[CHORUS.]

Enter GHOST and REVENGE.

Ghost. Ay, now my hopes have end in their effects,

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When blood and sorrow finish my desires:
Horatio murdered in his father's bower;
Vild Serberine by Pedringano slain;
False Pedringano hang'd by quaint device;
Fair Isabella by herself misdone;
Prince Balthazar by Bel-imperia stabb'd;
The Duke of Castile and his wicked son
Both done to death by old Hieronimo;
My Bel-imperia fall'n as Dido fell,
And good Hieronimo slain by himself:
Ay, these were spectacles to please my soul!
Now will I beg at lovely Proserpine
That, by the virtue of her princely doom,
I may consort 1 my friends in pleasing sort,
And on my foes work just and sharp revenge.
I'll lead my friend Horatio through those fields,
Where never-dying wars are still inur'd; 2
I'll lead fair Isabella to that train,
Where pity weeps, but never feeleth pain;
I'll lead my Bel-imperia to those joys,
That vestal virgins and fair queens possess ;
I'll lead Hieronimo where Orpheus plays,
Adding sweet pleasure to eternal days.

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But say, Revenge, for thou must help, or none, Against the rest how shall my hate be shown? Rev. This hand shall hale them down to deepest hell,

Where none but Furies, bugs, 3 and tortures dwell.

Ghost. Then, sweet Revenge, do this at my

request:

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Let me be judge, and doom them to unrest.
Let loose poor Tityus from the vulture's gripe,
And let Don Cyprian supply his room;
Place Don Lorenzo on Ixion's wheel,
And let the lover's endless pains surcease
(Juno forgets old wrath, and grants him ease);
Hang Balthazar about Chimaera's neck,
And let him there bewail his bloody love,
Repining at our joys that are above;
Let Serberine go roll the fatal stone,
And take from Sisyphus his endless moan;
False Pedringano, for his treachery,
Let him be dragg'd through boiling Acheron,
And there live, dying still in endless flames,
Blaspheming gods and all their holy names.
Rev. Then haste we down to meet thy friends
and foes:

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To place thy friends in ease, the rest in woes; For here though death hath end their misery, I'll there begin their endless tragedy. Exeunt.

3 Terrors, bugbears.

Nor out of confidence that none but wel
Are able to present this tragedy,
Not out of envy at the grace of late
It did receive, nor yet to derogate

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From their deserts who give out boldly that
They move with equal feet on the same flat;
Neither for all nor any of such ends
We offer it, gracious and noble friends,
To your review; we, far from emulation
And (charitably judge) from imitation,
With this work entertain you, a piece known
And still believ'd in Court to be our own.
To quit our claim, doubting our right or merit,
Would argue in us poverty of spirit
Which we must not subscribe to. Field is
gone,

Whose action first did give it name, and one 4
Who came the nearest to him, is denied

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By his gray beard to show the height and pride

Of D'Ambois' youth and bravery; yet to hold
Our title still a-foot, and not grow cold
By giving it o'er, a third man with his best
Of care and pains defends our interest;
As Richard he was lik'd, nor do we fear
In personating D'Ambois he'll appear
To faint, or go less, so 7 your free consent,
As heretofore, give him encouragement.

1 The company of actors-the "King's men."
A rival company which had given the play.
3 Nathaniel Field, b. 1587; one of the "King's men.'
4 Not identified.

Supposed to be Ilyard Swanston.

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ACT I

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Yet differ not from those colossic statues,
Which, with heroic forms without o'erspread,
Within are nought but mortar, flint, and lead.
Man is a torch borne in the wind; a dream
But of a shadow, summ'd with all his substance;
And as great seamen, using all their wealth
And skills in Neptune's deep invisible paths,
In tall ships richly built and ribb'd with brass,
To put a girdle round about the world,
When they have done it (coming near their
haven)

Are glad to give a warning-piece, and call
A poor, staid fisherman, that never past

A glade, near the Court.
• Discharge a signal shot.

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His country's sight, to waft and guide them in :
So when we wander furthest through the waves
Of glassy Glory, and the gulfs of State,
Topt with all titles, spreading all our reaches,
As if each private arm would sphere the earth,
We must to Virtue for her guide resort,
Or we shall shipwrack in our safest port.

Procumbit. [Enter] Monsieur, with two Pages. [Mo.] There is no second place in numerous state!

That holds more than a cipher; in a king
All places are contain'd. His word and looks
Are like the flashes and the bolts of Jove;
His deeds inimitable, like the sea

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That shuts still as it opes, and leaves no tracts
Nor prints of precedent for mean men's facts: 2
There's but a thread betwixt me and a crown:
I would not wish it cut, unless by nature;
Yet to prepare me for that possible fortune,
'Tis good to get resolved spirits about me.
I follow'd D'Ambois to this green retreat;
A man of spirit beyond the reach of fear,
Who (discontent with his neglected worth)
Neglects the light, and loves obscure abodes;
But he is young and haughty, apt to take
Fire at advancement, to bear state and flour-
ish;

In his rise therefore shall my bounties shine. None loathes the world so much, nor loves to scoff it,

But gold and grace will make him surfeit of it. What, D'Ambois?

Bu.

He, sir.

Mo.

Bu.

Turn'd to earth, alive? Up, man; the sun shines on thee. Let it shine:

Bu. Ay, in a threadbare suit; when men come there,

They must have high naps, and go from thence

bare:

A man may drown the parts of ten rich men In one poor suit; brave barks and outward gloss

Attract Court loves, be in parts ne'er so gross. Mo. Thou shalt have gloss enough, and all things fit

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T'enchase in all show thy long-smothered spirit: Be rul'd by me then. The old Scythians Painted blind Fortune's powerful hands with

wings,

To show her gifts come swift and suddenly, 115
Which, if her favourite be not swift to take,
He loses them for ever. Then be wise:

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Stay but awhile here, and I'll send to thee.
Erit Monsieur with Pages.
Bu. What will he send? Some crowns? It is
to sow them
Upon my spirit, and make them spring a crown
Worth millions of the seed-crowns he will send.
Like to disparking 10 noble husbandmen,
He'll put his plow into me, plow me up.
But his unsweating thrift is policy,

A frame for holding an object fixed.
Equivocation, trickery.

6 Whimsical.

7 Clothes with rich surface.

10 Changing parks into plow-land.

8 Abilities.

Fine coverings.

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And learning-hating policy is ignorant
To fit his seed-land soil; a smooth plain ground
Will never nourish any politic seed.
I am for honest actions, not for great:
If I may bring up a new fashion,

And rise in Court for virtue, speed his plow! 130
The King hath known me long as well as he,
Yet could my fortune never fit the length
Of both their understandings till this hour.
There is a deep nick in Time's restless wheel
For each man's good, when which nick comes,

it strikes;

As rhetoric yet works not persuasion, But only is a mean to make it work, So no man riseth by his real merit,

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But when it cries "clink" in his raiser's spirit.
Many will say, that cannot rise at all,
Man's first hour's rise is first step to his fall.
I'll venture that; men that fall low must die,
As well as men cast headlong from the sky.
Enter MAFFE.

Ma. Humour of princes! Is this wretch endu'd

With any merit worth a thousand crowns?
Will my lord have me be so ill a steward
Of his revenue, to dispose a sum

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So great with so small cause as shows in him? I must examine this. Is your name D'Ambois? Bu. Sir?

Ma.

Bu.

Is your name D'Ambois?
Who have we here? 150

Serve you the Monsieur?

Ma.

Bu.

How?

Serve you the Monsieur? Ma. Sir, y 'are very hot. I do serve the Monsieur;

But in such place as gives me the command
Of all his other servants. And because

Will have him for his jester; and by 'r lady, Such men are now no fools; 't is a knight's place. If I (to save his grace some crowns) should urge

him T'abate his bounty, I should not be heard; 200 I would to heaven I were an errant ass, For then I should be sure to have the ears Of these great men, where now their jesters have them.

'Tis good to please him, yet I'll take no notice Of his preferment, but in policy

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Will still be grave and serious, lest he think I fear his wooden dagger. Here, sir Ambo! Bu. How, Ambo, sir?

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Ma.
Ay, is not your name Ambo?
Bu. You call'd me lately D'Ambois; has
your worship

So short a head?

Ma.

I cry thee mercy, D'Ambois. A thousand crowns I bring you from my lord. If you be thrifty, and play the good husband,

you may make

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This a good standing living: 't is a bounty
His highness might perhaps have bestow'd bet-

4 The weapon of the Fool, as of the Vice in The Mor alities.

[Enter] HENRY, GUISE, MONTSURRY, ELENOR, TAMYRA, BEAUPRE, PERO, CHARLOTTE, PYRA, ANNAbelle.

He. Duchess of Guise, your grace is much enricht

In the attendance of that English virgin,
That will initiate her prime of youth
(Dispos'd to Court conditions) under the hand
Of your preferr'd instructions and command, s
Rather than any in the English Court,
Whose ladies are not matcht in Christendom
For graceful and confirm'd behaviours;
More than the Court, where they are bred, is
equall'd.

Gu. I like not their Court fashion; it is too crestfall'n

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In all observance, making demigods
Of their great nobles; and of their old queen,
An ever-young and most immortal goddess.
Mo. No question she's the rarest queen in
Europe.

Gu. But what 's that to her immortality? 15 He. Assure you, cousin Guise, so great a courtier,

So full of majesty and royal parts,

No queen in Christendom may vaunt herself. Her Court approves it, that's a Court indeed, Not mixt with clowneries us'd in common

houses,

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Where the king's change doth breed the subject's terror,

Pure innovation is more gross than error.

Mo. No question we shall see them imitate (Though afar off) the fashions of our Courts, 40 As they have ever ap'd us in attire. Never were men so weary of their skins, And apt to leap out of themselves as they; Who, when they travel to bring forth rare men, Come home, delivered of a fine French suit. Their brains lie with their tailors, and get babies For their most complete issue; he's sole heir To all the moral virtues that first greets The light with a new fashion, which becomes them

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Bu. Nor doth she use to seek out any man: He that will win must woo her; [she's not shameless.] 6

Mo. I urg'd her modesty in him, my lord, And gave her those rites that he says she

merits.

The Countess of Montsurrean, Beaupre.

Come, I'll enseam thee. Ladies, y'are too many
To be in council; I have here a friend
That I would gladly enter in your graces.

Bu. Save you, ladies.

Du. If you enter him in our graces, my lord, methinks by his blunt behaviour he should come out of himself.

Ta. Has he never been courtier, my lord? 80 Mo. Never, my lady.

Be. And why did the toy take him in th' head now ?

Bu. 'Tis leap-year, lady, and therefore very good to enter a courtier.

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He. Mark, Duchess of Guise, there is one is not bashful.

4 "Travel" and "travail" were not distinguished in Elizabethan spelling.

• Strut.

From Qq. of 1007, 8.

7 Introduce