V. THE DUCHESS OF MALFI. BY JOHN WEBSTER. Probably produced in 1616; first printed in 1623. The story is in Bandello's Novelle, Part I, No. 26; in Belleforest's French translation of Bandello, No. 19; in Painter's Palace of Pleasure, Vol. II, No. 23; in Beard's Theatre of God's Judgments, B. ii, chap. 22; and in Goulart's Histoires Admirables, Vol. I, p. 319. Lope de Vega published in 1618 El Mayordomo de la Duquesa de Amalfi. DEDICATION. To the Rt. Hon. GEORGE HARDING, Baron Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle, and Knight of the Order of the Bath to the illustrious Prince Charles. My Noble Lord, TH HAT I may present my excuse why, being a stranger to your lordship, I offer this poem to your patronage, I plead this warrant : - men who never saw the sea yet desire to behold that regiment of waters, choose some eminent river to guide them thither, and make that, as it were, their conduct or postilion: by the like ingenious means has your fame arrived at my knowledge, receiving it from some of worth, who both in contemplation and practice owe to your honour their clearest service. I do not altogether look up at your title; the ancientest nobility being but a relic of time past, and the truest honour indeed being for a man to confer honour on himself, which your learning strives to propagate, and shall make you arrive at the dignity of a great example. I am confident this work is not unworthy your honour's perusal; for by such poems as this poets have kissed the hands of great princes, and drawn their gentle eyes to look down upon their sheets of paper when the poets themselves were bound up in their winding-sheets. The like courtesy from your fordship shall make you live in your grave, and laurel spring out of it, when the ignorant scorners of the Muses, that like worms in libraries seem to live only to destroy learning, shall wither neglected and forgotten. This work and myself I humbly present to your approved censure, it being the utmost of my wishes to have your honourable self my weighty and perspicuous comment; which grace so done me shall ever be acknowledged By your lordship's in all duty and observance, JOHN WEBSTER. THE DUCHESS OF MALFI. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. FERDINAND, Duke of Calabria. The CARDINAL, his Brother. SILVIO. ANTONIO BOLOGNA, Steward of the Doctor. Several Madmen, Pilgrims, Execu tioners, Officers, Attendants, etc. DANIEL DE BOSOLA, Gentleman of DUCHESS OF MALFI. household to the DUCHESS. DELIO, his Friend. SCENE I.—The Presence-chamber in the DUCHESS' Palace at Malfi.. Enter ANTONIO and DELIO. Delio. You are welcome to your country, dear Antonio ; You have been long in France, and you return A very formal Frenchman in your habit: How do you like the French court? Ant. I admire it; In seeking to reduce both state and people To a fixed order, their judicious king And infamous persons, which he sweetly terms Is like a common fountain, whence should flow 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 Indeed, he rails at those things which he wants; If he had means to be so. - Here's the cardinal. Enter the Cardinal and Bosola.1 Bos. I do haunt you still. Card. So. 10 20 1 When this play was first performed, about 1616, R. Burbadge played the part of Ferdinand, H. Condell that of the Cardinal, and J. Lowin that of Bosola. The Duchess was impersonated by the actor R. Sharpe, as female rôles were not yet taken by women. 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! Card. You enforce your merit too much. 32 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 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? 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.) (Exit Cardinal.) Are you are possessed with the devil, gone? Some fellows, they say, but this great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil, and make him worse. Ant. He hath denied thee some suit? 46 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 caterpillars 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 miserable dependencies, in expectation to be advanced tomorrow? what creature ever fed worse than hoping Tantalus? nor ever died any man more fearfully 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. Delio. Geometry! 60 |