The British Drama: pt. 1-2. Comedies

MASSINGER.]

BRITISH DRAMA.

To my wish, to my wish. Now, you that plot | Lead not the way, let's quit the house, and against me,

And hoped to trip my heels up; that contemned

me;

Think on it and tremble!-[Loud music.]—They hear the music.

come,

A lane there for my lord!

Well. This sudden heat

May yet be cooled, sir.

Over. Make way, there, for

my lord!

Enter ALLWORTH, MARGARET, LOVELL, and

LADY.

change

Lov. I am ready.
Six words in private.

Well. You'll grow like him,

Should you answer his vain challenge.
Over. Are you pale?

Borrow his help, though Hercules call it odds,
I'll stand against both, as I am hem'd in thus.
Say they were a squadron

Of pikes, lined through with shot, when I am

mounted

Upon my injuries, shall I fear to charge them?

Marg. Sir, first your pardon, then your bles-No: I'll thro' the battalia, and, that routed,
sing, with

Your full allowance of the choice I have made.
Not to dwell too long on words,

This is

husband.

my Over. How!

[Kneeling.

Allw. So, I assure you; all the rites of marriage,

With every circumstance, are past;

And for right honourable son-in-law, you may say
Your dutiful daughter.

Over. Devil! are they married?

Welldo. Do a father's part, and say, Heaven give them joy!

Over. Confusion and ruin! speak, and speak quickly,

Or thou art dead.

Welldo. They are married.

Over. Thou hadst better

Have made a contract with the king of fiends
Than these.-

-My brain turns!

Welldo. Why this rage to me?

Will not be drawn. Ha! what are these? Sure,
hangmen,

That come to bind my hands, and then to drag

Before the judgment-seat.-Now they are new

shapes,

To scourge my ulcerous soul! Shall I then fall
And do appear like furies, with steel whips,
I will be forced to hell like to myself;
Ingloriously, and yield? No: spite of fate
Tho' you were legions of accursed spirits,
Thus would I fly among you.

[Dragged off by ORDER and AMBLE. Mar. Is't brave sport?

Greedy. Brave sport? I'm sure it has taken away my stomach.

Is not this your letter, sir? and these the words I do not like the sauce.

Mar. Was it not a rare trick,

(An't please your worship) to make the deed
nothing?

Certain minerals I used,
Incorporated in the ink and wax.

Besides, he gave me nothing, but still fed me
With hopes and blows; and that was the induce-

ment

To this conundrum.

Well. You are a rascal. He, that dares be

false

To a master, tho' unjust, will ne'er be true
To any other. Look not for reward,

Or favour from me; I will shun thy sight
As I would do a basilisk's. Thank my pity,
If thou keep thy ears; howe'er I will take or-
der

Your practice shall be silenced.
Greedy. I'll commit him,

If you'll have me, sir.

Well. That were to little purpose;
His conscience be his punishment; not a word,
[Exit MARRALL.
But instantly begone.

Lov. Here is a precedent to teach wicked

men,

That, when we leave religion, and turn atheists,

comfort.

[TO MARG.

Their own abilities leave them. Pray you take | It is a time of action; if your lordship
Will please to confer a company upon me
In your command, I doubt not, in my service
To my king and country, but I shall do some-
thing,

I will endeavour you shall be his guardians
In his distraction: and for your land, Mr. Well-
born,

Be it good or ill in law, I'll be an umpire
Between you, and this the undoubted heir
Of sir Giles Overreach; for me, here's the
anchor

That may make me right again.
Lou. Your suit is granted,
And you loved for the motion.

Well. Nothing wants, then, [To the audience.
But your allowance-and, in that, our all
Is comprehended; it being known, nor we,
Nor he that wrote the comedy, can be free
Without your manumission; which, if you
Grant willingly, as a fair favour due
The poet's and our labours, as you may,
(For we despair not, gentlemen, of the play)
We jointly shall profess your grace hath might
To teach us action, and him how to write.
[Exeunt omnes.

In every circumstance.

Car. Again more welcome.

Yet, give me leave to wish (and pray you excuse

me,

For I must use the freedom I was born with)
The great duke's pleasure had commanded you
Το
poor house
upon some other service;
Not this you are designed to: but his will

Must be obeyed, howe'er it ravish from me
The happy conversation of one,

As dear to me as the old Romans held

To bless and guard their families.
Con. 'Tis received so

On my part, signior; nor can the duke
But promise to himself as much as may
Be hoped for from a nephew. And it were

weakness

In any man to doubt, that Giovanni,
Trained up by your experience and care,
In all those arts peculiar and proper
To future greatness, of necessity
Must, in his actions, being grown a man,
Make good the princely education
Which he derived from you.

Car. I have discharged,

To the utmost of my power, the trust the duke
Committed to me, and, with joy, perceive

Their household Lares, who, they believed, had The seed of my endeavours was not sown

power

Upon the barren sands, but fruitful glebe,

vance,

Which yields a large increase; my noble charge, | That is without their power. When they ad-
By his sharp wit, and pregnant apprehension,
Instructing those that teach him; making use,
Not in a vulgar and pedantic form,

Of what's read to him, but 'tis straight digested,
And truly made his own. His grave discourse,
In one no more indebted unto years,
Amazes such as hear him. Horsemanship
And skill to use his weapon are, by practice,
Familiar to him: As for knowledge in
Music, he needs it not, it being born with him;
All that he speaks being with such grace de-
livered,

That it makes perfect harmony.

Con. You describe

A wonder to me.

Car. Sir, he is no less;

And, that there may be nothing wanting that
May render him complete, the sweetness of
His disposition so wins on all
Appointed to attend him, that they are
Rivals even in the coarsest office, who
Shall get precedency to do him service;
Which they esteem a greater happiness

Than if they had been fashioned and built up
To hold command o'er others.

Con. And what place

Does he now bless with his presence?

Car. He is now

Running at the ring, at which he's excellent.
He does allot for every exercise

A several hour; for sloth, the nurse of vices
And rust of action, is a stranger to him.
But I fear I am tedious; let us pass,

Not out of judgment, but deceiving fancy,
An undeserving man, howe'er set off

With all the trim of greatness, state, and power,
And, of a creature, even grown terrible
To him from whom he took his giant form,
This thing is still a comet, no true star;
And when the bounties, feeding his false fire,
Begin to fail, will of itself go out,

And, what was dreadful, proves ridiculous.
But in our Sanazarro 'tis not so:

He, being pure and tried gold, and any stamp
Of grace to make him current to the world,
The duke is pleased to give him, will add hon-

If you please, to some other subject, though I But break we off. Here comes my princely

charge.

MASSINGER.]

Good Charomonte hath broken, in his care
To build me up a man, you must confess
Chiron, the tutor to the great Achilles,
Compared with him, deserves not to be named.
And if my gracious uncle, the great duke,
Still holds me worthy his consideration,
Or finds in me aught worthy to be loved,
That little rivulet flowed from this spring;
And so from me report him.

Con. Fame already

Hath filled his highness' ears with the true story
Of what you are, and how much bettered by him.
And 'tis his purpose to reward the travail
Of this grave sir, with a magnificent hand.
For, though his tenderness hardly could consent
To have you one hour absent from his sight,
For full three years he did deny himself
The pleasure he took in you, that you, here,
From this great master, might arrive unto
The theory of those high mysteries

Which you by action must make plain in court.
'Tis, therefore, his request (and that, from him,
Your excellence must grant a strict command),
That instantly (it being not five hours riding)
You should take horse, and visit him. These his
letters

Will yield you further reasons.

Cal. To the court?

Farewell the flower, then, of the country's gar-
land!

This is our sun, and, when he's set, we must not
Expect or spring or summer; but resolve
For a perpetual winter.

Car. Pray you observe

[GIOVANNI reading the letter. The frequent changes in his face.

His much unwillingness to leave your

Con. As if

Contended with his duty.

Cur. Now he appears

Collected and resolved

Giov. It is the duke!

house

The duke, upon whose favour all my hopes
And fortunes do depend. Nor must I check
At his commands, for any private motives
That do invite my stay here, though they are
Almost not to be mastered. My obedience,
In my departing suddenly, shall confirm
I am his highness's creature. Yet, I hope
A little stay, to take a solemn farewell
For all those ravishing pleasures I have tasted
In this my sweet retirement from my guardian,
And his incomparable daughter, cannot meet
An ill construction?

Con. I will answer that;

Use your own will.

Giov. I would speak to you, sir,

In such a phrase as might express the thanks
My heart would gladly pay; but -

Car. I conceive you:

And something I would say; but I must do it
In that dumb rhetoric which you make use of;

V OL. II.

For I do wish you all

-I know not how,

My toughness melts, and, spite of my discretion,
I must turn woman.

Con. What a sympathy
There is between them!

Cal. Were I on the rack,

I could not shed a tear.-But I am mad,
And, ten to one, shall hang myself for sorrow,
Before I shift my shirt. But hear you, sir,

I'll separate you: When you are gone, what
will

Become of me?

Giov. Why thou shalt to court with me.
worried?
Cal. To see you
Con. Worried, Calandrino?

Cal. Yes, sir. For, bring this sweet face to
the court,

There will be such longing among the madams,
Who shall ingross it first, nay, fight and scratch
for it,

That, if they be not stopped, for entertainment
They'll kiss his lips off. Nay, if you'll scape so,
And not be tempted to a farther danger,
These succubæ are so sharp set, that you must
Give out you are an eunuch.

Con. As I live,

A beauty without parallel.
Lyd. Must you go, then,
So suddenly?

Giov. There's no evasion, Lydia,

To gain the least delay, though I would buy it.
At any rate. Greatness, with private men

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