British Theatre, Comprising Tragedies, Comedies, Operas, and Farces, from the Most Classic Writers

Enter TIBERIO and STEPHANO.

Steph. How! left the court?

You never heard the motives that induc'd him To this strange course?

Tib. No, those are cabinet councils,
And not to be communicated, but

To such as are his own, and sure. Alas!
We fill up empty places, and in public
Are taught to give our suffrages to that
Which was before determin'd; and are safe so.
Seignior Francisco (upon whom alone
His absolute power is, with all strength con-
ferr'd,

During his absence) can with ease resolve you.
Steph. But, my good lord Tiberio, this
Francisco

Is on the sudden strangely rais'd.

Tib. O sir,

He took the thriving course: he had a sister,
A fair one too, with whom, as it is rumour'd,
The duke was too familiar; but she, cast off,
Upon the sight of this, forsook the court,
And since was never seen.

Steph. But how is

His absence borne by the dutchess?

Tib. Sadly, it seems;

For since he left the court,

For the most part she hath kept her private

chamber,

[Apart.

To such a mushroom!

Mari. Thou dost mistake; they durst not Use the least word of scorn, although provok'd, To any thing of mine.-Go, get you home, And to your servants, friends, and flatt'rers, number

How many descents you're noble.

[Exeunt Tiberio and Stephano. Grac. Your excellence hath the best gift to dispatch

These arras pictures of nobility,

I ever read of.

Isa. But the purpose, daughter,

That brings us hither? Is it to bestow

A visit on this woman?

Mari. If to vex her

The dutchess having silenc'd us, and these lords May be interpreted to do her honour, Stand by to hear us.

Grac. They in name are lords,

But I am one in power; and, for the dutchess, But yesterday we were merry for her pleasure; Well now be for my lady's.

[Tiberio and Stephano come forward. Tib. Seignior Graccho.

Grac. A poor man, sir, a servant to the princess;

But you, great lords and counsellors of state, Whom I stand bound to reverence.

Tib. Come, we know

You are a man in grace.
Grac. Fie! no: I grant

I bear my fortunes patiently; serve the prin

cess,

She shall have many of them.

My brother, being not by now to protect her, I am her equal.

Play any thing

That's light and loud enough but to torment

her.

[Music.

[Apart.

Mari. May it please your greatness, one smile, I pray you,

On your poor servants.

Isa. She's made of courtesy.

Mari. Mistress of all hearts!

Isa. 'Tis wormwood, and it works. [Apart.

Marc. If doting age could let you but Than in a paradise at her entreaty.

remember,

You have a son; or frontless impudence,.
You are a sister; and, in making answer
To what was most unfit for you to speak,
Or me to hear, borrow of my just anger;
You durst not then, on any hire or hope,
Rememb'ring what I am, and whose I am,
Put on the desp'rate boldness to disturb

The least of my retirements.
Mari. Note her now.

[Apart.

And for you, upstart

Offi. What shall become of these?
Fran. See them well whipp'd,

As you will answer it.

Grac. I preach patience,

And must endure my fortune.

[Exeunt all but Francisco and Marcelia.

Fran. Let them first know themselves, and

how you are

Marc. For both shall understand, though To be serv'd and honour'd; which, when they

the one presume

Upon the privilege due to a mother;

confess,

You may again receive them to your favour;

The duke stands now on his own legs, and And then it will show nobly.

Marc. For you,

Marc. With my thanks,

The duke shall pay you his, if he return
To bless us with his presence.

Fran. Any service done to so much sweet

ness,

In your favour finds

A wish'd and glorious end.
Marc. From you I take this

From this hour learn to serve me, or you'll feel As loyal duty; but in any other,

I must make use of my authority,

And, as a princess, punish it.

Isa. A princess!

It would appear gross flattery.
Fran. Flattery, madam!

You are so rare and excellent in all things,

Mari. I had rather be a slave unto a Moor, And rais'd so high upon a rock of goodness, Than know thee for my equal.

Enter FRANCISCO and Guards.

Fran. What wind hath rais'd this tempest? A tumult in the court! What's the cause? Speak, Mariana.

Mari. Do you hear, sir?

As that vice cannot reach you: who but looks on
This temple, built by nature to perfection,
But must bow to it; and out of that zeal,
Not only learn to adore it, but to love it?
Marc. Whither will this fellow?
Fran. Pardon, therefore, madam,
If an excess in me of humble duty,

Right me on this monster, or ne'er look to Teach me to hope my piety and love

[Aside.

Marc. You have it in my thanks;
And, on my hand, I am pleas'd that you

take

shall

A full possession of it: but take heed
That you fix here, and feed no hope beyond it;
If you do, it will prove fatal.

Fran. Be it death,

And death with torments tyrants ne'er found
out,

Yet I must say I love you.
Marc. As a subject,

And 'twill become you.

Fran. Farewell circumstance!

And since you are not pleas'd to understand

me,

As when himself perform'd the willing office.
Grac. I would I were well off! Aside.
Fran. And therefore I beseech you, gentle But by a plain and usual form of speech,
madam,
All superstitious reverence laid by,

Name those that have offended you.

Isa. I am one.

Mari. And I will justify it.

Fran. Remember she's the dutchess.
Marc. But us'd with more contempt than
if I were
A peasant's daughter.

Fran. Think not then I speak
(For I stand bound to honour, and to serve you);
But that the duke, that lives in this great lady,
For the contempt of him in her, commands you
To be close prisoners.

Isa. Mari. Prisoners!
Fran. Bear them hence.
Marc. I am not cruel,

But pleas'd they may have liberty.
Isa. Pleas'd, with a mischief!

I love you as a man. Why do you start?
I am no monster, and you but a woman;
A woman made to yield, and by example
Told it is lawful.

Marc. Keep off! O, you powers!
Are all the princely bounties, favours, honours,
Which, with some prejudice to his own wisdom,
Thy lord and raiser hath conferr'd upon thee,
In three days absence, buried? And is this,
This impudent attempt to taint mine honour,
The fair return of both our ventur'd favours?
Fran. Hear my excuse.
Marc. Read my life,

And find one act of mine so loosely carried,
That could invite a most self-loving fool,
Set off with all that fortune could throw on

him,

Mari. I'llrather live in any loathsome dungeon, To the least hope to find way to my favour.

Fran. And while the duke did prize you to
your value,

I well might envy him; but durst not hope
To stop you in your full career of goodness:
But now I find that he's fall'n from his fortune,
And, howsoever he would appear doting,
Grown cold in his affection; I presume,
From his most barbarous neglect of you,
To offer my true service. Nor stand I bound
To look back on the courtesies of him
That, of all living men, is most unthankful.
Marc. Unheard-of arrogance!
Fran. You'll say I am modest
When I have told the story.
You think he loves you

With unexampl'd fervour; nay, dotes on you,
As there were something in you more than

woman:

When, on my knowledge, he long since hath wish'd

You were among the dead.

Marc. Bless me, good angels,

Or I am blasted! Lies so false and wicked,
And fashion'd to so damnable a purpose,
Cannot be spoken by a human tongue.
My husband hate me! give thyself the lie,
False and accurs'd! Thy soul, if thou hast any,
Can witness, never lady stood so bound
To the unfeign'd affections of her lord,
As I do to my Sforza. If thou wouldst work
Upon my weak credulity, tell me, rather,
There's peace between the lion and the lamb;
Or, that the ravenous eagle and the dove
Keep in one aerie, and bring up their young;
Or any thing that is averse to nature;
And I will sooner credit it than that
My lord can think of me but as a jewel
He loves more than himself, and all the world.
Fran. O innocence abus'd! simplicity cozen'd!
It were a sin, for which we have no name,
To keep you longer in this wilful error.
Read his affections here; [Gives her a Pa-
per] and then observe

How dear he holds you! 'Tis his character,
Which cunning yet could never counterfeit.
Marc. 'Tis his hand, I'm resolv'd of it: I'll
try

What the inscription is.
Fran. Pray you do so.

Fran. But I am true,
And live to make you happy.
Marc. I prefer the hate

Of Sforza, though it mark me for the grave,
Before thy base affection. I am yet
Pure and unspotted in my true love to him;
Nor shall it be corrupted, though he's tainted;
Nor will I part with innocence, because
He is found guilty. For thyself, thou art
A thing, that, equal with the devil himself,
I do detest and scorn.

Fran. Thou, then, art nothing:

Thy life is in my power, disdainful woman!
Think on't, and tremble.

Marc. No, with my curses

Of horror to thy conscience in this life,
And pains in hell hereafter, I defy thee. [Exit.
Fran. I am lost

In the discovery of this fatal secret.
Curs'd hope, that flatter'd me,
that wrongs
could make her

A stranger to her goodness! all my plots
Turn back upon myself; but I am in,
And must go on; and since I have put off
From the shore of innocence, guilt be now
my pilot!
[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I.—The Imperial Camp before PAVIA.
Enter MEDINA, HERNANDO, and ALPHONSO.
Med. The spoil, the spoil! 'tis that the sol-
dier fights for.

Our victory, as yet, affords us nothing
But wounds and empty honour.
Her. Hell put it in

The enemy's mind to be desperate, and hold
out!

Yieldings and compositions will undo us;
And what is that way given, for the most part,
Comes to the emperor: the poor soldier left
To starve, or fill up hospitals.

Alph. But, when

We enter towns by force, and carve ourselves,
Pleasure with pillage-

Med. I long to be at it.
Her. My main hope is,

To begin the sport at Milan: there's enough,
And of all kinds of pleasure we can wish for,
To satisfy the most covetous.
Alph. Every day

Mare. [Reads] You know my pleasure,
and the hour of Marcelia's death, which
fail not to execute, as you will answer We look for a remove.

the contrary, not with your head alone, Med. For Lodowick Sforza,

but with the ruin of your whole family. The duke of Milan, I, on mine own knowledge, And this, written with my own hand, Can say thus much: he is too much a soldier; and signed with my privy signet, shall Too confident of his own worth; too rich too; be your sufficient warrant.

LUDOVICO SFORZA.

I do obey it! every word's a poniard,

And reaches to my heart.

[Swoons.

Fran. What have I done?
Madam! for heaven's sake, madam!-
Dear lady!-

She stirs. For the duke's sake! for Sforza's

sake

Marc. Sforza's! stand off! though dead, I
will be his;

And even my ashes shall abhor the touch
Of any other. O unkind, and cruel!
Learn, women, learn to trust in one another;
There is no faith in man: Sforza is false,-
False to Marcelia!

And understands too well the emperor hates him,
To hope for composition.

Alph. On my life

We need not fear his coming in.

Her. On mine

I do not wish it: I had rather that,

To show his valour, he'd put us to the trouble
To fetch him in by the ears.
Med. The emperor!

Flourish. Enter the EMPEROR CHARLES,
PESCARA, and Attendants.
Emp. C. You make me wonder: nay, it is
no counsel:

You may partake it, gentlemen. Who'd have
thought

That he, that scorn'd our proffer'd amity

When he was sued to, should, ere he be Freely acknowledged, to give up the reasons

summon'd,

First kneel for mercy?

Med. When your majesty

Shall please to instruct us who it is, we may Admire it with you.

Emp. C. Who, but the duke of Milan, The right hand of the French! of all that stand In our displeasure, whom necessity Compels to seek our favour, I would have

sworn

Sforza had been the last.

Her. And should be writ so In the list of those you pardon. city

Would his Had rather held us out a siege, like Troy, Than, by a feign'd submission, he should cheat

you

Of a just revenge, or us of those fair glories We have sweat blood to purchase!

Alph. The sack alone of Milan

Will pay the army.

Emp. C. I am not so weak,

To be wrought on as you fear; nor ignorant
That money is the sinew of the war:
Yet, for our glory, and to show him that
We've brought him on his knees, it is resolv'd
To hear him as a suppliant. Bring him in;
But let him see the effects of our just anger,
In the guard that you make for him.

[Exit Pescara.
Her. I am now
Familiar with the issue; all plagues on it!
He will appear in some dejected habit,
His countenance suitable, and for his order,
A
горе about his neck; then kneel, and tell
Old stories-what more worthy thing it is
To have power than to use it;

To make a king than kill one: which apply'd
To the emperor and himself, a pardon's granted
To him, an enemy; and we, his servants,
Condemn'd to beggary. [Apart to Medina.
Med. Yonder he comes;
But not as you expected.

Re-enter PESCARA, with LUDOVICO
strongly guarded.

Alph. He looks as if

He would outface his dangers.
Her. I am cozen'd:

A suitor, in the devil's name!
Med. Hear him speak.

My hate against thyself, and love to him
That made me so affected: in my wants
I ever found him faithful; had supplies
Of men and money from him; and my hopes
Quite sunk, were, by his grace, buoy'd up again;
I dare to speak his praise now, in as high
And loud a key, as when he was thy equal.
The benefits he sow'd in me met not
Unthankful ground, but yielded him his own
With fair increase, and I still glory in it.
And though my fortunes

Are in thy fury burnt, let it be mention'd,
They serv'd but as small tapers to attend
The solemn flame at this great funeral :
And with them I will gladly waste myself,
Rather than undergo the imputation
Of being base, or unthankful.
Alph. Nobly spoken!
[Apart.
Her. I do begin, I know not why, to hate

Less than I did.

him

[Apart.

Sfor. If that, then, to be grateful For courtesies receiv'd, or not to leave A friend in his necessities, be a crime Amongst you Spaniards, Sforza brings his head To pay the forfeit. Nor come 1 as a slave, Pinion'd and fetter'd, in a squalid weed, Falling before thy feet, kneeling and howling For a forestall'd remission; I ne'er fear'd to die, More than I wish'd to live. When I had reach'd My ends in being a duke, I wore these robes, This crown upon my head, and to my side This sword was girt; and witness, truth, that

I do begin strangely to love this fellow.

Sfor. But, if example

SFORZA, Of my fidelity to the French,

[Apart.

Has power to invite you to make him a friend,
That hath given evident proof he knows to love,
[Apart. And to be thankful: this my crown, now yours,
You may restore me.

[Apart. Alph. By this light,
[Apart. "Tis a brave gentleman.

Sfor. I come not, emperor, to invade thy

mercy,

By fawning on thy fortune; nor bring with me Excuses or denials. I profess,

[Apart.

Emp. C. Thou hast so far Outgone my expectation, noble Sforza, For such I hold thee; and true constancy, Rais'd on a brave foundation, bears such palm And privilege with it, that where we behold it, Though in an enemy, it does command us That I am in thy power, I was thine enemy; To love and honour it. By my future hopes, Thy deadly and vow'd enemy; one that wish'd I am glad, for thy sake, that, in seeking favour, Confusion to thy person and estates; Thou didst not borrow of vice her indirect,

And with a good man's confidence, even this

instant

And with my utmost powers, and deepest Crooked, and abject means: and so far

counsels,

I am from robbing thee of the least honour,
That with my hands, to make it sit the faster,
I set thy crown once more upon thy head;
And do not only style thee duke of Milan,
But vow to keep thee so. Yet, not to take
From others to give only to myself,

I will not hinder your magnificence
[Aside. To my commanders, neither will I urge it;
But in that, as in all things else, I leave you

Have little power in peace), may beget danger, At least suspicion.

Sfor. Where true honour lives,
Doubt hath no being; I desire no pawn,
Beyond an emperor's word, for my assurance.
Besides, Pescara, to thyself, of all men,

I will confess my weakness: though my state
And crown's restor❜d me, though I am in grace,
And that a little stay might be a step
To greater honours, I must hence. Alas,
I live not here; my wife, my wife, Pescara,
Being absent, I am dead. Pr'ythee excuse,
And do not chide, for friendship's sake, my
fondness;

But ride along with me: I'll give you reasons,
And strong ones, to plead for me.
Pes. Use your own pleasure;

I'll bear you company.

Sfor. Farewell, grief! I am stored with Two blessings most desired in human life, A constant friend, an unsuspected wife. [Exeunt.

Enter FRANCISCO and a Servant. Hell now inspire me! How, the lord protector! Whither thus in private? will not see him.

[Stands aside.

Fran. If I am sought for, Say I am indispos'd, and will not hear Or suits, or suitors.

Serv. But, sir, if the princess
Inquire, what shall I answer?
Fran. Say I am rid

Abroad to take the air; but by no means
Let her know I'm in court.
Serv. So I shall tell her.
Fran. Within there!

Enter a Gentlewoman.

[Exit.

Gentlew. My good lord, your pleasure? Fran. Pr'ythee let me beg thy favour for

To the dutchess.

access

Gentlew. In good sooth, my lord, I dare not; She's very private.

Fran. Come, there's gold

Where is thy lady?

Gentlew. She's walking in the gallery.
Fran. Bring me to her.

[Exeunt Francisco and Gentlewoman. Grac. A brave discovery beyond my hope, A plot even offer'd to my hand to work on! If I am dull now, may I live and die The scorn of worms and slaves! Let me consider;

My lady and her mother first committed,
In the favour of the dutchess; and I whipt!
And all his brib'd approaches to the dutchess
To be conceal'd! good, good. This to my lady
Deliver'd, as I'll order it, runs her mad.

[Exit.

SCENE III.-Another Room in the same.
Enter MARCELIA and FRANCISCO.
Marc. Believe thy tears or oaths! can it be
hop'd,

After a practice so abhorr'd and horrid,
Repentance e'er can find thee?
Fran. Dearest lady,

[Apart. I do confess, humbly confess my fault,
Apart. To be beyond all pity; my attempt
turn'd So barbarously rude, that it would turn
A saint-like patience into savage fury.
Marc. I'st possible

The wonder, gentlemen?
Julio. I read this morning,
Strange stories of the passive fortitude
Of men in former ages, which I thought
Impossible, and not to be believed;

But now I look on you my wonder ceases.
Grac. The reason, sir?

Julio. Why, sir, you have been whipt; Whipt, seignior Graccho; and the whip,

take it,

Is, to a gentleman, the greatest trial
That may be of his patience.

Grac. Sir, I'll call you

To a strict account for this.
Gio. I'll not deal with you,

Unless I have a beadle for my second;
And then I'll answer you.
Julio. Farewell, poor Graccho.

[Exeunt Julio and Giovanni.

This can be cunning?

Fran. But, if no submission,

[Aside.

Nor prayers can appease you, that you may

know

The warrant, by my lord sign'd for your death, Was but conditional; but you must swear, Grac. Better and better still. If ever wrongs By your unspotted truth, not to reveal it, Could teach a wretch to find the way to Or I end here abruptly.

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