Duchess of Malfi

“ DELIO. Then the law to him Is like a foul, black cobweb to a spider,— He makes it his dwelling and a prison To entangle those shall feed him. ANTONIO. Most true: He never pays debts unless they be shrewd turns, And those he will confess that he doth owe. Last, for this brother there, the cardinal, They that do flatter him most say oracles Hang at his lips; and verily I believe them, For the devil speaks in them. But for their sister, the right noble duchess, You never fix'd your eye on three fair medals Cast in one figure, of so different temper. ”

“ DUCHESS. Your arm, Antonio: do I not grow fat? I am exceeding short-winded.—Bosola, I would have you, sir, provide for me a litter; Such a one as the Duchess of Florence rode in. BOSOLA. The duchess us'd one when she was great with child. DUCHESS. I think she did.—Come hither, mend my ruff: Here, when? thou art such a tedious lady; and Thy breath smells of lemon-pills: would thou hadst done! Shall I swoon under thy fingers? I am So troubled with the mother! [41] BOSOLA. [Aside.] I fear too much. DUCHESS. I have heard you say that the French courtiers Wear their hats on 'fore that king. ”

“ Lope de Vega constructed a play out of the same materials, and gave it the title of ‘El mayordomo de la Duquesca de Amalfi.’ The theme is the vengeance wrought by Ferdinand, duke of Calabria, and his brother, the cardinal, on their sister, the Duchess of Malfi, for her defiance of the family honour in marrying Antonio, the steward of her household. ”

“ BOSOLA. In sooth, I 'll tell you: Now all the court 's asleep, I thought the devil Had least to do here; I came to say my prayers; And if it do offend you I do so, You are a fine courtier. ANTONIO. [Aside.] This fellow will undo me.— You gave the duchess apricocks to-day: Pray heaven they were not poison'd! BOSOLA. Poison'd! a Spanish fig For the imputation! ANTONIO. Traitors are ever confident Till they are discover'd. There were jewels stol'n too: In my conceit, none are to be suspected More than yourself. BOSOLA. You are a false steward. ”

“ BOSOLA. Give me leave to be honest in any phrase, in any compliment whatsoever. Shall I confess myself to you? I look no higher than I can reach: they are the gods that must ride on winged horses. A lawyer's mule of a slow pace will both suit my disposition and business; for, mark me, when a man's mind rides faster than his horse can gallop, they quickly both tire. ANTONIO. You would look up to heaven, but I think The devil, that rules i' th' air, stands in your light. BOSOLA. O, sir, you are lord of the ascendant, [40] chief man with the duchess: a duke was your cousin-german remov'd. ”

“ I had rather have his heart than his money':— And I believe so too. BOSOLA. What do you believe? DUCHESS. That he so much distrusts my husband's love, He will by no means believe his heart is with him Until he see it: the devil is not cunning enough To circumvent us In riddles. BOSOLA. Will you reject that noble and free league Of amity and love which I present you? DUCHESS. Their league is like that of some politic kings, Only to make themselves of strength and power To be our after-ruin; tell them so. BOSOLA. And what from you? ANTONIO. Thus tell him ”

“ FERDINAND and BOSOLA FERDINAND. How doth our sister duchess bear herself In her imprisonment? BOSOLA. Nobly: I 'll describe her. She 's sad as one long us'd to 't, and she seems Rather to welcome the end of misery Than shun it; a behaviour so noble As gives a majesty to adversity: You may discern the shape of loveliness More perfect in her tears than in her smiles: She will muse for hours together; and her silence, Methinks, expresseth more than if she spake. FERDINAND. Her melancholy seems to be fortified With a strange disdain. BOSOLA. 'Tis so ”

“ The great are like the base, nay, they are the same, When they seek shameful ways to avoid shame. Exit. BOSOLA. Antonio hereabout did drop a paper:— Some of your help, false friend. [56] —O, here it is. What 's here? a child's nativity calculated! [Reads.] 'The duchess was deliver'd of a son, 'tween the hours twelve and one in the night, Anno Dom. 1504,'—that 's this year—'decimo nono Decembris,'—that 's this night— 'taken according to the meridian of Malfi,'—that 's our duchess: happy discovery!—'The lord of the first house being combust in the ascendant, signifies short life ”

“ ANTONIO. I fear it hath: The Lord Ferdinand, that 's newly come to court, Doth bear himself right dangerously. DELIO. Pray, why? ANTONIO. He is so quiet that he seems to sleep The tempest out, as dormice do in winter. Those houses that are haunted are most still Till the devil be up. DELIO. What say the common people? ANTONIO. The common rabble do directly say She is a strumpet. DELIO. And your graver heads Which would be politic, what censure they? ANTONIO. They do observe I grow to infinite purchase, [73] The left hand way; and all suppose the duchess Would amend it, if she could ”

“ FERDINAND. Give me thy hand; I thank thee: I never gave pension but to flatterers, Till I entertained thee. Farewell. That friend a great man's ruin strongly checks, Who rails into his belief all his defects. Exeunt. Scene II [79] [Enter] DUCHESS, ANTONIO, and CARIOLA DUCHESS. Bring me the casket hither, and the glass.— You get no lodging here to-night, my lord. ANTONIO. Indeed, I must persuade one. DUCHESS. Very good: I hope in time 'twill grow into a custom, That noblemen shall come with cap and knee To purchase a night's lodging of their wives. ANTONIO. I must lie here. DUCHESS. Must! ”

“ The senators and Ambassadors, the deputies from Pavia and the other Lombard cities, who came to offer their condolences, were deeply moved at the sight of this Princess, whose heavy mourning and widow's weeds contrasted strangely with her extreme youth. The dignity and grace of her bearing charmed them still more, and all the Milanese asked was to keep their Duchess among them. By the terms of the late Duke's investiture, if he died without children, the duchy of Milan was to revert to the Emperor, but the city of Tortona was settled on the Duchess. ”

“ I received with the greatest pleasure imaginable your grace’s commands, as I shall ever do to the last moment of my life, and obey them with a readiness as becomes one to do, who, with all his faults, has not those fashionable ones of fickleness and insincerity, which the dear Duchess of Marlborough has, to my knowledge, so often met with in this false world.
I am sure your grace is overjoyed to hear the Duke is so well, and the more so because it is truth beyond contradiction, that as we owe our liberties to him, so he, under God, owes his life to the care and tenderness of the best of wives. ”

“ At the gates Duke Gian Galeazzo and his uncle met them, followed by a brilliant company of Milanese nobles, and Lodovico, clad in a gorgeous mantle of gold brocade, rode through the streets at the side of his youthful bride. A hundred trumpeters marched before them, filling the air with strains of martial music, and the crowds, who had assembled from all parts of Lombardy, thronged around to gaze on the duchess and her daughters, and more especially on the Moro's bride. ”

“ Above all, she was adored by her spouse, whose devotion to Christina quickly dispelled the Duchess of Guise's fears lest this grave and thoughtful Prince should not prove a good husband. His love satisfied every longing of her heart, and filled her soul with deep content. After all the storms of her early youth, after the lonely months at Milan and Pavia, after the disappointment of her cherished hopes, the young Duchess had found a happiness beyond her highest dreams. ”

“ Appeal—amusement—fright—shame—triumph—chased one another across the eyes of Mme. de Saint-Maclou: each made so swift an appearance, so swift an exit, that they seemed to blend in some peculiar personal emotion proper to the duchess and to no other woman born. And she bit the handkerchief harder than ever. For the life of me I couldn’t help it; I began to laugh; the duchess’ face disappeared altogether behind the handkerchief.
“Do you mean to say Claire’s not here?” cried Gustave, turning on her swiftly and accusingly. ”

“ We see her holding her court in the famous Castello of Porta Giovia or in the summer palaces of Vigevano and Cussago, in these golden days when Milan was called the new Athens, when Leonardo and Bramante decorated palaces or arranged masquerades at the duke's bidding, when Gaspare Visconti wrote sonnets in illuminated books, and Lorenzo da Pavia constructed organs or viols as perfect and beautiful to see as to hear, for the pleasure of the youthful duchess. ”

“ And I, glad to have something else to occupy my thoughts, started at a brisk pace along the foot-path that runs down the hill and meets the road which would lead me to the convent, for I had a thing or two to say to the duchess. And yet it was not of the duchess only that I thought as I went. There were also in my mind the indignant pride with which Marie Delhasse had questioned me, and the shrinking shame in her eyes at that counter-question of mine. The Duke of Saint-Maclou’s invitation seemed to bring as much disquiet to one of his guests as it had to his wife herself. ”

“ So that she reproved me, adding:
“You can hardly speak the truth in all that you say: for at first, you know, you were more than half in love with the Duchess of Saint-Maclou.”
For a moment I was silenced. Then I looked at Marie: and I found in her words no more a rebuke, but a provocation—aye, a challenge to prove that by no possibility could I, who loved her so passionately, ever have been so much as half in love with any woman in the whole world, the Duchess of Saint-Maclou not excepted. ”

“ No one ever accused the Duchess of Marlborough of smiling to betray. She could have torn her foes to pieces, sooner than have accorded to them one reverence which her heart conceded not. Her insolence to the Queen, her contempt of Anne’s understanding, and her presumption and arrogance, cannot, however, be defended. Nor can the unfeminine qualities which she displayed, be viewed otherwise than with dislike and disgust.
The Duchess of Marlborough’s dismissal from Anne’s favour may be said to have commenced, in reality, when that Princess ascended the throne of England. ”

“ This perplexing and irritating conduct on the part of Lord Sunderland was one of a series of political vexations, which Marlborough and his Duchess experienced at the hands of that able, but violent nobleman.
The Duchess of Marlborough had now wholly embarked on that voyage of politics which ended only with her long and weary life. A taste for the excitement for cabal, like a passion for gaming, grows with indulgence; it is rarely wholly relinquished, but fastens itself upon the character, until every faculty is absorbed in what is popularly termed a spirit of party. ”

“ Live on your lands; that is the best thing for you to do; the air of Paris is not at all good for you.”
“Diane!” the young Count cried despairingly.
“Monsieur, you forget yourself strangely,” the Duchess retorted coolly, as she laid aside her role of man and mistress, and became not merely an angel again, but a duchess, and not only a duchess, but Moliere’s Celimene.
The Duchesse de Maufrigneuse made a stately bow to these four personages, and drew from the Chevalier his last tear of admiration at the service of le beau sexe. ”

“ This was the real beginning of that unheard-of splendour which the Government of the Restoration carried too far. At that time the Duchess, whether for reasons of her own, or from vanity, never appeared in public without a following of women equally distinguished by name and fortune. As queen of fashion she had her dames d’atours, her ladies, who modeled their manner and their wit on hers. They had been cleverly chosen. None of her satellites belonged to the inmost Court circle, nor to the highest level of the Faubourg Saint-Germain ”

“ Like every Italian woman who is in love, the Duchess kept her eyes fixed on Emilio; for in that land a woman is so wholly wrapped up in her lover that it is difficult to detect an expressive glance directed at anybody else.
“Caro,” said the Prince to his friend, “remember I slept at your house last night.”
“Have you triumphed?” said Vendramin, putting his arm round Emilio’s waist.
“No; but I hope I may some day be happy with Massimilla.”
“Well,” replied Marco, “then you will be the most envied man on earth. The Duchess is the most perfect woman in Italy. ”

“ Notwithstanding the great general’s services, it was, however, manifest that his influence, and that of the Duchess, were now, from some cause or other, deeply undermined. The Duke, as well as the Duchess, suffered great vexation from this new and unforeseen apprehension; for it is easy to be happy without tasting power, but difficult indeed to part with it after long possession. It was in the answer to some communications from the Duchess that Marlborough wrote these touching words, betraying all the weariness of worldly anxieties. ”

“ Women never spoke of the charming duke without praising him; he was excellent, they said, to his wife; could a man be better? He had left her the entire disposal of her own property, and had always defended her on every occasion. It is true that, whether from pride, kindliness, or chivalry, Monsieur de Maufrigneuse had saved the duchess under various circumstances which might have ruined other women, in spite of Diane's surroundings, and the influence of her mother and that of the Duc de Navarreins, her father-in-law, and her husband's aunt. ”