he doth owe.
  Last, for this brother there, the cardinal,
  They that do flatter him most say oracles
  Hang at his lips; and verily I believe them,
  For the devil speaks in them.
  But for their sister, the right noble duchess,
  You never fix'd your eye on three fair medals
  Cast in one figure, of so different temper.
  For her discourse, it is so full of rapture,
  You only will begin then to be sorry
  When she doth end her speech, and wish, in wonder,
  She held it less vain-glory to talk much,
  Than your penance to hear her.  Whilst she speaks,
  She throws upon a man so sweet a look
  That it were able to raise one to a galliard.[10]  That lay in a dead palsy, and to dote
  On that sweet countenance; but in that look
  There speaketh so divine a continence
  As cuts off all lascivious and vain hope.
  Her days are practis'd in such noble virtue,
  That sure her nights, nay, more, her very sleeps,
  Are more in heaven than other ladies' shrifts.
  Let all sweet ladies break their flatt'ring glasses,
  And dress themselves in her.

  DELIO.                        Fie, Antonio,
  You play the wire-drawer with her commendations.

  ANTONIO.  I 'll case the picture up:  only thus much;
  All her particular worth grows to this sum,—
  She stains[11] the time past, lights the time to come.

  CARIOLA.  You must attend my lady in the gallery,
  Some half and hour hence.

  ANTONIO.                   I shall.
       [Exeunt ANTONIO and DELIO.]

  FERDINAND.  Sister, I have a suit to you.

  DUCHESS.                                   To me, sir?

  FERDINAND.  A gentleman here, Daniel de Bosola,
  One that was in the galleys——

  DUCHESS.                       Yes, I know him.

  FERDINAND.  A worthy fellow he is:  pray, let me entreat for
  The provisorship of your horse.

  DUCHESS.                         Your knowledge of him
  Commends him and prefers him.

  FERDINAND.                     Call him hither.
       [Exit Attendant.]
  We [are] now upon[12] parting.  Good Lord Silvio,
  Do us commend to all our noble friends
  At the leaguer.

  SILVIO.          Sir, I shall.

  [DUCHESS.]                      You are for Milan?

  SILVIO.  I am.

  DUCHESS.        Bring the caroches.[13]—We 'll bring you down
  To the haven.
       [Exeunt DUCHESS, SILVIO, CASTRUCCIO, RODERIGO, GRISOLAN,
       CARIOLA, JULIA, and Attendants.]

  CARDINAL.      Be sure you entertain that Bosola
  For your intelligence.[14]  I would not be seen in 't;
  And therefore many times I have slighted him
  When he did court our furtherance, as this morning.

  FERDINAND.  Antonio, the great-master of her household,
  Had been far fitter.

  CARDINAL.             You are deceiv'd in him.
  His nature is too honest for such business.—
  He comes:  I 'll leave you.
       [Exit.]

       [Re-enter BOSOLA]

  BOSOLA.                      I was lur'd to you.

  FERDINAND.  My brother, here, the cardinal, could never
  Abide you.

  BOSOLA.     Never since he was in my debt.

  FERDINAND.  May be some oblique character in your face
  Made him suspect you.

  BOSOLA.                Doth he study physiognomy?
  There 's no more credit to be given to the face
  Than to a sick man's urine, which some call
  The physician's whore, because she cozens[15] him.
  He did suspect me wrongfully.

  FERDINAND.                     For that
  You must give great men leave to take their times.
  Distrust doth cause us seldom be deceiv'd.
  You see the oft shaking of the cedar-tree
  Fastens it more at root.

  BOSOLA.                   Yet take heed;
  For to suspect a friend unworthily
  Instructs him the next way to suspect you,
  And prompts him to deceive you.

  FERDINAND.                       There 's gold.

  BOSOLA.                                          So:
  What follows?  [Aside.] Never rain'd such showers as these
  Without thunderbolts i' the tail of them.—Whose throat must I cut?

  FERDINAND.  Your inclination to shed blood rides post
  Before my occasion to use you.  I give you that
  To live i' the court here, and observe the duchess;
  To note all the particulars of her haviour,
  What suitors do solicit her for marriage,
  And whom she best affects.  She 's a young widow:
  I would not have her marry again.

  BOSOLA.                            No, sir?

  FERDINAND.  Do not you ask the reason; but be satisfied.
  I say I would not.

  BOSOLA.             It seems you would create me
  One of your familiars.

  FERDINAND.              Familiar!  What 's that?

  BOSOLA.  Why, a very quaint invisible devil in flesh,—
  An intelligencer.[16]
  FERDINAND.          Such a kind of thriving thing
  I would wish thee; and ere long thou mayst arrive
  At a higher place by 't.

  BOSOLA.                   Take your devils,
  Which hell calls angels!  These curs'd gifts would make
  You a corrupter, me an impudent traitor;
  And should I take these, they'd take me [to] hell.

  FERDINAND.  Sir, I 'll take nothing from you that I have given.
  There is a place that I procur'd for you
  This morning, the provisorship o' the horse;
  Have you heard on 't?

  BOSOLA.                No.

  FERDINAND.                  'Tis yours:  is 't not worth thanks?

  BOSOLA.  I would have you curse yourself now, that your bounty
  (Which makes men truly noble) e'er should make me
  A villain.  O, that to avoid ingratitude
  For the good deed you have done me, I must do
  All the ill man can invent!  Thus the devil
  Candies all sins o'er; and what heaven terms vile,
  That names he complimental.

  FERDINAND.                   Be yourself;
  Keep your old garb of melancholy; 'twill express
  You envy those that stand