Can prescribe man obedience ! Never look upon me more.

Bos. Why, fare thee well:

Your brother and yourself are worthy men;
You have a pair of hearts are hollow graves,
Rotten, and rotting others; and your vengeance,
Like two chain'd bullets, still goes arm in arm.
You may be brothers: for treason, like the plague,
Doth take much in a blood. I stand like one
That long hath ta'en a sweet and golden dream.
I am angry with myself, now that I wake.
Ferd. Get thee into some unknown part o' th'
That I may never see thee.
[world,

While with vain hopes our faculties we tire,
We seem to sweat in ice, and freeze in fire;
What would I do, were this to do again?
I would not change my peace of conscience
For all the wealth of Europe. She stirs ! here's life!
Return, fair soul, from darkness, and lead mine
Out of this sensible hell. She's warm, she
breathes.

Upon thy pale lips I will melt my heart,

To store them with fresh colour. Who's there?
Some cordial drink! Alas, I dare not call:
So pity would destroy pity. Her eye opes,
And heaven in it seems to ope, that late was shut,
To take me up to mercy.

Duch. Antonio !

Bos. Yes, madam, he is living:

The dead bodies you saw were but feign'd statues; He's reconciled to your brother; the Pope hath The atonement.

Duch. Mercy.

[wrought

[She dies.

Bos. Oh, she's gone again: there the cords of life broke.

Oh, sacred innocence ! that sweetly sleeps
On turtles' feathers, whilst a guilty conscience
Is a black register, wherein is writ

All our good deeds, and bad; a perspective
That shows us hell, that we cannot be suffer'd
To do good when we have a mind to it!
This is manly sorrow;

These tears, I am very certain, never grew
In my mother's milk. My estate is sunk
Below the degree of fear: where were
These penitent fountains while she was living?
Oh, they were frozen up. Here is a sight
As direful to my soul as is the sword

Unto a wretch hath slain his father. Come, I'll

bear thee hence,

And execute thy last will; that's deliver

Thy body to the reverend dispose

Of some good women; that the cruel tyrant Shall not deny me: then I'll post to Milan, Where somewhat I will speedily enact Worth my dejection.

FROM THE SAME.

ACT V. SCENE III.

Persons.-ANTONIO, DELIO, Echo from the Duchess's grave.

Delio. YOND's the cardinal's window. This fortification

Grew from the ruins of an ancient abbey ;
And to yond side o' th' river lies a wall,
Piece of a cloister, which in my opinion
Gives the best echo that you ever heard ;
So hollow and so dismal, and withal
So plain in the distinction of our words,
That many have supposed it is a spirit
That answers.

Antonio. I do love these ancient ruins :

We never tread upon them but we set
Our foot upon some reverend history;
And, questionless, here in this open court,
Which now lies naked to the injuries
Of stormy weather, some men lie interr'd
Loved the church so well, and gave so largely to't,
They thought it should have canopied their bones
Till doomsday. But all things have their end:
Churches and cities, which have diseases like to
Must have like death that we have.

Echo. Like death that we have.
Del. Now the echo hath caught you.
Ant. It groan'd, methought, and gave
A very deadly accent.

Echo. Deadly accent.

Del. I told you 'twas a pretty one.
A huntsman, or a falconer, a musician,
Or a thing of sorrow.

Echo. A thing of sorrow.
Ant. Ay, sure that suits it best.
Echo. That suits it best.

Ant. 'Tis very like my wife's voice.
Echo. Ay, wife's voice.

Del. Come, let's walk farther from't:

[men,

You may [make it

Ant. My duchess is asleep now,

And her little ones, I hope sweetly: Oh, heaven! Shall I never see her more?

Echo. Never see her more.

Ant. I mark'd not one repetition of the Echo But that, and on the sudden a clear light Presented me a face folded in sorrow.

Del. Your fancy, merely,

Ant. Come, I'll be out of this ague; For to live thus, is not indeed to live; It is a mockery and abuse of life:

I will not henceforth save myself by halves, Lose all or nothing.

Del. Your own virtue save you.

I'll fetch your eldest son, and second you.
It may be that the sight of his own blood,
Spread in so sweet a figure, may beget
The more compassion.

However, fare you well!

Though in our miseries Fortune have a part, Yet, in our noble suff'rings, she hath none; Contempt of pain, that we may call our own.

[Born, 1586.

It is painful to find the name of Ford a barren spot in our poetical biography, marked by nothing but a few dates and conjectures, chiefly drawn from his own dedications. He was born of a respectable family in Devonshire; was bred to the law, and entered of the Middle Temple at the age of seventeen. At the age of twenty, he published a poem, entitled Fame's Memorial, in honour of the deceased Earl of Devonshire; and from the dedication of that piece it appears that he chiefly subsisted upon his professional labours, making poetry the solace of his leisure hours. All his plays were published between the year 1629 and 1639; but before the former period he

Died, 1640?]

had for some time been known as a dramatic writer, his works having been printed a considerable time after their appearance on the stage ; and, according to the custom of the age, had been associated in several works with other composers. With Dekker he joined in dramatizing a story, which reflects more disgrace upon the age than all its genius could redeem; namely, the fate of Mother Sawyer, the Witch of Edmonton, an aged woman, who had been recently the victim of legal and superstitious murder--

Nil adeo fœdum quod non exacta vetustas
Ediderit.

The time of his death is unknown.

Palador, Prince of Cyprus, having fallen into melancholy from the disappointment of losing Eroclea, to whom he was attached, a masque is prepared to divert his thoughts, at the representation of which he sees a youth, passing by the name of Parthenophill, whose resemblance to his mistress strikes him.

SCENE-A Room at the Palace.

Persons-PALADOR, Prince of Cyprus; ARETUS, his tutor; SOPHRONOS, uncle to EROCLEA; PELIAS, a courtier; MENAPHON, Son of SOPHRONOS; AMETHUS, cousin to the Prince; RHETIAS, servant to EROCLEA.

Pal. Good sir! 'tis not your active wit or language,

* I have declined obtruding on the reader some passages in Ford's plays which possess a superior power to the present scene, because they have been anticipated by Mr. Lamb in his Dramatic Specimens. Even if this had not been the case, I should have felt reluctant to give a place to one dreadfully beautiful specimen of his affecting powers, in the tragedy of the Brother and Sister. Better that poetry should cease, than have to do with such subjects. The Lover's Melancholy has much of the grace and sweetness that distinguishes the genius of Ford. ["Mr. Campbell speaks favourably of the poetic portion of this play; he thinks and I fully agree with him, that it has much of the grace and sweetness which distinguish the genius of Ford. It has also somewhat more of the sprightliness in the language of the secondary characters, than is commonly found in his plays."-GIFFORD.]

Persons.-The WIDOW and DOCTOR.

Doct. You sent for me, gentlewoman? Wid. Sir, I did; and to this end:

I have scruples in my conscience;
Some doubtful problems which I cannot answer
Nor reconcile; I'd have you make them plain.
Doct. This is my duty: pray speak your mind.
Wid. And as I speak, I must remember heaven,
That gave those blessings which I must relate:
Sir, you now behold a wondrous woman;
You only wonder at the epithet;

I can appprove it good: guess at mine age.

Doct. At the half-way 'twixt thirty and forty. Wid. 'Twas not much amiss; yet nearest to the How think you then, is not this a wonder? [last. That a woman lives full seven-and-thirty years Maid to a wife, and wife unto a widow, Now widow'd, and mine own, yet all this while From the extremest verge of my remembrance,

[* Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I. The play in

Even from my weaning hour unto this minute,
Did never taste what was calamity?

I know not yet what grief is, yet have sought
An hundred ways for its acquaintance: with me
Prosperity hath kept so close a watch,

That even those things that I have meant a cross,
Have that way turn'd a blessing. Is it not strange?
Doct. Unparallel'd; this gift is singular,
And to you alone belonging: you are the moon,
For there's but one, all women else are stars,
For there are none of like condition.
Full oft, and many, have I heard complain
Of discontents, thwarts, and adversities,
But a second to yourself I never knew:
To groan under the superflux of blessings,
To have ever been alien unto sorrow.
No trip of fate? Sure it is wonderful.

Wid. Ay, sir, 'tis wonderful: but is it well? For it is now my chief affliction.

I have heard you say, that the child of heaven Shall suffer many tribulations; [jects:

called The Birth of Merlin.]

Then I that know not any chastisement,
How may I know my part of childhood?
Doct. 'Tis a good doubt; but make it not extreme.
"Tis some affliction, that you are afflicted
For want of affliction; cherish that:
Yet wrest it not to misconstruction;
For all your blessings are free gifts from heaven;
Health, wealth, and peace; nor can they turn to
But by abuse. Pray let me question you: [curses,
You lost a husband, was it no grief to you?
Wid. It was; but very small: no sooner I
Had given it entertainment as a sorrow,
But straight it turn'd unto my treble joy :
A comfortable revelation prompts me then,
That husband (whom in life I held so dear)
Had changed a frailty to unchanging joys;
Methought I saw him stellified in heaven,
And singing hallelujahs 'mongst a quire
Of white-sainted souls: then again it spake,
And said; it was a sin for me to grieve
At his best good, that I esteemed best :
And thus this slender shadow of a grief
Vanish'd again.

[from
Doct. All this was happy; nor can you wrest it
A heavenly blessing: do not appoint the rod;
Leave still the stroke unto the magistrate :
The time is not past, but you may feel enough.
Wid. One taste more I had, although but little,
Yet I would aggravate to make the most on't;
Thus 'twas: the other day it was my hap,
In crossing of the Thames,

To drop that wedlock ring from off my finger,
That once conjoined me and my dead husband;
It sunk; I prized it dear; the dearer, 'cause it kept
Still in mine eye the memory of my loss;
Yet I grieved the loss; and did joy withal,
That I had found a grief: and this is all
The sorrow I can boast of.

Doct. This is but small.

Wid. Nay, sure I am of this opinion,

That had I suffer'd a draught to be made for it,
The bottom would have sent it up again,
I am so wondrously fortunate.

Doct. You would not suffer it?

STEPHEN, A RECLAIMED GAMESTER, NEWLY MARRIED TO THE OVER-FORTUNATE WIDOW.

Persons-STEPHEN, ROBERT his nephew, and WIDOW. Enter STEPHEN with bills and bonds.

Wife. How now, sweetheart? what hast thou there?

Steph. I find much debts belonging to you, sweet; And my care must be now to fetch them in.

Wife. Ha! ha! prithee do not mistake thyself, Nor my true purpose; I did not wed to thrall, Or bind thy large expense, but rather to add A plenty to that liberty; I thought by this, Thou wouldst have stuff'd thy pockets full of gold, And thrown it at a hazard; made ducks and drakes,

And baited fishes with thy silver flies;
Lost, and fetch'd more: why, this had been my joy,
Perhaps at length thou wouldst have wasted my
store;

Why, this had been a blessing too good for me.
Steph. Content thee, sweet, those days are gone,
Ay, even from my memory;

I have forgot that e'er I had such follies,
And I'll not call 'em back: my cares are bent
To keep your state, and give you all content.
Roger, go, call your fellow-servants up to me,
And to my chamber bring all books of debt;
I will o'erlook, and cast up all accounts,
That I may know the weight of all my cares,
And once a year give up my stewardship.

Enter ROBERT.

Steph. Oh, nephew, are you come! the welcomest wish

That my heart has; this is my kinsman, sweet.
Wife. Let him be largely texted in your love,
That all the city may read it fairly:
You cannot remember me, and him forget;
We were alike to you in poverty.

[love,

Steph. I should have begg'd that bounty of your Though you had scanted me to have given't him; For we are one, I an uncle nephew, He a nephew uncle. But, my sweet self, My slow request you have anticipated With proffer'd kindness; and I thank you for it. But how, kind cousin, does your father use you? Is your name found again within his books? Can he read son there?

Rob. "Tis now blotted quite :

For by the violent instigation

Of my cruel step-mother, his vows and oaths
Are stamp'd against me, ne'er to acknowledge me,
Never to call, or bless me as a child;

But in his brow, his bounty and behaviour
I read it all most plainly.

[at home,

Steph. Cousin, grieve not at it; that father lost You shall find here; and with the loss of his inheYou meet another amply proffer'd you ; [ritance, Be my adopted son, no more my kinsman : (To his Wife.) So that this borrow'd bounty do From your consent. [not stray

Wife. Call it not borrow'd, sir; 'tis all your own;
Here 'fore this reverend man I make it known,
Thou art our child as free by adoption,
As derived from us by conception,
Birth, and propinquity; inheritor
To our full substance.

Rob. You were born to bless us both;
My knee shall practise a son's duty
Even beneath a son's; giving you all
The comely dues of parents; yet not
Forgetting my duty to my father:
Where'er I meet him he shall have my knee,
Although his blessing ne'er return to me.

[thee

Steph. Come then, my dearest son, I'll now give A taste of my love to thee: be thou my deputy, The factor and disposer of my business;