{"product_id":"2940012165381","title":"STRAFFORD: An Historical Tragedy","description":"This ebook edition has been proofed and corrected and compiled to be read with without errors!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e***\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eI had for some time been engaged in a Poem of a very different nature, when induced to make the present attempt; and am not without apprehension that my eagerness to freshen a jaded mind by diverting it to the healthy natures of a grand epoch, may have operated unfavourably on the represented play, which is one of Action in Character rather than Character in Action. To remedy this, in some degree, considerable curtailment will be necessary, and, in a few instances, the supplying details not required, I suppose, by the mere reader. While a trifling success would much gratify, failure will not wholly discourage me from another effort: experience is to come, and earnest endeavour may yet remove many disadvantages.\u003cbr\u003e The portraits are, I think, faithful; and I am exceedingly fortunate in being able, in proof of this, to refer to the subtle and eloquent exposition of the characters of Eliot and Strafford, in the Lives of Eminent British Statesmen now in the course of publication in Lardner's Cyclopædia, by a writer whom I am proud to call my friend; and whose biographies of Hampden, Pym, and Vane, will, I am sure, fitly illustrate the present year—the Second Centenary of the Trial concerning Ship-Money. My Carlisle, however, is purely imaginary: I at first sketched her singular likeness roughly in, as suggested by Matthew and the memoir-writers—but it was too artificial, and the substituted outline is exclusively from Voiture and Waller.\u003cbr\u003eThe Italian boat-song in the last scene is from Redi's Bacco, long since naturalized in the joyous and delicate version of Leigh Hunt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e***\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn excerpt from the beginning of: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eACT I.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSCENE I.—A House near Whitehall.\u003cbr\u003eHampden, Hollis, the younger Vane, Rudyard, Fiennes, and many of the Presbyterian Party: Loudon and other Scots Commissioners: some seated, some standing beside a table strewn over with papers, \u0026amp;c.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVANE.\u003cbr\u003eI say, if he be here . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRUDYARD.\u003cbr\u003e                        And he is here!\u003cbr\u003eHOLLIS.\u003cbr\u003eFor England's sake let every man be still\u003cbr\u003eNor speak of him, so much as say his name,\u003cbr\u003eTill Pym rejoin us! Rudyard—Vane—remember\u003cbr\u003eOne rash conclusion may decide our course\u003cbr\u003eAnd with it England's fate—think—England's fate!\u003cbr\u003eHampden, for England's sake they should be still!\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eVANE.\u003cbr\u003eYou say so, Hollis? well, I must be still!\u003cbr\u003eIt is indeed too bitter that one man—\u003cbr\u003eAny one man . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRUDYARD.\u003cbr\u003e                You are his brother, Hollis!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHAMPDEN.\u003cbr\u003eShame on you, Rudyard! time to tell him that,\u003cbr\u003eWhen he forgets the Mother of us all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRUDYARD.\u003cbr\u003eDo I forget her? . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHAMPDEN.\u003cbr\u003e                    —You talk idle hate\u003cbr\u003eAgainst her foe: is that so strange a thing?\u003cbr\u003eIs hating Wentworth all the help she needs?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA PURITAN.\u003cbr\u003eThe Philistine strode, cursing as he went:\u003cbr\u003eBut David—five smooth pebbles from the brook\u003cbr\u003eWithin his scrip . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRUDYARD.\u003cbr\u003e                    —Be you as still as David!","brand":"Leila's Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47158278029552,"sku":"2940012165381","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012165381_p0.jpg?v=1763552807","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012165381","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}