A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Xi Part 124

[406] Life, edit. 1759, p. 35.]

[407] Some writers suppose he was disgusted that Sir William Davenant was appointed to succeed Ben Jonson as poet laureate, in the year 1637.]

[408] He was appointed to the post of Historiographer by the Parliament.]

[409] This poem was dedicated to Charles I. in 1635; hence it appears that he wrote it by command of the king. "Those defects," he says, "whatsoever they be, can be imputed only to insufficiency, for neither was there argument wanting nor yet endeavour, since I had the actions of a great king to require my skill, and the command of a greater king to oblige my care."--_Collier._]

[410] Thomas May has a complimentary poem prefixed to Pilkinton's "Tournament of Tottenham," &c. 4. 1631.--_Gilchrist._]

[411] The subsequent lines are found in "Wit's Recreations," 1641--

"TO MR. THOMAS MAY.

"Thou son of Mercury, whose fluent tongue Made Lucan finish his Pharsalian song, Thy fame is equal, better is thy fate, Thou hast got Charles his love, he Nero's hate."

Of course this was before (as Lord Clarendon expresses it) "he fell from his duty."--_Collier._

THE NAMES OF THE ACTORS.

THE KING.

VIRRO, _an old rich count._ POLYMETES, _an old lord_.

EUGENIO, _his son_.

LEOCOTHOE, _his daughter_.

ROSCIO, _his man_.

EUPHUES, _another lord_.

PHILOCLES, _his son_.

CLERIMONT, _a gentleman, friend to Philocles_.

FRANKLIN, _an old rich gentleman_.

LUCE,[412] _his daughter_.

FRANCISCO, _a young man_.

ALPHONSO.

SHALLOW, _a foolish gentleman_.

NICANOR, _a courtier_.

MATHO, _a lawyer_.

PSECTAS,[413] _a waiting gentlewoman_.

_A Parson._ _A Sumner._ _A Constable and Watch._ _Servants._

_Scene, Sicily._

TO MY HONOURED FRIEND

MASTER THOMAS MAY,

UPON HIS COMEDY, THE HEIR.

The Heir being born, was in his tender age Rock'd in the cradle of a private stage, Where, lifted up by many a willing hand, The child did from the first day fairly stand; Since having gather'd strength, he dares prefer His steps into the public theatre-- The world: where he despairs not but to find A doom from men more able, not less kind.

I but his usher am; yet, if my word May pa.s.s, I dare be bound he will afford Things must deserve a welcome, if well known, Such as best writers would have wish'd their own.

You shall observe his words in order meet, And, softly stealing on with equal feet, Slide into even numbers with such grace, As each word had been moulded for that place.

You shall perceive an amorous pa.s.sion, spun Into so smooth a web as, had the Sun, When he pursu'd the swiftly-flying maid, Courted her in such language, she had stay'd: A love so well express'd must be the same The author felt himself from his fair flame.

The whole plot doth alike itself disclose Through the five acts, as doth a lock, that goes With letters; for, till every one be known, The lock's as fast as if you had found none; And, where his sportive Muse doth draw a thread Of mirth, chaste matrons may not blush to read.

Thus have I thought it fitter to reveal My want of art (dear friend) than to conceal My love. It did appear I did not mean So to commend thy well-wrought comic scene, As men might judge my aim rather to be To gain praise to myself than give it thee; Though I can give thee none but what thou hast Deserv'd, and what must my faint breath outlast.

Yet was this garment (though I skill-less be To take thy measure) only made for thee; And, if it prove too scant, 'tis 'cause the stuff Nature allow'd me was not large enough.

THOMAS CAREW.[414]

FOOTNOTES:

[412] The author calls her _Luce_ throughout, which the modern editor changed to Lucy. As a matter of taste, _Lucy_ may be preferable to _Luce;_ but the author ought to be allowed to judge for himself, and sometimes the measure of the lines has been spoiled by the needless alteration.--_Collier._

[413] _i.e., Vituperator_, which answers to her character. Former editions read _Psecas_.--_Pegge._

[414] "Carew was the younger brother of a good family, and of excellent parts, and had spent many years of his youth in France and Italy; and, returning from travel, followed the court, which the modesty of that time disposed men to do sometime, before they pretended to be of it; and he was very much esteemed by the most eminent persons in the court, and well looked upon by the king himself, some years before he could obtain to be sewer to the king; and when the king conferred that place upon him, it was not without the regret even of the whole Scotch nation, which united themselves in recommending another gentleman to it; and of so great value were those relations held in that age, when majesty was beheld with the reverence it ought to be. He was a person of a pleasant and facetious wit, and made many poems, especially in the amorous way, which, for the sharpness of the fancy, and the elegancy of the language in which that fancy was spread, were at least equal, if not superior, to any of that time; but his glory was, that after fifty years of his life, spent with less severity or exactness than it ought to have been, he died with the greatest remorse for that license, and with the greatest manifestation of Christianity, that his best friends could desire."--"Life of Clarendon," edit. 1759, i. 36. He died in the year 1639. [But see Hazlitt's edit. of Carew, Introductory Memoir.]

PROLOGUS.

Judicious friends, if what shall here be seen May taste your sense, or ope your tickled spleen, Our author has his wish: he does not mean To rub your galls with a satiric scene; Nor toil your brains, to find the fustian sense Of those poor lines that cannot recompense The pains of study: Comedy's soft strain Should not perplex, but recreate the brain; His strain is such, he hopes it, but refers That to the test of your judicious ears.

THE HEIR.

ACT I.

_Enter_ POLYMETES, ROSCIO.

POL. Roscio.

ROS. My lord.

POL. Hast thou divulg'd the news, That my son died at Athens?