menu_book Chapter 5

act v of tis pity she's a whore this librivox recording is in the public domain tis pity she's a whore by john ford act v scene i the street before soranso's house annabella appears at a window above pleasures farewell and all ye thriftless minutes wherein false joys have spun a weary life to these my fortunes now i take my leave thou precious time that swiftly rid'st in post over the world to finish up the race of my last fate here stay thy restless course and bear to ages that are yet unborn a wretched woeful woman's tragedy my conscience now stands up against my lust with depositions charactered in guilt enter friar below and tells me i am lost now i confess beauty that clothes the outside of the face is cursed if it be not clothed with grace here like a turtle mewed up in a cage unmated i converse with air in walls and descant on my vile unhappiness

o giovanni that hast had the spoil of thine own virtues and my modest fame would thou hadst been less subject to those stars that luckless reigned at my nativity how would the scourge due to my black offence might pass from thee that i alone might feel the torment of an uncontrolled flame what's this i hear that man that blessed friar who joined in ceremonial knot my hand to him whose wife i now am told me oft i trod the path to death and showed me how but they who sleep in lethargies of lust hug their confusion making heaven unjust and so did i here's music to the soul forgive me my good genius and this once be helpful to my ends let some good man pass this way to whose trust i may commit this paper double lined with tears and blood which being granted here i sadly vow repentance and the leaving of that life i long have died in lady heaven hath heard you and hath by providence ordained that i should be his minister for your behoof

what are you your brother's friend the friar glad in my soul that i have lived to hear this free confession twixt your peace and you what would you or to whom fear not to speak is heaven so bountiful then i have found more favour than i hoped here holy man throws down a letter commend me to my brother give him that that letter bid him read it and repent tell him that i imprisoned in my chamber bard of all company even of my guardian which gives me cause of much suspect have time to blush at what hath passed bid him be wise and not believe the friendship of my lord i fear much more than i can speak good father the place is dangerous and spies are busy i must break off you'll do it be sure i will and fly with speed my blessing ever rest with thee my daughter live to die more blest exit thanks to the heavens who have prolonged my breath to this good use now i can welcome death with rose from the window scene two another room in the same enter soranzo and vasquez

am i to be believed now first marry a strumpet that casts herself away upon you but to laugh at your horns to feast on your disgrace ride in your vexation cuckold you in your bride-bed waste your estate upon panders and bauds no more i say no more a cuckold is a goodly tamed beast my lord i am resolved urge not another word my thoughts are great and all as resolute as thunder in meantime i'll cause our lady to deck herself in all her bridal robes kiss her and fold her gently in my arms begone yet here are you are the banditti ready to wait an ambush good sir trouble not yourself about other business than your own resolution remember that time lost cannot be recalled with all the cunning words thou canst invite the states of palma to my birthday's feast haste to my brother rival and his father and treat them gently bid them not to fail be speedy and return let not your pity betray you till my coming back think upon incest and cuckoldry revenge is all the ambition i aspire to that i'll climb or fall my blood's on fire

exon scene three a room in florio's house enter giovanni busy opinion is an idle fool that as a school rod keeps a child in awe frights the unexperienced temper of the mind so did it me who ere my precious sister was married thought all taste of love would die in such a contract but i find no change of pleasure in this formal law of sports she is still one to me and every kiss as sweet and as delicious as the first i reaped when yet the privilege of youth entitled her a virgin oh the glory of two united hearts like hers and mine let pouring bookmen dream of other worlds my world and all of happiness is here and i'd not change it for the best to come a life of pleasure is elysium enter friar

father you enter on the jubilee of my retired delights now i can tell you the hell you have oft prompted is not else but slavish and fond superstitious fear and i should prove it too thy blindness slays thee look there tis writ to thee gives him the letter from whom unrip the seals and see the blood's yet seething hot that will anon be frozen harder than congealed coral why do you change color son for heaven you make some petty devil factor twixt my love and your religion masked sorceries where had you this thy conscience youth is seared else thou would stoop to warning i know it and tis all written in her blood she writes i know not what not fear an armed thunderbolt aimed at my heart she writes we are discovered

cocks on dreams of low faint hearted cowardice discovered the devil we are which way is it possible are we grown traitors to our own delights confusion takes such dotage tis but forged this is your peevish chattering weak old man enter vascuess now sir what news bring you my lord according to his yearly custom keeping this day of feast in honor of his birthday by me invites you thither your worthy father with the pope's reverend nuncio and other magnificioes of parma have promised their presence will it please you to be of the number yes tell him i dare come dare come so i said and tell him more i will come these words are strange to me say i will come you will not miss miss yet more i'll come sir are you answered so i'll say my service to you exit

you will not go i trust not go for what oh do not go this feast i'll gauge my life is but a plot to train you to your ruin be ruled you shall not go not go stood death threatening his armies of confounding plagues with hosts of dangers hot as blazing stars i would be there not go yes and resolve to strike as deep in slaughter as they all for i will go go where thou wilt i see the wildness of thy fate draws to an end to a bad fearful end i must not stay to know thy fall back to benonia i with speed will haste and shun this coming blow parma farewell would i had never known thee or aught of thine

well young man since no prayer can make thee safe i leave thee to despair exit despair or tortures of a thousand hells all's one to me i have set up my rest now now work serious thoughts on baleful plots be all a man my soul let not the curse of old prescription rend from me the gall of courage which enrolls a glorious death if i must totter like a well-grown oak some under shrub shall in my weighty fall be crushed to splits with me they all shall perish exit scene four a hall in soranzo's home enter soranzo vasquez with masks and banditie you will not fail or shrink in the attempt

i will undertake for their parts be sure my masters to be bloody enough and as unmerciful as if you were preying upon a rich booty o the very mountains of liguria for your pardons trust to my lord but for reward you shall trust none but your own pockets we'll make a murder his gold gives the money his more want nothing what you do is noble an act of brave revenge i'll make you rich banditie and all free liberty liberty hold take every man a vizard when you are withdrawn keep as much silence as you can possibly you know the watchword to which be spoken move not but when you hear that rush in like a stormy flood i need not instruct you in your own profession no no no in then your ends are profit and preferment away the guest will all come vascus yes sir and now let me a little edge your resolution you see nothing is unready to this great work but a great mind in you call to your remembrance your disgrace your loss of honour hippolyta's blood and arm your courage in your own wrongs

so shall you best right those wrongs in vengeance which you may truly call your own tis well the less i speak the more i burn and blood shall quench that flame now you begin to turn italian this beside when my young incest monger comes he will be sharp set on his old bit give him time enough let him have your chamber and bed at liberty let my hot hair have law ere he be hunted to his death that if it be possible he posts to hell in the very act of his damnation it shall be so and see as we would wish he comes himself first enter giovanni welcome my much-loved brother now i perceive you honour me you are welcome but where's my father with the other states attending on the nuncio of the pope to wait upon him hither how's my sister like a good housewife scarcely ready yet

you were best walk to her chamber if you will i must expect my honourable friends good brother get her forth you are busy sir exit even as the great devil himself would have it let him go and glut himself in his own destruction flourish hark the nuncio is at hand good sir be ready to receive him enter cardinal florio donado ricardetto in attendance most reverend lord this grace hath made me proud that you vouchsafe my house i ever rest your humble servant for this noble favour you are our friend my lord his holiness shall understand how zealously you honour st peter's vicar in his substitute our special love to you signors to you my welcome and my ever best of thanks for this so memorable courtesy pleaseth your grace walk near

my lord we come to celebrate your feast with civil mouth as ancient custom teacheth we will go attend his grace there signors keep your way exon scene v annabella's bedchamber in the same annabella richly dressed and giovanni changed so soon hath your new sprightly lord found out a trick in night games more than we could know in our simplicity ha is it so or does the fit come on you to prove treacherous to your past vows and oaths why should you jest at my calamity without all sense of the approaching dangers you were in

dangers half so great as thy revolt thou art a faithless sister else thou knowest malice or any treachery beside would stoop to my bent brows why i hold fate clasp'd in my fist and could command the course of time's eternal motion hadst thou been one thought more steady than an ebbing sea and what you'll now be honest that's resolved mother dear brother know what i have been and know that now there's but a dining-time to waste us and our confusion let's not waste these precious hours in vain and useless speech

alas these gay attires were not put on but to some end this sudden solemn feast was not ordained to riot and expense i that have now been chambered here alone part of my guardian or of any else am not for nothing at an instant freed to fresh access be not deceived my brother this banquet is an harbinger of death to you and me resolve yourself it is and be prepared to welcome it well then the schoolmen teach that all this globe of earth shall be consumed to ashes in a minute so i have read too but you're somewhat strange to see the waters burn could i believe this might be true i could believe as well there might be hell or heaven

that's most certain oh a dream a dream else in this other world we should know one another so we shall have you heard so for certain

but do you think that i shall see you there you look on me may we kiss one another prate or laugh or do as we do here i know not that but brother for the present what do you mean to free yourself from danger some way think how to escape i'm sure the guests are come look up look here what do you see in my face distraction and a troubled conscience death and a swift repining wrath yet look what see you in mine eyes methinks you weep

i do indeed these are the funeral tears shed on your grave these furrowed up my cheeks when first i loved and knew not how to woo fair annabella should i repent the story of my life we might lose time record all the spirits of the air and all things else that are day and night early and late the tribute which my heart hath paid to annabella's sacred love hath been these tears which are her mourners now never till now did nature do her best to show a matchless beauty to the world which in an instant ere it scarce was seen the jealous destinies required again since we must part go thou to thy soul to fill a throne of innocence and sanctity in heaven

be my sister then i see your drift ye blessed angels guard me so say i kiss me if ever after time should hear of our fast-knit affections though perhaps the laws of conscience and of civil use may justly blame us yet when they but know our loves that love will wipe away that rigor which would in other incest be a-board give me your hand how sweetly life doth run in these well-coloured veins how constantly these palms do promise health could chide with nature for this cunning flattery forgive me with my heart farewell will you be gone oh be dark bright sun and make this midday night that thy guilt rays may not behold a deed will turn their splendour more sooty than the poets feign their sticks another kiss my sister

what means this to save thy fame and kill thee in a kiss stabs her thus die die by me and by my hand revenge is mine honour doth love command o brother by your hand when thou art dead i'll give my reasons for it for to dispute with thy even in thy death most lovely beauty would make me stagger to perform this act which i most glory in forgive him heaven and me my sins farewell brother unkind unkind unkind mercy great heaven oh oh dice is dead and so a hapless fruit that in her womb received its life from me hath had from me a cradle and a grave i must not dally this sad marriage bed in all her best bore her alive and dead

saranzo thou hast missed thy aim in this i have prevented now thy reaching plots and killed a love for whose each drop of blood i would have pawned my heart fair annabella how over glorious art thou in thy wounds triumphing over infamy and hate take drink not courageous hand stand up my heart and boldly act my last and greater part the scene closes scene six a banqueting room in the same a banquet enter the cardinal florio donado soranzo ricardetto vasquez in attendance a part to soranzo remember sir what you have to do be wise and resolute enough my heart is fixed pleaseeth your grace to taste these coarse confections though the use of such such entertainments more consists in custom than in cause yet reverend sir i am still made your servant by your presence and we your friend

but where's my brother giovanni enter giovanni with a heart upon his dagger hear hear soranzo trimmed in reeking blood that triumphs over death proud in the spoil of love and vengeance fate or all the powers that guide the motions of immortal souls could not prevent me what means this son giovanni aside shall i be forestalled be not amazed if your misgiving hearts shrink at an idle sight what bloodless fear of coward passion would have seized your senses had you beheld the rape of life and beauty which i have acted my sister my sister ah whatever the glory of my deed darkened the midday sun you came to feast my lords with dainty fare

i came to feast too but i digged for food in a much richer mine than gold or stone of any value balanced heart my lords in which is mine entombed look well upon it you know it aside what strange riddle is this tis annabella's heart tis why do you startle i vow tis hers the stagger's point ploughed up her fruitful womb and left to me the fame of a most glorious executioner ay madman art thyself yes father and that times to come may know how as my fate i honoured my revenge list father to your ears i will yield up how much i have deserved to be your son what is it thou sayest

nine moons have had their changes since i first thoroughly viewed and truly loved your daughter and my sister how alas my lords he is a frantic madman father no for nine months space in secret i enjoyed sweet annabella's sheets nine months i lived a happy monarch of her heart and her soranzo thou knowest this thy paler cheeks bears the confounding print of thy disgrace for her too fruitful womb too soon bewrayed the happy passage of our stolen delights and made her mother to a child unborn incestuous villain ah his rage belies him it does not tis the oracle of truth i vow it is so i shall burst with fury bring this trumpet forth i shall sir exit oh do sir

have you all no faith to credit yet my triumphs here i swear by all you call sacred by the love i bore my annabella whilst she lived these hands hath from her bosom ripped this heart re-enter vasquez is it true or no sir tis most strangely true cursed man have i lived to dice hold up florio monster of children see what thou hast done broke thy old father's heart is none of you dares venture on him oh let them oh my father how well his death becomes him in his griefs why this was done with courage now survives none of our house but i guilt in the blood of a fair sister and a hapless father in human score of men hast thou a thought to outlive thy murders

yes i tell thee yes for in my fists i bear the twists of life sir anzo see this heart which was thy wife's thus i exchange it royally for thine they fight and thus and thus now brave revenge is mine sir anzo falls i cannot hold any longer you sir are you grown insolent in your butcheries have at you come i am armed to meet thee they fight no will it not be yet if this will not another shall not yet i shall fit you anon vengeance the bundeshe rush in welcome come more of you whate'er you be i dare your worst they surround and wound him i can stand no longer feeble arms have you so soon lost strength false now you are welcome sir

a sigh to banditti away my masters all is done shift for yourselves your reward is your own shift for yourselves away away away away exon how do you my lord see you this pointing to giovanni howist dead but in death well pleased that i have lived to see my wrongs revenged on that black devil oh vascus to thy bosom let me give my last of breath let not that lecher live ah the reward of peace and rest be with you my ever dearest lord and master whose hand gave me this wound mine sir i was your first man have you enough i thank thee thou hast done for me but what i would have else done on myself art sure thy lord is dead

o imprudent slave as sure as i am sure to see thee die think on thy life and end and call for mercy mercy i have found it in this justice strive yet to cry to heaven oh i bleed fast death thou art a guest long looked for i embrace thee and thy wounds my last minute comes where'er i go me enjoy this grace freely to view by annabella's face dies strange miracle of justice raise up the city we shall be mad at all you need not fear you shall not this strange task being ended i have paid the duty to the son which i have vowed to the father

speak wretched villain what incarnate fiend hath led thee on to this lord honesty and pity of my master's wrongs for no my lord i am by birth a spaniard brought forth my country in my youth by lord soranzo's father whom whilst he lived i served faithfully since whose death i have been to this man as i was to him what i have done was duty and i repent nothing but that the loss of my life had not ransomed his lord say fellow knowest thou any yet unnamed of counsel in this incest

yes an old woman sometime guardian to this murdered lady lord and what's become of her within this room she is whose eyes after her confession i caused to be put out but kept alive to confirm what from giovanni's own mouth you have heard now my lord what i have done you may judge of and let your own wisdom be a judge in your own reason peace first this woman chief in these effects my sentence is that forthwith she be ta'en out of the city for example's sake there to be burn'd to ashes tis most just lord be at your charge donado see it done lord i shall don what for me if death tis welcome i have been honest to the son as i was to the father

fellow for thee since what thou didst was done not for thyself being no italian we banish thee for ever to depart within three days in this we do dispense with the grounds of reason not of thine offence tis well this conquest is mine and i rejoice that a spaniard outwent an italian in revenge exit take up these slaughtered bodies see them buried and all the gold and jewels or whatsoever confiscate by the canons of the church we seize upon to the pope's proper use discovers himself your grace's pardon thus long i lived disguised to see the effect of pride and lust at once brought both to shameful ends what richardetto whom we thought for dead sir was it you your friend we shall have time to talk at large of all

but never yet incest and birder have so strangely met of one so young so rich in nature's store who could not say tis pity she's a whore exalt end of act five end of tis pity she's a whore you