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THE NOBLE SPANISH SOLDIER by THOMAS DEKKER |
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ACT 1 |
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THE PRINTER TO THE READER
Understanding reader, I present this to your view, which has received applause
in action. The poet might conceive a complete satisfaction upon the stage’s approbation; but the printer rests not there, knowing that that which was acted and approved upon the stage, might be no less acceptable in
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endeavours to give content to men of the ablest quality, such as intelligent readers are here conceived to be. I could have troubled you with a longer epistle, but I fear to stay you from the book, which affords better
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to give you more or better testimony of his entireness towards you.
CHARACTERS
King of Spain
Cardinal, advisor to the King
Count Malateste of
Florence, confidant of the Queen
Roderigo, Don of Spain,
supporter of the King
Valasco, Don of Spain,
supporter of the King
Lopez, Don of Spain, supporter
of the King
Duke of Medina, leader of the
Faction
Marquis Daenia, member of the
Faction
Alba, Don of Spain, member of
the Faction
Carlo, Don of Spain, member of
the Faction
Alanzo, Captain of the Guard,
member of the Faction
Sebastian, illegitimate son of
the King
Balthazar, a Spanish soldier
Cornego, servant to Onaelia
Cockadillio, a courtier
Signor No A Poet
Queen of Spain, Paulina, daughter of Duke of Florence
Onaelia, niece to the Duke of
Medina, mother of Sebastian
Juanna, maid to Onaelia
Ladies in waiting
Attendants, guards
ACT 1 SCENE 1
Enter in magnificent state to
the sound of loud music, the King and Queen, as from church, attended by the
Cardinal, Count Malateste, Marquis Daenia, Roderigo, Valasco, Alba, Carlo, and
ladies-in waiting. The King and Queen with courtly compliments salute and part.
She [exits] with one half attending her. King, Cardinal and the other half stay,
the King seeming angry and desirous to be rid of them. King, Cardinal, Daenia
and others [remain].
KING
Give
us what no man here is master of:
Breath.
Leave us pray, my father Cardinal
Can
by the physic of philosophy
Set
all again in order. Leave us pray.
Exeunt
[King and Cardinal remain].
CARDINAL
How
is it with you, sir?
KING
As
with a ship
Now
beat with storms, now safe. The storms are vanished
And
having you my Pilot, I not only
See
shore, but harbour; I to you will open
The
book of a black sin, deep printed in me.
Oh
father, my disease lies in my soul.
CARDINAL
The
old wound sir?
KING
Yes
that, it festers inwards.
For
though I have a beauty to my bed
That
even creation envies at, as wanting
Stuff
to make such another, yet on her pillow
I
lie by her, but an adulterer,
And
she as an adulteress. She is my queen
And
wife, yet but my strumpet though the church
Set
on the seal of marriage. Good Onaelia, Niece to our Lord High Constable of Spain
Was
precontracted mine.
CARDINAL
Yet
when I stung
Your
conscience with remembrance of the act
Your
ears were deaf to counsel.
KING
I
confess it.
CARDINAL
Now
to untie the knot with your new Queen
Would
shake your crown half from your head.
KING
Even
Troy, though she has wept her eyes out,
Would
find tears to wail my kingdom’s ruins.
CARDINAL
What
will you do then?
KING
She
has that contract written, sealed by you,
And
other churchmen witnesses unto it.
A
kingdom should be given for that paper.
CARDINAL
I
would not, for what lies beneath the moon,
Be
made a wicked engine to break in pieces
That
holy contract.
KING
‘Tis
my soul’s aim
To
tie it upon a faster knot.
CARDINAL
I
do not see
How
you can with safe conscience get it from her.
KING
Oh
I know
I
wrestle with a lioness. To imprison her
And
force her to it, I dare not. Death! What King
Did
ever say ‘I dare not’? I must have it;
A
bastard have I by her, and that cock
Will
have, I fear, sharp spurs, if he crow after
Him
that trod for him. Something must be done
Both
to the hen and the chicken. Haste you therefore
To
sad Onaelia, tell her I’m resolved
To
give my new hawk bells, and let her fly.
My
Queen, I’m weary of, and her will marry.
To
this, our text, add you what gloss you please;
The
secret drifts of kings are depthless seas.
Exeunt
ACT
1 SCENE 2
A
table set out covered with black. Two waxen tapers. The King’s [defaced]
picture at one end and a crucifix at the other. Onaelia [dressed in black]
walking discontentedly weeping to the crucifix.
[Unspecified
characters perform] a song.
QUESTION
Oh
sorrow, sorrow, say where do'st thou dwell?
ANSWER
In
the lowest room of hell.
QUESTION
Art
thou born of human race?
ANSWER
No,
no. I have a fury’s <2> face.
QUESTION
Art
thou in city, town or court?
ANSWER
I
to every place resort.
QUESTION
O
why into the world is sorrow sent?
ANSWER
Men
afflicted best repent.
QUESTION
What
do'st thou feed on?
ANSWER
Broken
sleep.
QUESTION
What
takest thou take pleasure in?
ANSWER
To
weep,
To
sigh, to sob, to pine, to groan,
To
wring my hands, to sit alone.
QUESTION
Oh
when, oh when, shall sorrow quiet have?
ANSWER
Never,
never, never, never,
Never
till she finds a grave.
Enter Cornego.
CORNEGO No lesson Madam but Lacrymae’s? <3> If you had buried nine husbands, so much water as you might squeeze out of an onion had been tears enough to cast away upon fellows that cannot thank you. Come, be jovial.
ONAELIA
Sorrow
becomes me best.
CORNEGO
A
suit of laugh and lie down would wear better.
ONAELIA
What
should I do to be merry, Cornego?
CORNEGO
Be
not sad.
ONAELIA
But
what’s the best mirth in the world?
CORNEGO
Marry
this, to see much, say little, do little, get little, spend little and want
nothing.
ONAELIA
Oh,
but there is a mirth beyond all these;
This
picture has so vexed me, I’m half mad,
To
spite it therefore, I’ll sing any song
Thyself
shall tune. Say then, what mirth is best?
CORNEGO
Why
then Madam, what I knock out now is the very marrowbone of mirth and this it is.
ONAELIA
Say
on.
CORNEGO
The
best mirth for a lawyer is to have fools to his clients; for citizens to have
noblemen pay for their debts; for tailors to have store of satin brought in, for
then how little soever their houses are, they will be sure to have large yards.
The best mirth for bawds is to have fresh handsome whores, and for whores to
have rich gulls come aboard their pinnaces <4>, for then they are sure to
build galleasses <5>.
ONAELIA
These
to such souls are mirth, but to mine, none.
Away.
Exit
Cornego, Enter Cardinal.
CARDINAL
Peace
to you, Lady.
ONAELIA
I
will not sin so much as to hope for peace
And
‘tis a mock ill suits your gravity.
CARDINAL
I
come to knit the nerves of your lost strength,
To
build your ruins up, to set you free
From
this your voluntary banishment,
And
give new being to your murdered fame.
ONAELIA
What
Aesculapius <6> can do this?
CARDINAL
‘Tis
from the King I come.
ONAELIA
A
name I hate.
Oh,
I am deaf now to your embassy.
CARDINAL
Hear
what I speak.
ONAELIA
Your
language breathed from him
Is
death’s sad doom upon a wretch condemned.
CARDINAL
Is
it such poison?
ONAELIA
Yes,
and were you crystal,
What
the King fills you with would make you break.
You
should my Lord, be like these robes you wear,
Pure
as the dye, and like that reverend shape
Nurse
thoughts as full of honour, zeal and purity.
You
should be the court-dial, and direct
The
King with constant motion, be ever beating,
Like
to clock-hammers, on his iron heart
To
make it sound clear and to feel remorse.
You
should unlock his soul, wake his dead conscience
Which,
like a drowsy sentinel, gives leave
For
sin’s vast armies to beleaguer him.
His
ruins will be asked for at your hands.
CARDINAL
I
have raised up a scaffolding to save
Both
him and you from falling. Do but hear me.
ONAELIA
Be
dumb for ever.
CARDINAL
Let
your fears thus die:
By
all the sacred relics of the church
And
by my holy orders, what I minister
Is
even the spirit of health.
ONAELIA
I’ll
drink it down into my soul at once.
CARDINAL
You
shall.
ONAELIA
But
swear.
CARDINAL
What
conjurations can more bind my oath?
ONAELIA
But
did you swear in earnest?
CARDINAL
Come,
you trifle.
ONAELIA
No
marvel, for my hopes have been so drowned
I
still despair, say on.
CARDINAL
The
King repents.
ONAELIA
Pray,
that again my Lord.
CARDINAL
The
King repents.
ONAELIA
His
wrongs to me?
CARDINAL
His
wrongs to you. The sense of sin
Has
pierced his soul.
ONAELIA
Blessed
penitence!
CARDINAL
Has
turned his eyes <7> into his leprous bosom
And
like a king vows execution
On
all his traitorous passions.
ONAELIA
God-like
justice!
CARDINAL
Intends
in person presently to beg
Forgiveness
for his acts from heaven and you.
ONAELIA
Heaven
pardon him. I shall.
CARDINAL
Will
marry you.
ONAELIA
Umh!
Marry me? Will he turn bigamist?
When?
When?
CARDINAL
Before
the morrow sun hath rode
Half
his day’s journey, will send home his Queen
As
one that stains his bed, and can produce
Nothing
but bastard issue to his crown.
Why,
how now? Lost in wonder and amazement?
ONAELIA
I
am so stored with joy that I can now
Strongly
wear out more years of misery
Than
I have lived.
Enter
King.
CARDINAL
You
need not: here is the King.
KING
Leave
us.
Exit
Cardinal.
ONAELIA
With
pardon sir, I will prevent you
And
charge upon you first.
KING
‘Tis
granted, do.
But
stay, what mean these emblems of distress?
My
picture so defaced, opposed against
A
holy cross! Room hung in black, and you
Dressed
like chief mourner at a funeral?
ONAELIA
Look
back upon your guilt, dear Sir, and then
The
cause that now seems strange explains itself.
This
and the image of my living wrongs
Is
still confronted by me to beget
Grief
like my shame, whose length may outlive time.
This
cross, the object of my wounded soul
To
which I pray to keep me from despair;
That
ever as the sight of one throws up
Mountains
of sorrow on my accursed head.
Turning
to that, mercy may check despair
And
bind my hands from willful violence.
KING
But
who has played the tyrant with me thus,
And
with such dangerous spite abused my picture?
ONAELIA
The
guilt of that lays claim sir, to yourself
For
being, by you, ransacked of all my fame,
Robbed
of mine honour and dear chastity,
Made,
by your act, the shame of all my house,
The
hate of good men and the scorn of bad,
The
song of broom-men and the murdering vulgar,
And
left alone to bear up all these ills
By
you begun, my breast was filled with fire
And
wrapped in just disdain, and like a woman
On
that dumb picture wreaked I my passions.
KING
And
wished it had been I.
ONAELIA
Pardon
me Sir,
My
wrongs were great, and my revenge swelled high.
KING
I
will descend and cease to be a King,
To
leave my judging part, freely confessing
Thou
canst not give thy wrongs too ill a name.
And
here to make thy apprehension full,
And
seat thy reason in a sound belief
I
vow tomorrow, ere the rising sun
Begins
his journey, with all ceremonies
Due
to the Church, to seal our nuptials,
To
prive <8> thy son with full consent of state,
ONAELIA
And
will you swear to this?
KING
By
this I swear.
[Takes
up Bible.]
ONAELIA
Oh,
you have sworn false oaths upon that book!
KING
Why
then, by this.
[Takes
up crucifix.]
ONAELIA
Take
heed you print it deeply:
How
for your concubine, bride I cannot say,
She
stains your bed with black adultery,
And
though her fame masks in a fairer shape
Than
<9> mine to the world’s eye, yet King, you know
Mine
honour is less strumpeted than hers,
However
butchered in opinion.
KING
This
way for her, the contract which thou hast,
By
best advice of all our Cardinals,
Today
shall be enlarged till it be made
Past
all dissolving. Then to our council table
Shall
she be called, that read aloud, she told The
church commands her quick return for With
such a dower as
And
that they will not hazard heaven’s dire curse
To
yield to a match unlawful, which shall taint
The
issue of the King with bastardy.
This
done, in state majestic come you forth,
Our
new crowned Queen in sight of all our peers.
Are
you resolved?
ONAELIA
To
doubt of this were treason
Because
the King has sworn it.
KING
And
will keep it.
Deliver
up the contract then, that I
May
make this day end with thy misery.
ONAELIA
Here
as the dearest Jewel of my fame
Locked
I this parchment from all viewing eyes.
This
your indenture, held alone the life
Of
my supposed dead honour; yet behold,
Into
your hands I redeliver it.
Oh
keep it Sir, as you should keep that vow,
To
which, being signed by heaven, even angels bow.
[Onaelia
passes the document to the King.]
KING
‘Tis
in the lion’s paw, and who dares snatch it?
Now
to your beads and crucifix again.
ONAELIA
Defend
me heaven!
KING Pray
there may come Embassadors from
Their
followers are good customers.
ONAELIA
Save
me from madness!
KING
‘Twill
raise the price, being the King’s mistress.
ONAELIA
You
do but counterfeit to mock my joys.
KING
Away
bold strumpet!
ONAELIA
Are
there eyes in heaven to see this?
KING
Call
and try, here’s a whore’s curse
To
fall in that belief, which her sins nurse.
Exit
King, Enter Cornego.
CORNEGO
How
now? What quarter of the moon has she cut out now? My Lord puts me into a wise
office to be a mad-woman’s keeper. Why, Madam!
ONAELIA
Ha!
Where is the King, thou slave?
[Clutches
Cornego.]
CORNEGO
Let
go your hold, or I’ll fall upon you as I am a man.
ONAELIA
Thou
treacherous caitiff <10>, where is the King?
CORNEGO
He’s
gone, but not so far as you are.
ONAELIA
Crack
all in sunder, oh you battlements,
And
grind me into powder
CORNEGO
What
powder? Come, what powder? When did you ever see a woman grinded into powder? I
am sure some of your sex powder men, and pepper them too.
ONAELIA
Is
there a vengeance yet lacking to my ruin?
Let
it fall, now let it fall upon me!
CORNEGO
No,
there has been too much fallen upon you already.
ONAELIA
Thou
villain, leave thy hold, I’ll follow him
Like
a raised ghost, I’ll haunt him, break his sleep,
Fright
him as he is embracing his new leman <11>,
Til
want of rest bids him run mad and die,
For
making oaths bawds to his perjury.
CORNEGO
Pray
be more seasoned, if he make any bawds, he did ill, for there is enough of that
fly-blown flesh already.
ONAELIA
I’m
left quite naked now; all gone, all, all.
CORNEGO
No
Madam, not all, for you cannot be rid of me.
Here
comes your Uncle.
Enter
Medina.
ONAELIA
Attired
in robes of vengeance, are you uncle?
MEDINA
More
horrors yet?
ONAELIA
‘Twas
never full till now,
And
in this torrent all my hopes lie drowned.
Instruct
me in the cause.
ONAELIA
The
King, the contract!
Exit
Onaelia.
CORNEGO
That’s
cud enough for you to chew upon.
Exit
Cornego.
What’s
this? A riddle. How? The King, the contract.
The
mischief I divine which proving true, Shall
kindle fires in
Even
from his head. Here’s the decree of fate:
A
black deed must a black deed expiate.
Exit Medina.
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