Read Ebook: A Collection of Old English Plays Volume 2 by Bullen A H Arthur Henry Editor

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 341 lines and 76941 words, and 7 pages

PREFACE

The preparation of this volume has been a work of great labour, for everything has been transcribed by my own hand; but the tedious delay in publication has been due in great part to circumstances beyond my control.

INTRODUCTION TO DICK OF DEVONSHIRE.

"Search whether can be found again the like For noble prowess for our Tav'stock Pike, In whose renowned never-dying name Live England's honour and the Spaniard's shame."

I now leave the reader to the enjoyment of this old play, which, whether it be Heywood's or not, certainly deserves the attention of all faithful students of our inexhaustible dramatic literature.

p. 37, l. 23, for "Yet can give," read, "Yet can I give."

p. 71, l. 18, del. comma after "live."

p. 103, l. 9, del. "we."

p. 119, 7 from bottom, for "she doth preferd doth see," read "she thus preferd," &c.

p. 142, 9 from bottom, for "vouchsafed," read "vouchsafe."

p. 154, l. 19, for "There they are," read "I, here they are."

p. 190, l. 24, for "woman" read "women."

p. 194, l. 12, for "unwist," read "unjust."

p. 228, last line, for "Equire," read "Squire."

p, 258, l. 29, for "1639," read "1612."

p. 274, l. 16, for "whore," read "whore's;" and in the next line, for "sunnes," read "sinnes."

p. 276, l. 4, after "Do not my Dons know," add "me."

p. 281, 4 from bottom, for "wo," read "two."

p. 311, l. 12, for "sol-Re-fa-mi," read "sol-Re-me-fa-mi." In l. 19, for "Ra." read "Re."

p. 317, l. 21, for "goon," read "good."

p. 331, l. i, for "Med,," read "King."

THE PLAY OF DICKE OF DEVONSHIRE.

Hector adest secumque Deos in praelia ducit.

Drammatis Personae.

The Play of Dick of Devonshire.

are abroad, I can tell you.

had bene in the heate of't.

, sir.

I'de shoot 'em all away to force my passage Through such an hoast untill I met the Traytour To my dear brother.--Pray, doe not thinke so, sir.

my felicity! To speake, or weepe thy sorrow, but allayes And quenches anger, which we must now cherish To further iust revenge. How I could wish But to call backe the strength of Twenty yeares!

will spoyle your spitting.

cannot serve you.

Hens! ha, ha, ha!

Let him ene goe.

in your Coach some two miles hence?

Sister; 'tis a prettye gent, I know you love him.

an ambuscado! see, whos that lyes there pardue? fort of Mars! my wroth shall eate him up.

can you wish then me for husband? I have it here thats sattisfaction for the lustiest widdow twixt this and London. Say, will you love me? Ime in hast and hate demurrs; if you refuse I must seeke out: I have a little moysture and would be loth to hav't dride for want of exercise.--What say you, lady?

Save you, sweet youth, the bewties of your Mrs. Crowne your desires. Are you a suiter?

constant.

for?

SCENE 1.

doe surround My intellectual powers; only my heart, Like to a Rocky Island, does advance Above the foming violence of the waves Its unmovd head, bids me my fate outdare. Ills sure prevention is a swift despaire.

here about; these are the poplars, this The yewe he named. How prettily thees trees Bow, as each meant to Consecrate a branch To the drownd lovers! and, methinks, the streame Pitting their herse should want all funerall rights, Snatches the virgin lillies from his bankes To strow their watry sepulcher. Who would Desire an easier wafting to their death Then through this River? what a pleasing sound Its liquid fingers, harping on the stones, Yeilds to th'admiring eare!

only I Remaine at your devotion for a wife.

Doe you know me, Sir?

INTRODUCTION TO THE TRAGEDY OF SIR JOHN VAN OLDEN BARNAVELT.

I have never met anywhere with the slightest allusion to this fine historical play, now for the first time printed from a MS. in the British Museum . It is curious that it should have been left to the present editor to call attention to a piece of such extraordinary interest; for I have no hesitation in predicting that Barnavelt's Tragedy, for its splendid command of fiery dramatic rhetoric, will rank among the masterpieces of English dramatic literature.

On a first rapid inspection I assumed, with most uncritical recklessness, that Chapman was the author. There are not wanting points of general resemblance between Chapman's Byron and the imperious, unbending spirit of the great Advocate as he is here represented; but in diction and versification, the present tragedy is wholly different from any work of Chapman's. When I came to transcribe the piece, I soon became convinced that it was to a great extent the production of Fletcher. There can, I think, be no reasonable doubt about the authorship of such lines as the following:--

Such a verse as,--

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet