Men. 'Tis my first step to honour. May I fall Lower than shame, when I neglect all service That may confirm this favour! Tha. Are you well, sir? Par. Great princess, I am well. To see a league Between an humble love, such as my friend's is, And a commanding virtue, such as yours is, Are sure restoratives. Tha. You speak ingeniously. Brother, be pleas'd to show the gallery I will present you, sir, unto the prince.. Par. You are all composed of fairness and true bounty. Amet. Come, come: we'll wait you, sister. This beginning Doth relish happy process. Men. You have bless'd me. [Exeunt MEN. AMET. and PAR. Tha. Kala! O, Kala! Kala. Lady. Tha. We are private; Thou art my closet. Kala. Lock your secrets close then ; I am not to be forced. Tha. Never till now Could I be sensible of being a traitor To honour and to shame. Kala. You are in love. Tha. I am grown base-Parthenophill- Richly endow'd; he hath a lovely face, A winning tongue. 1 Henceforth I'll call you servant,] i. e. acknowledge you as a lover. Tha. If ever I must fall, In him my greatness sinks: Love is a tyrant, I would steal time to talk with him one hour; Do not betray me. Kala. Madam, I will make it Mine own case; he shall think I am in love with him. Tha. I hope thou art not, Kala. Kala. "T is for your sake: I'll tell him so; but, 'faith, I am not, lady. Tha. Pray, use me kindly; let me not too soon Be lost in my new follies. 'Tis a fate That overrules our wisdoms; while we strive ACT II. SCENE I. An Apartment in the Palace. Enter SOPHRONOS and AREtus. Soph. Our commonwealth is sick: 't is more than time That we should wake the head thereof, who sleeps In the dull lethargy of lost security. The commons murmur, and the nobles grieve; Their just-conceived fury on such injuries The affairs of government; which I, for my part, Are. Sophronos, I am as zealous too of shaking off My gay state-fetters, that I have bethought As I have told you, have concluded with Soph. You should have done this sooner, Aretus; Enter CORAX, RHETIAS, PELIAS, CUCULUS, and GRilla. You come on just appointment. Welcome, gen tlemen! Have you won Rhetias, Corax? Cuc. Save ye, nobilities! Do your lordships take notice of my page? "Tis a fashion of the newest edition, spick and span-new, without example. Do your honour, housewife! Gril. There's a courtesy for you, and a courtesy for you. Soph. "Tis excellent: we must all follow fashion, And entertain she-waiters. Are. "T will be courtly. Cuc. I think so; I hope the chronicles will rear me one day for a headpiece Rhe. Of woodcock, without brains in it!! Barbers shall wear thee on their citterns, and hucksters set thee out in gingerbread. 1 Of woodcock, &c.] A cant term for a simpleton.-GIFFORD. 2 Barbers shall wear thee on their citterns.] It appears from innumerable passages in our old writers, that barbers' shops were furnished with some musical instruments (commonly a cittern or guitar) for the The cittern of Johnson's days differed little from the guitar, as to form. It was strung with wire instead of catgut, like the guitar, and seems to have been in great vogue. Cuc. Devil take thee! I say nothing to thee now; canst let me be quiet? Gril. You are too perstreperous, saucebox. Cuc. Good girl! if we begin to puff once Pel. Prithee, hold thy tongue; the lords are in the presence. Rhe. Mum, butterfly! Pel. The prince! stand and keep silence. Cuc. O the prince! wench thou shalt see the prince now. Enter PALADOR, with a book. Soph. Are. Sir, gracious sir! Pal. Why all this company? [Seft music. Cor. A book! is this the early exercise, Where's your great horse, your hounds, your set at tennis, Your balloon ball, the practice of your dancing, Command my head:-pray, take it, do! 't were better amusement of such customers as chose to strum upon it while waiting for their turn to be shaved. It should be recollected that the patience of the customers, if the shop was at all popular, must, in those tedious days of love-locks, and beards of the most fantastic cuts, have been frequently put to very severe trials. Some kind of amusement, therefore, was necessary to beguile the time, and as newspapers had not then descended to the lower classes, a more innocent or effectual one than an instrument n pretty general use could not readily be found. The head of the cittern, like that of the harp, occasionally terminated, suppose, in some grotesque kind of ornament.-GIFFORD. For me to lose it, than to lose my wits, And live in Bedlam;' you will force me to 't; Pal. I believe it. Soph. Letters are come from Crete, which do require A speedy restitution of such ships As by your father were long since detain'd; Are. These near parts Of Syria that adjoin, muster their friends; Soph. Through your land Your subjects mutter strangely, and imagine Cor. And yet They talk but oddly of you. Cuc. Hang 'em, mongrels! Pal. Of me? my subjects talk of me! Cor. Yes, scurvily, And think worse, prince. Pal. I'll borrow patience A little time to listen to these wrongs; And from the few of you which are here present, Conceive the general voice. Cor. So! now he's nettled. [Aside. Pal. By all your loves I charge you, without fear Or flattery, to let me know your thoughts, And how I am interpreted: speak boldly. Soph. For my part, sir, I will be plain and brief. I think you are of nature mild and easy, Not willingly provok'd, but withal headstrong In any passion that misleads your judgment: I think you too indulgent to such motions 1 And live in Bedlam.] As there were mad folks in Famagosta, there were doubtless receptacles for them. Ford, however, was thinking of Moorfields.-GIFFORD. |