Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/562

 462

NOTES AND QUERIES. 12 B.VII. DEO. 11.1920.

What would you more, my good friend, of fear or danger ? Answer me this. As a style of conveyance I cannot imagine anything to exceed it, if you could wholly free yourself from the idea of being blown to H[sc] or hurled into the air in a 1000 d pieces. However I say to you it is well worth the journey 1 recommend your enjoying it & when you have arrived here, to be sure, you have eno' to engage & gratify your curiosity in all ways to see what man is capable of, yet they say that this place is only in its infancy & if they c d see the last India Charter done away or the Trade to China opened, their trade would increase amazingly the Corporation has an income of about 120,000 & the Dock Com- pany 200,000 from different dues !!

I forgot to mention as to the care taken along the Railways, there are men standing at given and no great distances from each other with the right arm extended meaning % ' All right " along their pro- portion of the way.

I wish you would show to Mr. Squire on Wed> what I have said about ihe railway, or rather the descr" I have given. Remember me to Mrs. G. your uncle and Aunt & at the Parsonage. Mrs. D. joins in the rem s & with the add n to yourself. Be- lieve me always very truly yrs, W. DALTON.

F. T. DALTON.

FORD'S POSTHUMOUS PLAY, 'THE QUEEN.'

' THE Queen, or the Excellency of her Sex ' was first printed in 1653. Its authorship was clearly unknown to the publisher, who is content to describe it as "An Excellent Old Play. Found out by a Person of Honour, and given to the Publisher, Alex- ander Goughe." In 1906 it was reprinted by Professor Bang of Louvain ( ' Materialien zur Kunde des alteren englischen Dramas,' vol. xxiii. ) and ascribed to John Ford. As the text is not easily accessible, I give here a brief account of its plot.

Alphonso, who has led an. unsuccessful rebellion against the Queen of Arragon, has been condemned to death and is on the point of being executed when the Queen makes her appearance. She questions Alphonso, and learns that his hostility is inspired not by any motive personal to herself, but by an all-embracing hatred of her sex. Notwith- standing that he shows no disposition to repent his conduct, she magnanimously pardons him and bestows her hand upon him in marriage. Immediately after the wedding ceremony is over, the new king asks for and obtains the Queen's consent to a separation for a period of seven days, in order, as he explains, that he may expiate his wrongful thoughts of her sex. A month passes and still he continues to absent himself. The

efforts of the Queen's counsellors to persuade^ him of the injustice of this treatment of her are unavailing, and when the Queen herself goes to him and beseeches him to let her know why he refuses to live with her, she is. met with a wild tirade against her modesty, the king bidding her, if she can live chaste, to live alone as he does. The Queen, whose- love of her husband remains unshaken,, leaves his presence overcome with grief.

Muretto, the king's counsellor, now begins- to instil into his master's mind suspicions- of the Queen's behaviour with the noble- Petruchi, a young lord of unimpeachable- character, loyally devoted to her service- The king summons both before him and they are arrested. He refuses to credit the- Queen's protestations of innocence, but tells^ her that if anyone appears to champion her cause within a month, he is prepared toj meet him in single combat, in which event, the result of the duel shall decide the trutM of the accusation against her : if, on the other hand, no champion is forthcoming within that time, she is to lose her head. The Queen hears Alphonso 's sentence with noble fortitude. She will make no effort to- save her life at the risk of her husband's,! and exacts from her adherents an oath that: they will not raise arms against their sovereign. The king has no sooner delivered judgment on the Queen than be begins to! be perturbed by thoughts of her surpassing" loveliness and is seized by feelings of remorse* which become more and more poignant as- the day fixed for the combat approaches- If he could be convinced that she is "as- fair within as she is without " he would willingly resign his crown and " live a slave to her perfections " and only a stern sense of justice compels him to fulfil the terms of his decree. The fateful day arrives. When the herald's trumpet first sounds the chal* lenge there is no response. But the delay is only momentary. At the second blast, Velasco, the Queen's general, enters the lists. The Queen implores him not to oppose the king, and swoons when her stubbornly refuses to obey. Once more* the trumpet sounds, and another champion- appears in the person of Petruchi, and then, close upon his heels, Muretto himself, sword in hand, proclaiming that he is " as ready to stand in defence of that miracle of chaste- women as any man in this presence." The- king's astonishment at this behaviour on the part of the very man who has prompted hi* suspicions is unbounded. Muretto then explains that, realizing that Alphonso 's*