The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster



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What they hear though most imperfect, and not me;

For if that you be true unto yourself,

I 'll know.
CARDINAL. Will you rack me?
JULIA. No, judgment shall

Draw it from you: it is an equal fault,

To tell one's secrets unto all or none.
CARDINAL. The first argues folly.
JULIA. But the last tyranny.
CARDINAL. Very well: why, imagine I have committed

Some secret deed which I desire the world

May never hear of.
JULIA. Therefore may not I know it?

You have conceal'd for me as great a sin

As adultery. Sir, never was occasion

For perfect trial of my constancy

Till now: sir, I beseech you----
CARDINAL. You 'll repent it.
JULIA. Never.
CARDINAL. It hurries thee to ruin: I 'll not tell thee.

Be well advis'd, and think what danger 'tis

To receive a prince's secrets. They that do,

Had need have their breasts hoop'd with adamant

To contain them. I pray thee, yet be satisfi'd;

Examine thine own frailty; 'tis more easy

To tie knots than unloose them. 'Tis a secret

That, like a ling'ring poison, may chance lie

Spread in thy veins, and kill thee seven year hence.
JULIA. Now you dally with me.
CARDINAL. No more; thou shalt know it.

By my appointment the great Duchess of Malfi

And two of her young children, four nights since,

Were strangl'd.


JULIA. O heaven! sir, what have you done!
CARDINAL. How now? How settles this? Think you your bosom

Will be a grave dark and obscure enough

For such a secret?
JULIA. You have undone yourself, sir.
CARDINAL. Why?
JULIA. It lies not in me to conceal it.
CARDINAL. No?

Come, I will swear you to 't upon this book.


JULIA. Most religiously.
CARDINAL. Kiss it.

[She kisses the book.]

Now you shall never utter it; thy curiosity

Hath undone thee; thou 'rt poison'd with that book.

Because I knew thou couldst not keep my counsel,

I have bound thee to 't by death.


[Re-enter BOSOLA]
BOSOLA. For pity-sake, hold!
CARDINAL. Ha, Bosola!
JULIA. I forgive you

This equal piece of justice you have done;

For I betray'd your counsel to that fellow.

He over-heard it; that was the cause I said

It lay not in me to conceal it.
BOSOLA. O foolish woman,

Couldst not thou have poison'd him?


JULIA. 'Tis weakness,

Too much to think what should have been done. I go,

I know not whither.

[Dies.]
CARDINAL. Wherefore com'st thou hither?


BOSOLA. That I might find a great man like yourself,

Not out of his wits, as the Lord Ferdinand,

To remember my service.
CARDINAL. I 'll have thee hew'd in pieces.
BOSOLA. Make not yourself such a promise of that life

Which is not yours to dispose of.


CARDINAL. Who plac'd thee here?
BOSOLA. Her lust, as she intended.
CARDINAL. Very well:

Now you know me for your fellow-murderer.


BOSOLA. And wherefore should you lay fair marble colours

Upon your rotten purposes to me?

Unless you imitate some that do plot great treasons,

And when they have done, go hide themselves i' th' grave

Of those were actors in 't?
CARDINAL. No more; there is

A fortune attends thee.


BOSOLA. Shall I go sue to Fortune any longer?

'Tis the fool's pilgrimage.


CARDINAL. I have honours in store for thee.
BOSOLA. There are a many ways that conduct to seeming

Honour, and some of them very dirty ones.


CARDINAL. Throw to the devil

Thy melancholy. The fire burns well;

What need we keep a stirring of 't, and make

A greater smother?<132> Thou wilt kill Antonio?


BOSOLA. Yes.
CARDINAL. Take up that body.
BOSOLA. I think I shall

Shortly grow the common bier for church-yards.


CARDINAL. I will allow thee some dozen of attendants

To aid thee in the murder.


BOSOLA. O, by no means. Physicians that apply horse-leeches

to any rank swelling use to cut off their tails, that the blood

may run through them the faster: let me have no train when I go

to shed blood, less it make me have a greater when I ride

to the gallows.
CARDINAL. Come to me after midnight, to help to remove

That body to her own lodging. I 'll give out

She died o' th' plague; 'twill breed the less inquiry

After her death.


BOSOLA. Where 's Castruccio her husband?
CARDINAL. He 's rode to Naples, to take possession

Of Antonio's citadel.


BOSOLA. Believe me, you have done a very happy turn.
CARDINAL. Fail not to come. There is the master-key

Of our lodgings; and by that you may conceive

What trust I plant in you.
BOSOLA. You shall find me ready.

Exit CARDINAL.

O poor Antonio, though nothing be so needful

To thy estate as pity, yet I find

Nothing so dangerous! I must look to my footing:

In such slippery ice-pavements men had need

To be frost-nail'd well, they may break their necks else;

The precedent 's here afore me. How this man

Bears up in blood! seems fearless! Why, 'tis well;

Security some men call the suburbs of hell,

Only a dead wall between. Well, good Antonio,

I 'll seek thee out; and all my care shall be

To put thee into safety from the reach

Of these most cruel biters that have got

Some of thy blood already. It may be,

I 'll join with thee in a most just revenge.

The weakest arm is strong enough that strikes

With the sword of justice. Still methinks the duchess

Haunts me: there, there!--'Tis nothing but my melancholy.

O Penitence, let me truly taste thy cup,

That throws men down only to raise them up!

Exit.


Scene III<133>
[Enter] ANTONIO and DELIO. Echo (from the DUCHESS'S Grave)
DELIO. Yond 's the cardinal's window. This fortification

Grew from the ruins of an ancient abbey;

And to yond side o' th' river lies a wall,

Piece of a cloister, which in my opinion

Gives the best echo that you ever heard,

So hollow and so dismal, and withal

So plain in the distinction of our words,

That many have suppos'd it is a spirit

That answers.
ANTONIO. I do love these ancient ruins.

We never tread upon them but we set

Our foot upon some reverend history;

And, questionless, here in this open court,

Which now lies naked to the injuries

Of stormy weather, some men lie interr'd

Lov'd the church so well, and gave so largely to 't,

They thought it should have canopied their bones

Till dooms-day. But all things have their end;

Churches and cities, which have diseases like to men,

Must have like death that we have.
ECHO. Like death that we have.
DELIO. Now the echo hath caught you.
ANTONIO. It groan'd methought, and gave

A very deadly accent.


ECHO. Deadly accent.
DELIO. I told you 'twas a pretty one. You may make it

A huntsman, or a falconer, a musician,

Or a thing of sorrow.
ECHO. A thing of sorrow.
ANTONIO. Ay, sure, that suits it best.
ECHO. That suits it best.
ANTONIO. 'Tis very like my wife's voice.
ECHO. Ay, wife's voice.
DELIO. Come, let us walk further from t.

I would not have you go to the cardinal's to-night:

Do not.
ECHO. Do not.
DELIO. Wisdom doth not more moderate wasting sorrow

Than time. Take time for 't; be mindful of thy safety.


ECHO. Be mindful of thy safety.
ANTONIO. Necessity compels me.

Make scrutiny through the passages

Of your own life, you 'll find it impossible

To fly your fate.


ECHO. O, fly your fate!
DELIO. Hark! the dead stones seem to have pity on you,

And give you good counsel.


ANTONIO. Echo, I will not talk with thee,

For thou art a dead thing.


ECHO. Thou art a dead thing.
ANTONIO. My duchess is asleep now,

And her little ones, I hope sweetly. O heaven,

Shall I never see her more?
ECHO. Never see her more.
ANTONIO. I mark'd not one repetition of the echo

But that; and on the sudden a clear light

Presented me a face folded in sorrow.
DELIO. Your fancy merely.
ANTONIO. Come, I 'll be out of this ague,

For to live thus is not indeed to live;

It is a mockery and abuse of life.

I will not henceforth save myself by halves;

Lose all, or nothing.
DELIO. Your own virtue save you!

I 'll fetch your eldest son, and second you.

It may be that the sight of his own blood

Spread in so sweet a figure may beget

The more compassion. However, fare you well.

Though in our miseries Fortune have a part,

Yet in our noble sufferings she hath none.

Contempt of pain, that we may call our own.

Exeunt.

Scene IV<134>


[Enter] CARDINAL, PESCARA, MALATESTI, RODERIGO, and GRISOLAN
CARDINAL. You shall not watch to-night by the sick prince;

His grace is very well recover'd.


MALATESTI. Good my lord, suffer us.
CARDINAL. O, by no means;

The noise, and change of object in his eye,

Doth more distract him. I pray, all to bed;

And though you hear him in his violent fit,

Do not rise, I entreat you.
PESCARA. So, sir; we shall not.
CARDINAL. Nay, I must have you promise

Upon your honours, for I was enjoin'd to 't

By himself; and he seem'd to urge it sensibly.
PESCARA. Let our honours bind this trifle.
CARDINAL. Nor any of your followers.
MALATESTI. Neither.
CARDINAL. It may be, to make trial of your promise,

When he 's asleep, myself will rise and feign

Some of his mad tricks, and cry out for help,

And feign myself in danger.


MALATESTI. If your throat were cutting,

I 'd not come at you, now I have protested against it.


CARDINAL. Why, I thank you.
GRISOLAN. 'Twas a foul storm to-night.
RODERIGO. The Lord Ferdinand's chamber shook like an osier.
MALATESTI. 'Twas nothing put pure kindness in the devil

To rock his own child.

Exeunt [all except the CARDINAL].
CARDINAL. The reason why I would not suffer these

About my brother, is, because at midnight

I may with better privacy convey

Julia's body to her own lodging. O, my conscience!

I would pray now; but the devil takes away my heart

For having any confidence in prayer.

About this hour I appointed Bosola

To fetch the body. When he hath serv'd my turn,

He dies.

Exit.
[Enter BOSOLA]


BOSOLA. Ha! 'twas the cardinal's voice; I heard him name

Bosola and my death. Listen; I hear one's footing.


[Enter FERDINAND]
FERDINAND. Strangling is a very quiet death.
BOSOLA. [Aside.] Nay, then, I see I must stand upon my guard.
FERDINAND. What say to that? Whisper softly: do you agree to 't?

So; it must be done i' th' dark; the cardinal would not for

a thousand pounds the doctor should see it.

Exit.
BOSOLA. My death is plotted; here 's the consequence of murder.

We value not desert nor Christian breath,

When we know black deeds must be cur'd with death.


[Enter ANTONIO and Servant]
SERVANT. Here stay, sir, and be confident, I pray;

I 'll fetch you a dark lantern.

Exit.
ANTONIO. Could I take him at his prayers,

There were hope of pardon.


BOSOLA. Fall right, my sword!--

[Stabs him.]

I 'll not give thee so much leisure as to pray.
ANTONIO. O, I am gone! Thou hast ended a long suit

In a minute.


BOSOLA. What art thou?
ANTONIO. A most wretched thing,

That only have thy benefit in death,

To appear myself.
[Re-enter Servant with a lantern]
SERVANT. Where are you, sir?
ANTONIO. Very near my home.--Bosola!
SERVANT. O, misfortune!
BOSOLA. Smother thy pity, thou art dead else.--Antonio!

The man I would have sav'd 'bove mine own life!

We are merely the stars' tennis-balls, struck and banded

Which way please them.--O good Antonio,

I 'll whisper one thing in thy dying ear

Shall make thy heart break quickly! Thy fair duchess

And two sweet children----
ANTONIO. Their very names

Kindle a little life in me.


BOSOLA. Are murder'd.
ANTONIO. Some men have wish'd to die

At the hearing of sad tidings; I am glad

That I shall do 't in sadness.<135> I would not now

Wish my wounds balm'd nor heal'd, for I have no use

To put my life to. In all our quest of greatness,

Like wanton boys whose pastime is their care,

We follow after bubbles blown in th' air.

Pleasure of life, what is 't? Only the good hours

Of an ague; merely a preparative to rest,

To endure vexation. I do not ask

The process of my death; only commend me

To Delio.


BOSOLA. Break, heart!
ANTONIO. And let my son fly the courts to princes.

[Dies.]
BOSOLA. Thou seem'st to have lov'd Antonio.


SERVANT. I brought him hither,

To have reconcil'd him to the cardinal.


BOSOLA. I do not ask thee that.

Take him up, if thou tender thine own life,

And bear him where the lady Julia

Was wont to lodge.--O, my fate moves swift!

I have this cardinal in the forge already;

Now I 'll bring him to th' hammer. O direful misprision!<136>

I will not imitate things glorious.

No more than base; I 'll be mine own example.--

On, on, and look thou represent, for silence,

The thing thou bear'st.<137>

Exeunt.

Scene V<138>


[Enter] CARDINAL, with a book
CARDINAL. I am puzzl'd in a question about hell;

He says, in hell there 's one material fire,

And yet it shall not burn all men alike.

Lay him by. How tedious is a guilty conscience!

When I look into the fish-ponds in my garden,

Methinks I see a thing arm'd with a rake,

That seems to strike at me.

[Enter BOSOLA, and Servant bearing ANTONIO'S body]

Now, art thou come?

Thou look'st ghastly;

There sits in thy face some great determination

Mix'd with some fear.


BOSOLA. Thus it lightens into action:

I am come to kill thee.


CARDINAL. Ha!--Help! our guard!
BOSOLA. Thou art deceiv'd; they are out of thy howling.
CARDINAL. Hold; and I will faithfully divide

Revenues with thee.


BOSOLA. Thy prayers and proffers

Are both unseasonable.


CARDINAL. Raise the watch!

We are betray'd!


BOSOLA. I have confin'd your flight:

I 'll suffer your retreat to Julia's chamber,

But no further.
CARDINAL. Help! we are betray'd!
[Enter, above, PESCARA, MALATESTI, RODERIGO, and GRISOLAN]
MALATESTI. Listen.
CARDINAL. My dukedom for rescue!
RODERIGO. Fie upon his counterfeiting!
MALATESTI. Why, 'tis not the cardinal.
RODERIGO. Yes, yes, 'tis he:

But, I 'll see him hang'd ere I 'll go down to him.


CARDINAL. Here 's a plot upon me; I am assaulted! I am lost,

Unless some rescue!


GRISOLAN. He doth this pretty well;

But it will not serve to laugh me out of mine honour.


CARDINAL. The sword's at my throat!
RODERIGO. You would not bawl so loud then.
MALATESTI.

Come, come, let 's go to bed: he told us this much aforehand.


PESCARA. He wish'd you should not come at him; but, believe 't,

The accent of the voice sounds not in jest:

I 'll down to him, howsoever, and with engines

Force ope the doors.

[Exit above.]
RODERIGO. Let 's follow him aloof,

And note how the cardinal will laugh at him.

[Exeunt, above, MALATESTI, RODERIGO, and GRISOLAN.]
BOSOLA. There 's for you first,

'Cause you shall not unbarricade the door

To let in rescue.

Kills the Servant.


CARDINAL. What cause hast thou to pursue my life?
BOSOLA. Look there.
CARDINAL. Antonio!
BOSOLA. Slain by my hand unwittingly.

Pray, and be sudden. When thou kill'd'st thy sister,

Thou took'st from Justice her most equal balance,

And left her naught but her sword.


CARDINAL. O, mercy!
BOSOLA. Now it seems thy greatness was only outward;

For thou fall'st faster of thyself than calamity

Can drive thee. I 'll not waste longer time; there!

[Stabs him.]


CARDINAL. Thou hast hurt me.
BOSOLA. Again!
CARDINAL. Shall I die like a leveret,

Without any resistance?--Help, help, help!

I am slain!
[Enter FERDINAND]
FERDINAND. Th' alarum! Give me a fresh horse;

Rally the vaunt-guard, or the day is lost,

Yield, yield! I give you the honour of arms

Shake my sword over you; will you yield?


CARDINAL. Help me; I am your brother!
FERDINAND. The devil!

My brother fight upon the adverse party!

He wounds the CARDINAL, and, in the scuffle, gives BOSOLA

his death-wound.

There flies your ransom.
CARDINAL. O justice!

I suffer now for what hath former bin:

Sorrow is held the eldest child of sin.
FERDINAND. Now you 're brave fellows. Caesar's fortune was harder

than Pompey's; Caesar died in the arms of prosperity, Pompey at the

feet of disgrace. You both died in the field. The pain 's nothing;

pain many times is taken away with the apprehension of greater,

as the tooth-ache with the sight of a barber that comes to pull

it out. There 's philosophy for you.


BOSOLA. Now my revenge is perfect.--Sink, thou main cause

Kills FERDINAND.

Of my undoing!--The last part of my life

Hath done me best service.


FERDINAND. Give me some wet hay; I am broken-winded.

I do account this world but a dog-kennel:

I will vault credit and affect high pleasures

Beyond death.


BOSOLA. He seems to come to himself,

Now he 's so near the bottom.


FERDINAND. My sister, O my sister! there 's the cause on 't.

Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust,

Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust.

[Dies.]
CARDINAL. Thou hast thy payment too.


BOSOLA. Yes, I hold my weary soul in my teeth;

'Tis ready to part from me. I do glory

That thou, which stood'st like a huge pyramid

Begun upon a large and ample base,

Shalt end in a little point, a kind of nothing.
[Enter, below, PESCARA, MALATESTI, RODERIGO, and GRISOLAN]
PESCARA. How now, my lord!
MALATESTI. O sad disaster!
RODERIGO. How comes this?
BOSOLA. Revenge for the Duchess of Malfi murdered

By the Arragonian brethren; for Antonio

Slain by this hand; for lustful Julia

Poison'd by this man; and lastly for myself,

That was an actor in the main of all

Much 'gainst mine own good nature, yet i' the end

Neglected.
PESCARA. How now, my lord!
CARDINAL. Look to my brother:

He gave us these large wounds, as we were struggling

Here i' th' rushes. And now, I pray, let me

Be laid by and never thought of.

[Dies.]
PESCARA. How fatally, it seems, he did withstand

His own rescue!


MALATESTI. Thou wretched thing of blood,

How came Antonio by his death?


BOSOLA. In a mist; I know not how:

Such a mistake as I have often seen

In a play. O, I am gone!

We are only like dead walls or vaulted graves,

That, ruin'd, yield no echo. Fare you well.

It may be pain, but no harm, to me to die

In so good a quarrel. O, this gloomy world!

In what a shadow, or deep pit of darkness,

Doth womanish and fearful mankind live!

Let worthy minds ne'er stagger in distrust

To suffer death or shame for what is just:

Mine is another voyage.

[Dies.]
PESCARA. The noble Delio, as I came to th' palace,

Told me of Antonio's being here, and show'd me

A pretty gentleman, his son and heir.
[Enter DELIO, and ANTONIO'S Son]
MALATESTI. O sir, you come too late!
DELIO. I heard so, and

Was arm'd for 't, ere I came. Let us make noble use

Of this great ruin; and join all our force

To establish this young hopeful gentleman

In 's mother's right. These wretched eminent things

Leave no more fame behind 'em, than should one

Fall in a frost, and leave his print in snow;

As soon as the sun shines, it ever melts,

Both form and matter. I have ever thought

Nature doth nothing so great for great men

As when she 's pleas'd to make them lords of truth:

Integrity of life is fame's best friend,

Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end.

Exeunt.
<1> Malfi. The presence-chamber in the palace of the Duchess.


<2> Prevent.
<3> The same.
<4> The reference is to the knightly sport of riding at the ring.
<5> At the expense of.
<6> Rolls of lint used to dress wounds.
<7> Surgeons.
<8> A small horse.
<9> Ballasted.
<10> A lively dance.
<11> Throws into the shade.
<12> At the point of.
<13> Coaches.
<14> Spy.
<15> Cheats.
<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.
<21> Housekeepers.
<22> Produced.
<23> Qq. read STRANGE.
<24> Guess.
<25> The phrase used to indicate that accounts had been examined

and found correct.


<26> Using words of present time; i.e., "I take," not "I will take."
<27> Knot.
<28> More firmly.
<29> Of difficult disposition.
<30> Malfi. An apartment in the palace of the Duchess.
<31> Chief part.
<32> Bullies (Hazlitt); lawyers (Vaughan).
<33> Royal journey.
<34> Turning a boat on its side for repairs.
<35> Scabbed.
<36> Empty.
<37> Face-modeling (Sampson). "There's a plain statement of your

practises."


<38> Blue like those of a woman with child.
<39> Scurf.
<40> Person of highest influence.
<41> Hysteria.
<42> This year.
<43> Clearly.
<44> Youngster.
<45> A hall in the same palace.
<46> Crossness.
<47> Always.
<48> The meaner servants.
<49> At once.
<50> Cast his horoscope.
<51> The court of the same palace.
<52> Making an astrological calculation.
<53> Going to the root of the matter.
<54> Write.
<55> i.e., on his handkerchief.
<56> Addressing the lantern.
<57> "The rest not considered."
<58> A piece of news.
<59> Cleverly contrived.
<60> Rome. An apartment in the palace of the Cardinal.
<61> Religious recluse.
<62> Experienced.
<63> Sick.
<64> Medicinal.
<65> Strong broth.
<66> Another apartment in the same palace.
<67> The mandrake was supposed to give forth shrieks when uprooted,

which drove the hearer mad.


<68> Unchaste.
<69> Supposed to be a sign of folly.
<70> Throw the hammer.
<71> Boil to shreds. (Dyce.) Qq, TO BOIL.
<72> Malfi. An apartment in the palace of the Duchess.
<73> Wealth.
<74> Lampoons.
<75> Plowshares.
<76> Spying.
<77> Deceptions.
<78> Soothing.
<79> The bed-chamber of the Duchess in the same.
<80> Qq. read SLIGHT.
<81> Powder of orris-root.
<82> Wheels of craft.
<83> Certificate that the books were found correct.
<84> The badge of a steward.
<85> Spies.
<86> Lot.
<87> For Plutus.
<88> Quick steps.
<89> Miss.
<90> Remains.
<91> Profession.
<92> An apartment in the Cardinal's palace at Rome.
<93> A decorated horse-cloth, used only when the court is traveling.
<94> The first quarto has in the margin: "The Author disclaims

this Ditty to be his."


<95> Near Loretto.
<96> Small birds.
<97> His vizard.
<98> Malfi. An apartment in the palace of the Duchess.
<99> Curtain.
<100> The wife of Brutus, who died by swallowing fire.
<101> By artificial means.
<102> Profession.
<103> Spying.
<104> Another room in the lodging of the Duchess.
<105> Band.
<106> Bands.
<107> Boil.
<108> Punning on the two senses of "dye" and "corn."
<109> From exporting his grain.
<110> Optical glass.
<111> The Geneva Bible.
<112> Petticoat.
<113> Coach.
<114> A warm drink containing milk, wine, etc.
<115> Receptacle.
<116> A drug supposed to ooze from embalmed bodies.
<117> Curdled.
<118> Trial.
<119> An exclamation of impatience.
<120> Milan. A public place.
<121> In escheat; here, in fee.
<122> Disbeliever.
<123> Fraught.
<124> A gallery in the residence of the Cardinal and Ferdinand.
<125> A dog which worries sheep.
<126> A fabulous serpent that killed by its glance.
<127> Cut a caper.
<128> Broth.
<129> Skeletons.
<130> So Dyce. Qq. BROUGHT.
<131> Perfumed sweetmeats for the breath.
<132> Smoke.
<133> A fortification.
<134> Milan. An apartment in the residence of the Cardinal

and Ferdinand.


<135> Reality.
<136> Mistake.
<137> i.e., the dead body.
<138> Another apartment in the same.

Comments on the preparation of this e-text:


All of the footnotes have been re-numbered, in the form .
A few punctuation marks have been added. These are always set

off by angle brackets. Eg.


The names of the characters have been spelled out in full.

Eg. CARDINAL was CARD.


Leading blanks are reproduced from the printed text. Eg.:
FERDINAND. Sister, I have a suit to you.

DUCHESS. To me, sir?


End of The Project Gutenberg Etext The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster


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