Kill him, good captain! any way dispatch My body's honour'd with that sword that thro' me [hand! Sends his black soul to hell! Oh, but for one What, has he got a knife 65? Edith. Look to him, captain; For now he will be mischievous. Ham. Do you smile, sir? Does it so tickle you? Have at you once more! Edith. Oh, bravely thrust. Take heed he come not in, sir. To him again; you give him too much respite. Rollo. Yet wilt thou save my life? and I'll forgive thee, [ments, And give thee all, all honours, all advanceCall thee my friend! Edith. Strike, strike, and hear him not! His tongue will tempt a saint. Rollo. Oh, for my soul sake! Edith. Save nothing of him! Ham. Now for your farewell! Are you so wary? take that! you Rollo. Thou that too! Oh, thou hast kill'd me basely, basely, basely! [Dies. Edith. The just reward of murder falls upon thee! How do you, sir? has he not hurt you? I feel not any thing. Aub. [within. I charge you let us pass! Guard. We are sworn to our captain; And, 'till he give the word Ham. Now let them in there. Enter Sophia, Matilda, Aubrey, Lords and Attendants. Soph. Oh, there he lies! Sorrow on sorrow seeks me! Oh, in his blood he lies! Aub. Had you spoke sooner, This might have been prevented. Take the duchess, And lead her off; this is no sight for her eyes. Mat. May honour ever seek thee for thy Oh, 'twas a deed of high and brave adventure, 65 A knife.] i. e. A dagger. Edith. He snatch'd it from my hand for whom I bore it; And, as they grappled Aub. Justice is ever equal! [honest. Had it not been on him, th' hadst died too Did you know of his death? Edith. Yes, and rejoice in't. Aub. I'm sorry for your youth then, for tho' the strictuess Of law shall not fall on you, that of life Must presently. Go, to a cloyster carry her; And there for ever lead your life in penitence. Edith. Best father to my soul, I give you thanks, sir! And now my fair revenges have their ends; My vows shall be my kin, my prayers my friends! [Exit, Enter Latorch and Jugglers, Lat. Stay there; I'll step in, and prepare Norb. We shall have brave rewards! Lut. By this time, where's my huffing Where's that good gentleman? Oh, I could laugh now, And burst myself with mere imagination : world, 66 Quarried.] This is an allusion to falconry. Latham, who wrote in the time of James I., explains the word quarrie to be taken for the fowle which is flowne at and slaine at any timè, especially when R. hawks are flowne thereunto.' young And what place now? The second place seems to have been accidentally repeated, instead of some word that implies title, honour, or dignity. Stile seems to bid fairest of any monosyllable that occurs. Seward. 1 THE WILD-GOOSE CHASE: A COMEDY. The Commendatory Verses by Hills ascribe this Comedy wholly to Fletcher. In 1647, (the Playhouse Copy having been lent out of the honse, and lost) The Wild-Goose Chase could not be inserted among our Authors' other Plays: It was, however, afterwards recovered, and published in 1652, by Lowin and Taylor, two Players. Farquhar's Inconstant is built on this Play; the mad scene of Oriana, and others, are almost transcribed; al though both the Author in his Preface, and Mr. Rowe in the Epilogue, assert that only the hint was taken from this piece of our Author. SCENE I. ACT I. De Ga. In truth, you shall not take it; 'tis There's for your provender. Bespeak a dinner Make ready all things at my lodging, for me, Boy. The ten-crown ordinary? De Ga. Yes, sir, if you have not forgot it. 'Tis the best part of a footinan's faith. [Exit Boy. De Ga. These youths, For all they have been in Italy to learn thrift, And seem to wonder at men's lavish ways, Yet they can't rub off old friends, their French itches; [bodies They must meet sometimes to disport their With good wine, and good women; and good fall points, store too. Let 'em be what they will, they are arm'd at And then hang saving, let the sea grow high! Enter La Castre and Oriana. Ori. Brother! De Gu. My dearest sister! Ori. Welcome, welcome! And grown a proper gentleman; he's well, Within this eight hours I took leave of him, ness La Ca. You make me glad, sir, Indeed, you are welcome home, most wel- For, o' my faith, I almost long to see him! come! De Ga. Thank ye! You're grown a handsome woman, Oriana: Monsieur La Castre, let not my affection La Ca. Fair sir, I thank you. Good men have still good welcome: Give me your hand, sir. Once more, you're welcome home! You look still younger. [us ; De Ga. Time has no leisure to look after We wander every where; age cannot find us. La Ca. And how does all? De Ga. All well, sir, and all lusty. [sir, La Ca. I hope my son be so: I doubt not, But you have often seen him in your journies, And bring me some fair news. De Gu. Your son is well, sir, Methinks, he has been away De Ga. 'Tis but your tenderness; What are three years? a love-sick wench will allow it 2. His friends, that went out with him, are come back too, [little, Belleur, and young Pinac: He bid me say Because he means to be his own glad mes And over-ey'd him, shaving some slight business That fore'd me out o' th' way.] Over-cy'd is plainly a corruption, and out o'th' way unsatisfactory. Mr. Seward reads with me, And over-rid him on the way: But yet I have some doubt whether over-rid is the true lection, there being a reading which has occurred to me, much nearer the traces of the letters than that advanced above, viz. And over-yed him, i. e. over-went him; though I am afraid the reader will think this too obsolete a word to stand in the text, as fitter for Chaucer or Spenser, than Mr. Fletcher, and therefore I have chose to leave the passage just as I found it. Sympson. 6 The opening of the play, Sirrah, I have rid hard, seems to countenance the conjectural reading of over-rid him.' Obsolete and uncouth indeed is Mr. Sympson's over-yed him.' Were we to offer a reading near the trace of the letters,' we would rather propose overs hied him, which might, we think, much more familiarly express De Gard's having gone ou before his fellow-traveller. As to out of the way, we see no difficulty requiring an alteration. a love-sick wench will allow it.] As plausible as this passage may seem at first sight, yet I am afraid it is unsound; for whatever reasons the poor wench might have to induce her to allow her lover's absence, yet notwithstanding them, she might bear it still with the utmost impatience. Why may not we read, therefore, 2 love-sick wench will swallow it:' A three-years absence (De Gard says) is nothing; it will go easily down, even with a lovesick girl. So, in the concluding scene of this play, Mirabell says, Mr. Sympson's conjecture, enforced by the authority which he quotes, is not unplausible; yet he mistakes the sense of the word allow as here used, supposing it to be genuine: 'A love-sick weuch will allow it' not meaning that she will permit her lover to be absent for three years; but that she will allow, i. e. agree, that three years' absence is no such great matter. tell me, And tell me true, what end had you, Oriana, Ori. No, certain, sir; none of all this pro- Another private reason. De Ga. 'Tis not private, Nor carried so; 'tis common, my fair sister; Your love to Mirabell: Your blushes tell it. 'Tis too much known, and spoken of too largely; And with no little shame I wonder at it. Ori. Is it a shame to love? De Ga. To love undiscretely: A virgin should be tender of her honour, [too; Ori. I am as close as can be, [dares De Ga. Hear the people. His mother, nay, his own wife, up to rumour. For as they drink, they think: They ne'er Unless the wine be poor, or they want money. Died not for want of power to resist Tarquin, De Ga. Well, there is something, sister. Rich both in land and money; he his heir, What the conditions and the ties of love are, riage, 3 All his travel, and bought experience.] Mr. Theobald fills up the measure thus, Mr. Seward thus, and his bought experience;' and dear-bought experience;' which he thinks is not only a completion of the measure, but an improvement of the sense. Sympson. Theobald's filling up the measure, and Seward's completion of the measure, and improvement of the sense, are both unnecessary. The measure and sense are each sufficiently perfect; especially supposing the word experience, after the manner of our Authors, to be resolved into distinct syllables. VOL. 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