EPIRE. How like the sun's great bastard o'er the world Rides this man-mounted engine, this proud prince, And with his breath singes our continents. Sit fast, proud Phaeton, or[161] by heaven I'll kick And plunge thee in the sea; if thou'lt needs ride, Thou shouldst have made thy seat upon a slave, And not upon mine honour's firmament. Thou hast not heard the god of wisdom's tale, Nor can thy youth curb greatness, till my hate Confound thy life with villain policy. I am resolv'd, since virtue hath disdain'd To clothe me in her riches, henceforth to prove A villain fatal, black and ominous. Thy virtue is the ground of my dislike; And my disgrace, the edge of envy's sword, Which like a razor shall unplume thy crest, And rob thee of thy native excellence. When great thoughts give their homage to disgrace, There's no respect of deeds, time, thoughts, or place.
[128] Langbaine observes that several incidents in this play are borrowed from novels, as the story of Mariana swearing Philocles to be dumb, from Bandello's Novels; Alfonso cuckolding Prate the orator, and the latter appearing before the council, from the same book. The English reader may see the same story in, "The Complaisant Companion," 8o, 1674.
[129] The word _music_ is here inserted in the 4o, 1608, and is repeated at the commencement of each act.
[130] _'Tis heresy I hold_--edit. of 1608.
[132] An old word used by Chaucer, Spenser, Fairfax, and other writers, signifying a physician.
[133] The entrance of Mariana with the queen, &c., is not mentioned, though her _exit_ is noticed: by the dialogue, which follows their departure from the walls, it is evident that she ought to be named, though hitherto omitted.--_Collier._
[134] Dr Johnson observes that worm is the Teutonic word for serpent; and Dr Percy, that in the northern counties the same word is still used in that sense. See their several notes, and also Mr Tollet's to "Antony and Cleopatra," act v. sc. 2.
[136] [Former edits., _dulat_, which can surely have no meaning.]
[137] If Theobald had been as well read in our ancient dramatic writers as he pretended to be, he would have produced this passage in justification of the celebrated line in "The Double Falshood"--