Behold my sword; what see you at the point? FIRST VIRG. Nothing but fear and fatal steel, my lord. TAMB. Your fearful minds are thick and misty, then, For there sits Death; there sits imperious* Death, But I am pleas'd you shall not see him there; To charge these dames, and shew my servant Death, VIRGINS. Oh, pity us! TAMB. Away with them, I say, and shew them I will not spare these proud Egyptians, Re-enter TEChelles. What, have your horsemen shown the virgins Death? * imperious] So the 8vo.-The 4to " imprecious." TECH. They have, my lord, and on Damascus' walls Have hoisted up their slaughter'd carcasses. TAMB. A sight as baneful to their souls, I think, As are Thessalian drugs or mithridate : But go, my lords, put the rest to the sword. [Exeunt all except Tamburlaine. Ah, fair Zenocrate !-divine Zenocrate! Fair is too foul an epithet for thee,— Rain'st on the earth resolvèd+ pearl in showers, passion] i. e. sorrow. + resolved] i. e. dissolved. Eyes, when that Ebena steps to heaven, &c.] There is some corruption in this passage. Does "Ebena" mean-Darkness? || fight] So the 8vo.-The 4to " fights." His life that so consumes Zenocrate; Whose sorrows lay more siege unto my soul, Had fed the feeling of their masters' thoughts, Yet should there hover in their restless heads One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least, But how unseemly is it for my sex, + Persia's] Old eds. "Perseans," and "Persians." still] i. e. distil. SC. II.] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT. Must needs have beauty beat on his conceits: And fashions men with true nobility.— 99 gods] "A line appears to have been omitted in both the old copies, after the word 'gods.' The reader will easily supply the sense." Ed. 1826.-" I would read as follows: 'Save only that in beauty's just applause, Must needs have beauty beat on his conceits: I, thus conceiving, and subduing both, That virtue solely is the sum of glory,' &c. The editor [of 1826] says, ‘A line appears to have been omitted in both the old copies after the word gods.' The reader will easily supply the sense.' If my reading is right, there appears to be no omission of lines, or defect in the sense." J. M. in Gent. Mag. for Jan. 1841. + fiery-spangled] So the 8vo.-The 4to " spangled firie." mask] Is surely the right reading.-The 8vo has "martch," watch ✓the 4to "march." § cottages] So the 8vo.-The 4to "coatches." Enter Attendants. Hath Bajazeth been fed to-day? ATTEND. Ay, my lord. TAMB. Bring him forth; and let us know if the town be ransacked. [Exeunt Attendants. Enter TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, USUMCASANE, and others. TECH. The town is ours, my lord, and fresh supply Of conquest and of spoil is offer'd us. TAMB. That's well, Techelles. What's the news? TECH. The Soldan and the Arabian king together March on us with such eager violence, As if there were no way but one with us§. TAMB. No more there is not, I warrant thee, Attendants bring in BAJAZETH in his cage, followed by ZABINA. Exeunt Attendants. THER. We know the victory is ours, my lord; Attend.] Old eds. An." (a misprint probably), which the modern editors understand as " Anippe" (the waiting-maid of Zenocrate). March on us with] So the 4to.-The 8vo "Martcht on with vs with." § As if there were no way but one with us] i. e. as if we were to lose our lives. This phrase, which is common in our early writers, was not obsolete in Dryden's time: "for, if he heard the malicious trumpeter proclaiming his name before his betters, he knew there was but one way with him." Preface to All for Love. |