A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Originally Published by Robert Dodsley in the Year 1744: The revenger's tragedy ; The dumb knight ; The merry devil of Edmonton ; Ram-Alley ; The second maiden's tragedy ; Englishmen for my money

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Reeves and Turner, 1875 - English drama

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Page 58 - I will quote a passage which is unfamiliar enough to be regarded with fresh attention in the light— or darkness— of these observations: And now methinks I could e'en chide myself For doating on her beauty, though her death Shall be revenged after no common action. Does the silkworm expend her yellow labours For thee? For thee does she undo herself? Are lordships sold to maintain ladyships For the poor benefit of a bewildering minute?
Page 335 - A coach was a strange monster in those days, and the sight of one put both horse and man into amazement. Some said it was a great crabshell brought out of China, and some imagined it to be one of the Pagan temples in which the Cannibals adored the divell.
Page 220 - How many a sad and weary summer's night My sighs have drunk the dew from off the earth, And I have taught the nightingale to wake, And from the meadows sprung the early lark An hour before she should have list to sing : I have loaded the poor minutes with my moans, That I have made the heavy slow-pac'd hours To hang like heavy clogs upon the day.
Page 84 - twill spoil your dagger, house it. Hip. 'Tis done. Vin. I' faith 'tis a sweet shower, it does much good. The fruitful grounds and meadows of her soul Have been long dry : pour down, thou blessed dew ! Rise, mother ; troth, this shower has made you higher.
Page 89 - Shakspeare's : if phraseology is to be changed as words grow uncouth by disuse, or gross by vulgarity, the history of every language will .be lost ; we shall no longer have the words of any author ; and, as these alterations will be often unskilfully made, we shall in time have very little of his meaning.
Page 20 - It will. confirm me bold— the child o' the court ; Let blushes dwell i' the country. Impudence ! Thou goddess of the palace, mistress of mistresses, To whom the costly perfumed people pray, Strike thou my forehead into dauntless marble, Mine eyes to steady sapphires, Turn my visage ; And, if I must needs glow, let me blush inward, That this immodest season may not spy That scholar in my cheeks, fool...
Page 223 - I dwell betwixt you both at Enfield, I know the taste of both your ale-houses ; they are good both, smart both. Hem ! grass and hay! we are all mortal; let's live till we die, and be merry - and there's an end.
Page 236 - Sir, assured that this motion doth proceed From your most kind and fatherly affection, I do dispose my liking to your pleasure : But for it is a matter of such moment As holy marriage, I must crave thus much, To have some conference with my ghostly father, Friar Hildersham, here by, at Waltham-abbey, To be absolv'd of things, that it is fit None only but my confessor should know.
Page 58 - And now methinks I could e'en chide myself For doating on her beauty, though her death Shall be revenged after no common action. Does the silkworm expend her yellow labours For thee? For thee does she undo herself? Are lordships sold to maintain ladyships For the poor benefit of a bewildering minute? Why does yon...
Page 102 - When murderers shut deeds close, this curse does seal 'em: If none disclose 'em, they themselves reveal 'em! This murder might have slept in tongueless brass But for ourselves, and the world died an ass. Now I remember too, here was Piato Brought forth a knavish sentence once; No doubt (said he), but time Will make the murderer bring forth himself.

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