Volume Iii Part 84 (1/2)
Oft has the soft, insipid Sonneteer In_ Nice _and_ Flutter, _seen his Fop-face here.
Well was the ignorant lampooning Pack Of shatterhead Rhymers whip'd on_ Craffey's _back; But such a trouble Weed is Poetaster, The lower 'tis cut down, it grows the faster.
Though Satir then had such a plenteous crop, An After Math of c.o.xcombs is come up; Who not content false Poetry to renew, By sottish Censures wou'd condemn the true.
Let writing like a Gentleman--fine appear, But must you needs judge too_ en Cavalier?
_These whiffling Criticks, 'tis our Auth'ress fears, And humbly begs a Trial by her Peers: Or let a Pole of Fools her fate p.r.o.nounce, There's no great harm in a good quiet Dunce.
But s.h.i.+eld her, Heaven! from the left-handed blow Of airy Blockheads who pretend to know.
On downright Dulness let her rather split, Than be Fop-mangled under colour of Wit.
Hear me, ye Scribling Beaus,-- Why will you in sheer Rhyme, without one stroke
Of Poetry, Ladies just Disdain provoke,
And address Songs to whom you never spoke?
In doleful Hymns for dying Felons fit, Why do you tax their Eyes, and blame their Wit?
Unjustly of the Innocent you complain, 'Tis Bulkers give, and Tubs must cure your pain.
Why in Lampoons will you your selves revile?
'Tis true, none else will think it worth their while: But thus you're hid! oh, 'tis a politick Fetch; So some have hang'd themselves to ease_ Jack Ketch.
_Justly your Friends and Mistresses you blame,
For being so they well deserve the shame,
'Tis the worst scandal to have borne that name.
[See the late Satir on Poetry]
At Poetry of late, and such whose Skill
Excels your own, you dart a feeble Quill;
Well may you rail at what you ape so ill.
With virtuous Women, and all Men of Worth, You're in a state of mortal War by Birth.
Nature in all her Atom-Fights ne'er knew Two things so opposite as Them and You.
On such your Muse her utmost fury spends, They're slander'd worse than any but your Friends.
More years may teach you better; the mean while, If you can't mend your Morals, mend your Style_.
THE FORC'D MARRIAGE; OR, THE JEALOUS BRIDEGROOM.
ARGUMENT.
The King of France to reward his favourite Alcippus, at the motion of prince Philander, gladly a.s.sents to his being created general in place of old Orgulius, who seeks to resign his office, and further on his royal word pledges the new-made commander, Erminia, Orgulius' daughter, in marriage. The lady, however, loves the dauphin, whilst the princess Galatea is enamoured of Alcippus. All three are plunged into despair, and the brother and sister knowing each other's pa.s.sion bemoan their hapless fate. The prince, indeed, threatens to kill Alcippus, upon which Galatea declares she will poniard Erminia. On the wedding night the bride confesses her love for Philander and refuses to admit Alcippus to her love. The dauphin at the same time serenades Erminia at her chamber door, but Pisaro, a friend to Alcippus, meeting him, there is a scuffle during which Alcander, the prince's companion, wounds the intruder. The noise rouses Erminia who issues from her room and encounters Philander.
Alcippus, seeing them together, mad with jealousy, attacks the prince.
He is, however, beaten back and even wounded, and later his fury is inflamed by Pisaro's tale, who also informs the favourite that Galatea, for whom the narrator cherishes a hopeless love, dotes fondly upon him.
Erminia, now that she has been joined in wedlock with Alcippus, guards herself carefully from the dauphin's pa.s.sion, but when the general is obliged by his duties to leave for the camp Philander hopes to persuade her to yield to him. Alcippus, however, whose departure is a feint, returns secretly, leaving Pisaro to continue the journey alone. Isillia, Erminia's woman, has already admitted Philander to her mistress'
chamber, when the lovers are surprised by the arrival of Alcippus on the scene. The prince is concealed, although the meeting had been purely innocent, but he is betrayed owing to the fact of his inadvertently leaving his hat and sword upon a table. He departs unmolested, but once he is gone Alcippus, beside himself with blind fury, strangles Erminia with an embroidered garter--Pisaro, coming in a few moments after, reproaches him with the murder but hurries him away to concealment. The deed, however, is discovered and noised abroad by Falatius, a busy c.o.xcomb courtier. Orgulius demands Alcippus' life from the King, but Galatea, heart-broken, pleads for the man she loves. Philander is distraught with grief, and the King decides that if he harms himself Alcippus shall straightway pay the forfeit. The prince is about to wreak his vengeance on the cruel husband when he is met by Erminia herself, who, owing to her maid's attentions, has recovered from the swoon Alcippus took for death. It is resolved that Alcippus, who is now torn with agony and remorse, must be fittingly punished, and accordingly as he lies sick at heart in his chamber Erminia enters as a spirit, and so looking over his shoulder into a mirror wherein he is gazing tells him plainly of Galatea's love. The princess then pa.s.ses by as it were a phantom, and after a masque, which he takes for a dream, he is conducted to a room draped in black wherein is placed a catafalque. Here he encounters Philander and as they are at hot words the King, who has been privy to the whole design, enters and the two are reconciled. Erminia next appears, and the happy accident explained, Erminia is bestowed upon the dauphin, whilst the princess is united to the favourite.
There is a slight underplot which deals with the amours of Aminta, sister to Pisaro, and Alcander. She is also courted by the cowardly fop, Falatius.
SOURCE.
_The Forc'd Marriage; or, The Jealous Bridegroom_ is the earliest, and most certainly one of the weakest of Mrs. Behn's plays. This is, however, far from saying that it is not a very good example of the Davenant, Howard, Porter, Stapylton school of romantic tragi-comedy. But Aphara had not yet hit upon her brilliant vein of intrigue. In _The Forced Marriage_ she seems to have remembered _The Maid's Tragedy_. The situation between Alcippus and Erminia, Act ii, III, has some vague resemblance to that of Amintor and Evadne, Act ii, I. Aminta also faintly recalls Dula, whilst the song 'Hang love, for I will never pine'