Complete Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker

by Thomas Dekker

The death of any private man in France,

  Because in multitudes consists our glory,

  Yet to make known how we do cherish such

  As will in any sort revolt to us,

  Kill Epernoun, as thou hast underta’en,

  And thy reward shall be a run of gold.

  MERCURY

  Hernando, I will do it, not so much

  For money as for zeal I bear to Spain,

  Though I confess, the principal reason

  That urgeth me, being a Frenchman born,

  So to forget the love my country claims,

  Is the unsufferable wrongs I bear,

  The wrongs that Epernoun hath done to me.

  And in that point I hold it no disgrace

  To malice him that first dishonour’d me.

  HERNANDO

  Why, true, thy reason is substantial.

  For say a father do forget to show

  The love by naturebe doth owe his son;

  In my opinion, ’tis no sin at all

  If such a son cast off the awful duty

  Which to his father otherwise were due.

  In all things just proportion must be kept.

  If the king care not for the commonwealth,

  Why should the commonwealth respect the king?

  But to the purpose: how wilt thou contrive

  The manner of his death?

  MERCURY

  Why, as I told your grace:

  In this day’s parley ‘twist the French and you,

  Whilst you are busy, I’l insert myself

  Amongst the soldiers of that aged earl,

  And gathering near his person, suddenly,

  Thus send my poniard to his hateful breast.

  [MERCURY offers to stab HERNANDO.DON UGO stays his arm.

  DON UGO

  What, didst thou mean to wound our general?

  HERNANDO

  Silence, Don Ugo.No such matter, man.

  [Aside to DON UGO.] He is a villain, and we’ll use him so.

  MERCURY

  [Aside.] I am indifferent.Had I spill’t his blood,

  It was my coming; but prevented thus,

  Now Epernoun shall be the mark I aim at.

  For one I vow, though to have slain them both

  Had been exceeding good.[Aloud.] How, now, my lord?

  Misconster not.I meant your grace no hurt,

  Though mine enkindled fury when I thought

  Of Epernoun made me draw forth my poniard.

  It was to show how resolute I am.

  HERNANDO

  I know it was. Sound we parley then,

  That Epernoun may know we are in place

  Where conference was appointed to be had.

  [To MERCURY.] And as they march, fall thou in ring with them.

  Enter EPERNOUN, carried in his chair, and soldiers marching.

  Now, cripple, what your legs refuse to do,

  I know you hands will presently perform;

  I mean, deliver me the crown of France.

  EPERNOUN

  Raise me a little, fellows, in my chair.

  Hernando, what saidst thou?Deliver thee

  The crown of France?Why, straggling Spaniard,

  What makes thee overween thy valour so?

  Thinks thou because I seem a wither’d three,

  That I am sapless quite?No, duke, there lives

  Within this rivell’d flint some sparks of fire,

  Which if thou touch, will fly into thy face.

  Nor do not thou contemn me for mine age;

  This eye is not so dim, but I preceive

  The marks of arrogance upon thy brow.

  Ay, and for frown, I can return thee frown.

  What, glory not so much upon my strength.

  The day hath been, this body which thou seest

  Now falling to the earth but for these props,

  Hath made as tall a soldier as yourself

  Totter within his saddle; and this hand,

  Now shaking with the palsy, cask the beaver

  Of my proud foe until he did forget

  What ground he stood upon.Go to!Go to!

  The crown of France deliver’d to thy hand?

  Good king, how is thy dignity blasphem’d!

  But do thy worst.I am his substitute,

  And though I cannot strike, yet iwth a beck

  Can I raise up more fists aboutthine ears

  Than thou hast hairs upon thy tawny scalp.

  HERNANDO

  Am I revil’d and baffled to my face,

  And by a dotard?One, but for his tongue,

  In whom there is no difference ‘twixt himself,

  A mere anatomy, a Jack-of-Lent,

  And the pale image of a bloodless ghost?

  Yet doth he look as big as Hercules,

  And would be thought to have a voice like thunder.

  Well, Epernoun, there is a privilege

  That babes may speak their pleasure without check,

  Else quickly should my sword break off this parley,

  And with a fillip and thee to thy grave.

  EPERNOUN

  Callest a me babe?It never shall be said,

  But Epernoun will show himself a man,

  And whilst the breath is in his nostrils, prove

  A real substance, and maintain the right

  Of Louis of France, even by the dint of sword.

  [To his soldiers.] Lend me your hands.I’ll challenge him the fight.

  Twit me with ‘babe?’Lend me your hands, I say!

  FIRST SOLDIER

  Ah, good my lord, presume not.You are weak.

  EPERNOUN

  ‘Weak,” knave?Thou liest!

  HERNANDO

  Give him a standing stool,

  And then perhaps the child will learn to go.

  EPERNOUN

  Yet ‘child’ again?Alack, it will not be!

  My heart is good enough, but tyrant age

  Benumbs those instruments with which my heart

  Should execute the office of a knight.

  Medina, thou mayest thank the rigorous hands

  Of strength-decaying age.These legs of mine,

  Had they not proved rebels to my mind,

  Ere this, I would ahve taught thee to usurp

  Upon out confines.But what they omit,

  Here are both legs and arms to see perform’d.

  [MERCURY presses forward and stands beside EPERNOUN.

  FIRST SOLDIER

  Sirrah, stand back! Knowst thout what manners is,

  To press so near the person of our general?

  MERCURY

  I am a soldier.Wherefore may I not?

  FIRST SOLDIER

  Shall every common soldier, at a time

  When serious matters ar determin’d on

  Betwist both armies, impudently thrust

  Into the secrets of his prince?Stand back!

  SECOND SOLDIER

  Lay hands upon the villain!See within his fist

  A naked poniard?

  EPERNOUN

  How now, contrymen,

  What unexpected mutiny is that?

  HERNANDO

  [Aside.] A plague upon’t, Don Ugo, he’s discover’d!

  FIRST SOLDIER

  Some treason, as it seems, my noble lord.

  This base companion, since youfirst began

  To sit in parley, hath as sundry times

  Saucily presum’d to undermine your talk,

  And being reprehended for the same,

  We found this dagger hid within his sleeve.

  EPERNOUN

  Doubtless, he meant to murder me.

  Now, God be thanked, I have ‘scap’d his hands.

  HERNANDO

  List, Epernoun, he is a man of mine.

  Touch not a hair of him, lest for that hair,

  I send a hundred thousand of your souls

  To dwell in darkness.

  EPERNOUN

  How!A man of thine!<
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  Unless I be deceiv’d, I know that faace;

  It is the traitor Mercury disguis’d.

  HERNANDO

  Mercury!My foe!Had I but known so much,

  I would have made himsure enough ere this!

  But Epernoun, mark what I say to thee:

  If thou wilt redeliver to my hands

  That juggling duke, as I am gentleman

  And true to Spain, I will depart your land.

  EPERNOUN

  Deliver him!Not for the wealth of Spain,

  Nor for the treasure you do yearly bag

  From both the Indies.But, Medina, say,

  What reason mov’d thee term the duke thy man?

  And wherefore didst thou mention redelivery,

  As though sometime he had been in thy hand?

  HERNANDO

  I’ll tell thee, Epernoun, as I am knight,

  Not swerving from the truth in any point,

  And keeping faith.Accordingly reward

  His traitorous purpose, which is all I crave.

  This morning he was brought unto my tent,

  Where, being admitted, openly he show’d

  How he had been disgrac’d and wrong’d by thee;

  For which he promis’d, if I would consent,

  In this day’s parley, he would murder thee.

  I, seeing his resolution, was persuaded;

  And promising, I needs must say, reward,

  Though I do know when he had done the deed,

  How I was minded to have dealt with him,

  He thrust himself amongst thy followers,

  And what the peril is you see yourselves.

  But all this while I knew not who he was,

  More than a private, discontented person;

  For if I had, the wretch had never lived

  To be an eyesore to his countrymen.

  FIRST SOLDIER

  Oh, bloody practice!Soldiers, join with me,

  And we will tear him piecemeal with our hands!

  ALL THE REST

  Agreed!Let him not live a minute longer!

  EPERNOUN

  Pacify yourselves.Not one of you,

  On pain of our displeasure, once offer

  To touch a lilmb of him.Ingrateful Duke,

  Wherein hath Epernoun deserv’d thy hate,

  That thou shouldst basely seek to murder him?

  But wherefore ask I that, when ’tis well known,

  Thou didst as wrongfully pursue the like

  Of noble Lod’wick, that true gentleman,

  That very map of honourable carriage.

  Amend, amend, be sorry for thy fault,

  That though thy body perish by the laaw,

  Thy wretched soul may have a place in heaven.

  MERCURY

  Tell not me, Epernoun, of heaven not hell.

  I am a peer and regent of this realm,

  And thus you ought not to entreat a prince.

  ALL SOLDIERS

  Thou, regent of the realm?Speak that again,

  And we will slit thy weasand with out swords!

  EPERNOUN

  Soldiers, forbear!

  HERNANDO

  Nay, Epernoun, show justice

  Upon that caitiff, that perjured slave,

  That coward duke, or here I do rotest,

  Forever I will speak in thy dispraise,

  Reporting to the world thou art no knight,

  Not worthy of the name of Epernoun.

  EPERNOUN

  My lord, I may not take upon myself

  To be his judge. he is a peer of France,

  And must have open trial by his peers.

  But when the king, my master, doth return,

  As shortly we are told he means to do,

  At his discretion be his punishment.

  Meanspace, Medina, I can do no more,

  But see him safely kept in iron bands.

  HERNANDO

  Now, that as thou art knight, and for this day,

  I do proclaim a solemn truce with thee,

  And not a sword of ours shall hurt the French.

  EPERNOUN

  As I am knight and liegeman to the king,

  he shall be kept in fetters til he come.

  HERNANDO

  It is enough.Now back unto our tents.

  EPERNOUN

  And we unto the city whence we came,

  And for our safety, praise Jehovah’s name. [Exeunt.

  Scene 14

  ENTER VILLIERS THE merchant, with ORIANA and DIANA.

  ORIANA

  How shall we, gentle sir, requite the grace

  Which in so great necessity we find

  At your kind hands, but with our daily prayers,

  Implore the heavens for your prosperity?

  DIANA

  Which we will never cease to do, so long

  As life remains in our distressed bodies.

  VILLIERS

  These words are needless.What I do to you,

  The duty of a Christian binds me to.

  Remember then the promise you have made,

  that if your husband live not, whom yourselves

  Do verily imagine to be dead,

  That then you are my wife.

  ORIANA

  That promise I will keep

  Unfeignedly, with hearty thanks to heaven,

  That if my husband do not breathe this life,

  My misery yet sorts me at the last

  A second choice, so loving and so kind.

  DIANA

  And I right willingly shall call him father,

  That in such virtuous sort respects our need

  Without impeachment of our honest fame,

  Debarring wicked lust to blot the same.

  VILLIERS

  When I do otherwise than as beseems

  The reputations both of yourselves and me,

  Convert your love to me to deadly hate,

  And may all tongues dondemn me with reproof.

  Come in, then.Take possession fo your own;

  My lands, my house, my goods, and all is yours;

  Only my sister’s portion, which I have,

  Upon out troth-plight vow of marriage,

  If so your husband live not, set apart

  And ordered in a readiness for her.

  Come. lovely mother and thy virtuous child.

  Whenangry storms are past, the heavens do smile. [Exeunt.

  Scene 15

  ENTER FERDINAND, ODILLIA and LOD’WICK.

  ODILLIA

  Thus, Ferdinand, I see that we must part.

  FERDINAND

  Our needy state enforceth it, sweetheart.

  ODILLIA

  Will you to France?

  FERDINAND

  To France.

  ODILLIA

  And to the wars?

  FERDINAND

  To my advancement, war must be the mean.

  I cannot dig, I have no handicraft;

  Our coin is spent, and yet I cannot crave,

  And thought of want, your want, doth wound my soul

  When I consider what you are.

  ODILLIA

  Oh, peace!

  What am I but the iwfe fo Ferdinand,

  By love and faith unto thy fortunes bound?

  Oh, let me follow thee to those French wars!

  FERDINAND

  Oh, prize your honout and my credit more.

  Were it convenient, we would not divide;

  But as it is, I must go, you must bide.

  ODILLIA

  So says discretion, but true love repines,

  That want should fever those whom he combines.

  But pardon sweet, my speech is spent in vain.

  You must depart.When will ye come again?

  FERDINAND

  Soon, if success do answer my desire.

  ODILLIA

  You’ll write to me?

  FERDINAND

  As oft as I can send.

  ODILLIA
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  You’ll leave me here?

  FERDINAND

  With this assured friend,

  Whose kindness in abundance.

  LOD’WICK

  Alas, good sir, my means are weak, ye know.

  In sooth, I am no richer than I show.

  Were wishes wealth, you want should be supplied,

  And have no power your persons to divide.

  For I protest, in all my life before,

  I ne’er saw two wom I affected more.

  But this adds weight to mourner’s leaen grief;

  Words may bemoan, but cannot give relief.

  For part you must, extremity to shun;

  In wars is wealth and honour to be won.

  ODILLIA

  And fame, and death, and then I am undone.

  LOD’WICK

  Why death dwells here, you see my daily trade,

  For men of peace how many graves are made.

  Your spouse with wealth and worship may return

  And bring you joy, that at his parting mourn.

  Hope so, and hinder not his good intent,

  That for his honour, and your welfare’s meant.

  Oh, that my cottage where ye must remain,

  Were, for your sake, the gloriest house in Spain!

  But as it is,your own it is, and I,

  Your poor, poor host will tend you carefully.,

  But I am tedious in persuasion,

  Andyou forslow the present time’s occasion.

  ODILLIA

  Oh, do not mount him on the wings of haste

  That goes too soon.

  FERDINAND

  Dearest, mine hour is past.

  You gave me leave to go.Revoke it not.

  By ling’ring here, there’s no good fortune got.

  ODILLIA

  You’ll wear my favour?

  FERDINAND

  Else let heaven hate me.

  ODILLIA

  Farewell, sweetheart!

  FERDINAND

  Dear love, God comfort thee!

  Father, I leave my jewel in your hand. [FERDINAND is going.

  LOD’WICK

  I will be carefull.

  ODILLIA

  Sweetheart, Ferdinand–

  FERDINAND

  What says Odillia?

  ODILLIA

  Nothing but God buy ye. [Exit FERDINAND.

  LOD’WICK

  [Aside.] Such loath farewell my wife and daughter took;

  God bless them both and sent us well to meet.

  [Aloud.] Take comfort, lady.Though ths hour be sad,

  His safe return with wealth may make you glad.

  Enter SIR NICHOLAS and BUNCH.SIR NICHOLAS hath a paper in his hand.

  SIR NICHOLAS

  Sexton, I have sought thee in every seat in the church, doubting thou hadst been drowsy and fall’n asleep in some pew.

  BUNCH

  I’ll be sworn from the chapel to the belfry ye have aought him, and in the steeple, for fear he had been crept into a bell and been asleep.Lord, how do you, mistress?Fie, why do you weep?