"TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE. ACT I. SCENE I. Friar BONAVENTURA'S Cell. Enter FRIAR and GIOVANNI. Friar. DISPUTE no more in this; for know, young man, These are no school points; nice philosophy But Heaven admits no jest: wits that presumed No more! I may not hear it. Gio. Gentle father, To you I have unclasp'd my burden'd soul, Emptied the storehouse of my thoughts and heart, 2 Fond.] i. e. idle, unprofitable. Far better 'tis.] The 4to. reads for.-Reed. K Made myself poor of secrets; have not left Gio. Must I not praise That beauty, which, if fram'd anew, the gods Gio. Shall a peevish' sound, A customary form, from man to man, One soul, one flesh, one love, one heart, one all? lost. Gio. Shall, then, for that I am her brother born, My joys be ever banished from her bed? No, father; in your eyes I see the change 3 Peevish.] Weak, trifling, unimportant. See Mass., vol. i. p. 71. The life of counsel: tell me, holy man, What cure shall give me ease in these extremes? Friar. Repentance, son, and sorrow for this sin: For thou hast mov'd a Majesty above, With thy unranged (almost) blasphemy. Gio. O do not speak of that, dear confessor. Friar. Art thou, my son, that miracle of wit, Who once, within these three months, wert esteem'd A wonder of thine age, throughout Bononia? Thy government, behaviour, learning, speech, Of knowledge, to converse with lust and death? For death waits on thy lust. Look through the world, And thou shalt see a thousand faces shine More glorious than this idol thou ador'st: Leave her, and take thy choice, 'tis much less sin; Though in such games as those, they lose that win. 40 Giovanni!] Our old dramatists appear to have learned Italian entirely from books; few, if any, of them pronounce it correctly. Giovanni is here used by Ford as a quadrisyllable, as it was by Massinger and others of his contemporaries. Gio. It were more ease to stop the ocean From floats and ebbs, than to dissuade my vows. Friar. Then I have done, and in thy wilful flames Already see thy ruin; Heaven is just. Yet hear my counsel. Gio. As a voice of life. Friar. Hie to thy father's house, there lock thee fast Alone within thy chamber; then fall down ⚫ 5 It is observed by Langbaine, that the loves of Giovanni and Annabella are painted in too beautiful colours: this, though it may impeach the writer's taste in selecting such a subject, is yet complimentary to his judgment in treating it. What but the most glowing diction, the most exquisite harmony of versification, could hope to allure the reader through the dreadful display of vice and misery which lay before him! With respect to the scene which SCENE II.. The Street, before FLORIO's House, Enter GRIMALDI and VASQUES, with their Swords drawn. Vas. Come, sir, stand to your tackling; if you prove craven, I'll make you run quickly. Grim. Thou art no equal match for me. Vas. Indeed I never went to the wars to bring home news; nor I cannot play the mountebank for a meal's meat, and swear I got my wounds in the field. See you these grey hairs? they'll not flinch for a bloody nose. Wilt thou to this gear? Grim. Why, slave, think'st thou I'll balance my reputation with a cast-suit? Call thy master, he shall know that I dare Vas. Scold like a cot-quean;—that's your profession. Thou poor shadow of a soldier, I will make thee know my master keeps servants, thy betters in quality and performance. Com'st thou to fight or prate? Grim. Neither, with thee. I am a Roman and has just past, it is replete with excellence as a composition; it may be doubted, however, whether it does not let us somewhat too abruptly into the plot, which, from its revolting nature, should have been more gradually opened. The character of the Friar is artfully drawn; pious, but gentle, irresolute, and, to speak tenderly, strangely indulgent; and thus we are prepared for his subsequent conduct, which involves the fate of his young charge. Scold like a cot-quean.] A contemptuous term for one who concerns himself with female affairs; an effeminate meddler. |