[194] Peels.
[195] An old form of poise.
[196] “This prologue, for its passionate earnestness, and for the tragic note of preparation which it sounds, might have preceded one of those tales of Thebes, or Pelops’ line, which Milton has so highly commended, as free from the common errors in his days, ‘of intermixing comic stuff with tragic sadness and gravity, brought in without discretion corruptly to gratify the people.’ It is as solemn a preparative as the ‘warning voice which he who saw th’ Apocalypse heard cry.’”—Charles Lamb.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.[197]
Piero Sforza, Duke of Venice.
Antonio, son to the murdered Andrugio, affianced to Mellida.
Pandulfo, father to the murdered Feliche.
Alberto, a Venetian gentleman.
Balurdo, a rich gull.
Matzagente, a modern braggadoch.
Galeatzo, son to the Duke of Milan.
Forobosco, a Parasite.
Castilio Balthazar, a spruce courtier.
Lucio, an old nobleman, attendant to Maria.
Strotzo, a creature of Piero.
Julio, son to Piero.
Maria, Andrugio’s widow, mother to Antonio.
Mellida, daughter to Piero, affianced to Antonio.
Nutriche, attendant to Maria.
Two Senators, Herald, Waiting-women, Page, &c.
Ghost of Andrugio, Ghost of Feliche.
The Scene—Venice.
[197] There is no list of characters in the old eds.