Hurlothrumbo : $b or, The super-naturalJohnson, Samuel
General
Hurlothrumbo : $b or, The super-natural
Johnson, Samuel
English drama -- 18th century
_Flame._ Beggars be gone, these Men sell Land upon the blue Plains; see
what a Figure they cut, who’ll buy any? Oh you, I know you well,
(_pointing to the King_) you are the most covetous Man in the Universe,
you give what you have away to the Poor, that you may enjoy it all
yourself; and when your time is to die, you’ll not leave a Farthing
behind you to fling away. I return you thanks for the Post of Honour you
offered me; but does your Majesty think a Soul like mine was born for
Servitude? No; I’ll sooner be an _Alexander_ in my own Park-Pale: He
that lives in Pleasure runs up a Score, and he that is afflicted, is
paying Debts; this is Spirit; what has Flesh to do with that? A Coquet
in the Soul, a Harlot for the Devil. I am a Man amazed in Love, Nature
is hot and too much fudled with Fire; in the out-raging Jealousies of my
Soul, I rent my Brain, and when my Rival was with her. I ran distracted
to her Cheeks, I kiss’d, I curs’d, I bless’d, I wept, an Earthquake in
my Breast, Thunder and Lightning in my Head, that storm’d down Tempest,
and burst my Heart. Oh what is Woman! I am sadly in Love, I am not well;
do kill me, O pity a Lover.
[_Ex._ Flame.
_King._ _Hurlothrumbo_, what is thy Opinion of this Man? my prophetick
Soul loves him.
_Hurlo._ I advise him to starve himself, from a Horse to a Man; for if
he dies at this time, he’ll be metamorphos’d into a wild _Elysian_ Colt.
He’ll cock his Tail, he’ll praunce and stare,
Will gallop, snort, and snuff the Air;
And all his Thoughts will be of——
_King._ Pray tell me how does Love affect thee?
_Hurlo._ When I see a Lady with a full Chest, flat Back, falling
Shoulders, a long Neck, and a languishing Air, every Pulse beats up a
March vehemently towards her; I touch, I muse, I am in a Trance, a
pleasing Stupidity, Astunment, my Faculties are on fire, a Smoak rises
in the Eyes of the Mind, Reason is deaf, the Intellect blind, my Nerves
creep, I shiver; charm’d in Terror, the Body trembles in the Bargain of
buying Raptures with the Soul.
_King._ ’Tis not Love, it’s Temptation.
_Hurlo._ ’Tis a Description of a Combat, in which all Men are conquer’d.
_King._ Not so, _Hurlo_, I will speak for myself: Ambition high rose up
in the Mind, to fight with Vertue, in the beauteous Fair; and she a
superlative _Venus_ of the World; I was Fire, and Faculties keen; she
was Love with languishing Retreat, but when she surrendred all to my
Will; I struck not the Vanquish’d, but conquer’d myself.
_Hurlo._ ’Twas a noble Retreat, your Majesty bravely run away.
_Enter_ Servant.
_Serv._ The Lord _Dologodelmo_ waits without to speak to your Majesty.
[_Ex._ Theorbeo, Hurlo, _and_ Servant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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