SCENE X.

NOODLE, _and then_ GRIZZLE.

_Nood._ Sure, Nature means to break her solid chain,[153] Or else unfix the world, and in a rage To hurl it from its axletree and hinges; All things are so confused, the king's in love, The queen is drunk, the princess married is.

_Griz._ Oh, Noodle! Hast thou Huncamunca seen?

_Nood._ I've seen a thousand sights this day, where none Are by the Wonderful Pig himself outdone. The king, the queen, and all the court, are sights.

_Griz._ D--n your delay, you trifler! are you drunk, ha?[154] I will not hear one word but Huncamunca.

_Nood._ By this time she is married to Tom Thumb.

_Griz._ My Huncamunca![155]

_Nood._ Your Huncamunca, Tom Thumb's Huncamunca, every man's Huncamunca.

_Griz._ If this be true, all womankind are curst.

_Nood._ If it be not, may I be so myself.

_Griz._ See where she comes! I'll not believe a word Against that face, upon whose ample brow[156] Sits innocence with majesty enthroned.

GRIZZLE, HUNCAMUNCA.

_Griz._ Where has my Huncamunca been? See here. The licence in my hand!

_Hunc._ Alas! Tom Thumb.

_Griz._ Why dost thou mention him?

_Hunc._ Ah, me! Tom Thumb.

_Griz._ What means my lovely Huncamunca?

_Hunc._ Hum?

_Griz._ Oh! speak.

_Hunc._ Hum!

_Griz._ Ha! your every word is hum: You force me still to answer you, Tom Thumb.[157] Tom Thumb--I'm on the rack--I'm in a flame. Tom Thumb, Tom Thumb, Tom Thumb--you love the name;[158] So pleasing is that sound, that, were you dumb, You still would find a voice to cry Tom Thumb.

_Hunc._ Oh! be not hasty to proclaim my doom! My ample heart for more than one has room: A maid like me Heaven form'd at least for two. I married him, and now I'll marry you.[159]

_Griz._ Ha! dost thou own thy falsehood to my face? Think'st thou that I will share thy husband's place? Since to that office one cannot suffice, And since you scorn to dine one single dish on, Go, get your husband put into commission. Commissioners to discharge (ye gods! it fine is) The duty of a husband to your highness. Yet think not long I will my rival bear, Or unrevenged the slighted willow wear; The gloomy, brooding tempest, now confined Within the hollow caverns of my mind, In dreadful whirl shall roll along the coasts, Shall thin the land of all the men it boasts, And cram up ev'ry chink of hell with ghosts.[160] So have I seen, in some dark winter's day,[161] A sudden storm rush down the sky's highway, Sweep through the streets with terrible ding-dong, Gush through the spouts, and wash whole clouds along. The crowded shops the thronging vermin screen, Together cram the dirty and the clean, And not one shoe-boy in the street is seen.

_Hunc._ Oh, fatal rashness! should his fury slay My hapless bridegroom on his wedding-day, I, who this morn of two chose which to wed, May go again this night alone to bed. So have I seen some wild unsettled fool,[162] Who had her choice of this and that joint-stool, To give the preference to either loth, And fondly coveting to sit on both, While the two stools her sitting-part confound, Between 'em both fall squat upon the ground.

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