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HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

THE TEMPLE T)RjiMJTISTS
fTehter's DUCHESS OF MALFI

The text adopted is that of Dyce. It has been carefully

collated with the copy of the first Quarto (1623) in the

British Museum. But the printing of the Quarto is on

the whole so carefully done and Dyoe's revision of it is

so Judicious that, save in a few cases, I have not

thought it worth while to notice

textual questions.

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' HomrsvsK appadltng to the imagination and finely done, the scenes
ct the madhoose to which the Duchess is condemned with a view
to oaaettle her reason, and the interview between her and her
hrodier, where he gives her the supposed dead hand of her
husband, exceed, to my thinking, the just bounds of poetry and
tragedy. At least, the merit is df a kind whidi, however great, we
wish to be rare. ... In a different style altogether are the
directions she gives about her children in her last struggles :

'* I pray thee, look thou giv'sk my Uttle bojr
Smm tfwp for hii cold, snd let the ffirl
Say her prayers ere she sleep.— 'Now what yo« pissse* ;

and her last word, "mercy,* whidi she recovers just strength
enough to pronounce ; her proud answer to her UM'mentors, who
taunt her with her degradation and misery—" I am Duchess of
Malfi still*'— «s if the heart rose up, like a serpent ccnled, to resent
the indignities put upon it, and, being struck at, struck again ;
and the staggering reflection her brother makes on her death—

** Cover her fkce; sdaeeyesdasrie; Ae died yoang;''

Bosoia repl ies

** I think net so; her tafelicity
Seemed to hsve jresn too naajr.

FtrdiMMuL She and I ware twins,
And should I die this instant, I had lived
Her tfaae to a minute."

This b hot the bandying of idle words and rhetorical common-
places, but the writhing and conflict and the sublime colloqu>
o man's nature with itself.'

W. HAZLITT.

U IN I VERSIFY

LIBRARY

MAY 16 1960

PREFACE

Early Editions of the Play. Th$ Duchess ofMalfi was
first printed as a small Quarto, in 1623. It was reprinted, with
some trifling variations, in 1640 and 1678. Bat, according to
Dyce, the First Edition is 'by far the most correct of the
Quartos.' It has been used, for purposes of collation with
Dyce's text, in the preparation of the present volume. No
Edition, subsequent to the first three, can claim any authority.

Life and other Works of Webster. In the second genera-
tion of Elizabethan dramatists, if the name Elizabethan may be
given a wide meaning, there is no figure more marked than
Webster's. Of his life we know little, and nothing of import-
ance. His career as dramatist b^;an in the closing years of the
Queen's reign, and seems to have lasted through that of her
successor.' Whether he lived on into the days of Charles i. is
quite uncertain.^

1 See the question disaigscd by Dyoe. Introduction, pp. rvi-xxix.
9 The following are the Plays, wnolly or in part by Webster, <^ which
trace has come down to us I—

The Guist. [See Dedication to Tkg DeviTs Lam-Case and Hens-
lowe's JHary, p. aoa : Nov. x6ox.]

Casaf*s FmL [Written in partnership with Munday, Drayton,
Middleton, etc Iienslowe's Dtary^ p. aax : May x6oa.]

The 7\»o Harpea (T) [Written in partnership with Munday, Dray-
ton^ Middleton, and jDekker. Henslowe's Diary^ p. %aa : May x6oa.]
Lady Jane, [Written in partnership with Qiettle, Dekker, Hej^
wood, and Smith; probably part of the first version of what was
afterwards (1607) puolished as The Famous History ^Sir Thomas
WyaU, Henslowe's Duuy, p. a4a : Oct. x6oa.]

PRBPACB The Duchess of Malfi

But our ignorance of his outer life matters little; it is
clear that his whole soul went out in his dramas. Here
his range was unusually wide eren for an age where width,
no less than depth, was the rule. His comedies — ^written
in partnership with Dekker, and, in one instance, with
Rowley — are full of life and of that keen observation which
came by nature to the contemporaries of Shakespeare. And in
one df them — Westward Ho — ^there is a strain of passion and
poetry which, however strangely it may contrast with the bald
setting that surrounds it, certainly gives it a place among the

Chrisimat Comes hut Once a Year. [Written in partnership with
Chettle, Dekker, and Heywood. Henslowe't Dtary^ pp. 243-4:
Nov. x6oa.]

Additions to Marston's MalcomieHi. [See the Title-page of the
later Quarto of 1604. The Play must have been very congenial to
Webster, and may even have suggested some touches in The Duchess
o/Medfi^ particularly as to the character of Bosola. But it is probable
that Webster only wrote the lnducHoH.\

Westwetrd Ho. [I^nted as Quarto in xio7 : possibly acted as early
as 1605. In partnershif) with Dekker.]

Nortkwark Ho. [Printed as Quarto in 1607. In partnership with
Dekker.]

A Cure for a Cuckold. [Attributed on the Title-page of the Quarto
of x66z, the earliest known text, to Webster and Rowley.]
Vittoria Corombona. [Printed in z6xa.]
The Duchess pfMedfi, [Printed m 1623. See Introduction.]
The DeviFs Law-Case. [Printed m 1623.]

A Late Murder of the Sou upon the Mother. [Licensed in 1634.
In partnership with Ford.]
Appins and Virginia. [Printed in 1654.]

Monuments iif Honour. [A City Pageant or Masque, printed in

1624.]

The publisher of A Cure for a Cuckold also printed, in the same jrear,

a Play called The Thraciem Wonder^ as^ ' written by Tohn Webster and

William Rowley.' But, so £sr as Webster is concerned, this seems to rest on

a mistake. See Dyce's Introduction^ p. zv. (Routledge's Old Dramatists).

Webster also wrote A Monumental Column, a fine Elegy on the death

of Prince Henry, 16x3.

The Duchess of Malfi preface

more memorable pieces of an tge rich beyoud all others in

But no one can doubt that his true field was Tragedy. Even
in his lighter vein be seems to have needed tragic material
before he could give free play to his extraordinary powers.
TTie DtviPs Lavi- Case, his one tragi-comedy, is, save for the
closing scene, entirely tragic in plot end conduct. And it
shows dramatic powers of a higher kind, a keener sense of
effect, and a subtler appreciation of the Sner shades of character,
than can be found in any of his comedies.

It is, however, in strict Tragedy that Webster is at his
greatest. Ever since Lamb wrote in praise of them, Vittaria
Ceremioiia and Tht Dttchtsi of Malfi have been universally
accepted as among the first masterpieces of the Elizabethan
drama. They iliow a closer study of Shakespeare's work than
is to be found in any otbei dramatist of his time ; and they
show also a nearer approach lo his spirit.* There is in both
pUj» a blending of tragedy with pathos, of pity with terror,
that has never been surpassed, and perhaps not even equalled,
except by Shakespeare himself. Besides this, we find in
them that depth of reflection, combining profound humanity

1 Wwteifrfffj.Activ. Stii.

' S«e Id panLcular the KCdc — dearly ionnred bp th^t of Op^idja'i
Tiudaev — vinrc ComcUa layi oat the body of MucelLo for buriat
RduiIb^i Edition, p. «;. Compan tbe InlroductioD to Vitteria
C^nfHj0««:^*D«triictioa a tlHBWorD fjivnd laignaraiice: For mjnp oiA-n
part, I ban mt cbtriiiKd my lood opinion of oibcr msn'i worthy
Uboon; eapedallyof that fiill and belghtcncd style of Mo^rcr Cbapman;
the laboured and nndentaiidiiiff woiEcs of MasEa Joh^odj the no Ick
worthy compDmie* of tha both worlUIy ciulleni Master Beaamoat and
Master Fletcher ; and lastly (without wtone last to be named) tbo rigbt
happy and co^ou* indutiy of Matter ShaEcspeBic, Master Deklier, and
Master Hcywood ; wishing that vhat I write may be read hy IhOb'tlEhL'

PRBPACB The Duchess of Malfi

with intense imagination, which is the surest mark of a great
dramatic poet, and, for that reason, is the highest quality of
Shakespeare.

The one point in which Webster falls behind, not Shake-
speare alone but certain other of his contemporaries, is humour.
That there are scenes, and even characters, truly humorous in
his writings, few readers will deny. But their humour is always
of the more obvious kind ; it is apt to be elaborate and metallic;
it is akin, though on a lower level, to the saturnine humour of
Jonson ; it has nothing of the mellowness, of the sunny sym-
pathy with all sides of life, which is the glory of Cervantes and
Shakespeare and, in a less degree, of Dekker. Had Webster
possessed this quality, and had he also known the art of
dramatic construction — in this he is lamentably deficient — ^it
would hardly have been left to the devotion of Lamb and
Hazlitt, well-nigh two centuries after his death, to discover his
greatness.

The two Plays above mentioned are unqnestienably the
finest of Webster's Tragedies. And in some sense they may
be described as companion pictures, as studies of good and bad
in the character of women. Outside of Shakespeare's plays,
there is perhaps no woman at once so noble and so womanly as
Webster's ill-fated Duchess.^ But no less striking, though in a
very different way, is the 'White Devil * of Vittoria Corombona,
She is a supreme example of the splendid sinner, the criminal
who fascinates, if she is not redeemed, by the indomitable will ;
own sister to Lady Macbeth, to Lucr^ce Borgia, to Clytem-
nestra — ywauibs dvdpdpovKop iXTrlj^ov xiap,

1 ' Whether the spirit of greatness or of woman

Reign most in her, I know not.' Act i. Sc. i.

•••
VUl

The Duchess of MalS prbfacb

DatB of the Ptaty. It aeeaa probable thai both Flsyi
fiOI within the fame period of Webster's life. For, tbongh
VHtoria mi printed in iGia, and 7^ Ducktsi not till 1G33,
it ii ceitaia that the latter must have been mitten «t least five
yean earlier than its publicatioQ. Bnrbage, who acted the
part of Ferdinand on the original production of the Flay,
died at the beginning of 1619; and it* first performance can
therefore hardly be placed later than 1618. If we are
r^it in asinming that Vilfoha was printed soon after its first
prodncCion — and that is the natoral inference from tome words
which refer in detail to it* cool reception and which are
omitted in the second e^tion * — then both Flayi will belong
to the earlier manhood of Webster's life and to the years
imnediately following Shakespeare's withdrawal Irom any
active part in the nianagement of the TheiLtie.'

Source of the PUy. The stoty u treated fay Webiter
and other Writen. The plot of Tit Duthtst of Malfi was
apparently drawn from Ptunler's Palace of PUmurt, a large
collection of tales published in the early years of Elimbeth's
rdgn,* and Painter, in his turn, drew from Belleforest's French

> ' It WB acud in » tfmVa Mm tfvimUr, trtttnUd in u open imd

bladiatbaUcatbiUkwiinMd . . . BfiilliuidmidcnUuulinEaiuliiiirT.' Iha
woids itaHciMd mn emiiKd la ths Ulcr cdicioiu.

■ TeaMl. WHpaUuh«linicM:ToDuii. 1111567. Il utb:kller»hic)i
caondBt Tkt Duchta af KiUfi. Ttis CoUectfoD wu n-ediicil l.y Mt.
Jacntab iBgo:tlwiififDu] orWtbita'iDiiiuiiutwfoaDd in Vol. iii.,
pp. y^j, at&t (didon. BalMbrst'i IfitMru Trmpy^ti-wia published

PREFACE The Duchess of Malfi

adaptation of the Novelle of Bandello.^ But Webster owed
nothing beyond the dry bones of the story to Painter ; the
living spirit and the characters are entirely his own. Thus the
whole endeavour of Painter is to throw our sympathies against
Antonio and the Duchess and to prove their misfortunes to be
the natural nemesis of their ' notable folly."

Starting from this unpromising commonplace, he could not
but give a very different version of the characters from that
which presented itself to the inspired genius of Webster. The
Duchess, in the opening of his story, is a vranton widow — a
kinswoman, though by several removes, of the Wife of Bath —
who ' fantasies in the night ' — and at great length — ' upon the
discourse of her appetites.' It is only on second thoughts that
she ' did set her mind on Antonio or fantasy to marry him.' A
sordid contrast to the unstudied and stainless purity of Webster's
heroine, and to the dignity which, in a position seemingly
almost desperate, still remains dignity without an effort. Ajid

1 There is also a drama— £/ Mayordamo de la Duqutsa de Amaljir-hy
Lope de Ve^ It was first printed in x6x8, in Vol. xi. of his Collected
Works. It is clear that neither Englishman nor Spaniard had seen the
other's Play. The only scene in Lope, even distantly recalling Webstex^s
DuchesSf is that in which the Duchess makes asides of love to Antonio,
while professing to dismiss him from her service. The most striking part
of the Play is the last Act, in whidi there is a genuine reconciliation
between Antonio and his stepson and an apparent one between him and

Throughout the Play — as
rather than the Duchess that the interest is centred.

s The Argument prefixed to Bandello's Tale will give a fair notion of
the treatment adopted by all three ' novelists ' : —

' Fasi vedere in questa novella il poco awedimento d'una signora, che
per iUeciti appetiti aobassandod del suo grado si conjunge ad innmo di se
... Si dimostra il foUe amore di ^uanto male «a causa e la poca prudenza
d'una donna negli cffetti suoi in avilire per i camali appetiti la sua nobiltk.'
— Ed. Milano (1560) 1. 1. pp. Z90-X98.

The Duchess of Malfi prbfacb

this ia but one instance of what nms thtgughout the veraion
followed by Paintet. Of the gracious love between wife and
huaband, of the conatancr whieh lives anshaken throogh un-
intaginable tortttres — '1 am Duchess of Malfi still' — of the
sweet caie for lier childien that leaps to her lips in the veiy
agony of death, — of all this there is no hint in the Palace ^
PUaatrt; oi, at best, what is so bald as to mggest nothing of
what Webstei hai drawn bota it

The same coarseness of toach is seen in Painter's haniiiiTig
of the other characters. Antonio is little better than a pre-
sumptuons npstart. Ferdinand and the Cardinal, the champions
of &niilj honoor at the beginning of the tale, become vulgar
mBuiMTis — the Cardinal, in fact, is a sad example of the accom-
plished Tillainy that good Protestants nmy expect to find in
Papists— at the dose.* Lastly, Bosola, certainly one of the
most snbtle and profound of Webster's cietitioiis, is a mere
name, a ' blood; beast,' to Painter.

It is the old stoiy. The ' source ' of a work of genius
commonly counts for little or nothing ; and the study oF it is
only of value for the sake of showing what is net in it. * Je
prends mon Inen ob je le Irouve,' said Moli^re. 'I take it
where Ida net find it,' would be the most accurate tianslatiou.

Unity of the Pis;. On one of the additions made hy
Webster to his origii;al, some question may arise. The whole

TMUit tliemBdvu to b« Ifao tt
9. __ It ii onlr fkii to Mr tbil tbi

PRBFACB The Duchess of Malfi

of the last Act is virtually of his own making. Does ity or does
it not, interfere with the unity of the piece ? For strict purposes
of dramatic effect the genius of the Play, to borrow Johnson's
phrase, will probably be held to come in and go out with the
Duchess. And it may be doubted whether, in his InstinctiTe
sense of concentration, Shakespeare would not have ended the
drama with her death. Certainly in none of his tragedies is
the interest so divided as it is between the last Act and the
preceding ones of Webster's Duchess, But, on the other hand,
who would have missed the ghastly inveteracy of Ferdinand's
soul-stricken ravings, or the unequal combat of the Cardinal
with avenging nemesis, or the unavailing yet intense remorse
of Bosola ?

The truth is that, being what he was, Webster could hardly
have written otherwise than as he did. His imagination bad
supped full of horrors ; and it was precisely the horrors of an
evil conscience, the most tragic of all horrors, that he best
loved to portray.^ The whole drama, like its counterpart 7%r
White Devilf is charged with an overmastering sense of the
depmvity of Courts ; and this, with the retribution dogging the
criminals, is the theme that the last Act relentlessly drives
home. In T^ White DevU^ loosely as the play is built, this
preoccupation with what may fiurly be called a moral aim
brought with it no sacrifice of dramatic unity ; for there the
interest is centred throughout upon the criminate. But in The
Duchess it is not so ; and it is hard to see how the end of the

1 A crucial instance of this may be found in the terrible brevity of
Vittoria's dying words—

' My soul like to a ship in a black storm
Is driven, I know not whither.'

The Duchess of Malfi preface

dramatist could have been gained at less cost than in &ct he
paid. The unity of action, no doubt, is lost ; but the unity of
subject, and to some extent, notably in the case of Bosola, the
unity of character, are preserved.

Analogy between The Duoheaa of Mai ft and other Plays
of Webster. The sombre cast of imagination, the lingering
on images of death and corruption, so noticeable in this play,
reappears, as is well known, in all Webster's most characteristic
work ; forcing its way significantly into ' the very temple oi
delight' where sensual passion is the one thought of the
characters set before us by the dramatist. The two most
passionate scenes that he created are both mocked by emblems
or counterfeits of death ; and the haunting shapes that gibber
round the ' last presence-chamber ' of the Duchess are not more
eloquent of his brooding melancholy than the 'filthy hag' who
personates the mistress of the Earl in Westward Ho, or the
yew-tree that firowns on the wanton dream of the White Devil.

On this point Lamb has written as no other critic could have
done. His words have often been quoted, but they will bear
quoting once again: — 'All the several parts of the dreadful
apparatus with which the Duchess's death is ushered in are
not more remote from the conceptions of ordinary vengeance,
than the strange character of su£Fering which they seem to brmg
upon their victims is beyond the imagination of ordinary poets.
As they are not like inflictions of this Ufct so her language
seems not of this world. She has lived among horrors till she
is become ''native and endowed unto that element." She
speaks the dialect of despair, her tongue has a snatch of
Tartarus and the souls in bale. What are "Luke's iron

• ■ •

xnt

PRBPACB The Duchess of Malfi

crown," the brazen bull of Perillus, Procrustes' bed, to the
WBzen images which counterfeit death, to the wild masque of
madmen, the tomb-maker, the bell-man, the living person's
dirge, the mortification by d^^rees I To move a horror skil-
fully, to touch a soul to the quick, to lay upon fear as much as
it can bear, to wean and weary a life till it is ready to drop and
then step in with mortal instruments to take its last forfeit:
this only a Webster can do. Writers of an inferior genius may
"upon horror's head horrors accumulate," but they cannot do
this. They mistake quantity for quality, they ''terrify babes
with painted devils," but they know not how a soul is capable
of being moved ; their terrors want dignity, their affiightments
are without decorum.'

Webster's place In the Development of the Elizabethan
Drama. This habit of dallying with thoughts of death, and
his unapproached command of all the symbolism of mortality,
caused a great critic of our own day to describe Webster's genius
as ' macabre.' The word, it may well be thought, does Webster
something less than justice. It implies a love of the grotesque,
which is hardly to be found in him ; and it suggests a trickery
and set purpose of ghastliness which is altogether alien to the
noble simplicity of his nature. But if no more be meant than
that his conceptions and his imagery alike are sombre, then an
obvious truth is expressed ; and a truth which serves to illus-
trate Webster's place in the development — some would frankly
say the decadence — of the English Drama and his relation to
some among the most fieunous of his contemporaries.

As we turn to Webster, we feel at once that the joyousness,
which is the clearest note of Marlowe and other writers of the

xiv

The Duchess of Malfi preface

earlier generation, has for ever passed away. The pride of life,
the readiness to follow passion wherever it may lead, which
inspires every line of Tamburlaine or of Romeo and Juliet^ has
yielded to the spirit of weighing and questioning — we may
almost say, to a sense of hollowness in things — such as meets
us in Hamlet or in Lear. In Webster, indeed, the gloom is far
deeper and more settled than was possible to the well-poised
and essentially buoyant soul of Shakespeare. It can hardly be
denied that there is something morbid in his cast of thought.
And, though morbidness is not in itself decadence, we feel that,
where the one is, the other can seldom be Beut off.

And that is the prevailing sense that we carry away from the
Plays of Webster. Neither he nor Ford, who in many wajrs
is like-minded with him, could have written except when dis-
solution was at work around them. They themselves remain
untainted ; and the elements of decay which we seem to re-
cognise in their work are transformed into fresh shapes of living
beauty by the potent fire of their genius. Their work is more
closely knit, both in thought and style, than that of Fletcher ;
they are free from the straining for effect that we find even in
the noblest work of Massinger.^ They are thus touched by
neither of the two dissolving forces which can be traced both in
earlier and later samples of the drama of their time. But the
line that parts them from Massinger is slightly drawn. It is in
the use of their materials, rather than in the nature of them,
that the difference must be found. They live in the age of
decadence, but they are not of it. And this is perhaps still
more true of Webster than it is of Ford.

1 S«e his Duke qf Milan— a Play on the same theme as OtkeUo \ but the
difTerence of treatment is significant.

DUCHESS OF MALFI

DRAMATIS PERSONS

Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria

Cardinal, his brother

Antonio Bologna, Steward of the Household to the Dndieis

Dblio, his friend

Daniel db Bosola, Gentleman of the Horse to the Dnchesi

Castruccio

Marquis of Pbscara

Count Malatbsti

Rodbrxgo

Silvio

Grxsolan

Doctor

The Several Madmen

Duchess op Malfi

Cariola, her woman

Julia, Castraccio's wife, and the Cardinal's mistress

Old Lady

Ladies, Children, Pilgrims, Executioners, Officers,
and Attendants.

THE DUCHESS OF MALFI

Afaifi. Tke presmct-ckamher in the palace of

the Duchtss.

Enter Anlomo and Delia.

DeUo. You are welcome to your country, dear Ant<wio

You have been long in France, and you return

A very formal Frenchman in your habit :

How do you like the French court?
Ant. 1 admire it :

In seeking to reduce both state and people

To a fix'd order, ihcir judicious king

Begins at home ; quits lirst his royal palace

Of flattering sycophants, of dissolute ,^

And infamous persons,— which he

His master's master-piece, the <■ -

Considering duly that a prince -

Is like a common fountain, wht-

ACT I. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

Pure silver drops in general, but if 't chance

Some curs'd example poison 't near the head,

Death and diseases through the whole land spread.

And what is 't makes this blessed government

But a most provident council, who dare freely

Inform him the corruption of the times ?

Though some o' the court hold it presumption 20

To instruct princes what they ought to do.

It is a noble duty to inform them

What they ought to foresee. — Here comes Bosola,

The only court-gall ; yet I observe his railing

Is not for simple love of piety :

Indeed, he rails at those things which he wants ;

Would be as lecherous, covetous, or proud,

Bloody, or envious, as any man.

If he had means to be so. — Here's the cardinal.

Enter Cardinal and Bosola,

Bos, I do haunt you stilL 30

Card, So.

Bos. I have done you better service than to be slighted

thus. Miserable age, where only the reward of

doing well is the doing of it 1
Card, You enforce your merit too much.
Bos, I fell into the galleys in your service ; where, for

two years together, I wore two towels instead of a

shirt, with a knot on the shoulder, after the fashion

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc i.

of a Roman mantle. Slighted thus ! I will thrive
some way : black-birds fatten best in hard weather ;
why not I in these dog-days ? 41

Card. Would you could become honest !

Bos, With all your divinity do but direct me the way to
it I have known many travel far for it, and yet
return as arrant knaves as they went forth, because
they carried themselves always along with them.
\Exit CardinaL'\ Are you gone? Some fellows,
they say, are possessed with the devil, but this
great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil,
and make him worse. 50

Ant, He hath denied thee some suit !

Bos, He and his brother are like plum-trees that grow
crooked over standing-pools ; they are rich and o'er-
laden with fruit, but none but crows, pies, and cater-
pillars feed on them. Could I be one of their
flattering panders, I would hang on their ears like a
horseleech, till I were full, and then drop off. I
pray, leave me. Who would rely upon these miser-
able dependencies, in expectation to be advanced
to-morrow? what creature ever fed worse than
hoping Tantalus ? nor ever died any man more fear-
fully than he that hoped for a pardon. There are
rewards for hawks and dogs when they have done
us service ; but for a soldier that hazards his limbs
in a battle, nothing but a kind of geometry is his
last supportation. 66

ACT I. sc. X. The Duchess of Malfi

Delio, Geometry 1

Bos. Ay, to hang in a £ur pair of slings, take his latter
swing in the world upon an honourable pair of
crutches, from hospital to hospital. Fare ye well,
sir : and yet do not you scorn us ; for places in the
court are but like beds in the hospital, where this
man's head lies at that man's foot, and so lower and
lower. \Exit,

Del, I knew this fellow seven years in the galleys
For a notorious murder ; and 'twas thought
The cardinal suborn'd it : he was released
By the French general, Gaston de Foix,
When he recovered Naples.

Ant, 'Tis great pity 80

He should be thus neglected : I have heard
He's very valiant This foul melancholy
Will poison all his goodness ; for, I '11 tell you,
If too immoderate sleep be truly said
To be an inward rust unto the soul.
It then doth follow want of action
Breeds all black malcontents ; and their close rearing,
Like moths in cloth, do hurt for want of wearing.

Delio, The presence 'gins to fill : you promis'd me

To make me the partaker of the natures 90

Of some of your great courtiers.

Ant, The lord cardinal's

And other strangers' that are now in court ?
I shall — Here comes the great Calabrian duke.

The Duchess of Mali!

Ferd. Who took the ring oftenest ?

Sil. AntoDio Bologna, my lord.

Ferd. Our sisterducbcss' great-master of her household?
give him the jewel — When shall we leave this sport-
ive action, and &11 to action indeed ?

Cast. Methinks, my lord, you should not desire to go to
war in person. loi

Ferd. Now for some gravity : — why, my lord ?

Cast. It is fitting a soldier arise to be a prince, but not
necessary a prince descend to be a captain.

Ferd. No.

Cast. No, my lord ; he were for better do it by a deputy.

Ferd. Why should he not as well sleep or eat by a
deputy? this might take idle, offensive, and base
office from him, whereas the other deprives him of
honour. no

Cast. Believe my experience, that realm is never long in
quiet where the iTiler is a soldier.

Ferd Thou toldest me thy wife could not endure fighting.

Cast. True, my lord.

Ferd. And of a jest she broke of a captain she met fiill
of wounds : I have forgot it.

Cast. She told him, my lord, he was a pitiful fel
lie, like the children of Ismael, all in tents.

Ftrd. Why, there's a wit were able to undo
5

ACT I. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

chirurgeons o* the city ; for although gallants should
quarrel, and had drawn their weapons, and were
ready to go to it, yet her persuasions would make
them put up. 123

CcLst That she would, my lord. — How do you like my
Spanish gennet ?

Rod, He is all fire.

Ferd, I am of Pliny's opinion, I think he was begot by the
wind ; he runs as if he were ballassed with quicksilver.

SiL True, my lord, he reels from the tilt often.

Rod, Gris, Ha, ha, ha t 130

Ferd, Why do you laugh? methinks you that are
courtiers should be my touch-wood, take fire when
I give fire ; that is, laugh [but] when I laugh, were
the subject never so witty.

Cast. True, my lord : I myself have heard a very good
jest, and have scorned to seem to have so silly a wit
as to understand it.

Ferd, But I can laugh at your fool, my lord.

Cast, He cannot speak, you know, but he makes faces :
my lady cannot abide hiuL 140

Ferd No?

Cast, Nor endure to be in merry company ; for she says
too much laughing, and too much company, fills her
too full of the wrinkle.

Ferd I would, then, have a mathematical instrument
made for her face, that she might not laugh out of com-
pass.— I shall shortly visit you at Milan, Lord Silvio.

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc i.

SiL Your grace shall arrive most welcome.

Ferd, You are a good horseman, Antonio : you have
excellent riders in France : what do you think of
good horsemanship ? 151

Ant. Nobly, my lord : as out of the Grecian horse issued
many famous princes, so out of brave horsemanship
arise the first sparks of growing resolution, that raise
the mind to noble action.

Ferd. You have bespoke it worthily.

Sil. Your brother, the lord cardinal, and sister duchess.

Re-enter Cardinal^ with Duchess, Cariola, and Julia.

Card. Are the galleys come about ?

Gris. They are, my lord.

Ferd. Here's the Lord Silvio is come to take his leave.

Delia. Now, sir, your promise : what's that cardinal?
I mean his temper ? they say he 's a brave fellow.
Will play his five thousand crowns at tennis, dance.
Court ladies, and one that hath fought single combats.

Ant. Some such flashes superficially hang on him for
form; but observe his inward character: he is a
melancholy churchman ; the spring in his face is
nothing but the engendering of toads ; where he is
jealous of any man, he lays worse plots for them
than ever was imposed on Hercules, for he strews in
his way flatterers, panders, intelligencers, atheists,
and a tiiousand such political monsters. He should

ACT I. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

have been Pope ; but instead of coming to it by the
primitive decency of the church, he did bestow
bribes so largely and so impudently as if he would
have carried it away without heaven's knowledge.
Some good he hath done

Delio. You have given too much of him. What's his
brother?

Ant The duke there? a most perverse and turbulent
nature : i8o

What appears in him mirth is merely outside ;
If he laught heartily, it is to laugh
All honesty out of fashion.

Delia, Twins?

Ant In quality.

He speaks with others' tongues, and hears men's suits
With others' ears ; will seem to sleep o' the bench
Only to entrap offenders in their answers ;
Dooms men to death by information ;
Rewards by hearsay.

Delio. Then the law to him 190

Is like a foul, black cobweb to a spider, —
He makes it his dwelling and a prison
To entangle those shall feed him.

Ant. Most true :

He never pays debts unless they be shrewd turns,
And those he will confess that he doth owe.
Last, for his brother there, the cardinal^
They that do flatter him most say oracles

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc. c.

Hang at his lips ; and verily I believe them,

For the devil speaks in them. 200

But for their sister, the right noble duchess.

You never fix'd your eye on three fair medals

Cast in one figure, of so different temper.

For her discourse, it is so full of rapture,

You only will begin then to be sorry

When she doth end her speech, and wish, in wonder,

She held it less vain-glory to talk much,

Than your penance to hear her : whilst she speaks.

She throws upon a man so sweet a look,

That it were able to raise one to a galliard 210

That lay in a dead palsy, and to dote

On that sweet countenance ; but in that look

There speaketh so divine a continence

As cuts off all lascivious and vain hope.

Her days are practised in such noble virtue.

That sure her nights, nay, more, her very sleeps,

Are more in heaven than other ladies' shrifts.

Let all sweet ladies break their flattering glasses.

And dress themselves in her.

Delia, Fie, Antonio, 220

You play the wire-drawer with her commendations.

Ant, I '11 case the picture up : only thus much ;
All her particular worth grows to this sum, —
She stains the time past, lights the time to come.

Cari, You must attend my lady in the gallery.
Some half an hour hence.

ACT L sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

Ant. I shall [Exetint Aitionio and DeHa.

Ferd. Sister, I hav« a rait to you.

Duek. To me, sir?

Ferd. A gentleman here, Daniel de Bosola, 330

One that was in the gralleys

Duck. Yes, I know him.

Ferd A worthy fellow he is : pray, let me entreat for

The provisorship of your horse.
Dueh. Your knowledge of him

Commends him and prefers him.
Ferd. Call him hither. [Exit AtUndani.

We [are] now upon parting. Good Lord Silvio,

Do us commend to all out noble friends

At the leaguer. 240

Sil. Sir, I shall.
Ferd. You are for Milan?
Sil. I am.
Duch. Bring the caroches. — We'll bring yon down to

the haven.
[Exeunt Duchets, Silvio, Cattruccia, Roderigo, Grisolan,

Cariola, Julia, and Attendants.
Card. Be sure you entertain that Bosola

For your intelligence : I would not be seen in "t ;

And therefore many times 1 have si* '^^^l^^^h.

When he did court our furtherance,
Ferd. Antonio, the great -mastPt of her |

Had been far "
Card. You are df

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc ■.

His nature is too honest for such business. —

He cornea : I 'U leave you. [Exi/.

Ri-mter Sesola.

Bos, I was lur'd to you.

Ferd. My brother, here, the cudinal could never
Abide yon.

Bat. Never since he was in my debt

Ferd. May be some oblique character in yotir iace

Made him suspect you. 260

Bos. Doth he study physiognomy?

There 's no more credit to be given to the face
Than to a sick man's urine, which some call
The physician's whore because she cozens him.
He did suspect me wrongfully.

Fent. For that

You must give great men leave to take their times.
Distrust doth cause us seldom be deceiv'd :
You see the oU shaking of the cedar-tree
Fastens it more at root. 270

Bos. Yfet, take heed ;

For to suspect a friend unworthily
Instructs him the next way to suspect you,
And pramp' "eive you.

->t folio such showers as these

ACT I. sc. I. The Duchess of Malfi

Without thunderbolts i' the tail of them : whose
throat must I cut?
Ferd, Your inclination to shed blood rides post 280

Before my occasion to use you. I give you that

To live i' the court here, and observe the duchess ;

To note all the particulars of her haviour,

What suitors do solicit her for marriage,

And whom she best affects. She 's a young widow :

I would not have her marry again.
Bos. No, sir?
Ferd. Do not you ask the reason ; but be satisfied.

I say I would not
Bos, It seems you would create me 290

One of your familiars.
Ferd. Familiar I what's that?
Bos. Why, a very quaint invisible devil in flesh, —

An intelligencer.
Ferd Such a kind of thriving thing

I would wish thee ; and ere long thou mayst arrive

At a higher place by 't
Bos. Take your devils,

Which hell calls angels : these curs'd gifts would
make

You a corrupter, me an impudent traitor : 300

And should I take these, they 'd take me [to] hell.
Ferd, Sir, I'll take nothing from you that I have
given :

There is a place that I procured for you

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc. i.

This morning, the provisorship o' the horse ;
Have you heard on 't ?

Bos, No.

Ferd, *Tis yours : is 't not worth thanks ?

Bos, I would have you curse yourself now, that your bounty
(Which makes men truly noble) e'er should make me
A villain. O, that to avoid ingratitude 310

For the good deed you have done me, I must do
All the ill man can invent ! Thus the devil
Candies all sins o'er ; and what heaven terms vile^
That names he complimental.

Ferd, Be yourself;

Keep your old garb of melancholy ; 'twill express
You envy those that stand above your reach,
Yet strive not to come near 'em : this will gain
Access to private lodgings, where yourself
May, like a politic dormouse 32a

Bos, As I have seen some

Feed in a lord's dish, half asleep, not seeming
To listen to any talk ; and yet these rogues
Have cut his throat in a dream. What 's my place ?
The provisorship o* the horse? say, then, my cor-
ruption
Grew out of horse-dung : I am your creature.

Ferd, Away I

Bos» Let good men, for good deeds, covet good fame.
Since place and riches oft are bribes of shame :
Sometimes the devil doth preach. \Exii,.

ACT I. sc I. The Duchess of JMalfi

Re-enter Duchess^ Cardinal, and Cariola.

Card, We are to part from you ; and your own dis-
cretion 331

Must now be your director.
Ferd. You are a widow :

You know already what man is ; and therefore

Let not youth, high promotion, eloquence

Card. No,

Nor anything without the addition, honour,

Sway your high blood.
Ferd. Marry t they are most luxurious

Will wed twice. 340

Card O, fie 1
Ferd. Their livers are more spotted

Than Laban's sheep.
Duch. Diamonds are of most value.

They say, that have pass'd through most jewellers'
hands.
Ferd. Whores by that rule are precious.
Duck. Will you hear me ?

I '11 never marry.
Card. So most widows say ;

But commonly that motion lasts no longer

Than the turning of an hour-glass : the funeral
sermon 350

And it end both together.
Ferd. Now hear me :

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc i.

You live in a rank pasture, here, i' the court ;

There is a kind of honey-dew that's deadly ;

Twill poison your fame ; look to 't : be not cunning;

For they whose faces do belie their hearts

Are witches ere they arrive at twenty years.

Ay, and give the devil suck.
Duck, This is terrible good counsel.
Ferd. Hypocrisy is woven of a fine small thread, 360

Subtler than Vulcan's engine : yet, believe 't,

Your darkest actions, nay, your privat'st thoughts,

Will come to light.
CartL You may flatter yourself.

And take your own choice ; privately be married

Under the eaves of night

Ferd, Think 't the best voyage

That e'er you made ; like the irregular crab.

Which, though 't goes backward, thinks that it goes
right

Because it goes its own way : but observe, 370

Such weddings may more properly be said

To be executed than celebrated.
Card The marriage night

Is the entrance into some prison.
Ferd. And those Joys,

Those lustful pleasures, are like heavy sleeps

Which do fore-run man's mischief.
Card Fare you well.

Wisdom begins at the end : remember it. \Exit

ACT I. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

Duck, I think this speech between you both was studied,
It came so roundly off. 381

Ferd. You are my sister ;

This was my ^Either's poniard, do you see ?

I 'd be loth to see 't look rusty, 'cause 'twas his.

I would have you give o'er these chargeable revels ;

A visor and a mask are whispering-rooms

That were never built for goodness ; — ^fare ye well ; —

And women like that part which, like the lamprey.

Hath never a bone in 't 390

Duck. Fie, sir I

Ferd, Nay,

I mean the tongue ; variety of courtship :
What cannot a neat knave with a smooth tale
Make a woman believe ? Farewell, lusty widow.

\Exa.

Duck, Shall this move me ? If all my royal kindred
Lay in my way unto this marriage,
I 'd make them my low footsteps : and even now,
Even in this hate, as men in some great battles,
By apprehending danger, have achieved 400

Almost impossible actions (I have heard soldiers

say so).
So I through frights and threatenings will assay
This dangerous venture. Let old wives report
I wink'd and chose a husband. — Cariola,
To thy known secrecy I have given up
More than my life, — ^my fame.

The Duchess of Malfi act l sc i.

Cari. Both shaU be safe ;

For I '11 conceal this secret from the world

As warily as those that trade in poison

Keep poison frotn theii children. 4to

Duck. Thy protestation

Is ingenious and hearty : I believe it
Is Antonio come P

Cart. He attends you.

Duck. Good dear soul,

Leave me ; but place thyself behind the arras,
Where thou mayst overhear us. Wish me good

For I am going into a wilderness,
Where I shall find nor path nor friendly dew
To be my guide. 420

[Cariola goes beHnd the arras.

Enter Antonio,
1 sent for you : sit down ;

Take pen and ink, and write : are you ready?
Ant. Yes.

Diuk. What did 1 say?
Ant. That I should write somewhat
Duck. O, I remember.

After these triumpbs and this large expense

It's fit, like thrifty husbands, we inquire

What 's laid up for to-morrow.
Ant. So please your beauteous excellence.

ACT I. sc I. The Duchess of Maifi

Duck, Beauteous !

Indeed, I thank you : I look young for your sake ;
You have ta'en my cares upon you.

Ant. 1 11 fetch your grace

The particulars of your revenue and expense.

Duck, O, you are

An upright treasurer : but you mistook ;

For when I said I meant to make inquiry

What's laid up for to-morrow, I did mean

What 's laid up yonder for me. 440

Ant Where?

Duck. In heaven.

I am making my will (as 'tis fit princes should.
In perfect memory), and, I pray, sir, tell me,
Were not one better make it smiling, thus,
Than in deep groans and terrible ghastly looks.
As if the gifts we parted with procured
That violent distraction ?

Ant, O, much better.

Duck^ If I had a husband now, this care were quit :
But I intend to make you overseer. 451

What good deed shall we first remember ? say.

Ant. Begin with that first good deed began i' the world
After man's creation, the sacrament of marriage :
I 'd have you first provide for a good husband ;
Give him alL

Duck. AU 1

Ant. Yes, your excellent self.

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc. t.

Duck, In a winding-sheet?

Ant. In a couple. 460

Duck, Saint Winifred, that were a strange will !
Ant, 'Twere stranger if there were no will in you

To marry again.
Duck. What do you think of marriage ?
Ant. I take \ as those that deny purgatory,

It locally contains or heaven or hell ;

There's no third place in't
Duck. How do you affect it ?
Ant, My banishment, feeding my melancholy,

Would often reason thus. 470

Duck. Pray, let 's hear it.
Ant. Say a man never marry, nor have children,

What takes that from him ? only the bare name

Of being a father, or the weak delight

To see the little wanton ride a-cock-horse

Upon a painted stick, or hear him chatter

Like a taught starling.
Duck. Fie, fie, what 's all this ?

One of your eyes is blood-shot ; use my ring to'

They say 'tis very sovereign: 'twas my. wedding-
ring, 480

And I did vow never to part with it

But to my second husband.
Ant. You have parted with it now.
Luck. Yes, to help your eye-sight
AtU, You have made me stark blind.

ACT I. sc z. The Duchess of Malfi

Duck, How?

Ant, There is a saucy and ambitious devil
Is dancing in this circle.

Duck, Remove him.

Ant, How? 490

Duck, There needs small conjuration, when your finger
May do it : thus ; is it fit ?

\Sheputs the ring upon his finger: he kneels.

Ant, What said you ?

Duck, Sir,

This goodly roof of yours is too low built ;
I cannot stand upright in 't nor discourse,
Without I raise it higher : raise yourself;
Or, if you please, my hand to help you : so.

\Raises him.

Ant, Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness.
That is not kept in chains and close-pent rooms.
But in fair lightsome lodgings, and is girt 501

With the wild noise of prattling visitants,
Which makes it lunatic beyond all cure.
Conceive not I am so stupid but I aim
Whereto your favours tend : but he's a fool
That, being a-cold, would thrust his hands i' the fire
To warm them.

Duch, So, now the ground 's broke.

You may discover what a wealthy mine

I make you lord of. 510

Ant, O my unworthiness 1

The Duchess of Malfi act i. sc i.

Duck. You were ill to sell yourself:

This darkening of your worth is not like that
Which tradesmen use i' the city ; their false lights
Are to rid bad wares off: and I must tell you,
If you will know where breathes a c6mplete man
(I speak it without flattery), turn your eyes,
And progress through yourself.

Ant Were there nor heaven nor hell,

I should be honest : I have long serv'd virtue, 520
And ne'er ta'en wages of her.

Duch, Now she pays it

The misery of us that are bom great !

We are forced to woo, because none dare woo us ;

And as a tyrant doubles with his words,

And fearftilly equivocates, so we

Are fordd to express our violent passions

In riddles and in dreams, and leave the path

Of simple virtue, which was never made

To seem the thing it is not. Go, go brag 530

You have left me heartless ; mine is in your bosom :

I hope 'twill multiply love there. You do tremble :

Make not your heart so dead a piece of flesh.

To fear more than to love me. Sir, be confident :

What is 't distracts you ? This is flesh and blood, sir;

'Tis not the figure cut in alabaster

Kneels at my husband's tomb. Awake, awake, man !

I do here put off all vain ceremony,

And only do appear to you a young widow

ACT I. sc z. The Duchess of Malfi

That claims you for her husband, and, like a widow,
I use but half a blush in 't 541

Ant. Truth speak for me ;

I will remain the constant sanctuary
Of your good name.

DucA. I thank you, gentle love :

And 'cause you shall not come to me in debt,

Being now my steward, here upon your lips

I sign your Quietus est This you should have

begg'd now :
I have seen children oft eat sweetmeats thus.
As fearful to devour them too soon. 550

Ant, But for your brothers ?

Duck, Do not think of them :

All discord without this circumference
Is only to be pitied, and not fear'd :
Yet, should they know it, time will easily
Scatter the tempest.

Ant. These words should be mine.

And all the parts you have spoke, if some part of it
Would not have savour'd flattery.

Duck, KneeL 560

{Cariola comes from behind the arras.

Ant Ha!

Duck, Be not amaz'd ; this woman 's of my counsel :
I have heard lawyers say, a contract in a chamber
Per verba presenti is absolute marriage.

\She and Antonio kneel,
22

The Duchess of Malfi act l sc z.

Bless, heaven, this sacred gordian, which let
violence

Never untwine !
Ant, And may our sweet affections, like the spheres.

Be still in motion I
Duck, Quickening, and make

The like soft music 1 570

Ant, That we may imitate the loving palms,

Best emblem of a peaceful marriage^

That never bore fruit, divided !
Duck, What can the church force more ?
Ant, That fortune may not know an accident,

Either of joy or sorrow, to divide

Our fix^d wishes !
Duck, How can the church build faster ?

We now are man and wife, and 'tis the church

That must but echo this. — Maid, stand apart : 5S0

I now am blind.
Ant, What 's your conceit in this ?
Duch, I would have you lead your fortune by the
hand

Unto your marriage-bed :

(You speak in me this, for we now are one :)

We '11 only lie, and talk together, and plot

To appease my humorous kindred; and if you
please.

Like the old tale in Alexander and Lodowick,

Lay a naked sword between us, keep us chaste. 590

ACT I. sc X. The Duchess of Malfi

O, let me shrowd my blushes in your bosom.
Since 'tis the treasury of all my secrets 1

[Exeunt Duchess and Antonio,
Cart, Whether the spirit of greatness or of woman
Reign most in her, I know not ; but it shows
A fearful madness : I owe her much of pity. [Exit

The Duchess of Malfi

Maifi. An apartment in the palace of tht Duress.

Enter Bosola and Castruccio.

Bos. You say you would bsa be taken for an eminent

"ir?

Cast. Tis the veiy main of my ambition.

Bos. Let me see : you have a reasonable good face fbr't
already, and your nigbt-cap expresses your ears
sufficient lai^^y. I would bave you learn to twirl
the strings of your band witb a good grace, and in
a set speech, at tbe 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. 13

Cast. I would be a very merry president

Bos. Do not sup a' nights ; 'twill beget you an admirable
wit

ACT II. sc. s. The Duchess of Malfi

Cast, 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 ? 20

Bos, 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.

Enter an Old Lady.

You come from painting now.

Old Lady, From what ?

Bos, 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. 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. 34

Old Lady, Do you call this painting ?

Bos, No, no, but you call [it] careening of an old mor-
phewed lady, to make her disembogue again: there 's
rough-cast phrase to your plastic.

Old Lady, It seems you are well acquainted with my
closet.

Bos, One would suspect it for a shop of witchcraft, to

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc i.

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 patri-
mony of the physician ; makes him renew his foot-
doth with the spring, and change his high-priced
courtezan with the fall of the leaf. I do wonder you
do not loathe yourselves. Observe my meditation
now. 51

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, — 60

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. —

ACT II. sc. 1. The Duchess of Malfi

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. 70

[Exeunt Casfruccio 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.
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 andDelio^ talking together apart

Delio. And so long since married ? 80

You amaze me.

Ant Let me seal your lips for ever :

For, did I think that anything but the air
Could carry these words from you, I should wish
You had no breath at alL — Now, sir, in your con-
templation ?
You are studying to become a great wise fellow.

Bos, O, sir, the opinion of wisdom is a foul tetter 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 91

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc. z.

Ant, I do understand your inside.

Bos, Do you so ?

Ant. Because you would not seem to appear to the
world
Puff'd up with your preferment, you continue
This out-of-fashion melancholy : leave it, leave it.

Bos, 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.

Ant. You would look up to heaven, but I think 104

The devil, that rules i' the air, stands in your light

Bos. O, sir, you are lord of the ascendant, chief man
with the duchess : a duke was your cousin-german
removed. 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 deceived, there 's the same hand to them ;
the like passions sway them ; the same reason that
makes a vicar to 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.

ACT II. sc. I. The Duchess of Malfi

Enter Duchess and Ladies,

Duch. Your arm, Antonio : do I not grow fat ?

I am exceeding short-winded. — Bosola, 120

I would have you, sir, provide for me a litter ;

Such a one as the Duchess of Florence rode in.
Bos. The duchess us'd one when she was great with

child.
Duck, 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 1

Shall I swoon under thy fingers ? I am

So troubled with the mother 1
Bos, [aside,"] I fear too much.
Duch, I have heard you say that the French courtiers

Wear their hats on 'fore the king. 13]

Ant, I have seen it
Duch. In the presence?
Ant, Yes.
Duch. 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' the court ;

Put on your hat first.
Ant, You must pardon me : 140

I have seen, in colder countries than in France,

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc. i.

Nobles stand bare to the prince ; and the distinc-
tion

Methought showed reverently.
JSos, I have a present for your grace.
Duck, For me, sir ?
Bos, Apricocks, madam.
Duck. O, sir, where are they?

I have heard of none to-year.
Bos, \astde.] Good ; her colour rises.
DucA, Indeed, I thank you : they are wondrous fair ones.

What an unskilful fellow is our gardener 1 157

We shall have none this month.
Bos. Will not your grace pare them ?
DucA. No : they taste of musk, methinks; indeed they do.
Bos. I know not : yet I wish your grace had par'd 'em.
DucA. Why?
Bos. I forget to tell you, the knave gardener,

Only to raise his profit by them the sooner,

Did ripen them in horse-dung.
DucJL O, you jest. — 160

You shall judge : pray, taste one.
Ant. Indeed, madam,

I do not love the fruit
Duck. Sir, you are loth

To rob us of our dainties : 'tis a delicate fruit ;

They say they are restorative.
Bos. 'Tis a pretty art,

This grafting.

ACT II. sc 1. The Duchess of Malfi

Duck. 'Tis so ; bettering of nature.

Bos, To make a pippin grow upon a crab, 170

A damson on a black-thorn. — [Aside,] How greedily
she eats them !

A whirlwind strike off these bawd farthingales I

For, but for that and the loose-bodied gown,

I should have discovered apparently

The young springal cutting a caper in her belly.
VucA. I thank you, Bosola : they were right good ones,

If they do not make me sick.
Anf. How now, madam !
Duck, This green fruit and my stomach are not friends :

How they swell me 1 180

Bos, [aside,'] Nay, you are too much swell'd already.
Duck, O, I am in an extreme cold sweat 1
Bos, I am very sorry.
DucA, Lights to my chamber 1 — O good Antonio,

I fear I am undone !
Delio, Lights there, lights 1

[Exeunt Duchess and Ladies, — Ext/^ on
the other side^ Bosola.
Ant, O my most trusty Delio, we are lost 1

I fear she's fall'n in labour ; and there's left

No time for her remove.
Delio, Have you prepared 190

Those ladies to attend her? and procured

That politic safe conveyance for the midwife

Your duchess plotted ?

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc «.

Ant 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.

Ant Fie, fie, the physicians

Will then flock to her. 200

Delta. For that you may pretend

She '11 use some prepared antidote of her own,
Lest the physicians should re-poison her.

Ant, I am lost in amazement : I know not what to think
on 't. [Exeunt

SCENE II

A hall in the same palace.

Enter Bosola,

Bos, So, so, there 's no question but her techiness and
most vulturous eating of the apricocks are apparent
signs of breeding.

Enter an Old Lady •
Now?

Old Lady. I am in haste, sir.

Bos. There was a young waiting- woman had a monstrous
desire to see the glass-house

Old Lady. Nay, pray, let me go.

Bos. And it was only to know what strange instrument
it was should swell up a glass to the fashion of a
woman's belly. 1 1

C 33

ACT II. sc •. The Duchess of Malfi

Old Lady, I will hear no more of the glass-house. Yea
are still abusing women ?

Bos, 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 autunm 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 theoL Didst
thou never study the mathematics ? 23

Old Lady. What 's that, sir ?

Bos. 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
&lse rusty watch, that she cannot discern how the
time passes. \Exit Old Lady.

Enter Antonio y Roderigo^ and Grisolan.

Ant, Shut up the court-gates. 31

Rod Why, sir ? what 's the danger ?

Ant. Shut up the posterns presently, and call

All the officers o* the court
Gris. I shall instantly. \ExiL

Ant. Who keeps the key o' the park-gate ?

The Duchess of Malfi act n. sc »

Rod. Forobosco.

Ant. Let him bring 't presently.

Re-eitUr Grisolan with Servants.

First Serv. O, gentleman o* the court, the foulest

treason I
Bos. [asitU.] If that these apricocks should be poison'd
now, 40

Without my knowledge f
J^irsi Serv. There was taken even now a Switzer in the

duchess' bed-chamber

Secoitd Serv. A Switzer 1

First Serv. With a pistol in his great cod-piece.

Bos. Ha, hs, ha 1

First Serv. The cod-piece was the case for't.

Second Serv, There was a cunning traitor : who would

have searched his cod-piece ?
First Serv, True, if he had kept out of the ladies'

chambers : and all the moulds of his buttons were

leaden bullets. 52

Second Serv. O wicked caniubal 1 a fire-lock in 's cod-

First Serv. Twas a French plot, upon my life.
Second Serv. To see what the devil can do !
Ant. [Ate] all the officers here?
Servants. We are.
Ant. Gentlemen,

ACT II. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

We have lost much plate you know ; and but this
evening

Jewels, to the value of four thousand ducats, 60

Are missing in the duchess' cabinet

Are the gates shut ?
Serv. Yes.
Ant '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.
Rod, At her pleasure.
Ant She entreats you take 't not ill : the innocent 70

Shall be the more approv'd by it
Bos. Gentlemen o' the wood-yard, where *s your Switzer

now?
First Serv. By this hand, 'twas credibly reported by one

o' the black guard.

[Exeunt all except Antonio and JDelio,
Delio. How fares it with the duchess ?
Ant. She'sexpos'd

Unto the worst of torture, pain and fear.
Delio. Speak to her all happy comfort.
Ant How I do play the fool with mine own
danger I

You are this night, dear friend, to post to Rome : 80 i

My life lies in your service.
Delio. Do not doubt me.

The Duchess of Malfi act it. sc 3

Ant. O, 'tis fer from me : and yet fear presents me
Somewhat that looks like danger.

DeUo. 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 90

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.

Cari. Sir, you are the happy father of a son :
Your wife commends him to you.

Artt. Blessed comfort I —

For heaven' sake, tend her well : I '11 presently
Go set a figure for's nativity. [Exeunt.

SCENE III

The cmrf of the savupalaa.

Enter Bosola, with a dark lantern.

Bos. 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 stri

ACT II. sc. 3. The Duchess of Malfi

In the confining all our courtiers

To their several wards : I must have part of it ;

My intelligence will freeze else. List, again 1

It may be 'twas the melancholy bird.

Best friend of silence and of solitariness,

The owl, that screamed so. — Ha t Antonio I

Enter Antonio.

Ant, I heard some noise. — Who's there? what art
thou? speak. 10

Bos, Antonio, put not your face nor body

To such a forced expression of fear :

I am Bosola, your friend.
Ant, Bosola ! —

\Astde.] This mole does undermine me. — Heard
you not

A noise even now ?
Bos, From whence ?
Ant. From the duchess' lodging.
Bos, Not I : did you ?

Ant. I did, or else I dream'd. 20

Bos, Let 's walk towards it.
Ant, No : it may be 'twas

But the rising of the wind.
Bos. Very likely.

Methinks 'tis very cold, and yet you sweat :

You look wildly.

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc ^

Ant, I have been setting a figure

For the duchess' jewels.
Bos, Ahy and how fialls your question ?

Do you find it radical ? 30

Ant. What's that to you?

Tis rather to be questioned what design,

When all men were commanded to their lodgings,

Makes you a night-walker.
Bos. In sooth, I '11 tell you :

Now all the court's asleep, I thought the devil

Had least to do here ; I come to say my prayers ;

And if it do offend you I do so.

You are a fine courtier.
Ant. {aside,"] This fellow will undo me. — 40

You gave the duchess apricocks to-day :

Pray heaven they were not poison'd !
Bos. Poison'd ! a Spanish fig

For the imputation.
Ant. 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.
Bos. You are a false steward.

Ant. Saucy slave, I '11 pull thee up by the roots. 50

Bos. May be the ruin will crush you to pieces.
Ant. You are an impudent snake indeed, sir :

Are you scarce warm, and do you show your sting ?

You libel well, sir.

ACT II. sc 3. The Duchess of Malfi

Bos, No, sir : copy it out,

And I will set my hand to't
Ant [aside.'] My nose bleeds.

One that were superstitious would count

This ominous, when it merely comes by chance :

Two letters, that are wrote here for my name, 60

Are drown'd in blood I

Mere accident — For you, sir, I '11 take order

V the mom you shall be safe : — \astde\ '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.
Bos. Antonio hereabout did drop a paper : —

Some of your help, false friend : — O, here it is.
What's here? a child's nativity calculated I [Reads.
* The duchess was delivered of a son^ Hween the
hours twelve and one in the nighty 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 I — * The lord of the first house being com-
bust in the ascendant^ signifies short life ; and Mars
being in a human sign, joined to the tail of the

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc 4.

Dragon^ in the eighth house, doth threaten a
violent death. Ccetera non scrutantur^ 81

Why, now 'tis most apparent ; this precise fellow
Is the duchess' bawd : — I have it to my wish !
This is a parcel of intelligency
Our courtiers were cas'd up for : it needs must follow
That I must be committed on pretence
Of poisoning her ; which I '11 endure, and laugh at.
If one could find the j&ther now I but that
Time will discover. Old Castruccio
r the morning posts to Rome : by him I 'U send 90
A letter that shall make her brothers' galls
O'erflow their livers. This was a thrifty way.
Though lust do mask in ne'er so strange disguise,
She 's oft found witty, but is never wise. \Exit,

SCENE IV
Rome, An apartment in the palace of the C ordinal.

Enter Cardinal and Julia,

Card, 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 anchorite

Here for devotion.
Card. Thou art a witty false one, —

I mean, to him.

ACT II. sc 4. The Duchess of Malfi

Julia. You have prevaiPd with me

Beyond my strongest thoughts: I would not
now 10

Find you inconstant.

Card. Do not put thyself

To such a voluntary torture, which proceeds
Out of your own guilt

Julia, How, my lord 1

Card. You fear

My constancy, because you have approved
Those giddy and wild turnings in yourself.

Julia, Did you e'er find them ?

Card. Sooth, generally for women, 20

A man might strive to make glass malleable,
Ere he should make them fix^d.

Julia. So, my lord.

Card. We had need go borrow that fantastic glass
Invented by Galileo the Florentine
To view another spacious world i' the moon.
And look to find a constant woman there.

Julia. This is very well, my lord.

Card. Why do you weep ?

Are tears your justification ? the self-same tears
Will fall into your husband's bosom, lady, 31

With a loud protestation that you love him
Above the world. Come, I '11 love you wisely.
That 's jealously ; since I am very certain
You cannot make me cuckold.

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc 4.

Julia. I '11 go home
To my husband.

Card. You may thank me, lady,

I have taken you off your melancholy perch,
Bore you upon my fist, and show'd you game, 40
And let you fly at it. — I pray thee, kiss me. —
When thou wast with thy husband, thou wast

watched
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 fingering on the lute,
Yet cannot tune it : — still you are to thank me.

Julia. You told me of a piteous wound i' the heart.
And a sick liver, when you woo'd me first,
And spake like one in physic. 50

Card. Who 's that ?

Enter Servant.

Rest firm, for my affection to thee.

Lightning moves slow to 't.
Serv. Madam, a gentleman,

That 's comes post from Malfi, desires to see you.
Card. Let him enter : I '11 withdraw. {Exit-

Serv. He says

Your husband, old Castruccio, is come to Rome,

Most pitifiilly tir'd with riding post. \E^t.

ACT II. sc. 4. The Duchess of Malfi

Enter Delio,

Julia, [aside.] Signior Delio ! 'tis one of my old suitors.

Delio. I was bold to come and see you. 6i

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 yotir
husband,

For I know none by him.
Julia. I hear he 's come to Rome. 70

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. So

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 ?

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc. 4.

Julia, I have a bird more beautiful.
Delia. Try the sound on 't.
Julia, A lute-string far exceeds it :

It hath no smell, like cassia or civet ;

Nor is it physical, though some fond doctors

Persuade us seethe 't in cullises. I '11 tell you,

This is a creature bred by

Re-enter Servant

^^rz/. Your husband's come, 90

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 '11 go ask my husband if I shall,

And straight return your answer. {Exit,

Delio, Very fine ! loi

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 betra/d : how fearfully
Shows his ambition now ! unfortunate fortune !

ACT II. sc. 5. The Duchess of Malfi

They pass through whirl-pools, and deep woes do

shun,
Who the event weigh ere the action's done. [£xit.

SCENE V

Another apartment in the same palace.

Enter Cardinal and Ferdinand with a letter.

Ferd. I have this night digg'd up a mandrake.

Card, Say you ?

Ferd And I am grown mad with 't.

Card, What's the prodigy?

Ferd, Read there, — a sister damn'd : she's loose i* the
hilts ;
Grown a notorious strumpet.

Card, Speak lower.

Ferd Lower I

Rogues do not whisper 't now, but seek to publish 't

(As servants do the bounty of their lords) lo

Aloud ; and with a covetous searching eye,

To mark who note them. O, confusion seize her !

She hath had most cunning bawds to serve her tjim,

And more secure conveyances for lust

Than towns of garrison for service.

Card, Is 't possible ?
Can this be certain ?

Ferd Rhubarb, O, for rhubarb

The Duchess of Malfi act il sc s.

To purge this choler I here 's the cursed day
To prompt my memory ; and here 't shall stick zo
Till of her bleeding heart I make a sponge
To wipe it out,

Cani. Why do you make youiself
So wild a tempest ?

J^'erd. Would I could be one,

That I might toss her palace tKiut her ears,
Root up her goodly forests, blast her meads,
And lay her general tciritory as waste
As she hath done her honours,

Canl Shall our blood, 30

The royal blood of Arr^on and Castile,
Be thus att^ntedP

ferd. Apply desperate physic :

We must not now use balsamum, but fire,

The smarting cupping-glass, for that 's the mean

To purge infected blood, such blood as hers.

There is a kind of pity in mine eye, —

I '11 give it to my handkercher ; and now 'tis here,

I 'II bequeath this to her bastard.

Card. What to do ? 40

ferii. Why, to make soft lint for his mother's wounds,
When I have hew'd her to pieces.

Card. Cursfed creature !

Unequal nature, to place women's hearts
So far upon the left side 1

J^erd. Fooli^ men,

rs>^

ACT II. sc. » The Duchess of Malfi

That e'er will trust their honour in a bark

Made of so slight weak bulrush as is woman,

Apt every minute to sink it !
Card. Thus 50

Ignorance, when it hath purchased honour,

It cannot wield it
Ferd, Methinks I see her laughing, —

Excellent hyena 1 Talk to me somewhat quickly.

Or my imagination will carry me

To see her in the shameful act of sin.
Card. With whom ?
Ferd Happily with some strong-thigh'd bargeman,

Or one o* the wood-yard that can quoit the sledge

Or toss the bar, or else some lovely squire 60

That carries coals up to her privy lodgings.
Card You fly beyond your reason.
Ferd. Go to, mistress I

'Tis not your whore's milk that shall quench my
wild-fire,

But your whore's blood
Card, How idly shows this rage, which carries you.

As men conve/d by witches through the air.

On violent whirlwinds 1 this intemperate noise

Fitly resembles deaf men's shrill discourse,

Who talk aloud, thinking all other men 70

To have their imperfection.
Ferd Have not you

My palsy ?

The Duchess of Malfi act ii. sc 5.

Card, Yes, [but] I can be angry

Without this rupture : there is not in nature

A thing that makes man so deform'd, so

beastly,
As doth intemperate anger. Chide yourself.
You have divers men who never yet expressed
Their strong desire of rest but by unrest,
By vexing of themselves. Come, put yourself 80
In time.

Ferd, So I will only study to seem

The thing I am not. I could kill her now,
In you, or in myself; for I do think
It is some sin in us heaven doth revenge
By her.

Card. Are you stark mad ?

Ferd, I would have their bodies

Burnt in a coal-pit with the ventage stopp'd.
That their curs'd smoke might not ascend to
heaven ; 90

Or dip the sheets they lie in in pitch or sulphur,
Wrap them in't, and then light them like a

match ;
Or else to-boil their bastard to a cuUis,
And give't his lecherous father to renew
The sin of his back.

Card, I '11 leave you.

Ferd, Nay, I have done.

I am confident, had I been damn'd in hell,
D 49

ACT iL sc s The Duchess of Malfi

And should have heard of this, it would have put me
Into a cold sweat In, in ; 111 go sleep. loo

Till I know ^o leaps my sister, 1 11 not stir :
That known, 1 11 find scorpions to string my whips,
And fix her in a general edipse. [Exeunt

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc i.

ACT III

SCENE I

MalJL An afartment in the falace of the Duchess

Enter Antonio and Delio.

Ant. Our noble friend, my most beloved Delio !
O, you have been a stranger long at court :
Came you along with the Lord Ferdinand ?

Delio. I did, sir : and how fares your noble duchess ?

Ant. Right fortunately well : she 's an excellent
Feeder of pedigrees ; since you last saw her.
She hath had two children more, a son and daughter.

Delio. Methinks 'twas yesterday : let me but wink,
And not behold your face, which to mine eye
Is somewhat leaner, verily I should dream lo

It were within this half hour.

Ant. You have not been in law, friend Delio,
Nor in prison, nor a suitor at the court,
Nor^begg'd the reversion of some great man's place,
Nor troubled with an old wife, which doth make
Your time so insensibly hasten.

ACT III. sc. z. The Duchess of Malfi

Delio, Pray, sir, tell me,

Hath not this news arriv'd yet to the ear
Of the lord cardinal ?

Ant I fear it hath : 20

The Lord Ferdinand, that 's newly come to court,
Doth bear himself right dangerously.

Delio, Pray, why ?

Ant He is so quiet that he seems to sleep
The tempest out, as dormice do in winter :
Those houses that are haunted are most still
Till the devil be up.

Delio, What say the common people ?

Ant The common rabble do directly say

She is a strumpet 30

Delio, And your graver heads

Which would be politic, what censure they ?

Ant They do observe I grow to infinite purchase.
The left hand way ; and all suppose the duchess
Would amend it, if she could ; for, say they.
Great princes, though they grudge their officers
Should have such large and unconfinM means
To get wealth under them, will not complain,
Lest thereby they should make them odious
Unto the people : for other obligation 40

Of love or marriage between her and me
They never dream of.

Delio, The Lord Ferdinand
Is going to bed.

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc i.

Enter Duchess^ Ferdinand^ and Attendants.

Ferd. I '11 instantly to bed,

For I am weary. — I am to bespeak

A husband for you.
Duck, For me, sir I pray, who is't?
Ferd. The great Count Malatesti.
Duch, Fie upon him 1 50

A coimt ! he 's a mere stick of sugar-candy ;

You may look quite through him. When I choose

A husband, I will marry for your honour.
Ferd You shall do well in 't — How is 't, worthy Antonio?
Duck, But, sir, I am to have private conference with you

About a scandalous report is spread

Touching mine honour.
Ferd. Let me be ever deaf to 't :

One of Pasquil's paper-bullets, court-calunmy,

A pestilent air, which princes' palaces 60

Are seldom purg'd of. Yet say that it were true,

I pour it in your bosom, my fix'd love

Would strongly excuse, extenuate, nay, deny

Faults, were they apparent in you. Go, be safe

In your own innocency.
Duck. \aside\ O bless'd comfort 1

This deadly air is purged.
[Exeunt Duchess, Antonio, Delia, and Attendants.
Ferd. Her guilt treads on

Hot-burning coulters.

ACT III. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

Enter Bosola.

Now, Bosola, 70

How thrives our intelligence ?

Bos. Sir, uncertainly :

Tis rumour'd she hath had three bastards, but
By whom we may go read i' the stars.

Ferd. Why, some

Hold opinion all things are written there.

Bos. Yes, if we could find spectacles to read them.
I do suspect there hath been some sorcery
Us'd on the duchess.

Ferd. Sorcery I to what purpose ? 80

Bos. To make her dote on some desertless fellow
She shames to acknowledge.

Ferd. Can your faith give way

To think there 's power in potions or in charms,
To make us love whether we will or no ?

Bos. Most certainly.

Ferd. Away ! these are mere guUeries, horrid things.
Invented by some cheating mountebanks
To abuse us. Do you think that herbs or charms
Can force the will ? Some trials have been made 90
In this foolish practice, but the ingredients
Were lenitive poisons, such as are of force
To make the patient mad ; and straight the witch
Swears by equivocation they are in love.
The witch-craft lies in her rank blood. This night
I will force confession from her. You told me

The Duchess of Malfi act in. sc. i.

You had got, within these two days, a false key

Into her bed-chamber.
Bos, I have.

Ferd, As I would wish. lOo

Bos. What do you intend to do ?
Ferd, Can you guess ?
Bos. No.
Ferd. Do not ask, then :

He that can compass me, and know my drifts,

May say he hath put a girdle 'bout the world.

And sounded all her quick-sands.
Bos. I do not

Think so.
Ferd. What do you think, then, pray ? iio

Bos. That you are

Your own chronicle too much, and grossly

Flatter yourself.
Ferd. Give me thy hand ; I thank thee :

I never gave pension but to flatterers.

Till I entertained thee. Farewell

That friend a great man's ruin strongly checks,

Who rails into his belief all his defects. \Exeunt.

ACT III. sc a. The Duchess of Malfi

SCENE II

The bed-chamber of the Duchess in the same.

Enter Duchess^ Antonio^ €md Cariola,

Duch. Bring me the casket hither, and the glass. —
You get no lodging here to-night, my lord.

Ant. Indeed, I must persuade one.

Duch. Very good :

I hope in time 'twill grow into a custom,
That noblemen shall come with cap and knee
To purchase a night's lodging of their wives^

Ant. I must lie here.

Duch. Must ! you are a lord of mis-rule.

Ant. Indeed, my rule is only in the night lo

Duch. To what use will you put me ?

Ant. We '11 sleep together.

Duch. Alas,

What pleasure can two lovers find in sleep 1

Cari. My lord, I lie with her often ; and I know
She'll much disquiet you.

Ant. See, you are complain'd of.

Cari. For she 's the sprawling'st bedfellow.

Ant. I shall like her the better for that.

Cari. Sir, shall I ask you a question ? 20

Ant. Ay, pray thee, Cariola.

^e Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc a.

Can, Wherefore still, when you lie with my lady,

Do you rise so early ?
Ant Labouring men

Count the clock oftenest, Cariola,

Are glad when their task's ended.

Duck. I '11 stop your mouth. [Kisses him.

Ant Nay, that 's but one ; Venus had two soft doves

To draw her chariot ; I must have another. —

\She kisses him again.

When wilt thou marry, Cariola ? 30

Cari. Never, my lord.

Ant O, fie upon this single life ! forgo it.

We read how Daphne, for her peevish flight,
Became a fruitless bay-tree ; Syrinx tum'd
To the pale empty reed ; Anaxarete
Was frozen into marble : whereas those
Which married, or prov'd kind unto their friends,
Were by a gracious influence transhap'd
Into the olive, pomegranate, mulberry.
Became flowers, precious stones, or eminent stars.

Cari, This is a vain poetry : but I pray you, tell me, 41
If there were proposed me, wisdom, riches, and

beauty,
In three several young men, which should I choose?

Ant 'Tis a hard question : this was Paris' case,

And he was blind in't, and there was a great cause ;
For how was 't possible he could judge right.
Having three amorous goddesses in view,

ACT III. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

^ And they stark naked ? 'twas a motion

, Were able to benight the apprehension

Of the severest counsellor of Europe. 50

Now I look on both your faces so well fomi'd,
It puts me in mind of a question I would ask.
Cart. What is 't ?
I Ant. I do wonder why hard-favour'd ladies,

i For the most part, keep worse-favour'd waiting*

' women

; To attend them, and cannot endure fair ones.

Duck, O, that 's soon answer'd.

Did you ever in your life know an ill painter
Desire to have his dwelling next door to the shop
Of an excellent picture-maker ? 'twould disgrace 6g
His face-making, and undo him. I prithee.
When were we so merry ? — My hair tangles.
Ant. Pray thee, Cariola, let 's steal forth the room,
And let her talk to herself : I have divers times
Serv'd her the like, when she hath chaf d extremely.
I love to see her angry. Softly, Cariola.

\Exeunt Antonio and Cariok
Duck, Doth not the colour of my hair 'gin to change?
When I wax gray, I shall have all the court
Powder their hair with arras, to be like me.
I You have cause to love me ; I enter'd you into mt

heart 7:

Before you would vouchsafe to call for the keys.

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc •.

Enter Ferdinand behind.

We shall one day have my brothers take you napping :
Methinks his presence, being now in court,
Should make you keep your own bed ; but you'll say
Love mix'd with fear is sweetest. I '11 assure you,
You shall get no more children till my brothers
Consent to be your gossips. Have you lost your tongue?
'Tis welcome :

For know, whether I am doom'd to live or die,
I can do both like a prince. 80

Ferd, Die, then, quickly ! [Giving her a poniard.

Virtue, where art thou hid ? what hideous thing
Is it that doth eclipse thee ?

Duch. Pray, sir, hear me.

Ferd. Or is it true thou art but a bare name,
And no essential thing ?

Duch. Sir

F'erd. Do not speak.

Duch. No, sir :

I will plant my soul in mine ears, to hear you. 90

Ferd. O most imperfect light of himian reason.
That mak'st us so unhappy to foresee
What we can least prevent 1 Pursue thy wishes.
And glory in them : there 's in shame no comfort
But to be past all bounds and sense of shame.

Duck. I pray, sir, hear me : I am married.

Ferd. So!

ACT III. sc a. The Duchess of MaU

Duck. Happily, not to your liking : but for that,
Alas, your shears do come untimely now
To clip the bird's wings that 's already flown ! loo
Will you see my husband ?

Ferd. Yes, if I could change
Ey^s with a basilisk.

Duck, Sure, you came hither
By his confederacy.

Ferd, The howling of a wolf

Is music to thee, screech-owl : prithee, peace. —
Whatever thou art that hast enjo^d my sister.
For I am sure thou hear'st me, for thine own sake
Let me not know thee. I came hither prepar'd iio
To work thy discovery ; yet am now persuaded
It would beget such violent effects
As would danm us both. I would not for ten millions
I had beheld thee : therefore use all means
I never may have knowledge of thy name ;
Enjoy thy lust still, and a wretched life.
On that condition. — And for thee, vile woman,
If thou do wish thy lecher may grow old
In thy embracements, I would have thee build
Such a room for him as our anchorites 122

To holier use inhabit Let not the sun
Shine on him till he 's dead ; let dogs and monkeys
Only converse with him, and such dumb things
To whom nature denies use to sound his name ;
Do not keep a paraquito, lest she learn it ;

'^The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc. a.

If thou do love him, cut out thine own tongue,

Lest it bewray him.
Duck, Why might not I marry ?

I have not gone about in this to create

Any new world or custom. 130

Ferd, Thou art undone ;

And thou hast ta'en that massy sheet of lead

That hid thy husband's bones, and folded it

About my heart.
Duck. Mine bleeds for't
Ferd. Thine ! thy heart !

What should I name 't unless a hollow bullet

Fill'd with unquenchable wild-fire ?
Duck. You are in this

Too strict ; and were you not my princely brother,

I would say, too wilful : my reputation 141

Is safe.
Ferd, Dost thou know what reputation is ?

I 'II tell thee, — ^to small purpose, since the instruction

Comes now too late.

Upon a time Reputation, Love, and Death,

Would travel o'er the world ; and it was concluded

That they should part, and take three several ways.

Death told them, they should find him in great battles,

Or cities plagu'd with plagues: Love gives them
counsel 1 50

To inquire for him 'mongst imambitious shepherds,
Where dowries were not talk'd of, and sometimes

ACT in. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

'Mongst quiet kindred that had nothing left

By their dead parents : ' Stay,' quoth Reputation,

' Do not forsake me ; for it is my nature.

If once I part from any man I meet,

I am never foimd again.' And so for you :

You have shook hands with Reputation,

And made him invisible. So, fare you well :

I will never see you more. i6o

Duck, Why should only I,

Of all the other princes of the woild.

Be cas'd up, like a holy relic ? I have youth

And a little beauty.

Ferd, So you have some virgins

That are witches. I will never see thee more. \ExSL

Re-enter Antonio with a pistol^ and Carioku

Duck. You saw this apparition ?

Ant Yes : we are

Betray'd. How came he hither? I should turn
This to thee, for that. 17Q

Cari, Pray, sir, do ; and when

That you have cleft my heart, you shall read there
Mine innocence.

Duch. That gallery gave him entrance.

Ant, I would this terrible thing would come again.
That, standing on my guard, I might relate
My warrantable love. — \She shows the fiomari

Ha i what means this?
62

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc. «.

Z>uch, He left this with me.

Ant And it seems did wish i8o

You would use it on yourself.
Zhich, His action

Seem'd to intend so much.
Ant This hath a handle to 't,

As well as a point : turn it towards him,

And so fasten the keen edge in his rank gall.

[Knocking within.

How now ! who knocks ? more earthquakes ?
J?uch. I stand

As if a mine beneath my feet were ready

To be blown up. 190

Cari, Tis Bosola.
J?uck, Away !

O misery 1 methinks unjust actions

Should wear these masks and curtains, and not we.

You must instantly part hence : I have fashioned it
already. [Exit Antonio,

Enter Bosola,

Bos. The duke your brother is ta'en up in a whirlwind ;

Hath took horse, and 's rid post to Rome.
Uuch. So late ?
Bos. He told me, as he mounted into the saddle.

You were undone. 200

Vuch. Indeed, I am very near it.
Bos. What's the matter?

ACT III. sc. a. The Duchess of Mali

Duch, Antonio, the master of our household,

Hath dealt so falsely with me in 's accounts :
My brother stood engag'd with me for money
Ta'en up of certain Neapolitan Jews,
And Antonio lets the bonds be forfeit
Bos, Strange ! — [Aside."] This is cunning.
j Duch. And hereupon

! My brother's bills at Naples are protested 210

Against — Call up our officers.
^ Bvs. I shalL [Exit

Re-enter Antonio,

Duch, The place that you must fly to is Ancona :
Hire a house there ; I '11 send after you
My treasure and my jewels. Our weak safety
Runs upon enginous wheels : short syllables
Must stand for periods. I must now accuse yoa
Of such a feigned crime as Tasso calls
Magnanima menzognay 3, noble lie,
'Cause it must shield our honours. — Hark 1 they vi
coming. 22a

Re-enter Bosola and Officers.

Ant, Will your grace hear me ?

Duch, I have got well by you ; you have yielded me
A million of loss : I am like to inherit
The people's curses for your stewardship.
You had the trick in audit-time to be sick,
Till I had signed your quietus ; and that cur*d yoo

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc. a.

Without help of the doctor. — Gentlemen,
I would have this man be an example to you all ;
So shall you hold my favour ; I pray, let him ;
For h'as done that, alas, you would not think of.
And, because I intend to be rid of him, 230

I mean not to publish. — Use your fortune else-
where.

Ant I am strongly arm'd to brook my overthrow,
As commonly men bear with a hard year :
I will not blame the cause on 't ; but do think
The necessity of my malevolent star
Procures this, not her humour. O, the inconstant
And rotten ground of service 1 you may see,
'Tis even like him, that in a winter night.
Takes a long slumber o'er a dying fire,
A-loth to part from 't ; yet parts thence as cold 240
As when he first sat down.

Duck. We do confiscate.

Towards the satisfying of your accounts.
All that you have.

Ant I am all yours ; and 'tis very fit
All mine should be so.

Duck, So, sir, you have your pass.

4nt You may see, gentlemen, what 'tis to serve

A prince with body and soul. [Exit,

Bos, Here 's an example for extortion : what moisture is
drawn out of the sea, when foul weather comes,
pours down, and runs into the sea again. 252

E 65

ACT III. sc •. The Duchess of Malfi

Duck, I would know what are your opinions

Of this Antonio.
Sec, Off. He could not abide to see a pig's head gaping:

I thought your grace would find him a Jew.
Third Off. I would you had been his officer, for your

own sake.
Fourth Off. You would have had more money.
First Off. He stopped his ears with black wool, and tc

those came to him for money said he was thick g(

hearing. 26:

Sec. Off. Some said he was an hermaphrodite, for he

could not abide a woman.
Fourth Off. How scurvy proud he would look when the

treasury was full ! Well, let him go.
First Off. Yes, and the chippings of the buttery fly aits

him, to scour his gold chain.
Duch. Leave us. [Exeunt Officm

What do you think of these ? 2jc

Bos. That these are rogues that in's prosperity.

But to have waited on his fortune, could have wisbij

His dirty stirrup riveted through their noses.

And foUow'd after 's mule, like a bear in a ring ;

Would have prostituted their daughters to his lust

Made their first-bom intelligencers ; thouglit non
happy

But such as were bom under his blest planet.

And wore his livery : and do these lice drop c
now?

The Duchess of Malfi act iu. sc. •.

Well, never look to have the like again :
He hath left a sort of flattering rogues behind him ;
Their doom must follow. Princes pay flatterers 281
In their own money : flatterers dissemble their vices,
And they dissemble their lies ; that's justice.
Alas, poor gentleman 1
jDuc/^ Poor 1 he hath amply fill'd his coflers.
Bos, Sure, he was too honest. Pluto, the god of riches,
When he 's sent by Jupiter to any man.
He goes limping, to signify that wealth
That comes on God's name comes slowly ; but when

he 's sent
On the devil's errand, he rides post and comes in by
scuttles. 290

Let me show you what a most unvalued jewel
You have in a wanton humour thrown away,
To bless the man shall find him. He was an ex-
cellent
Courtier and most faithful ; a soldier that thought it
As beastly to know his own value too little
As devilish to acknowledge it too much.
Both his virtue and form deserv'd a far better fortune:
His discourse rather delighted to judge itself than

show itself:
His breast was filled with all perfection.
And yet it seemed a private whispering-room, 300
It made so little noise oft.
Duch, But he was basely descended.

ACT III. sc. M. The Duchess of Malfi

Bos. Will you make yourself a mercenary herald.
Rather to examine men's pedigrees than virtues?
You shall want him :

For know an honest statesman to a prince
Is like a cedar planted by a spring ;
The spring bathes the tree's root, the grateful tree
Rewards it with his shadow : you have not done so.
I would sooner swim to the Bermoothes on 310
Two politicians' rotten bladders, tied
Together with an intelligencer's heart-string-.
Than depend on so changeable a prince's favour.
'Fare thee well, Antonio ! since the malice of the

world
Would needs down with thee, it cannot be said yet
That any ill happen'd unto thee, considering thj

fall
Was accompanied with virtue.

Duc^ O, you render me excellent music 1

Bos. Say you ?

DucA. This good one that you speak of is my husband

Bos. Do I not dream ? can this ambitious age 321

Have so much goodness in 't as to prefer
A man merely for worth, without these shadows
Of wealth and painted honours ? possible ?

Duck, I have had three children by him.

Bos. Fortunate lady !

For you have made your private nuptial bed
The humble and fair seminary of peace.

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc. •.

No question but many an unbenefic'd scholar
Shall pray for you for this deed, and rejoice 330
That some preferment in the world can yet
Arise from merit. The virgins of your land
That have no dowries shall hope your example
Will raise them to rich husbands. Should you want
Soldiers, 'twould make the very Turks and Moors
Turn Christians, and serve you for this act.
Last, the neglected poets of your time,
In honour of this trophy of a man,
Rais'd by that curious engine, your white hand,
Shall thank you, in your grave, for 't ; and make that
More reverend than all the cabinets 341

Of living princes. For Antonio,
His fame shall likewise flow from many a pen,
When heralds shall want coats to sell to men.

Duck, As I taste comfort in this friendly speech,
So would I find concealment.

Bos, O, the secret of my prince,

Which I will wear on the inside of my heart !

Duck. You shall take charge of all my coin and jewels.
And follow him ; for he retires himself 350

To Ancona.

Bos. So.

Duck, Whither, within few days,
I mean to follow thee.

Bos, Let me think :

I would wish your grace to feign a pilgrimage

ACT III. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

To our Lady of Loretto, scarce seven leagues

From fair Ancona ; so may you depart

Your country with more honour, and your flight

Will seem a princely progress, retaining

Your usual train about you. 371

Duck. Sir, your direction

Shall lead me by the hand.

Cart. In my opinion,

She were better progress to the baths at Lucca,

Or go visit the Spa

In Germany ; for, if you will believe me,

I do not like this jesting with religion,

This feigned pilgrimage.

Duck, Thou art a superstitious fool : 3So

Prepare us instantly for our departure.
Past sorrows, let us moderately lament thenoi.
For those to come, seek wisely to prevent them.

[Exeunt Duchess and Carich

Bos. A politician is the devil's quilted anvil ;
He fashions all sins on him, and the blows
Are never heard : he may work in a lady's chamber,
As here for proo£ What rests but I reveal
All to my lord? O, this base quality
Of intelligencer ! why, every quality i' the world
Prefers but gain or commendation : 390

Now, for this act I am certain to be rais'd.
And men that paint weeds to the life are prais'd.

[ExU.
70

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc 3.

SCENE III

An apartment in the Cardinals palace at Rome,

Enter Cardinal^ Ferdinand^ Malatesti^ Pescara^ DeliOy

and Silvio,

Card Must we turn soldier^ then ?
Mai. The emperor,

Hearing your worth that way, ere you attained

This reverend garment, joins you in commission

With theright fortunate soldierthe Marquis of Pescara,

And the famous Lannoy.
Card He that had the honour

Of taking the French king prisoner?
Mai, The same.

Here 's a plot drawn for a new fortification 10

At Naples.
Ferd This great Count Malatesti, I perceive,

Hath got employment ?
Delio. No employment, my lord ;

A marginal note in the muster-book, that he is

A voluntary lord.
Ferd He's no soldier.
JDeUo. He has worn gun-powder in's hollow tooth for

the tooth-ache.
SiL He comes to the leaguer with a full intent

To eat fresh beef and garlic, means to stay 20

Till the scent be gone, and straight return to court

ACT III. sc 9. The Duchess of Malfi

Delio, He hath read all the late service

As the City- Chronicle relates it ;

And keeps two pewterers going, only to express

Battles in model.
5//. Then he'll fight by the book.
Delio. By the almanac, I think,

To choose good days and shun the critical ;

That 's his mistress' scarf.
5/7. Yes, he protests 50

He would do much for that taffeta.
Ddio, I think he would run away from a battle,

To save it from taking prisoner.
5//. He is horribly afraid

Gun-powder will spoil the perfume on 't
Delio. I saw a Dutchman break his pate once

For calling him pot-gun ; he made his head

Have a bore in 't like a musket.
SiL I would he had made a touch-hole to't

He is indeed a guarded sumpter-cloth, 40

Only for the remove of the court.

Enter Bosola,

Pes. Bosola arriVd ! what should be the business ?
Some falling-out amongst the cardinals.
These factions amongst great men, they are like
Foxes, when their heads are divided.
They carry fire in their tails, and all the country
About them goes to wreck for't.

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc. $.

Sil. What's that Bosola?

Delio, I knew him in Padua, — a fantastical scholar, like
such who study to know how many knots was in
Hercules' club, of what colour Achilles' beard was,
or whether Hector were not troubled with the tooth-
ache. He hath studied himself half blear-eyed to
know the true symmetry of Caesar's nose by a shoe-
ing-hom ; and this he did to gain the name of a
speculative man. 56

Pes, Mark Prince Ferdinand :

A very salamander lives in 's eye,
To mock the eager violence of fire.

SiL That cardinal hath made more bad faces with his
oppression than ever Michael Angelo made good
ones : he lifts up 's nose, like a foul porpoise before
a storm. 63

Pes, The Lord Ferdinand laughs.

Delio, Like a deadly cannon
That lightens ere it smokes.

Pes. These are your true pangs of death,

The pangs of life, that struggle with great statesmen.

Delio. In such a deformed silence witches whisper their
charms.

Card. Doth she make religion her riding-hood 70

To keep her from the sun and tempest ?

Ferd. That,

That damns her. Methinks her fault and beauty,
Blended together, show like leprosy,

ACT III. sc 4- The Duchess of Malfi

The whiter, the fouler. I make it a question
Whether her beggarly brats were ever christen'd

Card, I will instantly solicit the state of Anoona
To have them banish'd.

Ferd, You are for Loretto :

I shall not be at your ceremony ; £ue you welL^
Write to the Duke of Malfi, my young nephew
She had by her first husband, and acquaint him
With's mother's honesty. 83

Bos. I wilL

Ferd, Antonio!

A slave that only smell'd of ink and counters,
And never in's life looked like a'gentleman.
But in the audit-time. — Go, go presendy,
Draw me out an hundred and fifty of our horse,
And meet me at the foot-bridge. \Exewd.

SCENE IV

Enter Two Pilgrims to the Shrine of our Lady

of Loretto,

First PiL I have not seen a goodlier shrine than this ;

Yet I have visited many.
Sec, PiL The Cardinal of Arragon

Is this day to resign his cardinal's hat :

His sister duchess likewise is arriv'd

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc. 4.

To pay her vow of pilgrimage. I expect
A noble ceremony.
First Pit, No question. — They come.

\Here the ceremony of the CardinoTs instalment^ in
the habit of a soldier, performed in delivering up
his cross, hat, robes, and ring, at the shrine, and
investing him with sword, helmet, shield, and
spurs J then Antonio, the Duchess, and their
children, having presented themselves at the shrine,
are, by a form of banishment in dumb-show ex-
pressed towards them by the Cardinal and the
state ofAncona, banished: during all which cere-
mony, this ditty is sung, to very solemn music, by
divers churchmen : and then exeunt all except the
Two Pilgrims,

Anns and honours deck thy story,

To thy fame's eternal glory I 10

Adverse fortune ever fly thee ;

No disastrous fieite come nigh thee I

I alone will sing thy praises.

Whom to honour virtue raises.

And thy study, that divine is,

Bent to martial discipline is.

Lay aside all those robes lie by thee ;

Crown thy arts with arms, they '11 beautify thee.

O worthy of worthiest name, adom'd in this manner,

Lead bravely thy forces on under war's warlike banner !

ACT III. sc 4- The Duchess of Malfi

O, mayst thou prove fortunate in all martial courses ! 21

Guide thou still by skill in art and forces 1
Victory attend thee nigh, whilst fieime sings loud thy powers ;
Triumphant conquest crown thy head, and blessings pour down
showers !

First PiL Here 's a strange turn of state 1 who would
have thought

So great a lady would have match'd herself

Unto so mean a person ? yet the cardinal

Bears himself much too cruel.
Sec, PiL They are banish'd.
First PiL But I would ask what power hath this state

Of Ancona to determine of a free prince ? 31

Sec. PiL They are a free state, sir, and her brother show'd

How that the Pope, fore-hearing of her looseness,

Hath seiz'd into the protection of the church

The dukedom which she held as dowager.
First PiL But by what justice ?
Sec, PiL Sure, I think by none,

Only her brother's instigation.
First PiL What was it with such violence he took

Off from her finger ? 40

Sec, Pit, Twas her wedding-ring ;

Which he vow'd shortly he would sacrifice

To his revenge.
First PiL Alas, Antonio !

If that a man be thrust into a well.

No matter who sets hand to 't, his own weight

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc 5.

Will bring him sooner to the bottom. Come, let 's

hence.
Fortune makes this conclusion general,
All things do help the unhappy man to fall.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V

Near Loretfo,

Enter Duchessy Antonio^ Children^ Cariola^

and Servants.

Duch. Banish'd Ancona !
Ant. Yes, you see what power

Lightens in great men's breath.
Duch, Is all our train

Shrunk to this poor remainder ?
Ant. These poor men,

Which have got little in your service, vow

To take your fortune : but your wiser buntings,

Now they are fledg'd, are gone.
Duch, They have done wisely. 10

This puts me in mind of death : physicians thus.

With their hands full of money, use to give o'er

Their patients.
Ant. Right the fashion of the world :

From decay'd fortunes every flatterer shrinks ;

Men cease to build where the foundation sinks.
Duch. I had a very strange dream to-night

ACT III. SC. 5.

The Duchess of Malfi

Ant What was 't?

Duch, Methought I wore my coronet of state,

And on a sudden all the diamonds 20

Were chang'd to pearls.
Ant, My interpretation

Is, you'll weep shortly ; for to me the pearls

Do signify your tears.
Duck, The birds that live i' the field

On the wild benefit of nature live

Happier than we ; for they may choose their mates.

And carol their sweet pleasures to the spring.

Enter Bosola with a letter.

Bos, You are happily o'erta'en.

Dtuh, From my brother ? 30

Bos, Yes, from the Lord Ferdinand your brother
All love and safety.

Duch, Thou dost blanch mischief,

Would'st make it white. See, see, like to calm

weather
At sea before a tempest, false hearts speak fair
To those they intend most mischief. {Reads,

* Send Antonio to me; I want his head in a business,*
A politic equivocation I

He doth not want your counsel, but your head ;
That is, he cannot sleep till you be dead. 40

And here 's another pitfall that 's strew'd o'er
With roses ; mark it, 'tis a cunning one : [Reads,

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc 5.

• / stand engaged for your husband for several debts
at Naples: let not thai trouble him; I had rather
have his heart than his money * : —

And I believe so too.
Bos. What do you believe ?
Duch, That he so much distrusts my husband's love,

He will by no means believe his heart is with him

Until he see it : the devil is not cunning enough 50

To circumvent us in riddles.
Bos. WiU you reject that noble and free league

Of amity and love which I present you ?
Duch, Their league is like that of some politic kings,

Only to make themselves of strength and power

To be our after-ruin ; tell them so.
Bos, And what from you ?
Ant, Thus tell him ; I will not come.
Bos, And what of this ?
Ant, My brothers have dispersed 60

Bloodhounds abroad; which till I hear are
muzzled.

No truce, though hatched with ne'er such politic skill,

Is safe, that hangs upon our enemies' wiU.

I '11 not come at them.
Bos. This proclaims your breeding :

Every small thing draws a base mind to fear.

As the adamant draws iron. Fare you well, sir :

You shall shortly hear from 's. [Exit,

Duch, I suspect some ambush :

4CT III. sc 5. The Duchess of Malfi

Therefore by all my love I do conjure you 70

To take your eldest son, and fly towards Milan.
Let us not venture all this poor remainder
In one unlucky bottom.

Ant, You counsel safely.

Best of my life, farewell, since we must part :
Heaven hath a hand in 't ; but no otherwise
Than as some curious artist takes in sunder
A clock or watch, when it is out of frame.
To bring 't in better order.

Duch, I know not which is best, 80

To see you dead, or part with you. — FareweU,

boy :
Thou art happy that thou hast not understanding
To know thy misery ; for all our wit
And reading brings us to a truer sense
Of sorrow. — In the eternal church, sir,
I do hope we shall not part thus.

Ant O, be of comfort I

Make patience a noble fortitude.

And think not how unkindly we are us'd :

Man, like to cassia, is prov'd best, being bruised. 90

Duch. Must I, like to a slave-bom Russian,
Account it praise to suffer tyranny ?
And yet, O heaven, thy heavy hand is in 't I
I have seen my little boy oft scourge his top,
And compared myself to't : naught made me e'er
Go right but heaven's scourge-stick.

The Duchess of Malfi act iii. sc s

Ant Do not weep :

Heaven fashion'd us of nothing ; and we strive
To bring ourselves to nothing. — Farewell, Cariola,
And thy sweet armful. — If I do never see thee more,
Be a good mother to your little ones, loi

And save them from the tiger : fsure you welL

Duch. Let me look upon you once more, for that speech
Came from a dying father : your kiss is colder
Than that I have seen an holy anchorite
Give to a dead man's skull.

Ant. My heart is tum'd to a heavy lump of lead,
WiUi which I sound my danger : fare you well

[Exeunt Antonio and his son,

Duch. My laurel is all withered.

Cari. Look, madam, what a troop of arm^d men i lo
Make toward us I

Duch. O, they are very welcome :

When Fortune's wheel is over-charg'd with princes,
The weight makes it move swift : I would have my

ruin
Be sudden.

Re-enter Bosola visardedy with a Guard.

I am your adventure, am I not ?
Bos, You are : you must see your husband no more.
Duch. What devil art thou that counterfeit'st heaven's

thunder?
Bos. Is that terrible ? I would have you tell me whether
F 8i

ACT III. sc. 5. The Duchess of Malfi

Is that note worse that frights the silly birds 120

Out of the com, or that which doth allure them

To the nets? you have hearken'd to the last too
much.
Dtuh, O misery ! like to a rusty overcharged cannon,

Shall I never fly in pieces ? — Come, to what prison ?
Bos, To none.
Duch. Whither, then?
Bos. To your palace.
Duch. I have heard

That Charon's boat serves to convey all o'er

The dismal lake, but brings none back again. 130
Bos. Your brothers mean you safety and pity.
Duch. Pityl

With such a pity men preserve alive

Pheasants and quails, when they are not fat enough

To be eaten.
Bos. These are your children ?
Duch. Yes.

Bos. Can they prattle ?
Duch. No:

But I intend, since they were bom accurs'd, 140

Curses shall be their first language.
Bos. Fie, madam I

Forget this base, low fellow

Duch. Were I a man,

I 'd beat that counterfeit face into thy other.
Bos. One of no birth.

The Duchess of Malfi act hi. sc. s

Duck, Say that he was bom mean,

Man is most happy when 's own actions
Be arguments and examples of his virtue.
Bos, A barren, beggarly virtue. 150

Duck, I prithee, who is greatest ? can you tell ?
Sad tales befit my woe : I '11 tell you one.
A salmon, as she swam unto the sea.
Met with a dog-fish, who encounters her
With this rough language ; ' Why art thou so bold
To mix thyself with our high state of floods.
Being no eminent courtier, but one
That for the calmest and fresh time o' the year
Dost live in shallow rivers, rank'st thyself
With silly smelts and shrimps ? and darest thou 160
Pass by our dog-ship without reverence?'
' O,' quoth the salmon, ' sister, be at peace :
Thank Jupiter we both have pass'd the net !
Our value never can be truly known.
Till in the fisher's basket we be shown :
V the market then my price may be the higher.
Even when I am nearest to the cook and fire.'
So to great men the moral may be stretch'd ;
Men oftare valu'd high, when they'remostwretch'd. —
But come, whither you please. I am arm'd 'gainst
misery ; 170

Bent to all sways of the oppressor's will :
There 's no deep valley but near some great hill.

\ExeunL

ACT IV. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

ACT IV

SCENE I

MalJL An apartment in the palace of the Duchess,
Enter Ferdinand and Bosola,

Ferd, How doth our sister duchess bear herself
In her imprisonment ?

Bos. Nobly : 1 11 describe her.

She's sad as one long us'd to't, and she seems

Rather to welcome the end of misery

Than shun it ; a behaviour so noble

As gives a majesty to adversity :

You may discern the shape of loveliness

More perfect in her tears than in her smiles :

She will muse for hours together ; and her silence,

Methinks, expresseth more than if she spake. 1 1

Ferd Her melancholy seems to be fortified
With a strange disdain.

Bos, 'Tis so ; and this restraint,

Like English mastives that grow fierce with tying,
Makes her too passionately apprehend
Those pleasures she 's kept from.

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc i.

Ferd. Curse upon her 1

I will no longer study in the book
Of another's heart Inform her what I told you. 20

\ExiU
Enter Duchess,

Bos, All comfort to your grace 1

Duck. I will have none.

Pray thee, why dost thou wrap thy poison'd pills
In gold and sugar ?

Bos, Your elder brother, the Lord Ferdinand,
Is come to visit you, and sends you word,
'Cause once he rashly made a solemn vow
Never to see you more, he comes i' the night ;
And prays you gently neither torch nor taper
Shine in your chamber : he will kiss your hand, 30
And reconcile himself; but for his vow
He dares not see you.

Duch, At his pleasure. —

Take hence the lights. — He 's come.

Enter Ferdinand,

Ferd, Where are you ?

Duch, Here, sir.

Ferd This darkness suits you well.

Duch. I would ask you pardon.

Ferd You have it ;

For I account it the honorabPst revenge, 40

ACT IV. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

Where I may kill, to pardon. — Where are your
cubs?
Duck, Whom?
Ferd, Call them your children ;

For though our national law distinguish bastards
From true legitimate issue, compassionate nature
Makes them all equal.
Duck. Do you visit me for this ?

You violate a sacrament o' the church
Shall make you howl in hell for 't.
Ferd, It had been well, 50

Could you have liv'd thus always ; for, indeed.
You were too much i' the light : — ^but no more ;
I come to seal my peace with you. Here 's a hand

\Give5 her a dead matis hand.
To which you have vow'd much love; the ring

upon 't
You gave.
Duch. I affectionately kiss it.

Ferd, Pray, do, and bury the print of it in your heart.
I will leave this ring with you for a love-token ;
And the hand as sure as the ring ; and do not

doubt
But you shall have the heart too : when you need a
friend, 60

Send it to him that ow'd it ; you shall see
Whether he can aid you.
Duch, You are very cold :

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc i.

I fear you are not well after your travel. —
Ha 1 lights 1 O, horrible 1

FercL Let her have lights enough. \Exit

Duck, What witchcraft doth he practise, that he hath
left
A dead man's hand here.
[Here is discovered^ behind a traverse^ the artificial
figures of Antonio and his children^ appearing as
if they were dead.

Bos. Look you, here's the piece from which 'twas ta'en.
He dodi present you this sad spectacle, 70

That, now you know directly they are dead.
Hereafter you may wisely cease to grieve
For that which cannot be recovered.

Duch. There is not between heaven and earth one wish
I stay for after this : it wastes me more
Than were 't my picture, fashion'd out of wax,
Stuck with a magical needle, and then buried
In some foul dunghill ; and yond 's an excellent pro-
perty
For a tyrant, which I would account mercy.

Bos. What 's that ? 80

Duch. If they would bind me to that lifeless trunk,
And let me freeze to death.

Bos. Come, you must live.

Duch. That's the greatest torture souls feel in hell,
In hell, that they must live, and cannot die.
Portia, I '11 new kindle thy coals again,

ACT IV. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

And revive the rare and almost dead example

Of a loving wife.
Bos. Oy fie 1 despair ? remember

You are a Christian. 90

Duch. The church enjoins fasting :

I 'II starve myself to death.
Bos, Leave this vain sorrow.

Things being at the worst begin to mend : the bee

When he hath shot his sting into your hand,

May then play with your eye-lid.
Duch, Good comfortable fellow,

Persuade a wretch that 's broke upon the wheel

To have all his bones new set ; entreat him live

To be executed again. Who must despatch me ?

I account this world a tedious theatre, zoi

For I do play a part in 't 'gainst my wilL
Bos, Come, be of comfort ; I will save your life.
Duch, Indeed, I have not leisure to tend

So small a business.
Bos, Now, by my life, I pity you.
Duch, Thou art a fool, then.

To waste thy pity on a thing so wretched

As cannot pity itself. I am full of daggers.

Puff, let me blow these vipers from me. 1 10

Enter Servant,

What are you ?
Serv. One that wishes you long life.

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc i.

Duck. I would thou wert hang'd for the horrible curse

Thou hast given me : I shall shortly grow one

Of the miracles of pity. I '11 go pray ; —

No, 1 11 go curse.
Bos. O, fie !

Duck. I could curse the stars.
Bos, O, fearful I
Duch. And those three smiling seasons of the year 120

Into a Russian winter : nay, the world

To its first chaos.
Bos, Look you, the stars shine still.
Duck, O, but you must

Remember, my curse hath a great way to go. —

Plagues, that make lanes through largest families,

Consume them ! —
Bos, Fie, lady 1
Duck. Let them, like tyrants.

Never be remember'd but for the ill they have done ;

Let all the zealous prayers of mortified 131

Churchmen forget them I —
Bos, O, uncharitable 1
Duck, Let heaven a little while cease crowning martyrs.

To punish them ! —

Go, howl them this, and say, I long to bleed :

It is some mercv when men kill with speed.

[Exit,

ACT IV. sc I. The Duchess of Malfi

Re-enter Ferdinand.

Ferd, Excellent, as I would wish ; she's plagu'd in art :
These presentations are but fram'd in wax
By the curious master in that quality, 140

yincentio Lauriola, and she takes them
For true substantial bodies.

Bos, Why do you do this ?

Ferd, To bring her to despair.

Bos, Faith, end here.

And go no farther in your cruelty :
Send her a penitential garment to put on
Next to her delicate skin, and furnish her
With beads and prayer-books.

Ferd. Damn her 1 that body of hers, 150

While that my blood ran pure in 't, was more worth
Than that which thou wouldst comfort, call'd a souL
I will send her masks of common courtezans,
Have her meat served up by bawds and ruffians.
And, 'cause she'll needs be mad, I am resolv'd
To move forth the common hospital
All the mad-folk, and place them near her lodging ;
There let them practise together, sing and dance.
And act their gambols to the fidl o' the moon :
If she can sleep the better for it, let her. 160

Your work is almost ended.

Bos. Must I see her again ?

Ferd Yes.

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc «.

Bos. Never.

Ferd. You must

Bos, Never in mine own shape ;

That 's forfeited by my intelligence

And this last cruel lie : when you send me next,

The business shall be comfort.

Ferd. Very likely; 170

Thy pity is nothing of kin to thee. Antonio
Lurks about Milan : thou shalt shortly thither,
To feed a fire as great as my revenge,
Which never will slack till it hath spent his fuel :
Intemperate agues make physicians cruel. [Exeunt.

SCENE II

Another room in the lodging of the Duchess,

Enter Duchess and Cariola,

Duch. What hideous noise was that ?
Cart. 'Tis the wild consort

Of madmen, lady, which your tyrant brother

Hath placed about your lodging : this tyranny,

I think, was never practised till this hour.
Duch. Indeed, I thank him : nothing but noise and folly

Can keep me in my right wits ; whereas reason

And silence make me stark mad. Sit down ;

Discourse to me some dismal tragedy.
Cari. O, 'twill increase your melancholy ! 10 i

91 I

ACTiv. sca. The Duchess of Malfi

Duck, Thou art deceiv'd :

To hear of greater grief would lessen mine.

This is a prison ?
Cari, Yes, but you shall live

To shake tiiis durance off.
Duch, Thou art a fool :

The robin-red-breast and the nightingale

Never live long in cages.
Cari. Pray, dry your eyes.

What think you of, madam? 20

Duck, Of nothing;

When I muse thus, I sleep.
Cari. Like a madman, with your eyes open ?
Duck, Dost thou think we shall know one another

In the other world ?
Cari. Yes, out of question.
Duck. O, that it were possible we might

But hold some two days' conference with the dead I

From them I should learn somewhat, I am sure^

I never shall know here. I '11 tell thee a miracle ;

I am not mad yet, to my cause of sorrow : 31

The heaven o'er my head seems made of molten
brass.

The earth of flaming sulphur, yet I am not mad.

I am acquainted with sad misery

As the tann'd galley-slave is with his oar ;

Necessity makes me suffer constantly.

And custom makes it easy. Who do I look like now ?

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc •.

Can. Like to your picture in the gallery,

A deal of life in show, but none in practice ;

Or rather like some reverend monument 40

Whose ruins are even pitied.
Duch, Very proper;

And Fortune seems only to have her eye-sight

To behold my tragedy. — How now !

What noise is that ?

Enter Servant,

Serv. I am come to tell you

Your brother hath intended you some sport.

A great physician, when the Pope was sick

Of a deep melancholy, presented him

With several sorts of madmen, which wild object

Being full of change and sport, forc'd him to laugh.

And so the imposthume broke : the self-same cure

The duke intends on you. 53

Duck, Let them come in.

Serv, There's a mad lawyer ; and a secular priest ;
A doctor that hath forfeited his wits
By jealousy ; an astrologian
That in his works said such a day o' the month
Should be the day of doom, and, failing oft,
Ran mad ; an English tailor craz'd i' the brain 60
With the study of new fashions ; a gentleman-usher
Quite beside himself with care to keep in mind
The number of his lady's salutations

ACT IV. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

Or * How do you ' she employ'd him in each morn-
ing ;
A farmer, too, an excellent knave in grain,
Mad 'cause he was hinder'd transportation :
And let one broker that 's mad loose to these,
You 'd think the devil were among them.
Duck, Sit, Cariola. — Let them loose when you please,
For I am chain'd to endure all your tyranny. 70

Enter Madmen,

Here by a McuLman this song is sung to a dismal

kind of music,

O, let us howl some heavy note,

Some deadly doggM howl.
Sounding as from the threatening throat

Of beasts and fatal fowl !
As ravens, screech-owls, bulls, and bears,

We '11 bell, and bawl our parts.
Till irksome noise have cloy'd your ears

And c6rrosiv'd your hearts.
At last, whenas our quire wants breath.

Our bodies being ^lest. So

We '11 sing, like swans, to welcome death.

And die in love and rest.

First Maaman, Doom's-day not come yet ! I '11 draw it
nearer by a perspective, or make a glass that shall
set all the world on fire upon an instant. I cannot

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc a.

sleep ; my pillow is stuffed with a litter of porcu-
pines.

Second Madman, Hell is a mere glass-house, where the
devils are continually blowing up women's souls on
hollow irons, and the fire never goes out. 90

Third Madman, I will lie with every woman in my
parish the tenth night ; I will tythe them over like
hay-cocks.

Fourth Madman, Shall my pothecary out-go me because
I am a cuckold ? I have found out his roguery ; he
makes allum out of his wife's urine, and sells it to
Puritans that have sore throats with over-straining.

First Madman, I have skill in heraldry.

Second Madman, Hast?

First Madman, You do give for your crest a woodcock's
head with the brains picked out on 't ; you are a
very ancient gentleman. 102

Third Madman, Greek is turned Turk : we are only to
be saved by the Helvetian translation.

First Madman, Come on, sir, I will lay the law to you.

Second Madman, O, rather lay a corrosive : the law will
eat to the bone.

Third Madman, He that drinks but to satisfy nature is
damned.

Fourth Madman, If I had my glass here, I would show
a sight should make all the women here call me mad
doctor. 122

First Madman, What 's he ? a rope-maker ?

ACT IV. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

Second Madman. No, no, no, a snuffling knave that,
while he shows the tombs, will have his hand in a
wench's placket

7%ird Madman, Woe to the caroche that brought home
my wife from the mask at three o'clock in the morn-
ing 1 it had a large featherbed in it.

Fourth Madman, I have pared the devil's nails forty
times, roasted them in raven's eggs, and cured agues
with them. 132

Third Madman, Get me three hundred milch-bats, to
make possets to procure sleep.

Fourth Madman, All the college may throw their caps

at me : I have made a soap-boiler costive ; it was

my masterpiece.

[Here the dance^ consisting of Eight Madmen^ with

music answerable thereunto; after which^ Bosola^

like an old man^ enters,

Duch. Is he mad too ?

Serv, Pray, question him. 1 11 leave you.

[Exeunt Servant and Madmen.

Bos. I am come to make thy tomb. 140

Duch, Ha 1 my tomb !

Thou speak'st as if I lay upon my death-bed.
Gasping for breath : dost thou perceive me sick?

Bos, Yes, and the more dangerously, since thy sickness
is insensible.

Duch, Thou art not mad, sure : dost know me ?

Bos, Yes.

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc >.

Duck. Who am I ?

Bos, Thou art a box of worm-seed, at best but a salvatory
of green mtunmy. What's this flesh ? a little crudded
milk, fantastical pufT-paste. Our bodies are weaker
than those paper-prisons boys use to keep flies in ;
more contemptible, since ours is to preserve earth-
worms. Didst thou ever see a lark in a cage ? Such
is the soul in the body : this world is like her little
turf of grass, and the heaven o'er our heads like her
looking-glass, only gives us a miserable knowledge
of the small compass of our prison.

Duck, Am not I thy duchess? 159

Bos. Thou art some great woman, sure, for riot begins to
sit on thy forehead (clad in gray hairs) twenty years
sooner than on a merry milk-maid's. Thou sleepest
worse than if a mouse should be forced to take up
her lodging in a cat's ear : a little infant that breeds
its teeth, should it lie with thee, would cry out, as if
thou wert the more unquiet bedfellow.

Duck, I am Duchess of Malii still.

Bos, That makes thy sleep so broken :

Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright.
But, look'd to near, have neither heat nor light. 170

Duch, Thou art very plain.

Bos. My trade is to flatter the dead, not the living ; I am
a tomb-maker.

Duch. And thou comest to make my tomb ?

Bos. Yes.

G 97

ACT IV. sc a. The Duchess of Malfi

Duck, Let me be a little merry :— of what stuff wilt thou
make it ?

Bos, Nay, resolve me first, of what fashion ?

I^ch, Why, do we grow fantastical on our deathbed ? do
we affect fashion in the grave ? i8o

Bos, Most ambitiously. Princes' images on their tombs
do not lie, as they were wont, seeming to pray up to
heaven ; but with their hands under their cheeks, as
if they died of the tooth-ache : they are not carved
with their eyes fixed upon the stars ; but as their
minds were wholly bent upon the world, the self-
same way they seem to turn their faces.

Duck, Let me know fully therefore the effect
Of this thy dismal preparation.
This talk fit for a chameL 190

Bos, Now I shall : —

Enter Executioners^ with a coffin^ cordsy and a bell.

Here is a present from your princely brothers ;

And may it arrive welcome, for it brings

Last benefit, last sorrow.
Duck, Let me see it :

I have so much obedience in my blood,

I wish it in their veins to do them good.
Bos» This is your last presence-chamber.
Cari, O my sweet lady !

Duck, Peace ; it affrights not me. 200

Bos, I am the common bellman

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc a.

That nsually is sent to CQndenm'd persons

The ni^ht before they suffer.
Duck. Even now thou said'st

Thou wast a tomb-maker.
Bos. 'Twas to bring you

By degrees to mortification. Listen.

Haiic, now everything is still.

The screech-owl and the whistler shrill

Call upon our dame aloud, 210

And bid her quiddy don her shroud !

Much you had of land and rent ;

Your length in clay's now competent :

A long war disturbed your mind ;

Here your perfect peace is sign'd.

Of what is 't fools make such vain keeping ?

Sin their conception, their birth weeping,

Their life a general mist of error,

Their death a hideous storm of terror.

Strew your hair with powders sweet, 220

Don clean linen, bathe your feet.

And (the foul fiend more to check)

A crucifix let bless your neck :

Tis now full tide 'tween night and day ;

End your groan, and come away.

Cart, Hence, villains, tyrants, murderers 1 alas !
What will you do with my lady ? — Call for help.

Duck. To whom ? to our next neighbours ? they are mad-
folks.

ACT IV. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

Bos, Remove that noise.

Duck, Farewell, Cariola. 230

In my last will I have not much to give :

A many hungry guests have fed upon me ;

Thine will be a poor reversion.
Cart. I will die with her.
Duck, I pray thee, look thou giv'st my little boy

Some syrup for his cold, and let the girl

Say her prayers ere she sleep.

[Cariola is forced out by the Executioners,
Now what you please :

What death ?
Bos, Strangling ; here are your executioners. 240

Duck, I forgive them :

The apoplexy, catarrh, or cough o' the lungs,

Would do as much as they do.
Bos, Doth not death fright you ?
Duck, Who would be afraid on 't,

Knowing to meet such excellent company

In the other world ?
Bos, Yet, methinks,

The manner of your death should much afflict you :

This cord should terrify you. 250

Duck, Not a whit :

What would it pleasure me to have my throat cut

With diamonds ? or to be smothered

With cassia ? or to be shot to death with pearls ?

I know death hath ten thousand several doors

100

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc. >.

For men to take their exits ; and 'tis found
They go on such strange geometrical hinges,
You may open them both ways : any way, for heaven-
sake,
So I were out of your whispering. Tell my brothers
That I perceive death, now I am well awake, 260
f Best gift is they can give or I can take.
I would fain put off my last woman's fault,
I 'd not be tedious to you.
First Execut We are ready.
Duck, Dispose my breath how please you ; but my body

Bestow upon my women, will you ?
First Execut Yes.

Duck, Pull, and pull strongly, for your able strength
Must pull down heaven upon me : —
Yet stay ; heaven-gates are not so highly arch'd 270
As princes' palaces ; they that enter there
Must go upon their knees \Kneels\ — Come, violent

death,
Serve for mandragora to make me sleep ! —
Go tell my brothers, when I am laid out,
They then may feed in quiet

[The Executioners strangle the Duchess,
Bos, Where 's the waiting- woman ?

Fetch her : some other strangle the children.
{Cariela and Children are brought in by the Execu-
tioners; who presently strangle the Children.
Look you, there sleeps your mistress.

ACT IV. sc >. The Duchess of Malfi

Cart. O, you are damn'd

Perpetually for this ! My turn is next ; 280

Is 't not so order'd ?
Bos, Yes, and I am glad

You are so well prepared for 't
Cart. You are deceived, sir, ;

I am not prepared for't, I will not die ;

I will first come to my answer, and know

How I have offended.
Bos. Come, despatch her. —

You kept her counsel ; now you shall keep ours.
Cart. I will not die, I must not ; I am contracted 290

To a young gentleman.
First Execut Here 's your wedding-ring.
Cart. Let me but spe^dc with the duke. I 'U discover

Treason to his person.
Bos. Delays : — throttle her.
First Execut. She bites and scratches.
Cari. If you kill me now,

I am damn'd ; I have not been at confession

This two years.
Bos. [to Executioners."] When? 300

Cari. I am quick with child.
Bos. Why, then,

Your credit 's saved. [Executioners strangle Cariola.

Bear her into the next room ;

Let these lie still.
\Exeunt the Executioners with the body of Cariola.

102

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc. *.

Enter FerdtnanaL

Ferd, Is she dead ?

Bos, She is what

You'd have her. But here begin your pity :

\Shows the Children strangled
Alas, how have these offended ?

Ferd The death 310

)Of young wolves is never to be pitied.

Bos^^isi your eye here.

Ferd Constantly.

Bos. Do you not weep ?

Other sins only speak ; murder shrieks out :

The element of water moistens the earth,

But blood flies upwards and bedews the heavens.

Ferd Cover her face ; mine eyes dazzle : she died young.

Bos, I think not so ; her infelicity

Seem'd to have years too many. 320

Ferd, She and I were twins ;

And should I die this instant, I had liv'd
Her time to a minute.

Bos, It seems she was bom first :

You have bloodily approved the ancient truth,
That kindred commonly do worse agree
Than remote strangers.

Ferd Let me see her face

Again. Why didst thou not pity her ? what
An excellent honest man mightst thou have been,
If thou hadst borne her to some sanctuary ! 331

103

ACT IV. sc. >. The Duchess of Malfi

Or, bold in a good cause, opposed thyself,

With thy advanced sword above thy head,

Between her innocence and my revenge 1

I bade thee, when I was distracted of my wits,

Go kill my dearest friend, and thou hast done't

For let me but examine well the cause :

What was the meanness of her match to me ?

Only I must confess I had a hope,

Had she continued widow, t o have ga ined 340

An infinite mass of treasure faylier death :

And what was themain cause ? her marriage.

That drew a stream of gall quite through my

heart
For thee, as we observe in tragedies
That a good actor many times is curs'd
For playing a villain's part, I hate thee for 't,
And, for my sake, say, thou hast done much ill
well.

Bos» Let me quicken your memory, for I perceive
You are falling into ingratitude : I challenge
The reward due to my service. 350

Ferd, I '11 tell thee

What I '11 give thee.

Bos, Do.

Ferd, I '11 give thee a pardon
For this murder.

Bos. Hal

Ferd. Yes, and 'tis

104

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc a.

The largest bounty I can study to do thee.

By what authority didst thou execute

This bloody sentence ? 360

Bos, By yours.

FercL Mine 1 was I her judge ?

Did any ceremonial form of law
Doom her to not-being ? did a c6mplete jury
Deliver her conviction up i* the court ?
Where shalt thou find this judgment registered,
Unless in hell ? See, like a bloody fool,
Thou'st forfeited thy life, and thou shalt die for't

Bos, The office of justice is perverted quite

When one thief hangs another. Who shall dare
To reveal this ? 371

Ferd, O, I '11 tell thee ;

The wolf shall find her grave, and scrape it up,
Not to devour the corpse, but to discover
The horrid murder.

Bos, You, not I, shall quake for't

Ferd, Leave me.

Bos, I will first receive my pension.

Ferd, You are a villain.

Bos, When your ingratitude 380

Is judge, I am so.

Ferd. O horror.

That not the fear of him which binds the devils
Can prescribe man obedience ! —
Never look upon me more.

105

ACT IV. sc. •. The Duchess of Malfi

Bos. Why, fare thee well

Your brother and yourself are worthy men :
You have a pair of hearts are hollow graves,
Rotten, and rotting others ; and your vengeance,
Like two chain'd bullets, still goes arm in arm : 390
You may be brothers ; for treason, like the plague,
Doth take much in a blood. I stand like one
That long hath ta'en a sweet and golden dream :
I am angry with myself, now that I wake.

Ferd, Get thee into some unknown part o' the world,
That I may never see thee.

Bos. Let me know

Wherefore I should be thus neglected. Sir,

I serv'd your tyranny, and rather strove

To satisfy yourself than all the world : 400

And though I loath'd the evil, yet I lov'd

You that did counsel it ; and rather sought

To appear a true servant than an honest man.

Ferd. I '11 go hunt the badger by owl-light :

'Tis a deed of darkness. [Exit,

Bos. He's much distracted. Off, my painted honour I
While with vain hopes our Acuities we tire,
We seem to sweat in ice and freeze in fire.
What would I do, were this to do again ?
I would not change my peace of conscience 410
For all the wealth of Europe. — She stirs; here's

life :—
Return, fair soul, from darkness, and lead mine

106

The Duchess of Malfi act iv. sc. >.

Out of this sensible hell : — she 's warm, she

breathes : —
Upon thy pale lips I will melt my heart,
To store them with fresh colom-. — Who 's there !
Some cordial drink ! — ^Alas 1 I dare not call :
So pity would destroy pity. — Her eye opes,
And heaven in it seems to ope, that late was shut,
To take me up to mercy.

Duch, Antonio 1 420

Bos, Yes, madam, he is living ;

The dead bodies you saw were but feign'd statues :
He 's reconciled to your brothers ; the Pope hath

wrought
The atonement

DucJu Mercy ! \ptes.

Bos, O, she's gone again 1 there the cords of life broke.
O sacred innocence, that sweetly sleeps
On turtles' feathers, whilst a guilty conscience
Is a black register wherein is writ
All our good deeds and bad, a perspective 430

That shows us hell 1 That we cannot be suffered
To do good when we have a mind to it 1
This is manly sorrow ;
These tears, I am very certain, never grew
In my mother's milk : my estate is sunk
Below the degree of fear : where were
These penitent fountains while she was living ?
O, they were frozen up ! Here is a sight

107

ACT IV. sc a. The Duchess of Malfi

As direful to my soul as is the sword

Unto a wretch hath slain his father. Come, 440

I '11 bear thee hence,

And execute thy last will ; that's deliver

Thy body to the reverend dispose

Of some good women : that the cruel tyrant

Shall not deny me. Then I '11 post to Milan,

Where somewhat I will speedily enact

Worth my dejection. lExtf^

108

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc s.

ACT V

SCENE I

Milan, A public place.

Enter Antonio and Delia,

Ant What think you of my hope of reconcilement
To the Arragonian brethren ?

Delio. I misdoubt it ;

For though they have sent their letters of safe-con-

duct
For your repair to Milan, they appear
But nets to entrap you. The Marquis of Pescara,
Under whom you hold certain land in cheat,
Much 'gainst his noble nature hath been mov'd
To seize those lands ; and some of his dependants
Are at this instant making it their suit lo

To be invested in your revenues.
I cannot think they mean well to your life
That do deprive you of your means of life,
Your living.

Ant, You are still an heretic

To any safety I can shape myself.

109

ACTv. sci. The Duchess of Malfi

DeUo, Here comes the marquis : I will make myself

Petitioner for some part of your land.

To know whither it is flying.
Ant. I pray, da 20

Enter Pescara,

Delia, Sir, I have a suit to .you.

Pes. To me ?

Delio. An easy one :

There is Uie Citadel of Saint Bennet,
With some demesnes, of late in the possession
Of Antonio Bologna, — ^please you bestow them on
me.

Pes. You are my friend ; but this is such a suit.
Nor fit for me to give, nor you to take.

Delio. No, sir?

Pes. I will give you ample reason for't 30

Soon in private : — ^here 's the cardinal's mistress.

Enter Juliet.

Julia. My lord, I am grown your poor petitioner,
And should be an ill beggar, had I not
A great man's letter here, the cardinal's,
To court you in my favour. \Gives a Utter.

Pes. He entreats for you

The Citadel of Saint Bennet, that belonged
To the banish'd Bologna

JuUa. Yes.

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. x.

Pes, I could not have thought of a friend I could rather
Pleasure with it : 'tis yours. 41

Julia, Sir, I thank you ;

And he shall know how doubly I am engaged

Both in your gift, and speediness of giving

Which makes your grant the greater. \Exii,

Ant. How they fortify

Themselves with my ruin !

Delia, Sir, I am

Little bound to you.

Pes. Why? 50

Delio. Because you denied this suit to me, and gave't
To such a creature.

Pes, Do you know what it was ?

It was Antonio's land ; not forfeited

By course of law, but ravish'd from his throat

By the cardinal's entreaty : it were not fit

I should bestow so main a piece of wrong

Upon my friend ; 'tis a gratification

Only due to a strumpet, for it is injustice. 60

Shall I sprinkle the pure blood of innocents

To make those followers I call my friends

Look ruddier upon me ? I am glad

This land, ta'en from the owner by such wrong,

Returns again unto so foul an use

As salary for his lust Learn, good Delio,

To ask noble things of me, and you shall find

1 11 be a noble giver.

Ill

ACT V. sc. I. The Duchess of Malfi

Delio, You instruct me welL

Ant, Why, here's a man now would fright impudence
From sauciest beggars. 70

Pes, Prince Ferdinand 's come to Milan,
Sick, as they give out, of an apoplexy ;
But some say 'tis a frenzy : I am going
To visit him. \Exit.

Ant, 'Tis a noble old fellow.

Delio, What course do you mean to take, Antonio ?

Ant This night I mean to venture all my fortune,
Which is no more than a poor lingering life,
To the cardinal's worst of malice : I have got
Private access to his chamber ; and intend 80

To visit him about the mid of night.
As once his brother did our noble duchess.
It may be that the sudden apprehension
Of danger, — for I '11 go in mine own shape, —
When he shall see it fraight with love and duty,
May draw the poison out of him, and work
A friendly reconcilement : if it fail,
Yet it shall rid me of this imfamous calling ;
For better fall once than be ever falling.

Delio. I '11 second you in all danger ; and howe'er, 90
My life keeps rank with yours.

Ant, You are still my lov'd and best £riend. {Exeunt,

112

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. «.

SCENE II

A gallery in the residence of the Cardinal and

Ferdinand

Enter Pescara and Doctor.

Pes, Now, doctor, may I visit your patient ?

Doc, If 't please your lordship : but he's instantly
To take the air here in the gallery
By my direction.

Pes, Pray thee, what 's his disease ?

Doc, A very pestilent disease, my lord,
They call lycanthropia.

Pes, What 's that ?

I need a dictionary to 't.

Doc, I '11 tell you. lo

In those that are possess'd with't there overflows
Such melancholy humour they imagine
Themselves to be transformed into wolves ;
Steal forth to church-yards in the dead of night.
And dig dead bodies up : as two nights since
One met ttie duke 'bout midnight in a lane
Behind Saint Mark's church, with the leg of a man
Upon his shoulder ; and he howl'd fearfidly ;
Said he was a wolf, only the difference
Was, a wolfs skin was hairy on the outside.
His on the inside ; bade them take their swords,
H 113

ACT V. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

Rip up his flesh, and try : straight I was sent for,

And, having minister'd to him, found his grace

Very well recovered.
Pes, I am glad on 't.
Doc, Yet not without some fear

Of a relapse. If he grow to his fit again,

I '11 go a nearer way to work with him

Than ever Paracelsus dream'd of ; if

They'll give me leave, I '11 buffet his madness out of
him. 30

Stand aside ; he comes.

Enter Ferdinandy Cardinal^ Malatesti^ andBosolcu

Ferd, Leave me.

Mai, Why doth your lordship love this solitariness ?

Ferd Eagles commonly fly sdone : they are crows, daws,

and starlings that flock together. Look, what 's that

follows me ?
Mai, Nothing, my lord.
Fefd, Yes.

Mai, 'Tis your shadow.

Ferd, Stay it ; let it not haunt me. 40

MaL Impossible, if you move, and the sun shine.
Ferd, I will throttle it.

\Throws himself down on his shadow,
Mai, O, my lord, you are angry with nothing.
Ferd You are a fool : how is 't possible I should catch

my shadow, tmless I fall upon 't ? When I go to hell,

114

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc a.

I mean to carry a bribe ; for, look you, good gifts
evermore make way for the worst persons.

Pes, Rise, good my lord.

Ferd, I am studying the art of patience.

Pes. 'Tis a noble virtue. 50

Ferd. To drive six snails before me from this town to
Moscow ; neither use goad nor whip to them, but
let them take their own time ; — ^the patient'st man i'
the world match me for an experiment : — and I '11
crawl after like a sheep-biter.

Card, Force him up. \T^ raise him,

Ferd, Use me well, you were best What I have done,
I have done : I '11 confess nothing.

Doc. Now let me come to him. — ^Are you mad, my lord ?
are you out of your princely wits ? 60

Ferd, What's he?

Pes. Your doctor.

Ferd. Let me have his beard sawed off, and his eye-
brows filed more civil.

Doc. I must do mad tricks with him, for that 's the only
way on 't — I have brought your grace a salamander's
skin to keep you from sun-burning.

Ferd, I have cruel sore eyes.

Doc, The white of a cockatrix's ^^^ is present remedy.

Ferd, Let it be a new-laid one, you were best

Hide me from him : physicians are like kings, —
They brook no contrsidiction. 72

Doc. Now he begins to fear me : now let me alone withhim.

ACT V. sc a. The Duchess of Malfi

Card, How now I put off your gown t

Doc, Let me have some forty urinals filled with rose-
water : he and I '11 go pelt one another with them.
— Now he begins to fear me. — Can you fetch a
frisk, sir ? — Let him go, let him go, upon my peril :
I find by his eye he stands in awe of me ; I '11 make
him as tame as a dormouse. 80

FenL Can you fetch your frisks, sir ! — I will stamp him
into a cullis, flay off his skin, to cover one of the
anatomies this rogue hath set i' the cold yonder in
Barber-Chirurgeon*s-hall. — Hence, hence ! you are
all of you like beasts for sacrifice : there 's nothing
left of you but tongue and belly, flattery and lechery.

{Exit

Pes, Doctor, he did not fear you throughly.

Doc, True ; I was somewhat too forward.

Bos. Mercy upon me, what a fatal judgment

Hath fall'n upon this Ferdinand ! 90

Pes, Knows your grace

What accident hath brought unto the prince
This strange distraction ?

Card, lastde.'] I must feign somewhat. — Thus they say it
grew.
You have heard it rumour'd, for these many years
None of our family dies but there is seen
The shape of an old woman, which is given
By tradition to us to have been murder'd
By her nephews for her riches. Such a figure

116

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. a.

One night, as the prince sat up late at 's book, loo

Appeared to him ; when crying out for help,

The gentleman of 's chamber found his grace

All on a cold sweat, alter'd much in face

And language : since which apparition,

He hath grown worse and worse, and I much fear

He cannot live.

Sos. Sir, I would speak with you.

Pes, We '11 leave your grace.

Wishing to the sick prince, our noble lord.

All health of mind and body. i lo

Card, You are most welcome.

[Exeunt Pescara^ MalatesH^ and Doctor,
Are you come ? so. — {Aside,"] This fellow must not

know
By any means I had intelligence
In our duchess' death ; for, though I counsell'd it,
The full of all the engagement seem'd to grow
From Ferdinand. — Now, sir, how fares our sister ?
I do not think but sorrow makes her look
Like to an oft-dy'd garment : she shall now
Take comfort from me. Why do you look so wildly ?
O, the fortune of your master here the prince 120
Dejects you ; but be you of happy comfort :
If you'll do one thing for me I '11 entreat,
Though he had a cold tomb-stone o'er his bones,
I 'd make you what you would be.

Bos, Any thing ;

117

ACT V. sc. s. The Duchess of Malfi

Give it me in a breath, and let me fly to 't :
They that think long small expedition win.
For musing much o' the end cannot begin.

Enter Julia,

Julia, Sir, will you come in to supper?

Card, I am busy ; leave me. 130

Julia [aside,] What an excellent shape hath that fellow !

[Exif.

Card, 'Tis thus. Antonio lurks here in Milan :
Inquire him out, and kill him. While he lives.
Our sister cannot marry ; and I have thought
Of an excellent match for her. Do this, and style

me
Thy advancement

Bos, But by what means shall I find him out ?

Card, There is a gentleman calPd Delio

Here in the camp, that hath been long approv'd
His loyal friend. Set eye upon that fellow ; 140
Follow him to mass ; may be Antonio,
Although he do account religion
But a school-name, for fashion of the world
May accompany him ; or else go inquire out
DeHo's confessor, and see if you can bribe
Him to reveal it. There are a thousand ways
A man might find to trace him ; as to know
What fellows haunt the Jews for taking up
Great sums of money, for sure he's in want ;

118

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. a.

Or else to go to the picture-makers, and learn 150

Who bought her picture lately : some of these

Happily may take.
Bos. Well, I '11 not freeze i' the business :

I would see that wretched thing, Antonio,

Above all sights i' the world.
Card, Do, and be happy. \Exit

Bos. This fellow doth breed basilisks in 's eyes,

He 's nothing else but murder ; yet he seems

Not to have notice of the duchess' death.

'Tis his ctmning : I must follow his example ; 160

There cannot be a surer way to trace

Than that of an old fox.

Re-enter Julia,

Julia. So, sir, you are well met

Bos, How now !

Julia. Nay, the doors are fast enough :

Now, sir, I will make you confess your treachery.

Bos, Treachery!

Julia, Yes, confess to me

Which of my women 'twas you hir'd to put
Love-powder into my drink ? 170

Bos. Love-powder !

JuUa. Yes, when I was at Malfi.

Why should I &11 in love with such a face else ? *
I have already sufTei^d for thee so much pain,

119

ACT V. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

The only remedy to do me good

Is to kill my longing.
Bos, Sure, your pistol holds

Nothing but perfumes or kissing-comfits.

Excellent lady !

You have a pretty way on't to discover i8o

Your longing. Come, come, I '11 disarm you,

And arm you thus : yet this is wondrous strange.
Julia, Compare thy form and my eyes together,

You'll find my love no such great miracle.

Now you 11 say

I am wanton : this nice modesty in ladies

Is but a troublesome familiar

That haimts them.
Bos, Know you me, I am a blunt soldier.
Julia, The better : 190

Sure, there wants fire where there are no lively sparks

Of roughness.
Bos, And I want compliment
Julia, Why, ignorance

In courtship cannot make you do amiss.

If you have a heart to do welL
Bos, You are very feir.
Julia, Nay, if you lay beauty to my charge,

I must plead unguilty.
Bos, Your bright eyes 200

Carry a quiver of darts in them sharper

Than sun-beams.

I20

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc •.

Julia, You will mar me with commendation,
Put yourself to the charge of courting me,
Whereas now I woo you.

Bos. [asideJ] I have it, I will work upon this creature. —
Let us grow most amorously £uniliar :
If the great cardinal now should see me thus,
Would he not count me a villain ?

Juha, No ; he might count me a wanton, 210

Not lay a scruple of offence on you ;
For if I see and steal a diamond,
The fault is not P the stone, but in me the thief
That purloins it I am sudden with you :
We that are great women of pleasure use to cut off
These uncertain wishes and unquiet longings,
And in an instant join the sweet delight
And the pretty excuse together. Had you been i'

the street.
Under my chamber-window, even there
I should have courted you. 220

Bos, O, you are an excellent lady 1

Julia. Bid me do somewhat for you presently
To express I love you.

Bos. I will ; and if you love me,
Fail not to effect it

The cardinal is grown wondrous melancholy ;
Demand the cause, let him not put you off
With feign'd excuse ; discover the main ground on 't

JuUa. Why would you know this ?

121

ACT V. sc •. The Duchess of Malfi

Bos. I have depended on him, 230

And I hear that he is fall'n in some disgrace
With the emperor : if he be, like the mice
That forsake falling houses, I would shift
To other dependance.

JuUa, You shall not need

Follow the wars : I 'U be your maintenance.

Bos. And I your loyal servant : but I cannot
Leave my calling.

Julia. Not leave an ungrateftil

General for the love of a sweet lady ! 240

You are like some cannot sleep in feather-beds,
But must have blocks for their pillows.

Bos. Will you do this ?

Julia. Cunningly.

Bos. To-morrow 1 11 expect the intelligence.

Julia. To-morrow ! get you into my cabinet ;

You shall have it with you. Do not delay me,
No more than I do you : I am like one
That is condemned ; I have my pardon promis'd,
But I would see it seal'd. Go, get you in : 250

You shall see me wind my tongue about his heart
Like a skein of silk. \Exit Bosola.

Re-enter Cardinal.
Card. Where are you ?

122

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc a.

Enter Servants,

Servants, Here.

Card, Let none, upon your lives, have conference
With the Prince Ferdinand, unless I know it —
[Aside'] In this distraction he may reveal
The murder. [Exeunt Servants,

Yond 's my lingering consumption :
I am weary of her, and by any means 260

Would be quit of.

Julia, How now, my lord ! what ails you ?

Card Nothing.

Julia, O, you are much alter'd :

Come, I must be your secretary, and remove

This lead from off your bosom : what's the matter?

Card I may not tell you.

Julia. Are you so far in love with sorrow

You cannot part with part of it ? or think you

I cannot love your grace when you are sad 270

As well as merry ? or do you suspect

I, that have a been a secret to your heart

These many winters, cannot be the same

Unto your tongue ?

Card Satisfy thy longing, —

The only way to make thee keep my counsel
Is, not to tell thee.

Julia, Tell your echo this.

Or flatterers, that like echoes still report

123

ACT V. sc •. The Duchess of Malfi

What they hear though most imperfect, and not me ;

For if that you be true unto yourself, 281

I '11 know.
Card. Will you rack me ?
Jtdicu No, judgment shall

Draw it from you : it is an equal fault,

To tell one's secrets unto all or none.
CareL The first argues folly.
Julia, But the last tyranny.
Card. Very well : why, imagine I have committed

Some secret deed which I desire the world 290

May never hear of
Julia. Therefore may not I know it ?

You have concealed for me as great a sin

As adultery. Sir, never was occasion

For perfect trial of my constancy

Till now ; sir, I beseech you

Card. You'll repent it

Julia. Never.

Card. It hurries thee to ruin : 1 11 not tell thee.

Be well advis'd, and think what danger 'tis 300

To receive a prince's secrets : they that do.

Had need have their breasts hoop'd with adamant

To contain them. I pray thee, yet be satisfied ;

Examine thine own frailty ; 'tis more easy

To tie knots than unloose them : 'tis a secret

That, like a nngering poison, may chance lie

Spread in thy veins, and kill thee seven year hence.

124

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc a.

JulicL Now you dally with me.
CarcL No more ; thou shalt know it

By my appointment the great Duchess of Malfi 310

And two of her young children, four nights since,

Were strangFd.
JulicL O heaven ! sir, what have you done !
Card, How now? how settles this? think you your
bosom

Will be a grave dark and obscure enough

For such a secret ?
Julicu You have undone yourself, sir.
Card. Why?

Julia. It lies not in me to conceal it
Card. No? 320

Come, I will swear you to 't upon this book.
Julia. Most religiously.
Card. Kiss it [She kisses the book.

Now you shall never utter it j thy curiosity

Hath undone thee : thou 'rt poison'd with that book ;

Because I knew thou couldst not keep my counsel,

I have bound thee to't by death.

Re-enter Bosola.

Bos. For pity-sake, hold I

Card Ha, Bosola !

Julia. I forgive you 330

This equal piece of justice you have done ;

For I betra/d your counsd to that fellow :

125

ACT V. sc. a. The Duchess of Malfi

He over-heard it ; that was the cause I said

It lay not in me to conceal it
Bos, O foolish woman,

Couldst thou not have poison'd him ?
Julia, 'Tis weakness,

Too much to think what should have been done. I go,

I know not whither. [Dies.

C^n/. Wherefore com'st thou hither? 340

Bos, That I might find a great man like yourself,

Not out of his wits as the Lord Ferdinand,

To remember my service.
Card, 1 11 have thee hew'd in pieces.
Bos. Make not yourself such a promise of that life

Which is not yours to dispose o£
Card, Who plac'd thee here ?
Bos, Her lust, as she intended.
Card, Very well :

Now you know me for your fellow-murderer. 350
Bos, And wherefore should you lay fair marble colours

Upon your rotten purposes to me ?

Unless you imitate some that do plot great treasons,

And when they have done, go hide themselves i' the
grave

Of those were actors in 't ?
Card, No more ; there is

A fortune attends thee.
Bos, Shall I go sue to Fortune any longer ?

'Tis the fool's pilgrimage.

126

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc •.

Card, I have honours in store for thee. 360

Bos, There are many ways that conduct to seeming
honour,
And some of them very dirty ones.

Card, Throw to the devil

Thy melancholy. The fire bums well ;
What need we keep a stirring oft, and make
A greater smother ? Thou wilt kill Antonio ?

Bos, Yes.

Card Take up that body.

Bos, I think I shall

Shortly grow the common bier for church-yards.

Card. I will allow thee some dozen of attendants 371
To aid thee in the murder.

Bos, O, by no means. Physicians that apply horse-
leeches to any rank swelling use to cut off their tails,
that the blood may run through them the faster : let
me have no train when I go to shed blood, lest it
make me have a greater when I ride to the gallows.

Card Come to me after midnight, to help to remove
That body to her own lodging : I '11 give out
She died o' the plague ; 'twill breed the less inquiry
After her death. 381

Bos, Where's Castruccio her husband?

Card He's rode to Naples, to take possession
Of Antonio's citadel.

Bos, Believe me, you have done a very happy turn.

Card Fail not to come : there is the master-key

127

ACT V. sc a. The Duchess of Malfi

Of our lodgings ; and by that you may conceive
What trust I plant in you.
Bos, You shall find me ready. [Exit Cardinal,

poor Antonio, though nothing be so needful 390
To thy estate as pity, yet I find

Nothing so dangerous 1 I must look to my footing :

In such slippery ice-pavements men had need

To be frost-naiPd well, they may break their necks

else ;
The precedent's here afore me. How this man
Bears up in blood I seems fearless ! Why, 'tis well ;
Security some men call the suburbs of hell.
Only a dead wall between. Well, good Antonio,

1 '11 seek thee out ; and all my care shall be

To put thee into safety from the reach 400

Of these most cruel biters that have got
Some of thy blood already. It may be,
I '11 join with thee in a most just revenge :
The weakest arm is strong enough that strikes
With the sword of justice. Still methinks the

duchess
Haunts me : there, there 1— 'Tis nothing but my

melancholy.
O Penitence, let me truly taste thy cup.
That throws men down only to raise ^em up !

[Exit.

128

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc 3.

SCENE III

A Fortification,

Enter Antonio and Delio,

DeHo. Yond's the cardinal's window. This fortification
Grew from the ruins of an ancient abbey ;
And to yond side o' the river lies a wall,
Piece of a cloister, which in my opinion
Gives the best echo that you ever heard.
So hollow and so dismal, and withal
So plain in the distinction of our words.
That many have supposed it is a spirit
That answers.

Ant, I do love these ancient ruins.

We never tread upon them but we set

Our foot upon some reverend history :

And, questionless, here in this open court.

Which now lies naked to the injuries

Cf stormy weather, some men lie interred

LoVd the church so well, and gave so largely to 't.

They thought it should have canopied their bones

Till dooms-day ; but all things have their end :

Churches and cities, which have diseases like to

men.
Must have like death that we have. 20

Echo, Like death that we have.
I 129

ACT V. sc 3. The Duchess of Malfi

Delio, Now the echo hath caught you.
Ant, It g^oan'd methought, and gave

A very deadly accent
Echo, Deadly accent,
Delio, I told you 'twas a pretty one : you may make it

A huntsman, or a falconer, a musician.

Or a thing of sorrow.
Echo, A thing of sorrow.

Ant, Ay, sure, that suits it best 30

Echo, That suits it best.
Ant, 'Tis very like my wife's voice.
Echo, Ay J wif^s voice,
Delio, Come, let us walk further from't

I would not have you go to the cardinal's to-night :

Do not
Echo, Do not,
Delio, Wisdom doth not more moderate wasting sorrow

Than time: take time for't; be mindful of thy
safety.
Echo, Be mindful of thy safety.
Ant, Necessity compels me :

Make scrutiny through the passages

Of your own life, you 11 find it impossible

To fly your fate.
Echo, Oy fly your fate I

Delio, Harkl the dead stones seem to have pity on
you,

And give you good counsel

130

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. 3

Ant Echo, I will not talk with thee,
For thou art a dead thing.

Echo, Thou art a dead thing, 50

Ant My duchess is asleep now,

And her little ones, I hope sweetly : O heaven,
Shall I never see her more ?

Echo, Never see her more.

Ant, I mark'd not one repetition of the echo
But that ; and on the sudden a clear light
(Presented me a face folded in sorrow. *\

Deab, Your fancy merely.

Ant, Come, I '11 be out of this ague,

For to live thus is not indeed to live ; 60

It is a mockery and abuse of life :
I will not henceforth save myself by halves ;
Lose all, or nothing.

Delio, Your own virtue save you 1

I '11 fetch your eldest son, and second you :

It may be that the sight of his own blood

Spread in so sweet a figure may beget

The more compassion. However, fare you well.

Though in our miseries Fortune have a part.

Yet in our noble sufferings she hath none : 70

Contempt of pain, that we may call our own.

\Exeunt,

'31

ACT V. sc 4- The Duchess of Malfi

SCENE IV

An apartment in the residence of the Cardinal

and Ferdinand

Enter Cardinal^ Pescara^ Malatesti^ Roderigo^ and

Grisolan.

Card You shall not watch to-night by the sick prince ;

His grace is very well recovered.
Mai. Good my lord, suffer us.
Card. O, by no means ;

The noise, and change of object in his eye,

Doth more distract him : I pray, all to bed ;

And though you hear him in his violent fit,

Do not rise, I entreat you.
Pes. So, sir ; we shall not.
Card Nay, I must have you promise lo

Upon your honours, for I was enjoin'd to 't

By himself ; and he seem'd to ui^e it sensibly.
Pes, Let our honours bind this trifle.
Card Nor any of your followers.
Mai. Neither.
Card. It may be, to make trial of your promise,

When he 's asleep, myself will rise and feign

Some of his mad tricks, and cry out for hdp.

And feign myself in danger.
Mai. If your throat were cutting, 20

I 'd not come at you, now I have protested against it.

132

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. 4.

Card, Why, I thank you.

[ Withdraws to the upper end of the apartment.
Gris, 'Twas a foul storm to-night.
Rod. The Lord Ferdinand's chamber shook like an

osier.
Mai, Twas nothing but pure kindness in the devil
To rock his own child.

\Exeunt all except the Cardinal,
Card, The reason why I would not suffer these
About my brother, is, because at midnight
I may with better privacy convey
Julia's body to her own lodging. O, my conscience !
I would pray now; but the devil takes away my
heart 31

For having any confidence in prayer.
About this hour I appointed Bosola
To fetch the body : when he hath serv'd my turn,
He dies. \Exit

Enter Bosola,

Bos, Ha ! 'twas the cardinal's voice ; I heard him name
Bosola and my death. Listen ; I hear one's footing.

Enter Ferdinand,

Ferd, Strangling is a very quiet death.

Bos, \asidel\ Nay, then, I see I must stand upon my

guard.
Ferd, What say [you] to that? whisper softly; do you

133

ACT V. sc 4- The Duchess of Malfi

agree to 't ? So ; it must be done i' the dark : the

cardinal would not for a thousand pounds the doctor

should see it [Exit.

Bos, My death is plotted ; here 's the consequence of

murder.
We value not desert nor Christian breath,
When we know black deeds must be cur'd with

death.

Enter Antonio and Servant,

Serv, Here stay, sir, and be confident, I pray :

I '11 fetch you a dark lantern. \Exit,

Ant, Could I take him at his prayers.

There were hope of pardon. 50

Bos, Fall right, my sword I — \Stabs him,

I '11 not give thee so much leisure as to pray.
Ant, O, I am gone 1 Thou hast ended a long suit

In a minute.
Bos, What art thou ?
Ant, A most wretched thing,

That only have thy benefit in death,

To appear myself.

Re-enter Servant with a lantern,

Serv, Where are you, sir ?

Ant, Very near my home. — Bosola ! 60

Serv, O, misfortune !

134

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. 4.

Bos. Smother thy pity, thou art dead else. — Antonio !
The man I would have sav'd 'bove mine own life !
We are merely the stars' tennis-balls, struck and

banded
Which way please them. — O good Antonio,
1 11 whisper one thing in thy dying ear
Shall make thy heart break quickly I thy fair

duchess
And two sweet children

Ant, Their very names

Kindle a little life in me. 70

Bos, Are murder'd.

Ant Some men have wish'd to die

At the hearing of sad tidings ; I am glad
That I shall do 't in sadness : I would not now
Wish my wounds balm'd nor heal'd, for I have no

use
To put my life to. In all our quest of greatness.
Like wanton boys whose pastime is their care.
We follow after bubbles blovini in the air.
Pleasure of life, what is 't ? only the good hours
Of an ague ; merely a preparative to rest, 80

To endure vexation. I do not ask
The process of my death ; only commend me
To Delio.

Bos, Break, heart !

Ant And let my son fly the courts of princes. \pies.

Bos. Thou seem'st to have lov'd Antonio.

135

ACT V. sc. 5. The Duchess of Maifi

Serv. I brought him hither,

To have reconciPd him to the cardinal
Bos, I do not ask thee that

Take him up, if thou tender thine own life, 90

And bear him where the lady Julia

Was wont to lodge. — O, my fate moves swift !

I have this cardinal in the forge already ;

Now I '11 bring him to the hammer. O direful mis-
prision I

I will not imitate things glorious,

No more than base ; I *11 be mine own example. —

On, on, and look thou represent, for silence,

The thing thou bar'st \Exeunt

SCENE V

Another apartment in the same*

Enter Cardinal^ with a book.

Card. I am puzzled in a question about hell ;
He says, in hell there's one material fire,
And yet it shall not bum all men alike.
Lay him by. How tedious is a guilty conscience !
When I look into the fish-ponds in my garden,

CMethinks I see a thing arm*d with a rake^^
That seems to strike at me. ^

136

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc $,

Enter Bosolay and Servant bearing Antomds body.

Now, art thou come ?

Thou looVst ghastly :

There sits in thy face some great determination

Mix'd with some fear. XI

Bos, Thus it lightens into action :

I am come to kill thee.
Card, Hal — Help! our guard I
Bos, Thou art deceived ;

They are out of thy howling.
Card Hold ; and I will faithfully divide

Revenues with thee.
Bos, Thy prayers and proffers

Are both unseasonable. 20

Card Raise the watch I we are betra/d !
Bos, I have confin'd your flight :

I '11 suffer your retreat to Julia's chamber,

But no further.
Card, Help I we are betra/d !

Enter^ above^ Pescara^ Malaiesti^ Roderigo^ and

GrisoUm,

Mai, Listen.

Card My dukedom for rescue !
Rod Fie upon his counterfeiting I
Mai, Why, 'tis not the cardinal

Rod Yes, yes, 'tis he : 30

But, I '11 see him hang'd ere I '11 go down to him.

137

ACT V. sc. 5. The Duchess of Malfi

Card, Here 's a plot upon me ; I am assaulted ! I am lost,
Unless some rescue !

Gris, He doth this pretty well ;

But it will not serve to laugh me out of mine
honour.

Card. The sword's at my throat 1

Rod You would not bawl so loud then.

Mai. Come, come, let 's go

To bed : he told us this much aforehand.

Pes. He wish'd you should not come at him; but,
believe 't, 40

The accent of the voice sounds not in jest :
1 11 down to him, howsoever, and with engines
Force ope the doors. \Exit above.

Rod. Let 's follow him aloof,

And note how the cardinal will laugh at him.

[Exeunty above^ Malatesii^ RoderigOy
and Grisolan.

Bos. There 's for you first,

'Cause you shall not unbarricade the door

To let in rescue. \Kills the Servant.

Card What cause hast thou to pursue my life ?

Bos. Look there. 50

Card Antonio 1

Bos. Slain by my hand unwittingly.

Pray, and be sudden : when thou kill'd'st thy sister,
Thou took'st from Justice her most equal balance,
And left her naught but her sword.

138

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc. s

Card, O, mercy I

Bos, Now it seems thy greatness was only outward ;

For thou fall'st faster of thyself than calamity

Can drive thee. I '11 not waste longer time ; there !

\Siabs him.
Card. Thou hast hurt me. 60

Bos, Again ! \Stabs him again.

Card Shall I die like a leveret,

Without any resistance? — Help, help, help I

I am slain 1

Enter Ferdinand,

Ferd, The alarum ! give me a fresh horse ;
Rally the vaunt-guard, or the day is lost.
Yield, yield 1 I give you the honour of arms*
Shake my sword over you ; will you yield?

Card Help me ; I am your brother 1

Ferd The devil ! 70

My brother fight upon the adverse party I

\He wounds the Cardinal^ and^ in the scuffle^
gives Bosola his death-wound
There flies your ransom.

Card, O justice !

I suffer now for what hath former bin :
Sorrow is held the eldest child of sin.

Ferd Now you 're brave fellows. Caesar's fortune was
harder than Pompe/s ; Caesar died in the arms of
prosperity, Pompey at the feet of disgrace. You

139

ACT V. sc 5. The Duchess of Malfi

both died in the field. The pain 's nothing : pain
many times is taken away with the apprehension of
greater, as the tooth-ache with the sight of a barber
that comes to puU it out : there 's philosophy for
you. ^ 83

Bos, Now my revenge is perfect f-Sink, thou main cause

^ \Ktlls Ferdinand.

Of my undoing /—The last part of my life
Hath done m&oest service.

Ferd Give me some wet hay ; I am broken-winded.
I do account this world but a dog-kennel :
I will vault credit and affect high pleasures
Beyond death. 90

Bos, He seems to come to himself,

"-^ Now he's so near the bottom.

Ferd My sister, O my sister ! there's the cause on 'L
Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust,
\ Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust

\Pies,

Card Thou hast thy payment too.

Bos, Yes, I hold my weary soul in my teeth ;
'Tis ready to part from me. I do glory
That thou, which stood'st like a huge pyramid
Begun upon a large and ample base, 100

Shalt end in a little point, a kind of nothing.

14c

The Duchess of Malfi act v. sc s.

Enter^ below^ Pescara^ Malatestiy Roderigo^ and

Grisolan.

Pes, How now, my lord I

Mai. O sad disaster 1 ^

Rod, How comes this ?

Bos. Revenge for the Duchess of Malfi murder'd
By the Arragonian brethren ; for Antonio
Slain by this hand ; for lustful Julia
Poison'd by this man ; and lastly for myself,
That was an actor in the main of all
Much 'gainst mine own good nature, yet i' the end
Neglected.

Pes, How now, my lord !

Card, Look to my brother :

He gave us these large wounds, as we were struggling

Here i' the rushes. And now, I pray, let me

Be laid by and never thought of. [Dies,

Pes, How fatally, it seems, he did withstand
His own rescue !

Mai, Thou wretched thing of blood,

How came Antonio by his death ? 120

Bos, In a mist ; I know not how :

Such a mistake as I have often seen
In a play. O, I am gone !
We are only like dead walls or vaulted graves,
That, ruin'd, yield no echo. Fare you well
It may be pain, but no harm, to me to die

141

ACT V. sc. 5. The Duchess of Malfi

In so good a quarrel. O, this gloomy world I
In what a shadow, or deep pit of darkness,
Doth womanish and fearful mankind live !
Let worthy minds ne'er stagger in distrust 130

To suffer death or shame for what is just :
Mine is another voyage. [JDtes,

Pes. The noble Delio, sis I came to the palace.

Told me of Antonio's being here, and show'd me
A pretty gentleman, his son and heir.

Enter DeliOy and Antonio^ s Son,

Mai, O sir, you come too late 1

Delio, I heard so, and

Was arm'd for 't, ere I came. Let us make noble use

Of this great ruin ; and join all our force

To establish this young hopeful gentleman 140

In 's mother's right. These wretched eminent things

Leave no more fame behind 'em, than should one

Fall in a frost, and leave his print in snow ;

As soon as the sun shines, it ever melts,

Both form and matter. I have ever thought

Nature doth nothing so great for great men

As when she 's pleas'd to make them lords of truth :

Integrity of life is fame's best friend,

Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end.

\Exeunt,

GLOSSARY

AnGBL, the coin of that name, with a
reference also to the common sense
of the word. Act i. Sc. L
Approvb, to experience. Act ii'

Sc ir.
Arras, white powder. Act. xii. Scii.
So*Her hair is sprinkled with
arras powder
That makes her look as if she
had sinned in the pastrv.'
Vittoria CffromSana,
Atonbmxnt, reconciliation. Act iv.
Sc. iL

Black-guarDi the meanest drudges
in a great household. Act ii. Sc. ii.
So ' A lousy slave that rode with
the ^ bladc'guard in the duke's
carriage, 'mongst spits and drip-

S'ng pans.' — Vittorta Cortntibona.
ienoe our modem term of abuse.

Carben, to lay a ship on its side for
repairs. Act ii. Sc. i.

Cbnsurb. judgment. Act in. Sc. i.
So ' Take each man's censure but
reserve thy judgment.' — HamleU
I. iii. 69.

Chargbablb, extravagant. Act x.
Sc.i.

Chbat, escheat, i.e, the falling of a
fief to the feudal lord. Here in
chtat means in fit* Act v. Sc iL

CoMPLiMBNTALy ornamental. Acti.
Sc L There is a kindred sense of
Compliment (for ' Accomplish-

ment*) in Lcwtt Laiour Lest,

I. i. 169.
Consort, concert. Act iv. Sc ii.
CuLLis, strong broth. Act 11. Sc. iv.,

Sc v., Act v. Sc iL

DiSBMBOGUBy to discharge : properly
of a river mto the sea, here of a
leaky ship in dock. Act 11. Sc L

Enginous, of machinery, ue, swift.
Act III. Sc ii. So Engine in the
same scene

Foot-cloth, the hotudng of a horse

Act II. Sc i.
Fraight, fraughL Act v. Sc. L

Galliard, a quick dance. Act i.

Sc i. So Twelfth Nifkt, i. iii.

Z37. The word is taken either

from Spanish or Italian.
GoRDiAN, knoL Act i. Sc L
Guardbd, embroidered, faced. Act

III. Sc iii*

Husband, housdiolder or economist.
Act I. Sc L So Husbandly^
Madeth, 11. L 5 ; HamUt, l iii.

77'

ImposthumBj ulcer. Act iv. Sc ii.
So 'This IS the imposthume of
much wealth and peace. *—^«m&/,

IV. iii. 27.

143

QLOSSARY

The Duchess of Malfi

Ingbnious, ioffennoai. Act i. Sc. L
So ' I do wisn iogeniottsly for thy
sake
The dog-d«3ri all 3rear long.'
Viitoria Corambona*

nuy

in the former passage.
Intblligbncbr, spy. Act i. Sc. L,
Act III. Sc. it Compare the
sense of ' Intelligence ' in the same
scene and in Act ii. Sc. iii.

LbagubR| caxap. Act i. Sc L, Act

III. Sc. tiL
LiBBL, to write, engroM. Act ii.

Sc. tii.
Luxurious, wanton. Act i. Sc. L

Cf. Mnry Wivts ^ Windsor,

V, V. 98.

MissuLB, Lord of; a reference to
the office of Master at the Christ-
mastide Revels. Act iii. Sc. ii.
See the acootmts quoted in Collier's
AnmtU Iff tht Stage, L 44*50
(Henry vii.X

Misprision, mistake. Act v. Sc iv.

MORPHBW. scab, ulcer. Act 11. Sc i.

Motion, (i) resolve, Act i. Sc. i.
An almost identical use j[for 'Will')
is found in OtkiUo, i. ii. 75. ^2)
Picture, image, Act ill. Sc li.
See the note.

MoTHBR, hjrsterics. Act 11. Sc i.
So Ltar, 11. iv. 56.

Mummy, a substance supposed to be
distilled from mummies and used
as medicine. Act iv. Sc. iL

Night-cap, apparently used of
lawyers. Act 11. Sc i. It is so
used again in Tfu Dtvits Law-
Cute, II. i — 'Among a shoal or
swarm of reeking nignt^caps.'

OwB, own. Act IV. Sc i. So * Nor
lose possession of that fair thou
owest'— Shakeq)eare, Sennet 18.

Pbrspbctivb, glass, telescope. Act

IV. Sc ii.
Pbwtbrbr, worker in pewter. Act

III. Sc ill. So a Henry /K, ni.

ii 981.
Physical, medicinaL Act 11. Sc iv.

It is used in a kindred sense —

'healthy*— in Julius Cmsnr, 11.

i. 361.
Progrbss, a royal progress. Act n.

Sci.
PuRCHASB, riches, gains. Act ni.

Sc i. So 'His purchase was

greater than his rent.' — Chaucer,

er^ogne,

QuBSTiON, investigation, iaquisi-

tion. Act II. Sc iii.
QuiBTUs BST, the formula used in

giving a quittance of accounts.

Act I. Sc 1., Act III. Sc ii.

Radical, searching. Act il Sc iiL
Roaring boy, swa|s«rer, swash*
buckler. Act 11. ^c L Hence
the title of the famous play by
Middleton and Dekker, 7*i& Roar-
ing Girl, Angr^ Boy, as in
Jonson's Akktmut, meant the
same thing.
RuPTURB, outburst. Act n. Sc iv.
Dyce suggests rapture, but this
is not necessary.

Sadnbss, earnest. Act v. Sc iv.
Salvatorv, ointment-box. Act iv.

Sc ii.
Shbbp-bitbx, thief. Act ▼. Sc iL

So T\»el/th Night, n. v. &
Shrbwd turn, ill turn. Act i. Sc i.

Cf. Homy VUL, v. iii 178.

144

The Duchess of Malfi

GLOSSARY

SiMPUciTV, folly. Act II. Sc. L
So * Simple truth miscalled sim-
plicity.' — Shakespeare, Sonnet 66.

Slkdgb, sledge-hsumner. Act ii.
Sc. V.

Smothbr, dense stifling smoke.
Act V. Sc. ii. So 'Thus must I
from the smoke into the smother.'
— As 1 oit Like Itf I. ii. 229.

SpringaLi shoot, infant. Act 11. Sc.L

Tbnt, a play on the medical sense
of the word tent^ i.e. the material,
Hot or other, used in probing a
wound, llie verb ' tent means to
probe, as in 'The untented
wounding of a father's curse.' —
Lear^ i. it. 392.

Tbtchinbss, crossness. Act n.

Sc. i. So ' Tetchy and way waM

was thy infancy.' — Richard I 11,^

IV. iv. z68.
Tbttbr, scab or scur£ Act 11. Sc. i.

So Namlett l- v. 71.
Transportation, exportation. Act

IV. Sc. ii.
Travbrsb, ade-8cene, curtain. Act

IV. Sc. i.

Unvalubd, invaluable. Act iii.
Sc ii So ' Inestimable stones,
unvalued jewels.'— i?iic>l4m/ ///.,
I. iv> 37.

When? an exclamation of im-

W patience. Act 11. Sc. L
OLF, cancer, lupus. Act 11. Sc. i.

m^^m

^AS

NOTES

I. I z. In the two opening speeches there is plainly a historical
allusion; and probably to contemporary events. I incline to
think that the reference may be to the assassination of Concini,
Marshal d'Ancre, by order of the young king, Louis xiii.
Concinii the favourite of the queen-mother, was bitterly hated ;
and his murder was skilfully represented as an act of justice
against a public enemy and a traitor. Luines, who advised the
king in the matter and succeeded to the power of Condni, made a
parade of calling the old councillors of Henry iv. — 'les vieux
serviteurs du feu roi son p6re' — ^back to court (See Martin,
Histoire de France^ t xi pp. 112 121.)

If this suggestion be well founded— but it is offered with great
diffidence — we should be able to fix the date of the Play more
closely, to 1617-18. Concini was assassinated in April 1617 ; and,
for the reason stated in the Preface, the Play must have been
written by the end of the following year.

I. i. la Wkich^ i.e, his palace.

I. L 33. What they ought to foresee, A contrast seems to be
intended between telling a prince what he ought to do and giving
him such information as shall enable him to form his own judgment
on the case.

I. L 37. I woretwo towels : like FalstafiTs regiment, i Henry IV, ^
IV. ii. 48.

I. i. 41. Dog-days* Days of ill-luck, which the rising of the dog-
star was supposed to signify. Browne, Vulgar Errors^ iv. 13.

I. i. 61. Nor ever died any man. The Quarto reads ' did^ but it
is clearly a misprint In the same sentence the Quarto reads ' he

146

The Duchess of Malfi notes

that hoped for a pleadon* Possibly this is a misprint for * pleader,
but more probably for * pardon,*

1. 1 75. With Delio's speech the Quarto b^ns a new scene ;
wrongly, according to modem custom.

I. 1. 95. Who took the Ringf An allusion to the sport of tilting
at the ring.

I. i. 128. Pliny, Hist, Nat,, viiL 67 (Dyce). The fable was
specially applied to Spanish horses, as we learn from Pliny, and
from Browne, Vulgar Errors, ill. iii.

I. i. 133. Laugh but when I laugh. The Quarto omits *but,*
which is necessary to the sense.

I. i. 224. She stains the time past, etc. This line occurs again in
Webster's Monumental Column, about fifty lines from the end.
Webster is apt to repeat himself. Thus the lines —

' I have seen children oft eat sweetmeats thus
As fearful to devour them too soon' —

occur both in this scene towards the close, and in Appius and
Virginia, I. i. See also Act iv. Sc. i. 1. 44, and Sc ii 1. 169.

I. L 313. Candies all sins der. The Quarto misprints ' are,* The
phrase occurs again in Northward Ho, i. iii. —

' I '11 candy o'er my words and sleek my brow.'

I. i. 404. / winked and chose a husband: i.e. either (i) chose
with my eyes shut, or (2) chose in the twinkling of an eye.

I. i. 462. *Twere stranger. The Quarto reads * strange* \ but
both metre and sense require ^stranger*

I. i. 589. Alexander and Ludowick. Dyce quotes the title of
the old ballad, here referred to : ' The two faithful friends^ the
pleasant history of Alexander and Lodwicke, who were so like one
another that none could know them asunder ; wherein is declared
how Lodwicke married the Princesse of Hungaria, in Alexander's
name, and how each night he layd a naked Sword betweene him
and the Princesse, because he would not wrong his friend.' The

147

NOTB8 The Duchess of Malfi

incident is common in mediaeval romance ; e.g. Amis et Amiles,
1. 1156-1166.

II. i. 43. Fat of serpents, etc. As in the witches' caldron 01
Macbeth^ iv. i.

II. i. 73. Most teeming bine : blue, like those of a woman with
child.

II. i. 127. Swoon, The Quarto reads ^souneL* The same
popular form occurs in The Ancient Mariner —

' Like noises in a swound.'

II. ii. 88. Throwing down salt^ or crossing of a hare. See
Browne, Vulgar Errors, v. xxiiL

II. iii. 37. / have been setting a figure For the duchess* jewels : i.e,
making an astrological calculation to discover who stole them.
The phrase is used in the same sense at the close of the preceding
scene ; and the scientific terminology is kept up in the following
* question * and ' radical,*

IL iii. 54. You libel well, sir. Here Antonio hands the paper
containing the calculation concerning the theft of the jewels to
Bosola, and orders him to copy it. Bosola refuses, offering to
sign it when copied by Antonio, and so braving the imputations
that Antonio has cast on him. Antonio, in going out, drops
another paper, containing the horoscope of the new-bom infant.
Bosola observes the mistake and takes the dark lantern— 'Some of
your help, false friend ' — to look for the paper.

II. iv. 24. That fantcLstic glass, Galileo's famous telescope was
first exhibited, at Venice, in 1609. Hallam, Literary History,
III. 425.

II. iv. 107. And deep woes do shun : i,e. pass through whirlpools
unharmed.

II. V. I. Digged up a mandrake. It was a popular superstition
that the shrieks of a mandrake brought death or madness. See
Browne^ Vulgar Errors, ii. vi. So Shakespeare,

148

The Duchess of Malfi notbs

' Shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad.

Romeo and Juliet^ VT, iii. 47.

II. V. 44. So far upon the left side : supposed to be a sign of
folly. ' A wise man's heart is at his right hand ; but a fool's heart
at his left * — Ecclesiastes, x. 2. See Browne, Vulgar Errors^ iv. ii,

II. V. 105. Fix her in a general eclipse. I believe this means
' plunge her in darkness ' ; but it is not satisfactory.

III. i. 51. He's a mere stick of sugar-candy. The phrase occurs
again with the same addition — ' A man may look quite through
you* — in The DeviPs Law-Case, 11. i.

III. L 59. One of PasquiPs paper bullets : i,e. a Pasquinade.

III. L 106. Put a girdle *bout the world. Besides the well-known
passage in Midsummer Nights Dream^ this phrase is found also
in Chapman's Bussy d^Ambois, 1. i., and in Massinger's Maid ef
HoHtntr, L i., where it is used of England —

* The empress of the European isles.'

III. ii. 48. A motion, I think it probable that this means *piC'
ture* or * image* almost the equivalent of the modem Tableau
vivant. The use of 'motion* for ''puppet* is well known, being
found in Milton's Areopagitica — ' Such an Adam as he is in the
motions.' And the word is found, either as an equivalent for
'picture^ or in close connection with it, in Jonson's Alchemist, v. L:

' Sure he has got
Some bawdy pictures . . .
The friar and the nun ; or the new motion
Of the knight's courser.'

There is a like passage in Every Man Out of His Humour^
II. I 5»

III. ii. 158. You have shook hands with Reputation : i.e. bade
farewell to him. So : ' Yet I have not so shaken hands with those

149

NOTB8 The Duchess of Malfi

desperate resolutions ... as to stand in diameter and sword's
point with them.' — Religio Medici, § 3*

III. ii. 219. Magnanima menMogna: the phrase applied by Tasso
to the heroic fraud of Sofronia, related in Canto 11. of his Poem.

IIL il 355. A fi^s head gaping. Jews were supposed to take
special offence at this sight Hence the words —

* Some men there are love not a gaping pig ' —

are peculiarly apt in the mouth of Shylock. Merchant cf Venice^
IV. i.

III. iL s68. Scour his gold chain : the badge of stewardship.
So Sir Toby to Malvolio : ' Go, sir» rub ]rour chain with crumbs.'
—Twelfth Night, ii. iii. 12&

III. ii 386. Pluto, the god cf riches', a confusion with Plutus. not
uncommon either in Greek or English literature. The following
&ble is given in Bacon's Essay Of Riches.

III. ii. 357. Our Lady of Loretto. In Painter and his original,
Belleforest, this suggestion is made by Cariola ; in Webster, with
far truer effect it comes from Bosola, and draws a protest from
Cariola. The following sentence from Belleforest, literally trans-
lated by Painter, is a fair sample of the way in which both writers
handle the story : ' 11 ne suffit point k ceste foUe femme d'avoir
pris mary plus pour rassasier sa lubricit6 que pour autre occasion,
si k son pech^ die n'aioustoit une execrable impi^t6, faisant les
saincts lieux et les offices de devotion estre oomme les ministres de
sa folie.' Ed. 1565, t ii. p. 18.

III. iii. 8. Tdking the French king frisoner. A reference to
the defeat of Francis i. at Pavia (1535) by the imperial troops
under Pescara, the Constable Bourbon, and Lannoy ; it was to
LAnnqy that Francis yielded up his sword.

III. iii. 4a A guarded sumpter-cloth : i.e. not a war-horse, but
only a horse-cloth, with fine facings, such as was used on occasions
of ceremony.

150

The Duchess of Malfi notes

III. iv. 8. ' The Author disdaimes this Ditty to be his ' is the
marginal note on these rhjrmes in the Quarto of 1623.

III. V. 82. TMou art happy that thou hast not understanding.
The thought is the same as that of the fisuvwell of Ajax to his son :
Sophocles, Ajax^ 552. But it is improbable that Webster had
read the Gredc dramatist

III. V. 113. Overchar^d vnth princes. This image is common
in the poetry of the Middle Ages, the first suggestion of it ap-
parently coming from Boethius (Book ii., Prose i, 2; Metre i.).
There is a fine drawing in the Ufi^i Gallery at Florence, repre-
senting the same thought to the eye.

III. V. 145. Counterfeit facet his vizard.

rv. i. 54. For though our national law. So in The Devits LaW'

Case, IV. ii. —

' For though our civil law makes difference

Between the base and the legitimate,

Compassionate nature makes them equaL'

IV. i. 165. By my intelligence : i,e, by my having acted as spy.
IV. iL 65. An excellent knave in grain, A play on the double

sense of ' in grain ' : (i) in com ; (2) dyed in grain ; an ingrained
knave.

IV. ii. 104. Saved by the Helvetian translation. I suppose this
to mean Coverdale's Translation of the Bible ; the first edition of
which seems to have been printed at Ztlrich in 1535. See Preface
to Coverdale's /Remains (Parker Soc.), p. x.

IV. ii. 13a Pared the devifs nails', a stock incident in the
Morality Plays. See the Clown's song in Twelfth Nighty iv. ii.

IV. iL 169. Glories like glow-worms. These lines occur again in
Vittoria Corombona, p. 36 (Routledge*s Old Dramatists),

rv. ii 209. The whistler shrill : a common omen of iU. Dyoe
compares

' The whistler shrill, that whoso hears doth dy.'

Faerie Queene, 11. xii. 36.

151

NOTB8 The Duchess of Malfi

IV. ii. 370. Heaven-gates are not so highly arched. I think Dyce
is right in saying that Webster had in mind these lines of Shake-
speare —

* Stoop, boys : this gate
Instructs you how to adore the heavens, and bows you
To a morning's holy office : the gates of monarchs
Are arch'd so high that giants may get through
And keep their impious turbans on, without
Good morrow to the sun.' — Cymbeline^ iii. iii. 2.

IV. ii. 386. / will first come to my answer : i,e. I demand a triaL

IV. ii. 373. The wolf shall find her grave. It was a common
belief that wolves dig up the bodies of murdered men« So the
dirge of Cornelia over the murdered body of M arcello —

' But keep the wolf far thence, that 's foe to men ;
For with his nails he'll dig them up again.'

Vittoria Corombona,

V. ii. 6. Lycanthropia. Dyce quotes a passage from Goulart's
Thrisor dHistoires admiradles et memorables de nostre temps^ which
obviously suggested the following passage to Webster : ' Un deces
melancholiques Lycanthropes, que nous appellons loups garoux
. . . portoit lors sus ses espaules la cuisse entiere et la jambe d'un
mort. II asseura fermement qu'il estoit loup et qu'U n'y auoit
autre difference si non que les loups ordinairement estojrent velus
dehors et lui I'estoit entre cuir et chair.' Goulart's work was
published at Paris in 1600 ; a second edition appeared at Rouen in
1606. It follows that Webster's reference to it throws no light
upon the date of The Duchess of Malfi,

V. ii. 150. Who bought her picture. The Quarto reads * brought*
But Dyce's emendation is almost certainly right.

V. iii. 21. With this scene one may compare the Echo song in
Browne's Britannic^ s Pastorals^ i. v.

152

The Duchess of Malfi notes

V. iv. 94. Direful misprision : his error in killing Antonio.

V. V. 74. I suffer now for what hath former bin. This line and
the next occur again, with a slight alteration, in Vittoria Corom-
bona, p. 44.

v.. V. 89. / will vault credit : do things surpassing belief.

V. V. 107. Slain by this hand. The Quarto reads *his*: the
emendation is necessary.

Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press

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