Volpone/Act V Scene IV
SCENE IV.
A Street.
Enter Corbaccio and Corvino.
Corb. They say, the court is set.
Corv. We must maintain
Our first tale good, for both our reputations.
Corb. Why, mine's no tale: my son would there have kill'd me.
Corv. That's true, I had forgot:—mine is, I'm sure. [Aside.
But for your Will, sir.
Corb. Ay, I'll come upon him
For that hereafter, now his patron's dead.
Enter Volpone.
Volp. Signior Corvino! and Corbaccio! sir,
Much joy unto you.
Corv. Of what?
Volp. The sudden good
Dropt down upon you——
Corb. Where?
Volp. And none knows how,
From old Volpone, sir.
Corb. Out, arrant knave!
Volp. Let not your too much wealth, sir, make you furious.
Corb. Away, thou varlet.[1]
Volp. Why, sir?
Corb. Dost thou mock me?
Volp. You mock the world, sir; did you not change Wills?
Corb. Out, harlot!
Volp. O! belike you are the man,
Signior Corvino? 'faith, you carry it well;
You grow not mad withal; I love your spirit:
You are not over-leaven'd with your fortune.
You should have some would swell now, like a wine-fat,
With such an autumn—Did he give you all, sir?
Corv. Avoid, you rascal!
Volp. Troth, your wife has shewn
Herself a very woman; but you are well,
You need not care, you have a good estate,
To bear it out, sir, better by this chance:
Except Corbaccio have a share.
Corb. Hence, varlet.
Volp. You will not be acknown, sir; why, 'tis wise.
Thus do all gamesters, at all games, dissemble:
No man will seem to win. [Exeunt Corvino and Corbaccio.]—Here comes my vulture,
Heaving his beak up in the air, and snuffing.
Enter Voltore.
Volt. Outstript thus, by a parasite! a slave,
Would run on errands, and make legs for crumbs
Well, what I'll do——
Volp. The court stays for your worship.
I e'en rejoice, sir, at your worship's happiness,
And that it fell into so learned hands,
That understand the fingering——
Volt. What do you mean?
Volp. I mean to be a suitor to your worship,
For the small tenement, out of reparations,
That, at the end of your long row of houses,
By the Piscaria: it was, in Volpone's time,
Your predecessor, ere he grew diseased,
A handsome, pretty, custom'd bawdy-house
As any was in Venice, none dispraised;
But fell with him: his body and that house
Decay'd together.
Volt. Come, sir, leave your prating.
Volp. Why, if your worship give me but your hand,
That I may have the refusal, I have done.
'Tis a mere toy to you, sir; candle-rents;
As your learn'd worship knows——
Volt. What do I know?
Volp. Marry, no end of your wealth, sir; God decrease it!
Volt. Mistaking knave! what, mock'st thou my misfortune? [Exit.
Volp. His blessing on your heart, sir; would 'twere more!——
Now to my first again, at the next corner. [Exit.
- ↑ Away, thou varlet.] This term, in Jonson's time, was commonly applied to serjeants at mace. (It should be recollected that Volpone is disguised like an officer of the court.) Originally it signified a knight's follower, or personal attendant. Harlot, which occurs just below, had probably, once, the same meaning. When the word first became (like knave) a term of reproach, it was appropriated solely to males: in Jonson's days it was applied indiscriminately to both sexes; though without any determinate import; and it was not till long afterwards that it was restricted to females, and to the sense which it now bears. To derive harlot from Arlotta, the mistress of the duke of Normandy, is ridiculous. If it be not the same word as varlet, its most likely derivation is from carl, or churl, of which it appears to be a diminutive.