She further speaks of the above Infidels—“their Linkboys' ribaldry, larded with unseasonable oaths, and impudent defiance of God & all things serious & that at such a senseless damn'd unthinking rate," &c. [Mrs. Behn. Dutch Lover. Preface.] ONE WHO DAMN'D HER PLAY Indeed that day 'twas acted first, there comes one into the Pit a long, lither, phlegmatic, white, ill favored, wretched fop-a thing, reader, but no more of such a smelt! This thing, I tell you, opening that which served it for a mouth, out issued such a noise as this to those that sate about it, that "they were to expect a woeful play, God damn him, for it was a Woman's." HER NOTION OF PLAYS [Ibid.] "That they were intended for the exercising of men's passions, not their understandings, & he is infinitely far from wise that will bestow one moment's private meditation upon such things." She "takes it that Comedy was never meant either for a converting or confirming ordinance." [Ibid.] ADMIRERS OF BEN ABOVE SHAKSPEAR: AFFECTATION I have seen a man, the most severe of Jonson's sect, sit with his hat removed less than a hair's breadth from one sullen posture for almost three hours at the Alchemist, who at that excellent Play of Harry the Fourth (which yet I hope is far enough from farce) hath very hardly kept his doublet whole. [Ibid.] She has been informed that Benjamin was no such Rabbi neither, his learning was but grammar high, sufficient indeed to rob poor Sallust of his best orations.' [Ibid.] NO REASON WHY WOMEN SHOULD NOT WRITE PLAYS AS WELL AS MEN "Plays have no great room for that which is men's great advantage over women, Learning," & she instances unlearned Shakspear having better pleased the world than Jonson's works (this in 1673), & yet Benjamin, &c. (see above)—and proceeds-"if Comedy should be the picture of ridiculous mankind, I wonder any one should think it such a sturdy task whilst we are furnish'd with such precious originals." "And for our modern playwrights, except our most unimitable Laureat, I dare to say I know of none that write at such a formidable rate, but that a woman may well hope to reach their greatest height." [Ibid.] "DUTCH LOVER:" MRS. BEHN Marcel: divided between his design upon the honor of Clarinda, and his revenge upon another for dishonouring his Sister; he inclines to the latter But stay-O Conscience, when I look within, And lay my anger by, I find that sin, [Ibid., Act ii., Sc. 1.] DEFINITION OF FARCE A play is not called a Farce from any number of acts but from the lowness of the subject & characters; which are not true characters in nature, nor just representations of human characters (as Comedy is or should be) but from the oddness & extravagances of the characters & subject: who, tho' not natural, yet not always against nature; and tho' not true, yet diverting and foolishly delightful. A Farce is like a Dutch piece of painting, or a grotesque figure extravagant & pleasant. [Ravenscroft. The Italian Husband. TRAGEDY Pre -the great characters and subjects of serious Plays are the past glories of the world. E. Settle. [Dedicatory Epistle prefixed to Cam- EXCUSATORY PROLOGUE TO TATE'S "LEAR" [Prologue.] He apologises for having "used less quaintness of style" in the added scenes, which was "partly to comply with my Author's style." [Dedication.] "ENGLISH MONSIEUR” [HON. J. HOWARD. See p. 520] Vaine. Harkee, Mr. Frenchlove, tho' I don't doubt my Mistress' constancy, yet I'm resolv'd to ask her to marry me with all speed, because so fair a woman as she is, will have many Suitors. When do you intend to ask your Lady the question? Mons. At some agreeable time, Sir, when the French fancy is most in her head. The Monsieur comforts himself, when his Mistress rejects him, that 'twas a denial with a French tone of voice, so that 'twas agreeable; and at her departure: "Do you see, Sir, how she leaves us; she walks away with a French step." BEN JONSON'S GRACE [Act iv., Sc. 3.] [“The time has been when as old Ben ended his Grace with] 'God bless me, and God bless Ralph' [viz.], the honest Drawer that drew him good Sack." [George] Powell. [Dedicatory Epistle before The Treacherous Brothers, 1696.] FROM "HEY FOR HONESTY:" RANDOLPH. [See p. 524] Gunpowder Traitors, "with their heads upon poles a Daw-catching over the Parliament House." [Act i., Sc. 2, p. 401.] FROM THE SAME As sure as can be some gib'd cat that died issueless has adopted thee for her heir and bequeathed the legacy of her melancholy to thee. [Act ii., Sc. 3.] FROM THE SAME Dare you grunt, you unethical rustics? [Act ii., Sc. 4.] FROM THE SAME Poverty musters her ragged regiment: an Irish, Welsh, Scotch, man; & English beggar. The Scot claims precedency, as having more Scotch lice about him than the last has English creepers. Engl. What then? My lice are of the noble breed; Sprung from the Danes, Saxons, & Normans' blood. True English born, all plump, and all well favor'd. Welsh. Is Carodoch no respected among her? her lice are petter a pedigree as the good'st of 'em all. Her lice come ap Shinkin, ap Shon, ap Owens, ap Richard, ap Morgan, ap Hugh, ap Brutus, ap Sylvius, ap Eneas, & so up my shoulder. (The Irish declines the Test, as no venomous things breed in his country.) [Act iii,, Sc. 1.] FROM THE SAME Country woman cultivates her corns, to save her husband in almanacks. [Act iii., Sc. 3.] FROM THE SAME To cure Plutus' blindness, Esculapius bruises Argus' eyes in a mortar, tempering them with a look beyond Luther, administring them with a feather of the peacock's tail. [Act iii., Sc. 3.] FROM "THE BASTARD," 1652. [See p. 504] ODD PHRASES I had rather be of the society of Danaus' daughters, and torment me in the abissive hogsheads, than be your bedfellow I will have a cave A darksome spelunk in some wilderness. [Act i., Sc. 1.] [Act iv., Sc. 4.] [FROM "LOVE IN THE DARK." FANE. See p. 565] Matrimony, like gunpowder, found out by a Friar, and has alter'd the course of love more than the other has that of war. True, men are chain'd in galleys, horses bridled, and oxen yok'd to work.2 ["Admit" in the play.] [The passage runs thus in the play :— [Act ii., pp. 20, 21.] "'Twas worse than the invention of gunpowder & 't has altered the course of love more than the other has that of war. (Five lines here.) True men are chain'd in galleys, horses bridled," &c.] For slavish offices, and things ungrateful, constraint is necessary; But for the sweets of love, to have a man Do men chain up themselves at dinner to their tables, [Ibid., p. 21.] FROM "QUERER POR SOLO QUERER." [See p. 470] Claridore, a second lover of Zelidaura's, knows her at first sight in her disguise, & addresses himself to her: Clar. Shepherdess, whose sheep walks reach From China's wall to the Muscovian Beach. And rul'st them with a golden hook [Festivals Represented at Aranwhez is a separate piece in the same volume as Querer Por Solo Querer. For the following, see ed. 1671, p. 36.] FROM THE SAME At the Feasts at Aranwhez, where this dramatic romance was exhibited, the Theatre was fired by accident. The Poet thus describes the behaviour of the young King & Queen, and the Nobles on this occasion : But what is this? the Frame entire Is jurisdiction of the fire, A flame, as any lightning quick, Of that Fair Youth, who, like an old He surveys the lowest story, The Rout, who at the danger quake, When only it should cause them wake: The danger than the fear is less; And of the fright, and of the press, And of the remedy they chose, Now, all that Blood, or Hymen's hands, |