King. Open the prisons, set the wretched free, That will not tire my tongue.—Come, sit thee down. [A dance here. [Footnote 1: [Footnote 2: Here is a visible conjunction of two days in one, by which our author may have either intended an emblem of a wedding, or to insinuate that men in the honey-moon are apt to imagine time shorter than it is. It brings into my mind a passage in the comedy called the Coffee-House Politician: We will celebrate this day at my house to-morrow. ] [Illustration: The Death of Lord Grizzle.] Nood. Oh! monstrous, dreadful, terrible, oh! oh! Deaf be my ears, for ever blind my eyes! Dumb be my tongue! feet lame! all senses lost! [1] Howl wolves, grunt bears, hiss snakes, shriek all ye 'ghosts! [Footnote 1: These beautiful phrases are all to be found in one single speech of King Arthur, or the British Worthy.] King. What does the blockhead mean? Nood. I mean, my liege, [Footnote 1: King. Shut up again the prisons, bid my treasurer Nood. Her majesty the queen is in a swoon. Queen. Not so much in a swoon but I have still Strength to reward the messenger of ill news. [Kills NOODLE. Nood. O! I am slain. Cle. My lover's kill'd, I will revenge him so. [Kills the QUEEN. Hunc. My mamma kill'd! vile murderess, beware. Dood. This for an old grudge to thy heart. [Kills HUNCAMUNCA. Must. And this I drive to thine, O Doodle! for a new one. [Kills DOODLE. King. Ha! murderess vile, take that. [Kills MUST. [Footnote 1: We may say with Dryden, Death did at length so many slain forget, I know of no tragedy which comes nearer to this charming and bloody catastrophe than Cleomenes, where the curtain covers five principal characters dead on the stage. These lines too— I ask no questions then, of who kill'd who? seem to have belonged more properly to this scene of our author; nor can I help imagining they were originally his, The Rival Ladies, too, seem beholden to this scene: We're now a chain of lovers link'd in death; No scene, I believe, ever received greater honours than this. It was applauded by several encores, a word very unusual in tragedy. And it was very difficult for the actors to escape without a second slaughter. This I take to be a lively assurance of that fierce spirit of liberty which remains among us, and which Mr Dryden, in his essay on Dramatick Poetry, hath observed: "Whether custom," says he, "hath so insinuated itself into our countrymen, or nature hath so formed them to fierceness, I know not; but they will scarcely suffer combats and other objects of horror to be taken from them." And indeed I am for having them encouraged in this martial disposition; nor do I believe our victories over the French have been owing to anything more than to those bloody spectacles daily exhibited in our tragedies, of which the French stage is so intirely clear. ] * * * * * |