Thus boldly, bloody tyrant, [thee! And to thy face, in Heav'n's high name, defy And may sweet Mercy, when thy soul sighs [trembles; for it; When under thy black mischiefs thy flesh When neither strength,nor youth,nor friends, nor gold, [conscience, Can stay one hour; when thy most wretched Wak'd from her dream of death, like fire shall melt thee; [wounds, When all thy mother's tears, thy brother's Thy people's fears, and curses, aud my loss, My aged father's loss, shall stand before thee[her father; Roilo. Save him, I say; run, save him, save Fly, and redeem his head! [Exit Latorch. Edith. May then that pity, That comfort thou expect'st from Heav'n, that Mercy, [thee, Be lock'd up from thee, fly thee! howlings find Despair, (oh, my sweet father!) storms of Blood till thou burst again! [terrors, Rollo. Oh, fair sweet anger! Enter Latorch and Hamond, with a head. Lat. I came too late, sir; 'twas dispatch'd His head is here. [before; Rollo. And my heart there! Go, bury him; Give him fair rites of funeral,decent honours. Edith. Wilt thou not take me, monster? Highest Heav'n, Give him a punishment fit for his mischief! Lat. I fear thy prayer is heard, and he rewarded. Lady, have patience; 'twas unhappy speed; Blame not the duke, 'twas not his fault, but Fate's; [ed, He sent, you know, to stay it, and commandIn care of you, the heavy object hence Soon as it came: Have better thoughts of him! Belov'd of Heav'n, whom Heav'n hath thus preserv'd. [know, 2 Cit. And if he be belov'd of Heav'n, you He must be just, and all his actions so. Rollo. Concluded like an oracle. Oh, how great A grace of Heav'n is a wise citizen! [just, For Heav'n 'tis makes 'em wise, as 't made me As it preserv'd me, as I now survive By his strong hand to keep you all alive: Your wives, your children, goods and lands kept yours, [power, That had been else prey to his tyrannous That would have prey'd on me, in bed assaulted me, In sacred time of peace. My mother here, My sister, this just lord, and all had fill'd The Curtian gulf of this conspiracy 4, Of which my tutor and my chancellor [nest, (Two of the gravest, and most counted hoIn all my dukedom) were the monstrous heads. Oh, trust no honest men for their sakes ever, My politick citizens; but those that bear The names of cut-throats, usurers, and ty [world Oh, those believe in; for the foul-mouth'd Can give no better terms to simple goodness. Ev'n me it dares blaspheme, and thinks me rants, tyrannous [ther: For saving my own life sought by my broYet those that sought his life before by poison (Tho' mine own servants, hoping to please me) I'll lead to death for't, which your eyes shall 1 Cit. Why what a prince is here! [sce. 2 Cit. How just! 3 Cit. How gentle! Rollo. Well, now, my dearest subjects, or much rather My nerves, my spirits, or my vital blood, Turn to your needful rest, and settled peace, Fix'd in this root of steel, from whence it sprung, In Heav'n's great help and blessing 4: But, ere sleep Bind in his sweet oblivion your dull senses, -1 stand up thus then; Thus boldly, bloody tyrant, I defy thee; And to thy face; in Heav'n's high name defy thee.' But were it necessary to fill up the hemistich, we should recommend this mode: I stand up thus then, Thus boldly, bloody tyrant, I stand up, And to thy face,' &c. which supposes an omission easily accounted for; viz. the transcriber taking the words for an accidental repetition; or, finding words he had but just wrote, hastily passing on to the following line. 40 And all had felt The Curtian gulf of this conspiracy.] To feel a gulf is certainly a poor if not an absurd expression; but to fill the gulf, as Mr. Sympson reads, is the exact poetical idea which the metaphor demands. Seward. 41 In Heav'n's great help.] The particle in, which renders this passage stiff and obscure, seems only to have slipt from the former line, and excluded the true one. Seward, Either particle is sense. The name and virtue of Heav'n's king ad vance For yours (in chief), for my deliverance! Rollo. Thanks, my good people.-Mother, Aub. If this game end thus, Heav'n's will What we have yielded to, we could not let*. [Exeunt omnes præter Latorch and Edith. Lat. Good lady, rise; and raise your spirits withal, More high than they are humbled: You have cause, As much as ever honour'd happiest lady; The pleasures, honours, and the rules of Let.] i. e. prevent. Which, tho' death stop your ears, methinks should ope 'em. Assay to forget death. Edith. Oh, slaughter'd father! Lat. Cast off what cannot be redress'd, and bless The fate that yet you curse so; since, for that And be not barr'd up from yourself, nor add See how they'll bow to you; make me wait, graces, And do my hopes the honour of your mo- 4o Make me your servant to attend with all joys Lat. Time will make you, lady. [Exeunt. Your sad estate, till they both bless and speak it: See how they'll bow to you, make me wait, &c.] This strange chaos has just light enough left to shew the general tendency of the passage: viz. That both be and all the courtiers by their humblest obeisance (if she would accept it) would endeavour to turn her sorrow into joy. From the word amendful, in Latorch's first speech to her above, it is highly probable that attend should be amend; that the word courtiers, or some one of the same import, is left out, seems almost evident, and a whole sentence must have accompanied it. We may hope to come very near the sense, however wide we are in guessing at the words of the original. But what is -till they both bless and speak it?' It seems probable that a mistake in the points having joined the two verbs together, the former part was changed, and both falsely inserted to make out something that looked like grammar. I read the whole thus, marking in Italicks what I suppose only to contain something like the sense of the original. Make me your servant, make the courtiers all Your servants, studious to AMEND with joys See how they'll bow to you,' &c. Seward. Thus runs Mr. Seward's reading: but we cannot follow it, because the text is not in our opinion corrupt, and means (though perhaps with some little inaccuracy of expression, not unusual in our Authors) Let me attend your melancholy with amusements, 'till they both remove your sorrows, and make it manifest that they do so.' 43 - for the stay Your modest sorrow funcies, &c.] Mr. Seward, we think improperly, substitutes full for stay. Stay and motion are plainly opposed to each other: He desires her not to remain in her present humble rank, but to let him have the honour of promoting her.' 44 how the duke Is slain already with your flames imbrac't!] So quarto. Folio: Is slain already with your flames embrac'd!' This Mr. Seward treats as corrupt, and prints, But surely, the duke Is slain already with your flames! embrace it.' SCENE II. 1 Guard. Come, bring these fellows on; 2 Guard. Make room afore there! room there for the prisoners! 1 Boy. Let's run afore, boys; we shall get no place else. 2 Boy. Are these the youths? Cook. These are the youths you look for: And pray, my honest friends, be not so hasty; There'll be nothing done 'till we come, I as[no more? sure you. 3 Boy. Here's a wise hanging! Are there But. D' you hear, sir? [you. You may come in for your share, if it please Cook. My friend, if you be unprovided of a hanging, [you (You look like a good fellow) I can afford A reasonable pennyworth. 2 Boy. Afore, afore, boys! Here's e'en enough to make us sport. Yeo. Pox take you, [tions? D'you call this sport? are these your recrea- Boys. Away, away, boys! [looks now? Cook. Pray for thy crusty soul? Where's [very? your reward now, Good goodman manchet, for your fine discoI do beseech you, sir, where are your dollars? Draw with your fellows, and be hang'd! Yeo. He must now; For now he shall be hang'd first, that's his comfort: frascal! A place too good for thee, thou meal-mouth'd Cook. Hang handsomely, for shame! Come, leave your praying, Guard. Come, will you forward? so much time too, And therefore cannot be refus'd in justice. Yeo. One fit of our own mirth, and then Guard. Make haste then, and dispatch. Cook. Come, boys, sing chearfully; we [like well. We've chose a loud tune too, because it should shall ne'er sing younger. * Three merry boys, &c.] In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, act ii. scene 3, Sir Toby, repeating the names and some scraps of old songs, mentions "Three merry men we be;" which Mr. Steevens asserts to be a fragment of some old song, which he found repeated in Westward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607 : Three merry men, And three merry men, And three merry men be we.' And Sir John Hawkins, in the Appendix, produces the following passage, but without noticing from whence it is taken: The wise men were but seaven, ne'er more shall be for me; The muses were but nine, the worthies three times three; And three merry boyes, and three merry boyes, and three merry boyes are wee. The vertues they were seaven, and three the greater bee; The Cæsars they were twelve, and fatall sisters three. And three merry girles, and three merry girles, and three merry girles are woo.' To these proofs we shall add another, taken from Rain-Alley, or Merry Tricks: Without a counterbuff? looke who comes here, And three merry men, and three merry men, And three merry men be wec.' R. The Editor of the second folio thus varies the latter part of the chorus, As ever did sing in a hempen string under the gallows-tree!' As ever did sing three parts in a string But. But I that was so lusty, And ever kept my bottles, With hemp instead of cork, sir, Shews that there is a fork, sir, Man may be two ways killed, Or like the wine be spilled. On the master cook, No taylor e'er had stitching; The cook yet makes the dishes, The which no taylor can, Wherein I have my wishes, Aub. SCENE I. ACT IV. Enter Aubrey and Latorch. For I have well consider'd, truth sometimes Cannot but end in ruin; empire got For I have well consider'd, &c.] By this reading, Aubrey's design of employing Latorch to convey a truth to Rollo was the reason why no man envied Latorch the favour of his mas ter; whereas the real reason was the knowledge of the vile means he had used to obtain it and this will be implied by changing the particle for into and. Seward. From the word hearken in the second line, to the particle for in the ninth, seems to be only a collection of different parentheses, and that particle to be genuine: Latorch, I have waited here to speak with you, and you must hearken-(pretend not haste) (the business is honest, and reward attends it) (you are in possession of the king's ear, and without envy)FOR I have well considered, truth sometimes,' &c. 46 And one by one employ 'em to the block.] Convoy 'em' seems a more natural expression; but, as the other is sense, I do not change the text. Seward. wure then, guard themselves.] The omission of a letter in the quarto has made the subsequent editions turn a noble sentiment into a very poor one. The quarto has no comma between then and guard; undoubtedly, therefore, instead of closing Aubrey's fire speech with Then is their danger, ware then, let them then guard themselves;' we should VOL. II. reads If thou durst tell him this, Latorch, the ser vice Would not discredit the good name you hold Lat. I conceive not so, sir: [them Men do but shew their ill affections, Aub. What? Speak out! Lat. Do murmur 'gainst their masters. Lat. It is to whomsoever At your stateward, sir? Lat. I am sworn to hear Nothing may prejudice the prince. mention White'st over all his vices; and at last Dares go the straightest way, which still's the Walk on the thorns thou scatter'st, parasite, And pluck thy skin over thy face, in sight spire, And every creature that hath sense be arin'd, 'Tis better for him to be fear'd than lov'd; blood Affection, or a heart, that ne'er hadst any? That may secure him; 'tis no cruelty Know'st not to love or hate, but by the scale,That hath a specious end; for sovereignty read, -ware then guards themselves;' i. e. When a prince is hated by all his subjects, his very guards will become his enemies, and be the first to destroy him. The histories of almost all tyrants in the world confirm this observation. And it is a sort of prophecy of Rollo's fate, a hint of which Aubrey in the next scene gives Rollo himself, when he tells him, You make your guards your terrors by these acts.' Seward. 6 We think the old reading right, and means simply, that it is then time for them to beware, and to guard themselves;' a sentiment which is familiarly enough expressed, after the manner of our Authors, by the words, 'Ware then, guard themselves!' 48 Then bring'st his virtue asleep.] That bring'st is a corruption scems evident; but I was doubtful whether I should read ring'st or sing'st; the former is nearer the trace of the letters, the latter the more obvious metaphor. Mr. Sympson sending me the latter as his conjecture too, determined me to give it the preference. Seward. 49 I'll rip thy crown up with my sword at height, And pluck thy skin over thy face, &c.] I much suspect the first line, to which I can affix no clear idea. What would Aubrey do to him? It should seem, that he would with his sword strip open the crown of his head, and pluck his skin over his face. The following conjecture will give this reading more clearly than the former, but not so clearly as I could wish, and therefore I do not put it into the text. I'll strip thy crown ope with my sword at height.' Seward. 50 That sleep'st within thy master's car.] Mr. Seward, in his Postscript, says, 'The talebearer, whisperer and sycophant, cannot be said to sleep within their master's ear, since they are generally vigilant and eager to instil their poisonous counsel.' I read, therefore, That creep'st within thy master's ear.' We think this a happy emendation. |