The dramatic works Volume 1

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 Excerpt: ...my Silcia nightly; And slaves they are to me, that send them flying: O, could their master come and go as lightly, Himself would lodge where senseless they are lying. My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; While I, their king, tltat thither them impbrtune, Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless'd them, Because myself do want my servants' fortune: I curse myself, for10 they are sent by me, That they should harbour where their lord should be. What's here? Silvia, this night I will enfranchise thee! 'Tis so; and here's the ladder for the purpose.--Why, Phaeton (for thou art Merop's son,)11 Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car, And with thy daring folly burn the world? Wilt thou reach stars because they shine on thee? Go, base intruder! over-weening slave! Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates; And think, my patience, more than thy desert, Is privilege for thy departure hence: Thank me for this, more than for all the favours Which, all too much, I have bestow'd on thee. But if thou linger in my territories Longer than swiftest expedition Will give thee time to leave our royal court, By heaven, my wrath shall far exceed the love I ever bore my daughter, or thyself. 10 For, i. e. cause, or because. ""Thou art Phaeton in thy rashness, but without his pretensions; thou art not the son of a divinity, but a terra jilius, a low-born wretch; Merops is thy true father, with whom Phaeton was falsely reproached."--Johnson. Be gone, I will not hear thy vain excuse, But, as thou lov'st thy life, make speed from hence. Exit Duke. Vol. And why not death, rather than livingtorment? To die, is to be banish'd from myself; And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her, Is self from self; a deadly banishment! What light is light, if Silvia be...