 | The Three Temptations |  |
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Scene V.
A dangerous path in the forest of Temptation.Enter Merlin (as Comus), Sir Tristram, and Attendants with drinking-horns.
Mer.
Ha! ha! if this don't make my man sing small,
He's not the one I take him for, that's all;
Dare he oppose my will, I'll make him rue it.
Sir T.
It's very well to talk, but who's to do it?
Mer.
Why, I am, to be sure! Here's Milton's domus.
Sir T.
But p'raps he'll brush us ere he comes to Comus.
Mer.
One glass of wine destroys him as he passes.
Sir T.
He'd be a spectacle with two such glasses.
He's close at hand.
Mer.
Then our hands we'll keep close;
This youth shall find our mixture proves a dose.—
Begone, ye slaves! there's leave of absence granted;
But mind, like trumps, you turn up when you're wanted.
[Exeunt Bacchanals.
Mer.
Now, lest he take us for a pair of noddies,
In garments quaint we'll robe our precious bodies.
Sir T.
Play your cards well.
Mer.
Don't fear; I'm rather cute.
Sir T.
You take the lead, then; and I'll follow suit.
[Exeunt.
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Sir L.
So far no tempter yet has aught attempted.
P'raps, though called out, from serving I'm exempted.
I wonder which direction I should follow?
I'd shout, but here's already a view hollow;
Where none can hear, it must be vain to bellow.
Enter Merlin and Sir Tristram as two Medical Students.
Mer.
Hail, friend! well met!
Sir T.
Well met, and so hail fellow!
Sir L.
Medical students!
Mer.
Yes, does that surprise?
Sir T.
Bartholemew's.
Sir L.
I took you both for Guy's.
Sir T.
[to Mer.]
Our guise is vain; he knows us.
Mer.
[to Sir T.]
But by sight.
Ahem! Where go you at this time of night?
Sir L.
To free a captive I'm this toil incurring.
Mer.
Pooh! you're a spoon at this time to keep stirring.
Sir T.
Some friend has just got into quod, no doubt
And you're the spoon that's going to bail him out.
Sir L.
Not so; although my friendly mettle's active,
At present there's a “metal more attractive.”
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Ho, ho, a damsel! Ah, these sad mishaps!
Love plays the deuce with us fine handsome chaps.
Sir T.
To meet with us, though, you're a lucky dog:
What say you to a social glass of grog?
Sir L.
This hospitality suggests a doubt.
Mer.
Ha! what d'ye say? The night is cold without,
Have some “warm with.”—Here, waiter, gin warm.
Sir L.
Humming!
Voice
without as Waiter.
A go of gin, sir? Yezzir. Warm, sir? Coming.
[A glass of gin-and-water appears in Merlin's hand.
Mer.
Don't be afraid of it, there's plenty more;
Ay, twenty glasses—here I run a score.
Sir L.
[aside]
It's tempting, but to drink would now be folly.
Sir T.
What, won't you? Well, you are green, though not jolly.
Mer.
'Tis now the witching hour of night, d'ye see?
When life begins with those who love a spree;
When gaslights beam and London sparks, being wise,
Enjoy the lark with which your yokels rise;
When pittites round each theatre's entrance cluster,
And half-price visitors their shillings muster;
When down the Strand smart gents who throng Pall Mall,
Freed from the counter, counterfeit the swell;
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'Tis pleasure's hour, and that hour half-past nine.
Sir L.
Bless me, you're quite a guide-book; yes indeed, ye are
A metropolitan encyclopædia.
But I'm inflexible—there lies my track,
And I go towards it.
Mer.
This, then, brings you back!
[Merlin raises wand, and Revellers enter.
This is the sort of thing for jovial lads,
Who take out latch-keys and forsake their dads!
Come, join our sports.
Sir T.
Of course, he's in the right of it.
This is what we call “life;” so make a night of it!
Drink! you should leave no drop within the can.
Sir L.
I drink as much as doth become a man;
Who drinketh more is none.
Sir T.
Then take the cue.
Sir L.
I have already taken it from you.
Mer.
What, neither punch nor billiards?
Sir L.
Not a drop.
You never know exactly where to stop.
Mer.
Pooh! you're a coward.
Sir L.
Ha! I've half a mind—
O, aid me, genius of the fairy kind,
And by your power let me now be shielded.
[Morgana La Faye appears.
Mer.
Confusion! Thwarted!
Sir T.
Just, too, as he yielded!
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Beware! refrain! These are delusions all,
Snares into which most youths are apt to fall;
Experience, oft too dearly bought, I task
Thy power these cheats and juggles to unmask.
I'll strip this pageant of its ideality,
And show what follows is the sad reality.
Music. Morgana La Faye waves her wand, a monumental Tablet rises, inscribed with “Headaches; ruined fortunes; broken homes.” As Merlin and Tristram rush at Morgana, her fairy troop appear and interpose. Group.
| The Three Temptations | |