Diego. The gipsies, my lord, are come.
Fer. Are they? let them enter. [Exit Diego.
My lord De Cortes, send for your wife and daughter;
Good company is good physic: take the pains
To seat yourselves in my great chamber. See,
[Exeunt. Francisco and Pedro.
Enter Alvarez, Guiamara, Constanza, Christiana,
John, Roderigo, Antonio, Carlo, Sancho,
and Soto, disguised as before.
San. The figure of nine casts us all up, my lord.
Fer. Nine? let me see—you are ten, sure.
Soto. That’s our poet, he stands for a cipher.
Fer. Ciphers make numbers:—what plays have
you?
Alv. Five or six, my lord.
Fer. It’s well so many already.
Soto. We are promised a very merry tragedy, if
all hit right, of Cobby Nobby.
Fer. So, so; a merry tragedy! there is a way
Which the Italians and the Frenchmen use,
That is, on a word given, or some slight plot,
The actors will extempore fashion out
Scenes neat and witty.
Alv. We can do that, my lord;
Please you bestow the subject.
Fer. Can you?—Come hither,
You master poet: to save you a labour,
Look you, against your coming I projected
This comic passage [producing a paper]; your drama, that’s the scene——
Rod. Ay, ay, my lord.
Fer. I lay in our own country, Spain.
Rod. ’Tis best so.
Fer. Here’s a brave part for this old gipsy; look you,
The father: read the plot; this young she-gipsy,
This lady: now the son, play him yourself.
Rod. My lord, I am no player.
Fer. Pray, at this time,
The plot being full, to please my noble friends,
Because your brains must into theirs put language,
Act thou the son’s part; I'll reward your pains.
Rod. Protest, my lord——
Fer. Nay, nay, shake off protesting;
When I was young, sir, I have play’d myself.
San. Yourself, my lord? you were but a poor
company then.
Fer. Yes, full enough, honest fellow.—Will you do it?
Rod. I'll venture.
Fer. I thank you: let this father be a don
Of a brave spirit.—Old gipsy, observe me——
Alv. Yes, my lord.
Fer. Play him up high; not like a pantaloon,
[339]
But hotly, nobly, checking this his son,
Whom make a very rake-hell, a debosh’d fellow.—
This point, I think, will shew well.
Rod. This of the picture?
It will indeed, my lord.
San. My lord, what part play I?
Fer. What parts dost use to play?
San. If your lordship has ever a coxcomb, I
think I could fit you.
Fer. I thank your coxcombship.
Soto. Put a coxcomb upon a lord!
Fer. There are parts to serve you all; go, go, make ready,
And call for what you want. [Exit.
Alv. Give me the plot; our wits are put to trial.
What’s the son’s name? Lorenzo: that’s your part,
[To Roderigo.
Look only you to that; these I'll dispose:
Old Don Avero, mine; Hialdo, Lollio,
Two servants,—you for them. [To Sancho and Soto.
San. One of the foolish knaves give me; I'll be
Hialdo.
Soto. And I, Lollio.
San. Is there a banquet in the play? we may
call for what we will.
Rod. Yes, here is a banquet.
San. I'll go, then, and bespeak an ocean of sweet-meats,
marmalade, and custards.
Alv. Make haste to know what you must do.
San. Do? call for enough; and when my belly
is full, fill my pockets.
Soto. To a banquet there must be wine; fortune’s
a scurvy whore, if she makes not my head sound
like a rattle, and my heels dance the canaries.[340]
Alv. So, so; despatch, whilst we employ our brains
To set things off to th' life.
Rod. I'll be straight with you.—
[Exeunt all except Roderigo.
Why does my father put this trick on me?
Spies he me through my vizard? if he does,
He’s not the king of Spain, and ’tis no treason;
If his invention jet
[341] upon a stage,
Why should not I use action? A debosh’d fellow!
A very rake-hell! this reflects on me,
And I'll retort it: grown a poet, father?
No matter in what strain your play must run,
But I shall fit you for a roaring son. [Exit.
SCENE III.
A large apartment in Fernando’s house.
Enter Fernando, Francisco, Pedro, Diego, Maria, Clara, and Servants.
Fer. Come, ladies, take your places. [Flourish within.] This their music?
’Tis very handsome: O, I wish this room
Were freighted but with [pleasures
[342]], noble friends,
As are to you my welcomes!—Begin there, masters.
San. [within] Presently, my lord; we want but
a cold capon for a property.[343]
Fer. Call, call for one.
Enter Sancho as Prologue.
Now they begin.
San. Both short and sweet some say is best;
We will not only be sweet, but short:
Take you pepper in the nose,[344] you mar our sport.
Fer. By no means pepper.
San. Of your love measure us forth but one span;
We do, though not the best, the best we can. [Exit.
Fer. A good honest gipsy!
Enter Alvarez (as Avero), and Soto (as Lollio).
Alv. Slave, where’s my son Lorenzo?
Soto. I have sought him, my lord, in all four
elements: in earth, my shoes are full of gravel; in
water, I drop at nose with sweating; in air, wheresoever
I heard noise of fiddlers, or the wide mouths
of gallon-pots roaring; and in fire, what chimney
soever I saw smoking with good cheer, for my master’s
dinner, as I was in hope.
Alv. Not yet come home? before on this old tree
Shall grow a branch so blasted, I'll hew it off,
And bury it at my foot! Didst thou inquire
At my brother’s?
Soto. At your sister’s.
Alv. At my wife’s father’s?
Soto. At your uncle’s mother’s: no such sheep
has broke through their hedge; no such calf as your
son sucks or bleats in their ground.
Alv. I am unbless’d to have but one son only,
One staff to bear my age up, one taper left
To light me to my grave, and that burns dimly;
That leaves me darkling hid in clouds of woe:
He that should prop me is mine overthrow.
Fer. Well done, old fellow! is’t not?
Fran.
Ped., &c. bracket Yes, yes, my lord.
Soto. Here comes his man Hialdo.
Enter Sancho (as Hialdo).
Alv. Where’s the prodigal your master, sirrah?
San. Eating acorns amongst swine, draff amongst
hogs, and gnawing bones amongst dogs; has lost all
his money at dice, his wits with his money, and his
honesty with both; for he bum-fiddles me, makes the
drawers curvet, pitches the plate over the bar, scores
up the vintner’s name in the Ram-head, flirts his
wife under the nose, and bids you with a pox send
him more money.
Alv. Art thou one of his curs to bite me too?
To nail thee to the earth were to do justice.
San. Here comes Bucephalus my prancing master;
nail me now who dares.
Enter Roderigo (as Lorenzo).
Rod. I sit like an owl[345] in the ivy-bush of a
tavern; Hialdo, I have drawn red wine from the
vintner’s own hogshead.
San. Here’s two more, pierce them too.
Rod. Old don, whom I call father, am I thy son?
if I be, flesh me with gold, fat me with silver; had
I Spain in this hand, and Portugal in this, puff it
should fly: where’s the money I sent for?—I'll
tickle you for a rake-hell! [Aside.
San. Not a marvedi.[346]
Alv. Thou shalt have none of me.
Soto. Hold his nose[347] to the grin’stone, my lord.
Rod. I shall have none?
Alv. Charge me a case[348] of pistols;
What I have built I'll ruin: shall I suffer
A slave to set his foot upon my heart?
A son? a barbarous villain! or if heaven save thee
Now from my justice, yet my curse pursues thee.
Rod. Hialdo, carbonado thou the old rogue my
father.
San. Whilst you slice into collops the rusty gammon
his man there.
Rod. No money? Can taverns stand without
anon, anon?[349] fiddlers live without scraping? taffeta
girls look plump without pampering? If you will
not lard me with money, give me a ship, furnish me
to sea.
Alv. To have thee hanged for piracy?
San. Trim, tram, hang master, hang man!
Rod. Then send me to the West Indies, buy me
some office there.
Alv. To have thy throat cut for thy quarrelling?
Rod. Else send me and my ningle[350] Hialdo to the
wars.
San. A match; we’ll fight dog, fight bear.
Enter Antonio (as Hernando).
Alv.[351] O dear Hernando, welcome!—Clap wings to your heels, [To Soto.
And pray my worthy friends bestow upon me
Their present visitation.[352]—
[Exit Soto.
Lorenzo, see the anger of a father;
Although it be as loud and quick as thunder,
Yet ’tis done instantly; cast off thy wildness,
Be mine, be mine, for I to call thee home
Have, with my honour’d friend here Don Hernando,
Provided thee a wife.
Rod. A wife! is she handsome? is she rich? is
she fair? is she witty? is she honest? hang honesty!
has she a sweet face, cherry-cheek, strawberry-lip,
white skin, dainty eye, pretty foot, delicate legs, as
there’s a girl now?
Ant. It is a creature both for birth and fortunes,
And for most excellent graces of the mind,
Few like her are in Spain.
Rod. When shall I see her?—
Now, father, pray take your curse off.
Alv. I do: the lady
Lives from Madrill[353] very near fourteen leagues,
But thou shalt see her picture.
Rod. That! that! most ladies in these days are
but very fine pictures.
Enter Carlo, John, Guiamara, Constanza, and Christiana (as friends of Avero).
Alv. Ladies, to you first welcome; my lords, Alonzo,
And you worthy marquis, thanks for these honours.—
Away you! [Exit Sancho.[354]
To th' cause now of this meeting. My son Lorenzo,
Whose wildness you all know, comes now to th' lure,
Sits gently; has call’d home his wandering thoughts,
And now will marry.
Consti. A good wife fate send him!
Gui. One staid may settle him.
Rod. Fly to the mark, sir; shew me the wench,
or her face, or any thing I may know ’tis a woman
fit for me.
Alv. She is not here herself, but here’s her picture.
[Shews a picture.
Fer. My lord De Carcomo, pray, observe this.
Fran. I do, attentively.—Don Pedro, mark it.
Soto. [to John] If you ha' done your part, yonder’s
a wench would ha' a bout with you. [Exit.
John. Me? Exit.
Diego. A wench! [Exit.
Alv. Why stand you staring at it? how do you like her?
Rod. Are you in earnest?
Alv. Yes, sir, in earnest.
Rod. I am not so hungry after flesh to make the
devil a cuckold.
Ant. Look not upon the face, but on the goodness
That dwells within her.
Rod. Set fire on the tenement!
Alv. She’s rich; nobly descended.
Rod. Did ever nobility look so scurvily?
Alv. I'm sunk in fortunes, she may raise us both.
Rod. Sink let her to her granam! marry a witch?
have you fetched a wife for me out of Lapland? an
old midwife in a velvet hat were a goddess to this:
that a red lip?
Consti. There’s a red nose.
Rod. That a yellow hair?
Gui. Why, her teeth may be yellow.
Rod. Where’s the full eye?
Chris. She has full blabber-cheeks.
Alv. Set up thy rest, her marriest thou or none.
Rod. None then: were all the water in the world
one sea, all kingdoms one mountain, I would climb
on all four up to the top of that hill, and headlong
hurl myself into that abyss of waves, ere I would
touch the skin of such rough haberdine,[355] for the breath
of her picture stinks hither.
A noise within. Re-enter, in a hurry, John, Diego,
Sancho, and Soto, with Cardochia.
Fer. What tumult’s this?
San. Murder, murder, murder!
Soto. One of our gipsies is in danger of hanging,
hanging!
Ped. Who is hurt?
Diego. ’Tis I, my lord, stabbed by this gipsy.
John. He struck me first, and I'll not take a blow
From any Spaniard breathing.
Ped. Are you so brave?
Fer. Break up your play; lock all the doors.
Diego. I faint, my lord.
Fran. Have him to a surgeon.—
[Servants remove Diego.
How fell they out?
Card. O, my good lord, these gipsies, when they lodg’d
At my house, I had a jewel from my pocket
Stolen by this villain.
John. ’Tis most false, my lords;
Her own hands gave it me.
Consti. She that calls him villain,
Or says he stole——
Fer. Hoyday! we hear your scolding.
Card. And the hurt gentleman finding it in his bosom,
For that he stabb’d him.
Fer. Hence with all the gipsies!
Ped. Ruffians and thieves; to prison with ’em all!
Alv. My lord, we’ll leave engagements in plate and money
For all our safe forthcomings; punish not all
For one’s offence; we’ll prove ourselves no thieves.
San. O Soto, I make buttons!
[356]
Soto. Would I could make some, and leave this
trade!
Fer. Iron him then, let the rest go free; but stir not
One foot out of Madrill.
[357] Bring you in your witness.
[Exeunt. John in custody of servants, Alvarez,
Guiamara, Constanza, Christiana, Antonio,
Carlo, and Cardochia.
Soto. Prick him with a pin, or pinch him by the
elbow; any thing.
San. My lord Don Pedro, I am your ward; we
have spent a little money to get a horrible deal of
wit, and now I am weary of it.
Ped. My runaways turn’d jugglers, fortune-tellers?
Soto. No great fortunes.
Fer. To prison with ’em both: a gentleman play
the ass!
San. If all gentlemen that play the ass should to
prison, you must widen your jails.—Come, Soto, I
scorn to beg, set thy foot to mine, and kick at
shackles.
Fer. So, so; away with ’em!
Soto. Send all our company after, and we’ll play
there, and be as merry as you here.
[Exeunt. Sancho and Soto with Servants.
Fer. Our comedy turn’d tragical! Please you, lords, walk:
This actor here and I must change a word,
And I come to you.
Fran.
Ped., &c. bracket Well, my lord, your pleasure.
[Exeunt all except Fernando and Roderigo.
Fer. Why, couldst thou think in any base disguise
To blind my sight? fathers have eagles' eyes.
But pray, sir, why was this done? why, when I thought you
Fast lock’d in Salamanca at your study,
Leap’d you into a gipsy?
Rod. Sir, with your pardon,
I shall at fit time to you shew cause for all.
Fer. Meantime, sir, you have got a trade to live by:
Best to turn player; an excellent ruffian, ha!
But know, sir, when I had found you out, I gave you
This project of set purpose; ’tis all myself;
What the old gipsy spake must be my language;
Nothing are left me but my offices
And thin-fac’d honours; and this very creature,
By you so scorn’d, must raise me by your marrying her.
Rod. You would not build your glory on my ruins?
Fer. The rascal has belied the lady,
She is not half so bad; all’s one, she’s rich.
Rod. O, will you sell
[358] the joys of my full youth
To dunghill muck? seek out some wretch’s daughter,
Whose soul is lost for gold then: you’re more noble
Than t' have your son, the top-branch of your house,
Grow in a heap of rubbish: I must marry a thing
I shall be asham’d to own, asham’d to bring her
Before a sunbeam.
Fer. I cannot help it, sir;
Resolve upon’t, and do’t.
Rod. And do’t and die!
Is there no face in Spain for you to pick out
But one to fright me? when you sat the play here,
There was a beauty, to be lord of which
I would against an army throw defiance.
Fer. She? alas!
Rod. How? she!
[359] at every hair of hers
There hangs a very angel; this! I'm ready
To drop down looking at it: sir, I beseech you
Bury me in this earth [kneels], on which I'm humbled
To beg your blessing on me, for a gipsy,
Rather than—O, I know not what to term it!
Pray, what is that young pensive piece of beauty?
Your voice for her; I ey’d her all the scene.
Fer. I saw you did.
Rod. Methought ’twas a sweet creature.
Fer. Well, though my present state stands now on ice,
I'll let it crack and fall rather than bar thee
Of thy content; this lady shall go by then.
Rod. Hang let her there, or any where!
Fer. That young lannard,
[360]
Whom you have such a mind to, if you can whistle her
To come to fist, make trial; play the young falconer;
I will nor mar your marriage nor yet make;
Beauty, no wealth,—wealth, ugliness,—which you will, take.
Rod. I thank you, sir. [Exit Fernando.]—Put on your mask, good madam, [To the picture.
The sun will spoil your face else. [Exit.
ACT V. SCENE I.
A room in Fernando’s house.
Fernando, Francisco, Pedro, Roderigo, Clara,
and Maria, pass over the stage from church: as
the others exeunt, Fernando stays Roderigo.
Fer. Thou hast now the wife of thy desires.
Rod. Sir, I have,
And in her every blessing that makes life
Loath to be parted with.
Fer. Noble she is,
And fair; has to enrich her blood and beauty,
Plenty of wit, discourse, behaviour, carriage.
Rod. I owe you duty for a double birth,
Being in this happiness begot again,
Without which I had been a man of wretchedness.
Fer. Then henceforth, boy, learn to obey thy fate;
’Tis fallen upon thee; know it, and embrace it;
Thy wife’s a wanton.
Rod. A wanton?
Fer. Examine through the progress of thy youth
What capital sin,
[361] what great one ’tis, for ’tis
A great one, thou’st committed.
Rod. I a great one?
Fer. Else heaven is not so wrathful to pour on thee
A misery so full of bitterness:
I am thy father; think on’t, and be just;
Come, do not dally.
Rod. Pray, my lord——
Fer. Fool, ’twere
Impossible that justice should rain down
In such a frightful horror without cause.
Sir, I will know it; rather blush thou didst
An act thou dar’st not name, than that it has
A name to be known by.
Rod. Turn from me then,
And as my guilt sighs out this monster,—rape,
O, do not lend an ear!
Fer. Rape? fearful!
Rod. Hence,
Hence springs my due reward.
Fer. Thou’rt none of mine,
Or if thou be’st, thou dost belie the stamp
[362]Of thy nativity.
Rod. Forgive me!
Fer. Had she,
Poor wrongèd soul, whoe’er she was, no friend,
Nor father, to revenge? had she no tongue
To roar her injuries?
Rod. Alas, I know her not!
Fer. Peace! thou wilt blaze a sin beyond all precedent:
Young man, thou shouldst have married her; the devil
Of lust that riots in thy eye should there
Have let fall
[363] love and pity, not on this stranger
Whom thou hast doted on.
Rod. O, had I married her,
I had been then the happiest man alive!
Re-enter Clara, Maria, and Pedro, from behind the arras.
Cla. As I the happiest woman, being married:
Look on me, sir.
Ped. You shall not find a change
So full of fears as your most noble father,
In his wise trial, urg’d.
Mar. Indeed you shall not,
The forfeit of her shame shall be her pawn.
Rod. Why, pray, d’ye mock my sorrows? now, O, now,
My horrors flow
[364] about me!
Fer. No, thy comforts,
Thy blessings, Roderigo.
Cla. By this crucifix [Shewing crucifix.
You may remember me.
Rod. Ha! art thou
That lady wrongèd?
Cla. I was, but now am
Righted in noble satisfaction.
Rod. How can I turn mine eyes, and not behold
On every side my shame!
Fer. No more: hereafter
We shall have time to talk at large of all:
Love her that’s now thine own; do, Roderigo;
She’s far from what I character’d.
Cla. My care
Shall live about me to deserve your love.
Rod. Excellent Clara!—Fathers both, and mother,
I will redeem my fault.
Fer.
Ped.
Mar. bracket Our blessings dwell on ye!