Be quiet; thou hast anger'd me at heart. El. Lo. I'll please you soon again. Lady. Welford? hand El. Lo. Ay, Welford. He's a young some fellow; well-bred, and landed: Your sister can instruct you in his good parts, better than I, by this time. Lady. Ud's foot, am I fetch'd over thus? And over shall be fetch'd again, never fear it. Enter Welford and Martha. Mar. For God's sake, Sir, be private in this business; [have I done? You have undone me else. Oh, God, what Wel. No harm, I warrant thee. [again? Mar. How shall I look upon my friends With what face? Wel. Why e`en with that; 'tis a good one, thou canst not find a better. Look upon all the faces thou shalt see there, and you shall find 'em smooth still, fair still, sweet still, and, to your thinking, honest; those have done as much as you have yet, or dare do, mistress; and yet they keep no stir. Mar. Good Sir, go in, and put your woman's cloaths on : If you be seen thus, I am lost for ever. Here will I tarry till the house be up, Mar. Good dear friend, go in. Wel. To-bed again, if you please; else I am fix'd here till there be notice taken what I am, and what I have done. If you could juggle me into my womanhood again, and so sog me out of your company, all this would be forsworn, and I again an asinego, as your sister left me. No; I'll have it known and publish'd: Then, if you'll be a whore, forsake me, and be asham'd; and, when you can hold out no longer, marry some cast Cleve captain, and sell bottle-ale. Mar. I dare not stay, Sir; use me modestly; I am your wife. Wel. Go in; I'll make up all. [truth, Sir. El. Lo. I'll be a witness of your naked This is the gentlewoman; prithee look upon him: [sweet: This is he that made me break my faith, But thank your sister, she hath solder'd it. Lady. What a dull ass was I, I could not see This wencher from a wench! Twenty to one, If I had been but tender, like my sister, He had serv'd me such a slippery trick too. Wel. Twenty to one I had. El. Lo. I would have watch'd you, Sir, by your good patience, For ferreting in my ground. Lady. You have been with Wel. Yes; to bring—— my sister? El. Lo: An heir into the world, he means. [least; I have been chaft this three hours, that's the I am reasonable cool now. Lady. Cannot you fare well, but you must cry roastmeat? [the founders, Wel. He that fares well, and will not bless Is either surfeited, or ill taught, Lady. [diet, For mine own part, I have found so sweet a I can commend it, though I cannot spare it. El. Lo. How like you this dish, Welford? I made a supper on't, And fed so heartily I could not sleep. Lady. By this light, had I but scented out your train, you had slept with a bare pillow in your arms; and kiss'd that, or else the bedpost, for any wife you had got this twelvemonth yet. I would have vex'd you more than a tir'd post-horse; and been longer bearing, than ever after-game at Irish was. Lord, that I were unmarried again! El. Lo. Lady, I would not undertake you, were you again a haggard, 60 for the best cast of ladies i' th' kingdom: You were ever ticklefooted, and would not truss round. Wel. Is she fast? El. Lo. She was all night lock'd here, boy. Wel. Then you may lure her, without fear of losing: Take off her creyance. You have a delicate gentlewoman to your sister: Lord, 60 Haggard.] This is a term relative to a diversion, in our Authors' time much attended to, but now lost; viz. hawking. A haggard hawk is a wild hawk, a hawk unreclaimed, or irreclaimable. K. 6 Then you may lure her without fear of losing: Take off her cranes. s.] A lure, in falconry, is a machine composed of feathers and leather; which by being cast up into the air, seems in its motion to look like a fowl. Upon this, a young hawk is train'd up to be fed, has a live dove given her; and therefore forsakes not the lure. The creyance is a fine small long line of strong, and even twined packthread, which is fastened to the hawk's leash before she is reclaim'd, or fully tamed. Mr. Theobald. Enter Young Loveless, his lady, Morecraft, Savil, and two servingmen. El. Lo. Get on your doublet; here comes my brother. [to your lady! Yo. Lo. Good-morrow, brother; and all good Mor. God save you, and good-morrow to you all! [ther of yours. El. Lo. Good-inorrow. Here's a poor broLady. Fie, how this shames me. Mor. Prithee, good fellow, help me to a Ser. 'I will, Sir. [cup of beer. Yo. Lo. Brother, what make you here? Will this lady do? Will she? Is she not nettled still? El. Lo. No, I have cur'd her. Mr. Welford, pray know this gentleman; he's my brother. Wel. Sir, I shall long to love him. [married. El. Lo. As well as may be, man: I am Your new acquaintance hath her sister; and all's well. [lady sister, Yo. Lo. I am glad on't. Now, my pretty How do you find my brother? Lady. Almost as wild as you are. Yo. Lo. He'll make the better husband: Lady. Against my will, Sir. Yo. Lo. He'll make your will amends soon, do not doubt it. But, Sir, I must intreat you to be better known To this converted Jew here. Ser. Here's beer for you, Sir. Mor. And here's for you an angel. Pray buy no land; 'twill never prosper, Sir. Yo. Lo. Bless you, and then I'll tell. He's Yo. Lo. Ay, gallant, and is now call'd CutThe reason I'll inform you at more leisure. Wel. Oh, good Sir, let me know him presently. Yo. Lo. You shall hug one another. Yo. Lo. Cutting Morecraft, faces about;63 Mor. I shall look for't, in good faith, Sir. Yo. Lo. I'll do it presently. [sport sake. El. Lo. Come, thou shalt kiss him for our Lady. Let him come on then; and, do you hear, do not instruct me in these tricks, for you may repent it. [craft, El. Lo. That at my peril. Lusty Mr. MoreHere is a lady would salute you. Mor. She shall not lose her longing, Sir. Mor. She must be, then, my mistress. El. Lo. Oh, yes, you must. [pawn [prize. Mor. And you must take this ring, a pocr Of some fifty pound. El. Lo. Take it, by any means; 'tis lawful Lady. Sir, I shall call you servant. [that? Mor. I shall be proud on't. What fellow's Yo. Lo. My lady's coachnian. Mor. There's something, my friend, for you to buy whips; And for you, Sir; and you, Sir. El. Lo. Under a miracle, this is the strangest Sir, you shall find sport after a day or two. El. Lo. Oh, for his keys, I know it. 62 My Mary Ambrée.] This was a virago who went a volunteering in men's cloaths in the reign of queen Elizabeth. She was celebrated in a ballad which Dr. Percy has printed at large in his Reliques of Antient Poetry, Vol. II. The time when she performed this exploit appears to have been about the year 1584; when the Spaniards, under the command of Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, began to gain great advantages in Flanders and Brabant, by recovering many strong holds and cities from the Hollanders, as Ghent, Antwerp, Mechlin, &c. See Stow's Annals, 711. Ben Jonson often mentions her, and calls any remarkable virago by her name. See his Epicæne, act iv. scene ii. ; his Tale of a Tub, act i. scène iv.; and his masque entitled the Fortunate Isles. 63 Cutting Morecraft faces about.] These words are of the same import with our modern phrase, which, by dropping of a letter, is corrupted to face about. We meet with the same expression again in the Knight of the Burning Pestle, where Ralph is exercising his men; Double your files as you were; faces about; act v. So in Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, Wellbred says, Good captain, faces about-to some other discourse; act iii. scene i. R Sav. Now, Sir, strike in. Mor. Sir, I must have you grant me. [again: shall El. Lo. Nay, then, I see we must keep ho Enter Roger and Abigail. Here's the last couple in hell. Rog. Joy be among you all! Rog. Marriage, an't like your worship. [madam. Rog. As well as the next priest could do it, El. Lo. I think the sign's in Gemini, here's such coupling. Wel. Sir Roger, what will you take to lie from your sweetheart to-night? Rog. Not the best benefice in your worship's Wel. A whorson, how he swells! [Roger? What I shall do, I shall do: I shall not need Yo. Lo. For horse-flesh, Roger. [day El. Lo. Come, prithee be not angry; tis a Given wholly to our mirth. [bride, Lady. It shall be so, Sir. Sir Roger and his We shall intreat to be at our charge. El. Lo. Welford, get you to the church: Mor. To every bride 1 dedicate, this day, Sir Roger, you shall have the van, and lead 'Would every dogged wench had such a day! [Exeunt omnes. THE sudden conversion of Morecraft, says Mr. Theobald, from a griping usurer to a downright gallant, is quite extravagant and out of the rules and practice of the stage: Especially, as there is no shadow of reason for it; unless he may be said to look upon the loss he had sustained from Young Loveless to be a scourge and judgment upon him for his former rapaciousness.' If Mr. Theobald, by out of the rules and practice of the stage' means, that there is no similar circumstance to be met with, his objection is trifling, his assertion erroneous. Trifling, because, on such principle, the most pleasing ingredient in dramatic entertainment, Originality, must be precluded the theatre; erroneous, because Terence exhibits the same change in the character of Denea, in his Adelphi. Mr.Theobald asserts too, that there is no shadow of reason for the alteration, unless it be the loss he had sustained by Young Loveless.' Morecraft himself assigns a much better; one, indeed, which may go far in persuading us, that his disposition is not altered, and that he only affects profusion, in hope of gaining more by that than by over-reaching and scraping: Thou, says he to Young Loveless, wast rich; thou flung'st away; and yet wealth flows in double: I wrung and wire-draw'd; lost, and was 'cozen'd: On which account, I mean to follow thy example.' Goodnature, by laying much stress on this passage, may think the character consistent: But, after all that can be urged for or against, the plain question being asked, Whether such an alteration, either in sentiment or policy, is consonant to Nature, the grand arbitress of propriety?' the reply must certainly be in the negative. And it is pity a Comedy, so replete with wit, character, and conduct, should have so striking a blemish. · Donatus remarks, that Terence' shews, how awkwardly a man of an opposite disposition endeavours to be complaisant; and, that a miser, meaning to be generous, runs into profu'sion.' We think our Authors do not fall short of Terence in this picture; since what Mr. Colman says of Demea may, with equal propriety, be applied to Morecraft; That his com'plaisance, gaiety, and liberality, are assumed; and that his aukwardness, in affecting those qualities, is truly comic.' THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY.' COUNTRY. The Commendatory Verses by Gardiner and Lovelace speak singly of Fletcher, as Author of this Play; other writers speak of Beaumont as sharer in it. It was first printed in 1647, when ten of the then principal performers collected into a folio volume thirty-five dramatic pieces of our Poets, which had never before been published. Colley Cibber has founded his comedy of Love Makes a Man, or the Fop's Fortune, on this play and the Elder Brother of our Authors. THE PROLOGUE. So free this work is, gentlemen, from offence, Will be starv'd here; for envy shall not find ANOTHER PROLOGUE. WE wish, if it were possible, you knew new. It being our ambition to delight Our kind spectators with what's good and right. A well-drawn piece, which gave a lawful birth But unto such to whom 'tis known by fame For being lik'd before: You may allow [schools, DUARTE, son to Guiomar; a gentleman ALONZO,{a young Portugal gentleman, ene LEOPOLD, { my to Duarte. a sea-captain, enamour'd on WOMEN. ZENOCIA, {mistress to Arnoldo, and a chaste wife. GUIOMAR, a virtuous lady, mother to Duarte. HIPPOLYTA, { a rich lady, wantonly in love with Arnoldo. SULPITIA, a bawd, mistress of the male-stews. Doctor, Chirurgeon, Officers, Guard, Page, Bravo, Knaves of the male-stews, Servants. The SCENE, sometimes LISBON, sometimes ITALY. The Custom, on which a main part of the plot of this comedy is built, prevailed at one time, as Mons. Bayle tells us, in Italy; till it was put down by a prudent and truly pious car VOL. I. U |