A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
English drama
CAV. You rant it bravely, sir. "Fancy so fed
Begets a surfeit ere it gets to bed."
JUL. You, Palisado, stand more resolute;
"Ere I Platonic turn or Confidant,
Or an officious servant to a puss
Whose honour lies at stake, let me become
A scorn to my relations."
JOC. "Or when I"
(Thus I deblazon you, base Salibrand)
"Engage my person, like a profess'd bolt
To vindicate a mistress, who for sale
Would set her soul at hazard, may my grave
Be in the kennel, and the scavenger
The penman of my epitaph."
MED. "Or I"
(Thus you renounce your Medlar, Don Morisco)
"Embrace a monkey for a mass of treasure."
TIN. Nor would Sir Tilly be one hair behind
In scornful dereliction of our sex.
"May never down seize on his downless chin,
When he becomes an usher to our sin."
FLO. The devil's a witch, and has impostur'd them.
ALL PLA. Do you believe all this!
LADIES. As we do you,
Stains to true love and all society!
Henceforth observe your distance, as you tender
Fame, freedom, life: else we do vow revenge
Shall dog you at the heels.
FLO. So, we are lost;
We must go cast about for some new aërie:
For these be fledg'd and flown.
CAR. By this prevention
I'll hate a mistress of such rare invention.
PAL. It seems their spleens for picking quarrels sought,
In pressing what we neither spake nor thought.
[_Exeunt._
SCENE VIII.
_Enter Two Seville Merchants._
1ST MER. Our Duke Eugenio is safe return'd,
Laden with trophies, spoils, and victories.
2D MER. Those Hectors, too, who launched forth for Tunis,
Have shown their valour, and enrich'd their fortunes,
Which languish'd in despair before this voyage,
Above expectance; rich rixdollars are
Sown like Pactolus' sand: their pockets cramm'd
With Indian ore.
1ST MER. What will not prowess do,
Where hope of honour, promise of reward,
Or country's fame--th' attractiv'st lure of all--
Give spirit to men's actions?
2D MER. This appears
Instanc'd in them to life:[172] for by their hazard,
Successfully completed, foreign sails
Ne'er came so richly fraughted.
1ST MER. It were well
The rest of our stout myrmidons, whose courage
Stands for the wall, or in a tavern quarrel
Or an highway's surprise, to raise a stock
To feed their debauch'd visits, were so employ'd
It would secure our commerce.
2D MER. This good duke
Will regulate, no doubt, his state-affairs
With that composure, as no fruitless weed
Shall promise to itself long nourishment
Within the coast of Seville. What means this?
[_A noise of clarions, surdons, fifes, plausulets, within._
MESSENGER. The Duke's approaching in triumphant state.
HERALD. Make clear the way; room for his excellence!
Never did Seville show more like herself
Nor beautifi'd with a more graceful presence
Since her foundation.
ACT V., SCENE 1.
_Enter_ DUKE, _trumpets and drums sounding, colours
victoriously displayed. Field-Officers with Soldiers
martially ordered in rank and file_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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