A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10
English drama
GOV. Mercy, look to me! Faith, I fly to thee!
Keep a strong watch about me! (now thy friendship!)
O, never came astonishment and fear
So pleasing to mankind! I take delight
To have my breast shake, and my hair stand stiff.
If this be sorrow, let it never die!
Came all the pains of hell in that shape to me,
I should endure them smiling! keep me still
In terror, I beseech thee! I'd not change
This fever for felicity of man,
Or all the pleasures of ten thousand ages.
GHOST. Dear lord, I come to tell you all my wrongs.
GOV. Welcome! Who wrongs the spirit of my love?
Thou art above the injuries of blood,
They cannot reach thee now; what dares offend thee?
No life that has the weight of flesh upon't,
And treads as I do, can now wrong my mistress.
GHOST. The, peace that death allows me is not mine,
The monument is robb'd. Behold! I'm gone,
My body taken up.
GOV. [_Lifts the stone._] 'Tis gone, indeed,
What villain dares so fearfully run in debt
To black eternity?
GHOST. He that dares do more--the tyrant.
GOV. All the miseries below
Reward his boldness!
GHOST. I am now at court
In his own private chamber: there he wooes me,
And plies his suit to me with as serious pains,
As if the short flame of mortality
Were lighted up again in my cold breast;
Folds me within his arms, and often sets
A sinful kiss upon my senseless lip;
Weeps when he sees the paleness of my cheek,
And will send privately for a hand of art,
That may dissemble life upon my face,
To please his lustful eye.
GOV. O piteous wrongs!
Inhuman injuries, without grace or mercy!
GHOST. I leave them to thy thought, dearest of men!
My rest is lost; thou must restore't again.
GOV. O, fly me not so soon!
GHOST. Farewell, true lord.
[_The_ GHOST _disappears_.
GOV. I cannot spare thee yet. I'll make myself
Over to death too, and we'll walk together
Like loving spirits; I pray thee, let's do so.
She's snatch'd away by fate, and I talk sickly;
I must despatch this business upon earth,
Before I take that journey.
I'll to my brother for his aid or counsel.
So wrong'd? O heaven, put armour on my spirit!
Her body I will place in her first nest,
Or in th' attempt lock death into my breast. [_Exit._
FOOTNOTES:
[468] [_i.e._, First-rate.]
[469] [MS. _now_, and so former edit.]
[470] [Lustrous, bright.]
[471] [So in the MS. We should regard this form of expression as a
vulgarism.]
[472] [The printed copy of 1824 does not follow the MS. here. In the
margin of the original is written, _Enter Lady Rich. Robinson_, by
which, I suppose, is meant that the lady was to enter here, and that
the part was taken by a person of that name.]
ACT V., SCENE I.
_Enter_ VOTARIUS, _with_ ANSELMUS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account