[I had the same difficulty (or rather much more) in culling a few sane lines from this as from the preceding Play. The lunes of Tamburlaine are perfect "midsummer madness." Nebuchadnazar's are mere modest pretensions compared with the thundering vaunts of this Scythian Shepherd. He comes in (in the Second Part) drawn by conquered kings, and reproaches these pampered jades of Asia that they can draw but twenty miles a day. Till I saw this passage with my own eyes, I never believed that it was anything more than a pleasant burlesque of Mine Ancient's. But I assure my readers that it is soberly set down in a Play which their Ancestors took to be serious. I have subjoined the genuine speech for their amusement. Enter Tamburlaine, drawn in his chariot by Trebizon and Soria, with bits in their mouths, reins in his left hand, in his right hand a whip, with which he Scourgeth them. Tamb. Holla ye pamper'd jades of Asia : As you ye slaves in mighty Tamburlaine. The headstrong jades of Thrace Alcides tamed, And made so wanton that they knew their strengths, To make you fierce and fit my appetite, EDWARD THE SECOND. A TRAGEDY, BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. Gaveston shews what pleasures those are which the King chiefly delights in. Gav. I must have wanton poets, pleasant wits, May draw the pliant King which way I please. Therefore I'll have Italian masks by night, By yelping hounds pull'd down, shall seem to die; The younger Mortimer repines at the insolence of Gaveston. Mort. sen. Nephew, I must to Scotland, thou stay'st here. Leave now to oppose thyself against the King. Thou seest by nature he is mild and calm, Then let his grace, whose youth is flexible, For riper years will wean him from such toys. Mort. jun. Uncle, his wanton humour grieves not me; But this I scorn, that one so basely born, Should by his sovereign's favour grow so pert, The Barons reproach the King with the calamities which the realm endures from the ascendancy of his wicked favourite, Gaveston. KING EDWARD, LANCASTER, WARWICK. TIMERS, and other Lords. The MOR Mort. jun. Nay, stay, my lord, I come to bring you news. Mine uncle is taken prisoner by the Scots. Edw. Then ransom him. Lan. 'Twas in your wars, you should ransom him. Mort. jun. And you shall ransom him, or elseKent. What, Mortimer, you will not threaten him? Edw. Quiet yourself, you shall have the broad seal, To gather for him throughout the realm. Lan. Your minion Gaveston hath taught you this. We never beg, but use such prayers as these. Mort. jun. Nay, now you are here alone, I'll speak my mind. Lan. And so will I, and then, my lord, farewell. Have drawn thy treasure dry, and made thee weak ; Lan. Look for rebellion, look to be depos'd; Unto the walls of York the Scots make road, Mort. jun. The haughty Dane commands the narrow seas, While in the harbour ride thy ships unrigg'd. Lan. What foreign prince sends thee embassadors ? Mort. Who loves thee, but a sort of flatterers? Lan. Thy gentle queen, sole sister to Valoys, Complains that thou hast left her all forlorn. Mort. Thy court is naked, being bereft of those, Lan. The Northern brothers seeing their houses burnt, Mort. When wert thou in the field with banner spread? But once and then thy soldiers march'd like players, With garish robes, not armor; and thyself, Bedaub'd with gold, rode laughing at the rest, Nodding and shaking of thy spangled crest, Where women's favours hung like labels down. Lan. And thereof came it, that the fleering Scots, To England's high disgrace, have made this jig: Maids of England, sore may you moorn, For your lemmons you have lost at Bennock's born, With a heave and a ho. What weened the king of England, So soon to have woon Scotland, With a rombelow? Mort. Wigmore* shall fly to set my uncle free. |