_Pier._ No? yes? nothing but _no_ and _yes_, dull lump? Canst thou not honey me with fluent speech, And even adore my topless villainy? Will I not blast my own blood for revenge, Must not thou straight be perjur'd for revenge, And yet no creature dream 'tis my revenge? Will I not turn a glorious bridal morn Unto a Stygian night? Yet naught but _no_ and _yes_! 90 _Str._ I would have told you, if the incubus[204] That rides your bosom would have patience, It is reported that in private state Maria, Genoa's duchess, makes to court, Longing to see him, whom she ne'er shall see, Her lord Andrugio. Belike she hath receiv'd The news of reconciliation. A[205] reconciliation with death! Poor lady! shall but find poor comfort in't. _Pier._ O, let me swoon for joy. By heaven, I think 100 I ha' said my prayers, within this month at least; I am so boundless happy. Doth she come? By this warm reeking gore, I'll marry her. Look I not now like an inamorate?[206] Poison the father, butcher the son, and marry the mother, ha! Strotzo, to bed: snort in securest sleep; For see, the dapple grey coursers of the morn Beat up the light with their bright silver hooves, And chase it through the sky.--To bed, to bed! This morn my vengeance shall be amply fed. [_Exeunt._ 110 [198] Old eds. "cloucht," which we might regard as a misprint for "coucht" if Marston had not shown an excessive fondness (ridiculed in _The Poetaster_) for the word "clutch." [199] Feeling, perception.--See Dyce's _Shakesp. Glossary_. [200] _Plunge_ often has the meaning of--difficulty, embarrassment. I suppose it has that meaning here. Piero is annoyed at having to speak fair words to so paltry a rascal as Strotzo. [201] Stroke gently, flatter.--A common name for a flatterer was _clawback._--"Flatant.--Flattering, fawning, colloguing with, _clawing_, smoothing, stroaking."--_Cotgrave._ [202] Old eds. "husht." [203] "Sinking thought" is a curious expression. It means, I suppose--deep discernment, penetrative shrewdness. Piero dreaded that his villainies would be detected by Feliche. [204] Marston's use of this word is ridiculed in _The Poetaster_ (v. 1). [205] Old eds. "Reconciliation with a death?" Metre and sense show that the article "a" has been misplaced by the printer. [206] So old eds. SCENE II. _Precincts of the palace of_ PIERO. _Enter_ LUCIO, MARIA, _and_ NUTRICHE. _Mar._ Stay, gentle Lucio, and vouchsafe thy hand. _Lu._ O, Madam----. _Mar._ Nay, prithee give me leave to say, vouchsafe; Submiss entreats beseem my humble fate. Here let us sit. O Lucio, fortune's gilt Is rubb'd quite off from my slight tin-foil'd state, And poor Maria must appear ungraced Of the bright fulgor of gloss'd majesty.