' Also several fountains playing
water during the time of the play. The last scene does represent
Noah and his family coming out of the Ark, with all the beasts two
and two, and all the fowls of the air seen in a prospect sitting
upon trees. Likewise over the Ark is seen the sun rising in a most
glorious manner. Moreover, a multitude of angels will be seen in a
double rank, which represents a double prospect, one for the sun,
the other for a palace, where will be seen six angels ringing of
bells. Likewise machines descend from above, double and treble,
with Dives rising out of Hell, and Lazarus seen in Abraham's bosom;
besides several figures, dancing jigs, sarabands, and country
dances to the admiration of the spectators, with the merry conceits
of Squire Punch and Sir John Spendall."
"So recently as the year 1816 the sacrifice of Isaac was
represented on the stage at Paris. Samson was the subject of the
ballet; the unshorn son of Manoah delighted the spectators by
dancing a solo with the gates of Gaza on his back; Delilah clipt
him during the intervals of a jig, and the Philistines surrounded
and captured him in a country-dance."
Sometimes Southey indulges his fancy on very trifling subjects as,
"The Doves, father as well as son, were blest with a hearty
intellectual appetite, and a strong digestion, but the son had the
more Catholic taste.
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