Class I f\ 5 ff \ '() Book, a ^ G«pghtU?__L9jdl COFKRIGHT DEPOSIT. THE DUCHESS OF PADUA A PLA Y BY OSCAR WILDE THE DUCHESS OF PADUA THE DUCHESS OF PADUA A PLAY BY OSCAR WILDE PAUL R. REYNOLDS NEW YORK ) tiiOMRY of CONGRESS Vwo 0'ioies Received SEP g? ISOf . Copyright Entry \s CLASS ,4 XXc, No. copy e. Copyright 1907 BY Methuen & Co. NOTE The Duchess of Padua was written in 1882, and finished in March, 1883. It was produced in New York on November 14, 1891, at Hammerstein's Opera House. Twenty prompt copies were printed for private circulation and use in the theatre. One of only two copies known to exist contains the author's correc- tions, and on it the present edition is based. Certain passages were found to have been bracketed, or deleted in pencil. Whether these passages were omitted for stage presentation, or were intended to be omitted by the author altogether, there is no evidence to show. They have, however, been retaind in the present edition, and are indicated by brackets. The original manuscript was stolen, with other unpublished works, from the author's house in April, 1895. The play has been translated by Dr. Max Meyerfeld (Egon, Fleischel and Co., Berlin, 1904). An unauthorised English prose translation from the German has been printed in Paris, London, or America, and is offered for sale by unscrupulous publishers and unscrupulous book- sellers along with other spurious works ascribed to Oscar Wilde. The dramatic rights for America belong to the representatives of Miss Gale and the late Laurence Barrett. The dramatic rights for England, the Colonies, and the Continent are vested in the author's literary executor, and administrator of his estate, Robert Ross. TO A. S. Madam, A few months before his death Mr. Oscar Wilde expressed to me a regret that he had never dedi • cated any of his works to one from whom he had received such infinite kindness and to whom he was under obligations no flattering dedication could repay. With not very great sincerity, because I knew he was a dying man, I suggested he might still write a play or book which you would accept. He answered with truth, 'There is nothing but The Duchess of Padua and it is unworthy of her and unworthy of me ' With all his egoism and self-complacency you will know, perhaps as well as I do, that he never regarded his works as an adequate expression of his extraordinary genius and his magnificent intellectual endowment; many people hardly be- lieve that in his last years he was the severest critic of his own achievements. In the pages of De Profundis there are many references to yourself, and I think I am carrying out my dear friend's wishes in asking your acceptance of a play which was the prelude to a singularly brilliant and, if th° last five years are omitted, a very happy life. ROBERT ROSS Xmas, 1906. NOTE ON THE LENGTH OF THIS PLAY The Play of The Duchess of Padua is about 2600 lines long, divided into the following proportions nearly : — Act I. Act II. Act III. Act IV. Act V. 443 642 510 564 443 lines, lines, lines, lines, lines. I estimate the acting time of the play at two hours and twenty-five minutes, in the following proportions nearly : — Act. I. . 25 minutes. Act II. . 36 minutes. Act III. . 29 minutes. Act IV. . 31 minutes. Act V. . 25 minutes. o. w. ACT I SCENE The Market Place of Padua at npon; in the background is the great Cathedral of Padua; the architecture is Roman- esque, and wrought in black and white marbles; a flight of marble steps leads up to the Cathedral door; at the foot of the steps are two large stone lions; the houses on each side of the stage have coloured awnings from their windows, and are flanked by stone arcades; on the right of the stage is the public fountain, with a triton in green bronze blowing from a conch; around the fountain is a stone seat; the bell of the Cathedral is ringing, and the citizens, men, women and children, are passing into the Cathedral. (E titer guido ferranti and ascanio cristo- FANO. ) ASCANIO Now by my life, Guido, I will go no farther ; for if I walk another step I will have no life left to swear by; this wild-goose errand of yours ! (Sits down on the steps of the fountain.) 1 THE DUCHESS OF PADUA ACT I. GUIDO I think it must be here. (Goes up to passer- by and doffs Ms cap.) Pray, sir is this the market place, and that the church of Santa Croce? (Citizen bows.) I thank you, sir. ASCANTO Well? GUIDO Ay! it is here. ASCANIO T would it were somewhere else, for I see no wine-shop. GUIDO (Taking a letter from his pocket and reading it.) 'The hour noon; the city, Padua; the place, the market; and the day, Saint Philip's Day.' ASCANIO And what of the man, how shall we know him? guido (reading still) 1 1 ' will wear a violet cloak with a silver 2 THE DUCHESS OF PADUA falcon broidered on the shoulder. ' A brave act i. attire, Ascanio. ASCANIO I'd sooner have my leathern jerkin. And yon think he will tell you of your father? GU1DO Why, yes ! It is a month ago now, you re- member; I was in the vineyard, just at the corner nearest the road, where the goats used to get in, a man rode up and asked me was my name Guido, and gave me this letter, signed 'Your Father's Friend,' bidding me be here to-day if I would know the secret of my birth, and telling me how to recognise the writer! I had always thought old Pedro was my uncle, but he told me that he was not, but that I had been left a child in his charge by some one he had never since seen. ASCANIO And you don't know who your father is GUIDO No. THE DUCHESS OF PADUA ACT I. ASCANIO No recollection of him even? GU1DO None, Ascanio, none. ascanio {laughing) Then he could never have boxed your ears so often as my father did mine. guido {smiling) I am sure you never deserved it. ASCANIO Never; and that made it worse. I hadn't the consciousness of guilt to buoy me up. What hour did you say he fixed? GUIDO Noon. {Clock in the Cathedral strikes.) ASCANIO It is that now, and your man has not come. I don't believe in him, Guido. I think it is some wench who has set her eye at you; and, as I have followed you from Perugia to Padua, I r