ページの画像
PDF
ePub

at farmer Harrowby's, in the village; he is, it seems, very poor, and more proud than poor, and more honest than proud. Sir R. And so he sends to me for assistance.

Hum. He'd see you hanged first! No, he'd sooner die than ask you or any man for a shilling! There's his daughter, and his wife's aunt, and an old corporal that served in the wars with him, he keeps them all upon his half-pay. Sir R. Starves them all, I'm afraid, Humphrey.

Fred. [Going.] Good morning, uncle.

Sir R. You rogue, where are you running, now?
Fred. To talk with Lieutenant Worthington.

Sir R. And what may you be going to say to him?

Fred. I can't tell till I encounter him; and then, uncle, when I have an old gentleman by the hand, who has been disabled in his country's service, and is struggling to support his motherless child, a poor relation, and a faithful servant in honorable indigence, impulse will supply me with words to express my sentiments.

Sir R. Stop you rogue; I must be before you in this business.

Fred. That depends on who can run the fastest; so, start fair, uncle, and here goes.-[Runs out.]

Sir R. Stop, stop; why, Frederic-a +jackanapes-to take my department out of my hands! I'll disinherit the dog for his assurance.

Hum. No, you won't.

Sir R. Won't I? Hang me if I-but we'll argue that point as we go. So, come along Humphrey.

[blocks in formation]

ST. KEYNE was a Welch princess, who lived and died near the well which was named after her. It was popularly believed, that she laid upon this well the spell described in this ballad.

*AN; an obsolete word meaning if.

1. A WELL there is in the West Country,
And a clearer one never was seen;
There is not a wife in the West Country,
But has heard of the well of St. Keyne.

2. An oak and an elm tree stand beside,
And behind does an ash tree grow,
And a willow from the bank above,
Droops to the water below.

3. A traveler came to the well of St. Keyne:
Joyfully he drew nigh,

For from cock-crow he had been traveling,

And there was not a cloud in the sky.

4. He drank of the water, so cool and clear, For thirsty and hot was he;

And he sat down upon the bank,

Under the willow tree.

5. There came a man from the neighboring town, At the well to fill his pail;

On the well-side he rested it,

And he bade the stranger thail.

6. "Now art thou a bachelor, stranger?" quoth he;
"For an thou hast a wife,

The happiest draught thou hast drank this day
That ever thou didst in thy life.

7. "Or has thy good woman, if one thou hast,
"Ever here, in Cornwall been?

For an she have, I'll venture my life,

She has drunk of the well of St. Keyne."

8. "I have left a good woman, who never was here,
The stranger he made reply;

"But that my draught should be better for that,
I pray you answer me why."

9. "St. Keyne," +quoth the Cornish-man, "many a time Drank of this +crystal well;

And before the angel summon'd her,
She laid on the water a spell.

10. "If the husband of this gifted well
Shall drink before his wife,
A happy man thenceforth is he,
For he shall be master for life.

11. "But if the wife should drink of it first,
God help the husband then!"

The stranger stoop'd to the well of St. Keyne,
And drank of the water again.

12. "You drank of the well, I warrant, +betimes!"
He to the Cornish-man said:

But the Cornish-man smil'd, as the stranger spake,
And sheepishly shook his head.

13. "I hasten'd, as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my wife in the porch;

But in faith! she had been wiser than I,
For she took a bottle to church."

XC. THE FOLLY OF INTOXICATION.
FROM SHAKSPEARE.

CASSIO and IAGO.

Iago. WHAT! are you hurt, lieutenant?
Cassio. Past all surgery.

Iago. Marry, Heaven forbid !

Cas. +Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is +bestial. My reputation! Iago, my reputation !

Iago. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound: there is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition: oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. What, man! there are ways to recover the general again. Sue to him, and he's yours.

Cas. I will rather sue to be despised. Drunk! and squabble! swagger! swear! and discourse fustian with one's own shadow! Oh, thou invincible spirit of wine! if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.

Iago. What was he that you followed with your sword? What had he done to you?

Cas. I know not.

Iago. Is 't possible?

Cus. I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. Oh, that men should put an enemy into their mouths, to steal away their brains: that we should, with joy, gayety, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!

lago. Why, but you are now well enough: how came you thus recovered?

Cas. It has pleased the devil, Drunkenness, to give place to the devil, Wrath; one imperfection shows me another, to make me frankly despise myself.

Iago. Come, you are too severe a moralizer. As the time, the place, and the condition of this country stands, I could heartily wish this had not befallen; but since it is as it is, mend it for your own good.

Cas. If I ask him for my place again, he will tell me I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all. To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast! Every tinordinate cup is unblessed, and the ingredient is a devil.

Iago. Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used; exclaim no more against it. And, good lieutenant, I think, you think I love you.

Cas. I have well approved it, sir. I, drunk!

Iago. You or any man living, may be drunk at some time, man. I tell you what you shall do. Our general's wife is now the general. Confess yourself freely to her; importune her help to put you in your place again. She is of so free, so apt, so kind, so blessed a disposition, she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested. This broken joint between you and her husband, entreat her to splinter; and, my fortunes against any lay worth naming, this crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was before. Cas. You advise me well.

Jago. I protest in all the sincerity of love and honest kindness.

Cas. I think it freely, and betimes in the morning, I will beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me.

Iago. You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant, I must go to the watch.

Cas. Good night, honest Iago.

21

XCI.

- AN ELEGY ON MADAM BLAIZE.
FROM GOLDSMITH.

1. Good people all, with one taccord,
Lament for Madam Blaize ;
Who never wanted a good word—
From those who spoke her praise.

2. The needy seldom pass'd her door,
And always found her kind;
She freely lent to all the poor-
Who left a pledge behind.

3. She strove the neighborhood to please,
With manner wondrous winning;
She never follow'd wicked ways-
Unless when she was sinning.

4. At church, in silks and satins new,
With +hoop of monstrous size,
She never slumber'd in her pew-
But when she shut her eyes.

5. Her love was sought, I do aver,
By twenty beaux, or more;
The king himself has follow'd her-
When she has walk'd before.

6. But now, her wealth and +finery fled,
Her +hangers-on cut short all,

Her doctors found, when she was dead-
Her last disorder mortal.

7. Let us lament, in sorrow sore;

For Kent-street well may say,

That, had she liv'd a twelemonth more―
She had not died today.

XCII. THE EVILS OF WAR.

1. NOBODY sees a battle. The common soldier fires away amid a smoke-mist, or hurries on to the charge in a crowd, which hides every thing from him. The officer is too anxious about the performance of what he is especially charged with, to mind what others are doing. The com

« 前へ次へ »