Is in confession merely; which you know
Must never be revealed.

Mont. You have o'erta'en me.

Lod. Sir, I did love Brachiano's duchess dearly, Or rather I pursued her with hot lust,

Though she ne'er knew on't. She was poisoned;
Upon my soul, she was; for which I have sworn
To avenge her murder.

Mont. To the Duke of Florence?

Lod. To him I have,

Mont. Miserable creature!

If thou persist in this, 'tis damnable.

Dost thou imagine thou canst slide on blood,
And not be tainted with a shameful fall?
Or, like the black and melancholic yew-tree,
Dost think to root thyself in dead men's graves,
And yet to prosper? Instruction to thee
Comes like sweet showers to over-hardened ground;
They wet, but pierce not deep. And so I leave thee,
With all the Furies hanging 'bout thy neck,
Till by thy penitence thou remove this evil,
In conjuring from thy breast that cruel devil.

Lod. I'll give it o'er; he says 'tis damnable, Besides I did expect his suffrage,

By reason of Camillo's death.

Exit.

Re-enter FRANCISCO DE MEDICIS with a Servant.

Fran. de Med. Do you know that count?

Serv. Yes, my lord.

Fran. de Med. Bear him these thousand ducats

to his lodging;

Tell him the Pope hath sent them.-[Aside.]

Happily

That will confirm him more than all the rest.

Serv. Sir,

[Exit.

Lod. To me, sir?

Serv. His Holiness hath sent you a thousand

crowns,

And wills you, if you travel, to make him

Your patron for intelligence.

Lod. His creature ever to be commanded.

[Exit Servant.

Why, now 'tis come about. He railed upon me; And yet these crowns were told out and laid ready Before he knew my voyage. O the art,

The modest form of greatness! that do sit,

Like brides at wedding-dinners, with their looks turned

From the least wanton jest, their puling stomach
Sick of the modesty, when their thoughts are loose,
Even acting of those hot and lustful sports
Are to ensue about midnight: such his cunning:
He sounds my depth thus with a golden plummet.
I am doubly armed now. Now to the act of blood.
There's but three Furies found in spacious hell,
But in a great man's breast three thousand dwell.

[Exit.

SCENE I.—An Apartment in a Palace at Padua. A passage over the stage of BRACHIANO, FLAMINEO, MARCELLO, HORTENSIO, VITTORIA COROMBONA, CORNELIA, ZANCHE, and others.

[Exeunt omnes except FLAMINEO and HORTENSIO. LAM. In all the weary minutes of

my life,

Day ne'er broke up

Confirms me happy.

till now.

This

[marriage

Hort. 'Tis a good assurance.

Saw you not yet the Moor that's

come to court?

Flam. Yes, and conferred with him i'the duke's closet:

I have not seen a goodlier personage,

Nor ever talked with man better experienced
In state affairs or rudiments of war:

He hath, by report, served the Venetian

In Candy these twice seven years, and been chief
In many a bold design.

Hort. What are those two

That bear him company?

Flam. Two noblemen of Hungary, that, living in the emperor's service as commanders, eight years since, contrary to the expectation of all the court,

entered into religion, into the strict order of Capuchins: but, being not well settled in their undertaking, they left their order, and returned to court; for which, being after troubled in conscience, they vowed their service against the enemies of Christ, went to Malta, were there knighted, and in their return back, at this great solemnity, they are resolved for ever to forsake the world, and settle themselves here in a house of Capuchins in Padua.

Hort. 'Tis strange.

Flam. One thing makes it so: they have vowed for ever to wear, next their bare bodies, those coats of mail they served in.

Hort. Hard penance ! Is the Moor a Christian ?

Flam. He is.

Hort. Why proffers he his service to our duke? Flam. Because he understands there's like to grow Some wars between us and the Duke of Florence, In which he hopes employment.

I never saw one in a stern bold look

Wear more command, nor in a lofty phrase
Express more knowing or more deep contempt
Of our slight airy courtiers. He talks
As if he had travelled all the princes' courts
Of Christendom: in all things strives to express,
That all that should dispute with him may know,
Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright,
But looked to near, have neither heat nor light.—
The duke!

Re-enter BRACHIANO; with FRANCISCO DE MEDICIS disguised like MULINASSAR, LODOVICO, ANTONELLI, GASPARO, FARNESE, CARLO, and Pedro, bearing their swords and helmets; and MARCello. Brach. You are nobly welcome. We have heard Your honourable service 'gainst the Turk. [at full

To you, brave Mulinassar, we assign

A competent pension: and are inly sorry,
The vows of those two worthy gentlemen
Make them incapable of our proffered bounty.
Your wish is, you may leave your warlike swords
For monuments in our chapel: I accept it
As a great honour done me, and must crave
Your leave to furnish out our duchess' revels.
Only one thing, as the last vanity

You e'er shall view, deny me not to stay

To see a barriers prepared to-night :

You shall have private standings. It hath pleased The great ambassadors of several princes,

In their return from Rome to their own countries,

To grace our marriage, and to honour me

With such a kind of sport.

Fran. de Med. I shall persuade them

To stay, my lord.

Brach. Set on there to the presence!

[Exeunt BRACHIANO, FLAMINEO, MARCELLO, and HORTENSIO.

Car. Noble my lord, most fortunately welcome : [The Conspirators here embrace. You have our vows, sealed with the sacrament,

To second your attempts.

Ped. And all things ready:

He could not have invented his own ruin (Had he despaired) with more propriety. Lod. You would not take my way.

Fran. de Med. 'Tis better ordered.

Lod. To have poisoned his prayer-book, or a pair

of beads,

The pummel of his saddle,1 his looking-glass,

1 In the year 1598 Edward Squire was convicted of anointing the pummel of the Queen's saddle with poison, for which he was afterwards executed.-Reed.