(All those left dark and slighted in his way); So heavenly Virtue on this envied lord LII. THE HISTORY OF ANTONIO AND MELLIDA. THE FIRST PART. BY JOHN MARSTON. 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 shudd'ring Morn that flakes With silver tincture the east verge of heaven? My thoughts are fixt in contemplation Why this huge earth, this monstrous animal 10 20 That eats her children, should not have eyes and ears. Moulds me up honour, and, like a cunning Dutchman Go to, go to; thou liest, Philosophy. Nature forms things unperfect, useless, vain. Why made she not the earth with eyes and ears That she might see desert and hear men's plaints Exclaiming thus: O thou all-bearing Earth, Which men do gape for till thou cramm'st their mouths And chok'st their throats with dust: open thy breast, And let me sink into thee: look who knocks; Andrugio calls. But O she's deaf and blind. 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 low'ring fate 10 Andr. More low'ring fate! O Lucio, choke that breath. Now I defy chance. Fortune's brow hath frown'd, And that 20 Nor mischief, force, distress, nor hell can take : Lord, To wish you safety. If you are but seen, Your arms display you; therefore put them off, 30 And take Andr. Would'st have me go unarm'd among my foes? Being besieg'd by Passion, entering lists To combat with Despair and mighty Grief: My soul beleaguer'd with the crushing strength Of sharp Impatience? Ha, Lucio; go unarm'd? 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 hope; 10 Andr. Andrugio lives; and a Fair Cause of Arms. Why, that's an army all invincible. He who hath that, hath a battalion royal, [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," &c.) 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.] LIII. ANTONIO'S REVENGE. THE SECOND PART OF THE HISTORY OF BY THE SAME. The Prologue.* The rawish dank of clumsy winter ramps 20 * This Prologue for its passionate earnestness, and for the tragic note of preparation which it sounds, might have preceded Chilleth the wan bleak cheek of the numb'd earth, From off the soft and delicate aspects. O now methinks a sullen tragic scene Would suit the time with pleasing congruence. And all part pleas'd in most wish'd content. let such 10 (As from his birth being hugged in the arms ring; If there be any blood, whose heat is chok'd If aught of these strains fill this consort up, 20 30 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, brought in without discretion corruptly to gratify the people."-It is as solemn a preparative as the "warning voice which he who saw th' Apocalypse, heard cry." Peels. "Sleek favourites of Fortune."-Preface to Poems by S. T. Coleridge. ANTONIO, son to ANDRUGIO, Duke of Genoa, whom PIERO the Venetian Prince and father-in-law to ANTONIO has cruelly murdered, kills PIERO's little son, JULIO, as a sacrifice to the ghost of ANDRUGIO.-The scene, a churchyard: the time, midnight. JULIO. ANTONIO. Jul. Brother Antonio, are you here i' faith? Why do you frown? Indeed my sister said, That I should call you brother, that she did, When you were married to her. Buss me: good truth, I love you better than my father, 'deed. Ant. Thy father? gracious, O bounteous heaven, I do adore thy justice. Venit in nostras manus Tandem vindicta, venit et tota quidem. Jul. Truth, since my mother died, I loved you best. 9 Something hath anger'd you: pray you, look merrily. O that I knew which joint, which side, which limb 19 That I might rip it vein by vein, and carve revenge Come hither, boy; this is Andrugio's hearse. me, 'deed Ant. Oh, for thy sister's sake I flag revenge. [ANDRUGIO'S Ghost cries "Revenge." Ant. Stay, stay, dear father, fright mine eyes no more. Revenge as swift as lightning, bursteth forth Thy father's blood that flows within thy veins, 30 |