"_ Lib. ix.
20. A similar assemblage of terrific circumstances announces the
arrival of a fiend upon a similar errand, in the old play,
entitled, the "Merry Devil of Edmonton."
What means the trolling of this fatal chime?
O what a trembling horror strikes my heart!
My stiffened hair stands upright on my head,
As do the bristles of a porcupine.
* * * * *
Coreb, is't thou?
I know thee well; I hear the watchful dogs,
With hollow howling, tell of thy approach.
The lights burn dim, affrighted with thy presence,
And this distempered and tempestuous night
Tells me the air is troubled with some devil!
Dryden certainly appears to have had the old play in his memory
though he has far excelled it.
21. On the evening previous to the assassination, the Seigneur de
Larchant accosted the duke as he passed from his own lodging to the
king's, accompanied by a body of soldiers, who, he pretended, were
petitioners for the duke's interest, to obtain payment of their
arrears, and would attend at the door of the council next day, to
remind him of their case. This pretext was to account for the
unusual number of guards, which might otherwise have excited G
uise's suspicion.
22. _Intanto il Duca entrato nel consiglio, e pustosi in una sedia
vicina al fuoco si senti un poco di svenimento, o che allora, gli
sovcenisse il pericolo, net quale si ritrovava, separato e diviso
da tutti i suoi, o che natura, come bene spesso avviene, presaga
del mal futuro da se medesima allora si risentizze, o come dissero
i suoi malevoli, per essere stato la medesima notte con Madama di
Marmoutiere amata grandemente da lui, e essersi soverchiamente
debilitato.
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