 | Little John And The Giants |  |
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ACT III.
SCENE I.
A Wood.Beggars advance.
1st Beg.
Bold Robin Hood,
In the green wood stood—hye derry derry down,
Under the green wood tree:
Tidings there came to him with speed,
Tidings of certainty, hye down, hye derry derry down.
2d Beg.
Pray you, this Robin Hood of whom you sing,
Was he, mayhap, a beggar, or a king?
1st Beg.
Both, both; for, like a gallant prince, my brothers,
He lived but by the toil and spoil of others:
And from the king most Christian, to the Turk,
All men are beggars, mark—who will not work.
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AIR XVII.
Tune. “A begging we will go.”However some in coaches, on barrows some may beg,
'Tis Want that makes the Mendicant, and not the wooden leg.
CHORUS.
When a begging they do go, &c.
'Tis thus by greater poverty, our nobles grow renown'd;
For where we want a penny, State-Beggars want a pound.
CHORUS.
And a begging they will go, &c.
Your Courtier begs for Honour, and that's a want indeed;
As many should for Honesty, but will not own their need.
CHORUS.
When a begging they should go, &c.
Your Vizier begs for Subsidies, your Partymen for Place;
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CHORUS.
When a begging they do go, &c.
Then all, from Rome to London, are of the begging train;
But we who beg for Charity—must look to beg in vain.
CHORUS.
When a begging we do go, &c.
SCENE II.
Enter Jack.Jack.
Be merry, friends!—What forest is this same?
Ch. Beg.
Your honour's charity—
2d Beg.
Poor—
3d Beg.
Blind—
4th Beg.
And lame!
Jack.
For eyes and limbs, they are not mine to give;
But cash and cake are yours—here, eat and live!
Pray what may your dependance be, my brothers?
Ch. Beg.
The grace, and the abundance, sir, of others.
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How small the income of your great estate!
The grace is little, the abundance great.
AIR XVIII.
Tune. “Fye, let us awa to the Wedding.”Jack.
When the heir has attain'd the wish'd hour,
Of laying his dad in the ground,
And sees the seal'd bags in his power,
Old hoardings of pound on pound;
What poor do you think in waiting,
All gaping to seize his store?—
A train of his own creating,
His pleasures had starv'd before!
Of laying his dad in the ground,
And sees the seal'd bags in his power,
Old hoardings of pound on pound;
What poor do you think in waiting,
All gaping to seize his store?—
A train of his own creating,
His pleasures had starv'd before!
My friends, how facetiously droll is
Your suit to our ladies fair?
Alas, from their own poor follies,
How think you that they can spare?
Against such intruders, on hinges
Still turns the forbidding door;
For Vanity eats up the Indies,
And hungers and thirsts for more.
Your suit to our ladies fair?
Alas, from their own poor follies,
How think you that they can spare?
Against such intruders, on hinges
Still turns the forbidding door;
For Vanity eats up the Indies,
And hungers and thirsts for more.
Yet many, when beggars are pressing,
Of bounty are nothing loth—
The Bishop will give you his Blessing,
The Officer give you his Oath;
Of his promise to be a free donor,
The Courtier is little nice;
And Great-ones will give you their Honour—
For these are of little price!
Of bounty are nothing loth—
The Bishop will give you his Blessing,
The Officer give you his Oath;
Of his promise to be a free donor,
The Courtier is little nice;
And Great-ones will give you their Honour—
For these are of little price!
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SCENE III.
Enter Shepherds and Shepherdesses in a Train.They all kneel to Jack.
1st Shep.
O champion great,
As ever compass'd wondrous feat!
Hero of every wake and fair,
Of many a mighty ancestor the mighty heir!—
Upon the prowess of thine arm we call;
And at thine honour'd feet fall low, thine humble suppliants all.
Chor.
Upon the prowess, &c.
Jack.
Alas, my friends, what ill hath chanced?—reply!
And quick as lightning, or as thought, to your redress I fly.
Shep.
The Giants!—O the Giants Three,
Have seized, secured, and born away
Our Lady Justice, queen of men and May!
Chor.
Have seized, &c.
Jack.
Trust me, if found she be,
Above or under ground, she's free!—
[Shepherds rise.
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AIR XIX.
Tune. “My heart is awa with the Highland Laddie.”1st Shep.
O knight of knightly errants prime,
To dread atchievements bold and ready;
No knight of ancient time or clime,
E'er fought or fell for such a Lady!
To dread atchievements bold and ready;
No knight of ancient time or clime,
E'er fought or fell for such a Lady!
No Knight, &c.
She's fair and soft as new drop'd lambs,
More sweet than garlands on a May-day;
And gifts as free as milk from dams,
Flow from the goodness of our Lady.
More sweet than garlands on a May-day;
And gifts as free as milk from dams,
Flow from the goodness of our Lady.
And gifts, &c.
Enough, enough!—break not your champion's heart,
Lest his arm fail to act a soldier's part.
Ch. Beg.
Mean you to fight all three?
Jack.
Yes, hand to hand,
And chase their very shadows from the land.
1st Shep.
Then blest once more beneath our Lady's eye
We might in pleasure live, and learn in peace to die.
Ch. Beg.
It would, indeed, be curious then to view
A turn in things—so very strange and new!
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A turn in things—so very strange and new!
AIR XX.
Tune. “A Cobler there was.”Ch. Beg.
How curious to mark the surprize of the town,
To see Truth elated, Dishonour pull'd down!
Jack.
All tricks low and little despised by the Great,
And Honesty fix'd for a Maxim of State!—
Derry down, &c.
CHORUS.
All tricks, &c.
Ch. Beg.
To see Worth and Talents to Office preferr'd,
The Virtuous rewarded, the Vicious deterr'd;
Jack.
And the Streams of Pollution, where people resort,
New fed from the clarified springs of our Court!
Derry down, &c.
CHORUS.
And the streams, &c.
Ch. Beg.
To see our laced Lordlings deserving of Trust,
Our Clergymen pious, our Justices just;
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Our Court Ladies blush; and our thing of a Beau,
A something, besides a mere nothing but shew!
Derry down, &c.
CHORUS.
Our Court Ladies, &c.
Jack.
To see Freedom loyal, Elections unbribed,
All Faction exiled, and Corruption proscribed.
Ch. Beg.
Pure Nature exalted o'er masking and art,
And Dominion possessed of its seat in the Heart!
Derry down, &c.
CHORUS.
Pure Nature exalted, &c.
Jack.
To see Mirth with Innocence walking the land,
And Probity taking Free Trade by the hand.
Ch. Beg.
And the Courts of our Law from Iniquity clear—
O Jack, what a rare revolution were here!
Derry down, &c.
CHORUS.
And the Courts, &c.
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SCENE III.
The Enchanted Tower.Enter Jillian and Nurse.
Nurse.
Alack, my love, all earthly joys are fleeting!—
Don't vex and fret that pretty heart, my sweeting.
Jill.
Fret me, no frettings, nurse—I vow and swear it,
No saint, so tempting, and so young, could bear it,
To be thus used!—
Nurse.
Take patience to you, madam—
Jill.
Shut up from every son of Father Adam!
AIR XXI.
Tune. “Hosier's Ghost.Jill.
Where are now your Knights so laden,
With applause from young and old,
For relief of tender Maiden,
From the gripe of Giants bold?
With applause from young and old,
For relief of tender Maiden,
From the gripe of Giants bold?
I, a flower, fair, fresh, and blooming,
In a lonely vale must lie,
All my virgin sweets consuming,
Far from every sense—O fye!—
In a lonely vale must lie,
All my virgin sweets consuming,
Far from every sense—O fye!—
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I, a flower, &c.
A well a-day!—in true and honest speaking,
It is, as one may say, a piteous taking!
AIR XXII.
Tune. “Chevy Chace.”Jill.
But since by mortals 'tis confest,
The shafts of fate must fall;
I'll take firm patience to my breast,
And smile secure from all.
Why, that's well said—were Solomon distrest,
He could of markets bad but make the best.
AIR XXIII.
Tune. “My Miny thought lang.”Jill.
My spirit revives—my heart it does say,
It is not so bad as my fears would betray;
And fortune may yet, on some frolicksome day,
Send a pretty young lad to take me away.
And fortune may yet, &c.
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Hush, hark my lamb—no more of your sweet humming—
Methinks I hear the ugly Giants coming!
[They run in—Jill. looks out at a Gallery
SCENE IV.
Enter Jack.AIR XXIV.
Tune. “Our Polly is a sad slut.”Jack.
For like to Jacky, young and small,
You could not find another;
They loved him still, in hopes he'd prove
A man before his mother.
You could not find another;
They loved him still, in hopes he'd prove
A man before his mother.
For like to Jacky, &c.
Ha! do I travel then on fairy ground?—
[Sees Jill.
By what enchantment are my footsteps bound?
What magic's this, that, with resistless art,
Through ev'ry sense arrests my yielding heart?
AIR XXV.
Tune. “Delia—by Arne.”Jack.
O form'd of harmony and light,
Too bright for sense to bear!
Art thou, to feeling, as to sight,
Essential as thou art fair?—
Too bright for sense to bear!
Art thou, to feeling, as to sight,
Essential as thou art fair?—
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If some illusion from the skies,
In pity yet delay;
Nor melt, sweet object, from my eyes,
In fleeting notes away!
In pity yet delay;
Nor melt, sweet object, from my eyes,
In fleeting notes away!
Fair youth, by you I'd have it understood,
That I am form'd of kindly flesh and blood.
But say—for joy and wonder strikes me dumb—
Who, whence, and how, and wherefore art thou come?
Speak! art thou of a blessed mother born—
Or, as I fear, some infant of the morn?
Ah me! thou tread'st upon a fearful ground!
Five dreadful Dragons guard this pile around—
Fraud, Favour, Office, Interest, and Law,
Lords of the pass—and keep the world in awe.
Me, Jillian Justice, here their powers confine,
A princess born, and of a race divine!
A maid, immured from ev'ry mother's son;
In spight of Heaven, and her own will, a nun!
Jack.
And art thou, then, that Goddess of the land,
Whose absence many weep, whose presence all demand?
Jill.
Even she—
Who from her native seat by Giants torn,
Too late her country and her kindred mourn.
Jack.
Thee have I sought through many a weary way,
Through many a darksome night and toilsome day;
To find, to free, to lift thy state on high—
Thou my sworn Lady, thy sworn champion I!
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And lay the pride of tall oppression low.
Jill.
Say then, for I am lost 'twixt joy and fear—
Who, and by what new wonder art thou here?
Jack.
A Briton humbly born, unknown to fame,
To camps, or courts; and Johnny Good my name.
Jill.
Joy then to Jillian—for we are near in blood:
Our Grandsire was the same, the First that ere was Good!
To charm the Dragons, say, who taught the art?
Jack.
A Guiltless Conscience, and a Valiant Heart.
Jill.
Ah!—
Jack.
What alarms my Jilly?
Jill.
Look you there!—
The Gi!—the Giants, Jacky!—O beware!
Jack.
Psha! let them come—
Jill.
Fly, fly, or I will hate you—
Fly my dear Jack—indeed, indeed, they'll eat you!
Jack.
Fear not; but mark what little men can do,
Whose powers and prowess are inspired by you!
Jill.
Rash boy, away—on that allegiance, go,
Which all Knights-Errant to their Ladies owe!
Fly, I command, on my imperial will—
And in my Jacky's safety, save his Jill!
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AIR XXVI.
Tune. “For Willy is the Lad the Lad for me.”Jack.
Though painful 'tis to part—and O, how sweet to stay—
And something here would tell me, I cannot live away.
My Princess yet commands me, and who shall say her nay?
The Lady of my life, to death I will obey;
For Jilly is the Queen of maids and May!
Jill.
O haste my Knight, my darling Jack away!
Jack.
For Jilly is the Queen of maids and May!
Jill.
O haste my Knight, my darling Jack away!
END OF THE THIRD ACT.
| Little John And The Giants | |