The Duchess of Padua

Ay! the peachesAre not so big this year as they were last.I crave your pardon, my lord Cardinal,I thought you spake of peaches.

[A cheer from the people.]

What is that?

Guido [rushes to the window]

The Duchess has gone forth into the square,And stands between the people and the guard,And will not let them shoot.

Duke

The devil take her!

Guido [still at the window]

And followed by a dozen of the citizensHas come into the Palace.

Duke [starting up]

By Saint James,Our Duchess waxes bold!

Bardi

Here comes the Duchess.

Duke

Shut that door there; this morning air is cold.

[They close the door on the corridor.]

[Enter the Duchess followed by a crowd of meanly dressed Citizens.]

Duchess [flinging herself upon her knees]

I do beseech your Grace to give us audience.

Duke

What are these grievances?

Duchess

Alas, my Lord,Such common things as neither you nor I,Nor any of these noble gentlemen,Have ever need at all to think about;They say the bread, the very bread they eat,Is made of sorry chaff.

First Citizen

Ay! so it is,Nothing but chaff.

Duke

And very good food too,I give it to my horses.

Duchess [restraining herself]

They say the water,Set in the public cisterns for their use,[Has, through the breaking of the aqueduct,]To stagnant pools and muddy puddles turned.

Duke

They should drink wine; water is quite unwholesome.

Second Citizen

Alack, your Grace, the taxes which the customsTake at the city gate are grown so highWe cannot buy wine.

Duke

Then you should bless the taxesWhich make you temperate.

Duchess

Think, while we sitIn gorgeous pomp and state, gaunt povertyCreeps through their sunless lanes, and with sharp knivesCuts the warm throats of children stealthilyAnd no word said.

Third Citizen

Ay! marry, that is true,My little son died yesternight from hunger;He was but six years old; I am so poor,I cannot bury him.

Duke

If you are poor,Are you not blessed in that?  Why, povertyIs one of the Christian virtues,

[Turns to the Cardinal.]

Is it not?I know, Lord Cardinal, you have great revenues,Rich abbey-lands, and tithes, and large estatesFor preaching voluntary poverty.

Duchess

Nay but, my lord the Duke, be generous;While we sit here within a noble house[With shaded porticoes against the sun,And walls and roofs to keep the winter out],There are many citizens of PaduaWho in vile tenements live so full of holes,That the chill rain, the snow, and the rude blast,Are tenants also with them; others sleepUnder the arches of the public bridgesAll through the autumn nights, till the wet mistStiffens their limbs, and fevers come, and so —

Duke

And so they go to Abraham’s bosom, Madam.They should thank me for sending them to Heaven,If they are wretched here. [To the Cardinal.]Is it not saidSomewhere in Holy Writ, that every manShould be contented with that state of lifeGod calls him to? Why should I change their state,Or meddle with an all-wise providence,Which has apportioned that some men should starve,And others surfeit? I did not make the world.

First Citizen

He hath a hard heart.

Second Citizen

Nay, be silent, neighbour;I think the Cardinal will speak for us.

Cardinal

True, it is Christian to bear misery,Yet it is Christian also to be kind,And there seem many evils in this town,Which in your wisdom might your Grace reform.

First Citizen

What is that word reform?  What does it mean?

Second Citizen

Marry, it means leaving things as they are; I like it not.

Duke

Reform Lord Cardinal, did you say reform?There is a man in Germany called Luther,Who would reform the Holy Catholic Church.Have you not made him heretic, and utteredAnathema, maranatha, against him?

Cardinal [rising from his seat]

He would have led the sheep out of the fold,We do but ask of you to feed the sheep.

Duke

When I have shorn their fleeces I may feed them.As for these rebels –  [Duchess entreats him.]

First Citizen

That is a kind word,He means to give us something.

Second Citizen

Is that so?

Duke

These ragged knaves who come before us here,With mouths chock-full of treason.

Third Citizen

Good my Lord,Fill up our mouths with bread; we’ll hold our tongues.

Duke

Ye shall hold your tongues, whether you starve or not.My lords, this age is so familiar grown,That the low peasant hardly doffs his hat,Unless you beat him; and the raw mechanicElbows the noble in the public streets.

[To the Citizens.]

Still as our gentle Duchess has so prayed us,And to refuse so beautiful a beggarWere to lack both courtesy and love,Touching your grievances, I promise this —

First Citizen

Marry, he will lighten the taxes!

Second Citizen

Or a dole of bread, think you, for each man?

Duke

That, on next Sunday, the Lord CardinalShall, after Holy Mass, preach you a sermonUpon the Beauty of Obedience.

[Citizens murmur.]

First Citizen

I’ faith, that will not fill our stomachs!

Second Citizen

A sermon is but a sorry sauce, whenYou have nothing to eat with it.

Duchess

Poor people,You see I have no power with the Duke,But if you go into the court without,My almoner shall from my private purse,Divide a hundred ducats ’mongst you all.

First Citizen

God save the Duchess, say I.

Second Citizen

God save her.

Duchess

And every Monday morn shall bread be setFor those who lack it.

[Citizens applaud and go out.]

First Citizen [going out]

Why, God save the Duchess again!

Duke [calling him back]

Come hither, fellow! what is your name?

First Citizen

Dominick, sir.

Duke

A good name!  Why were you called Dominick?

First Citizen [scratching his head]

Marry, because I was born on St. George’s day.

Duke

A good reason! here is a ducat for you!Will you not cry for me God save the Duke?

First Citizen [feebly]

God save the Duke.

Duke

Nay! louder, fellow, louder.

First Citizen [a little louder]

God save the Duke!

Duke

More lustily, fellow, put more heart in it!Here is another ducat for you.

First Citizen [enthusiastically]

God save the Duke!

Duke [mockingly]

Why, gentlemen, this simple fellow’s loveTouches me much.  [To the Citizen, harshly.]Go!  [Exit Citizen, bowing.]This is the way, my lords,You can buy popularity nowadays.Oh, we are nothing if not democratic!

[To the Duchess.]

Well, Madam,You spread rebellion ’midst our citizens.

Duchess

My Lord, the poor have rights you cannot touch,The right to pity, and the right to mercy.

Duke

So, so, you argue with me?  This is she,The gentle Duchess for whose hand I yieldedThree of the fairest towns in Italy,Pisa, and Genoa, and Orvieto.

Duchess

Promised, my Lord, not yielded: in that matterBrake you your word as ever.

Duke

You wrong us, Madam,There were state reasons.

Duchess

What state reasons are thereFor breaking holy promises to a state?

Duke

There are wild boars at Pisa in a forestClose to the city: when I promised PisaUnto your noble and most trusting father,I had forgotten there was hunting there.At Genoa they say,Indeed I doubt them not, that the red mulletRuns larger in the harbour of that townThan anywhere in Italy.

[Turning to one of the Court.]

You, my lord,Whose gluttonous appetite is your only god,Could satisfy our Duchess on that point.

Duchess

And Orvieto?

Duke [yawning]

I cannot now recallWhy I did not surrender OrvietoAccording to the word of my contract.Maybe it was because I did not choose.

[Goes over to the Duchess.]

Why look you, Madam, you are here alone;’Tis many a dusty league to your grey France,And even there your father barely keepsA hundred ragged squires for his Court.What hope have you, I say?  Which of these lordsAnd noble gentlemen of PaduaStands by your side.

Duchess

There is not one.

[Guido starts, but restrains himself.]

Duke

Nor shall be,While I am Duke in Padua: listen, Madam,Being mine own, you shall do as I will,And if it be my will you keep the house,Why then, this palace shall your prison be;And if it be my will you walk abroad,Why, you shall take the air from morn to night.

Duchess

Sir, by what right – ?

Duke

Madam, my second Duchess

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