ACT TWO*
n3937
Act 2 opens with the first of the play’s dumb shows. A display of court power and decorum after the fervid plotting of Act 1, it conveys in ceremonial fashion Eulalia’s removal from power. In the speeches that follow the dumb show, the King attempts to justify his proceedings against Eulalia, but his assertions of the legality of her trial are undercut by the asides of Lodovico. Having gained the overt acceptance of the court for his divorce, the King quickly pressures them to ratify his marriage with Alinda, who has entered ‘like a bride’ [QC 2.1.speech239]. In 2.2, overt opposition to the King begins to be voiced, as Lodovico tells Horatio, ‘It is oppression, tyranny indeed’ [QC 2.2.speech264]; away from the King, Horatio is prepared to criticise him, and to agree to conspire against Alinda. A statement of aggression against the new queen is apparently overheard by Flavello, something which will have serious consequences in the acts that follow. The next scene also demonstrates the loyalty of some to Eulalia, as her fool, Andrea, refuses to stay at court and serve Alinda, preferring to follow his mistress into exile. In 2.4, Petruccio’s disquiet at the queen’s treatment bears fruit, as he frees Sforza, his erstwhile rival, from his captivity. Again, a large-cast sequence (in 2.1) has been followed by smaller, more intimate scenes. Here, the smooth, minutely planned ceremonial of Eulalia’s deposition and Alinda’s elevation is supplanted by the growing unease and nascent opposition of other characters, initially in Lodovico’s asides to the audience, then Horatio’s conversation with Lodovico, and finally in the actions of Andrea (in going into exile) and Petruccio (in freeing Sforza).
n3937
Loud Music*n1258
Julia Wood argues that evidence from Caroline plays suggests that ‘loud music’ may have been ‘theatrical shorthand’ for ‘powerful-voiced’ instruments such as the hoboy, trumpet or cornet and that it may have been expected to be produced by more than one instrument. On several occasions, as here, it seems to be equated with a flourish (that is, a short ceremonial fanfare marking the entrance of royalty or nobility). See ‘Music in Caroline Plays’, 103-4.
*n911
In constructing the dumb show in which Eulalia’s deposition is dramatised, Brome seems to have taken up the hint provided in Greene’s Penelope’s Web, where Barmenissa’s removal from her position as queen is described as 'the ceremony of her deposition’ (sig. C4r). The use of a formal, mimed sequence - one of only two in the play - suggests the importance of this heightened moment, during which the removal of Eulalia’s royal status will be ritually performed. Although some have suggested that the dumb show was old-fashioned in the 1630s, it is used in a number of plays in this period, including Thomas Heywood’s A Maidenhead Well Lost (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, c. 1625-33), William Cartwright’s The Royal Slave (Oxford, 1636; King’s Men, 1637) and Alexander Brome’s The Cunning Lovers (Beeston’s Boys, c. 1638). In addition, a number of plays revived in the Caroline period, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Shakespeare and Wilkins’ Pericles, Fletcher’s The Prophetess, Middleton’s Hengist King of Kent and Webster’s Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil, deploy dumb shows.
Some of the plays which use dumb-shows are self-consciously old-fashioned or nostalgic in their appeal, but this does not apply to courtly productions such as The Royal Slave or to tragicomedies such as A Maidenhead Well Matched. Dieter Mehl writes of dumb shows in seventeenth-century ‘romantic tragicomedy’, in particular the plays of Fletcher, ‘They do not merely consist of brief encounters of processions round the stage, but of momentous scenes, including a large number of characters [...] the dumb show has become a special theatrical effect and is not just an easy way of managing large stretches of plot as in the earlier popular plays of adventure’ (The Elizabethan Dumb-Show: The History of a Dramatic Convention [London: Methuen, 1965], 166). This is true of The Queen and Concubine, in which dumb shows combine spectacle, gesture and narrative in a highly sophisticated manner.
In context, this dumb show carries a great deal of political weight. The trial itself is corrupt: Alinda and Flavello have arranged and bribed the hostile witnesses and the King has already decided on his verdict; the inclusion of the smoothly ordered spectacle of the dumb show - which is perhaps a little too slick and elaborate - therefore embodies the artificiality of the trial as a whole. The play’s dumb shows would probably also be marked out in terms of their performance style. In order for the gestures to be fully legible a slower pace and more formal style would be necessary; this would underline the choric function of this kind of action within the play (something which is even more marked in the play’s second dumb show in Act 3, in which it accompanies the Genius’s narrative). A more stately manner might also be necessary in order for the performers to manoeuvre around what was probably a fairly small stage: there are fifteen performers on stage during the dumb show, all of whom are required to move at some point.
n1258
n911
Some of the plays which use dumb-shows are self-consciously old-fashioned or nostalgic in their appeal, but this does not apply to courtly productions such as The Royal Slave or to tragicomedies such as A Maidenhead Well Matched. Dieter Mehl writes of dumb shows in seventeenth-century ‘romantic tragicomedy’, in particular the plays of Fletcher, ‘They do not merely consist of brief encounters of processions round the stage, but of momentous scenes, including a large number of characters [...] the dumb show has become a special theatrical effect and is not just an easy way of managing large stretches of plot as in the earlier popular plays of adventure’ (The Elizabethan Dumb-Show: The History of a Dramatic Convention [London: Methuen, 1965], 166). This is true of The Queen and Concubine, in which dumb shows combine spectacle, gesture and narrative in a highly sophisticated manner.
In context, this dumb show carries a great deal of political weight. The trial itself is corrupt: Alinda and Flavello have arranged and bribed the hostile witnesses and the King has already decided on his verdict; the inclusion of the smoothly ordered spectacle of the dumb show - which is perhaps a little too slick and elaborate - therefore embodies the artificiality of the trial as a whole. The play’s dumb shows would probably also be marked out in terms of their performance style. In order for the gestures to be fully legible a slower pace and more formal style would be necessary; this would underline the choric function of this kind of action within the play (something which is even more marked in the play’s second dumb show in Act 3, in which it accompanies the Genius’s narrative). A more stately manner might also be necessary in order for the performers to manoeuvre around what was probably a fairly small stage: there are fifteen performers on stage during the dumb show, all of whom are required to move at some point.
Enter four LORDS [including LODOVICO, HORATIO and FLAVELLO], two BISHOPS, KING [and] Prince [GONZAGO] , they sit;*n912
The King is directed to sit at the start of the dumb show, and to descend when Alinda enters at [QC 2.1.speech239]. It would seem simplest to place his seat upstage; on the other hand, placing his seat downstage means that the King has his back to some of the audience but gives them access to Eulalia’s face and reactions, as in this image from the workshop on this scene: [IMAGEQC_2_1].
EULALIA in black, crowned, a golden wand in her hand,*n4545
In addition to representing Eulalia's royal status, the golden wand may have had other associations. The enchantress Circe traditionally used a golden wand to transform her lovers into beasts, and both feature prominently in Aurelian Townsend's masque Tempe Restored performed at court on 14 February 1632, in which, as Sophie Tomlinson suggests, 'the action of the masque shows Circe's tempestuous and tyrannical authority subdued by the radiant influence of Divine Beauty' (Women on Stage in Stuart Drama [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005], 54; see also 51-3 on the broader iconographic context of Circe). Brome appears to draw on this tradition in The Queen and Concubine: from the King's point of view, the dumb-show initially seeks to portray Eulalia as a sexual offender, a woman whose lust is, like that of Circe, uncontrollable. I am very grateful to Clare McManus for suggesting the connection with Circe here.
led between two FRIARS. She kneels to the KING; he rejects her with his hand.
n913
The King uses a visual rhetoric of rejection to underline his sentence against Eulalia. John Bulwar’s manual, Chirologia, or, The Natural Language of the Hand, includes three 'natural’ gestures which may have been drawn on here. Respuo, or ‘THE FLIRTING OUT OF THE BACK PART OF THE HAND, OR PUT-BY OF THE TURNING PALM’ [IMAGEQC_2_2], is described by Bulwar as ‘their natural expression who would refuse, deny, prohibit, repudiate, impute, or to lay to one’s charge, reject or pretend to lay for an excuse, or would wit and hit one in the teeth with a thing, and signify disdain’ (pt. 1, p. 54). Minor, ‘TO SHOW AND SHAKE THE BENDED FIST AT ONE’ [IMAGEQC_2_3], can be used to threaten, ‘strike terror’, menace, contemn and humble, to express hate, and to ‘tell one what he must look for at their hands’ (pt. 1, p. 57). In Negabit [IMAGEQC_2_4], ‘The left hand [is] thrust forth with the palm turned backward, the left shoulder raised, so that it may aptly consent with the head bearing to the right hand’. This gesture, Bulwar argues, ‘agrees with their intention who refuse, abhor, detest, or abominate some execrable thing, against which their minds are bent as a distasteful object, which they would seem to chase away, and repel’. As Dene Barnett explains, the left hand was used in gestures indicating ‘disparagement or obloquy’ from classical times up to the nineteenth century (The Art of Gesture: The Practices and Principles of Eighteenth-Century Acting [Heidelberg: Winter, 1987], 62). Negabit appears to have been in use for a lengthy period of time. Another seventeenth-century manual, Michel Le Faucheur’s Traité de l’action de l’orateur (1657), translated into English as Essay Upon the Action of an Orator (London, 1680), describes a similar gesture but says that ‘we must reject with an Action of the right Hand and turn the Head away at the same time to the left’ (181). A century later, Johann Gottfried Pfannenberg suggests that ‘The words of lament, of sorrow, of suffering [...] of disgust, of contempt and loathing [...] are properly presented with the body bent back, and a hand pushing away from oneself and an averted face’ (Über die rednerische Action erläuternden Beispielen [Leipzig, 1796], 203; translation from Barnett, 233-4). A workshop on this sequence, in which the dumb show was discussed and walked through, was undertaken before I looked into seventeenth-century ideas about gesture. Interestingly, actor Robert Lister (here reading the King), immediately chose a gesture similar to the one specified by Bulwar, Le Faucheur and Pfannenberg, rejecting the queen with his right hand and turning his head away to the left [IMAGEQC_2_5].
Enter at the other door, a DOCTOR of physic, a MIDWIFE, [FABIO and STROZZO].*n3938
] two Souldiers
The KING points them to the BISHOPS; they each deliver papers, kiss the BISHOPS’ books, and are dismissed. The papers given to the KING. He with his finger menaces†gg662
threatens
EULALIA,n914
The second part of John Bulwar’s manual, Chirologia, or, The Natural Language of the Hand, Chironomia, or, The Art of Manual Rhetoric, describes two gestures which may have been used here. In the first, Indigitat [IMAGEQC_2_6], ‘The three last fingers contracted close to the palm, and compress’d by the champion of the hand, and the Index display’d in full length; upbraids: is a point of indigitation, most demonstrative’ (pt. 2, p. 77). In the workshop actor Robert Lister came up with a variant on this gesture, with a more loosely clenched hand [IMAGEQC_2_7]. In the second gesture described by Bulwar, Attentionem Poscit [IMAGEQC_2_8], ‘The Index erected from a Fist, doth crave and expect attention; and, if mov’d, it doth threaten and denounce’ (pt. 2, p. 78); rather than the ‘display’d’ finger of Indigitat, Attentionem Poscit may require the finger to be moved.
and sends her the papers; she looks meekly.n916
In the context of the dumb show, this seems to be a performance of meekness, involving gesture and posture, and not merely a ‘meek look’. John Bulwar’s manual, Chirologia, or, The Natural Language of the Hand, describes two 'natural' gestures which could have been used here. Supplico, or stretching out the hands [IMAGEQC_2_9], is ‘a natural expression of gesture, wherein we are significantly importunate, entreat, request, sue, solicit, beseech, and ask mercy and grace at the hands of others’ (pt. 1, p. 12). Libertatem Resigno, in which the hands are held forward together [IMAGEQC_2_10], is ‘their natural expression who yield, submit, and resign up themselves with supplication into the power of another’ (pt. 1, p. 41). In the second part, Chironomia, or, The Art of Manual Rhetoric, Bulwar notes that ‘Both hands dejected, make supplication more canonical’ (pt. 2, p. 55). Similar gestures were suggested in the workshop on this sequence [IMAGEQC_2_11] [IMAGEQC_2_12]. As Julie Sanders pointed out during the workshop, a gesture of this kind would be recalled in the King’s later statement that Eulalia will be deprived of ‘all means to live, even to her naked hands’ [QC 2.1.speech225]; this would be especially true if Eulalia was to remain in this position throughout the King’s long speech.
The BISHOPS take her crown and wand, [and] give her a wreath of cypress, and a white wand.*n917
The symbols of the Queen’s political power and, from the King's point of view, her tyrannical lust, are replaced by items representing sorrow and penitence: a wreath of cypress and a white wand. Combined with her black robes these props suggest that Eulalia is being presented simultaneously as a widow and as one who has been found guilty of sexual misdemeanour as, in the context of the hearing, she has.
All the LORDS peruse†gg663
examine
the papers. They show various countenances:†gg2471
expressions, faces, emotions
some seem to applaud†gs89
make gestures of approval, possibly appearing to clap their hands: OED's earliest citation for this sense of applaud is from 1598; applaud meaning 'to express agreement' is in use from the early sixteenth century (OED v1, 2b)
the KING; some pity EULALIA.*n918
In Greene’s Penelope’s Web, Barmenissa’s deposition is said to be ‘by general consent’ (sig. C4r); opposition is voiced only after the Souldan announces his intention to marry Olynda.
Music ceases. KING speaks.
n912
n4545
n913
.n3938
gg662
n914
. In the second gesture described by Bulwar, Attentionem Poscit [IMAGEQC_2_8], ‘The Index erected from a Fist, doth crave and expect attention; and, if mov’d, it doth threaten and denounce’ (pt. 2, p. 78); rather than the ‘display’d’ finger of Indigitat, Attentionem Poscit may require the finger to be moved.n916
[IMAGEQC_2_12]. As Julie Sanders pointed out during the workshop, a gesture of this kind would be recalled in the King’s later statement that Eulalia will be deprived of ‘all means to live, even to her naked hands’ [QC 2.1.speech225]; this would be especially true if Eulalia was to remain in this position throughout the King’s long speech.n917
gg663
gg2471
gs89
n918
216KingMy lords*n919
Brome again plays with the insertion of asides into what would otherwise be a continuous speech (see notes on [QC 1.1.speeches47-51] and [QC 1.1.speeches65-73]), ’creating a sequence that is highly charged in both emotional and political terms. Even though he has chosen not to dramatise the trial itself, a trial is effectively created for the audience, in which they are subjected to the King’s dubious reasoning for his divorce and the varied reactions of Horatio (who strives to remain loyal to the King and acts as his mouthpiece) and Lodovico (whose loyalty to Eulalia is displayed in his asides). At the end of the speech Lodovico is forced into a public display of loyalty to the King even as he confesses in aside his deep misgivings at Eulalia’s treatment; the audience, like Lodovico, are unable finally to influence the outcome of this ‘trial’ and are forced into a quiescent position. In this context, words such as ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘you’ are loaded with political weight.
and loyal peers.n920
If the King has been seated upstage, he might remain seated throughout this speech; this would reinforce his royal authority and the power he has over the court, which could create an ironic tension between his apparent power and the circumlocutory quality of the speech itself. On the other hand, if the King’s seat has been placed downstage, he might stand at this point and begin to move around the stage. In this workshop extract, the King’s addresses to the audience, and his gestures towards Eulalia (here, for instance, on ‘the crime and shame of the delinquent’), become part of his rhetorical attempt to win them over to his position while also encouraging the audience to fix their attention on Eulalia’s predicament.
n919
n920
, the King’s addresses to the audience, and his gestures towards Eulalia (here, for instance, on ‘the crime and shame of the delinquent’), become part of his rhetorical attempt to win them over to his position while also encouraging the audience to fix their attention on Eulalia’s predicament.
217Lodovico [Aside] A new distinctionn921
Lodovico’s speeches pose a significant challenge in performance. None of them are marked as asides in the octavo text, but all seem most effective if they are delivered either without the King hearing them, or without hearing precisely what is said. The first two speeches, and the last one, come within reasonably regular verse lines, while the third and fourth seem to break into prose even as the King maintains his regular, metrical lines. Some of them are long speeches for asides, particularly in the context of their position within the King’s own speech. They are similar to Hamlet’s first utterance in Shakespeare’s play, ‘A little more than kin, and less than kind’ (Hamlet, 1.1.65), which is also inserted into a longer speech by another character - also a King - during a public, politically-charged occasion, and which might also be delivered either as an aside or as a direct challenge. (In the RSC's 2008 production of Hamlet, dir. Greg Doran, for instance, the latter was chosen.)
Lodovico’s speeches are not uniform, and each potentially functions in a different way. The first speech seems to be addressed to Horatio, an attempt to draw him into opposition against the King which his fellow courtier rejects. The second seems to be an expression of disgust, which might be interior monologue or might be addressed to the audience (an attempt to collude with them following his rejection by Horatio). The third is perhaps the most difficult, as the use of ‘you’ might suggest that it is addressed directly to the King even if the King does not hear it. The fourth could again be addressed to the audience, and the way in which it breaks off might suggest that the King is increasingly aware that he is facing dissent amongst courtiers loyal to Eulalia. In any case, the moment can gain power if the audience are unsure as to whether Lodovico’s outspokenness is putting him in danger. There are a number of alteratives for the final speech, ‘We must’: it may be overheard by the King, the King might be alerted by Lodovico’s body language, or he may be aware that Lodovico has not joined in with the general assent of ‘We do’. Some different ways of handling these speeches were discussed in the workshop. They might actually be delivered aloud, as in this version. Here, the King is aware of what Lodovico is saying but is forced nonetheless to plough on with his speech because to break off might suggest that the accusations have some truth in them. It is only when Lodovico declines to approve his decision on ‘We do’ that the King can assert his authority. One problem with this version is that it potentially makes Lodovico’s dissent too public and places him in too close proximity to the King. On the other hand, if he is placed too far away the danger of his dissent being noticed by the King is reduced. In this version, the speeches are delivered as asides, but the penultimate and the last are noted by the King. His awareness of the penultimate aside is signalled only in the speed with which he interrupts on ‘living shift -’. The asides themselves are delivered to the audience, and Lodovico’s dissent is indicated through his words rather than his body language. We also tried a slightly more stylised version, in which the other actors froze while Lodovico spoke, giving him more scope to move around before returning to a position at the side of the stage. However, this might again reduce the power of the King to take note of Lodovico’s refusal to be won over by his speech. When the King is placed further forward on the stage than Lodovico and Horatio, as he is in these workshop versions, he seems to assert his authority over the audience while dissent is voiced behind him. In the modern theatre, lighting could also be used to focus the audience’s attention on particular characters (either those speaking, or, in Eulalia’s case, on the silent victim).
n921
Lodovico’s speeches are not uniform, and each potentially functions in a different way. The first speech seems to be addressed to Horatio, an attempt to draw him into opposition against the King which his fellow courtier rejects. The second seems to be an expression of disgust, which might be interior monologue or might be addressed to the audience (an attempt to collude with them following his rejection by Horatio). The third is perhaps the most difficult, as the use of ‘you’ might suggest that it is addressed directly to the King even if the King does not hear it. The fourth could again be addressed to the audience, and the way in which it breaks off might suggest that the King is increasingly aware that he is facing dissent amongst courtiers loyal to Eulalia. In any case, the moment can gain power if the audience are unsure as to whether Lodovico’s outspokenness is putting him in danger. There are a number of alteratives for the final speech, ‘We must’: it may be overheard by the King, the King might be alerted by Lodovico’s body language, or he may be aware that Lodovico has not joined in with the general assent of ‘We do’. Some different ways of handling these speeches were discussed in the workshop. They might actually be delivered aloud, as in this version
. Here, the King is aware of what Lodovico is saying but is forced nonetheless to plough on with his speech because to break off might suggest that the accusations have some truth in them. It is only when Lodovico declines to approve his decision on ‘We do’ that the King can assert his authority. One problem with this version is that it potentially makes Lodovico’s dissent too public and places him in too close proximity to the King. On the other hand, if he is placed too far away the danger of his dissent being noticed by the King is reduced. In this version, the speeches are delivered as asides, but the penultimate and the last are noted by the King. His awareness of the penultimate aside is signalled only in the speed with which he interrupts on ‘living shift -’. The asides themselves are delivered to the audience, and Lodovico’s dissent is indicated through his words rather than his body language. We also tried a slightly more stylised version, in which the other actors froze while Lodovico spoke, giving him more scope to move around before returning to a position at the side of the stage. However, this might again reduce the power of the King to take note of Lodovico’s refusal to be won over by his speech. When the King is placed further forward on the stage than Lodovico and Horatio, as he is in these workshop versions, he seems to assert his authority over the audience while dissent is voiced behind him. In the modern theatre, lighting could also be used to focus the audience’s attention on particular characters (either those speaking, or, in Eulalia’s case, on the silent victim).
218HoratioGood Lodovico, peace.†gg667
(int.) be quiet; keep calm
*n922
Although Horatio speaks only two lines in this scene, both are important. In [QC 2.1.speech218] he speaks to Lodovico, attempting to stop him from publicly dissenting against the King’s treatment of Eulalia, but in [QC 2.1.speech222] he speaks on the King’s behalf, supplying the accusation when the King is apparently unable to voice it. The physical position of the actors on stage could be used to signal his divided loyalty: he might be standing near to Lodovico at the start of the King’s speech (as the group entrance of the ‘Four Lords’ in the dumb show suggests), in which case he could hurriedly distance himself from Lodovico on the line ‘Good Lodovico, peace’. On the line ‘in adultery’ he might be standing nearer to the King, aligning himself with the man to whom his public loyalty is devoted.
gg667
n922
219KingThis is a cause the which, but for fair order,†gs97
procedure, customary practice (OED n, 12a); customary mode of proceeding in conduct of bodies such as parliaments or in trials (OED n, 12b); possibly the King also intends overtones of ‘natural order’
gs97
Would rather drive me to a mourning closet†gg686
private room, study
*n924
i.e. to grieving in privacy
gg686
n924
Than to this seat, to show my equal grief
I see*n923
The King’s speech echoes that of Saladyne in Greene’s Penelope’s Web, but Greene’s Souldan is more overtly threatening and less histrionic than Brome’s King:
y’are all amazed,†gg689
perplexed, bewildered
and cannot marvel†gg690
wonder
n923
It is no marvel if you stand amazed (right mighty Princes of Egypt) to see your King, who was wont to crave your consent in small affairs, without your counsel now to begin [a] thing of such importance, I mean a Parliament. But he that seeketh to have his purpose unprevented must be secret and speedy, lest either fortune or counsel hinder his enterprise. Many things falls out between the cup and the lip, and danger is always a companion to delay (sig. C4r).
gg689
gg690
At your astonishment, who do suffer with you
In the great change†gg691
alteration (OED n, 4); exchange (OED n, 2a); exchange of merchandise (OED n, 2b); substitution of one thing for another or succession of one thing in place of another (OED n, 1a); changeableness, caprice (OED n, 4b); a change of partners in dancing (OED n, 1c)
honour compels me to,
gg691
Together with religion, fairly urging
To an high point of justice, which*n925
i.e. ‘makes my voice as faint as a dying breath and chills my blood as it does so’; ‘or makes my voice faint and chills my blood as my dying breath would’. OED defines faintness as: ‘The state or condition of being without strength or exhausted; exhaustion, feebleness’ (1); ‘The state of being faint in spirit; dejection, timorousness; inertness, slackness, sluggishness’ (1.c); ‘Of flesh: Want of firmness or solidity’ (2). The King uses a similar (albeit positive) metaphor in referring to Eulalia in [QC 1.1.speech33], when he calls her ‘dearest life’.
to utter
n925
Draws faintness from my words, chilling my blood,
Like the departing breath that separates life.
For such I held her, and so many years*n926
i.e. I kept her as close to my heart as she could possibly be, until the evidence [of her supposed adultery] forced its way in, piercing my heart in the way that a dagger would. The King’s metaphor of his heart as a closet, which reworks his earlier statement that he would rather retreat to his closet to grieve, is designed to express the former intimacy between husband and wife, and the rupture of its betrayal. The mixed metaphor in the second part of the statement suggests, however, the strains that run throughout this speech.
n926
Retained her in the closet of my heart,
Which now like daggers by compulsive†gg693
driven on, forced onwards (OED a, 1b), which cites Shakespeare, Othello, 3.3.454-5: ‘The Pontic sea, whose icy current, and compulsive course, / Ne’er keeps retiring ebb’); enforced (OED a, 2)
wounds
gg693
220Lodovico [Aside] Royal hypocrisy!
221KingThe proofs you see are plain, That she was found —
Pray speak it for me.
222HoratioIn adultery.
223KingAnd that she sought the life of fair Alinda
By sword and poison both; and of that cup
’Tis like myself had tasted
For my supposed love to that wronged lady.
224Lodovico [Aside] You have given her the bed-right†gg695
conjugal rights
that belonged to your wronged Queen these twelve months.*n927
Lodovico accuses the King of having been sleeping with Alinda for the past twelve months; unless the time-scale of the previous scenes has been extremely telescoped, this seems unlikely to be the case.
gg695
n927
225KingOur laws of Sicily*n928
In Penelope’s Web, Greene writes that the Souldan ‘caused presently proclamation to be made, that the Princess should have no relief, but what she earned with her hands, that her ladies should be labour, and her maintenance, no other then her own endeavour could provide’ (sig. D1r).
are so well rebated†gg696
moderated
n928
gg696
They cut not life from one of royal blood,
Only take off (as is on her performed)
All means†gg699
ways
to live, even to†gg700
as far as
her naked†gg701
bare
hands.n930
As described in [NOTE n916], Eulalia’s position on stage might add to the force of the sentence against her if she has remained in the kind of submissive posture recommended by Bulwer throughout the sequence. In this extract from the workshop, the King delivers his speech from behind Eulalia, drawing attention to her hands on this line.
gg699
gg700
gg701
n930
, the King delivers his speech from behind Eulalia, drawing attention to her hands on this line. And such, Eulalia,*n929
The King finally addresses Eulalia by name, something that he has apparently been avoiding thus far; coming at the point of the harsh sentence against the former queen the use of her name also serves to emphasise the extent to which all of her ‘dignities [and] titles’ have been removed.
now is your condition.†gg702
state, circumstance
n929
gg702
226Lodovico [Aside] To work for her living? If she were as young, and no honester, than she for whose sake this is inflicted on her, she might find something else about her than naked hands*n931
Given his pointed reference to Alinda, Lodovico’s emphasis is probably on ‘naked hands’ - Alinda might be able to make a living by baring other parts of her body.
to help at a living shift —*n932
That is: to help her to find a way of living.
n931
n932
227KingNow to this censure,n933
The King abruptly moves from his rather convoluted attempts to plead his case against Eulalia to a direct order to his court. As this clip from the workshop shows, this speech can be particularly powerful if it is addressed to the playhouse audience, rather than simply the on-stage audience, the King’s eyes raking up and down as he assesses the loyalty of his ‘court’ in a way that can make the audience feel uneasily complicit with his proceedings against his wife. In a small indoor playhouse such as Salisbury Court this effect would be heightened, as it would in a twentieth/twenty-first century space such as the RSC’s Swan theatre.
for due order’s sake,
n933
shows, this speech can be particularly powerful if it is addressed to the playhouse audience, rather than simply the on-stage audience, the King’s eyes raking up and down as he assesses the loyalty of his ‘court’ in a way that can make the audience feel uneasily complicit with his proceedings against his wife. In a small indoor playhouse such as Salisbury Court this effect would be heightened, as it would in a twentieth/twenty-first century space such as the RSC’s Swan theatre. And for which end this parliament was called;
Your voices are required. Do ye all approve it?
229Lodovico [Aside] We must.
230KingWhat say you, Lodovico?
231LodovicoWe do. [Aside] Heaven knows against my heart.
232EulaliaMy thanks unto you all*n934
It seems likely that Eulalia rises to her feet before or during this speech; this would allow her gradually to be moved to the side of the stage, so that on her entrance, Alinda can supplant her in the centre of the stage [QC 2.1.speech239].
that do obey
n934
So well with one consent your sovereign lord,
And, sacred sir, thus low, as it becomes me,
A patient ear to this my last petition:
That as you cast me off, as an offence,
You will be pleased to think me not offended,
But pleased in all I suffer. For, heaven knows,
I am as free from any passion
Or whatsoever anguish of the mind,
As I was capable, for ought I know,
Of joy or bliss the first hour I was born.
Never made happy till I was your bride,
In which blessed state I cannot but remain
While you are pleased, and I obey your will,
Though unto death, to banishment or prison.
Poverty is blessedness, in which I’ll pray
For pardon of the sins of my accusers,
233Lodovico [Aside] O poor woman!
I shall pray heaven to smile on all your ways.[EULALIA moves to exit.]
I would have pass the general consent
Of this assembly, in which your voice is useful.
Flavello?Exit FLAVELLO.
That snake this good Queen cockered†gg709
indulged, treated with excessive care (OED cocker v, 1)
in her bosom —
gg709
Is not this royal cruelty?GONZAGO kneels to the Queen [EULALIA].
237EulaliaYou wrong your princely dignity;
Turn to the King, your father, kneel to him.
238GonzagoAnd are not you my mother?
239EulaliaI must and can forget what I have been;
So must not you. Your mother was a queen;
My present fortune claims no title in you,
Hurt not your own by looking down on me.
This I will do as warranted by safety,
For all that bliss on you a mother may.
Take hold upon you for regarding me.
Loud Music*n1258
Julia Wood argues that evidence from Caroline plays suggests that ‘loud music’ may have been ‘theatrical shorthand’ for ‘powerful-voiced’ instruments such as the hoboy, trumpet or cornet and that it may have been expected to be produced by more than one instrument. On several occasions, as here, it seems to be equated with a flourish (that is, a short ceremonial fanfare marking the entrance of royalty or nobility). See ‘Music in Caroline Plays’, 103-4.
n1258
Enter FLAVELLO*n4094
] Favello
ushering ALINDA like a bride, [with] two VIRGINS.*n935
Alinda’s entrance with the two Virgins seems likely to parallel Eulalia’s entrance at the start of the scene ‘between two Friars’; the contrast between Eulalia’s black clothes and Alinda’s bridal outfit suggests both the paralleling of the two women and the way in which the younger woman is supplanting the elder.
The KING descends, takes her up;*n3939
Brome probably means that the King either raises Alinda to a position beside him (which could suggest that the King is seated on a dias), or that he raises her from a kneeling positions which she adopts when she reaches him. To 'take up' also means to take someone or something into one's possession (OED take, v. 93d), to accept (OED take, v. 93h) and to take someone into one's protection or other relationship (OED take, v. 93i); a reader might therefore find a certain irony in this stage direction.
the LORDS rise, all amazed.
n4094
n935
The KING descends, takes her up;*
n3939
240KingLet your amazement cease,*n936
Brome again draws on the Souldan’s speech in Penelope’s Web:
and now perceive,
n936
To take away therefore all occasions of hinderance, I have upon the sudden assembled you, not only to hear what I can say, but without either doubt or denial to confirm what I will say. Being divorced from my quondam wife and your Queen by law, although I am old, yet not so striken in age but that I can and must yield to affection: I intend, nay I will in despite of all men, take Olynda here present to my wife, and before we depart from this session she shall be crowned Queen. Conjecture doth assure me you will all greatly mislike of the match, and grudge that your King should marry so low. But I charge you all in general, and wish every one that loveth his own life, neither with counsel nor reason to persuade me from that I have purposed: least he incur further danger and my perpetual displeasure (sig. C4r)Brome's King does not talk about his age as explicitly as Greene's Souldan, but both stress the attraction that they feel to the younger woman; Brome omits the Souldan's references to the low status of his lover, which are not so easily applicable to the daughter of a successful general as to a professional courtesan.
Am subject to this all-deserving lady,
And do require you not alone to hear
What I can say, but without all denial
That you approve, confirm what I will say.
I am by law no less than your consent
Divorced, and free from all impediment
To make my second choice in marriage,
And therefore crave Alinda for my wife,
And that immediately we solemnize
Our marriage and her coronation.
241EulaliaOh, let me lead your voices! Long live
Gonzago*n937
This is the first time that the King’s name is mentioned on stage; his son has already been addressed by name twice in [QC 1.1.speech40] and [QC 1.1.speech72].
and Alinda, King and Queen of Sicily.
n937
243EulaliaMy lord the Prince, pray let your voice be next;
The rest will follow. Why speak you not, my lord?
244Alinda [To KING] She would fain†gg715
gladly, willingly, eagerly
seem to voice†gg716
(v) speak
in your behalf,
gg715
gg716
But in a way that much persuades against you.
Do but your highness note it.
245King [To GONZAGO] You, sir, come from that woman.
246GonzagoShe was my mother*n938
Prince Gonzago’s opposition is more muted than that of Garinter in Penelope’s Web. Greene writes,
when she was your wife,
n938
The nobility, but especially [the Souldan’s] son Garinter [...] grudging at his mother’s mishap, and that such a common strumpet should possess her place, made furious by the force of nature, burst out in this choleric reply. "May it please your Highness (I fear to offend) if I say what I should, and yet were loath to flatter in saying what I would not: but if I may have free liberty to speak what I think, my verdict shall be soon given. I confess that what pleaseth the father ought to content the son: and therefore I count the will of Saladyne a law to Garinter: yet as obedience wisheth a consent, so Nature willeth with a friendly denial to disuade from things that offend not only men, but that are even hateful to the Gods. I say, therefore, that Saladyne should get more honour by exiling Olynda, not only from Babylon, but out of all the confines of Egypt, than if he had obtained more triumphs than that invincible Caesar. No doubt your Grace shall soon, nay I fear too soon, find my words to be true, that in hoping to get a sweet content you gain a sour mislike: like to them which pleased with the colour of the tree lotus, are poisoned as soon as they taste of the apples" (sigs C4r-v)
But I fear to offend.
247EulaliaO show it in your duty then,*n939
Eulalia’s speeches to her son and to the King draw on Barmenissa’s much longer speech to Garinter in Penelope’s Web:
young Prince.
n939
Although, son, the law of nature wills thee to be partner of thy mother's misfortunes, yet the Gods, whose laws are above nature, commands that thou gainsay not the edict of thy father: For as Proclus the Academic affirms, there is nothing which we ought more to regard than duty and obedience: the command of the father is not to be limited by the conceit of the child, for as their superiority is without proportion, so their wills ought to be without denials, first the frown of a father (sayth Epictetus) is like the elevation of a comet which foreshows ever some fatal and final ruin. Then Garinter offend not thy father in thought, least the gods, grudging at thy secret disobedience, plague thee with an open revenge: further, son, thou art his subject, and he thy sovereign, what duty is due to such a mighty potentate thou must by law and conscience offer unto him. And seeing by the consent of the Egyptian laws I am deposed, and Olynda invested with the regal crown, if a mother's command may be a constraint to the son, I charge thee that thou show her the same obedience that belongs to a princess, and thy father's wife. Philarkes the son of Psamnetichus obeyed Rhodope, whom his father raised from a common courtesan to a princess. Antiochus the son of Demetrius builded stately sepulchres for his father's concubines: revenge (son) ought not to go in purple, but in white, and the salve for injuries is not choler but patience. For mine own part, Garinter, I set thee down no precept but that which myself mean to hold for a principle, and thou by imitating thy mother's actions, show thyself to be dutiful, which if thou perform, I will continually pray to the Gods of thy good, otherwise, if for my cause thou intend revenge, I wish thy ill: and so wishing to thy father as to my sovereign, and to the princess as to one honoured with a diadem, I take my leave at that court, as well content with my adversity, for that it is the king's command, as ever I was with prosperity (sigs C4v-D1r).Eulalia is less pointed in her response to Alinda than Barmenissa is in her reference to the ‘common courtesan’ Rhodope, but she nonetheless manages to irritate Alinda thoroughly.
To be a partner in his mother’s woe,
But laws above that lay a strong command
On sons to obey the edicts†gg718
orders (generally used to refer to the orders of the sovereign)
of their fathers:
gg718
A father’s frowns are comets threatening ruin.
Let all your thoughts be free from his offence;
The most heaven seeks, is our obedience.
In all obey the King, think not of me;
I am no more, nay not so much to you,
As is the beggar whom you may relieve,
Since of all these comforts I am deposed.
248Lodovico [Aside] Faith, thou hadst not mine,*n940
i.e. you do not have my obedience (if that obedience entails obeying the King)
good woman — I must
n940
Not call thee queen now.*n3940
I have re-lined this speech: in the octavo the line breaks at 'woman - / I'.
n3940
249EulaliaOr if you needs will think I am your mother,
Let it be only in the charge I give you,
That since Alinda, blessed by providence,
Must be invested with the regal crown,
You show her that obedience befits a queen
And your dread father’s wife.
250Alinda [To KING] I fear she’ll turn him
Traitor, if he give more ear to her enchantments.
251KingI’ll show him a way to give her thanks.
Gonzago?
252GonzagoMy royal and dread father.
253KingPut forth that woman — do it without grudge†gg719
(n) discontent; reluctance; resentment, ill-will
—
gg719
Out of the court, I mean, to seek her way.*n3945
I have re-lineated this speech: in the octavo the line breaks are at 'woman: / Do' and 'Court , / I'.
n3945
Do you refuse?*n3945
I have re-lineated this speech: in the octavo the line breaks are at 'woman: / Do' and 'Court , / I'.
n3945
254EulaliaHe does not, shall not, royal sir;
Only I beg that I may take my leave.
The wishes a true subject ought to send
From the most humble heart up to the throne
Of sacred majesty, I equally divide
To you my King and Queen,
Since it is your command, as e’er I was
255AlindaSir, I may
Not sit to be taunted and upbraided†gg723
reproached, found fault with
thus.*n3942
This is printed as one line in the octavo.
gg723
n3942
256EulaliaPardon me,*n941
Again, Eulalia’s apparent passivity may be calculated to annoy Alinda; her reminder to the younger woman of their former affection and of her own role in bringing Alinda to court seems somewhat disingenuous.
mighty lady, I am as far
n941
From daring to do so as from a queen,
And whilst you love the King, and he is pleased,
I shall no less obey you than I loved you
When I sent for you to the court, and there into
This heart received you.*n3943
This is printed as one line in the octavo.
n3943
258KingAway with her!EULALIA [exits] with GONZAGO.*n3304
] Conzago
*n3947
] Exit Eulalia with Gonzago
n3304
n3947
And let it be proclaimed according to
Th’ extremity†gg725
utmost severity; greatest amount
of law our censure be observed.*n3946
This is printed as one line in the octavo.
gg725
n3946
259Lodovico [Aside] Alas, how can she live one night?
260KingAnd now to your consent. Have I it yet
For marriage with Alinda? If you are pleased
Then call us King and Queen.
262Lodovico [Aside]*n1259
This direction is included in the octavo text, in square brackets, placed at the end of this line.
I mean Eulalia.
n1259
263King’Tis well; on to the ceremonies, then. Kings were
Enter presently again LODOVICO [and] HORATIO.
264LodovicoIt is oppression, tyranny indeed.
265HoratioSpeak lower, good my lord.
266[Lodovico] *n3305
] Hor. (the misattribution is corrected in the octavo's list of errata)
For fear of whom? Of what?
n3305
267HoratioYou would not that the King should hear you, would you?
268LodovicoFaith, if he did —
269HoratioFaith, then, as sure as your tongue’s your own now, your whole head would be his then.
271HoratioIt will do the Queen as much good as the money it might be sold for in the market; that, and the appurtenances†gg728
appendages, accessories
to it, would yield little at the shambles.†gg729
meat-market
Come, my lord, speak privately, and purposely†gg730
on purpose, deliberately
keep your head on your shoulders; it becomes the place as well as ’t had been made for it. If the King have a mind†gg731
wishes, desires
to turn away his wife, I’ll give him leave to turn mine after her to wait upon her, rather than to have my head bowled at her, though I were sure it should kiss the mistress.*n942
hit the jack, a term deriving from bowling which plays on ‘bowled’ earlier in the sentence; the phrase also suggests, perhaps, a sardonic reference to the current political situation
gg728
gg729
gg730
gg731
n942
272LodovicoOh, but the ensuing†gg732
resulting; approaching
danger, my Horatio! The mischiefs that of necessary course*n943
Inevitably (the ‘mischiefs’ must follow as a result of the King’s behaviour).
must follow, even to the ruin of the state, by the King’s dotage on his second choice, draws blood from subject hearts. Oh, that lewd†gg733
vile, evil; worthless; lascivious
woman!
gg732
n943
gg733
273HoratioShe is a woman of middle earth†gg734
the world, worldly things (OED n, 1)
yet. But what shall we dare to say two hours hence? Come, think upon law and regal authority. The King’s power warrants†gg735
authorises, sanctions
his acts: I know as well as you the Queen Eulalia (heaven bless her, I hope ’tis yet no treason to pray for her) is as virtuous a lady as ever beautified a court or made a king’s bed happy, for all the articles†gg736
charges
framed†gg737
prepared; composed; uttered; imagined (it does not yet mean to ‘frame’ someone by devising a plot against them)
against her.
gg734
gg735
gg736
gg737
275HoratioOf all that’s good, or should be wished in woman.
276LodovicoSo obsequious†gg739
obedient
a lover of her husband that she gave way unto his loose†gg740
free from moral restraint, wanton (OED a, 7)
affections, even to this now-she-start-up†gg741
female social climber or upstart
that supplants†gg742
dispossesses, takes the place of
her.
gg739
gg740
gg741
gg742
277HoratioShe considered she grows old; she reads in her son’s face nigh†gg559
near; nearly
twenty years of the King’s love to her, and gives him leave to place it now elsewhere.
gg559
278LodovicoAnd is so far from limiting his choice
That she possesses it that seeks her blood;†gs99
murder, death (OED n, 3a); used in the Bible and theological language to refer to blood shed in sacrifice (OED n, 3b); life (OED n, 4a); there is perhaps a pun on blood meaning family/kindred (OED n, 10), since Alinda is usurping Eulalia’s place in the royal family
gs99
My soul tells me the witnesses against
The Queen are by this concubine*n3821
this is the only point in the play at which Alinda is referred to specifically as a ‘concubine’
suborned.†gg152
bribed
n3821
gg152
279HoratioI will not say so.
280LodovicoYou cannot choose but think so.
281HoratioMy thoughts are warranted by the proverb.*n944
Horatio probably alludes to the proverb ‘thought is free’, which was current in English from the late fifteenth century. See R.W. Dent, Proverbial Language in English Drama Exclusive of Shakespeare, 1495-1616 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), T244; Morris Palmer Tilley, A Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950), T244. A Caroline collection of proverbs, Outlandish Proverbs, Selected by Mr. G.H. (London, 1640), includes one that would be particularly appropriate for the politic Horatio: ‘He is a fool that thinks not, that another thinks’ (No. 287; sig. B3v). This proverb is F484 in Tilley.
But come, make†gg743
compose (does not yet refer to cosmetics)
up your face, temper†gg744
(v) regulate, control, restrain
your voice and looks with the rest of the most honourable assembly; shake off this discontent, ’tis a disease by which you’ll perish else. Now all the court’s in height,†gg745
at its climax or highest pitch (of celebrations, power, etc.); cf. Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 3.10.18-20: ‘Claps on his sea-wing and, like a doting mallard, / Leaving the fight in height, flies after her’; Thomas Campion, The Lords’ Masque, in A Relation of the Late Royal Entertainment [...] To our Most Gracious Queen, Queen Anne [...] Whereunto is Annexed the Description, Speeches, and Songs of the Lords' Masque, Presented in the Banqueting-House on the Marriage Night of the High and Mighty, Count Palatine, and the Royally Descended the Lady Elizabeth (London, 1613): ‘Dance, dance, and visit now the shadows of our joy, / All in height, and pleasing state, your changed forms imploy’ (sig. D3v)
you to profess distaste! Come, be a looker-on at least.
n944
gg743
gg744
gg745
282LodovicoUpon a court on fire? Oh, Horatio,
Bright burning Troy*n1126
An ancient city in Asia Minor, besieged for many years and finally taken by the Greeks; Lodovico’s description of the burning city and the fleeing survivors is indebted to Virgil’s Aeneid, Book 2. He also (unknowingly?) echoes Horatio’s earlier comment in 1.1 that he ‘should as soon be won to set [the King’s] court / On fire’ than invite Petruccio to it [QC 1.1.speech53].
gave not a dearer†gg746
more important, more urgent
cause
n1126
gg746
She forced to leave her sinking in her ashes
To fly for refuge to another region,
Than I upon the ruins of this kingdom.
283HoratioYour stay, my lord, may prevent danger.
284LodovicoYes, if it could remove the fatal cause,
The pride, the cruelty, the ambition
Of that wild fury,*n946
A furious or malignant woman: refers to the avenging deities in classical mythology, the Furies.
the outrageous†gg750
wicked, evil; violent, furious; immoderate
queen*n947
Puns on quean: whore.
n946
gg750
n947
Who treads†gs100
steps on; crushes, beats down; oppresses; possibly puns on ‘tread’ meaning copulation between birds (OED tread v, 8)
and tramples†gg752
stamps on; treats with contempt (OED trample v, 3b; the earliest citation is John Hall, Horae Vacivae, or, Essays. Some Occasionall Considerations [London, 1646]: ‘trample not on the imperfections of any, but modestly dissemble them’ [93])
down the government.*n3306
] Covernment
gs100
gg752
n3306
Consider this Horatio, and the means
To stay till it be done.
285HoratioAlinda’s death?*n948
It is possible that the text has become corrupted at this point, since it would seem more logical for answer to follow question, rather than two questions being followed by two answers:
n948
Horatio: Alinda’s death?On the other hand, however, the stuttering and slightly jumbled quality of the lines as they are presented in the octavo conveys effectively the jittery conversation between Horatio and Lodovico. Compare Horatio’s next speech, with its nervy parenthetical statements and reluctance to commit firmly to a definite political stance.
Lodovico: Is it not necessary?
Horatio: Who’s there? [Looks about]
Lodovico: Nobody: what d’ ye fear?
Who’s there?Looks about.
286LodovicoIs it not necessary? Nobody: what d’ ye fear?
Or can you find how to preserve the state
How apt his nature is to fell†gg323
dreadful, terrible; cruel, savage
oppression,*n3822
Lodovico’s words echo those of the nobleman Egistus in Greene’s Penelope’s Web:
gg323
n3822
Saladyne [...] hath been so tyrannous to his commons from his first coronation, that unless his unmoderate pride and presumption had been mitigated by the virtuous clemency of his wife, the burthen of his cruelty long time since had been intolerable: but now having deposed that peerless princess, whose virtues made her famous and us happy, and married a concubine, whose vanities breeds her envy and our mishap, we are to look for no other event but our particular ill fortune, and the general ruin of the weal public. (sigs. D2r-D3r).
It had not been allayed†gg756
alleviated; appeased
and mitigated,†gg757
moderated, alleviated, assuaged, tempered
gg756
gg757
Whose virtue made her famous and us happy,
And he re-married to this shame of women
Whose vileness breeds her envy and our mischief,
What can we look for but destruction?
287HoratioI dare, methinks, a little hear you now
(The court being surfeited†gg760
fed gluttonously, overindulged
too with wine and noise*n949
Greene in Penelope’s Web remarks that ‘the King solemnised his marriage with sumptuous shows and triumphs, and Garinter that he might show how careful he was to obey his mother's last command, brought in masques and comical delights to finish up the solemnity of the nuptials’ (sig. D1r). Brome keeps this action offstage, and avoids involving Prince Gonzago. Flourishes are indicated in 2.3 to signal the king drinking healths to Alinda, and a production might also use off-stage sound here. Compare the use of off-stage sound in Hamlet, 1.4, in which Hamlet comments,
),
gg760
n949
The King doth wake tonight and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swagg'ring upspring reels,
And as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge. (1.4.9-13)
And could almost talk to the point*n950
Come to the main subject of discussion or the essence of the matter (OED point, n.1 10.b). Given that Horatio is talking about the murder of Alinda there may a pun on ‘point’, as in the point of a sword or dagger.
itself,
n950
To your own ear.Looks about him at every word.
I cannot say what – but if the wronged Queen
Be not restored we show ingratitude –
How much, I may not say – enough to damn us.
We shall seem born more for ourselves than country.*n3823
Horatio’s speech follows that of Egistus in Penelope’s Web: ‘and lest we should seem to be born more for ourselves than our country, let us attempt the restitution of the Queen, and the fatal overthrow of the insolent concubine, although death and danger were the end of our enterprise’ (sig. D3r).
n3823
290LodovicoBrave, noble resolution!
291HoratioNay, more, now I will speak.
292LodovicoThis way, good Horatio.*n1265
It seems likely that Lodovico sees Flavello approach and tries to lead Horatio away; Alinda’s question in 3.2, ‘Poison or sword thou heard’st him speak?’ [QC 3.2.speech657] suggests that Flavello comes close enough to overhear Horatio’s next comment.
n1265
293HoratioThat way, or any way; if poison, sword, policy†gg765
cunningness; a stratagem
or strength†gg252
a body (of men); military strength
may do it —*n3824
Egistus in Greene’s Penelope’s Web is more explicit, telling the assembled lords, ‘The plot, my Lords, I have laid by impoisoning her cup at the next supper’ (sig. D3r).
gg765
gg252
n3824
294LodovicoSpeak lower, good Horatio. See, the minion.†gg254
favourite (of the king or queen) (OED n, I 1a); popular favourite (OED n, I 1c)
gg254
Enter FLAVELLO and divers petitioners.
295HoratioWhat for him? My lady’s gamekeeper, that understands nothing but monkeys, parrots, short-nosed dogs*n951
Refers to the lap-dogs seen in many portraits of high-status men, women and children. See, for instance, the spaniel held by its ear by the infant Charles II in a portrait of 1630 (unknown artist, National Portrait Gallery, London). In The History of Four-Footed Beasts (London, 1607), Edward Topsell writes of the ‘delicate, neat, and pretty kind of dogs called the spaniel gentle, or the comforter’; he associates them particularly with women, saying that they are ‘sought for to satify the delicateness of dainty dames, and wanton women's wils, instruments of folly for them to play and dally withal, to trifle away the treasure of time, withdraw their minds from more commendable exercises, and to content their corrupted concupiscences with vain disport’ (p. 171). Sir Glorious Tipto in Jonson’s The New Inn (King's Men, 1629) describes how he would dress in order to ‘entertain’ a dog ‘That were a dog of fashion, and well-nosed, / And could present himself’ (The New Inn, ed. Michael Hattaway [Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984], 2.5.60-1).
and starlings;*n3950
All of these animals were kept by upper and middle-class women in the seventeenth century; see notes on 'short-nosed dogs' and 'principal pug' for further comments.
Master of her Majesty’s Foisting†gg767
farting (often used in reference to dogs)
-Hounds!
n951
n3950
gg767
296LodovicoSo, he hears you.
297HoratioLet him; he has no soul to understand nor language to answer a man: he knows how to diet,†gg766
feed
disple†gg768
discipline, correct
and perfume the small cattle†gg769
livestock; vermin (OED n, 7)
he has charge of, for which rare art, and catching spiders for principal pug,†gg770
monkey (OED n2, 6; usage here is antecedent to OED’s earliest citation)
*n952
‘Pug’ here refers to a monkey (see OED pug, n.2 6), thought to be particularly fond of spiders: cf. Brome, The City Wit: ‘Knavery is restorative to me, as spiders to monkeys’ [CW 5.1.speech830]; Fletcher, Field and Massinger, The Queen of Corinth (King’s Men, c. 1617): ‘He will eat spiders faster then a monkey’ (4.1.69); Nabbes, Microcosmus (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, 1637; published London, 1637): ‘I am my Lady's gentleman usher, and kill spiders for her monkey’ (sig. D3v). Monkeys were kept by the rich as a high-status pet throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: for one such pet monkey (seemingly named Pug) see Anthony van Dyck’s portrait of Henrietta Maria with Jeffrey Hudson (1633; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC: Samuel H. Kress Collection). The way in which the queen’s hand is placed on the monkey in this portrait has often been thought to indicate her control over sexual desire; Arthur Wheelock, Susan J. Barnes and Julius C. Held comment, ‘Monkeys were traditionally associated with erotic passion, and a chained monkey embodied a soul enslaved by the forces of sensuality. Henrietta Maria, by gently laying her hand on the monkey and clasping his belt, may well signify her control over the passions that he represents’ (Van Dyck: Paintings [Washington, DC: National Gallery, 1990], 264). Alinda’s putative ownership of a monkey in The Queen and Concubine has the opposite effect, suggesting the erotic irresponsibility of its owner as well as her desire for the trappings of high status. An example of this iconographic use of a monkey can be seen on the title page of The Court and Kitchen of Elizabeth, Commonly Called Joan Cromwell, the Wife of the Late Usurper (London, 1664), a satirical cookery book which mocks Elizabeth Cromwell as an ambitious parvenue. Laura Lunger Knoppers comments that in addition to being a symbol of lust, the monkey alludes 'to the proverb that the higher one climbs the more one's backside is exposed' ('Opening the Queen's Closet: Henrietta Maria, Elizabeth Cromwell, and the Politics of Cookery', Renaissance Quarterly 60 (2007), 464-99 [484]; the titlepage is reproduced on 485).
he is raised prime†gg771
foremost, most important
man in his great mistress’s favour.
gg766
gg768
gg769
gg770
n952
gg771
298LodovicoHow the petitioners flock to him!
299HoratioSwarm rather, for they are bees in his head.*n4096
To have bees in one's head or brain was to have an eccentric whim, craze or obsession (OED bee n1, 5a; the earliest citation is from 1513); the best-known version of the saying today is to have a bee in one's bonnet.
Oh, he engrosses†gg772
collects, monopolises
all the suits,†gg1888
(n) petitions, requests
and commends them to the white hand whose disposing will make the whole kingdom black in mourning, if fate by us prevent not! See how he carries it! We might talk what we would, for him; his well-ordered head is so taken up with particular affairs, he minds no general talk.
n4096
gg772
gg1888
Pursue we our design as all were spies:
300LodovicoOh, I embrace you.[They all exit.]*n3951
] Exeunt.
n3951
Enter ANDREA with a box.
301AndreaOh — oh — and oh-ho — oh and alas! Oh, and alack, for oh — oh — oh — that ever a true Neapolitan born should live to see this day in Sicily! There — oh — again, O Queen — O me — what wilt thou do? Oh — oh — what shall I do? Oh — thou mayst work and starve; Oh — and I may beg and live, Oh — but from thee I cannot live! Oh — I cannot, nor I wonnot,†gg774
won't
so I wonnot.†gg774
won't
gg774
gg774
Enter JAGO and RUGIO.
302JagoSee, here’s poor Andrea mourning as well as we and all the rest of the poor Queen’s castaways.†gg775
those cast away with the Queen
*n3952
This speech is printed as verse in the octavo.
gg775
n3952
303RugioBut I can tell him comfort.
304AndreaOh — I will hear no comfort!
306AndreaIs my Queen-countrywoman called back again?
307RugioNo, but the Queen Alinda has enquired for thee to entertain†gg777
receive
thee into her service, whilst we and all the rest of our late Queen’s servants are turned out o’th’ court, and now at this high†gg778
stately (OED a, 5a); well-advanced, well in progress (OED a, 11a)
dinner time too.
gg777
gg778
308AndreaShe would eat me, would she not?
309JagoThat would make it a feast indeed.
310AndreaBut I’ll not trust her on a fasting night: fools are meat then.*n955
The word ‘fool’ was already being used to refer to a sweet desert as early as the late sixteenth century (see OED n2 1); John Florio in A World of Words (London, 1598) translates the Italia mantiglia as ‘a kind of clouted cream called a fool or a trifle in English’ (216). Dairy produce such as milk, butter and cheese (sometimes including eggs) had been known as ‘white meat’ since at least the early fifteenth century (OED 1.a); it was traditionally forbidden to consume them during Lent, but since the Reformation their consumption had been increasingly condoned. Andrea’s joke therefore rests on the fact that during a period of fasting such as Lent dairy products become ‘meat’; Alinda either sees fools as legitimate fare during a fasting period, or does not care that she is violating a religious dictate. We might compare Brome’s somewhat similar joke about cheese-cakes containing bones in The New Academy [NA 4.1.speech777]. I am indebted to a discussion of the passage in The New Academy on Blogging the Renaissance for help with this note.
n955
311RugioWell said, Andrea, witty in thy sorrow; I know thou wilt back again for a new mistress.
312AndreaNo, no, take you your course,†gg29
way of proceeding, action; also trick, way of gaining money illicitly
and serve her if you please; I have played the fool too long to play the knave†gg779
rogue, scoundrel
now. I’ll after†gg780
follow, pursue
my old mistress.*n3953
This speech is printed as verse in the octavo.
gg29
gg779
gg780
n3953
313RugioThou mayst not serve her; that will be brought within compass†gg781
range, reach (OED n1, 9a)
of relief†gg782
aid, help, succour
and then thou mayst be hanged for her.
gg781
gg782
314AndreaIf I be hanged for doing good, pray let it not grieve you, and as I am an innocent, I’ll never grieve for you though you be hanged never so justly.
315[Rugio and Jago]*n1263
] Both.
We thank you, good Andrea.
n1263
316AndreaTake you your swinge,†gg783
(n) 'freedom of action [...] liberty to follow one's inclinations (OED n1, 2)
let me take mine, I pray. Flourish*n1260
As Julia Wood notes, flourishes were associated with royalty and kingship and are generally used in plays to announce the ceremonial entry or exit of important persons. Here they seem to be part of an off-stage ceremonial drinking ceremony intended to underline Alinda’s new status as queen. Wood suggests that flourishes were probably 'short simple fanfares’ played on trumpet, cornet or hoboy, and says that ‘it seems likely that they were extemporized’ (‘Music in Caroline Plays’, 99). The use of hoboys elsewhere in The Queen and Concubine suggests that they might have been preferred to the trumpet or cornet here.
gg783
n1260
317JagoHark, the King drinks now to his new Queen.
318AndreaSo, having turned his old wife out of door,
Would have thought it? Did you think to catch me?
319RugioNot I, Andrea.
320AndreaCatch me if you can.*n1264
a proverbial phrase
When it shall be treason to say there is an honest woman, I’ll say my countrywoman was justly condemned of adultery; and till then I know what to say: catch me if ye can.Flourish*n1260
As Julia Wood notes, flourishes were associated with royalty and kingship and are generally used in plays to announce the ceremonial entry or exit of important persons. Here they seem to be part of an off-stage ceremonial drinking ceremony intended to underline Alinda’s new status as queen. Wood suggests that flourishes were probably 'short simple fanfares’ played on trumpet, cornet or hoboy, and says that ‘it seems likely that they were extemporized’ (‘Music in Caroline Plays’, 99). The use of hoboys elsewhere in The Queen and Concubine suggests that they might have been preferred to the trumpet or cornet here.
n1264
n1260
321RugioThere again. Now the Queen drinks.
322AndreaPoor woman, at what river?
323RugioI mean the Queen Alinda.
324AndreaOh, the new thing at home here! I will not call her queen, not I: my countrywoman is my queen.
325JagoWhy, is not she thy countrywoman?
326AndreaShe was when she was Sforza’s daughter, but she has turned a father out of him.
327RugioAs here come some to turn us out o’th’ court.
Enter HORATIO, FLAVELLO, [KING’S] GUARD, [and] two or three GENTLEMEN.
328FlavelloAway with them! Out of the gates, away!
329HoratioSee, here are more of them, more of that hated woman’s retinue.†gg785
train, attending servants
Away with all!
gg785
331HoratioAs I am true to the crown, not one of you pesters†gg788
obstructs (OED pester v1, 1); overcrowds (OED pester v1, 2); infests (OED pester v1, 3); bothers, annoys (OED pester v1, 4)
the court a minute longer. Go, you are trash†gg789
rubbish, dross
and trumpery,†gg790
trifles, rubbish
and I’ll sweep the court of all of ye. Follow your mistress, go.
gg788
gg789
gg790
332FlavelloThe fool, my lord, shall stay; the Queen asked for him.
[All except ANDREA, HORATIO and FLAVELLO exit.]*n1261
] Exeunt Omn. præter Andrea.
n1261
333HoratioYes, yes, the fool, my lord, shall stay.
334AndreaThe fool, my lord, will not stay.
335HoratioWill not? How darest thou say so? Ha, fool, ha?Seize[s] and rifle[s] his pack.
336AndreaThe fool dare say more than the wisest lord dares do amongst ye. You will not take my own proper†gg794
exclusive, special, private (OED a, 2a); appropriate
goods from me, will ye?
gg794
337HoratioSee what he carries; I heard of plate†gg795
gold or silver vessels and utensils (OED n, 2a)
and jewels lost today.
gg795
338FlavelloLet’s see, sir, I will see.
Opens the box: coxcomb,†gg797
cap in the shape of a cock’s comb worn by a professional fool (OED 1)
bauble,†gg799
baton or stick, usually decorated with a head, often with asses ears or a fool’s coxcomb, carried by a court fool or jester as the emblem of his office (OED 4)
bells and coat.*n956
These are the widely represented costume and accessories of the court fool. A fool in Sebastian Brant, The Ship of Fools (London, 1509), wears a long coat with bells on the sleeves, and a cap with two ears with bells; he carries a bauble with a little jester’s head. A Pleasant History of the Life and Death of Will Summers (London 1637), sig. C5v, shows Will Summers, court fool to Henry VIII (left), and Patch, Cardinal Wolsey’s fool (right); both wear a fool’s coat with bells on the sleeves, Patch wears a coxcomb. The ballad A Fool's Bolt is Soon Shot (London, 1636) shows a fool wearing a shorter coat and a hat with a coxcomb and two asses’ ears. The fact that Andrea carries his tools in a box may suggest that he is not wearing a fool’s coat or any other signifier of his trade in this scene; this would reinforce on a visual level his determination to leave the court and his refusal to serve Alinda. In [QC 3.1.speech452] Eulalia says that Andrea is in disguise, but Fabio's comment, 'We dare come roundly to you, for all your guard, your old fool and your young here' [QC 3.1.speech561] suggests that by this point he may be recognisable as a fool; at [QC 3.1.speech574] the Curate refers to him as 'the fool'.
gg797
gg799
n956
339HoratioHeyday,†gg800
an exclamation indicating surprise
here’s stuff*n957
This can mean both household goods (OED n1, 1g), linking with Horatio’s description of ‘plate and jewels lost today’, or cloth (OED n1, 5), the meaning picked up by Andrea in his next speech.
indeed!
gg800
n957
340AndreaYour wardrobe†gg801
room in which apparel was kept (OED 1a); office of the royal household in charge of regal apparel (OED 2); stock of clothes owned by an individual (OED 3a)
cannot match it.*n958
This statement could be delivered in ways that suggest two different meanings: ‘your wardrobe cannot match it’ would suggest that the royal wardrobe does not hold anything like Andrea’s fool’s costume; ‘your wardrobe cannot match it’ would suggest that the clothes worn by Horatio (and possibly Flavello) cannot match the clothes of a fool.
Pray give me all again, or if you will be the King’s and Queen’s takers,†gg802
officers who exact supplies for the sovereign (OED taker, 2c); thieves (OED taker, 2d)
with that extremity†gg725
utmost severity; greatest amount
to force my goods from me, then present this to his highness, and this to hers,*n959
Andrea presumably gives Horatio his coxcomb and bauble, but it is not clear which gift he intends for each recipient. If the coxcomb is given to the King it would parody his crown and mock him for his folly; compare the Fool’s gift of his coxcomb to Kent as a symbol of his folly in wanting to follow Lear (Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Lear, 1.4.94-103). The bauble as a gift for Alinda would satirise her pretensions to royal status (as the bauble parodies the sceptre) and her status as the King’s sexual plaything: cf. John Day, The Isle of Gulls (Queen’s Revels, 1606; published London, 1606): ‘tho' she be but a fool, the bable's good enough to make sport withal in the dark’ (sig. H1v). If the gifts are reversed, the coxcomb given to Alinda might signify her folly in seeking to rise in status through corruption, while the bauble given to the King becomes a phallic symbol of his sexual incontinence. See Williams 1: 77-9. The sexual connotations of coxcomb and bauble are highlighted in an exchange between Mellida and her unwanted suitor, Galeatzo, in Marston's Antonio and Mellida (Paul's, c. 1599). Galeatzo pledges to 'accept of the coxcomb, so you will not refuse the bauble', to which Mellida replies, 'Nay, good sweet, keep them both; I am enamoured of neither' (Gair, ed., Antonio and Mellida, 5.2.98-101).
[Presents them with his coxcomb and bauble] and tell them ’tis all the poor discarded fool could spare them.
gg801
n958
gg802
gg725
n959
341FlavelloNo, sir, you shall take them with you, and a whip for advantage,†gg803
interest
*n960
Fools were proverbially susceptible to whipping, probably due to a combination of their lowly status in a noble or royal household and the likelihood that one of their jokes might backfire. In Samuel Rowley’s If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody (Prince Henry’s Men, c. 1604; published London, 1605), Cardinal Wolsey tells Henry VIII’s fool, Will Summers, ‘A rod in school, a whip for a fool, is always in season’ (sig. E4v). See Tilley, W305.
unless you’ll stay and serve the Queen.
gg803
n960
If you be your Queen’s fool-taker, you may
In country, court and city*n961
The style of Andrea’s mock-prophesy, with its regular, rhymed iambic pentameter lines, parodies prophesies found in other early modern texts. In particular, it may be intended to remind spectators of the Fool’s prophesy in Shakespeare’s King Lear (King’s Men, c. 1606), found only in the Folio text.
quickly find
n961
Fools upon fools that I shall leave behind.
New lords (you know the proverb) make new laws,
New lawyers of an old make a new cause,
New workmen are delighted with new tools,
And her new majesty must have new fools.
New fools she wants, not having you about her,
343FlavelloLet the fool go, my lord; ’tis but a fool the less, for he’ll get wit by it to wish himself here again.*n962
That is: let the fool go, all we'll lose by it is a fool, since his exile will make him wise enough to wish that he was back at court (and he will therefore no longer be a fool).
*n3955
This speech is printed as verse in the octavo.
n962
n3955
344AndreaIf I get but enough to keep me from court, I care not.
345FlavelloFarewell, fool, take your trinkets with you.
346AndreaFarewell, fine lords; adieu, old courtier.
347HoratioThe court unclouded of this factious†gg806
seditious
crew†gg807
'crew' could be neutral, meaning a gathering or group, but here the pejorative meaning is clear: 'a number of persons classed together (by the speaker) from actual connexion or common characteristics; often with derogatory qualification or connotation; lot, set, gang, mob, herd' (OED n1, 4)
gg806
gg807
Will shine on us that to the crown are true.[They exit.]*n3956
] Exeunt.
n3956
Enter SFORZA and KEEPER, as in prison.n963
As Dessen and Thomson note, 'a sense of prison' might be generated 'by one or more prisoners in chains/gyves/irons/manacles/shackles accompanied by a jailer/keeper with keys'; 'as in' or 'as from' prison directions are found in a number of Caroline plays (A Dictionary of Stage Directions in English Drama, 1580-1642 [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999], 171). Unlike Petruccio, who was kept under house arrest until his release by Horatio in 1.2, Sforza is being kept in a real prison. However, early modern prisons varied greatly: men of Sforza’s status would normally be held somewhere like the Tower of London, in which noble prisoners were able to lead relatively normal lives, rather than a prison such as Newgate or the Clink. A modern-day production might choose whether to have Sforza apparently able to move at will, as in this workshop version, which would suggest a higher-status prison, or confined or chained in some way, as in this alternative version, which would suggest the harshness of the King’s treatment of the former general.
n963
, which would suggest a higher-status prison, or confined or chained in some way, as in this alternative version, which would suggest the harshness of the King’s treatment of the former general. And locked up in the ignorance of the cause,
Stronger and darker than his prison walls?
And therefore, keeper, though thy office be
Or shouldst thou utter’t in a tempest’s voice,
As loud as are my injuries, thou art safe;
In thine own custody, thou seest.
349KeeperAll I can say,n1188
The tone of this scene and its effect in performance depends to a large extent on a production’s interpretation of the Keeper, who must not break his orders and tell Sforza why he has been imprisoned, either through loyalty, fear or a kind of officious sadism. If the Keeper is petty or sadistic, the injustice of the situation is emphasised and the scene might gather a kind of harsh comedy, as in this extract. Here we experimented with a clash of tones and genres, playing Sforza as if he was in a tragedy and the Keeper in a comedy. However, it was not ultimately convincing because it made the final aside very difficult to deliver convincingly. If the Keeper is played as being sympathetic to Sforza’s plight - which seems the more plausible interpretation - the scene creates pathos through Sforza’s obliviousness to the cause of his imprisonment and the Keeper’s inability to tell him the cause. For instance, in this extract from the workshop, the Keeper pities Sforza and is tortured by the fact that he cannot tell him his supposed offence; suspense is created because he often seems on the verge of talking to his prisoner, only to pull back. Another option is to play the scene in a more serious way, but to make the Keeper’s seeming harshness conceal a hidden sympathy for his prisoner, as in this extract. A clue to the scene’s original effect in performance might be found in the similar predicament of the Provost in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (King’s Men, c. 1603), who, like the Keeper, confesses his pity for his prisoner in an aside (2.2.2-6).
n1188
. Here we experimented with a clash of tones and genres, playing Sforza as if he was in a tragedy and the Keeper in a comedy. However, it was not ultimately convincing because it made the final aside very difficult to deliver convincingly. If the Keeper is played as being sympathetic to Sforza’s plight - which seems the more plausible interpretation - the scene creates pathos through Sforza’s obliviousness to the cause of his imprisonment and the Keeper’s inability to tell him the cause. For instance, in this extract from the workshop, the Keeper pities Sforza and is tortured by the fact that he cannot tell him his supposed offence; suspense is created because he often seems on the verge of talking to his prisoner, only to pull back. Another option is to play the scene in a more serious way, but to make the Keeper’s seeming harshness conceal a hidden sympathy for his prisoner, as in this extract. A clue to the scene’s original effect in performance might be found in the similar predicament of the Provost in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (King’s Men, c. 1603), who, like the Keeper, confesses his pity for his prisoner in an aside (2.2.2-6). ’Tis the King’s pleasure, and you must obey.
350SforzaDo you bark sentences, hell-hound?
351KeeperMy lord, y’are off your command*n965
No longer on your command (OED off prep, 1a). That is: (1) you no longer have your position as commander, or (2) you can no longer command me.
and under mine,
n965
You much mistake yourself and me.
352Sforza’Tis true.
353KeeperLions may ragen966
This might be delivered as an aside, or to Sforza, depending on how a production interprets the sequence. If the Keeper is sympathetic to Sforza, it may work better as an aside, as in this version from the workshop on this scene; if the actor intends the Keeper to appear initially more officious or brutal, it may work better delivered as a direct warning to Sforza, as in this version.
in toils,†gg814
traps, snares
but whilst they do,
n966
; if the actor intends the Keeper to appear initially more officious or brutal, it may work better delivered as a direct warning to Sforza, as in this version.gg814
And promise on your honour not to force
[Aside]*n3957
This line is enclosed by brackets in the octavo to indicate the aside.
My meaning is, to give him never a word.
n3957
354SforzaI will not lift a finger up against thee,
As I am a soldier. Now prithee tell me,
What say they is my crime? [KEEPER] shakes his head.n967
The stage directions suggest that the Keeper makes a mute gesture after each of Sforza’s questions, as in this sequence from the workshop, in which the original stage directions are followed fairly closely. On first reading the scene, I wondered how the Keeper’s gestures would come across in performance: could there be something grotesquely funny about them, or was the sequence purely serious in tone? If the scene is played in a satiric fashion, with an officious or sadistic Keeper, the gestures might be caricatured, as in this extract. Another option is to make them comparatively restrained and naturalistic, as in this version, in which Robert Lister, playing the Keeper, also uses props to help him regain his distance from Sforza after seeming to be on the verge of breaking his silence.
n967
, in which the original stage directions are followed fairly closely. On first reading the scene, I wondered how the Keeper’s gestures would come across in performance: could there be something grotesquely funny about them, or was the sequence purely serious in tone? If the scene is played in a satiric fashion, with an officious or sadistic Keeper, the gestures might be caricatured, as in this extract. Another option is to make them comparatively restrained and naturalistic, as in this version, in which Robert Lister, playing the Keeper, also uses props to help him regain his distance from Sforza after seeming to be on the verge of breaking his silence. Nay, speak it freely, I can give it hearing.[KEEPER] shrugs, etc.
Or tell me first, if thou wilt, how fares the Queen?*n968
(1) How is the Queen? (2) What is happening to the Queen?
n968
What? Art thou dumb to that too? Answer me,
Repealed†gg819
recalled (often used to talk about return from exile)
to court yet? Thence may spring my mischief.n969
This line could be delivered as an aside, as it is in this version from the workshop.
gg819
n969
. In scorn of me, to mock my misery.
I may not wrong the honour of a soldier
In my revenge, or I would throttle thee.He makes legs.n970
Making a leg is a deferential gesture similar to a bow, made by drawing back one leg and bending the other. A man would usually make a leg when he greeted someone or departed from them; the Keeper’s making a leg here suggests that he is withdrawing from Sforza’s presence prior to his aside to the audience and his exit. A modern production might substitute a different gesture, such as a salute or the offer of food or drink (though neither of these would necessarily suggest departure).
n970
or the offer of food or drink (though neither of these would necessarily suggest departure). You’re very civil, hell take your courtesy.
355Keeper [Aside] I pity him, but must not dare to show it;
It adds to some men’s misery not to know it.*n971
i.e. it makes some men more miserable not to know the reason for their misery.
Exit.
n971
356SforzaIt is decreed of me, that I must suffer
This barbarous cruelty, and I’ll bravely bear it.
I ha’ not force these double walls†gg821
paired or coupled walls (OED double a, 1a), often used in fortifications; walls of twice the normal size or strength (OED double a, 4a)
to part,
gg821
May spirit*n972
i.e. may my spirit (or the Holy Spirit) help me to disregard/reject this scornful treatment on top of the wrongs done to me.
then assist me to despise
n972
And bear my scorn above my injuries.[Exit.]
Enter PETRUCCIO and GUARD.*n3963
Petruccio's direction to 'All' to leave the room in [QC 2.5.speech371], and the Guard's reply, 'We shall' [QC 2.5.speech372], may suggest that this is a guard of soldiers rather than a single guard, given that the only other character to exit on his order is the Keeper.
n3963
357Petruccio [Aside] Revenge has cast herself into my hands,
Strangling the life of Sforza in these lines.
His head is in this grasp, but where is honour?
Must that forsake this breast? Must the pure heat
Of heavenly honour yield unto the scorch
Where honour shines thought of revenge expires.
Besides, he is below my anger now,
And has no life but forfeited to law
Or the King’s fury; I’ll not question which.
He wronged not me no more then I did him
When th’ honour was transferred from him to me.
That’s answered clearly; I acquit thee, Sforza.
But now my loyalty: how shall I discharge
That special duty I am here commanded —
[To GUARD] Stand back I say —*n3958
The octavo text places these words in brackets, signalling a break with the surrounding speech.
[Aside] to see the execution,
n3958
And bring the head of Sforza to the King?
What an addition†gg829
augmentation; something added to a coat of arms as a mark of honour (OED n, 5)
here is of advancement,†gg830
promotion, preferment
gg829
gg830
To make me first a general, then a hangman?
I’ll do him better service. Loyal Horatio
Would think himself now damned, to leave a title
Of the King’s powerful pleasure unfulfilled.
[To GUARD] Call the keeper.
Enter KEEPER.*n3959
The octavo text places this stage direction in the margin next to the Keeper's 'Here my Lord'.
n3959
358KeeperHere, my lord.
359PetruccioI am to see and speak with Sforza.
360KeeperThen I doubt not but your honour has brought warrant.
361PetruccioMy honour be your warrant.*n3960
Petruccio puns on the Keeper's 'your honour has brought warrant', in which 'your honour' is a convential form of address to one of high status, to suggest that his personal honour (which could mean either his reputation or his innate virtue) should mean that a formal warrant in the shape of a document or token is unnecessary.
Will not that serve?
n3960
364KeeperYes, I both know and honour you, as far as my own place gives me leave, but in this I must crave pardon. You may not see him, my lord, by a less warrant than the King’s own signet,†gg832
a small, engraved stamp of metal, usually placed in a finger-ring (OED n, 1), used to produce an impression in a wax seal on a document as evidence of authority; ‘signet’ can also mean the document itself (OED n, 3b)
and that fetches him out, and it please you.*n973
If it is agreeable to you. This is a mark of politeness often used by someone of low social status to his or her social superior.
gg832
n973
365PetruccioBut have you been so strict to all men else?
Has no man changed†gg833
exchanged
a word with him?
gg833
366KeeperNot since
These keys commanded him, I can assure you;
Not even the Prince himself, who much desired it.
I looked as black on him as upon you now.
I am no white prison-keeper, I, to venture
Mine own neck for a prisoner’s, at a price,
And give condemned men leave to run away.
No, I am the black jailer, I, and, ’tis thought,
Lineally†gg834
directly, in a direct line
descended from Cerberus.*n974
A three-headed dog (or in some legends, fifty-headed) that guarded the entrance to the underworld in Greek myth (Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, ed. Howatson, s.v. Cerberus).
gg834
n974
367PetruccioI must commend thy care; see, there’s the signet.*n3961
Petruccio presumably produces the King's signet at this point.
n3961
368KeeperI’ll fetch the prisoner. May it please you to come forth, my lord?*n3962
This speech is printed as verse in the octavo.
n3962
Enter SFORZA.*n3307
] this direction is missing in the octavo but is supplied ('Ent. Sforza') in the octavo's list of errata.
n3307
369SforzaHave I then lived to hear man’s voice again?
370KeeperHere’s the Lord Marshal and chief General
Of the King’s forces, come to speak with you.
371SforzaThose titles once were mine, but now I must
Attend his pleasure that is master of them.
372PetruccioAll leave the room, but be at hand.
374Sforza [Aside] My first object†gg835
thing presented to the eyes
from my long obscurity,†gg836
period of darkness
gg835
gg836
The man that hates me most of all the world?
It is. His news cannot be good. Not good?
The better. ’Tis best to know the worst; he
375PetruccioMy lord, I do presume I am unwelcome
No ampler comforts in’t. But y’are deceived,
For you are welcome, sour,†gg838
embittered, morose, peevish
captious†gg839
carping, likely to find fault
lord, y’are welcome.
gg838
gg839
Because (love me or love me not) you speak.
I have been here these two and twenty days,
And never heard the voice of man till now.
Meat I have found, and lodging, but for language,
In what part of the world I am, I know not.
Proceed: I value your words well, you see,
That give you six for one. Why do you not speak?
I have been used to talk with men that love me not,
And more with enemies, I dare be sworn,
Than friends. Come, speak, I pray, what is’t you come for?
377Petruccio [Aside] Alas! I pity him. His too, too much vexation†gg840
trouble, harassment, affliction
gg840
Has over-tamed him.*n976
Audiences may detect a certain irony in a character named Petruccio complaining that someone has been ‘over-tamed’. Both Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Fletcher’s mock-sequel, The Woman’s Prize or The Tamer Tamed (in which Petruccio’s second wife, Maria, tames him) were current on the stage in the early 1630s: The Taming of the Shrew was performed at court by the King’s Men on 26 November 1633, when Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, says that it was ‘Liked’; The Tamer Tamed was performed two days later, on 28 November, and according to Herbert was ‘Very well liked’ by the royal audience. See N.W. Bawcutt, ed., The Control and Censorship of Caroline Drama: The Records of Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels 1623-73 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 185.
n976
378SforzaWill you not speak and tell me?
379PetruccioPray let me ask you first, have you been kept
So strictly from the speech of all men?
Of why I was committed too; nay, he that keeps me,
Till now he called me forth, never spake a word.
If I asked him, ‘what news?’, here he was with me;
Or, why I was committed, still the same answer,
So that I could inform myself of nothing.
Come, if thou be’st an honest enemy,
Tell me something.*n3965
This appears to be a deliberately short line, giving time for Petruccio to hesitate and for Sforza to fear that Petruccio will, like the Keeper, refuse to tell him anything about the reason for his imprisonment.
n3965
As thou dost wish my throat cut, tell me something.
381PetruccioYou seem to take no notice†gg842
take no notice of: have no knowledge/awareness of
of the cause
gg842
Of your commitment.
382SforzaFurther than this I
Cannot: ’twas the King’s pleasure to command it.
‘Treason’ was cried, ‘a guard’, ‘away with him’,
But for what cause, unless it were for drawing
To save her from the danger of his lust,
My daughter, sir, I mean.
383PetruccioYes, much about the Queen.
384SforzaAnd the Queen loves her?
385PetruccioAs dearly as herself.
386SforzaNay if you be a soldier, now speak truly.
387PetruccioThe Queen and she’s all one.*n977
Two meanings are possible here: (1) the Queen and she are always together; (2) the Queen and she are one and the same.
n977
388SforzaThen there’s some hope
The King yet keeps fair quarter with her;*n978
That is: treats her appropriately (but ‘fair quarter’ is used in sexual contexts elsewhere; cf. Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, 2.1.108: ‘So he would keep fair quarter with his bed’).
n978
Women are quickly jealous.
389Petruccio [Aside] He knows nothing,
I’m confident, of all these great proceedings.
Poor man! I pity him; but I’ll put him to it.*n979
i.e. I’ll test him; I’ll challenge him; I’ll urge him.
n979
[Aloud] Will you now answer me, as y’ are a soldier,
To some few articles?†gg736
charges
gg736
390SforzaYou have engaged me.
391Petruccio [Aside] ’Twere†gg845
it were (i.e. it would be)
shame he should die ignorant of at least
gg845
The accusations are laid against him.
392SforzaCome, sir, your articles?
393PetruccioYou are accused
Of an intended treason ’gainst the King.
394SforzaWho’s my accuser?
395PetruccioEven the King himself.
396SforzaUmh,†gg846
inarticulate sound indicating doubt, hesitation or dissatisfaction
umh,†gg846
inarticulate sound indicating doubt, hesitation or dissatisfaction
umh.†gg846
inarticulate sound indicating doubt, hesitation or dissatisfaction
*n980
Sforza’s grunted reaction to Petruccio’s information and the King’s dubious treatment of him (for which I have retained the octavo’s spelling) could be interpreted in various ways by an actor. In particular, they might give the dialogue a colloquial and quasi-improvisational quality.
He should not be my judge, then.
gg846
gg846
gg846
n980
It is some devilish dream of his, or else
Have merited more than they have means to give,
To cut their lives by whom they only live.*n3966
That is: when the best soldiers have been so excellent that Kings do not have the ability to repay their actions, they instead execute the men who have preserved their own lives.
n3966
397PetruccioYou fly†gg848
flee, break away
now from the question. Y’ are engaged†gg849
obliged; locked (as if in combat)
gg848
gg849
By the honour of a soldier unto
That accusation: guilty or not guilty?*n3967
I have re-lineated this speech: in the octavo there is only one line break, at 'Souldier / Unto'.
n3967
398SforzaI am not guilty, as I am a soldier,
To save as many lives, were they within me,
As perished by my sword to save his one.
399PetruccioIn that I am satisfied. Now, to the next;
If you will hear it, you shall promise me
400SforzaI will do what I can.
401PetruccioYou’re next accused
Of foul adultery with the Queen Eulalia.
402SforzaHah!
403PetruccioGuilty or no?
404SforzaNo, sir, nor dares there be
Such a suggestion in the heart of hell.
And were he there that thought, or could but dream
405PetruccioThen I must hold you to your promise, sir.
Enter GUARD.
406SforzaA wrestling†gg852
action of opposition or strife (OED vbl. n, 2a)
towards;*n981
That is: an oppressive force/action coming towards (me). Sforza interprets the entrance of the Guard as evidence of violence intended towards him.
away, whist,†gg853
hush, keep silent (OED int, 1)
away!*n4546
] away west, away
gg852
n981
gg853
n4546
Nay, then, I am betrayed!
407PetruccioForbear, I pray.GUARD retire[s].
408SforzaHe comes but to insult and to torment me!*n3968
This line may be delivered as an aside, since Petruccio rather than the Guard has been doing the 'insult[ing]' and 'torment[ing]'.
n3968
409PetruccioMy lord, you much forget, is not this passion?
410SforzaPassion of heart!*n982
i.e. overpowering emotion (OED passion n, 6a)
He hopes not for salvation
n982
That hears with patience but the repetition
Of such a blasphemy. I must not die
Until the world be vindicated from
411PetruccioYou see I could oppress†gg867
overcome; keep in subjection
you, but all forbear†gg869
avoid, shun
the room.GUARD [exits].*n3970
] Exit Guard.
gg867
gg869
n3970
413PetruccioIf you will be calm, I’ll tell you what I come for.
414SforzaAs settled as a rock beneath a mountain
Here will I sit, and hear thy loudest malice.
415Petruccio [Aside] If this man be not innocent, virtue lives not.
416SforzaNow tell me what you come for, and be sure
You ask no more abominable questions
Whilst calmly I clear these, thus: by the honour
And faith of a true soldier I am clear
Of these suggested crimes, which before heaven –
To save my life from the King’s violent fury,
Now that my fortune is at worst. So, speak.
’Tis long a-coming — I begin to think
It is some good, you are so loath to utter ’t.
My lord, I take you for my friend, and come
418SforzaFoh!†gg879
exclamation of disgust (also spelt 'faugh')
This is worse than all the rest, this stinks
gg879
But on, I prithee, talk is such a novelty
I will hear anything.
419PetruccioI could not see your virtue when it shined
Through the radiant favours of the King,
It dazzled me with envy then, but now,
Like the red sun through cold and misty vapours,
I can behold it at the full.
420SforzaSo, so: umh,†gg846
inarticulate sound indicating doubt, hesitation or dissatisfaction
whu.†gg883
an inarticulate noise indicating astonishment, disgust, dismay, etc.
*n983
Sforza again reacts to Petruccio with quasi-colloquial noises: here they seem to convey his disgust at what he thinks is Petruccio’s flattery. ‘Whu’ might be modernised to ‘whew’, but this may give the wrong impression to a modern reader; I have therefore retained the spelling from the octavo.
gg846
gg883
n983
So much for my virtues. What’s your business now?*n3971
I have re-lineated this speech: in the octavo text the line break is at 'vertues: / What's'.
n3971
Groaning beneath a weighty injury
The King has thrown upon me.
422Sforza [Aside] Has denied him
Something, I warrant, that he would have begged,
The making of a knight,*n984
i.e. knighting someone. (A general’s power to knight his soldiers or followers could be a point of contention in early modern society.)
or some such foolery.
n984
[Aloud] What was’t?
424SforzaIs the great marshal’s and chief general’s office become so base?†gg295
contemptible, degraded, unworthy
gg295
425PetruccioNo, sir, the hangman’s office. Read that —
[Hands him the warrant.]
I am commanded there, and warranted
And you shall have it instantly.
That honour which has won me to you shall
Work better for your preservation.
I have much more to tell you, and strong reasons
Why you should live: of the Queen’s infinite wrongs,
And yours, wrought by your daughter’s cruel ambition.
Sure, now you are honest.
429PetruccioThere you see my strength.†gs108
power, especially ‘power to resist temptation or fulfil a difficult duty’ (OED n, 1d); perhaps with a pun on ‘military power’ (OED n, 1e)
gs108
If now for truth and honour’s cause I strain†gg890
(v) transgress the strict requirements (OED v1, 11b)
gg890
Your honour to secure me?
430SforzaI hold my honour equal to the best,
And prize it still so far above my life
Here in the sight of heaven I do engage it
For your security.
431PetruccioI ask no better. Keeper!
Enter KEEPER.
432KeeperMy lord.
433PetruccioDismiss that guard and give us way.
434KeeperI shall.[Exit KEEPER.]
435PetruccioNow come, my lord, virtue may be cast by
But never overcome by tyranny.
436SforzaWar’s sword,*n986
Brome follows a resounding final couplet at the end of a scene with a further half-line, a technique that appears frequently in his plays. Here, it serves to emphasise Sforza’s new respect for Petruccio and his trust in his erstwhile rival. In addition, this is the first time that either man has used the other’s name in addressing him directly, something to which Brome draws attention by placing the name at the end of the half-line.
law’s axe, or tyranny’s fell knife,
n986
May overcome my person, not my life.
For that is yours, Petruccio.
[SFORZA and PETRUCCIO exit together.]*n1262
] Exeunt Ambo.
n1262
Edited by Lucy Munro