By Virtue’s general pardon; her broad seal
Gave you your lives, when she took off your horns.
Yet having scarce one foot out of the jail,
You tempt damnation by more desperate means,
You both are mortal, and your pains shall ring
Through both your ears, to terrify your souls,
As please the judgment of this mortal king.
Athelst. Fair Empress of the world, since you resign
Your power to me, this sentence shall be mine:
Thou shall be tortured on a wheel to death,
Thou with wild horses shall be quarterèd. [Points to Montrose and Longaville.
Vice. Ha, ha, weak judge, weak judgment; I reverse
That sentence, for they are my prisoners.
Embalm the bodies of those Cypriots,
And honour them with princely burial.
For those do as you please; but for these two,
I kiss you both, I love you, y’are my minions.
Untie their bands, Vice doth reprieve you both.
I set you free.
Both. Thanks, gracious deity.
Vice. Begone, but you in liberty shall find
More bondage than in chains; fools, get you hence,
Both wander with tormented conscience.
Longa. O horrid judgment, that’s the hell indeed.
Montr. Come, come, our death ne’er ends if conscience bleed.
Both. O miserable, miserable men! [Exeunt Longaville and Montrose.
Fortune. Fortune triumphs at this, yet to appear
All like myself, that which from those I took,
King Athelstane, I will bestow on thee,
And in it the old virtue I infuse:
But, king, take heed how thou my gifts dost use.
England shall ne’er be poor, if England strive
Rather by virtue than by wealth to thrive.
Enter Virtue, crowned: Nymphs and Kings attending on her, crowned with olive branches and laurels; music sounding.
Vice. Virtue? alas good soul, she hides her head.
Virtue. What envious tongue said, “Virtue hides her head?”
Vice. She that will drive thee into banishment.
Fortune. She that hath conquered thee: how dar’st thou come,
Thus tricked in gaudy feathers, and thus guarded
With crownèd kings and Muses, when thy foe
Hath trod thus on thee, and now triumphs so?
Where’s virtuous Ampedo? See, he’s her slave;
For following thee, this recompense they have.
Virtue. Is Ampedo her slave? Why, that’s my glory.
The idiot’s cap I once wore on my head,
Did figure him; those that like him do muffle
Virtue in clouds, and care not how she shine,
I’ll make their glory like to his decline.
He made no use of me, but like a miser,
Locked up his wealth in rusty bars of sloth;
His face was beautiful, but wore a mask,
And in the world’s eyes seemed a blackamoor:
So perish they that so keep Virtue poor.
Vice. Thou art a fool to strive, I am more strong,
And greater than thyself; then, Virtue, fly,
And hide thy face, yield me the victory.
Virtue. Is Vice higher than Virtue? that’s my glory,
The higher that thou art, thou art more horrid:
The world will love me for my comeliness.
Fortune. Thine own self loves thyself: why on the heads
Of Agripyne, Montrose, and Longaville, —
English, Scot, French — did Vice clap ugly horns,
But to approve that English, French and Scot,
And all the world else, kneel and honour Vice;
But in no country, Virtue is of price!
Virtue. Yes, in all countries Virtue is of price,
In every kingdom some diviner breast
Is more enamoured of me than the rest.
Have English, Scot and French bowed knees to thee?
Why that’s my glory too, for by their shame,
Men will abhor thee and adore my name.
Fortune, thou art too weak, Vice, th’art a fool
To fight with me; I suffered you awhile
T’eclipse my brightness, but I now will shine,
And make you swear your beauty’s base to mine.
Fortune. Thou art too insolent; see, here’s a court
Of mortal judges; let’s by them be tried,
Which of us three shall most be deified.
Vice. I am content.
Fortune. And I.
Virtue. So am not I.
My judge shall be your sacred deity.
Vice. O miserable me, I am undone. [Exit Vice and her train.
All. O stop the horrid monster.
Virtue. Let her run.
Fortune, who conquers now?
Fortune. Virtue, I see,
Thou wilt triumph both over her and me.
All. Empress of Heaven and earth.
Fortune. Why do you mock me?
Kneel not to me, to her transfer your eyes,
There sits the Queen of Chance, I bend my knees
Lower than yours. Dread goddess, ’tis most meet
That Fortune fall down at thy conquering feet.
Thou sacred Empress that command’st the Fates,
Forgive what I have to thy handmaid done,
And at thy chariot wheels Fortune shall run,
And be thy captive, and to thee resign
All powers which Heaven’s large patent have made mine.
Virtue. Fortune, th’art vanquished. Sacred deity,
O now pronounce who wins the victory,
And yet that sentence needs not, since alone,
Your virtuous presence Vice hath overthrown,
Yet to confirm the conquest on your side,
Look but on Fortunatus and his sons;
Of all the wealth those gallants did possess,
Only poor Shadow is left, comfortless:
Their glory’s faded and their golden pride.
Shad. Only poor Shadow tells how poor they died.
Virtue. All that they had, or mortal men can have,
Sends only but a Shadow from the grave.
Virtue alone lives still, and lives in you;
I am a counterfeit, you are the true;
I am a shadow, at your feet I fall,
Begging for these, and these, myself and all.
All these that thus do kneel before your eyes,
Are shadows like myself: dread nymph, it lies
In you to make us substances. O do it!
Virtue I am sure you love, she wooes you to it.
I read a verdict in your sun-like eyes,
And this it is: Virtue the victory.
All. All loudly cry, Virtue the victory!
Fortune. Virtue the victory! for joy of this,
Those self-same hymns which you to Fortune sung
Let them be now in Virtue’s honour rung.
Song.
Virtue smiles: cry holiday,
Dimples on her cheeks do dwell,
Virtue frowns, cry welladay,
Her love is Heaven, her hate is hell.
Since Heaven and hell obey her power,
Tremble when her eyes do lower.
Since Heaven and hell her power obey,
Where she smiles, cry holiday.
Holiday with joy we cry,
And bend, and bend, and merrily,
Sing hymns to Virtue’s deity:
Sing hymns to Virtue’s deity.
As they are about to depart, enter Two Old Men.
THE EPILOGUE AT COURT.
1st O. Man. Nay stay, poor pilgrims, when I entered first
The circle of this bright celestial sphere,
I wept for joy, now I could weep for fear.
2nd O. Man. I fear we all like mor
tal men shall prove
Weak, not in love, but in expressing love.
1st O. Man. Let every one beg once more on his knee,
One pardon for himself, and one for me;
For I enticed you hither. O dear Goddess,
Breathe life in our numbed spirits with one smile,
And from this cold earth, we with lively souls,
Shall rise like men new-born, and make Heaven sound
With hymns sung to thy name, and prayers that we
May once a year so oft enjoy this sight,
Till these young boys change their curled locks to white,
And when gray-wingèd age sits on their heads,
That so their children may supply their steads,
And that Heaven’s great arithmetician,
Who in the scales of number weighs the world,
May still to forty-two add one year more,
And still add one to one, that went before,
And multiply four tens by many a ten:
To this I cry, Amen.
All. Amen, amen!
1st O. Man. Good-night, dear mistress, those that wish thee harm,
Thus let them stoop under destruction’s arm.
All. Amen, amen, amen! [Exeunt.
Lust’s Dominion (c. 1600)
OR, THE LASCIVIOUS QUEEN
CONTENTS
Dramatis Personæ
Act I
Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Act II
Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Scene V
Scene VI
Act III
Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Scene V
Scene VI
Act IV
Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Scene V
Act V
Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Scene V
Scene VI
Dramatis Personæ
Eleazar, the Moor, Prince of Fess and Barbary
Philip, King of Spain, father to Fernando, Philip and Isabella
Fernando King of Spain, son to Philip
Philip Prince of Spain, son to Philip
Alvero, a Nobleman, Father in Law to Eleazar, and Father to Hortenzo and Maria
Mendoza, the Cardinal
Christofero, nobleman of Spain
Roderigo, nobleman of Spain
Hortenzo, lover to Isabella and son to Alvero
Zarack, Moor attending Eleazar
Baltazar, Moor attending Eleazar
Friar Cole
Friar Crab
Emmanuel King of Portugal
Captain, soldiers, cum aliis
Two pages attending the Queen
The Queen Mother of Spain, wife of King Philip
Isabella the Infantaii of Spain
Maria, wife to Eleazar and daughter of Alvero
Act I
Scene I
ENTER ZARACK, BALTAZAR, two Moors taking tobacco, music sounding within. Enter Queen Mother of Spain with two Pages, Eleazar sitting on a chair suddenly draws the curtain.
Eleazar On me? Does music spend this sound on me
That hate all unity! Hah Zarack, Baltazar?
Queen MotherMy gracious Lord.
Eleazar Are you there with your beagles? Hark you slaves:
Did not I bind you on your lives to watch that none disturbed us?
Queen MotherGentle Eleazar…
Eleazar There, off! Is it you that deafen me with this noise?
Exit two Moors.
Queen MotherWhy is my love’s aspect so grim and horrid?
Look smoothly on me,
Chime out your softest strains of harmony,
And on delicious music’s silken wings
Send ravishing delight to my love’s ears,
That he may be enamoured of your tunes.
Come, let’s kiss.
Eleazar Away, away!
Queen Mother No, no, says I; and twice away says stay:
Come, come, I’ll have a kiss, but if you strive
For one denial you shall forfeit five.
Eleazar Nay prithee good Queen leave me;
I am now sick, heavy, and dull as lead.
Queen MotherI’ll make thee lighter by taking something from thee.
Eleazar Do, take from me this ague and these fits, that hanging on me
Shake me in pieces, and set all my blood
A boiling with the fire of rage: away, away!
Thou believ’stI jest and laugh’st, to see my wrath wear antic shapes.
Begone, begone.
Queen Mother What means my love? Burst all those wires! Burn all those instruments!
For they displease my Moor. Art thou now pleased,
Or wert thou now disturbed? I’ll wage all Spain
To one sweet kiss; this is some new device
To make me fond and long. Oh! You men
Have tricks to make poor women die for you.
Eleazar What? Die for me? Away!
Queen MotherAway? What way? I prithee speak more kindly.
Why dost thou frown? At whom?
Eleazar At thee!
Queen Mother At me? Oh why at me? For each contracted frown
A crooked wrinkle interlines my brow.
Spend but one hour in frowns and I shall look
Like to a beldamof one hundred years.
I prithee speak to me and chide me not,
I prithee chide if I have done amiss,
Kiss
But let my punishment be this, and this.
I prithee smile on me, if but a while,
Then frown on me, I’ll die. I prithee smile.
Smile on me, and these two wanton boys,
These pretty lads that do attend on me,
Shall call thee Jove, shall wait upon thy cup
And fill thee nectar; their enticing eyes
Shall serve as crystal, wherein thou maistsee
To dress thyself, if thou wilt smile on me.
Smile on me, and with coronets of pearl,
And bells of gold, circling their pretty arms
In a round ivory fount these two shall swim,
And dive to make thee sport.
Bestow one smile, one little, little smile,
And in a net of twisted silk and gold
In my all-naked arms, thyself shalt lie.
Eleazar Why, what to do? Lust’s arms do stretch so wide
That none can fill them; I’ll lie there, away.
Queen Mother Where hast thou learned this language? That can say
No more, but two rude words: away, away.
Am I grown ugly now?
Eleazar Ugly as hell!
Queen MotherThou lovedst me once.
Eleazar That can thy bastards tell.
Queen MotherWhat is my sin? I will amend the same.
Eleazar Hence strumpet, use of sin makes thee past shame.
Queen MotherStrumpet?
Eleazar Aye, strumpet.
Queen Mother Too true ’tis, woe is me.
I am a strumpet, but made so by thee.
Eleazar By me? No, not by these young bawds; fetch thee a glass
And thou shalt see the balls of both thine eyes
Burning in fire of lust; by me? There’s here
Within this hollow cistern of thy breast
A spring of hot blood, have not I to cool it
Made an extraction to the quintessence
Even of my soul, melted all my spirits,
Ravished my youth, deflowered my lovely cheeks.
And dried this, this to anatomy
Only to feed your lust, (these boys have ears)
Yet wouldst thou murder me.
Q
ueen MotherI murder thee?
Eleazar I cannot ride through the Castilian streets
But thousand eyes through windows, and through doors
Throw killing looks at me, and every slave
At Eleazar darts a finger out,
And every hissing tongue cries, there’s the Moor,
That’s he that makes a cuckold of our King,
There goes the minion of the Spanish Queen;
That’s the black prince of devils, there goes he
That on smooth boys on masks and revelling
Spends the revenues of the King of Spain.
Who arms this many headed beast but you?
Murder and lust are twins, and both are thine;
Being weary of me thou wouldst worry me
Because some new love makes thee loathe thine old.
Queen MotherEleazar!
EleazarHarlot! I’ll not hear thee speak.
Queen MotherI’ll kill myself unless thou hear’st me speak.
My husband King upon his death-bed lies,
Yet have I stolen from him to look on thee.
A Queen hath made herself thy concubine,
Yet do’st thou now abhor me? Hear me speak!
Else shall my sons plague thy adulterous wrongs,
And tread upon thy heart for murdering me,
Thy tongue hath murdered me (cry murder boys!)
2 BoysMurder! The Queen’s murdered!
EleazarLove? Slave’s peace.
2 Boys Murder! The Queen’s murdered!
Eleazar Stop your throats.
Hark, hush your squalls; dear love, look up,
Our chamber window stares into the court,
And every wide mouthed ear, hearing this news,
Will give alarum to the cuckold King.
I did dissemble when I chid my love,
And that dissembling was to try my love.
Queen MotherThou call’dst me strumpet.
Eleazar I’ll tear out my tongue
From this black temple for blaspheming thee.
Queen MotherAnd when I wooed thee, but to smile on me,
Thou cri’dst, away, away, and frown’dst upon me.
Eleazar Come now I’ll kiss thee, now I’ll smile upon thee;
Call to thy ashy cheeks their wonted red:
Come frown not, pout not, smile, smile, but upon me
And with my poniard will I stab my flesh,
And quaff carouses to thee of my blood,
Whil’st in moist nectar kisses thou dost pledge me.
How now, why star’st thou thus?
Knock, enter Zarack.
ZarackThe King is dead.
Eleazar Ha! Dead! You hear this? Is it true? Is it true? The King dead!
Who dares knock thus?
Complete Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker Page 17