custom of his age. A stage direction in Ravenscroft's alteration of
"Titus Andronicus," bears, "A curtain drawn, discovers the heads and
hands of Demetrius and Chiron hanging up against the wall; their
bodies in chairs, in bloody linen." And in an interlude, called the
"Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru," written by D'Avenant, "a doleful
pavin is played to prepare the change of the scene, which represents a
dark prison at a great distance; and farther to the view are discerned
racks and other engines of torment, with which the Spaniards are
tormenting the natives and English mariners, who may be supposed to be
lately landed there to discover the coast. Two Spaniards are likewise
discovered sitting in their cloaks, and appearing more solemn in
ruffs, with rapiers and daggers by their sides; the one turning a
spit, while the other is basting an Indian prince, who is roasted at
an artificial fire[1]." The rape of Isabinda is stated by Langbaine to
have been borrowed from a novel in the Decamerone of Cinthio Giraldi.

This play is beneath criticism; and I can hardly hesitate to term it
the worst production Dryden ever wrote. It was acted and printed in
1673.


Footnote:
1. This extraordinary kitchen scene did not escape the ridicule of the
wits of that merry age.

O greater cruelty yet,
Like a pig upon a spit;
Here lies one there, another boiled to jelly;
Just as the people stare
At an ox in the fair,