And give it, at next meeting, to a mistress: [Casts the ring before ITHOCLES, who takes it up. Ame. The ring, sir, is The princess's; I could have took it up. Ith. Learn manners, prithee.-To the blessed owner, Upon my knees- [Kneels and offers it to CALANTHA. Near. You are saucy. Cal. This is pretty! I am, belike, “a mistress"-wondrous pretty. [Exeunt NEAR. CAL. CHRIS. and PHIL. Ith. [to Ame.] Follow, spaniel; I'll force you to a fawning else. Arm. My lord, you were too forward. Some such there are, whose liberal contents [Exit. To sleep; and they sleep, uncle: in which silence In flatteries of the night, exchange of dalliance; And then, too, when I stagger in expectance From her own hand. Arm. The princess threw it to you. Ith. True; and she said-well I remember whatHer cousin prince would beg it. Arm. Yes, and parted In anger at your taking on 't. Ith. Penthea, Oh, thou hast pleaded with a powerful language! But I will do Arm. What is 't you say? Ith. "In anger?" In anger let him part; for could his breath, It durst not stir a hair of mine: it should not; 1 Arm. Contain yourself, my lord; Ixion, aiming To embrace Juno, bosom❜d but a cloud, And begat Centaurs; 't is a useful moral: Ambition, hatch'd in clouds of mere opinion. Ith. I thank you; Yet, with your license, I should seem uncharitable To gentler fate, if, relishing the dainties Of a soul's settled peace, I were so feeble Not to digest it. Arm. He deserves small trust. Who is not privy-counsellor to himself. Re-enter NEARCHUS, ORGILUS, and AMELUS. Near. Brave me? Org. Your excellence mistakes his temper; Is beautiful, soft, gentle, the clear mirror Ame. Was 't your modesty1 1 Your modesty.] An appellative, like "your sovereignty" in Hamlet. -GIFFORD. VOL. I.-17 Term'd any of the prince's servants " spaniel ?" Near. A gallant man-at-arms is here; a doctor In feats of chivalry; blunt and rough-spoken, Vouchsafing not the fustian of civility, Which [less] rash spirits style good manners. Org. No more, illustrious sir, 't is matchless Itho cles. Near. You might have understood who I am. I did,-else—but the presence calm'd the affront— Near. To the king too, A certain instrument that lent supportance Ith. There is more divinity In beauty than in majesty. Arm. O fy, fy! Near. This odd youth's pride turns heretic in ✔ loyalty. Sirrah! low mushrooms never rival cedars [Exeunt NEARCHUS and AMELUS. Ith. Come back,-what pitiful dull thing am I So to be tamely scolded at! come back. Let him come back, and echo once again Painted colts (Like heralds' coats, gilt o'er with crowns and scep tres) May bait a muzzled lion.1 Arm. Cousin, cousin, Thy tongue is not thy friend. 1 Painted colts, &c.] Our old writers used colt (probably from the boisterous gambols of this animal) for a compound of rudeness and folly. The meaning of the text is sufficiently obvious; but it would seem that there is also an allusion to some allegorical representation of this kind in "the painted cloth."-GIFFORD. Discretion knows no bounds. 'T was all about a little ring. Ith. A ring Amelus told me The princess threw away, and I took up- Can snatch it hence? No; could he grind the hoop Than steal and wear one dust on 't. Orgilus, Org. A lady's favour Is not to be so slighted. Arm. Quiet These vain unruly passions, which will render you Into a madness. Org. Griefs will have their vent.1 Enter TECNICUs, with a scroll. Arm. Welcome; thou com'st in season, reverend man, To pour the balsam of a suppling patience Into the festering wound of ill-spent fury. Tec. The hurts are yet but mortal, [Aside To the king, This seal'd-up counsel; bid him with a constancy Peruse the secrets of the god.-0 Sparta, O Lacedemon! double named, but one In fate!—when kingdoms reel (mark well my saw) Their heads must needs be giddy: tell the king, 1 The extraordinary success with which the revengeful spirit of Orgilus is maintained through every scene is highly creditable to the poet's skill. There is not a word spoken by him which does not denote a deep and dangerous malignity, couched in the most sarcastic and rancorous language; and which nothing but the deep repentance and heartfelt sincerity of Ithocles could possibly prevent him from feeling and detecting.-GIFFORD. 2 Ford appears to have adopted the vulgar phraseology of his native place, using mortal in the sense of very great, extreme, &c.-GIFFORD. Compare the concluding distich in Act IV. Scene I. of "The Lover's Melancholy." That henceforth he no more must inquire after My aged head; Apollo wills it so: I am for Delphos. Arm. Not without some conference With our great master? Tec. Never more to see him; A greater prince commands me.-Ithocles, Tec. List, Orgilus; Remember what I told thee long before, These tears shall be my witness. Arm. 'Las, good man! Tec. [Aside to Org.] Let craft with courtesy a Revenge proves its own executioner. Org. Dark sentences are for Apollo's priests: I am not Oedipus. Tec. My hour is come; Cheer up the king; farewell to all.-O Sparta, O Lacedemon! Arm. If prophetic fire [Exit. Have warm'd this old man's bosom, we might construe His words to fatal sense. Ith. Leave to the powers Above us the effects of their decrees; My burthen lies within me: servile fears [Exeunt ITHOCLES and ARMOSTES. Org. Something oddly The bookman prated, yet he talk'd it weeping; Con it again;-for what? it shall not puzzle me; |