Sir Oli. Fairest, you have vow'd your widowhood to the grave, At least, you have so protested: yet because Our hearts and purposes are not our own, And that no bosom has that constancy But heav'n may alter the resolve it has, And make it follow what it fled,-it may My love petitions, that if e'er hereafter You find that alteration in your soul, And again fancy wedlock,-I--your servant, May, for that second happiness to heaven, Stand fair'st in your election. Lad. Pray no more. Sir Oli. Give my request an answer :-If you do. Sir Oli. What?-I understand you, lady. Sir Oli. To which I am rapt in this sweet tone.-If e'er I know The character of Sir Oliver is finely displayed in the duel scene, which is equal to a similar one in the Fair Quarrel. It is an excellent specimen of a gentlemanly combat on the part of Sir Oliver. "Enter Sir Oliver and the Captain, as in the field. Capt. Now, Knight, I see, you love a noble promise Too well to break it :-you're a gentleman. Sir Oli. Sir, should I find that I had lost myself In any thing that should proclaim me less, I should not hate mine enemy so much As such a heady action. Capt. I am ready. Sir Oli. I see you are: but ere our weapons meet, Tell me, what seconds have you, Captain? Capt. Seconds?—A strange demand.-How mean you? Sir Oli. Why, a man That may assist you Capt. A second?. if you fail. -were any such appointed ?—I have none. Sir Oli. How, Captain?-None? Capt. I have not, sir: have you? Sir Oli. Believe 't, I have ;—I should not else have met So great a danger, Mullynex. Capt. A second! Is this the nobleness you boast?—A knight! A servile foot-boy,—his master ere Give but one copy of a noble soul, Would have disdain'd this cowardice a second! Sir Oli. Nay, you may term it what you please:—no matter, 'Tis my advantage, Captain. Capt. Ha! where is he? Sir Oli. You may as well demand of more than one, For I have more, stout Captain. Capt. More? Sir Oliv. Yes, more. To keep, what lost can ne'er be found again, Capt. A man? Insnare me thus? where be they? If they be I shall not fear the encounter. Sir Oli. Think you so, sir? A minute's patience, I shall name them to you, Capt. Name them. Sir Oli. Yes, The first bold second that attends my sword We cannot meet that enemy that can Present us with more danger: there's the first. Of such a stock of goodness in that lady, As envy ne'er durst look on: which who knows not, Dar'st thou unarm'd-indeed a naked man Capt. What I dare, My sword shall tell thee, Bellingham. [Thrust. [Passes, Bellingham only puts by. Sir Oli. So sudden? Capt. Slighted?—death! I'll put your fence-play to 't a little better. Capt. Come, Bellingham. Sir Oli. Hold, Captain, hold,—you bleed. Cant. As you must do, Or all my blood's at hazard.-Have I touch'd you? Sir Oli. You have, stout Captain: Shall we part upon the equality of our hurts? Capt. How! part, sir? Sir Oli. Yes, our manhoods, standing in this equal point, We may do 't fairly; slight applyments yet May make us whole again. Capt. Shall a scratch part us? Sir Oli. How fatal, sir, another close may be, we know not. [Fight. Sir Oli. Come then, Mullynex, what following hurts you have, Call not the work of my unwilling hands, But thine own frenzy:-witness heav'n they are. Captain, you faint Capt. Take your advantage then. Sir Oli. Advantage, sir-how mean you? Capt. Of my wound: My weakness, Bellingham,-you see there's now No interposed resistance 'tween my heart And thy bold weapon-Come. Sir Oli. I rather wish That all thy blood were in thy veins again; Had all the fire and livelihood it had; [Fight. [Throws off his weapon. Though with that strength, new courage, and the malice That but two minutes past pursued my life, You should again pursue it, and put it to Another dangerous hazard. Capt. Thou may'st wish it; For 't were no hazard, 'gainst the muniment, And strong defences that Heaven plants about, A soul so pure as thine is. Sir Oli. How? is this The language of a wounded man to him That made them, Mullynex? Capt. What language fitter? Thou art a noble enemy:-And now My troubled understanding 's calm again, I see myself worthy the wounds I have, And all their anguish trebled.-Thou art just. Sir Oli. I am too unmindful of what most I mind, Capt. Mind thine own:-fly, Bellingham. Be fruitless then.-Come, Mullynex, let me Capt. Worthy sir,-you've a noble second. Sir Oli. Sir, I have, and whosoe'er dares be a duellist Should have the like; Should build his hopes, rather upon his cause Than on his strength, his skill, and hoodwink'd fury, The parts of the play occupied by the more comic characters are low, worthless buffoonery; meagre in humour, and barren of wit. Upon the whole, this is a very good play, and was so considered by a person of the name John Leanerd, who, in 1677, published it as his own, under the title of "Country Innocence; or, the Chambermaid turned Quaker," and dedicated it to his honoured friend, Sir Francis Hinchman. Langbaine, from whom we derive this information, accuses him of another larceny of the same sort. Cabala, sive Scrinia Sacra: Mysteries of State and Government, in Letters of illustrious Persons and great Ministers of State, as well foreign as domestick, in the Reigns of King Henry the Eighth, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles, wherein such Secrets of Empire and Publick Affairs as were then in Agitation are clearly represented, and many remarkable Passages faithfully collected: To which is added, in this third Edition, a second Part, consisting of a choice Collection of Original Letters and Negotiations, never before published. London, 1 Vol. folio, 1691. Original Correspondence, illustrative of the History and Manners of the Reign of Elizabeth; being one Section of the "History of Hallamshire." By the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F. S. A. THE collection of letters known by the title of the "Cabala'," has been more frequently consulted by the writers of history The first edition was entitled "Cabala, Mysteries of State, in Letters of the great Ministers of King James and King Charles, wherein much of the publique Manage of and biography, as well as of books of the epicene description called "Memoirs," than any similar work; and the fact of its having passed through three editions proves the popularity which it attained. Compared with various other compilations of the same kind which have subsequently appeared, its value is not so pre-eminent as of itself to explain the different manner in which it was received; and to no other cause than a change in the public taste can the eircumstance be attributed, that whilst such interesting letters as those edited by Sir John Fenn, by Mr. Lodge, and by various other persons, have, comparatively speaking, been neglected, the collection before us should have experienced so flattering a reception. It will not, we hope, be supposed from these observations, that we are not sensible of the illustrations which the "Cabala" affords to various parts of English history; but the popularity of a work depends upon the amusement rather than the instruction which is to be gained from it; and as but very few of the letters in question can be read with any view to the former, it speaks most favourably of the literary taste of the last century, that the avidity after the latter was sufficiently great to require three impressions of mere official correspondence. 66 The public are so well acquainted with the " Cabala," that it was much more from the fear that we should be considered neglectful of our duty if we failed to pay early attention to it, than from any expectation of presenting our readers with much that will entertain them, that we have made it the subject of this article. This consideration will induce us to dismiss it as briefly as possible; but, as it may be useful, a slight account of its contents will be given: our extracts will be selected from among the few statements of general interest, rather than those of historical importance, since the latter have been dove-tailed into nearly every work which treats of the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles the First. Although the title-page states that the volume contains letters of the reign of Henry VIII., there are not more than Affaires is related. Faithfully collected by a Noble Hand. London, 1654, [but the copy in the Museum has been thus corrected: October 31, 1653'] 4to. pp. 347." The second edition, which is a folio of four hundred and sixteen pages, has nearly the same title as the third edition, excepting that its contents are said to have been "formerly in two volumes, to which is added, Several Choice Letters and Negotiations nowhere else published, now collected and printed together in one volume." It appeared in 1663, from the publishers of the edition of 1653, and apparently contains the whole of what is in the third edition, excepting the letters which there form the second part. What was meant by saying that the letters in the edition of 1663 were previously published "in two volumes," has not been ascertained. The edition noticed in the text was published by Thomas Sawbridge, in Little Britain, and Matthew Gillyflower, in Westminster Hall, and others; but the initials of Sawbridge and Gillyflower only are affixed to the preface. |