THE COMICAL HISTORY OF ALPHONSUS, KING OF ARRAGON. ACT I. After you have sounded thrice, let VENUS be let down from the top of the stage, and when she is down, say: VENUS. Poets are scarce, when goddesses themselves Are forc'd to leave their high and stately seats, And cursed charms have witch'd each student's mind, If that their hands to penning you do call. O Virgil, Virgil! wert thou now alive, Whose painful pen in stout Augustus' days, *idless'] The 4tos. "idels." + 'dain] i. e. disdain. fly] The 4to. "flea." The Culex is the poem alluded to. To 'scape away without thy praise of her, Enter MELPOMENE, CLIO, ERATO, with their sisters, * And all his acts, &c.] This line is printed twice over in the 4to. ture] i. e. use. Who coming last and hanging down her head, What secret sorrow doth torment her heart. [Stands aside. And they which first do flourish and bear sway, CAL. Mock on apace; my back is broad enough To bear your flouts as many as they be. That year is rare that ne'er feels winter's storms; ERATO. Spent, quoth you, sister? then we were to blame, If we should say your scholars all were spent. crake] An old form of crack,-i. e. boast. "Children, and fooles vse to crake." G. Harvey's Pierce's Supererogation, 1593, p. 104. MEL. When husbandmen shear hogs. What, do you think if that the tree do bend, She shall have scholars which will 'dain * to be In CAL. Most sacred Venus, do you doubt of that? Calliope would think her three times blest, For to receive a goddess in her school, Especially so high an one as you, Which rules the earth, and guides the heavens too. VEN. Then sound your pipes, and let us bend our Unto the top of high Parnassus' hill, And there together do our best devoir [steps For to describe Alphonsus' warlike fame, Set down his noble valour presently. MEL. And as you bid, your sisters do agree. [Exeunt. Enter CARINUS,† the Father, and ALPHONSUS, his Son. CARI. My noble son, since first I did recount I never yet could see thee joy at all, * 'dain] See note † p. 5. + Carinus] Here, but only here, the 4to. "Clarinus." But hanging down thy head as malcontent, any offence In reckoning up these stories unto thee? What, ne'er a word but mum?* Alphonsus, speak, Unless your father's fatal day you seek. ALPHON. Although, dear father, I have often vow'd Ne'er to unfold the secrets of my heart To any man or woman, whosome'er Dwells underneath the circle of the sky; Yet do your words so conjure me, dear sire, That needs I must fulfill that you require. Then so it is. Amongst the famous tales Which you rehears'd done by our sires in war, Whenas you came unto your father's days, With sobbing notes, with sighs and blubbering tears, And much ado, at length you thus began; Next to Alphonsus should my father come For to possess the diadem by right Of Arragon, but that the wicked wretch His younger brother, with aspiring mind, By secret treason robb'd him of his life, And me his son, of that which was my due. These words, my sire, did so torment my mind, As had I been with Ixion in hell, The ravening bird could never plague me worse; For ever since my mind hath troubled been Which way I might revenge this traitorous fact, And that recover which is ours by right. CARI. Ah, my Alphonsus, never think on that! *What, ne'er a word but mum?] So Peele, in his Old Wives Tale; "What, not a word, but mum? Then, Sacrapant, thou art betray'd." Works, vol. i. p. 245. ed. 1829. |