<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=539048" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Sorcerer: Act I</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">DRAMATIS PERSONAE</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre, an Elderly Baronet</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Alexis, of the Grenadier Guards--His Son</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Dr. Daly, Vicar of Ploverleigh</div><div style="margin:10px 0">John Wellington Wells, of J. W. Wells & Co., Family Sorcerers</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Lady Sangazure, a Lady of Ancient Lineage</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Aline, Her Daughter--betrothed to Alexis</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Mrs. Partlet, a Pew-Opener</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Constance, her Daughter</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Chorus of Villagers</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br> ACT I -- Grounds of Sir Marmaduke's Mansion, Mid-day</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>SCENE -- Exterior of Sir Marmaduke's Elizabethan Mansion, mid-day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> CHORUS OF VILLAGERS</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Ring forth, ye bells,<br> With clarion sound--<br> Forget your knells,<br> For joys abound.<br> Forget your notes<br> Of mournful lay,<br> And from your throats<br> Pour joy to-day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> For to-day young Alexis--young Alexis Pointdextre<br> Is betrothed to Aline--to Aline Sangazure,<br> And that pride of his sex is--of his sex is to be next her<br> At the feast on the green--on the green, oh, be sure!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Ring forth, ye bells etc.<br> (Exeunt the men into house.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Enter Mrs. Partlet with Constance, her daughter)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MRS. P. Constance, my daughter, why this strange depression?<br> The village rings with seasonable joy,<br> Because the young and amiable Alexis,<br> Heir to the great Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre,<br> Is plighted to Aline, the only daughter<br> Of Annabella, Lady Sangazure.<br> You, you alone are sad and out of spirits;<br> What is the reason? Speak, my daughter, speak!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">CONST. Oh, mother, do not ask! If my complexion<br> From red to white should change in quick succession,<br> And then from white to red, oh, take no notice!<br> If my poor limbs should tremble with emotion,<br> Pay no attention, mother--it is nothing!<br> If long and deep-drawn sighs I chance to utter,<br> Oh, heed them not, their cause must ne'er be known!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Mrs. Partlet motions to Chorus to leave her with Constance. Exeunt<br> ladies of Chorus.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ARIA--CONSTANCE</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> When he is here,<br> I sigh with pleasure--<br> When he is gone,<br> I sigh with grief.<br> My hopeless fear<br> No soul can measure--<br> His love alone<br> Can give my aching heart relief!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> When he is cold,<br> I weep for sorrow--<br> When he is kind,<br> I weep for joy.<br> My grief untold<br> Knows no to-morrow--<br> My woe can find<br> No hope, no solace, no alloy!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MRS. P. Come, tell me all about it! Do not fear--<br> I, too, have loved; but that was long ago!<br> Who is the object of your young affections?<br>CONST. Hush, mother! He is here! (Looking off)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Enter Dr. Daly. He is pensive and does not see them</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MRS. P. (amazed) Our reverend vicar!<br>CONST. Oh, pity me, my heart is almost broken!<br>MRS. P. My child, be comforted. To such an union<br> I shall not offer any opposition.<br> Take him--he's yours! May you and he be happy!<br>CONST. But, mother dear, he is not yours to give!<br>MRS. P. That's true, indeed!<br>CONST. He might object!<br>MRS. P. He might.<br> But come--take heart--I'll probe him on the subject.<br> Be comforted--leave this affair to me.<br> (They withdraw.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE--DR. DALY</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> The air is charged with amatory numbers--<br> Soft madrigals, and dreamy lovers' lays.<br> Peace, peace, old heart! Why waken from its slumbers<br> The aching memory of the old, old days?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">BALLAD</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Time was when Love and I were well acquainted.<br> Time was when we walked ever hand in hand.<br> A saintly youth, with worldly thought untainted,<br> None better-loved than I in all the land!<br> Time was, when maidens of the noblest station,<br> Forsaking even military men,<br> Would gaze upon me, rapt in adoration--<br> Ah me, I was a fair young curate then!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Had I a headache? sighed the maids assembled;<br> Had I a cold? welled forth the silent tear;<br> Did I look pale? then half a parish trembled;<br> And when I coughed all thought the end was near!<br> I had no care--no jealous doubts hung o'er me--<br> For I was loved beyond all other men.<br> Fled gilded dukes and belted earls before me--<br> Ah me, I was a pale young curate them!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(At the conclusion of the ballad, Mrs. Partlet comes forward with<br>Constance.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> MRS. P. Good day, reverend sir.<br> DR. D. Ah, good Mrs. Partlet, I am glad to see you. And<br>your little daughter, Constance! Why, she is quite a little<br>woman, I declare!<br> CONST. (aside) Oh, mother, I cannot speak to him!<br> MRS. P. Yes, reverend sir, she is nearly eighteen, and as<br>good a girl as ever stepped. (Aside to Dr. Daly) Ah, sir, I'm<br>afraid I shall soon lose her!<br> DR. D. (aside to Mrs. Partlet) Dear me, you pain me very<br>much. Is she delicate?<br> MRS. P. Oh no, sir--I don't mean that--but young girls look<br>to get married.<br> DR. D. Oh, I take you. To be sure. But there's plenty of <br>time for that. Four or five years hence, Mrs. Partlet, four or<br>five years hence. But when the time does come, I shall have much<br>pleasure in marrying her myself--<br> CONST. (aside) Oh, mother!<br> DR. D. To some strapping young fellow in her own rank of<br>life.<br> CONST. (in tears) He does not love me!<br> MRS. P. I have often wondered, reverend sir (if you'll<br>excuse the liberty), that you have never married.<br> DR. D. (aside) Be still, my fluttering heart!<br> MRS. P. A clergyman's wife does so much good in a village. <br>Besides that, you are not as young as you were, and before very<br>long you will want somebody to nurse you, and look after your<br>little comforts.<br> DR. D. Mrs. Partlet, there is much truth in what you say. <br>I am indeed getting on in years, and a helpmate would cheer my<br>declining days. Time was when it might have been; but I have<br>left it too long--I am an old fogy, now, am I not, my dear? (to<br>Constance)--a very old fogy, indeed. Ha! ha! No, Mrs. Partlet,<br>my mind is quite made up. I shall live and die a solitary old<br>bachelor.<br> CONST. Oh, mother, mother! (Sobs on Mrs. Partlet's bosom)<br> MRS. P. Come, come, dear one, don't fret. At a more<br>fitting time we will try again--we will try again.<br> (Exeunt Mrs. Partlet and Constance.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> DR. D. (looking after them) Poor little girl! I'm afraid<br>she has something on her mind. She is rather comely. Time was<br>when this old heart would have throbbed in double-time at the<br>sight of such a fairy form! But tush! I am puling! Here comes<br>the young Alexis with his proud and happy father. Let me dry<br>this tell-tale tear!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Enter Sir Marmaduke and Alexis</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE</div><div style="margin:10px 0">DR. D. Sir Marmaduke--my dear young friend, Alexis--<br> On this most happy, most auspicious plighting--<br> Permit me as a true old friend to tender<br> My best, my very best congratulations!<br>SIR M. Sir, you are most obleeging!<br>ALEXIS. Dr. Daly<br> My dear old tutor, and my valued pastor,<br> I thank you from the bottom of my heart!<br> (Spoken through music)<br>DR. D. May fortune bless you! may the middle distance<br> Of your young life be pleasant as the foreground--<br> The joyous foreground! and, when you have reached it,<br> May that which now is the far-off horizon<br> (But which will then become the middle distance),<br> In fruitful promise be exceeded only<br> By that which will have opened, in the meantime,<br> Into a new and glorious horizon!<br>SIR M. Dear Sir, that is an excellent example<br> Of an old school of stately compliment<br> To which I have, through life, been much addicted.<br> Will you obleege me with a copy of it,<br> In clerkly manuscript, that I myself<br> May use it on appropriate occasions?<br>DR. D. Sir, you shall have a fairly-written copy<br> Ere Sol has sunk into his western slumbers!<br> (Exit Dr. Daly)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> SIR M. (to Alexis, who is in a reverie) Come, come, my <br>son--your fiancee will be here in five minutes. Rouse yourself<br>to receive her.<br> ALEXIS. Oh rapture!<br> SIR M. Yes, you are a fortunate young fellow, and I will<br>not disguise from you that this union with the House of Sangazure<br>realizes my fondest wishes. Aline is rich, and she comes of a<br>sufficiently old family, for she is the seven thousand and<br>thirty-seventh in direct descent from Helen of Troy. True, there<br>was a blot on the escutcheon of that lady--that affair with<br>Paris--but where is the family, other than my own, in which there<br>is no flaw? You are a lucky fellow, sir--a very lucky fellow!<br> ALEXIS. Father, I am welling over with limpid joy! No<br>sicklying taint of sorrow overlies the lucid lake of liquid love,<br>upon which, hand in hand, Aline and I are to float into eternity!<br> SIR M. Alexis, I desire that of your love for this young<br>lady you do not speak so openly. You are always singing ballads<br>in praise of her beauty, and you expect the very menials who wait<br>behind your chair to chorus your ecstasies. It is not delicate.<br> ALEXIS. Father, a man who loves as I love--<br> SIR M. Pooh pooh, sir! fifty years ago I madly loved your<br>future mother-in-law, the Lady Sangazure, and I have reason to<br>believe that she returned my love. But were we guilty of the<br>indelicacy of publicly rushing into each other's arms,<br>exclaiming--</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> &quot;Oh, my adored one!&quot; &quot;Beloved boy!&quot;<br> &quot;Ecstatic rapture!&quot; &quot;Unmingled joy!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">which seems to be the modern fashion of love-making? No! it was<br>&quot;Madam, I trust you are in the enjoyment of good health&quot;--&quot;Sir,<br>you are vastly polite, I protest I am mighty well&quot;--and so forth. <br>Much more delicate--much more respectful. But see--Aline<br>approaches--let us retire, that she may compose herself for the<br>interesting ceremony in which she is to play so important a part.<br> (Exeunt Sir Marmaduke and Alexis.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Enter Aline on terrace, preceded by Chorus of Girls.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> CHORUS OF GIRLS</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> With heart and with voice<br> Let us welcome this mating:<br> To the youth of her choice,<br> With a heart palpitating,<br> Comes the lovely Aline!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> May their love never cloy!<br> May their bliss be unbounded!<br> With a halo of joy<br> May their lives be surrounded!<br> Heaven bless our Aline!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE--ALINE.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> My kindly friends, I thank you for this greeting<br> And as you wish me every earthly joy,<br> I trust your wishes may have quick fulfillment!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ARIA--ALINE.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Oh, happy young heart!<br> Comes thy young lord a-wooing<br> With joy in his eyes,<br> And pride in his breast--<br> Make much of thy prize,<br> For he is the best<br> That ever came a-suing.<br> Yet--yet we must part,<br> Young heart!<br> Yet--yet we must part!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Oh, merry young heart,<br> Bright are the days of thy wooing!<br> But happier far<br> The days untried--<br> No sorrow can mar,<br> When love has tied<br> The knot there's no undoing.<br> Then, never to part,<br> Young heart!<br> Then, never to part!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Enter Lady Sangazure</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE--LADY S.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> My child, I join in these congratulations:<br> Heed not the tear that dims this aged eye!<br> Old memories crowd upon me. Though I sorrow,<br> 'Tis for myself, Aline, and not for thee!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Enter Alexis, preceded by Chorus of Men</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> CHORUS OF MEN AND WOMEN</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> With heart and with voice<br> Let us welcome this mating;<br> To the maid of his choice,<br> With a heart palpitating,<br> Comes Alexis, the brave!.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Sir Marmaduke enters. Lady Sangazure and he exhibit signs of strong<br> emotion at the sight of each other which they endeavor to<br> repress. Alexis and Aline rush into each other's arms.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALEXIS. Oh, my adored one!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALINE. Beloved boy!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALEXIS. Ecstatic rapture!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALINE. Unmingled joy!<br> (They retire up.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> DUET--SIR MARMADUKE and LADY SANGAZURE</div><div style="margin:10px 0">SIR M. (with stately courtesy)<br> Welcome joy, adieu to sadness!<br> As Aurora gilds the day,<br> So those eyes, twin orbs of gladness,<br> Chase the clouds of care away.<br> Irresistible incentive<br> Bids me humbly kiss your hand;<br> I'm your servant most attentive--<br> Most attentive to command!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Aside with frantic vehemence)<br> Wild with adoration!<br> Mad with fascination!<br> To indulge my lamentation<br> No occasion do I miss!<br> Goaded to distraction<br> By maddening inaction,<br> I find some satisfaction<br> In apostophe like this:<br> &quot;Sangazure immortal,<br> &quot;Sangazure divine,<br> &quot;Welcome to my portal,<br> &quot;Angel, oh be mine!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Aloud with much ceremony)<br> Irresistible incentive<br> Bids me humbly kiss your hand;<br> I'm your servant most attentive--<br> Most attentive to command!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">LADY S. Sir, I thank you most politely<br> For your grateful courtesee;<br> Compliment more true and knightly<br> Never yet was paid to me!<br> Chivalry is an ingredient<br> Sadly lacking in our land--<br> Sir, I am your most obedient,<br> Most obedient to command!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Aside and with great vehemence)<br> Wild with adoration!<br> Mad with fascination!<br> To indulge my lamentation<br> No occasion do I miss!<br> Goaded to distraction<br> By maddening inaction,<br> I find some satisfaction<br> In apostophe like this:<br> &quot;Marmaduke immortal,<br> &quot;Marmaduke divine,<br> &quot;Take me to thy portal,<br> &quot;Loved one, oh be mine!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Aloud with much ceremony)<br> Chivalry is an ingredient<br> Sadly lacking in our land;<br> Sir, I am your most obedient,<br> Most obedient to command!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(During this the Notary has entered, with marriage contract.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE--NOTARY</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> All is prepared for sealing and for signing,<br> The contract has been drafted as agreed;<br> Approach the table, oh, ye lovers pining,<br> With hand and seal come execute the deed!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Alexis and Aline advance and sign, Alexis supported by Sir Marmaduke,<br> Aline by her Mother.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> CHORUS</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> See they sign, without a quiver, it--<br> Then to seal proceed.<br> They deliver it--they deliver it<br> As their Act and Deed!<br>ALEXIS. I deliver it--I deliver it<br> As my Act and Deed!.<br>ALINE. I deliver it--I deliver it.<br> As my Act and Deed!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">CHORUS. With heart and with voice<br> Let us welcome this mating;<br> Leave them here to rejoice,<br> With true love palpitating,<br> Alexis the brave,<br> And the lovely Aline!<br> (Exeunt all but Alexis and Aline.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ALEXIS. At last we are alone! My darling, you are now<br>irrevocably betrothed to me. Are you not very, very happy?<br> ALINE. Oh, Alexis, can you doubt it? Do I not love you<br>beyond all on earth, and am I not beloved in return? Is not true<br>love, faithfully given and faithfully returned, the source of<br>every earthly joy?<br> ALEXIS. Of that there can be no doubt. Oh, that the world<br>could be persuaded of the truth of that maxim! Oh, that the<br>world would break down the artificial barriers of rank, wealth,<br>education, age, beauty, habits, taste, and temper, and recognize<br>the glorious principle, that in marriage alone is to be found the<br>panacea for every ill!<br> ALINE. Continue to preach that sweet doctrine, and you will<br>succeed, oh, evangel of true happiness!<br> ALEXIS. I hope so, but as yet the cause progresses but<br>slowly. Still I have made some converts to the principle, that<br>men and women should be coupled in matrimony without distinction<br>of rank. I have lectured on the subject at Mechanics'<br>Institutes, and the mechanics were unanimous in favour of my<br>views. I have preached in workhouses, beershops, and Lunatic<br>Asylums, and I have been received with enthusiasm. I have<br>addressed navvies on the advantages that would accrue to them if<br>they married wealthy ladies of rank, and not a navvy dissented!<br> ALINE. Noble fellows! And yet there are those who hold<br>that the uneducated classes are not open to argument! And what<br>do the countesses say?<br> ALEXIS. Why, at present, it can't be denied, the<br>aristocracy hold aloof.<br> ALINE. Ah, the working man is the true Intelligence after<br>all!<br> ALEXIS. He is a noble creature when he is quite sober. <br>Yes, Aline, true happiness comes of true love, and true love<br>should be independent of external influences. It should live<br>upon itself and by itself--in itself love should live for love<br>alone!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> BALLAD--ALEXIS</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Love feeds on many kinds of food, I know,<br> Some love for rank, some for duty:<br> Some give their hearts away for empty show,<br> And others for youth and beauty.<br> To love for money all the world is prone:<br> Some love themselves, and live all lonely:<br> Give me the love that loves for love alone--<br> I love that love--I love it only!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> What man for any other joy can thirst,<br> Whose loving wife adores him duly?<br> Want, misery, and care may do their worst,<br> If loving woman loves you truly.<br> A lover's thoughts are ever with his own--<br> None truly loved is ever lonely:<br> Give me the love that loves for love alone--<br> I love that love--I love it only!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ALINE. Oh, Alexis, those are noble principles!<br> ALEXIS. Yes, Aline, and I am going to take a desperate step<br>in support of them. Have you ever heard of the firm of J. W.<br>Wells & Co., the old-established Family Sorcerers in St. Mary<br>Axe?<br> ALINE. I have seen their advertisement.<br> ALEXIS. They have invented a philtre, which, if report may<br>be believed, is simply infallible. I intend to distribute it<br>through the village, and within half-an-hour of my doing so there<br>will not be an adult in the place who will not have learnt the<br>secret of pure and lasting happiness. What do you say to that?<br> ALINE. Well, dear, of course a filter is a very useful<br>thing in a house; but still I don't quite see that it is the sort<br>of thing that places its possessor on the very pinnacle of<br>earthly joy.<br> ALEXIS. Aline, you misunderstand me. I didn't say a<br>filter--I said a philtre.<br> ALINE (alarmed). You don't mean a love-potion?<br> ALEXIS. On the contrary--I do mean a love potion.<br> ALINE. Oh, Alexis! I don't think it would be right. I<br>don't indeed. And then--a real magician! Oh, it would be<br>downright wicked.<br> ALEXIS. Aline, is it, or is it not, a laudable object to<br>steep the whole village up to its lips in love, and to couple<br>them in matrimony without distinction of age, rank, or fortune?<br> ALINE. Unquestionably, but--<br> ALEXIS. Then unpleasant as it must be to have recourse to<br>supernatural aid, I must nevertheless pocket my aversion, in<br>deference to the great and good end I have in view. (Calling)<br>Hercules.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Enter a Page from tent)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> PAGE. Yes, sir.<br> ALEXIS. Is Mr. Wells there?<br> PAGE. He's in the tent, sir--refreshing.<br> ALEXIS. Ask him to be so good as to step this way.<br> PAGE. Yes, sir. (Exit Page)<br> ALINE. Oh, but, Alexis! A real Sorcerer! Oh, I shall be<br>frightened to death!<br> ALEXIS. I trust my Aline will not yield to fear while the<br>strong right arm of her Alexis is here to protect her.<br> ALINE. It's nonsense, dear, to talk of your protecting me<br>with your strong right arm, in face of the fact that this Family<br>Sorcerer could change me into a guinea-pig before you could turn<br>round.<br> ALEXIS. He could change you into a guinea-pig, no doubt,<br>but it is most unlikely that he would take such a liberty. It's<br>a most respectable firm, and I am sure he would never be guilty<br>of so untradesmanlike an act.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Enter Mr. Wells from tent)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> WELLS. Good day, sir. (Aline much terrified.)<br> ALEXIS. Good day--I believe you are a Sorcerer.<br> WELLS. Yes, sir, we practice Necromancy in all its<br>branches. We've a choice assortment of wishing-caps,<br>divining-rods, amulets, charms, and counter-charms. We can cast<br>you a nativity at a low figure, and we have a horoscope at<br>three-and-six that we can guarantee. Our Abudah chests, each<br>containing a patent Hag who comes out and prophesies disasters,<br>with spring complete, are strongly recommended. Our Aladdin<br>lamps are very chaste, and our Prophetic Tablets, foretelling<br>everything--from a change of Ministry down to a rise in<br>Unified--are much enquired for. Our penny Curse--one of the<br>cheapest things in the trade--is considered infallible. We have<br>some very superior Blessings, too, but they're very little asked<br>for. We've only sold one since Christmas--to a gentleman who<br>bought it to send to his mother-in-law--but it turned out that he<br>was afflicted in the head, and it's been returned on our hands. <br>But our sale of penny Curses, especially on Saturday nights, is<br>tremendous. We can't turn 'em out fast enough.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> SONG--MR. WELLS</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Oh! my name is John Wellington Wells,<br> I'm a dealer in magic and spells,<br> In blessings and curses<br> And ever-filled purses,<br> In prophecies, witches, and knells.<br> If you want a proud foe to &quot;make tracks&quot;--<br> If you'd melt a rich uncle in wax--<br> You've but to look in<br> On the resident Djinn,<br> Number seventy, Simmery Axe!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> We've a first-class assortment of magic;<br> And for raising a posthumous shade<br> With effects that are comic or tragic,<br> There's no cheaper house in the trade.<br> Love-philtre--we've quantities of it;<br> And for knowledge if any one burns,<br> We keep an extremely small prophet, a prophet<br> Who brings us unbounded returns:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> For he can prophesy<br> With a wink of his eye,<br> Peep with security<br> Into futurity,<br> Sum up your history,<br> Clear up a mystery,<br> Humour proclivity<br> For a nativity--for a nativity;<br> With mirrors so magical,<br> Tetrapods tragical,<br> Bogies spectacular,<br> Answers oracular,<br> Facts astronomical,<br> Solemn or comical,<br> And, if you want it, he<br> Makes a reduction on taking a quantity!<br> Oh!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> If any one anything lacks,<br> He'll find it all ready in stacks,<br> If he'll only look in<br> On the resident Djinn,<br> Number seventy, Simmery Axe!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> He can raise you hosts<br> Of ghosts,<br> And that without reflectors;<br> And creepy things<br> With wings,<br> And gaunt and grisly spectres.<br> He can fill you crowds<br> Of shrouds,<br> And horrify you vastly;<br> He can rack your brains<br> With chains,<br> And gibberings grim and ghastly.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> And then, if you plan it, he<br> Changes organity,<br> With an urbanity,<br> Full of Satanity,<br> Vexes humanity<br> With an inanity<br> Fatal to vanity--<br> Driving your foes to the verge of insanity!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Barring tautology,<br> In demonology,<br> 'Lectro-biology,<br> Mystic nosology,<br> Spirit philology,<br> High-class astrology,<br> Such is his knowledge, he<br> Isn't the man to require an apology!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Oh!<br> My name is John Wellington Wells,<br> I'm a dealer in magic and spells,<br> In blessings and curses<br> And ever-filled purses,<br> In prophecies, witches, and knells.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> If any one anything lacks,<br> He'll find it all ready in stacks,<br> If he'll only look in<br> On the resident Djinn,<br> Number seventy, Simmery Axe!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ALEXIS. I have sent for you to consult you on a very<br>important matter. I believe you advertise a Patent Oxy-Hydrogen<br>Love-at-first-sight Philtre?<br> WELLS. Sir, it is our leading article. (Producing a<br>phial.)<br> ALEXIS. Now I want to know if you can confidently guarantee<br>it as possessing all the qualities you claim for it in your<br>advertisement?<br> WELLS. Sir, we are not in the habit of puffing our goods. <br>Ours is an old-established house with a large family connection,<br>and every assurance held out in the advertisement is fully<br>realized. (Hurt)<br> ALINE. (aside) Oh, Alexis, don't offend him! He'll change<br>us into something dreadful--I know he will!<br> ALEXIS. I am anxious from purely philanthropical motives to<br>distribute this philtre, secretly, among the inhabitants of this<br>village. I shall of course require a quantity. How do you sell<br>it?<br> WELLS. In buying a quantity, sir, we should strongly advise <br>your taking it in the wood, and drawing it off as you happen to<br>want it. We have it in four-and-a-half and nine gallon<br>casks--also in pipes and hogsheads for laying down, and we deduct<br>10 per cent from prompt cash.<br> ALEXIS. I should mention that I am a Member of the Army and <br>Navy Stores.<br> WELLS. In that case we deduct 25 percent.<br> ALEXIS. Aline, the villagers will assemble to carouse in a <br>few minutes. Go and fetch the tea-pot.<br> ALINE. But, Alexis--<br> ALEXIS. My dear, you must obey me, if you please. Go and<br>fetch the teapot.<br> ALINE (going). I'm sure Dr. Daly would disapprove of it!<br> (Exit Aline.)<br> ALEXIS. And how soon does it take effect?<br> WELLS. In twelve hours. Whoever drinks of it loses <br>consciousness for that period, and on waking falls in love, as a<br>matter of course, with the first lady he meets who has also<br>tasted it, and his affection is at once returned. One trial will<br>prove the fact.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Enter Aline with large tea-pot</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ALEXIS. Good: then, Mr. Wells, I shall feel obliged if you<br>will at once pour as much philtre into this teapot as will<br>suffice to affect the whole village.<br> ALINE. But bless me, Alexis, many of the villagers are<br>married people!<br> WELLS. Madam, this philtre is compounded on the strictest<br>principles. On married people it has no effect whatever. But<br>are you quite sure that you have nerve enough to carry you<br>through the fearful ordeal?<br> ALEXIS. In the good cause I fear nothing.<br> WELLS. Very good, then, we will proceed at once to the <br>Incantation.<br>The stage grows dark.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> INCANTATION</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WELLS. Sprites of earth and air--<br> Fiends of flame and fire--<br> Demon souls,<br> Come here in shoals,<br> This dreaded deed inspire!<br> Appear, appear, appear.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MALE VOICES. Good master, we are here!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WELLS. Noisome hags of night--<br> Imps of deadly shade--<br> Pallid ghosts,<br> Arise in hosts,<br> And lend me all your aid.<br> Appear, appear, appear!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">FEMALE VOICES. Good master, we are here!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">ALEXIS (aside). Hark, they assemble,<br> These fiends of the night!<br>ALINE (aside). Oh Alexis, I tremble,<br> Seek safety in flight!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br> ARIA - ALINE</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Let us fly to a far-off land,<br> Where peace and plenty dwell--<br> Where the sigh of the silver strand<br> Is echoed in every shell<br> To the joy that land will give,<br> On the wings of Love we'll fly;<br> In innocence, there to live--<br> In innocence there to die!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> CHORUS OF SPIRITS.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Too late--too late<br> It may not be!<br> That happy fate<br> Is not for (me/thee)!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ALEXIS, ALINE, and MR. W.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Too late--too late,<br> That may not be!<br> That happy fate,<br> Is not for thee!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> MR. WELLS</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Now shrivelled hags, with poison bags,<br> Discharge your loathsome loads!<br> Spit flame and fire, unholy choir!<br> Belch forth your venom, toads!<br> Ye demons fell, with yelp and yell,<br> Shed curses far afield--<br> Ye fiends of night, your filthy blight<br> In noisome plenty yield!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WELLS (pouring phial into tea-pot--flash)<br> Number One!<br>CHORUS It is done!<br>WELLS (same business) Number Two! (flash)<br>CHORUS One too few!<br>WELLS Number Three! (flash)<br>CHORUS Set us free!<br> Set us free-our work is done<br> Ha! ha! ha!<br> Set us free--our course is run!<br> Ha! ha! ha!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ALINE AND ALEXIS (aside)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Let us fly to a far-off land,<br> Where peace and plenty dwell--<br> Where the sigh of the silver strand<br> Is echoed in every shell.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br> CHORUS OF FIENDS.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Stage grows light. Mr. Wells beckons villagers. Enter villagers<br> and all the dramatis personae, dancing joyously. Mrs.<br> Partlet and Mr. Wells then distribute tea-cups.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> CHORUS.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Now to the banquet we press;<br> Now for the eggs, the ham;<br> Now for the mustard and cress,<br> Now for the strawberry jam!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Now for the tea of our host,<br> Now for the rollicking bun,<br> Now for the muffin and toast,<br> Now for the gay Sally Lunn!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WOMEN. The eggs and the ham, and the strawberry jam!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MEN. The rollicking bun, and the gay Sally Lunn!<br> The rollicking, rollicking bun!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> RECITATIVE--SIR MARMADUKE</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Be happy all--the feast is spread before ye;<br> Fear nothing, but enjoy yourselves, I pray!<br> Eat, aye, and drink--be merry, I implore ye,<br> For once let thoughtless Folly rule the day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> TEA-CUP BRINDISI</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Eat, drink, and be gay,<br> Banish all worry and sorrow,<br> Laugh gaily to-day,<br> Weep, if you're sorry, to-morrow!<br> Come, pass the cup around--<br> I will go bail for the liquor;<br> It's strong, I'll be bound,<br> For it was brewed by the vicar!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">CHORUS.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> None so knowing as he<br> At brewing a jorum of tea,<br> Ha! ha!<br> A pretty stiff jorum of tea.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> TRIO--WELLS, ALINE, and ALEXIS. (aside)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> See--see--they drink--<br> All thoughts unheeding,<br> The tea-cups clink,<br> They are exceeding!<br> Their hearts will melt<br> In half-an-hour--<br> Then will be felt<br> The potions power!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(During this verse Constance has brought a small tea-pot, kettle,<br> caddy, and cosy to Dr. Daly. He makes tea scientifically.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> BRINDISI, 2nd Verse--DR. DALY (with the tea-pot)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Pain, trouble, and care,<br> Misery, heart-ache, and worry,<br> Quick, out of your lair!<br> Get you gone in a hurry!<br> Toil, sorrow, and plot,<br> Fly away quicker and quicker--<br> Three spoons in the pot--<br> That is the brew of your vicar!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> CHORUS </div><div style="margin:10px 0"> None so cunning as he<br> At brewing a jorum of tea,<br> Ha! ha!<br> A pretty stiff jorum of tea!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> ENSEMBLE--ALEXIS and ALINE (aside)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> Oh love, true love--unworldly, abiding!<br> Source of all pleasure--true fountain of joy,--<br> Oh love, true love--divinely confiding,<br> Exquisite treasure that knows no alloy,--<br> Oh love, true love, rich harvest of gladness,<br> Peace-bearing tillage--great garner of bliss,--<br> Oh love, true love, look down on our sadness --<br> Dwell in this village--oh, hear us in this!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(It becomes evident by the strange conduct of the characters that<br> the charm is working. All rub their eyes, and stagger about<br> the stage as if under the influence of a narcotic.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"> TUTTI (aside) ALEXIS, MR. WELLS and ALINE</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh, marvellous illusion! A marvellous illusion!<br> Oh, terrible surprise! A terrible surprise<br>What is this strange confusion Excites a strange confusion<br> That veils my aching eyes? Within their aching eyes--<br>I must regain my senses, They must regain their senses,<br> Restoring Reason's law, Restoring Reason's law,<br>Or fearful inferences Or fearful inferences<br> Society will draw! Society will draw!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(Those who have partaken of the philtre struggle in vain against<br> its effects, and, at the end of the chorus, fall insensible<br> on the stage.)</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=William+Schwenck+Gilbert">William Schwenck Gilbert</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=539048" data-title="The Sorcerer: Act I de William Schwenck Gilbert" data-description="DRAMATIS PERSONAE Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre, an Elderly Baronet Alexis, of the Grenadier Guards--His Son Dr. Daly, Vicar of Ploverleigh John Wellington Wells, of J. W. Wells & Co., Family Sorcerers Lady Sangazure, a Lady of Ancient Lineage A..."></div> </div> </div>

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