Cora. Oh God! — there’s blood upon him!
Rol. ’Tis my blood, Cora!
Alon. Rolla, thou diest!
Rol. For thee, and Cora. — [Dies.
Enter ORANO.
Ora. Treachery has revealed our asylum in the rocks. Even now the foe assails the peaceful band retired for protection there.
Alon. Lose not a moment! — Swords be quick! — Your wives and children cry to you — Bear our loved hero’s body in the van— ‘Twill raise the fury of our men to madness. — Now, fell Pizarro! the death of one of us is near! — Away! Be the word of assault, Revenge and Rolla! — [Exeunt. Charge.
SCENE IV.
A romantic part of the Recess among the Rocks — Alarms — Women are seen flying, pursued by the Spanish Soldiers. — The Peruvian Soldiers drive the Spaniards back from the Field. — The Fight is continued on the Heights.
Enter PIZARRO, ALMAGRO, VALVERDE, and Spanish Soldiers.
Piz. Well! — if surrounded, we must perish in the centre of them — Where do Rolla and Alonzo hide their heads?
Enter ALONZO, ORANO, and Peruvians.
Alon. Alonzo answers thee, and Alonzo’s sword shall speak for Rolla.
Piz. Thou know’st the advantage of thy numbers. — Thou dar’st not singly face Pizarro.
Alon. Peruvians, stir not a man! — Be this contest only ours.
Piz. Spaniards! — observe ye the same.
[Charge.
[They fight. ALONZO’S shield is broken, and he is beat — down Piz. Now, traitor, to thy heart!
[At this moment ELVIRA ENTERS, habited as when PIZARRO first beheld her. — PIZARRO, appalled, staggers back. — ALONZO renews the fight, and slays him. Loud shouts from the — Peruvians.]
ATALIBA enters, and embraces ALONZO.
Ata. My brave Alonzo!
Aim. Alonzo, we submit. — Spare us! we will embark, and leave the coast.
Val. Elvira will confess I saved her life; she has saved thine.
Alon. Fear not. You are safe.
[Spaniards lay down their arms.
Elv. Valverde speaks the truth; — nor could he think to meet me here. — An awful impulse which my soul could not resist impelled me hither.
Alon. Noble Elvira! my preserver! How can I speak what I, Ataliba, and his rescued country, owe to thee! If amid this grateful nation thou wouldst remain —
Elv. Alonzo, no! — the destination of my future life is fixed. Humbled in penitence, I will endeavour to atone the guilty errors, which, however masked by shallow cheerfulness, have long consumed my secret heart — When, by my sufferings purified, and penitence sincere, my soul shall dare address the throne of mercy in behalf of others, — for thee, Alonzo — for thy Cora, and thy child, — for thee, thou virtuous monarch, and the innocent race you reign over, shall Elvira’s prayers address the God of nature. Valverde, you have preserved my life. Cherish humanity — avoid the foul examples thou hast viewed. — Spaniards returning to your native home, assure your rulers, they mistake the road to glory or to power. — Tell them, that the pursuits of avarice, conquest, and ambition, never yet made a people happy, or a nation great.
[Casts a look of agony on the dead body PIZARRO as she pas, and exit.
Flourish of trumpets.
[VALVERDE, ALMAGRO, and Spanish Soldiers, exeunt, bearing off PIZARRO’S body. — On a signal from ALONZO, flourish of music.
Alon. Ataliba! think not I wish to check the voice of triumph — when I entreat we first may pay the tribute due to our loved Rolla’s memory.
A solemn march — Procession of Peruvian Soldiers, bearing ROLLA’S body on a bier, surrounded by military trophies. The Priests and Priestesses attending chant a dirge over the bier. — ALONZO and CORA kneel on either side of and kiss ROLLA’S hands in silent agony — In the looks of the King, and of all present, the triumph of the day is lost, in mourning for the fallen hero.
[The curtain slowly descends.
EPILOGUE.
WRITTEN BY THE HON. WILLIAM LAMB.
Spoken by Mrs. JORDAN.
ERE yet Suspense has still’d its throbbing fear,
Or Melancholy wiped the grateful tear,
While e’en the miseries of a sinking state,
A monarch’s danger, and a nation’s fate,
Command not now your eyes with grief to flow,
Lost in a trembling mother’s nearer woe;
What moral lay shall Poetry rehearse,
Or how shall Elocution pour the verse
So sweetly, that its music shall repay
The loved illusion, which it drives away?
Mine is the task, to rigid custom due,
To me ungrateful, as ’tis harsh to you,
To mar the work the tragic scene has wrought,
To rouse the mind that broods in pensive thought,
To scare Reflection, which, in absent dreams,
Still lingers musing on the recent themes;
Attention, ere with contemplation tired,
To turn from all that pleased, from all that fired;
To weaken lessons strongly now imprest,
And chill the interest glowing in the breast —
Mine is the task; and be it mine to spare
The souls that pant, the griefs they see, to share;
Let me with no unhallow’d jest deride
The sigh, that sweet Compassion owns with pride —
The sigh of Comfort, to Affliction dear,
That Kindness heaves, and Virtue loves to hear
E’en gay Thalia will not now refuse
This gentle homage to her sister-muse.
O ye, who listen to the plaintive strain,
With strange enjoyment, and with rapturous pain,
Who erst have felt the Stranger’s lone despair,
And Haller’s settled, sad, remorseful care,
Does Rolla’s pure affection less excite
The inexpressive anguish of delight?
Do Cora’s fears, which beat without control,
With less solicitude engross the soul?
Ah, no! your minds with kindred zeal approve
Maternal feeling, and heroic love.
You must approve: where man exists below,
In temperate climes, or midst drear wastes of snow.
Or where the solar fires incessant flame,
Thy laws, all-powerful Nature, are the same:
Vainly the sophist boasts, he can explain
The causes of thy universal reign —
More vainly would his cold presumptuous art
Disprove thy general empire o’er the heart:
A voice proclaims thee, that we must believe,
A voice, that surely speaks not to deceive;
That voice poor Cora heard, and closely prest
Her darling infant to her fearful breast;
Distracted dared the bloody field to tread,
And sought Alonzo through the heaps of dead,
Eager to catch the music of his breath,
Though faltering in the agonies of death,
To touch his lips, though pale and cold, once more,
And clasp his bosom, though it streamed with gore;
That voice too Rolla heard, and, greatly brave,
His Cora’s dearest treasure died to save;
Gave to the hopeless parent’s arms her child,
Beheld her transports, and expiring smiled.
That voice we hear — Oh! be its will obey’d!
’Tis Valour’s impulse, and ’tis Virtue’s aid —
It prompts to all Benevolence admires,
To all that heav’nly Piety inspires,
To all that Praise repeats through lengthen’d years,
That Honour sanctifies, and Time reveres.
The Poetry
Sheridan was educated at Harrow School from 1762 to 1768
Harrow School, c. 1615
THE POEMS OF RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN
Edited with Introductions by R. Crom
pton Rhodes
OXFORD: BASIL BLACKWELL 1928 EDITION
CONTENTS
CLIO’S PROTEST, WITH OTHER POEMS
NOTE
INTRODUCTION ‘THE RIDOTTO OF BATH’
CLIO’S PROTEST
INTRODUCTION: TO THE EDITION OF 1819
THE BATH PICTURE
CLIO’S PROTEST
THE RIDOTTO OF BATH
VERSES ADDRESSED TO LAURA
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CLIO’S PROTEST, WITH OTHER POEMS
LONGER POEMS
NOTE
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1771
THE LOVE EPISTLES OF ARISTAENETUS
EPISTLE I — LAIS
EPISTLE III — THE GARDEN OF PHYLLION
EPISTLE IX — THE SLIP
EPISTLE XII — THE ENRAPTURED LOVER
EPISTLE XIII — THE SAGACIOUS DOCTOR
EPISTLE XXVIII — THE RIVAL FRIENDS
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
A FAMILIAR EPISTLE TO THE AUTHOR OF THE HEROIC EPISTLE
INTRODUCTION
A PORTRAIT
INTRODUCTION
DEDICATION
VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF GARRICK
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE LONGER POEMS
FUGITIVE VERSE
NOTE
INTRODUCTION
FUGITIVE VERSE
1. MARKED YOU HER EYE OF HEAV’NLY BLUE?
2. ANACREONTIC
3. THE KISS
4. I GAVE MY LOVE A BUDDING ROSE
5. DAMON TO DELIA
6. DRY BE THAT TEAR
7. ON FIRE
8. TO THE RECORDING ANGEL
9. THE GROTTO
10. THINK NOT, MY LOVE, WHEN SECRET GRIEF
11. TO ELIZABETH LINLEY
12. ON HIS WIFE CEASING TO SING
13. TO HYMEN
14. WHEN’TIS NIGHT, AND THE MID-WATCH IS COME
15. CHEARLY, MY HEARTS, OF COURAGE
16. WE TWO, EACH OTHER’S ONLY PRIDE
17. LINES BY A LADY OF FASHION
18. TO LAURA
19. THE GONDOLIER’S SONG
20. BY ADVERSE FATE
21. THE GENTLE PRIMROSE
22. IF FORTUNE
23 AS SHEPHERDS THROUGH THE VAPOURS GREY
24. EPITAPH ON BROOKS
25. ON TWO DEAD SPEAKERS
26. ELEGY ON THE LAMENTED DEATH OF AN AVADAVAT
27. ON THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH SHERIDAN
28. FROM EVERY LATENT FOE
29. MELANCHOLY, FRIEND TO GRIEF
30. ON LADY ANNE HAMILTON’S DOG
31. ON LADY ANNE HAMILTON
32. LINES BY A LADY ON THE LOSS OF HER TRUNK
33. I HAVE A SILENT SORROW HERE
34. YES, YES, BE MERCILESS, THOU TEMPEST DIRE!
35. THE WALSE
36. THE WALTZ
37. AN ADDRESS TO THE PRINCE REGENT
POLITICAL PASQUINADES
YE SONS OF FREEDOM, WAKE TO GLORY (MARSEILLAISE)
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FUGITIVE VERSE
PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES
NOTE
EPILOGUE TO EDWARD AND ELEANORA
EPILOGUE TO SEMIRAMIS
PROLOGUE TO SIR THOMAS OVERBURY
EPILOGUE TO THE FATAL FALSEHOOD
PROLOGUE TO THE MINIATURE ‘PICTURE
EPILOGUE TO THE FAIR CIRCASSIAN
EPILOGUE FOR A BENEFIT PLAY
EPILOGUE FOR AN UNKNOWN PLAY
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES
Richard Brinsley Sheridan by James Gillray
CLIO’S PROTEST, WITH OTHER POEMS
NOTE
“CLIO’S PROTEST... With Other Poems by the late Right Honourable R. B. Sheridan” was printed in 1819. It contains four poems by Sheridan, the “Verses to Laura” being printed from MS. The last of these, the Epilogue to Semiramis, is omitted, being reprinted in another section of the present edition. The Introduction and annotations to the edition of 1819 are here included, as also is The Bath Picture, to which Sheridan’s Clio’s Protest was a reply.
R. C. R.
INTRODUCTION ‘THE RIDOTTO OF BATH’
SHERIDAN got himself into print for the first time as an original author in The Bath Chronicle on October 10th, 1771. In this newspaper appeared The Ridotto of Bath, “a Panegyrick, Being an Epistle from Timothy Screw, Under Server to Messrs. Kuhf and Fitzwater, to his brother Henry, Waiter at Almack’s.” It was, in the strictest sense, occasional verse, for it satirised the opening ball at the New Assembly Rooms at Bath on September 30th of that year; the piece, therefore, must have been written in a week, perhaps, indeed, in two or three days. It is a swift and spirited essay in the manner of the New Bath Guide, a neat and clever imitation of Anstey, by a young man of nineteen. The first lines of The Ridotto of Bath are:
At many grand Routs in my time I have been,
And many fine Rooms to be sure I have seen,
Al Fresco’s, rich Gala’s, Ridotto’s and Balls,
From Carlisle’s sweet palace to black city Halls,
From Almack’s Long-Room to the Inn at Devizes,
From birth-night eclat to the dance at Assizes;
All these have I serv’d at these twelve years or more,
Yet, ‘faith, I’ve seen here what I ne’er saw before.
Sheridan had certainly caught the manner of Anstey, who began his letter from Mr. Simkin Barnard to his lady mother, “A Panegyric on Bath,” in the same style:
Of all the gay places the world can afford,
By gentle and simple for pastime ador’d,
Fine balls, and fine concerts, fine buildings, and springs,
Fine walks, and fine views, and a thousand fine things,
Not to mention the sweet situation and air,
What place, my dear mother, with Bath can compare?
Some of Sheridan’s echoes were deliberate. In another epistle concerning “A Public Breakfast at Spring Gardens” Anstey wrote: —
The company made a most brilliant appearance,
And eat bread and butter with great perseverance,
All the chocolate, too, that my Lord set before ’em
The ladies despatched with the utmost decorum.
Timothy Screw’s “good prudent Lords” (“Messrs. Kuhf and Fitzwater”) were less fortunate: the people at their Ridotto laid hands on all they could:
So you see, my dear Hal, they bore all things before ’em
And trampled on sweetmeats as well as decorum.
Of course, Sheridan was no match for Anstey at his best, though Mr. Sichel’s condemnation of The Ridotto of Bath as “commonplace and colloquial” is rather too strong. Still, there is much truth in Moore’s assertion that the allusions in this trifle have lost their zest by time, although (it may be noted) when the poem was reprinted as a broadsheet it was already necessary — a few days after the event — to add the footnotes which are now reprinted, as they were in the Bath edition of The Rival Beauties (1773) and in Clio’s Protect With Other Poems (1819). The poem might, of course, be annotated further — to explain that “Carlisle’s sweet palace” meant Carlisle House in London, where Teresa Cornelys held her masquerades; that “birth-night éclat” meant the Court Balls on the King’s Birthday — that the “dance at Assizes” were the great County Balls of the period. Or again, it might be added that when Wade, the Master of Ceremonies, prohibited the wearing of black, it was because such was the custom of London at Ridottos, which were held during Lent, when some concession to decorum was considered necessary. But annotations of that type would indeed be endless.
CLIO’S PROTEST
A few weeks after The Ridotto of Bath Sheridan wrote, with the same haste but with greater accomplishment, another piece with the title of Clio’s Protest, or the Picture Varnish’d. This has a curious history, even more curious, it seems, than has hitherto been suspected. It is a reply to some verses— “doggerel,” sa
ys Mr. Sichel, “balderdash,” says Mr. Iolo Williams — with the title of The Bath Picture; “or a Slight Sketch of its Beauties in 1771.” The author of this poem exerted himself to compliment the ladies who had assembled for the Bath Season in the autumn of that year. It was, no doubt, a hasty and headlong piece of versification, in which was achieved the distinction of some of the world’s worst verses. For the moment two Stanzas will suffice. The one celebrated the graces of two sisters, Lady Margaret Fordyce and Lady Ann Lindsay:
Remark, too, the smile,
Lady Marg’ret’s fair countenance wears;
And Lady Ann, whom so beauteous we Stile,
As quite free of affected fine airs.
The other, following a compliment to Miss Waller, a singer, was intended as a tribute to Elizabeth Linley:
We can boast of one other beside
Who’s a mistress of harmony too;
She’s well-tempered and void of all pride,
The whole family’s equally so.
Despite Mr. Sichel, neither this Picture nor Sheridan’s answer, are to be found in “Crutwell’s newspaper” The Bath Chronicle — at least by my seeking. But in its columns there appeared these notices:
November 21ft, 1771. ‘“The Picture was received too late for this day’s paper.”
December 5th, 1771. “The Bath Picture, or a Slight Sketch of its Beauties in 1771, a Ballad, may be had at Crutwell’s Printing-Office. Price 2d.
Where may be had Clio’s Protest; or, the Picture Varnished. Addressed to the Lady M — rg — r — t F — d — ce. Price 6d....
And the Poetical Panegyrick of the Ridotto of Bath. Price id.
It would seem that Crutwell had handed The Picture to the young author of The Ridotto of Bath, who in ten days at the most, improvised his reply, which was published simultaneously with the Ballad. Collusion between the authors seems to have been impossible, for Sheridan misunderstood the allusion to Elizabeth Linley, which he thought was intended for the other singer, writing:
Waller, could I say more of thee —
But soft — here’s all your family:
A compliment — that none may grumble,
They’re all, it seems, extremely humble.
Delphi Complete Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan Page 50