Of what these lovers are.”
I suspect that “nobler,” pronounced as “nobiler” - u -, was the poet's word, and that the accent is to be placed on the penultimate of “memory.” As to the passage—
“Yet, while our reign lasts, let us stretch our power,” &c.—
removed from the text of Cinthia's speech, by these foolish editors as unworthy of B. and F.—the first eight lines are not worse, and the last couplet incomparably better, than the stanza retained.
Act ii. Amintor's speech:—
“Oh, thou hast nam'd a word, that wipes away
All thoughts revengeful! In that sacred name,
‘The king,’ there lies a terror.”
It is worth noticing that of the three greatest tragedians, Massinger was a democrat, Beaumont and Fletcher the most servile jure divino royalists, and Shakespeare a philosopher;—if aught personal, an aristocrat.