The Duchess of Malfi
ANTONIO. Because you would not seem to appear to th' world
Puff'd up with your preferment, you continue
This out-of-fashion melancholy: leave it, leave it.
BOSOLA. Give me leave to be honest in any phrase, in any compliment
whatsoever. Shall I confess myself to you? I look no higher than
I can reach: they are the gods that must ride on winged horses.
A lawyer's mule of a slow pace will both suit my disposition and
business; for, mark me, when a man's mind rides faster than his horse
can gallop, they quickly both tire.
ANTONIO. You would look up to heaven, but I think
The devil, that rules i' th' air, stands in your light.
BOSOLA. O, sir, you are lord of the ascendant,[40] chief man with
the duchess: a duke was your cousin-german remov'd. Say you were
lineally descended from King Pepin, or he himself, what of this?
Search the heads of the greatest rivers in the world, you shall find
them but bubbles of water. Some would think the souls of princes
were brought forth by some more weighty cause than those of meaner
persons: they are deceiv'd, there 's the same hand to them; the like
passions sway them; the same reason that makes a vicar go to law for
a tithe-pig, and undo his neighbours, makes them spoil a whole
province, and batter down goodly cities with the cannon.
[Enter DUCHESS and Ladies]
DUCHESS. Your arm, Antonio: do I not grow fat?
I am exceeding short-winded.--Bosola,
I would have you, sir, provide for me a litter;
Such a one as the Duchess of Florence rode in.
BOSOLA. The duchess us'd one when she was great with child.
DUCHESS. I think she did.--Come hither, mend my ruff:
Here, when? thou art such a tedious lady; and
Thy breath smells of lemon-pills: would thou hadst done!
Shall I swoon under thy fingers? I am
So troubled with the mother![41]
BOSOLA. [Aside.] I fear too much.
DUCHESS. I have heard you say that the French courtiers
Wear their hats on 'fore that king.
ANTONIO. I have seen it.
DUCHESS. In the presence?
ANTONIO. Yes.
DUCHESS. Why should not we bring up that fashion?
'Tis ceremony more than duty that consists
In the removing of a piece of felt.
Be you the example to the rest o' th' court;
Put on your hat first.
ANTONIO. You must pardon me:
I have seen, in colder countries than in France,
Nobles stand bare to th' prince; and the distinction
Methought show'd reverently.
BOSOLA. I have a present for your grace.
DUCHESS. For me, sir?
BOSOLA. Apricocks, madam.
DUCHESS. O, sir, where are they?
I have heard of none to-year[42]
BOSOLA. [Aside.] Good; her colour rises.
DUCHESS. Indeed, I thank you: they are wondrous fair ones.
What an unskilful fellow is our gardener!
We shall have none this month.
BOSOLA. Will not your grace pare them?
DUCHESS. No: they taste of musk, methinks; indeed they do.
BOSOLA. I know not: yet I wish your grace had par'd 'em.
DUCHESS. Why?
BOSOLA. I forgot to tell you, the knave gardener,
Only to raise his profit by them the sooner,
Did ripen them in horse-dung.
DUCHESS. O, you jest.--
You shall judge: pray, taste one.
ANTONIO. Indeed, madam,
I do not love the fruit.
DUCHESS. Sir, you are loth
To rob us of our dainties. 'Tis a delicate fruit;
They say they are restorative.
BOSOLA. 'Tis a pretty art,
This grafting.
DUCHESS. 'Tis so; a bettering of nature.
BOSOLA. To make a pippin grow upon a crab,
A damson on a black-thorn.--[Aside.] How greedily she eats them!
A whirlwind strike off these bawd farthingales!
For, but for that and the loose-bodied gown,
I should have discover'd apparently[43]
The young springal[44] cutting a caper in her belly.
DUCHESS. I thank you, Bosola: they were right good ones,
If they do not make me sick.
ANTONIO. How now, madam!
DUCHESS. This green fruit and my stomach are not friends:
How they swell me!
BOSOLA. [Aside.] Nay, you are too much swell'd already.
DUCHESS. O, I am in an extreme cold sweat!
BOSOLA. I am very sorry.
[Exit.]
DUCHESS. Lights to my chamber!--O good Antonio,
I fear I am undone!
DELIO. Lights there, lights!
Exeunt DUCHESS [and Ladies.]
ANTONIO. O my most trusty Delio, we are lost!
I fear she 's fall'n in labour; and there 's left
No time for her remove.
DELIO. Have you prepar'd
Those ladies to attend her; and procur'd
That politic safe conveyance for the midwife
Your duchess plotted?
ANTONIO. I have.
DELIO. Make use, then, of this forc'd occasion.
Give out that Bosola hath poison'd her
With these apricocks; that will give some colour
For her keeping close.
ANTONIO. Fie, fie, the physicians
Will then flock to her.
DELIO. For that you may pretend
She'll use some prepar'd antidote of her own,
Lest the physicians should re-poison her.
ANTONIO. I am lost in amazement: I know not what to think on 't.
Exeunt.
Scene II[45]
[Enter] BOSOLA and Old Lady
BOSOLA. So, so, there 's no question but her techiness[46]
and most vulturous eating of the apricocks are apparent signs
of breeding, now?
OLD LADY. I am in haste, sir.
BOSOLA. There was a young waiting-woman had a monstrous desire
to see the glass-house----
OLD LADY. Nay, pray, let me go. I will hear no more
of the glass-house. You are still[47] abusing women!
BOSOLA. Who, I? No; only, by the way now and then, mention your
frailties. The orange-tree bears ripe and green fruit and blossoms
all together; and some of you give entertainment for pure love,
but more for more precious reward. The lusty spring smells well;
but drooping autumn tastes well. If we have the same golden showers
that rained in the time of Jupiter the thunderer, you have the same
Danaes still, to hold up their laps to receive them. Didst thou
never study the mathematics?
OLD LADY. What 's that, sir?
BOSOLA. Why, to know the trick how to make a many lines meet in one
centre. Go, go, give your foster-daughters good counsel: tell them,
that the devil takes delight to hang at a woman's girdle, like
a false rusty watch, that she cannot discern how the time passes.
[Exit Old Lady.]
[Enter ANTONIO, RODERIGO, and GRISOLAN]
ANTONIO. Shut up the court-gates.
RODERIGO. Why, sir? What 's the danger?
ANTONIO. Shut up the posterns presently, and call
All the officers o' th' court.
GRISOLAN. I shall instantly.
[Exit.]
ANTONIO. Who keeps the key o' th' park-gate?
RODERIGO. Forobosco.
ANTONIO. Let him bring 't presently.
[Re-enter GRISOLAN with Servants]
FIRST SERVANT. O, gentleman o' th' court, the foulest treason!
BOSOLA. [Aside.] If that these apricocks should be poison'd now,
Without my knowledge?
FIRST SERVANT.
There was taken even now a Switzer in the duchess' bed-chamber----
SECOND SERVANT. A Switzer!
FIRST SERVANT. With a pistol----
SECOND SERVANT. There was a cunning traitor!
FIRST SERVANT.
And all the moulds of his buttons were leaden bullets.
SECOND SERVANT. O wicked cannibal!
FIRST SERVANT. 'Twas a French plot, upon my life.
SECOND SERVANT. To see what the devil can do!
ANTONIO. [Are] all the officers here?
SERVANTS. We are.
ANTONIO. Gentlemen,
We have lost much plate, you know; and but this evening
Jewels, to the value of four thousand ducats,
Are missing in the duchess' cabinet.
Are the gates shut?
SERVANT. Yes.
ANTONIO. 'Tis the duchess' pleasure
Each officer be lock'd into his chamber
Till the sun-rising; and to send the keys
Of all their chests and of their outward doors
Into her bed-chamber. She is very sick.
RODERIGO. At her pleasure.
ANTONIO. She entreats you take 't not ill: the innocent
Shall be the more approv'd by it.
BOSOLA. Gentlemen o' the wood-yard, where 's your Switzer now?
FIRST SERVANT. By this hand, 'twas credibly reported by one
o' the black guard.[48]
[Exeunt all except ANTONIO and DELIO.]
DELIO. How fares it with the duchess?
ANTONIO. She 's expos'd
Unto the worst of torture, pain, and fear.
DELIO. Speak to her all happy comfort.
ANTONIO. How I do play the fool with mine own danger!
You are this night, dear friend, to post to Rome:
My life lies in your service.
DELIO. Do not doubt me.
ANTONIO. O, 'tis far from me: and yet fear presents me
Somewhat that looks like danger.
DELIO. Believe it,
'Tis but the shadow of your fear, no more:
How superstitiously we mind our evils!
The throwing down salt, or crossing of a hare,
Bleeding at nose, the stumbling of a horse,
Or singing of a cricket, are of power
To daunt whole man in us. Sir, fare you well:
I wish you all the joys of a bless'd father;
And, for my faith, lay this unto your breast,--
Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best.
[Exit.]
[Enter CARIOLA]
CARIOLA. Sir, you are the happy father of a son:
Your wife commends him to you.
ANTONIO. Blessed comfort!--
For heaven' sake, tend her well: I 'll presently[49]
Go set a figure for 's nativity.[50]
Exeunt.
Scene III[51]
[Enter BOSOLA, with a dark lantern]
BOSOLA. Sure I did hear a woman shriek: list, ha!
And the sound came, if I receiv'd it right,
]From the duchess' lodgings. There 's some stratagem
In the confining all our courtiers
To their several wards: I must have part of it;
My intelligence will freeze else. List, again!
It may be 'twas the melancholy bird,
Best friend of silence and of solitariness,
The owl, that screamed so.--Ha! Antonio!
[Enter ANTONIO with a candle, his sword drawn]
ANTONIO. I heard some noise.--Who 's there? What art thou? Speak.
BOSOLA. Antonio, put not your face nor body
To such a forc'd expression of fear;
I am Bosola, your friend.
ANTONIO. Bosola!--
[Aside.] This mole does undermine me.--Heard you not
A noise even now?
BOSOLA. From whence?
ANTONIO. From the duchess' lodging.
BOSOLA. Not I: did you?
ANTONIO. I did, or else I dream'd.
BOSOLA. Let 's walk towards it.
ANTONIO. No: it may be 'twas
But the rising of the wind.
BOSOLA. Very likely.
Methinks 'tis very cold, and yet you sweat:
You look wildly.
ANTONIO. I have been setting a figure[52]
For the duchess' jewels.
BOSOLA. Ah, and how falls your question?
Do you find it radical?[53]
ANTONIO. What 's that to you?
'Tis rather to be question'd what design,
When all men were commanded to their lodgings,
Makes you a night-walker.
BOSOLA. In sooth, I 'll tell you:
Now all the court 's asleep, I thought the devil
Had least to do here; I came to say my prayers;
And if it do offend you I do so,