King Lear's Wife; The Crier by Night; The Riding to Lithend; Midsummer-Eve Part 37

The child; she has the child.

LAODICE. Yes. And then?

_DANAe, pausing by a column._ The common run of men make small account Of high religion; and they are very right.

I saved my lover, and I now receive This recognition from the Powers who still Dispose of us: Laodice killed hers, And she is held deserving of all that honour.

LAODICE, _pointing at the_ FOURTH WOMAN.

Thrust her down, you.

_DANAe disappears while the FOURTH WOMAN stealthily mounts the stair.

LAODICE has thrown herself on the divan, with her back to the colonnade._

To-morrow will be soon.

To-morrow I will sit with men in council, And muster men to leaguer Ephesus.

These fretting hens, these women, burden me-- I know their eyes too well; let them keep hid.

To-morrow I will walk upon the harbour, And board my s.h.i.+ps and see them manned and ready-- No, no, I will not step toward the sea....

SEVERAL WOMEN, _as_ LAODICE _speaks._ Ai! Ai! Is she down? Not yet....

I cannot see.... No one can see.

SECOND WOMAN, _sobbing in the corner near the stair._ My necklace Save my dear gems!

FOURTH WOMAN, _from the colonnade._ She is not here. She falls.

LAODICE.

Is that hoa.r.s.e das.h.i.+ng how the surge receives her?

FOURTH WOMAN.

It is the old recession of the waves; The rocks are bare. No movement could be seen; No pallor could emerge. There is no sound.

LAODICE, _in a dull voice._ She was as false as all the rest of you; But she was brave. Remember that she died; Be cowards still, and so be false and safe.

She had a lulling hand.... Put me to sleep.

_RHODOGUNE goes toward her._

CURTAIN.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

"KING LEAR'S WIFE" was performed for the first time on 25 September 1915 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with the following cast:

Lear Mr. E. Ion Swinley.

Hygd Miss Cathleen Orford.

Goneril Miss Margaret Chatwin.

Cordeil Miss Betty Pinchard.

Merryn Miss Dorothy Taylor.

Gormflaith Miss Mary Merrall.

Physician Mr. Ivor Barnard.

{Miss Betty Pinchard.

Two Elderly Women {Miss Maud Gill.

Costumes and decoration designed by Mr. Barry V. Jackson.

Production by Mr. John Drinkwater.

In the course of the production the song of the Elder Woman, toward the close of the play, was fitted with so appropriate a melody, by a fortunate modification of a folk-tune, that it seems well to continue the connexion by printing the arrangement here.

[Ill.u.s.tration: music]

The louse made off unhappy and wet-- A-humm, A-humm, A-hee-- He's looking for us, the little pet; So haste, for her chin's to tie up yet, And let us be gone with what we can get-- Her ring for thee, her gown for Bet, Her pocket turned out for me ... me....

This represents the extension of the melody used for the final stanza of the song: it can be adapted to the forms of the first and second stanzas by the omission of the sections A-C and B-C respectively. The Coda is intended for use with the final stanza only.

First performed in London on 19 May 1916 at His Majesty's Theatre, under the direction of Miss Viola Tree.

Lear Mr. Murray Carrington.

Hygd Lady Tree.

Goneril Miss Viola Tree.

Cordeil Miss Odette Goimbault.

Gormflaith Miss Julia James.

Merryn Miss Beatrice Wilson.

Physician Mr. H. A. Saintsbury.

{Miss Ada King Two Elderly Women {Miss Bertha Fordyce.

Play produced by Mr. John Drinkwater, and mounted by Mr. Purcell Jones: music by Mr. Ivor Novello.

SONGS

For the London performance of "King Lear's Wife."

I (p. 43)

Mother, it is my wedding morn, Come, bring the linen fine, And wash my face with milk so warm Drawn from the young white kine.

The blackbird in the apple-tree Was waking ere the day; But I was ready sooner than he, For I watched the night away.

II (p. 44)