Knowledge house - Oscar Wilde - The Complete Works

Stiffens their limbs, and fevers come, and so——

duke

And so they go to Abraham’s bosom, Madam.

They should thank me for sending them to Heaven,

·43· If they are wretched here.

[ To the Cardinal .]

Is it not said

Somewhere in Holy Writ, that every man

Should be contented with that state of life

God calls him to? Why should I change their state,

Or meddle with an all-wise providence,

Which has apportioned that some men should starve,

And others surfeit? I did not make the world.

first citizen

He hath a hard heart.

second citizen

Nay, be silent, neighbour;

I think the Cardinal will speak for us.

cardinal

True, it is Christian to bear misery,

Yet it is Christian also to be kind,

And there seem many evils in this town,

Which in your wisdom might your Grace reform.

·44· first citizen

What is that word reform? What does it mean?

second citizen

Marry, it means leaving things as they are; I like it not.

duke

Reform, Lord Cardinal, did you say reform?

There is a man in Germany called Luther,

Who would reform the Holy Catholic Church.

Have you not made him heretic, and uttered

Anathema, maranatha, against him?

cardinal [ rising from his seat ]

He would have led the sheep out of the fold,

We do but ask of you to feed the sheep.

duke

When I have shorn their fleeces I may feed them.

As for these rebels——

[ Duchess entreats him .]

first citizen

That is a kind word,

He means to give us something.

·45· second citizen

Is that so?

duke

These ragged knaves who come before us here,

With mouths chock-full of treason.

third citizen

Good my Lord,

Fill up our mouths with bread; we’ll hold our tongues.

duke

Ye shall hold your tongues, whether you starve or not.

My lords, this age is so familiar grown,

That the low peasant hardly doffs his hat,

Unless you beat him; and the raw mechanic

Elbows the noble in the public streets.

[ To the Citizens .]

Still as our gentle Duchess has so prayed us,

And to refuse so beautiful a beggar

Were to lack both courtesy and love,

Touching your grievances, I promise this——

first citizen

Marry, he will lighten the taxes!

·46· second citizen

Or a dole of bread, think you, for each man?

duke

That, on next Sunday, the Lord Cardinal

Shall, after Holy Mass, preach you a sermon

Upon the Beauty of Obedience.

[ Citizens murmur .]

first citizen

I’ faith, that will not fill our stomachs!

second citizen

A sermon is but a sorry sauce, when

You have nothing to eat with it.

duchess

Poor people,

You see I have no power with the Duke,

But if you go into the court without,

My almoner shall from my private purse,

Divide a hundred ducats ’mongst you all.

first citizen

God save the Duchess, say I.

second citizen

God save her.

·47· duchess

And every Monday morn shall bread be set

For those who lack it.

[ Citizens applaud and go out .]

first citizen [ going out ]

Why, God save the Duchess again!

duke [ calling him back ]

Come hither, fellow! what is your name?

first citizen

Dominick, sir.

duke

A good name! Why were you called Dominick?

first citizen [ scratching his head ]

Marry, because I was born on St. George’s day.

duke

A good reason! here is a ducat for you!

Will you not cry for me God save the Duke?

first citizen [ feebly ]

God save the Duke.

duke

Nay! louder, fellow, louder.

·48· first citizen [ a little louder ]

God save the Duke!

duke

More lustily, fellow, put more heart in it!

Here is another ducat for you.

first citizen [ enthusiastically ]

God save the Duke!

duke [ mockingly ]

Why, gentlemen, this simple fellow’s love

Touches me much. [ To the Citizen, harshly .]

Go! [ Exit Citizen, bowing .]

This is the way, my lords,

You can buy popularity nowadays.

Oh, we are nothing if not democratic!

[ To the Duchess .]

Well, Madam,

You spread rebellion ’midst our citizens.

duchess

My Lord, the poor have rights you cannot touch,

The right to pity, and the right to mercy.

duke

So, so, you argue with me? This is she,

·49· The gentle Duchess for whose hand I yielded

Three of the fairest towns in Italy,

Pisa, and Genoa, and Orvieto.

duchess

Promised, my Lord, not yielded: in that matter

Brake you your word as ever.

duke

You wrong us, Madam,

There were state reasons.

duchess

What state reasons are there

For breaking holy promises to a state?

duke

There are wild boars at Pisa in a forest

Close to the city: when I promised Pisa

Unto your noble and most trusting father,

I had forgotten there was hunting there.

At Genoa they say,

Indeed I doubt them not, that the red mullet

Runs larger in the harbour of that town

Than anywhere in Italy.

[ Turning to one of the Court .]

·50· You, my lord,

Whose gluttonous appetite is your only god,

Could satisfy our Duchess on that point.

duchess

And Orvieto?

duke [ yawning ]

I cannot now recall

Why I did not surrender Orvieto

According to the word of my contract.

Maybe it was because I did not choose.

[ Goes over to the Duchess .]

Why look you, Madam, you are here alone;

’Tis many a dusty league to your grey France,

And even there your father barely keeps

A hundred ragged squires for his Court.

What hope have you, I say? Which of these lords

And noble gentlemen of Padua

Stands by your side.

duchess

There is not one.

[ Guido starts, but restrains himself .]

duke

Nor shall be,

·51· While I am Duke in Padua: listen, Madam,

Being mine own, you shall do as I will,

And if it be my will you keep the house,

Why then, this palace shall your prison be;

And if it be my will you walk abroad,

Why, you shall take the air from morn to night.

duchess

Sir, by what right——?

duke

Madam, my second Duchess

Asked the same question once: her monument

Lies in the chapel of Bartholomew,

Wrought in red marble; very beautiful.

Guido, your arm. Come, gentlemen, let us go

And spur our falcons for the mid-day chase.

Bethink you, Madam, you are here alone.

[ Exit the Duke leaning on Guido, with his Court .]

duchess [ looking after them ]

The Duke said rightly that I was alone;

Deserted, and dishonoured, and defamed,

Stood ever woman so alone indeed?

Men when they woo us call us pretty children,

Tell us we have not wit to make our lives,

·52· And so they mar them for us. Did I say woo?

We are their chattels, and their common slaves,

Less dear than the poor hound that licks their hand,

Less fondled than the hawk upon their wrist.

Woo, did I say? bought rather, sold and bartered,

Our very bodies being merchandise.

I know it is the general lot of women,

Each miserably mated to some man

Wrecks her own life upon his selfishness:

That it is general makes it not less bitter.

I think I never heard a woman laugh,