Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Thankful for such a bounty! yet he dreams not
Of this deceit; but let me die in speaking,
If I repute not my success more happy
Than any earthly blessing. Oh! sweet uncle,
Rejoice with me; I am a faithful convert,
And will redeem the stains of a foul name
By love and true obedience.

Mart. Force of passion
Shows me a child again.

Do, Levidolche, Perform thy resolutions; those perform'd, I have been only steward for your welfare, You shall have all between ye.

Lev. Join with me, sir;

Our plot requires much speed; we must be

earnest.

I'll tell you what conditions threaten danger,
Unless you intermediate; let us hasten,
For fear we come too late.

Mart. As thou intendest

A virtuous honesty, I am thy second
To any office, Levidolche witty,

My niece, my witty niece.

Lev. Let's slack no time, sir.

ACT V.-SCENE II.

[blocks in formation]

Mount higher than can apprehension reach 'em!
Yet this waste kind of antic sovereignty
Unto a wife who equals every best

Of your deserts, achievements, or prosperity,
Bewrays a barrenness of noble nature:
Let upstarts exercise uncomely roughness.
Clear spirits to the humble will be humble.-
You know your wife, no doubt.

Aur. 'Cry ye mercy, gentlemen!
Belike you come to tutor a good carriage,
Are expert in the nick on't: we shall study
Instructions quaintly-wife,' you said-agreed.
Keep fair, and stand the trial.

Spin. Those words raise

A lively soul in her, who almost yielded

[Exeunt. To faintness and stupidity; I thank ye: Though prove what judge you will, till I can

[blocks in formation]

Aur. Malfato!

Mal. Auria!

Aur. Cousin, would mine arms,
In their embraces, might at once deliver
Affectionately what interest your merit
Holds in my estimation! may chide
The coyness of this intercourse betwixt us,
Which a retired privacy on your part
Hath pleas'd to show: if ought of my endeavours
Can purchase kind opinion, I shall honour
The means and practice.

Mal. "Tis your charity.
Aurel. Worthy Malfato!

Mal. Provident Aurelio!

Aur. Castanna, virtuous maid!
Cast. Your servant, brother.

Aur. But who's that other? such a face mine

[blocks in formation]

purge

Objections which require belief and conscience,
I have no kindred, sister, husband, friend,
Or pity for my plea.

Mal. Call ye this welcome?
We are mistook, Castanna.
Other respects were promised.
Cast. Oh! my lord,
Aur. Said ye, lady,

'No kindred, sister, husband, friend?'
Spin. Nor name;

With this addition-I disclaim all benefit
Of mercy from a charitable thought;
If one or all the subtleties of malice,
If any engineer of faithless discord,
If supposition for pretence in folly,
Can point out, without injury to goodness,
A likelihood of guilt in my behaviour,
Which may declare neglect in every duty,
Required, fit, or exacted.

Aur. High and peremptory!
The confidence is masculine.

Mel. Why not?

An honourable cause gives life to truth,
Without control.

Spin. I can proceed; that tongue,
Whose venom, by traducing spotless honour,
Hath spread th' infection, is not more mine

[blocks in formation]

Against a mean defendant.

Mal. He's put to't;

It seems the challenge gravels him.
Aurel. My intelligence

Was issue of my doubts, not of my knowledge.
A self-confession may crave assistance;
So, in the rules of friendship, as of love,
Let the lady's justice impose the penance.
Suspicion is not seldom an improper
Advantage for the knitting faster joints
Of faithfullest affection, by the fevers

1 borrow'd bravery-feigned bravado or brusqueness of manner.

carriage-conduct, bearing.

Of casualty unloos'd, where lastly error

Hath run into the toil.

Spin. Woful satisfaction

For a divorce of hearts!

Aur. So resolute ?

I shall touch nearer home: behold these hairs,
Great masters of a spirit, yet they are not
By winter of old age quite hid in snow;
Some messengers of time, I must acknowledge,
Amongst them took up lodging; when we first
Exchang'd our faiths in wedlock, I was proud
I did prevail with one whose youth and beauty
Deserv'd a choice more suitable in both.
Advancement to a fortune could not court
Ambition, either on my side, or hers;
Love drove the bargain, and the truth of love
Confirm'd it, I conceiv'd. But disproportion
In years, amongst the married, is a reason
For change of pleasures: whereto I reply,
Our union was not forced, 'twas by consent;
So then the breach in such a case appears
Unpardonable:-say your thoughts.
Spin. My thoughts

In that respect are as resolute as yours.
The same; yet herein evidence of frailty
Deserv'd not more a separation,

Than doth charge of disloyalty objected
Without or ground or witness: women's faults
Subject to punishments, and men's applauded,
Prescribe no laws in force.

Aurel. Are you so nimble?

Mal. A soul sublimed from dross by com-
petition,

Such as is mighty Auria's famed, descends
From its own sphere, when injuries, profound

[blocks in formation]

Enter ADURNI.

Adur. That I make good,

And must without exception find admittance,
Fitting the party who hath herein interest.
Put case I was in fault, that fault stretch'd
merely

To a misguided thought; and who in presence,
Except the pair of sisters, fair and matchless,
Can quit an imputation of like folly?
Here I ask pardon, excellent Spinella,

Of only you; that granted, he amongst you,
Who calls an even reckoning, shall meet
An even accountant.

Aur. Baited by confederacy!

I must have right.

Spin. And I, my lord, my lord

What stir and coil is here! you can suspect?
So reconciliation then is needless:-

Conclude the difference by revenge, or part,
And never more see one another.

Sister,

Lend me thine arm; I have assumed a courage

1 not. This word is accidentally omitted in the quarto. The context is so obscure, that I strongly suspect the mission of a line in this speech.-WEBER.

[blocks in formation]

Spin. The courtship's somewhat quick,

The match it seems agreed on; do not, sister,
Reject the use of fate.

Cast. I dare not question

The will of Heaven.

Mal. Unthought of and unlook'd for!
Spin. My ever honoured lord.
Aurel. This marriage frees

Each circumstance of jealousy.
Aur. Make no scruple,

Castanna, of the choice; 'tis firm and real:
Why else have I so long with tameness nourish'd
Report of wrongs, but that I fix'd on issue
Of my desires? Italians use not dalliance,
But execution: herein I degenerated
From custom of our nation; for the virtues
Of my Spinella rooted in my soul,

Yet common form of matrimonial compliments,
Short-liv'd as are their pleasures. Yet in sooth,
My dearest, I might blame your causeless absence,
To whom my love and nature were no strangers:
But being in your kinsman's house, I honour
His hospitable friendship, and must thank it.
Now lasting truce on all hands.

Aurel. You will pardon

A rash and over-busy curiosity.

Spin. It was to blame; but the success remits

it.

[blocks in formation]

The temple or the chamber of the duke,
Had else not proved a sanctuary. Lord,
Thou hast dishonourably wrong'd my wife.
Adur. Thy wife! I know not her nor thee.
Aur. Fear nothing.

Lev. Yes, me you know. Heaven has a gentle mercy

For penitent offenders: blessed ladies,
Repute me not a castaway, though once
I fell into some lapses, which our sex
Are oft entangled by; yet what I have been
Concerns me now no more, who am resolv'd
On a new life. This gentleman, Benatzi,
Disguised as you see, I have re-married.-

I knew you at first sight, and tender constantly
Submission for all errors.

Mart. Nay, 'tis true, sir.

Ben. I joy in the discovery, am thankful Unto the change.

Aur. Let wonder henceforth cease, For I am partner with Benatzi's counsels, And in them was director: I have seen The man do service in the wars late past, Worthy an ample mention; but of that At large hereafter, repetitions now Of good or bad would straiten time, presented For other use.

Mart. Welcome, and welcome ever.

Lev. Mine eyes, sir, never shall without

blush

Receive a look from yours; please to forget All passages of rashness; such attempt

Was mine, and only mine.

Mal. You have found a way

To happiness; I honour the conversion.
Adur. Then I am freed.

Mal. May style your friend your servant.
Mart. Now all that's mine is theirs.

Adur. But let me add

An offering to the altar of this peace.

a

Gives her money.

Aur. How likes Spinella this? our holiday

Deserves the kalendar.

Spin. This gentlewoman

Reform'd, must in my thoughts live fair and worthy.

Indeed you shall.

[Offering her money.

Cast. And mine; the novelty

Requires a friendly love.

Lev. You are kind and bountiful.

Enter TRELCATIO, FUTELLI, AMORETTA, PIERO, driving in FULGOSO and GUZMAN.

Trel. By your leaves, lords and ladies! to your jollities,

I bring increase with mine too; here's a youngster
Whom I call son-in-law, for so my daughter
Will have it.
[Presenting FUT.

Trel. Futelli

Hath wean'd her from this pair.

Piero. Stand forth, stout lovers.

Trel. Top and top-gallant pair-and for his pains,

She will have him or none. He's not the richest
I' th' parish; but a wit. I say Amen,
Because I cannot help it.

Amor. Tith no matter.

Aur. We'll remedy the penury of fortune;
They shall with us to Corsica. Our cousin
Must not despair of means, since 'tis believed
Futelli can deserve a place of trust.

Fut. You are in all unfellow'd.
Amor. Withly thpoken.
Piero. Think on Piero, sir.
Aur. Piero, yes;

But what of these two pretty ones?
Ful. I'll follow

The ladies, play at cards, make sport, and whistle,
My purse shall bear me out: a lazy life

Is scurvy and debosh'd; fight you abroad,
And we'll be gaming, whilst you fight, at home.
Run high, run low, here is a brain can do't;

But for my martial brother Don, pray ye make him
A-what d'ye call't-a setting dog,-a sentinel
I'll mend his weekly pay.

Guz. He shall deserve it.

Vouchsafe employment, honourableFul. Marry,

The Don's a generous Don.

Aur. Unfit to lose him.

Command doth limit us short time for revels; We must be thrifty in them. None, I trust, Repines at these delights, they are free and

harmless:

After distress at sea, the dangers o'er, Safety and welcomes better taste ashore.

EPILOGUE.

The court's on rising; 'tis too late
To wish the lady in her fate
Of trial now more fortunate.

A verdict in the jury's breast, Will be giv'n up anon at least ; Till then 'tis fit we hope the best.

Else, if there can be any stay, Next sitting without more delay, We will expect a gentle day.

Amor. Yeth, in sooth thee will.

debosh'd-debauched.

THOMAS HEYWOOD.

[Or this, the most voluminous dramatic writer in the English, and probably in any language, almost nothing is known for certain, but that he had, as he himself informs us, 'an entire hand, or at least a main finger,' in two hundred and twenty plays. He wrote, besides, several prose works, all the while attending to his duties as an actor. From two of his works we learn that he was a native of Lincolnshire; and Cartwright, in his dedication to The Actor's Vindication-a posthumous edition of Heywood's Apology for Actors-states that the author was a Fellow of Peter House, Cambridge.

From Henslowe's papers it is ascertained that Heywood wrote for the stage as early as 1596; and Heywood himself, writing in 1615, and speaking of his first published drama, The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, which appeared in 1601, says that it was written 'many years since in my infancy of judgment, in this kind of poetry, and my first practice.' He continued writing for the stage down to, at least, 1640. In the notice of Heywood in the last edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, the following testimony to his industry is quoted from Kirkman, the author of a catalogue of plays: he says that Heywood 'was very laborious; for he not only acted almost every day, but also obliged himself to write a sheet every day for several years together; but many of his plays being composed loosely in taverns, occasions them to be mean. I could say somewhat more of him, and of all the

old poets, having taken pleasure to converse with those that were acquainted with them.' As the editor of Dodsley well remarks, 'It is much to be lamented that Kirkman did not communicate to the world that information which he boasts of being able to give concerning the old poets, whose memory, for want of such intelligence, is now almost wholly lost to the world.' Of the multitude of plays written by this dramatist, only twenty-three are extant; of these the principal are, The Fair Maid of the Exchange (published 1607); A Woman Killed with Kindness (1607, acted previous to 1604); The Rape of Lucrece (1630); The Fair Maid of the West (1631); The English Traveller (1633); The Lancashire Witches (1634); Love's Mistress (1636); The Royal King and the Loyal Subject (1637).

The quantity of Heywood's writings was too great to allow of their quality being preeminent; there is nothing very marked or vigorous in his style, the chief characteristics of his dramas being softness, smoothness, repose, combined with a pleasant poetical fancy; his characters generally are not drawn with any great distinctness. Although some of the scenes in his plays are sufficiently immoral, and some of his characters of the lowest type, still he never descends to the use of the disgustingly filthy language which characterizes the works of many of his contemporaries. The following is Hazlitt's estimate of Heywood :— 'As Marlowe's imagination glows like a furnace, Heywood's is a gentle, lambent flame, that purifies without consuming. His manner is simplicity itself. There is nothing supernatural, nothing startling, or terrific. He makes use of the commonest circumstances of every-day life, and of the easiest tempers, to show the workings, or rather the inefficacy of the passions, the vis inertia of tragedy. His incidents strike from their very familiarity, and the distresses he paints invite our sympathy from the calmness and resignation with which they are borne. The pathos might be deemed purer, from its having no mixture of turbulence or vindictiveness in it; and in proportion as the sufferers are made to deserve a better fate. In the midst of the most untoward reverses and cutting injuries, good-nature and good sense keep their accustomed sway. He describes men's errors with tenderness,

and their duties only with zeal, and the heightenings of a poetic fancy. His style is equally natural, simple, and unconstrained. The dialogue (bating the verse) is such as might be uttered in ordinary conversation. It is beautiful prose put into heroic measure. It is not so much that he uses the common English idiom for everything (for that I think the mi poetical and impassioned of our elder dramatists do equally), but the simplicity of the ! characters and the equable flow of the sentiments do not require or suffer it to be warped from the tone of level speaking, by figurative expressions, or hyperbolical allusions.'

We have selected as a specimen of this writer, A Woman Killed with Kindness, of some passages in which Hazlitt speaks with admiration.]

[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »