King. What does the blockhead mean?
Nood. I mean, my liege,
[1] Only to grace my tale with decent horror.
Whilst from my garret, twice two stories high,
I look'd abroad into the streets below,
I saw Tom Thumb attended by the mob;
Twice twenty shoe-boys, twice two dozen links,
Chairmen and porters, hackney-coachmen, whores;
Aloft he bore the grizly head of Grizzle;
When of a sudden through the streets there came
A cow, of larger than the usual size,
And in a moment—guess, oh! guess the rest!—
And in a moment swallow'd up Tom Thumb.
[Footnote 1:
I was but teaching him to grace his tale
With decent horror. —Cleomenes.
]
King. Shut up again the prisons, bid my treasurer
Not give three farthings out-hang all the culprits,
Guilty or not—no matter.—Ravish virgins:
Go bid the schoolmasters whip all their boys!
Let lawyers, parsons, and physicians loose,
To rob, impose on, and to kill the world.
Nood. Her majesty the queen is in a swoon.
Queen. Not so much in a swoon but I have still Strength to reward the messenger of ill news.
[Kills NOODLE.
Nood. O! I am slain.
Cle. My lover's kill'd, I will revenge him so. [Kills the QUEEN.
Hunc. My mamma kill'd! vile murderess, beware.
[Kills CLEORA.