Digital Renaissance Editions

About this text

  • Title: The Honest Whore, Part 1 (Modern)
  • Editor: Joost Daalder
  • ISBN: 978-1-55058-490-5

    Copyright Digital Renaissance Editions. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Authors: Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton
    Editor: Joost Daalder
    Peer Reviewed

    The Honest Whore, Part 1 (Modern)

    423.1[1.4]
    Enter Castruccio, Pioratto, and Fluello.
    425Castruccio
    Signor Pioratto, Signor Fluello, shall始s be merry? Shall始s play the wags now?
    Fluello
    Ay, anything that may beget the child of laughter.
    Castruccio
    Truth, I have a pretty sportive conceit new crept into my brain will move excellent mirth.
    430Pioratto
    Let始s ha始t, let始s ha始t; and where shall the scene of mirth lie?
    Castruccio
    At Signor Candido始s house, the patient man – nay, the monstrous patient man. They say his blood is immovable, that he has taken all patience from a man, and all constancy from a woman.
    435Fluello
    That makes so many whores nowadays.
    Castruccio
    Ay, and so many knaves too.
    Pioratto
    Well, sir.
    Castruccio
    To conclude, the report goes he始s so mild, so affable, so suffering, that nothing indeed can move him. Now, do 440but think what sport it will be to make this fellow, the mirror of patience, as angry, as vexed, and as mad as an English cuckold.
    Fluello
    O, 始twere admirable mirth, that! But how will始t be done, signor?
    445Castruccio
    Let me alone; I have a trick, a conceit, a thing, a device will sting him, i始faith, if he have but a thimbleful of blood in始s belly, or a spleen not so big as a tavern-token.
    Pioratto
    Thou stir him? Thou move him? Thou anger him? Alas, I know his approved temper. Thou vex him? Why, he 450has a patience above man始s injuries. Thou mayst sooner raise a spleen in an angel than rough humour in him. Why, I始ll give you instance for it. This wonderfully tempered Signor Candido upon a time invited home to his house certain Neapolitan lords of curious taste and no mean palates, conjuring his wife, 455of all loves, to prepare cheer fitting for such honourable trencher-men. She – just of a woman始s nature, covetous to try the uttermost of vexation, and thinking at last to get the start of his humour – willingly neglected the preparation, and became unfurnished not only of dainty but of ordinary dishes. He, 460according to the mildness of his breast, entertained the lords and with courtly discourse beguiled the time, as much as a citizen might do. To conclude, they were hungry lords, for there came no meat in; their stomachs were plainly gulled and their teeth deluded, and, if anger could have seized a man, 465there was matter enough, i始faith, to vex any citizen in the world, if he were not too much made a fool by his wife.
    Fluello
    Ay, I始ll swear for始t. 始Sfoot, had it been my case, I should ha始 played mad tricks with my wife and family. First, I would ha始 spitted the men, stewed the maids, and baked the mistress, 470and so served them in.
    Pioratto
    [To Castruccio] Why, 始twould ha始 tempted any blood but his;
    And thou to vex him? Thou to anger him
    With some poor shallow jest?
    Castruccio
    始Sblood, Signor Pioratto, you that disparage my 475conceit, I始ll wage a hundred ducats upon the head on始t that it moves him, frets him, and galls him.
    Pioratto
    Done, 始tis a lay. Join golls on始t. – Witness, Signor Fluello.
    Castruccio
    Witness; 始tis done. [They shake hands on it.]
    Come, follow me. The house is not far off.
    480I始ll thrust him from his humour, vex his breast,
    And win a hundred ducats by one jest.
    Exeunt.