The Works of Henry Fielding, vol. 12

_Fust_. I am glad you have made your escape; but I hope you will make the matter up before the day of action: come, Mr Firebrand, now if you please go on; the moment Common Sens...

_Trap_. I am afraid, Mr Fustian, you have hitherto suspected that I was a dabbler in low comedy; now, sir, you shall see some scenes of politeness and fine conversation among th...

_Trap_. Sir, I can't help your want of understanding or apprehension; 'tis not my fault if you cannot take a hint, sir: would you have a catastrophe in every act? Oons and the d...

2 _Play_. I suppose we shall hardly rehearse the comedy this morning, for the author was arrested as he was going home from King's coffee-house; and, as I heard it was for upwar...

_Fust_. These little things, Mr Sneerwell, will sometimes happen. Indeed a poet undergoes a great deal before he comes to his third night; first with the muses, who are humorous...

AT Whitehall we took a pair of oars for Putney. These we had indeed some difficulty to procure; for many refused to go with us farther than Foxhall or Ranelagh Gardens. At last...

_Jack_. Oh, madam! the man whom you took for a bailiff is certainly some great man; he has a vast many jewels and other fine things about him; he offered me twenty guineas to sh...

_King_. Enough! the vast idea fills my soul. I see them--yes, I see them now before me: The monstrous, ugly, barb'rous sons of whores. But ha! what form majestick strikes our ey...

_Doodle_. Sure such a [1]day as this was never seen! The sun himself, on this auspicious day, Shines like a beau in a new birth-day suit: This down the seams embroidered, that t...

_Nood_. [1] Sure, Nature means to break her solid chain, 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 i...

_King_. Open the prisons, set the wretched free, And bid our treasurer disburse six pounds To pay their debts.--Let no one weep to-day. Come, Dollallolla; [1] curse that odious...

[Footnote 1: "The man who writ this wretched pun," says Mr D., "would have picked your pocket:" which he proceeds to shew not only bad in itself, but doubly so on so solemn an o...

_Queen_. [1]Teach me to scold, prodigious-minded Grizzle, Mountain of treason, ugly as the devil, Teach this confounded hateful mouth of mine To spout forth words malicious as t...

_Luck_. This is kind, indeed; but I do not more wonder at finding a man in this age who can be a friend to adversity, than that Fortune should be so much my friend as to direct...

_Book_. Fie upon it, gentlemen! what, not at your pens? Do you consider, Mr Quibble, that it is a fortnight since your Letter to a Friend in the Country was published? Is it not...

_King_. Let all but Huncamunca leave the room. [Exeunt CLEORA and MUSTACHA. Daughter, I have observed of late some grief. Unusual in your countenance: your eyes! [1]That, like t...

[Footnote 1: "This mustard," says Mr D., "is enough to turn one's stomach. I would be glad to know what idea the author had in his head when he wrote it." This will be, I believ...

_Luck_. Oh, worse! worse! she threatens to go to church with me. She has made me a generous offer, that if I will but marry her she will suffer me to settle all she has upon her.

_King_. [1] Let nothing but a face of joy appear; The man who frowns this day shall lose his head, That he may have no face to frown withal. Smile Dollallolla--Ha! what wrinkled...

_Money_. Oh! then it is plain. I have suspected your familiarity a long while. You are a base man. Is it not enough to stay three months in my house without paying me a farthing...

[1]_Griz_. Oh! Huncamunca, Huncamunca, oh! Thy pouting breasts, like kettle-drums of brass, Beat everlasting loud alarms of joy; As bright as brass they are, and oh, as hard. Oh...

_Mar. jun_. Mr Luckless, I kiss your hands--Sir, I am your most obedient humble servant; you see, Mr Luckless, what power you have over me. I attend your commands, though severa...

_Thumb_. Trust me, my Noodle, I am wondrous sick; For, though I love the gentle Huncamunca, Yet at the thought of marriage I grow pale: For, oh!--[1] but swear thou'lt keep it e...

"Then hence my sorrow, hence my ev'ry fear; No matter where, so we are bless'd together. With thee, the barren rocks, where not one step Of human race lies printed in the snow,...

[Footnote 1: I know some of the commentators have imagined that Mr Dryden, in the altercative scene between Cleopatra and Octavia, a scene which Mr Addison inveighs against with...

_Book_. No, no, sir, I never deal that way--a poem is a poem, and a pamphlet a pamphlet with me. Give me a good handsome large volume, with a full promising title-page at the he...

_Hunc_. Oh! sir, about an hour and half ago He sallied out t' encounter with the foe, And swore, unless his fate had him misled, From Grizzle's shoulders to cut off his head, An...

_Thumb_. Oh, Noodle! hast thou seen a day like this? [1] The unborn thunder rumbles o'er our heads, [2] As if the gods meant to unhinge the world, And heaven and earth in wild c...

_Thumb_. Where is my princess? where's my Huncamunca? Where are those eyes, those cardmatches of Jove, That[1] light up all with love my waxen soul? Where is that face which art...

_Mar. sen_. It may be a very good one, for aught I know: but I am resolved, since the town will not receive any of mine, they shall have none from any other. I'll keep them to t...

_Dash_. Pox on't, I'm as dull as an ox, tho' I have not a bit of one within me. I have not dined these two days, and yet my head is as heavy as any alderman's or lord's. I carry...

[Footnote 2: To understand sufficiently the beauty of this passage, it will be necessary that we comprehend every man to contain two selfs. I shall not attempt to prove this fro...

_Money_. So, so, very fine: always together, always caterwauling. How like a hangdog he stole off; and it's well for him he did, for I should have rung such a peal in his ears.-...

_King_. [1] Sure never was so sad a king as I! [2] My life is worn as ragged as a coat A beggar wears; a prince should put it off. [3] To love a captive and a giantess! Oh love!...

_Money_. Nay, sir, I do not ask it before it is due. I don't question your payment at all: if you was to stay in my house this quarter of a year, as I hope you will, I should no...

_Queen_. What is the cause, my Arthur, that you steal Thus silently from Dollallolla's breast? Why dost thou leave me in the [1] dark alone, When well thou know'st I am afraid o...

_Moneywood_. Never tell me, Mr Luckless, of your play, and your play. I tell you I must be paid. I would no more depend on a benefit-night of an unacted play than I would on a b...

_Book_. Oh, sir! when it is, it will be then time enough to talk about it. A play, like a bill, is of no value till it is accepted; nor indeed when it is, very often. Besides, s...

_Hunc_. [1]O Tom Thumb! Tom Thumb! wherefore art thou Tom Thumb? Why hadst thou not been born of royal race? Why had not mighty Bantam been thy father? Or else the king of Brent...

[1] _Ghost (solus)_. Hail! ye black horrors of midnight's midnoon' Ye fairies, goblins, bats, and screech-owls, hail! And, oh! ye mortal watchmen, whose hoarse throats Th' immor...

_Luck_. Mr Bookweight, your servant. Who can form to himself an idea more amiable than of a man at the head of so many patriots working for the benefit of their country.

_Luck_. Why, I had some time since given this performance of mine to be rehearsed, and the actors were all perfect in their parts; but we happened to differ about some particula...

_Griz_. This day, of all the days of th' year, I'd choose, For on this day my grandmother was born. Gods! I will make Tom Thumb an April-fool; [1] Will teach his wit an errand i...

_Money_. I am very glad to hear it, sir. Here is the bill as we settled it this very morning. I always thought, indeed, Mr Luckless had a great deal of honesty in his principles...

_Har_. I was going to the playhouse to look after you--I am frightened out of my wits--I have left my mother at home with the strangest sort of man, who is inquiring after you:...

_Luck_. If you dislike it, it is in your power to drown a much greater. Do you but speak, madam, and I am sure no one will be heard but yourself.

_Queen_ (_sola_). And whither shall I go?--Alack a day! I love Tom Thumb--but must not tell him so; For what's a woman when her virtue's gone? A coat without its lace; wig out o...

[Footnote: Mr Rowe is generally imagined to have taken some hints from this scene in his character of Bajazet; but as he, of all the tragick writers, bears the least resemblance...

_Luck_. Why, Witmore, thou hast the faculty opposite to that of a witch, and canst lay a tempest. I should as soon have imagined one man could have stopt a cannon-ball in its fu...

_Jack_. An't please your honour I have been at my lord's, and his lordship thanks you for the favour you have offered of reading your play to him; but he has such a prodigious d...

_Grizzle_ (_solus_.) [1] Where art thou, Grizzle? where are now thy glories? Where are the drums that waken thee to honour? Greatness is a laced coat from Monmouth-street, Which...

_Jack-P_. This is to give notice to all gentlemen, ladies, and others, that at the Theatre Royal in Drury-lane, this evening, will be performed the whole puppet-show called the...

_King_. Oh! stay, and leave me not uncertain thus! And, whilst thou tellest me what's like my fate, Oh! teach me how I may avert it too! Curst be the man who first a simile made...

_Nood_. Long life attend your majesties serene, Great Arthur, king, and Dollallolla, queen! Lord Grizzle, with a bold rebellious crowd, Advances to the palace, threat'ning loud,...