I would wish life, with the dear loss of honour, [worst I dare find means to free myself. Arr. Wilt thou not be drawn [to! Arr. Peace! know your doom then: your ladyship must remeinber [least You are not now at home, where you dare All that come about you; but you are fallen Under my mercy, which shall be but small, If you refuse to yield hear what I've sworn Unto myself; I will enjoy thee, tho' it be Between the parting of thy soul and body; Yield yet, and live! [the other! Ori. I'll guard the one; let Heaven guard Arr. Are you so resolute then? Duke from above]. Hold, hold, I say! Ori. What 55, yet more terror to my tragedy? Arr. Lady, the scene of blood is done; You're now as free from scandal as from death. Enter Duke, Valore, and Gondarino. Duke. Thou woman, which wert born to teach men virtue, [thoughts; Fair, sweet, and modest maid, forgive my My trespass was my love. Seize Gondarino! Let him wait our dooms. Ori. I am your grace's handmaid! Val. Sister, say ay; I know you can afford it. Provided still your thoughts be fair and good. Duke. Here; I am yours; and when I cease to be so, Let Heav'n forget me! thus I make it good. Ori. My lord, I am no more mine own. Th'hast sold away thyself to all perdition; 55 What I? yet, &c.] As the I is undoubtedly 56 Of thy coach.] So all former editions. I know that woman's nose must be cut off; She cannot 'scape it. wrongs Duke. Sir, we have punishment for you. Ori. I do beseech your lordship, for the [punishment! This man hath done me, let me pronounce his Duke. Lady, I give't to you; he is your own. Gond. I do beseech your grace, let me be banish'd, With all the speed that may bc. Val. Stay still! you shall attend her sentence. Ori. Lord Gondarino, you have wrong'd me highly; Yet since it sprung from no peculiar hate Beseech your grace for any punishment, Ori. Sir, you must be content. Gond. Mavst thou Be quickly old and painted! mayst thou dote Duke. This fellow hath a pretty gall. I hope to see him purg'd, ere he part. Enter Ladies. Ori. Your ladyships are welcome! I must desire your helps, [cure upon Tho' you are no physicians, to do a strange This gentleman. Ladies. In what we can assist you, Madam, you may command us. Gond. Now do I Sit like a conjurer within my circle, [me. Then, with a soft still march, with low de meanors, Charge this gentleman: I'll be your leader. Gond. Let me Be quarter'd, duke, quickly! I can endure it. These women long for man's flesh; let them [a passion? have it! Duke. Count, have you ever seen so strange What would this fellow do, if he should find In bed with a young lady? Val. 'Faith, my lord, an interpolation, we have discarded it. If If he could get a knife, sure he would cut her Or else he'd do as Hercules did by Lycas, Ori. Low with your curtsies, ladies! My lungs are rotten, and my stomach raw; men, [obtain'd Ori. Sir, we must court you, 'till we have Some little favour from those gracious eyes; 'Tis but a kiss a-piece. Gond. I pronounce Perdition to ye all! Ye are a parcel of That damned crew that fell down with Lucifer, [men: And here ye stay'd on earth to plague poor Vanish, avaunt! I'm fortified against Your charms. Heav'n grant me breath and patience! 1 Lady. Shall we not kiss, then? Gond. No! sear my lips with [ret's! Hot irons first, or stitch them up like a ferOh, that this brunt were over! 2 Lady. Come, come, [troth Little rogue, thou art too maidenly; by my Be not afraid. [She sits on his knee. Gond. If there be any here [them That yet have so much of the fool left in As to love their mothers, let them look on And loath them too! [her56, 2 Lady. What a slovenly little villain Art thou! why dost thou not stroke up thy hair? I think thou never comb'st it; I must have In better order: so, so, so! Let me see [golls! Gond. I would they were loose, for thy sake! Poor Plant cannons there, and discharge them Enter old Gentlewoman. Gond. I see her come! Unbutton me, for she will speak. [ence. Arr. There he is in state, to give you audi Gentlew. Will you chew a nutmeg? Duke. No, sir; Gentlew. For my petition, I hope your lordship hath remember'd me. Gentlew. Whither do you draw me, sir? Arr. You shall know more of that without. ment, Never hereafter willingly to come 56 Let them on her, and loath them too.] Sympson would read,. Set them on her, and loo 'em too; which Seward justly rejects; but thinks he discovers a meaning in these words, which they certainly do not convey; viz. If there be any here that are such fools to retain a love even for their mothers, let them be persecuted by this woman, and they will loath them, i. e. < their mothers also.'-It has been very ingeniously suggested, that we probably should read, Let them honour and loath them too; i. e. Let them feel the opposite sensations of honouring and despising them at the same time.'-But the source of the difficulty has, we apprehend, been the loss of the word look, which being restored, the passage carries with it its own explanation. VOL. III. 3 Т In In the presence or sight of any woman, Gond. "Tis that I would have sworn, and do; And when I come in their companies, Duke. You are Too merciful. Ori. My lord, I shew'd my sex Val. All is over-blown. Sister, Duke. Thus, thro' the doubtful streams of True love doth wade, and finds nt last relief. [Exeunt omnes. 57 When I meditate with them.] So all editions but the first quarto; from which invaluable copy we have made a great number of corrections, some more beneficial to the sense than this before us. On many of the errors in the later editions, we had prepared notes, and proposed variations; but on collating the text with the quarto above-mentioned (which we should not have been able to do, but for the favour of Mr. Garrick), we have suppressed our notes, and silently made the amendments there pointed out: not chusing to adopt the mode of our predecessors; who, in such cases, commonly inserted very prolix refutations of the lection in the then-last edition, proposed variations, of which they adopted the best, and then concluded their notes with, AND THIS IS CONFIRMED BY THE OLDEST EDITIONS. 58 Let's go, my lord.] Perhaps these words belong to Oriana. It seems not quite clear that the whole of this play was written in verse; but many speeches that evidently resolve themselves into measure having been printed as prose, Seward very properly endeavoured to restore them to their original state. He has, in our opinion, not always been elegant or accurate in his division. We are not entirely satisfied with our own; yet think the text at least runs off more easily in this edition than in any preceding one, less violated by arbitrary additions, omissions, and transpositions, and the eye and ear less offended by elisions, more barbarous than those of Procrustes. THE THE NICE VALOUR; OR, THE PASSIONATE MADMAN. A COMEDY; The Commendatory Verses by Gardiner ascribe this Play to Fletcher; the Prologue and Epilogue speak of the Poet singly; Seward (see note 3 on the Commendatory Poems) supposes it to be Beaumont's. It was first printed in the folio of 1647; and hath never been altered, that we are able to discover. IT PROLOGUE AT THE REVIVAL OF THIS PLAY. grows in fashion of late, in these days, To come and beg a suffrage to our plays': 'Faith, gentlemen, our poet ever writ [wit, Language so good, mix'd with such sprightly He made the theatre so sovereign With his rare scenes, he scorn'd this crouching vein. We stabb'd him with keen daggers, when we Him write a preface to a play well made. A suffrage to our plays.] First folio exhibits sufferance. SCENE I. ACT I. Enter Duke, Shamont, and Four Gentlemen. Duke. SHAMONT, welcome! we have miss'd thee long, Tho' absent but two days: I hope your sports Sham. Very nobly, sir; We found game worthy your delight, my lord, Duke. I've enough to hear on't; 1 Gent. What is this gentleman, coz? you are a courtier, Therefore know all their insides. 2 Gent. No further than the taffaty goes, For the most part, which is [part indeed the best Marry, thus far this one man's And upon bonour pass it for a true one: He's faithfully true to valour, that he hates us; There is not such a curious piece of courage 2 Gent. I have told it to much loss, believe 3 Gent. How the duke graces him! What is he, brother? 4 Gent. Don't you yet know him? a vain- As proud as he that fell for't'! Who can resolve us best? 1 Gent. I can, my lord. [bounds, 1 Gent. True, my lord; He runs thro' all the passions of mankind, He will not brook an empress, tho' thrice As proud as he that fell for't;] i. e. As proud as Lucifer, who fell through pride. 2 Set but aside his valour no virtue: Which is indeed not fit for any courtier.] The old folio points thus, Set but aside his valour, no virtue Which is indeed, not fit for any courtier, And we his fellows, &c. Seward. This latter is better sense, and therefore restored to the text, but as the construction from the position of the words is a little stiff, and the measure not compleat, perhaps the original might have run, Set but aside his valour, which indeed No virtue is, not fit for any courtier. Seward. Seward's reading is as stiff as the other. There seems to be a word or two dropped in the preceding line, which has more obscured the passage; the sense of which seems to have been to this effect: As proud as he that fell for't! HE POSSESSES, Which (i. e. his valour) is indeed not fit for any courtier, &c. It is very common with our authors to refer to a remote autecedent. 3 Muud.] The empress Maud, daughter of Henry I. and mother of Henry II. R. Out |