The Duchess of Malfi. Webster John

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.

        BOSOLA.                            No, sir?

        FERDINAND.  Do not you ask the reason; but be satisfied.

        I say I would not.

        BOSOLA.             It seems you would create me

        One of your familiars.

        FERDINAND.              Familiar!  What 's that?

        BOSOLA.  Why, a very quaint invisible devil in flesh, —

        An intelligencer.16

        FERDINAND.          Such a kind of thriving thing

        I would wish thee; and ere long thou mayst arrive

        At a higher place by 't.

        BOSOLA.                   Take your devils,

        Which hell calls angels!  These curs'd gifts would make

        You a corrupter, me an impudent traitor;

        And should I take these, they'd take me [to] hell.

        FERDINAND.  Sir, I 'll take nothing from you that I have given.

        There is a place that I procur'd for you

        This morning, the provisorship o' the horse;

        Have you heard on 't?

        BOSOLA.                No.

        FERDINAND.                  'Tis yours:  is 't not worth thanks?

        BOSOLA.  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

        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.

        FERDINAND.                   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 —

        BOSOLA.                         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 corruption

        Grew out of horse-dung:  I am your creature.

        FERDINAND.                                    Away!

      [Exit.]

        BOSOLA.  Let good men, for good deeds, covet good fame,

        Since place and riches oft are bribes of shame.

        Sometimes the devil doth preach.

      [Exit.]

      [Scene III]17

      [Enter FERDINAND, DUCHESS, CARDINAL, and CARIOLA]

        CARDINAL.  We are to part from you; and your own discretion

        Must now be your director.

        FERDINAND.                  You are a widow:

        You know already what man is; and therefore

        Let not youth, high promotion, eloquence —

        CARDINAL.  No,

        Nor anything without the addition, honour,

        Sway your high blood.

        FERDINAND.             Marry! they are most luxurious18  Will wed twice.

        CARDINAL.        O, fie!

        FERDINAND.                Their livers are more spotted

        Than Laban's sheep.19

        DUCHESS.              Diamonds are of most value,

        They say, that have pass'd through most jewellers' hands.

        FERDINAND.  Whores by that rule are precious.

        DUCHESS.                                       Will you hear me?

        I 'll never marry.

        CARDINAL.           So most widows say;

        But commonly that motion lasts no longer

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

        And it end both together.

        FERDINAND.                 Now hear me:

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

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

        'T will 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.

        DUCHESS.  This is terrible good counsel.

        FERDINAND.  Hypocrisy is woven of a fine small thread,

        Subtler than Vulcan's engine:20 yet, believe 't,

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

        Will come to light.

        CARDINAL.            You may flatter yourself,

        And take your own choice; privately be married

        Under the eaves of night —

        FERDINAND.                  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,

        Such weddings may more properly be said

        To be executed than celebrated.

        CARDINAL.                        The marriage night

        Is the entrance into some prison.

        FERDINAND.                         And those joys,

        Those lustful pleasures, are like heavy sleeps

       

16

Spy.

17

Malfi. Gallery in the Duchess' palace.

18

Lustful.

19

Genesis xxxi., 31-42.

20

The net in which he caught Venus and Mars.