Fath. O my son: I am her father; every tear I shed Is threescore ten years old; I weep and smile Fath. White wine and poison. Ter. Oh! That very name of poison poisons me. Whose life is like a dying taper: how Canst thou define a Lover's labouring thoughts? What scent hast thou but death? what taste but earth? Fath. Well, let her go; she's thine, thou call'st her thine, Indeed she may promote her shame and thine, : What man would pledge a King in his own Wife? To draw the customers of sin: come, come, To moderate my blood: White-innocent Wine, For Innocence shall murder Innocence. [Drinks. Ter. Hold, hold, thou shalt not die, my bride, my wife, O stop that speedy messenger of death; To see how sweetly a true virgin dies.1 The beauty and force of this scene are much diminished to the reader of the entire play, when he comes to find that this solemn preparation is but a sham contrivance of the father's, and the potion which Celestina swallows nothing more than a sleeping draught; from the effects of which she is to awake in due time, to the surprise of her husband, and the great mirth and edification of the King and his courtiers. As Hamlet says, they do but "poison in jest" ["Hamlet," Act iii., Sc. 2, line 244.]-The sentiments are worthy of a real martyrdom, and an Appian sacrifice in earnest. WESTWARD HOE. A COMEDY [PUBLISHED 1607]. BY THOMAS DECKER AND JOHN WEBSTER [1580 ?-1625?] Sweet Pleasure! Pleasure, the general pursuit. Delicious Pleasure! earth's supremest good, [For other extracts from this play see page 464, "Serious Fragments" page 569, and Appendix page 588. For other extracts from Decker alone see pp. 590 and 595.] We feed; wear rich attires; and strive to cleave Why even those that starve in voluntary wants, Let music Music. Charm with her excellent voice an awful silence [Act iv., Sc. 1.1] [Act iv., Sc. 1.] THE HISTORY OF ANTONIO AND MELLIDA. THE FIRST PART [PUBLISHED 1602]. BY JOHN MARSTON [1575-1634] Andrugio Duke of Genoa banished his country, with the loss of a son supposed drowned, is cast upon the territory of his mortal enemy the Duke of Venice; with no attendants but Lucio an old nobleman, and a page. Andr. Is not yon gleam the shuddering Morn that flakes Luc. I think it is, so please your Excellence. 1[Pearson's ed. of Decker, vol. ii. For Decker in partnership with Massinger see p. 357. For Decker in partnership with Ford and Rowley see p. 145. For Webster see p. 162. [This selection precedes the foregoing, ten lines intervening.] [Line and a half and Sforza's letter omitted.] My thoughts are fixt in contemplation Why this huge earth, this monstrous animal That eats her children, should not have eyes and ears. And forms no useless nor unperfect thing. Did Nature make the earth, or the earth Nature? Go to, go to; thou ly'st, Philosophy. Nature forms things unperfect, useless, vain. Exclaiming thus: O thou all bearing Earth, Which men do gape for till thou cramm'st their mouths A wretch but lean relief on earth can find. Luc. Sweet Lord, abandon passion; and disarm. Since by the fortune of the tumbling sea We are roll'd up upon the Venice marsh, Let's clip all fortune, lest more lowering fate Andr. More low'ring fate! O Lucio, choak that breath. Now I defy chance. Fortune's brow hath frown'd, Even to the utmost wrinkle it can bend : Her venom's spit. Alas! what country rests, And that Nor mischief, force, distress, nor hell can take : Luc. Speak like yourself: but give me leave, my lord, To wish your safety. If you are but seen, Andr. Would'st have me go unarm'd among my foes? [This line is not given by Bullen.] Being besieg'd by Passion, entering lists To combat with Despair and mighty Grief: I'll muster forces, an unvanquish'd power: Whilst trumpets clamour with a sound of death. Luc. Peace, good my lord, your speech is all too light. Alas! survey your fortunes, look what's left Of all your forces and your utmost hopes; A weak old man, a page, and your poor self. Andr. Andrugio lives; and a Fair Cause of Arms. He who hath that, hath a battalion royal, [Act iii., Sc. 1.1] The situation of Andrugio and Lucio resembles that of Lear and Kent, in that King's distresses. Andrugio, like Lear, manifests a kind of royal impatience, a turbulent greatness, an affected resignation. The Enemies which he enters lists to combat, "Despair, and mighty Grief, and sharp Impatience," and the forces ("Cornets of Horse," etc.) which he brings to vanquish them, are in the boldest style of Allegory. They are such a "race of mourners" as "the infection of sorrows loud" in the intellect might beget on "some pregnant cloud" in the imagination. ANTONIO'S REVENGE. THE SECOND PART OF THE HISTORY OF ANTONIO AND MELLIDA [PUBLISHED 1602]. BY JOHN MARSTON The Prologue.2 The rawish dank of clumsy winter ramps The fluent summer's vein and drizzling sleet [Marston's Works, edited Bullen, 1887, vol. i.] 2 This prologue, for its passionate earnestness, and for the tragic note of preparation which it sounds, might have preceded one of those old tales of Thebes, or Pelops' line, which Milton has so highly commended, as free from the common error of the poets in his days, "of intermixing comic stuff with tragic sadness and gravity, |