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Enter Cassander.

THE CORONATION.

Cass. Oh, let me beg until my knees take

root

I'th' earth. Sir, can you pardon me?
Dem. For what?

[treason:

Cass. For treason, desperate, most malicious I have undone you, sir!

Dem. It does appear

You had a will,

[can;

Cass. I'll make you all the recompense But ere you kill me, bear me! Know the man Whom I, to serve my unjust ends, advanc'd T'your throne, is an impostor, a mere counterfeit,

Eubulus' son.

[Exit Ant.

Dem. It is not then our brother?
Cass. An insolent usurper, proud and bloody
Seleucus. Is no leprosy upon me?
There is not punishment enough in nature
To quit my horrid act; I have not in
My stock of blood, to satisfy with weeping;
Nor could my soul, tho' melted to a flood
Within me, gush out tears to wash my stain off.
Dem. How! an impostor? What will be-

come on's now?

We're at his mercy.

Cass. Sir, the people's hearts
Will come to their own dwelling, when they
[sce
I dare accuse myself, and suiler for it. [not
Have courage then, young king! thy fate can-
Be long compell'd.

Dem. Rise, our misfortune

Carries this good; altho' it lose our hopes,
It makes you friend with Virtue: we'll expect
What Providence will do.

Cass. You are too merciful.

Lysim. Our duties shall beg Heaven still to preserve you.

Enter Antigonus.

Ant. Our enemy desires some parley, sir. Lysim. 'Tis not amiss to hear their proposition.

[ourselves!

Polid. I'll wait upon you.
Dem. Thou art my angel,
And canst best instruct me!-Boldly present
You'll with's, Cassander?

Cass. And in death be blest

To find your charity.

Lysim. Madam?

Sophia. Lysimachus!

[Exit.

[the small time

Sophia. They will not miss your presence,

Is spent in asking of a question,

Lysim. I wait your pleasure.

Sophia. Sir, I have a suit to you,
Lysim. To me? it must be granted,

Sophia. If y

you

Have cancelled

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Deny me not to know who hath succeeded opinion of Sophia in your heart? I beg the name

Of your new mistress.

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Our soul's bound to acknowledge: you sup-
[plied
The absence and opinion of my son,
Who died but to make you my greater care,
I knew not of Demetrius; but suppos'd
Him dead indeed, as Epire thought you were,
Your father's character doth want no testi
mony,
Which, but compar'd with what concerns De
[metrius,
Will prove itself king Theodosius' act,
Your royal father.

Bishop. I am subscrib'd to both his legacies,
By oath oblig'd to secresy, until
Thus fairly summon'd to reveal the trust.
Eub. Čassander had no thought you
would prove thus,

To whose policy I gave this aim, altho’
He wrought you up to serve but as his engine
To batter young Demetrius: for it was
Your father's prudent jealousy that made him
Give out your early deatlis, as if his soul
Prophesied his own first, and fear'd to leave
Either of you to the unsafe protection
Of one, whose study would be to supplant
Your right, and make himself the king of Epire.

Bishop. Your sister, fair Sophia, in your
father's

Life, was design'd to marry with Lysimachus;
That guarded her; altho' she us'd some art
To quit her pupillage, and being absolute,
Declar'd love to Demetrius, which enforc'd
Macarius to discover first your brother.

Leo. No more! lest you destroy again
Leonatus,
With wonder of his fate! Are they not come
Lyet?
Something it was I felt within me envy

Of young Demetrius' fortune; there were
seeds
Scatter'd upon my heart, that made it swell
With thought of empire: princes I see cannot
Be totally eclips'd. But wherefore stay
Demetrius and Sophia, at whose names
A gentle spirit walk'd

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A gentle spirit walk'd upon my blood?] This would imply, that before he knew his rela

Enter Demetrius, Polidora, Sophia, Macarius, Cassander, and Lysimachus.

Eub. They're here.

Leo. Then thus I fly into their bosoms! Nature has rectified in me, Demetrius, The wandrings of ambition. Qur dear sister, You are amaz'd; I did expect it: read Assurance there! the day is big with wonder. Mac. What means all this?

Leo. Lysimachus, be dear to us!
Cassander, you are welcome too.
Cass. Not I;

I do not look for't; all this sha'not bribe
My conscience to your faction, and make
Me false again. Seleucus is no son
Of Theodosius: my dear countrymen,
Correct your erring duties, and to that,
Your lawful king, prostrate yourselves! De-
Doth challenge all your knees. [metrius

Dem. All love and duty

Flow from me to my royal king, and brother!
I am confirm'd.

Cass. You are too credulous!
What can betray your faith so much?

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Leo. But where's your other mistress? Lysim. Even here, sir.

[sir?

[gan

Leo. Our sister? is this another mistress, Lysim. It holds

To prove my thoughts were so: when she beHer sorrow for neglecting me, that sweetness Deserv'd I should esteem her another mistress Than when she cruelly forsook Lysimachus. Your pardon, madam! and receive a heart Proud with my first devotions to serve you!

Sophia. In this I'm crown'd again! now mine for ever!

Leo. You have deceiv'd her happily. Joy to you both!

Dem. We're ripe for the same wishes; Polidora's part of me.

Polid. He all my blessing.

Leo. Heav'n pour full joys upon you!

Muc. We're all blest:

There wants but one to fill your arms.
Leo. My mistress

And wife shall be my country, to which I
Was in my birth contracted: your love since
Hath play'd the priest to perfect what was
ceremony.

Tho' kingdoms by just titles prove our own, The subjects' hearts do best secure a crown. [Exeunt omnes.

tion to his brother and sister, he had often had, by secret instinct, a love for them: but as no hint of this appears in any thing he before says or does, I prefer the present tense :

walks upon my blood?

This expression is noble, and seems taken from Genesis. The spirit of God mov'd upon the face of the waters.

Seward.

I conceive, that the poet designed here to express, how dormant that affection which ought to be toward brethren, though strangers to each other, had lain in Seleucus; and upon this account I would suppose, that a word of a stronger import may yet bid fairer for the true one: I read thus,

A gentle spirit wakes upon my blood? Sympson.

We have retained the old reading, as thinking it far preferable to either of the variations.

EPILOGUE.

THERE is no Coronation to-day,
Unless your gentle votes do crown our play.
If smiles appear within each lady's eye,
Which are the leading stars in this fair sky,
Our solemn day sets glorious; for then
We hope, by their soft influence, the men
Will grace what they first shin'd on: make't
[ear

appear,

(Both) how we please, and bless our covetous

With your applause; more welcome thatt the bells

Upon a triumph, bonfires, or what else
Can speak a Coronation! And tho' I
Were late depos'd, and spoit'd of majesty,
By the kind aid of your hands, gentlemen,
I quickly may be crown'd a queen again.
THE

THE SEA-VOYAGE'.

A COMEDY.

This Play is in the Commendatory Verses by Gardiner ascribed to Fletcher alone, and was first printed in the folio of 1647. It was revived by Tom Durfey, with alterations, in the year 1686, and exhibited at the Theatre-Royal, under the title of The Commonwealth of Women, and at the same time printed in quarto.

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This play, as it stands in all the former copies, has not received so much injury in its sense as measure, and so we have not so much cause to complain of the former as of the latter: yet cause there is, as the reader will see in the following notes. Mr. Shirley, who published the old folio edition, seems to have had little care of making our poets appear to advantage, when he sent this play into the world in so unpoetical a dress; I own the restoring of the measure cost me abundantly more application and pains than the correcting the text; but yet the reader must not expect that musical, exact flow of numbers which our modern gentlemen of Parnassus are so careful about, here, any more than in Shakespeare: however, I think I may remark once for all, both upon our authors and him, that whenever any subject requires the sublime, the pathetick or descriptive, there the numbers are equal to both the sentiment and diction, and the happy mixture is capable of transporting any soul who has the least taste for the beauties of poetry. Sympson.

In restoring the measure' (as Mr. Sympson calls it) he has tacitly interpolated, and omitted in a manner unprecedented in any editors but those of these Works in 1750. The variations, both avowed and secret, we may safely pronounce to be almost all for the worse, and unworthy mention; those which are otherwise, shall be properly noticed.

VOL. III.

G K

ACT

A Tempest, Thunder and Lightning.

Enter Master and two Sailors.

ACT I.

Master.LA AY her aloof, the sea grows dan

gerous:

How't spits against the clouds! how it capers,
And how the fiery element frights it back!
There be devils dancing in the air, I think.
I saw a dolphin hang i'th' horns o'th' moon,
Shot from a wave. Hey-day, hey-day, how
she kicks and yerks!

Down with the main-mast! lay her at hull!
Furl up all her linens, and let her ride it out!
1 Sailor. She'll never brook it, Master;
She's so deep laden that she'll bulge.
Master. Hang her!

Can she not buffet with a storm a little?
How it tosses her! she reels like a drunkard.

2 Sailor. We have discover'd the land,
sir; pray let's make in!

She is so drunk else she may chance
To cast up all her lading.

1 Sailor. Staud in, stand in!

We are all lost else, lost and perish'd.

Master. Steer her a-starboard there!

2 Sailor. Bear in with all the sail we can! See, Master,

See what a clap of thunder there is! what A face of Heav'n! bow dreadfully it looks!

Master. Thou rascal, thou fearful rogue, th' hast been praying!

1 see it in thy face; thou hast been mumbling, When we are split, you slave2! Is this a time To discourage our friends with your cold orizons?

Call up the boatswain. How it storms! holla!

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Master. You are too hasty, monsieur; do you long

To be i' th' fish-market before your time?
Hold her up there!

Aminta. Oh, miserable fortune!
Nothing but horror sounding in mine ears;
No minute to promise to my frighted soul!
Tib. Peace, woman!
[howling!

We ha' storms enough already; no more Aminta. Gentle master!

Master. Clap this woman under hatches. Alb. Prithee speak mildly to her. Aminta. Can no helpMaster. None, that I know. Aminta. No promise from your goodnessMaster. Am I a god? For Heaven's sake, stow this woman! [to your business! Tib. Go, take your gilt prayer-book, and Wink and die! There an old haddock stays for you. [the terrors, Aminia. Must I die here in all the frights, The thousand several shapes death triumphs No friend to counsel me?

[in?

Alb. Have peace, sweet mistress! Aminta. No kindred's tears upon me? Oh, my country!

No gentle hand to close mine eyes?

Alb. Be comforted;

[same mercy.

Heaven has the same pow'r still, and the

2 When we are split, you slave.] The accurate Sympson reads,

When we are splitring, slave.

3 We have sprung five leaks, and no little ones;

Still rage; besides, her ribs are open.] Here the words still rage, should either be in a parenthesis with a note of admiration, (still rage!) or else, which is more probable, from the defect in the measure, something is lost, and I believe the original was,

-five leaks, and no little ones;

The winds still rage; besides, her ribs are open,

or perhaps, The scus. Sympson.

We think the first conjecture best.

Aminta.

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