Ho! drawer--Cyprien, I say! More wine--and
of the best Bordeaux. The best, I say."
And for a wonder the order was obeyed, and the flask set before him.
"You have been at the Bankside you say, young Sir? On my credit, you
must cross the river again and visit the theatres--the Globe or the
Rose. Our great actor, Dick Burbadge, plays Othello to-day, and, I
warrant me, he will delight you. A little man is Dick, but he hath a
mighty soul. There is none other like him, whether it be Nat Field or
Ned Alleyn. Our famous Shakespeare is fortunate, I trow, in having him
to play his great characters. You must see Burbadge, likewise, in the
mad Prince of Denmark,--the part was written for him, and fits him
exactly. See him also in gentle and love-sick Romeo, in tyrannous and
murderous Macbeth, and in crookback Richard; in all of which, though
different, our Dick is equally good. He hath some other parts of almost
equal merit,--as Malevole, in the 'Malcontent;' Frankford, in the 'Woman
Killed with Kindness;' Brachiano, in Webster's 'White Devil;' and
Vendice, in Cyril Tournour's 'Revenger's Tragedy.'"
"I know not what may be the nature of that last-named play," the young
man rather sternly remarked; "but if the character of Vendice at all
bears out its name, it would suit me. I am an avenger."
"Forbear your wrongs awhile, I pray you, and drown your resentment in a
cup of wine. As I am a true gentleman! a better bottle than the first!
Nay, taste it.
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