There are not words to help us. If I entreat, 'Tis found; that will betray us worse than silence. Prithee, let heaven alone, and let's say nothing. [Apart to HIPPOlita. 1st Court. You have struck them dumb, my lord. 2d Court. Look how guilt looks! Cle. He is safe still, is he not? Hip. Oh! you do ill to doubt it. 》 Apart. Cle. Thou art all goodness. 2d Court. Now does your grace believe? Duke. 'Tis too apparent. Search, make a speedy search; for the imposture Cle. Ha! 2d Court. He has the lapwing's cunning, I'm afraid, my lord, That cries most when she is farthest from the nest. Cle. Oh! we are betrayed. [There is an exquisiteness of moral sensibility, making one to gush out tears of delight, and a poetical strangeness in all the improbable circumstances of this wild play, which are unlike anything in the dramas which Massinger wrote alone. The pathos is of a subtler edge. Middleton and Rowley, who assisted in this play, had both of them finer geniuses than their associate.] THE TRAGEDY OF PHILIP CHABOT, ADMIRAL OF FRANCE. BY GEORGE CHAPMAN, AND JAMES SHIRLEY. The Admiral is accused of treason, a criminal process is instituted against him, and his faithful servant Allegre is put on the rack to make him discover: his innocence is at length established by the confession of his enemies ; but the disgrace of having been suspected for a traitor by his royal Master, sinks so deep into him, that he falls into a mortal sickness. ADMIRAL. ALLEGRE, supported between two. Adm. Welcome my injured servant: what a misery Have they made on thee! Al. Though some change appear Upon my body, whose severe affliction Hath brought it thus to be sustain'd by others. My heart is still the same in faith to you, Adm. Alas poor man. Were all my joys essential, and so mighty, More grief, than all my imagination Could let before into me. Didst not curse me Al. Good my lord, let not That thought of what I suffer'd dwell upon Lost to his hopes and honor, not the man Upon whose life the fury of injustice, Arm'd with fierce lightning and the power of thunder, Can make no breach. I was not rack'd till now. There's more death in that falling eye, than all Rage ever yet brought forth. What accident, sir, can blast, Can be so black and fatal, to distract The calm, the triumph, that should sit upon Your noble brow: misfortune could have no Time to conspire with fate, since you were rescued By the great arm of Providence; nor can Those garlands, that now grow about your forehead, Adm. Allegre, thou dost bear thy wounds upon thee The volume of my sadness thou dost want The flatteries of court, of fame, or honors. Or make her bosom kind, to growth and bearing: That once were natural warmth to her soft verdure, The bark and rind, till she becomes a burden Suspect your health indeed. Adm. No, no, thou shalt not Be troubled: I but stirr'd thee with a moral, That's empty; contains nothing. I am well: See, I can walk; poor man, thou hast not strength yet. The father of the Admiral makes known the condition his son is in to the King. Say, how is my admiral ? The truth upon thy life. Fath. To secure his, I would you had. King. Ha! who durst oppose him? Fath. One that hath power enough, hath practis❜d on him, And made his great heart stoop. King. I will revenge it With crushing, crushing that rebellious power To nothing. Name him. Fath. He was his friend. King. What mischief hath engender'd New storms? Fath. "Tis the old tempest. King. Did not we Appease all horrors that look'd wild upon him? Fath. You drest his wounds, I must confess, but made No cure; they bleed afresh: pardon me, sir; Although your conscience have closed too soon, He is in danger, and doth want new surgery : Though he be right in fame, and your opinion, He thinks you were unkind. King. Alas, poor Chabot: Doth that afflict him? Fath. So much, though he strive With most resolv'd and adamantine nerves, Forg'd for example, to bear all; so killing No centaur's blood could rankle so. King. If this Be all, I'll cure him. Kings retain More balsam in their soul, than hurt in anger. Fath. Far short, sir; with one breath they uncreate : On numerous virtue; though it become princes Commend us to the admiral, and say The king will visit him, and bring health. Fath. I will not doubt that blessing, and shall move Nimbly with this command. The King visits the Admiral. KING. ADMIRAL. His wife, and father. King. No ceremonial knees: blood Give me thy heart, my dear, my honest Chabot ; And in my heart the world shall read thee living; When I am lost in all my other dust. Adm. You too much honor your poor servant, sir ; My heart despairs so rich a monument, But when it dies King. I wo' not hear a sound Of anything that trenched upon death. He speaks the funeral of my crown, that prophesies So unkind a fate: we'll live and die together. And by that duty, which hath taught you hitherto All loyal and just services, I charge thee, Adm. I have found A glorious harvest in your favor, sir; All my deserts are shadows and fly from me : King. Express it in some joy then. |