The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 06Dryden, John
General
The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 06
Dryden, John
English literature
_Brain._ He shall have it, with all the artillery of eloquence.
_Wood._ Ay, ay; your figure breaks no bones. With your good leave.--
[_Goes in._
_Brain._ Thou hast it, boy. Turn to him, madam; to her Woodall: and St
George for merry England. _Tan ta ra ra ra, ra ra! Dub, a dub, dub;
Tan ta ra ra ra._
_Enter_ LIMBERHAM.
_Limb._ How now, bully Brainsick! What, upon the _Tan ta ra_, by
yourself?
_Brain._ Clangor, _taratantara,_ murmur.
_Limb._ Commend me to honest _lingua Franca_. Why, this is enough to
stun a Christian, with your Hebrew, and your Greek, and such like
Latin.
_Brain._ Out, ignorance!
_Limb._ Then ignorance, by your leave; for I must enter.
[_Attempts to pass._
_Brain._ Why in such haste? the fortune of Greece depends not on it.
_Limb._ But Pug's fortune does: that is dearer to me than Greece, and
sweeter than ambergrease.
_Brain._ You will not find her here. Come, you are jealous; you are
haunted with a raging fiend, that robs you of your sweet repose.
_Limb._ Nay, an you are in your perbole's again! Look you, it is Pug
is jealous of her jewels: she has left the key of her cabinet behind,
and has desired me to bring it back to her.
_Brain._ Poor fool! he little thinks she is here before him!--Well,
this pretence will never pass on me; for I dive deeper into your
affairs; you are jealous. But, rather than my soul should be concerned
for a sex so insignificant--Ha! the gods! If I thought my proper wife
were now within, and prostituting all her treasures to the lawless
love of an adulterer, I would stand as intrepid, as firm, and as
unmoved, as the statue of a Roman gladiator.
_Limb._ [_In the same tone._] Of a Roman gladiator!--Now are you as
mad as a March hare; but I am in haste, to return to Pug: yet, by your
favour, I will first secure the cabinet.
_Brain._ No, you must not.
_Limb._ Must not? What, may not a man come by you, to look upon his
own goods and chattels, in his own chamber?
_Brain._ No; with this sabre I defy the destinies, and dam up the
passage with my person; like a rugged rock, opposed against the
roaring of the boisterous billows. Your jealousy shall have no course
through me, though potentates and princes--
_Limb._ Pr'ythee, what have we to do with potentates and princes? Will
you leave your troping, and let me pass?
_Brain._ You have your utmost answer.
_Limb._ If this maggot bite a little deeper, we shall have you a
citizen of Bethlem yet, ere dog-days. Well, I say little; but I will
tell Pug on it. [_Exit._
_Brain._ She knows it already, by your favour-- [_Knocking._
Sound a retreat, you lusty lovers, or the enemy will charge you in the
flank, with a fresh reserve: March off, march off upon the spur, ere
he can reach you.
_Enter_ WOODALL.
_Wood._ How now, baron Tell-clock[12], is the passage clear?
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