 | The Knight of Malta |  |
Scæna secunda.
Enter Astorius, Castriot, Valetta, Gomera, Synnet: Knights, 2 Bishops, Mountferrat, guarded by Corporall and Souldiers, Abdella, a Gentleman with a cloake, sword, and Spurres: Gomara.Val.
A tender husband hast thou shew'd thy selfe
My deerest brother, and thy memory
After my life, in brazen Characters,
Shall monumentally be register'd
To ages consequent, till times running hand,
Beats back the world to undistinguish'd Chaos,
And on the top of that thy name shall stand
Fresh, and without decay.
Gom.
Oh honour'd sir!
If hope of this, or any blisse to come
Could lift my load of griefe off from my soule,
Or expiate the trespasse 'gainst my wife,
That in one houres suspition I begat,
I might be won to be a man againe,
And fare like other husbands, sleepe and eate,
Laugh, and forget my pleasing penitence;
But till old nature can make such a wife
Againe, I vow ne're to resume the order
And habits, that to men are necessary,
All breath i'le spend in sighes, all sound in groanes,
And know no company but my wasting moans.
Ast.
This will be wilfull murder on your self,
Nor like a Christian doe you beare the chance
Which th'inscrutable will of heaven admits.
Gom.
What would you have my weaknesse doe, that
Suffer'd it selfe thus to be practis'd on,
By a damn'd hell-hound, and his agent dam,
The impious mid-wife to obortive birthes,
And cruell instrument to his decrees?
By forgery they first assail'd her life,
Heaven playing with us yet, in that, he wrought
My deerest friend, the servant to her vertue
To combat me, against his Mistresse truth.
That yet effectlesse, this enchanting witch,
Bred banefull jealousie against my Lady,
My most immaculate Lady, which seiz'd on her
Almost to death: Oh yet! not yet content,
She in my hand put (to restore her life
As I imagin'd) what did execute
Their devillish malice, farther, great with childe,
Was this poore innocent, that too was lost,
They doubled death upon her, not staying there,
They have done violence unto her Tomb,
Not granting rest unto her in the grave:
I wish Miranda had injoy'd my prize;
For sure I'm punish'd for usurping her,
Oh what a Tyger is resisted Lust?
How it doth forrage all?
Mount.
Part of this tale
I grant you true; but 'twas not poyson given her.
Ab.
I would it had, we had been farre enough,
If we had been so wise, and had not now
Stood curtsing for your mercies here.
Mount.
Beside,
What is become oth' body? we know not.
Val.
Peace impudents,
And deere Gomera practise patience
As I my self must, by some meanes at last
We shall dissolve this riddle.
Gom.
Wherefore comes
This villaine in the festivall array,
As if he triumph'd for his treacherie?
Cast.
That is by our appointment: give us leave,
You shall know why a non.
Enter Miranda, Norandine, Collona.
Val.
One of the Esguard.
Esg.
The Gentlemen are come,
Val.
Truyce then a while
With our sad thoughts; what are you both resolv'd?
Nor.
Not I my Lord: your downe right Captain still
Ile live, and serve you, not that altogether
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I have enough to save me, and that's all,
Bar me from drink, and drabs, ev'n hang me too,
You must ev'n make your Captaines capons first,
I have too much flesh for this spirituall Knighthood,
And therefore do desire forbearance, sir,
Till I am older, or more mortifide,
I am too sound yet.
Ual.
What say you Miranda?
Mir.
With all pure zeale to Heaven, duty to you,
I come to undergo it.
Ual.
Proceed toth' ceremony.
Gom.
Before you match with this bright honor'd title,
Admir'd Miranda, pardon what in thought
I ever did transgresse against your vertue,
And may you find more joy with your new bride
Then poor Gomera ere in joyd with his.
But 'twas mine own crime, and I suffer for't:
Long wear your dignity, and worthily,
Whilst I obscurely in some corner vanish,
Mir.
Have stronger thoughts, and better, first I crave
According to the order of the Court
I may dispose my captives, and the fort,
That with a clean and purified heart
The fittiler I may endue my roabe.
All.
Tis granted.
Enter Oriana vaild, Ladies, Lucinda, child.
Mir.
Bring the captives. To your charge
And staid tuition my most noble friend;
I then commend this Lady; start not off
A fairer, and a chaster never liv'd;
By her own choyce you are her Guardian,
For telling her I was to leave my fort,
And to abandon quite all worldly cares.
Her own request was, to Gomeras hands
She might be given in custody, for sh'ad heard
He was a Gentleman wise, and temperate,
Full of humanity to womenkind,
And cause he had bin married knew the better
How to entrat a Lady.
Val.
What Country woman is she?
Mir.
Borne a Greek.
Val.
Gomera, 'twill be barbarous to deny
A Lady, that unto your refuge flyes,
And seekes to shrowd her under vertues wing.
Gom.
Excuse me noble sir; oh think me not
So dull a devill, to forget the losse
Of such a matchlesse wife as I posses'd,
And ever to endure the sight of woman:
Were she the abstract of her sex for forme,
The only warehouse of perfection,
Where there no Rose, nor Lilly but her Cheek,
No Musick but her tongue; vertue but hers;
She must not rest near me, my vow is graven,
Here in my heart, irrevocably breath'd
And when I break it,
Ast.
This is rudenesse Spaniard,
Unseasonably you play the Timonist,
Put on a disposition is not yours,
Which neither fits you, nor becomes you.
Gom.
Sir.
Cast.
We cannot force you but we would perswade.
Gom.
Beseech you Sir, no more I am resolv'd
To forsake Malta, tread a Pilgrimage
To faire Jerusalem, for my Ladies soule,
And will not be diverted.
Mir.
You must beare
This Child along 'we then.
Gom.
VVhat Child?
All.
How's this?
Mir.
Nay then Gomera, thou art injurious,
This child is thine, and this rejected Lady
Thou hast as often known, as thine own wife,
And this I'le make good on thee, with my sword.
Gom.
Thou durst as well blaspheme: if such a scandall
(I crave the rights due to a Gentleman)
Women unvaile.
Ori.
Will you refuse me yet?
Gom.
My wife!
Ual.
My sister!
Gom.
Some body, thank Heaven
I cannot speak.
All.
All praise be ever given:
Mount.
This saves our lives, yet would she had bin dead;
The very sight of her afflicts me more
Then fear of punishment, or my disgrace.
Ual.
How came you to the Temple?
Mir.
Sir, to do
My poor devotions, and to offer thanks
For scaping a temptation ne'r perform'd
VVith this faire virgin. I restore a wife
Earth cannot paralell: and busie nature
If thou wilt still make women, but remember
To work 'em by this sampler; take heed sir,
Henceforth you never doubt sir.
Gom.
VVhen I do
Death take me sodainly.
Mir.
To encrease your happinesse
To your best wife, take this addition.
Gom.
Alack, my poor knave.
Ual.
The confession
The Moor made 't seemes was truth.
Nor.
Mary was it sir; the only truth that ever issud out
of hell, which her black jawes resemble; a plague o'
your bacon-face, you must be giving drinks with a vengance;
ah thou branded bitch: do 'ye stare, gogles, I hope
to make winter bootes o' thy hide yet, she feares not
damning: hell fire cannot parch her blacker then she is:
do 'ye grin, chimney sweeper.
Ori.
VVhat is't Mranda?
Mir.
That you would please Lucinda might attend you.
Col.
That suit sir, I consent not to.
Luc.
My husband?
My deerest Angelo?
Nor.
More liggam bobs; is not this the fellow that swom
Like a duck to th'shoare in our sea-service?
Col.
The very same, do not you know me now sir,
My name is Angelo, though Colonna vaild it,
Your Countryman, and kinsman born in Florence,
VVho from the neighbour Island here of Goza
VVhas captive lead, in that unfortunate day
VVhen the Turk bore with him three thousand soules;
Since in Constantinople have I liv'd
VVhere I beheld this Turkish Damosell first.
A tedious suitor was I for her love,
And pittying such a beauteous case should hide
A soule prophan'd with infidelity,
I labourd her conversion with my love,
And doubly won her; to faire faith her soule
She first betroth'd, and then her faith to me,
But fearfull there to consummate this contract
VVe fled, and in that flight were tane againe
By those same Gallies, fore Valletta fought.
Since in your service I attended her,
VVhere, what I saw, and heard, hath joy'd me more
Then all my past afflictions greiv'd before.
Ual.
Wonders crown wonders: take thy wife Miranda.
95
And thou her evill Mountferrat.
Nor.
Wee'l call him Cacodemon, with his block gib
there, his Succuba, his devils seed, his spawn of Phlegeton,
that o' my conscience was bred o' the spume of
Cocitus; do ye snarle you black jill? she looks lie the
Picture of America.
Val.
Why stay we now.
Mir.
This last petition to the Court,
I may bequeath the keeping of my Fort
To this my kinsman, toward the maintenance
Of him, and his faire vertuous wife; discreet,
Loyall, and valiant I dare give him you.
Val.
You must not ask in vaine, sir.
Col.
My best thanks
To you my noble Cozen, and my service
To the whole Court; may I deserve this bounty.
Ual.
Proceed to th'ceremony, one of our Esguard
Degrade Mountferrat first
Mount.
I will not sue
For mercy, 'twere in vaine; fortune thy worst.
Musick
An altar discovered, with Tapers, and a book on it. The two Bishops stand on each side of it Mountferrat as the Song is singing ascends up the altar.
See see, the staine of honor, vertues foe,
Of Virgins fair fames, the foule overthrow,
That broken hath his oath of chastity
Dishonor'd much this holy dignity,
Off with his Roab, expell him forth this place,
Whilst we rejoyce, and sing at his disgrace.
Val.
Of Virgins fair fames, the foule overthrow,
That broken hath his oath of chastity
Dishonor'd much this holy dignity,
Off with his Roab, expell him forth this place,
Whilst we rejoyce, and sing at his disgrace.
Since by thy actions thou hast made thy self
Unworthy of that worthy signe thou wear'st,
And of our sacred order, into which
For former vertues, we receiv'd thee first,
According to our Statutes, Ordinances,
For praise unto the good, a terror to
The bad, and an example to all men;
We here deprive thee of our habit, and
Declare thee unworthy our society,
From which we do expell thee, as a rotten
Corrupted, and contagious member.
Esq.
Using th'authority th'Superiour
Hath given unto me, I unty this knot,
And take from thee the pleasing yoak of heaven:
We take from off thy breast this holy crosse,
Which thou hast made thy burthen, not thy prop;
Thy spurs we spoile thee off, eleaving thy heeles
Bare of thy honour, that have kick'd against
Our orders precepts: next we reave thy sword,
And give thee armelesse to thy enemies,
For being foe to goodnesse, and to God,
Last, 'bout thy stiff neck, we this halter hang,
And leave thee to the mercy of the Court.
Val.
Invest Miranda.
Song.
Faire child of vertue, honors bloome
That here with burning zeale dost come
With joy to ask the white crosse cloak,
And yeild unto this pleasing yoake
That being yong, vowes chastity,
And choosest wilfull poverty;
As this flame mounts, so mount thy zeale, thy glory
Rise past the Stars, and fix in Heaven thy story.
That here with burning zeale dost come
With joy to ask the white crosse cloak,
And yeild unto this pleasing yoake
That being yong, vowes chastity,
And choosest wilfull poverty;
As this flame mounts, so mount thy zeale, thy glory
Rise past the Stars, and fix in Heaven thy story.
1. Bish.
What crave you gentle sir?
Mir.
Humble admittance
To be a brother of the holy Hospitall
Of great Jerusalem.
2. Bish.
Breath out your vow.
Mir.
To heaven and all the bench of Saints above
Whose succour I implore t'enhable me,
I vow henceforth a chaste life, not to enjoy
Any thing proper to my self; obedience
To my superiours, whom Religion,
And Heaven shall give me: ever to defend
The vertuous fame of Ladies, and to oppugne
Even unto death the Christian enemy,
This do I vow to accomplish.
Esq.
Who can tell,
H'as he made other vow, or promis'd marriage
To any one, or is in servitude?
All.
He's free from all these.
1. Bish.
Put on his spurs, and girt him with the sword,
The scourge of infidels, and tipes of speed.
Buildst thy faith on this
Mir.
On him that di'd
On such a sacred figure, for our sins.
2. Bish.
Here, then we fix it on thy left side, for
Thy encrease of faith, Christian defence, and service
To th'poor, and thus near to thy heart we plant it
That thou maist love it even with all thy heart,
With thy right hand protect, preserve it whole,
For if thou fighting 'gainst heavens enemies
Shall fly away, abandoning the crosse
The Ensigne of thy holy Generall,
With shame thou justly shalt be rob'd of it
Chas'd from our company, and cut away
As an infectious putrified limb.
Mir.
I aske no favour.
1 Bish.
Then receive the yoak
Of him that makes it sweet, and light, in which
Thy soule find her eternall rest.
Val.
Most welcome.
All.
Welcome, our noble brother.
Val.
Break up the Court; Mountferrat, though your deeds
Conspiring 'gainst the lives of innocents
Hath forfeited your own, we will not slaine
Our white Crosse with your blood: your doom is then
To marry this coagent of your mischiefes
Which done, we banish you the continent,
If either, after three dayes here be found
The hand of Law, layes hold upon your lives.
Nor.
Away French stallion, now you have a Barbary mare
of your own, go leap her, and engender young devillings.
Ual.
VVe will find something, noble Norandine
To quit your merit: so to civill feasts,
According to our customes; and all pray
The dew of grace, blesse our new Knight to day.
Exeunt.
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