Chor. Merrily, &c. [Here, and at the conclusion of every Wine is a charm, it gives heat to the blood, Let the pots fly about, give us more liquor, Our wits will be nimbler, our brains will flow quicker, Fill the pots all again, drink on, and spare not. There is a whirlwind in my brains, I could both caper and turn round. Aut. Oh, a dance by all means! Now cease your healths, and in an active motion Bestir ye nimbly, to beguile the hours. DANCE. Aut. How likes our friend this pastime ? Oh, how have I, in ignorance or dulness, Of useless taste and pleasure! Pray, my lord, Aut. Devise a round;2 1 In Ford's days the accent of this word was laid on the penultima. It may be as well to add, that a little help has been occasionally given to the metre, as this was a point in which Decker was exceedingly careless. 2 Devise a round,] i. e. a health to pass round; name a toast, in short; which Raybright immediately does.-GIFFORD. Ray. A health to Autumn's self! And here let time hold still his restless glass, To measure how it passeth. [They drink. Aut. Continue here with me, and by thy pres ence Create me favourite to thy fair progenitor, And be mine heir. Ray. I want words to express My thankfulness. Aut. Whate'er the wanton Spring, When she doth diaper the ground with beauties, Toils for, comes home to Autumn; Summer sweats, Pasturing her furlongs, ripening the fruits for food, While Autumn's garners house them; I alone, in every land, Traffic my useful merchandise; gold and jewels, Between the cheek-parch'd Summer, and th' extremes Of Winter's tedious frost; nay, in myself Belongs to Autumn; if thou then canst hope Live here till time be spent, yet be not old. Ray. Under the Sun, you are the year's great emperor. Aut. On now, to new variety of feasts; Princely contents are fit for princely guests. Ray. My lord, I'll follow. [Flourish.-Exit AUT. Sure, I am not well. Fol. Surely, I am half-drunk, or monstrously mistaken: you mean to stay here, belike? Ray. Whither should I go else? Fol. Nay, if you will kill yourself in your own defence, I'll not be of your jury. Re-enter HUMOUR. Hum. You have had precious pleasures, choice of drunkenness ; Will you be gone? Ray. I feel a war within me, And every doubt that resolution kills Springs up a greater: in the year's revolution, Fol. Plenty's horn is always full in the city. When day and night have their distinguishment Hum. Ha! in contemplation? Ray. When the bright Sun, with kindly distant beams Hum. Mystery there, like to another nature, Of form and colour, 't will deceive the eye, Fol. Comfits and caraways, marchpanes' and marmalades, sugar-plums and pippin-pies, gingerbread and walnuts. Hum. Nor is his bounty limited; he 'll not spare To exhaust the treasure of a thousand Indies. Fol. Two hundred pound suppers, and neither fiddlers nor broken glasses reckoned; besides, a hundred pound a throw, ten times together, if you can hold out so long. Ray. You tell me wonders! Be my conductress; I'll fly this place in secret; Wherein the very trees shake off their locks, Ray. Come, let's go taste old Winter's fresh delights, And swell with pleasures our big appetites. 1 Marchpane was a sweet biscuit composed of sugar and almonds, like those now called maccaroni. It was a constant article in the desserts of our ancestors, and it appeared sometimes on more solemn occasions. When Elizabeth visited Cambridge, the University presented their chancellor, Sir William Cecil, with two pair of gloves, a marchpane, and two sugar-loaves. Peck's Desid. Curiosa, ii. 29. 2 Here the fourth act probably ended in the first sketch of this drama, as what follows seems merely preparatory to the introduction of Raybright in a character which could not have originally been in the writer's And since we have notice that some brabarous spirits Mean to oppose our entrance, if by words They'll not desist, we 'll force our way with swords. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The Court of WINter. Enter several Clowns. 1 Clown. Hear you the news, neighbour? 2 Clown. Yes, to my grief, neighbour; they say our prince Raybright is coming hither, with whole troops and trains of courtiers: we are like to have a fine time on 't, neighbours. 3 Clown. Oh, these courtiers, neighbours, are pestilent knaves; but I'll pluck a crow with some of 'em. 1 Clown. 'Faith, neighbour, let's lay our heads together, and resolve to die like men. 2 Clown. They may talk, and call us rebels, but a fig for that; let's be true among ourselves, and with our swords in hand resist his entrance. Enter WINTER. Win. Bold, saucy mortals, dare you then aspire With snow and ice to quench the sphere of fire? contemplation. James I. died not many months after the first appearance of the Sun's Darling, and I can think of no more probable cause for the insertion of this purpureus pannus, than a desire in, the managers to gratify the common feeling, by paying some extraordinary compliment to the youthful monarch, his successor. On the score of poetry, the speeches of Winter are entitled to praise; but they grievously offend on the side of propriety, and bear no relation whatever to the previous language and conduct of Raybright. But the readers of our ancient drama must be⚫ prepared for inconsistencies of this kind, and be as indulgent to them as possible, in consideration of the many excellencies by which they are almost invariably redeemed.-GIFFORD. 1 Pluck a crow.] A vulgar expression for picking a quarrel with a person.-GIFFORD. |