And deck my body in gay ornaments, I'll make my heav'n to dream upon the crown, [Henry VI. At 3d, Scene 3d. GLOUCESTER. GLOUCESTER. The midwife wonder'd, and the woman cry'd, And that word, love, which grey-beards call divine, Be refident in men like one another, And not in me: I am myself alone. [Henry VI. Act 5th, Scene 7th. Our author, by following minutely the chronicles of the times, has embarrassed his drama's with too great a number of persons and events. The hurley-burley of these plays recommended them to a rude illiterate audience, who, as he says, loved a noise of targets. His poverty, and the low condition of the stage (which at that time was not frequented by persons of rank) obliged him to this complaisance; and unfortunately he had not been tutored by any rules of art, or informed by acquaintance with just and regular drama's. Even the politer fort by E 4 reading reading books of chivalry, which were the polite literature of the times, were accuftomed to bold adventures and achievements. In our northern climates heroic adventures pleased more than the gallant dialogue, where love and honour dispute with all the fophiftry of the schools, and one knows not when the contest would end, if heraldry did not step in and decide the point, as in the foliloquy of the Infanta in the Cid. L'INFANTE. T'écouterai-je encor, respect de ma naissance? Dois-tu prêter obéissance? Rodrigue, ta valeur te rend digne de moi; Mais pour être vaillant tu n'es pas fils de roi. Le Cid, Acte 5me. Nor is this rule, that a princess can love only the fon of a king, a mere Spanish punto; you shall hear two Spartan virgins, daugh ters ters of Lysander, speaking the fame language, ELPINICE. Cotys est roi, ma fæur; & comme sa couronne Afsuré de mon cœur que son trône lui donne, This lady then proceeds to question her fifterconcerning her inclination for her lover Spitridates, and urges in his favour; ELPINICE. Car enfin, Spitridate a l'entretien charmant, A tant de qualités s'il joignait un vrai zéle... AGLATIDE. Ma sæur, il n'est pas roi comme l'est votre amant. The Queen of the Lufitanians, in the famous play of Sertorius, speaks thus to that Roman general ; ९ * Agefilaus of Corneille. VIRITATE. And deck my body in gay ornaments, I'll make my heav'n to dream upon the crown, Be round impaled with a glorious crown. [Henry VI. At 3d, Scene 3d. GLOUCESTER. |