Note 17 — ACT II.—Scene I.
Reading edition
Such easy turns of state are frequent in our modern plays; where we see princes dethroned, and governments changed, by very feeble means, and on slight occasions: particularly in "Marriage A-la-mode;" a play writ since the first publication of this farce. Where (to pass by the dulness of the state-part, the obscurity of the comic, the near resemblance Leonidas bears to our Prince Prettyman, being sometimes a king's son, sometimes a shepherd's; and not to question how Amalthea comes to be a princess, her brother, the king's great favourite, being but a lord) it is worth our while to observe, how easily the fierce and jealous usurper is deposed, and the right heir placed on the throne; and it is thus related by the said imaginary princess:—
"Amalth. Oh, gentlemen! if you have loyalty, Or courage, show it now. Leonidas, Broke on a sudden from his guards, and snatching A sword from one, his back against the scaffold, Bravely defends himself; and owns aloud He is our long lost king, found for this moment; But, if your valours help not, lost for ever. Two of his guards mov'd by the sense of virtue, Are turn'd for him; and there they stand at bay, Against a host of foes."—"Marriage A-la-mode," p. 61.
This shows Mr. Bayes to be a man of constancy, and firm to his resolution, and not to be laughed out of his own method; agreeable to what he says in the next act: "As long as I know my things are good, what care I what they say?"