University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

—Interior of the Ducal Palace.
Beltran,
alone.
By this time, as I think, did Frankendall
Look to return. Methought the princely chicken,
The double-delicate Ignatio,
Look'd droopingly the while; yea, and his donship,
The favourite owl, Giovanni, through his gravity
Betray'd an anxious watchfulness. There's something
Yet to be known. Would Frankendall were come!
If that same smooth-brow'd Sanzio be the casket
That locks their secret, Florence to a zechin
We find the spring.—Within there!

Enter Pablo.
PABLO.
Save your highness.

BELTRAN.
Is Frankendall come back?

PABLO.
Not yet, my lord.

BELTRAN.
When he returns, he'll find me here; and you,
Pablo, take care we are not interrupted;
Our conference is of weight. You mark me, sir?
I'll have no listeners nor interlopers;
So look to it.

PABLO.
I shall, my lord.
[Exit Pablo.

BELTRAN.
'Tis well.
Commend me to that dish of curds and cream—
That slippery Sanzio! If they've trusted him,
The promise of some office where the gains
Something outweigh the pains, and he is ours,
Or else I cannot spell. There is one man
He loves above all men; and that man is
Even honest Master Sanzio. Ay, self, self,
The moral atheist, that sees nothing in
The universe but self! Nor honesty,
No, nor e'en fear, shall be of power to quiet
That wicked itching of the palm for gold.—
I have known the time I should have somewhat stammer'd
Ere I had ta'en this course. Did not ambition
Absorb all other feelings, as the sunbeams
Eat out the weaker fires, I'd stumbled at it.—

Enter Frankendall.
Welcome. Thou look'st as if thou hadst brought news.

FRANKENDALL
sings.
“He set up his oaths like skittles,
His vow like a wickett in sight;
But the devil he took up the game,
And bowl'd them down with a doit.”

BELTRAN.
Sleek Signor Sanzio then's a sieve; is't so?

FRANKENDALL.
Ay, and why not, my lord? Think you, he's honest,
Because he smooths his foretop o'er his forehead,
And drops his eye-lids when he meets his patron,
And smirks whene'er he speaks to a great man,
And lisps and minces all his words out edge-ways?
Your tufted jay is not the only rogue;
Others can rob an orchard.

BELTRAN.
Nay, not I;
I guess'd but even now what thou would'st tell me.
But come; particulars, particulars!
What hast thou learn'd?

FRANKENDALL.
A world of news, my lord.
Shall I begin at the north pole or the south?

BELTRAN.
Even where thou wilt, so thou forgettest none.
Thou'lt be as long in telling of this world,
As I should be in circumnavigating't.

FRANKENDALL.
Then, in one breath, I have unearth'd a marriage.

BELTRAN.
A marriage!—Well, what mare's nest hast thou found?
Who's married?

FRANKENDALL.
Who!—The Prince Ignatio.

BELTRAN.
That news is something stale. What dost thou mean?

FRANKENDALL.
I mean, my lord, that he's been knit these three years;
Ay, more; 'twas ere his brother Cosmo sicken'd.
You stare. Depend on't, you shall find it so;
A marriage—both in truth and courtesy;
A left hand love-knot, call'd in Germany;
One of those matches which Heaven ratifies,
But which the devil can break—I mean the lawyer:
'Tis good in every thing, save statute law,
And that's but ticklish neither.

BELTRAN.
What a whirl
Of circumstance and supposition's this!
Cannot thy story travel on its road
Without upraising such a cloud of comment?
Thou pour'st it like fresh Champagne from the bottle,
Liquor and froth at once, and most o' the last.

FRANKENDALL.
Nay, nay; your highness e'en must let me tell
My story my own way; or we shall botch it.

BELTRAN.
Do so, in God's name! only stick to facts;
And if I breathe one word of interruption,
Cut short my curiosity in the midst,
Or starve it for a twelvemonth.

FRANKENDALL.
Done, my lord;
A bargain. Does your highness hap to know
Where stands the Prince's villa, an hour's journey
Above the city, where the river idles
And spreads itself round many a tufted island,
And the commingling boughs and wanton blossoms
Stoop to the lucid pools to kiss themselves,
Like children o'er a mirror, or young maids
O' the bridal morn, who laugh at their own blushes?

BELTRAN.
I guess the spot thou talk'st of, but knew not
That Prince Ignatio had a villa there.

FRANKENDALL.
In name. It seems it is a perquisite
Of that grave sage, the favourite Giovanni;
'Tis a sweet scene; whether at languid noon,
When the still current, 'mid the varied islets,
Seems chased with fairy gold; or at still midnight,
When the bright moon besilvers the glass'd waters,
And in them views herself with more delight
Than e'er she did in her Endymion's eyes
Upon hush'd Latmos' peak.

BELTRAN.
Now, plague be on thee,
Dost think that thou art prating to some limner?
What's all this stuff to me?

FRANKENDALL.
Pause you, my lord—
Just where the villa fronts the spreading stream,
Midway, upon an isle, there stands a temple,
Minerva's called. Thither the Prince Ignatio
Will oft-times oar himself, in a light skiff,
For studious purpose.

BELTRAN.
Well?

FRANKENDALL.
Marry, my lord,
For one who hath respect for the wise goddess,
He puts her sanctity to a curious office.

BELTRAN.
What office, Frankendall?

FRANKENDALL.
A go-between's.
She only helps him to an earthly goddess,
Less cold, God wot, and prudent than herself.
There is a cottage on the further brink,
Bosom'd in wood, to which an arched walk
Leads only; there his highness makes a trip,
Sometimes by moonlight too, as worthies use
Who dabble in the contraband—You take me?

BELTRAN.
Now, blessings on thee, thou hast come at last
To the point indeed; but is this veritable?
The marriage matter—art thou sure of that?
Or if thou art, is't valid?

FRANKENDALL.
Why, that point
The gownsmen must decide. They married, certain,
To all intents; but then the old politic Duke
Has long enacted that his blood shall wed not
Without his high consent—all's moonshine else—
And like enough the Pope may back him out;
He knows the trick to manage the church, well.

BELTRAN.
No matter, it will do as 'tis; (aside)
or else
I'm wide o' the mark. Let her but know of this,
(And she shall know it,) and her soft-voiced mate
May shroud himself i'th'case of some base viol—
She'll play the true Italian. I will set
About it instantly, and find some way.
(Aloud.)
Hark, Frankendall— (Aside)
—no puttings off for me;
I, who have had small fair play with the world,
Will make myself amends. They are but fools
Who pick, and cull, and boggle at events;
He who would reap, and gather a full garner,
Must take both tares and wheat.— (Aloud.)
What would'st thou say?
(Aside.)
Ay, sheave them when the sun shines. (Aloud.)
Well, what wouldst thou?

FRANKENDALL.
Your highness' pleasure—You did speak, my lord.

BELTRAN.
True, so I did. Didst thou inquire aught further?

FRANKENDALL.
I did, my lord; and have discover'd that
Which is point-blank to the business—he intends
To visit her this night.

BELTRAN.
Thou art the herald
That point'st the way to fortune; it is seal'd,
No moment shall be lost.
I've thought upon it.
Is thine informant—what's his name?—ay, Sanzio—
Is honest Sanzio here at hand?

FRANKENDALL.
He is
Within five minutes' message.

BELTRAN.
Call him, then;
But set me ink and paper first. Stay, Frankendall;
Art sure this traitor has not a false bottom
On both sides, as your juggler's caskets have?

FRANKENDALL.
Not in this case, my lord.
[Exit Frankendall.

BELTRAN.
Go, bring him, then.—
Now for a scrawl of some mysterious sort,
Dimly to shadow mischief. Hints, dark hints,
Like mirky nooks, are still most dangerous.
I have it.
[He writes.
“Most honour'd lady,
This from one who loves you.
You think yourself the Prince Ignatio's wife;
So thinks the world, or some of it at least;
Be sure of it. She that can best resolve you,
Must be sought westward, by the Arno's side.
The Prince, your husband, shall to-day be ill
(At ease)—to-night still worse. Let this betoken
I am no lying Sibyl—so beware,
Or else your realm and you may chance repent—
One that loves truth, and honours Leonora.”—
Is not this barb'd? They are return'd already.
Enter Frankendall and Sanzio.
Your servant, sir. Hark hither, Frankendall.
(Aside to Frankendall.)
O'erlook this scrawl; 'tis mystical enough!

FRANKENDALL.
It is indeed.

BELTRAN.
In character and meaning?

FRANKENDALL.
Both; both.

BELTRAN.
Why, then, to get it safe convey'd.
—Sir, my attendant has already told me
How much I am bound to you. I shall not pause
To trust you further. Nay, no ceremony—
I know your services, and shall requite them.
I would convey this paper to the Princess—
Justice and strong allegiance both demand it—
Yet not be seen in it—you understand me?
Can you encompass this?

SANZIO.
I can, my lord;
So please your highness trust me; on the instant.
Each day a throng of supplicants attend
To see the Princess pass, that they may tender
Some small petitions, as the custom is;
I'll find a trusty agent, who shall wait
'Midst this obtrusive crowd, and pass this paper
E'en to her highness' hand. Let it be superscribed,
As packets are that bring intelligence
Of moment and of weight; and our conveyancer,
Th'important missile once deliver'd, shall
Not wait for questioning.

BELTRAN.
'Tis very well;
But can you do this now?

SANZIO.
E'en now, my lord.

BELTRAN.
Take it, and do it, then; and make thy fortune,
For it is writ in this. Go; lose no time.
[Exit Sanzio.
Now, Frankendall, whence comes this gravity?
Sits not this action easy on thy stomach?
Art thou turn'd scrupulous?

FRANKENDALL.
Not I, my lord;
'Tis not for me to turn a caviller,
Who ne'er could understand a subtlety.
I ever was a scurvy politician,
And ever shall. I love or hate a man;
And even tell him so; and there's an end
Of all my worldly lore.

BELTRAN.
I tell thee what,
There's no end of this moral squeamishness.
He that will fight the battle of the world—
And some must fight it—let him use the means
That are adopted by his adversaries.
He who will never taste of a repast
Till every bit be sauced unto his mind,
May famish for a fool. Who seeks for gold
Must take the dross—Who snatches at a rose
Must grasp it, thorns an' all. 'Twas ever thus;
Which of the worthies that have won dominion,
But leapt and waded for't. No more of this;
I did not think thou hadst been such a prude.
Where is the Paradise which holds this Eve
Who tempts Ignatio to forbidden fruit?

FRANKENDALL.
Above the city, where the orchards thicken
Into a wilder but still smiling forest,
Fast by the Arno's side.

BELTRAN.
Now, by my stars,
It was about that spot I met the eyes
That so enchanted me. If it were she,
There needed but this last provocative
To set the keen edge on my resolution.
Fate thrusts him in my way, turn where I will;
And he or I must down. Well, dignity
Steps with redoubled triumph, if revenge
Hold up her train. Follow me, Frankendall;
I'll to the Princess, and blow up the fuel
That Sanzio has put fire to.
[Exit Beltran.

FRANKENDALL.
In a thought
I follow you, my lord.
I can see well,
That, spite of all his specious arguments,
This action sits not easy on his spirit;
It will be always thus. Craving ambition,
Grasping, impatient like a passionate child,
Takes good and ill at once. He is a boy,
Who, in his haste to plant the treach'rous twigs
He has limed for some poor bird, daubs his own fingers.
Honour! they talk of thee; but thou wilt wink
Until ambition does his dirty work,
And after, hold the ewer to wash his hands!
I'll go no further here than my sworn duty
Compels me to. It is a road I like not.
[Exit Frankendall.