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.
SCENE III.--TOM THUMB _to them, with_ Officers, Prisoners, _and_ Attendants.
King. [1] Oh! welcome most, most welcome to my arms.
What grat.i.tude can thank away the debt Your valour lays upon me?
[Footnote 1: This figure is in great use among the tragedians:
"Tis therefore, therefore "tis.--_Victim_.
I long, repent, repent, and long again.--_Busiris_.
_Queen_.----------[1] Oh! ye G.o.ds! [_Aside_.
[Footnote 1: A tragical exclamation.]
_Thumb_. When I"m not thank"d at all, I"m thank"d enough.
[1] I"ve done my duty, and I"ve done no more,
[Footnote 1: This line is copied verbatim in the Captives.]
_Queen_. Was ever such a G.o.dlike creature seen? [_Aside_.
_King_. Thy modesty"s a [1]candle to thy merit, It shines itself, and shews thy merit too.
But say, my boy, where didst thou leave the giants?
[Footnote 1: We find a candlestick for this candle in two celebrated authors:
------Each star withdraws His golden head, and burns within the socket.--_Nero_.
A soul grown old and sunk into the socket.--_Sebastian_.
_Thumb_. My liege, without the castle gates they stand, The castle gates too low for their admittance.
_King_. What look they like?
_Thumb_. Like nothing but themselves.
_Queen_. [1]And sure thou art like nothing but thyself. [_Aside_.
[Footnote 1: This simile occurs very frequently among the dramatic writers of both kinds.]
_King_. Enough! the vast idea fills my soul.
I see them--yes, I see them now before me: The monstrous, ugly, barb"rous sons of wh.o.r.es.
But ha! what form majestick strikes our eyes?
[1]So perfect, that it seems to have been drawn By all the G.o.ds in council: so fair she is, That surely at her birth the council paused, And then at length cry"d out, This is a woman!
[Footnote 1: Mr Lee hath stolen this thought from our author:
This perfect face, drawn by the G.o.ds in council, Which they were long a making.--_Luc. Jun. Brut_.
--At his birth the heavenly council paused, And then at last cry"d out, This is a man!
Dryden hath improved this hint to the utmost perfection:
So perfect, that the very G.o.ds who form"d you wonder"d At their own skill, and cry"d, A lucky hit Has mended our design! Their envy hindered, Or you had been immortal, and a pattern, When Heaven would work for ostentation sake, To copy out again.--_All for Love_.
Banks prefers the works of Michael Angelo to that of the G.o.ds:
A pattern for the G.o.ds to make a man by, Or Michael Angelo to form a statue.