sion. Commissioners to discharge (ye gods! it fine is) The duty of a husband to your highness. Yet think not long I will my rival bear, Or unrevenged the slighted willow wear; The gloomy, brooding tempest, now confined Within the hollow caverns of my mind, In dreadful whirl shall roll along the coasts, Shall thin the land of all the men it boasts, 96 And cram up every chink of hell with ghosts. 97 So have I seen, in some dark winter's day, A sudden storm rush down the sky's highway, Sweep through the streets with terrible ding-dong, Gush through the spouts, and wash whole c[r]owds along. The crowded shops the thronging ver Hunc. Oh, fatal rashness! should his fury slay My hapless bridegroom on his weddingday, I, who this morn of two chose which to wed, May go again this night alone to bed. 98 So have I seen some wild unsettled fool, Who had her choice of this and that joint-stool, To give the preference to either loth, And fondly coveting to sit on both, While the two stools her sitting-part confound, Between 'em both fall squat upon the ground. ACT III. SCENE 1. King Arthur's Palace. 99 Ghost (solus). Hail! ye black horrors of midnight's midnoon! Ye fairies, goblins, bats, and screechowls, hail! 98 This beautiful simile is founded on a proverb which does honor to the English language: Between two stools the breech falls to the ground. I am not so well pleased with any written remains of the ancients as with those little aphorisms which verbal tradition hath delivered down to us under the title of proverbs. It were to be wished that, instead of filling their pages with the fabulous theology of the pagans, our modern poets would think it worth their while to enrich their works with the proverbial say. ings of their ancestors. Mr. Dryden hath chronicled one in heroic: Two ifs scarce make one possibility. Conquest of Granada. My Lord Bacon is of opinion that, whatever is known of arts and sciences might be proved to have lurked in the Proverbs of Solomon I am of the same opinion in relation to those above mentioned; at least I am confident that a more perfect system of ethics, as well as economy, might be compiled out of them than is at present extant, either in the works of the ancient philosophers, or those more valuable, as more voluminous ones of the modern divines. 99 Of all the particulars in which the modern stage falls short of the ancient, there is none so much to be lamented as the great scarcity of ghosts. Whence this proceeds I will not presume to determine. Some are of opinion that the moderns are unequal to that sublime language which a ghost ought to speak. One says, ludicrously, that ghosts are out of fashion; another that they are properer for comedy; forgetting, I suppose, that Aristotle hath told us that a ghost is the soul of tragedy; for so I render the ψυχὴ ὁ μῦθος τῆς τραγωδίας which M. Dacier, amongst others, hath mistaken; I suppose misled by not understanding the Fabula of the Latins, which signifies a ghost as well as fable. "Te premet nox, fabulæque manes." Horace. Of all the ghosts that have ever appeared on the stage, a very learned and judicious foreign critic gives the preference to this of our author. These are his words, speaking of this tragedy:-"Nec quidquam in illâ admirabilius quàm phasma quoddam horrendum, quod omnibus aliis spectris, quibuscum scatet Ange. lorum tragedia, longè (pace D-ysii V. Doctiss. dixerim) prætulerim And from a ghost, you know, no place is free. Conquest of Granada. 102 The man who writ this wretched pun," says Mr. D., "would have picked your pocket:" which he proceeds to show not only bad in itself, but doubly so on so solemn an occasion. And yet, in that excellent play of Liberty Asserted, we find something very much resembling a pun in the mouth of a mistress, who is parting with the lover she is fond of: Ul. Oh, mortal woe! one kiss, and then farewell. Irene. The gods have given to others to fare well. O miserably must Irene fare. Agamemnon, in the Victim, is full as facetious on the most solemn occasion-that of sacrificing his daughter: Yes, daughter, yes; you will assist the priest; Yes, you must offer up your-vows for Greece. 103 I'll pull thee backwards by thy shroud to light, Or else I'll squeeze thee, like a bladder, there, And make thee groan thyself away to air. Conquest of Granada Snatch me, ye gods, this moment into nothing. Cyrus the Great. Ghost. Were the Red Sea a sea of Holland's gin, The liquor (when alive) whose very smell I did detest, did loathe—yet, for the sake Of Thomas Thumb, I would be laid therein. King. Ha! said you? Ghost. Yes, my liege, I said Tom Thumb, Whose father's ghost I am-once not unknown To mighty Arthur. But, I see, 't is true, The dearest friend, when dead, we all forget. King. 'Tis he-it is the honest Gaffer Thumb. Oh! let me press thee in my eager arms, Thou best of ghosts! thou something The shutters of the sky, before the gate 104 So, art thou gone? Thou canst no conquest boast. I thought what was the courage of a ghost. Conquest of Granada King Arthur seems to be as brave a fellow as Almanzor, who says most heroically, In spite of ghosts I'll on. 105 The ghost of Lausaria. in Cyrus, is a plain copy of this, and is therefore worth reading: Ah. Cyrus! Thou mayest as well grasp water, or fleet air, Cyrus the Great. 106 Thou better part of heavenly air. Conquest of Granada. Of this thy royal palace, swarming spread. 107 So have I seen the bees in clusters So have I seen the stars in frosty nights, So have I seen the flowers in spring arise, So have I seen the leaves in autumn fall, So have I seen the fruits in summer smile, So have I seen the snow in winter frown. King. D-n all thou hast seen! dost thou, beneath the shape Of Gaffer Thumb, come hither to abuse 107 "A string of similes," says one, "proper to be hung up in the cabinet of a prince." 108 This passage hath been understood several different ways by the commentators. For my part, I find it difficult to understand it at all. Mr. Dryden says I've heard something how two bodies meet, So that, till the body of a spirit be better understood, it will be difficult to understand how it is possible to run him through it. SCENE 4. (King, Queen.) Queen. What is the cause, my Arthur, that you steal Thus silently from Dollallolla's breast? Why dost thou leave me in the 109 dark alone, When well thou knowest I am afraid of sprites? King. Oh, Dollallolla! do not blame my love! I hoped the fumes of last night's punch had laid Thy lovely eyelids fast.-But, oh! I find There is no power in drams to quiet wives; Each morn, as the returning sun, they wake, And shine upon their husbands. Queen. Think, Oh think! What a surprise it must be to the sun, Rising, to find the vanished world away. What less can be the wretched wife's surprise When, stretching out her arms to fold thee fast, She folds her useless bolster in her arms. 110 Think, think, on that.-Oh! think, think well on that! I do remember also to have read Tom Thumb indeed were blest.-Oh, fatal name! For didst thou know one quarter what I know, Then wouldst thou know-Alas! what thou wouldst know! 109 Cydaria is of the same fearful temper with Dollallolla. I never durst in darkness be alone. [Dryden's] Indian Emperor. 110 Think well of this, think that, think every way. Sophonisba. 111 These quotations are more usual in the comic than in the tragic writers. 112 "This distress." says Mr. D- [Dennis ], "I must allow to be extremely beautiful, and tends to heighten the virtuous character of Dollallolla, who is so exceedingly delicate, that she is in the highest apprehension from the inanimate embrace of a bolster. An example worthy of imitation [for] all our writ ers of tragedy." (King, Queen, Huncamunca, Noodle.) King. See where the princess comes! Where is Tom Thumb? Hunc. Oh! sir, about an hour and half ago He sallied out to encounter with the foe, And swore, unless his fate had him misled, From Grizzle's shoulders to cut off his head, And serve 't up with your chocolate in bed. King. 'Tis well, I found one devil told us both. Come, Dollallolla, Huncamunca, come; Within we'll wait for the victorious Thumb: In peace and safety we secure may stay, While to his arm we trust the bloody fray; Though men and giants should conspire with gods, 113 He is alone equal to all these odds. Methinks, would willingly avoid this day. 116 This first of April, to engage our foes. Griz. This day, of all the days of th' year, I'd choose, For on this day my grandmother was born. Gods! I will make Tom Thumb an April-fool; from the speech of a much braver fellow than Almanzor, Mr. Johnson's Achilles: Though human race rise in embattled hosts, Victim. 114 "I have heard of being supported by a staff. says Mr. D., "but never of being supported by an helmet." I believe he never heard of sailing with wings, which he may read in no less a poet than Mr Dryden: Unless we borrow wings, and sail through air. What will he say to a kneeling valley! Like a safe valley, that low bends the knee Injured Lore I am ashamed of so ignorant a carper, who doth not know that an epithet in tragedy is very often no other than an expletive. Do not we read in the New Sophonisba of "grinding chains, blue plagues, white occasions, and blue serenity?" Nay, it is not the adjective only, but sometimes half a sentence is put by way of expletive, as. "Beauty pointed high with spirit," in the same play; and. "In the lap of bless ing, to be most curst,' in the Revenge. 115 A victory like that of Almanzor: Almanzor is victorious without fight. Conquest of Granada 116 Well have we chose an happy day for fight: For every man, in course of time, has found Some days are lucky, some unfortunate. * A peep show, carried around in a box. King Arthur A child, in time to come, To be his heir, though it may be No bigger than his thumb: Of which old Merlin was foretold That he his wish should have; And so a son of stature small The charmer to him gave. Thou 'st heard the past, look up and see the future. Thumb. 122 Lost in amazement's gulf, my senses sink; See there, Glumdalca, see another 123 me! Glum. O, sight of horror! see, you are devoured By the expanded jaws of a red cow. Merl. Let not these sights deter thy noble mind, 124 For, lo! a sight more glorious courts thy eyes. See from afar a theatre arise; There ages, yet unborn, shall tribute pay Thy name the best supporter of her muse. Thumb. Enough: let every warlike music sound. We fall contented, if we fall renown'd. SCENE 9. (Lord Grizzle, Foodle, Rebels, on one side; Tom Thumb, Glumdalca, on the other.) Food. At length the enemy advances nigh, 125 I hear them with my ear, and see them with my eye. Griz. Draw all your swords: for liberty we fight, 126 And liberty the mustard is of life. 122 Amazement swallows up my sense, And in the impetuous whirl of circling fate Drinks down my reason. Persian Princess. I have outfaced myself. Is there another me? 123 What! am I two? King Arthur. 124 The character of Merlin is wonderful throughout; but most so in this prophetic part. We find several of these prophecies in the tragic authors, who frequently take this opportunity to pay a compliment to their country, and sometimes to their prince. None but our author (who seems to have detested the least appearance of flattery) would have passed by such an opportunity of being a political prophet. 125 I saw the villain, Myron; with these eyes I saw him. Busiris. In both which places it is intimated that it is sometimes possible to see with other eyes than your own. 126 "This mustard," says Mr. D., "is enough to turn one's stomach. I would be glad to know what idea the author had in his head when he wrote it." This will be, I believe, best explained by a line of Mr. Dennis: And gave him liberty, the salt of life. Liberty Asserted. The understanding that can digest the one will not rise at the other. * With their followers. |