Confects the substance of the choicest fruits Of form and colour, 'twill deceive the eye, Fol. Comfits and caraways, marchpanes and marmalades, sugar-plums and pippin-pies, gingerbread and walnuts. Hum. Nor is his bounty limited; he'll not spare To exhaust the treasure of a thousand Indies. Fol. Two hundred pound suppers, and neither fiddlers nor broken glasses reckoned; besides, a hundred pound a throw, ten times together, if you can hold out so long. Ray. You tell me wonders! Be my conductress; I'll fly this place in secret: Wherein the very trees shake off their locks, Fol. And when the hair falls off, I have heard a poet say, 'tis no good sign of a sound body. Ray. Come, let's go taste old Winter's fresh delights, And swell with pleasures our big appetites. Shall both be subject to our glorious state, And since we have notice that some barbarous spirits Mean to oppose our entrance, if by words swords. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The Court of WINTER. Enter several Clowns. 1 Clown. Hear you the news, neighbour? 2 Clown. Yes, to my grief, neighbour; they say our prince Raybright is coming hither, with whole troops and trains of courtiers: we are like to have a fine time on't, neighbours. 3 Clown. Our wives and daughters are, for they are sure to get by the bargain; though our barn be 3 Here the fourth Act probably ended in the first sketch of this drama, as what follows seems merely preparatory to the introduction of Raybright in a character which could not have originally been in the writer's contemplation. James I. died not many months after the first appearance of the Sun's Darling, and I can think of no more probable cause for the insertion of this purpureus pannus, than a desire in the managers to gratify the common feeling, by paying some extraordinary compliment to the youthful monarch, his successor, On the score of poetry, the speeches of Winter are entitled to praise; but they grievously offend on the side of propriety, and bear no relation whatever to the previous language and conduct of Raybright. But the readers of our antient drama must be prepared for inconsistencies of this kind, and be as indulgent to them as possible, in consideration of the many excellencies by which they are almost invariably redeemed. emptied, they will be sure to be with bairn for't. Oh, these courtiers, neighbours, are pestilent knaves; but ere I'll suffer it, I'll pluck a crow with some of 'em. 1 Clown. 'Faith, neighbour, let's lay our heads together, and resolve to die like men, rather than live like beasts. 2 Clown. Aye, like horn-beasts, neighbour : they may talk, and call us rebels, but a fig for that, 'tis not a fart matter: let's be true amongst ourselves, and with our swords in hand resist his entrance.— Enter WINTER. Win. What sullen murmurings' does your gall bring forth? Will you prov't true, "No good comes from the north?" Bold, saucy mortals, dare you then aspire With snow and ice to quench the sphere of fire? Are your hearts frozen like your clime, from thence All temperate heat's fled of obedience? How durst you else with force think to withstand Your prince's entry into this his land? A prince, who is so excellently good, His virtue is his honour, more than blood; 4 Pluck a crow.] A vulgar expression for picking a quarrel with a person. 's What sullen murmurings, &c.] The old copy has such. What the genuine word was, it is not easy to say; the former edition reads sullen, to which I have no other objection than that the dissatisfaction of the clowns is loud and violent. With a different pointing, the old text might stand; but it is scarcely worth a new arrangement. In whose clear nature, as two suns, do rise Whose laws are so impartial, they must 1 Clown. The devil he can as soon! we fear no colours; let him do his worst; there's many a tall fellow, besides us, will rather die than see his living taken from them, nay, even eat up all things are grown so dear, there's no enduring more mouths than our own, neighbour. 2 Clown. Thou'rt a wise fellow, neighbour; prate is but prate. They say this prince too would bring new laws upon us, new rites into the temples of our gods; and that's abominable; we'll all be hang'd first. Win. A most fair pretence To found rebellion upon conscience! Dull, stubborn fools! whose perverse judgments still Does on the parch'd earth; wets, but does not give To serve those Powers, to which himself does pay Enter FOLLY. Fol. Save you, gentlemen! 'Tis very cold; you live in frost; you've Winter still about you. 2 Clown. What are you, sir? Fol. A courtier, sir; but, you may guess, a very foolish one, to leave the bright beams of my lord, the prince, to travel hither. I have an ague on me; do you not see me shake? Well, if our courtiers, when they come hither, have not warm young wenches, good wines and fires, to heat their blood, 'twill freeze into an apoplexy. Farewell, frost! I'll go seek a fire to thaw me; I'm all ice, I fear, already. [Exit. 1 Clown. Farewell, and be hanged! ere such as these shall eat what we have sweat for, we'll spend our bloods. Come, neighbours, let's go |