Heav'n's blessing is her curse, which she must bear, That she may never love herself too dear 30. 28 It cannot be, that fruits, the tree so blusting.] Mr. Theobald, from the old quarto, puts (the tree so blasting') in a parenthesis: and Mr. Sympson would read blasted; both join in the same sense, the tree being so blasted, or of such a blasting nature.' But if the tree is so blasted, or blasting, where is the wonder that it should produce bad fruit? I strike out even the comma, and understand it in this sense. It cannot be that fruits so blasting the tree from whence they sprung should grow in nature.' Here Rollo is the fruit, she herself the tree, one of whose natural branches Rollo would blast, and by consequence the tree itself. Seward. Mr. Seward is certainly right in his reading and explanation; and yet, by a strange confusion of ideas, quite wrong in his commentary. It is plain from the speech of Otto, to which this is an immediate answer, that Falshood is the supposed fruit, and Truth the tree; Rollo being here accused of engrafting treachery on friendship, and murder on the shews of natural affection and consanguinity. 29 Take heed, gentle son, Lest some suborn'd suggester of these treasons, Or that your too much love to rule alone, Bred not of him this jealous passion.] So quarto. The two following editions read the last line, Breed not in him this jealous passion.' Mr. Seward, in the third line, reads provoke justead of provok'd; which word,' says he, would imply Sophia's belief of Rollo's attempt, which she did not give credit to.' In this variation we think him perfectly right; but not in his restoring the last line from the quarto, which appears evidently corrupt. The meaning of the passage is, Take care lest your suspicion should provoke his violence, or your ambition breed his jealousy.' 30 Heav'n's blessing is her curse, which she must beur, That she may never love. Soph. Alas, my son, &c.] The second line is left thus imperfect in sense and measure in all the editions. By observing the tendency of the sense one may ask, What is the moral reason why Virtue in this life should be perinitted by Heaven to fall under obloquy and disgrace? Lest self-approbation and self-love should puff up the heart of the virtuous man to pride and vanity. The following words give this sense, and complete the rhime: -which she must bear, That she may never love herself too deur.' After this had occurred, by looking back I found this made a direct parody to the conclusion of Sophia's last speech: There is not any ill we might not bear, 'Were not our good held at a price tɔo deur, This therefore adds greatly to the probability of the conjecture. VOL. II. X Seward, Poisons, and such close treasons, ask more Than can suffice his fiery spirit's haste : What proves his tend'rest thoughts to doubt Who knows not the unbounded flood and In which my brother Rollo's appetites (For goodness' sake) t' encounter ill with ill. And all such cause of justice! Otto. Past all doubt (For all the sacred privilege of night) This is no time for us to sleep or rest in: Who knows not all things holy are prevented Lust, gain, ambition 33 ? Enter Rollo armed, and Latorch. Rollo. Perish all the world Ere I but lose one foot of possible empire, 31 Who knows not the unbounded flood and sea, By sleights and colour us'd by slaves and I am exempt by birth from both those curbs, See, mother, now your confidence! Soph. Make thy way, viper, if thou thus Otto. This is a treason like thee! Soph. Embrace me, wear me as thy shield, my son; And thro' my breast let his rude weapon run, Otto. Play not two parts, Treacher and coward both, but yield a sword, Rollo. Loose his hold! Mat. Forbear, base murderer! Soph. Mother dost thou name me, Rollo. Forsake her, traitor, Or, by the spoil of nature, thorough hers, Otto. Hold! Soph. Hold me still. [not hazard Oito. For twenty hearts and lives, I will One drop of blood in yours. Soph. Oh, thou art lost then! Oito. Protect my innocence, Heav'n! His swelling blood exhales.] This punctuation,' Mr. Seward truly remarks, greatly diminishes the extreme beauty of the metaphors. Exhales signifies boils and flings off vapours, as the sea in storms does its spray. This is the true meaning of the word, from the Latin exhalare. We corrupt it when we say the sun exhales vapours from the sea.' 32 Equal Heav'n.] Equal is here used in the sense of the Latin word æquus, and means favourable, propitious. 33 Who knows not all things holy are prevented, With ends of all impiety, all but Lust, gain, ambition? When a passage is utterly darkened, as this before us, and almost evidently by the loss of a whole sentence, it is impossible to restore it with certainty; but a due observance of the tendency of the context, the character that utters it, and the genius and spirit of the Author, may lead us with high probability to the sentiment, though not to the exact words of the original. I suppose a mall corruption both in the first and second line. The good Otto is in all his speeches full of moral and political reflections, and therefore the following one seems to suit both what precedes and follows it: Who knows not all things holy are perverted To th' ends of all impiety? thus darkness Lulls all things in security, all but Lust, gain, ambition.' Seward. These variations and additions Mr. Seward inserts in the text; but though the passage really seems to be corrupt, we cannot venture to adopt them.-It has been suggested, that, by understanding the word prevented in a sense which it not unfrequently bears, that of being beforehand, or taking place, Otto here inculcates the doctrine, That impiety oversways righteousness, and all considerations but those of lust, gain, and ambition.' Soph. Call out 'Murder!' Mat. Be murder'd all, but save him! Rollo. Cannot I reach you yet? Rollo. Latorch, Lat. Up then; your sword cools, sir: Ply it i' th' flame, and work your ends out. Have at you there, sir! Enter Aubrey. Aub. Author of prodigies, Otto. Oh, give me a weapon, Aubrey! Aub. For Heav'n's sake, no more! Soph. Take spirit, my Otto; Mat. He is dead, And nothing lives but death of every goodness. Soph. Oh, he hath slain his brother; curse him, Heaven! Rollo. Curse and be curs'd! it is the fruit of cursing. Latorch, take off here; bring too of that To colour o'er my shirt; then raise the court, In our bed naked. Shall the name of Brother Enter Gisbert and Baldwin. Gis. What fears 34 inform these outcries? Bald. Ob, execrable slaughter! What hand hath author'd it? Aub. Your scholar's, Baldwin. Bald. Unjustly arg'd, lord Aubrey; as if I, Gis. If rule affects this licence, who would And human blood so fiery to commit it, Aub. Burst it then [bound, With his full swing given. Where it brooks no Complaints of it are vain; and all that rests To be our refuge (since our powers are strengthless) Is, to conform our wills to suffer freely 35 Erect your princely countenances and spirits, Wish all amends, and vow to it your best, Gis. Those temporizings are too dull and To breathe the free air of a manly soul, Bald. Pour lives before him, 'till his own be dry Of all life's services and human comforts! None left that looks at Heav'n's left half so base 36 To do these black and hellish actions grace! Enter Rollo, Latorch, Hamond, and Guard. And raise the city, as the court is rais'd, Lat. I shall, my lord. [Exit. Rollo. You there that mourn. upon the justly slain, Arise and leave it, if you love your lives! 34 What affairs inform these outcries?] Varied by Mr. Theobald. 35 Is to conform our wills to suffer freely.] Passive obedience and non-resistance to princes being the absurd but almost universal doctrine of our Authors' age, Aubrey is upon that principle a very complete character. And every reader, who wants to form a true taste of any poem, should always use an occasional conformity to the doctrines and tenets of the age the Poet wrote in. Without this, the characters of Amintor in The Maid's Tragedy, of Aecius in Valentinian, and Aubrey here, together with many inferior characters, will not be near so interesting as they really deserve to be. Seward. 36 None less that looks at Heav'n is half so base To do those black and hellish actions grace.] There is a stiffness in the first line which gives suspicion of a mistake. The old quarto reads, "None left that looks at Heaven 's left half so base.' This was evidently wrong, and the folio and octavo are only the conjectural emendation of the former. Mr. Sympson has, I believe, restored the original, as he gives it a stronger connexion with the foregoing lines, and renders the sentence natural and easy: 'Till none that looks at Heaven's left half so base.' We think the quarto right, and perfectly intelligible. Seward. And hear from me what (kept by you) may save you. [stir. Mat. What will the butcher do? I will not Rollo. Stir, and unforc'd stir, or stir never more! [better Command her, you grave beldame, that know My deadly resolutions, since I drew them From the infective fountain of your own; Or, if you have forgot, this fiery prompter Shall fix the fresh impression on your heart! Soph. Rise, daughter! serve his will in what we may, Lest what we may not he enforce the rather. Is this all you command us? Rollo. This addition To cross me with a syllable, nor your souls Murmur 37 nor think against it; but weigh well, It will not help your ill, but help to more, And that my hand, wrought thus far to my will, Will check at nothing 'till his circle fill. Mat. Fill it, so I consent not; but who sooths it [it. Consents, and who consents to tyranny, does Rollo. False traitress, die then with him! Aub. Are you mad, To offer at more blood, and make yourself More horrid to your people? I'll proclaim, It is not as your instrument will publish. Rollo. Do, and take that along with you.So nimble! [Aub. disarms him. Resign my sword, and dare not for thy soul To offer what thou insolently threat'nest, One word proclaiming cross to what Latorch Hath in commission, and intends to publish. Aub. Well, sir, not for your threats, but for your good, Since more hurt to you would more hurt your country, And that you must make virtue of the need That now compels you, I'll consent, as far As silence argues, to your will proclaim'd. And since no more sons of your princely fa ther Survive to rule but you, and that I wish That now you have committed, made asham'd With that fair blessing, that, in place of plagues, Heav'n tries our mending disposition with, Take here your sword; which now use like a prince, And no more like a tyrant. Rollo. This sounds well; Gis. & Bald. Wonder invades me 38! sir. Bald. Nor is't your tutor's part to shield Rollo. Sir, first know you, In praise of your pure oratory that rais'd you, That when the people (who I know by this Are rais'd out of their rests, and hast'ning hi ther To witness what is done here) are arriv'd Gis. I fashion an oration to acquit you? Sir, know you then, that 'tis a thing less easy T'excuse a parricide than to commit it. Rollo. I do not wish you, sir, to excuse me, But to accuse my brother as the cause It were another murder, to accuse Rollo. Away with him! [pain. Guard, do your office on him, on your lives' Gis. Tyrant, 'twill haste thy own death. Rollo. Let it wing it! He threatens me: Villains, tear him piecemeal hence! Guard. Avant, sir. Ham. Force him hence! Rollo. Dispatch him, captain: 37 To cross me, &c.] We have here followed the quarto. All other copies exhibit, To cross me with a syllable, for your souls; 38 Rollo. Wonder invades me; do you two think much, &c.] The words' Wonder invades me,' which express a person wrapt up in wonder and horror, seemed at first sight, both to Mr. Sympson and me, to be out of character in Rollo's mouth, and by joint consent we give it to Sophin, though it would he equally proper to Matilda, Baldwin, or Gisbert. As the verses are often divided between the speakers, this alone has produced several hundred mistakes in speakers in our Anthors' plays. Seward. We think the speech should be placed to Gisbert and Baldwin, as the words 'Oh, lord Aubrey are. Rollo's reply authorizes it. And bring me instant word he is dispatch'd, Ham. I'll not fail, sir. [chief; Rollo. Captain, besides remember this in To all his friends the rites of funeral, [Exeunt Ham. Gis, and Guard. Bald. For fear of death? Bald. For teaching thee no better; 'tis the Edith. Oh, stay there, duke; Rollo. Away with this fond woman! If there be any spark of pity in you,' 39 I stand up thus then; Thus boldly, bloody tyrant, [me! Edith. A curse upon his life that hinders Oh, sir, these tears beseech you, these chaste Here I must grow. Rollo. By Heav'n, I'll strike thee, woman! seize me, [man, All the most studied torments, so this good This old man, and this innocent, escape thee! Rollo. Carry him away, I say! [pity, Edith. Now blessing on thee! Oh, sweet I see it in thy eyes. I charge you, soldiers, Ev'n by the prince's power, release my father! The prince is merciful; why do you hold him? The prince forgets his fury; why do you tug [speak, sir! He is old; why do you hurt him? Speak, oh, A friend's life, and a foster life, upon you. Rollo. Will no man here obey me? Rollo. Hew off her hands! Edith. No, hew 'em; And to thy face in Heav'n's high name defy thee.] I am far from thinking it necessary to fill up hemistichs where the sense does not require it: Here it does not, and yet I verily think there has been an omission. This is one of the noblest and most correct scenes in the whole play, and a repetition of her defiance filling up the measure, and giving a fine. climax to the workings of her passion, I have ventured to insert it, and to divide the sentence into separate parts. Seward, Mr. |