menu_book Chapter 2

act two 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 two scene i an apartment in florio's house enter giovanni and annabella o come annabella no more sister now but love a name more gracious do not blush beauty's sweet wonder but be proud to know that yielding thou hast conquered and inflamed a heart whose tribute is thy brother's life and mine is his oh how these stolen contents would print a modest crimson on my cheeks had any but my heart's delight prevailed i marvel why the chaster of your sex should think this pretty toy called maidenhead so strange a loss when being lost tis nothing and you are still the same tis well for you now you can talk music as well consists in the ear as in the playing

oh you are wanton tell aunt you were best do ea thou wilt chide me then kiss me so thus hung jove on lida's neck and sucked divine ambrosia from her lips i envy not the mightiest man alive but hold myself in being king of thee more great than were i king of all the world i shall lose you sweetheart but you shall not you must be married mistress yes to whom someone must have you you must nay some other now prithee do not speak so without jesting you'll make me weep in earnest what you will not but tell me sweet canst thou be dared to swear that thou wilt live to me and to no other and to no other by both our loves i dare for didst thou know my giovanni how all suitors seem to my eyes hateful thou wouldst trust me then

enough i take thy word sweet we must part remember what thou vowest keep well my heart will you be gone i must when to return soon look you do farewell exit go where thou wilt and mind i'll keep thee here and where thou art i know i shall be there guardian enter putana child how is child well thank heaven ha oh guardian what a paradise of joy have i passed over nay what a paradise of joy have you passed under why now i commend thee charge fear nothing sweetheart what though he be your brother your brother's a man i hope and i say still if a young wench feel the fit upon her let her take any body father or brother

all is one i would not have it known for all the world nor i indeed for the speech of the people else twere nothing within daughter annabella oh me my father here sir reach my work within what are you doing so let him come now enter florio followed by ricardetto as a doctor of physics and philotis with a lute so hard at work that's well you lose no time look i have brought you company here's one a learned doctor lately come from padua much skilled in physic and for that i see you have of late been sickly i entreated this reverend man to visit you some time you are very welcome sir i thank you mistress loud fame in large report hath spoke your praise as well for virtue as perfection

for which i had been bold to bring with me a kinswoman of mine a maid for song and music one perhaps will give content please you to know her they are parts i love and she for them most welcome thank you lady sir now you know my house pray make not strange and if you find my daughter need your art i'll be your paymaster sir what i am she shall command you shall bind me to you daughter i must have conference with you about some matters that concern us both good master doctor please you but walk in we'll crave a little of your cousin's cunning i think my girl hath not quite forgot to touch an instrument she could have done it we'll hear them both i'll wait upon you sir scene two a room in sorranco's house enter sorranco with a book love's measure is extreme the comfort pain the life unrest and the reward disdain

what's here looked o'er again tis so so writes this smoothly sensuous poet in his rhymes but san azar thou liest for had thy bosom felt such oppression as is laid on mine thou wouldst have kissed the rod that made thee smart to work then happy muse and contradict what san azar hath in his envy writ writes love's measure is the mean sweet his annoys his pleasures life and his reward all joys had annabelle lived when san azar did in his brief encomium celebrate venice that queen of cities he had left that verse which gained him such a sum of gold and for one only look from annabelle had rid of her and her diviner cheeks oh how my thoughts are within pray forbear in rules of civility let me give notice on't i shall be taxed of my neglect of duty and service what rude intrusion interrupts my peace can i be nowhere private within troth you wrong your modesty what's the matter vasquez who is d enter hippolita and vasquez tis i

do you know me now look perjured man on her whom thou and thy distracted lust have wronged thy sensual rage of blood hath made my youth a scorn to men and angels and shall i be now a foil to thy unsated change thou knowest false wanton when my modest fame stood free from stain or scandal all the charms of hell or sorcery could not prevail against the honour of my chaster bosom thine eyes did plead in tears thy tongue in oaths such and so many that a heart of steel would have been wrought to pity as was mine and shall the conquest of my lawful bed my husband's death urged on by his disgrace my loss of womanhood be ill-rewarded with hatred and contempt no no sir ronzo i have a spirit doth as much distaste the slavery of fearing thee as thou dost loathe the memory of what hath past

nay dear hippolita call me not dear nor think with supple words to smooth the grossness of my abuses tis not your new mistress your goodly madam merchant shall triumph on my dejection tell her thus from me my birth was nobler and by much more free you are too violent you are too double in your dissimulation seest thou this this habit these black mourning weeds of care tis thou art cause of this and hast divorced my husband from his life and me from him and made me widow in my widowhood e will you yet hear e more of thy perjuries thy soul is drowned too deeply in those sins thou needst not add to the number e then i'll leave you you are pastoral of sense e and thou of grace fie mistress you are not near the limits of reason if my lord had a resolution as noble as virtue itself you take the course to unedge it all sir i beseech you do not perplex her griefs alas will have a vent i dare undertake madam hippolyta will now freely hear you

talk to a woman frantic are these the fruits of your love they are the fruits of thy untruth false man didst thou not swear whilst yet my husband lived that thou wouldst wish no happiness on earth more than to call me wife didst thou not vow when he should die to marry me for which the devil in my blood and thy protests caused me to counsel him to undertake a voyage to ligorne for that we heard his brother there was dead and left a daughter young and unfriended whom with much ado i wish'd him to bring hither he did so and went and as thou knowest died on the way unhappy man to buy his death so dear with my advice yet thou for whom i did it forgetst thy vows and leav'st me to my shame who could help this who perjured man thou couldst if thou hadst faith or love you are deceived the vows i made if you remember well were wicked and unlawful twere more sin to keep them than to break em as for me i cannot mask my penitence think thou how much thou hast digressed from honest shame in bringing our gentleman to death who was thy husband such a one as he so noble in his quality condition

learning behaviour entertainment love as parma could not show a braver man you do not well this was not your promise i care not let her know her monstrous life ere i'll be servile to so black a sin i'll be a curse women come here no more learn to repent and die for by my honour i hate thee and thy lust you have been too foul exit aside this part has been scurvily played how foolishly this beast condemns his fate and shunns the use of that which i more scorn than i once loved his love but let him go my vengeance shall give comfort to his woe going mistress mistress madame hippolyta pray a word or two with me sir with you if you please what ist i know you are infinitely moved now and you think you have cause some i confess you have but sure not so much as you imagine indeed oh you were miserably bitter which you followed even to the last syllable faith you were somewhat too shrewd

by my life you could not have took my lord in a worse time since i first knew him to-morrow you shall find him a new man mrs harkwell i shall wait his leisure fie this is not a hearty patience it comes sourly from you troth let me persuade you for once aside i have it and it shall be so thanks opportunity persuade me to what is visit him in some milder temper oh if you could but master a little your female spleen how might you win him he will never love me vasquez thou hast been a too trusty servant to such a master and i believe thy reward in the end will fall out like mine so perhaps too resolve thyself it will had i one so true so truly honest so secret to my counsels as thou hast been to him and his i should think it a slight acquittance not only to make him master of all i have but even of myself oh you are a noble gentlewoman will thou feed always upon hopes well i know thou art wise and seest the reward of an old servant daily what it is a beggary and neglect true

but vasquez wert thou mine and wouldst be private to me and my designs i here protest myself and all what i can else call mine should be at thy dispose aside work you that way old mole then i have the wind of you i were not worthy of it by any desert that could lie within my compass if i could what then i should then hope to live in these my old years with rest and security give me thy hand now promise but thy silence and help to bring to a pass a plot i have and here in sight of heaven that being done i make thee lord of me and mine estate come you are merry this is such a happiness that i can neither think nor believe mrs james promise thy secrecy and tis confirmed james then here i call our good genie for witness whatsoever your designs are or against whomsoever i will not only be a special actor therein but never disclose it till it be effected

i take thy word and with that thee for mine come then let's more confer of this anon aside on this delicious bane my thought shall banquet revenge shall sweeten what my griefs have tasted exit with vasquez scene three the street enter ricardetto and philotis thou seest my lovely niece these strange mishaps how all my fortunes turn to my disgrace wherein i am but as a looker on whilst others act my shame and i am silent mrs james but uncle wherein can this borrowed shape give you contents i'll tell thee gentle niece thy wanton aunt in her lascivious riots lives now secure thinks i am surely dead in my late journey to lignorn for you as i have caused it to be rumoured out now would i see with what an impudence she gives scope to her loose adultery and how the common voice allows hereof

thus far i have prevailed alas i fear you mean some strange revenge oh be not troubled your ignorance shall plead for you in all but to our business what you learned for certain how signor florio means to give his daughter in marriage to soranzo yes for certain but how find you young annabella's love inclined to him for aught i could perceive she neither fancies him nor any else there is mystery in that which time must show she used you kindly yes and craved your company often tis well it goes as i could wish i am the doctor now and as for you none may be if all fail not we shall thrive but who comes here i know him tis grimaldi a roman and a soldier near allied unto the duke of montferrato one attending on the nuncio of the pope that now has been a

oscarbondi now to the viacom and the duacomist i who is to wear a one attending on the nuncio of the pope that now resides in parma by which means he hopes to get the love of annabella enter grimaldi save you sir and you sir i have heard of your approved skill which through the city is freely talked of and would crave your aid for what sir marry sir for this but i would speak in private leave us cousin philotis retires i love fair annabella and would know whether in arts there may not be receipts to move affection sir perhaps there may but these will nothing profit you not me unless i be mistook you are a man greatly in favour with the cardinal what of that in duty to his grace

i will be bold to tell you if you seek to marry florio's daughter you must first remove a bar twixt you and her who's that soranzo is the man that hath her heart and while he lives be sure you cannot speed sir siranzo what mine enemy is it he is he your enemy the man i hate worse than confusion i will tell him straight nay then take my advice even for his grace's sake the cardinal i'll find a time when he and she do meet of which i'll give you notice and to be sure he shall not scape you i'll provide a poison to dip your rapier's point in if he had as many heads as hydra had he dies but shall i trust thee doctor as yourself doubt not in aught exit grimaldi thus shall the fates decree by me soranzo falls that ruined me

scene four another part of the street enter donado with a letter bagetto and poggio well sir i must be content to be both your secretary and your messenger myself i cannot tell what this letter may work but as sure as i am alive if thou come once to talk with her i fear thou wilt mar whatsoever i make florio you make uncle why am not i big enough to carry mine own letter i pray ay ay carry a fool's head of thy own why thou don'st wouldst thou write a letter and carry it thyself yes that i would and read it to her with mine own mouth for you must think if she will not believe me myself when she hears me speak she will not believe another's handwriting oh you think i am a blockhead uncle no sir poggio knows i have indicted a letter myself so i have

yes truly sir i have it in my pocket a sweet one no doubt pray let's see it i cannot read my own hand very well poggio read it poggio begin reads most dainty and honey-sweet mistress i could call you fair and lie as fast as any that loves you but my uncle being the elder man i leave it to him as more fit for his age and the color of his beard i am wise enough to tell you that i can board where i see occasion or if you like my uncle's wit better than mine you shall marry me if you like mine better than his i will marry you in spite of your teeth so commending my best parts to you i rest yours upwards and downwards or you may choose burghetto ah here's stuff uncle here's stuff indeed to shame us all pray whose advice did you take in this learned letter none upon my word but mine own

and mine uncle believe it nobody else's twas mine own brain i thank a good whip for it poggio get you home sir and look you keep within doors till i return poggio how that were a jest indeed i scornity faith what you do not judge me but i do now indeed sir tis very unhealthy well sir if i hear any of your apish running to motions and fauxperries till i come back you were as good not look to it poggio shall us steal and see this horse with the head in its tail ay but you must take heed of whipping poggio dost take me for a child poggio come onis scene v friar bonaventura's cell enter fria and giovanni peace thou hast told a tale whose every word threatens eternal slaughter to the soul i am sorry to have heard it would mine ears have been one minute deaf before the hour that thou cam'st to me oh young man cast away by the religious number of mine order

i day and night have waked my aged eyes above my strength to weep on thy behalf but heaven is angry and be thou resolved thou art a man remarked to taste a mischief look for it though it come late it will come sure in this you are uncharitable what i have done i'll prove both fit and good it is a principle which you have taught when i was yet your scholar that the frame and composition of the mind doth follow the frame and composition of the body so where the body's furniture is beauty the mind's must needs be virtue which allowed virtue itself is reason but refined and love the quintessence of that this proves my sister's beauty being rarely fair is rarely virtuous chiefly in her love and chiefly in that love her love to me

if hers to me then so is mine to her since in like causes are effects alike oh ignorance in knowledge long ago how often have i warned thee this before indeed if we were sure there were no deity nor heaven nor hell then to be led alone by nature's light as were philosophers of elder times might instance some defence but tis not so then madman thou wilt find that nature is in heaven's positions blind your age overrules you had you youth like mine you'd make her love your heaven and her divine nay then i see thou art too far sold to hell it lies not in the compass of my prayers to call thee back yet let me counsel thee persuade thy sister to some marriage

marriage why that's to damn her that's to prove her greedy of variety of lust oh fearful if thou wilt not give me leave to shrive her lest she should die unabsolved at your best leisure father then she'll tell you how dearly she doth prize my matchless love then you will know what pity to her we two should have been sundered from each other's arms view well her face and in that little round you may observe a world's variety for color's lips for sweet perfumes her breath for jewels eyes for threads of purest gold hair for for delicious choice of flowers cheeks wonder in every portion of that throne hear her but speak and you will swear the spheres make music to the citizens in heaven what is else but pleasure framed lest i offend your ears shall go unnamed the more i hear i pity thee the more

that one so excellent should give those parts all to a second death what i can do is but to pray and yet i could advise thee wouldst thou be ruled in what why leave her yet the throne of mercy is above your trespass yet time is left you both to embrace each other else let all time be struck quite out of number she is like me and i like her resolved no more i'll visit her this grieves me most things being thus a pair of souls are lost exor scene six a room in florio's house enter florio donado annabella and putana where is giovanni newly walked abroad and as i heard him say gone to the friar his reverend tutor that's a blessed man a man made up of holiness i hope he'll teach him how to gain another world

fair gentlewoman here's a letter sent to you from my young cousin i dare swear he loves you in his soul would you could hear sometimes what i see daily sighs and tears as if his breast were prison to his heart receive it annabella alas good man takes the letter what's that she said aunt please you sir she said alas good man truly i do commend him to her every night before her first sleep because i would have her dream of him and she hearkens to that most religiously say it so god a mercy putana there is something for thee gives her money and prithee do what thou canst on his behalf it shall not be lost labour take my word for it thank you most heartily sir now i have a feeling of your mind let me alone to work guardian did you call

keep this letter signor florio in any case bid her read it instantly keep it for what pray read it me here write i shall sir she reads the letter how do you find her inclined signor troth sir i know not how not all so well as i could wish aunt sir i am bound to rest your cousin's debtor the jewel i'll return for if he love i'll count that love a jewel mark you that nay keep them both sweet maid aunt you must excuse me indeed i will not keep it where's the ring that which your mother in her will bequeathed and charged you on her blessing not to give it to any but your husband send back that i have it not bork ah have it not where is it bork my brother in the morning took it from me said he would wear it to-day bork well what do you say to young bergetto's love

are you content to match with him speak there is the point indeed aside what shall i do i must say something now bork what say why do you not speak sir with your leave please you to give me freedom yes you have it signor donato if your nephew mean to raise his better fortunes in his match the hope of me will hinder such a hope sir if you love him as i know you do find one more worthy of his choice than me in short i'm sure i shall not be his wife why here's plain dealing i commend thee poet and all the worst i wish thee is heaven bless thee your father yet and i will still be friends shall we not signor florio yes why not look here your cousin comes enter bergetto and poggio o coxcomb what doth he make here where is my uncle sirs what is the news now save you uncle save you

you must not think i come for nothing masters and how how is it what you have read my letter ah dare i tickle you efaith but twere better you had tickled her in another place sirrah sweetheart i'll tell thee a good jest and riddle what it is you say you'll tell me as i was walking just now in the street i met a swaggering fellow who would need to take the wall of me and because he did thrust me i very valiantly called him rogue he hereupon bade me draw i told him i had more wit than so but when he saw that i would not he did so maul me with the hilts of his rapier that my head sung whilst my feet capered in the kennel was ever the like ass seen and what did you all this while sirrah laugh at him for a gull

till i saw the blood run about mine ears and then i could not choose but find in my heart to cry till a fellow with a broad beard they say he's a new-come doctor called me into his house and gave me a plaster look you here t is answer there was a young wench washed my face and hands most excellently efaith i shall love her as long as i live for it did she not podgio yes and kissed him too why la now you think i tell a lie uncle i warrant would he that beat thy blood out of thy head had beaten some wit into it for i fear thou never wilt have any oh uncle but there was a wench would have done a man's heart good to have looked on her by this light she had a face methinks worth twenty of you mistress annabella

was ever such a fool born i'm glad she liked you sir are you so by my troth i thank you forsooth sure it was the doctor's niece that was last day with us here twas she twas she how do you know that simplicity why does he not say so if i should have said no i should have given him the lie uncle and so have deserved a dry beating again all none of that a very modest well-behaved young maid as i have seen is she indeed indeed she is if i have any judgment well sir now you are free you need not care for sending letters now you are dismissed your mistress here will none of you no why what care i for that i can have wenches enough in parma for half a crown apiece can i not poggio

i'll warrant you sir signor florio i thank you for your free recourse you gave for my admittance and to you fair maid the jewel i will give you against your marriage come will you go sir i marry will i mistress farewell mistress i'll come again to-morrow farewell mistress exornt donado bergetto and poggio enter giovanni son where have you been what alone alone still i would not have it so you must forsake this over bookish humor well your sister hath shook the fool off t was no match for her t was not indeed i meant it nothing less soranzo is the man i only like look on him annabella come tis supper time and it grows late exit who's jewel's that some sweethearts so i think a lusty youth signor donado gave it me to wear against my marriage

but you shall not wear it send it back again what are you jealous that you shall know anon at greater leisure welcome sweet knight the evening crowns the day excellent end of act two