La-Writ. Our weapons, gentlemen!-Ha! where's your second ? Samp. Where's yours? La-Writ. So ho! our weapons! Samp. Are these the rules of honour? I am Sump. Oh, for a couple of faggots! La-Writ. Rogues, thieves-Boh,_bohRun away with our doublets! [game! To fight at buffets now, 'twere such a maySump. There were no honour in't; plague on't, 'tis scurvy! [listy-cuffs? La-Writ. Or to revenge my wrongs at Sump. My lord mine uncle's cause depend on boxes? [cover 'emLa-Writ. Let's go in quest. If ever we reSamp. Ay, come, our colds together, and our doublets. [valiant gentleman! La-Writ. Give me thy band; thou art a I say, if ever we recover 'em Samp, Let's get into a house and warm our hearts. [mile. Beat me, La-Writ. There's ne'er a house within this Kick me and beat me as I go, and I'll beat thee too, To keep us warm. If ever we recover 'emKick hard; I'm frozen. So so; now I feel it. Samp. I am dull yet. La-Writ. I'll warm thee, I'll warn theeGentlemen! Rogues, thieves, thieves! Run now; I'll follow thee. [Exeunt. E Bestows it on us? My dancing days are done; Yet I would thank the giver, did I know him. Verdone. 'Tis, questionless, some one of your own village, [ther, That, hearing of your purpos'd journey thi Prepares it for your entertainment, and The honour of my lady. Lam. I think, rather, Some of your lordship's clients. Beau. What say you, cousin, If they should prove your suitors? Verdone. That's most likely. [will, Nurse. I say, if you are noble, be't who Go presently, and thank 'em. I can jump yet, Or tread a measure. Lam Like a miller's mare. [the country. Nurse. I warrant you, well enough to serve I'll make one, and lead the way. [Exit. Char. Do you note How zealous the old crone is? Lam. And you titter As eagerly as she. Come, sweet, we'll follow; No ill can be intended. [Musick ends. Champ. I ne'er fear'd yet. [Exeunt. SONG IN THE WOOD. This way, this way come, and hear, Enter a company of Gentlemen, like ruffians. 2 Gent. They follow still; the president Vertaign [after; Comes on apace, and Champernel limps The women, as if they had wings, and walk'd Upon the air, fly to us. 1 Gent. They are welcome; [All know We'll make 'em sport. Make a stand here. How we are to proceed? 2 Gent. We are instructed. [Musick continues within. Enter Vertaign, Champernel, Beaupre, Verdone, Lamira, Anubel, Nurse, and Charlotte, 1 Gent. One strain or two more-Excellent! they're come. [ness, yet Nurse. We cannot miss; in such a busiMine ear ne'er fail'd me. Char. 'Would we were at it once! I do not walk, but dance. 1 Gent. You shall have dancing' Begin; and when I give the word 2 Gent. No more : We are instructed. [Dance; after which the Gentlemen rush on Beaupre and company.] Now! Beau. But win us fairly! [your valour, 1 Gent. Oh, sir, we do not come to try But to possess you; yet we use you kindly, In that, like English thieves, we kill you not, But are contented with the spoil. Vert. Ob, Heav'n! How hath mine age deserv'd this? Champ. Hell confound it! This comes of walking! Had I kept my legs, Or my good horse, my armour on, My staff in my rest, and this good sword to friend 41, How I would break and scatter these! All Gent. Ha, ha, ha! Champ. Do you scorn me, rogues? Nurse. Nay, gentlemen, kind gentlemen, Or honest keepers of these woods! but hear Be not so rough! If you are taken with [me; My beauty, as it hath been worth the seeking, Some one or two of you try me in private; You shall not find me squeamish. Char. Do not kill me, And do your worst; I'll suffer. Lam. Peace, vile creatures! Vert. D'you know me, or my place,that you [presume not To touch my person? 1 Gent. If you are well, rest so; Provoke not angry wasps. Vert. You're wasps indeed, Never created to yield wax or honey, But for your country's torment. Yet, if you [Frenchmen, are men, (As you seem such in shape) if true-born However want compels you to these courses, Rest satisfied with what you can take from us, (These ladies' honours, and our liberties safe) We freely give it. 1 Gent. You give but our own, Vert. Look on these grey hairs, as you would be old! [mercy Their tears, as you would have yours to find When justice shall o'ertake you! Champ. Look on me, Look on me, rascals, and learn of me too, That have been in some part of your pro fession, [it; If you are high, and want some sport, or so, (As living without action here, you may do) Forbear their tender gristles; they are meat Will wash away; there is no substance in it; We that are expert in the game, and tough Will hold you play. [too, Enter Dinant and Cleremont. 1 Gent. This hen longs to be trodden. 2 Gent. Stand upon your guard! Din. Who's here? my witty, scornful ladyl' th' hands of ruffians? [plot, Cler. And my fine cold virgin, That was insensible of man, and woman? Din. Justice too, without a sword to guard Manent Vertaign and Champernel. Champ. That I could follow them! Lament my fortune, and desire of Heaven Champ. The provost Shall fire the woods, but I will find 'em out: No cave, no rock, nor hell, shall keep them My searching vengeance! Enter La-Writ and Sampson. [from La-Writ. Oh, cold! oh, fearful cold! Plague of all seconds! 41 And this good sword too, friend.] Mr. Sympson has undoubtedly hit on the true reading here, -my sword to friend," i. e. to befriend me, is an expression common to the best writers. Seward, Samp. Oh, for a pint of burnt wine, or a sip La-Writ. As you are honourable gentlemen, Sump. My lord mine uncle, as I live! How that word has warm'd my mouth! Why, why, and where, man, have you been? That you are cas'd thus like a rabbit? I [children, could laugh now, And I shall laugh, for all I have lost my Champ. What are they? Laugh more and more, never leave laughing! [sir, I smell it) Vert. Why, 'tis such a thing, (I smell it, Such a ridiculous thing! La-Writ. Do you laugh at me, my lord? I'm very cold, but that should not be laugh'd La-Writ. What art thou? Samp. If he had his doublet, Tat. And his sword by his side, as a gentleman Vert. Peace, monsieur Sampson! Vert. This is the Little Advocate. Champ. What Advocate? [challenge. Vert. The Little Advocate that sent me a I told you that my nephew undertook it, And what 'twas like to prove: Now you see the issue. And at what gusts of danger Champ. Is this the Little Lawyer? His manhood has arriv'd, but that men's fates And often headlong over-run their fortunes- And bite your honour by the nose- La-Writ. So niggle about your grave shins, Sump. No more, sweet gentleman; no more of that, sir. [more. La-Writ. I will have more, I must have Vert. Out with it. Sump. Nay, he is as brave a fellow- [Strikes him down. Look up, brave friend, I have no means to Champ. I'll sword you presently; Vert. Away, good Sampson ; You go to grass else instantly. Samp. But do not murder my brave friend. Chump. If you do, sirrah Samp. Must I go off dishonour'd? Adversity tries valour; so I leave thee! [Exit. His manhood has arriv'd.] Mr. Seward, disliking the word gusts, reads, -at what justs of danger "His manhood has arrived:" i. e.' says he, "what dangerous tournements his manhood has been engaged in." It is a technical word in knight-errantry, and perfectly suitable to the errant knight that utters it.' The conjecture is probable; but we see no difficulty in "gusts of danger.” 43 My kingdom for a sword!] Mr. Sympson thinks this a stupid sneer at Shakespeare, and Mr. Theobald always used to look on every such jocular quotation from him, as so many sneers. For my part, I think it no more a sneer upon Shakespeare, than The Battle of the Frogs and Mice is upon the Iliad, or The Splendid Shilling upon Paradise Lost. Every sentiment, or expression of dignity and sublimity, when applied to a ridiculous subject, serves only by its contrast to render the subject more ridiculous. Thus, Et tu, Brute, below, cannot possibly be a sneer upon Shakespeare, who does nothing but transcribe the very expression Cæsar made use of at his death; at least the Latin translation of it. But Sampson assuming the distress of Richard the Third, and La-Writ the dignity of Cæsar in his fall, extremely heighten the comic drollery of their characters. Thus again, in an einendation of Mr. Sympson's note ", in this very play, [a pretended emendatio. !] "What mister-thing is this?" as Spenser had stamp'd a dignity upon the obsolete word mister, it is with great humour applied to La-Writ. But is Spenser sneer'd by the application? No; Fletcher was so far from sneering, that he almost idolized him; as is shewn in note 76 on The Faithful Shepherdess. Seward. After all, it cannot be denied that our Poets, as well as Ben Jonson, have certainly more than once indulged themselves in sneering allusions to the Works of Shakespeare. Champ. Are you a Lawyer, sir? Champ. Nay, never look; your Lawyer's pate is broken, [sirrah! And your litigious blood about your ears, Why do you fight and snarl? La-Writ. I was possess'd. Champ. I'll dispossess you. Vert. Ha, ha, ha! La-Writ. Et tu, Brute? Champ. Alas, sir, I must beat him, Beat him into his business again; he will be lost else. Vert. Then, take your way. Champ. Lie still, and do not struggle. I never saw my blood before; it jades me: [living 44, Why do you leave your trade, your trade of And send your challenges like thunderbolts, To men of honour'd place? La-Writ. I understand, sir; I never understood before your beating. Work on you? La-Writ. Yes. Champ. D'you thank me for't? As a beaten man can. Champ. And d'you promise me, To fall close to your trade again? leave brawling? [life. La-Writ. If you will give me leave and Champ. And ask this nobleman forgiveness? La-Writ. Heartily. Champ. Rise then, and get you gone; and As of an advocate new vamp'd. No more you La-Writ. I have done, sweet gentlemen. [Exit. Vert. But we forget ourselves, our friends, and children. Champ. We'll raise the country first, then Enter First Gentleman and Lamira. A king, and thou in my dominions, fool, Lam. Be not a tyrant, A ravisher of honour, gentle sir, And I will think you such; and on my knees, As to my sov'reign, pay a subject's duty, With prayers and tears. 1 Gent. I like this humble carriage: 2 Gent. A virago? Ana. No, loathsome goat, more, more; I am that goddess, [after, That here with whips of steel, in hell hereScourge rape and theft. 2 Gent. I'll try your deity. [a virgin, Ana. My chastity, and this knife held by Against thy lust, thy sword, and thee a beast, Call on for the encounter. 2 Gent. Now what think you? Are you a goddess? [Throws her and takes her knife. Ana. In me their pow'r suffers That should protect the innocent. 1 Gent. I am [my pleasures. All fire, and thou shalt quench it, and serve Come, partner in the spoil and the reward, Let us enjoy our purchase. Lam. Oh, Dinant! Oh, Heav'n! oh, husband! 1 Gent. Two are our slaves they call on; As they are chain'd together; let them see, And suffer in the object. Enter Dinant and Cleremont bound, and the rest of the Gentlemen. 2 Gent. While we sit And without pity hear 'em. Cler. By my life, I suffer more for thee than for myself. ['em Din. Be a man, Cleremont, and look upon As such that not alone abus'd our service, Fed us with hopes most bitter in digestion, But, when love fail'd, to draw on further mischief, [nours, The baits they laid for us were our own ho- To guard it sure) subject to be o'erthrown Lam. A most sad truth. Your trade, your trade of living.]i. e. Your trade by which you are to get your livelihood, and without which you must starve. I add this explanation because Mr. Sympson, taking trade of living only for way of living, thought it a strange tautology. Seward. benchers please, [me) (Tho' I know not their faces that condemu A little startles me; but a man is nothing, A maidenhead is the thing, the thing all aim at. [heart too, Do not you wish now, and wish from your When, scarce sweet with my fears, I long lay by you, [upon me, (Those fears you and your good aunt put To make you sporty you'd given a little hint, A touch or so, to tell me I was mortal, And by a mortal woman? And. Pray you no more! Cler. If I had loos'd that virgin zone, ob serve me, I would have hir'd the best of all our poets To've sung so much, and so well, in the honour Of that night's joy, that Ovid's Afternoon, But now 2 Gent. Another, that will have it offer'd, Compel it to be offer'd, shall enjoy it! Cler. A rogue, a ruffian? 2 Gent. As you love your throat1 Gent. Away with them. Ana. Oh, Cleremont! Lam. Oh, Dinant! [sorrows, Din. I can but add your sorrows to my Your fears to my fears. Cler. To your wishes mine, This slave may prove unable to perform, 'Till I perform the task that I was born for. Ana. Amen, amen! 1 Gent. Drag the slaves hence. For you, A while I'll lock you up here: Study all ways You can to please me, or, the deed being You are but dead. [done, 2 Gent. This strong vault shall contain you; There think how many for your maidenhead Have pin'd away, and be prepar'd to lose it With penitence. 1 Gent. No human help cau save you. 2 Gent. You cry in vain; rocks cannot What frights and noises we have heard! Still they increase. The villains put on shapes to torture us 45, Aud, to their devils, form such preparations As if they were a-hatching new dishonours, And fatal ruin, past dull man's invention. Go not too far, and pray, good cousin AnaHark, a new noise! [bel! [A strange musick, suckbut, and troop-music. Ana. They're exquisite in mischief. I will go on; this room gives no protection, More than the next. What's that? How sad and hollow The sound comes to us! [Gent. peeping. Lam. Groaning, or singing, is it? [Louder noise. Ana. The wind, I think, murmuring amongst old rooms. [presage Lam. Now it grows louder; sure some sad Of our foul loss.-[Peep.]—Look, now they Ana. Pox peep 'em! [peep. Lam. Oh, give them gentle language. Ana. I would they were i' th' centre, Ana. Since we must lose-——— Lam. Call 'em brave fellows, gentlemen. Ana. Call 'em rogues, [lains! Rogues as they are, rude rogues, uncivil vilLam. Look, an thou woo't beware; dost thou feel the danger? Ana. 'Till the danger feel me, thus will I talk still, 45 The villains put on shapes to torture us, And to their devils form such preparations As if they were, &c.] The former editors, by their pointing, and making "devils” the plural number instead of the genitive singular, seem to have taken "form" for a verb; but then they le ve "and to their devils" without any sense at all. Seward. The old pointing gives, we think, the same sense with Seward's, and avoids the hardness of "put on preparation." "To their devils" signifies "besides their devils," like which they were disguised. |