THE
QUEEN
AND
CONCUBINE

Dramatis Personæ in Order of Appearance*n1238 The octavo text provides a list of dramatis personae. As in many early modern playtexts, the female characters are listed after the male ones. I have re-ordered this list but have in most cases retained the octavo’s descriptions of the roles; my additions or alterations to these descriptions are in square brackets. The names of characters not included in the octavo's dramatis personae are also in square brackets.

[Link] HORATIO	An old humorous†gg150 moody, whimsical courtier
LODOVICO	Eulalia’s faithful counsellor
FLAVELLO	Alias Alphonso; Alinda’s sycophant
Prince GONZAGOn905 Gonzago shares his name with his father, something that the octavo text emphasises by placing the Prince after the King in its dramatis personae and describing him as ‘His Son the Prince’. In Greene’s Penelope’s Web, Gonzago’s equivalent is called Garinter, a name which is also used for a young prince in Greene’s Pandosto* (the source for Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale and another inter-text here). Prince Gonzago is around nineteen years old: Horatio says in [QC 2.2.speech277], that Eulalia ‘reads in her son’s face nigh twenty years of the King’s love to her’; Garinter in Penelope’s Web is said to be ‘of the age of twenty years’ (Penelope’s Web [London, 1587], sig. C4r). Both are, therefore, of an age when they might potentially be a threat to their unpredictable fathers.	[Son of King Gonzago and Queen Eulalia]*n1239 The octavo text lists Prince Gonzago under his father and describes him only as ‘His Son the Prince’.
EULALIAn906 Eulalia’s name derives from the Greek for ‘good news’ or ‘the good word’. She shares it with two Spanish saints, St Eulalia of Merida and St Eulalia of Barcelona, both of whom were martyred between the ages of twelve and fifteen during the Diocletian persecution of Christians in the fourth century CE. See F. Fita, ‘Saint Eulalia of Barcelona, in The Catholic Encyclopedia, ed. Charles G. Herbermann et al., 11 vols (London: Robert Appleton, 1907-22): http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05603a.htm. An account of St Eulalia, drawing on Prudentius, was published in John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments* (London, 1583), 93-4. Intriguingly, as Matthew Steggle notes, a church dedicated to St Eulalia was to be built at Palermo in the 1660s. He argues that although this is probably a coincidence, ‘St Eulalia’s Spanish pedigree is an important detail, since it draws attention to the fact that, whatever its literary affinities in pastoral, in political terms Sicily was currently part of the Spanish empire' (Steggle, Richard Brome, 89). A woman named Eulalia also features in Erasmus’ Colloquia, published in English in 1557 and 1606, where she is a ‘good woman’ to be contrasted with an archetypal shrew, Xantippe. Some of the sentiments voiced by Erasmus’ Eulalia could belong to Brome’s: ‘we must not desire anything that stands not with our husbands' liking: and whatsoever they affect and like, that must we like and obey. [...] therefore you ought to serve him, because you are his wife, or else, when you were married unto him, why did you make him such a solemn promise of obedience: and for the performance thereof, pawn your troth? Now if we make no conscience of such a solemn promise, whereunto God, and God's Angels, and God's Church, are witnesses; then is our truth forfeited, and we are to be held for false creatures, neither is any word that ever we speak to be held of any credit. [...] we are under a law, which hath made us subject to their power and authority. For though a man be a noble man, and a Lord, and hath tenants under him, yet is he also a subject, and must obey his Prince, as one that liveth under a law: and yet though a Lord, or a freeholder are to obey the law, and to do service for their Prince’ (‘A Very Excellent Dialogue Between a Good Woman and a Shrew, Showing How a Woman May Win her Husband's Love, Though he be Never so Froward’, in Seven Dialogues both Pithy and Profitable, trans. William Burton [London, 1606], sigs. E3v-E4r).	The banished Queen; [daughter of the King of Naplesn143 In Robert Greene’s Penelope’s Web*, Brome’s source text, Barmenissa (the equivalent of Eulalia), is the ‘only daughter and heir of the great Chan’ (sig. C2v); Eulalia is described as ‘daughter of a king’ in 5.2, at [QC 5.2.speech1157], but she is never said to be her father’s heir. ]
ALINDA	The veiledn63 highlights the fact that Alinda is not an established, professional concubine, as is Olynda in Penelope’s Web* concubine;†gg149 concealed [Sforza’s daughter]
Attendants
KING Gonzagon907 Other characters named Gonzago in early modern drama include the Duke of Urbin in Marston’s Parasitaster, or The Fawn* (Queen’s Revels, c. 1604-5), described in that play's dramatis personae as 'a weak lord of a self-admiring wisdom' (David A. Blostein, Parasitaster, or The Fawn [Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1978], Interlocutors, l. 2), and a follower of the Duke of Guise in Marlowe’s The Massacre at Paris (Strange’s Men, 1593). As Matthew Steggle notes, it also ‘strongly recalls the eponymous hero of the play-within-a-play in Hamlet, who of course dies because he is inadequately jealous’ (Richard Brome, 86). In Greene’s Penelope’s Web his equivalent is Saladyne, the Souldan of Egypt.	King of Sicilyn62 Brome relocates the action from Egypt (where Greene’s story in Penelope’s Web* is set) to Sicily, the location of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and a classic setting for seventeenth-century tragicomedy.
SFORZAn908 This name is used for a military man in two other Caroline plays: Sforza, ‘a blunt soldier’, in James Shirley’s The Maid’s Revenge* (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, 1626; London, 1639), sig. A1v, and General Sforza (who never actually appears on stage) in Thomas Heywood’s A Maidenhead Well Lost (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, c. 1625-33). Dramatic representations of the historical Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, also feature in a number of plays.	[A general, rival to Petruccio; a Neapolitan who came to Sicily with Eulalia]*n1240 The octavo text brackets Sforza and Petruccio together, describing them as ‘Two Rivall Generals’.
Captain*n3903 The dramatis personae lists 'Two other Captains and Soldiers'; a captain and some soldiers appear in [QC 1.2.speech29], while two captains and soldiers appear in [QC 4.3.speech1027], where a stage direction describes them as 'a rabble of Soldiers and two Captains'. The captain from 1.2 may reappear as one of the captains in 4.3, but there is no reason why this has to be the case. I have therefore listed the captains of 4.3 separately.
[Drum]†gg3175 someone playing a drum, a drummer (OED n, 1 and 3a)
SOLDIERS*n3904 The dramatis personae lists 'Two other Captains and Soldiers'; a captain and some soldiers appear in [QC 1.2.speech29], while two captains and soldiers appear where a stage direction describes them as 'a rabble of Soldiers and two Captains' [QC 4.3.speech1027].
PETRUCCIOn909 In addition to the (anti-)hero of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew* (Chamberlain’s Men, c. 1593) and Fletcher’s The Woman’s Prize or The Tamer Tamed (King’s Men, c. 1611) - both plays revived in the early 1630s - characters named Petruccio can be found in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (Chamberlain’s Men, c. 1594), Fletcher’s The Chances (King’s Men, c. 1617), Shirley’s The Traitor (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, 1631) and Suckling’s The Sad One (unfinished, c. 1637?). In Ford’s Love’s Sacrifice (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, c. 1632) Petruccio is one of ‘Two counsellors of state’ (A.T. Moore, ed., Love's Sacrifice [Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002], 'The Speakers in this Tragedy', l. 7), and in Rawlins’ The Rebellion (King’s Revels, c. 1634) he is a captain.	[A general, rival to Sforza]*n1240 The octavo text brackets Sforza and Petruccio together, describing them as ‘Two Rivall Generals’.
Petruccio’s SERVANT
[GUARD]*n4548 The octavo text lists two different Guards: 'King's Guard' and 'Guard of Palermo'. Within the play, Guards appear in 1.2 (the guard accompanying Horatio), 1.3 (the guard who enter on the King's call for help), 2.3 (the guard accompanying Horatio and Flavello), 2.5 (the guard accompanying Petruccio), 4.2 (the guard accompanying Lollio and Poggio), 5.2 (the guard who enter on the King's command to arrest Lodovico and Horatio), and 5.3 (the guard who brings on Flavello). Of these, the guard of 4.2 and 5.3 (a single man) is the 'Guard of Palermo' listed in the dramatis personae, while the guards of 1.3, 2.3 and 5.2 might be the 'King's Guard' (i.e. a body of soldiers, which in 1.3 is headed by a Captain). The guards of 1.2 and 2.5 - both of which are probably a guard of soldiers rather than a single guard - do not appear to be either of these, and I have therefore added another 'Guard' to the dramatis personae. There is, of course, no reason why any of these guards, with the exception of the Palermo guard, should be played by the same actors.
KING’S GUARD*n4548 The octavo text lists two different Guards: 'King's Guard' and 'Guard of Palermo'. Within the play, Guards appear in 1.2 (the guard accompanying Horatio), 1.3 (the guard who enter on the King's call for help), 2.3 (the guard accompanying Horatio and Flavello), 2.5 (the guard accompanying Petruccio), 4.2 (the guard accompanying Lollio and Poggio), 5.2 (the guard who enter on the King's command to arrest Lodovico and Horatio), and 5.3 (the guard who brings on Flavello). Of these, the guard of 4.2 and 5.3 (a single man) is the 'Guard of Palermo' listed in the dramatis personae, while the guards of 1.3, 2.3 and 5.2 might be the 'King's Guard' (i.e. a body of soldiers, which in 1.3 is headed by a Captain). The guards of 1.2 and 2.5 - both of which are probably a guard of soldiers rather than a single guard - do not appear to be either of these, and I have therefore added another 'Guard' to the dramatis personae. There is, of course, no reason why any of these guards, with the exception of the Palermo guard, should be played by the same actors.
[Lord]
Two bishops
[Two friars]
DOCTOR	[A] suborned†gg152 bribed false [witness] against Eulalia*n1241 The Doctor and Midwife are bracketed together in the octavo text and are described as ‘Suborned false witnesses against Eulalia’.
MIDWIFE	[A] suborned†gg152 bribed false [witness] against Eulalia*n1241 The Doctor and Midwife are bracketed together in the octavo text and are described as ‘Suborned false witnesses against Eulalia’.
STROZZOn1248 Called Strozzo in the Dramatis Personae and in Act 5; called Strozza in Act 3. I have preferred Strozzo throughout as it is used in dialogue as well as stage directions, but either name might be used in performance. Other characters called Strozzo can be found in Marson's Antonio's Revenge* (Paul's, c. 1599-1600) and Shirley's The Sisters (King's Men, 1642); other characters called Strozza feature in Chapman's The Gentleman Usher (Chapel Children, c. 1602) and Heywood's A Maidenhead Well Lost.	[A] cashiered†gg3276 dismissed; in the army this generally involved 'disgrace and permanent exclusion' (OED cashier v, 2) lieutenant*n1242 Strozzo and Fabio are bracketed together in the octavo text, and are described as ‘Two cashier’d Lieutenants’. Strozzo and Fabio are described by Eulalia as ‘young men’ in [QC 4.2.speech816].
FABIO	[A] cashiered†gg3276 dismissed; in the army this generally involved 'disgrace and permanent exclusion' (OED cashier v, 2) lieutenant*n1242 Strozzo and Fabio are bracketed together in the octavo text, and are described as ‘Two cashier’d Lieutenants’. Strozzo and Fabio are described by Eulalia as ‘young men’ in [QC 4.2.speech816].
[Two virgins]
[Petitioners]
ANDREA	Eulalia’s fool; [a Neapolitan]
JAGO	[Eulalia’s servant]*n1243 The octavo text brackets Jago and Rugio together, describing them as ‘Two other her Servants’.
RUGIO	[Eulalia’s servant]*n1243 The octavo text brackets Jago and Rugio together, describing them as ‘Two other her Servants’.
[Two or Three Gentlemen]*n3900 A stage direction in [QC 2.3.speech327], specifies the entrance of 'two or three Gentlemen'.
[KEEPER]*n1244 Called ‘Jaylor’ in the octavo text’s Dramatis Personae and in the stage direction at the head of Act 3; I have regularised his name to match his speech prefixes in Act 2.
GENIUS*n64 in classical belief, an attendant spirit assigned to someone at birth, who controls his or her fortunes of Eulalia
PEDRO*n3902 Pedro is described by Andrea in [QC 3.1.speech472], as an 'old man'.	A gentleman of Palermo
POGGIO	[A] chief [inhabitant] of Palermon1245 The octavo text brackets Lollio and Poggio together, describing them as ‘Two chief Inhabitants of Palermo’. The way in which they are listed after Pedro, who is described as ‘A Gentleman of Palermo’ and before the ‘Countrey-men of Palermo*’ suggests their middling social status.
LOLLIO	[A] chief [inhabitant] of Palermon1245 The octavo text brackets Lollio and Poggio together, describing them as ‘Two chief Inhabitants of Palermo’. The way in which they are listed after Pedro, who is described as ‘A Gentleman of Palermo’ and before the ‘Countrey-men of Palermo*’ suggests their middling social status.
FIRST COUNTRYMAN*n3901 The octavo specifies 'Three or four countrymen of Palermo'; within the text four countrymen appear, all with speaking roles.	Of Palermo
SECOND COUNTRYMAN*n3901 The octavo specifies 'Three or four countrymen of Palermo'; within the text four countrymen appear, all with speaking roles.	Of Palermo
THIRD COUNTRYMAN*n3901 The octavo specifies 'Three or four countrymen of Palermo'; within the text four countrymen appear, all with speaking roles.	Of Palermo
FOURTH COUNTRYMAN*n3901 The octavo specifies 'Three or four countrymen of Palermo'; within the text four countrymen appear, all with speaking roles.	Of Palermo
CURATE	Of Palermo
CRIER	Of Palermo
GUARD	Of Palermo
[FIRST GIRL]*n1246 The octavo’s Dramatis Personae asks for ‘Three or four Girls’; the text suggests that four are required, two whom have speaking roles.	[Pupil of Eulalia]
[Second Girl]*n1246 The octavo’s Dramatis Personae asks for ‘Three or four Girls’; the text suggests that four are required, two whom have speaking roles.	[Pupil of Eulalia]
[THIRD GIRL]*n1246 The octavo’s Dramatis Personae asks for ‘Three or four Girls’; the text suggests that four are required, two whom have speaking roles.	[Pupil of Eulalia]
[Fourth Girl]*n1246 The octavo’s Dramatis Personae asks for ‘Three or four Girls’; the text suggests that four are required, two whom have speaking roles.	[Pupil of Eulalia]
FIRST CAPTAIN*n3903 The dramatis personae lists 'Two other Captains and Soldiers'; a captain and some soldiers appear in [QC 1.2.speech29], while two captains and soldiers appear in [QC 4.3.speech1027], where a stage direction describes them as 'a rabble of Soldiers and two Captains'. The captain from 1.2 may reappear as one of the captains in 4.3, but there is no reason why this has to be the case. I have therefore listed the captains of 4.3 separately.
SECOND CAPTAIN*n3903 The dramatis personae lists 'Two other Captains and Soldiers'; a captain and some soldiers appear in [QC 1.2.speech29], while two captains and soldiers appear in [QC 4.3.speech1027], where a stage direction describes them as 'a rabble of Soldiers and two Captains'. The captain from 1.2 may reappear as one of the captains in 4.3, but there is no reason why this has to be the case. I have therefore listed the captains of 4.3 separately.
[Mutinous] SOLDIERS*n3904 The dramatis personae lists 'Two other Captains and Soldiers'; a captain and some soldiers appear in [QC 1.2.speech29], while two captains and soldiers appear where a stage direction describes them as 'a rabble of Soldiers and two Captains' [QC 4.3.speech1027].
[Tipstaff]
[Schoolboys]

The Scene: Sicilyn62 Brome relocates the action from Egypt (where Greene’s story in Penelope’s Web* is set) to Sicily, the location of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and a classic setting for seventeenth-century tragicomedy.

ACT ONE*

Act 1 opens at the Sicilian court, where the return of the King and General Sforza from a successful military campaign is awaited. As the courtier Horatio gives Queen Eulalia and Prince Gonzago information about the King’s valour and (especially) that of Sforza, we may already feel that the general has somewhat overshadowed his monarch. On the King’s appearance, it quickly becomes clear that he feels the same way, and his jealousy of Sforza gives rise not only to his apparent recall of Sforza’s rival, Petruccio, but also to fears that Eulalia may be having an affair with her countryman. Almost simultaneously, he spies Alinda, Sforza’s daughter, and his lust for her is swiftly transformed into physical action, as he ‘kisses her’ and the disapproving Sforza ‘storms’ [QC 1.1.speech78]. At the end of the scene, Alinda’s comment, ‘for this / Let than a king I shall abhor to kiss’ [QC 1.1.speech80], demonstrates her calculated ambition. This large-cast and dramaturgically complex opening scene is following by four fast-moving scenes which are based in the main part on exchanges between pairs of characters. 1.2 shows the former general Petruccio, seemingly under house arrest, from which he is released on the King’s orders by Horatio. In 1.3 the King and Flavello discuss the latter’s coaching of Alinda for the role of the King’s mistress; they then observe a heated exchange between Sforza and Alinda which gives them the pretext for the general’s arrest and that of Eulalia. In 1.4 we see Queen Eulalia imprisoned at the home of the courtier Lodovico pending her trial for adultery and for plotting the deaths of the King and Alinda. Unlike Shakespeare in The Winter’s Tale, and Shakespeare and Fletcher in Henry VIII, Brome chooses not to dramatise the trial itself. Instead, in 1.5 Flavello narrates its events, and the testimony of the witnesses he has bribed, to Alinda. The scene is book-ended by soliloquies from Alinda, in which the extent of her ambition, and her almost complete lack of scruple, is made clear. The speed of events in Act 1 is designed to underline the King’s power and his arbitrary exercise of it. Horatio comments in 1.1 on the King’s ‘un-to-be-examined hasty humours’ and his ‘devilish gift [...] in venery’ [QC 1.1.speech59], and these characteristics are repeatedly on display.

1.1*

Enter HORATIO [and] LODOVICO.

2HoratioThe clouds of doubts and fears are now dispersed,*

And joy, like the resplendent sun, spreads forth

New life and spirit over all this kingdom

That lately gasped with sorrow.

3LodovicoNow the court

Puts on her rich attire and, like fresh flora

After the blasts of winter, spreads her mantle,

Decked with delightful colours, to receive

The jocund† spring that brings her this new life.

Enter FLAVELLO bare† before the Prince [GONZAGO], the Queen EULALIA, ALINDA [and] ATTENDANTS. Hoboys.*†

4HoratioThe Queen comes on; joy in that face appears

That lately was overwhelmed* in her tears.

5Lodovico and HoratioHealth and perpetual joy unto the Queen.

6EulaliaThanks, my good lords, I am prepared to meet it.

How near’s the King?

7HoratioAt hand, my sovereign.

8EulaliaWelcome that happy word that leads the way.

But yet he is not come, he is not here:

Never so sweet an expectation

Appeared so tedious.† Pray set on† apace,†

That I may live yet to an interview†

With my loved honoured lord.

9HoratioThat your delay

May seem less grievous,† hear this by the way:

A brief relation† of the King’s success

In this his late† well-won† battle.

10EulaliaBe it so.

But mention not his dangers, good my lord.

11HoratioThat were to make his conquest nothing worth;

It would make Victory upon his head

As she had flown into his burgonet†*

To shroud† her from a storm, and not to sit

Or, rather, stand triumphant on a foot

With displayed wings upon the utmost sprig†

Of his high flourishing* plume,† vaunting her safety

So perched† and so supported by his valour.†

12[Gonzago]*Pray, mother, hear the dangers too; the worst

Will make the best the sweeter: I could hear

Of dangers yet to come, and women may

Discourse of† perils past each holy-day.†

13HoratioWell said, young Prince, right of the King’s own mettle†

And, gracious madam, let me tell you, though

You do not love to hear of blood and danger

Y’ have brought a warrior forth, I do foresee’t.

I love to speak my thoughts; I hope you trust me:

A right old courtier I, still true to th’ crown.*

14[Gonzago]*How this old fellow talks! You said, my lord,

You would discourse† the battle.

15HoratioExcellent Prince,

I was i’th’ way, but the Queen put me out on’t.*

16EulaliaWell, well, my lord, deliver’t your own way.

17HoratioThen, humph,† humh, humh, in my own way,

But by the way – no way to derogate†

From the King’s matchless resolution –

A word or two of the best soldier

In all the world (under the King I mean;

I know my limits). That’s our brave general,

Lord Sforza, madam, your stout† countryman,

Though our King’s subject now, that bore him so

At the great marriage-triumph† in tournament,

Tumbling down peers and princes,* that e’er since

He’s called your champion, and the Queen’s old soldier.

18EulaliaBut what of him now in the battle?

19HoratioMarry,† but this: that as we have a King,

And as the King brings victory, nay life,

Home to his Queen, his country and our comforts,†

Next under heaven we are to give the praise

To this old soldier, to this man, the man;

Indeed, another man is not to be

(Except the King) named in this victory.

20EulaliaYou seem, my lord, to honour Sforza yet

Before† the King.*

21HoratioExcuse me, gracious madam,

I know my limits. What? Before the King?

I am an old courtier, I, still true to th’ crown.

But thus it is declared, that in the battle,

When in the heat of fight the mingled bloods

Of either army reeked up to the sun,

Dimming its glorious light with gory vapour,

When Slaughter had ranged† round about the field,

Searching how by advantage† to lay hold

Upon our King —

22EulaliaPrithee no more.

23[Gonzago]*Good mother.

24HoratioAt last she spied and circled him about

With spears and swords so thickly pointed on him,

That nothing but his sacred valour could

Give light for a supply to his relief,

Which* shined so through and through his walls of foes,

As a rich diamond ’mongst an heap of ruins,

And so was found by the quick eye of Sforza,

When like a deity armed with wrath and thunder,

He cut a path of horror through the battle

Raining down blood about him as he flew,

Like a prodigious† cloud of pitch† and fire,

Until he pierced into the strait† wherein

The royal person of our King was at

His last bare stake of one life to a thousand.*

25EulaliaI dare not hear it, yet.

26HoratioThen, in a word, old Sforza fetched him off*

And with his sword, which never touched in vain,

Set him i’th’ heart of ’s army once again.

27EulaliaThat I like well.

28HoratioThat did your champion, madam,

The Queen’s old soldier, and your father, lady.

D’ye simple at it?* Such a soldier breathes not,

Only the King except. Now note the miracle:

The King received and gave new life at once

Of and unto his army, which new life

Was straight way multiplied, as if the lives

Of all the slain on both sides were transfused

In our remaining part, who with a present fury

Made on with that advantage on the foe,

That the whole field was won as at one blow.

I am prevented.

29[Soldiers] [Shout within] Victory!*

Enter CAPTAIN, DRUM† and colours,†* KING and SFORZA, SOLDIERS.
The* KING embraces and kisses the Queen [EULALIA], the Prince [GONZAGO] and ALINDA.*

30KingNow cease our drums, and furl our ensigns† up;

Dismiss the soldiers, hostile arms surcease,†

Whiles we rejoice, safe in these arms of peace.*

31SforzaGo, soldiers. Better never stood the shock

Of danger, or made good their country’s cause.

Drink this to the King’s health and victory.

32SoldiersHeaven bless the King and our good general Sforza!*

[Link] Long live the King and Sforza, Sforza and the King![CAPTAIN and SOLDIERS exit.]*

33King [Aside]

The King and Sforza; Sforza and the King.

Equal at least, and sometimes three notes† higher,

Sound Sforza’s name than doth the King’s. The voice

Of the wild† people as I passed along

Threw up his praises nearer unto heaven

Ever, methought, than mine. But be it so;

He has deserved well. [Aloud]* Now let me again

Embrace the happy comforts of my life.

Through deadly dangers, yea, through death itself,

I am restored unto my heaven on earth,

My wife and son: a thousand blessings on thee.

Say, dearest life, whose prayers I know have been

Successful to me in this doubtful† war,

How welcome am I?

34EulaliaThat’s more than I can speak:

For should I bring comparisons of the spring

After a frosty winter to the birds,

Or rich returns of ventures† to the merchant

After the twentieth current news of shipwreck,

Redemption† from captivity, or the joys

Women conceive† after most painful childbirths,

All were but fabulous† nothings to the bliss†

Your presence brings in answer to my prayers.

Heaven heard me at the full:† when I forget

To send due praises thither, let me die

Most wretched, though my gratitude shall never

Sleep to th’ inferior means,* e’en to the meanest†

Soldier assistant to your safe return.

Especially to you, good Sforza; noble soldier,

I heard of your fidelity.†

35SforzaMy duty, madam.

36King [Aside] Are you one of his great admirers too?*

The world will make an idol of his valour

While I am but his shadow:* I’ll but think on’t.

[Aloud] Indeed he’s worth your favour;† he has done wonders.

37SforzaLet me now speak; I may not hear these wonders bounced.†

38King [Aside]* You do forget yourself.

39EulaliaWhat says my lord?

40KingNay, I have done.

Gonzago, you and I have changed† no words yet.

I have brought victory home, which may perhaps

Be checked at* when my heat† shall fall to ashes;*

How will you maintain your father’s quarrels o’er his grave?

41[Gonzago]*I do not hope t’ outlive you, sir, but if I must,

I sure shall hope to keep your name† and right†

Alive whilst I live, though I cannot hope

To have so good a soldier at my standard†*

As warlike Sforza.

42King [Aside] * This is more and worse

Than all the rest! The child has spoken plainly:†

I had been nothing without warlike Sforza.

I’ll make him nothing and no longer stand

His cipher† that in number makes him ten.*

[To HORATIO and LODOVICO] My lords, my thanks to you for your due† care

In my late† absence.

43HoratioAll was loyal duty,

As we are old courtiers, sir, still true to th’ crown.

44KingI have found you faithful.

45HoratioIt befits true statesmen

Watchful to be at home ’gainst civil harms

When kings expose themselves to hostile arms.

46KingThere’s a state-rhyme† now. But Horatio,

Has not Petruccio visited the court

Since our departure?

47HoratioPox on* Petruccio!

Bless me, and be good to me. How thinks your

Grace of my allegiance, and can ask

Me that question?

48King [Aside] Now he is in his fit.†

49HoratioThe hangman take him! Petruccio, King?

Peugh, peugh!† I hate to name him.

How can you think your state had been secured

If he had breathed amongst us? That vile wretch,

Whom in your kingly wisdom you did banish

The court for a most dangerous malcontent*†

After his just repulse† from being your general,

When he durst† stand in competition

With brave, deserving Sforza here, the best,

Most absolute† soldier of the world.

50King [Aside] Still Sforza!

51HoratioExcept your Majesty.

52King [Aside] There is an exception wrung out.*

53HoratioHe come at court by my permission?

I should as soon be won to set your court

On fire, as see him here.

54KingSend for him speedily.

55Horatio [Starts]* Your Majesty is pleased to have it so.

56KingAnd upon your allegiance,

Which you so boast of, let me have him here,

And very speedily; I’ll have your head else.

57HoratioNay, since it is your highness’s pleasure, and

So seriously commanded, I will send

My own head off my shoulders, but we’ll have him.

In what you can command, I dare be loyal.

58KingLook to it.Goes to the Queen [EULALIA].

Brome’s stage direction (which is present in the octavo text) sets off a sequence in which he cuts in turn to three different conversations: (1) Lodovico and Flavello discuss the recall of Petruccio; (2) the King, Eulalia and Prince Gonzago discuss Alinda; (3) Sforza rebukes Alinda. If the attribution of the play to Salisbury Court is correct, Brome is manoeuvring a large number of actors around a small stage, giving the impression of a crowded court occasion during which the audience are given brief glimpses of snatched conversations. The scene thus makes significant demands on the company performing it; as the actor Robert Lister (here reading the King) commented during the workshop on this scene, ‘it depends on every actor on the stage with an ear like that [gestures with his hand] to what everyone else is doing’. In the modern theatre, the shifts between conversations might be signalled with subtle or more radical changes in lighting or other technical resources; at Salisbury Court Brome was dependent on the actors’ delivery and their positions on the stage. Experiments in the workshops suggest that to have the King seated during this scene causes practical difficulties, even through a seated position gives him a certain amount of control, and a movement out of it to approach Alinda might accentuate the importance of this moment. Compare this version

, in which he is seated and moves out of his chair only to intervene in the discussion between Sforza and Alinda, with this

, in which he forces Sforza to move towards him, creating a space into which he can insert himself to greet the general’s daughter. However, his ability to deliver speeches as asides is compromised if he is sitting down: compare these two versions of speeches 65-73

. In addition, having the King seated might erroneously suggest that this scene is set in a throne room. For further discussion between actors and editors of the atmosphere and dynamics of this scene see this clip from the workshop

59Horatio [Aside]

It must be so. This is one of his

Un-to-be-examined hasty† humours,†

One of his starts.† These, and a devilish gift*

He has in venery,† are all his faults.*

Well, I must go, and still be true to th’ crown.HORATIO [exits].*

60LodovicoPetruccio sent for,* who for braving† of

Brave Sforza here so lately was confined!

61FlavelloI cannot think the court must hold ’em both

At once, less they were reconciled, which is

As much unlikely. What do you think, my lord?

62LodovicoI know not what to think.

63KingShe Sforza’s daughter, say you?

64[Eulalia]*Yes, my lord.

65KingShe’s a right handsome† one. I never knew he had a daughter.

66EulaliaHe brought her o’er* a child with me, when happily† I came your bride, bred her at home; she never saw the court till now I sent for her to be some comfort in your long absence.

67King [Aside]* Sforza’s absence, I fear you mean.

68EulaliaAnd trust me, sir, her simple† country innocence at first

Bred such delight in me, with such affection,

That I have called her daughter to embolden her.

69KingOh, did you so?

70EulaliaAnd now she has got some spirit,

A pretty,† lively† spirit, which becomes her,

Methinks, so like her father’s.

71KingVery good.

I like her strangely.†

72EulaliaWhat was that she said

To you, Gonzago?*

73GonzagoThat heaven might ha’ pleased†

T’ have fashioned her out† to have been a queen.

74KingComely† ambition.

75Sforza [To ALINDA] Reconcile all* quickly,

Or you had better never have been born

Than disobey my last command, which was

Never to see the court till I induced† you.

Do you stare at me?

76AlindaI but obey’d the Queen.

I hope she’ll answer’t.*

77SforzaNo more, I’ll talk with you anon.†

78KingCome, Sforza, welcome to court; so is your

Daughter too, I have ta’en* notice of her.

O fairest, welcome. Kisses her.

This stage direction is in the octavo. As described in [NOTE n3907], the nature of the King’s kisses during this scene is crucial, and its impact may depend on the conventions that have been established on the King's entrance. In the workshop on this scene, whether the King kissed Alinda on the hand or the cheek here altered the dynamic of the exchange: see these extracts for the contrasting effects

. A kiss on the lips would alter it again. Social conventions regarding kisses on the hand, cheek and mouth seem to have been in flux during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Although kisses on the mouth in the early sixteenth century were often non-erotic, Keith Thomas suggests this kind of kissing began to fall out of favour at the Elizabethan court and had all but disappeared by the end of the seventeenth century (‘Afterword’, in The Kiss in History, 187-203 [192]). Instead, kissing on the mouth became increasingly to be associated with sexual passion. For instance, in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (King’s Men, c. 1611-12), a prominent influence on The Queen and Concubine, Leontes identifies ‘Kissing with inside lip’ (1.2.286) as one of the signs of the supposed affair between Hermione and Polixenes. However, some ambiguity remained, and some late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century male writers criticise women who wish to be greeted with a kiss on the cheek rather than a kiss on the lips: John Harington in ‘Of a Lady that Gives the Check’ (in The Most Elegant and Witty Epigrams [London, 1618]), asks ‘Is’t for a grace, or is’t for some disleek, / Where other kiss with lip, you give the cheek?’ (sig. H4v). During the early seventeenth century, kisses to the hand or cheek were equally ambiguous gestures, used in erotic contexts but also used to demonstrate the affection or loyalty of an inferior to a superior (servant to master, client to patron, or subject to monarch, for instance) or to demonstrate amity within families or quasi-familial groups. In George Wilkins’ The Miseries of Enforced Marriage (King’s Men, c. 1606; published London, 1607), Sir John Harcop instructs the brothers of his son-in-law-to-be, ‘Nay kiss her, kiss, though that she shall / Be your brother's wife, to kiss the cheek is free’ (sig. C2v). Something of the complexity and ambiguity of social kissing in the 1630s can be seen in Shirley’s The Lady of Pleasure (Queen Henrietta Maria’s Men, 1635; published London, 1637), in which Celestina criticises Isabella for refusing to be kissed on the lips in greeting:

Oh, it shows ill upon a gentlewoman
Not to return the modest lip, if she
Would have the world believe, her breath is not
Offensive (sig. E1r).

However, Celestina has earlier declared that her own suitors cannot

boast abroad
And do me justice, [that] after a salute
They have much conversation with my lip;
I hold the kissing of my hand a courtesy,
And he that loves me, must upon the strength
Of that, expect till I renew his favour (sig. D3r)

She therefore suggests that an initial greeting kiss on the lips might be kept within the bounds of decorum if it is not repeated. Brome himself suggests a hierarchy of erotic kissing in The Novella, in which Piso declares that he is

above the art of amorists,
That cringe and creep by weak degrees of love:
To kiss the hand, the cheek, the lip, then cry
'Oh, divine touch!' [NV 3.1.speech267]

SFORZA storms.†

Brome’s stage direction suggests Sforza’s violent emotional response to the King’s kissing Alinda. Similar directions in other early modern plays include ‘They storme’ in response to the question ‘art not thou a witch?’ in Brome and Heywood’s The Late Lancashire Witches (quarto text, [LW 5.1.line2625-26]); ‘Give them the letters and they stamp and storm’ in The Fair Maid of the Exchange (auspices unknown, c. 1602?; published London, 1607 [sig. I1r]); ‘King drinks, Queen and Mal. storms’ in The Noble [Spanish] Soldier (auspices unknown, c. 1626?; published London, 1634 [sig. H3r]); and ‘Sussex delivers a petition to the King, the King receives it, shows it to the Queen, she shows it to Winchester and to Beningfield: they storm’ during a dumb-show in the first part of Heywood’s If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody (Queen Anne’s Men, c. 1604; published London 1605 [sig. D1v]). John Bulwar’s manual, Chirologia, or, The Natural Language of the Hand (London, 1644), includes examples of 'natural' gestures which may have been employed by the original actor playing Sforza. The gesture Indignor, ‘TO SMITE SUDDENLY ON THE LEFT HAND WITH THE RIGHT’ [IMAGEQC_1_1], is said to convey ‘a declaration of some mistake, dolour, anger, or indignation’ (pt. 1, p. 32). The gesture Minor, ‘TO SHOW AND SHAKE THE BENDED FIST AT ONE’ [IMAGEQC_1_2], is used by those ‘who are angry, threaten, would strike terror, menace, revenge, show enmity, despite, contemn, humble, challenge, defy, express hate, and offer injury’. Bulwar comments, ‘When anger, a fit of the invading appetite, hath took hold of our spirits, and that we are incensed by some affront we cannot brook, we use to threaten, to call the trespasser to account by this gesture of the hand, occasioned by the violent propensity of the mind, and strong imagination of the act of revenge’ (pt. 1, p. 57). This gesture was still prominent in the eighteenth-century theatre, used to suggest feelings of aggression and rebellion. Another gesture, Indignatione Timeo, ‘THE SMITING OF THE HAND UPON THE THIGH’ [IMAGEQC_1_3], is according to Bulwar ‘so deeply imprinted in the manners of men, that you shall in vain persuade a man angry and enraged with grief, to contain his Hand from this passion’ (pt. 1, p. 91). Inventione Laboro, ‘THE FINGER IN THE MOUTH GNAWN AND SUCKED’ [IMAGEQC_1_4], is ‘a gesture of serious and deep meditation, repentance, envy, anger, and threatened revenge’ (pt. 1, p. 158). In the second section of the work, Chironomia, or, The Art of Manuall Rhetoricke, Bulwar notes that ‘THE breast stricken with the hand, is an action of grief, sorrow, repentance, and indignation’ (pt. 2, p. 46), while ‘The thigh smitten with the hand, was the gesture of one pleading more vehemently, of one grieved and fuming with indignation, of one taking notice of an others error, or confessing himself deceived’ (pt. 2, p. 1). Another action manual, preserved in Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 768, suggests that ‘to stamp with the foot in great contentions is not unseemly’ (see B.L. Joseph, Elizabethan Acting, second edition [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964], 58). In workshops the direction’s possibilities in modern performance were discussed. Although the kinds of gestures recommended in early modern action manuals could be incorporated or adapted (stamping a foot, for instance, is still a widely understood physical gesture), in modern performance Sforza’s ‘storm’ might be more internalised - whether comparatively naturalised

or exaggerated

. The gesture might also be aimed in different directions: towards Alinda, towards the King, or towards the audience. Alternatively, a production might chose to signal Sforza's indignation through a physical intervention to separate the King and Alinda, as in this example from the workshop

. Like the kiss itself, different ways of signalling Sforza’s emotional reaction alter the dynamic of this moment - is this a private moment of impotent rage or an open act of rebellion; it is noted only by the King, or is it a gesture that is open to interpretation by the assembled courtiers?

Come you both with me, this night we’ll feast;

Pray bid us welcome all as but one guest.[All except EULALIA and ALINDA exit.]

79EulaliaI shall in all obey you.[Exit EULALIA.]

80AlindaAnd for this

Less than a king I shall abhor to kiss.[Exit ALINDA.]

1.2*

Enter PETRUCCIO.

81PetruccioRepulsed†? Disgraced? And made the scorn o’th’ court?

In* the advancement of an upstart† stranger,

Because he is the Queen’s dear† countryman?

Have I for all my many services

Found the reward of being made an outcast?

Could not the King be pleased, though he advanced

Sforza unto the honour I deserved,

To trust me in his service? Could he think

My sword could be an hindrance in the battle

Or have delayed the winning of the field†?

And must his court and presence,† which I have

With my observance† dignified, reject me

Now as a dangerous and infectious† person?

’Tis a new way to gratify† old soldiers.

Enter SERVANT in haste: switch.*

So soon returned? I do commend† thy speed.

The news at court?

82ServantThe King’s come bravely† home

And every ear is filled with victory,

But chiefly with the fame of Sforza’s valour.

83PetruccioSforza?

84ServantLord Sforza, sir, I cry him mercy* –

The new Lord General.

85PetruccioThou com’st too fast.Strikes him.

86ServantSo methinks too, less ’twere* to better purpose.*

87PetruccioThe fame of Sforza’s valour; good if it last.

What other news?

88ServantI have told you all the best.

89PetruccioIf thou hast worse, let’s have it quickly.

90ServantYou shall, that you may fly† the danger.

91PetruccioWhat is’t, without your preface†?

92ServantHere are messengers sent from the King to you; pray heaven all be well. There’s the old touchy testy† lord that rails,† and never could abide you since the King looked from your honour.

93PetruccioTh’ hast made me amends; there’s for thy news. [Gives him money.]

Is this bad news?

94ServantTruly, my lord, I think so,

For if the King had sent to you for good

I think he would have sent one loved you better.

95PetruccioWhat? Than the old courtier? Thou knowst him not;

I’ll show him thee. He is the only man

That does the King that service, just to love

Or hate as the King does, so much and so long,

Just to a scruple† or a minute, and then

He has an ignorant loyalty to do

As the King bids him, though he fear

Immediate death by it. Call him in.

96ServantThey come.

Enter HORATIO and GUARD.

97Horatio My masters, come along, and close up to me. My loyalty defend me, I shall not dare to trust me in this devilish fellow’s reach else. [To PETRUCCIO] And thus it is, sir.

98Petruccio’Tis thus, sir, I can tell you.Draws [his sword].

99Horatio [To GUARD] Good friends, look well to me.*

100PetruccioYou come with strength† of armed men, to bear me

From mine own house, which was my appointed prison,

Unto a stronger hold.†

101Horatio [To GUARD] Look every way.

102PetruccioThe King, it seems, now that his minion†*

General is landed cannot think him safe and I not

Faster,†* which though I can prevent I will not.

Come, what gaol will you remove me to?

103HoratioI would thou wert in hell for me.

No, sir, I come to call you to the King.

104PetruccioWhat? With a guard?

105HoratioThat’s for myself. I know thou lovest not me.

106PetruccioNor you me, do you?

107HoratioNor cannot, less the King could love thee.

108PetruccioWhy, perhaps he does; you see he sends for me.

109Horatio Why, if he does, I do; but ’tis more than I know or can collect† yet by his Majesty’s affection.

110Petruccio [Aside] Here’s an humour now.

111Horatio I know my loyalty, and I know the King has sent for you; but to what end I know not, and if it be to hang thee I cannot help it. [To GUARD] Look to me* now, my masters. [To PETRUCCIO] Nor do I care, that’s the plain troth† on’t, while the King is pleased, and thou wert my brother. I am an old courtier, I, still true to the crown.

112PetruccioI commend your loyalty. Come, we are friends.

113Horatio [To GUARD] Look to me* for all that.

114PetruccioWere you afraid, you came so armed and guarded?

115HoratioThat’s because I would not be afraid. [To GUARD] Look to me* still.

116PetruccioIndeed, my lord, you are welcome.

117HoratioYes, as much as I look for.

118Petruccio [Aside] What should the King intend by this? I fear no ill,

For I have done none; therefore I may go.

Perhaps he thinks to make me honour Sforza

Now in his time of jollity, and be friends.

I need not go for that; he cannot do’t.

Yet I will go to tell him so. [To HORATIO] My lord,

My joy to see the King will post† me faster

Than your grave† loyalty, or massy† bill-men.†

119HoratioYes, prithee† keep afore with thy back towards me, and so long I dare trust thee. [To GUARD] Have an eye, though.[They all exit.]*

1.3*

Enter KING and FLAVELLO.

120KingHer Father hath surprised† her, then?

121FlavelloYes, and means

To hurry her away from court this night;

I heard him threaten it.*

122KingBut he must not do’t.

She is too sweet, Flavello, and too fit†

For my embraces to be snatched away.*

123FlavelloNow that she’s ripe† and ready for your use,

Like fruit that cries, ‘come eat me’, I’ll not boast

The pains I took to fit her* to your appetite†

Before she saw you.*

124KingHow, my careful† agent?

125FlavelloAt first sight of her feature, I foresaw

She was compliable† to your affection.

Then by discourse† I found she was ambitious,

I plied† her then with pills† that puffed her up*

To an high† longing, till she saw the hopes

She had to grow by. Pray stand close, they come.

Enter SFORZA and ALINDA.

126SforzaHas the air of court infected you already?

Has the King’s kisses,* moved by adulterate† heat,†

Swollen you into a stubborn loathsomeness

Of wholesome counsel? Come your ways;* I’ll try

If country-air and diet can restore you

To your forgotten modesty and duty.

127AlindaWhat have I done amiss†?

128SforzaDo you capitulate†?

But so much satisfaction† as may make

Thee sensible† of shame, I will afford thee.

Didst thou not after banquet,† when the King,

Heated† with wine and lust raised in his eyes,

Had kissed thee once, twice, thrice – though I looked on

And all the presence whispered their cold† fears

Of the King’s wantonness† and the Queen’s abuse† –

Didst thou not then still gaze upon his face,

As thou hadst longed for more? O impudence†!

129AlindaImpudence†? Sir, pray give it the right name.

Courtship,† ’twas courtship,† sir, if I have learned

Any since I came here.

130King [Aside]* Brave mettled†* wench†!

131SforzaI am amazed.

132AlindaBesides, sir, the King’s kisses

Are great inestimable† honours, and

What lady would not think herself the more

Honoured by how much the King did kiss her?

133SforzaAnd should he more than kiss, still the more honoured?

134AlindaIt might be thought so.

135SforzaDurst thou argue thus?

136Alinda [Aside] I know he dares not beat me here. [To SFORZA] Pray, sir,

Let me but ask you this, then use your pleasure*

(Cause you style† impudence,† that which I call courtship†):

What courtier sits down satisfied with the first

Office or honour is conferred upon him?

If he does so, he leaves† to be a courtier

And not the thing we treat† of. Did yourself

After the King had graced† you once, twice, thrice* –

As he kissed me – expect no further from him?

137SforzaShe’s wondrously well-read† in court already.

Who i’th’ devil’s name has been her lecturer†?

138Flavello [To KING] Do but your majesty observe that, and think

What pains I took with her.

139AlindaHow many offices

Did you run through before you were made general?

And, as the more the King confers upon us

Is more our honour, so ’tis more the King’s

When most his favours shine upon desert.†

140King [Aside] * I like her better still.

141SforzaInsufferable baggage†!

Darest thou call anything in thee desert†?

Or mention those base† favours which the King

Maintains his lust by with those real honours

Conferred on me who have preserved his life?

Is it such dignity† to be a whore?

142AlindaPray sir, take heed: kings’ mistresses must not

Be called so.

143SforzaDarest thou talk thus to me?

144AlindaYes, sir.

If you dare think me worth the King’s embraces

In that near† kind,† howe’er* you please to style it,

Sure I shall dare, and be allowed to speak.

145King [Aside]* That word makes thee a queen.*

146SforzaThe King dares not

Maintain† it.

147King [Aside] * And that costs you your head.

148AlindaDear sir, take heed; protest,* I dare not hear you.

Suppose I were advanced so far above you

To be your queen, would you be therefore desperate,†

And fall from what you are to nothing? Pray

Utter no more such words; I’d have you live.

149Flavello [To KING] She vexes† him handsomely.†

150SforzaAs I live she’s mad. Do you dream of being a queen?

151AlindaWhy, if I should I hope that were no treason.

Nor, if I were a queen, were that sufficient

Warrant for you to utter treason by

Because you were my father. No, dear sir,

Let not your passion be master of your tongue —

152SforzaHow she flies up with the conceit†! D’ye hear?

153AlindaBecause you were my father.

Sovereignty, you know, admits no parentage;

Honour, poor petty† honour, forgets* descent.

Let but a silly† daughter of a city

Become a countess, and note how squeamishly†

She takes the wind of* her progenitors.†

154SforzaShe has swallowed an ambition

That will burst her: I’ll let the humour† forth.

155AlindaYou will not kill your child?

156SforzaThough all posterity† should perish by it.

157AlindaNot for the jewel in your ear.*

158SforzaImpudent harlot†! [Aside] She has heard me value

This jewel, which I wear for her dead mother –

I would not part with* whilst I wore my head –

And now she threatens that. [Aloud] A kingdom shall not save thy life.

159AlindaKnow where you are, sir: at court, the King’s house.

160SforzaWere it a church, and this unhallowed† room

Sanctum sanctorum,† I will bring you to your knees

And make me such a recantation†

As never followed disobedience.

I’ll take thy life else, and immediately.

161King and FlavelloTreason! A guard! Treason! Etc.*

Enter CAP[TAIN] and [KING’S] GUARD.*

162[Captain and King’s Guard]*Heaven save the King!

163KingLay hold on Sforza, the dangerous traitor.

164Sforza’Tis Sforza is betrayed.

165KingAway with him,

See he be kept close† prisoner. Flavello,

See that his daughter have convenient† lodging.*

166SforzaLet me but speak; I hope your majesty —

167KingLet not a word come from him. Hence, away.

What a most dangerous estate† even kings do live in,

When those that we do lodge† so near our breast

Study† our death when we expect our rest![They all exit.]*

1.4*

Enter LODOVICO and EULALIA.

168LodovicoBe comforted, good Queen, and I beseech

Your grace to pardon me in this command

The King has laid upon me.

169EulaliaLodovico,

I do, and must no less submit myself

To the King’s sovereign will than you, and though

I am committed to your house and custody

I am his highness’s prisoner. And more,

Though I know not my crime, unless it be

My due† obedience, I am still so far

From grudging† at his pleasure as I fear

To ask you what it is supposed to be,

But rather wait† th’ event, which though it bring

My death, ’tis welcome from my lord and king.

170Lodovico [Aside] Was ever virtue more abused than hers?

171EulaliaYet thus much, good my lord, without offence

Let me demand: is Sforza still close† prisoner?

172LodovicoYes, and Petruccio his adversary

Governs his place, and high* in the King’s favour.

173EulaliaI will not ask his trespass† neither, it

Sufficeth† it is the King’s high pleasure. But Alinda,

Sforza’s fair daughter, what becomes of her?

Poor virtuous maid, is she thrown out of favour

Because I loved her too?

174LodovicoAlas good Queen!

175EulaliaWhat, do you weep? Nay, then all is not well

With her, I fear.

176LodovicoGood Queen, I fear so too,

And that all ill proceeds from her to you.

177EulaliaI may not understand thee, Lodovico;

I’ll still retain the duty of a wife,

Which though it be rejected shall not throw

Me from the path a subject ought to go.*

178LodovicoTwo such wives more might save a nation.

But see Petruccio, the now-powerful man under the King —

179EulaliaHoratio with him too; are they such friends?

180LodovicoNone greater since the King was pleased† to grace† Petruccio.

Enter PETRUCCIO and HORATIO.

181PetruccioMadam, howe’er my person,

No less than my authority, I know

Is most unwelcome to you, I must appear

And lay the King’s command upon you, which

You must obey.*

182EulaliaI must? See, Lodovico,

Here’s a plain-dealing lord, that knows my love

And my obedience to the King, and warns me*

Faithfully to observe it. Good my lord,

I will obey the King's command in you:

Lay’t* on me. What must I do?

183PetruccioYou must go to the bar, to answer to

Those accusations that will be brought

Against your life and honour, as touching†

Your foul disloyalty unto the King.

184EulaliaHe is a traitor to the King and me

That dares accuse me of disloyalty!

Patience assist me and control my passion.

The greatest crime that ever I committed

Against my sovereign was to be so near

The vice of anger in the presence of

One that he loved so well, but pray your pardon,

Though truly those sharp-pointed words drew blood

From my oppressed heart, and though you love me not

I hope you think me innocent.

185PetruccioWould I could.

186EulaliaYou do.

187PetruccioI would I durst speak what I think.

188EulaliaMy lord, you ever loved me, can you think —

189HoratioCome, what I think, I think. My love to you

Was the King’s love, if it were love at all;

If he will say he ever loved you, I can say so too.

But, to speak truth, I know not if I did

Or I did not, but now you’re hateful to me –

That I dare speak – because he hates you soundly,

And your old ruffian Sforza, that fell† traitor,

That would have killed the King. Do you look up at it?*

You may look down with sorrow enough.

Your countryman, your brave old champion;

He has championed† you sweetly, it seems.*

Is there no honest† woman?

190EulaliaWhat means this unknown language?

191HoratioWomen are always ignorant of reproof.†

I’ll tell you what it means, for that love’s sake

You thought I loved you once. Or do you know

What Mars* and Venus meant, when injured Vulcan

Had ’em in’s net? Good King, how wert thou abused?

And this good, honest, faithful, loyal lord,

Full to the brim of merit and true valour,

By that blade-brandishing Sforza, that mere fencer†

To this great martialist.† But he is fast† enough

And all’s come out, howe’er you’ll answer it.

192EulaliaWhat must I answer? I know not yet your meaning.

193HoratioNor ever shall, for me.

194PetruccioYou’ll know too much,

I fear, anon.† Come, madam, will you go?

The high court stays† your coming.

195EulaliaI must submit me to it and its laws,

But to a higher judge refer my cause.

196LodovicoGood Queen, thy wrongs are manifest,† though none

Must dare to utter them, but in our moan.†[They all exit.]

1.5*

Enter ALINDA.

197AlindaMount, mount, my thoughts,* above the earthy pitch†

Of vassal† minds, whilst strength of woman’s wit

Props† my ambition up and lifts my hope

Above the flight of envy. Let the base

And abject† minds be pleased with servile† bondage;

My breast breeds not a thought that shall not fly

The lofty† height of towering majesty.

My power upon the weakness of the King

(Whose raging dotage† to obtain my love,

Like a devouring flame, seeks to consume

All interposed† lets†) hath laid a groundwork†

So sure† upon those ruins, that the power

Of Fate shall not control or stop my building

Up to the top of sovereignty, where I’ll stand

And dare the world to discommend my act.

It shall but say, when I the crown have won,

The work was harsh in doing, but well done.

Enter FLAVELLO.

Flavello, welcome!

198FlavelloHail, my sovereign† Queen.*

199Alinda’Tis a brave† sound, and that which my soul thirsts for,

But do not mock mine ears.

200FlavelloBelieve it, madam,

Join your attention† but with one hour’s patience,

And you shall hear the general voice o’th’ kingdom

Give you that style, with large† and loud allowance.†

201AlindaStyle thyself happy, then, in what reward

A subject can receive or a queen give.

How moves our* great proceedings?

202FlavelloFairly, thus:

Eulalia – for now I must no more

Give her the title that belongs unto

Your excellence,* of queen —

203AlindaAdvance† that harmony.

204FlavelloEulalia is brought unto the bar,* accused,

Convicted of that high offence that instantly

Shall pull that judgement on her, that shall crush

Her into nothing.

205AlindaAppear the proofs manifest?†

206FlavelloThat was my care; it behoved† me to work†

The witnesses, who swore (in brief) most bravely,†

That they heard Lord Sforza, whom you also may

Forget now to call father —*

207AlindaThat without your instruction.

208FlavelloThey swore, I say, they heard that Sforza boast

The knowledge of† the Queen in carnal† lust.

209AlindaWas that enough?

210FlavelloNo, but it served to put

The question to her, was it true or not?

‘No’, cries the Queen, ‘nor can I think that Sforza

Would lay that scandal on himself and me’.

Those witnesses were two cashiered† lieutenants

That Sforza should have hanged for mutinies

In the late† war, but threw* ’em by, it seems,

To serve him in this office.† Me they cost

Five hundred crowns apiece, and well they got it.

But where I left:† the Queen denies their oath,

And though it had* been true that Sforza had

Affirmed† as much, that had not found her guilty.

211AlindaWhat witnesses were next?

212FlavelloTwo* dainty† devil’s

Birds, a doctor and a midwife, who accused

Themselves for bawds† i’th’ action,† and deposed

I know not how many, how many, how many times*

They saw ’em linked in their unlawful† pleasures.

These were the Queen’s own people, and deserved

A thousand crowns apiece, and had it instantly,

Aforehand,† too.

213AlindaWhat could the Queen say then?

214FlavelloShe denied all, but in such a patient† way,

After her foolish fashion, that it gave strength

To th’ evidence against her. Then she wept

For their iniquity,† and gave them a ‘God forgive ye’.

And so attends the censure† of the court,

Which straightway† will be given; they’ll be set†

Before my coming.

215AlindaHaste, Flavello, haste,

And let thy next news be to this a crown,

That she is not a queen and I am one.*Exit FLAVELLO.

This father and this queen I now could pity,

For being hewed† out and squared† thus to my use,

But that they make those necessary steps

By which I must ascend to my ambition.

They that will rise unto a supreme head†

Should not regard upon whose necks they tread. Exit.

Two songs [A2v], modernised

4.2

869[Girls] [Singing]* What if a day,*

As C.R. Baskervill appears to have been the first to point out (in a review of The Cambridge History of English Literature, ed. A.W. Ward and A.R. Waller, vols. 5-6, ‘The Drama to 1642’, in Journal of English and Germanic Philology 11 [1912], 476-87 [485]), this is the first stanza of a song by Thomas Campion (in fact it is attributed to Campion only in Alexander Gil’s Logonomia Anglica [London, 1619], 140, but no serious objections to his authorship have been raised). For detailed accounts of the song, on which I have drawn here, see Greer, ‘What if a day’: An Examination of the Words and Music’; Edward Doughtie, ed., Liber Lilliati: Elizabethan Verse and Song (Bodleian MS Rawlinson Poetry 148) (London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1985), 195-200.

This song was extremely popular in both England and the Netherlands. The first appearance of the lyric is in manuscripts dated to the early 1590s, and it is first accompanied by a tune in the ‘Commonplace Book of John Lilliat’, Bodleian Library MS Rawl. poet. 148, fo. 109v (an adjacent item is dated 1599, suggesting that it was copied c. 1599-1600). (See Greer, 305, and Doughtie, 126-7, for transcriptions.) This tune appears repeatedly in manuscript and print throughout the seventeenth century. There are also two other variant tunes, each found in only one text: the five-voice setting in Richard Alison, An Hour’s Recreation (London, 1606), nos. 17-18 (Doughtie comments, ‘although the music shares some rhythmic features with the more popular tune found in L[illiat], it is not the same’ [197]), and another setting in Christ Church, Oxford, MS 439, p. 115 (Doughtie, 197). Two of the many manuscript versions (Christ Church, Oxford, MS 439, p. 115, and Paris Conservatoire, MS. Res. 1186, fo. 15-15v) date from the 1630s, and a ballad version of the lyric with ten stanzas, to be sung ‘To a pleasant new tune’, appearing under the title ‘A Friend’s Advice In an Excellent Ditty, Concerning the Variable Changes in this World’, survives in editions of around 1625 (STC 4541.5), 1628-9 (STC 4541.7), 1650-58 (Wing 408E) and 1663-74 (Wing 409). The ballad may have been first issued in the 1590s, since one of the earliest manuscript witness for the text describes it as ‘The fickle estate of our uncertain life to a pleasant new tune’ (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawl. poet. fo. 10v-11). The lyric also appears in another dramatic work, the anonymous Scottish play Philotus (published Edinburgh, 1603); Doughtie writes, ‘Apparently the play was older, and the two-stanza poem was inserted as a filler’ (196).

It seems likely that initial productions of The Queen and Concubine would have used the tune first presented in Lilliat’s commonplace book, with which the lyric is repeatedly associated. The tune was still being included in manuscript collections in the 1630s and, as Greer notes, ‘Unlike many ballad tunes, "What if a day" ... is not simply a convenient and well-known channel for the transmission of the words, but a melody closely corresponding to the forms and inflections of its text’ (312). In the first part of Hudibras (London, 1663), Samuel Butler alludes to ‘What if a day’ in a way that suggests the song’s affective power and its associations for audiences:

For though Dame Fortune seem to smile
And leer upon him for a while;
She’ll after show him, in the nick
Of all his Glories, a Dog-trick.
This any man may sing or say
I’th’ ditty call’d What if a Day.
(Canto III, 5-10; p. 77)

For a rendition of a lute arrangement possibly by John Dowland (see Doughtie, 199) see this performance by Valéry Sauvage available on You Tube. If the Elizabethan tune was still being used in the 1630s, it may have been updated with a new arrangement, but it may have been deliberately intended to evoke a by-gone age; at any rate, an alert spectator may well have recognised the lyrics and/or tune and realised that this was an old song. Steggle remarks that the inclusion of this song ‘evokes the Elizabethan, not by accident but quite deliberately’ (Richard Brome, 85).

The lyrics to this and one of the play’s other songs, ‘How blessed are they that waste their wearied hours’ are printed at the head of the octavo playtext rather than in their proper places in the play itself. This, and the fact that the lyrics to the third song are lost, may suggest that the lyrics to all the songs were on separate sheets.

The lyric as it is printed in The Queen and Concubine varies somewhat from other manuscript and print versions. See below for notes on major textual variations between The Queen and Concubine lyric and three other early sources. A more full collation can be found in Doughtie, 198-9. or a month,* or a year

Crown† thy delights*

With a thousand wished*† contentings?†

May not the* chance† of a night or an hour

Cross† thy delights*

With as many* sad tormentings?†

Fortune, honour, beauty, birth,**

Are but blossoms dying.

Wanton† pleasures, doting† mirth,*

Are but shadows† flying.

All our joys

Are but toys,†

Idle thoughts deceiving:

None hath power

Of an hour

In our* lives’ bereaving*

5.1

1141[Girls] [Singing]* How blessed are they*

Like the first song, this also appears in another text, in this case Francis Quarles's play The Virgin Widow, printed in 1649 and apparently written for private performance around 1640-2. The long gap between the original performances and publication of The Queen and Concubine make it difficult to tell what the provenance of the song is, but it may seem unlikely that Quarles would have incorporated a pre-existing song into his play, especially one deriving from the commercial theatre. If the song is by Quarles, and was written at the same time as the rest of his play, it cannot have featured in early performances of The Queen and Concubine. It is possible that it was incorporated for a revival in the early 1640s, or for a surreptitious performance after the official closure of the public playhouses; on the other hand, it may have been accidentally placed in the manuscript, or have been inserted by the publishers of the 1659 octavo. Like the first song, its lyrics are printed at the head of the play, suggesting that they were originally on a separate sheet of paper.

Although it may not be original to The Queen and Concubine, the song is similar in its sentiments to the ‘Madrygale’ that Barmenissa sings to herself in exile in Greene’s Penelope’s Web:

The stately state that wise men count their good:
The chiefest bliss that lulls asleep desire,
Is not dissent from kings and princely blood:
No stately crown ambition doth require.
For birth by fortune is abased down,
And perils are comprised within a crown.

The sceptre and the glittering pomp of mace,
The head impaled with honour and renown,
The kingly throne, the seat and regal place,
Are toys that fade when angry fortune frown.
Content is far from such delights as those,
Whom woe and danger do envy as foes.

The cottage seated in the hollow dale,
That fortune never fears, because so low:
The quiet mind that want doth set to sale,
Sleeps safe when princes’ seats do overthrow.
Want smiles secure, when princely thoughts do feel
That fear and danger treads upon their heel.

Bless Fortune thou whose frown hath wrought thy good:
Bid farewell to the crown that ends thy care,
The happy fates thy sorrows have withstood,
By ’signing want and poverty thy share.
For now content (fond fortune to despite)
With patience ’lows thee quiet and delight
(D2r-v)

that waste† their wearied* hours

In solemn† groves,† and solitary bowers,†

Where neither eye nor ear

Can see or hear

The frantic† mirth

And false delights of frolic† earth:

Where they may sit and pant,†

And breathe† their pursy† souls;

Where neither grief consumes, nor griping† want†

Afflicts; nor sullen† care controls.

Away false joys, ye murder* where ye kiss.

There is no heaven to that, no life to this.

Edited by Lucy Munro

The Scene: Sicily*n62 Brome relocates the action from Egypt (where Greene’s story in Penelope’s Web is set) to Sicily, the location of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and a classic setting for seventeenth-century tragicomedy.

The Scene: Sicilyn62 Brome relocates the action from Egypt (where Greene’s story in Penelope’s Web* is set) to Sicily, the location of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and a classic setting for seventeenth-century tragicomedy.