he that will quarrel,
and seeks means never to answer a man more, I think
he's a coward. 52

_Bil._ Thou canst prove anything.

_Pass._ Anything but a rich knave; for I can flatter no
man.

_Bil._ Well, be not drunk, good fool: I shall see you
anon in the presence.

[_Exeunt._

[528] This scene was added in ed. 2.

[529] Reed suggests that this word may be derived from old Fr.
_coisser_ (= incommoder) or _coiter_ (= presser, exciter). Nares
explains _coistered_ to mean "coiled up into a small compass."

[530] A ball of perfumed paste, worn round the neck or at the
girdle.

SCENE II.

_Before the Citadel._

_Enter, from opposite sides_, MALEVOLE _and_ MAQUERELLE,
_singing_.

_Mal. The Dutchman for a drunkard_,--

_Maq. The Dane for golden locks_,--

_Mal. The Irishman for usquebaugh_,--

_Maq. The Frenchman for the_ (----).

_Mal._ O, thou art a blessed creature! had I a modest
woman to conceal, I would put her to thy custody; for
no reasonable creature would ever suspect her to be in
thy company: ah, thou art a melodious Maquerelle,--thou
picture of a woman, and substance of a beast!

_Enter_ PASSARELLO _with wine._

_Maq._ O fool,[531] will ye be ready anon to go with me to
the revels? the hall will be so pestered anon. 11

_Pass._ Ay, as the country is with attorneys.

_Mal._ What hast thou there, fool?

_Pass._ Wine; I have learned to drink since I went with
my lord ambassador: I'll drink to the health of Madam
Maquerelle.

_Mal._ Why, thou wast wont to rail upon her.

_Pass._ Ay; but since I borrowed money of her, I'll
drink to her health now; as gentlemen visit brokers, or
as knights send venison to the city, either to take up
more money, or to procure longer forbearance. 21

_Mal._ Give me the bowl. I drink a health to Altofront,
our deposed duke. [_Drinks._

_Pas._ I'll take it [_Drinks_]:--so. Now I'll begin a
health to Madam Maquerelle. [_Drinks._

_Mal._ Pooh! I will not pledge her.

_Pass._ Why, I pledged your lord.

_Mal._ I care not.

_Pass._ Not pledge Madam Maquerelle! why, then,
will I spew up your lord again with this fool's finger. 30

_Mal._ Hold; I'll take it. [_Drinks._

_Maq._ Now thou hast drunk my health, fool, I am
friends with thee.

_Pass._ Art? art?
When Griffon[532] saw the reconcilèd quean
Offering about his neck her arms to cast,
He threw off sword and heart's malignant spleen,
And lovely her below the loins embrac'd.--
Adieu, Madam Maquerelle. [_Exit._

_Mal._ And how dost thou think o' this transformation
of state now? 41

_Maq._ Verily, very well; for we women always note,
the falling of the one is the rising of the other; some must
be fat, some must be lean; some must be fools, and some
must be lords; some must be knaves, and some must be
officers; some must be beggars, some must be knights;
some must be cuckolds, and some must be citizens. As
for example, I have two court-dogs, the most fawning
curs, the one called Watch, the other Catch: now I, like
Lady Fortune, sometimes love this dog, sometimes raise
that dog, sometimes favour Watch, most commonly fancy
Catch. Now, that dog which I favour I feed; and he's
so ravenous, that what I give he never chaws it, gulps it
down whole, without any relish of what he has, but with
a greedy expectation of what he shall have. The other
dog now---- 56

_Mal._ No more dog, sweet Maquerelle, no more dog.
And what hope hast thou of the Duchess Maria? will
she stoop to the duke's lure? will she come,[533] thinkest?

_Maq._ Let me see, where's the sign now? ha' ye e'er a
calendar? where's the sign, trow you? 61

_Mal._ Sign! why, is there any moment in that?

_Maq._ O, believe me, a most secret power: look ye, a
Chaldean or an Assyrian, I am sure 'twas a most sweet
Jew, told me, court any woman in the right sign, you
shall not miss. But you must take her in the right vein
then; as, when the sign is in Pisces, a fishmonger's
wife is very sociable; in Cancer, a precisian's wife is very
flexible; in Capricorn, a merchant's wife hardly holds
out; in Libra, a lawyer's wife is very tractable, especially
if her husband be at the term; only in Scorpio 'tis very
dangerous meddling. Has the duke sent any jewel, any
rich stones? 73

_Mal._ Ay, I think those are the best signs to take a
lady in.

_Enter_ Captain.

By your favour, signior, I must discourse with the Lady
Maria, Altofront's duchess; I must enter for the duke.

_Capt._ She here shall give you interview: I received
the guardship of this citadel from the good Altofront,
and for his use I'll keep't, till I am of no use. 80

_Mal._ Wilt thou? O heavens, that a Christian should
be found in a buff-jerkin! Captain Conscience, I love
thee, captain. We attend.

[_Exit_ Captain.

And what hope hast thou of this duchess' easiness?

_Maq._ 'Twill go hard, she was a cold creature ever;
she hated monkeys, fools, jesters, and gentlemen-ushers
extremely; she had the vile trick on't, not only to be
truly modestly honourable in her own conscience, but
she would avoid the least wanton carriage that might
incur suspect; as, God bless me, she had almost brought
bed-pressing out of fashion; I could scarce get a fine for
the lease of a lady's favour once in a fortnight. 92

_Mal._ Now, in the name of immodesty, how many
maidenheads has thou brought to the block?

_Maq._ Let me see: heaven forgive us our misdeeds!--Here's
the duchess.

_Enter_ MARIA _with_ Captain.

_Mal._ God bless thee, lady!

_Maria._ Out of thy company!

_Mal._ We have brought thee tender of a husband.

_Maria._ I hope I have one already. 100

_Maq._ Nay, by mine honour, madam, as good ha' ne'er
a husband as a banished husband; he's in another world
now. I'll tell ye, lady, I have heard of a sect that maintained,
when the husband was asleep the wife might
lawfully entertain another man, for then her husband
was as dead; much more when he is banished.

_Maria._ Unhonest creature!

_Maq._ Pish, honesty is but an art to seem so:
Pray ye, what's honesty, what's constancy,
But fables feign'd, odd old fools' chat, devis'd 110
By jealous fools to wrong our liberty?

_Mal._ Molly, he that loves thee is a duke, Mendoza;
he will maintain thee royally, love thee ardently, defend
thee powerfully, marry thee sumptuously, and keep thee,
in despite of Rosicleer or Donzel del Phebo.[534] There's
jewels: if thou wilt, so; if not, so.

_Maria._ Captain, for God's love,[535] save poor wretchedness
From tyranny of lustful insolence!
Enforce me in the deepest dungeon dwell,
Rather than here; here round about is hell.-- 120
O my dear'st Altofront! where'er thou breathe,
Let my soul sink into the shades beneath,
Before I stain thine honour! 'tis[536] thou has't,
And long as I can die, I will live chaste.

_Mal._ 'Gainst him that can enforce how vain is strife!

_Maria._ She that can be enforc'd has ne'er a knife:
She that through force her limbs with lust enrolls,
Wants Cleopatra's asps and Portia's coals.
God amend you! 129

[_Exit with_ Captain.

_Mal._ Now, the fear of the devil for ever go with
thee!--Maquerelle,
I tell thee, I have found an honest
woman: faith, I perceive, when all is done, there is of
women, as of all other things, some good, most bad;
some saints, some sinners: for as nowadays no courtier
but has his mistress, no captain but has his cockatrice,[537]
no cuckold but has his horns, and no fool but has his
feather; even so, no woman but has her weakness and
feather too, no sex but has his--I can hunt the letter no
farther.--[_Aside_] O God, how loathsome this toying is
to me! that a duke should be forced to fool it! well,
_stultorum plena sunt omnia_:[538] better play the fool lord
than be the fool lord.--Now, where's your sleights,
Madam Maquerelle? 143

_Maq._ Why, are ye ignorant that 'tis said a squeamish
affected niceness is natural to women, and that the
excuse of their yielding is only, forsooth, the difficult
obtaining? You must put her to't: women are flax, and
will fire in a moment.

_Mal._ Why, was the flax put into thy mouth, and yet
thou--Thou set fire, thou inflame her! 150

_Maq._ Marry, but I'll tell ye now, you were too hot.

_Mal._ The fitter to have inflamed the flax, woman.

_Maq._ You were too boisterous, spleeny, for, indeed----

_Mal._ Go, go, thou art a weak pandress: now I see,

Sooner earth's fire heaven itself shall waste,
Than all with heat can melt a mind that's chaste.

Go: thou the duke's lime-twig! I'll make the duke turn
thee out of thine office: what, not get one touch of hope,
and had her at such advantage! 160

Maq. Now, o' my conscience, now I think in my discretion,
we did not take her in the right sign; the blood
was not in the true vein, sure.

[_Exit._

_Enter_ BILIOSO.

_Bil._ Make way[539] there! the duke returns from the
enthronement.--Malevole,--

_Mal._ Out, rogue!

_Bil._ Malevole,--

_Mal._ Hence, ye gross-jawed, peasantly--out, go![540] 168

_Bil._ Nay, sweet Malevole, since my return I hear you
are become the thing I always prophesied would be,--an
advanced virtue, a worthily-employed faithfulness, a
man o' grace, dear friend. Come; what! _Si quoties
peccant homines_[541]--if as often as courtiers play the knaves,
honest men should be angry--why, look ye, we must
collogue[542] sometimes, forswear sometimes.

_Mal._ Be damned sometimes.

_Bil._ Right: _nemo omnibus horis sapit_; no man can be
honest at all hours: necessity often depraves virtue.

_Mal._ I will commend thee to the duke.

_Bil._ Do: let us be friends, man. 180

_Mal._ And knaves, man.

_Bil._ Right: let us prosper and purchase:[543] our lordships
shall live, and our knavery be forgotten.

_Mal._ He that by any ways gets riches, his means never
shames him.

_Bil._ True.

_Mal._ For impudency and faithlessness are the main
stays to greatness.

_Bil._ By the Lord, thou art a profound lad.

_Mal._ By the Lord, thou art a perfect knave: out, ye
ancient damnation! 191

_Bil._ Peace, peace! and thou wilt not be a friend to
me as I am a knave, be not a knave to me as I am thy
friend, and disclose me. Peace! cornets!

_Enter_ PREPASSO and FERRARDO, _two_ Pages _with lights_,
CELSO _and_ EQUATO, MENDOZA _in duke's robes,
and_ GUERRINO.

_Men._ On, on; leave us, leave us.

[_Exeunt all except_ MALEVOLE _and_ MENDOZA.

Stay, where is the hermit?

_Mal._ With Duke Pietro, with Duke Pietro.

_Men._ Is he dead? is he poisoned?

_Mal._ Dead, as the duke is.

_Men._ Good, excellent: he will not blab; secureness
lives in secrecy. Come hither, come hither. 201

_Mal._ Thou hast a certain strong villainous scent about
thee my nature cannot endure.

_Men._ Scent, man! What returns Maria, what answer
to our suit?

_Mal._ Cold, frosty; she is obstinate.

_Men._ Then she's but dead; 'tis resolute, she dies:
Black deed only through black deed[544] safely flies.

_Mal._ Pooh! _per scelera semper sceleribus tutum est iter_.[545]

_Men._ What, art a scholar? art a politician? sure, thou
art an arrant knave. 211

_Mal._ Who, I? I ha' been twice an under-sheriff,
man.[546] Well, I will go rail upon some great man, that I
may purchase the bastinado, or else go marry some rich
Genoan lady, and instantly go travel.

_Men._ Travel, when thou art married?

_Mal._ Ay, 'tis your young lord's fashion to do so,
though he was so lazy, being a bachelor, that he would
never travel so far as the university: yet when he
married her, tales off, and, Catso,[547] for England! 220

_Men._ And why for England?

_Mal._ Because there is no brothel-houses there.

_Men._ Nor courtezans?

_Mal._ Neither; your whore went down with the stews,
and your punk came up with your puritan.

_Men._ Canst thou empoison? canst thou empoison?

_Mal._ Excellently; no Jew, pothecary, or politician
better. Look ye, here's a box: whom wouldst thou
empoison? here's a box [_Giving it_], which, opened and
the fume ta'en[548] up in conduits[549] thorough which the
brain purges itself, doth instantly for twelve hours' space
bind up all show of life in a deep senseless sleep: here's
another [_Giving it_], which, being opened under the
sleeper's nose, chokes all the pores[550] of life, kills him
suddenly. 235

_Men._ I'll try experiments; 'tis good not to be deceived.--So,
so; catso! [_Seems to poison_ MALEVOLE,_ who falls._
Who would fear that may destroy?
Death hath no teeth nor[551] tongue;
And he that's great, to him are slaves, 240
Shame, murder, fame, and wrong.--
Celso!

_Enter_ CELSO.

_Celso._ My honour'd lord?

_Men._ The good Malevole, that plain-tongu'd man,
Alas, is dead on sudden, wondrous strangely!
He held in our esteem good place. Celso,
See him buried, see him buried.

_Celso._ I shall observe ye.

_Men._ And, Celso, prithee, let it be thy care to-night
To have some pretty show, to solemnise
Our high instalment; some music, maskery. 250
We'll give fair entertain unto Maria,
The duchess to the banish'd Altofront:
Thou shalt conduct her from the citadel
Unto the palace. Think on some maskery.

_Celso._ Of what shape, sweet lord?

_Men._ What[552] shape! why, any quick-done fiction;
As some brave spirits of the Genoan dukes,
To come out of Elysium, forsooth,
Led in by Mercury, to gratulate
Our happy fortune; some such anything, 260
Some far-fet[553] trick good for ladies, some stale toy
Or other, no matter, so't be of our devising.
Do thou prepare't; 'tis but for fashion[554] sake;
Fear not, it shall be grac'd, man, it shall take.

_Celso._ All service.

_Men._ All thanks; our hand shall not be close to thee: farewell.
[_Aside._] Now is my treachery secure, nor can we fall:
Mischief that prospers, men do virtue call.
I'll trust no man: he that by tricks gets wreaths
Keeps them with steel; no man securely breathes 270
Out of deservèd[555] ranks; the crowd will mutter, "fool:"
Who cannot bear with spite, he cannot rule.
The chiefest secret for a man of state
Is, to live senseless of a strengthless hate.

[_Exit._

_Mal._ [_starting up_] Death of the damned thief! I'll
make one i' the mask; thou shalt ha' some brave spirits
of the antique dukes.

_Cel._ My lord, what strange delusion?

_Mal._ Most happy, dear Celso, poisoned with an empty
box: I'll give thee all, anon: my lady comes to court;
there is a whirl of fate comes tumbling on; the castle's
captain stands for me, the people pray for me, and the
great leader of the just stands for me: then courage,
Celso; 284
For no disastrous chance can ever move him
That leaveth nothing but a God above him.

[_Exeunt._

[531] "O fool.... Adieu, Madam Maquerelle" (ll. 10-39).--This
passage was added in ed. 2.

[532] "_Griffon_ is one of the heroes of _Orlando Furioso_, from
whence one might suspect these lines to be taken. I do not,
however, find them there."--_Reed._ For "spleen" in l. 37 all the
editions give "stream."

[533] _i.e._, yield.--Ed. 2. "cowe."

[534] Rosicleer and Donzel del Phebo were heroes in the romance
of _The Mirrour of Knighthood_. See note 3, p. 30.

[535] Ed. 2. "sake."

[536] Ed. 2. "this."

[537] The term _cockatrice_ seems to have been specially applied
to a captain's mistress, though it is also found as a general
name for a courtesan.

[538] Cicero, _Epist. ad Fam._ ix. 22.

[539] "Make way there.... Peace! cornets!" (ll. 164-194).--This
passage was added in ed. 2.

[540] These are the words that Bilioso had used to Malevole, ii.
2. l. 64.

[541] Ovid's _Tristia_, ii. 33.

[542] Cog, wheedle.--"Sadayer. To handle gently or stroke softly;
also to flatter, smooth, cog, or _collogue with_."--_Cotgrave._
The word also means--confer for an unlawful purpose.

[543] Acquire wealth.--_Purchase_ was a cant term for stolen
goods, but it was also used in the general sense of riches.

[544] Ed. 1. "deedes."

[545] Seneca, _Agam._ 115.

[546] Ed. 2. continues thus:--
"_Enter_ MALEVOLE _and_ MENDOZA.
_Mend._ Hast bin with Maria?
_Mal._ As your scriuener to your vsurer I haue delt about
taking of this commoditie, but she's could-frosty. Well, I
will go raile, &c."
Perhaps the scene was intended to begin here and the preceding
speeches were not properly cancelled.--Ed. 1. omits a few
speeches and proceeds as in l. 226:--
"_Men._ Canst thou empoison?" &c.

[547] An obscene expression (_Ital._)

[548] Ed. 2. "taken up."

[549] Some copies of ed. 2. "cõmodites."--The compositor was
thinking of the common expression _take up commodities_.

[550] Ed. 2. "power."

[551] Ed. 2. "or."

[552] Old eds. "Why."

[553] An allusion to the proverb _Far fet and dear bought is
good for ladies_.

[554] Ed. 2. and some copies of ed. 1. "a fashion."

SCENE III.

_The Presence-Chamber._

_Enter_ BILIOSO _and_ PREPASSO, _two_ Pages _before them_;
MAQUERELLE, BIANCA, _and_ EMILIA.

_Bil._ Make room there, room for the ladies! why,
gentlemen, will not ye suffer the ladies to be entered in
the great chamber? why, gallants! and you, sir, to drop
your torch where the beauties must sit too!

_Pre._ And there's a great fellow plays the knave; why
dost not strike him?

_Bil._ Let him play the knave, o' God's name; thinkest
thou I have no more wit than to strike a great fellow?--The
music! more lights! revelling-scaffolds! do you
hear? Let there be oaths enow ready at the door,
swear out the devil himself. Let's leave the ladies, and
go see if the lords be ready for them. 12

[_Exeunt_ BILIOSO, PREPASSO, _and_ Pages.

_Maq._ And, by my troth, beauties, why do you not put
you into the fashion? this is a stale cut; you must come
in fashion: look ye, you must be all felt, felt and feather,
a felt upon your bare hair:[556] look ye, these tiring things
are justly out of request now: and, do ye hear? you
must wear falling-bands, you must come into the falling
fashion: there is such a deal o' pinning these ruffs, when
the fine clean fall is worth all: and again, if ye should
chance to take a nap in the afternoon, your falling-band
requires no poting-stick[557] to recover his form: believe
me, no fashion to the falling,[558] I say. 23

_Bian._ And is not Signior St. Andrew[559] a gallant fellow
now.

_Maq._ By my maidenhead, la, honour and he agree as
well together as a satin suit and woollen stockings.

_Emilia._ But is not Marshal Make-room, my servant
in reversion, a proper gentleman? 29

_Maq._ Yes, in reversion, as he had his office; as, in
truth, he hath all things in reversion: he has his mistress
in reversion, his clothes in reversion, his wit in reversion;
and, indeed, is a suitor to me for my dog in
reversion: but, in good verity, la, he is as proper a
gentleman in reversion as--and, indeed, as fine a man
as may be, having a red beard and a pair of warpt[560] legs.

_Bian._ But, i'faith, I am most monstrously in love with
Count Quidlibet-in-quodlibet: is he not a pretty, dapper,
unidle[561] gallant? 39

_Maq._ He is even one of the most busy-fingered lords;
he will put the beauties to the squeak most hideously.

_Re-enter_ BILIOSO.

_Bil._ Room! make a lane there! the duke is entering:
stand handsomely for beauty's sake, take up the ladies
there! So, cornets, cornets!

_Re-enter_ PREPASSO, _joins to_ BILIOSO; _then enter two_
Pages _with lights_, FERRARDO, MENDOZA; _at the other door, two_
Pages _with lights, and the Captain leading in_ MARIA; MENDOZA
_meets_ MARIA _and closeth with her; the rest fall back_.

_Men._ Madam, with gentle ear receive my suit;
A kingdom's safety should o'er-peise[562] slight rites;
Marriage is merely nature's policy:
Then, since unless our royal beds be join'd,
Danger and civil tumults fright the state,
Be wise as you are fair, give way to fate. 50

_Maria._ What wouldst thou, thou affliction to our house?
Thou ever-devil, 'twas thou that banished'st
My truly noble lord!

_Men._ I!

_Maria._ Ay, by thy plots, by thy black stratagems:
Twelve moons have suffer'd change since I beheld
The lovèd presence of my dearest lord.
O thou far worse than death! he parts but soul
From a weak body; but thou soul from soul
Dissever'st, that which God's own hand did knit; 60
Thou scant of honour, full of devilish wit!

_Men._ We'll check your too-intemperate lavishness:
I can, and will.

_Maria._ What canst?

_Men._ Go to; in banishment thy husband dies.

_Maria._ He ever is at home that's ever wise.

_Men._ You'st[563] ne'er meet more: reason should love control.

_Maria._ Not meet!
She that dear loves, her love's still in her soul.

_Men._ You are but a woman, lady, you must yield. 70

_Maria._ O, save me, thou innated bashfulness,
Thou only ornament of woman's modesty!

_Men._ Modesty! death, I'll torment thee.

_Maria._ Do, urge all torments, all afflictions try;
I'll die my lord's as long as I can die.

_Men._ Thou obstinate, thou shalt die.--Captain, that lady's life
Is forfeited to justice: we have examin'd her,
And we do find she hath empoisonèd
The reverend hermit; therefore we command
Severest custody.--Nay, if you'll do's no good, 80
You'st do's no harm: a tyrant's peace is blood.

_Maria._ O, thou art merciful; O gracious devil,
Rather by much let me condemnèd be
For seeming murder than be damn'd for thee!
I'll mourn no more; come, girt my brows with flowers:
Revel and dance, soul, now thy wish thou hast;
Die like a bride, poor heart, thou shalt die chaste.

_Enter_ AURELIA _in mourning habit_.

Life[564] is a frost of cold felicity,--

_Aur._ And death the thaw of all our vanity:
Was't not an honest priest that wrote so? 90

_Men._ Who let her in?

_Bil._ Forbear!

_Pre._ Forbear!

_Aur._ Alas, calamity is everywhere:
Sad misery, despite your double doors,
Will enter even in court.

_Bil._ Peace!

_Aur._I ha' done.[565]

_Bil._ One word,--take heed!

_Aur._ I ha' done.

_Enter_ MERCURY _with loud music_.

_Mer._ Cyllenian Mercury, the god of ghosts,
From gloomy shades that spread the lower coasts,[566]
Calls four high-famèd Genoan[567] dukes to come, 100
And make this presence their Elysium,
To pass away this high triumphal night
With song and dances, court's more soft delight.

_Aur._ Are you god of ghosts? I have a suit pending
in hell betwixt me and my conscience; I would fain have
thee help me to an advocate.

_Bil._ Mercury shall be your lawyer, lady.

_Aur._ Nay, faith, Mercury has too good a face to be a
right lawyer.

_Pre._ Peace, forbear! Mercury presents the mask. 110

_Cornets: the song to the cornets, which playing, the mask enters_;
MALEVOLE, PIETRO, FERNEZE, _and_ CELSO, _in white robes, with
dukes' crowns upon laurel-wreaths, pistolets and short swords
under their robes_.

_Men._ Celso, Celso, court[568] Maria for our love.--
Lady, be gracious, yet grace.

_Maria._ With me, sir?

[MALEVOLE _takes_ MARIA _to dance_.

_Mal._ Yes, more lovèd than my breath;
With you I'll dance.

_Maria._ Why, then, you dance with death.
But, come, sir, I was ne'er more apt for[569] mirth.
Death gives eternity a glorious breath:
O, to die honour'd, who would fear to die?

_Mal._ They die in fear who live in villainy.

_Men._ Yes, believe him, lady, and be rul'd by him.

_Pietro._ Madam, with me.

[PIETRO _takes_ AURELIA _to dance_.

_Aur._ Wouldst, then, be miserable? 120

_Pietro._ I need not wish.

_Aur._ O, yet forbear my hand! away! fly! fly!
O, seek not her that only seeks to die!

_Pietro._ Poor lovèd soul!

_Aur._ What, wouldst court misery?

_Pietro._ Yes.

_Aur._ She'll come too soon:--O my grievèd heart!

_Pietro._ Lady, ha' done, ha' done:
Come,[570] let us dance; be once from sorrow free.

_Aur._ Art a sad man?

_Pietro._ Yes, sweet.

_Aur._ Then we'll agree. 128

[FERNEZE _takes_ MAQUERELLE _and_ CELSO BIANCA:
_then the cornets sound the measure, one
change, and rest_.

_Fer._ [_to_ BIANCA.] Believe it, lady; shall I swear? let
me enjoy you in private, and I'll marry you, by my soul.

_Bian._ I had rather you would swear by your body:
I think that would prove the more regarded oath with
you.

_Fer._ I'll swear by them both, to please you.

_Bian._ O, damn them not both to please me, for God's
sake! 136

_Fer._ Faith, sweet creature, let me enjoy you to-night,
and I'll marry you to-morrow fortnight, by my troth, la.

_Maq._ On his troth, la! believe him not; that kind of
cony-catching is as stale as Sir Oliver Anchovy's perfumed[571]
jerkin: promise of matrimony by a young gallant,
to bring a virgin lady into a fool's paradise; make her a
great woman, and then cast her off;--'tis as common
and[572] natural to a courtier, as jealousy to a citizen,
gluttony to a puritan, wisdom to an alderman, pride to
a tailor, or an empty hand-basket[573] to one of these sixpenny
damnations: of his troth, la! believe him not;
traps to catch pole-cats.

_Mal._ [_to_ MARIA]. Keep your face constant, let no sudden passion
Speak in your eyes.

_Maria._ O my Altofront! 150

_Pietro._ [_to_ AURELIA.] A tyrant's jealousies
Are very nimble: you receive it all?

_Aur._ My heart, though not my knees, doth humbly fall
Low as the earth, to thee.

_Mal._[574] Peace! next change; no words.

_Maria._ Speech to such, ay, O, what will affords!

[_Cornets sound the measure over again; which
danced, they unmask._

_Men._ Malevole!

[_They environ_ MENDOZA, _bending their pistols on him_.

_Mal._ No.

_Men._ Altofront! Duke Pietro![575] Ferneze! ha!

_All._ Duke Altofront! Duke Altofront!

[_Cornets, a flourish._--_They seize upon_ MENDOZA.

_Men._ Are we surpris'd? what strange delusions mock 160
Our senses? do I dream? or have I dreamt
This two days' space? where am I?

_Mal._ Where an arch-villain is.

_Men._ O, lend me breath till[576] I am fit to die!
For peace with heaven, for your own souls' sake,
Vouchsafe me life!

_Pietro._ Ignoble villain! whom neither heaven nor hell,
Goodness of God or man, could once make good!

_Mal._ Base, treacherous wretch! what grace canst thou expect,
That hast grown impudent in gracelessness? 170

_Men._ O, life!

_Mal._ Slave, take thy life.
Wert thou defencèd, th[o]rough blood and wounds,
The sternest horror of a civil fight,
Would I achieve thee; but prostrate at my feet,
I scorn to hurt thee: 'tis the heart of slaves
That deigns to triumph over peasants' graves;
For such thou art, since birth doth ne'er enroll
A man 'mong monarchs, but a glorious soul.
O,[577] I have seen strange accidents of state! 180
The flatterer, like the ivy, clip the oak,
And waste it to the heart; lust so confirm'd,
That the black act of sin itself not sham'd
To be term'd courtship.
O, they that are as great as be their sins,
Let them remember that th' inconstant people
Love many princes[578] merely for their faces
And outward shows; and they do covet more
To have a sight of these than of their virtues.
Yet thus much let the great ones still conceive,[579] 190
When they observe not heaven's impos'd conditions,
They are no kings,[580] but forfeit their commissions.

_Maq._ O good my lord, I have lived in the court this
twenty year: they that have been old courtiers, and
come to live in the city, they are spited at, and thrust
to the walls like apricocks, good my lord.

_Bil._ My lord, I did know your lordship in this disguise;
you heard me ever say, if Altofront did return, I
would stand for him: besides, 'twas your lordship's
pleasure to call me wittol and cuckold: you must not
think, but that I knew you, I would have put it up so
patiently. 202

_Mal._ You o'er-joy'd spirits, wipe your long-wet eyes.

[_To_ PIETRO _and_ AURELIA.

Hence with this man [_Kicks out_ MENDOZA]: an eagle takes
not flies.
You to your vows [_To_ PIETRO _and_ AURELIA]: and thou
into the suburbs.[581] [_To_ MAQUERELLE.
You to my worst friend I would hardly give;
Thou art a perfect old knave [_To_ BILIOSO]: all-pleas'd live
You two unto my breast [_To_ CELSO and the Captain]:
thou to my heart. [_To_ MARIA.
The rest of idle actors idly part:
And as for me, I here assume my right, 210
To which I hope all's pleas'd: to all, good-night.

[_Cornets, a flourish. Exeunt._

[555] Some copies of ed. 1. "distuned."

[556] Some copies of ed. 1. "head."

[557] Sticks for setting the plaits of ruffs. They were first
made of wood or bone, but afterwards of steel.

[558] Some copies of ed. 1. "falling-band."

[559] Some copies of ed. 1. "St. Andrew Jaques."

[560] Ed. 2. "wrapt."

[561] This is the reading of ed. 2.--Some copies of ed. 1. give
"windle." Perhaps the true reading is "wimble" (= nimble), a word
which Marston uses in _The First Part of Antonio and Mellida_
(see p. 58).

[562] Outweigh.

[563] Contraction of "you must."

[564] Given to _Aurelia_ (perhaps rightly) in ed. 2. and
some copies of ed. 1.

[565] "I ha' done," &c.--Old eds.:--
"_Aur._ I ha done; one word, take heede, I ha done."

[566] Regions.--"Marche. A region, _coast_, or
quarter."--_Cotgrave._

[567] Some copies of ed. 1. "Genoa."

[568] Ed. 2. "count."

[569] Ed. 2. "to."

[570] Some copies of ed. 1. "come downe."

[571] A _frotted_ jerkin--a jerkin in which sweet oil had
been rubbed. Cf. _Cynthia's Revels_, v. 2:--
"_Amo._ Is the perfume rich in this jerkin?
_Per._ Taste, smell; I assure you, sir, pure benjamin, the
only spirited scent that ever awaked a Neapolitan nostril.... I
frotted a jerkin for a new-revenued gentleman yielded me three
score crowns but this morning, and the same titillation."

[572] Old eds. "as."

[573] Omitted in some copies of ed. 1.

[574] Old eds. "_Pietro._"

[575] Some copies of ed. 1. "_Lorenzo._"

[576] Some copies of ed. 1. "to liue till."

[577] "O, I have seen ... so patiently" (ll. 180-202).--This
passage was added in ed. 2.

[578] Some copies read "men."

[579] Old ed. "conceale."

[580] Some copies read "men."

[581] Where the bawdy-houses were located.

AN[582] IMPERFECT ODE, BEING BUT ONE STAFF,

SPOKEN BY THE PROLOGUE.

To wrest each hurtless thought to private sense
Is the foul use of ill-bred impudence:
Immodest censure now grows wild,
All over-running.
Let innocence be ne'er so chaste,
Yet at the last
She is defil'd
With too nice-brainèd cunning.
O you of fairer soul,
Control 10
With an Herculean arm
This harm;
And once teach all old freedom of a pen,
Which still must write of fools, whiles't writes of men!

[582] The "imperfect ode" and the epilogue are not found in some
copies of ed. 1.

EPILOGUS.

Your modest silence, full of heedy stillness,
Makes me thus speak: a voluntary illness
Is merely[583] senseless; but unwilling error,
Such as proceeds from too rash youthful fervour,
May well be call'd a fault, but not a sin:
Rivers take names from founts where they begin.
Then let not too severe an eye peruse
The slighter brakes[584] of our reformèd Muse,
Who could herself herself of faults detect,
But that she knows 'tis easy to correct, 10
Though some men's labour: troth, to err is fit,
As long as wisdom's not profess'd, but wit.
Then till another's happier Muse appears,[585]
Till his Thalia feast your learnèd ears,
To whose desertful lamps pleased Fates impart
Art above nature, judgment above art,
Receive this piece, which hope nor fear yet daunteth:
He that knows most knows most how much he wanteth.

[583] Wholly.

[584] Clearly another form of _bracks_, _i.e._, cracks, flaws.

[585] A fine compliment to Ben Jonson.

END OF VOL. I.

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON.

Transcriber's Note:

Minor punctuation errors were corrected. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to follow the section of text or scene of the play in which the related anchors occur. Phrases in Greek have been transliterated. Words in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. Superscripted letters are preceded by a carat, li^{ke} thi^s. The text of prose portions of plays was not wrapped, to maintain the line numbers.

Anomolies noted and retained unchanged:

Both the prologue and the first scene of Act V of "Antonio's
Revenge" are identified as "Scene 1."
Footnotes [78], [237], and [478] each have two anchors that refer to
the note.
Line counts in the original do not appear to be accurate in several
places.

Changes to text:

Introduction - 'indentified' to 'identified'
... he is to be identified with ...
First part of Antonio and Mellida, Act III, Scene 1, line 113:
duplicate "myself" removed from
... Well, ere yon sun set, I'll show myself myself,...
The Malcontent, Act V, Scene 3, line 88:
duplicate "a" removed from
... Life is a a frost of cold felicity,...

End of Project Gutenberg's The Works of John Marston, by John Marston