Page images
PDF
EPUB

For I'll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magic were not bound,
Whether a maid-so tender, fair, and happy ;
So opposite to marriage, that she shunned
The wealthy, curled darlings of our nation-
Would ever have, to incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou; to fear, not to delight.2
[Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense,3
That thou hast practised on her with foul charms;
Abused her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,
That waken motion.-I'll have it disputed on;
'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee,]
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.-
Lay hold upon him; if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril.

Oth.

Hold your hands,
Both you of my inclining, and the rest.

Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter.-Where will you that I go,
To answer this your charge?

Bra.

To prison; till fit time

Of law, and course of direct session,
Call thee to answer.

Oth.

What if I do obey?

How may the duke be therewith satisfied;
Whose messengers are here about my side,
Upon some present business of the state,
To bring me to him?

of.

'Tis true, most worthy seignior,

1 It was the fashion of the Poet's time for lusty gallants to wear " a curled bush of frizzled hair." See Hall's Satires, ed. 1824, book iii. sat. 5.

2 "Of such a thing as thou; a thing to fear (i. e. terrify), not to delight."

3 The lines in crotchets are not in the first edition, 4to. 1622.

4 The old copy reads, "That weaken motion." The emendation is Hanmer's. Motion is elsewhere used by our Poet precisely in the sense required here. To waken is to incite, to stir up.

[blocks in formation]

The duke's in council; and your noble self,
I am sure, is sent for.

Bra.
How! the duke in council!
In this time of the night?-Bring him away.
Mine's not an idle cause: the duke himself,
Or any of my brothers of the state,
Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own.
For if such actions may have passage free,
Bond-slaves, and pagans,' shall our statesmen be.
[Exeunt

SCENE III. The same. A Council Chamber.

The Duke, and Senators, sitting at a table; Officers

attending.

2

Duke. There is no composition in these news, That gives them credit.

1 Sen.

Indeed, they are disproportioned;

My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.
Duke. And mine, a hundred and forty.

3

2 Sen. And mine, two hundred. But though they jump not on a just account, (As in these cases, where the aim reports, 'Tis oft with difference,) yet do they all confirm A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.

Duke. Nay, it is possible enough to judgment; I do not so secure me in the error,

But the main article I do approve

In fearful sense.

Sailor. [Within.] What, ho! what, ho! what, ho!

1 Pagan was a word of contempt; and the reason will appear from nts etymology:" Paganus, villanus vel inculsus; et derivatur a pagus quod est villa. Et quicunque habitat in villa est paganus. Præterea quicunque est extra civitatem Dei, i. e. ecclesiam, dicitur paganus; anglice, a paynim."-Ortus Vocabulorum, 1528.

2 Composition for consistency. News was considered of the plural number by our ancestors.

3 Aim is guess, conjecture. The quarto reads, "they aim reports." The meaning appears to be, "In these cases where conjecture tells the tale."

[graphic][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors]
[graphic]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »