Marino Faliero Author:Algernon Charles Swinburne Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ACT II. Scene I.—An apartment in the ducal palace. Marino Faliero and the Duchess. Faliero. It does not please thee, then, if silence have Speech, and ... more »if thine speak true, to hear me praise Bertuccio ? Has my boy deserved of thee I11 ? or what ails thee when I praise him ? Duchess. How should it hurt me that you praise— Faliero. My son, Mine, more than once my brother's : how, indeed ? DUCHESS. Have I the keeping of your loves in charge To unseal or seal their utterance up, my lord ? . FALIERO. Again, thy lord ! I am lord of all save thee. Duchess. You are sire of all this people. FALIERO. Nay, by Christ, A bitter brood were mine then, and thyself Mismated worse than April were with snow Or January with harvest, being his bride Who bore so dire a charge of fatherhood. Thou, stepmother of Venice ? and this hand, That could not curb nor guide against its will A foot that fell but heavier than a dove's, What power were in it to hold obedience fast, Laid on the necks of lions ? DUCHESS. Why, men say The lion will stoop not save to ladies' hands, But such as mine may lead him. Faliero. Thine ? I think The very wolf would kiss and rend it not. Duchess. The very sea-wolf ? FALIERO. Verily, so meseems. DUCHESS. For so the strong sea-lion of Venice doth. FALIERO. This is a perilous beast whereof thou sayest So sweet a thing so far from like to be— A horrible and a fiend-faced shape, men call The lion of the waters. Duchess. But St. Mark Holds his in leash of love more fast, my lord, Than ever violence may. FALIERO. By heaven and him, Thy sweet wit's flight is even too fleet for me : No marvel though thy gentle scorn smite sore On weaker wits of younglings : yet I would, Being mor...« less