полная версия
Webster John
The Duchess of Malfi
Act II
Scene I30
[Enter] BOSOLA and CASTRUCCIO
BOSOLA. You say you would fain be taken for an eminent courtier?
CASTRUCCIO. 'Tis the very main31 of my ambition.
BOSOLA. Let me see: you have a reasonable good face for 't already,
and your night-cap expresses your ears sufficient largely. I would
have you learn to twirl the strings of your band with a good grace,
and in a set speech, at th' end of every sentence, to hum three
or four times, or blow your nose till it smart again, to recover your
memory. When you come to be a president in criminal causes, if you
smile upon a prisoner, hang him; but if you frown upon him and
threaten him, let him be sure to scape the gallows.
CASTRUCCIO. I would be a very merry president.
BOSOLA. Do not sup o' nights; 'twill beget you an admirable wit.
CASTRUCCIO. Rather it would make me have a good stomach to quarrel;
for they say, your roaring boys eat meat seldom, and that makes them
so valiant. But how shall I know whether the people take me for
an eminent fellow?
BOSOLA. I will teach a trick to know it: give out you lie a-dying,
and if you hear the common people curse you, be sure you are taken
for one of the prime night-caps.32 [Enter an Old Lady]
You come from painting now.
OLD LADY. From what?
BOSOLA. Why, from your scurvy face-physic. To behold thee not
painted inclines somewhat near a miracle. These in thy face here
were deep ruts and foul sloughs the last progress.33 There was
a lady in France that, having had the small-pox, flayed the skin off
her face to make it more level; and whereas before she looked
like a nutmeg-grater, after she resembled an abortive hedge-hog.
OLD LADY. Do you call this painting?
BOSOLA. No, no, but you call [it] careening34 of an old
morphewed35 lady, to make her disembogue36 again:
there 's rough-cast phrase to your plastic.37
OLD LADY. It seems you are well acquainted with my closet.
BOSOLA. One would suspect it for a shop of witchcraft, to find in it
the fat of serpents, spawn of snakes, Jews' spittle, and their young
children's ordure; and all these for the face. I would sooner eat
a dead pigeon taken from the soles of the feet of one sick of the
plague, than kiss one of you fasting. Here are two of you, whose sin
of your youth is the very patrimony of the physician; makes him renew
his foot-cloth with the spring, and change his high-pric'd courtezan
with the fall of the leaf. I do wonder you do not loathe yourselves.
Observe my meditation now.
What thing is in this outward form of man
To be belov'd? We account it ominous,
If nature do produce a colt, or lamb,
A fawn, or goat, in any limb resembling
A man, and fly from 't as a prodigy:
Man stands amaz'd to see his deformity
In any other creature but himself.
But in our own flesh though we bear diseases
Which have their true names only ta'en from beasts, —
As the most ulcerous wolf and swinish measle, —
Though we are eaten up of lice and worms,
And though continually we bear about us
A rotten and dead body, we delight
To hide it in rich tissue: all our fear,
Nay, all our terror, is, lest our physician
Should put us in the ground to be made sweet. —
Your wife 's gone to Rome: you two couple, and get you to
the wells at Lucca to recover your aches. I have other work on foot.
[Exeunt CASTRUCCIO and Old Lady]
I observe our duchess
Is sick a-days, she pukes, her stomach seethes,
The fins of her eye-lids look most teeming blue,38
She wanes i' the cheek, and waxes fat i' the flank,
And, contrary to our Italian fashion,
Wears a loose-bodied gown: there 's somewhat in 't.
I have a trick may chance discover it,
A pretty one; I have bought some apricocks,
The first our spring yields.
[Enter ANTONIO and DELIO, talking together apart]
DELIO. And so long since married?
You amaze me.
ANTONIO. Let me seal your lips for ever:
For, did I think that anything but th' air
Could carry these words from you, I should wish
You had no breath at all. – Now, sir, in your contemplation?
You are studying to become a great wise fellow.
BOSOLA. O, sir, the opinion of wisdom is a foul tetter39 that runs all over a man's body: if simplicity direct us to have
no evil, it directs us to a happy being; for the subtlest folly
proceeds from the subtlest wisdom: let me be simply honest.
ANTONIO. I do understand your inside.
BOSOLA. Do you so?
ANTONIO. Because you would not seem to appear to th' world
Puff'd up with your preferment, you continue
This out-of-fashion melancholy: leave it, leave it.
BOSOLA. Give me leave to be honest in any phrase, in any compliment
whatsoever. Shall I confess myself to you? I look no higher than
I can reach: they are the gods that must ride on winged horses.
A lawyer's mule of a slow pace will both suit my disposition and
business; for, mark me, when a man's mind rides faster than his horse
can gallop, they quickly both tire.
ANTONIO. You would look up to heaven, but I think
The devil, that rules i' th' air, stands in your light.
BOSOLA. O, sir, you are lord of the ascendant,40 chief man with
the duchess: a duke was your cousin-german remov'd. Say you were
lineally descended from King Pepin, or he himself, what of this?
Search the heads of the greatest rivers in the world, you shall find
them but bubbles of water. Some would think the souls of princes
were brought forth by some more weighty cause than those of meaner
persons: they are deceiv'd, there 's the same hand to them; the like
passions sway them; the same reason that makes a vicar go to law for
a tithe-pig, and undo his neighbours, makes them spoil a whole
province, and batter down goodly cities with the cannon.
[Enter DUCHESS and Ladies]
DUCHESS. Your arm, Antonio: do I not grow fat?
I am exceeding short-winded. – Bosola,
I would have you, sir, provide for me a litter;
Such a one as the Duchess of Florence rode in.
BOSOLA. The duchess us'd one when she was great with child.
DUCHESS. I think she did. – Come hither, mend my ruff:
Here, when? thou art such a tedious lady; and
Thy breath smells of lemon-pills: would thou hadst done!
Shall I swoon under thy fingers? I am
So troubled with the mother!41
BOSOLA. [Aside.] I fear too much.
DUCHESS. I have heard you say that the French courtiers
Wear their hats on 'fore that king.
ANTONIO. I have seen it.
DUCHESS. In the presence?
ANTONIO. Yes.
DUCHESS. Why should not we bring up that fashion?
'Tis ceremony more than duty that consists
In the removing of a piece of felt.
Be you the example to the rest o' th' court;
Put on your hat first.
ANTONIO. You must pardon me:
I have seen, in colder countries than in France,
Nobles stand bare to th' prince; and the distinction
Methought show'd reverently.
BOSOLA. I have a present for your grace.
DUCHESS. For me, sir?
BOSOLA. Apricocks, madam.
DUCHESS. O, sir, where are they?
I have heard of none to-year42
BOSOLA. [Aside.] Good; her colour rises.
DUCHESS. Indeed, I thank you: they are wondrous fair ones.
What an unskilful fellow is our gardener!
We shall have none this month.
BOSOLA. Will not your grace pare them?
DUCHESS. No: they taste of musk, methinks; indeed they do.
BOSOLA. I know not: yet I wish your grace had par'd 'em.
DUCHESS. Why?
BOSOLA. I forgot to tell you, the knave gardener,
Only to raise his profit by them the sooner,
Did ripen them in horse-dung.
DUCHESS. O, you jest. —
You shall judge: pray, taste one.
ANTONIO. Indeed, madam,
I do not love the fruit.
DUCHESS. Sir, you are loth
To rob us of our dainties. 'Tis a delicate fruit;
They say they are restorative.
BOSOLA. 'Tis a pretty art,
This grafting.
DUCHESS. 'Tis so; a bettering of nature.
BOSOLA. To make a pippin grow upon a crab,
A damson on a black-thorn. – [Aside.] How greedily she eats them!
A whirlwind strike off these bawd farthingales!
For, but for that and the loose-bodied gown,
I should have discover'd apparently43
The young springal44 cutting a caper in her belly.
DUCHESS. I thank you, Bosola: they were right good ones,
If they do not make me sick.
ANTONIO. How now, madam!
DUCHESS. This green fruit and my stomach are not friends:
How they swell me!
BOSOLA. [Aside.] Nay, you are too much swell'd already.
DUCHESS. O, I am in an extreme cold sweat!
BOSOLA. I am very sorry.
[Exit.]
DUCHESS. Lights to my chamber! – O good Antonio,
I fear I am undone!
DELIO. Lights there, lights!
Exeunt DUCHESS [and Ladies.]
ANTONIO. O my most trusty Delio, we are lost!
I fear she 's fall'n in labour; and there 's left
No time for her remove.
DELIO. Have you prepar'd
Those ladies to attend her; and procur'd
That politic safe conveyance for the midwife
Your duchess plotted?
ANTONIO. I have.
DELIO. Make use, then, of this forc'd occasion.
Give out that Bosola hath poison'd her
With these apricocks; that will give some colour
For her keeping close.
ANTONIO. Fie, fie, the physicians
Will then flock to her.
DELIO. For that you may pretend
She'll use some prepar'd antidote of her own,
Lest the physicians should re-poison her.
ANTONIO. I am lost in amazement: I know not what to think on 't.
Exeunt.
Scene II45
[Enter] BOSOLA and Old Lady
BOSOLA. So, so, there 's no question but her techiness46 and most vulturous eating of the apricocks are apparent signs
of breeding, now?
OLD LADY. I am in haste, sir.
BOSOLA. There was a young waiting-woman had a monstrous desire
to see the glass-house —
OLD LADY. Nay, pray, let me go. I will hear no more
of the glass-house. You are still47 abusing women!
BOSOLA. Who, I? No; only, by the way now and then, mention your
frailties. The orange-tree bears ripe and green fruit and blossoms
all together; and some of you give entertainment for pure love,
but more for more precious reward. The lusty spring smells well;
but drooping autumn tastes well. If we have the same golden showers
that rained in the time of Jupiter the thunderer, you have the same
Danaes still, to hold up their laps to receive them. Didst thou
never study the mathematics?
OLD LADY. What 's that, sir?
BOSOLA. Why, to know the trick how to make a many lines meet in one
centre. Go, go, give your foster-daughters good counsel: tell them,
that the devil takes delight to hang at a woman's girdle, like
a false rusty watch, that she cannot discern how the time passes.
[Exit Old Lady.]
[Enter ANTONIO, RODERIGO, and GRISOLAN]
ANTONIO. Shut up the court-gates.
RODERIGO. Why, sir? What 's the danger?
ANTONIO. Shut up the posterns presently, and call
All the officers o' th' court.
GRISOLAN. I shall instantly.
[Exit.]
ANTONIO. Who keeps the key o' th' park-gate?
RODERIGO. Forobosco.
ANTONIO. Let him bring 't presently.
[Re-enter GRISOLAN with Servants]
FIRST SERVANT. O, gentleman o' th' court, the foulest treason!
BOSOLA. [Aside.] If that these apricocks should be poison'd now,
Without my knowledge?
FIRST SERVANT.
There was taken even now a Switzer in the duchess' bed-chamber —
SECOND SERVANT. A Switzer!
FIRST SERVANT. With a pistol —
SECOND SERVANT. There was a cunning traitor!
FIRST SERVANT.
And all the moulds of his buttons were leaden bullets.
SECOND SERVANT. O wicked cannibal!
FIRST SERVANT. 'Twas a French plot, upon my life.
SECOND SERVANT. To see what the devil can do!
ANTONIO. [Are] all the officers here?
SERVANTS. We are.
ANTONIO. Gentlemen,
We have lost much plate, you know; and but this evening
Jewels, to the value of four thousand ducats,
Are missing in the duchess' cabinet.
Are the gates shut?
SERVANT. Yes.
ANTONIO. 'Tis the duchess' pleasure
Each officer be lock'd into his chamber
Till the sun-rising; and to send the keys
Of all their chests and of their outward doors
Into her bed-chamber. She is very sick.
RODERIGO. At her pleasure.
ANTONIO. She entreats you take 't not ill: the innocent
Shall be the more approv'd by it.
BOSOLA. Gentlemen o' the wood-yard, where 's your Switzer now?
FIRST SERVANT. By this hand, 'twas credibly reported by one
o' the black guard.48 [Exeunt all except ANTONIO and DELIO.]
DELIO. How fares it with the duchess?
ANTONIO. She 's expos'd
Unto the worst of torture, pain, and fear.
DELIO. Speak to her all happy comfort.
ANTONIO. How I do play the fool with mine own danger!
You are this night, dear friend, to post to Rome:
My life lies in your service.
DELIO. Do not doubt me.
ANTONIO. O, 'tis far from me: and yet fear presents me
Somewhat that looks like danger.
DELIO. Believe it,
'Tis but the shadow of your fear, no more:
How superstitiously we mind our evils!
The throwing down salt, or crossing of a hare,
Bleeding at nose, the stumbling of a horse,
Or singing of a cricket, are of power
To daunt whole man in us. Sir, fare you well:
I wish you all the joys of a bless'd father;
And, for my faith, lay this unto your breast, —
Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best.
[Exit.]
[Enter CARIOLA]
CARIOLA. Sir, you are the happy father of a son:
Your wife commends him to you.
ANTONIO. Blessed comfort! —
For heaven' sake, tend her well: I 'll presently49 Go set a figure for 's nativity.50 Exeunt.
Scene III51
[Enter BOSOLA, with a dark lantern]
BOSOLA. Sure I did hear a woman shriek: list, ha!
And the sound came, if I receiv'd it right,
]From the duchess' lodgings. There 's some stratagem
In the confining all our courtiers
To their several wards: I must have part of it;
My intelligence will freeze else. List, again!
It may be 'twas the melancholy bird,
Best friend of silence and of solitariness,
The owl, that screamed so. – Ha! Antonio!
[Enter ANTONIO with a candle, his sword drawn]
ANTONIO. I heard some noise. – Who 's there? What art thou? Speak.
BOSOLA. Antonio, put not your face nor body
To such a forc'd expression of fear;
I am Bosola, your friend.
ANTONIO. Bosola! —
[Aside.] This mole does undermine me. – Heard you not
A noise even now?
BOSOLA. From whence?
ANTONIO. From the duchess' lodging.
BOSOLA. Not I: did you?
ANTONIO. I did, or else I dream'd.
BOSOLA. Let 's walk towards it.
ANTONIO. No: it may be 'twas
But the rising of the wind.
BOSOLA. Very likely.
Methinks 'tis very cold, and yet you sweat:
You look wildly.
ANTONIO. I have been setting a figure52
For the duchess' jewels.
BOSOLA. Ah, and how falls your question?
Do you find it radical?53
ANTONIO. What 's that to you?
'Tis rather to be question'd what design,
When all men were commanded to their lodgings,
Makes you a night-walker.
BOSOLA. In sooth, I 'll tell you:
Now all the court 's asleep, I thought the devil
Had least to do here; I came to say my prayers;
And if it do offend you I do so,
You are a fine courtier.
ANTONIO. [Aside.] This fellow will undo me. —
You gave the duchess apricocks to-day:
Pray heaven they were not poison'd!
BOSOLA. Poison'd! a Spanish fig
For the imputation!
ANTONIO. Traitors are ever confident
Till they are discover'd. There were jewels stol'n too:
In my conceit, none are to be suspected
More than yourself.
BOSOLA. You are a false steward.
ANTONIO. Saucy slave, I 'll pull thee up by the roots.
BOSOLA. May be the ruin will crush you to pieces.
ANTONIO. You are an impudent snake indeed, sir:
Are you scarce warm, and do you show your sting?
You libel54 well, sir?
BOSOLA. No, sir: copy it out,
And I will set my hand to 't.
ANTONIO. [Aside.] My nose bleeds.
One that were superstitious would count
This ominous, when it merely comes by chance.
Two letters, that are wrought here for my name,55
Are drown'd in blood!
Mere accident. – For you, sir, I 'll take order
I' the morn you shall be safe. – [Aside.] 'Tis that must colour
Her lying-in. – Sir, this door you pass not:
I do not hold it fit that you come near
The duchess' lodgings, till you have quit yourself. —
[Aside.] The great are like the base, nay, they are the same,
When they seek shameful ways to avoid shame.
Exit.
BOSOLA. Antonio hereabout did drop a paper: —
Some of your help, false friend.56– O, here it is.
What 's here? a child's nativity calculated!
[Reads.]
'The duchess was deliver'd of a son, 'tween the hours
twelve and one in the night, Anno Dom. 1504,' – that 's
this year – 'decimo nono Decembris,' – that 's this night —
'taken according to the meridian of Malfi,' – that 's our
duchess: happy discovery! – 'The lord of the first house
being combust in the ascendant, signifies short life;
and Mars being in a human sign, joined to the tail of the
Dragon, in the eighth house, doth threaten a violent death.
Caetera non scrutantur.'57
Why, now 'tis most apparent; this precise fellow
Is the duchess' bawd: – I have it to my wish!
This is a parcel of intelligency58
Our courtiers were cas'd up for: it needs must follow
That I must be committed on pretence
Of poisoning her; which I 'll endure, and laugh at.
If one could find the father now! but that
Time will discover. Old Castruccio
I' th' morning posts to Rome: by him I 'll send
A letter that shall make her brothers' galls
O'erflow their livers. This was a thrifty59 way!
Though lust do mask in ne'er so strange disguise,
She 's oft found witty, but is never wise.
[Exit.]
Scene IV60
[Enter] CARDINAL and JULIA
CARDINAL. Sit: thou art my best of wishes. Prithee, tell me
What trick didst thou invent to come to Rome
Without thy husband?
JULIA. Why, my lord, I told him
I came to visit an old anchorite61 Here for devotion.
CARDINAL. Thou art a witty false one, —
I mean, to him.
JULIA. You have prevail'd with me
Beyond my strongest thoughts; I would not now
Find you inconstant.
CARDINAL. Do not put thyself
To such a voluntary torture, which proceeds
Out of your own guilt.
JULIA. How, my lord!
CARDINAL. You fear
My constancy, because you have approv'd62
Those giddy and wild turnings in yourself.
JULIA. Did you e'er find them?
CARDINAL. Sooth, generally for women,
A man might strive to make glass malleable,
Ere he should make them fixed.
JULIA. So, my lord.
CARDINAL. We had need go borrow that fantastic glass
Invented by Galileo the Florentine
To view another spacious world i' th' moon,
And look to find a constant woman there.
JULIA. This is very well, my lord.
CARDINAL. Why do you weep?
Are tears your justification? The self-same tears
Will fall into your husband's bosom, lady,
With a loud protestation that you love him
Above the world. Come, I 'll love you wisely,
That 's jealously; since I am very certain
You cannot make me cuckold.
JULIA. I 'll go home
To my husband.
CARDINAL. You may thank me, lady,
I have taken you off your melancholy perch,
Bore you upon my fist, and show'd you game,
And let you fly at it. – I pray thee, kiss me. —
When thou wast with thy husband, thou wast watch'd
Like a tame elephant: – still you are to thank me: —
Thou hadst only kisses from him and high feeding;
But what delight was that? 'Twas just like one
That hath a little fing'ring on the lute,
Yet cannot tune it: – still you are to thank me.
JULIA. You told me of a piteous wound i' th' heart,
And a sick liver, when you woo'd me first,
And spake like one in physic.63
CARDINAL. Who 's that? —
[Enter Servant]
Rest firm, for my affection to thee,
Lightning moves slow to 't.
SERVANT. Madam, a gentleman,
That 's come post from Malfi, desires to see you.
CARDINAL. Let him enter: I 'll withdraw.
Exit.
SERVANT. He says
Your husband, old Castruccio, is come to Rome,
Most pitifully tir'd with riding post.
[Exit.]
[Enter DELIO]
JULIA. [Aside.] Signior Delio! 'tis one of my old suitors.
DELIO. I was bold to come and see you.
JULIA. Sir, you are welcome.
DELIO. Do you lie here?
JULIA. Sure, your own experience
Will satisfy you no: our Roman prelates
Do not keep lodging for ladies.
DELIO. Very well:
I have brought you no commendations from your husband,
For I know none by him.
JULIA. I hear he 's come to Rome.
DELIO. I never knew man and beast, of a horse and a knight,
So weary of each other. If he had had a good back,
He would have undertook to have borne his horse,
His breech was so pitifully sore.
JULIA. Your laughter
Is my pity.
DELIO. Lady, I know not whether
You want money, but I have brought you some.
JULIA. From my husband?
DELIO. No, from mine own allowance.
JULIA. I must hear the condition, ere I be bound to take it.
DELIO. Look on 't, 'tis gold; hath it not a fine colour?
JULIA. I have a bird more beautiful.
DELIO. Try the sound on 't.
JULIA. A lute-string far exceeds it.
It hath no smell, like cassia or civet;
Nor is it physical,64 though some fond doctors
Persuade us seethe 't in cullises.65 I 'll tell you,
This is a creature bred by —
[Re-enter Servant]
SERVANT. Your husband 's come,
Hath deliver'd a letter to the Duke of Calabria
That, to my thinking, hath put him out of his wits.
[Exit.]
JULIA. Sir, you hear:
Pray, let me know your business and your suit
As briefly as can be.
DELIO. With good speed: I would wish you,
At such time as you are non-resident
With your husband, my mistress.
JULIA. Sir, I 'll go ask my husband if I shall,
And straight return your answer.
Exit.
DELIO. Very fine!
Is this her wit, or honesty, that speaks thus?
I heard one say the duke was highly mov'd
With a letter sent from Malfi. I do fear
Antonio is betray'd. How fearfully
Shows his ambition now! Unfortunate fortune!
They pass through whirl-pools, and deep woes do shun,
Who the event weigh ere the action 's done.
Exit.
30. Malfi. An apartment in the palace of the Duchess.
31. Chief part.
32. Bullies (Hazlitt); lawyers (Vaughan).
33. Royal journey.
34. Turning a boat on its side for repairs.
35. Scabbed.
36. Empty.
37. Face-modeling (Sampson). "There's a plain statement of your practises."
38. Blue like those of a woman with child.
39. Scurf.
40. Person of highest influence.
41. Hysteria.
42. This year.
43. Clearly.
44. Youngster.
45. A hall in the same palace.
46. Crossness.
47. Always.
48. The meaner servants.
49. At once.
50. Cast his horoscope.
51. The court of the same palace.
52. Making an astrological calculation.
53. Going to the root of the matter.
54. Write.
55. i. e., on his handkerchief.
56. Addressing the lantern.
57. "The rest not considered."
58. A piece of news.
59. Cleverly contrived.
60. Rome. An apartment in the palace of the Cardinal.
61. Religious recluse.
62. Experienced.
63. Sick.
64. Medicinal.
65. Strong broth.