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_ ACT III - SCENE I
[Enter BAJAZETH, the KINGS OF FEZ, MOROCCO, and ARGIER, with others, in great pomp.]
BAJAZETH.
Great kings of Barbary, and my portly bassoes, [130]
We hear the Tartars and the eastern thieves,
Under the conduct of one Tamburlaine,
Presume a bickering with your emperor,
And think to rouse us from our dreadful siege
Of the famous Grecian Constantinople.
You know our army is invincible;
As many circumcised Turks we have,
And warlike bands of Christians renied, [131]
As hath the ocean or the Terrene [132] sea
Small drops of water when the moon begins
To join in one her semicircled horns:
Yet would we not be brav'd with foreign power,
Nor raise our siege before the Grecians yield,
Or breathless lie before the city-walls.
[Footnote 130: bassoes] i.e. bashaws.]
[Footnote 131: Christians renied] i.e. Christians who have denied, or renounced their faith.--In THE GENT. MAGAZINE for Jan. 1841, J. M. would read "Christians RENEGADENS" or "CHRISTIAN RENEGADES:"
but the old text is right; among many passages that might be cited, compare the following;
"And that Ydole is the God of false Cristene, that han
RENEYED hire FEYTHE."
THE VOIAGE AND TRAVAILE OF SIR JOHN MAUNDEVILE,
p. 209. ed. 1725.
"For that thou should'st RENY THY FAITH,
and her thereby possesse.
The Soldan did capitulat in vaine: the more thy blesse."
Warner's ALBIONS ENGLAND, B. XI. Ch. 68. p. 287. ed. 1596.]
[Footnote 132: Terrene] i.e. Mediterranean.]
KING OF FEZ.
Renowmed [133] emperor and mighty general,
What, if you sent the bassoes of your guard
To charge him to remain in Asia,
Or else to threaten death and deadly arms
As from the mouth of mighty Bajazeth?
[Footnote 133: Renowmed] See note ||, p. 11.[i.e. note 52.] So the 8vo.--The 4to "renowned."]
BAJAZETH.
Hie thee, my basso, [134] fast to Persia;
Tell him thy lord, the Turkish emperor,
Dread lord of Afric, Europe, and Asia,
Great king and conqueror of Graecia,
The ocean, Terrene, and the Coal-black sea,
The high and highest monarch of the world,
Wills and commands, (for say not I entreat,)
Not [135] once to set his foot in [136] Africa,
Or spread [137] his colours in Graecia,
Lest he incur the fury of my wrath:
Tell him I am content to take a truce,
Because I hear he bears a valiant mind:
But if, presuming on his silly power,
He be so mad to manage arms with me,
Then stay thou with him,--say, I bid thee so;
And if, before the sun have measur'd heaven [138]
With triple circuit, thou regreet us not,
We mean to take his morning's next arise
For messenger he will not be reclaim'd,
And mean to fetch thee in despite of him.
[Footnote 134: basso] So the 8vo.--The 4to "Brother."]
[Footnote 135: Not] So the 8vo.--The 4to "Nor."]
[Footnote 136: in] So the 8vo.--The 4to "on."]
[Footnote 137: Or spread, &c.] A word has dropt out from this line.]
[Footnote 138: measur'd heaven] So the 8vo.--The 4to "measured THE heauen."]
BASSO.
Most great and puissant monarch of the earth,
Your basso will accomplish your behest,
And shew your pleasure to the Persian,
As fits the legate of the stately Turk.
[Exit.]
KING OF ARGIER.
They say he is the king of Persia;
But, if he dare attempt to stir your siege,
'Twere requisite he should be ten times more,
For all flesh quakes at your magnificence.
BAJAZETH.
True, Argier; and tremble[s] at my looks.
KING OF MOROCCO.
The spring is hinder'd by your smothering host;
For neither rain can fall upon the earth,
Nor sun reflex his virtuous beams thereon,
The ground is mantled with such multitudes.
BAJAZETH.
All this is true as holy Mahomet;
And all the trees are blasted with our breaths.
KING OF FEZ.
What thinks your greatness best to be achiev'd
In pursuit of the city's overthrow?
BAJAZETH.
I will the captive pioners [139] of Argier
Cut off the water that by leaden pipes
Runs to the city from the mountain Carnon;
Two thousand horse shall forage up and down,
That no relief or succour come by land;
And all the sea my galleys countermand:
Then shall our footmen lie within the trench,
And with their cannons, mouth'd like Orcus' gulf,
Batter the walls, and we will enter in;
And thus the Grecians shall be conquered.
[Exeunt.]
[Footnote 139: pioners] The usual spelling of the word in our early writers (in Shakespeare, for instance).] _
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