CARDINAL. Shall our blood, The royal blood of Arragon and Castile, Be thus attainted?
FERDINAND. Apply desperate physic: We must not now use balsamum, but fire, The smarting cupping-glass, for that 's the mean To purge infected blood, such blood as hers. There is a kind of pity in mine eye,-- I 'll give it to my handkercher; and now 'tis here, I 'll bequeath this to her bastard.
CARDINAL. What to do?
FERDINAND. Why, to make soft lint for his mother's wounds, When I have hew'd her to pieces.
CARDINAL. Curs'd creature! Unequal nature, to place women's hearts So far upon the left side!<69>
FERDINAND. Foolish men, That e'er will trust their honour in a bark Made of so slight weak bulrush as is woman, Apt every minute to sink it!
CARDINAL. Thus ignorance, when it hath purchas'd honour, It cannot wield it.
FERDINAND. Methinks I see her laughing,-- Excellent hyena! Talk to me somewhat quickly, Or my imagination will carry me To see her in the shameful act of sin.
CARDINAL. With whom?
FERDINAND. Happily with some strong-thigh'd bargeman, Or one o' th' wood-yard that can quoit the sledge<70> Or toss the bar, or else some lovely squire That carries coals up to her privy lodgings.
CARDINAL. You fly beyond your reason.
FERDINAND. Go to, mistress! 'Tis not your whore's milk that shall quench my wild-fire, But your whore's blood.
CARDINAL. How idly shows this rage, which carries you, As men convey'd by witches through the air, On violent whirlwinds! This intemperate noise Fitly resembles deaf men's shrill discourse, Who talk aloud, thinking all other men To have their imperfection.
FERDINAND. Have not you My palsy?
CARDINAL. Yes, [but] I can be angry Without this rupture. There is not in nature A thing that makes man so deform'd, so beastly, As doth intemperate anger. Chide yourself. You have divers men who never yet express'd Their strong desire of rest but by unrest, By vexing of themselves. Come, put yourself In tune.
FERDINAND. So I will only study to seem The thing I am not. I could kill her now, In you, or in myself; for I do think It is some sin in us heaven doth revenge By her.
CARDINAL. Are you stark mad?
FERDINAND. I would have their bodies Burnt in a coal-pit with the ventage stopp'd, That their curs'd smoke might not ascend to heaven; Or dip the sheets they lie in in pitch or sulphur, Wrap them in 't, and then light them like a match; Or else to-boil<71> their bastard to a cullis, And give 't his lecherous father to renew The sin of his back.
CARDINAL. I 'll leave you.
FERDINAND. Nay, I have done. I am confident, had I been damn'd in hell, And should have heard of this, it would have put me Into a cold sweat. In, in; I 'll go sleep. Till I know who [loves] my sister, I 'll not stir: That known, I 'll find scorpions to string my whips, And fix her in a general eclipse. Exeunt.
Act III
Scene I<72>
[Enter] ANTONIO and DELIO
ANTONIO. Our noble friend, my most beloved Delio! O, you have been a stranger long at court: Came you along with the Lord Ferdinand?
DELIO. I did, sir: and how fares your noble duchess?
ANTONIO. Right fortunately well: she 's an excellent Feeder of pedigrees; since you last saw her, She hath had two children more, a son and daughter.
DELIO. Methinks 'twas yesterday. Let me but wink, And not behold your face, which to mine eye Is somewhat leaner, verily I should dream It were within this half hour.
ANTONIO. You have not been in law, friend Delio, Nor in prison, nor a suitor at the court, Nor begg'd the reversion of some great man's place, Nor troubled with an old wife, which doth make Your time so insensibly hasten.
DELIO. Pray, sir, tell me, Hath not this news arriv'd yet to the ear Of the lord cardinal?
ANTONIO.