Of liberty and favour; sleep securely :

And is not this, now, better than to buffet

The hangman's clutches? or to brave the cordage
Of a tough halter, which will break your neck?

So, then, the gallant totters! - prithee, Perkin,

Let my example lead thee; be no longer

A counterfeit; confess and hope for pardon.

"War. For pardon? hold my heart-strings, whilst contempt Of injuries, in scorn, may bid defiance

To this base man's foul language! Thou poor vermin,
How dar'st thou creep so near me? thou an earl!
Why, thou enjoy'st as much of happiness
As all the swing of slight ambition flew at.
A dunghill was thy cradle. So a puddle,
By virtue of the sunbeams, breathes a vapour
To infect the purer air, which drops again
Into the muddy womb that first exhaled it.
Bread, and a slavish ease, with some assurance
From the base beadle's whip, crown'd all thy hopes:
But, sirrah, ran there in thy veins one drop
Of such a royal blood as flows in mine,
Thou would'st not change condition, to be second
In England's state, without the crown itself!
Coarse creatures are incapable of excellence:
But let the world, as all, to whom I am
This day a spectacle, to time deliver,
And, by tradition, fix posterity,
Without another chronicle than truth,
How constantly my resolution suffer'd
A martyrdom of majesty!
"Simn. He's past

Recovery; a bedlam cannot cure him."

This scene is certainly well drawn ; nor is the next, where Katherine takes a last farewell of her husband, at all inferior :

We reign in our affections, blessed woman !
Read in my destiny the wreck of honour ;
Point out, in my contempt of death, to memory,
Some miserable happiness; since, herein,
Even when I fell, I stood enthroned a monarch
Of one chaste wife's troth, pure, and uncorrupted.
Fair angel of perfection, immortality

Court every rich opinion of true merit,
And saint it in the calendar of virtue,
When I am turn'd into the self-same dust
Of which I was first form'd.

" Oxf. The lord ambassador,
Huntley, your father, madam, should he look on
Your strange subjection, in a gaze so public,
Would blush on your behalf, and wish his country
Unleft, for entertainment to such sorrow.

"Kath. Why art thou angry, Oxford? I must be

More peremptory in my duty. - Sir,

Impute it not unto immodesty,
That I presume to press you to a legacy,
Before we part for ever!

"War. Let it be then

My heart, the rich remains of all my fortunes.
"Kath. Confirm it with a kiss, pray !
"War. Oh! with that

I wish to breathe my last; upon thy lips,
Those equal twins of comeliness, I seal
The testament of honourable vows:

Whoever be that man that shall unkiss
This sacred print next, may he prove more thrifty
In this world's just applause, not more desertful !

[Kisses her.

"Kath. By this sweet pledge of both our souls, I swear

To die a faithful widow to thy bed;

Not to be forced or won: oh, never, never!"

From these extracts, the reader will, doubtless, form a high opinion of the drama. Perhaps it deserves all the praise that it has received. We must regret that Ford did not cultivate the historic muse more than he did. He would have been more successful in the pursuit than any of his contemporaries.

At the other productions of this writer we can merely glance. The Fancies, Chaste and Noble, -a quaint title enough,-will scarcely sustain his reputation. Some fine passages it undoubtedly has; and it has some good traits of character; but the plot is a foolish one, and the dialogue is wearisome. --The Lady's Trial is not much better. Of poetry it has enough; many of the sentiments are exceedingly fine; the diction is easy, elegant, harmonious; but still there is not sufficient in the plot; and the termination is not only unnatural, but foolish.