Re-enter Fidelio with Jeweller’s Wife.
My daughter! I am ashamed her worship should
see me.
Jew. Wife. Who would not love a friend at
court? what fine galleries and rooms am I brought
through! I had thought my Knight durst not have
shewn his face here, I.
Phœ. Now, mother of pride and daughter of
lust, which is your friend now?
Jew. Wife. Ah me!
Phœ. I’m sure you are not so unprovided to be
without a friend here: you’ll pay enough for him
first.
Jew. Wife. This is the worst room that ever I
came in.
Phœ. I am your servant, mistress;[935] know you
not me?
Jew. Wife. Your worship is too great for me to
know: I’m but a small-timbered woman, when I’m
out of my apparel, and dare not venture upon
greatness.
Phœ. Do you deny me then? know you this purse?
Jew. Wife. That purse? O death, has the Knight serv’d me so?
Given away my favours?
Phœ. Stand forth, thou one of those
For whose close lusts the plague ne’er
[936] leaves the city.
Thou worse than common! private, subtle harlot!
That dost deceive three with one feigned lip,
Thy husband, the world’s eye, and the law’s whip.
Thy zeal is hot, for ’tis to lust and fraud,
And dost not dread to make thy book thy bawd.
Thou’rt curse enough to husband’s ill-got gains,
For whom the court rejects his gold maintains.
How dear and rare was freedom wont to be!
Now few but are by their wives’ copies free,
And brought to such a head, that now we see
City and suburbs wear one livery!
Jew. Wife. ’Tis ’long of those,[937] an’t like your
grace, that come in upon us, and will never leave
marrying of our widows till they make ’em all as
free as their first husbands.
Phœ. I perceive you can shift a point well.
Jew. Wife. Let me have pardon, I beseech your
grace, and I’ll peach ’em all, all the close women
that are; and, upon my knowledge, there’s above
five thousand within the walls and the liberties.
Phœ. A band! they shall be sent against the Turks;
[938]
Infidels against infidels.
Jew. Wife. I will hereafter live so modestly, I
will not lie with mine own husband, nor come near
a man in the way of honesty.
Fal. I’ll be her warrant, my lord.
Phœ. You are deceiv’d; you think you’re still a justice.
Fal. ’S foot, worse than I was before I kneeled!
I am no justice now; I know I shall be some innkeeper
at last.
Jew. Wife. My father? ’tis mine own father.
Phœ. I should have wonder’d else, lust being so like.
Niece. Her birth was kin to mine; she may prove modest:
For my sake I beseech you pardon her.
Phœ. For thy sake I’ll do more.—Fidelio, hand her.
My favours on you both; next, all that wealth
Which was committed to that perjur’d’s trust.
Fal. I’m a beggar now; worse than an innkeeper.
Tan. Your mittimus shall not serve: I’ll set myself
free with a deliberandum; with a deliberandum,
mark you.
Duke. What’s he? a guard!
Phœ. Under your sufferance,
Worthy father, his harm is to himself;
One that has lov’d vexation so much,
He cannot now be rid on’t:
Has been so long in suits, that he’s law-mad.
Tan. A judgment, I crave a judgment, yea!
nunc pro tunc, corruptione alicujus. I peeped me a
raven in the face, and I thought it had been my
solicitor: O, the pens prick me!
Phœ. And here comes he (wonder for temperance)
Will take the cure upon him.
Qui. A blessing to this fair assembly!
Tan. Away! I’ll have none on’t: give me an
audita querela, or a testificandum, or a despatch in
twelve terms: there’s a blessing, there’s a blessing!
Phœ. You see the unbounded rage of his disease.
Qui. ’Tis the foul fiend, my lord, has got within him.
The rest are fair to this: this breeds in ink,
And to that colour turns the blood possess’d:
For instance, now your grace shall see him dress’d.
Tan. Ah ha! I rejoice then he’s puzzled, and muzzled too:
Is’t come to a cepi corpus?
Qui. Ah, good sir,
This is for want of patience!
Tan. That’s a fool:
She never saw the dogs and the bears fight;
[939]A country thing.
Qui. This is for lack of grace.
Tan. I’ve other business, not so much idle time.
Qui. You never say your prayers.
Tan. I’m advised by my learned counsel.
Qui. The power of my charm come o’er thee,
Place by degrees thy wits before thee!
With silken patience here I bind thee,
Not to move till I unwind thee.
Tan. Yea! is my cause so muddy? do I stick, do I stick fast?
Advocate, here’s my hand, pull; art made of flint?
Wilt not help out? alas, there’s nothing in’t!
Phœ. O, do you sluice the vein now?
Qui. Yes, my honour’d lord.
Phœ. Pray, let me see the issue.
Qui. I therefore seek to keep it.—Now burst out,
Thou filthy stream of trouble, spite, and doubt!
Tan. O, an extent, a proclamation, a summons,
a recognisance, a tachment, and injunction! a writ,
a seizure, a writ of ’praisement, an absolution, a
quietus est!
Qui. You’re quieter, I hope, by so much dregs.—Behold,
my lord!
Phœ. This! why, it outfrowns ink.
Qui. ’Tis the disease’s nature, the fiend’s drink.
Tan. O sick, sick, signior Ply-fee, sick! lend
me thy nightcap, O!
Qui. The balsam of a temperate brain
I pour into this thirsty vein,
And with this blessed oil of quiet,
Which is so cheap, that few men buy it,
Thy stormy temples I allay:
Thou shalt give up the devil, and pray;
Forsake his works, they’re foul and black,
And keep thee bare in purse and back.
No more shalt thou in paper quarrel,
To dress up apes in good apparel.
He throws his stock and all his flock
Into a swallowing gulf,
That sends his goose unto his fox,
His lamb unto his wolf.
Keep thy increase,
And live at peace,
For war’s
[940] not equal to this battle:
That eats but men; this men and cattle:
Therefore no more this combat choose,
Where he that wins does always lose;
And those that gain all, with this curse receive it,
From fools they get it, to their sons they leave it.
Tan. Hail, sacred patience! I begin to feel
I have a conscience now; truth in my words,
Compassion in my heart, and, above all,
In my blood peace’s music. Use me how you can,
You shall find me an honest, quiet man.
O, pardon, that I dare behold that face!
Now I’ve least
[941] law I hope I have most grace.
Phœ. We both admire the workman and his piece.
Thus when all hearts are tun’d to honour’s strings,
There is no music to the quire of kings.
[Exeunt omnes.