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THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

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This Play was first printed in quarto, anno 1634, under the following title: The Two Noble, 'Kinsmen: presented at the Blackfriers by the Kings Maiesties Servants, with great ap'plause: written by the memorable Worthies of their time, Mr. John Fletcher, and 'Mr. William Shakspeare, Gent.;' and has always been received as the production of those Poets. In the year 1668, it was altered by Sir William Davenant, who gave it the title of The Rivals; when it appears to have been acted with great success.

PROLOGUE.

[Flourish.

New plays and maidenheads are near a-kin; Much follow'd both, for both much money gi'n,

If they stand sound, and well: and a good play

(Whose modest scenes blush on his marriage-
day,

And shake to lose his honour) is like her
That after holy tie, and first night's stir,
Yet still is modesty, and still retains [pains.
More of the maid to sight, than husband's
We pray our play may be so; for I'm sure
It has a noble breeder, and a pure,
A learned, and a poet never went
More famous yet'twixt Po, and silver Trent:
Chaucer (of all admir'd) the story gives;
There constant to eternity it lives!
If we let fall the nobleness of this,
And the

sound this child hear be a hiss,

How will it shake the bones of that good man, And make him cry from under-ground, 'Oh, fan

'From me the witless chaff of such a writer, That blasts my bays, and my fam'd works make lighter

[bring;

Than Robin Hood!' This is the fear we
For, to say truth, it were an endless thing,
And too ambitious, to aspire to him.
Weak as we are, and almost breathless swim,
In this deep water, do but you hold out
Your helping hands, and we shall tack about!
And something do to save us, you shall hear
Scenes, tho' below his art, may yet appear
Worth two hours' travel. To his bones sweet
sleep!

Content to you!-If this play do not keep
A little dull time from us, we perceive
Our losses fall so thick, we must needs leave.
[Flourish,

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1 Hymen has hitherto stood as a personage of this drama, and even the first: as he only appears in the dumb-show, we have expunged the name. The Wooer, though a character of some consideration, has always been omitted; and so bas Valerius.

3 D 2

ACT

SCENE I.

ACT I.

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Nor chatt'ring pie,

May on our bridehouse perch or sing,
Or with them any discord bring,
But from it fly!

Enter three Queens, in black, with veils
stained, with imperial Crowns. The first
Queen falls down at the foot of Theseus;
the second falls down at the foot of Hip-
polita; the third before Emilia.

1 Queen. For pity's sake, and true genHear and respect me! [tility's,

2 Queen. For your mother's sake, And as you wish your womb may thrive with Hear and respect me! [fair ones,

3 Queen. Now for the love of him whom
Jove bath mark'd

The honour of your bed, and for the sake
Of clear virginity, be advocate

For us, and our distresses! This good deed
Shall raze you out o' th' book of trespasses
All you are set down there.

Thes. Sad lady, rise!

Hip. Stand up!

Emi. No knees to me! What woman I May sted that is distress'd, does bind me to her.

[for all. Thes. What's your request? Deliver you 1 Queen. We are three queens, whose sovereigns fell before

The wrath of cruel Creon; who endur'd
The beaks of ravens, talons of the kites,
And pecks of crows, in the foul fields of
Thebes.

He will not suffer us to burn their bones,
To urn their ashes, nor to take th' offence

2 Then Hippolita the bride, led by Theseus.] Mr. Theobald very justly changed Theseus

here to Perithous.

Seward.

3 Not an angel of the air.] Mr. Theobald was very fond of a change here, which I can by no means admit; as he happened not to see the authors' design in applying the word angel to birds, he would read augel, from the Italian augello, a bird. But beside the objection there is to admitting words of foreign extraction without authority into the text (a thing by no means justifiable), there would be a needless tautology,

Not an augel or bird of the air,

Bird melodious, or bird fair.

Several birds too are excluded in the next stanza, which renders augel improper, where as angel very beautifully expresses the birds of melody and good omen. Seward.

The boding raven, nor clough he

Nor chatt'ring pie.] Clough he, which is the reading of all the editions, is neither sense nor rhime. My dictionaries at least have no such bird as clough. Chough is Shakespeare and Fletcher's name of a jack-daw, of which Ray says, Postica pars capitis cinerascit. But he (and from him the Oxford editor) mistakes, in making the chough the coracias a frequenter of the Cornish cliffs only, which has no such grey feathers. Besides, Shakespeare's chough feeds on corn, for Autolocus, in the Winter's Tale, says, 'My choughs are scar'd from the chaff.' So that the chough must be the daw or the rook, which has often grey feathers on the head and back. See Ray on Birds. There can be no reason to doubt therefore of our having got the true substantive; for he we must have an adjective that suits the chough, and also rhimes to nor; hour will do both, the chough having greyish feathers on his head, from whence Shakespeare calls him the russet-pated chough. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Sewurd.

Of

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I was transported with your speech, and
Your knees to wrong themselves. I've heard
the fortunes
[lamenting

Of your dead lords, which gives me such
As wakes my vengeance and revenge for 'em.
King Capaneus was your lord: the day
That he should marry you, at such a season
As now it is with me, I met your groom
By Mars's altar; you were that time fair,
Not Juno's mantle fairer than your tresses,
Nor in more bounty spread her; your
wheaten wreath

[at you Was then nor thresh'd, nor blasted; Fortune Dimpled her cheek with smiles; Hercules

our kinsman

(Then weaker than your eyes) laid by his club, He tumbled down upon his Nemean uide", And swore his sinews thaw'd: ob, grief and time,

Fearful consumers, you will all devour!

1 Queen. Oh, I hope some god, [hood, Some god hath put his mercy in your manWhereto he'll infuse power, and press you Our undertaker! [forth

Thes. Oh, no knees, none, widow! Unto the helmeted Bellona use them, And pray for me, your soldier.-Troubled 1

am.

[Turns away.

2 Queen. Honour'd Hippolita, Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain

5 Not Juno's mantle fairer than your tresses,

The scithe-tusk'd boar; that, with thy arm as strong

As it is white, wast near to make the male Tó thy sex captive; but that this thy lord (Born to uphold creation in that honour First nature stil'd it in) shrunk thee into The bound thou wast o'er-flowing, at once subduing

Thy force, and thy affection; soldieress,
That equally canst poise sternness with pity,
Who now, I know, hast much more power
on him
[strength",
Than e'er he had on thee; who ow'st his
And his love too, who is a servant to
The tenor of thy speech; dear glass of ladies,
Bid him that we whom flaining war doth
scorch,

Under the shadow of his sword may cool us!
Require him he advance it o'er our heads;
Speak't in a woman's key, like such a woman
As any of us three; weep ere you fail;
Lend us a knce;

But touch the ground for us no longer time
Than a dove's motion, when the head's
pluck'd off!
[swoln,
Tell him, if he i'th' blood-size'd field lay
Shewing the sun his teeth, grinning at the
What you would do!

Hip. Poor lady, say no more!

[moon,

I had as lief trace this good action with you As that whereto I'm going, and never yet Went I so willing way. My lord is taken Heart-deep with your distress: let him consider;

I'll speak anon.

3 Queen. Oh, my petition was

[Kneels to Emilia. Set down in ice, which by hot grief uncandied Melts into drops; so sorrow wanting form Is press'd with deeper matter.

Emi. Pray stand up;

Your grief is written in your cheek. 3 Queen. Oh, woe!

Nor in more bounty spread her.] The reader will see that her is prejudicial to the sense and measure, and to be discarded. The mantle of Juno is beautifully described in the fourteenth book of the Iliad. It was wrought by Minerva, and adorned with variety of figures; allegorically, it may signify the æther adorned with the sun and stars formed by Minerva, i. e. the wisdom of the Creator. Seward.

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We cannot see that her is prejudicial to the sense and measure,' nor that it ought to 'be discarded.' The construction is easy.

6 Nenuan hide.] Corrected in 1750.

7 Whom now I know hast much more power on him

Than ever he had on thee, who ow'st his strength

And his love too, who is a servant for

The tenor of the speech.] The change of particles and monosyllables frequently destroy both the grammar and sense of our authors. Whom might have been corrected without a note, but what is, Who is a servant for the tenor of the speech? The original probably was, - who is a servant to

The tenor of thy speech;

i. e. He who before conquered thee, is now obedient to every word thou utterest. Ow'st, is the same as own'st, in all the old writers.

8 —and never yet

Seward.

Went I so willing way;] i. e. I never went so willing a journey. Seward.

You

You cannot read it there?; here thro' my tears,
Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream,
You may behold 'em! Lady, lady, alack,
He that will all the treasure know o'th' earth,
Must know the centre too; he that will fish
For my least minnow, let him lead his line
To catch one at my heart. Oh, pardon me!
Extremity, that sharpens sundry wits,
Makes me a fool.

Emi. Pray you say nothing; pray you! Who cannot feel nor see the rain, being in't, Knows neither wet nor dry. If that you were The ground-piece of some painter, I would buy you,

J'instruct me 'gainst a capital grief indeed; (Such heart-pierc'd demonstration!) but, alas, Being a natural sister of our sex,

Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me,
That it shall make a counter-reflect 'gainst
My brother's heart, and warm it to some pity
Tho' it were made of stone: pray have good
comfort!
[a jot
Thes. Forward to th' temple! leave not out
O'th' sacred ceremony.

1 Queen. Oh, this celebration

Will longer last 10, and be more costly, than Your suppliants' war! Remember that your fame [quickly

Knolls in the ear o'th' world: what' you do Is not done rashly; your first thought is more Than others' labour'd meditance; your premeditating

More than their actions; but, (oh, Jove!) your actions,

Soon as they move, as osprays do the fish, Subdue before they touch: think, dear duke, think

What beds our slain kings have!

2 Queen. What griefs our beds, That our dear lords have none! 3 Queen. None fit for th' dead:

Those that with cords, knives, drams11, precipitance,

[selves Weary of this world's light, have to themBeen death's most horrid agents, human grace Affords them dust and shadow.

1 Queen. But our lords

Lie blist'ring 'fore the visitating sun,
And were good kings, when living.
Thes. It is true;

And I will give you comfort,
To give your dead lords graves 12:
The which to do must make some work
with Creon.
[to th' doing 13:

1 Queen. And that work now presents itself Now 'twill take form; the heats are gone to-morrow;

Then bootless toil must recompense itself,
With its own sweat; now he's secure,
Not dreams we stand before your puissance,
Rinsing your holy begging 14 in our eyes,
To make petition clear.

2 Queen. Now you may take him, Drunk with his victory.

3 Queen. And his army full Of bread and sloth.

Thes. Artesius, that best know'st How to draw out, fit to this enterprize The prim'st for this proceeding, and the number

To carry such a business; forth and levy Our worthiest instruments; whilst we dispatch

This grand act of our life, this daring deed Of fate in wedlock!

1 Queen. Dowagers, take hands! Let us be widows to our woes 15! Delay Commends us to a famishing hope.

All. Farewell!

[could grief 2 Queen. We come unseasonably; but when Cull forth, as unpang'd judgment can, fit'st For best solicitation?

You cannot read it there; there thro' my tears,

[time

Like wrinkl'd pebbles in a glasse stream.] Mr. Sympson and I change the second there to here, as she evidently points at her heart, and so explains herself in the sequel. Glassy for glasse, Mr. Theobald agreed with us in.

10 Will long last.] Corrected in 1750.

Seward.

"Drams precipitance.] Mr. Sympson and I disjoin these two, the one expressing poison, the other leaping down precipices. Seward.

Precipitance is, we think, rightly disjoined from drams; but signifies, in general, the unhappy precipitation of suicides in getting rid of their lives, not the particular act of leaping down precipices, which seems to us a ridiculous explanation.

12 To give your dead lords graves.] As both the sense and measure are somewhat deficient, there is reason to suspect a part of the sentence dropt, perhaps somewhat like the following might have been the original.

But I will give you comfort, and engage Myself and pow'rs to give your dead lords graves. 13 And that work presents, &c.] Former editions. 14 Wrinching our holy begging.] Corrected in 1750.

Seward.

Seward.

15 Let us be widows to our woes;] i. e. Let us continue still in the most distress'd widowhood by the continuance of our woes. The expression, tho' not quite clear, will give this sense, which is certainly a fine one; and in such writers as our authors we must not always expect that perspicuity as we meet with in poems of less depth. For this reason I cannot admit a conjecture of Mr. Sympson, tho' it is undoubtedly an ingenious one:

Let us be wedded to our woes. Seward.

Thes.

Act 1. Scene 2.]

Thes. Why, good ladies,

This is a service, whereto I am going,
Greater than any war 16; it more imports me
Than all the actions that I have foregone,
Or futurely can cope.

1 Queen. The more proclaiming
Our suit shall be neglected: when her arms,
Able to lock Jove from a synod, shall

By warranting moon-light corslet thee, oh, when

{fall

Her twinning cherries 17 shall their sweetness
Upon thy tasteful lips, what wilt thou think
Of rotten kings, or blubber'd queens? what
[being able

care

For what thou feel'st not, what thou feel'st
To make Mars spurn his drum? Oh, if thou
couch

But one night with her, every hour in't will
Take hostage of thee for a hundred, and
Thou shalt remember nothing more than what
That banquet bids thee to.

Hip. Tho' much unlike

You should be so transported, as much sorry
I should be such a suitor; yet I think
Did I not, by th' abstaining of my joy,
Which breeds a deeper longing, cure their
surfeit,

That craves a present med'cine, I should pluck
All ladies' scandal on me: therefore, sir,
As I shall here make trial of my prayers,
Either presuming them to have some force,
Or sentencing for ay their vigour dumb,
Prorogue this business we are going about,
and hang

Your shield afore your heart, about that neck
Which is my fee, and which I freely lend
To do these poor queens service!

All Queens. Oh, help now!

Our cause cries for your knee.

Emi. If you grant not

My sister her petition, in that force,
With that celerity and nature, which

She makes it in, from henceforth I'll not dare

To ask you any thing, nor be so hardy
Ever to take a husband.

Thes. Pray stand up!

16 This is a service, whereto I am going,

301

I am entreating of myself to do
That which you kneel to have me. Perithous,
Lead on the bride! Get you and pray the god
For success and return; omit not any thing
In the pretended celebration. Queens,
Follow your soldier (as before) hence you,
And at the banks of Aulis 18 meet us with
The forces you can raise, where we shall find
The moiety of a number, for a business
More bigger look'd!—Since that our theme
is haste,

I

stamp this kiss upon thy currant lip;
Sweet, keep it as my token! Set you forward;
For I will see you gone.

[Exeunt towards the Temple.
Farewell, my beauteous sister! Perithous,
Keep the feast full; bate not an hour on't!
Per. Sir,

I'll follow you at heels: the feast's solemnity
Shall want till your return

19

Thes. Cousin, I charge you

Budge not from Athens; we shall be returning
Ere you can end this feast, of which I pray you
farewell all!
Make no abatement. Once more,

1 Queen. Thus dost thou still make good
the tongue o'th' world.

2Queen. And earn'st a deity equal with Mars. 3 Queen. If not above him; for Thou being but mortal, mak'st affections bend To godlike honours; they themselves, some Groan under such a mastery.

Thes. As we are men,

[say,

Thus should we do; being sensually subdued,
We lose our humane title. Good cheer,
ladies!
Now turn we tow'rds your

SCENE II.

[Flourish.

comforts.

[Exeunt.

Enter Palamon and Arcite.

Arc. Dear Palamon, dearer in love than
blood,

And our prime cousin, yet unharden'd in
The crimes of nature; let us leave the city
Thebes, and the temptings in't, before we
further

Greater than any was.] War (which is Theobald's variation) instead of was, is a great verily believe it the author's word. The service I am improvement of the old text, and now going to, (i. e. my marriage) is of more import to my happiness than any war can possibly be.

Seward.

17 Her twining cherries.] Theobald corrected the spelling here.

18 And at the banks of Anly.] Mr. Theobald sent me a very probable conjecture upon this place; none of us being able to find in any geographer such a name as Anly in Greece, he reads Aulis, the celebrated sea-port between Athens and Thebes. It would indeed be But Aulis being a more convincing were there a river of that name, for I don't know whether it be proper, in speaking of Calais or Dover to say, Meet me at the banks of Dover. situation so exceedingly proper to be mention'd here, I still believe it the true word, and banks be also a corruption; it might have been At the gates, or at the port, or perhaps may Seward. at the back of Aulis.

19 Shall want till your return.] The editors of 1750, for want read wait; but want seems genuine; signifying, the celebration of the nuptials should remain incomplete till his return, as Perithous had rather accompany Theseus than stay behind to be his proxy, as the latter desires.

Sully

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