The Duchess of Malfi

  SERVANT.             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 sorts106 of madmen, which wild object  Being full of change and sport, forc'd him to laugh,  And so the imposthume107 broke:  the self-same cure  The duke intends on you.  DUCHESS.                  Let them come in.  SERVANT.  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 of 't,  Ran mad; an English tailor craz'd i' the brain  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  Or 'How do you,' she employ'd him in each morning;  A farmer, too, an excellent knave in grain,108Mad 'cause he was hind'red transportation:109And let one broker that 's mad loose to these,  You'd think the devil were among them.  DUCHESS.  Sit, Cariola. – Let them loose when you please,  For I am chain'd to endure all your tyranny.

[Enter Madman]

       Here by a Madman this song is sung to a dismal kind of music  O, let us howl some heavy note,    Some deadly dogged howl,  Sounding as from the threatening throat    Of beasts and fatal fowl!  As ravens, screech-owls, bulls, and bears,    We 'll bell, and bawl our parts,  Till irksome noise have cloy'd your ears    And corrosiv'd your hearts.  At last, whenas our choir wants breath,    Our bodies being blest,  We 'll sing, like swans, to welcome death,    And die in love and rest.FIRST MADMAN. Doom's-day not come yet! I 'll draw it nearer bya perspective,110 or make a glass that shall set all the worldon fire upon an instant. I cannot sleep; my pillow is stuffedwith a litter of porcupines.SECOND MADMAN. Hell is a mere glass-house, where the devilsare continually blowing up women's souls on hollow irons,and the fire never goes out.  FIRST MADMAN.  I have skill in heraldry.  SECOND MADMAN.  Hast?FIRST MADMAN. You do give for your crest a woodcock's headwith the brains picked out on 't; you are a very ancient gentleman.THIRD MADMAN. Greek is turned Turk: we are only to be saved bythe Helvetian translation.111  FIRST MADMAN.  Come on, sir, I will lay the law to you.SECOND MADMAN. O, rather lay a corrosive: the law will eatto the bone.THIRD MADMAN. He that drinks but to satisfy nature is damn'd.FOURTH MADMAN. If I had my glass here, I would show a sight shouldmake all the women here call me mad doctor.  FIRST MADMAN.  What 's he? a rope-maker?SECOND MADMAN. No, no, no, a snuffling knave that, while he showsthe tombs, will have his hand in a wench's placket.112THIRD MADMAN. Woe to the caroche113 that brought home my wifefrom the masque at three o'clock in the morning! It had a largefeather-bed in it.FOURTH MADMAN. I have pared the devil's nails forty times, roastedthem in raven's eggs, and cured agues with them.THIRD MADMAN. Get me three hundred milch-bats, to make possets114 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 musicanswerable thereunto; after which, BOSOLA, like an old man,enters.  DUCHESS.  Is he mad too?  SERVANT.                  Pray, question him.  I 'll leave you.

[Exeunt Servant and Madmen.]

  BOSOLA.  I am come to make thy tomb.  DUCHESS.                              Ha! my tomb!  Thou speak'st as if I lay upon my death-bed,  Gasping for breath.  Dost thou perceive me sick?  BOSOLA.  Yes, and the more dangerously, since thy sickness is insensible.  DUCHESS.  Thou art not mad, sure:  dost know me?  BOSOLA.                                           Yes.  DUCHESS.                                                Who am I?BOSOLA. Thou art a box of worm-seed, at best but a salvatory115 of green mummy.116 What 's this flesh? a little crudded117 milk,fantastical puff-paste. Our bodies are weaker than those paper-prisons boys use to keep flies in; more contemptible, since oursis 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 turfof grass, and the heaven o'er our heads like her looking-glass, onlygives us a miserable knowledge of the small compass of our prison.  DUCHESS.  Am not I thy duchess?BOSOLA. Thou art some great woman, sure, for riot begins to siton thy forehead (clad in gray hairs) twenty years sooner than ona merry milk-maid's. Thou sleepest worse than if a mouse should beforced to take up her lodging in a cat's ear: a little infant thatbreeds its teeth, should it lie with thee, would cry out, as if thouwert the more unquiet bedfellow.  DUCHESS.  I am Duchess of Malfi still.  BOSOLA.  That makes thy sleep so broken:  Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright,  But, look'd to near, have neither heat nor light.  DUCHESS.  Thou art very plain.  BOSOLA.  My trade is to flatter the dead, not the living;  I am a tomb-maker.  DUCHESS.  And thou comest to make my tomb?  BOSOLA.  Yes.  DUCHESS.  Let me be a little merry: – of what stuff wilt thou make it?  BOSOLA.  Nay, resolve me first, of what fashion?  DUCHESS.  Why, do we grow fantastical on our deathbed?  Do we affect fashion in the grave?BOSOLA. Most ambitiously. Princes' images on their tombs do notlie, as they were wont, seeming to pray up to heaven; but with theirhands under their cheeks, as if they died of the tooth-ache. Theyare not carved with their eyes fix'd upon the stars, but as theirminds were wholly bent upon the world, the selfsame way they seemto turn their faces.  DUCHESS.  Let me know fully therefore the effect  Of this thy dismal preparation,  This talk fit for a charnel.  BOSOLA.                       Now I shall: —

[Enter Executioners, with] a coffin, cords, and a bell

  Here is a present from your princely brothers;  And may it arrive welcome, for it brings  Last benefit, last sorrow.  DUCHESS.                    Let me see it:  I have so much obedience in my blood,  I wish it in their veins to do them good.  BOSOLA.  This is your last presence-chamber.  CARIOLA.  O my sweet lady!  DUCHESS.                    Peace; it affrights not me.  BOSOLA.  I am the common bellman  That usually is sent to condemn'd persons  The night before they suffer.  DUCHESS.                       Even now thou said'st  Thou wast a tomb-maker.  BOSOLA.                  'Twas to bring you  By degrees to mortification.  Listen.    Hark, now everything is still,    The screech-owl and the whistler shrill    Call upon our dame aloud,    And bid her quickly don her shroud!    Much you had of land and rent;    Your length in clay 's now competent:    A long war disturb'd 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,    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.  CARIOLA.  Hence, villains, tyrants, murderers! Alas!  What will you do with my lady? – Call for help!  DUCHESS.  To whom?  To our next neighbours?  They are mad-folks.  BOSOLA.  Remove that noise.  DUCHESS.                     Farewell, Cariola.  In my last will I have not much to give:  A many hungry guests have fed upon me;  Thine will be a poor reversion.  CARIOLA.                         I will die with her.  DUCHESS.  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?  BOSOLA.       Strangling; here are your executioners.  DUCHESS.  I forgive them:  The apoplexy, catarrh, or cough o' th' lungs,  Would do as much as they do.  BOSOLA.  Doth not death fright you?  DUCHESS.                             Who would be afraid on 't,  Knowing to meet such excellent company  In th' other world?  BOSOLA.  Yet, methinks,  The manner of your death should much afflict you:  This cord should terrify you.  DUCHESS.                       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  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,  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 EXECUTIONER.           We are ready.  DUCHESS.  Dispose my breath how please you; but my body  Bestow upon my women, will you?  FIRST EXECUTIONER.               Yes.  DUCHESS.  Pull, and pull strongly, for your able strength  Must pull down heaven upon me: —  Yet stay; heaven-gates are not so highly arch'dAs 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.       They strangle her.  BOSOLA.  Where 's the waiting-woman??  Fetch her:  some other strangle the children.

[Enter CARIOLA]

  Look you, there sleeps your mistress.  CARIOLA.                               O, you are damn'd  Perpetually for this!  My turn is next;  Is 't not so ordered?  BOSOLA.                Yes, and I am glad  You are so well prepar'd for 't.  CARIOLA.                          You are deceiv'd, sir,  I am not prepar'd for 't, I will not die;  I will first come to my answer,118 and know  How I have offended.  BOSOLA.               Come, despatch her. —  You kept her counsel; now you shall keep ours.  CARIOLA.  I will not die, I must not; I am contracted  To a young gentleman.  FIRST EXECUTIONER.     Here 's your wedding-ring.  CARIOLA.  Let me but speak with the duke.  I 'll discover  Treason to his person.  BOSOLA.                 Delays: – throttle her.  FIRST EXECUTIONER.  She bites and scratches.  CARIOLA.                                      If you kill me now,  I am damn'd; I have not been at confession  This two years.  BOSOLA.  [To Executioners.] When?119  CARIOLA.                           I am quick with child.  BOSOLA.                                                    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.]

[Enter FERDINAND]

  FERDINAND.            Is she dead?  BOSOLA.                             She is what  You 'd have her.  But here begin your pity:       Shows the Children strangled.  Alas, how have these offended?  FERDINAND.                      The death  Of young wolves is never to be pitied.  BOSOLA.  Fix your eye here.  FERDINAND.                   Constantly.  BOSOLA.                                   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.  FERDINAND.  Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle:  she died young.  BOSOLA.  I think not so; her infelicity  Seem'd to have years too many.  FERDINAND.  She and I were twins;  And should I die this instant, I had liv'd  Her time to a minute.  BOSOLA.                It seems she was born first:  You have bloodily approv'd the ancient truth,  That kindred commonly do worse agree  Than remote strangers.  FERDINAND.              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!  Or, bold in a good cause, oppos'd thyself,  With thy advanced sword above thy head,  Between her innocence and my revenge!  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 continu'd widow, to have gain'd  An infinite mass of treasure by her death:  And that was the main 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.  BOSOLA.  Let me quicken your memory, for I perceive  You are falling into ingratitude:  I challenge  The reward due to my service.  FERDINAND.                     I 'll tell thee  What I 'll give thee.  BOSOLA.                Do.  FERDINAND.                  I 'll give thee a pardon  For this murder.  BOSOLA.           Ha!  FERDINAND.             Yes, and 'tis  The largest bounty I can study to do thee.  By what authority didst thou execute  This bloody sentence?  BOSOLA.                By yours.  FERDINAND.  Mine! was I her judge?  Did any ceremonial form of law  Doom her to not-being?  Did a complete jury  Deliver her conviction up i' the court?  Where shalt thou find this judgment register'd,  Unless in hell?  See, like a bloody fool,  Thou 'st forfeited thy life, and thou shalt die for 't.  BOSOLA.  The office of justice is perverted quite  When one thief hangs another.  Who shall dare  To reveal this?  FERDINAND.       O, I 'll tell thee;  The wolf shall find her grave, and scrape it up,  Not to devour the corpse, but to discover  The horrid murder.  BOSOLA.             You, not I, shall quake for 't.  FERDINAND.  Leave me.  BOSOLA.                I will first receive my pension.  FERDINAND.  You are a villain.  BOSOLA.                         When your ingratitude  Is judge, I am so.  FERDINAND.          O horror,  That not the fear of him which binds the devils  Can prescribe man obedience! —  Never look upon me more.  BOSOLA.                   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:  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.  FERDINAND.  Get thee into some unknown part o' the world,  That I may never see thee.  BOSOLA.                     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:  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.  FERDINAND.  I 'll go hunt the badger by owl-light:  'Tis a deed of darkness.

Exit.

  BOSOLA.  He 's much distracted.  Off, my painted honour!  While with vain hopes our faculties 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  For all the wealth of Europe. – She stirs; here 's life: —  Return, fair soul, from darkness, and lead mine  Out of this sensible hell: – she 's warm, she breathes: —  Upon thy pale lips I will melt my heart,  To store them with fresh colour. – Who 's there?  Some cordial drink! – Alas!  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.  DUCHESS.  Antonio!  BOSOLA.             Yes, madam, he is living;  The dead bodies you saw were but feign'd statues.  He 's reconcil'd to your brothers; the Pope hath wrought  The atonement.  DUCHESS.        Mercy!       Dies.  BOSOLA.  O, she 's gone again! 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  That shows us hell!  That we cannot be suffer'd  To do good when we have a mind to it!  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  As direful to my soul as is the sword  Unto a wretch hath slain his father.  Come, I 'll 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 'll post to Milan,  Where somewhat I will speedily enact  Worth my dejection.

Exit [with the body].

Act V

Scene I120

[Enter] ANTONIO and DELIO

  ANTONIO.  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-conduct  For your repair to Milan, they appear  But nets to entrap you.  The Marquis of Pescara,  Under whom you hold certain land in cheat,121Much '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  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.  ANTONIO.      You are still an heretic122To any safety I can shape myself.  DELIO.  Here comes the marquis:  I will make myself  Petitioner for some part of your land,  To know whither it is flying.  ANTONIO.                       I pray, do.       [Withdraws.]

[Enter PESCARA]

  DELIO.  Sir, I have a suit to you.  PESCARA.                            To me?  DELIO.                                      An easy one:  There is the Citadel of Saint Bennet,  With some demesnes, of late in the possession  Of Antonio Bologna, – please you bestow them on me.  PESCARA.  You are my friend; but this is such a suit,  Nor fit for me to give, nor you to take.  DELIO.  No, sir?  PESCARA.          I will give you ample reason for 't  Soon in private: – here 's the cardinal's mistress.

[Enter JULIA]

  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 letter.]  PESCARA.                    He entreats for you  The Citadel of Saint Bennet, that belong'd  To the banish'd Bologna.  JULIA.                    Yes.  PESCARA.  I could not have thought of a friend I could rather  Pleasure with it:  'tis yours.  JULIA.                          Sir, I thank you;  And he shall know how doubly I am engag'd  Both in your gift, and speediness of giving  Which makes your grant the greater.

Exit.

  ANTONIO.                             How they fortify  Themselves with my ruin!  DELIO.                    Sir, I am  Little bound to you.  PESCARA.              Why?  DELIO.  Because you deni'd this suit to me, and gave 't  To such a creature.  PESCARA.             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.  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  I 'll be a noble giver.  DELIO.                   You instruct me well.  ANTONIO.  Why, here 's a man now would fright impudence  ]From sauciest beggars.  PESCARA.                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.

  ANTONIO.       'Tis a noble old fellow.  DELIO.  What course do you mean to take, Antonio?  ANTONIO.  This night I mean to venture all my fortune,  Which is no more than a poor ling'ring life,  To the cardinal's worst of malice.  I have got  Private access to his chamber; and intend  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 'll go in mine own shape, —  When he shall see it fraight123 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 infamous calling;  For better fall once than be ever falling.  DELIO.  I 'll second you in all danger; and howe'er,  My life keeps rank with yours.  ANTONIO.  You are still my lov'd and best friend.

Exeunt.

Scene II124

[Enter] PESCARA and DOCTOR

  PESCARA.  Now, doctor, may I visit your patient?  DOCTOR.  If 't please your lordship; but he 's instantly  To take the air here in the gallery  By my direction.  PESCARA.          Pray thee, what 's his disease?  DOCTOR.  A very pestilent disease, my lord,  They call lycanthropia.  PESCARA.                 What 's that?  I need a dictionary to 't.  DOCTOR.                     I 'll tell you.  In those that are possess'd with 't there o'erflows  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 the duke 'bout midnight in a lane  Behind Saint Mark's church, with the leg of a man  Upon his shoulder; and he howl'd fearfully;  Said he was a wolf, only the difference  Was, a wolf's skin was hairy on the outside,  His on the inside; bade them take their swords,  Rip up his flesh, and try.  Straight I was sent for,  And, having minister'd to him, found his grace  Very well recover'd.  PESCARA.  I am glad on 't.  DOCTOR.                     Yet not without some fear  Of a relapse.  If he grow to his fit again,  I 'll go a nearer way to work with him  Than ever Paracelsus dream'd of; if  They 'll give me leave, I 'll buffet his madness out of him.  Stand aside; he comes.

[Enter FERDINAND, CARDINAL, MALATESTI, and BOSOLA]

  FERDINAND.  Leave me.  MALATESTI.  Why doth your lordship love this solitariness?  FERDINAND.  Eagles commonly fly alone:  they are crows, daws,  and starlings that flock together.  Look, what 's that follows me?  MALATESTI.  Nothing, my lord.  FERDINAND.  Yes.  MALATESTI.  'Tis your shadow.  FERDINAND.  Stay it; let it not haunt me.  MALATESTI.  Impossible, if you move, and the sun shine.  FERDINAND.  I will throttle it.       [Throws himself down on his shadow.]  MALATESTI.  O, my lord, you are angry with nothing.  FERDINAND.  You are a fool:  how is 't possible I should catch  my shadow, unless I fall upon 't?  When I go to hell, I mean  to carry a bribe; for, look you, good gifts evermore make way  for the worst persons.  PESCARA.  Rise, good my lord.  FERDINAND.  I am studying the art of patience.  PESCARA.  'Tis a noble virtue.FERDINAND. 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' th' world match me for an experiment: —an I 'll crawl after like a sheep-biter.125  CARDINAL.  Force him up.       [They raise him.]FERDINAND. Use me well, you were best. What I have done, I havedone: I 'll confess nothing.DOCTOR. Now let me come to him. – Are you mad, my lord? are you outof your princely wits?  FERDINAND.              What 's he?  PESCARA.                             Your doctor.FERDINAND. Let me have his beard saw'd off, and his eye-browsfil'd more civil.DOCTOR. I must do mad tricks with him, for that 's the only wayon 't. – I have brought your grace a salamander's skin to keepyou from sun-burning.  FERDINAND.  I have cruel sore eyes.  DOCTOR.  The white of a cockatrix's126 egg is present remedy.  FERDINAND.  Let it be a new-laid one, you were best.  Hide me from him:  physicians are like kings, —  They brook no contradiction.  DOCTOR.  Now he begins to fear me:  now let me alone with him.  CARDINAL.  How now! put off your gown!DOCTOR. Let me have some forty urinals filled with rosewater:he and I 'll go pelt one another with them. – Now he begins to fearme. – Can you fetch a frisk,127 sir? – Let him go, let him go, uponmy peril: I find by his eye he stands in awe of me; I 'll make himas tame as a dormouse.FERDINAND. Can you fetch your frisks, sir! – I will stamp him intoa cullis,128 flay off his skin to cover one of the anatomies129this rogue hath set i' th' cold yonder in Barber-Chirurgeon's-hall.– Hence, hence! you are all of you like beasts for sacrifice.[Throws the DOCTOR down and beats him.]There 's nothing left of you but tongue and belly, flattery andlechery.

[Exit.]