* * * * *
[From the “Wars of Cyrus;” a Tragedy Author unknown, 1594.]
_Dumb Show exploded._
_Chorus (to the Audience)._ ------- Xenophon
Warrants what we record of Panthea.
It is writ in sad and tragic terms,
May move you tears; then you content our Muse,
That scorns to trouble you again with toys
Or needless antics, imitations,
Or shows, or new devises sprung o’ late;
We have exiled them from our tragic stage,
As trash of their tradition, that can bring
Nor instance nor excuse: for what they _do_,[460]
Instead of mournful plaints our Chorus _sings_;
Although it be against the upstart guise,
Yet, warranted by grave antiquity,
We will revive the which hath long been done.
* * * * *
[From the “Married Beau,” a Comedy, by John Crowne, 1694.]
_Wife tempted: she pleads religion._
_Lover._ Our happy love may have a secret Church
Under the Church, as _Faith’s_ was under _Paul’s_,
Where we may carry on our sweet devotion;
And the Cathedral marriage keep its state,
And all its decency and ceremonies.
* * * * *
[From the “Challenge for Beauty,” Tragi-Comedy, by T. Heywood, 1636.]
_Appeal for Innocence against a false accusation._
_Helena._ Both have sworn:
And, Princes, as you hope to crown your heads
With that perpetual wreath which shall last ever,
Cast on a poor dejected innocent virgin
Your eyes of grace and pity. What sin is it,
Or who can be the patron to such evil?--
That a poor innocent maid, spotless in deed,
And pure in thought, both without spleen and gall,
That never injured creature, never had heart
To think of wrong, or ponder injury;
That such a one in her white innocence,
Striving to live peculiar in the compass
Of her own virtues; notwithstanding these,
Should be sought out by strangers, persecuted,
Made infamous ev’n there where she was made
For imitation; hiss’d at in her country;
Abandon’d of her mother, kindred, friends;
Depraved in foreign climes, scorn’d every where,
And ev’n in princes’ courts reputed vile:
O pity, pity this!