Rich. (Waving his hana.) Not quite so quick, friend Huguet; Messire De Mauprat is a patient man, I blame you not, that you would be a beggar- monies 170 Out of that crucible called DEBT.-To live Gallant in steeds—splendid in banquets;—all Men's art and labour, which to them is wealth, You're troublesome!'-Why this, forgive me, 180 Minus one crown, two liards! De Mau. (Aside.) The old conjurer!— Shaming your birth and blood- I tell you, That sir, you must pay your debts. De Mau. With all my heart, My lord. Where shall I borrow, then, the money? Rich. (Aside and laughing.) A humorous To suit my purpose-ready, frank, and bold! 190 I am not! I am just!-I found France rent asunder, The rich men despots, and the poor banditti;— Thou hast dared to love my ward-my charge. De Mau. As rivers May love the sunlight-basking in the beams, And hurrying on! Rich. Thou hast told her of thy love? De Mau. My lord, if I had dared to love a maid, Lowliest in France, I would not so have wronged her, As bid her link rich life and virgin hope With one, the deathman's gripe might, from her side, Pluck at the nuptial altar. Rich. (Sits.) I believe thee; Yet since she knows not of thy love, renounce her; Take life and fortune with another!-Silent? De Mau. Your fate has been one triumph You know not How blest a thing it was in my dark hour To nurse the one sweet thought you bid me banish. Love hath no need of words;-nor less within That holiest temple-the heaven-builded soulBreathes the recorded vow. - Base knight, false lover Were he, who bartered all that brightened grief, Rich. Huguet! Enter HUGUET. To the tapestry chamber (To Mauprat.) You will there behold De Mau. When I'm dead, Tell her I loved her. Rich. Keep such follies, sir, For fitter ears;-go De Mau. Does he mock me? [Exeunt DE MAUPRAT, HUGUET. Rich. Joseph, Enter JOSEPH. Come forth. Methinks your cheek hath lost its rubies; 2 Rich. De Mauprat. Joseph. Penniless husband! Rich. Bah! the mate for beauty Should be a man, and not a money-chest! And when I spared the life of her young lover, Baffle their schemes?—I have tried him;-He And courage; qualities that eagle-plume Was acted to dull tiers of lifeless gapers, He is a man of an uncommon promise! Rich. Have I not foes enow?— Great men gain doubly when they make foes Remember my grand maxims;-First employ Joseph. Failing these?— Rich. (Fiercely.) All means to crush; as with the opening, and 290 The clenching of this little hand, I will Crush the small venom of these stinging courtiers. Joseph. And when Check the conspiracy? Rich. Check, check? Full way to it. Let it bud, ripen, flaunt i' the day, and burst To fruit,-the Dead Sea's fruit of ashes;-ashes Which I will scatter to the winds. Go, Joseph; (Sits.) When you return, I have a feast for you; [JOSEPH shrugs his shoulders, and exit. Enter DE MAUPRAT and JULIE. They kneel to RICHELIEU. De Mau. Oh, speak, my lord-I dare not think you mock me, And yet Julie. Are we not both your children? How now! Oh! sir-you live! De Mau. Why, no, methinks, Elysium is not life! Julie. He smiles!--you smile, My father! From my heart for ever, now, Rich. Rise, my children (They rise.) My own lost youth breathes musical! Temple and priest henceforward!—were it but Rich. Thou shalt seek Temple and priest right soon; the morrow's sun Shall see across these barren thresholds pass The fairest bride in Paris.-Go, my children; (Richelieu rises.) Even I loved once!-Be lovers while ye may! How is it with you, sir? You bear it bravely; You know, it asks the courage of a lion. [Exeunt JULIE and DE MAUPRAT. Rich. Oh! godlike power! Woe, rapture, penury, wealth, Marriage and death, for one infirm old man Through a great empire to dispense-withhold As the will whispers; and shall things-like motes That live in my daylight-lackeys of court wages, 300 310 320 France, Who shall proclaim divorce for thee and me! See also CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564-1593) DOCTOR FAUSTUS FAUSTUS TO THE APPARITION OF HELEN. PHILIP MASSINGER (1584-1640) THE FATAL DOWRY ACT I.-Scene 2.-'CHARMI. The cause -'is true liberty' DUKE SENIOR, AMIENS, and two or three LORDS like Foresters. Duke S. Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exile, Hath not old custom made this life more sweet Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious court? say 'This is no flattery: these are counsellors Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. Ami. Duke S. Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should, in their own confines, with forked Coursed one another down his innocent nose Augmenting it with tears. But what said Jaques? Did he not moralize this spectacle? 1st Lord. O, yes, into a thousand similes. First, for his weeping into the needless stream: 'Poor deer,' quoth he, thou mak'st a testament As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more To that which had too much:' then, being alone, Left and abandoned of his velvet friends; The flux of company:' anon, a careless herd 'Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens; 2nd Lord. We did, my lord, weeping and commenting Upon the sobbing deer. Duke S. Show me the place; 7 I love to cope him in these sullen fits, For then he's full of matter. $100 110 And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms, 'Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune;' And then he drew a dial from his poke, Thus may we see,' quoth he, how the world wags: Tis but an hour ago since it was nine, Jaq. O worthy fool! one that hath been a And says, if ladies be but young and fair, Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit Duke S. Thou shalt have one. The 'why' is plain as way to parish-church: 120 Doth very foolishly, although he smart, 130 Cleanse the foul body of the infected world, If they will patiently receive my medicine. [Duke S. Fy on thee! I can tell what thou would'st do. Jaq. What, for a counter, would I do but good? Duke S. Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin: For thou thyself hast been a libertine, And all the embossed sores, and headed evils, That thou with license of free foot hast caught, Wouldst thus disgorge into the general world. There then; how then? what then? Let me see wherein 140 justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, CORIOLANUS Men. What work's, my countrymen, in hand? where go you With bats and clubs? The matter? Speak, I pray you. 1st Cit. Our business is not unknown to the senate; they have had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do, which now we'll show 'em in deeds. They say poor suitors have strong breaths: they shall know we have strong arms too. Men. Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbours, Will you undo yourselves? 1st Cit. We cannot, sir; we are undone already. Men. I tell you, friends, most charitable care Have the patricians of you. For your wants, Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well Strike at the heaven with your staves, as lift them Against the Roman state, whose course will on The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs Of more strong link asunder than can ever Appear in your impediment. For the dearth, The gods, not the patricians, make it; and Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Rebelled against the belly; thus accused it: Did see, and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel, Men. Sir, I shall tell you.-With a kind of smile Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus For, look you, I may make the belly smile That envied his receipt; even so most fitly 1st Cit. Your belly's answer? What! What then? 'That I receive the general food at first, Which you do live upon; and fit it is, Because I am the store-house and the shop Of the whole body: but, if you do remember, I send it through the rivers of your blood, Even to the court, the heart, to the seat o' the brain; And, through the cranks and offices of man, The strongest nerves and small inferior veins From me receive that natural competency |