This is dealt with more fully in the chapter on Stage
Directions.
Parolles' sham anxiety about a lost drum is mentioned fourteen or
fifteen times in _All's Well_ III. v. and vi.; and IV. i. Parolles
earns his nickname of 'Tom Drum,' in Act V. iii. 320.
The following is an interesting passage of a more serious kind--
_K. John_ V, ii, 164.
_Lewis_ [Dauphin.]
Strike up the _drums_! and let the tongue of war
Plead for our interest, and our being here.
_Bastard._ Indeed, your _drums_, being _beaten_, will cry out;
And so shall you, being _beaten_. Do but start
An _echo_ with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a _drum_ is ready brac'd,
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine;
_Sound_ but _another_, and another shall,
As loud as thine, _rattle the welkin's ear_,
And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder.
An entirely different use of the Drum is alluded to by Parolles, in
his slanderous evidence against Captain Dumain.
_All's Well_ IV, iii, 262.
_1 Soldier._ What say you to his expertness in war?
_Parolles._ 'Faith, sir, he has _led the drum before the
English tragedians_, ... and more of his soldiership I know
not.
There are several occasions in Shakespeare when _trumpets_ are sounded
to herald the approach of play-actors, but _drums_ are not mentioned
in this connection except here.
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