The Works of Henry Fielding Part 27

[Footnote 1: These beautiful phrases are all to be found in one single speech of King Arthur, or the British Worthy.]

_King_. What does the blockhead mean?

_Nood_. I mean, my liege, [1] Only to grace my tale with decent horror.

Whilst from my garret, twice two stories high, I look'd abroad into the streets below, I saw Tom Thumb attended by the mob; Twice twenty shoe-boys, twice two dozen links, Chairmen and porters, hackney-coachmen, wh.o.r.es; Aloft he bore the grizly head of Grizzle; When of a sudden through the streets there came A cow, of larger than the usual size, And in a moment--guess, oh! guess the rest!-- And in a moment swallow'd up Tom Thumb.

[Footnote 1: I was but teaching him to grace his tale With decent horror. --_Cleomenes_.

_King_. Shut up again the prisons, bid my treasurer Not give three farthings out-hang all the culprits, Guilty or not--no matter.--Ravish virgins: Go bid the schoolmasters whip all their boys!

Let lawyers, parsons, and physicians loose, To rob, impose on, and to kill the world.

_Nood_. Her majesty the queen is in a swoon.

_Queen_. Not so much in a swoon but I have still Strength to reward the messenger of ill news.

[_Kills_ NOODLE.

_Nood_. O! I am slain.

_Cle_. My lover's kill'd, I will revenge him so.

[_Kills the_ QUEEN.

_Hunc_. My mamma kill'd! vile murderess, beware.

[_Kills_ CLEORA.

_Dood_. This for an old grudge to thy heart.

[_Kills_ HUNCAMUNCA.

_Must_. And this I drive to thine, O Doodle! for a new one.

[_Kills_ DOODLE.

_King_. Ha! murderess vile, take that. [_Kills_ MUST.

[1] And take thou this. [_Kills himself, and falls_.

So when the child, whom nurse from danger guards, Sends Jack for mustard with a pack of cards, Kings, queens, and knaves, throw one another down, Till the whole pack lies scatter'd and o'erthrown; So all our pack upon the floor is cast, And all I boast is--that I fall the last. [_Dies_.

[Footnote 1: We may say with Dryden,

Death did at length so many slain forget, And left the tale, and took them by the great.

I know of no tragedy which comes nearer to this charming and b.l.o.o.d.y catastrophe than Cleomenes, where the curtain covers five princ.i.p.al characters dead on the stage. These lines too--

I ask no questions then, of who kill'd who?

The bodies tell the story as they lie--

seem to have belonged more properly to this scene of our author; nor can I help imagining they were originally his, The Rival Ladies, too, seem beholden to this scene:

We're now a chain of lovers link'd in death; Julia goes first, Gonsalvo hangs on her, And Angelina hangs upon Gonsalvo, As I on Angelina.

No scene, I believe, ever received greater honours than this. It was applauded by several encores, a word very unusual in tragedy. And it was very difficult for the actors to escape without a second slaughter. This I take to be a lively a.s.surance of that fierce spirit of liberty which remains among us, and which Mr Dryden, in his essay on Dramatick Poetry, hath observed: "Whether custom," says he, "hath so insinuated itself into our countrymen, or nature hath so formed them to fierceness, I know not; but they will scarcely suffer combats and other objects of horror to be taken from them." And indeed I am for having them encouraged in this martial disposition; nor do I believe our victories over the French have been owing to anything more than to those b.l.o.o.d.y spectacles daily exhibited in our tragedies, of which the French stage is so intirely clear.

PASQUIN;

A DRAMATICK SATIRE ON THE TIMES

BEING THE REHEARSAL OF TWO PLAYS: VIZ.,

A COMEDY CALLED

THE ELECTION,

AND A TRAGEDY CALLED

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COMMON SENSE.

FIRST ACTED IN APRIL 1736.

_DRAMATIS PERSONAe_.

_Trapwit_, Author . . . . . . . . . Mr ROBERTS, _Fustian_, Author . . . . . . . . . Mr LACY.

_Sneerwell_ (a critick) . . . . . . Mr MACHEN.

Several Players and Prompter.

PERSONS IN THE COMEDY.

_Lord Place_, Candidate . . . . . Mrs CHARKE, _Colonel Promise_, Candidate . . Mr FREEMAN, _Sir Henry Fox-Chace_, Candidate . . Mr TOPHAM, _Squire Tankard_, Candidate . . . Mr SMITH, _Mayor_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr JONES.

_Aldermen, Voters, &c_.

_Mrs Mayoress_ . . . . . . . . . Mrs EGERTON.

_Miss Mayoress_ . . . . . . . . . Miss J. JONES.

_Miss St.i.tch_ . . . . . . . . . . Miss BURGESS.

_Servants, Mob, &c_.

PERSONS IN THE TRAGEDY.

_Queen Common-Sense_ . . . . . . Mrs EGERTON.

_Queen Ignorance_ . . . . . . . . Mr STRENSHAM.

_Firebrand_ (Priest of the Sun) . Mr ROBERTS.