King. Think, mighty princess, think this court your own,
Nor think the landlord me, this house my inn;
Call for whate'er you will, you'll nothing pay.
[1]I feel a sudden pain within my breast,
Nor know I whether it arise from love
Or only the wind-cholick. Time must shew.
O Thumb! what do we to thy valour owe!
Ask some reward, great as we can bestow.
[Footnote 1: This doubt of the king puts me in mind of a passage in the Captives, where the noise of feet is mistaken for the rustling of leaves.
———Methinks I hear
The sound of feet:
No; 'twas the wind that shook yon cypress boughs.
]
Thumb. [1] I ask not kingdoms, I can conquer those; I ask not money, money I've enough; For what I've done, and what I mean to do, For giants slain, and giants yet unborn, Which I will slay—-if this be called a debt, Take my receipt in full: I ask but this,— [2] To sun myself in Huncamunca's eyes.
[Footnote 1: Mr Dryden seems to have had this passage in his eye in the first page of Love Triumphant.]
[Footnote 2: Don Carlos, in the Revenge, suns himself in the charms of his mistress:
While in the lustre of her charms I lay.
]
King. Prodigious bold request. [Aside.
Queen. ————[1] Be still, my soul. [Aside.
[Footnote 1: A tragical phrase much in use.]