[_Another yell_.] Go, Petrucci, And tell the captain of the guard below To clear the square. Do you not hear me, sir? Do what I bid you. [_Exit_ PETRUCCI.] CARDINAL I beseech your Grace To listen to their grievances. DUKE [_sitting on his throne_] Ay! the peaches Are not so big this year as they were last. I crave your pardon, my lord Cardinal, I thought you spake of peaches. [_A cheer from the people_.] What is that? GUIDO [_rushes to the window_] The Duchess has gone forth into the square, And stands between the people and the guard, And will not let them shoot. DUKE The devil take her! GUIDO [_still at the window_] And followed by a dozen of the citizens Has come into the Palace. DUKE [_starting up_] By Saint James, Our Duchess waxes bold! BARDI Here comes the Duchess. DUKE Shut that door there; this morning air is cold. [_They close the door on the corridor_.] [_Enter the Duchess followed by a crowd of meanly dressed Citizens_.] DUCHESS [_flinging herself upon her knees_] I do beseech your Grace to give us audience. DUKE What are these grievances? DUCHESS Alas, my Lord, Such common things as neither you nor I, Nor any of these noble gentlemen, Have ever need at all to think about; They say the bread, the very bread they eat, Is made of sorry chaff. FIRST CITIZEN Ay! so it is, Nothing but chaff. DUKE And very good food too, I give it to my horses. DUCHESS [_restraining herself_] They say the water, Set in the public cisterns for their use, [Has, through the breaking of the aqueduct,] To stagnant pools and muddy puddles turned. DUKE They should drink wine; water is quite unwholesome. SECOND CITIZEN Alack, your Grace, the taxes which the customs Take at the city gate are grown so high We cannot buy wine. DUKE Then you should bless the taxes Which make you temperate. DUCHESS Think, while we sit In gorgeous pomp and state, gaunt poverty Creeps through their sunless lanes, and with sharp knives Cuts the warm throats of children stealthily And no word said. THIRD CITIZEN Ay! marry, that is true, My little son died yesternight from hunger; He was but six years old; I am so poor, I cannot bury him. DUKE If you are poor, Are you not blessed in that? Why, poverty Is one of the Christian virtues, [_Turns to the_ CARDINAL.] Is it not? I know, Lord Cardinal, you have great revenues, Rich abbey-lands, and tithes, and large estates For preaching voluntary poverty. DUCHESS