Body of me, that's too much for a torch bearer, You, sir Jack, sir Jack, she is no whit-leather, She will not stretch, I assure you, if you come hither, K. John. For love. Fitz. But if you and your company Put on forgetfull rudenesse, pray take your Cupid yonder, To bear ye all aboard the ship of fools, I am plain Robin-passion of me! Look if he do not threaten me; I will see thee, Wert thou King John himselfe. Om. The king! Mat. Oh which way shall I flie ?" [Pulls off his vizard. The characters of the King and Fitzwater are strikingly exhibited in the following scene, which possesses great poetical as well as dramatic excellence. "Oxford. O but my lord. Fitz. Tut, tut, lord me no lords, He broke, we powted, I tell plain truth, I, But wot we what, he casts a covetous eye Upon my daughter, passionately pursues her, There had been other pledges but our oathes else, (For heaven knows them he had) and (amongst the rest) Come, come, I cannot fawn. K. John. But in the passion Of a dog, sir, you can snarl; have you talk'd all your words? K. John. Then we will fall to deeds. That durst leap at the face of majestie, And strike their killing fangs into honour's heart; O. Bruce. Come, Leister, let us wear Leister. Tempest nor death Could never outdo Leister, who dares dye Laughing at time's poyson'd integrity. Fitz. Now by my troth 'twas very nobly spoken. Shall I turne tale; no, no, no, let's go. But how things will be carried; ha! are these teares? I do laugh now, John, and I'll tell thee why; Th' art yet in thy green May, twenty-seven summers I must weep now, indeed. K. John. Away with them." [Exit. Act II. scene I. Besides some other whole scenes which are well worthy of being selected if our limits would allow, there are many short pieces of eloquent writing, which occur among less interesting matter. This is an instance: King John is railing at the queen, who has just confessed to have treated Matilda with personal violence. "K. John. Oh cruell one, ye Crueller than the flame that turn'd to cinders The bear is not so bloody: VOL. IV. PART I. teare her hairs! H Which, when they took their pastime with the winds, Stands writ the history of her heart, inticing The ravish'd reader to runne on; 'pon whose eyelids Hubert, when pleading to Matilda for his master, says: "Hubert. Virtue! pale poverty, Reproach, disaster, shame sits on her forehead, The unclean tongue of slaunder daily licks her Out of her fashion; but if you be King John's friend,- Mat. Oh, strong temptation. Queen. Matilda Hubert. You may, like A nimble wind, play on the ruffling bosome Of that phantastick wood, the world; your sleep's a paradise The wanton minutes glide just like a streame, That clips the bosome of a wealthy meade, Till't get it great with child; a sweet green blessing. Consider, 'tis the king." When the king imagines he has persuaded Fitzwater to give him his daughter on condition of procuring a divorce, in the joy of his heart he exclaims : "K. John. Yet there is hope; now by my crown I will. We shall be sonne and father; thou and I After Matilda has succeeded in procuring a secure retreat in Dunmore Abbey, John has an interview with her in the presence of her father, and in vain attempts to make her bend to his wishes. Taking a solemn farewell of her father and the king, she leaves them. Fitzwater says, as she goes: "Fitz. A father's blessing, like a welcome cloud With child of friendly showers, hover o'er thy goodnesse, And keep it ever green;-she is gone, sir. As K. John. Go thou and runne into the sea. Fitz. Ha, ha, so the great Emperor of the Barrons, you call'd him, May come out again i'th' guts of a poor John: No, no, I will live and laugh; you would have made her We have not, however, space for more than Old Fitzwater's denial of the charge of being a rebel, which the king throws in his teeth while they are parleying on the walls of a castle, to which the barons refuse the king entrance. He exclaims, in great indignation : "K. John. Barr'd out and brav'd, You bate and chafe a lyon; bring Old Fitzwater; Fall to the mercy you have scorn'd, or here Fitz. Now by the blood I lost in holy Palestine with Richard, Oh that right reall souldier! King John, I sweare, The bars of reason, and made me very angry; Is it to take truth's part, to be a rebel? (And that maid my daughter;) to preserve your glory, Act V. Immediately after this, a sudden conversion takes place in the king, on hearing of the landing of the Dauphin, and of an army under Young Bruce. However, not before he has remorselessly procured the death of Matilda, by means of a poisoned glove, because she had escaped entirely from his power. As he is repenting, her funeral passes; he relents with stronger marks of contrition, and a reconciliation is huddled up in a very short time among all the parties, and the play finishes with a dirge over the fate of the unfortunate Matilda. Andrew Pennycuicke, for whom this play was printed, states in his dedication that it passed the stage with general applause, (he being the last that acted Matilda in it.) This is a late period for a man to perform the part of a woman. He also says, that it does not appear in its ancient and full glory ; a piece of information for which we give him implicit credit. The text is in truth very corrupt. We have hazarded a few emendations, and are inclined to think that several defects still observable in the metre are to be ascribed to the said Andrew, and not to the author. Davenport is also the author of a comedy, called A new Trick to cheat the Devil, and a tragi-comedy, entitled The City Night-Cap; besides several plays which have never been printed. The first is a very agreeable facetious comedy, and the second possesses occasional energy both of feeling and writing. ART. VII.-The Political Works of Andrew Fletcher, Esq. London, 1732. Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, was a steady and ardent, though not always a discreet, patriot; a forcible speaker, and an ingenious political speculator. His public life lasted through a long and very interesting period, both of Scotch and English history; and he was connected, in a greater or less degree, with most of the illustrious personages, arduous struggles, and important changes, of that period. These are claims for more attention than has been generally directed towards him, but not for more than this little volume is calculated amply to repay. |