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+ font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; } + + /* Character NaMe inside scene */ + .scn .cnm { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; } + + /* page numbers */ + p.dlg .pgnm { + display: inline; + font-size: xx-small; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + padding: 0 0 0 0; + margin: 0 0 0 -7.5em; } + p.dlg .pgnm:before { content: "[page "; } + p.dlg .pgnm:after { content: "]"; } + + /* XML end ]]> */ + /*old browser end */ --> + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) +by John Dryden + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) + The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian + +Author: John Dryden + +Editor: Walter Scott, Esq. + +Release Date: July 31, 2005 [EBook #16402] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Fred Robinson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="ctr"><br />THE</p> +<h1 class="nomarg">WORKS</h1> +<p class="ctr">OF</p> +<h2 class="nomarg">JOHN DRYDEN,</h2> +<p class="ctr">NOW FIRST COLLECTED</p> +<h3 class="nomarg"><i>IN EIGHTEEN VOLUMES.</i></h3> + +<p class="ctr"><br />ILLUSTRATED</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">WITH NOTES,</h3> +<p class="ctr">HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND EXPLANATORY,</p> +<p class="ctr">AND</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,</h3> +<p class="ctr">BY</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">WALTER SCOTT, <span class="smcap">Esq.</span></h3> + +<h3>VOL. VII.</h3> +<h3>LONDON:</h3> + +<p class="ctr">PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE STREET,<br /> +BY JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO. EDINBURGH.</p> + +<h3>1808.</h3> +<hr class="large" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<p class="ctr">OF</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">VOLUME SEVENTH.</h3> + +<div><ul class="toc"> +<li><a href="#page_001">The Duke of Guise, a Tragedy</a> +<ul class="toc"><li><a href="#page_013">Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Rochester</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_019">[Text of the play]</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_125">The Vindication of the Duke of Guise</a></li></ul></li> + +<li style="margin-top: 1em;"><a href="#page_209">Albion and Albanius, an Opera</a> +<ul class="toc"><li><a href="#page_216">Preface</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_228">[Text of the play]</a></li></ul></li> + +<li style="margin-top: 1em;"><a href="#page_271">Don Sebastian, a Tragedy</a> +<ul class="toc"><li><a href="#page_283">Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Leicester</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_291">Preface</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_302">[Text of the play]</a></li></ul></li> +</ul></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div><span class="pgnm">001</span><a id="page_001" name="page_001"></a></div> + +<p class="ctr" style="margin-top: 4em">THE</p> +<h2 class="nomarg">DUKE OF GUISE.</h2> +<h3 class="nomarg">A TRAGEDY.</h3> + + +<div class="ctr"> +<table class="ctr" summary="Epigram"> +<tr><td><p class="epigram"><span class="Greek" +title="Outôs de philotimoi physeis en tais politeiais to agan mê phylaxamenai, tôi"> +Ουτως +δε +φιλοτιμοι +φυσεις +εν +ταις +πολιτειαις +το +αγαν +μη +φυλαξαμεναι, +τωι<br /></span> +<span class="Greek" title="agathou meizon to kakon echousi."> +αγαθου +μειζον +το +κακον +εχουσι.</span></p> +<p class="citation smcap">Plutarch. in Agesilao.</p> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">003</span><a id="page_003" name="page_003"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE DUKE OF GUISE.</h3> + +<p>In the latter part of Charles the Second's reign, the stage, as well +as every other engine which could affect the popular mind, was eagerly +employed in the service of the contending factions. Settle and +Shadwell had, in tragedy and comedy, contributed their mite to the +support of the popular cause. In the stormy session of parliament, +in 1680, the famous bill was moved, for the exclusion of the +Duke of York, as a papist, from the succession, and accompanied +by others of a nature equally peremptory and determined. The +most remarkable was a bill to order an association for the safety +of his majesty's person, for defence of the protestant religion, for +the preservation of the protestant liege subjects against invasion +and opposition, and for preventing any papist from succeeding to +the throne of England. To recommend these rigid measures, and +to keep up that zealous hatred and terror of the catholic religion, +which the plot had inspired, Settle wrote his forgotten tragedy of +"Pope Joan," in which he revives the old fable of a female pope, +and loads her with all the crimes of which a priest, or a woman, +could possibly be guilty. Shadwell's comedy of the "Lancashire +Witches" was levelled more immediately at the papists, but interspersed +with most gross and scurrilous reflections upon the +English divines of the high church party. Otway, Lee, and Dryden +were the formidable antagonists, whom the court opposed to +the whig poets. Thus arrayed and confronted, the stage absolutely +foamed with politics; the prologues and epilogues, in particular +formed channels, through which the tenets of the opposite +parties were frequently assailed, and the persons of their leaders +and their poets exposed to scandal and derision.</p> + +<p>In the middle of these political broils, Dryden was called upon, +as he informs us, by Lee, to return the assistance which that poet +had afforded in composing "Œdipus." The history of the +Duke of Guise had formerly occupied his attention, as an acceptable +subject to the court after the Restoration. A League, +formed under pretence of religion, and in defence of the king's authority, +against his person, presented facilities of application to the +late civil wars, to which, we may be sure, our poet was by no +<span class="pgnm">004</span><a id="page_004" name="page_004"></a> +means insensible. But however apt these allusions might have +been in 1665, the events which had taken place in 1681-2 admitted +of a closer parallel, and excited a deeper interest. The +unbounded power which Shaftesbury had acquired in the city of +London, and its state of factious fermentation, had been equalled +by nothing but the sway exercised by the leaders of the League +in the metropolis of France. The intrigues by which the Council +of Sixteen placed and displaced, flattered or libelled, those popular +officers of Paris, whom the French call <i>echevins</i>, admitted of a direct +and immediate comparison with the contest between the +court and the whigs, for the election of the sheriffs of London; +contests which attained so great violence, that, at one +time, there was little reason to hope they would have terminated +without bloodshed. The tumultuous day of the barricades, when +Henry the second, after having in vain called in the assistance of +his guards, was obliged to abandon his capital to the Duke of +Guise and his faction, and assemble the states of his kingdom at +Blois, was not entirely without a parallel in the annals of 1681. +The violence of the parliament at London had led to its dissolution; +and, in order to insure the tractability of their successors, +they were assembled, by the king, at Oxford, where a concurrence +of circumstances rendered the royal authority more paramount +than in any other city of the kingdom. To this parliament the +members came in an array, which more resembled the parliament +of the White Bands, in the reign of Edward the second, than any +that had since taken place. Yet, though armed, and attended +by their retainers and the more ardent of their favourers, the leaders +of opposition expressed their apprehensions of danger from the +royal party. The sixteen whig peers, in their memorable petition +against this removal, complained, that the parliament would at +Oxford be exposed to the bloody machinations of the papists and +their adherents, "of whom too many had crept into his majesty's +guards." The aid of ballads and libellous prints was called in, to +represent this alteration of the usual place of meeting as a manœuvre +to throw the parliament, its members, and its votes, at the +feet of an arbitrary monarch<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_1-1">[1]</a>. It is probable that this meeting, +<span class="pgnm">005</span><a id="page_005" name="page_005"></a> +which rather resembled a Polish diet than a British parliament, +would not have separated without some signal, and perhaps bloody +catastrophe, if the political art of Halifax, who was at the head +of the small moderate party, called Trimmers, joined to the reluctance +of either faction to commence hostilities against an enemy +as fully prepared as themselves, had not averted so eminent a crisis. +<span class="pgnm">006</span><a id="page_006" name="page_006"></a> +In all particulars, excepting the actual assassination, the parliament +of Oxford resembled the assembly of the States General at +Blois. The general character of the Duke of Monmouth certainly +had not many points of similarity to that of the Duke of Guise; +but in one particular incident his conduct had been formed on that +model, and it is an incident which makes a considerable figure in +<span class="pgnm">007</span><a id="page_007" name="page_007"></a> +the tragedy. In September l679, after the king's illness, Monmouth +was disgraced, and obliged to leave the kingdom. He retired +to Holland, where he resided until the intrigues of Shaftesbury +assured him the support of a party so strongly popular, +that he might return, in open defiance of the court. In the +November following, he conceived his presence necessary to animate +his partizans; and, without the king's permission for his return, +he embarked at the Brill, and landed at London on the 27th, +at midnight, where the tumultuous rejoicings of the popular party +more than compensated for the obscurity of his departure<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_1-2">[2]</a>. This +<span class="pgnm">008</span><a id="page_008" name="page_008"></a> +bold step was, in all its circumstances, very similar to the return +of the Duke of Guise from his government to Paris, against the +express command of Henry the second, together with his reception +by the populace, whom he came prepared to head in insurrection. +Above all, the bill of exclusion bore a striking resemblance to the +proceedings of the League against the King of Navarre, presumptive +heir of the throne, whom, on account of his attachment to the +protestant faith, they threatened to deprive of the succession.</p> + +<p>The historical passages, corresponding in many particulars with +such striking accuracy, offered an excellent groundwork for a political +play, and the "Duke of Guise" was composed accordingly; +Dryden making use of the scenes which he had formerly written on +the subject, and Lee contributing the remainder, which he eked +out by some scenes and speeches adopted from the "Massacre of +Paris," then, lying by him in manuscript. The court, however, +considered the representation of the piece as at least of +dubious propriety. The parallel was capable of being so extended +as to exhibit no very flattering picture of the king's politics; and, +on the other hand, it is possible, that the fate of the Duke of Guise, +as identified with Monmouth, might shock the feelings of Charles, +and the justice of the audience.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, we learn from the "Vindication," that the representation +of the piece was prohibited; that it lay in the hands +of the lord chamberlain (Henry Lord Arlington) from before +mid-summer, 1682, till two months after that term; and that +orders were not finally given for its being acted until the month +of December in the same year. The king's tenderness for the +Duke of Monmouth had by this time so far given way, that he +had ordered his arrest at Stafford; and, from the dark preparations +on both sides, it was obvious, that no measures were any +longer to be kept betwixt them. All the motives of delicacy and +prudence, which had prevented the representation of this obnoxious +party performance, were now therefore annihilated or overlooked.</p> + +<p>Our author's part of the "Duke of Guise" is important, though +not of great extent, as his scenes contain some of the most striking +political sketches. The debate of the Council of Sixteen, with which +the play opens, was his composition; the whole of the fourth act, +which makes him responsible for the alleged parallel betwixt Guise +and Monmouth, and the ridicule cast upon the sheriffs and citizens +of the popular party, with the first part of the fifth, which implicates +him in vindicating the assassination of Guise. The character +and sentiments of the king, in these scenes, are drawn very closely +after Davila, as the reader will easily see, from the Italian original +subjoined in the notes. That picturesque historian had indeed +anticipated almost all that even a poet could do, in conveying a +portraiture, equally minute and striking, of the stormy period +which he had undertaken to describe; and, had his powers of description +<span class="pgnm">009</span><a id="page_009" name="page_009"></a> +been inferior, it is probable, that Dryden, hampered as +he was, by restraints of prudence and delicacy, would not have +chosen to go far beyond the authority to which he referred the +lord chamberlain. The language of the play, at least in these +scenes, seldom rises above that of the higher tone of historical +oratory; and the descriptions are almost literally taken from Davila, +and thrown into beautiful verse. In the character of Marmoutiere, +there seems to be an allusion to the duchess of Buccleuch +and Monmouth, whose influence was always, and sometimes +successfully, used to detach her husband from the desperate +schemes of Shaftesbury and Armstrong. The introduction of the +necromancer, Malicorn, seems to refer to some artifices, by which +the party of Monmouth endeavoured to call to their assistance the +sanction of supernatural powers<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_1-3">[3]</a>. The particular story of Malicorn +is said to be taken from a narrative in Rosset's <i>Histoires +Tragiques</i>, a work which the present editor has never seen. In +the conference between Malicorn and Melanax, Dryden has made +much use of his astrological knowledge; and its mystical terms +give a solemnity to the spirit's predictions, which was probably +deepened by the poet's secret belief in this visionary study. +As he borrowed liberally from Davila in the other parts of the +play, he has not here disdained to use the assistance of Pulci, +from whose romantic poem he has translated one or two striking +passages, as the reader will find upon consulting the notes. The +last scene betwixt the necromancer and the fiend is horribly fine: +<span class="pgnm">010</span><a id="page_010" name="page_010"></a> +the description of the approach of the Evil One, and the effect +which his presence produces upon the attendants, the domestic +animals, and the wizard himself, is an instance, amongst many, of +the powerful interest which may be produced by a judicious appeal +to the early prejudices of superstition. I may be pardoned, however, +when I add, that such scenes are, in general, unfit for the +stage, where the actual appearance of a demon is apt to excite +emotions rather ludicrous than terrific. Accordingly, that of +Dryden failed in the representation. The circumstance, upon +which the destruction of the wizard turns, is rather puerile; but there +are many similar fables in the annals of popular superstition<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_1-4">[4]</a>.</p> + +<p>Lee's part of this play is, in general, very well written, and contains +less rant than he usually puts in the mouths of his characters.</p> + +<p>The factions have been long at rest which were so deeply agitated +by the first representation of this performance; yet some +pains has been taken to trace those points of resemblance, which +gave so much offence to one party, and triumph to the other. +<span class="pgnm">011</span><a id="page_011" name="page_011"></a> +Many must doubtless have escaped our notice; but enough remains +to shew the singular felicity with which Dryden, in the present +instance, as in that of "Absalom and Achitophel," could adapt +the narrative of ancient or foreign transactions to the political +events of his own time, and "moralize two meanings in one word." +Altogether abstracted from this consideration, the "Duke of +Guise," as a historical play, possesses merit amply sufficient to +rescue it from the oblivion into which it has fallen.</p> + +<p>The play was first acted 4th December, 1682, and encountered +a stormy and dubious, if not an unfavourable, reception. But as, +the strength of the court party increased, the piece was enabled to +maintain its ground with more general approbation. It was performed +by the united companies, and printed in 1683.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Guise_1-1" name="Guise_1-1"></a><p>I cannot resist transcribing that ballad, which cost poor College, the +protestant joiner, so extremely dear. It is extracted from Mr Luttrell's collection, +who has marked it thus. "A most scandalous libel against the government, +for which, with other things, College was justly executed." The +justice of the execution may, I think, be questioned, unless, like Cinna the +poet, the luckless ballad-monger was hanged for his bad verses. There is prefixed +a cut, representing the king with a double face, carrying the house of +commons in a shew-box at his back. In another copartment, he sticks fast in +the mud with his burden. In another, Topham, the serjeant of the house of +commons, with the other officers of parliament, liberate the members, and +cram the bishops into the shew-box.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<h4>A RAREE SHOW.</h4> + +<p class="i3">To the tune of—"I am a senseless thing."</p> + +<h5><i>Leviathan.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Come hither, Topham, come, with a hey, with a hey;</p> +<p>Bring a pipe and a drum, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">Where'er about I go,</p> +<p class="i2">Attend my raree show,</p> +<p>With a hey, trany, nony, nony, no.</p> +</div> + +<h5><i>Topham.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>That monstrous foul beast, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Has houses twain in's chest, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">O Cowper, Hughes, and Snow,</p> +<p class="i2">Stop thief with raree show,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>For if he should escape, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>With Halifaxe's trap, with a ho,</p> +<p class="i2">He'll carry good Dom. Com.</p> +<p class="i2">Unto the pope of Rome,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<h5><i>Leviathan.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Be quiet, ye dull tools, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>As other free-born fools, with a ho,</p> +<p class="i2">Do not all gaping stand</p> +<p class="i2">To see my slight of hand.</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Tis not to Rome that I, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Lug about my trumpery, with a ho,</p> +<p class="i2">But Oxford, York, Carlisle,</p> +<p class="i2">And round about the isle,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>But if they would come out, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Let them first make a vote, with a ho.</p> +<p class="i2">To yield up all they have,</p> +<p class="i2">And Tower lords to save,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<h5><i>Topham.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Now that is very hard, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Thou art worse than cut-nose guard, with a ho.</p> +<p class="i2">And Clifford, Danby, Hide,</p> +<p class="i2">Halifax does all outride,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Holy Ghost, in bag of cloak, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Quaking King in royal oak, with a ho.</p> +<p class="i2">And Rosamond in bower,</p> +<p class="i2">All badges are of power.</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And popularity, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Adds power to majesty, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">But Dom. Com. in little ease,</p> +<p class="i2">Will all the world displease,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<h5><i>Leviathan.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Let 'um hate me, so they fear, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Curst fox has the best cheer, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">Two states, in blind house pent,</p> +<p class="i2">Make brave strong government.</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<h5><i>Topham.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>But child of heathen Hobbes, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Remember old Dry Bobs, with a ho,</p> +<p class="i2">For fleecing England's flocks.</p> +<p class="i2">Long fed with bits and knocks,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<h5><i>Leviathan.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>What's past is not to come, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Now safe is David's bum, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">Then hey for Oxford ho,</p> +<p class="i2">Strong government, raree show,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Raree show is resouled, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>This is worse than desouled, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">May the mighty weight at's back</p> +<p class="i2">Make's lecherous loins to crack,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Methinks he seems to stagger, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Who but now did so swagger, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">God's fish he's stuck in the mire,</p> +<p class="i2">And all the fat's in the fire,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Help Cooper, Hughs, and Snow, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>To pull down raree show, with a ho:</p> +<p class="i2">So, so, the gyant's down,</p> +<p class="i2">Let's masters out of pound,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And now you've freed the nation, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Cram in the convocation, with a ho,</p> +<p class="i2">With pensioners all and some.</p> +<p class="i2">Into this chest of Rome,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And thrust in six-and-twenty, with a hey, with a hey.</p> +<p>With <i>not guilties</i> good plenty, with a ho,</p> +<p class="i2">And hoot them hence away</p> +<p class="i2">To Cologn or Breda,</p> +<p>With a hey, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Haloo, the hunt's begun, with a hey, with a hey,</p> +<p>Like father like son, with a ho;</p> +<p class="i2">Raree show in French lap</p> +<p class="i2">Is gone to take a nap,</p> +<p class="i2">And succession has the clap,</p> +<p>With a hey, trany, nony, nony, no.</p> +</div> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_1-2" name="Guise_1-2"></a><p>"The news of his landing being reported by the watch, it soon spread +abroad through the whole city; insomuch, that before day-light they rang the +bells at St Giles in the Fields, placing several flambeaus on the top of the +steeple, and divers great bonefires were made, two of which were very large, +one in the Palace-yard at Westminster, and the other in Thames-street, near +the custom-house, which was kindled in the morning, and maintained burning +all day till evening, and then the universal joy of the people was expressed +in most of the streets throughout London and Westminster by bone-fires, fireworks, +and ringing of bells, accompanied with loud acclamations of joy, to +the great grief of the papists." <i>An Account of the heroick Life and magnanimous +Actions of the most illustrious Protestant Prince, James, Duke of Monmouth.</i> +London, 1683. p. 95.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_1-3" name="Guise_1-3"></a><p>"A relation was published in the name of one Elizabeth Freeman, afterwards +called the mayor of Hatfield, setting forth, that, on the 24th of +January, the apparition of a woman, all in white [the Duke of Monmouth's +mother was here to be understood], with a white veil over her face, accosted +her with these words; 'Sweetheart, the 15th of May is appointed for the +blood-royal to be poisoned. Be not afraid, for I am sent to tell thee.' That +on the 27th the same appearance stood before her again, and she having +then acquired courage enough to lay it under the usual adjuration, in the +name, &c. it assumed a more glorious shape, and said in a harsher tone of +voice, 'Tell King Charles from me, and bid him not remove his parliament +(i.e. from London to Oxford), and stand to his council;' adding, 'Do as I bid +you.' That on the 26th, it appeared to her a third time, but said only, 'Do +your message;' and that on the next night, when she saw it for the last time, +it said nothing at all. Those, who depend upon the people for support, must +try all manner of practices upon them, and such fooleries as these sometimes +operate more forcibly than experiments of a more rational kind. Care was +besides taken to have this relation attested by Sir Joseph Jordan, a justice of +peace, and the rector of Hatfield, Dr Lee, who was one of the king's +chaplains. Nay, the message was actually sent to his majesty, and the +whole forgery very officially circulated over the kingdom." RALPH'S <i>History</i> +Vol. I. p. 562.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_1-4" name="Guise_1-4"></a><p>In truth, the devil and the conjuror did not always play upon the square, +but often took the most unfair advantages of each other. There is more than +one instance of bad faith in the history of that renowned enchanter, Peter +Fabel. On one occasion, he prevailed upon the devil, when he came to +carry him off, to repose himself in an enchanted chair, from which he refused +to liberate him, until he had granted him an additional lease of seven years. +When this term was also expired, he had the eloquence and art to prevail +on the fiend to allow him a farther respite, till a wax taper, then nearly expiring, +was burned out. This boon being granted, he instantly put out the +light, and deposited the taper in the church at Edmonton. Hence, in Weiver's +"Funeral Monuments," he is thus mentioned: "Here (at Edmonton) +lieth interred, under a seemly tombe without inscription, the body of Peter +Fabell, as the report goes, upon whom this fable was fathered, that he, +by his wittie devices, beguiled the devill." p 514. See also the <i>Book of +his Merry Prankes</i>. Another instance occurs, in the famous history of +Friar Bacon, (London 1666) where that renowned conjurer is recorded +to have saved a man, that had given himself to the devil on condition of +his debts being paid. "The case was referred to the friar. 'Deceiver +of mankind, said he (speaking to the devil), it was thy bargain never +to meddle with him so long as he was indebted to any; now how canst +thou demand of him any thing, when he is indebted for all he hath to thee? +When he payeth thee thy money, then take him as thy due; till then thou +hast nothing to do with him; and so I charge thee to be gone.' At this the +devil vanished with great horrour; but Fryar Bacon comforted the gentleman, +and sent him home with a quiet conscience, bidding him never to pay +the devil's money back, as he tendred his own safety, which he promised for +to observe." From these instances, Melanax might have quoted precedent +for insisting on the literal execution of his stipulation with Malicorn, since, +to give the devil his due, the strict legal interpretation appears always to have +been applied to bargains of that nature.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">013</span><a id="page_013" name="page_013"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">TO +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE +LAWRENCE,<br /> +EARL OF ROCHESTER, &c.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_2-1">[1]</a></h3> + +<p class="noind smcap">My Lord,</p> + +<p>The authors of this poem present it humbly to +your lordship's patronage, if you shall think it worthy +<span class="pgnm">014</span><a id="page_014" name="page_014"></a> +of that honour. It has already been a confessor, +and was almost made a martyr for the royal +cause: but having stood two trials from its enemies,—one +before it was acted, another in the representation,—and +having been in both acquitted, +it is now to stand the public censure in the reading: +where since, of necessity, it must have the +same enemies, we hope it may also find the same +friends; and therein we are secure, not only of the +greater number, but of the more honest and loyal +party. We only expected bare justice in the permission +to have it acted; and that we had, after a +severe and long examination, from an upright and +knowing judge, who, having heard both sides, and +examined the merits of the cause, in a strict perusal +of the play, gave sentence for us, that it was neither +a libel, nor a parallel of particular persons<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_2-2">[2]</a>. +In the representation itself, it was persecuted with +so notorious malice by one side, that it procured us +the partiality of the other; so that the favour more +than recompensed the prejudice. And it is happier +to have been saved (if so we were) by the indulgence +of our good and faithful fellow-subjects, than +by our own deserts; because, thereby the weakness +of the faction is discovered, which, in us, at that +time attacked the government, and stood combined, +like the members of the rebellious League, against +the lawful sovereign authority. To what topic will +they have recourse, when they are manifestly beaten +from their chief post, which has always been +popularity, and majority of voices? They will tell +us,—that the voices of a people are not to be gathered +in a play-house; and yet, even there, the enemies, +as well as friends, have free admission: but, +<span class="pgnm">015</span><a id="page_015" name="page_015"></a> +while our argument was serviceable to their interests, +they could boast, that the theatres were true +protestant; and came insulting to the plays, when +their own triumphs were represented<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_2-3">[3]</a>. But let +them now assure themselves, that they can make +the major part of no assembly, except it be of a +meeting-house<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_2-4">[4]</a>. Their tide of popularity is spent; +<span class="pgnm">016</span><a id="page_016" name="page_016"></a> +and the natural current of obedience is, in spite of +them, at last prevalent. In which, my lord, after +the merciful providence of God, the unshaken resolution, +and prudent carriage of the king, and the +inviolable duty, and manifest innocence of his royal +highness,—the prudent management of the ministers +is also most conspicuous. I am not particular +in this commendation, because I am unwilling to +raise envy to your lordship, who are too just, not to +desire that praise should be communicated to others, +which was the common endeavour and co-operation +of all. It is enough, my lord, that your own part +was neither obscure in it, nor unhazardous. And +if ever this excellent government, so well established +by the wisdom of our forefathers, and so much +shaken by the folly of this age, shall recover its ancient +splendour, posterity cannot be so ungrateful as +<span class="pgnm">017</span><a id="page_017" name="page_017"></a> +to forget those, who, in the worst of times, have +stood undaunted by their king and country, and, +for the safeguard of both, have exposed themselves +to the malice of false patriots, and the madness of +an headstrong rabble. But since this glorious work +is yet unfinished, and though we have reason to +hope well of the success, yet the event depends on +the unsearchable providence of Almighty God, it is +no time to raise trophies, while the victory is in dispute; +but every man, by your example, to contribute +what is in his power to maintain so just a cause, +on which depends the future settlement and prosperity +of three nations. The pilot's prayer to Neptune +was not amiss in the middle of the storm: +"Thou mayest do with me, O Neptune, what thou +pleasest, but I will be sure to hold fast the rudder." +We are to trust firmly in the Deity, but so as not +to forget, that he commonly works by second +causes, and admits of our endeavours with his concurrence. +For our own parts, we are sensible, as +we ought, how little we can contribute with our +weak assistance. The most we can boast of, is, +that we are not so inconsiderable as to want enemies, +whom we have raised to ourselves on no other +account than that we are not of their number; and, +since that is their quarrel, they shall have daily occasion +to hate us more. It is not, my lord, that +any man delights to see himself pasquined and affronted +by their inveterate scribblers; but, on the +other side, it ought to be our glory, that themselves +believe not of us what they write. Reasonable men +are well satisfied for whose sakes the venom of their +party is shed on us; because they see, that at the +same time our adversaries spare not those to whom +they owe allegiance and veneration. Their despair +has pushed them to break those bonds; and it is +observable, that the lower they are driven, the +<span class="pgnm">018</span><a id="page_018" name="page_018"></a> +more violently they write; as Lucifer and his companions +were only proud when angels, but grew +malicious when devils. Let them rail, since it is +the only solace of their miseries, and the only revenge +which, we hope, they now can take. The +greatest and the best of men are above their reach; +and, for our meanness, though they assault us like +footpads in the dark, their blows have done us little +harm: we yet live to justify ourselves in open day, +to vindicate our loyalty to the government, and to +assure your lordship, with all submission and sincerity, +that we are</p> + +<p class="sig i1 smcap">Your Lordship's</p> +<p class="sig i2">Most obedient, faithful servants,</p> +<p class="sig i3 smcap">John Dryden.</p> +<p class="sig i3 smcap">Nat. Lee.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Guise_2-1" name="Guise_2-1"></a><p>Lawrence Hyde, created Earl of Rochester in 1682, was the +second son of the famous Lord Clarendon, and affords a rare instance +of the son of a disgraced minister recovering that favour +at court, which had been withdrawn from his father. He was +now at the head of the Commissioners for the Treasury, and a patron +of our poet; as appears from the terms of Dryden's letter, soliciting +his interest in very affecting terms, and from the subsequent +dedication of "Cleomenes," where he acknowledges his lordship's +goodness during the reign of two masters; and that, even from a +bare treasury, his success was contrary to that of Mr Cowley; +Gideon's fleece having been moistened, when all the ground +was dry around it. The Earl of Rochester was the more proper +patron for the "Duke of Guise," as he was a violent opponent of +the bill of exclusion. He was Lord High Treasurer in the reign +of James II., and died in 1711.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_2-2" name="Guise_2-2"></a><p>Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, then Lord Chamberlain.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_2-3" name="Guise_2-3"></a><p>Dryden seems here to allude to the triumphant strain in which +Shadwell mentions the reception of "The Lancashire Witches:" +"I could not imagine," he says, "till I heard that great opposition +was designed against the play a month before it was acted, by +a party who, being ashamed to say it was for the sake of the Irish +priest, pretended that I had written a satire on the Church of England; +and several profest Papists railed at it violently before they +had seen it, alleging that for a reason, such dear friends they are +to our Church: and, notwithstanding all was put out that could +any way be wrested to an offence against the Church, yet they +came with the greatest malice in the world to hiss it; and many, +that called themselves Protestants, joined with them in that noble +enterprise.</p> + +<p>"But, for all this, they came resolved to hiss it, right or wrong, +and had gotten mercenary fellows, who were such fools they did +not know when to hiss; and this was evident to all the audience. +It was wonderful to see men of great quality, and gentlemen, in so +mean a combination; but, to my great satisfaction, they came off +as meanly as I could wish. I had so numerous an assembly of the +best sort of men, who stood so generously in my defence for the +three first days, that they quashed all the vain attempts of my enemies; +the inconsiderable party of hissers yielded, and the play +lived in spite of them.</p> + +<p>"Had it been never so bad, I had valued the honour of having +so many and such friends as eminently appeared for me, above +that of excelling the most admirable Jonson, if it were possible to +be done by me."</p> + +<p>This flourish of exultation contains many things which were +doubtless offensive to Dryden's jealousy of dramatic fame, as well +as to his political principles. Nor was he probably insensible to +the affected praise bestowed on Jonson, whose merit, it was fashionable +to say, he had attempted to depreciate.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_2-4" name="Guise_2-4"></a><p>The greater, and, perhaps, the most formidable, part of those +who now opposed the court, were the remnants of the old fanatics, +whose religious principles were shocked by the dissolute manners +of Charles and his courtiers. These, of course, added little to the +force of the party in the theatres, which they never frequented. +Shadwell seems to acknowledge this disadvantage in the epilogue +to "The Lancashire Witches:"</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Our Popes and friars on one side offend,</p> +<p>And yet, alas! the city's not our friend:</p> +<p>The city neither like us nor our wit,</p> +<p>They say their wives learn ogling in the pit;</p> +<p>They're from the boxes taught to make advances,</p> +<p>To answer stolen sighs and naughty glances.</p> +<p>We virtuous ladies some new ways must seek,</p> +<p>For all conspire our playing trade to break.</p> +</div> + +<p>But although the citizens declined to frequent even the plays +written on their own side of the question, Armstrong, and the personal +followers of Monmouth, were of a gayer complexion, and +doubtless, as they were not inferior to the courtiers in the licence +assumed by the age, formed the principal part of the audience at +the protestant plays. The discovery of the Rye-house Plot broke +the strength of this part of the confederacy, and the odium attending +that enterprise rendered their opposition to the court in +public assemblies both fruitless and dangerous.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">019</span><a id="page_019" name="page_019"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PROLOGUE<br /> +WRITTEN BY MR DRYDEN.<br /> +SPOKEN BY MR SMITH.</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Our play's a parallel: the Holy League</p> +<p>Begot our Covenant: Guisards got the whig:</p> +<p>Whate'er our hot-brained sheriffs did advance,</p> +<p>Was, like our fashions, first produced in France;</p> +<p>And, when worn out, well scourged, and banished there,</p> +<p>Sent over, like their godly beggars, here.</p> +<p>Could the same trick, twice played, our nation gull?</p> +<p>It looks as if the devil were grown dull;</p> +<p>Or served us up, in scorn, his broken meat,</p> +<p>And thought we were not worth a better cheat.</p> +<p>The fulsome Covenant, one would think in reason,</p> +<p>Had given us all our bellies full of treason;</p> +<p>And yet, the name but changed, our nasty nation</p> +<p>Chews its own excrements, the Association<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_3-1">[1]</a>.</p> +<p>'Tis true, we have not learned their poisoning way,</p> +<p>For that's a mode but newly come in play;</p> +<p>Resides, your drug's uncertain to prevail,</p> +<p>But your true protestant can never fail</p> +<p>With that compendious instrument, a flail<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_3-2">[2]</a>.</p> +<span class="pgnm">020</span><a id="page_020" name="page_020"></a> +<p>Go on, and bite, even though the hook lies bare;</p> +<p>Twice in one age expel the lawful heir;</p> +<p>Once more decide religion by the sword,</p> +<p>And purchase for us a new tyrant lord.</p> +<p>Pray for your king, but yet your purses spare;</p> +<p>Make him not two-pence richer by your prayer.</p> +<p>To show you love him much, chastise him more,</p> +<p>And make him very great, and very poor.</p> +<p>Push him to wars, but still no peace advance;</p> +<p>Let him lose England, to recover France.</p> +<p>Cry freedom up, with popular noisy votes,</p> +<p>And get enough to cut each other's throats.</p> +<span class="pgnm">021</span><a id="page_021" name="page_021"></a> +<p>Lop all the rights that fence your monarch's throne;</p> +<p>For fear of too much power, pray leave him none.</p> +<p>A noise was made of arbitrary sway;</p> +<p>But, in revenge, you whigs have found a way</p> +<p>An arbitrary duty now to pay.</p> +<p>Let his own servants turn to save their stake,</p> +<p>Glean from his plenty, and his wants forsake;</p> +<p>But let some Judas near his person stay,</p> +<p>To swallow the last sop, and then betray.</p> +<p>Make London independent of the crown;</p> +<p>A realm apart; the kingdom of the town.</p> +<p>Let ignoramus juries find no traitors<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_3-3">[3]</a>,</p> +<p>And ignoramus poets scribble satires.</p> +<p>And, that your meaning none may fail to scan,</p> +<p>Do what in coffee-houses you began,—</p> +<p>Pull down the master, and set up the man.</p> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Guise_3-1" name="Guise_3-1"></a><p>The association proposed in parliament was, by the royalists, said to be, +a revival of the Solemn League and Covenant. But the draught of an association, +found in Lord Shaftesbury's cabinet, and produced on his trial, in +which that memorable engagement seems to be pretty closely copied, was +probably what our poet alludes to.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_3-2" name="Guise_3-2"></a><p>The protestant flail was a kind of bludgeon, so jointed as to fold together, +and lie concealed in the pocket. They are supposed to have been invented +to arm the insurgents about this period. In the trial of Braddon and Spoke +for a misdemeanor, the recorder offered to prove, that Braddon had bragged, +that "he was the only inventor of the protestant flails; an instrument you +have heard of, gentlemen, and for what use designed." This circumstance +was not omitted by Jefferies, in his characteristic address to the prisoner. +"But oh what a happiness it was for this sort of people, that they had got +Mr Braddon, an honest man and a man of courage, says Mr Speke, a man +<i>a propos</i>! and pray, says he to his friend, give him the best advice you can, +for he is a man very fit for the purpose; and pray secure him under a sham +name, for I'll undertake there are such designs upon pious Mr Braddon, such +connivances to do him mischief, that, if he had not had his <i>protestant flail</i> +about him, somebody or other would have knocked him on the head; and he +is such a wonderful man, that all the king's courts must needs conspire to do +Mr Braddon a mischief. A very pretty sort of man, upon my word, and he +must be used accordingly." <i>State Trials</i>, Vol. III. p. 897. In one of the +scarce medals struck by James II. Justice is represented weighing mural +crowns, which preponderate against a naked sword, a serpent, and a protestant +flail: on each side of the figure are a head and trunk, representing those of +Argyle and Monmouth. An accurate description of this weapon occurs in +the following passage from Roger North: "There was much recommendation +of silk armour, and the prudence of being provided with it against the +time protestants were to be massacred. And accordingly there were abundance +of these silken backs, breasts, and pots (i.e. head-pieces), made and +sold, that were pretended to be pistol proof; in which any man dressed up +was as safe as in a house, for it was impossible any one could go to strike him +for laughing. So ridiculous was the figure, as they say, of hogs in armour; an +image of derision, insensible but to the view, as I have had it. This was armour +of defence; but our sparks were not altogether so tame as to carry their +provisions no farther, for truly they intended to be assailants upon fair occasion, +and had for that end recommended also to them a certain pocket weapon, +which, for its design and efficacy, had the honour to be called a <i>protestant +flail</i>. It was for street and crowd-work; and the engine lying perdue +in a coat pocket, might readily sally out to execution, and by clearing a great +hall, a piazza, or so, carry an election by a choice way of polling, called +<i>knocking down</i>. The handle resembled a farrier's blood-stick, and the fall +was joined to the end by a strong nervous ligature, that in its swing fell just +short of the hand, and was made of <i>lignum vitæ</i>, or rather, as the poet termed +it, <i>mortis</i>." <i>Examen.</i> p. 572. The following is the first stanza of "The Protestant +Flail; an excellent new song, to the tune of, Lacy's Maggot, or the +Hobby Horse." It is thus labelled by Luttrell: "A bonny thing, 14 June, +1632."</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Listen a while, and I'll tell you a tale</p> +<p>Of a new device of a protestant flail;</p> +<p class="i2">With a thump, thump, thump a thump.</p> +<p class="i4">Thump a thump, thump.</p> +<p>This flail it was made of the finest wood,</p> +<p>All lined with lead, and notable good</p> +<p>For splitting of bones, and shedding the blood</p> +<p>Of all that withstood,</p> +<p class="i4">With a thump, &c.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_3-3" name="Guise_3-3"></a><p>Shaftesbury, College, and others, were liberated by grand juries, who refused +to find bills against them, bringing in what are technically called verdicts +of <i>ignoramus</i>. It was here that the whig sheriffs were of most consequence to +their party; for by their means the juries were picked from the very centre of +the faction; and although they included many men of eminence, both for rank +and talents, yet they were generally such as had made up their minds to cast +the bill long before they came into court. This gave great offence to the +royalists. North says, "There lay the barrier of the faction; and that stately +word (<i>ignoramus</i>) became the appellative of the whole corrupt practice, and +the infamous title of all the persons concerned in it." In Luttrell's Collection +I find, "Ignoramus, an excellent new song, to the tune of Lay by your +Pleading, Law lies a Bleeding." 15 Dec. 1681.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i2">At the Old Bailey,</p> +<p class="i2">Where rogues flock daily,</p> +<p>A greater rogue far than Coleman, White, or Stayley,</p> +<p class="i2">Was late indicted.</p> +<p class="i2">Witnesses cited,</p> +<p>But then he was set free, so the king was righted.</p> +<p class="i2">'Gainst princes offences</p> +<p class="i2">Proved in all senses,</p> +<p>But 'gainst a whig there is no truth in evidences;</p> +<p class="i2">They sham us, and flam us,</p> +<p class="i2">And ram us, and damn us.</p> +<p>And then, in spite of law, come off with ignoramus, &c.</p> +</div> + +<p>This song, according to the invariable practice of the scribblers on both +sides, was answered by a new Ignoramus.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">022</span><a id="page_022" name="page_022"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.</h3> + +<div class="DramPer"> +<p>The King of France.</p> +<p>Duke of <span class="cnm">Guise.</span></p> +<p>Duke of <span class="cnm">Mayenne.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Grillon,</span> Colonel of the Guard.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Alphonso Corso,</span> a Colonel.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Belleure,</span> a Courtier.</p> +<table summary="Royalists"> +<tr> +<td><span class="cnm">Abbot del Bene,</span><br /> +<span class="cnm">M. Monfert,</span></td> +<td style="font-style: normal;">}<br /> +}</td> +<td>Royalists.</td> +</tr> +</table> +<table summary="Of Guise's Faction"> +<tr> +<td>The Cardinal of <span class="cnm">Guise.</span><br /> +Archbishop of <span class="cnm">Lyons.</span><br /> +<span class="cnm">Polin,</span><br /> +<span class="cnm">Aumale,</span><br /> +<span class="cnm">Bussy,</span><br /> +The Curate of St <span class="cnm">Eustace,</span><br /> +<span class="cnm">Malicorn,</span> a Necromancer,<br /> +<span class="cnm">Melanax,</span> a Spirit,</td> +<td style="font-style: normal;">}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}</td> +<td>Of Guise's Faction. +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>Two Sheriffs,</p> +<p>Citizens and Rabble, &c.</p> +</div> + +<div class="DramPer"> +<p>Queen Mother.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Marmoutiere,</span> Niece to <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></p> +</div> + +<p>SCENE,—<i>Paris.</i></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">023</span><a id="page_023" name="page_023"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE DUKE OF GUISE.</h3> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT I.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>The Council of Sixteen seated; an empty +Chair prepared for the Duke of Guise.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Bussy</span> and <span class="cnm">Polin,</span> two of the Sixteen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> Lights there! more lights! What, burn the tapers dim,<br /> +When glorious Guise, the Moses, Gideon, David,<br /> +The saviour of the nation, makes approach?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> And therefore are we met; the whole sixteen,<br /> +That sway the crowd of Paris, guide their votes,<br /> +Manage their purses, persons, fortunes, lives,<br /> +To mount the Guise, where merit calls him, high,<br /> +And give him a whole heaven for room to shine.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Curate of St <span class="cnm">Eustace.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> The curate of St Eustace comes at last:<br /> +But, father, why so late?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">024</span><a id="page_024" name="page_024"></a> +<span class="cnm">Cur.</span> I have been taking godly pains to satisfy some +scruples raised amongst weak brothers of our party, +that were staggering in the cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> What could they find to object?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> They thought, to arm against the king was treason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> I hope you set them right?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> Yes; and for answer, I produced this book.<br /> +A Calvinist minister of Orleans<br /> +Writ this, to justify the admiral<br /> +For taking arms against the king deceased;<br /> +Wherein he proves, that irreligious kings<br /> +May justly be deposed, and put to death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> To borrow arguments from heretic books,<br /> +Methinks, was not so prudent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> Yes; from the devil, if it would help our cause.<br /> +The author was indeed a heretic;<br /> +The matter of the book is good and pious.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> But one prime article of our Holy League<br /> +Is to preserve the king, his power, and person.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> That must be said, you know, for decency;<br /> +A pretty blind to make the shoot secure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> But did the primitive Christians e'er rebel,<br /> +When under heathen lords? I hope they did.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> No sure, they did not; for they had not power;<br /> +The conscience of a people is their power.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> Well; the next article in our solemn covenant<br /> +Has cleared the point again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> What is't? I should be glad to find the king<br /> +No safer than needs must.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> That, in case of opposition from any person +whatsoever—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> That's well, that well; then the king is not +excepted, if he oppose us.—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> We are obliged to join as one, to punish<br /> +All, who attempt to hinder or disturb us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">025</span><a id="page_025" name="page_025"></a> +<span class="cnm">Buss.</span> 'Tis a plain case; the king's included in +the punishment, in case he rebel against the people.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> But how can he rebel?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> I'll make it out: Rebellion is an insurrection +against the government; but they that have the +power are actually the government; therefore, if the +people have the power, the rebellion is in the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> A most convincing argument for faction.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> For arming, if you please, but not for faction:<br /> +For still the faction is the fewest number:<br /> +So what they call the lawful government,<br /> +Is now the faction; for the most are ours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> Since we are proved to be above the king, +I would gladly understand whom we are to obey, +or, whether we are to be all kings together?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> Are you a member of the League, and ask +that question? There's an article, that, I may say, +is as necessary as any in the creed; namely, that +we, the said associates, are sworn to yield ready +obedience, and faithful service, to that head which +shall be deputed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> 'Tis most manifest, that, by virtue of our +oath, we are all subjects to the Duke of Guise. The +king's an officer that has betrayed his trust; and +therefore we have turned him out of service.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omn.</span> Agreed, agreed.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the Duke of <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> Cardinal of <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> +<span class="cnm">Aumale:</span> Torches before them. The Duke takes +the Chair.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> Your highness enters in a lucky hour;<br /> +The unanimous vote you heard, confirms your choice.<br /> +As head of Paris and the Holy League.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> I say amen to that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> You are our champion, buckler of our faith.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> The king, like Saul, is heaven's repented choice;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">026</span><a id="page_026" name="page_026"></a> +You his anointed one, on better thought.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I'm what you please to call me; any thing,<br /> +Lieutenant-general, chief, or constable,<br /> +Good decent names, that only mean—your slave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> You chased the Germans hence, exiled Navarre,<br /> +And rescued France from heretics and strangers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aum.</span> What he, and all of us have done, is known.<br /> +What's our reward? Our offices are lost,<br /> +Turned out, like laboured oxen after harvest,<br /> +To the bare commons of the withered field.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> Our charters will go next; because we sheriffs<br /> +Permit no justice to be done on those<br /> +The court calls rebels, but we call them saints.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Yes; we are all involved, as heads, or parties;<br /> +Dipt in the noisy crime of state, called treason;<br /> +And traitors we must be, to king, or country.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> Why then my choice is made.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> And mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omn.</span> And all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Heaven is itself head of the Holy League;<br /> +And all the saints are cov'nanters and Guisards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> What say you, curate?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> I hope well, my lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> That is, he hopes you mean to make him abbot,<br /> +And he deserves your care of his preferment;<br /> +For all his prayers are curses on the government,<br /> +And all his sermons libels on the king;<br /> +In short, a pious, hearty, factious priest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> All that are here, my friends, shall share my fortunes:<br /> +There's spoil, preferments, wealth enough in France;<br /> +'Tis but deserve, and have. The Spanish king<br /> +Consigns me fifty thousand crowns a-week<br /> +To raise, and to foment a civil war.<br /> +'Tis true, a pension, from a foreign prince,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">027</span><a id="page_027" name="page_027"></a> +Sounds treason in the letter of the law,<br /> +But good intentions justify the deed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> Heaven's good; the cause is good; the money's good;<br /> +No matter whence it comes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> Our city-bands are twenty thousand strong,<br /> +Well-disciplined, well-armed, well-seasoned traitors,<br /> +Thick-rinded heads, that leave no room for kernel;<br /> +Shop-consciences, of proof against an oath,<br /> +Preached up, and ready tined for a rebellion<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-1">[1]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Why then the noble plot is fit for birth;<br /> +And labouring France cries out for midwife hands.<br /> +We missed surprising of the king at Blois,<br /> +When last the states were held: 'twas oversight;<br /> +Beware we make not such another blot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> This holy time of Lent we have him sure;<br /> +He goes unguarded, mixed with whipping friars.<br /> +In that procession, he's more fit for heaven:<br /> +What hinders us to seize the royal penitent,<br /> +And close him in a cloister?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> Or dispatch him; I love to make all sure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> No; guard him safe;<br /> +Thin diet will do well; 'twill starve him into reason,<br /> +'Till he exclude his brother of Navarre,<br /> +And graft succession on a worthier choice.<br /> +To favour this, five hundred men in arms<br /> +Shall stand prepared, to enter at your call,<br /> +And speed the work; St Martin's gate was named;<br /> +But the sheriff Conty, who commands that ward,<br /> +Refused me passage there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Buss.</span> I know that Conty;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">028</span><a id="page_028" name="page_028"></a> +A snivelling, conscientious, loyal rogue;<br /> +He'll peach, and ruin all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Give out he's arbitrary, a Navarist,<br /> +A heretic; discredit him betimes,<br /> +And make his witness void.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cur.</span> I'll swear him guilty.<br /> +I swallow oaths as easy as snap-dragon,<br /> +Mock-fire that never burns.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Then, Bussy, be it your care to admit my troops,<br /> +At Port St Honore: [<span class="sdm">Rises.</span>] Night wears apace,<br /> +And day-light must not peep on dark designs.<br /> +I will myself to court, pay formal duty,<br /> +Take leave, and to my government retire;<br /> +Impatient to be soon recalled, to see<br /> +The king imprisoned, and the nation free<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-2">[2]</a>.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Malicorn</span> solus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Each dismal minute, when I call to mind<br /> +The promise, that I made the Prince of Hell,<br /> +In one-and-twenty years to be his slave,<br /> +Of which near twelve are gone, my soul runs back,<br /> +The wards of reason roll into their spring.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">029</span><a id="page_029" name="page_029"></a> +O horrid thought! but one-and-twenty years,<br /> +And twelve near past, then to be steeped in fire,<br /> +Dashed against rocks, or snatched from molten lead,<br /> +Reeking, and dropping, piece-meal borne by winds,<br /> +And quenched ten thousand fathom in the deep!—<br /> +But hark! he comes: see there! my blood stands still,<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Knocking at the Door.</span> +My spirits start on end for Guise's fate.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A Devil rises.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> What counsel does the fate of Guise require?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dev.</span> Remember, with his prince there's no delay.<br /> +But, the sword drawn, to fling the sheath away;<br /> +Let not the fear of hell his spirit grieve,<br /> +The tomb is still, whatever fools believe:<br /> +Laugh at the tales which withered sages bring,<br /> +Proverbs and morals; let the waxen king,<br /> +That rules the hive, be born without a sting;<br /> +Let Guise by blood resolve to mount to power.<br /> +And he is great as Mecca's emperor.<br /> +He comes; bid him not stand on altar-vows,<br /> +But then strike deepest, when he lowest bows;<br /> +Tell him, fate's awed when an usurper springs,<br /> +And joins to crowd out just indulgent kings.<span class="sdr">[Vanishes.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE III.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the Duke of <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> and Duke of <span class="cnm">Mayenne.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> All offices and dignities he gives<br /> +To your profest and most inveterate foes;<br /> +But if he were inclined, as we could wish him,<br /> +There is a lady-regent at his ear,<br /> +That never pardons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Poison on her name!<br /> +Take my hand on't, that cormorant dowager<br /> +Will never rest, till she has all our heads<br /> +In her lap. I was at Bayonne with her,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">030</span><a id="page_030" name="page_030"></a> +When she, the king, and grisly d'Alva met.<br /> +Methinks, I see her listening now before me,<br /> +Marking the very motion of his beard,<br /> +His opening nostrils, and his dropping lids.<br /> +I hear him croak too to the gaping council,—<br /> +Fish for the great fish, take no care for frogs,<br /> +Cut off the poppy-heads, sir;—madam, charm<br /> +The winds but fast, the billows will be still<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-3">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> But, sir, how comes it you should be thus warm,<br /> +Still pushing counsels when among your friends;<br /> +Yet, at the court, cautious, and cold as age,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">031</span><a id="page_031" name="page_031"></a> +Your voice, your eyes, your mien so different,<br /> +You seem to me two men?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> The reason's plain.<br /> +Hot with my friends, because, the question given,<br /> +I start the judgment right, where others drag.<br /> +This is the effect of equal elements,<br /> +And atoms justly poised; nor should you wonder<br /> +More at the strength of body than of mind;<br /> +'Tis equally the same to see me plunge<br /> +Headlong into the Seine, all over armed,<br /> +And plow against the torrent to my point,<br /> +As 'twas to hear my judgment on the Germans,<br /> +This to another man would be a brag;<br /> +Or at the court among my enemies,<br /> +To be, as I am here, quite off my guard,<br /> +Would make me such another thing as Grillon,<br /> +A blunt, hot, honest, downright, valiant fool.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> Yet this you must allow a failure in you,—<br /> +You love his niece; and to a politician<br /> +All passion's bane, but love directly death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> False, false, my Mayenne; thou'rt but half Guise again.<br /> +Were she not such a wond'rous composition,<br /> +A soul, so flushed as mine is with ambition,<br /> +Sagacious and so nice, must have disdained her:<br /> +But she was made when nature was in humour,<br /> +As if a Grillon got her on the queen,<br /> +Where all the honest atoms fought their way,<br /> +Took a full tincture of the mother's wit,<br /> +But left the dregs of wickedness behind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> Have you not told her what we have in hand?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> My utmost aim has been to hide it from her,<br /> +But there I'm short; by the long chain of causes<br /> +She has scanned it, just as if she were my soul;<br /> +And though I flew about with circumstances.<br /> +Denials, oaths, improbabilities;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">032</span><a id="page_032" name="page_032"></a> +Yet, through the histories of our lives, she looked,<br /> +She saw, she overcame.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> Why then, we're all undone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Again you err.<br /> +Chaste as she is, she would as soon give up<br /> +Her honour, as betray me to the king:<br /> +I tell thee, she's the character of heaven;<br /> +Such an habitual over-womanly goodness,<br /> +She dazzles, walks mere angel upon earth.<br /> +But see, she comes; call the cardinal Guise,<br /> +While Malicorn attends for some dispatches,<br /> +Before I take my farewell of the court.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">May.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Ah Guise, you are undone!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> How, madam?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Lost,<br /> +Beyond the possibility of hope:<br /> +Despair, and die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> You menace deeply, madam:<br /> +And should this come from any mouth but yours,<br /> +My smile should answer how the ruin touched me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Why do you leave the court?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> The court leaves me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Were there no more, but weariness of state,<br /> +Or could you, like great Scipio, retire,<br /> +Call Rome ungrateful, and sit down with that;<br /> +Such inward gallantry would gain you more<br /> +Than all the sullied conquests you can boast:<br /> +But oh, you want that Roman mastery;<br /> +You have too much of the tumultuous times,<br /> +And I must mourn the fate of your ambition.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Because the king disdains my services,<br /> +Must I not let him know I dare be gone?<br /> +What, when I feel his council on my neck,<br /> +Shall I not cast them backward if I can,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">033</span><a id="page_033" name="page_033"></a> +And at his feet make known their villainy?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> No, Guise, not at his feet, but on his head;<br /> +For there you strike.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Madam, you wrong me now:<br /> +For still, whate'er shall come in fortune's whirl,<br /> +His person must be safe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I cannot think it.<br /> +However, your last words confess too much.<br /> +Confess! what need I urge that evidence,<br /> +When every hour I see you court the crowd,<br /> +When with the shouts of the rebellious rabble,<br /> +I see you borne on shoulders to cabals;<br /> +Where, with the traitorous Council of Sixteen,<br /> +You sit, and plot the royal Henry's death;<br /> +Cloud the majestic name with fumes of wine,<br /> +Infamous scrolls, and treasonable verse;<br /> +While, on the other side, the name of Guise,<br /> +By the whole kennel of the slaves, is rung.<br /> +Pamphleteers, ballad-mongers sing your ruin.<br /> +While all the vermin of the vile Parisians<br /> +Toss up their greasy caps where'er you pass,<br /> +And hurl your dirty glories in your face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Can I help this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> By heaven, I'd earth myself,<br /> +Rather than live to act such black ambition:<br /> +But, sir, you seek it with your smiles and bows.<br /> +This side and that side congeing to the crowd.<br /> +You have your writers too, that cant your battles,<br /> +That stile you, the new David, second Moses,<br /> +Prop of the church, deliverer of the people.<br /> +Thus from the city, as from the heart, they spread<br /> +Through all the provinces, alarm the countries,<br /> +Where they run forth in heaps, bellowing your wonders;<br /> +Then cry,—The king, the king's a Hugonot,<br /> +And, spite of us, will have Navarre succeed,<br /> +Spite of the laws, and spite of our religion:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">034</span><a id="page_034" name="page_034"></a> +But we will pull them down, down with them, down<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-4">[4]</a>.<span class="sdr">[Kneels.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Ha, madam! Why this posture?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Hear me, sir;<br /> +For, if 'tis possible, my lord, I'll move you.<br /> +Look back, return, implore the royal mercy,<br /> +Ere 'tis too late; I beg you by these tears,<br /> +These sighs, and by the ambitious love you bear me;<br /> +By all the wounds of your poor groaning country,<br /> +That bleeds to death. O seek the best of kings,<br /> +Kneel, fling your stubborn body at his feet:<br /> +Your pardon shall be signed, your country saved,<br /> +Virgins and matrons all shall sing your fame,<br /> +And every babe shall bless the Guise's name.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O rise, thou image of the deity!<br /> +You shall prevail, I will do any thing:<br /> +You've broke the very gall of my ambition,<br /> +And all my powers now float in peace again.<br /> +Be satisfied that I will see the king,<br /> +Kneel to him, ere I journey to Champaigne,<br /> +And beg a kind farewell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> No, no, my lord;<br /> +I see through that; you but withdraw a while,<br /> +To muster all the forces that you can,<br /> +And then rejoin the Council of Sixteen.<br /> +You must not go.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> All the heads of the League<br /> +Expect me, and I have engaged my honour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">035</span><a id="page_035" name="page_035"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Would all those heads were off, so yours were saved!<br /> +Once more, O Guise, the weeping Marmoutiere<br /> +Entreats you, do not go.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Is't possible<br /> +That Guise should say, in this he must refuse you!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Go then, my lord. I late received a letter<br /> +From one at court, who tells me, the king loves me:<br /> +Read it,—there is no more than what you hear.<br /> +I've jewels offered too,—perhaps may take them;<br /> +And if you go from Paris, I'll to court.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> But, madam, I have often heard you say,<br /> +You loved not courts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Perhaps I've changed my mind:<br /> +Nothing as yet could draw me, but a king;<br /> +And such a king,—so good, so just, so great,<br /> +That, at his birth, the heavenly council paused,<br /> +And then, at last, cried out,—This is a man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Come, 'tis but counterfeit; you dare not go.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Go to your government, and try.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Then I'll to court, nay—to the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> By heaven,<br /> +I swear you cannot, shall not,—dare not see him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> By heaven, I can, I dare, nay—and I will;<br /> +And nothing but your stay shall hinder me;<br /> +For now, methinks, I long for't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Possible!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I'll give you yet a little time to think;<br /> +But, if I hear you go to take your leave,<br /> +I'll meet you there; before the throne I'll stand,—<br /> +Nay you shall see me kneel and kiss his hand.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Furies and hell! She does but try me,—Ha!<br /> +This is the mother-queen, and Espernon,<br /> +Abbot Delbene, Alphonso Corso too,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">036</span><a id="page_036" name="page_036"></a> +All packed to plot, and turn me into madness. +<span class="sdr">[Reading the Letter.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Cardinal <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> Duke Of <span class="cnm">Mayenne, +Malicorn,</span> &c.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Ha! can it be! "Madam, the king loves you."—<span class="sdr">[Reads.</span><br /> +But vengeance I will have; to pieces, thus,<br /> +To pieces with them all.<span class="sdr">[Tears the Letter.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Speak lower.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> No;<br /> +By all the torments of this galling passion,<br /> +I'll hollow the revenge I vow, so loud,<br /> +My father's ghost shall hear me up to heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Contain yourself; this outrage will undo us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> All things are ripe, and love new points their ruin.<br /> +Ha! my good lords, what if the murdering council<br /> +Were in our power, should they escape our justice?<br /> +I see, by each man's laying of his hand<br /> +Upon his sword, you swear the like revenge.<br /> +For me, I wish that mine may both rot off—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> No more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> The Council of Sixteen attend you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I go—that vermin may devour my limbs;<br /> +That I may die, like the late puling Francis<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-5">[5]</a>,<br /> +Under the barber's hands, imposthumes choak me,—<br /> +If while alive, I cease to chew their ruin;<br /> +Alphonso Corso, Grillon, priest, together:<br /> +To hang them in effigy,—nay, to tread,<br /> +Drag, stamp, and grind them, after they are dead.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">037</span><a id="page_037" name="page_037"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT II. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Queen-Mother, Abbot <span class="cnm">Delbene,</span> and <span class="cnm">Polin.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Pray, mark the form of the conspiracy:<br /> +Guise gives it out, he journeys to Champaigne,<br /> +But lurks indeed at Lagny, hard by Paris,<br /> +Where every hour he hears and gives instructions.<br /> +Mean time the Council of Sixteen assure him,<br /> +They have twenty thousand citizens in arms.<br /> +Is it not so, Polin?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> True, on my life;<br /> +And, if the king doubts the discovery,<br /> +Send me to the Bastile till all be proved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Call colonel Grillon; the king would speak with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ab.</span> Was ever age like this?<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Polin.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Polin is honest;<br /> +Beside, the whole proceeding is so like<br /> +The hair-brained rout, I guessed as much before.<br /> +Know then, it is resolved to seize the king,<br /> +When next he goes in penitential weeds<br /> +Among the friars, without his usual guards;<br /> +Then, under shew of popular sedition,<br /> +For safety, shut him in a monastery,<br /> +And sacrifice his favourites to their rage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ab.</span> When is this council to be held again?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Immediately upon the duke's departure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ab.</span> Why sends not then the king sufficient guards,<br /> +To seize the fiends, and hew them into pieces?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> 'Tis in appearance easy, but the effect<br /> +Most hazardous; for straight, upon the alarm,<br /> +The city would be sure to be in arms;<br /> +Therefore, to undertake, and not to compass,<br /> +Were to come off with ruin and dishonour.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">038</span><a id="page_038" name="page_038"></a> +You know the Italian proverb—<i>Bisogna copriersi</i><a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-6">[6]</a>,—<br /> +He, that will venture on a hornet's nest,<br /> +Should arm his head, and buckler well his breast.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ab.</span> But wherefore seems the king so unresolved?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> I brought Polin, and made the demonstration;<br /> +Told him—necessity cried out, to take<br /> +A resolution to preserve his life,<br /> +And look on Guise as a reclaimless rebel:<br /> +But, through the natural sweetness of his temper,<br /> +And dangerous mercy, coldly he replied,—<br /> +Madam I will consider what you say.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ab.</span> Yet after all, could we but fix him—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Right,—<br /> +The business were more firm for this delay;<br /> +For noblest natures, though they suffer long,<br /> +When once provoked, they turn the face to danger.<br /> +But see, he comes, Alphonso Corso with him;<br /> +Let us withdraw, and when 'tis fit rejoin him.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter King, and <span class="cnm">Alphonso Corso.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Alphonso Corso.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I think thou lovest me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> More than my life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> That's much; yet I believe thee.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">039</span><a id="page_039" name="page_039"></a> +My mother has the judgment of the world,<br /> +And all things move by that; but, my Alphonso,<br /> +She has a cruel wit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> The provocation, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I know it well;<br /> +But,—if thou'dst have my heart within thy hand,—<br /> +All conjurations blot the name of kings.<br /> +What honours, interest, were the world to buy him,<br /> +Shall make a brave man smile, and do a murder?<br /> +Therefore I hate the memory of Brutus,<br /> +I mean the latter, so cried up in story.<br /> +Cæsar did ill, but did it in the sun,<br /> +And foremost in the field; but sneaking Brutus,<br /> +Whom none but cowards and white-livered knaves<br /> +Would dare commend, lagging behind his fellows,<br /> +His dagger in his bosom, stabbed his father.<br /> +This is a blot, which Tully's eloquence<br /> +Could ne'er wipe off, though the mistaken man<br /> +Makes bold to call those traitors,—men divine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Tully was wise, but wanted constancy.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Queen Mother, and Abbot <span class="cnm">Delbene.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Good-even, sir; 'tis just the time you ordered<br /> +To wait on your decrees.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Oh, madam!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Sir?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Oh mother,—but I cannot make it way;—<br /> +Chaos and shades,—'tis huddled up in night.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Speak then, for speech is morning to the mind;<br /> +It spreads the beauteous images abroad,<br /> +Which else lie furled and clouded in the soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> You would embark me in a sea of blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> You see the plot directly on your person;<br /> +But give it o'er, I did but state the case.<br /> +Take Guise into your heart, and drive your friends;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">040</span><a id="page_040" name="page_040"></a> +Let knaves in shops prescribe you how to sway,<br /> +And, when they read your acts with their vile breath,<br /> +Proclaim aloud, they like not this or that;<br /> +Then in a drove come lowing to the Louvre,<br /> +And cry,—they'll have it mended, that they will,<br /> +Or you shall be no king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> 'Tis true, the people<br /> +Ne'er know a mean, when once they get the power;<br /> +But O, if the design we lay should fail,<br /> +Better the traitors never should be touched,<br /> +If execution cries not out—'Tis done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> No, sir, you cannot fear the sure design:<br /> +But I have lived too long, since my own blood<br /> +Dares not confide in her that gave him being.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Stay, madam, stay; come back, forgive my fears,<br /> +Where all our thoughts should creep like deepest streams:<br /> +Know, then, I hate aspiring Guise to death;<br /> +Whored Margarita,—plots upon my life,—<br /> +And shall I not revenge?<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-7">[7]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Why, this is Harry;<br /> +Harry at Moncontour, when in his bloom<br /> +He saw the admiral Coligny's back.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-8">[8]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> O this whale Guise, with all the Lorrain fry!<br /> +Might I but view him, after his plots and plunges,<br /> +Struck on those cowring shallows that await him,—<br /> +This were a Florence master-piece indeed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> He comes to take his leave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Then for Champaigne;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">041</span><a id="page_041" name="page_041"></a> +But lies in wait till Paris is in arms.<br /> +Call Grillon in. All that I beg you now,<br /> +Is to be hushed upon the consultation,<br /> +As urns, that never blab.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Doubt not your friends;<br /> +Love them, and then you need not fear your foes.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><i>Enter</i> <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Welcome, my honest man, my old tried friend.<br /> +Why dost thou fly me, Grillon, and retire?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Rather let me demand your majesty,<br /> +Why fly you from yourself? I've heard you say,<br /> +You'd arm against the League; why do you not?<br /> +The thoughts of such as you, are starts divine;<br /> +And when you mould with second cast the spirit,<br /> +The air, the life, the golden vapour's gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Soft, my old friend; Guise plots upon my life;<br /> +Polin shall tell thee more. Hast thou not heard<br /> +The insufferable affronts he daily offers,—<br /> +War without treasure on the Huguenots;<br /> +While I am forced against my bent of soul,<br /> +Against all laws, all custom, right, succession,<br /> +To cast Navarre from the Imperial line?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Why do you, sir? Death, let me tell the traitor—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Peace, Guise is going to his government;<br /> +You are his foe of old; go to him, Grillon;<br /> +Visit him as from me, to be employed<br /> +In this great war against the Huguenots;<br /> +And, pr'ythee, tell him roundly of his faults,<br /> +No farther, honest Grillon.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Shall I fight him?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I charge thee, not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> If he provokes me, strike him;<br /> +You'll grant me that?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Not so, my honest soldier;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">042</span><a id="page_042" name="page_042"></a> +Yet speak to him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I will, by heaven, to the purpose;<br /> +And, if he force a beating, who can help it?<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Follow, Alphonso; when the storm is up,<br /> +Call me to part them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Grillon, to ask him pardon,<br /> +Will let Guise know we are not in the dark.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> You hit the judgment; yet, O yet, there's more;<br /> +Something upon my heart, after these counsels,<br /> +So soft, and so unworthy to be named!—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> They say, that Grillon's niece is come to court,<br /> +And means to kiss your hand.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Could I but hope it!<br /> +O my dear father, pardon me in this,<br /> +And then enjoin me all that man can suffer;<br /> +But sure the powers above will take our tears<br /> +For such a fault—love is so like themselves.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.—<i>The Louvre.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> attended with his Family; <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere</span> +meeting him new drest, attended, &c.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Furies! she keeps her word, and I am lost;<br /> +Yet let not my ambition shew it to her;<br /> +For, after all, she does it but to try me,<br /> +And foil my vowed design.—Madam, I see<br /> +You're come to court; the robes you wear become you;<br /> +Your air, your mien, your charms, your every grace,<br /> +Will kill at least your thousand in a day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> What, a whole day, and kill but one poor thousand!<br /> +An hour you mean, and in that hour ten thousand.<br /> +Yes, I would make with every glance a murder.—<br /> +<span class="pgnm">043</span><a id="page_043" name="page_043"></a> +Mend me this curl.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Woman!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> You see, my lord,<br /> +I have my followers, like you. I swear,<br /> +The court's a heavenly place; but—O, my heart!<br /> +I know not why that sigh should come uncalled;<br /> +Perhaps, 'twas for your going; yet I swear,<br /> +I never was so moved, O Guise, as now,<br /> +Just as you entered, when from yonder window<br /> +I saw the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Woman, all over woman!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +The world confesses, madam, Henry's form<br /> +Is noble and majestic.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> O you grudge<br /> +The extorted praise, and speak him but by halves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Priest, Corso, devils! how she carries it!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I see, my lord, you're come to take your leave;<br /> +And were it not to give the court suspicion,<br /> +I would oblige you, sir, before you go,<br /> +To lead me to the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Death and the devil!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> But since that cannot be, I'll take my leave<br /> +Of you, my lord; heaven grant your journey safe!<br /> +Farewell, once more. [<span class="sdm">Offers her hand.</span>] Not stir! does this become you,—<br /> +Does your ambition swell into your eyes?—<br /> +Jealousy by this light; nay then, proud Guise,<br /> +I tell you, you're not worthy of the grace;<br /> +But I will carry't, sir, to those that are,<br /> +And leave you to the curse of bosom-war.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> Is this the heavenly—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Devil, devil, as they are all.<br /> +'Tis true, at first she caught the heavenly form,<br /> +But now ambition sets her on her head,<br /> +By hell, I see the cloven mark upon her.<br /> +Ha! Grillon here! some new court-trick upon me.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">044</span><a id="page_044" name="page_044"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Sir, I have business for your ear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Retire.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt his Followers.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> The king, my lord, commanded me to wait you,<br /> +And bid you welcome to the court.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> The king<br /> +Still loads me with new honours; but none greater<br /> +Than this, the last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> There is one greater yet,<br /> +Your high commission 'gainst the Huguenots;<br /> +I and my family shall shortly wait you,<br /> +And 'twill be glorious work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> If you are there,<br /> +There must be action.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> O, your pardon, sir;<br /> +I'm but a stripling in the trade of war:<br /> +But you, whose life is one continued broil,<br /> +What will not your triumphant arms accomplish! <br /> +You, that were formed for mastery in war.<br /> +That, with a start, cried to your brother Mayenne,—<br /> +"To horse!" and slaughtered forty thousand Germans<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-9">[9]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Let me beseech you, colonel, no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> But, sir, since I must make at least a figure<br /> +<span class="pgnm">045</span><a id="page_045" name="page_045"></a> +In this great business, let me understand<br /> +What 'tis you mean, and why you force the king<br /> +Upon so dangerous an expedition.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Sir, I intend the greatness of the king;<br /> +The greatness of all France, whom it imports<br /> +To make their arms their business, aim, and glory;<br /> +And where so proper as upon those rebels,<br /> +That covered all the state with blood and death?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Stored arsenals and armouries, fields of horse,<br /> +Ordnance, munition, and the nerve of war,<br /> +Sound infantry, not harassed and diseased,<br /> +To meet the fierce Navarre, should first be thought on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I find, my lord, the argument grows warm,<br /> +Therefore, thus much, and I have done: I go<br /> +To join the Holy League in this great war,<br /> +In which no place of office, or command,<br /> +Not of the greatest, shall be bought or sold;<br /> +Whereas too often honours are conferred<br /> +On soldiers, and no soldiers: This man knighted,<br /> +Because he charged a troop before his dinner,<br /> +And sculked behind a hedge i'the afternoon:<br /> +I will have strict examination made<br /> +Betwixt the meritorious and the base.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> You have mouthed it bravely, and there is no doubt<br /> +Your deeds would answer well your haughty words;<br /> +Yet let me tell you, sir, there is a man,<br /> +(Curse on the hearts that hate him!) that would better,<br /> +Better than you, or all your puffy race,<br /> +That better would become the great battalion;<br /> +That when he shines in arms, and suns the field,<br /> +Moves, speaks, and fights, and is himself a war.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Your idol, sir; you mean the great Navarre:<br /> +But yet—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> No <i>yet</i>, my lord of Guise, no <i>yet</i>;<br /> +By arms, I bar you that; I swear, no <i>yet</i>; <br /> +For never was his like, nor shall again.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">046</span><a id="page_046" name="page_046"></a> +Though voted from his right by your cursed League.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Judge not too rashly of the Holy League,<br /> +But look at home.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Ha! darest thou justify<br /> +Those villains?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I'll not justify a villain,<br /> +More than yourself; but if you thus proceed,<br /> +If every heated breath can puff away,<br /> +On each surmise, the lives of free-born people,<br /> +What need that awful general convocation,<br /> +The assembly of the states?—nay, let me urge,—<br /> +If thus they vilify the Holy League,<br /> +What may their heads expect?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> What, if I could,<br /> +They should be certain of,—whole piles of fire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Colonel, 'tis very well I know your mind,<br /> +Which, without fear, or flattery to your person,<br /> +I'll tell the king; and then, with his permission,<br /> +Proclaim it for a warning to our people.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Come, you're a murderer yourself within,<br /> +A traitor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Thou a —— hot old hair-brained fool.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> You were complotter with the cursed League,<br /> +The black abettor of our Harry's death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> 'Tis false.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Tis true, as thou art double-hearted:<br /> +Thou double traitor, to conspire so basely;<br /> +And when found out, more basely to deny't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O gracious Harry, let me sound thy name,<br /> +Lest this old rust of war, this knotty trifler,<br /> +Should raise me to extremes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> If thou'rt a man,<br /> +That didst refuse the challenge of Navarre,<br /> +Come forth<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-10">[10]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">047</span><a id="page_047" name="page_047"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Go on; since thou'rt resolved on death,<br /> +I'll follow thee, and rid thy shaking soul.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter King, Queen-Mother, <span class="cnm">Alphonso,</span> Abbot, &c.</p> + +<p class="dlg">But see, the king: I scorn to ruin<br /> thee, +Therefore go tell him, tell him thy own story.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Ha, colonel, is this your friendly visit?<br /> +Tell me the truth, how happened this disorder?<br /> +Those ruffled hands, red looks, and port of fury?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I told him, sir, since you will have it so,<br /> +He was the author of the rebel-league;<br /> +Therefore, a traitor and a murderer.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Is't possible?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> No matter, sir, no matter;<br /> +A few hot words, no more, upon my life;<br /> +The old man roused, and shook himself a little:<br /> +So, if your majesty will do me honour,<br /> +I do beseech you, let the business die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Grillon, submit yourself, and ask his pardon.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Pardon me, I cannot do't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Where are the guards!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Hold, sir;—come, colonel, I'll ask pardon for you;<br /> +This soldierly embrace makes up the breach;<br /> +We will be sorry, sir, for one another.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> My lord, I know not what to answer you;<br /> +I'm friends,—and I am not,—and so farewell.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> You have your orders; yet before you go,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">048</span><a id="page_048" name="page_048"></a> +Take this embrace: I court you for my friend,<br /> +Though Grillon would not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I thank you on my knees;<br /> +And still, while life shall last, will take strict care<br /> +To justify my loyalty to your person.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Excellent loyalty, to lock you up!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I see even to the bottom of his soul;<br /> +And, madam, I must say the Guise has beauties,<br /> +But they are set in night, and foul design:<br /> +He was my friend when young, and might be still.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ab.</span> Marked you his hollow accents at the parting?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Graves in his smiles.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Death in his bloodless hands.—<br /> +O Marmoutiere! now I will haste to meet thee:<br /> +The face of beauty, on this rising horror,<br /> +Looks like the midnight moon upon a murder;<br /> +<span class="i1">It gilds the dark design that stays for fate,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">And drives the shades, that thicken, from the state.</span><span class="sdr">[Exuent.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT III. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Grillon</span> and <span class="cnm">Polin.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Have then this pious Council of Sixteen<br /> +Scented your late discovery of the plot?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> Not as from me; for still I kennel with them.<br /> +And bark as loud as the most deep-mouthed traitor,<br /> +Against the king, his government, and laws;<br /> +Whereon immediately there runs a cry<br /> +Of,—Seize him on the next procession! seize him.<br /> +And clap the Chilperick in a monastery!<br /> +Thus it was fixt, as I before discovered;<br /> +But when, against his custom, they perceived<br /> +The king absented, strait the rebels met,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">049</span><a id="page_049" name="page_049"></a> +And roared,—they were undone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> O, 'tis like them;<br /> +'Tis like their mongrel souls: flesh them with fortune,<br /> +And they will worry royalty to death;<br /> +But if some crabbed virtue turn and pinch them,<br /> +Mark me, they'll run, and yelp, and clap their tails,<br /> +Like curs, betwixt their legs, and howl for mercy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pol.</span> But Malicorn, sagacious on the point,<br /> +Cried,—Call the sheriffs, and bid them arm their bands;<br /> +Add yet to this, to raise you above hope,<br /> +The Guise, my master, will be here to-day.—<br /> +For on bare guess of what has been revealed,<br /> +He winged a messenger to give him notice;<br /> +Yet, spite of all this factor of the fiends<br /> +Could urge, they slunk their heads, like hinds in storms.<br /> +But see, they come.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Sheriffs, with the Populace.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Away, I'll have amongst them;<br /> +Fly to the king, warn him of Guise's coming,<br /> +That he may strait despatch his strict commands<br /> +To stop him.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Polin.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> Nay, this is colonel Grillon,<br /> +The blunderbuss o'the court; away, away,<br /> +He carries ammunition in his face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Hark you, my friends, if you are not in haste,<br /> +Because you are the pillars of the city,<br /> +I would inform you of a general ruin.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Sher.</span> Ruin to the city! marry, heaven forbid!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Amen, I say; for, look you, I'm your friend.<br /> +'Tis blown about, you've plotted on the king,<br /> +To seize him, if not kill him; for, who knows,<br /> +When once your conscience yields, how far 'twill stretch;<br /> +Next, quite to dash your firmest hopes in pieces,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">050</span><a id="page_050" name="page_050"></a> +The duke of Guise is dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> Dead, colonel!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Sher.</span> Undone, undone!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> The world cannot redeem you;<br /> +For what, sirs, if the king, provoked at last,<br /> +Should join the Spaniard, and should fire your city;<br /> +Paris, your head,—but a most venomous one,—<br /> +Which must be blooded?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> Blooded, colonel!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Ay, blooded, thou most infamous magistrate,<br /> +Or you will blood the king, and burn the Louvre;<br /> +But ere that be, fall million miscreant souls,<br /> +Such earth-born minds as yours; for, mark me, slaves,<br /> +Did you not, ages past, consign your lives,<br /> +Liberties, fortunes, to Imperial hands,<br /> +Made them the guardians of your sickly years?<br /> +And now you're grown up to a booby's greatness,<br /> +What, would you wrest the sceptre from his hand?<br /> +Now, by the majesty of kings I swear,<br /> +You shall as soon be saved for packing juries.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> Why, sir, mayn't citizens be saved?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes, sir,<br /> +From drowning, to be hanged, burnt, broke o'the wheel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> Colonel, you speak us plain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> A plague confound you,<br /> +Why should I not? what is there in such rascals,<br /> +Should make me hide my thought, or hold my tongue?<br /> +Now, in the devil's name, what make you here,<br /> +Daubing the inside of the court, like snails,<br /> +Sliming our walls, and pricking out your horns?<br /> +To hear, I warrant, what the king's a doing,<br /> +And what the cabinet-council; then to the city,<br /> +To spread your monstrous lies, and sow sedition?<br /> +Wild fire choke you!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> Well, we'll think of this;<br /> +And so we take our leaves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">051</span><a id="page_051" name="page_051"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Nay, stay, my masters;<br /> +For I'm a thinking now just whereabouts<br /> +Grow the two tallest trees in Arden forest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> For what, pray, colonel, if we may be so bold?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Why, to hang you upon the highest branches.<br /> +'Fore God, it will be so; and I shall laugh<br /> +To see you dangling to and fro i'the air,<br /> +With the honest crows pecking your traitors' limbs.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">All.</span> Good colonel!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Good rats, my precious vermin.<br /> +You moving dirt, you rank stark muck o'the world,<br /> +You oven-bats, you things so far from souls,<br /> +Like dogs, you're out of Providence's reach,<br /> +And only fit for hanging; but be gone,<br /> +And think of plunder.—You right elder sheriff,<br /> +Who carved our Henry's image on a table,<br /> +At your club-feast, and after stabbed it through,—<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-11">[11]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Sher.</span> Mercy, good colonel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Run with your nose to earth;<br /> +Run, blood-hound, run, and scent out royal murder.—<br /> +<span class="pgnm">052</span><a id="page_052" name="page_052"></a> +You second rogue, but equal to the first,<br /> +Plunder, go hang,—nay, take your tackling with you,<br /> +For these shall hold you fast,—your slaves shall hang you.<br /> +To the mid region in the sun:<br /> +Plunder! Begone, vipers, asps, and adders! +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Sheriffs and People.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Malicorn.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Ha! but here comes a fiend, that soars above;<br /> +A prince o'the air, that sets the mud a moving.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Colonel, a word.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I hold no speech with villains.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> But, sir, it may concern your fame and safety.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> No matter; I had rather die traduced,<br /> +Than live by such a villain's help as thine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Hate then the traitor, but yet love the treason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Why, are you not a villain?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> 'Tis confessed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Then, in the name of all thy brother-devils,<br /> +What wouldst thou have with me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> I know you're honest;<br /> +Therefore it is my business to disturb you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">053</span><a id="page_053" name="page_053"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Fore God, I'll beat thee, if thou urge me farther.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Why, though you should, yet, if you hear me after,<br /> +The pleasure I shall take in your vexation,<br /> +Will heal my bruises.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Wert thou definite rogue,<br /> +I'faith, I think, that I should give thee hearing;<br /> +But such a boundless villainy as thine<br /> +Admits no patience.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Your niece is come to court,<br /> +And yields her honour to our Henry's bed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Thou liest, damned villain.<span class="sdr">[Strikes him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> So: why this I looked for;<br /> +But yet I swear by hell, and my revenge,<br /> +'Tis true, as you have wronged me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Wronged thee, villain!<br /> +And name revenge! O wert thou Grillon's match,<br /> +And worthy of my sword, I swear, by this<br /> +One had been past an oath; but thou'rt a worm,<br /> +And if I tread thee, darest not turn again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> 'Tis false; I dare, like you, but cannot act;<br /> +There is no force in this enervate arm.<br /> +Blasted I was ere born—curse on my stars!—<br /> +Got by some dotard in his pithless years,<br /> +And sent a withered sapling to the world.<br /> +Yet I have brain, and there is my revenge;<br /> +Therefore I say again, these eyes have seen<br /> +Thy blood at court, bright as a summer's morn,<br /> +When all the heaven is streaked with dappled fires.<br /> +And flecked with blushes like a rifled maid;<br /> +Nay, by the gleamy fires that melted from her,<br /> +Fast sighs and smiles, swol'n lips, and heaving breasts,<br /> +My soul presages Henry has enjoyed her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Again thou liest! and I will crumble thee,<br /> +Thou bottled spider, into thy primitive earth,<br /> +Unless thou swear thy very thought's a lie.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">054</span><a id="page_054" name="page_054"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mal.</span> I stand in adamant, and thus defy thee!<br /> +Nay, draw, and with the edge betwixt my lips,<br /> +Even while thou rak'st it through my teeth, I'll swear<br /> +All I have said is true, as thou art honest,<br /> +Or I a villain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Damned infamous wretch!<br /> +So much below my scorn, I dare not kill thee;<br /> +And yet so much my hate, that I must fear thee.<br /> +For should it be as thou hast said, not all<br /> +The trophies of my laurelled honesty<br /> +Should bar me from forsaking this bad world,<br /> +And never draw my sword for Henry more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Ha! 'tis well, and now I am revenged.<br /> +I was in hopes thou wouldst have uttered treason,<br /> +And forfeited thy head, to pay me fully.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Hast thou compacted for a lease of years<br /> +With hell, that thus thou ventured to provoke me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Perhaps I have: (How right the blockhead hits!)<br /> +Yet more to rack thy heart, and break thy brain,<br /> +Thy niece has been before the Guise's mistress.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Hell-hound, avaunt!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Forgive my honest meaning.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Tis hatched beneath, a plot upon mine honour;<br /> +And thus he lays his baits to catch my soul:—<br /> +Ha! but the presence opens; who comes here?<br /> +By heaven, my niece! led by Alphonso Corso!<br /> +Ha, Malicorn! is't possible? truth from thee!<br /> +'Tis plain! and I, in justifying woman,<br /> +Have done the devil wrong.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alphonso Corso,</span> leading in <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Madam, the king<br /> +(Please you to sit) will instantly attend you.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Death, hell, and furies! ha! she comes to seek him!—<br /> +O prostitute!—and, on her prodigal flesh,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">055</span><a id="page_055" name="page_055"></a> +She has lavished all the diamonds of the Guise,<br /> +To set her off, and sell her to the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> O heavens! did ever virgin yet attempt<br /> +An enterprise like mine? I, that resolved<br /> +Never to leave those dear delightful shades,<br /> +But act the little part that nature gave me,<br /> +On the green carpets of some guiltless grove,<br /> +And having finished it, forsake the world;<br /> +Unless sometimes my heart might entertain<br /> +Some small remembrance of the taking Guise:<br /> +But that far, far from any darkening thought,<br /> +To cloud my honour, or eclipse my virtue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Thou liest! and if thou hadst not glanced aside,<br /> +And spied me coming, I had had it all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> By heaven! by all that's good—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Thou hast lost thy honour.<br /> +Give me this hand, this hand by which I caught thee<br /> +From the bold ruffian in the massacre,<br /> +That would have stained thy almost infant honour,<br /> +With lust, and blood;—dost thou remember it?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I do, and bless the godlike arm, that saved me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Tis false! thou hast forgot my generous action;<br /> +And now thou laugh'st, to think how thou hast cheated,<br /> +For all his kindness, this old grisled fool.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Forbid it heaven!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> But oh, that thou hadst died<br /> +Ten thousand deaths, ere blasted Grillon's glory;<br /> +Grillon, that saved thee from a barbarous world.<br /> +Where thou hadst starved, or sold thyself for bread;<br /> +Took thee into his bosom, fostered thee<br /> +As his own soul, and laid thee in his heart-strings;<br /> +And now, for all my cares, to serve me thus!<br /> +O 'tis too much, ye powers! double confusion<br /> +<span class="pgnm">056</span><a id="page_056" name="page_056"></a> +On all my wars; and oh,—out, shame upon thee!<br /> +It wrings the tears from Grillon's iron heart,<br /> +And melts me to a babe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Sir! father! hear me!<br /> +I come to court, to save the life of Guise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> And prostitute thy honour to the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I have looked, perhaps, too nicely for my sex,<br /> +Into the dark affairs of fatal state;<br /> +And, to advance this dangerous inquisition,<br /> +I listened to the love of daring Guise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> By arms, by honesty, I swear thou lovest him!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> By heaven, that gave those arms success, I swear<br /> +I do not, as you think! but take it all.<br /> +I have heard the Guise, not with an angel's temper,<br /> +Something beyond the tenderness of pity,<br /> +And yet, not love.<br /> +Now, by the powers that framed me, this is all!<br /> +Nor should the world have wrought this close confession,<br /> +But to rebate your jealousy of honour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I know not what to say, nor what to think;<br /> +There's heaven still in thy voice, but that's a sign<br /> +Virtue's departing; for thy better angel<br /> +Still makes the woman's tongue his rising ground,<br /> +Wags there a while, and takes his flight for ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> You must not go.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Though I have reason, plain<br /> +As day, to judge thee false, I think thee true:<br /> +By heaven, methinks I see a glory round thee!<br /> +There's something says, thou wilt not lose thy honour:—<br /> +Death and the devil! that's my own honesty;<br /> +My foolish open nature, that would have<br /> +All like myself;—but off; I'll hence and curse thee!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> O, stay!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I will not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">057</span><a id="page_057" name="page_057"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Hark! the king's coming.<br /> +Let me conjure you, for your own soul's quiet,<br /> +And for the everlasting rest of mine,<br /> +Stir not, till you have heard my heart's design.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Angel, or devil, I will.—Nay, at this rate,<br /> +She'll make me shortly bring him to her bed.—<br /> +Bawd for him? no, he shall make me run my head<br /> +Into a cannon, when 'tis firing, first;<br /> +That's honourable sport. But I'll retire,<br /> +And if she plays me false, here's that shall mend her.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Touching his Dagger, exit. <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere</span> +sits. Song and Dance.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the King.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> After the breathing of a love-sick heart<br /> +Upon your hand, once more,—nay twice,—forgive me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I discompose you, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Thou dost, by heaven;<br /> +But with such charming pleasure,<br /> +I love, and tremble, as at angels' view.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Love me, my lord?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Who should be loved, but you?<br /> +So loved, that even my crown, and self are vile,<br /> +While you are by. Try me upon despair;<br /> +My kingdom at the stake, ambition starved,<br /> +Revenge forgot, and all great appetites<br /> +That whet uncommon spirits to aspire,<br /> +So once a day I may have leave—<br /> +Nay, madam, then you fear me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Fear you, sir! what is there dreadful in you?<br /> +You've all the graces that can crown mankind;<br /> +Yet wear them so, as if you did not know them;<br /> +So stainless, fearless, free in all your actions,<br /> +As if heaven lent you to the world to pattern.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Madam, I find you are no petitioner;<br /> +My people would not treat me in this sort,<br /> +Though 'twere to gain a part of their design;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">058</span><a id="page_058" name="page_058"></a> +But to the Guise they deal their faithless praise<br /> +As fast, as you your flattery to me;<br /> +Though for what end I cannot guess, except<br /> +You come, like them, to mock at my misfortunes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Forgive you, heaven, that thought! No, mighty monarch,<br /> +The love of all the good, and wonder of the great;<br /> +I swear, by heaven, my heart adores, and loves you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> O madam, rise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Nay, were you, sir, unthroned<br /> +By this seditious rout that dare despise you,<br /> +Blast all my days, ye powers! torment my nights;<br /> +Nay, let the misery invade my sex,<br /> +That could not for the royal cause, like me,<br /> +Throw all their luxury before your feet,<br /> +And follow you, like pilgrims, through the world.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Sound wind and limb! 'fore God, a gallant girl! +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What shall I answer to thee, O thou balm<br /> +To heal a broken, yet a kingly heart!<br /> +For, so I swear I will be to my last.<br /> +Come to my arms, and be thy Harry's angel,<br /> +Shine through my cares, and make my crown sit easy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> O never, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What said you, Marmoutiere?<br /> +Why dost thou turn thy beauties into frowns?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> You know, sir, 'tis impossible; no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> No more?—and with that stern resolved behaviour?<br /> +By heaven! were I a dying, and the priest<br /> +Should urge my last confession, I'd cry out,<br /> +Oh Marmoutiere! and yet thou say'st,—No more!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> 'Tis well, sir; I have lost my aim, farewell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Come back! O stay, my life flows after you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> No, sir, I find I am a trouble to you;<br /> +You will not hear my suit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> You cannot go,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">059</span><a id="page_059" name="page_059"></a> +You shall not.—O your suit, I kneel to grant it;<br /> +I beg you take whatever you demand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Then, sir, thus low, or prostrate if you please,<br /> +Let me intreat for Guise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Ha, madam, what!<br /> +For Guise; for Guise! that stubborn arrogant rebel,<br /> +That laughs at proffered mercy, slights his pardon,<br /> +Mocks royal grace, and plots upon my life?<br /> +Ha! and do you protect him? then the world<br /> +Is sworn to Henry's death: Does beauty too,<br /> +And innocence itself conspire against me?<br /> +Then let me tamely yield my glories up,<br /> +Which once I vowed with my drawn sword to wear<br /> +To my last drop of blood.—Come Guise, come cardinal,<br /> +All you loved traitors, come—I strip to meet you;<br /> +Sheathe all your daggers in curst Henry's heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> This I expected; but when you have heard<br /> +How far I would intreat your majesty,<br /> +Perhaps you'll be more calm.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> See, I am hushed;<br /> +Speak then; how far, madam, would you command?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Not to proceed to last extremities,<br /> +Before the wound is desperate. Think alone,<br /> +For no man judges like your majesty:<br /> +Take your own methods; all the heads of France<br /> +Cannot so well advise you, as yourself.<br /> +Therefore resume, my lord, your god-like temper,<br /> +Yet do not bear more than a monarch should;<br /> +Believe it, sir, the more your majesty<br /> +Draws back your arm, the more of fate it carries.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Thou genius of my state, thou perfect model<br /> +Of heaven itself, and abstract of the angels,<br /> +Forgive the late disturbance of my soul!<br /> +I'm clear by nature, as a rockless stream;<br /> +But they dig through the gravel of my heart,<br /> +And raise the mud of passions up to cloud me;<br /> +Therefore let me conjure you, do not go;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">060</span><a id="page_060" name="page_060"></a> +'Tis said, the Guise will come in spite of me;<br /> +Suppose it possible, and stay to advise me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I will; but, on your royal word, no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I will be easy,<br /> +To my last gasp, as your own virgin thoughts,<br /> +And never dare to breathe my passion more;<br /> +Yet you'll allow me now and then to sigh<br /> +As we discourse, and court you with my eyes?</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alphonso.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Why do you wave your hand, and warn me hence?<br /> +So looks the poor condemned,<br /> +When justice beckons, there's no hope of pardon.<br /> +Sternly, like you, the judge the victim eyes,<br /> +And thus, like me, the wretch, despairing, dies. +<span class="sdr">[Exit with <span class="cnm">Alphonso.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> O rare, rare creature! By the power that made me,<br /> +Wer't possible we could be damned again<br /> +By some new Eve, such virtue might redeem us.<br /> +Oh I could clasp thee, but that my arms are rough,<br /> +Till all thy sweets were broke with my embraces,<br /> +And kiss thy beauties to a dissolution!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Ah father, uncle, brother, all the kin,<br /> +The precious blood that's left me in the world,<br /> +Believe, dear sir, whate'er my actions seem,<br /> +I will not lose my virtue, for a throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Why, I will carve thee out a throne myself;<br /> +I'll hew down all the kings in Christendom,<br /> +And seat thee on their necks, as high as heaven.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Abbot <span class="cnm">Delbene.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> Colonel, your ear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> By these whispering councils,<br /> +My soul presages that the Guise is coming.<br /> +If he dares come, were I a man, a king,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">061</span><a id="page_061" name="page_061"></a> +I'd sacrifice him in the city's sight.—<br /> +O heavens! what was't I said? Were I a man,<br /> +I know not that; but, as I am a virgin,<br /> +If I would offer thee, too lovely Guise,<br /> +It should be kneeling to the throne of mercy.—<br /> +Ha! then thou lovest, that thou art thus concerned.<br /> +Down, rising mischief, down, or I will kill thee,<br /> +Even in thy cause, and strangle new-born pity!—<br /> +Yet if he were not married!—ha, what then?<br /> +His charms prevail;—no, let the rebel die.<br /> +I faint beneath this strong oppression here;<br /> +Reason and love rend my divided soul;<br /> +Heaven be the judge, and still let virtue conquer.<br /> +Love to his tune my jarring heart would bring,<br /> +But reason over-winds, and cracks the string.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> The king dispatches order upon order,<br /> +With positive command to stop his coming.<br /> +Yet there is notice given to the city;<br /> +Besides, Belleure brought but a half account,<br /> +How that the Guise replied, he would obey<br /> +His majesty in all; yet, if he might<br /> +Have leave to justify himself before him,<br /> +He doubted not his cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> The axe, the axe:<br /> +Rebellion's pampered to a pleurisy,<br /> +And it must bleed.<span class="sdr">[Shout within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> Hark, what a shout was there!<br /> +I'll to the king; it may be, 'tis reported<br /> +On purpose thus.<br /> +Let there be truth or lies<br /> +In this mad fame, I'll bring you instant word.<span class="sdr">[Exit Abbot.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Manet <span class="cnm">Grillon:</span> Enter <span class="cnm">Guise, Cardinal, Mayenne, +Malicorn,</span> Attendants, &c. Shouts again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Death, and thou devil Malicorn, is that<br /> +Thy master?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Yes, Grillon, 'tis the Guise;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">062</span><a id="page_062" name="page_062"></a> +One, that would court you for a friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> A friend!<br /> +Traitor thou mean'st, and so I bid thee welcome;<br /> +But since thou art so insolent, thy blood<br /> +Be on thy head, and fall by me unpitied.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> The bruises of his loyalty have crazed him. +<span class="sdr">[Shouts louder.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Spirit within sings.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><i><span class="i1">Malicorn, Malicorn, Malicorn, ho!</span><br /> +<span class="i1">If the Guise resolves to go,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">I charge, I warn thee let him know,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Perhaps his head may lie too low.</span></i></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Why, Malicorn.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> [<span class="sdm">Starting.</span>] Sir, do not see the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> 'Tis dangerous.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Therefore I will see him,<br /> +And so report my danger to the people.<br /> +Halt—to your judgment.—[<span class="sdm"><span class="cnm">Malicorn</span> makes signs of Assassination.</span>] Let him, if he dare.—<br /> +But more, more, more;—why, Malicorn!—again?<br /> +I thought a look, with us, had been a language;<br /> +I'll talk my mind on any point but this<br /> +By glances;—ha! not yet? thou mak'st me blush<br /> +At thy delay; why, man, 'tis more than life,<br /> +Ambition, or a crown<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-12">[12]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">063</span><a id="page_063" name="page_063"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mal.</span> What, Marmoutiere?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Ay, there a general's heart beat like a drum!<br /> +Quick, quick! my reins, my back, and head and breast<br /> +Ache, as I'd been a horse-back forty hours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> She has seen the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I thought she might. A trick upon me; well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Passion o' both sides.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> His, thou meanest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> On hers.<br /> +Down on her knees.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> And up again; no matter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Now all in tears, now smiling, sad at parting.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Dissembled, for she told me this before;<br /> +'Twas all put on, that I might hear and rave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> And so, to make sure work on't, by consent<br /> +Of Grillon, who is made their bawd,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Away!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> She's lodged at court.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> 'Tis false, they do belie her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> But, sir, I saw the apartment.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> What, at court?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> At court, and near the king; 'tis true, by heaven:<br /> +I never play'd you foul, why should you doubt me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I would thou hadst, ere thus unmanned my heart!<br /> +Blood, battles, fire, and death! I run, I run!<br /> +With this last blow he drives me like a coward;<br /> +Nay, let me never win a field again,<br /> +If, with the thought of these irregular vapours,<br /> +The blood ha'nt burst my lips.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Peace, brother.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> By heaven, I took thee for my soul's physician,<br /> +And dost thou vomit me with this loathed peace?<br /> +<span class="pgnm">064</span><a id="page_064" name="page_064"></a> +'Tis contradiction: no, my peaceful brother,<br /> +I'll meet him now, though fire-armed cherubins<br /> +Should cross my way. O jealousy of love!<br /> +Greater than fame! thou eldest of the passions,<br /> +Or rather all in one, I here invoke thee,<br /> +Where'er thou'rt throned in air, in earth, or hell,<br /> +Wing me to my revenge, to blood, and ruin!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Have you no temper?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Pray, sir, give me leave.<br /> +A moment's thought;—ha, but I sweat and tremble,<br /> +My brain runs this and that way; it will not fix<br /> +On aught but vengeance.—Malicorn, call the people. +<span class="sdr">[Shouts within.</span><br /> +But hark, they shout again: I'll on and meet them;<br /> +Nay, head them to his palace, as my guards.<br /> +Yet more, on such exalted causes borne,<br /> +I'll wait him in his cabinet alone,<br /> +And look him pale; while in his courts without,<br /> +The people shout him dead with their alarms,<br /> +And make his mistress tremble in his arms.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter King and Council.</p> +<p class="dlg"><span class="sdr">[Shouts without.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What mean these shouts?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> I told your majesty,<br /> +The sheriffs have puffed the populace with hopes<br /> +Of their deliverer.<span class="sdr">[Shouts again.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Hark! there rung a peal<br /> +Like thunder: see, Alphonso, what's the cause.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> My lord, the Guise is come.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Is't possible! ha, Grillon, said'st thou, come?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Why droops the royal majesty? O sir!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> O villain, slave, wert thou my late-born heir,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">065</span><a id="page_065" name="page_065"></a> +Given me by heaven, even when I lay a-dying—<br /> +But peace, thou festering thought, and hide thy wound;—<br /> +Where is he?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> With her majesty, your mother;<br /> +She has taken chair, and he walks bowing by her,<br /> +With thirty thousand rebels at his heels.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What's to be done? No pall upon my spirit;<br /> +But he that loves me best, and dares the most<br /> +On this nice point of empire, let him speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> I would advise you, sir, to call him in,<br /> +And kill him instantly upon the spot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> I like Alphonso's counsel, short, sure work;<br /> +Cut off the head, and let the body walk.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Queen-Mother.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Sir, the Guise waits.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> He enters on his fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Not so,—forbear; the city is up in arms;<br /> +Nor doubt, if, in their heat, you cut him off,<br /> +That they will spare the royal majesty.<br /> +Once, sir, let me advise, and rule your fury.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> You shall: I'll see him, and I'll spare him now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> What will you say?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I know not;—<br /> +Colonel Grillon, call the archers in,<br /> +Double your guards, and strictly charge the Swiss<br /> +Stand to their arms, receive him as a traitor.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></span><br /> +My heart has set thee down, O Guise, in blood,—<br /> +Blood, mother, blood, ne'er to be blotted out.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Yet you'll relent, when this hot fit is over.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> If I forgive him, may I ne'er be forgiven!<br /> +No, if I tamely bear such insolence,<br /> +What act of treason will the villains stop at?<br /> +Seize me, they've sworn; imprison me is the next,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">066</span><a id="page_066" name="page_066"></a> +Perhaps arraign me, and then doom me dead.<br /> +But ere I suffer that, fall all together,<br /> +Or rather, on their slaughtered heaps erect<br /> +My throne, and then proclaim it for example.<br /> +I'm born a monarch, which implies alone<br /> +To wield the sceptre, and depend on none.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-13">[13]</a>.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT IV.<br /> +SCENE I.<i>—The Louvre.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">A Chair of State placed; the King appears sitting in +it; a Table by him, on which he leans; Attendants +on each Side of him; amongst the rest, <span class="cnm">Abbot, +Grillon,</span> and <span class="cnm">Bellieure.</span> The <span class="cnm">Queen-Mother</span> +enters, led by the Duke of <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> who makes +his Approach with three Reverences to the King's +Chair; after the third, the King rises, and coming +forward, speaks.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I sent you word, you should not come.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Sir, that I came—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">067</span><a id="page_067" name="page_067"></a> +<span class="cnm">King.</span> Why, that you came, I see.<br /> +Once more, I sent you word, you should not come.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Not come to throw myself, with all submission,<br /> +Beneath your royal feet! to put my cause<br /> +And person in the hands of sovereign justice!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Now 'tis with all submission,—that's the preface,—<br /> +Yet still you came against my strict command;<br /> +You disobeyed me, duke, with all submission.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">068</span><a id="page_068" name="page_068"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Sir, 'twas the last necessity that drove me,<br /> +To clear myself of calumnies, and slanders,<br /> +Much urged, but never proved, against my innocence;<br /> +Yet had I known 'twas your express command,<br /> +I should not have approached.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> 'Twas as express, as words could signify;—<br /> +Stand forth, Bellieure,—it shall be proved you knew it,—<br /> +Stand forth, and to this false man's face declare<br /> +Your message, word for word.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bel.</span> Sir, thus it was. I met him on the way,<br /> +And plain as I could speak, I gave your orders,<br /> +Just in these following words:—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Enough, I know you told him;<br /> +But he has used me long to be contemned,<br /> +And I can still be patient, and forgive.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> And I can ask forgiveness, when I err;<br /> +But let my gracious master please to know<br /> +The true intent of my misconstrued faith.<br /> +Should I not come to vindicate my fame<br /> +From wrong constructions? And—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Come, duke, you were not wronged; your conscience knows<br /> +You were not wronged; were you not plainly told,<br /> +That, if you dared to set your foot in Paris,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">069</span><a id="page_069" name="page_069"></a> +You should be held the cause of all commotions<br /> +That should from thence ensue? and yet you came.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Sir, will you please with patience but to hear me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I will; and would be glad, my lord of Guise,<br /> +To clear you to myself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I had been told,<br /> +There were in agitation here at court,<br /> +Things of the highest note against religion,<br /> +Against the common properties of subjects,<br /> +And lives of honest well-affected men;<br /> +I therefore judged,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Then you, it seems, are judge<br /> +Betwixt the prince and people? judge for them,<br /> +And champion against me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I feared it might be represented so,<br /> +And came resolved,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> To head the factious crowd.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> To clear my innocence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> The means for that,<br /> +Had been your absence from this hot-brained town,<br /> +Where you, not I, are king!—<br /> +I feel my blood kindling within my veins;<br /> +The genius of the throne knocks at my heart:<br /> +Come what may come, he dies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> [<span class="sdm">Stopping the king.</span>] What mean you, sir?<br /> +You tremble and look pale; for heaven's sake think,<br /> +'Tis your own life you venture, if you kill him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Had I ten thousand lives, I'll venture all.<br /> +Give me way, madam!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Not to your destruction.<br /> +The whole Parisian herd is at your gates;<br /> +A crowd's a name too small, they are a nation,<br /> +Numberless, armed, enraged, one soul informs them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> And that one soul's the Guise. I'll rend it out,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">070</span><a id="page_070" name="page_070"></a> +And damn the rabble all at once in him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> My fate is now in the balance; fool within,<br /> +I thank thee for thy foresight.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Your guards oppose them!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Why not? a multitude's a bulky coward.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> By heaven, there are not limbs in all your guards,<br /> +For every one a morsel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Cæsar quelled them,<br /> +But with a look and word.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> So Galba thought.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> But Galba was not Cæsar.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I must not give them time for resolution.—<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +My journey, sir, has discomposed my health,<span class="sdr">[To the king.</span><br /> +I humbly beg your leave, I may retire,<br /> +Till your commands recall me to your service.<span class="sdr">[Exit<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-14">[14]</a>.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> So, you have counselled well; the traitor's gone,<br /> +To mock the meekness of an injured king.<span class="sdr">[To Qu. M.</span><br /> +<span class="pgnm">071</span><a id="page_071" name="page_071"></a> +Why did not you, who gave me part of life,<br /> +Infuse my father stronger in my veins?<br /> +But when you kept me cooped within your womb,<br /> +You palled his generous blood with the dull mixture<br /> +Of your Italian food, and milked slow arts<br /> +Of womanish tameness in my infant mouth.<br /> +Why stood I stupid else, and missed a blow,<br /> +Which heaven and daring folly made so fair?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> I still maintain, 'twas wisely done to spare him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">072</span><a id="page_072" name="page_072"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gril.</span> A pox on this unseasonable wisdom!<br /> +He was a fool to come; if so, then they,<br /> +Who let him go, were somewhat.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> The event, the event will shew us what we were;<br /> +For, like a blazing meteor hence he shot,<br /> +And drew a sweeping fiery train along.—<br /> +O Paris, Paris, once my seat of triumph,<br /> +But now the scene of all thy king's misfortunes;<br /> +Ungrateful, perjured, and disloyal town,<br /> +Which by my royal presence I have warmed<br /> +So long, that now the serpent hisses out,<br /> +And shakes his forked tongue at majesty,<br /> +While I—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> While you lose time in idle talk,<br /> +And use no means for safety and prevention.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What can I do? O mother, Abbot, Grillon!<br /> +All dumb! nay, then 'tis plain, my cause is desperate.<br /> +Such an overwhelming ill makes grief a fool,<br /> +As if redress were past.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I'll go to the next sheriff,<br /> +And beg the first reversion of a rope:<br /> +Dispatch is all my business; I'll hang for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> 'Tis not so bad, as vainly you surmise;<br /> +Some space there is, some little space, some steps<br /> +Betwixt our fate and us: our foes are powerful,<br /> +But yet not armed, nor marshalled into order;<br /> +Believe it, sir, the Guise will not attempt,<br /> +Till he have rolled his snow-ball to a heap.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> So then, my lord, we're a day off from death:<br /> +What shall to-morrow do?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> To-morrow, sir,<br /> +If hours between slide not too idly by,<br /> +You may be master of their destiny,<br /> +Who now dispose so loftily of yours.<br /> +Not far without the suburbs there are quartered<br /> +<span class="pgnm">073</span><a id="page_073" name="page_073"></a> +Three thousand Swiss, and two French regiments.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Would they were here, and I were at their head!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Send Mareschal Byron to lead them up.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> It shall be so: by heaven there's life in this!<br /> +The wrack of clouds is driving on the winds,<br /> +And shews a break of sunshine—<br /> +Go Grillon, give my orders to Byron,<br /> +And see your soldiers well disposed within,<br /> +For safeguard of the Louvre.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> One thing more:<br /> +The Guise (his business yet not fully ripe,)<br /> +Will treat, at least, for shew of loyalty;<br /> +Let him be met with the same arts he brings.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I know, he'll make exorbitant demands,<br /> +But here your part of me will come in play;<br /> +The Italian soul shall teach me how to sooth:<br /> +Even Jove must flatter with an empty hand,<br /> +'Tis time to thunder, when he gripes the brand.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE <i>II.—A Night Scene.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Malicorn</span> solus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Thus far the cause of God; but God's or devil's,—<br /> +I mean my master's cause, and mine,—succeed,<br /> +What shall the Guise do next?<span class="sdr">[A flash of lightning.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the spirit <span class="cnm">Melanax.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> First seize the king, and after murder him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Officious fiend, thou comest uncalled to-night.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Always uncalled, and still at hand for mischief.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> But why in this fanatic habit, devil?<br /> +Thou look'st like one that preaches to the crowd;<br /> +Gospel is in thy face, and outward garb,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">074</span><a id="page_074" name="page_074"></a> +And treason on thy tongue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Thou hast me right:<br /> +Ten thousand devils more are in this habit;<br /> +Saintship and zeal are still our best disguise:<br /> +We mix unknown with the hot thoughtless crowd,<br /> +And quoting scriptures, (which too well we know,)<br /> +With impious glosses ban the holy text,<br /> +And make it speak rebellion, schism, and murder;<br /> +So turn the arms of heaven against itself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> What makes the curate of St. Eustace here?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Thou art mistaken, master; 'tis not he,<br /> +But 'tis a zealous, godly, canting devil,<br /> +Who has assumed the churchman's lucky shape,<br /> +To talk the crowd to madness and rebellion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> O true enthusiastic devil, true,—<br /> +(For lying is thy nature, even to me,)<br /> +Did'st thou not tell me, if my lord, the Guise,<br /> +Entered the court, his head should then lie low?<br /> +That was a lie; he went, and is returned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> 'Tis false; I said, <i>perhaps</i> it should lie low;<br /> +And, but I chilled the blood in Henry's veins,<br /> +And crammed a thousand ghastly, frightful thoughts,<br /> +Nay, thrust them foremost in his labouring brain,<br /> +Even so it would have been.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Thou hast deserved me,<br /> +And I am thine, dear devil: what do we next?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I said, first seize the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Suppose it done:<br /> +He's clapt within a convent, shorn a saint,<br /> +My master mounts the throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Not so fast, Malicorn;<br /> +Thy master mounts not, till the king be slain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Not when deposed?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> He cannot be deposed:<br /> +He may be killed, a violent fate attends him;<br /> +But at his birth there shone a regal star.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> My master had a stronger.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">075</span><a id="page_075" name="page_075"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mel.</span> No, not a stronger, but more popular.<br /> +Their births were full opposed, the Guise now strongest<br /> +But if the ill influence pass o'er Harry's head,<br /> +As in a year it will, France ne'er shall boast<br /> +A greater king than he; now cut him off,<br /> +While yet his stars are weak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Thou talk'st of stars:<br /> +Can'st thou not see more deep into events,<br /> +And by a surer way?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> No, Malicorn;<br /> +The ways of heaven are broken since our fall,<br /> +Gulph beyond gulph, and never to be shot.<br /> +Once we could read our mighty Maker's mind,<br /> +As in a crystal mirror, see the ideas<br /> +Of things that always are, as he is always;<br /> +Now, shut below in this dark sphere,<br /> +By second causes dimly we may guess,<br /> +And peep far off on heaven's revolving orbs,<br /> +Which cast obscure reflections from the throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Then tell me thy surmises of the future.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I took the revolution of the year,<br /> +Just when the Sun was entering in the Ham:<br /> +The ascending Scorpion poisoned all the sky,<br /> +A sign of deep deceit and treachery.<br /> +Full on his cusp his angry master sate,<br /> +Conjoined with Saturn, baleful both to man:<br /> +Of secret slaughters, empires overturned,<br /> +Strife, blood, and massacres, expect to hear,<br /> +And all the events of an ill-omened year.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Then flourish hell, and mighty mischief reign!<br /> +Mischief, to some, to others must be good.<br /> +But hark! for now, though 'tis the dead of night,<br /> +When silence broods upon our darkened world,<br /> +Methinks I hear a murmuring hollow sound,<br /> +Like the deaf chimes of bells in steeples touched.</p> + +<table summary="A speech with a rhyming triplet"> +<tr> +<td><p class="dlg" style="margin: 0 0 0 0;"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> It is truly guessed;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">076</span><a id="page_076" name="page_076"></a> +But know, 'tis from no nightly sexton's hand.<br /> +There's not a damned ghost, nor hell-born fiend,<br /> +That can from limbo 'scape, but hither flies;<br /> +With leathern wings they beat the dusky skies,<br /> +To sacred churches all in swarms repair;<br /> +Some crowd the spires, but most the hallowed bells,<br /> +And softly toll for souls departing knells:<br /> +Each chime, thou hear'st, a future death foretells,<br /> +Now there they perch to have them in their eyes,<br /> +'Till all go loaded to the nether skies<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-15">[15]</a>.</p></td> +<td style="vertical-align: top;"><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> To-morrow then.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> To-morrow let it be;<br /> +Or thou deceiv'st those hungry, gaping fiends,<br /> +And Beelzebub will rage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Why Beelzebub? hast thou not often said,<br /> +That Lucifer's your king?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I told thee true;<br /> +But Lucifer, as he who foremost fell,<br /> +So now lies lowest in the abyss of hell,<br /> +Chained till the dreadful doom; in place of whom<br /> +Sits Beelzebub, vicegerent of the damned,<br /> +Who, listening downward, hears his roaring lord,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">077</span><a id="page_077" name="page_077"></a> +And executes his purpose.—But no more<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-16">[16]</a>.<br /> +The morning creeps behind yon eastern hill,<br /> +And now the guard is mine, to drive the elves,<br /> +And foolish fairies, from their moonlight play,<br /> +And lash the laggers from the sight of day.<span class="sdr">[Descends.</span><br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Mal.</span></span><br /></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE III.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Guise, Mayenne, Cardinal,</span> and <span class="cnm">Archbishop.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> Sullen, methinks, and slow the morning breaks,<br /> +As if the sun were listless to appear,<br /> +And dark designs hung heavy on the day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> You're an old man too soon, you're superstitious;<br /> +I'll trust my stars, I know them now by proof;<br /> +The genius of the king bends under mine:<br /> +Environed with his guards, he durst not touch me;<br /> +But awed and cravened, as he had been spelled,<br /> +Would have pronounced, Go kill the Guise, and durst not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> We have him in our power, coop'd in his court.<br /> +Who leads the first attack? Now by yon heaven,<br /> +That blushes at my scarlet robes, I'll doff<br /> +This womanish attire of godly peace,<br /> +And cry,—Lie there, Lord Cardinal of Guise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">078</span><a id="page_078" name="page_078"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gui.</span> As much too hot, as Mayenne is too cool.<br /> +But 'tis the manlier fault of the two.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Have you not heard the king, preventing day,<br /> +Received the guards into the city gates,<br /> +The jolly Swisses marching to their fifes?<br /> +The crowd stood gaping, heartless and amazed,<br /> +Shrunk to their shops, and left the passage free.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I would it should be so, 'twas a good horror<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-17">[17]</a>.<br /> +First let them fear for rapes, and ransacked houses;<br /> +That very fright, when I appear to head them,<br /> +Will harden their soft city courages:<br /> +Cold burghers must be struck, and struck like flints,<br /> +Ere their hid fire will sparkle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> I'm glad the king has introduced these guards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Your reason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> They are too few for us to fear;<br /> +Our numbers in old martial men are more,<br /> +The city not cast in; but the pretence,<br /> +That hither they are brought to bridle Paris,<br /> +Will make this rising pass for just defence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> Suppose the city should not rise?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Suppose, as well, the sun should never rise:<br /> +He may not rise, for heaven may play a trick;<br /> +But he has risen from Adam's time to ours.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">079</span><a id="page_079" name="page_079"></a> +Is nothing to be left to noble hazard?<br /> +No venture made, but all dull certainty?<br /> +By heaven I'll tug with Henry for a crown,<br /> +Rather than have it on tame terms of yielding:<br /> +I scorn to poach for power.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter a Servant, who whispers <span class="cnm">Guise.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">A lady, say'st thou, young and beautiful,<br /> +Brought in a chair?<br /> +Conduct her in.—<span class="sdr">[Exit Servant.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> You would be left alone?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I would; retire.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">May. Card.</span> &c.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter Servant with <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere,</span> and exit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="sdm">Starting back.</span>] Is't possible? I dare not trust my eyes!<br /> +You are not Marmoutiere?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> What am I then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Why, any thing but she:<br /> +What should the mistress of a king do here?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Find him, who would be master of a king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I sent not for you, madam.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I think, my lord, the king sent not for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Do you not fear, your visit will be known?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Fear is for guilty men, rebels, and traitors:<br /> +Where'er I go, my virtue is my guard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> What devil has sent thee here to plague my soul?<br /> +O that I could detest thee now as much<br /> +As ever I have loved, nay, even as much<br /> +As yet, in spite of all thy crimes, I love!<br /> +But 'tis a love so mixt with dark despair,<br /> +The smoke and soot smother the rising flame,<br /> +And make my soul a furnace. Woman, woman,<br /> +What can I call thee more? if devil, 'twere less.<br /> +Sure, thine's a race was never got by Adam,<br /> +But Eve played false, engendering with the serpent,<br /> +Her own part worse than his.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">080</span><a id="page_080" name="page_080"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Then they got traitors.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Yes, angel-traitors, fit to shine in palaces,<br /> +Forked into ills, and split into deceits;<br /> +Two in their very frame. 'Twas well, 'twas well,<br /> +I saw thee not at court, thou basilisk;<br /> +For if I had, those eyes, without his guards,<br /> +Had done the tyrant's work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Why then it seems<br /> +I was not false in all: I told you, Guise,<br /> +If you left Paris, I would go to court:<br /> +You see I kept my promise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Still thy sex:<br /> +Once true in all thy life, and that for mischief.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Have I said I loved you?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Stab on, stab:<br /> +'Tis plain you love the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Nor him, nor you,<br /> +In that unlawful way you seem to mean.<br /> +My eyes had once so far betrayed my heart,<br /> +As to distinguish you from common men;<br /> +Whate'er you said, or did, was charming all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> But yet, it seems, you found a king more charming.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I do not say more charming, but more noble,<br /> +More truly royal, more a king in soul,<br /> +Than you are now in wishes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> May be so:<br /> +But love has oiled your tongue to run so glib,—<br /> +Curse on your eloquence!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Curse not that eloquence that saved your life:<br /> +For, when your wild ambition, which defied<br /> +A royal mandate, hurried you to town;<br /> +When over-weening pride of popular power<br /> +Had thrust you headlong in the Louvre toils,<br /> +Then had you died: For know, my haughty lord,<br /> +Had I not been, offended majesty<br /> +<span class="pgnm">081</span><a id="page_081" name="page_081"></a> +Had doomed you to the death you well deserved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Then was't not Henry's fear preserved my life?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> You know him better, or you ought to know him:<br /> +He's born to give you fear, not to receive it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Say this again; but add, you gave not up<br /> +Your honour as the ransom of my life;<br /> +For, if you did, 'twere better I had died.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> And so it were.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Why said you, so it were?<br /> +For though 'tis true, methinks 'tis much unkind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> My lord, we are not now to talk of kindness.<br /> +If you acknowledge I have saved your life,<br /> +Be grateful in return, and do an act,<br /> +Your honour, though unasked by me, requires.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> By heaven, and you, whom next to heaven I love,<br /> +(If I said more, I fear I should not lie,)<br /> +I'll do whate'er my honour will permit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Go, throw yourself at Henry's royal feet,<br /> +And rise not till approved a loyal subject.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> A duteous loyal subject I was ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I'll put it short, my lord; depart from Paris.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I cannot leave<br /> +My country, friends, religion, all at stake.<br /> +Be wise, and be before-hand with your fortune;<br /> +Prevent the turn, forsake the ruined court;<br /> +Stay here, and make a merit of your love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> No; I'll return, and perish in those ruins.<br /> +I find thee now, ambitious, faithless, Guise.<br /> +Farewell, the basest and the last of men!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Stay, or—O heaven!—I'll force you: Stay—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I do believe<br /> +So ill of you, so villainously ill,<br /> +That, if you durst, you would:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">082</span><a id="page_082" name="page_082"></a> +Honour you've little, honesty you've less;<br /> +But conscience you have none:<br /> +Yet there's a thing called fame, and men's esteem,<br /> +Preserves me from your force. Once more, farewell.<br /> +Look on me, Guise; thou seest me now the last;<br /> +Though treason urge not thunder on thy head,<br /> +This one departing glance shall flash thee dead.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Ha, said she true? Have I so little honour?<br /> +Why, then, a prize so easy and so fair<br /> +Had never 'scaped my gripe: but mine she is;<br /> +For that's set down as sure as Henry's fall.<br /> +But my ambition, that she calls my crime;—<br /> +False, false, by fate! my right was born with me.<br /> +And heaven confest it in my very frame;<br /> +The fires, that would have formed ten thousand angels,<br /> +Were crammed together for my single soul.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Malicorn.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> My lord, you trifle precious hours away;<br /> +The heavens look gaudily upon your greatness,<br /> +And the crowned moments court you as they fly.<br /> +Brisac and fierce Aumale have pent the Swiss,<br /> +And folded them like sheep in holy ground;<br /> +Where now, with ordered pikes, and colours furled,<br /> +They wait the word that dooms them all to die:<br /> +Come forth, and bless the triumph of the day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> So slight a victory required not me:<br /> +I but sat still, and nodded, like a god,<br /> +My world into creation; now 'tis time<br /> +To walk abroad, and carelessly survey<br /> +How the dull matter does the form obey.<span class="sdr">[Exit with <span class="cnm">Malicorn.</span></span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE IV.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Citizens, and <span class="cnm">Melanax,</span> in his fanatic Habit, +at the head them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Hold, hold, a little, fellow citizens; and you, +<span class="pgnm">083</span><a id="page_083" name="page_083"></a> +gentlemen of the rabble, a word of godly exhortation +to strengthen your hands, ere you give the onset.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> Is this a time to make sermons? I would +not hear the devil now, though he should come in +God's name, to preach peace to us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> Look you, gentlemen, sermons are not to +be despised; we have all profited by godly sermons +that promote sedition: let the precious man hold +forth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omn.</span> Let him hold forth, let him hold forth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> To promote sedition is my business: It has +been so before any of you were born, and will be +so, when you are all dead and damned; I have led +on the rabble in all ages.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> That's a lie, and a loud one.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> He has led the rabble both old and young, +that's all ages: A heavenly sweet man, I warrant +him; I have seen him somewhere in a pulpit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I have sown rebellion every where.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> How, every where? That's another lie: +How far have you travelled, friend?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Over all the world.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> Now, that's a rapper.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> I say no: For, look you, gentlemen, if he +has been a traveller, he certainly says true, for he +may lie by authority.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> That the rabble may depose their prince, +has in all times, and in all countries, been accounted +lawful.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> That's the first true syllable he has uttered: +but as how, and whereby, and when, may they +depose him?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Whenever they have more power to depose, +than he has to oppose; and this they may do +upon the least occasion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> Sirrah, you mince the matter; you should +<span class="pgnm">084</span><a id="page_084" name="page_084"></a> +say, we may do it upon no occasion, for the less +the better.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] Here's a rogue now, will out-shoot +the devil in his own bow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> Some occasion, in my mind, were not +amiss: for, look you, gentlemen, if we have no occasion, +then whereby we have no occasion to depose +him; and therefore, either religion or liberty, +I stick to those occasions; for when they are gone, +good night to godliness and freedom.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> When the most are of one side, as that's +our case, we are always in the right; for they, that +are in power, will ever be the judges: so that if we +say white is black, poor white must lose the cause, +and put on mourning; for white is but a single syllable, +and we are a whole sentence. Therefore, go +on boldly, and lay on resolutely for your Solemn +League and Covenant; and if here be any squeamish +conscience who fears to fight against the king,—though +I, that have known you, citizens, these +thousand years, suspect not any,—let such understand +that his majesty's politic capacity is to be +distinguished from his natural; and though you +murder him in one, you may preserve him in the +other; and so much for this time, because the enemy +is at hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> [<span class="sdm">Looking out.</span>] Look you, gentlemen, 'tis +Grillon, the fierce colonel; he that devours our +wives, and ravishes our children.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> He looks so grum, I don't care to have to +do with him; would I were safe in my shop, behind +the counter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> And would I were under my wife's petticoats. +Look you, gentlemen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> You, neighbour, behind your counter, yesterday +paid a bill of exchange in glass louis d'ors; +<span class="pgnm">085</span><a id="page_085" name="page_085"></a> +and you, friend, that cry, look you, gentlemen, this +very morning was under another woman's petticoats, +and not your wife's.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> How the devil does he know this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Therefore, fight lustily for the cause of +heaven, and to make even tallies for your sins; +which, that you may do with a better conscience, I +absolve you both, and all the rest of you: Now, go +on merrily; for those, that escape, shall avoid killing; +and those, who do not escape, I will provide +for in another world.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Cry within, on the other side of the stage, <span style="font-style: normal">Vive +le Roi, vive le Roi!</span></span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Grillon,</span> and his Party.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Come on, fellow soldiers, <i>Commilitones</i>; +that's my word, as 'twas Julius Cæsar's, of pagan +memory. 'Fore God, I am no speech maker; but +there are the rogues, and here's bilbo, that's a word +and a blow; we must either cut their throats, or +they cut ours, that's pure necessity, for your comfort: +Now, if any man can be so unkind to his +own body,—for I meddle not with your souls,—as to +stand still like a good Christian, and offer his weasand +to a butcher's whittle,—I say no more, but that he +may be saved, and that's the best can come on him.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Cry on both sides, <span style="font-style: normal">Vive le Roi, vive Guise!</span> +They fight.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Hey, for the duke of Guise, and property! +Up with religion and the cause, and down with +those arbitrary rogues there! Stand to't, you associated +cuckolds. [<span class="sdm">Citizens go back.</span>] O rogues! +O cowards!—Damn these half-strained shopkeepers, +got between gentlemen and city wives; how naturally +they quake, and run away from their own fathers! +<span class="pgnm">086</span><a id="page_086" name="page_086"></a> +twenty souls a penny were a dear bargain +of them.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[They all run off, <span class="cnm">Melanax</span> with them; the 1st +and 2d Citizens taken.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Possess yourselves of the place, Maubert, +and hang me up those two rogues, for an example.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> O spare me, sweet colonel; I am but a +young beginner, and new set up.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I'll be your customer, and set you up a +little better, sirrah;—go, hang him at the next sign-post:—What +have you to say for yourself, scoundrel? +why were you a rebel?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> Look you, colonel, 'twas out of no ill +meaning to the government; all that I did, was +pure obedience to my wife.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Nay, if thou hast a wife that wears the +breeches, thou shalt be condemned to live: Get +thee home for a hen-pecked traitor.—What, are +we encompassed? Nay, then, faces this way; we'll +sell our skins to the fairest chapmen.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Aumale</span> and Soldiers, on the one side, Citizens +on the other. <span class="cnm">Grillon,</span> and his Party, are disarmed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Cit.</span> Bear away that bloody-minded colonel, +and hang him up at the next sign-post: Nay, when +I am in power, I can make examples too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omn.</span> Tear him piece-meal; tear him piece-meal. +<span class="sdr">[Pull and haul him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Rogues, villains, rebels, traitors, cuckolds! +'Swounds, what do you make of a man? do you +think legs and arms are strung upon a wire, like a +jointed baby? carry me off quickly, you were best, and +hang me decently, according to my first sentence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> Look you, colonel; you are too bulky to +be carried off all at once; a leg or an arm is one +man's burden: give me a little finger for a sample +<span class="pgnm">087</span><a id="page_087" name="page_087"></a> +of him, whereby I'll carry it for a token to my sovereign +lady.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Tis too little, in all conscience, for her; +take a bigger token, cuckold. <i>Et tu, Brute,</i> whom +I saved? O the conscience of a shopkeeper!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Cit.</span> Look you, colonel, for your saving of me, +I thank you heartily, whereby that debt's paid; but +for speaking treason against my anointed wife, that's +a new reckoning between us.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> with a General's Staff in his Hand; +<span class="cnm">Mayenne,</span> Cardinal, Archbishop, <span class="cnm">Malicorn,</span> and +Attendants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omn.</span> <i>Vive</i> Guise!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> [<span class="sdm">Bowing, and bareheaded.</span>] <br /> +I thank you, countrymen: the hand of heaven<br /> +In all our safeties has appeared this day.<br /> +Stand on your guard, and double every watch,<br /> +But stain your triumph with no Christian blood;<br /> +French we are all, and brothers of a land.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> What mean you, brother, by this godly talk,<br /> +Of sparing Christian blood? why, these are dogs;<br /> +Now, by the sword that cut off Malchus' ear,<br /> +Mere dogs, that neither can be saved nor damned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Where have you learnt to spare inveterate foes?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> You know the book.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> And can expound it too:<br /> +But Christian faith was in the nonage then,<br /> +And Roman heathens lorded o'er the world.<br /> +What madness were it for the weak and few,<br /> +To fight against the many and the strong?<br /> +Grillon must die, so must the tyrant's guards,<br /> +Lest, gathering head again, they make more work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> My lord, the people must be fleshed in blood,<br /> +To teach them the true relish; dip them with you,<br /> +Or they'll perhaps repent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">088</span><a id="page_088" name="page_088"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gui.</span> You are fools; to kill them, were to shew I feared them;<br /> +The court, disarmed, disheartened and besieged,<br /> +Are all as much within my power, as if<br /> +I griped them in my fist.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">May.</span> 'Tis rightly judged:<br /> +And, let me add, who heads a popular cause,<br /> +Must prosecute that cause by popular ways:<br /> +So, whether you are merciful or no,<br /> +You must affect to be.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Dismiss those prisoners.—Grillon, you are free;<br /> +I do not ask your love, be still my foe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I will be so: but let me tell you, Guise,<br /> +As this was greatly done, 'twas proudly too:<br /> +I'll give you back your life when next we meet;<br /> +'Till then I am your debtor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> That's till dooms-day. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Grillon</span> and his Party exeunt one way, +Rabble the other.</span><br /> +Haste, brother, draw out fifteen thousand men,<br /> +Surround the Louvre, lest the prey should 'scape.<br /> +I know the king will send to treat;<br /> +We'll set the dice on him in high demands,<br /> +No less than all his offices of trust;<br /> +He shall be pared, and cantoned out, and clipped<br /> +So long, he shall not pass.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> What! do we talk<br /> +Of paring, clipping, and such tedious work,<br /> +Like those that hang their noses o'er a potion,<br /> +And qualm, and keck, and take it down by sips!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Best make advantage of this popular rage,<br /> +Let in the o'erwhelming tide on Harry's head;<br /> +In that promiscuous fury, who shall know,<br /> +Among a thousand swords, who killed the king?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> O my dear lord, upon this only day<br /> +<span class="pgnm">089</span><a id="page_089" name="page_089"></a> +Depends the series of your following fate:<br /> +Think your good genius has assumed my shape,<br /> +In this prophetic doom.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Peace, croaking raven!—<br /> +I'll seize him first, then make him a led monarch;<br /> +I'll be declared lieutenant-general<br /> +Amidst the three estates, that represent<br /> +The glorious, full, majestic face of France,<br /> +Which, in his own despite, the king shall call:<br /> +So let him reign my tenant during life,<br /> +His brother of Navarre shut out for ever,<br /> +Branded with heresy, and barred from sway;<br /> +That, when Valois consumed in ashes lies,<br /> +The Phœnix race of Charlemain may rise.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE V.—<i>The Louvre.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter King, Queen-Mother, Abbot, and <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Dismissed with such contempt?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes, 'faith, we past like beaten Romans underneath the fork.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Give me my arms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> For what?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I'll lead you on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> You are a true lion, but my men are sheep;<br /> +If you run first, I'll swear they'll follow you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What, all turned cowards? not a man in France<br /> +Dares set his foot by mine, and perish by me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Troth, I can't find them much inclined to perishing.<br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What can be left in danger, but to dare?<br /> +No matter for my arms, I'll go barefaced,<br /> +And seize the first bold rebel that I meet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> There's something of divinity in kings,<br /> +That sits between their eyes, and guards their life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">090</span><a id="page_090" name="page_090"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gril.</span> True, Abbot; but the mischief is, you churchmen<br /> +Can see that something further than the crowd;<br /> +These musket bullets have not read much logic,<br /> +Nor are they given to make your nice distinctions: +<span class="sdr">[One enters, and gives the Queen a Note, she +reads—</span><br /> +One of them possibly may hit the king<br /> +In some one part of him that's not divine;<br /> +And so that mortal part of his majesty would draw<br /> +the divinity of it into another world, sweet Abbot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> 'Tis equal madness to go out or stay;<br /> +The reverence due to kings is all transferred<br /> +To haughty Guise; and when new gods are made,<br /> +The old must quit the temple; you must fly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Death! had I wings, yet would I scorn to fly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Wings, or no wings, is not the question:<br /> +If you won't fly for't, you must ride for't,<br /> +And that comes much to one.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Forsake my regal town!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> Forsake a bedlam;<br /> +This note informs me fifteen thousand men<br /> +Are marching to inclose the Louvre round.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abb.</span> The business then admits no more dispute,<br /> +You, madam, must be pleased to find the Guise;<br /> +Seem easy, fearful, yielding, what you will;<br /> +But still prolong the treaty all you can,<br /> +To gain the king more time for his escape.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> I'll undertake it.—Nay, no thanks, my son.<br /> +My blessing shall be given in your deliverance;<br /> +That once performed, their web is all unravelled,<br /> +And Guise is to begin his work again.<span class="sdr">[Exit Q.M.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I go this minute.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">091</span><a id="page_091" name="page_091"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">MARMOUTIERE.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Nay, then another minute must be given.—<br /> +O how I blush, that thou shouldst see thy king<br /> +Do this low act, that lessens all his fame:<br /> +Death, must a rebel force me from my love!<br /> +If it must be—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> It must not, cannot be.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> No, nor shall not, wench, as long as my +soul wears a body.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Secure in that, I'll trust thee;—shall I trust thee?<br /> +For conquerors have charms, and women frailty:—<br /> +Farewell thou mayst behold me king again;<br /> +My soul's not yet deposed:—why then farewell!—<br /> +I'll say't as comfortably as I can:<br /> +But O cursed Guise, for pressing on my time,<br /> +And cutting off ten thousand more adieus!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> The moments that retard your flight are traitors.<br /> +Make haste, my royal master, to be safe,<br /> +And save me with you, for I'll share your fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Wilt thou go too?<br /> +Then I am reconciled to heaven again:<br /> +O welcome, thou good angel of my way,<br /> +Thou pledge and omen of my safe return!<br /> +Not Greece, nor hostile Juno could destroy<br /> +The hero that abandoned burning Troy;<br /> +He 'scaped the dangers of the dreadful night,<br /> +When, loaded with his gods, he took his flight. +<span class="sdr">[Exuent, the King leading her.</span></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">092</span><a id="page_092" name="page_092"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT V.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>The Castle of Blois.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><i>Enter</i> GRILLON, <i>and</i> ALPHONSO CORSO.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Welcome, colonel, welcome to Blois.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Since last we parted at the barricadoes,<br /> +The world's turned upside down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> No, 'faith, 'tis better now, 'tis downside up:<br /> +Our part o'the wheel is rising, though but slowly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Who looked for an assembly of the States?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> When the king was escaped from Paris, +and got out of the toils, 'twas time for the Guise +to take them down, and pitch others: that is, to +treat for the calling of a parliament, where, being +sure of the major part, he might get by law what +he had missed by force.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> But why should the king assemble the +States, to satisfy the Guise, after so many affronts?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> For the same reason, that a man in a duel +says he has received satisfaction, when he is first +wounded, and afterwards disarmed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> But why this parliament at Blois, and not +at Paris?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Because no barricadoes have been made at +Blois. This Blois is a very little town, and the king +can draw it after him; but Paris is a damned unwieldy +bulk; and when the preachers draw against +the king, a parson in a pulpit is a devilish fore-horse. +Besides, I found in that insurrection what +dangerous beasts these townsmen are; I tell you, +colonel, a man had better deal with ten of their +wives, than with one zealous citizen: O your inspired +cuckold is most implacable.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Is there any seeming kindness between +the king and the duke of Guise?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">093</span><a id="page_093" name="page_093"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes, most wonderful: they are as dear to +one another as an old usurer, and a rich young heir +upon a mortgage. The king is very loyal to the +Guise, and the Guise is very gracious to the king: +Then the cardinal of Guise, and the archbishop of +Lyons, are the two pendants that are always hanging +at the royal ear; they ease his majesty of all +the spiritual business, and the Guise of all the temporal; +so that the king is certainly the happiest +prince in Christendom, without any care upon him; +so yielding up every thing to his loyal subjects, +that he's infallibly in the way of being the greatest +and most glorious king in all the world.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Yet I have heard he made a sharp reflecting +speech upon their party at the opening of the +parliament, admonished men of their duties, pardoned +what was past, but seemed to threaten vengeance +if they persisted for the future.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes; and then they all took the sacrament +together: he promising to unite himself to them, +and they to obey him, according to the laws; yet +the very next morning they went on, in pursuance +of their old commonwealth designs, as violently as +ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Now, I am dull enough to think they have +broken their oath.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Ay, but you are but one private man, and +they are the three States; and if they vote that +they have not broken their oaths, who is to be +judge?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alph.</span> There's one above.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I hope you mean in heaven; or else you +are a bolder man than I am in parliament time<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-18">[18]</a>; +but here comes the master and my niece.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">094</span><a id="page_094" name="page_094"></a> +<span class="cnm">Alph.</span> Heaven preserve him! if a man may pray +for him without treason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> O yes, you may pray for him; the preachers +of the Guise's side do that most formally; nay, +<span class="pgnm">095</span><a id="page_095" name="page_095"></a> +you may be suffered civilly to drink his health; be +of the court, and keep a place of profit under him: +for, in short, 'tis a judged case of conscience, to +make your best of the king, and to side against him.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">King</span> and <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Grillon, be near me,<br /> +There's something for my service to be done,<br /> +Your orders will be sudden; now, withdraw.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] Well, I dare trust my niece, even +though she comes of my own family; but if she +cuckolds my good opinion of her honesty, there's a +whole sex fallen under a general rule, without one +exception.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Gril.</span> and <span class="cnm">Alph.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> You bid my uncle wait you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> This hour?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I think it was.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Something of moment hangs upon this hour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Not more on this, than on the next, and next.<br /> +My time is all ta'en up on usury;<br /> +I never am beforehand with my hours,<br /> +But every one has work before it comes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">096</span><a id="page_096" name="page_096"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mar.</span> "There's something for my service to be done;"—<br /> +Those were your words.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> And you desire their meaning?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I dare not ask, and yet, perhaps, may guess.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> 'Tis searching there where heaven can only pry,<br /> +Not man, who knows not man but by surmise;<br /> +Nor devils, nor angels of a purer mould,<br /> +Can trace the winding labyrinths of thought.<br /> +I tell thee, Marmoutiere, I never speak,<br /> +Not when alone, for fear some fiend should hear,<br /> +And blab my secrets out.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> You hate the Guise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> True, I did hate him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> And you hate him still.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I am reconciled.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Your spirit is too high,<br /> +Great souls forgive not injuries, till time<br /> +Has put their enemies into their power,<br /> +That they may shew, forgiveness is their own;<br /> +For else, 'tis fear to punish, that forgives;<br /> +The coward, not the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> He has submitted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> In show; for in effect he still insults.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Well, kings must bear sometimes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> They must, till they can shake their burden off;<br /> +And that's, I think, your aim.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Mistaken still:<br /> +All favours, all preferments, pass through them;<br /> +I'm pliant, and they mould me as they please.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> These are your arts, to make them more secure;<br /> +Just so your brother used the admiral.<br /> +Brothers may think, and act like brothers too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What said you, ha! what mean you, Marmoutiere?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">097</span><a id="page_097" name="page_097"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Nay, what mean you? that start betrayed you, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> This is no vigil of St Bartholomew,<br /> +Nor is Blois Paris.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> 'Tis an open town.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Where you are strongest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Well, what then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> No more; but you have power, and are provoked.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> O, thou hast set thy foot upon a snake!<br /> +Get quickly off, or it will sting thee dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Can I unknow it?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> No, but keep it secret.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Think, sir, your thoughts are still as much your own,<br /> +As when you kept the key of your own breast;<br /> +But since you let me in, I find it filled<br /> +With death and horror: you would murder Guise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Murder! what, murder! use a softer word,<br /> +And call it sovereign justice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Would I could!<br /> +But justice bears the godlike shape of law,<br /> +And law requires defence, and equal plea<br /> +Betwixt the offender, and the righteous judge.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Yes, when the offender can be judged by laws:<br /> +But when his greatness overturns the scales,<br /> +Then kings are justice in the last appeal,<br /> +And, forced by strong necessity, may strike;<br /> +In which, indeed, they assert the public good,<br /> +And, like sworn surgeons, lop the gangrened limb:<br /> +Unpleasant, wholesome, work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> If this be needful.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Ha! didst not thou thyself, in fathoming<br /> +The depth of my designs, drop there the plummet?<br /> +<span class="pgnm">098</span><a id="page_098" name="page_098"></a> +Didst thou not say—Affronts so great, so public,<br /> +I never could forgive?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I did; but yet—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What means, <i>but yet?</i> 'tis evidence so full,<br /> +If the last trumpet sounded in my ears,<br /> +Undaunted I should meet the saints half way,<br /> +And in the face of heaven maintain the fact.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Maintain it then to heaven, but not to me.<br /> +Do you love me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Can you doubt it?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Yes, I can doubt it, if you can deny;<br /> +Love begs once more this great offender's life.<br /> +Can you forgive the man you justly hate,<br /> +That hazards both your life and crown to spare him?<br /> +One, whom you may suspect I more than pity,—<br /> +For I would have you see, that what I ask,<br /> +I know, is wondrous difficult to grant,—<br /> +Can you be thus extravagantly good?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What then? for I begin to fear my firmness,<br /> +And doubt the soft destruction of your tongue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Then, in return, I swear to heaven and you,<br /> +To give you all the preference of my soul;<br /> +No rebel rival to disturb you there;<br /> +Let him but live, that he may be my convert! +<span class="sdr">[King walks awhile, then wipes his eyes, and +speaks.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> You've conquered; all that's past shall be forgiven.<br /> +My lavish love has made a lavish grant;<br /> +But know, this act of grace shall be my last.<br /> +Let him repent, yes, let him well repent;<br /> +Let him desist, and tempt revenge no further:<br /> +For, by yon heaven, that's conscious of his crimes,<br /> +I will no more by mercy be betrayed.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">099</span><a id="page_099" name="page_099"></a> +Deputies appearing at the Door.</p> + +<p class="dlg">The deputies are entering; you must leave me.<br /> +Thus, tyrant business all my hours usurps,<br /> +And makes me live for others.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Now heaven reward you with a prosperous reign,<br /> +And grant, you never may be good in vain!<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Deputies of the Three States: Cardinal of +<span class="cnm">Guise,</span> and Archbishop of <span class="cnm">Lyons,</span> at the head of +them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Well, my good lords, what matters of importance<br /> +Employed the States this morning?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> One high point<br /> +Was warmly canvassed in the Commons House,<br /> +And will be soon resolved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What was't?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Succession.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> That's one high point indeed, but not to be<br /> +So warmly canvassed, or so soon resolved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Things necessary must sometimes be sudden.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> No sudden danger threatens you, my lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> What may be sudden, must be counted so.<br /> +We hope and wish your life; but yours and ours<br /> +Are in the hand of heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> My lord, they are;<br /> +Yet, in a natural way, I may live long,<br /> +If heaven, and you my loyal subjects, please.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> But since good princes, like your majesty,<br /> +Take care of dangers merely possible,<br /> +Which may concern their subjects, whose they are,<br /> +And for whom kings are made—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Yes; we for them,<br /> +And they for us; the benefits are mutual,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">100</span><a id="page_100" name="page_100"></a> +And so the ties are too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> To cut things short,<br /> +The Commons will decree, to exclude Navarre<br /> +From the succession of the realm of France.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Decree, my lord! What! one estate decree?<br /> +Where then are the other two, and what am I?<br /> +The government is cast up somewhat short,<br /> +The clergy and nobility cashiered,<br /> +Five hundred popular figures on a row,<br /> +And I myself, that am, or should be, king,<br /> +An o'ergrown cypher set before the sum:<br /> +What reasons urge our sovereigns for the exclusion?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> He stands suspected, sir, of heresy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Has he been called to make his just defence?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> That needs not, for 'tis known.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> To whom?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> The Commons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> What is't those gods, the Commons, do not know?<br /> +But heresy, you churchmen teach us vulgar,<br /> +Supposes obstinate, and stiff persisting<br /> +In errors proved, long admonitions made,<br /> +And all rejected: Has this course been used?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> We grant it has not; but—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Nay, give me leave,—<br /> +I urge, from your own grant, it has not been.<br /> +If then, in process of a petty sum,<br /> +Both parties having not been fully heard,<br /> +No sentence can be given;<br /> +Much less in the succession of a crown,<br /> +Which, after my decease, by right inherent,<br /> +Devolves upon my brother of Navarre.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> The right of souls is still to be preferred;<br /> +Religion must not suffer for a claim.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> If kings may be excluded, or deposed,<br /> +Whene'er you cry religion to the crowd;<br /> +That doctrine makes rebellion orthodox,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">101</span><a id="page_101" name="page_101"></a> +And subjects must be traitors, to be saved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Then heresy's entailed upon the throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> You would entail confusion, wars, and slaughters:<br /> +Those ills are certain; what you name, contingent.<br /> +I know my brother's nature; 'tis sincere,<br /> +Above deceit, no crookedness of thought;<br /> +Says what he means, and what he says performs;<br /> +Brave, but not rash; successful, but not proud;<br /> +So much acknowledging, that he's uneasy,<br /> +Till every petty service be o'erpaid.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Some say, revengeful.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Some then libel him;<br /> +But that's what both of us have learned to bear.<br /> +He can forgive, but you disdain forgiveness.<br /> +Your chiefs are they no libel must profane;<br /> +Honour's a sacred thing in all but kings;<br /> +But when your rhymes assassinate our fame,<br /> +You hug your nauseous, blundering ballad-wits,<br /> +And pay them, as if nonsense were a merit,<br /> +If it can mean but treason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Sir, we have many arguments to urge—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> And I have more to answer: Let them know,<br /> +My royal brother of Navarre shall stand<br /> +Secure by right, by merit, and my love.<br /> +God, and good men, will never fail his cause,<br /> +And all the bad shall be constrained by laws.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Since gentle means to exclude Navarre are vain,<br /> +To-morrow, in the States, 'twill be proposed,<br /> +To make the duke of Guise lieutenant-general;<br /> +Which power, most graciously confirmed by you,<br /> +Will stop this headlong torrent of succession,<br /> +That bears religion, laws, and all before it.<br /> +In hope you'll not oppose what must be done,<br /> +We wish you, sir, a long and prosperous reign. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt all but the King.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">102</span><a id="page_102" name="page_102"></a> +<span class="cnm">King.</span> To-morrow Guise is made lieutenant-general;—<br /> +Why, then, to-morrow I no more am king.<br /> +'Tis time to push my slackened vengeance home,<br /> +To be a king, or not to be at all.<br /> +The vow that manacled my rage is loosed;<br /> +Even heaven is wearied with repeated crimes,<br /> +Till lightning flashes round, to guard the throne,<br /> +And the curbed thunder grumbles to be gone.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Grillon</span> to him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Tis just the appointed hour you bid me wait.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> So just, as if thou wert inspired to come;<br /> +As if the guardian-angel of my throne,<br /> +Who had o'erslept himself so many years,<br /> +Just now was roused, and brought thee to my rescue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> I hear the Guise will be lieutenant-general.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> And canst thou suffer it?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Nay, if you will suffer it, then well may I. +If kings will be so civil to their subjects, to give up +all things tamely, they first turn rebels to themselves, +and that's a fair example for their friends. +'Slife, sir, 'tis a dangerous matter to be loyal on the +wrong side, to serve my prince in spite of him; if +you'll be a royalist yourself, there are millions of +honest men will fight for you; but if you will not, +there are few will hang for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> No more: I am resolved.<br /> +The course of things can be with-held no longer<br /> +From breaking forth to their appointed end:<br /> +My vengeance, ripened in the womb of time,<br /> +Presses for birth, and longs to be disclosed.<br /> +Grillon, the Guise is doomed to sudden death:<br /> +The sword must end him:—has not thine an edge?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes, and a point too; I'll challenge him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> I bid thee kill him.<span class="sdr">[Walking.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> So I mean to do.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">103</span><a id="page_103" name="page_103"></a> +<span class="cnm">King.</span> Without thy hazard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Now I understand you; I should murder him:<br /> +I am your soldier, sir, but not your hangman.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Dost thou not hate him?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Hast thou not said,<br /> +That he deserves it?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes; but how have I<br /> +Deserved to do a murder?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> 'Tis no murder;<br /> +'Tis sovereign justice, urged from self-defence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Tis all confest, and yet I dare not do't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Go; thou art a coward.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> You are my king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Thou say'st, thou dar'st not kill him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Were I a coward, I had been a villain,<br /> +And then I durst have done't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Thou hast done worse, in thy long course of arms.<br /> +Hast thou ne'er killed a man?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Yes, when a man would have killed me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Hast thou not plundered from the helpless poor?<br /> +Snatched from the sweating labourer his food?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Sir, I have eaten and drank in my own defence, +when I was hungry and thirsty; I have +plundered, when you have not paid me; I have +been content with a farmer's daughter, when a better +whore was not to be had. As for cutting off a +traitor, I'll execute him lawfully in my own function, +when I meet him in the field; but for your +chamber-practice, that's not my talent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Is my revenge unjust, or tyrannous?<br /> +Heaven knows I love not blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> No, for your mercy is your only vice. You +may dispatch a rebel lawfully, but the mischief is, +that rebel has given me my life at the barricadoes, +<span class="pgnm">104</span><a id="page_104" name="page_104"></a> +and, till I have returned his bribe, I am not upon +even terms with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Give me thy hand; I love thee not the worse:<br /> +Make much of honour, 'tis a soldier's conscience.<br /> +Thou shalt not do this act; thou art even too good;<br /> +But keep my secret, for that's conscience too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> When I disclose it, think I am a coward.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> No more of that, I know thou art not one.<br /> +Call Lognac hither straight, and St Malin;<br /> +Bid Larchant find some unsuspected means,<br /> +To keep guards doubled at the council-door,<br /> +That none pass in or out, but those I call:<br /> +The rest I'll think on further; so farewell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Heaven bless your majesty! Though I'll +not kill him for you, I'll defend you when he's killed: +For the honest part of the job let me alone<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-19">[19]</a>.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt severally.</span></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">105</span><a id="page_105" name="page_105"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.—<span class="smcap">Scene</span> <i>opens, and discovers Men and +Women at a Banquet,</i> <span class="cnm">Malicorn</span> <i>standing by.</i></h4> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> This is the solemn annual feast I keep,<br /> +As this day twelve year, on this very hour,<br /> +I signed the contract for my soul with hell.<br /> +I bartered it for honours, wealth, and pleasure,<br /> +Three things which mortal men do covet most;<br /> +And 'faith, I over-sold it to the fiend:<br /> +What, one-and-twenty years, nine yet to come!<br /> +How can a soul be worth so much to devils?<br /> +O how I hug myself, to out-wit these fools of hell!<br /> +And yet a sudden damp, I know not why,<br /> +Has seized my spirits, and, like a heavy weight,<br /> +Hangs on their active springs. I want a song<br /> +To rouse me; my blood freezes.—Music there.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<h4>A SONG BETWIXT A SHEPHERD AND SHEPHERDESS.</h4> + +<h5>Shepherdess.</h5> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p class="i1">Tell me, Thyrsis, tell your anguish,</p> +<p class="i1">Why you sigh, and why you languish;</p> +<p>When the nymph whom you adore,</p> +<p class="i2">Grants the blessing</p> +<p class="i2">Of possessing,</p> +<p>What can love and I do more?</p> +</div> + +<h5>Shepherd.</h5> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p class="i1">Think it's love beyond all measure,</p> +<p class="i1">Makes me faint away with pleasure;</p> +<p><span class="pgnm">106</span><a id="page_106" name="page_106"></a> +Strength of cordial may destroy.</p> +<p class="i2">And the blessing</p> +<p class="i2">Of possessing,</p> +<p>Kills me with excess of joy.</p> +</div> + +<h5>Shepherdess.</h5> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p class="i1">Thyrsis, how can I believe you!</p> +<p class="i1">But confess, and I'll forgive you;</p> +<p>Men are false, and so are you,</p> +<p class="i2">Never nature</p> +<p class="i2">Framed a creature</p> +<p>To enjoy, and yet be true.</p> +</div> + +<h5>Shepherd.</h5> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p class="i1">Mine's a flame beyond expiring,</p> +<p class="i1">Still possessing, still desiring,</p> +<p>Fit for love's imperial crown;</p> +<p class="i2">Ever shining,</p> +<p class="i2">And refining,</p> +<p>Still the more 'tis melted down.</p> +</div> + +<h5>Chorus together.</h5> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p class="i1">Mine's a flame beyond expiring.</p> +<p class="i1">Still possessing, still desiring,</p> +<p>Fit for love's imperial crown;</p> +<p class="i2">Ever shining,</p> +<p class="i2">And refining,</p> +<p>Still the more 'tis melted down.</p> +</div></div> + +<p class="sdn">After a Song and Dance, loud knocking at the Door,</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter a Servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> What noise is that?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> An ill-looked surly man,<br /> +With a hoarse voice, says he must speak with you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Tell him I dedicate this day to pleasure.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">107</span><a id="page_107" name="page_107"></a> +I neither have, nor will have, business with him.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Serv.</span></span><br /> +What, louder yet? what saucy slave is this?<span class="sdr">[Knock louder.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter Servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> He says you have, and must have, business with him.<br /> +Come out, or he'll come in, and spoil your mirth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> I will not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> Sir, I dare not tell him so;<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Knocking again more fiercely.</span><br /> +My hair stands up in bristles when I see him;<br /> +The dogs run into corners; the spay'd bitch<br /> +Bays at his back, and howls<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-20">[20]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Bid him enter, and go off thyself.<span class="sdr">[Exit Serv.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Scene</span> closes upon the company.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">108</span><a id="page_108" name="page_108"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Melanax,</span> an hour-glass in his hand, almost +empty.</p> + +<p class="dlg">How dar'st thou interrupt my softer hours?<br /> +By heaven, I'll ram thee in some knotted oak,<br /> +Where thou shalt sigh, and groan to whistling winds,<br /> +Upon the lonely plain.<br /> +Or I'll confine thee deep in the red sea, groveling on the sands,<br /> +Ten thousand billows rolling o'er thy head.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Hoh, hoh, hoh!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Laughest thou, malicious fiend?<br /> +I'll ope my book of bloody characters,<br /> +Shall rumple up thy tender airy limbs,<br /> +Like parchment in a flame.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Thou can'st not do it.<br /> +Behold this hour-glass.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Well, and what of that?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Seest thou these ebbing sands?<br /> +They run for thee, and when their race is run,<br /> +Thy lungs, the bellows of thy mortal breath,<br /> +Shall sink for ever down, and heave no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> What, resty, fiend?<br /> +Nine years thou hast to serve.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Not full nine minutes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Thou liest; look on thy bond, and view the date.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Then, wilt thou stand to that without appeal?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal..</span> I will, so help me heaven!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> So take thee hell.<span class="sdr">[Gives him the bond.</span><br /> +There, fool; behold who lies, the devil, or thou?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Ha! one-and-twenty years are shrunk to twelve!<br /> +Do my eyes dazzle?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> No, they see too true:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">109</span><a id="page_109" name="page_109"></a> +They dazzled once, I cast a mist before them,<br /> +So what was figured twelve, to thy dull sight<br /> +Appeared full twenty-one.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> There's equity in heaven for this, a cheat.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Fool, thou hast quitted thy appeal to heaven,<br /> +To stand to this.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Then I am lost for ever!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Thou art.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> O why was I not warned before?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Yes, to repent; then thou hadst cheated me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Add but a day, but half a day, an hour:<br /> +For sixty minutes, I'll forgive nine years.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> No, not a moment's thought beyond my time.<br /> +Dispatch; 'tis much below me to attend<br /> +For one poor single fare.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> So pitiless?<br /> +But yet I may command thee, and I will:<br /> +I love the Guise, even with my latest breath,<br /> +Beyond my soul, and my lost hopes of heaven:<br /> +I charge thee, by my short-lived power, disclose<br /> +What fate attends my master.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> If he goes<br /> +To council when he next is called, he dies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Who waits?</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Go, give my lord my last adieu;<br /> +Say, I shall never see his eyes again;<br /> +But if he goes, when next he's called, to council,<br /> +Bid him believe my latest breath, he dies.—<span class="sdr">[Exit Serv.</span><br /> +The sands run yet.—O do not shake the glass!— +<span class="sdr">[Devil shakes the glass.</span><br /> +I shall be thine too soon!—Could I repent!—<br /> +Heaven's not confined to moments.—Mercy, mercy!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I see thy prayers dispersed into the winds,<br /> +And heaven has past them by.<br /> +I was an angel once of foremost rank,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">110</span><a id="page_110" name="page_110"></a> +Stood next the shining throne, and winked but half;<br /> +So almost gazed I glory in the face,<br /> +That I could bear it, and stared farther in;<br /> +'Twas but a moment's pride, and yet I fell,<br /> +For ever fell; but man, base earth-born man,<br /> +Sins past a sum, and might be pardoned more:<br /> +And yet 'tis just; for we were perfect light,<br /> +And saw our crimes; man, in his body's mire,<br /> +Half soul, half clod, sinks blindfold into sin,<br /> +Betrayed by frauds without, and lusts within.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Then I have hope.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Not so; I preached on purpose<br /> +To make thee lose this moment of thy prayer.<br /> +Thy sand creeps low; despair, despair, despair!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mal.</span> Where am I now? upon the brink of life,<br /> +The gulph before me, devils to push me on,<br /> +And heaven behind me closing all its doors.<br /> +A thousand years for every hour I've past,<br /> +O could I 'scape so cheap! but ever, ever!<br /> +Still to begin an endless round of woes,<br /> +To be renewed for pains, and last for hell!<br /> +Yet can pains last, when bodies cannot last?<br /> +Can earthy substance endless flames endure?<br /> +Or, when one body wears and flits away,<br /> +Do souls thrust forth another crust of clay,<br /> +To fence and guard their tender forms from fire?<br /> +I feel my heart-strings rend!—I'm here,—I'm gone!<br /> +Thus men, too careless of their future state,<br /> +Dispute, know nothing, and believe too late. +<span class="sdr">[A flash of lightning, they sink together.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE III.—<i>Enter Duke of</i> <span class="cnm">Guise;</span> <i>Cardinal, and</i> +<span class="cnm">Aumale.</span></h4> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> A dreadful message from a dying man,<br /> +A prophesy indeed!<br /> +For souls, just quitting earth, peep into heaven,<br /> +Make swift acquaintance with their kindred forms,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">111</span><a id="page_111" name="page_111"></a> +And partners of immortal secrets grow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aum.</span> 'Tis good to lean on the securer side:<br /> +When life depends, the mighty stake is such,<br /> +Fools fear too little, and they dare too much.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Arch-Bishop.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> You have prevailed, I will not go to council.<br /> +I have provoked my sovereign past a pardon,<br /> +It but remains to doubt if he dare kill me:<br /> +Then if he dares but to be just, I die.<br /> +'Tis too much odds against me; I'll depart,<br /> +And finish greatness at some safer time.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> By heaven, 'tis Harry's plot to fright you hence,<br /> +That, coward-like, you might forsake your friends.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> The devil foretold it dying Malicorn.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Yes, some court-devil, no doubt:<br /> +If you depart, consider, good my lord,<br /> +You are the master-spring that moves our fabric,<br /> +Which once removed, our motion is no more.<br /> +Without your presence, which buoys up our hearts,<br /> +The League will sink beneath a royal name;<br /> +The inevitable yoke prepared for kings<br /> +Will soon be shaken off; things done, repealed;<br /> +And things undone, past future means to do.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> I know not; I begin to taste his reasons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Nay, were the danger certain of your stay,<br /> +An act so mean would lose you all your friends,<br /> +And leave you single to the tyrant's rage:<br /> +Then better 'tis to hazard life alone,<br /> +Than life, and friends, and reputation too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Since more I am confirmed, I'll stand the shock.<br /> +Where'er he dares to call, I dare to go.<br /> +My friends are many, faithful, and united;<br /> +He will not venture on so rash a deed:<br /> +And now, I wonder I should fear that force,<br /> +Which I have used to conquer and contemn.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">112</span><a id="page_112" name="page_112"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Your tempter comes, perhaps, to turn the scale,<br /> +And warn you not to go.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O fear her not,<br /> +I will be there.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Arch-Bishop and Cardinal.</span><br /> +What can she mean?—repent?<br /> +Or is it cast betwixt the king and her<br /> +To sound me? come what will, it warms my heart<br /> +With secret joy, which these my ominous statesmen<br /> +Left dead within me;—ha! she turns away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Do you not wonder at this visit, sir?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> No, madam, I at last have gained the point<br /> +Of mightiest minds, to wonder now at nothing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Believe me, Guise, 'twere gallantly resolved,<br /> +If you could carry it on the inside too.<br /> +Why came that sigh uncalled? For love of me,<br /> +Partly, perhaps; but more for thirst of glory,<br /> +Which now again dilates itself in smiles,<br /> +As if you scorned that I should know your purpose.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I change, 'tis true, because I love you still;<br /> +Love you, O heaven, even in my own despite;<br /> +I tell you all, even at that very moment,<br /> +I know you straight betray me to the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> O Guise, I never did; but, sir, I come<br /> +To tell you, I must never see you more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> The king's at Blois, and you have reason for it;<br /> +Therefore, what am I to expect from pity,—<br /> +From yours, I mean,—when you behold me slain?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> First answer me, and then I'll speak my heart.<br /> +Have you, O Guise, since your last solemn oath,<br /> +Stood firm to what you swore? Be plain, my lord,<br /> +Or run it o'er a while, because again<br /> +I tell you, I must never see you more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Never!—She's set on by the king to sift me.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">113</span><a id="page_113" name="page_113"></a> +Why, by that never then, all I have sworn<br /> +Is true, as that the king designs to end me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Keep your obedience,—by the saints, you live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Then mark; 'tis judged by heads grown white in council,<br /> +This very day he means to cut me off.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> By heaven, then you're forsworn; you've broke your vows.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> By you, the justice of the earth, I have not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> By you, dissembler of the world, you have.<br /> +I know the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I do believe you, madam.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I have tried you both.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Not me, the king you mean.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Do these o'erboiling answers suit the Guise?<br /> +But go to council, sir, there shew your truth;<br /> +If you are innocent, you're safe; but O,<br /> +If I should chance to see you stretched along,<br /> +Your love, O Guise, and your ambition gone,<br /> +That venerable aspect pale with death,<br /> +I must conclude you merited your end.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> You must, you will, and smile upon my murder.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Therefore, if you are conscious of a breach,<br /> +Confess it to me. Lead me to the king;<br /> +He has promised me to conquer his revenge,<br /> +And place you next him; therefore, if you're right,<br /> +Make me not fear it by asseverations,<br /> +But speak your heart, and O resolve me truly!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Madam, I've thought, and trust you with my soul.<br /> +You saw but now my parting with my brother,<br /> +The prelate too of Lyons; it was debated<br /> +Warmly against me, that I should go on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Did I not tell you, sir?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> True; but in spite<br /> +<span class="pgnm">114</span><a id="page_114" name="page_114"></a> +Of those imperial arguments they urged,<br /> +I was not to be worked from second thought:<br /> +There we broke off; and mark me, if I live,<br /> +You are the saint that makes a convert of me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Go then:—O heaven! Why must I still suspect you?<br /> +Why heaves my heart, and overflow my eyes?<br /> +Yet if you live, O Guise,—there, there's the cause,—<br /> +I never shall converse, nor see you more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O say not so, for once again I'll see you.<br /> +Were you this very night to lodge with angels,<br /> +Yet say not never; for I hope by virtue<br /> +To merit heaven, and wed you late in glory.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> This night, my lord, I'm a recluse for ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Ha! stay till morning: tapers are too dim;<br /> +Stay till the sun rises to salute you;<br /> +Stay till I lead you to that dismal den<br /> +Of virgins buried quick, and stay for ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Alas! your suit is vain, for I have vowed it:<br /> +Nor was there any other way to clear<br /> +The imputed stains of my suspected honour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Hear me a word!—one sigh, one tear, at parting,<br /> +And one last look; for, O my earthly saint,<br /> +I see your face pale as the cherubins'<br /> +At Adam's fall.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> O heaven! I now confess,<br /> +My heart bleeds for thee, Guise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Why, madam, why?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Because by this disorder,<br /> +And that sad fate that bodes upon your brow,<br /> +I do believe you love me more than glory.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Without an oath I do; therefore have mercy,<br /> +And think not death could make me tremble thus;<br /> +Be pitiful to those infirmities<br /> +Which thus unman me; stay till the council's over;<br /> +If you are pleased to grant an hour or two<br /> +<span class="pgnm">115</span><a id="page_115" name="page_115"></a> +To my last prayer, I'll thank you as my saint:<br /> +If you refuse me, madam, I'll not murmur.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Alas, my Guise!—O heaven, what did I say?<br /> +But take it, take it; if it be too kind,<br /> +Honour may pardon it, since 'tis my last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O let me crawl, vile as I am, and kiss<br /> +Your sacred robe.—Is't possible! your hand! +<span class="sdr">[She gives him her hand.</span><br /> +O that it were my last expiring moment,<br /> +For I shall never taste the like again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Farewell, my proselyte! your better genius<br /> +Watch your ambition.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I have none but you:<br /> +Must I ne'er see you more?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> I have sworn you must not:<br /> +Which thought thus roots me here, melts my resolves,<span class="sdr">[Weeps.</span><br /> +And makes me loiter when the angels call me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O ye celestial dews! O paradise!<br /> +O heaven! O joys, ne'er to be tasted more!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Nay, take a little more: cold Marmoutiere,<br /> +The temperate, devoted Marmoutiere<br /> +Is gone,—a last embrace I must bequeath you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> And O let me return it with another!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mar.</span> Farewell for ever; ah, Guise, though now we part,<br /> +In the bright orbs, prepared us by our fates,<br /> +Our souls shall meet,—farewell!—and Io's sing above,<br /> +Where no ambition, nor state-crime, the happier spirits prove,<br /> +But all are blest, and all enjoy an everlasting love. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Marmoutiere.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Guise</span> solus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Glory, where art thou? fame, revenge, ambition,<br /> +Where are you fled? there's ice upon my nerves;<br /> +My salt, my metal, and my spirits gone,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">116</span><a id="page_116" name="page_116"></a> +Palled as a slave, that's bed-rid with an ague,<br /> +I wish my flesh were off.<span class="sdr">[Blood falls from his nose.</span><br /> +What now! thou bleed'st:—<br /> +Three, and no more!—what then? and why, what then?<br /> +But just three drops! and why not just three drops,<br /> +As well as four or five, or five and twenty?</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter a Page.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Page.</span> My lord, your brother and the arch-bishop wait you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I come;—down, devil!—ha! must I stumble too?<br /> +Away, ye dreams! what if it thundered now,<br /> +Or if a raven crossed me in my way?<br /> +Or now it comes, because last night I dreamt<br /> +The council-hall was hung with crimson round,<br /> +And all the ceiling plaistered o'er with black.<br /> +No more!—Blue fires, and ye dull rolling lakes,<br /> +Fathomless caves, ye dungeons of old night,<br /> +Phantoms, be gone! if I must die, I'll fall<br /> +True politician, and defy you all.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.—<i>The Court before the Council-hall.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Grillon, Larchant,</span> Soldiers placed, People crowding</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Are your guards doubled, captain?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Larch.</span> Sir, they are.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> When the Guise comes, remember your petition.—<br /> +Make way there for his eminence; give back.—<br /> +Your eminence comes late.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter two Cardinals, Counsellors, the Cardinal of +<span class="cnm">Guise,</span> Arch-bishop of Lyons, last the <span class="cnm">Guise.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Well, colonel, are we friends?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Faith, I think not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">117</span><a id="page_117" name="page_117"></a> +<span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Give me your hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> No, for that gives a heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Yet we shall clasp in heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> By heaven, we shall not,<br /> +Unless it be with gripes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> True Grillon still.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Larch.</span> My lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> Ha! captain, you are well attended:<br /> +If I mistake not, sir, your number's doubled.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Larch.</span> All these have served against the heretics;<br /> +And therefore beg your grace you would remember<br /> +Their wounds and lost arrears<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-21">[21]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> It shall be done.—<br /> +Again, my heart! there is a weight upon thee,<br /> +But I will sigh it off.—Captain, farewell. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Cardinal, <span class="cnm">Guise,</span> &c.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Shut the hall-door, and bar the castle-gates:<br /> +March, march there closer yet, captain, to the door.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE III.—<i>The Council-hall.</i></h4> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I do not like myself to-day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> A qualm! he dares not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> That's one man's thought; he dares, and that's another's.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Grillon.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O Marmoutiere! ha, never see thee more?<br /> +<span class="pgnm">118</span><a id="page_118" name="page_118"></a> +Peace, my tumultuous heart! why jolt my spirits<br /> +In this unequal circling of my blood?<br /> +I'll stand it while I may. O mighty nature!<br /> +Why this alarm? why dost thou call me on<br /> +To fight, yet rob my limbs of all their use?<span class="sdr">[Swoons.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Ha! he's fallen, chafe him. He comes again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> I beg your pardons; vapours, no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> The effect<br /> +Of last night's lechery with some working whore<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-22">[22]</a>.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Revol.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Rev.</span> My lord of Guise, the king would speak with you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O cardinal, O Lyons!—but no more;<br /> +Yes, one word more: thou hast a privilege<span class="sdr">[To the Cardinal.</span><br /> +To speak with a recluse; O therefore tell her,<br /> +If never thou behold'st me breathe again,<br /> +Tell her I sighed it last.—O Marmoutiere!<span class="sdr">[Exit bowing.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> You will have all things your own way, my lord.<br /> +By heaven, I have strange horror on my soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> I say again, that Henry dares not do it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Beware, your grace, of minds that bear like him.<br /> +I know he scorns to stoop to mean revenge;<br /> +But when some mightier mischief shocks his toure,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">119</span><a id="page_119" name="page_119"></a> +He shoots at once with thunder on his wings,<br /> +And makes it air.—hut hark, my lord, 'tis doing!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="sdm">Guise within.</span>] Murderers, villains!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> I hear your brother's voice; run to the door.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> and <span class="cnm">Arch.</span> run to the door.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> Help, help, the Guise is murdered!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arch.</span> Help, help!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> Cease your vain cries, you are the king's prisoners;—<br /> +Take them, Dugast, into your custody.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Card.</span> We must obey, my lord, for heaven calls us. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Scene</span> draws, behind it a Traverse.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Guise</span> is assaulted by eight. They stab him in +all parts, but most in the head.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gui.</span> O villains! hell-hounds! hold. +<span class="sdr">[Half draws his sword, is held.</span><br /> +Murdered, O basely, and not draw my sword!—<br /> +Dog, Lognac,—but my own blood choaks me.<br /> +Down, villain, down!—I'm gone,—O Marmoutiere! +<span class="sdr">[Flings himself upon him, dies<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-23">[23]</a>.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">120</span><a id="page_120" name="page_120"></a> +The Traverse is drawn.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The King rises from his Chair, comes forward with +his Cabinet-council.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Open the closet, and let in the council;<br /> +Bid Dugast execute the cardinal;<br /> +Seize all the factious leaders, as I ordered,<br /> +And every one be answered, on your lives.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Queen-Mother followed by the Counsellors.</p> + +<p class="dlg">O, madam, you are welcome; how goes your health?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> A little mended, sir.—What have you done?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> That which has made me king of France; for there<br /> +The king of Paris at your feet lies dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Qu. M.</span> You have cut out dangerous work, but make it up<br /> +With speed and resolution<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_4-24">[24]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> Yes, I'll wear<br /> +The fox no longer, but put on the lion;<br /> +And since I could resolve to take the heads<br /> +Of this great insurrection, you, the members,<br /> +Look to it; beware, turn from your stubbornness,<br /> +And learn to know me, for I will be king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gril.</span> 'Sdeath, how the traitors lower, and quake, and droop,<br /> +And gather to the wing of his protection,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">121</span><a id="page_121" name="page_121"></a> +As if they were his friends, and fought his cause!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">King.</span> [<span class="sdm">Looking upon <span class="cnm">Guise.</span></span>] <br /> +Be witness, heaven, I gave him treble warning!<br /> +He's gone—no more.—Disperse, and think upon it.<br /> +Beware my sword, which, if I once unsheath,<br /> +By all the reverence due to thrones and crowns,<br /> +Nought shall atone the vows of speedy justice,<br /> +Till fate to ruin every traitor brings,<br /> +That dares the vengeance of indulgent kings.<span class="sdr">[Exuent.</span></p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Guise_4-1" name="Guise_4-1"></a><p>The Council of Sixteen certainly offered to place twenty +thousand disciplined citizens of Paris at the devotion of the Duke +of Guise; and here the intended parallel came close: for Shaftesbury +used to boast, that he could raise the like number of brisk +boys in the city of London, by merely holding up his finger.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-2" name="Guise_4-2"></a><p>During the cabals of the Council of Sixteen, the Duke of +Aumale approached Paris with five hundred veteran horse, levied +in the disaffected province of Picardy. Jean Conti, one of the +sheriffs (<i>Echevins</i>) of Paris, was tampered with to admit them by +St Martin's gate; but as he refused, the leaguers stigmatised him +as a heretic and favourer of Navarre. Another of these officers +consented to open to Aumale the gate of St Denis, of which the +keys were intrusted to him.</p> + +<p>The conspirators had determined, as is here expressed, to seize +the person of the king, when he should attend the procession of +the Flagellants, as he was wont to do in time of Lent. But he was +apprised of their purpose by Poltrot, one of their number, and +used the pretext of indisposition to excuse his absence from the +penitential procession. <i>Davila</i>, lib. viii.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-3" name="Guise_4-3"></a><p>In the year 1565, an interview took place at Bayonne between +Catharine of Medicis, her son Charles IX., and the Queen +of Spain, attended by the famous Duke of Alva, and the Count of +Benevento. Many political discussions took place; and the opinion +of Alva, as expressed in the text, is almost literally versified +from Davila's account of the conference. "<i>Il Duca D'Alva, +uomo di veemente natura risolutamente diceva, che per distruggere +la novità della fede, e le sollevazioni di stato, bisognava levare +le teste de' papaveri, pescare i pesci grossi e non si curare di prendere +le ranocchie: erano questi i concetti proferiti da lui; perchè +cessati i venti, l'onde della plebe facilmente si sarebbono da se stesse +composte e acquietate: aggiugneva, che un prencipe non può far cosa +più vituperosa nè più dannosa a se stesso, quanto il permettere al +popolo il vivere secondo la loro coscienza, ponendo tanta varietà di +religioni in uno stato, quanto sono i capricci degli huomini e le +fantasíe delle persone inquiete, aprendo la porta alla discordia e +alla confusione: e dimostrava con lunga commemorazione di segnalati +esempj, che la diversità della fede aveva sempre messo l'arme +in mano ai sudditi, e sempre sollevate atroci perfidie e funeste +rebellioni contra i superiori: onde conchiudeva nel fine, che siccome +le controversie della fede avevan sempre servito di pretesto e di argumento +alle sollevazioni de' mal contenti, così era necessario rimovere +a primo tratto questa coperta, e poi con severi rimedj, e senza +riguardo di ferro, nè di fuoco, purgare le radici di quel male, il +quale colla dolcezza e con la sofferenza perniciosamente germogliando +si dilatava sempre, e si accresceva.</i>"—Delle Guerre Civili di +Francia, lib. iii.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-4" name="Guise_4-4"></a><p>The popular arts of the Duke of Monmouth are here alluded +to, which his fine person and courteous manners rendered so eminently, +and for himself so unfortunately, successful. The lady, in +whose mouth these remonstrances are placed, may be supposed to +be the duchess, by whose prayers and tears he was more than once +induced to suspend his career.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-5" name="Guise_4-5"></a><p>Francis II. of France, a prince of delicate health and mean +talents, died of an imposthume in the head.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-6" name="Guise_4-6"></a><p>When Poltrot had discovered the intentions of the Council of +Sixteen against the king's person, it was warmly debated in the +council of Henry, whether the persons of the conspirators ought +not to be seized at their next meeting. But, upon considering the +numbers of the citizens, and their zeal for the League, together +with the small number of the king's guards and adherents, this advice +was rejected as too hazardous. It was upon this occasion +that Catherine quoted the Tuscan proverb in the text,—"<i>Bisogna +copriersi bene il viso inanzi che struzzicare il vespaio;</i>" Davila, +lib. IX.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-7" name="Guise_4-7"></a><p>Margaret of Navarre, sister of Henry II., was suspected of an +intrigue with the Duke of Guise.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-8" name="Guise_4-8"></a><p>Henry II., when Duke of Anjou, defeated the Huguenots, +commanded by the famous Admiral Coligni, with very great loss, +taking all his artillery and baggage, with two hundred standards +and colours, 1569.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-9" name="Guise_4-9"></a><p>Alluding to a celebrated battle fought near Montargis, in +1587, when Guise, with very disproportioned forces, surprised and +cut to pieces a large army of German auxiliaries, who had advanced +into France to join the king of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. +Upon that occasion, the Duke of Guise kept his resolution to +fight a profound secret till the very day of the attack, when, after +having dined, and remained thoughtful and silent for a few minutes, +he suddenly ordered the trumpets to sound to horse, and, +to the astonishment of the Duke of Mayenne, and his other generals, +who had never suspected his intention, instantly moved forward +against the enemy.—<i>Davila</i>, lib. viii.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-10" name="Guise_4-10"></a><p>The king of Navarre (Henry IV.), by his manifesto, published +in 1585, after discussing sundry points of state with the +leaguers, defied the Duke of Guise, their loader, to mortal combat, +body to body, or two to two, or ten to ten, or twenty to +twenty. To this romantic defiance the Duke returned no direct +answer; but his partizans alleged, that as the quarrel betwixt +the king of Navarre and their patron did not arise from private +enmity, it could not become the subject of single combat. <i>Davila</i> +lib. vii.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-11" name="Guise_4-11"></a><p>This alludes to the defacing the Duke of York's picture at +Guildhall; an outrage stigmatized in the epilogue to "Venice +Preserved," where Otway says,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Nothing shall daunt his pen, when truth does call;</p> +<p>No, not the picture-mangler at Guildhall.</p> +<p>The rebel tribe, of which that vermin's one.</p> +<p>Have now set forward, and their course begun;</p> +<p>And while that prince's figure they deface,</p> +<p class="i1">As they before had massacred his name,</p> +<p>Durst their base fears but look him in the face,</p> +<p class="i1">They'd use his person as they've used his fame;</p> +<p>A face, in which such lineaments they read</p> +<p>Of that great Martyr's, whose rich blood they shed.</p> +</div> + +<p>The picture-mangler is explained by a marginal note to be, +"the rascal, that cut the Duke of York's picture." The same +circumstance is mentioned in "<i>Musa Præfica</i>, or the London +Poem, or a humble Oblation on the sacred Tomb of our late gracious +Monarch King Charles II., of ever blessed and eternal Memory; +by a Loyal Apprentice of the honourable City of London." +The writer mentions the Duke of York as</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i1">—loaded with indignity,</p> +<p>Already martyred in effigy.</p> +<p>O blast the arm, that dared that impious blow!</p> +<p class="i1">Let heaven reward him with a vengeance meet,</p> +<p>Who God's anointed dared to overthrow!</p> +<p class="i1">His head had suffered, when they pierced his feet.</p> +</div> + +<p>Explained to allude to the Duke of York's "picture in Guildhall, +cut from the legs downward undiscovered."</p> + +<p>In another tory ballad, we have this stanza in the character of +a fanatic:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>We'll smite the idol in Guildhall,</p> +<p class="i1">And then, as we are wont,</p> +<p>We'll cry it was a Popish plot,</p> +<p class="i1">And swear these rogues have done't.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-12" name="Guise_4-12"></a><p>This speech depends on the gesticulation of the sorcerer: +Guise first desires him report the danger to the people,—then bids +him halt, and express his judgment more fully. Malicorn makes +signs of assassination.—Guise goes on—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>—Let him if he dare.</p> +<p>But more, more, more;—</p> +</div> + +<p>i.e. I have a further reason than state policy for my visit.—Malicorn +makes repeated signs of ignorance and discontent; and +Guise urges him to speak out on a subject, which he himself was +unwilling to open.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-13" name="Guise_4-13"></a><p class="">The business of this scene is taken from the following passage.</p> + +<p class=""><i>"Entrò il Duca di Guisa in Parigi il Lunedì nono giorno di +Maggio, ch' era gia vicino il mezzogiorno, non con maggior comitiva +che di sette cavalli tra gentiluomini e servitori: ma come +una piccolo palla di neve, che discende dall' erto si va tanto ingrossando, +che nel fine diviene quasi una montagna eminente; così abandonando +il popolo le case e le botteghe, con plauso e con allegrezza, +per seguitarlo, non fu a mezzo la città, che aveva dietro più di trentamila +persone, ed era tanta la calca, che a pena egli medesimo poteva +seguitare la sua strada. Andavan le grida del popolo insino +al cielo, nè mai fu con tanto plauso gridato, "Vita il Re" con +quanto ora si gridava "Vita Guisa." Chi lo sulutava, chi lo +ringraziava, chi se gl' inchinava, chi gli baciava le falde de' vestimenti, +chi, non potendo accostarsi, con le mani e con i gesti di +tutto il corpo dava segui profusi d' allegrezza; e furono veduti +di quelli che, adorandolo come santo, lo toccavano con le corone, e +le medesime poi o baciavano, o con esse si toccavano gli occhi e la +fronte; e sino le donne dalle finestra, spargendo fiori e fronde, onoravano +e benedicevano la sua venuta. Egli all' incontro, con viso +popolare e con faccia ridente, altri accarezzava con le parole, altri +risalutava con i gesti, altri rallegrava con l' occhio, e traversando +le caterve del popolo con la testa scoperta, non permetteva cosa alcuna, +che fosse a proposito per finire a conciliarsi la benevolenza +e l' applauso popolare. In questa maniera, senza fermarsi alla sua +casa, andò a dirittura a smontare a Sant' Eustachio al palazzo +della Reina Madre, la quale mezza attonita per il suo venire improvviso; +perchè Monsignor di Bellieure arrivato tre ore innanzi +aveva posto in dubbio la sua venuta; lo ricevè pallida nel volto, +tutta tremante e contra l' ordinario costume della natura sua +quasi smarrita. Le dimostrazioni del Duca di Guisa furono +piene d' affettuosa umiltà e di profonda sommissione: le parole +della Reina ambigue, dicendoli; che lo vedeva volentieri, ma che +molto più volontieri l' arebbe veduto in altro tempo; alla quale +egli rispose con sembiante modestissimo ma con parole altiere: +Ch' egli era buon servitore del Re, e che avendo intese le +calunnie date all' innocenza sua, e le cose che si trattavano contra +la religione e contra gli uomini dabbene di quel popolo, era venuto, o +per divertire il male, e espurgarese stesso, ovvero per lasciar la vita +in servizio di Santa Chiesa e della salute universale. La Reina, interrotto +il ragionamento, mentre egli salutava, come è solito, le altre +Dame della corte, chiamò Luigi Davila suo Gentiluomo d' onore, +e gli commise, che facesse intendere al Re, ch' era arrivato il Duca +di Guisa, e ch' ella fra poco l' arebbe condotto al Lovero personalmente. +Si commosse di maniera il Re, ch' era nel suo gabinetto con +Monsignore di Villaclera, con Bellieure e con l' abbate del Bene, +che fu costretto appogiarsi col braccio, coprendosi la faccia, al tavolino, +e interrogato il Davila d' ogni particolare, gli commandò, +che dicesse segretamente alla Reina, che framettesse più tempo che +fosse possibile alla venuta. L' Abbate del Bene e il Colonello Alfonso +Corso, il quale entrò in questo punto nel gabinetto, e era confidentissimo, +servitore del Re, e pieno di merito verso la corona, lo +consigliavano, che ricevendo il Duca di Guisa nel medesimo gabinetto, +lo facese uccidere subito nell' istesso luogo, dicendo l' abbate questo</i> +Percutiam pastorem, et dispergentur oves<i>. Ma Villaclera, Bellieure, +e il gran Cancelliere che sopravvenne, furono di contrario +parere allegando esesr tanta la commozione del popolo, che in caso tale, +sprezzando la Maestà regia, e rompendo tutti i vincoli delle leggi, +sarebbe corso a precipitosa vendetta, e che non essendo le cose +ancora apparecchiate per la difesa propria, e per frenare il furore +della città le forze de' Parigini erano troppo poderose parole per +stuzzicarle."</i> Lib. ix.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-14" name="Guise_4-14"></a><p>For this scene also, which gave great offence to the followers +of Monmouth, our author had the authority of Davila in the continuation +of the passage already quoted.</p> + +<p><i>"Mentre il Re sta dubbioso nell' animo, sopraggiunse la Reina, +che conduceva il Duca di Guisa essendo venuta nella sua seggetta, +e il Duca accompagnatala sempre a piedi; ma con tanto seguito e +frequenza di gente, che tutta la Città pareva ridotta nel giro del +cortile del Lovero e nelle strade vicine. Traversarono fra la spalliera +de' soldati, essendo presente Monsignor di Griglione maestro +di campo della guardia, il quale uomo libero e militare, e poco +amico del Duca di Guisa, mentre egli s' inchina ad ogni privato soldato, +fece pochissimo sembiante di riverirlo, il che da lui fu con +qualche pallidezza del volto ben osservato, la quale continuò maggiormente, +poichè vide gli Suizzeri far spalliera con l'arme a piedi +della scala, e nella sala gli arcieri, e nelle camere i gentiluomini +tutti radunati per aspettarlo. Entrarono nella camera del Re, il +quale mentre il Duca di Guisa con profonda riverenza se gl' inchinò, +con viso scorrucciato gli disse; Io v' avevo fatto intendere, che non +veniste. A queste parole il Duca con l' istessa sommissione, che +aveva fatto alla Reina, ma con parole più ritenute, rispose. Ch' +Egli era venuto a mettersi nelle braccia della giustitia di Sua Maestà, +per iscolparsi delle calunnie, che gli erano apposte da' suoi nemici, e +che nondimeno non sarebbe venuto, quando gli fosse stato detto chiaramente, +che Sua Maestà comandata, che non venisse. Il Re rivolto +a Bellieure, alteratamente lo domandò s' era vero, che gli avesse +data commissione di dire al Duca di Guisa, che non venisse, se non +voleva esser tenuto per autore delli scandali, e delle sollevazioni de' +Parigini. Monseignor di Bellieure si feceinnanzi, e volle render conto +dell' ambasciata sua; ma nel principio del parlare, il Re l' interruppe, +dicendogli, che bastava, e rivolto al Duca di Guisa disse; che +non sapeva, ch' egii fosse stato calunniato da persona alcuna, ma che +la sua innocenza sarebbe apparsa chiara, quando dalla sua venuta +non fosse nata alcuna novità, e interrotta la quiete del governo, +come si prevedeva. La Reina pratica della natura del Re, conoscendolo +dalla faccia inclinato a qualche gagliarda risoluzione, lo tirò +da parte, e gli disse in sostanza quel che aveva veduto della concorrenza +del popolo, e che non pensasse a deliberazioni precipitose, perchè +non era tempo. Il medesimo soggiunse la Duchessa d' Uzes, che +gli era vicina, e il Duca di Guisa osservando attentamente ogni minuzia, +come vide questa fluttazione, per non dar tempo al Re di +deliberare, si finse stracco dal viaggio, e licenziandosi brevemente da +lui, accompagnato dall' istessa frequenza di popolo, ma da niuno di +quelli della corte, si ritirò nella strada di Sant' Antonio alle sue +case."</i> Lib. ix.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-15" name="Guise_4-15"></a><p>See the speech of Ashtaroth and his companions, on taking +leave of Rinaldo, whom they had transported to the field of Roncisvalles:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p class="i1">Noi ce n' andremo or, io e Farfarello, </p> +<p class="i1">Tra le campane, e soneremo a festa,</p> +<p class="i1">Quando vedrem, che tu farai macello.</p> +<p>In Roncisvalle una certa chiesetta</p> +<p class="i1">Era in quel tempo, ch' avea due campane,</p> +<p class="i1">Quivi stetton coloro alla veletta,</p> +<p class="i1">Per ciuffar di quell' anime pagane,</p> +<p class="i1">Come sparvier tra ramo e ramo aspetta;</p> +<p class="i1">E bisognò, che menassin le mane,</p> +<p class="i1">E che e' batessin tutto il giorno l' ali,</p> +<p class="i1">A presentarle a' guidici infernali.</p> +<p class="citation" style="font-style: normal;">Il Morgante Maggiore, Canto XXVI. St. 82, 89.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-16" name="Guise_4-16"></a><p>See the speech of Ashtaroth to Rinaldo, in the Morgante Maggiore.</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Noi abbiam come voi principe e duce</p> +<p class="i1">Giù nell' Inferno, e 'l primo è Belzebue,</p> +<p class="i1">Chi una cosa, e chi altra conduce,</p> +<p class="i1">Ognuno attende alle faccende sue;</p> +<p class="i1">Ma tutto a Belzebù, poi si riduce</p> +<p class="i1">Perchè Lucifer relegato fue</p> +<p class="i1">Ultimo a tutti, e nel centro più imo,</p> +<p class="i1">Poi ch' egli intese esser nel Ciel su primo.</p> +<p class="citation" style="font-style: normal;">Canto XV. St. 207.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-17" name="Guise_4-17"></a><p>This striking account of the entry of the guards is literally +from DAVILA.</p> + +<p>"<i>La mattina del Giovedi duodecimo giorno dì maggio, un' ora +innanzi giorno, si sentirono i pifferi e i tamburi degli Suizzeri, +che battendo l' ordinanza entrarono nella città per la porta di Sant' +Onorato, precedendo il Maresciallo di Birone a cavallo, e conseguentamente +sotto i loro capitani entrarono con le corde accese le +compagníe de' Francesi."—"All' entrare della milizia, nota a tutta +la città per lo strepito de' tamburi, il popolo pieno di spavento, e già +certo, che la fama divolgata dell' intenzione del re era più che sicura, +cominciò a radunarsi, serrando le porte delle case, e chiudendo l'entrate +delle botteghe, che conforme all' uso della città di lavorare innanzi +giorno, già s' erano cominciare ad aprire, e ognuno si messe a +preparare l'armi, apettando l'ordine di quello si dovesse operare.</i>" +Lib. IX.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-18" name="Guise_4-18"></a><p>It was a frequent complaint of the tories at this period, that +the commons, in zeal for their own privileges and immunities, +were apt sometimes to infringe the personal liberties of the subject. +This is set forth with some humour in a political pamphlet +of the day, called, "A Dialogue betwixt Sam, the ferryman of +Datchet, Will, a waterman of London, and Tom, a bargeman of +Oxford;" upon the king's calling a parliament to meet at Oxford, +London, 1681. "As to their own members, they turned them +out, and took others in at their will and pleasure; and if they +made any fault, they expelled them; and wherever any stood in +competition for any town, him they knew would give his vote +along with them was admitted, right or wrong. And then they +terrified all the sheriffs, mayors, and bailiffs in the kingdom, besides +abundance of gentlemen and other honest countrymen. For, +on the least complaint of any man's misdemeanour, or information +from any member, immediately a serjeant at arms was sent for +them, and so much a mile and hour paid, and down on their marrowbones +to their worships, and a sound scolding from Mr Speaker, +or else to the Tower or Gatehouse they went. The king, God bless +him, never took a quarter of that state on him they did ... It +was brought to that pass, that two footboys, boxing one day in the +Palace-yard, he that was beaten proved to belong to a member, +and told the other boy, if he knew his master, he would cause him +to be sent for in custody, for keeping such a rogue as he was, that +had committed a breach of privilege in beating a member's servant. +The boy replied, if it would do him any kindness, he would +beat him again, and tell him his master's name into the bargain; +and would lay him a crown, that, though his master should bid +the Speaker, and all the House of Commons, kiss, &c, they durst +not send a serjeant at arms for him. The beaten boy, much nettled +at his speech, laid down his money, as the other did: now, +said the boy, my master is the king of France, and I am come +over with some of his servants to fetch horses out of England; +go, bid thy master and the House of Commons send a serjeant at +arms to fetch him over.—<i>Sam.</i> Before my heart it was a good answer; +I hope he won his monies?—<i>Will.</i> So he did; but it was +put into a waterman's hands, and when it was demanded, says the +beaten boy, Sirrah, give it him, if you dare; if his master be the +king of France, I'll make you answer it before the House of Commons. +The waterman durst do no other, but gave either their +own monies. There's no contending with parliament men, or parliament +men's men, nor boys."</p> + +<p>Some occasion was given for these reproaches by the summary +and arbitrary commitment of many individuals, who had addressed +the king in terms expressing their abhorrence of the vehement +petitions presented by the other party for the sitting of parliament, +and were thence distinguished by the name of Abhorrers. This +course was ended by the sturdy resistance of one Stowell, who +had, as foreman of the grand jury at Exeter, presented an <i>abhorring</i> +address to the king. A serjeant at arms having been sent to +apprehend him, he refused to submit, and bid the officer take his +course, adding, he knew no law which made him accountable for +what he did as a grand juryman. The House were so much embarrassed +by his obstinacy, that they hushed up the matter by +voting that he was indisposed, and adjourning the debate <i>sine dic.</i></p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-19" name="Guise_4-19"></a><p>This famous interview betwixt Grillon and the king deserved +to have been brought on the stage, in a nobler strain, and free from +the buffoonery, by which the veteran's character is degraded. It +is thus told by Davila: <i>"Trattandosi delle persone, che avessero +da eseguire il fatto, il Re elesse di fidarsene nel Maestro di campo +della sua guardia Griglione, uomo feroce e ardito e per molte cagioni +nemico del Duca di Guisa. Fattolo perciò venire, gli espose +con accomodate parole il suo pensiero, e gli significò aver disegnato, +che egli fosse quello, che eseguisse l' impresa, nella quale consisteva +tutta la sua salute. Griglione rispose con brevi e significanti +parole: Sire, Io sono ben servitore a Vostra Maestà di somma fedeltà +e divozione, ma faccio professione di soldato, e di cavuliero; s' ella +vuoles ch' io vada a sfidare il Duca di Guisa, e che mi ammazzi a corpo +a corpo con lui, son pronto a farlo in questo istesso punto; ma ch' io +serva di manigoldo, mentre la giustizia sua determina di farlo morire, +questo non si conviene a par mio, nè sono per farlo giammai. Il Re +non si stupì molto della libertà di Griglione, noto a lui e a tutta la +corte per uomo schietto, e che libramente diceva i suoi sensi senza +timore alcuno, e però replicò; che gli bastava, che tenesse segreta +questo pensiero, perchè non l' aveva communicato ad alcun altro, e +divulgandosi egli sarebbe stato colpevole d' averlo palesato. A +questo rispose Griglione: Essere servitore di fede, d' onore, nè +dover mai ridire i segreti interessi del padrone, e partito lasciò il +Re grandemente dubbioso di quello dovesse operare.</i>" Lib. ix.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-20" name="Guise_4-20"></a><p>A similar assemblage of terrific circumstances announces the +arrival of a fiend upon a similar errand, in the old play, entitled, +the "Merry Devil of Edmonton."</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>What means the trolling of this fatal chime?</p> +<p>O what a trembling horror strikes my heart!</p> +<p>My stiffened hair stands upright on my head,</p> +<p>As do the bristles of a porcupine.</p> +<p> * * * * *</p> +<p>Coreb, is't thou?</p> +<p>I know thee well; I hear the watchful dogs,</p> +<p>With hollow howling, tell of thy approach.</p> +<p>The lights burn dim, affrighted with thy presence,</p> +<p>And this distempered and tempestuous night</p> +<p>Tells me the air is troubled with some devil!</p> +</div> + +<p>Dryden certainly appears to have had the old play in his memory +though he has far excelled it.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-21" name="Guise_4-21"></a><p>On the evening previous to the assassination, the Seigneur +de Larchant accosted the duke as he passed from his own lodging +to the king's, accompanied by a body of soldiers, who, he pretended, +were petitioners for the duke's interest, to obtain payment of +their arrears, and would attend at the door of the council next +day, to remind him of their case. This pretext was to account for +the unusual number of guards, which might otherwise have excited +Guise's suspicion.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-22" name="Guise_4-22"></a><p><i>Intanto il Duca entrato nel consiglio, e pustosi in una sedia +vicina al fuoco si sentì un poco di svenimento, o che allora, gli +sovcenisse il pericolo, net quale si ritrovava, separato e diviso da +tutti i suoi, o che natura, come bene spesso avviene, presaga del mal +futuro da se medesima allora si risentizze, o come dissero i suoi +malevoli, per essere stato la medesima notte con Madama di Marmoutiere +amata grandemente da lui, e essersi soverchiamente debilitato.</i> +Davila, Lib. ix.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-23" name="Guise_4-23"></a><p>The murder of Guise was perpetrated in the Anti-chamber, +before the door of the king's cabinet. Lognac, a gentleman of the +king's chamber, and a creature of the late duke de Joyeuse, commanded +the assassins, who were eight in number. The duke never +was able to unsheath his sword, being slain with many wounds as +he grappled with Lognac. The king himself was in the cabinet, +and listened to the murderous scuffle, till the noise of Guise's fall +announced its termination. The cardinal of Guise, and the archbishop +of Lyons were also within hearing, and were arrested, while +they were endeavouring to call their attendants to Guise's assistance. +The cardinal was next day murdered by Da Gast, to +whose custody he had been commuted.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_4-24" name="Guise_4-24"></a><p>Literally from Davila: <i>"Ora comparse il Re, le dimanda +egli primo, come ella stava; al quale avendo risposto che si sentisse +meglio, egli ripigliò: Ancor io mi trovo ora molto meglio, perchè +questa mattina son fatto Re di Francia avendo fatto morire il Re +di Parigi. Alle quali parole, replicò la Reina: Voi avete fatto +morire il Duca di Guisa, ma Dio voglia che non siate ora fatto Re +da niente; avete tagliato bene, non so, se cucirete così bene. Avete +voi preveduti i mali, che sono per succedere? Provvedetevi diligentemente. +Due cose sono necessarie, prestezza e risoluzione."</i> Lib. ix.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">122</span><a id="page_122" name="page_122"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">EPILOGUE.<br /> +WRITTEN BY MR DRYDEN<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_5-1">[1]</a>.<br /> +SPOKEN BY MRS COOK.</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<table summary="Epilogue"> +<tr> +<td> +<p>Much time and trouble this poor play has cost;</p> +<p>And, 'faith, I doubted once the cause was lost.</p> +<p>Yet no one man was meant, nor great, nor small;</p> +<p>Our poets, like frank gamesters, threw at all.</p> +<p>They took no single aim:—</p> +<p>But, like bold boys, true to their prince, and hearty,</p> +<p>Huzza'd, and fired broadsides at the whole party.</p> +<p>Duels are crimes; but, when the cause is right,</p> +<p>In battle every man is bound to fight.</p> +<p>For what should hinder me to sell my skin,</p> +<p>Dear as I could, if once my hand were in?</p> +<p><i>Se defendendo</i> never was a sin.</p> +<p>'Tis a fine world, my masters! right or wrong,</p> +<p>The Whigs must talk, and Tories hold their tongue.</p> +<p>They must do all they can,</p> +<p>But we, forsooth, must bear a christian mind;</p> +<p>And fight, like boys, with one hand tied behind;</p> +<p>Nay, and when one boy's down, 'twere wond'rous wise,</p> +<p>To cry,—box fair, and give him time to rise.</p> +<p>When fortune favours, none but fools will dally;</p> +<p>Would any of you sparks, if Nan, or Mally,</p> +<p>Tip you the inviting wink, stand, shall I, shall I?</p> +<p>A Trimmer cried, (that heard me tell this story)</p> +<p>Fie, mistress Cook, 'faith you're too rank a Tory!</p> +<p>Wish not Whigs hanged, but pity their hard cases;</p> +<p>You women love to see men make wry faces.—</p> +<p>Pray, sir, said I, don't think me such a Jew;</p> +<p>I say no more, but give the devil his due.—</p> +<p><span class="pgnm">123</span><a id="page_123" name="page_123"></a> +Lenitives, says he, suit best with our condition.—</p> +<p>Jack Ketch, says I, is an excellent physician.—</p> +<p>I love no blood.—Nor I, sir, as I breathe;</p> +<p>But hanging is a fine dry kind of death.—</p> +<p>We Trimmers are for holding all things even.—</p> +<p>Yes; just like him that hung 'twixt hell and heaven.—</p> +<p>Have we not had men's lives enough already?—</p> +<p>Yes, sure: but you're for holding all things steady.</p> +<p>Now since the weight hangs all on one side, brother,</p> +<p>You Trimmers should, to poize it, hang on t'other.</p> +<p>Damned neuters, in their middle way of steering,</p> +<p>Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red-herring:</p> +<p>Not Whigs, nor Tories they; nor this, nor that;</p> +<p>Not birds, nor beasts; but just a kind of bat:</p> +<p>A twilight animal, true to neither cause,</p> +<p>With Tory wings, but Whigish teeth and claws<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_5-2">[2]</a>.</p></td> +<td><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +}<br />}<br />}<br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +}<br />}<br />}<br /> +</td> +</tr></table> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Guise_5-1" name="Guise_5-1"></a><p>There is in Mr Bindley's collection another Epilogue, which appears to +have been originally subjoined to the "Duke of Guise." It is extremely +coarse; and as the author himself suppressed it, the editor will not do his +better judgment the injustice to revive it.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_5-2" name="Guise_5-2"></a><p>The Trimmers, a body small and unpopular, as must always be the case +with those, who in violent times declare for moderate and temporising measures, +were headed by the ingenious and politic Halifax. He had much of +the confidence, at least of the countenance of Charles, who was divided betwixt +tenderness for Monmouth, and love of ease, on the one hand, and, on +the other, desire of arbitrary power, and something like fear of the duke of +York. Halifax repeatedly prevented each of these parties from subjugating +the other, and his ambidexter services seem to have been rewarded by the +sincere hatred of both. In 1688 was published a vindication of this party, +entitled, "the Character of a Trimmer;" and his opinion of,—I. The laws of +government. II. Protestant Religion. III. Foreign affairs. By the Hon. +Sir William Coventry.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">125</span><a id="page_125" name="page_125"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE +VINDICATION:</h3> + +<p class="ctr">OR, THE +PARALLEL +OF THE +FRENCH HOLY LEAGUE,<br /> +AND THE +ENGLISH LEAGUE AND COVENANT,<br /> +TURNED INTO A SEDITIOUS LIBEL AGAINST THE KING +AND HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS,<br /> +<br /> +BY +THOMAS HUNT,<br /> +AND THE AUTHORS OF THE REFLECTIONS<br /> UPON THE +PRETENDED PARALLEL IN THE PLAY CALLED<br /> +<b>THE DUKE OF GUISE.</b></p> + +<div class="ctr"> +<table class="ctr" summary="Epigram"> +<tr><td><p class="epigram"> +<i>Turno tempus erit magno cum optaverit emptum<br /> +Intactum Pallanta: et cum spolia ista, diemque<br /> +Oderit.—</i></p></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">127</span><a id="page_127" name="page_127"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">VINDICATION OF THE DUKE OF GUISE.</h3> + +<p>It was easy to foresee, that a play, which professed to be a +<i>broadside</i> discharged at the whole popular party, would not long +remain uncensured. The satire being derived from a historical +parallel of some delicacy, offered certain facilities of attack to the +critics. It was only stretching the resemblance beyond the +bounds to which Dryden had limited it, and the comparison +became odious, if not dangerous. The whig writers did not neglect +this obvious mode of attack, now rendered more popular by +the encroachment lately attempted by the court upon the freedom +of the city, whose magistrates had been exposed to ridicule +in the play.</p> + +<p>Our readers cannot but remember, that, in order to break the +spirit of the city of London, a writ of <i>quo warranto</i> was issued +against the incorporation, by which was instituted a vexatious and +captious inquiry into the validity of the charter of London. The +purpose of this process was to compel the city to resign their freedom +and immunities into the king's hands, and to receive a new +grant of them, so limited, as might be consistent with the views +of the crown, or otherwise to declare them forfeited. One Thomas +Hunt, a lawyer of some eminence, who had been solicitor for +the Viscount Stafford when that unfortunate nobleman was tried +for high treason, and had written upon the side of the tories, but +had now altered his principles, stepped forward upon this occasion +as the champion of the immunities of the city of London<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_6-1">[1]</a>. +<span class="pgnm">128</span><a id="page_128" name="page_128"></a> +The ludicrous light in which the sheriffs are placed, during the +scene with Grillon in the third act, gave great offence to this active +partizan; and he gives vent to his displeasure in the following +attack upon the author, and the performance.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"They have already condemned the charter and city, and have +executed the magistrates in effigy upon the stage, in a play called +"The Duke of Guise," frequently acted and applauded; intended +most certainly, to provoke the rabble into tumults and disorder. +The Roman priest had no success, (God be thanked,) when +he animated the people not to suffer the same sheriffs to be carried +through the city to the Tower, prisoners. Now the poet hath +undertaken, for their being kicked three or four times a-week +about the stage to the gallows, infamously rogued and rascalled, +to try what he can do towards making the charter forfeitable, by +some extravagancy and disorder of the people, which the authority +of the best governed cities have not been able to prevent, sometimes +under far less provocations.</p> + +<p>"But this ought not to move the citizens, when he hath so maliciously +and mischievously represented the king, and the king's +son, nay, and his favourite the duke too, to whom he gives the +worst strokes of his unlucky fancy.</p> + +<p>"He puts the king under the person of Henry III. of France, +who appeared in the head of the <i>Parisian</i> massacre; the king's +son under the person of the Duke of Guise, who concerted it +with the Queen-mother of France, and was slain in that very place, +by the righteous judgment of God, where he and his mother had +first contrived it.</p> + +<p>"The Duke of Guise ought to have represented a great prince, +that had inserved to some most detestable villany, to please the +rage, or lust, of a tyrant.</p> + +<p>"Such great courtiers have been often sacrificed, to appease +the furies of the tyrant's guilty conscience, to expiate for his sin, +and to atone the people.</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">129</span><a id="page_129" name="page_129"></a> +"Besides, that a tyrant naturally stands in fear of ministers of +mighty wickedness; he is always obnoxious to them, he is a slave +to them, as long as they live they remember him of his guilt, and +awe him. These wicked slaves become most imperious masters: +they drag him to greater evils for their own impunity, than they +first perpetrated for his pleasure, and their own ambition.</p> + +<p>"But such are best given up to public justice, but by no means +to be assassinated. Until this age, never before was an assassination +invited, commended, and encouraged upon a public theatre.</p> + +<p>"It is no wonder that <i>Trimmers</i> (so they call men of some moderation +of that party) displease them; for they seem to have designs +for which it behoves them to know their men; they must be +perfectly wicked, or perfectly deceived; of the Catiline make; +bold, and without understanding; that can adhere to men that +publicly profess murders, and applaud the design.</p> + +<p>"Caius Cæsar (to give unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's) +was in the Catiline conspiracy; and then the word was, <i>he that is +not for us is against us;</i> for the instruments of wickedness must +be men that are resolute and forward, and without consideration; +or they will deceive the design, and relent when they enterprize.</p> + +<p>"But when he was made dictator, and had some pretences, +and a probability by means less wicked and mischievous to arrive +at the government, his words were, <i>he that is not against us is +with us.</i> But to Pompey only it belonged, and to his cause, or +the like cause, to the defenders of ancient established governments, +of the English monarchy and liberties, to say, they that +are not with us are against us. <i>In internecino bello,</i> in attacks upon +government, <i>medii pro hostibus habentur,</i> neutral men are traitors, +and assist, by their indifferency, to the destruction of the government. +As many as applaud this play, ought to be put under +sureties of the peace; and yet not one warrant, that we hear of +yet, granted by the Lord Chief Justice.</p> + +<p>"But it is not a Duke of Guise to be assassinated, a turbulent, +wicked, and haughty courtier; but an innocent and gentle prince, +as well as brave, and renowned for noble achievements: a prince, +that hath no fault, but that he is the king's son; and the best too +of all his sons; such a son, as would have made the best of emperors +happy.</p> + +<p>"Except it be, that the people honour him and love him, and +every where publicly and loudly show it: But this they do, for +that the best people of England have no other way left to show +their loyalty to the king, and love to their religion and government, +in long intervals of Parliament, than by prosecuting his son, +for the sake of the king and his own merit, with all the demonstrations +of the highest esteem.</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">130</span><a id="page_130" name="page_130"></a> +"But he hath not used his patron Duke much better; for he +hath put him under a most dismal and unfortunate character of a +successor, excluded from the crown by act of state for his religion, +who fought his way to the crown, changed his religion, and +died by the hand of a Roman assassinate.</p> + +<p>"It is enough to make his great duke's courage quail, to find +himself under such an unlucky and disastrous representation, and +thus personated; besides, he hath offered a justification of an act +of exclusion against a popish successor, in a Protestant kingdom, +by remembering what was done against the king of Navarre.</p> + +<p>"The Popish religion, in France, did, <i>de facto,</i> by act of state, +exclude a Protestant prince, who is under no obligation, from his +religion, to destroy his Popish subjects.</p> + +<p>"Though a Popish prince is, to destroy his Protestant subjects.</p> + +<p>"A Popish prince, to a Protestant kingdom, without more, +must be the most insufferable tyrant, and exceed the character +that any story can furnish for that sort of monster: And yet all +the while to himself a religious and an applauded prince; discharged +from the tortures that ordinarily tear and rend the hearts of +the most cruel princes, and make them as uneasy to themselves as +they are to their subjects, and sometimes prevail so far as to lay +some restraints upon their wicked minds.</p> + +<p>"But this his patron will impute to his want of judgment; for +this poet's heroes are commonly such monsters as Theseus and +Hercules are, renowned throughout all ages for destroying.</p> + +<p>"But to excuse him, this man hath forsaken his post, and entered +upon another province. To "The Observator"<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_6-2">[2]</a> it belongs +to confound truth and falsehood; and, by his false colours and +impostures, to put out the eyes of the people, and leave them +without understanding.</p> + +<p>"But our poet hath not so much art left him as to frame any +thing agreeable, or <i>verisimilar</i>, to amuse the people, or wherewith +to deceive them.</p> + +<p>"His province is to corrupt the manners of the nation, and +lay waste their morals; his understanding is clapt, and his brains +are vitiated, and he is to rot the age.</p> + +<p>"His endeavours are more happily applied, to extinguish the +little remains of the virtue of the age by bold impieties, and befooling +religion by impious and inept rhymes, to confound virtue +and vice, good and evil, and leave us without consciences.</p> + +<p>"And thus we are prepared for destruction.</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">131</span><a id="page_131" name="page_131"></a> +"But to give the world a taste of his atheism and impiety, I +shall recite two of his verses, as recited upon the stage, viz.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>For conscience, and heaven's fear, religious rules,</p> +<p>They are all state-bells to toll in pious fools;</p> +</div> + +<p>which I have done the rather, that some honest judge, or justice, +may direct a process against this bold impious man; or some honest +surrogate, or official, may find leisure to proceed, <i>ex officio,</i> +against him, notwithstanding at present they are so encumbered +with the dissenters.</p> + +<p>"Such public blasphemies against religion, never were unpunished +in any country, or age, but this.</p> + +<p>"But I have made too long a digression, but that it carries +with it some instructions towards the preserving of the honour of +your august city, viz.</p> + +<p>"That you do not hereafter authorise the stage to expose and +revile your great officers, and offices, by the indignities yourselves +do them; whilst the Papists clap their hands, and triumph at +your public disgraces, and in the hopes they conceive thereby of +the ruin of your government, as if that were as sure and certain to +them, as it is to us, without doubt, that they once fired it.</p> + +<p>"And further, for that it was fit to set forth to the world, of +what spirit our enemies are, how they intend to attack us; as also, +how bold they are with his majesty, what false and dishonourable +representations they make of him, and present to the world +upon a public theatre; which, I must confess, hath moved me +with some passion."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>This angry barrister was not the only adversary whom Dryden +had to encounter on this occasion. Thomas Shadwell, a man of +some talents for comedy, and who professed to tread in the footsteps +of Ben Jonson, had for some time been at variance with Dryden +and Otway. He was probably the author of a poem, entitled, +"A Lenten Prologue, refused by the Players;" which is marked +by Mr Luttrel, 11th April, 1683, and contains the following direct +attack on "The Duke of Guise," and the author:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<table summary="A Lenten Prologue"><tr> +<td><p>Our prologue wit grows flat; the nap's worn off,</p> +<p>And howsoe'er we turn and trim the stuff,</p> +<p>The gloss is gone that looked at first so gaudy;</p> +<p>'Tis now no jest to hear young girls talk bawdry.</p> +<p>But plots and parties give new matters birth,</p> +<p>And state distractions serve you here for mirth.</p> +<p>At England's cost poets now purchase fame;</p> +<p>While factious heats destroy us, without shame,</p> +<p>These wanton Neroes fiddle to the flame;</p> +<p>The stage, like old rump-pulpits, is become</p> +<p>The scene of news, a furious party's drum:</p> +<p>Here poets beat their brains for volunteers,</p> +<p>And take fast hold of asses by their ears;</p> +<p><span class="pgnm">132</span><a id="page_132" name="page_132"></a> +Their jingling rhimes for reason here you swallow,</p> +<p>Like Orpheus' music, it makes beasts to follow.</p> +<p>What an enlightening grace is want of bread!</p> +<p>How it can change a libeller's heart, and clear a laureat's head;</p> +<p>Open his eyes, till the mad prophet see</p> +<p><i>Plots working in a future power to be!</i></p> +<p>Traitors unformed to his second sight are clear.</p> +<p>And squadrons here and squadrons there appear;</p> +<p>Rebellion is the burden of the seer.</p> +<p>To Bayes, in vision, were of late revealed,</p> +<p><i>Whig armies, that at Knightsbridge lay concealed;</i></p> +<p>And though no mortal eye could see't before,</p> +<p><i>The battle just was entering at the door.</i></p> +<p>A dangerous association, signed by none,</p> +<p>The joiner's plot to seize the king alone.</p> +<p>Stephen with College<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_6-3">[3]</a> made this dire compact;</p> +<p>The watchful Irish took them in the fact.</p> +<p>Of riding armed; O traitorous overt act!</p> +<p>With each of them an ancient Pistol sided,</p> +<p>Against the statute in that case provided.</p> +<p>But, why was such a host of swearers pressed?</p> +<p>Their succour was ill husbandry at best.</p> +<p>Bayes's crowned muse, by sovereign right of satire,</p> +<p>Without desert, can dub a man a traitor;</p> +<p>And tories, without troubling law or reason,</p> +<p>By loyal instinct can find plots and treason.</p></td> +<td><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +(Medal, p. 14.)</td> +</tr></table> +</div> + +<p>A more formal attack was made in a pamphlet, entitled, "Some +Reflections on the pretended parallel in the Play called the Duke +of Guise." This Dryden, in the following Vindication, supposes +to have been sketched by Shadwell, and finished by a gentleman +of the Temple<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_6-4">[4]</a>. In these Reflections, the obvious ground of attack, +<span class="pgnm">133</span><a id="page_133" name="page_133"></a> +occupied by Hunt, is again resumed. The general indecency +of a theatrical exhibition, which alluded to state-transactions of a +grave and most important nature; the indecorum of comparing +the king to such a monarch as Henry III., infamous for treachery, +cruelty, and vices of the most profligate nature; above all, the +parallel betwixt the Dukes of Monmouth and Guise, by which the +former is exhibited as a traitor to his father, and recommended as +no improper object for assassination—are topics insisted on at some +length, and with great vehemence.</p> + +<p>Our author was not insensible to these attacks, by which his +loyalty to the king, and the decency of his conduct towards Monmouth, +the king's offending, but still beloved, son, and once Dryden's +own patron, stood painfully compromised. Accordingly, shortly +after these pamphlets had appeared, the following advertisement +was annexed to "The Duke of Guise:"</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"There was a preface intended to this play in vindication of it, +against two scurrilous libels lately printed; but it was judged, that +a defence of this nature would require more room than a preface +reasonably could allow. For this cause, and for the importunities +of the stationers, who hastened their impression, it is deferred +for some little time, and will be printed by itself. Most men are +already of opinion, that neither of the pamphlets deserve an answer, +because they are stuffed with open falsities, and sometimes +contradict each other; but, for once, they shall have a day or +two thrown away upon them, though I break an old custom for +their sakes, which was,—to scorn them."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The resolution, thus announced, did not give universal satisfaction +to our author's friends; one of whom published the following +remonstrance, which contains some good sense, in very indifferent +poetry:</p> + +<p style="text-indent: -1em; margin-left: 1em;"><i>An Epode to his worthy Friend</i> <span class="smcap">John Dryden,</span> <i>to advise him +not to answer two malicious Pamphlets against his Tragedy +called</i> "The Duke of Guise." (<i>Marked by Luttrel, 10 March, +1683/4.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Can angry frowns rest on thy noble brow</p> +<p class="i1">For trivial things;</p> +<p>Or, can a stream of muddy water flow</p> +<p class="i1">From the Muses' springs;</p> +<p>Or great Apollo bend his vengeful bow</p> +<p class="i1">'Gainst popular stings?</p> +<p>Desist thy passion then; do not engage</p> +<p>Thyself against the wittols of the age.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="pgnm">134</span><a id="page_134" name="page_134"></a> +Should we by stiff Tom Thimble's faction fall,</p> +<p class="i1">Lord, with what noise</p> +<p>The Coffee throats would bellow, and the Ball</p> +<p class="i1">O' the Change rejoice,</p> +<p>And with the company of Pinner's Hall</p> +<p class="i1">Lift up their voice!</p> +<p>Once the head's gone, the good cause is secure;</p> +<p>The members cannot long resist our power.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Crop not their humours; let the wits proceed</p> +<p class="i1">Till they have thrown</p> +<p>Their venom up; and made themselves indeed</p> +<p class="i1">Rare fops o'ergrown:</p> +<p>Let them on nasty garbage prey and feed,</p> +<p class="i1">Till all is done;</p> +<p>And, by thy great resentment, think it fit</p> +<p>To crush their hopes, as humble as their wit.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Consider the occasion, and you'll find</p> +<p class="i1">Yourself severe,</p> +<p>And unto rashness much more here inclined,</p> +<p class="i1">By far, than they're:</p> +<p>Consider them as in their proper kind,</p> +<p class="i1">'Tween rage and fear,</p> +<p>And then the reason will appear most plain,—</p> +<p>A worm that's trod on will turn back again.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>What if they censure without brain or sense,</p> +<p class="i1">'Tis now the fashion;</p> +<p>Each giddy fop endeavours to commence</p> +<p class="i1">A reformation.</p> +<p>Pardon them for their native ignorance,</p> +<p class="i1">And brainsick passion;</p> +<p>For, after all, true men of sense will say,—</p> +<p>Their works can never parallel thy play.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'Twere fond to pamper spleen, 'cause owls detest</p> +<p class="i1">The light of day;</p> +<p>Or real nonsense, which endures no test,</p> +<p class="i1">Condemns thy play.</p> +<p>Lodge not such petty trifles in thy breast,</p> +<p class="i1">But bar their sway;</p> +<p>And let them know, that thy heroic bays</p> +<p>Can scorn their censure, as it doth their praise.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Think not thy answer will their nice reclaim,</p> +<p class="i1">Whose heads are proof</p> +<p>Against all reason, and in spite of shame</p> +<p class="i1">Will stand aloof;</p> +<p>'Twould cherish further libels on thy fame,</p> +<p class="i1">Should these thee move.</p> +<p>Stand firm, my Dryden, maugre all their plots,</p> +<p>Thy bays shall flourish when their ivy rots.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="pgnm">135</span><a id="page_135" name="page_135"></a> +But if you are resolved to break your use,</p> +<p class="i1">And basely sin,</p> +<p>In answer; I'll be sworn some haggard muse</p> +<p class="i1">Has you in her gin;</p> +<p>Or in a fit you venture to abuse</p> +<p class="i1">Your Polyhymn',</p> +<p>You may serve him so far: But if you do,</p> +<p>All your true friends, sir, will reflect on you.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The remonstrance of this friendly poet was unavailing; Dryden +having soon after published the following Vindication.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Guise_6-1" name="Guise_6-1"></a><p>"A Defence of the Charter and Municipal Rights of the City of London, +and the Rights of other Municipal Cities and Towns of England. Directed +to the Citizens of London, by Thomas Hunt.</p> + +<p class="ctr"><i>Si populus vult decipi, decipiatur.</i></p> + +<p>London, printed, and to be sold, by Richard Baldwin." 4to, pages 46.</p> + +<p>Wood informs us, that Thomas Hunt, the author, was educated at Queen's +College, Cambridge, and was esteemed a person of quick parts, and of a ready +fluency in discourse, but withal too pert and forward. He was called to the +bar, and esteemed a good lawyer. In 1659 he became clerk of the assizes at +Oxford circuit, but was ejected from the office at the Restoration, to his great +loss, to make room for the true owner. He wrote, "An Argument for the +Bishops' right of judging in capital Cases in Parliament, &c.;" for which he +expected (says Anthony) no less than to be made lord chief baron of the exchequer +in Ireland. But falling short of that honourable office, which he too +ambitiously catched at, and considering the loss of another place, which he +unjustly possessed, he soon after appeared one of the worst and most inveterate +enemies to church and state that was in his time, and the most malicious, +and withal the most ignorant, scribbler of the whole herd; and was thereupon +stiled, by a noted author, (Dryden, in the following Vindication,) <i>Magni +nominis umbra</i>. Hunt also published, "Great and weighty Considerations on +the Duke of York, &c." in favour of the exclusion. He had also the boldness +to republish his high church tract in favour of the bishops' jurisdiction, +with a whig postscript tending to destroy his own arguments.—<i>Ath. Ox.</i> II, +p. 728.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_6-2" name="Guise_6-2"></a><p>A tory paper, then conducted with great zeal, and some controversial talent, +by Sir Roger L'Estrange.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_6-3" name="Guise_6-3"></a><p>Alluding to the fate of Stephen College, the Protestant joiner; a meddling, +pragmatical fellow, who put himself so far forward in the disputes at +Oxford, as to draw down the vengeance of the court. He was very harshly +treated during his trial; and though in the toils, and deprived of all assistance, +defended himself with right English manliness. He was charged with the +ballad on page 6. and with coming to Oxford armed to attack the guards. +He said he did not deny he had pistols in his holsters at Oxford; to which +Jefferies answered, indecently, but not unaptly, he "thought a chissel might +have been more proper for a joiner." Poor College was executed; a vengeance +unworthy of the king, who might have apostrophised him as Hamlet +does Polonius:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell;</p> +<p>I took thee for thy betters—take thy fortune.</p> +<p>Thou findst, to be too busy is some danger.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_6-4" name="Guise_6-4"></a><p>Anthony Wood is followed by Mr Malone in supposing, that Hunt himself +is the Templar alluded to. But Dryden seems obviously to talk of the +author of the Defence, and the two Reflectors, as three separate persons. He +calls them, "the sputtering triumvirate, Mr Hunt, and the two Reflectors;" +and again, "What says my lord chief baron (i.e. Hunt) to the business? +What says the livery-man Templar? What says Og, the king of Basan (i.e. +Shadwell) to it?" The Templar may be discovered, when we learn, who hired +a livery-gown to give a vote among the electors.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">137</span><a id="page_137" name="page_137"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE +VINDICATION +OF<br /> +THE DUKE OF GUISE.</h3> + +<p>In the year of his majesty's happy Restoration, +the first play I undertook was the "Duke of Guise;" +as the fairest way, which the Act of Indemnity had +then left us, of setting forth the rise of the late rebellion; +and by exploding the villainies of it upon +the stage, to precaution posterity against the like +errors.</p> + +<p>As this was my first essay, so it met with the +fortune of an unfinished piece; that is to say, it was +damned in private, by the advice of some friends to +whom I shewed it; who freely told me, that it was +an excellent subject; but not so artificially wrought, +as they could have wished; and now let my enemies +make their best of this confession.</p> + +<p>The scene of the Duke of Guise's return to Paris, +against the king's positive command, was then +written. I have the copy of it still by me, almost +the same which it now remains, being taken verbatim +out of Davila; for where the action is remarkable, +and the very words related, the poet is not at +liberty to change them much; and if he will be adding +<span class="pgnm">138</span><a id="page_138" name="page_138"></a> +any thing for ornament, it ought to be wholly +of a piece. This do I take for a sufficient justification +of that scene, unless they will make the pretended +parallel to be a prophecy, as well as a parallel +of accidents, that were twenty years after to +come.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-1">[1]</a> Neither do I find, that they can suggest +the least colour for it in any other part of the tragedy.</p> + +<p>But now comes the main objection,—why was it +stopt then? To which I shall render this just account, +with all due respects to those who were the +occasion of it.</p> + +<p>Upon a wandering rumour (which I will divide +betwixt malice and mistake) that some great persons +were represented, or personated in it, the matter +was complained of to my Lord Chamberlain; +who, thereupon, appointed the play to be brought +to him, and prohibited the acting of it until further +order; commanding me, after this, to wait upon his +lordship; which I did, and humbly desired him to +compare the play with the history, from whence +the subject was taken, referring to the first scene of +the fourth act, whereupon the exception was grounded, +and leaving Davila (the original) with his lordship. +This was before midsummer; and about two +months after, I received the play back again from +his lordship, but without any positive order whether +it should be acted or not; neither was Mr Lee, or +myself, any way solicitous about it. But this indeed +<span class="pgnm">139</span><a id="page_139" name="page_139"></a> +I ever said, that it was intended for the king's +service; and his majesty was the best judge, whether +it answered that end or no; and that I reckoned +it my duty to submit, if his majesty, for any reason +whatsoever, should deem it unfit for the stage. +In the interim, a strict scrutiny was made, and no +parallel of the great person designed, could be made +out. But this push failing, there were immediately +started some terrible insinuations, that the person +of his majesty was represented under that of +Henry the Third; which if they could have found +out, would have concluded, perchance, not only in +the stopping of the play, but in the hanging up of +the poets. But so it was, that his majesty's wisdom +and justice acquitted both the one, and the +other; and when the play itself was almost forgotten, +there were orders given for the acting of it.</p> + +<p>This is matter of fact; and I have the honour of +so great witnesses to the truth of what I have delivered, +that it will need no other appeal. As to +the exposing of any person living, our innocency is +so clear, that it is almost unnecessary to say, it was +not in my thought; and, as far as any one man can +vouch for another, I do believe it was as little in +Mr Lee's. And now since some people have been +so busy as to cast out false and scandalous surmises, +how far we two agreed upon the writing of it, I +must do a common right both to Mr Lee and myself, +to declare publicly, that it was at his earnest +desire, without any solicitation of mine, that this +play was produced betwixt us. After the writing +of Œdipus, I passed a promise to join with him in +another; and he happened to claim the performance +of that promise, just upon the finishing of a poem,<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-2">[2]</a> +<span class="pgnm">140</span><a id="page_140" name="page_140"></a> +when I would have been glad of a little respite before +the undertaking of a second task. The person, +that passed betwixt us, knows this to be true; +and Mr Lee himself, I am sure, will not disown it; +So that I did not "seduce him to join with me," as +the malicious authors of the Reflections are pleased +to call it; but Mr Lee's loyalty is above so ridiculous +a slander. I know very well, that the town +did ignorantly call and take this to be my play; +but I shall not arrogate to myself the merits of my +friend. Two-thirds of it belonged to him; and to +me only the first scene of the play; the whole fourth +act, and the first half, or somewhat more, of the fifth.</p> + +<p>The pamphleteers, I know, do very boldly insinuate, +that, "before the acting of it, I took the whole +play to myself; but finding afterwards how ill success +it had upon the stage, I threw as much of it as +possibly I could upon my fellow." Now here are +three damned lies crowded together into a very little +room; first, that I assumed any part of it to myself, +which I had not written; wherein I appeal, +not only to my particular acquaintance, but to the +whole company of actors, who will witness for me, +that, in all the rehearsals, I never pretended to any +one scene of Mr Lee's, but did him all imaginable +right, in his title to the greater part of it. I hope +I may, without vanity, affirm to the world, that I +never stood in need of borrowing another man's reputation; +and I have been as little guilty of the injustice, +of laying claim to any thing which was not +my own. Nay, I durst almost refer myself to some +of the angry poets on the other side, whether I have +not rather countenanced and assisted their beginnings, +than hindered them from rising.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-3">[3]</a> The two +<span class="pgnm">141</span><a id="page_141" name="page_141"></a> +other falsities are, the "ill success of the play," and +"my disowning it." The former is manifestly without +foundation; for it succeeded beyond my very +hopes, having been frequently acted, and never +without a considerable audience; and then it is a +thousand to one, that, having no ground to disown +it, I did not disown it; but the universe to a nutshell +that I did not disown it for want of success, +when it succeeded so much beyond my expectation. +But my malignant adversaries are the more excusable +for this coarse method of breaking in upon truth +and good manners, because it is the only way they +have to gratify the genius and the interest of the +faction together; and never so much pains taken +neither, to so very, very little purpose. They decry +the play, but in such a manner, that it has the +effect of a recommendation. They call it "a dull entertainment;" +and that is a dangerous word, I must +confess, from one of the greatest masters in human +<span class="pgnm">142</span><a id="page_142" name="page_142"></a> +nature, of that faculty. Now I can forgive them +this reproach too, after all the rest; for this play +does openly discover the original and root of the +practices and principles, both of their party and +cause; and they are so well acquainted with all the +trains and mazes of rebellion, that there is nothing +new to them in the whole history. Or what if it +were a little insipid, there was no conjuring that I +remember in "Pope Joan;" and the "Lancashire +Witches" were without doubt the most insipid jades +that ever flew upon a stage; and even these, by the +favour of a party, made a shift to hold up their +heads.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-4">[4]</a> Now, if we have out-done these plays in +their own dull way, their authors have some sort of +<span class="pgnm">143</span><a id="page_143" name="page_143"></a> +privilege to throw the first stone; but we shall rather +chuse to yield the point of dulness, than contend +for it, against so indisputable a claim.</p> + +<p>But "matters of state (it seems) are canvassed on +the stage, and things of the gravest concernment +there managed;" and who were the aggressors, I beseech +you, but a few factious, popular hirelings, +that by tampering the theatres, and by poisoning +the people, made a play-house more seditious than +a conventicle; so that the loyal party crave only +the same freedom of defending the government, +which the other took beforehand of exposing and +defaming it. There was no complaint of any disorders +of the stage, in the bustle that was made +(even to the forming of a party) to uphold a farce +of theirs.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-5">[5]</a> Upon the first day, the whole faction +(in a manner) appeared; but after one sight of it, +they sent their proxies of serving-men and porters, +to clap in the right of their patrons; and it was impossible +ever to have gotten off the nonsense of +three hours for half-a-crown, but for the providence +of so congruous an audience. Thus far, I presume, +<span class="pgnm">144</span><a id="page_144" name="page_144"></a> +the reckoning is even, for bad plays on both sides, +and for plays written for a party. I shall say nothing +of their poets' affection to the government; unless +upon an absolute and an odious necessity. But to +return to the pretended Parallel.</p> + +<p>I have said enough already to convince any man +of common sense, that there neither was, nor could +be, any Parallel intended; and it will farther appear, +from the nature of the subject; there being +no relation betwixt Henry the Third and the Duke +of Guise, except that of the king's marrying into +the family of Lorraine. If a comparison had been +designed, how easy had it been either to have found +a story, or to have invented one, where the ties of +nature had been nearer? If we consider their actions, +or their persons, a much less proportion will be +yet found betwixt them; and if we bate the popularity, +perhaps none at all. If we consider them in +reference to their parties, the one was manifestly +the leader; the other, at the worst, is but misled. +The designs of the one tended openly to usurpation; +those of the other may yet be interpreted more fairly; +and I hope, from the natural candour and probity +of his temper, that it will come to a perfect +submission and reconcilement at last. But that +which perfectly destroys this pretended Parallel is, +that our picture of the Duke of Guise is exactly according +to the original in the history; his actions, +his manners, nay, sometimes his very words, are so +justly copied, that whoever has read him in Davila, +sees him the same here. There is no going out of +the way, no dash of a pen to make any by-feature +resemble him to any other man; and indeed, excepting +his ambition, there was not in France, or +perhaps in any other country, any man of his age +<span class="pgnm">145</span><a id="page_145" name="page_145"></a> +vain enough to hope he could be mistaken for him.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-6">[6]</a> +So that if you would have made a Parallel, we could +not. And yet I fancy, that where I make it my +business to draw likeness, it will be no hard matter +to judge who sate for the picture. For the Duke +of Guise's return to Paris contrary to the king's order, +enough already has been said; it was too considerable +in the story to be omitted, because it occasioned +the mischiefs that ensued. But in this likeness, +which was only casual, no danger followed. I +am confident there was none intended; and am satisfied +that none was feared. But the argument +drawn from our evident design is yet, if possible, +more convincing. The first words of the prologue +spake the play to be a Parallel, and then you are +immediately informed how far that Parallel extended, +and of what it is so: "The Holy League begot +the Covenant, Guisards got the Whig, &c." So then +it is not, (as the snarling authors of the Reflections +tell you) a Parallel of the men, but of the times; a +Parallel of the factions, and of the leaguers. And +<span class="pgnm">146</span><a id="page_146" name="page_146"></a> +every one knows that this prologue was written before +the stopping of the play. Neither was the +name altered on any such account as they insinuate, +but laid aside long before, because a book called +the Parallel had been printed, resembling the French +League to the English Covenant; and therefore we +thought it not convenient to make use of another +man's title.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-7">[7]</a> The chief person in the tragedy, or he +whose disasters are the subject of it, may in reason +give the name; and so it was called the "Duke of +Guise." Our intention therefore was to make the +play a Parallel betwixt the Holy League, plotted by +the house of Guise and its adherents, with the Covenant +plotted by the rebels in the time of king +Charles I. and those of the new Association, which +was the spawn of the old Covenant.</p> + +<p>But this parallel is plain, that the exclusion of the +lawful heir was the main design of both parties; +and that the endeavours to get the lieutenancy of +France established on the head of the League, is in +effect the same with offering to get the militia out +of the king's hand (as declared by parliament,) and +consequently, that the power of peace and war should +be wholly in the people. It is also true that the +tumults in the city, in the choice of their officers, +have had no small resemblance with a Parisian rabble: +and I am afraid that both their faction and +ours had the same good lord. I believe also, that +if Julian had been written and calculated for the +Parisians, as it was for our sectaries, one of their +sheriffs might have mistaken too, and called him +<span class="pgnm">147</span><a id="page_147" name="page_147"></a> +Julian the Apostle.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-8">[8]</a> I suppose I need not push this +point any further; where the parallel was intended, +I am certain it will reach; but a larger account of +the proceedings in the city may be expected from +a better hand, and I have no reason to forestall it.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-9">[9]</a> +In the mean time, because there has been no actual +rebellion, the faction triumph in their loyalty; which +if it were out of principle, all our divisions would +soon be ended, and we the happy people, which +God and the constitution of our government have +put us in condition to be; but so long as they take +it for a maxim, that the king is but an officer in +trust, that the people, or their representatives, are +superior to him, judges of miscarriages, and have +power of revocation, it is a plain case, that whenever +they please they may take up arms; and, according +to their doctrine, lawfully too. Let them jointly +renounce this one opinion, as in conscience and law +they are bound to do, because both scripture and +acts of parliament oblige them to it, and we will +then thank their obedience for our quiet, whereas +now we are only beholden to them for their fear. +The miseries of the last war are yet too fresh in all +men's memory; and they are not rebels, only because +they have been so too lately. An author of +theirs has told us roundly the west-country proverb; +<span class="pgnm">148</span><a id="page_148" name="page_148"></a> +<i>Chud eat more cheese, and chad it;</i> their stomach +is as good as ever it was; but the mischief +on't is, they are either muzzled, or want their +teeth. If there were as many fanatics now in England, +as there were christians in the empire, when +Julian reigned, I doubt we should not find them +much inclined to passive obedience; and, "Curse ye +Meroz"<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-10">[10]</a> would be oftener preached upon, than "Give +to Cæsar," except in the sense Mr Hunt means it.</p> + +<p>Having clearly shewn wherein the parallel consisted, +which no man can mistake, who does not wilfully, +I need not justify myself, in what concerns +the sacred person of his majesty. Neither the French +history, nor our own, could have supplied me, nor +Plutarch himself, were he now alive, could have +found a Greek or Roman to have compared to him, +in that eminent virtue of his clemency; even his +enemies must acknowledge it to be superlative, because +they live by it. Far be it from flattery, if I +say, that there is nothing under heaven, which can +furnish me with a parallel; and that, in his mercy, +he is of all men the truest image of his Maker.</p> + +<p>Henry III. was a prince of a mixed character; +he had, as an old historian says of another, <i>magnas +virtutes, nec minora vitia;</i> but amongst those virtues, +<span class="pgnm">149</span><a id="page_149" name="page_149"></a> +I do not find his forgiving qualities to be much celebrated. +That he was deeply engaged in the bloody +massacre of St Bartholomew, is notoriously known; +and if the relation printed in the memoirs of Villeroy +be true, he confesses there that the Admiral +having brought him and the queen-mother into suspicion +with his brother then reigning, for endeavouring +to lessen his authority, and draw it to themselves, +he first designed his accuser's death by Maurevel, +who shot him with a carbine, but failed to +kill him; after which, he pushed on the king to +that dreadful revenge, which immediately succeeded. +It is true, the provocations were high; there +had been reiterated rebellions, but a peace was now +concluded; it was solemnly sworn to by both parties, +and as great an assurance of safety given to +the protestants, as the word of a king and public +instruments could make it. Therefore the punishment +was execrable, and it pleased God, (if we may +dare to judge of his secret providence,) to cut off +that king in the very flower of his youth, to blast +his successor in his undertakings, to raise against +him the Duke of Guise, the complotter and executioner +of that inhuman action, (who, by the divine +justice, fell afterwards into the same snare which he +had laid for others,) and, finally, to die a violent +death himself, murdered by a priest, an enthusiast +of his own religion.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-11">[11]</a> From these premises, let it +be concluded, if reasonably it can, that we could +draw a parallel, where the lines were so diametrically +opposite. We were indeed obliged, by the +laws of poetry, to cast into shadows the vices of +<span class="pgnm">150</span><a id="page_150" name="page_150"></a> +this prince; for an excellent critic has lately told +us, that when a king is named, a hero is supposed;<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-12">[12]</a> +it is a reverence due to majesty, to make the virtues +as conspicuous, and the vices as obscure, as we +can possibly; and this, we own, we have either +performed, or at least endeavoured. But if we were +more favourable to that character than the exactness +of history would allow, we have been far from +diminishing a greater, by drawing it into comparison. +You may see, through the whole conduct of +the play, a king naturally severe, and a resolution +carried on to revenge himself to the uttermost on +the rebellious conspirators. That this was sometimes +shaken by reasons of policy and pity, is confessed; +but it always returned with greater force, +and ended at last in the ruin of his enemies. In +the mean time we cannot but observe the wonderful +loyalty on the other side; that the play was to +be stopped, because the king was represented. May +we have many such proofs of their duty and respect! +but there was no occasion for them here. +It is to be supposed, that his majesty himself was +made acquainted with this objection; if he were so, +he was the supreme and only judge of it; and then +the event justifies us. If it were inspected only by +those whom he commanded, it is hard if his own +officers and servants should not see as much ill in it +as other men, and be as willing to prevent it; especially +when there was no solicitation used to have +<span class="pgnm">151</span><a id="page_151" name="page_151"></a> +it acted. It is known that noble person,<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-13">[13]</a> to whom +it was referred, is a severe critic on good sense, decency, +and morality; and I can assure the world, +that the rules of Horace are more familiar to him, +than they are to me. He remembers too well that +the <i>vetus comædia</i> was banished from the Athenian +theatre for its too much licence in representing persons, +and would never have pardoned it in this or +any play.</p> + +<p>What opinion Henry III. had of his successor, is +evident from the words he spoke upon his deathbed: +"he exhorted the nobility," says Davila, "to +acknowledge the king of Navarre, to whom the +kingdom of right belonged; and that they should +not stick at the difference of religion; for both the +king of Navarre, a man of a sincere noble nature, +would in the end return into the bosom of the +church, and the pope, being better informed, would +receive him into his favour, to prevent the ruin of +the whole kingdom." I hope I shall not need in +this quotation to defend myself, as if it were my +opinion, that the pope has any right to dispose +of kingdoms; my meaning is evident, that the +king's judgment of his brother-in-law, was the same +which I have copied; and I must farther add from +Davila, that the arguments I have used in defence +of that succession were chiefly drawn from the +king's answer to the deputies, as they may be seen +more at large in pages 730, and 731, of the first +edition of that history in English. There the three +estates, to the wonder of all men, jointly concurred +in cutting off the succession; the clergy, who were +managed by the archbishop of Lyons and cardinal +<span class="pgnm">152</span><a id="page_152" name="page_152"></a> +of Guise, were the first who promoted it; and the +commons and nobility afterwards consented, as referring +themselves, says our author, to the clergy; +so that there was only the king to stand in the gap; +and he by artifice diverted that storm which was +breaking upon posterity.</p> + +<p>The crown was then reduced to the lowest ebb +of its authority; and the king, in a manner, stood +single, and yet preserved his negative entire; but +if the clergy and nobility had been on his part of +the balance, it might reasonably be supposed, that +the meeting of those estates at Blois had healed the +breaches of the nation, and not forced him to the +<i>ratio ultima regum</i>, which is never to be praised, nor +is it here, but only excused as the last result of his +necessity. As for the parallel betwixt the king of +Navarre, and any other prince now living, what +likeness the God of Nature, and the descent of virtues +in the same channel have produced, is evident; +I have only to say, that the nation certainly is happy, +where the royal virtues of the progenitors are +derived on their descendants.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-14">[14]</a></p> + +<p>In that scene, it is true, there is but one of the +three estates mentioned; but the other two are virtually +included; for the archbishop and cardinal are +at the head of the deputies: And that the rest are +mute persons every critic understands the reason, +<i>ne quarta loqui persona laboret</i>. I am never willing +to cumber the stage with many speakers, when I +can reasonably avoid it, as here I might. And +what if I had a mind to pass over the clergy and +nobility of France in silence, and to excuse them +from joining in so illegal, and so ungodly a decree? +<span class="pgnm">153</span><a id="page_153" name="page_153"></a> +Am I tied in poetry to the strict rules of history? +I have followed it in this play more closely than +suited with the laws of the drama, and a great victory +they will have, who shall discover to the world +this wonderful secret, that I have not observed the +unities of place and time; but are they better kept +in the farce of the "Libertine destroyed?"<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-15">[15]</a> It was +our common business here to draw the parallel of +the times, and not to make an exact tragedy. For +this once we were resolved to err with honest Shakespeare; +neither can "Catiline" or "Sejanus," (written +by the great master of our art,) stand excused, any +more than we, from this exception; but if we must +be criticised, some plays of our adversaries may be +exposed, and let them reckon their gains when the +dispute is ended. I am accused of ignorance, for +speaking of the third estate, as not sitting in the +same house with the other two. Let not those +gentlemen mistake themselves; there are many +things in plays to be accommodated to the country +in which we live; I spoke to the understanding of +an English audience. Our three estates now sit, and +have long done so, in two houses; but our records +bear witness, that they, according to the French +custom, have sate in one; that is, the lords spiritual +and temporal within the bar, and the commons +without it. If that custom had been still continued +<span class="pgnm">154</span><a id="page_154" name="page_154"></a> +here, it should have been so represented; but +being otherwise, I was forced to write so as to be +understood by our own countrymen. If these be +errors, a bigger poet than either of us two has fallen +into greater, and the proofs are ready, whenever the +suit shall be recommenced.</p> + +<p>Mr Hunt, the Jehu of the party, begins very furiously +with me, and says, "I have already condemned +the charter and city, and have executed the +magistrates in effigy upon the stage, in a play called +the Duke of Guise, frequently acted and applauded, +&c.<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-16">[16]</a>"</p> + +<p>Compare the latter end of this sentence with what +the two authors of the Reflections, or perhaps the +Associating Club of the Devil-tavern<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-17">[17]</a> write in the +<span class="pgnm">155</span><a id="page_155" name="page_155"></a> +beginning of their libel:—"Never was mountain +delivered of such a mouse; the fiercest Tories have +been ashamed to defend this piece; they who have +any sparks of wit among them are so true to their +pleasure, that they will not suffer dulness to pass +upon them for wit, nor tediousness for diversion; +which is the reason that this piece has not met with +the expected applause: I never saw a play more deficient +in wit, good characters, or entertainment, than +this is."</p> + +<p>For shame, gentlemen, pack your evidence a little +better against another time. You see, my lord chief +baron<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-18">[18]</a> has delivered his opinion, that the play was frequently +acted and applauded; but you of the jury +have found <i>Ignoramus</i>, on the wit and the success +of it. Oates, Dugdale and Turberville, never disagreed +more than you do; let us know at last, which +of the witnesses are true Protestants, and which are +Irish<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-19">[19]</a>. But it seems your authors had contrary +<span class="pgnm">156</span><a id="page_156" name="page_156"></a> +designs: Mr Hunt thought fit to say, "it was frequently +acted and applauded, because," says he, "it +was intended to provoke the rabble into tumults +and disorder." Now, if it were not seen frequently, +this argument would lose somewhat of its force. +The Reflector's business went another way; it was +to be allowed no reputation, no success; but to be +damned root and branch, to prevent the prejudice +it might do their party: accordingly, as much as +in them lay, they have drawn a bill of exclusion for +it on the stage. But what rabble was it to provoke? +Are the audience of a play-house, which are generally +persons of honour, noblemen, and ladies, or, at +worst, as one of your authors calls his gallants, men +of wit and pleasure about the town<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-20">[20]</a>,—are these the +rabble of Mr Hunt? I have seen a rabble at Sir Edmundbury +Godfrey's night, and have heard of such +a name as true Protestant meeting-houses; but a +rabble is not to be provoked, where it never comes. +Indeed, we had one in this tragedy, but it was upon +the stage; and that's the reason why your Reflectors +would break the glass, which has shewed them their +own faces. The business of the theatre is to expose +vice and folly; to dissuade men by examples +from one, and to shame them out of the other. +<span class="pgnm">157</span><a id="page_157" name="page_157"></a> +And however you may pervert our good intentions, +it was here particularly to reduce men to loyalty, +by shewing the pernicious consequences of rebellion, +and popular insurrections. I believe no man, who +loves the government, would be glad to see the +rabble in such a posture, as they were represented +in our play; but if the tragedy had ended on your +side, the play had been a loyal witty poem; the success +of it should have been recorded by immortal +Og or Doeg<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-21">[21]</a>, and the rabble scene should have +been true Protestant, though a whig-devil were at +the head of it.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, pray, where lies the relation +betwixt the "Tragedy of the Duke of Guise," and +the charter of London? Mr Hunt has found a rare +connection, for he tacks them together, by the kicking +of the sheriff's. That chain of thought was a +little ominous, for something like a kicking has succeeded +the printing of his book; and the charter of +London was the quarrel. For my part, I have not +law enough to state that question, much less decide +it; let the charter shift for itself in Westminster-hall +the government is somewhat wiser than to employ +my ignorance on such a subject. My promise +to honest Nat. Lee, was the only bribe I had, to +engage me in this trouble; for which he has the +good fortune to escape Scot-free, and I am left in +pawn for the reckoning, who had the least share in +the entertainment. But the rising, it seems, should +have been on the true protestant side; "for he has +tried," says ingenious Mr Hunt, "what he could +<span class="pgnm">158</span><a id="page_158" name="page_158"></a> +do, towards making the charter forfeitable, by some +extravagancy and disorder of the people." A wise +man I had been, doubtless, for my pains, to raise the +rabble to a tumult, where I had been certainly one +of the first men whom they had limbed, or dragged +to the next convenient sign-post.</p> + +<p>But on second thought, he says, this ought not +to move the citizens. He is much in the right; for +the rabble scene was written on purpose to keep his +party of them in the bounds of duty. It is the business +of factious men to stir up the populace: Sir +Edmond on horseback, attended by a swinging +pope in effigy, and forty thousand true protestants +for his guard to execution, are a show more proper +for that design, than a thousand stage-plays<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-22">[22]</a>.</p> + +<p>Well, he has fortified his opinion with a reason, +however, why the people should not be moved; +"because I have so maliciously and mischievously +represented the king, and the king's son; nay, and +his favourite," saith he, "the duke too; to whom I +give the worst strokes of my unlucky fancy."</p> + +<p>This need not be answered; for it is already manifest +that neither the king, nor the king's son, are +represented; neither that son he means, nor any of +the rest, God bless them all. What strokes of my +unlucky fancy I have given to his royal highness, +will be seen; and it will be seen also, who strikes +him worst and most unluckily.</p> + +<p>"The Duke of Guise," he tells us, "ought to +have represented a great prince, that had inserved +to some most detestable villainy, to please the rage +or lust of a tyrant; such great courtiers have been +often sacrificed, to appease the furies of the tyrant's +guilty conscience; to expiate for his sin, and to attone +<span class="pgnm">159</span><a id="page_159" name="page_159"></a> +the people. For a tyrant naturally stands in +fear of such wicked ministers, is obnoxious to them, +awed by them, and they drag him to greater evils, +for their own impunity, than they perpetrated for +his pleasure, and their own ambition<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-23">[23]</a>."</p> + +<p>Sure, he said not all this for nothing. I would +know of him, on what persons he would fix the +sting of this sharp satire? What two they are, whom, +to use his own words, he "so maliciously and mischievously +would represent?" For my part, I dare +not understand the villainy of his meaning; but +somebody was to have been shown a tyrant, and +some other "a great prince, inserving to some detestable +villainy, and to that tyrant's rage and lust;" +this great prince or courtier ought to be sacrificed, +to atone the people, and the tyrant is persuaded, +for his own interest, to give him up to public justice. +I say no more, but that he has studied the law to +good purpose. He is dancing on the rope without +a metaphor; his knowledge of the law is the staff +that poizes him, and saves his neck. The party, indeed, +speaks out sometimes, for wickedness is not +always so wise as to be secret, especially when it +is driven to despair. By some of their discourses, +we may guess at whom he points; but he has fenced +himself in with so many evasions, that he is safe +in his sacrilege; and he, who dares to answer him, +may become obnoxious. It is true, he breaks a +little out of the clouds, within two paragraphs; for +there he tells you, that "Caius Cæsar (to give into +Cæsar the things that were Cæsar's,) was in the catiline +<span class="pgnm">160</span><a id="page_160" name="page_160"></a> +conspiracy;" a fine insinuation this, to be +sneered at by his party, and yet not to be taken +hold of by public justice. They would be glad now, +that I, or any man, should bolt out their covert treason +for them; for their loop-hole is ready, that the +Cæsar, here spoken of, was a private man. But the +application of the text declares the author's to be +another Cæsar; which is so black and so infamous +an aspersion, that nothing less than the highest +clemency can leave it unpunished. I could reflect +on his ignorance in this place, for attributing these +words to Cæsar, "He that is not with us, is against +us:" He seems to have mistaken them out of the +New-Testament, and that is the best defence I can +make for him; for if he did it knowingly, it was +impiously done, to put our Saviour's words into +Cæsar's mouth. But his law and our gospel are +two things; this gentleman's knowledge is not of +the bible, any more than his practice is according +to it. He tells you, he will give the world a taste +of my atheism and impiety; for which he quotes +these following verses, in the second or third act of +the "Duke of Guise."</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>For conscience or heaven's fear, religious rules,</p> +<p>Are all state bells, to toll in pious fools.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the first place, he is mistaken in his man, for +the verses are not mine, but Mr Lee's: I asked him +concerning them, and have this account,—that they +were spoken by the devil; now, what can either +whig or devil say, more proper to their character, +than that religion is only a name, a stalking-horse, +as errant a property as godliness and property themselves +are amongst their party? Yet for these two +lines, which, in the mouth that speaks them, are +of no offence, he halloos on the whole pack against +me: judge, justice, surrogate, and official are to be +employed, at his suit, to direct process; and boring +<span class="pgnm">161</span><a id="page_161" name="page_161"></a> +through the tongue for blasphemy, is the least punishment +his charity will allow me.</p> + +<p>I find it is happy for me, that he was not made +a judge, and yet I had as lieve have him my judge +as my council, if my life were at stake. My poor +Lord Stafford was well helped up with this gentleman +for his solicitor: no doubt, he gave that unfortunate +nobleman most admirable advice towards the +saving of his life; and would have rejoiced exeedingly, +to have seen him cleared<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-24">[24]</a>. I think, I have +disproved his instance of my atheism; it remains for +him to justify his religion, in putting the words of +Christ into a Heathen's mouth; and much more in +his prophane allusion to the scripture, in the other +text,—"Give unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's;" +which, if it be not a profanation of the bible, +for the sake of a silly witticism, let all men, but his +own party, judge. I am not malicious enough to +return him the names which he has called me; but +of all sins, I thank God, I have always abhorred +atheism; and I had need be a better Christian than +Mr Hunt has shown himself, if I forgive him so infamous +a slander.</p> + +<p>But as he has mistaken our Saviour for Julius Cæsar, +so he would Pompey too, if he were let alone; +to him, and to his cause, or to the like cause it belonged, +he says, to use these words:—"he that is +not for us is against us." I find he cares not whose +the expression is, so it be not Christ's. But how +comes Pompey the Great to be a whig? He was, indeed, +<span class="pgnm">162</span><a id="page_162" name="page_162"></a> +a defender of the ancient established Roman government; +but Cæsar was the whig who took up +arms unlawfully to subvert it. Our liberties and our +religion both are safe; they are secured to us by the +laws; and those laws are executed under an established +government, by a lawful king. The Defender +of our Faith is the defender of our common +freedom; to cabal, to write, to rail against this administration +are all endeavours to destroy the government; +and to oppose the succession, in any private +man, is a treasonable practice against the foundation +of it. Pompey very honourably maintained +the liberty of his country, which was governed by +a common-wealth: so that there lies no parallel betwixt +his cause and Mr Hunt's, except in the bare +notion of a common-wealth, as it is opposed to +monarchy; and that's the thing he would obliquely +slur upon us. Yet on these premises, he is for ordering +my lord chief justice to grant out warrants +against all those who have applauded the "Duke of +Guise;" as if they committed a riot when they +clapped. I suppose they paid for their places, as +well as he and his party did, who hissed. If he were +not half distracted, for not being lord chief baron, +methinks he should be lawyer enough to advise my +lord chief justice better. To clap and hiss are the +privileges of a free-born subject in a playhouse: +they buy them with their money, and their hands +and mouths are their own property. It belongs to +the Master of the Revels to see that no treason or +immorality be in the play; but when it is acted, let +every man like or dislike freely: not but that respect +should be used too, in the presence of the +king; for by his permission the actors are allowed: +it is due to his person, as he is sacred; and to the +successors, as being next related to him: there +are opportunities enow for men to hiss, who are so +<span class="pgnm">163</span><a id="page_163" name="page_163"></a> +disposed, in their absence; for when the king is in +sight, though but by accident, a malefactor is reprieved +from death. Yet such is the duty, and good +manners of these good subjects, that they forbore +not some rudeness in his majesty's presence; but +when his Royal Highness and his court were only +there, they pushed it as far as their malice had +power; and if their party had been more numerous, +the affront had been greater.</p> + +<p>The next paragraph of our author's is a panegyric +on the Duke of Monmouth, which concerns not +me, who am very far from detracting from him. +The obligations I have had to him, were those of +his countenance, his favour, his good word, and his +esteem; all which I have likewise had, in a greater +measure, from his excellent duchess, the patroness +of my poor unworthy poetry. If I had not greater, +the fault was never in their want of goodness +to me, but in my own backwardness to ask, which +has always, and, I believe, will ever, keep me from +rising in the world. Let this be enough, with reasonable +men, to clear me from the imputation of an +ungrateful man, with which my enemies have most +unjustly taxed me. If I am a mercenary scribbler, +the lords commissioners of the treasury best know: +I am sure, they have found me no importunate solicitor; +for I know myself, I deserved little, and, +therefore, have never desired much. I return that +slander, with just disdain, on my accusers: it is for +men who have ill consciences to suspect others; I +am resolved to stand or fall with the cause of my +God, my king, and country; never to trouble myself +for any railing aspersions, which I have not deserved; +and to leave it as a portion to my children,—that +they had a father, who durst do his +duty, and was neither covetous nor mercenary.</p> + +<p>As little am I concerned at that imputation of +<span class="pgnm">164</span><a id="page_164" name="page_164"></a> +my back-friends, that I have confessed myself to be +put on to write as I do. If they mean this play in +particular, that is notoriously proved against them +to be false; for the rest of my writings, my hatred +of their practices and principles was cause enough +to expose them as I have done, and will do more. +I do not think as they do; for, if I did, I must +think treason; but I must in conscience write as I +do, because I know, which is more than thinking, +that I write for a lawful established government, +against anarchy, innovation, and sedition: but +"these lies (as prince Harry said to Falstaff) are as +gross as he that made them<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-25">[25]</a>." More I need not +say, for I am accused without witness. I fear not +any of their evidences, not even him of Salamanca; +who though he has disowned his doctorship in +Spain, yet there are some allow him to have taken +a certain degree in Italy; a climate, they say, more +proper for his masculine constitution<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-26">[26]</a>. To conclude +this ridiculous accusation against me, I know +but four men, in their whole party, to whom I have +spoken for above this year last past; and with them +neither, but casually and cursorily. We have been +acquaintance of a long standing, many years before +<span class="pgnm">165</span><a id="page_165" name="page_165"></a> +this accursed plot divided men into several parties; +I dare call them to witness, whether the most I have +at any time said will amount to more than this, that +"I hoped the time would come, when these names +of whig and tory would cease among us; and that +we might live together, as we had done formerly." +I have, since this pamphlet, met accidentally with +two of them; and I am sure, they are so far from +being my accusers, that they have severally owned +to me, that all men, who espouse a party, must expect +to be blackened by the contrary side; that +themselves knew nothing of it, nor of the authors +of the "Reflections." It remains, therefore, to be +considered, whether, if I were as much a knave as +they would make me, I am fool enough to be guilty +of this charge; and whether they, who raised it, +would have made it public, if they had thought I +was theirs inwardly. For it is plain, they are glad of +worse scribblers than I am, and maintain them too, +as I could prove, if I envied them their miserable +subsistence. I say no more, but let my actions +speak for me: <i>Spectemur agendo,</i>—that is the trial.</p> + +<p>Much less am I concerned at the noble name of +Bayes; that is a brat so like his own father, that he +cannot be mistaken for any other body<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-27">[27]</a>. They +<span class="pgnm">166</span><a id="page_166" name="page_166"></a> +might as reasonably have called Tom Sternhold, +Virgil, and the resemblance would have held as +well.</p> + +<p>As for knave, and sycophant, and rascal, and impudent, +and devil, and old serpent, and a thousand +such good morrows, I take them to be only names +of parties; and could return murderer, and cheat, +and whig-napper, and sodomite; and, in short, the +goodly number of the seven deadly sins, with all +their kindred and relations, which are names of parties +too; but saints will be saints, in spite of villainy. +I believe they would pass themselves upon +us for such a compound as mithridate, or Venice-treacle; +as if whiggism were an admirable cordial +in the mass, though the several ingredients are rank +poisons.</p> + +<p>But if I think either Mr Hunt a villain, or know +any of my Reflectors to be ungrateful rogues, I do +not owe them so much kindness as to call them so; +for I am satisfied that to prove them either, would +but recommend them to their own party. Yet if +some will needs make a merit of their infamy, and +provoke a legend of their sordid lives, I think they +must be gratified at last; and though I will not +take the scavenger's employment from him, yet I +may be persuaded to point at some men's doors, who +have heaps of filth before them. But this must be +when they have a little angered me; for hitherto +I am provoked no further than to smile at them. +And indeed, to look upon the whole faction in a +lump, never was a more pleasant sight than to behold +these builders of a new Babel, how ridiculously +they are mixed, and what a rare confusion there is +amongst them. One part of them is carrying stone +and mortar for the building of a meeting-house; +another sort understand not that language; they +are for snatching away their work-fellows' materials +<span class="pgnm">167</span><a id="page_167" name="page_167"></a> +to set up a bawdy-house: some of them blaspheme, +and others pray; and both, I believe, with equal +godliness at bottom: some of them are atheists, +some sectaries, yet all true protestants. Most of +them love all whores, but her of Babylon. In few +words, any man may be what he will, so he be one +of them. It is enough to despise the King, to hate +the Duke, and rail at the succession: after this it is +no matter how a man lives; he is a saint by infection; +he goes along with the party, has their mark +upon him; his wickedness is no more than frailty; +their righteousness is imputed to him: so that, as +ignorant rogues go out doctors when a prince comes +to an university, they hope, at the last day, to take +their degree in a crowd of true protestants, and +thrust unheeded into heaven<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-28">[28]</a>.</p> + +<p>It is a credit to be railed at by such men as these. +The charter-man, in the very title-page, where he +hangs out the cloth of the city before his book, +gives it for his motto, <i>Si populus vult decipi, decipiatur</i><a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-29">[29]</a>; +as if he should have said, "you have a mind +to be cozened, and the devil give you good on't." +If I cry a sirreverence, and you take it for honey, +make the best of your bargain. For shame, good +Christians, can you suffer such a man to starve, when +you see his design is upon your purses? He is contented +to expose the ears representative of your +party on the pillory, and is in a way of doing you +<span class="pgnm">168</span><a id="page_168" name="page_168"></a> +more service than a worn-out witness, who can +hang nobody hereafter but himself. He tells you, +"The papists clap their hands, in the hopes they +conceive of the ruin of your government:" Does +not this single syllable <i>your</i> deserve a pension, if +he can prove the government to be yours, and that +the king has nothing to do in your republic? He +continues, as if that were as sure and certain to +them, as it is to us, without doubt, that they (the +papists) once fired the city, just as certain in your +own consciences. I wish the papists had no more +to answer for than that accusation. Pray let it be +put to the vote, and resolved upon the question, by +your whole party, that the North-east wind is not +only ill-affected to man and beast, but is also a tory +or tantivy papist in masquerade<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-30">[30]</a>. I am satisfied, not +to have "so much art left me, as to frame any thing +agreeable, or verisimilar;" but it is plain that he has, +and therefore, as I ought in justice, I resign my +laurel, and my bays too, to Mr Hunt; it is he sets +up for the poet now, and has the only art to amuse +and to deceive the people. You may see how profound +his knowledge is in poetry; for he tells you +just before, "that my heroes are commonly such monsters +as Theseus and Hercules; renowned throughout +all ages for destroying<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-31">[31]</a>." Now Theseus and +<span class="pgnm">169</span><a id="page_169" name="page_169"></a> +Hercules, you know, have been the heroes of all poets, +and have been renowned through all ages, for destroying +monsters, for succouring the distressed, and +for putting to death inhuman arbitrary tyrants. Is +this your oracle? If he were to write the acts and +monuments of whig heroes, I find they should be +quite contrary to mine: Destroyers indeed,—but of +a lawful government; murderers,—but of their fellow-subjects; +lovers, as Hercules was of Hylas; +with a journey at last to hell, like that of Theseus.</p> + +<p>But mark the wise consequences of our author. +"I have not," he says, "so much art left me to +make any thing agreeable, or verisimilar, wherewith +to amuse or deceive the people." And yet, in the +very next paragraph, "my province is to corrupt the +manners of the nation, and lay waste their morals, +and my endeavours are more happily applied, to extinguish +the little remainders of the virtue of the +age." Now, I am to perform all this, it seems, without +making any thing verisimilar or agreeable! Why, +Pharaoh never set the Israelites such a task, to +build pyramids without brick or straw. If the fool +knows it not, verisimilitude and agreeableness are +the very tools to do it; but I am willing to disclaim +them both, rather than to use them to so ill +purpose as he has done.</p> + +<p>Yet even this their celebrated writer knows no +more of stile and English than the Northern dictator; +as if dulness and clumsiness were fatal to the +name of <i>Tom</i>. It is true, he is a fool in three languages +more than the poet; for, they say, "he understands +<span class="pgnm">170</span><a id="page_170" name="page_170"></a> +Latin, Greek, and Hebrew," from all +which, to my certain knowledge, I acquit the other. +Og may write against the king, if he pleases, so +long as he drinks for him, and his writings will +never do the government so much harm, as his +drinking does it good; for true subjects will not +be much perverted by his libels; but the wine-duties +rise considerably by his claret. He has often +called me an atheist in print; I would believe more +charitably of him, and that he only goes the broad +way, because the other is too narrow for him. He +may see, by this, I do not delight to meddle with +his course of life, and his immoralities, though I +have a long bead-roll of them. I have hitherto +contented myself with the ridiculous part of him, +which is enough, in all conscience, to employ one +man; even without the story of his late fall at the +Old Devil, where he broke no ribs, because the +hardness of the stairs could reach no bones; and, +for my part, I do not wonder how he came to fall, +for I have always known him heavy: the miracle +is, how he got up again. I have heard of a sea +captain as fat as he, who, to escape arrests, would +lay himself flat upon the ground, and let the bailiffs +carry him to prison, if they could. If a messenger +or two, nay, we may put in three or four, should +come, he has friendly advertisement how to escape +them. But to leave him, who is not worth any +further consideration, now I have done laughing at +him,—would every man knew his own talent, and +that they, who are only born for drinking, would +let both poetry and prose alone<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-32">[32]</a>!</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">171</span><a id="page_171" name="page_171"></a> +I am weary with tracing the absurdities and mistakes +of our great lawyer, some of which indeed are +wilful; as where he calls the <i>Trimmers</i> the more +moderate sort of tories. It seems those politicians +are odious to both sides; for neither own them to +be theirs. We know them, and so does he too in +his conscience, to be secret whigs, if they are any +thing; but now the designs of whiggism are openly +discovered, they tack about to save a stake; that +is, they will not be villains to their own ruin. While +the government was to be destroyed, and there was +probability of compassing it, no men were so violent +as they; but since their fortunes are in hazard +<span class="pgnm">172</span><a id="page_172" name="page_172"></a> +by the law, and their places at court by the king's +displeasure, they pull in their horns, and talk more +peaceably; in order, I suppose, to their vehemence +on the right side, if they were to be believed. For +in laying of colours, they observe a medium; black +and white are too far distant to be placed directly +by one another, without some shadowings to soften +their contrarieties. It is Mariana, I think, (but am not +certain) that makes the following relation; and let +the noble family of Trimmers read their own fortune +in it. "Don Pedro, king of Castile, surnamed +the Cruel, who had been restored by the valour of +our Edward the Black Prince, was finally dispossessed +by Don Henry, the bastard, and he enjoyed +the kingdom quietly, till his death; which when +he felt approaching, he called his son to him, and +gave him this his last counsel. I have (said he,) gained +this kingdom, which I leave you, by the sword; +for the right of inheritance was in Don Pedro; but +the favour of the people, who hated my brother for +his tyranny, was to me instead of title. You are +now to be the peaceable possessor of what I have +unjustly gotten; and your subjects are composed +of these three sorts of men. One party espoused +my brother's quarrel, which was the undoubted +lawful cause; those, though they were my enemies, +were men of principle and honour: Cherish them, +and exalt them into places of trust about you, for +in them you may confide safely, who prized their +fidelity above their fortune. Another sort, are they +who fought my cause against Don Pedro; to those +you are indeed obliged, because of the accidental +good they did me; for they intended only their private +benefit, and helped to raise me, that I might +afterwards promote them: you may continue them +in their offices, if you please; but trust them no +farther than you are forced; for what they did was +<span class="pgnm">173</span><a id="page_173" name="page_173"></a> +against their conscience. But there is a third sort, +which, during the whole wars, were neuters; let +them be crushed on all occasions, for their business +was only their own security. They had neither +courage enough to engage on my side, nor conscience +enough to help their lawful sovereign: <i>Therefore +let them be made examples, as the worst sort of +interested men, which certainly are enemies to both, +and would be profitable to neither.</i>"</p> + +<p>I have only a dark remembrance of this story, +and have not the Spanish author by me, but, I think, +I am not much mistaken in the main of it; and +whether true or false, the counsel given, I am sure, +is such, as ought, in common prudence, to be practised +against Trimmers, whether the lawful or unlawful +cause prevail. Loyal men may justly be displeased +with this party, not for their moderation, +as Mr Hunt insinuates, but because, under that +mask of seeming mildness, there lies hidden either +a deep treachery, or, at best, an interested luke-warmness. +But he runs riot into almost treasonable +expressions, as if "Trimmers were hated because +they are not perfectly wicked, or perfectly deceived; +of the Catiline make, bold, and without understanding; +that can adhere to men that publicly profess +murders, and applaud the design:" by all which +villainous names he opprobriously calls his majesty's +most loyal subjects; as if men must be perfectly +wicked, who endeavour to support a lawful government; +or perfectly deceived, who on no occasion +dare take up arms against their sovereign: as if +acknowledging the right of succession, and resolving +to maintain it in the line, were to be in a Catiline +conspiracy; and at last, (which is ridiculous +enough, after so much serious treason) as if "to clap +the Duke of Guise" were to adhere to men that publicly +profess murders, and applaud the design of the +assassinating poets.</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">174</span><a id="page_174" name="page_174"></a> +But together with his villainies, pray let his incoherences +be observed. He commends the Trimmers, +(at least tacitly excuses them) for men of +some moderation; and this in opposition to the instruments +of wickedness of the Catiline make, that +are resolute and forward, and without consideration. +But he forgets all this in the next twenty lines; +for there he gives them their own, and tells them +roundly, <i>in internecino bello, medii pro hostibus habentur.</i> +Neutral men are traitors, and assist by their +indifferency to the destruction of the government. +The plain English of his meaning is this; while +matters are only in dispute, and in machination, he +is contented they should be moderate; but when +once the faction can bring about a civil war, then +they are traitors, if they declare not openly for them.</p> + +<p>"But it is not," says he, "the Duke of Guise +who is to be assassinated, a turbulent, wicked, and +haughty courtier, but an innocent and gentle prince." +By his favour, our Duke of Guise was neither innocent +nor gentle, nor a prince of the blood royal, +though he pretended to descend from Charlemagne, +and a genealogy was printed to that purpose, for +which the author was punished, as he deserved; witness +Davila, and the journals of Henry III. where +the story is at large related. Well, who is it then? +why, "it is a prince who has no fault, but that he is +the king's son:" then he has no fault by consequence; +for I am certain, that is no fault of his. +The rest of the compliment is so silly, and so fulsome, +as if he meant it all in ridicule; and to conclude +the jest, he says, that "the best people of +England have no other way left, to shew their loyalty +to the king, their religion and government, in +long intervals of parliament, than by prosecuting +his son, for the sake of the king, and his own merit, +with all the demonstrations of the highest esteem."</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">175</span><a id="page_175" name="page_175"></a> +Yes, I can tell them one other way to express their +loyalty, which is, to obey the king, and to respect his +brother, as the next lawful successor; their religion +commands them both, and the government is secured +in so doing. But why in intervals of parliament? +How are they more obliged to honour the +king's son out of parliament, than in it? And why +this prosecution of love for the king's sake? Has +he ordered more love to be shewn to one son, than +to another? Indeed, his own quality is cause sufficient +for all men to respect him, and I am of their +number, who truly honour him, and who wish him +better than this miserable sycophant; for I wish +him, from his father's royal kindness, what justice +can make him, which is a greater honour than the +rabble can confer upon him.</p> + +<p>But our author finds, that commendation is no +more his talent, than flattery was that of Æsop's +ass; and therefore falls immediately, from pawing +with his fore-feet, and grinning upon one prince, to +downright braying against another.</p> + +<p>He says, I have not used "my patron duke much +better; for I have put him under a most dismal and +unfortunate character of a successor, excluded from +the crown by act of state, for his religion; who +fought his way to the crown, changed his religion, +and died by the hand of a Roman assassinate."</p> + +<p>If it please his Royal Highness to be my patron, I +have reason to be proud of it; because he never yet +forsook any man, whom he has had the goodness to +own for his. But how have I put him under an +unfortunate character? the authors of the Reflections, +and our John-a-Nokes, have not laid their +noddles together about this accusation. For it is +their business to prove the king of Navarre to have +been a most successful, magnanimous, gentle, and +grateful prince; in which character they have followed +<span class="pgnm">176</span><a id="page_176" name="page_176"></a> +the stream of all historians. How then happens +this jarring amongst friends, that the same +man is put under such dismal circumstances on one +side, and so fortunate on the other, by the writers +of the same party? The answer is very plain; that +they take the cause by several handles. They, who +will not have the Duke resemble the king of Navarre, +have magnified the character of that prince, +to debase his Royal Highness; and therein done +what they can to shew the disparity. Mr Hunt, +who will have it to be the Duke's character, has +blackened that king as much as he is able, to shew +the likeness. Now this would be ridiculous pleading +at a bar, by lawyers retained for the same cause; +and both sides would call each other fools, because +the jury betwixt them would be confounded, and +perhaps the judges too.</p> + +<p>But this it is to have a bad cause, which puts +men of necessity upon knavery; and that knavery is +commonly found out. Well, Mr Hunt has in another +place confessed himself to be in passion, and +that is the reason he is so grosly mistaken in opening +of the cause. For, first, the king of Navarre was +neither under dismal, nor unfortunate circumstances: +before the end of that very sentence, our lawyer +has confessed, that he fought his way to the crown; +that is, he gloriously vanquished all his rebels, and +happily possessed his inheritance many years after +he had regained it. In the next place, he was never +excluded from the crown by act of state. He +changed his religion indeed, but not until he had +almost weathered the storm, recovered the best part +of his estate, and gained some glorious victories in +pitched battles; so that his changing cannot without +injustice be attributed to his fear. Monsieur +Chiverny, in his Memoirs of those times, plainly +tells us, that he solemnly promised to his predecessor +<span class="pgnm">177</span><a id="page_177" name="page_177"></a> +Henry III. then dying, that he would become +a Romanist; and Davila, though he says +not this directly, yet denies it not. By whose +hands Henry IV. died, is notoriously known; but +it is invidiously urged, both by Mr Hunt and the +Reflectors: for we may, to our shame, remember, +that a king of our own country was barbarously +murdered by his subjects, who professed the same +religion; though I believe, that neither Jaques +Clement, nor Ravaillac, were better papists, than +the independents and presbyterians were protestants; +so that their argument only proves, that +there are rogues of all religions: <i>Iliacos infra muros +peccatur, et extra.</i> But Mr Hunt follows his +blow again, that I have "offered a justification of an +act of exclusion against a popish successor in a protestant +kingdom, by remembering what was done +against the king of Navarre, who was <i>de facto</i> excluded +by an act of state." My gentleman, I perceive, +is very willing to call that an act of exclusion, +and an act of state, which is only, in our language, +called a bill; for Henry III. could never be +gained to pass it, though it was proposed by the +three estates at Blois. The Reflectors are more modest; +for they profess, (though I am afraid it is +somewhat against the grain,) that a vote of the +House of Commons is not an act; but the times +are turned upon them, and they dare speak no other +language. Mr Hunt, indeed, is a bold republican, +and tells you the bottom of their meaning. Yet +why should it make the "courage of his Royal Highness +quail, to find himself under this representation," +which; by our author's favour, is neither dismal, +nor disastrous? Henry IV. escaped this dreadful +machine of the League; I say dreadful, for the +three estates were at that time composed generally +of Guisards, factious, hot-headed, rebellious interested +<span class="pgnm">178</span><a id="page_178" name="page_178"></a> +men. The king in possession was but his brother-in-law, +and at the time publicly his enemy; +for the king of Navarre was then in arms against +him; and yet the sense of common justice, and +the good of his people so prevailed, that he withstood +the project of the states, which he also knew +was levelled at himself; for had the exclusion proceeded, +he had been immediately laid by, and the +lieutenancy of France conferred on Guise; after +which the rebel would certainly have put up his title +for the crown. In the case of his Royal Highness, +only one of the three estates have offered at +the exclusion, and have been constantly opposed by +the other two, and by his majesty. Neither is it +any way probable, that the like will ever be again +attempted; for the fatal consequences, as well as +the illegality of that design, are seen through already +by the people; so that, instead of offering a +justification of an act of exclusion, I have exposed +a rebellious, impious, and fruitless contrivance tending +to it. If we look on the parliament of Paris, +when they were in their right wits, before they +were intoxicated by the League, (at least wholly) +we shall find them addressing to king Henry III. +in another key, concerning the king of Navarre's +succession, though he was at that time, as they +called it, a relapsed heretic. And to this purpose I +will quote a passage out of the journals of Henry III. +so much magnified by my adversaries.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of September, 1585, there was +published at Paris a bull of excommunication +against the king of Navarre, and the prince of Condé. +The parliament of Paris made their remonstrance +to the king upon it, which was both grave, +and worthy of the place they held, and of the authority +they have in this kingdom; saying for conclusion, +that "their court had found the stile of this +<span class="pgnm">179</span><a id="page_179" name="page_179"></a> +bull so full of innovation, and so distant from the +modesty of ancient Popes, that they could not understand +in it the voice of an Apostle's successor; +forasmuch, as they found not in their records, nor +in the search of all antiquity, that the princes of +France had ever been subject to the justice or jurisdiction +of the Pope, and they could not take it into +consideration, until first he made appear the right +which he pretended in the translation of kingdoms, +established and ordained by Almighty God, before +the name of Pope was heard of in the world." It +is plain by this, that the parliament of Paris acknowledged +an inherent right of succession in the +king of Navarre, though of a contrary religion to +their own. And though, after the duke of Guise's +murder at Blois, the city of Paris revolted from +their obedience to their king, pretending, that he +was fallen from the crown, by reason of that and +other actions, with which they charged him; yet +the sum of all their power to renounce him, and +create the duke of Mayenne lieutenant-general, depended +ultimately on the Pope's authority; which, +as you see, but three years before, they had peremptorily +denied.</p> + +<p>The college of Sorbonne began the dance, by their +determination, that the kingly right was forfeited; +and, stripping him of all his dignities, they called +him plain Henry de Valois: after this, says my author, +"sixteen rascals (by which he means the council +of that number) having administered the oath of +government to the duke of Mayenne, to take in +quality of lieutenant-general of the estate and crown +of France, the same ridiculous dignity was confirmed +to him by an imaginary parliament, the +true parliament being detained prisoners, in divers +of the city gaols, and two new seals were ordered +to be immediately made, with this inscription,—the +<span class="pgnm">180</span><a id="page_180" name="page_180"></a> +Seal of the Kingdom of France." I need not enlarge +on this relation: it is evident from hence, that the +Sorbonnists were the original, and our Schismatics +in England were the copiers of rebellion; that Paris +began, and London followed.</p> + +<p>The next lines of my author are, that "a gentleman +of Paris made the duke of Mayenne's picture +to be drawn, with a crown imperial on his head;" +and I have heard of an English nobleman, who has +at this day a picture of old Oliver, with this motto +underneath it,—<i>Utinam vixeris.</i> All this while, this +cannot be reckoned an act of state, for the deposing +king Henry III., because it was an act of +overt rebellion in the Parisians; neither could +the holding of the three estates at Paris, afterwards, +by the same duke of Mayenne, devolve any right +on him, in prejudice of king Henry IV.; though +those pretended states declared his title void, on the +account of his religion; because those estates could +neither be called nor holden, but by, and under the +authority of, the lawful king. It would take more +time than I have allowed for this Vindication, or I +could easily trace from the French history, what +misfortunes attended France, and how near it was +to ruin, by the endeavours to alter the succession. +For first, it was actually dismembered, the duke of +Mercæur setting up a principality in the dutchy of +Bretagne, independent of the crown. The duke of +Mayenne had an evident design to be elected king, +by the favour of the people and the Pope: the +young dukes of Guise and of Nemours aspired, with +the interest of the Spaniards, to be chosen, by their +marriage with the Infanta Isabella. The duke of +Lorraine was for cantling out some part of France, +which lay next his territories; and the duke of Savoy +had, before the death of Henry III., actually +possessed himself of the marquisate of Saluces. But +<span class="pgnm">181</span><a id="page_181" name="page_181"></a> +above all, the Spaniards fomented these civil wars, +in hopes to reduce that flourishing kingdom under +their own monarchy. To as many, and as great mischiefs, +should we be evidently subject, if we should +madly engage ourselves in the like practices of altering +the succession, which our gracious king in his +royal wisdom well foresaw, and has cut up that accursed +project by the roots; which will render the +memory of his justice and prudence immortal and +sacred to future ages, for having not only preserved +our present quiet, but secured the peace of our posterity.</p> + +<p>It is clearly manifest, that no act of state passed, +to the exclusion of either the King of Navarre, or of +Henry the fourth, consider him in either of the +two circumstances; but Oracle Hunt, taking this +for granted, would prove <i>à fortiori</i>, "that if a protestant +prince were actually excluded from a popish +kingdom, then a popish successor is more reasonably +to be excluded from a protestant kingdom; because," +says he, "a protestant prince is under no +obligation to destroy his popish subjects, but a +popish prince is to destroy his protestant subjects:" +Upon which bare supposition, without farther +proof, he calls him insufferable tyrant, and the +worst of monsters.</p> + +<p>Now, I take the matter quite otherwise, and bind +myself to maintain that there is not, nor can be any +obligation, for a king to destroy his subjects of a +contrary persuasion to the established religion of his +country; for, <i>quatenus</i> subjects, of what religion soever +he is infallibly bound to preserve and cherish, +and not to destroy them; and this is the first duty +of a lawful sovereign, as such, antecedent to any +tie or consideration of his religion. Indeed, in +those countries where the Inquisition is introduced, +it goes harder with protestants, and the reason is +<span class="pgnm">182</span><a id="page_182" name="page_182"></a> +manifest; because the protestant religion has not +gotten footing there, and severity is the means to +keep it out; but to make this instance reach England, +our religion must not only be changed, (which +in itself is almost impossible to imagine,) but the +council of Trent received, and the Inquisition admitted, +which many popish countries have rejected. +I forget not the cruelties, which were exercised in +Queen Mary's time against the protestants; neither +do I any way excuse them; but it follows not, that +every popish successor should take example by +them, for every one's conscience of the same religion +is not guided by the same dictates in his government; +neither does it follow, that if one be cruel, +another must, especially when there is a stronger +obligation, and greater interest to the contrary: +for, if a popish king in England should be bound +to destroy his protestant people, I would ask the +question, over whom he meant to reign afterwards? +And how many subjects would be left?</p> + +<p>In Queen Mary's time, the protestant religion +had scarcely taken root; and it is reasonable to be +supposed, that she found the number of papists +equalling that of the protestants, at her entrance +to the kingdom; especially if we reckon into the +account those who were the Trimmers of the times; +I mean such, who privately were papists, though +under her protestant predecessor they appeared +otherwise; therefore her difficulties in persecuting +her reformed subjects, were far from being so insuperable +as ours now are, when the strength and +number of the papists is so very inconsiderable. +They, who cast in the church of England as ready +to embrace popery, are either knaves enough to +know they lie, or fools enough not to have considered +the tenets of that church, which are diametrically +<span class="pgnm">183</span><a id="page_183" name="page_183"></a> +opposite to popery; and more so than any +of the sects.</p> + +<p>Not to insist on the quiet and security, which +protestant subjects at this day enjoy in some parts +of Germany, under popish princes; where I have +been assured, that mass is said, and a Lutheran sermon +preached in different parts of the same church, +on the same day, without disturbance on either side; +nor on the privileges granted by Henry the fourth +of France to his party, after he had forsaken their +opinions, which they quietly possessed for a long +time after his death.</p> + +<p>The French histories are full of examples, manifestly +proving, that the fiercest of their popish +princes have not thought themselves bound to destroy +their protestant subjects; and the several +edicts, granted under them, in favour of the reformed +religion, are pregnant instances of this truth. I +am not much given to quotations, but Davila lies +open for every man to read. Tolerations, and free +exercise of religion, granted more amply in some, +more restrainedly in others, are no sign that those +princes held themselves obliged in conscience to +destroy men of a different persuasion. It will be +said, those tolerations were gained by force of arms. +In the first place, it is no great credit to the protestant +religion, that the protestants in France were +actually rebels; but the truth is, they were only +Geneva protestants, and their opinions were far distant +from those of the church of England, which +teaches passive obedience to all her sons, and not +to propagate religion by rebellion. But it is further +to be considered, that those French kings, though +papists, thought the preservation of their subjects, +and the public peace, were to be considered, before +the gratification of the court of Rome; and though +the number of the papists exceeded that of the +<span class="pgnm">184</span><a id="page_184" name="page_184"></a> +protestants, in the proportion of three to one, +though the protestants were always beaten when +they fought, and though the pope pressed continually +with exhortations and threatenings to extirpate +Calvinism, yet kings thought it enough to continue +in their own religion themselves, without forcing it +upon their subjects, much less destroying them who +professed another. But it will be objected, those +edicts of toleration were not kept on the papists' +side: they would answer, because the protestants +stretched their privileges further than was granted, +and that they often relapsed into rebellion; but +whether or no the protestants were in fault, I leave +history to determine. It is matter of fact, that they +were barbarously massacred, under the protection +of the public faith; therefore, to argue fairly, either +an oath from protestants is not to be taken by a +popish prince; or, if taken, ought inviolably to be +preserved. For, when we oblige ourselves to any +one, it is not his person we so much consider, as +that of the Most High God, who is called to witness +this our action; and it is to Him we are to discharge +our conscience. Neither is there, or can be any tie +on human society, when that of an oath is no more +regarded; which being an appeal to God, He is immediate +judge of it; and chronicles are not silent +how often He has punished perjured kings. The +instance of Vladislaus King of Hungary, breaking +his faith with Amurath the Turk, at the instigation +of Julian the Pope's legate, and his miserable death +ensuing it, shews that even to infidels, much more +to Christians, that obligation ought to be accounted +sacred<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-33">[33]</a>. And I the rather urge this, because it is +<span class="pgnm">185</span><a id="page_185" name="page_185"></a> +an argument taken almost <i>verbatim</i> from a papist, +who accuses Catharine de Medicis for violating her +word given to the protestants during her regency +of France. What securities in particular we have, +that our own religion and liberties would be preserved +though under a popish successor, any one +may inform himself at large in a book lately written +by the reverend and learned doctor Hicks, called +Jovian, in answer to Julian the Apostate<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-34">[34]</a>; in +which that truly Christian author has satisfied all +scruples which reasonable men can make, and proved +that we are in no danger of losing either; and +wherein also, if those assurances should all fail, +(which is almost morally impossible,) the doctrine +of passive obedience is unanswerably demonstrated; +a doctrine delivered with so much sincerity, and +resignation of spirit, that it seems evident the assertor +of it is ready, if there were occasion, to seal +it with his blood.</p> + +<p>I have done with mannerly Mr Hunt, who is +only <i>magni nominis umbra</i>; the most malicious, and +withal, the most incoherent ignorant scribbler of the +whole party. I insult not over his misfortunes, +though he has himself occasioned them; and though +I will not take his own excuse, that he is in passion, +<span class="pgnm">186</span><a id="page_186" name="page_186"></a> +I will make a better for him, for I conclude him +cracked; and if he should return to England, am +charitable enough to wish his only prison might be +Bedlam. This apology is truer than that he makes +for me; for writing a play, as I conceive, is not +entering into the Observator's province; neither is it +the Observator's manner to confound truth with +falsehood, to put out the eyes of people, and leave +them without understanding. The quarrel of the +party to him is, that he has undeceived the ignorant, +and laid open the shameful contrivances of the new +vamped Association; that though he is "on the wrong +side of life," as he calls it, yet he pleads not his age +to be <i>emeritus</i>; that, in short, he has left the faction +as bare of arguments, as Æsop's bird of feathers; +and plumed them of all those fallacies and evasions +which they borrowed from jesuits and presbyterians.</p> + +<p>Now for my templar and poet in association for +a libel, like the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter +in a fiery sign. What the one wants in wit, the +other must supply in law. As for malice, their +quotas are indifferently well adjusted; the rough +draught, I take for granted, is the poet's, the finishings +the lawyer's. They begin,—that in order to one +Mr Friend's commands, one of them went to see +the play. This was not the poet, I am certain; for +nobody saw him there, and he is not of a size to be +concealed. But the mountain, they say, was delivered +of a mouse. I have been gossip to many +such labours of a dull fat scribbler, where the mountain +has been bigger, and the mouse less. The next +sally is on the city-elections, and a charge is brought +against my lord mayor, and the two sheriffs, for excluding +true electors. I have heard, that a Whig +gentleman of the Temple hired a livery-gown, to give +<span class="pgnm">187</span><a id="page_187" name="page_187"></a> +his voice among the companies at Guild-hall; let +the question be put, whether or no he were a true +elector?—Then their own juries are commended from +several topics; they are the wisest, richest, and most +conscientious: to which is answered, <i>ignoramus</i>. +But our juries give most prodigious and unheard-of +damages. Hitherto there is nothing but boys-play +in our authors: <i>My mill grinds pepper and spice, +your mill grinds rats and mice.</i> They go on,—"if I +may be allowed to judge;" (as men that do not poetize +may be judges of wit, human nature, and common +decencies;) so then the sentence is begun +with <i>I</i>; there is but one of them puts in for a +judge's place, that is, he in the grey; but presently +it is—<i>men</i>; two more in buckram would be judges +too. Neither of them, it seems, poetize; that is +true, but both of them are in at rhime doggrel; +witness the song against the bishops, and the Tunbridge +ballad<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-35">[35]</a>. By the way, I find all my scribbling +enemies have a mind to be judges, and chief +barons. Proceed, gentlemen:—"This play, as I am +informed by some, who have a nearer communication +with the poets and the players, than I have,—". +<span class="pgnm">188</span><a id="page_188" name="page_188"></a> +Which of the two Sosias is it that now speaks? If +the lawyer, it is true he has but little communication +with the players; if the poet, the players have +but little communication with him; for it is not +long ago, he said to somebody, "By G——, my lord, +those Tory rogues will act none of my plays." Well, +but the accusation,—that this play was once written +by another, and then it was called the "Parisian +Massacre." Such a play I have heard indeed was +written; but I never saw it<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-36">[36]</a>. Whether this be any +of it or no, I can say no more than for my own +part of it. But pray, who denies the unparalleled +villainy of the papists in that bloody massacre? I +have enquired, why it was not acted, and heard it +<span class="pgnm">189</span><a id="page_189" name="page_189"></a> +was stopt by the interposition of an ambassador, +who was willing to save the credit of his country, +and not to have the memory of an action so barbarous +revived; but that I tempted my friend to +alter it, is a notorious whiggism, to save the broader +word. The "Sicilian Vespers" I have had plotted by +me above these seven years: the story of it I found +under borrowed names in Giraldo Cinthio; but the +rape in my tragedy of "Amboyna" was so like it, that +I forbore the writing. But what had this to do with +protestants? For the massacrers and the massacred +were all papists.</p> + +<p>But it is observable, they say, that "though the +massacre could not be acted, as it was first written +against papists, yet when it was turned upon protestants, +it found reception."</p> + +<p>Now all is come out; the scandal of the story +turns at last upon the government: that patronizes +popish plays, and forbids protestant<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-37">[37]</a>. Ours is to +<span class="pgnm">190</span><a id="page_190" name="page_190"></a> +be a popish play; why? Because it exposes the +villainy of sectaries and rebels. Prove them first to +be protestants, and see what you will get by it +when you have done. Your party are certainly the +men whom the play attacks, and so far I will help +you; the designs and actions, represented in the +play, are such as you have copied from the League; +for though you have wickedness enough, yet you +wanted the wit to make a new contrivance. But +for shame, while you are carrying on such palpable +villainy, do not assume the name of protestants. +You will tell us, you are friends to the government, +and the king's best subjects; but all the while you +are aspersing both it and him. Who shall be judges, +whether you are friends or not? The government or +you? Have not all rebels always sung the same +song? Was ever thief or murderer fool enough to +plead guilty? For your love and loyalty to the king, +they, who mean him best among you, are no better +subjects than Duke Trinculo; they would be content +he should be viceroy, so they may be viceroys +over him<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-38">[38]</a>.</p> + +<p>The next accusation is particular to me,—"that I, +the said Bayes, would falsely and feloniously have +robbed Nat. Lee of his share in the representation +of Œdipus." Now I am culprit; I writ the first and +third acts of Œdipus, and drew the scenery of the +whole play: whenever I have owned a farther proportion, +<span class="pgnm">191</span><a id="page_191" name="page_191"></a> +let my accusers speak: this was meant +mischievously, to set us two at variance. Who is +the old serpent and Satan now? When my friends +help my barren fancy, I am thankful for it: I do +not use to receive assistance, and afterwards ungratefully +disown it.</p> + +<p>Not long after, "exemplary punishment" is due to +me for this most "devilish parallel." It is a devilish one +indeed; but who can help it? If I draw devils like +one another, the fault is in themselves for being so: +I neither made their horns nor claws, nor cloven +feet. I know not what I should have done, unless +I had drawn the devil a handsome proper gentleman, +like the painter in the fable, to have made a +friend of him<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-39">[39]</a>; but I ought to be exemplarily punished +for it: when the devil gets uppermost, I +shall expect it. "In the mean time, let magistrates +(that respect their oaths and office)"—which words, +you see, are put into a parenthesis, as if (God help +us) we had none such now,—let them put the law in +execution against lewd scribblers; the mark will be +too fair upon a pillory, for a turnip or a rotten egg +to miss it. But, for my part, I have not malice +enough to wish him so much harm,—not so much +as to have a hair of his head perish, much less that +one whole side of it should be dismantled. I am no +informer, who writ such a song, or such a libel; if +the dulness betrays him not, he is safe for me. And +may the same dulness preserve him ever from public +justice; it is a sufficient thick mud-wall betwixt +him and law; it is his guardian angel, that +protects him from punishment, because, in spite of +<span class="pgnm">192</span><a id="page_192" name="page_192"></a> +him, he cannot deserve it. It is that which preserves +him innocent when he means most mischief, +and makes him a saint when he intends to be a devil. +He can never offend enough, to need the mercy of +government, for it is beholden to him, that he +writes against it; and he never offers at a satire, but +he converts his readers to a contrary opinion.</p> + +<p>Some of the succeeding paragraphs are intended +for very Ciceronian: there the lawyer flourishes in +the pulpit, and the poet stands in socks among the +crowd to hear him. Now for narration, resolution, +calumniation, aggravation, and the whole artillery +of tropes and figures, to defend the proceedings at +Guild-hall. The most minute circumstances of the +elections are described so lively, that a man, who +had not heard he was there in a livery-gown, might +suspect there was a <i>quorum pars magna fui</i> in the +case; and multitudes of electors, just as well qualified +as himself, might give their party the greater +number: but throw back their gilt shillings, which +were told for guineas, and their true sum was considerably +less. Well, there was no rebellion at this time; +therefore, says my adversary, there was no parallel. +It is true there was no rebellion; but who ever told +him that I intended this parallel so far? if the likeness +had been throughout, I may guess, by their +good will to me, that I had never lived to write it. +But, to show his mistake, which I believe wilful, +the play was wholly written a month or two before +the last election of the sheriffs. Yet it seems there +was some kind of prophecy in the case; and, till +the faction gets clear of a riot, a part of the comparison +will hold even there; yet, if he pleases to +remember, there has been a king of England forced +by the inhabitants from his imperial town. It is +true, the son has had better fortune than the father; +but the reason is, that he has now a stronger party +<span class="pgnm">193</span><a id="page_193" name="page_193"></a> +in the city than his enemies; the government of it +is secured in loyal and prudent hands, and the party +is too weak to push their designs farther. "They +rescued not their beloved sheriffs at a time (he tells +you) when they had a most important use of them." +What the importancy of the occasion was, I will not +search: it is well if their own consciences will acquit +them. But let them be never so much beloved, +their adherents knew it was a lawful authority that +sent them to the Tower; and an authority which, to +their sorrow, they were not able to resist: so that, +if four men guarded them without disturbance, and, +to the contempt of their strength, at broad noon-day +and at full exchange-time, it was no more their +honesty to stand looking on with their hands in +their pockets, than it is of a small band of robbers +to let a caravan go by, which is too strong for them +to assault.</p> + +<p>After this, I am called, after the old rate, loose +and infamous scribbler; and it is well I escape so +cheap. Bear your good fortune moderately, Mr +Poet; for, as loose and infamous as I am, if I had +written for your party, your pension would have been +cut off as useless. But they must take up with Settle, +and such as they can get: Bartholomew-fair writers<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-40">[40]</a>, +and Bartholemew-close printers; there is a famine +of wit amongst them, they are forced to give unconscionable +rates, and, after all, to have only carrion +for their money.</p> + +<p>Then, I am "an ignorant fellow for not knowing +there were no juries in Paris." I do not remember +to have written any such thing; but whoever did, +<span class="pgnm">194</span><a id="page_194" name="page_194"></a> +I am confident it was not his ignorance. Perhaps +he had a mind to bring the case a little nearer +home: If they had not juries in Paris, we had them +from the Normans, who were Frenchmen; and, as +you managed them, we had as good have had none +in London. Let it satisfy you we have them now; +and some of your loose and infamous scribblers may +come to understand it a little better.</p> + +<p>The next is, the justification of a noble peer deceased; +the case is known, and I have no quarrel to +his memory: let it sleep; he is now before another +judge. Immediately after, I am said to have intended +an "abuse to the House of Commons;" which is +called by our authors "the most august assembly +of Europe." They are to prove I have abused that +House; but it is manifest they have lessened the +House of Lords, by owning the Commons to be the +"more august assembly."—"It is an House chosen +(they say) by every protestant who has a considerable +inheritance in England;" which word <i>considerable</i> +signifies forty shillings <i>per annum</i> of free land. +For the interest of the loyal party, so much under-valued +by our authors, they have long ago confessed +in print, that the nobility and gentry have disowned +them; and the yeomanry have at last considered, +<i>queis hæc consevimus arva</i>? They have had +enough of unlawful and arbitrary power; and know +what an august assembly they had once without a +King and House of Peers.</p> + +<p>But now they have me in a burning scent, and +run after me full cry: "Was ever such licence connived +at, in an impious libeller and scribbler, that the +succession, so solemn a matter, that is not fit to be +debated of but in parliament, should be profaned so +far as to be played with on the stage?"</p> + +<p>Hold a little, gentlemen, hold a little; (as one of +your fellow citizens says in "The Duke of Guise,") +<span class="pgnm">195</span><a id="page_195" name="page_195"></a> +is it so unlawful for me to argue for the succession +in the right line upon the stage; and is it so very +lawful for Mr Hunt, and the scribblers of your party, +to oppose it in their libels off the stage? Is it +so sacred, that a parliament only is suffered to debate +it, and dare you run it down both in your discourses, +and pamphlets out of parliament? In conscience, +what can you urge against me, which I +cannot return an hundred times heavier on you? +And by the way, you tell me, that to affirm the +contrary to this, is a <i>præmunire</i> against the statute +of the 13th of Elizabeth. If such <i>præmunire</i> be, +pray, answer me, who has most incurred it? In the +mean time, do me the favour to look into the statute-book, +and see if you can find the statute; you +know yourselves, or you have been told it, that this +statute is virtually repealed, by that of the 1st of +king James, acknowledging his immediate lawful +and undoubted right to this imperial crown, as the +next lineal heir; those last words are an implicit +anti-declaration to the statute in queen Elizabeth, +which, for that reason, is now omitted in our books. +The lawful authority of an House of Commons I +acknowledge; but without fear and trembling, as +my Reflectors would have it. For why should I fear +my representatives? they are summoned to consult +about the public good, and not to frighten those +who chose them. It is for you to tremble, who libel +the supreme authority of the nation. But we +knavish coxcombs and villains are to know, say my +authors, that "a vote is the opinion of that House." +Lord help our understandings, that know not this +without their telling! What Englishman, do you +think, does not honour his representatives, and wish +a parliament void of heat and animosities, to secure +the quiet of the nation? You cite his majesty's declaration +against those that dare trifle with parliaments; +<span class="pgnm">196</span><a id="page_196" name="page_196"></a> +a declaration, by the way, which you endeavoured +not to have read publicly in churches, +with a threatening to those that did it. "But we +still declare (says his majesty) that no irregularities +of parliament shall make us out of love with them." +Are not you unfortunate quoters? why now should +you rub up the remembrance of those irregularities +mentioned in that declaration, which caused, as the +king informs us, its dissolution?</p> + +<p>The next paragraph is already answered; it is +only a clumsy commendation of the Duke of Monmouth, +copied after Mr Hunt, and a proof that he +is unlike the Duke of Guise.</p> + +<p>After having done my drudgery for me, and having +most officiously proved, that the English duke +is no parallel for the French, which I am sure he is +not, they are next to do their own business, which +is, that I meant a parallel betwixt Henry III. and +our most gracious sovereign. But, as fallacies are +always couched in general propositions, they plead +the whole course of the drama, which, they say, +seems to insinuate my intentions. One may see to +what a miserable shift they are driven, when, for +want of any one instance, to which I challenge +them, they have only to allege, that the play SEEMS +to insinuate it. I answer, it does not seem; which +is a bare negative to a bare affirmative; and then +we are just where we were before. Fat Falstaff +was never set harder by the Prince for a reason, +when he answered, "that, if reasons grew as thick +as blackberries, he would not give one." Well, after +long pumping, lest the lie should appear quite +barefaced, they have found I said, that, at king +Henry's birth, there shone a regal star; so there did +at king Charles the Second's; therefore I have made +a parallel betwixt Henry III. and Charles II. A +<span class="pgnm">197</span><a id="page_197" name="page_197"></a> +very concluding syllogism, if I should answer it no +farther.</p> + +<p>Now, let us look upon the play; the words are in +the fourth act. The conjurer there is asking his devil, +"what fortune attended his master, the Guise, +and what the king?" The familiar answers concerning +the king,—"He cannot be deposed, he may be +killed; a violent fate attends him; but, at his birth, +there shone a regal star."—<i>Conj.</i> "My master had a +stronger."—<i>Devil.</i> "No, not a stronger, but more +popular." Let the whole scene, (which is one of the +best in the tragedy, though murdered in the acting) +be read together, and it will be as clear as day light, +that the Devil gave an astrological account of the +French king's <i>horoscope</i>; that the regal star, then +culminating, was the sun in the tenth house, or +mid-heaven; which, <i>cæteris paribus,</i> is a regal nativity +in that art. The rest of the scene confirms what +I have said; for the Devil has taken the position of +the heavens, or scheme of the world, at the point +of the sun's entrance into Aries. I dispute not here +the truth or lawfulness of that art; but it is usual +with poets, especially the Italians, to mix astrology +in their poems. Chaucer, amongst us, is frequent +in it: but this revolution particularly I have taken +out of Luigi Pulci; and there is one almost the +same in Boiardo's "<i>Orlando Inamorato.</i>" Now, if +these poets knew, that a star were to appear at our +king's birth, they were better prophets than Nostradamus, +who has told us nothing of it. Yet this +they say "is treason with a witness," and one of the +crimes for which they condemned me to be hanged, +drawn and quartered. I find they do not believe +me to be one of their party at the bottom, by their +charitable wishes to me; and am proud enough to +think, I have done them some little mischief, because +they are so desirous to be rid of me. But if +<span class="pgnm">198</span><a id="page_198" name="page_198"></a> +Jack Ketch must needs have the handling of us +poets, let him begin first where he may take the +deepest say<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-41">[41]</a>; let me be hanged, but in my turn; for +I am sure I am neither the fattest scribbler, nor the +worst; I'll be judged by their own party. But, for +all our comforts, the days of hanging are a little out +of date; and I hope there will be no more treason +with a witness or witnesses; for now there is no +more to be got by swearing, and the market is overstocked +besides.</p> + +<p>But are you in earnest when you say, I have made +Henry III. "fearful, weak, bloody, perfidious, hypocritical, +and fawning, in the play?" I am sure an +unbiassed reader will find a more favourable image +of him in the tragedy, whatever he was out of it. +You would not have told a lie so shameless, but +that you were resolved to second it with a worse—that +I made a parallel of that prince. And now it +comes to my turn, pray let me ask you,—why you +spend three pages and a half in heaping up all the +villainies, true or false, which you can rake together, +to blast his memory? Why is all this pains taken +to expose the person of king Henry III.? Are +you leaguers, or covenanters, or associators? What +has the poor dead man done to nettle you? Were +his rebels your friends or your relations? Were +your Norman ancestors of any of those families, +which were conspirators in the play? I smell a rat +<span class="pgnm">199</span><a id="page_199" name="page_199"></a> +in this business; Henry III. is not taken thus to +task for nothing. Let me tell you, this is little +better than an implicit confession of the parallel I +intended. This gentleman of Valois sticks in your +stomachs; and, though I do not defend his proceedings +in the States, any otherwise than by the +inevitable necessity which caused them, yet acknowledging +his crime does not extenuate their +guilt that forced him to it. It was bad on both +sides, but the revenge was not so wicked as the +treason; for it was a voluntary act of theirs, and a +compelled one of his. The short on't is, he took +a violent course to cut up the Covenant by the +roots; and there is your quarrel to him.</p> + +<p>Now for a long-winded panegyric of the king of +Navarre; and here I am sure they are in earnest, +when they take such overpains to prove there is no +likeness where they say I intended it. The hero, +at whom their malice is levelled, does but laugh at +it, I believe; and, amongst the other virtues of +that predecessor, wants neither his justice nor his +clemency, to forgive all the heads of the League, as +fast as they submit. As for obliging them, (which +our author would fain hook in for an ingredient) let +them be satisfied, that no more enemies are to be +bought off with places and preferments; the trial +which has been made in two kings reigns, will +warn the family from so fruitless and dangerous an +expedient. The rest is already answered, in what +I have said to Mr Hunt; but I thank them, by the +way, for their instance of the fellow whom the king +of Navarre had pardoned and done good to, "yet +he would not love him;" for that story reaches +home somewhere.</p> + +<p>I must make haste to get out of hearing from +this Billingsgate oratory; and, indeed, to make an +end with these authors, except I could call rogue +<span class="pgnm">200</span><a id="page_200" name="page_200"></a> +and rascal as fast as they. Let us examine the +little reason they produce concerning the Exclusion.</p> + +<p>"Did the pope, the clergy, the nobility and commonalty +of France think it reasonable to exclude +a prince for professing a different religion; and will +the papists be angry if the protestants be of the +same opinion? No, sure, they cannot have the impudence."</p> + +<p>First, here is the difference of religion taken for +granted, which was never proved on one side, though +in the king of Navarre it was openly professed. +Then the pope, and the three estates of France had +no power to alter the succession, neither did the +king in being consent to it: or afterwards, did the +greater part of the nobility, clergy, and gentry adhere +to the Exclusion, but maintained the lawful +king successfully against it; as we are bound to do +in England, by the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, +made for the benefit of our kings, and their +successors? the objections concerning which oath +are fully answered by Dr Hicks, in his preface to +Jovian; and thither I refer the reader.</p> + +<p>They tell us, that what it concerns protestants to +do in that case, enough has been heard by us in +parliament debates.</p> + +<p>I answer, that debates coming not by an act to any +issue, conclude, that there is nothing to be done +against a law established, and fundamental of the +monarchy. They dare not infer a right of taking +up arms, by virtue of a debate or vote, and yet they +tacitly insinuate this. I ask them, what it does +concern protestants to do in this case, and whether +they mean anything by that expression? They have +hampered themselves before they were aware; for +they proceed in the very next lines to tell us, they +believe "the crown of England being hereditary, +<span class="pgnm">201</span><a id="page_201" name="page_201"></a> +the next in blood have an undoubted right to succeed, +unless God make them, or they make themselves +uncapable of reigning." So that according +to them, if either of those two impediments shall +happen, then it concerns the protestants of England +to do that something, which, if they had spoken +out, had been direct treason. Here is fine legerdemain +amongst them: they have acknowledged a +vote to be no more than the opinion of an house, +and yet from a debate, which was abortive before +it quickened into a vote, they argue after the old +song, "that there is something more to be done, +which you cannot chuse but guess." In the next +place, there is no such thing as incapacity to be +supposed, in the immediate successor of the crown. +That is, the rightful heir cannot be made uncapable +on any account whatsoever to succeed. It may +please God, that he may be <i>inhabilis</i>, or <i>inidoneus ad +gerendam rempublicam</i>,—unfit or unable to govern the +kingdom; but this is no impediment to his right +of reigning: he cannot either be excluded or deposed +for such imperfection; for the laws which have provided +for private men in this case, have also made +provision for the sovereign, and for the public; and +the council of state, or the next of blood, is to +administer the kingdom for him. Charles the Sixth +of France, (for I think we have no English examples +which will reach it) forfeited not his kingdom by +his lunacy, though a victorious king of England +was then knocking at his gates; but all things under +his name, and by his authority were managed. +The case is the same, betwixt a king <i>non compos +mentis</i>, and one who is <i>nondum compos mentis</i>; +a distracted or an infant-king. Then the people +cannot incapacitate the king, because he derives +not his right from them, but from God only; +neither can any action, much less opinion of a sovereign, +render him uncapable, for the same reason; +<span class="pgnm">202</span><a id="page_202" name="page_202"></a> +excepting only a voluntary resignation to his immediate +heir, as in the case of Charles the Fifth: +for that of our Richard the Second was invalid, because +forced, and not made to the next successor.</p> + +<p>Neither does it follow, as our authors urge, that +an unalterable succession supposes England to be the +king's estate, and the people his goods and chattels +on it. For the preservation of his right destroys +not our propriety, but maintains us in it. He +has tied himself by law, not to invade our possessions; +and we have obliged ourselves as subjects to +him, and all his lawful successors: by which irrevocable +act of ours, both for ourselves and our posterity, +we can no more exclude the successor, than +we can depose the present king. The estate of +England is indeed the king's; and I may safely +grant their supposition, as to the government of +England: but it follows not, that the people are +his goods and chattels on it; for then he might +sell, alienate, or destroy them as he pleased: from +all which he has tied himself by the liberties and +privileges which he has granted us by laws.</p> + +<p>There is little else material in this pamphlet: for +to say, "I would insinuate into the king a hatred +to his capital city," is to say, he should hate his +best friends, the last, and the present Lord Mayor, +our two honourable Sheriffs, the Court of Aldermen, +the worthy and loyal Mr Common Serjeant, with +the rest of the officers, who are generally well affected +and who have kept out their factious members +from its government. To say, I would insinuate +a scorn of authority in the city, is, in effect, +to grant the parallel in the play: for the authority +of tumults and seditions is only scorned in it,—an authority +which they derived not from the crown, but +exercised against it. And for them to confess I exposed +this, is to confess, that London was like Paris.</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">203</span><a id="page_203" name="page_203"></a> +They conclude with a prayer to Almighty God, +in which I therefore believe, the poet did not club. +To libel the king through all the pamphlet, and to +pray for him in the conclusion, is an action of more +prudence in them than of piety. Perhaps they +might hope to be forgiven, as one of their predecessors +was by king James; who, after he had railed +at him abundantly, ended his lampoon with these +two verses:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Now God preserve our king, queen, prince and peers,</p> +<p>And grant the author long may wear his ears<a class="ftnt" href="#Guise_7-42">[42]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<p>To take a short review of the whole.—It is manifest, +that there is no such parallel in the play, as +the faction have pretended; that the story would +not bear one where they have placed it; and that I +could not reasonably intend one, so contrary to the +nature of the play, and so repugnant to the principles +of the loyal party. On the other side, it is +clear that the principles and practices of the public +enemies, have both formerly resembled those of the +League, and continue to hold the same resemblance. +It appears by the outcry of the party before the +play was acted, that they dreaded and foresaw the +bringing of the faction upon the stage: and by the +hasty printing of Mr Hunt's libel, and the Reflections, +before the tragedy was published, that they +were infinitely concerned to prevent any farther +operation of it. It appears from the general consent +of the audiences, that their party were known +to be represented; and themselves owned openly, +by their hissings, that they were incensed at it, as +an object which they could not bear. It is evident +<span class="pgnm">204</span><a id="page_204" name="page_204"></a> +by their endeavours to shift off this parallel from +their side, that their principles are too shameful to be +maintained. It is notorious, that they, and they only, +have made the parallel betwixt the Duke of Guise +and the Duke of Monmouth, and that in revenge +for the manifest likeness they find in the parties +themselves, they have carried up the parallel to the +heads of the parties, where there is no resemblance +at all; under which colour, while they pretend to +advert upon one libel, they set up another. For +what resemblance could they suggest betwixt two +persons so unlike in their descent, the qualities of +their minds, and the disparity of their warlike actions, +if they grant not, that there is a faction here, +which is like that other which was in France? so +that if they do not first acknowledge one common +cause, there is no foundation for a parallel. The +dilemma therefore lies strong upon them; and let +them avoid it if they can,—that either they must +avow the wickedness of their designs, or disown +the likeness of those two persons. I do further +charge those audacious authors, that they themselves +have made the parallel which they call mine, and +that under the covert of this parallel they have odiously +compared our present king with king Henry +the Third; and farther, that they have forced this +parallel expressly to wound His Majesty in the +comparison: for, since there is a parallel (as they +would have it) it must be either theirs or mine. I +have proved that it cannot possibly be mine: and +in so doing, that it must be theirs by consequence. +Under this shadow all the vices of the French king +are charged by those libellers (by a side-wind) upon +ours; and it is indeed the bottom of their design +to make the king cheap, his royal brother odious, +and to alter the course of the succession.</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">205</span><a id="page_205" name="page_205"></a> +Now, after the malice of this sputtering triumvirate +(Mr Hunt, and the two Reflectors), against +the person and dignity of the king, and against all +that endeavour to serve him (which makes their +hatred to his cause apparent), the very charging of +our play to be a libel, and such a parallel as these +ignoramuses would render it, is almost as great an +affront to His Majesty, as the libellous picture itself, +by which they have exposed him to his subjects. +For it is no longer our parallel, but the king's, +by whose order it was acted, without any shuffling +or importunity from the poets. The tragedy (cried +the faction) is a libel against such and such illustrious +persons. Upon this the play was stopt, examined, +acquitted, and ordered to be brought upon +the stage: not one stroke in it of a resemblance, to +answer the scope and intent of the complaint. +There were some features, indeed, that the illustrious +Mr Hunt and his brace of beagles (the Reflectors) +might see resembling theirs; and no other +parallel either found or meant, but betwixt the +French leaguers and ours: and so far the agreement +held from point to point, as true as a couple of tallies. +But when neither the king, nor my lord chamberlain, +with other honourable persons of eminent +faith, integrity, and understanding, upon a strict +perusal of the papers, could find one syllable to +countenance the calumny; up starts the defender +of the charter, &c. opens his mouth, and says, +"What do ye talk of the king? he's abused, he's +imposed upon. Is my lord chamberlain, and the +scrutineers that succeed him, to tell us, when the +king and the duke of York are abused?" What says +my lord chief baron of Ireland to the business? +What says the livery-man templer? What says Og +the king of Basan to it? "We are men that stand +up for the king's supremacy in all causes, and over +<span class="pgnm">206</span><a id="page_206" name="page_206"></a> +all persons, as well ecclesiastical as civil, next and +immediately under God and the people. We are +for easing His Royal Highness of his title to the +crown, and the cares that attend any such prospect; +and we shall see the king and the Royal Family +paralleled at this rate, and not reflect upon it?"</p> + +<p>But to draw to an end. Upon the laying of matters +fairly together, what a king have these balderdash +scribblers given us, under the resemblance of +Henry the Third! How scandalous a character +again, of His Majesty, in telling the world that he +is libelled, and affronted to his face, told on't, pointed +to it; and yet neither he, nor those about him, +can be brought to see or understand it. There +needs no more to expound the meaning of these +people, than to compare them with themselves: +when it will evidently appear, that their lives and +conversations, their writings and their practices, +do all take the same bias; and when they dare +not any longer revile His Majesty or his government +point blank, they have an intention to play +the libellers in masquerade, and do the same thing +in a way of mystery and parable. This is truly the +case of the pretended parallel. They lay their heads +together, and compose the lewdest character of a +prince that can be imagined, and then exhibit that +monster to the people, as the picture of the king +in the "Duke of Guise." So that the libel passes +for current in the multitude, whoever was the author +of it; and it will be but common justice to +give the devil his due. But the truth is, their contrivances +are now so manifest, that their party moulders +both in town and country; for I will not suspect +that there are any of them left in court. Deluded +well-meaners come over out of honesty, and +small offenders out of common discretion or fear. +None will shortly remain with them, but men of +<span class="pgnm">207</span><a id="page_207" name="page_207"></a> +desperate fortunes or enthusiasts: those who dare +not ask pardon, because they have transgressed beyond +it, and those who gain by confusion, as thieves +do by fires: to whom forgiveness were as vain, as +a reprieve to condemned beggars; who must hang +without it, or starve with it.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Guise_7-1" name="Guise_7-1"></a><p>As the whole passage from Davila is subjoined to the text in +the play, the reader may easily satisfy himself of the accuracy of +what is here stated. But, although the scene may have been +written in 1661, we must be allowed to believe, that its extreme +resemblance to the late events occasioned its being revived and re-presented +in 1682.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-2" name="Guise_7-2"></a><p>The poem, alluded to, was probably the <i>Religio Laici</i>, first +published in November l682.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-3" name="Guise_7-3"></a><p>Dryden and Shadwell had once been friends. In the preface +to "The Humourists," acted, according to Mr Malone, in +1676, Shadwell thus mentions his great contemporary:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"And here I must make a little digression, and take liberty to +dissent from my particular friend, for whom I have a very great +respect, and whose writings I extremely admire; and, though I +will not say, his is the best way of writing, yet, I am sure his manner +of writing is much the best that ever was. And I may say of +him, as was said of a celebrated poet, <i>Cui unquam poetarum magis +proprium fuit subito astro incalescere? Quis ubi incaluit, fortius +et fæclicius debacchatur</i>? His verse is smoother and deeper, his +thoughts more quick and surprising, his raptures more mettled and +higher, and he has more of that in his writings, which Plato calls +<span class="Greek" title="sôphrona manian"> +σωφρονα +μανιαν +</span> than any other heroic poet. And those who shall +go about to imitate him, will be found to flutter and make a noise, +but never to rise."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Such a compliment, from a rival dramatist, could only have been +extracted by previous good offices and kindly countenance. Accordingly +we find, that Dryden, in 1678-9, wrote a prologue to +Shadwell's play, of "The True Widow."</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-4" name="Guise_7-4"></a><p>"The Female Prelate, or Pope Joan," is a bombast, silly performance +of Elkanah Settle; the catastrophe of which consists in +the accouchement of the Pope in the streets of Rome. The aid necessary +in the conclusion of an English tragedy, (usually loudly +called for, but never brought) is of a surgical nature; but here +Lucina was the deity to be implored, and the midwife's assistance +most requisite.</p> + +<p>Shadwell's comedy of "The Lancashire Witches," was popular +for many years after the Revolution, chiefly, because the papists +were reflected upon in the character of Teague O'Divelly, an +Irish Priest, the high-church clergy ridiculed under that of Smerk, +and the whole Tory faction generally abused through the play. It +is by no means one of Shadwell's happiest efforts. The introduction +of the witches celebrating their satanical sabbath on the stage, +besides that the scene is very poorly and lamely written, is at variance +with the author's sentiments, as delivered through Sir Edward +Hartfort, "a worthy, hospitable, true English gentleman, of +good understanding and honest principles," who ridicules the belief +in witches at all. A different and totally inconsistent doctrine +is thus to be collected from the action of the piece and the sentiments +expressed by those, whose sentiments are alone marked as +worthy of being attended to. This obvious fault, with many +others, is pointed out in a criticism on the "Lancashire Witches," +published in the Spectator. The paper is said to have been written +by Hughes, but considerably softened by Addison.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-5" name="Guise_7-5"></a><p>Half-a-crown was then the box price.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>You visit our plays and merit the stocks,</p> +<p>For paying half-crowns of brass to our box;</p> +<p>Nay, often you swear when places are shewn ye,</p> +<p class="i2">That your hearing is thick,</p> +<p class="i2">And so by a love trick,</p> +<p>You pass through our scenes up to the balcony.</p> +<p class="citation"><i>Epilogue to</i> "The Man's the Master."</p> +</div> + +<p>The farce, alluded to, seems to have been "The Lancashire +Witches." See Shadwell's account of the reception of that piece, +from which it appears, that the charge of forming a party in the +theatre was a subject of mutual reproach betwixt the dramatists of +the contending parties.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-6" name="Guise_7-6"></a><p>This single remark is amply sufficient to exculpate Dryden +from having intended any general parallel between Monmouth and +the Duke of Guise. To have produced such a parallel, it would +have been necessary to unite, in one individual, the daring political +courage of Shaftesbury, his capacity of seizing the means to attain +his object, and his unprincipled carelessness of their nature, +with the fine person, chivalrous gallantry, military fame, and +courteous manners of the Duke of Monmouth. Had these talents, +as they were employed in the same cause, been vested in the +same person, the Duke of Guise must have yielded the palm. The +partial resemblance, in one point of their conduct, is stated by our +poet, not to have been introduced as an <i>intended</i> likeness, betwixt +the Duke of Guise, and the Protestant Duke. We may observe, +in the words of Bertran,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The dial spoke not—but it made shrewd signs.</p> +<p class="citation"><i>Spanish Friar.</i></p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-7" name="Guise_7-7"></a><p>Alluding to a book, called "The Parallel," published by J. +Northleigh L.L.B. the same who afterwards wrote "the Triumph +of the Monarchy," and was honoured by a copy of verses from our +author.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-8" name="Guise_7-8"></a><p>"Julian the Apostate, with a short account of his life, and a +parallel betwixt Popery and Paganism," was a treatise, written by +the Rev. Samuel Johnson, chaplain to Lord Russell, for the purpose +of forwarding the bill of exclusion, by shewing the consequences +to Christianity of a Pagan Emperor attaining the throne. +It would seem, that one of the sheriffs had mistaken so grossly, as +to talk of Julian the Apostle; or, more probably, such a blunder +was circulated as true, by some tory wit. Wood surmises, that +Hunt had some share in composing Julian. <i>Ath. Ox.</i> II. p. 729.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-9" name="Guise_7-9"></a><p>This probably alludes to L'Estrange, who answered Hunt +in the "Lawyer Outlawed."</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-10" name="Guise_7-10"></a><p>"Curse ye Meroz," was a text much in vogue among the fanatic +preachers in the civil wars. It was preached upon in Guildhall, +before the Lord Mayor, 9th May, 1630, by Edmund Hickeringill, +rector of All Saints, in Colchester:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>There's Colchester Hickeringil, the fanatic's delight,</p> +<p>Who Gregory Greybeard and Meroz did write,</p> +<p>You may see who are saints in a pharisee's sight.</p> +<p class="citation"><i>The Assembly of the Moderate Divines, stanza 18.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>Gregory Greybeard was probably some ballad, alluding to the +execution of Charles I, who was beheaded by a person disguised +by a visor and greybeard. The name of the common hangman, at +that time, was Gregory.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-11" name="Guise_7-11"></a><p>Jaques Clement, a Jacobin Monk, stabbed Henry III. on the +1st of August, 1589. He expired the following day.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-12" name="Guise_7-12"></a><p>"All crowned heads by poetical right are heroes. This character +is a flower, a prerogative so certain, so inseparably annexed to +the crown as by no poet, no parliament of poets, ever to be invaded." +<i>Rymer's Remarks on the Tragedies of the last age</i>, p. 6l. This +critical dogma, although here and else-where honoured by our +author's sanction, fell into disuse with the doctrines of passive obedience, +and indefeasible right.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-13" name="Guise_7-13"></a><p>The Earl of Arlington, Lord Chamberlain.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-14" name="Guise_7-14"></a><p>Charles II. and his brother the Duke of York, were grandchildren +of Henry IV. of France, by their mother Henrietta Maria.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-15" name="Guise_7-15"></a><p>A very poor imitation of Moliere's "Festin de Pierre;" with +the story of which the admirers of mute-shew have since been entertained, +under the title of Don Juan. In the preface, Shadwell, +after railing abundantly at Settle, is at the pains to assure us, +there is no act in the piece which cost him above four days writing, +and the last two (the play-house having great occasion for a +play) were both written in four days. The Libertine, and his +companions, travel by sea and land over the whole kingdom of +Spain.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-16" name="Guise_7-16"></a><p>See the full passage prefixed to the Vindication.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-17" name="Guise_7-17"></a><p>The club alluded to seems to be the same which originally +met at the King's-Head tavern, of which North gives the following +lively account. "The gentlemen of that worthy society held +their evening session continually at the King's-Head tavern, over +against the Inner Temple gate. But upon occasion of the signal +of a green ribbon, agreed to be worn in their hats in the days of +secret engagements, like the coats of arms of valiant knights of old, +whereby all the warriors of the society might be distinguished, and +not mistake friends for enemies, they were called also the Green +Ribbon Club. Their seat was in a sort of carrefour, at Chancery-Lane +end, a centre of business and company, most proper for such +anglers of fools. The house was double-balconied in front, as +may be yet seen, for the clubsters to issue forth, in fresco, with +hats and no peruques, pipes in their mouths, merry faces, and +diluted throats, for vocal encouragement of the canaglia below, +at bonfires, on usual and unusual occasions. They admitted all +strangers that were confidingly introduced; for, it was a main end +of their institution to make proselytes, especially of the raw +estated youths newly come to town. This copious society were, +to the faction in and about London, a sort of executive power, +and by correspondence all over England. The resolves of the +more retired councils and ministry of the faction, were brought in +here, and orally insinuated to the company, whether it were lies, +defamations, commendations, projects, &c. and so, like water +diffused, spread over all the town; whereby that which was digested +at the club over night, was, like nourishment, at every assembly, +male and female, the next day. And thus the younglings +tasted of political administration, and took themselves for notable +counsellors." <i>Examen</i>, p. 572. The place of meeting is altered by +Dryden, from the King's-Head, to the Devil-Tavern, either because +he thought the name more appropriate, or wished slightly +to disguise what he plainly insinuated.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-18" name="Guise_7-18"></a><p>Our author never omits an opportunity of twitting Hunt with +his expected preferment of lord chief baron of exchequer in Ireland; +L'Estrange, whose ready pen was often drawn for the court, +answered Hunt's defence of the charter by a pamphlet entitled +"The Lawyer Outlawed," in which he fails not to twit his antagonist +with the same disappointment.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-19" name="Guise_7-19"></a><p>The foul practice of taking away lives by false witness, casts +an indelible disgrace on this period. Oates, Dugdale, and Turberville, +were the perjured evidences of the Popish plot. To meet +them with equal arms, counter-plots were sworn against Shaftesbury +and others, by Haines, Macnamara, and other Irishmen. +But the true Protestant juries would only swallow the perjuries +which made for their own opinions; nay, although they believed +Dugdale, when he zealously forswore himself for the cause of the +Protestant faith, they refused him credit when he bore false witness +for the crown. "Thus," says Hume, "the two parties, actuated +by mutual rage, but cooped up within the narrow limits of +the law, levelled with poisoned daggers the most deadly blows +against each other's breast, and buried in their factious divisions +all regard to truth, honour, and humanity."—</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-20" name="Guise_7-20"></a><p>In the Dramatis Personæ to Shadwell's play of Epsom-Wells, +we have Rains, Bevil, Woodly, described as "men of wit and pleasure."</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-21" name="Guise_7-21"></a><p>Dryden had already distinguished Shadwell and Settle by those +names, which were destined to consign the poor wights to a painful +immortality, in the second part of Absalom and Achitophel, +published in 1682.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-22" name="Guise_7-22"></a><p>See note on p. 222. Vol. VI. describing this famous procession.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-23" name="Guise_7-23"></a><p>This passage, in Hunt's defence of the charter, obviously alludes +to the Duke of York, whom he elsewhere treats with little +ceremony, and to the king, whose affection for his brother was not +without a mixture of fear, inspired by his more stubborn and resolved +temper.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-24" name="Guise_7-24"></a><p>William Viscount Stafford, the last who suffered for the Popish +plot, was tried and executed in 1680. It appears, that his life +was foully sworn away by Dugdale and Turberville. The manly +and patient deportment of the noble sufferer went far to remove +the woful delusion which then pervaded the people. It would +seem that Hunt had acted as his solicitor.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-25" name="Guise_7-25"></a><p>A quip at his corpulent adversary Shadwell.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-26" name="Guise_7-26"></a><p>The infamous Titus Oates pretended, amongst other more +abominable falsehoods, to have taken a doctor's degree at Salamanca. +In 1679, there was an attempt to bring him to trial for +unnatural practices, but the grand jury threw out the bill. These +were frequent subjects of reproach among the tory authors. In +the Luttrel Collection, there is "An Address from Salamanca to +her unknown offspring Dr T.O. concerning the present state of +affairs in England." Also a coarse ballad, entitled, "The Venison +Doctor, with his brace of Alderman Stags;"</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Showing how a Doctor had defiled</p> +<p>Two aldermen, and got them both with child,</p> +<p>Who longed for venison, but were beguiled.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-27" name="Guise_7-27"></a><p>Our author has elsewhere expressed, in the same terms, his +contempt for the satire of "The Rehearsal." "I answered not +the Rehearsal, because I knew the author sat to himself when he +drew the picture, and was the very Bayes of his own farce." <i>Dedication +to Juvenal.</i>—The same idea occurs in a copy of verses on +the Duke of Buckingham sometimes ascribed to Dryden:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>But when his poet, John Bayes, did appear,</p> +<p>'Twas known to more than one-half that were there,</p> +<p>That the great'st part was his Grace's character;</p> +<p> </p> +<p>For he many years plagued his friends for their crimes,</p> +<p>Repeating his verses in other men's rhymes,</p> +<p>To the very same person ten thousand times.</p> +<p class="citation"><i>State Poems</i>, Vol. II, p. 216.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-28" name="Guise_7-28"></a><p>Besides those who were alarmed for civil liberty, and those +who dreaded encroachment on their religion, the whig party, like +every one which promises to effect a great political change, was +embraced by many equally careless of the one motive or the other; +but who hoped to indulge their licentious passions, repair their +broken fortunes, or gratify their inordinate ambition amidst a +revolutionary convulsion.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-29" name="Guise_7-29"></a><p>The motto to Hunt's pamphlet.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-30" name="Guise_7-30"></a><p><i>Tantivi</i> was a cant phrase for furious tories and high-flyers. +In one of College's unlucky strokes of humour, he had invented a +print called <i>Mac Ninny</i>, in which the Duke of York was represented +half-jesuit half-devil; and a parcel of tories, mounted on the +church of England, were driving it at full gallop, <i>tantivy</i>, to Rome. +Hickeringill's poem, called "The Mushroom," written against our +author's "Hind and Panther," is prefaced by an epistle to the tories +and tantivies.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-31" name="Guise_7-31"></a><p>This passage is inaccurately quoted. Mr Hunt wrote, "Such +monsters as Theseus and Hercules <i>are</i>, renowned throughout all +ages for destroying." The learned gentleman obviously meant +that Dryden's heroes (whom he accounted tyrants) resembled not +the demi-gods, but the monsters whom they destroyed. But the +comma is so unhappily placed after <i>are</i>, as to leave the sense capable +of the malicious interpretation which Dryden has put upon +it.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-32" name="Guise_7-32"></a><p>Shadwell, as he resembled Ben Jonson in extreme corpulence, +and proposed him for the model of dramatic writing, seems to have +affected the coarse and inelegant debauchery of his prototype. He +lived chiefly in taverns, was a gross sensualist in his habits, and brutal +in his conversation. His fine gentlemen all partake of their parent's +grossness and vulgarity; they usually open their dialogue, by complaining +of the effects of last night's debauch. He is probably the +only author, who ever chose for his heroes a set of riotous bloods, +or <i>scowerers</i>, as they were then termed, and expected the public +should sympathise in their brutal orgies. True it is, that the heroes +are <i>whig</i> scowerers; and, whilst breaking windows, stabbing +watchmen, and beating passengers, do not fail to express a due +zeal for the Protestant religion, and the liberty of the subject. +Much of the interest also turns, it must be allowed, upon the Protestant +scowerers aforesaid baffling and beating, without the least +provocation, a set of inferior scowerers, who were Jacobites at +least, if not Papists. Shadwell is thus described in the "Sessions +of the Poets:"</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Next into the crowd Tom Shadwell does wallow,</p> +<p>And swears by his guts, his paunch, and his tallow,</p> +<p>'Tis he that alone best pleases the age,</p> +<p>Himself and his wife have supported the stage.</p> +<p>Apollo, well pleased with so bonny a lad,</p> +<p>To oblige him, he told him he should be huge glad,</p> +<p>Had he half so much wit as he fancied he had.</p> +<p>However, to please so jovial a wit,</p> +<p>And to keep him in humour, Apollo thought fit</p> +<p>To bid him drink on, and keep his old trick</p> +<p>Of railing at poets—</p> +</div> + +<p>Those, who consult the full passage, will see good reason to +think Dryden's censure on Shadwell's brutality by no means too +severe.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-33" name="Guise_7-33"></a><p>In 1444, Ladislaus king of Hungary, in breach of a treaty +solemnly sworn upon the gospel, invaded Bulgaria, at the instigation +of the Cardinal Legate. He was slain, and his army totally +routed in the bloody battle of Warna, where ten thousand Christians +fell before the janissaries of Amurath II. It is said, that while +the battle remained undecided, the sultan displayed the solemn +treaty, and invoked the God of truth, and the blessed name of +Jesus, to revenge the impious infidelity of the Hungarian. This +battle would have laid Hungary under the Turkish yoke, had it not +been for the exploits of John Corvinus Huniades, the white knight +of Walachia, and the more dubious prowess of the famous John +Castriot, king of Epirus.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-34" name="Guise_7-34"></a><p>In the preface to which the author alleges, that Hunt contributed +no small share towards the composition of "Julian the +Apostate." See <span class="smcap">Wood's</span> <i>Ath. Oxon.</i> v. ii. p. 729.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-35" name="Guise_7-35"></a><p>The song against the bishops is probably a ballad, upon their +share in throwing out the bill of exclusion, beginning thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The grave house of Commons, by hook, or by crook,</p> +<p>Resolved to root out both the pope and the duke;</p> +<p>Let them vote, let them move, let them do what they will;</p> +<p>The bishops, the bishops, have thrown out the bill.</p> +</div> + +<p>It concludes with the following stanza:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The best of expedients, the law can propose,</p> +<p>Our church to preserve, and to quiet our foes,</p> +<p>Is not to let lawn sleeves our parliament fill,</p> +<p>But throw out the bishops, that threw out the bill.</p> +<p class="citation"><i>State Poems</i>, Vol. III. p. 154.</p> +</div> + +<p>The Tunbridge ballad, which our author also ascribes to Shadwell +or his assistant, I have not found among the numerous libels +of the time.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-36" name="Guise_7-36"></a><p>The "Massacre of Paris" appears to have been written by Lee, +during the time of the Popish plot, and if then brought out, the +subject might have been extravagantly popular. It would appear +it was suppressed at the request of the French ambassador. Several +speeches, and even a whole scene seem to have been transplanted +to the "Duke of Guise," which were afterwards replaced, when +the Revolution rendered the "Massacre of Paris," again a popular +topic. There were, among others, the description of the meeting +of Alva and the queen mother at Bayonne; the sentiments expressed +concerning the assassination of Cæsar, and especially the whole +quarrelling scene between Guise and Grillon, which, in the "Massacre +of Paris," passes between Guise and the admiral Chastillon. +In the preface to the "Princess of Cleves," which was acted in +1689, Lee gives the following account of the transposition of these +passages. "The Duke of Guise, who was notorious for a bolder +fault, has wrested two whole scenes from the original, (the Massacre +just before mentioned,) which, after the vacation, he will be +forced to pay. I was, I confess, through indignation, forced to +limb my own child, which time, the true cure for all maladies and +injustice, has set together again. The play cost me much pains, +the story is true, and, I hope, the object will display treachery in +its own colours. But this farce, comedy, tragedy, or mere play, +was a revenge for the refusal of the other." This last sentence alludes +to the suppression of the "Massacre of Paris," which, according +to the author's promise, appeared with all its appurtenances +restored in 1690, the year following.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-37" name="Guise_7-37"></a><p>When the days of Whiggish prosperity shone forth, Shadwell did +his best to retort upon our poet. In the prologue to "Bury Fair," +we find the following lines of exultation, on his having regained +possession of the stage:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Those wretched poetitos, who got praise,</p> +<p>By writing most <i>confounded loyal plays</i>,</p> +<p>With viler coarser jests, than at Bear-garden,</p> +<p>And silly Grub-street songs, worse than Tom Farthing;</p> +<p>If any noble patriot did excel,</p> +<p>His own and country's rights defending well,</p> +<p>These yelping curs were straight 'looed on to bark,</p> +<p>On the deserving man to set a mark;</p> +<p>Those abject fawning parasites and knaves.</p> +<p>Since they were such, would have all others slaves.</p> +<p>'Twas precious <i>loyalty</i>, that was thought fit</p> +<p>To atone for want of honesty and wit;</p> +<p>No wonder common sense was all cried down,</p> +<p>And noise and nonsense swaggered through the town;</p> +<p>Our author then opprest would have you know it.</p> +<p>Was silenced for a non-conformist poet;</p> +<p>Now, sirs, since common sence has won the day,</p> +<p>Be kind to this as to his last year's play;</p> +<p>His friends stood firmly to him, when distressed,</p> +<p>He hopes the number is not now decreast.</p> +<p>He found esteem from those he valued most;</p> +<p>Proud of his friends, he of his foes could boast.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-38" name="Guise_7-38"></a><p>"Know then, to prevent the farther shedding of Christian +blood, we are all content Ventoso shall be viceroy, upon condition +I may be viceroy over him." Tempest, as altered by Dryden, +vol. iii. p. 124.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-39" name="Guise_7-39"></a><p>The fable alluded to occurs in the <i>Pia Hilaria</i> of Gazæus, +and in Le Grand's <i>Fabliaux</i>; it makes the subject of a humorous +tale by Mr Robert Southey.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-40" name="Guise_7-40"></a><p>Alluding to the well-known catastrophe of poor Settle acting +in Bartholomew fair:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>"Reduced at last to hiss in his own dragon."</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-41" name="Guise_7-41"></a><p>The <i>say</i>, or <i>assay</i>, is the first cut made on the stag when he is +killed. The hunter begins at the brisket, and draws the knife +downwards. The purpose is, to ascertain how fat he is:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>"At the assay kitle him, that Lends may se</p> +<p>Anon Fat or lene whether that he be."</p> +<p class="citation"><i>Boke of St Alban's.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>The allusion in the text is to the cruel punishment of high treason +by quartering.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Guise_7-42" name="Guise_7-42"></a><p>"And so thou shalt for me," said James, when he came to +the passage; "thou art a biting knave, but a witty one."</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div><span class="pgnm">209</span><a id="page_209" name="page_209"></a></div> + +<h2 class="chap">ALBION AND ALBANIUS:</h2> + +<h3 class="nomarg">AN +OPERA</h3> + +<div class="ctr"> +<table class="ctr" summary="Epigram"> +<tr><td> +<p><i>Discite justitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos.</i></p> +<p class="citation smcap">Virg.</p> +</td> +</tr></table></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">211</span><a id="page_211" name="page_211"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">ALBION AND ALBANIUS.</h3> + +<p>This opera, like the play which precedes it, had an avowed political +object. It was intended to celebrate the victory of the +crown over its opponents, or, as our author would have expressed +it, of loyalty over sedition and insurrection. The events, which +followed the Restoration, are rapidly, but obviously and distinctly, +traced down to the death of Charles, and the quiet accession of +his brother, who, after all the storms which had threatened to blast +his prospects, found himself enabled to mount the throne, with ease +sufficient to encourage him to the measures which precipitated him +from that elevation. The leading incidents of the busy and intriguing +reign of Charles II. are successively introduced in the following +order. The city of London is discovered occupied by the republicans +and fanatics, depicted under the allegorical personages Democracy +and Zeal. General Monk, as Archon, charms the factions +to sleep, and the Restoration is emblematized by the arrival +of Charles, and the Duke of York, under the names of Albion and +Albanius. The second act opens with a council of the fiends, +where the popish plot is hatched, and Democracy and Zeal are dismissed, +to propagate it upon earth, with Oates, the famous witness, +in their train. The next entry presents Augusta, or London, stung +by a snake, to intimate the revival of the popular faction in the +metropolis. Democracy and Zeal, under the disguise of Patriotism +and Religion, insinuate themselves into the confidence of the +city, and are supposed to foment the parliamentary opposition, +which, ending on the bill of exclusion, rendered it necessary, that +the Duke of York should leave the kingdom. We have then, in +allegorical representation, the internal feuds of the parties, which, +from different causes, opposed the crown. The adherents of Monmouth, +and the favourers of republican tenets, are represented as +disputing with each other, until the latter, by the flight of Shaftesbury, +<span class="pgnm">212</span><a id="page_212" name="page_212"></a> +obtains a final ascendancy. In the mean while, Charles, or +Albion, has recourse to the advice of Proteus; under which emblem +an evil minded whig might suppose Halifax, and the party +of Trimmers, to be represented; actuated by whose versatile, and +time-serving politics, Charles gave way to each wave, but remained +buoyant amid the tempest. The Rye-house plot is then presented +in allegory,—an unfit subject for exultation, since the dark +intrigues of the interior conspirators were made the instruments of +the fall of Sidney and Russell. The return of the Duke of York, +with his beautiful princess, and the rejoicings which were supposed +to take place, in heaven and earth, upon Charles' attaining the pinnacle +of uncontrolled power, was originally the intended termination +of the opera; which, as first written, consisted of only one act, introductory +to the drama of "King Arthur." But the eye and the ear of +Charles were never to be regaled by this flattering representation: he +died while the opera was in rehearsal. A slight addition, as the author +has himself informed us, adapted the conclusion of his piece to +this new and unexpected event. The apotheosis of Albion, and +the succession of Albanius to the uncontrouled domination of a +willing people, debased by circumstances expressing an unworthy +triumph over deceased foes, was substituted as the closing scene. +Altered as it was, to suit the full-blown fortune of James, an +ominous fatality attended these sugared scenes, which were to present +the exulting recapitulation of his difficulties and triumph. +While the opera was performing, for the sixth time only, news arrived +that Monmouth had landed in the west, the audience dispersed, +and the players never attempted to revive a play, which +seemed to be of evil augury to the crown.</p> + +<p>Our author appears to have found it difficult to assign a name for +this performance, which was at once to address itself to the eye, +the ear, and the understanding. The ballad-opera, since invented, +in which part is sung, part acted and spoken, comes nearest +to its description. The plot of the piece contains nothing brilliantly +ingenious: the deities of Greece and Rome had been long +hacknied machines in the masks and operas of the sixteenth century; +and it required little invention to paint the duchess of York +as Venus, or to represent her husband protected by Neptune, and +Charles consulting with Proteus. But though the device be trite, +the lyrical diction of the opera is most beautifully sweet and flowing. +The reader finds none of these harsh inversions, and awkward +constructions, by which ordinary poets are obliged to screw their +verses into the fetters of musical time. Notwithstanding the +obstacles stated by Dryden himself, every line seems to flow +in its natural and most simple order; and where the music required +repetition of a line, or a word, the iteration seems to improve the +<span class="pgnm">213</span><a id="page_213" name="page_213"></a> +sense and poetical effect. Neither is the piece deficient in the +higher requisites of lyric poetry. When music is to be "married +to immortal verse," the poet too commonly cares little with how +indifferent a yoke-mate he provides her. But Dryden, probably +less from a superior degree of care, than from that divine impulse +which he could not resist, has hurried along in the full stream of +real poetry. The description of the desolation of London, at the +opening of the piece, the speech of Augusta, in act second, and +many other passages, fully justify this encomium.</p> + +<p>The music of the piece was entrusted to Louis Grabut, or +Grabu, the master of the king's band, whom Charles, French in +his politics, his manners, and his taste, preferred to the celebrated +Purcell. "Purcell, however," says an admirable judge, +"having infinitely more fancy, and, indeed, harmonical resources, +than the Frenchified Tuscan, his predecessor, now offered far +greater pleasure and amusement to a liberal lover of music, than +can be found, not only in the productions of Cambert and Grabu, +whom Charles II., and, to flatter his majesty, Dryden, patronised +in preference to Purcell, but in all the noisy monotony of the +rhapsodist of Quinault."—<i>Burney's History of Music</i>, Vol. III. +p. 500.</p> + +<p>It seems to be generally admitted, that the music of "Albion +and Albanius" was very indifferent. From the preface, as well as +the stage directions, it appears that a vast expence was incurred, +in shew, dress, and machinery. Downes informs us, that, owing +to the interruption of the run of the piece in the manner already +mentioned, the half of the expence was never recovered, and the +theatre was involved considerably in debt.—<i>Rosc. Anglic.</i> p. 40. +The whigs, against whom the satire was levelled, the rival dramatists +of the day, and the favourers of the English school of music, +united in triumphing in its downfall<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_1-1">[1]</a>.</p> + +<p><span class="pgnm">214</span><a id="page_214" name="page_214"></a> +Mr Luttrell's manuscript note has fixed the first representation +of "Albion and Albanius" to the 3d of June, 1685; and the laudable +accuracy of Mr Malone has traced its sixth night to Saturday +the 13th of the same month, when an express brought the news +<span class="pgnm">215</span><a id="page_215" name="page_215"></a> +of Monmouth's landing. The opera was shortly after published. +In 1687 Grabut published the music, with a dedication to James +II.<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_1-2">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Albio_1-1" name="Albio_1-1"></a><p>The following verses are rather better worthy of preservation than most +which have been written against Dryden.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>From Father Hopkins, whose vein did inspire him,</p> +<p class="i2">Bayes sends this raree-show to public view;</p> +<p>Prentices, fops, and their footmen admire him,</p> +<p class="i2">Thanks patron, painter, and Monsieur Grabu.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Each actor on the stage his luck bewailing,</p> +<p class="i2">Finds that his loss is infallibly true;</p> +<p>Smith, Nokes, and Leigh, in a fever with railing,</p> +<p class="i2">Curse poet, painter, and Monsieur Grabu.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Betterton, Betterton, thy decorations,</p> +<p class="i2">And the machines, were well written, we knew;</p> +<p>But, all the words were such stuff, we want patience,</p> +<p class="i2">And little better is Monsieur Grabu.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Damme, says Underhill, I'm out of two hundred,</p> +<p class="i2">Hoping that rainbows and peacocks would do;</p> +<p>Who thought infallible Tom<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_1-1a">[a]</a> could have blundered?</p> +<p class="i2">A plague upon him and Monsieur Grabu!</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Lane, thou hast no applause for thy capers,</p> +<p class="i2">Though all, without thee, would make a man spew;</p> +<p>And a month hence will not pay for the tapers,</p> +<p class="i2">Spite of Jack Laureat, and Monsieur Grabu.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Bayes, thou wouldst have thy skill thought universal,</p> +<p class="i2">Though thy dull ear be to music untrue;</p> +<p>Then, whilst we strive to confute the Rehearsal,</p> +<p class="i2">Prithee leave thrashing of Monsieur Grabu.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>With thy dull prefaces still thou wouldst treat us,</p> +<p class="i2">Striving to make thy dull bauble look fair;</p> +<p>So the horned herd of the city do cheat us,</p> +<p class="i2">Still most commending the worst of their ware.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Leave making operas and writing of lyricks,</p> +<p class="i2">Till thou hast ears, and can alter thy strain;</p> +<p>Stick to thy talent of bold panegyricks,</p> +<p class="i2">And still remember—<i>breathing the vein</i><a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_1-1b">[b]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Yet, if thou thinkest the town will extoll them,</p> +<p class="i2">Print thy dull notes; but be thrifty and wise:</p> +<p>Instead of angels subscribed for the volume,</p> +<p class="i2">Take a round shilling, and thank my advice.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>In imitating thee, this may be charming,</p> +<p class="i2">Gleaning from laureats is no shame at all;</p> +<p>And let this song be sung next performing,</p> +<p class="i2">Else, ten to one that the prices will fall.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;"> +<li><a id="Albio_1-1a" name="Albio_1-1a"></a><p>Thomas Betterton.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_1-1b" name="Albio_1-1b"></a><p>An expression in Dryden's poem on the death of Cromwell, which his +libeller insisted on applying to the death of Charles I.</p></li> +</ol></div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Albio_1-2" name="Albio_1-2"></a><p>Langbaine has preserved another jest upon our author's preference of +Grabut to the English musicians.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Grabut, his yokemate, ne'er shall be forgot.</p> +<p>Whom th' god of tunes upon a muse begot;</p> +<p>Bayes on a double score to him belongs,</p> +<p>As well for writing, as for setting songs;</p> +<p>For some have sworn the intrigue so odd is laid,</p> +<p>That Bayes and he mistook each other's trade,</p> +<p>Grabut the lines, and he the music made.</p> +</div> +</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">216</span><a id="page_216" name="page_216"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE +PREFACE.</h3> + +<p>If wit has truly been defined, "a propriety of +thoughts and words,<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_2-1">[1]</a>" then that definition will extend +to all sorts of poetry; and, among the rest, to +this present entertainment of an opera. Propriety +of thought is that fancy which arises naturally +from the subject, or which the poet adapts to it; +propriety of words is the clothing of those thoughts +with such expressions as are naturally proper to +them; and from both these, if they are judiciously +performed, the delight of poetry results. An opera +is a poetical tale, or fiction, represented by vocal +and instrumental music, adorned with scenes, machines, +and dancing. The supposed persons of this +musical drama are generally supernatural, as gods, +and goddesses, and heroes, which at least are descended +from them, and are in due time to be +adopted into their number. The subject, therefore, +being extended beyond the limits of human nature, +admits of that sort of marvellous and surprising +conduct, which is rejected in other plays. Human +<span class="pgnm">217</span><a id="page_217" name="page_217"></a> +impossibilities are to be received as they are in +faith; because, where gods are introduced, a supreme +power is to be understood, and second causes +are out of doors; yet propriety is to be observed +even here. The gods are all to manage their peculiar +provinces; and what was attributed by the +heathens to one power, ought not to be performed +by any other. Phœbus must foretel, Mercury must +charm with his caduceus, and Juno must reconcile +the quarrels of the marriage-bed; to conclude, they +must all act according to their distinct and peculiar +characters. If the persons represented were to speak +upon the stage, it would follow, of necessity, that +the expressions should be lofty, figurative, and majestical: +but the nature of an opera denies the frequent +use of these poetical ornaments; for vocal +music, though it often admits a loftiness of sound, +yet always exacts an harmonious sweetness; or, to +distinguish yet more justly, the recitative part of +the opera requires a more masculine beauty of expression +and sound. The other, which, for want of +a proper English word, I must call the <i>songish part</i>, +must abound in the softness and variety of numbers; +its principal intention being to please the +hearing, rather than to gratify the understanding. +It appears, indeed, preposterous at first sight, that +rhyme, on any consideration, should take place of +reason; but, in order to resolve the problem, this +fundamental proposition must be settled, that the +first inventors of any art or science, provided they +have brought it to perfection, are, in reason, to give +laws to it; and, according to their model, all after-undertakers +are to build. Thus, in epic poetry, no +man ought to dispute the authority of Homer, who +gave the first being to that masterpiece of art, and +endued it with that form of perfection in all its +parts, that nothing was wanting to its excellency. +Virgil therefore, and those very few who have succeeded +<span class="pgnm">218</span><a id="page_218" name="page_218"></a> +him, endeavoured not to introduce, or innovate, +any thing in a design already perfected, but +imitated the plan of the inventor; and are only so +far true heroic poets, as they have built on the foundations +of Homer. Thus, Pindar, the author of +those Odes, which are so admirably restored by Mr +Cowley in our language, ought for ever to be the +standard of them; and we are bound, according to +the practice of Horace and Mr Cowley, to copy him. +Now, to apply this axiom to our present purpose, +whosoever undertakes the writing of an opera, +which is a modern invention, though built indeed +on the foundation of ethnic worship, is obliged to +imitate the design of the Italians, who have not only +invented, but brought to perfection, this sort of +dramatic musical entertainment. I have not been +able, by any search, to get any light, either of the +time when it began, or of the first author; but I +have probable reasons, which induce me to believe, +that some Italians, having curiously observed the +gallantries of the Spanish Moors at their zambras, +or royal feasts, where music, songs, and dancing, +were in perfection, together with their machines, +which are usual at their <i>sortija</i>, or running at the +ring, and other solemnities, may possibly have refined +upon those moresque divertisements, and produced +this delightful entertainment, by leaving out +the warlike part of the carousals, and forming a +poetical design for the use of the machines, the +songs, and dances. But however it began, (for this +is only conjectural,) we know, that, for some centuries, +the knowledge of music has flourished principally +in Italy, the mother of learning and of arts<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_2-2">[2]</a>; +that poetry and painting have been there restored, +<span class="pgnm">219</span><a id="page_219" name="page_219"></a> +and so cultivated by Italian masters, that all Europe +has been enriched out of their treasury; and +the other parts of it, in relation to those delightful +arts, are still as much provincial to Italy, as they +were in the time of the Roman empire. Their first +operas seem to have been intended for the celebration +of the marriages of their princes, or for the +magnificence of some general time of joy; accordingly, +the expences of them were from the purse of +the sovereign, or of the republic, as they are still +practised at Venice, Rome, and at other places, at +their carnivals. Savoy and Florence have often used +them in their courts, at the weddings of their dukes; +and at Turin particularly, was performed the "Pastor +Fido," written by the famous Guarini, which is a +pastoral opera made to solemnise the marriage of a +Duke of Savoy. The prologue of it has given the +design to all the French; which is a compliment to +the sovereign power by some god or goddess; so +that it looks no less than a kind of embassy from +heaven to earth. I said in the beginning of this +preface, that the persons represented in operas are +generally gods, goddesses, and heroes descended +from them, who are supposed to be their peculiar +care; which hinders not, but that meaner persons +may sometimes gracefully be introduced, especially +if they have relation to those first times, which +poets call the Golden Age; wherein, by reason of +their innocence, those happy mortals were supposed +to have had a more familiar intercourse with superior +beings; and therefore shepherds might reasonably +be admitted, as of all callings the most innocent, +the most happy, and who, by reason of the +spare time they had, in their almost idle employment, +had most leisure to make verses, and to be +in love; without somewhat of which passion, no +opera can possibly subsist.</p> + +<p>It is almost needless to speak any thing of that +<span class="pgnm">220</span><a id="page_220" name="page_220"></a> +noble language, in which this musical drama was +first invented and performed. All, who are conversant +in the Italian, cannot but observe, that it is the +softest, the sweetest, the most harmonious, not only +of any modern tongue, but even beyond any of +the learned. It seems indeed to have been invented +for the sake of poetry and music; the vowels are +so abounding in all words, especially in terminations +of them, that, excepting some few monosyllables, +the whole language ends in them. Then +the pronunciation is so manly, and so sonorous, that +their very speaking has more of music in it than +Dutch poetry and song. It has withal derived, so +much copiousness and eloquence from the Greek +and Latin, in the composition of words, and the formation +of them, that if, after all, we must call it +barbarous, it is the most beautiful and most learned +of any barbarism in modern tongues; and we may, +at least, as justly praise it, as Pyrrhus did the Roman +discipline and martial order, that it was of barbarians, +(for so the Greeks called all other nations,) +but had nothing in it of barbarity. This language +has in a manner been refined and purified from the +Gothic ever since the time of Dante, which is +above four hundred years ago; and the French, +who now cast a longing eye to their country, are +not less ambitious to possess their elegance in poetry +and music; in both which they labour at impossibilities. +It is true, indeed, they have reformed +their tongue, and brought both their prose and +poetry to a standard; the sweetness, as well as the +purity, is much improved, by throwing off the unnecessary +consonants, which made their spelling tedious +and their pronunciation harsh: but, after all, +as nothing can be improved beyond its own <i>species</i>, +or farther than its original nature will allow; as an +ill voice, though ever so thoroughly instructed in +the rules of music, can never be brought to sing +<span class="pgnm">221</span><a id="page_221" name="page_221"></a> +harmoniously, nor many an honest critic ever arrive +to be a good poet; so neither can the natural +harshness of the French, or their perpetual ill accent, +be ever refined into perfect harmony like the +Italian. The English has yet more natural disadvantages +than the French; our original Teutonic, +consisting most in monosyllables, and those incumbered +with consonants, cannot possibly be freed +from those inconveniencies. The rest of our words, +which are derived from the Latin chiefly, and the +French, with some small sprinklings of Greek, Italian, +and Spanish, are some relief in poetry, and help +us to soften our uncouth numbers; which, together +with our English genius, incomparably beyond +the trifling of the French, in all the nobler parts of +verse, will justly give us the pre-eminence. But, +on the other hand, the effeminacy of our pronunciation, +(a defect common to us and to the Danes,) +and our scarcity of female rhymes, have left the +advantage of musical composition for songs, though +not for recitative, to our neighbours.</p> + +<p>Through these difficulties I have made a shift to +struggle in my part of the performance of this opera; +which, as mean as it is, deserves at least a pardon, +because it has attempted a discovery beyond +any former undertaker of our nation; only remember, +that if there be no north-east passage to be +found, the fault is in nature, and not in me; or, +as Ben Jonson tells us in "The Alchymist," when +projection had failed, and the glasses were all broken, +there was enough, however, in the bottoms of +them, to cure the itch; so I may thus be positive, +that if I have not succeeded as I desire, yet there is +somewhat still remaining to satisfy the curiosity, or +itch of sight and hearing. Yet I have no great reason +to despair; for I may, without vanity, own +some advantages, which are not common to every +writer; such as are the knowledge of the Italian +<span class="pgnm">222</span><a id="page_222" name="page_222"></a> +and French language, and the being conversant +with some of their best performances in this kind; +which have furnished me with such variety of measures +as have given the composer, Monsieur Grabut, +what occasions he could wish, to shew his extraordinary +talent in diversifying the recitative, the +lyrical part, and the chorus; in all which, not to attribute +any thing to my own opinion, the best judges +and those too of the best quality, who have +honoured his rehearsals with their presence, have +no less commended the happiness of his genius than +his skill. And let me have the liberty to add one +thing, that he has so exactly expressed my sense in +all places where I intended to move the passions, +that he seems to have entered into my thoughts, +and to have been the poet as well as the composer. +This I say, not to flatter him, but to do him right; +because amongst some English musicians, and their +scholars, who are sure to judge after them, the imputation +of being a Frenchman is enough to make +a party, who maliciously endeavour to decry him. +But the knowledge of Latin and Italian poets, both +which he possesses, besides his skill in music, and +his being acquainted with all the performances of +the French operas, adding to these the good sense +to which he is born, have raised him to a degree +above any man, who shall pretend to be his rival +on our stage. When any of our countrymen excel +him, I shall be glad, for the sake of old England, +to be shewn my error; in the mean time, let virtue +be commended, though in the person of a stranger<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_2-3">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p>If I thought it convenient, I could here discover +some rules which I have given to myself in writing +<span class="pgnm">223</span><a id="page_223" name="page_223"></a> +of an opera in general, and of this opera in particular; +but I consider, that the effect would only +be, to have my own performance measured by the +laws I gave; and, consequently, to set up some +little judges, who, not understanding thoroughly, +would be sure to fall upon the faults, and not to +acknowledge any of the beauties; an hard measure, +which I have often found from false critics. Here, +therefore, if they will criticise, they shall do it out +of their own <i>fond</i>; but let them first be assured +that their ears are nice; for there is neither writing +nor judgment on this subject without that good +quality. It is no easy matter, in our language, to +make words so smooth, and numbers so harmonious, +that they shall almost set themselves. And +yet there are rules for this in nature, and as great a +certainty of quantity in our syllables, as either in +the Greek or Latin: but let poets and judges understand +those first, and then let them begin to +study English. When they have chewed a while +upon these preliminaries, it may be they will scarce +adventure to tax me with want of thought and elevation +of fancy in this work; for they will soon be +satisfied, that those are not of the nature of this +sort of writing. The necessity of double rhimes, +and ordering of the words and numbers for the +sweetness of the voice, are the main hinges on +which an opera must move; and both of these are +without the compass of any art to teach another to +perform, unless nature, in the first place, has done +her part, by enduing the poet with that nicety of +hearing, that the discord of sounds in words shall +as much offend him, as a seventh in music would a +good composer. I have therefore no need to make +excuses for meanness of thought in many places: +the Italians, with all the advantages of their language, +are continually forced upon it, or, rather, +affect it. The chief secret is the choice of words; +<span class="pgnm">224</span><a id="page_224" name="page_224"></a> +and, by this choice, I do not here mean elegancy of +expression, but propriety of sound, to be varied according +to the nature of the subject. Perhaps a +time may come when I may treat of this more largely, +out of some observations which I have made +from Homer and Virgil, who, amongst all the poets, +only understood the art of numbers, and of that +which was properly called <i>rhythmus</i> by the ancients.</p> + +<p>The same reasons, which depress thought in an +opera, have a stronger effect upon the words, especially +in our language; for there is no maintaining +the purity of English in short measures, where the +rhime returns so quick, and is so often female, or +double rhime, which is not natural to our tongue, +because it consists too much of monosyllables, and +those, too, most commonly clogged with consonants; +for which reason I am often forced to coin +new words, revive some that are antiquated, and +botch others; as if I had not served out my time in +poetry, but was bound apprentice to some doggrel +rhimer, who makes songs to tunes, and sings them +for a livelihood. It is true, I have not been often +put to this drudgery; but where I have, the words +will sufficiently shew, that I was then a slave to the +composition, which I will never be again: it is my +part to invent, and the musician's to humour that +invention. I may be counselled, and will always +follow my friend's advice where I find it reasonable, +but will never part with the power of the militia<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_2-4">[4]</a>.</p> + +<p>I am now to acquaint my reader with somewhat +more particular concerning this opera, after having +begged his pardon for so long a preface to so short +a work. It was originally intended only for a prologue +to a play of the nature of "The Tempest;" +<span class="pgnm">225</span><a id="page_225" name="page_225"></a> +which is a tragedy mixed with opera, or a drama, +written in blank verse, adorned with scenes, machines, +songs, and dances, so that the fable of it +is all spoken and acted by the best of the comedians; +the other part of the entertainment to be +performed by the same singers and dancers who +were introduced in this present opera. It cannot +properly be called a play, because the action of it +is supposed to be conducted sometimes by supernatural +means, or magic; nor an opera, because the +story of it is not sung.—But more of this at its proper +time.—But some intervening accidents having +hitherto deferred the performance of the main design, +I proposed to the actors, to turn the intended +Prologue into an entertainment by itself, as you +now see it, by adding two acts more to what I had +already written. The subject of it is wholly allegorical; +and the allegory itself so very obvious, that +it will no sooner be read than understood. It is +divided, according to the plain and natural method +of every action, into three parts. For even Aristotle +himself is contented to say simply, that in all +actions there is a beginning, a middle, and an end; +after which model all the Spanish plays are built.</p> + +<p>The descriptions of the scenes, and other decorations +of the stage, I had from Mr Betterton, who +has spared neither for industry, nor cost, to make +this entertainment perfect, nor for invention of the +ornaments to beautify it.</p> + +<p>To conclude, though the enemies of the composer +are not few, and that there is a party formed +against him of his own profession, I hope, and am +persuaded, that this prejudice will turn in the end +to his advantage. For the greatest part of an audience +is always uninterested, though seldom knowing; +and if the music be well composed, and well +performed, they, who find themselves pleased, will +<span class="pgnm">226</span><a id="page_226" name="page_226"></a> +be so wise as not to be imposed upon, and fooled +out of their satisfaction. The newness of the undertaking +is all the hazard. When operas were +first set up in France, they were not followed over +eagerly; but they gained daily upon their hearers, +till they grew to that height of reputation, which +they now enjoy. The English, I confess, are not +altogether so musical as the French; and yet they +have been pleased already with "The Tempest," and +some pieces that followed, which were neither much +better written, nor so well composed as this. If it +finds encouragement, I dare promise myself to +mend my hand, by making a more pleasing fable. +In the mean time, every loyal Englishman cannot +but be satisfied with the moral of this, which so +plainly represents the double restoration of His Sacred +Majesty.</p> + +<h3 class="nomarg">POSTSCRIPT.</h3> + +<p>This preface being wholly written before the death +of my late royal master, (<i>quem semper acerbum, +semper honoratum, sic dii voluistis, habebo</i>) I have +now lately reviewed it, as supposing I should find +many notions in it, that would require correction +on cooler thoughts. After four months lying by +me, I looked on it as no longer mine, because I had +wholly forgotten it; but I confess with some satisfaction, +and perhaps a little vanity, that I found +myself entertained by it; my own judgment was +new to me, and pleased me when I looked on it as +another man's. I see no opinion that I would retract +or alter, unless it be, that possibly the Italians +went not so far as Spain, for the invention of their +operas. They might have it in their own country; +and that by gathering up the shipwrecks of the +<span class="pgnm">227</span><a id="page_227" name="page_227"></a> +Athenian and Roman theatres, which we know +were adorned with scenes, music, dances, and machines, +especially the Grecian. But of this the +learned Monsieur Vossius, who has made our nation +his second country, is the best, and perhaps the only +judge now living. As for the opera itself, it was +all composed, and was just ready to have been performed, +when he, in honour of whom it was principally +made, was taken from us.</p> + +<p>He had been pleased twice or thrice to command, +that it should be practised before him, especially +the first and third acts of it; and publicly declared +more than once, that the composition and choruses +were more just, and more beautiful, than any he had +heard in England. How nice an ear he had in music, +is sufficiently known; his praise therefore has +established the reputation of it above censure, and +made it in a manner sacred. It is therefore humbly +and religiously dedicated to his memory.</p> + +<p>It might reasonably have been expected that his +death must have changed the whole fabric of the +opera, or at least a great part of it. But the design +of it originally was so happy, that it needed no alteration, +properly so called; for the addition of +twenty or thirty lines in the apotheosis of Albion, +has made it entirely of a piece, This was the only +way which could have been invented, to save it from +botched ending; and it fell luckily into my imagination; +as if there were a kind of fatality even in +the most trivial things concerning the succession: +a change was made, and not for the worse, without +the least confusion or disturbance; and those +very causes, which seemed to threaten us with troubles, +conspired to produce our lasting happiness.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Albio_2-1" name="Albio_2-1"></a><p>This definition occurs in the preface to the "State of Innocence;" +but although given by Dryden, and sanctioned by Pope, it +has a very limited resemblance to that which is defined. Mr Addison +has, however, mistaken Dryden, in supposing that he applied +this definition exclusively to what we now properly call <i>wit</i>. From +the context it is plain, that he meant to include all poetical composition.—<i>Spectator</i>, +No. 62. The word once comprehended +human knowledge in general. We still talk of the wit of man, to +signify all that man can devise.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_2-2" name="Albio_2-2"></a><p>The first Italian opera is said to have been that of "Dafne," performed +at Florence in 1597.—<i>See</i> <span class="smcap">Burney's</span> <i>History of Music</i>, +Vol. iv. p. 17.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_2-3" name="Albio_2-3"></a><p>This passage gave great offence, being supposed to contain an +oblique reflection on Purcell and the other English composers.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_2-4" name="Albio_2-4"></a><p>Alluding to the disputes betwixt the King and Parliament, on +the important point of the command of the militia.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">228</span><a id="page_228" name="page_228"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PROLOGUE</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<table summary="Prologue"> +<tr> +<td><p>Full twenty years, and more, our labouring stage</p> +<p>Has lost, on this incorrigible age:</p> +<p>Our poets, the John Ketches of the nation,</p> +<p>Have seemed to lash ye, even to excoriation;</p> +<p>But still no sign remains; which plainly notes,</p> +<p>You bore like heroes, or you bribed like Oates.—</p> +<p>What can we do, when mimicking a fop,</p> +<p>Like beating nut-trees, makes a larger crop?</p> +<p>'Faith, we'll e'en spare our pains! and, to content you,</p> +<p>Will fairly leave you what your Maker meant you.</p> +<p>Satire was once your physic, wit your food;</p> +<p>One nourished not, and t'other drew no blood:</p> +<p>We now prescribe, like doctors in despair,</p> +<p>The diet your weak appetites can bear.</p> +<p>Since hearty beef and mutton will not do,</p> +<p>Here's julep-dance, ptisan of song and show:</p> +<p>Give you strong sense, the liquor is too heady;</p> +<p>You're come to farce,—that's asses milk,—already.</p> +<p>Some hopeful youths there are, of callow wit,</p> +<p>Who one day may be men, if heaven think fit;</p> +<p>Sound may serve such, ere they to sense are grown,</p> +<p>Like leading-strings, till they can walk alone.—</p> +<p>But yet, to keep our friends in countenance, know,</p> +<p>The wise Italians first invented show;</p> +<p>Thence into France the noble pageant past:</p> +<p>'Tis England's credit to be cozened last.</p> +<p>Freedom and zeal have choused you o'er and o'er;</p> +<p>Pray give us leave to bubble you once more;</p> +<p>You never were so cheaply fooled before:</p> +<p>We bring you change, to humour your disease;</p> +<p>Change for the worse has ever used to please:</p> +<p>Then, 'tis the mode of France; without whose rules,</p> +<p>None must presume to set up here for fools.</p> +<p>In France, the oldest man is always young,</p> +<p>Sees operas daily, learns the tunes so long,</p> +<p>Till foot, hand, head, keep time with every song:</p> +<p><span class="pgnm">229</span><a id="page_229" name="page_229"></a> +Each sings his part, echoing from pit and box,</p> +<p>With his hoarse voice, half harmony, half pox<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_3-1">[1]</a>.</p> +<p><i>Le plus grand roi du monde</i> is always ringing,</p> +<p>They show themselves good subjects by their singing:</p> +<p>On that condition, set up every throat;</p> +<p>You whigs may sing, for you have changed your note.</p> +<p>Cits and citesses, raise a joyful strain,</p> +<p>'Tis a good omen to begin a reign;</p> +<p>Voices may help your charter to restoring,</p> +<p>And get by singing, what you lost by roaring.</p></td> +<td> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +}<br />}<br />}<br /> +</td> +</tr></table> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Albio_3-1" name="Albio_3-1"></a><p>This practice continued at the opera of Paris in the time of Gay. It +could hardly have obtained any where else.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i1">"But, hark! the full orchestra strikes the strings,</p> +<p>The hero struts, and the whole audience sings;</p> +<p>My jarring ear harsh grating murmurs wound.</p> +<p>Hoarse and confused, like Babel's mingled sound.</p> +<p>Hard chance had placed me near a noisy throat,</p> +<p>That, in rough quavers, bellowed every note:</p> +<p>"Pray, Sir," said I, "suspend awhile your song,</p> +<p>The opera's drowned, your lungs are wondrous strong;</p> +<p>I wish to hear your Roland's ranting strain,</p> +<p>When he with rooted forests strews the plain."—</p> +<p>"<i>Monsieur assurement n'aime pas la musique.</i>"</p> +<p>Then turning round, he joined the ungrateful noise,</p> +<p>And the loud chorus thundered with his voice."</p> +<p class="citation"><i>Epistle to the Right Hon. William Pulteney.</i></p> +</div></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">230</span><a id="page_230" name="page_230"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">Names of the Persons,<br />represented in the same order +as they appear first upon the stage.</h3> + +<div class="DramPer"> +<p><span class="cnm">Mercury.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Augusta.</span> London.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Thamesis.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Democracy.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Zelota.</span> Feigned Zeal.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Archon.</span> The General.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Juno.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Iris.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Albion.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Albanius.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Pluto.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Alecto.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Apollo.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Neptune.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Nereids.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Acacia.</span> Innocence.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Tyranny.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Asebia.</span> Atheism, or Ungodliness.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Proteus.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Venus.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Fame.</span></p> +<p>A Chorus of Cities.</p> +<p>A Chorus of Rivers.</p> +<p>A Chorus of the People.</p> +<p>A Chorus of Furies.</p> +<p>A Chorus of Nereids and Tritons.</p> +<p>A grand Chorus of Heroes, Loves, and Graces.</p> +</div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">231</span><a id="page_231" name="page_231"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE +FRONTISPIECE.</h3> + +<p>The curtain rises, and a new frontispiece is seen, +joined to the great pilasters, which are seen on each +side of the stage: on the flat of each basis is a shield, +adorned with gold; in the middle of the shield, on +one side, are two hearts, a small scroll of gold over +them, and an imperial crown over the scroll; on +the other hand, in the shield, are two quivers full +of arrows saltyre, &c.; upon each basis stands a +figure bigger than the life; one represents Peace, +with a palm in one, and an olive branch in the +other hand; the other Plenty, holding a cornucopia, +and resting on a pillar. Behind these figures +are large columns of the Corinthian order, adorned +with fruit and flowers: over one of the figures on +the trees is the king's cypher; over the other, the +queen's: over the capitals, on the cornice, sits a figure +on each side; one represents Poetry, crowned +with laurel, holding a scroll in one hand, the other +with a pen in it, and resting on a book; the other, +Painting, with a pallet and pencils, &c.: on the +sweep of the arch lies one of the Muses, playing on +a bass-viol; another of the Muses, on the other +side, holding a trumpet in one hand, and the other +on a harp. Between these figures, in the middle +of the sweep of the arch, is a very large pannel in +a frame of gold; in this pannel is painted, on one +side, a Woman, representing the city of London, +<span class="pgnm">232</span><a id="page_232" name="page_232"></a> +leaning her head on her hand in a dejected posture, +showing her sorrow and penitence for her offences; +the other hand holds the arms of the city, and a mace +lying under it: on the other side is a figure of +the Thames, with his legs shackled, and leaning on +an empty urn: behind these are two imperial figures; +one representing his present majesty; and +the other the queen: by the king stands Pallas, (or +wisdom and valour,) holding a charter for the city, +the king extending his hand, as raising her drooping +head, and restoring her to her ancient honour +and glory: over the city are the envious devouring +Harpies flying from the face of his majesty: By the +queen stand the Three Graces, holding garlands of +flowers, and at her feet Cupids bound, with their +bows and arrows broken, the queen pointing with +her sceptre to the river, and commanding the Graces +to take off their fetters. Over the king, in a scroll, +is this verse of Virgil,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><i>Discite justitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>Over the queen, this of the same author,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><i>Non ignara mali, miscris succurrere disco.</i></p> +</div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">233</span><a id="page_233" name="page_233"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">ALBION AND ALBANIUS.<br /> +AN +OPERA.</h3> + +<p class="ctr"><b>DECORATIONS OF THE STAGE IN THE FIRST ACT.</b></p> + +<p><i>The Curtain rises, and there appears on either side +of the Stage, next to the Frontispiece, a Statue on +Horseback of Gold, on Pedestals of Marble, enriched +with Gold, and bearing the Imperial Arms of England. +One of these Statues is taken from that of the +late King at Charing-cross; the other from that figure +of his present Majesty (done by that noble Artist, +Mr. Gibbons) at Windsor.</i></p> + +<p><i>The Scene is a Street of Palaces, which lead to the +Front of the Royal-Exchange; the great Arch is open, +and the view is continued through the open part of the +Exchange, to the Arch on the other side, and thence +to as much of the Street beyond, as could possibly be +taken.</i></p> + +<p class="ctr"><span class="pgnm">234</span><a id="page_234" name="page_234"></a> +<b>MERCURY DESCENDS IN A CHARIOT DRAWN BY +RAVENS.</b></p> + +<p><i>He comes to Augusta and Thamesis. They lie on +Couches at a distance from each other in dejected postures; +She attended by Cities, He by Rivers.</i></p> + +<p><i>On the side of Augusta's Couch are painted towers +falling, a Scarlet Gown, and a Gold Chain, a Cap of +Maintenance thrown down, and a Sword in a Velvet +Scabbard thrust through it, the City Arms, a Mace +with an old useless Charter, and all in disorder. Before +Thamesis are broken Reeds, Bull-rushes, Sedge, +&c. with his Urn Reverst.</i></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Mercury</span> <i>Descends.</i></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mer.</span> Thou glorious fabric! stand, for ever stand:<br /> +Well worthy thou to entertain<br /> +The God of Traffic, and of Gain,<br /> +To draw the concourse of the land,<br /> +And wealth of all the main.<br /> +But where the shoals of merchants meeting?<br /> +Welcome to their friends repeating,<br /> +Busy bargains' deafer sound?<br /> +Tongue confused of every nation?<br /> +Nothing here but desolation,<br /> +Mournful silence reigns around.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> O Hermes! pity me!<br /> +I was, while heaven did smile,<br /> +The queen of all this isle,<br /> +Europe's pride,<br /> +And Albion's bride;<br /> +But gone my plighted lord! ah, gone is he!<br /> +<span class="pgnm">235</span><a id="page_235" name="page_235"></a> +O Hermes! pity me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> And I the noble Flood, whose tributary tide<br /> +Does on her silver margent smoothly glide;<br /> +But heaven grew jealous of our happy state,<br /> +And bid revolving fate<br /> +Our doom decree;<br /> +No more the King of Floods am I,<br /> +No more the Queen of Albion, she! +<span class="sdr">[These two Lines are sung by Reprises betwixt <span class="cnm">Augusta</span> +and <span class="cnm">Thamesis.</span></span><br /><br /></p> + +<table style="border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0 0 0 0;" summary="Aug and Tham"> +<tr> +<td><p style="margin: 0 0 0 0;" class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> O Hermes! pity me!<br /> +<br /> +<span class="cnm">Tham.</span> O Hermes! pity me!</p></td> +<td>}<br /> +}<br /> +}</td> + +<td><span class="sdm">Sung by <span class="cnm">Aug.</span> and +<span class="cnm">Tham.</span> together.</span></td> +</tr></table> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> Behold!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Behold!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> My turrets on the ground,<br /> +That once my temples crowned!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> The sedgy honours of my brows dispersed!<br /> +My urn reversed!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Rise, rise, Augusta, rise!<br /> +And wipe thy weeping eyes:<br /> +Augusta!—for I call thee so:<br /> +'Tis lawful for the gods to know<br /> +Thy future name,<br /> +And growing fame.<br /> +Rise, rise, Augusta, rise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> O never, never will I rise,<br /> +Never will I cease my mourning,<br /> +Never wipe my weeping eyes,<br /> +Till my plighted lord's returning!<br /> +Never, never will I rise!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> What brought thee, wretch, to this despair?<br /> +The cause of thy misfortune show.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> It seems the gods take little care<br /> +Of human things below,<br /> +When even our sufferings here they do not know.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Not unknowing came I down,<br /> +Disloyal town!<br /> +<span class="pgnm">236</span><a id="page_236" name="page_236"></a> +Speak! didst not thou<br /> +Forsake thy faith, and break thy nuptial vow?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> Ah, 'tis too true! too true!<br /> +But what could I, unthinking city, do?<br /> +Faction swayed me,<br /> +Zeal allured me,<br /> +Both assured me.<br /> +Both betrayed me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Suppose me sent<br /> +Thy Albion to restore,—<br /> +Can'st thou repent?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> My falsehood I deplore!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Thou seest her mourn, and I<br /> +With all my waters will her tears supply.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Then by some loyal deed regain<br /> +Thy long-lost reputation,<br /> +To wash away the stain<br /> +That blots a noble nation,<br /> +And free thy famous town again<br /> +From force of usurpation.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chorus of all.</span> We'll wash away the stain<br /> +That blots a noble nation,<br /> +And free this famous town again<br /> +From force of usurpation.<span class="sdr">[Dance of the Followers of <span class="cnm">Mercury.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> Behold Democracy and Zeal appear;<br /> +She, that allured my heart away,<br /> +And he, that after made a prey.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Resist, and do not fear!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chorus of all.</span> Resist, and do not fear!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Democracy</span> and <span class="cnm">Zeal</span> attended by <span class="cnm">Archon.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Democ.</span> Nymph of the city! bring thy treasures,<br /> +Bring me more<br /> +To waste in pleasures.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> Thou hast exhausted all my store,<br /> +And I can give no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">237</span><a id="page_237" name="page_237"></a> +<span class="cnm">Zeal.</span> Thou horny flood, for Zeal provide<br /> +A new supply; and swell thy moony tide,<br /> +That on thy buxom back the floating gold may glide.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Not all the gold the southern sun produces,<br /> +Or treasures of the famed Levant,<br /> +Suffice for pious uses,<br /> +To feed the sacred hunger of a saint!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Democ.</span> Woe to the vanquished, woe!<br /> +Slave as thou art,<br /> +Thy wealth impart,<br /> +And me thy victor know!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zeal.</span> And me thy victor know.<br /> +Resistless arms are in my hand,<br /> +Thy bars shall burst at my command,<br /> +Thy tory head lie low.<br /> +Woe to the vanquished, woe!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> Were I not bound by fate<br /> +For ever, ever here,<br /> +My walls I would translate<br /> +To some more happy sphere,<br /> +Removed from servile fear.</p> + +<table summary="A speech with a rhyming triplet"> +<tr> +<td><p class="dlg" style="margin: 0 0 0 0;"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Removed from servile fear.<br /> +Would I could disappear,<br /> +And sink below the main;<br /> +For commonwealth's a load,<br /> +My old imperial flood<br /> +Shall never, never bear again.</p></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>A commonwealth's a load,<br /> +Our old imperial flood,<br /> +Shall never, never, never, bear again.</td> +<td> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}</td> +<td> +<span class="sdm"><span class="cnm">Thames.</span> and +<span class="cnm">Aug.</span> together.</span> +</td> +</tr></table> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Pull down her gates, expose her bare;<br /> +I must enjoy the proud disdainful fair.<br /> +Haste, Archon, haste<br /> +To lay her waste<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-1">[1]</a>!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">238</span><a id="page_238" name="page_238"></a> +<span class="cnm">Zeal.</span> I'll hold her fast<br /> +To be embraced!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> And she shall see<br /> +A thousand tyrants are in thee,<br /> +A thousand thousand more in me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Archon.</span> to <i>Aug.</i> From the Caledonian shore<br /> +Hither am I come to save thee,<br /> +Not to force or to enslave thee,<br /> +But thy Albion to restore:<br /> +Hark! the peals the people ring,<br /> +Peace, and freedom, and a king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chorus.</span> Hark! the peals the people ring,<br /> +Peace, and freedom, and a king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> and <span class="cnm">Tham.</span> To arms! to arms!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Archon.</span> I lead the way!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Cease your alarms!<br /> +And stay, brave Archon, stay!<br /> +'Tis doomed by fate's decree,<br /> +'Tis doomed that Albion's dwelling,<br /> +All other isles excelling,<br /> +By peace shall happy be.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Archon.</span> What then remains for me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Take my caduceus! Take this awful wand,<br /> +With this the infernal ghosts I can command,<br /> +And strike a terror through the Stygian land.<br /> +Commonwealth will want pretences,<br /> +Sleep will creep on all his senses;<br /> +Zeal that lent him her assistance,<br /> +Stand amazed without resistance. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Archon</span> touches <span class="cnm">Democracy</span> with a Wand.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> I feel a lazy slumber lays me down:<br /> +Let Albion, let him take the crown.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">239</span><a id="page_239" name="page_239"></a> +Happy let him reign,<br /> +Till I wake again.<span class="sdr">[Falls asleep.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zeal.</span> In vain I rage, in vain<br /> +I rouse my powers;<br /> +But I shall wake again,<br /> +I shall, to better hours.<br /> +Even in slumber will I vex him;<br /> +Still perplex him,<br /> +Still incumber:<br /> +Know, you that have adored him,<br /> +And sovereign power afford him,<br /> +We'll reap the gains<br /> +Of all your pains,<br /> +And seem to have restored him.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Zeal</span> falls asleep.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> and <span class="cnm">Tham.</span> A stupifying sadness<br /> +Leaves her without motion;<br /> +But sleep will cure her madness,<br /> +And cool her to devotion.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A double Pedestal rises: on the Front of it is painted, +in Stone-colour, two Women; one holding a double-faced +Vizor; the other a Book, representing <span class="cnm">Hypocrisy</span> +and <span class="cnm">Fanaticism;</span> when <span class="cnm">Archon</span> has +charmed <span class="cnm">Democracy</span> and <span class="cnm">Zeal</span> with the Caduceus +of <span class="cnm">Mercury,</span> they fall asleep on the Pedestal, +and it sinks with them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> Cease, Augusta! cease thy mourning,<br /> +Happy days appear;<br /> +God-like Albion is returning<br /> +Loyal hearts to chear.<br /> +Every grace his youth adorning,<br /> +Glorious as the star of morning,<br /> +Or the planet of the year.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chor.</span> Godlike Albion is returning, &c.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> to <i>Arch.</i> Haste away, loyal chief, haste away,<br /> +No delay, but obey;<br /> +To receive thy loved lord, haste away.<span class="sdr">[Ex. <span class="cnm">Arch.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">240</span><a id="page_240" name="page_240"></a> +<span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Medway and Isis, you that augment me,<br /> +Tides that increase my watery store,<br /> +And you that are friends to peace and plenty,<br /> +Send my merry boys all ashore;<br /> +Seamen skipping,<br /> +Mariners leaping,<br /> +Shouting, tripping,<br /> +Send my merry boys all ashore!</p> + +<p class="sdn">A dance of Watermen in the King's and Duke's +Liveries.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The Clouds divide, and <span class="cnm">Juno</span> appears in a Machine +drawn by Peacocks; while a Symphony is playing, +it moves gently forward, and as it descends, it opens +and discovers the Tail of the Peacock, which is so +large, that it almost fills the opening of the Stage +between Scene and Scene.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Merc.</span> The clouds divide; what wonders,<br /> +What wonders do I see!<br /> +The wife of Jove! 'Tis she,<br /> +That thunders, more than thundering he!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Juno.</span> No, Hermes, no;<br /> +'Tis peace above<br /> +As 'tis below;<br /> +For Jove has left his wand'ring love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Great queen of gathering clouds,<br /> +Whose moisture fills our floods,<br /> +See, we fall before thee,<br /> +Prostrate we adore thee!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> Great queen of nuptial rites,<br /> +Whose power the souls unites,<br /> +And fills the genial bed with chaste delights,<br /> +See, we fall before thee,<br /> +Prostrate we adore thee!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Juno.</span> 'Tis ratified above by every god,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">241</span><a id="page_241" name="page_241"></a> +And Jove has firmed it with an awful nod,<br /> +That Albion shall his love renew:<br /> +But oh, ungrateful fair,<br /> +Repeated crimes beware,<br /> +And to his bed be true!</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Iris</span> appears on a very large Machine. This was +really seen the 18th of March, 1684, by Captain +<span style="font-style: normal;">Christopher Gunman,</span> on Board his R.H. Yacht, +then in Calais Pierre: He drew it as it then appeared, +and gave a Draught of it to us. We have only +added the Cloud where the Person of <span class="cnm">Iris</span> sits.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Juno.</span> Speak, Iris, from Batavia, speak the news!<br /> +Has he performed my dread command,<br /> +Returning Albion to his longing land,<br /> +Or dare the nymph refuse?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iris.</span> Albion, by the nymph attended,<br /> +Was to Neptune recommended;<br /> +Peace and Plenty spread the sails,<br /> +Venus, in her shell before him,<br /> +From the sands in safety bore him,<br /> +And supplied Etesian gales.<span class="sdr">[Retornella.</span><br /> +Archon, on the shore commanding,<br /> +Lowly met him at his landing,<br /> +Crowds of people swarmed around;<br /> +Welcome rang like peals of thunder;<br /> +Welcome, rent the skies asunder;<br /> +Welcome, heaven and earth resound.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Juno.</span> Why stay we then on earth,<br /> +When mortals laugh and love?<br /> +'Tis time to mount above,<br /> +And send Astræa down,<br /> +The ruler of his birth,<br /> +And guardian of his crown.<br /> +'Tis time to mount above,<br /> +And send Astræa down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mer. Jun. Ir.</span> 'Tis time to mount above,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">242</span><a id="page_242" name="page_242"></a> +And send Astræa down.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Mer. Ju.</span> and <span class="cnm">Ir.</span> ascend.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> and <span class="cnm">Tham.</span> The royal squadron marches,<br /> +Erect triumphal arches,<br /> +For Albion and Albanius;<br /> +Rejoice at their returning,<br /> +The passages adorning:<br /> +The royal squadron marches,<br /> +Erect triumphal arches<br /> +For Albion and Albanius.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Part of the Scene disappears, and the Four Triumphal +arches, erected on his Majesty's Coronation, +are seen.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Albion</span> appears, <span class="cnm">Albanius</span> by his Side, preceded by +<span class="cnm">Archon,</span> followed by a Train, &c.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Full Chorus.</span> Hail, royal Albion, Hail!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> Hail, royal Albion, hail to thee,<br /> +Thy longing people's expectation!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Sent from the gods to set us free<br /> +From bondage and from usurpation!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> To pardon and to pity me,<br /> +And to forgive a guilty nation!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Behold the differing Climes agree,<br /> +Rejoicing in thy restoration.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span style="font-style: normal;">Entry.</span> Representing the Four Parts of the World, +rejoicing at the Restoration of <span class="cnm">Albion.</span></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">243</span><a id="page_243" name="page_243"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT II.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">The Scene is a Poetical Hell. The Change is total; +The Upper Part of the House, as well as the Side-Scenes. +There is the Figure of <span class="cnm">Prometheus</span> chained +to a Rock, the Vulture gnawing his Liver; <span class="cnm">Sisyphus</span> +rolling the Stone; the <span class="cnm">Belides,</span> &c. Beyond, +Abundance of Figures in various Torments. Then +a great Arch of Fire. Behind this, three Pyramids +of Flames in perpetual Agitation. Beyond +this, glowing Fire, which terminates the Prospect.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Pluto,</span> and the <span class="cnm">Furies;</span> with <span class="cnm">Alecto, Democracy,</span> +and <span class="cnm">Zelota.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> Infernal offspring of the night,<br /> +Debarred of heaven your native right,<br /> +And from the glorious fields of light,<br /> +Condemned in shades to drag the chain,<br /> +And fill with groans the gloomy plain;<br /> +Since, pleasures here are none below,<br /> +Be ill our good, our joy be woe;<br /> +Our work to embroil the worlds above,<br /> +Disturb their union, disunite their love,<br /> +And blast the beauteous frame of our victorious foe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> and <span class="cnm">Zel.</span> O thou, for whom those worlds are made,<br /> +Thou sire of all things, and their end,<br /> +From hence they spring, and when they fade,<br /> +In shuffled heaps they hither tend;<br /> +Here human souls receive their breath,<br /> +And wait for bodies after death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Hear our complaint, and grant our prayer.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> Speak what you are,<br /> +And whence you fell?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">244</span><a id="page_244" name="page_244"></a> +<span class="cnm">Dem.</span> I am thy first-begotten care,<br /> +Conceived in heaven, but born in hell.<br /> +When thou didst bravely undertake in fight<br /> +Yon arbitrary power,<br /> +That rules by sovereign might,<br /> +To set thy heaven-born fellows free,<br /> +And leave no difference in degree,<br /> +In that auspicious hour<br /> +Was I begot by thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> One mother bore us at a birth,<br /> +Her name was Zeal before she fell;<br /> +No fairer nymph in heaven or earth,<br /> +'Till saintship taught her to rebel:<br /> +But losing fame,<br /> +And changing name,<br /> +She's now the Good Old Cause in hell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> Dear pledges of a flame not yet forgot,<br /> +Say, what on earth has been your lot?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> and <span class="cnm">Zel.</span> The wealth of Albion's isle was ours,<br /> +Augusta stooped with all her stately towers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Democracy kept nobles under.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> Zeal from the pulpit roared like thunder.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> I trampled on the state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> I lorded o'er the gown.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> and <span class="cnm">Zel.</span> We both in triumph sate,<br /> +Usurpers of the crown.<br /> +But oh, prodigious turn of fate!<br /> +Heaven controuling,<br /> +Sent us rolling, rolling down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> I wondered how of late our Acherontic shore<br /> +Grew thin, and hell unpeopled of her store;<br /> +Charon, for want of use, forgot his oar.<br /> +The souls of bodies dead flew all sublime,<br /> +And hither none returned to purge a crime:<br /> +But now I see, since Albion is restored,<br /> +Death has no business, nor the vengeful sword.<br /> +<span class="i1">'Tis too, too much that here I lie</span><br /> +<span class="pgnm">245</span><a id="page_245" name="page_245"></a> +<span class="i1">From glorious empire hurled;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">By Jove excluded from the sky;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">By Albion from the world.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Were common-wealth restored again,<br /> +Thou shouldst have millions of the slain<br /> +To fill thy dark abode.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> For he a race of rebels sends,<br /> +And Zeal the path of heaven pretends,<br /> +But still mistakes the road.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> My labouring thought<br /> +At length hath wrought<br /> +A bravely bold design,<br /> +In which you both shall join.<br /> +In borrowed shapes to earth return;<br /> +Thou, Common-wealth, a Patriot seem,<br /> +Thou, Zeal, like true Religion burn,<br /> +To gain the giddy crowd's esteem.—<br /> +Alecto, thou to fair Augusta go,<br /> +And all thy snakes into her bosom throw.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Spare some, to fling<br /> +Where they may sting<br /> +The breast of Albion's king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> Let jealousies so well be mixed,<br /> +That great Albanius be unfixed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> Forbear your vain attempts, forbear:<br /> +Hell can have no admittance there;<br /> +The people's fear will serve as well,<br /> +Make him suspected, them rebel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> You've all forgot<br /> +To forge a plot,<br /> +In seeming care of Albion's life;<br /> +Inspire the crowd<br /> +With clamours loud,<br /> +To involve his brother and his wife.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alec.</span> Take, of a thousand souls at thy command,<br /> +The basest, blackest of the Stygian band,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">246</span><a id="page_246" name="page_246"></a> +One, that will swear to all they can invent,<br /> +So thoroughly damned, that he can ne'er repent:<br /> +One, often sent to earth,<br /> +And still at every birth<br /> +He took a deeper stain:<br /> +One, that in Adam's time was Cain;<br /> +One, that was burnt in Sodom's flame,<br /> +For crimes even here too black to name:<br /> +One, who through every form of ill has run:<br /> +One, who in Naboth's days was Belial's son;<br /> +One, who has gained a body fit for sin;<br /> +Where all his crimes<br /> +Of former times<br /> +Lie crowded in a skin<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-2">[2]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> Take him,<br /> +Make him<br /> +What you please;<br /> +For he can be<br /> +A rogue with ease.<br /> +One for mighty mischief born;<br /> +He can swear, and be forsworn.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> and <span class="cnm">Alect.</span> Take him, make him what you please;<br /> +For he can be a rogue with ease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Plu.</span> Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our woes,<br /> +The wretch that is damned has nothing to lose.—<br /> +Ye furies, advance<br /> +With the ghosts in a dance.<br /> +'Tis a jubilee when the world is in trouble;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">247</span><a id="page_247" name="page_247"></a> +When people rebel,<br /> +We frolic in hell;<br /> +But when the king falls, the pleasure is double.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[A single entry of a Devil, followed by an entry +of twelve Devils.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chorus.</span> Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our woes,<br /> +The wretch that is damned hath nothing to lose.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The Scene changes to a Prospect taken from the middle +of the Thames; one side of it begins at York-Stairs, +thence to White-Hall, and the Mill-bank, &c. The +other from the Saw-mill, thence to the Bishop's Palace, +and on as far as can be seen in a clear day.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Augusta:</span> She has a Snake in her Bosom +hanging down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> O jealousy, thou raging ill,<br /> +Why hast thou found a room in lovers' hearts,<br /> +Afflicting what thou canst not kill,<br /> +And poisoning love himself, with his own darts?<br /> +I find my Albion's heart is gone,<br /> +My first offences yet remain,<br /> +Nor can repentance love regain;<br /> +One writ in sand, alas, in marble one.<br /> +I rave, I rave! my spirits boil<br /> +Like flames increased, and mounting high with pouring oil;<br /> +Disdain and love succeed by turns;<br /> +One freezes me, and t'other burns; it burns.<br /> +Away, soft love, thou foe to rest!<br /> +Give hate the full possession of my breast.<br /> +Hate is the nobler passion far,<br /> +When love is ill repaid;<br /> +For at one blow it ends the war,<br /> +And cures the love-sick maid.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">248</span><a id="page_248" name="page_248"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Democracy</span> and <span class="cnm">Zelota;</span> one represents a +Patriot, the other, Religion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Let not thy generous passion waste its rage,<br /> +But once again restore our golden age;<br /> +Still to weep and to complain,<br /> +Does but more provoke disdain.<br /> +Let public good<br /> +Inflame thy blood;<br /> +With crowds of warlike people thou art stored.<br /> +And heaps of gold;<br /> +Reject thy old,<br /> +And to thy bed receive another lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> Religion shall thy bonds release,<br /> +For heaven can loose, as well as tie all;<br /> +And when 'tis for the nation's peace,<br /> +A king is but a king on trial;<br /> +When love is lost, let marriage end,<br /> +And leave a husband for a friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> With jealousy swarming,<br /> +The people are arming,<br /> +The frights of oppression invade them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> If they fall to relenting,<br /> +For fear of repenting,<br /> +Religion shall help to persuade them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aug.</span> No more, no more temptations use<br /> +To bend my will;<br /> +How hard a task 'tis to refuse<br /> +A pleasing ill!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Maintain the seeming duty of a wife,<br /> +A modest show with jealous eyes deceive;<br /> +Affect a fear for hated Albion's life,<br /> +And for imaginary dangers grieve.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> His foes already stand protected,<br /> +His friends by public fame suspected,<br /> +Albanius must forsake his isle;<br /> +A plot, contrived in happy hour,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">249</span><a id="page_249" name="page_249"></a> +Bereaves him of his royal power,<br /> +For heaven to mourn, and hell to smile.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The former Scene continues.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Albion</span> and <span class="cnm">ALBANIUS</span> with a train.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> Then Zeal and Common-wealth infest<br /> +My land again;<br /> +The fumes of madness, that possest<br /> +The people's giddy brain,<br /> +Once more disturb the nation's rest,<br /> +And dye rebellion in a deeper stain.</p> + +<p class="i3">II.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Will they at length awake the sleeping sword,<br /> +And force revenge from their offended lord?<br /> +How long, ye gods, how long<br /> +Can royal patience bear<br /> +The insults and wrong<br /> +Of madmen's jealousies, and causeless fear?</p> + +<p class="i3">III.</p> + +<p class="dlg">I thought their love by mildness might be gained,<br /> +By peace I was restored, in peace I reigned;<br /> +But tumults, seditions,<br /> +And haughty petitions,<br /> +Are all the effects of a merciful nature;<br /> +Forgiving and granting,<br /> +Ere mortals are wanting,<br /> +But leads to rebelling against their creator.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Mercury</span> descends.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mer.</span> With pity Jove beholds thy state,<br /> +But Jove is circumscribed by fate;<br /> +The o'erwhelming tide rolls on so fast,<br /> +It gains upon this island's waste;<br /> +And is opposed too late! too late!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">250</span><a id="page_250" name="page_250"></a> +<span class="cnm">Alb.</span> What then must helpless Albion do?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mer.</span> Delude the fury of the foe,<br /> +And, to preserve Albanius, let him go;<br /> +For 'tis decreed,<br /> +Thy land must bleed,<br /> +For crimes not thine, by wrathful Jove;<br /> +A sacred flood<br /> +Of royal blood<br /> +Cries vengeance, vengeance, loud above.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Mercury</span> ascends.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> Shall I, to assuage<br /> +Their brutal rage,<br /> +The regal stem destroy?<br /> +Or must I lose,<br /> +To please my foes,<br /> +My sole remaining joy?<br /> +Ye gods, what worse,<br /> +What greater curse,<br /> +Can all your wrath employ!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alban.</span> Oh Albion! hear the gods and me!<br /> +Well am I lost, in saving thee.<br /> +Not exile or danger can fright a brave spirit,<br /> +With innocence guarded,<br /> +With virtue rewarded;<br /> +I make of my sufferings a merit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> Since then the gods and thou will have it so,<br /> +Go; (Can I live once more to bid thee?) go,<br /> +Where thy misfortunes call thee, and thy fate;<br /> +Go, guiltless victim of a guilty state!<br /> +In war, my champion to defend,<br /> +In peaceful hours, when souls unbend,<br /> +My brother, and, what's more, my friend!<br /> +Borne where the foamy billows roar,<br /> +On seas less dangerous than the shore;<br /> +Go, where the gods thy refuge have assigned,<br /> +Go from my sight; but never from my mind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">251</span><a id="page_251" name="page_251"></a> +<span class="cnm">Alban.</span> Whatever hospitable ground<br /> +Shall be for me, unhappy exile, found,<br /> +'Till heaven vouchsafe to smile;<br /> +What land soe'er,—<br /> +Though none so dear<br /> +As this ungrateful isle,—<br /> +O think! O think! no distance can remove<br /> +My vowed allegiance, and my loyal love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> and <span class="cnm">Alban.</span> The rosy-fingered morn appears,<br /> +And from her mantle shakes her tears,<br /> +In promise of a glorious day;<br /> +The sun, returning, mortals chears,<br /> +And drives the rising mists away,<br /> +In promise of a glorious day.<span class="sdr">[Ritornelle.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">The farther part of the heaven opens, and discovers a +Machine; as it moves forward, the clouds which +are before it divide, and shew the person of <span class="cnm">Apollo,</span> +holding the Reins in his Hand. As they fall lower, +the Horses appear with the Rays, and a great glory +about <span class="cnm">Apollo.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Apol.</span> All hail, ye royal pair,<br /> +The Gods' peculiar care!<br /> +Fear not the malice of your foes;<br /> +Their dark designing,<br /> +And combining,<br /> +Time and truth shall once expose:<br /> +Fear not the malice of your foes.</p> + +<p class="i3">II.</p> + +<p class="dlg">My sacred oracles assure,<br /> +The tempest shall not long endure;<br /> +But when the nation's crimes are purged away,<br /> +Then shall you both in glory shine;<br /> +Propitious both, and both divine;<br /> +In lustre equal to the god of day. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Apollo</span> goes forward out of sight.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">252</span><a id="page_252" name="page_252"></a> +<span class="cnm">Neptune</span> rises out of the Water, and a Train of +Rivers, Tritons, and Sea-Nymphs attend him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tham.</span> Old father Ocean calls my tide;<br /> +Come away, come away;<br /> +The barks upon the billows ride,<br /> +The master will not stay;<br /> +The merry boatswain from his side<br /> +His whistle takes, to check and chide<br /> +The lingering lads' delay,<br /> +And all the crew aloud have cried,<br /> +Come away, come away.</p> + +<p class="dlg">See, the god of seas attends thee,<br /> +Nymphs divine, a beauteous train;<br /> +All the calmer gales befriend thee,<br /> +In thy passage o'er the main;<br /> +Every maid her locks is binding,<br /> +Every Triton's horn is winding;<br /> +Welcome to the watry plain!</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<h4>CHACON<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-3">[3]</a>.</h4> + +<h5><i>Two Nymphs and Tritons sing.</i></h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Ye Nymphs, the charge is royal,</p> +<p class="i3">Which you must convey;</p> +<p>Your hearts and hands employ all,</p> +<p class="i3">Hasten to obey;</p> +<p><span class="pgnm">253</span><a id="page_253" name="page_253"></a> +When earth is grown disloyal,</p> +<p>Shew there's honour in the sea.</p> +</div></div> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Chacon</span> continues.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The Chorus of Nymphs and Tritons repeat the same +Verses.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Chacon</span> continues.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<h5>Two Nymphs and Tritons.</h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Sports and pleasures shall attend you</p> +<p class="i3">Through all the watry plains,</p> +<p class="i3">Where Neptune reigns;</p> +<p>Venus ready to defend you,</p> +<p class="i3">And her nymphs to ease your pains,</p> +<p class="i3">No storm shall offend you,</p> +<p class="i4">Passing the main;</p> +<p>Nor billow threat in vain</p> +<p class="i3">So sacred a train,</p> +<p>'Till the gods, that defend you,</p> +<p class="i3">Restore you again.</p> +</div></div> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Chacon</span> continues.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The Chorus repeat the same Verses, <span style="font-style: normal;">Sports and Pleasures</span> +&c.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Chacon</span> continues.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<h5>The two Nymphs and Tritons sing.</h5> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>See, at your blest returning,</p> +<p class="i3">Rage disappears;</p> +<p>The widowed isle in mourning</p> +<p class="i3">Dries up her tears;</p> +<p class="i2">With flowers the meads adorning,</p> +<p class="i3">Pleasure appears,</p> +<p>And love dispels the nation's causeless fears.</p> +</div></div> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">254</span><a id="page_254" name="page_254"></a> +The <span class="cnm">Chacon</span> continues.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The Chorus of Nymphs and Tritons repeat the same +Verses, <span style="font-style: normal;">See at your blest returning,</span> &c.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Chacon</span> continues.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Then the Chorus repeat, <span style="font-style: normal;">See the god of Seas,</span> &c. +And this Chorus concludes the Act.</p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT III.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">The Scene is a View of Dover, taken from the Sea. +A row of Cliffs fill up each Side of the Stage, and +the Sea the middle of it, which runs into the Pier; +Beyond the Pier, is the town of Dover; On each +side of the Town, is seen a very high hill; on one +of which is the Castle of Dover; on the other, the +great stone which they call the Devil's-Drop. Behind +the Town several Hills are seen at a great distance, +which finish the View.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Albion</span> bare-headed; <span class="cnm">Acacia</span> or <span class="cnm">Innocence</span> +with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> Behold, ye powers! from whom I own<br /> +A birth immortal, and a throne;<br /> +See a sacred king uncrowned,<br /> +See your offspring, Albion, bound;<br /> +The gifts, you gave with lavish hand,<br /> +Are all bestowed in vain;<br /> +Extended empire on the land,<br /> +Unbounded o'er the main.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aca.</span> Empire o'er the land and main,<br /> +Heaven, that gave, can take again;<br /> +But a mind, that's truly brave,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">255</span><a id="page_255" name="page_255"></a> +Stands despising<br /> +Storms arising,<br /> +And can ne'er be made a slave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> Unhelped I am, who pitied the distressed,<br /> +And, none oppressing, am by all oppressed;<br /> +Betrayed, forsaken, and of hope bereft.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aca.</span> Yet still the gods, and Innocence are left.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> Ah! what canst thou avail,<br /> +Against rebellion armed with zeal,<br /> +And faced with public good?<br /> +O monarchs, see<br /> +Your fate in me!<br /> +To rule by love,<br /> +To shed no blood,<br /> +May be extolled above;<br /> +But here below,<br /> +Let princes know,<br /> +'Tis fatal to be good.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chorus of both.</span> To rule by love, <i>&c.</i></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aca.</span> Your father Neptune, from the seas,<br /> +Has Nereids and blue Tritons sent,<br /> +To charm your discontent.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Nereids rise out of the Sea, and sing; Tritons dance.</p> + +<p class="dlg">From the low palace of old father Ocean,<br /> +Come we in pity your cares to deplore;<br /> +Sea-racing dolphins are trained for our motion,<br /> +Moony tides swelling to roll us ashore.</p> + +<p class="i3">II.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Every nymph of the flood, her tresses rending,<br /> +Throws off her armlet of pearl in the main;<br /> +Neptune in anguish his charge unattending,<br /> +Vessels are foundering, and vows are in vain.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">256</span><a id="page_256" name="page_256"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Tyranny, Democracy,</span> represented by Men, +attended by <span class="cnm">Asebia</span> and <span class="cnm">Zelota,</span> Women.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> Ha, ha! 'tis what so long I wished and vowed:<br /> +Our plots and delusions<br /> +Have wrought such confusions,<br /> +That the monarch's a slave to the crowd.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> A design we fomented,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> By hell it was new!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> A false plot invented,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> To cover a true.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> First with promised faith we flattered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> Then jealousies and fears we scattered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aseb.</span> We never valued right and wrong,<br /> +But as they served our cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> Our business was to please the throng,<br /> +And court their wild applause;</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aseb.</span> For this we bribed the lawyer's tongue.<br /> +And then destroyed the laws.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cho.</span> For this, &c.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> To make him safe, we made his friends our prey;</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> To make him great, we scorned his royal sway,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> And to confirm his crown, we took his heir away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> To encrease his store,<br /> +We kept him poor;</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> And when to wants we had betrayed him,<br /> +To keep him low,<br /> +Pronounced a foe,<br /> +Whoe'er presumed to aid him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aseb.</span> But you forget the noblest part,<br /> +And master piece of all your art,—<br /> +You told him he was sick at heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> And when you could not work belief<br /> +In Albion of the imagined grief;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">257</span><a id="page_257" name="page_257"></a> +Your perjured vouchers, in a breath,<br /> +Made oath, that he was sick to death;<br /> +And then five hundred quacks of skill<br /> +Resolved, 'twas fit he should be ill.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aseb.</span> Now hey for a common-wealth,<br /> +We merrily drink and sing!<br /> +'Tis to the nation's health,<br /> +For every man's a king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> Then let the mask begin,<br /> +The Saints advance,<br /> +To fill the dance,<br /> +And the Property Boys come in.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The Boys in white begin a Fantastic Dance<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-4">[4]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cho.</span> Let the saints ascend the throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Saints have wives, and wives have preachers,<br /> +Gifted men, and able teachers;<br /> +These to get, and those to own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cho.</span> Let the saints ascend the throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aseb.</span> Freedom is a bait alluring;<br /> +Them betraying, us securing,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">258</span><a id="page_258" name="page_258"></a> +While to sovereign power we soar.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> Old delusions, new repeated,<br /> +Shews them born but to be cheated,<br /> +As their fathers were before.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Six Sectaries begin a formal affected Dance; the two +gravest whisper the other four, and draw them into +the Plot; they pull out and deliver Libels to them, +which they receive.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> See friendless Albion there alone,<br /> +Without defence<br /> +But innocence;<br /> +Albanius now is gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> Say then, what must be done?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> The gods have put him in our hand<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-5">[5]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> He must be slain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> But who shall then command?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> The people; for the right returns to those.<br /> +Who did the trust impose.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> 'Tis fit another sun should rise,<br /> +To cheer the world, and light the skies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> But when the sun<br /> +His race has run,<br /> +And neither cheers the world, nor lights the skies,<br /> +'Tis fit a common-wealth of stars should rise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aseb.</span> Each noble vice<br /> +Shall bear a price,<br /> +And virtue shall a drug become;<br /> +An empty name<br /> +Was all her fame,<br /> +But now she shall be dumb.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> If open vice be what you drive at,<br /> +A name so broad we'll ne'er connive at.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">259</span><a id="page_259" name="page_259"></a> +Saints love vice, but, more refinedly,<br /> +Keep her close, and use her kindly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tyr.</span> Fall on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Fall on; e'er Albion's death, we'll try,<br /> +If one or many shall his room supply.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The White Boys dance about the Saints; the Saints +draw out the Association, and offer it to them; they +refuse it, and quarrel about it; then the White Boys +and Saints fall into a confused dance, imitating +fighting. The White Boys, at the end of the dance, +being driven out by the Sectaries, with Protestant +Flails.<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-6">[6]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> See the gods my cause defending,<br /> +When all human help was past!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Acac.</span> Factions mutually contending,<br /> +By each other fall at last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> But is not yonder Proteus' cave,<br /> +Below that steep,<br /> +Which rising billows brave?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Acac.</span> It is; and in it lies the god asleep;<br /> +And snorting by,<br /> +We may descry<br /> +The monsters of the deep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> He knows the past,<br /> +And can resolve the future too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Acac.</span> 'Tis true!<br /> +<span class="pgnm">260</span><a id="page_260" name="page_260"></a> +But hold him fast,<br /> +For he can change his hue.<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-7">[7]</a></p> + +<p class="sdn">The Cave of <span class="cnm">Proteus</span> rises out of the Sea; it consists of +several arches of Rock-work adorned with mother-of-pearl, +coral, and abundance of shells of various +kinds. Through the arches is seen the Sea, and +parts of Dover-pier; in the middle of the Cave is +<span class="cnm">Proteus</span> asleep on a rock adorned with shells, &c. +like the Cave. <span class="cnm">Albion</span> and <span class="cnm">Acacia</span> seize on him; +and while a symphony is playing, he sinks as they are +bringing him forward, and changes himself into a +Lion, a Crocodile, a Dragon, and then to his own +shape again; he comes forward to the front of the +stage, and sings.</p> + +<p class="i3">SYMPHONY.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pro.</span> Albion, loved of gods and men,<br /> +Prince of peace, too mildly reigning,<br /> +Cease thy sorrow and complaining;<br /> +Thou shall be restored again:<br /> +Albion, loved of gods and men.</p> + +<p class="i3">II.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Still thou art the care of heaven,<br /> +In thy youth to exile driven;<br /> +Heaven thy ruin then prevented,<br /> +'Till the guilty land repented.<br /> +In thy age, when none could aid thee,<br /> +Foes conspired, and friends betrayed thee;<br /> +To the brink of danger driven,<br /> +Still thou art the care of heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">261</span><a id="page_261" name="page_261"></a> +<span class="cnm">Alb.</span> To whom shall I my preservation owe?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Pro.</span> Ask me no more; for 'tis by Neptune's foe.<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-8">[8]</a></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Proteus</span> descends.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Democracy</span> and <span class="cnm">Zelota</span> return with their faction.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Our seeming friends, who joined alone,<br /> +To pull down one, and build another throne,<br /> +Are all dispersed and gone;<br /> +We brave republic souls remain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> And 'tis by us that Albion must be slain;<br /> +Say, whom shall we employ<br /> +The tyrant to destroy?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> That Archer is by fate designed,<br /> +With one eye clear, and t'other blind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> He comes inspired to do't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> Shoot, holy Cyclop, shoot.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The one-eyed Archer advances, the rest follow. A fire +arises betwixt them and <span class="cnm">Albion.</span><a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-9">[9]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="sdr">[Ritornel.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dem.</span> Lo! heaven and earth combine<br /> +To blast our bold design.<br /> +What miracles are shewn!<br /> +<span class="pgnm">262</span><a id="page_262" name="page_262"></a> +Nature's alarmed,<br /> +And fires are armed,<br /> +To guard the sacred throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zel.</span> What help, when jarring elements conspire,<br /> +To punish our audacious crimes?<br /> +Retreat betimes,<br /> +To shun the avenging fire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chor.</span> To shun the avenging fire.<span class="sdr">[Ritor.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="pgnm">263</span><a id="page_263" name="page_263"></a> +As they are going back, a fire arises from behind; +they all sink together.<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-10">[10]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> Let our tuneful accents upwards move,<br /> +Till they reach the vaulted arch of those above;<br /> +Let us adore them;<br /> +Let us fall before them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">264</span><a id="page_264" name="page_264"></a> +<span class="cnm">Acac.</span> Kings they made, and kings they love.<br /> +When they protect a rightful monarch's reign,<br /> +The gods in heaven, the gods on earth maintain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Both.</span> When they protect, &c.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alb.</span> But see, what glories gild the main!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Acac.</span> Bright Venus brings Albanius back again,<br /> +With all the Loves and Graces in her train.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A machine rises out of the sea; it opens, and discovers +<span class="cnm">Venus</span> and <span class="cnm">Albanius</span> sitting in a great scallop-shell, +richly adorned. <span class="cnm">Venus</span> is attended by the +Loves and Graces, <span class="cnm">Albanius</span> by Heroes; the shell +is drawn by dolphins; it moves forward, while a symphony +of flutes-doux, &c. is playing, till it lands +them on the stage, and then it closes and sinks.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Venus</span> sings.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Albion, hail! the gods present thee<br /> +All the richest of their treasures,<br /> +Peace and pleasures,<br /> +To content thee,<br /> +Dancing their eternal measures. +<span class="sdr">[Graces and Loves dance an entry.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Venus.</span> But, above all human blessing,<br /> +Take a warlike loyal brother,<br /> +Never prince had such another;<br /> +Conduct, courage, truth expressing,<br /> +All heroic worth possessing. +<span class="sdr">[Here the Heroes' dance is performed.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chor. of all.</span> But above all, &c.<span class="sdr">[Ritor.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Whilst a Symphony is playing, a very large, and a +very glorious Machine descends; the figure of it +oval, all the clouds shining with gold, abundance of +Angels and Cherubins flying about them, and playing +in them; in the midst of it sits <span class="cnm">Apollo</span> on a throne +of gold; he comes from the machine to <span class="cnm">Albion.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">265</span><a id="page_265" name="page_265"></a> +<span class="cnm">Phœb.</span> From Jove's imperial court,<br /> +Where all the gods resort,<br /> +In awful counsel met,<br /> +Surprising news I bear;<br /> +Albion the great<br /> +Must change his seat,<br /> +For he is adopted there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Venus.</span> What stars above shall we displace?<br /> +Where shall he fill a room divine?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nept.</span> Descended from the sea-gods' race,<br /> +Let him by my Orion shine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Phœb.</span> No, not by that tempestuous sign;<br /> +Betwixt the Balance and the Maid,<br /> +The just,<br /> +August,<br /> +And peaceful shade,<br /> +Shall shine in heaven with beams displayed,<br /> +While great Albanius is on earth obeyed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Venus.</span> Albanius, lord of land and main,<br /> +Shall with fraternal virtues reign;<br /> +And add his own,<br /> +To fill the throne;<br /> +Adored and feared, and loved no less;<br /> +In war victorious, mild in peace,<br /> +The joy of man, and Jove's increase.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Acac.</span> O thou! who mountest the æthereal throne,<br /> +Be kind and happy to thy own;<br /> +Now Albion is come,<br /> +The people of the sky<br /> +Run gazing, and cry,—Make room,<br /> +Make room, make room,<br /> +Make room for our new deity!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Here <span class="cnm">Albion</span> mounts the machine, which moves upward +slowly.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A full chorus of all that <span class="cnm">Acacia</span> sung.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">266</span><a id="page_266" name="page_266"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ven.</span> Behold what triumphs are prepared to grace<br /> +Thy glorious race,<br /> +Where love and honour claim an equal place;<br /> +Already they are fixed by fate,<br /> +And only ripening ages wait.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The Scene changes to a Walk of very high trees; at +the end of the Walk is a view of that part of Windsor, +which faces Eton; in the midst of it is a row +of small trees, which lead to the Castle-Hill. In the +first scene, part of the Town and part of the Hill. +In the next, the Terrace Walk, the King's lodgings, +and the upper part of St George's chapel, then +the keep; and, lastly, that part of the Castle beyond +the keep.</p> + +<p class="sdn">In the air is a vision of the Honours of the Garter; +the Knights in procession, and the King under a canopy; +beyond this, the upper end of St George's +hall.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Fame</span> rises out of the middle of the Stage, standing on +a Globe, on which is the Arms of England: the +Globe rests on a Pedestal; on the front of the Pedestal +in drawn a Man with a long, lean, pale face, +with fiends' wings, and snakes twisted round his +body; he is encompassed by several fanatical rebellious +heads, who suck poison from him, which runs +out of a tap in his side.<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_4-11">[11]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">267</span><a id="page_267" name="page_267"></a> +<span class="cnm">Fame.</span> Renown, assume thy trumpet!<br /> +From pole to pole resounding<br /> +Great Albion's name;<br /> +Great Albion's name shall be<br /> +The theme of Fame, shall be great Albion's name,<br /> +Great Albion's name, great Albion's name.<br /> +Record the garter's glory;<br /> +A badge for heroes, and for kings to bear;<br /> +For kings to bear!<br /> +And swell the immortal story,<br /> +With songs of Gods, and fit for Gods to hear;<br /> +And swell the immortal story,<br /> +With songs of Gods, and fit for Gods to hear;<br /> +For Gods to hear.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A full Chorus of all the Voices and Instruments; +trumpets and hautboys make Ritornello's of all <span class="cnm">Fame</span> +sings; and twenty-four Dancers, all the time in a +chorus, and dance to the end of the Opera.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Albio_4-1" name="Albio_4-1"></a><p>The reader must recollect the orders of the Rump parliament +to general Monk, to destroy the gates and portcullises of +the city of London; which commission, by the bye, he actually +executed, with all the forms of contempt, although, in a day or +two after, he took up his quarters in the city, apologized for what +had passed, and declared against the parliament.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-2" name="Albio_4-2"></a><p>Dr. Titus Oates, the principal witness to the Popish Plot, was +accused of unnatural and infamous crimes. He was certainly a +most ineffably impudent, perjured villain.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-3" name="Albio_4-3"></a><p>The Chacon is supposed by Sir John Hawkins to be of Moorish +or Saracenic origin. "The characteristic of the Chacone is +a bass, or ground, consisting of four measures, wherein three +crotchets make the bar, and the repetition thereof with variations +in the several parts, from the beginning to the end of the air, +which in respect of its length, has no limit but the discretion of +the composer. The whole of the twelfth sonata of the second +opera of Corelli is a Chacone." <i>Hist. of Music</i>, vol. iv. p. 388. +There is also, I am informed, a very celebrated Chacon composed +by Jomelli.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-4" name="Albio_4-4"></a><p>By the <i>White Boys</i> or <i>Property Boys</i>, are meant the adherents +of the Duke of Monmouth, who affected great zeal for liberty and +property, and assumed white badges, as marks of the innocence of +their intentions. When the Duke came to the famous Parliament +held at Oxford, "he was met by about 100 Batchellors all +in white, except black velvet caps, with white wands in their +hands, who divided themselves, and marched as a guard to his +person." <i>Account of the Life of the Duke of Monmouth</i>, p. 107. +In the Duke's tour through the west of England, he was met at +Exeter, by "a brave company of brisk stout young men, all +cloathed in linen waistcoats and drawers, <i>white and harmless,</i> +having not so much as a stick in their hands; they were in number +about 900 or 1000." <i>ibid.</i> p. 103. See the notes on Absalom +and Achitophel. The saints, on the other hand, mean the +ancient republican zealots and fanatics, who, though they would +willingly have joined in the destruction of Charles, did not wish +that Monmouth should succeed him, but aimed at the restoration +of the commonwealth. Hence the following dispute betwixt Tyranny +and Democracy.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-5" name="Albio_4-5"></a><p>The atrocious and blasphemous sentiment in the text was actually +used by the fanatics who murdered Sharpe, the archbishop +of St Andrews. When they unexpectedly met him during their +search for another person, they exclaimed, that "the Lord had +delivered him into their hands."</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-6" name="Albio_4-6"></a><p>It is easy to believe, that, whatever was the, nature of the schemes +nourished by Monmouth, Russel, and Essex, they could have no +concern with the low and sanguinary cabal of Ramsay, Walcot, +and Rumbold, who were all of them old republican officers and +commonwealth's men. The flight of Shaftesbury, whose bustling +and politic brain had rendered him the sole channel of communication +betwixt these parties, as well as the means of uniting them +in one common design, threw loose all connection between them; +so that each, after his retreat, seems to have acted independantly +of, and often in contradiction to the other.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-7" name="Albio_4-7"></a><p>The reader may judge, whether some distant and obscure allusion +to the trimming politics of Halifax, to whom the Duke of +York, our author's patron, was hostile, may not be here insinuated. +During the stormy session of his two last parliaments, Charles was +much guided by his temporising and camelion-like policy.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-8" name="Albio_4-8"></a><p>That is by fire. See next note.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-9" name="Albio_4-9"></a><p>The allegory of the one-eyed Archer, and the fire arising betwixt +him and Albion, will be made evident by the following extracts +from Sprat's history of the Conspiracy. In enumerating the +persons engaged in the Rye-house plot, he mentions "Richard +Rumbold, maltster, an old army officer, a desperate and bloody Ravaillac." +After agitating several schemes for assassinating Charles, +the Rye-house was fixed upon as a spot which the king must necessarily +pass in his journey trom Newmarket, and which, being a +solitary moated house, in the actual occupation of Rumbold, afforded +the conspirators facility of previous concealment and subsequent +defence. "All other propositions, as subject to far more +casualties and hazards, soon gave place to that of the Rye, in +Herefordshire, a house then inhabited by the foresaid Richard +Rumbold, who proposed that to be the seat of the action, offering +himself to command the party, that was to do the work. Him, +therefore, as the most daring captain, and by reason of a blemish +in one of his eyes, they were afterwards wont, in common discourse, +to call Hannibal; often drinking healths to <i>Hannibal +and his boys</i>, meaning Rumbold and his <i>hellish crew</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Immediately upon the coaches coming within the gates and +hedges about the house, the conspirators were to divide into several +parties; some before, in the habit of labourers, were to overthrow +a cart in the narrowest passage, so as to prevent all possibility +of escape: others were to fight the guards, Walcot chusing +that part upon a punctilio of honour; others were to shoot at the +coachman, postillion, and horses; others to aim only at his Majesty's +coach, which party was to be under the particular direction of +Rumbold himself; the villain declaring beforehand, that, upon that +occasion, he would make use of a very good blunderbuss, which +was in West's possession, and blasphemously adding, that Ferguson +should first consecrate it." ... "But whilst they were thus wholly +intent on this barbarous work, and proceeded securely in its contrivance +without any the least doubt of a prosperous success, behold! +on a sudden, God miraculously disappointed all their hopes +and designs, by the terrible conflagration unexpectedly breaking +out at Newmarket. In which extraordinary event there was one +remarkable passage, that is not so generally taken notice of, as, +for the glory of God, and the confusion of his Majesty's enemies, +it ought to be.</p> + +<p>"For, after that the approaching fury of the flames had driven +the king out of his own palace, his Majesty, at first, removed into +another quarter of the town, remote from the fire, and, as yet, +free from any annoyance of smoke and ashes. There his Majesty, +finding he might be tolerably well accommodated, had resolved +to stay, and continue his recreations as before, till the day first +named for his journey back to London. But his Majesty had no +sooner made that resolution, when the wind, as conducted by an +invisible power from above, presently changed about, and blew the +smoke and cinders directly on his new lodging, making them in a +moment as untenable as the other. Upon this, his Majesty being +put to a new shift, and not finding the like conveniency elsewhere, +immediately declared, he would speedily return to Whitehall, as +he did; which happening to be several days before the assassins +expected him, or their preparations for the Rye were in readiness, +it may justly give occasion to all the world to acknowledge, what +one of the very conspirators could not but do, <i>that it was a providential +fire.</i>"—Pages 51<i> et seq.</i></p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The proprietor of the Rye-house (for Rumbold was but a tenant) +shocked at the intended purpose, for which it was to have +been used, is said to have fired it with his own hand. This is the +subject of a poem, called the Loyal Incendiary, or the generous +<i>Boute-feu</i>.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-10" name="Albio_4-10"></a><p>The total ruin of those, who were directly involved in the Rye-house, +was little to be regretted, had it not involved the fate of those +who were pursuing reform, by means more manly and constitutional,—the +fate of Russel, Essex, and Sidney.</p> + +<p>Rumbold, "the one-eyed archer," fled to Holland, and came to +Scotland with Argyle, on his ill-concerted expedition. He was +singled out and pursued, after the dispersion of his companions in +a skirmish. He defended himself with desperate resolution against +two armed peasants, till a third, coming behind him with a pitch-fork, +turned off his head-piece, when he was cut down and made +prisoner, exclaiming, "Cruel countryman, to use me thus, while +my face was to mine enemy." He suffered the doom of a traitor +at Edinburgh, and maintained on the scaffold, with inflexible firmness, +the principles in which he had lived. He could never believe, +he said, that the many of human kind came into the world +bridled and saddled, and the few with whips and spurs to ride them. +"His rooted ingrained opinion, says Fountainhall, was for a +republic against monarchy, to pull down which he thought a duty, +and no sin." At his death, he declared, that were every hair of +his head a man, he would venture them all in the good old cause.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Albio_4-11" name="Albio_4-11"></a><p>"I must not," says Langbaine, "take the pains to acquaint +my reader, that by the man on the pedestal, &c. is meant the late +Lord Shaftesbury. I shall not pretend to pass my censure, whether +he deserved this usage from our author or no, but leave it to +the judgments of statesmen and politicians." Shaftesbury having +been overturned in a carriage, received some internal injury which +required a constant discharge by an issue in his side. Hence he +was ridiculed under the name of <i>Tapski</i>. In a mock account of +an apparition, stated to have appeared to Lady Gray, it says, +"Bid Lord Shaftesbury have a care to his spigot—if he is tapt, all +the plot will run out." <i>Ralph's History</i>, vol. i. p. 562. from a +pamphlet in Lord Somers' collection. There are various allusions +to this circumstance in the lampoons of the time. A satire called +"The Hypocrite," written by Carryl, concludes thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>His body thus and soul together vie.</p> +<p>In vice's empire for the sovereignty;</p> +<p>In ulcers shut this does abound in sin,</p> +<p>Lazar without and Lucifer within.</p> +<p>The silver pipe is no sufficient drain</p> +<p>For the corruption of this little man;</p> +<p>Who, though he ulcers have in every part,</p> +<p>Is no where so corrupt as in his heart.</p> +</div> + +<p>At length, in prosecution of this coarse and unhandsome jest, a +sort of vessel with a turn-cock was constructed for holding wine, +which was called a Shaftesbury, and used in the taverns of the +royal party.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">268</span><a id="page_268" name="page_268"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">EPILOGUE</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>After our Æsop's fable shown to-day,</p> +<p>I come to give the moral of the play.</p> +<p>Feigned Zeal, you saw, set out the speedier pace;</p> +<p>But the last heat, Plain Dealing won the race:</p> +<p>Plain Dealing for a jewel has been known;</p> +<p>But ne'er till now the jewel of a crown.</p> +<p>When heaven made man, to show the work divine,</p> +<p>Truth was his image, stamped upon the coin:</p> +<p>And when a king is to a God refined,</p> +<p>On all he says and does he stamps his mind:</p> +<p>This proves a soul without alloy, and pure;</p> +<p>Kings, like their gold, should every touch endure.</p> +<p>To dare in fields is valour; but how few</p> +<p>Dare be so throughly valiant,—to be true!</p> +<p>The name of great, let other kings affect:</p> +<p>He's great indeed, the prince that is direct.</p> +<p>His subjects know him now, and trust him more</p> +<p>Than all their kings, and all their laws before.</p> +<p>What safety could their public acts afford?</p> +<p>Those he can break; but cannot break his word.</p> +<p>So great a trust to him alone was due;</p> +<p>Well have they trusted whom so well they knew.</p> +<p>The saint, who walked on waves, securely trod,</p> +<p>While he believed the beck'ning of his God;</p> +<p>But when his faith no longer bore him out,</p> +<p>Began to sink, as he began to doubt.</p> +<p>Let us our native character maintain;</p> +<p>'Tis of our growth, to be sincerely plain.</p> +<p>To excel in truth we loyally may strive,</p> +<p>Set privilege against prerogative:</p> +<p>He plights his faith, and we believe him just;</p> +<p>His honour is to promise, ours to trust.</p> +<p><span class="pgnm">269</span><a id="page_269" name="page_269"></a> +Thus Britain's basis on a word is laid,</p> +<p>As by a word the world itself was made<a class="ftnt" href="#Albio_5-1">[1]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Albio_5-1" name="Albio_5-1"></a><p>From this Epilogue we learn, what is confirmed by many proofs elsewhere, +that the attribute for which James desired to be distinguished and +praised, was that of openness of purpose, and stern undeviating inflexibility of +conduct. He scorned to disguise his designs, either upon the religion or +the constitution of his country. He forgot that it was only the temporising +concessions of his brother which secured his way to the throne, when his exclusion, +or a civil war, seemed the only alternatives. His brother was the +reed, which bent before the whirlwind, and recovered its erect posture when +it had passed away; and James, the inflexible oak, which the first tempest +rooted up for ever.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div><span class="pgnm">271</span><a id="page_271" name="page_271"></a></div> + +<h2 class="chap">DON SEBASTIAN.</h2> +<h3 class="nomarg">A +TRAGEDY.</h3> + +<div class="ctr"> +<table class="ctr" summary="Epigram"> +<tr><td> +<p class="i1"><i>—Nec tarda senectus<br /> +Debilitat vires animi, mutatque vigorem.</i></p> +<p class="citation">VIRG.</p> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">273</span><a id="page_273" name="page_273"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">DON SEBASTIAN.</h3> + +<p>The following tragedy is founded upon the adventures supposed +to have befallen Sebastian, king of Portugal, after the fatal +battle of Alcazar. The reader may be briefly reminded of the +memorable expedition of that gallant monarch to Africa, to signalize, +against the Moors, his chivalry as a warrior, and his faith +as a Christian. The ostensible pretext of invasion was the cause +of Muly Mahomet, son of Abdalla, emperor of Morocco; upon +whose death, his brother, Muly Moluch, had seized the crown, +and driven his nephew into exile. The armies joined battle +near Alcazar. The Portuguese, far inferior in number to the +Moors, displayed the most desperate valour, and had nearly won +the day, when Muly Moluch, who, though almost dying, was present +on the field in a litter, fired with shame and indignation, +threw himself on horseback, rallied his troops, renewed the combat, +and, being carried back to his litter, immediately expired, +with his finger placed on his lips, to impress on the chiefs, who +surrounded him, the necessity of concealing his death. The +Moors, rallied by their sovereign's dying exertion, surrounded, +and totally routed, the army of Sebastian. Mahomet, the competitor +for the throne of Morocco, was drowned in passing a river +in his flight, and Sebastian, as his body was never found, probably +perished in the same manner. But where the region of historical +certainty ends, that of romantic tradition commences. The Portuguese, +to whom the memory of their warlike sovereign was deservedly +dear, grasped at the feeble hope which the uncertainty of +his fate afforded, and long, with vain fondness, expected the return +of Sebastian, to free them from the yoke of Spain. This +mysterious termination of a hero's career, as it gave rise to various +political intrigues, (for several persons assumed the name and character +of Sebastian,) early afforded a subject for exercising the fancy +of the dramatist and romance writer. "The Battle of Alcazar<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_1-1">[1]</a>" +is known to the collectors of old plays; a ballad on the +<span class="pgnm">274</span><a id="page_274" name="page_274"></a> +same subject is reprinted in Evans's collection; and our author +mentions a French novel on the adventures of Don Sebastian, to +which Langbaine also refers.</p> + +<p>The situation of Dryden, after the Revolution, was so delicate +as to require great caution and attention, both in his choice +of a subject, and his mode of treating it. His distressed circumstances +and lessened income compelled him to come before the +public as an author; while the odium attached to the proselyte of +a hated religion, and the partizan of a depressed faction, was likely, +upon the slightest pretext, to transfer itself from the person +of the poet to the labours on which his support depended. He +was, therefore, not only obliged to chuse a theme, which had no +offence in it, and to treat it in a manner which could not admit of +misconstruction, but also so to exert the full force of his talents, +as, by the conspicuous pre-eminence of his genius, to bribe prejudice +and silence calumny. An observing reader will accordingly +discover, throughout the following tragedy, symptoms of minute +finishing, and marks of accurate attention, which, in our author's +better days, he deigned not to bestow upon productions, to which his +name alone was then sufficient to give weight and privilege. His choice +of a subject was singularly happy: the name of Sebastian awaked +historical recollections and associations, favourable to the character +of his hero; while the dark uncertainty of his fate removed all +possibility of shocking the audience by glaring offence against the +majesty of historical truth. The subject has, therefore, all the advantages +of a historical play, without the detects, which either a +rigid coincidence with history, or a violent contradiction of known +truth, seldom fail to bring along with them. Dryden appears +from his preface to have been fully sensible of this; and he has +not lost the advantage of a happy subject by treating it with the +carelessness he sometimes allowed himself to indulge.</p> + +<p>The characters in "Don Sebastian" are contrasted with singular +ability and judgment. Sebastian, high-spirited and fiery; the +soul of royal and military honour; the soldier and the king; almost +embodies the idea which the reader forms at the first mention +of his name. Dorax, to whom he is so admirable a contrast, +is one of those characters whom the strong hand of adversity has wrested +from their natural bias; and perhaps no equally vivid picture +can be found, of a subject so awfully interesting. Born with a strong +tendency to all that was honourable and virtuous, the very excess +of his virtues became vice, when his own ill fate, and Sebastian's +injustice, had driven him into exile. By comparing, as Dryden +has requested, the character of Dorax, in the fifth act, with that +he maintains in the former part of the play, the difference may be +traced betwixt his natural virtues, and the vices engrafted on them +by headlong passion and embittering calamity. There is no inconsistence +<span class="pgnm">275</span><a id="page_275" name="page_275"></a> +in the change which takes place after his scene with +Sebastian; as was objected by those, whom the poet justly terms, +"the more ignorant sort of creatures." It is the same picture +in a new light; the same ocean in tempest and in calm; the same +traveller, whom sunshine has induced to abandon his cloak, +which the storm only forced him to wrap more closely around +him. The principal failing of Dorax is the excess of pride, which +renders each supposed wound to his honour more venomously +acute; yet he is not devoid of gentler affections, though even in +indulging these the hardness of his character is conspicuous. He +loves Violante, but that is a far subordinate feeling to his affection +for Sebastian. Indeed, his love appears so inferior to his loyal +devotion to his king, that, unless to gratify the taste of the age, I +see little reason for its being introduced at all. It is obvious he +was much more jealous of the regard of his sovereign, than of +his mistress; he never mentions Violante till the scene of explanation +with Sebastian; and he appears hardly to have retained a +more painful recollection of his disappointment in that particular, +than of the general neglect and disgrace he had sustained at the +court of Lisbon. The last stage of a virtuous heart, corroded into +evil by wounded pride, has been never more forcibly displayed +than in the character of Dorax. When once induced to take the +fatal step which degraded him in his own eyes, all his good affections +seem to be converted into poison. The religion, which displays +itself in the fifth act in his arguments against suicide, had, +in his efforts to justify his apostacy, or at least to render it a matter +of no moment, been exchanged for sentiments approaching, +perhaps to atheism, certainly to total scepticism. His passion +for Violante is changed into contempt and hatred for her sex, +which he expresses in the coarsest terms. His feelings of generosity, +and even of humanity, are drowned in the gloomy and +stern misanthropy, which has its source in the self-discontent +that endeavours to wreak itself upon others. This may be illustrated +by his unfeeling behaviour, while Alvarez and Antonio, +well known to him in former days, approach, and draw the +deadly lot, which ratifies their fate. No yielding of compassion, +no recollection of former friendship, has power to alter the cold +and sardonic sarcasm with which he sketches their characters, +and marks their deportment in that awful moment. Finally, the +zealous attachment of Alonzo for his king, which, in its original +expression, partakes of absolute devotion, is changed, by the circumstances +of Dorax, into an irritated and frantic jealousy, which +he mistakes for hatred; and which, in pursuing the destruction of +its object, is almost more inveterate than hatred itself. Nothing +has survived of the original Alonzo at the opening of the piece, +except the gigantic passion which has caused his ruin. This character +<span class="pgnm">276</span><a id="page_276" name="page_276"></a> +is drawn on a large scale, and in a heroic proportion; but +it is so true to nature, that many readers must have lamented, even +within the circle of domestic acquaintance, instances of feelings +hardened, and virtues perverted, where a high spirit has sustained +severe and unjust neglect and disgrace. The whole demeanour of +this exquisite character suits the original sketch. From "the long +stride and sullen port," by which Benducar distinguishes him at a +distance, to the sullen stubbornness with which he obeys, or the +haughty contempt with which he resists, the commands of the peremptory +tyrant under whom he had taken service, all announce +the untamed pride which had robbed Dorax of virtue, and which +yet, when Benducar would seduce him into a conspiracy, and +in his conduct towards Sebastian, assumes the port and dignity +of virtue herself. In all his conduct and bearing, there is that +mixed feeling and impulse, which constitutes the real spring +of human action. The true motive of Alonzo in saving Sebastian, +is not purely that of honourable hatred, which he proposes to +himself; for to himself every man endeavours to appear consistent, +and readily find arguments to prove to himself that he is so. +Neither is his conduct to be ascribed altogether to the gentler feelings +of loyal and friendly affection, relenting at the sight of his +sovereign's ruin, and impending death. It is the result of a mixture +of these opposite sensations, clashing against each other like +two rivers at their conflux, yet urging their united course down +the same channel. Actuated by a mixture of these feelings, Dorax +meets Sebastian; and the art of the poet is displayed in that +admirable scene, by suggesting a natural motive to justify to the injured +subject himself the change of the course of his feelings. As his +jealousy of Sebastian's favour, and resentment of his unjust neglect, +was chiefly founded on the avowed preference which the king had +given to Henriquez, the opportune mention of his rival's death, +by removing the cause of that jealousy, gives the renegade an +apology to his own pride, for throwing himself at the feet of that +very sovereign, whom a moment before he was determined to +force to combat. They are little acquainted with human passions, +at least have only witnessed their operations among men of +common minds, who doubt, that at the height of their very +spring-tide, they are often most susceptible of sudden changes; +revolutions, which seem to those who have not remarked how +nearly the most opposite feelings are allied and united, the +most extravagant and unaccountable. Muly Moluch is an +admirable specimen of that very frequent theatrical character,—a +stage tyrant. He is fierce and boisterous enough to be +sufficiently terrible and odious, and that without much rant, +considering he is an infidel Soldan, who, from the ancient deportment +<span class="pgnm">277</span><a id="page_277" name="page_277"></a> +of Mahomed and Termagaunt, as they appeared in the +old Mysteries, might claim a prescriptive right to tear a passion +to tatters. Besides, the Moorish emperor has fine glances of +savage generosity, and that free, unconstrained, and almost +noble openness, the only good quality, perhaps, which a consciousness +of unbounded power may encourage in a mind so firm +as not to be totally depraved by it. The character of Muly +Moluch, like that of Morat, in "Aureng-Zebe," to which it bears a +strong resemblance, was admirably represented by Kynaston; who +had, says Cibber, "a fierce lion-like majesty in his port and utterance, +that gave the spectator a kind of trembling admiration." +It is enough to say of Benducar, that the cool, fawning, intriguing, +and unprincipled statesman, is fully developed in his whole conduct; +and of Alvarez, that the little he has to say and do, is so +said and done, as not to disgrace his common-place character of +the possessor of the secret on which the plot depends; for it may +be casually observed, that the depositary of such a clew to the +catastrophe, though of the last importance to the plot, is seldom +himself of any interest whatever. The haughty and high-spirited +Almeyda is designed by the author as the counterpart of Sebastian. +She breaks out with the same violence, I had almost said +fury, and frequently discovers a sort of kindred sentiment, intended +to prepare the reader for the unfortunate discovery, that she is +the sister of the Portuguese monarch.</p> + +<p>Of the diction, Dr Johnson has said, with meagre commendation, +that it has "some sentiments which leave a strong impression," +and "others of excellence, universally acknowledged." This, +even when the admiration of the scene betwixt Dorax and Sebastian +has been sanctioned by that great critic, seems scanty applause +for the <i>chef d'œuvre</i> of Dryden's dramatic works. The reader +will be disposed to look for more unqualified praise, when such a +poet was induced, by every pressing consideration, to combine, in +one effort, the powers of his mighty genius, and the fruits of his +long theatrical experience: Accordingly, Shakespeare laid aside, +it will be perhaps difficult to point out a play containing more +animatory incident, impassioned language, and beautiful description, +than "Don Sebastian." Of the former, the scene betwixt +Dorax and the king, had it been the only one ever Dryden wrote, +would have been sufficient to insure his immortality. There is +not,—no, perhaps, not even in Shakespeare,—an instance where the +chord, which the poet designed should vibrate, is more happily +struck; strains there are of a higher mood, but not more correctly +true; in evidence of which, we have known those, whom distresses +of a gentler nature were unable to move, feel their stubborn +feelings roused and melted by the injured pride and deep repentance +of Dorax. The burst of anguish with which he answers +<span class="pgnm">278</span><a id="page_278" name="page_278"></a> +the stern taunt of Sebastian, is one of those rare, but natural instances, +in which high-toned passion assumes a figurative language, +because all that is familiar seems inadequate to express its +feelings:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Thou hast dared<br /> +To tell me, what I durst not tell myself:<br /> +I durst not think that I was spurned, and live;<br /> +And live to hear it boasted to my face.<br /> +All my long avarice of honour lost,<br /> +Heaped up in youth, and hoarded up for age!<br /> +Has honour's fountain then sucked back the stream?<br /> +He has; and hooting boys may dry-shod pass,<br /> +And gather pebbles from the naked ford.<br /> +Give me my love, my honour; give them back—<br /> +Give me revenge, while I have breath to ask it!</p> +</div> + +<p>But I will not dwell on the beauties of this scene. If any one +is incapable of relishing it, he may safely conclude, that nature +has not merely denied him that rare gift, poetical taste, but +common powers of comprehending the ordinary feelings of humanity. +The love scene, betwixt Sebastian and Almeyda, is more +purely conceived, and expressed with more reference to sentiment, +than is common with our author. The description which Dorax +gives of Sebastian, before his appearance, coming from a mortal +enemy, at least from one whose altered love was as envenomed +as hatred, is a grand preparation for the appearance of the +hero. In many of the slighter descriptive passages, we recognize +the poet by those minute touches, which a mind susceptible of +poetic feeling is alone capable of bringing out. The approach of the +emperor, while the conspirators are caballing, is announced by +Orchan, with these picturesque circumstances:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>I see the blaze of torches from afar,</p> +<p>And hear the trampling of thick-beating feet—</p> +<p>This way they move.—</p> +</div> + +<p>The following account, given by the slave sent to observe what +passed in the castle of Dorax, believed to be dead, or dying, is +equally striking:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Haly.</span> Two hours I warily have watched his palace:<br /> +All doors are shut, no servant peeps abroad;<br /> +Some officers, with striding haste, past in;<br /> +While others outward went on quick dispatch.<br /> +Sometimes hushed silence seemed to reign within;<br /> +Then cries confused, and a joint clamour followed;<br /> +Then lights went gliding by, from room to room,<br /> +And shot like thwarting meteors cross the house.<br /> +Not daring further to inquire, I came<br /> +With speed to bring you this imperfect news.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pgnm">279</span><a id="page_279" name="page_279"></a> +The description of the midnight insurrection of the rabble is +not less impressive:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ham.</span> What you wish:<br /> +The streets are thicker in this noon of night,<br /> +Than at the mid-day sun: A drouzy horror<br /> +Sits on their eyes, like fear, not well awake:<br /> +All crowd in heaps, as, at a night alarm,<br /> +The bees drive out upon each others backs,<br /> +T'imboss their hives in clusters; all ask news:<br /> +Their busy captain runs the weary round<br /> +To whisper orders; and, commanding silence,<br /> +Makes not noise cease, but deafens it to murmurs.</p> +</div> + +<p>These illustrations are designedly selected from the parts of the +lower characters, because they at once evince the diligence and +success with which Dryden has laboured even the subordinate +points of this tragedy.</p> + +<p>"Don Sebastian" has been weighed, with reference to its tragic +merits, against "Love for Love;" and one or other is universally +allowed to be the first of Dryden's dramatic performances. To the +youth of both sexes the latter presents the most pleasing subject +of emotion; but to those whom age has rendered incredulous upon +the romantic effects of love, and who do not fear to look into the +recesses of the human heart, when agitated by darker and more +stubborn passions, "Don Sebastian" offers a far superior source of +gratification.</p> + +<p>To point out the blemishes of so beautiful a tragedy, is a painful, +though a necessary, task. The style, here and there, exhibits +marks of a reviving taste for those frantic bursts of passion, which +our author has himself termed the "Dalilahs of the theatre." +The first speech of Sebastian has been often noticed as an extravagant +rant, more worthy of Maximin, or Almanzor, than of a character +drawn by our author in his advanced years, and chastened +taste:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>I beg no pity for this mouldering clay;</p> +<p>For if you give it burial, there it takes</p> +<p>Possession of your earth:</p> +<p>If burnt and scatter'd in the air, the winds,</p> +<p>That strew my dust, diffuse my royalty,</p> +<p>And spread me o'er your clime; for where one atom</p> +<p>Of mine shall light, know, there Sebastian reigns.</p> +</div> + +<p>The reader's discernment will discover some similar extravagancies +in the language of Almeyda and the Emperor.</p> + +<p>It is a separate objection, that the manners of the age and country +are not adhered to. Sebastian, by disposition a crusading +knight-errant, devoted to religion and chivalry, becomes, in the +hands of Dryden, merely a gallant soldier and high-spirited prince, +such as existed in the poet's own days. But, what is worse, the +<span class="pgnm">280</span><a id="page_280" name="page_280"></a> +manners of Mahometans are shockingly violated. Who ever heard +of human sacrifices, or of any sacrifices, being offered up to Mahomet<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_1-2">[2]</a>; +and when were his followers able to use the classical and +learned allusions which occur throughout the dialogue! On this +last topic Addison makes the following observations, in the +"Guardian," No. 110.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"I have now Mr Dryden's "Don Sebastian" before me, in +which I find frequent allusions to ancient poetry, and the old mythology +of the heathens. It is not very natural to suppose a king +of Portugal would be borrowing thoughts out of Ovid's "Metamorphoses," +when he talked even to those of his own court; but +to allude to these Roman fables, when he talks to an emperor of +Barbary, seems very extraordinary. But observe how he defies +him out of the classics in the following lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Why didst not thou engage me man to man,</p> +<p>And try the virtue of that Gorgon face,</p> +<p>To stare me into statue?</p> +</div> + +<p>"Almeyda, at the same time, is more book-learned than Don +Sebastian. She plays an Hydra upon the Emperor, that is full as +good as the Gorgon:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>O that I had the fruitful heads of Hydra,</p> +<p>That one might bourgeon where another fell!</p> +<p>Still would I give thee work, still, still, thou tyrant,</p> +<p>And hiss thee with the last.</p> +</div> + +<p>"She afterwards, in allusion to Hercules, bids him 'lay down +the lion's skin, and take the distaff;' and, in the following speech, +utters her passion still more learnedly:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>No; were we joined, even though it were in death,</p> +<p>Our bodies burning in one funeral pile,</p> +<p>The prodigy of Thebes would be renewed,</p> +<p>And my divided flame should break from thine.</p> +</div> + +<p>"The emperor of Barbary shews himself acquainted with the +Roman poets as well as either of his prisoners, and answers the +foregoing speech in the same classic strain:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Serpent, I will engender poison with thee:</p> +<p>Our offspring, like the seed of dragon's teeth,</p> +<p>Shall issue armed, and fight themselves to death.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pgnm">281</span><a id="page_281" name="page_281"></a> +"Ovid seems to have been Muley-Moloch's favourite author; +witness the lines that follow:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>She, still inexorable, still imperious,</p> +<p>And loud, as if, like Bacchus, born in thunder.</p> +</div> + +<p>"I shall conclude my remarks on his part with that poetical +complaint of his being in love; and leave my reader to consider, +how prettily it would sound in the mouth of an emperor of Morocco:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The god of love once more has shot his fires</p> +<p>Into my soul, and my whole heart receives him.</p> +</div> + +<p>"Muley Zeydan is as ingenious a man as his brother Muley +Moloch; as where he hints at the story of Castor and Pollux:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>May we ne'er meet;</p> +<p>For, like the twins of Leda, when I mount,</p> +<p>He gallops down the skies.</p> +</div> + +<p>"As for the Mufti, we will suppose that he was bred up a +scholar, and not only versed in the law of Mahomet, but acquainted +with all kinds of polite learning. For this reason he is +not at all surprised when Dorax calls him a Phæton in one place, +and in another tells him he is like Archimedes.</p> + +<p>"The Mufti afterwards mentions Ximenes, Albornoz, and cardinal +Wolsey, by name. The poet seems to think, he may make +every person, in his play, know as much as himself, and talk as +well as he could have done on the same occasion. At least, I believe, +every reader will agree with me, that the above-mentioned +sentiments, to which I might have added several others, would +have been better suited to the court of Augustus than that of Muley +Moloch. I grant they are beautiful in themselves, and much +more so in that noble language, which was peculiar to this great +poet. I only observe, that they are improper for the persons who +make use of them."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The catastrophe of the tragedy may be also censured, not only +on the grounds objected to that of "Œdipus," but because it does +not naturally flow from the preceding events, and opens, in the +fifth act, a new set of persons, and a train of circumstances, unconnected +with the preceding action. In the concluding scene, it +was remarked, by the critics, that there is a want of pure taste +in the lovers dwelling more upon the pleasures than the horrors +of their incestuous connection.</p> + +<p>Of the lighter scenes, which were intended for comic, Dr Johnson +has said, "they are such as that age did not probably commend, +and as the present would not endure." Dryden has remarked, +with self-complacency, the art with which they are made to +<span class="pgnm">282</span><a id="page_282" name="page_282"></a> +depend upon the serious business. This has not, however, the merit +of novelty; being not unlike the connection between the tragic +and comic scenes of the "Spanish Friar." The persons introduced +have also some resemblance; though the gaiety of Antonio +is far more gross than that of Lorenzo, and Morayma is a very +poor copy of Elvira. It is rather surprising, that when a gay libertine +was to be introduced, Dryden did not avail himself of a real +character, the English Stukely; a wild gallant, who, after spending a +noble fortune, became the leader of a band of Italian Condottieri, +engaged in the service of Sebastian, and actually fell in the battle +of Alcazar. Collier complains, and with very good reason, that, +in the character of the Mufti, Dryden has seized an opportunity +to deride and calumniate the priesthood of every religion; an opportunity +which, I am sorry to say, he seldom fails to use with +unjustifiable inveteracy. The rabble scenes were probably given, +as our author himself says of that in Cleomenes, "to gratify the +more barbarous part of the audience." Indeed, to judge from the +practice of the drama at this time, the representation of a riot +upon the stage seems to have had the same charms for the popular +part of the English audience, which its reality always possesses +in the streets.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the excellence of this tragedy, it appears to +have been endured, rather than applauded, at its first representation; +although, being judiciously curtailed, it soon became a +great favourite with the public<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_1-3">[3]</a>; and, omitting the comic scenes, +may be again brought forward with advantage, when the public +shall be tired of children and of show. The tragedy of "Don +Sebastian" was acted and printed in 1690.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Sebas_1-1" name="Sebas_1-1"></a><p>"The Battle of Alcazar, with Captain Stukely's death, acted by the +Lord High Admiral's servants, 1594," 4to. Baker thinks Dryden might have +taken the hint of "Don Sebastian" from this old play. Shakespeare drew +from it some of the bouncing rants of Pistol, as, "Feed, and be fat; my fair +Callipolis," &c.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_1-2" name="Sebas_1-2"></a><p>In a Zambra dance, introduced in the "Conquest of Granada," our author +had previously introduced the Moors bowing to the image of Jupiter; a +gross solecism, hardly more pardonable, as Langbaine remarks, than the introduction +of a pistol in the hand of Demetrius, a successor of Alexander the +Great, which Dryden has justly censured.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_1-3" name="Sebas_1-3"></a><p>Langbaine says, it was acted "with great applause;" but this must refer +to its reception after the first night; for the author's own expressions, that +"the audience endured it with much patience, and were weary with much +good nature and silence," exclude the idea of a brilliant reception on the +first representation. See the beginning of the Preface.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">283</span><a id="page_283" name="page_283"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">TO +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE +PHILIP,<br /> +EARL OF LEICESTER, &c.<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_2-1">[1]</a></h3> + +<p>Far be it from me, my most noble lord, to think, +that any thing which my meanness can produce, +should be worthy to be offered to your patronage; +or that aught which I can say of you should recommend +you farther to the esteem of good men +in this present age, or to the veneration which will +<span class="pgnm">284</span><a id="page_284" name="page_284"></a> +certainly be paid you by posterity. On the other +side, I must acknowledge it a great presumption in +me, to make you this address; and so much the +greater, because by the common suffrage even of +contrary parties, you have been always regarded as +one of the first persons of the age, and yet not one +writer has dared to tell you so; whether we have +been all conscious to ourselves that it was a needless +labour to give this notice to mankind, as all +men are ashamed to tell stale news; or that we +were justly diffident of our own performances, as +even Cicero is observed to be in awe when he writes +to Atticus; where, knowing himself over-matched in +good sense, and truth of knowledge, he drops the +gaudy train of words, and is no longer the vain-glorious +orator. From whatever reason it may be, +I am the first bold offender of this kind: I have +broken down the fence, and ventured into the holy +grove. How I may be punished for my profane +attempt, I know not; but I wish it may not be of +ill omen to your lordship: and that a crowd of bad +writers do not rush into the quiet of your recesses +after me. Every man in all changes of government, +which have been, or may possibly arrive, will +agree, that I could not have offered my incense, +where it could be so well deserved. For you, my +lord, are secure in your own merit; and all parties, +as they rise uppermost, are sure to court you in +<span class="pgnm">285</span><a id="page_285" name="page_285"></a> +their turns; it is a tribute which has ever been paid +your virtue. The leading men still bring their +bullion to your mint, to receive the stamp of their +intrinsic value, that they may afterwards hope to +pass with human kind. They rise and fall in the +variety of revolutions, and are sometimes great, and +therefore wise in men's opinions, who must court +them for their interest. But the reputation of their +parts most commonly follows their success; few of +them are wise, but as they are in power; because +indeed, they have no sphere of their own, but, like +the moon in the Copernican system of the world, +are whirled about by the motion of a greater planet. +This it is to be ever busy; neither to give rest to +their fellow-creatures, nor, which is more wretchedly +ridiculous, to themselves; though, truly, the +latter is a kind of justice, and giving mankind a +due revenge, that they will not permit their own +hearts to be at quiet, who disturb the repose of all +beside them. Ambitious meteors! how willing they +are to set themselves upon the wing, and taking +every occasion of drawing upward to the sun, not +considering that they have no more time allowed +them for their mounting, than the short revolution +of a day; and that when the light goes from them, +they are of necessity to fall. How much happier +is he, (and who he is I need not say, for there is +but one phœnix in an age) who, centering on himself, +remains immoveable, and smiles at the madness +of the dance about him? he possesses the midst, +which is the portion of safety and content. He +will not be higher, because he needs it not; but by +the prudence of that choice, he puts it out of fortune's +power to throw him down. It is confest, +that if he had not so been born, he might have +been too high for happiness; but not endeavouring +to ascend, he secures the native height of his station +<span class="pgnm">286</span><a id="page_286" name="page_286"></a> +from envy, and cannot descend from what he +is, because he depends not on another. What a +glorious character was this once in Rome! I should +say, in Athens; when, in the disturbances of a state +as mad as ours, the wise Pomponius transported all +the remaining wisdom and virtue of his country +into the sanctuary of peace and learning. But I +would ask the world, (for you, my lord, are too +nearly concerned to judge this cause) whether there +may not yet be found a character of a noble Englishman, +equally shining with that illustrious Roman? +Whether I need to name a second Atticus? +or whether the world has not already prevented me, +and fixed it there, without my naming? Not a second, +with a <i>longo sed proximus intervallo</i>; not a +young Marcellus, flattered by a poet into the resemblance +of the first, with a <i>frons læta parum, et +dejecto lumina vultu</i>, and the rest that follows, <i>si +qua fata aspera rumpas, tu Marcellus eris</i>; but a +person of the same stamp and magnitude, who owes +nothing to the former, besides the word Roman, +and the superstition of reverence, devolving on him +by the precedency of eighteen hundred years; one +who walks by him with equal paces, and shares the +eyes of beholders with him; one who had been +first, had he first lived; and, in spite of doating veneration, +is still his equal: both of them born of +noble families, in unhappy ages of change and tumult; +both of them retiring from affairs of state; +yet not leaving the commonwealth, till it had left +itself; but never returning to public business, when +they had once quitted it, though courted by the +heads of either party. But who would trust the +quiet of their lives with the extravagancies of their +countrymen, when they are just in the giddiness +of their turning; when the ground was tottering +under them at every moment; and none could guess +<span class="pgnm">287</span><a id="page_287" name="page_287"></a> +whether the next heave of the earthquake would +settle them on the first foundation, or swallow it? +Both of them knew mankind exactly well, for both +of them began that study in themselves, and there +they found the best part of human composition; the +worst they learned by long experience of the folly, +ignorance, and immorality of most beside them. +Their philosophy, on both sides, was not wholly +speculative, for that is barren, and produces nothing +but vain ideas of things which cannot possibly be +known, or, if they could, yet would only terminate +in the understanding; but it was a noble, vigorous +and practical philosophy, which exerted itself in all +the offices of pity, to those who were unfortunate, +and deserved not so to be. The friend was always +more considered by them than the cause; and an +Octavius, or an Antony in distress, were relieved by +them, as well as a Brutus or a Cassius; for the +lowermost party, to a noble mind, is ever the fittest +object of good-will. The eldest of them, I will +suppose, for his honour, to have been of the academic +sect, neither dogmatist nor stoick; if he were +not, I am sure he ought, in common justice, to +yield the precedency to his younger brother. For +stiffness of opinion is the effect of pride, and not of +philosophy; it is a miserable presumption of that +knowledge which human nature is too narrow to +contain; and the ruggedness of a stoick is only a +silly affectation of being a god,—to wind himself +up by pullies to an insensibility of suffering, and, +at the same time, to give the lie to his own experience, +by saying he suffers not, what he knows he +feels. True philosophy is certainly of a more pliant +nature, and more accommodated to human use; <i>Homo +sum, humani à me nihil alienum puto.</i> A wise +man will never attempt an impossibility; and such +it is to strain himself beyond the nature of his being, +<span class="pgnm">288</span><a id="page_288" name="page_288"></a> +either to become a deity, by being above suffering, +or to debase himself into a stock or stone, +by pretending not to feel it. To find in ourselves +the weaknesses and imperfections of our wretched +kind, is surely the most reasonable step we can +make towards the compassion of our fellow-creatures. +I could give examples of this kind in the +second Atticus. In every turn of state, without +meddling on either side, he has always been favourable +and assisting to opprest merit. The praises +which were given by a great poet to the late queen-mother, +on her rebuilding Somerset Palace, one part +of which was fronting to the mean houses on the +other side of the water, are as justly his:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>For the distrest and the afflicted lie</p> +<p>Most in his thoughts, and always in his eye<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_2-2">[2]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<p>Neither has he so far forgotten a poor inhabitant of +his suburbs, whose best prospect is on the garden of +Leicester House, but that more than once he has +been offering him his patronage, to reconcile him to +<span class="pgnm">289</span><a id="page_289" name="page_289"></a> +a world, of which his misfortunes have made him +weary<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_2-3">[3]</a>. There is another Sidney still remaining, +though there can never be another Spenser to deserve +the favour. But one Sidney gave his patronage +to the applications of a poet; the other offered +it unasked. Thus, whether as a second Atticus, or +a second Sir Philip Sidney, the latter in all respects +will not have the worse of the comparison; and if +he will take up with the second place, the world will +not so far flatter his modesty, as to seat him there, +unless it be out of a deference of manners, that he +may place himself where he pleases at his own +table.</p> + +<p>I may therefore safely conclude, that he, who, by +the consent of all men, bears so eminent a character, +will out of his inborn nobleness forgive the +presumption of this address. It is an unfinished picture, +I confess, but the lines and features are so like, +that it cannot be mistaken for any other; and +without writing any name under it, every beholder +must cry out, at first sight,—this was designed for +Atticus; but the bad artist has cast too much of +him into shades. But I have this excuse, that even +the greatest masters commonly fall short of the best +faces. They may flatter an indifferent beauty; but +the excellencies of nature can have no right done +to them; for there both the pencil and pen are +overcome by the dignity of the subject; as our admirable +Waller has expressed it,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The heroe's race transcends the poet's thought.</p> +</div> + +<p>There are few in any age who can bear the load +<span class="pgnm">290</span><a id="page_290" name="page_290"></a> +of a dedication; for where praise is undeserved, it is +satire; though satire on folly is now no longer a +scandal to any one person, where a whole age is +dipt together. Yet I had rather undertake a multitude +one way, than a single Atticus the other; for +it is easier to descend than it is to climb. I should +have gone ashamed out of the world, if I had not +at least attempted this address, which I have long +thought owing: and if I had never attempted, I +might have been vain enough to think I might +have succeeded in it. Now I have made the experiment, +and have failed through my unworthiness, +I may rest satisfied, that either the adventure is not +to be atchieved, or that it is reserved for some other +hand.</p> + +<p>Be pleased, therefore, since the family of the Attici +is and ought to be above the common forms of +concluding letters, that I may take my leave in the +words of Cicero to the first of them: <i>Me, O Pomponi, +valdè pænitet vivere: tantùm te oro, ut quoniam +me ipse semper amàsti, ut eodem amore sis; ego nimirum +idem sum. Inimici mei mea mihi non meipsum +ademerunt. Cura, Attice, ut valeas.</i></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 1em;" class="noind">Dabam. Cal.<br /> +Jan. 1690.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Sebas_2-1" name="Sebas_2-1"></a><p>In order to escape as far as possible the odium, which after +the Revolution was attached to Dryden's politics and religion, he +seems occasionally to have sought for patrons amongst those Nobles +of opposite principles, whom moderation, or love of literature, +rendered superior to the suggestions of party rancour; or, as +he himself has expressed it in the Dedication of "Amphitryon," +who, though of a contrary opinion themselves, blamed him not for +adhering to a lost cause, and judging for himself what he could not +chuse but judge. Philip Sidney, the third earl of Leicester, had taken +an active part against the king in the civil wars, had been named one +of his judges, though he never look his seat among the regicides, +and had been one of Cromwell's Council of State. He was brother +of the famous Algernon Sidney, and although retired from party +strife, during the violent contests betwixt the Whigs and Tories in +1682-3, there can be no doubt which way his inclinations leaned. +He died 6th March, 1696-7, aged more than eighty years. +Mr Malone has strongly censured the strain of this Dedication, +because it represents Leicester as abstracted from parties and public +affairs, notwithstanding his active share in the civil wars. Yet +Dryden was not obliged to draw the portrait of his patron from +his conduct thirty years before; and if Leicester's character was +to be taken from the latter part of his life, surely the praise of +moderation is due to him, who, during the factious contests of +Charles II's. reign, in which his own brother made so conspicuous +a figure, maintained the neutrality of Pomponius Atticus.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_2-2" name="Sebas_2-2"></a><p>When Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I. and queen-dowager +of England, visited her son after the Restoration, she chose +Somerset-House for her residence, and added all the buildings +fronting the river. Cowley, whom she had long patronised, composed +a poem on the "Queen's repairing Somerset-House," to +which our author refers. Mr Malone's accuracy has detected a +slight alteration in the verses, as quoted by Dryden, and as written +by Cowley:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>If any prouder virtuoso's sense</p> +<p>At that part of my prospect take offence,</p> +<p>By which the meaner cabanes are descried</p> +<p>Of my imperial river's humbler side;</p> +<p>If they call that a blemish, let them know,</p> +<p>God and my godlike mistress think not so;</p> +<p>For the distressed and the afflicted lie</p> +<p>Most in <i>their care</i>, and always in <i>their</i> eye.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_2-3" name="Sebas_2-3"></a><p>Our poet's house was in Gerard-Street, looking upon the gardens +of Leicester-House.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">291</span><a id="page_291" name="page_291"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE +PREFACE.</h3> + +<p>Whether it happened through a long disuse of +writing, that I forgot the usual compass of a play, +or that, by crowding it with characters and incidents, +I put a necessity upon myself of lengthening +the main action, I know not; but the first day's +audience sufficiently convinced me of my error, and +that the poem was insupportably too long. It is +an ill ambition of us poets, to please an audience +with more than they can bear; and supposing that +we wrote as well as vainly we imagine ourselves to +write, yet we ought to consider, that no man can +bear to be long tickled. There is a nauseousness in +a city-feast, when we are to sit four hours after we +are cloyed. I am therefore, in the first place, to +acknowledge, with all manner of gratitude, their +civility, who were pleased to endure it with so +much patience; to be weary with so much good-nature +and silence; and not to explode an entertainment +which was designed to please them, or +discourage an author, whose misfortunes have once +<span class="pgnm">292</span><a id="page_292" name="page_292"></a> +more brought him, against his will, upon the stage. +While I continue in these bad circumstances, (and, +truly, I see very little probability of coming out) +I must be obliged to write; and if I may still hope +for the same kind usage, I shall the less repent of +that hard necessity. I write not this out of any +expectation to be pitied, for I have enemies enow +to wish me yet in a worse condition; but give me +leave to say, that if I can please by writing, as I shall +endeavour it, the town may be somewhat obliged +to my misfortunes for a part of their diversion. +Having been longer acquainted with the stage than +any poet now living, and having observed how difficult +it was to please; that the humours of comedy +were almost spent; that love and honour (the +mistaken topics of tragedy) were quite worn out; +that the theatres could not support their charges; +that the audience forsook them; that young men, +without learning, set up for judges, and that they +talked loudest, who understood the least; all these +discouragements had not only weaned me from the +stage, but had also given me a loathing of it. But +enough of this: the difficulties continue; they increase; +and I am still condemned to dig in those +exhausted mines.</p> + +<p>Whatever fault I next commit, rest assured it +shall not be that of too much length: Above twelve +hundred lines have been cut off from this tragedy +since it was first delivered to the actors. They +were indeed so judiciously lopped by Mr Betterton, +to whose care and excellent action I am equally obliged, +that the connection of the story was not lost; +but, on the other side, it was impossible to prevent +some part of the action from being precipitated, and +coming on without that due preparation which is +required to all great events: as, in particular, that +of raising the mobile, in the beginning of the fourth +act, which a man of Benducar's cool character +<span class="pgnm">293</span><a id="page_293" name="page_293"></a> +could not naturally attempt, without taking all +those precautions, which he foresaw would be necessary +to render his design successful. On this +consideration, I have replaced those lines through +the whole poem, and thereby restored it to that +clearness of conception, and (if I may dare to say it) +that lustre and masculine vigour, in which it was +first written. It is obvious to every understanding +reader, that the most poetical parts, which are descriptions, +images, similitudes, and moral sentences, +are those which of necessity were to be pared away, +when the body was swollen into too large a bulk +for the representation of the stage. But there is a +vast difference betwixt a public entertainment on +the theatre, and a private reading in the closet: In +the first, we are confined to time; and though we +talk not by the hour-glass, yet the watch often +drawn out of the pocket warns the actors that their +audience is weary; in the last, every reader is judge +of his own convenience; he can take up the book +and lay it down at his pleasure, and find out those +beauties of propriety in thought and writing, which +escaped him in the tumult and hurry of representing. +And I dare boldly promise for this play, that +in the roughness of the numbers and cadences, +(which I assure was not casual, but so designed) +you will see somewhat more masterly arising to +your view, than in most, if not any, of my former +tragedies. There is a more noble daring in the +figures, and more suitable to the loftiness of the +subject; and, besides this, some newnesses of English, +translated from the beauties of modern tongues, +as well as from the elegancies of the Latin; and +here and there some old words are sprinkled, which, +for their significance and sound, deserved not to be +antiquated; such as we often find in Sallust amongst +the Roman authors, and in Milton's "Paradise" +<span class="pgnm">294</span><a id="page_294" name="page_294"></a> +amongst ours; though perhaps the latter, instead +of sprinkling, has dealt them with too free a hand, +even sometimes to the obscuring of his sense.</p> + +<p>As for the story, or plot, of the tragedy, it is +purely fiction; for I take it up where the history +has laid it down. We are assured by all writers of +those times, that Sebastian, a young prince of great +courage and expectation, undertook that war, partly +upon a religious account, partly at the solicitation +of Muley Mahomet, who had been driven out +of his dominions by Abdelmelech, or, as others call +him, Muley Moluch, his nigh kinsman, who descended +from the same family of Xeriffs, whose fathers, +Hamet and Mahomet, had conquered that +empire with joint forces, and shared it betwixt them +after their victory; that the body of Don Sebastian +was never found in the field of battle, which gave +occasion for many to believe, that he was not slain<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_3-1">[1]</a>; +<span class="pgnm">295</span><a id="page_295" name="page_295"></a> +that some years after, when the Spaniards, with a +pretended title, by force of arms, had usurped the +crown of Portugal from the house of Braganza, a +certain person, who called himself Don Sebastian, +and had all the marks of his body and features of +his face, appeared at Venice, where he was owned +by some of his countrymen; but being seized by +the Spaniards, was first imprisoned, then sent to the +gallies, and at last put to death in private. It is +most certain, that the Portuguese expected his return +for almost an age together after that battle, +which is at least a proof of their extreme love to +his memory; and the usage they had from their +new conquerors, might possibly make them so extravagant +in their hopes and wishes for their old +master<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_3-2">[2]</a>.</p> + +<p>This ground-work the history afforded me, and I +desire no better to build a play upon; for where +the event of a great action is left doubtful, there +the poet is left master. He may raise what he pleases +on that foundation, provided he makes it of a +<span class="pgnm">296</span><a id="page_296" name="page_296"></a> +piece, and according to the rule of probability. +From hence I was only obliged, that Sebastian +should return to Portugal no more; but at the +same time I had him at my own disposal, whether +to bestow him in Afric, or in any other corner of +the world, or to have closed the tragedy with his +death; and the last of these was certainly the most +easy, but for the same reason the least artful; because, +as I have somewhere said, the poison and the +dagger are still at hand to butcher a hero, when a +poet wants the brains to save him. It being therefore +only necessary, according to the laws of the +drama, that Sebastian should no more be seen upon +the throne, I leave it for the world to judge, whether +or no I have disposed of him according to art, +or have bungled up the conclusion of his adventure. +In the drawing of his character, I forgot not piety, +which any one may observe to be one principal ingredient +of it, even so far as to be a habit in him; +though I shew him once to be transported from it +by the violence of a sudden passion, to endeavour a +self-murder. This being presupposed, that he was +religious, the horror of his incest, though innocently +committed, was the best reason which the stage +could give for hindering his return. It is true, I +have no right to blast his memory with such a +crime; but declaring it to be fiction, I desire my +audience to think it no longer true, than while they +are seeing it represented; for that once ended, he +may be a saint, for aught I know, and we have reason +to presume he is. On this supposition, it was +unreasonable to have killed him; for the learned +Mr Rymer has well observed, that in all punishments +we are to regulate ourselves by poetical justice; +and according to those measures, an involuntary +sin deserves not death; from whence it follows, +<span class="pgnm">297</span><a id="page_297" name="page_297"></a> +that to divorce himself from the beloved object, +to retire into a desert, and deprive himself of +a throne, was the utmost punishment which a poet +could inflict, as it was also the utmost reparation +which Sebastian could make. For what relates to +Almeyda, her part is wholly fictitious. I know it is +the surname of a noble family in Portugal, which +was very instrumental in the restoration of Don +John de Braganza, father to the most illustrious and +most pious princess, our queen-dowager. The French +author of a novel, called "Don Sebastian," has given +that name to an African lady of his own invention, +and makes her sister to Muley Mahomet; but I +have wholly changed the accidents, and borrowed +nothing but the supposition, that she was beloved +by the king of Portugal. Though, if I had taken +the whole story, and wrought it up into a play, I +might have done it exactly according to the practice +of almost all the ancients, who were never accused +of being plagiaries for building their tragedies +on known fables. Thus, Augustus Cæsar wrote an +"Ajax," which was not the less his own, because +Euripides had written a play before him on that +subject. Thus, of late years, Corneille writ an "Œdipus" +after Sophocles; and I have designed one after +him, which I wrote with Mr Lee; yet neither +the French poet stole from the Greek, nor we from +the Frenchman. It is the contrivance, the new +turn, and new characters, which alter the property, +and make it ours. The <i>materia poetica</i> is as common +to all writers, as the <i>materia medica</i> to all physicians. +Thus, in our Chronicles, Daniel's history is +still his own, though Matthew Paris, Stow, and +Hollingshed writ before him; otherwise we must +have been content with their dull relations, if a +better pen had not been allowed to come after them, +<span class="pgnm">298</span><a id="page_298" name="page_298"></a> +and writ his own account after a new and better +manner.</p> + +<p>I must further declare freely, that I have not exactly +kept to the three mechanic rules of unity. I +knew them, and had them in my eye, but followed +them only at a distance; for the genius of the English +cannot bear too regular a play: we are given to +variety, even to a debauchery of pleasure. My +scenes are therefore sometimes broken, because my +underplot required them so to be, though the general +scene remains,—of the same castle; and I have +taken the time of two days, because the variety of +accidents, which are here represented, could not naturally +be supposed to arrive in one: but to gain a +greater beauty, it is lawful for a poet to supersede a +less.</p> + +<p>I must likewise own, that I have somewhat deviated +from the known history, in the death of +Muley Moluch, who, by all relations, died of a fever +in the battle, before his army had wholly won +the field; but if I have allowed him another day +of life, it was because I stood in need of so shining +a character of brutality as I have given him; which +is indeed the same with that of the present emperor +Muley-Ishmael, as some of our English officers, +who have been in his court, have credibly informed +me.</p> + +<p>I have been listening—what objections had been +made against the conduct of the play; but found +them all so trivial, that if I should name them, a +true critic would imagine that I played booty, and +only raised up phantoms for myself to conquer. +Some are pleased to say—the writing is dull; but, +<i>ætatem habet, de se loquatur.</i> Others, that the double +poison is unnatural: let the common received opinion, +and Ausonius his famous epigram, answer +<span class="pgnm">299</span><a id="page_299" name="page_299"></a> +that<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_3-3">[3]</a>. Lastly, a more ignorant sort of creatures +than either of the former maintain, that the character +of Dorax is not only unnatural, but inconsistent +with itself: let them read the play, and +think again; and if yet they are not satisfied, cast +their eyes on that chapter of the wise Montaigne, +which is intitled, <i>De l'Inconstance des Actions humaines</i>. +A longer reply is what those cavillers deserve +not; but I will give them and their fellows +to understand, that the earl of Dorset was pleased +to read the tragedy twice over before it was acted, +and did me the favour to send me word, that I had +written beyond any of my former plays, and that he +was displeased any thing should be cut away. If I +have not reason to prefer his single judgment to a +whole faction, let the world be judge; for the opposition +is the same with that of Lucan's hero +against an army; <i>concurrere bellum, atque virum</i>.</p> + +<p>I think I may modestly conclude, that whatever +errors there may be, either in the design, or writing +of this play, they are not those which have been +objected to it. I think also, that I am not yet arrived +to the age of doting; and that I have given +so much application to this poem, that I could not +probably let it run into many gross absurdities; +<span class="pgnm">300</span><a id="page_300" name="page_300"></a> +which may caution my enemies from too rash a +censure, and may also encourage my friends, who +are many more than I could reasonably have expected, +to believe their kindness has not been very +undeservedly bestowed on me. This is not a play +that was huddled up in haste; and, to shew it was +not, I will own, that, besides the general moral of +it, which is given in the four last lines, there is also +another moral, couched under every one of the +principal parts and characters, which a judicious +critic will observe, though I point not to it in this +preface. And there may be also some secret beauties +in the decorum of parts, and uniformity of design, +which my puny judges will not easily find out: +let them consider in the last scene of the fourth +act, whether I have not preserved the rule of decency, +in giving all the advantage to the royal character, +and in making Dorax first submit. Perhaps +too they may have thought, that it was through indigence +of characters that I have given the same to Sebastian +and Almeyda, and consequently made them +alike in all things but their sex. But let them look +a little deeper into the matter, and they will find, +that this identity of character in the greatness of +their souls was intended for a preparation of the +final discovery, and that the likeness of their nature +was a fair hint to the proximity of their blood.</p> + +<p>To avoid the imputation of too much vanity, (for +all writers, and especially poets, will have some,) I +will give but one other instance, in relation to the +uniformity of the design. I have observed, that +the English will not bear a thorough tragedy; but +are pleased, that it should be lightened with underparts +of mirth. It had been easy for me to have +given my audience a better course of comedy, I +mean a more diverting, than that of Antonio and +Morayma; but I dare appeal, even to my enemies, +<span class="pgnm">301</span><a id="page_301" name="page_301"></a> +if I, or any man, could have invented one, which +had been more of a piece, and more depending on +the serious part of the design. For what could be +more uniform, than to draw from out of the members +of a captive court, the subject of a comical entertainment? +To prepare this episode, you see Dorax +giving the character of Antonio, in the beginning +of the play, upon his first sight of him at the +lottery; and to make the dependence, Antonio is +engaged, in the fourth act, for the deliverance of +Almeyda; which is also prepared, by his being first +made a slave to the captain of the rabble.</p> + +<p>I should beg pardon for these instances; but perhaps +they may be of use to future poets, in the conduct +of their plays; at least, if I appear too positive, +I am growing old, and thereby in possession +of some experience, which men in years will always +assume for a right of talking. Certainly if a man +can ever have reason to set a value on himself, it is +when his ungenerous enemies are taking the advantage +of the times upon him, to ruin him in his reputation. +And therefore, for once, I will make +bold to take the counsel of my old master Virgil,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><i>Tu ne cede mails, sed contrà audentior ito.</i></p> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Sebas_3-1" name="Sebas_3-1"></a><p>There was a Portuguese prophecy to this purpose, which they +applied to the expected return of Sebastian:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Vendra et Incubierto,</p> +<p>Vendra cierto;</p> +<p>Entrera en el huerto,</p> +<p>Per el puerto,</p> +<p>Questa mas a ca del muro;</p> +<p>Y'lo que paresce escuro,</p> +<p>Se vra claro e abierto.</p> +</div> + +<p>Two false Sebastians, both hermits, laid claim to the throne of +Portugal. One was hanged, and the other died in the galleys. +Vide <i>Le Quien's Histoire Generale de Portugal</i>.—There are two +tracts which appear to regard the last of these impostors, and which +may have furnished our author with some slight hints; namely, +"The true History of the late and lamentable Adventures of Don +Sebastian, King of Portugal, after his imprisonment at Naples until +this present day, being now in Spain, at San Lucar de Barrameda.—1602;" +and, "A continuation of the lamentable +and admirable Adventures of Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, +with a Declaration of all his time employed since the Battle in +Africk against the Infidels, 1578, until this present year 1603. +London, 1603." Both pieces are reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, +Vols IV. and V.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_3-2" name="Sebas_3-2"></a><p>The uncertainty of his fate is alluded to by Fletcher:</p> + +<div class="poem"> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Wittypate.</span> In what service have ye been, sir?<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ruinous.</span> The first that fleshed me a soldier, sir,<br /> +Was that great battle at Alcazar, in Barbary,<br /> +Where the noble English Stukely fell, and where<br /> +The royal Portugal Sebastian ended<br /> +His untimely days.<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Wittypate.</span> Are you sure Sebastian died there?<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ruinous.</span> Faith, sir, there was some other rumour hoped<br /> +Amongst us, that he, wounded, escaped, and touched<br /> +On his native shore again, where finding his country at home<br /> +More distressed by the invasion of the Spaniard<br /> +Than his loss abroad, forsook it, still supporting<br /> +A miserable and unfortunate life,<br /> +Which where he ended is yet uncertain.<br /></p> + +<p class="citation"><i>Wit at several Weapons.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>I have printed this quotation as I find it in the edition of 1778; +though I am unable to discover what pretensions it claims to be +arranged as blank verse.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_3-3" name="Sebas_3-3"></a><div class="poem pi"> +<p>Toxica zelotypo dedit uxor mæcha marito,</p> +<p class="i1">Nec satis ad mortem credidit esse datum.</p> +<p>Micuit argenti letalia pondera vivi;</p> +<p class="i1">Cogeret ut celerem vis geminata necem.</p> +<p>Dividat hæc si quis, faciunt discreta venenum:</p> +<p class="i1">Antidotum sumet, qui sociata bibet.</p> +<p>Ergo inter sese dum noxia pocula certant,</p> +<p class="i1">Cessit letalis noxa salutiferæ.</p> +<p>Protinus et vacuos alvi petiere recessus</p> +<p class="i1">Lubrica dejectis quà via nota cibis.</p> +<p>Quàm pia cura déum! prodest crudelior uxor,</p> +<p class="i1">Et quum fata volunt, bina venena juvant.</p> +</div></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">302</span><a id="page_302" name="page_302"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PROLOGUE</h3> + +<h3 class="nomarg">SENT TO THE AUTHOR BY AN UNKNOWN HAND, AND PROPOSED +TO BE SPOKEN BY MRS MOUNTFORD, DRESSED LIKE +AN OFFICER.<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_4-1">[1]</a></h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Bright beauties, who in awful circle sit,</p> +<p>And you, grave synod of the dreadful pit,</p> +<p>And you the upper-tire of pop-gun wit,</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Pray ease me of my wonder, if you may;</p> +<p>Is all this crowd barely to see the play;</p> +<p>Or is't the poet's execution-day?</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>His breath is in your hands I will presume,</p> +<p>But I advise you to defer his doom,</p> +<p>Till you have got a better in his room;</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And don't maliciously combine together,</p> +<p>As if in spite and spleen you were come hither;</p> +<p>For he has kept the pen, tho' lost the feather<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_4-2">[2]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And, on my honour, ladies, I avow,</p> +<p>This play was writ in charity to you;</p> +<p>For such a dearth of wit who ever knew?</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="pgnm">303</span><a id="page_303" name="page_303"></a> +Sure 'tis a judgment on this sinful nation,</p> +<p>For the abuse of so great dispensation;</p> +<p>And, therefore, I resolve to change vocation.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>For want of petticoat, I've put on buff,</p> +<p>To try what may be got by lying rough:</p> +<p>How think you, sirs? is it not well enough?</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Of bully-critics I a troop would lead;</p> +<p>But, one replied,—Thank you, there's no such need,</p> +<p>I at Groom-Porter's, sir, can safer bleed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Another, who the name of danger loaths,</p> +<p>Vow'd he would go, and swore me forty oaths,</p> +<p>But that his horses were in body-clothes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>A third cried,—Damn my blood, I'll be content</p> +<p>To push my fortune, if the parliament</p> +<p>Would but recal claret from banishment.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>A fourth (and I have done) made this excuse—</p> +<p>I'd draw my sword in Ireland, sir, to chuse;</p> +<p>Had not their women gouty legs, and wore no shoes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Well, I may march, thought I, and fight, and trudge,</p> +<p>But, of these blades, the devil a man will budge;</p> +<p>They there would fight, e'en just as here they judge.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Here they will pay for leave to find a fault;</p> +<p>But, when their honour calls, they can't be bought;</p> +<p>Honour in danger, blood, and wounds is sought.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Lost virtue, whither fled? or where's thy dwelling</p> +<p>Who can reveal? at least, 'tis past my telling,</p> +<p>Unless thou art embarked for Inniskilling.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>On carrion-tits those sparks denounce their rage,</p> +<p>In boot of wisp and Leinster frise engage;</p> +<p>What would you do in such an equipage<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_4-3">[3]</a>?</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="pgnm">304</span><a id="page_304" name="page_304"></a> +The siege of Derry does you gallants threaten;</p> +<p>Not out of errant shame of being beaten,</p> +<p>As fear of wanting meat, or being eaten.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Were wit like honour, to be won by fighting,</p> +<p>How few just judges would there be of writing!</p> +<p>Then you would leave this villainous back-biting.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Your talents lie how to express your spite;</p> +<p>But, where is he who knows to praise aright?</p> +<p>You praise like cowards, but like critics fight.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Ladies, be wise, and wean these yearling calves,</p> +<p>Who, in your service too, are meer faux braves;</p> +<p>They judge, and write, and fight, and love—by halves.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Sebas_4-1" name="Sebas_4-1"></a><p>The humour of this intended prologue turns upon the unwillingness displayed +to attend King William into Ireland by many of the nobility and +gentry, who had taken arms at the Revolution. The truth is, that, though invited +to go as volunteers, they could not but consider themselves as hostages, +of whom William did not chuse to lose sight, lest, while he was conquering +Ireland, he might, perchance, lose England, by means of the very men by +whom he had won it. The disbanding of the royal regiment had furnished a subject +for the satirical wit of Buckingham, at least, such a piece is printed in his +Miscellanies; and for that of Shadwell, in his epilogue to Bury-fair. But Shadwell +was now poet-laureat, and his satire was privileged, like the wit of the ancient +royal jester. Our author was suspected of disaffection, and liable to +misconstruction: For which reason, probably, he declined this sarcastic prologue, +and substituted that which follows, the tone of which is submissive, +and conciliatory towards the government. Contrary to custom, it was spoken +by a woman.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_4-2" name="Sebas_4-2"></a><p>In allusion to his being deprived of the office of poet laureat.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_4-3" name="Sebas_4-3"></a><p>The Inniskilling horse, who behaved with great courage against King +James, joined Schomberg and King William's forces at Dundalk, in 1689, +rather resembled a foreign frey-corps, than regular troops. "They were +followed by multitudes of their women; they were uncouth in their appearance; +they rode on small horses, called <i>Garrons</i>; their pistols were not fixed +in holsters, but dangled about their persons, being slung to their sword-belts; +they offered, with spirit, to make always the forlorn of the army; but, upon +the first order they received, they cried out, 'They could thrive no longer, +since they were now put under orders.'—<i>Memoirs</i>, Vol. II. p. 133. The allusion +in the next verse is to the dreadful siege of Londonderry, when the +besieged suffered the last extremities of famine. The account of this memorable +leaguer, by the author just quoted, is a most spirited piece of historical +painting.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PROLOGUE,<br /> +SPOKEN BY A WOMAN.</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<table summary="Prologue"><tr> +<td><p>The judge removed, though he's no more my lord,</p> +<p>May plead at bar, or at the council-board:</p> +<p>So may cast poets write; there's no pretension</p> +<p>To argue loss of wit, from loss of pension.</p> +<p>Your looks are chearful; and in all this place</p> +<p>I see not one that wears a damning face.</p> +<p>The British nation is too brave, to show</p> +<p>Ignoble vengeance on a vanquished foe.</p> +<p>At last be civil to the wretch imploring;</p> +<p>And lay your paws upon him, without roaring.</p> +<p>Suppose our poet was your foe before,</p> +<p>Yet now, the business of the field is o'er;</p> +<p>'Tis time to let your civil wars alone,</p> +<p>When troops are into winter-quarters gone.</p> +<p>Jove was alike to Latian and to Phrygian;</p> +<p>And you well know, a play's of no religion.</p> +<p>Take good advice, and please yourselves this day;</p> +<p>No matter from what hands you have the play.</p> +<p><span class="pgnm">305</span><a id="page_305" name="page_305"></a> +Among good fellows every health will pass,</p> +<p>That serves to carry round another glass:</p> +<p>When with full bowls of Burgundy you dine,</p> +<p>Though at the mighty monarch you repine,</p> +<p>You grant him still Most Christian in his wine.</p> +<p class="i1">Thus far the poet; but his brains grow addle,</p> +<p>And all the rest is purely from this noddle.</p> +<p>You have seen young ladies at the senate-door,</p> +<p>Prefer petitions, and your grace implore;</p> +<p>However grave the legislators were,</p> +<p>Their cause went ne'er the worse for being fair.</p> +<p>Reasons as weak as theirs, perhaps, I bring;</p> +<p>But I could bribe you with as good a thing.</p> +<p>I heard him make advances of good nature;</p> +<p>That he, for once, would sheath his cutting satire.</p> +<p>Sign but his peace, he vows he'll ne'er again</p> +<p>The sacred names of fops and beaus profane.</p> +<p>Strike up the bargain quickly; for I swear,</p> +<p>As times go now, he offers very fair.</p> +<p>Be not too hard on him with statutes neither;</p> +<p>Be kind; and do not set your teeth together,</p> +<p>To stretch the laws, as coblers do their leather</p> +<p>Horses by Papists are not to be ridden,</p> +<p>But sure the muses' horse was ne'er forbidden;</p> +<p>For in no rate-book it was ever found</p> +<p>That Pegasus was valued at five pound<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_5-1">[1]</a>:</p> +<p>Fine him to daily drudging and inditing:</p> +<p>And let him pay his taxes out in writing.</p></td> +<td> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +}<br />}<br />}<br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +}<br />}<br />}<br /> +</td> +</tr></table> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Sebas_5-1" name="Sebas_5-1"></a><p>Alluding to the act for disarming the Catholics, by which, <i>inter alia</i>, it is +enacted, "that no Papist, or reputed Papist, so refusing, or making default, +as aforesaid, at any time after the 15th of May, 1689, shall, or may have, +and keep in his own possession, or in the possession of any other person for +his use, or at his disposition, any horse or horses, which shall be above the +value of L.5."—1st William and Mary, c. 15.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">306</span><a id="page_306" name="page_306"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.</h3> + +<div class="DramPer"> +Don <span class="cnm">Sebastian,</span> King of Portugal. +<p><span class="cnm">Muley-Moluch,</span> Emperor of Barbary.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Dorax,</span> a noble Portuguese, now a renegade; +formerly Don <span class="cnm">Alonzo de Sylvera,</span> Alcade, +or Governor of Alcazar.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Benducar,</span> chief Minister, and favourite to the +Emperor.</p> +<p>The Mufti <span class="cnm">Abdalla.</span></p> +<p><span class="cnm">Muley-Zeydan,</span> brother to the Emperor.</p> +<p>Don <span class="cnm">Antonio,</span> a young, noble, amorous Portuguese; +now a slave.</p> +<p>Don <span class="cnm">Alvarez,</span> an old counsellor to Don <span class="cnm">Sebastian;</span> +now a slave also.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Mustapha,</span> Captain of the Rabble.</p> +<p>Two Merchants.</p> +<p>Rabble.</p> +<p>A Servant to <span class="cnm">Benducar.</span></p> +<p>A Servant to the Mufti.</p> +</div> + +<div class="DramPer"> +<p><span class="cnm">Almeyda,</span> a captive Queen of Barbary.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Morayma,</span> daughter to the Mufti.</p> +<p><span class="cnm">Johayma,</span> chief wife to the Mufti.</p> +</div> + +<p>SCENE,—<i>In the Castle of Alcazar.</i></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">307</span><a id="page_307" name="page_307"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">DON SEBASTIAN,<br /> +KING OF PORTUGAL.</h3> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT I. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">The scene at Alcazar, representing a market-place +under the Castle.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Muley-Zeydan</span> and <span class="cnm">Benducar.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span> Now Africa's long wars are at an end,<br /> +And our parched earth is drenched in Christian blood;<br /> +My conquering brother will have slaves enow,<br /> +To pay his cruel vows for victory.—<br /> +What hear you of Sebastian, king of Portugal?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> He fell among a heap of slaughtered Moors,<br /> +Though yet his mangled carcase is not found.<br /> +The rival of our threatened empire, Mahomet,<br /> +Was hot pursued; and, in the general rout,<br /> +Mistook a swelling current for a ford,<br /> +And in Mucazar's flood was seen to rise:<br /> +Thrice was he seen: At length his courser plunged,<br /> +And threw him off; the waves whelmed over him,<br /> +And, helpless, in his heavy arms he drowned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">308</span><a id="page_308" name="page_308"></a> +<span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span> Thus, then, a doubtful title is extinguished;<br /> +Thus Moluch, still the favourite of fate,<br /> +Swims in a sanguine torrent to the throne,<br /> +As if our prophet only worked for him:<br /> +The heavens, and all the stars, are his hired servants;<br /> +As Muley-Zeydan were not worth their care,<br /> +And younger brothers but the draff of nature.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Be still, and learn the soothing arts of court:<br /> +Adore his fortune, mix with flattering crowds;<br /> +And, when they praise him most, be you the loudest.<br /> +Your brother is luxurious, close, and cruel;<br /> +Generous by fits, but permanent in mischief.<br /> +The shadow of a discontent would ruin us;<br /> +We must be safe, before we can be great.<br /> +These things observed, leave me to shape the rest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span> You have the key; he opens inward to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> So often tried, and ever found so true,<br /> +Has given me trust; and trust has given me means<br /> +Once to be false for all. I trust not him;<br /> +For, now his ends are served, and he grown absolute,<br /> +How am I sure to stand, who served those ends?<br /> +I know your nature open, mild, and grateful:<br /> +In such a prince the people may be blest,<br /> +And I be safe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span> My father!<span class="sdr">[Embracing him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> My future king, auspicious Muley-Zeydan!<br /> +Shall I adore you?—No, the place is public:<br /> +I worship you within; the outward act<br /> +Shall be reserved till nations follow me,<br /> +And heaven shall envy you the kneeling world.—<br /> +You know the alcade of Alcazar, Dorax?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span> The gallant renegade you mean?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> The same.<br /> +That gloomy outside, like a rusty chest,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">309</span><a id="page_309" name="page_309"></a> +Contains the shining treasure, of a soul<br /> +Resolved and brave: He has the soldiers' hearts,<br /> +And time shall make him ours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span> He's just upon us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I know him from afar,<br /> +By the long stride, and by the sullen port.—<br /> +Retire, my lord.<br /> +Wait on your brother's triumph; yours is next:<br /> +His growth is but a wild and fruitless plant;<br /> +I'll cut his barren branches to the stock,<br /> +And graft you on to bear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span> My oracle!<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">M. Zey.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Yes, to delude your hopes.—Poor credulous fool!<br /> +To think that I would give away the fruit<br /> +Of so much toil, such guilt, and such damnation!<br /> +If I am damned, it shall be for myself.<br /> +This easy fool must be my stale, set up<br /> +To catch the people's eyes: He's tame and merciful;<br /> +Him I can manage, till I make him odious<br /> +By some unpopular act; and then dethrone him.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Dorax.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Now, Dorax.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Well, Benducar.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Bare Benducar!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Thou would'st have titles; take them then,—chief minister,<br /> +First hangman of the state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Some call me, favourite.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> What's that?—his minion?—<br /> +Thou art too old to be a catamite!—<br /> +Now pr'ythee tell me, and abate thy pride,<br /> +Is not Benducar, bare, a better name<br /> +In a friend's mouth, than all those gaudy titles,<br /> +Which I disdain to give the man I love?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> But always out of humour,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">310</span><a id="page_310" name="page_310"></a> +<span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I have cause:<br /> +Though all mankind is cause enough for satire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Why, then, thou hast revenged thee on mankind.<br /> +They say, in fight, thou hadst a thirsty sword,<br /> +And well 'twas glutted there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I spitted frogs; I crushed a heap of emmets;<br /> +A hundred of them to a single soul,<br /> +And that but scanty weight too. The great devil<br /> +Scarce thanked me for my pains; he swallows vulgar<br /> +Like whipped cream,—feels them not in going down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Brave renegade!—Could'st thou not meet Sebastian?<br /> +Thy master had been worthy of thy sword.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> My master!—By what title?<br /> +Because I happened to be born where he<br /> +Happened to be king?—And yet I served him;<br /> +Nay, I was fool enough to love him too.—<br /> +You know my story, how I was rewarded<br /> +For fifteen hard campaigns, still hooped in iron,<br /> +And why I turned Mahometan. I'm grateful;<br /> +But whosoever dares to injure me,<br /> +Let that man know, I dare to be revenged.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Still you run off from bias:—Say, what moves<br /> +Your present spleen?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> You marked not what I told you.<br /> +I killed not one that was his maker's image;<br /> +I met with none but vulgar two-legged brutes:<br /> +Sebastian was my aim; he was a man:<br /> +Nay,—though he hated me, and I hate him,<br /> +Yet I must do him right,—he was a man,<br /> +Above man's height, even towering to divinity:<br /> +Brave, pious, generous, great, and liberal;<br /> +Just as the scales of heaven, that weigh the seasons.<br /> +He loved his people; him they idolized;<br /> +And thence proceeds my mortal hatred to him;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">311</span><a id="page_311" name="page_311"></a> +That, thus unblameable to all besides,<br /> +He erred to me alone:<br /> +His goodness was diffused to human kind,<br /> +And all his cruelty confined to me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> You could not meet him then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> No, though I sought<br /> +Where ranks fell thickest.—'Twas indeed the place<br /> +To seek Sebastian.—Through a track of death<br /> +I followed him, by groans of dying foes;<br /> +But still I came too late; for he was flown,<br /> +Like lightning, swift before me to new slaughters.<br /> +I mowed across, and made irregular harvest,<br /> +Defaced the pomp of battle, but in vain;<br /> +For he was still supplying death elsewhere.<br /> +This mads me, that perhaps ignoble hands<br /> +Have overlaid him,—for they could not conquer:<br /> +Murdered by multitudes, whom I alone<br /> +Had right to slay. I too would have been slain;<br /> +That, catching hold upon his flitting ghost,<br /> +I might have robbed him of his opening heaven,<br /> +And dragged him down with me, spite of predestination.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> 'Tis of as much import as Africk's worth,<br /> +To know what came of him, and of Almeyda,<br /> +The sister of the vanquished Mahomet,<br /> +Whose fatal beauty to her brother drew<br /> +The land's third part, as Lucifer did heaven's.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I hope she died in her own female calling,<br /> +Choked up with man, and gorged with circumcision.<br /> +As for Sebastian, we must search the field;<br /> +And, where we see a mountain of the slain,<br /> +Send one to climb, and, looking down below,<br /> +There he shall find him at his manly length,<br /> +With his face up to heaven, in the red monument,<br /> +Which his true sword has digged.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Yet we may possibly hear farther news;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">312</span><a id="page_312" name="page_312"></a> +For, while our Africans pursued the chace,<br /> +The captain of the rabble issued out,<br /> +With a black shirtless train, to spoil the dead,<br /> +And seize the living.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Each of them an host,<br /> +A million strong of vermin every villain:<br /> +No part of government, but lords of anarchy,<br /> +Chaos of power, and privileged destruction.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Yet I must tell you, friend, the great must use them<br /> +Sometimes, as necessary tools of tumult.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I would use them<br /> +Like dogs in times of plague; outlaws of nature,<br /> +Fit to be shot and brained, without a process,<br /> +To stop infection; that's their proper death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> No more;—<br /> +Behold the emperor coming to survey<br /> +The slaves, in order to perform his vow.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Muley-Moluch</span> the Emperor, with Attendants; +the Mufti, and <span class="cnm">Muley-Zeydan.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Our armours now may rust; our idle scymiters<br /> +Hang by our sides for ornament, not use:<br /> +Children shall beat our atabals and drums,<br /> +And all the noisy trades of war no more<br /> +Shall wake the peaceful morn; the Xeriff's blood<br /> +No longer in divided channels runs,<br /> +The younger house took end in Mahomet:<br /> +Nor shall Sebastian's formidable name<br /> +Be longer used to lull the crying babe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> For this victorious day, our mighty prophet<br /> +Expects your gratitude, the sacrifice<br /> +Of Christian slaves, devoted, if you won.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> The purple present shall be richly paid;<br /> +That vow performed, fasting shall be abolished;<br /> +None e'er served heaven well with a starved face:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">313</span><a id="page_313" name="page_313"></a> +Preach abstinence no more; I tell thee, Mufti,<br /> +Good feasting is devout; and thou, our head,<br /> +Hast a religious, ruddy countenance.<br /> +We will have learned luxury; our lean faith<br /> +Gives scandal to the christians; they feed high:<br /> +Then look for shoals of converts, when thou hast<br /> +Reformed us into feasting.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Fasting is but the letter of the law,<br /> +Yet it shews well to preach it to the vulgar;<br /> +Wine is against our law; that's literal too,<br /> +But not denied to kings and to their guides;<br /> +Wine is a holy liquor for the great.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] This Mufti, in my conscience, is +some English renegado, he talks so savourily of +toping.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Bring forth the unhappy relicks of the +war.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Mustapha,</span> Captain of the Rabble, with his +followers of the Black Guard, &c. and other Moors; +With them a Company of Portuguese Slaves, without +any of the chief Persons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> These are not fit to pay an emperor's vow;<br /> +Our bulls and rams had been more noble victims:<br /> +These are but garbage, not a sacrifice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> The prophet must not pick and chuse his offerings;<br /> +Now he has given the day, 'tis past recalling,<br /> +And he must be content with such as these.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> But are these all? Speak you, that are their masters.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> All, upon my honour; if you will take +them as their fathers got them, so; if not, you +must stay till they get a better generation. These +christians are mere bunglers; they procreate nothing +but out of their own wives, and these have all +the looks of eldest sons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">314</span><a id="page_314" name="page_314"></a> +<span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Pain of your lives, let none conceal a slave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Let every man look to his own conscience; +I am sure mine shall never hang me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Thou speak'st as if thou wert privy to +concealments; then thou art an accomplice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Nay, if accomplices must suffer, it may +go hard with me: but here's the devil on't, there's +a great man, and a holy man too, concerned with +me; now, if I confess, he'll be sure to escape between +his greatness and his holiness, and I shall be +murdered, because of my poverty and rascality.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> [<i>Winking at him.</i>]<br /> +Then, if thy silence save the great and holy,<br /> +'Tis sure thou shalt go straight to paradise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> 'Tis a fine place, they say; but, doctor, +I am not worthy on't. I am contented with this +homely world; 'tis good enough for such a poor, +rascally Mussulman, as I am; besides, I have +learnt so much good manners, doctor, as to let my +betters be served before me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Thou talk'st as if the Mufti were concerned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Your majesty may lay your soul on't. +But, for my part, though I am a plain fellow, yet +I scorn to be tricked into paradise; I would he should +know it. The truth on't is, an't like you, his reverence +bought of me the flower of all the market: +these—these are but dogs-meat to them; and a round +price he paid me, too, I'll say that for him; but not +enough for me to venture my neck for. If I get paradise +when my time comes, I can't help myself; +but I'll venture nothing before-hand, upon a blind +bargain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Where are those slaves? produce them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> They are not what he says.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> No more excuses. [<i>One goes out to fetch them.</i><br /> +<span class="pgnm">315</span><a id="page_315" name="page_315"></a> +Know, thou may'st better dally<br /> +With a dead prophet, than a living king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> I but reserved them to present thy greatness<br /> +An offering worthy thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> By the same token there was a dainty +virgin, (virgin, said I! but I wont be too positive of +that, neither) with a roguish leering eye! he paid me +down for her upon the nail a thousand golden sultanins, +or he had never had her, I can tell him that; +now, is it very likely he would pay so dear for such +a delicious morsel, and give it away out of his own +mouth, when it had such a farewell with it too?</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Sebastian,</span> conducted in mean Habit, with +<span class="cnm">Alvarez, Antonio,</span> and <span class="cnm">Almeyda,</span> her Face +veiled with a Barnus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Ay; these look like the workmanship of heaven;<br /> +This is the porcelain clay of human kind,<br /> +And therefore cast into these noble moulds.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> By all my wrongs, +<span class="sdr">[Aside, while the Emperor whispers Benducar.</span><br /> +'Tis he! damnation seize me, but 'tis he!<br /> +My heart heaves up and swells; he's poison to me;<br /> +My injured honour, and my ravished love,<br /> +Bleed at their murderer's sight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ben.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside to Dor.</span>]<br /> +The emperor would learn these prisoners' names;<br /> +You know them?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Tell him, no;<br /> +And trouble me no more—I will not know them.<br /> +Shall I trust heaven, that heaven which I renounced,<br /> +With my revenge? Then, where's my satisfaction?<br /> +No; It must be my own, I scorn a proxy.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> 'Tis decreed;<br /> +These of a better aspect, with the rest,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">316</span><a id="page_316" name="page_316"></a> +Shall share one common doom, and lots decide it.<br /> +For every numbered captive, put a ball<br /> +Into an urn; three only black be there,<br /> +The rest, all white, are safe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Hold, sir; the woman must not draw.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol</span> O Mufti,<br /> +We know your reason; let her share the danger.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Our law says plainly, women have no souls.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M, Mol.</span> 'Tis true; their souls are mortal, set her by;<br /> +Yet, were Almeyda here, though fame reports her<br /> +The fairest of her sex, so much, unseen,<br /> +I hate the sister of our rival-house,<br /> +Ten thousand such dry notions of our Alcoran<br /> +Should not protect her life, if not immortal;<br /> +Die as she could, all of a piece, the better<br /> +That none of her remain.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Here an Urn is brought in; the Prisoners approach +with great concernment, and among the +rest, <span class="cnm">Sebastian, Alvarez,</span> and <span class="cnm">Antonio,</span> +who come more chearfully.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Poor abject creatures, how they fear to die!<br /> +These never knew one happy hour in life,<br /> +Yet shake to lay it down. Is load so pleasant?<br /> +Or has heaven hid the happiness of death,<br /> +That men may dare to live?—Now for our heroes. +<span class="sdr">[The Three approach.</span><br /> +O, these come up with spirits more resolved.<br /> +Old venerable Alvarez;—well I know him,<br /> +The favourite once of this Sebastian's father;<br /> +Now minister, (too honest for his trade)<br /> +Religion bears him out; a thing taught young,<br /> +In age ill practised, yet his prop in death.<br /> +O, he has drawn a black; and smiles upon't,<br /> +As who should say,—My faith and soul are white,<br /> +Though my lot swarthy: Now, if there be hereafter,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">317</span><a id="page_317" name="page_317"></a> +He's blest; if not, well cheated, and dies pleased.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Anton.</span> [<span class="sdm">Holding his lot in his clenched hand.</span>]<br /> +Here I have thee;<br /> +Be what thou wilt, I will not look too soon:<br /> +Thou hast a colour; if thou prov'st not right,<br /> +I have a minute good ere I behold thee.<br /> +Now, let me roll and grubble thee:<br /> +Blind men say, white feels smooth, and black feels rough;<br /> +Thou hast a rugged skin, I do not like thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> There's the amorous airy spark, Antonio,<br /> +The wittiest woman's toy in Portugal:<br /> +Lord, what a loss of treats and serenades!<br /> +The whole she-nation will be in mourning for him,</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Anton.</span> I've a moist sweaty palm; the more's my sin:<br /> +If it be black, yet only dyed, not odious<br /> +Damned natural ebony, there's hope, in rubbing,<br /> +To wash this Ethiop white.—[<span class="sdm">Looks.</span>] Pox o'the proverb!<br /> +As black as hell;—another lucky saying!<br /> +I think the devil's in me;—good again!<br /> +I cannot speak one syllable, but tends<br /> +To death or to damnation.<span class="sdr">[Holds up his ball.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> He looks uneasy at his future journey,<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +And wishes his boots off again, for fear<br /> +Of a bad road, and a worse inn at night.<br /> +Go to bed, fool, and take secure repose,<br /> +For thou shalt wake no more.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> comes up to draw.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> [<span class="sdm">To Ben.</span>] Mark him, who now approaches to the lottery:<br /> +He looks secure of death, superior greatness,<br /> +Like Jove, when he made Fate, and said, Thou art<br /> +The slave of my creation.—I admire him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> He looks as man was made; with face erect,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">318</span><a id="page_318" name="page_318"></a> +That scorns his brittle corpse, and seems ashamed<br /> +He's not all spirit; his eyes, with a dumb pride,<br /> +Accusing fortune that he fell not warm;<br /> +Yet now disdains to live.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> draws a black.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> He has his wish;<br /> +And I have failed of mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Robbed of my vengeance, by a trivial chance! +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +Fine work above, that their anointed care<br /> +Should die such little death! or did his genius<br /> +Know mine the stronger dæmon, feared the grapple,<br /> +And looking round him, found this nook of fate,<br /> +To skulk behind my sword?—Shall I discover him?—<br /> +Still he would not die mine; no thanks to my<br /> +Revenge; reserved but to more royal shambles.<br /> +'Twere base, too, and below those vulgar souls,<br /> +That shared his danger, yet not one disclosed him,<br /> +But, struck with reverence, kept an awful silence.<br /> +I'll see no more of this;—dog of a prophet!<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Dorax.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> One of these three is a whole hecatomb,<br /> +And therefore only one of them shall die:<br /> +The rest are but mute cattle; and when death<br /> +Comes like a rushing lion, couch like spaniels,<br /> +With lolling tongues, and tremble at the paw:<br /> +Let lots again decide it. +<span class="sdr">[The Three draw again; and the Lot falls on +<span class="cnm">Sebastian.</span></span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Then there's no more to manage: if I fall,<br /> +It shall be like myself; a setting sun<br /> +Should leave a track of glory in the skies.—<br /> +Behold Sebastian, king of Portugal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Sebastian! ha! it must be he; no other<br /> +Could represent such suffering majesty.<br /> +I saw him, as he terms himself, a sun<br /> +Struggling in dark eclipse, and shooting day<br /> +On either side of the black orb that veiled him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">319</span><a id="page_319" name="page_319"></a> +<span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Not less even in this despicable now,<br /> +Than when my name filled Afric with affright,<br /> +And froze your hearts beneath your torrid zone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">To M. Mol.</span>]<br /> +Extravagantly brave! even to an impudence<br /> +Of greatness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Here satiate all your fury:<br /> +Let fortune empty her whole quiver on me;<br /> +I have a soul, that, like an ample shield,<br /> +Can take in all, and verge enough for more.<br /> +I would have conquered you; and ventured only<br /> +A narrow neck of land for a third world,<br /> +To give my loosened subjects room to play.<br /> +Fate was not mine,<br /> +Nor am I fate's. Now I have pleased my longing,<br /> +And trod the ground which I beheld from far,<br /> +I beg no pity for this mouldering clay;<br /> +For, if you give it burial, there it takes<br /> +Possession of your earth;<br /> +If burnt and scattered in the air, the winds,<br /> +That strow my dust, diffuse my royalty,<br /> +And spread me o'er your clime: for where one atom<br /> +Of mine shall light, know, there Sebastian reigns.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> What shall I do to conquer thee?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Impossible!<br /> +Souls know no conquerors.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> I'll shew thee for a monster through my Afric.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> No, thou canst only shew me for a man:<br /> +Afric is stored with monsters; man's a prodigy,<br /> +Thy subjects have not seen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Thou talk'st as if<br /> +Still at the head of battle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Thou mistakest,<br /> +For then I would not talk.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Sure he would sleep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Till doomsday, when the trumpet sounds to rise;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">320</span><a id="page_320" name="page_320"></a> +For that's a soldier's call.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Thou'rt brave too late;<br /> +Thou shouldst have died in battle, like a soldier.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> I fought and fell like one, but death deceived me;<br /> +I wanted weight of feeble Moors upon me,<br /> +To crush my soul out.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Still untameable!<br /> +In what a ruin has thy head-strong pride,<br /> +And boundless thirst of empire, plunged thy people!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> What sayst thou? ha! no more of that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Behold,<br /> +What carcases of thine thy crimes have strewed,<br /> +And left our Afric vultures to devour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Those souls were those thy God intrusted with thee,<br /> +To cherish, not destroy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Witness, O heaven, how much<br /> +This sight concerns me! would I had a soul<br /> +For each of these; how gladly would I pay<br /> +The ransom down! But since I have but one,<br /> +'Tis a king's life, and freely 'tis bestowed.<br /> +Not your false prophet, but eternal justice<br /> +Has destined me the lot, to die for these:<br /> +'Tis fit a sovereign so should pay such subjects;<br /> +For subjects such as they are seldom seen,<br /> +Who not forsook me at my greatest need;<br /> +Nor for base lucre sold their loyalty,<br /> +But shared my dangers to the last event,<br /> +And fenced them with their own. These thanks I pay you; +<span class="sdr">[Wipes his eyes.</span><br /> +And know, that, when Sebastian weeps, his tears<br /> +Come harder than his blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> They plead too strongly<br /> +To be withstood. My clouds are gathering too,<br /> +In kindly mixture with his royal shower.<br /> +Be safe; and owe thy life, not to my gift,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">321</span><a id="page_321" name="page_321"></a> +But to the greatness of thy mind, Sebastian.<br /> +Thy subjects too shall live; a due reward<br /> +For their untainted faith, in thy concealment.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Remember, sir, your vow.<span class="sdr">[A general shout.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Do thou remember<br /> +Thy function, mercy, and provoke not blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mul. Zeyd.</span> One of his generous fits, too strong to last. +<span class="sdr">[Aside to <span class="cnm">Benducar.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> The Mufti reddens; mark that holy cheek.<span class="sdr">[To him.</span><br /> +He frets within, froths treason at his mouth,<br /> +And churns it thro' his teeth; leave me to work him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> A mercy unexpected, undesired,<br /> +Surprises more: you've learnt the art to vanquish.<br /> +You could not,—give me leave to tell you, sir,—<br /> +Have given me life but in my subjects' safety:<br /> +Kings, who are fathers, live but in their people.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Still great, and grateful; that's thy character.—<br /> +Unveil the woman; I would view the face,<br /> +That warmed our Mufti's zeal:<br /> +These pious parrots peck the fairest fruit:<br /> +Such tasters are for kings. +<span class="sdr">[Officers go to <span class="cnm">Almeyda</span> to unveil her.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Stand off, ye slaves! I will not be unveiled.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol</span> Slave is thy title:—force her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> On your lives, approach her not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> How's this!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sebast.</span> Sir, pardon me,<br /> +And hear me speak.—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aim.</span> Hear me; I will be heard.<br /> +I am no slave; the noblest blood of Afric<br /> +Runs in my veins; a purer stream than thine:<br /> +For, though derived from the same source, thy current<br /> +Is puddled and defiled with tyranny.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> What female fury have we here!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aim.</span> I should be one,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">322</span><a id="page_322" name="page_322"></a> +Because of kin to thee. Wouldst thou be touched<br /> +By the presuming hands of saucy grooms?<br /> +The same respect, nay more, is due to me:<br /> +More for my sex; the same for my descent.<br /> +These hands are only fit to draw the curtain.<br /> +Now, if thou dar'st, behold Almeyda's face.<span class="sdr">[Unveils herself.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Would I had never seen it!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> She whom thy Mufti taxed to have no soul;<br /> +Let Afric now be judge.<br /> +Perhaps thou think'st I meanly hope to 'scape,<br /> +As did Sebastian, when he owned his greatness.<br /> +But to remove that scruple, know, base man,<br /> +My murdered father, and my brother's ghost,<br /> +Still haunt this breast, and prompt it to revenge.<br /> +Think not I could forgive, nor dar'st thou pardon.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Wouldst thou revenge thee, trait'ress, hadst thou power?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Traitor, I would; the name's more justly thine;<br /> +Thy father was not, more than mine, the heir<br /> +Of this large empire: but with arms united<br /> +They fought their way, and seized the crown by force;<br /> +And equal as their danger was their share:<br /> +For where was eldership, where none had right<br /> +But that which conquest gave? 'Twas thy ambition<br /> +Pulled from my peaceful father what his sword<br /> +Helped thine to gain; surprised him and his kingdom,<br /> +No provocation given, no war declared.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> I'll hear no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> This is the living coal, that, burning in me,<br /> +Would flame to vengeance, could it find a vent;<br /> +My brother too, that lies yet scarcely cold<br /> +In his deep watery bed;—my wandering mother,<br /> +Who in exile died—<br /> +O that I had the fruitful heads of Hydra,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">323</span><a id="page_323" name="page_323"></a> +That one might bourgeon where another fell!<br /> +Still would I give thee work; still, still, thou tyrant,<br /> +And hiss thee with the last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">M. Mol.</span> Something, I know not what, comes over me:<br /> +Whether the toils of battle, unrepaired<br /> +With due repose, or other sudden qualm.—<br /> +Benducar, do the rest.<span class="sdr">[Goes off, the court follows him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Strange! in full health! this pang is of the soul;<br /> +The body's unconcerned: I'll think hereafter.—<br /> +Conduct these royal captives to the castle;<br /> +Bid Dorax use them well, till further order.<span class="sdr">[Going off, stops.</span><br /> +The inferior captives their first owners take,<br /> +To sell, or to dispose.—You Mustapha,<br /> +Set ope the market for the sale of slaves.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Bend</span>.</span><br /> +<span class="sdr">[The Masters and Slaves come forward, and Buyers +of several Qualities come in, and chaffer about +the several Owners, who make their slaves do +Tricks<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-1">[1]</a>.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> My chattels are come into my hands again, +and my conscience will serve me to sell them twice +<span class="pgnm">324</span><a id="page_324" name="page_324"></a> +over; any price now, before the Mufti come to +claim them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1st Mer.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Must.</span></span>] What dost hold that old +fellow at?—[<span class="sdm">Pointing to <span class="cnm">Alvar.</span></span>] He's tough, and +has no service in his limbs.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> I confess he's somewhat tough; but I +suppose you would not boil him, I ask for him a +thousand crowns.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1st Mer.</span> Thou mean'st a thousand marvedis.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Pr'ythee, friend, give me leave to know +my own meaning.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1st Mer.</span> What virtues has he to deserve that +price?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Marry come up, sir! virtues, quotha! I +took him in the king's company; he's of a great family, +and rich; what other virtues wouldst thou +have in a nobleman?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1st Mer.</span> I buy him with another man's purse, +that's my comfort. My lord Dorax, the governor, +will have him at any rate:—There's hansel. Come, +old fellow, to the castle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alvar.</span> To what is miserable age reserved!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +But oh the king! and oh the fatal secret!<br /> +Which I have kept thus long to time it better,<br /> +And now I would disclose, 'tis past my power. +<span class="sdr">[Exit with his Master.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Something of a secret, and of the king, +I heard him mutter: a pimp, I warrant him, for I +am sure he is an old courtier. Now, to put off +t'other remnant of my merchandize.—Stir up, +sirrah!<br /> +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Ant.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Dog, what wouldst thou have?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Learn better manners, or I shall serve +you a dog-trick; come down upon all-four immediately; +I'll make you know your rider.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou wilt not make a horse of me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">325</span><a id="page_325" name="page_325"></a> +<span class="cnm">Must.</span> Horse or ass, that's as thy mother made +thee: but take earnest, in the first place, for thy +sauciness.—[<span class="sdm">Lashes him with his Whip.</span>]—Be advised, +friend, and buckle to thy geers: Behold my +ensign of royalty displayed over thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I hope one day to use thee worse in Portugal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Ay, and good reason, friend; if thou catchest +me a-conquering on thy side of the water, lay +on me lustily; I will take it as kindly as thou dost +this.—<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Holds up his Whip.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Lying down.</span>] Hold, my dear Thrum-cap: +I obey thee cheerfully.—I see the doctrine of non-resistance +is never practised thoroughly, but when +a man can't help himself.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter a second Merchant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2d Mer.</span> You, friend, I would see that fellow do +his postures.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> [<span class="sdm">Bridling <span class="cnm">Ant.</span></span>] Now, sirrah, follow, for +you have rope enough: To your paces, villain, amble +trot, and gallop:—Quick about, there.—Yeap! +the more money's bidden for you, the more your +credit.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Antonio</span> follows, at the end of the Bridle, on +his Hands and Feet, and does all his Postures.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2d Mer.</span> He is well chined, and has a tolerable +good back; that is half in half.—[<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Must.</span></span>]—I +would see him strip; has he no diseases about him?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> He is the best piece of man's flesh in the +market, not an eye-sore in his whole body. Feel +his legs, master; neither splint, spavin, nor wind-gall.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Claps him on the Shoulder.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mer.</span> [<span class="sdm">Feeling about him, and then putting his +Hand on his Side.</span>] Out upon him, how his flank +heaves! The whore-son is broken-winded.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">326</span><a id="page_326" name="page_326"></a> +<span class="cnm">Must.</span> Thick-breathed a little; nothing but a +sorry cold with lying out a-nights in trenches; but +sound, wind and limb, I warrant him.—Try him at +a loose trot a little.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Puts the Bridle into his Hand, he strokes him.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> For heaven's sake, owner, spare me: you +know I am but new broken.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2d Mer.</span> 'Tis but a washy jade, I see: what do +you ask for this bauble?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Bauble, do you call him? he is a substantial +true-bred beast; bravely forehanded. Mark +but the cleanness of his shapes too: his dam may +be a Spanish gennet, but a true barb by the sire, or +I have no skill in horseflesh:—Marry, I ask six +hundred xeriffs for him.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Mufti.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mufti.</span> What is that you are asking, sirrah?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Marry, I ask your reverence six hundred +pardons; I was doing you a small piece of service +here, putting off your cattle for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mufti.</span> And putting the money into your own +pocket.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Upon vulgar reputation, no, my lord; it +was for your profit and emolument. What! wrong +the head of my religion? I was sensible you would +have damned me, or any man, that should have injured +you in a single farthing; for I knew that was +sacrifice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mufti.</span> Sacrilege, you mean, sirrah,—and damning +shall be the least part of your punishment: I +have taken you in the manner, and will have the +law upon you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Good my lord, take pity upon a poor +man in this world, and damn me in the next.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mufti.</span> No, sirrah, so you may repent and escape +<span class="pgnm">327</span><a id="page_327" name="page_327"></a> +punishment: Did not you sell this very slave +amongst the rest to me, and take money for him?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Right, my lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mufti.</span> And selling him again? take money twice +for the same commodity? Oh, villain! but did you +not know him to be my slave, sirrah?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Why should I lie to your honour? I did +know him; and thereupon, seeing him wander +about, took him up for a stray, and impounded +him, with intention to restore him to the right +owner.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mufti.</span> And yet at the same time was selling +him to another: How rarely the story hangs together!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Patience, my lord. I took him up, as +your herriot, with intention to have made the best +of him, and then have brought the whole product +of him in a purse to you; for I know you would +have spent half of it upon your pious pleasures, +have hoarded up the other half, and given the remainder +in charities to the poor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mufti.</span> And what's become of my other slave? +Thou hast sold him too, I have a villainous suspicion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> I know you have, my lord; but while I +was managing this young robustious fellow, that +old spark, who was nothing but skin and bone, and +by consequence very nimble, slipt through my fingers +like an eel, for there was no hold-fast of him, +and ran away to buy himself a new master.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muft.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Ant.</span></span>] Follow me home, sirrah:—[<span class="sdm">To +<span class="cnm">Must.</span></span>] I shall remember you some other time.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Mufti</span> with <span class="cnm">Ant.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> I never doubted your lordship's memory +for an ill turn: And I shall remember him too in +the next rising of the mobile for this act of resumption; +and more especially for the ghostly +<span class="pgnm">328</span><a id="page_328" name="page_328"></a> +counsel he gave me before the emperor, to have +hanged myself in silence to have saved his reverence. +The best on't is, I am beforehand with +him for selling one of his slaves twice over; and +if he had not come just in the nick, I might have +pocketed up the other; for what should a poor +man do that gets his living by hard labour, but +pray for bad times when he may get it easily? O +for some incomparable tumult! Then should I naturally +wish that the beaten party might prevail; +because we have plundered the other side already, +and there is nothing more to get of them.<br /> +<span class="i1">Both rich and poor for their own interest pray,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">'Tis ours to make our fortune while we may;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">For kingdoms are not conquered every day.</span><span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + + +<h4 class="scn">ACT II.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>Supposed to be a Terrace Walk, on the +side of the Castle of Alcazar.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Emperor</span> and <span class="cnm">Benducar.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> And thinkst thou not, it was discovered?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> No:<br /> +The thoughts of kings are like religious groves,<br /> +The walks of muffled gods: Sacred retreat,<br /> +Where none, but whom they please to admit, approach.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Did not my conscious eye flash out a flame,<br /> +To lighten those brown horrors, and disclose<br /> +The secret path I trod?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I could not find it, till you lent a clue<br /> +To that close labyrinth; how then should they?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I would be loth they should: it breeds contempt<br /> +For herds to listen, or presume to pry,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">329</span><a id="page_329" name="page_329"></a> +When the hurt lion groans within his den:<br /> +But is't not strange?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> To love? not more than 'tis to live; a tax<br /> +Imposed on all by nature, paid in kind,<br /> +Familiar as our being.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Still 'tis strange<br /> +To me: I know my soul as wild as winds,<br /> +That sweep the desarts of our moving plains;<br /> +Love might as well be sowed upon our sands,<br /> +As in a breast so barren.<br /> +To love an enemy, the only one<br /> +Remaining too, whom yester sun beheld<br /> +Mustering her charms, and rolling, as she past<br /> +By every squadron, her alluring eyes,<br /> +To edge her champions' swords, and urge my ruin.<br /> +The shouts of soldiers, and the burst of cannon,<br /> +Maintain even still a deaf and murmuring noise;<br /> +Nor is heaven yet recovered of the sound,<br /> +Her battle roused: Yet, spite of me, I love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> What then controuls you?<br /> +Her person is as prostrate as her party.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> A thousand things controul this conqueror:<br /> +My native pride to own the unworthy passion,<br /> +Hazard of interest, and my people's love.<br /> +To what a storm of fate am I exposed!—<br /> +What if I had her murdered!—'tis but what<br /> +My subjects all expect, and she deserves,—<br /> +Would not the impossibility<br /> +Of ever, ever seeing, or possessing,<br /> +Calm all this rage, this hurricane of soul?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> That <i>ever, ever,</i>—<br /> +I marked the double,—shows extreme reluctance<br /> +To part with her for ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Right, thou hast me.<br /> +I would, but cannot kill: I must enjoy her:<br /> +I must, and what I must, be sure I will.<br /> +What's royalty, but power to please myself?<br /> +<span class="pgnm">330</span><a id="page_330" name="page_330"></a> +And if I dare not, then am I the slave,<br /> +And my own slaves the sovereigns:—'tis resolved.<br /> +Weak princes flatter, when they want the power<br /> +To curb their people; tender plants must bend:<br /> +But when a government is grown to strength,<br /> +Like some old oak, rough with its armed bark,<br /> +It yields not to the tug, but only nods,<br /> +And turns to sullen state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Then you resolve<br /> +To implore her pity, and to beg relief?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Death! must I beg the pity of my slave?<br /> +Must a king beg?—Yes; love's a greater king;<br /> +A tyrant, nay, a devil, that possesses me:<br /> +He tunes the organs of my voice, and speaks,<br /> +Unknown to me, within me; pushes me,<br /> +And drives me on by force.—<br /> +Say I should wed her, would not my wise subjects<br /> +Take check, and think it strange? perhaps revolt?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I hope they would not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Then thou doubtst they would?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> To whom?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> To her<br /> +Perhaps,—or to my brother,—or to thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">in disorder.</span>]<br /> +To me! me, did you mention? how I tremble!<br /> +The name of treason shakes my honest soul.<br /> +If I am doubted, sir,<br /> +Secure yourself this moment, take my life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No more: If I suspected thee—I would.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I thank your kindness.—Guilt had almost lost me. +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> But clear my doubts:—thinkst thou they may rebel?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> This goes as I would wish.—<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +'Tis possible:<br /> +A secret party still remains, that lurks<br /> +Like embers raked in ashes,—wanting but<br /> +<span class="pgnm">331</span><a id="page_331" name="page_331"></a> +A breath to blow aside the involving dust,<br /> +And then they blaze abroad.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> They must be trampled out.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> But first be known.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Torture shall force it from them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> You would not put a nation to the rack?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Yes, the whole world; so I be safe, I care not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Our limbs and lives<br /> +Are yours; but mixing friends with foes is hard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> All may be foes; or how to be distinguished,<br /> +If some be friends?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> They may with ease be winnowed.<br /> +Suppose some one, who has deserved your trust,<br /> +Some one, who knows mankind, should be employed<br /> +To mix among them, seem a malcontent,<br /> +And dive into their breasts, to try how far<br /> +They dare oppose your love?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I like this well; 'tis wholesome wickedness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Whomever he suspects, he fastens there,<br /> +And leaves no cranny of his soul unsearched;<br /> +Then like a bee bag'd with his honeyed venom,<br /> +He brings it to your hive;—if such a man,<br /> +So able and so honest, may be found;<br /> +If not, my project dies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> By all my hopes, thou hast described thyself:<br /> +Thou, thou alone, art fit to play that engine,<br /> +Thou only couldst contrive.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Sure I could serve you:<br /> +I think I could:—but here's the difficulty;<br /> +I am so entirely yours,<br /> +That I should scurvily dissemble hate;<br /> +The cheat would be too gross.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Art thou a statesman,<br /> +And canst not be a hypocrite? Impossible!<br /> +<span class="pgnm">332</span><a id="page_332" name="page_332"></a> +Do not distrust thy virtues.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> If I must personate this seeming villain,<br /> +Remember 'tis to serve you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No more words:<br /> +Love goads me to Almeyda, all affairs<br /> +Are troublesome but that; and yet that most.<span class="sdr">[Going.</span><br /> +Bid Dorax treat Sebastian like a king;<br /> +I had forgot him;—but this love mars all,<br /> +And takes up my whole breast.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Emperor.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the <span class="cnm">Emp.</span></span>] Be sure I'll tell him—<br /> +With all the aggravating circumstances<span class="sdr">[Alone.</span><br /> +I can, to make him swell at that command.<br /> +The tyrant first suspected me;<br /> +Then with a sudden gust he whirled about,<br /> +And trusted me too far:—Madness of power!<br /> +Now, by his own consent, I ruin him.<br /> +For, should some feeble soul, for fear or gain.<br /> +Bolt out to accuse me, even the king is cozened,<br /> +And thinks he's in the secret.<br /> +How sweet is treason, when the traitor's safe!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Sees the <span class="cnm">Mufti</span> and <span class="cnm">Dorax</span> entering, and seeming +to confer.</p> + +<p class="dlg">The Mufti, and with him my sullen Dorax.<br /> +That first is mine already:<br /> +'Twas easy work to gain a covetous mind,<br /> +Whom rage to lose his prisoners had prepared:<br /> +Now caught himself,<br /> +He would seduce another. I must help him:<br /> +For churchmen, though they itch to govern all,<br /> +Are silly, woeful, aukward politicians:<br /> +They make lame mischief, though they mean it well:<br /> +Their interest is not finely drawn, and hid,<br /> +But seams are coarsely bungled up, and seen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> He'll tell you more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I have heard enough already,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">333</span><a id="page_333" name="page_333"></a> +To make me loath thy morals.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Dor.</span></span>] You seem warm;<br /> +The good man's zeal perhaps has gone too far.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Not very far; not farther than zeal goes;<br /> +Of course a small day's journey short of treason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> By all that's holy, treason was not named:<br /> +I spared the emperor's broken vows, to save<br /> +The slaves from death, though it was cheating heaven;<br /> +But I forgave him that.</p> +<p class="dlg"> +<span class="cnm">Dor.</span> And slighted o'er<br /> +The wrongs himself sustained in property;<br /> +When his bought slaves were seized by force, no loss<br /> +Of his considered, and no cost repaid.<span class="sdr">[Scornfully.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Not wholly slighted o'er, not absolutely.—<br /> +Some modest hints of private wrongs I urged.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Two-thirds of all he said: there he began<br /> +To shew the fulness of his heart; there ended.<br /> +Some short excursions of a broken vow<br /> +He made indeed, but flat insipid stuff;<br /> +But, when he made his loss the theme, he flourished,<br /> +Relieved his fainting rhetoric with new figures,<br /> +And thundered at oppressing tyranny.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Why not, when sacrilegious power would seize<br /> +My property? 'tis an affront to heaven,<br /> +Whose person, though unworthy, I sustain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> You've made such strong alliances above,<br /> +That 'twere profaneness in us laity<br /> +To offer earthly aid.<br /> +I tell thee, Mufti, if the world were wise,<br /> +They would not wag one finger in your quarrels.<br /> +Your heaven you promise, but our earth you covet;<br /> +The Phætons of mankind, who fire that world,<br /> +Which you were sent by preaching but to warm.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> This goes beyond the mark.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> No, let him rail;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">334</span><a id="page_334" name="page_334"></a> +His prophet works within him;<br /> +He's a rare convert.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Now his zeal yearns<br /> +To see me burned; he damns me from his church,<br /> +Because I would restrain him to his duty.—<br /> +Is not the care of souls a load sufficient?<br /> +Are not your holy stipends paid for this?<br /> +Were you not bred apart from worldly noise,<br /> +To study souls, their cures and their diseases?<br /> +If this be so, we ask you but our own:<br /> +Give us your whole employment, all your care.<br /> +The province of the soul is large enough<br /> +To fill up every cranny of your time,<br /> +And leave you much to answer, if one wretch<br /> +Be damned by your neglect.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the <span class="cnm">Mufti.</span></span>] He speaks but reason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Why, then, these foreign thoughts of state-employments,<br /> +Abhorrent to your function and your breedings?<br /> +Poor droning truants of unpractised cells,<br /> +Bred in the fellowship of bearded boys,<br /> +What wonder is it if you know not men?<br /> +Yet there you live demure, with down-cast eyes,<br /> +And humble as your discipline requires;<br /> +But, when let loose from thence to live at large,<br /> +Your little tincture of devotion dies:<br /> +Then luxury succeeds, and, set agog<br /> +With a new scene of yet untasted joys,<br /> +You fall with greedy hunger to the feast.<br /> +Of all your college virtues, nothing now<br /> +But your original ignorance remains;<br /> +Bloated with pride, ambition, avarice,<br /> +You swell to counsel kings, and govern kingdoms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> He prates as if kings had not consciences,<br /> +And none required directors but the crowd.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> As private men they want you, not as kings;<br /> +Nor would you care to inspect their public conscience,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">335</span><a id="page_335" name="page_335"></a> +But that it draws dependencies of power<br /> +And earthly interest, which you long to sway;<br /> +Content you with monopolizing heaven,<br /> +And let this little hanging ball alone:<br /> +For, give you but a foot of conscience there,<br /> +And you, like Archimedes, toss the globe.<br /> +We know your thoughts of us that laymen are,<br /> +Lag souls, and rubbish of remaining clay,<br /> +Which heaven, grown weary of more perfect work,<br /> +Set upright with a little puff of breath,<br /> +And bid us pass for men.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> I will not answer,<br /> +Base foul-mouthed renegade; but I'll pray for thee,<br /> +To shew my charity.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Mufti.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Do; but forget not him who needs it most:<br /> +Allow thyself some share.—He's gone too soon;<br /> +I had to tell him of his holy jugglings;<br /> +Things that would startle faith, and make us deem<br /> +Not this, or that, but all religions false.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Our holy orator has lost the cause.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +But I shall yet redeem it.—[<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Dorax.</span></span>] Let him go;<br /> +For I have secret orders from the emperor,<br /> +Which none but you must hear: I must confess,<br /> +I could have wished some other hand had brought them.<br /> +When did you see your prisoner, great Sebastian?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> You might as well have asked me, when I saw<br /> +A crested dragon, or a basilisk;<br /> +Both are less poison to my eyes and nature,<br /> +He knows not I am I; nor shall he see me,<br /> +Till time has perfected a labouring thought,<br /> +That rolls within my breast.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> 'Twas my mistake.<br /> +I guessed indeed that time, and his misfortunes,<br /> +And your returning duty, had effaced<br /> +The memory of past wrongs; they would in me,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">336</span><a id="page_336" name="page_336"></a> +And I judged you as tame, and as forgiving.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Forgive him! no: I left my foolish faith,<br /> +Because it would oblige me to forgiveness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I can't but grieve to find you obstinate,<br /> +For you must see him; 'tis our emperor's will,<br /> +And strict command.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I laugh at that command.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> You must do more than see; serve, and respect him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> See, serve him, and respect! and after all<br /> +My yet uncancelled wrongs, I must do this!—<br /> +But I forget myself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Indeed you do.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> The emperor is a stranger to my wrongs;<br /> +I need but tell my story, to revoke<br /> +This hard commission.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Can you call me friend,<br /> +And think I could neglect to speak, at full,<br /> +The affronts you had from your ungrateful master?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> And yet enjoined my service and attendance!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> And yet enjoined them both: would that were all!<br /> +He screwed his face into a hardened smile,<br /> +And said, Sebastian knew to govern slaves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Slaves are the growth of Africk, not of Europe.—<br /> +By heaven! I will not lay down my commission;<br /> +Not at his foot, I will not stoop so low:<br /> +But if there be a part in all his face<br /> +More sacred than the rest, I'll throw it there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> You may; but then you lose all future means<br /> +Of vengeance on Sebastian, when no more<br /> +Alcayde of this fort.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> That thought escaped me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Keep your command, and be revenged on both:<br /> +Nor sooth yourself; you have no power to affront him;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">337</span><a id="page_337" name="page_337"></a> +The emperor's love protects him from insults;<br /> +And he, who spoke that proud, ill-natured word,<br /> +Following the bent of his impetuous temper,<br /> +May force your reconcilement to Sebastian;<br /> +Nay, bid you kneel, and kiss the offending foot,<br /> +That kicked you from his presence.—<br /> +But think not to divide their punishment;<br /> +You cannot touch a hair of loathed Sebastian,<br /> +While Muley-Moluch lives.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> What means this riddle?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> 'Tis out;—there needs no Œdipus to solve it.<br /> +Our emperor is a tyrant, feared and hated;<br /> +I scarce remember, in his reign, one day<br /> +Pass guiltless o'er his execrable head.<br /> +He thinks the sun is lost, that sees not blood:<br /> +When none is shed, we count it holiday.<br /> +We, who are most in favour, cannot call<br /> +This hour our own.—You know the younger brother,<br /> +Mild Muley-Zeydan?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Hold, and let me think.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> The soldiers idolize you;<br /> +He trusts you with the castle,<br /> +The key of all his kingdom.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Well; and he trusts you too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Else I were mad,<br /> +To hazard such a daring enterprize.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> He trusts us both; mark that!—Shall we betray him;<br /> +A master, who reposes life and empire<br /> +On our fidelity:—I grant he is a tyrant,<br /> +That hated name my nature most abhors:<br /> +More,—as you say,—has loaded me with scorn,<br /> +Even with the last contempt, to serve Sebastian;<br /> +Yet more, I know he vacates my revenge,<br /> +Which, but by this revolt, I cannot compass:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">338</span><a id="page_338" name="page_338"></a> +But, while he trusts me, 'twere so base a part,<br /> +To fawn, and yet betray,—I should be hissed,<br /> +And whooped in hell for that ingratitude.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Consider well what I have done for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Consider thou, what thou wouldst have me do.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> You've too much honour for a renegade.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> And thou too little faith to be a favourite.<br /> +Is not the bread thou eat'st, the robe thou wear'st,<br /> +Thy wealth, and honours, all the pure indulgence<br /> +Of him thou would'st destroy?<br /> +And would his creature, nay, his friend, betray him?<br /> +Why then no bond is left on human kind!<br /> +Distrusts, debates, immortal strifes ensue;<br /> +Children may murder parents, wives their husbands;<br /> +All must be rapine, wars, and desolation,<br /> +When trust and gratitude no longer bind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Well have you argued in your own defence;<br /> +You, who have burst asunder all those bonds,<br /> +And turned a rebel to your native prince.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> True, I rebelled: But when did I betray?—<br /> +Indignities, which man could not support,<br /> +Provoked my vengeance to this noble crime;<br /> +But he had stripped me first of my command,<br /> +Dismissed my service, and absolved my faith;<br /> +And, with disdainful language, dared my worst:<br /> +I but accepted war, which he denounced.<br /> +Else had you seen, not Dorax, but Alonzo,<br /> +With his couched lance, against your foremost Moors;<br /> +Perhaps, too, turned the fortune of the day,<br /> +Made Africk mourn and Portugal triumph.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Let me embrace thee!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Stand off, sycophant,<br /> +And keep infection distant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Brave and honest!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> In spite of thy temptations.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Call them, trials;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">339</span><a id="page_339" name="page_339"></a> +They were no more. Thy faith was held in balance,<br /> +And nicely weighed by jealousy of power.<br /> +Vast was the trust of such a royal charge:<br /> +And our wise emperor might justly fear,<br /> +Sebastian might be freed and reconciled,<br /> +By new obligements, to thy former love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I doubt thee still: Thy reasons were too strong,<br /> +And driven too near the head, to be but artifice:<br /> +And, after all, I know thou art a statesman,<br /> +Where truth is rarely found.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Behold the emperor:—</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Emperor, <span class="cnm">Sebastian,</span> and <span class="cnm">Almeyda.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Ask him, I beg thee,—to be justified,—<br /> +If he employed me not to ford thy soul,<br /> +And try the footing, whether false or firm.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Death to my eyes, I see Sebastian with him!<br /> +Must he be served?—Avoid him: If we meet,<br /> +It must be like the crush of heaven and earth,<br /> +To involve us both in ruin.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> 'Twas a bare saving game I made with Dorax;<br /> +But better so than lost. He cannot hurt me;<br /> +That I precautioned: I must ruin him.—<br /> +But now this love; ay, there's the gathering storm!<br /> +The tyrant must not wed Almeyda: No!<br /> +That ruins all the fabric I am raising.<br /> +Yet, seeming to approve, it gave me time;<br /> +And gaining time gains all.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Benducar</span> goes and waits behind the Emperor. +The Emperor, <span class="cnm">Sebastian,</span> and <span class="cnm">Almeyda,</span> +advance to the front of the stage: Guards +and Attendants.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> to <i>Seb.</i> I bade them serve you; and, if they obey not,<br /> +I keep my lions keen within their dens,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">340</span><a id="page_340" name="page_340"></a> +To stop their maws with disobedient slaves.</p> +<p class="dlg"> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> If I had conquered,<br /> +They could not have with more observance waited:<br /> +Their eyes, hands, feet,<br /> +Are all so quick, they seem to have but one motion,<br /> +To catch my flying words. Only the alcayde<br /> +Shuns me; and, with a grim civility,<br /> +Bows, and declines my walks.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> A renegade:<br /> +I know not more of him, but that he's brave,<br /> +And hates your Christian sect. If you can frame<br /> +A farther wish, give wing to your desires,<br /> +And name the thing you want.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> My liberty;<br /> +For were even paradise itself my prison,<br /> +Still I should long to leap the crystal walls.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Sure our two souls have somewhere been acquainted<br /> +In former beings; or, struck out together,<br /> +One spark to Afric flew, and one to Portugal.<br /> +Expect a quick deliverance: Here's a third, +<span class="sdr">[Turning to <span class="cnm">Almeyda.</span></span><br /> +Of kindred sold to both: pity our stars<br /> +Have made us foes! I should not wish her death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> I ask no pity; if I thought my soul<br /> +Of kin to thine, soon would I rend my heart-strings,<br /> +And tear out that alliance; but thou, viper,<br /> +Hast cancelled kindred, made a rent in nature,<br /> +And through her holy bowels gnawed thy way,<br /> +Through thy own blood, to empire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> This again!<br /> +And yet she lives, and only lives to upbraid me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What honour is there in a woman's death!<br /> +Wronged, as she says, but helpless to revenge;<br /> +Strong in her passion, impotent of reason,<br /> +Too weak to hurt, too fair to be destroyed.<br /> +Mark her majestic fabric; she's a temple<br /> +<span class="pgnm">341</span><a id="page_341" name="page_341"></a> +Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine;<br /> +Her souls the deity that lodges there;<br /> +Nor is the pile unworthy of the god.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> She's all that thou canst say, or I can think;<br /> +But the perverseness of her clamourous tongue<br /> +Strikes pity deaf.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Then only hear her eyes!<br /> +Though they are mute, they plead; nay, more, command;<br /> +For beauteous eyes have arbitrary power.<br /> +All females have prerogative of sex;<br /> +The she's even of the savage herd are safe;<br /> +And when they snarl or bite, have no return<br /> +But courtship from the male.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Were she not she, and I not Muley-Moluch,<br /> +She's mistress of inevitable charms,<br /> +For all but me; nor am I so exempt,<br /> +But that—I know not what I was to say—<br /> +But I am too obnoxious to my friends,<br /> +And swayed by your advice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Sir, I advised not;<br /> +By heaven, I never counselled love, but pity.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> By heaven thou didst; deny it not, thou didst:<br /> +For what was all that prodigality<br /> +Of praise, but to inflame me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Sir—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No more;<br /> +Thou hast convinced me that she's worth my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Was ever man so ruined by himself?<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Thy love! That odious mouth was never framed<br /> +To speak a word so soft:<br /> +Name death again, for that thou canst pronounce<br /> +With horrid grace, becoming of a tyrant.<br /> +Love is for human hearts, and not for thine,<br /> +Where the brute beast extinguishes the man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">342</span><a id="page_342" name="page_342"></a> +<span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Such if I were, yet rugged lions love,<br /> +And grapple, and compel their savage dames.—<br /> +Mark my Sebastian, how that sullen frown,<span class="sdr">[She frowns.</span><br /> +Like flashing lightning, opens angry heaven,<br /> +And, while it kills, delights!—But yet, insult not<br /> +Too soon, proud beauty! I confess no love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> No, sir; I said so, and I witness for you,<br /> +Not love, but noble pity, moved your mind:<br /> +Interest might urge you too to save her life;<br /> +For those, who wish her party lost, might murmur<br /> +At shedding royal blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Right, thou instruct'st me;<br /> +Interest of state requires not death, but marriage,<br /> +To unite the jarring titles of our line.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Let me be dumb for ever; all I plead,<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +Like wildfire thrown against the winds, returns<br /> +With double force to burn me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Could I but bend, to make my beauteous foe<br /> +The partner of my throne, and of my bed—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Still thou dissemblest; but, I read thy heart,<br /> +And know the power of my own charms; thou lov'st,<br /> +And I am pleased, for my revenge, thou dost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> And thou hast cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> I have, for I have power to make thee wretched.<br /> +Be sure I will, and yet despair of freedom.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Well then, I love;<br /> +And 'tis below my greatness to disown it;<br /> +Love thee implacably, yet hate thee too;<br /> +Would hunt thee barefoot, in the mid-day sun,<br /> +Through the parched desarts and the scorching sands,<br /> +To enjoy thy love, and, once enjoyed, to kill thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> 'Tis a false courage, when thou threaten'st me;<br /> +Thou canst not stir a hand to touch my life:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">343</span><a id="page_343" name="page_343"></a> +Do not I see thee tremble, while thou speak'st?<br /> +Lay by the lion's hide, vain conqueror,<br /> +And take the distaff; for thy soul's my slave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Confusion! How thou view'st my very heart!<br /> +I could as soon<br /> +Stop a spring-tide, blown in, with my bare hand,<br /> +As this impetuous love:—Yes, I will wed thee;<br /> +In spite of thee, and of myself, I will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> For what? to people Africa with monsters,<br /> +Which that unnatural mixture must produce?<br /> +No, were we joined, even though it were in death,<br /> +Our bodies burning in one funeral pile,<br /> +The prodigy of Thebes would be renewed,<br /> +And my divided flame should break from thine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Serpent, I will engender poison with thee;<br /> +Join hate with hate, add venom to the birth:<br /> +Our offspring, like the seed of dragons' teeth,<br /> +Shall issue armed, and fight themselves to death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> I'm calm again; thou canst not marry me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> As gleams of sunshine soften storms to showers,<br /> +So, if you smile, the loudness of my rage<br /> +In gentle whispers shall return but this—<br /> +That nothing can divert my love but death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> See how thou art deceived; I am a Christian:<br /> +'Tis true, unpractised in my new belief,<br /> +Wrongs I resent, nor pardon yet with ease;<br /> +Those fruits come late, and are of slow increase<br /> +In haughty hearts, like mine: Now, tell thyself<br /> +If this one word destroy not thy designs:<br /> +Thy law permits thee not to marry me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> 'Tis but a specious tale, to blast my hopes,<br /> +And baffle my pretensions.—Speak, Sebastian,<br /> +And, as a king, speak true.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Then, thus adjured,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">344</span><a id="page_344" name="page_344"></a> +On a king's word 'tis truth, but truth ill-timed;<br /> +For her dear life is now exposed anew,<br /> +Unless you wholly can put on divinity,<br /> +And graciously forgive.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Now learn, by this,<br /> +The little value I have left for life,<br /> +And trouble me no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I thank thee, woman;<br /> +Thou hast restored me to my native rage,<br /> +And I will seize my happiness by force.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Know, Muley Moluch, when thou darest attempt—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Beware! I would not be provoked to use<br /> +A conqueror's right, and therefore charge thy silence.<br /> +If thou wouldst merit to be thought my friend,<br /> +I leave thee to persuade her to compliance:<br /> +If not, there's a new gust in ravishment,<br /> +Which I have never tried.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> They must be watched;<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +For something I observed creates a doubt. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Emp. and <span class="cnm">Bend.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I've been too tame, have basely borne my wrongs,<br /> +And not exerted all the king within me:<br /> +I heard him, O sweet heavens! he threatened rape;<br /> +Nay, insolently urged me to persuade thee,<br /> +Even thee, thou idol of my soul and eyes,<br /> +For whom I suffer life, and drag this being.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> You turn my prison to a paradise;<br /> +But I have turned your empire to a prison:<br /> +In all your wars good fortune flew before you;<br /> +Sublime you sat in triumph on her wheel,<br /> +Till in my fatal cause your sword was drawn;<br /> +The weight of my misfortunes dragged you down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> And is't not strange, that heaven should bless my arms<br /> +In common causes, and desert the best?<br /> +<span class="pgnm">345</span><a id="page_345" name="page_345"></a> +Now in your greatest, last extremity,<br /> +When I would aid you most, and most desire it,<br /> +I bring but sighs, the succours of a slave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Leave then the luggage of your fate behind;<br /> +To make your flight more easy leave Almeyda:<br /> +Nor think me left a base, ignoble prey,<br /> +Exposed to this inhuman tyrant's lust;<br /> +My virtue is a guard beyond my strength,<br /> +And death, my last defence, within my call.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Death may be called in vain, and cannot come;<br /> +Tyrants can tie him up from your relief;<br /> +Nor has a Christian privilege to die.<br /> +Alas, thou art too young in thy new faith:<br /> +Brutus and Cato might discharge their souls,<br /> +And give them furloughs for another world;<br /> +But we, like sentries, are obliged to stand<br /> +In starless nights, and wait the appointed hour<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-2">[2]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> If shunning ill be good<br /> +To those, who cannot shun it but by death,<br /> +Divines but peep on undiscovered worlds,<br /> +And draw the distant landscape as they please;<br /> +But who has e'er returned from those bright regions,<br /> +To tell their manners, and relate their laws?<br /> +I'll venture landing on that happy shore<br /> +With an unsullied body and white mind;<br /> +If I have erred, some kind inhabitant<br /> +Will pity a strayed soul, and take me home.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Beware of death! thou canst not die unperjured,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">346</span><a id="page_346" name="page_346"></a> +And leave an unaccomplished love behind.<br /> +Thy vows are mine; nor will I quit my claim:<br /> +The ties of minds are but imperfect bonds,<br /> +Unless the bodies join to seal the contract.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> What joys can you possess, or can I give,<br /> +Where groans of death succeed the sighs of love?<br /> +Our Hymen has not on his saffron robe;<br /> +But, muffled up in mourning, downward holds<br /> +His drooping torch, extinguished with his tears.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> The God of Love stands ready to revive it,<br /> +With his etherial breath.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> 'Tis late to join, when we must part so soon.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Nay, rather let us haste it, ere we part;<br /> +Our souls, for want of that acquaintance here,<br /> +May wander in the starry walks above,<br /> +And, forced on worse companions, miss ourselves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> The tyrant will not long be absent hence;<br /> +And soon I shall be ravished from your arms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Wilt thou thyself become the greater tyrant,<br /> +And give not love, while thou hast love to give?<br /> +In dangerous days, when riches are a crime,<br /> +The wise betimes make over their estates:<br /> +Make o'er thy honour, by a deed of trust,<br /> +And give me seizure of the mighty wealth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> What shall I do? O teach me to refuse!<br /> +I would,—and yet I tremble at the grant;<br /> +For dire presages fright my soul by day,<br /> +And boding visions haunt my nightly dreams;<br /> +Sometimes, methinks, I hear the groans of ghosts,<br /> +Thin, hollow sounds, and lamentable screams;<br /> +Then, like a dying echo, from afar,<br /> +My mother's voice, that cries,—Wed not, Almeyda!<br /> +Forewarned, Almeyda, marriage is thy crime.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Some envious demon to delude our joys;<br /> +Love is not sin, but where 'tis sinful love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Mine is a flame so holy and so clear,<br /> +That the white taper leaves no soot behind;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">347</span><a id="page_347" name="page_347"></a> +No smoke of lust; but chaste as sisters' love,<br /> +When coldly they return a brother's kiss,<br /> +Without the zeal that meets at lovers' mouths<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-3">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Laugh then at fond presages. I had some;—<br /> +Famed Nostradamus, when he took my horoscope,<br /> +Foretold my father, I should wed with incest.<br /> +Ere this unhappy war my mother died,<br /> +And sisters I had none;—vain augury!<br /> +A long religious life, a holy age,<br /> +My stars assigned me too;—impossible!<br /> +For how can incest suit with holiness,<br /> +Or priestly orders with a princely state?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Old venerable Alvarez—<span class="sdr">[Sighing.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> But why that sigh in naming that good man?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Your father's counsellor and confident—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> He was; and, if he lives, my second father.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Marked our farewell, when, going to the fight,<br /> +You gave Almeyda for the word of battle.<br /> +'Twas in that fatal moment, he discovered<br /> +The love, that long we laboured to conceal.<br /> +I know it; though my eyes stood full of tears,<br /> +Yet through the mist I saw him stedfast gaze;<br /> +Then knocked his aged breast, and inward groaned,<br /> +Like some sad prophet, that foresaw the doom<br /> +Of those whom best he loved, and could not save.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> It startles me! and brings to my remembrance,<br /> +That, when the shock of battle was begun,<br /> +He would have much complained (but had not time)<br /> +Of our hid passion: then, with lifted hands,<br /> +He begged me, by my father's sacred soul,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">348</span><a id="page_348" name="page_348"></a> +Not to espouse you, if he died in fight;<br /> +For, if he lived, and we were conquerors,<br /> +He had such things to urge against our marriage,<br /> +As, now declared, would blunt my sword in battle,<br /> +And dastardize my courage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> My blood curdles,<br /> +And cakes about my heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I'll breathe a sigh so warm into thy bosom,<br /> +Shall make it flow again. My love, he knows not<br /> +Thou art a Christian: that produced his fear,<br /> +Lest thou shouldst sooth my soul with charms so strong,<br /> +That heaven might prove too weak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> There must be more:<br /> +This could not blunt your sword.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Yes, if I drew it, with a curst intent,<br /> +To take a misbeliever to my bed:<br /> +It must be so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Yet—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> No, thou shalt not plead,<br /> +With that fair mouth, against the cause of love.<br /> +Within this castle is a captive priest,<br /> +My holy confessor, whose free access<br /> +Not even the barbarous victors have refused;<br /> +This hour his hands shall make us one.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> I go, with love and fortune, two blind guides,<br /> +To lead my way, half loth, and half consenting.<br /> +If, as my soul forebodes, some dire event<br /> +Pursue this union, or some crime unknown,<br /> +Forgive me, heaven! and, all ye blest above,<br /> +Excuse the frailty of unbounded love!<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">349</span><a id="page_349" name="page_349"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.—<i>Supposed a Garden, with lodging rooms +behind it, or on the sides.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Mufti, Antonio</span> as a slave, and <span class="cnm">Johayma</span> +the <span class="cnm">Mufti's</span> wife.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> And how do you like him? look upon him +well; he is a personable fellow of a Christian dog. +Now, I think you are fitted for a gardener. Ha, +what sayest thou, Johayma?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> He may make a shift to sow lettuce, raise +melons, and water a garden-plat; but otherwise, a +very filthy fellow: how odiously he smells of his +country garlick! fugh, how he stinks of Spain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Why honey bird, I bought him on purpose +for thee: didst thou not say, thou longedst for a +Christian slave?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Ay, but the sight of that loathsome creature +has almost cured me; and how can I tell that he is +a christian? an he were well searched, he may prove +a Jew, for aught I know. And, besides, I have always +longed for an eunuch; for they say that's a +civil creature, and almost as harmless as yourself, +husband.—Speak, fellow, are not you such a kind +of peaceable thing?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I was never taken for one in my own country; +and not very peaceable neither, when I am +well provoked.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> To your occupation, dog; bind up the jessamines +in yonder arbour, and handle your pruning-knife +with dexterity: tightly I say, go tightly to +your business; you have cost me much, and must +earn it in your work. Here's plentiful provision +for you, rascal; salading in the garden, and water +in the tank, and on holidays the licking of a platter +of rice, when you deserve it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> What have you been bred up to, sirrah? and +<span class="pgnm">350</span><a id="page_350" name="page_350"></a> +what can you perform, to recommend you to my +service?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Making Legs.</span>] Why, madam, I can perform +as much as any man, in a fair lady's service. +I can play upon the flute, and sing; I can carry +your umbrella, and fan your ladyship, and cool you +when you are too hot; in fine, no service, either by +day or by night, shall come amiss to me; and, besides +I am of so quick an apprehension, that you +need but wink upon me at any time to make me +understand my duty. [<span class="sdm">She winks at him.</span>]—Very +fine, she has tipt the wink already.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> The whelp may come to something in time, +when I have entered him into his business.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> A very malapert cur, I can tell him that; +I do not like his fawning—You must be taught your +distance, sirrah.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Strikes him.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Hold, hold. He has deserved it, I confess; +but, for once, let his ignorance plead his pardon; +we must not discourage a beginner. Your reverence +has taught us charity, even to birds and +beasts:—here, you filthy brute, you, take this little +alms to buy you plasters.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Gives him a piece of money.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Money, and a love-pinch in the inside of +my palm into the bargain.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter a Servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> Sir, my lord Benducar is coming to wait on +you, and is already at the palace gate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Come in, Johayma; regulate the rest of +my wives and concubines, and leave the fellow to +his work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> How stupidly he stares about him, like a +calf new come into the world! I shall teach you, +sirrah, to know your business a little better. This +<span class="pgnm">351</span><a id="page_351" name="page_351"></a> +way, you awkward rascal; here lies the arbour; +must I be shewing you eternally?<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Turning him about.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Come away, minion; you shall shew him +nothing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> I'll but bring him into the arbour, where a +rose-tree and a myrtle-tree are just falling for want +of a prop; if they were bound together, they would +help to keep up one another. He's a raw gardener, +and 'tis but charity to teach him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> No more deeds of charity to-day; come +in, or I shall think you a little better disposed than +I could wish you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Well, go before, I will follow my pastor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> So you may cast a sheep's eye behind you? +in before me;—and you, sauciness, mind your pruning-knife, +or I may chance to use it for you.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Mufti and <span class="cnm">Johayma.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Alone.</span>] Thank you for that, but I am in +no such haste to be made a mussulman. For his +wedlock, for all her haughtiness, I find her coming. +How far a Christian should resist, I partly know; +but how far a lewd young Christian can resist, is +another question. She's tolerable, and I am a poor +stranger, far from better friends, and in a bodily +necessity. Now have I a strange temptation to try +what other females are belonging to this family: +I am not far from the women's apartment, I am +sure; and if these birds are within distance, here's +that will chuckle them together. [<span class="sdm">Pulls out his Flute.</span>] +If there be variety of Moors' flesh in this holy market, +'twere madness to lay out all my money upon +the first bargain. [<span class="sdm">He plays. A Grate opens, and +<span class="cnm">Morayma,</span> the Mufti's Daughter, appears at it.</span>]—Ay, +there's an apparition! This is a morsel worthy +of a Mufti; this is the relishing bit in secret; this is +<span class="pgnm">352</span><a id="page_352" name="page_352"></a> +the mystery of his Alcoran, that must be reserved +from the knowledge of the prophane vulgar; this +is his holiday devotion.—See, she beckons too.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[She beckons to him.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Come a little nearer, and speak softly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I come. I come, I warrant thee; the least +twinkle had brought me to thee; such another kind +syllable or two would turn me to a meteor, and +draw me up to thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I dare not speak, for fear of being overheard; +but if you think my person worth your hazard, +and can deserve my love, the rest this note +shall tell you. [<span class="sdm">Throws down a Handkerchief.</span>] No +more, my heart goes with you.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit from the Grate.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O thou pretty little heart, art thou flown +hither? I'll keep it warm, I warrant it, and brood +upon it in the new nest.—But now for my treasure +trove, that's wrapt up in the handkerchief; +no peeping here, though I long to be spelling her +Arabic scrawls and pot-hooks. But I must carry +off my prize as robbers do, and not think of sharing +the booty before I am free from danger, and +out of eye-shot from the other windows. If her +wit be as poignant as her eyes, I am a double slave. +Our northern beauties are mere dough to these; +insipid white earth, mere tobacco pipe clay, with +no more soul and motion in them than a fly in winter.<br /> +<span class="i1">Here the warm planet ripens and sublimes</span><br /> +<span class="i1">The well-baked beauties of the southern climes.</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Our Cupid's but a bungler in his trade;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">His keenest arrows are in Africk made.</span><span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">353</span><a id="page_353" name="page_353"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT III.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>A Terrace Walk; or some other public +place in the castle of Alcazar.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Emperor <span class="cnm">Muley-Moluch,</span> and <span class="cnm">Benducar.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Married! I'll not believe it; 'tis imposture;<br /> +Improbable they should presume to attempt,<br /> +Impossible they should effect their wish.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Have patience, till I clear it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I have none:<br /> +Go bid our moving plains of sand lie still,<br /> +And stir not, when the stormy south blows high:<br /> +From top to bottom thou hast tossed my soul,<br /> +And now 'tis in the madness of the whirl,<br /> +Requir'st a sudden stop? unsay thy lie;<br /> +That may in time do somewhat.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I have done:<br /> +For, since it pleases you it should be forged,<br /> +'Tis fit it should: far be it from your slave<br /> +To raise disturbance in your sacred breast.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Sebastian is my slave as well as thou;<br /> +Nor durst offend my love by that presumption.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Most sure he ought not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Then all means were wanting:<br /> +No priest, no ceremonies of their sect;<br /> +Or, grant we these defects could be supplied,<br /> +How could our prophet do an act so base,<br /> +So to resume his gifts, and curse my conquests,<br /> +By making me unhappy? No, the slave,<br /> +That told thee so absurd a story, lied.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Yet till this moment I have found him faithful:<br /> +He said he saw it too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Dispatch; what saw he?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">354</span><a id="page_354" name="page_354"></a> +<span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Truth is, considering with what earnestness<br /> +Sebastian pleaded for Almeyda's life,<br /> +Enhanced her beauty, dwelt upon her praise—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> O stupid, and unthinking as I was!<br /> +I might have marked it too; 'twas gross and palpable.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Methought I traced a lover ill disguised,<br /> +And sent my spy, a sharp observing slave,<br /> +To inform me better, if I guessed aright.<br /> +He told me, that he saw Sebastian's page<br /> +Run cross the marble square, who soon returned,<br /> +And after him there lagged a puffing friar;<br /> +Close wrapt he bore some secret instrument<br /> +Of Christian superstition in his hand:<br /> +My servant followed fast, and through a chink<br /> +Perceived the royal captives hand in hand;<br /> +And heard the hooded father mumbling charms,<br /> +That make those misbelievers man and wife;<br /> +Which done, the spouses kissed with such a fervour,<br /> +And gave such furious earnest of their flames,<br /> +That their eyes sparkled, and their mantling blood<br /> +Flew flushing o'er their faces.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Hell confound them!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> The reverend father, with a holy leer,<br /> +Saw he might well be spared, and soon withdrew:<br /> +This forced my servant to a quick retreat,<br /> +For fear to be discovered.—Guess the rest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I do: My fancy is too exquisite,<br /> +And tortures me with their imagined bliss.<br /> +Some earthquake should have risen and rent the ground,<br /> +Have swallowed him, and left the longing bride<br /> +In agony of unaccomplished love.<span class="sdr">[Walks disorderly.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the Mufti.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> In an unlucky hour<br /> +<span class="pgnm">355</span><a id="page_355" name="page_355"></a> +That fool intrudes, raw in this great affair,<br /> +And uninstructed how to stem the tide.—<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +[<span class="sdm">Coming up the Mufti,—aside.</span>]<br /> +The emperor must not marry, nor enjoy:—<br /> +Keep to that point: Stand firm, for all's at stake.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> [<span class="sdm">Seeing him.</span>]<br /> +You druggerman<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-4">[4]</a> of heaven, must I attend<br /> +Your droning prayers? Why came ye not before?<br /> +Dost thou not know the captive king has dared<br /> +To wed Almeyda? Cancel me that marriage,<br /> +And make her mine: About the business, quick!—<br /> +Expound thy Mahomet; make him speak my sense,<br /> +Or he's no prophet here, and thou no Mufti;<br /> +Unless thou know'st the trick of thy vocation,<br /> +To wrest and rend the law, to please thy prince.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Why, verily, the law is monstrous plain:<br /> +There's not one doubtful text in all the alcoran,<br /> +Which can be wrenched in favour to your project.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Forge one, and foist it into some bye-place<br /> +Of some old rotten roll: Do't, I command thee!<br /> +Must I teach thee thy trade?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> It cannot be;<br /> +For matrimony being the dearest point<br /> +Of law, the people have it all by heart:<br /> +A cheat on procreation will not pass.<br /> +Besides, [<span class="sdm">In a higher tone.</span>] the offence is so exorbitant,<br /> +To mingle with a misbelieving race,<br /> +That speedy vengeance would pursue your crime,<br /> +And holy Mahomet launch himself from heaven,<br /> +Before the unready thunderbolts were formed.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Emperor, taking him by the throat with one +hand, snatches out his sword with the other, +and points it to his breast.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">356</span><a id="page_356" name="page_356"></a> +<span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Slave, have I raised thee to this pomp and power,<br /> +To preach against my will?—Know, I am law;<br /> +And thou, not Mahomet's messenger but mine!—<br /> +Make it, I charge thee, make my pleasure lawful;<br /> +Or, first, I strip thee of thy ghostly greatness,<br /> +Then send thee post to tell thy tale above.<br /> +And bring thy vain memorials to thy prophet,<br /> +Of justice done below for disobedience.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> For heaven's sake hold!—The respite of a moment!—<br /> +To think for you—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> And for thyself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> For both.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Disgrace, and death, and avarice, have lost him! +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> 'Tis true, our law forbids to wed a Christian;<br /> +But it forbids you not to ravish her.<br /> +You have a conqueror's right upon your slave;<br /> +And then the more despite you do a Christian,<br /> +You serve the prophet more, who loathes that sect.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> O, now it mends; and you talk reason, Mufti.—<br /> +But, stay! I promised freedom to Sebastian;<br /> +Now, should I grant it, his revengeful soul<br /> +Would ne'er forgive his violated bed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Kill him; for then you give him liberty:<br /> +His soul is from his earthly prison freed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> How happy is the prince who has a churchman,<br /> +So learned and pliant, to expound his laws!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Two things I humbly offer to your prudence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Be brief, but let not either thwart my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> First, since our holy man has made rape lawful,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">357</span><a id="page_357" name="page_357"></a> +Fright her with that; Proceed not yet to force:<br /> +Why should you pluck the green distasteful fruit<br /> +From the unwilling bough,<br /> +When it may ripen of itself, and fall?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Grant her a day; though that's too much to give<br /> +Out of a life which I devote to love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Then, next, to bar<br /> +All future hopes of her desired Sebastian,<br /> +Let Dorax be enjoined to bring his head.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the Mufti.</span>]<br /> +Go, Mufti, call him to receive his orders.—<span class="sdr">[Exit Mufti.</span><br /> +I taste thy counsel; her desires new roused,<br /> +And yet unslaked, will kindle in her fancy,<br /> +And make her eager to renew the feast.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] Dorax, I know before, will disobey:<br /> +There's a foe's head well cropped.—<br /> +But this hot love precipitates my plot,<br /> +And brings it to projection ere its time.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> and <span class="cnm">Almeyda,</span> hand in hand; +upon sight of the Emperor, they separate, and +seem disturbed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> He breaks at unawares upon our walks,<br /> +And, like a midnight wolf, invades the fold.<br /> +Make speedy preparation of your soul,<br /> +And bid it arm apace: He comes for answer,<br /> +And brutal mischief sits upon his brow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Not the last sounding could surprise me more,<br /> +That summons drowsy mortals to their doom,<br /> +When called in haste to fumble for their limbs,<br /> +And tremble, unprovided for their charge:<br /> +My sense has been so deeply plunged in joys,<br /> +The soul out-slept her hour; and, scarce awake,<br /> +Would think too late, but cannot: But brave minds,<br /> +At worst, can dare their fate.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">358</span><a id="page_358" name="page_358"></a> +<span class="cnm">Emp.</span> [<span class="sdm">Coming up to them.</span>] Have you performed<br /> +Your embassy, and treated with success?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I had no time.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No, not for my affairs;<br /> +But, for your own, too much.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> You talk in clouds; explain your meaning, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Explain yours first.—What meant you, hand in hand?<br /> +And, when you saw me, with a guilty start,<br /> +You loosed your hold, affrighted at my presence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Affrighted!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Yes, astonished and confounded.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What mak'st thou of thyself, and what of me?<br /> +Art thou some ghost, some demon, or some god,<br /> +That I should stand astonished at thy sight?<br /> +If thou could'st deem so meanly of my courage,<br /> +Why didst thou not engage me man for man,<br /> +And try the virtue of that Gorgon face,<br /> +To stare me into statue?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Oh, thou art now recovered; but, by heaven,<br /> +Thou wert amazed at first, as if surprised<br /> +At unexpected baseness brought to light.<br /> +For know, ungrateful man, that kings, like gods,<br /> +Are every where; walk in the abyss of minds,<br /> +And view the dark recesses of the soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Base and ungrateful never was I thought;<br /> +Nor, till this turn of fate, durst thou have called me:<br /> +But, since thou boast'st the omniscience of a god,<br /> +Say in what cranny of Sebastian's soul,<br /> +Unknown to me, so loathed a crime is lodged?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thou hast not broke my trust, reposed in thee!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Imposed, but not received.—Take back that falsehood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thou art not married to Almeyda?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">359</span><a id="page_359" name="page_359"></a> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> And own'st the usurpation of my love?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I own it, in the face of heaven and thee;<br /> +No usurpation, but a lawful claim,<br /> +Of which I stand possessed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> She has chosen well,<br /> +Betwixt a captive and a conqueror.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Betwixt a monster, and the best of men!—<br /> +He was the envy of his neighbouring kings;<br /> +For him their sighing queens despised their lords;<br /> +And virgin daughters blushed when he was named.<br /> +To share his noble chains is more to me,<br /> +Than all the savage greatness of thy throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Were I to chuse again, and knew my fate,<br /> +For such a night I would be what I am.<br /> +The joys I have possessed are ever mine;<br /> +Out of thy reach; behind eternity;<br /> +Hid in the sacred treasure of the past:<br /> +But blest remembrance brings them hourly back.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Hourly indeed, who hast but hours to live.<br /> +O, mighty purchase of a boasted bliss!<br /> +To dream of what thou hadst one fugitive night,<br /> +And never shalt have more!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Barbarian, thou canst part us but a moment!<br /> +We shall be one again in thy despite.<br /> +Life is but air,<br /> +That yields a passage to the whistling sword,<br /> +And closes when 'tis gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> How can we better die than close embraced,<br /> +Sucking each other's souls while we expire?<br /> +Which, so transfused, and mounting both at once,<br /> +The saints, deceived, shall, by a sweet mistake,<br /> +Hand up thy soul for mine, and mine for thine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No, I'll untwist you:<br /> +I have occasion for your stay on earth.<br /> +Let him mount first, and beat upon the wing,<br /> +And wait an age for what I here detain;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">360</span><a id="page_360" name="page_360"></a> +Or sicken at immortal joys above,<br /> +And languish for the heaven he left below.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Thou wilt not dare to break what heaven has joined?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Not break the chain; but change a rotten link,<br /> +And rivet one to last.<br /> +Think'st thou I come to argue right and wrong?—<br /> +Why lingers Dorax thus? Where are my guards, +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Benducar </span>goes out for the Guards,<br /> and +returns.</span><br /> +To drag that slave to death?—<br /> +Now storm and rage;<span class="sdr">[Pointing to <span class="cnm">Seb.</span></span><br /> +Call vainly on thy prophet, then defy him<br /> +For wanting power to save thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> That were to gratify thy pride. I'll shew thee<br /> +How a man should, and how a king dare die!<br /> +So even, that my soul shall walk with ease<br /> +Out of its flesh, and shut out life as calmly<br /> +As it does words; without a sign to note<br /> +One struggle, in the smooth dissolving frame.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the Emp.</span>]<br /> +Expect revenge from heaven, inhuman wretch!<br /> +Nor hope to ascend Sebastian's holy bed.<br /> +Flames, daggers, poisons, guard the sacred steps:<br /> +Those are the promised pleasures of my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> And these might fright another, but not me;<br /> +Or me, if I designed to give you pleasure.<br /> +I seek my own; and while that lasts, you live.—</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter two of the Guards.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Go, bear the captive to a speedy death,<br /> +And set my soul at ease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> I charge you hold, ye ministers of death!—<br /> +Speak my Sebastian;<br /> +Plead for thy life; Oh, ask it of the tyrant:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">361</span><a id="page_361" name="page_361"></a> +'Tis no dishonour; trust me, love, 'tis none.<br /> +I would die for thee, but I cannot plead;<br /> +My haughty heart disdains it, even for thee.—<br /> +Still silent! Will the king of Portugal<br /> +Go to his death like a dumb sacrifice?<br /> +Beg him to save my life in saving thine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Farewell; my life's not worth another word.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the Guards.</span>] Perform your orders.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Stay, take my farewell too!<br /> +Farewell the greatness of Almeyda's soul!—<br /> +Look, tyrant, what excess of love can do;<br /> +It pulls me down thus low as to thy feet;<span class="sdr">[Kneels to him.</span>><br /> +Nay, to embrace thy knees with loathing hands,<br /> +Which blister when they touch thee: Yet even thus,<br /> +Thus far I can, to save Sebastian's life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> A secret pleasure trickles through my veins:<br /> +It works about the inlets of my soul,<br /> +To feel thy touch, and pity tempts the pass:<br /> +But the tough metal of my heart resists;<br /> +'Tis warmed with the soft fire, not melted down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> A flood of scalding tears will make it run.<br /> +Spare him, Oh spare! Can you pretend to love,<br /> +And have no pity? Love and that are twins.<br /> +Here will I grow;<br /> +Thus compass you with these supplanting cords,<br /> +And pull so long till the proud fabrick falls.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Still kneel, and still embrace: 'Tis double pleasure,<br /> +So to be hugged, and see Sebastian die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Look, tyrant, when thou nam'st Sebastian's death,<br /> +Thy very executioners turn pale.<br /> +Rough as they are, and hardened in their trade<br /> +Of death, they start at an anointed head,<br /> +And tremble to approach.—He hears me not,<br /> +Nor minds the impression of a god on kings;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">362</span><a id="page_362" name="page_362"></a> +Because no stamp of heaven was on his soul,<br /> +But the resisting mass drove back the seal.—<br /> +Say, though thy heart be rock of adamant,<br /> +Yet rocks are not impregnable to bribes:<br /> +Instruct me how to bribe thee; name thy price;<br /> +Lo, I resign my title to the crown;<br /> +Send me to exile with the man I love,<br /> +And banishment is empire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Here's my claim,<span class="sdr">[Clapping his Hand to his Sword.</span><br /> +And this extinguished thine; thou giv'st me nothing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> My father's, mother's, brother's death, I pardon;<br /> +That's somewhat sure; a mighty sum of murder,<br /> +Of innocent and kindred blood struck off.<br /> +My prayers and penance shall discount for these,<br /> +And beg of heaven to charge the bill on me:<br /> +Behold what price I offer, and how dear,<br /> +To buy Sebastian's life!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Let after-reckonings trouble fearful fools;<br /> +I'll stand the trial of those trivial crimes:<br /> +But, since thou begg'st me to prescribe my terms,<br /> +The only I can offer are thy love,<br /> +And this one day of respite to resolve.<br /> +Grant, or deny; for thy next word is fate,<br /> +And fate is deaf to prayer.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> May heaven be so,<span class="sdr">[Rising up.</span><br /> +At thy last breath, to thine! I curse thee not;<br /> +For, who can better curse the plague, or devil,<br /> +Than to be what they are? That curse be thine.—<br /> +Now, do not speak, Sebastian, for you need not;<br /> +But die, for I resign your life.—Look, heaven,<br /> +Almeyda dooms her dear Sebastian's death!<br /> +But is there heaven? for I begin to doubt;<br /> +The skies are hushed, no grumbling thunders roll.—<br /> +Now take your swing, ye impious; sin unpunished;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">363</span><a id="page_363" name="page_363"></a> +Eternal Providence seems overwatched,<br /> +And with a slumbering nod assents to murder.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Dorax,</span> attended by three Soldiers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thou mov'st a tortoise-pace to my relief.<br /> +Take hence that once a king; that sullen pride,<br /> +That swells to dumbness: lay him in the dungeon,<br /> +And sink him deep with irons, that, when he would,<br /> +He shall not groan to hearing; when I send,<br /> +The next commands are death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Then prayers are vain as curses.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Much at one<br /> +In a slave's mouth, against a monarch's power.<br /> +This day thou hast to think;<br /> +At night, if thou wilt curse, thou shalt curse kindly;<br /> +Then I'll provoke thy lips, lay siege so close,<br /> +That all thy sallying breath shall turn to blessings.—<br /> +Make haste, seize, force her, bear her hence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Farewell, my last Sebastian!<br /> +I do not beg, I challenge justice now.—<br /> +O Powers, if kings be your peculiar care,<br /> +Why plays this wretch with your prerogative?<br /> +Now flash him dead, now crumble him to ashes,<br /> +Or henceforth live confined in your own palace;<br /> +And look not idly out upon a world,<br /> +That is no longer yours.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[She is carried off struggling; Emperor and +<span class="cnm">Benducar</span> follow. <span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> struggles in +his Guards' arms, and shakes off one of them; +but two others come in, and hold him; he speaks +not all the while.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I find I'm but a half-strained villain yet;<br /> +But mongrel-mischievous; for my blood boiled,<br /> +To view this brutal act; and my stern soul<br /> +Tugged at my arm, to draw in her defence.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +<span class="pgnm">364</span><a id="page_364" name="page_364"></a> +Down, thou rebelling Christian in my heart!<br /> +Redeem thy fame on this Sebastian first;<span class="sdr">[Walks a turn.</span><br /> +Then think on other wrongs, when thine are righted.<br /> +But how to right them? on a slave disarmed,<br /> +Defenceless, and submitted to my rage?<br /> +A base revenge is vengeance on myself:—<span class="sdr">[Walks again.</span><br /> +I have it, and I thank thee, honest head,<br /> +Thus present to me at my great necessity.— +<span class="sdr">[Comes up to <span class="cnm">Sebastian.</span></span><br /> +You know me not?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I hear men call thee Dorax.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> 'Tis well; you know enough for once:—you speak too;<br /> +You were struck mute before.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Silence became me then.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Yet we may talk hereafter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Hereafter is not mine:<br /> +Dispatch thy work, good executioner.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> None of my blood were hangmen; add that falsehood<br /> +To a long bill, that yet remains unreckoned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> A king and thou can never have a reckoning.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> A greater sum, perhaps, than you can pay.<br /> +Meantime, I shall make bold to increase your debt; +<span class="sdr">[Gives him his Sword.</span><br /> +Take this, and use it at your greatest need.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> This hand and this have been acquainted well: +<span class="sdr">[Looks on it.</span><br /> +It should have come before into my grasp,<br /> +To kill the ravisher.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Thou heard'st the tyrant's orders; guard thy life<br /> +When 'tis attacked, and guard it like a man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I'm still without thy meaning, but I thank thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">365</span><a id="page_365" name="page_365"></a> +<span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Thank me when I ask thanks; thank me with that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Such surly kindness did I never see.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the Captain of his Guards.</span>]<br /> +Musa, draw out a file; pick man by man.<br /> +Such who dare die, and dear will sell their death.<br /> +Guard him to the utmost; now conduct him hence,<br /> +And treat him as my person.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Something like<br /> +That voice, methinks, I should have somewhere heard;<br /> +But floods of woes have hurried it far off,<br /> +Beyond my ken of soul. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Sebastian,</span> with the Soldiers.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> But I shall bring him back, ungrateful man!<br /> +I shall, and set him full before thy sight,<br /> +When I shall front thee, like some staring ghost,<br /> +With all my wrongs about me.—What, so soon<br /> +Returned? this haste is boding.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter to him Emperor, <span class="cnm">Benducar,</span> and <span class="cnm">Mufti.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> She's still inexorable, still imperious,<br /> +And loud, as if, like Bacchus, born in thunder.<br /> +Be quick, ye false physicians of my mind;<br /> +Bring speedy death, or cure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> What can be counselled, while Sebastian lives?<br /> +The vine will cling, while the tall poplar stands;<br /> +But, that cut down, creeps to the next support,<br /> +And twines as closely there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> That's done with ease; I speak him dead:—proceed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Proclaim your marriage with Almeyda next,<br /> +That civil wars may cease; this gains the crowd:<br /> +Then you may safely force her to your will;<br /> +For people side with violence and injustice,<br /> +When done for public good.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">366</span><a id="page_366" name="page_366"></a> +<span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Preach thou that doctrine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> The unreasonable fool has broached a truth,<br /> +That blasts my hopes; but, since 'tis gone so far,<br /> +He shall divulge Almeyda is a Christian;<br /> +If that produce no tumult, I despair.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp</span> Why speaks not Dorax?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Because my soul abhors to mix with him.<br /> +Sir, let me bluntly say, you went too far,<br /> +To trust the preaching power on state-affairs<br /> +To him, or any heavenly demagogue:<br /> +'Tis a limb lopt from your prerogative,<br /> +And so much of heaven's image blotted from you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Sure thou hast never heard of holy men,<br /> +(So Christians call them) famed in state affairs!<br /> +Such as in Spain, Ximenes, Albornoz;<br /> +In England, Wolsey; match me these with laymen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> How you triumph in one or two of these,<br /> +Born to be statesmen, happening to be churchmen!<br /> +Thou call'st them holy; so their function was:<br /> +But tell me, Mufti, which of them were saints?—<br /> +Next sir, to you: the sum of all is this,—<br /> +Since he claims power from heaven, and not from kings,<br /> +When 'tis his interest, he can interest heaven<br /> +To preach you down; and ages oft depend<br /> +On hours, uninterrupted, in the chair.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I'll trust his preaching, while I rule his pay;<br /> +And I dare trust my Africans to hear<br /> +Whatever he dare preach.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> You know them not.<br /> +The genius of your Moors is mutiny;<br /> +They scarcely want a guide to move their madness;<br /> +Prompt to rebel on every weak pretence;<br /> +Blustering when courted, crouching when opprest;<br /> +Wise to themselves, and fools to all the world;<br /> +Restless in change, and perjured to a proverb.<br /> +They love religion sweetened to the sense;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">367</span><a id="page_367" name="page_367"></a> +A good, luxurious, palatable faith.<br /> +Thus vice and godliness,—preposterous pair!—<br /> +Ride cheek by jowl, but churchmen hold the reins:<br /> +And whene'er kings would lower clergy-greatness,<br /> +They learn too late what power the preachers have,<br /> +And whose the subjects are; the Mufti knows it,<br /> +Nor dares deny what passed betwixt us two.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No more; whate'er he said was my command.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Why, then, no more, since you will hear no more;<br /> +Some kings are resolute to their own ruin.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Without your meddling where you are not asked,<br /> +Obey your orders, and dispatch Sebastian.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Trust my revenge; be sure I wish him dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What mean'st thou? What's thy wishing to my will?<br /> +Dispatch him; rid me of the man I loath.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor</span> I hear you, sir; I'll take my time, and do't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thy time! What's all thy time? What's thy whole life<br /> +To my one hour of ease? No more replies,<br /> +But see thou dost it; or—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Choke in that threat; I can say <i>or</i> as loud.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> 'Tis well; I see my words have no effect,<br /> +But I may send a message to dispose you.<span class="sdr">[Is going off.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Expect an answer worthy of that message.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> The prophet owed him this;<br /> +And, thanked be heaven, he has it.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> By holy Alla, I conjure you stay,<br /> +And judge not rashly of so brave a man. +<span class="sdr">[Draws the Emperor aside, and whispers him.</span><br /> +I'll give you reasons why he cannot execute<br /> +Your orders now, and why he will hereafter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">368</span><a id="page_368" name="page_368"></a> +<span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Benducar is a fool, to bring him off;<br /> +I'll work my own revenge, and speedily.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> The fort is his, the soldiers' hearts are his;<br /> +A thousand Christian slaves are in the castle,<br /> +Which he can free to reinforce his power;<br /> +Your troops far off, beleaguering Larache,<br /> +Yet in the Christians' hands.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I grant all this;<br /> +But grant me he must die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> He shall, by poison;<br /> +'Tis here, the deadly drug, prepared in powder,<br /> +Hot as hell fire: Then, to prevent his soldiers<br /> +From rising to revenge their general's death,<br /> +While he is struggling with his mortal pangs,<br /> +The rabble on the sudden may be raised<br /> +To seize the castle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Do't;—'tis left to thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Yet more;—but clear your brow, for he observes. +<span class="sdr">[They whisper again.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> What, will the favourite prop my falling fortunes?<br /> +O prodigy of court!<span class="sdr">[Aside</span><br /> +<span class="sdr">[Emp. and <span class="cnm">Bend.</span> return to <span class="cnm">Dor.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Your friend has fully cleared your innocence;<br /> +I was too hasty to condemn unheard,<br /> +And you, perhaps, too prompt in your replies.<br /> +As far as fits the majesty of kings,<br /> +I ask excuse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I'm sure I meant it well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I know you did:—This to our love renewed.— +<span class="sdr">[Emp. drinks.</span><br /> +Benducar, fill to Dorax. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Bend.</span> turns, and mixes a Powder in it.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Let it go round, for all of us have need<br /> +To quench our heats: 'Tis the king's health, Benducar, +<span class="sdr">[He drinks.</span><br /> +<span class="pgnm">369</span><a id="page_369" name="page_369"></a> +And I would pledge it, though I knew 'twere poison.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Another bowl; for what the king has touched,<br /> +And you have pledged, is sacred to your loves. +<span class="sdr">[Drinks out of another Bowl.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Since charity becomes my calling, thus<br /> +Let me provoke your friendship; and heaven bless it,<br /> +As I intend it well.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Drinks; and, turning aside, pours some drops +out of a little vial into the Bowl; then +presents it to <span class="cnm">Dorax.</span></span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Heaven make thee honest;<br /> +On that condition we shall soon be friends.<span class="sdr">[Drinks.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Yes, at our meeting in another world;<br /> +For thou hast drunk thy passport out of this.<br /> +Not the Nonacrian font, nor Lethe's lake,<br /> +Could sooner numb thy nimble faculties,<br /> +Than this, to sleep eternal.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Now farewell, Dorax; this was our first quarrel,<br /> +And, I dare prophecy, will prove our last. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Emp. <span class="cnm">Bend.</span> and the Mufti.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> It may be so.—I'm strangely discomposed;<br /> +Quick shootings thro' my limbs, and pricking pains,<br /> +Qualms at my heart, convulsions in my nerves,<br /> +Shiverings of cold, and burnings of my entrails,<br /> +Within my little world make medley war,<br /> +Lose and regain, beat, and are beaten back,<br /> +As momentary victors quit their ground.—<br /> +Can it be poison! Poison's of one tenor,<br /> +Or hot, or cold; this neither, and yet both.<br /> +Some deadly draught, some enemy of life,<br /> +Boils in my bowels, and works out my soul.<br /> +Ingratitude's the growth of every clime;<br /> +Africk, the scene removed, is Portugal.<br /> +Of all court service, learn the common lot,—<br /> +To-day 'tis done, to-morrow 'tis forgot.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">370</span><a id="page_370" name="page_370"></a> +Oh, were that all! my honest corpse must lie<br /> +Exposed to scorn, and public infamy;<br /> +My shameful death will be divulged alone;<br /> +The worth and honour of my soul unknown.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.—<i>A Night-Scene of the Mufti's Garden, +where an Arbour is discovered.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Antonio.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> She names herself Morayma; the Mufti's +only daughter, and a virgin! This is the time and +place that she appointed in her letter, yet she comes +not. Why, thou sweet delicious creature, why torture +me with thy delay! Dar'st thou be false to +thy assignation? What, in the cool and silence of +the night, and to a new lover?—Pox on the hypocrite, +thy father, for instructing thee so little in the +sweetest point of his religion.—Hark, I hear the +rustling of her silk mantle. Now she comes, now +she comes:—no, hang it, that was but the whistling +of the wind through the orange-trees.—Now, again, +I hear the pit-a-pat of a pretty foot through the +dark alley:—No, 'tis the son of a mare, that's broken +loose, and munching upon the melons.—Oh, +the misery of an expecting lover! Well, I'll e'en +despair, go into my arbour, and try to sleep; in a +dream I shall enjoy her, in despite of her.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Goes into the Arbour, and lies down.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Johayma,</span> wrapt up in a Moorish mantle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Thus far my love has carried me, almost +without my knowledge whither I was going. Shall +I go on? shall I discover myself?—What an injury +am I doing to my old husband! Yet what injury, +since he's old, and has three wives, and six concubines, +<span class="pgnm">371</span><a id="page_371" name="page_371"></a> +besides me! 'tis but stealing my own tithe +from him.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[She comes a little nearer the Arbour.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Raising himself a little, and looking.</span>] At +last 'tis she; this is no illusion, I am sure; 'tis a +true she-devil of flesh and blood, and she could never +have taken a fitter time to tempt me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> He's young and handsome—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Yes, well enough, I thank nature.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> And I am yet neither old nor ugly: Sure he +will not refuse me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No; thou may'st pawn thy maidenhead upon't, +he wont.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> The Mufti would feast himself upon other +women, and keep me fasting.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O, the holy curmudgeon!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Would preach abstinence, and practise luxury! +but, I thank my stars, I have edified more by +his example than his precept.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] Most divinely argued; she's the +best casuist in all Africk. [<span class="sdm">He rushes out, and embraces +her.</span>] I can hold no longer from embracing +thee, my dear Morayma; the old unconscionable +whoreson, thy father, could he expect cold chastity +from a child of his begetting?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> What nonsense do you talk? do you take +me for the Mufti's daughter?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why, are you not, madam?<span class="sdr">[Throwing off her barnus.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> I find you had an appointment with Morayma.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> By all that's good, the nauseous wife!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> What! you are confounded, and stand mute?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Somewhat nonplust, I confess, to hear you +deny your name so positively. Why, are not you +Morayma, the Mufti's daughter? Did not I see you +with him: did not he present me to you? were you +not so charitable as to give me money? ay, and to +<span class="pgnm">372</span><a id="page_372" name="page_372"></a> +tread upon my foot, and squeeze my hand too, if I +may be so bold to remember you of past favours?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> And you see I am come to make them +good; but I am neither Morayma, nor the Mufti's +daughter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Nay, I know not that: but I am sure he +is old enough to be your father; and either father, +or reverend father, I heard you call him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Once again, how came you to name Morayma?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Another damned mistake of mine: for, asking +one of my fellow-slaves, who were the chief +ladies about the house, he answered me, Morayma +and Johayma; but she, it seems, is his daughter, +with a pox to her, and you are his beloved wife.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Say your beloved mistress, if you please; +for that's the title I desire. This moonshine grows +offensive to my eyes; come, shall we walk into the +arbour? there we may rectify all mistakes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> That's close and dark.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> And are those faults to lovers?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But there I cannot please myself with the +sight of your beauty.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Perhaps you may do better.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But there's not a breath of air stirring.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> The breath of lovers is the sweetest air; +but you are fearful.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I am considering indeed, that, if I am taken +with you—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> The best way to avoid it is to retire, where +we may not be discovered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Where lodges your husband?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Just against the face of this open walk.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Then he has seen us already, for aught I +know.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> You make so many difficulties, I fear I am +displeasing to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">373</span><a id="page_373" name="page_373"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] If Morayma comes, and takes me +in the arbour with her, I have made a fine exchange +of that diamond for this pebble.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> You are much fallen off, let me tell you, +from the fury of your first embrace.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I confess I was somewhat too furious at +first, but you will forgive the transport of my passion; +now I have considered it better, I have a +qualm of conscience.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Of conscience! why, what has conscience +to do with two young lovers that have opportunity?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why, truly, conscience is something to +blame for interposing in our matters: but how can +I help it, if I have a scruple to betray my master?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> There must be something more in't; for your +conscience was very quiet when you took me for +Morayma.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I grant you, madam, when I took you for +his daughter; for then I might have made you an +honourable amends by marriage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> You Christians are such peeking sinners! +you tremble at a shadow in the moonshine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And you Africans are such termagants, you +stop at nothing. I must be plain with you,—you +are married, and to a holy man, the head of your +religion: go back to your chamber; go back, I say, +and consider of it for this night, as I will do on +my part: I will be true to you, and invent all the +arguments I can to comply with you; and who +knows but at our next meeting the sweet devil +may have more power over me? I am true flesh and +blood, I can tell you that for your comfort.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Flesh without blood, I think thou art; or, +if any, it is as cold as that of fishes. But I'll teach +thee, to thy cost, what vengeance is in store for refusing +a lady who has offered thee her love.—Help, +<span class="pgnm">374</span><a id="page_374" name="page_374"></a> +help, there! will nobody come to my assistance?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What do you mean, madam? for heaven's +sake, peace; your husband will hear you; think of +your own danger, if you will not think of mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Ungrateful wretch, thou deservest no pity!—Help, +help, husband, or I shall be ravished! the +villain will be too strong for me! Help, help, for +pity of a poor distressed creature!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Then I have nothing but impudence to assist +me: I must drown her clamour, whatever comes +on't.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[He takes out his Flute, and plays as loud as +he can possibly, and she continues crying +out.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the <span class="cnm">Mufti,</span> in his Night-gown, and two Servants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> O thou villain, what horrible impiety art +thou committing! what, ravishing the wife of my +bosom!—Take him away; ganch him<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-5">[5]</a>, impale him, +rid the world of such a monster!<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Servants seize him.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Mercy, dear master, mercy! hear me first, +and after, if I have deserved hanging, spare me +not. What have you seen to provoke you to this +cruelty?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> I have heard the outcries of my wife; the +bleatings of the poor innocent lamb.—Seen nothing, +sayst thou? If I see the lamb lie bleeding, and the +butcher by her with his knife drawn, and bloody, +is not that evidence sufficient of the murder? I come +too late, and the execution is already done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">375</span><a id="page_375" name="page_375"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Pray think in reason, sir; is a man to be +put to death for a similitude? No violence has been +committed; none intended; the lamb's alive: and, +if I durst tell you so, no more a lamb than I am a +butcher.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> How's that, villain, dar'st thou accuse me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Be patient, madam, and speak but truth, +and I'll do any thing to serve you: I say again, and +swear it too, I'll do any thing to serve you.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] I understand him; but I fear it is +now too late to save him:—Pray, hear him speak, +husband; perhaps he may say something for himself; +I know not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Speak thou, has he not violated my bed, +and thy honour?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> I forgive him freely, for he has done nothing. +What he will do hereafter to make me satisfaction, +himself best knows.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Any thing, any thing, sweet madam: I shall +refuse no drudgery.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> But did he mean no mischief? was he endeavouring +nothing?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> In my conscience, I begin to doubt he did +not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> It's impossible:—then what meant all those +outcries?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> I heard music in the garden, and at an unseasonable +time of night; and I stole softly out of +my bed, as imagining it might be he.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> How's that, Johayma? imagining it was +he, and yet you went?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Why not, my lord? am not I the mistress +of the family? and is it not my place to see good +order kept in it? I thought he might have allured +some of the she-slaves to him, and was resolved to +prevent what might have been betwixt him and +<span class="pgnm">376</span><a id="page_376" name="page_376"></a> +them; when, on the sudden, he rushed out upon +me, caught me in his arms with such a fury—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> I have heard enough.—Away with him!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> Mistaking me, no doubt, for one of his fellow-slaves: +with that, affrighted as I was, I discovered +myself, and cried aloud; but as soon as +ever he knew me, the villain let me go; and I +must needs say, he started back as if I were some +serpent; and was more afraid of me than I of him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> O thou corrupter of my family, that's cause +enough of death!—once again, away with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> What, for an intended trespass? No harm +has been done, whatever may be. He cost you five +hundred crowns, I take it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Thou say'st true, a very considerable sum: +he shall not die, though he had committed folly +with a slave; it is too much to lose by him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> My only fault has ever been to love playing +in the dark; and the more she cried, the more I +played, that it might be seen I intended nothing to +her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> To your kennel, sirrah; mortify your flesh, +and consider in whose family you are.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> And one thing more,—remember from henceforth +to obey better.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] For all her smoothness, I am not +quite cured of my jealousy; but I have thought of +a way that will clear my doubts.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Muf.</span> with <span class="cnm">Joh.</span> and Servants.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I am mortified sufficiently already, without +the help of his ghostly counsel. Fear of death has +gone farther with me in two minutes, than my conscience +would have gone in two months. I find +myself in a very dejected condition, all over me; +poor sin lies dormant; concupiscence is retired to +his winter-quarters; and if Morayma should now +<span class="pgnm">377</span><a id="page_377" name="page_377"></a> +appear,—I say no more; but, alas for her and me!<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Morayma</span> comes out of the Arbour, she +steals behind him, and claps him on the +Back.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> And if Morayma should appear, as she +does appear,—alas! you say, for her and you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Art thou there, my sweet temptation! my +eyes, my life, my soul, my all!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> A mighty compliment! when all these, by +your own confession, are just nothing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Nothing, till thou camest to new create +me; thou dost not know the power of thy own +charms: Let me embrace thee, and thou shalt see +how quickly I can turn wicked.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> [<span class="sdm">Stepping back.</span>] Nay, if you are so dangerous, +it is best keeping you at a distance, I have +no mind to warm a frozen snake in my bosom; he +may chance to recover, and sting me for my pains.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Consider what I have suffered for thy sake +already, and make me some amends; two disappointments +in a night: O cruel creature!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> And you may thank yourself for both. I +came eagerly to the charge before my time, through +the back-walk behind the arbour; and you, like a +fresh-water soldier, stood guarding the pass before. +If you missed the enemy, you may thank your own +dulness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Nay, if you will be using stratagems, you +shall give me leave to make use of my advantages, +now I have you in my power: we are fairly met; +I'll try it out, and give no quarter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> By your favour, sir, we meet upon treaty +now, and not upon defiance.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> If that be all, you shall have <i>carte blanche</i> +immediately; for I long to be ratifying.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No; now I think on't, you are already +<span class="pgnm">378</span><a id="page_378" name="page_378"></a> +entered into articles with my enemy Johayma:—"Any +thing to serve you, madam; I shall refuse +no drudgery:"—Whose words were those, gentleman? +was that like a cavalier of honour?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Not very heroic; but self-preservation is a +point above honour and religion too. Antonio was +a rogue, I must confess; but you must give me +leave to love him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> To beg your life so basely, and to present +your sword to your enemy; Oh, recreant!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> If I had died honourably, my fame indeed +would have sounded loud, but I should never have +heard the blast:—Come, don't make yourself worse-natured +than you are; to save my life, you would +be content I should promise any thing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Yes, if I were sure you would perform nothing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Can you suspect I would leave you for Johayma?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No; but I can expect you would have both +of us. Love is covetous; I must have all of you; +heart for heart is an equal trick. In short, I am +younger, I think handsomer, and am sure I love +you better. She has been my stepmother these fifteen +years: You think that is her face you see, but +it is only a daubed vizard; she wears an armour of +proof upon it; an inch thick of paint, besides the +wash. Her face is so fortified, that you can make +no approaches to it without a shovel; but, for her +constancy, I can tell you for your comfort, she will +love till death, I mean till yours; for when she has +worn you out, she will certainly dispatch you to +another world, for fear of telling tales, as she has +already served three slaves, your predecessors, of +happy memory, in her favours. She has made my +pious father a three-piled cuckold to my knowledge; +and now she would be robbing me of my single +sheep too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">379</span><a id="page_379" name="page_379"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Pr'ythee, prevent her then; and at least +take the shearing of me first.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No; I'll have a butcher's pennyworth of +you; first secure the carcase, and then take the +fleece into the bargain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why, sure, you did not put yourself and +me to all this trouble for a dry come-off; by this +hand—<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Taking it.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Which you shall never touch, but upon +better assurances than you imagine.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Pulling her hand away.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I'll marry thee, and make a Christian of +thee, thou pretty damned infidel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I mean you shall; but no earnest till the +bargain be made before witness: there is love +enough to be had, and as much as you can turn +you to, never doubt; but all upon honourable terms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I vow and swear by Love; and he's a deity +in all religions.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> But never to be trusted in any: he has +another name too, of a worse sound. Shall I trust +an oath, when I see your eyes languishing, your +cheeks flushing, and can hear your heart throbbing? +No, I'll not come near you: he's a foolish +physician, who will feel the pulse of a patient, that +has the plague-spots upon him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Did one ever hear a little moppet argue so +perversely against so good a cause! Come, pr'ythee, +let me anticipate a little of my revenue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You would fain be fingering your rents before-hand; +but that makes a man an ill husband +ever after. Consider, marriage is a painful vocation, +as you shall prove it; manage your incomes +as thriftily as you can, you shall find a hard task +on't to make even at the year's end, and yet to live +decently.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I came with a Christian intention to revenge +<span class="pgnm">380</span><a id="page_380" name="page_380"></a> +myself upon thy father, for being the head +of a false religion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> And so you shall; I offer you his daughter +for your second. But since you are so pressing, +meet me under my window to-morrow night, body +for body, about this hour; I'll slip down out of my +lodging, and bring my father in my hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> How, thy father!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I mean, all that's good of him; his pearls +and jewels, his whole contents, his heart and soul; +as much as ever I can carry! I'll leave him his Alcoran, +that's revenue enough for him; every page +of it is gold and diamonds. He has the turn of +an eye, a demure smile, and a godly cant, that +are worth millions to him. I forgot to tell you, +that I will have a slave prepared at the postern +gate, with two horses ready saddled.—No more, for +I fear I may be missed; and think I hear them calling +for me.—If you have constancy and courage—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Never doubt it; and love in abundance, to +wander with thee all the world over.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The value of twelve hundred thousand +crowns in a casket!—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> A heavy burden, heaven knows! but we +must pray for patience to support it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Besides a willing titt, that will venture her +corps with you. Come, I know you long to have +a parting blow with me; and therefore, to shew I +am in charity—<br /> +<span class="sdr">[He kisses her.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Once more for pity, that I may keep the +flavour upon my lips till we meet again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No, frequent charities make bold beggars; +and, besides, I have learned of a falconer, never to +feed up a hawk when I would have him fly. That's +enough; but, if you would be nibbling, here's a +hand to stay your stomach.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Kissing her hand.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">381</span><a id="page_381" name="page_381"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thus conquered infidels, that wars may cease,<br /> +Are forced to give their hands, and sign the peace.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Thus Christians are outwitted by the foe;<br /> +You had her in your power, and let her go.<br /> +If you release my hand, the fault's not mine;<br /> +You should have made me seal, as well as sign.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[She runs off, he follows her to the door; then +comes back again, and goes out at the other.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT IV.<br /> +SCENE I.—BENDUCAR'S <i>Palace, in the Castle of +Alcazar.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Benducar</span> solus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> My future fate, the colour of my life,<br /> +My all, depends on this important hour:<br /> +This hour my lot is weighing in the scales,<br /> +And heaven, perhaps, is doubting what to do.<br /> +Almeyda and a crown have pushed me forward:<br /> +'Tis fixed, the tyrant must not ravish her;<br /> +He and Sebastian stand betwixt my hopes;<br /> +He most, and therefore first to be dispatched.<br /> +These, and a thousand things, are to be done<br /> +In the short compass of this rolling night;<br /> +And nothing yet performed,<br /> +None of my emissaries yet returned.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Haly,</span> first Servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Oh Haly, thou hast held me long in pain.<br /> +What hast thou learnt of Dorax? is he dead?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Haly.</span> Two hours I warily have watched his palace;<br /> +All doors are shut, no servant peeps abroad;<br /> +Some officers, with striding haste, passed in,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">382</span><a id="page_382" name="page_382"></a> +While others outward went on quick dispatch.<br /> +Sometimes hushed silence seemed to reign within;<br /> +Then cries confused, and a joint clamour, followed;<br /> +Then lights went gliding by, from room to room,<br /> +And shot, like thwarting meteors, cross the house.<br /> +Not daring further to inquire, I came<br /> +With speed, to bring you this imperfect news.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Hence I conclude him either dead, or dying.<br /> +His mournful friends, summoned to take their leaves,<br /> +Are thronged about his couch, and sit in council.<br /> +What those caballing captains may design,<br /> +I must prevent, by being first in action.—<br /> +To Muley-Zeydan fly with speed, desire him<br /> +To take my last instructions; tell the importance,<br /> +And haste his presence here.—<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Haly.</span></span><br /> +How has this poison lost its wonted way?<br /> +It should have burnt its passage, not have lingered<br /> +In the blind labyrinths and crooked turnings<br /> +Of human composition; now it moves<br /> +Like a slow fire, that works against the wind,<br /> +As if his stronger stars had interposed.—</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Hamet.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Well, Hamet, are our friends, the rabble, raised?<br /> +From Mustapha what message?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ham.</span> What you wish.<br /> +The streets are thicker in this noon of night,<br /> +Than at the mid-day sun; a drowsy horror<br /> +Sits on their eyes, like fear, not well awake;<br /> +All crowd in heaps, as, at a night alarm,<br /> +The bees drive out upon each others backs,<br /> +To imboss their hives in clusters; all ask news;<br /> +Their busy captain runs the weary round,<br /> +To whisper orders; and, commanding silence,<br /> +Makes not noise cease, but deafens it to murmurs.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Night wastes apace; when, when will he appear!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">383</span><a id="page_383" name="page_383"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ham.</span> He only waits your summons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Haste their coming.<br /> +Let secrecy and silence be enjoined<br /> +In their close march. What news from the lieutenant?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ham.</span> I left him at the gate, firm to your interest,<br /> +To admit the townsmen at their first appearance.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Thus far 'tis well: Go, hasten Mustapha. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Hamet.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Orchan,</span> the third Servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg">O, Orchan, did I think thy diligence<br /> +Would lag behind the rest!—What from the Mufti?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Orc.</span> I sought him round his palace; made inquiry<br /> +Of all the slaves; in short, I used your name,<br /> +And urged the importance home; but had for answer,<br /> +That, since the shut of evening, none had seen him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> O the curst fate of all conspiracies!<br /> +They move on many springs; if one but fail,<br /> +The restiff machine stops. In an ill hour he's absent;<br /> +'Tis the first time, and sure will be the last,<br /> +That e'er a Mufti was not in the way,<br /> +When tumults and rebellion should be broached.<br /> +Stay by me; thou art resolute and faithful;<br /> +I have employment worthy of thy arm.<span class="sdr">[Walks.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Muley-Zeydan.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mul. Zeyd.</span> You see me come, impatient of my hopes,<br /> +And eager as the courser for the race:<br /> +Is all in readiness?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> All but the Mufti.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mul. Zeyd.</span> We must go on without him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> True, we must;<br /> +For 'tis ill stopping in the full career,<br /> +Howe'er the leap be dangerous and wide.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Orc.</span> [<span class="sdm">Looking out.</span>]<br /> +I see the blaze of torches from afar,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">384</span><a id="page_384" name="page_384"></a> +And hear the trampling of thick-beating feet;<br /> +This way they move.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> No doubt, the emperor.<br /> +We must not be surprised in conference.<br /> +Trust to my management the tyrant's death,<br /> +And haste yourself to join with Mustapha.<br /> +The officer, who guards the gate, is yours:<br /> +When you have gained that pass, divide your force;<br /> +Yourself in person head one chosen half,<br /> +And march to oppress the faction in consult<br /> +With dying Dorax. Fate has driven them all<br /> +Into the net; you must be bold and sudden:<br /> +Spare none; and if you find him struggling yet<br /> +With pangs of death, trust not his rolling eyes<br /> +And heaving gasps; for poison may be false,—<br /> +The home thrust of a friendly sword is sure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mul. Zeyd.</span> Doubt not my conduct; they shall be surprised.<br /> +Mercy may wait without the gate one night,<br /> +At morn I'll take her in.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Here lies your way;<br /> +You meet your brother there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mul. Zeyd.</span> May we ne'er meet!<br /> +For, like the twins of Leda, when I mount,<br /> +He gallops down the skies.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Mul. Zeyd.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> He comes:—Now, heart,<br /> +Be ribbed with iron for this one attempt;<br /> +Set ope thy sluices, send the vigorous blood<br /> +Through every active limb for my relief;<br /> +Then take thy rest within thy quiet cell,<br /> +For thou shalt drum no more.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Emperor, and Guards attending him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What news of our affairs, and what of Dorax?<br /> +Is he no more? say that, and make me happy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> May all your enemies be like that dog,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">385</span><a id="page_385" name="page_385"></a> +Whose parting soul is labouring at the lips.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> The people, are they raised?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> And marshalled too;<br /> +Just ready for the march.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Then I'm at ease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> The night is yours; the glittering host of heaven<br /> +Shines but for you; but most the star of love,<br /> +That twinkles you to fair Almeyda's bed.<br /> +Oh, there's a joy to melt in her embrace,<br /> +Dissolve in pleasure,<br /> +And make the gods curse immortality,<br /> +That so they could not die.<br /> +But haste, and make them yours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I will; and yet<br /> +A kind of weight hangs heavy at my heart;<br /> +My flagging soul flies under her own pitch,<br /> +Like fowl in air too damp, and lugs along,<br /> +As if she were a body in a body,<br /> +And not a mounting substance made of fire.<br /> +My senses, too, are dull and stupified,<br /> +Their edge rebated:—sure some ill approaches,<br /> +And some kind sprite knocks softly at my soul,<br /> +To tell me, fate's at hand<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-6">[6]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">386</span><a id="page_386" name="page_386"></a> +<span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Mere fancies all.<br /> +Your soul has been before-hand with your body,<br /> +And drunk so deep a draught of promised bliss,<br /> +She slumbers o'er the cup; no danger's near,<br /> +But of a surfeit at too full a feast.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> It may be so; it looks so like the dream<br /> +That overtook me, at my waking hour,<br /> +This morn; and dreams, they say, are then divine,<br /> +When all the balmy vapours are exhaled,<br /> +And some o'erpowering god continues sleep.<br /> +'Twas then, methought, Almeyda, smiling, came,<br /> +Attended with a train of all her race,<br /> +Whom, in the rage of empire, I had murdered:<br /> +But now, no longer foes, they gave me joy<br /> +Of my new conquest, and, with helping hands,<br /> +Heaved me into our holy prophet's arms,<br /> +Who bore me in a purple cloud to heaven<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-7">[7]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Good omen, sir; I wish you in that heaven<br /> +Your dream portends you,—<br /> +Which presages death.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thou too wert there;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">387</span><a id="page_387" name="page_387"></a> +And thou, methought, didst push me from below,<br /> +With thy full force, to Paradise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Yet better.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Ha! what's that grizly fellow, that attends thee?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Why ask you, sir?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> For he was in my dream,<br /> +And helped to heave me up.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> With prayers and wishes;<br /> +For I dare swear him honest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> That may be;<br /> +But yet he looks damnation.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> You forget<br /> +The face would please you better. Do you love,<br /> +And can you thus forbear?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I'll head my people,<br /> +Then think of dalliance when the danger's o'er.<br /> +My warlike spirits work now another way,<br /> +And my soul's tuned to trumpets.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> You debase yourself,<br /> +To think of mixing with the ignoble herd;<br /> +Let such perform the servile work of war,<br /> +Such who have no Almeyda to enjoy.<br /> +What, shall the people know their god-like prince<br /> +Skulked in a nightly skirmish? Stole a conquest,<br /> +Headed a rabble, and profaned his person,<br /> +Shouldered with filth, borne in a tide of ordure,<br /> +And stifled with their rank offensive sweat?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I am off again; I will not prostitute<br /> +The regal dignity so far, to head them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> There spoke a king.<br /> +Dismiss your guards, to be employed elsewhere<br /> +In ruder combats; you will want no seconds<br /> +In those alarms you seek.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Go, join the crowd;—<span class="sdr">[To the Guards.</span><br /> +Benducar, thou shalt lead them in my place.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Guards.</span><br /> +<span class="pgnm">388</span><a id="page_388" name="page_388"></a> +The God of Love once more has shot his fires<br /> +Into my soul, and my whole heart receives him.<br /> +Almeyda now returns with all her charms;<br /> +I feel her as she glides along my veins,<br /> +And dances in my blood. So when our prophet<br /> +Had long been hammering, in his lonely cell,<br /> +Some dull, insipid, tedious Paradise,<br /> +A brisk Arabian girl came tripping by;<br /> +Passing she cast at him a side-long glance,<br /> +And looked behind, in hopes to be pursued:<br /> +He took the hint, embraced the flying fair,<br /> +And, having found his heaven, he fixed it there.<span class="sdr">[Exit Emperor.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> That Paradise thou never shalt possess.<br /> +His death is easy now, his guards are gone,<br /> +And I can sin but once to seize the throne;<br /> +All after-acts are sanctified by power.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Orc.</span> Command my sword and life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I thank thee, Orchan,<br /> +And shall reward thy faith. This master-key<br /> +Frees every lock, and leads us to his person;<br /> +And, should we miss our blow,—as heaven forbid!—<br /> +Secures retreat. Leave open all behind us;<br /> +And first set wide the Mufti's garden gate,<br /> +Which is his private passage to the palace;<br /> +For there our mutineers appoint to meet,<br /> +And thence we may have aid.—Now sleep, ye stars,<br /> +That silently o'erwatch the fate of kings!<br /> +Be all propitious influences barred,<br /> +And none but murderous planets mount the guard. +<span class="sdr">[Exit with <span class="cnm">Orchan.</span></span></p> + +<div><span class="pgnm">389</span><a id="page_389" name="page_389"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.—<i>A Night-Scene of the Mufti's Garden.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the Mufti alone, in a Slave's Habit, like that +of <span class="cnm">Antonio.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> This it is to have a sound head-piece; by +this I have got to be chief of my religion; that is, +honestly speaking, to teach others what I neither +know nor believe myself. For what's Mahomet to +me, but that I get by him? Now for my policy of +this night: I have mewed up my suspected spouse +in her chamber;—no more embassies to that lusty +young stallion of a gardener. Next, my habit of a +slave; I have made myself as like him as I can, all +but his youth and vigour; which when I had, I +passed my time as well as any of my holy predecessors. +Now, walking under the windows of my +seraglio, if Johayma look out, she will certainly +take me for Antonio, and call to me; and by that +I shall know what concupiscence is working in her. +She cannot come down to commit iniquity, there's +my safety; but if she peep, if she put her nose +abroad, there's demonstration of her pious will; and +I'll not make the first precedent for a churchman to +forgive injuries.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Morayma,</span> running to him with a Casket in +her hand, and embracing him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Now I can embrace you with a good conscience; +here are the pearls and jewels, here's my +father.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> I am indeed thy father; but how the devil +didst thou know me in this disguise? and what +pearls and jewels dost thou mean?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> [<span class="sdm">Going back.</span>] What have I done, and what +will now become of me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Art thou mad, Morayma?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">390</span><a id="page_390" name="page_390"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I think you'll make me so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Why, what have I done to thee? Recollect +thyself, and speak sense to me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Then give me leave to tell you, you are +the worst of fathers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Did I think I had begotten such a monster!—Proceed, +my dutiful child, proceed, proceed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You have been raking together a mass of +wealth, by indirect and wicked means: the spoils +of orphans are in these jewels, and the tears of widows +in these pearls.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Thou amazest me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I would do so. This casket is loaded with +your sins; 'tis the cargo of rapines, simony, and extortions; +the iniquity of thirty years muftiship converted +into diamonds.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Would some rich railing rogue would say +as much to me, that I might squeeze his purse for +scandal!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No, sir, you get more by pious fools than +railers, when you insinuate into their families, manage +their fortunes while they live, and beggar +their heirs, by getting legacies, when they die. +And do you think I'll be the receiver of your theft? +I discharge my conscience of it: Here, take again +your filthy mammon, and restore it, you had best, +to the true owners.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> I am finely documented by my own daughter!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> And a great credit for me to be so: Do +but think how decent a habit you have on, and +how becoming your function to be disguised like a +slave, and eaves-dropping under the women's windows, +to be saluted, as you deserve it richly, with +a piss-pot. If I had not known you casually by +your shambling gait, and a certain reverend awkwardness +that is natural to all of your function, +<span class="pgnm">391</span><a id="page_391" name="page_391"></a> +here you had been exposed to the laughter of your +own servants; who have been in search of you +through the whole seraglio, peeping under every +petticoat to find you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Pr'ythee, child, reproach me no more of +human failings; they are but a little of the pitch +and spots of the world, that are still sticking on +me; but I hope to scour them out in time. I am +better at bottom than thou thinkest; I am not the +man thou takest me for.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No, to my sorrow, sir, you are not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> It was a very odd beginning though, methought, +to see thee come running in upon me +with such a warm embrace; pr'ythee, what was the +meaning of that violent hot hug?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I am sure I meant nothing by it, but the +zeal and affection which I bear to the man of the +world, whom I may love lawfully.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> But thou wilt not teach me, at this age, +the nature of a close embrace?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No, indeed; for my mother-in-law complains, +that you are past teaching: But if you mistook +my innocent embrace for sin, I wish heartily +it had been given where it would have been more +acceptable.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Why this is as it should be now; take +the treasure again, it can never be put into better +hands.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Yes, to my knowledge, but it might. I +have confessed my soul to you, if you can understand +me rightly. I never disobeyed you till this +night; and now, since, through the violence of my +passion, I have been so unfortunate, I humbly beg +your pardon, your blessing, and your leave, that, +upon the first opportunity, I may go for ever from +your sight; for heaven knows, I never desire to see +you more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">392</span><a id="page_392" name="page_392"></a> +<span class="cnm">Muf.</span> [<span class="sdm">Wiping his eyes.</span>] Thou makest me weep +at thy unkindness; indeed, dear daughter, we will +not part.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Indeed, dear daddy, but we will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Why, if I have been a little pilfering, or +so, I take it bitterly of thee to tell me of it, since +it was to make thee rich; and I hope a man may +make bold with his own soul, without offence to +his own child. Here, take the jewels again; take +them, I charge thee, upon thy obedience.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Well then, in virtue of obedience, I will +take them; but, on my soul, I had rather they +were in a better hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Meaning mine, I know it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Meaning his, whom I love better than my +life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> That's me again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I would have you think so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> How thy good nature works upon me! +Well, I can do no less than venture damning for +thee; and I may put fair for it, if the rabble be ordered +to rise to-night.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Antonio,</span> in a rich African habit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What do you mean, my dear, to stand talking +in this suspicious place, just underneath Johayma's +window?—[<span class="sdm">To the Mufti.</span>] You are well met, +comrade; I know you are the friend of our flight: +are the horses ready at the postern gate?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Antonio, and in disguise! now I begin to +smell a rat.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And I another, that out-stinks it. False +Morayma, hast thou thus betrayed me to thy father!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Alas! I was betrayed myself. He came +disguised like you, and I, poor innocent, ran into +his hands.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">393</span><a id="page_393" name="page_393"></a> +<span class="cnm">Muf.</span> In good time you did so; I laid a trap for +a bitch-fox, and a worse vermin has caught himself +in it. You would fain break loose now, though +you left a limb behind you; but I am yet in my +own territories, and in call of company; that's my +comfort.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Taking him by the throat.</span>] No; I have a +trick left to put thee past thy squeaking. I have +given thee the quinsy; that ungracious tongue +shall preach no more false doctrine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> What do you mean? you will not throttle +him? consider he's my father.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Pr'ythee, let us provide first for our own +safety; if I do not consider him, he will consider +us, with a vengeance, afterwards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You may threaten him for crying out; but, +for my sake, give him back a little cranny of his +windpipe, and some part of speech.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Not so much as one single interjection.—Come +away, father-in-law, this is no place for dialogues; +when you are in the mosque, you talk by +hours, and there no man must interrupt you. This +is but like for like, good father-in-law; now I am +in the pulpit, it is your turn to hold your tongue. +[<span class="sdm">He struggles.</span>] Nay, if you will be hanging back, +I shall take care you shall hang forward.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Pulls him along the Stage, with his Sword at +his Reins.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The other way to the arbour with him; and +make haste, before we are discovered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> If I only bind and gag him there, he may +commend me hereafter for civil usage; he deserves +not so much favour by any action of his life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Yes, pray bate him one,—for begetting your +mistress.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I would, if he had not thought more of thy +<span class="pgnm">394</span><a id="page_394" name="page_394"></a> +mother than of thee. Once more, come along in +silence, my Pythagorean father-in-law.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> [<span class="sdm">At the Balcony.</span>] A bird in a cage may peep, +at least, though she must not fly.—What bustle's +there beneath my window? Antonio, by all my +hopes! I know him by his habit. But what makes +that woman with him, and a friend, a sword drawn, +and hasting hence? This is no time for silence:—Who's +within? call there, where are the servants? +why, Omar, Abedin, Hassan, and the rest, make +haste, and run into the garden; there are thieves +and villains; arm all the family, and stop them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Turning back.</span>] O that screech owl at the +window! we shall be pursued immediately; which +way shall we take?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> [<span class="sdm">Giving him the Casket.</span>] 'Tis impossible to +escape them; for the way to our horses lies back +again by the house, and then we shall meet them +full in the teeth. Here, take these jewels; thou +mayst leap the walls, and get away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And what will become of thee, then, poor +kind soul?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I must take my fortune. When you are +got safe into your own country, I hope you will +bestow a sigh on the memory of her who loved +you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> It makes me mad to think, how many a +good night will be lost betwixt us! Take back thy +jewels; 'tis an empty casket without thee: besides, +I should never leap well with the weight of all thy +father's sins about me; thou and they had been a +bargain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Pr'ythee take them, 'twill help me to be +revenged on him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No, they'll serve to make thy peace with +him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">395</span><a id="page_395" name="page_395"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I hear them coming; shift for yourself at +least; remember I am yours for ever.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Servants crying, <span style="font-style: normal;">"this way, this way,"</span> behind +the Scenes.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And I but the empty shadow of myself +without thee!—Farewell, father-in-law, that should +have been, if I had not been curst in my mother's +belly.—Now, which way, Fortune?<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Runs amazedly backwards and forwards. Servants +within, <span style="font-style: normal;">"Follow, follow; yonder are +the villains."</span></span><br /><br /><br /> +O, here's a gate open; but it leads into the castle; +yet I must venture it.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[A shout behind the Scenes, where <span class="cnm">Antonio</span> is +going out.</span><br /><br /> +There's the rabble in a mutiny; what, is the devil +up at midnight! However, 'tis good herding in a +crowd.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Runs out. <span class="cnm">Mufti</span> runs to <span class="cnm">Morayma,</span> and lays +hold on her, then snatches away the Casket.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Now, to do things in order, first I seize +upon the bag, and then upon the baggage; for thou +art but my flesh and blood, but these are my life +and soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Then let me follow my flesh and blood, and +keep to yourself your life and soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Both, or none; come away to durance.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Well, if it must be so, agreed; for I have +another trick to play you, and thank yourself for +what shall follow.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Servants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Joh.</span> [<span class="sdm">From above.</span>] One of them took through the +private way into the castle; follow him, be sure, for +these are yours already.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Help here quickly, Omar, Abedin! I have +hold on the villain that stole my jewels; but 'tis a +<span class="pgnm">396</span><a id="page_396" name="page_396"></a> +lusty rogue, and he will prove too strong for me. +What! help, I say; do you not know your master's +daughter?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Now, if I cry out, they will know my +voice, and then I am disgraced for ever. O thou +art a venomous cockatrice!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Of your own begetting.<span class="sdr">[The Servants seize him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Serv.</span> What a glorious deliverance have you had, +madam, from this bloody-minded Christian!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Give me back my jewels, and carry this notorious +malefactor to be punished by my father.—I'll +hunt the other dry-foot.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Takes the jewels, and runs out after <span class="cnm">Antonio</span> +at the same passage.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Serv.</span> I long to be hanselling his hide, before +we bring him to my master.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Serv.</span> Hang him, for an old covetous hypocrite; +he deserves a worse punishment himself, for keeping +us so hardly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Serv.</span> Ay, would he were in this villain's place! +thus I would lay him on, and thus.<span class="sdr">[Beats him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Serv.</span> And thus would I revenge myself of my +last beating.<span class="sdr">[He beats him too, and then the rest.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Oh, ho, ho!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Serv.</span> Now, supposing you were the Mufti, sir.— +<span class="sdr">[Beats him again.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> The devil's in that supposing rascal!—I can +bear no more; and I am the Mufti. Now suppose +yourselves my servants, and hold your hands: an +anointed halter take you all!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Serv.</span> My master!—You will pardon the excess +of our zeal for you, sir: Indeed we all took you for +a villain, and so we used you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Ay, so I feel you did; my back and sides +are abundant testimonies of your zeal.—Run, rogues, +<span class="pgnm">397</span><a id="page_397" name="page_397"></a> +and bring me back my jewels, and my fugitive +daughter; run, I say.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[They run to the gate, and the first Servant runs +back again.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Serv.</span> Sir, the castle is in a most terrible combustion; +you may hear them hither.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> 'Tis a laudable commotion; the voice of +the mobile is the voice of heaven.—I must retire a +little, to strip me of the slave, and to assume the +Mufti, and then I will return; for the piety of the +people must be encouraged, that they may help me +to recover my jewels, and my daughter.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Mufti and Servants.</span><br /></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE III.—<i>Changes to the Castle Yard,</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">And discovers <span class="cnm">Antonio, Mustapha,</span> and the Rabble +shouting. They come forward.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And so at length, as I informed you, I escaped +out of his covetous clutches; and now fly to +your illustrious feet for my protection.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Thou shalt have it, and now defy the +Mufti. 'Tis the first petition that has been made to +me since my exaltation to tumult, in this second +night of the month Abib, and in the year of the +Hegira,—the Lord knows what year; but 'tis no +matter; for when I am settled, the learned are +bound to find it out for me; for I am resolved to +date my authority over the rabble, like other monarchs.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I have always had a longing to be yours +again, though I could not compass it before; and +had designed you a casket of my master's jewels +too; for I knew the custom, and would not have +appeared before a great person, as you are, without +a present: But he has defrauded my good intentions, +and basely robbed you of them; 'tis a prize worthy +<span class="pgnm">398</span><a id="page_398" name="page_398"></a> +a million of crowns, and you carry your letters of +marque about you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> I shall make bold with his treasure, for the +support of my new government.—[<span class="sdm">The people gather +about him.</span>]—What do these vile raggamuffins so +near our person? your savour is offensive to us; bear +back there, and make room for honest men to approach +us: These fools and knaves are always impudently +crowding next to princes, and keeping off +the more deserving: Bear back, I say.—[<span class="sdm">They make +a wider circle.</span>]—That's dutifully done! Now shout, +to shew your loyalty. [<span class="sdm">A great shout.</span>]—Hear'st thou +that, slave Antonio? These obstreperous villains +shout, and know not for what they make a noise. +You shall see me manage them, that you may judge +what ignorant beasts they are.—For whom do you +shout now? Who's to live and reign; tell me that, +the wisest of you?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Rabble.</span> Even who you please, captain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> La, you there! I told you so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Rabble.</span> We are not bound to know, who is to +live and reign; our business is only to rise upon +command, and plunder.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">3 Rabble.</span> Ay, the richest of both parties; for they +are our enemies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> This last fellow is a little more sensible +than the rest; he has entered somewhat into the +merits of the cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Rabble.</span> If a poor man may speak his mind. I +think, captain, that yourself are the fittest to live +and reign; I mean not over, but next, and immediately +under, the people; and thereupon I say, <i>A +Mustapha, a Muatapha!</i></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> A Mustapha, a Mustapha!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> I must confess the sound is pleasing, and +tickles the ears of my ambition; but alas, good +people, it must not be! I am contented to be a poor +<span class="pgnm">399</span><a id="page_399" name="page_399"></a> +simple viceroy. But prince Muley-Zeydan is to be +the man: I shall take care to instruct him in the +arts of government, and in his duty to us all; and, +therefore, mark my cry, <i>A Muley-Zeydan, a Muley-Zeydan!</i></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> A Muley-Zeydan, a Muley-Zeydan!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> You see, slave Antonio, what I might have +been?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I observe your modesty.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> But for a foolish promise, I made once to +my lord Benducar, to set up any one he pleased.—</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter the Mufti, with his Servants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Here's the old hypocrite again.—Now stand +your ground and bate him not an inch. Remember +the jewels, the rich and glorious jewels; they are +designed to be yours, by virtue of prerogative.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Let me alone to pick a quarrel; I have an +old grudge to him upon thy account.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> [<span class="sdm">Making up to the Mobile.</span>] Good people, here +you are met together.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Rabble.</span> Ay, we know that without your telling: +But why are we met together, doctor? for that's it +which no body here can tell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Rabble.</span> Why, to see one another in the dark; +and to make holiday at midnight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> You are met, as becomes good Mussulmen, +to settle the nation; for I must tell you, that, though +your tyrant is a lawful emperor, yet your lawful +emperor is but a tyrant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What stuff he talks!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> 'Tis excellent fine matter, indeed, slave +Antonio! He has a rare tongue! Oh, he would move +a rock, or elephant!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What a block have I to work upon! [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>]—But +still, remember the jewels, sir; the jewels.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Nay, that's true, on the other side; the +<span class="pgnm">400</span><a id="page_400" name="page_400"></a> +jewels must be mine. But he has a pure fine way +of talking; my conscience goes along with him, +but the jewels have set my heart against him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> That your emperor is a tyrant, is most manifest; +for you were born to be Turks, but he has +played the Turk with you, and is taking your religion +away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Rabble.</span> We find that in our decay of trade. I +have seen, for these hundred years, that religion and +trade always go together.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> He is now upon the point of marrying +himself, without your sovereign consent: And what +are the effects of marriage?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">3 Rabble.</span> A scolding domineering wife, if she +prove honest; and, if a whore, a fine gaudy minx, +that robs our counters every night, and then goes +out, and spends it upon our cuckold-makers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> No; the natural effects of marriage are +children: Now, on whom would he beget these +children? Even upon a Christian! O, horrible! how +can you believe me, though I am ready to swear it +upon the Alcoran! Yes, true believers, you may believe, +that he is going to beget a race of misbelievers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> That's fine, in earnest; I cannot forbear +hearkening to his enchanting tongue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But yet remember—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Ay, ay, the jewels! Now again I hate him; +but yet my conscience makes me listen to him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Therefore, to conclude all, believers, pluck +up your hearts, and pluck down the tyrant. Remember +the courage of your ancestors; remember +the majesty of the people; remember yourselves, +your wives, and children; and, lastly, above all, remember +your religion, and our holy Mahomet. All +these require your timeous assistance;—shall I say, +they beg it? No; they claim it of you, by all the +<span class="pgnm">401</span><a id="page_401" name="page_401"></a> +nearest and dearest ties of these three P's, self-preservation, +our property, and our prophet.—Now answer +me with an unanimous cheerful cry, and follow +me, who am your leader, to a glorious deliverance.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> A Mufti, a Mufti!<span class="sdr">[Following him off the stage.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Now you see what comes of your foolish +qualms of conscience; the jewels are lost, and they +are all leaving you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> What, am I forsaken of my subjects? +Would the rogue purloin my liege people from me!—I +charge you, in my own name, come back, ye deserters, +and hear me speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Rabble.</span> What, will he come with his balderdash, +after the Mufti's eloquent oration?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Rabble.</span> He's our captain, lawfully picked up, +and elected upon a stall; we will hear him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> Speak, captain, for we will hear you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Do you remember the glorious rapines and +robberies you have committed? Your breaking open +and gutting of houses, your rummaging of cellars, +your demolishing of Christian temples, and bearing +off, in triumph, the superstitious plate and pictures, +the ornaments of their wicked altars, when all rich +moveables were sentenced for idolatrous, and all +that was idolatrous was seized? Answer first, for +your remembrance of all these sweetnesses of mutiny; +for upon those grounds I shall proceed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> Yes, we do remember, we do remember.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Then make much of your retentive faculties.—And +who led you to those honey-combs? +Your Mufti? No, believers; he only preached you +up to it, but durst not lead you: He was but your +counsellor, but I was your captain; he only looed +you, but, 'twas I that led you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> That's true, that's true.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">402</span><a id="page_402" name="page_402"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> There you were with him for his figures.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> I think I was, slave Antonio. Alas, I was +ignorant of my own talent!—Say then, believers, +will you have a captain for your Mufti, or a Mufti +for your captain? And, further, to instruct you how +to cry, will you have <i>A mufti</i>, or <i>No mufti</i>?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> No Mufti, no Mufti!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> That I laid in for them, slave Antonio—Do +I then spit upon your faces? Do I discourage +rebellion, mutiny, rapine, and plundering? You may +think I do, believers; but, heaven forbid! No, I +encourage you to all these laudable undertakings; +you shall plunder, you shall pull down the government; +but you shall do this upon my authority, +and not by his wicked instigation.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">3 Rabble.</span> Nay, when his turn is served, he may +preach up loyalty again, and restitution, that he +might have another snack among us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Rabble.</span> He may indeed; for it is but his saying +it is sin, and then we must restore; and therefore I +would have a new religion, where half the commandments +should be taken away, the rest mollified, +and there should be little or no sin remaining.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> Another religion, a new religion, another +religion!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> And that may easily be done, with the help +of a little inspiration; for I must tell you, I have a +pigeon at home, of Mahomet's own breed; and +when I have learnt her to pick pease out of my ear, +rest satisfied till then, and you shall have another. +But, now I think on't, I am inspired already, that 'tis +no sin to depose the Mufti.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And good reason; for when kings and queens +are to be discarded, what should knaves do any +longer in the pack?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> He is deposed, he is deposed, he is deposed!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">403</span><a id="page_403" name="page_403"></a> +<span class="cnm">Must.</span> Nay, if he and his clergy will needs be +preaching up rebellion, and giving us their blessing, +'tis but justice they should have the first-fruits of +it.—Slave Antonio, take him into custody; and +dost thou hear, boy, be sure to secure the little transitory +box of jewels. If he be obstinate, put a civil +question to him upon the rack, and he squeaks, I +warrant him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Seizing the Mufti.</span>] Come, my <i>quondam</i> master, +you and I must change qualities.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> I hope you will not be so barbarous to torture +me: we may preach suffering to others, but, +alas! holy flesh is too well pampered to endure +martyrdom.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Now, late Mufti, not forgetting my first +quarrel to you, we will enter ourselves with the +plunder of your palace: 'tis good to sanctify a work, +and begin a God's name.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Rabble.</span> Our prophet let the devil alone with +the last mob.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mob.</span> But he takes care of this himself.</p> + +<p class="sdn">As they are going out, enter <span class="cnm">Benducar,</span> leading <span class="cnm">Almeyda:</span> +he with a sword in one hand; <span class="cnm">Benducar's</span> +Slave follows, with <span class="cnm">Muley-Moluch's</span> head +upon a spear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Not so much haste, masters; comeback +again; you are so bent upon mischief, that you +take a man upon the first word of plunder. Here +is a sight for you; the emperor is come upon his +head to visit you. [<span class="sdm">Bowing.</span>] Most noble emperor, +now I hope you will not hit us in the teeth, that +we have pulled you down; for we can tell you to +your face, that we have exalted you.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[They all shout.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Think what I am, and what yourself may be, +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Almeyda</span> apart.</span><br /> +<span class="pgnm">404</span><a id="page_404" name="page_404"></a> +In being mine: refuse not proffered love,<br /> +That brings a crown.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> [<span class="sdm">To him.</span>] I have resolved,<br /> +And these shall know my thoughts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">To her.</span>] On that I build.— +<span class="sdr">[He comes up to the Rabble.</span><br /> +Joy to the people for the tyrant's death!<br /> +Oppression, rapine, banishment, and blood,<br /> +Are now no more; but speechless as that tongue,<br /> +That lies for ever still.<br /> +How is my grief divided with my joy,<br /> +When I must own I killed him! Bid me speak;<br /> +For not to bid me, is to disallow<br /> +What for your sakes is done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> In the name of the people, we command +you speak: but that pretty lady shall speak first; +for we have taken somewhat of a liking to her person.—Be +not afraid, lady, to speak to these rude +raggamuffians; there is nothing shall offend you, +unless it be their stink, an't please you.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Making a leg.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Why should I fear to speak, who am your queen?<br /> +My peaceful father swayed the sceptre long,<br /> +And you enjoyed the blessings of his reign,<br /> +While you deserved the name of Africans.<br /> +Then, not commanded, but commanding you,<br /> +Fearless I speak: know me for what I am.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> How she assumes! I like not this beginning. +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> I was not born so base to flatter crowds,<br /> +And move your pity by a whining tale.<br /> +Your tyrant would have forced me to his bed;<br /> +But in the attempt of that foul brutal act,<br /> +These loyal slaves secured me by his death. +<span class="sdr">[Pointing to <span class="cnm">Benducar.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">405</span><a id="page_405" name="page_405"></a> +<span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Makes she no more of me than of a slave?—<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +Madam, I thought I had instructed you<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Almeyda.</span></span><br /> +To frame a speech more suiting to the times:<br /> +The circumstances of that dire design,<br /> +Your own despair, my unexpected aid,<br /> +My life endangered by his bold defence,<br /> +And, after all, his death, and your deliverance,<br /> +Were themes that ought not to be slighted o'er.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> She might have passed over all your petty +businesses, and no great matter; but the raising of +my rabble is an exploit of consequence, and not to +be mumbled up in silence, for all her pertness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> When force invades the gift of nature, life,<br /> +The eldest law of nature bids defend;<br /> +And if in that defence a tyrant fall,<br /> +His death's his crime, not ours,<br /> +Suffice it, that he's dead; all wrongs die with him;<br /> +When he can wrong no more, I pardon him:<br /> +Thus I absolve myself, and him excuse,<br /> +Who saved my life and honour, but praise neither.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> 'Tis cheap to pardon, whom you would not pay.<br /> +But what speak I of payment and reward!<br /> +Ungrateful woman, you are yet no queen,<br /> +Nor more than a proud haughty christian slave:<br /> +As such I seize my right.<span class="sdr">[Going to lay hold of her.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> [<span class="sdm">Drawing a Dagger.</span>] Dare not to approach me!—<br /> +Now, Africans,<br /> +He shows himself to you; to me he stood<br /> +Confessed before, and owned his insolence<br /> +To espouse my person, and assume the crown,<br /> +Claimed in my right; for this, he slew your tyrant;<br /> +Oh no! he only changed him for a worse;<br /> +Embased your slavery by his own vileness,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">406</span><a id="page_406" name="page_406"></a> +And loaded you with more ignoble bonds.<br /> +Then think me not ungrateful, not to share<br /> +The imperial crown with a presuming traitor.<br /> +He says, I am a Christian; true, I am,<br /> +But yet no slave: If Christians can be thought<br /> +Unfit to govern those of other faith,<br /> +'Tis left for you to judge.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> I have not patience; she consumes the time<br /> +In idle talk, and owns her false belief:<br /> +Seize her by force, and bear her thence unheard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the People.</span>]<br /> +No, let me rather die your sacrifice,<br /> +Than live his triumph.<br /> +I throw myself into my people's arms;<br /> +As you are men, compassionate my wrongs,<br /> +And, as good men, protect me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Something must be done to save her. +[<span class="sdm">Aside to <span class="cnm">Must.</span></span>] This is all addressed to you, sir: +she singled you out with her eye, as commander in +chief of the mobility.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Think'st thou so, slave Antonio?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Most certainly, sir; and you cannot, in honour, +but protect her: now look to your hits, and +make your fortune.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Methought, indeed, she cast a kind leer +towards me. Our prophet was but just such another +scoundrel as I am, till he raised himself to +power, and consequently to holiness, by marrying +his master's widow. I am resolved I'll put forward +for myself; for why should I be my lord Benducar's +fool and slave, when I may be my own fool and his +master?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Take her into possession, Mustapha.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> That's better counsel than you meant it: +Yes, I do take her into possession, and into protection +too. What say you, masters, will you stand by +me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">407</span><a id="page_407" name="page_407"></a> +<span class="cnm">Omnes.</span> One and all, one and all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Hast thou betrayed me, traitor?—Mufti, +speak, and mind them of religion.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Mufti</span> shakes his head.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> Alas! the poor gentleman has gotten a +cold with a sermon of two hours long, and a prayer +of fear; and, besides, if he durst speak, mankind is +grown wiser at this time of day than to cut one another's +throats about religion. Our Mufti's is a +green coat, and the Christian's is a black coat; and +we must wisely go together by the ears, whether +green or black shall sweep our spoils.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Drums within, and shouts.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Now we shall see whose numbers will prevail:<br /> +The conquering troops of Muley-Zeydan come,<br /> +To crush rebellion, and espouse my cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> We will have a fair trial of skill for it, I +can tell him that. When we have dispatched with +Muley-Zeydan, your lordship shall march, in equal +proportions of your body, to the four gates of the +city, and every tower shall have a quarter of you.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Antonio</span> draws them up, and takes <span class="cnm">Alm.</span> by +the hand. Shouts again, and Drums.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Dorax</span> and <span class="cnm">Sebastian,</span> attended by African +Soldiers and Portugueses. <span class="cnm">Almeyda</span> and <span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> +run into each others arms, and both speak +together.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> and <span class="cnm">Alm.</span> My Sebastian! my Almeyda!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Do you then live?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> And live to love thee ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> How! Dorax and Sebastian still alive!<br /> +The Moors and Christians joined!—I thank thee, prophet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> The citadel is ours; and Muley-Zeydan<br /> +Safe under guard, but as becomes a prince.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">408</span><a id="page_408" name="page_408"></a> +Lay down your arms; such base plebeian blood<br /> +Would only stain the brightness of my sword,<br /> +And blunt it for some nobler work behind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Must.</span> I suppose you may put it up without offence +to any man here present. For my part, I +have been loyal to my sovereign lady, though that +villain Benducar, and that hypocrite the Mufti, +would have corrupted me; but if those two escape +public justice, then I and all my late honest subjects +here deserve hanging.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Dor.</span></span>] I'm sure I did my part to poison thee,<br /> +What saint soe'er has soldered thee again:<br /> +A dose less hot had burst through ribs of iron.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> Not knowing that, I poisoned him once more,<br /> +And drenched him with a draught so deadly cold,<br /> +That, hadst not thou prevented, had congealed<br /> +The channel of his blood, and froze him dry.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Bend.</span> Thou interposing fool, to mangle mischief,<br /> +And think to mend the perfect work of hell!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Thus, when heaven pleases, double poisons cure<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-8">[8]</a>.<br /> +I will not tax thee of ingratitude<br /> +To me, thy friend, who hast betrayed thy prince:<br /> +Death he deserved indeed, but not from thee.<br /> +But fate, it seems, reserved the worst of men<br /> +To end the worst of tyrants.—<br /> +Go, bear him to his fate,<br /> +And send him to attend his master's ghost.<br /> +Let some secure my other poisoning friend,<br /> +Whose double diligence preserved my life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> You are fallen into good hands, father-in-law; +your sparkling jewels, and Morayma's eyes, +<span class="pgnm">409</span><a id="page_409" name="page_409"></a> +may prove a better bail than you deserve.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Muf.</span> The best that can come of me, in this condition, +is, to have my life begged first, and then to +be begged for a fool afterwards<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-9">[9]</a>.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Antonio,</span> with the Mufti; and, at +the same time, <span class="cnm">Benducar</span> is carried off.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Must.</span></span>]<br /> +You, and your hungry herd, depart untouched;<br /> +For justice cannot stoop so low, to reach<br /> +The groveling sin of crowds: but curst be they,<br /> +Who trust revenge with such mad instruments,<br /> +Whose blindfold business is but to destroy;<br /> +And, like the fire, commissioned by the winds,<br /> +Begins on sheds, but, rolling in a round,<br /> +On palaces returns. Away, ye scum,<br /> +That still rise upmost when the nation boils;<br /> +Ye mongrel work of heaven, with human shapes,<br /> +Not to be damned or saved, but breathe and perish,<br /> +That have but just enough of sense, to know<br /> +The master's voice, when rated, to depart. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Mustapha</span> and Rabble.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> With gratitude as low as knees can pay +<span class="sdr">[Kneeling to him.</span><br /> +To those blest holy fires, our guardian angels,<br /> +Receive these thanks, till altars can be raised.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Arise, fair excellence, and pay no thanks, +<span class="sdr">[Raising her up.</span><br /> +Till time discover what I have deserved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> More than reward can answer.<br /> +If Portugal and Spain were joined to Africa,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">410</span><a id="page_410" name="page_410"></a> +And the main ocean crusted into land,<br /> +If universal monarchy were mine,<br /> +Here should the gift be placed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> And from some hands I should refuse that gift.<br /> +Be not too prodigal of promises;<br /> +But stint your bounty to one only grant,<br /> +Which I can ask with honour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What I am<br /> +Is but thy gift; make what thou canst of me,<br /> +Secure of no repulse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Seb.</span></span>] Dismiss your train.—<br /> +[<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Alm.</span></span>] You, madam, please one moment to retire.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> signs to the Portugueses to go +off; <span class="cnm">Almeyda,</span> bowing to him, gives off also. +The Africans follow her.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> [<span class="sdm">To the Captain of the Guard.</span>]<br /> +With you one word in private.<span class="sdr">[Goes out with the Captain.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> [<span class="sdm">Solus.</span>] Reserved behaviour, open nobleness,<br /> +A long mysterious track of stern bounty:<br /> +But now the hand of fate is on the curtain,<br /> +And draws the scene to sight.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Dorax,</span> having taken off his Turban, and +put on a Peruke, Hat, and Cravat.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Now, do you know me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thou shouldst be Alonzo.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> So you should be Sebastian:<br /> +But when Sebastian ceased to be himself,<br /> +I ceased to be Alonzo.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> As in a dream,<br /> +I see thee here, and scarce believe mine eyes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Is it so strange to find me, where my wrongs,<br /> +And your inhuman tyranny, have sent me?<br /> +Think not you dream; or, if you did, my injuries<br /> +<span class="pgnm">411</span><a id="page_411" name="page_411"></a> +Shall call so loud, that lethargy should wake,<br /> +And death should give you back to answer me.<br /> +A thousand nights have brushed their balmy wings<br /> +Over these eyes; but ever when they closed,<br /> +Your tyrant image forced them ope again,<br /> +And dried the dews they brought:<br /> +The long expected hour is come at length,<br /> +By manly vengeance to redeem my fame;<br /> +And, that once cleared, eternal sleep is welcome.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I have not yet forgot I am a king,<br /> +Whose royal office is redress of wrongs:<br /> +If I have wronged thee, charge me face to face;—<br /> +I have not yet forgot I am a soldier.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> 'Tis the first justice thou hast ever done me.<br /> +Then, though I loath this woman's war of tongues,<br /> +Yet shall my cause of vengeance first be clear;<br /> +And, honour, be thou judge.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Honour befriend us both.—<br /> +Beware I warn thee yet, to tell thy griefs<br /> +In terms becoming majesty to hear:<br /> +I warn thee thus, because I know thy temper<br /> +Is insolent, and haughty to superiors.<br /> +How often hast thou braved my peaceful court,<br /> +Filled it with noisy brawls, and windy boasts;<br /> +And with past service, nauseously repeated,<br /> +Reproached even me, thy prince?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> And well I might, when you forgot reward,<br /> +The part of heaven in kings; for punishment<br /> +Is hangman's work, and drudgery for devils.—<br /> +I must, and will reproach thee with my service,<br /> +Tyrant!—It irks me so to call my prince;<br /> +But just resentment, and hard usage, coined<br /> +The unwilling word; and, grating as it is,<br /> +Take it, for 'tis thy due.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> How, tyrant?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Tyrant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">412</span><a id="page_412" name="page_412"></a> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Traitor!—that name thou canst not echo back;<br /> +That robe of infamy, that circumcision<br /> +Ill hid beneath that robe, proclaim thee traitor;<br /> +And, if a name<br /> +More foul than traitor be, 'tis renegade.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> If I'm a traitor, think,—and blush, thou tyrant,—<br /> +Whose injuries betrayed me into treason,<br /> +Effaced my loyalty, unhinged my faith,<br /> +And hurried me, from hopes of heaven, to hell.<br /> +All these, and all my yet unfinished crimes,<br /> +When I shall rise to plead before the saints,<br /> +I charge on thee, to make thy damning sure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thy old presumptuous arrogance again,<br /> +That bred my first dislike, and then my loathing.—<br /> +Once more be warned, and know me for thy king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Too well I know thee, but for king no more.<br /> +This is not Lisbon; nor the circle this,<br /> +Where, like a statue, thou hast stood besieged<br /> +By sycophants and fools, the growth of courts;<br /> +Where thy gulled eyes, in all the gaudy round,<br /> +Met nothing but a lie in every face,<br /> +And the gross flattery of a gaping crowd,<br /> +Envious who first should catch, and first applaud,<br /> +The stuff of royal nonsense: When I spoke,<br /> +My honest homely words were carped and censured<br /> +For want of courtly style; related actions,<br /> +Though modestly reported, passed for boasts;<br /> +Secure of merit if I asked reward,<br /> +Thy hungry minions thought their rights invaded,<br /> +And the bread snatched from pimps and parasites.<br /> +Henriquez answered, with a ready lie,<br /> +To save his king's,—the boon was begged before!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What say'st thou of Henriquez? Now, by heaven,<br /> +Thou mov'st me more by barely naming him,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">413</span><a id="page_413" name="page_413"></a> +Than all thy foul unmannered scurril taunts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> And therefore 'twas, to gall thee, that I named him.<br /> +That thing, that nothing, but a cringe and smile;<br /> +That woman, but more daubed; or, if a man,<br /> +Corrupted to a woman; thy man-mistress.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> All false as hell, or thou.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Yes; full as false<br /> +As that I served thee fifteen hard campaigns,<br /> +And pitched thy standard in these foreign fields:<br /> +By me thy greatness grew, thy years grew with it,<br /> +But thy ingratitude outgrew them both.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I see to what thou tend'st: but, tell me first,<br /> +If those great acts were done alone for me?<br /> +If love produced not some, and pride the rest?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Why, love does all that's noble here below;<br /> +But all the advantage of that love was thine.<br /> +For, coming fraughted back, in either hand<br /> +With palm and olive, victory and peace,<br /> +I was indeed prepared to ask my own,<br /> +(For Violante's vows were mine before:)<br /> +Thy malice had prevention, ere I spoke;<br /> +And asked me Violante for Henriquez.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I meant thee a reward of greater worth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Where justice wanted, could reward be hoped?<br /> +Could the robbed passenger expect a bounty<br /> +From those rapacious hands, who stripped him first?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> He had my promise, ere I knew thy love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> My services deserved thou shouldst revoke it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thy insolence had cancelled all thy service:<br /> +To violate my laws, even in my court,<br /> +Sacred to peace, and safe from all affronts;<br /> +Even to my face, and done in my despite,<br /> +Under the wing of awful majesty,<br /> +To strike the man I loved!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">414</span><a id="page_414" name="page_414"></a> +<span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Even in the face of heaven, a place more sacred,<br /> +Would I have struck the man, who, prompt by power,<br /> +Would seize my right, and rob me of my love:<br /> +But, for a blow provoked by thy injustice,<br /> +The hasty product of a just despair,<br /> +When he refused to meet me in the field,<br /> +That thou shouldst make a coward's cause thy own!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> He durst; nay more, desired, and begged with tears,<br /> +To meet thy challenge fairly: 'Twas thy fault<br /> +To make it public; but my duty, then,<br /> +To interpose, on pain of my displeasure,<br /> +Betwixt your swords.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> On pain of infamy,<br /> +He should have disobeyed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> The indignity, thou didst, was meant to me:<br /> +Thy gloomy eyes were cast on me with scorn,<br /> +As who should say,—the blow was there intended:<br /> +But that thou didst not dare to lift thy hands<br /> +Against anointed power. So was I forced<br /> +To do a sovereign justice to myself,<br /> +And spurn thee from my presence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Thou hast dared<br /> +To tell me, what I durst not tell myself:<br /> +I durst not think that I was spurned, and live;<br /> +And live to hear it boasted to my face.<br /> +All my long avarice of honour lost,<br /> +Heaped up in youth, and hoarded up for age!<br /> +Has honour's fountain then sucked back the stream?<br /> +He has; and hooting boys may dry-shod pass,<br /> +And gather pebbles from the naked ford.—<br /> +Give me my love, my honour; give them back—<br /> +Give me revenge, while I have breath to ask it!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Now, by this honoured order which I wear,<br /> +More gladly would I give, than thou dar'st ask it;<br /> +Nor shall the sacred character of king<br /> +<span class="pgnm">415</span><a id="page_415" name="page_415"></a> +Be urged, to shield me from thy bold appeal.<br /> +If I have injured thee, that makes us equal;<br /> +The wrong, if done, debased me down to thee.<br /> +But thou hast charged me with ingratitude;<br /> +Hast thou not charged me? speak!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Thou know'st I have:<br /> +If thou disown'st that imputation, draw,<br /> +And prove my charge a lie.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> No; to disprove that lie, I must not draw.<br /> +Be conscious to thy worth, and tell thy soul,<br /> +What thou hast done this day in my defence.<br /> +To fight thee after this, what were it else<br /> +Than owning that ingratitude thou urgest?<br /> +That isthmus stands between two rushing seas;<br /> +Which, mounting, view each other from afar,<br /> +And strive in vain to meet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I'll cut that isthmus.<br /> +Thou know'st I meant not to preserve thy life,<br /> +But to reprieve it, for my own revenge.<br /> +I saved thee out of honourable malice:<br /> +Now, draw;—I should be loth to think thou dar'st not:<br /> +Beware of such another vile excuse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> O patience, heaven!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Beware of patience, too;<br /> +That's a suspicious word. It had been proper,<br /> +Before thy foot had spurned me; now 'tis base:<br /> +Yet, to disarm thee of thy last defence,<br /> +I have thy oath for my security.<br /> +The only boon I begged was this fair combat:<br /> +Fight, or be perjured now; that's all thy choice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Now can I thank thee as thou would'st be thanked. +<span class="sdr">[Drawing.</span><br /> +Never was vow of honour better paid,<br /> +If my true sword but hold, than this shall be.<br /> +The sprightly bridegroom, on his wedding night,<br /> +More gladly enters not the lists of love:<br /> +<span class="pgnm">416</span><a id="page_416" name="page_416"></a> +Why, 'tis enjoyment to be summoned thus.<br /> +Go, bear my message to Henriquez ghost;<br /> +And say, his master and his friend revenged him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> His ghost! then is my hated rival dead?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> The question is beside our present purpose:<br /> +Thou seest me ready; we delay too long.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> A minute is not much in either's life,<br /> +When there's but one betwixt us; throw it in,<br /> +And give it him of us who is to fail.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> He's dead; make haste, and thou may'st yet o'ertake him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> When I was hasty, thou delayed'st me longer—<br /> +I pr'ythee let me hedge one moment more<br /> +Into thy promise: For thy life preserved,<br /> +Be kind; and tell me how that rival died,<br /> +Whose death, next thine, I wished.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> If it would please thee, thou shouldst never know;<br /> +But thou, like jealousy, enquir'st a truth,<br /> +Which, found, will torture thee.—He died in fight;<br /> +Fought next my person; as in concert fought;<br /> +Kept pace for pace, and blow for every blow;<br /> +Save when he heaved his shield in my defence,<br /> +And on his naked side received my wound.<br /> +Then, when he could no more, he fell at once;<br /> +But rolled his falling body cross their way,<br /> +And made a bulwark of it for his prince.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I never can forgive him such a death!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I prophesied thy proud soul could not bear it.—<br /> +Now, judge thyself, who best deserved my love?<br /> +I knew you both; and (durst I say) as heaven<br /> +Foreknew, among the shining angel host,<br /> +Who would stand firm, who fall.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Had he been tempted so, so had he fallen;<br /> +And so had I been favoured, had I stood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">417</span><a id="page_417" name="page_417"></a> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What had been, is unknown; what is, appears.<br /> +Confess, he justly was preferred to thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Had I been born with his indulgent stars,<br /> +My fortune had been his, and his been mine.—<br /> +O worse than hell! what glory have I lost,<br /> +And what has he acquired, by such a death!<br /> +I should have fallen by Sebastian's side,<br /> +My corps had been the bulwark of my king.<br /> +His glorious end was a patched work of fate,<br /> +Ill sorted with a soft effeminate life;<br /> +It suited better with my life than his,<br /> +So to have died: Mine had been of a piece,<br /> +Spent in your service, dying at your feet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> The more effeminate and soft his life,<br /> +The more his fame, to struggle to the field,<br /> +And meet his glorious fate. Confess, proud spirit,<br /> +(For I will have it from thy very mouth)<br /> +That better he deserved my love than thou?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> O, whither would you drive me? I must grant,—<br /> +Yes, I must grant, but with a swelling soul,—<br /> +Henriquez had your love with more desert.<br /> +For you he fought, and died: I fought against you;<br /> +Through all the mazes of the bloody field,<br /> +Hunted your sacred life; which that I missed<br /> +Was the propitious error of my fate,<br /> +Not of my soul: My soul's a regicide.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> [<span class="sdm">More calmly.</span>]<br /> +Thou might'st have given it a more gentle name.<br /> +Thou meant'st to kill a tyrant, not a king:<br /> +Speak, didst thou not, Alonzo?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Can I speak!<br /> +Alas, I cannot answer to Alonzo!—<br /> +No, Dorax cannot answer to Alonzo;<br /> +Alonzo was too kind a name for me.<br /> +Then, when I fought and conquered with your arms,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">418</span><a id="page_418" name="page_418"></a> +In that blest age, I was the man you named:<br /> +Till rage and pride debased me into Dorax,<br /> +And lost, like Lucifer, my name above.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Yet twice this day I owed my life to Dorax.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I saved you but to kill you: There's my grief.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Nay, if thou can'st be grieved, thou can'st repent;<br /> +Thou could'st not be a villain, though thou would'st:<br /> +Thou own'st too much, in owning thou hast erred;<br /> +And I too little, who provoked thy crime.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> O stop this headlong torrent of your goodness!<br /> +It comes too fast upon a feeble soul,<br /> +Half drowned in tears before: Spare my confusion;<br /> +For pity spare; and say not first, you erred;<br /> +For yet I have not dared, through guilt and shame,<br /> +To throw myself beneath your royal feet.—<span class="sdr">[Falls at his feet.</span><br /> +Now spurn this rebel, this proud renegade;<br /> +'Tis just you should, nor will I more complain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Indeed thou should'st not ask forgiveness first;<br /> +But thou prevent'st me still, in all that's noble. +<span class="sdr">[Taking him up.</span><br /> +Yes, I will raise thee up with better news.<br /> +Thy Violante's heart was ever thine;<br /> +Compelled to wed, because she was my ward,<br /> +Her soul was absent when she gave her hand;<br /> +Nor could my threats, or his pursuing courtship,<br /> +Effect the consummation of his love:<br /> +So, still indulging tears, she pines for thee,<br /> +A widow, and a maid.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Have I been cursing heaven, while heaven blest me?<br /> +I shall run mad with extacy of joy:<br /> +What! in one moment, to be reconciled<br /> +<span class="pgnm">419</span><a id="page_419" name="page_419"></a> +To heaven, and to my king, and to my love!—<br /> +But pity is my friend, and stops me short,<br /> +For my unhappy rival:—Poor Henriquez!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Art thou so generous, too, to pity him?<br /> +Nay, then, I was unjust to love him better.<br /> +Here let me ever hold thee in my arms;<span class="sdr">[Embracing him.</span><br /> +And all our quarrels be but such as these,<br /> +Who shall love best, and closest shall embrace.<br /> +Be what Henriquez was,—be my Alonzo.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> What, my Alonzo, said you? my Alonzo!<br /> +Let my tears thank you, for I cannot speak;<br /> +And, if I could,<br /> +Words were not made to vent such thoughts as mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Some strange reverse of fate must sure attend<br /> +This vast profusion, this extravagance<br /> +Of heaven, to bless me thus. 'Tis gold so pure,<br /> +It cannot bear the stamp, without alloy.—<br /> +Be kind, ye powers! and take but half away:<br /> +With ease the gifts of fortune I resign;<br /> +But let my love and friend be ever mine.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT V. SCENE I.<br /> +<i>The Scene is, a Room of State.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Dorax</span> and <span class="cnm">Antonio.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Joy is on every face, without a cloud;<br /> +As, in the scene of opening paradise,<br /> +The whole creation danced at their new being,<br /> +Pleased to be what they were, pleased with each other,<br /> +Such joy have I, both in myself and friends;<br /> +And double joy that I have made them happy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Pleasure has been the business of my life;<br /> +And every change of fortune easy to me,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">420</span><a id="page_420" name="page_420"></a> +Because I still was easy to myself.<br /> +The loss of her I loved would touch me nearest;<br /> +Yet, if I found her, I might love too much,<br /> +And that's uneasy pleasure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> If she be fated<br /> +To be your wife, your fate will find her for you:<br /> +Predestinated ills are never lost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I had forgot<br /> +To inquire before, but long to be informed,<br /> +How, poisoned and betrayed, and round beset,<br /> +You could unwind yourself from all these dangers,<br /> +And move so speedily to our relief?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> The double poisons, after a short combat,<br /> +Expelled each other in their civil war,<br /> +By nature's benefit, and roused my thoughts<br /> +To guard that life which now I found attacked.<br /> +I summoned all my officers in haste,<br /> +On whose experienced faith I might rely;<br /> +All came resolved to die in my defence,<br /> +Save that one villain who betrayed the gate.<br /> +Our diligence prevented the surprise<br /> +We justly feared: So Muley-Zeydan found us<br /> +Drawn up in battle, to receive the charge.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But how the Moors and Christian slaves were joined,<br /> +You have not yet unfolded.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> That remains.<br /> +We knew their interest was the same with ours:<br /> +And, though I hated more than death Sebastian,<br /> +I could not see him die by vulgar hands;<br /> +But, prompted by my angel, or by his,<br /> +Freed all the slaves, and placed him next myself,<br /> +Because I would not have his person known.<br /> +I need not tell the rest, the event declares it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Your conquests came of course; their men were raw,<br /> +And yours were disciplined.—One doubt remains,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">421</span><a id="page_421" name="page_421"></a> +Why you industriously concealed the king,<br /> +Who, known, had added courage to his men?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I would not hazard civil broils betwixt<br /> +His friends and mine; which might prevent our combat.<br /> +Yet, had he fallen, I had dismissed his troops;<br /> +Or, if victorious, ordered his escape.—<br /> +But I forgot a new increase of joy<br /> +To feast him with surprise; I must about it:<br /> +Expect my swift return.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter a Servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> Here's a lady at the door, that bids me tell +you, she is come to make an end of the game, that +was broken off betwixt you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What manner of woman is she? Does she +not want two of the four elements? has she any +thing about her but air and fire?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> Truly, she flies about the room as if she had +wings instead of legs; I believe she's just turning +into a bird:—A house bird I warrant her:—And so +hasty to fly to you, that, rather than fail of entrance, +she would come tumbling down the chimney, like +a swallow.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Morayma.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Running to her, and embracing her.</span>] Look, +if she be not here already!—What, no denial it seems +will serve your turn? Why, thou little dun, is thy +debt so pressing?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Little devil, if you please: Your lease is +out, good master conjurer, and I am come to fetch +your soul and body; not an hour of lewdness longer +in this world for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Where the devil hast thou been? and how +the devil didst thou find me here?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I followed you into the castle-yard, but +<span class="pgnm">422</span><a id="page_422" name="page_422"></a> +there was nothing but tumult and confusion: and +I was bodily afraid of being picked up by some of +the rabble; considering I had a double charge about +me,—my jewels, and my maidenhead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Both of them intended for my worship's +sole use and property.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> And what was poor little I among them +all?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Not a mouthful a-piece: 'Twas too much +odds, in conscience!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> So, seeking for shelter, I naturally ran to +the old place of assignation, the garden-house; +where, for the want of instinct, you did not follow +me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Well, for thy comfort, I have secured thy +father; and I hope thou hast secured his effects for +us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Yes, truly, I had the prudent foresight to +consider, that, when we grow old, and weary of solacing +one another, we might have, at least, wherewithal +to make merry with the world; and take up +with a worse pleasure of eating and drinking, when +we were disabled for a better.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thy fortune will be even too good for thee; +for thou art going into the country of serenades and +gallantries, where thy street will be haunted every +night with thy foolish lovers, and my rivals, who +will be sighing and singing, under thy inexorable +windows, lamentable ditties, and call thee cruel, +and goddess, and moon, and stars, and all the poetical +names of wicked rhime; while thou and I are +minding our business, and jogging on, and laughing +at them, at leisure minutes, which will be very +few; take that by way of threatening.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I am afraid you are not very valiant, that +you huff so much beforehand. But, they say, your +<span class="pgnm">423</span><a id="page_423" name="page_423"></a> +churches are fine places for love-devotion; many a +she-saint is there worshipped.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Temples are there, as they are in all other +countries, good conveniences for dumb interviews. +I hear the protestants are not much reformed in that +point neither; for their sectaries call their churches +by the natural name of meeting-houses. Therefore +I warn thee in good time, not more of devotion +than needs must, good future spouse, and always +in a veil; for those eyes of thine are damned enemies +to mortification.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The best thing I have heard of Christendom +is, that we women are allowed the privilege of +having souls; and I assure you, I shall make bold +to bestow mine upon some lover, whenever you begin +to go astray; and, if I find no convenience in a +church, a private chamber will serve the turn.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> When that day comes, I must take my revenge, +and turn gardener again; for I find I am +much given to planting.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> But take heed, in the mean time, that some +young Antonio does not spring up in your own family; +as false as his father, though of another man's +planting.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Dorax,</span> with <span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> and <span class="cnm">Almeyda,</span> +<span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> enters speaking to <span class="cnm">Dorax,</span> while in the +mean time <span class="cnm">Antonio</span> presents <span class="cnm">Morayma</span> to <span class="cnm">Almeyda.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> How fares our royal prisoner, Muley-Zeydan?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Disposed to grant whatever I desire,<br /> +To gain a crown, and freedom. Well I know him,<br /> +Of easy temper, naturally good,<br /> +And faithful to his word.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Yet one thing wants,<br /> +To fill the measure of my happiness;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">424</span><a id="page_424" name="page_424"></a> +I'm still in pain for poor Alvarez' life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Release that fear, the good old man is safe;<br /> +I paid his ransom,<br /> +And have already ordered his attendance.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> O bid him enter, for I long to see him.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alvarez</span> with a Servant, who departs when +<span class="cnm">Alvarez</span> is entered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Now by my soul, and by these hoary hairs, +<span class="sdr">[Falling down, and embracing the King's knees.</span><br /> +I'm so o'erwhelmed with pleasure, that I feel<br /> +A latter spring within my withering limbs,<br /> +That shoots me out again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thou good old man,<span class="sdr">[Raising him.</span><br /> +Thou hast deceived me into more, more joys,<br /> +Who stood brim-full before.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> O my dear child,—<br /> +I love thee so, I cannot call thee king,—<br /> +Whom I so oft have dandled in these arms!<br /> +What, when I gave thee lost, to find thee living!<br /> +'Tis like a father, who himself had 'scaped<br /> +A falling house, and, after anxious search,<br /> +Hears from afar his only son within;<br /> +And digs through rubbish, till he drags him out,<br /> +To see the friendly light.<br /> +Such is my haste, so trembling is my joy,<br /> +To draw thee forth from underneath thy fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> The tempest is o'erblown, the skies are clear,<br /> +And the sea charmed into a calm so still,<br /> +That not a wrinkle ruffles her smooth face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Just such she shows before a rising storm;<br /> +And therefore am I come with timely speed,<br /> +To warn you into port.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> My soul forebodes<br /> +Some dire event involved in those dark words,<br /> +And just disclosing in a birth of fate.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Is there not yet an heir of this vast empire,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">425</span><a id="page_425" name="page_425"></a> +Who still survives, of Muley-Moluch's branch?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Yes, such a one there is a captive here,<br /> +And brother to the dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> The powers above<br /> +Be praised for that! My prayers for my good master,<br /> +I hope, are heard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thou hast a right in heaven.<br /> +But why these prayers for me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> A door is open yet for your deliverance.—<br /> +Now you, my countrymen, and you, Almeyda,<br /> +Now all of us, and you, my all in one,<br /> +May yet be happy in that captive's life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> We have him here an honourable hostage<br /> +For terms of peace; what more he can contribute<br /> +To make me blest, I know not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ah.</span> Vastly more;<br /> +Almeyda may be settled in the throne,<br /> +And you review your native clime with fame.<br /> +A firm alliance and eternal peace,<br /> +The glorious crown of honourable war,<br /> +Are all included in that prince's life.<br /> +Let this fair queen be given to Muley-Zeydan,<br /> +And make her love the sanction of your league.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> No more of that; his life's in my dispose,<br /> +And prisoners are not to insist on terms;<br /> +Or, if they were, yet he demands not these.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> You should exact them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Better may be made,<br /> +These cannot: I abhor the tyrant's race,—<br /> +My parents' murderers, my throne's usurpers.<br /> +But, at one blow, to cut off all dispute,<br /> +Know this, thou busy, old, officious man,—<br /> +I am a Christian; now be wise no more;<br /> +Or, if thou wouldst be still thought wise, be silent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> O, I perceive you think your interest touched:<br /> +'Tis what before the battle I observed;<br /> +But I must speak, and will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">426</span><a id="page_426" name="page_426"></a> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I pr'ythee, peace;<br /> +Perhaps she thinks they are too near of blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> I wish she may not wed to blood more near.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What if I make her mine?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Now heaven forbid!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Wish rather heaven may grant;<br /> +For, if I could deserve, I have deserved her:<br /> +My toils, my hazards, and my subjects' lives,<br /> +Provided she consent, may claim her love;<br /> +And, that once granted, I appeal to these,<br /> +If better I could chuse a beauteous bride.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> The fairest of her sex.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The pride of nature.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> He only merits her, she only him;<br /> +So paired, so suited in their minds and persons,<br /> +That they were framed the tallies for each other.<br /> +If any alien love had interposed,<br /> +It must have been an eye-sore to beholders,<br /> +And to themselves a curse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> And to themselves<br /> +The greatest curse that can be, were to join.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Did not I love thee past a change to hate,<br /> +That word had been thy ruin; but no more,<br /> +I charge thee, on thy life, perverse old man!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Know, sir, I would be silent if I durst:<br /> +But if, on shipboard, I should see my friend<br /> +Grown frantic in a raging calenture,<br /> +And he, imagining vain flowery fields,<br /> +Would headlong plunge himself into the deep,—<br /> +Should I not hold him from that mad attempt,<br /> +Till his sick fancy were by reason cured?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I pardon thee the effects of doting age,<br /> +Vain doubts, and idle cares, and over-caution;<br /> +The second nonage of a soul more wise,<br /> +But now decayed, and sunk into the socket;<br /> +Peeping by fits, and giving feeble light.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Have you forgot?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">427</span><a id="page_427" name="page_427"></a> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thou mean'st my father's will,<br /> +In bar of marriage to Almeyda's bed.<br /> +Thou seest my faculties are still entire,<br /> +Though thine are much impaired. I weighed that will,<br /> +And found 'twas grounded on our different faiths;<br /> +But, had he lived to see her happy change,<br /> +He would have cancelled that harsh interdict,<br /> +And joined our hands himself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Still had he lived and seen this change,<br /> +He still had been the same.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I have a dark remembrance of my father:<br /> +His reasonings and his actions both were just;<br /> +And, granting that, he must have changed his measures.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Yes, he was just, and therefore could not change.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> 'Tis a base wrong thou offer'st to the dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Now heaven forbid,<br /> +That I should blast his pious memory!<br /> +No, I am tender of his holy fame;<br /> +For, dying, he bequeathed it to my charge.<br /> +Believe, I am; and seek to know no more,<br /> +But pay a blind obedience to his will;<br /> +For, to preserve his fame, I would be silent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Crazed fool, who would'st be thought an oracle,<br /> +Come down from off the tripos, and speak plain.<br /> +My father shall be justified, he shall:<br /> +'Tis a son's part to rise in his defence,<br /> +And to confound thy malice, or thy dotage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> It does not grieve me, that you hold me crazed;<br /> +But, to be cleared at my dead master's cost,<br /> +O there's the wound! but let me first adjure you,<br /> +By all you owe that dear departed soul,<br /> +No more to think of marriage with Almeyda.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">428</span><a id="page_428" name="page_428"></a> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Not heaven and earth combined can hinder it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Then witness heaven and earth, how loth I am<br /> +To say, you must not, nay, you cannot, wed:<br /> +And since not only a dead father's fame,<br /> +But more, a lady's honour, must be touched,<br /> +Which, nice as ermines, will not bear a soil,<br /> +Let all retire, that you alone may hear<br /> +What even in whispers I would tell your ear. +<span class="sdr">[All are going out.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Not one of you depart; I charge you, stay!<br /> +And were my voice a trumpet loud as fame,<br /> +To reach the round of heaven, and earth, and sea,<br /> +All nations should be summoned to this place,<br /> +So little do I fear that fellow's charge:<br /> +So should my honour, like a rising swan,<br /> +Brush with her wings the falling drops away,<br /> +And proudly plough the waves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> This noble pride becomes thy innocence;<br /> +And I dare trust my father's memory,<br /> +To stand the charge of that foul forging tongue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> It will be soon discovered if I forge.<br /> +Have you not heard your father in his youth,<br /> +When newly married, travelled into Spain,<br /> +And made a long abode in Philip's court?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Why so remote a question, which thyself<br /> +Can answer to thyself? for thou wert with him,<br /> +His favourite, as I oft have heard thee boast,<br /> +And nearest to his soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Too near, indeed; forgive me, gracious heaven,<br /> +That ever I should boast I was so near,<br /> +The confident of all his young amours!—<br /> +And have not you, unhappy beauty, heard,<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Alm.</span></span><br /> +Have you not often heard, your exiled parents<br /> +Were refuged in that court, and at that time?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> 'Tis true; and often since my mother owned,<br /> +How kind that prince was to espouse her cause;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">429</span><a id="page_429" name="page_429"></a> +She counselled, nay enjoined me on her blessing,<br /> +To seek the sanctuary of your court;<br /> +Which gave me first encouragement to come,<br /> +And, with my brother, beg Sebastian's aid.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thou helpst me well to justify my war:<br /> +[<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Alm.</span></span>] My dying father swore me, then a boy,<br /> +And made me kiss the cross upon his sword,<br /> +Never to sheath it, till that exiled queen<br /> +Were by my arms restored.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> And can you find<br /> +No mystery couched in this excess of kindness?<br /> +Were kings e'er known, in this degenerate age,<br /> +So passionately fond of noble acts,<br /> +Where interest shared not more than half with honour?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Base grovelling soul, who know'st not honour's worth,<br /> +But weigh'st it out in mercenary scales!<br /> +The secret pleasure of a generous act<br /> +Is the great mind's great bribe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Show me that king, and I'll believe the Phœnix.<br /> +But knock at your own breast, and ask your soul,<br /> +If those fair fatal eyes edged not your sword<br /> +More than your father's charge, and all your vows?<br /> +If so,—and so your silence grants it is,—<br /> +Know king, your father had, like you, a soul,<br /> +And love is your inheritance from him.<br /> +Almeyda's mother, too, had eyes, like her,<br /> +And not less charming; and were charmed no less<br /> +Than yours are now with her, and hers with you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Thou liest, impostor! perjured fiend, thou liest!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Was't not enough to brand my father's fame,<br /> +But thou must load a lady's memory?<br /> +O infamous! O base, beyond repair!<br /> +And to what end this ill-concerted lie,<br /> +Which palpable and gross, yet granted true,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">430</span><a id="page_430" name="page_430"></a> +It bars not my inviolable vows?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Take heed, and double not your father's crimes;<br /> +To his adultery do not add your incest.<br /> +Know, she's the product of unlawful love,<br /> +And 'tis your carnal sister you would wed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thou shalt not say thou wer't condemned unheard;<br /> +Else, by my soul, this moment were thy last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> But think not oaths shall justify thy charge,<br /> +Nor imprecations on thy cursed head;<br /> +For who dares lie to heaven, thinks heaven a jest.<br /> +Thou hast confessed thyself the conscious pandar<br /> +Of that pretended passion;<br /> +A single witness infamously known,<br /> +Against two persons of unquestioned fame.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> What interest can I have, or what delight,<br /> +To blaze their shame, or to divulge my own?<br /> +If proved, you hate me; if unproved, condemn.<br /> +Not racks or tortures could have forced this secret,<br /> +But too much care to save you from a crime,<br /> +Which would have sunk you both. For, let me say,<br /> +Almeyda's beauty well deserves your love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Out, base impostor! I abhor thy praise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> It looks not like imposture; but a truth,<br /> +On utmost need revealed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Did I expect from Dorax this return?<br /> +Is this the love renewed?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Sir, I am silent;<br /> +Pray heaven my fears prove false!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Away! you all combine to make me wretched.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> But hear the story of that fatal love,<br /> +Where every circumstance shall prove another;<br /> +And truth so shine by her own native light,<br /> +That, if a lie were mixt, it must be seen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> No; all may still be forged, and of a piece.<br /> +No; I can credit nothing thou canst say.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> One proof remains, and that's your father's hand,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">431</span><a id="page_431" name="page_431"></a> +Firmed with his signet; both so fully known,<br /> +That plainer evidence can hardly be,<br /> +Unless his soul would want her heaven awhile,<br /> +And come on earth to swear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Produce that writing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Dorax.</span></span>] Alonzo has it in his custody;<br /> +The same, which, when his nobleness redeemed me,<br /> +And in a friendly visit owned himself<br /> +For what he is, I then deposited,<br /> +And had his faith to give it to the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Untouched, and sealed, as when intrusted with me, +<span class="sdr">[Giving a sealed Paper to the King.</span><br /> +Such I restore it with a trembling hand,<br /> +Lest aught within disturb your peace of soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Draw near, Almeyda; thou art most concerned,<br /> +For I am most in thee.—<span class="sdr">[Tearing open the Seals.</span><br /> +Alonzo, mark the characters;<br /> +Thou know'st my father's hand, observe it well;<br /> +And if the impostor's pen have made one slip<br /> +That shews it counterfeit, mark that, and save me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> It looks indeed too like my master's hand:<br /> +So does the signet: more I cannot say;<br /> +But wish 'twere not so like.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Methinks it owns<br /> +The black adultery, and Almeyda's birth;<br /> +But such a mist of grief comes o'er my eyes,<br /> +I cannot, or I would not, read it plain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Heaven cannot be more true, than this is false.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> O couldst thou prove it with the same assurance!<br /> +Speak, hast thou ever seen my father's hand?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> No; but my mother's honour has been read<br /> +By me, and by the world, in all her acts,<br /> +In characters more plain and legible<br /> +Than this dumb evidence, this blotted lie.—<br /> +<span class="pgnm">432</span><a id="page_432" name="page_432"></a> +Oh that I were a man, as my soul's one,<br /> +To prove thee traitor, and assassinate<br /> +Of her fame! thus moved, I'd tear thee thus,— +<span class="sdr">[Tearing the Paper.</span><br /> +And scatter o'er the field thy coward limbs,<br /> +Like this foul offspring of thy forging brain. +<span class="sdr">[Scattering the Paper.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Just so shalt thou be torn from all thy hopes;<br /> +For know, proud woman, know, in thy despite,<br /> +The most authentic proof is still behind,—<br /> +Thou wear'st it on thy finger: 'Tis that ring,<br /> +Which, matched to that on his, shall clear the doubt.<br /> +'Tis no dumb forgery, for that shall speak,<br /> +And sound a rattling peal to either's conscience.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> This ring, indeed, my father, with a cold<br /> +And shaking hand, just in the pangs of death,<br /> +Put on my finger, with a parting sigh;<br /> +And would have, spoke, but faultered in his speech,<br /> +With undistinguished sound.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> I know it well,<br /> +For I was present.—Now, Almeyda, speak,<br /> +And truly tell us how you came by yours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> My mother, when I parted from her sight<br /> +To go to Portugal, bequeathed it to me,<br /> +Presaging she should never see me more.<br /> +She pulled it from her finger, shed some tears,<br /> +Kissed it, and told me 'twas a pledge of love,<br /> +And hid a mystery of great importance,<br /> +Relating to my fortunes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Mark me now,<br /> +While I disclose that fatal mystery:—<br /> +Those rings, when you were born and thought another's,<br /> +Your parents, glowing yet in sinful love,<br /> +Bid me bespeak: a curious artist wrought them.<br /> +With joints so close, as not to be perceived,<br /> +Yet are they both each other's counterpart;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">433</span><a id="page_433" name="page_433"></a> +Her part had <i>Juan</i> inscribed, and his had <i>Zayda</i>,<br /> +(You know those names are theirs,) and in the midst<br /> +A heart divided in two halves was placed.<br /> +Now, if the rivets of those rings inclosed<br /> +Fit not each other, I have forged this lie;<br /> +But, if they join, you must for ever part.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> pulling off his Ring, <span class="cnm">Almeyda</span> does +the same, and gives it to <span class="cnm">Alvarez,</span> who unscrews +both the Rings, and fits one half to the +other<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-10">[10]</a>.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Now life, or death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> And either thine, or ours.—<br /> +I'm lost for ever.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Swoons. The Women and <span class="cnm">Morayma</span> take her +up, and carry her off. <span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> here stands +amazed without motion, his eyes fixed upward.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Look to the queen, my wife; for I am past<br /> +All power of aid to her, or to myself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> His wife! said he, his wife! O fatal sound!<br /> +For, had I known it, this unwelcome news<br /> +<span class="pgnm">434</span><a id="page_434" name="page_434"></a> +Had never reached their ears:<br /> +So they had still been blest in ignorance,<br /> +And I alone unhappy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I knew it, but too late, and durst not speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> [<span class="sdm">Starting out of his amazement.</span>]<br /> +I will not live, no not a moment more;<br /> +I will not add one moment more to incest;<br /> +I'll cut it off, and end a wretched being:<br /> +For, should I live, my soul's so little mine,<br /> +And so much hers, that I should still enjoy.—<br /> +Ye cruel powers,<br /> +Take me, as you have made me, miserable;<br /> +You cannot make me guilty; 'twas my fate,<br /> +And you made that, not I. +<span class="sdr">[Draws his Sword. <span class="cnm">Antonio</span> and <span class="cnm">Alvarez</span> lay +hold on him, and <span class="cnm">Dorax</span> wrests the Sword out +of his hand.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> For heaven's sake hold, and recollect your mind!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Consider whom you punish, and for what;<br /> +Yourself unjustly; you have charged the fault<br /> +On heaven, that best may bear it.<br /> +Though incest is indeed a deadly crime,<br /> +You are not guilty, since unknown 'twas done,<br /> +And, known, had been abhorred.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> By heaven, you're traitors all, that hold my hands.<br /> +If death be but cessation of our thought,<br /> +Then let me die, for I would think no more.<br /> +I'll boast my innocence above,<br /> +And let them see a soul they could not sully,<br /> +I shall be there before my father's ghost,<br /> +That yet must languish long in frosts and fires,<br /> +For making me unhappy by his crime.—<br /> +Stand oft, and let me take my fill of death;<span class="sdr">[Struggling again.</span><br /> +For I can hold my breath in your despite,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">435</span><a id="page_435" name="page_435"></a> +And swell my heaving soul out when I please.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Heaven comfort you!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What, art thou giving comfort!<br /> +Wouldst thou give comfort, who hast given despair?<br /> +Thou seest Alonzo silent; he's a man.<br /> +He knows, that men, abandoned of their hopes,<br /> +Should ask no leave, nor stay for sueing out<br /> +A tedious writ of ease from lingering heaven,<br /> +But help themselves as timely as they could,<br /> +And teach the Fates their duty.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Alv.</span> and <span class="cnm">Ant.</span></span>] Let him go;<br /> +He is our king, and he shall be obeyed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> What, to destroy himself? O parricide!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Be not injurious in your foolish zeal,<br /> +But leave him free; or, by my sword, I swear<br /> +To hew that arm away, that stops the passage<br /> +To his eternal rest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Letting go his hold.</span>] Let him be guilty of +his own death, if he pleases; for I'll not be guilty of +mine, by holding him.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[The King shakes off <span class="cnm">Alv.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Dor.</span></span>] Infernal fiend,<br /> +Is this a subject's part?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> 'Tis a friend's office.<br /> +He has convinced me, that he ought to die;<br /> +And, rather than he should not, here's my sword,<br /> +To help him on his journey.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> My last, my only friend, how kind art thou,<br /> +And how inhuman these!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> To make the trifle, death, a thing of moment!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> And not to weigh the important cause I had<br /> +To rid myself of life!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> True; for a crime<br /> +So horrid, in the face of men and angels,<br /> +As wilful incest is!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Not wilful, neither.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Yes, if you lived, and with repeated acts<br /> +<span class="pgnm">436</span><a id="page_436" name="page_436"></a> +Refreshed your sin, and loaded crimes with crimes,<br /> +To swell your scores of guilt.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> True; if I lived.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I said so, if you lived.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> For hitherto was fatal ignorance,<br /> +And no intended crime.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> That you best know;<br /> +But the malicious world will judge the worst.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> O what a sophister has hell procured,<br /> +To argue for damnation!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Peace, old dotard.<br /> +Mankind, that always judge of kings with malice,<br /> +Will think he knew this incest, and pursued it.<br /> +His only way to rectify mistakes,<br /> +And to redeem her honour, is to die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Thou hast it right, my dear, my best Alonzo!<br /> +And that, but petty reparation too;<br /> +But all I have to give.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Your, pardon, sir;<br /> +You may do more, and ought.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What, more than death?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Death! why, that's children's sport; a stage-play death;<br /> +We act it every night we go to bed.<br /> +Death, to a man in misery, is sleep.<br /> +Would you,—who perpetrated such a crime,<br /> +As frightened nature, made the saints above<br /> +Shake heavens eternal pavement with their trembling<br /> +To view that act,—would you but barely die?<br /> +But stretch your limbs, and turn on t'other side.<br /> +To lengthen out a black voluptuous slumber,<br /> +And dream you had your sister in your arms?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> To expiate this, can I do more than die?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> O yes, you must do more, you must be damned;<br /> +You must be damned to all eternity;<br /> +And sure self-murder is the readiest way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">437</span><a id="page_437" name="page_437"></a> +<span class="cnm">Seb.</span> How, damned?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Why, is that news?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> O horror, horror!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> What, thou a statesman,<br /> +And make a business of damnation<br /> +In such a world as this! why, 'tis a trade;<br /> +The scrivener, usurer, lawyer, shopkeeper,<br /> +And soldier, cannot live but by damnation.<br /> +The politician does it by advance,<br /> +And gives all gone beforehand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> O thou hast given me such a glimpse of hell,<br /> +So pushed me forward, even to the brink<br /> +Of that irremeable burning gulph,<br /> +That, looking in the abyss, I dare not leap.<br /> +And now I see what good thou mean'st my soul,<br /> +And thank thy pious fraud; thou hast indeed<br /> +Appeared a devil, but didst an angel's work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> 'Twas the last remedy, to give you leisure;<br /> +For, if you could but think, I knew you safe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I thank thee, my Alonzo; I will live,<br /> +But never more to Portugal return;<br /> +For, to go back and reign, that were to show<br /> +Triumphant incest, and pollute the throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> Since ignorance—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> O, palliate not my wound;<br /> +When you have argued all you can, 'tis incest.<br /> +No, 'tis resolved: I charge you plead no more;<br /> +I cannot live without Almeyda's sight,<br /> +Nor can I see Almeyda, but I sin.<br /> +Heaven has inspired me with a sacred thought,<br /> +To live alone to heaven, and die to her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Mean you to turn an anchorite?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> What else?<br /> +The world was once too narrow for my mind,<br /> +But one poor little nook will serve me now,<br /> +To hide me from the rest of human kind.<br /> +Africk has deserts wide enough to hold<br /> +<span class="pgnm">438</span><a id="page_438" name="page_438"></a> +Millions of monsters; and I am, sure, the greatest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> You may repent, and wish your crown too late.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> O never, never; I am past a boy:<br /> +A sceptre's but a plaything, and a globe<br /> +A bigger bounding stone. He, who can leave<br /> +Almeyda, may renounce the rest with ease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> O truly great!<br /> +A soul fixed high, and capable of heaven.<br /> +Old as he is, your uncle cardinal<br /> +Is not so far enamoured of a cloister,<br /> +But he will thank you for the crown you leave him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> To please him more, let him believe me dead,<br /> +That he may never dream I may return.<br /> +Alonzo, I am now no more thy king,<br /> +But still thy friend; and by that holy name<br /> +Adjure thee, to perform my last request;—<br /> +Make our conditions with yon captive king;<br /> +Secure me but my solitary cell;<br /> +'Tis all I ask him for a crown restored.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I will do more:<br /> +But fear not Muley-Zeydan; his soft metal<br /> +Melts down with easy warmth, runs in the mould,<br /> +And needs no further forge.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Dorax.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Almeyda</span> led by <span class="cnm">Morayma,</span> and followed +by her Attendants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> See where she comes again!<br /> +By heaven, when I behold those beauteous eyes,<br /> +Repentance lags, and sin comes hurrying on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> This is too cruel!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Speak'st thou of love, of fortune, or of death,<br /> +Or double death? for we must part, Almeyda.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> I speak of all,<br /> +For all things that belong to us are cruel;<br /> +But, what's most cruel, we must love no more.<br /> +O 'tis too much that I must never see you,<br /> +But not to love you is impossible.<br /> +<span class="pgnm">439</span><a id="page_439" name="page_439"></a> +No, I must love you; heaven may bate me that,<br /> +And charge that sinful sympathy of souls<br /> +Upon our parents, when they loved too well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Good heaven, thou speak'st my thoughts, and I speak thine!<br /> +Nay, then there's incest in our very souls,<br /> +For we were formed too like.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Too like indeed,<br /> +And yet not for each other.<br /> +Sure when we part, (for I resolved it too,<br /> +Though you proposed it first,) however distant,<br /> +We shall be ever thinking of each other,<br /> +And the same moment for each other pray.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> But if a wish should come athwart our prayers!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> It would do well to curb it, if we could.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> We cannot look upon each other's face,<br /> +But, when we read our love, we read our guilt:<br /> +And yet, methinks, I cannot chuse but love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aim.</span> I would have asked you, if I durst for shame,<br /> +If still you loved? you gave it air before me.<br /> +Ah, why were we not born both of a sex?<br /> +For then we might have loved without a crime.<br /> +Why was not I your brother? though that wish<br /> +Involved our parents' guilt, we had not parted;<br /> +We had been friends, and friendship is no incest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Alas, I know not by what name to call thee!<br /> +Sister and wife are the two dearest names,<br /> +And I would call thee both, and both are sin.<br /> +Unhappy we! that still we must confound<br /> +The dearest names into a common curse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> To love, and be beloved, and yet be wretched!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> To have but one poor night of all our lives;<br /> +It was indeed a glorious, guilty night;<br /> +So happy, that—forgive me, heaven!—I wish,<br /> +With all its guilt, it were to come again.<br /> +Why did we know so soon, or why at all,<br /> +That sin could be concealed in such a bliss?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">440</span><a id="page_440" name="page_440"></a> +<span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Men have a larger privilege of words,<br /> +Else I should speak; but we must part, Sebastian,—<br /> +That's all the name that I have left to call thee;—<br /> +I must not call thee by the name I would;<br /> +But when I say Sebastian, dear Sebastian,<br /> +I kiss the name I speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> We must make haste, or we shall never part.<br /> +I would say something that's as dear as this;<br /> +Nay, would do more than say: One moment longer,<br /> +And I should break through laws divine and human,<br /> +And think them cobwebs spread for little man,<br /> +Which all the bulky herd of nature breaks.<br /> +The vigorous young world was ignorant<br /> +Of these restrictions; 'tis decrepit now;<br /> +Not more devout, but more decayed, and cold.—<br /> +All this is impious, therefore we must part;<br /> +For, gazing thus, I kindle at thy sight,<br /> +And, once burnt down to tinder, light again<br /> +Much sooner than before.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Dorax.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Here comes the sad denouncer of my fate,<br /> +To toll the mournful knell of separation;<br /> +While I, as on my deathbed, hear the sound,<br /> +That warns me hence for ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Dor.</span></span>] Now be brief,<br /> +And I will try to listen,<br /> +And share the minute, that remains, betwixt<br /> +The care I owe my subjects, and my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Your fate has gratified you all she can;<br /> +Gives easy misery, and makes exile pleasing.<br /> +I trusted Muley-Zeydan as a friend,<br /> +But swore him first to secrecy: He wept<br /> +Your fortune, and with tears not squeezed by art,<br /> +But shed from nature, like a kindly shower:<br /> +In short, he proffered more than I demanded;<br /> +A safe retreat, a gentle solitude,<br /> +<span class="pgnm">441</span><a id="page_441" name="page_441"></a> +Unvexed with noise, and undisturbed with fears.<br /> +I chose you one—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> O do not tell me where;<br /> +For, if I knew the place of his abode,<br /> +I should be tempted to pursue his steps,<br /> +And then we both were lost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Even past redemption;<br /> +For, if I knew thou wert on that design,<br /> +(As I must know, because our souls are one,)<br /> +I should not wander, but by sure instinct<br /> +Should meet thee just half-way in pilgrimage,<br /> +And close for ever; for I know my love<br /> +More strong than thine, and I more frail than thou.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Tell me not that; for I must boast my crime,<br /> +And cannot bear that thou should'st better love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I may inform you both; for you must go,<br /> +Where seas, and winds, and deserts will divide you.<br /> +Under the ledge of Atlas lies a cave,<br /> +Cut in the living rock by Nature's hands,<br /> +The venerable seat of holy hermits;<br /> +Who there, secure in separated cells,<br /> +Sacred even to the Moors, enjoy devotion;<br /> +And from the purling streams, and savage fruits.<br /> +Have wholesome beverage, and unbloody feasts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> 'Tis penance too voluptuous for my crime<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_6-11">[11]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Your subjects, conscious of your life, are few;<br /> +But all desirous to partake your exile,<br /> +And to do office to your sacred person.<br /> +The rest, who think you dead, shall be dismissed.<br /> +Under safe convoy, till they reach your fleet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="pgnm">442</span><a id="page_442" name="page_442"></a> +<span class="cnm">Alm.</span> But how am wretched I to be disposed?—<br /> +A vain enquiry, since I leave my lord;<br /> +For all the world beside is banishment.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> I have a sister, abbess in Terceras,<br /> +Who lost her lover on her bridal day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> There fate provided me a fellow-turtle,<br /> +To mingle sighs with sighs, and tears with tears.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Last, for myself, if I have well fulfilled<br /> +My sad commission, let me beg the boon,<br /> +To share the sorrows of your last recess,<br /> +And mourn the common losses of our loves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alv.</span> And what becomes of me? must I be left,<br /> +As age and time had worn me out of use?<br /> +These sinews are not yet so much unstrung,<br /> +To fail me when my master should be served;<br /> +And when they are, then will I steal to death,<br /> +Silent and unobserved, to save his tears.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> I've heard you both;—Alvarez, have thy wish;—<br /> +But thine, Alonzo, thine is too unjust.<br /> +I charge thee with my last commands, return,<br /> +And bless thy Violante with thy vows.—<br /> +Antonio, be thou happy too in thine.<br /> +Last, let me swear you all to secrecy;<br /> +And, to conceal my shame, conceal my life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor. Ant. Mor.</span> We swear to keep it secret.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alm.</span> Now I would speak the last farewell, I cannot.<br /> +It would be still farewell a thousand times;<br /> +And, multiplied in echoes, still farewell.<br /> +I will not speak, but think a thousand thousand.<br /> +And be thou silent too, my last Sebastian;<br /> +So let us part in the dumb pomp of grief.<br /> +My heart's too great, or I would die this moment;<br /> +But death, I thank him, in an hour, has made<br /> +A mighty journey, and I haste to meet him. +<span class="sdr">[She staggers, and her Women hold her up.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Seb.</span> Help to support this feeble drooping flower.<br /> +This tender sweet, so shaken by the storm;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">443</span><a id="page_443" name="page_443"></a> +For these fond arms must thus be stretched in vain,<br /> +And never, never must embrace her more.<br /> +'Tis past:—my soul goes in that word—farewell.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Alvarez</span> goes with <span class="cnm">Sebastian</span> to one end of +the Stage; Women, with <span class="cnm">Almeyda,</span> to the +other: <span class="cnm">Dorax</span> coming up to <span class="cnm">Antonio</span> and +<span class="cnm">Morayma,</span> who stand on the middle of the +Stage.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dor.</span> Haste to attend Almeyda:—For your sake<br /> +Your father is forgiven; but to Antonio<br /> +He forfeits half his wealth. Be happy both;<br /> +And let Sebastian and Almeyda's fate<br /> +This dreadful sentence to the world relate,—<br /> +That unrepented crimes, of parents dead,<br /> +Are justly punished on their children's head.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Sebas_6-1" name="Sebas_6-1"></a><p>This whimsical account of the Slave-market is probably +taken from the following passage in the "Captivity and escape of +Adam Elliot, M.A."—"By sun-rising next morning, we were all +of us, who came last to Sallee, driven to market, where, the Moors +sitting taylor-wise on stalls round about, we were severally run +up and down by persons who proclaimed our qualities or trades, +and what might best recommend us to the buyer. I had a great +black who was appointed to sell me; this fellow, holding me by the +hand, coursed me up and down from one person to another, who +called upon me at pleasure to examine what trade I was of, and +to see what labour my hands had been accustomed to. All the +seamen were soon bought up, but it was mid-day ere I could +meet with a purchaser."—See <i>A modest Vindication of Titus +Oates</i>, London, 1682.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-2" name="Sebas_6-2"></a><div class="poem"> +<p>The knight much wondered at his sudden wit;</p> +<p>And said, The term of life is limited,</p> +<p>Ne may a man prolong nor shorten it;</p> +<p>The soldier may not move from watchful sted,</p> +<p>Nor leave his stand until his captain bed.</p> +<p class="citation"><i>Fairy Queen, Book i. Canto 9.</i></p> +</div></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-3" name="Sebas_6-3"></a><p>The same artifice is used in "Œdipus," vol. vi. p. 149. to +impress, by a description of the feelings of the unfortunate pair +towards each other, a presentiment of their fatal relationship. +The prophecy of Nostradamus is also obviously imitated from the +response of the Delphic Pythoness to Œdipus.—<i>Ibid. See</i> p. 156.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-4" name="Sebas_6-4"></a><p>For, interpreter; more usually spelled dragoman.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-5" name="Sebas_6-5"></a><p>A horrid Moorish punishment. The criminal was precipitated +from a high tower upon iron scythes and hooks, which projected +from its side. This scene Settle introduces in one of his +tragedies.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-6" name="Sebas_6-6"></a><p>These presages of misfortune may remind the reader of the +ominous feelings of the Duke of Guise, in the scene preceding his +murder. The superstitious belief, that dejection of spirits, without +cause, announces an impending violent death, is simply but +well expressed in an old ballad called the "Warning to all Murderers:"</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And after this most bad pretence,</p> +<p class="i1">The gentleman each day</p> +<p>Still felt his heart to throb and faint,</p> +<p class="i1">And sad he was alway.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>His sleep was full of dreadful dreams,</p> +<p class="i1">In bed where he did lie;</p> +<p>His heart was heavy in the day,</p> +<p class="i1">Yet knew no reason why.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And oft as he did sit at meat,</p> +<p class="i1">His nose most suddenly</p> +<p>Would spring and gush out crimson blood,</p> +<p class="i1">And straight it would be dry.</p> +</div> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-7" name="Sebas_6-7"></a><p>There is great art in rendering the interpretation of this ominous +dream so ingeniously doubtful. The latter circumstance, +where the Emperor recognises his murderer as a personage in his +vision, seems to be borrowed from the story of one of the caliphs, +who, before his death, dreamed, that a sable hand and arm shook +over his head a handful of red earth, and denounced, that such +was the colour of the earth on which he should die. When taken +ill on an expedition, he desired to know the colour of the earth +on which his tent was pitched. A negro slave presented him with +a specimen; and in the black's outstretched arm, bared, from respect, +to the elbow, as well as in the colour of the earth, the caliph +acknowledged the apparition he had seen in his sleep, and +prepared for immediate death.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-8" name="Sebas_6-8"></a><p><i>Et quum fata volunt, bina venena juvant.</i>—<span class="smcap">Ausonius.</span></p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-9" name="Sebas_6-9"></a><p>Idiots were anciently wards of the crown; and the custody +of their person, and charge of their estate, was often granted to the +suit of some favourite, where the extent of the latter rendered it an +object of plunder. Hence the common phrase of being <i>begged +for a fool.</i></p></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-10" name="Sebas_6-10"></a><p>This incident seems to be taken from the following passage in +the <i>Continuation of the Adventures of Don Sebastian</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"In Moran, an island some half league from Venice, there is +an abbot called Capelo, a gentleman of Venice, a grave personage, +and of great authority, hearing that the king laid wait for certain +jewels that he had lost, (hoping thereby to recover some of them,) +having a diamond in his keeping with the arms of Portugal, came +to the town to the conventicles of St Francis, called Frari, where +the king lay concealed, for that he was pursued by some that +meant him no good, who no sooner beheld the ring, but he said, +'Verily this is mine, and I either lost the same in Flanders, or +else it was stolen from me.' And when the king had put it upon +his finger, it appeared otherwise engraven than before. The abbot +enquiring of him that brought him the ring, how he came by +it? he answered, it is true that the king hath said. Hence arose +a strange rumour of a ring, that, by turning the stone, you might +discern three great letters engraven, S.R.P. as much as to say, +<i>Sebastianus Rex Portugallix."—Harl. Mis.</i> vol. v. p. 462.</p> +</blockquote></li> + +<li><a id="Sebas_6-11" name="Sebas_6-11"></a><p>It is said, in the pamphlets alluded to, that Don Sebastian, +out of grief and shame for having fought against the advice of his +generals, and lost the flower of his army, took the resolution of +never returning to his country, but of burying himself in a hermitage; +and that he resided for three years as an anchorite, on the +top of a mountain in Dalmatia.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><span class="pgnm">444</span><a id="page_444" name="page_444"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">EPILOGUE,<br /> +SPOKEN BETWIXT ANTONIO AND MORAYMA</h3> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I quaked at heart, for fear the royal fashion<br /> +Should have seduced us two to separation:<br /> +To be drawn in, against our own desire,<br /> +Poor I to be a nun, poor you, a friar.</p> + +<table style="border-collapse: collapse;" summary="Speech with rhyming triplet"> +<tr> +<td><p class="dlg" style=" margin: 0 0 0 0;"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I trembled, when the old man's hand was in,<br /> +He would have proved we were too near of kin:<br /> +Discovering old intrigues of love, like t'other,<br /> +Betwixt my father and thy sinful mother;<br /> +To make us sister Turk and Christian brother.</p></td> +<td><br /><br />}<br />}<br />}</td> +</tr></table> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Excuse me there; that league should have been rather<br /> +Betwixt your mother and my Mufti father;<br /> +'Tis for my own and my relations' credit,<br /> +Your friends should bear the bastard, mine should get it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Suppose us two, Almeyda and Sebastian,<br /> +With incest proved upon us—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Without question,<br /> +Their conscience was too queazy of digestion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou wouldst have kept the counsel of thy brother,<br /> +And sinned, till we repented of each other.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Beast as you are, on Nature's laws to trample!<br /> +'Twere fitter that we followed their example.<br /> +And, since all marriage in repentance ends,<br /> +'Tis good for us to part when we are friends.<br /> +To save a maid's remorses and confusions,<br /> +E'en leave me now before we try conclusions.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> To copy their example, first make certain<br /> +Of one good hour, like theirs, before our parting;<br /> +Make a debauch, o'er night, of love and madness;<br /> +And marry, when we wake, in sober sadness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I'll follow no new sects of your inventing.<br /> +One night might cost me nine long months repenting;<br /> +<span class="pgnm">445</span><a id="page_445" name="page_445"></a> +First wed, and, if you find that life a fetter,<br /> +Die when you please; the sooner, sir, the better.<br /> +My wealth would get me love ere I could ask it:<br /> +Oh! there's a strange temptation in the casket.<br /> +All these young sharpers would my grace importune,<br /> +And make me thundering votes of lives and fortune<a class="ftnt" href="#Sebas_7-1">[1]</a>.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<a name="Sebas_7-1"></a> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><p>Alluding to the addresses upon the Revolution.</p></li> +</ol> +</div> + +<h3>END OF THE SEVENTH VOLUME.</h3> + +<p>Edinburgh:<br /> +Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 +(of 18), by John Dryden + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN *** + +***** This file should be named 16402-h.htm or 16402-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/0/16402/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Fred Robinson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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