Enter Fiends. This speedy quick appearance argues proof Now, ye familiar spirits, that are cull'd Out of the powerful regions under earth, Help me this once, that France may get the field. [They walk about, and speak not, O, hold me not with silence over-long! Where I was wont to feed you with my blood, In earnest of a further benefit; So you do condescend to help me now. [They hang their heads. No hope to have redress?-My body shall Pay recompense, if you will grant my suit. [They shake their heads. Cannot my body, nor blood-sacrifice, Alarums. Enter French and English, fighting. York. Damsel of France, I think, I have you fast: to be the particular habitation of bad spirits. Milton, therefore, assembles the rebel angels in the north. JOHNSON. Where - i. e. whereas. 3 vail her-lofty plumed crest,] i, e. lower it. Unchain your spirits now with spelling charms, And may ye both be suddenly surpriz'd York. Fell, banning hag! enchantress, hold thy tongue. Puc. I pr'ythee, give me leave to curse a while. York. Curse, miscreant, when thou comest to the stake. Alarums. [Exeunt. Enter SUFFOLK, leading in Lady Suf. Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner. O fairest beauty, do not fear, nor fly; [Gazes on her. For I will touch thee but with reverent hands, I kiss these fingers [Kissing her hand.] for eternal peace: Who art thou? say, that I may honour thee. Mar. Margaret my name; and daughter to a king, The king of Naples, whosoe'er thou art. Suf. An earl I am, and Suffolk am I call'd. Be not offended, nature's miracle, Thou art allotted to be ta'en by me: So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, Fell, banning hag!] To ban is to curse, Yet if this servile usage once offend, So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes. Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses rough. pay Suf. How canst thou tell, she will deny thy suit, Before thou make a trial of her love? Aside. Mar. Why speak'st thou not? what ransome must I pay? Suf. She's beautiful; and therefore to be woo'd: She is a woman; therefore to be won. [Aside. Mar. Wilt thou accept of ransome, yea, or no? Suf. Fond man! remember, that thou hast a wife; Then how can Margaret be thy paramour? [Aside. • As plays the sun upon the glassy streams, &c.] This comparison, made between things which seem sufficiently unlike, is intended to express the softness and delicacy of Lady Margaret's beauty, which delighted, but did not dazzle; which was bright, but gave no pain by its lustre. JOHNSON. 6 disable not thyself;] Do not represent thyself so weak. To disable the judgment of another was, in that age, the same as to destroy its credit or authority. JOHNSON. 7 and makes the senses rough.] The meaning of this word is not very obvious. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads-crouch. |