The reply of the Bailiff is worth preserving: "Why, that may be; but, remember, old gentleman, that for one unfeeling creditor, we get hold of a hundred hard-hearted debtors, who, to have twenty dishes on their own table, will prevent twenty honest men from having one upon theirs." There are many faults in this play, but there is much that is valuable. In Jane Shore, A. IV. after Gloster has sentenced her to be turned out into the street to perish, she kneels, and prays thus: Oh, thou most righteous Judge Humbly behold, I bow myself to thee, Perhaps some, even if they should admit the general question of the lawfulness of introducing prayers, will not approve this form, and think that it ought wholly to have been omitted, or else that redemption by a Mediator should have been mentioned. In A. V. S. 2. she says of Alicia, who had denied her assistance, In mercy look upon her, gracious Heav'n, Nor visit her for any wrong to me. In The Siege of Damascus, A. V. S. 2. Abudah, a Saracen, is represented as praying in these words, O Power Supreme, That mad'st my heart, and know'st its inmost frame! If yet I err, O lead me into truth, Or pardon unknown error ! In Percy there are several prayers; and, as Mrs. More has revised the play, I conclude, had she considered them improper, she would have omitted them. Elwina says, Thou, who in judgment still remember'st mercy, A. V. Now, gracious Heav'n, sustain me in the trial, Ditto. Blest be the fountain of eternal mercy. O! thou Eternal! take him to thy mercy! Ditto. Ditto. Receive me to thy mercy-gracious Heaven. (She dies.) Ditto. There is a passage in Macbeth, which, though it be not a prayer in itself, yet is an account of one, which is highly beautiful and affecting, and a good lesson. Macbeth is giving an account to his Lady of the murder which he has just committed, and of the conduct of those who were in the same room; and his reflections on his own inability to say Amen to their prayers are very fine: There's one did laugh in his sleep, and one cry'd murder ! Lady. There are two lodg'd together. Macb. One cry'd God bless us! and, Amen, the other; When they did say, God, bless us. Lady. Consider it not so deeply. Macb. But wherefore could I not pronounce, Amen? I had most need of blessing, and Amen Stuck in my throat. A. II. S. 2. In The Robbers, if my memory serve me rightly, there is a very beautiful passage on this subject. Charles Moore, in an interval of reflection, is looking back with keen regret, upon his days of comparative innocence, and says, "The time has been, when I could not have slept, had I not said my prayers." In some of Mr. Dibdin's Songs there are passages which strike me as being useful, particularly when we consider the persons into whose hands they are likely to fall, namely, soldiers and sailors. The first I shall produce is in The Soldier's Adieu : When on the wings of thy dear love, To Heaven above Thy fervent orisons are flown, Scarce the foul hurricane was clear'd, Scarce winds and waves had ceas'd to rattle, And, dauntless, we prepar'd for battle. And now, while some lov'd friend or wife, Put up a prayer, and thought on Nancy. In the Song of The Storm by G. A. Stevens, is introduced, For only that can save us now. G. p. 30. On the subject of introducing Prophecies upon the Stage, I have before noticed (p. 28) the Witches in Macbeth, who are represented as having an absolute foreknowledge of events. In King Henry the VIIIth. Cranmer, at the christening of Elizabeth, says to the King, Let me speak, Sir, For Heaven now bids me. A. V. S. last. He then proceeds to give an account of what is to happen in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James the First. A similar passage is introduced at the conclusion of the Royal Convert, respecting the reign of Queen Anne. In King Lear, A. III. S. 2. the Fool speaks a burlesque pro phecy. This, however, is omitted on the Stage. In the Crusade is another of the same kind. H. p. 31. So common are curses on the Stage, that it were easy to point out hundreds. The character of Queen Margaret in Richard the Third, consists of little besides. I have before noticed one in * I would read may. Macbeth, (p. 148) and the curse uttered by King Lear, A. I. S. 4. against his daughter, I wonder any actor will speak. Richard vents a curse In Richard the Second, A. III. S. 2. against Bushy, Bagot and Green, when he supposes them to be traitors, which is very shocking; and the calling them "three Judasses," and "each one thrice worse than Judas," is impious. A reply is made to it by Scroop, which is good, but not sufficiently strong: Sweet love, I see, changing his property, Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate: Again uncurse their souls: their peace is made With heads and not with hands: those whom you curse, And lie full low, grav'd in the hollow ground. In Othello, Æmilia introduces the following, which contains a direct reference to Scripture: If any wretch hath put this in your head, Let Heaven requite it with the serpent's curse! A. IV. S. 2. In Jane Shore, A. III. Hastings, under the idea of patriotism, pronounces a curse, which is always received with applause. I have in a former page (148) noticed a curse in the Poem of the Landscape. I. p. 31. On this head, I will refer the reader to Bedford's Serious Remonstrance, ch. xviii. particularly p. 279, and ch. xx. p. 316, and will merely give some few other instances of the abuse of Scripture phrases, and light allusions to sacred history, &c. which have come under my own notice. In Jane Shore, Dumont says to her, Banish your fears, cast all your cares on ME. A. II. which is certainly an improper application of 1 Pet, v. 7. where, speaking of GoD, he says, "Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” In the same play, A. V. S. 1. Dumont, speaking of the sufferings of Jane Shore, says, Hence with her past offences, They are aton'd at full. In the Suspicious Husband, Ranger says of Clarinda, A. I. S. 1. "It is plain she is not one of us." A phrase taken from Gepesis iii. 22. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us.” In Macbeth, A. IV. S. 3. Macduff says of Malcolm, that he "does blaspheme his breed:" blasphemy according to the common acceptation of the word, is speaking against God. So again, in The Road to Ruin, Young Dornton says, "Utter no blasphemy against my father." A. IV. S. 2. In The Gamester, A. V. S. 3. When Stukely tells Charlotte that Lewson is dead, she says, "Say he lives, and I'll kneel and worship you." It was, I believe, an usual phrase with the late Mr. Brown, the ornamental gardener, to say, that he had created such a place; and some of his followers use the term to this day. I cannot forbear, in this place, relating an anecdote, which I had from very good authority. A nobleman who had made many improvements in his grounds, and was very fond of shewing them, was walking round them one evening with a visitor, accompanied by his little grandson and his Tutor. He came at length to a spot, where much had been done to embellish the scene, and contemplating it with great satisfac-. tion, he said to his guest, "I can assure you, every thing you see here is my own creating." His grandson immediately replied, "What! and the skies and all, grandpapa?" see Ezekiel xxix. 3. and Isaiah xlv. 5-7. 12. 18. 1 I have been told, that in some modern farce, there is a scene, where there is an arbour in a tree, and where some person is concealed, while two of the characters are conversing on the stage; one of them says "There is one above sees all." As this expression is commonly applied to the Deity, I consider it as profane. In a detail Of light allusions to Scripture I will mention but a few. The Mysterious Husband, A. I. Sir Edmund Travers talks of " as tedious as the courtship of Jacob and Rebecca:" and in The West Indian, when Captain Dudley says, he has "been above thirty years in the service," Fulmer says " 'tis an apprenticeship to a profession fit only for a patriarch." A. II. S. 1. In The Belle's Stratagem, A. IV. S. 1. when Doricourt wishes Lætitia to unmask, she says, " Beware of impertinent curiosity, it lost Paradise. Doricourt. Eve's curiosity was raised by the Devil, 'tis an Angel tempts mine. So your allusion is not in point." |
