James Cabell: The Jewel Merchants. A Comedy in One Act

This much being granted—and confessed,—we let the play begin.

Dumbarton Grange, June, 1921

["Alessandro de Medici is generally styled by the Italian authors the first duke of Florence; but in this they are not strictly accurate. His title of duke was derived from Città, or Cività di Penna, and had been assumed by him several years before he obtained the direction of the Florentine state. It must also be observed, that, after the evasion of Eglamore, Duke Alessandro did not, as Robertson observes, 'enjoy the same absolute dominion as his family have retained to the present times,' (Hist. Charles V. book v.) he being only declared chief or prince of the republic, and his authority being in some measure counteracted or restrained by two councils chosen from the citizens, for life, one of which consisted of forty-eight, and the other of two hundred members. (Varchi, Storia Fior. p. 497: Nerli, Com. lib. xi. pp. 257, 264.)"]

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Originally produced by the Little Theatre League of Richmond, Virginia, at the Binford High School Auditorium, 22 February, 1921.

Original Cast

GRACIOSA………………………Elinor Fry

Daughter of Balthazar Valori

GUIDO……………………Roderick Maybee

A jewel merchant

ALESSANDRO DE MEDICI………Francis F. Bierne

Duke of Florence

Produced under the direction of Louise Burleigh.

The play begins with the sound of a woman's voice singing a song (adapted from Rossetti's version) which is delivered to the accompaniment of a lute.

SONG:

As the singing ends, the curtain rises upon a corner of Balthazar Valori's garden near the northern border of Tuscany. The garden is walled. There is a shrine in the wall: the tortured figure upon the crucifix is conspicuous. To the right stands a rather high-backed stone bench: by mounting from the seat to the top of the bench it is possible to scale the wall. To the left a crimson pennant on a pole shows against the sky. The period is 1533, and a few miles southward the Florentines, after three years of formally recognizing Jesus Christ as the sole lord and king of Florence, have lately altered matters as profoundly as was possible by electing Alessandro de Medici to be their Duke.

GRACIOSA is seated upon the bench, with a lute. The girl is, to our modern taste, very quaintly dressed in gold-colored satin, with a short tight bodice, cut square and low at the neck, and with long full skirts. When she stands erect, her preposterous "flowing" sleeves, lined with sky blue, reach to the ground. Her blonde hair, of which she has a great deal, is braided, in the intricate early sixteenth fashion, under a jeweled cap and a veil the exact color of this hair.

There is a call. Smiling, GRACIOSA answers this call by striking her lute. She pats straight her hair and gown, and puts aside the instrument. GUIDO appears at the top of the wall. All you can see of the handsome young fellow, in this posture, is that he wears a green skull-cap and a dark blue smock, the slashed sleeves of which are lined with green.

GUIDO Ah, madonna….

GRACIOSAWelcome, Ser Guido. Your journey has been brief.

GUIDOIt has not seemed brief to me.

GRACIOSAWhy, it was only three days ago you told me it would be a fortnight before you came this way again.

GUIDOYes, but I did not then know that each day spent apart from you, Madonna Graciosa, would be a century in passing.

GRACIOSADear me, but your search must have been desperate!

GUIDO( Who speaks, as almost always hereinafter, with sober enjoyment of the fact that he is stating the exact truth unintelligibly. ) Yes, my search is desperate.

GRACIOSADid you find gems worthy of your search?

GUIDOVery certainly, since at my journey's end I find Madonna Graciosa, the chief jewel of Tuscany.

GRACIOSASuch compliments, Guido, make your speech less like a merchant's than a courtier's.

GUIDOAh, well, to balance that, you will presently find courtiers in Florence who will barter for you like merchants. May I descend?

GRACIOSAYes, if you have something of interest to show me.

GUIDOAm I to be welcomed merely for the sake of my gems? You were more gracious, you were more beautifully like your lovely name, on the fortunate day that I first encountered you … only six weeks ago, and only yonder, where the path crosses the highway. But now that I esteem myself your friend, you greet me like a stranger. You do not even invite me into your garden. I much prefer the manner in which you told me the way to the inn when I was an unknown passer-by. And yet your pennant promised greeting.

GRACIOSA( With the smile of an exceptionally candid angel. ) Ah, Guido, I flew it the very minute the boy from the inn brought me your message!

GUIDONow, there is the greeting I had hoped for! But how do you escape your father's watch so easily?

GRACIOSAMy father has no need to watch me in this lonely hill castle. Ever since I can remember I have wandered at will in the forest. My father knows that to me every path is as familiar as one of the corridors in his house; and in no one of them did I ever meet anybody except charcoal-burners, and sometimes a nun from the convent, and—oh, yes!—you. But descend, friend Guido.

Thus encouraged, GUIDO descends from the top of the wall to the top of the bench, and thence, via its seat, to the ground. You are thereby enabled to discover that his nether portions are clad in dark blue tights and soft leather shoes with pointed turned-up toes. It is also noticeable that he carries a jewel pack of purple, which, when opened, reveals an orange lining.

GUIDO( With as much irony as the pleasure he takes in being again with this dear child permits. ) That "Oh, yes, you!" is a very fitting reward for my devotion. For I find that nowadays I travel about the kingdom buying jewels less for my patrons at court than for the pleasure of having your eyes appraise them, and smile at me.

GRACIOSA( With the condescension of a great lady. ) Guido, you have in point of fact been very kind to me, and very amusing, too, in my loneliness on the top of this hill. ( Drawing back the sleeve from her left arm, she reveals the trinket there. ) See, here is the turquoise bracelet I had from you the second time you passed. I wear it always—secretly.

GUIDOThat is wise, for the turquoise is a talisman. They say that the woman who wears a turquoise is thereby assured of marrying the person whom she prefers.

GRACIOSAI do not know about that, nor do I expect to have much choice as to what rich nobleman marries me, but I know that I love this bracelet—

GUIDOIn fact, they are handsome stones.