_Hunc_. Alas! my lord, I value not myself That once I eat two fowls and half a pig; [1]Small is that praise! but oh! a maid may want What she can neither eat nor drink. [Footnote 1: Almahide hath the same contempt for these appetites: To eat and drink can no perfection be. --_Conquest of Granada_. The earl of Essex is of a different opinion, and seems to place the chief happiness of a general therein: Were but commanders half so well rewarded, Then they might eat.--_Banks's Earl of Essex_. But, if we may believe one who knows more than either, the devil himself, we shall find eating to be an affair of more moment than is generally imagined: Gods are immortal only by their food. --_Lucifer; in the State of Innocence_. ] _King_. What's that? _Hunc_. O[1] spare my blushes; but I mean a husband. [Footnote 1: "This expression is enough of itself," says Mr D., "utterly to destroy the character of Huncamunca!" Yet we find a woman of no abandoned character in Dryden adventuring farther, and thus excusing herself: To speak our wishes first, forbid it pride, Forbid it modesty; true, they forbid it, But Nature does not. When we are athirst, Or hungry, will imperious Nature stay, Nor eat, nor drink, before 'tis bid fall on?--_Cleomenes_. Cassandra speaks before she is asked: Huncamunca afterwards. Cassandra speaks her wishes to her lover: Huncamunca only to her father. ] _King_. If that be all, I have provided one, A husband great in arms, whose warlike sword Streams with the yellow blood of slaughter'd giants, Whose name in Terra Incognita is known, Whose valour, wisdom, virtue make a noise Great as the kettle-drums of twenty armies. _Hunc_. Whom does my royal father mean? _King_. Tom Thumb. _Hunc_. Is it possible? _King_. Ha! the window-blinds are gone; [1]A country-dance of joy is in your face. Your eyes spit fire, your cheeks grow red as beef. [Footnote 1: Her eyes resistless magick bear; Angels, I see, and gods, are dancing there --_Lee's Sophonisba_. ] _Hunc_. O, there's a magick-musick in that sound, Enough to turn me into beef indeed! Yes, I will own, since licensed by your word, I'll own Tom Thumb the cause of all my grief. For him I've sigh'd, I've wept, I've gnaw'd my sheets. _King_. Oh! thou shalt gnaw thy tender sheets no more. A husband thou shalt have to mumble now. _Hunc_. Oh! happy sound! henceforth let no one tell That Huncamunca shall lead apes in hell. Oh! I am overjoy'd! _King_. I see thou art. [1] Joy lightens in thy eyes, and thunders from thy brows; Transports, like lightning, dart along thy soul, As small-shot through a hedge. [Footnote 1: Mr Dennis, in that excellent tragedy called Liberty Asserted, which is thought to have given so great a stroke to the late French king, hath frequent imitations of this beautiful speech of king Arthur: