54 Then begins] The relative he being omitted, hurt both sense and measure. of my friends seem to think there is too much of Lazarillo's passion for his fish, as well as that the passion itself is carried too high. I have before given reasons to justify the extravagance of the passion, which might possibly have been carried even to madness, by some person of our author's age, and as to the long continuance of it, the distresses seem extremely ingeniously contrived to rise by a just gradation, and his marrying a whore at last to obtain his delight, is a most inimitably humorous conclusion of his character.

55 What I? yet, &c.] As the I is undoubtedly 56 Of thy coach.] So all former editions,

If he could get a knife, sure he would cut her
throat;

Or else he'd do as Hercules did by Lycas,
Swing out her soul: he has the true hate of
A woman in him.

Ori. Low with your curtsies, ladies!
Gond. Come not too near me! I've a
breath will poison ye;

My lungs are rotten, and my stomach raw;
I'm given much to belching: hold off, as you
love sweet airs!
[jure you,
Ladies, by your first night's pleasure I con-
As you would have your husbands proper
men,
['em hate
Strong backs, and little legs; as you'd have
Your waiting-women-

[obtain'd

Ori. Sir, we must court you, 'till we have Some little favour from those gracious eyes; "Tis but a kiss a-piece.

Gond. I pronounce

Perdition to ye all! Ye are a parcel of

That damned crew that fell down with Lucifer,

[men:

At the door, that came nodding up for justice;
She was with the lord Gondarino to-day,
And would now again come to the speech of
She says.
[him,

Ori. Let her in, for sport's sake, let her in!
Gond. Mercy, oh, duke! I do appeal to
thee:

Plant cannons there, and discharge them
Against my breast rather! Nay, first
Let this she-fury sit still where she does,
And with her nimble fingers stroke my hair,
Play with my fingers' ends, or any thing,
Until my panting heart have broke my breast!
Duke. You must abide her censure.

[The Lady rises from his knee.

Enter old Gentlewoman.

Gond. I see her come!

Unbutton me, for she will speak.
Gentlew. Where is he, sir?
Gond. Save me! I hear her.

[ence.

Arr. There he is in state, to give you audi-
Gentlew. How does your good lordship?
Gond. Sick of the spleen.
Gentlew. How?

Gond. Sick.

Gentlew. Will you chew a nutmeg?
You shall not refuse it; 'tis very comfortable.
Gond. Nay, now thou art come, I know it is
The devil's jubilee; hell is broke loose!
My lord, if ever I have done you service,
Or have deserv'd a favour of your grace,
Let me be turn'd upon some present action,
Where I may sooner die than languish thus!
Your grace hath her petition; grant it her,
And ease me now at last!

Duke. No, sir;
You must endure.

Gentlew. For my petition,

I hope your lordship hath remember'd me.
Ori. 'Faith, I begin to pity him: Arrigo,
Take her off; bear her away; say her petition
Is granted.

Gentlew. Whither do you draw me, sir?
I know it is not my lord's pleasure I
Should be thus us'd, before my business be
Dispatch'd.

Arr. You shall know more of that without.
Ori. Unbind him, ladies! But, before he go,
This he shall promise: for the love I bear
To our own sex, I would have them still
Hated by thee; and enjoin thee, as a punish-
ment,

Never hereafter willingly to come

56 Let them on her, and loath them too.] Sympson would read,

Set them on her, and loo 'em too;

which Seward justly rejects; but thinks he discovers a meaning in these words, which they certainly do not convey; viz. If there be any here that are such fools to retain a love even for their mothers, let them be persecuted by this woman, and they will loath them, i. e. 'their mothers also.'-It has been very ingeniously suggested, that we probably should read, Let them honour and loath them too;

i. e. 'Let them feel the opposite sensations of honouring and despising them at the same 'time. But the source of the difficulty has, we apprehend, been the loss of the word look, which being restored, the passage carries with it its own explanation.

VOL. III.

3 T

In

In the presence or sight of any woman,
Nor never to seek wrongfully the public
Disgrace of any.

Gond. 'Tis that I would have sworn, and do;
When I meddle with them57, for their good,
Or their bad, may time call back this day
again!

And when I come in their companies,

May I catch the pox by their breath, and have
No other pleasure for it!

Duke. You are

Too merciful.

Ori. My lord, I shew'd my sex
The better.

Val. All is over-blown. Sister,
You're like to have a fair night of it,
And a prince in your arms.-Let's go, my
lords.

Duke. Thus, thro' the doubtful streams of
joy and grief,

True love doth wade, and finds at last relief. [Exeunt omnes.

57 When I meditate with them.] So all editions but the first quarto; from which invaluable copy we have made a great number of corrections, some more beneficial to the sense than this before us. On many of the errors in the later editions, we had prepared notes, and proposed variations; but on collating the text with the quarto above-mentioned (which we should not have been able to do, but for the favour of Mr. Garrick), we have suppressed our notes, and silently made the amendments there pointed out: not chusing to adopt the mode of our predecessors; who, in such cases, commonly inserted very prolix refutations of the lection in the then-last edition, proposed variations, of which they adopted the best, and then concluded their notes with, AND THIS IS CONFIRMED BY THE OLDEST EDITIONS. 58 Let's go, my lord.] Perhaps these words belong to Oriana.

Ir seems not quite clear that the whole of this play was written in verse; but many speeches that evidently resolve themselves into measure having been printed as prose, Seward very properly endeavoured to restore them to their original state. He has, in our opinion, not always been elegant or accurate in his division. We are not entirely satisfied with our own; yet think the text at least runs off more easily in this edition than in any preceding one, less violated by arbitrary additions, omissions, and transpositions, and the eye and ear less offended by elisions, more barbarous than those of Procrustes.

THE

THE NICE VALOUR;

OR,

THE PASSIONATE MADMAN.

A COMEDY.

The Commendatory Verses by Gardiner ascribe this Play to Fletcher; the Prologue and Epilogue speak of the Poet singly; Seward (see note 3 on the Commendatory Poems) supposes it to be Beaumont's. It was first printed in the folio of 1617; and hath never been altered, that we are able to discover.

It grows in fashion of late, in these days,
To come and beg a suffrage to our plays':
'Faith, gentlemen, our poet ever writ [wit,
Language so good, mix'd with such sprightly
He made the theatre so sovereign

With his rare scenes, he scorn'd this crouch-
ing vein.

We stabb'd him with keen daggers, when we
pray'd

Hi write a preface to a play well made.
He could not write these toys; 'twas easier far
To bring a felon to appear at th' bar
So much he hated baseness; which this day,
His scenes will best convince you of in's play.

! A suffrage to our plays.] First folio exhibits sufferance.