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Fiction > Harvard Classics > John Webster > The Duchess of Malfi
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CONTENTS · BOOK CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD · DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
John Webster (1580?–1634). The Duchess of Malfi.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Act II
Scene I
[Enter] BOSOLA and CASTRUCCIO 1
BOS. You say you would fain be taken for an eminent courtier?
CAST. ’Tis the very main 2 of my ambition.
BOS. Let me see: you have a reasonable good face for ’t already, and your night-cap expresses your ears sufficient largely. I would have you learn to twirl the strings of your band with a good grace, and in a set speech, at th’ end of every sentence, to hum three or four times, or blow your nose till it smart again, to recover your memory. When you come to be a president in criminal causes, if you smile upon a prisoner, hang him; but if you frown upon him and threaten him, let him be sure to scape the gallows.
CAST. I would be a very merry president. 4
BOS. Do not sup o’ nights; ’twill beget you an admirable wit.
CAST. Rather it would make me have a good stomach to quarrel; for they say, your roaring boys eat meat seldom, and that makes them so valiant. But how shall I know whether the people take me for an eminent fellow?
BOS. I will teach a trick to know it: give out you lie a-dying, and if you hear the common people curse you, be sure you are taken for one of the prime night