The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Robert Greene & George Peele

Great Abdelmelec; and the god of kings
Hath made thy war successful by thy right,
His friends, whom death and fates have ta'en
from thee.

Lo, this was he that was the people's pride,
And cheerful sunshine to his subjects all !
Now have him hence,+ that royally he may
Be buried and embalmèd as is meet.
Zareo, have you through the camp proclaim'd
As erst we gave in charge?

Ar. Zareo. We have, my lord, and rich rewards

propos'd

For them that find the body of the king;

For by those guard[s] that had him in their charge
We understand that he was done to death,
And for his search two prisoners, Portugals,
Are set at large to find their royal king.

Muly Mah. Seth. Welcome, my friend: what body hast thou there?

First Peas. The body of th' ambitious enemy That squander'd all this blood in Africa, Whose malice sent so many souls to hell, The traitor Muly Mahamet do I bring, And for thy slave I throw him at thy feet. Muly Mah. Seth. Zareo, give this man a rich

reward;

And thankèd be the god of just revenge,
That he hath given our foe into our hands,
Beastly, unarmed, slavish, full of shame.-
But say, how came this traitor to his end?
First Peas. Seeking to save his life by shame-
ful flight,

He mounteth on a hot Barbarian horse,
And so in purpose to have pass'd the stream,

Muly Mah. Seth. But of the traitorous Moor His headstrong steed throws him from out his

you hear no news

That fled the field and sought to swim the ford?

Ar. Zareo. Not yet, my lord; but doubtless
God will tell

And with his finger point out where he haunts.
Muly Mah. Seth. So let it rest, and on this
This princely corse,
[earth bestow

Till further for his funerals we provide.
Ar. Zareo. From him to thee as true-succeed.
ing prince,

With all allegiance and with honour's types,
In name of all thy people and thy land,
We give this kingly crown and diadem.

Muly Mah. Seth. We thank you all, and as my lawful right,

With God's defence and yours, shall I [it] keep. Enter two Portugals with the body of KING SEBASTIAN.

seat;

Where, diving oft for lack of skill to swim,
It was my chance alone to see him drown'd,
Whom by the heels I dragg'd from out the pool,
And hither have him brought thus fil'd with mud.
Muly Mah. Seth. A death too good for such a
damned wretch:

But sith our rage and rigour of revenge

By violence of his end prevented is,

That all the world may learn by him t' avoid
To hale on princes to injurious war,

His skin we will be parted from his flesh,

And being stiffen'd out and stuff'd with straw,*
So to deter and fear the lookers-on
From any such foul fact or bad attempt:
Away with him!

[Exeunt some with the body of the Moor.

First Port. As gave your grace in charge, right And now, my lords,+ for this Christian king:

royal prince,

The fields and sandy plains we have survey'd,
And even among the thickest of his lords
The noble King of Portugal we found,
Wrapt in his colours coldly on the earth,
And done to death with many a mortal wound.
Muly Mah. Seth. Lo, here, my lords, this is
the earth and clay

Of him that erst was mighty King of Portugal !—
There let him lie, and you for this be free
To make return from hence to Christendom.

Enter two Peasants, with the body of the Moor. First Peas. Long live the mighty King of Barbary!

* His friends, &c.] Something is wanting before this line.

+ Now have him hence, &c.] But, from what presently follows, it would seem that the body is not removed.

My Lord Zareo, let it be your charge

To see the soldiers tread a solemn march, Trailing their pikes and ensigns on the ground, So to perform the prince's funerals.‡

Here endeth the tragical battle of Alcazar.

* stuff'd with straw] After these words a line (about the stuffed skin being set up in some conspicuous place) is certainly wanting.

lords] See note, p. 431, first col.

the prince's funerals] In the two earlier eds, of Peele's Works I printed "the princes' funerals", with a note, "i. e. of Abdelmelec and Sebastian ",-wrongly, as I have long since seen, and as Walker (in his recently published Crit. Exam, of the text of Shakespeare, &c., vol. iii. p. 249) points out. The word "funerals" was formerly very often applied to the funeral rites of an individual (compare, a little before in this page, "his funerals"); and here "the prince's funerals” are the funeral rites of Sebastian : "for," observes Walker, "the body of Abdelmelec would naturally be reserved for more solemn obsequies."

THE OLD WIVES' TALE.

The Old Wines Tale. A pleasant conceited Comedie, played by the Queenes Maiesties players. Printed at London by John Danter, and are to be sold by Raph Hancocke, and John Hardie. 1595. at the end is;

Written by G. P. 4to. The imprint

Printed at London by John Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and John Hardie, and are to be solde at the shop ouer against Saint Giles his Church without Criplegate. 1595.

The Old Wives' Tale had sunk into complete oblivion, till Steevens (see Wooll's Life of J. Warton, p. 398) communicated to Reed the account of it which appeared in the Biographia Dramatica; and it was afterwards more particularly described by T. Warton in his edition of Milton's Minor Poems.

"This very scarce and curious piece exhibits, among other parallel incidents, two Brothers wandering in quest of their Sister, whom an Enchanter had imprisoned. This magician had learned his art from his mother Meroe, as Comus had been instructed by his mother Circe. The Brothers call out on the Lady's name, and Echo replies. The Enchanter had given her a potion which suspends the powers of reason, and superinduces oblivion of herself. The Brothers afterwards meet with an Old Man who is also skilled in magic; and by listening to his soothsayings, they recover their lost Sister. But not till the Enchanter's wreath had been torn from his head, his sword wrested from his hand, a glass broken, and a light extinguished. The names of some of the characters as Sacrapant, Chorebus, and others, are taken from the Orlando Furioso. The history of Meroe a witch, may be seen in 'The xi. Bookes of the Golden Asse, containing the Metamorphosie of Lucius Apuleius interlaced with sundrie pleasant and delectable Tales, &c. Translated out of Latin into English by William Adlington, Lond. 1566.' See Chap. iii. 'How Socrates in his returne from Macedony to Larissa was spoyled and robbed, and how he fell acquainted with one Meroe a witch.' And Chap. iv. 'How Meroe the witch turned divers persons into miserable beasts.' Of this book there were other editions in 1571, 1596, 1600, and 1639. All in quarto and the black letter. The translator was of University College. See also Apuleius in the original. A Meroe is mentioned by Ausonius, Epigr. xix." T. Warton, -Milton's Poems upon several occasions, &c., pp. 135-6., ed. 1791. "There is another circumstance in this play taken from the old English Apuleius. It is where the Old Man every night is transformed by our magician into a bear, recovering in the daytime his natural shape." Id. p. 576. "That Milton had an eye on this ancient drama, which might have been the favourite of his early youth, perhaps it may be at least affirmed with as much credibility, as that he conceived the PARADISE LOST from seeing a Mystery at Florence, written by Andreini a Florentine in 1617, entitled ADAMO." Id. p. 136.

An incident similar to that in this play of the two sisters going to the well and meeting with the golden head, is to be found (as Mr. T. Rodd, one of the best-informed of booksellers, observes to me,) in a penny history called the Tales of the Three Kings of Colchester.

* Sacrapant] So Peele most probably chose to write this name: but the proper spelling is "Sacripant" (as in Ariosto).

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