These soft and silken wars are not for me: The music must be shrill, and all confus'd, That stirs my blood; and then I dance with arms. What strange self-trumpeters and tongue-bullies all the brave soldiers of Beaumont and Fletcher are! Yet I am inclined to think it was the fashion of the age from the Soldier's speech in the Counter Scuffle; and deeper than the fashion B. and F. did not fathom. Ib. Speech of Lysippus:-- Yes, but this lady Walks discontented, with her wat'ry eyes Bent on the earth, &c. Opulent as Shakspeare was, and of his opulence prodigal, he yet would not have put this exquisite piece of poetry in the mouth of a no-character, or as addressed to a Melantius. I wish that B. and F. had written poems instead of tragedies. Ib. 'Mel'. I might run fiercely, not more hastily, Upon my foe. Read I might run more fiercely, not more hastily.-- Ib. Speech of Calianax:-- Office! I would I could put it off! I am sure I sweat quite through my office! The syllable _off_ reminds the testy statesman of his robe, and he carries on the image. Ib. Speech of Melantius:-- --Would that blood, That sea of blood, that I have lost in fight, &c. All B. and F.'s generals are pugilists, or cudgel-fighters, that boast of their bottom and of the _claret_ they have shed. Ib. The Masque;--Cinthia's speech:-- But I will give a greater state and glory, And raise to time a _noble_ memory Of what these lovers are. I suspect that 'nobler,' pronounced as 'nobiler'--[Symbol (metrical): U-=shape below the line]--, was the poet's word, and that the accent is to be placed on the penultimate of 'memory.' As to the passage-- Yet, while our reign lasts, let us stretch our power, &c. removed from the text of Cinthia's speech by these foolish editors as unworthy of B. and F.--the first eight lines are not worse, and the last couplet incomparably better, than the stanza retained. Act ii. Amintor's speech:-- Oh, thou hast nam'd a word, that wipes away All thoughts revengeful! In that sacred name, 'The king,' there lies a terror. It is worth noticing that of the three greatest tragedians, Massinger was a democrat, Beaumont and Fletcher the most servile _jure divino_ royalist, and Shakspeare a philosopher;--if aught personal, an aristocrat. A KING AND NO KING. Act IV. Speech of Tigranes:-- She, that forgat the greatness of her grief And miseries, that must follow such mad passions, Endless and wild _as_ women! &c. Seward's note and suggestion of 'in.'