King. Hieronimo, I drink to thee for this device,
Which hath pleased both the ambassador and me.
Pledge me Hieronimo, if thou love the king.
Takes the cup of Horatio.
My lord, I fear we sit but overlong,
Unless our dainties were more delicate,
But welcome are you to the best we have.
Now let us in, that you may be dispatched,
I think our council is already set.
Exeunt omnes.
[Act 1
Scene 5]
Ghost. Come we for this from depth of underground,
To see him feast that gave me my death’s wound?
These pleasant sights are sorrow to my soul,
Nothing but league and love and banqueting?
Revenge. Be still Andrea; ere we go from hence,
I’ll turn their friendship into fell despite,
Their love to mortal hate, their day to night,
Their hope into despair, their peace to war,
Their joys to pain, their bliss to misery.
Act 2
Scene 1
Enter lorenzo and Balthazar.
Lorenzo. My lord, though Bel-imperia seem thus coy,
Let reason hold you in your wonted joy:
In time the savage bull sustains the yoke,
In time all haggard hawks will stoop to lure,
In time small wedges cleave the hardest oak,
In time the flint is pierced with softest shower,
And she in time will fall from her disdain,
And rue the sufferance of your friendly pain.
Balthazar. No, she is wilder and more hard withal,
10 Than beast, or bird, or tree, or stony wall.
But wherefore blot I Bel-imperia’s name?
It is my fault, not she that merits blame.
My feature is not to content her sight,
My words are rude and work her no delight.
The lines I send her are but harsh and ill,
Such as do drop from Pan and Marsyas’ quill.
My presents are not of sufficient cost,
And being worthless all my labour’s lost.
Yet might she love me for my valiancy,
20 Ay, but that’s slandered by captivity.
Yet might she love me to content her sire,
Ay, but her reason masters his desire.
Yet might she love me as her brother’s friend,
Ay, but her hopes aim at some other end.
Yet might she love me to uprear her state,
Ay, but perhaps she hopes some nobler mate.
Yet might she love me as her beauty’s thrall,
Ay, but I fear she cannot love at all.
Lorenzo. My lord, for my sake leave these ecstasies,
30 And doubt not but we’ll find some further remedy.
Some cause there is that lets you not be loved:
First that must needs be known and then removed.
What if my sister love some other knight?
Balthazar. My summer’s day will turn to winter’s night.
Lorenzo. I have already found a stratagem,
To sound the bottom of this doubtful theme.
My lord, for once you shall be ruled by me,
Hinder me not whate’er you hear or see.
By force or fair means will I cast about,
40 To find the truth of all this question out.
Ho Pedringano!
Pedringano. Signior.
Lorenzo. Vien qui presto.
Enter Pedringano.
Pedringano. Hath your lordship any service to command me?
Lorenzo. Ay, Pedringano, service of import:
And not to spend the time in trifling words,
Thus stands the case; it is not long, thou knowest,
Since I did shield thee from my father’s wrath,
For thy conveyance in Andrea’s love,
50 For which thou wert adjudged to punishment.
I stood betwixt thee and thy punishment:
And since, thou knowest how I have favoured thee.
Now to these favours will I add reward,
Not with fair words, but store of golden coin,
And lands and living joined with dignities,
If thou but satisfy my just demand.
Tell truth and have me for thy lasting friend.
Pedringano. Whate’er it be your lordship shall demand,
My bounden duty bids me tell the truth.
If case it lie in me to tell the truth.
Lorenzo. Then Pedringano, this is my demand,
60 Whom loves my sister Bel-imperia?
For she reposeth all her trust in thee.
Speak man, and gain both friendship and reward,
I mean, whom loves she in Andrea’s place?
Pedringano. Alas my lord, since Don Andrea’s death,
I have no credit with her as before,
And therefore know not if she love or no.
Lorenzo. Nay if thou dally, then I am thy foe.
And fear shall force what friendship cannot win.
[Threatens him with violence.]
Thy death shall bury what thy life conceals,
70 Thou diest for more esteeming her than me.
Pedringano. O stay, my lord!
Lorenzo. Yet speak the truth and I will guerdon thee,
And shield thee from whatever can ensue.
And will conceal whate’er proceeds from thee,
But if thou dally once again, thou diest.
Pedringano. If Madam Bel-imperia be in love –
Lorenzo. What villain, ifs and ands?
Pedringano. O stay my lord, she loves Horatio.
Balthazar starts back.
Lorenzo. What, Don Horatio our knight marshal’s son?
80 Pedringano. Even him, my lord.
Lorenzo. Now say, but how knowest thou he is her love?
And thou shalt find me kind and liberal:
Stand up I say, and fearless tell the truth.
Pedringano. She sent him letters which myself perused,
Full fraught with lines and arguments of love,
Preferring him before Prince Balthazar.
Lorenzo. Swear on this cross, that what thou sayest is true,
And that thou wilt conceal what thou hast told.
Pedringano. I swear to both by him that made us all.
90 Lorenzo. In hope thine oath is true, here’s thy reward.
But if I prove thee perjured and unjust,
This very sword whereon thou took’st thine oath,
Shall be the worker of thy tragedy.
Pedringano. What I have said is true, and shall for me
Be still concealed from Bel-imperia.
Besides your honour’s liberality
Deserves my duteous service even till death.
Lorenzo. Let this be all that thou shalt do for me,
Be watchful when and where these lovers meet,
100 And give me notice in some secret sort.
Pedringano. I will, my lord.
Lorenzo. Then shalt thou find that I am liberal,
Thou knowest that I can more advance thy state
Than she, be therefore wise, and fail me not.
Go and attend her as thy custom is,
Lest absence make her think thou dost amiss.
Exit Pedringano.
Why so: tam armis quam ingenio:
Where words prevail not, violence prevails,
But gold doth more than either of them both.
110 How likes Prince Balthazar this stratagem?
Balthazar. Both well, and ill: it makes me glad and sad.
Glad, that I know the hinderer of my love,
Sad, that I fear she hates me whom I love.
Glad, that I know on whom to be revenged,
Sad, that she’ll fly me if I take revenge.
Yet must I take revenge or die myself,
For lov
e resisted grows impatient.
I think Horatio be my destined plague.
First in his hand he brandished a sword,
120 And with that sword he fiercely waged war,
And in that war he gave me dangerous wounds,
And by those wounds he forced me to yield,
And by my yielding I became his slave.
Now in his mouth he carries pleasing words,
Which pleasing words do harbour sweet conceits,
Which sweet conceits are limed with sly deceits,
Which sly deceits smooth Bel-imperia’s ears,
And through her ears dive down into her heart,
And in her heart set him where I should stand.
130 Thus has he ta’en my body by his force,
And now by sleight would captivate my soul:
But in his fall I’ll tempt the destinies,
And either lose my life, or win my love.
Lorenzo. Let’s go my lord, your staying stays revenge,
Do you but follow me and gain your love,
Her favour must be won by his remove. Exeunt.
[Act 2
Scene 2]
Enter Horatio and Bel-imperia.
Horatio. Now madam, since by favour of your love,
Our hidden smoke is turned to open flame:
And that with looks and words we feed our thoughts –
Two chief contents, where more cannot be had –
Thus in the midst of love’s fair blandishments,
Why show you sign of inward languishments?
Pedringano showeth all to [Balthazar] and Lorenzo, placing them in secret.
Bel-imperia. My heart, sweet friend, is like a ship at sea,
She wisheth port, where riding all at ease
She may repair what stormy times have worn,
10 And leaning on the shore may sing with joy,
That pleasure follows pain, and bliss annoy.
Possession of thy love is th’only port,
Wherein my heart with fears and hopes long tossed,
Each hour doth wish and long to make resort,
There to repair the joys that it hath lost:
And sitting safe, to sing in Cupid’s choir,
That sweetest bliss is crown of love’s desire.
Balthazar above.
Balthazar. O sleep, mine eyes, see not my love profaned;
Be deaf, my ears, hear not my discontent;
20 Die heart, another joys what thou deservest.
Lorenzo. Watch still, mine eyes, to see this love disjoined,
Hear still, mine ears, to hear them both lament,
Live heart, to joy at fond Horatio’s fall.
Bel-imperia. Why stands Horatio speechless all this while?
Horatio. The less I speak, the more I meditate.
Bel-imperia. But whereon dost thou chiefly meditate?
Horatio. On dangers past, and pleasures to ensue.
Balthazar. On pleasures past, and dangers to ensue.
Bel-imperia. What dangers, and what pleasures dost thou mean?
30 Horatio. Dangers of war, and pleasures of our love.
Lorenzo. Dangers of death, but pleasures none at all.
Bel-imperia. Let dangers go, thy war shall be with me,
But such a warring as breaks no bond of peace.
Speak thou fair words, I’ll cross them with fair words.
Send thou sweet looks, I’ll meet them with sweet looks,
Write loving lines, I’ll answer loving lines,
Give me a kiss, I’ll countercheck thy kiss,
Be this our warring peace, or peaceful war.
Horatio. But gracious madam, then appoint the field,
40 Where trial of this war shall first be made.
Balthazar. Ambitious villain, how his boldness growest.
Bel-imperia. Then be thy father’s pleasant bower the field,
Where first we vowed a mutual amity:
The court were dangerous, that place is safe.
Our hour shall be when Vesper ’gins to rise.
That summons home distressful travellers.
There none shall hear us but the harmless birds.
Happily the gentle nightingale
Shall carol us asleep ere we be ware.
50 And singing with the prickle at her breast,
Tell our delight and mirthful dalliance.
Till then each hour will seem a year and more.
Horatio. But honey sweet and honourable love,
Return we now unto your father’s sight:
Dangerous suspicion waits on our delight.
Lorenzo. Ay, danger mixed with jealous despite,
Shall send thy soul into eternal night. Exeunt.
[Act 2
Scene 3]
Enter King of Spain, Portingale ambassador, Don Ciprian [Castile], &c [and attendants].
King. Brother of Castile, to the prince’s love
What says your daughter Bel-imperia?
Castile. Although she coy it as becomes her kind,
And yet dissemble that she loves the prince,
I doubt not I, but she will stoop in time.
And were she froward, which she will not be,
Yet herein shall she follow my advice,
Which is to love him or forgo my love.
King. Then lord ambassador of Portingale,
10 Advise thy king to make this marriage up,
For strengthening of our late-confirmed league,
I know no better means to make us friends.
Her dowry shall be large and liberal:
Besides that she is daughter and half-heir
Unto our brother here Don Ciprian,
And shall enjoy the moiety of his land,
I’ll grace her marriage with an uncle’s gift,
And this it is: in case the match go forward,
The tribute which you pay shall be released,
20 And if by Balthazar she have a son,
He shall enjoy the kingdom after us.
Ambassador. I’ll make the motion to my sovereign liege,
And work it if my counsel may prevail.
King. Do so, my lord, and if he give consent,
I hope his presence here will honour us
In celebration of the nuptial day,
And let himself determine of the time.
Ambassador. Will’t please your grace command me aught beside?
King. Commend me to the king and so farewell.
30 But where’s Prince Balthazar to take his leave?
Ambassador. That is performed already, my good lord.
King. Amongst the rest of what you have in charge,
The prince’s ransom must not be forgot:
That’s none of mine, but his that took him prisoner,
And well his forwardness deserves reward.
It was Horatio our knight marshal’s son.
Ambassador. Between us there’s a price already pitched,
And shall be sent with all convenient speed.
King. Then once again, farewell my lord.
40 Ambassador. Farewell my lord of Castile and the rest. Exit.
King. Now brother, you must take some little pains
To win fair Bel-imperia from her will:
Young virgins must be ruled by their friends.
The prince is amiable and loves her well,
If she neglect him and forgo his love,
She both will wrong her own estate and ours:
Therefore whiles I do entertain the prince
With greatest pleasure that our Court affords,
Endeavour you to win your daughter’s thought,
50 If she give back, all this will come to naught. Exeunt.
[Act 2
Scene 4]
Enter Horatio, Bel-imperia, and Pedringano.
Horatio. Now that the night begins with sable wings
To overcloud the brightness of the sun,
And that in darkness pleas
ures may be done,
Come Bel-imperia, let us to the bower,
And there in safety pass a pleasant hour.
Bel-imperia. I follow thee my love, and will not back,
Although my fainting heart controls my soul.
Horatio. Why, make you doubt of Pedringano’s faith?
Bel-imperia. No he is as trusty as my second self.
10 Go Pedringano, watch about the gate,
And let us know if any make approach.
Pedringano. [Aside] Instead of watching I’ll deserve more gold
By fetching Don Lorenzo to this match. Exit Pedringano.
Horatio. What means my love?
Bel-imperia. I know not what myself,
And yet my heart foretells me some mischance.
Horatio. Sweet, say not so, fair Fortune is our friend,
And heavens have shut up day to pleasure us.
The stars thou see’st hold back their twinkling shine,
20 And Luna hides herself to pleasure us.
Bel-imperia. Thou hast prevailed, I’ll conquer my misdoubt,
And in thy love and counsel drown my fear:
I fear no more, love now is all my thoughts,
Why sit we not, for pleasure asketh ease?
Horatio. The more thou sit’st within these leafy bowers,
The more will Flora deck it with her flowers.
Bel-imperia. I – but if Flora spy Horatio here,
Her jealous eye will think I sit too near.
Horatio. Hark madam, how the birds record by night,
30 For joy that Bel-imperia sits in sight.
Bel-imperia. No Cupid counterfeits the nightingale,
To frame sweet music to Horatio’s tale.
Horatio. If Cupid sing, then Venus is not far,
Ay, thou art Venus or some fairer star.
Bel-imperia. If I be Venus thou must needs be Mars,
And where Mars reigneth there must needs be war.
Horatio. Then thus begin our wars: put forth thy hand,
That it may combat with my ruder hand.
Bel-imperia. Set forth thy foot to try the push of mine.
40 Horatio. But first my looks shall combat against thine.
Bel-imperia. Then ward thyself: I dart this kiss at thee.
Horatio. Thus I retort the dart thou threw’st at me.
Bel-imperia. Nay then to gain the glory of the field,
My twining arms shall yoke and make you yield.
Horatio. Nay then my arms are large and strong withal;
Thus elms by vines are compassed till they fall.
Bel-imperia. O let me go, for in my troubled eyes
Now may’st thou read that life in passion dies.
Horatio. O stay a while and I will die with thee,
Five Revenge Tragedies: The Spanish Tragedy, Hamlet, Antonio's Revenge, The Tragedy of Hoffman, The Revenger's Tragedy (Penguin Classics) Page 5