2nd Fellow. Help him up higher on the ladder. Now you are above us all. Footpad. Truly I desire you were all equal with me; I have no pride in this world. 1st Fellow. Will you not sing, Sir, before you are hanged? Footpad. No, I thank you; I am not so merrily disposed. Hangman. Come, are you ready? Footpad. Yes, I have been preparing for you these many years. 1st Woman. Mercy on him and save his better part. 2nd Woman. You see what we must all come to.1 Officer. A reprieve! how came that? (Horn blows a reprieve.) Footpad. I will always say, while I live, that her Ladyship is a civil person. 1st Fellow. Pish, what must he not be hanged now? 2nd Fellow. What did we come all this way for this? 1st Woman. Take all this pains to see nothing? Footpad. Very pious good people, I shall shew you no sport this day.2 [Act v.3] MAMAMOUCHI. A COMEDY [PUBLISHED 1675: PRODUCED 1671]. BY EDWARD RAVENSCROFT. [FLOURISHED 1671-1697] Foolish Lender. Debtor. As to my affairs, you know I stand indebted to you. Creditor. A few dribbling sums, Sir. Debt. You lent 'em me very frankly, and with a great deal of generosity, and much like a gentleman. Cred. You are pleased to say so. Debt. But I know how to receive kindnesses, and to make returns according to the merits of the person that obliges me. Cred. No man better. Debt. Therefore pray let's see how our accounts stand. Cred. They are down here in my table book. Debt. I am a man that love to acquit myself of all obligations as soon Cred. See the memorandum. Debt. You have set it all down? Cred. All. [Slight omissions and alterations throughout this scene.] [See also "Facetiæ," page 562.] [Ed. of 1677, pp. 91-94.] THE HUNTINGDON DIVERTISEMENT. AN INTERLUDE, FOR THE GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT AT THE COUNTY FEAST, HELD AT MERCHANT TAYLORS' HALL, JUNE 20TH, 1678.1 BY W. M. [AUTHOR UNKNOWN] Humour of a retired Knight. Sir JEOFFRY DOE-RIGHT. Master GENEROUS GOODMAN. Gen. Sir Jeoffry, good morrow. Sir J. The same to you, Sir. Gen. Your early zeal condemns the rising sun Sir J. Did you know The pleasures of an early contemplation, You'd never let Aurora blush to find You drowsy on your bed; but rouse, and spend Gen. Your practice, Sir, merits our imitation; Sir J. Tis true, I bless my lucky stars, whose kind aspects My youth Past thro' the tropics of each fortune, I Was made her perfect tennis-ball; her smiles Now made me rich and honour'd; then her frowns 1 [Not divided into Acts. See ed. of 1678, p. 2.] Dash'd all my joys, and blasted all my hopes; DEDICATIONS TO FLETCHER'S FAITHFUL SHEP HERDESS, WITHOUT DATE; PRESUMED TO BE I. To that noble and true lover of learning, Sir Walton Aston. Sir, I must ask your patience, and be true. This Play was never liked, except by few That brought their judgments with them; for of late Of common people, have such customs got Had fal'n, for ever press'd down by the rude 1[See Mermaid Series, vol. ii., pp. 318-21. See also p. 533.] The Plague: in which times, the acting of Plays appears to have been discountenanced. II. To the Inheritor of all Worthiness, Sir William Scipwith. To the perfect gentleman, Sir Robert Townesend. If the greatest faults may crave Pardon, where contrition is, A long one for a long amiss. If you ask me how is this, Upon my faith I'll tell you frankly; As sour fortune loves to use me, In home-spun gray, for to excuse me : Apologetical Preface, following these: If you be not reasonably assured of your knowledge in this kind of Poem, lay down the Book; or read this, which I would wish had been the Prologue. It is a Pastoral Tragic-Comedy; which the people seeing when it was played, having ever had a singular gift in defining, concluded to be a play of Country hired Shepherds, in gray cloaks, with cur-tailed dogs in strings, sometimes laughing together, and sometimes killing one another; and, missing Whitsun ales, cream, wassail, and Morris dances, began to be angry. In their error I would not have you fall, lest you incur their censure.1 Understand, therefore, a Pastoral to be-a Representation o, Shepherds and Shepherdesses, with their Actions and Passionsf which must be such as agree with their natures; at least, not exceeding former fictions and vulgar traditions. They are not to be adorn'd with any art, but such improper ones as nature is said to bestow, as Singing and Poetry; or such as experience may teach them, as the virtues of herbs and fountains; the ordinary course of the sun, moon, and stars; and such like. But you are ever to remember Shepherds to be such, as all the ancient poets (and modern of understanding) have received them; that is, the Owners of Flocks, and not Hirelings.-A Tragic-comedy is not so called in respect of mirth and killing, but in respect it wants deaths (which 1 We can almost be not sorry for the ill dramatic success of this Play, which brought out such spirited apologies; in particular, the masterly definitions of Pastoral and Tragi-Comedy in this Preface. He damns the Town: the Town before damn'd him.-ED. |