Penny Dreadfuls, 1602 · page 335 of 400
Penny Dreadful Cover — page 335: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is a page of running verse from a narrative poem. The text recounts a dramatic scene in which the character Stafford encounters his friend Dorcas (and later Elenor) in Rome. The passage describes their emotional reunion, their marriage that day, and then shifts into philosophical commentary on Roman Catholicism and atheism, criticizing both the "pompious Prelacie of Rome" and those who deny God in favor of pagan philosophy. The narrative appears to blend romantic melodrama with Protestant religious polemic, typical of sensational Victorian literature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
But pitie Stafford now fo farre from wonted Stafford wide: “ae ~ A Friend fhould not,nor you will I in thisInfirmnes flye, q Alone of Dorcas wronged here notwitnes fhall mine Eye, i Came you to Rome to lofe your felfe,and finde at Romea Friend, There to begin his Sorrowes where yourSenfes make anend? | ~ Or thrive they more,or trauell lefle may Enghe{hmeea,with I: - Hence fhouidthey profit;whence for moft they leaftdoe frudtifie. = | How ftoicall growes AZandenil, quoth Stafford,fincehis Trauell; With you for like may I,ere long, hate caufe no lefle to cauell. a With that,from out another Roome to him,that would away, > Then Dorcas-like canie Dorcas out,intreating him to ftay. aie _ What fhould we fay his loy,that his Mif-deemesdidforttothis? = _ Wasnota gladder man,and yeat anon he gladder is, a — When Ezenor then like her felfe,to him came alfo out: But whether gladder he or fhe,thus met,fhall reftadoubt. ‘That very day both Couples wead,but what they did that night, _ Notmenvnpractis’d can report,for Action or Delight. f _ Nor creeded be this Loue-Tale of this Ladie and this Knight. _ Butbeno Infidels in thisthat now we fhall recite. ie The pompious Prelacie of Rome,and liues lycentious thear, i => _ Tralian Driftings,and fuch Sinnes to AZavdeuilappeare, ee Thatthen Deuinitiefeem’dthearfor AtheifmebutaStayle, - _ And wheare Religion moft had boafte Religion mofttofayle. _ Norwanted thear(may now and here we wifh)that did relye a _ OnPhyfickes and on Ethickes,and(O finne)a God deny: re ~ Wheare fully thofe Philofophies point out a Deitie. ae te _ Couldall,infoule,of very God fay as an Ethnick fayde a Toone that preached Hercules : whatneed it squoth he,perfwaide, — ee _ Whatall men graunt,his Godhead is beleeued and obaide, _n Then this of God gainft Atheiftes that enfeweth fhouldbe ftaide.. _ Butfornotfo,ofthathuge Sealet’sthrongha Ribletwaide: ' , ia ‘ ee a , a a oe “ <i ne