The Duchess of Malfi John Webster (intellectual books to read TXT) š
- Author: John Webster
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āTis weakness,
Too much to think what should have been done. I go,
I know not whither. Dies.
Wherefore comāst thou hither?
BosolaThat I might find a great man like yourself,
Not out of his wits, as the Lord Ferdinand,
To remember my service.
Iāll have thee hewād in pieces.
BosolaMake not yourself such a promise of that life
Which is not yours to dispose of.
Who placād thee here?
BosolaHer lust, as she intended.
CardinalVery well:
Now you know me for your fellow-murderer.
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 iā thā grave
Of those were actors ināt?
No more; there is
A fortune attends thee.
Shall I go sue to Fortune any longer?
āTis the foolās pilgrimage.
I have honours in store for thee.
BosolaThere are a many ways that conduct to seeming
Honour, and some of them very dirty ones.
Throw to the devil
Thy melancholy. The fire burns well;
What need we keep a stirring ofāt, and make
A greater smother?117 Thou wilt kill Antonio?
Yes.
CardinalTake up that body.
BosolaI think I shall
Shortly grow the common bier for churchyards.
I will allow thee some dozen of attendants
To aid thee in the murder.
Come to me after midnight, to help to remove
That body to her own lodging. Iāll give out
She died oā thā plague; ātwill breed the less inquiry
After her death.
Whereās Castruccio her husband?
CardinalHeās rode to Naples, to take possession
Of Antonioās citadel.
Believe me, you have done a very happy turn.
CardinalFail not to come. There is the master-key
Of our lodgings; and by that you may conceive
What trust I plant in you.
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-nailād well, they may break their necks else;
The precedentās here afore me. How this man
Bears up in blood! seems fearless! Why, ātis well;
Security some men call the suburbs of hell,
Only a dead wall between. Well, good Antonio,
Iāll 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,
Iāll 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!ā āāTis nothing but my melancholy.
O Penitence, let me truly taste thy cup,
That throws men down only to raise them up!
A fortification.
Enter Antonio and Delio. Echo from the Duchessās grave. DelioYondās the cardinalās window. This fortification
Grew from the ruins of an ancient abbey;
And to yond side oā thā 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 supposād it is a spirit
That answers.
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 interrād
Lovād the church so well, and gave so largely toāt,
They thought it should have canopied their bones
Till doomsday. But all things have their end;
Churches and cities, which have diseases like to men,
Must have like death that we have.
Like death that we have.
DelioNow the echo hath caught you.
AntonioIt groanād methought, and gave
A very deadly accent.
Deadly accent.
DelioI told you ātwas a pretty one. You may make it
A huntsman, or a falconer, a musician,
Or a thing of sorrow.
A thing of sorrow.
AntonioAy, sure, that suits it best.
EchoThat suits it best.
AntonioāTis very like my wifeās voice.
EchoAy, wifeās voice.
DelioCome, let us walk further from āt.
I would not have you go to the cardinalās tonight:
Do not.
Do not.
DelioWisdom doth not more moderate wasting sorrow
Than time. Take time forāt; be mindful of thy safety.
Be mindful of thy safety.
AntonioNecessity compels me.
Make scrutiny through the passages
Of your own life, youāll find it impossible
To fly your fate.
O, fly your fate!
DelioHark! the dead stones seem to have pity on you,
And give you good counsel.
Echo, I will not talk with thee,
For thou art a dead thing.
Thou art a dead thing.
AntonioMy duchess is asleep now,
And her little ones, I hope sweetly. O heaven,
Shall I never see her more?
Never see her more.
AntonioI markād not one repetition of the echo
But that; and on the sudden a clear light
Presented me a face folded in sorrow.
Your fancy merely.
AntonioCome, Iāll 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.
Your own virtue save you!
Iāll 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.
Milan. An apartment
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