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_ ACT III - SCENE IX
SCENE IX.--LORD GRIZZLE, FOODLE, Rebels, on one
side; TOM THUMB, GLUMDALCA, on the other.
Food.
At length the enemy advances nigh,
[1] I hear them with my ear, and see them with my eye.
[Footnote 1:
I saw the villain, Myron; with these eyes I saw him.
---Busiris.
In both which places it is intimated that it is sometimes
possible to see with other eyes than your own.]
Griz.
Draw all your swords: for liberty we fight,
[1] And liberty the mustard is of life.
[Footnote 1:
"This mustard," says Mr D., "is enough to turn one's
stomach. I would be glad to know what idea the author
had in his head when he wrote it." This will be,
I believe, best explained by a line of Mr Dennis:
And gave him liberty, the salt of life.---Liberty Asserted.
The understanding that can digest the one will not rise at the other.]
Thumb.
Are you the man whom men famed Grizzle name?
Griz.
[1] Are you the much more famed Tom Thumb?
[Footnote 1:
_Han_. Are you the chief whom men famed Scipio call?
_Scip_. Are you the much more famous Hannibal?
---Hannibal.]
Thumb.
The same.
Griz.
Come on; our worth upon ourselves we'll prove;
For liberty I fight.
Thumb.
And I for love.
[A bloody engagement between the two armies here;
drums beating, trumpets sounding, thunder and
lightning. They fight off and on several times.
Some fall. GRIZ. and GLUM. remain.]
Glum.
Turn, coward, turn; nor from a woman fly.
Griz.
Away--thou art too ignoble for my arm.
Glum.
Have at thy heart.
Griz.
Nay, then I thrust at thine.
Glum.
You push too well; you've run me through the guts,
And I am dead.
Griz.
Then there's an end of one.
Thumb.
When thou art dead, then there's an end of two,
[1] Villain.
[Footnote 1:
Dr. Young seems to have copied this
engagement in his Busiris:
_Myr_. Villain!
_Mem_. Myron!
_Myr_. Rebel!
_Mem_. Myron!
_Myr_. Hell!
_Mem_. Mandane!]
Griz.
Tom Thumb!
Thumb.
Rebel!
Griz.
Tom Thumb!
Thumb.
Hell!
Griz.
Huncamunca!
Thumb.
Thou hast it there.
Griz.
Too sure I feel it.
Thumb.
To hell then, like a rebel as you are,
And give my service to the rebels there.
Griz.
Triumph not, Thumb, nor think thou shalt enjoy,
Thy Huncamunca undisturb'd; I'll send
[1] My ghost to fetch her to the other world;
[2] It shall but bait at heaven, and then return.
[3] But, ha! I feel death rumbling in my brains:
[4] Some kinder sprite knocks softly at my soul,
And gently whispers it to haste away.
I come, I come, most willingly I come.
[5] So when some city wife, for country air,
To Hampstead or to Highgate does repair,
Her to make haste her husband does implore,
And cries, "My dear, the coach is at the door:"
With equal wish, desirous to be gone,
She gets into the coach, and then she cries--"Drive on!"
[Footnote 1:
This last speech of my lord Grizzle hath been of great
service to our poets:
I'll hold it fast
As life, and when life's gone I'll hold this last;
And if thou tak'st it from me when I'm slain,
I'll send my ghost, and fetch it back again.
---Conquest of Granada.]
[Footnote 2:
My soul should with such speed obey,
It should not bait at heaven to stop its way.
Lee seems to have had this last in his eye:
'Twas not my purpose, sir, to tarry there;
I would but go to heaven to take the air.---Gloriana.]
[Footnote 3:
A rising vapour rumbling in my brains.---Cleomenes.]
[Footnote 4:
Some kind sprite knocks softly at my soul,
To tell me fate's at hand.]
[Footnote 5:
Mr Dryden seems to have had this simile in his eye,
when he says,
My soul is packing up, and just on wing.
---Conquest of Granada.]
Thumb.
With those last words [1] he vomited his soul,
Which, [2] like whipt cream, the devil will swallow down.
Bear off the body, and cut off the head,
Which I will to the king in triumph lug.
Rebellion's dead, and now I'll go to breakfast.
[Footnote 1: And in a purple vomit pour'd his soul
---Cleomenes.]
[Footnote 2: The devil swallows vulgar souls Like
whipt cream. ---Sebastian.] _
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