Henry Jones

“ Your private loves, your plighted hands, no power
On earth could step between you and destruction.
Enter Burleigh.
Bur. My lord of Essex, 'tis the queen's command,
That you forthwith resign your staff of office;
And further, she confines you to your palace.
Essex. Welcome, my fate! Let fortune do her utmost;
I know the worst, and will confront her malice,
And bravely bear the unexpected blow.
Bur. The queen, my lord, demands your quick compliance.
Essex. Go, then, thou gladsome messenger of ill,
And, joyful, feast thy fierce rapacious soul
With Essex' sudden and accomplish'd fall. ”

“ Not. My lord, I've sought you out with much impatience.
You've had an audience of the queen: what follow'd?
Bur. Soon as I told her, Essex had refused
To yield his dignities, and staff of office,
Against her high command, pronounced by me,
She seem'd deprived of reason for a moment;
Her working mind betray'd contending passions;
She paused, like thunder in some kindling cloud,
Then instant burst with dreadful fury forth:
"And has th' ungrateful wretch defy'd my mandate?
The proud, audacious traitor, scorn'd my power?
He dares not, sure?—He dies—the villain dies!" ”

“ The point in which a man is entered must not be blocked by two or more men^ belonging to the adversary. Thus, to carry on the illustration, if white now throws aces, or sixes, or six, ace, he cannot enter at all. He is not allowed to move any man while he has one to enter; consequently his throw is null and void, and black throws again. It some times happens that one player has a man up, and that his adversary occupies all the points on his own home table with two or more men (called having his table made up) . In this case, the player with a man up cannot enter ”

“ It is enough, my lord, I know it well,
And feel rekindling virtue warm my breast;
Honour and gratitude their force resume
Within my heart, and every wish is yours.
O Cecil, Cecil, what a foe hast thou!
A deadly foe, whilst hated Essex lives!
Bur. I know it well—but can assign no cause.
Not. Ambition's restless hand has wound his thoughts
Too high for England's welfare; nay, the queen
Scarce sits in safety on her throne, while he,
Th' audacious Essex, freely treads at large,
And breathes the common air. Ambition is
The only god he serves ”

“ With thee, my friend, 'tis joy to die!—'tis glory!
For who would wait the tardy stroke of time?
Or cling like reptiles to the verge of being,
When we can bravely leap from life at once,
And spring, triumphant, in a friend's embrace?
Enter Raleigh.
Ral. To you, my Lord Southampton, from the queen,
A pardon comes; your life her mercy spares.
Essex. For ever blest be that indulgent power
Which saves my friend! ”

“ Thus, if ace, trois are thrown and white moves one man from the three in his outer table to the cinque point in his inner table, for trois, and then moves a man from the six point to the cinque point of his inner table, for ace, he makes a point there.
If a player leaves only a single man on a point, or places a single man on an unoccupied point, it is called leaving a blot. Thus, if the first throw is six, cinque, and white carries a man from black s inner table as far as he will go, white leaves a blot on the ace point of his opponent s home table. ”

“ Avoid carrying many men upon the trois or deuce point in your own tables, as these men are out of play, and the board is left open for your adversary.
Whenever you have taken up two of your adversary s men, and have two or more points made in your inner table, spread your other men to take the best chance of making another point in your tables, and of hitting the man your adversary enters. As soon as he enters, compare his game with yours, and, if equal or better, take up his man, except when playing for a hit only, and your playing the throw gives you a better chance for the hit. ”

“ The core of honesty from virtue's heart,
And plant deceit and rancour in its stead:
Falsehood would trample then on truth and honour,
And envy poison sweet benevolence.
Oh, 'tis a goodly group of attributes,
And well befits some statesman's righteous rule!
Out, out upon such bloody doings!
The term of being is not worth the sin;
No human bosom can endure its dart.
Then put this cruel purpose from thee far,
Nor let the blood of Essex whelm thy soul. ”

“ Qu. Eliz. I grant you, Rutland, all you say; and think
The earl possess'd of many splendid virtues.
What pity 'tis, he should afford his foes
Such frequent, sad occasions to undo him!
Rut. What human heart can, unafflicted, bear
Such manly merit in distress, beset
By cruel foes, and faction's savage cry?
My good, my gracious mistress, stretch, betimes,
Your saving arm, and snatch him from destruction,
From deadly malice, treachery, and Cecil.
Oh, let him live, to clear his conduct up!
My gracious queen, he'll nobly earn your bounty,
And with his dearest blood deserve your mercy. ”

“ After service is properly given, if either player fails to return the shuttlecock clean over the net, and so that it drops within the external boundary of the ground on the side of the net furthest from the striker, the player failing loses an ace, or is hand-out as the case may be. It will be observed that in the service the shuttlecock must be sent from right court to right court, or from left to left, but in the return, by either player, it is only required that the shuttlecock shall drop within any part of the ground, bounded by the external line of all. ”

“ South. Sustain, my noble friend, thy wonted greatness;
Collect thy fortitude, and summon all
Thy soul, to bear with strength this crushing weight,
Which falls severe upon thee; whilst my friendship
Shall lend a helping hand, and share the burden.
I'll hence with speed, and to the queen repair,
And all the power of warmest words employ,
To gain you yet one audience more, and bring
Her majesty to milder thoughts. Farewell. ”

“ If you succeed in taking both these men, and your ad versary has a blot in his inner table, it will be to your in terest not to make up your own table, but to leave a blot there on purpose, in hopes of his entering on it. You will then have a probability of hitting a third man, which, if accomplished, will give you considerable odds (according to Hoyle, 4 to 1) in favour of winning a gammon; whereas if you have only two of his men up, the odds are against your gammoning him. ”

“ Ambition is the spur of all his actions,
Which often drives him o'er his duty's limits;
(At least his enemies would have it so.)
But malice, madam, seldom judges right.
Qu. Eliz. Oh, Nottingham! his pride is past enduring;
This insolent, audacious man, forgets
His honour and allegiance;—and refused
To render up his staff of office, here,
Beneath my very eye.
Not. Presumptuous man!
Your faithful subjects will resent this pride,
This insolence, this treason to their queen;
They must, my gracious sovereign. 'Tis not safe
To shield him longer from their just resentment. ”

“ If, in endeavouring to gain your own or your adversary s cinque point, you have to leave a blot and are hit, and your adversary is forwarder in the game than you, you must put another man on your cinque or bar point, or into your adversary s table. ”

“ From thy departing friend!
[Pg 51]
Lieut. My lord, my warrant
Strictly forbids to grant a moment's time.
South. Oh, must we part for ever? Cruel fortune!
Wilt thou then tear him hence?—Severe divorce!
Let me cling round thy sacred person still,—
Still clasp thee to my bosom close, and keep
Stern Fate at distance.
Essex. Oh, my friend! we'll meet
Again, where virtue finds a just reward!
Where factious malice never more can reach us!
I need not bid thee guard my fame from wrongs:
And, oh! a dearer treasure to thy care
I trust, than either life or fame—my wife! ”

“ The game proceeds by moving the men round towards home, or by hitting blots and sending them back, until one of the players gets all his men into his inner table or home. As soon as this stage is reached, the player who has accomplished it begins to take his men off the board or to bear them. Thus, suppose he has several men on every point of his table, and throws six, quatre ; he bears one man from his six point, and one from his quatre point. ”

“ The name of Burleigh sounds high as that of Elizabeth, for their glory was equal—but the name alone attaches to the present character; for the great Cecil, by the wisdom of whose measures England was, at the period of this play, in its highest prosperity, died about two years previous to the death of Essex; and this, his son, became the unhappy earl's bitterest foe.
Not even a female character is here introduced from fiction.—Rutland and Nottingham are both well known in history; and though the cruel incident of the ring is not attested by any historian, it is minutely related by them all. ”

“ B. then has to return the service by striking the shuttlecock back over the net without allowing it to touch the ground, and so on alternately until one player fails. If this is the player who served, he is hand-out, his adversary becomes hand-in, and serves, and no score accrues. But if the player failing is the one who was served to, his adversary scores one point towards game, called an ace. The player who first scores 15 aces wins the game; but if the score arrives at 14 all, it is necessary for one player to score two consecutive aces in order to win. ”

“ At this era, in the short space of two years, the hand of death snatched from the court of Great Britain, all these its most remarkable personages—Essex, Nottingham, and the queen. It is probable, that the decease of the first, hastened that of the second, as well as of the last, character; for the countess's remorse for political stratagem is reported to have been dreadfully severe.
The earl died in his thirty-fourth, and the queen in her seventieth year.—In a subject, her majesty's unseasonable love might have formed a comic, instead of a tragic, drama. ”

“ Exeunt all but Essex and Southampton.
Essex. Disgraced and struck! Damnation! Death were glorious!
Revenge! revenge!
South. Alas, my friend! what would
Thy rage attempt? Consider well the great
Advantage now your rash, ungovern'd temper
Affords your foes. The queen, incensed, will let
Their fury loose.—I dread the dire event!
Essex. Has honest pride no just resentment left?
Nor injured honour, feeling?—Not revenge! ”

“ If he throws doublets a second time, he moves according to the rule already given, and throws again, and so on. The privilege is sometimes restricted by not allowing this advantage to the first doublets thrown by each player. ”