The Noble Spanish Soldier | Page 6

lies beneath the moon,?Be made a wicked engine to break in pieces?That holy contract.
KING?'Tis my soul's aim?To tie it upon a faster knot.
CARDINAL?I do not see?How you can with safe conscience get it from her.
KING?Oh I know?I wrestle with a lioness. To imprison her?And force her to it, I dare not. Death! What King?Did ever say 'I dare not'? I must have it;?A bastard have I by her, and that cock?Will have, I fear, sharp spurs, if he crow after?Him that trod for him. Something must be done?Both to the hen and the chicken. Haste you therefore?To sad Onaelia, tell her I'm resolved?To give my new hawk bells, and let her fly.?My Queen, I'm weary of, and her will marry.?To this, our text, add you what gloss you please;?The secret drifts of kings are depthless seas.
Exeunt
ACT 1 SCENE 2
A table set out covered with black. Two waxen tapers. The King's [defaced] picture at one end and a crucifix at the other. Onaelia [dressed in black] walking discontentedly weeping to the crucifix.
A Song.
QUESTION?Oh sorrow, sorrow, say where do'st thou dwell?
ANSWER?In the lowest room of hell.
QUESTION?Art thou born of human race?
ANSWER?No, no. I have a fury's <2> face.
QUESTION?Art thou in city, town or court?
ANSWER?I to every place resort.
QUESTION?O why into the world is sorrow sent?
ANSWER?Men afflicted best repent.
QUESTION?What dost thou feed on?
ANSWER?Broken sleep.
QUESTION?What takest thou take pleasure in?
ANSWER?To weep,?To sigh, to sob, to pine, to groan,?To wring my hands, to sit alone.
QUESTION?Oh when, oh when, shall sorrow quiet have?
ANSWER?Never, never, never, never,?Never till she finds a grave.
Enter Cornego.
CORNEGO?No lesson Madam but Lacrymae's? <3> If you had buried nine husbands, so much water as you might squeeze out of an onion had been tears enough to cast away upon fellows that cannot thank you. Come, be jovial.
ONAELIA?Sorrow becomes me best.
CORNEGO?A suit of laugh and lie down would wear better.
ONAELIA?What should I do to be merry, Cornego?
CORNGO?Be not sad.
ONELIA?But what's the best mirth in the world?
CORNEGO?Marry this, to see much, say little, do little, get little, spend little and want nothing.
ONELIA?Oh, but there is a mirth beyond all these;?This picture has so vexed me, I'm half mad,?To spite it therefore, I'll sing any song?Thyself shall tune. Say then, what mirth is best?
CORNEGO?Why then Madam, what I knock out now is the very marrowbone of mirth and this it is.
ONELIA?Say on.
CORNEGO?The best mirth for a lawyer is to have fools to his clients; for citizens to have noblemen pay for their debts; for tailors to have store of satin brought in, for then how little soever their houses are, they will be sure to have large yards. The best mirth for bawds is to have fresh handsome whores, and for whores to have rich gulls come aboard their pinnaces <4>, for then they are sure to build galleasses <5>.
ONELIA?These to such souls are mirth, but to mine, none.?Away.
Exit Cornego, Enter Cardinal.
CARDINAL?Peace to you, Lady.
ONELIA?I will not sin so much as to hope for peace?And 'tis a mock ill suits your gravity.
CARDINAL?I come to knit the nerves of your lost strength,?To build your ruins up, to set you free?From this your voluntary banishment,?And give new being to your murdered fame.
ONELIA?What Aesculapius <6> can do this?
CARDINAL?'Tis from the King I come.
ONELIA?A name I hate.?Oh, I am deaf now to your embassy.
CARDINAL?Hear what I speak.
ONELIA?Your language breathed from him?Is death's sad doom upon a wretch condemned.
CARDINAL?Is it such poison?
ONELIA?Yes, and were you crystal,?What the King fills you with would make you break.?You should my Lord, be like these robes you wear,?Pure as the dye, and like that reverend shape?Nurse thoughts as full of honour, zeal and purity.?You should be the court-dial, and direct?The King with constant motion, be ever beating,?Like to clock-hammers, on his iron heart?To make it sound clear and to feel remorse.?You should unlock his soul, wake his dead conscience?Which, like a drowsy sentinel, gives leave?For sin's vast armies to beleaguer him.?His ruins will be asked for at your hands.
CARDINAL?I have raised up a scaffolding to save?Both him and you from falling. Do but hear me.
ONAELIA?Be dumb for ever.
CARDINAL?Let your fears thus die:?By all the sacred relics of the church?And by my holy orders, what I minister?Is even the spirit of health.
ONAELIA?I'll drink it down into my soul at once.
CARDINAL?You shall.
ONAELIA?But swear.
CARDINAL?What conjurations can more bind my oath?
ONAELIA?But did you swear in earnest?
CARDINAL?Come, you trifle.
ONAELIA?No marvel, for my hopes have been so drowned?I still despair, say on.
CARDINAL?The King repents.
ONAELIA?Pray, that again my Lord.
CARDINAL?The King repents.
ONAELIA?His wrongs to me?
CARDINAL?His wrongs to you. The sense of sin?Has pierced his soul.
ONAELIA?Blessed penitence!
CARDINAL?Has turned his eyes <7> into his leprous bosom?And like a king vows execution?On all his traitorous passions.
ONAELIA?God-like justice!
CARDINAL?Intends in person presently to beg?Forgiveness for his acts from heaven and you.
ONAELIA?Heaven pardon him. I shall.
CARDINAL?Will marry you.
ONAELIA?Umh! Marry me? Will he turn bigamist??When? When?
CARDINAL?Before the morrow sun hath