SCENE V.

_The Compter._

_Enter two_ Prisoners _and_ Friend.

_Fr._ Why, but is his offence such as he cannot hope of life?

_1st Pr._ Troth, it should seem so; and 'tis great pity, for he is exceeding penitent.

_Fr._ They say he is charged but on suspicion of felony yet.

_2nd Pr._ Ay, but his master is a shrewd fellow; he'll prove great matter against him.

_Fr._ I'd as lieve as anything I could see his _Farewell_.

_1st Pr._ O, 'tis rarely written; why, Toby may get him to sing it to you; he's not curious to anybody. 11

_2nd Pr._ O no! He would that all the world should take knowledge of his repentance, and thinks he merits in't the more shame he suffers.

_1st Pr._ Pray thee, try what thou canst do.

_2nd Pr._ I warrant you he will not deny it, if he be not hoarse with the often repeating of it.

[_Exit._

_1st Pr._ You never saw a more courteous creature than he is, and the knight too: the poorest prisoner of the house may command 'hem. You shall hear a thing admirably penned. 21

_Fr._ Is the knight any scholar too?

_1st Pr._ No, but he will speak very well, and discourse admirably of running horses and White-Friars, and against bawds; and of cocks; and talk as loud as a hunter, but is none.

_Enter_ WOLF _and_ TOUCHSTONE.

_Wo._ Please you, stay here; I'll call his worship down to you. 28

[_Exit_ WOLF.

_Re-enter_[121] WOLF _with_ GOLDING, QUICKSILVER, Sir PETRONEL, _and_ SECURITY.

_1st Pr._ See, he has brought him, and the knight too; salute him, I pray. Sir, this gentleman, upon our report, is very desirous to hear some piece of your _Repentance_.

_Qu._ Sir, with all my heart; and, as I told Master Toby, I shall be glad to have any man a witness of it. And the more openly I profess it, I hope it will appear the heartier, and the more unfeigned.

_To._ Who is this?--my man Francis, and my son-in-law?

_Qu._ Sir, it is all the testimony I shall leave behind me to the world, and my master that I have so offended.

_Fr._ Good, sir! 40

_Qu._ I writ it when my spirits were oppressed.

_Pe._ Ay, I'll be sworn for you, Francis.

_Qu._ It is in imitation of Mannington's,[122] he that was hanged at Cambridge, that cut off the horse's head at a blow.

_Fr._ So, sir!

_Qu._ To the tune of "I wail in woe, I plunge in pain."

_Pe._ An excellent ditty it is, and worthy of a new tune.

_Qu._ In Cheapside, famous for gold and plate, Quicksilver I did dwell of late; 50 I had a master good and kind, That would have wrought me to his mind. He bade me still, Work upon that, But, alas! I wrought I knew not what. He was a Touchstone black, but true, And told me still what would ensue; Yet woe is me! I would not learn; I saw, alas! but could not discern!

_Fr._ Excellent, excellent well!

_Go._ O let him alone: he is taken already. 60

_Qu._ I cast my coat and cap away, I went in silks and satins gay; False metal of good manners I Did daily coin unlawfully. I scorn'd my master, being drunk; I kept my gelding and my punk; And with a knight, Sir Flash by name, Who now is sorry for the same,--

_Pe._ I thank you, Francis.

[_Qu._] I thought by sea to run away, 70 But Thames and tempest did me stay.

_To._ This cannot be feigned, sure. Heaven pardon my severity! The ragged colt may prove a good horse.

_Go._ How he listens, and is transported! He has forgot me.

_Qu._ Still Eastward-ho was all my word: But westward I had no regard, Nor never thought what would come after, As did, alas! his youngest daughter. At last the black ox trod o' my foot,[123] 80 And I saw then what long'd unto 't; Now cry I, "Touchstone, touch me still, And make me current by thy skill."

_To._ And I will do it, Francis.

_Wo._ Stay him, Master Deputy; now is the time: we shall lose the song else.

_Fr._ I protest it is the best that ever I heard.

_Qu._ How like you it, gentlemen?

_All._ O admirable, sir!

_Qu._ This stanze now following, alludes to the story of Mannington, from whence I took my project for my invention. 92

_Fr._ Pray you go on, sir.

_Qu._ O Mannington, thy stories show, Thou cutt'st a horse-head off at a blow! But I confess, I have not the force For to cut off the head of a horse; Yet I desire this grace to win, That I may cut off the horse-head of Sin, And leave his body in the dust 100 Of sin's highway and bogs of lust, Whereby I may take Virtue's purse, And live with her for better, for worse.

_Fr._ Admirable, sir, and excellently conceited!

_Qu._ Alas, sir!

_To._ Son Golding and Master Wolf, I thank you: the deceit is welcome, especially from thee, whose charitable soul in this hath shown a high point of wisdom and honesty. Listen, I am ravished with his repentance, and could stand here a whole prenticeship to hear him. 111

_Fr._ Forth, good sir.

_Qu._ This is the last, and the _Farewell_.-- Farewell, Cheapside, farewell, sweet trade Of Goldsmiths all, that never shall fade; Farewell, dear fellow prentices all, And be you warnèd by my fall: Shun usurers, bawds, and dice, and drabs, Avoid them as you would French scabs. Seek not to go beyond your tether, 120 But cut your thongs unto your leather: So shall you thrive by little and little, 'Scape Tyburn, Counters, and the Spital!

_To._ And 'scape them shalt thou, my penitent and dear Francis!

_Qu._ Master!

_Pe._ Father!

_To._ I can no longer forbear to do your humility right. Arise, and let me honour your repentance with the hearty and joyful embraces of a father and friend's love. Quicksilver, thou hast eat into my breast, Quicksilver, with the drops of thy sorrow, and killed the desperate opinion I had of thy reclaim. 133

_Qu._ O, sir, I am not worthy to see your worshipful face!

_Pe._ Forgive me, father.

_To._ Speak no more; all former passages are forgotten; and here my word shall release you. Thank this worthy brother, and kind friend, Francis.--Master Wolf, I am their bail.

[_A shout in the prison._

_Sec._ Master Touchstone! Master Touchstone!

_To._ Who's that?

_Wo._ Security, sir.

_Sec._ Pray you, sir, if you'll be won with a song, hear my lamentable tune too! 144

SONG.

O Master Touchstone, My heart is full of woe; Alas, I am a cuckold! And why should it be so? Because I was a usurer And bawd, as all you know, 150 For which, again I tell you, My heart is full of woe.

_To._ Bring him forth, Master Wolf, and release his bands. This day shall be sacred to mercy and the mirth of this encounter in the Counter. See, we are encountered with more suitors!

_Enter_ Mistress TOUCHSTONE, GERTRUDE, MILDRED, SINDEFY, WINIFRED, _&c._

Save your breath, save your breath! All things have succeeded to your wishes: and we are heartily satisfied in their events.

_Ge._ Ah, runaway, runaway! have I caught you? And how has my poor knight done all this while? 161

_Pe._ Dear lady-wife, forgive me!

_Ge._ As heartily as I would be forgiven, knight. Dear father, give me your blessing, and forgive me too; I ha' been proud and lascivious, father; and a fool, father; and being raised to the state of a wanton coy thing, called a lady, father; have scorned you, father, and my sister, and my sister's velvet cap too; and would make a mouth at the city as I rid through it; and stop mine ears at Bow-bell. I have said your beard was a base one, father; and that you looked like Twierpipe the taberer; and that my mother was but my midwife. 172

_Mist. T._ Now, God forgi' you, child madam!

_To._ No more repetitions. What else is wanting to make our harmony full?

_Go._ Only this, sir, that my fellow Francis make amends to Mistress Sindefy with marriage.

_Qu._ With all my heart.

_Go._ And Security give her a dower, which shall be all the restitution he shall make of that huge mass he hath so unlawfully gotten. 181

_To._ Excellently devised! a good motion![124] What says Master Security?

_Sec._ I say anything, sir, what you'll ha' me say. Would I were no cuckold!

_Wi._ Cuckold, husband? Why, I think this wearing of yellow[125] has infected you. 187

_To._ Why, Master Security, that should rather be a comfort to you than a corasive. If you be a cuckold, it's an argument you have a beautiful woman to your wife; then you shall be much made of; you shall have store of friends, never want money; you shall be eased of much o' your wedlock pain, others will take it for you. Besides, you being a usurer (and likely to go to hell), the devils will never torment you: they'll take you for one o' their own race. Again, if you be a cuckold, and know it not, you are an innocent; if you know it and endure it, a true martyr. 198

_Sec._ I am resolved, sir. Come hither, Winny.

_To._ Well, then, all are pleased, or shall be anon. Master Wolf, you look hungry, methinks; have you no apparel to lend Francis to shift him?

_Qu._ No, sir, nor I desire none; but here make it my suit, that I may go home through the streets in these, as a spectacle, or rather an example to the children of Cheapside.

_To._ Thou hast thy wish. Now, London, look about, And in this moral see thy glass run out: Behold the careful father, thrifty son, The solemn deeds which each of us have done; 210 The usurer punish'd, and from fall so steep The prodigal child reclaim'd, and the lost sheep.

[121] Old ed. "_Enter_ QUICKSILVER, Sir PETRONEL, _&c._"

[122] There was entered in the Stationers' Books, on 7th November 1576, "A woeful Ballad made by Mr. George Mannynton, an houre before he suffered at Cambridge-castell." The ballad is printed in Ritson's _Ancient Songs and Ballads_ (ed. 1877), pp. 188-191. It begins:-- "I wayle in woe, I plundge in payne, With sorrowing sobbes I do complayne, With wallowing waves I wishe to dye, I languish sore here as I lye," &c.

[123] "The black ox trod o' my foot"--a proverbial expression, meaning "trouble came upon me."

[124] Proposition.

[125] The colour of (1) jealousy, (2) Security's prison-dress.

EPILOGUS.

[_Qu._] Stay, sir, I perceive the multitude are gather'd together to view our coming out at the Counter. See if the streets and the Fronts of the Houses be not thick with people, and the windows fill'd with ladies as on the solemn day of the pageant! O may you find in this our pageant here The same contentment which you came to seek, And as that show but draws you once a year 220 May this attract you hither once a week.

[_Exeunt omnes._

THE INSATIATE COUNTESS.

_The Insatiate Countesse. A Tragedie: Acted at White-Fryers. Written By Iohn Marston. London: Printed by T. S. for Thomas Archer, and are to be sold at his Shop in Popes-head-Pallace, neere the Royall-Exchange._ 1613. 4to.

_The Insatiate Countesse. A Tragedie: Acted at White-Fryers. Written By Iohn Marston. London, Printed by I. N. for Hugh Perrie, and are to be sould at his shop, at the signe of the Harrow in Brittaines-burse._ 1631. 4to.

STORY OF THE PLAY.

Isabella, Countess of Suevia, being left a widow, proceeds with indecent haste to take a second husband, Roberto, Count of Cyprus. At a masqued dance given by the bridegroom's friends on the day of the wedding, Isabella falls in love with one of the masquers, whom she discovers to be the Count of Massino [Messina?]. She sends him a letter in which she proffers her love and summons him to her presence. With her paramour she flies to Pavia, where she meets Massino's friend Gniaca, Count of Gaza or Gazia [Gaeta?]. The Insatiate Countess immediately falls in love with Gniaca, who--though at first unwilling to wrong his friend--quickly yields to her blandishments. Returning from a hunting expedition Massino is denied admittance by Isabella. He gives vent to his indignation by penning bitter satirical verses, in which he proclaims to the world her inordinate lust. Enraged at this exposure, Isabella incites Gniaca to slay Massino. An encounter ensues between Gniaca and Massino, but after a few passes the combatants put up their weapons, hold a friendly colloquy, and part in peace. Isabella is furious and resolves to destroy both Gniaca and Massino. She employs the services of a Spanish colonel, Don Sago, who at first sight of her has been violently inflamed with passion. The colonel shoots Massino dead, is arrested, and, being brought before the Duke of Medina, makes full confession. Isabella is condemned to be beheaded. At the place of execution a strange friar requests that he may have private speech with her. The friar is Count Roberto, who has come to pronounce forgiveness, and bid a last farewell, to his erring wife.

There is also an underplot to the play. Rogero and Claridiana, between whom an hereditary feud exists, celebrate their marriage on the same day. As they return from the church an altercation arises between the bridegrooms, but by the intervention of friends they are at length induced to declare that they will lay aside their hatred. These professions are marked with little sincerity, for the new-made friends are intent upon cornuting one another. The wives, who are excellent friends, take counsel together and devise a scheme by which the husbands, while taking their lawful pleasure, imagine that they are tasting the sweets of adultery. Claridiana, announcing that he has gone to his farm in the country, repairs by appointment to the house of Rogero, where, under the impression that he is enjoying Rogero's wife Thais, he lies with his own wife Abigail; and Rogero, under Claridiana's roof lies with Thais in the belief that he is clipping Abigail. While these night-sports are in progress, Mendoza, nephew of the Duke Amago, holds a clandestine interview with the widowed Lady Lentulus. As he is mounting to her chamber, the rope-ladder breaks. Injured by the fall, he drags himself some distance from the house to a spot where he is discovered by the watch. It is supposed that he has met with foul play; a search is instituted; Rogero is discovered by the watch in the house of Claridiana, and Claridiana in the house of Rogero. Charged before the Duke Amago with the murder of Mendoza they declare themselves guilty--preferring to be hanged as murderers rather than to be derided as cuckolds. Mendoza, recovering from the effects of his fall, asserts (in order to save the honour of the Lady Lentulus) that he met his injuries in trying to steal some jewels from her house. The Duke, who is in a maze of wonder at the strange statements and confessions, condemns the three prisoners to be executed, hoping by this means to extort from them the truth. On the day fixed for the execution Thais and Abigail make an explanation to the Duke; and their husbands--finding that they have not been cuckolded--are glad to spare the hangman his labour. How Mendoza fares is not stated.

_DRAMATIS PERSONÆ_.[126]

AMAGO, _Duke of Venice_. DUKE OF MEDINA. ROBERTO, _Count of Cyprus_. Count MASSINO. GUIDO, _Count of Arsena_. GNIACA, _Count of Gazia_. MENDOZA FOSCARI, _nephew to_ AMAGO. Signior MIZALDUS. CLARIDIANA. ROGERO. DON SAGO, _a Spanish Colonel_. Cardinal.

ISABELLA, _the Insatiate Countess_. Lady LENTULUS, _a widow_. ABIGAIL, _wife to_ CLARIDIANA. THAIS, _wife to_ ROGERO. ANNA, _waiting-woman to_ ISABELLA. Senators, captain, lieutenant, soldiers, messenger, executioner, &c.

SCENE--VENICE AND PAVIA.

[126] There is no list of characters in the old editions.

THE INSATIATE COUNTESS.