Читать книгу The Works of Henry Fielding, vol. 12 - Генри Филдинг, Fielding Harold - Страница 28
THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES; OR, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TOM THUMB THE GREAT
ACT I
SCENE II. – KING, QUEEN, GRIZZLE, NOODLE, DOODLE, FOODLE
ОглавлениеKing. [1] Let nothing but a face of joy appear; The man who frowns this day shall lose his head, That he may have no face to frown withal. Smile Dollallolla – Ha! what wrinkled sorrow [2] Hangs, sits, lies, frowns upon thy knitted brow? Whence flow those tears fast down thy blubber'd cheeks, Like a swoln gutter, gushing through the streets?
[Footnote 1: Phraortes, in the Captives, seems to have been acquainted with King Arthur:
Proclaim a festival for seven days' space,
Let the court shine in all its pomp and lustre,
Let all our streets resound with shouts of joy;
Let musick's care-dispelling voice be heard;
The sumptuous banquet and the flowing goblet
Shall warm the cheek and fill the heart with gladness.
Astarbe shall sit mistress of the feast.
]
[Footnote 2:
Repentance frowns on thy contracted brow. —Sophonisba.
Hung on his clouded brow, I mark'd despair. —Ibid.
– A sullen gloom
Scowls on his brow. —Busiris.
]
Queen. [1]Excess of joy, my lord, I've heard folks say, Gives tears as certain as excess of grief.
[Footnote 1: Plato is of this opinion, and so is Mr Banks:
Behold these tears sprung from fresh pain and joy.
– Earl of Essex.
]
King. If it be so, let all men cry for joy, [1]Till my whole court be drowned with their tears; Nay, till they overflow my utmost land, And leave me nothing but the sea to rule.
[Footnote 1: These floods are very frequent in the tragick authors:
Near to some murmuring brook I'll lay me down,
Whose waters, if they should too shallow flow,
My tears shall swell them up till I will drown.
– Lee's Sophonisba.
Pouring forth tears at such a lavish rate,
That were the world on fire they might have drown'd
The wrath of heaven, and quench'd the mighty ruin.
– Mithridates.
One author changes the waters of grief to those of joy:
– These tears, that sprung from tides of grief,
Are now augmented to a flood of joy. —Cyrus the Great.
Another:
Turns all the streams of heat, and makes them flow
In pity's channel. —Royal Villain.
One drowns himself:
– Pity like a torrent pours me down,
Now I am drowning all within a deluge. —Anna Sullen.
Cyrus drowns the whole world:
Our swelling grief
Shall melt into a deluge, and the world
Shall drown in tears. —Cyrus the Great.
]
Dood. My liege, I a petition have here got.
King. Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day:
Let other hours be set apart for business.
To-day it is our pleasure to be [1]drunk.
And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.
[Footnote 1: An expression vastly beneath the dignity of tragedy, says
Mr D – s, yet we find the word he cavils at in the mouth of
Mithridates less properly used, and applied to a more terrible idea:
I would be drunk with death. —Mithridates.
The author of the New Sophonisba taketh hold of this monosyllable, and uses it pretty much to the same purpose:
The Carthaginian sword with Roman blood
Was drunk.
I would ask Mr D – s which gives him the best idea, a drunken king, or a drunken sword?
Mr Tate dresses up King Arthur's resolution in heroick:
Merry, my lord, o' th' captain's humour right,
I am resolved to be dead drunk to-night.
Lee also uses this charming word:
Love's the drunkenness of the mind. —Gloriana. ]
Queen. (Though I already[1] half seas over am)
If the capacious goblet overflow
With arrack punch – 'fore George! I'll see it out:
Of rum and brandy I'll not taste a drop.
[Footnote 1: Dryden hath borrowed this, and applied it improperly:
I'm half seas o'er in death. —Cleomenes ]
King. Though rack, in punch, eight shillings be a quart, And rum and brandy be no more than six, Rather than quarrel you shall have your will. [Trumpets. But, ha! the warrior comes – the great Tom Thumb, The little hero, giant-killing boy, Preserver of my kingdom, is arrived.
