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_ ACT I - SCENE II
SCENE II.--KING, QUEEN, GRIZZLE, NOODLE, DOODLE, FOODLE.
King.
[1] Let nothing but a face of joy appear;
The man who frowns this day shall lose his head,
That he may have no face to frown withal.
Smile Dollallolla--Ha! what wrinkled sorrow
[2] Hangs, sits, lies, frowns upon thy knitted brow?
Whence flow those tears fast down thy blubber'd cheeks,
Like a swoln gutter, gushing through the streets?
[Footnote 1:
Phraortes, in the Captives, seems to have been
acquainted with King Arthur:
Proclaim a festival for seven days' space,
Let the court shine in all its pomp and lustre,
Let all our streets resound with shouts of joy;
Let musick's care-dispelling voice be heard;
The sumptuous banquet and the flowing goblet
Shall warm the cheek and fill the heart with gladness.
Astarbe shall sit mistress of the feast.]
[Footnote 2:
Repentance frowns on thy contracted brow.---Sophonisba.
Hung on his clouded brow, I mark'd despair.---Ibid.
--A sullen gloom
Scowls on his brow.--Busiris.]
Queen.
[1]Excess of joy, my lord, I've heard folks say,
Gives tears as certain as excess of grief.
[Footnote 1:
Plato is of this opinion, and so is Mr Banks:
Behold these tears sprung from fresh pain and joy.
--_Earl of Essex_.]
King.
If it be so, let all men cry for joy,
[1]Till my whole court be drowned with their tears;
Nay, till they overflow my utmost land,
And leave me nothing but the sea to rule.
[Footnote 1:
These floods are very frequent in the tragick authors:
Near to some murmuring brook I'll lay me down,
Whose waters, if they should too shallow flow,
My tears shall swell them up till I will drown.
--_Lee's Sophonisba_.
Pouring forth tears at such a lavish rate,
That were the world on fire they might have drown'd
The wrath of heaven, and quench'd the mighty ruin.
--_Mithridates_.
One author changes the waters of grief to those of joy:
----These tears, that sprung from tides of grief,
Are now augmented to a flood of joy.--_Cyrus the Great_.
Another:
Turns all the streams of heat, and makes them flow
In pity's channel.--_Royal Villain_.
One drowns himself:
----Pity like a torrent pours me down,
Now I am drowning all within a deluge.--_Anna Sullen_.
Cyrus drowns the whole world:
Our swelling grief
Shall melt into a deluge, and the world
Shall drown in tears.--_Cyrus the Great_.]
Dood.
My liege, I a petition have here got.
King.
Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day:
Let other hours be set apart for business.
To-day it is our pleasure to be [1]drunk.
And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.
[Footnote 1:
An expression vastly beneath the dignity of tragedy,
says Mr D--s, yet we find the word he cavils at in
the mouth of Mithridates less properly used, and
applied to a more terrible idea:
I would be drunk with death.--_Mithridates_.
The author of the New Sophonisba taketh hold of this
monosyllable, and uses it pretty much to the same purpose:
The Carthaginian sword with Roman blood
Was drunk.
I would ask Mr D--s which gives him the best idea,
a drunken king, or a drunken sword?
Mr Tate dresses up King Arthur's resolution in heroick:
Merry, my lord, o' th' captain's humour right,
I am resolved to be dead drunk to-night.
Lee also uses this charming word:
Love's the drunkenness of the mind.--_Gloriana_.]
Queen.
(Though I already[1] half seas over am)
If the capacious goblet overflow
With arrack punch----'fore George! I'll see it out:
Of rum and brandy I'll not taste a drop.
[Footnote 1:
Dryden hath borrowed this, and applied it improperly:
I'm half seas o'er in death.--Cleomenes]
King.
Though rack, in punch, eight shillings be a quart,
And rum and brandy be no more than six,
Rather than quarrel you shall have your will.
[Trumpets.]
But, ha! the warrior comes--the great Tom Thumb,
The little hero, giant-killing boy,
Preserver of my kingdom, is arrived. _
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