Queen. [1]Excess of joy, my lord, I've heard folks say, Gives tears as certain as excess of grief.
[Footnote 1: Plato is of this opinion, and so is Mr Banks:
Behold these tears sprung from fresh pain and joy.
—Earl of Essex.
]
King. If it be so, let all men cry for joy, [1]Till my whole court be drowned with their tears; Nay, till they overflow my utmost land, And leave me nothing but the sea to rule.
[Footnote 1: These floods are very frequent in the tragick authors:
Near to some murmuring brook I'll lay me down,
Whose waters, if they should too shallow flow,
My tears shall swell them up till I will drown.
—Lee's Sophonisba.
Pouring forth tears at such a lavish rate,
That were the world on fire they might have drown'd
The wrath of heaven, and quench'd the mighty ruin.
—Mithridates.
One author changes the waters of grief to those of joy:
——These tears, that sprung from tides of grief,
Are now augmented to a flood of joy.—Cyrus the Great.
Another: