The Duchess of Malfi

example to the rest o’ th’ court;

Put on your hat first.

Antonio

You must pardon me:

I have seen, in colder countries than in France,

Nobles stand bare to th’ prince; and the distinction

Methought show’d reverently.



Bosola

I have a present for your grace.



Duchess

For me, sir?



Bosola

Apricocks, madam.



Duchess

O, sir, where are they?

I have heard of none to-year 39



Bosola

Aside. Good; her colour rises.



Duchess

Indeed, I thank you: they are wondrous fair ones.

What an unskilful fellow is our gardener!

We shall have none this month.



Bosola

Will not your grace pare them?



Duchess

No: they taste of musk, methinks; indeed they do.



Bosola

I know not: yet I wish your grace had par’d ’em.



Duchess

Why?



Bosola

I forgot to tell you, the knave gardener,

Only to raise his profit by them the sooner,

Did ripen them in horse-dung.



Duchess

O, you jest.⁠—

You shall judge: pray, taste one.



Antonio

Indeed, madam,

I do not love the fruit.



Duchess

Sir, you are loth

To rob us of our dainties. ’Tis a delicate fruit;

They say they are restorative.



Bosola

’Tis a pretty art,

This grafting.



Duchess

’Tis so; a bettering of nature.



Bosola

To make a pippin grow upon a crab,

A damson on a blackthorn.⁠—Aside. How greedily she eats them!

A whirlwind strike off these bawd farthingales!

For, but for that and the loose-bodied gown,

I should have discover’d apparently 40

The young springal 41 cutting a caper in her belly.



Duchess

I thank you, Bosola: they were right good ones,

If they do not make me sick.



Antonio

How now, madam!



Duchess

This green fruit and my stomach are not friends:

How they swell me!



Bosola

Aside. Nay, you are too much swell’d already.



Duchess

O, I am in an extreme cold sweat!



Bosola

I am very sorry.




Exit.


Duchess

Lights to my chamber!⁠—O good Antonio,

I fear I am undone!



Delio

Lights there, lights!




Exeunt Duchess and Ladies.


Antonio

O my most trusty Delio, we are lost!

I fear she’s fall’n in labour; and there’s left

No time for her remove.



Delio

Have you prepar’d

Those ladies to attend her; and procur’d

That politic safe conveyance for the midwife

Your duchess plotted?



Antonio

I have.



Delio

Make use, then, of this forc’d occasion.

Give out that Bosola hath poison’d her

With these apricocks; that will give some colour

For her keeping close.



Antonio

Fie, fie, the physicians

Will then flock to her.



Delio

For that you may pretend

She’ll use some prepar’d antidote of her own,

Lest the physicians should re-poison her.



Antonio

I am lost in amazement: I know not what to think on’t.




Exeunt.


Scene II
A hall in the same palace.




Enter Bosala and Old Lady.


Bosola
So, so, there’s no question but her techiness 42 and most vulturous eating of the apricocks are apparent signs of breeding, now?


Old Lady
I am in haste, sir.


Bosola
There was a young waiting-woman had a monstrous desire to see the glasshouse⁠—


Old Lady
Nay, pray, let me go. I will hear no more of the glasshouse. You are still 43 abusing women!


Bosola
Who, I? No; only, by the way now and then, mention your frailties. The orange-tree bears ripe and green fruit and blossoms all together; and some of you give entertainment for pure love, but more for more precious reward. The lusty spring smells well; but drooping autumn tastes well. If we have the same golden showers that rained in the time of Jupiter the thunderer, you have the same Danaes still, to hold up their laps to receive them. Didst thou never study the mathematics?


Old Lady
What’s that, sir?


Bosola
Why, to know the trick how to make a many lines meet in one centre. Go, go, give your foster-daughters good counsel: tell them, that the devil takes delight to hang at a woman’s girdle, like a false rusty watch, that she cannot discern how the time passes.



Exit Old Lady.



Enter Antonio, Roderigo, and Grisolan.


Antonio

Shut up the court-gates.



Roderigo

Why, sir? What’s the danger?



Antonio

Shut up the posterns presently, and call

All the officers o’ th’ court.



Grisolan

I shall instantly.




Exit.


Antonio

Who keeps the key o’ th’ park-gate?



Roderigo

Forobosco.



Antonio

Let him bring’t presently.




Re-enter Grisolan with Servants.


First Servant
O, gentleman o’ th’ court, the foulest treason!


Bosola
Aside. If that these apricocks should be poison’d now, Without my knowledge?


First Servant
There was taken even now a Switzer in the duchess’ bedchamber⁠—


Second Servant
A Switzer!


First Servant
With a pistol⁠—


Second Servant
There was a cunning traitor!


First Servant
And all the moulds of his buttons were leaden bullets.


Second Servant
O wicked cannibal!


First Servant
’Twas a French plot, upon my life.


Second Servant
To see what the devil can do!


Antonio
Are all the officers here?


Servants
We are.


Antonio

Gentlemen,

We have lost much plate, you know; and but this evening

Jewels, to the value of four thousand ducats,

Are missing in the duchess’ cabinet.

Are the gates shut?



Servant

Yes.



Antonio

’Tis the duchess’ pleasure

Each officer be lock’d into his chamber

Till the sun-rising; and to send the keys

Of all their chests and of their outward doors

Into her bedchamber. She is very sick.



Roderigo

At her pleasure.



Antonio

She entreats you take’t not ill: the innocent

Shall be the more approv’d by it.



Bosola
Gentlemen o’ the wood-yard, where’s your Switzer now?


First Servant
By this hand, ’twas credibly reported by one o’ the black guard. 44



Exeunt all except Antonio and Delio.


Delio

How fares it with the duchess?



Antonio

She’s expos’d

Unto the worst of torture, pain, and fear.



Delio

Speak to her all happy comfort.



Antonio

How I do play the fool with mine own danger!

You are this night, dear friend, to post to Rome:

My life lies in your service.



Delio

Do not doubt me.



Antonio

O, ’tis far from me: and yet fear presents me

Somewhat that looks like danger.



Delio

Believe it,

’Tis but the shadow