John Webster
The White Devil
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Table of contents
TO THE READER
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
TO THE READER
In
publishing this tragedy, I do but challenge myself that liberty,
which other men have taken before me; not that I affect praise by it,
for, nos hæc novimus esse nihil, only since it was acted in so dull
a time of winter, presented in so open and black a theatre, that it
wanted (that which is the only grace and setting-out of a tragedy) a
full and understanding auditory; and that since that time I have
noted, most of the people that come to that playhouse resemble those
ignorant asses (who, visiting stationers' shops, their use is not to
inquire for good books, but new books), I present it to the general
view with this confidence:Nec
rhoncos metues maligniorum, Nec
scombris tunicas dabis molestas.If
it be objected this is no true dramatic poem, I shall easily confess
it, non potes in nugas dicere plura meas, ipse ego quam dixi;
willingly, and not ignorantly, in this kind have I faulted: For
should a man present to such an auditory, the most sententious
tragedy that ever was written, observing all the critical laws as
height of style, and gravity of person, enrich it with the
sententious Chorus, and, as it were Life and Death, in the passionate
and weighty Nuntius: yet after all this divine rapture, O dura
messorum ilia, the breath that comes from the incapable multitude is
able to poison it; and, ere it be acted, let the author resolve to
fix to every scene this of Horace:
—Hæc
hodie porcis comedenda relinques.To
those who report I was a long time in finishing this tragedy, I
confess I do not write with a goose-quill winged with two feathers;
and if they will need make it my fault, I must answer them with that
of Euripides to Alcestides, a tragic writer: Alcestides objecting
that Euripides had only, in three days composed three verses, whereas
himself had written three hundred: Thou tallest truth (quoth he), but
here 's the difference, thine shall only be read for three days,
whereas mine shall continue for three ages.Detraction
is the sworn friend to ignorance: for mine own part, I have ever
truly cherished my good opinion of other men's worthy labours,
especially of that full and heightened style of Mr. Chapman, the
laboured and understanding works of Mr. Johnson, the no less worthy
composures of the both worthily excellent Mr. Beaumont and Mr.
Fletcher; and lastly (without wrong last to be named), the right
happy and copious industry of Mr. Shakespeare, Mr. Dekker, and Mr.
Heywood, wishing what I write may be read by their light: protesting
that, in the strength of mine own judgment, I know them so worthy,
that though I rest silent in my own work, yet to most of theirs I
dare (without flattery) fix that of Martial:
—non
norunt hæc monumenta mori.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
MONTICELSO,
a Cardinal; afterwards Pope PAUL the Fourth.FRANCISCO
DE MEDICIS, Duke of Florence; in the 5th Act disguised for a Moor,
under the name of MULINASSAR.BRACHIANO,
otherwise PAULO GIORDANO URSINI, Duke of Brachiano, Husband to
ISABELLA, and in love with VITTORIA.GIOVANNI—his
Son by ISABELLA.LODOVICO,
an Italian Count, but decayed.ANTONELLI,
| his Friends, and Dependants of the Duke of Florence.GASPARO,
|CAMILLO, Husband
to VITTORIA.HORTENSIO,
one of BRACHIANO's Officers.MARCELLO,
an Attendant of the Duke of Florence, and Brother to
VITTORIA.FLAMINEO,
his Brother; Secretary to BRACHIANO.JACQUES,
a Moor, Servant to GIOVANNI.ISABELLA,
Sister to FRANCISCO DE MEDICI, and Wife to BRACHIANO.VITTORIA
COROMBONA, a Venetian Lady; first married to CAMILLO,
afterwards to
BRACHIANO.CORNELIA,
Mother to VITTORIA, FLAMINEO, and MARCELLO.ZANCHE,
a Moor, Servant to VITTORIA.Ambassadors,
Courtiers, Lawyers, Officers, Physicians, Conjurer, Armourer,
Attendants.THE
SCENE—ITALY
ACT I
SCENE
IEnter
Count Lodovico, Antonelli, and GasparoLodo.
Banish'd!Ant.
It griev'd me much to hear the sentence.Lodo.
Ha, ha, O Democritus, thy gods That
govern the whole world! courtly reward And
punishment. Fortune 's a right whore: If
she give aught, she deals it in small parcels, That
she may take away all at one swoop.
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!